In Sambata, 4 Martie 2017 14:15:48, Mr.Godwin Emefiele < dranthonyokeke@gmail.com > a scris: From: Mr. Godwin Emefiele Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria Headquarters: Plot 33, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Way, Central Business District, Cadastral Zone, Federal Capital Territory, P.M.B. 0187,Abuja Nigeria. /// EMAIL: transferdept31@gmail.com////// Direct Telephone: + 234 817 108 0676///////////// (BFN / CBN / 2323) Code Of Conduct (FT1004BT) Website: http://www.cenbank.org/rates/ Your Payment Code Number is:(CBN/2017/GOV-NG) Good Morning Dear, We are sending you this message today to confirm if truly you sent one Mr. Harrison Richard, an attorney and a citizen of the United States of America as a representative to receive your foreign inheritance payment due to be paid to your person this week. The said Harrison Richard claimed that he represents your interest in the fund and that you have given him a Power of Attorney to claim the fund on your behalf into his own bank account. as he claimed that you are lying in your sick bed and about dying. According to the international law guiding this kind of payment, we decided to send you this message to confirm from you if you are dead or alive and has authorized this person to claim the fund on your behalf. This is the issue we wanted you to clarify. Please if this claim by this man is wrong, kindly revert back to us quickly to avoid wrongful payment of your fund to a wrong person. I await your urgent response. Sincerely, Mr. Godwin Emefiele Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria Direct Telephone: + 234 817 108 0676. Date: Mar 7, 2017 2:30 AM Subject: Attn: ,CBN APPROVED PAYMENT LETTER Cc: CBN APPROVED PAYMENT LETTER Central Bank of Nigeria Plot 33, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Way Central Business District, Cadastral Zone, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. Official Direct Line, +2348036586777 Attn: My name is Godwin Eemefiele, the executive Governor of the Central of Nigeria, I received your email regarding your funds wire transfer on Wednesday afternoon by 12.pm my time, and i want to tell you to put your past experience behind you and face this reality because you have never sent any money to me in the past, maybe the sector that scammed you out of your money in the past are those internet criminals that have been using my name to scam innocent citizens like you, and with due respect i want you to clear your past experience over this funds from your mind and face this reality as i will do all it takes me to keep to my word by making sure that you are paid along this time without any more delays, but i want you to understand that i am not happy with the way that your unpaid contract funds was handled by those corrupt bank officials which i am indeed going to correct there past failures and make the direct wire transfer of your funds into your account, please trust and stick to my instructions as the sum of $180usd is only what you will have to pay for the final remittance of your contract sum of $10.7 million united states dollars into your account, on Wednesday this week. I know that it is not easy to trust but the truth remains that you will have to trust someone and keep your past experience behind and face this real fact, and I will advise you to work together with me in the transaction by following up my instruction and i assure you that you will have nothing to loose in this great transaction because your funds is ready to be wired into your account and the only thing that you will do is to send the $180usd for the transfer documents to be acquired very fast to make it ready for a perfect wire transfer of your funds into your account, i am a good christian that have the interest of people in my heart, i cannot cheat or lie to you but i will do my best to make sure that your funds is released to you as soon as you lay your trust in me and comply with my instructions, Please i want you to Reconfirm to me with the listed information bellow for final crosscheck, so that the transfer department will start working on your banking details today to make it ready for a perfect wire transfer into your account on Wednesday afternoon as soon as you send the fee for your legal representative attorney to sign all the approved transfer documents as instructed, NEEDED INFORMATION' S, YOUR BANK NAME- - - ACCOUNT NAME- - - BANK NAME- - - - - - - BANK ADDRESS- - - - - - - - BANK ACCOUNT- - - - - - - BANK FAX OR PHONE NUMBER FOR MERIT REACH- - - - - - - - - BANK SWIFT CODE OR ROUTING NUMBERS- - - - - - - - - - BENEFICIARY PHONE NUMBER- - - - - - - - - BENEFICIARY ADDRESS- - - - - - - BENEFICIARY OCCUPATION- - - - - - - - - - I assure you that immediately i receive the above listed information' s i will proceed and hand them over to the CBN wire transfer department for the massive transfer of your funds into your account without any more delay, please try and get back to me so that i will email you the western union payment address to use and send the transfer fee, because your payment has been scheduled to be wired into your account on Wednesday this week, please act fast and get back to me so that i will make the transfer department ready for a perfect wire transfer of your funds into your account, i will advise you not to have any doubt in mind because i am a good christian, that have the interest of people in my heart, trust me so that i will trust you too and then use my 26years of banking experience and finalize the transfer of your funds into your account. THE ATTACHED FILES IS MY WORKING IDENTITY WITH MY INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT TO PROVE MY SELF TO YOU IN THIS TRANSACTION. Kind regards Mr.Godwin Emefiele Executive Governor Central Bank of Nigeria. Official Direct Line, +2348036586777 From: " Godwin Governor" < inforbankcbn001@gmail.com Date: Mar 7, 2017 2:30 AMSubject: Attn: ,CBN APPROVED PAYMENT LETTERCc:CBN APPROVED PAYMENT LETTERCentral Bank of NigeriaPlot 33, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa WayCentral Business District,Cadastral Zone, Abuja,Federal Capital Territory,Nigeria.Official Direct Line, +2348036586777Attn:My name is Godwin Eemefiele, the executive Governor of the Central ofNigeria, I received your email regarding your funds wire transfer onWednesday afternoon by 12.pm my time, and i want to tell you to putyour past experience behind you and face this reality because you havenever sent any money to me in the past, maybe the sector that scammedyou out of your money in the past are those internet criminals thathave been using my name to scam innocent citizens like you, and withdue respect i want you to clear your past experience over this fundsfrom your mind and face this reality as i will do all it takes me tokeep to my word by making sure that you are paid along this timewithout any more delays, but i want you to understand that i am nothappy with the way that your unpaid contract funds was handled bythose corrupt bank officials which i am indeed going to correct therepast failures and make the direct wire transfer of your funds intoyour account, please trust and stick to my instructions as the sum of$180usd is only what you will have to pay for the final remittance ofyour contract sum of $10.7 million united states dollars into youraccount, on Wednesday this week.I know that it is not easy to trust but the truth remains that youwill have to trust someone and keep your past experience behind andface this real fact, and I will advise you to work together with me inthe transaction by following up my instruction and i assure you thatyou will have nothing to loose in this great transaction because yourfunds is ready to be wired into your account and the only thing thatyou will do is to send the $180usd for the transfer documents to beacquired very fast to make it ready for a perfect wire transfer ofyour funds into your account, i am a good christian that have theinterest of people in my heart, i cannot cheat or lie to you but iwill do my best to make sure that your funds is released to you assoon as you lay your trust in me and comply with my instructions,Please i want you to Reconfirm to me with the listed informationbellow for final crosscheck, so that the transfer department willstart working on your banking details today to make it ready for aperfect wire transfer into your account on Wednesday afternoon as soonas you send the fee for your legal representative attorney to sign alltheapproved transfer documents as instructed,NEEDED INFORMATION' S,YOUR BANK NAME- - -ACCOUNT NAME- - -BANK NAME- - - - - - -BANK ADDRESS- - - - - - - -BANK ACCOUNT- - - - - - -BANK FAX OR PHONE NUMBER FOR MERIT REACH- - - - - - - - -BANK SWIFT CODE OR ROUTING NUMBERS- - - - - - - - - -BENEFICIARY PHONE NUMBER- - - - - - - - -BENEFICIARY ADDRESS- - - - - - -BENEFICIARY OCCUPATION- - - - - - - - - -I assure you that immediately i receive the above listed information' si will proceed and hand them over to the CBN wire transfer departmentfor the massive transfer of your funds into your account without anymore delay, please try and get back to me so that i will email you thewestern union payment address to use and send the transfer fee,because your payment has been scheduled to be wired into your accounton Wednesday this week, please act fast and get back to me so that iwill make the transfer department ready for a perfect wire transfer ofyour funds into your account, i will advise you not to have any doubtin mind because i am a good christian, that have the interest ofpeople in my heart, trust me so that i will trust you too and then usemy 26years of banking experience and finalize the transfer of yourfunds into your account.THE ATTACHED FILES IS MY WORKING IDENTITY WITH MY INTERNATIONALPASSPORT TO PROVE MY SELF TO YOU IN THIS TRANSACTION.Kind regardsMr.Godwin EmefieleExecutive GovernorCentral Bank of Nigeria.Official Direct Line, +2348036586777 From: Central Bank Nigeria mtakata@vslhf.snv.at > Date: 2017-03-14 18:32 GMT+01:00 Subject: Immediate Release of Your $10.5Million Via ATM Card Payment. To: ME CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR Zaria Street, Off Samuel Akintola Street,Garki 11, Garki-Abuja. Our Ref: FGN/CBN/NIG/01/2017 Your Ref. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From The Desk Of Mr. Godwin Emefiele. Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) SUBJECT: Dear Valued Customer. Dear Friend, We wish to inform you that your unclaimed payment of USD$10.5 Million in Africa has been released and ready to be paid to you via PREPAID VISA CARD which you will use to withdraw the US$10.5 Million from any ATM Machine in any part of the world. We have mandated United Bank Africa Ghana, to send you the ATM CARD and PIN NUMBER which you will use to withdraw all your US$10.5Million Dollars in any ATM SERVICE MACHINE in any part of the world, but the maximum you can withdraw in a day is US$20,000.00 Only. You are therefore advice to contact the Head of ATM CARD Department of United Bank Africa Ghana (UBA); Contact Person: Rev. Goodluck Egobia, Office email address: atmdebitprepaidcard11@gmail. com Tell Rev. Goodluck Egobia, that you received a message from the CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA. Instructing him to send you the ATM CARD and PIN NUMBER which you will use to withdraw your USD$10.5 Million Dollars in any ATM SERVICE MACHINE in any part of the world, also send him your direct phone number and contact address where you want him to send the ATM CARD and PIN NUMBER to you. We are very sorry for the plight you have gone through in the past years. Thanks for adhering to this instruction and once again accept our congratulations. Best Regards. Mr. Godwin Emefiele. Executive Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Tell Rev. Goodluck Egobia, that you received a message from the CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA. Instructing him to send you the ATM CARD and PIN NUMBER which you will use to withdraw your USD$10.5 Million Dollars in any ATM SERVICE MACHINE in any part of the world, also send him your direct phone number and contact address where you want him to send the ATM CARD and PIN NUMBER to you.We are very sorry for the plight you have gone through in the past years.Thanks for adhering to this instruction and once again accept our congratulations.Best Regards.Mr. Godwin Emefiele.Executive Governor,Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) From: okafor isaac < okaforisaac349@yahoo.co.uk > Date: Tue, Mar 14, 2017 at 11:59 PM Subject: Fw: Fw: Fw: Miss Happiness Nwaoke To: ATTENTION GO AND SEND THE 19USD AND STAY AT THE BANK FOR THE PAYMENT TO BE TRANSFERRED I WILL ASSIST YOU WITH THE REST SO YOU CAN RECEIVE YOUR PAYMENT IMMEDIATELY IS BECAUSE OF DELAY TRY AND SEND THE 19usd SO THAT LAWYER CAN COME AND RELEASE YOUR PAYMENT TO YOU IMMEDIATELY YOU WILL RECEIVE 12,000USD TODAY AND TOMORROW SO YOU WILL OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT ON TUESDAY FOR THE REST OF SO TRY AND SEND THE MONEY MY BROTHER > RECEIVER NAME,CHIKA OBI LAGOS NIGERIA Q.IN GOD A.WE TRUSTES Thank you for your kind Understanding and cooperation. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria C.B.N. De: CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA CBN [ecdmonde.ovie@gmail.com] Enviado: jueves, 16 de marzo de 2017 20:43 Asunto: The UN Agent Has Arrived With Your Delivery. FROM THE DESK MR. GODWIN EMEFIELE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR, CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN) (OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR) CONTRACT #: MAV/NNPC/FGN/MIN/010, Swift Code: BPH KPL PK, A/C#: 329606=101244=169=678 CENTRAL BANK NIGERIA. Our Ref: CBN/IRD/CBX/021/07 We have received today payment credit instruction from the new President of Federal Government of Nigeria (MUHAMMADU BUHARI)to credit your account with your full inheritance compensation funds from the Nigerian Reserved account with our bank. This is to notify you that your funds (US$14.7million Dollars) have been programmed for immediate release into your nominated account but we can not transfer this funds direct to your nominated bank account, because we are having a little problem with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) so our method of payment is by United Nations Agent Delivery (UNAD) The United Nations Agent has arrived with your cash consignment box at JF KENNEDY International Airport NEW YORK USA. I want you to know that you have 24 hours to call the UN agent in person of HOPE FRANK with this phone number# 9176634932 in the United States, let us know if you are still interested to get your consignment delivery to you today? as they have been waiting to hear from you to help them complete this delivery to you right now, the UN agent has arrived to the United States with your consignment box, call them for clearance. You are to call the UN agent in person of HOPE FRANK with the above number and also send him email at office.info191@gmail.com call him and get back to me. Note; that you must reconfirm your full address and valid phone# to him through these email: office.info191@gmail.com immediately you receive these email to enable him deliver your cash consignment to you in any part of usa,canada and every part of world. You must call me on my direct line# +234-7058180618 for serious discution. I appreciate your good sympathetic and collaboration, Hope hearing from you swiftly. CONGRATULATIONS. MR. GODWIN EMEFIELE, EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR, CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA +234-7058180618 On Sunday, March 19, 2017 11:10 PM, Mr Godwin Emefiele < iptv@pautina-ltd.ru > wrote: CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT CORPORATE, HEAD QUARTERS, ABUJA NIGERIA. CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA( CBN). INTERNATIONAL HEAD QUARTERS, GARKI ABUJA NIGERIA CONTRACT#: MAV/NNPC/FGN/MIN/001 SWIFT CODE: BPH KPL PK A/C#: 459606=179244=169=678 PAYMENT REF: CBN/IRD/CBX/021/17 Dear Sir/Madam RE:PAYMENT FILE APPROVAL FINAL NOTICE. My name is Mr.Godwin Emefiele .I am the newly appointed Governor Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the 11th Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. I assumed duty as Governor Central Bank of Nigeria on 3rd of June 2014 at the Bank\\\'s Corporate Head Office in Abuja following the confirmation of my nomination by the Senate of Federal Republic of Nigeria on monday 2nd June 2014. However, acting in my capacity as the newly-appointed Governor of the (CBN) I have been mandated by the Senate National Assembly to check through the statutory disk of every payment pending during the last quarter of the year. Hence, your payment file has been forwarded to my desk for final approval. Therefore, after vetting and verification about the source and origin of your funds, I am convinced 100% that the $11,000,000.00 dollars is a legitimate inheritance claim. Hence, I have granted approval for the release of the $11,000,000.00 dollars in your favor. For this reason, your payment has been rightfully approved and will be paid out directly into your bank account via \\\"automatic swift transfer\\\" from our Electronic transfer unit. Already, all transfer processing has been concluded in line with the new (CBN) Payment Policy But before the $11,000,000.00 dollars can be credited into your bank account, a Payment Release Code\\\" must be issued to you personally from the Electronic Transfer Unit, which will enable your funds to be credited into your bank account within 24hours.Issuance of the \\\"Payment Release Code\\\" is in total compliancy with the Principles of the Banking Codes on Money Laundering and it is also in accordance with the new CBN Payment Policy. Hence, issuance of the "Payment Release Code" attracts a fee of $1500 dollars ONLY; and the $1500 dollars is the ONLY FEE you will be requested to pay for the final release of your funds, all other charges will be deducted at source automatically. However, on the note of receiving your inheritance funds, you are requested to forward the details of your receiving bank account; as well as make arrangement to secure and send the issuance fee of $1500 dollars for the \\\"Payment Release Code". The $1500 dollar fee must be sent through Western Union with name of the Payment officer at the Electronic Transfer Unit as per the below details: NAME OF RECIPIENT\\\'S: (SHADEME MICHAEL IFEANYI ) COUNTRY NIGERIA CITY LAGOS QUESTION: BEST COLOUR ANSWER: GREEN AMOUNT: $1500 USD I am expecting to receive your earliest reply and details of your receiving bank account, as well as the details of payment for the $100 dollars.Please note this if you are not ready to pay the needed fee $100, do not reply this message because I will do nothing. Best Regards, Mr Godwin Emefiele The Executive Governor. Central Bank of Nig. (CBN) From: Godwin Emefiele < ge447742@outlook.com > Sent: Sun, Mar 19, 2017 11:29 am Subject: Re: Your ATM Card Delivery Confirmation From CBN From Desk Of Mr.Godwin Emefiele Executive Governor Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) Dear This letter is written in order to change your Life from today. Please note that this letter came to you as a result of information received from our monitoring network regarding so much payments which you sent through Western Union and Money Gram to Nigeria and some other part of the World without receiving any payment to your name, further investigation reveals that you have lost hope towards receiving your payment after being deceived so many times. Following the on going re-branding of Nigerian image laundering to the International Communities, the Federal Government of Nigeria have directed our committee to compensate/refund the sum of $3,500,000 ( Three Million and Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) to you through payment by ATM CARD option being one of the most convenient means of receiving payment World Wide. We wish to inform you that the members of Refund Payment Committee are honorable men of Great Repute and integrity who have served the Government of Nigeria in different capacities, we also wish to inform you that the Committee members were appointed by our respected President Mohamadu Buhari to pay foreign Debt such as Contract Debt, Inheritance/Next of Kin Debt, Compensation Debt, Lottery Debt, Purchase/Sales of Good Debt, and all other Foreigner debt own by Nigeria Government to outstanding beneficiaries, in order to restore good image of Nigeria to the international Communities. To this development, I hereby give you information's about this transaction because we have issued a prepaid ATM Debit Master Card in your name through Access bank Nigeria Plc. Please find below the attached scanned copy of your ATM Debit Master Card valued f $3,500,000.00 ( Three Million and Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) which was packaged and dispatched to your designated address via FEDEX Courier Services but was stopped by Mutala Muhammed Int'l Airport Authority in Lagos due to lack of insurance coverage of the parcel to cover the shipment. You are therefore advised to send the ATM Card package insurance coverage fees of $480 through western union or moneygram with (Joel Amum) Lagos - Nigeria so that your ATM Card package will be allow to depart to your destination address without interference of any security agency or lose on transit. I want you to know that every procedure is legitimate and there is no breach of the law whatsoever. I assure you that this transaction is risk free so be rest assured that you will not encounter any difficulty in receiving the parcel at your doorstep once you send the required $480 insurance coverage fees as stated. The transaction is hitch free so your maximum cooperation now is needed and safety assured. As it now, I am waiting on you now to do the right thing so try your best to send your ATM Card package insurance coverage fees of $480 as instructed and everything will go smoothly. I will be waiting for your candid and unprecedented response and payment details so that your ATM Card can depart for your designated address in your country and wishing you best of luck. Feel free to call me on :+2349094935632 if you have any question. Yours faithfully, Mr.Godwin Emefiele Executive Governor Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) In Joi, 23 Martie 2017 15:28:25, Sverre Rying < srying@aol.com > a scris: CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA, PLOT 33, ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA WAY CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT, CADASTRAL ZONE, ABUJA, FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, NIGERIA. Email me with this address: usinternal.reveserviceatmcard@gmail.com Urgent: Beneficiary. Please this is to let you know that the Central Bank of Nigeria and the United Nation has concluded the release of your ATM Visa card worth the total sum of US$10.5Million United States Dollars and ready to be dispatch to your home address today dated 23th of Mar 2017. However, This is very urgent and important the United Nation Funds Investigation department has informed us that you should proceed and send US$200 for the Delivery Stamp Duty and Insurance coverage to avoid any immediate Stop Order from your city airport customs upon the agent arrival. Please go now and send the fee and e-mail me back with the payment MTCN Number to avoid any further delay at hand. Please the FEDEX Delivery Company has registered your parcel all they are waiting for now is to receive the needed US$200 for the Stamp Duty and Insurance which is very important and necessary, The FEDEX Delivery Tracking Number will be given to you once you send the US$200 to the Central Bank of Nigeria payment receiver agent where your funds was long ago approved. SEE BELOW IS THE WESTERN UNION OR MONEY GRAM TO SEND THE US$200 SO THAT WE CAN SEND YOU THE DELIVERY TRACKING NUMBER, Receiver's Name: ABASUKA UGOCHUKWU Address: ABUJA NIGERIA Test Question: IN GOD Answer: WE TRUST AMOUNT $200 ONLY Finally, the bank await for your urgent e-mail response in regards to the below needed info to avoid any wrong delivery of your parcel, DO NOT FAIL TO E-MAIL US BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO THAT WE CAN PROCEED FURTHER WITH THE DELIVERY TODAY. DELIVERY INFORMATION NEEDED FROM YOU ALSO URGENTLY 1. Your Full Name: 2 Direct Tel: 3. Delivery Address 4. Your Nearest airport Below are few list of tracking numbers you can track from DHL website to confirm people like you who have received their payment successfully. http://www.dhl.com/en/express/ tracking.shtml Tracking Number: 3029212992. http://www.dhl.com/en/express/ tracking.shtml Tracking Number: 70121010 09. PLEASE I WAIT YOUR RESPONSE, Thanks for your understanding & co-operation. Email me with this address: usinternal.reveserviceatmcard@gmail.com Mr. Godwin Emefiele Chairman Central Bank of Nigeria, De: CBN GOVERNOR [gov_cbn2013@yahoo.co.uk] Enviado: lunes, 27 de marzo de 2017 8:33 Asunto: Transaction bank to bank. Dear Sir, Thank you for your mail and well understand. I am the new Central Bank of Nigeria/Governor, i know and understand all that you are trying to pass through concerning your past experience with this country. This whole problem started since 1985 but by the special grace of God, everything will be put in place with this new government in Nigeria. We are really fighting corruption and everything will be corrected as far as this government is still in existence. I want to officially inform you that your payment will get to you through Bank to Bank transfer. Have you ever been to Nigeria for the signing of your contract documents? If no, then you get ready for that because you are going to come over to sign your back-up documents. If you are not in a position to do that, then you let me know so that i will give you another alternative. We can arrange for an attorney who will do the signing then you pay him or her off. Some of those people that extracted monies from you where all government officials but they have all been fished out and sacked. You should please be straight in whatsoever you are doing with me because as you know, we don't know each other. We are just going to work based on trust. There is no way in which your fund can get to you without signing those papers. First and foremost, you should break all contacts with anybody else here concerning this transaction because it will be a great confusion and distraction to us. If you cannot come over to Nigeria, please let me know so that i can help you get a civil servant and a government legal practitioner who will do the signing. Mind you, i am our country's Central Bank of Nigeria/Governor and no fund can be transferred or carried out from this country without my approval. So be serious in this business. If you are interested in all that i told you concerning how this transaction is going to be and also ready to stop every contact with anyone concerning this transaction, kindly forward your bank information to me since you have confirmed that the one that am having here is very wrong. Also send your international passport copy or a copy of your driving licencee, then your direct telephone number for full confirmation. I await your urgent response, Yours faithfully, Mr. Godwin Emefiele CBN Governor If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more.... With the Midterm Elections less than one week away: What do you consider the top issues that you will be voting on to be corrected by your better representation? Education Crime Big Government getting Bigger Biden /Democrat controlled Spike in Energy Cost Inflation created by Legislation of Majority in Power Gender Reassignment Corrupted Bureaucratic /Service (DOJ, FBI, etc.) Institutions Abortion Discredited Legacy Media Ending the Corruption of Dishonest Politicians Corruptive Influence of Social Media Wide Open Southern Border The latest attack on a Shia Mosque in Parachinar in Pakistan's North West Tribal region's Khurram agency was the sixth such attack on Shias in this town since 2012 highlighting their worsening plight and other minorities living in Pakistan. According to Human Rights Activists here in Geneva, attacks against minorities do not appear to raise eyebrows in Sunni-majority Pakistan anymore, and are fast becoming a norm. In the last two days, there have been two incidents, one targetting Shias and the other the Ahmadis. The Banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) took responsibility for the attacks as Pakistan again plunged into a vicious cycle of sectarian violence. Just last month, more than 80 persons were killed in an attack on a Sufi Shrine in southern Pakistan. The latest suicide attack on March 31 at the entrance of a Shia mosque in Parachinar in the remote north western tribal region bordering Afghanistan killed at least 22 and wounded more than 50 people with the majority being Shia. The timing of the attack, which was when people were gathering for Friday prayers, was to ensure maximum casualties. The Parachinar region has witnessed a series of terror attacks in the past, including in January 2017, December 2015, September 2013, and September and February 2012. Like the Shias, the people of another Muslim sect who are subject to systematic persecution by the Pakistani State are the Ahmadis. The March 30 attack on and killing of Malik Saleem Latif, a prominent leader of the Ahmadi community, who was also related to the Pakistani Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam by militants from the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhanghvi, is a case in point. According to a recent report released by the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya, since the Blasphemy law came into effect in Pakistan in 1984, more than 250 Ahmadis have been killed because of their religious beliefs. Apart from facing a threat to their life, a blatant example of the Pakistani State's support and encouragement to Ahmadi persecution is visible in the passport application form that every Pakistani citizen applying for a passport needs to fill in. The application requires all Muslim citizens of the country to sign a declaration affirming that they consider Ahmadis as infidels. While Pakistani leaders and government officials lose no opportunity to claim that people of all religions enjoy equal rights in the country, the requirement of a declaration in a passport application form designating Ahmadis as infidels, is a clear case of the State endorsing discrimination among its citizens. Attacks will continue to take place against the minorities in Pakistan, until and unless the government takes the hard decision to clamp down on the radical Islamic groups, most of whom have the backing of the Army and the country's intelligence agencies. (ANI) Consultations are being held under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement to discuss economic reforms and development projects undertaken by the Pakistan government during the last four years, reports Radio Pakistan. Secretary Finance Tariq Bajwa is leading the Pakistani delegation in the preliminary phase of discussions whereas Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar will lead the delegation at the concluding session. The talks are happening in Dubai as IMF officials had refused to visit Pakistan due to the law and order situation in the country. However, later, the two agreed to hold discussions in Dubai. (ANI) Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi left Cairo for Washington today where both sides will seek a renewed relationship after tensions over Sisi's crackdown on opponents.As well as meeting President Donald Trump, Sisi will see the top officials at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where he will pitch for help with his countrys' ailing ecoomy.The trip will be Sisi's first US state visit since being elected president in 2014 as former US President Barack Obama had never extended an invitation.Sisi was elected a year after leading the military's ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood's president Mohamed Mursi after mass protests.A senior White house official said yesterday Trump "wants to use President Sisi's visit to reboot the bilateral relationship and build on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September".Egypt has long been one of Washington's closest allies in the Middle East, receiving 1.3 billion dollar in US military aid annually. The country is fighting an Islamist insurgency in Sinai, and hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police have been killed fighting insurgents.The bilateral relationship was strained when former President Barack Obama criticized Sisi for cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist group.During his visit, Sisi is will also be meeting with International Monetary Fund chief and World Bank President "to discuss strengthening cooperation with both institutions in various economic fields", the statement said.Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive an economy hit by political upheaval since a 2011 revolt and to ease a dollar shortage that has crippled imports, drove away foreign investors and hampered its recovery.Egypt received the first tranche of a three-year 12 billion dollar loan deal with the IMF and is expecting to receive the second tranche soon.The second tranche of a 3 billion dollar loan from the World Bank was disbursed to Egypt last month.The statement said Sisi is also scheduled to meet with leaders of the American chamber of commerce and heads of major United States companies to discuss investment opportunities in Egypt.REUTERS SDR NS1626 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-1212332.Xml Protesters vandalized offices and hallways throughout the building in Asuncion as the flames spread through the structure, reports the CNN. Police vehicles also were targeted. Firefighters rushed to the scene while riot police showed up with water tanks. Police fired rubber bullets at some of the protesters. A Senate meeting that was to be held Saturday morning has been canceled. Protesters indicated they will stop the demonstrations once they get a commitment from Cartes that he will not seek a second five-year term, something prohibited under the country's 1992 Constitution. (ANI) Known as IS' number two, Ayad Hamid Khalaf al-Jumaili was killed in the town of al-Qaim in Anbar province, located on Iraq's border with Syria, Efe news service quoted Iraqi intelligence as saying. Al-Jumaili was dubbed the IS minister of war. The Iraqi authorities pointed out that the bombing also claimed the lives of IS military leader in al-Qaim, Turki Jamal al-Dulimi, known as Abu Hajar, and Salem Muzfer al-Ajami, an IS administrative official in that town. The intelligence added that the aviation directed "a precise blow" against a position of IS leaders in that Iraqi town. However, the intelligence gave no further details regarding the time of the attack or whether it was carried out by aircraft of Iraqi air forces or the US-led international coalition. IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi talked to his supporters one month ago through a written speech distributed in the Iraqi city of Mosul, acknowledging the defeat of his forces against Iraqi government troops, according to military officials. Mohamed Ibrahim al-Bayati, head of Security Council of Nineveh province, saids that IS prominent leaders move aimlessly on the borders between Iraq and Syria. Iraqi forces, backed by the international coalition, launched a major offensive in Mosul to drive IS extremists out their main stronghold, where al-Baghdadi proclaimed the caliphate on June 29, 2014. --IANS qd/ ( 255 Words) 2017-04-02-02:08:07 (IANS) Source: Xinhua| 2017-03-31 22:54:38|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Britain is looking forward to making a significant and practical contribution to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, said British Ambassador to China Barbara Woodward on Friday. Britain is very much excited about the vision of the Belt and Road Initiative, an inclusive development project, and sees a huge opportunity of bilateral cooperation in practical terms, said Woodward in an interview with Xinhua. The Belt and Road Initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, was put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. It aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa. The infrastructure is important "to the development and growth of the countries along the road" as well as "to global trade," said Woodward. While Chinese companies are experienced in infrastructure development, British companies could contribute in project design, engineering, sustainable and green growth, as well as management and consultancy, she added. "Our relative strength could be complementary," said the ambassador. The year of 2017 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic ties between China and Britain. "I think at all levels the UK-China relationship in the golden era is in very good shape," said Woodward in the interview. The China-UK ties have grown steadily over the past decades and reached a new high after Xi's state visit to Britain in 2015, which unleashed the start of the "golden era." The two sides have witnessed a significant business and investment growth, said Woodward. From 2004 to 2014, Britain's total exports to China grew from 4.8 billion U.S. dollars to 23.6 billion dollars, according to statistics provided by the Chinese embassy in Britain. In 2016, China-UK bilateral trade in goods reached 74.3 billion dollars. Britain is an attractive destination for Chinese companies and its financial services sector looks forward to growing its cooperation with China as Chinese economy is opening up in the services sector, said the ambassador. Referring to the Brexit, the senior British diplomat said that her country saw it as an opportunity "to be truly global" and was ready to establish "stronger and deeper" ties with partners outside Europe. "Obviously with China, that will be a very important example," said the ambassador, noting that the two countries share a common vision of global free trade. Britain will "remain a very open economy," said Woodward. More cooperation opportunities between the two countries could be found in areas of innovation, research and development, and sustainable and green growth, she added. Increasing people-to-people exchanges are another highlight in the China-UK relations. Woodward said that around 582,000 UK visas were issued to Chinese nationals in 2016, 19 percent up from the previous year. Among them, 73,000 were study visas for Chinese students studying in Britain, a 14 percent increase on a yearly basis. "We are very keen to encourage more Chinese tourists to the UK," said Woodward, adding that the embassy has already been working to streamline the visa application procedures, which would make it faster and easier for eligible applicants to get a visa. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2017-03-31 23:04:09|Editor: yan Video Player Close LONDON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A senior oil analyst has said there is a possibility of forming a Far East Asia oil pricing system in the future. Jonty Rushforth, senior director of Oil and Shipping Price Group at S&P Global Platts, told Xinhua in a recent interview there may be a world shift toward CIF (Cost Insurance and Freight) pricing in the future. Rushforth said Platts had long considered the possibility of CIF far East Asia price, and maybe one day it could be an important part of the global oil market. So far, most benchmark prices have preferred to use FOB (Free On Board) pricing because of flexibility. Asia accounts for more than one-third of the total trade reported to the Platts process, especially the recent increasing activities from Chinese companies, proving the need for a new marker for East Asia crude oil pricing. "Chinese companies are a very significant part of Platts market on close process for crude," said Rushforth. "Any producer, if they get more crude, they talk to Chinese companies, because that's where the demand growth is." China is now one of the largest buyers in the international crude market. But China didn't have a significant role in the commodity futures trading, like West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures in New York and London's Brent futures, that can influence market prices. Rushforth said he didn't agree with that. "I prefer pricing 'voice' rather than the word pricing 'power'. China is the largest net crude importer in the world, and China also probably has the loudest voice in the Dubai crude process. Because a lot of trade focus on Chinese companies and focus on going into China, all price has a lot of China voice in it," he said. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. crude oil exports in 2016 climbed 12 percent above the 2015 level, and the new destinations including China. Rushforth didn't think the trend would increase WTI price's influence. "We haven't yet seen the U.S. crude export becoming a substantial part of the market," he said. "In fact, dated Brent remains far more widely used in the international crude market than any American crude price. WTI is very much a domestic U.S. price. It's not an international price really." Besides, Rushforth said Platts didn't think either Brexit or a second Scotland independence referendum would have a major impact on dated Brent as a broad pricing benchmark to the world. "Whatever crude oil in the North Sea belongs to the UK or Scotland, it will be available to the international market," he added. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 04:20:49|Editor: yan Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Calls grew on Friday for an urgent sitting of Parliament to debate a motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma following a drastic cabinet reshuffle. The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said it has written to Parliament Speaker Baleke Mbete for this purpose. The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, together with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, added their voices to the DA's call, urging ministers and leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) to speak up and call on the president, in the best interests of the country, to step down. The DA tabled a motion of no confidence in Zuma on March 30 after hearing that Zuma would sack Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in a cabinet reshuffle. "A debate on this crucial motion simply cannot wait and it should be scheduled for next week," the DA said on Friday. Zuma effected the reshuffle early Friday in what was believed to be one of his most drastic moves during his tenure. The reshuffle affected 10 ministers and 10 deputy ministers, notably Gordhan. The move plunged the country into chaos and caused division among the ranks of the ANC. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and ANC Secretary General Gwete Mantashe both voiced objection to the reshuffle. But the government issued a statement on Friday, expressing support for the reshuffle. The reshuffle is aligned to improving efficiency and effectiveness in the system and the government is confident that the ministers and their deputies will hit the ground running to ensure the continuity of government programs to realize Vision 2030, which is to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality, government spokesperson Donald Liphoko said. Parliament has not responded to the call for the no confidence vote. For a vote of no confidence motion to be successful, it requires 201 of the 400 National Assembly MPs to vote in favour. If the motion is successful, then the president, his deputy, cabinet ministers and all their deputies must resign as provided for in section 102 of the constitution. Zuma has survived at least two no confidence motions in Parliament, dominated by ANC MPs. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 07:31:23|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close MEXICO CITY, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Haiti's National Police, in conjunction with Facebook and the U.S. embassy in Port-au Prince, shut down three websites selling fake visas to U.S.-bound Haitians, local media reported on Friday. "The fraudulent profiles ... advertised fake visa programs," and directed applicants to "non-embassy telephone numbers to reach people who pretended to be embassy employees," news website Haiti Libre said. While the U.S. embassy in Haiti does maintain a Facebook page, it does not conduct interviews over the phone or guarantee visas will be issued to applicants once they have paid the fee, as the scam operators promised, the embassy said. "Several dozen Haitian citizens lost hundreds of dollars each by transferring money to bank accounts in the scam, lured by the promise that their visas would be automatically approved," the agency said. The problem occurs often enough that the embassy maintains an email address (papfraud@state.gov) exclusively for victims to report such operations. Beaufort County's governing board of commissioners met June 28, 2022 to discuss a continuing issue of how to best handle solid waste here in Beaufort County by employing the concept of two "mega sites;" one on the north side of the Pamlico River, the other on the south side. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 07:36:57|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Friday issued a statement, welcoming efforts leading to peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a press release that the UN had noted the recent statements by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and expressed "full support" for the call to the sides to refrain from any actions that would undermine the ceasefire agreement. "We welcome all efforts to reduce the level of tensions and call on all sides to demonstrate the necessary political will to resume substantive negotiations leading to a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," he said. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR (Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic) made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988. A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts, and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people. The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994. Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on March 24, 1992. Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the U.S. and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996. Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh. By Feng Yingqiu YANGON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Five ethic armed groups, which are non-signatories to the Myanmar government's Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA), have sent message to the government saying they would sign the NCA. The message of the five armed groups, which are members of a coalition of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), was received by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi when she was giving a televised speech to the nation on Thursday night marking one year anniversary of the NLD government taking office. Suu Kyi conveyed the message to the country's people additionally at the end of her televised speech, describing that the groups' readiness to sign ceasefire pact heralds hope for peace. The five armed groups, who expressed their willingness to join in signing the NCA, are Kayinni National Progressive Party (KNPP), New Mon State Party (NMSP), Arakan National Council (ANC), Lahu Democratic Union (LDU) and Wa National Organization (WNO). The news came as the greatest and most auspicious gift to the country with the incumbent government's one-year anniversary in office, official media said in its editorial, adding that the five organizations showed their trust in the government's peace-making process by acceding to the NCA. Their decision has created bright rays of hope for national reconciliation and peace which has shined a positive light onto the many successive eras of Myanmar history of seeking peace, the editorial commented. However, Suu Kyi warned that "undesirable destructive elements and instigation intended to harm peace might emerge," urging leaders of the ethnic nationalities and her compatriots to be extremely vigilant. With the proposed accession to NCA, there remains only two armed groups yet to follow suit which are the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) or Shan State Army (SSA)-North. Suu Kyi said the five armed groups' promised signing of the NCA came after year-long negotiations. During the month of March, Suu Kyi met with a delegation for political negotiation (DPN) of the UNFC, which represents the non-signatory armed groups to the NCA, in Nay Pyi Taw and agreed to nine-point proposals presented by the UNFC. Besides, the government's Peace Commission also met the DPN of the UNFC with the two sides agreeing to work for the inclusion of organizations which should be included in the peace process. Suu Kyi stressed the importance of inking the NCA which would pave way for them to attend the upcoming second meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference expected in April or May, a dialogue open to all ethnic armed groups. Myanmar's previous government and eight other armed groups signed the NCA on Oct. 15, 2015, and the first meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Conference was held in Nay Pyi Taw in August 2016, months after the new government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD) took office. The eight prior signatories include Kayin National Union (KNU), Kayin National Liberated Army(KNLA)-Peace Council, Pa-O Nationalities Liberation Organization (PNLO), All Burma Students'Democratic Front (ABSDF), Chin National Front (CNF), Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA), Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) / Shan State Army (SSA)-South. Meanwhile, Myanmar has been holding national region-oriented and race-oriented political dialogue in regions and states across the nation since January. The outcome of all regional dialogues will be submitted to the upcoming second meeting of the Panglong Peace Conference, which is expected to gather about 700 representatives. YANGON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar authorities have warned of motive behind the recent seizure of Myanmar army uniforms in Bangladesh, saying that the violent attackers can disguise themselves as members of the Myanmar army, attacking villages and violating human rights to disgrace Myanmar army. According to the State Counselor's Office Saturday, hundreds of military uniforms were seized in Teknaf, Bangladesh on Wednesday by the Bangladeshi customs department after search of a motor boat in Keiyaung Tawle Port. The seizure included military-used insignia, rucksacks, vests, helmets, rain coats and boots. The military items were found to have been imported by a young man to Rahman Trading Company in Chittagong who was arrested by the Bangladeshi authorities in Teknaf on Wednesday evening. Investigation revealed that the company is owned by Nuru Arlaung Sedeki, who normally imports dry food stuff from Myanmar. There were allegations of human rights abuse by Myanmar security forces in northern Rakhine state which Myanmar has rejected. In response to the armed attacks on police border outposts in October and November last year and subsequent allegations of human rights abuse, the Myanmar government formed an investigation commission, led by Vice President U Myint Swe, to look into the cause of those incidents and allegations. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 10:27:21|Editor: ying People wait to cast ballot during a parliament by-election at a polling station in Yangon April 1, 2017. Myanmar on Saturday held the multi-party parliament by-election. (Xinhua/U Aung) YANGON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- A multi-party parliamentary by-election began across Myanmar Saturday morning at 6 a.m. local time with a total of 2 million eligible voters going to polls to cast their votes. A total of 94 candidates including 16 female are competing for 19 vacant parliamentary seats available in 22 townships in eight regions and states across the nation. It is the first by-election since the new government, led by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), took office last year. Of the 19 vacant parliamentary seats, nine are with the House of Representatives (Lower House), three with the House of Nationalities (Upper House) and seven with the state parliaments. Of the 94 candidates, 87 are from 24 political parties with 18 each shared by the NLD and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), while the seven others are individuals In Yangon region alone, over 1 million eligible voters are expected to cast their votes in five townships constituencies including two competitively strong ones, Kawhmu and Hlaingtharya, for a total of four seats of House of Representatives and one seat of House of Nationalities contested among 33 candidates. The vacant seat of House of Representatives in Kawhmu constituency, left by Aung San Suu Kyi after she became a government cabinet member, was contested among nine candidates, while Hlaingtharya's similar seat was competed among eight candidates. In the No. 6 constituency in Yangon covering six townships where a seat of House of Nationalities will be contested among six candidates. In Kawhmu township constituency, the main opponents for the seat of House of Representatives go to U Kyaw Swe Win of the NLD and U Kyaw Zin Hein of the USDP, while in the Hlaingtharya township constituency, the main competitors are represented by U Win Min of the NLD and U Tin Yu of the USDP. The 19 vacant parliamentary seats were left by parliament members after they were appointed as government cabinet ministers, while other vacancies were available as some constituencies failed to hold the polling in the last general election in 2015. The polling booths will close on the day at 4 p.m. local time and will be followed by open counting of votes. Election result or names of winning parliamentarians-elect will be announced by the Union Election Commission Election Result Center in Nay Pyi Taw late Saturday. Tourists wear qipao, a traditional Chinese dress, as they pose for photos in the ancient town Dangkou in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province, March 30, 2017. Many tourists visited the town recently to enjoy the spring scenery. (Xinhua/Yang Lei) News program about the death of Kim Jong Nam, the older half-brother of the DPRK leader and the eldest son of late leader Kim Jong Il, is seen on TV at the Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin) KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia on Friday called on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to hand over four suspects in connection with the death of a DPRK man last month at the Kuala Lumpur airport. Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said earlier this month that the DPRK man had been confirmed as Kim Jong Nam, based on the DNA sample obtained from his child. On Friday, Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters that a criminal investigation into the case of the DPRK man's death is still ongoing even after both sides freed each other's nationals. Khalid made the remarks while attending an event here. He said the criminal investigation was not compromised by negotiations between the governments of Malaysia and DPRK. Malaysian police had previously said two female suspects, one Indonesian and one Vietnamese, together with four DPRK suspects, carried out the Feb. 13 attack on the DPRK man at the airport. Khalid said the police could wait "for years" for the DPRK to hand over the suspects, who are also wanted by the Interpol which has issued a red notice on them. On Friday morning, a plane piloted by several Malaysian air force pilots brought back the nine Malaysian citizens who had been stranded in DPRK to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The remains of sunken South Korean passenger ferry Sewol arrives at a port in Mokpo, some 90 km away from the Jindo Island, South Korea, March 31, 2017. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin) SEOUL, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The ill-fated South Korean passenger ferry Sewol finally ended a long-running ordeal as it came out of water and was moved to a port on Friday to get to the bottom of the country's worst maritime disaster. Sewol was raised from the waters off Jindo Island last week, nearly three years after the ferry carrying 476 people sank on April 16, 2014. A semi-submersible transport vessel moved the salvaged ferry to a port in Mokpo, around 90 km away from the site, at about 1:00 p.m. local time on Friday. In the early morning hours, the transport vessel was preparing to set sail for the port. Families of the nine missing passengers get on a ship offered by the oceans ministry to follow the Sewol's last journey to Mokpo. Among the total, only 172 people were rescued from the sinking ferry. Over 300 people were killed, mostly high school students on a school trip to the southern resort island of Jeju. Nine bodies were never recovered. It was raining and still covered with a veil of darkness when the transport ship was about to depart, according to a pool report. The families of the missing looked tired as if they tossed and turned all night. "I didn't sleep at all. I ate little. (My husband) is about to go to Mokpo after having stayed in the scary, deep sea for three years," said Yoo Baek-hyung, whose husband was the teacher of Danwon High School in Ansan, outside of Seoul. Her husband is still unaccounted for. As the Sewol was salvaged and would be transported to a dry dock in Mokpo for inspection, she hoped to find a strand of her husband's hair or a wedding ring on his hand. On the way to Mokpo, some continued to wipe away tears while others called their missing families, saying "Let's go home. Let's go home now." They comforted each other during the last journey as they shared deep wounds while awaiting the salvage together. The Sewol was escorted by five patrol boats of the coast guard, accompanied by 10 vessels carrying the bereaved families and the families of the missing people. On the deck of one of the family-carrying boats, Park Eun-mi, whose daughter Huh Dah-yoon is still unaccounted for, said nobody must go through the same as what they have suffered in the past three years. When she got to know the disaster occurred in 2014, she hurriedly moved to the island without realizing that her wait would be so long. Since then, she has cherished her daughter in her heart. "Time has passed so long. It would have been better if my daughter came back to me earlier. It was the very long school trip," said the mother who had a plan to say sorry to her daughter if her body is found, as she did nothing but to await her child. And, she will say thanks to her daughter for the comeback. The Sewol's last journey ended at about 1:00 p.m., anchoring at the Mokpo port to be mounted onto a dry dock. It was aimed to search the missing bodies and determine the clear cause of the disaster. Shanghai Salvage, a Chinese company which had led the salvaging operation, said its team will focus on the final landing of the ferry to make the complicated, time-consuming task successful. The task is forecast to come to an end next Thursday. "I myself am a father and deeply love my family. I know there might be young victims trapped in the ferry," an engineer of the Shanghai Salvage participating in the salvaging operation, told Xinhua. The engineer said he and his colleagues had always kept in mind their goal of sending the missing people back home as their parents are waiting there. Lee Kum-hee, mother of Cho Eun-hwa of Danwon High School who was never recovered, said her only wish was to become the bereaved families like others. Lee said former President Park Geun-hye faced what she deserved as Park, as the country's president, should have served as the "parent" for all of South Koreans including the victims of the ferry disaster. Park was arrested early Friday, hours before the transport vessel carrying the Sewol set sail for the Mokpo port. The first South Korean female president was under harsh criticism as her whereabouts were unknown for seven hours of the day when the ferry tragedy unfolded. The initial bungling of rescue operations was believed to have increased the number of deaths. Public dissatisfaction with the rescue operations contributed to the removal of Park from office on March 10. Park became the first South Korean leader to be ousted through impeachment. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 12:07:32|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close MEXICO CITY, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A heavy car crash took place early Friday morning in Mexico City, killing all four passengers while the driver survived. The car apparently rammed into a light pole while racing at 200 kilometers per hour along the city's central Reforma Avenue at about 3:30 a.m. local time, with the impact splitting the car in half, officials were quoted as saying by media report. The four passengers of the car, aged 25 to 30, were ejected from the light grey BMW by the impact and were killed instantly. The driver was taken to hospital, however, his injuries were not reported. Officials said the driver faces homicide charges. None of the victims has been yet identified. The fatal mix of speed and alcohol caused the crash, Laura Ballesteros, of the city's Secretariat of Mobility, told reporters. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 12:52:15|Editor: Tian Shaohui Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Li Jizhi HELSINKI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Paavo Virkkunen still clearly remembers his interactions with the Chinese almost 30 years ago when he led negotiations about the opening of a non-stop Finnair flight from Helsinki to Beijing. Although there was a fundamental bilateral air traffic agreement, the negotiations were difficult given that China was only years into its epoch-making reform and opening-up drive, he recalled. The Chinese aviation authorities were "fair and open," but much effort had to be made to introduce Finland as a travel destination, said Virkkunen. A personal touch did the trick. PIONEERING AVIATION COOPERATION Virkkunen once hosted a Chinese delegation from the Civil Aviation Administration of China. After riding a snowmobile and experiencing other winter activities, the head of the delegation said it would be interesting to see how a normal Finnish family lived. Caught unprepared, Virkkunen and his colleague quickly formed a new plan and rented a minivan. He drove the delegation to his parents' house in Taivalkoski, some 750 km north of Helsinki. Virkkunen's mother prepared a reindeer stew for lunch. His father, a reindeer herder, talked a lot with the Chinese guests with the help of an interpreter. Not so far away, some 300 reindeer could be seen feeding themselves. When leaving the farm, the head of delegation said he learned a great deal about Finnish life and culture. After the farm visit, Virkkunen found negotiations improved. Virkkunen could not remember what his father and the guests talked about. What he did remember was that his father later said he realized he had stereotypes about the Chinese society, and the "interesting and straightforward" talk helped him change his mind. Virkkunen believed it was an example of how simple things help build confidence between peoples. In 1988, Finnair opened a direct flight between the two capital cities, which was the first from Europe to China. The project was a pioneer and many major European airlines followed suit. "SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) opened a direct flight later in the same year, but we were the first. I am very proud of that. SAS has traditionally been a beloved neighbor competitor," said Virkkunen. The success of the Finnair project was a signal to the world that Finland was ready to connect to China when the populous Asian nation was just ready to open to the outside world. Now, nearly 30 years later, Finnair remains among the top five European airlines operating in China. It flies some 30 direct flights to six Chinese destinations per week on average. EMBRACING THE NEW Finnair's innovative spirit and startup style have kept the national carrier moving forward. In January 2017, it started a pilot project installing Alipay on the flight from Shanghai to Helsinki. Alipay, launched by Alibaba Group in 2004, is one of the biggest digital payment systems in China and in the world. The project was a trial for Chinese customers on the eve of the Lunar New Year. A month later, customers taking the flight to Beijing could also use Alipay on board. The two projects paid off: in-flight sales increased significantly and sometimes even doubled. By introducing Alipay on board, Finnair probably became the first airline to make a third-party mobile payment functional up in the air. Finnair chief digital officer Katri Harra-Salonen was reluctant to comment on this achievement, but she said much more work was done than installing the new payment system on the ground. "We have spent a lot of time making this method work, the cabin crews get trained, and everything needs to be strictly processed," she said. The project was completed faster than expected and Katri attributed the amazing speed to the high motivation of the team members and partners. "Everybody was happy to embrace new things," she said. In 2016, Alipay chose Rovaniemi, a major Arctic city in northern Finland, as the location for a ceremony celebrating its annual global online shopping festival "Single's Day." Numerous Finnish national brands including Iittala, Marttiini, Moomin and the Santa's Village were connected to the new type of payment service in order to offer Chinese customers a familiar payment method. Alexander Yin, chief financial officer of ePassi, a Finnish financial technology company that has enabled the fast connection between Alipay and Finnish cashiers, said everyone was highly committed to the common goal and proud to make history. "It has been a close collaboration across nationalities, national borders and time zones," he said. "Although ePassi is the biggest mobile payment in Finland, we see Alipay much ahead of us so we are always eager to learn from them. The same mentality strongly exists in Finnair and other partners," said Yin. KEEPING THE WORLD CONNECTED With more Chinese tourists and investment arriving in Finland, many say the people-to-people and commercial exchanges have flourished compared to 30 years ago. "In the 1980s, it was much of a political way of negotiating. Today it is very much business-oriented," said Virkkunen, who took the position as head of Visit Finland in 2016. Visit Finland is a government-funded organization promoting Finland as an attractive tourism destination and a place of investment. To lure Chinese visitors, Virkkunen has become an active user of WeChat, an instant messaging app developed by Chinese tech giant Tencent. Being the most popular social network application in China, it boasts 800 million users globally. Virkkunen said he has some 200 friends on Wechat,three-quarters of whom are Westerners who do business in China. Finnish enterprises interviewed by Xinhua underlined the importance of economic ties. Yin of ePassi said while globalization brings more competition in areas like cost control, it can also push businesses in developed countries to get out of the comfort zone and invest more in innovation. "Finland is a small country, and exports are of critical importance for it," said Yin. "Therefore, with a fair and open culture and value of globalization, the country's economy would benefit in the long run. It just requires companies and individuals to work harder and collaborate with the world." LISBON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said Friday that the sale of state-rescued Novo Banco to Lone Star of the United States will not have an impact on public accounts or on tax payers. A "balanced solution" had been reached, he said.X Nationalizing the bank would have entailed an injection of around 4 billion euros (4.26 billion U.S. dollars), while the sale meant the state would not have to pay anything at all, Costa told a press conference. "Novo Banco will continue to carry its role of financing the (Portuguese) economy," Costa said. Lone Star, a U.S. private fund, will acquire 75 percent of Novo Banco in exchange for a capital injection of 1 billion euros (1.06 billion dollars). Lone Star will first pay 750 million euros and the remaining 250 million euros will be disbursed by 2020. How do I finance my business? Who can give me good, solid, reliable advice? Are there loans/grants available to assist me? What should I be aware of? The economy is tough - I don't want to fail - HELP! Contact: Attila Nemecz Attila Nemecz Attila.Nemecz@beaufortccc.edu Starting your own business is part of the American dream. You've given this thought, you've sought advice, and you are just about ready to begin, then you ask yourself:Hosted by Brian Cooke. Mr. Brian Cooke is a former instructor of Management and Entrepreneurship at East Carolina University. Brian received his BSBA, concentrating in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management as well as an MBA from East Carolina University. During his time at ECU, Brian worked as the Assoc. Director of the Small Business Institute, interned with the NC Small Business and Technology Development Center, and received two national awards for business case competitions. Brian has experience in business ownership, business consulting, business planning, product design, manufacturing, and supply chain management.Register for the class here Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 13:37:54|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Gu Zhenqiu UNITED NATIONS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistani UN ambassador, Maleeha Lodhi, said that China's Belt and Road Initiative is a "win-win for everybody" while "connecting hearts" in countries along its path. Lodhi told Xinhua that she looks forward to a high-level forum to be hosted by China in May to boost international cooperation to carry out the landmark Chinese initiative. The Belt & Road Initiative "is win-win for the whole region," said Lodhi, the permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, "We look forward to this meeting." She added it is certainly "a cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor", which is part of the Belt & Road Initiative. China plans to host a Belt and Road forum for international cooperation in Beijing this May to brainstorm on interconnected development. The Belt and Road Initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, was put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. It aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa. "And we would like to play a leading role in ensuring regional connectivity, which brings not just people together, but hearts together, because regional connectivity aims to ensure that all people prosper from economic cooperation and trade relations," she said. The Belt & Road Initiative "is one of bringing economic prosperity through regional connectivity to all the countries," she added. "This is something, of course, my country always welcomes because my country's relations with China are like what President Xi described as 'iron brothers'," said Lodhi. The Belt and Road Initiative has won support from more than 100 countries and international organizations, with nearly 50 cooperation agreements signed between governments. Given the solid relationship between China and Pakistan, Lodhi said her country has a pivotal role to play in ensuring the vision is translated into reality. "And, of course, all people will benefit from this." She said Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the people of Pakistan believed that this initiative is going to transform the region. The initiative is also one that will "help to foster the notion that we have a shared future," added the ambassador. "I think this initiative will help us translate those opportunities into actual accomplishments on the ground, ensuring that our people have a better life, our people have the economic goods and the economic prosperity that is the dividend of peace in our region," she said. Meanwhile, Lodhi stressed that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a good example of the international efforts to carry out the Belt and Road Initiative. "This is a model and an example for the rest of the world of how two countries can also cooperate in a manner that benefits both," she said. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, proposed by China in 2013, is a 3,000-km network of roads, railways and pipelines linking Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and southwest Pakistan's Gwadar Port. Lodhi, Pakistan's first female UN ambassador, served as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States twice (1993-1996, 1999-2002) and as high commissioner to Britain (2003-2008). She also served as a member of the UN secretary-general's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters from 2001 to 2005. In 1994, the U.S. magazine Time nominated her as one of a hundred people in the world who would help shape the 21st century. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 14:22:59|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer signed into law Friday a controversial bill on reforming labor regulations in the South American country. He did this despite that tens of thousands of Brazilians taking to the street across the country earlier in the day to protest against government-proposed social security reforms. Opponents fear the new labor law, which licenses unrestricted outsourcing in Brazil, would lead to deteriorating work conditions for the majority workers, including longer hours and less income and benefits. There are also concerns it would result in tax reductions amid an economic recession the country has long suffered, with no immediate significant improvement in sight. The reform bill had also met with opposition from Temer's own Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB). Earlier this week, nine PMDB senators released a public letter asking Temer not to sign the bill, which they said would worsen unemployment and more. Temer's decision is expected to lower his popularity further. An Ibope poll published earlier in Friday showed his approval rate continued to fall and now sits at 10 percent of the Brazilian electorate. The March 16-19 poll, carried out by the National Transports Confederation (CNT) and carried out by the polling institute Ibope, surveyed 2,000 electors in 126 towns across Brazil. According to the poll, 55 percent of the surveyed considered Tremer's administration as bad or very bad, compared to 46 percent in a similar Ibope poll in December 2016. CNT attributed the approval rate drop in large part to Tremer's recent reforms, in addition to unpopular fiscal adjustment measures and rising unemployment. On Friday, protests were staged in every state in the country against the government reforms on the social security system. The largest protest reportedly took place in Sao Paulo, where organizers said 50,000 people took part. Social security reform has been widely regarded as detrimental to the working classes. The government said the system, with a huge deficit, would collapse without immediate reform, unable to pay pensions in the future. Opponents believed the government's accounting failed to take into consideration all the sources of money for the system, which have in fact led to a surplus. The proposed reforms include setting the minimum retirement age to 65, and requiring a 49 year-long employment without gaps for a fully paid pension. Rural and construction workers are believed to be among the hardest hit. In fact, in Brazil's poorer states, the average life expectancy barely exceeds 65. Brazilians can now retire after 30 years of work, regardless of age. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 14:49:14|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao The ship "Azamara Quest" from the U.S. company Royal Caribbean, arrives at the harbor of Havana, Cuba, on March 31, 2017. U.S. cruise company Royal Caribbean docked its first ever ship in Cuba on Friday and became the fourth American cruise operator to sail to the island after the two countries reestablished diplomatic relations in 2015. (Xinhua/Joaquin Hernandez) JAKARTA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 people were buried as landslides struck East Java province in western Indonesia and a rescue operation was underway, an official from the disaster agency said Saturday. The landslides, trigger by heavy downpours, occurred in the hill in Banaran village of Ponorogo district and destroyed 25 to 30 houses, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the national disaster management agency, told Xinhua via phone. Soldiers, policemen, personnel from the local disaster office as well as volunteers were involved in the search and rescue operation, he added. Access to the scene was very difficult which had hampered the rescue operation, Sutopo said. Heavy machinery equipment was badly needed, the official added. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 15:02:31|Editor: ying Video Player Close KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan army personnel found attack tunnels near an army base in northern Kunduz province and captured three militants, foiling an attack against the facility, an army source said on Saturday. "On a tip-off, army soldiers launched an operation in Ismahil Qishlaq locality, Imam Sahib District on Friday and detained three militants. The captured men were digging out two tunnels near an army base from a residential area, but their vicious aim to attack the base has been foiled," Ghulam Hazrat Karimi, spokesman of army's Division 20 Pamir based in the northern region, told Xinhua. The trio were transferred to an army base for further questioning and the tunnels were destroyed, the source added. The Kunduz province has been the scene of heavy clashes over the past couple of months as Taliban militants have been trying to challenge the government forces in the once relatively peaceful region. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 16:28:15|Editor: ying Video Player Close DHAKA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Three more bodies suspected to be militants were found Saturday after Bangladeshi police in the country's northeastern region stormed the second hideout of the Neo-JMB members holed up there, police said. Bangladesh's Counter-Terrorism Police Unit Chief Monirul Islam declared the "Operation Maximus" to flash out the second militant hideout in the country's Moulvibazar district, about 200 km north-east of capital Dhaka, was over. "The bodies of two men and a woman were found after the law enforcers managed to enter the Neo-JMB hideout" he told journalists. The senior police officer said the militants were most likely killed in "suicide explosions" like seven other militants of another hideout of the district where law enforcers conducted "Operation Hit Back" on March 30. Security forces surrounded two buildings in two separate places in Moulvibazar district since early Wednesday. After the first operation, Islam said "Seven bodies were found scattered at the militant den in Moulvibazar's Nasirnagar". He said "We're primarily sure the slain militants of both the hideouts are members of Neo JMB". The Neo-JMB, an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, was blamed for the deadly July 1, 2016 attack on a Spanish cafe in Dhaka, which killed 22 people, mostly foreigners. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 16:28:15|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- China has issued more than 98 million e-chip passports, which contain the personal information of the bearer, the Ministry of Public Security said Saturday. Since chipped passports were launched in March 2012, 6.6 million were issued that year alone and the annual average rate of issuing new passports grew by 20 percent. The ministry estimates that it will have issued in excess of 100 million e-chip passports by the end of April. At present, smart cards have replaced the paper permits issued to Hong Kong and Macao residents commuting between the Chinese mainland and the two regions, said the ministry. The ministry has simplified procedures and delegated power to local administrations aiming to provide convenience to people who made such application. In 2016, 79 million residents of the Chinese mainland held chipped passports for exit or entry, 30.6 percent of the residents who travelled outside the mainland. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 17:08:21|Editor: ZD Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- China-U.S. relations are of defining significance and need to be handled with care by both countries, said a renowned Indian expert on China and Asia studies. "The China-U.S. relationship is a defining relationship and one of the most important relationships of the 21 century," B.R. Deepak, a professor with the Center for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, said in a recent interview with Xinhua. China-U.S. interaction has "huge implications for bilateral relations, the Asia-Pacific region as well as the world ... because there are a lot of uncertainties now," he added. The relationship "has to be handled with care by both sides," he said, adding that a sound China-U.S. relationship should have such features as "no conflict, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation." "Mutual respect is the cornerstone," he added. "If the two sides can reach some consensus on these issues, then we could see a good future regarding regional peace as well as world peace," Deepak added. "China has made its intention very clear and is pursuing win-win cooperation with the United States," he said, adding that "the ball is in the U.S. court. It is the United States that has to decide whether to avoid the (Thucydides) trap or not." The Indian expert also spoke highly of China's efforts to help tackle global challenges and improve the international governance system. "China is playing a constructive role in replenishing the international system and improving global governance by bringing everyone on board," he said. "Even the poor countries would have a say in the emerging international system, which is more inclusive." Among the measures China has taken, "I think the biggest would be the Belt and Road Initiative," he said, adding that "it is very timely as the West is getting increasingly protectionist, inward-looking, more exclusive." "The Belt and Road Initiative is a great initiative which binds many people together with a single stake, be it an economic stake or a security stake, be it cultural or people-to-people engagement," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 17:38:24|Editor: ZD Video Player Close CAIRO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Egypt has been attempting to resolve the Palestinian issue which will top the agenda of the upcoming Egyptian-U.S. summit in Washington, experts said. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi will arrive in Washington on Saturday, where he will hold talks with his American counterpart Donald Trump on Monday. "Egypt is trying to find a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as it fully realizes that a peaceful settlement in Palestine means stability for the whole region," Professor Abdel Mohdy Motawe, a Cairo-based Palestinian political analyst told Xinhua. Egypt is working seriously for a just and comprehensive peace that will help bring real development to the Middle East, the professor said. The Palestinian analyst explained that Egypt is the heart of the Arab world, as its balanced stances toward the region's crises and issues give the North African country a great chance to achieve tangible results in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. "It is apparent that Trump seeks to intensify his relations with Egypt as he realizes Egypt's role in combating terrorism as well as its influence on Arab countries which help achieve a regional peaceful settlement," he said. According to Motawe, the Sisi-Trump meeting will focus on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict because "Trump wants to succeed where previous U.S. presidents have failed." The Palestinian cause is a common worry for all Arabs, stressing that the recent Arab Summit in Jordan highlighted it as the core issue for Arab nations, the expert added. Cairo is pushing forward to renew the stalled peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The peace process saw no progress since former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry failed to broker negotiations between the two sides in late April 2014 after a nine-month quest. The seven-decade Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been a major concern in the turmoil-stricken Middle East region. A Saudi-led Arab peace initiative in 2002 urged Israel to fully withdraw from the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 in return for normal relations with the Arab world. However, Israel rejected the initiative. For decades, Egypt has been working hard with other international players to bring the Palestinians and the Israelis to the negotiation table to end their prolonged conflict. Israel has always been blamed by the international community for the deadlock of the Middle East peace process because of its expansive settlement policy that is rejected even by its strongest ally, the United States. Despite a late 2016 UN Security Council resolution demanded immediate and complete halt of Israeli settlement activities on occupied Palestinian territories, the Israeli parliament approved the so-called "Regulation Bill" in February, which retroactively legalizes about 3,850 housing units in dozens of outposts illegally built on privately owned Palestinian lands. Meanwhile, Tareq Fahmy, a professor of political science with the American University in Cairo, said the tension between the Palestinian and Egyptian leaderships has come to an end, which will help Egypt push for the renewal of Palestine's peace talks with Israel. The visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Egypt in late March, as well as the upcoming visits of Abbas and Sisi to Washington, prove that they will both discuss the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks during their meetings with Trump, Fahmy said. Egypt is concerned that the political vacancy regarding the Palestinian issue may be filled by deadly fighting, so it will exert all possible efforts to return relevant parties to the negotiation table. On March 20, Sisi and Abbas met in Cairo, where both leaders discussed the latest developments in Palestine in the light of the ongoing Israeli settlement activities. They also agreed to promote the two-state vision as a way to promote peace in the region. During a meeting on the sidelines of the Arab Summit on Wednesday, Abbas, Sisi and King Abdullah II of Jordan stressed the importance of reviving the peace process and the two-state solution to the Palestinian cause. Palestinian fishermen ride their boats as they go fishing at the seaport of Gaza City on Oct. 10, 2016. (Xinhua Photo) CAIRO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Egypt has been attempting to resolve the Palestinian issue which will top the agenda of the upcoming Egyptian-U.S. summit in Washington, experts said. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi will arrive in Washington on Saturday, where he will hold talks with his American counterpart Donald Trump on Monday. "Egypt is trying to find a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as it fully realizes that a peaceful settlement in Palestine means stability for the whole region," Professor Abdel Mohdy Motawe, a Cairo-based Palestinian political analyst told Xinhua. Egypt is working seriously for a just and comprehensive peace that will help bring real development to the Middle East, the professor said. The Palestinian analyst explained that Egypt is the heart of the Arab world, as its balanced stances toward the region's crises and issues give the North African country a great chance to achieve tangible results in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. "It is apparent that Trump seeks to intensify his relations with Egypt as he realizes Egypt's role in combating terrorism as well as its influence on Arab countries which help achieve a regional peaceful settlement," he said. According to Motawe, the Sisi-Trump meeting will focus on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict because "Trump wants to succeed where previous U.S. presidents have failed." The Palestinian cause is a common worry for all Arabs, stressing that the recent Arab Summit in Jordan highlighted it as the core issue for Arab nations, the expert added. Cairo is pushing forward to renew the stalled peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The peace process saw no progress since former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry failed to broker negotiations between the two sides in late April 2014 after a nine-month quest. The seven-decade Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been a major concern in the turmoil-stricken Middle East region. A Saudi-led Arab peace initiative in 2002 urged Israel to fully withdraw from the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 in return for normal relations with the Arab world. However, Israel rejected the initiative. For decades, Egypt has been working hard with other international players to bring the Palestinians and the Israelis to the negotiation table to end their prolonged conflict. Israel has always been blamed by the international community for the deadlock of the Middle East peace process because of its expansive settlement policy that is rejected even by its strongest ally, the United States. Despite a late 2016 UN Security Council resolution demanded immediate and complete halt of Israeli settlement activities on occupied Palestinian territories, the Israeli parliament approved the so-called "Regulation Bill" in February, which retroactively legalizes about 3,850 housing units in dozens of outposts illegally built on privately owned Palestinian lands. Meanwhile, Tareq Fahmy, a professor of political science with the American University in Cairo, said the tension between the Palestinian and Egyptian leaderships has come to an end, which will help Egypt push for the renewal of Palestine's peace talks with Israel. The visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Egypt in late March, as well as the upcoming visits of Abbas and Sisi to Washington, prove that they will both discuss the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks during their meetings with Trump, Fahmy said. Egypt is concerned that the political vacancy regarding the Palestinian issue may be filled by deadly fighting, so it will exert all possible efforts to return relevant parties to the negotiation table. On March 20, Sisi and Abbas met in Cairo, where both leaders discussed the latest developments in Palestine in the light of the ongoing Israeli settlement activities. They also agreed to promote the two-state vision as a way to promote peace in the region. During a meeting on the sidelines of the Arab Summit on Wednesday, Abbas, Sisi and King Abdullah II of Jordan stressed the importance of reviving the peace process and the two-state solution to the Palestinian cause. International firearms experts and museum professionals are traveling to Cody, Wyoming, for a July symposium titled "Arsenals of History: Firearms and Museums in the 21st Century." The two-day event, hosted by the Buffalo Bill Center of the Wests Cody Firearms Museum, opens July 17 in the Centers Coe Auditorium. Sessions that day are open to the public and free. Speakers will include representatives from the National Rifle Associations Museums Division, the Smithsonian Institution National Firearms Collection and the Royal Armouries Museum from the United Kingdom. Day 2, July 18, is open only to museum professionals. The cost for the day is $15, and advanced registration is required to attend; contact Michael at dannym@centerofthewest.org or 307-578-4099 with questions and to register. Saviour Kasukuwere, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister of Zimbabwe, speaks at the donation ceremony in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 31, 2017.(Xinhua/You Zhengjun) HARARE, April 1 (Xinhua) -- China has handed over 1.06 million U.S. dollars to Zimbabwe to help hundreds of families affected by floods that hit the southern parts of the country in February. Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Huang Ping said the friendship which exists between the two countries had spurred China to come to Zimbabwe's aid. The Chinese government donated 1 million dollars while the Red Cross Society of China gave 50,000 dollars and the Chinese community in Zimbabwe chipped in with another 10,000 dollars. Children queue to receive food at the Sipepa Camp in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North Province, Zimbabwe, March 26, 2017. Heavy rains that were worsened by Cyclone Dineo left 271 people dead, 128 injured and nearly 2,000 homeless. The deaths were caused by lightning strikes, drowning and landslides, according to the Civil Protection Unit, which added that nearly 2,600 homesteads were damaged in varying degrees. Tsholotsho was the worst affected district where a total of 859 people were left homeless and are currently in a transit camp and an additional 100 households remain at risk. (Xinhua) The southern African country of Namibia also donated 1.2 million tins of canned fish to help avert an unfolding humanitarian crisis facing the nation. Namibian ambassador to Zimbabwe Balbina des Pienaar said her government would also donate medical supplies on top of the canned fish, news agency New Ziana reported. Zimbabwe's Acting Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Sydney Sekeramayi thanked the governments of China and Namibia for helping Zimbabwe during its time of need. Heavy rains that were worsened by Cyclone Dineo last month left 271 people dead, another 128 injured and nearly 2,000 homeless in the country. Photo taken on March 26, 2017 shows the view of Sipepa Camp in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North Province, Zimbabwe. (Xinhua) The deaths were caused by lightning strikes, drowning and landslides, according to the Civil Protection Unit, which added that nearly 2,600 homesteads were damaged in varying degrees. The worst affected district was Tsholotsho (Matabeleland North Province) where a total of 859 people were left homeless and are currently in a transit camp and an additional 100 households remain at risk. According to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, over 100,000 people are without safe drinking water following the damage to water supply infrastructure. President Robert Mugabe on March 2 declared a State of Flood Disaster, leading to the launching of a domestic and international appeal for nearly 189 million dollars to help victims and repair infrastructure such as homes, roads, bridges, dams, schools, water and sanitation. A Kenyan diplomat learns basic Chinese greetings during the launching ceremony of a Chinese language training course at the University of Nairobi's Confucius Institute in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, Nov. 4, 2016. A total of 30 Kenyan diplomats serving in various departments in the ministry of foreign affairs will undergo a four-month training in Chinese language. (Xinhua/Li Baishun) NAIROBI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and immigration officials on Friday completed a three-month Chinese language course to sharpen their skills as part of efforts to promote interactions with Chinese visitors. Guo Hong, director of Confucius Institute at University of Nairobi said that 20 Kenyan officers, who frequently interact with Chinese visitors, were selected to undertake the three-month course. "The officers will help to promote closer Sino-Kenya ties by being able to communicate effectively with Chinese visitors in Kenya," Guo said during the graduation ceremony. The 10 immigration and 10 customs officers constitute the second batch of civil servants who have been trained on Chinese Language at the Confucius Institute. Guo said that the language course which is supported by the Chinese Embassy in Kenya is one of the efforts aimed at making more and more people know Chinese language and culture. Chinese teacher Deng Qianqian (L) teaches Chinsese calligraphy during the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration at Confucius Institute of the University of Kenyatta in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, on Sept. 15, 2016. More than 200 Students and teachers in Nairobi took part in the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Sept. 15 this year. (Xinhua/Pan Siwei) The Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government Deputy Director of Immigration Services Eunice Lamba-Chacha said that the study of Chinese language will help Kenya to bridge the cultural gap and enhance the understanding of the Chinese people. "The officers will now be able to address Chinese customers in the language that they understand best and are most comfortable communicating in," Lamba-Chacha said. "The training therefore comes at an opportune time when the Chinese investments and presence in Kenya are increasing," she added. Lamba-Chacha said that there shall be a remarkable improvement in the delivery of services by the graduates at their respective duty stations. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 19:43:41|Editor: ying Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people including a police officer were killed in separate incidents in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Friday night amid a surge in crime in urban cities and towns. Nairobi police boss Japheth Koome said the deceased police officer was on a mission to arrest gunmen in the sprawling Kayole residential estate. "The police officer was shot and killed as he and his colleagues pursued a gang in Kayole," Koome said, noting that the officer who joined the service in 2013 was with his colleagues and had cornered suspects in a house when one of the gunmen jumped out firing and killed him. Koome said the gang had been on a robbery spree before they were spotted, prompting a chase that turned fatal. "We will not sit and watch our police officers and Kenyans being killed by thugs. Tell other gangsters their days are numbered," said Koome. His remarks came as a video emerged showing police killing a suspect in an extrajudicial manner in Eastleigh neighborhood area where two suspects were killed. The video capturing the killing drew mixed reactions online with some supporting it while others termed the incident extrajudicial. Some locals said the gang was well known and was behind a number of violent robberies in the area. Koome said the gang was part of the members of the Superpower group that operates in Eastleigh where they terrorize locals for money. Superpower is a proscribed gang in Kenya. "The gang has been behind a series of many robbery incidents in the area and we have information showing they were behind the killing of three people including a police officer and physically challenged man in Kayole," said Koome. The police boss said he stood by his officers who were behind the incident. "We will be ruthless to gunmen who kill innocent Kenyans," he said. Also on Friday, three other suspects were killed by police in Pangani area in a botched robbery. The suspects had been mugging and robbing residents when an alarm was raised alerting police. Police said three other suspects were killed in Utawala area in a botched robbery on Friday night closing a bloody day. The police have been grappling with a new wave of crime including armed robberies, burglaries, carjacking and kidnappings. Ordinary citizens, police and civic leaders have blamed social breakdown, high population density and availability of dangerous weapons for the surge in crime. Up to 50 suspects have been killed by police and mobs in separate incidents in Nairobi in the last two months alone, according to crime records by the police. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 19:58:43|Editor: ying Video Player Close ACCRA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Ghana came out of the market late Friday with 4.87 billion Ghana cedis (1.12 billion U.S. dollars) in two concurrent domestic market bonds. The lead arrangers-- Barclays Bank, Stanbic Bank and Strategic African Securities (SAS), said in their closing documents that the government raised 3.42 billion cedis (790 million dollars) from its first ever 15-year domestic bond issued on Friday, at a yield of 19.75 percent. At the same time the government also accepted 1.45 billion cedis (335 million dollars) in a separate seven-year domestic bond at a yield of 19.75 percent. The government has been using such longer-dated debt facilities to restructure its growing public debt, some of which are in short term Treasury bills. The Friday's bonds issued through the book-building approach were also open to foreign investors, with settlement due on Monday. Growing public debt and a more than 10 percent fiscal slippage forced the previous government led by John Dramani Mahama to enter a three year Extended Credit Facility deal worth 918 million dollars with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The government announced on Friday it will go to the domestic capital market to raise 22.25 billion cedis (5.1 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2017, after it was scheduled to raise 17.4 billion cedis (4.0 billion dollars) from the local market during the first quarter. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 20:18:12|Editor: ying Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's health ministry on Saturday launched a five-day polio vaccination campaign targeting over 4.5 million children below the age of five, in 22 high risk counties. Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu, who launched the exercise in Nairobi, said the campaign will be conducted to ensure all children are protected against the deadly disease. He said vaccination teams will move from house to house to vaccinate all children under five years and designated areas such as like schools, churches and transit points to ensure that no eligible child is missed. "Those seeking treatment in health facilities for other disease conditions will also receive the vaccine," Mailu said. The last polio outbreak in Kenya occurred three years ago and was reported in Rongo, Migori county. Three years prior to the outbreak, a wild polio virus outbreak paralyzed 14 people and killed two others in the present Garissa and Turkana Counties. The detection of polio cases in Nigeria last year poses a risk to Kenya owing to the significant population movement between the two countries. Head of the Department of Preventive and Promotive Health Services, Dr. David Soti, has urged parents, guardians and communities in the targeted Counties to ensure that all children below five years receive the polio vaccine. "The vaccines that will be used during this polio vaccination campaign are the same ones used in our routine immunization program in all public, private and faith-based health facilities. Additionally, the vaccines have been evaluated by the National Quality Control Laboratory and found to be safe," Soti said. According to Soti Kenya has not had an indigenous case of polio since 1984 although the fight to remain polio-free had been hampered by importations from other countries. Kenya will continue to guard its polio-free status by strengthening routine immunization, conducting high quality polio vaccination campaigns and sustaining a robust surveillance system, he said. "Children below five years are particularly vulnerable to diseases because their immunity is not yet fully developed to fight the diseases. Polio is one of the serious vaccine preventable diseases because not only does it cause paralysis and disability but it can also kill," he noted. Polio is the second disease being targeted for total eradication in Kenya, after Small Pox was declared eradicated in 1980. Due to the concerted global effort to eradicate polio, the cases have decreased significantly by over 99 percent since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases then, to only 35 polio cases in 2016. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 20:43:17|Editor: ying Video Player Close PYONGYANG, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has supervised a competition by the tank units of the country's army and praised its full preparedness to "liberate the southern part of the country." The Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday that Kim guided the Korean People's Army (KPA) Tank Crew Competition 2017 and designated a unit responsible for combat in the Seoul area, capital of South Korea as the winner. "Tankmen of the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Guards 105th Tank Division won the competition," said the report. Kim described the performance of the tanks as "excellent" and said "it was marvelous to see the tanks crossing even a steep hill at the maximum speed ... representing symbol of the KPA and they are like iron fists," according to the report. "The competition clearly showed that the KPA tank crew are fully prepared to be stalwart fighters capable of independently and skillfully carrying out any combat tasks in the operational areas for liberating the southern part of the country," he said. The DPRK has warned the United States and South Korea of its own preemptive strike aimed at foiling any attempt by the U.S. and South Korean forces to stage "special operations" against its leadership and strategic military installations. Pyongyang accuses Washington and Seoul of preparing for beheading strikes against the DPRK leadership and destroying its nuclear and missile bases in their ongoing military exercises "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle." Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 20:43:18|Editor: ying Video Player Close AMMAN, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Saturday condemned Israel's plan to build a new settlement in the West Bank, saying the move further undermines peace efforts, the state-run Petra news agency reported. Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani said the government strongly condemns the move. "This decision is a stark violation of the Palestinians' right in statehood and the creation of their own state at the borders of 1967. This move hits and undermines efforts to attain peace and end the conflict and fuels the environment on which terrorists and radicals thrive," said the minister. The Israeli decision, he said, contradicts all international legitimacy resolutions. The move undermines the two state solution as a key solution to end the conflict, said the minister, calling on the international community to condemn and stop such Israeli practices. On Thursday, The Israeli security cabinet unanimously approved the establishment of a new settlement to house settlers evacuated from the illegal outpost of Amona in February. This is the first time in over 20 years that Israeli government has decided to establish a new West Bank settlement. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 20:58:54|Editor: ying Video Player Close PYONGYANG, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday demanded the immediate repatriation of 12 girls, who it said were kidnapped one year ago by South Korea's intelligence service abroad. The Korean Central News Agency quoted a spokesman for the Central Committee of the DPRK Red Cross Society as saying in a statement that "mounting high is the wrath of the parents of the abductees and indignation of other Koreans after one year since they were taken to South Korea by the puppet gangsters," in reference to the South Korean authorities. The spokesman accused Seoul of "clinging to a deceptive smear campaign" against the DPRK and "denying the opening of their whereabouts to the public and their repatriation to the last." "No one knows who is alive, who died and who became disabled out of those 12 (girls) who are in custody by the puppet intelligence service gangsters (of South Korea)," said the spokesman. A South Korean official recently claimed that the allegedly kidnapped girls have been admitted to college "for their smooth adaptation to (the) South Korean society." The DPRK spokesman called the claim as "a childish deception and inhumane act aiming to pull the wool over the eyes of the public." Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 21:03:55|Editor: ying Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police chief has ordered thorough investigations into the killing of two suspected gang members allegedly by police officers in Eastleigh residential estate in Nairobi. Joseph Boinett, the Inspector General of Police and Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (IPOA) said separately those behind the killings which has gone viral must be identified and arrested. "IPOA has dispatched its Rapid Response Unit to investigate the incident with a view of establishing circumstances of the shooting. If there is culpability ensuring that responsible face the full force of the law," said the police watchdog. IPOA said after concluding the investigations, recommendations will be taken to the office of the director of public prosecutions. The move comes a day after video capturing armed officers shooting dead a young suspect who had surrendered as a crowd watched drew mixed reactions online. Nairobi police commander Japheth Koome said the gang was part of the members of the "Superpower Gang" that operates in Eastleigh terrorizing locals for money. Koome said the gang has been behind a series of robbery incidents in the area, adding that police have information showing they were behind the killing of three people, including a police officer and physically challenged man in Kayole. Koome was keen to note that he stood by his officers who were behind the incident, further warning gangsters to either abandon their criminal activities or get killed. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 21:08:56|Editor: ZD The graphic shows China will establish the Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province, as part of measures to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region. (Xinhua/Meng Lijing, Xiao Xiao) BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- China announced Saturday it would establish the Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province, as part of measures to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. This is a further new area of national significance after the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area, according to a circular issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council. The move is a "major historic and strategic choice made by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core," said the circular, which described the decision as "a strategy crucial for a millennium to come." The New Area, about 100 km southwest of downtown Beijing, will span three counties that sit at the center of the triangular area formed by Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei's provincial capital Shijiazhuang. The move will help phase out functions from Beijing that are not related to the capital, explore a new model of optimized development in densely-populated areas, and restructure the urban layout in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, according to the circular. The New Area will cover around 100 square km initially and will be expanded to 200 square km in the mid-term and about 2,000 square km in the long-term. President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has said priority should be given to developing an area to pool non-capital functions that will be shifted from Beijing. He has ordered that a modern urban district should be built at a suitable location in Hebei, guided by new development concepts. During an inspection tour to Hebei on Feb. 23, Xi called for "world vision, international standards, Chinese characteristics and high goals" in the planning and construction of the area. He called for efforts to build Xiongan into "a demonstration area for innovative development." The area should prioritize ecological protection, improve people's well-being as well as protect and carry forward Chinese traditional culture, he said. The Xiongan New Area covers the counties of Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin, and is home to Baiyangdian, northern China's largest freshwater wetland. The area features geological advantages, convenient transportation, an excellent ecological environment, ample resources and lots of room for development, according to the circular. Saturday's announcement was the latest step in China's efforts to cure severe "urban ills," such as traffic congestion and air pollution in Beijing by curbing the capital's population growth and moving certain non-essential facilities, including manufacturing and logistics, to nearby regions. A number of wholesale markets in the city's central areas have been shut down or relocated, and some of Beijing's city administration is planned to be moved out of the city center to the eastern suburbs in Tongzhou. The removal of functions not related to the capital from Beijing is part of a greater strategy to integrate the development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei for a better economic structure, cleaner environment and improved public services. Authorities intend to transform the region into a new growth pole as China's economy slows. Almost one year ago to the day, I held an energy summit in Billings with over 600 Montanans talking about the future of Montana energy. This week I stood with President Trump, Vice President Pence, Energy Secretary Perry, Interior Secretary Zinke, EPA Administrator Pruitt as well as 20 coal miners to mark the start of a new era in energy production and job creation. On Tuesday, President Trump took decisive action directing the EPA to suspend, revise or rescind the EPA Power Plan that is stifling jobs. Then on Wednesday, Secretary Zinke reversed harmful regulations and instilled commonsense policies to ensure our state and Indian tribes have a seat at the table to protect Montana energy jobs and tax revenues for our teachers, schools and infrastructure. Energy security is central to both our national and economic security. America leads the world in fossil fuel resources we are No. 1, No. 2 is Russia, No. 3 is Saudi Arabia, No. 4 is China and No. 5 is Iran. When you look at the rankings, the world is much safer if America is not just energy independent, but is energy dominant. We have that opportunity before us now because of President Trumps and Secretary Zinkes leadership. In my first official letter to then President-elect Trump the very first action I urged him to take was to rescind the EPA Power Plan. If this were to have taken effect, it would cost 7,000 good-paying Montana jobs and the loss of $145 million in annual tax revenue. Montana would have moved from being a net energy exporter to a net energy importer. Also this week in the Senate Energy Committee, we approved multiple pieces of bipartisan legislation to protect Montanas great outdoors: a bill to honor the life of renowned Montana conservationist, Alex Diekmann, by naming an unnamed peak in his memory, a bill to ensure the completion of two hydroelectric facilities in Montana and a bill to designate the East Rosebud as a Wild and Scenic River for future generations to enjoy. In Montana, we all want clean water and clean air but we dont want Washington, D.C., dictating how we should do business or which natural resources we should prefer. Montanans are very fortunate we truly are an all-of-the-above energy state. Montana leads the nation in coal deposits. Montana is the nations fifth-largest producer of hydro power, with 23 hydro electric dams across our state, and fifth in wind energy potential. In Montana, we have it all an unparalleled quality of life and an abundance of natural resources: coal, natural gas and oil, as well as renewables such as hydro, wind, biomass and solar opportunities. There shouldnt be a false choice renewable and nonrenewables: Montanans choose both. Between now and the year 2050, we are going to add 1.6 billion people to the planet and we are going to increase demand for energy by 84 percent. We need to allow the market force to define where we are going to get that energy. Most Montanans are pro-natural resource development and they are pro-environment. They are both; Montana is a blend of Merle Haggard and John Denver. January 20 marked an important transition in this country. Theres another transition happening from the federal government, back to the people it serves. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 21:59:04|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close JAKARTA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Confucius Institute at the University of Al Azhar Indonesia held a youth microfilm festival here on Saturday to promote people-to-people exchanges between China and Indonesia. The festival showcased tens of microfilms integrating Chinese and Indonesian culture by Indonesian university students. Luizah F. Saidi, an official of the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, said films which can convey information and knowledge easily and directly may become a good platform in promoting mutual understanding of cultures. Wang Zhixian, a secretary of the cultural section of the Chinese embassy in Indonesia, said at the opening ceremony that the exchange of youth is important for the future development of China-Indonesia relations and encouraged the two sides to intensify cooperation in all aspects. The one-day festival also featured a microfilm competition which was contested by 26 teams from Indonesian domestic university students and those studying in China. The microfilms which were taken in Indonesia and China merged Chinese and Indonesian lifestyles and unfolded Indonesian youth's acknowledgment to Chinese culture. Meanwhile, a film salon was held on the sideline of the festival. Hundreds of film directors, producers and experts joined and shared their experience on the important role of films in promoting cultural exchanges. Riyana Istiqoma, a student from Al Azhar said she was fully impressed by the films which explore China in different angles. She hoped she could have the opportunity to study in China and experience Chinese culture and society more closely. More than 300 participants consisting of university lecturers and students, Chinese culture lovers as well as film experts attended the festival's opening ceremony. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 22:04:04|Editor: ying Video Player Close LONDON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Queen Elizabeth has given her permission for the body of Houses of Parliament police officer Keith Palmer to lie in the Palace of Westminster prior to his funeral, it was announced Saturday. Police constable Palmer, aged 48, was stabbed and killed during last week's attack on the British parliament by terrorist Khalid Masood. Masood was shot and killed by armed officers as they ran to the aid of Palmer. The honor has been granted by the Queen as a result of Palmer losing his life in the line of duty preserving the security of parliament, said an official spokesman for Parliament. In recent times, only two leading politicians have been allowed to rest in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft at the parliament buildings. In 2013 the body of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher was allowed to rest at the chapel, and a year later the same honor was given to Labour party veteran MP Tony Benn. Palmer's remains will rest in the chapel on April 9 and 10, prior to his funeral at Southwark Cathedral in London on April 10. The Chapel of St Mary Undercroft is one of the oldest parts of the Houses of Parliament. It was completed by King Edward I in 1,297 becoming the chapel used for worshipping by members of the Royal Court and the Royal Household. The Metropolitan Police in London said Saturday a 30-year-old man arrested March 26 at an address in Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts has been released. It means all 12 people previously arrested in connection with the investigation have all been released with no further action. Four victims died as a result Masood's attack on March 22 at Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, and dozens more were injured. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 22:29:09|Editor: ying Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) welcomes Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak during a ceremonial reception held at the Indian Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India, April 1, 2017. Najib Razak is on his five-day visit to India. (Xinhua/Partha Sarkar) NEW DELHI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak here on Saturday as both countries geared up for delegation-level talks and got ready to ink a number of pacts in various fields. Modi held closed-door talks with Razak at the iconic Hyderabad House in the heart of the national capital in the evening. "Honoring a shared heritage. PM @narendramodi receives PM @NajibRazak at Hyderabad House," Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. Addressing a joint press conference, Modi lauded bilateral cooperation in sectors of food security, traditional medicine, educational exchanges and anti-terror efforts. On bilateral defense partnership, Modi said both India and Malaysia are cooperating in various fields, including maritime security and maintenance of military hardware. The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said that Razak "compliments PM @narendramodi on bold economic reforms and congratulates him on India's high economic growth." Earlier in the day, the Malaysian prime minister was received by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Modi. He later met Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The Malaysian prime minister, who is on a six-day official visit to India, arrived in southern state of Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai on Thursday, where he met, apart from political leaders, Tamil film industry's superstar Latha Rajnikanth. He came to Delhi on Friday and will go to the western state of Rajasthan Sunday, where he is slated to hold talks with state Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Iraqi security forces drive past civilians fleeing their homes in Mosul's old city carry on March 30, 2017, due to the ongoing battles between government forces and Islamic State (IS) group fighters. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) BAGHDAD, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts across Iraq killed a total of 543 civilians and wounded 561 others in March, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said on Saturday. A UNAMI statement said figures of casualties do not include security members, as the Iraqi military declined to give information about casualties among the troops. Previous figures of security members' casualties were questioned by the Iraqi military as "inaccurate," while UNAMI responded that "the military figures were largely unverified." March's results also excluded the casualties in Iraq's western province of Anbar, where volatility of the situation on the ground disrupted figures from there, the statement said. Most of the civilian casualties occurred in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, where 543 were killed and 561 others injured in fierce battles between Iraqi forces and Islamic State (IS) militants in western Mosul. Jan Kubis, the UN envoy to Iraq and the UNAMI chief, condemned IS continued deliberate targeting of civilians and praised the efforts of the Iraqi government to protect civilians during the fighting in Mosul, according to the statement. "The terrorists have used every possible wicked way to inflict casualties on civilians. Daesh (IS) terrorists have forcibly transferred civilians, holding them as human shields as they retreated or at strategic locations in densely populated areas," Kubis said. In some cases, the IS "placed civilians in booby-trapped buildings that its terrorists used to launch attacks on government forces, shot at civilians attempting to flee to Iraqi security lines or deliberately shelled civilian areas," Kubis added. "I welcome the commitment of the government of Iraq to the protection of civilians in the conduct of military operations and their reiteration that the protection of their citizens is an absolute priority," he said. The UNAMI statement 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 the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. Earlier, the UNAMI said a total of 6,878 civilians were killed and 12,388 wounded in 2016, adding that the figures did not include the civilian casualty figures for Anbar Province for the months of May, July, August and December. Iraq has witnessed intensifying violence since the IS extremist group took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 22:44:11|Editor: yan Video Player Close CAIRO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 14 militants were killed during military air raids over the past two days in Egypt's North Sinai Province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the military spokesman said in a statement on Saturday. The air raids are part of continuous efforts of the military and the police to eliminate terrorist dens in North Sinai, Military Spokesman Tamer al-Refaay said, noting that the forces arrested 21 suspected terrorists, seized two pickup trucks belonging to them and busted a hut containing a number of explosive devices. On March 23, Refaay announced similar security raids in central areas of North Sinai, while blasts killed 15 militants and 10 military personnel, including three officers. Throughout March, security campaigns in the province killed at least 72 militants, arrested about 240 suspects over terror-related charges, ruined several smuggling tunnels and detained hundreds of relevant suspects, detonated dozens of explosive devices and seized large amounts of drugs, weapons and ammunition. Anti-government terror attacks in Egypt have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the mid-2013 military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in response to mass protests against his one-year rule. Later, security crackdown on Morsi's supporters left hundreds dead and thousands arrested, while his Muslim Brotherhood group was designated as a "terrorist organization." Most of the terrorist attacks nationwide, particularly those in Sinai, have been claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the Islamic State (IS) group. Security campaigns in Sinai have killed hundreds of militants and arrested a similar number of suspects over the past few years as part of the country's anti-terror war declared by former army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi following Morsi's removal. During a military-held symposium in February, Mohamed Farag al-Shahhat, Egypt's military intelligence chief, said at least 500 extremely dangerous terrorists have been killed since a massive anti-terror campaign, known as "The Martyr's Right," started in September 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 23:03:41|Editor: yan Video Player Close BERLIN, April 1 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her CDU (Christian Democratic Union) party are drafting a concrete plan to combat fake news in the country and the potential effect it could have for the upcoming general elections in September. Simon Hegelich, professor of political science at the Technical University of Munich and who was asked by Merkel to brief the CDU executive committee on the fake news movement, told Xinhua in a recent interview that fake news became high priority for German politicians after the U.S. elections. Hegelich believes if fake news is distributed in high frequency, say, by social bots, trolls or algorithms, it could change public perception of a topic for a short amount of time, and that high-frequency fake news before the election or at times of strategical importance could be dangerous. "Overtime, fake news contributes to an atmosphere of uncertainty and angst, which could help populist parties," said Hegelich. Subsequently, Merkel and her party plan to deal with social bots and internet trolls, which they deem as "the biggest threat to disseminating high frequency fake news". To help combat open misinformation channels on social media sites, Merkel and her CDU party plan to give Facebook and other social platforms users more flexibility in registering complaints about fake news and any offensive content. Any victims of fake news would also have the right to know who wrote the source material. To ensure the action plan is followed, any news portals who do not comply with the proposed terms will be fined -- the current suggested amount is 500,000 euros. Companies such as Facebook and Google have already started to clamp down on fake news. However, Facebook continues to be heavily criticized in Berlin, for failing to deal with racist hate speech on its news feeds. In response, the social media giant is implementing new filtering tools tailored specifically for Germany, which include using a third-party fact checker. Nadine Schoen, a senior CDU MP and one of the politicians directly involved in the CDU fake news action plan, does not think that companies like Facebook go far enough. "The platform operators have simply not established the necessary mechanisms that allow for fake news stories to be investigated promptly and to help those affected find legal redress,"she told the Financial Times. A fake news white paper published by news aktuell earlier this week showed that 68 percent of Germans have come across fake news from traditional media or social media in the last 12 months, and 63 percent of Germans use the internet as a main source for the news. The paper also raises concerns about the speed at which news can be shared on social media through likes and shares, without any barriers or application of traditional journalism standards. It warns that any solution to curbing fake news must be rigorously tested to be able to effectively control the pandemic. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 23:09:16|Editor: yan Video Player Close MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, April 1 (Xinhua) -- More than 200 rebels affiliated with the Taliban group laid down arms and surrendered to the government in the northern Afghan province of Balkh on Saturday, said a provincial source. "The armed men joined peace and reconciliation process in Chimtal district, following calls by provincial Governor Atta Mohammad Noor and provincial peace officials and mediation of the local elders," the source told Xinhua anonymously. The former militants were active in mountainous district and among the surrendered people were their commanders named Khan Mohammad and Dawa Khan, he added. Among the weapons they brought during a welcoming ceremony held in Chimtal were dozens of AK-47 guns, machine guns and rocket launchers, the source said, adding further details will be shared with the media later by provincial officials. The Afghan government launched the peace and reconciliation process in 2010 to encourage Taliban to disarm and give up militancy. More than 10,000 Taliban militants have joined the peace and reconciliation process since mid-2010 when the government launched the initiative, according to officials, but the claim has been rejected by the armed outfit as baseless. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 23:14:17|Editor: yan Video Player Close GAZA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian activists, intellectuals, academics, writers and journalists launched on Saturday a popular and electronic campaign aiming at saving the Gaza Strip from an ongoing humanitarian crisis. They said the coastal enclave, which is ruled by Islamic Hamas movement and has been under a tight Israeli blockade for ten years, is suffering severe humanitarian crises which must stop with better life ensured for the population. Abdul Karim Ashour, the campaign's media coordinator, told reporters that the campaign will last three months, saying "it is against all security measures that turned the populations' life in Gaza into torment and distress." "Intellectuals, artists, doctors, writers, businessmen and journalists will intensify their efforts through their means of contacts with the authorities to end the suffering and the humanitarian crises that the population is living in," he said. Dozens of activists rallied Saturday before one of the towers destroyed during the 50-day Israeli large-scale military offensive on Gaza in 2014. "The aim is to look for a better living condition for our children, our women and our elderly people who have been paying a heavy price for around ten years of siege, poverty, fear and unemployment," said Abdul Karim. The demonstrators, who carried banners of a hash-tags #Save_Gaza, called on the international community to hold the two million population in the Gaza Strip to end their decade-long plight. Because of Israeli blockade and security measures imposed on the coastal enclave since Hamas' violent control of the territory in 2007, unemployment rate there has reached 43.7 percent, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. The internal Palestinian division between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party has also further worsened the daily life in Gaza. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 23:29:19|Editor: yan Video Player Close XINING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Rinchen, 40, works at a crematorium in a Tibetan community in northwest China. For Tibetans, sky and water burials have traditionally been the most common funerary customs. Cremation has only been used in the modern age. The Chabcha town funeral management house, where Rinchen and his wife work, was founded in 1982. It was one of the first crematoriums in Qinghai province, home to over 1.37 million ethnic Tibetan people. "It took a very long process of consulting high monks before establishing the crematorium. The site for the cremation house was chosen by the tenth Panchen Lama," said Duraga, deputy director of the civil affairs bureau of Gonghe County, which administers Chabcha Town. Chabcha is the seat of the government of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai. "In less developed Tibetan communities, such as herding areas, people still favor sky burials. But in the city, more Tibetan people now choose cremation," said Duraga. There are four cremation houses at the crematorium. "In the 1980s, only a few dozen people were cremated here each year," said Rinchen, whose father-in-law was the first person to run the crematorium. Last year, 352 people were cremated there, and most of them were Tibetans from Qinghai, Gansu and northwest Sichuan. Families usually put the ashes in bags made of white cloth and scatter them at sacred mountains and lakes. "People scatter the ashes at sky burial sites at Qinghai Lake and the Yellow River, which flows through the county," said Rinchen. "Before each cremation, families of the deceased invite monks from nearby monasteries, such as Khyamru Monastery, to give sermons and preside over the ceremonies," he said. Rinchen and his wife Tsering make sure the lamps are always lit. Their family now lives at the crematorium. "When I started living here, I often felt scared. Now I light lamps every day, touching the prayer wheels. It is a job to keep me busy," said Tsering. "I use my hands to help the deceased finish their last step in the world. I feel it is the natural thing to do," she said. About a few hundred miles to the southwest, Chindo County, in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, is an area where sky burials are more common. Most of the people in the county are herders. Tashi, who performs sky burials, often has to get up early to prepare for the rituals. In sky burials, bodies are fed to vultures and other predatory birds. Buddhists believe in a cycle of rebirth and advocate kindness and charity. The spirit of the dead is believed to leave the body the moment a person dies and the dead should be fed to hungry vultures as a last token of charity. Tashi is a monk at Lab Monastery. He started performing sky burial rituals in 2011. The Serkhang sky burial site, located about 3,800 meters above sea level at the foot of a snow-capped mountain, receives over 30 bodies every year. "A burial starts at four in the morning and lasts about seven hours. I make sure every detail is right for the ritual," he said. However, sometimes sky burial rituals do not go so smoothly. Environmental drives to kill rats on grasslands have led to a decline in the number of vultures and eagles. "Some people may still honor tradition, but others may want the modern methods of burial. The people will choose on their own," said Wang Fayu, director of social affairs office of the Qinghai Provincial Civil Affairs Department. A crematorium has been set up in every Tibetan autonomous county in Qinghai to provide diverse choices for the people, said Wang. "The living buddhas said in the end, humans return their bodies to nature. No matter which method chosen, it is to show respect to the deceased and give solace to the living," said Rinchen. POLSON One man was killed and another was injured in a single-vehicle crash on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana. The Montana Highway Patrol said a 39-year-old man from St. Ignatius was killed when a vehicle went off the road in Arlee, struck a fence and overturned. A 43-year-old Pablo man was injured in the crash that was reported late Thursday. Lake County Sheriff Don Bell said he was taken to a Missoula hospital for treatment. The crash is still being investigated. Both men were thrown from the vehicle and the St. Ignatius man was crushed by the vehicle. Officials are still trying to determine when the crash happened and who was driving. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-01 23:39:21|Editor: Tian Shaohui Video Player Close BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- China has decided to apply stricter rules on pesticide production and imports to improve food safety and environment protection in the world's most populous country. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signed a State Council decree on Saturday to promulgate a revised regulation on pesticide management, as the authority views the move as vitally important to improving food safety and the environment. Pesticide producers and importers should register and gain approval certificates from the agricultural authority if they meet certain criteria, according to the regulation. Pesticide products should pass quality checks before they are released for sale, it added. The new regulation also asked local authorities to enhance technical training for farmers to better utilize pesticides. The new regulation will take effect June 1, 2017. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 00:09:26|Editor: yan Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistan army said Saturday that a civilian was injured in an Indian firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Kashmir region. A military statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations said that the civilian was injured due to the "unprovoked firing" in Chirikot sector by Indian forces. "Pakistani troops responded effectively to Indian unprovoked firing," the statement added. The latest incident happened as escalation along the LoC, which divides the two neighbors in the disputed Kashmir, has been seen since a militant attack on an army center in the Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sept. 18 last year killed 19 soldiers. The Indian military blamed the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group for the attack and also pointed fingers at Pakistan. Islamabad rejected the charges and suggested an independent investigation. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 00:09:26|Editor: yan Video Player Close TIRANA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Registered foreign direct investment (FDI) in Albania rose significantly to 1 billion euros (1.06 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, data from the Bank of Albania showed Saturday. Foreign companies invested 983 million euros worth of registered FDI in 2016, an increase of 10.5 percent year on year from a year ago, according to the central bank. Investment in the country's energy and gas sector amounted to over 166.5 million euros in the third quarter of 2016, data showed. Albanian experts told local media that the data indicated that the Albanian economy had mainly profited by two major energy projects -- the natural gas Trans-Adriatic pipeline, and the hydropower plants over Devoll River cascade. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 00:09:26|Editor: Tian Shaohui Video Player Close Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang (C rear), who is also head of the State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development, presides over a plenary meeting of the group in Beijing, capital of China, April 1, 2017. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang on Saturday urged full implementation of the country's grand strategy to reduce poverty. Poverty reduction efforts should be more targeted and precise, Wang said when chairing a meeting on poverty relief, calling for tighter supervision of poverty relief efforts. China has set 2020 as the target year to complete building a "moderately prosperous society" in all aspects, and the hardest part is lifting all poor rural population out of poverty. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 00:29:29|Editor: yan Video Player Close DHAKA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- With more focus on ways to end economic, political and social inequalities worldwide, the 136th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) kicked off here on Saturday night. Some 1,500 delegates of 131 countries have been attending the mega assembly. The conference will be held from April 1 to April 5 on the theme of "Readdressing inequalities: delivering on dignity and well-being for all." Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Children's Rights Activist Kailash Satyarthi will present a key-note paper on the topic in the assembly. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the five-day conference at the South Plaza of Bangladesh Parliament House in capital Dhaka. She released a commemorative postage stamp and launched IPU web television. IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong told reporters at a press briefing in Dhaka on Friday that some 135 countries, out of 170 member IPU countries, will have discussions to fight against the menace of widening inequality from different perspectives. IPU President Saber Hossain Chowdhury said acts of violence and militancy have become a global problem and they will also be discussed in the conference. "Taking decisive actions to end economic, political and social inequalities will be the focus of deliberations," according to a news release issued by the IPU headquarters in Geneva on Monday. Founded in 1889 with its headquarters in Switzerland, the IPU, a global organization of parliaments, works to establish democracy, peace and cooperation among people worldwide. "During the IPU's Assembly, parliamentarians will concentrate on the impact of inequality on the poor, women and vulnerable groups." IPU members are expected to adopt a resolution to guarantee the financial inclusion of women as drivers of development, said the release. Joining the assembly, it said, women MPs from different countries in their session of the Forum of Women Parliamentarians would focus on "ending the gender gap in access to financial services." According to the agenda of the conference, the participants are also expected to make recommendations for parliamentary actions to further promote the values of democracy and to strengthen the exercise of democratic government. Officials said the IPU Standing Committee on Peace and International Security will further scrutinize and possibly adopt a resolution on the issue of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 00:34:29|Editor: yan Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The South African Presidency on Saturday denied reports that President Jacob Zuma has cancelled the memorial service for anti-apartheid stalwart Ahmed Kathrada. Kathrada, who died on Tuesday morning at 87, last year sent a letter to Zuma calling on him to resign, citing his alleged involvement in a series of corruption scandals. "As is publicly known, the President did not attend the funeral and was not going to attend the memorial service either, respecting the wishes of the family," presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said. Zuma declared a Special Official Funeral for the late stalwart and directed the government to organize an official memorial service to be addressed by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on behalf of the government. Zuma was not involved in the planning of the memorial service nor in the cancellation thereof, said the spokesperson. "Any impression created that the President cancelled or ordered the cancellation is erroneous and unfortunate," Ngqulunga said. The South African government first planned an official memorial service for Kathrada on Saturday, but postponed it indefinitely without giving any reason. Instead, several organizations arranged a memorial service for him in Johannesburg on Saturday. Regarded as a giant of the African National Congress (ANC), Kathrada spent over 26 years in prison, 18 of which were on Robben Island where Nelson Mandela, who later became South Africa's first black president, was also imprisoned. Kathrada has had an illustrious political career, having served between 1994 and 1999 as the parliamentary counsellor to then President Mandela. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 00:44:31|Editor: yan Video Player Close by Marwa Yahya CAIRO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Egypt has doubled Cairo metro fare amid financial difficulties and nearly 3.5 million commuters relying on Cairo's metro everyday fumed by the move, as they already suffered sharp rise in living costs. The new ticket price started from March 24, rising from one Egyptian pound (5.5 U.S. cents) to two pounds (11 cents), a move angered the commuters who deem the metro as the cheapest and fastest means of transportation. "Egypt needs economic reforms, but these reforms aren't supposed to harm the poor people," said Mohamed Abdul Rahamn, a 32-year-old technician leaving a metro station on Talaat Harb Street in central Cairo. He emphasized that metro tickets were "the cheapest for the poor and the limited-income people to get them from point A to point B," saying that he is worried about another distance-based fare increase. The move came four months after Egypt floated its currency amid economic reforms, and led the currency to lose half of its value and prices to soar. Food and drinks prices increased nearly 40 percent since the flotation, with meat and chicken prices even increased as much as 50 percent. One third of Egyptian population lives on 1.9 U.S. dollars or less per day, according to a report by the government statistics agency published in 2016. "There is no room for belt-tightening. A large percentage of my income has been spent on purchasing food," said Um Gomaa, a 43-year-old lady who works as a typist. "I earn 1,200 pounds (66 dollars) with two kids, and I have to pay 300 pounds (16.5 dollars) for renting an apartment in a remote area," she said, "the metro is the cheapest and easiest transportation means for me and my family." The state-run Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation has not paid its electricity and water bills for 18 months, raising the debts to 300 million pounds (16.5 million dollars), the Ahram newspaper reported on its website. Utilities companies threatened to cut their services, and the German company maintaining the metro's elevators and escalators said its contract with the metro will not be renewed. According to a study released by the Transportation Ministry in August, the tickets had been approximately subsidized at a rate of 96 percent by the government before the fare increase. The unsubsidized price of a ticket should be 25 pounds (1.3 dollars), the study stated. The low ticket price incurs losses of 22 million pounds (one million dollars) monthly and is having a negative impact on maintenance and operations. Transport Minister Hisahm Arafat said the metro losses are estimated at 500 million pounds (27.5 million dollars) which put the network at risk of shutting down. Meanwhile, some see the doubling of ticket fares as a painful but necessary step. "The services have already been suffering for months. The travel time has doubled due to prolonged intervals between trains and occasional breakdowns," said Mustafa Munir, a 45-year-old accountant. Munir said two pounds is not much for metro as a cost efficient transportation solution, because "one more pound could be the hope for improvement." However, economic expert Rashad Abdo said that "the price hike is not the only solution," warning that administrative failure is one of the main reasons the metro company is suffering and the whole administrative system should be updated. "The company should find creative and sound solutions. Merely thinking about increasing prices means lack of future vision," he added. Meanwhile, he asserted that halting the metro is not an option because it will paralyze the capital, noting the country should reach a compromise between lifting the subsidy, which is a burden on its budget, and considering the hard economic conditions of citizens. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 01:04:33|Editor: yan Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- India and Malaysia signed seven agreements as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his visiting Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak here on Saturday to bolster partnership in a range of areas, including fighting terrorism. The pacts that Indian and Malaysia inked included one on air services. Other agreements were on sports, techonlogy development in the field of palm oil and recognition of academic degrees of the two countries. Ahead of signing of the agreements, Modi and Razak held one-to-one as well as delegation-level talks at the iconic Hyderabad House in the heart of the Indian capital on cultural, trade and strategic issues. In a joint statement on terrorism, both Modi and Razak stressed that "there can be no justification for acts of terror on any ground whatsoever" and condemned in strongest terms the recent barbaric terror attacks in the region. Later, addressing a joint press conference, Modi said: "To secure our societies, and for the greater regional good, we have agreed to further strengthen our strategic partnership to shape an effective response to our common concerns and challenges." On his part, the Malaysian prime minister said that "defense and strategic partnership will be very important to us to fight global terrorism, militancy, extremism and that includes our fight against Islamic State and against any form of extremism." "For this, we will enhance our cooperation," Razak asserted. "We are willing to work closely together with the Indian government for a special conference that will be held in near future and we will provide our experience and with our partners to make sure Malaysia and other parts of the world will never be a place in which militancy and extremism will take root," Razak added. On trade relations, Modi said the two countries have built a thriving economic partnership. "We are ready to expand trade and capital flows between our two economies," he added. Earlier in the day, the Malaysian prime minister was received by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Modi. He later met Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The Malaysian prime minister, who is on a six-day official visit to India, arrived in southern state of Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai on Thursday, where he met, apart from political leaders, Tamil film industry's superstar Latha Rajnikanth. He came to Delhi on Friday and will go to the western state of Rajasthan Sunday, where he is slated to hold talks with state Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. People shop at Al Ataba, a popular market in downtown Cairo, Egypt March 9, 2017. Picture taken March 9, 2017. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) CAIRO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Egypt has doubled Cairo metro fare amid financial difficulties and nearly 3.5 million commuters relying on Cairo's metro everyday fumed by the move, as they already suffered sharp rise in living costs. The new ticket price started from March 24, rising from one Egyptian pound (5.5 U.S. cents) to two pounds (11 cents), a move angered the commuters who deem the metro as the cheapest and fastest means of transportation. "Egypt needs economic reforms, but these reforms aren't supposed to harm the poor people," said Mohamed Abdul Rahamn, a 32-year-old technician leaving a metro station on Talaat Harb Street in central Cairo. He emphasized that metro tickets were "the cheapest for the poor and the limited-income people to get them from point A to point B," saying that he is worried about another distance-based fare increase. The move came four months after Egypt floated its currency amid economic reforms, and led the currency to lose half of its value and prices to soar. Food and drinks prices increased nearly 40 percent since the flotation, with meat and chicken prices even increased as much as 50 percent. One third of Egyptian population lives on 1.9 U.S. dollars or less per day, according to a report by the government statistics agency published in 2016. "There is no room for belt-tightening. A large percentage of my income has been spent on purchasing food," said Um Gomaa, a 43-year-old lady who works as a typist. "I earn 1,200 pounds (66 dollars) with two kids, and I have to pay 300 pounds (16.5 dollars) for renting an apartment in a remote area," she said, "the metro is the cheapest and easiest transportation means for me and my family." The state-run Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation has not paid its electricity and water bills for 18 months, raising the debts to 300 million pounds (16.5 million dollars), the Ahram newspaper reported on its website. Utilities companies threatened to cut their services, and the German company maintaining the metro's elevators and escalators said its contract with the metro will not be renewed. According to a study released by the Transportation Ministry in August, the tickets had been approximately subsidized at a rate of 96 percent by the government before the fare increase. The unsubsidized price of a ticket should be 25 pounds (1.3 dollars), the study stated. The low ticket price incurs losses of 22 million pounds (one million dollars) monthly and is having a negative impact on maintenance and operations. Transport Minister Hisahm Arafat said the metro losses are estimated at 500 million pounds (27.5 million dollars) which put the network at risk of shutting down. Meanwhile, some see the doubling of ticket fares as a painful but necessary step. "The services have already been suffering for months. The travel time has doubled due to prolonged intervals between trains and occasional breakdowns," said Mustafa Munir, a 45-year-old accountant. Munir said two pounds is not much for metro as a cost efficient transportation solution, because "one more pound could be the hope for improvement." However, economic expert Rashad Abdo said that "the price hike is not the only solution," warning that administrative failure is one of the main reasons the metro company is suffering and the whole administrative system should be updated. "The company should find creative and sound solutions. Merely thinking about increasing prices means lack of future vision," he added. Meanwhile, he asserted that halting the metro is not an option because it will paralyze the capital, noting the country should reach a compromise between lifting the subsidy, which is a burden on its budget, and considering the hard economic conditions of citizens. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 02:59:49|Editor: yan Video Player Close CAIRO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- New Chinese investments in the field of textiles are coming soon to Egypt's Suez Canal economic region, an Egyptian official said on Saturday. Ahmed Darwish, head of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), said so during a business conference held in Cairo, adding that a number of investment contracts would be signed in the SCZone with Chinese international firms. At the two-day first round of the Belt and Road Industrial and Commercial Conference, held under the slogan of "Egypt ... Your Gateway to BRICA," the Belt and Road Industrial and Commercial Alliance, Darwish said that the SCZone has become largely attractive to investors, particularly those of China. He added that China's TEDA Corporation, one of the oldest industrial developers in the zone, has been developing an area of over 7 square km in Ain Sokhna district of the Suez Canal Corridor east of Cairo. The SCZone chief hailed TEDA's work in the region that attracted some 68 enterprises, including Jushi, a fiberglass giant from China. Proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative is meant to revive the ancient trade way known as the Silk Road, including land and sea trade routes between China and countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. The first round of the annual Belt and Road Industrial and Commercial Conference is organized by Egyptian Businessmen's Association and China Federation of Industrial Economics, Egypt and China being the founding members of BRICA. Held under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry, some 150 Egyptian businessmen and 160 others from the BRICA states took part in the conference, besides large financial institutions including China Development Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, African Development Bank and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. A majority of Wyomingites believe climate change is occurring, but residents are split over whether human activities are causing the phenomenon, according to a new Yale University study. Sixty-one percent of the states residents said they believed in climate change when the study was conducted last year, according to the data and mapping by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. That is below the national average of 70 percent who believe in global climate change. While 42 percent of Wyomingites believed climate change is human-caused, another 42 percent believed natural changes were bringing about global warming. Meanwhile, 53 percent of Americans believe human activities are causing warming. The results might be expected from a state with residents who passionately defend fossil fuels at a time when many argue its time to move away from them. Wyoming is the countrys top coal producer. Its fourth in natural gas and eighth in crude oil, according to federal data. And related to the states economy is its conservative political bent. The Yale researchers created a map of all U.S. states, with different colors and shades reflecting global warming attitudes. University of Wyoming energy economics professor Rob Godby noted that the Yale map could be superimposed with any electoral map from the 2016 presidential race. The states with the highest proportion of responses that humans are not causing climate change are the ones in which President Donald Trump won by the largest margins, Godby said. And in Wyoming, seven in 10 voters voted for Trump, the highest proportion in the country. In most industrialized countries, climate change is accepted as science, since over 90 percent of researchers agree that humans are contributing to the warming of the planet, Godby said. But in the U.S., the issue has become politicized, he said. What that means is if youre on one side, you choose to believe in one thing and if youre in another side, you believe in another thing, he said. Godby blames the media in part. He said that each time theres a story about climate change, theres always one source who is arguing about its existence and another against creating an illusion that the scientific community is split on the issue when it is not, he said. He also said people tend to consume media that lines up with their politics and associate with others who share their views. If someones boss says climate change is a hoax, the worker may believe him because employees tend to respect their leaders, Godby said. This is human nature, he said. In this highly politicized environment that we are in, you basically consume information, look for information that you selectively filter, he said. Only 38 percent of Wyomingites trust scientists on global warming research, 12 percent lower than the national average, the study found. Trump, who in 2012 claimed global warming was a hoax created by the Chinese, on Tuesday signed an executive order that will require a rewrite of the Clean Power Plan. The order repeals other Obama-era regulations, including lifting a moratorium on coal leases on federal land. Godby said that the Clean Power Plan aimed to comply with a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that carbon dioxide is bad for human health and should be curbed. But Godby said the Obama administration may have been too creative in trying to conform it to existing laws. It was loathed by many conservatives, especially in energy-producing states. In our system, you need to do better than that before you set policy, he said. You cant ignore the minority. The majority of Wyomingites want policies to address warming, the Yale study found. Sixty-six percent of Wyomingites want to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant, 8 percent lower than the national average. Fifty-five percent in Wyoming support strict carbon dioxide limits on coal-fired power plants, 14 percent below the national average. And 55 percent in the state want to require utilities to produce at least 20 percent of electricity from renewables, 11 percent below the national average. And perhaps most surprisingly in a state economically dependent on fossil fuels, 82 percent of Wyomingites support funding research into renewable energy resources the same proportion as the national average. I take heart from the fact most people are willing to do something, Godby said. Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) holds a welcoming ceremony for Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 10, 2015. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) BAKU, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Relationship between Azerbaijan and China has reached a high level of political dialogue and active economic cooperation, Deputy Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan Arastu Habibbayli said in an interview with Xinhua on Friday. He said the coming April 2 marks the 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, adding that relations between China and Azerbaijan developed successfully on the basis of principles of friendship and mutual productive partnership. Stressing that both China and Azerbaijan are important players in various international transport and logistics projects, Habibbayli emphasized that the countries are working actively to realize great potential of cooperation. He said Azerbaijan will be an important component of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative. According to Habibbayli, the project will bring valuable opportunities to Azerbaijan, particularly in terms of the transit fees and industrial cooperation opportunities. "Relations between China and Azerbaijan are growing fast and Azerbaijan has great potential to become a valuable partner in the Silk Road project - one of the great initiatives of the 21st century," he said. He outlined the importance of the state visit of President Ilham Aliyev to China in December 2015, adding that reciprocal visits contribute to the steadily development of ties between the two countries. China and Azerbaijan are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their diplomatic ties this year. In December 2015, President Aliyev visited China. During his visit, he signed a series of agreements with China including a memorandum of understanding over the Silk Road Economic Belt. China is a huge opportunity and a priority market for Azerbaijan. More than 50 agreements were signed between the two countries so far. The two countries have great potential in energy, transport, agricultural products trade, high-technology and tourism. Trade turnover between China and Azerbaijan reached 641.39 million U.S. dollars in January-September 2016, 145.81 million dollars of which account for export to China, according to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee. China is one of main trade partners of Azerbaijan - the country ranks the fifth in Azerbaijan's trade turnover over the nine months of 2016, the third in Azerbaijan's import and the 12th in export. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 06:35:10|Editor: yan Video Player Close RABAT, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Italian movie "Indivisibili" by Edoardo De Angelis won late on Saturday the Grand Prix Tamouda d'or, the top prize at the 23rd International Mediterranean Film Festival in Morocco. The French director Benedicte Pagnot claimed the top prize in documentary competition with her work "Islam pour memoire." China, as the guest of honor for this festival, also took numerous Chinese movies to the screen, which reflecting various areas of China's film industry. Among the movies, which will be screened during the festival, there are Wu Ershan's movie "Mojin: The Lost Legend," Dante Lam's "Operation Mekong," Xu Haofeng's "The Master" and Cao Baoping's "The Dead End." The official competition of the festival, held in Morocco's northern city of Tetouan, includes 24 films from 15 Mediterranean countries, including 12 feature films and 12 documentary films. The jury of the feature films will be presided by the Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah, while the documentary jury will be headed by French screen writer Thomas Bauer. Established in 1985, the Tetouan International Film Festival focuses on the promotion of films from Mediterranean countries, and it is gaining influence as a major project in Morocco. Caspers Pat Greiner has landed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that requires a lot of knowledge and a little luck. Answer: What is to be on Jeopardy!? Greiner, a mostly retired K2 Radio copywriter whose voice is sometimes heard on local ads, will appear as a contestant on the TV game shows April 7 episode. All the hours of studying were worth it, she said. It was one of the most fun things I have ever done in my life, Greiner said. Greiner is sworn to secrecy about the outcome of the episode until it airs. But just being on the show was enough, she said. Jeopardy! is like the Olympics for people who love trivia and useless knowledge, as a contestant coordinator told them before the taping in December. Between 70,000 and 100,000 people a year take the online test. About 3,000 are chosen for auditions at sites around the country, and only 400 appear on the show. If this is your Olympics, the least you are doing is going home with a bronze medal, Greiner said the coordinator told the contestants. Youre going to be first, second or third. Her husband, Ron Richard, spent hours quizzing her with Jeopardy! board game cards at their west Casper home to help her prepare. She spent countless more hours studying past show questions and reference books on the couch, usually surrounded by the couples yellow Labrador and at least one of their six cats. She pored over history, pop culture, geography, sports, science, literature and other topics Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek might ask about. The behind-the-scenes experience in the Los Angeles studio was a thrill for Greiner, whos been a fan of the show since childhood. The question board is much bigger than she thought at least 15 feet tall and taking up a whole side of the stage. Announcer Johnny Gilbert, who says This is Jeopardy! at the start of the show, is a 92-year-old entertainer skilled at pumping up crowds, she said. The fun started as soon as a shuttle arrived to take Greiner and other contestants to the studio. I was so impressed with their staff, because they worked so hard to make sure everybody had a good time, Greiner said. Even the hour-long briefing on rules, taxes and details of the show was entertaining, she said. Its stuff that sounds like it would just, by nature, have to be boring, she said, and they make it into a party. She also learned that Trebek arrives at 5:30 a.m. to see the questions for the first time and make sure he knows all the pronunciations. Contestants spend most of the time watching other games when its not their turn. Finally, Greiner stood behind the buzzer. It goes by in a heartbeat, she said. Greiner is used to being in front of an audience. Shes a regular actor and director at Stage III Community Theatre. Her acting and radio experience helped during the show and auditions in Las Vegas last summer, where organizers looked for contestants who answer loudly and with confidence, she said. She isnt allowed to say anything yet about the questions in the episode, let alone how many she answered correctly. But Trebek does tell the audience he and Greiner have have two things in common: Both have done radio ads and carried the Olympic torch, she said. People encouraged her as she prepared for the show. Vicki Burger at Wind City Books helped her find books to study and Cadillac Cowgirl owner Kathy Edwards announced to the store that this woman is going to be on Jeopardy! and shes buying her shirts here! People have just been so supportive and nice, and everybody is so excited for me, Greiner said. The excitement still bubbles in Greiners voice, too, as the airing draws near. Contestants have one chance in their lives to go on Jeopardy! Its just been a bucket-list experience, Greiner said. Theres no other way to say it. Govt, IDB sign US$40M loan A statement issued yesterday by the Planning Ministry said Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis signed on behalf of the Government at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the IDB in Paraguay on Thursday. The loan is geared to support the strengthening of this countrys public financial management system. The objective of this five year programme, which will be executed by the Finance Ministry, is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness in the allocation of public resources. The project is consistent with the Governments strategy towards restoring and maintaining economic stability and budgetary reform, including the TT Revenue Authority. IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno signed on behalf of the bank. The ministry said the objective of this signing is for TT and the IDB to affirm the high priority given to support the strengthening of the public financial management system by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of this country to allocate public resources. The Projects specific objectives are to improve: (a) strategic allocation of public resources; (b) the control and stewardship of public resources; and (c) information management for decision making. Robinson-Regis and Moreno also discussed the 50 years of positive cooperation between the Government and the IDB. The minister especially thanked the IDBs Country Office for assisting TT over the past year in streamlining the loan portfolio now valued at approximately US$524 million with an improved implementation rate of 35 percent. Robinson-Regis said the portfolio is leaner, achievable and sets the basis for future engagement with the Bank. The ministry indicated that the Country Strategy Programme 2016- 2020 was approved and this programme sets the framework for a strengthened programme for TT. Robinson-Regis also thanked Moreno for the decision to establish the Hub of the Inter-American Investment Corporation the IIC, in TT. The IIC will focus on this countrys private sector market which will result in greater positive partnership for development. The bank identified new areas for private sector involvement including, technology, media and telecommunication, tourism and Tobago specific activities such as agriculture, and coast management. School boys who beat Barrackpore taxi driver to be sentenced on April 25 The incident occurred at Papourie Road, Barrackpore . One of the boys, who is 16 years old, was also charged by the police for possession of marijuana and a knife. They appeared before Senior Magistrate Gail Gonzales . The police prosecutor told the court it was about 2.30 pm when Seujattan had parked his car near the Barrackpore East Secondary School. He was approached by the students who asked him for a ride to Princes Town. When they saw three female students had entered the vehicle, they confronted Seujattan and assaulted him . A police officer on mobile patrol saw the accused students around Seujattans vehicle. He asked Seujattan what had happened and he said, These boys just beat me up and buss meh head. He sought medical attention at the Princes Town District Medical Health Facility . Attorney Frank Gittens represented the students and told Gonzales that the boys may have gotten annoyed over the fact that they saw their female schoolmates get into Seujattans taxi, they having just minutes before asked him if he was taking passengers in his vehicle to Princes Town . Gonzales said she would like a probation officers report on the students before deciding on what sentence to impose. She placed each on bail in the sum of $20,000 with their respective parents as surety. They were ordered to reappear on April 25 . Cedros man on pellet gun wounding charge The incident occurred nine years ago at Bois Bourg in which 60-year-old Stephen Singh is on trial before Justice Malcolm Holdip and a jury of nine members for shooting Wayne Vesprey inside the parlour on November, 24, 2008. Vesprey gave evidence on Wednesday that he was then a tug boat captain and had gone to the parlour to buy a phone card when an argument erupted between Singh and himself. The State is contending that Singh, also known as Tufie, shot Vesprey in the forehead with an air gun. Singh was charged with wounding with intent. Yesterday, State Attorney Stacy Laloo- Chong, who together with attorney Krishna Jaglal, is prosecuting the case, called Police Constable Roger Banga to the witness box to give evidence. He said he and Police Constable Singh met Vesprey who was bleeding. He was blacking out and his head was banned up, Banga said. Attorney Kevin Ratiram who is representing Singh, cross-examined Banga and asked him if he had enquired from anyone nearby if they had heard or seen anything relating to the incident. Banga testified that he and PC Singh had to attend to Vesprey and ensure that he was taken to the hospital and that was the reason why they did not seek to get interviews from anyone. On Wednesday the air gun was admitted and tendered into evidence. Yesterday, Ratiram put to Banga that when the incident occurred, Singh had told him (Banga) that Vesprey pulled the gate to the familys home and made a grab at Singhs wife. But Banga denied that Singh said so. The trial continues on Monday at 10 am when PC Singh will be the next State witness Griffith urges Govt to purchase armoured vehicles now In a release sent to the media, Griffith said there was a specific reason that Government wanted to order a number of Armoured Personnel Carriers while he was in the ministry in 2004. Assault rifles with 5.56 ammunition, apart from rapid fire, have the capability, when fired, to at times penetrate vehicles, Griffith said. It was in anticipation of such an expected response whereby our law enforcement officials may be confronted by criminal elements with such fire-power. But what was done instead was a witch hunt to dismantle critical assets and policies that would be instrumental to peg back criminal elements, inclusive of assets to protect our officers in the line of Enough hemp will be seeded this spring to cover a good-sized farm in North Dakota. The 3,124 acres accepted for the states second annual industrial hemp program is 45 times more than last year and involves 36 producers and one seed processor from 17 counties. Only five producers and 70 acres were involved in 2016. The substantial increase will make real headway in understanding the various field and market conditions for the experimental crop, says state Agricultural Commissioner Doug Goehring. Last years small program resulted in generally good yields, and producers realized net revenue of $500 to $800 per acre, selling the harvested seed for its oil, meal and fiber content. Because of its botanical relationship to marijuana, hemp only can be legally grown through the departments pilot program or by universities. These provisions were made possible through the 2014 federal farm bill. Besides putting more acres in the program, the department also attached more fees to cover the cost of inspections and the THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, testing required to ensure the hemp has low psychoactive content. Producers are required to pay $25 an acre to cover those costs. The thing that caught us off guard was the THC testing, Goehring said. Producers dont like that they have to pay the $25 an acre, but at least they can recover that on the back end. These are the fees it will take to run the program. The THC content has to be tested three times for every variety at $150 per test. Producers in the hemp program hail from across the state, with all regions fairly well represented. The individual plantings will range from eight acres to 312 acres. That ups the ante for research results based on everything from soil types to rainfall, Goehring said. Something else new this year is that about 400 acres will be dedicated to a seed production variety to determine if seed could be viable for future planting. The seed could be stored in North Dakota and reused here, but will require diligent accounting and record keeping every step of the way. There are so many parts here. Theres nothing else that requires this much oversight, Goehring said. The department had 43 applicants for this years program, including one organic producer, and pretty much accepted everyone who made a complete and verifiable application. Goehring said its possible hemp production could be expanded in the 2018 farm bill. American farm production is complicated by the fact that hemp is regulated as a Schedule 1 product under the federal Controlled Substances Act. I WILL TELL ALL With a phalanx of armed police and soldiers nearby, Dillon stood next to Abdul Wakeel aka Krysis in Crown Trace and demanded to know if he (Wakeel) was responsible for a spate of videos posted online, which according to Dillon, Had the entire country uneasy. When Wakeel at first did not answer, Dillon repeated his question until the former admitted he was in those videos. The tour yesterday, which saw Dillon being accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff Rodney Smart, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Wayne Dick, Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams and a contingent of police and soldiers was in response to a particularly bloody week which saw four murders being committed in Enterprise. It also came after Dillon told the nation that force would be met with force as he announced the construction of a police station in Enterprise. Hitting the authorities for not looking at his Other videos in which he gave the names of crooked police officers in the pay of criminals, Wakeel later told Minister Dillon and DCP Dick he would be willing to tell the authorities all he knew about who the crooked police officers are and where the illegal guns are. Dillon and his team walked through several well-known hotspot areas in Enterprise greeting and meeting with residents. The team was then led to a house in which, they were told, a member of the Unruly ISIS resides. Wakeel came out to meet with Dillon, accompanied by head of the Islamic Front Umar Abdullah. Wakeel told Dillon he wanted to meet with him to reveal the names of police involved in corruption with drug dealers in Enterprise. Throughout the conversation, Wakeel referred to DCP Dick as de boss, which did not go down well with the senior policeman. The problem is, de boss, people here saying we are the ones to be blamed in Crown Trace, but we are not the ones who bringing in all the drugs and who paying the police and have the guns, Wakeel said. In videos posted online, a man claiming to be from the Unruly ISIS threatened bloodshed and mayhem and also boasted that ISIS fears no one. The minister confronted Wakeel, who admitted to being featured on the video. You are to be blamed sir, what you did on that video, you sent a sense of unease so dont blame any circumstances, you made a choice to air that video and speak those words, Dillon chided Wakeel. As Dillon spoke, Wakeel interjected. Yes I did the video and that was in 2015 and they are bringing it back up because I am now speaking out against corruption and those involved in it. Wakeel said he has subsequently aired another video apologising for his behaviour in the first video. Wakeel told Dillon the spate of murders in Enterprise did not happen overnight. For every action there is a reaction and this problem did not start just so. People did not wake up one morning and pick up a gun and kill someone in Bhagaloo (Trace). The problem is not the violence, its something that led to the violence and you cannot blame me and say what happened here is my fault, Wakeel said. Dillon told Wakeel that he was prepared to meet with him behind closed doors to discuss further what he (Wakeel) knows. DCP Dick told Wakeel that he is prepared to meet with him immediately. As Wakeel paused, Dick told him he appeared not to be quite ready and assured that whenever he (Wakeel) is ready and confident to talk, he should come to the police post at Lions gate in Enterprise and police would meet with him there. Prior to the walkabout, Dillon told reporters he believes that within the next three months the Enterprise Police Station would be constructed. Also on the tour were Chaguanas Mayor Gopaul Boodan and Chaguanas East MP Fazal Karim. Robocops son granted bail The killing of Sylvan Alexis sparked fiery protests in Enterprise. Three days ago the arrest of several residents of the area also led to protests in the Longdenville area. Kerron Alexis, his father and another man appeared in court in April last year, charged with participating in a riot by throwing missiles. He was placed on bail for that incident. At his court appearance before the same magistrate, Senior Magistrate Jo-Anne Connor, police objected to bail being granted as they were not yet in possession of Alexis criminal records. His attorney Criston J Williams, however, complained that police had his client in custody since March 24 and the only matters he had against him pending were simple possession and the throwing of missiles. In granting bail, Connor said she would adjust it if the police tracing record proved to be different to what Alexis attorney submitted to her. Alexis is expected to return to court on April 28. His father was killed on July 17, 2016, while another of Robo Cops brothers Mervyn was killed months later on December 4, 2016. The killings have been attributed to turf wars between two gangs - Rasta City and Unruly Isis - said to be operating in the area. 3 gunned down Yesterday, Le Platte Village was mourning the deaths while praying for the recovery of two women who were shot in the melee but survived. One of the men who dead name is Le Platte and this is Le Platte Village, so you could imagine how the village taking this on, a resident said. These were innocent men who did nothing to deserve that end. According to reports, a black Nissan Tiida car pulled up in front of the group of limers and one of the occupants began firing with an automatic weapon. As limers scattered, Letren and Critchlow fell in the yard while Le Platte ran a short distance before falling into a drain. Dayna Le Platte and Dominique Le Platte were also shot. Le Platte and Letren were taken to hospital but died a short while later. Critchlow died at the scene. The bodies were removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James where autopsies were done yesterday. The women who were shot, were taken to hospital where they were treated and warded in stable condition. Janelle Lovell told Newsday she was the last person to have interacted with her brother Le Platte before he died in hospital. He was lying there and it did not seem like he was responding, Lovell said. I tickled his foot and squeezed it and told him if he could hear me, that we were all praying for him. After I said that, he flexed his toes almost as if he was responding to me. Not long after...he died, Lovell said. Lovell said her brother was a loving and helpful person, who worked for a number of years at the Diego Martin Regional Corporation. Even though he did not know you, he would do his best to help you if he can. He was a sweetbread. My brother dont be on nobody (sic). I dont even know what could have caused this. I dont even know how I will tell my children that he is dead. Just last week he was telling them that he would visit them during the Easter holiday. Newsday was told that Le Platte was a father of two. Police, along with relatives, are still trying to find a motive behind the triple murder. For the year so far, 127 murders have been committed for the year up to press trace. Shell to invest $billions in TT After the tour, Rowley met Maarten Wetselaar, Shells Director for Integrated Gas and New Energies; De La Rey Venter, Executive Vice President Integrated Gas and Derek Hudson, Vice President - TT. During the meeting Rowley received a presentation on Shells Strategic Vision for their business in TT. At this meeting, Rowley secured a commitment from Shell for continued investment in this country. Shell also updated Rowley and Young on the status of a number of initiatives which are at various stages of the developmental and project life cycle, reaffirming its role as a major player in the local energy industry. It was noted that Shell and the Government are aligned on plans for bringing cross-border gas from Venezuela into the TT market to meet strong demand in the petrochemical sector. Rowley mentioned the critical role Shell will play in this initiative, at a post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Anns on March 16. He expressed his confidence in Shells ability to successfully execute its expansion and requested that Shell place greater emphasis on hiring and training local qualified personnel as it is important to strike the right balance between local and expatriate employment. He assured Shell that his Government will do what is necessary within the laws of TT to provide accelerated approvals for its work program. One of the programs which was the subject of detailed discussions and agreement was the Starfish project which is to be the subject of new developmental objectives commencing in the next quarter of 2017. Shell has a long history of operation in TT. In 2016, the company re-entered the local market with its acquisition of the BG Group. This signifies the companys confidence in the opportunities available in our energy industry. The company said it is excited to play a leading role in unlocking Trinidad and Tobagos future oil and gas potential and building a stronger competitive position in the country. Yesterday, Rowley held separate meetings with EOG Resources and Exxon Mobil in Houston. On March 16, Rowley said the conversations with Exxon Mobil were important in terms of what is happening in Guyanas emerging energy sector and how this country can partner with its Caricom neighbour in that sector. AR 15 assault rifle seized in raids At around 4 am yesterday, officers led by ASP Ajith Persad and including Acting Inspector Gokool of the Inter Agency Task Force along with Sgt Austin, Cpl Charles Budree, PC Keron Lewis and others went to Laventille. The exercise was co-ordinated by Snr Supt Radcliffe Boxhill. The officers went into a house at Seales Avenue where they found five women, between the ages of 20 and 32 and five men, all in their late 20s watching television in the house. Officers carried out a search of the house and found an AR 15 rifle, two AR magazines, a 9 mm pistol, 43 rounds of 5.56 ammunition and 80 packets of marijuana. Police believe the ten are members of a gang who were using the AR 15 and other weapons to carry out armed robberies and also operate as hired guns. The same team of officers then went to Pump Trace, where they attempted to detain a 24-year-old man wanted for several robberies. While at the house the officers were accosted by a 22-year-old woman who attempted to prevent his arrest. Both were arrested. Officers also executed search warrant at a house at Picton Road and arrested two men and seized a 9 mm magazine and three grams of marijuana Six others were held for shooting offences and are expected to be placed on ID parades over the weekend before appearing in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Courts on Monday. Business heads optimistic, economist cautious about BP investment Indera Sagewan-Alli says BP may be signalling that a revision of the fiscal regime which governs the local energy sector is needed. The Office of the Prime Minister, in a release on Thursday, stated that BP would invest US$5 billion in this country over the next five years. The release also stated that the final agreement between the National Gas Company and BP for Angelin gas field, which is 40 kilometres offshore Trinidad and Tobagos east coast, will be executed shortly and that this project will be kept on schedule. In a statement yesterday, Energy Chamber chief executive officer Dr. Thackwray Driver said the announcement that BPTT and NGC are close to a final agreement on a new gas supply contract post-2019 is very positive news for the gas industry in Trinidad and Tobago. The finalisation of this agreement was needed before BPTT would proceed with their next major field development project, Angelin, and also opens the way for further investments. Given the urgent need for new investment in upstream gas production, this is therefore very welcome news for Trinidad & Tobago, Driver stated. In full agreement was newly elected president of the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CCIC) Vishnu Charran who, in an interview, said the company was seeing growth and potential in our economy. They are seeing stability despite all the negative reports we see in the papers, Charran said. They see stability in government and the ease of doing business with the government so it is a good sign for the economy. However Sagewan-Alli recalled that BP had previously said the company was prepared to make that level of investment in Trinidad and Tobago provided the economic climate was conducive to that kind of investment. And what he was alluding very clearly to was the issue of the fiscal regime within which BP operates and so he was sending a very clear message that unless the government is prepared to make that environment a lot more attractive that it currently is, the current economic climate in the energy environment, it is subject to that. Let us not forget that BP, over the last two years, has downsized, laid off quite a few hundred workers in Trinidad in its effort at rationalisation which has been its response to what is happening in the global energy market, she said. Meanwhile, Driver, who recently attended an energy conference in Guyana, said there were numerous business opportunities available in the fledgling Guyanese oil industry. The continued exploration success of Exxon and their partners in Guyana highlights the potential that exists for the development of the oil industry in our Caribbean neighbour. Anti gang legislation goes back to Parliament Anti-gang legislation will come to the table as soon as next week, he told a news conference at the Ministry of National Securitys headquarters, Temple Court, Port-of-Spain. The news conference, attended by National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams, addressed the recent spate of murders which have plagued Enterprise, central Trinidad, and more recently, Le Platte Village, Maraval and Bagatelle, Diego Martin. Le Platte and Bagatelle recorded five killings within the last 36 hours. The briefing preceded a visit by Dillon, Williams and Chief of Defence Staff Rodney Smart to the troubled Enterprise community. Noting the Oppositions lack of support for the anti-gang bill, on its last appearance in the Parliament - as well as other key pieces of anti-crime legislation - Al-Rawi urged them to support the legislation as the Government moves to comprehensively tackle gang activity, which is believed to have fuelled the murders in the districts. We are going to be laying in the Parliament the anti-gang bill in its exact form as it was expired, he said. We are also going to seek bail amendments that are required to facilitate the holding of persons for up to 120 days. We are going to ask the Opposition to reverse their position on not supporting this because it is a matter of fact that several persons who have been murdered recently - one in side of the yard of a police station, one allegedly in the last few days - were persons who were released out from custody in circumstances where they could not be held for extended periods because of the collapse of the bail amendments and anti- gang legislation. These will be two additional pieces of work which will run alongside the very serious amendments that are going right now on our criminal justice system because we are convinced that until there is a consequence, in terms of a criminal sanction from a court, that you cannot really take management of crime seriously. Al-Rawi lamented the killings in Le Platte. Last night, the country witnessed in Le Platte, innocent bystanders caught in what appears to be machine gunfire where the allegation is that a well-known criminal was targeted and executed and that so indiscriminate was the action that it didnt matter to anyone who was carrying out that crime that innocent bystanders would be caught, he said. As a Government, we warned and we have said in the Parliament that it only takes one person with a machine gun to change your murder statistics in a horrible way overnight. The AG said there was an obvious correlation between the amount of interdiction that you do with drugs and the effect it is going to have on those who are deprived of the profit of their trade. Somebody in Trinidad and Tobago lost $837 million worth of the product when 4.3 tonnes of cocaine was interdicted. Somebody in T&T lost money when marijuana was interdicted, he said. Al-Rawi said a social media war was taking place between alleged Unuly Isis members and Rasta City. The media is hot with videos of persons purporting to be gang members, labelled, packaged with accompanying music and yet when we went to the Parliament to carry on the extension of the anti-gang legislation, we were told by the Opposition that Trinidad and Tobago does not really need this because we have no empirical proof that this is required, he said. We have heard some people describe legislative proposals as legislative babble, as being short-sighted but no one can point out with any sincerity to what aspect of the legislation is offensive. No one can point out with any sincerity that there will be an acceleration in the criminal justice system by the removal of preliminary inquiries, by the potential to elect a judge only trial by the sue of plea bargaining. Al-Rawi said the Criminal Proceedings Rules will come alive on April 18 Nick Herringer claps along with a metronome. He draws lines on a big screen, repeating patterns drawn by the computer. He identifies icons of cars when they flash before his eyes. This is the 22-year-olds speech and cognitive therapy, which he has been doing at least twice a week. Every wee The Algerian-backed Polisario militias have surprisingly announced their intention to withdraw from the Guerguarat buffer strip area in the southernmost tip of the Moroccan southern provinces in a move to polish its image ahead of the UN Secretary General report on the Sahara. The Algerian news agency reported that the Polisario separatist militias have announced their willingness to cooperate with the UN in order to find the means to put the peace process on track and overcome tensions created in the Guerguarat area. The Polisarios softening its stance on the Guerguarat where it has violated the 1991 ceasefire agreement by maintaining troops and hindering commercial traffic comes only a month before the UN Security Council meeting on the Sahara and the first report of the new UN Secretary General on the region. Therefore, by announcing willingness to cooperate with the UN, the Polisario is attempting to polish its image ahead of the UN meeting. It had earlier turned a deaf ear to the calls of the UN Secreatry Genera regarding an immediate withdrawal of troops and the need to maintain the flow of commercial traffic unobstructed. Even after Moroccos unilateral withdrawal in response to the UN Secretary Generals call, the Polisario moved into the Buffer strip upon directives from its mentors in Algiers and set up checkpoints in an act aimed at galvanizing support amid the disenchanted population held against their will in Tindouf camps. The Tindouf-based militias are also attempting to divert attention from Moroccos recent diplomatic breakthrough in Africa, notably after it gained support of countries that were until recently aligning with the Algerian-sponsored separatist thesis. The withdrawal of Moroccan troops took the Polisario militias and their Algerian sponsors by surprise at a moment they were waiting for the Moroccan army to fall in the trap of provocation. Now that it has withdrawn its troops beyond its security walls, Morocco has scored a major point and evidenced its sincere willingness to safeguard the regions peace and security. Meanwhile, the Polisarios hostile acts and its obstinacy to maintain its armed men within the buffer zone in an utter disregard for the ceasefire agreement are threatening with a casus belli the whole region. The frail health of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is reflected in the Algerian diplomacy that has lost track as it continues to accumulate failures on multiple fronts. Algierss Arab diplomacy after its participation in the Arab leagues 28th Summit in Amman shows an inaudible voice and most of all an incapacity to forge new alliances in the region after the collapse of its once powerful allies: Syria and Libya. Algerias participation in the Arab Summit went almost unnoticed. The country was represented by the President of the National Council Abdelkader Bensalah in view of the health conditions of Abdelaziz Bouteflika whose last presence in an Arab summit dates back to 2011 in Egypt. Bensalahs input to the Arab Summit was marked by the delivery of a recycled worn-out speech stressing the need for a reform of the Arab league. That point did not even feature in the closing statement of the summit and received support from Mauritania only. At a time where the Arab region is plagued by turmoil, instability and devastating civil wars there is little room for such a remark concerning the internal modus operandi of the Arab League. The speech by Algerias representative reflected an Algeria in disarray, trying to show an image that is contradicted by reality on the ground. Bensalah anomaly was that he raised purely internal issues such as the Algerian counter-terrorism strategy and the democratic process consolidation achievements. These issues are of little concern in such a regional meeting. One would wonder what is the use of citing purely internal issues at a regional event that is supposed to examine and offer concrete proposals to resolve the crises in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia. Algeria also failed to make case for its approach regarding the resolution of the conflict in Libya. The closing statement has rather reiterated support for dialogue under the auspices of the UN between the warring parties, a tacit endorsement of the Skhirate agreement hosted in Morocco. Algeria also ensued a setback regarding its position on the return of its ally Syria to the Arab League. Algerias conciliatory stance regarding Iran was also ignored in the closing statement, which clearly ascribes regional instability to Tehran and calls on it to adopt a neighborliness policy. As it continues to crumble under the effect of low oil prices along with uncertainties at the helm of the authoritarian regime, Algerias diplomacy loses its influence mainly due to the dwindling of its main leverage represented in its mantra: oil money. : , , , , - 28 . WATFORD CITY For the dozens of people gathered in a crowded hallway Friday, the new McKenzie County Law Enforcement Center isnt just a new building its a symbol of the way the community has dealt with the tremendous growth that came with the oil boom. Gov. Doug Burgum, speaking at a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony, praised the county and Watford City for the way it handled population growth. We all know the oil boom brought many things to North Dakota, Burgum said, going on to list jobs, prosperity and an influx of new residents. It also brought a lot of challenges to law enforcement, to the correctional system and to the judicial system. Doug Nordby, a McKenzie County commissioner, walked the crowd through the growth process and how the county arrived at the need for the law enforcement center. In 2008, before the boom, there were about 20 sheriffs office employees and three Watford City police officers. When the moving process is finished, about 25 Watford City officers and about 80 sheriffs office employees will be working in the law enforcement center. Theres also space for the North Dakota Highway Patrol and two agents from the states Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The project, which broke ground in 2015, was budgeted for $53 million but, Nordby told the crowd, the latest cost estimates are below that, at around $45 million. The building is more than 94,000 square feet and in addition to the sheriffs office, Watford City Police Department and state agencies, also houses the McKenzie County Correctional Facility. The countys old jail could only house 21 inmates, forcing sheriffs deputies to house prisoners at facilities around the state. The new jail has 136 beds. The need to house prisoners in other places costs as much as $100,000 per year in inmate transport costs alone, according to Burgum. Getting the law enforcement center built took cooperation between elected officials from different boards, as well as from the public, Nordby said. Id like to think our community does it better than any other, he said. Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford, who was mayor of Watford City until December, echoed Nordby about cooperation. The law enforcement center is one piece of a larger puzzle, he said, one that adds up to a more livable, vibrant community. You need reasons why the families want to stay, he said. He pointed to the new high school in Watford City, as well as other building projects, as among those reasons. Discussions between Watford City and McKenzie County led to the joint function of the law enforcement center, Sanford explained. Elected officials from the city and the county made a decision to take on the large project with the future in mind. Were going to build something permanent, Sanford said. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said the communitys resolve in the face of challenges during the boom years showed its dedication. One of the things that impresses me most about Watford City and McKenzie County was that at the beginning of the oil boom, you made the decision that Watford City and McKenzie County wouldnt just be an industrial hub, it would be a community, he said. The law enforcement center showed that the community was committed to protecting public safety, an essential component to quality of life, he said. This law enforcement center will stand as a testament to the vision of everyone in the region, Stenehjem said. WILLISTON A 24-year-old man was convicted Friday for his role in a beating and sexual assault that took place in rural Williams County nearly two years ago. David Mbulu was found guilty of attempted murder, a Class A felony, and conspiracy to commit murder, accomplice to gross sexual imposition and conspiracy to commit gross sexual imposition, all Class AA felonies. The 12-person jury deliberated for about two hours before returning its verdict at the Williams County Courthouse, wrapping up a five-day trial that spanned two weeks after it was delayed to allow a witness to tend to a family emergency. The verdict was met with tears by Mbulus family members and others in the courtroom, including defense attorney Misty Nehring, who embraced Mbulu before he was led away by corrections officers. Northwest District Judge Joshua Rustad ordered a pre-sentence investigation in advance of sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. Both Nehring and Williams County Assistant States Attorney Nathan Madden declined to comment. Prosecutors say Mbulu hit a 24-year-old woman with a car jack, causing a severe head wound and neck fractures, and held her down while another man sexually assaulted her on a little-used dirt road near Epping in November 2015. The woman, wearing just a t-shirt in sub-freezing temperatures, was later found by a passerby on County Road 42. More than 20 witnesses testified during the trial, including local detectives, doctors who treated the victim and forensic scientists from the state crime lab. Both the victim, whose name is being withheld, and Mbulu spoke on Thursday, offering at times conflicting accounts of what happened during the trip to Minot and the eventual attack. Both testified, though, that Mbulu dealt the blows with the car jack and that another man, Jean-Michael Kisi, raped her. Mbulu maintained that he had no part in the sexual assault, although prosecutors said he held the woman down for Kisi. Pointing out that Mbulu told investigators several different versions of what happened that afternoon, Madden revisited details during his closing argument, emphasizing threats heard in cell phone videos taken by Mbulu in the hours before the altercation. The recordings show the victim in the back seat of Mbulus car being taunted with profanity-laced insults that referenced both sex and violence. Over the course of trial, what you heard (in the videos) kind of matches up with what (they said) was going to happen, Madden said. Notice the parallels, thats a prelude to what was to come. When they finally came to a stop there in that slough, that became (the victims) physical reality. A text message found on Mbulus phone reading make her mad and tell her to get out that Madden said he typed to show to Kisi just minutes before the attack and then accidentally sent offered further evidence that the two planned to hurt the woman, he added. Nehring countered by asking jurors to carefully consider the wording of the charges, which, she said, required proof of intent to commit murder and assist in a sexual assault for a conviction. The fact that he struck her multiple times is not condonable and not forgivable, but thats not what hes been charged with, she told jurors. Theres a difference between being angry with somebody and lashing out, and intending to kill them. Proving a conspiracy, Nehring added, should also include input from Kisi, who was not placed on the witness list. The incident was prompted by an argument over money, which began as the three were returning to Williston from Minot, according to prosecutors. The woman had promised to pay Mbulu $300 for the ride, but was unable to cash a check to get the money, or to pay for their overnight stay in the city. The aftermath of the I-85 fire. Photo: David Goldman/AP The bizarre fire and road/bridge collapse that has made I-85 impassable for an undefined but catastrophic period of time has drawn some national attention to Atlantas famously terrible traffic conditions, which are now going to get immensely worse. At Vox, Naomi Shavin does an admirable job of explaining the citys transportation problems, particularly the stunted growth of the MARTA public-transit system. Heres a key passage: Shavin is right, but theres a piece of information she mentions elsewhere that some readers may not connect to the transit problem: Metro Atlanta is scattered across 29 counties, which has made it easy to confine public transit narrowly to the heavily African-American Fulton and Dekalb counties. Some of the insanely superfluous number of local jurisdictions is associated with recent population growth and sprawl, but it is all interconnected since the kind of land-use planning that might have created a more compact metro Atlanta is virtually impossible with so many jurisdictions. The politics of Georgias 159 counties (second only to Texas, which has a far larger land area) goes way, way back. The legend is that Georgians decided in the 19th century that every farmer needed a county seat within a days commute and return via horse-drawn buggy. However it developed, the structure was frozen into place in 1917 via the adoption of Georgias unique county unit system for statewide elections. A sort of state version of the Electoral College without any basis in population equality, the county-unit system made it possible for rural politicians to run the state for decades with little or no input from the states urban areas. Since the system also coincided with the 20th-century version of Jim Crow, it basically enabled a very small group of conservative rural whites to control everything in Georgia. Obviously no small county was about to give up its unit votes and so consolidation was never an option. The county-unit system was finally outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963 in one of the landmark one person one vote rulings that required population-proportional districts for state legislatures. But the 159 counties lived on thanks to constitutional provisions that made consolidation politically impossible (though some largely rural counties have consolidated services across county lines). In the 1980s and 1990s, when I worked in the Georgia state government, there was a brief upsurge in interest in regional planning, especially in the Atlanta area, which needed it most. But with the advent of Republican rule in Georgia in the 21st century, planning has had a bad, socialistic aroma (conservative Republicans in Georgia were also heavily invested in the insane Agenda 21 conspiracy theory holding that development planning was part of a U.N. plot for world domination). Amidst that political climate, the Atlanta Metro Area has continued to sprawl with little opportunity for coordination, and the transportation system has never been able to catch up. And so, a system created for farmers has helped create a great American citys transportation nightmare. Go figure. A no-sign of tumultuous White House times. Photo: Olivier Douliery/Pool/Getty Images President Trump walked out of an executive-order signing ceremony on Friday without actually doing any of the intended signing. The bizarre moment, which included Vice-President Pence and other administration staff calling after the quickly departing Trump to remind him about the still-unsigned orders, was of course captured by the press assembled for the ceremony. After Pence delivered remarks in praise of Trump and the two orders, which the White House says will prevent foreign-trade abuse, Trump then insisted that youre going to see some very, very strong results very, very quickly, but quickly left the room, seeming to forget about the unsigned orders meant to provide those results. As he walked out, Trump ignored a question from CBS News reporter Major Garrett about whether or not he had tried to get the Justice Department to grant immunity to former national security adviser Michael Flynn in exchange for Flynns testimony about the Trump administrations ongoing Russia scandal. After Trump had left, Pence finally got the presidents attention, and Trump beckoned for the orders to be brought to him to sign elsewhere. Pence then hastily collected the orders, and followed Trump out of the room. Reporters then asked Chief White House Strategist Steve Bannon if the orders had been pre-signed, but he remained stone-faced: Its not clear if Trump was just being absentminded or if he was seeking to spend as little time in front of the media as he had to. Trump did eventually sign the orders and was back to tweeting complaints about press coverage on Saturday morning. Later on Saturday, likely in response to all the reports about his aborted ceremony, Trump also retweeted a closely cropped photo of him signing the orders (someplace else). He did not retweet this: Photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images Fox News and Bill OReilly have paid out around $13 million in settlements to five women who accused OReilly of sexual harassment or verbal abuse, the New York Times reports. The women, who all either worked for OReilly or appeared on his top-rated television program, complained about a wide range of behavior, including verbal abuse, lewd comments, unwanted advances and phone calls in which it sounded as if Mr. OReilly was masturbating, according to documents and interviews, per the Times investigation. The women were given the payouts in exchange for agreeing not to pursue litigation or make their allegations public. Some of the settlements were completed in secret, and two happened after former Fox News chief Roger Ailes was dismissed following his own sexual harassment scandal last year. The earliest OReilly settlement happened in 2002. 21st Century Fox, Fox Newss parent company, indicated in a statement to the Times that they are continuing to stand behind OReilly: 21st Century Fox takes matters of workplace behavior very seriously. Notwithstanding the fact that no current or former Fox News employee ever took advantage of the 21st Century Fox hotline to raise a concern about Bill OReilly, even anonymously, we have looked into these matters over the last few months and discussed them with Mr. OReilly. While he denies the merits of these claims, Mr. OReilly has resolved those he regarded as his personal responsibility. Mr. OReilly is fully committed to supporting our efforts to improve the environment for all our employees at Fox News. But according to one Times source, Fox only learned of one of the settlements six years after it had happened while conducting last years investigation into Roger Ailess tenure at Fox News. The company then decided to settle with two additional women who had made sexual-harassment allegations against OReilly. The Wall Street Journal additionally reports that Fox also recently decided to renew OReillys contract, which was due to expire this year, despite the settlements and allegations. The Journal also reports that with regards to who made the payments, OReilly paid $10 million while Fox paid $3 million. OReilly released a statement in response to the report claiming that he pursued the settlements to avoid bad publicity and in order to protect his children: Just like other prominent and controversial people. Im vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity. In my more than 20 years at Fox News Channel, no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline. But most importantly, Im a father who cares deeply for my children and who would do anything to avoid hurting them in any way. And so I have put to rest any controversies to spare my children. The worst part of my job is being a target for those who would harm me and my employer, the Fox News Channel. Those of us in the arena are constantly at risk, as are our families and children. My primary efforts will continue to be to put forth an honest TV program and to protect those close to me. His lawyer also says they are seriously considering legal action to defend Mr. OReillys reputation. According to the report, the five women who made the allegations against OReilly and received settlements were Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, a junior Fox News producer; Andrea Mackris, an OReilly Factor producer; Rebecca Gomez Diamond, a Fox Business Network host; Laurie Dhue, a Fox News anchor; and Juliet Huddy, an on-air Fox News personality who regularly appeared on OReillys show. Only two of the settlements had been previously acknowledged. In addition, another two women have publicly accused OReilly of harassment: Wendy Walsh, a former guest on The OReilly Factor, and Andrea Tantaros, a former Fox News host. Tantaros filed a lawsuit against Fox News and Roger Ailes, but not OReilly, last summer. Sources say to expect more harassment/discrimination lawsuits will be filed against Fox News next week Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) April 1, 2017 Fox News is already facing an investigation by federal prosecutors looking into whether or not the company broke the law by not sufficiently disclosing payments made to settle harassment claims. This post has been updated to include the Wall Street Journals additional reporting. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images Recent financial filings by Kellyanne Conway reveal that she worked as a consultant for the Center for Medical Progress, the group responsible for the undercover Planned Parenthood videos released in 2015. In the videos, CMPs David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt represented themselves as employees of a biotech firm interested in purchasing fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood for research. Daleiden and Merritt are currently up against 15 felony charges in California for using false identities and recording conversations without the participants consent. The videos fanned the flames of anti-abortion advocates in states like Texas, where officials attempted to block Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Although Texas lost that battle, the war is hardly over. On Thursday, the Senate voted to repeal the Obama administrations rule on Title X that would prevent states from defunding health-care providers that also offer abortion. Vice-President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote to overturn the rule. According to the rest of the filings, Conway also worked for the NRA, the American Conservative Union, Citizens United, Center for Security Policy, and assorted conservative groups. Click here to watch a supercut of the baffling statements Conway has made over the years about abortion. A state House committee rejected what one lawmaker called a glorified moratorium on new wind energy projects Friday, but instead proposed tweaks to how the states utility regulator evaluates projects. House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, proposed an amendment to a bill seeking a study of the states long-term energy plan that would have prevented the Public Service Commission from approving a new application for a wind farm submitted after Dec. 31 unless it determines that the energy is needed or wont harm system reliability. The Senate considered a similar provision earlier this session but rejected it. The House Energy and Natural Resources Committee instead gave a do pass recommendation to a bill directing the PSC to consider the need for a proposed energy facility, along with the energy study. Rep. Mike Brandenburg, R-Edgeley, called the original proposal a glorified moratorium but still had problems with the new bill. Its not a moratorium but you put it in the hands of three people, he said. Carlson said hes not against wind energy, but raised concerns about grid reliability. He also disputed the characterization that his proposal was a moratorium on wind. Since Ive been a kid, you flipped the light switch on, the powers always been there, Carlson said. Randy Christmann, chairman of the Public Service Commission, said North Dakota has added 1,000 megawatts of wind power over the past 10 months. Meanwhile, Great River Energy has recently shuttered a coal-fired power plant, he noted. I fear we are going to choke out more of our baseload power, said Christmann, who pointed to federal subsidies for intermittent power sources. Brandenburg, meanwhile, provided a list of federal tax incentives for coal. Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak questioned how the commission would determine need, given that some projects are built for customers outside of the state. Some lawmakers said the committee was taking the wrong approach. I want to see us support and make coal more competitive, said House Minority Leader Corey Mock, D-Grand Forks. But I certainly wouldnt want to do it at the expense of other energy industries. House lawmakers could vote on Senate Bill 2314 as soon as Monday. Russia has revamped its Central Asia policy in recent months with a major outreach to Pakistan and stepping forward as a power broker in Afghanistan, its former stomping grounds. With the help of its newfound strategic partner, China, Russia intends to checkmate the United States regional pre-eminence. But the maneuvering has also brought Moscow in opposition to New Delhi with which it has traditionally shared robust ties. Any new power equation in the region will have long-term implications. Since the 1960s, Russia has been a close partner of India in Central Asia. This relationship has stood the test of time even as global power equation changed after the end of the Cold War. During the Cold War, the high point of the relationship was the signing of the 1971 IndoSoviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation, which signaled a decisive shift away from the West in response to an emerging U.S.-Pakistan-China axis in Central Asia. Though not an explicit military alliance, this treaty was a sharp departure from Indias professed policy of non-alignment, and New Delhi emerged as a close partner of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The treaty, in effect, created a deterrent against any form of U.S.-Pakistan-China detente and rendered India increasingly dependent on the Soviet Union for defense capabilities. The relationships economic dimension was never strong, and the fall of the Berlin Wall exposed the foundations of Indo-Russian ties to new vulnerabilities. Russias position as Indias defense supplier of choice has increasingly come under pressure since the 1990s, when the West opened to India. Still, Russia and India continued to recognize the need for each other. India, the worlds top defense importer, is overseeing an upgrade of its mostly Soviet-era military equipment. Russia is the worlds second largest arms exporter, following the United States. In 2016, India and Russia signed major defense deals worth billions of dollars, including pacts for five S-400 Triumf air defense systems, four stealth frigates and a joint venture to manufacture Kamov-226T light utility helicopters in India. India is a challenging market for U.S. defense exporters, and Russia has traditionally been willing to go along with made in India policies promoting indigenous production. For its defense matrix, India cannot afford to marginalize Russia as it still is the only country selling critical strategic technologies to India. In recent years, India has grown concerned about Russias growing closeness to China and especially the overtures to Pakistan. Vladimir Putin, intent on viewing Central Asia through the prism of Russias geopolitical competition with the West, may have decided that the time was right to tilt towards Pakistan. U.S.-Pakistan ties may have hit their nadir and the new U.S. administration, expressing isolationist tendencies, remains consumed by multiple domestic crises. The global arms market has become more difficult for Russia to navigate, with China deciding to produce its own weapons rather than procuring them from Russia. Moscow needs new buyers. Related: What Gold Can Tell You About Oil Prices Moscow and Islamabad held their first joint military exercise in September 2016 and their first bilateral consultation on regional issues in December. Russia lifted an arms embargo against Pakistan in 2014 and will send four Mi-35M attack helicopters this year. Russian troops participated in this years Pakistan Day military parade. And the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor linking Xinjiang to the Pakistani port of Gwadar could be merged with the Russia-backed Eurasian Economic Union. But causing real consternation in New Delhi is Moscows decision to side with China in ensuring that Pakistan does not get isolated globally. At the 2016 BRICS summit in Goa, Russia did not back Indias demand to name two Pakistan-based terror groups as perpetrators of terrorism against India, thereby shielding Pakistan from censure. This shift in Russian stance is also evident in the role that it envisions for itself in Afghanistan, coming almost four decades after the 1979 Soviet invasion of the country. Russia hosted a February six-nation conference in Moscow on Afghanistans future with participation from India, Iran, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan. This was Russias second initiative after the first trilateral conference in December, including only China and Pakistan. The December conference agreed upon a flexible approach to remove certain [Taliban] figures from [United Nations] sanctions lists as part of efforts to foster a peaceful dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban movement. The three states underscored their concern about the rising activity in the country [Afghanistan] of extremist groups, including the Afghan branch of IS [the Islamic State] and underlined that the Taliban is a necessary bulwark in the global fight against the Islamic State. Kabul and other partners like New Delhi were surprised, while the Taliban was ecstatic. "It is joyous to see that the regional countries have also understood that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is a political and military force, noted a statement issued on the Talibans behalf. The proposal forwarded in the Moscow tripartite of delisting members of the Islamic Emirate is a positive step forward in bringing peace and security to Afghanistan. Russia faced flak for not inviting Afghanistan to the December conference. The U.S.-backed Afghan government had registered a strong protest after its exclusion, underlining that, regardless of participants intentions, excluding Kabul would not help stabilize the country. So, Moscow was more careful for the February meeting, broadening outreach by inviting India, Iran, Afghanistan and most regional stakeholders while pointedly excluding the United States and NATO. It was left to Afghanistan to underscore U.S. centrality in the countrys unfolding dynamic and to push for inclusion of the United States as one of its most important partners to end war and usher in sustainable peace in Afghanistan. Afghanistan also took on Pakistan at the conference when it underlined the need to effect a change in the behavior of certain state actors to end the violence that has reached record levels in the last year. Afghanistan also strongly pushed back against the good Taliban, bad Taliban discourse being championed by Russia, China and Pakistan. The Afghan representative at the talks, M. Ashraf Haidari, argued: the key challenge to the process remains a policy selectivity by some to distinguish between good and bad terrorists, even though terrorism is a common threat that confronts the whole region, where if one of us doesnt stand firm against it, others counterterrorism efforts will not bear the results we all seek. Related: These Fundamentals Point To Higher Oil Prices Of course, New Delhi welcomed that stance, arguing that Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation efforts should be facilitated by friends and well-wishers of Afghanistan. Targeting Pakistan, India also reiterated that denying safe havens or sanctuaries to any terrorist group or individual in countries of our region, remains central for the long-term stability of Afghanistan. Russia is now planning to host another round of talks on the conflict in Afghanistan on April 14. 12 countries, including the United States and five Central Asian nations, have been invited to attend. Ahead of this meeting, Pakistan recently brought together seven top Taliban leaders in Islamabad to cajole them for the peace talks. Moscow has established itself as the leading power broker in the conflict-ridden country, since most NATO forces withdrew in 2014 and where 8,400 American soldiers remain. NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, General Curtis Scaparrotti, recently warned that he had seen the influence of Russia of late - increased influence in terms of association and perhaps even supply to the Taliban." Russia, in concert with China, challenges U.S. strategic priorities on multiple fronts, and regional theaters like Central Asia are likely to face the brunt of this geopolitical competition, putting older relationships under strain even as new ones take shape. The new Great Game for Central Asia has only just begun. By Harsh V. Pant via YaleGlobal Online More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Europes longest running conflict was reactivated in Karabakh on February 25, with cease-fire violations along the line of contact. The skirmishes lasted a few days and left several soldiers dead without yielding any other result. Azerbaijans Ministry of Defense stated its forces had suffered losses while repelling the large-scale Armenian assault (Report.az, February 25). By a suspicious coincidence, the fighting erupted on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the tragic and deadly events in Khojaly (considered a genocide by Azerbaijan), which was being commemorated in Baku with a 40,000-person march (APA, February 26). Azerbaijani diplomats believe the recent Armenian provocation was aimed at disrupting the negotiation process over the conflicts peaceful settlement (Azernews, February 26). However, such an interpretation may fail to acknowledge the echoes of a deeper geopolitical struggle in the region and beyond. In recent years, Baku has perceived what appears to be Armenian preparations for a new assault. Thus, of particular note, was news of the supply of MiG-29 fighters and other sophisticated aircrafts from Russia to Armenia in February 2016. The Kremlin also extended to the Armenian authorities a $200 million loan for arms purchases (RIA Novosti, June 29, 2016). And in the autumn of last year, media reported the transfer of Iskander ballistic missiles to Armenia, as well (Vedomosti, September 19, 2016). Bilateral military cooperation was further deepened when, in October 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted a project to create the Russian-Armenian Unified Caucasus Air Defense System; and in November, he approved the formation of a joint Russian-Armenian military unit (Russia-Briefing, November 16, 2016). Related: Are Gulf Oil Producers Falling Into The Venezuela Trap? A few days prior to the February violence around Karabakh, Baku hosted the Third Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) Advisory Council. The Azerbaijani authorities attached great importance to the event; President Ilham Aliyev himself delivered an address to the meeting (Azertag, February 23). It was attended by not only high-ranking officials of the countries involved in the SGC, but also senior representatives from the European Union and United Kingdom. The Southern Gas Corridor project encroaches on Russian interests as a near-monopoly supplier to Southeastern Europe. Thus, Moscow has and will continue to try to prevent the completion of the SGC using both carrots (proposing allegedly more efficient alternative projects, such as South Stream and later Turkish Stream) and sticks (efforts to sabotage projects viewed in Moscow as hostile). The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) projectthe SGCs final linkhas been under constant threat from environmentalist groups in Italy, a country where Russian interests are well represented (Natural Gas World, September 10, 2014). It is worth mentioning that even in the 1990s, the Kremlin tried hard to prevent the conclusion of the 1994 oil contract and later initiatives that directed major energy flows from Azerbaijan toward the West. The occupation of Karabakh and surrounding Azerbaijani regions by Armenia, several coup attempts in Bakuone of them occurring just two weeks after the BakuTbilisiCeyhan (BTC) oil pipeline Contract of the Century was signed (Khazar, 2008)and terrorist attacks in Azerbaijan in the early and mid-1990s coincided with the period when Azerbaijani officials and foreign companies were actively negotiating oil agreements. Russias ambassador to Azerbaijan at the time, Valter Shonia, could not have been more frank when he was quoted as saying, Any politician denying the reality of Russian power is not going to remain long in office. Russia is interested in cooperation with the West over Azerbaijan, but if there is some attempt to unseat Russia, there will be unpleasant consequences (Azerbaijan International, Winter 1994). In the end, Russian businesses secured a considerable share of the contracts (Visions, SeptemberOctober 2010). Moreover, Azerbaijan agreed to continue selling oil via the outdated and lengthy BakuNovorossiysk pipeline. Since then, Moscow has not shown any more substantial tolerance for independent regional energy projects. On the contrary, the Ukrainian conflict and the occupation of Crimea demonstrate that Moscow has become more aggressive toward any attempts to diminish the influence of Russia in the post-Soviet space. Related: Mysterious Outage In Libya Could Drive Oil Prices Higher Oil production in Azerbaijan is already gradually declining, and daily volumes arent likely to breach the 1 million bpd threshold in the foreseeable future. Thus, if Baku wishes to make the most of its limited oil wealth, it has to commit to a wider engagement in Westward transportation networks, of which the SGC is a key part. At the same time, the European Unions interest in diversifying its energy sources means that Europe has a real stake in the latest energy contest for Caspian energy resources (Europa.eu, September 19, 2016; Eurasia Daily, November 16, 2016). Thus, the Kremlins attempts to undermine the feasibility of the SGC project is a strategic policy, since a weak Europe is key to Russias divide-and-rule strategy in Eurasia. Moreover, Moscows support for separatist movements across post-Soviet countries is well known. Indeed, it has been actively using this weapon in its standoff with the West, as in the 2008 war with Georgia, when Russia ultimately recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and during the conflict in Ukraine, which started in 2014. In fact, Moscow has recently resorted to supporting separatist movements in Western countries, as well (Imrussia.org, November 12, 2015). All that said, the Kremlin has some reason to worry that the negative status-quo it helped to build up in the region might be undermined in favor of a more cooperative approach. Such strategic initiatives as the SGC, as well as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, have the potential to deepen the participation of the South Caucasus countries in global supply chains. In Armenia, there is a growing realization that the protracted conflict with Azerbaijan and its quasi-colonial dependence on the Russian bear are the only factors keeping the country from seizing these opportunities. A significant development in recent months has been the formation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform, the first-ever attempt at independent peoples diplomacy, whereby a number of Armenian public figures openly voiced their support for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and a normalization process (Arm-azpeace.com, March 10). Some of them even visited Baku while intergovernmental contacts were at perhaps a historic low (Azvision, December 31, 2016). The discourse coming from the Platform emphasized the benefits third forces (usually a euphemism for Moscow) have gained from the unrelenting conflict and alienation between the two neighboring nations. The latest escalation, therefore, might have been specifically designed to maintain the confrontational mood, and thus again raise concerns among foreign investors about the regional security situation. By Jamestown.org More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Prosecution in the alleged assault case involving Bishop Daniel Obinim the Founder of Gods Way International Church and two of his pastors lamented over threats and insults rained on complainant in the matter. According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) George Amegah after the last sitting Bishop Obinim and Madam Irene Abotchie-Nyahe, a private legal practitioner exchanged words. Obinims lawyer, Mr Ralph Poku-Adusei said it was the complainant who shouted on top of her voice against the accused during the exchanges. According to him the act by the complainant was disgraceful and as a lawyer he would take action against her. But the complainant narrated that at the last sitting whilst leaving the court premises Obinim threatened that; I will deal with you spiritually, Nkwaseasem, Nkwaseasm,(literally meaning foolishness) The complainant said: I am a professional and I dont need to take my case to the street. The court presided over by Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku urged parties to exercise restraint and not to repeat the act. She suggested that after proceedings in court, there should be five minutes intervals for departure of the complainant and Obinim and the other accused persons. Concluding her cross examination, the complainant admitted that she has never stepped into any branch of the Gods Way International Church. Madam Abotchie- Nyahe who is also a Director of Legal Assistance Network, a human rights organization denied that she was working with Amnesty International. She explained that her organization assist Ministries and government agencies when the need arose in human rights cases. According to her when Obinims video came, she had calls from the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection, and other human rights organization in South Africa, Nigeria and India on the matter. Witness admitted that she was not present at the International Conference where Obinims case was raised. According to her it was a lawyer friend who informed her. Witness said once she had the information and video of the accused and his pastors assaulting the victim, she did not need to set a foot at the church before reporting the incident. The first prosecution witness said the Domestic Violence Act also mandated her to report the case. She disagreed with defence counsel that information she had about abuse of the victims were hearsay. Bishop Obinim has been dragged before the Court for allegedly assaulting his two adopted children a 14-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy who lived with him in the presence of his congregation. He is said to have conducted that act with two of his pastors namely Kingsley Baah and Solomon Abraham. The two have been charged with abetment. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges and have been granted bail in the sum of GHC10,000.00 with one surety each. The Prosecution narrated that the complainant, Irene Abochie-Nyahe, was a legal practitioner residing at Community 17, Lashibi. That on August 17, last year, at about 1700 hours, the Accra Branch of the Church held a service, at which Bishop Obinim claimed he had a revelation from God that the two alleged victims were engaged in pre-marital sex and the 14-year old girl was pregnant. The prosecution said Obinim said the children were in the process of aborting the pregnancy, therefore, the Holy Spirit had directed him (Obinim) to chastise the (teenagers) in the presence of the congregation. According to the prosecution in the full glare of the church, Obinim allegedly removed his belt and assaulted them. The prosecution said in the process, his two pastors, Baah and Abraham, prevented the female victim from running away from the said punishment. The prosecution said the victim could not bear the pain, hence she sought refuge with Mrs. Florence Obinim, but her husband asked her to stay away. He said the assault only stopped after Obinim became content with the alleged punishment. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video 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. VAN HOOK A fleet of earth-moving equipment rumbles across the black dirt at a multi-well oil pad very near Lake Sakakaweas busiest boat ramp. Slawson Exploration didnt hesitate to start work on a controversial 11-well unit about 800 feet from the ramp at Van Hook Recreational Site, where hundreds have cabins, thousands recreate and 90,000 visitors were tallied in the most recent year counted. The company was issued a final permit March 10, and scrapers and dozers were at the pad five days later. That may seem like record time off the starting block, but company spokesman Eric Sundberg points out that the permit to extract oil 2 miles below Lake Sakakawea was five years in the process. This time of year, the yellow machinery crawling around the 25-acre dirt pad is about the only thing moving at Van Hook. Stubborn, rotting ice still reaches up to choke off the ramp and the dozen or so year-round residents are just starting to think about yard work and priming the boat motor. Theyre also thinking about what life will be like when a drilling rig moves in next month and hydraulic fracking crews come behind it. They havent forgotten that Slawson lost control of an oil well just to the east of Van Hook in 2012 and a plume of oil, gas and salt water spewed 50 feet high for two days before the well was controlled. There also was a nearby fire on a tank battery during a lightning storm last summer. Beyond the unusual events, the Van Hook arm a vast reach of water extending north from the main lake proper is surrounded by what has become mostly routine oil development. The arm is entirely within the exterior boundaries of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, which has 1,600 oil wells, 10 rigs drilling and another 500 wells permitted. Arden Eide retired to a home at Van Hook. Theres a sunny attached porch with an outdoor kitchen and kayaks piled up, evidence that when warm weather rolls in, so do the good times. Eide also is a member of the Mountrail County Park Board that manages the Van Hook site, and the Friends of Sakakawea, an advocacy group that objected to the proximity of the Slawson project. The park board didnt have any say in the wells location and would have preferred more of a setback from the busy ramp. But Eide says it will also receive some lease revenue from the project, creating the sort of nuance familiar to many the oil patch takes, it gives and for the most part, it just is. All of us who live here, our lifes been compromised by the Bakken, Eide said. The wells closeness to the water, where families unload boats and coolers is a concern. That blowout was very close, he said. On the other hand, an oil transload on the railroad about a mile away is noisy and loud, and, over the years, the sounds of wells being fracked were audible all over the Van Hook arm. In the summertime, with all the people running around at all hours, the campfires, this is not a pristine, noise-free place. But thats people recreating, not industry, Eide said. Ive got confidence they will minimize (disruption). Im withholding judgment until I see how it turns out. Colleen Dorval, of Van Hook, was babysitting her granddaughter in the babys parents home, the closest one at Van Hook to the well development just across the roadway. She can hear the low rumble of the machinery at work, but said she was uncomfortable talking about the wells because her husband is a Slawson Exploration employee. I will say my worries are lessened by the fact that I know my husband will do all he can in his control to make sure its done properly, she said. A few blocks away, down the dirt lanes that divide the 120 Van Hook cabin sites into town-like blocks, Ron and Margo Egeberg were enjoying a quiet noon hour together. Ron Egeberg said he could hear the roar of the 2012 blowout and remembers the sound. Thatd be the main worry. Its a shame it has to be where its at, but we arent going to stop it now, he said. In balance, though, he doesnt think the project will change life much at Van Hook and hopes it doesnt disrupt the fishing or result in chaos. Margo Egeberg says they love living at Van Hook year round, with its winter quiet, summer fishing and friendly neighbors. I just hope everything stays good, she said. Up the road a few miles, Terry Clayton is counting on that. He owns the bustling Ranchmans 23 restaurant at the crossroads of Highway 23 and Highway 8. He has plans to add a $5 million, Western-style retail pavilion, with an outdoors cantina and roping arena. He depends on locals, including Van Hook recreationists, for the bulk of his business. There are oil wells on either side of the truck stop and motel that partner the restaurant development. This is the way it is here in the oil field; its a way of life, Clayton said. Ive got mixed emotions (about the Slawson project). Its positive for the area, and wells are all around here already. I dont see where the impact will be unless someone is living beside it. Once the wells are completed, I think therell be very little impact. Sundberg said the company will do what it can to make the drilling and production compatible for Van Hook users. The company will build a 32-foot-high sound barrier around the well pad, use a quieter electric instead of gas-driven drilling rig and run pipelines to a storage tank battery three-quarters mile distant. Each of the 11 wells will cost in the range of $8 million, partly because the wells horizontal legs will extend out 3 miles to tap into the Bakken shale far below the bed of Van Hook arm. Eide says no matter how close or loud it may be, he doesnt think the well development will affect the overall popularity of Van Hook, a lively and lovely destination, with its cabins, bait store, camping, parks and lake shore all around. As long as the walleye are biting, people will be here. Will it take away from their experience? Probably, he said. Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the American Authors Association Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the Military Writers Society of America. State Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, announced she will hold a series of five community town hall forums around the 113th Assembly District to discuss her legislative priorities and answer questions from constituents. "As a legislator, the most important part of my job is speaking with members of our community," Woerner said, in a press release. The schedule is as follows: 6 p.m. April 12 Old Washington County Courthouse, 122 Main St. in Hudson Falls; 6 p.m. April 13 Mechanicville Community Center, 6 South Main St., Mechanicville; 3 p.m. April 17 Embury Apartments Cafe, 131 Lawrence St., Saratoga Springs; 5:30 p.m. April 17 H. Dutcher Room at Saratoga Springs Public Library, 49 Henry St., Saratoga Springs; 6 p.m. April 18 Greenwich Public Library, 148 Main St., Greenwich. 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 FARGO The North Dakota Insurance Departments fraud unit is investigating a suspected case of fraudulent medical insurance billing amounting to about $602,000, according to details contained in search warrant documents filed in Cass County District Court. According to an affidavit accompanying the search warrant: An investigator with the fraud unit received information in December 2015 from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota about suspected overbilling by a chiropractor who was working in the Williston area. The insurance company analyzed claims submitted by the chiropractor and determined that out of 145 days billed by the doctor, the doctor claimed to have provided more than 20 hours of care per day on 108 days. On one particular day alone the suspect claimed to have provided 73 hours of care. Between August 2014 and June 2015, the chiropractor is suspected of inappropriately billing Blue Cross Blue Shield more than $602,000, according to the affidavit. The search warrant sought phone record information for the chiropractor suspected of the overbilling. It is not clear from the court filing whether the chiropractor is still working in North Dakota. The suspect has not yet been charged. Jeff Ubben, deputy insurance commissioner for North Dakota, declined to comment on the investigation, but he said insurance fraud is growing across the United States and is now the second-most profitable crime in the country after illegal drugs. Ubben said medical-related fraud makes up about 10 percent the Insurance Departments investigations, with automobile insurance fraud making up the the bulk of the agencys caseload at 43 percent. Insurance Department records show insurance fraud losses in North Dakota totaled more than $500,000 in 2016 and more than $1 million in 2015. Investigating insurance fraud and bringing individuals who commit these crimes to justice is one of the Insurance Departments top priorities, Ubben said. To further that mission, he said the department recently started a program to help counties prosecute insurance fraud cases. He said the program is working well in the two counties where it was started Burleigh and Morton and said there are plans to expand the program to more counties. Ubben said one of the most common examples of how people commit insurance fraud in North Dakota is when vehicle crashes are staged to collect money from auto insurance companies. Theyll make, like, a quick turn into a lane, he said. Theyre good at making it seem like its the other persons fault. A lot has happened since my last blog post more than seven months ago. In the fall I made several trips - in October to Wyoming for the annual meeting of ... 3 years ago Welcome Guest! You Are Here: The information outlines the sizable wealth of many members of the Trump administration which closes in on a cumulative $12 billion, according to a December Bloomberg report. Officials including White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, and advisers Jared Kushner and Reince Priebus listed assets they held at the time they began working for the government, a little more than two months ago. Since then, staffers may have divested from some of those assets, resigned from prior jobs, or recused themselves from holdings that may potentially create conflicts of interest. Here's a look at what the Trump administration's financial disclosures show, based on data gathered at the time they entered public service. Steve Bannon Steve Bannon, the White House chief strategist and perhaps its most controversial figure, appeared to be among the wealthiest in the Trump administration. According to The New York Times, Bannon's biggest asset is a private consulting business that received income from multiple investments valued between $5 million and $25 million. Bannon's disclosures also list: Bank accounts valued up to $2.25 million Rental properties valued at $10.5 million $191,000 in consulting fees he earned from the Breitbart News Network Source: Reince Priebus Priebus' disclosures also listed: Assets between $604,000 and $1.16 million. Two bank accounts worth between $300,000 and $600,000. RNC payment for his rent in Washington amounting to a little over $57,000. Source: , , Jared Kushner Jared Kushner, Trump's i, lists two main sources of income in his financial disclosure. According to the documents, Kushner held: Nearly $6 million in employment assets and income and retirement accounts A long list of nationwide commercial real estate holdings, including in Chicago, New York, and New Jersey. 13 US bank accounts, the most valuable of which totaling between $1 million and $5 million. Source: Ivanka Trump Ivanka Trump, the president's eldest daughter and newly appointed assistant, placed her fashion-licensing brand into the Ivanka M. Trump Business Trust, which is valued at more than $50 million. Given her new position at the White House, Ivanka's report wasn't available because high-ranking officials had up to 30 days after taking office to file their financial disclosures. Her information, gleaned from husband Jared Kushner's report, included earnings between $1 million and $5 million from her ownership stake in Trump International Hotel, located in Washington which is estimated to be worth between $5 million and $25 million. Source: , Sean Spicer White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer generated the lion's share of his income during his time as the chief Rental income from four Northern Virginia properties, ranging between $50,000 and $165,000, with a combined value of at least $1.1 million. Fa Source: Donald McGahn Donald McGahn is a top Trump administration lawyer. He listed multiple employment and retirement assets, a handful of which were valued at between $100,000 and $250,000 each. Additionally, McGahn listed: More than $2.4 million in partner compensation from the Jones Day law firm. Cash accounts totaling between $1 million and $5 million. Source: Gary Cohn Gary Cohn, the National Economic Council's chairman and former president of Goldman Sachs Group, was estimated to have earned $1.8 million as Goldman Sachs' CEO. Though that figure may already dwarf the amounts made from other staffers, he also disclosed: $11.2 million in cash bonuses $23.2 million from selling restricted stock $1.7 million from exercised stock options An attorney for the White House said on Friday that though Cohn had relinquished all of his positions, he was still in the process of divesting some assets which include hundreds of brokerage accounts, hedge funds, and partnerships. Source: Kellyanne Conway Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, reportedly has a multimillion-dollar portfolio. She also earned more than $800,000 in business income prior to joining Trump's campaign. Her disclosures also included: Between $6.5 million and $31 million in cash and money market accounts. Retirement accounts worth more than $2 million. The hearing focused on Russia's hacking and disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining Hillary Clinton and boosting President Donald Trump. "As the intelligence community unanimously assessed in January of this year, Russia sought to hijack our most cherished democratic process: our presidential election," said As we'll learn today, Russia's strategy and tactics are not new, but their brazenness certainly was." The hearing, titled testimony from Warner said his hope is that "our witnesses today will help us understand how Russia deployed this deluge of disinformation in a broader attempt to undermine America's strength and leadership around the world." Rumer replied that Rubio had "hit the nail on the head." Rubio dropped somewhat of a bombshell when the hearing resumed after a brief recess, telling the committee "A campaign manager, who played such a critical role in electing the President, was forced to step down over his alleged ties to Russia and its associates," Warner said. "And since the election, we have seen the Presidents national security advisor resign and his Attorney General recuse himself over previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian government." Stone told Business Insider earlier this month that he had a private conversation on Twitter with Guccifer 2.0, and that the interaction was so "brief and banal, I had forgotten it." The budget, and the bill which was prepared by the government and laid before parliament seeks to abolish VAT on Financial services which includes non-life insurance and professional services in the nature of accountancy, investment and legal services. However, Forson said the minister of Finance changed his position in parliament to exclude professional services in the nature of accountancy, investment, legal services and non-life insurance contracts from the exempted provisions. Simple put, it is only aspects of the VAT on financial services that have been abolished and not the entire provision, he wrote on his Facebook Wall. Financial services companies that perform functions like accountancy, investment, legal services and non-life insurance contracts will still be subject to Value Added Tax. He continued: What saddens me is that the budget statement stated categorically that government was abolishing the entire VAT provisions on all financial services. So, why this deceit? Mr minister, who are you deceiving? Why change a policy document that has already gone through cabinet approval? He further accused the finance minister of inconsistencies in the reduction of the VAT rate from 17.5 percent to 3 percent. The new Act seeks to amend the Value Added Tax regime and to mandate a taxable person who is a retailer or wholesaler for tax payable to a flat rate of 3%. Yet again, the inconsistencies are glaring, he said. READ MORE: Parliament passes appropriation bill to allow government spend GHS64 billion The bill is also to give legal backing to a VAT Flat Rate Scheme that would facilitate collection of VAT on the supply of goods in the distribution chain and to provide for related matters," according to the Finance Committee. The bill follows government announcement of tax cuts and reduction in the 2017 budget statement. The VAT flat rate will apply on the supply of financial services but exclude professional services in the nature of accountancy, investment, legal services and non-life insurance contracts from the exempted provisions. The judge, Mrs. Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku, said the complainant and the private legal practitioner Irene Aborchie should not leave the courts premises at the same time. The judge ruled that after every court sitting, the complainant would leave the court five minutes before Obinim and his two pastors also do so. The order from the judge is an attempt to avert the reoccurrence of a near clash at the court last week. The Prosecutor, DSP George Amegah, told the court yesterday that Bishop Obinim verbally attacked Irene. Irene claimed Obinim told her in Twi at the last sitting when leaving the court that I will deal with you spiritually, Nkwaseasem! Nkwaseasm! Nonsense! Nonsense. Ralph Poku Adusei, lawyer for the embattled man of God, said his client did not start the near brawl. Lawyer Poku-Adusei said it was the complainant (Irene), who shouted on top of her voice against the accused during the exchanges. According to him, the act by the complainant was disgraceful and as a lawyer he would take action against her. The complainant said, I am a professional and I dont need to take my case to the street. Mrs. Adjin-Doku, wondering who was truthful to the court, asked, So who started it? None of you did She added, Let it not be repeated, advise your clients The judge suggested that after proceedings in court, there should be five minutes interval for the complainant and Obinim, together with the other accused persons, to depart. Concluding her cross-examination, the complainant admitted that she had never stepped into any branch of the Gods Way International Church. Bishop Obinim, who prefers to be called Angel Obinim, is in court for unlawfully and physically abusing one Elliasu Obinim, 16 and Gyesiwaah Obinim, 14 his adopted children before his congregation for engaging in fornication. Bishop Obinim is in the dock with his two other pastors Kingsley Baah and Solomon Abraham who had been charged for abetting their senior pastor to abuse the two victims. Meanwhile, the prosecution is set to present its next witness in the case. Hearing continues on April 27, 2017. The accused persons are currently on a GH10,000 bail each with one surety, one to be justified. "If you are poisoned, does it take three days to die, no. The death did not happened on the same day as they are alleging. It happened within 10 days. So if you say it is food poison, I won't believe you," Supt Adani Ameyaw said on UTV Saturday. He said his son, who is also in the school, came home complaining that he is not well. Students of the school on Friday stage a protest demanding that school authorities allow them to go home. The rampaging students vandalised school properties including two buses. Angry parents also stormed the school to take their wards back home as students protest against school authorities over the development. READ MORE: Court orders reinstatement of Tehoda Police were deployed overnight to ensure calm and also protect lives and properties. According to a parent, they heard rumours of suspected death, a cholera outbreak and food poisoning. I was following up on my ex gratia so I went to Flagstaff House and I was directed by the Ministry of Finance to go to the Chief of Staffs office so I wrote a letter and sent it to the Chief of staffs office," she narrated the incident in an interview Citi FM. She continued: "I was there and I realized that three women were verbally assaulting my secretary all because she had the NDC rubber band on her wrist I later entered and I heard them say This is Rachel Appoh and immediately they heard I am Rachel Appoh, they started verbally assaulting me. They were pushing me and someone held my right hand and was like walk out , walk out this is not party office. One of the women, Aunty Naomi, asked me to leave the country if I cant stay, and I told them I am not leaving the country today or tomorrow." Appoh further said she has a healthy relationship with the president, wondering why she would be subjected to abuse. READ MORE: Ayariga signs letter apologising to parliament The President came to my constituency two months to election. When people were greeting the President, he was seated, but when he got there he hugged me. I want to tell every NPP person that they do not know Nana Addo more than me. Speaking on Newfile Saturday, Mr Ayariga told the show host Samson Lardy Ayenini that MPs only heard what was read on the floor of parliament by the Chairman of the Committee before approving it. READ MORE: Ayariga signs letter apologising to parliament He said: "Just to point out something you should also be watching out for. "Review the clips, the proceedings in the house, you'd have notice that copies of the reports were being distributed when Hon. Joe Ghartey was delivering his report. "So the honourable members of the house only got to know the report when he was already on his feet delivering the report. Moving the motion for the abridgement of time so that he could deliver the report. And that was when they were sharing the report. "So honourable members didn't even get the opportunity to see the report, they only heard what was delivered." Asked why parliament approved the report without reading it, he said during the reading of the report, he stood up to draw the Speaker's attention to "fundamental legal issues and fundamental errors of judgement in terms of the analysis of the issues that were before the committee and the basis upon which they were analysing the issue before question to the house." According to him, he was not recognised by the Speaker to speak so he could raise the issue with the Speaker. The report had charged Mr Ayariga of contempt of parliament after he accused the then energy minister-designate, Boakye Agyarko, of bribery and that the Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak was the conduit. READ MORE: Parliament approves 11 ministers The committee, which was constituted to investigate Mr Ayariga's claims exonerated Mr Agyarko, Mubarak and the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Joe Osei-Owusu. The letter also apologised to all MPs for lowering the image of the house in the minds of right thinking Ghanaians after he fiercely disputed the Joe Ghartey Committee report. The committee had found him guilty of contempt and that he should be reprimanded by Speaker Mike Ocquaye. Following the committee's report, the Speaker asked him to render an unqualified apology to the House of Parliament. However, in a defiance response, Ayariga said "If you say I should apologise, I apologise," drawing loud uproar from MPs. Ayariga claimed in a radio interview that the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, sent money to the minority side on the Appointments Committee in an attempt to influence their decision on his approval after he was vetted for the position. The allegations shock the Appointments Committee on both sides of the house with Joe Osei Owusu (the committees chair) and Mubarak Muntaka (on the minority side) implicated. The pair, together with Boakye Agyarko have denied the allegations and described it as unsubstantiated. His allegations were backed by two others; Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and first time legislator Alhassan Suhini. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! He is scheduled to visit Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Ashantehene, today Saturday, April 1. He is also scheduled to visit the abandoned maternity block project for the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) which was started in 1974 by the Kutu Acheampong regime. The president's daunting task in the midst of his official visit is persuading his party members to remain calm and give him time to roll out his policies. The party's private security, the Delta Force, had attacked his Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator saying they cannot work with him. And on Thursday, communications officers in the region abandoned radio and TV panel discussions because of neglect by the party. Another pressing issue for the president is to demonstrate that enough Ashantis have been appointed into his government. In a panic mode to test the president's popularity, the party is organising a rally on Sunday for the president to directly residents of the region. The president is expected to say what he has achieved since he assumed office. He is expected to say the Free SHS will start in September, that the One-district-one-factory will materialise and that jobs will be created for the teaming unemployed youth. In addition, he is expected to plead for time for his policies to crystallise. Despite the tension in the region, the president spokesperson Mustapha Hamid said Nana Akufo-Addo's trip is purely accidental. This is an institutionalised arrangement where every month he will visit a region. We cannot envisage what trouble will come next month when we are going to the next region, but if by accident, something happens and he is there, it is purely accidental, he said at a news conference. The committees are investigating Russia's interference in last year's US election, and both have asked to interview members of President Donald Trump's inner circle who may have relevant information about whether any collusion occurred between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Flynn's potential ties to Russia have been of particular interest to the committees because of his conversations with Russia's ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, that eventually led to his ouster. Flynn's lawyer released a statement saying "discussions between counsel for General Flynn and the House and Senate intelligence committees" about possible immunity had been ongoing, but some congressional officials have already disputed that claim. The House Intelligence Committee "had a preliminary conversation with Michael Flynn's lawyer about arranging for Flynn to speak to the committee," Jack Langer, a spokesman for the committee's chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, said in a statement. "The discussions did not include immunity or other possible conditions for his appearance." The Senate Intelligence Committee has apparently already turned down Flynn's request: Immunity is "not on the table" at the moment, a senior congressional official told NBC. Perhaps more significant, Flynn has also made his offer to the Department of Justice, The Journal and NBC have reported. Ultimately, analysts have said, only the DOJ which oversees the FBI would be able to give Flynn real immunity should it determine that his information is both valuable and inaccessible by other means or sources. "Keep in mind Congress usually offers 'use immunity' (to not use statement) and not immunity from prosecution," Susan Hennessey, a former National Security Agency lawyer, wrote on Twitter. Flynn's push for immunity has suggested to some that he thinks he might have information relevant to the broader investigation, which could take the focus off himself. Juliette Kayyem, a CNN national-security analyst who lectures at Harvard's Kennedy School, said that while "we don't know what Flynn offered," his offer alone was "significant" and made him the first in Trump's "inner circle to turn his back on them." The House committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, said in a statement Friday that while the committee would discuss the matter with its Senate counterpart, it remained "deeply mindful of the interests of the Department of Justice." The bureau does nobody any favors So far, Flynn's public confirmation that he's seeking immunity suggests that the FBI has successfully backed him into a corner, even without the "story" his lawyer has said Flynn is eager to tell. Glenn Carle, a former CIA operative who worked closely with the FBI during his time as an intelligence officer, said the "bureau does nobody any favors." "It's conceivable that Flynn is innocent," Carle said. "But the FBI is extremely powerful, and has sources everywhere. So assuming Flynn is asking for immunity because he thinks he did something wrong, and wants to save his own ass, the bureau will probably say, 'Thanks, but no why should we do you a favor if we don't even need your testimony?'" "Flynn's lawyer may have concluded that at a minimum the public offer would help change the atmospherics around his client, which could help him at a future stage," Whiting wrote. But "the very fact that Flynns lawyer is making a play for immunity at this stage suggests that he has some fear that his client faces real criminal exposure," he added. When the wheels of a bureaucracy start to turn, they will grind up everybody Questions about whether Flynn ran afoul of the law by accepting payments from foreign governments, while he still had US security clearance, have been piling up in recent weeks as reports continue to surface about his work for both Russia and Turkey the extent of which, in some cases, he failed to immediately disclose to the DOJ. Flynn's lobbying firm, Flynn Intel Group, lobbied on behalf of a Turkish businessman with ties to the Turkish government throughout the latter half of 2016. But Flynn registered as a foreign agent with the Department of Justice only late last month. Flynn was also paid $33,000 to speak at a gala in Moscow honoring Russia's state-sponsored news agency, Russia Today, in December 2015. Top Democratic lawmakers have requested that the Defense Department review whether that speaking engagement violated the emoluments clause of the US Constitution. Flynn sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the gala dinner. Earlier that year, Russia's top cybersecurity company, Kaspersky, and the Russian charter cargo airline Volga-Dnepr Airlines paid him nearly $23,000 combined for different speaking engagements. His questionable ties to Russia were not limited to the period after his departure from the agency. The Guardian reported on Friday morning that the FBI and the CIA were examining his contact in 2014 with a Russian-British national, Svetlana Lokhova, who "has claimed to have unique access" to the GRU, Russias military spy agency. Flynn did not disclose his initial conversation with her, or the email exchanges that followed, to the US government, according to The Guardian. Flynn's spokesman, Price Floyd, called the story "false" in a statement and said Flynn's contact with Lokhova was "incidental." But the Justice Department has clearly taken notice. A joint investigation among the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and the Treasury Department into Flynn's communications with Kislyak are what ultimately led to his ouster. And the DOJ's former No. 2 Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates reportedly warned the White House in January that Flynn could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail. "I know that we are going to make a deal on healthcare. That's such an easy one," Trump said. "I have no doubt that that's going to happen quickly." It was a comment Trump's press secretary later said was made in jest, alluding to remarks he made during the healthcare debate about its complications. But this week, despite the American Health Care Act's failure one week ago, Trump and other Republican leaders have suggested that they have not given up on their vow to repeal and replace Obamacare. And they're doing so in earnest. A House divided House Majority Whip Steve Scalise came to the podium Tuesday and warned Democrats about celebrating the failure of the AHCA. " A mood of optimism continued, however, as Bloomberg reported that the GOP leadership was mulling bringing the healthcare bill back to the floor of the chamber as soon as next week, citing two anonymous Republican lawmakers. Numerous reports also indicated that GOP members outside of the leadership were itching to get back to work on the healthcare bill. "," Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia told Bloomberg. But a spokesperson for Ryan told Business Insider on Wednesday there was "no schedule update" for a possible vote on the legislation. And there seems to be a big reason for this strong, but noncommittal, talk: the same divisons that sank the AHCA the first time around haven't gone anywhere. According to most media counts, roughly 33 to 35 House GOP lawmakers had come out publicly against the AHCA. Republicans can only withstand 21 defections for the bill to pass. And the formation of two distinct ideological groups has made it near impossible to see how the current form of the AHCA could make it through a House vote. On the other, members of the moderate Tuesday Group have taken issue with the changes to Medicaid funding under the AHCA that would likely see the government program that provides insurance to low-income Americans get cut in many states. The Congressional Budget Office's projections that 24 million fewer people could be covered over the next 10 years under "Trumpcare" compared the current system also raised red flags. The two groups attempted to get together and work out their differences on Wednesday but according to Axios' Jonathan Swan, it did not go well. A Tuesday Group source told Axios that "fireworks" erupted at the Tuesday Group's meeting on healthcare. Additionally, a meeting of the Freedom Caucus, Tuesday Group, and the conservative Republican Study Committee, but it was called off. Ryan, in an interview on Thursday with CBS News, said Republicans needed to get a repeal-and-replace bill done before Trump shifted and began to work with Democrats on solutions for the existing ACA. "What I worry about, Norah, is that if we don't do this, then he'll just go work with Democrats to try and change Obamacare, and that's hardly a conservative thing," Ryan told CBS News reporter Norah O'Donnell. The Senate moves on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came to the podium and gave Democrats permission to be pleased about the failure of the AHCA. " Most the action on the AHCA has been focused in the House it was there the bill was written and failed to pass but it the Senate could be an even bigger hurdle for the bill, complicating any future efforts to pass the legislation. Many GOP senators this past week have begun discussing working on a bipartisan solution for healthcare. Republicans attempted to use the budget reconciliation process, since Democrats could filibuster any substantial change to the law, meaning they would only need a 50-vote majority to get the bill passed in the Senate. With that off the table, some leading GOP senators have decided that finding common ground and getting over the 60-vote threshold would be the best option. " Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker, also a Republican from Tennessee, introduced a bill on Wednesday that would take the existing ACA framework and provide stabilization to the individual insurance market rather than totally repeal the law. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas has offered similar sentiments, inviting Democrats to the table to fix the deficiencies of Obamacare. " Many Senate Republicans detested the AHCA in the first place. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, an ardent Trump supporter in the election, repeatedly took a hatchet to the healthcare bill and became a loud, leading voice in opposition. Cotton also blasted the supposed three-step process that the White House and House GOP touted for its repeal and replace of Obamacare, calling it "just politicians engaging in spin." The White House is muddled Trump, for his part, hasn't helped heal the divisions while talking up the possibility of completing a new deal, blasting fellow Republican lawmakers who helped sink the legislation and making a questionable endorsement of a Ryan critic. Ryan told CBS News that Trump was "apologetic" about the tweet and did not know Pirro was going to attack the speaker. But Trump spent most of his week homed in on the Freedom Caucus, unleashing a series of tweets between Saturday and Thursday blaming the group for standing in the way of the AHCA. On Thursday, Trump tweeted a broadside at the Freedom Caucus, suggesting he would target them in their reelection efforts. " Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a Freedom Caucus member and opponent of the AHCA who once called it "Obamacare 2.0," struck back at the president on Twitter. "It didn't take long for the swamp to drain @realDonaldTrump. No shame, Mr. President. Almost everyone succumbs to the D.C. Establishment," Amash wrote. Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, another member of the Freedom Caucus, also replied to the president on Twitter. " The White House has been engaged, however, in some new discussions on healthcare. Both Vice President Mike Pence and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon have been working behind the scenes to bring the two House GOP sides together on a passable version of the AHCA, according to reports. With Heineken as the headline sponsor of LFDW, the HeinekenLFDW AW17 show is a 3-day event that will see top Nigerian designers exhibit their designs in an installation format. The AW17 exhibition is aimed at bringing the Heineken LFDW in line with the global fashion calendar while giving fashion designers an opportunity to showcase their work. Operating under the theme Identity, Heineken LFDW AW17 will kick off today March 31 and will run till Sunday April 2, 2017 at the Red Door Gallery. The 3-day presentation will feature top Nigerian designers such as Orange Culture, Maki Oh, AAKS, Gozel Green, Kelechi Odu, Post Imperial, Shem Paronelli, Lisa Folawiyo, and Re. About Heineken The Heineken brand, that bears the founders family name - Heineken - is available in almost every country across the globe and is the worlds most valuable international premium beer brand. To follow Heineken on Twitter visit To follow Heineken on Twitter visitwww.twitter.com/heineken and to become a fan on Facebook go to www.facebook.com/heineken. To view videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel atwww.youtube.com/heineken. Enjoy Heineken Responsibly Heineken continues to integrate its responsible consumption program into all activities. 'Enjoy Heineken Responsibly (EHR),' our global brand-led approach to promote responsible consumption, first launched in 2004. Whilst the Enjoy Heineken responsibly is the flagship of our commitments, we are of course promoting responsible consumption throughout our brand portfolio. As an industry leader, we believe we should lead by example, playing an active role in promoting responsible and moderate consumption of alcohol. Agabe, 38, whose address was not given, is facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, fraud and stealing. The prosecutor, Sgt. Cyriacus Osuji, told the court that the accused committed the offences on March 20, at No. 3, Oke-Imale St., Sangotedo, Ajah, Lagos. He said that the accused collected the money from the complainant for repairs on her Nissan Jeep, a representation he knew was false. The accused converted the money to his personal use and all efforts by the complainant to get back her money proved abortive, Osuji said. The prosecutor said that the accused also refused to give the complainant her Jeep with registration no. SJ 597 AAA, which he took for repairs. The accused forged a police extract from crime diary and swore to an affidavit for the loss of the vehicle particulars, he said. The offences contravened Sections 287 (1), 365 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015. The accused, however, pleaded not guilty the charge. The magistrate, Mrs A. A. Adetunji, granted the accused bail in the sum of N200, 000 with two sureties in like sum. She said that the sureties must be gainfully employed and should show evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government. An Igbosere Magistrates Court, which gave the ruling, asked Idowu to provide two sureties as part of the bail condition. Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Ingobo Emby, told the court that the accused committed the offences on March 29, at Police Zone 2 Command Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos. He said the accused stood surety for two of his friends, Sikiru Balogun and Taiwo Taiwo, in a case of alleged malicious damage Emby said Idowu promised to produce the suspects on March 29, and other subsequent dates they would be needed at the station but failed to do so. He also said that Idowu made an undertaken to forfeit N800,000 bail bond which he made while standing as a surety for the two suspects if he failed to produce them. He failed to produce the two suspects at the police station, thereby aiding their escape, he said. Emby said Idowu should show cause, why he should not forfeit the said N800,000 bail bond to the Lagos State Government. He said that the offences contravened Sections 97 (i) and 132 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. The Magistrate, Mr W. B. Balogun, granted the accused N1million bail with two sureties in like sum. iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- There's the old idea that dogs hate mail carriers, but there's no way Tashi the black lab hates USPS letter carrier Jeff Kramer. Kramer, who has a mail route in Boulder, Colorado, sees Tashi often. "Tashi would hang outside and would always get so excited when Jeff came," Tashi's owner, Karen Dimetrosky, told the Boulder Daily Camera. "He would always try to pull me toward the mail truck. However, Tashi -- who is now 14 years old -- started having trouble getting down the house steps. Kramer said he would often see the Dimetroskys carrying the 70-pound dog down them. Kramer's dog, Odie, passed away five years ago. He built Odie a ramp as his health deteriorated, and the ramp had been sitting in Kramer's yard since Odie's passing. Suddenly, Kramer had a new purpose for Odie's old ramp, he said. "I just noticed they needed it," Kramer told the paper. "I didn't need it anymore and I hate throwing things away." So Kramer took the wood over to the Dimetroskys and installed the ramp for them. "He's just amazing," Dimetrosky told the paper. "We've had the ramp for a few months and he's saved us." Kramer said he can tell that Tashi is happy with his newfound freedom. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the defendant is standing trial on a one-count charge of rape,. The police Prosecuting Officer, Mr Rufai Inusa, told the court that Umar Idris of the same village reported the case to the Rimin Gado Police Division in Kano, on March 16. Wada lured the 10-year-old girl into a farm land situated in Gulu Village, under a Mango tree. The defendant removed the victims pant and forcefully had unlawful sexual intercourse with her, he said. The prosecuting officer, however, said the offence contravened Section 283 of the Penal Code of the state. NAN reports that the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge. The defendant had filed an oral application for his bail, which was vehemently objected to by the prosecuting officer. According to Inusa, the offence is a grievous one. He, therefore, prayed the court to place Wada on remand, pending the determination of the case. In his ruling, Chief Magistrate Muhammad Jibril, ordered the remand of the accused in prison custody. Osinbajo, in his capacity as the acting President, visit states in the Niger-Delta to meet with the people and have first-hand knowledge of their plight. Dokubo, in an interview with Vanguard, also accused members of other ethnic groups of benefitting from the struggle and death of Ijaw people. He said This jamboree by the vice president is funny. Are they our overlords or are we being colonized that they are coming to visit here and there? Dont they know what is right? The oil belongs to us; it does not belong to Nigeria. Ijaw oil belongs to us. If Itsekiri say their oil belongs to Nigeria, that is their business and if Urhobo say same of their oil, that is also their business and same applies to others. But we, Ijaw, are saying that Ijaw oil belongs to Ijaw, they should leave our oil alone. God put the oil there for us to develop ourselves, so there is no need for any Yoruba man called Osinbajo to be perambulating Ijaw land. What is he perambulating about for in the Niger Delta? Dont they know what is right? Okay, in trying to be good neighbours to others and share with them, are they the ones that would decide for us the percentage that we would give to them? Their groundnut, did they share their groundnut or give it to us? Which road was built in Ijaw land with groundnut money or with revenue gotten from cocoa? So the thing is that this jamboree should stop, they know what is right and they should leave what is ours for us because they do not have the right to give it to us. That is the issue at stake and people are not addressing these issues as it should be addressed. So for me, they are only postponing the doomsday, they should do what is right because the oil of Ijaw people belong to them. The former ex-militant leader, in his appraisal of Buharis administration, described it as a zero government. He also said Is there anything to appraise in the Buhari led government? What is there to appraise? Can you multiply zero? If you multiply zero, what would it give you? From N200 a dollar during the time of former President Goodluck Jonathan, which was the highest, to a roving price of N450 per dollar to salary not being paid for months in all the states, this is a zero government and there is nothing to appraise. ALSO READ:VP says Buhari committed to a fair deal in Niger Delta That President left and the people are not allowed to know the reason their president left? That fuel price was increased from N87 per litre when Goodluck left office to N145, what is there to appraise? You cant multiply zero by zero because if you do, what you get is zero, so this is a zero government. Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, Army spokesman made this known in a statement on Saturday in Maiduguri. Usman said that Metele, from Tumbun Bera in Borno, belonged to Mamman Nurs faction of the terrorists group under the leadership of Abu Mustapha. He said that Metele was of serial number 253 on the Nigerian Armys wanted Boko Haram terrorists poster produced recently. He is currently undergoing further interrogation, he said. ALSO READ: Meanwhile, Usman said that two suspected Boko Haram terrorists carrying out surveillance on Kareto and Dangalti villages had been arrested by troops of 158 Task Force Battalion of 5 Brigade based on information. There are unconfirmed speculations that those responsible for the kidnapping are members of Abu Musab Al-Barnawi's faction. You will recall that Al-Barnawi, the son of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf, was made the leader of the sect by ISIS. According to Punch, they raided Pulka, a village near border with Cameroon and kidnapped 18 girls. In a second raid around Dumba village which is close to Lake Chad, the terrorists also kidnapped 4 women again. A source said When the Boko Haram gunmen came for the money they realised he had left with everything and they decided to go after him on their motorcycles. They caught up with him near Dumba where they slaughtered him and shot dead 50 of his cattle. They took four women from the mans family and the rest of the herd. Meanwhile, a high ranking member of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Mr Bulama Kailani Mohammed Metele has surrendered to 145 Task Force Battalion, 5 Brigade troops at Damasak. The Permanent Representative of UK to the UN, Amb. Matthew Rycroft, said there has been a significant focus on the Boko Haram crisis in the Lake Chad Basin region during the UKs Presidency of the Security Council. He was speaking after the Council adopted a resolution on the report of its mission to countries affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. I am very proud to say that through our Presidency of the Security Council, we have put the focus on all four of those. We cannot get the figures to you, but I am confident that the international community is beginning to rise to the challenge of ensuring that we get the donations in early, Rycroft said in his remarks at the Security Council. He said the refugee question was central to the visit to all four countries. I think that in each place we have the opportunity to say how important it is to the host governments and others to ensure that any returns of refuges are done in a voluntary way and done in a safe way and done in cooperation with the governments of the region. In fact the day that we arrived in Cameroon was the day after Cameroon and Nigeria had reached agreement with each other and with the United Nations on a tri-partite agreement for that very purpose, he said. Rycroft commended the unanimous adoption of the resolution, saying it marked the commencement of another chapter of work on the Lake Chad Basin region. He said The adoption of that resolution marks the start of the next chapter of our work on the Lake Chad Basin following the visit the Security Council took to the region at the very start of our Presidency. The resolution calls upon countries in the region, and the international community and the UN to scale up urgently our response to the humanitarian crisis. We must all act now if famine is to be avoided. The resolution also supports the regional governments to lead a comprehensive and effective response to the crisis. That means addressing the root causes of the crisis by addressing economic inequalities, countering violent extremism, and empowering women. We must also commend and support the countries in the region on their efforts to combat Boko Haram, including through the Multi National Joint Task Force. Finally on this resolution, we must also bridge the divide between short-term humanitarian and longer term development work. The UK is leading by example in this area; we were one of the earliest contributors to the response. We are supporting the regional governments; and we are expanding our development programming even as humanitarian aid continues to be delivered, he said. The resolution followed a report of its mission to the region earlier this month. In unanimously adopting the resolution 2349 (2017), on Friday, the Council expressed concern about the protection of civilians affected by terrorism. The Council strongly condemned all terrorist attacks, violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses by Boko Haram and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the region. The UN body also condemned killings, abductions, child, early and forced marriages, rape, sexual slavery and the increasing use of girls as suicide bombers by the Boko Haram terrorists. Those responsible must be held to account and brought to justice, the Council declared. The Council encouraged governments to enhance regional military cooperation, and to move vigorously and decisively to cut funding flows to individuals, groups, undertakings and entities on the ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions List, which includes Boko Haram. It urged Lake Chad Basin Governments to implement consistent policies to promote defections from Boko Haram and ISIL, to deradicalize and reintegrate those who had already defected and to ensure there was no impunity for those responsible for terrorist attacks. On the humanitarian front, the Council urged all parties to the conflict to ensure respect for and protection of humanitarian personnel, and to facilitate safe, timely and unhindered access for humanitarian organizations to deliver aid. In terms of follow-up, the Council encouraged the Secretary-General to carry out a joint visit to the Lake Chad Basin region with the Chairperson of the AU Commission, the President of the World Bank Group and the President of the African Development Bank. In the ensuing discussion, delegates welcomed the Councils unity in passing the resolution on the heels of its mission to Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger from March 2 to 7, to better understand the conflicts root causes. Several members urged the quick disbursement of funds pledged at the Oslo Humanitarian Conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region held on Feb. 24. Cameroons ambassador to the UN Tommo Monthe, speaking on behalf of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, described the resolution as a step change in mobilizing international support for countries to combat Boko Haram. Monthe said that the military response, while essential, should be part of a holistic approach. He urged states to adopt and implement measures to tackle the causes and consequences of the current situation. Monthe expressed hope that the resolution would mark the start of more decisive support to the affected countries, who had been forced to curtail spending on education, health and other efforts. In similar vein, Nigerias representative, Anthony Bosah, welcomed the resolutions call for enhanced regional military cooperation and coordination, emphasizing that Nigeria was resolute in its efforts to defeat terrorism. Bosah said people of the Lake Chad Basin needed support, pointing out that shrinking of Lake Chad had exacerbated their hardship, with cross-border knock-on effects making it difficult for governments to meet peoples needs. Senegals representative, Fode Sech, welcomed the resolution especially its pledge to support the efforts of Lake Chad Basin countries to combat Boko Haram activities. According to Senator representing Kogi West, all Ndume has to do is show remorse and apologise to Bukola Saraki. Speaking on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television on Friday, Melaye referred to the Senate president as a compassionate person, adding that he knows that Ndume can get his punishment reduced if he simply apologises. He also said that the decision to suspend Ndume for raising a petition against Saraki and himself had nothing to with both of them, adding that the decision was made by the Senate. Melaye said, Senator Ndume is an experienced legislator, having been in the house of representatives for two terms, and this being his second term in the senate." I didnt prophecy that he would be suspended, or did Bukola Saraki, who was wrongly accused. We are not the ones who make up the senate. Ndume should understand the workings of the national assembly. The senate is made up of 109 members. So, the decision to suspend Ndume was not that of Saraki or myself, but the decision of the Nigerian senate after investigation by the relevant committees We have a very responsible senate president, a very compassionate Nigerian who does not believe in witch-hunting. Already, there is a lot of pressure, and people are appealing to the person of Bukola Saraki, and I can say on good authority that if Saraki had presided over Ndumes case, he may not have been suspended because the senate president is a compassionate character. So, if Ndume shows remorse, apologise to the senate, the Bukola Saraki that I know will persuade members to either reduce his punishment or forgive him.tenders an apology to Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his punishment will be reduced. The senate has the capacity to suspend any erring senator, but what we are saying here is very clear, due process was followed." Ali Ndume was given fair hearing. He appeared before the committee, he defended himself before the committee gave that recommendation, which was ratified by the entire senate. Moving on to the credibility of his alleged degree from Harvard University, he said that he refuses to be distracted. In his words, Even a mechanic or a plumber who undergoes apprenticeship is given a certificate he graduates from his training. Anyone who attends a particular institution and is given a certificate that he attended the programme, whether it is diploma, a degree or PhD, as long as you have been given a certificate, you are a graduate of that institution because you carry a certificate of that institution. I am not going to be distracted. Mr Joseph Attah, NCS spokesman, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja that the platform was presently undergoing user acceptability test. He said, What that means is that in the very near future in a matter of weeks, the NCS will officially deploy its trade portal. So the auction excises will be electronically driven. So when we say e-auction platform, (we mean) a platform in our trade portal that gives opportunity to all interested people to see what they want with full description of its present state. That is the condition that particular thing is and allows people to bid. Eventually the victory goes to the highest bidder at the end of the bidding process. According to Attah, the manual process of auctioning discouraged competition in the selection of beneficiaries and was opened to abuse. Attah said that the customs boss, retired Col. Hameed Ali, suspended the auctioning of goods to strengthen the process and provide equal opportunity for interested persons. He added that what an interested bidder would require was an authentic Tax Identification Number (TIN) from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Before this is officially deployed we considered it necessary to adequately sanitise members of the public so that those things they should get ready before its deployment they will be able to get them ready. What they need to get ready most importantly now, is the Tax Identification Number (TIN). In other word if you want to be part of this e-auction exercise, you have to approach the FIRS and get your TIN. It is open to all," he said. He said other requirement for the bid included a copy of a recent passport photograph and a N1,000 non-refundable administrative charges to be paid into the auction e-wallet. Attah said that the e-auction application would be accessible online through the NCS trade portal website, www.trade.gov.ng, adding that no replacement for item auctioned. This was the highlight of the bilateral meeting between Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and French Prime Minister, Mr Bernard Cazeneuve, in Paris, France. The meeting held on the sideline of the just concluded global forum on Anti-Corruption and Integrity hosted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Both the Federal Government and the French Republic are exploring new ways to confront and defeat the ideologies fuelling terrorism. Osinbajo told to the French leader that the Buhari administration had made tremendous progress in degrading Boko Haram and suppressing the insurgency, stressing that need to break the ideological underpinnings of terror group. One thing left for us to deal with is deradicalization, defeating the ideology behind the mindless killing and violence," he said. The Vice President stated that the Federal Government would be happy to work with France and others among its diplomatic partners to ensure peace who might also have to deal with such problems as the challenge of deradicalization. Osinbajo conveyed the warm greetings of President Muhammadu Buhari to the French President Francois Hollande. He said Buhari noted the commitment and support of the French President to Nigerias fight against Boko Haram. We are thankful for the work you are doing with Nigeria. Generally, the stemming of the spread of terrorism in the Sahel is much due to Frenchs role, and we thankful for that contribution, Osinbajo said. The Vice-President appreciated the French government for its hospitality to him and members of his delegation in France. He, however, commiserated with the government and people of France on the French school children injured in the recent Westminster terror attack in London. In his remarks, Prime Minister Cazeneuve recalled recent terror attacks in France, saying we know the consequences of terror attacks on populations. We are aware of the problem and we know it cannot be solved by countries working alone. He also noted that the French government had a process of deradicalisation involving teams working with families stressing that its a very difficult job. The French government, he said, would focus on how to enhance and deepen relationship with Nigeria, including on issues of counter terrorism and sharing information when it comes to deradicalisation. The Prime Minister congratulated the Nigerian President and military over the degrading of Boko Haram and asked the Vice President to convey to Buhari our message of admiration for his efforts to modernise your country. Epps, who worked on "SELMA", recently said Nodash is the most interesting cinematographer working in Nigeria at the moment. In his words: ""I can confidently say Nodash is the most interesting DP working in Nigeria at this moment" during the "Lights, camera, diaspora" workshop where Nodash was invited to train upcoming filmmakers." he said. After being selected by the Berlin film festival as one of the 21 cinematographers to watch out for in the world in 2015, Nodash has gone ahead to shoot stellar and award winning movies that include "Fifty," "Silence", "Isoken" and "Delivery Boy." Currently responsible for being the Director of Photography for Kunle Afolayan's two anticipated movies, "Stellaand Oba" and "The Tribunal" Nodash explains his source of experience and motivation to Pulse. "I try to see the bigger picture of every storyline like the regular viewer who has gone to the cinema to watch the movie, hence my reason for ensuring every scene depicts exactly what is written in the script. I don't just shoot movies, I connect with the storyline and with the actors giving stellar performances, the stage remains always set," he said. According to Premium Times, the delegation led by Shettima, met Saraki in his house at night, on Thursday, March 30, 2017. An inside source also confirmed the report, saying , The purpose of the visit was for mediation. They went to meet other leaders in Senate as well. Ndume had helped Saraki in his bid to become Senate President, against the wish of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). There are unconfirmed speculations that Saraki and Ndumes relationship became strained, when the latter showed support for the acting Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu. Magus confirmation as EFCC chairman was rejected by the Senate twice, following a Department of State Services (DSS) report indicting him of corruption. Ndume had openly shown his support for Magu in the media, and even issued statements that were contrary to the Senates stand. According to reports, Governor Shettima also met with vocal Senator, Dino Melaye to broker peace between the feuding allies. A source close to the Governor said Borno cant afford not to have a Senator like Ndume in the Senate for six months. Borno is a peculiar case. Moreso, some of the worst hit areas, like Gwoza, Damboa, fall within Mr. Ndumes constituency, therefore he has to be there (in the Senate) to push their interests as he is also part of the presidential committee on north east, another source said. The lawmaker also said that Buhari needs to be well taken care of by members of his family, adding that he should opt for a negotiated exit. According to Daily Post, Jibrin said So many issues are left unattended even small issues that a presidential cough can deal with are left hanging. Supporters are worried, understandably resorting to grumbling in hush voices while keeping bold faces and holding on to hope and prayers. The government has so many soft targets for internal and external opposition to feast. We must tell ourselves the truth rather than live in denial At PMBs age, working actively for over 50 years, even without his present health condition, his capacity will be greatly challenged. Mr president himself admitted that he has never been this sick in his entire life which makes the entire scenario really worrisome. Then we are reminded every day that PMB will travel abroad again to attend to his health as if it is just normal and we should celebrate? I believe that the combination of these two factors of his age and health situation has slowed down the pace of PMB and the APC govt This has become clearly noticeable because it is a time that the country is expected to be on auto cruise in dealing with its challenges bearing in mind that the present APC government is fast running out of time yet things continue to go even slower, slower and slower! The more PMB appears on camera, the more the narrative of his health situation takes the center stage and the uncertainty it creates It is a narrative that has overpowered whatever official function Mr President is discharging since his return from medical vacation PMB gave his all to Nigeria. He is a great man, an enigma like Mandela. If we truly love him, We must not allow him to be rubbished Life and health belongs to God but the more I see pictures of Mr President, the more I am convinced he needs to go and rest. He needs it! The president I see on camera needs full home care not office, moderately quiet life, enough rest and quality time with his family Sometimes there is no harm in being driven in a car you labour to buy and who knows? You might even enjoy the ride better on owners seat PMB should opt for or encourage to accept a negotiated exit. The country can not afford a sort of part-time president at this time This is not as easy but it is doable. I do not think PMB is obsessed with power, I only think the practical way to go about things is to key in the interest of those who are or can be an obstacle around the president for fear of losing their positions or relevance. The interest of PMB himself, his family and friends, some officials and regional sentiments are interest that should be addressed. If we truly love PMB, we must apply some urgent diplomacy, resolve these issues quickly, move on and save the country valuable time. Mr President can be giving a special concession to nominate a new VP. We should expect that he nominates a very competent northerner. A nominee that can get things done and have the capacity to unite the north and assuage it feelings for losing the presidency again. We the northerners should accept it as destiny, may be Almighty God is so disappointed with the present generation of northern leaders. And maybe God wants to reserve the northern presidential slot for the younger and vibrant northern generation that will come after us. I also believe Mrs Buhari is competent enough and can be considered for a cabinet position. She has paid her dues in APC, anyway. The incoming President will have to do some diplomatic shuttle to few powerful officials to address whatever their fears may be. A committee of all former heads of states, APC leaders and DSS can work together to push through this agenda in our collective interest. I apologise to any body who might misunderstand my tweets or feel offended. I have to love PMB even more and have nothing against him. But this is my candid opinion and advice. It may not be the case or perfect but it has the conviction of my conscience and I will sleep well. I have listened to many arguments, none is worth the life of PMB. He has done his best. I believe it is time he let go. God bless you all. According to Daily Post, Umar also said that Saraki is a threat to Nigerias democracy. The lawmaker alleged that the Senate President has put plans in place to frustrate the administration of President Buhari. He said The Senate President is an opposition within APC because he personalizes everything about government policies. He is running the senate as his private estate. He poses serious political threat to the future of the APC if the party leadership does not call him to order. Mohamed Morsi's ouster in 2013, a year after he had won Egypt's first democratic election, and the ensuing crackdown on Islamists prompted then US president Barack Obama to suspend military aid to Cairo temporarily. But when Sisi meets Trump on Monday during his first state visit to Washington, he will see a counterpart who better appreciates his "mission" to fight Islamists and jihadists, without Obama's hand-wringing over human rights. "As a matter of fact President-elect Trump has shown deep and great understanding of what is taking place in the region as a whole and what is taking place in Egypt," Sisi, who met Trump in September before his election, said in an interview. A senior White House official said Friday that Trump wants to "build on the strong connection the two presidents established" then. Trump has been gushing about Sisi. "He's a fantastic guy. Took control of Egypt, and he really took control of it," he told Fox Business of the period after Morsi's overthrow which saw hundreds of Islamist protesters killed and thousands detained. Over the past three years, Sisi has met a trickle of delegations from American think-tanks and other groups, drumming home the importance of supporting him. "He made a passionate and convincing case for why all nations should stop working with Islamists," said a member of one delegation who requested anonymity. Egypt trying to reassert itself Sisi often speaks of himself as though he were a Cassandra whose warnings go unheeded. "We warned two years ago our European friends, the foreign fighters in Syria will return and commit terrorism in Europe," he said during a 2016 visit by French President Francois Hollande. Cairo is pleased by signals from Trump's administration and Congress that they may consider blacklisting Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement, a move which also has its critics in Washington. "America prepares to confront the Brotherhood," read a banner headline in red in the official Al-Ahram newspaper. "Beyond Sisi being thrilled that Trump replaced Obama, and the opportunity to turn a page, this is Egypt trying to reassert itself in a more central way to US Middle East strategy," said Issandr El Amrani, the International Crisis Group's North Africa director. Egypt -- one of two Arab countries to have a peace treaty with Israel -- had traditionally played a central role in US regional alliances, in return receiving $1.3 billion in annual military aid. Cairo has also mediated between Israel and the Palestinians. Sisi's office said he will broach the issue with Trump, who has confusingly suggested that he is fine with either a two-state or a one-state solution to the conflict. Sisi had already made a goodwill gesture on that front in January, retracting a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements after a call from the then president-elect who opposed it. The resolution was reintroduced after objections by other Security Council members, and passed with the US abstaining. "Egypt is one of the traditional pillars of stability in the Middle East and has been a reliable US partner for decades," the White House official said on Friday. Sisi's trip comes ahead of Trump's talks on Wednesday with King Abdullah II of Jordan and after a tentative invitation to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to visit. US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt has been trying to build momentum for a deal that would be the ultimate achievement for a president who prides himself on his bargaining prowess. Although Sisi may be delighted about having Trump's ear, he may yet be disappointed. "The focus (for Trump) is on areas where Egypt has little relevance, like Iraq and Syria," El Amrani said. Egypt is part of the international coalition against the Islamic State group, but is bogged down fighting the jihadists' franchise in the Sinai Peninsula, where they have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen. Western officials who requested anonymity say Egypt is primarily interested in advanced military hardware it believes Western countries are withholding. According to opposition lawmaker Albert Steinhauser who made the enquiry, 44 of the incidents that were clearly motivated by hatred. Steinhauser told the Austria Press Agency (APA) that in 77 percent of the cases, police had not managed to track down the culprits. "The most important thing is for the interior ministry to take these incidents serious and makes every necessary effort to investigate," he said. He said that no one wanted a situation like in neighbouring Germany -- where the population is around 10 times larger -- which reported almost 900 such cases in 2016. Austria, a nation of 8.7 million people, has received more than 130,000 asylum applications since 2015 following the onset of the European Union's biggest migration crisis since World War II. The opposition far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) has stoked concerns about the influx to boost support, with its candidate Norbert Hofer coming close to being elected president last year. The ruling centrist coalition has taken a harder line, announcing plans to beef up surveillance, ban full-face veils in public and oblige migrants to sign an "integration contract". It has also stepped up deportations of migrants whose asylum claims are rejected, recently offering 1,000 euros ($1,069) to the first 1,000 people to volunteer for repatriation. Chancellor Christian Kern also wrote to Brussels this week looking for Austria to be exempted from an EU scheme to take in migrants relocated from hotspots Italy and Greece. Recent studies have also shown a sharp rise in online hate speech, directed predominantly at Muslims, and suggested that Austrians' attitudes toward immigration have hardened. The interior ministry said there were also 49 incidents carried out by migrants themselves at the shelters including violence, death threats, stalking and vandalism. No comparison figures from prior years were released. The pale ochre and violet fresco is now in the hands of Italy's art police, who collect and catalogue fragments, battered crucifixes and cracked candlesticks and hand them to a team of restorers, archaeologists and historians. A cultural version of the UN's peacekeepers, they have been dubbed the "blue helmets", an elite task force dedicated to protecting and salvaging historic artworks and monuments damaged by the country's deadly tremors. Italy's Carabinieri Art Squad, an expert force founded in 1969 which combats art and antiquities crimes, and helps train art police in other countries, forms the backbone of the blue helmets. A deal between Italy and UNESCO will see similar teams sent worldwide to salvage heritage sites devastated by conflict or natural disasters, with their first gig expected to be in the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria once it is safe for them to enter. But first there are priceless artefacts to save at home. From Goths to quakes A team of some 40 people made up of art police, firefighters, culture ministry officials, civil protection officers and volunteers painstakingly remove items from the Visso church, which dates back to the Middle Ages. The main altar was reduced to rubble and each piece must be pulled from the wreckage and numbered before being carefully wrapped and stowed for transport to a secret location. The ministry is taking no risks with treasure looters. "It was the oldest church in the Marche region (in central Italy), a region with invaluable treasures and no fewer than 483 churches," Pierluigi Morricone from the ministry's crisis unit, who heads up the recovery effort, told AFP. "We are saving about 600 works of art a day, at least 5,000 in the last two weeks," he said. The town, which nestles in the Sibylline Mountains near a national park, was founded in 907 AD and survived a sacking by Goths and looting during the Byzantine empire. Today under a cold spring sun the only people in sight are the blue helmets, carrying a Madonna statue out of the church or wrapping a battered oil painting up in the makeshift open air theatre of operations in the main square. Visso has become a ghost town, since locals largely abandoned their damaged homes after two series of earthquakes -- a deadly tremor on August 24 that killed 300, and twin quakes that wreaked further damage to buildings on October 26. "The priority is to save artworks, paintings, frescoes, relics, sculptures, statues, liturgical objects, candlesticks, crosses, thuribles," said Morricone, pointing to each object as it is catalogued and packaged. Slice of world's heritage Art police chief Paolo Montorsi rushed here with his team after the August quake and have not moved since. Once Italy had mourned its dead it began counting its cultural losses. Volunteers came from all over the country to help the region. Antonio is one of them, patiently brushing the dust off an enormous 18th-century painting of the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus. Slowly the robes in vibrant reds and blues emerge, Mary's gold crown gleams, the angels reappear in the heavens. "Six percent of the world's art heritage is in this region," says this museum director who wanted to remain anonymous so as not to draw attention from the collective salvage efforts. The group, also known as Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen in Arabic, mounted an attack that killed three gendarmes, they said, though Malian security sources told AFP the day of the attack that it was two soldiers and a civilian who were killed. "This past Wednesday, a brigade of mujahideen was able to attack a Malian gendarmerie post in Boulikessi, which is part of the Douentza area, near the Burkinabe border," the statement released by SITE said. "The attack resulted in killing three gendarmes and seizing some weapons and ammunition as spoils," it added. It is believed to be the jihadist alliance's second operation after their merger, following the killing of 11 soldiers in the same area on March 5. Ansar Dine was involved in an onslaught that saw northern Mali fall out of government control for nearly a year from spring 2012. The extremists were later expelled from the region by a French-led international military intervention. Nonetheless large swathes of northern Mali continue to come under attack from jihadist groups. But migrants continue to cross the region in smaller numbers -- a few hundred a day -- often with the help of traffickers. "I could not imagine that European police could be so violent," Najim Khan, a 21-year-old mason from Pakistan, said in a Belgrade park. 'Maybe they wanted money' The claims from migrants as well as aid groups are dismissed by the authorities: Croatia says there is "no proof" of abuses, Hungary says it acts "with respect to human dignity", and Bulgaria says it has looked into every claim "but they were never confirmed". Kkan, who arrived from Bulgaria a few weeks ago, says that one evening, the police burst into the squat where he was staying in Sofia. "They beat us, took us to a police station and then to a closed centre. They beat us again during transfers," he told AFP. Once in Serbia, he tried to reach the European Union despite the increased patrols at Hungary's border, but his group was quickly spotted by the Hungarian police. "They made us lie on our stomachs, in a line. They ran on our backs, laughing. They were throwing beers in our faces," Khan said. "They took our cellphones and broke them. They did not take our money." In early March, medical aid group Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) denounced the violence against migrants, calling it a "ritual of brutality... designed to stop people from trying to cross again". "The militarisation of the EU borders has led to a staggering increase in violence, especially along the Balkans," said Andrea Contenta of MSF, which has set up a clinic in Belgrade. "More than half of our patients have experienced violent events during their journey." Rados Djurovic, of the Asylum Protection Centre in Serbia, said migrants "complain mostly about violence suffered in Hungary, where they were bitten by dogs, hit brutally, causing broken bones." Many also complained about abuse in Croatia, but the situation was better in Serbia, where the police have been given clear instructions, according to an aid worker who declined to be named. Contenta added that although smugglers were responsible for some of the assaults, "the vast majority of our patients reported alleged violence perpetrated by state authorities, mainly by EU member states such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia." Attal Shafihullah, a 16-year-old Afghan, said he had experienced both. One night Shafihullah and three comrades were intercepted by the Bulgarian police as they tried to leave Serbia. Increased risks "Sometimes they let you go," he said. "Other times not." This time, the officers beat them, he said. "Maybe they wanted money," said Shafihullah, whose face bears the scars of burns suffered when his home went up in flames in Afghanistan. But he is certain that financial motivations were behind the blows of smugglers he met a few weeks later, as they told the migrants to have money sent to them from back home. jpegMpeg4-1280x720"They wanted to make an example, to show that it is a serious business," Shafihullah said. In a Belgrade reception centre, 14-year-old Qayum Mohammadi remembered vomiting after being sprayed with tear gas when the bus carrying him and other migrants crashed into a wall while trying to outrun a Bulgarian patrol. Some weeks later, in Hungary, officers made him lie on the ground before sending him back to Serbia, added the teenager with a budding moustache. "They told me to put my hands on the ground, and then walked on them... they hit my thighs with a baton" before sending him back to Serbia, he said. Rights group say the EU border closures have only made the Balkans route more dangerous, now that such attempts are illegal. Medecins sans Frontieres has registered more than 70 migrant deaths between Greece and Hungary since last year. Mohamed Nasheed, the leader of the main opposition party, was slapped with fresh terrorism charges this week just days after he remotely lead an effort to wrestle control of parliament. The bid failed after President Abdulla Yameen ordered troops to remove the dissenting MPs from the floor of parliament, causing chaotic scenes. Nasheed, the head of the Maldivian Democratic Party, was sentenced to 13 years prison in 2015 and has been living in self-imposed exile in London since last year. "President (Abdulla) Yameen has instigated new charges of terrorism against Nasheed," the joint opposition statement said. The charges stemmed from when Yameen was briefly detained in 2010 allegedly under orders from Nasheed, who was president at the time. The opposition said several others who support Nasheed's bid to oust the speaker had been intimidated by police in the days since. "I urge the wider international community to clearly observe the intricacies of the laws of the Maldives before rushing to judgement," the government quoted fisheries minister Mohamed Shainee as saying. The United States urged Male to "restore faith in democratic processes" after the unruly scenes of soldiers dragging away opposition MPs was circulating widely on social media. Nasheed, who has pledged to return to the honeymoon islands to contest the 2018 election, said the incident exposed the government's shaky majority. He became the Maldives' first democratically elected president in 2008, but was narrowly defeated by Yameen in a controversial 2013 election run-off. Yameen has presided over a major crackdown on political dissent in the nation of 340,000 that has raised fears over its stability and dented its image as a tourism paradise. One man was wounded Friday afternoon in a shooting that occurred in the south alley of the 600 block of West 14th Street, Davenport police said. Police were sent to 1314 N. Gaines St. at 5:18 p.m. for a man who had been shot. At the home they found a 19-year-old man who had suffered non-life-threatening wounds. The mans name was not released Friday night. The victim was taken to Genesis Medical Center-East Rusholme Street, Davenport. Police said the man was shot in the alley by someone in a vehicle. The victim was able to walk up a small hill near the alley and get help at the house. As the suspects vehicle sped off, it left clear tire tracks in the mud. Police found at least one shell casing at the scene. Detectives also were talking with witnesses. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Davenport Police Department at 563-326-6125 or provide an anonymous tip on the citys mobile app at CityConnect Davenport, IA. HAVANA | Fidel Castro's government sent the Rev. Juan Francisco Naranjo to two years of work camp in the 1960s for preaching the Gospel in a Cuba where atheism was law and the faithful were viewed as suspect. For years, Naranjo's church was almost abandoned, with just a handful of people daring to attend services. Naranjo died in 2000 but on a recent Sunday, his William Carey Baptist Church was packed and noisy. Government doctors treated disabled children at a clinic inside. A Bible study group discussed Scripture in one corner of the building before a service attended by 200 of the faithful. "In the 1960s, the few brothers and sisters who came here had to hide their Bibles in brown-paper covers," said Esther Zulueta, a 57-year-old doctor. "It's night and day." Trump administration officials have repeatedly said religious freedom is one of the key demands they will make of Cuba when they finish reviewing former President Barack Obama's opening with the island. The administration has never been more specific, but outside groups have accused Cuba of systematically repressing the island's growing ranks of evangelicals and other Protestants with acts including the seizure of hundreds of churches across the island, followed by the demolition of many. An Associated Press examination has found a more complicated picture. Pastors and worshippers say Cuba is in the middle of a boom in evangelical worship, with tens of thousands of Cubans worshipping unmolested across the island each week. While the government now recognizes freedom of religion, it doesn't grant the right to build churches or other religious structures. It has demolished a handful of churches in recent years, but allowed their members to continue meeting in makeshift home sanctuaries. And like the Roman Catholic Church, the island's dominant denomination, evangelical churches have begun providing social services once monopolized by the Communist government. "There's a revival of these churches, of the most diverse denominations in the country, and all of them are growing, not just in the number of members, but in their capacity to lead and act in society," said Presbyterian pastor Joel Ortega Dopica, president of Council of Churches of Cuba, an officially recognized association of 32 Protestant denominations. "There is religious freedom in Cuba." Clergy and academics say Cuba's 11 million people include some 40,000 Methodists, 100,000 Baptists and 120,000 members of the Assemblies of God, which had roughly 10,000 members in the early 1990s, when Cuba began easing restrictions on public expressions of religious faith. The church council estimates there are about 25,000 evangelical and other Protestant houses of worship across the country. About 60 percent of the population is baptized Catholic, with many also following Afro-Cuban syncretic traditions such as Santeria. Naranjo was part of that opening. After the work camp, he returned to a church whose worshippers were barred from many state jobs. A thaw began in 1984 when visiting American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson stunned Cuba by taking Fidel Castro to a Protestant church service. In 1990, Naranjo was among a group of pastors who met with Castro to push for a greater freedom, and his own church worked on building ties between religious groups and the Communist Party. Christian Solidarity has also cited the case of Juan Carlos Nunez, a minister in the Apostolic Movement in the eastern city of Las Tunas, while other religious freedom advocates have cited the case of Bernardo de Quesada, in the eastern city of Camaguey, as examples of religious persecution. Both men told the AP that churches they built in the yards of their homes were demolished by the government because they were constructed without permits. Both continue leading services inside their homes, where hundreds of worshippers gather each week. "They tolerate me, but they don't accept me," said de Quesada. "I'm not shutting up or leaving. We have passion and no one will stop us." Nunez said he was sentenced to a year of house arrest after neighbors complained about speakers he set up to boost the sound of services in his home. He blamed the situation on the vague status of new churches in Cuban law. "If there were a law on church activities, none of this would happen and everything would be clear," he said. Students, their parents and school employees would be guaranteed wider rights to publicly pray and express their religious beliefs in public schools under a far-reaching bill approved Thursday by the Florida Senate. Backers of the legislation, including Senate President Joe Negron, contend that the measure is needed because schools have unnecessarily clamped down on free speech rights, including prohibiting students from wearing crosses as jewelry, or chiding students who want to include religious figures in their academic work. The school superintendent in Broward County in 2014 apologized after a student was told he couldn't read the Bible during a free reading period. The bill (SB 436) says school districts may not discriminate against any student, parent or school employee because they shared their religious viewpoint. But those opposed to the bill say it could open the door from everything from cracking down on science teachers who teach evolution to allowing Christian students to intimidate those of other faiths. "Could it be provoking? Could it be concerning? Yeah, that's healthy thought. That's what happens in a free world," said Sen. Dennis Baxley, the Ocala Republican and sponsor of the bill. "This isn't protecting a faith, it's protecting all people's freedom to express their hearts." The Senate passed the bill 23-13 following a wide-ranging debate. A similar bill is now moving in the Florida House. Democratic Sen. Gary Farmer of Fort Lauderdale said the bill could lead to students proselytizing in school. "We don't need it. It should be sufficient that during the school day, you can pray to yourself," Farmer said. "We all have our own personal relationship with God or Allah or whoever we believe in, but to force that on other people is just not necessary and it can be harmful and it can be disrespectful." The bill, which is backed by several Christian groups, says that students can wear clothing or jewelry that conveys a religious message. Negron has agreed that this would also allow followers of Islam to wear hijabs in schools. The legislation also says students can express their religious viewpoints in coursework or artwork without being penalized. It also makes clear students can pray and organize religious groups to the same extent as other clubs and groups are allowed to meet on school grounds. School districts must give religious groups access to school facilities and they must grant students the right to speak on religious topics at public forums. Storybook Island may soon have a musical accompaniment to pair with the childrens fable characters and train ride. The Leadership Rapid City Class of 2015 has begun raising money for a project called Storybook Symphony in hopes of bringing an assortment of interactive musical instruments to the family-friendly park by the summer of 2018. The plan is to raise $30,000 to buy and install such instruments as cymbals, tuned drums and xylophones within Storybook Island. A similar project is being planned in Lead, where a group led by local resident Rich Quail has helped raise more than $17,000 to install musical instruments in Manuel Brothers Park. On March 6, the Lead City Commission voted to extend a temporary loan of $2,880 to the group to cover the remaining costs and installation. Freenotes Harmony Park, a company based in Durango, Colo., will manufacture the instruments. The two projects in the Black Hills are part of a larger trend around the country, in which a growing number of parks are installing large outdoor musical instruments geared toward children. In Rapid City, the project is the result of the Rapid City Chamber of Commerces Leadership Rapid City program, which attracts a new group of local, civic-minded citizens each year to its 12-week course. Designed to promote community engagement, build and enhance leadership skills and contribute to an ever-growing network of community leaders, participants must choose a community project to pursue together upon graduation. For the 2015 LRC class, Storybook Symphony was their creation. Fundraising efforts began in February, and so far around $1,000 has been raised, said Erin Krueger, who is administering the social media outreach efforts for the project, including a GoFundMe campaign. A 5K is also being planned for the summer to raise money, Krueger said, but a date has not been set. LRC members also talked about their plans for Storybook Island at the Strings in Concert event earlier this month, which showcased Rapid City fourth- and fifth-graders at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. The interactive musical instruments will be "for children of all abilities, Krueger said, noting that some Storybook Island attractions arent suitable for children with disabilities. This really fulfilled that need because if you have any sort of physical disability, you can still interact with this. Storybook Islands executive director, Connie LeZotte, said she was pleased that other groups were thinking of ways to improve the park. We love it, LeZotte said. Their project will bring something different to Storybook Island. I think its a great way for kids to have some interaction, especially with music so that theyre creating something. The first musical park in the U.S. was build in 1995 in Moab, Utah. Leigh Anne Reinhart, who works in that city's public works department, said that though they sometimes have problems with vandalism, its a small price to pay for the joy it brings visitors. Its very popular, Reinhart said in a phone interview. Its a clever thing, and it gets people out into the park. You get someone who knows how to play them, and it is very tranquil. Krueger and her LRC class hope to meet their fundraising goal by the end of the year. For all the people that use Storybook Island, any donation, no matter how large or small, helps, Krueger said, adding that assistance with instrument installation will also be needed. So people can help in a variety of ways. For more information on the project, visit storybooksymphony.com or gofundme.com/storybook-symphony. On the wall of Ed McLaughlins office is a framed photograph of him when he was mayor of Rapid City. It was taken in the 1990s, and in it hes reading a childrens book to a group of kids sprawled out on the floor around him. Theres big a smile on his face and far fewer silver hairs on his head. Squinting at the photo, McLaughlin, 88, tried to recall what school he was at that day. I really cant tell you, he said after a moment. It looks like Meadowbrook ... dont quote me on that. I was in the schools a lot as mayor. McLaughlin recently announced he will not seek re-election to his seat on the Rapid City school board, ending a 67-year career that took him from teaching in the classroom to helping craft laws in the South Dakota Legislature. He has always been deeply involved in the states schools. But after four years and two terms as the Area 5 representative on the Rapid City school board, hes ready to take a break. His absence wont go unnoticed. Working with McLaughlin, said school board President Jim Hansen, was an absolute joy and an experience you cant put to words. The knowledge and experience he has in life and in education and the political world nobody on the board could ever match it. Hansen, who also is not seeking re-election to the school board, said he often relied on for McLaughlin for advice. He personally gave me guidance, he personally would take time to mentor you if you were willing to get it, Hansen said. I personally cant thank Mr. McLaughlin enough for what he did with me and how I got to witness how he helped the staff and the education system in Rapid City. Reaching consensus Sitting at his kitchen table over cookies and coffee on a dreary Thursday morning, McLaughlin reflected on how his experiences as an educator, military instructor, superintendent, mayor, state lawmaker, insurance salesman and school board member have illuminated his path forward. If you can reach consensus in a community and get them to come together, theres no limit to what can happen, he said. And if you cant, things just dont get done. The real trick is to get public support for learning. Born June 16, 1928, in Deadwood, McLaughlin grew up in Spearfish and later studied education at Black Hills State University. After graduating in 1950, he took his first teaching job in Bowman, N.D. Then came the Korean War, with McLaughlin, who was 23 at the time, signing up to be an instructor for the Air Force. July 11, 1951, he rattled off. You remember some of those things. It was 41 degrees in Sioux Falls when I left and it was 114 in San Antonio when we arrived." After an armistice was signed in 1953 between North Korea and South Korea to end the fighting, McLaughlin decided to pursue a master's degree in public school administration at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, where he would later get his doctorate. One summer when he was visiting his fathers farm in Spearfish, he was approached by the president of BHSU, who offered him a job to work as the director of student teaching and principal of the Lab School. I took the job and bought a house in the same day, McLaughlin said. No regrets. After two years at BHSU, McLaughlin went to Lead to work as an elementary supervisor. In 1962, he became the superintendent of the Lead school district. From there he went on to work as the director of the Western Education Planning Center in Rapid City. They didnt have any computers in those days, so our job was to get the schools wired up, McLaughlin said. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cellphone. This little one here does more than those ever did. In the 1970s and '80s he started teaching classes at South Dakota State University, bought a farm to keep his two sons busy in the summer, and eventually went on to work as an insurance salesman for Prudential, where he met his second wife, Doris Marie Strom, who passed away in September. Moving into politics He ran for mayor of Rapid City and won in 1991. During his six years in the office he was instrumental in setting up what was then called the Vision 2012 fund, which has since been used to pay for dozens of public improvement projects. McLaughlin continued to carry the banner of public education into the South Dakota House of Representatives when he was elected in 2002 to represent District 34. While there he served as chairman of the House Education Committee, until he reached his term limit in 2010. In 2013, McLaughlin was appointed to serve on the Rapid City school board as a replacement for Brett Swanson, who had resigned. While on the school board, McLaughlin has repeatedly advocated for year-round schooling, arguing that the current nine-month schedule is antiquated and detrimental to student achievement. I agree with him, Hansen said, noting that budget constraints are one of the only factors keeping the Rapid City school district from adopting McLaughlins way of thinking. How could you not agree with the man whos been there, done that, and experienced it? His role as a superintendent for years, his role in the political world, the business world how could you argue with somebody who actually sees how it would benefit society to have year-round schools? As he prepares to take his final step out of the world of education, McLaughlin insists hes not quite finished. His health and hearing aren't what they used to be, but he will continue to mentor those school board members and area educators who seek him out for guidance in what he sees as a dark time for public education. I dont know whats going to happen with (Betsy) DeVos, he said, referring to President Donald Trumps controversial secretary of education. Her motives arent really positive for public schools. That doesnt mean you dont work with her. Im not leading a revolt here. She might change. But I doubt it. Still, hes optimistic. For whoever takes his place, he has some words of advice. You have to have a good, positive interest in improving our schools. You cant have an ax to grind, he said. I think theres a lot of possibility for the future. Somehow weve got to get the public behind everything. If youve got a problem, dont sweep it under the rug. "Nobodys perfect, I dont care how good you are. I dont care if youre Babe Ruth. He struck out more times than he connected with homers. But thats not what hes remembered for. Juniata Valley Winery George and Collen Hazard hold a bottle of their Morning Thief, a strawberry wine, and a certificate acknowledging its designation as the best sweet wine in the 2017 Pennsylvania Wine Competition. (Submitted) Juniata Valley Winery's owners were among a handful celebrating across the state this week with the release of the results from the Pennsylvania Winery Association (PWA). George and Colleen Hazard, who opened the winery along with its companion business (the Wilson House Bed & Breakfast) in 2012, were elated by word that their strawberry wine called Morning Thief was named Best in Show in the fruit wine category and also was selected as the best sweet wine in the competition. Other category winners in the Pennsylvania Wine Competition included the following: Best white sweet wine: Benigna's Creek Winery, 2016 Niagara Best red sweet wine: Seven Mountains Wine Cellars, NV General Potter's Fort Best white dry wine: Franklin Hill, 2015 White Jade Best red dry wine and best dry wine in the competition: Presque Isle Wine Cellars, 2013 Cabernet Franc A total of 290 wines were entered into the competition by 42 participating wineries. Juniata Valley Winery, located along Route 35 South a few miles from Mifflintown, is housed in a 19th century manor home with a 2-acre vineyard located in the back. George Hazard said in a press release that Morning Thief is a 100 percent strawberry wine, one of a line of fruit wines made there, all named for birds found in Pennsylvania: Blueberry Bunting, Red Wing Blackberry, and a red raspberry wine called Summer's Tanager. Morning Thief's label (painted by local artist Tessa Gross) features the ring neck pheasant. Hazard says he named the wine "from childhood memories of seeing pheasants raid our family's strawberry patch in the early hours of summer mornings." Double golds were given to the following wineries in the PWA competition: Armstrong Valley Winery Benigna's Creek Winery Crossing Vineyards Flickerwood Wine Cellars Juniata Valley Winery, Olivero's Winery Here's a link to the full list of winners in the competition that was judged earlier in March. It's the second of two major competition that the PWA annually holds. The other one is connected to the Farm Show. U.S. Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds, both Republicans from South Dakota, have joined a bipartisan group of senators in introducing the Save our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2017, they announced Friday. The legislation would make reforms aimed at helping seasonal employers better navigate the H-2B temporary nonagricultural visa program. The H-2B program is important to seasonal employers across the country, including some in the Black Hills tourism industry, who depend on temporary foreign workers to fill gaps in local labor supplies. The legislation includes a returning-worker exemption, which would allow workers who have previously worked in the United States to be exempted from the national cap of 66,000 H-2B visas. Donald Trump's Russia problem is getting worse -- and more complicated. Questions about his campaign's alleged ties to Moscow seem to proliferate by the hour. The mushroom cloud surrounding his baseless allegations that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower is spreading faster. The investigations have become difficult to keep track of -- and those are just the ones we know about. But the revelation on Thursday that fired former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who also served as a top campaign aide, was offering his testimony to Congress in exchange for legal immunity signaled a potential turning point. "Gen. Flynn certainly has a story to tell," his lawyer said, "and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit." If you're arriving on the scene late, the Flynn news can be summed up this way: One of Trump's highest-ranked and most-trusted campaign hands, who then scored one of the most powerful positions in the White House, is now saying he wants to answer questions under oath about the Trump team's alleged Russian connections. That's the news. What follows is a reminder of how we got here. It's not a timeline, but four distinct points that, if properly digested, will help put the next big scoop into its proper context. First, though, some quick history. Vladimir Putin has some deep-seated issues with the US -- and Hillary Clinton Russian politics have a reputation for being a difficult to decode. As stereotypes go, this one is well-earned and enduring. Moscow's intentions have bedeviled world leaders for more than a century. Winston Churchill famously declared that even he, the celebrated political prognosticator, could not "forecast to you the action of Russia." "It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma," he said in October 1939. Some time has passed, but the old chestnut holds up. A world war and Cold War later, the Soviet Union eventually collapsed under its own weight -- with a shove from the West -- and, by the early 1990s, the Russian state was depleted. The global superpower had begun to look (and act) like a gangster state. One with an uncomfortably large nuclear weapons cache. Enter Vladimir Putin. On December 31, 1999, the former KGB officer assumed power after the president, Boris Yeltsin, resigned. Putin has since claimed 21st century Russia as his own. His desire to restore Moscow to the head of the international order has never wavered. The US mostly embraced Putin at the beginning of his reign. In the post-Soviet scramble, he appeared to leaders anxious over global stability (and all those nukes) like a steady hand. Cunning perhaps, but a pragmatist. Someone you could work with. But the relationship soured. Various attempted "resets" failed and, by 2011, Putin was accusing the US of ginning up domestic protests against his government. Putin reportedly blamed the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. Four years out from the American election cycle that would eventually pit Clinton against the Republican businessman Donald Trump, the US-Russian relationship turned toxic. Hacks! Here's what the US intelligence community says actually happened During the campaign, hackers stole emails from the Democratic National Committee and the personal account of Clinton campaign chairman, John Podesta. The messages were then published by WikiLeaks. The DNC emails revealed that party leaders had favored Clinton in her primary contest with Sen. Bernie Sanders. Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Florida, resigned her post on the eve of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. The episode put a damper on the quadrennial confab and confirmed, to some Sanders supporters, the idea that the race had been rigged against them. The Podesta hack yielded less damaging information. If anything, its contents showed how banal the inner workings of Washington can be. But their slow bore dissemination kept a cloud over the Clinton campaign during the summer and into the fall of 2016. Political opponents, critics and conspiracy theorists seized on every word, even the most innocent, and concocted or hinted at faux scandals. By campaign crunch time, many found it hard to distinguish between the DNC and Podesta hacks, or separate them out from the roiling FBI probe into Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. This was not, the US intelligence community has concluded, an unlucky development for the Democrats. It is their conclusion, made public on January 6 but without -- for now -- any unclassified evidence to back it, that the Russians acted intentionally to damage both Clinton and the American public's trust in the electoral process. Did Moscow expect it to work? Did they think Trump could, despite his consistently lagging poll numbers, defeat Clinton? That's hard to say. But a quick Google search of the weeks before the election shows that it might not have mattered. Congressional Republicans were poised to tie down the expected Clinton administration with endless inquiries into an assortment of alleged wrongdoing. Win, lose or draw, the US was headed into a prolonged period of political turmoil. Trump officials and Russia talked a lot. But about what? Here's where things can get a little complicated. An important reminder right off the top: Connections do not suppose collusion or collaboration. Take the incident that led to Flynn's ouster. Incoming officials in newly elected administrations routinely make contact with the people they'll be working with (or against) after taking office. Flynn was fired because he lied to the vice president, both a workplace blunder and, in the eyes of the Justice Department, an action that could make him liable to blackmail by the Russians. Trump's personal reasoning is still unclear, but taken together, it's pretty obvious why he had to go. Beyond Flynn, there is a vast web of connections among Trump campaign officials and Russian officials and business leaders. There is nothing to suggest, at this point, that any of the contacts were made for the purpose of coordinating activities. Nor is there proof that anyone, including Trump, was aware of what US officials allege Moscow was up to. But the volume of contacts is enough to raise reasonable questions. Here's a taste: Former campaign chairman Paul Manafort worked for a pro-Kremlin Ukrainian leader before joining the Trump team. He has since denied reports that he worked to further the interests of the Putin regime. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a top campaign surrogate, failed to disclose during his confirmation hearings that he'd met before the election with the Russian ambassador -- twice. He later announced he would recuse himself from any probe related to the 2016 campaign. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior aide, had two December meetings, one with the ambassador and Flynn, another with a Russian banker, neither disclosed until media reports made them public. The list goes on. Trump himself has done business in Russia for years. He is not a stranger to the country. That he still refuses to release his tax returns, like every candidate and president since the Watergate era, also muddies the water. It all added up to what multiple current and former intelligence, law enforcement and administration officials tell CNN was a state of constant contact between Russians known to US intelligence and the Trump campaign. The FBI is currently investigating the matter, according to its director, James Comey. At issue, he said: "The nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts." Stay tuned. That one could take a while. But in the meantime. Trump accused Obama of wiretapping him. That never happened. But this did... It is Saturday morning, March 4, at 6:49 a.m. Trump is tweeting about his predecessor, President Barack Obama. Here's where things really go off the rails. The accusations are baseless. There is no evidence that the Obama administration ordered surveillance of any kind -- phone "tapp" or otherwise -- at Trump Tower. In subsequent testimony, delivered under oath to the House Intelligence Committee, Comey very publicly dismisses the allegations. "I have no information that supports those tweets," he told the committee. The hearing where Comey testified was presided over by Rep. Devin Nunes, a California Republican who worked on Trump's transition team. Nunes has become the face of the House investigation. He gives frequent press conferences. At the start, he would speak alongside the ranking member, Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee's top Democrat. But the pretense of bipartisanship disappeared on March 22, when Nunes, before leaving for the White House, told reporters: "I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions, the intelligence community incidentally collected information about US citizens involved in the Trump transition." He added that "details with little apparent foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting," and most damningly, that he has "confirmed that additional names of Trump transition team members were unmasked." Note: "Unmasked" in this context means that US persons who get swept up in legal surveillance reports are named, as opposed to having their identities concealed with descriptions like "[MINIMIZED US PERSON]." Using the person's actual name would obviously make it easier for craven leakers to find their targets. After speaking to the press, Nunes headed off to tell Trump about his alleged bombshell. The news is taken by some Republicans and administration allies and officials to mean that Trump's accusation had some basis in fact. Again, it didn't. Nunes, though, had successfully confused the issue. But wait, the drama -- and most important part of the story -- comes next. In subsequent days, it is revealed that Nunes was provided the information he rushed to the White House to share ... by people working in the White House. The drama of March 22 was, it now appears, a bizarre charade. A US official confirmed to CNN on Friday that Ezra Cohen-Watnick and Michael Ellis, two National Security Council officials, are believed to have assisted Nunes, in some way, as he gathered the intelligence. Ellis, as it happens, had previously worked as counsel for the House Intelligence Committee. Democrats, as one might imagine, have not taken news of Nunes' end-around well. Schiff has since asked his Republican colleague to recuse himself from the investigation. Others have simply turned their attention to the Senate, where a similar probe is now taking shape. The House effort, they say, is hopelessly compromised. CNN's Kevin Liptak and Ted Barrett contributed to this report. After five weeks on the run, a Tennessee teacher who kidnapped and fled with a 15-year-old student has been arrested in California, authorities said Thursday. 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 Traders had expected mostly sideways trading in the last few days before the Prospective Plantings report was released by USDA on March 31. That didnt hold true for the canola market as rumors swirled about on March 23.There was a huge hammering of the canola market. It was hammered lower on rumors that China washed out four cargoes of Canadian canola that was destined for export, said Barry Coleman, executive director of the Northern Canola Growers Association. There has been no confirmation of that yet, but I guess theres enough of a rumor to move the market.No official reason was given as to why China might cancel the cargoes of canola, but Coleman noted it might be because China was able to pick up the canola they needed from Australia, since that county has a good canola crop and is actively exporting at this time.But it is generally felt that the sell-off in canola yesterday was out of proportion to the declines across the other oilseed markets, he said.In other canola news, a probe has started looking into biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia. Claims have been made that the two countries violated international trade laws by flooding the market with subsidized biodiesel.Imports from those countries have skyrocketed in the last couple years, Coleman said, and they want them to take a look at that.This isnt unprecedented action, he noted, since Europe put a ban on Indonesian biodiesel a few years ago. And it is likely that more of these trade agreements will receive a more thorough vetting from the Trump administration, which will be good for U.S. producers.Finally, with the end of the canola marketing year on June 30, the U.S. is on pace to crush a record amount of canola this year. In late March, the canola crush was running at 14 percent ahead of last year, Coleman said.So, the market is focusing on four factors the record setting crush pace; the strength of the export pace out of Canada; the strength of Chinese buying, and the planting intentions report from USDA.Cash canola prices quoted on March 24 for May delivery ranged from a low of $16.64 per hundredweight at the Velva ADM plant to a high of $17.12/cwt at Enderlins ADM plant. Prices quoted at all of the crush facilities reflected a daily loss of around 40 cents/cwt, reflecting the hit the canola market took on the rumor explained earlier of China cancelling four shipments of Canadas canola. As Revelation 7 introduces an interlude between the six and seventh seals, Revelation chapter 10 and 11 record an interlude between the six and seventh trumpets. Chaper 10 is the first part of this interlude. Despite the severity of the divine judgments, those who survived the disaster of the six trumpet did not repent. They showed no desire to break from the cycle of idolatry and sin that held them firmly in its grip. Yet, the merciful God Almighty held the blow of the seventh trumpet, gave them another time period to repent. Now John "saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven". This amazing looking angel is robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head like a crown. His face shines like the sun, his legs are like pillars of fire. He is holding a little scroll in his hand. We don't know if this little scroll is the same scroll that only the Lamb was worthy to open or not. But we can be sure that it has God's Word on it. The mighty angel plants his right foot firmly on the sea, stands his left foot on the land. The earth is made of seas and lands only, so the significance of the angel standing on the sea and the land probably is a hint that the message of the scroll is for the entire world. This immense angel's shout is like the roar of a lion. This might suggest the angel speaks with the authority of the Lion of the tribe of Judah. When the angel shouted, "the voices of the seven thunders spoke." John was about to write down the message of these seven thunders, a voice from heaven spoke, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down." "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of the law." (Deut. 29:29) God is sovereign in His timing concerning His revelation to us. We are to treasure what God reveals to us in the Bible and live accordingly. We are to trust God with the things that may be incomprehensible to us today. As we look at turmoil in the world or at our home, do we wonder what God's purpose is? God often "seals up" His purpose even as He sealed the seven thunders' words. But God revealed to us His greatest purpose in everything: magnify Himself and His Son, mature us in His Son's likeness. We all need to keep this in mind, it will help us to deal with difficulties in our life. Then John saw the angel "raised his right hand to heaven," "swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created" everything. This is the only oath in the book of Revelation, and this solemn oath is in the name of the everlasting God, the Creator of heaven and earth and sea. The angel promises in God's name, "There will be no more delay!" This announcement signals God's time for judgment. We live in the delay, but no more delay. "But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets." The mystery of God is never a puzzle for us to solve, it has to be revealed to us by God. The day of revelation in full content will soon dawn. The seventh trumpet would announce God's completed purpose to exalt His son above all things because the Son is called the "mystery of God." (Col 2:2,3) A heavenly voice tells John to take the little scroll from the mighty angel. When John asks the angel for the scroll, he said, "take it and eat it." God's Word is food for our souls. The Lord Jesus Himself is the "Bread of Life." When we take Him into our lives by faith in an absolute and radical way, the result is eternal life. This is a beautiful, sweet, sweet result. But why did the angel warn John the sweet tasting scroll would turn his stomach sour? The following instruction John receives gives the answer. John was told he "must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings." God's beautiful words of life taste sweet to believers, still offend and judge those who reject them. Because people were not willing to listen, it left the prophet "in bitterness and...deeply distressed."(Eze 3:1-15) But the bitterness and opposition to God's message are not the focus of God's messagers. Our task is the same one which John got, which all God's prophets got: delivery God's message to every nation, tribe, people and language. John's task is well done. Led by the Spirt, He wrote Revelation for many peoples, nations, languages and kings in ages to read. As you read Revelation, are you filled wih a renewed urgency to tell others of Christ and His coming judgment? How has God called you to share what you hear from Him? HELENA A referendum that would ask voters if Montanas Constitution should include the right to hunt, fish and trap drew support of 60 percent of senators Tuesday, but will need to carry 70 percent of the House in order to make it to the ballot. Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, on Monday made a case for Senate Bill 236, arguing that hunting, fishing and trapping play an important role in fish and wildlife management and agriculture, and also as ways to get out and enjoy the outdoors. If it makes the ballot and voters approve, the Constitution would be amended to say that citizens of Montana have the right to hunt, fish, trap, and harvest wild fish and wildlife, including with customary means and methods. Citizens performing those activities would be the preferred method of fish and wildlife management. The amendment would further include language aimed at maintaining the state and legislatures authority to regulate hunting, fishing and trapping, and clarify that private property rights are not superseded. Fielder blasted so-called ballot-box biology, citing unsuccessful citizen initiatives that would ban most trapping on public lands including I-177 last year in which 63 percent voted against. Because of these types of actions, 14 states have now enacted strong constitutional rights to 'hunt, fish and trap or harvest' language, she said. Trapping opponents testified against SB 236 during the hearing, but also opposing were several sportsmen's groups and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Concerns over unintended consequences such as the ability to regulate hunting, fishing and trapping led to sportsmen and agency opposition. FWP also argued that the protections are already guaranteed in the Harvest-Heritage clause of the Constitution. The committee significantly amended the bill to remove absolute language, which turned some early opponents such as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation into proponents. Legal analysis from RMEF and others shaped the current language, Fielder said, to make sure its consistent, its effective, its clear, it has that balance of protecting private property while at the same time Montanans can continue to harvest fish and game in the way were accustomed to harvesting. The amended bill closely follows recommended language from the National Rifle Association. The amendments left some committee members believing the legislation was rushed and unsure of support for the bills current form a sentiment that carried onto the floor this week. This is the first time weve had a big discussion, Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena, told the Senate. Cohenour, who had unsuccessfully asked for a rehearing on the bill, aired several other concerns, such as whether the language would allow license preference and lower prices for Montana residents. She also questioned the states ability to respond to emergencies such as wildlife disease outbreaks if citizens are preferred for management. Sen. Mike Phillips, D-Bozeman, told the Senate that SB 236 will not prevent future efforts to prohibit trapping and invites future legal challenges while protections are already in place. You know why people are frustrated with trapping it has nothing to do with what our laws say or what our Constitution says, it has to do with the fact that were living in a world of ecological illiterates, he said. Its not needed, its oversimplifies management, it wont stop attacks. Fielder defended the bill, saying the preferred method continues the way wildlife is currently managed but allowing that government should not compete with sportsmen. The bill further shores up legal language some see as ambiguous, she added. Under questioning, Fielder dismissed concerns from some in the agricultural community that the bill would give preference to the outdoor activities over private property rights. Sen. Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville, was among several lawmakers who spoke in support of SB 236. Its our best defense of stopping the attacks, he said. If you dont put rights in here and protect them in our Constitution, we may never stop the attacks. Sen. Chas Vincent, R-Libby, echoed points he made in the hearing that if the Legislature does not pass SB 236, a citizen initiative is likely which will exclude the Legislature from crafting the language. In order to make it on the ballot as a referendum, SB 236 needs a total vote of 100 for a two-thirds majority. The Senate passed it to the House on a vote of 30-20, meaning the legislation requires yes votes from 70 representatives to pass. Bears have started showing up all over social media this spring, and at least one has its own laptop. Whitefish resident Mike Potter caught a cinnamon-phase black bear on video near Arlee with a computer in its mouth as it grazed along U.S. Highway 93 on Sunday. Apparently awakened early when its culvert den flooded in the early snowmelt, the big male has become something of a roadside hazard. He would come up and go down like a magic show, Potter said. Ive lived in Montana all my life, and these moments still impress me. Video courtesy of Mike Potter of Whitefish. Potter spotted this mature black bear with what appears to be a laptop in its mouth near Arlee on March 26, 2017. The bear also caught the attention of Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal wildlife biologist Stacy Courville, who set a culvert trap for it soon after it appeared about three weeks ago. When it gets nice out, he pops up and starts grazing on grass, Courville said. Hes causing bear jams when hes out, and were afraid hes going to get hit by a car. But hes not interested in the bait at all. Weve had the trap out for two weeks and nothing. Both black and grizzly bears have started leaving their dens as spring weather has taken hold in western Montana. After a long winter hibernation, their digestive tracts have virtually stopped working. Although both species are meat-eaters, they typically seek out new grass and other vegetation to get their systems moving again. Thats important for homeowners near the forest to consider. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials warn that both bears and mountain lions will follow deer and elk as they move to the valley bottoms in search of new grass. By April 1st, residents should take down bird feeders, secure garbage inside a closed garage or secure shed, feed pets inside, clean up chicken and livestock feed, and in general remove all odorous substances that can draw bears, FWP spokesman John Fraley said. Instead of putting out hummingbird feeders we recommend putting up hanging baskets of flowers. In Montana, it is illegal to intentionally feed ungulates, mountain lions and bears. This includes putting out grain, deer blocks, mineral blocks, sunflower seeds, garbage, meat scraps, bread, doughnuts, brownies and other food. Bears can live for years near people without ever getting in conflict, but an introduction to human food almost always means tragedy. Predators habituated to human food may lose their natural fear of humans and often have to be killed. FWP wildlife specialist Jamie Jonkel added that early spring tends to see increases in mountain lion activity at the edge of cities and towns. Residents in Missoulas Grant Creek and Rattlesnake neighborhoods had several lion incidents over the winter, including the removal of at least seven adult or subadult lions. With the snow melted off, people arent seeing the lion tracks as much, Jonkel said. But Missoula Valley is a mountain lion factory, like Swan Valley. Its both primo lion habitat and primo big-game habitat, so we see a lot more hands-on interaction between all the species. Throw our own behaviors into the mix, and it always gets interesting. America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance! Guwahati, April 1 : Opposing Centre's decision to grant citizenship to the Hindu Bangladeshi, All Assam Students Union (AASU) on Saturday warned the both Union and State government that if government granted citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshi then massive protests will be conducted across the state against it. While took out a mass rally in Guwahati by AASU and other 29 ethnic organizations protest against the Centre's decision, AASU advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya said that, there is no room of illegal Bangladeshi nationals both hindu and muslim in Assam. "We had taken huge burden till 1971, and now there is no question raised about taking more burden," Bhattacharya said. "We will never compromise with our decades long demand of detection and deportation of illegal migrants who infiltrated to Assam from Bangladesh after March 24, 1971. If government will not cancel the citizenship amendment bill, we will take action to protect the indigenous people's rights of the state, our culture, language," the AASU leader said. Addressing the mass rally held at historic Latashil ground in presence of thousands of students, indigenous people, leaders of the 29 ethnic organizations, AASU president Dipanka Nath said that, Assam will not bear more burden of illegal Bangladeshi nationals. "The Centre's decision to grant citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshi is against the Assam Accord and we will not allow to do it," the AASU president said. The rally was organised by the students union and supported by All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), Karbi Students Union (KSA), AASA and many other organizations. The students organizations also demanded to take stern action against the culprits, who involved in the local AASU office attack in Silapathar in Dhemaji district. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Guwahati : President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said that, Assam is emerging as an economic hub of East India and South East Asia, while inaugurated the Namami Brahmaputra festival, biggest ever river festival in India in Guwahati. President Mukherjee inaugurated the festival by lighting lamp at a mega function held on the banks of the Brahmaputra river at Kacharighat in the capital city of Assam. Speaking on the occasion, President Mukherjee said that it is the gateway and most effective location to put into effect the Prime Minister's Act East policy. 'South East Asia is an important destination for India's investment and trade. India will soon celebrate 25 years of its association with ASEAN. Assam has immense potential. It is rich in natural resources and its people are hard working. What is needed is strong drive, right policies and effective implementation,aA President Mukherjee said. Referring to the diverse and distinctive culture of Assam, the President said that India's strength was its ability to manage diversity and forge unity in divergence. 'It was not just the elites but also the common people who were firmly committed to trust, mutual understanding and harmony. Indians were argumentative but never intolerant. Our traditions, including the teachings of Assam's great scholar and social reformer Shankaradev never allowed the practice of intolerance,'A Mukherjee said. The President said that Brahmaputra River is the lifeline of Assam and the region. 'It is intertwined into the economy, culture and day-to-day life of the people of the area through which it flows,'A Mukherjee said. President Mukherjee complimented the Assam government for having started Namami Brahmaputra as an annual festival to showcase Assam's culture as well as potential. Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Assam governor Banwarilal Purohit, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, state ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chandramohan Patowary, ministers of Uttar Pradesh guest from Japan were also attended in the inaugural function. The five-day long festival is celebrated on the banks of the Brahmaputra river covering 21 districts of the state. On the other hand, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will present in the mega river festival on April 2. Yoga guru Baba Ramdev is likely to present in closing ceremonial function of the festival on April 4. Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Uma Bharati, Mahesh Sarma and several prominent personalities including 40 VVIPs would likely to present in the river festival. The mega river festival will showcase the culture, indigenous sports, arts, craft, skill industry, tourism, livelihood of tribes, traditional foods of the region. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) firstpost.com March 30, 2017 Debate on minority rights in Kashmir pertinent, but govt must accommodate all ethnic groups by David Devadas It is good that the Supreme Court has asked why there is no mechanism to protect minority rights in Jammu and Kashmir. Minorities everywhere must be protected. That is the mark of a civilized society. However, a question mark has been looming large on the meaning of minority in this state. Muslims are the major minority group in the overall context of India but at 63 percent, they comprise the majority of the stateas population. On this basis, the petition that has raised the issue in the Supreme Court argues that Hindus are the major minority in the state. On the face of it, this is true. But this is an inadequate model. For, this is the most sociologically complex place in the world a even more than the Balkans. So, the meaning and content of the term `minoritya changes from place to place. Representational image. Reuters Representational image. Reuters Sociological complexity In Poonchh, for example, Sikhs and Hindus are religious minorities. In Doda, only Hindus are. In the tiny valley of Bani, Gaddis, Sippis and Muslims can all claim to be minorities. How their rights are to be protected can sometimes be a complex challenge. While Gaddis are classed as a scheduled tribe, many Gaddi residents claim to be Rajput Hindus. In Jammu, and places like Samba and Chinaini, Muslims are the major minority. But, among Jammu-based Muslims, those who call themselves Dogra Muslims, Gujjar Muslims, and Kashmiri Muslims do not necessarily see themselves as belonging to the same community. They do not generally inter-marry, and their language and food habits differ. In Leh district, Muslims are the minority religious group. However, even among Muslims, local Sunni leaders argue that they are a minority within a minority, since they generally do not inter-marry with the more numerous local Shia. A large number of local Sunnis of Leh district are `Argona - descended from Kashmiris who migrated centuries ago but have married local women for generations. Buddhists are the major minority group in most parts of Kargil district, but Muslims are the minority in the Zanskar Valley. The four Sikh and one Hindu family in Kargil are minorities too. And Sunni residents of Kargil town with Kashmiri origins are generally known as Khache, and not treated as integral to the locally dominant community. In the Kashmir Valley, Sikhs and Hindus are the notable religious minorities. In linguistic-ethnic terms, Gujjars and Pahadis too are important minority groups. Gujjars are the major minority in the Pahadi-dominated Karnah area of Kupwara district a both communities being Muslim. Plus, there is a substantial number of Sikhs too in some pockets of Karnah. Urgent need to unite In light of the extraordinary sociological complexity of this state, a commission to protect minority rights must look into protecting the rights of the various peoples who comprise minority communities in different parts of the state. The institution must be a peacemaker so that all may see it as a defender of their safety, rights, and dignity. The state already has a commission for scheduled tribes, which tends to see itself as the vehicle for the promotion of Gujjarsa interests. This objective has succeeded well over the past 40 years, but has had a reductionist impact on the multi-cultural nature of the state, particularly in the Rajouri and Poonchh districts, where several ethnic-linguistic and religious groups that used to celebrate their unique differences now try to define themselves as Pahadi a to push collectively for the extension of reservations to this category. A mechanism to protect minority rights is very important but it must be based on a broad vision. It must not lead to the further squeezing of space to celebrate multiple identities and cultures. The state has already been pushed into a Muslim versus Hindu binary, more so through the vigorous production and spread of rival narratives over the past decade. This process got a huge fillip after the transfer of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board in 2008. The agitations which followed were extremely divisive. A minorities commission should seek to bind back the bonds of amity. The Internal Revenue Service and Education Department announced earlier this month that a tool for helping students apply for federal financial aid would be offline for several weeksbut now both agencies are saying it wont be back until October. The IRS cited security concerns when it shut off the Data Retrieval Tool, which allows students and parents to import tax information directly into their Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The tool was down for about a week in early March before the federal agencies publicly acknowledged it. In a statement yesterday, the groups wrote that students and families should plan for the tool to be offline until the start of the next FAFSA season , which is in six months. The statement said that identify thieves may have attempted to secure personal information through the tool (though it wasnt clear on whether or the extent to which this actually happened). While this tool provides an important convenience for applicants, we cannot risk the safety of taxpayer data, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, said in the statement. Protecting taxpayer data has to be the highest priority, and we will continue working with [the Education Departments Federal Student Aid office] to bring this tool back in a safe and secure manner. Students and families can still file their FAFSAs, they just need to input their tax information on their own. Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, called on the agencies to ease the burden on students, parents, and institutions who are dealing with the unexpected outage. IRS Commissioner John Koskinens statement that this tool merely provides a convenience for applicants betrays a disheartening lack of understanding about how vital this tool has become in streamlining the financial aid application process, he wrote. Carrie Warick, the director of policy and advocacy for the National College Access Network, warned that security increases with overly stringent requirements about, for instance, the types of credit users have , which the IRS has used in the past, would hurt low-income families. It is crucial to secure the tool, but doing so in a way that cuts off access for low-income students would defeat the goal of the DRT, she wrote in a blog post. Republicans and Democrats in Congress Demand More Info Members of Congress have been miffed about the Education Departments handling of the outage as well. On March 16, prior to the recent announcement, leaders of the House Oversight Committee and the Committee on Education and the Workforce sent a stern letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos requesting a briefing on the incident. Millions of students applying for federal financial aid each year use the DRT, and a loss of functionality, even if confined to days or weeks, has the potential to cause significant disruptions, wrote the bipartisan group. This is especially true for first-generation and low-income students who rely on the DRT tool, and for students in states that had not yet reached state priority deadlines for applying for financial aid when the DRT was taken offline. The House Oversight Committee also sent a letter to DeVos yesterday stating that cybersecurity at the Department is far short of where it should be . It noted that the department has been using outdated security protocols for several years now, as determined by Inspector General audits, but it did not mention the Data Retrieval Tool specifically. See also: FAFSA Application Tool Shut Off Due to Security Concerns Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. 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. This week, the SFist food bureau broke news of Black Jet Baking Co.'s soft opening in Bernal Heights, had the word on Mersea, a restaurant bound for Treasure Island, and news of another headed to Hayes Valley from the very productive guy behind Starbelly/Beretta and others, Adriano Paganini, to be called A Mano. A chapter is over for Two Sisters Bar & Books, which will close as its owners move to a new venture in downtown Berkeley. Healthy fast-food chain Locol has a West Oakland bakery opening, we learned. There was also news of Theorita, a counter-style pie shop coming to the downstairs space on Divis below the anticipated Che Fico. La Taqueria released its salsa verde recipe, we rounded up our favorite fried chicken sandwiches, and last, caught wind of an April opening for Rich Table's RT Rotisserie spinoff. The rest is here: Roma Design Group will open a new restaurant in the former Rose Pistola space, per Inside Scoop. "We are looking forward to creating a new sociable gathering place that will build on the identity and traditions of North Beach but takes advantage of the innovations and evolution of the food culture that have occurred since Rose Pistola was first established 20 some years ago," Roma Design Group's Bonnie Fisher tells the Scoop. Hoodline also got a tentative name out of the team: "Cantina Di Liguria." City Counter, a retro-style luncheonette and wine bar, is headed to the same FiDi building as Blue Bottle and the Treasury. Inside Scoop has it that the project comes from first-time restaurateur Harper Matheson, who brings a decade of experience from the East Coast. Eater had details on the menu, developed by Blue Plate's chef Sean Thomas, and the space, which will sport a modern Art Deco design. Hoodline had an update on BarnZu, a new name for a still-in-the-works Korean restaurant opening in the Tenderloin. The new name is the Korean term for eating small plates while drinking, and the menu, from the Kokio Republic food truck owner Min Choe, will feature the fried chicken he's known for but expand from there. An opening is targeted for May. Katsu House is open for poke bowls and a slice of Japan with food like sushi and, you got it, katsu, on Waverly Place in the heart of Chinatown according to Hoodine. They've got a cooler with Japanese fruit drinks and snacks and grab-and-go sushi rolls, but you'll have to wait on the full katsu menu, since they've got to run their fryer by the city health department first. Celebrity chef Michael Chiarello just quietly opened his humbler version of Eataly in Yountville, called Ottimo, and Eater had the story there: The cafe, market, and mozzeria were originally slated to open earlier, but Chiarello has had plenty on his plate, what with a harassment lawsuit to settle and a DUI arrest to deal with. The whole menu for the new venture is on Eater's site, and includes wood-fired pizzas, panini-like sandwiches they're calling crescentines, and mozzarella made hourly for freshness. Craftsman and Wolves is opening a doughnut shop and craft market in the Bayview with a ground-floor retail space in a residential building recently acquired by the SF Housing Development Corporation that will be preserved for housing, Hoodline reports. The inventive bakery's commercial kitchen and cafe, the Den, is located a few blocks away, providing baked goods for its which serves its Valencia Street outpost. "The doughnuts will be a nod to the classics, but will feature local and unique flavors," owner William Werner tells Hoodline. "We are focusing on quality ingredients. It definitely won't be your average doughnut." Nine current and former Mission Beach Cafe workers are suing the popular brunch haunt for alleged labor violations involving late paychecks and improper compensation. The Chronicle had the story, pointing out that news of the suit isn't necessarily a reason for customers to shy away from supporting Mission Beach Cafe. "The workers want people to keep frequenting the business, they want customers to come and support them and the work they do, Anna Kirsch, an attorney with the Womens Employment Rights Clinic who is co-counsel for the workers, explains to the Chron. They dont want to drive people away. KQED was feeling a new Japanese restaurant in Rockridge, Ding, that's opened in the former Claremont diner space. "For a menu that has all the predictable dishes youd expect to find in a neighborhood Japanese restaurant, Ding offers some artful complexity and sophistication to sauces and stocksand, most importantly, beautifully sourced and prepared raw fish," they write. Noe Valley Bakery second location in West Portal with that same name, which we heard about in December, is now open as Hoodline reports. Married couple Mary and Michael Gassen bought their original 24th Street location in 1994, and the new one is now open in a former Noah's Bagels location with seating and a fully stocked cupcake case. A little slice of Noe in West Portal how quaint. Linden Street Brewery is reopening in Jack London Square under the new name Oakland United Beerworks, per a report from Eater. The original Linden Street was sold and closed its location recently reopened as Old Kan Beer Co. with former Linden Street brewer Adam Lamoreaux and James Shyabout of Hawker Fare fame partnering up. Oakland United Beerworks wants its operation, headed by owner John Karnay and brewer Shane Aldrich, to open late this summer. Another Oakland opening on the horizon is The Kebabery which comes from the team behind Camino according to Eater. The casual spot focused you know it, on meat and veggie kebabs has been long delayed but will finally be firing things up in the next few weeks. Eater's got a peek inside the distinctive, inviting space, which even had its chairs designed as a special project with the furniture productions students of Californai College of the Arts. Camino chef Traci Matsumoto-Esteban will be in charge of the kitchen at the Kebabery. The Worlds 50 Best list gave Atelier Crenn, Benu, and Saison and Saison atip of the hat, placing them on the bottom 50 of their top 100 list, which Eater likens to the runners-up list. We'll hear who made the top 50 next week with a big reveal. Eatsea's closure, Eater has learned, was to allow the previously quinoa-focused operation to offer new items like noodles, and theyve since reopened. The revamp was unrelated to a discrimination lawsuit alleging their unique, automat-style service model was inaccessible to blind customers. Alessandro Campitelli, whose Chiaroscuro closed after a decade last fall, is back with Contrasto Test Kitchen in Oakland, a pop-up within Kitchen 388. Eater says he's got more on the way and will focus on pasta for the moment, as it's what kept him in business with Chiaroscuro for so long. "I do want to create an experience and do some kind of tasting," but he thinks he'll shy away from a full-on tasting menu. The first night will be during the second weekend of April. Moz Cafe snagged the recently vacated Corner Store space at Masonic and Geary, per Hoodline. This marks its third location there's one in SoMa and another in Daly City and this one will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Le Marais Bakery is opening a Lower Nob Hill/Upper Tenderloin location which will also serve as its production facility for its existing Marina and Ghirarerdelli locations as well as another that's close to opening in the Castro. "It will be a very old-school, Parisian-style bakery in feel and character," said owner Patrick Ascaso tells Hoodline, who had the news of the Lower Nob Hill location. "The Art Deco building already lends itself to that." This Week In Reviews Chris Ying gave his thoughts in the Chronicle on Saap Ver and Lers Ros. With the latter getting a bit tired in its original Tenderloin location, Ying writes that "the year-old Saap Ver and its chef, Nutnawat Aukcarapasutanun (a.k.a. Kobe), have taken up the torch of giving San Franciscans a peek behind the pad Thai curtains," but he takes readers through the perils of ordering difficulties to which both spots can fall prey. Chronicle critic Michael Bauer's midweek update review is of Outerlands which now he says is "a state of mind, a subtle glorification of the beach culture and a warm retreat that buoys the spirits." Chef Yoni Levy, who opened Daniel Patterson's Alta CA, has been at the helm for more than a year, and Bauer's review is short and sweet the bread's still great, and Levi has crafted a smart menu here. Two-and-a-half stars. In contrast to "most Cajun/Creole restaurants outside of New Orleans" which are "mediocre imitations," Bauer found Albay Ray's to be different in his Sunday review. "The feel of the interior with its wrought-iron dividers that could have come from Bourbon Street" began to suggest the true spirit of the Big Easy, "But it wasnt until dessert when the beignets with salted caramel arrived that I was totally convinced that chef Adam Rosenblum and his team could successfully channel the essence of New Orleans." Drinks are impressive "just the right licorice nuances of absinthe to make the Sazarac." Not everything "passes muster" like a mac and cheese that "tasted more of bechamel than cheese" and a mixed pork, by far the most expensive item on the menu at $49, was under-seasoned and dry. Nevertheless, Bauer sees in this latest spot from the group behind Popsons and Causwells a restaurant "destined to be a destination." Two-and-a-half stars. Minimalism remains a strong design trend and preferred choice of many homeowners and apartment dwellers. For many, living with less creates calm and order. No longer are these environments considered sparse and sanitized - instead, it can be a functional design choice. MINIMALISM From foundations such as the Bauhaus in Europe to Scandinavian influences, minimalism is often associated with soft colors, natural woods and crisp, clean lines. It is also often associated with interiors that are not overstuffed but instead contain a few well designed elements and furniture selections. HOW TO GET THE LOOK Begin with a neutral palette. Cream, taupe and soft gray are wonderful choices to begin your color stories. Pre-plan your space. Select only what is necessary. Edit and then edit again, the key to a minimalist look. Mix hard and soft materials. A mix of hard materials such as metal and wood pairs beautifully with soft goods such as toss pillows and throws. Look for innovative, unique design. Think outside of the box. Unique pieces with spark conversation and be visual surprises in your minimalist environment. WHERE TO START When building your environment, purchase larger pieces first (sofas and case goods) and then your smaller pieces (accessories and accents). AREA RUGS Rugs can also help to ground space and shouldn't be omitted just to achieve minimalism. In general, rugs create warmth and add a finishing element that can prevent a space from appearing barren. When selecting rugs, a great rule of thumb is to select your rug first for color or graphic inspiration or last to tie everything together. Cathy Hobbs, based in New York City, is an Emmy Award-winning television host and a nationally known interior design and home staging expert with offices in New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C. Contact her at info@cathyhobbs.com or visit her website at www.cathyhobbs.com . (c)2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. SCHALLER, Iowa | A man and his mother were arrested Thursday after authorities say they found 80 marijuana plants and growing devices in their Schaller basement. The Sac County Sheriff's Office additionally charged Keegan Cross, 34, for allegedly using his elderly grandfather's credit card to buy the supplies to grow the illegal drugs. At 8 p.m. Thursday, the sheriff's office executed a search warrant at a home in the 500 block of Perth Street on a littering complaint. When deputies were knocking on the door, they could smell marijuana from the outside, according to a press release. When they entered the home, authorities found an estimated 80 marijuana plants in various stages of growth along with growing lamps, watering pumps, potting soil and fertilizer. Cross was arrested and charged with allegedly manufacturing marijuana and exploitation of a dependent adult. He sits in the Sac County Jail on $30,000 bond. The release said Glenda Turnquist, the mother of Cross, was arrested for allegedly conspiring to manufacture the marijuana with her son. The 58-year old also faces other drug charges. She is booked in the jail on $26,300 bond. Socialist Worker has a profile of Anthony Papa of the Drug Policy Alliance. He has a book out about his experiences after being released from prison, where he served a sentence for a drug crime that he'd been entrapped into committing. The book is called This Side of Freedom: Life After Clemency. Snip: ORANGE CITY, Iowa | A 19-year-old man was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting two teenagers. Axel Reyes, of Orange City, pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit sexual abuse last week in Sioux County District Court to amended charges of third-degree sexual assault. In September of last year, police learned Reyes, of Orange City, provided alcohol to a 14-year-old who got intoxicated, and then Reyes had sex with her. He was arrested on Feb. 3 after authorities completed their investigation. While in custody, another 14-year-old victim reported that Reyes forced himself on her and sexually assaulted her against her will in January. On Friday, a judge sentenced him to two separate two-year prison terms to be served concurrently and also ordered him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa | Siouxland claims one of the wealthiest small towns in America, according to the Bloomberg Index of Affluent Micro Areas Wednesday. Spirit Lake cashed in at 19th on the list of 20. The study gave the city -- which is part of the Iowa Great Lakes micropolitan area-- a score of 92.05 out of 100. The results were derived from Bloomberg's analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. The media company weighed the list on four metrics-- median household income, the percentage of households with at least $200,000 in income, median home value and the percentage of homes worth $1 million or more. The Iowa Great Lake region, a popular vacation destination, boasts multiple high-priced homes lining West Lake Okoboji. The average home value is $167,800, and 2.5 percent of homes are worth more than a $1 million, the study said. The area's estimated median household income is $54,744, and 4.6 percent of household incomes are more than $200,000 a year. In addition to Spirit Lake, the county seat of Dickinson County, the micropolitan area includes West Okoboji, Okoboji, Arnolds Park, Milford, Lake Park, Orleans, Terril, Wahpeton and Superior. Utah's Summit Park area topped the Bloomberg list of the wealthiest small towns. The area, where one in six homes is worth more than $1 million, is near Salt Lake City and is next to numerous ski slopes. Forty-three percent of the area's homes are considered vacation properties. Other top five finishers on the list were Edwards, Colorado; Jackson Wyoming-Idaho; Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, and Breckenridge, Colorado. Todays top picks from our online calendar. Find more events at siouxcityjournal.com/calendar. Cemetery Walking Tour Walking Cemetery Tour will cover stops at headstones of seven women whose life's work impacted Sioux City. You'll learn about the lives of a former First Lady of Iowa, two authors, and a world-class athlete. Enter through the north gate of Graceland Cemetery, 2701 S. Lakeport, and meet at the cemetery office at 10:30 a.m. Sioux City Film Festival Selected documentaries will be screened. The program will include the local film that won the competition "A New Tomorrow Begins Today," produced by students at Sioux City North High School. From 4-6 p.m. at Stoney Creek Inn, 300 Third St. A Night at the Derby Bishop Heelan Catholic Schools will present a Night at the Derby for its 2017 Heelan Auction at 5:30 p.m. at the Sioux City Convention Center, 801 Fourth St. Last year Heelans western-themed event roped in over $354,000. This years run for the roses goal for Heelan is set at $360,000. Next time youre at the grocery store, take a minute to study the options. How many brands of soup? Of cereal? Of soda pop? Then, walk down the alcohol aisles. Beer, wine and spirits of national, regional and local origin abound. Alcohol selections enjoyed by your grandfather, your mother and your friends are easy to find. In fact, Iowa consumers have access to thousands of different labels. This selection is brought to you by Iowas brand of alcohol market regulation, primarily known as the three-tier distribution system, and its cornerstone anti-corruption and anti-monopoly component, tied-house protection. A key contributor to the buy-local movement, Iowas alcohol policy encourages locally-owned alcohol operations. Its no accident there are over 1,600 Iowans employed in beer distribution alone. The law provides protections for each tier retailers, distributors and manufacturers from undue influence by any other tier. Distributors buy only what can be reasonably sold and have market-based incentives to merchandise whats popular. Bars and restaurants that sell only one manufacturers soft drinks can offer hundreds of beers, wines and spirits without fear of targeted price hikes or lackluster service. Tied-house protections also contain exceptions for manufacturers to establish brands with taprooms or cocktail rooms at the manufacturing site to promote their products and provide a consumer experience. The net result is that Iowans are hard-pressed to find a deficiency in choice and availability. During Iowas recent alcohol policy review, we heard from nearly every segment of the industry that Iowas laws are generally good for commerce. A chain retailer operating in several states said Iowas laws are retailer-friendly. Some of Iowas biggest liquor suppliers submitted that Iowa is a forward-thinking place to do business while some brewers said aspects of Iowa law are too liberal. Iowas chief alcohol regulator paid lip service supporting the three-tier system, but recently advocated publicly to weaken tied-house protections. Logically, a robust three-tier system and a weak tied-house law are mutually exclusive. Its impossible to have both. With more consumer choice than ever, more retail space dedicated to alcohol than ever, and more Iowa manufacturers than ever, who are the victims of Iowas tied-house protections? Specifics are light. Rather than advocating seismic shifts in an orderly marketplace that is clearly working for Iowa industry, consumers, and the public interest, alcohol regulators should focus on enforcing laws that ensure a level playing field and industry-wide compliance with regard to excise taxes, fair trade practices and safe, responsible and legal sales. So what if Iowa abandoned tied-house protections? Consumers would be the first losers. Favorite beers, wines and spirits big and small could be excluded from aisles, tap lines, refrigerated spaces or entire stores altogether. Increasingly, money would undermine merit-based shelf and tap access. Exclusive agreements and inducements would give retailers incentives to hit volume targets, nudging up consumption. Absentee-manufacturers calling shots at the retail level become more likely to disregard contemporary community standards and norms. Precisely the practice tied-house protections are designed to prevent. Wide market access and consumer choice in this industry is because of Iowas three-tier system and its tied-house protections, not despite them. Lets maintain Iowas free houses and keep the tied house a pre-Prohibition relic. Nathan Cooper is executive director of the Iowa Wholesale Beer Distributors Association. 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. WASHINGTON (April 1, 2017)The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the following contract awards that pertain to local Navy activities., is being awarded amodification to a previously awarded fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-14-C-0067) for the manufacture and delivery of 17 Lot 8 full-rate production P-8A aircraft for the Navy (11), foreign military sales (2), and cooperative agreement partners (4); and long lead parts associated with the manufacture of 10 Lot 9 P-8A aircraft for the Navy (7) and the foreign military sales partners (3). In addition, this modification also provides for Lot 8 segregable efforts consisting of unknown obsolescence, class I change assessment, obsolescence monitoring, and integrated baseline/program management reviews. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington (80 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (3 percent); Greenlawn, New York (2.8 percent); outside the U.S. (1.7 percent); North Amityville, New York (1.1 percent); Rockford, Illinois (0.9 percent); Rancho Santa Margarita, California (0.7 percent); Salt Lake City, Utah (0.6 percent); and various locations within the U.S. (9.2 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2020. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Navy); cooperative agreement; and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $1,748,799,516 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchase for the Navy ($1,447,499,092; 65.9 percent); cooperative agreement partners ($476,809,236; 21.7 percent); and foreign military sales partners ($272,330,424; 12.4 percent). The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor modification P00012 to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-16-C-0004) to provide technical and logistics services, training, maintenance and repair services, and supply chain management in support of F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter for a non-Department of Defense participant. Work will be performed outside the U.S. (80 percent); Orlando, Florida (10 percent); and Fort Worth, Texas (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in November 2020. Non-Department of Defense funding in the amount of $95,773,177 is being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded anmodification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00174-11-D-0002) to extend the ordering period and exercise Option Year 6 for the procurement and support of the transmitting set, countermeasures AN/PLT-4 to support explosive ordnance disposal personnel. The AN/PLT-4 is a man-portable system in support of the Joint Service Explosive Ordnance Disposal Counter Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare program. Work will be performed in Annapolis, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by March 2018. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity., is being awarded anfirm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract (N00174-16-D-0003) for manufacturing of launchers and/or sub-components to support Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force operations (training and in theatre). Work will be performed in Arnold, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by November 2017. Fiscal 2015 and 2017 ammunition (Air Force); and fiscal 2017 procurement of ammo Navy and Marine Corps (Navy) funding in the amount of $230,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The", is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price delivery order 0511 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-15-G-0026) for APR-39D(V)2 software changes, hardware changes, repairs, and production transition support, including repair and retrofit of test assets, end items, and supportability and training products. Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and is expected to be completed in March 2018. Fiscal 2015 and 2016 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,651,430 are being obligated at time of award, $932,121 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded a not-to-exceedfirm-fixed-price delivery order (0132) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-14-G-0020). This modification provides for air vehicle initial spares to include F-35 common spares; F-35A, F-35B and F-35C unique spares, and aloft spares packages/deployment spares packages and reprogramming lab spares required to support the air vehicle delivery schedule for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants, and foreign military sales customers. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (24.4 percent); El Segundo, California (9 percent); Owego, New York (8.6 percent); Samlesbury, United Kingdom (7.2 percent); Cheltenham, United Kingdom (6.2 percent); Nashua, New Hampshire (5.8 percent); Torrance, California (5.5 percent); Orlando, Florida (4.9 percent); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (3.7 percent); San Diego, California (3.6 percent); Phoenix, Arizona (3.1 percent); Melbourne, Florida (3 percent); Irvine, California (2.5 percent); North Amityville, New York (2.4 percent); Windsor Locks, Connecticut (2.2 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (2.2 percent); Papendrect, Netherlands (1.9 percent); Rolling Meadows, Illinois (1.8 percent); and Alpharetta, Georgia (1.8 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2021. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps); fiscal 2016 aircraft procurement (Air Force); fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps) funds; non-DoD participant; and foreign military sales funding in the amount of $580,798,359 will be obligated at time of award, $63,290,612 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This delivery order combines purchases for the Air Force ($190,222,900; 32.7 percent); Navy ($28,465,807; 4.9 percent); Marine Corps ($117,959,015; 20.3 percent); non-DoD participants ($208,819,069; 35.9 percent); and foreign military sales ($36,331,568; 14.3 percent). The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor modification P00024 to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-15-C-0092) for procurement of 317 AIM-9X Block II all up round tactical full-rate production Lot 17 missiles for the Navy (107) and Air Force (210). In addition, this modification provides for the procurement of 199 Block II captive air training missiles for the Navy (24), Air Force (77), and the governments of Australia (48), Indonesia (20), the Netherlands (20), Romania (6), and Poland (4); 15 special air training missiles for the government of Australia (10) and Taiwan (5); 160 all up round containers for the Navy (43), Air Force (81), and the governments of Australia (15), the Netherlands (10), Indonesia (6), Romania (2), Taiwan (2) and Poland (1); seven spare advanced optical target detectors for the Navy (1), Air Force (2), the governments of Australia (2), Indonesia (1), and Poland (1); 11 spare guidance units (live battery) for the Navy (2), Air Force (4), and the governments of Romania (3), and Indonesia (2); 22 spare captive air training missile guidance units for the Navy (2), Air Force (6) and the governments of Australia (10), Indonesia (2), and Romania (2); 23 guidance unit containers for the Air Force (10) and the governments of Australia (6), Romania (5), and Indonesia (2); four spare advanced optical target detector containers for the governments of Australia (2), Indonesia (1), and Poland (1); 1 spare block 1 propulsion steering section and one spare block II propulsion steering section for the Air Force; and spares for the Navy (1), and Air Force (1), and 19 lots of spares for the government of Australia (2), Turkey (2), Denmark (1), Finland (1), Israel (1), Belgium (1), Netherlands (1), Singapore (1), Poland (1), Switzerland (1), Japan (1), Norway (1), Morocco (1), Romania (1), Korea (1), Saudi Arabia (1) and Taiwan (1). Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (43.74 percent); Andover, Massachusetts (10.08 percent); Valencia, California (6.10 percent); Ontario Canada, Midland (5.54 percent); Rocket Center, West Virginia (5.49 percent); Vancouver, Washington (5.07 percent); Goleta, California (2.86 percent); Cheshire, Connecticut (2.05 percent); Heilbronn, Germany (1.88 percent); Simsbury, Connecticut (1.61 percent); Cincinnati, Ohio (1.22 percent); San Jose, California (1.48 percent); Anniston, Alabama (1.31 percent); Maniago, Italy (1.21 percent); Chatsworth, California (1.11 percent); San Diego, California (1.04 percent); Montgomery, Alabama (0.60 percent); Orlando, Florida (0.55 percent); Valencia, California (0.53 percent); Newbury Park, California (0.50 percent); El Segundo, California (0.50 percent); Claremont, California (0.43 percent); Joplin, Missouri (0.39 percent); Lombard, Illinois (0.28 percent); El Cajon, California (0.15 percent), and various locations inside and outside the continental U.S. (4.28 percent). Work is expected to be completed in March 2020. Fiscal 2017 missile procurement (Air Force); fiscal 2017 weapons procurement (Navy); and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $199,757,307 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the Navy ($51,002,164; 25.53 percent); Air Force ($111,363,228; 55.75 percent); and the governments of Australia ($17,425,125; 8.72 percent); Indonesia ($5,270,098; 2.64 percent); Netherlands ($4,909,466; 2.46 percent); Taiwan ($3,021,918; 1.51 percent); Romania ($2,152,062; 1.08 percent); Poland ($1,346,780; 0.67 percent); Saudi Arabia ($1,055,006; 0.53 percent); Belgium ($507,717; 0.25 percent); Turkey ($454,789; 0.23 percent); Switzerland ($409,199; 0.20 percent); Korea ($310,109; 0.16 percent); Norway ($322,709; 0.16 percent); Morocco ($72,208; 0.04 percent); Japan ($58,436; 0.03 percent); Denmark ($15,427; 0.01 percent); Finland ($48,373; 0.01 percent); Isreal ($2,178; 0.01 percent); and Singapore ($10,315; 0.01 percent), under the Foreign Military Sales program. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor modification 02 to firm-fixed-price task order 0006 previously issued under basic ordering agreement N00019-16-G-0001. This modification provides for integrated logistics support and sustaining engineering services in support of F/A-18 A-F and EA-18G aircraft for the Navy and the governments of Australia, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Switzerland, Canada, and Spain. Services to be provided include engineering, provisioning, information systems, technical data updates, support equipment engineering, training and software integration support. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (76 percent); El Segundo, California (15 percent); Bethpage, New York (5 percent); and San Diego, California (4 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2017. Fiscal 2015 and 2016 aircraft procurement (Navy); fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance (Navy); and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $37,210,218 will be obligated at time of award, $25,776,564 of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This order combines purchases for the Navy ($35,221,923; 85 percent); and the governments of Australia ($3,445,123; 8.4 percent); Finland ($467,429; 1.1 percent); Kuwait ($467,429; 1.1 percent); Malaysia ($467,429; 1.1 percent); Switzerland ($467,428; 1.1 percent); Canada ($455,744; 1.1 percent); and Spain ($455,743; 1.1 percent), under the Foreign Military Sales program. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor order 0027 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-15-G-0026) for the development and delivery of logistics products, intermediate level repair, and integrated logistics support management in support of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Florida (89 percent); and St. Augustine, Florida (11 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2018. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,067,747 are being obligated on this award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity. Mary Leeson of Cambridge, Ont., has been involved off and on in harness racing throughout her life and managed to capture this striking image featured as the April photo in the I Love Canadian Harness Racing's Fan Club's Heart of Harness Racing Calendar. The photo is of her trotting filly Jayport Rosita as her most recent participation in the sport is as a new owner. Its very easy to take great shots such as this one of Jayport Rosita since the camera seems to love her, says Leeson. She was turned out at Neil Gibbons farm when I got this particular shot and I called her name and she stopped to "pose" for lack of a better word! Leeson recently retired from office work but spent the majority of her younger working years as a Standardbred groom. She worked for multiple Canadian trainers -- the late Bill Wellwood being the first. She spent many years (after learning the trade here in Ontario) working for Clint Galbraith who was based in New York doing the Grand Circuit in the summers and Florida during the winters. Mary jogging two-year-old Speedy Crown filly Anthem Hill at Ben White Training Center in Orlando when she worked for Clint Galbraith "back in the day" Mary jogging two-year-old Speedy Crown filly Anthem Hill at Ben White Training Center in Orlando when she worked for Clint Galbraith "back in the day" It was a lifestyle that gets in your blood and never fades which was why I was so thrilled to get the opportunity to get in on the SBOAs New Owners Group with Bill O'Donnell as our mentor. Does it get any better than having a dual country Hall of Famer as your mentor? I think not! The group of nine new owners are great and it has been a positive experience all round! Leeson has been the photographer for the SBOA group, known as the Magic Man Stable, snapping shots of Jayport Rosita as much as she can. Unfortunately some of our owners live too far away to come and see 'Rosie" as much as they would like, she explains, hopefully my photos help them see her progress even if they cannot be there in person. In the past I have exhibited my photography (not of horses) and have been fortunate enough to have sold my work in local art galleries. Trot Insider has learned that caretaker Melinda Cochrane has sustained life-threatening injuries following an accident while working with horses on Tuesday, March 28 in Rockwood, Ont. Cochrane was hand-walking a colicky horse when it shied away from something and she was kicked in the head. She suffered a fractured skull and has been in an induced coma since Tuesday. Cochrane had surgery to alleviate swelling in her brain on Friday, March 31 and is in the ICU at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. A GoFundMe page had been set up by Cochrane's cousins, Jason and Kirby McGinnis, to help cover some of the costs of Cochrane's family flying into Toronto from Halifax for flights and hotels, and other immediate costs for Cochrane. Cochrane has spent several years in Ontario working with riding horses and Standardbred racehorses. In the Standardbred industry, she has worked for David and Jason McGinnis, Paul MacKenzie, Patrick Shepherd and Jonah Moase. Please join Standardbred Canada in wishing Melinda Cochrane a full and speedy recovery. Heres what bugs me about the Russia hacking story: Why would the media, whose credibility is already at its lowest point ever, go after Trump when they had no facts to back them up? Why? Do the media bosses really think that if they set their hair on fire and run around yelling, The Russians did it, the Russians did it, the American people will sheepishly nod in agreement? And what do they think the Russians actually did? Why they meddled in our elections, the media tells us. Okay, but how? Russia hackers stole damaging emails from the Democrats at the DNC, they tell us. Alright, but how did that effect the elections? Well according to a report on the BBC So the Russians stole the election by bashing Hillary on Facebook? Is that what youre telling me? And they needed the Trump teams help to carry out this nefarious operation? Is that the nuttiest explanation youve ever heard? And yet some people believe this baloney. Did you know that the FBI opened this investigation in July 2016? Thats eight months ago. And what have they got to show for it? Nothing. Not a damn thing. So far, theres not a shred of evidence that Russia hacked the DNC computer system or that anyone on the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election. They have nothing and they know it. But the farce goes on regardless. Its all politics. Thats not to say that their werent any connections between the 2016 political campaigns and Russia. There sure were, but the connections were all on Hillarys side. As Robert Parry reports in his latest piece at Consortium News: An irony of the escalating hysteria about the Trump camps contacts with Russians is that one presidential campaign in 2016 did exploit political dirt that supposedly came from the Kremlin and other Russian sources. Friends of that political campaign paid for this anonymous hearsay material, shared it with American journalists and urged them to publish it to gain an electoral advantage. But this campaign was not Donald Trumps; it was Hillary Clintons. Indeed, you have the words of Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, in his opening statement at last weeks public hearing on so-called Russia-gate. Schiffs seamless 15-minute narrative of the Trump campaigns alleged collaboration with Russia followed the script prepared by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele who was hired as an opposition researcher last June to dig up derogatory information on Donald Trump. Steele, who had worked for Britains MI-6 in Russia, said he tapped into ex-colleagues and unnamed sources inside Russia, including leadership figures in the Kremlin, to piece together a series of sensational reports that became the basis of the current congressional and FBI investigations into Trumps alleged ties to Moscow Since he was not able to go to Russia himself, Steele based his reports mostly on multiple hearsay from anonymous Russians who claim to have heard some information from their government contacts before passing it on to Steeles associates who then gave it to Steele who compiled this mix of rumors and alleged inside dope into raw intelligence reports. (The Sleazy Origins of Russia-gate, Consortium News) Dit schreef ik ruim 20 jaar geleden over Paul Cliteur Het recht om Cliteur te kwetsen Ik vermoed dat het de drie sloten op zijn voordeur zij... A small tent city of homeless people arose overnight in the courtyard of the County Administration Building in Kelso, but Kelso police ordered it dismantled early Friday morning. Many of the 20 or so tents housed residents from the former Love Overwhelming emergency homeless shelter, which had been located next door at 304 Cowlitz Way until it closed Thursday. The closure left many of its clients with nowhere to go. Police acted under a new city camping ordinance that limits camping on public property to the hours between 9:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. Outside that time, people cannot store their property or have camping paraphernalia such as tents, tarps, cots, blankets, sleeping bags, cooking facilities or other camp-like utilities on public property. Camping is not permitted in any parks, except under special uses. Violators can be charged with misdemeanors, fined up to $1,000 and jailed up to 90 days. These were people displaced from Love Overwhelming. ... Everyone knew this day was coming, said Kelso Police Chief Andy Hamilton. Because our camping ordinance is new, not a lot of people know what it says. Part of what were doing is educating the public. ... I believe they got some bad information and thought they were able to stay there. ...They dont want to be unlawful. Theyre just trying to survive and get by. Hamilton said he doesnt think similar tent cities will continue to pop up around the area, partly because there arent a lot of places to camp and the public is now aware of the city ordinance. Hamilton said police gave the former shelter residents warnings and about two hours to pack up and leave Friday. One person was arrested by the Department of Corrections for an unrelated matter. Several of the people in the courtyard had tears in their eyes, but many quietly took down their tents, packed up and got ready to move on. LO staff and other community members helped clean and pack up and gave out water, food and support. One of the campers, David Hamar, said in a video interview that the former residents were planning to regroup on county land outside of city limits, where they hope to stay together and find solutions as a group. Hopefully well be able to rest a little bit today and still be close enough that our support services will still be able to reach us, he said. The tent city arose outside the public building where county commissioners have funneled hundreds of thousands of grant dollars into LO programs. And it is the county that bought the shelters building and ordered it vacated by Saturday. When asked about the situation, County Commissioner Dennis Weber said the areas lack of permanent housing poses challenges for those leaving emergency homeless shelters. Weber said LOs permanent housing program has helped many homeless people find stable homes. However, he said LOs shelter model, which did not require sobriety, had many challenges and posed problems for nearby businesses, neighbors and people who frequented the County Administration building. Theyve (LO) done the best they could with their abilities and the resources that they have. Its just a combination of different factors: not a good location, the building was just not designed for that kind of shelter that they wanted to run and ... we have a severe lack of rental units necessary to complete the service to the chronically homeless, Weber said. Weber said the community needs to begin looking at other options, such as tiny houses, converting shipping containers or portable structures to houses and other ideas to help address and provide solutions to the homeless crisis in the county. Our hearts go out to the chronic homeless. ... This... has been the most heart-wrenching series of decisions that Ive been involved with in the nearly 40 years Ive been involved in public service, Weber said. The people of Cowlitz County are incredibly compassionate and caring. They want to figure out a solution to this, and were working on it. ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Embattled Republican congressman Devin Nunes was met by about 300 angry protesters when he returned to his California district on Friday for a speaking engagement. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has been scrutinized for his handling of the investigation into Russian meddling of the presidential election. Armed with signs that read, "Get out of bed with Trump," "What are you hiding #Russia," "Nunes step down now," and "Recuse or replace Nunes," Nunes' detractors were very vocal about their disdain for him. Linking Nunes with President Trump was a key point for the protesters, one of whom carried a sign that read, "Congressman Nunes, we need a guard dog not a lap dog." Protester Betsy Cambareri told ABC affiliate KFSN, "Devin Nunes' behavior, he's not working for the people. He's working for the President and that's not his job, he's here for us and I feel his complicity in what's going down." Nunes is under fire for going to Trump after a secret intelligence briefing before reporting his findings to his committee. Nunes' foes have accused him of stalling and diverting attention away from the investigation into the Trump administration's possible ties to Russia. Prior to speaking at the meeting, Nunes spoke with KFSN reporter Gene Haagenson, who asked, "when will your committee get back in business?" Nunes responded, "We haven't stopped. We haven't stopped, that's what I'm saying. This is not... that is not a true statement. We have had investigators working every single day on this issue." Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Suu Kyi faces first test of popularity as Myanmar goes to polls for by-elections The by-elections offer a chance to weigh in Aung San Suu Kyi\'s one-year-old government\'s popularity in Myanmar as countrywide public polls are not available. International Business Times : Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi faces the first test of popularity as the country goes to polls for by-elections on Saturday (1 April) for the first time since her party, National League for Democracy (NLD), swept to power a year ago. While only 19 seats are up for grabs, the by-elections will indicate the public feeling about Suu Kyi's one-year old regime. It is said that the government is struggling to match the huge expectations after it won the country's first open elections. Suu Kyi has received widespread criticisms both in Myanmar and abroad over the growing clashes between armed ethnic groups and security forces, and slower economic growth. The vacant seats are to be filled both in the national and regional parliaments. Few seats became vacant because the lawmakers took another position in the government or after a parliamentarian died. Also some seats were not contested in the November 2015 general election due to security concerns in the area, which forced the voting to be cancelled. However, the outcome of the by-elections will not affect the balance of power within the parliament, which has a majority of NLD lawmakers. While over two million people - less than 5% of Myanmar's population - are registered to vote on Saturday, the turnout is expected to be low as the polls have reportedly not caused the same excitement or engagement among the public that was seen at the 2015 general election, AP noted. The results are expected to be announced late on Saturday (1 April). The by-elections offer a chance to weigh in Suu Kyi administration's popularity in Myanmar as countrywide public polls are not available. But the NLD party seemed to have faced difficulties while campaigning due to language issues. Win Htein, one of the party's top leaders, said communicating with the armed rebels in restive Shan state was a task. "We are still improving in Shan state. The local people don't understand Burmese, so we have to translate our policies into the Shan language," Reuters cited him as saying said. Intense fighting between the rebels and the government forces in the northern part of the country is reported to have led to more than 20,000 people seeking refuge in neighbouring China. The rebels in the border towns have refused to engage in Suu Kyi government's peace process. Elderly man found dead in Jessore Jessore Correspondent : Railway police recovered the body of an unidentified man of 62 from a bench of Jessore Railway Station on Thursday evening. The man was a vagabond, said sub inspector Idris Ali, in-charge, Jessore GRP camp. The rail police official told that the body was sent to Jessore General Hospital after recovering it from the platform. Muhith off to India to join SASEC Vision BSS, Dhaka : Finance Minister AMA Muhith left on Saturday for New Delhi to participate in the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Vision in Indian capital on April 3. "The minister left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by a Jet Airlines flight at 10:10 am," a Finance Ministry official told BSS. Apart from Bangladesh, finance ministers of other member countries -- India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka -- will take part in the meeting. During the meeting, SASEC countries will share a common vision of boosting intraregional trade and cooperation in South Asia. Muhith is schedule to return home on April 4. NBR-ACC partnership cell launched Economic Reporter : National Board of Revenue has formed an eight-member committee recently to develop more effective and dynamic partnership with Anti-Corruption Commission. The body styled as the "NBR-ACC Partnership Cell" will coordinate with the ACC and the NBR regarding future work plans and exchange information to implement "zero tolerance policy" of the anti-graft body. NBR First Secretary Kazi Abu Taher had issued an order in this regard on March 22, 2017, mentioning that the committee formed with NBR Member (Tax Policy) Farid Uddin as convenor, Director General of Central Intelligence Cell Md Belal Uddin as member secretary and Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate DG Dr Moinul Khan as advisor. Indian Army Chief meets President Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat called on President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban on Saturday. Press Wing, Bangabhaban photo President M Abdul Hamid on Saturday stressed the need for exchange of technology and training between Bangladesh and Indian armies for enhancing professional skills of the two forces. The President came up with the remark when Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat met him at Bangabhaban in the afternoon. President's Press Secretary Joynal Abedin briefed reporters after the meeting. Welcoming the Indian Army chief, Abdul Hamid said the exchange of visit and holding joint exercises and training at army levels will play an important role in boosting relations between the armed forces. He expressed gratitude for the heartfelt cooperation as well as assistance of the Indian people, including the Army, during Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971. "Bangladesh and its people will remember the contributions of Indian Army and civilians to the Liberation War," said the President, adding that the prevailing excellent friendly relations between the two neighbouring countries will further strengthen in the future. Bipin Rawat said the ties between the armed forces of India and Bangladesh are now excellent and the high-level meetings between the Armies of the two countries are yielding positive outcomes. `Kingsman: A Golden Circle` trailer gets big applause How do you change things up for a sequel? Try going from London to Kentucky. The trailer for Kingsman: A Golden Circle revealed new details of the Matthew Vaughn sequel, such as the mystery surrounding characters played by newcomers such as Channing Tatum, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry and Elton John. Fox Studio is releasing Kingsman: A Golden Circle on Sept. 29. The often subdued CinemaCon crowd reacted strongly to the footage, giving it one of the bigger cheers of the convention. The trailer opens with Eggsy (Taron Egerton) having plenty of fun in a spy car - complete with missiles. But soon things turn south, as the Kingsman learns they are up against an an underworld organization whose members are unidentifiable - finger prints are removed and teeth are filed smooth. When the Kingsman's mansion is blown up, Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong) travel to Kentucky for some backup. There they meet Tatum's character, some sort of southern spy operative who has plenty of gadgets of his own (among them: a lasso that can cut a man in two). There's also a look at Harry (Colin Firth), who returns wearing an eye patch. The cast wasn't present at the viewing in Vegas. Sonam Kapoor to start shooting for Padman R Balki's Padman is based on the true story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, the inventor of a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine in India. Akshay Kumar is playing the lead and Radhika Apte is playing his wife. Sonam Kapoor's character in the movie is still not known but she will soon be joing the crew once she returns to India form her family vacation in London. Produced by Twinkle Khanna, Padman is being shot in real locations of Maheshwar, a town in the Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh, that is 90 km from Indore. Synthetic pesticides posing health hazards Mojisola Ojebode : A new report issued by the United Nations (UN) takes a controversial stance on synthetic pesticides. The conventional wisdom is that they are essential to feed the world's growing population, which is expected to hit nine billion by 2050. But the report's authors call our reliance on synthetic pesticides "a short-term solution that undermines the right to adequate food and health for present and future generations." They are right. As a scientist from Nigeria whose work focuses on controlling post-harvest losses, I have seen first-hand what happens when the use of synthetic pesticides is not properly regulated. Yet much of the world is still following the conventional wisdom, with dire consequences for public health. The United States seems poised to increase its already extensive pesticide use further. Last month, former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt was confirmed as director of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt, who sued the EPA many times in his previous job, seems intent on slashing its budget and dismantling many of its regulations, including those for pesticides, which are essential to ensuring food safety. Anybody who consumes food grown or produced in the US should now be worried. Indeed, dismantling the EPA amounts to arming a public-health time bomb - one that has detonated repeatedly in developing countries. In 1984, a pesticide-manufacturing plant in Bhopal, India, released 27 tons of methyl isocyanate, a gas used to produce some pesticides. The leak killed an estimated 15,000-20,000 people, and left several thousand more with permanent disabilities. The plant was understaffed, and had substandard operating and safety procedures. None of the six safety systems that could have prevented the accident was operational. The Bhopal tragedy remains the world's worst industrial disaster. But it is just a small part of an enormous tableau of needless suffering. The World Health Organization estimates that there are three million cases of pesticide poisoning worldwide each year, leading to up to 250,000 deaths. In 1996, for example, insecticide-treated brown beans, purportedly stored for planting, found their way onto the market in Nigeria, a "leak" connected with the deaths of a number of people in the southwest region of the country. In 2013, in India, an organophosphate pesticide killed 23 children, who ate a lunch of tainted rice, potatoes, and soy. These sorts of tragedies happen even when guidelines for pesticide registration and use are in place. In Nigeria, for example, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) banned 30 agrochemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) in 2008, after a number of deaths and poisonings. But it was inadequate to prevent the deaths from pesticide poisoning of 18 people in Nigeria's Ondo state in 2015. And the danger of inadequate regulation is not limited to acute disasters. The accumulation of toxic substances from chemicals applied both in the field and in storage also contributes to the continuous decline in the quality of our natural environment - namely, our soil, water, and air. More than 250 studies have linked agrochemicals to several types of cancers, including cancers of the brain, breast, colon, liver, lungs, prostate, and thyroid. Children, in particular, seem to be susceptible to the toxic effects of pesticides: research shows that the increased incidence of childhood leukemia and brain cancer could be the result of early exposure. And exposure to such chemicals has been linked to a variety of birth defects. All of this paints a grim picture of what could happen in the US if the EPA's opponents - who now include the agency's director - get their way. In 2006 and 2007, the US used more than five billion pounds of pesticides annually - and that was with EPA regulations in place. Without adequate regulation, those quantities are likely to rise. Of course, the US is not the only country at risk from excessive use of organophosphates. While pesticide use in developing countries is much lower than in the US, data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) show a steady increase in countries in Africa and Asia. Farmers in these regions are understandably looking for easy ways to reduce crop losses and increase their income. And there are few regulations in place to stop them. In fact, the FAO reports that most pesticide-poisoning cases occur in developing countries, precisely because health standards there tend to be inadequate or non-existent. The UN report found that only 35% of developing countries had regulatory guidance on pesticide use, and all of them struggle with enforcement. Developing countries must implement more effective mechanisms for monitoring the agrochemicals that are in circulation. They must also work to reduce the use of toxic chemicals to control pests and increase yields. Such organic methods were used for centuries before the advent of modern synthetic pesticides in the 1940s. For example, organic manure can help boost crop yields, as can biopesticides, derived from plants. Such natural methods, which are both effective and non-toxic, should be adopted not just in developing countries, but around the world. Synthetic pesticides may have a place in helping to feed an increasingly hungry world, especially in developing countries. But we must imagine how many unnecessary poisonings and deaths will occur unless they are deployed with the utmost care and restraint. If Americans can't imagine that, Pruitt's dream, if not reconsidered, will become their nightmare. (Mojisola Ojebode is a Nigerian biochemist) 80pc people carry TB germs OVER 80 percent of people in Bangladesh are carrying tuberculosis (TB) germs, mentioned a report of a local daily. Despite having TB germs in the body, a person can lead a normal life and doctors do not prescribe any treatment until the person gets infected. Common signs and symptoms of TB include fever, chill, night sweats, loss of appetite, weight loss, and fatigue. Despite achieving a remarkable success in detection and treatment of TB, it is still a major public health problem in Bangladesh as nearly 5,000 patients are diagnosed with MDR-TB every year. In Bangladesh, the estimated incidence rate for all forms of Tuberculosis in 2015 was 225 per 100,000 population while the incidence rate for MDR-TB was six per 100,000 population. Community-based treatment programmes such as DOTS-Plus, and MDR-TB-specialised treatment using the popular Directly Observed Therapy Short Course (DOTS) initiative have shown considerable success in the treatment of MDR-TB in some parts of the world, including Bangladesh. These programmes are proven to be a good option for proper treatment of MDR-TB in the poor and in rural areas. The Bangladeshi government has introduced DOTS in 1993 and the programme has achieved remarkable progress in TB Control. The programmes have successfully treated 94 percent of bacteriologically confirmed new pulmonary TB cases registered in 2014. Almost 2.5 billion people, or one third of the World's population, are thought to be infected with tuberculosis. Most infected people have latent TB, meaning they have the tuberculosis germs in their bodies, but their immune systems protect them from becoming sick. However, over 9.6 million people have active TB disease, worldwide, so the fact that 80 percent of our population has the latent version of the disease is not something to worry over the incidence of TB worldwide is less than 0.4 percent meaning less than 1/250 people who have the germs will actually have the chance of getting the infection in their lives in any year. Tuberculosis is closely linked to both overcrowding and malnutrition, making it one of the principal diseases of poverty. Those at high risk thus include: people who inject illicit drugs, inhabitants and employees of locales where vulnerable people gather (e.g. prisons and homeless shelters), medically underprivileged and resource-poor communities, high-risk ethnic minorities, children in close contact with high-risk category patients, and health-care providers serving these patients. Chronic lung disease is another significant risk factor. Silicosis increases the risk about 30-fold. Those who smoke cigarettes have nearly twice the risk of TB compared to non-smokers. All of these causal factors can be fought to ensure that the spread of TB remains limited and not widespread. Essentially alleviating economic factors such as poverty, increasing public sanitation and vaccination alongwith information related mass media programmes are essential for fighting this disease. Sisi leaves for US to meet Trump Al Jazeera : Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi left Cairo for Washington where both sides will seek a renewed relationship after tensions over Sisi's crackdown on opponents. As well as meeting President Donald Trump, Sisi will see the top officials at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where he will pitch for help with his country's ailing economy. A senior White house official said on Friday that Trump "wants to use President Sisi's visit to reboot the bilateral relationship and build on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September". The trip will be Sisi's first US state visit since being elected president in 2014 as former US President Barack Obama had never extended an invitation. The bilateral relationship was strained when Obama criticised Sisi for cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi was elected a year after leading the military's ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood's president Mohamed Morsi after mass protests. The country is fighting an insurgency in Sinai, and hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police have been killed fighting armed groups. Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive an economy hit by political upheaval since a 2011 revolt and to ease a dollar shortage that has crippled imports, drove away foreign investors and hampered its recovery. Egypt received the first tranche of a three-year $12bn loan deal with the IMF and is expecting to receive the second tranche soon. The second tranche of a $3bn loan from the World Bank was disbursed to Egypt last month. The statement said Sisi is also scheduled to meet with leaders of the American chamber of commerce and heads of major United States companies to discuss investment opportunities in Egypt. When Sisi meets Trump on Monday during his first state visit to Washington, he will see a counterpart who better appreciates his "mission" to fight rebels and armed groups, without Obama's hand-wringing over human rights. "As a matter of fact President-elect Trump has shown deep and great understanding of what is taking place in the region as a whole and what is taking place in Egypt," Sisi, who met Trump in September before his election, said in an interview. A senior White House official said Friday that Trump wants to "build on the strong connection the two presidents established" then. "He's a fantastic guy. Took control of Egypt, and he really took control of it," he told Fox Business of the period after Morsi's overthrow which saw hundreds of protesters killed and thousands detained. Over the past three years, Sisi has met a trickle of delegations from American think-tanks and other groups, drumming home the importance of supporting him. Egypt is part of the international coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, but is bogged down fighting the armed group's franchise in the Sinai Peninsula, where they have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen. Western officials who requested anonymity told AFP news agency that Egypt is primarily interested in advanced military hardware it believes Western countries are withholding. Cairo also wants conventional equipment that Washington believes is not useful for a counter-insurgency campaign. Unholy practice! Reza Mahmud : DSCC's drives against unfit vehicles and the drivers having no license are likely to go in vain as a section of unscrupulous officials allegedly leak schedule of drives to the vehicle owners and their operators. The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and Dhaka District Administration, started mobile court against the unfit vehicles and the drivers those who have no driving license from last month but achievement from the drives is very nominal due to the unholy practice of the Corporation officials. "In view of this, we are not sure about the success of the DSCC drive against the unlicensed drivers and unfit vehicles. The drivers are alerted by their owners, who maintain a link with a section of dishonest officials," said a City Corporation official on condition of anonymity. According to officials sources, DSCC has started the drive from March 5 against vehicles older than 20 years and the unlicensed drivers to restore traffic discipline. DSCC Mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon earlier said that the drivers must be at least Class VIII pass and have proper driving license. He also said no motor vehicle older than 20 years would be allowed on the city roads and streets. Sources said, when the mobile courts start for action, the transport owner association get information from some dishonest officials. The association leaders then alert their drivers who desert the city roads to escape punishment. As a result, female passengers in particular face huge sufferings for want of transports. On last Thursday such a scenario was seen in the city's Jurain area said a city resident. He said, "It is because of small number of vehicles on road. When the mobile court will not be here, the vehicles will return." When contacted, DSCC Mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon told The New Nation, "We achieved significant success against law breakers. Now you find most of the city roads free from untold tailback. We are hopeful that the unlicensed drivers and unfit vehicles will not be seen gradually." When asked about the escaping of illegal drivers and unfit vehicles, Sayeed Khokon said, "Finally they would not able to escape the hands of law. They may escape one or two days, but not always." He said, three teams of DSCC, (BRTA) and Dhaka District Administration, conducted drives so far. But now the number will be doubled according to the latest decision as he drive will continue till April 15. As per previous decision, it was supposed to end on March 31. The DSCC sources said, so far 75 different types of vehicles have been dumped, 75 drivers have been jailed of different terms and around one thousand cases filed. Sitakunda `militant` couple on fresh remand bdnews24.com : A Chittagong court has granted police permission for the third time to question in custody the 'militant' couple arrested at Sitakunda in Chittagong. Chittagong Senior Judicial Magistrate Helal Uddin gave police the permission on Saturday to keep Zahirul Haque Jashim and his wife 'Arjina' in custody for 12 days for questioning. Chittagong District Police OC (Prosecution) AHM Moshiur Rahman told bdnews24.com police sought 10 days of remand in a case filed under the Ant-Terrorism Act over the raid in Sitakunda's Premtala area, and 15 more days in a case of the casualties during the raid. The court granted the law enforcers five days to grill the couple in the anti-terrorism case and seven days in the other case. They were taken to custody for grilling twice before - on Mar 17 and Mar 28. Police raided the house in Premtala following information was given by the couple in another raid in Namarbazar. Four suspected militants and a child were killed in the Premtala raid. Don`t bring out cars if not essential: Home Minister Home Minister Asaduzzzaman Kamal urged the city dwellers not to bring out their cars if not essential as the five-day Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) began here on Saturday. The Home Minister came up with the request while talking to reporters after visiting the security system in the South Plaza of Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad, one of the venues of the conference. Replying to a query, Asaduzzaman said the recent militant incidents are not a threat to the IPU as law enforcers have taken necessary security measures. The five-day 136th assembly of the IPU began with the participation of 1,348 delegates, including 53 Speakers, Deputy Speakers and 209 women parliamentarians of 120 countries. Meanwhile, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has made some city roads off-limit to traffic to ensure the smooth movement of the foreign delegates. As the HSC examination begins on Sunday, the Home Minister urged the city dwellers to help the students reach the examination centers in time and keep the traffic system under control. 3 bodies found in Borohat militant den Staff Reporter : Law enforcers on Saturday found three bodies of suspected militants during their 'Operation Maximus' on the militant den at Borohat in Moulvibazar municipality area. Of the deceased, two are males and one female. But police could not find out the identities of the dead militants. Meanwhile, the law enforcers ended their two-day 'Operation Maximus' at the Borohat militant hideout in Moulvibazar on Saturday. They claimed that one of them was directly involved with the explosions in Sylhet's Shibbari police check post while a joint force was conducting the 'Operation Twilight' in Atia Mahal area. Monirul Islam, Chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, said these after ending the 'Operation Maximus' around 12:00 noon yesterday while Deputy Inspector General (Sylhet Range) Kamrul Ahsan and Moulvibazar Police Super Md Shahjalal were present. "Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) members who were conducting the operation at the Borohat militant den ended their activities around 12:00 noon when they confirmed that all militants were killed." the police official said. The members of bomb disposal unit entered the duplex building and started their work as SWAT members came out of the militant den, he said. The details regarding the identities of the militants will be revealed after the initial police report, the CTTC chief said. "One of the militants was responsible for the attack near Atia Mahal on March 25, where two IEDs were detonated killing six people. He fled to Moulvibazar following the attack," he said. Monirul also said that the militants of Moulvibazar are members of what the police call Neo-JMB, an offshoot of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen (JMB). The CTTC chief said so far nine members of law enforcing agencies have been killed during operations against the militants across the country. Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital Resident Medical Officer Palash Roy said that the bodies of the deceased militants were kept in the hospital morgue in the afternoon. Earlier on Thursday, the law enforcers found the limbs of seven bodies scattered at Nasirpur den in Sadar upazila of the district after the 'Operation Hit Back'. Meanwhile, the bomb disposal unit defused bombs, grenades and suicide vests at South Bagmara 'militant den' in Sadar Dakkhin upazila of Comilla on Saturday. A team, led by Shakhawat Hossain, Additional Deputy Inspector General of Chittagong Range, started their work at 9:15am and defused two bombs weighing 5kg, six hand grenades and two suicide vests, said Md Shah Abid Hossain, Superintendent of Police in Comilla. On Friday, the bombs, grenades and suicide vests were found at the hideout during operation strike launched by the SWAT team. Based on intelligence information, a team of police cordoned off 'the militant hideout' in a three-storey building there around 4:30 pm on Wednesday. Deal with militancy, terrorism together Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina delivering her inaugural speech on the five-day 136th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad on Saturday evening. PMO photo Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday urged the global community to stand against terrorism and militancy as these have been a new alarming sign for the world destroying the peace of human being. "We'll have to fight these menaces (terrorism and militancy) together. Militancy is not a problem of a particular country right, it's now a global phenomenon," she said. The Prime Minister said, this while inaugurating the five-day 136th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad. Bangladesh Parliament is hosting the mega event. Sheikh Hasina said the world now faces a new alarming sign as terrorism and militancy are taking the lives of innocent people, destroying the peace of human being. "Militancy is not a problem of a particular country right now, it's a global phenomenon," she said. The Prime Minister said, Bangladesh always feels proud of its democratic heritage. "We never see democracy as a system as we term democracy as the carrier of human prosperity and ensuring security." Hasina said she thinks it is only democracy that can ensure a prosperous life for people after fulfilling the basic rights of human being. About the hunger and malnutrition across the globe, she said the world undoubtedly is moving forward. "Though visible progress has been made in dealing with hunger, nearly 800 million people still suffer from malnutrition while many children in developing nations suffer from stunted growth. They are deprived of medicare and schooling. But, the earth is full of resources for the survival of mankind. A little sympathy, support, mutual compassion and fraternity can easily make the globe free from hunger." Terming the global climate change a burning issue, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh is the worst sufferer from the adverse impacts of climate change. "I hope, the commitments made at different forums for offsetting the adverse impacts to be met without delay." Regarding democracy in Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina said that the journey of establishing democracy in Bangladesh was never a smooth one. She briefly described the establishment of democracy in Bangladesh and said the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had struggled throughout his life for realising people's rights and establishing democracy. Talking about her struggle for democracy, Hasina said she had to endure various harassments, including house arrest, imprisonment and even repeated attempts on my life. "At least 19 attempts, including that of the August 21 gruesome grenade attack in 2004, were made on my life." Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said, has strengthened democratic institutions, including the national parliament and local government bodies. She also laid emphasis on independent and vibrant mass media that can work as watchdogs in a democratic system. "There has been huge expansion of mass media in Bangladesh over the last few years alongside freedom of expression. People's right to information has also been ensured through the enactment of Right to Information Act and establishment of Information Commission." About the socio-economic advancement of Bangladesh, she said the country has achieved tremendous success in its journey towards prosperity. She said, the poverty rate came down to 22.4 percent in 2016 from 31.5 in 2010. The per capita income now stands at USD 1466 while the average llife expectancy is 71. "Bangladesh has already been recognised as a lower middle-income country. Our target is to make Bangladesh a middle-income country by 2021 and a developed and prosperous one by 2041." Hasina said, Bangladesh has made a marked success in implementation of MDGs. "We're moving ahead to implement SDGs capitalising the success of MDGs. The subjects of SDGs have been incorporated in our ongoing 7th fifth-five year plan." A total of 1,348 delegates, including 53 Speakers, deputy speakers and 209 women parliamentarians, of 120 countries are joining the assembly. Parliamentarians, including 53 Speakers of Parliament, will make concrete proposals on a range of issues, from bringing an end to the growing inequality to promoting women's access to financing, during the Assembly. The Prime Minister also released a commemorative stamp and inaugurated the IPU web TV. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres sent a special message on the occasion. Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament and Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury delivered the welcome speech. IPU President Saber Hossain Chowdhury and its Secretary General Martin Chungong also spoke on then occasion. 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe After a week of public anxiety, Mayor Robideaux's vote moves the Connector one step closer to getting back to where it started. Members of the Connector's executive committee decided today to advance only an elevated design option for the controversial interstate project. Photo by Christiaan Mader Leaders of state, federal and local agencies on the I-49 Connector project voted today to advance an elevated design, one of two remaining concepts, into the third tier of the ongoing design process on the controversial interstate. In doing so, state officials also emphasized their intent to clean up contamination in the interstate's right-of-way and made a soft commitment to building a so-called signature bridge feature. "[DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson] went on record in saying he would get the [contamination] mitigation done and that we would have good robust discussion as it relates to the signature elements, whatever those are, and Im going to hold him to that," Mayor Joel Robideaux said after the vote. Going into the meeting, the decision hinged largely on Robideaux's input. On Thursday, Robideaux told The Daily Advertiser that the vote may be postponed, a position he hedged until the vote. Even as Wilson recommended at the meeting that only the elevated design move forward, and not a semi-depressed design also under consideration, he deferred to the mayor's comfort on the issue. Robideaux agreed with Wilson's recommendation, pushing the elevated design forward and leaving behind the semi-depressed concept, which had been developed and championed by the city's Evangeline Corridor Initiative. The ECI operates independently of the DOTD-controlled design process, and serves as an advisory body to the city-parish council on the project. For the last week, anxiety flared over whether it was prudent to advance to the next design phase with many questions left unanswered, particularly those concerning which project elements the city might need to pay for. Following the informal roll call of the executive committee, the deciding body of the ongoing process, Wilson emphasized the state's commitment to cleaning up contaminants in portions of the former Union Pacific rail yard that the state would buy for interstate right-of-way. Wilson also committed state funds to paying for a signature bridge feature as an enhancement of the interstate facility, so long as that feature was "within reason." Both of these cost responsibility considerations figured prominently into recent pushback at public meetings and in letters to DOTD from city representatives. Despite the state's assurances on these two issues, it's not known what cost responsibilities the city will have to bear. Robideaux remained silent for nearly an hour and half of the meeting's discussion, until asking to clarify whether today's vote would preclude returning to whichever design was left behind. The state Connector team told him no, which appeared to give Robideaux the comfort to move forward with the elevated design. Urban interstates, particularly the elevated structures like what is ostensibly planned for Lafayette's urban core, have a long history of blight associated with their construction. Neighborhoods in New Orleans and New York City have fought these structures in the past, only to lose their battles and watch precipitous cultural and economic decline result. To be sure, the semi-depressed concept was not without its drawbacks, and seemed an unlikely contender for the final design. State officials harped on the semi-depressed concept's increased risks for emergency services and hurricane evacuation. Supporters of the concept believed it would make available more land for development. Moving forward, state engineers and planners on the project will conduct more extensive study of the elevated concept's design, discussing potential enhancement features like parks and green space, as well as bike and pedestrian connectivity. The state is only legally responsible to build features that satisfy the purpose and need of the project, which include, among other considerations, completing the I-49 South corridor, addressing traffic and serving as an interstate commercial corridor. Although Wilson committed the state to the project's tertiary goals like urban revitalization, it's not clear at this point to what extent the state will be financially responsible for those elements. Lucas Wilson of West Frankfort is one of nine recipients of the 2017 Farm Credit Illinois Family Scholarship. Wilson, who is attending John A. Logan College, will receive $3,000 toward college education. Recipients are selected based on scholastic achievement, leadership and community contributions, career vision, goals and financial need. Wilson plans to transfer to Southern Illinois University Carbondale to study agribusiness economics. He graduation from Frankfort Community High School, is the son of Lori and Kevin Wilson and is the regional manager at the FCI's regional office in Marion. The award is administered by the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois. The Southern CARBONDALE Research on improvement of water quality in Illinois includes mitigating the effects of practices such as tiling as well as increasing uptake of nutrients by cover crops. Both are in the works at Southern Illinois University, funded by the states fertilizer checkoff board, the Nutrient Research & Education Council. Karl Williard, a professor in forest hydrology and watershed management, is taking a close look at the role of cover crops in keeping phosphates and nitrates in the fields and out of water sources. World population growth is expected to be 9 billion by 2040. The big challenge of our generation is how can we increase almost double agricultural production but also minimize environmental input? Williard said. Its got to be on a broad scale if were going to make a difference in terms of water quality in our watersheds and minimize the future potential for regulations. In 2014, Williard, along with colleagues Jon Schoonover and Rachel Cook, began looking at how cover crops such as cereal rye and hairy vetch help reduce fertilizer runoff. Cereal rye is attractive in many ways. It has excellent cold tolerance and is one farmers should consider if they are just starting out with covers, Williard said. Its relatively easy to establish and has wide adaptability to a range of growing conditions, he said. Hairy vetch, a legume, has been shown to be an excellent nitrogen fixer, with rates of from 40 to 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Cover crops can scavenge the soil for nitrogen, he said. Schoonovers work involves methods to ameliorate the effects of tiling on water quality. Tiling is in use on about 27 million acres of farmland in the state. About 35 percent of this land would be waterlogged if we didnt have tile drainage, he said. But it also may cause increased nutrient loss to streams. Management options include the use of structures such as bioreactors and saturated buffers. Schoonovers project includes a control with no saturated buffer and two other fields with saturated buffers lateral lines that keep the water level elevated before discharge. If youre reducing the amount of water getting into the stream, youre effectively reducing the nitrogen getting into the stream, he said. There are challenges, however. You need to inspect them after heavy rains. Sinkholes can develop in your field. Pipes become disconnected and fill your tile lines with sediment pretty quick. Bioreactors, buried collection structures filled with woodchips that help convert nitrogen into nitrogen gas, can be effective in keeping harmful nitrates out of streams. Williard is among those hoping that voluntary measures by farmers can help them avoid legislation dictating how, when and where they may apply crop nutrients. Some of the things that have come out of that TMDL (total maximum daily load regulations in the Chesapeake Bay) are mandatory nutrient management plans in some of the states, he said. Some regions are requiring cover crops. Are we going to see this in the Midwest? We hope not. Certainly a more proactive approach would be the desired end point. CARTERVILLE Fighting child abuse and neglect is a year-round job for those on the front line. Yet, the month of April is set aside to bring increased awareness to the problem while celebrating childhood and the many people who have joined together to see that all young people have a chance to enjoy it. National Child Abuse Prevention Month was first designated in 1983, and since that time, millions of Americans have come together to participate in the public awareness campaign, said Jo Poshard, director of The Poshard Foundation for Abused Children, speaking at a kickoff event Friday at John A. Logan College. Child abuse is a critical issue in our country, our state, and right here in Southern Illinois, Poshard said. Although many of our friends and neighbors would like to believe that this problem does not exist here that its only in those other places we know that is not true. The child abuse rates in most counties throughout Southern Illinois are significantly higher than the statewide rate, she noted. Illinois joins many other states across the nation in jointly declaring April Child Abuse Prevention Month. At Fridays event, John A. Logan President Ron House read Gov. Bruce Rauners proclamation, which encouraged all citizens to respond to the call of, How will you help? Franklin County States Attorney Evan Owens, one of the keynote speakers at Fridays event, has served as a member of the Illinois Childrens Justice Task Force since 2008. In February 2016, the task force issued a report identifying an urgent need for the creation of regional multidisciplinary teams to investigate child abuse. Work is underway to implement the recommendations of the report, and Franklin County is among five counties statewide that have been chosen to pilot the program, Owens noted. While noting there is still much progress to be made, Owens said its also important to take time in April to recognize the positive momentum that is moving the system in the right direction. There are good things going on in child abuse investigations, he said. Theres going to be good things going on in 2017. Ginger Meyer, the clinical director of the Childrens Medical and Mental Health Resource Network housed within the SIU School of Medicine, who also was a keynote speaker, said she feels blessed to have a job that allows her to wake up every day and work toward improving the lives of children. Child abuse and neglect, she said, is 100 percent preventable. She urged everyone to join in the fight, in whatever way they can. Through providing help, healing and hope for a better future, we can prevent child abuse, she said. The Southern Illinoisan Publisher Craig Rogers and Executive Editor Tom English also spoke briefly at the event. They announced the beginning of the newspapers month-long series, "Protecting the Innocent," which will run throughout the month of April in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month. As everyone knows, the welfare and character of our areas children is a predictor of what our future is going to be, Rogers said, while commending the crowd for their passion and commitment for bettering the children of our communities. News / National by Staff Reporter Zanu-PF members in Mashonaland Central have called for the ouster of the party's national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, accusing him of trying to sabotage the recent demonstration by the Women's League.The Women's League members demonstrated throughout the party's 10 provinces against its two senior members Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo and Sarah Mahoka.Apart from accusations related to the demonstration, party members from Mashonaland Central, where Kasukuwere hails from, are accusing him of fanning factionalism by setting up parallel structures and incessant interference in the provincial affairs.Kasukuwere was also accused of trying to grab mines owned by members of the party's Women's League for personal benefit.Zanu-PF members who spoke to our Harare Bureau in Bindura yesterday said Kasukuwere's leadership style as the party's commissar was below par, compared to his predecessors, as he was dividing the party.Shantel Mbereko, who was forced to resign from the Mashonaland Central provincial structures after she allegedly refused to hand over women's mining claims to Kasukuwere said: "We were so surprised by the behaviour of the national PC (political commissar) because on the day of the demos people were barred from taking part."After women were mobilised to take part in the demonstration, an instruction then came from the national PC saying people should not attend as there was a rice distribution programme on that same day."It was later changed to say we should go to Kitsiyatota where we would be given mining claims. As a result, there was a low turnout in Mashonaland Central for the demonstration."We then started to ask questions, to say, all along we thought Kasukuwere and his team were working together with the First Lady and President Mugabe, yet they are working against them."Mbereko said the party should censure Kasukuwere, together with his half-brother and provincial chair Dickson Mafios "for such betrayal to our First Lady and leader of the Women's League".She said Mafios was the one coordinating Kasukuwere's instructions in the province."Another area of concern, is the way he (Kasukuwere) is interfering in the affairs of the province and going down at constituency level here in Bindura," said Mbereko."We have our legislator Kenneth Musanhi, but he has been rendered irrelevant by Kasukuwere who is running the show here."Diston Wadi, who is a Zanu-PF district member in Bindura's Chipindura district said: "We are not happy with the way the provincial chairman is operating and remember, he is half brother to the national political commissar."He (Mafios) is poor and he just takes orders from the national political commissar. I think the mistake that we made was to allow confirmation of an acting chairman who was not elected by the people. A chairman should be voted by the people for him to serve their interests."As it stands right now, the chairman is serving the interests of the national PC, who is also his half brother."Another district member from Bindura urban, Lucky Mabheka said: "I think when it comes to leadership, the national PC and his brother, who is our provincial chairman, have failed."As such, we are appealing to the national leadership to take measures against them. They have destroyed not only our livelihoods here in Bindura, but also the party."Kasukuwere is literally running the province and district structures. We have never seen such kind of leadership in Zanu-PF. What is clear is that he is setting up parallel structures with a sinister motive. We want the two to be removed from their positions if we are to rebuild the party in a way that guarantees victory in next year's elections."Commenting on Kasukuwere's interference in Women's League affairs, Zimbabwe Liberation War Collaborators Association (Ziliwaco) chairperson Pupurai Togarepi said: "Ziliwaco supports the Women's League position that they don't want interference by men."The secretary for Women's League (Dr Grace Mugabe) is a capable leader and allowing her to give direction to the league is most ideal for the stability of the party."The Women's League is a critical wing of the revolutionary party which should be kept stable for the good of our great party. If there are men who are doing that we demand that they desist forthwith."During the demonstrations against Cdes Moyo and Mahoka in Harare, some members of the Women's League revealed that Kasukuwere had tried to influence them against the act through his side kick and Harare provincial commissar Shadreck Mashayamombe.Women's League executive members who met in Harare last week also called for action against Kasukuwere. Opinion / Columnist As a black man, if there is nothing you are prepared to risk your life for, then you are a coward and unworthy of our love and care. Robert Mugabe sacrificed his life and spent 11 years in prison for something he was willing to die for but that doesn't mean he has a right to abuse and oppress us. I will never respect a coward who refused to address the suffering of a people who help him to get elected. My black consciousness requires me that I speak to power without greed. What a waste of 36 years. I am just fearless enough to say what others think and are too afraid to say. Iam no sheep,, not part of a herd, and don't need a Shepherd to tell me what to think, what to say or when to say it. Some of us got to be willing to put our lives On the Line for fellow Zimbabweans,like so many did for us throughout the history of Zimbabwe, if we want the next generation to survive. Robert Mugabe has mortgaged the future of our kids.These days when I interact with many young Zimbabweans on the Internet, I forsee a new generation of young leaders who believe that something ought to be done in order to change the status quo. I commend the works many young Zimbabwean entrepreneurs who have in one way or the other contribute massively to create jobs that are helping in the fight against youth unemployment. When I look into the future of the country, I see a country booming with a lot of opportunities but Zanu Pf and Mugabe have shuttered that dream for many young Zimbabweans.However the road to the promised land is not going to be smooth. As hard as we may try to put the interest of Zimbabweans first, on the agenda there is definitely going to be a lot of distractions,confusions and manipulations coming from all aspects. Inspite of this, the youth must not allow themselves to be manipulated by any of these circumstances. Today the media remains the most powerful weapon in the world. Let's use it to out advantage and find ways of spreading news about the tyranny in Zimbabwe. Are you aware that there is no single raw material on the international market whose price is determined by any of our leaders. A new generation of leadership is expected to rise up from among the youth with a determination to save mother Zimbabwe from the firm grip of neo colonialism, political incompetence and corruption which is currently becoming the hallmark of modern African leadership.Malcolm X once said, "Earlier in life, I had discovered that if you want something, you had better make some noise ".Our youth need to make some noise because they are being disadvantaged by the ruling government. Youth pressure groups like Tajamuka, OAUS, This Flag and YARD are in the right direction and we should applaud them. It is clear that Zimbabwe still remains under developed because many of the youthful talents that can transform the country have been ignored for far too long. Nevertheless this is not a reason for them to give up. It is time for the youth to start making some noise or else the status quo will never change.Gather yourselves infront of the Parliament, at Africa Unity Square, infront of various African Embassies.March in your numbers towards the stations of various TV networks. While you are there continue to make noise and rest not until your voices are heard and your concerns addressed. Finally I therefore put forward an action plan which must be followed in order for a new generation of incorruptible leaders for the country becomes a reality within the shortest possible time for the benefit of Zimbabwe. #The Zimbabwean youth must first organise in small groups and create the platforms for dialogue and exchange ideas. #The groups must identify and nominate highly incorruptible members as their leaders #The groups must have power to remove from office, leaders identified to the corrupt #Leaders of various youth groups must link up and draw a common agenda for the Youth Liberation Movement or simply call it the Zimbabwe Youth Liberation Movement (ZLYM).All such agenda must focus on youth empowerment including a protest to remove the age restricted political portfolios from our constitution. #The Zimbabwe Youth Liberation Movement must remain vocal in their communities, highlighting the challenges of the youth on any given platform. #Leaders of the youth movement can thus venture into the political terrain and stand up for the rights of the youth. We need more young people in parliament #Where possible, no youth must vote for the old men but rather a candidate nominated from the political parties formed by the youth and dedicated to the youth.If this is done, youth can begin to make an impact in Zimbabwe leadership and help wrestle Power from the old men like our 92 year old President. It is true That for the youth to begin ignoring the old men in elections and rather concentrate on such leaders born out of the Youth Revolutionary Movement,who truly have the welfare of the youth at heart. This process if well implemented can help send a strong signal to the world that Zimbabwe is now ready for a new generation of revolutionary leaders dedicated to end corruption once and for all.In Zimbabwe the rate of unemployed youths has just skyrocketed to unprecedented levels including University graduates. What is causing all this? There are quite a number of reasons but paramount amongst are : #BAD LEADERSHIP /Lack of vision. As a result of bad leadership there is currently no clear policies that aim to address unemployment in Zimbabwe. We lack industrialisation that create jobs. Therefore we export unprocessed agricultural products and minerals, thereby losing money and jobs to do outsiders. Our underdeveloped agricultural sector has taken a lot of jobs off the system. Some state institutions that were meant to create jobs have been sold off to private investors. These private investors want more profit and such lay off many of the local workers while bringing in workers from abroad, eg the Chinese. Then there is the indegenisation Act which scares away investors. #BAD EDUCATION SYSTEM. Our education system is not tailored to address the needs of out immediate environment. We have universities that offers courses that are only good for workers and not employers. How can business graduates, mostly Accountants contribute meaningfully to the production of Diamonds, Platinum, Copper and Gold without any health and safety, Engineering and Environmental research background. Where are the Mining/Engineering schools that will train engineers to handle our mines. Our current engineers can't even fix roads for God's sake. Our universities are dominated by arts, political and social sciences courses, leaving very little room for science and technical courses. Secondly the education system we have has been training people who come out with a notion that government or society must employ them. Many graduates therefore do not take any initiatives to create jobs for themselves. There are many graduates who do not see the need to be on site or field but rather they want to wear a suit and tie more often. #CORRUPTION . Often, there are many donor countries who contribute a huge chunk of money dedicated for Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs). If such money were to be used for the intended purposes, it could boost the expansion of many small businesses to employ more workers. Unfortunately such monies often end up in the pockets of the political elites. The money is spend on their political campaigns and rallies and some even buy votes with cash instead of setting up businesses that can employ the youth.THE WAY FORWARD Educational reform is needed to address the crises posed by unemployment. We need an educational system that will be tailored to the needs of our immediate environment. There is no need for a university which sits on huge diamonds and Gold reserves to be training people who can sing and dance. Our universities must identify the challenges within the immediate environment and help train more specialists to address them. Additionally every organisation must dedicate itself to the fight against corruption. Monies that are Meant for infrastructural development must not end up in an offshore account somewhere while our people continue to dwell in communities without reliable water and electricity. Government must dedicate more resources to the building of industries to help absorb some of the unemployed youth. This will help tackle the challenges posed by unemployment such as armed robbery, prostitution unwanted pregnancies and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Zimbabwe needs men of action. We need a new generation of positive thinkers who are ready to practice what they preach not old leaders who talk more about the past instead of the future. Most importantly we need leaders who possess the "CAN DO"spirit. The era we thought the Africans are not capable must cease,for there is nothing good we can achieve if we continue to see one another as strangers. Unity is a must and with all the educated youth we have, surely another Zimbabwe is Possible. DENMARK -- Denmark Technical College on Friday announced an initiative that will provide students with free tuition the first two years they are there. The Panther Promise scholarship program was unveiled by Dr. Christopher J. Hall, Denmark Tech interim president, during a Legislative Luncheon on the campus. The scholarship program is an economic development tool for existing and new industries that will afford expanded higher education opportunities to students in Allendale, Bamberg and Barnwell counties, he said. Hall said Panther Promise partners include the Denmark Technical College Foundation, the Southern Carolina Regional Development Alliance and the South Carolina Technical College System. The program will be available to high school students graduating in May-June 2017 from a public or private high school in Bamberg, Allendale or Barnwell counties. Students must have a final high school transcript showing their graduation date with a min 2.0 GPA and must begin taking classes in the fall of 2017. They must also complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Scholarships will be applied after all other forms of financial aid have been exhausted and can be used for tuition only, Hall said. Free tuition will be provided for the duration of one program of study for up to two years (six consecutive semesters), it was noted. Friday's announcement by Denmark Technical College of the free-tuition program follows on the heels of recent turmoil surrounding the college. Naqawn Strain, a student ambassador, said Denmark Tech Area Commission member Dewayne Ennis (now chairman) encouraged me to come to Denmark Technical College. I didnt have a high school diploma and was having problems. He told me about the GED program. Strain named several teachers and staff members at the college who were instrumental in staying behind him to make sure he received his GED. Since being at Denmark Tech, I have grown mentally, emotionally and spiritually," he said. Strain said he is looking forward to attending a four-year school after graduating. Denmark Tech accepted me when I was in a bad place in my life. But I have a team of people who really care about me. They make every effort to make sure that you succeed," he said. "One day I went in the office and told Ms. Gathers (Avis) that I loved her. Her response was, 'Oh, no! What have you done?' But, I had not done anything. I was just thanking her for how she kept me on the right track." Tyrell Blake, DTC student body president, said he stumbled across a quote one day that read, Life isnt about finding yourself, but creating yourself. That quote has never left my mind," Blake said, adding that he has been able to create himself at Denmark Tech. Other DTC students showcased their talents at the luncheon by performing with the college's nationally recognized choir and welcoming and greeting guests. State Rep. Justin Bamberg told the audience that while there had been all sorts of rumors about Denmark Tech, At the end of the day, Denmark Technical College will be okay because these students have no option. We are in a race for Denmark Tech. This race needs to flourish, not for any particular commissioner, president, representative or person, but for these students. Bamberg said he was glad to have a platform "to say what needs to be said. I work for the people and if the people dont like what I am saying, then they dont have to choose me again. If you want my position, I am done talking about problems. I am ready to talk about solutions," he said. The legislator issued community leaders a challenge to "move forward." You can either be on the train to move forward or we are going to leave you at the dock. We have got to come together and when we do, anything is possible, Bamberg said. In his brief comments, Dr. Tim Hardee, president of the South Carolina Technical College System, agreed that it is time to move forward and think positively. Patrick Milhouse is a witty 72-year-old who has a straightforward approach to keeping his community litter free. He is not about self-aggrandizement and simply wants to keep his street and others free of beer cans, paper, boxes and other debris he often finds in his miles of travels in Orangeburg. Picking up an elderly neighbor's trash container or newspaper doesn't bother him. It doesnt worry him to make a call to check on their welfare. Milhouse's self-motivation and resourcefulness have earned him recognition as the example of initiative as part of the Orangeburg County Community of Character initiative. "It's good to be recognized," Milhouse said. But he also made it clear that attention is not something he wants. He simply wants to be left alone to make his community a more beautiful place to live and work. "I don't need publicity. I just go out and do it just because I want to. It gives me something to do and a chance to get away from the house," he said. He has been picking up litter along Broughton Street, Perryclear Street, Tyler Road, Rivelon Road, Riverside Drive and other areas in and around his community. He is especially glad that some of his friends have started picking up trash, too. "I try to tell them it's for their own good to pick it up. It's not for anyone else. So they walk and pick up trash. I'm all over the place," he said. While he doesn't look for rewards, it made him feel good when he received a token of appreciation from an elderly man who could not clean up around his own yard like he wanted. "I had a fella who stays out on Rivelon Road who came out and gave me two pounds of pecans one day for Christmas -- and a hug. I pick trash out of his ditch. He's getting old and says he can't do it. He was real thankful that I pick it up for him," Milhouse said. "It makes you feel good." When asked what initiative means to him, he said it was just about getting a job done. The retiree, who spent 35 years in the South Carolina National Guard, has made picking up litter a task of his own. "I've got too much time in it to quit doing it. I want to stay kind of active at least for another 18 years. I don't exercise well. I can't go to a gym. But if I'm outside, you can hear the birds and different things and people wave at you," he said. "It don't hurt me to go out and pick it up. It don't bother me a bit about what people think about me. I'm doing what I want to do. A lot of people say, 'Well, I ain't going to pick no trash up,' but youre probably the one throwing it out," Milhouse said. He said his sister in St. Matthews has also been picking up trash in her area. Milhouse said his loving wife, Roxie, provides him with the support he needs. "Ive got a good wife. She understands I'm not going to stay in the house long. I get real nervous when I got to stay in," he said. Milhouse wants Orangeburg to be the beautiful place he knows it can be. "I grew up in Orangeburg, and I just hate to see it go down. Orangeburg was a real pretty city. Well, it's still nice, but it could be cleaner," Milhouse said. Roxie said her husband's military service in some ways contributes to his ability to take the initiative to perform the tasks he sets his mind to. She said, "I think being in the military fosters a commitment and a responsibility to do things as you're supposed to do them, or as they should be done. He takes the initiative to pick up the trash on his own, but he actually helps with a lot of things. "There's a couple of elderly women that he calls to check on all the time. He goes out to get their trash can. He does more than just pick up trash." Milhouse said, "You should do one good thing a day. At six o'clock in the morning, I go down and get my neighbor's paper so she won't have to go outside to get it. I'd hate for something to happen to her and she falls or something." A Wal-Mart gift card, wallets, credit cards and a "couple of $5 and $1 bills" are among the items that Milhouse has run across while picking up trash. He makes sure to return what he can to its rightful owner, including a check for $914. "It must have dropped out of a car somehow. So I took it back to the lady's house, but she wouldn't answer the door. I couldn't give it to her, so I just stuck it in the door for her," he said. The father of two adult sons, Milhouse says he tried to instill a good work ethic in his children as they were growing up. "Work ain't going to hurt anybody. When I came up, I used to work at Paradise Ice Cream Company when I was 12 years old and before they had labor laws and stuff like that. I had a paper route when I was about 10 years old," he said. Milhouse said he appreciates the efforts of the Orangeburg County Community of Character initiative to promote good character. "I think it catches on. I think the good is going to outweigh the bad in the long run," he said. It's back to square one for residents and North Town Council members who had worked since November to get enough signatures on a petition for a referendum to let voters decide whether or not to change the town's form of government from strong mayor-weak council to strong council-weak mayor. In order for the referendum to take place, the petition needed signatures from 15 percent of the towns 536 registered voters, or 78 signatures in total. Those who started the petition thought they had surpassed that number with 101 signatures when they presented the petition to Mayor Patty Carson on March 9. But the effort fell short. Aurora Smalls, director of the Orangeburg County Voter Registration and Elections Commission, said when the town submitted the petition, there were 101 signatures on it. However, several of those signatures were deemed invalid, Smalls said. Signatures from citizens who were either not registered to vote, not active voters, did not live within the city limits or had passed away since the petition started could not be included in the final count, which ended up being 75 signatures -- three shy of the total required. According to Smalls, the remaining valid voters' signatures on the petition cannot be counted again. As a result, a new petition calling for a special election, or referendum, has to be circulated. Sandy Sigmon, CEO of The Challenge Center in North, one of the locations that collected the signatures on the original petition, said members of North Town Council actually started the petition. She said Carson had not been allowing people to speak at council meetings unless they preregistered and stated the topic they wished to discuss or signed a request form the night of the meeting and be limited to commenting only on an agenda item for that specific meeting. Im just as frustrated as anyone else, Sigmon said. People need to speak. Also, she noted that financial statements and reports of administrative activities were not being made available to the public as they had been in previous administrations. Carson was not available to comment. The town's strong mayor form of government gives the mayor dual responsibilities as both a voting member and a presiding officer in addition to executive duties as chief administrative officer of the municipality. Changing to the strong council form of government would allow North Town Council to delegate specific administrative duties to the mayor, who would have no powers or responsibilities beyond other council members. Sigmon, who served as facilitator during an informational meeting at The Challenge Center on March 7, said approximately 60 citizens attended, along with four council members. The informational meetings are scheduled to be held each month at The Challenge Center, she said. The purpose of the March 7 meeting was to receive input from citizens on how council meetings were being conducted, she said. Were educating the community, were educating adults, Sigmon said. These meetings are open to anyone. The Challenge Center has also been providing copies of town ordinances, the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, the petition itself and even the First Amendment to the Constitution, which establishes freedom of speech, she said. Anyone in the community can come in and look at them, Sigmon said, adding that it's a way of keeping the community informed. She said the response from the community to the meetings has been "great," noting that North citizens had already started collecting signatures for the new petition. I dont have any doubts that enough valid signatures can be collected this time, Sigmon said. According to state law, once such a petition is presented to a mayor, that mayor must count and certify the number of signatures by initializing the petition. The mayor is then required to immediately send the petition to the county election commission. Once verified by the county, the petition must be returned to the town council, which must arrange a special election on whether or not to change the local form of government. The special election must be held within 30 to 90 days following the receipt of the petition by the town council. If a majority of those voting accept the proposal, the new form of local government would take effect at the next council meeting. Sigmon said the next informational meeting at The Challenge Center will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7. Representatives from the Municipal Association of South Carolina will be at the meeting to provide additional information on addressing the council. Starting a Crime Watch program in North will also be discussed. Choosing The Right Wolf Watch Winder These Watch Winders Will Keep Your Timepiece Collection On Point The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. Investing the bank on a solid automatic watch collection doesnt require much work. However, maintaining the quality and operation of each timepiece, well, thats where the true challenge lies. This is where buying a good watch winder becomes obligatory. Googling the product category will present you with a variety of models available directly on the Shop For widget. But those who are actually scrolling through the first page of results will notice one brand sitting atop of the search: Wolf. Performance speaks in loud volume. And Wolfs stature as one of the leading watch winder manufacturers breaks the sound barrier. See if history tells you any differently. What Makes Wolf Watch Winders That Good? Heritage is what defines a brand. Wolf owns one predating back to 1834, where German silversmith Phillip Wolf formed the company after acknowledging his silverware sold better when presented in premium boxes. This encouraged the visionary to redirect his design efforts into creating sophisticated jewelry cases. Fast-forward more than a century later, strong traditions and work ethics pushed Wolf to expand its accessories line, leading to the creation of its own assembly of luxury watch winders. Wolfs created these complimentary accessories for every type of technical timepiece, especially a Rolex. Each watch winder is composed from different premium materials faux leather, leather, and wooddepending on the collection, while employing trademark LusterLock technology that allows the fabric lining found inside jewelry cases to absorb the hostile gases known to cause tarnishing. This same innovation is said to prevent tarnishing for up to 35 years. Non-magnetized, travel-friendly via 110/220-volt adapter, and silently operated thanks to nylon gears, sealed gearboxes, and silicon gaskets, every Wolf watch winder promotes unmatched engineering. What Watch Winder Style Suits You? The mechanics of Wolfs watch winders are quite uniform. Outside of say some advanced digital features and storage options, each is designed to deliver immaculate automatic execution. So while all the extra bells and whistles sound enticing, your goal is to purchase a unit to maintain and store your wristwatches. And Wolf offers something for every watch collector be it the amateur with a ticker for each wrist or the hobbyist swapping between automatics every day of the week. Single : Boasting the largest number of winders, the Single collection settles novices in by winding up their first ticker with a special cover or extra storage. : Boasting the largest number of winders, the Single collection settles novices in by winding up their first ticker with a special cover or extra storage. Double : An extensive lineup of winders constructed for dual-winding. : An extensive lineup of winders constructed for dual-winding. Triple : Selective watch owners are given a handful of options to place their trio of wrist strappers on. : Selective watch owners are given a handful of options to place their trio of wrist strappers on. Quad : Made for horological trendsetters looking to showcase their handful of watches. : Made for horological trendsetters looking to showcase their handful of watches. Six piece : Suitable for devoted watch owners needing ticking adjustments for six. : Suitable for devoted watch owners needing ticking adjustments for six. Eight piece : For the classic collector, wind up to eight watches at once. : For the classic collector, wind up to eight watches at once. Modular: Whether your winder supports more or fewer watches, these units add capacity as needed. Options are a beautiful thing. Suffice to say, Wolf isnt short on them. Now lets help you find a home for those Cartiers and Omegas. Here is a look at finest Wolf watch winders money can buy. Wolf Roadster 8-Piece Watch Winder If youre that much of a watch snob, then you seek three virtues from a watch winder: form, function, and fortune. This version of the coveted Roadster goes on to mate Wolfs signature features with a gorgeous design showcased by black pebble faux leather, chrome accents, and an Ebony Macassar wood veneer faceplatewith a price tag to match its opulent appearance. The locking glass cover makes each watch a trophy piece with each module offering enough versatility to support larger, heavier watches. Rotation options, directional settings, and other technical attributes fill up the spec sheet. Quite the decoration for any business office. $1,824.99 at Amazon.com Wolf Meridian Triple Watch Winder The most underrated of the batch, the Meridian collection balances elegant craftsmanship with exceptional functionality. Covering the machine is rich burl wood with gold-plated accents and control knobs that give the winder some pop. Operation is silent. Setting the number of rotations (300-1,200 TPD) and its directional movements is seamless. Its capable of accommodating larger watches too. Not to mention its customizable through a unique modular system Wolf for watch-winding expansion. Stack as many of these beauties atop of each other once growing out your collection. If burl wood isnt your style, seriously consider the blonde or black options. $612.64 at Amazon.com Wolf Module 4.1 Single Watch Winder Fancy piece of hardware, right? The company boasts the Module as its jewel of the Wolf crown. Given the status of your watch assembly, this modular winder is flawlessly engineered to allow multiple units to be stacked together for unlimited collective winding. Take advantage of increased Start Delay options ranging from 6-72 hours, monitoring rotational settings on the backlit LCD display. Again, customization is the Module 4.1s biggest selling point with 57 personal programming options accessible to users. Patented lock-in cuff technology keeps watches bound. Directional and rotation (300-1,200 TPD) options are accounted for as well. Start with one and simply add on over time rather than transitioning over to a bigger winder. $206.52 at Amazon.com Wolf Windsor Double Watch Winder Not every man is committed to luxury watch ownership. Some are fine inheriting a pair from pop and storing them in a jewelry box. Dad has something to gift his seed come birthday time with this fancy dual-watch rotator that fuses advanced reliable winding technology into an exceptionally polished design. Push rotations by up to 900 TBD (turns per day) and select directional settings through the dummy-proof knob positions to set them clockwise, counter clockwise or bi-directional. All-black remains a favorite, though sharp dressers will find the black/purple and orange/brown options to accommodate their hued watches. $401.69 at Amazon.com Wolf Exotic Triple Watch Winder A three-slot winder priced at over a grand is a hard sell. Just know beauty and dynamism comes at a price. Wolf chose to decorate its Exotic line with a phython-embossed texture with a chrome-plated door and black nubuck leather lining for exotic appeal, adding more swagger to your triad of wrist candy. The 2.7 module bears the same lock system as all other current Wolf winders, locking the cuff into the rotator drum for a secure fit. All the companys main features Rotation Options, Directional Settings, and Delayed Program Starts all remain intact. Youre also given the option to run the machine on AC power through the included universal adapter or on D-cell batteries. $1,525.00 at Nordtrom.com Wolf Heritage Single Watch Winder A travel-ready winder with the operational prowess of Wolfs more advanced offerings, the Heritage Single is an attractive model that gets the job done and fits comfortably in any weekender. The pebbled and supple faux leather exterior ensures your Seiko sits pretty and secured, even when activating the irregular rotations or pre-programming resting phases into the rotation program. Underneath its fancy sheath is a Mabuchi motor, an industry leader in silent performance that plays incredibly well with nylon gears to limit operational sound. Owners can count rotations on the quartz eye of the winder too. $124.52 at Amazon.com Wolf Roadster Four Piece Winder Sharp design. Sharper execution. The four-piece winder is basically a scaled down version of Roadster previously mentioned, but more applicable for watch owners just building their collection. Each winding module features a lock-in cuff to fit wrist sizes in excess of 10-inches, along with patented rotation programs including intermittent rotation with pause and sleep options. Use the control knobs and buttons to adjust the cycle times and rotations programs. Silent nylon gears keep mechanical rotary as quiet as can be to keep you focused when putting in work in the executive chair. $974.99 at Amazon.com AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. To find out more, please read our complete terms of use. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Baku hosted a protocol signing ceremony as part of the meeting of the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association on April 1. The protocol was signed by Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways Javid Gurbanov, Chairman of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC Rauf Valiyev, President of Kazakhstan Railways Kanat Alpysbayev and Chairman of Georgian Railways Mamuka Bakhtadze, as well as heads of the Azerbaijani, Kazakh and Georgian ports. The parties approved the regulations on membership in the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association, composition of the working group on development of the transport route, action plan for 2017, the Union charter and its logo, according to the meeting minutes. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe. In October 2016, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia signed an agreement on the establishment of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association with its office in Astana. Its activities are aimed at attracting transit and foreign trade cargo, as well as developing integrated logistics products via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. The Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) said it is continuously monitoring regulatory compliance across different maritime operations as part of its extensive efforts to improve all aspects such as maritime safety, secure navigation and operational efficiency along Dubais coastline. It is aimed at best serving the objectives of the Dubai Maritime Sector Strategy in establishing a secure, sustainable and integrated maritime sector, said a statement from DMCA. The Authority is supervising improvements to regulatory and operational procedures involving anchoring places around Dubai which have been experiencing high demand from commercial, touristic, sports, and leisure marine crafts. It ensures strict adherence to a resolution that requires berthing marine crafts to meet the highest levels of maritime safety within the anchorage area and observe local and federal legislations as well as international conventions issued by the International Maritime Organization and International Labor Organization. Amer Ali, the executive director at the DMCA, said the ongoing monitoring of maritime operations within Dubais territorial waters aims to maintain the continuous upgrading of maritime safety, which is a major component in promoting competitiveness within the industry. He also noted that constant co-operation and co-ordination with all stakeholders in Dubai play an important role in the evolution and integration of the safety measures being undertaken to guarantee efficient operations of all marine crafts in Dubais waters. According to him, the DMCA is always committed to improve maritime safety within Dubais territorial waters consistent with our ambition of taking the domestic maritime cluster to a new level of growth, competitiveness and excellence. "This commitment is aligned with the goals embodied in the Maritime Sector Strategy which aims to develop a secure, sustainable, inclusive, modern, and proficient maritime sector supportive of the economic diversification process. These efforts aim to lead us towards a post-oil economy that will empower the next generation and enjoy a more secure and prosperous future," he added. The DMCA said it was working alongside other stakeholders including free zones, private development zones, owners, as well as operators of maritime projects in Dubais territorial waters, providing them with the necessary aids to navigation. Captain Khamis Weld Ghumail, the director of Maritime Traffic Management, DMCA, said: "We always make it a strategic priority to regulate the operations and activities of local anchorage and marine crafts to ensure the Dubai maritime sectors compliance with local and international requirements and legislations." "We steadfastly check both anchoring and passing marine crafts through regular patrolling to make sure they follow the highest maritime safety standards," noted Ghumail. "Furthermore, we are also committed to provide all kinds of technical and logistic support to owners and operators of marine crafts in keeping with our endeavors to build a strong foundation that would create a secure and modernized marine environment, with the end goal of fostering Dubais leadership as one of the most important and leading maritime destinations in the world," he added.-TradeArabia News Service FMC Corporation, an American chemical manufacturing company, said it has reached an agreement with DuPont to acquire a portion of its crop protection business for $1.2 billion. With this acquisition, FMC Agricultural Solutions will become the fifth largest crop protection chemical company in the world by revenue, with estimated annual revenue of $3.8 billion. As part of the deal, DuPont will also acquire FMC Health and Nutrition. The move comes in line with Dupont's strategy to divest its unit to comply with the European Commission ruling related to its merger with The Dow Chemical Company. According to FMC Corporation, the acquired portion of DuPont's crop protection business includes an industry-leading selective insecticide portfolio consisting of Rynaxypyr, Cyazypyr and Indoxacarb. The first two of these products have full patent protection over their respective active ingredients, and FMC expects these products will generate over $1 billion in 2017 revenue. These selective insecticides are highly complementary to FMC's existing broad spectrum insecticide portfolio. The acquired portfolio also includes DuPont's global cereal broadleaf herbicides, consisting of nine active ingredients and multiple formulated products. This herbicide portfolio comes with strong, recognized brands and DuPont's proprietary PrecisionPac technology. These products bring significant diversification to FMC's crop exposure in herbicides, as well as increasing the balance of pre-emergent and post-emergent applications in its portfolio. FMC will acquire DuPont's global chewing pest insecticide portfolio, its global cereal broadleaf herbicides, and a substantial portion of its global crop protection R&D capabilities. On the deal, Pierre Brondeau, the FMC president, CEO and chairman, said: "This is a significant step forward for FMC, and for our Agricultural Solutions business in particular." "The combination of market-leading products from DuPont's crop protection portfolio and its world-class R&D capabilities will transform our Agricultural Solutions business into a tier-one ag technology company," he stated. According to him, the geographic spread of the revenue in this portfolio will result in a significant increase in FMC's presence in Asia and Europe. Following the acquisition, FMC's crop protection revenue will be almost equally spread across all four major regions North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. The underlying intellectual property related to the acquired products, including patents, registrations and data packages, will be transferred to FMC, it stated. FMC will acquire a global manufacturing network to fully support these products, including four active ingredient manufacturing facilities and 10 regional formulation plants. The acquisition will bring DuPont's world-class discovery and development organization, including its Delaware (US) crop protection research headquarters, 14 regional development labs and related regulatory capabilities.-TradeArabia News Service Leading South Korean group Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Company said it has secured a 470 billion won ($422.05 million) construction contract for a seawater reverse osmosis desalination (SWRO) plant in Saudi Arabia. The contract for building the nations largest SWRO plant in Shuaibah, 110 km south of Jeddah, on the coast of Red Sea, was awarded by Saudi Arabia's Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), reported Business Korea. As per the deal, Doosan Heavy will complete the construction of the plant as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor. Once the facility is completed, it will process 400,000 tonnes of sea water into fresh water a day, to meet the requirements of 1.3 million people, and supply it to western Saudi Arabia. With the latest deal, the Korean group has re-entered the Saudi Arabian seawater desalination market after five long years, stated the report. The company had last worked on the desalination plant project at Ras Al Khair in 2010 and Yanbu seawater desalination plant Phase Three deal in 2012, it added. The St. Regis Abu Dhabi has appointed Sona Shah to the position of director of marketing. With over 10 years marketing experience, Shah brings extensive strategic marketing and communications knowledge to the property. Shahs previous hospitality marketing experience includes roles with The May Fair Hotel London and Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotels in the UK, prior to joining Starwood Hotels & Resorts in January 2014. Her career in the Middle East includes roles at Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel as marketing manager, and complex marketing manager on taskforce for the conversion of The Westin and Le Meridien Hotels in Bahrain City Centre, Bahrain, before being promoted to director of marketing at The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa, which opened in February 2016. With extensive regional experience, specialised in luxury hospitality marketing, brand management, pre-openings and restaurant and bar marketing, Shah is also a member of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Marketing & Communications Council and will represent the St. Regis brand across the Middle East Region. Shah holds a BSc Business Management & Marketing from Brunel University, London, and has previously completed the IBM Graduate Programme. At The St Regis Abu Dhabi, Shah will be responsible for managing the marketing department, overseeing all aspects encompassing strategic planning, content development, digital landscape, events, brand activation, loyalty programs, public relations and advertising. Moustafa Sakr, general manager, said: Its a great pleasure to welcome Sona to the team, marketing and innovation have always been a fundamental core focus for our hotel, we are confident that her expertise will continue to drive and enhance our awareness and success in Abu Dhabis competitive hospitality market. Located at the heart of Abu Dhabi on the Corniche, The St. Regis Abu Dhabi offers 283 luxuriously-appointed guestrooms, a myriad of sumptuous experiences with distinctive culinary venues, more than 4,800 sq m of state-of-the-art meeting and event space and over 3,000 sq m of ultra-modern health club facilities. TradeArabia News Service The consortium of global investors in Britain's biggest airport Heathrow including major shareholder Qatar (with 20 per cent stake in the development) pledged to invest 650 million ($808.7 million) to fund major projects in 2019, said a report. These include the expansion of Terminal 2 and a new southern access tunnel for directing road traffic to the London airport, according to International Business Times . The London airport would now work on the details of the projects and present it for shareholders approval. Commenting on Heathrow's investment, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, CEO of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) one of the investors said: "Our investment in Heathrow is much more than just an investment in one of the world's great airports it's an investment in Britain's connections to the world." "As the UK reshapes its role in the world, we confirm our commitment as proud partners of a great trading nation," he noted. Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye was cited by the Telegraph as saying that the investment by these overseas investors was "great news for Heathrow passengers and for Britain". He explained that the investment would not only improve the quality of its passenger experience, but also improve its ability to deal with growing demand of its services. Heathrow is owned by a consortium of global investors which apart from QIA include, Ferrovial S.A., Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, Alinda Capital Partners of the US, China Investment Corporation and Universities Superannuation Scheme. The TransGriot is available for speaking engagements, college lectures, panel discussions, media interviews, conferences or Trans 101 education efforts for your school, business or professional organizations. For local Houston area, Texas or national events, you can e-mail me at transgriot@yahoo.com For events outside the Houston metro area, I ask that my travel and lodging expenses be covered. This is separate from my speaking fee. If you are interested in having me appear as a speaker or panelist, you can e-mail me with the date and details of your proposed event. Please book as early as possible because my speaking and event calendar slots during the year rapidly fill up. Kelly McCrimmons home has two separate entrances, one upstairs and one down, and is next to Caspers Washington Park, where crowds are expected to flock for the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse. Its a good location and has good amenities, she said. She said she may rent part of the house to guests during the event in which the moon will block the sun, darkening the sky, a rare phenomenon during which Casper will be one of the best spots for viewing. First, she needs to check with her homeowners insurance company to determine whether her policy covers renters. If it does, shell have to decide whether its worth the cost. I may rent out the top floor and stay in the basement, she said. Im not sure yet. Im just thinking about it. Dozens of Casper-area residents are mulling listing their homes on sites such as Airbnb, said Anna Wilcox, director of the Wyoming Eclipse Festival, who recently presented to about 80 Casper residents information on how to list price and list their homes and what to consider before opening their abodes to guests. As of Wednesday, there were 97 rentals available between Aug. 17 and Aug. 21 in Casper, ranging from $350 a night for a private bedroom accommodating up to four guests, to $8,750 per night for a four-bedroom house for up to 15 guests. Wilcox provided a dose of reality to Casperites, many of whom hope to earn big money during the eclipse. There are still roughly 100 hotel rooms available, going from $700 to $800 a night. Most of them are suites that can sleep four or more people. When dividing up the cost, an $800 room will be will be reasonable to many of them. There are around 500 campground sites still available as well, she said, going from $125 a night to $300 for the entire weekend. I hate to break it to you, but as you can see, the hardcore eclipse chasers, theyre already booked, she said. Many dedicated celestial travelers have booked rooms in a number of cities, in case the forecast shows Casper will be cloudy at around 11:42 a.m., when the totality will begin the time when the moon completely blocks the sun, Wilcox said. The die-hards spend a lot of money on their pilgrimages to view eclipses, she said. Travelers who havent booked yet will be folks taking family vacations. They dont spend as much, she said. Not all Casper residents are in the home rental business to solely make money. Some truly want to play host to visitors. Hello Eclipse Travelers!! Fellow star chasers...Welcome to Wyoming and to our home, read one Airbnb post that Wilcox described as particularly well done. Wilcox said the trio of roommates wrote a profile for their home gave a welcoming vibe. They sound excited to host people, she said. They even offer to pick you up from the airport, Wilcox said. They really, really go all out. Barb Wittke sat with a spiral notebook on her lap, scribbling notes as Wilcox talked. She has a house near Alcova Reservoir. She plans to offer her Casper house for rent. My daughter looked it up, We have a three-bedroom ranch house in Paradise Valley and we are going to ask $1,000, she said. The house sleeps six, she said. You figure six people, divided by $1,000, its not really bad, she said. Katie Schultz and her family plan to spend the weekend with her parents in Paradise Valley, which will make her empty downtown house available. Schultz is drawing on her experience in which she and 10 other extended family members rented a mountain house near Bozeman, Montana. There was a hill to go sledding and a hot tub. It was a really nice family house, she said. It was less expensive than renting hotels and eating out. And with small children, hotels arent the easiest. Mario Tama/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, is back in the spotlight this week after he requested immunity as a condition for speaking with congressional investigators about Russias meddling in the presidential election. That request, however, appears to have been rebuffed by both the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. Two sources told ABC News that the Senate Intelligence Committee described Flynns proposal as a non-starter. The House committee released a statement calling the request a grave and momentous step, adding that its too early to consider a request for immunity. In a statement, Flynns lawyer said no reasonable person who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution. Trump came to Flynns defense on Twitter, saying "this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!" Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2017 But last year, both Trump and Flynn were highly critical of aides to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who had asked for immunity in exchange for cooperating in the investigation into her use of a private email server for official government business. When you are given immunity, that means you probably committed a crime, Flynn told "Meet the Press" in an interview last year. During a rally in Wisconsin last year Trump said, The reason they get immunity is because they did something wrong, if they didnt do anything wrong, they dont think in terms of immunity. Flynn resigned from his post after his relationship with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak attracted scrutiny and his communications with Kislyak dominated the young Trump administration. The president asked for Flynn's resignation when it was disclosed that Flynn had given Vice President Mike Pence a false account of his conversations with Kislyak. Talking and Texting with an Ambassador While Attorney General Jeff Sessions had contact with Kislyak during Trump's campaign when Sessions was still a senator and Trump surrogate, Flynn's known contacts with Kislyak are not believed to have started until during the transition. Flynn and Kislyak exchanged holiday greetings over texts on Christmas Day, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said later. Spicer told reporters in a transition team phone call on Jan. 13 that Flynn had texted Kislyak, wishing the Russian ambassador Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Flynn also said he looked forward to working with Kislyak, according to Spicer. Four days after the Christmas text exchange, the two spoke again by text, with Kislyak asking Flynn to arrange a phone call. Flynn's and Kislyaks call "centered around the logistics of setting up a call with the president of Russia and the president-elect after he was sworn in, Spicer said, adding, "they exchanged logistical information on how to initiate and schedule that call. That was it. Plain and simple." Spicer later told ABC News the two discussed a number of topics on the phone, including the crash of a Russian military plane carrying an army choir on Christmas Day and an invitation from the Russian government to the incoming Trump administration to attend upcoming Syrian peace talks. The conversations between Flynn and Kislyak were happening at the same time the Obama administration was sanctioning Russia for election hacking. Flynn had initially told Pence that he had not spoken about the sanctions with the Russian ambassador, but that was not the case. On Jan. 26, the Justice Department's then-acting attorney general, Sally Yates, informed White House counsel Don McGahn that it appears, based on public comments from the Vice President, that he had been misled by Flynn about the nature of the expressed concerns that Russia might try to blackmail Flynn. Flynn was then fired for lying to the Vice President. Payments Before the Presidential Bid In the year before Flynn endorsed Trump for president, Flynn, a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was paid $56,200 in 2015 by three Russian firms owned by or closely tied to the Kremlin, according to documents released by congressional Democrats. Russia's state-owned TV network, RT, paid $45,000 for the retired three-star general to speak at what the Russian organizers described as a "private, invitation-only conference, to Leading Authorities, the speakers bureau that represented Flynn. Flynns fee was $33,750; the remainder was the agents fee. "General Flynn worked with a speakers bureau and what you're seeing is a result of that," Flynn's spokesman Price Floyd told ABC News on March 16. In the 24 pages of assorted 2015 emails and documents voluntarily handed over to the House Oversight Committee by Leading Authorities, RT did not mention that the Dec. 10, 2015, conference and dinner in Moscow celebrating the Russian network's 10th anniversary would be broadcast on television worldwide or that the star speaker -- within arm's reach of Flynn in a video of the televised event -- would be Russian President Vladimir Putin. Floyd said he did not know if the retired general felt misled by RT in its correspondence before the 10th anniversary gala, which offered vague answers to questions from the speakers bureau about who else would attend. But he said Flynn informed defense intelligence officials both before and after the gala that he was attending as a paid guest. The emails were voluntarily handed over to the committee by Flynn's speaker bureau at the committee's request. "General Flynn informed and briefed DIA before his trip to Russia that he was going to get paid for it. On his return, he briefed DIA about his trip to Russia," Floyd said. But Democrats claim the RT fee, as well as additional payments totaling $22,500 to Flynn by Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab and Volga-Dnepr Airlines, add up to a clear violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause, which prohibits retired generals from accepting direct or indirect payments from foreign governments, according to Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee's ranking member. Cummings asked the Pentagon to investigate Flynn for this shortly before Trump asked for his resignation in February. In a new letter released on March 16, Cummings charged that Flynn had "violated the Constitution" by accepting such payments from "an agent of a global adversary that attacked our democracy," an apparent reference to U.S. intelligence agencies' assessment that Russian government-directed hackers had pilfered emails of the Democratic National Committee and Secretary Hillary Clinton's campaign. Ties to Turkey Russia is not the only foreign agent that Flynn is known to have ties to; it was revealed after his resignation that Flynn had done lobbying work prior to his appointment as national security adviser that "could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey," according to documents filed with the Department of Justice. A source familiar with the situation tells ABC News Flynn informed the White House counsel team both during the transition and after the inauguration that he would have to file as a foreign agent because of the work he did on behalf of the Turkish government. This source could not say if Flynn first made the team aware of his situation before or after President-elect Trump announced on Nov. 18 that he would be appointing the former general as his national security adviser. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. WRIGHT -- A door in the corner of Hanks bar leads to a small restaurant with booths that creak beneath their patrons weight. Past the signs for pizza and all-day breakfast, Susan Heimdale leaned against the front counter recently, watching customers who'd stopped in for a bit of gas, a six-pack or a snack. A year ago, Hanks Roadside Bar and Grill was filled with coal miners. Now, it plays Fox News to an almost empty room. Its been a hell of a year for me emotionally, physically, Heimdale said. Her 62-year-old husband, Dan, was one of hundreds of coal miners laid off in sweeping cuts that rocked the tiny northeast Wyoming town. Hed been a field welder for nine years at Alpha Natural Resources' Belle Ayr mine. The company gave him two weeks' pay and a pink slip. Theyre struggling with insurance premiums, payments for their new RV, truck and Harley-Davidson and a desire to simply retire. Instead of traveling to see their grandkids, Susan figures they may have to work into their 70s. But she still has her job at a bar and grill in the heart of coal country, a place where employment is a precious commodity. More than 450 miners from Archs Black Thunder mine and Peabody Energys North Antelope Rochelle mine lost their jobs on March 31, 2016. More layoffs followed, at Alpha Natural Resources' Belle Ayre mine and the Kiewet Corp.s Buckskin mine. Arch and Alpha were in bankruptcy. Peabody declared two weeks after the initial layoffs. Northeast Wyoming reels from mining layoffs WRIGHT The day the layoffs came, a cigarette and a cold beer could do only so much. It was a bad year for Wyoming coal, a perfect storm of trouble. Cheap natural gas eroded coal's dominance as the primary provider of electricity. Coal companies had recently invested in new assets when Chinese demand for the rock seemed insatiable. But, Asian desire was sated. Those companies overproduced to keep pace with debt and the market busted under the pressures. People were suddenly afraid. They'd seen downturns before, but nothing in coal's history was so dramatic, so definitive. With hundreds of years' worth of coal beneath the surface in the Powder River Basin, it seemed like coal would last forever -- until it didn't. Rumors rippled across the community: local teachers would lose their jobs, whole neighborhoods would go into foreclosure, towns like Wright would dry up. The industry has a transient workforce. Some workers packed up and moved on, as was expected. But time passed, and many others chose to stay. The wide freeways of Gillette and gravel roads of Wright were home. After layoffs begin, mine workers grapple with new sense of vulnerability The bars open early in Gillette, and when most people are starting on their coffee and eggs, Miners transitioned to truck driving, were hired back at the mines or returned to school chasing a dream theyd forgotten when coal money started lining their pockets. One way or another, they made it through. The people of Campbell County know they can't do anything about declining demand, natural gas prices or company spending. But one year after the layoffs, they are approaching hope, for their industry, their children and their communities. After all, there's a new administration in Washington, and there are millions of tons of coal yet to be dug from the ground. *** A town doesnt rebound as fast as a person. A town doesnt find another job or go back to school. A town in which 15 percent of the workforce is suddenly without work will suffer. Gillette is the epicenter of the nations coal industry. Within an hour's drive of the city, the largest open pit mines in the country harvest the deep coal seams of eastern Wyoming from sunrise to sunset and back again. The layoffs hit the town hard. More than 2,000 people left Gillette between 2015 and 2016, from a record high of 32,649 to 30,500. The vacancy rate for apartments jumped from 7 percent to 22 percent. About 70 percent of the citys budget flows from tax revenue, and most of that comes from sales and use taxes, which declined by 40 percent in one year. The same story played out in smaller towns like Wright, where the towns budget was halved and 100 trailers in the Cottonwood trailer park remain vacant. But there are two sides to statistics, said Charlene Murdock, former director of the Chamber of Commerce in Campbell County. Five hundred jobs in one day is very significant, she said recently, on one of her last days working for the Chamber. Ive lost my job twice in coal downturns, so I understand the pain and agony of that, but it still represented about 15 percent of our workforce. I tried to remind people that we still had 85 percent of our miners working. Murdock was laid off from Peabody Energy when it closed its local office. After a little more than a year with the Chamber, shes going back to the coal company. She and her husband weathered the oil and gas downturn of the late 1980s, and Murdock isnt convinced that the recent coal downturn compared. Gillette has matured since the '80s, when people lost their jobs, packed up and moved on, she said. This time, people tried to make it work, she said. Miners came to the Chamber looking for advice on how to open auto repair shops, production studios and shooting ranges. At the time (of the coal layoffs) we talked about our resiliency, and I think we are resilient, she said. We certainly have lost some businesses, but more often than not, as some businesses closed, within three to six months someone else is in the space. *** Dan Heimdale believes in Murphys Law. Whatever can happen, will happen. He was on duty with the Army Reserves when his bosses from the Belle Ayr mine called him up and asked him to come in. He knew the answer, but he asked anyway. "Is it layoffs?" Dan has had four jobs that didnt work out since receiving his two weeks pay last April, but its his wife, Susan, who concerned him most. The wife got pretty depressed, he said. Her health ain't the greatest, so that sort of scared her a little bit. You work so hard to get the things that you got, then all of a sudden someone tries to wipe it out from underneath you. Hell keep working as a welder for a local company, and if a pension check comes through from the Army, she may be able to quit. They rely on each other, the optimist and the worrier. Eventually you end up getting something that will pull you through," the welder and veteran said. "You just have to stay persistent. Ryan Borrego, on the other hand, wasnt worried about keeping his job at Black Thunder when the coal downturn first began in earnest in 2015. Things go up and down. Our company was pretty good at trying to cut back costs before they did any layoffs, he remembered. I dont think in the 15 years I was there we had any layoffs. At first I wasnt anticipating anything like that, but every month, things kept getting worse. By March 31, the 39-year-old became anxious. He was working the night shift, so word had spread from miners earlier in the day. Workers were showing up for their shifts, and the ones being laid off were told to go back home. He drove down to Black Thunder, an hour from his home in Gillette. He turned around and drove back without a job. In a way, it was a relief, he said. The year that followed was hard. Borrego has a video production business, In This Moment Productions, and is trying to make money from his real estate license since the housing market has ticked up. Hes struggled for money at times, but he wouldnt go back to the mines unless he had to, he said. I missed a lot of my boys growing up, and my little girl, I dont want to miss as much as I did with my boys, Borrego said. His sons are in their last year of high school. His daughter is 6. I learned my lesson. Borrego had never wanted to mine forever. When he headed to work March 31, he looked to the future. I figured if I did get laid off, there was something else for me, he said. That it was meant to be. *** A year later, consumer confidence is up in northeast Wyoming, locals say, and the real estate market is improving. Paul Gates, a tall, broad-shouldered transplant from South Dakota, saw an influx of people selling trucks after the layoffs or downsizing to something more affordable. The 26-year-old sales manager at Quality Auto had moved to Gillette two years ago when the industry was booming. He'd never seen an economic bust before. The results were shocking. Even in his office they had to make small cuts on extra services: no more candies out front or cleaning services at night and fewer lunches for the sales team. The people he spoke to were afraid of losing work, or had lost work. Since then, things have begun to pick up. The year started out better than expected, he said, and there are high hopes for a stable summer. People who just got their jobs back may be hesitant to rush out and spend money, he said. That's OK. "The thing with the used car business is people still have to buy cars," he said. "They may not buy the $60,000 or $70,000 truck, but they may buy the $20,000 to $30,000 truck." That sentiment was echoed across the city. The mindset has changed for Gillette, and that has more to do with politics than coal. Wyomingites move on, create new lives after the bust Its been a tough year for Wyoming. The price of oil and gas plummeted. Coal production hit In early November, the mayor of Gillette prepared for a quarterly meeting with her departments. There were good signs on the horizon. The third quarter of 2016 showed a jump in coal production as a hot summer drove up the price of natural gas. Two of the three coal companies in bankruptcy had emerged. But it had been a rough year, and Democrat Hillary Clinton was projected to win the presidency. It wouldve been the nail in the coffin, said Mayor Louise Carter-King, whose town was still reeling from the coal losses and the simultaneous downturn in oil and gas. She had her staffers prepare a speech. She was going to tell everyone to stay positive, to keep their spirits up. Then a miracle happened for coal country, as the mayor and some of her staff sat glued to a television late into the evening on Nov. 7. [President Donald] Trump kept winning, Carter-King recalled, sitting in her office, which overlooks construction in downtown Gillette. I cant remember which state it was (that Trump won), but I just said, Throw that speech away. I dont have to say anything. Trump cant bring back coal jobs or raise the price of oil, but the spirit in her town changed that night, she said. It was just a whole different attitude. When you went to a restaurant that Wednesday it was crowded, people were laughing, Carter-King said. Now we are three to four months into it; everyone is still really optimistic. New political favor will hopefully mean more investment in clean coal technology, more partnerships between the federal government, private industry and local coal communities like Gillette, she said, the words coming quickly as she described the possibilities. Three months into Trump's term, he continues to please coal country. On Tuesday, the president asked the EPA to review and perhaps replace the controversial Clean Power Plan, which many locally thought could deal a death blow to the industry. He also overturned a controversial moratorium on coal leases. Coal is going to be around for awhile, Carter-King said. With the right investments and attitude, the coal sector can make up for the last eight years and invest in coals future, she said. "Thats just where [former President Barack] Obama really screwed up, because I think he is a smart person, but he turned a blind eye (to coal), she said. He couldve left quite a legacy, and now everything hes done is getting torn apart. *** Wright's mayor, Ralph Kingan, took a break recently from his job at the towns waterworks to eat at Hanks restaurant. The bust wasnt as bad as hed expected. People talked about another round of big layoffs, but that never happened. A little over 30 people sought city help in the first three days after the layoffs. Hed expected double that number. Hes noticed absences in his town. He doesnt see the CAT mechanics driving down the street. Since he works for the water district, he does a rough population count from the number of active taps. From a high of about 2,975 people, Wright has contracted to 2,400, by the mayors estimate. That's a decline of roughly 20 percent. But the worst may be over, he said. Alpha and Arch have emerged from bankruptcy, with Alpha taking a different name. Peabody expects to emerge this month. And the price of oil, once in the low $30 range, hovers around $50 a barrel. Sometimes a little downturn is not all bad, he said. We start overspending; its just the way government is. I dont think a small town is any different than a big town. Things could have been worse, he said. As Kingan took his lunch break, Susan Heimdale wandered around the gas station, filling her day with little tasks from straightening shelves to refilling condiments. Things will turn around, she said, echoing a sentiment heard throughout the county. Rumor is the jobs are coming back, and oil prices have strengthened. For the Heimdales, the layoffs caused suffering but mainly just delayed their plans. The worried wife and grandmother stopped for a second to watch a customer step outside of Hank's Roadside Bar and Grill beneath a sky the color of coal ash. Wright will survive, she said. Theres a couple times [Hank has] looked at me and said Are we going to make it? and I say, You always have, Hank. So when they butt-stroked me to the head from an AK-47 and I was bleeding down the side of my face and they threw me back in the cell I could Almost 30,000 people bought fishing licenses in Albany County in 2015. Those anglers spent about 113,000 days fishing and generated roughly $14.3 million for the county. In Carbon County, hunters contributed about $19.9 million, according to recent figures. Anglers in Teton County spent about $21 million, and 47,000 people bought fishing licenses. Wyoming is a hunting and fishing state, so to many, these numbers werent a complete surprise. For centuries, wildlife has provided Wyoming residents and nonresidents with food and clothing. But more recently, the states fish and wildlife activities have been lauded as a source of economic stability during an unstable time. And while past studies have shown the overall economic impact of tourism which includes hunting and fishing few studies have looked at the county-wide effects of the consumptive sports. New studies from the University of Wyoming, commissioned by the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, aim to change that. The thought was to give a dollar amount to hunting and angling, to show the importance of these accessible public lands, and private as well, and put some weight behind the sportsmans voice at these committees, said Jessi Johnson, public lands coordinator for the group. The analyses started in counties with Wilderness Study Areas being reviewed as part of the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative, an effort led by the Wyoming County Commissioners Association. The Wildlife Federation wanted the sportsmens representative on each countys working group to have concrete numbers to help show the importance of outdoor recreation to the area, Johnson said. The sportsmens organization commissioned the University of Wyomings Agriculture and Applied Economics department to complete the studies. Tex Taylor, a UW professor and extension specialist, used a combination of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service numbers showing the statewide impact of hunting and fishing and individual license sales. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department used GIS data to divide hunt areas along county lines to offer a more specific look. I thought it would be significant, but the surprising thing to me was the number of recreational days associated with hunting and fishing, Taylor said. Park County alone had almost 62,000 hunting days a year and 122,000 angling days. But since the studies began, theyve become something more than just information for the Public Lands Initiative. Albany and Sweetwater counties, for example, simply wanted the information for their own local decision-making. Members of the Albany County Commission cited the high number of hunting and angling dollars as a reason to oppose a land swap last fall that ultimately failed. The exchange would have traded more than 1,000 acres of state land in the Laramie Range for about 300 acres in the Black Hills. It also limited access to thousands of acres of federally managed public land. In Park County, the data offers an education on the importance of hunting and fishing, said Lee Livingston, a Cody-based outfitter and Park County commissioner. The Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association also commissioned a study recently detailing the impact of big game hunting and outfitting on the states economy. The results, by research firm Southwick Associates, found that big game hunting by residents and nonresidents brings about $300 million into the state each year. Tourism has been the No. 2 economic driver in Wyoming for a while now, but its getting to be a stronger part of our economic sector, Livingston said. We wanted to make sure folks understood the value of big game hunting in Wyoming. The Outfitters and Guides Association study stemmed from a proposal in the Wyoming Legislature to reduce the number of nonresident licenses in favor of offering more resident tags. Livingston, who has been a hunting guide for 32 years and an outfitter for 22, hopes the studies provide useful details for legislators and others making decisions about Wyomings future. While Wyomings energy industry is the states top economic driver, and outdoor recreation comes in a relatively distant second, Johnson said tourism is a steady, sustainable source of money. I would never discredit that energy is No. 1 in Wyoming, and its important we support that, but its equally important we dont overlook other things, she said, particularly those that are not susceptible to booms and busts. Were looking at diversifying, and this is a great place to go. Ultimately, the numbers are a concrete example of something shes always known. Im somebody that puts a priceless value on the places that I hunt and fish, she said. And its exciting to see an economic value put to it, but in the end, these are priceless to a lot of sportsmen. WRIGHT -- Derek Barnhurst flips on a light at Cottonwood Elementary to reveal nothing. Last year, this classroom in the corner of this coal community's only elementary school would've been filled with kindergartners. Students would have been sitting at the desks. They would have been learning addition and subtraction. There would have been posters on the wall, words on the whiteboard and a teacher behind the desk in the corner. Now, the room's walls are largely bare, its cubbies unused, its air stale, its desks empty. It's eerie, standing in a classroom that was once filled with laughing children but now waits silent and dark. The school lost so many kids last year that Barnhurst, the school's principal, consolidated, merging two classes into one. Too few students meant too many teachers. School funding faces added pressures amid layoffs The web of funding for schools in Wyoming is fraying, officials say, as a result of the stat Beginning March 31, 2016, more than 450 coal miners were laid off from the mines that surround Wright and Gillette. Parents lost jobs, uprooted their families and chased work elsewhere. As people left, enrollment in Campbell County sagged. Within weeks, dozens of students vanished from classrooms. Cottonwood is an old building, close enough to the mines that it quivers after detonations. The aftershocks of the layoffs rippled down the road, carried two teachers out of the school and left the earth under their former colleagues shaking. In April 2015, the school had 281 students. Less than three weeks after the layoffs, enrollment was down to 247. Cottonwood started this year with 210. "We took it on the chin pretty good," Barnhurst said with a dry laugh. He meant his school, but the sentiment applies to the rest of the county. Over the past year, Wyoming has lost about 800 students. Roughly 500 of them were attending schools in Campbell County, and when they left, they took with them $1.6 million in funding for next year. That wouldn't be the only hit. The state's school system largely depends on the energy sector for revenue. The downturn meant statewide budget cuts. Some teachers' spouses lost their jobs in the mines. Other educators were told that if enrollment continues to drop, they might not have a job for much longer -- a few more victims of the bust. The mines may be hiring again as coal companies emerge from bankruptcy and a new administration in Washington rolls back regulations, but the effect the job cuts had on schools here is not easily reversible. Riley Dilts is one of those teachers who was in limbo. She lives with her husband on a ranch south of town, where she moved after teaching for a few years in Douglas. She's in her second year at Cottonwood -- one of the school's newest teachers. She had been near the bottom of the totem pole but found out recently she was safe. But another teacher was let go. "Not knowing if I have a job; if I do have a job, not knowing what it will be," Dilts said. "You try not to worry because you know there's nothing you can do about it, but it's kind of hard to tell yourself it's not a big deal because it is a big deal." She didn't know what she would've done if she had lost her job. Maybe make a daily trek to Douglas or Gillette. Maybe substitute teach, or help her husband on the ranch. Along with her own uncertainty, Dilts had to deal with her students dropping out around her. She and the other teachers were helpless to stop the bleeding. The kids didn't know what was happening, she said. They didn't understand. "One day they're here," she said, "and the next week, they're gone." *** For the Millses, it started with a phone call. Nelda and Michael Mills were watching TV in their house on March 31 of last year. It's a modest rental home, 50 yards off a gravel road in the rolling hills outside Gillette. An RV and a couple of cars rest around the property. An old barn, held up by poles and wire, stands on its last leg next to the RV. It's easy to get lost out here, where the only landmarks are hay bales and the cattle that roam freely across roads. When the phone rang, the Millses' son, Lane, was away, and Michael was on vacation from his job at the Black Thunder coal mine. "It was daytime," Nelda remembered. The 48-year-old has short, light brown hair that brushes against the top of her glasses. "We were kind of just hanging out." For weeks, the energy industry's downward spiral had been rapidly accelerating. Energy has long been the lifeblood of Campbell County, and busts mean a deterioration of this community. People leave. Businesses close. Tax revenue plummets. And schools empty. Some of Michael's co-workers had taken severance packages and left the mine, but he resisted. He had a good reputation among his supervisors, who told him his future at the mine should be secure. Michael and Nelda felt safe. When the phone rang, Michael joined hundreds of miners who in the blink of an eye found themselves adrift. "One of the supervisors called, and they read a script. It was a scripted letter that they read to us; there was nothing personal at all in it," Nelda said, her voice rising in frustration. She's usually quick with a smile and laughs when she's nervous. "Mike just sat there and he listened to it. ... He got off the phone and hugged me and said, 'Well, what are we going to do?'" They went to a meeting at a nearby motel. They drove out to the mine near Wright to clear out Michael's locker. They were directed across the street: They hadn't arrived within 24 hours, so his things had been placed in storage. He'd been at Black Thunder for nearly nine years, but that didn't matter now. His time there had been condensed to a single plastic bag. His work boots, his hard hat -- they were relics of a past life now. They were dumped out of his locker and sent away from the mine. "It was kind of dramatic, just the fact that he couldn't clean his own locker out," Nelda said. That April, the family avoided applying for unemployment benefits. They still had money coming in: Nelda worked with special education students at Pronghorn Elementary in Gillette. But her job wasn't immune from the downturn. In June, at the end of a school camp, Nelda said goodbye to one of her students and told him she would see him when school started. No, his stepfather said. They were moving out of state, joining the diaspora of laid-off workers. The student became just one more drop in that wave of departures, another name struck from the districts books. But to Nelda, he wasn't another number. After the student and his stepfather left, Nelda and another paraprofessional walked away and cried. She had been expecting to see him again. Would he get the same level of support at his new school? What did his future hold? "You pour everything into those little guys," she said. "You pour your heart and soul into them. ... And then they move to another school." *** Superintendent Boyd Brown figured his school district would lose as many as 1,000 students. He'd been an educator in Campbell County for nearly 30 years, and he'd seen busts before that had cratered enrollment and forced staff layoffs. Gillette schools could lose $5.4M from drop in enrollment GILLETTE Campbell County public schools could lose about $5.4 million in state funding bec While Nelda's husband and hundreds of others were learning that they were no longer coal miners, Brown was at a conference in Florida, moving between meetings. Then, like Nelda, his phone rang. He knew it was coming. A smaller layoff had rocked the community weeks before, and he and others were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Layoffs and busts don't hurt just the miners or their families. They hurt car dealerships and restaurants and real estate agencies. And they also hurt the schools: As families chase jobs elsewhere, districts lose students, and, as a result, dollars. Still, it wasn't as bad as Brown had projected. "Its never a sigh of relief when you lose that many kids and worry about that many people," he said. "But yeah, it was good that we didn't lose that many. I think we worried all year long about whether were going to lose more." Some schools were still hit hard, fast. Troy Claycomb, the principal at Sunflower Elementary in Gillette, said that in mid-March last year, before the layoffs, his school had more than 430 students. But by the first week of April, that number was down to 397. In a way, it was fortunate for Sunflower: The school was "bursting at the seams," Claycomb said, and the students leaving allowed for some breathing room. But 30 students uprooting, practically overnight, still left a sense of shock. "We didn't know where they were heading or what they were doing," he said. Campbell County may be ground zero, but the bust has hit districts statewide. Wyoming schools face a projected $400 million annual shortfall in the coming years. Money from the mineral industry provides the bulk of districts' funds, and when the ground falls out from beneath coal and gas, schools feel the aftershock. Wyoming public school funding faces 'real crisis,' governor says Wyomings public school system could face a shortfall of up to $700 million in the next two- To deal with the dwindling funds, state lawmakers considered a number of bills earlier this year to reduce education spending. They eventually settled on a statewide cut of more than $34 million. In total, Brown's district will lose $5.9 million next year. It's a cut sizable enough that the district will have to dip into reserves and evaluate every open position, but not so large as to definitely force layoffs, Brown said. "You can only spend reserves once," Brown said. "Were going to be down, by the time we start school next year, over 70 staff members" through attrition. Brown said the situation is significant enough that if he were to leave his position, the board would examine whether to hire a replacement superintendent or realign the district's current administration. He said he doesn't think the district is losing any more students, pointing to statistics and spreadsheets. But with cuts from the Legislature, the district is entering a new period of uncertainty and anxiety. Maybe he won't have to lay off teachers, he reasons. If he does, maybe he'll be able to stay away from getting rid of tenured educators. Maybe. "Statewide, the prediction was that we were going to be down somewhere between 700 and 1,000 teachers," he said. "We're going to wind up not being able to meet the basket of goods in some districts. We're going to reduce services in areas because of reductions." In the end, "it's going to affect students." *** Still, there's optimism in Campbell County. Natasha Eisenbraun, a second-grade teacher at Cottonwood, told the story of how her husband, Keith, took a buyout from Black Thunder last February, leaving after 15 years. He'd seen a fatality in the mine and it left a lasting effect, his wife said. But now he's an activities bus driver with the Campbell County School District and is happier. "He loves it," she said. "His demeanor's really changed. He lost 20 pounds. ... The night shifts were a huge thing, and now he's home with his family." The multimillion-dollar cuts still loom large over Campbell County and districts across the state. No one denies the impact they will have on schools here. The minerals industry may be slowly turning around, but educators still don't know in what direction they're headed as they bounce in the bust's wake. But the mission is the same. After returning to her classroom, Eisenbraun wrote a short note and passed it in the hallway. It's emblematic of the quiet determination of the teachers whose students may have left and whose futures may be uncertain. "At the end of the day, it's all about the kids," she wrote. "This is their happy place -- a safe place -- a place where they don't have to worry about all the 'adult' problems they might hear about at home. My job is to make sure they know I'm in their corner." *** The summer after his phone rang, Michael Mills looked for jobs but found only occasional day labor and construction work. It stayed that way into the fall, and the family's livelihood was affected. He and Nelda cashed out his 401(k) to pay off their car. Their son, Lane, sold off several of the goats he'd showed at 4H events. It wasn't the only cost-saving measure Lane took. He was also on the rodeo team at his school. But it was an expensive sport, his mother said, up to $700 a weekend. "He's a wonderful son, he chose to ... " Nelda's voice halts abruptly. Her cross-shaped earrings shake slightly. She pauses, trying to compose herself. She reaches up, beneath her glasses, and brushes away the tears. "He chose not to rodeo this year because he knew that we really didn't have the finances. "So the whole family has sacrificed in this." That extends beyond the three of them. Nelda's brother-in-law also worked at Black Thunder and also was laid off last March. He found a job in construction, but now that's in limbo, too. Nelda and her sister, meanwhile, found it more difficult to supplement the meager income of their mother, who lives in Upton and relies on her daughters' help. Then, in November, a glimmer of hope: Michael was hired full time by a construction company. But before the spark had the chance to grow, it was extinguished. "After the first of the year, things dropped off for (the company), and he was laid off again," Nelda said. He went back to occasional work. He applied for dozens of jobs, in Wyoming and beyond. Finally he was hired by a gas roustabout company. It was a huge relief for the family. Michael received his first paycheck last week, nearly a year after his phone rang. "We're starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel," Nelda said, smiling. Natrona County School District will give access to school facilities to every officer in the Casper Police Department, officials announced recently. Sgt. Scott Jones said it was the latest collaboration in a growing relationship between the department and the district. The move will allow officers to quickly enter school buildings in lockout situations. Officers will be issued key fobs, which Jones said would look like small gray ovals that will unlock doors at schools when pressed against a key pad. He likened it to opening a hotel room door. We began looking into ways to more effectively and efficiently respond to significant incidents that occur in the schools, Jones said. As schools become more secure, so do the logistics of getting law enforcement into a school if there is a critical incident. Jones was already serving as a police officer in 1999, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado. He said that massacre changed the mentality behind school security. Previously, if law enforcement had to enter a building in a critical situation, officers might have had to force their way in, which could have led to injuries and damage. Or they would have to hunt around for an unlocked door or wait for a district official to arrive on the scene, in situations where every minute counts, Jones said. The fob system could help in the worst-case scenario an active shooter in a school but it would also be useful if someone were breaking into a school building to steal or vandalize property, he explained. Officers have not been issued the fobs yet, though Jones said the devices have been purchased and the department, city and district had all signed the paperwork. He said the electronic keys would be as much a part of an officers uniform as a gun or badge. Officers are excited about the change, he said. Jones and Tanya Southerland, the district spokeswoman, said the project has been in the works for more than a year. Police, superintendent Steve Hopkins, director of student support services Dean Braughton, campus supervisors and the districts school response officers were all involved in turning the idea into a reality. The department has established a clear policy of when the fobs can and cant be used, Jones said. Officers cant use them to go into a school to use the gym, for instance, or to get in a back door that may be locked. Officers would have to justify using the card, which Jones said should be used when theres an absolute by-God need to get in. Right now, were focused on the high school and middle schools because thats where we see a majority of our situations arise, Jones said. No specific incident prompted the department and district to consider the change, he said, though there have been situations where mentally unstable or intoxicated people have come onto school property. The most recent major incident at a school took place in 2012 at Casper College, when an instructor was killed by his son while teaching a class. The son shot his father using a compound bow before stabbing himself and then his father with a knife. In that situation, police were able to gain immediate and unfettered access to the colleges buildings, Jones said. There are no plans to give officers fob access to those buildings; the college has its own security, which helps law enforcement. In February, Bar Nunn Elementary was placed on a two-hour lockout because of police action in the area. In a situation like that, the department communicates with the district to let leaders know that law enforcement is working in the area. No students or staff were in immediate danger. A lockout is different than a lockdown, officials have said. In the former scenario, all doors are locked and students and staff are directed to stay inside, though normal activities within the school typically continue. In lockdown situations, doors are locked and students and staff are told to shelter in place. Jones wasnt sure of the cost of the project but said the security panels were already in place at schools, so it was just a matter of getting the fobs to officers. CHEYENNE For many girls, prom is one of the most memorable experiences of their high school career. Thats why they want everything to be perfect, from the way theyre asked to the dance, to the flowers, the dinner, the decorations and especially the dress. Choosing a prom dress is sometimes the most important dress selection a girl will make until her wedding. But formal dresses are sometimes so expensive that some girls cant afford them. Thats why Jean Richardson started Project Prom, an organization that provides free prom dresses to girls in need. Some people cant afford their own dress for prom, so it gives everybody the opportunity, Halie Green said, a student attending Cheyenne East Highs prom this year. She selected a periwinkle polyester satin ball gown Saturday. Me and my boyfriend had a color scheme for prom this year, Green said. Every dress she tried on was some shade of blue. She came with her grandmother, Nancy Harold, and it didnt take them long to find the perfect dress. She knows what she likes and what she doesnt like, Harold said. Richardson said, Another cool thing (is) the dresses are theres not going to be another one in town. Theyre one of a kind. They dont have a dozen of them over at Dillards. She added that she believes Dillards is the only store in Cheyenne that still carries a variety of formal dresses. At Dillards, prom dresses come in many styles, but the prices can range from about $80 to almost $400 per dress. On average, the dresses cost about $200 each. Part of what Richardson and her volunteers do is help the girls learn how to properly wear a formal dress, e.g., what lingerie to wear, how to add straps, etc. Were kind of here to really help complete the look. She said giving dresses to less privileged girls also could make the difference between the girls having money to get their hair done or go to dinner before the dance. Richardson began Project Prom 11 years ago in her home. I had called around to the high schools to see if they had a project like this, so I could donate my girls dresses to it, Richardson said. She said everyone told her that no such project existed but was a good idea. She offered to have people call her if they needed a dress, so they could have one of her daughters. Richardson said she did receive such calls, but people also called her asking her to take their dresses to donate as well. It just snowballed, and I want to say I started out with a dozen dresses 11 years ago and this year is our biggest ever. Were starting out with over 700 dresses. She said 95 percent of the dresses are donated by the community. She is currently accepting donations at the Project Prom store. Dresses also can be donated year round at Just Dandy, another clothing store in Cheyenne. Richardson does accept monetary donations as well, however, those donations are used to clean and repair dresses, as well as purchase dresses on sale and sometimes pay any overhead costs for running the shop. Richardson said they ask that donated dresses be new enough to still be in style and in good condition. They take all sizes, but need more donations of larger sizes. The largest sizes are always the least donated, and theyre the first to go, Richardson said. The Project Prom shop is open to all high school students from Laramie County and beyond. Some students come from Albany County and from Nebraska. Girls need to bring a student ID. The shop will be open through April 29. On that last day, Richardson allows junior high girls to come pick shorter dresses for junior high promotion. Richardson said she especially likes to watch the girls model the dresses they pick, knowing that the girls will create new memories with the dresses. Theyre so meaningful. You want someone else to have that same experience with that dress. Were just sharing memories here with these wonderful people that donate, she said. PHOENIX Gov. Doug Ducey on Friday signed into law what appears to be the most comprehensive restrictions in the country on what doctors have to do if a baby is born alive during an abortion. Duceys action came less than 48 hours after he got the final version. I have been consistently pro-life through my time as governor, said the Republican, who has signed every abortion bill that has reached his desk in his more than two years in the office. The law, which takes effect this summer, expands on existing statutes that say if there is a live birth, it is the duty of any doctors in attendance to see that all available means and medical skills are used to promote, preserve and maintain the life of such fetus or embryo. But doctors who testified during hearings on SB 1367 told lawmakers that they read the current law to require no special efforts if there is no reasonable chance the child will survive. They said it would be cruel to subject a premature or severely deformed baby to extraordinary measures that will not save its life. Instead, they said the practice is to provide comfort to the baby and, if the family wants, allow the mother to hold the baby. The ability to simply provide comfort and not lifesaving measures is limited under the new law. The new law provides the first-ever definition in statute of being delivered alive. In essence, it says that includes any fetus or embryo, no matter how premature, showing breathing, a heartbeat, umbilical cord pulsation or definite movement of voluntary muscles. At that point, medical professionals will be required to do everything possible to keep the baby alive. A separate provision in the law says any clinic that does abortions on women beyond the 20th week of pregnancy must have someone available with neonatal skills to care for the child if born alive. The state Department of Health Services is now required to develop a list of protocols, along with what equipment must be available in those facilities. Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, which researches issues of reproductive rights, said what Arizona has had until now the generic requirement to promote, preserve and maintain life is similar to that in 34 other states, as well as what is required under federal law. This change, she said, puts greater requirements on Arizona doctors than anywhere else, with only Arkansas having anything close. Arkansas does not have requirements for things like equipment that must be available in cases of live births, Nash said. The measure that Ducey signed is not what Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, initially introduced and shepherded through the Senate. The original proposal included an absolute requirement to provide lifesaving measures in all situations where an abortion results in a live birth. When several representatives lamented that measure would needlessly prolong life or suffering, Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, crafted language to give doctors an out, at least in cases of a specific lethal fetal condition. That is defined in existing law as a condition diagnosed before birth, and that will result, with reasonably certainty, in the death of the unborn child within three months after birth. Rep. Kirsten Engel, D-Tucson, said that if a baby is going to die anyway, requiring rapid resuscitations is inappropriate. If the fetus or embryo is born alive, according to the definition in the underlying bill, there is an absolute obligation to resuscitate, she said, with doctors obligated to follow whatever protocols are established by state health officials. Thats true: Even in those kinds of cases, doctors still will be required to perform rapid neonatal resuscitation. Only when a doctor determines that further treatment will do no more than temporarily prolong the act of dying when death is imminent does the law eliminate the requirement for further medical care. Engel said its wrong to mandate even that. It will do no more than temporarily prolong the act of dying, she said. Theres another controversial provision in the new law. The exception Farnsworth added to taking extensive lifesaving measures will apply only to those cases where an abnormality has been diagnosed ahead of time. Doctors are still required to do everything possible for any other live birth, including on a fetus before the point of viability. Farnsworth was unapologetic for keeping that requirement in place. He said while the current medical thinking is that viability starts at 24 weeks, that is far from certain, and medical science is changing. You dont ever know when a 20-weeker is going to come out and be viable, he said. Farnsworth added that even in those circumstances, there still are limits on what doctors have to do. That comes down to the protocols that state health officials will enact. For example, he said some doctors testified that they do not have intubation equipment small enough for severely premature infants. If the technology doesnt exist, you can only do what you can do, Farnsworth said. Part of what spurred the legislative action is the question of whether existing law allows doctors to make decisions on an ad-hoc basis of when to try lifesaving measures in the case of a live birth. Cathi Herrod, president of the anti-abortion Center for Arizona Policy, cited a case of an abortion that resulted in a live birth where the baby girl was allowed to die. Herrod said in that case, the girl sat on a cold steel table for 78 minutes without receiving medical care. Farnsworth said having a definition of being alive the list including heartbeat and breathing removes from doctors the ability to determine what actions to take or not take. In some cases, he said, You could argue that theyve essentially committed negligent homicide. Under the new law, families will be allowed to bring civil lawsuits against a doctor for up to six years. We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some April 1 papers in history. With a subscription to newspapers.com you can search the Arizona Daily Star and many other newspapers using keywords or dates, and download articles or pages. Nearly five years after she disappeared, Tucson police announced Friday that the remains of Isabel Celis were found in a rural area of Pima County. Police Chief Chris Magnus made the grim announcement that the remains were found earlier this month and were positively identified by DNA testing as those of Isabel, who was 6 years old when she went missing from her midtown home in 2012. Magnus said no arrests have been made. He said during a news conference the circumstances of police finding the remains were not happenstance. Magnus would not discuss details of how investigators found the remains, saying he couldnt be more detailed about how we got to that location. Investigators used an independent lab Bode Cellmark Forensics in Lorton, Virginia that was capable of doing extensive DNA testing, Magnus said. Now, although this confirmation may bring some degree of closure, of course it also ends the hope of bringing Isabel home safely to her family, said the police chief, mentioning that investigators persevered in working the case and all were hoping that Isabel would be found alive. Magnus expressed the departments deepest sympathies to Isabels family. The death of any child is a loss to the family and to our entire community, he said. After the news conference, Tucson Medical Center where Isabels mother, Becky Celis, is a nurse issued a statement on behalf of the family: We want to thank the community for the support they have continued to show for Isa over the years and for refusing to give up hope. Now is our time to mourn. We ask for our privacy during this time so that we can do that. Judy Rich, TMCs president and chief executive officer, said: This is not the news we had hoped to hear. Becky has been a member of the TMC family for many years, and our hearts grieve for Isa and her family. The police chief said investigators will continue to actively pursue those responsible for any kind of involvement in Isabels death and disappearance. Magnus said detectives are working this case very aggressively. Isabels disappearance from her familys home resulted in a missing child case that involved a massive search in Tucson by 250 law enforcement personnel, national media attention and public scrutiny of her parents. FBI experts and tracking dogs were called into the case. Magnus urged anyone with information to call 88-CRIME (882-7463), the anonymous tip line. Detectives followed up on more than 2,200 leads in the case, he said. Isabel went missing from her bedroom in her familys midtown home five years ago. It was during the night, while the family slept. No one heard sounds, not even from the familys dogs. Her father, Sergio, reported her missing on the morning of April 21, 2012. Her mother had already left for work. Sergio said he and his sons searched the house before calling 911. In a 911 recording, Sergio, tells a dispatcher that my oldest son noticed that her window was wide open and the screen was laying in the backyard. For many years, the Celis familys house near Park Place had a banner displayed with the face of Isabel pictured smiling with long brown hair and hazel eyes. Other banners and billboards informed the public about a reward. The family attended St. Josephs Catholic Church, 215 S. Craycroft Road. Many prayer vigils were held for Isabels safe return. On Friday evening, Bishop Gerald Kicanas of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson issued a statement saying, Our hearts are broken and our prayers go out to Isabels family. My fondest hope was that she was alive and would be returned to her family. Todays news is so upsetting and I hope whoever committed this heinous act will be brought to justice. The case remained opened with police investigators conducting numerous follow up interviews, re-canvassing the familys neighborhood and periodically asking the publics help for information. Investigators worked tips across the country and in Mexico. Tips that poured in at first, dropped to a trickle then stopped. New detectives were assigned to the case several years later to offer fresh eyes. The departments website still has information and images of Isabel with a link to provide tips. Her parents faced intense public scrutiny in the weeks after their daughter went missing. At one point, Sergio entered into an agreement with state child protective services that he would not have contact for a period of time with his two sons, Isabels older brothers. Becky said in an interview several years ago they all were coping because of the support from their family, faith in God and the love they each have for one another. God is listening to us. We just have to be patient. We have to have faith in God. God has a plan, and eventually he will bring her home, said Becky. For Sergio, an oral surgery assistant at a dental office who also performs opera, the not knowing about his little girl was creating a lot of frustration, a lot of anger, a lot of wanting to shake your fists and constantly saying why, and why and why. A loss to the family and to our entire community Chris Magnus, Tucson police chief PHOENIX Residents near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base have asked a judge to order the Air Force to conduct a full-blown environmental impact study of flight operations. Their attorney says theyve been treated with contempt. In new court filings, attorney Joy Herr-Cardillo noted the military did a less formal environmental assessment in 2012, concluding there would be no significant impact on those living in and around the flight path of the Tucson base. But she told U.S. District Court Judge Javier Soto the assessment was flawed because it used 2009 as a base year for comparison. That failed to consider the cumulative impact since 1978 when D-M became the center of Operation Snowbird training operations, she said. What the Air Force did acknowledge glosses over, and ignores, the impact of flight operations on children who live in the area and go to school there, Herr-Cardillo argued. The Air Force, in a previous response after the lawsuit was filed last year, denied it has done anything wrong and asked that the case be dismissed. This new filing claims there is evidence the military did not comply with federal environmental laws. Attorneys for the government have until May 15 to respond. There have been questions and complaints for decades about noise from the base. Herr-Cardillo said reports that there would be F-35 training at the base prompted the lawsuit. The latest generation of jets is known to be particularly noisy. As it turned out, Tucson was passed over as an F-35 training site. But she said neighbors discovered in researching the issue that much has changed since the original Operation Snowbird operations started in the 1970s, the last time the Air Force fully looked at the impact of its operations on the bases neighbors. Operation Snowbird was originally designed to provide training time for pilots from northern states during the winter. But since then, according to Herr-Cardillo, Operation Snowbird became a year-round activity. The type of aircraft used also changed. She said the Air Force never considered the effect of all that additional air traffic on neighbors, something she said it was required to do. In the Julia Keen neighborhood, immediately north of the runway, the increase in noise from the original operations resulted in a schools closure in 2004, she said. Even when there were proposals for F-35 training at Davis-Monthan, the Air Force has not been inclined to recognize, let alone ameliorate, the direct harm it is inflicting on its neighbors, said Herr-Cardillo. She cited an email from Scott Hines, who was the bases representative on the citys Military Community Relations Committee, to Lt. Col. Kevin Eilers, commander of the training squadron at the base. Hines suggested the Air Force was overreacting to noise issues and that the influence of those who oppose operations at the base has lessened by their own continued rhetoric. Herr-Cardillo told the judge he should consider that in determining whether the Air Force has complied with federal laws. This obvious contempt for the members of the community most affected by the bases proposal to further expand visiting unit operations by the very person that the Air Force has designated as its community liaison certainly calls into question whether the environmental assessment was prepared in good faith, she wrote. If nothing else, the attorney said the Air Force is required by law to consider what it can do to keep the effects on residents to a minimum. She particularly cited areas where noise levels are 70 decibels, described as similar to the noise of a television set on loud or a vacuum cleaner. Certainly at this point, the people living in what is now a 70db zone are entitled to have the U.S. Air Force, at the very least, consider whether there are any measures it might take to mitigate the noise that it has foisted on those residents, she wrote. An agreement between the University of Arizona and a Texas-based developer to build an Honors College complex, including a 1,000-bed dorm, north of the campus is already receiving serious legal scrutiny. Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik has requested that City Attorney Mike Rankin provide a formal legal review of the memorandum of understanding between the UA and American Campus Communities. The Austin, Texas-based developer is one the largest student housing developers in the country and owns one of the two city blocks where the UA wants to build the Honors College complex, including a six-story dorm. The UA owns the other part of the property. The new Honors College would be between East Drachman and Mabel streets and North Park and Santa Rita avenues, north of East Speedway. The location is outside the colleges campus boundaries. Kozachik, a college employee, said he is concerned the agreement will allow the private developer to sidestep zoning regulations to build the large dorm by transferring ownership of its land to the state. Also, if the developed property is considered part of the university and not a private development it would be taken off the citys property-tax rolls since the school doesnt pay property taxes. With all the terms and conditions built into the agreement protecting ACCs ability to make a profit, its not at all clear to me how this arrangement can be anything but a public-private partnership that should still be subject to all city zoning and procedural processes, Kozachik said. If the project is directly tied to the university, as a state entity, it would not have to follow city zoning codes. This would include building heights, density and parking requirements. The current height limitation for the surrounding neighborhood is 25 feet, or roughly two stories. Area resident Diana Lett has similar concerns, noting that a reference to a land lease in the agreement, which has not been made public, suggests a portion of the property that ACC owns will not be sold to the state, but leased to the UA. She wondered how the ACC can avoid city zoning codes if it still owns the property. Lett also questions how a deal with a specific developer to build a new dorm without obtaining bids could be legal for the UA. Peter Dourlein, the campus architect for the university, said the agreement was a natural outgrowth of discussions between the two parties, offering some legal assurances to the private developer to continue work on the project. The agreement does not automatically assure the project will move forward as it allows both parties to sever the agreement under specific circumstances. A representative for ACC did not return a request for comment Friday. ACC has two student housing developments in Tucson, Entrada Real Oeste, 1 W. University Blvd., and Entrada Real Norte, 1850 N. Tyndall Ave. In addition to the 1,000-bed dorm, plans include multistory buildings for classrooms, office space, a recreation center, and a four-story parking garage to be built on the adjacent block between North Park and Fremont avenues. The university is also considering demolishing several buildings along Park between Drachman and Adams streets, and putting in surface lots to offer additional parking. The neighborhood now consists of homes, apartments catering to students, university parking lots and vacant land. Currently, many UA students who are part of the Honors College live in residence halls close to North Euclid Avenue and East Sixth Street. The UA said there are more than 4,000 students enrolled in the Honors College. Entomologists Charlie and Lois O'Brien Entomologists Charlie O'Brien relays facts about a tray of colorful weevils at he and his wife, Lois' (back right) Green Valley home amidst just a sampling of the pair's insect collection on March 28, 2017, in Green Valley, Ariz. The O'Briens are donating roughly 1.25 million specimens to Arizona State University, a collection estimated to be worth $10 million. Among the donated specimens are one million weevils and 250,000 plant-hoppers. Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star For the first time in about 30 years, Tina Liao is going home for Ching Ming, a Chinese festival honoring family ancestors. That means she had to miss the festivities at Evergreen Mortuary and Cemetery Saturday only the second time the cemetery has partnered with the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center to recognize the holiday. Liao, a member of the centers executive board, worked with others to make the day happen as part of an ongoing effort to teach younger generations about traditions held dear by parents and grandparents. Ching Ming, like the Chinese New Year, is a significant holiday in Chinese culture, though the Communist Party repressed it for years before it was reinstated as a public holiday in 2008. The actual holiday this year is Wednesday, April 5, Liao said. These holidays are imperative to our culture, and we have noticed that the younger generation has no clue what they are, said Susan Chan, the executive director of the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center. Our board of directors has a vision to educate and cultivate little kids. Even people under 60 dont know what Ching Ming is. The first generation of parents are slowly dying, and their kids, 60-year-olds even, dont know. The Saturday event was about educating and honoring, with a presentation on the festival at Evergreen in the morning and a second event in the evening. Throughout the day, families could stop by the cemetery to pay respects to loved ones now gone. Peter Callaghan, the general manager of Evergreen, is the one who approached the cultural center about creating a partnership for Ching Ming after learning about the celebrations held in cemeteries in San Francisco. We have been taking care of the Chinese community for a lot of years here at Evergreen, and before last year, I didnt know what Ching Ming was, Callaghan said. We wanted to support the Chinese community as they have been using Evergreen for many years. Chan has found that some families prefer not to talk about their practices for this day of tomb sweeping, and while everyone honors their ancestors in personal ways, the traditional staples of Ching Ming include cleaning the area around the tomb, burning incense and faux money and paper cutouts of other material goods, bringing food and drinks to set and pour on the grave, bowing multiple times and asking the ancestor for future blessings. This is what Liao, 54, is doing with her family in China as she did so many years ago. Its a process of communicating to ancestors I hope you will be OK on the other side. We sent you more money and clothes, and please bless my children with a good life, Liao said. Its not just to show respect for them, but to ask them to bless my generation or the next generation. Liao will travel to the river in China where her parents ashes were scattered. All of these years in Tucson, she did a makeshift ceremony by facing photographs of her parents east and presenting the offerings and incense to the pictures. Then, she and her sister and their children would ask for blessing and bow. It means a lot, she said of returning for Ching Ming with her husband and 30-year-old daughter. You can stand in front of your ancestors to show respect. Its different from what we do here. In 1988, Liao followed her husband to Tucson, where he was getting his masters degree at the University of Arizona. They stayed but remained connected to China. But that connection can fade over generations. Patsy Lee is the 65-year-old senior program director for the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center. Her grandfather moved to San Francisco, bringing Lees father and his brother when they were young boys. Lee grew up with a mother who wrangled the family to adhere to the traditions of Ching Ming, but since her passing Lees own observance of the festival has dwindled to stopping by the cemetery with flowers. Her three siblings do the same when they have a moment on the day. Its not the family affair it once was. I have a feeling if we didnt go my mom would turn in her grave and spank us even at our age, said Lee, who was raised the U.S. But even her knowledge of the holiday is unique as it fades from memory in the minds of many. That has to do with a variety of factors including Americanization, the repression of the festival in China and Chinese Christian communities that tend not to observe the holiday, Lee and Liao said. Here in America, a lot of Asians are Christian and we honor our parents but dont worship them like ancestry worship, said Allen Lew, president of the centers board. He was born in the U.S., to parents who made the move to Tucson in the 1930s. Those that didnt grow up observing Ching Ming likely dont know much about it, Lee said. And even if families choose not to observe the festival, the center wants to at least keep the memory of the traditions alive. It was something we kind of grew up with, Lee said. I know (the cultural center) wants to make it a bigger thing because my generation that was born and raised in Tucson, we have lost that. ... The cultural center is trying to bring it back and teach the younger generation that this is what our parents did, that you honor your ancestors because people need to remember that you wouldnt be here or have what you do if they didnt provide for you. Arizona State University is about to more than double its insect collection, courtesy of a gift from two Green Valley entomologists who met while attending the University of Arizona. The collection of 1.25 million insects is valued at more than $12 million. The husband-wife entomology team of Lois and Charlie OBrien said ASUs insect museum is a good fit for their donation of weevils and plant hoppers from all of the worlds continents, collected during a 50-year partnership. The ASU collection is curated by Nico Franz, a collaborator of his, said Charlie OBrien. Hes a weevil taxonomist and they have a new museum and space for the collection, he said. Hes dealing with the entire world and the UA is mostly focused on Arizona. Charlie, 84, and Lois, 89, arent shipping off the entire collection to Tempe immediately. Theyre still working on it. Theyll save a bunch of unidentified specimens to keep them busy. Charlie OBrien said they only work 10 hours a day in retirement, down from the 14-or-so they spent with their insects for much of their lives. OBrien, a former professor at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, is the weevil specialist. Franz, director of the Hasbrouck Insect Collection at ASU, said OBrien is the worlds authority on weevils. He has published close to 160 peer-reviewed papers and has two books that are the standard references for anyone in the weevil world, said Franz. Franz said he first met OBrien when he was a masters student at a university in Costa Rica. OBrien helped him identify his weevil species. The two have been collaborators ever since. Franz, now an associate professor at ASUs School of Life Sciences, said the gift is important for him, the 10 graduate and undergraduate weevil researchers he supervises, and the ASU insect collection, which has about 750,000 specimens. Its a big addition and real boost for us, he said. Gene Hall, manager of the UAs 2-million strong insect collection, said ASU is the appropriate place for the OBriens donation. Its a perfect fit for the work Nico Franz is doing, he said. The UA Insect Collection focuses on the Sonoran Desert region, Hall said. The OBriens havent ignored the UA, he said. They have provided us a synoptic set of specimens for our collection, too, he said. Franz said weevils are important species from a pure science standpoint because of their evolutionary diversity. There are 65,000 identified species and the overall number is suspected to be around 220,000. They also merit study because of their ability to damage crops and native plants, Franz said. The weevil lays its eggs inside plants and its larvae eat their way out. Boll weevils are a longtime nemesis of cotton farmers. The bark beetle, which is a weevil, has decimated pine forests in the West, Franz said. They can also be useful. OBrien, while at Florida A&M, worked on eradicating invasive plants with specific weevil species. His collection includes about half the known species, he said. The OBriens met in 1958, when Charlie was a masters student and teaching assistant in entomology at the UA. Lois, with a masters in chemistry, had left a job in medical technology to seek a more interesting field and settled on entomology. Lois and Charlie both received their doctorates in entomology from the University of California, Berkeley. Lois OBrien said the couple had originally planned to return to Tucson after Charlie left his university post in Florida in 2004, but Charlie didnt like the traffic. They moved to Green Valley and eventually added a room to their house for the insect collection. The specimens are mounted in 1,000 glass-topped drawers that Lois made in shop at a community college in Florida. Charlies afraid of power saws, she said. Charlie said his father and uncle both lost fingers in wood-working accidents. Lois said she once sliced through her fingernail and nearly to the bone, but still has all 10 digits. Lois OBriens specialty is the plant hopper, insects from the infraorder Fulgoromorpha, which contains 12,500 described species worldwide. She is one of the worlds authorities on them. Plant hoppers take on the size and shape of leaves and plants in their environment, and that makes them more difficult to collect than weevils, Lois said. Still, she has managed to collect about 250,000 of them in 50 years of trips around the world. Charlie would take one side of the trail and Id take the other, she said. She has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers on her discoveries and continues to add to her collection. A colleague recently brought her some specimens to identify that were collected near Sonoita two species Ive never collected in Arizona, even though they were described in 1937. Franz said the OBriens have lived a very purposeful and special life. They have worked for this for decades. The value of this collection is the work they put into it, he said. The OBriens, for their part, balk at statements that sound like their work is done. Charlie has continued to work, collect and research while shrugging off the symptoms of his Parkinsons disease for 20 years. He is awaiting surgery that he expects will correct a back problem that has kept him in a wheelchair lately. Supreme Court of Florida. BRANDON LEE BRADLEY, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. No. SC14-1412 Decided: March 30, 2017 James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Nancy Ryan, Assistant Public Defender, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Appellant Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida; and Stacey E. Kircher, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Appellee Brandon Lee Bradley appeals his conviction of first-degree murder and his sentence of death. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons that follow, we affirm Bradley's convictions for first-degree murder, robbery, fleeing and eluding, and resisting arrest with violence. We vacate his sentence of death and remand for a new sentencing proceeding. FACTS Brandon Lee Bradley and Andria Kerchner were seen by another Econo Lodge guest and motel employees loading Econo Lodge property, including pillows, sheets, and an air conditioning unit, into Bradley's white Ford Explorer on the morning of March 6, 2012, between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. Employees of the Melbourne, Florida, Econo Lodge confronted Bradley and Kerchner in the parking lot. As the codefendants attempted to drive away, Andrew Jordan, a motel maintenance man, yelled that he would call 911 if Bradley did not get out of the car and return the property. Mr. Jordan stood in front of the car to stop its movement. As he drove out of the parking lot, Bradley hit Mr. Jordan with the car. Mr. Jordan was not injured. Econo Lodge owner Mohammad Malik called police to report the events he witnessed in the parking lot as they unfolded. Mr. Malik gave police the tag number of Bradley's white Ford Explorer, the direction of the vehicle on U.S. 192 as it left the Econo Lodge parking lot, and a description of Bradley as a black male driver accompanied by a white female passenger. Deputy Barbara Pill was driving southbound on John Rhodes Boulevard within two miles of the Econo Lodge when she learned of the motel theft via police dispatch and spotted the white Ford Explorer. Bradley passed Deputy Pill driving northbound. Deputy Pill confirmed that the license plate matched the police dispatch description, turned to chase the vehicle, and activated her lights. The dash camera in Deputy Pill's police cruiser began recording at 11:07:18 a.m. as she followed Bradley's white Ford Explorer. The video recording was introduced at trial. The recording shows Bradley's vehicle turn onto a residential street, Elena Way, where Deputy Pill initiated a traffic stop. Deputy Pill instructed Bradley to exit his vehicle over twenty times, but Bradley did not comply. Deputy Pill's weapon was not drawn during the traffic stop. On the video, Bradley can be heard refusing to exit the vehicle through the partially open front driver's side door. Eventually, Bradley began to slowly move the car forward, and Deputy Pill approached his partially open door. Deputy Pill reached into the vehicle to retrieve the keys and prevent Bradley from driving away. At about 11:11 a.m., Bradley pulled out a semiautomatic firearm and pointed it at Deputy Pill. Bradley fired eight shots at Deputy Pill from a distance of about two feet through the partially open door. The gunshots were recorded not only on the dash camera, but also on the police radio system and simultaneously broadcast to other law enforcement officers. Bradley continued pulling forward as he shot Deputy Pill. Bradley made a U-turn on the street and drove away. A resident of Elena Way witnessed the shooting, called 911, and rushed to the street to help Deputy Pill. The resident reported a black male driver and white female passenger. Deputy James Troup arrived on the scene seconds after the shooting to find Deputy Pill lying in the street. Deputy Pill's firearm was strapped in its holster. Deputy Victor Velez arrived next. He described Deputy Pill as gasping and lying on her back. The gunshot wound to her head was so severe he did not believe she would live. Dr. Sajid Qaiser's autopsy confirmed that Deputy Pill had been shot at a distance of under two feet, producing five gunshot wounds. Dr. Qaiser testified that the wound to Deputy Pill's head was fatal and another wound on her upper left arm was lethal. Bradley attempted to elude law enforcement by driving down side streets and through residential yards in the neighborhood. Kerchner testified that they stopped at a house with an open garage door, hoping to find gasoline inside. Bradley parked in Gerard Joseph Weber's driveway on Janewood Lane. Weber heard the police helicopter overhead, went to his garage, and found Kerchner hiding while smoking a cigarette. Mr. Weber told her to take what she needed. Inside his home, Weber called police and notified them to follow the Explorer. Law enforcement later found Kerchner's cell phone inside Mr. Weber's garage. A police chase ensued after Bradley and Kerchner left Janewood Lane, with the police helicopter overhead, recording the chase on video. Police on the ground employed stop sticks to halt the Explorer, and Bradley drove around them. Police cruisers activated lights and sirens throughout the chase. Bradley did not stop until he ran over stop sticks deployed by Officer Chad Cooper on Turtlemound Road. The stop sticks caused the vehicle to hit a stop sign and a guard rail, rolling to land passenger side down in a ditch filled with water. Bradley and Kerchner did not exit the vehicle until police threw a brick through the rear window to shatter the glass about twenty minutes later. Both Bradley and Kerchner were arrested on Turtlemound Road. Tests conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed that the handgun retrieved from Bradley's vehicle matched the bullets retrieved from Deputy Pill's body, the ground at Elena Way, and the inside of Bradley's vehicle. Bradley did not testify at trial, but his March 6, 2012, interview was played for the jury. In the video, Bradley told police that he shot Deputy Pill because she was trying to get her gun and he feared she would kill him. The trial judge noted that the murder was clearly recorded on the dash camera inside Deputy Pill's police cruiser. The trial judge also found the evidence of Bradley's guilt was overwhelming, and beyond a shadow of any doubt [e]ven without [Bradley's] confession. Bradley was indicted for the following: (1) first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm of law enforcement officer Deputy Barbara Pill; (2) robbery; (3) aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer (siren and lights activated with high speed or reckless driving); and (4) resisting arrest with violence. Bradley's codefendant Andria Kerchner was indicted for felony murder, robbery, and burglary. The indictment alleged that the offenses took place March 6, 2012. The codefendants were tried separately. Bradley's jury trial was held from February 24, 2014, through April 1, 2014. The jury convicted Bradley of all four charges. The penalty phase was conducted from April 3, 2014, through April 8, 2014, and the jury recommended death by a vote of ten to two. Bradley waived a Presentence Investigation Report on April 8, 2014. A hearing pursuant to Spencer v. State, 615 So. 2d 688 (1993), was conducted on June 5, 2014, at which the victim's father, brother, and husband made statements. The defense presented no evidence or testimony. Both the State and defense submitted sentencing memoranda on June 18, 2014. The trial court found five aggravators proven beyond a reasonable doubt and gave all five great weight: (1) the capital felony was committed by a person under sentence of imprisonment or placed on community control or felony probation; (2) prior violent felony; (3) the capital felony was committed in the course of a robbery; (4) the capital felony was committed for the purpose of avoiding lawful arrest or escape from custody and the victim was a law enforcement officer in performance of her official duties; and (5) the capital felony was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner (CCP). The trial court found one statutory mitigator, the age of the defendant at the time of the crime, and assigned it no weight. The trial court also found the following nonstatutory mitigating factors : (1) Bradley was severely physically abused as a child (some weight); (2) Bradley was verbally and emotionally abused as a child (some weight); (3) Bradley's mother chose his stepfather over him and failed to protect Bradley from the stepfather's abuse (some weight); (4) Bradley witnessed the abuse of his mother by his stepfather (some weight); (5) Bradley witnessed the abuse of his siblings by his stepfather (some weight); (6) Bradley had no loving father figure or male role model (some weight); (7) Bradley has a close, loving relationship with his brother (little weight); (8) Bradley is known by family and friends to be generous and supports his mother and friends financially (little weight); (9) Bradley was addicted to and abused drugs from an early age (little weight); (10) Bradley suffers from brain damage and functional deficits (no weight); (11) Bradley suffered devastating emotional and psychological impact from the death of his cousin in October 2011 (little weight); (12) Bradley's girlfriend miscarried days after the death of his cousin and he began significantly greater drug abuse (little weight); (13) Bradley became paranoid after the death of his cousin and his girlfriend's miscarriage, believed someone was out to kill him, and obtained a gun for protection (little weight); (14) several other family members and friends were murdered or died, contributing to Bradley's emotional state (little weight); (15) Bradley has been diagnosed with mental disorders and is being treated with psychotropic medication (little weight); (16) Bradley has been diagnosed with polysubstance dependence, which is currently in remission in a controlled environment, and passive/dependent personality traits (little weight); (17) Bradley has a full-scale IQ score of 70 from a 2013 WAISC IV test (no weight); (18) Bradley cooperated with law enforcement and confessed to all offenses (little weight); (19) Bradley exhibited appropriate courtroom behavior (minimal weight); and (20) the defense's June 18, 2014, sentencing memo proposed that society is protected and Bradley is punished by a life sentence, and suggested the trial court's consideration of the nonunanimous jury recommendation (the trial court ascribed no weight, but considered each of these factors in making [its] recommendation). The trial court found that Bradley had not established that he suffered head injury and possible traumatic brain injury prior to the day of the crime. The trial court found the great weight of the five aggravators was not outweighed by the numerous mitigators and that each aggravator standing alone outweighs all of the mitigating circumstances combined. Bradley's death sentence was ordered on June 27, 2014. This appeal follows. ANALYSIS Bradley raises the following eight claims in his appeal: (1) the trial court abused its discretion in limiting voir dire concerning Bradley's prior violent felony conviction and fleeing a robbery while on probation; (2) the trial court erred in allowing the impeachment of Amanda Ozburn; (3) the trial court erred in denying a mistrial based on the testimony of Bradley's probation officer; (4) Bradley is entitled to a new penalty phase under Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016); (5) the trial court erred in failing to provide an example of merged aggravating factors in its instruction to the jury; (6) the trial court erred in finding aggravating factors and the absence of mitigating factors; (7) the trial court erred in denying a mistrial based on the State's penalty phase closing; and (8) the trial court erred in instructing the jury that its role in sentencing is advisory. This Court also reviews every first-degree murder conviction for which a sentence of death has been imposed for sufficiency of the evidence. For the following reasons, we affirm Bradley's convictions and remand for a new penalty phase based on Hurst. Because we find that Bradley's Hurst claim requires a new penalty phase, we do not address the other claims related to the penalty phase of Bradley's trial or the proportionality of the sentence. Before considering Bradley's Hurst claim, we address his claims related to the guilt phase of his trial. I. Limited Questioning during Voir Dire Whether a trial judge should allow interrogation of jurors on specific subjects during voir dire is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. See Evans v. State, 808 So. 2d 92, 105 (Fla. 2001); Davis v. State, 698 So. 2d 1182, 1190 (Fla. 1997) (citing Farina v. State, 679 So. 2d 1151, 1154 (Fla. 1996)). Trial courts have broad discretion in determining what questions may be asked for that purpose. See Pietri v. State, 644 So. 2d 1347, 1351 (Fla. 1994); Johnson v. State, 608 So. 2d 4, 9 (Fla. 1992). Bradley argues that the trial judge abused her discretion in not permitting the defense to ask individual jurors whether they could be open to mitigation knowing that the State could prove the six specific aggravating factors, including prior violent felony and that the victim was a police officer. Bradley argues that the trial judge prevented the defense from eliciting juror bias against felons and probationers. Bradley further contends that any prejudice resulting from allowing the question would not have prejudiced the State and that it was his right to waive any resulting legal claim based on prejudice against him resulting from the aggravating factors being brought before the venire. Assuming that the trial judge abused her discretion, any error in this case is harmless because Bradley was allowed to ask other questions that were probative of juror bias. See Gore v. State, 475 So. 2d 1205, 1207 (Fla. 1985) (although trial court should have allowed defendant to propound questions to the jury as to their bias or prejudice in recommending a life sentence the voir dire of the jurors read in its entirety evidences that this error does not amount to reversible error, but rather was harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt). General questioning prior to the individual voir dire regarding the jurors' familiarity with the criminal justice system was already probative of bias against defendants with a prior criminal history. The jurors also heard all the charges and potential aggravators as read aloud by the judge. The defense questioned jurors about their views on various aspects of mitigation like mental health and the field of psychology. The judge allowed the defense to ask whether potential jurors believed that the killing of a police officer warranted the death penalty. The trial judge also allowed the defense to ask whether jurors could still weigh mitigation in the penalty phase after Bradley had been convicted of murdering a police officer and the State had proven six nonspecific aggravators. She only stopped the defense from asking individual jurors whether they could still consider mitigation and recommend life knowing that the State could prove all six specific aggravating factors, including prior violent felony and that the victim was a police officer. Any error in limiting defense questioning in this case was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt given the wide range of questioning the judge allowed on the very juror biases which Bradley claims the judge stopped him from uncovering. Bradley has not shown that his jury was made up of one or more persons unalterably in favor of the death penalty or that any of the juror[s'] views would prevent or substantially impair the performance of his duties as a juror in accordance with his instructions and his oath. Gore, 475 So. 2d at 1207-08; see also Fitzpatrick v. State, 437 So. 2d 1072, 1075-76 (Fla. 1983). Therefore, we deny relief on this claim. II. Testimony of High Risk Specialist Probation Officer Bradley argues that Charles Colon's description of his employment as a high risk specialist officer was improper comment which warranted a mistrial because the jury could have made the inference that Bradley was a high risk probationer. Although the State contends that this claim was not properly preserved by a contemporaneous objection, trial counsel objected shortly after the comment and before the witness was relieved. The objection was properly preserved. See generally Jackson v. State, 451 So. 2d 458, 461 (Fla. 1984) (An objection need not always be made at the moment an examination enters impermissible areas of inquiry.). The trial court overruled the objection and denied the motion for mistrial. While the denial of a motion for mistrial is reviewed for abuse of discretion, we review an overruled objection based on improper comment for harmless error. See Bright v. State, 90 So. 3d 249, 259 (Fla. 2012) (citing Poole v. State, 997 So. 2d 382, 391 n.3 (Fla. 2008)). [V]ague and unverified information regarding prior felonies clearly has the effect of unfairly prejudicing the defendant in the eyes of the jury Geralds v. State, 601 So. 2d 1157, 1163 (Fla. 1992); see also Rodriguez v. State, 842 So. 2d 1053 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003) (aggravated assault conviction reversed where the jury heard the alleged victim successfully obtained a restraining order, which unfairly bolstered the victim's version of events); State v. Emmund, 698 So. 2d 1318, 1320 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997) (State precluded from referring to defendant's violent criminal career in jury's presence). Bradley argues Colon's job title constituted vague information on his prior felony which caused him unfair prejudice warranting a mistrial under Geralds, 601 So. 2d at 1163. This one-time reference to the officer's job specialty was not so prejudicial as to vitiate the entire trial. Poole, 997 So. 2d at 391 (quoting Dessaure v. State, 891 So. 2d 455, 464-65 (Fla. 2004)). The jury would still have seen the murder in the patrol car video and heard Bradley's confession. Thus, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion for mistrial. Therefore, we deny relief on this claim. III. Impeachment of Amanda Ozburn Bradley contends that the trial court erred in allowing the State to impeach its own witness, Amanda Ozburn, introducing an otherwise inadmissible statement in violation of the rules of evidence. A trial court's ruling on admissibility of evidence will not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion. See Bearden v. State, 161 So. 3d 1257, 1263 (Fla. 2015). Where a trial court errs in interpreting the rules of evidence, the error is subject to de novo review. Id. (quoting Pantoja v. State, 59 So. 3d 1092, 1095 (Fla. 2011)). We held in Morton v. State, 689 So. 2d 259, 264 (Fla. 1997), receded from on other grounds in Rodriguez v. State, 753 So. 2d 29 (Fla. 2000), that a party may not call a witness primarily for the purpose of getting an inadmissible statement before the jury as impeachment: [I]f a party knowingly calls a witness for the primary purpose of introducing a prior statement which otherwise would be inadmissible, impeachment should ordinarily be excluded. On the other hand, a party may always impeach its witness if the witness gives affirmatively harmful testimony. In a case where a witness gives both favorable and unfavorable testimony, the party calling the witness should usually be permitted to impeach the witness with a prior inconsistent statement. In addressing these issues, trial judges must have broad discretion in determining whether the probative value of the evidence is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice or confusion. Id. To determine whether a party has called a witness for the primary purpose of introducing impeachment, Florida courts consider the following: (1) whether the witness's testimony affirmatively harmed the calling party, and (2) whether the impeachment of the witness was of de minimis substantive value. See Felton v. State, 120 So. 3d 126, 129 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013); Bleich v. State, 108 So. 3d 1132, 1133 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013). Where a witness gives relevant testimony probative of facts in dispute in addition to the impeachment, we have found no error. See Wade v. State, 156 So. 3d 1004, 1021-22 (Fla. 2014); Dennis v. State, 817 So. 2d 741, 761 (Fla. 2002). This rule prevents the abuse of the rules of evidence, as illustrated by a hypothetical situation which arguably tracks the facts in this case: A prosecutor calls a witness who has made a previous statement implicating the defendant in a crime; that statement would be excluded as hearsay if offered for its truth; the prosecutor knows that the witness has repudiated the statement and if called, will testify in favor of the defendant; nonetheless, the prosecutor calls the witness for the ostensible purpose of impeaching him with the prior inconsistent statement. The reason that this practice appears abusive is that there is no legitimate forensic purpose in calling a witness solely to impeach him. If impeachment were the real purpose, the witness would never be called, since the most that could be accomplished is a net result of zero. As one Court put it: The maximum legitimate effect of the impeaching testimony can never be more than the cancellation of the adverse answer. Morton, 689 So. 2d at 263 (quoting 2 Stephen A. Saltzburg et al., Federal Rules of Evidence Manual 800 (6th ed. 1994)). Ms. Ozburn gave testimony that was favorable and unsurprising to the State. Thus, the State had no proper reason to call her reliability into question. We assume the introduction of Ms. Ozburn's impeachment was improper. However, any error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We held in Morton that [t]he cumulative effect of continual impeachment made it all the more difficult for the jury to separate substantive evidence from the evidence it had been instructed to consider solely for impeachment. Id. at 264. Although we found the error harmless as to the guilt phase given the overwhelming evidence against the defendant, the error was not harmless in the penalty phase. Id. We receded from Morton in Rodriguez v. State, 753 So. 2d 29, 47 (Fla. 2000), holding that a similar error was also harmless as to the penalty phase because hearsay impeachment evidence is admissible as substantive evidence in the penalty phase so long as the defendant has an opportunity to rebut the evidence under section 921.141(1), Florida Statutes. In this case, we find that any error was harmless as to the guilt phase because there is no reasonable probability that the error contributed to the verdict. Regardless of whether it heard Ms. Ozburn's impeachment or other testimony during the guilt phase, the jury would have seen the murder in the patrol car video, heard Bradley's confession, and heard testimony from other witnesses regarding his fear of police. There is no reasonable possibility that, but for Ms. Ozburn's impeachment testimony, the outcome at trial would have been different. Any error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, we deny relief on this claim as to the guilt phase. Because Bradley is receiving a new penalty phase under Hurst, we do not address whether reference to Ms. Ozburn's testimony in the penalty phase was harmless. We caution prosecutors to adhere to the strict requirements of the evidence code and thus avoid costly possible retrials. IV. Sufficiency of the Evidence We review the sufficiency of the evidence in every case in which a sentence of death has been imposed, even where the issue is not raised on appeal. See Davis v. State, 148 So. 3d 1261, 1270 (Fla. 2014); Delhall v. State, 95 So. 3d 134, 149 (Fla. 2012). Bradley raised no challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions. Nevertheless, we have independently reviewed the evidence and find it sufficient to support Bradley's convictions. V. Bradley is Entitled to a New Penalty Phase under Hurst During the pendency of Bradley's appeal, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Hurst v. Florida, which is a new rule of law applicable to cases on direct appeal. See Franklin v. State, 41 Fla. L. Weekly S573 (Fla. Nov. 23, 2016) (finding that Hurst applies to cases not yet final on direct appeal). Bradley argues that Florida's death penalty scheme is unconstitutional in light of Hurst v. Florida because a jury did not find all facts necessary to sentence him to death. We agree. See Hurst v. State, 202 So. 3d 40, 57-58 (Fla. 2016), petition for cert filed, No. 16-998 (U.S. Feb. 13, 2017). In Hurst v. State, we explained that the jury in a capital case must unanimously and expressly find all the aggravating factors that were proven beyond a reasonable doubt, unanimously find that the aggravating factors are sufficient to impose death, unanimously find that the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating circumstances, and unanimously recommend a sentence of death. 202 So. 3d at 57. Because the nonunanimous jury in this case did not make such findings, we cannot find the error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See id. at 57-59, 66-69. However, we reject Bradley's contention that section 775.082(2), Florida Statutes (2011), requires us to remand his case for the imposition of a life sentence. See id. at 63-66. See also Franklin, 41 Fla. L. Weekly at S575, slip op. at 6. CONCLUSION Based on the foregoing, we affirm the trial court's denial of Bradley's guilt phase claims. We reverse and remand for a new penalty phase for a jury to make findings under Hurst. It is so ordered. NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION, AND IF FILED, DETERMINED. FOOTNOTES . The trial court incorrectly labeled some of these mitigators falling under section 921.141(6)(h), Florida Statutes (2011), as statutory mitigators. PER CURIAM. LABARGA, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS and QUINCE, JJ., concur. CANADY, POLSTON, and LAWSON, JJ., concur in result as to the conviction and dissent as to the sentence. Help India! This is the first in a three-part series of stories documenting caste discrimination against Dalit Bahujan Adivasi students at the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala. By Amit Kumar, Twocircles.net Support TwoCircles The institutional murder of Rohith Vemula came as a shock to many who believed that such issues were a thing of the past. But for Dalit, Adivasi, and Bahujan students studying across the country, this was only a crude reminded of how tough their lives are in these academic centres, that aredominated and controlled by upper-castes. While mainstream Savarna narratives never fell short of eulogising these academic centres for their equality, the truth was that casteism had never left the Dalit, Adivasi and Bahujan students; it had only taken up newer and often more vicious forms. Ask Deepa Mohanan, a student at MG University (MGU), Kottayam for the past six years. In March 2011, Mohanan, who had done her Masters in Medical Microbiology, joined the International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology for her M.Phil . Mohanan, who belongs to the Malayan caste, a Schedule Caste, had been looking forward to continuing her studies and research, but it would not be wrong to say that over the past six years, her experience has been nothing short of a nightmare. The first semester worked fine for Mohanan. In the second semester however, Nandakumar Kalarickal, her professor, decided for some reason, that Mohanan was undeserving of being a student there. To this day, I do not know what made him start this. One fine day, during his term as the joint director of the centre, he decided that I was not to be provided the infrastructure. That meant I was not to be allowed the lab facilities. What is the point of a science student if they are denied the basic facility of a lab to work? What surprised me was that he did this only with me, and I was the only Dalit student in that batch, she says. Mohanan took up the matter with Dr. Sabu Thomas, the Director of the Centre, who overruled the autocratic order of Kalarickal and not only reinstated Mohanan in the lab but also asked her to directly work under him. Until March 2012, Mohanan did the same and submitted her thesis. However, Kalarickal rejected her thesis, saying it was not up to par, and not deserving of an MPhil degree. Once again, Dr Thomas came to my rescue he saw my thesis and asked me to make a few changes. I agree that maybe the thesis was not the best, but I refuse to believe it was worth being rejected totally, she said. As other students went home after holidays, Mohanan remained in the lab over the next five months, making the changes and finally in August 2012 she submitted her thesis. I have been married for a long time, and had a child in 2010, but not for once did I think of quitting my studies. Because of the objections raised by Kalarickal, I could not see my child for so many days, but instead of complaining, I did what was told and finished my work, says Mohanan. But despite submitting her MPhil in 2012, the discrimination against her continued unabated. She was not awarded her degree, and also denied a transfer certificate (TC). I cleared GATE (Graduate Level Qualifying Examinations), which allowed me to pursue my PhD at any university in the country. However, because I was not issued my TC, I could not join at the NIT Calicut where I was given admission. For how long did this continue? Two years. For two years, I was a student in the centre, but I could not access the lab. I had a hostel, but I was neither in PhD nor in MPhil. My fellowship was stopped for this period. And, I could not join any other place since I was refused a TC. In June 2013, after repeated requests, I was allowed to apply for PhD here based on my GATE results, and it was only in March 2014 that I actually became a student. Why? If this is not because of my caste, then what is? she asks. Meanwhile, despite such autocratic decisions, Kalarickal continue to teach and guide other students. Mohanan says that when she looks back, this was the toughest period in her life. I would go to the library, read, and even publish papers. But I could not access the laboratory all because one professor thought he could do as he pleases, she says. When I read about Muthukrishnan, the Dalit student who was recently institutionally murdered at JNU, I could empathise with him. I too felt suicidal at various points in time, and this is not a sign of being weak. When you work so hard to study, and do well and someone believes that you are not good enough just because of your caste, it can break you, she says. I thought of my daughter, my husband who is in Kuwait, and realised that suicide was never an answer. I will continue to fight instead, she adds. Even after she got the admission in 2014, the same professor continued to harass her. Mohanan would have to apply multiple times to use labs, and often had to depend on her classmates or other faculty to help access the same. On September 3, 2014, the professor and one of the students accused Mohanan of stealing data, even though Mohanan had referred to her own thesis. Then again, on January 10, 2015, Mohanan was locked inside a laboratory. I had to call the police because the lab-in-charge, at the behest of the professor. I was rescued out of the laboratory after nearly two hours. In March 2015, Mohanan filed a case of caste discrimination against Professor Kalarickal and upon receiving the complaint, the Pro-Vice Chancellor summoned the Kalarickal. He defended his actions and said,If we give any favour to Dalits, it will affect our centres discipline, says Mohanan. The college administration decided to set up a two-member enquiry committee consisting of University professors. They took six months to table their report, and even after that the report was not made available to Mohanan. For those six months, it was nearly impossible to work. Now, the whole university knew, and many faculty suggested me to keep quiet and continue work like nothing happened. But why should I be quiet and tolerate this? Why should I keep quiet against casteism? she asks. January 2016 saw the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula, and upon seeing what a casteist administration to do to a student, Mohanan decided to go public with her story, and the post written in Malayalam went viral. Her story was reported by both local and national media. With students protesting across the country over the casteist nature of the college administrations, MG University decided to make the committee report available to Mohanan and also advised her to file a case under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. Why has SFI kept quiet over my issue? Who stopped them from supporting me? All through these struggles, the main students body, Students Federation of India, remained mum. In January 2016, Mohanan posed a series of questions to the party, asking them to answer for their hypocrisy. They were protesting heavily against the death of Rohith because the ABVP was involved, but in all those years, they never supported me. Why? But what has surprised Mohanan even more is despite filing a complaint against SC/ST PoA, there was no arrests made. In fact, Kalarickal continued as if nothing happened. He wasnt suspended, or even cautioned. He continues to teach until this day, and draws a regular salary. How can such a professor be allowed to continue she asks. In fact, just days after her case was filed and was up for hearing in front of the Ettumanur Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kalarickal moved to High Court to quash the case. The administration continued to watch silently. Their own enquiry committee found him at fault, but they have done nothing, she says. Mohanan adds that both the accused professor and his supporters are known to be close to the CPI (M)s top leaders, and this is why SFI never bothered to speak for her. In fact, a year later, the only action that has been taken by the police is to file a case against Mohanan herself for using her camera in the SP office to go live on Facebook. I had gone to the SP office to know what has been happening in my case for one year. I knew they will stop me, so I went live on Facebook. They snatched my phone and detained for half a day, following which I was hospitalised for a day, says Mohanan. A year after a student has filed such a serious case against a professor, it is the student who stands to be persecuted. If this doesnt show how casteism is tolerated and perpetuated in academics, I do not know what does, she says. Mohanan says that she will continue fighting her case, and that the physical and emotional trauma that she has gone through over the last six years shows that casteism exists is entrenched well and truly deep in the society. All I wanted was to study, and this is what has happened to me. I feel broken, tired, and alone at times. If this is what they do to Dalit students, then how can we ever progress? she asks. Help India! By Siddhant Mohan, Twocircles.net Bhopal: In the aftermath of the five state elections completed recently and the BJPs landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Partys chief Mayawati had alleged that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had been rigged. The statement did not go down well with the media and even though some parties supported her statement, the image of the EVM remained largely untarnished. Support TwoCircles But a recent controversy in Madhya Pradesh has reignited the controversy that EVMs can be rigged. On Friday, Chief electoral officer(CEO) Saleena Singh was observing demonstration of EVM at Bhind district in Madhya Pradesh, for by-elections of two seats. But when Singh pressed button no. 4 on EVM , the VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) machine showed the vote confirmation to button no. 2 which was designated to BJP. The same happened during Singhs second attempt. VVPAT is a device attached to all EVMs which shows the voter the confirmation of his selection over EVM buttons. Beside voters satisfaction, VVPAT is also supposed to serve the purpose of re-counting of votes in case of any confusion. Journalists were called to watch and report the demonstration event. When the EVM failed the transparency test, CEO Saleena Singh told journalists to not to run the news. She was talking apparently in a friendly tone, but said, Ye sab press men nahin jana chahiye, warna aap logon ko thane men bithakar rakha jayega (this should not go in Press, otherwise you all will have to sit in Police station). Nevertheless, a video of this event was shot and has been circulated widely. The same can be seen below. The Congress Party expressed outrage at this event and is also advocating the use of ballot papers in for the upcoming polls to be held at Bhind and Bandhavgarh assembly constituencies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc3_eH0aC2k When asked for comments on this matter, Joint Chief Electoral Officer SS Bansal said these accusations are false. He said, BJP was assigned the number 4, therefore it showed number 4. Some journalists are confusing it. When asked about what Saleena Singh said, SS Bansal denied of any such statement from CEO, Madhya Pradesh. On Saturday evening, CEO Saleena Singh will hold a press conference, where she is expected to provide brief for next weeks by-elections. United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee, v. LAVERNE SINGLETARY, Defendant-Appellant. 16-595 Decided: March 30, 2017 PRESENT: JON O. NEWMAN, DENNIS JACOBS, Circuit Judges, LEWIS A. KAPLAN,* District Judge. FOR APPELLANT: JON P. GETZ, Muldoon, Getz, & Reston, Rochester, New York. FOR APPELLEE: JOSEPH J. KARASZEWSKI, for James P. Kennedy, Jr., Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of New York. Laverne Singletary appeals from the judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Geraci, C.J.) denying his motion for a new trial after a jury convicted him of being a felon in possession of a firearm and of simple possession of marijuana. We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history, and the issues presented for review. We affirm because Singletary received the potentially exculpatory impeachment material with enough time to effectively use it at trial. Amy Pfeffer of the Rochester Police Department and Robert Masucci of the Monroe County Office of Probation stopped Singletary on October 6, 2012. After Singletary bolted, the officers caught up to him and found several bags of marijuana in Singletary's pocket and a handgun he discarded on the sidewalk. Masucci processed the firearm and the marijuana at the police station, but wrote on the evidence labels that Pfeffer collected the items and sealed the bags. Masucci testified that he used Pfeffer's name as a convenience: because Masucci was an officer in the Monroe County Office of Probation, his name was not in the Rochester Police Department's system. Singletary moved for a new trial after conviction on the basis of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963): he argued that he did not learn of the mislabeled evidence bags early enough. The district judge denied the motion. Singletary learned that Masucci had filled out the evidence labels when Masucci testified to that effect on the first day of trial. Singletary's attorney cross-examined Masucci, but did not seek a continuance after his direct. The basic rule of Brady is that the Government has a constitutional duty to disclose favorable evidence to the accused where such evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment. United States v. Coppa, 267 F.3d 132, 139 (2d Cir. 2001). That rule encompasses evidence that can be used to impeach a government witness. Id. (citing Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 154 (1972)). But the constitution requires only that the government disclose such evidence in time for its effective use at trial, id. at 142, and effective use can be made even when evidence is disclosed for the first time during trial. See Leka v. Portuondo, 257 F.3d 89, 100 (2d Cir. 2001). Masucci's misstatements about the evidence bags may well have been material for impeachment, and Singletary certainly seemed to treat them as such: the defense aggressively cross-examined Masucci about the incorrectly labeled evidence bags, forced him to admit that the evidence bag labels were lies, called a witness from the Rochester Police Department who testified that what Masucci did was forgery, and argued about the incorrect labels in his closing statement. Singletary has failed to offer any concrete examples of how he could have used the information more effectively at trial if he had learned of it earlier. He suffered no prejudice from the timing of the disclosure, and there was therefore no Brady violation. Coppa, 267 F.3d at 140-42. His ill-defined claim of prosecutorial misconduct fails for the same reason. For the foregoing reasons, and finding no merit in Singletary's other arguments, we hereby AFFIRM the judgment of the district court. FOR THE COURT: CATHERINE O'HAGAN WOLFE, CLERK FOOTNOTES . Masucci was the key government witness because Pfeffer did not testify during the trial-she resigned from the police department before the trial, and signaled that she would take the Fifth Amendment if asked to testify. Help India! New Delhi, (IANS): The Press Association of India on Saturday demanded from the central government a suitable pension scheme for working journalists, accredited by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). The demand came at the first meeting of the newly elected executive committee of the Press Association headed by senior Journalist Jaishankar Gupta. A resolution, in this regard, was also passed by the association. Support TwoCircles It is high time that the Government of India should introduce a suitable pension scheme for the working journalists accredited by it, the resolution said. The demand is genuine and would provide some social security to a large number of accredited journalists who do not come under any such scheme, it added. The Press Association said many state governments already have pension schemes for working journalists in their states while many others, who had no such schemes, have now started introducing such schemes for the scribes. The Press Association also demanded that the existing Central Government Health Scheme for the accredited journalists should be applicable in all government and private hospitals as was done in the case of the employees and pensioners of the government. It also stressed on the need for a suitable health insurance policy for the accredited journalists adding that pension and health facilities are the minimum requirements for the scribes. The Press Association will write letters to the concerned Central Ministers and seek meetings with them to press for the demands. '!971 Beyond Borders' teaser review: - Mohanlal's '1971 Beyond Borders' teaser review will be reported here. Before checking '1971 beyond borders' teaser review, let's see the movie's details. Mohanlal is playing a dual role in this patriotic drama as Major Mahadevan and Major Sahadevan. Directed by Major Ravi, the movie was shot extensively in Rajasthan, Georgia, Ottapaalam, and Pataambi. Telugu hero Allu Sirish played the guest role in this movie bankrolled by Haneef Mohammed under his Red Rose Creations. The makers said to unveil the first look teaser from the movie on March 2nd at 6 pm. As said, the tease was out now. let's check the review below. '1971 Beyond Borders' movie teaser review The teaser highlights the lead actor Mohanlal in typical avatar and as a military officer. The typical avatar of Mohanlal impresses the mass audience well with a catchy dialogue from him and war episode scenes which were highlighted towards the end of the teaser looks rich which elevated further hype on the movie. Overall, this Major Ravi's directional project first look teaser lived up to the expectations of the audience. The movie is slated for release on April 7th as per the estimate and an official confirmation is awaited on the same from the production team. Can Mohanlal break Mammootty's 'Grandfather' teaser record? Both Mammootty and Mohanlal enjoy the huge following among the Mollywood audience. A few days ago, the first look teaser from Mammootty's next movie 'The Great Father' was unveiled on the actor's Facebook page and it garnered 7.2 million views which is the highest number of views for a Malayalam teaser on Facebook. So, can Mohanlal's '1971 Beyond Borders' break the views record of 'The Great Father'? let's wait and see what happens in forthcoming days. However, both the teasers look impressive which increased further expectations on the films. Watch '1971 Beyond Borders' official teaser check the official first look teaser from Mohanlal's upcoming movie '1971 beyond borders' below. ABC News carried an article that reported on the downward trend of cancer-related Deaths in the USA. A study was published at the end of March 2017, by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that suggests "the decreased deaths are likely due to better surveillance and treatments." Nevertheless, the battle is not won yet. Cancer researchers from multiple institutes Researchers have been studying cancer deaths and the survival rates covering the period from 1975 to 2014. These researchers, who joined in the studies come from diverse institutes including the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. They used data compiled by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR)to arrive at their conclusions. "Overall cancer death rates continue to decrease in the United States, reflecting improvements in prevention, early detection, and treatment," the authors wrote. Men seem to have survived more lung and prostate cancer while colorectal cancer deaths have decreased by 2.5 percent per year. More women are surviving breast and lung cancer - the most common form of death from the disease, The deaths from these common cancers have decreased by 1.6 percent and 2.0 percent per year respectively. Battle with the disease is not yet won The cancer battle is not yet won, and it was reported that the lifestyle of the 1960's is still contributing to cancer deaths. These tend to include liver cancers which could be linked to drug use and intravenous injections which caused hepatic problems. The other cancers which are of concern are those that are showing an upward trend. These include brain and pancreas cancers. Immunotherapy, which is a recent treatment trend is hoped to lower cancer deaths even further, but nevertheless, there are concerns that the good news about decreased cancer types could be offset by the fact that "progress in reducing mortality and improving survival is limited for several cancers." One of the biggest worries is that while there are better treatments available, they are often very expensive and simply unaffordable. As the researchers explained, it is not enough to "develop effective targeted therapies and find cures, but also heighten our efforts to broadly and equitably apply proven preventive measures." David Cameron has admitted holding a referendum on Britain's EU membership was the right thing to do. The former Prime Minister defended his decision to call the vote whilst speaking to an audience in the Ukraine, saying the EU had been 'poisoning' British politics for years. He added: 'I made a promise to hold a referendum. It was the right thing to do.' He made an indirect reference to his Labour predecessors by saying they had promised referendums and never delivered them. His comments came after his successor, Prime Minister Theresa May, triggered Article 50, the mechanism for any country to leave the EU under the 2007 Lisbon Treaty, last Wednesday. Cameron promised to enshrine a commitment to hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership in the 2015 Conservative Party manifesto. This policy followed his 2013 Bloomberg speech announcing he supported the idea after UKIP were stealing huge swathes of Conservative support prior to his statement. Once he won the 2015 General Election, he sought to renegotiate Britain's EU status. But his efforts failed to persuade the majority of electors who voted in last year's vote that Britain was 'stronger in the EU.' After 17.4 million people voted for Brexit on June 23rd last year, he declared his resignation in the face of defeat. 'The result is not the result I sought' Reflecting upon his humiliation on Wednesday, the former Tory leader said: 'The result is not the result I sought.' However, contradicting the campaign message he promoted last year, the former Witney MP confessed he was always a Eurosceptic at heart. He added: 'I have never liked the European flag or the European Parliament.' After trying to justify his reasons for leading the Stronger In campaign that supported Britain's EU membership, the former Tory leader said: 'We were in the EU for reasons of utility rather than emotion.' He also praised Mrs May's decision to follow through with the will of the British people. 'Threatening the EU' Despite this, the current Prime Minister's letter has been condemned as a 'threat' after she stated Britain would resort to World Trade Organisation rules if the EU fails to agree on post-Brexit trade and security arrangements. Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green said on Newsnight the idea of the letter being a threat 'is a misunderstanding.' But the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has since backed down, saying he will hold trade talks in parallel with Brexit if there is 'sufficient progress' on the divorce negotiations. Nonetheless, Spain has since threatened to use sovereignty over Gibraltar as a bargaining chip over a future trade deal. 'We are not leaving Europe' Speaking in Kiev, the fallen premier said it is vital Britain and the EU continue to cooperate on defence and security in a post-Brexit world. He added: 'Whilst we are leaving the European Union, we are not leaving Europe.' The former Remain PM has been hosting after-dinner talks since resigning as premier and an MP last year. Channing Tatum must really love America (despite Trumps White House making it harder and harder every day). His movies certainly reflect a glorious patriotism: he saved the President of the United States from a terrorist siege in White House Down, he voices all-American hero Superman in The Lego Movie and its spinoffs and sequels, and now hes signed on to provide the voice for George Washington in a new animated Film called America: The Motion Picture, about the founding fathers and the early days of the so-called United States. Itll be Netflixs first original animated movie America: The Motion Picture will be the first original animated movie from behemoth streaming service Netflix. Theyve had two original animated series (and theyre both fantastic): tragicomedy BoJack Horseman, set to return this year with its fourth season, and Bill Burrs F is for Family, due back for season 2 in a few months (Burr suggested this May on his podcast, but a release date is yet to be confirmed). But this is the first film, and its an interesting choice, analysing the great America that President Donald Trump claims he wants to bring back. Dave Callaham has provided the script for America: The Motion Picture, which is an odd guy for the job, given how Callahams biggest hit is The Expendables, a million miles from this one. Matt Thompson, one of the executive producers of the incredible spy comedy toon Archer, is in the directors chair. Not many plot details have been revealed, but according to Deadline, the aim here is for an R rating. The film will fit into the revisionist history genre, which is a very fun genre for playing around with landmark moments in time that shaped the world we live in today. Netflix is financing the movie In addition to the four more Adam Sandler movies it just commissioned, Netflix will provide the funding for America: The Motion Picture to get it produced and in the can and ready to add to their library at a timely moment in US political history. Many producers are on board for a slice of the cash, including Tatum himself and his partners Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan, Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Tatums directors on the Jump Street films who are currently hard at work on the Han Solo-based Star Wars spinoff), and Archer creator Adam Reed. America: The Motion Picture has yet to set a release date, but in the meantime, Tatum can be seen later this year in Stephen Soderberghs return to filmmaking Logan Lucky, and the long-awaited, highly anticipated Kingsman sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, alongside Julianne Moore and Elton John. On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump addressed Congress for the first time since becoming the commander in chief. While most in the right-wing media praised Trump for his speech, one host at Fox News was not that impressed. Fox News on Trump Ever since he was sworn into office in January, Donald Trump has been forced to deal with a constant stream of controversy. From his tirades on Twitter to his questionable executive orders, the former host of "The Apprentice" has been facing constant backlash from the media and his political opponents. The biggest issue that has been on the plate of the new president has been what potential ties he has with Russia. After retired Gen. Michael Flynn was forced to resign as National Security Advisor due to a possible link to the Kremlin, calls for an independent investigation have increased. When Trump neglected to mention Russia in his speech to Congress, one Fox News host decided to speak out, as reported by Raw Story on March 1. Following Donald Trump's aforementioned speech to Congress, the consensus from Fox News was that the president hit a home run. While the majority of those on the network were pleased, host Shepard Smith had a few criticisms. Smith opened up his segment on Wednesday by pointing out that Trump continues to silence focus on Russia's involvement in the election. "During the president's address last night, there was not one mention of Russia and its meddling of the election, or his teams communications with Russian officials," Smith said. There was no mention of Russia: Shep Smith breaks with Fox News effusive praise of Trumps speech https://t.co/DJJXamxUgL pic.twitter.com/fwtqCOiV6d Raw Story (@RawStory) March 1, 2017 "House Republicans killed a Democratic measure that would have pressured the Justice Department to turn over documents related to the Trump administrations ties to Russia," Shepard Smith went on to point out, before noting that the White House continues to leave questions unanswered. This isn't the first time that Smith has broken with the routine narrative on Fox News. Last week, he hit back at Trump for his constant abuse of the mainstream media, while also coming to the defense of CNN after the president labeled the network "fake news." Next up As Donald Trump continues to ignore and marginalize the impact that Russia had on the election and his administration, many in the media don't appear willing to fall in line. With even more conservative members of the press now pushing back, Trump will have to address the issue at some point in the near future. United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. PATRICK GEORGE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. NEW YORK STATE DIVISION OF PAROLE, Respondent-Appellee. No. 16-571-pr Decided: March 30, 2017 PRESENT: REENA RAGGI DENNY CHIN, SUSAN L. CARNEY, Circuit Judges. APPEARING FOR APPELLANT: PATRICK GEORGE, pro se, Brooklyn, New York. APPEARING FOR APPELLEE: AMY APPELBAUM, Assistant District Attorney (Leonard Joblove, Sholom J. Twersky, Assistant District Attorneys, on the brief), for Kenneth P. Thompson, Kings County District Attorney, Brooklyn, New York. Patrick George, proceeding pro se, appeals from the order enjoining him from filing future motions in this habeas action or any other actions challenging his 1988 and 1991 state convictions without first obtaining leave from the district court. We review such an award for abuse of discretion. See Gollomp v. Spitzer, 568 F.3d 355, 368 (2d Cir. 2009); Duran v. Kiley, 586 F. App'x 598, 600 (2d Cir. 2013). We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history of the case, which we reference only as necessary to explain our decision to affirm. A district court may, in its discretion, impose a filing injunction if confronted with extraordinary circumstances, such as a demonstrated history of frivolous and vexatious litigation. Milltex Indus. Corp. v. Jacquard Lace Co., Ltd., 55 F.3d 34, 39 (2d Cir. 1995). In deciding whether to impose such an injunction, a court considers (1) the litigant's history, (2) the litigant's motive, (3) whether the litigant is pro se, (4) whether the litigant has caused needless expense or has posed an unnecessary burden on the courts and their personnel, and (5) whether other sanctions would be adequate to protect the courts and other parties. See Safir v. U.S. Lines, Inc., 792 F.2d 19, 24 (2d Cir. 1986). A district court may not impose a filing injunction without first providing the litigant with notice and an opportunity to be heard. See Iwachiw v. N.Y.S. Dep't of Motor Vehicles, 396 F.3d 525, 529 (2d Cir. 2005). George argues that he was not afforded that opportunity. The record is to the contrary. Between September and November 2015, George filed five essentially duplicative motions for reconsideration of the 1996 judgment denying his habeas challenge to two New York State convictions. In denying the third such motion on November 11, 2015, the district court warned George that further repetitive motions could result in a filing injunction. Within a week, George filed his fourth duplicative motion, invoking Fed. R. Civ. P. 52, 56, 59, and 60 and Fed. R. Evid. 103 and 201. Therein, he explicitly acknowledged the November 11 injunction warning and accused the district court and staff attorneys of bad faith in taking any such action because the cited rules plainly entitled him to the relief sought. The district court denied reconsideration on November 19, 2015, and reiterated its injunction warning. Four days later, George filed his fifth duplicative motion, the denial of which was accompanied by the challenged filing injunction. On this record, we identify no abuse of discretion. George was twice given notice of the likely issuance of a filing injunction for further repetitive filings. He availed himself of the opportunity to be heard in his November 17, 2015 motion, and was given further opportunity to be heard after that motion was denied. Instead, he filed another repetitive motion. These circumstances manifest no denial of due process. They support the conclusion that, absent a filing injunction, George was likely to continue to abuse the judicial process. Safir v. U.S. Lines, Inc., 792 F.2d at 24. The district court thus acted within its discretion in imposing such an injunction. Insofar as George argues the merits of his underlying motions for reconsideration and of his habeas petitions, those matters are not within the scope of this appeal and therefore we do not address them here. Accordingly, the November 25, 2015 judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED. FOR THE COURT: Catherine O'Hagan Wolfe, Clerk of Court FOOTNOTES . Although the motion described the latter as rules of civil procedure, it is clear that George intended to invoke the corresponding rules of evidence. . George's March 27, 2017 motion to re-open oral argument is denied. The term inter alia in this Court's February 26, 2016 order does not broaden this appeal but refers only to arguments the parties were directed to address with respect to the challenged filing injunction. Late Thursday night it was reported that retired Gen. Michael Flynn was willing to flip on the White House in regards to the ongoing Russian scandal as long as he was offered immunity. After reports on Friday indicated that an immunity deal was not being considered, Flynn's son was quick to fire back. Flynn's dead deal Not long after Donald Trump pulled off the upset and defeated Hillary Clinton to become the new president, he quickly started filling his administration with people he thought he could trust. One of those names is Michael Flynn, who was tapped as the next National Security Adviser. Just weeks after taking on the job, Flynn was busted for having engaged in communication with Russian officials, and allegedly lying about it while speaking to Vice President Mike Pence. Flynn was forced to resign, but has been willing to accept an immunity deal in exchange for his testimony during the Intelligence Committee's hearing on Russian interference in the election. As reported by Mediaite on March 31, the Senate Intelligence Committee has turned down Flynn's offer, which didn't go over well with his son. FULL STORY: Senate Intelligence Committee rejects immunity for Michael Flynn https://t.co/Rqui4adkhJ pic.twitter.com/KWQx771am6 NBC News (@NBCNews) March 31, 2017 As originally reported by MSNBC on Friday, the Senate Intelligence Committee is "not receptive, at this time, to Michael Flynn's statement suggesting he would testify in exchange for immunity." Reporter Kasie Hunt confirmed the news, citing two sources close to the situation. In addition, Hunt also reported that immunity was "not on the table at this time." Family affair Not long before the latest news broke, Michael Flynn Jr. lashed out on Twitter with his thoughts, using the Trump-favorite term of "Fake News" to express his opinion. "Is anyone surprised the Mike Flynn #fakenews came out A DAY AFTER the @EvelynNFarkas bombshell....???" Flynn Jr. rhetorically asked, before adding, "I'm not..." Is anyone surprised the Mike Flynn #fakenews came out A DAY AFTER the @EvelynNFarkas bombshell....??? I'm not... https://t.co/0ABbJl0rTj Michael Flynn Jr (@mflynnJR) March 31, 2017 Michael Flynn Jr's remarks were in relation to a Fox News report that claimed Evelyn Farkas, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia in the Obama administration, had rushed to disclose information about the Trump administration, though that report has not been confirmed. The younger Flynn continued to re-tweet several other comments and stories that accused the media of promoting "fake news" against his father. One of the biggest stories surrounding the 2016 presidential election has been what impact Russia had in helping Donald Trump make it to the White House. The latest bombshell involves Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the communication he reportedly had with the Kremlin during the campaign. MSNBC on Sessions Through his entire campaign for president, Donald Trump made it a habit to attack anyone who was critical of his candidacy. From political opponents, to celebrities, members of the media, or even other world leaders, the former host of "The Apprentice" didn't hold back his thoughts. The lone exception to that rule comes in the form of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which only adds to the speculation that Trump has some type of link back to Russia. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, but refuses to debunk the allegations by releasing his tax returns, as well as dealing with several members of his campaign and cabinet being caught with ties to the country. After it was revealed that Jeff Sessions spoke to the Russian ambassador twice during the election, the host of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC had a few words, which was reported on March 2. Just hours after the Washington Post broke the story in question, Jeff Sessions addressed the issue when pressed by reporters. "I have not met with any Russians at any time to discuss any political campaign," Sessions said, referring to the story at "unbelievable" and "false." Trumps Russia headache gets worse, as Sessions struggles to spin undisclosed meetings https://t.co/gun2kQElqJ Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 2, 2017 In response, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough ripped into Jeff Sessions for allegedly lying about the communication. "What does it say when you lie about something that you dont have to lie about," Scarborough wondered. "There is a multiplying effect, when you have your National Security Adviser lying and having to resign. And then you have your attorney general lying in front of Congress over something he shouldnt have to lie about," Scarborough continued, before adding, "Why lie about it? It just compounds all of the questions." Moments ago Jeff Sessions responded to reports on Russia. pic.twitter.com/iZKIsSPDpX Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) March 2, 2017 Backlash continues In response to the news, Democratic members of Congress have not held back. Led by House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Democrats are now calling for Jeff Sessions to either recuse himself, or resign as the attorney general of the United States for allegedly lying during his Senate confirmation hearing. Former head of the #Defense Intelligence Agency. A retired three-star Army general. One of President Donald Trumps earliest advisers. Specialist on national security issues. Presidential Campaign all-star. Who is Michael Flynn? He's both a paradox and a player, a star and a man in the shadows. He gained plenty of attention in the presidential campaign for his harsh attacks against presidential candidate #Hillary Clinton. He also gained attention for advocating a union of closer ties with the Russian government. In December 2015 he sat right next to President Vladimir Putin at a gala in Moscow. Shared interests of the former cold war enemies Flynn has publicly stated that both the US and Russia need to meet over their many shared interests, which range from global terrorism and the energy industry to Middle East failures. It was his phone calls and his meetings with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, however, that got him into trouble, since he didnt disclose those meeting to Vice President Pence. Two airlines based in the Gulf region have found a way to help some of its U.S.-bound passengers who may need a laptop or tablet while traveling to the United States. Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways are loaning laptops and tablets to mitigate the ban on these devices for flights coming from 10 airports in the Gulf. Only for business class However, both carriers limit the offer only to Business Class passengers. Beginning next week, Qatar Airways would give out the Electronic Devices at the gate while the travelers gadgets would be collected and stowed with their checked-in luggage, Fortune reported. On Tuesday, Etihad Airways sent an email to its frequent flyer club members that it would offer tablets with unlimited Wi-Fi to business or first class passengers. Emirates is considering making a similar offer to its business class customers, Tim Clark, president of Emirates, said on Monday. The U.S.-imposed ban covers laptops and other electronic devices bigger than a mobile phone. These devices, which could be used by terrorist groups to smuggle explosive devices into airplane cabins, would no longer be allowed to be carried as hand luggage by airlines that would depart from the 10 Gulf airports. U.K. ban covers 6 countries from the Middle East and North Africa On March 22, U.K. also imposed a similar prohibition on laptops in cabins. The ban affects travelers from six countries in the Middle East and North Africa. But the ban is only for direct flights coming from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. The spokesman of the office of British Prime Minister Theresa May said the ban is necessary to protect the safety of passengers which is a priority for U.K. The ban was not arbitrarily imposed since a laptop full of explosives was smuggled on a flight from Mogadishu in 2016. The laptop explosion blew a hole in the jets side. Since then, 13 potential attacks on planes have been prevented by U.K. security services. Airport screening practices The U.S. placed the ban after intelligence officials received new information on the effectiveness of some airport screening practices. There are new methods of hiding explosives in electronic gadgets that have the potential to bypass airport security protocol, according to FBI tests. They also received reliable reports that potential terrorists could have gained access to complex security equipment to test their augmented weapons. The FBI conducted tests on some models of screening machines commonly used in international gateways by the Transportation Security Administration. The 10 airports are located in eight countries where reputable intelligence reports indicate greater threats. The eight countries on the U.S. list are Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. According to a CNN report, US intelligence officials have gained new information about the effectiveness of certain airport screening practices. Recent FBI tests have confirmed that new methods of concealing explosives in electronic devices like laptops could potentially bypass airport security protocol, allowing bombs and other devices to make their way onto planes. In addition, the US has received reliable reports that indicate potential terrorists might have somehow gained access to complex airport security equipment in order to test their augmented weapons. CNN notes that the information received by the US in recent months has played a big part in a decision by the Trump administration to completely forbid travelers from eight different Middle Eastern and African countries from taking laptops and other similarly sized electronic devices aboard when flying to America. FBI tests were revealing The tests that the FBI conducted focused on certain models of Transportation Security Administration screening machines that are commonly used internationally, and their findings seemed to suggest that, at least with these particular machines, laptop bombs would be considerably more difficult to uncover than past versions of Terrorist-altered explosives. In a Department of Homeland Security statement to CNN, officials remarked that the "government continually reassesses existing intelligence and collects new intelligence," allowing "DHS and TSA to constantly evaluate our aviation security processes and policies and make enhancements when they are deemed necessary to keep passengers safe." Certain countries pose a greater risk than others US officials indicate that the current electronics ban focuses specifically on eight countries because reputable intelligence indicates greater threats from them. Similar reports also show that the US has sufficient confidence in airport security practices domestically and in most parts of Europe. The issue, therefore, lies with countries that may not have such sophisticated security protocol. Ideally, better training and technology for these parts of the world will help reduce some of the risk. Another factor mentioned by officials is the fact that countries that are not as advanced in aviation security also may not have the capacity to ensure uniform compliance within their borders. If the country isn't able to efficiently secure airports in the first place, there is a higher likelihood that local government may not have the reach to ensure any potential mandates were followed if they were imposed. The countries affected by the US electronics ban include Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The United Kingdom has also imposed a similar ban, though it focuses on different countries. U.S. President Donald Trump will be making a very big announcement on Monday. He will be forming a new office focused on making the government more efficient. jared kushner will be the leader of this consultant team. Trump has named his new office the White House of American Innovation. Kushner will be responsible for applying business aspects towards government reform. Jared was once just a simple hard-working businessman who lived day-to-day like most Americans. He eventually became the son-in-law to one of the wealthiest men in the world when he married Trumps daughter, Ivanka Trump. Now, the business mogul has paved a way for himself at the White House. He is currently the presidents Senior Adviser. After Monday, he will be holding an office of his own while leading some of the biggest names in several industries. New office, new team Joining Kushner to form this team of strategic advisers is some of the most prominent executives in finance and technology. It has been noted that he will be aided by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apples Tim Cook and Bill Gates. His new office will also consist of Goldman Sachs executive, Gary Cohn and Microsofts Chris Liddell. Approximately 100 other people with roles in General Motors, International Paper, Microsoft and Sales Force will be added to the team as well. The Senior Advisers wife, Ivanka Trump, will also be in attendance to advise and provide insight into this new White House of American Innovation. Jared Kushner told the President, We should have excellence in government. The government should run like a great American company. Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens. Trump obviously agrees with that notion. American Innovations primary duties I promised the American people I would produce results, and apply my ahead of schedule, under budget mentality to the government, President Trump stated about his new plan. The new office brings truth to another one of Trumps campaign promises. During the 2016 election, Trump asserted that he would run the U.S. like a business, putting the executive back in the executive branch. The new formation is proud to say it has very little political experience. This is because its staffed with all persons being former or present business executives. The White House of American Innovation will function in its own power center located within the West Wing. It will report directly to Trump on how its authority is being used to overhaul federal bureaucracy and fulfill the Trump administrations campaign promises. The team is composed of top talent from both inside and outside the political perspective. They can bring a variety of ideas to the table that results in a better America per Kushners agenda. A key element in this business portfolio is also the new government commission on opioid use. It will be led by Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie. The group has already held meetings with leaders and government officials to form a plan that combats the U.S. epidemic of drug abuse. CEO of Blackstone Group, Stephen Schwarzian, says, There is a need to figure out what policies are adding friction to the system without accompanying it with significant benefits. Its easy for the private sector to at least see where the friction is, and to do that very quickly and succinctly. A Gates Foundation spokesperson told Yahoo Finance, Bill was briefed on the creation of the office during his meeting with administration staff last week. We look forward to learning more about the goals and priorities of the office, and how they fit into the administrations policy and budgetary priorities. Trump acknowledged Kushners new appointment with a few words on behalf of the American people. He said, All Americans, regardless of their political views, can recognize that government stagnation has hindered our ability to properly function, often creating widespread congestion and leading to cost overruns and delays. The Trump weeks are like a seesaw and the one that ends today is no different. Depending on your perspective it was probably a wash either way. Here's what went down. Michael Flynn reappeared from the shadows in the person of a New York City injury attorney bearing offers of a big story in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Meanwhile, Mr. Nunes who runs the House Intelligence Committee barely managed to hang on as head of an inquiry that has yet to get off the ground. The Ivanka yawn Also, this week, Ivanka Trump Kushner was upgraded from unpaid White House daughter of the president to unpaid federal employee. She will serve as either an advisor or a nurse to Donald Trump, depending on your point of view. This transition seemed to cement the perception of a Trump dynasty. Still, it was a relatively low profile, done to appease ethics criticism. Seesaw The ethics experts did not criticize another event this week, the President's executive order rolling back President Obama's environmental and climate change efforts. First things first. If the president's dismissal of science and ecological sensibility was a downward swing there was one positive upward movement. A Hawaii federal court once again affirmed its block on Trump's Muslim ban. Immune system It can be surmised that Flynn may prove no trouble to Trump. If he had a damaging story he was willing to tell he would not be out in front of Congressional committees. He would be closeted with James Comey and assured of immunity. As it is, he is now marketing his story and it seems bound to be unsatisfying to someone looking for evidence of a crime or a Trump coverup. So mendacious is Flynn that, with immunity, he could say anything he pleased. In this respect, he is like Trump. Russia on the block The Senate Intelligence Committee, perhaps seeking to avoid the partisan aura of its House counterpart, said it would concentrate on Russian efforts to influence the 2016 elections. This scarcely moved anyone to excitation. There was talk of hundreds of Russian trolls working feverishly to influence our votes. It was almost a non-story. 2 White House Officials Helped Give Nunes Intelligence Reports https://t.co/Gd5PwC0ihW Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) March 31, 2017 Impatient for the end The seesaw continued. And many were becoming impatient for a denouement, an end, a final climactic moment. For some that would be Trump smiling and saying, I told you so. For others, it would be Trump either resigning or facing impeachment. This year marks the centenary of the October Revolution in #Russia that brought into power the Communist Party and created the Soviet Union whose collapse ended the first cold war. The Revolution was a turning point in History but we still feel its impact today thanks to the interference of the Western powers. Two revolutions Russia suffered two revolutions in 1917. The first was the February Revolution when the population revolted against the consequences of the Empires involvement in the war with Germany that we now call the Great War. After weeks of protests and strikes which led to the suspension of the Duma, the Russian parliament, the Army sided with the protesters and Tsar Nicholas II abdicated. The new government led by Alexander Kerensky tried to placate the population but kept the country in the war which had already cost them millions of lives. In an attempt to force Russia to withdraw from the War the German government made an agreement with Vladimir Lenin the leader of the communist Bolsheviks then living in exile in Switzerland to transport him to Russia and in return he would withdraw his country from the conflict when he took power conflict. After the almost bloodless October Revolution of that year he kept his agreement with the Germans and withdrew the country from the war. This angered Russias former allies and they actively supported the White Russians fighting the communist forces. Secret war From 1918 until 1922 the United States, Great Britain, France and Japan actively opposed the Russian communists in a secret war. Over time these efforts petered out but the British and French interference continued after the end of the First World War and were kept secret from their population for decades. As proof, only a few years ago a family in Australia finally discovered the details and burial place of a relative who had been awarded the Victoria Cross the highest British military honour which was unexplained in the medals citation. He had died as a member of a British unit fighting in Russia in 1919 and was buried in Vladivostok. At the time the government kept the details secret in order not to reveal that the country was involved in a conflict that had never been declared or officially recognized. Even now there are few in the West who know about a campaign that is only found in specialized history books but this interference has never been forgotten in Russia. Consequences The major consequence of the western interference was obviously the deep mistrust of the Soviet Union towards the Western powers and only relaxed when Germany invaded Russia and the USSR became one of the major allies that went on to defeat Hitlers Germany. Once the war finished the mistrust once more reasserted itself when the USSR drew what Winston Churchill defined as an Iron Curtain though Eastern Union and the Cold War began. Undoubtedly this history was taught at the KGB Academy where the former Soviet Unions intelligence agents were trained, one of these graduates was #Vladimir Putin who is now the President of the new Russia that rose from the ashes of the collapsed USSR. Reminders This history is part of the reasons that the West must not underestimate the allegations of Russian interference in the presidential election in favour of Donald Trump. While the United States awaits the results of investigations of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and also by the countrys intelligence community into the allegations we must bear in mind the past to understand that such interference is not new and that the first to do it were the Western Allies, including the United States, to the Russians in 1917. This repeat of history only makes us wonder if the world will ever stop paying the price for mistakes of the past. We probably never will. Sean Spicer the White House press secretary is in a quandary. As older generations might put it, he is between the devil and the deep blue sea. Sean is like the Israelites with the Red Sea in front of them, and Pharaoh's army closing in from behind. Sean Spicer is in a difficult situation. He is between the proverbial rock and a hard place. No matter what he says, trouble follows.. Spicer has the job from hell Sean Spicer is being paid to be the go-between for the White House and the press. He must communicate and give an interpretation of what the president really means by the things he says. During his time as press secretary, Spicer has put a spin on situations, where almost no one believed what he said. The world saw the tweet where President Trump said that former President Obama was a "Bad sick guy," for wiretapping Trump Tower. Later it was changed to surveillance.Today CNN ran a press conference where the press secretary said the White House is no longer taking that stand. Clearly, Sean Spicer has the job from hell. He must continually redirect, refute, and rebuke when it comes to questions asked by reporters. Earlier this week Spicer came under fire for telling White House Correspondent April Ryan. "Stop shaking your head again. Spicer is easily provoked and seems exasperated with the subject of Russia. The position of White House press secretary is one of a scapegoat. Sean Spicer is basically a scapegoat. He fields questions, so President Trump will not have to. Spicer is paid to keep the heat off of the Chief of Staff. In doing so, Spicer himself ends up in the hot seat. He is the one who deals with the pressure, and he is the one who receives the blame. White House reporters are daily in his face asking questions, while President Trump is behind him barking out orders. Melissa McCarthy is doing parodies of Spicer on Saturday Night Live. The White house, the American people and the world, are shaking their heads at it all. If Sean Spicer were to admit any wrongdoing on the part of President Trump, he most likely would lose his job. When he defends the POTUS, on issues most believe to be true, he is considered to be lying and losing credibility with the American people. United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. BRANDON CARDEZ, Defendant - Appellant. No. 16-4363 Decided: March 30, 2017 Before WILKINSON and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Thomas P. McNamara, Federal Public Defender, Stephen C. Gordon, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant. John Stuart Bruce, United States Attorney, Jennifer P. May-Parker, First Assistant United States Attorney, Kristine L. Fritz, Assistant United States Attorney, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. Brandon Cardez appeals his 28-month sentence imposed following a guilty plea to possessing a firearm as a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 921(g)(1), 924 (2012). On appeal, Cardez challenges the reasonableness of the district court's upward departure under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual 4A1.3, p.s. (2016). For the following reasons, we affirm. We review a sentence for reasonableness, applying a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007). When reviewing a departure, we consider whether the sentencing court acted reasonably both with respect to its decision to impose such a sentence and with respect to the extent of the divergence from the sentencing range. United States v. Howard, 773 F.3d 519, 529 (4th Cir. 2014) (internal quotation marks omitted). Reasonableness has both procedural and substantive components. Gall, 552 U.S. at 51. In assessing procedural reasonableness, we consider factors such as whether the district court properly calculated the Sentencing Guidelines range, considered the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) (2012) factors, and sufficiently explained the sentence imposed. Id. Where the defendant or prosecutor presents nonfrivolous reasons for imposing a different sentence than that set forth in the advisory Guidelines, a district judge should address the party's arguments and explain why he has rejected those arguments. United States v. Carter, 564 F.3d 325, 330 (4th Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). If no procedural errors exist, we consider the substantive reasonableness of a sentence, evaluating the totality of the circumstances. Gall, 552 U.S. at 51. Under that standard, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it applied USSG 4A1.3, p.s. That section encourages upward departures when reliable information indicates that the defendant's criminal history category substantially under-represents the seriousness of the defendant's criminal history or the likelihood that the defendant will commit other crimes. USSG 4A1.3, p.s. Here, the district court found that Cardez's criminal history category underrepresented his past crimes, some of which had been consolidated for judgments, and that Cardez seemed likely to commit future crimes. While Cardez committed most of his crimes as a juvenile, the district court considered that factor among others. The court also considered Cardez's past in rejecting more lenient sentences, including supervision with outpatient drug treatment. Based on the court's consideration of all relevant factors and the totality of the circumstances, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it sentenced Cardez. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's judgment. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED PER CURIAM: For months before Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie officially got divorced, all kinds of rumors were flying about the celebrity couple. The tabloids must have been disappointed that its all over, so now theyre finding other outlets for their rumors. Same people, different scope. Brad snuck off to Cambodia to be with the kids One story told the tale of Pitt sneaking off to Cambodia, where Angelina was busy filming First They Killed My Father, to spend time with the kids. HollywoodLife reckons Brad pulled off a secret rendezvous with Angelina while spending time in a luxury resort in a town close to where Angelina and the kids were staying. The pair then reportedly split time with the kids between them, without actually being together. According to Gossip Cop the actual story is that Brad did spend time in Cambodia while Angelina was filming, but this was before the split, not after it certainly wasnt a recent thing. Of course, that isnt sensational, so they played it up a little. Angelina Jolie and Tom Cruise having secret romantic meetings The next gem comes from National Enquirer UK. That tabloid decided to use the more than 20-year-old rift between Pitt and Tom Cruise while filming Interview with the Vampire. What the report said was while Cruise was in England visiting the Scientology headquarters, the pair met to discuss a film project and hit it off. Angelina Jolie & Tom Cruise: Brad Pitt's Ex-Wife Secretly Meeting With 'Mummy' Star; Rumor Not True? - Enstarz https://t.co/iLSb1fxTfN Internet Rumors (@InternetRumors) March 31, 2017 The report went on to say Angelina was attracted to Cruises masculinity and wild side, saying Tom is being groomed for a top spot in Scientology and desperately needs a wife to stand with him. The tabloids source went on to say how angry Brad was about the situation, saying it was perfect for Angelina to get under Brads skin. Naturally, Gossip Cop busted this story too. Sandra Bullock is dating Brad Pitt This is the latest story, which reportedly came from an Australian tabloid, for a change. New Idea came up with a great headline saying Pitt and Sandra Bullock are officially together. Reportedly George Clooney set the whole thing up like some kind of a matchmaker because he cant stand to see his good friend broken-hearted. So fast: Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock are dating? https://t.co/4A3z71W1b5 pic.twitter.com/KQiHr14fvz Celebrity & Gossip (@celebbmagazine) March 29, 2017 What New Idea says is that Sandra and Brad had been discreetly seeing each other, having secret romantic meetings, and have now taken things to the next level. Bullock has been involved with photographer Bryan Randall, but New Idea says she dumped him earlier this year to take up with Brad, to help him over his divorce from Angelina. It goes on to say the couple has known each other for a long time, but the timing has never been right for them to get together until now. Gossip Cop spoke to their own source who actually laughed out loud, telling them Brad and Sandras dates must be so secret, neither of them knows anything about them. Reportedly Bullock and Randall are still doing just fine and Brad is carrying on as normal as a single guy. Mind you, in the past, New Idea has tied up Brad with both Kate Hudson and Courteney Cox, so its hard to know what the tabloids will come up with next. Take everything with a pinch of salt a huge pinch of salt. Over the last 24 hours, the pressure has mounted on President Donald Trump to make a move regarding Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his alleged communication with Russia. After it was revealed that Sessions had spoken with the Russian ambassador on more than one occasion during the election, backlash quickly followed, including from some top stars in Hollywood. Sessions roasted Since the start of the 2016 presidential election, one of the running themes has been what involvement Russia had in impacting the results in favor of Donald Trump. Questions were raised early on in the campaign when Trump would hold back and not criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite attacking nearly anyone else in his path. With the former host of "The Apprentice" unwilling to release his tax returns, speculation increased about what financial ties Trump had back to the Kremlin. On Wednesday night, the Washington Post reported that Jeff Sessions had contact with a Russian offical last summer, which he neglected to mention under oath during his Senate confirmation hearing to become the attorney general. Sessions and the White House continue to deny the allegations, but as seen across Twitter on March, some of the biggest celebrities are speaking out. Sessions lied at Senate hearings. Had contact w/Russia during campaign. NYT backs up story of Russian contacts. Here we go! #Trumprussia Rob Reiner (@robreiner) March 2, 2017 "Sessions lied at Senate hearings. Had contact w/Russia during campaign. NYT backs up story of Russian contacts. Here we go!," actor and director Rob Reiner wrote on Twitter, before using the hashtag "#Trumprussia." Attaching comments made by Rep. Elijah Cummings calling for Jeff Sessions to resign, filmmaker Michael Moore added, "Congressman calls on Sessions to resign for lying under oath." In a follow-up tweet, Moore wrote, "Perjurer. Hypocrite. Attorney General." Jeff #Sessions needs to resign. Your voice matters. If you agree, Congress needs to hear from you. Before dinner, call (202) 224-3121. Emmy Rossum (@emmyrossum) March 2, 2017 "Shameless" actress Emmy Rossum decided to give her thoughts on Twitter, writing, "Jeff #Sessions needs to resign. Your voice matters. If you agree, Congress needs to hear from you. Before dinner, call (202) 224-3121." Director Judd Apatow decided to take a more humorous approach, tweeting, "He should resign to Colorado and have a joint and live out his years staring at a mountain." He should resign to Colorado and have a joint and live out his years staring at a mountain. https://t.co/IKvYRhxLDf Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) March 2, 2017 Double down Actor George Takei, who has made his feelings known about Donald Trump and his cabinet, also hit back at Jeff Sessions, using mockery and trolling to get his point across. "The Russian Ambassador must be terrible in conversations. It seems everyone always forgets what they talked about with him," Takei tweeted."Palin: I can see Russia from my house! Trump: Well, I can see Russians in my office," he added in another social media post. The Russian Ambassador must be terrible in conversations. It seems everyone always forgets what they talked about with him. George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) March 2, 2017 Palin: I can see Russia from my house! Trump: Well, I can see Russians in my office. George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) March 2, 2017 Actress and talk show host Rosie O'Donnell sent out a long list of tweets, one which included a video clip from 1999 showing Jeff Sessions calling to prosecute former President Bill Clinton for perjury. "PROSECUTE JEFF SESSIONS #RESIST," O'Donnell added. Not long after that, O'Donnell sent out a warning about the future of the Donald Trump presidency. "WE WILL NOT SURVIVE HIM AS A NATION IF WE WAIT 9 MORE MONTHS," O'Donnell tweeted in all caps, before adding, "THIS IS A NATIONAL EMERGENCY." WE WILL NOT SURVIVE HIM AS A NATION IF WE WAIT 9 MORE MONTHS - THIS IS A NATIONAL EMERGENCY #911 #1adam12 #impeachNOW #SHAME @BarryB911 ROSIE (@Rosie) March 2, 2017 Moving forward Despite the backlash from Hollywood and Democrats in Congress, the American people are also not pleased with how Donald Trump has handled his time in office, including the actions of his cabinet members. A recent poll from Quinnipiac University shows that less than 40 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the current president, despite what Trump has spoken about on social media and in speeches. Josh and Anna Duggar have been a hot topic for almost two years now. May will mark the 2-year anniversary of the media leak of Josh Duggar's teenage past. It was revealed that he had molested several girls when he was a teenager, some of them being his younger sisters. This caused a media frenzy and caused the show, "19 Kids and Counting" to be canceled by TLC. The aftermath The weeks and months following the media leak were hard on Josh Duggar. He was expecting his fourth child with Anna and the stress was through the roof. A few months later, it was revealed that Josh had two accounts with the cheating site, Ashley Madison. This news shattered Anna's world. She went from trusting her husband completely (he had disclosed his teenage mistakes to her and her family prior to getting married) to feeling like her life was a lie. That was when the divorce rumors began to swirl. Josh Duggar immediately went to a rehabilitation facility for sex addiction. It was a faith-based place, one that would fall in line with what the Duggar Family beliefs. The facility was located in Rockford, Illinois and the family did visit him at least once. Anna Duggar flew out to visit her husband for Christmas. She remained quiet about what was happening with their marriage and only gave an interview to TLC for what was believed to be a short-lived series, "Jill and Jessa: Counting On." Anna remained with the Duggars while Josh completed six months of sexual rehabilitation. Life after reality television Because of his fame, Josh Duggar has basically had to remain in hiding since returning home to Arkansas almost a year ago. He arrived back home last April and since then, has only been seen in public a handful of times. Things have likely not been easy on Anna Duggar and rebuilding trust is a work in progress. There is no confirmation that the couple even discussed divorce, let alone have decided to file for it. The couple released a statement last month indicating that the divorce rumors are not true and that they will remain married. Despite everything that has happened between Josh and Anna Duggar, their commitment to their marriage ranks above anything else. The new "Star Trek" series "Star Trek: Discovery" will premiere at the end of this summer or at the beginning of autumn, according to Hollywood Reporter. CBS' president Leslie Moonves said at a conference for media and telecommunications that they don't want to rush the project because there is much to do in post-production. The launch of the series 'Star Trek: Discovery' has been postponed several times Originally scheduled to be launched in January this year, the show has been delayed several times, mainly because of Bryan Fuller's departure from the position of coordinator of the show. Leslie Moonves said that the TV series, being produced in Toronto, will not be rushed to be released. Moonves thinks it's important to do it properly because the famous show is "the jewel in the family." A new approach to Star Trek The project called "Discovery" proposes a new approach to this classic of science fiction with a new crew, new characters, and new worlds. Leslie Moonves said that the TV series has a huge fan base who cannot wait to watch the show on the Cbs All Access subscription service digital channel. He mentioned that they are getting many emails each day because the fans are very anxious and they believe this is the perfect show for All Access. For worldwide distribution, CBS has signed an agreement with Netflix, which will broadcast the TV series in 188 countries 4 hours after the American premiere. The first episode of "Discovery" will be broadcasted on CBS' TV channel and the next ones will be watched on CBS All Access. The show will be the first TV series from the famous franchise after "Star Trek: Enterprise" ceased to be broadcast in 2005. Jason Isaacs will serve as captain Jason Isaacs has been cast as Captain Lorca in the TV series "Discovery," according to Deadline. Jason Isaacs joins the list of actors who have played ship captains from the famous science fiction franchise. Other actors include: Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Kate Mulgrew, Avery Brooks, and Scott Bakula. It was just last week when Donald Trump and the entire Republican Party were left embarrassed after failing to unite on a Health Care Reform bill. The topic of health care was discussed during the "Overtime" segment following the latest "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO. Real Time on health care Ever since former President Barack Obama signed off on the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, back in January 2010, Republicans have made it their mission to repeal the law in question. While Obamacare seemed safe after it was upheld by the Supreme Court back in 2012, the fear of its demise increased after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election and walked into the White House with a Repubican majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. When Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan came together earlier this month to promote their health care alternative, it seemed as if the GOP dream of Obamacare repeal was finally going to happen, but it all came crashing down when the right-wing House Freedom Caucus refused to support the bill. These issues were highlighted during the "Overtime" segment with Bill Maher on March 31. (The Obamacare exchange starts at 9:00 in the above video.) Following Friday's episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher," the YouTube-exclusive "Overtime" segment took place where panel guest Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress, and host Bill Maher, clashed with former Sen. Republican Rick Santorum. After Tanden called out the GOP for failing to unify behind a health care replace, Tanden debunked popular Republican talking points about the alleged failure of Obamacare. Double down Rick Santorum chimed in, attempting to blast Obamacare for using government money to help cover low-income Americans, but ran into a brick wall of fact-checking and push back from Bill Maher and Neera Tanden. "Even Kansas voted for the Medicaid expansion...that's not a liberal state!," Maher said. When Santorum complained that it was "free money from the federal government," Maher fired back, commenting, "to take care of poor people!" "So the people who get bladder cancer in a state that experiments badly, they just die?" Maher wondered. The segment closed with the former Pennsylvania senator arguing that health insurance should be about freedom, regardless if the federal government could help cover those who are uninsured. Administration accused of seeking unlimited power through new bill The British government was criticized by opposition parties after it revealed its plans for domestic legislation to facilitate the UK's withdrawal from the EU on Thursday. The government published its discussion paper - Legislating for the United Kingdom's Withdrawal from the European Union- which proposed that it adopts sweeping powers to amend and change legislation without recourse to Parliament. The document, known as a "white paper", is like a first draft of a legislative bill, which can be changed substantially before Parliament votes on it. The paper outlines that in order for the UK to leave the EU with the minimum chaos, the government has decided that all European laws and regulations - some 8,000 -have to be incorporated into British law. This would mean that all the same laws would apply in the UK the day before Brexit and the day after. David Davis, the minister for the UK's withdrawal from the EU, said that government would need to take new powers to ensure the smooth transition from membership of the EU to non-membership but they would only be used for technical issues and would be time-limited. He told Parliament on Thursday: "Given the scale of the changes that will be necessary and the finite amount of time available to make them, there is a balance to be struck between the importance of scrutiny and correcting the statute book in time." Keir Starmer, speaking for the Labour Party, said the government planned a power grab. He said: "In those circumstances one might expect some pretty rigorous safeguards to the use of these sweeping powers, but none are found in the white paper." Caroline Lucas of the Green Party tweeted: "Far from being 'technical', #GreatRepealBill is huge attack on our democracy: Gov wants unlimited power to amend law. We will fight this." The events of Thursday demonstrate that the British government faces complex challenges at home as well as abroad in its effort to leave the EU. The government has a majority of 17 and can be outvoted if anti-European or pro-European Conservative MPs vote with the opposition parties. The Brexit legislation will provide hundreds of opportunities for government defeat in the next two years, any of which may persuade it to call an early general election. According to current opinion polls, the Conservatives would likely increase their majority substantially in an election, but having one would disrupt its two-year timetable for leaving the EU. Also, an election could split and weaken the Conservatives as they dispute what kind of relationship they want with the EU. In celebration of World Autism Day on Friday, the Chinese permanent representative to the UN said that autism must be tackled within the broader context of the UN's health policy as designated by the 2030 agenda of sustainable development. Governments should establish mechanisms to foster cooperation between countries to implement health and disability goals related to the 2030 agenda, and more financial resources must be invested to improve medical services and healthcare in remote and underdeveloped areas because "these are coincidentally areas where migration is more likely to take place," said Liu Jieyi at the UN. He made his remarks at a high-level meeting on migrants with autism and developmental disabilities. "It is important to stress the role of reform and innovation in the overall public health system, and also in the technology and medicine involved to address the challenge of more cases of autism throughout the world," Liu said. It is also important to stress prevention, shifting the perception of health from "a treatment-centered approach to a health-centered approach," he said. China has emphasized public health as a part of its development strategy because the country is ``guided by the concept that prosperity cannot be achieved without health," Liu said. China is working to promote healthy lifestyles, optimize health services, improve the healthcare system, build a healthy environment, and develop its health industries, he added. On autism, China is implementing a program called Colorful Dream to help children with disabilities, providing financial assistance and rehabilitation services to children with autism, particularly those from impoverished and migrant worker families. "In China children with autism are fondly called 'children of stars,'" Liu said. "China will continue to work with other countries to support autism treatment and rehabilitation and also raise global awareness and strengthen cooperation so that children of the stars from all over the world will enjoy a life as fruitful of all other kids, and that will certainly be a much better world," he said. amyhe@chinadailyusa.com This five-bedroom Tudor-style house in a Queens neighborhood in New York City that US President Donald Trump lived in briefly as a child was sold to someone from China for a price that is more than double that of other houses in the area, according to media reports. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY A five-bedroom Tudor-style house in a Queens neighborhood in New York City that US President Donald Trump lived in briefly as a child was sold to someone from China for a price that is more than double that of other houses in the area, according to media reports. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the buyer "is a woman from China" and said the purchase price of $2.14 million came in an auction by Paramount Realty USA. The house was built by Trump's father, Fred, in 1940 and the president lived there until he was about 4 years old. The family then moved to another house Fred Trump built nearby. "This property is so much more than just real estate; it's the childhood home of the 45th President of the United States, and it's a part of history," Misha Haghani of Paramount Realty USA, told ABC News. "I did have some expectation that the purchaser would be a huge Trump supporter from within America," Haghani told the Times. He declined to reveal the identity of the buyer. "But it is entirely possible that the purchaser is a huge Trump supporter from outside of America," he said. Cathy Han, a New York real estate agent specializing in marketing properties to Chinese buyers, told the newspaper that she was not surprised that a Chinese buyer may have purchased the house. "When I saw it was Trump's birth house property for sale, I knew immediately it would get a lot of attention from Chinese buyers," said Ms Han. "I know he is a controversial figure in the States, but among Chinese people, Trump is a very popular kind of character in China." The house was first offered for auction last fall but it was canceled. City records show an investor, Michael Davis, ultimately bought the home for nearly $1.4 million in December. paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com Third from left, Guo Wenchang, chairman of Kenya Overseas Chinese Association, and Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Abbas Gullet. The Chinese community handed over a cash donation of $20,000 toward the drought relief program spearheaded by the humanitarian organization. [Photo by Lucy Morangi/chinadaily.com.cn] Chinese people will not abandon their Kenyan brothers in a time of need. This was the sentiment expressed said by Guo Wenchang, chairman of the Kenya Overseas Chinese Association, when he handed over a cash donation of $20,000 on Friday to the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) to help strengthen humanitarian interventions following a severe drought that has ravaged several parts of the East African nation. Guo said the association had launched a fund-raising drive early this year immediately after the Kenyan government declared the drought a national disaster. "This donation will provide a reprieve to families facing starvation," Guo said at the KRCS offices in Nairobi, where he was accompanied by representatives from other Chinese organizations. According to government statistics, the number of Kenyans in need of relief supplies has risen to 2.7 million from 1.3 million last year. This is the second time the association has stepped in to assist in the humanitarian organizations drought relief efforts. When Kenya suffered a drought in 2011, the community launched an initiative that saw 60 tons of food taken to Turkana in the Northern Frontier. While thanking the association for the donation, KRCS Secretary General Abbas Gullet said this years crisis was more severe and the donation would go a long way toward protecting the affected communities from starvation. "This is a humanitarian crisis that needs every hand to chip in. It is indeed a noble gesture from the Chinese community," said Gullet, adding that their hearts were in the right place. Representatives of the Kenya Overseas Chinese Association at the Kenya Red Cross offices together with Secretary General Abbas Gullet. The Chinese community handed over a cash donation of $20,000 toward the drought relief program spearheaded by the humanitarian organization. [Photo by Lucy Morangi/chinadaily.com.cn] He noted that the China-Kenya relationship, established decades ago, has continued to flourish through the years. Aside from trade, the two countries closely partner in other areas that mutually benefit its peoples. In January, the humanitarian organization appealed for $10 million to assist communities facing starvation due to late-onset and inadequate rains. This was later revised to $25 million as more people slid into the emergency bracket. The organization has so far received 40 percent of this goal, with 10 percent raised locally. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff Appellee, v. WAINSWORTH MARCELLUS HALL, a/k/a Unique, Defendant - Appellant. No. 16-6658 Decided: March 30, 2017 Before SHEDD, DUNCAN, and AGEE, Circuit Judges. Nicholas David Renninger, KOZAK, DAVIS, RENNINGER & BELOTE, P.C., Portsmouth, Virginia, for Appellant. Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney, Randy C. Stoker, Assistant United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee. Wainsworth Marcellus Hall appeals the district court's order denying his motions to reconsider the district court's denial of his 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2) (2012) motion. The district court lacked jurisdiction to grant Hall's motions for reconsideration, see United States v. Goodwyn, 596 F.3d 233, 235-36 (4th Cir. 2010), and therefore we affirm the district court's denial of relief. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED PER CURIAM: HCM City and Japanese firms discussed investment opportunities at a business-matching event held in HCM City on Thursday. Photo baocongthuong.com.vn HCM CITY HCM City and Japanese firms discussed investment opportunities at a business-matching event held in HCM City on Thursday. At the event, more than 100 participants, including representatives from HCM City companies and 11 members of Junior Chamber International Japan (JCI), met to discuss potential business deals in various fields, including finance, industry and service, as well as in industrial zones. Kentaro Harada, chairman of JCI, said that Vietnamese industry and service sectors had been developing well and that the country had become an ideal destination for investors, but that it needed to attract more investment to speed up industrial growth. He said Japanese companies should not miss the chance to invest in the industrial, service and consumption sectors in Viet Nam. Steve Bui, chairman of Delta E&C Japan, said that Viet Nam had great potential. He said that, through co-operation with Japanese companies, domestic companies would have opportunities to apply modern technologies and improve product quality. Japan is one of Viet Nams key investors. As of the end of last year, Japanese companies had invested in 3,280 projects in the country, worth a total of US$42 billion, equivalent to 14 per cent of total foreign investment in the country. Bilateral trade between the two countries continued to increase in recent years, with average annual growth in the last 10 years of 13.9 per cent. Trade volume by 2020 is expected to be $60 billion, compared to $9.93 billion in 2006 and $30 billion now. VNS Sean Preston, Visa country manager for Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos talks about consumption in Viet Nam. VNS Photo HCM CITY Visa Vietnam on Thursday announced that its mVisa, a quick response (QR) code-based payments service, will soon be expanded to merchants and consumers in 10 countries, including Viet Nam. mVisa is a mobile payments solution that brings the benefits of easy and secure digital commerce to financial institutions, merchants and consumers, helping accelerate global migration from cash to electric payments. The new payment service will also help merchants reduce their investments in expensive point-of-sale infrastructure. Sean Preston, Visa country manager for Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos, announced that his company was working with banks and merchants so that the service could come out late this year. On the same day, Visa announced its 2016 Consumer Payment Attitudes Study, which said that consumers in Viet Nam were increasingly leaving their cash at home, with 62 per cent preferring to use electronic payments. When asked why they are carrying less cash the majority of consumers said this was because of greater usage of cards and safety concern of carrying cash, the study said. Visa said that its findings come on the back of an announcement that the Vietnamese Government plans to make transactions almost totally electronic by 2020 with the goal of having only 10 per cent of all transaction conducted. The companys survey also showed that 83 per cent of respondents said they shopped online at least once a month, an increase of 11 per cent over 2015. It also uncovered positive attitudes towards some of the less frequently discussed aspects of electronic payments. For instance, 77 per cent of Vietnamese respondents had a favourable view of services that use automated payments to eliminate the physical process of paying, such as taxi apps. In addition, 72 per cent said that they were comfortable with the use of biometrics such as fingerprints and face recognition for payment authentication. The survey, conducted in October last year, was an online study of payment behavior and trends across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Viet Nam and the Philippines. Respondents were people above the age of 18 with a monthly personal income of VN5 million and above. VNS HA NOI A proposal to build a statue of a turtle beside Sword Lake, located in the heart of the capital city, was submitted to the Ha Noi Peoples Committee earlier this week. As well as an icon of the ancient capital, the lake is considered a sacred place in the hearts of Vietnamese citizens for its connection to the legend of King Le Loi, one of the countrys heroes who defeated Chinese invaders with a holy sword given to him by the gods. He later returned the sword to the lake now known as Sword Lake in downtown Ha Noi and a giant turtle took it before disappearing under the water. The kings reign ended and his empire eventually crumbled but the legend remains a part of local lore. The lake continues to remind Vietnamese of the courage and determination of our forefathers in the fight to safeguard the countrys sovereignty and independence. Any changes proposed for the lakes surrounding area always attract a lot of attention from the public, and often severe criticism. Author of the proposal Ta Hong Quan, a resident of Ha Noi, was well-aware of that fact. My hope is that the capital may get another cultural landmark. I knew the idea will attract a lot of criticism but it comes from my love for the city as a resident, Quan told the Viet Nam News Agency. From the stories of King An Duong Vuong (a giant turtle also helped the king build the Co Loa Citadel to defend against northern invaders in 200BC) to Le Loi, the material is there for us to create a unique spiritual symbol for Ha Noi, he added. Quan noted that many countries have animals as their national symbol and as of now Viet Nam has yet to decide on one. He also clarified some misunderstandings regarding his proposal. Some people think its made of gold and that will be a huge waste but my proposal is that the statue to be made of copper covered in a layer of gold. Also, it will be around the size of a small car (not taller than 2.5 metres), Im just trying to put the idea out there. Once approved, a contest should be held to select the most pleasing design, he added. Quans idea was received with enthusiasm by some of the countrys prominent scholars including President of the Vietnam Association of Historical Sciences Phan Huy Le, Prof. and turtle expert Ha inh uc and historian Duong Trung Quoc. Quoc, however, said city authorities must consult with the public and experts in related fields to understand the repercussions of such a project. Criticism Making a beautiful statue may prove to be a challenge, however, according to President of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association painter Tran Khanh Chuong. Chuong said a turtles natural pose is lying flat. From a sculptors point of view, this is very difficult to work with, Chuong said. Aesthetic considerations aside, promoting the turtle as the citys spiritual symbol may require further discussion. Turtles and snakes are animals associated with floods and therefore, often held in contempt by farmers, said Prof. Tran Lam Ben, a cultural expert. My question is why the change of heart now? The turtle is one of the four sacred animals often seen in temples. Personally, I dont think its appropriate to put it by Sword Lake, which is already an iconic cultural landmark of the country, Ben said. For the time being, the proposal is on ice. A recent announcement by the capitals culture department said it has not received any instructions on how to proceed with Quans proposal from city authorities. Head of the citys culture department To Huy ong said there are already two large turtle replicas preserved at the Ngoc Son Temple as well as a four-ton ceramic turtle statue made for the occasion of the capitals 1,000th anniversary in 2010. His deputy Truong Minh Tien also commented on the matter, saying the city already has a symbol, the Temple of Literature. The lake is special. Each and every project must be carefully considered. The city will also listen to the publics wishes and expert opinions, Tien said. Recent ideas regarding Sword Lake that drew a lot of flak from the public, as well as the press, included a Hollywood-style Walk of Fame and statue of King Kong, a mythical creature featured in the latest Hollywood blockbuster Kong: Skull Island, which was filmed in Viet Nam. VNS President Tran ai Quang (R) receives US Ambassador to Viet Nam Ted Osius yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo Nhan Sang HA NOI Viet Nam is ready to co-operate with President Donald Trumps administration and maintain the impetus for growing bilateral ties, President Tran ai Quang told US Ambassador to Viet Nam Ted Osius yesterday. The President affirmed that Viet Nam will continue promoting comprehensive partnership with the US in a practical, constructive, stable and mutually beneficial manner on the basis of respect for each others political institutions, independence, national sovereignty and territorial integration. He asked Ambassador Osius to convey his thanks to President Trump for the latters recent letter on strengthening bilateral co-operation between the two nations. The two sides need to maintain high-level visits and contacts, President Quang said, adding this would strengthen mutual understanding and trust. The President noted that Viet Nam advocates free trade on the basis of equitable, mutual benefit, and will continue implementing its international commitments, including free trade agreements (FTAs) that it sees as catalysts for growth. He also urged the US to continue its support for Viet Nam in addressing post-war consequences, particularly projects to clean up Agent Orange/dioxin and remove unexploded ordnance. Referring to the rapid and complicated developments in the region that carry the risk of conflict, President Quang stressed that Viet Nam welcomes the USs increasing co-operation with countries in the region for maintaining freedom of navigation and aviation, and supports for the settlement of disputes through diplomatic measures and dialogue on the basis of international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, and other relevant ASEANs mechanisms, such as the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and working toward a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC). For his part, Ambassador Osius pledged to continue working to persuade the US Government, Congress and business community to strengthen ties between the two nations. He noted that the comprehensive partnership between Viet Nam and the US was enjoying development at all bilateral, regional and global levels. He emphasised the contents of Trumps February 2 letter to the Vietnamese State leader, which affirms the wish to boost co-operation with Viet Nam in economy, trade and regional and international issues. The letter also says the US wants to work with Viet Nam and other nations in the region to ensure peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region on the basis of respect for international law. The ambassador spoke highly of Viet Nam hosting the APEC Year 2017, in particularly the success of the first APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM 1). The US President was considering attending the 25th APEC Summit, he said. President Quang said the US Presidents participation in the summit would contribute significantly to its success and enhance the role and reputation of APEC. Ambassador Osius affirmed that the US would continue working closely with Viet Nam to ensure the summits success. VNS HCM CITY The southern metropolis breakneck urbanisation has turned much its surrounding agricultural land into urban space, both officially and unofficially. Residential houses have been built on top of former farmland parcels for decades now, however, existing law has not provided legitimacy for this practice, leading to years-long problems for the residents and headaches for local authorities, the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported. A former two-hectare orchard located in Alley 148, Nguyen Binh Street, Phu Xuan Commune of Nha Be is now concreted over and tightly packed with houses, forming an unplanned residential area, one that appears not in the governments official planning, but inevitably out of peoples necessity and todays trend. The result is a motley of agricultural and residential land. The construction of a number of new houses has been halted midway since construction permits cannot be obtained, due to the type of land they are situated on. V.K., a resident in the Alley 148, said previously, he rented the current 21sq.m house, then after years of saving, decided to buy it for VN350 million (US$15,400). The transaction between him and the then-owner was done solely via a handwritten contract and a photocopy of the land use rights (LURs) certificate - not of said land parcel, but of the whole two hectare. Over time, many other people bought other pieces in the orchard, creating a crowded urban settlement. Some houses with large enough floor area have received approval to be converted to residential land, but other smaller houses, like that of V.K.s, were not that fortunate. We bought the agricultural land, knowing its risky, but we were cash-strapped and had very few choices, he said. Now if the government allows us to get the certificate for the house, good. Otherwise, what are we to do? he added. L., another resident, said some people living here who want to sell their houses sought a relatively modest price. Though, without proper LURs certificates, it is not an easy sell interested potential buyers came then looked the other way. Nguyen Thanh Nhung, Chairman of Phu Xuan Commune Peoples Committee, said that LURs for houses in this area would be granted when the parcels are splitted and converted to other purposes. However, the division of parcels can only be done when each parcel is at least 120sq.m much bigger than a typical house floor. The minimum area criterion was set in 2014 to prevent small dilapidated settlements from being built and lumped together into slums without State provision of necessities like water and electricity and other services, which will ultimately hamper the living quality for residents. Nhung also said that some ad hoc unplanned settlements have recently been included in city planning, so cases with enough land area can receive LURs and be converted to rural residential land. In the fringes of the city, people have set up their dwellings on former agricultural land for a long time now, notably in other outskirts like Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh, Can Gio, or Nha Be, but their legal status remains in limbo. However, with the Resolution 01/2017 issued by the government that has just come into effect this March, a window of opportunity has opened for these residents. According to this new piece of legislation, LURs can be granted to houses that have been bought via handwritten contracts prior to January 1, 2008. A resident, N.T.T, living in Vinh Loc A Commune, Binh Chanh District, said if she gets the LURs, she can finally use her current land as collateral to get bank loans and upgrade her make-shift house, making it more liveable. In the meantime, she will have to wait for commune authorities to issue specific instructions regarding the implementation of the resolution. More waiting Truong Tien Trien, Vice Chairman of Can Gio District, said that legally speaking, the state does not allow construction of houses atop agricultural land. Only a few exemptions are made, for example, when a farmer household decides to build a crude shed-like house for relaxation after working, Trien added. Nguyen Thanh Toan, deputy head of HCM Citys Department of Construction, said owners of local houses who build on agricultural land interspersed with residential land that have already been included in citys planning for residential land can apply normally for LUR. However, people are absolutely banned from erecting houses on agricultural lands that are already reserved in citys planning for the development of public buildings, schools, or green spaces, according to Toan. Concerning the purely agricultural land, the city maintains that no purpose conversion, especially for urban development, is going to take place on such areas which are reserved for deployment of new-style rural areas. In these agricultural lands, if the authorities let illegal construction spiral out of control, they will be held accountable and must take immediate appropriate actions, he said. Its unacceptable when new settlements keep sprouting up, but without schools, roads, or parks. According to statistics from the HCM Citys Department of Natural Resources and Environment, in the city, there are 37,000 existing cases of home not eligible for land use rights certificates. VNS HCM CITY Following Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs order to stop the illegal use of injected substances in shrimp exports, authorities in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta have begun several measures to end the practice by the end of next year. Such practices have led to rejections of batches of shrimp exports by foreign importers. Inspectors in Bac Lieu Province on Tuesday made an unannounced stop at a local shrimp shop in Gia Rai Town, owned by Ha Thi Kieu, and discovered that 20 workers were injecting agar, a jelly-like substance, into the shrimp. The inspectors used chemical tests to check the shrimp and found that 55kg of shrimp had been injected with agar to improve their size, weight and visual appeal. The inspector of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development seized all the shrimp and collected evidence to deal with the case under the law. On March 27, Bac Lieu authorities confiscated around 426kg of similarly injected shrimp being transported on a truck driven by Le Hoang Luyen on National Road 1 in Bac Lieu Province en route to Bac Lieu City to sell the shrimp. The authorities said the substance-injected shrimp belonged to Le Ngoc Thuy of Gia Rai Town. Ha Van Buol, chief inspector of Bac Lieu Provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the two incidents were among dozens of other cases of shrimp injection which had been discovered by authorities over the last two months. Other provinces in the Delta region are facing the same problem. Vo Thanh Tiem, head of the Agriculture, Forestry and Seafood Quality Department in Ca Mau Province, said the authorities had discovered seven cases involving a total of 2.5 tonnes of substance-injected shrimp confiscated since the beginning of this year. Bac Lieu Provinces Peoples Committee said that it had set a target to have all local shrimp farming, trading and processing facilities sign a commitment by the end of 2017 to abstain from shrimp injection, with the goal of putting an end to the practice in 2018. Tiem of Ca Mau Province said it was difficult for provincial authorities to manage small-scale shrimp farming, trading and processing facilities in districts and communes since most of them do not have a business certificate. Tiem emphasised the important role of district and commune authorities in managing these facilities. Meanwhile, Soc Trang Province has also begun a crackdown on injected shrimp and has disseminated information about the consequences of such practices to local shrimp businesses. Phan Thanh Chien, manager of Soc Trang Provinces Agriculture, Forestry and Seafood Quality Management Department, said that rejection of these exported shrimp had affected not only shrimp exports but also farmers due to the sharp drop in prices. Provincial coordination Provinces in the region, including Kien Giang, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, plan to strengthen their cooperation in fighting shrimp injection, according to Phan Thanh Liem, chief inspector of Kien Giang Provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The provinces plan to sign an agreement on the cooperation in April, focusing on cases in border areas. We hope that after the provinces cooperate, the problem will end, Liem said, adding that each province should prepare for the requisite financing. Chien of Soc Trang Province said the problem was difficult to resolve because the law is not strict enough. Since violators are required to pay only administrative fines, they continue to break the law. To resolve the root of the problem, its important to inspect shrimp processing establishments and traders. And stricter fines should be imposed, Tiem of Ca Mau Province said. Hotline Bac Lieu Provinces Peoples Committee has asked the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the police and Department of Industry and Trade to set up a hotline to receive information from the public about cases of shrimp injection. Violators names will be published on the provinces website and in mass media. Soc Trang Province has also set up a hotline (landline: 0793626464 and handphone: 0903314333) for the public to anonymously give tips to authorities. After checking the veracity of the complaints, the province will publish the names of violators on its website and in the media. Truong inh Hoe, general secretary of the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said that some businesses had even reported finding toothpicks and nails inside shrimp bought from local traders and farmers. He said that it took a great deal of time and money for these businesses to remove the objects from the shrimp. The shrimp injected with these substances have also been exposed to a risk of microbial infection, which will also lead to rejections by countries that import the shrimp. Prime Minister Phuc, speaking at a seminar in the southernmost province of Ca Mau last month, ordered provinces in the region to stop the injection practices, saying that violators were harming the countrys shrimp breeding industry. VNS Congressman Scott DesJarlais, M.D., has announced the kickoff to his 2017 Congressional Art Competition. The U.S. House of Representatives sponsors the nationwide contest each spring. Since 1982, when the program first began, over 650,000 high school students across the country have participated. Every year, Im amazed at the level of talent Tennessee students display, as well as their range of subject material and tools. I enjoy looking at the world through their eyes, said Rep. DesJarlais (TN-04). I cant wait to see this years entries and to meet the artists in person. The Congressional Art Competition is open to all high school students in Tennessees Fourth District. The submission deadline isApril 17 (more details below). A Middle Tennessee State University Art Department faculty member will judge the contest. Rep. DesJarlais will host a reception for the top ten entrants, and the winning artists work will hang in the U.S. Capitol for one year. Southwest Airlines will fly the winning artist and a guest to Washington, D.C., for a national reception this summer. Artwork may be up to 26 inches by 26 inches, up to 4 inches in depth, and must not weigh more than 15 pounds. The artwork may be a: Painting - including oil, acrylics, and watercolor Drawing - including pastels, colored pencil, pencil, charcoal, ink, and markers (It is recommended that charcoal and pastel drawings be fixed.) Collage - must be two dimensional Print - including lithographs, silkscreen, and block prints Mixed Media - use of more than two mediums such as pencil, ink, watercolor, etc. Computer-generated art Photography All entries must be original in concept, design and execution and may not violate any U.S. copyright laws. Work submitted must be in the original medium (that is, not a scanned reproduction). Submissions must be dropped off at one of Rep. DesJarlais district offices by 4:00 pm, Monday April 17, 2017: 301 Keith Street, Suite 212 Cleveland, TN 37311 (423) 472-7500 711 No. Garden Street Columbia, TN 38401 (423) 381-9920 305 West Main Street Murfreesboro, TN 37130 (615) 896-1986 200 S. Jefferson Street Suite 311 Winchester, TN 37398 (931) 962-3180 The southern province police department said that the Kwong Lung Meko Company didnt follow its fire prevention obligations properly, leading to a devastating fire last week on March 23. Photo tuoitre.vn CAN THO The southern province police department said that the Kwong Lung Meko Company didnt follow its fire prevention obligations properly, leading to a devastating fire last week on March 23. The fire began at the facility in Tra Noc Industrial Park in Binh Thuy District at around 9:15 am on March 23 and flames ravaged the building until 11:30 am the following day. On Sunday evening just four days after the original incident the blazed reignited. Major General Tran Thi Ngoc ep, director of the municipal Department of Firefighting Police, said the fire was extremely complicated. One week before the accident, a large amount of material was brought to the company in order to fulfill an upcoming export shipment that would require round-the-clock operations. The firm was too focused on making profits and had overlooked fire safety requirements, ep said. Firefighting units discovered flammable materials including feathers, fabric, cardboard and plastic at the facility. About 26 firefighting vehicles and dozens of officers were dispatched to the scene to put out the fire. We were able to prevent the flames from reaching 18,600 litres of oil the company had stored in its basement. She added that managers of the company had failed to mention the oil storage tank to competent authorities. If we werent able to prevent the flame from reaching the oil, the consequences would have been tragic, she said. The Criminal Science Institute under the Ministry of Public Security collected evidence from the scene to identify the cause of the blaze. According to ep, about 80 percent of Kwong Lung Meko Companys assets were saved and the firms VN1.1 billion (US$48,000) annual insurance policy paid out VN555 billion ($24.2 million) to cover the damaged property. Nearly 1,000 employees and staff at the company were unharmed. Chen Lai Shik Kuan, General Director of Kwong Lung Company, apologised to people living near the incident site for the trouble it caused and for not properly observing fire safety regulations. VNS Vietnam News Agency (VNA) General Director Nguyen uc Loi with AFP CEO Emmanuel Hoog in Ha Noi yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo Phuong Hoa HA NOI Vietnam News Agency (VNA) General Director Nguyen uc Loi yesterday called for training co-operation with French wire service AFP. Meeting with AFP CEO Emmanuel Hoog in Ha Noi, Loi said VNA had several French-language publications including the French version of the online VietnamPlus e-newspaper and the Le Courrier du Vietnam, and their reports and editors would benefit from training in language and journalistic skills. He also proposed that VNA and AFP explore the possibility of co-operating in multimedia training. The VNA leader lauded the effective co-operation of the AFP over many years through the provision of quality media products to the VNA. The AFP is an important source of world news for the VNA and other media agencies in the country, he said. Loi also briefed his guest on Viet Nams hosting of the APEC Year 2017, saying the VNA was willing to provide the AFP with information on various events held throughout the year, as also assist AFP reporters in covering those events. Hoog said that his visit was an opportunity for him to get VNAs feedback on the quality of AFP products. He informed the VNA leader about the expansion of AFPs network in Asia, including its aim to diversify its information products. He agreed with Lois proposal about collaboration in training French-language editors and reporters, and asked the VNA to give more specific details. Hoog also said that he hoped the two sides would continue expanding their partnership to cover more media products and forms. The VNA and AFP have co-operated in the form of information provision contracts including English and French news and news photos. The AFP has also shared professional experience with the VNA and helped the Vietnamese State-run news agency study organisational models of international media agencies. The VNA is now the media agency with the largest number of media products and forms in Viet Nam with more than 60 media products: bulletins, photos, dailies, weeklies, monthlies, magazines, pictorials, books, a TV channel, infographics, audio programmes, e-newspapers, and information programmes on mobile platforms and social networks. The agency also delivers news in the largest number of languages. In addition to official Vietnamese-language news provided to domestic and foreign media outlets, stories for foreign services are written in English, Chinese, French and Spanish. It has print and e-newspapers in eight other foreign languages: the four mentioned above, and Lao, Korean, Japanese and Russian. This is why the VNA is now regarded as the most important Vietnamese external news centre, the host was informed. The VNA maintains bilateral and multilateral partnerships with more than 40 international media organisations. It is a member of the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA), the Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool (NANAP), and the ASEAN News Exchange (ANEX). VNS CEDAR FALLS The citys second-largest road construction project this year came in $1 million under the project estimate. Peterson Contractors Inc. of Reinbeck was the apparent low bidder on the Greenhill Road extension out of six bids received March 21 by the Iowa Department of Transportation. PCI bid a little more than $5.4 million on the project, below the estimate of $6.5 million. The City Council will be asked to accept the bids at its meeting Monday night and approve a construction contract with PCI at a meeting later in April. City Administrator Ron Gaines hailed the bid as good news. The project calls for the extension of Greenhill Road from its present end point west of Hudson Road west and north to West 27th Street west of the McLeod Center over the next two years. The plan also calls for a roundabout at Greenhills intersection with University Avenue. The extension is anticipated to relieve traffic congestion on Hudson Road from events at the McLeod Center and the UNI-Dome. It also is near land the Cedar Falls Community School District is eyeing as the possible location for a new high school. City officials have said additional improvements may be needed later if the school is built. The project is being funded by $2.85 million in federal funds. City general obligation bond proceeds, repaid with interest by property taxes, and Cedar Falls Utilities funding for water main improvements would pay for the rest. Right of way already has been secured. Gaines anticipates some work could start in May. Other major pending projects include the Dry Run Creek sanitary sewer project and a plan to raise the citys downtown flood control levee by three feet. Another project the Iowa Highway 58/Viking Road interchange, is planned for letting in December. The council meeting is scheduled to begin 7 p.m. Monday in the council chambers at City Hall. CEDAR FALLS University of Northern Iowas College of Education, and its newly renovated Schindler Education Center, graduates 450 teachers each year. If the building lasts as long as University of Northern Iowa President Mark Nook hopes another 50 years the center will have graduated more than 22,000 teachers. If those teachers go out into the world and reach 20 students for each of the next 30 years, they will have touched at least 13 million lives. But their impact will be immeasurable. It says something about the power of education and the power of this place to change Iowa and change our future, Nook said at the Schindler rededication ceremony Friday. The future of Iowa is in education. It always has been, and this is a state thats known that and known it well. Nook, who grew up in Holstein, knows first-hand. While he did not attend UNI, he knows this institution impacted my life. He was educated by teachers who graduated from UNI. The center reopened to students this semester after it was closed for construction for about 18 months. The $38.1 million project funded mostly from $31 million in state dollars and $7 million from donors has made classroom and working spaces that better suit how students are taught today. Dianna Briggs, an assistant professor in the department of teaching, said the current set-up allows professors to be the mentors in the center. More than 400 attended the ceremony. Speakers highlighted the collaborative, inclusive and accessible atmosphere the renovated space offers. State Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, a UNI alumnus, reiterated his mantra that the Cedar Valley is the education capital of Iowa. He said the center, then, could be considered the state capital of education. Julie Gerdin Durr, whose family donated to the renovation, said the building originally was built to be stable. It was built to withstand adversity and to be dominant, and just to be really strong in those times that our world was not so stable, Durr said of the building that first opened in 1972. Its new amenities elicited jealousy from alumna and 2017 Iowa Teacher of the Year Shelly Vroegh. She said in her time on campus 20 years ago, state of the art meant an overhead projector, a film reel, a desktop computer and a dot matrix printer. UNIs College of Education Dean Gaetane Jean-Marie joined the university last June, and got to watch as workers transformed the building. Ive seen how the new spaces are transforming our faculty, staff and students, Jean-Marie said. The renovations have given us spaces that are flexible, connected, collaborative and technology-rich. WATERLOO Kingsley Elementary School will provide support for students and staff after a 9-year-old student died at home Friday due to a medical problem. Jacob Simon was a third-grader at the school. Waterloo Police said he died in his sleep and was found by his parents in the morning. The child had a history of seizures. His funeral will be Wednesday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. There will be grief counseling support available at school on Monday, said Tara Thomas, a spokeswoman for Waterloo Community Schools. The students and families were notified after school on Friday. Our prayers and thoughts are going out to the family. Grief counselors have already been available to staff and students districtwide since Lou Henry Elementary School Principal Liz Crowley died Tuesday following a hospitalization. She had worked for the school district nearly 20 years and was formerly principal of Dr. Walter Cunningham School for Excellence. Her funeral will be Monday at Antioch Baptist Church. It was a tragic week for us, to lose one of our administrators and students unexpectedly, said Thomas. Along with grief counselors, many others are stepping up to help at Lou Henry as colleagues say goodbye to Crowley. We have had a wonderful outpouring of support from everyone, from retired teachers to administrators, so staff could attend the funeral on Monday, said Thomas. Thats been really neat to see. DES MOINES The Iowa Senate this week may debate a bill that would allow law enforcement agencies to keep secret 911 recordings reporting injuries or medical issues. Bill sponsor Rep. Dean Fisher, R-Montour, said House File 571 would require law enforcement agencies to edit medical information out of 911 recordings or provide redacted transcripts when the public requests the recordings, now considered public records under Iowa law. If Im laying on the floor with a heart attack and my wife calls 911, Fisher said Friday, does the public need to know that? No. However, Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, voted against the bill Thursday because he fears it could be more broadly applied to keep secret all 911 recordings, body camera videos and police logs records Danielson thinks provide police accountability to the public. We should be opening up our decision-making process, said Danielson, a firefighter. The bill would exempt from Iowas open records law medical records including information contained in audio or video call recording, including but not limited to, an audio or video 911 recording, relating to the injury or medical condition of a person who is the subject of the call. All 911 recordings concerning juveniles also would be confidential under the proposal. Fisher said he proposed the bill after a request by the Tama County Emergency Management Agency. The request likely was spurred by 911 recordings The Associated Press obtained last year about accidental shootings, Fisher said. One case involved the 2015 death of Emma Redlinger, a 14-year-old shot accidentally by a classmate inside a Vinton home. Another case reported by the AP involved a 12-year-old girl fatally shot in a 2014 hunting accident near Traer. Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, said those news reports shined light on the dangers of firearms access. Evans shares Danielsons concern HF 571 could lead to shielding of many types of police records that let the public decide whether police acted legally or ethically. Sealing off those records will make it ever more difficult to hold public officials accountable, he said. The question of whether Iowa police may keep body camera video secret in closed cases already is being tested. The Iowa Department of Public Safety and the Burlington Police Department have refused to release body camera video and other investigative records from a 2015 officer-involved shooting that left a 34-year-old Burlington mom dead. The Iowa Public Information Board, which enforces public records and meetings laws, has filed a case against the agencies and a hearing will be held later this month. The Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association and Iowa Public Safety were registered Friday as being undecided about the 911 call legislation, which already has passed the full House and made it through a Senate committee. A final vote could happen as soon as next week. Kris Connor/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The government agency leasing the Trump Hotel to the company once run by Donald Trump has not adequately explained how the arrangement is in compliance with the lease, which explicitly prohibits elected U.S. officials from benefiting from it, a Democratic senator said Friday. Sen. Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, said he received a briefing from the General Services Agency, which owns the building and provided the lease, but suggested the meeting raised more questions than it answered. Today, GSA provided a bipartisan staff briefing to my staff and staff of the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee in an effort to address these concerns. They failed, Carper said in a written statement. Staff for the EPW chairman, Sen. John Barrasso, did not respond to ABCs request for comment. Carper was concerned that upon Trumps inauguration, he would be in violation of the section of the GSA lease which read, No member or delegate to Congress, or elected official of the Government of the United States or the Government of the District of Columbia, shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom. In response to inquiries from Carper and assertions from other critics that Trump violated the lease upon his inauguration, the GSA released a letter last week asserting that the Trump Old Post Office, LLC, as the tenant is officially known, is in full compliance with that section of the lease. According to the letter which also included a timeline of the arrangement, the GSA announced the Trump Organization as the preferred selected developer on Feb. 7, 2012, more than three years before the businessman announced his presidential run. The lease was executed on Aug. 5, 2013. The document said that the reorganization of the hotel's management and the creation of a revocable trust to deal with the president's finances satisfied the terms of the lease. The General Services Agency manages government buildings and leases and manages commercial real estate owned by the federal government. During Fridays briefing, Carper said the GSA could not define the word benefit, which he said calls into question how the agency could determine that Trump was deriving no benefit from the lease. Based on the agencys apparent lack of expertise or thoughtfulness on this issue, I am extremely concerned about its ability to manage the lease, he said. He also said he was disturbed by the officials assertions, during the briefing, that the Trump administration has changed longstanding GSA practice to provide documents to both the majority and minority committee staff, and that now the GSA only has to provide documents to the committee chairman. The Trump Administrations refusal to provide transparent and complete responses to elected officials in both parties who are equally responsible for oversight of the executive branch raises questions about just what GSA is trying to hide, he said. The GSA did not respond to a request for comment. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. ArtsBuild will hold its fifth annual Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute for Teachers June 6-8. The program is based on the popular leadership institute offered by ArtsBuild each fall and is specifically geared toward K-12 teachers, librarians, principals, and administrators. Over three days the classes will focus on the impact of the arts on the local economy, downtown development, education, and quality of life. Sessions will feature hands-on activities, tours of arts organizations and artist studios as well as special guest speakers and panelists from the community. The teachers version of the Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute came from a request from a local teacher who wanted to participate in the fall session but was unable to because of her school schedule, said Rodney Van Valkenburg, director of Grants and Initiatives at ArtsBuild. The shorter, three-day intensive allows us to personalize the program for K-12 educators and administrators who have unique perspectives about arts and culture in Chattanooga. A total of 70 teachers have participated in the Teachers Institute since 2013. The feedback we receive after each years institute has been extremely positive, Van Valkenburg said. Teachers are excited about what they learn and are eager to share it with their fellow educators. Tuition is $65 for the three-day program and includes lunch each day, Institute materials, and a copy of A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. The deadline for registration is Friday, May 19. 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Unless those non-birding folks happen to be duck hunters or love to go fishing, they tend to stay away from the marshes, the riparian zones, the bottom lands. Such sites being wonderful habitat for mosquitoes and other little biting nasties, we cant really blame them. I mean, lets face it, why would we expect anyone to want to hike through sticky mud in hot humid places unless theres a serious pay-off at the end of the swampy trail? The reward has to be a big one, and if you arent venturing into the low, wet places to make money, mosquito-land swamp trekking is only going to take place when it stems from birding, herping, or some other passion-driven purpose. For us birders, visiting a wetland is a no-brainer. The rewards usually outweigh the biting bugs and especially so because they are typically easy to come by. In wildlife refuges and reserves in many parts of the world, all you need is a scope, time, and the right overlook and you can walk away with easy, prolonged studies of ducks, herons, waders, grebes, and lots of other marsh birdies. Although the few big wetland sites in Costa Rica require a bit of a trek, sun screen, and boat rides, the wetland birding is just as rewarding and acts as a welcome break from the quiet challenge of rainforest birding. See the birds? Of course not, its rainforest! There are two main wetland areas in Costa Rica, one in the Tempisque River floodplain, and the other in wetland areas associated with Lake Nicaragua. I recently made a trip to the latter area and although the wetland sojourn was necessarily brief, in keeping with marsh habitats, it was wonderfully productive. Our trip began with a dawn departure from the densely populated Central Valley followed by a four and a half hour drive to the low-lying, northern border region. Being birders, we of course made a couple stops en route, one of which was an attempt to see a small very elusive creature known as the Lanceolated Monklet. Despite our focused efforts at the La Fortuna Waterfall Trail, the first target bird remained elusive but once we reached our primary destination, we sort of made up for the miss by laying eyes on some other choice species. On the way there, we also saw King Vulture, Barred Hawk, and, this Sunbittern! Reaching that destination requires a 20 kilometer drive on a long, gravelly road that usually features a prodigious array of pot holes. However, much to our pleasant surprise, recent grading had transformed the moonscape on the entrance road to a smooth, if dusty, ride right on in to Cano Negro village. After checking in to the pleasant little cabins at Kingfisher Lodge, and getting a bit of rest, it was time for a first boat tour of the trip. Fortunately, we managed Spot-breasted Wren before taking to the river. This area is the only place where this species can be seen in Costa Rica. Once on the river, we watched the banks and were treated to the usual array of aquatic species, many of which also occur in Florida and other commonly birded places. We were surprised at the numbers of Anhingas and Neotropic Cormorants. This one is an Anhinga. While enjoying views of various herons and egrets, we were also treated to species not typically seen north of the border. These included several Amazon Kingfishers (the most common kingfisher species here) along with Ringed and Green Kingfishers, flybys of Olive-throated Parakeets, Mangrove Cuckoo, and our one and only Sungrebe. Along with the other two members of the finfoot family, the Sungrebe is a super cool weird bird. Grebe? Duck-Rail? It doesnt exactly sun bathe but the name still fits. Further on, our trusty boat driver Antonio took us to the lagoons we had been looking forward to. Since the first one was rather dry, had few birds, and wasnt going to harbor target species like Pinnated Bittern or rails, we motored on to the other pair of main, birdy water bodies. We had to depart the boat for each of these spots but the scramble up the bank was well worth it. The first harbored a bunch of shorebirds including Pectoral and Silt Sandpipers along with various waders, Limpkins, a couple of distant Snail Kites, and some ducks. While we scoped and scanned those birds, our main target suddenly appeared American White Pelican! I know, big deal for folks from much of Canada, the USA, and Mexico, but for local birders, this big bird with a pouch is a major twitch (it was a country tick for each of us). Prior to 2015, there were scant records of this species in Costa Rica but perhaps in relation to population increases up north, flocks have made appearances at Cano Negro for the past couple of winters. This year was extraordinary in that a flock has lingered for two or three months. Hopefully, this rare sighting will be an annual occurrence in Costa Rica. Although the pelicans gave beautiful looks by doing us the pleasure of flying where the late afternoon sun lit up their features, our productive birding day wasnt over yet. Antonio then took us a short way across the river to the other main lagoon, and this one turned out to be the main joint for Cano Negro waterbirds. The drying lagoon was filled with birds, including a flock of Wood Storks that foraged in a black and white feathered herd, dozens of egrets and other wading birds, a small group of Glossy Ibis, a few splashes of pink in the form of Roseate Spoonbills, and seven fantastic Jabirus! This was the highest number of this rare stork that I have ever seen in one place in Costa Rica. As a bonus, I also managed to get another country tick in the form of Long-billed Dowitcher by picking one or two out of a few dozen Short-billed Dowitchers. This final, productive stop was the perfect way to end an afternoon of easy and exciting wetland birding. However, we still had one more site to hit before making the long drive back up and over the mountains. That came in the form of another wetland near Cano Negro known as Medio Queso. This large marsh is an easy site to combine with a visit to Cano Negro, and is a short drive from the town of Los Chiles. If you can manage to connect with the one guy who gives boat rides, you might see Least Bitterns, crakes, and even Spotted Rail. Unfortunately, we werent able to contact him in advance and he was already scheduled to take a couple out fishing so our birding was restricted to the dike. Although this kept the aforementioned birds frustratingly out of reach, we still managed excellent looks at Pinnated Bittern as it foraged, stretched its neck, and flew down the river, as well as good looks at the local, endemic Nicaraguan Grackle, and Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures. We also got onto fantastic raptor migration with hundreds of Turkey Vultures, Swainsons Hawks, and Broad-winged Hawks passing overhead. After that final stop, it was time to head back home although we couldnt help but break for lunch in La Fortuna and pay a visit to the excellent Sendero Bogarin reserve at the edge of town so we could at least see one species of crake before finishing our two productive days of birding. This spot might be the easiest place to watch White-throated Crakes anywhere on the planet. The Unity Group of Chattanooga and Concerned Citizens for Justice are hosting a Run-off Election Debate for City Council Districts 7 and 9 on Sunday, at 5 p.m. at Eastdale Village Community United Methodist Church- 1403 Tunnel Blvd. Officials said, "Community organizations and faith groups have been applying more and more pressure on the City Council to prioritize community-led solutions to crime and poverty in Chattanooga that address root causes. The Run-Off Election Debate is an opportunity for community members to ask the candidates for Districts 7 and 9 about their priorities and policy plans should they win their respective council seats." Both the challengers and incumbents for both districts have been invited, but as of this press release, only challengers Demetrus Coonrod and Erskine Oglesby have confirmed that they will attend the debate. District 7 Councilman Chris Anderson has said that he will "try his best to be there," and District 9 Councilman Yusuf Hakeem has said that he "will be busy campaigning and unable to attend the debate." Mar 31, 2017 | By David The 3D printing world continues to go from strength to strength, and this last week or so has seen exciting mergers and new industrial solutions announced, as well as the world's first 3D printed swimming prosthetic and much more besides. Just in case any of it passed you by, here's a quick rundown of some of the most recent news in brief: ProtoLabs adds PolyJet 3D printing technology to its range of manufacturing solutions Digital manufacturing company ProtoLabs has recently announced the addition of the PolyJet 3D printing system to its range of products. PolyJet is an industrial 3D printing solution that will allow designers and engineers to manufacture with both rigid and elastomeric materials, in a choice of colors. The parts produced with the PolyJet method boast impressively smooth surface features and the technology can handle complex geometries with ease. PolyJet will be added to the other three 3D printing processes that ProtoLabs offers its clients- stereolithography, selective laser sintering, and direct metal laser sintering. The addition of PolyJet is a testament to our effort to further expand our capabilities in a technology-agnostic manner, said Rich Baker, CTO at Proto Labs. We firmly believe in providing a variety of manufacturing options so that our customers can choose the best process for their particular application. ProtoLabs' uniquely digital approach to manufacturing allows its clients to upload a CAD file on their website and receive an immediate quote for the print job, which is usually finished within a few days. The PolyJet announcement was made at this years Advanced Design & Manufacturing Expo in Cleveland, which runs from March 29-30. Creaforms HandyScan 3D metrology scanner certified by Airbus Canadian company Creaform, an industry leader in portable 3D measurement solutions and engineering services, has announced today that its flagship portable 3D scanner has been certified by aviation giants Airbus. The HandyScan 3D is a metrology-grade scanner whose specifications were recently recognized by the French National Laboratory for Metrology & Testing (LNE), and it is now going to be added to Airbuss next Technical Equipment Manual release. The HandyScan 3Ds point-and-shoot functioning, in combination with the onboard VXElements software, means that measurement times for the quality of aircraft parts can be cut by up to 80% compared to traditional methods. The learning curve for users is incredibly short with no 3D technology expertise required, and the portable 3D scanner can be used to test any kind of part in any environment. Maximum accuracy is 0.030 mm and the device offers a resolution of up to 0.050 mm. According to Jerome-Alexandre Lavoie, Product Manager at Creaform, This certification by an industry leader like Airbus symbolizes Creaforms commitment to helping the aerospace as much as the automotive industries address their high-level of GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing) requirements. SLM publishes fiscal summary for 2016, announcing 22 percent growth SLM Solutions AG has announced some positive financial news today, declaring a 22 % revenue increase for the 2016 fiscal year. The 3D metal printing company succeeded in achieving an impressive amount of growth in what was an unusually difficult year, global events considered. Its consolidated revenue of TEUR 66,137 rose to TEUR 80,707. The majority of this revenue was generated by the companys main business, the sale of direct laser metal sintering systems. 130 new orders were received for 3D printers in 2016, compared to 102 in the previous year. SLM Solutions is based in Lubeck, Germany and currently employs over 320 million staff worldwide. According to Henner Schoneborn, CTO of SLM Solutions:, "We believe that we are excellently positioned for further growth with our multi-laser technology. Our newly introduced machines which can be fitted with multiple 700-watt lasers are excellently suited for the series production of parts. The growing popularity of 3D technology means that even more growth can be expected for the forthcoming year. The Management Board anticipates consolidated revenue of between TEUR 110,000 and TEUR 120,000 for 2017. Amputee veteran receives new 3D printed prosthetic to help him swim The worlds first fully functional swimming prosthetic has been produced for a military veteran. 33 year-old Dan Lasko lost a leg in combat in Afghanistan, and has been using a prosthetic leg for some years now. However, like many amputees he has been unable to go swimming, due to not being able to use his regular prosthetic in the water and not wanting to go in unsupported. New York hospital and healthcare network Northwell Health have now provided him with a new 3D printed prosthetic that will allow him to enjoy swimming with his family again. Northwell Healths venture arm, Northwell Ventures worked with an industrial 3D printing company and a prosthetic design firm to create the prosthetic. Advertising agency JWT also got involved with the project, and a documentary was produced showing Laskos first venture back into a swimming pool since losing his leg. Dubbed the Fin, the 3D printed prosthetic is designed to allow users to move in and out of water freely. It will now be mass produced to be ready for commercial sale in about 6 months time. SLM partners with SAP to improve use of 3D printing in manufacturing SLM Solutions is set to form a partnership with SAP, a business-oriented software company. SAPs early access program was designed to help out manufacturers, industrial 3D printing companies and providers of services and materials, and was produced in conjunction with logistics firm UPS.The shared goal expressed by SLM and SAP is to strengthen the applications of 3D printing in industrial manufacturing. SLM in particular is looking to co-operate with as many suitable businesses as possible as part of its long-term growth strategy, and in exchange, will perform extensive testing of SAPs early access software. This practical feedback will be crucial in the further development of its distributed warehouse software. Using SAPs program gives companies an optimized interface that allows them more room to implement changes in various areas, from product design to manufacturing processes. As the software improves, SAP intends for more and more businesses to explore innovation opportunities wherever they may arise. Techmer collaborates with ORNL to develop 3D printed tools Materials expert Techmer has recently contributed to the development of a new range of high-performance 3D printed tools. Most of these large tools will be used for the aviation and automobile industries. Oak Ridge National Laboratorys 3D printing team was in charge of the print job, using Cincinnati Incs Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) machine and the materials provided by Techmer. These are custom-made, carbon fiber enhanced plastics specifically designed for 3D printing. Among the tools produced was a huge assembly tool built for the Boeing 777 aircraft, set for completion by 2020. We are very pleased with the results of this collaboration, which demonstrated how 3D printing generates significant time and cost savings, operational efficiencies, and design freedom and enables minimal touch labor, says Tom Drye, vice president of emerging markets and innovation at Techmer PM. The use of 3D printing technology cut the production time down to a fifth of what it would have been with conventional techniques. Not only are they made a whole lot quicker, the 3D printed parts are of an incredibly high standard. During testing, the tools were able to withstand temperatures of more than 355 F as well as pressures of 90 pounds per square inch. Posted in 3D Printer Company Maybe you also like: Tim Stanley in The Telegraph: I have to break a golden rule. Normally, I hate it when people compare today to the Thirties: the link is lazy and often wrong. Donald Trump is not Hitler; neither is Brexit, the EU, or this cold I cant shift. But sometimes politicians inadvertently make the comparison hard to deny, as when congressman Steve King of Iowa tweeted his support for Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders ahead of the Netherlands election, adding that America and Europe cannot save their civilisation by importing foreign babies. This remark, straight out of the Thirties, makes the publication of Hitlers American Model stunningly well-timed. In his new book, the Yale professor James Q Whitman argues that the Nazis looked to the United States when writing their race laws. Critics will say that Whitman makes too much of his German sources, or that his narrow focus obscures the wider context that the roots of Nazi race law, which sought to define citizenship by blood, really lie in 19th-century romanticism, the pseudoscience of eugenics, Hitlers evil and the ordinary Nazi party members demands for radical action. Nevertheless, theres a taboo about US innocence that needs breaking here and Whitman grinds it underfoot. How could Uncle Sam provide any source material for Nazi race laws? America, which was founded on the principles of liberty and equality, later joined the war in Europe to defeat fascism how could the Germans see anything there but an ideological opposite? Youd be surprised. As Whitman notes, when Hitler was writing Mein Kampf he looked around the world for an example of a state that understood the benefits of racial purity, and found only one: The American Union categorically refuses the immigration of physically unhealthy elements, and simply excludes the immigration of certain races. In these respects, America already pays obeisance, at least in tentative first steps, to the characteristic volkische conception of the state. More here. Vijay Prashad in CounterPunch: On 23 March 2017, Khalid Masood ploughed his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London, stabbed a police officer with a knife, and then was shot dead. He killed four people in the rampage, which injured an additional forty people and disturbed the equanimity of a major Western city. Masood, who was born in Dartford (Kent, United Kingdom), had run afoul of the law for many yearsmainly because of acts of violence and possession of weapons. The gap between the act of Masood and a common criminal is narrow. Two months ago, the head of the Metropolitan Police said that warning lights are flashing over the rise of violent crime across England and Wales. The preferred weapon, said Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, was the common knife. Violent crime had risen by twenty-two percent, with the last quarter of 2016 registering 30,838 crimes committed with knives. Masoods crime could well have been read alongside this data, as a serious problem of an increase in violence with knives as the weapon of choice. Instead, the media and the British political class offered a sanctimonious lesson in civics. This was, said UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, an attack on our democracy, the heart of our democracy. UK Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons that despite this attack, we will move forward together, never giving in to terror. And never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart. One newspaper suggested that Boris Johnsons statement was Churchillian. More here. Cory Branan will be playing at JJs Bohemia on April 30 in support of his forthcoming album Adios, which is out April 7. The album is already getting praise from Rolling Stone, Memphis Commercial Appeal, American Songwriter, and Alternative Press. Consequence of Sound just launched a new song "I Only Know" (featuring Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! and Dave Hause). Two other singles have already been released, Another Nightmare In America and Imogene (via SoundCloud). Review for Cory Branan: Adios is Cory Branans death record. As funny and defiant as it is touching and sad, this self-dubbed losers survival kit doesnt spare its subjects or the listener. The 14-song album was self-produced and recorded in the spring of 2016 at Tweed Studios in Oxford, Ms. with a tight three piece: Branan on lead vocals and guitar (both electric and acoustic); Robbie Crowell (formerly of Deer Tick) on drums and percussion, keys, and horns; and James Haggs Haggerty on bass. Additionally, Amanda Shires contributes on fiddle and vocals, and Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! and Dave Hause provide guest vocals. Cory Branan has four previous full-length releases: The Hell You Say (2002, Madjack Records), 12 Songs (2006, Madjack), Mutt (2012, Bloodshot Records), and The No-Hit Wonder (2014, Bloodshot). His music has received critical praise from the likes of Rolling Stone and Rolling Stone Country, NPR All Things Considered, Noisey, Wall Street Journal, Paste Magazine, Oxford American, Consequence of Sound, Southern Living, and many others. What was South Dakota's biggest lottery winning? Here's the top 10. The top 10 biggest lottery winners in the state's history, according to the South Dakota Lottery. A new original play will be coming to the Ringgold Playhouse stage for a one night only performance on Wednesday, April 12, as a fundraising launch for a film adaptation of the locally written story. The one-act play, Scard for Life, was written late last year by local writer and current TRP executive director Adam Cook. The show recently had its two-weekend world premiere at the Dalton Little Theatre in Dalton. Now Mr. Cook says the cast will perform the play one more time as fundraiser for the film adaptation he and his team are currently working on. Actor Timothy Shields, who is in the play, pitched me the idea a few weeks back of attempting an adaptation so we could encapsulate this great little story weve created on film, Mr. Cook said. At first I wasnt sure it would be a good script to adapt, but after multiple discussions and hearing some of the ideas Tim and other cast members tossed around, we think this could really be a great next chapter for this little story of ours. Were planning to finalize the script and raise the funds needed during the spring and summer so we can begin production on the film in the fall. Mr. Cook added that the play was very well received in Dalton in mid-March and left audiences wanting more. Audience members were raving about the story and the performances, Mr. Cook said. Almost everyone we talked to said they wished the play was a full-length effort instead of the 40-minute one-act because they were intrigued by the story and wanted to see more of those characters. Thats what we want to do with the film version. We want to give the audiences what they want and make a movie thatll tell a more in-depth story. Play synopsis: The play follows the story of a middle-aged single mother named Scarlett (Sherry Dee Allen), who reflects on her life and death her fatal car accident, while her grown son, Jake (Timothy Shields), encounters two men (Greg Rambin, Sr. and Chris M. Cooper) at her funeral who could each be the father hes never known. The cast is rounded out by Mary Beth Torgerson playing Jakes supportive, mother-to-be fiancee. Its a strong story with relatable characters and great performances by the cast, said Mr. Cook. I wasnt interested in making a movie unless the entire cast wanted to do so. All five actors wanted to and are excited about reprising the roles theyve originated, so that was the clincher for me. The one night fundraiser is a great way to start funding our film, and itll also give TRP audience members who might have missed the show in Dalton a chance to see it right here in Ringgold at the Depot. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, April 12, with the house slated to open 30 minutes beforehand. Tickets for the show are $10 general admission and $8 for seniors and students. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Catoosa County News in Ringgold, over the phone at 227-9459, or at the door via cash or check. The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police arrested real estate Investment Company Unitech Limiteds Managing Directors Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay Chandra. The duo were arrested from Gurugram, for failing to complete a housing project on time in Gurugram Sector 70. They were not having valid permissions from competent authorities before starting the project. The duo did not return the money to the buyers who sought refund of their amount for delay in handing over the possession of the housing project. They are also accused of duping several people and have around 95 complaints registered against them for committing fraud to the tune of Rs 35 crore. Over two dozen homebuyers of Unitechs housing projects in Noida and Gurugram had approached the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) after the builder had failed to give them possession of their flats as per the schedule. The company had promised to hand over the possession of flats in 2012, but failed to meet the deadline. The consumer forum had asked Unitech to refund the money to the homebuyers with interest. On January 12, 2017, the Supreme Court directed that Rs 2 crore deposited by real estate major Unitech Resorts Ltd. with its registry be distributed among 39 home buyers who have sought refund of their amount for delay in handing over the possession of flats in the Vista housing project in Gurugram. Slapping a penalty on Unitech Resorts for delaying handing over of flats, the Supreme Court on February 20, 2017, directed it to deposit 14% interest on the 16.55 crore invested by 39 home buyers with it. In his capacity as Director of Unitech, Sanjay Chandra is an accused in the 2G spectrum scam. He is one of the industry leaders suspected of colluding with politicians such as A. Raja, then Minister for Communications & IT, to lower prices in the 2010 Indian cellular telephone frequency allocation auctions. The Supreme Court of India said that A. Raja wanted to favour some companies at the cost of the public exchequer and virtually gifted away important national asset. Chandra was arrested in April 2011 and released on bail on November 23, 2011. In July 2013, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) moved the Supreme Court for cancelling his bail, alleging that he had attempted to sabotage the trial. Legal proceedings are ongoing. There are also several legal proceedings against Unitech by both their homebuyers and the Haryana Government. In fact, the Supreme Court has directed that money for a delayed project to be refunded to buyers. Chandra founded Ikon Clothing Inc. In 1996 and was President until 2001 when he returned to India. Upon returning Chandra joined Unitech Ltd. as the Head of Sales and Marketing. In 2004, he was promoted to the position of Director. He was the key plenary in the India GRI in 2007 for the Total Real Estate Discussion and appeared on the Expert Panel for India Retail Forum in 2005 and chaired the India Advisory Board at the Second Annual ICSC Shopping Centre and Retail Conference, in Mumbai in 2005. (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) Lee University will host a student art showcase for local high school students to display their artwork, beginning Thursday. Artwork will be featured from Bradley High School, Cleveland High School, and Walker Valley High School students. An opening reception will take place on Thursday from 5-7 p.m. in Lees Communication Arts Building, Rooms 203 and 204. Refreshments will be provided. It is exciting to see the work of all three area high schools together in one place, said Mary Mathias-Dickerson, assistant professor of art at Lee. It is important for the students to see themselves as part of the larger community of artists in the area. According to Ms. Mathias-Dickerson, pieces from the high school art teachers will also be on display. The best three overall student pieces will receive Lee scholarships. The showcase will run until April 26. All art showings are free and open to the public. For more information about the showcase and Lees art program, contact John Simmons at jsimmons@leeuniversity.edu or Mathias-Dickerson at mmathias-dickerson@leeuniversity.edu. Aiken, SC (29801) Today Mainly sunny. High 73F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Clear skies with a few passing clouds. Low 47F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Two S.C. Department of Transportation workers were killed March 13 in a hit-and-run near Augusta Road in Aiken County. The Aiken County Legislative Delegation has sponsored a Work Zone Safety bill. Celebrating the Assyrian New Year in California Dennis Earl Elementary School hosts an Assyrian New Year event on Friday. As the school with the most Assyrian students throughout Turlock Unified School District, Dennis Earl Elementary School hosted an Assyrian New Year Parade that included a number of festive dances during an afternoon assembly on Friday. Roughly 65 Assyrian students participated in the event, during which they shared information about Assyrian history, food, clothing and dances with their peers. Another 20 local kids from the Church of the East also attended to perform a number of Assyrian dances. According to Community Liaison Caty Nariman, who started this event at the elementary school seven years ago, it was important to host an event like this to both educate kids about Assyrians, as well as show them that Assyrians are still carrying on their heritage and culture even in the United States. "We just want the world to know who we are and where we came from. We are appreciative to be able to live in this beautiful county and to be able to share our heritage. This is our 6,767th year of existence and I thank everyone who supported us through this, especially our principal Laura Fong who is very supportive," she said. Assyrians in Iraq Celebrate 6767th Year The Assyrian community in Duhok celebrated the 6767th Babylonian Assyrian New Year on Saturday. The Akitu festival marks the rebirth of nature in the spring, securing the life and future of the people for the coming year. Traditionally a twelve-day festival, it begins on the first new moon after the spring equinox and is dedicated to the rebirth of Marduk and his victory when he created the world out of chaos. In Akitu, the king is reminded of his humility and role as a servant dedicated to caring for his people by being stripped of his regalia and struck in the face by the head priest. Assyrians marking the day in Duhok expressed their pride and emotion in their ancient traditions. "I cannot describe my great feelings in a few words," said one attendee of the celebrations in Duhok. An Assyrian woman dressed in her traditional clothes said, "I am proud to wear my traditional and ancestors' garments today as they show our beautiful and historic symbols." The Nineveh Plains Protection Units of Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriacs said on twitter that it is their duty to safeguard their ancestor's roots that were established 6767 years ago. "This holiday is another testament of the country's proud, rich heritage and cultural richness," said the UN's representative to Iraq, Jan Kubis, is a statement extending his greetings to Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs celebrating on this day. "Your ancestors celebrated this ancient holiday to promote the fertility of the land of Mesopotamia that will bear fruit for the whole coming year. We hope the coming year will see the demise of the terrorist Daesh and the strengthening of dialogue and coexistence among Iraq's various communities so that the country can enjoy the peace it truly deserves." Akitu is one of the oldest recorded religious festivals in the world. Chance The Rapper Announces Arts & Literature Fund & $1M Donation From Chicago Bulls By Stephen Gossett in News on Mar 31, 2017 8:15PM Chance the Rapper announced on Friday that $2.2 million have been raised for Chicago Public Schools since his first $1 million gift, and that he is creating a new new Chance Arts and Literature Fund to help with distribution. The Chicago Bulls have also pledged $1 million to fund CPS, Chance announced at the press conference, at Paul Robeson High School in Englewood. "As a parent and a proud CPS graduate, I'm committed to helping ensure children have quality learning experiences," he said, joined by roughly a dozen students. Chance is partnering with local arts organization Ingenuity to launch the fund. The team is "developing a process" using data to identify schools that most need arts programming. But he added that the donations he raised would go to all sorts of supplies , not just music. "Don't marginalize me," he said. Chance also announced the next 12 schools that would be allocated money. He also urged corporations and individuals to continue pledging donations, also. Chance announced earlier this month that he will donate $1 million to Chicago Public Schools. He made the announcement at a press conference at Westcott Elementary School, the first school named as a $10,000 recipient from Chance and his non-profit organization, SocialWorks. Three days later he announced nine more CPS elementary and high schools that would receive a $10,000 donation. Chance said, "Gov. Rauner, do your job," at the presser on March 6. He had met with the governor the week prior to discuss funding for CPS, but he left "frustrated" and said subsequent discussion over the weekend produced no results. When asked on Friday, Chance said he has not spoken with Rauner since the first donation announcement. Rauner vetoed a $215 million CPS-funding bill in December, claiming that state Congressional Democrats had not done enough to provide broader pension reforms. Chicago Public Schools hit Rauner and the Board of Education with a lawsuit last month that alleges discriminatory funding practices. Northwestern U. Says It Will Not Punish Fraternity Over Sex Assault Allegations By Rachel Cromidas in News on Mar 31, 2017 9:23PM Northwestern Unviersity, via Wikimedia Commons Almost two months after several accusations of sexual assault at a Northwestern University fraternity came out, the university says it will not be punishing the fraternity involved. The February report alleged that four women were given a date rape drug at a Northwestern frat, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and two were sexually assaulted there. After the allegations were made in February, the Northwestern student government called on the school to suspend the fraternity during the investigation, and to remove the frat from campus if fraternity members are found guilty. The frat's national chapter ordered the local chapter to suspend its daily operations during the investigation as well, according to ABC7. In a statement to Northwestern community members Thursday afternoon, Student Affairs Vice President Patricia Telles-Irvin said that an investigation was conducted and "no disciplinary action or further investigative action related to the reports of sexual misconduct will be taken at this time." The school's statement said it followed procedures and concluded its investigation after determining that it did not see a cause for disciplinary action or further investigations. The statement also noted that the school would provide "additional outreach and training to fraternities and sororities on preventing sexual assault in the coming months." March 31, 2017 CAIRO In an interview with Al Arabiya TV in early February, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir accused the Egyptian regime of supporting Sudanese rebels and opposition movements. Tensions are already high between Cairo and Khartoum, and security concerns prevail over bilateral ties despite Bashir and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's talk of friendship, economic integration and common interests during their last meeting in Egypt in October 2016. During the interview, Bashir stressed that although Sudanese-Egyptian relations are good, there are outstanding issues such as the disputed Halayeb-Shalateen Triangle. He added that Sudan knows that the Egyptian intelligence services are supporting Sudanese opposition leaders and harboring them in Egyptian territory. The accusations did not stop there. On March 7, a number of Sudanese newspapers republished an article that appeared in Assayha daily: Egyptian intelligence services increase meetings with Sudanese opposition. The article revealed that Cairo-based figures of Sudanese opposition factions such as the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attended these meetings. It also alleged that the Egyptian regime is conducting media campaigns accusing Sudan of harboring members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egyptian newspapers had reported on Jan. 19 that investigations into the terrorist Hasm movement indicated that its members had attended military and intelligence training in Sudan in preparation for returning and carrying out attacks in Egypt. Egypt expressed no support for former US President Barack Obamas decision to lift economic sanctions against Sudan. While Egypt has not issued any official statement regarding the US decision, some Sudanese circles believe that Cairo will not support Sudan before the US administration, particularly since reports circulated saying that members of terror groups continue to be trained in Sudan. Commenting on Sudan's accusation, JEM representative in Cairo Huthaifa Muhieddine told Al-Monitor, The Sudanese security services are putting out fabricated information and reports on us receiving financial or military support from Cairo. He said, Egypt does not have time to support the Sudanese opposition movements. JEM does not have an official representation office in Cairo. Our activity is limited to communications with some civil political parties and movements interested in Sudanese affairs, not with the Egyptian regime itself. Muhieddine added, The concerned Egyptian agencies warned against any political or media activities in Egyptian territory. Also, the number of JEM members in Cairo is very limited, [as most] are based in Darfur. An Egyptian diplomat who is well-informed about the Sudanese dossier told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, Tension and mutual accusations have returned following several developments. Most notable among these are the Sudanese-Saudi rapprochement and the six-month probation period set by the Obama decision before lifting economic sanctions against Khartoum. The diplomat added, The official Egyptian institutions have demonstrated that they have good faith and are serious in promoting ties with Sudan, as a neighboring country with whom they have strategic, security and economic interests. Yet a number of signs coming from the Sudanese side have affected the Egyptian trust. He expressed his dissatisfaction at the harmful media campaigns and security reports accusing Cairo of supporting the Sudanese opposition without offering any evidence, which is unacceptable in international relations. Commenting on Egypt's stance on Sudanese support for the Brotherhood, he said, The Egyptian administration is nearly convinced that the Sudanese regime is supporting members of the Brotherhood and is Islamist, even though it tries to pretend otherwise. He pointed to past incidents such as Sudan harboring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the 1990s. The diplomat stated that the Egyptian administration appreciates the importance of ties with Sudan, despite its disappointment with Khartoums Nile waters policy and lack of support for Egypt in its disputes with downstream countries on Nile negotiations. He stressed, Khartoum is also aware of how influential the Egyptian opinion and orientation is in the terrorism dossier, particularly since it is still in the probation period under the Trump administration, in light of Islamophobic policies toward a number of Islamic countries including Sudan. On March 21, the Sudanese government announced the formation of a committee consisting of various government agencies to drive the Egyptians out of Halayeb via diplomatic means. On March 17, it banned Egyptian goods from entering Sudan. Egypt has refrained from making any official statement on the moves. The diplomat said, We have a clear policy of not getting carried away by attempts by any official or unofficial Sudanese parties to escalate the situation. We did, however, officially object before the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the offenses circulated in the Sudanese newspapers. In March, Bashir took several measures as part of Sudans attempts to curry favor with Cairo and the international community to keep them from accusing it of supporting Islamist currents and harboring members of Islamist groups. He embarked on a broad reshuffle in the government, dismissing all Islamist figures and appointing military ones, such as Bakri Hassan Saleh as prime minister. Egyptian Islamist leader Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh was blocked March 24 from entering Sudanese territory to attend the Popular Congress Partys conference, though it was attended by multiple Hamas leaders and Tunisian Islamist leader Rachid Ghannouchi. Ayman Abdel Wahab, a researcher on African affairs at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, The Sudanese regime has found it more beneficial to coordinate with Ethiopia than with Egypt in the terrorism file. It is also getting closer to the Gulf countries in countering terrorism at the Arab level. Tension and security concerns will likely continue to prevail over Egyptian-Sudanese relations until the United States makes a final decision regarding the Bashir regime and Sudan is removed from the US list of countries accused of sponsoring terrorism, the reason for its 20 years of economic sanctions. March 31, 2017 Some factions of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) are less than satisfied with the visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to Washington on March 19-23, given his controversial statements about his stance toward them. Abadi said March 22, during his speech to the 68-member global coalition to defeat the Islamic State (IS), There is an Iraqi force today fighting IS comprising the Iraqi army, the counterterrorism apparatus and the peshmerga [forces]. He did not include the PMU, but later, in a different context, he mentioned them as volunteers who took part in the fighting against IS side by side with our security forces under the command of our security forces. He then referred to the Popular Mobilization Law, which requires "[PMU forces] to be under the leadership of the state and obey the Iraqi military regimes and Iraqi discipline in the military establishment." Abadi also pledged to confront "outlaws." In the same vein, Abadi stressed in reference to the PMU that "they should not become involved with politics, and political groups bearing arms should not participate in the elections." He stressed the need to "confront any armed groups outside of the state." He said,"According to the Iraqi Constitution, there are no armed groups outside the state. Those who carry weapons outside the state are considered outlaws, and we will face them." During his first meeting with parliamentary blocs March 28, following his return from Washington, Abadi hinted that he is considering distributing the PMU members and factions among different state security branches, in the framework of his commitment to limit weapons in the hands of the state only. Abadi appeared very confident after his return from Washington, as he announced the opening of major economic projects with the participation and support of the United States. Abadi also praised the US stance toward Iraq during a press conference March 27. There is a new group inside Congress that says they will not allow anything against Iraq, and they love Iraq. Frankly, I found out that Iraqs shares are still up abroad, whereas some consider Iraq has come to a dead end. But they now praise the courage of Iraqis in reclaiming the lands from [IS]. Abadis statements raised the suspicions of some PMU leaders who think he betrayed them. Aws al-Khazraji, the secretary-general of Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Brigade, quoted Abadi as saying to the Americans, We will reward the PMU by letting them join the Iraqi army, and those who do not wish to do so will be disarmed. Khazraji said, This is overriding the parliament decision. We will never accept the PMU integration in the Iraqi army." For his part, Qais al-Khazali, the secretary-general of the League of the Righteous, warned March 27 about an American conspiracy against Iraq, saying, We will not allow any attempt to undermine the PMU. Opposite to Abadi's view, Khazali stated Feb. 27 that the PMU will be present in the political life as it was present on the battlefield. It will work on eliminating corruption. The PMU is here to stay. As per the PMU Law that was passed by the Iraqi parliament in November 2016, PMU members are not allowed to get involved in any political, partisan or social frameworks no political work is allowed within the PMU ranks. In an attempt to reduce tension between him and the PMU, Abadi met March 25 with a number of PMU leaders and told them, We will not allow anyone to undermine the rights of the heroes fighting in the PMU. Some are trying to take advantage of the blood of those heroes for other purposes. Our talk with the US administration was clear. We have heroic fighters in the PMU without whom our victory would not have been possible. It is our duty to protect their rights, Abadi said. He added, All weapons must be under the state, and we will never allow any arms outside its framework. Some claim to belong to the PMU only to harm it. It appears that Abadi is facing a great challenge with regard to the issue of the PMU. He is stuck between the United States, Arab countries, and local Sunni and Kurdish parties pressuring him to dissolve the PMU, while Iran and its political allies are pushing in the other direction. The latter want to keep the PMU as an independent force with its own political, security and economic agenda to be able to build a statelet inside the state, as is the case with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. There are three plausible scenarios in this case. First, Abadi will have to dissolve the PMU and integrate its factions into the states security branches a step that would be welcomed by the Sunni forces, Arab countries and the United States, as well as the Shiite authority represented by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Muqtada al-Sadr. Sadr latter announced that he would dissolve his militia within the PMU once the war in Mosul is over, and he called for the dissolution of the PMU and its integration into the Iraqi army. However, this would place Abadi face to face with the PMU factions, which could spark fighting among the different security apparatuses under his command. A second scenario might play out, which is to keep the PMU as an independent security branch in the state as per the parliament law. However, in this case Abadi will not be able to impose his legal control over the factions, as they are commanded by different leaders and not by direct orders from the state. This way, the PMU will continue to play its illegal regional role supported by Iran and extend its influence over the country under a legal pretext, which would jeopardize Abadis relations with the United States, Arab countries and other Iraqi parties against the PMU. The third and last scenario, which could be the best solution for Abadi, is for Sistani to issue a fatwa calling on the PMU volunteers to leave the PMU ranks and go back to their old lives or join the army. This would help Abadi apply the first scenario without the possibility of a clash between factions, as they do not dare confront Sistani, given that the PMU was established as per a fatwa issued by him. Back then, Sistani said that this group would be temporary and would not operate outside the framework of the army and the Iraqi security apparatuses. Al-Monitor learned from a source close to the Sistani office that he is planning to support Abadi in confronting the outlaws after the end of IS. March 31, 2017 The large protests in Lebanon on March 15, which were triggered by fresh tax hikes passed by the Lebanese parliament, underline the populations unease with the politicians disastrous governing policies that focus on increasing revenues without implementing much-needed reforms, in light of a failing economy plagued by corruption and waste. The current government policies are completely upside down, Nassib Ghobril, the chief economist at Byblos Bank, told Al-Monitor. After six years of [economic] slowdown, the new budget the first to be passed by the Cabinet in 12 years should stimulate the economy and reduce spending; it has done neither. On the contrary, the budget includes increased taxation and spending. Higher taxation means a slowdown of the economy that is at an all-time low, plummeting last year to 1% growth, according to Ghobril. As a measure of comparison, Lebanons economic growth rate was 1.3% in 2015 while the growth rate of the United Arab Emirates was 3.1% in the same year. The new taxation is expected to have repercussions on Lebanons growth rate in 2017, as it impacts all economic sectors and social classes. A case in point is the value-added tax, which was raised from 10% to 11%, as well as hikes in other taxes on financial transactions. Lebanese independent economist Ghazi Wazni told Al-Monitor that a tax of 6,000 Lebanese pounds (about $4) was imposed on the production of each ton of cement; taxes on bank deposits will also increase from 5% to 7%, and on corporate profits from 15% to 17%; and a 15% tax on real estate gains was also introduced. The government is imposing new taxes in a difficult economic context: Unemployment is at over 25% and poverty levels are rising; the poverty rates included 160,000 more people in the period from 2011-2016, reaching an all-time high of 32%, Wazni said. The taxes will be partly used to finance the public sector wages. Yet economists are concerned that the new budget does not envision any real reforms. There are discussions on reforming the electricity sector; its an improvement compared to other governments, Wazni noted. Ghobril, however, does not feel that mere discussions are enough. There is no real reform plan. The cost of financing the electricity sector already amounts to $25 billion, constituting one-third of Lebanons $76 billion debt," he said. Other reforms, experts say, should focus on the privatization of the telecommunications and the water sectors, eliminating corruption, improving infrastructure and making business deals easier to achieve. Lebanon is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, ranking 137 out of 176 countries. It has lost around 20 places in 10 years, Wazni said. According to the Trading Economics website, Lebanon ranked 126 among 190 economies in terms of ease of doing business in 2016, marking a slight increase from 122 in 2015. Ease of doing business in Lebanon averaged a ranking of 111 between 2008 and 2016, and in eight years lost some 25 places. Instability, corruption, lack of reforms and the absence of liberalization of economic sectors have translated into a drop in the level of investment into the country, which declined from 15% of gross domestic product in 2008 to less than 5% of GDP in 2015, Ghobril explained. The decrease in foreign direct investment and the slowdown of the economic cycle reflect on the various sectors, including the vital tourism sector, meaning that the government is facing a mounting deficit. This has in turn reflected on the growing debt, which now represents 144% of GDP and will reach in 2021, according to the World Bank, $110 billion or 160% of GDP, Ghobril said. According to Ghobrl, the debt per Lebanese adult amounted to $14,000 in 2016, up by 10% a year earlier. This is considered the 35th highest debt amount in the world. Conversely, the average wealth of Lebanese adults stands at about $10,000. In Lebanon, only 3% of the population has a net worth of over $1 million. The impact of the debt is also increasing pressure on the Lebanese banking sector, which owns about $35 billion of the public debt, Ghobril noted. Lebanon enjoys relative financial stability that can be largely attributed to the solidity of its financial sector, Ghobril said. He added that Lebanese banks have been able to attract significant deposits from its large diaspora and foreigners, amounting to $166 billion in 2016. In July 2016, the World Finance website reported, "In 2015, the World Bank estimated inflows of remittances to Lebanon at $7.2 billion a figure equivalent to 14% of the countrys GDP ranking Lebanon as the 16th largest recipient of remittances globally and the second highest among Arab countries. These transfers are more or less stable, although they decelerated by 5% last year, Wazni said. The decline can be attributed to the poor economic growth in countries where the Lebanese diaspora resides, such as in the Gulf states and Africa, which have been adversely affected by the drop in oil prices. Lebanese businessman Mohamed Amouch, who works in the UAE, agrees that the regional economic situation has been tough. We have over $10 million in the market and have been able to collect less than 20% of this amount, he told Al-Monitor. This definitely translates in lower remittances sent to Lebanon. In such an unfavorable framework, Lebanon needs to avoid any shocks to its financial sector that could trigger withdrawals shocks such as in 2005 when then-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated and in 2006 when Israel launched a war in Lebanon. Another shock could also be triggered by the resignation of Central Bank Gov. Riad Salameh, who has succeeded in inspiring local and international confidence. Politicians have to act responsibly in regard to the economy and stop being complacent or irresponsible. The economy needs to be reformed before Lebanon is faced with a major crisis, a banker told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. He added, Failure to tackle corruption and instead targeting citizens' bank accounts will lead to bankrupting the state, destroying the economy and impoverishing the Lebanese. March 30, 2017 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to rev the engine of his campaign supporting constitutional amendments. However, what the effort really needs is a solid steering alignment. It's all over the road. The world according to Erdogan is full of villains conspiring against him, some perhaps real, some maybe imagined: Gulenists, Kurds, the Islamic State (IS), the media, the United Nations, Europe and even the pope. If the constitutional amendments are approved in an April 16 referendum, the president's temporary powers under emergency law could become permanent. This would eliminate many of the checks and balances on the presidency, do away with the role of the prime minister and allow the president to skirt parliamentary and Cabinet approval and pass laws by decree. Various posters have appeared supporting the changes to the constitution. On Feb. 12, Ankaras colorful and longtime mayor, Melih Gokcek (a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP), tweeted Is there anyone who opposes this? over the image of a poster that reads The decision is yours. On the left-hand side of the poster, along with the Turkish flag displaying its crescent and star, are the images of Erdogan, the prime minister and the chairman of the Nationalist Action Party. Above them appears the word Yes." On the right-hand side are the naysayers: the imprisoned chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, along with the leader of the opposition Republican Peoples Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. In the forefront is the alleged culprit of the July 15 coup attempt and Erdogans nemesis, Fethullah Gulen. But most interesting, perhaps, is the face lurking in the back. Behind the left-wing political parties' representatives, under the word Daesh (IS), is a photo of IS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Apparently Baghdadi will be upset if the amendments are approved. A different version of this poster also has become popular on social media: The left-side images are the same but instead of "Yes," the poster reads "Crescent." On the right side, the word "Cross" replaces "No" and underneath is an image of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. At the bottom, the poster reads, If you say yes, the crescent will win, if you say no, the cross will. Erdogan has been repeating the slogan The battle of cross against the crescent has started during his rallies, blaming mostly Europe for initiating this "crusade." He has also made several accusations that those who oppose the amendments are aligned with terrorists. Mostly, Erdogans focus has been on the Gulen movement and the Kurds so how did Baghdadi get pulled into the picture of "crusaders"? A few intriguing events skittering in the background could possibly explain why such wild and inconsistent claims are being made to generate support for a yes vote. As Al-Monitor explains, the latest opinion polls predict a possible loss for Erdogan. In this rather confused "yes" campaign, Baghdadis face is not the only mind-boggling image. For example, for days, mainstream Turkish media have been sharing images of Pope Francis speaking before EU leaders observing the anniversary of the EU's formation March 25. Erdogan was not pleased with this meeting. He said, The crusader alliance finally showed its face. Since when is the pope a part of the EU? Erdogan then went on to allege that European countries support terrorism and suggested that the weapons they provide to such organizations will be turned around on them. The AKPs rather populist and incoherent terror rhetoric is an effort to preempt a possible backlash from different Western countries accusing Turkey of supporting illicit networks directly or indirectly. News reports from all over the world showing Erdogans loss of control over different state institutions have reached a scary point. Foremost, despite all efforts, the AKP has failed to convince the West that the Gulen movement is a terror organization. While Erdogan and the AKP are busy labeling their critics terrorists and claiming to be on the hunt for PKK members, IS and the Gulen movement globally, news is popping up that possibly links the AKP and its agencies to terrorist activities. For example, Muhammed Murteca, the head of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) in Gaza, was taken into custody in mid-February. On March 21, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon announced Murtecas arrest and accused TIKA of funneling international aid to terrorists, particularly to Hamas, with the help of a Turkish "terror" nongovernmental organization, the International Humanitarian Fund (IHH). The IHH organized the Mavi Marmara flotilla in 2010. Nahshon was clear that Turkey was a victim in this alleged plot, not a culprit. The AKP-aligned media did not prioritize the arrest in its coverage. TIKA is a government-funded agency that operates under the prime ministers office. On March 21, TIKA posted a tweet about the arrest, explaining that organizers have sought information from Israeli authorities. One senior bureaucrat told Al-Monitor, We do not endorse any violent activities. If this Palestinian national [Murteca] has been corrupted by terrorist groups and he misused his authority, that is not about TIKA or Turkey, it is his individual crime. Another case is from Albania. In January, a female teacher was arrested for allegedly disseminating pro-IS propaganda to her students. Although Turkish media did not report the details, Sitki Ozcan from Zaman Amerika tweeted, The school at which IS propaganda took place was built by the Turkish government. Erdogan attended the opening ceremony through videoconference. The tweet also showed TIKAs Albania branch proudly announcing the ceremony June 7. Ozcan also mentioned that Turkeys Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) frequently visited the school. Indeed, Diyanet is under scrutiny elsewhere in Europe as well. A March 27 Foreign Policy article with the headline "Erdogan's International Network of Muslim Cleric Spies," says German authorities charged 16 clerics with illegal secret service collaboration and searched mosques and apartments, confiscating computers and reams of paperwork. On April 15, Al-Monitor was one of the first international media outlets to raise a red flag about Diyanet acting as Erdogans proxy all around the world with the mission of collecting and reporting intelligence to the prime ministers office directly. After the July 15 coup attempt, these activities intensified on multiple levels. Some 300 imams serving in Europe were called back to Turkey on the suspicion of being Gulenists. Several did not return, and two of them made the news March 24 for seeking asylum in Germany. Erdogans words antagonizing Europeans, and Turkey's National Intelligence Organization's amateurish tracking of Gulen members in Europe have put Turkish-origin Europeans in a difficult spot so much so that even some imams in Europe have spoken out against Erdogans angry outbursts. Turkeys alleged links with armed nonstate actors and networks remain ambiguous. Yet the arrest of Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab and the vice president of state-owned Halkbank for violating US-led sanctions against Iran indicate that financial issues are crucial. Facing challenges with narcotics, arms and human smuggling, Turkey has now also come under scrutiny for alleged money laundering through the porous Syria-Iraq border. It seems whatever Erdogan touches is backfiring right before the referendum. The promises of visa-free travel to the EU, along with a quick and swift victory in Syria, have all ended up as major fiascos. Finally, the referendum campaign slogans for the yes campaign tell a sad story. After the dismal failure of The world is bigger than five campaign (criticizing permanent members of the UN Security Council), now the new slogan is Turkey is bigger than Turkey. The video shows a handful of countries Erdogan has not yet picked a fight with such as Pakistan and Turkic republics. Another acerbic slogan for the yes camp says Stamp the paper ["yes"] as if you are stamping on a foreigner. Erdogan and his immediate circle are desperate to win 51% of the vote for the referendum's amendments, and they seem ready to do whatever it takes. So far, they have found the world's Erdoganophobia to be a good currency for mobilizing their base, while on the global scene their ambiguous relationships with different Islamist groups are surfacing. But for now, Baghdadi's image remains solidly against the amendments. March 31, 2017 With US Secretary of State Rex Tillersons meeting in Ankara on March 30, he became the first senior official in US President Donald Trump's administration to visit Turkey. The visit took place a day after Ankara declared that Operation Euphrates Shield had ended. Meanwhile, the United States has stepped up an operation to surround Raqqa. Politicians in Ankara wonder whether it is possible for Turkey, which has unsuccessfully tried to convince the United States not to support the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) against the Islamic State (IS), to cooperate with the United States in Syria. What were the United States' and Turkeys expectations from each other? Will these two strategic partners drift apart or find a common ground? Tillerson was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu separately. It was interesting that Tillerson was accompanied by Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter IS, who was earlier criticized harshly by Ankara for his close relations with the YPG. The main issues in Tillersons meetings were recent developments in Syria and the extradition of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is currently living in the United States. The atmosphere and the messages given in the joint Tillerson-Cavusoglu press conference indicate that the crisis between the two countries will continue. Cavusoglu pointed out that Turkey was dismayed by the Barack Obama administrations refusal to stop supporting the YPG and said, We want to create a new energy and momentum in our relations under the Trump administration. Tillerson refused to make a statement regarding the YPG despite persistent questions by reporters. Tillersons statement, What we discussed today were options that were available to us. They are difficult decisions, to be very frank, they are not easy, they are very difficult choices that have to be made, did not alleviate Ankaras worries regarding the United States position. A Turkish Foreign Affairs official told Al-Monitor, We clearly expressed our expectations. We want an end to the support of the YPG. However, the US seems determined to cooperate with the YPG. Our strategy regarding the US will become clearer in the coming days, but we are saddened at this point. What are the United States plans for Syria? Will the YPG crisis between Turkey and the United States become more chronic? Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies researcher Oytun Orhan told Al-Monitor, It became definite that the YPG crisis between the United States and Turkey will deepen. The United States clearly expressed its eagerness to cooperate with the YPG and launched an operation in Raqqa without Turkey. The United States is seeking to create its own domain in eastern Syria. It has a high opinion of the YPG's cooperation, rather than Turkey, to counter [IS]. The United States believes Turkey can manage relations with the Kurds in northern Syria as it does with northern Iraq. Nihat Ali Ozcan, a strategist from the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, also highlighted that the tension between the United States and Turkey cannot be eased immediately. How can Turkey and the United States cooperate in counterterrorism without finding common ground regarding the YPG? Ozcan answered this question, saying, The United States chose to carry out the Raqqa offensive without Turkeys aid. Ankaras real discomfort is that any support to the YPG is mostly likely to strengthen the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party]. This could augment Syria- or Iraq-supported terrorism in Turkey and directly influence Turkish domestic political developments. Ozcan added, These are fragile times for both the United States and Turkey. Turkey has an upcoming referendum, and the Trump administration has just become active on the field. Therefore, both parties react emotionally. Ozcan believes this situation might change after the referendum on April 16. Ozturk Yilmaz, who started his political career as deputy chair of the main opposition Republican People's Party following his service as Mosul consul general, highlighted the errors in Turkey-US relations, saying, Turkey perceives the YPG as a terrorist organization, while the United States sees it as a cooperation partner against IS. Ankara was unsuccessful in explaining its perception to the United States. The government sought to exploit national sentiments in domestic politics by taking on the United States and the European Union to derive domestic political advantages. This has further muddled the foreign policy. What about Gulens extradition? Following the July 15 attempted coup, the extradition of Gulen, who Ankara believes masterminded the coup, has played a vital role in the escalating tensions between Turkey and the United States. The Turkish government has demanded that Washington extradite Gulen, but it has yet to receive a positive response. The official said, We emphasize this issue in nearly all meetings we hold with US officials, but we cannot receive a reply. The Americans clearly could not understand our sensitivity in this matter. After his meeting with Tillerson, Cavusoglu said that new documents and information have been provided to the US attorney general and more concrete US steps are expected. Will the United States extradite Gulen? Former Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Turk said, Many nations do not extradite individuals for political crimes. The American politicians assert this is a judicial issue that must wait for court rulings. Turkey has received the same response from all foreign institutions in such matters. It is unlikely to see a concrete step from American politicians unless a decision is issued by the American judiciary. Osman Faruk Logoglu, the former Turkish ambassador to the United States, told Al-Monitor, Difficult times are ahead for Turkey-US relations, as there is no positive response at this moment from Washington regarding the extradition of Gulen. He added, The recent arrest of the deputy general manager of Halkbank in the United States is considered by Turkey as politically motivated, and the United States is most likely to feel discomfort due to this definition. Tillersons visit was an opportunity to improve US-Turkish relations, but there was no progress. Logoglu added, The only emphasized common ground is the determination to counter [IS]. However, the Trump administration wants to cooperate with the YPG against [IS]. Tillersons visit indicated that the conflicts in Turkish-American relations started under the Obama administration will further escalate. Difficult times are ahead for both countries. Tillersons visit indicates that Turkey-US relations will be in crisis for a long time, although both parties acknowledge each other as a strategic partner and ally. A Turkish diplomat summarized Turkey-US relations to Al-Monitor, saying, This is not the first crisis we had and it will not be the last. We will face many difficulties during this period. Diplomacy plays a vital role in times like this. Unusual Lives: 28 People's Extraordinary Journey off the Beaten Path, which is the latest in the "Chinese Dream Series" books planned and published by New World Press, has been published recently. The book contains stories of 28 Chinese people from different walks of life written by reporters of Global Times. Characters in these stories have one thing in common: they chart their own path. These are unusual lives that go off the beaten path, not necessarily in a pleasant way. Some are quite famous, but most are just ordinary people who feel the calling to influence others, or simply reject the conditions they face, be they a village girl who aspires to be a fashion designer, a college student dedicated to preserving ethnic music in Xinjiang, or an octogenarian inspiring the young with his muscular physique and attitude to life. These extraordinary life stories will give readers a glimpse of China's kaleidoscopic society. The provider of these stories, Global Times, is a key to understanding Chinas changes. Founded in April 2009, the paper is one of the most dynamic players among Chinese media, and has rapidly become the major English newspaper in the nation. Jorge Guajardo, former Mexican Ambassador to China, describes the Global Times as a must read for anyone wanting to understand China. A Tennessee man pleaded guilty last week to federal charges that he forced two young women to prostitute themselves around the Southeast during a two-month period in 2014-15, advertising through the website Backpage.com as they travelled to different cities. The man was ultimately arrested after Homewood police responded to a call from the father of one of the women that his daughter was at a hotel where she was forced to perform sex acts for money and was being abused. Christopher Tyler Richards, 26, of Memphis, Tenn., on Friday pleaded guilty before a federal judge in Birmingham to two counts of coercing and enticing a person to travel in interstate commerce for the purposes of prostitution and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Hopkins set June 27 as the sentencing date for Richards. Birmingham's Federal Public Defenders Office, which represents Richards, declined comment on the case. Richards has a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorneys Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier O Carter , Sr. is prosecuting the case. Richards admits in his plea deal that: Between Dec. 14, 2014 and Feb. 8, 2015 Richards "verbally, physically, and sexually abused the women in an effort to control their actions and ensure they would perform sex acts for money and give the proceeds from their prostitution to him." Richards first met a girl (identified as Victim 1) when she was 13 years old. He sold drugs to her. They lost contact, but became reacquainted when she was 17 and he sold drugs to her again. "Richards asked on multiple occasions when Victim 1 would turn 18 years old." In mid-December, shortly after she turned 18, Richards convinced Victim 1 to go on a trip to Texas. But along the way he changed the destination to New Orleans. During the trip, and before she turned 18, Richards had made suggestive comments about her prostituting herself. When they arrived in New Orleans, the car they were using broke down and Richards told Victim 1 she would have to sell her body for sex in order to make enough money to get the car repaired so they could get back to Memphis. Richards beat Victim 1 when she refused to prostitute herself. He kept her clothes and identification when she went out to prostitute herself. While in New Orleans, he placed the first Backpage.com advertisement. He also met a second woman (Victim 2) to bring into the prostitution enterprise. Richards and the two women traveled to Hattiesburg, Miss., back to New Orleans, and then to Memphis. Before going to Hattiesburg and Memphis, he placed ads on Backpage.com. While in Memphis Victims 1 and 2 were arrested for prostitution, but Richards bailed them out of jail. The three traveled to the Birmingham area. Before arriving he again posted more ads for Victims 1 and 2. "Richards persuaded, induced, and coerced Victims 1 and 2 to travel in interstate for the purpose of prostitution using physical violence, intimidation, and even sexual abuse," the plea agreement states. "Richard's violence towards the women and that they knew he carried a gun made both women afraid of Richards." Homewood Police arrested Richards on Feb. 8, 2015 after showing up at the Econo Lodge after Victim 1's father had called and said his daughter was being held against her will at that motel. Police found drugs and a gun inside the room. Richards was charged in state court on drug charges. Backpage.com has been at the center of allegations that adult and child sex-trafficking victims were forced into prostitution through escort ads posted in the adult section of its website. The company's Chief Executive Officer Carl Ferrer was arrested in October on charges from California of pimping a minor, pimping, and conspiracy to commit pimping. Backpage.com advertised a wide range of services, but the arrest warrant against Ferrer alleged that internal business records showed 99 percent of the website's revenue came from its adult services section between January 2013 and March 2015, the Associated Press reported. Worldwide revenue from sex ads topped $3.1 million in just one week in 2015, according to a court affidavit in Ferrer's case. Backpage.com also has faced lawsuits by teens and women forced into prostitution by pimps who used the site to advertise. Among them is a sex-trafficking survivor who had been forced into prostitution at a Dothan hotel. She filed a lawsuit in January in Houston County Circuit Court against the site, the hotel and the man convicted of forcing her into prostitution. A Birmingham teen has been charged with murder after the victim of a Huntsville shooting succumbed to his injuries Friday. Huntsville police said Lamontez Dearius James, 18, and the 20-year-old victim Cameron Cullen were making a drug transaction at Twickenham Apartments on Galaxy Way in northwest Huntsville on Sunday. James tried to rob Cullen during the transaction, police said. Officers found Cullen wounded and he was transported to Huntsville Hospital with life-threatening injuries. James was arrested Sunday and charged with robbery. Police said Cullen passed away Friday morning due to his injuries, updating James' charges to include murder. The wife of Tad Cummins, the man accused of abducting Elizabeth Thomas, has filed for divorce in Tennessee, one of two states in which the husband is the subject of Amber Alerts. Jill Cummins, who has publicly asked her husband to turn himself in and bring Thomas home, filed for divorce Friday after more than 31 years of marriage, WKRN reported. Jill Cummins accuses her husband of "inappropriate marital conduct" and says irreconcilable differences have arisen in the marriage, according to documents obtained by the Tennessee TV station. Tad Cummins, 50, is an ex-teacher wanted in Tennessee for having sexual contact with Thomas, 15, who was his student at Culleoka Unit School in Maury County, Tennessee. Tad Cummins and Thomas have been missing since March 13. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on Friday released video footage and images that show Cummins and Thomas at a Wal-Mart store in Oklahoma City. The images were captured on March 15 -- just two days after the disappearances. Before TBI was alerted to the video on Thursday, the last confirmed locations were from the day of the abduction, when Thomas was seen in Columbia, Tennessee and Cummins was placed in Decatur, Alabama later that afternoon. Amber Alerts remain active in Alabama and Tennessee. Investigators have said Cummins lured and groomed Thomas before the abduction. The ex-teacher also had been researching "teen marriage" and whether police could track his vehicle, a silver Nissan Rogue. While images and video captured at the Oklahoma Wal-Mart show Cummins and Thomas had changed their appearances since the abduction, authorities aren't sure if the two still are traveling in the same vehicle. Authorities haven't declared an Amber Alert in Oklahoma. But, that's likely because there's no specific information to suggest the two still are in the state, an official said. Although Cummins was caught kissing Thomas in his classroom nearly two months before the kidnapping, he wasn't fired by the school system until the day after the abduction. The school system maintains it didn't violate policy in the case, though a new task force has been formed to evaluate and improve parental notification policies and checks and balances. Read more about that here. Earlier this week, Inside Edition aired an interview with a former student of Cummins, who says the man wrote her a love song years ago. Destany Parrish told the news magazine Cummins played the song for her in the school's music room. Parrish said as Cummins played the piano and sang, she began recording. Tennessee authorities are asking the public to share information about the Amber Alert with anyone they know south of the U.S. border. Police in Mexico have been notified of the case. And while authorities don't have any information specifically linking Cummins and Thomas to Mexico, they say its possible the two are anywhere at this point. Brent Cooper, the Maury County, Tennessee District Attorney said at a news conference earlier this week that Cummins' knowledge of the Bible could make it possible for the man to pose as a missionary in Mexico or countries in South America. The Amber Alert poster has been translated into Spanish. We've translated our #TNAMBERAlert information into Spanish in an effort to reach even more people. Feel free to pass this along! pic.twitter.com/7bIa7fjW2M TBI (@TBInvestigation) March 29, 2017 In the U.S., the public is encouraged to remain vigilant and actively help police look for Thomas and Cummins -- particularly in secluded or off-the-grid areas. Police urge the public to be vigilant in parking garages and large lots, campgrounds, parks and other places where the two could be staking out. Hunters are asked to watch for any signs of Thomas and Cummins. As of Friday, TBI had received more than 1,200 tips, though only the video footage from Oklahoma has been confirmed as a sighting. Thomas is a white female possibly with red hair and hazel eyes. She is 5 feet and weighs about 120 pounds. Cummins, believed to be armed with multiple guns, is a white male with brown hair and eyes. He is six feet and about 200 pounds. They may be traveling in a silver Nissan Rogue with Tennessee tag 976-ZPT. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-TBI-FIND. Anyone who sees Cummins, Thomas or the vehicle should call 911. A Sheffield man was killed Friday afternoon in a two-vehicle crash in Lawrence County. Mark Edward Horton, 45, was killed when the 1986 Mazda B2000 he was driving collided with a 2005 Dodge Caravan, according to Alabama state troopers. Horton wasn't wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and passenger in the Caravan were transported to Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence for treatment of unspecified injuries, troopers said. The crash occurred at around 5:25 p.m. on Alabama 20 at the 13 mile marker, eight miles north of Florence. Troopers continue to investigate. The Justice Department is seeking to play a more muscular role in the Trump administration's immigration enforcement strategy, a move that is alarming immigrant rights advocates who fear that Attorney General Jeff Sessions' hard-line ideology could give Justice too much clout in determining policy. To highlight the department's expanding role, Sessions is considering making his first trip to the southern border in mid-April to Nogales, Arizona, a busy border crossing region that features a major patrol station and already has miles of fencing and walls designed to keep out undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Aides emphasized that Sessions's itinerary is still being developed and that the stop in Nogales - which would come as he travels to a conference of state police officials from around the country 200 miles away in Litchfield Park - is still tentative. If he follows through, the border visit would come as President Donald Trump is asking Congress for billions of dollars to begin construction on a longer and larger wall between the United States and Mexico, a central campaign promise. In recent weeks, Sessions has taken steps to increase his department's focus on immigration. He signed on to a letter released Friday with Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly backing the practice of arresting undocumented immigrants at courthouses, saying officials had to resort to such measures when states wouldn't cooperate on immigration enforcement. On Thursday, Sessions announced he is expanding a program to deport undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes after they serve their prison sentences, with the hope that the Justice Department can move more people straight from prison to their home countries rather than first moving them to immigrant detention facilities. Justice said it would expand to 20 the number of prisons participating in the Institutional Hearing Program, which has immigration judges come directly to prisons or has the inmates participate in deportation hearings via video. "We owe it to the American people to ensure that illegal aliens who have been convicted of crimes and are serving time in our federal prisons are expeditiously removed from our country as the law requires," Sessions said in a statement. Last month, Sessions used the release of a Federal Justice Statistics report on arrests and prosecution to highlight cases involving immigration offenses, and he also issued a statement in support of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement report that listed cities that fail to comply with enforcement orders. Last week, Sessions appeared in the White House briefing room to issue a threat to those cities that his agency could withhold federal law enforcement grants if they do not start to cooperate. Sessions's activism has alarmed immigrant rights advocates concerned the department will play too powerful a role in a policy area that is typically the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security. "I think we want clarity over who's running immigration policy," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in an interview Thursday in Washington. Garcetti signed a directive two weeks ago prohibiting all city employees from using public resources to aide federal civil immigration actions. "DOJ can give some opinions, but it's not primarily in their jurisdiction," Garcetti said. "So I know Senator Sessions has been very engaged, interested and involved in this area, but is he empowered by this administration beyond his formal responsibilities?" Sessions, a former Republican senator from Alabama, was one of Congress's fiercest border hawks, and he helped scuttle former president Barack Obama's 2013 immigration overhaul effort on Capitol Hill that featured a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. One of his former Senate staffers, Stephen Miller, is Trump's senior policy adviser. Kelly, a former Marine general with little experience in immigration issues, has also signaled that he will pursue a tougher stance on enforcement at DHS. He issued a pair of memos in February aimed at implementing Trump's executive orders to broaden the pool of undocumented immigrants prioritized for removal and beef up other border security measures. But legal experts said Sessions could significantly restructure the Justice Department by ramping up the number of immigration judges sent to the border to speed up hearings and by pursuing more criminal prosecutions against immigrants in the United States beyond those associated with drug cartels and human smugglers that past administrations have focused on. The Sessions Justice Department also could: move to strip some protections from undocumented immigrants, such as how much time they have to find a lawyer; more robustly defend DHS enforcement policies that are challenged in court; and use the Office of the Special Counsel to aggressively prevent employers from discriminating against American workers by hiring undocumented workers, said Leon Fresco, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Obama administration. "I think they will be incredibly active," said Fresco, who helped draft the 2013 immigration bill while serving as an aide to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. The only thing that could slow Sessions, Fresco added, was "finding enough individuals with expertise and the willingness to speed these issues along." If Sessions follows through, it would represent a sharp break from the policies of his predecessors in the Obama administration. In 2010, the Justice Department, then led by Eric Holder Jr., sued Arizona over a state law that granted broad immigration enforcement powers to local law enforcement agencies. The Supreme Court in 2012 upheld a lower court's ban on key provisions in the law. In January, Holder was hired by the California Legislature to represent the state in potential legal fights with the Trump White House. "I believe there is nothing wrong, legally, morally or intellectually, with a lawful system of immigration that serves the national interest. What's wrong with that?" Sessions said in a speech to a conference of state attorneys general last month. "People who come here unlawfully, who commit crimes, are going to be out of here," he added, punching a finger in the air for emphasis. "The law says that they have to be deported, and we're going to insist that that happens." Trump's budget proposal outlines how Sessions could turn his rhetoric into action. It calls for the Justice Department to hire 75 more immigration judge teams to speed removal proceedings, along with 60 more border enforcement prosecutors and 40 more deputy U.S. marshals to apprehend and transport those in the country illegally. The budget also calls for an additional $171 million to buy short-term detention space, much of which will likely be used to house undocumented immigrants. "Immigration is one of their top priorities, permeating every part of their agenda, and every part of the federal government and agencies," Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said of the Trump White House. Sessions is "very much aligned with their ideology," she said. "He is very knowledgeable. He's worked on these issues for decades now and has very strong opinions. He's finally in a position of power to use the department toward his vision and use the attorney general role as a bully pulpit." In Nogales, Sessions would tour a border region that was once viewed as the most porous section, leading authorities to build the border walls and fences. In 2013, a bipartisan group of senators, led by John McCain, R-Ariz., and Schumer, visited the area during the immigration reform deliberations. During the tour, McCain wrote on Twitter that they saw a woman scale the 18-foot bollard fence and drop down to the U.S. side of the border before she was apprehended by patrol agents. Some advocates suggested that the event was staged to support Republican calls for additional border security spending. The Nogales barriers have had mixed results, officials said. Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, emphasized that any single-layered fencing is "defeatable." Overall, Judd said, "we do not think a 2,000-mile wall, a great wall of the United States, is necessary. But we 100 percent support a wall in strategic locations that allow us to dictate the crossing points." Authors information: David Nakamura covers the White House for The Washington Post. Matt Zapotosky covers the Justice Department for the Washington Post's National Security team. Visitors look at a Baidu self-driving car at an exhibition in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/China Daily] Baidu Inc is in discussions with Dassault Systemes, a French 3-D design software maker, for cooperation in electric cars and smart city projects. Bernard Charles, CEO of Dassault Systemes, said there is big room for partnership in internet-connected cars. His remarks came after a meeting with Zhang Yaqin, Baidu's president, on the sidelines of Boao Forum for Asia, which was held last week in Hainan province. Their meeting followed Baidu's announcement that it has led an undisclosed amount of investment in NextEV, a Chinese electric car startup that aims to rival Tesla Inc in the burgeoning industry. "NextEV is our client which uses Dassault Systemes to design the next generation of cars. How will NextEV engineers use Baidu's online services to make better driving experience? We are the belt (linking the two)," Charles said in an exclusive interview with China Daily after his meeting with Zhang. He declined to share details of the planned cooperation but hinted at areas open to partnership. "We have a virtual city program in Singapore, and Baidu has a lot of data on how citizens are living in the city. There are also connecting points." Dassault Systemes has collaborated with the National Research Foundation, a department within Singapore's Prime Minister's Office, to develop Virtual Singapore, a 3-D city model platform for knowledge-sharing and community collaboration. Launched in December 2014, Virtual Singapore is a collaborative platform with a rich data environment and visualization techniques that is used by Singaporeans and local businesses to develop tools and services that address the emerging and complex challenges that the island-nation faces. Baidu Inc is stepping up efforts to diversify growth engines after its core search engine business suffered several setbacks in its home market last year. "Baidu is also working to provide cloud infrastructure. We can provide our 3-D experience on the cloud," Charles said. Zhang Zhiyong, founder and CEO of Wenfeng Automobile Consultancy, said by partnering with Dassault, Baidu can make its online services integral to electric cars from the design stage. "The ties, once extended to virtual reality, can also boost Baidu's competitiveness, given Dassault's years of experience in that area," Zhang said. The French company is also passionate about the application of virtual reality in China's manufacturing industry. "As the cost quickly goes down, over the next five years, I believe the industrial application of VR will go at the speed of flight, just like how the mobile internet is changing consumers' lives," Charles said. College helps to bring electricity to villages around the globe by training poor women to be solar engineers. Living in a palm-lined thatched roof house surrounded by dense jungles and rows of corn and cassava in the Santa Teresa village, 42-year-old Florentine until now has spent all her evenings in the dark, literally. But today, sitting in the dusty village of Tilonia in Rajasthan India, the Mayan woman is lighting the first sparks, which three months from now will bring electricity for the first time in her hometown in Toldeo in Latin Americas Belize. I never thought I could do anything. My life revolved around planting corns and cassava, Florentine said, with an apparent coyness to hide her low educational qualifications. I only studied till class six you know, I dont read or write much. I had no idea what a solar panel is or that sun can bring electricity. I was surprised to even discover a solar lamp when I first came here. But now I can fix a solar light, she said with a shrug. Florentine is one among the 37 women coming from 11 least developed countries with lowest indicators of socio-economic development and Human Development Index in the world currently undergoing the training for solar engineer in Tilonias Barefoot College. Remotely located in the southern-most part of Belize, Toledo is often referred to as a forgotten district, as it is still far from any signs of development. Most of the people have no fixed source of income; subsistence farming carried in the leased village land in the jungle provides for food. Florentine plants her vegetables and grains in the jungles of Santa Teresa and earns $1 for every pound of produce, that is, if she has enough to feed herself and her young son. Life is hard there. I am a single woman, and there is no one to support me or earn money for me, she said. With a high rate of malnourishment, illiteracy, the socio-economic conditions in Toledo are so low that almost 75 to 100 per cent of households lack even the basic necessities of life and the income to buy them. The dense jungle with heavy rainfall has made the region largely secluded with few paved roads or electricity. Her son heard about the programme run by the Barefoot College and told her to go. She looked up the lone encyclopaedia in the house to find where on earth India was. Women are incredible agents of change. The problem is they have been either barred from participating in development as they didnt have knowledge, as they are blocked from access to literacy, education, money. Once they get rid of these barriers, it all opens up by Megan Fallone, senior advisor to Barefoot College I was very scared but my son convinced me to go as it will help not just my family but the entire village, she said, fiddling with the electric circuit meter to test the prototype solar lamp in the classroom of Barefoot college. Only about 34 per cent of Belizes largely rural southern region have access to the electric grid. The rest burn kerosene priced at a high $10 per gallon or depend on wax candles and batteries to light flash lights. It is in such villages like Santa Teresa in Belize that Tilonias Barefoot College goes to find its women to be trained in solar engineering. Women are incredible agents of change. The problem is they have been either barred from participating in development as they didnt have knowledge, as they are blocked from access to literacy, education, money. Once they get rid of these barriers, it all opens up, said Megan Fallone, senior advisor to Barefoot College. Founded in partnership of a local farmer from Tilonia, Meghraj, and a young social worker from Delhi, Sanjit Bunker Roy, the Barefoot College has roots in grafting formal urban knowledge on rural wisdom to gear towards self-sustainability. The college started the solar programme first in the 1990s to provide access to electricity in the remote and isolated parts of India, and is the only fully solar electrified college built and run by the rural poor. The programme went global and has been replicated in developing and least developed countries from Africa and the Middle East since 2004, teaching solar engineering skills to illiterate older women from rural communities, with no access to lighting, electricity, learning or clean drinking water. We have stood in the village of each and every woman here, and seen her situation, what her life was and what she has to go through to survive there. It is the women who suffer the most from lack of one or all of these parameters, says Fallone who travels across the countries of underdeveloped and developing world to identify villages where Barefoot College can facilitate learning and training for solar electrification. There are huge geographical differences and very different issues which affect the women of these villages. From cultural barriers to conditions affected by civil wars, drought, famine, domestic violence, low income levels and often no livelihood, the reasons of their suffering are varied. Women at Barefoot College learn to install and repair solar kits [Shweta Desai] Unlike Florentine, whose main concern was lower education and life prospects for her young son, it is the fear of tigers that haunt Nepals Neema Gurung, another participant training to be solar engineer. This is true. Tigers often wander around our villages and have attacked locals in the past. With no electricity, it becomes easier for the animal to attack and difficult for the humans to defend, she said. Gurungs village of Banepa Raviopi is set on the hilly Kavde district in Nepal and she has always finished her daily chores before the sunset. Its like we are locked in our own house after darkness. We are scared to even go out in the open for toilet due to fear of animals. It is at such times, I realise that it would be better to have electricity, so that we can at least see in the dark. Fallone says the challenge is to find common but universal solutions to address the varied sufferings of women coming from different regions. If you find a solution for a woman, she will find a solution for her family and community and her country. Expanding woman participation As a part of its South-South cooperation programme, the Indian Governments Ministry of External Affairs helps women participants with the air fare and part of the fee for the training course in Tilonia. The local village community has to select and decide which old and uneducated woman will cross the shores of their country to travel to India for six months, a harsh one for many of the communities who struggle to balance their traditional mindset vis-a-vis access towards better living conditions. In the past, Barefoot College had to convince village elders and men of the family from countries like Zanzibar, Jordan and Afghanistan to allow the women, who had never stepped out of purdah or spoken with men, to participate in the training, which will eventually make them professional solar engineers with a monthly salary. In Tilonia, the women start from scratch, learning to identify and code colours in their local language for electricity circuit and tools. In lay mans terms, it is difficult to comprehend how an uneducated woman from tribal and remote parts of the world with no knowledge in English can learn how to fix solar electricity. But Gowardhan Tepan, master trainer for the solar engineer programme in Tilonia, knows the trick of the ropes, which he himself learned as a student of the Barefoot College. We communicate through sign language and colour codes which are numerically arranged and help them to remember the permutation and combination of the wires without needing to read or write, he said. In six months, the women learn to handle sophisticated charge controllers and inverters (solar cells produce direct current, DC, which is converted into standard alternating current, AC, using an inverter), to install solar panels and link them to batteries, to build solar lanterns and to establish a local electronic workshop where they can carry out all major and minor repairs to the solar power system themselves merely by listening and memorising. Approximately 202 women from villages in Africa have been trained as barefoot solar engineers [Barefoot College] The Barefoot College makes an investment of up to $50,000 in solar equipment for 120 households in the participants village. Once the course is finished, the women go back to their villages where they help in installing solar lamp kits. Each household contributes the same amount towards maintenance and upgradation of the solar installation, which they used to spend on kerosene, candles or batteries, before the onset of electricity. The women solar engineers are paid a monthly salary for fixing and repairing the solar lamps or kits and a committee headed by 4 women and 3 men from the village remain in charge of the equipment. In the last decade, 1083 villages of 63 countries across Latin America (43), Africa (245), the Middle East (2), Asia (323) and South Pacific Islands (31), have been electrified by 604 women solar engineers from Barefoot College, bringing domestic lighting to over 45,000 houses. By 2015, Barefoot College would have trained women solar engineers in each of 43 least developed countries. But much before that, Florentines small village of Santa Teresa would have dim lights in the dark nights of the forest. When I go back now, I will bring lights to the community. When I remember my troubles, I feel its passed, its past now. Residents and analysts of Gaza anguish over the prospects of another Israeli onslaught. Gaza Strip One week since the assassination of Hamas senior activist Mazen Faqha, the prevailing mood in Gaza is one of uncertainty and fear of another Israeli onslaught. Many people here regard a fourth Israeli war [on Gaza] as inevitable a matter of when, not if, said Moutasem al-Haddad, a shop owner in Gazas lively al-Rimal street. Faqha was a former detainee who was freed in the 2011 Shalit prisoner swap deal and exiled to the Gaza Strip. Israel has repeatedly charged him with leading Hamas efforts to reestablish an armed presence for the Gaza-based movement in the occupied West Bank. He was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in front of an apartment building where he lived in Gaza Citys southern Tel al-Hawa suburb late on Friday night. The operation was unusual in both tactics and location. It left people in the Strip in a state of shock and dismay. The past few days remind me of the days in 2014, before the third war [on Gaza] started, said Sobhiya al-Areer, a Palestinian woman whose son was killed and house destroyed in the 2014 Israeli assault on the Strip. Areer has only recently relocated from a rented apartment to her newly rebuilt house in Shujayea, while her sons remain displaced, waiting for their turn in the sluggish reconstruction process. As a mother who lost a son in the war I felt the pain of losing Faqha more than anyone, Areer said. Still, she fears what a new war may bring to her family. I still have nightmares whenever the [talk of] war is brought up, she told Al Jazeera. READ MORE: Strong evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza Faqhas shooters remain on the run while security apparatuses in Gaza try to decode the murder. Since the assassination, checkpoints were erected along key streets in the Strip and police presence has intensified. Restrictions were imposed by the Interior Ministry on the movement of people through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing between Gaza and Israel. The professional style of this operation, and the tools that the assassins used, indicate that a sophisticated enemy was behind it, Iyad al-Bozum, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, told Al Jazeera, naming Israel as the most likely culprit. Investigations are still ongoing, however, he added. Al-Bozums intuition is shared widely among people in the Strip. There is no doubt regarding who is behind this operation, its the [Israeli] occupation, Mohammed Azzam, a local Palestinian journalist, told Al Jazeera. Shortly following the assassination, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamass armed wing, pinned the assassination on Israel and vowed to retaliate. We say clearly that the Israeli occupation is fully responsible for this crime and bears its consequences, the Brigades said in a press statement on Friday. The occupation will pay a heavy price for this crime, the statement continued. So far, there has been no official Israeli comment over Faqhas death. Still, the heated rhetoric and the intense buzzing of Israeli drones over Gaza leave little room for people in the Strip to feel at ease. As the majority of people in Gaza anguish over the prospects of a new war and how it could exacerbate the calamitous situation in the Strip, others fear that the situation per se might lead to war. A report by Israels State Comptroller Joseph Shapira a month ago criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus cabinet for ignoring warnings by Israeli security services regarding the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and its consequences for Israel. READ MORE: Israels cabinet ignored warnings over 2014 Gaza war Nearly three years after the last onslaught, fewer than half the international funds pledged for Gaza reconstruction have been disbursed. Further, being under Israeli blockade for over a decade, Gaza remains gripped by a myriad of crises. Severe water and electricity deficiencies compound a situation where food insecurity prevails and health services are on a limp. Meanwhile, the unsettling socioeconomic situation continues to deteriorate as the Strip, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, faces staggering unemployment rates. Israel, according to political science student Abdullah Sabra, is once again overlooking the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, pushing residents to the point where they have little to lose. They are doing the same thing, again! Sabra told Al Jazeera. Eid Musleh, a Palestinian expert on Israeli affairs, confirms Sabras worries and says that the assassination signals that Israel is ready to engage in a new war on Gaza. The timing of the assassination which followed the ascension of a new Hamas leadership implies an Israeli attempt to drag Hamas to a new confrontation, he told Al Jazeera. He pointed out recent Israeli military drills near the Gaza borders, which, Eid says, sends a message to Hamas that Israel is ready for war. On the contrary, Ibrahim al-Madhoun, manager of the Gaza-based Future Political Studies Institute, sees that the nature of the assassination indicates an Israeli attempt to distance itself from the operation. They are not willing to bear the consequences, hence the complex nature of this assassination and the Israeli silence that followed it, he told Al Jazeera. They want to drag the resistance into a war of attrition where they can pay a very little price. However, both Musleh and al-Madhoun agree that Hamas reaction cannot be foreseen. Meanwhile, uncertainty remains high, as well as the chance for miscalculated moves on either side of the border. Hamas is caught between a rock and a hard place, Gaza-based analyst Adnan Abu Amer told Al Jazeera. A retaliation is bound to start a war, and absence of retaliation will encourage Israel to go further and carry out more assassinations. Los Angeles, United States What differentiates undocumented Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander origin from other undocumented communities are also the reasons for their resounding silence as theyre faced with an administration increasingly hostile to migrants, activists say. In recent weeks, undocumented Americans of Latin origin who have spoken publicly appear to have been targeted by immigration authorities. Many in the broader undocumented community say they are now frightened to speak to the press. The undocumented Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) silence is enforced not just by fears of deportation separation from ones family and a jolting return to societies that, after decades for some, have grown dauntingly unfamiliar their silence also owes itself to what many advocates describe as shame for being in the United States without papers. While a number of undocumented Latino immigrants have embraced the idea of undocumented immigrants, theres still a large stigma and fear and shame in our community, says Kham Moua, senior policy and communications manager for the Washington-headquartered national advocacy group OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates. Many undocumented AAPI dont even tell their closest friends and community members about their status let alone the social justice advocates who could help them fight an onslaught of anti-immigration measures under the administration of President Donald Trump. READ MORE: A Chinese American lesson for Trump Living in the shadows If undocumented AAPI are overlooked, they often misinterpret it as a good thing, some say. People think if were quiet, if we put our heads down, well be OK. Thats not the case, says Ivy Teng Lei, 26. Teng is undocumented. Originally from Macao, Teng arrived in the US at the age of seven. She is vocal on behalf of other undocumented AAPI, whom she hopes will speak out before its too late. As an Asian American who doesnt get as much exposure as the Latino undocumented community, despite there being [more than one] million undocumented Asian Americans, Ive shown up at so many forums saying, look this is the face of someone undocumented, and this is a narrative not being talked about. Many like Teng are trying to disabuse members of the undocumented AAPI community of what they characterise as a false sense of security. Like many undocumented communities, undocumented Asians and Pacific Islanders face language access challenges, access to resources such as healthcare, livable wage, and many more, says Anthony Ng, a policy advocate for immigrant rights at the Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles legal advocacy group. During times where we see policies targeting immigrant communities, undocumented Asians and Pacific Islanders dont necessarily think they may be as vulnerable as someone who crossed the border. Most undocumented Asians and Pacific Islanders come over with some form of visa that expires, they think they are less vulnerable when, in fact, any non-citizen is susceptible to these policies targeting immigrants. There are 11 million undocumented Americans in the US. Despite prevalent stereotypes, they hail from around the world not just Latin America. But thats often the implication, in media and now from the White House. When on the campaign trail, Trump spoke about the bad hombres Mexico was allegedly sending to the US, the implication for many in his audience was that the identifiers Mexican and undocumented are synonymous. READ MORE: Asian Americans Myth and reality Facing all the same uncertainties But undocumented AAPI exist and face the same uncertainty. In late February, more than 50 people were rounded up by immigration authority raids targeting Asian cuisine restaurants in Mississippi, US media reported. An estimated 1.6 million of those undocumented people are Asian American, according to a University of California, Riverside project called AAPI Data that collects hard-to-find data on the AAPI community. The AAPI Data cited New York City-based non-profit Center for Migration Studies. Nearly a third of those undocumented Asian Americans are in California. Los Angeles County boasts the largest, most diverse AAPI community in the country, and has been hailed by local media as the capital of Asian America. In the heart of Los Angeles, Koreatown covers a sprawling three square miles where countless services draw non-Korean Americans, amid the growing international popularity of Korean dramas, cosmetics and electronics. But beyond its booming service sector, many in the Korean American community are living in fear. Alexandra Suh, director of community advocacy group the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA) which advocates on behalf of many Americans of Korean and Latin origin living its community told Al Jazeera that about 20 percent of Korean Americans are undocumented. Everyone is living in this silent fear, says Suh. We had a member who said, when her father passed away, she wanted nothing more than to go to Korea to attend the funeral, but she couldnt. And not only could she not go because she [wasnt sure if she would] come back, she also couldnt share that pain with close friends, because they didnt know she was undocumented, Suh adds. Deafening silence The silence has very serious ramifications for some, OCAs Moua explains. That was one of the bigger hurdles when many of us were actively pushing the DACA programme, he says referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme introduced by Barack Obamas administration in 2012, which allowed people who arrived in the country as children to stay for two-year renewable periods if they met a series of requirements. Stigma, Moua adds, was part of the reason why [we] didnt see as many AAPI DACA applicants as there were people eligible for the programme. Mari Quenemoen, communications and development director at the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) advocacy group, says many are not receiving the information necessary for them to stay in the country legally. We havent heard of a single Vietnamese DACA applicant, for instance, she explains. There are heightened risks to speaking out under the Trump administration, Quenemoen observes. Under Obama, [the Department of Homeland Security that oversees immigration law enforcement] tacitly agreed not to deport certain community members who had a lot of community support and media coverage, under the policy of prosecutorial discretion. Under Trump, it seems sometimes that drawing attention to an individual could be risky, like in the case of [Daniela] Vargas, Quenemoen adds. Many of our most dedicated impacted community members now feel that they could be targeted and deported, causing a lot of fear. One of the ways that Moua and others are combating this is by addressing the stigma head-on. We are pushing back against narratives that are anti-immigrant from AAPI immigrant groups, he says. Within the AAPI community, there are those who dont look at their experiences as part of the civil rights continuum and dont put undocumented rights within the civil rights spectrum. Part of the conversation were having is how to reach out to those communities and educate them, Moua adds. Standing up for the greater good Ivy Teng Lei is an exception to the rule for undocumented AAPI. Shes speaking out despite the risks and the stigma. Teng recently penned an op-ed on her American immigrant experience in The Guardian. Shes also part of a growing campaign to call for affordable education for her fellow New Yorkers. Teng is adamant that she use her full name in this article, despite the heightened risks. For her, overcoming her fears is a process. So, immediately after the Trump election it was obviously a very clear fear about losing everything I had in my hands, she says. I thought the country would always be moving forward from here. After the election, it was very clear we could be deported tomorrow. Its a very real concern. I literally broke out in hives, because I was so stressed to having to have a family meeting to talk about what would happen to me if I did get picked up, where to find all my things. But her work for undocumented people as a larger group, beyond the undocumented AAPI community and for affordable education keeps her going. Its like the rally chant the people united will never be defeated. We cannot wait until one of us is hurt. We have to show solidarity, and that begins by showing up for other communities, she reflects. She feels that AAPI communities are empowering themselves to be active and to fight against deportation, albeit more slowly than Latin communities. Im seeing more AAPI getting involved, from parents who are concerned about their childrens future to teenagers who are understanding the world via their social media, she says. In August 1955, a 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago, Emmett Till, was visiting relatives in small town Mississippi. He went to buy bubblegum at Bryants Grocery and Meat Market. While he was there, a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, a cashier, accused Emmett of whistling at her and making untoward physical and verbal advances. Three nights later, Bryants husband and his half-brother kidnapped the young boy, bludgeoned him until his face was unrecognisable, shot him to death, and threw his body into the Tallahatchie River. Although the men were apprehended later and charged, an all-white, all-male jury acquitted them. And early in 2017, historian Timothy Tyson revealed that Carolyn Bryant admitted to him, privately, that Till had never made an advance on her. Tills story was made all the more powerfully visible because his mother Mamie Elizabeth Till-Mobley insisted that her sons body be transported to Chicago, and that his coffin remain open, against pleas to close the door on his death. Thousands came to pay their respects over five days and became witnesses of the brutality done to Till. But it was because Tills mother permitted photographs of her son to be published in Jet Magazine that the savagery of US white supremacy became visible to a greater audience. That is where the power of photography with its reputation for presenting an indexical representation of reality speaks authoritatively. Making a spectacle of Tills death Although photography has also been used to prop up mythologies about those who are politically and socially disenfranchised in order to further diminish that group, it can also help that disenfranchised group to produce counter-narratives questioning prevailing myths about their communities. And sometimes, as in the case of the unbearably painful images of Tills face in Jet magazine, photography allows us to offer evidence, proof of the truth of our experiences precisely because of the prevailing belief that photographs do not lie. More than 60 years after Emmett Tills murder, debates about whether there are more (or less) ethical ways in which we can approach the brutality done to his body continue. Most recently, the furore is about a contemporary abstract painting titled Open Casket of Emmett Till, included in the Whitney Biennale in New York City. Many have been outraged by Whitney Biennale curators Mia Locks and Christopher Y Lews decision to as they saw it make a spectacle of Tills death, only this time, in a context devoid of the respectful architectural, religious, psychological, and emotional frameworks required for mourning. To hang his suffering on a white wall seemed tantamount to instrumentalising a brutalised black body in order to buy art critic approval, to add intellectual and political weight to the Whitney Biennale, and generally create buzz. READ MORE: Know your history Understanding racism in the US Here was the 14-year-old Till, alone again in the face of a brutal defacement in the white cube spaces of a museum. His defaced figure is hung next to screens of moving image works by a black performance artist, Maya Stovall, who combines ballet and contemporary dance performances in front of liquor stores in her native Detroit. In the small room behind the wall on which the painting of Till is hung, the cosmic jazz of Kamasi Washingtons Harmony of Difference plays again and again on a loop, delivering an ethereal, eternal message of the possibility of finding confluences beyond divisiveness and difference. Much of the ensuing critique of Open Casket focused on whether the painter, Dana Schutz, a white woman, can take it for granted that she can represent black suffering, and whether a museum can put that suffering up as part of a spectacle. Over the first two days of the Biennales opening week, Parker Bright, an African American artist, has stood in peaceful protest of this depiction of Till. He positions himself in front of the painting wearing a T-shirt that spells Black Death Spectacle on the back, partially obscuring it from the view. The debate is, essentially, about who, in America's fraught racial landscape, has the right to represent the experiences of suffering by Others, including black British artist Hannah Black, have called for the destruction of the painting, noting, in a Facebook post, White free speech and white creative freedom have been founded on the constraint of others, and are not natural rights. The painting must go. The debate is, essentially, about who, in Americas fraught racial landscape, has the right to represent the experiences of suffering. If those the painter wishes to depict are people whose historical and present-day experiences she is exempt from, can she accurately represent them? Does Schutz have the historical acumen the weight of the experience of historical trauma as well as the resilience required to survive it to depict Till in his casket? Scholar Christina Sharpe contends in an interview on Hyperallergic, that the debate is less about cultural appropriation and free speech but rather, [about] intimacy and our different relationships to violence. While black people lined up for blocks to pay their respects to Till in 1955, Sharpe notes that there were no white people in that line. And there is no solemn line to see this exposed, perpendicular view of him at the Whitney Biennale. Further, Sharpe calls our attention to the ways in which Schutzs painting works, when compared to the way that the photographs published only in Jet functioned at the time: Mamie Till Mobley makes the decision, against much advice, to have those photographs of her son published. It was not mainstream media or white media that published those images They were for black people, because Jet was a black publication. They werent meant to create empathy or shame or awareness from white viewers. They were meant to speak to and to move a Black audience. Abstracting black experiences of violence Along with the debate about the politics of representation, there is the danger of abstracting black experiences of actual violence. The historical experiences of violence are very much a part of the present experience of being black in the US today, and the acquittal of the men responsible for the brutality reverberates across time to the present moment. Open Casket depicts the face of Till in a distorted, abstract manner and is meant to capture and comment on the reasons why Tills mother chose to have an open casket, to show the world what white men had done to her child, rather than choose to hide the effects of their savagery with a quick burial. In an interview on NBC News, Lisa Whittington, another painter and educator whose artwork engages audiences in remembering Till, points out that in Schutzs painting of Till in a clean, white tux affixed with a red flower, the horror was too gentle; in downplay[ing] the details and the emotion his death represented Schutz makes it feel as though Emmetts death was easy. Where Tills eye was gouged out, Schutz makes a criss-cross of brushstrokes, using dark paint on the surface strokes to represent injury; and across his face, there is a broad, sweeping brushstroke that swoops the nose onto the side. Although a face is barely recognisable because Schutz uses techniques common to abstract painting in the geopolitical West since Picasso, there is no immediate understanding that the distortions we see are a result of violence. Instead, we see that the painter is playing with perspective and angles. Only traces of red paint hint at violence; a yellow halo-like structure around the head beatifies Till in his death, in spite of the violence done to him. READ MORE: Museum sheds light on African-American history I wondered why Schutz did not attempt a diptych or triptych, in which she included the presence of Carolyn Bryant the valourisation of whose sexual honour set Tills torture and death into motion; why the two men who killed him, the jury who acquitted them after an hour of deliberation, or the Mississippi towns ordinary white inhabitants were not a part of her paintings narrative. Yes, they are present, in their absence. But as with so many depictions of violence done to black persons, removing the explicit presence of white perpetrators diminishes the virulence of white supremacy and community complicity. But early audiences at the Whitney Biennale did not seem to be thinking through these factors before they were made explicit by protest. The average Biennale wanderer barely gave Open Casket any notice; as I walked through on the opening day for members, I heard one saying, What is that ugly painting? Coco Fusco rightfully argues, in Hyperallergic, that it would be foolish to go about blithely damning abstraction by associating it with erasure and irresponsibility; she reminds us that Theodore Adorno noted that realist representations of atrocity offer simple voyeuristic pleasure over a more profound grasp of the horrors of history. Yet, in choosing to alter the violent, physical distortions to Tills face, through using techniques of abstraction, Schutz diffused the political importance of having an open casket. The photographs depict a realism or an indexicality that abstraction in the painting distorts, diluting the power of witness. The photographs of Tills body, and of Mamie Till-Mobleys dignity and pain made the ordinary savagery of Americas sociopolitical landscapes impossible to avoid. Schutz may have aimed at showing how ones humanity is distorted by violence, how silent, complicit witnesses are also deeply distorted by brutal acts. But when the lives of the majority of the audience that filters through the doors of the Whitney are so far removed from the realities faced by the politically, economically and socially disenfranchised of America they become less the witness and more participants in the violence of gawking. OPINION: Michael Brown, racism and Americas open casket The Whitney Biennale curators organised one of the most well-represented shows in its history, with a diverse group of artists. Yet, representation through name-checking certain demographic groups who are underrepresented in art and the sociopolitical arena of ones nation is clearly not enough. Some may think that in these fraught political times in the US, that debate over a painting is a waste of time. But this art talk that people may dismiss is about our regard for each other, and how we choose to behave towards those we deem other in literature we write, in paintings, in policies, in laws. The same dynamics of representation and identity-construction, significant to how African Americans shaped the processes of demanding justice in the United States, remain true today for those on the receiving end of Donald Trump and his administrations white supremacist policies. Photographs allowed Tills mother to represent the pain and brutal distortion her son and she experienced in a way that she chose. Open Casket disfigures that powerful statement, even if done in a well-meaning manner. So much distortion is accompanied with well-meaning motives. That powerful, painful choice to unmask and unveil the effects of white supremacist violence in America, and the power inherent in making it plain, in not hiding from repercussions, is made weak if not altogether removed by the elisions inherent in abstraction. Editors note: An eariler version of this article incorrectly claimed that Parker Brights protest lasted over a week. He protested two days. M Neelika Jayawardane is an Associate Professor of English at the State University of New York-Oswego, and an Honorary Research Associate at the Centre for Indian Studies in Africa (CISA), University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa). She is a founding member of the online magazine, Africa is a Country, where she was senior editor and contributor from 2010 to 2016. Among numerous published texts, Jayawardane recently contributed the main essay for the South Africa pavilions 57th Venice Biennale catalogue, and essays for The Walther Collections publication (2017) and numerous other artists catalogues. Her writing is featured in Transitions, Aperture, Contemporary&, Art South Africa, Contemporary Practices: Visual Art from the Middle East, Even, and Research in African Literatures. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Seeking a renewed relationship, President Sisi sets off to meet Trump after nearly four years of tension with US. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi left Cairo for Washington where both sides will seek a renewed relationship after tensions over Sisis crackdown on opponents. As well as meeting President Donald Trump, Sisi will see the top officials at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where he will pitch for help with his countrys ailing economy. A senior White house official said on Friday that Trump wants to use President Sisis visit to reboot the bilateral relationship and build on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September. READ MORE: Hassan Fathy Egypt\s architect of the poor The trip will be Sisis first US state visit since being elected president in 2014 as former US President Barack Obama had never extended an invitation. The bilateral relationship was strained when Obama criticised Sisi for cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi was elected a year after leading the militarys removal of the Muslim Brotherhoods President Mohamed Morsi after mass protests. The country is fighting an internal conflict in Sinai, and hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police have been killed fighting armed groups. Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive an economy hit by political upheaval since a 2011 revolt and to ease a dollar shortage that has crippled imports, drove away foreign investors and hampered its recovery. Egypt received the first tranche of a three-year $12bn loan deal with the IMF and is expecting to receive the second tranche soon. READ MORE: Attacks on Copts in Sinai a message from ISIL The second tranche of a $3bn loan from the World Bank was disbursed to Egypt last month. The statement said Sisi is also scheduled to meet leaders of the American chamber of commerce and heads of major United States companies to discuss investment opportunities in Egypt. Trumps fantastic guy When Sisi meets Trump on Monday during his first state visit to Washington, he will see a counterpart who better appreciates his mission to fight rebels and armed groups, without Obamas hand-wringing over human rights. As a matter of fact, President-elect Trump has shown deep and great understanding of what is taking place in the region as a whole and what is taking place in Egypt, Sisi, who met Trump in September before his election, said in an interview. A senior White House official said Friday that Trump wants to build on the strong connection the two presidents established then. READ MORE: What happened to Egypts Muslim Brotherhood? Hes a fantastic guy. Took control of Egypt, and he really took control of it, he told Fox Business of the period after Morsis overthrow which saw hundreds of protesters killed and thousands detained. Over the past three years, Sisi has met a trickle of delegations from American think-tanks and other groups, drumming home the importance of supporting him. Egypt is part of the international coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, but is bogged down fighting the armed groups affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula, where they have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen. Western officials who requested anonymity told AFP news agency that Egypt is primarily interested in advanced military hardware it believes Western countries are withholding. Cairo also wants conventional equipment that Washington believes is not useful for a counterinsurgency campaign. Blast from explosive device hidden in parked motorbike near police training centre kills one policeman and wounds 15. A bomb blast that targeted a police training facility in Egypts Nile Delta has killed one policeman and wounded 15 people, including 12 other policemen, according to officials. Egypts interior ministry said on Saturday that the explosive device was hidden in a motorbike parked near the training centre in the city of Tanta. The policeman killed was among the wounded taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds several hours after the attack. A newly emerged group that calls itself Liwaa al-Thawra, or the Revolution Brigade, claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement posted on social media. A training centre for the police militias has been targeted in Gharbia province with a highly explosive device Our fighters withdrew safely after completing the mission, the groups statement said without giving further details. Egypt faces an armed movement led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed groups branch in North Sinai, where hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed. There have also been attacks in Cairo and other cities. Tomb sweeping in Qinghua Festival [File Photo] QR codes are part of daily life for most people. Short for "quick response" code, they are machine-readable labels that allow us to add new WeChat friends, pay bills with smartphones and order food in restaurants, among a myriad of other easy functions. They have become so ubiquitous that some people joke QR codes will one day replace tombstones, allowing people to scan a code by mobile phone and access the names and achievements of ancestors that used to be engraved in granite. Actually, it's no longer a laughing matter. The annual Qingming Festival, or traditional tomb-sweeping day, falls on Tuesday this year, and QR codes are appearing in graveyards across China. The matrix bar codes come in various forms, such as stickers, bronze plates or plastic tags. They cost up to 3,000 yuan (US$436). Scanning a code leads to a memorial page honoring the dead. Many graveyard companies operate online memorial pages, where one can also give virtual flowers, burn virtual candles and buy virtual gifts for the dead, either for free or for a few cents. So far, the new trend hasn't really caught on much. Some companies are also offering live streaming services for those who cannot get to cemeteries for Qingming this year. Staff clean the tombstones, bow to them and place flowers on graves for absent clients who can watch the ritual via live streaming video on mobile phone apps. Needless to say, all this digital intrusion into what is an old and revered festival in China is stirring up a bit of controversy. Some Chinese netizens say that the new practices are fitting substitutes for those who cannot make it to graveyards and that they promote a cleaner environment because less traditional paper money is burned at tombs. Others say online tomb-sweeping services are crass and lack respect. "The QR code service really ties in well with a more ecological approach to funerals because it is much smaller than the typical tombstone," the Zhejiang Province Funeral Association said at a recent press conference, recommending the service. The association staff said they are actively promoting alternative funeral services, like burying the ashes of loved ones under trees or in flower beds, or throwing them onto waterways or into a brisk wind. Government subsidies of around 1,500 yuan are given to those who chose not to buy a plot of land to bury their dead. Land is becoming scarce. All the newly fangled ideas don't sit well with traditional views about how the dead should be treated. Many people are afraid that alternative funeral services will mark them as disrespectful toward elders who have always been afforded a peaceful plot for their souls to rest in peace. Many also worry that the absence of a large tombstone will rob them of a focal point for paying their respects and burning paper money to honor ancestors. "The bronze QR code tag is small enough to fit in a flower bed, so people will know where their relatives are buried," the funeral association staff explained. "We hope it will help some people consider alternative funeral options." China has traditionally been an agricultural economy, where the land long played a significant role in the lives and deaths of people. For many Chinese, the first thing to do after making some money is to return to their hometowns and build new houses. Most still believe that the soul needs a piece of land to rest for eternity and for the others to visit and pay tribute. "We Chinese always say, 'You find peace after you are buried under the soil'," says Peter Kuang, a 36-year-old software engineer who has been doing tomb-sweeping services every April for the past 10 years. "I am not superstitious enough to believe that there is an afterlife or that the soul really needs a plot of land, but I don't think it's necessary to challenge old traditions that others in my family still believe in." He adds, "A piece of land and a tombstone are still considered necessities. Being there in person is also crucial. You go there, you burn your paper money, you kneel down and you say your prayers not because ancestors really hear you but because you are showing them respect. "We have lost so many traditions," Kuang concludes. "The tomb-sweeping ceremony is almost the last sacred rite left. It feels ridiculous to just click a button and count that as respect paid." Indeed, modern development and the digital revolution have led many people to rue the passing of old traditions in Chinese holidays, especially Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Nowadays, many people think of the Mid-Autumn Festival only in terms of eating mooncakes and of Spring Festival as just a weeklong break to go on a holiday. Qingming Festival valiantly clings to old traditions, like burning fake money and other paper gifts for the dead. But with pollution becoming a hot-button issue, some cities have banned such gift-burning at graveyards and are urging residents to forsake their cars to avoid huge traffic jams. In Shanghai alone, it is estimated that more than 8 million people will travel to suburban graveyards over the three-day Qingming holiday. "It has become almost as bad as Spring Festival," says Zhang Yuan, a 27-year-old migrant from Anhui Province, who works in Shanghai. "It's harder to get back home when there are only three days for Qingming. I would prefer not to go, but my parents worry that we will be criticized by other relatives if I don't show up." When he suggested that he might participate in tomb-sweeping via digital technology, his parents were outraged. "They were furious," he says. "They would have killed me via mobile phone if that were possible." Beijing says new rules are necessary to fight extremism but rights groups have called similar restrictions repressive. China has banned abnormal beards and full-face coverings in the remote western region of Xinjiang as part of tighter anti-extremism regulations that also prohibit rejecting state media. Xinjiang is home to about 10 million Uighur Muslims, who have said they routinely face discrimination. Hundreds of people have died in recent years in the region due to unrest blamed by Beijing on separatists, though rights groups say the violence is more a reaction to repressive Chinese policies. The new legislation took effect on Saturday and lists a wide range of restrictions, including rejecting or refusing radio, television or other public facilities and services, marrying using religious rather than legal procedures and using the name of Halal to meddle in secular life of others. The rules also ban not allowing children to attend government schools, not abiding by family planning policies, wearing robes that cover the whole body and face and abnormal growing of beards and naming of children to exaggerate religious fervour, according to the text of the rules published on a government website. It did not clarify how the rules would be enforced. READ MORE: For Uighur exiles, Kashmir is heaven Many Uighurs complain of cultural and religious repression and discrimination by China. Beijing has denied the accusations. A number of similar regulations had previously been introduced in some places in Xinjiang, including stopping people with headscarves, veils and long beards from boarding buses in at least one city. The new rules, however, expand the list and formally apply them to the entire region. The popularity of veils for Uighur women, in particular, has grown in recent years in what experts say is an expression of opposition to Chinese controls. China has said Xinjiang faces a grave separatist threat from Uighur fighters allegedly linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), prompting the government to ramp up surveillance measures and police patrols. The government has provided little evidence for such claims. READ MORE: China targets parents with religion rules in Xinjiang ISIL released a video in late February purportedly showing Uighur fighters training in Iraq and vowing to strike China, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. Earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a great wall of iron to safeguard Xinjiang, referencing the military response following the pro-democracy protest in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Rights groups have said that Chinese religious restrictions on Muslims may have driven more than 100 to join ISIL. Saturdays elections are the first since the country voted Aung San Suu Kyis NLD into office in 2016. Voting in Myanmars by-elections is under way in a first test of the popularity of Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) since it formed the government a year ago Saturday marks the first time the country has gone to polls since NLD swept to power, in an early indication of views on her leadership amid increased fighting with armed ethnic groups and slower economic growth. Hundreds of voters lined up outside polling stations on the outskirts of Myanmars commercial capital Yangon, though the scene lacked the fanfare and enthusiasm that marked the historic 2015 polls. The by-elections will fill 19 vacant seats in the national and regional parliaments at a time when Aung San Suu Kyi is struggling to match the sky-high expectations. In a televised address earlier this week, she acknowledged the publics frustration with the slow pace of reforms and development. But she also reiterated her top priority of ending the ethnic conflicts that have kept Myanmar in a state of near-perpetual civil war. While the outcome of the by-elections will not affect the balance of power within the parliament where the NLD enjoys a large majority, it offers a chance to gauge the popularity of the administration in a country where nationwide public polls are not available. Win Htein, one of the NLDs top leaders, said the party faced language barriers and problems with armed groups in the Shan state districts being contested. Fighting in some of those areas has intensified in recent months. We are still improving in Shan state. The local people dont understand Burmese, so we have to translate our policies into the Shan language, he said. Major rebel armies engaged in clashes with the military in areas including the Shan state have refused to actively participate in Aung San Suu Kyis peace process. REPORTERS NOTEBOOK: Aung San Suu Kyi has lost her voice Several conflicts have reignited since Aung San Suu Kyi took office, displacing an estimated 160,000 more people, according to the UN. Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is also facing international criticism for her governments handling of a crisis in the Muslim-majority Rakhine region, where soldiers have blocked access for aid workers and are accused of raping and killing civilians. The UN Human Rights Council agreed to send a fact-finding mission to Myanmar to investigate alleged abuses by security forces against Rohingya Muslims. Tens of thousands of people have fled Rakhine since the military began a security operation last October in response to what it says was an attack by armed Rohingya men on border posts, in which nine police officers were killed. A February UN report said the operation targeting the Rohingya involved mass rapes and killings, possibly amounting to crimes against humanity. Over two million voters, less than five percent of the countrys population, can vote in the by-elections where seats in eight states and regions across the country are up for grabs. The by-elections will fill seats largely vacated by incumbents who joined the government in ministerial posts. Some seats that were excluded from previous elections due to fighting with ethnic armed groups are also up for grabs. In strife-torn Rakhine state on Myanmars western coastline, the party will face a strong challenge not only from the local ethnic minority Arakan National Party, but also the military-backed USDP. The USDP led the transitional government that took over from the military government in 2011, but was trounced in elections four years later that swept the NLD to power. To the south in Mon, the NLD is facing a backlash over the naming of a new bridge after Aung San Suu Kyis father that many see as a symbol of the partys disregard for minorities. Rebel fighters and their families leave for Idlib province under an agreement with government that began in March. Scores of rebel fighters and their families have begun leaving the last opposition-held neighbourhood in the Syrian city of Homs, Syrian state TV and a monitor said, as part of an evacuation deal that began in March. Hundreds boarded buses on Saturday that were headed from the Al Waer neighbourhood to the rebel-controlled areas of Idlib, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Al Waer, once known as the epicentre of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, has been under a government siege since 2013, triggering shortages of medicine and food. The UN has not been able to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid to the area since September 2016. The evacuation is the third phase of an agreement reached last year that saw hundreds of fighters and their families leave the area. Under the evacuation deal, between 10,000 and 15,000 people will leave the neighbourhood in batches. Homs Governor Talal al-Barazi has said it will take between six to eight weeks for the evacuation to be completed. The Syrian government has increasingly tried to press besieged rebel areas to surrender and accept what it calls reconciliation agreements that involve fighters departing for northern Syria . OPINION: Syrias green buses: Symbol of a seismic shift Damascus has said such deals are a good way to bring the country closer to peace after six years of conflict. The opposition and rights groups, however, have called the agreements a tactic of forcibly displacing people who oppose Assad after years of bombardment and siege. There is a deliberate strategy from the Syrian government in terms of retaking some of these areas is that they lay a siege on the area preventing all kinds of supplies from getting in, including food, medical supplies etc and then they indiscriminately attack these areas, Ole Solvang, the deputy director of emergencies at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera. People who left Al Waer in the first convoy said that few preparations were made for their arrival to rebel-held parts of northern Syria and some said they wished they had never left in the first place. Once completed, the Al Waer deal would mark the biggest evacuation during the war out of one Syrian district, which is home to about 40,000 civilians and more than 2,500 fighters, the SOHR said. The deal follows other agreements that were never fully implemented between the government and rebel groups in Al Waer, which has been targeted heavily by air strikes in recent weeks. The fifth round of talks on ending the conflit in Syria ended in Geneva on Friday without any significant progress. Some 248 people have been deported from Europe to Afghanistan this year, compared with 580 in 2016. Two more planes carrying Afghans deported from Europe have arrived in Kabul after their asylum request was rejected under an agreement between the European Union and Afghan government. The arrivals mean 248 people have been deported from Europe to Afghanistan this year, compared with 580 throughout 2016, said Hafiz Ahmad Miakhel, spokesman for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations. Fifteen deportees arrived by chartered flight from Germany on Tuesday, while 19 landed on Wednesday from Austria and 10 from Sweden. Another flight, from Finland, is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. European governments say those deported back have failed rigorous asylum tests and that major cities like Kabul are sufficiently safe. READ MORE: Germanys rejected asylum seekers fear deportation The EU signed an agreement with the Afghan government in October allowing its member states to deport an unlimited number of asylum seekers, and obliging the Afghan government to receive them. The agreement states while a maximum of 50 non-voluntary deportees on each chartered flight in the first six months after the agreement, there is no limit to the number of daily deportation flights European governments can charter to Kabul. Even as the number of Afghan deportees is rising, it still remains less compared with the thousands returning voluntarily. Nearly 55,000 migrants and refugees who were not eligible for or were likely to be denied asylum left Germany voluntarily in 2016 We are committed to the agreements but we need more assistance from the international community to help these people, Miakhel told Reuters news agency, referring to an October agreement between the EU and the Afghan government. There is a war against the Taliban, against Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL), against al-Qaeda and this year we will have more forced deportees than last year, he said. READ MORE: Afghan snowstorms death toll jumps Afghans were the second largest group of asylum seekers in Europe in 2015, and concerns about security and their integration have encouraged politicians to take a tougher line. However, last month Germany reportted seeing an immense drop in the arrival of asylum seekers in the country, with the total number in 2016 down to less than a third of the 890,000 who arrived in 2015. Afghanistans campaign Afghanistan will welcome more returning migrants than any other country in 2017, including up to one million from neighbouring Pakistan, said Masood Ahmadi at the International Organization for Migration in Afghanistan. If you are coming to Afghanistan against your will, you are not ready to return. Reintegration back into society will be very difficult and forced deportations have the stigma of failure, he said. It will encourage re-migration. The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation launched an ongoing campaign Khpal Watan, Gul Watan (our country, beautiful country) urging all refugees to return back to their homeland as it needs you in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Rescue effort suspended for the night as hundreds still missing following mudslides in Mocoa, southwest Colombia. More than 200 people have been killed and hundreds more are missing after torrential rains triggered severe flooding and mudslides in the city of Mocoa, in southwest Colombia, according to a statement released by the army. Heavy overnight rainfall caused several rivers to overflow their banks, sending mud and debris crashing on to houses as people slept, and sweeping away vehicles and trees. Many of the victims did not have enough time to climb on top of their roofs, or seek refuge on higher ground. Weve declared an emergency in the area so we can help people as best we can, said Colombias President Juan Manuel Santos, who flew to Mocoa on Saturday to oversee rescue efforts. He added that 30 percent of monthly rain fell in just one night. All of our hearts are with the victims of this tragedy. An estimated 220 people were still missing, while another 400 were injured, according to the Red Cross. With no electricity to light Mocoa, authorities were forced to suspend the search for the night. Mocoa is the capital of Putumayo, near Colombias border with Ecuador. Sorrel Aroca, the governor of Putumayo, called the development an unprecedented tragedy. There are hundreds of families we have not yet found and whole neighbourhoods have disappeared, he told a local radio station. People do not know what to do there were no preparations made for such a disaster, Hernando Rodriguez, a 69-year-old resident, told the AFP news agency. Videos and pictures uploaded to Twitter showed wood planks, mud and piles of rubble from destroyed buildings littering the streets of Mocoa. #TodosConMocoa Este es el panorama de la avalancha que ocurrio en Mocoa, que deja hasta el momento 23 muertos https://t.co/BK5zrz1PFk pic.twitter.com/pT295jucuD BluRadio Colombia (@BluRadioCo) April 1, 2017 #Galeria La tragedia que enluta a Mocoa, en fotos y videos https://t.co/XNJltWcDIu pic.twitter.com/8JOqQiCVZg Ultima Hora BluRadio (@UltimaHoraBLU) April 1, 2017 Carlos Ivan Marquez, the director of the national disaster agency, said a crisis group, including military units, police and rescue teams, had been activated to search for the missing people, as well as begin removing hundreds of tonnes of debris. Simon Uribe, a Mocoa-based filmmaker, told Al Jazeera that people were panicking amid rumours of another avalanche coming. You can see people running down the streets, families and individuals trying to call their friends, he said. But there is no energy at this moment, there is no fuel and the roads are also blocked, so it is very difficult to get in or out of the city, Uribe added. But people are panicking, trying to get out of the city, he said. People are very anxious. Colombia has been hit by several deadly landslides in recent months. Last October, a landslide in the north of the country killed 10 people in October last year. A month later, another killed nine people in the southwestern rural town of El Tambo, officials said at the time. MPs reverse a decision to raise the Kurdistan flag alongside the Iraqi flag on public buildings in Kirkuk city. Iraqs parliament has rejected a decision to raise the Kurdistan flag alongside the Iraqi flag on public buildings and institutions in Kirkuk city. Iraqi MPs voted in favour of displaying only the Iraqi flag on Kirkuks buildings on Saturday, in a session attended by 186 members of the 328-seat parliament. Hasan Turan, an MP for Kirkuk province, told the Anadolu news agency that Kurdish politicians walked out before the vote could take place. Earlier in the week, the semi-autonomous Kirkuk Provincial Council (KPC) voted in favour of raising the Kurdistan Regional Governments flag (KRG) alongside Iraqi national flag on public buildings in the city. However, that vote was vetoed by most Arab and Turkmen members of the KPC. The issue comes at a time when KRG leader Massoud Barzani has made several remarks on holding a possible referendum on independence. Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported that members of the KPC are determined to embark on a project aimed at merging Kirkuk with the Kurdistan regions administration. We have collected 22 signatures to renew that demand and present it to the concerned parties in the Kurdistan Region so that they act on it, Ibrahim Khalil, a Kurdish member of the Council told Rudaw on Friday. It is our rightful and constitutional right. Kirkuk lies in an oil-rich and ethnically mixed part of Iraq. Control over the city is contested by Kurdish and Iraqi authorities. Kurdish forces took over the city in 2014 when the Iraqi army fled during ISILs summer offensive in northern Iraq. The city is home to Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, and Assyrians, as well as tens of thousands of people fleeing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) group and Shia militias from other areas of Iraq. Newly appointed finance minister Gagiba sets out goals as pressure on President Zuma increases after cabinet reshuffle. South Africas new finance minister, Malusi Gigaba, said there was a need to radically transform the South African economy as pressure mounted on President Jacob Zuma after a dramatic cabinet reshuffle that rocked the countrys markets and currency. On Friday, Zuma, head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), said he was making room for new talent and ideas, as he announced changes to 10 of the countrys 35 ministries, including finance, energy, police and tourism. His move to replace Pravin Gordhan with Gigaba drew widespread criticism. Gigaba, though, said he was committed to protecting South Africas cherished investment-grade credit ratings, which analysts have said are threatened by Gordhans removal. Radical economic change in the political language of ANC means the redistribution of wealth, land and opportunity to the black majority. The ownership of wealth and assets remains concentrated in the hands of a small part of the population. This must change, Gigaba, who was previously Home Affairs minister, said. I am fully aware that we are at a highly politicised, polarised and contentious moment in the history of our young democracy. I will not be distracted by external issues. But he added fiscal policy would not be done simply in the interests of big business and capital. For too long, there has been a narrative or perception around Treasury, that it belongs primarily and exclusively to orthodox economists, big business, powerful interests and international investors. With respect, this is a peoples government, he said. On Thursday, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) opposition party appealed to the countrys highest court to order parliament to begin impeachment proceedings against the president for lying to the legislative body. OPINION: South Africas future in the ICC is still uncertain The EFF called it a last resort, with party leader Julius Malema accusing parliament, which is dominated by the ANC, of failing in its duty to hold the president accountable. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is one of the leading candidates to replace Zuma as ANC president, expressed his strong objection to Gordhans removal, describing it as totally, totally unacceptable. Al Jazeeras Fahmida Miller, reporting from Pretoria, said protesters outside the National Treasury in the capital were angry with yet another presidential decision they say only serves Zumas interest. Hundreds of protesters also gathered in front of the parliament building in Cape Town, carrying posters reading: Zuma must fall and Hands off the treasury. Some placards called Zuma a tsotsi, a South African slang word for criminal. Large South Korean cargo ship with 24 crew on board goes missing in South Atlantic Ocean after making a distress call. A large cargo ship with 24 crew on board is believed to have sunk in the Atlantic Ocean, according to the Uruguayan navy. The Stella Daisy, which was being used by a South Korean company, had issued an emergency call on Friday shortly before noon local time (14:00 GMT), saying it was taking on water, the navy said on Saturday. Merchant ships in the area spotted a life raft and were working to rescue two sailors, South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported, quoting government officials in Seoul. The sailors nationality was not known. The crew comprised 16 Filipinos and eight Koreans. Because the freighter was far off the Uruguayan coast, the navy organised a search by four merchant ships in the area, spokesman Gaston Jaunsolo told the AFP news agency in the capital, Montevideo. He said the first ships to reach the scene had detected a strong smell of fuel and spotted debris, an indication that the damaged ship had sunk, a statement from the navy said. The ship, a Very Large Ore Carrier with a capacity of more than 260,000 tonnes, was registered in the Marshall Islands. It had departed from a port in Brazil and its planned destination was not immediately clear. Demonstrations over secret Senate vote on bill that would allow President Cartes to run for re-election turn violent. Protesters have stormed Paraguays Congress building and set it on fire after a secret Senate vote to approve a bill that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for another term. Hundreds of people clashed with riot police in Asuncion on Friday and broke into Congress, battering down entrances and fences and shattering windows. Once inside, they ransacked the offices of legislators who backed the reform and started fires, television images showed. The fire service said some 30 demonstrators and police were injured in the violence. Earlier in the day, the vote on the constitutional amendment took place during a special session held in a closed office in Congress rather than on the Senate floor. Protesters in #Paraguay set fire to Congress after Senate secretly votes to let president run for re-election. https://t.co/4p25jBNLI6 pic.twitter.com/J0Ucmm9fOV AJ+ (@ajplus) April 1, 2017 Opponents of the measure, who say it clears the way for dictatorships, said the vote was illegal. A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us, said Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party. Marching protesters were met by police wielding water hoses and firing rubber bullets and after nightfall, as the demonstrations grew more violent, police in riot gear responded by lobbing tear gas. The president called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter. Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic, Cartes said. Journalist Laurence Blair, in Asuncion, said protesters dispersed late at night and firefighters could put out the fires. He explained that the political situation in Paraguay is complex and that the protests should not be seen as simply a popular uprising against Cartes. The presidents Colorado Party, which has dominated Paraguayan politics for most of the past 70 years, is divided, Blair told Al Jazeera. Some members of the party were probably involved in the protests, he said, as well as left-wing supporters and some people who just wanted to vent their frustration with the political situation. Local media reported that several politicians and journalists were among the injured. Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said many police were hurt after being provoked by a small group of protesters. The national police were not under any instruction to repress. They were attacked, Rojas said in a news conference. Cartes is seeking to reform the constitution to let him run for office again in 2018. Presidents are now limited to a single 5-year term. The bill will pass to the lower house Chamber of Deputies, where the president has a majority, for another vote. Approval there would require the electoral court to call a referendum on the reform within three months. If implemented, the measure would apply to future presidents and Cartes, as well as former presidents, including Fernando Lugo. Everything was done legally, said Senator Carlos Filizzola of the leftist Guasu Front coalition, which supports the constitutional amendment as a way of allowing Lugo to come back as Paraguays leader. Lugo was removed from power by the Senate in 2012 in the wake of a land dispute scandal. Saad al-Hariri calls for more international support, saying he fears civil unrest due to Syrian refugee influx. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has warned that his country is close to breaking point due to strains of hosting more than one million Syrian refugees, fearing that unrest could escalate due to tensions between refugees and local communities. Speaking to foreign media on Friday, Hariri said: Today, if you go around most of the host communities, there is huge tension between the Lebanese and the Syrians I fear civil unrest. The remarks came as the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a report that the number of refugees who have fled the civil war in Syria since it broke out in 2011, now exceeds five million. Refugees from Syria make up about a quarter of Lebanons population. They mostly live in informal camps across the country, some, in severe poverty. READ MORE: Lebanons rubbish crisis fuels green alternatives The Lebanese government has long rejected the implementation of formal refugee camps, fearing the permanent presence of refugees. Some say we should have refugee camps in Lebanon, I say Lebanon has become a big refugee camp, Hariri said, pointing out that the influx of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has stretched the countrys economic resources. Appeal for aid The prime minister also said he would appeal for foreign financial support to boost the local economy and improve infrastructure during next weeks conference on the post-conflict future of Syria, taking place in the Belgian capital, Brussels. I am going to make sure that the world understands that Lebanon is on the verge of a breaking point, he said, adding that the country has been extremely lucky in making sure this crisis has not affected host communities, but we have stretched our luck. In his bid to increase foreign investment, Hariris plan to help Lebanons economic and security situation compels the international community to commit to spending the equivalent of $10,000 to $12,000 a refugee over a span of five to seven years, as opposed to the current level of financial support corresponding to an annual $1,000 to $1,200. I think that will make sure that Lebanon is going to stand on its own and the economy will thrive, he said. The Syrian civil war played a role in weakening the Lebanese economy and has raised tensions among various communities inside Lebanon that support different sides of the conflict. However, there has not been an outburst of violence between Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities thus far. Georges Ghali, programmes manager at Lebanese human rights organisation ALEF, said the tensions were rooted in factors including misperceptions whereby the Lebanese believe that refugees were being showered in aid and government policies that had made it difficult for them to obtain official residency. Lebanese officials, citing World Bank figures, say the cumulative cost of the Syrian conflict to Lebanon was $18.15bn to the end of 2015. Lebanons annual economic growth has slowed to just over one percent from an average of eight percent, prior to the war, they said. The government is seeking financial support for a programme of public sector-led investment in infrastructure to boost the economy, and to increase the number of Syrians in education. Hariri said the plan would equally benefit Lebanese citizens and displaced Syrians. To date, the number of documented Syrian refugees in Lebanon is about 1.1 million, according to the latest figures provided by the UNHCR. OPINION: Arab summit: Arab leaders oblivious to Arab realities Al Jazeeras Alan Fisher, reporting from Lebanons Bekaa Valley, said the actual number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is much higher than the official figure, with more people flowing into the country in the past few weeks. According to Fisher, most of the new arrivals have not yet registered with the UN, and shortages of food and water are common. The total number of Syrian refugees abroad amounted to 4.6 million at the end of 2015, but rose to 4.85 million by the end of last year, according to the agencys figures. The UNHCR estimated another 6.3 million Syrians have been internally displaced. A UN-led humanitarian appeal to help Syrian refugees and support host communities has received only six percent of the $4.6bn target needed this year. Palestinian refugees Lebanon has also been hosting Palestinian refugees since the 1948 Nakba and exodus, which has displaced more than 700,000 people. Over the years, the number has since drastically increased, especially after the 1967 exodus, which has forced another 300,000 people to flee from Palestine. FEATURE: UN struggles to rebuild Palestinian refugee camp As of 2015, Palestinian refugees remain the largest refugee population in the world, with more than seven million displaced globally. Palestinians in Lebanon and their decedents have since lived in 12 formal refugee camps provided by the UN across the country. Although figures vary, according to a 2014 report released by UNRWA, there are about 450,000 Palestinian refugees who reside in Lebanon, many of whom live under dire social and economic conditions. BEIJING - China's home-grown BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) will expand its cooperation to Thailand and Sri Lanka, and then to the entire Southeast Asia, in a bid to go global, the system's operator has said. Du Li, general manager of Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou Holding Group Co., told Xinhua recently that his company will continue to explore models for international scientific and technical cooperation on BDS, including the joint construction of base stations, joint technical development and research, personnel training and exchanges, and others. Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou established the first batch of three overseas Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) and its networking for BDS in Chonburi province, eastern Thailand in December 2013, while it is also planning to build a China-ASEAN science and technology city in Thailand for promoting BDS applications. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) consists of 10 countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou this year will cooperate with Sri Lankan related authorities to develop at least 10 CORS in the South Asian country for such applications as land surveying and mapping, ocean fishery and disaster warning, Du said. The establishment of CORS in Thailand and Sri Lanka will extend the BDS coverage at least 3,000 km more towards Southeast Asia and South Asia, Du said. Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou is based in Wuhan, capital city of Hubei province in Central China. It is in charge of the operations and services of BDS, a GPS-like global positioning system. By the end of 2016, BDS already had a constellation of 32 satellites.The Belt and Road Initiative is an opportunity for China's space science and technology, said Li Deren, a professor at a state key laboratory in Wuhan University located in Wuhan. "Our priority is to expand BDS from China to the frontline of the Belt and Road Initiative, and Optics Valley BeiDou is a pioneer," Li said. China-made smartphones, such as Huawei smartphones, will be good platforms for BDS to go overseas as they carry Chinese chips, Li said. The French Embassy in China cited an isolated minor attack on a Frenchman in Shanghai on Friday to warn its citizens in China to be vigilant, considering the fact that a Chinese national was killed by a Paris policeman a few days ago. Chinese police released a photo showing a Frenchman with a bandaged neck talking to officers. He suffered a slight injury when attacked by a mentally-ill Chinese man in Shanghai on March 29, 2017, leading the French embassy to worry about the safety of its citizens in China in the context of a Chinese man killed by police in Paris a few days ago. [Photo/ Weibo.com] The news section of the embassy's website on Thursday carried a report that a French national was "violently assaulted" with a knife the previous day in Shanghai. The embassy then posted another news report on Friday that the attacker had been arrested by Chinese police and the Embassy and Consulate General of France in Shanghai were closely following developments in the investigation. In both news releases, the embassy called on the French community to show the "utmost vigilance and [awareness of] security" in the "current context." However, it soon turned out that the attack was not that serious. According to Shanghai police, the unnamed Frenchman was attacked with a razor and suffered a superficial neck wound. The Frenchman then sought treatment at a hospital by himself. There was also a photo released by the police showing the man with bandaged neck talking to officers. Shanghai police also identified the attacker as a 27-year-old local man surnamed Mao, who suffered mental problems. He is now in custody. "It is understood that Shanghai police have arrested the suspect and the case is still under investigation," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said during a press briefing on Friday. "I suggest nobody should rush to make any assumptions." The French Embassy had been fearing members of the French community in China might suffer some retaliation from Chinese people due to the incident involving Liu Shaoyao, a 56-year-old Chinese man who was shot dead by a Paris policeman on March 26, triggering protest on the streets of the French capital, and in China, too. Liu's family is now refusing to say anything more to the press and the public until the case reaches the courts. Paris prosecutors and the police are still investigating the case to establish the full facts. Two versions are circulating, with the police insisting they were forced to shoot in self-defense,while Lius family insist he posed no danger to any policeman. The Qianjiang Evening News, a local newspaper in Zhejiang Province from where Liu originated, reported the local government of Qingtian County, Zhejiang felt the familys pain and was closely following the case. Also, according to a friend of Liu, the Chinese man went to France to work two decades ago and the family was not rich. "The place where they resided in Paris is an average ghetto community of various races with bad security," he said. According to Nouvelles D'Europe, many Chinese and Asians told it they felt they suffered from clear racial discrimination from neighbors and police officers in the area. "Fraud and robberies against Chinese are so frequent in Paris, I feel no sense of safety," said one Asian woman who insisted on remaining anonymous. The newspaper also reported that, in April 2016, the police brutally raided the apartment of two Chinese female students residing in the 13th arrondissement without finding anything there. An anonymous hand had written on the wall of their building "Chinese whores, first floor"; When they went to testify, a police officer even told them that, "many Chinese students are prostitutes." Last August, Zhang Chaolin, a 49-year-old couturier and father of two who lived in Aubervilliers, was fatally assaulted in the street, due to his origin, by three young people living in the community. These problems had a negative impact on French-Chinese relations. For example, the number of Chinese tourists in France dropped by 27 percent in 2016 to 1.6 million, compared to 2.2 million in 2015, as travelers sought more secure countries to visit. France has set a goal of attracting five million Chinese tourists by 2020, but persistent security concerns may prevent the target being achieved. A memorial event for Liu Shaoyao was approved by Paris police to be held at The Place de la Republique in central Paris on the afternoon of April 2. Emmanuel Macron, youngest candidate in the race for the French presidency and a former economics minister, met with Liu's family on Friday and promised to help them. Seventeen-year-old refugee suffered repeated blows to the head in an attack police are treating as a hate crime. A 17-year-old boy is in serious but stable condition after being brutally attacked by a gang in the British capital for being an asylum seeker. The Kurdish-Iranian refugee was waiting at a bus stop with two friends in Croydon, south London, on Friday, when he was approached by about eight people. The suspects asked the victim where he was from and when they established that he was an asylum seeker they chased him and launched a brutal attack, Detective Sergeant Kris Blamires said in a statement on Saturday. He has sustained serious head and facial injuries as a result of this attack, which included repeated blows to the head by a large group of attackers, he added. The 17-year-old was taken to a London hospital for treatment, while his two friends escaped with minor injuries. Police appealed for information and witnesses and said they were treating the attack as a hate crime. No arrests have been made. Rise in xenophobia The UK has seen a surge in xenophobic attacks following Britains vote to leave the European Union last year. Much of the Brexit debate focused on a perceived influx of migrants into Britain from other EU countries and whether their presence was making it harder for Britons to find work, housing and medical care. Within days of the June 23 referendum, Polish communities reported a series of incidents, including the distribution of leaflets describing them as vermin and racist graffiti outside a cultural centre in London. Police recorded 1,546 racially or religiously aggravated offences in England and Wales in the two weeks before the June 23 referendum, and 2,241 in the two weeks after it, the Home Office said. The total for July was up 41 percent from the same month a year earlier. The campaign to leave the EU was criticised for its heavy anti-immigration rhetoric, and the issue of immigration played a big part in the decision to leave the bloc. Nigel Farage, the then leader of the anti-EU UK Independence Party, unveiled a poster featuring a queue of hundreds of refugees entering Europe with the caption Breaking Point. The image was roundly condemned by British politicians, including members of Farages own party, and some activists on social media compared it to propaganda images used by the Nazis. After acquiring Souq.com, can it convince Middle Easts 50 million consumers it is a one-stop shop for online retail? Internet giant Amazon has snapped up the largest online retailer in the Middle East, Souq.com. Dubai-based Souq.com was started 12 years ago by a Syrian businessman and, at the time, Goldman Sachs called it the biggest-ever technology M&A transaction in the Arab world. The move will give Amazon access to customers in Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. But compared with other regions, online retail shopping has yet to truly take off in the Middle East. Andrew Kitson, a senior analyst with London-based BMI Research, says Amazons decision signals its ambition to move very quickly into the Middle East market rather than having to build up its presence from scratch. Although it [Amazon] doesnt already have a direct presence in the Middle East, it is one of the most searched for terms in connection with online shopping. So, its imperative that it moves into the market now, said Kitson. Souq.com is an existing player which has a huge addressable market and a huge, loyal customer base. It works with many large and small retailers from the traditional mould. Currently, the Middle Eastern e-commerce market is estimated to be worth around $24bn, but is expected to rise to $44bn by 2020. With Souq.com being one of the largest players in the market, this represents a huge opportunity for Amazon, said Kitson before adding that even with the presence of other players in the market, not all of them are as large or dynamic or far-reaching, so this is a good acquisition for Amazon. Logistical challenges in the Middle East have not hindered Amazon in breaking into new markets because it can rely on third parties to deliver packages. Kitson suspects Amazon will be investing in their own fleets, building up warehouses, and looking to partnership with other companies in the logistics space. Also on this episode of Counting the Cost: The Gulf and Brexit: As the process of Brexit formally gets under way, GCC countries have decided to increase their commitment to the UK. Nassib Ghobril, the chief economist at Beirutbased Byblos Bank offers his analysis. Toshibas challenge: Global employer Toshiba is fighting for its financial life. This week, it said its US nuclear unit Westinghouse Electric filed for bankruptcy protection. In February this year, Toshiba failed to deliver its quarterly results. After missing that deadline, it said this week the loss for the fiscal year may grow to $9bn, which would represent the biggest loss for a Japanese manufacturer. Andrew Leung, CEO of Andrew Leung International Consultants Limited, examines whether the 142-year-old company can change with the times. New Yorks fearless girl: Al Jazeeras Gabriel Elizondo reports on why a bronze statue of a little fearless girl with a ponytail is causing quite a stir in the heart of Wall Street in New York City. Mexico electric cars: Mexico City is the fifth-largest city in the world. The sheer volume of people living there means the city is no stranger to high levels of air pollution. David Mercer reports from Mexico City where two entrepreneurs, Alvaro de la Paz and Hector Ruiz, are hoping to change that. The case against Assange is as political as it is legal; where does it go from here? Plus, Kenyas election influencers. As Catalan leaders push for an independence referendum, what would such a development mean for the future of the region? Catalonia is a prosperous region in the northeast of Spain, a state formed by 17 territories and two cities, partially autonomous, governed by the Statute of Autonomy. Quick Facts The history of the Catalan region dates back to the 15th century before Spain was a nation. Under the Franco regime in 1939-1975, any expression of Catalan culture was prohibited, including speaking the Catalan language. The end of the Franco regime marked the beginning of independence sentiments. In 2006, the Spanish High Court challenged Catalonias autonomy, leading to more calls for independence from Spain. The call for a referendum in 2014 was denied by the Spanish Constitutional Court as Spain maintains that independence for Catalonia is unconstitutional and illegal. A non-binding referendum was held in 2014; 81% voted for independence, but the turnout was only 35%. Carles Puigdemont has called for a new referendum to be held in October 2017. Thats part of the Spanish constitution which establishes the limits of self-rule for each region. But Catalonian history dates back to the days before Spain was even a nation. In 1469, when King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile married, Catalonia, a principality within Aragon, kept its independence, own institutions, parliament and laws. But after the death of Ferdinand and Isabella, territorial conflicts ended the separate elements, with Catalonia becoming part of what we now know as Spain. The Catalonian national identity has survived throughout the centuries, including persecution during the military government of Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975. At that time, speaking Catalan, or any language other than Spanish, was considered a crime. After Franco, Catalonia recovered its cultural autonomy and partial political control. Catalan was, once again, freely spoken and the regions flag, thought to be one of the oldest in Europe, could wave again next to the Spanish one. There's no social conflict; it's a political conflict between a Spanish state that does not understand that Catalonia is a nation with the right to decide and is tired of the state not complying and of having to renounce being Catalan to be Spanish. by Carles Puigdemont, president of Catalonia In recent years, independence sentiments have risen among Catalans. Carles Puigdemont, president of the regional government, is even calling for a referendum on the issue, despite opposition from Spains Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who calls this effort unconstitutional. As a matter of fact, Spain refuses to discuss the matter altogether. We havent started because Spain doesnt want to negotiate. In Madrid, there are all manners of opinion. Some believe it is not constitutional It is perfectly constitutional to ask the question. There is a legal channel by which to ask in Catalonia. Its a matter of political will, says Puigdemont. However, questions of where Catalonia will stand with the European Union should it have the measures of political control it seeks have also arisen. Puigdemont says Catalonia has more than proved itself to the EU. Catalonia has always been a region that contributes positively to the European Union, not negatively. Catalonia is a region that represents 2 percent of European GDP. Its dynamic with growth of above 3.5 percent in the last year. What does Catalonia hope to achieve through this referendum and what does it mean for the future of the region? Carles Puigdemont, Catalonias president, talks to Al Jazeera. You can talk to Al Jazeera too. Join our Twitter conversation as we talk to world leaders and alternative voices shaping our times. You can also share your views and keep up to date with our latest interviews on Facebook. Iran's Elections: a Breaking Crisis? The 12th presidential election in Iran will be held on May 19th. These polls are taking place at a time when the regime in Tehran, and especially Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, are facing three distinct crises. a) Khamenei, suffering from prostate cancer, sees his days as numbered and must designate a successor. From March 2015 he has held various sessions with senior regime and Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) officials for this very purpose. Khamenei insists that his successor be clarified prior to his death. b) A major policy overhaul in Washington following the end of Obamas tenure. This has terrified Iran and placed this regime in intense isolation on the international stage and across the region in the face of Arab and Islamic countries. c) The presidential election crisis in May. Khamenei, witnessing his establishment coming to its knees during the 2009 uprisings, is extremely concerned about a repeat scenario. In such circumstances, the possibility of his entire regime crumbling at the hands of a revolting population is very serious and even likely. Khamenei is weighing how to properly engineer the elections while not providing any pretext for popular upheaval. In contrast to the viewpoints of various parties in the West, the rifts inside Khameneis faction and those supporting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani does not arise from a difference between two so-called moderate and/or hardline mentalities. The fact is that the sham election is a dispute over two solutions aimed at safeguarding and maintaining a religious dictatorship in power, furthering their expansionism and ambitions. Both factions, including Khamenei and the current formerly represented by the influential Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, believe in resorting to a domestic crackdown, obtaining nuclear weapons, meddling in the internal affairs of other countries such as Iraq and Syria, and using instability and terrorism leverage as a tool to pursue their foreign policy. The only difference is how to advance in their goal to realize these objectives. Therefore, when we are talking about two factions, we must not mistakenly compare the Iranian regime with todays advanced democracies. Khamenei is considered very weak due to the current crises his regime is facing. In contrast to last year, when he constantly lashed out at Rouhani for the deal sealed to curb Irans nuclear program and similar initiatives sought for other purposes, Khamenei refused to mention Irans current political crises. Furthermore, following the major U.S,-Iran policy change, Khamenei has set aside his stereotype threats against the U.S. and maintained a state of hesitancy in his remarks. Khamenei and Election Engineering Candidates for Irans presidential elections will register from April 11th to the 16th. The ultraconservative Guardian Council, a 12-man body directly and indirectly appointed by Khamenei himself, will weigh the candidates qualifications from April 17th to the 27th. The elections are scheduled for May 19th. Irans presidential elections always feature a large number of candidates. However, the main candidates from the two main factions must receive Khameneis explicit or implicit approval. Rouhanis candidacy was confirmed after gaining the approval of the establishments senior officials, according to the Ebtekar daily. By establishing the Popular Party of Revolutionary Forces and the membership of the same individuals who elevated firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president from the ballot boxes back in 2005, Khamenei has revealed signs of how he has engineered the upcoming elections. In his Nowruz message marking the Iranian calendar New Year, Khamenei came to admit his role in the results of the 2009 presidential election. I entered the 2009 [presidential election] and stood firm, he said. In his remarks, Khamenei warned about the May election by stipulating, I will stand firm and intervene. It is worth noting the IRGC command, and especially Quds Force chief Qassem Suleimani, are seeking the candidacy of Ibrahim Reisi, who is also considered one of Khameneis options as his successor. Khamenei has yet to reach a final decision over Reisis candidacy in the May elections. If he registers as a candidate and fails to become president, his chances of succeeding Khamenei will be severely undermined. And if Khamenei seeks to select Reisi as the next president at all costs, he faces the severe possibility of instigating nationwide uprisings. What is the Forecast? Naturally, due to the numerous different elements facing Khamenei and his regimes factions, forecasting even the near future is quite a challenging task. However, there are three different scenarios facing Khamenei: 1) Eliminating Rouhani and selecting a candidate meeting his standards, and that of the IRGC. 2) Rouhani is severely weakened after losing Rafsanjani, considered a major pillar in the regimes apparatus. He will be reappointed as president on the condition of succumbing to the hegemony of Khamenei and the IRGC. 3) Rouhani views Khamenei weak in the balance of power and stands as a major opponent against his faction. Of course, Khamenei prefers to realize the first scenario. If concerns of nationwide uprisings cancel this possibility, he will give in to the second scenario. Although Rouhani is in favor of the third scenario, considering the societys powder keg conditions and losing the support of Rafsanjani, such a turn of events would be considered dangerous for both the regimes factions. This outcome can bring an end to the publics fear of the regimes domestic crackdown machine and ignite a new nationwide uprising. This is a red line for both of Irans factions. Those supporting Khamenei, and especially the IRGC, seek to eliminate Rouhani from these elections. However, Khamenei cannot take very bold measures and officially oppose Rouhanis candidacy. When confirming Rouhanis candidacy, Khamenei asked him to hold coordinating meetings with Sulemani and IRGC chief Mohammad Ali Jafari. This request brings us closer to the second scenario. However, the Iranian people and their organized opposition, symbolized in the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), consider such elections under the mullahs regime as baseless and demand free and fair elections held under the United Nations auspices. Such polls are only possible through regime change in Iran and establishing a democratic system. Shahriar Kia is a political analyst and member of Iranian opposition (PMOI/MEK). He graduated from North Texas University. He tweets at @shahriarkia. On Wednesday morning, Feb. 22, Mika Brzezinski, one of the hosts of MSNBC's Morning Joe, shared her fears that President Trump was trying to undermine the media. He is trying to undermine the media and trying to make up his own facts. And it could be that while unemployment and the economy worsens, he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that, that is our job. Let me rephrase: It is the medias unspoken job to control what people think. How very Pravda! She let slip the unspoken truth that, yes, it is the media's job to control exactly what people think. I was certain NBCs mission statement would articulate the real professional purpose of their organization. NBC News President Deborah Turness offered her mission statement buzzwords: Substance, Uplift and Connection. This translates to SUC for short. Im from a military background and some acronyms are too perfect for words. Its our job to tell you what to think. I had heard this concept before, about 15 years ago when I was a student at the Naval War College. The school would frequently bring in guest speakers with strong or different views that conflicted or challenged the assembly of military and senior civil servant students. In 2002-3, there was a war going on. The United States had just rolled into Iraq. The media were apoplectic, out for blood, just like today, with the sitting president. On these occasions, many of the guest speakers were rabid anti-war, anti-President Bush, or even anti-America. The President of the War College said the purpose of these meetings and discussion panels was simple: regardless of your political views, as senior officers and senior civil servants, you will be exposed to people in very high positions who may have significantly different political views and you have to learn how or find ways to work with them. I attended one of the small discussion groups. One of those guys on the panel was from Al-Jazeera. He asserted, Al-Jazeera only reported the truth. I guffawed loudly enough that the Al-Jazeera man shot out of his chair and challenged me with, words to the effect, Youve never even seen Al-Jazeera, how can you judge something you havent even seen? I countered with, Al-Jazeera, like ABC and CBS and the New York Times, is a business. Your reporting is approved by a senior editor who has an agenda. He has a bias. News that paint Muslims in a bad light is not reported. He gets to choose what may be released and how news is reported. But above all, Al-Jazeeras reporting must be approved by a government official. Case in point, EgyptAir Flight 800 was purposely flown into the water. The cockpit voice recorder proved the relief pilot pushed the nose of the Boeing 767 into the Atlantic while he recited an Islamic prayer some thirteen times. Al-Jazeera reported that it was a mechanical malfunction that brought down the airliner because a Muslim man would never take his own life. That the relief pilot was heroically trying to save the aircraft. His response was, You dont know what you are talking about. Its our job to report the facts accurately so you know what to think. Of course it is the medias job to tell us what to think. They are the Fourth Estate. And they must be perfect. The term is ascribed to Louis XVI, in May 1789, when he summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the Estates General. The First Estate consisted of three hundred clergy. The Second Estate, three hundred nobles. The Third Estate, six hundred commoners. After the French Revolution, Sir Edmund Burke is credited with saying, as he looked up at the Press Gallery within the House of Commons, Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all. Once upon a time, the press, the media, the Fourth Estate may have been more important than them all as they reported on the corruption and injustices of the branches of government. But todays media is at war with the Trump administration and they are doing their damndest to tell us what to think. And their activities resemble that of a Fifth Column. Every day brings new evidence that todays media are engaged in clandestine fifth column activities involving journalistic acts of sabotage, media malfeasance, blatant disinformation or media espionage conducted by secret sympathizers. President Trump is engaged in a vicious counter-terrorism war with the media and the Democratic Party. Yes, terrorism for what is terrorism but violence or intimidation to achieve some political mean? The Democrat Party, aided and abetted by their army of fifth column journalists, are waging a clandestine war against the heart and soul of America. There was never a legitimate fifth column to undermine Obama or his administration. However, with only two months into his 208-month administration, what we see today under the Trump Administration is a de facto fifth column enterprise dedicated to the destruction of the new President. The media today are aggressively committed and organized against President Trump. They are vehemently against the President who swore an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. A free press that continues to operate as a chorus line of Obama pompom girls are still committed and organized to undermine the U.S. Constitution, and dedicated to destroy the rule of law, is an obvious enemy of the American people. Today we call it fake news. It was all fake news during the Obama Administration but there was a difference. The media had transformed into something different, worse, and more insidious. They became active Obama collaborators. They stopped conducting themselves as the fourth estate. The media didnt report on the most obvious corrupt administration in U.S. history, or the failures of Obama and his administration. Instead, numerous reports indicated Obama had one the most scandal free administration ever. The media and Obama were hand-in-glove, committed and organized to undermine the U.S. Constitution, destroy the rule of law, and attack common sense and American culture. Enter the Sixth Column. The Trump Administration is the resistance movement. With the election of Donald Trump, the media continues to mock the Presidents claim that his election is a movement. President Trump is correcthis election is a movement, a resistance movement. The Trump Administration and a sixth columnthe men and women who voted for him rejected creeping socialism and the mandated surrender of their freedomsare in a life-and-death struggle with the entrenched and collaborating fourth estate with the former Obama Administration holdovers and its lefty reporters who insist it is their job to tell us what to think. We can expect substantial continual conflicts between the remnants of the Obama Administration and its compromised media collaborators against the Trump Administration and his resistance movement members. Todays media are not reporting the news; they are making it up. Fake news by fake Americans. They push any cock and bull story that could damage President Trump. They seek his political death by a 1,000 cuts. I used to be accused of being part of the vast right wing conspiracy. Today Im part of President Trumps Sixth Column. Resist we much! Mark is the author of Special Access, Shoot Down, and No Need to Know. This nation has faced many a crisis, but not since the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, ginned up by the Hearst media empire, have we had crisis of the current magnitude powered by fake news. Within living memory, in 1968, the Democratic Party had its convention in Chicago, Hubert Humphrey was their nominee, and there were riots in the streets. Groups demonstrated against the Vietnam war, against the wars escalation, and against the party itself for the ways of choosing its nominee. Events that happened that year were staggering, unprecedented, and tragic. Anti-war protests were everywhere, Eugene McCarthy had led a successful insurgent campaign, and the Democratic Party was reeling from Lyndon Johnson not running for reelection. Even worse, the country was trying to recover from the assassination of Martin Luther King ,along with the assassination of Robert Kennedy, events that were shattering the faith many Americans had in their institutions. Mayor Daly and the Chicago police were striking back against the protests with violence, many severe beatings by the police were caught on camera. America was on edge. The parallels in the American psyche back then and now are strikingly similar. There was and is a widespread divide in America about how to overcome our differences. There was and is ongoing violence, ongoing protests, and a potential loss of confidence in our institutions. There is one huge difference between what is happening now, and what happened back then. In 1968, there was a culmination of real events that actually affected America. In 2017, there are no real events causing this, just narratives made up from nothing by a leftist media that is more divorced from reality than anyone thought possible. The Russians colluded with Trump. Trump is Hitler. Stupid. And evil. Obama was wonderful, transparent, brilliant, perfect, and fully competent. Trumps tax returns will show he is unfit. He is a racist that wants to ban all Muslims. Kellyanne Conway is a ditzy uninformed waste of a woman. Hillary Clinton is a pure and honest heroine fighting for good. Virtually 24/7, these and other very unreal narratives are being played to the American public by our pathetic left wing media. In 1968, the news had a reality component. Yes, there was liberal bias in the news, but at least the events happened. And now? There is little more than collusion between the Democrats and the mainstream media to make up narratives to advance their leftist agenda. They have been pretending that Russia hacked (stole) the election, in collusion with Trump. They feign outrage. The real events that happened they think should outrage us all? Hillary lost. Trump won. Saint Barack has a legacy that hardly exists. At least for anything good. The Democrats are currently powerless. Those items should be the real news, but its not and hasnt been. Should we expect different from the partisans in the Democratic Party? Oops, I meant to ask what should we expect of the unbiased media? Well, we should have expected a lot more than what they have been offering. Such as reporting on real events. Consider the primary fake narrative that has dominated news coverage since December: The Russians. They did it. Hacked the election. Colluding with Trump. And all the Presidents men (and women). Newscasters and editors breathlessly report this stuff every day, all day long. And have for almost four months. With zero evidence. Zero! No newsworthy event such as the Tet offensive, or an assassination happened. No facts. Its worse than much ado about nothing. Yet there they go, reporting as if something happened that should outrage us all. Again. Damn those Russians. The effect this is having on the left is a marvel. I have yet to witness a group more delusional. I have taken part in enough casual liberal conversations to observe just how close they are to losing their minds. They do this after watching news anchors and other liberal heavyweights hysterically ranting about such things as treason, treachery, selling out our country, and calling the Trump administration puppets of Putin. Likewise, the many interviews of Democrat officials, highly prominent people trying to sell this same narrative of Trump colluding with Russia. They too, do so in the most hysterical manner, trying to engender outrage in those who are listening. I have seen only one correct response to all of these interviews, and that was done by Tucker Carlson. He laughed. Nicely and derisively at the same time. Which has been better than my response lately. A lot better. I find myself alternately yelling and snarling at the TV now when I see this kind of interview. I dont normally do that. Ever. But this bizarre narrative, with no evidence, that has gone on for so long, has finally become too absurd to do anything else. These smarmy Democrats should simply be ashamed of themselves. They have to know their taking points are nothing but political propaganda of the worst kind. Likewise, the journalists who are using these points on the major news channels -- their shame should have no end. People like Jake Tapper, Scott Pelley, Brian Williams, Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper -- the vast majority of them have fallen into a pit, and curiously have no interest in regaining any form of respectability. Narratives uber alles (for their cause). Frankly, their narrative totally falls short. Why in the world would Putin want to change the perfect pliability of the Obama/Clinton pushover axis? Obama was recorded on a hot mic telling Vladimir he would have more flexibility after the 2012 election (and boy did he). Obama/Clinton let them take Crimea and Georgia without a peep. Obama/Clinton apparently (allegedly) signed over 20% of Americas uranium for some huge donations (said to be over 100 million dollars) to the Clinton Foundation plus mega dollars for Clinton speeches that were of no value. The botched Russian reset button, the drawdown of our military, the total feckless weakened foreign policy of Obama/Clinton, and more; the list of reasons for Vladimir to love Clinton are legion. Occams razor: Given all those facts, why in the world would Putin want to change from the easy marks he had to a bulldog, a fighter, a man of accomplishment who ran on toughness, a man who wanted to reassert Americas greatness, a man who promised to build the strongest military in the world, a man who wanted to vie, compete and beat Russia as a player in the energy markets? Why indeed? Putin had everything he wanted in a feckless woman who could have won. The idea that he wanted Trump is fatuous and just plain laughable. At best. Whats not laughable are the stooges of the Democrat/media complex. Yes, they are making fools of themselves. Daily. But they are also ginning up a dangerous hysteria. It may not be the fear that arose across our country in 1968. Most of us on the right are laughing at their attempts (or yelling at the TV!). But when I witness the damage being inflicted on the leftist voters, when I see their crazy Facebook posts and their rants on other social media, I know there is a consequence. And its not good. Enabling rage over nothingness can never be good. The left is on the brink. God help bring sanity to enough of them before something terrible happens. Our elected officials on the right have not dealt with this nonsense well. I get it, Stockholm Syndrome is hard to overcome, but for goodness sake, stop taking this narrative seriously because its not. Its a modern version of The Emperor Has No Clothes, and nothing more. Stop pretending its a charge with any credibility just because they repeat it over and over again. Bringing our country back will be a long battle, one of ideas, of the law, of civilization, none of which are present on the left. Giving these leftists anything but laughter and derision on this Russian narrative is the equivalent of allowing a kick me sign on your back in high school. GOP: Its time to take the sign off, and start being strong with the truth. When it comes to health care reform, there most certainly is a right thing to do. But those guys in Washington are clearly launched in a very different direction. So what's that about? Ryancare was fundamentally flawed because it accepted the basic leftist premise that government should be responsible for individual health care. This is wrong, both morally and practically morally because nationalized health care corrupts everyone it touches, and practically because it's ridiculously expensive. The Canadian situation is typical in its illustration of the moral issue. Canadians are under enormous and unrelenting media and government pressure to praise the national health care emperor's shining halo and glorious clothes when, in reality, the system is terribly expensive and often ineffective; disenfranchises millions; and can, at best, be said to work most of the time for most of the people. Services are rationed, with the average waiting time between initial diagnosis and non-emergency treatment now in excess of 140 days, with almost a million Canadians on waiting lists. Since paying for services directly is, except in relatively limited circumstances, illegal, someone who needs a service is, by law, unable to buy that service in Canada until the system gets around to providing it. Since many of the rationed services are tests or specialist judgments based on tests, and the system won't take action on issues that can be seen as related to those tests or judgments pending their outcome, placing those affected on waiting lists effectively suspends their access to the services they need just when they need those services most. The system works well for routine, easily scheduled, and widely understood services but essentially abandons those with ambiguous (or under-funded) problems until they recover naturally. The problem morphs into something easily recognizable and funded within the system, or these people die. Bureaucracy can neither tolerate nor accommodate TV's Dr. House: quality of care is de facto determined by the extent to which the problem is familiar to the first gatekeeper (usually an emergency or family physician) the patient encounters. Thus, a friend who, forty-plus years ago, spent six years jumping out of airplanes is now feeling the consequences in his neck and upper back, but his MRI, ordered by a family physician in October of last year, isn't scheduled until August of this year and, because I'm fairly sure the microfractures and membrane tears that are now starting to bother him won't be obvious to a bored tech babysitting a one-tesla unit, he's very likely to find himself expeditiously, efficiently, and very compassionately abandoned to over-the-counter painkillers. People who are neither rich nor politically visible but think they are the victims of malpractice have no practical access to either legal recourse or the information they need to determine whether the system served them properly or not. Health care costs are largely hidden within the general tax system. Thus, free health care for roughly thirty-six million Canadians costs each of them about $4,700 (USD) per year mostly collected through taxes and increases in the public debt. Thus, gasoline produced in Alberta costs people working at the refineries in Fort Saskatchewan more than twice what it does after it's shipped to Montana. This year's increase in Alberta's public debt is budgeted at around $1,850 (USD). And most Canadians pay a 15% retail sales tax on just about everything. Basically, "free" health care for a Canadian family of five costs that family an average of about $23,600 per year. Trump and his advisers may not know how misleading advocacy claims (and the OECD numbers) on nationalized health care quality and cost really are, but they have been dealing with the VA example and its problems since the campaign began, including uncontrolled cost escalation, lengthening waiting lists, increasingly inadequate care, depersonalized treatment, and the suppression or distortion of both cost and quality information. These are typical of nationalized health care everywhere. As a result, it's difficult to believe that Trump's people would want to go along with the policy ideas and key assumptions built into the Ryancare proposal. Less rationally, Ryan is the GOPe leader And yet an administration that both has to know better and has personal reasons to oppose anything Ryan seems to have pulled out all the stops in support of Ryan's plans. Why? My theory is that what Trump did made Trump look like an apolitical team player willing to work with his political enemies for the public good, left Ryan walking roadkill run over by the bus he aimed at conservatives, and is the first major step, something akin to firing a flare over a swamp at night, in a plan to rebuild the Democratic Party by making its hypocrisies obvious to everyone. In this view, the long-term effect of the Ryancare debacle will turn out to be the light it shines on the Washington elite, because the GOPe has just shown itself to represent the values most Democrat voters think their party stands for, the Freedom Caucus and their colleagues have shown themselves to be mostly genuine republicans, and the cabal in control of the Democratic Party has shown itself to be little more than a gathering of convenience for America haters-ranging from simple crazies like Maxine Waters to the man who would be Kalif and various servants to the uber-rich like Schumer and the Clintons. It will take further increases in acrimony, leftist violence, judicial abuse, and the operation of uninformed rhetoric for Trump and his political operatives to fully separate those in control of the Democratic Party and its media from their audience, but we're already seeing unease among the grassroots and a market pullback as the uber-rich start to understand that Trump is for real and once the traditional balance between the elites and the middle-American Democrat voter reasserts itself, nothing will stop them until people like John Brennan are in jail, Obama is discredited, the Democratic Party once again welcomes people like Joe Liebermann, and America can safely be American again. South Korea's ex-president Park Geun-hye was recently impeached and removed from office after a long investigation and widespread public outcry over allegations of extorting corporate donations in exchange for political favors, particularly involving financial benefits to a longtime friend and adviser. In the process, major business leaders, including top Samsung Group executive Lee Jae-yong, have been arrested on charges of bribery. Now, ex-president Park herself has been arrested, after an eight-hour hearing determined that such an arrest was warranted in her case due to the possibility that she might destroy evidence relevant to the various ongoing prosecutions of major government and corporate officials. There, that felt good, didn't it? Regardless of where one stands on the specifics of the Korean case, or where one sits along the so-called political spectrum, isn't it refreshingly old-fashioned to think this thought? It's almost like traveling to another, better time: "A major national leader and high-ranking business and government officials have been arrested and charged with bribery, extortion, the selling of political favors, and suspicion of destroying evidence related to a criminal investigation." In America, by contrast, this thought will never, and can never, arise outside dreams. For in America, all the matters entailed in this Korean scandal, impeachment, and prosecution are neatly handled by middle men called "lobbyists," given official-sounding, government-sanctioned names like "ethanol subsidies" or cute what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it epithets like "pork barrel spending" or simply dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders under the catch-all American euphemism for government corruption and profiteering: "Clinton." Imagine a world in which the government were not a uniparty racket performing a kabuki dance of superficial "partisanship" to amuse and pacify the tired masses. Imagine a world in which the government did not see itself was not allowed to see itself as owning the citizenry outright. Imagine a world in which, when government officials and their corporate cronies used or raised public funds for the purpose of padding their own or their friends' wallets, in the name of phony issue "advocacy," or on the pathetic grounds that some businesses are "too big to fail," the abused public actually had the gumption and pride to demand an end to careers, political upheaval, arrests, and criminal prosecutions, on the principle that no one is "too big to fail." Okay, stop imagining now. Some dreams, being impossible, can be indulged only so far without resulting in overwhelming pain. Daren Jonescu writes about politics, philosophy, education, and the sunset of civilization at www.darenjonescu.com. The "Men are Men and Women are Women" bus rolled into Boston, and the Mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, was not pleased. The bus was staffed by activists who were spreading the word that people born as men were always men, and people born as women are always women. Yes, even Rachel Maddow. Mayor Walsh was not pleased. He hoisted the transgendered flag up his flagpole. Did you know that transgendered people have their own flag? It looks like this: The blue stands for boys, the pink for girls, and the white is "no man's land" (heh, heh). Anyway, back to Mayor Walsh: ... the bus moved on to City Hall, where Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh, flanked by dozens of supporters, hoisted the transgender rights flag in opposition. "We will not be intimidated by discrimination or harassment,'' Walsh said. "And we will not tolerate these types of actions. When you deny the experience of transgender individuals, you are denying the experience of basic human civil rights." Do men have civil rights to go into women's bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers? I guess so! This emphasis on flags confuses me. Do men disguised as women want their own nation? If there were a nation of "transgendered" people, how would men get to peep on women in the bathroom? In such a nation, there would be no women (except, of course, for men disguised as women). If they can't have their own country, how about a reservation? It could be managed by a new Bureau of Transgendered Affairs, which would help transgendered people have affairs with whatever kind of life form they prefer, if it exists. Questions for discussion: 1) There is no heterosexual flag. If you were to design one, what would it look like? 2) If you had a heterosexual flag, would you display it outside your home to let your neighbors know your preference? 3) If there were a heterosexual pride day, what do you think would be the most appropriate way to celebrate it? Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com. Flash China is firmly opposed to any visit by the Dalai Lama to the disputed border region between China and India, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday. Spokesperson Lu Kang made the comment when asked if China has protested to India about the Dalai Lama's scheduled visit next week to a disputed zone in the eastern part of the China-India border area. "China is gravely concerned about this. Our stance on the eastern part of the China-India border is clear and consistent," Lu said at a routine press briefing. Lu said the Dalai Lama has long engaged in anti-China separatist activities and has behaved disgracefully on the China-India border issue. India understands the seriousness of the Dalai Lama issue and the sensitivity of the border disputes, he said, noting that India's invitation to the Dalai Lama for activities in the disputed border areas will gravely damage peace and stability of the border areas, as well as bilateral relations. Lu said China demands the Indian side meet its political commitments on Tibet-related issues and abide by the consensus reached by the two sides on border issues. He urged India to refrain from taking actions that could further complicate the China-India border issue and to not provide a platform for separatist activities of the Dalai Lama clique in order to safeguard the healthy and stable development of bilateral ties. "Maintaining a good relationship between the two big developing countries serves the interests of the two peoples. But China-India relations are based on certain principles," Lu said. Similar incidents have happened in the past and triggered opposition from China, resulting in harm to bilateral relations, Lu said. "Therefore, we urge the Indian side to deliver its political commitments on this issue so that bilateral relations won't be hurt. Otherwise, it will also be detrimental to India," the spokesperson said. A feminist with three names, Phoebe Maltz Bovy (I pity Mr. Bovy), writing in the WaPo, worried that the use of "pussy hats" in anti-Trump demonstrations marginalizes men disguised as women, since men disguised as women do not have vaginas, and "pussy hats" are symbols of vaginas, as well as many feminists' secret desire to be groped by a man as wealthy as Donald Trump. This confuses me, because if a man believes he is a woman, even if he isn't, why can't he also believe he has a vagina, even if he doesn't? Nevertheless, feminists see this as a serious problem: If women couldn't agree on a moderate Democrat [Hillary, moderate, heh-heh] to become the nation's first female president, what was left? Well, there were vaginas. With Hillary gone, all they were left with was their vaginas. The obvious problem with vagina-motif protest is that it leaves out some women namely, trans women. Not all women have vaginas, and not all vagina-havers identify as women. You know, I had never considered the second half of that. Not only are there men disguised as women who don't have vaginas, but there are also women disguised as men who do have vaginas. This whole discussion reminds me of a confusing foreign film; I desperately need subtitles to keep up. The vast majority of women do indeed have vaginas, but they aren't preoccupied by that fact day to day. Vagina possession doesn't explain why Mary voices an idea in a meeting but the boss listens only when Jim repeats it. When Kate does the dishes again, it isn't because Bob's genitalia prevented him from loading the dishwasher. Really? Because I thought Bob's genitalia prevented him from doing precisely that. Subversive though it can be, vagina protest reinforces the very phenomenon it's meant to mock. Oh, here's an original thought on the left! The claim that women voting for Clinton were voting with their vaginas was off-putting because it implied that preferring a female candidate wasn't a political choice, but rather an irrational animalistic imperative. You think? Sending the president protest letters housed in a vagina-shaped envelope doesn't change the terms of the debate. What? President Trump got thousand of vagina letters? Do you think they should at least have waited until Valentine's Day to send them? This is so fascinating. Feminists embrace men disguised as women but now are starting to realize that by embracing them the term "women" doesn't mean a whole lot. It reminds me of how the word "Oriental" became forbidden and we had to start using the word "Asian," but because that could mean Japanese, Chinese, Pakistani, or Iranian, the word means very little. The same is starting to happen with "women," and feminists don't like it. Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com. The other day, the BBC informed us about George Soros funded university in Hungary being threatened with closure by new legislation from the Hungarian government. Students and staff at the Central European University (CEU) in Hungary are protesting against what they say are government plans to close it down. The university says new legislation proposed by the right-wing Fidesz government on Tuesday night makes it impossible for it to function. The CEU's founder, philanthropist George Soros, has a strained relationship with the PM Viktor Orban. But the government says it supports the university and does not want it to go. Education Secretary Laszlo Palkovics said the proposed legislation followed a review of 28 foreign universities operating in Hungary, including the CEU in Budapest. "This is not an anti-CEU investigation and not against Mr Soros," he said. The Hungary-born billionaire founded the university in 1991 and continues to fund it. (snip) The government says the CEU and other foreign-funded universities are operating outside the law, and that the new legislation aims to create a new legal footing. The BBC's Nick Thorpe in Budapest The CEU, established and registered in New York State, is an independent, private university for masters and PhD students from more than 100 countries. If approved by parliament, the law would mean the university can only continue working if an intergovernmental agreement between US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is signed, and if the university establishes a campus in the US by February next year. The first is unlikely - both Mr Trump and Mr Orban are sworn enemies of Mr Soros. The second is physically impossible. Twenty-seven other foreign universities will be affected by the legislation, Education Secretary Laszlo Palkovics told the BBC, and all must abide by the new law. Only the CEU has no campus in its home country, the US. For the ayatollahs, women's rights are a matter of puppetry, with yes-women parroting whatever the mullahs' line for the day is. For Iran's real women's rights champions, the picture is very different. They can demonstrate why the ayatollahs are terrified of equality. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in his address to the nation on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, claimed that gender equality is a "Zionist plot" aiming to corrupt the role of women in society. He told a meeting of religious speakers in Tehran that Iranians should resist feminist ideas last March 20. Khamenei claimed that men and women are equal in the "ascendance of spiritual positions, the power of leadership, and the capability to lead humankind." For Khamenei, the occasion of Nowruz, or any national celebration or religious holiday, is nothing but a cynical means of safeguarding his dictatorship. So of course he can make preposterous claims as he did above. In ayatollah-ruled Iran, women's rights are not about empowering women, but just another way to lie to society about state policies. Nothing explains it better than to use the maxim of Adolf Hitler, who said: Make the lie big. Make it simple. Keep saying it, and eventually people will believe it. The ayatollahs use this maxim. But the people in Iran and especially women have never believed these words. In other contexts, the ayatollah has sung a different tune. Khamenei said the effort to establish equality between men and women is "one of the biggest intellectual mistakes" of the Western world. Grotesquely enough, Khamenei has quislings in state women's groups who echo his sentiment, expressing approval. One is Minou Aslani, head of the Women's Basij organization in Iran, affiliated with the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which cracks down on women for any sign of independence. It has called the promotion of gender equality illegal and demanded that the country's powerful judiciary take action against people who speak out against such state-sponsored discrimination, according to the semiofficial Mehr news agency. On Dec. 06, 2016, she condemned efforts to increase the number of women in parliament. Pushing for greater female participation threatens to "distort" the identity of Iran's women, she said. Her "thinking" couldn't be less like those of normal women's rights activists operating under great pressure in Iran. In a roundtable discussion called "Women in Leadership, the Experience of the Iranian Resistance," Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of National Council of Resistance of Iran, expressed the authentic reality. I have permission to reprint her thinking in full and share it now: The Iranian women's struggle for freedom and equality has lasted one-and-a-half centuries. Iranian and Western historians who have studied the developments of the past 150 years in Iran have clearly attested to this reality. Over this span of time, we have seen vanguard women who rose up and proved their competence in various arenas despite the reigning culture and policies of tyranny and misogyny. This phenomenon was most significantly demonstrated in women's courageous participation in the anti-dictatorial struggles over this period. Women's struggle is essentially the best and most comprehensive indicator of progress in a given society. How can we measure the advances of a society towards real progress and development? The answer is to the extent it endeavors to achieve freedom and equality. In the absence of gender equality, any political, economic or social progress would be ineffective, fleeting, or reversible. From this vantage point, the uprisings which led to the 1979 overthrow of the Shah in Iran marked a major leap forward through women's remarkable and extensive participation in street demonstrations. This new phenomenon unveiled the Iranian people's widespread desire for progress. At the same time, it revealed a shocking contradiction: One the one hand, the ruling regime quickly adopted regressive and despotic policies and caused appalling backwardness. On the other hand, the Iranian society was broadly seeking freedom and democracy, and sought to make social progress and advancements. Such contradiction led in the first step to a major clash. The barbarity and savagery of the new regime drenched the Iranian revolution in blood. The Role of Women in the Iranian Resistance Women's active participation in confrontation with the mullahs' religious fascism formed the corner stone and foundation of resistance against the regime. Quantitatively, women's participation in this struggle was extensive since the outset. Qualitatively, they were brave, efficient and selfless. Tens of thousands of women were tortured or executed in the struggle against the ruling fundamentalist regime. These events were particularly transpiring in the 1980s. If women did not have powerful motivations, and if they had not set their sights on a bright and magnificent horizon, they would have definitely been intimidated by the merciless tortures and massacres that were unprecedented in our contemporary history. But, instead, the clampdown made them even more determined and resolute. Women's role rapidly became more pronounced in the post-revolution developments in Iran. They became the pivotal force of the movement. Today, women hold key and leadership positions in the resistance movement. They make up more than 50 percent of the members of the Resistance's parliament-in-exile. The guiding principles of womens role in the Iranian Resistance can be summarized as the following: First, the struggle of the women of this movement for equality has been deeply intertwined and connected to the broader struggle for freedom in Iran. Therefore, it has targeted the ruling dictatorship, which is a religious tyranny, while combating its forced religious edicts, misogyny and inhumane discriminations. Second, they have waged a foundational struggle against objectification of women while defying the gender-based ideology that forms the central tenet of inequality. Third, women have recognized their mission and mandate in leading this movement while discovering and subsequently implementing in practice the fact that the hegemonic role of women in this perseverance provides a liberating force and propeller. Fourth, the pioneering women have linked their struggle to the efforts and struggle of the resistant and equality-seeking men of the movement. They see it as an important part of their responsibilities to support the men of the movement in the struggle against inequality and against patriarchal thinking and culture. The Emergence of Islamic Fundamentalism Iranian women have gained many valuable experiences in their struggle against the ruling religious tyranny, which is the source of Islamic fundamentalism. A cursory review of the history of the origins of fundamentalism and its essence will aid us in explaining this point more clearly. Since the late 18th century and early 19th century, in the geographical region that hosts most of the Islamic countries extending from North Africa to the Caucuses, Central Asia and the Indian Ocean - under the shadow of major political, social and technological developments in the world, the people engaged in struggles to change their destiny. They sought to gain freedom, independence, rule of the law, as well as economic and social progress. Why did this wave wash over Islamic countries? In such a setting, several destructive factors set the groundwork for the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism. Ignorance, lack of education and backwardness are, of course, some of the contributing factors. Additionally, however, one can mention the interventions and mistakes committed by western governments in these countries, whose catastrophic effects, including invasions and the displacement of peoples and destruction of national social institutions of the countries of the region produced deep antipathy and a sense of resentment toward western countries. This fact has been verified today by quite a few western thinkers and even politicians. Western governments gave support to dictatorial regimes and thus destroyed the middle class, produced an uneven economic and social growth, and eliminated nationalist parties and freedom-loving movements in these countries. The Defining Impact of the Iranian Regime The ascendance to power of Khomeini and his allies in exceptional and unique historical circumstances marked the exact moment when Islamic fundamentalism as we know it entered the global stage. This was a horrendous power-thirsty and profoundly misogynous force founded on religious discrimination. It instituted its backward sharia laws as a mechanism to establish a religious tyranny, and became a model of governance for fundamentalist groups. In reality, dictatorships like the previous regime of Iran were too weak and corrupt to be able to stand against the waves of people who demanded freedom and particularly against the power of women and youths. So, instead, religious fundamentalists undertook the mission to crack down on and suppress them. The Essence of Fundamentalism At its core, what does Islamic fundamentalism want to oppose or stand against? Is it the world of Islam lining up against the West or in particular against Christianity and Judaism? The answer is NO. The truth is that the real dispute is not between Islam and Christianity, Islam and the West, or Shiites and Sunnis. It is, rather, a confrontation between freedom and subjugation, and between equality and injustice. Islamic fundamentalism, in essence, represents a backlash against the overwhelming tendency of the peoples of the region, especially women and youth, towards freedom, democracy and equality. Enmity against Women It should now be clear why fundamentalism focuses its wrath and violence against women more than anyone else. It is because women's emancipation was the central theme of the demands of the enormous tide of people who sought a new order, freedom and equality. Women emerged as a new force in the 1979 revolution in Iran and played a remarkable role. For this reason, the role of women rapidly evolved and became more prominent in the course of the developments after the revolution, turning into the pivotal force of movement and struggle. They were in the frontlines of resistance in torture chambers; they were in the front lines of demonstrations during the 2009 uprising; and they were in the front lines of the command structure in the National Liberation Army of Iran. In contrast to this, enmity to women lies at the heart of Islamic fundamentalism and suppression of women is the central component for the suppression of the entire society. Why did the mullahs need to revive the laws of past millennia in the final years of the 20th Century? Why did they commit such inconceivable crimes under the name of Islam? The answer is because they faced a widespread and general desire that could only be confronted and contained by naked oppression. The Iranian regime innovated most of the cruelties and evil crimes that were later The Iranian Resistance and its vanguard women launched their fight against a regime which not only was the enemy of the people of Iran but the main threat to the entire Middle East. We have been warning since three decades ago that Islamic fundamentalism is a global threat. Over the past 15 years, this threat has emerged in the form of terrorism and conflicts in the Middle East. Today, we can see that European capitals have not remained immune from terrorist crimes carried out by fundamentalists. Wherever fundamentalists guided by the mullahs enter the scene, their terrorism and destruction quickly begins. In conclusion, I would like to underscore the imperative and necessity for the entire world to confront this ominous phenomenon. The mullahs of Iran and their fundamentalist disciples are not only the enemy of the people of Iran, but also the enemies of all Middle East nations and the entire world. In particular, in so far as it concerns women, fundamentalism targets and jeopardizes all the achievements that women have made to date. Therefore, confronting the Iranian regime should be the immediate goal of women's struggle all over the world. Women's international sisterhood and solidarity demands that they support the fight against the fundamentalist regime of Iran. The Sterling Hill Mining Museum in New Jersey, United States, is known for its variety of immersive and educational exhibits, but is best known for its massive collection of fluorescent minerals. The fluorescent exhibits are displayed along the walls of the so-called Rainbow tunnel that was excavated in 1990. The walls of the tunnel are lined with rare minerals that glow bright green and red under ultraviolet light. The museum was originally an old zinc mine, and one of the oldest in the country, having opened in 1739. When the mine closed in 1986, it was purchased by Richard and Robert Hauck and opened as a museum in 1990. Photo credit: noaamichael/instagram The ore that was mined here was fabulously rich in content, averaging more than 20 percent zinc, and occurred in thick seams that went to a depth of more than 2,550 feet below the surface through tunnels totaling more than 35 miles in length. Sterling Hill is the treasure chest of minerals. Together with the nearby Franklin Mine, 2.5 miles to the north, more than 350 different mineral species have been found here a world record for such a small area. More than two dozen of these have been found nowhere else on Earth. The mine is equally famous for its fluorescent minerals. Almost 90 different mineral species have been documented as fluorescent. Geology.com explains what causes fluorescence in minerals. Quoting from the website: All minerals have the ability to reflect light. That is what makes them visible to the human eye. Some minerals have an interesting physical property known as "fluorescence." These minerals have the ability to temporarily absorb a small amount of light and an instant later release a small amount of light of a different wavelength. This change in wavelength causes a temporary color change of the mineral in the eye of a human observer. The color change of fluorescent minerals is most spectacular when they are illuminated in darkness by ultraviolet light (which is not visible to humans) and they release visible light. According to an article on the website of the Washington University in St. Louis, about 15 percent of minerals are fluorescent. Photo credit: victoriatretno/instagram Photo credit: Jeff Glover/Smithsonian Photo credit: Jeff Glover/Smithsonian Photo credit: Jeff Glover/Smithsonian Photo credit: Jeff Glover/Smithsonian Middle school youth (entering 6-8th grade in fall) can attend Sand Lake Conservation Camp at Camp Bird near Crivitz from June 21-23. Fee is $100 ($150 after May 19); includes room, board, t-shirt, and all activities/programs. Visit www.marinettecounty.com for info. Space is limited; call Anne Bartels at 715-732-7784 or email abartels@marinettecounty.com. High school youth (entering 9-12th grade in fall; must be 17 or under) can participate in the Wisconsin Land + Water Conservation Association Youth Conservation Camp, June 19-23, at the North Lakeland Discovery Center in Manitowish Waters. Fee is $250; covers all programs, meals, snacks, lodging, and a t-shirt. Register online at http://wisconsinlandwater.org/events/youth-conservation-camps, or contact Kim Warkentin at 608-441-2677 or email kim @wisconsinlandwater.org. LA CROSSE The state Supreme Court on Friday affirmed a lower courts decision affirming the convictions for a Minnesota man serving consecutive life terms for the 2012 murders of a father and son at their downtown La Crosse camera store. Jeffrey Lepsch, now 43, is not entitled to a new trial, the Supreme Court ruled in an opinion written by Justice Annette Ziegler. Lepschs attorney will likely take the case to federal court. It is not unusual that in a big criminal case the state courts will affirm the conviction only to have a federal court throw it out, attorney Steven Zaleski said. I anticipated that the claims of error would be more appropriately addressed in the federal court system, as the claims of error were largely based on federal case law. But for jurisdictional or procedural reasons, the case needed to be brought first in the state system. Lepsch in June appealed the District 4 Court of Appeals decision to uphold the convictions for the killings of Paul Petras, 56, and his 19-year-old son, A.J., at the now-shuttered Mays Photo on Main Street. A La Crosse County jury in 2013 convicted Lepsch of shooting Paul and A.J. Petras on Sept. 15 when they interfered with a robbery before he walked from the store with 27 pieces of camera equipment worth $17,000 to his minivan at Fourth and Main streets. Police found A.J. Petras body near the stores safe and his fathers in the bathroom hours later when Sherri Petras went to check on her husband and son. Surveillance video, cell phone and vehicle records led investigators to Lepsch, a broke, unemployed hobby photographer living in Dakota, Minn., at the time of the killings. Investigators traced every piece of equipment stolen from Mays to his home or sold online to support his family of five. Lepsch argued on appeal that his trial attorneys failed him when they allowed nine biased jurors to help decide the case, a violated of his right to an impartial jury under the state and federal constitutions. The jurors, he argued, failed to meet the standard of impartiality because they believed he was guilty before they heard the case or found law enforcement more credible than other witnesses. He also argued his constitutional rights were violated because he wasnt present when the clerk of court read an oath to the full panel of potential jurors. Prosecutors contend Lepsch failed to prove jurors were biased, pointing out they said they would base their verdict on evidence presented at trial and the administration of the oath did not violate Lepschs rights because it is not part of jury selection under state statute. Lepsch cant show that his trial attorneys failed him because he didnt prove that the jurors were biased, the Supreme Court found. Jurors told the court they could be impartial. The circuit courts careful administration of jury selection and the verbal in person questioning that took place cured any possibility of the likelihood or the appearance of bias, at least as outlined in the arguments Lepsch has made, according to the court. Lepsch didnt explain why administering an oath to potential jurors is part of the jury selection process any more than when prospective jurors complete questionnaires before trial, the court found. Even if he had a constitutional right to be present during the oath, according to the court, any error from his absence was harmless. The weather has turned nice, so you know what that means. Get your GPS ready. Youre going on quite a ride. Work is scheduled to start Monday on a project on the Highway 124 bridge that leads to and from downtown Chippewa Falls. The $2.3 million project is expected to be done by September. Proposed improvements include removing deteriorated concrete pavement, resurfacing the Summit Avenue intersection with an asphalt surface, bridge deck repairs and a polymer overlay, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. There will also be curb and gutter improvements and work on a beam guard, signs and pavement marking. The highway will remain open to traffic, but there is a catch. Motorists can expect to encounter lane shifts and single lane closure throughout the project. Speeds will be reduced from 35 to 25 mph, the DOT said. Having traffic go over the bridge during construction is good news for Teri Ouimette, executive director for the Chippewa Falls Main Street program. Im glad theyre going to have at least one lane open, she said. It will be business as usual. Keeping the bridge open for traffic differs from two projects last year. The County X bridge on Lake Wissota was closed for the summer while it was being replaced and the Veterans Memorial Bridge on Main Street in Chippewa Falls was closed while construction was carried out. The Veterans Memorial Bridge was closed from June to late August in that project. Pedestrians who normally use the Highway 124 bridge will instead be asked to use River Street, Main Street and Park Avenue as an alternative route during construction. Zenith Tech will be the prime contractor for the project, 80 percent of which is paid for by federal transportation funds, and the remainder with state funds. Ouimette said a potentially positive result of the construction would be if it slows drivers. As for the construction itself, she said: Its one of those things that has to be done. Drivers using Highway 29 are also going to have to cope with a construction project from April until November that will stretch from Stillson Creek to Abbotsford. Improvements are going to be made along 50 miles of the road, with drivers finding single lane closures and travel delays. The travel lanes and shoulders from Stillson Creek to 320th Street will get an asphalt overlay, as well as the shoulders from 320th Street to Highway 13 in Abbotsford. Concrete pavement will be repaired, median crossovers will be upgraded, guardrails will be replaced as will signs and pavement marking. The interchange ramps and crossroads between the ramp terminals at Highway X, Highway 27 and Highway D are all going to be resurfaced, the DOT said. A mix of federal and state funds are paying for the $29 million project. Chippewa Concrete is the prime contractor. Motorists can expect to encounter single lane closures. Speeds will be reduced from 70 to 60 mph and 65 to 55 mph, the DOT said. Vatican Cardinal Sarah Speaks Loud and Clear One of the most outspoken leaders of the Catholic Church delivers pivotal message on the liturgy Contact: Kevin Wandra, 404-788-1276, KWandra@CarmelCommunications.com SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- Cardinal Robert Sarah, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and best-selling author of God or Nothing (Ignatius Press), today delivered an important, direct and somewhat surprising message to a gathering in Germany marking the tenth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI's Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Reflecting on the nature of "the liturgical movement" and Vatican II's document on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Cardinal Sarah develops some points and themes he has discussed in recent years in other addresses and various writings, including in his most recent book, THE POWER OF SILENCE: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, just released by Ignatius Press: The work of Pope Benedict XVI: Having expressed his deep appreciation for the pontificate and work of Benedict XVI, Cardinal Sarah states, "Pope Benedict XVI clearly explained that the purpose for his decision to have the two missals coexist was not only to satisfy the wishes of certain groups of the faithful who are attached to the liturgical forms prior to the Second Vatican Council, but also to allow for the mutual enrichment of the two forms of the same Roman rite, in other words, not only their peaceful coexistence but also the possibility of perfecting them by emphasizing the best features that characterize them." The need for fidelity in "legitimate development:" Cardinal Sarah emphasizes the "particular care that should be brought to the liturgy, the urgency of holding it in high esteem and working for its beauty, its sacral character and keeping the right balance between fidelity to Tradition and legitimate development and, therefore, rejecting absolutely and radically any hermeneutic of discontinuity or rupture," noting that "these essential elements are the heart of all authentic Christian liturgy." The reality of a crisis in the Church: Noting "the crisis that has shaken the Church for fifty years," Cardinal Sarah emphasizes how this crisis "is connected with the crisis of the liturgy, and, therefore, to the lack of respect, the desacralization and the leveling of the essential elements of divine worship." In striking and direct remarks about the focus on "active participation" in the liturgy, Cardinal Sarah said: "However we cannot close our eyes to the disaster, the devastation and the schism that the modern promoters of a living liturgy caused by remodeling the Church's liturgy according to their ideas. They forgot that the liturgical act is not just a PRAYER, but also and above all a MYSTERY in which something is accomplished for us that we cannot fully understand but that we must accept and receive in faith, love, obedience and adoring silence." The need to regain Christian roots: Cardinal Sarah further insists that the "serious, profound crisis that has affected the liturgy and the Church itself since the Council is due to the fact that its CENTER is no longer God and the adoration of Him, but rather men and their alleged ability to 'do' something to keep themselves busy during the Eucharistic celebrations. And in a strong denunciation of capricious liturgical innovation, he states: "Many believe and declare loud and long that Vatican Council II brought about a true springtime in the Church. Nevertheless, a growing number of Church leaders see this 'springtime' as a rejection, a renunciation of her centuries-old heritage, or even as a radical questioning of her past and Tradition. Political Europe is rebuked for abandoning or denying its Christian roots. But the first to have abandoned her Christian roots and past is indisputably the post-conciliar Catholic Church." On the so-called "liturgy wars:" "I vehemently refuse," says Cardinal Sarah, "therefore to waste our time pitting one liturgy against another, or the Missal of Saint Pius V against that of Blessed Paul VI. Rather, it is a question of entering into the great silence of the liturgy, by allowing ourselves to be enriched by all the liturgical forms, whether they are Latin or Eastern." Read the entire message at www.CatholicWorldReport.com: HERE . For more information, or to schedule an interview with Carl Olson, editor of Catholic World Report, please contact Kevin Wandra (404-788-1276 or KWandra@CarmelCommunications.com) of Carmel Communications. To request a review copy of THE POWER OF SILENCE, please contact Rose Trabbic (239-867-4180 or Rose@Ignatius.com) of Ignatius Press. Share Tweet In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome! YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. On March 31 and overnight April 1 Azerbaijani forces made over 35 ceasefire violations in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact, firing more than 300 shots at Artsakh positions from various caliber firearms. Azerbaijani forces fired 3 shells from automatic anti-tank grenade launchers in the eastern direction of the line of contact. The defense ministry of Artsakh told ARMENPRESS the Defense Army is in control of the tactical-strategic situation and confidently continues their service. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan congratulated the Assyrian community of Armenia on the occasion of Kha bNissan, the Presidents Office told ARMENPRESS. I cordially congratulate the Assyrians of Armenia on the occasion of New Year Kha bNissan. I wish our Assyrian brothers and sisters happiness and success in this new year. I wish that together with this holiday, which signifies the awaking of nature, the Assyrian community of Armenia, the Armenian-Assyrian centuries-long friendship and our multi-layered cultural relations are also revived. Let this bright spring holiday become a source for new joy and bliss for our Assyrian compatriots. The Armenian authorities treat with special attention and care problems and needs of all national communities living in Armenia, including the Assyrian community. This course will be maintained and developed in the future as well. Happy Kha bNissan!", reads the letter of the President. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. On March 31, at 23:15, the tactical management center of the Yerevan Police Department (YPD) notified the YPDs Malatia department that Member of Parliament Nikol Pashinyan has contacted them saying an armed assault occurred against their election campaign representatives in the intersection of Avajyan and Andranik streets, and their campaign flags have been stolen. The YPD told ARMENPRESS a 25 year old man, identified as Hayk S., reported to police on April 1 at 01:00, that during an altercation in the abovementioned location at 22:50, March 31, an unknown person physically attacked him, and pointed a handgun at him, however the latter was tackled by a 23 year old man, identified as Garnik V. Immediately upon receiving the report, police officers were dispatched to the scene. Yerevan Police Department Chief, Colonel Sargis Martirosyan personally arrived at the scene. Police quickly identified and apprehended the assailant 40 year old Arthur A. A criminal case has been launched. The 40 year old attacker is under arrest. The handgun has been handed over to law enforcement officers by MP Nikol Pashinyan. Ballistic expertise is underway and an investigation has been launched. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan released an address on the anniversary of the April War. The Artsakh Presidents Office told ARMENPRESS the address particularly reads: Dear compatriots, A year ago on the night of April 1 Azerbaijan undertook a large-scale military operation along the whole perimeter of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani border. The official Baku again tried to solve the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict by force, destroy the independent Artsakh statehood, and commit a new genocide of the Armenian people. The enemys aggression completely failed and it suffered considerable human, material and moral losses unable to realize any of its treacherous programs. The adversary faced our armed forces, our valiant soldiers, our population that had consolidated into an army, the entire Armenian people, the Mother Armenia and the Diaspora, who immediately stood next to Artsakh. The Armenian people have proved once again that free and independent homeland is the highest value for us and that we are capable of defending our state from any encroachments. Unfortunately, in the result of the insidious and provocative actions of the adversary we had irretrievable losses. Dozens of servicemen and civilians perished. Eternal honor and glory to all our martyrs! Their bright memory will always remain in our hearts, their bravery and heroism will become a guideline for the future generations. Defeated in the battlefield, Azerbaijan has not abandoned its expansionist programs. It continues to conduct anti-Armenian policy, does not refrain from implementing offensive operations in political, information and diplomatic spheres, and keeps violating the ceasefire regime in different sectors of the borders almost on a daily basis. The authorities of Azerbaijan do not hide that they are pursuing a revanchist policy. Such a stance is nothing else than a terrorism, another heinous and inhuman manifestation of genocidal policy. All these once again confirm a century-long truth for our people: we must always be strong and united, protect our freedom and independence and build a worthy future for the generations to come. Dear people, Our spirit is firm, our will is unshakeable, our purposes are just. We defend our native land, our homes and families, develop our country by painstaking work. This is a sacred mission that our people will always carry out with dignity. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. The Tufenkchi Group pharmaceutical factory was opened on April 1 in Jrvezh village, Kotayk province. The factory has been established by Syrian-Armenian businessmen. Healthcare minister Levon Altunyan, minister of economic development and investment Suren Karayan and Diaspora minister Hranush Hakobyan attended the opening ceremony. Healthcare minister Levon Altunyan told reporters any medication in demand in the domestic market will be produced in the factory. In case of consumption of the production, it will enable to decrease medication prices in the market up to 30-40 percent, he said. According to him, this kind of a factory hasnt existed in Armenia. Of course we have pharmaceutical productions, which are engaged in other functions, however we didnt have this kind of a factory yet. I hope similar industries will develop, he said. The factory will produce painkillers, hypertension drugs, nutritional supplements, vitamins, anti-diabetic drugs etc. Minister of economic development and investments Suren Karayan highlighted the fact that the factory is established by Syrian-Armenians, and expressed the ministrys support to all Diaspora-Armenians in such initiatives. This initiative is important for the development of the pharmaceutical sector, which has a rather big potential and prospect, which isnt yet realized. By joining the EEU, Armenia received wide opportunities to be able to export its production to the large EEU market, Karayan said. CEO of the Tufenkchi Group factory Carlo Gaspar said the factory plans to produce 350-400 thousand USD worth of production in 2017 and create 25-30 jobs. In the future it is planned to expand production, which will result in an addition 50-60 jobs. We closely cooperated with the minister of economic development and investments. The ministry showed us the shortest and easiest way in order to accelerate the factorys launch, he said. According to him, the factory plans to export production to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Algiers, Yemen and others. Rajinis huge fan following in Malaysia can be the reason for the replacement. Superstar Rajinikanth might replace King Khan as the Brand Ambassador of Malaysian Tourism. Reports suggest that the Minister of Tourism and Culture of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, proposed Rajinis name and indicated that Malacca should replace Shah Rukh to appoint Rajinikanth as the states tourism ambassador. Apparently, it was well received by the MPs of the Malaysian Parliament. One may recall that Rajnikanths last blockbuster Kabali, which was about Malaysian Tamils, was shot mostly in Malaysia with only a few segments in Chennai and Hong Kong. Incidentally, the actor has a huge fan following in the country and the crowd that would gather whenever he came out of the hotel for shooting or was at outdoor locations was testimony to it. The film which was also released in Malay, was well-received. Considering the kind of fandom Rajini commands in Malaysia, the tourism board seems confident that his replacement of SRK (who has been endorsing since 2008) would yield better results. Nearly a decade ago, Shah Rukh was awarded the title of Dato, which is equivalent to Indias Padma Awards. Close sources say that the Malaysian government is now planning to confer Dato on the Enthiran star. Meanwhile, it is interesting to note that the first couple of Malaysia, Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohammad Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, and his wife, Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor, who are Indian cinema buffs became fans of Rajinikanth during the actors long stay in Malacca, for Kabali. Police previously claimed that LaBeouf ripped the scarf off a 25-year-old man. LaBeouf was due to appear in court over the alleged incident on April 7. Mumbai: Actor Shia LaBeouf's assault and harassment charges have been dropped, one week before he was due in court. The Nymphomaniac actor was taken into custody by police following an alleged scuffle with a man at his He Will Not Divide Us livestream anti-Donald Trump protest in New York in January but he will not face further action. According to TMZ, there was not enough evidence to prove that a crime occurred when Shia faced off with another protester. Police previously claimed that LaBeouf ripped the scarf off a 25-year-old man who interfered with the ongoing demonstration at the Museum of Moving Image, scratched his face and pushed him to the ground. LaBeouf was due to appear in court over the alleged incident on April 7 but that has now been called off. The He Will Not Divide Us art installation was created by LaBeouf along with artists Nastja Sade Ronkko and Luke Turner, with the intention that the live stream would run throughout President Trump's time in office. The bench said since the time limit of March 31 was granted based on the request of Tamil Nadu no further extension can be granted. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a batch of applications seeking modification of the December 2016 order banning liquor shops within 500 metres of state and National Highways across the country with a view to preventing accidents caused due to drunken driving. With the court giving a deadline of March 31 for closure of all the liquor shops located on highways, several states and liquor shop licencees have sought modification of the order. The bench rejected the plea of Tamil Nadu to close 1,731 liquor shops run by TASMAC located near state highways to extend the time limit up to November 30, 2017. The bench said since the time limit of March 31 was granted based on the request of Tamil Nadu no further extension can be granted. A bench comprising Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and L. Nageswara Rao disposing of the applications from several states made it clear that the December 15, 2016 directing closure of liquor shops within 500 metres of state and National Highways will equally apply to bars, pubs, hotels and restaurants serving liquor. Since the object of the earlier order was to prevent drunken driving, the bench said, any relaxation to hotels and restaurants will defeat the object. The bench, however, permitted the licencees who were awarded licence before December 15, 2016 to continue beyond March 31 and up to September 30, 2017. The bench, however took note of the contentions that in municipal areas and towns 500 metres beyond state highways will be difficult to be implemented and said in such areas no liquor shop can be located within 220 metres of the highways passing through these areas. Besides Tamil Nadu, states like Kerala, Punjab, Telangana, had sought modification of the order. The All-Assam Indian Made Foreign Liquors Retailers Association wanted modification of the order, saying it virtually banned liquor shops in the state as the definition of state highways in the local statute included all roads.The apex court, in its December 15, 2016 judgment, had ordered a ban on all liquor shops along national as well as state highways across the country and made it clear that licences of the existing shops will not be renewed after March 31, 2017. It had also directed that all signages indicating the presence of liquor vends will be prohibited along national and state highways. The States had also taken the stand that the Order only prohibits the liquor vends and not for restaurants and hotels on the highways serving liquor. The farmers want farm loan waiver and compensation for crop failure. New Delhi: Farmers from Tamil Nadu who are protesting in the national capital to seek farm loan waiver say they feel disillusioned on the 18th day of their agitation. The Cauvery basin, from where they came, saw the worst drought in the past 140 years. We have been demanding drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore from the Centre and a farm loan waiver, said P. Ayyakkannu, state president of the National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturists Association. He then asked the protesters to show the skulls of farmers who had committed suicide. The Tamil Nadu government had sought a Rs 40,000 crore package. The Centre gave Rs 2,000 crore. The state government has said 17 farmers have committed suicide between October 2016 and January 2017, while over a hundred died of shock due to crop failure. Over 100 farmers from at least 12 districts in Tamil Nadu are camping at Jantar Mantar. We live in Delhi, but we came here to stand in solidarity with the farmers. Im hoping that the issue will be resolved quickly, said Prabhu, who belongs to Tiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu. Its a hot day, said A. Devendran, a cab driver in the national capital. Back in Tamil Nadu, by this time, sea breeze brings the temperature down, Mr Devendran said. Damodaran, an aged farmer from Nagapattinam, said, We want the farm loans to be waived off. We want more profit for our agricultural produce. Banks are trying to usurp out land. Ive 30 acres of land. I took a loan for buying a tractor, and now I have a debt of Rs 12.5 lakh, Mr Damodaran said, wiping his face. We could not grow anything last year because of the drought, he added. Prateek Yadav and Aparna Yadav, the younger son and daughter-in-law of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, were also present there. Lucknow: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday visited Kanha Upvan an animal shelter home owned by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation. Accompanied by deputy chief minister and former Lucknow mayor Dinesh Sharma, who initiated the project in 2010, the chief minister spent about 30 minutes in the gaushala and fed cows. Prateek Yadav and Aparna Yadav, the younger son and daughter-in-law of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, were also present there. The couple runs a non-governmental organisation called Jeev Ashray that plays an active role in the running of the Kanha Upvan. The couple, sources said, had invited the chief minister to visit the cow shelter when they paid him a courtesy call last week. Their presence at Kanha Upvan during the chief ministers visit has triggered off speculations of Aparna inching closer to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Ms Aparna has, more than once, caused embarrassment to the Samajwadi Party in the past when she publicly praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies. Ms Aparna, who lost the recent elections to Dr Rita Bahuguna Joshi from Lucknow Cantt seat, also kept speculations alive when she said, Who knows what will happen in future? She was responding to questions about her possibly joining the BJP. However, she said she had invited the chief minister to visit the animal shelter because she was aware of his love for animals, cows in particular. Moreover as chief minister, he belongs to the entire state and not just one party, she added. The Kanha Upvan is spread over 64 acres and has over 2,000 stray animals. Ms Aparna had sprung a surprise earlier too when she was present at an event in Lucknow addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Last year she had clicked a selfie with Mr Modi at a family function that he attended. Naseer suffered the injury when Houthi rebels stormed his house in Yemen. New Delhi: Doctors of Fortis Flt Lt. Rajan Dhall Hospital removed a bullet, which settled at the junction of the brain and the spine of 20-year-old Mehdhar Naseer. The bullet entered his neck and got lodged beneath the first cervical vertebra and kept lying between the spinal cord and the vertebra artery. Miraculously, the bullet didnt damage any part of the neck and brain. However in January, Mr Nasser had started complaining of neck pain. In January 2015, Naseer suffered the injury when Houthi rebels stormed his house in Yemen and opened fire. They just entered the house and started shooting, said Mr Naseer, recovering in room number 213 of the hospital. This was one in a billion chance wherein the bullet did not damage the spinal cord or the vertebra artery. It is just like somebody cuts your throat with a sword and you are still alive, said Dr Sandeep Vaishya, executive director, neurosurgery at Fortis Gurgaon. While the bullet made a nice round whole in the neck, a little crawl on either side could have either killed him or left him quadriplegic, paralysis of all four limbs, Dr Vaishya added. Damage to the vetebra artery could have killed him and if the spinal cord had got damaged he could have become quadriplegic. Fortunately, the bullet kept lying between C1 and C2 and did not rupture or harm him, the delicate position of the bullet makes the case miraculous, added Dr Vaishya. Dr Vaishya, along with his team of doctors, conducted the surgery. I went to Jordan, Oman, Sudan but none of them agreed on conducting the surgery. They said either I shall die or the surgery will result in paralysis. But then we spoke to the doctors here. Dr Vaishya gave me so much confidence that we decided to go for it, Naseer said. J&K police chief S.P. Vaid has also said that Pakistan was largely responsible for incidents of stone pelting on security forces. New Delhi: Taking a serious note of the sudden spurt in incidents of stone pelting, particularly during a security operation, as the one witnessed in Budgam earlier this week in which as many as 63 security personnel were injured, the Centre as well as J&K government are contemplating on imposing stringent sections of law like conspiracy and aiding and abetting terrorists against repeat offenders. Top home ministry sources told this newspaper that security forces have already been directed to prepare a detailed dossier of such repeat offenders who are involved and instigating public to resort to stone-pelting to provide safe passage to militants. Since law and order is primarily a state subject, we are in touch with the J&K government. There is a pattern to these incidents of stone pelting and it needs to be checked. Even security forces operating in the Valley want the local police to book these offenders under stringent sections rather than just for causing grievous hurt or injury, the senior ministry official said. Even home minister Rajnath Singh had informed Parliament on Friday that certain operatives from across the border in Pakistan were using social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to instigate and mobilise mob, directing them to throw stones at security forces. The situation becomes more precarious when a security operation is on and a mob resorts to stone pelting. On Friday evening, the home minister had chaired a high-level meeting to review the prevailing security situation in the Kashmir Valley. Sources said during the meeting, officials expressed concern over the stone-pelting incidents and sought tough action. Even on Saturday, public had resorted to stone pelting on an Army convoy in the Valley. Sources said what has made the situation more precarious for security forces is a recent trend, in which a large number of children, mostly between the age group of 11 and 15, were also indulging in throwing stones on security forces. The terror operatives have been using women and children as shield in the mob. But increasing what we are witnessing now ion the Valley is that a large number of minor children are joining the protesters in large numbers making it more difficult for us to take action, a security official said. Security forces have already initiated the exercise to identify those who instigating the mob and are participating in incidents of stone pelting on a regular basis. A major crackdown, sources added, against these repeat offenders is expected in the next few days. J&K police chief S.P. Vaid has also said that Pakistan was largely responsible for incidents of stone pelting on security forces. Pak-based terror groups are said to be paying anything between Rs 3,000- Rs 5,000 to these stone pelters. Earlier, even Army chief Bipin Rawat had also warned that those assisting terrorists will also be treated like them. Home ministry sources added that it will also consult technical experts if social media message originating from Pakistan directing people to resort to such incidents of violence could be blocked. The convoy was on its way to Srinagar from north-western Baramulla district. Security personnel take positions during a search operation after militants attacked an Army vehicle, part of a convoy, near a hospital along Parimpora-Panthachowk bypass road in Srinagar. (Photo: PTI) Srinagar: Three Army jawans were injured in a sneak attack by militants in Srinagars Bemina on Saturday, triggering panic in the area. The attack on an Army convoy moving along Parimpora-Panthachowk bypass road came a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit restive Jammu and Kashmir. During the day-long visit, the Prime Minister will inaugurate Indias longest road tunnel at Chenani along the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Udhampur district, where he will also address a public rally. Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia confirmed three soldiers were injured and a vehicle in the convoy suffered minor damage in the militant firing. There was firing on Army convoy in general area Bemina today. Three soldiers were injured who were evacuated to the Armys 92-Base Hospital and are under treatment, he said. The police officials said that the attack took place around 1.15pm outside the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital at Bemina and three soldiers on board the last vehicle of the convoy sustained bullet wounds in the attack. The witnesses said that, at least, 10 bullets hit the windshield and other parts of the Army vehicle and, as the driver lost control over it, it hit the road divider. The convoy was on its way to Srinagar from north-western Baramulla district. The troops who were in the convoy retaliated by opening fire forcing the militants to flee from the spot. Soon reinforcements from Army, the J&K police and the CRPF laid siege to the area and started an operation to capture the assailants dead or alive. But the sources said that no arrests were made as militants apparently escaped through a densely populated residential area. Following the attack, a red alert was sounded across the Kashmir Valley and security forces reinforcements and special naka parties fanned out to ensure the militants do not strike again. Already, a multi-tier security setup had been put in place ahead of the Prime Ministers visit and an alert sounded along both the Line of Control and International Border with Pakistan in Jammu region and a high degree of vigilance at vital installations in the hinterland, the official sources said. Soon after Saturdays attack, a crowd assembled near the site of occurrence and started pelting stones at the police and the CRPF personnel, triggering clashes, the witnesses said. Earlier a peculiar situation arose in Srinagars commercial hub Lal-Chowk-Budshah Chowk and adjoining areas when, according to police, a mentally deranged person entered a hotel and started hitting everything than came in his way. He also shouted that a fidayeen attack is going to take place in the area, triggering panic among the hotel staff. He, was, however, quickly overpowered by the police which also fired warning shots triggering panic in the busy area. While people started feeling towards safety, most of the business establishments downed their shutters. Soon the area witnessed clashed between irate crowds of youth and the security forces which fired teargas canisters to bring the situation under control. Rajnath Singh said in Lok Sabha that the security forces were dealing with terrorism in a way they should. New Delhi: The government on Friday accused Pakistan of inciting youth in J&K through social media to help holed-up militants by storming encounter sites. Union home minister Rajnath Singh said in Lok Sabha that the security forces were dealing with terrorism in a way they should and they will surely be successful. Mr Singh was replying to concerns raised by some members like TMC member Saugata Roy and Congress member K.C. Venugopal following the death of three civilians in Budgam in firing by security forces. Three civilians were killed while 18 others were injured in security forces action against a large number of protesters who pelted stones on the law enforcing personnel allegedly in a vain bid to help the holed up militant escape. Mr Roy said that he was a member of the all-party delegation which had visited Kashmir earlier and the situation there had again become very grave. The home minister said that the strife-torn region had seen a new trend of late in which youth from nearby villages gather at the sites of encounter bet-ween security forces and terrorists and pelt stones to help the militants holed-up there to flee. I will appeal to youth not to be misled by Pakistan. Some social media applications like WhatsApp and Facebook are used to gather youth at places of encounters. These groups are based in Pakistan, he said. Security forces are dealing with terrorists exactly the way they should and will continue to do so. I want to say that we will definitely be successful, he said, adding Pakistan-sponsored terrorists are trying to destabilise not only Kashmir but entire India. Mr Venugopal also raised the issue of deaths of civilians in Kashmir. Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said that the practice of a minister replying to a Zero Hour discussion would be followed more often now as the government was keen that concerns of members are addressed. Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) holds talks with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Hangzhou, capital city of East China's Zhejiang province, Sept 2, 2016. [Photo by Wu Zhiyi/China Daily] China's leadership is vital for the success of the Belt and Road Initiative (the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road). It will not be easy, as it would take efforts to adjust its inward-looking history of thousands of years. It's been three and half years since Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the historic Belt and Road Initiative in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. It's been only a short time but work has been on the right track to promote free trade and investment in order to benefit peoples in different countries and regions across the two ancient trade routes. With the same target as the Belt and Road, the Eurasian Economic Union was formed in 2015 as a purely economic union, which currently includes five countries. The EAEU aims to break barriers of the five member states and further deepen economic cooperation within an integrated single market of 183 million people. Kyrgyzstan, as one of the five members of the EAEU and a neighbor of China, would like to be a transit country to bridge the Belt and Road, the EAEU and the Europe Union and beyond. For me, the Belt and Road Initiative is not just about infrastructure. It is actually a comprehensive framework which would use "soft power" to facilitate the communication among related countries and regions and their peoples in terms of economy, culture, science and art. Just as the expectations of the leaders from China and Russia who are the pioneers of the Belt and Road Initiative and the EAEU respectively, the two initiatives should find the knowledge to integrate based on natural geographic peculiarities and complementary advantages. We need to meet each other more regularly to research how to harmonize the bilateral procedures already existing between China and members of the EAEU. In May, Beijing will hold a high-level Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, and the participants and the leadership of China should outline more practical, executive and concrete projects and develop more discussions into projects with a straightforward breakdown of where, how and when things would happen. The commitment of the Chinese leadership to the success of this initiative is persuasive and expectative. Things would move in the right direction with financial resources, knowledge and human resources. Facing a bigger international arena, China needs to learn how to do things the right way given its long and rich but mainly inward-oriented history. It's high time for China to accept a leadership role of focusing efforts and attention. The initiative as land linkage between China, Eurasia and Europe is not at all only about infrastructure but also about soft power to advance the understanding of different peoples and countries along the two ancient trade routes. It's not a traditional bilateral system but a truly regional, multinational, multilateral network and thus it needs to be designed precisely. That's the exact reason think tanks like Emerging Markets Institute are needed to meet the knowledge requirements to support this comprehensive framework and the harmonization of the involved projects in all areas. The author is a distinguished professor at Emerging Markets Institute at Beijing Normal University and at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University and former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan. The desire to recapture someone's attention with eye-catching products even outweighed the risk of public embarrassment. Washington D.C.: Feeling jealous about the attention your lover was giving to someone else? There's an outfit to fix that; or so a team of researchers is hoping to prove. Researcher Xun (Irene) Huang from the Nanyang Technological University was eager to investigate whether these feelings of jealously motivated consumers to buy things that were more likely to recapture the attention of their partners. She and her team conducted a series of five different experiments and the results revealed that feelings of jealousy increase the desire for eye-catching products, such as a bright coloured coat instead of a dull-coloured one, or a T-shirt with a big logo design versus a low-key design. "We believe that this effect is not just restricted to jealousy in romantic relationships," said Huang. "Children can be jealous of a sibling's relationship with their parents, or workers might be jealous of a colleague's close relationship with a supervisor." The researchers also found that the desire for eye-grabbing products disappeared when there was little chance that the product would be noticed by others in public. Participants who were experiencing feelings of jealously in one experiment were more likely to buy a noticeable gold lamp for their office, a public place. But if they were buying a lamp for their bedroom, interest in a gold lamp versus a plain grey one was equal. The researchers were surprised to discover that the desire to recapture someone's attention with eye-catching products even outweighed the risk of public embarrassment. In one experiment, participants were asked to imagine that they had been invited to a party. One group had been invited to a costume party organized by friends, and the other group had been invited to a formal welcoming party for new staff members at their company. Then they were asked to choose whether they'd prefer to wear an ordinary pair of sunglasses to the party or a unique and eye-catching pair. The researchers found that participants who were experiencing feelings of jealously opted to wear the eye-catching sunglasses to both types of parties, even though they could garner negative attention for this at a formal work party. These findings also have implications for marketing, Huang noted. Print advertisements and in-store displays can capture situations in which jealously is at play, which could motivate consumers to buy products that will attract someone's attention. Television commercials that promote attention-grabbing products might also be effective during sit-coms, in which jealously is a common theme. The study appears online in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. Men who reported more unprotected sex acts perceived their HIV risk to be higher and were more likely to have been diagnosed with a STI. There is a nearly universal perception that older men do not pay for, or even engage sexually with regular frequency. (Photo: AFP) Washington D.C.: Turns out, older male purchasers of sex are likelier to engage in unsafe sexual practices. A study surveyed American men between the ages of 60 and 84 who pay for sex and found that the older they were, the more frequently they paid for sex and the more likely they were to have experienced unprotected sexual intercourse multiple times with their favourite commercial sex providers. "There is a nearly universal perception that older men do not pay for, or even engage sexually with regular frequency," said lead author Christine Milrod. "This view may contribute to a false sense of security for both clients and sex workers during their encounters, and may lead to less protective strategies than with younger purchasers of sex. In addition, the exchange of emotional intimacy during the so-called 'Girlfriend Experience' as well as the possibility of being viewed as an elderly low-risk client who engages with only one or a very limited number of providers may contribute to a relaxation of boundaries and a false sense of security in avoiding STIs," Milrod continued. Using various sex provider review websites and discussion boards, Milrod and University of Portland's Martin Monto surveyed 208 men between the ages of 60 and 84 who solicited sex workers in order to assess their condom use and sexual risk taking. The researchers found that 59.2 percent reported not always using protection with sex workers. 95 percent reported avoiding protection for manual masturbation and 91 percent reported avoiding protection for oral sex. Moreover, 31.1 percent reported having been diagnosed with a STI at some point during their lifetime. 10.2 percent were once diagnosed with gonorrhea, 10.1 percent with genital warts, 7.8 percent with genital herpes and 5.3 percent with chlamydia. Men who reported more unprotected sex acts perceived their HIV risk to be higher and were more likely to have been diagnosed with a STI. 77.4 percent reported that they perceived their likelihood of becoming infected with HIV as "low," while only 62 percent reported having been tested for HIV. 29.2 percent reported having an "all-time favourite" sex provider with whom they engage repeatedly. Being more emotionally attached to sex workers was positively related to more unprotected sex. Of the 60- to 84-year-old men surveyed, advancing age was also positively associated with unprotected sex acts. 57.2 percent reported talking with a doctor about sex since turning 60, though 82.2 percent of these conversations were initiated by the patients, not by their doctors. To reduce the incidence of STIs among sexually active older men, Milrod and Monto suggest that health care providers ask their older male patients about their sexual partners and discuss protective strategies for avoiding STIs. The researchers wrote, "Medical and mental health clinicians should not assume that old age is a barrier to paying for sex, particularly among the generations that began engaging in sexual activity prior to the epidemic emergence of the HIV virus." The study is published in the American Journal of Men's Health (a SAGE journal). Some of the major restaurants and hotels located in Aerocity near the IGI Airport will be affected by the ruling. New Delhi: Around 50 pubs, restaurants and hotels, located within 500 metres of highways in Delhi, will not be able to serve liquor today onwards. Also, 65 vends will be sealed following the Supreme Court order that no liquor shops, pubs, hotels and bars serving alcohol will be permitted within 500 metres of highways in the country from April 1, government sources said. A senior excise department official said several teams have been formed to ensure that outlets - pubs, restaurants and hotels - most of them on NH-8, stop serving liquor. Some of the major restaurants and hotels located in Aerocity near the IGI Airport will be affected by the ruling. Officials said strict action will be taken against violators. The SC has directed that no liquor shop shall be visible and directly accessible from the highways nor it should be situated within 500 metres of the outer edge of the national or state highway or of the service lane. As per the top court's order, licences of existing liquor shops on national and state highways will not be renewed after March 31. The SC bench had expressed displeasure over the alleged inaction by various states in removing liquor shops along the roads which give rise to drunken driving and consequential fatalities. In its order on December 15 last year, the SC had noted, "The expressways witnessed 4,208 accident cases, 4,229 injured and 1,802 deaths. Figures are also available of the distribution of road accidents by causes during 2014. 1.38 lakh persons were injured in road accidents involving dangerous or careless driving and 42,127 deaths occurred." "Injuries caused in accidents due to over-speeding stood at 1.81 lakh while there were 48,654 deaths. 7,307 accident cases involving driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol were registered resulting in 7,398 injuries and 2,591 deaths," it had noted. Saffron party to use song as caller tune for all workers. New Delhi: Recently offended by a teachers request to sing a song for her, Bhojpuri-actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari has lent his voice to BJPs campaign song for the upcoming civic elections in the city. After hectic campaigning, Delhi BJP president Mr Tiwari had to spend an entire night to get the song recorded for the civic polls. The songs focus is on Bhajpa Dil main, Bhajpa Dilli main (BJP in our hearts, BJP in Delhi). Mr Tiwari has not only sung the song, but has composed its music as well. The saffron party is now planning to use the song as the caller tune for all its workers and dedicated party sympathisers in the city. Mr Tiwari has written and composed the song with assistance from his team, including Neelkant Bakshi and Kumar Vishu. During the launch of the campaign song, Mr Tiwari said that he spent last night at a studio in East Delhi and recorded the song overnight. The campaign song, slogan, and BJP poster for the civic polls were unveiled at a function attended by several party leaders, including national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe. In the four-minute campaign song, Bhajpa Dil main, Bhajpa Dilli main, Mr Tiwari also lashes out at the Arvind Kejriwal government without naming it for making false promises to the people and alleged corruption of its ministers. The song also includes catchwords and promises of the party like installation of LED and CCTV cameras, clean roads, water supply to each household, welfare of farmers, nationalism, and eradication of corruption. It also has a short, crisp line from Prime Minister Narendra Modis speech, my government is dedicated to poor. BJPs campaign slogan Naye Chehre, Nayi Urja, Nayi Udan; Dilli Mange Kamal Nishan, will be used widely as it promises fresh faces in the three municipal corporations. There is a lot of negativity in the atmosphere and Delhiites are being misguided by the Delhi government. So, we thought of a different strategy. We are starting our campaign at a positive note. We will go door to door and convince people to come out of negativity and contribute for the development of the city under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, added Mr Tiwari. Kejriwal reiterates claim that voting machines were tampered with, urges EC to use paper ballot. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia emerge after a meeting at the Chief Election Commission in New Delhi. (Photo: Biplab Banerjee) New Delhi: Raising the pitch for re-introduction of paper ballot for the elections across the country, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday urged the Election Commission to probe cases of faulty Electronic Voting Machines to ascertain if they were tampered with to favour the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent elections. Citing Fridays case of Madhya Pradesh, where an EVM during a demonstration to media printed slips of the BJP irrespective of whichever button was pressed, Mr Kejriwal said that it was not an isolated incident and demanded a probe into it. I have been repeatedly saying that these machines are being tampered with at a large scale. Similar machines surfaced in Assam and Delhi Cantonment where no matter which party you vote for, the vote only goes to the BJP, he said. He asked why it was that every defective machine favoured the BJP and not any other political party. It means these machines are being tampered with and their software have been changed. Mr Kejriwal said that while the EC says that the chips of the EVMs cant be written on, it clearly doesnt seem to be the case. The Delhi chief minister added that before the elections, the EC conducts demonstrations of 20-25 machines. If any machine is found to be defective, they change it but dont order for any inquiry. In Delhis civic polls, 12,000 machines are going to be used. They all cant be checked. If one machine is found to be defective, it raises questions about the others too, he said. The AAP leader said, Fridays Madhya Pradesh incident raises big questions like-if elections in India were being conducted in a fair manner and if people are casting their votes or are machines doing it? he asked. Mr Kejriwal said that in all three incidents, where the defective machines were found, the EC did not issue any inquiry about tampering. I have demanded that a technical investigation into all these incidents is to be conducted so it could be found if the machines were tampered with, if so, who was responsible, he said. Otherwise, no matter who people vote for, only lotus would bloom from the keechad of EVMs, he added, in a reference to the lotus symbol of the BJP. The Delhi civic polls will be conducted on April 23 and results will be declared on April 26. The chorus against EVMs gained momentum after the recently held Assembly elections in five states. Opposition parties, including the AAP and Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party, raised the issue with some alleging that EVM tampering helped the BJP. Central leadership is not happy with words like Nayi Oorja (new energy). New Delhi: Delhi BJPs campaign slogan for April 23 civic polls, which was launched on Friday, has failed to impress central leadership. Party insider said that the central leadership has asked the state unit to prepare another slogans and launch it by next week. Despite being impressed with the theme song, which was sung by Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, central leadership also directed the state unit to record another song targeting Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party is making debut in municipal polls in the national capital. Delhi BJPs campaign song, slogan and poster for the civic polls were unveiled on Friday at a function attended by several party leaders, including national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe. According to party sources, Central leadership is not happy with the theme song Naye Chehre, Nayi Oorja, Nayi UdaanDilli Maange Kamal Nishaan. Central leadership is not happy with few words like Nayi Oorja (new energy) and a few others, saying that it fails to make an impact. Central leadership has directed state unit to come up with a new slogan or theme line for the civic polls. They also directed that once the new theme line came up by next week, the party must withdraw the one released yesterday, they said. A senior leader at party ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation also raised objection to the slogan. He said that naye chehre (new faces) was sending wrong signals among voters and it shows sitting councillors, who were denied ticket, in a bad light. While launching the theme song, Mr Manoj Tiwari had said that there is a lot of negativity in the atmosphere and Delhiites are being misguided by the Delhi government, the the BJP is starting its campaign on a positive note. Sources appreciating the song, said that central leadership clearly directed that state unit should come out with a new song targeting Mr Kejriwal and his government and party. After the central leaderships direction, the Delhi BJP leaders started questioning the creativity of the publicity team. During the interrogation, Mr Dependra Pathak said that the four identified themselves as students of Ram Lal Anand College. New Delhi: Union minister Smriti Irani on Saturday lodged a complaint with the Delhi police and alleged that four drunk youth in a car chased and overtook her twice in a rash and negligent manner in central Delhis Chanakyapuri area on Saturday evening. The matter was first brought to the notice of the police around 5.18 pm through a call made to the police control room by Ms Iranis PSO. The caller claimed that four men in a Hyundai Santro car misbehaved with Ms Irani and were following her car, said a senior police officer. The call was immediately transferred to the nearest patrolling vehicle that chased the suspicious car. Dependra Pathak, chief spokesperson of the Delhi police, said that the four occupants of the car were taken into custody and brought to the Chanakyapuri police station for questioning and legal proceedings. During the interrogation, Mr Dependra Pathak said that the four identified themselves as students of Ram Lal Anand College. The students were sent to a government hospital to ascertain if they were drunk at the time of the incident. Their medical examination reports confirmed that the four were drunk, said Mr Pathak. Ready reckoner rates likely to see increase by 5 to 10 per cent today. Mumbai: The ready reckoner (RR) rates in Maharashtra are likely to increase by five to 10 per cent from April 1. With the slowdown in the realty sector, the representatives have requested the government not to hike the rates too much. However, with little rise in the RR rates also, the consumers will have to pay more while buying houses. The government declares RR rates every year on January 1. However, the BJP- led government on the request from the real estate sector changed the date to April 1, the beginning of the financial year. Sources from the revenue department said that the RR rates would increase by five to 10 per cent this year. There was a slowdown in the market post demonetisation. The government also lost its revenue from the stamp duty registration. Therefore it was requested to the government by the representatives of the real estate sector on not increasing the RR rates too high," an official from the department said. The RR rate was increased by seven per cent last year. The RR rates are based on the average market value of a property in a particular area. The stamp duty and registration is based on the RR rates, which is one of the major sources of the revenue collection for the state government. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday had held a meeting to discuss the rates and the demand from the real estate sector. The government had increased RR rates by an average of 15 per cent in 2015, 22 per cent in 2014, 27 per cent in 2013, 18 per cent in 2012, 17 per cent in 2011 and 14 per cent in 2010. State dept adds 7 to blacklist of global terrorists. Washington: The US state department named British radical Islamic cleric Anjem Choudary and the Islamic State groups Beatles execution squad member El Shafee Elsheikh to its designated terrorist lists on Thursday. The two were among seven backers and foreign fighters of jihadist groups added to the state and treasury department blacklists of specially designated global terrorists, which place them under global financial sanctions. Others added to the lists include Mark John Taylor of New Zealand, who joined the Islamic State in 2014; Trinidadian Shane Dominic Crawford, another IS foreign fighter; and Tunisian-born Swede Sami Bouras, whom the state department called a member of Al-Qaeda involved in planning suicide attacks. Also included were Muhammad Bahrun Naim Anggih Tamtomo of Indonesia and Muhammad Wanndy Bin Mohamed Jedi of Malaysia. Naim is a Syria-based planner and financier for Islamic State, while Jedi works with IS in Syria and Iraq to recruit new fighters from abroad. Choudary is the only one of the seven not at liberty. The former lawyer of Pakistani descent was jailed in September 2016 for encouraging support for IS jihadists. Elsheikh, also British, is a member of the ISIS execution cell dubbed The Beatles, which is accused of many beheadings of captives, as per the state department. Elsheikh was said to have earned a reputation for waterboarding, mock executions, and crucifixions while serving as an ISIS jailer, said the state department. Bangladesh has been witnessing a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. Neo-JMB was behind the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka cafe that killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners. (Photo: AP) Dhaka: Three militants, including a woman,were found dead by Bangladesh security forces Saturday when they stormed their hideout, ending a two-day stand off with Islamist militants in a northeastern city amid a massive nationwide clampdown on militants. Announcing the end of the "Operation Maximums" at the Islamist militants hideout in Moulvibazar town's Borohat area, counter-terrorism Unit chief Monirul Islam told media that bodies of two men and a woman were found inside the duplex house. "We found three bodies including that of a woman as we entered the den today," Islam said, adding the militants had set up explosives at different spots in the building. "Our intension was to capture them alive and therefore we repeatedly called them to surrender but they defied...attacked us back throwing grenades and blasting bombs whenever our SWAT members tried to approach them," he said. Police's elite Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Friday launched the second subsequent raid at the hideout in Moulvibazar town, a day after wrapping up their "Operation Hit Back" at another den nearby when a family of eight, including children, blew themselves up in a suicide blast amidst the security siege. Security forces in the past 10 days have witnessed four major anti-militancy assaults against Islamic-State inclined Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB) in which seven people including an army lieutenant colonel and two police inspectors lost their lives while the assaults killed 15 militants and their children. Neo-JMB was behind the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka cafe that killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners. The first security assault was launched in northeastern Sylhet where authorities called out army commandos. Four Islamists including Neo-JMB chief Musa were killed during the five-day security siege which military called 'Operation Twilight'. As the siege was underway, fellow militants from outside launched two retaliatory clandestine attacks killing six people including two policemen and wounding 50 others near the scene. An army officer who was serving a the intelligence wing chief of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) succumbed to his wounds two days ago. A day after the end of the Operation Twilight led by an army major general in Sylhet, police simultaneously raided three other neo-JMB hideouts, two in neighbouring Moulvibazar and one in central Comilla district. Police's Operation Hit Back saw two militant couples blowing themselves up along with four minor children, staging a suicide blast at a den on the outskirts of Moulvibazar town. Islam at that time said the suicide blast was so severe that it tore into pieces the dead, making it difficult to ascertain exactly how many people were inside and only "the forensic examinations could confirm the exact casualty figure (though) we assume they are seven or eight in number." In Comilla, after three days of security siege, police found it to be a big cache of explosives stored by the militants but none was found there to be encountered. Bangladesh has been witnessing a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. The country launched a massive crackdown on militants specially after the Dhaka cafe attack. ISIS has claimed several attacks in Bangladesh, but the government rejects the presence of foreign terrorist groups in the moderate Muslim-majority country, blaming home-grown groups such as the neo-JMB for terrorist attacks. This domain was recently registered at Namecheap.com. Please check back later! The envoy said the Free Trade Agreement between Pakistan and Iran would soon be operative to enhance two-way trade. Ambassador of Iran to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost said that the Iranian Government is ready to give its assistance for peace and tranquility in the region. (Photo: AFP) Islamabad: Iran has offered to mediate between India and Pakistan over the long-standing issue of Kashmir by using its special influence and relations with two countries. Radio Pakistan quoted Ambassador of Iran to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost as saying in an interview that the Iranian Government is ready to give its assistance for peace and tranquility in the region. He said the progress and development of both India and Pakistan would get hindered by any conflict, or tension between the two countries. The envoy said the Free Trade Agreement between Pakistan and Iran would soon be operative to enhance two-way trade. Ambassador Honardoost also said that China- Pakistan Economic Corridor is not only a game-changer but would also turn to be a unifying force for the countries in the region. by Mathias Hariyadi On April 19 the second round of local elections to take place. At stake is also the governor of the capital. New protests by Islamic fundamentalist movements against Ahok. Abp. Suharyo: Voting essential to ensure "unity" of the Republic. An appeal for calm to avoid stressful situations. Jakarta (AsiaNews) - To counter the extremist drift and pressure campaigns carried out by pro-Muslim parties, the archbishop of Jakarta Ignatius Suharyo reiterates his call to all Catholics in the capital to exercise their civil rights and go vote. An appeal launched already in the first round in February and relaunched these days, ahead of the ballot scheduled for next April 19. Particular attention is paid to the choice of the governor of the region of Jakarta (DKI Jakarta). Yesterday thousands of Muslims, members of Islamic organizations, at the end of Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque Istiqlal headed towards the presidential palace, to ask once again for the resignation of the Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama. Behind the protest, an alleged blasphemy case that actually seems politically motivated to oust the governor, a Christian of Chinese descent, in the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Previously there had been other cases of intimidation perpetrated by anonymous attackers, which covered several areas of the capital. Among the pretexts used to attack the governor, the fact that he is not a "native Indonesian." A term used to describe the descendants of Chinese origin, which began circulating at the time of the dictator Suharto (1967-1998) in which non-Muslims were abused and treated as second-class citizens. Analysts and experts explain that behind the campaign of intimidation launched by Islamic groups there is an attempt to provoke a mass exodus abroad by "non-natives"; this would mean that a large chunk of the electorate would be missing that could push to victory - and a second term - the outgoing governor Ahok. In this particular context yesterday the Archbishop of Jakarta published a pastoral letter. First, he invites the faithful to vote and exercise what is a right, but also a primary duty as a citizen. The choice of candidate should be based on their conscience and concerns for the welfare of the entire population, free of personal and party interests. "A good mark - writes the archbishop - is a significant contributor to guarantee the unity of the Republic of Indonesia, according to the philosophy of Pancasila [the founding principles of the state, which emphasize equality in diversity]". Finally, he invited the faithful to remain calm and to refrain from violent acts or those that could exacerbate the electoral environment. Yesterday, meanwhile, the Indonesian police detained for questioning the leaders of the protest against the governor Ahok. Among them the Muslim leader Al-Khaththath, general secretary of the 'Islamic Society Forum and Tommy Suharto, son of former President Suharto. by Fady Noun The goal is to ensure a collective and national follow-up to the final declaration of the Conference. To explore the possibilities to invite the imam Ahmad el-Tayyeb to Lebanon. After the inter-Muslim summit a(national) Islamic-Christian meeting also planned. The Lebanese model a message for the Arab region and the world. Beirut (AsiaNews) - In order to ensure a collective and national follow-up to the al-Azhar Declaration on liberty, citizenship, diversity and complementarity, adopted at the end of the Cairo Conference (Egypt), Lebanon is scheduled to host an inter-Islamic summit . Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora announced the meeting would incorporate the topics addressed at the conference held between 28 February and March 1, attended by 600 personalities including Christian and Muslim religious leaders from around the world . Among them there was also a strong presence of Lebanese delegates which included the Maronite patriarchs and Greek-catholic and Greek-Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut. Preparatory meetings are planned over the next few days, especially at home of former Prime Minister, to discuss the agenda and fix the date of the summit itself. Meanwhile, well-informed sources reveal that work is underway to explore the possibility to officially invite Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmad el-Tayyeb, under whose authority the Cairo conference was held to Lebanon. The National Committee for Islamic-Christian dialogue, which coordinates actions with all Christian and Muslim religious communities, has been commissioned to launch the invitation. The Committee will, however, wait first for Pope Francis apostolic visit to Cairo, scheduled on April 28 and 29, at the invitation of Egypts civil and religious, Christian and Muslim leaders. Fouad Siniora paid a visit March 30 to the Druze Sheikh Naim Hassan, to discuss the issue. Sensitive to the exasperation of sectarian tensions that characterize the current phase, the former prime minister want to give the al-Azhar statement "global impact". He underlined that the statement in particular notes that "non-Muslims and Muslims share the same rights and the same duties" in the context of a "national constitutional state." He said, therefore, that all are called upon to replace the traditional discrimination between Muslims and non-Muslims, with a perfect equality in terms of civil status, in the context of a citizenry that knows how to embrace diversity. The inter-Muslim summit in preparation must be completed by a Lebanese Islamic-Christian meeting, called to discuss the same issues, in order to "strengthen the bonds of solidarity between the different components of Lebanon". The commitment of the Mufti of the Republic Strongly committed to the cause of unity under the umbrella of citizenship in defense of al-Azhar, the Mufti of the Republic (Sunni) Sheikh Abdellatif Deriane, went to the Druze House and the Higher Islamic Shiite Council to discuss this topic. For the occasion, Sheikh Naim Hassan paid tribute to the role al-Azhar "in the service of Islamic unity and dialogue between religions." After visiting the Higher Islamic Shiite Council, the mufti noted that "the Lebanese have a special responsibility with regard to the declaration of al-Azhar, because of the nature of their country based on these freedoms and openness to the point that serve as a model for others". "This is what the pope said [John Paul II] - concluded the mufti of the Republic - stressing that Lebanon is more than a country, it is a message not only for its inhabitants, but for the entire Arab region and whole world". by Lee Ching-yu Lee Ming-che, the husband of Lee Ching-yu, disappeared in police custody on 19 March. He is suspected of "harming national security" and is under investigation in China. Lee is an activist for human rights and was supposed to meet a Chinese writer. His wife asks Beijing to respect him: "Every activist is innocent." Taipei (AsiaNews) - "I decided to go to Beijing to find out what happened and save my husband" is the conclusion of an open letter that Lee Ching-yu released yesterday to raise public awareness and urge action for the fate of her husband, Lee Ming-che. Lee Ming-che, 42, is an activist who often denounced human rights violations in China and who disappeared on March 19, on entering Zhuhai (Guangdong) from Macao. His wife and his friends have asked for help from the Taiwanese authorities and international humanitarian organizations. For some time the Beijing authorities have been silent, but four days ago they admitted that Lee is detained and is under investigation. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said that "the Taiwanese Lee Ming-who is a resident suspected of having engaged in activities that harm national security and is under investigation by the relevant "authority. According to some media reports, Lee - who in the past was part of the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan, with a push for independence - was to meet with the Chinese writer and online activist Liu Ermu. But Liu has never met him. Here is the statement issued by Lee Chingyu. Ive been a historian of Taiwans period of political violence, the White Terror, for many years. Now that my own my loved one is detained, terror grips my heart. Ive tried so hard to calm myself, to carefully compose my thoughts. I know from the history of the White Terror in Taiwan that when a countrys system of rule of law hasnt risen to international standards, all attempts to offer defenses according to the law are useless. We can only offer a defense of humanity and human rights but the legal systems in such countries arent built upon universal conceptions of human rights. Its for this reason that I make this considered announcement: I am not going to hire a lawyer and thus engage in pointless legal wrangling. All human rights workers, all those who bring hope to corners of the world that need human rights upheld, are innocent. It is precisely through the contributions of such individuals that human welfare and civilization grows. My husband acted selflessly and with love for mankind, and I am full of confidence that everything he has done is worthy of the utmost respect. Ive decided to travel to Beijing, find out what is going on, and rescue my husband. Lee Ming-ches wife, Lee Ching-yu March 31, 2017 A decision dictated by the need to relaunch diplomatic and commercial relations with the Gulf ally. Green light to the delivery of 19 F-16 fighters and other weapons for a total of 2.8 billion. Criticism from human rights associations and activists groups. The decision may soon spread to Saudi Arabia. Manama (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In order to boost diplomatic and commercial relations between Washington and Manama, the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has decided to remove all pre-conditions regarding respect for human rights in the sale of weapons to Bahrain. A unilateral go ahead to the delivery of F-16 fighters and other strategic weapons to a precious ally in the Middle East, after months of tensions and conflicts. The Tillerson decision fits into the context of the initiatives promoted by the Trump administration to revive relations with the Sunni monarchies in the Middle East and to seek new ways to counter the growing influence of Iran and Russia in the Persian Gulf. In this context, Bahrain - and Saudi Arabia - is a key partner, as well as being the base of the United States fifth fleet, which has the task of patrolling the waters of the region. Bahrain is a Gulf monarchy ruled by a Sunni dynasty in a country where the majority of the population (at least 60-70%) is Shia and want constitutional changes and social and economic rights. In 2011 in the wake of the Arab Spring, riots broke out that the king of Bahrain a US ally supported by Riyadh put down with Saudi military aid. Last year, authorities arrested and sentenced Shia activists and religious leaders and suspended the activities of Al-Wefaq, the main Shia opposition group, on charges of terrorism, extremism and violence as well as ties to a foreign power (i.e. Iran). Analysts and experts also add that it may be a signal sent to Riyadh, Manama and other capitals that the new administration intends to loosen the requests to its allies on human rights, respect for the opposition and internal dissent. Indeed, Barack Obama had put human rights conditions on the sale of 19 F-16 fighters to Bahrain, in response to the repression of internal Shiite dissent. The total deal is worth $ 2.8 billion and Trump wants to unlock it removing all obstacles. Now Congress will have to examine the sale and raise any objections before final approval. The voices of activists and human rights organizations have already protested against the change of direction in the White House. The decision is for now regarding Bahrain but could also extend soon to Saudi Arabia and other nations. The Middle East is again confirmed as the most important region for the sale and trade in weapons. According to a recent survey 43% of weapons are in Asia and the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar among the nations leading the arms race, and a 86% spike in imports in the 2012-2016 five-year period. The law effective as of today. Religious weddings and funerals, matters of wills and inheritance considered expressions of "religious extremism". The law gives legal semblance to what is already implemented as a Party directive. The anti-terror fight undermines human rights and religious freedom: young people cannot fast in Ramadan; They cannot go to the mosque before age 18; Preachers must submit their sermons to the government for approval. Beijing (AsiaNews) - "Abnormal" beards, headscarves, religious weddings and funerals instead of those civilians, and many other actions considered to be "manifestations" of religious extremism are now prohibited in Xinjiang, under a law passed three days ago in the western region inhabited by the minority Uighurs, a Turkic and Muslim origin. This law is part of the campaign in place for years to stop what the Chinese government considers a threat of terrorism and separatism. The campaign is growing in intensity and violence since Chen Quanguo became party secretary in Xinjiang instead of the moderate Zhang Chunxian at the behest of President Xi Jinping in the summer of 2016,. Under the new law it will even be illegal refuse to watch television or the state radio or withhold ones children from receiving national public education. The new law lists at least 15 behaviors of daily life that are considered a sign of "extremism." Among these: using religious procedures, rather than legal, for weddings or divorces; meddling in how other people celebrate weddings, funerals, execute wills and divide inheritance; damage of population control programs; damage to identity cards or banknotes; applying the concept of "halal" (purity) in fields not related to food and interfering in the secular life of others. This law is an attempt to legalize" directives that have long been in place in the region, such as the prohibition to young people under the age of 18 from attending mosques; requirement for students to break the Ramadan fast; of control over sermons delivered in mosques. Xinjiang has about 22 million inhabitants, of which nearly 10 million are Uighur ethnicity and of Muslim faith. In a response to past separatism, China has implemented a massive Han colonization program and strengthened the military who have occupied all economic and administrative positions in the autonomous "region." The fear of "religious fundamentalist pollution" from Afghanistan and Pakistan has led the fight against "terrorism" and justified many violations of human rights and religious freedom as anti-terrorism measures. Two years ago at the International Car Rental Show (ICRS), I joked onstage: And I promise you, we wont be talking about driverless vehicles. Were not joking now. At this years show, convened this week in Las Vegas, we addressed the disruptive forces in transportation head-on. My key takeaway from this years event, ironically, isnt that the car rental industry needs to adapt new technology and new business models to survive the apocalypse. It does. My takeaway is a lot more low-tech; more on that later. The theme of mobility weaved its way through many presentations, much of it from a global perspective. In our Latin American Meeting, Paulo Gaba of FENALOC, the Brazilian car rental association, spoke to the transportation issues in Sao Paulo, one of the worlds largest cities. Getting through its main airport is a hassle traffic cameras deliver electronic fines, parking is expensive, and driving after one beer could get you arrested. In this environment, ride hailing makes sense. However, Brazil is an extremely regulated transportation market, but Uber is hardly regulated, Gaba said. In another Latin American seminar, Javier Garcia of Mex Rent-A-Car echoed Gabas points on the lack of transportation options in the Mexico City megalopolis, which has fueled Ubers growth, though with a similar lack of regulation compared to traditional modes. But this should surprise no one regulations have always lagged behind the implementation of new business models, said Wes Hurst and Leslie Pujo in their seminar. While regulations are lacking in some areas, seemingly draconian ones are forcing new solutions in others: In 2020, no diesel cars will be allowed to enter Paris, while Helsinki is considering banning all cars except electric ones. Sao Paulo and Bogota, Colombia, have similar emissions restrictions. Learning that a London driver loses 101 hours a year in traffic, the impetus for change becomes clear. For Europcar part of the ICRS agenda for the first time these restrictions represent opportunity. Europcars Marcus Bernhardt presented the companys various mobility initiatives, which include app-based door-to-door delivery (ToMyCar), all-electric carsharing (ecar), and a corporate ride-hailing service (Brunel). Europcar even has its own incubator, Europcar Lab, where young innovators are sitting on the floor and drawing on the walls, said Bernhardt, to understand the future. Our opening keynote panel assembled representatives from a manufacturer (North Holbrook of Volvo), a tech provider (Mark Thomas RideCell), and Dan Langford of the Nevada Center for Advanced Mobility (NevadaCAM), where the nexus of government, mobility, and data meet. While the keynote panel discussion ended with autonomous vehicles and yes, driverless cars will be available in only a few years it focused more importantly on the shifting dynamics today. In this environment, technology doesnt need to be seen as enabling disruption. Instead, technology is enabling present processes to become more streamlined, which allows traditional companies a customer-friendly path forward without rethinking the world. Three trends to keep an eye on are asset light, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), and auto manufacturers as service providers. Millennials, aka Digital Natives, are moving to cities, going asset light, and shunning car ownership. This plays into car rentals hands as one part of a service offering that connects various modes. Organizations like NevadaCAM are enablers. Carmakers appear ready to become service providers with their numerous mobility initiatives, which are now more than just lab experiments. But what doesnt get the publics attention is good old-fashioned fleet management, a skill carmakers have been perfectly happy to let other parties manage in the past. Car rental should leverage this advantage, our panelists said. The need for sound fleet management which will never be as sexy as technology brings us closer to my low-tech takeaway. Our keynote panelists agreed a place for the local entrepreneur within these new models could revolve around fleet management, though operators that understand their customers will have an even better advantage. Those competencies arent dependent on great technology. But my key takeaway is actually more basic than that. Mary Ann Sena-Edelen of MGM Resorts closed the show with an insiders view of hotel hospitality and an outsiders view of car rental. She recounted a story weve all heard before she landed at the airport, suffered a 25-minute wait at the rental counter with only one person in front of her, and walked a half-mile to a car that had a check engine light on, which was the only one left on the lot. But when she pulled up to the guard gate to exit the parking lot, the checkout employee, Charmaine, engaged her with a smile and was helpful with directions and information on services. That little bit of human engagement just about overcame all my negative experiences up to that point, she said. Own that first. Its within your power to do so, no tech required. Originally posted on Business Fleet 1 April 2017 12:25 (UTC+04:00) By Trend A mission of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) discussed with Azerbaijan the possibility of the countrys participation in the custom transit system (CTS) pilot project, the ADB Baku office told Trend on March 31. The pilot project is aimed at simplifying customs procedures for transit cargo transportation between the countries that are part of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program. The ADB mission, which has been in Baku since March 30, aims to discuss the possibility of participation of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan in this project. During the meeting with representatives of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the sides discussed possible measures to simplify customs procedures for transit cargo transportation. The ADB mission will stay in Baku until April 3. The CAREC program established in 1997 is a partnership of 10 countries - Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and 6 multilateral institutions: ADB, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank, UN Development Program, and World Bank. After joining the CAREC program in 2002, Azerbaijan has invested around $3 billion in program projects. Azerbaijan has allocated around $6 billion for development of the transport corridor within CAREC. The East-West Highway reconstruction by Azerbaijan within the CAREC program has transformed the country into a more effective corridor between Caspian and Black seas, and this contributed to the promotion of trade between Europe and Asia. ADB, based in Manila, was established in 1966 and is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration. Azerbaijan became the ADB member on Dec. 22, 1999. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 April 2017 15:24 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Baku hosted a protocol signing ceremony as part of the meeting of the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association on April 1. The protocol was signed by Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways Javid Gurbanov, Chairman of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC Rauf Valiyev, President of Kazakhstan Railways Kanat Alpysbayev and Chairman of Georgian Railways Mamuka Bakhtadze, as well as heads of the Azerbaijani, Kazakh and Georgian ports. The parties approved the regulations on membership in the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association, composition of the working group on development of the transport route, action plan for 2017, the Union charter and its logo, according to the meeting minutes. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe. In October 2016, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia signed an agreement on the establishment of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association with its office in Astana. Its activities are aimed at attracting transit and foreign trade cargo, as well as developing integrated logistics products via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. 1 April 2017 11:59 (UTC+04:00) Spokesperson of Azerbaijan`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hikmat Hajiyev has delivered a report at the Ethiopian Public Administration University. The event organized by Azerbaijan`s Embassy to Ethiopia, brought together civil servants from various African countries, Azertac reported. Mr. Hajiyev highlighted Azerbaijan`s successful foreign policy, as well the country`s economic development model. On military aggression of Armenians against Azerbaijanis, the spokesperson said 20 per cent of the country`s territories were occupied by Armenia. Mr. Hajiyev also spoke about the ASAN service model established by the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 April 2017 12:20 (UTC+04:00) By Trend The April battles have almost destroyed the ideological foundations of Armenia, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev as he received a group of servicemen on the anniversary of the April victories of the Azerbaijani army. Today, the Armenian society is in concussion and panic, he said. The forces that took a more pragmatic approach to the situation say openly that if Armenia does not adjust its relations with Azerbaijan, it will have no future. I have repeatedly said that the only way for Armenia to survive as a country is to regulate its relations with its neighbors, Ilham Aliyev added. And there is the only way for this the occupying forces must unconditionally and immediately withdraw from the occupied Azerbaijani territories. These battles have had a great impact from this point of view. This impact is still ongoing. These battles have visually demonstrated the power of the Azerbaijani state, people and army. This is the result of the attention paid to army building, our policy, the strengthening of the material and technical base and the combat potential of our army in recent years, the head of state said. President Aliyev noted that a new situation has emerged both in the negotiation process and in the region. It is true that Armenia is trying to avoid negotiations, Ilham Aliyev said. But Armenia will not succeed and will be forced to return to negotiations no matter how well it tries, because they are well aware in which direction the situation will develop, if the negotiations are not conducted. Of course, our position at the negotiation table has been reinforced after the April battles, and the entire international community has seen it. 1 April 2017 10:00 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Azerbaijan is a core area for BP company, said BP CEO Bob Dudley in an interview with Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. "It's definitely a core area for BP, for a couple of reasons," he said. "One, we've signed a letter of intent on behalf of all the partners, [the partners for development of Azerbaijans Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields], to extend the ACG contract out to 2050, and later on this year we'll work out all the details of that contract. But that's a big indicator." Second, the project for development of Azerbaijans largest gas field Shah Deniz is ahead of schedule, now in through Turkey, Greece, and it's come in under budget now, so that impacts the economics significantly, added Dudley. "I wouldn't say at all it's not going to be economic at these gas prices," he said. And then BP is doing a lot of separate exploration in the Caspian Sea, noted BP CEO. He expressed confidence that the 25-year ACG extension will be finalized soon. "I think it'll happen this year," he said. "The contract expires in 2024, but you don't want activity to drop off in the end of the contract period." Dudley said he is hopeful the partners can agree with Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR this year on extending it, which would be very far-sighted of the Azerbaijani government. A contract for development of ACG block of oil and gas fields was signed in 1994. The proven oil reserves of the block near one billion tons. The shareholders in the project are BP (operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli, 35.78 percent), Chevron (11.28 percent), Inpex (10.96 percent), AzACG (11.65 percent), Statoil (8.55 percent), Exxon (8 percent), TPAO (6.75 percent), Itochu (4.3 percent) and ONGC (2.72 percent). ---- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 April 2017 14:44 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Spains Enagas company plans to invest a total of approximately 1.450 billion euros until 2020, said the companys executive chairman Antonio Llarden. He made the remarks during the companys general shareholders meeting held March 31. In relation to the European gas market, Antonio Llarden pointed out that among the European Commissions objectives are diversification of supply and market integration. Enagas participates in two key projects for the purpose of achieving these goals: the Midcat/Step Project, which will allow interconnection capacity between Spain and the rest of Europe through France to be doubled; and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), a key pipeline for securing supply, and which will connect Turkey with Italy, passing through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, he added. Further, during the meeting, the companys chief executive officer Marcelino Oreja explained the figures for 2016, a year in which Enagas recorded net profits of 417.2 million euros, representing an increase of 1.1 percent compared to the previous year. Moreover, the shareholders approved the appointment of a new independent director, Luis Garcia del Rio, to replace Ramon Perez Simarro, who finalizes his term after 12 years on the Board of Directors. Enagas is Spains leading natural gas transmission company and technical manager of the Spanish gas system. It has a 16-percent share in the TAP project, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. 1 April 2017 10:39 (UTC+04:00) By Trend The operation of Kazakhstans communication and broadcasting satellite KazSat-2 was resumed, Kazakhstans Republican Center of Space Communication announced. "KazSat-2 is operating in regular mode, the work of all networks of communication and broadcasting operators has been completely restored, the center said in a message. The signal from Kazsat-2 deteriorated on March 31, 08:22 a.m. Astana time (UTC +5 hours). It caused problems in the work of 13 Kazakhstans television and communication operators which use the recourses of the satellite. The staff of Republican Center for Space Communications studies the reasons of the incident. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 April 2017 13:00 (UTC+04:00) By Trend A bomb apparently targeting a mosque in Pakistan's northwestern city of Parachinar killed at least 22 people on Friday and wounded dozens in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, Reuters reported. The explosion in a remote area bordering Afghanistan came as people gathered for Friday prayers near the women's entrance of a Shia mosque in the central bazaar, the latest in a series of attacks across Sunni-majority Pakistan this year. The local political agent, Ikramullah Khan, said the death toll had reached 22, with 70 wounded. Sajid Hussain, a parliamentarian from Parachinar, said gunfire preceded the blast, which he described as a suicide attack. The city is located in an area with a large Shia population. "The attack took place in a busy area and a women's mosque appears to be the target," he said. The banned Islamist militant group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), often referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, said the blast was part of its operation Ghazi, named after a radical Islamist leader killed by Pakistani security forces in 2007. Following a string of earlier incidents this year, the latest attack adds to fears of an increase in sectarian violence in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state of some 200 million people. Last month, more than 80 people were killed and dozens wounded in an attack on a crowded Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan that was claimed by Islamic State. In January, at least 21 people were killed when an explosion hit a vegetable market in Parachinar, capital of the Kurram tribal region, where Pakistani security forces have battled militant groups for years. That attack was claimed by the TTP and a branch of another militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al Alami. WOUNDED CARRIED IN CARS, AMBULANCES Authorities said a military rescue helicopter had been sent to the scene to help evacuate the injured. Mumtaz Hussain, a doctor at the Agency Headquarters Hospital in the region, said five bodies, including a woman and two children, and more than three dozen wounded had been brought to the hospital and an appeal for blood donors had been made. "Patients are being brought to us in private cars and ambulances and we have received over three dozen patients so far," Hussain told Reuters. The attacks have shattered hopes that Pakistan may have come through the militant violence that has scarred its recent history and increased pressure on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government to show it was improving security. Sharif condemned Friday's attack and said the government would keep up efforts to "eliminate the menace of terrorism". In a statement, he said: "The network of terrorists has already been broken and it is our national duty to continue this war until the complete annihilation of the scourge of terrorism from our soil." In the wake of last month's attack in southern Sindh province, security forces launched a major crackdown across Pakistan, killing or detaining hundreds of suspected militants and closing off the border with Afghanistan for several days. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 April 2017 13:19 (UTC+04:00) By Trend The United States added three North Korean nationals living in Russia to its North Korea sanctions list, the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on Friday, Sputnik reported. The three North Korean nationals Chun Yong Choe, Jang Su Han and Nam Ung Kim, are residents of Moscow and are linked to the Ilsim International Bank and Foreign Trade Bank. The United States also added 11 individuals and one entity to its North Korea sanctions list, the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on Friday. The individuals are North Korean nationals residing in Russia, China, Cuba and Vietnam. Additionally, OFAC sanctioned one entity, the Paeksol Trading Corporation based in North Korea. Last year, North Korea carried out two nuclear tests and over two dozen of test launches using ballistic missile technology. Previously, the United Nations imposed sanctions on North Korea for three nuclear tests it carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2013. In late April, 2016, the 38 North monitoring website released commercial satellite imagery showing that North Korea was resuming excavation operations at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, with similar activity observed at the facility as that seen three days prior to the February 12, 2013 nuclear test. The UN Security Council has adopted a number of resolutions imposing restrictions on North Korea in order to make Pyongyang halt its nuclear and missile activities. North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005. The United States, Japan and South Korea, as well as Russia and China, took part in talks with North Korea on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula between 2003 and 2009, when Pyongyang withdrew from the talks. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 April 2017 13:26 (UTC+04:00) By Trend NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday he expected all 28 member states to ratify a protocol on Montenegros accession in June, Sputnik reported. The small Balkan nation is on its way to become the 29th member of the US-led military alliance after the US Senate ratified its accession on Tuesday. "Montenegrin succession to the NATO family of democratic nations will contribute to the stability of the region and the whole of Europe and I expect all nations to fully complete ratification in June," Stoltenberg said. Once all member states have ratified the protocol, Montenegro will be invited to accede to the North Atlantic Treaty. It was formally invited to join the bloc in December 2015. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 1 April 2017 14:28 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Israel will hold the ministerial EastMed Energy Summit on April 3, according to the information posted on the European Commissions website. The event will be attended by energy ministers from Israel, Greece, Cyprus and Italy, as well as the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete to discuss the potential of gas supply from the eastern Mediterranean region for Europe. The Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) pipeline project relates to an offshore/onshore natural gas pipeline, directly connecting East Mediterranean resources to Greece via Cyprus and Crete. The project is being currently designed to transport up to 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the off-shore gas reserves in the Levantine Basin (Cyprus and Israel) as well as from the potential gas reserves in Greece. Earlier, senior officials from Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Israel agreed to advance talks on a pipeline from Israel to Europe after an EU-sponsored study showed the project would be very feasible. The study showed the pipeline, which would traverse Cyprus and Greece before reaching Italy, would cost about 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion). The US president Donald Trump is expected to Come to Kenya as his first visit to Africa since he got to power. The President Donald Trump is expected to come to Kenya following a lengthy call he had with President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Opposition leader Raila Odinga today Morning.According to the statements sent to our newsrooms, the US president will come to Kenya at the end of this year. The people that the president insisted that he should meet them include the Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho and former Kilome MP Harun Mwau.The people of Kenya were the first people in Africa to hold the former US president Barack Obama and now will hold the Most outrageous and controversial US president Donald Trump.Already arrangements are underway of putting in place that Nairobi is super clean and with a lot of trees that the US president will be encouraged because he is also chairing the UN climate change Board.It is also expected that the US president will visit several cities including Mombasa and Machakos.The president will be accompanied with Top billionaires in the world including Microsofts, Bill Gates, Virgin Atlantic Richard Brownson and Hollywood Billionaire and Movie actor Sylvester Stallone. St. Petersburg Police are currently investigating a shooting at a church. Two men engaged in drug transaction at church building One man shot the other while trying to steal drugs The suspected shooter left the scene Officers responded to a call at 4835 26th Avenue North at 10:57 a.m. on Saturday. When officers arrived at the Faith Lutheran Church, they found a man in his 30s in a "semi-conscious state." He was shot twice in his upper body, according to police. The man was transported to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg Hospital with life-threatening injuries. At last check, he underwent surgery and is currently listed in critical condition. People living nearby said they heard gunshots about 8 a.m. at a building with a sign that read "church office." According to police, the man who was shot was involved in a drug transaction. Another man displayed a gun and tried to steal drugs from him, police said. The two men struggled and one of them was shot. The suspect fled the scene in a green vehicle. He has not been identified. To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below Philip Hammond is aiming to build a partnership with India as it tries to forge a future as a global manufacturing powerhouse The Chancellor is to urge Indian businesses to use the expertise of the City of London in the latest attempt by ministers to build trade links outside the European Union. Philip Hammond's trade mission to Delhi and Mumbai is part of an effort to build a partnership with India as it tries to forge a future as a global manufacturing powerhouse. Officials believe the triggering of Article 50, formally starting the Brexit process, makes the trip a significant opportunity for Mr Hammond to highlight the UK's new role in the world. Mr Hammond said the UK was about to embark on an "exciting new phase of our economic history". The delegation accompanying the Chancellor includes Bank of England governor Mark Carney and ministers including Commercial Secretary Baroness Neville-Rolfe and International Trade Minister Mark Garnier. The Treasury said business figures on the trade mission include some of the UK's most experienced leaders in financial services and FinTech - financial technology - entrepreneurs. The UK is the world's largest exporter of financial services and the leading centre for FinTech. Mr Hammond said: " I'm delighted to be leading such a heavyweight delegation to India to bang the drum for British business. I am determined to create a truly global Britain, reaching out and promoting the best of what we have to offer. "As we leave the EU and embark on an exciting new phase of our economic history, looking to boost our trade and investment beyond the borders of Europe and strengthening our relationships with the world's most vibrant economies is more important than ever." In a reference to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's "make in India" agenda, Mr Hammond said: "The UK is perfectly placed to be India's financial partner of choice, helping it to raise the finance needed for its continued rapid growth and my message will be 'make in India, finance in the UK'. "Our innovative markets have helped support the development of whole new product classes such as masala bonds that will support India's transformation." Scarlett Johansson has been in the spotlight for so long, it's hard to believe she's only 32. Then again, she was just 17 when she made her breakthrough playing a dreamy, unhappily married young woman in Lost in Translation. Sofia Coppola's low-budget 2003 film was a surprise hit, and despite Bill Murray's Oscar-nominated turn as a jaded, laconic film actor, it was Johansson who attracted much of the critical attention. She had an effortless, sleepy charisma that augmented her natural beauty, a smoky, husky voice that belied her extreme youth and reminded one of Lauren Bacall. Her potential was obvious; her admirers predicted big things. For a while, though, it looked as if Johansson might slip through the cracks. Her famous lips and voluptuous figure seemed out of step with the lean, mean, stick-thin Noughties, and finding a role that worked for her wasn't easy. Dodgy period dramas (The Other Boleyn Girl), limp rom-coms (He's Just Not That Into You) and family-friendly movies (We Bought a Zoo) didn't seem to fit the bill, and six or seven years ago it seemed as if Johansson was coasting ever so gently towards irrelevance. Who could have foreseen that she would reinvent herself as a high-kicking sci-fi superstar? It happened partly by chance, in that Joss Whedon and co decided to cast her in the hugely profitable Avengers franchise. But Johansson also displayed iron nerve and a willingness to experiment by choosing to appear in obscure, low-budget shockers whose success was by no means guaranteed. Sci-fi helped her recalibrate her career, and now the world is her oyster. Johansson's latest futuristic fantasy is Ghost in the Shell, a big-budget, high-concept sci-fi crime drama based on the cult manga series by Masamune Shirow. It was released here yesterday and is expected to do brisk business, not least because of spectacular trailers showing Johansson leaping about in a bodysuit that leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. The film is set 30 or 40 years in the future and stars Johansson as The Major, leader of a task force dedicated to tracking down a new and rampant breed of cyber criminals and hackers. Her character has a personal interest in this work: after a terrible childhood accident, her brain was housed in a cyber body which leaves her prone to hacking, herself. And her pursuit of saboteurs is frequently interrupted by an existential search for her own identity. Fancy stuff, but most of the advance publicity around Ghost in the Shell involved anger at Johansson's casting. The original Major, obviously, had been drawn as Japanese, so here was a classic case of Hollywood "whitewashing", critics claimed. Umbrage online flowed like cheap white wine, but in Japan no one seemed to mind at all. In fact, most manga fans were delighted to hear that Johansson would be playing The Major, and veteran film-maker Mamoru Oshii, who directed a highly regarded 1995 animated version of Ghost in the Shell, said he thought she was perfect for the role. He also said that, as The Major is a cyborg and her physical form is "entirely assumed", there is "no basis for saying that an Asian actress must portray her". It's also been pointed out that a big-budget sci-fi franchise that may run to three films would not have been green-lit without a star substantial enough to carry it. And Johansson is a big star, an actress with enough clout to eclipse most of her male counterparts. Last year she was named the top-grossing actor of 2016 by Forbes magazine, and she's already the 10th-highest grossing movie star of all time. These figures are of course somewhat skewed by the runaway success of all things Marvel, but even so, Johansson is now a marquee name who can get any film made if she's attached to it, and her recent work suggests she has the talent to move beyond sci-fi into comic and dramatic roles. Johansson has been acting for a very long time. The child of a Danish father and a Jewish mother, she grew up in New York's Greenwich Village and was auditioning by the time she was seven. She made her film debut at the age of nine in Rob Reiner's rather forgettable 1994 comedy, North, and two years later made a bigger noise playing an orphan waif in Lisa Krueger's indie drama, Manny & Lo. A reviewer with the San Francisco Chronicle perceptively noted her "peaceful aura" and predicted that "if she can get through puberty with that aura undisturbed, she could become an important actress". After honing her skills at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan, where many a high-profile acting career has started, she got more good notices in Ghost World (2001), a dark satire starring herself and Thora Birch as teenage social misfits making their first tentative experiments with the opposite sex. But it was Lost in Translation that give Johansson the perfect platform for her talent. Sofia Coppola's beautifully orchestrated drama was a mood piece first and foremost, set mainly in a high-rise Tokyo hotel and starring Murray as Bob Harris, a has-been movie star who's come to Japan to debase himself by appearing in a television ad for whiskey for a handsome fee. This and the state of his marriage depresses him, and he floats unhappily around the hotel bar until he meets Johansson's character, Charlotte. She's also married, to a self-absorbed celebrity photographer played by Giovanni Ribisi who abandons her for days on end as he goes about his tacky business. Meanwhile, Bob and Charlotte hit it off and, despite their 30-odd year age difference, a romance of sorts blossoms. Expand Close Scarlett sporting her usual blonde locks / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scarlett sporting her usual blonde locks That none of this ever descended to overt creepiness was a testament to Coppola's skill, but also to the subtlety of both lead performances. Critics referred constantly to Johansson's on-screen serenity: before Lost in Translation she was more or less unknown, but that note-perfect performance changed everything. However, Hollywood didn't initially quite know what to do with her, and over the next four or five years, she floundered. Michael Bay's Island (2005) was a massive and very expensive flop, and while her three-film collaboration with Woody Allen was interesting, the veteran director tended to cast her as a siren and her comic talents were sorely underused. She was too intense for family comedies like The Nanny Diaries, too edgy for conventional romantic comedies (In Good Company, He's Just Not That Into You), and while she would have made the perfect film-noir femme fatale, Brian De Palma's Black Dahlia conclusively proved that no one knows how to make them any more. Her association with Marvel would point her in the right direction. Johansson's first appearance as Russian spy and martial-arts expert Natasha Romanoff, alias Black Widow, was in the 2010 vehicle Iron Man 2, where she more than held her own against wise-cracking superhero-movie veteran Robert Downey Jr. For the first time, we saw her move beyond the territory of passive sex object to authoritative protagonist, and she graduated to action with aplomb. She was part of the dream team that turned Avengers Assemble (2012) into one of the biggest grossing films of all time, and thereafter might have been content to rake in the Marvel money and concentrate on other interests (she sings, and runs a number of sideline businesses). But Johansson would appear to be interested in acting. You'll see few more incongruous sights in cinema than Johansson wandering through the slums of Glasgow attracting the stares of civilian passers-by, but her casting in Jonathan Glazer's brilliant 2013 horror film Under the Skin was inspired. She played an unnamed extraterrestrial succubus who assumes the form of a beautiful woman in order to lure gullible men to their doom. She cannot have known that the film would work, but went above and beyond the call of duty in possibly her best-ever performance, appearing nude and doing a brilliant job of seeming blank, emotionless. It was a revelation, and the first of a string of surprising performances that would establish Johansson as an actress of genuine range. In Spike Jonze's Her (2013), she voiced a sultry artificially intelligent computer-operating system with whom a lonely man falls in love; in Luc Besson's Lucy (2014) she was brilliant as a young woman who develops alarming telekinetic abilities after being forced to take an experimental drug; and Johansson was hilarious playing a foul-mouthed 1940s movie star in the Coen Brothers' 2016 comedy Hail, Caesar! Her recent work on Saturday Night Live has proved that performance was no fluke, and a few weeks back she hilariously lampooned Washington queen Ivanka Trump in a well-directed skit. She's now, alongside Jennifer Lawrence, the most successful and sought-after actress in Hollywood, and the sangfroid with which she's handled all the ups and downs in her professional and personal life is impressive. She's cool under fire, and well used to the unwelcome attentions of the gutter press. They were all over her after she married and then acrimoniously split up with Ryan Reynolds, and a subsequent relationship with Sean Penn was eagerly pursued by the tabloids. All seemed sweetness and light when she became engaged to French businessman Romain Dauriac, and had a child with him. But they separated last summer. While most Hollywood stars would gloss over all this and start waffling about "conscious uncoupling", Johansson is more realistic. Monogamy isn't "a natural instinct for human beings", she has said, and "can be hard work for some people". You can't say fairer than that. Events of recent days have opened up the matter of paramilitary violence and paramilitary peace in Northern Ireland. I refer to the funeral of Martin McGuinness and the controversy surrounding the first half of his life when, as an IRA leader, he openly espoused terrorist violence, and was ultimately responsible for the unwarranted deaths of many innocent people; and the second half of his life, when he rejected that violence and pioneered the path of peacemaking. Looking back now, we can say that the paramilitary violence on both sides was morally and ethically wrong. By 1974, virtually all the civil rights reforms were in place, including the abolition of the property ownership requirement for membership of local councils, and the granting of the universal franchise of 'one man, one vote' at local level. From the start of the Troubles in 1968, the leadership of all the Churches was clear: unanimously, they stated that the use of violence was wrong, and that the path of peace and reconciliation was the only way forward. Meantime, the bloody conflict between loyalist and republican continued in the streets, towns, housing estates, villages and farms of Northern Ireland. In the early 1980s, and almost unexpectedly, a major change took place. An IRA hunger-striker in the Maze, Bobby Sands, stood for election in the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone and was elected. From that point onwards, Sinn Fein realised the power of the ballot box. Politics would steadily supersede and displace the paramilitary violence of the IRA. Much has been said about Martin McGuinness in recent days. His life followed the pattern of the republican movement in his early days, believing that the way forward was through violence. Eventually, he came to believe that violence was not the way, indeed that it was destructive and counter-productive. At that point, it seems, his new chosen path was working with others to build an inclusive and better society for everyone. That found its ultimate expression in his partnership with Ian Paisley in the Stormont Assembly. Martin McGuinness made a decision to change. At one point, his life was headed in one direction. Then it was headed in the opposite direction. One could call to mind similar examples in scripture of such dramatic change. For example, Moses, a Hebrew, in a fit of rage killed a hated Egyptian. Yet, later, Moses was chosen by God to lead the Children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land! In the New Testament, Saul of Tarsus, a fanatical Jewish Pharisee, pursued and arrested Jewish converts to Christianity, including Stephen - the first Christian martyr. Those stoning Stephen to death laid their garments at the feet of Saul. Soon, however, Saul himself was to be converted from hatred and killing to Christianity. From being the arch-persecutor and killer of Christians, he became the great missionary of the early Christian Church. Moses and Saul were guilty of murder. But, they changed, and were greatly used by God. Martin McGuinness changed. Like Moses and Saul of Tarsus, his life was turned around. All people sin and fall short of the glory of God. You and I must constantly remind ourselves that we can stand only as we cast ourselves on the limitless mercy of God. We need also to remind ourselves that Jesus searches for us, out of love for us, and will do so until he finds us! Anne Morrison with Wesley Aston (left) and Ivor Ferguson of the UFU A woman who has worked to increase the profile of Aberdeen Angus beef in Northern Ireland has won a prestigious agricultural honour sponsored by the Belfast Telegraph. Anne Morrison, who is from Co Armagh, was presented with the Belfast Telegraph Cup for outstanding agricultural achievement at the Ulster Farmers' Union annual dinner at the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle. Nearly 300 guests from the industry gathered to honour the contribution of Anne and other senior figures in farming. Ms Morrison is the secretary and non-executive director of Aberdeen Angus Quality Beef Ltd (AAQB). Presenting Ms Morrison with the cup, UFU president Barclay Bell said: "For over 20 years Anne has been a driving force behind the promotion and marketing of Aberdeen Angus beef in NI". The managing director of a Northern Ireland company has spoken of his relief that a Stormont department finally corrected its figures on the RHI claimant list after originally stating his organisation claimed more than 10 times what it did from the botched energy scheme. Earlier this month, the government listed Broughshane-based Stephens Catering Equipment as having claimed 228,862 from Stormont Renewable Heat Incentive scheme. However, the company only claimed 20,000 - a mistake the government only rectified and apologised for on Friday, two weeks after the list was made public. "Everyone can make a mistake, I've made plenty and none of us are above it," said managing director Paul Caves, who said he was horrified to learn of the error. "I am happy they have corrected it and apologised and we can move on and hope that our reputation has not been too badly damaged. It has been a tough fortnight." Stephens Catering Equipment was taken over by Mr Caves' father in 1972 when it operated from a site at Belfast International airport. Then employing five people, it has since grown to four sites across Ireland as well as working on the UK mainland. It employs 105 staff a nd has a turnover of around 14m a year. Mr Caves said it was too early to say what damage the error had done to his business. "We have had people question our integrity and our credibility. We are just a small family business and we just want to get back to doing what we do." The company installed an RHI boiler to an upgrade an existing similar system which had been in place for around 15 years. In the coming months, the Department of Economy is to begin inspections to determine how businesses have used the system and to root out abuse of the scheme. Mr Caves says he welcomes the opportunity to have his system inspected. He added: "We wrote to the department and asked not to be named. We said we were open to inspection at any time. We have no problem with inspections. "We are just very thankful the mistake has been rectified and they issued an apology and hopefully those that damned us when they read the list will see that we did not receive what they said we did." The department was approached for a response to this story. Family and friends at the funeral of Alex McKinley at Gillygooley Presbyterian Church outside Omagh Family and friends at the funeral of Alex McKinley at Gillygooley Presbyterian Church outside Omagh A farmer who died after being attacked by a bull has been remembered at his funeral service as "an unassuming and hard-working family man". Alex McKinley (75), from Gillygooley on the outskirts of Omagh, died on Tuesday on the farm he was given as a wedding present in 1966. His family have spoken of the desperate attempts to save his life, describing his death as like "a terrible dream". Yesterday mourners packed Gillygooley Presbyterian Church. Four of his nine grandchildren - Stephanie, Emma, Kyra and Craig - gave readings during the service. Rev Robert Herron described him as a proud grandfather who was happiest tending to his cattle. In 1964, aged 23, Mr McKinley met his future wife and "soulmate" Margaret at a dance in Blacksessagh Hall, marrying two years later. The happy couple began life on the farm at Botera left to Mr McKinley by his father. To help pay to develop the property he took a temporary job driving a bin lorry for the local council - it lasted for 40 years. Mr and Mrs McKinley had four children between 1967 and 1972 and the family worked hard to expand the farm. Mr McKinley developed an interest in pedigree Limousin cattle, winning several first prizes for his stock at local agricultural shows. "I am told it was not unusual to see Alex walk up and down Botera Road with his cattle as he broke them in for the show - bulls on leads and dogs at his feet," the congregation heard. Rev Herron said he was "haunted" by a conversation over a cup of tea with Mr McKinley several months ago, when he spoke of the dangers faced by those working with livestock. Three years ago Mr McKinley's health started to deteriorate, requiring him to travel regularly to Belfast for treatment. "With the support of Margaret, the family and friends, he was persuaded to undergo treatment. He never looked back," Rev Herron added. A fresh round of intensive talks to restore power-sharing at Stormont will begin on Monday but political sources remain deeply pessimistic about the chances of a breakthrough. Secretary of State James Brokenshire yesterday invited the parties to join new negotiations, which will be more structured than the last ones, with an agreed agenda and regular round table meetings. The previous talks were described as "shambolic" by several parties. But Mr Brokenshire rejected Sinn Fein's suggestion of an independent mediator to chair the new discussions. While the Secretary of State said that a small window of opportunity existed to reach a deal, most of the parties last night didn't hold out high hopes that compromise was likely. TUV leader Jim Allister said it was "the circus coming back to town with the same clowns". The previous talks ended with the parties unable to reach agreement before last Monday's deadline to form an Executive. With Mr Brokenshire saying there is no appetite for another election, a return to direct rule looks increasingly likely after Parliament returns from its Easter recess in three weeks. Announcing the new negotiations, a British Government spokesman said: "The UK and Irish Governments have agreed this phase of talks will be best supported by an intensive process to drive progress. "This includes an agreed agenda; a structure of bilateral meetings; regular roundtables, and a co-ordination mechanism across all issues." It is understood Sinn Fein had proposed the appointment of an independent chairperson, but Mr Brokenshire told BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Politics he didn't see the value of such a role. "At this stage, where we have a relatively defined group of issues, to bring someone new into the process - not familiar with the discussions that have taken place, not familiar with those key issues and what people have said - would be very challenging and difficult," he said. In response to the announcement of new talks, Ulster Unionist chief negotiator Tom Elliott said: "We welcome the changes to the process and the introduction of some structure. But I don't expect a miracle solution. So far there is nothing to suggest a meeting of minds is possible." Alliance leader Naomi Long said: "I don't detect any more willingness to reach an agreement now than before the deadline. From what Alliance knows of the position of the parties, there are no insurmountable issues and a deal is definitely doable. But the parties have to want to make it happen." Mr Allister said: "Here we go again - the circus is back in town with the same clowns trying to conjure up success out of failure. They will try to pull another rabbit out of the hat, which will be no more impressive than the last one which they called Fresh Start. "Maybe they will run a competition for schoolchildren to name the next political agreement." SDLP leader Colum Eastwood urged all the parties to come to a reconvened talks process with a "firm focus" on resolving all the issues. He said an already angry public would not accept further failure. "The challenge ahead is significant but the gaps between the parties and the Governments can be closed," he said. "Those involved in the talks, including the British Government, should be under no illusion. "Confidence in our institutions and in politics is draining quickly. The public are absolutely furious and they will not accept further failure. "If power-sharing cannot be re-established now, there is a serious threat we'll lose power over our affairs for a very long time. We cannot allow that to happen." Sinn Fein last reiterated its position that the talks must be about the implementation of previous agreements. Upper Bann MLA John O'Dowd said public confidence in the Stormont institutions had been hugely damaged by the DUP's handling of the RHI scandal and the party's "disrespect for whole sections of the community". Mr O'Dowd added: "Martin McGuinness made it clear there would be no return to the status quo and that position was endorsed by the people in the recent election. "There is a need to restore public confidence by securing political institutions based on equality, respect and integrity and delivering for everyone. "That requires the British Government and the DUP to commit to implementing the outstanding commitments of the Good Friday and subsequent agreements." Mr O'Dowd said that the Irish Government, as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, "must hold the British Government to account". 'Ticket-happy' Red Coats have been accused of executing a blitz on Northern Ireland's high streets after parking fines rose by 11% in just one year - potentially worth up to 13m in revenue 'Ticket-happy' Red Coats have been accused of executing a blitz on Northern Ireland's high streets after parking fines rose by 11% in just one year - potentially worth up to 13m in revenue. The shocking hike comes as struggling city centre retailers report falling footfall amid widespread concerns that punitive penalties are driving shoppers to out-of-town superstores. Traders have also said that the over-zealous enforcement approach of traffic attendants is a serious problem that could ultimately lead to the death of the high street. New figures reveal that almost 85,000 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were dished out on Northern Ireland's streets in 2016 - up 8,722 from 2015 - and just over two fifths (41%) of them were in the greater Belfast area. It also emerged that over 36,000 fines were issued to drivers in car parks (3,628 more than the previous year), with most offences (13%) detected in the Fermanagh and Omagh Council area. In bus lanes and bus-only streets, a hefty 27,911 PCNs were issued for moving traffic offences in Greater Belfast, with most contraventions recorded on Donegall Square East (26%), Great Victoria Street (18%), and Castle Street (16%). Retail NI boss Glyn Roberts lambasted the "staggering" 11% increase in on and off-street parking as both "a scary statistic" and a "massive concern" for hard-pressed traders. "For some time our organisation has expressed the view that over-zealous enforcement of car parking is becoming a serious problem for our town and city centres," he said. "The huge volume of fines is in danger of putting off shoppers from going into our town and city centres for a fear of a ticket. "The only winners from this are the big out-of-town superstores with their unfair competitive advantage of free car parking and no traffic attendants." Expand Close New figures reveal that almost 85,000 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were dished out on Northern Ireland's streets in 2016 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp New figures reveal that almost 85,000 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were dished out on Northern Ireland's streets in 2016 Belfast is the location where traffic wardens are most prolific in Northern Ireland, with 34,690 fines having been dished out on the capital city's streets during 2016. Large numbers of drivers also fell foul to tickets in Newry (where 6,379 were caught out), Londonderry (5,477), Ballymena (3,838) and Lisburn (3,624). The next 10 most ticketed towns were Armagh (2,747), Enniskillen (2,581), Portadown (2,438), Bangor (2,249), Newtownards (1,561), Coleraine (1,402), Newcastle (1,363), Omagh (1,313), Lurgan (1,164) and Magherafelt (1,102). The figures were published by the Department for Infrastructure (DFI) in its Penalty Charge Notice Statistics 2015 and 2016 report. It is the Department's TransportNI wing which takes responsibility for the enforcement of most parking restrictions, with on-the-ground enforcement provided by TransportNI's contractor, currently NSL Services Group, employing the wardens. Each parking ticket costs car owners 90 - or 45 if it is paid within 14 days. The 34,690 PCNs issued on the streets of Belfast in 2016 were potentially worth up to 3.1m, with those issued in Northern Ireland as a whole worth as much as 13m. The number of PCNs issued to drivers in bus lanes and bus-only streets fell from 32,254 in 2015 to 27,911 last year. Transgressions on Donegall Square East generated most tickets (7,340), followed by Great Victoria Street (5,054), Castle Street (4,441), College Square East (3,706) and Donegall Square South (2,627). A DFI spokesman said that "appropriate action" must be taken "where a vehicle is found to be parked in contravention of restrictions". "There are clear protocols for traffic attendants to follow when performing their duties to ensure that parking enforcement is carried out as fairly and consistently as possible across all locations," he said. "Enforcement of parking restrictions and bus lanes aims to reduce the number of illegally-parked vehicles. This, in turn, will reduce traffic congestion, improve road safety, and improve accessibility for all road users. "The objective is to discourage illegal parking by issuing a penalty to those who park illegally." But Mr Roberts said it was "absolutely vital" to make "significant changes to car parking charges and fines to support the growth of our town centres and high streets". "If something isn't done to stop this ticketing blitz there are real fears that is could ultimately sound the death knell for many retailers," he added. Police are investigating a hijacking in the Shankill Road area of west Belfast. A delivery driver for a takeaway outlet reported being pulled from his vehicle by two hooded males at around 9.45pm on Friday night. It is thought the pair were in their late teens or early twenties. These males then made off in the vehicle, a black Ford Fiesta. The Fiesta was later found by police in the Ross Road area. It has now been recovered for forensic examination. Detective Sergeant Michael Hawthorne said: "The delivery driver was obviously left very shaken by this incident and we are keen to identify and locate the culprits responsible. "Detectives investigating this crime can be contacted at Musgrave PSNI station by calling 101, quoting reference number 1308 31/03/17. Information can also be given anonymously via the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111." Two men are to stand trial on dissident republican terror charges following a surveillance operation mounted by Irish police, a court in Belfast has ruled Two men are to stand trial on dissident republican terror charges following a surveillance operation mounted by Irish police, a court in Belfast has ruled. Carl Reilly and Paul Crawford, both aged 41, had challenged the strength of a prosecution based on an alleged meeting at a hotel near Dundalk, Co Louth in 2015. But following a lengthy preliminary inquiry process a judge held they should be returned for Crown Court trial on a date to be fixed. Reilly, with an address at Pollard Close in Belfast, is accused of directing terrorism and belonging to the IRA. Crawford, from Carrickree Mews in Warrenpoint, Co Down, is charged with membership of the same grouping. The alleged offences were committed over a period between January 2014 and October 2015. They are said to involve conversations covertly recorded at a meeting in the Carrickdale Hotel. Defence lawyers claim the charges are based on police supposition and opinion, inconsistent Garda statements and poor quality CCTV images. But Judge Amanda Brady committed both accused for future trial. Reilly remains in custody while Crawford is on conditional bail. An independent unionist branded Martin McGuinness a terrorist during tributes to the former Deputy First Minister at a council meeting. Derry City and Strabane District Council was meeting for the first time since Mr McGuinness's death on March 21. After DUP mayor Hilary McClintock began the meeting by offering condolences to the families of Derry City FC captain Ryan McBride and Mr McGuinness, as well as the families of Jack Glenn and Danielle McLaughlin, she opened the floor to tributes from councillors. Sinn Fein and the SDLP both paid tribute to Mr McGuinness, who died after a short illness. But Maurice Devenney said the "eulogising" around Mr McGuinness's death had opened up old wounds and "traumatised" IRA victims. He said that he had no problem sending sympathies to Mrs McGuinness and her family, but "had difficulties with Mr McGuinness". Councillor Devenney made reference to the murder of Frank Hegarty, who was shot when the IRA lured him back to the city after assuring his mother he would be safe, and the Claudy bomb in which nine people died. He also referred to the killing of Patsy Gillespie, who was chained to his van and told to drive to an Army checkpoint with a bomb on board, a murder he said Bishop Edward Daly had described as "the work of Satan". He said Mr McGuinness would have been "considered a hero" if he had given information to the families of victims. "I have always been against the rewriting of history with regards the IRA campaign and Martin McGuinness's hands being all over it," he said afterwards. "The victims of IRA violence in this city and beyond are looking for answers. They are the real victims here. "I have no problem sending my condolences to Mrs McGuinness but I couldn't sympathise with Mr McGuinness, as he was a member of Sinn Fein/IRA and was a terrorist." Gardai have begun digging in a Dublin park for the remains of rapist James Nolan who vanished over six years ago. The search began in Tolka Valley Park, Finglas at 7am for Nolan, whose arm washed up on Dollymount Strand in 2011. It is believed Nolan, from Finglas, was strangled to death by his killer in Glasnevin Cemetery before his body was brought to an address in north Dublin and dismembered. Officers are carrying out fresh investigations because of details left in a 21-page suicide letter written by Nolan's suspected killer and sent to family members. After dismembering the body, the killer then disposed of most of Nolan's body parts in Co Monaghan and at Tolka Valley park, which is popular with walkers. The area where gardai are searching this morning is at a steep bank alongside the Tolka river. It was sealed off at 7am this morning and officers have informed the victim's family. A source said gardai have identified the "area of interest" after examining the contents of the letter. A thorough planning exercise has taken place and gardai have been drafted in to take part in the extensive search operation. A temporary structure will be placed on the site so that gardai can maintain the area on a 24/7 basis. The site of the search will be cordoned off and the particular area will be restricted. It is understood that Nolan's arm that was found washed up at Dollymount Strand had been thrown into the Tolka River and then washed out to sea. The author of the suicide note which has sparked the search is a very close associate of Nolan and is the chief suspect in the case. An inquest previously heard that the rapist's arm was found by a man walking his dog on February 8, 2011. State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy said that Nolan's arm was "cleanly" severed post-death using a very sharp knife and tattoos had been cut from the skin. He was identified using a DNA sample taken from the arm which matched a DNA profile on a UK police database. Nolan had been arrested at Holyhead in 2004 when he was found using a forged driving licence and details and DNA were taken at the time. The photograph and fingerprints were also cross-referenced with the Garda database. Nolan's last known whereabouts were when he collected methadone from the Wellmount Clinic in Finglas on November 30, 2010. Nolan had been missing since shortly after he was released from Portlaoise Prison having served a three-year sentence there for burglary in Booterstown, south Dublin, in 2005. In 1986 he was jailed for 14 years when he was convicted of rape and false imprisonment. The 1986 attack is considered one of the most violent to have ever happened in Ireland and the victim was brutally attacked in front of her partner. That rape incident is being probed as a possible motive for Nolan's gruesome murder even though his suspected killer was not present on the night. "One theory coming from the letter is that Nolan's killer murdered him because he was absolutely disgusted about the rape but there are other theories as well," a source told Independent.ie in January. These include reports that James Nolan received a cash windfall after his release from prison but he refused to help out his killer financially and a major row occurred. Another prominent theory being investigated is that Nolan had been stealing money from an elderly woman known to both of them. In January it emerged that gardai in Co Monaghan spent two days searching a lake in the county after a relative of Nolan's passed on the suicide letter to gardai. In the letter, the man is believed to have described butchering Nolan before dumping some of his remains in Lough na Glack lake near Carrickmacross. Gardai believe the letter's author became concerned after a search was carried out in the lake for the remains of a Polish national the previous week. He took his own life after writing the note. Relatives have spoken of their heartbreak at the death of five members of a UK-based Irish family in a helicopter crash in Wales. Atrocious weather conditions including rapidly deteriorating visibility are now considered key factors in the tragedy. The revelation came as UK rescue officials defied appalling weather in the Rhinog mountains in Snowdonia in north Wales to recover the bodies of brothers Kevin (56), Barry (51) and Donald Burke (55) as well as Kevin's wife, Ruth (49), and sister-in-law, Sharon (48). The helicopter crashed on Wednesday en route to a family confirmation service in Dublin. Their bodies were found with the wreckage of the helicopter in the Rhinog mountains near Trawsfynydd on Thursday, following a major search which began on Wednesday when the privately-owned aircraft failed to arrive in Dublin. Mayo publican Noel Collins, a cousin of the Burke brothers, said the Kilcummin area was shocked. "They would be here (in the pub) tomorrow (Saturday) night if things had gone right," he said. "Kevin would go out farming with me as a lad, making turf, saving hay. In later years, like the others, he would help out in the bar. There was no one (around here) friendlier with the lads than me." All five died instantly when the Airbus/Eurocopter Twin Squirrel light helicopter being flown by Kevin Burke crashed into a remote part of Rhinog mountain. Six children lost both parents in the tragedy. British model and celebrity TV star, Danielle Lloyd, paid tribute to Kevin and Ruth Burke with whom she was very friendly. She said: "They were two of the nicest people I've ever had the privilege to meet and my thoughts and prayers are with all the family." The family group had been flying from Luton, north of London, to Weston Airport in Lucan, Dublin. North Wales Police Chief Inspector Richie Green admitted weather conditions were appalling for the recovery effort. More than 80 personnel were involved in the operation. Now the bodies have been recovered, a joint investigation led by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) "will begin in earnest", Mr Green said. The police said they and the AAIB are hoping to begin recovery of the helicopter over the weekend, weather permitting. The bodies were found with the wreckage of the helicopter in Snowdonia The bodies of all five family members who died when their helicopter crashed in Snowdonia have been recovered by rescue workers. The victims have been identified as Kevin and Ruth Burke aged 56 and 49, Donald and Sharon Burke aged 55 and 48, and Barry Burke, 51, all from the greater Milton Keynes area, North Wales Police said. The three men, believed to be brothers travelling with two of their wives, were on the way to a family confirmation service when the helicopter crashed, according to the Irish Independent. Their bodies were found with the wreckage of the helicopter in the Rhinog mountains near Trawsfynydd on Thursday, following a major search which began on Wednesday when the privately-owned Twin Squirrel aircraft failed to arrive in Dublin. Chief Inspector Richie Green, at North Wales Police, said: "Shortly before 3.30pm this afternoon the last of the five who were on board the helicopter were recovered and they have now been transported to a local hospital's mortuary. "Thames Valley Police family liaison officers have informed family members and we can now begin the very difficult process of formal identification. "We'll continue to support the family and I'd simply ask both media and public alike to respect their privacy at this time. Our thoughts remain with the extended family and their friends." He also thanked the 80-plus police officers and rescue workers involved "not just for their dedication and skill in very trying conditions but also the dignified and compassionate manner in which the whole operation was conducted". Kevin and Ruth Burke, from Hulcote near Milton Keynes - close to where the helicopter took off - were directors of Staske Construction, which owned a Twin Squirrel. The family is reported to have strong links with Ireland and Ruth Burke is believed to be from Dublin. The three brothers were the sons of an Irish couple who emigrated to Britain, according to the Irish Independent. Dewi Pritchard Jones, senior coroner for North West Wales, told the Press Association that a coroner's investigation to determine the causes and circumstances of death has been opened. Model Danielle Lloyd paid tribute to two of the victims on Instagram. She wrote: "Such sad news about Ruth and Kevin Burke they were two of the nicest people I've ever had the privilege to meet and my thoughts and prayers are with all the family." Now the bodies have been recovered, a joint investigation led by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) "will begin in earnest", Mr Green said. The police said they and the AAIB are hoping to begin recovery of the helicopter over the weekend, weather permitting. Until then, the temporary exclusion zone over the crash site with a height of 5,500ft (1,676m) above sea level, reduced to a two mile radius, will remain. The force has released a new photo of the site prior to the crash, and is appealing for anyone who saw the aircraft flying over Snowdonia between 12pm and 1pm on Wednesday to contact the force by calling 101. Prince Charles: The Passions And Paradoxes Of An Improbable Life will be released on April 4 The Prince of Wales asked the US if it would be possible to pause the invasion of Afghanistan to honour Ramadan, according to Washington's former ambassador to Britain. William Farish said Charles asked if his request for the holy month to be considered as part of the battle plans could be passed on to the then president George Bush. The former diplomat recalled the alleged conversation, said to have taken place by phone around a month into the operation, for a new biography of Charles serialised by the Daily Mail. "Prince Charles asked me if it would be possible to stop the invasion to honour Ramadan, and if I could convey that request to President Bush," Mr Farish said. When it was explained that it would be difficult to halt the military operation already under way, Charles allegedly replied: "But Americans can do anything!" Mr Farish, 78, served as US ambassador to the UK between 2001 and 2004 and appeared alongside George Bush senior, Tony Blair and the Queen at a service to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Charles also attended the service around seven weeks after the Afghan invasion began on October 7 2001. Ramadan began on November 16 and ended on December 17. Prince Charles: The Passions And Paradoxes Of An Improbable Life, by Sally Bedell Smith, is published by Random House and will be released on April 4. UAF (Unite Against Fascism)demonstrators tussle with police officers in Trafalgar Square in London, during a counterprotest against Britain First and EDL (English Defence League) marches. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday April 1, 2017. See PA story PROTEST Terror. Photo credit should read: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire Former spokesman and leader of the English Defence (EDL) League Tommy Robinson seeks protection from the police near Trafalgar Square in London, during a counterprotest by UAF (Unite Against Fascism) against Britain First and EDL marches. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday April 1, 2017. See PA story PROTEST Terror. Photo credit should read: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire Former spokesman and leader of the English Defence (EDL) League Tommy Robinson argues with a protestor (right) in London, during a counterprotest by UAF (Unite Against Fascism) against Britain First and EDL marches. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday April 1, 2017. See PA story PROTEST Terror. Photo credit should read: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire Police officers detain a UAF (Unite Against Fascism)demonstrator in Trafalgar Square in London, during a counterprotest against Britain First and EDL (English Defence League) marches. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday April 1, 2017. See PA story PROTEST Terror. Photo credit should read: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire Former spokesman and leader of the English Defence (EDL) League Tommy Robinson in London, during a counterprotest by UAF (Unite Against Fascism) against Britain First and EDL marches. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday April 1, 2017. See PA story PROTEST Terror. Photo credit should read: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire Former spokesman and leader of the English Defence (EDL) LeagueTommy Robinson in Trafalgar Square in London, during a counterprotest by UAF (Unite Against Fascism) against Britain First and EDL marches. PA Protesters have clashed in London as tensions ran high between far-right groups and anti-fascist demonstrators. A march and rally planned by Britain First and the English Defence League (EDL) - described as a "march against terrorism" - took place near a counter-demonstration by Unite Against Fascism (UAF). Frantic scenes unfolded when ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson arrived and dozens of police officers moved to contain potential trouble. Mr Robinson was confronted by people who held opposing views and officers escorted him away as he told people they "hate free speech". UAF protesters chanted "EDL go to hell" as protesters spilled on to the road. Scotland Yard said 14 people had been arrested as of 4pm, for "various offences", and confirmed that all those arrested were "from counter protest groups". Met Police Events tweeted: "They were made as some Counter Protesters engaged in criminality & did not comply with conditions imposed by S.14 of the Public Order Act 86." In a separate tweet, police referred to counter protesters who were "wearing masks & involved in criminality". As the UAF march made its way down Whitehall, police lined the route and as a skirmish broke out a medic could be seen dealing with someone on the ground. Police kept the opposing factions away from each other along Embankment, manning barriers about 100m apart, and Britain First supporters listened to a speech - apparently protected by their own security guards - before marching through the roads shouting "terrorist scum off our streets". On a Facebook event page, Britain First said "all patriots welcome to attend", while the EDL said on an event page: "After the vile terrorist attack on parliment we will stand together and show we will not now, not ever bow down and fear terrorists and terrorism. join us to show our strength." The event took place just over a week after Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood's murderous rampage left four people dead. Crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square from around midday under conditions imposed by the Metropolitan Police which included following a particular route in a bid to keep the opposing groups apart. The Met said on Friday that the information and intelligence available meant that they felt it necessary to impose the conditions to prevent the demonstrations from resulting in "serious disorder, serious damage to property, serious disruption to the life of the community, and to prevent the intimidation of local people trying to go about their business". Chief Superintendent Catherine Roper said: "The right to protest is a fundamental right in our democratic society, but this right must be balanced against the right of people to go about their day without fear of violence, disorder or disruption. "Experience has shown us that when groups with conflicting views come together it can create tension and disorder, not just on the day itself but in the longer term. "What we have had to carefully consider is how to balance the right to protest with the negative impact on our communities and potential violence and disorder that may have resulted from these protests going ahead as they were suggested. "If you want to protest on Saturday, we ask that you do so peacefully, no matter what your view. We will adopt a robust arrest policy on anyone who attends and is intent on violence and disorder, or is in breach of these conditions." The new rules make it illegal for under-18s to buy tobacco and nicotine vapour products, known as NVPs or e-cigarettes Restrictions on e-cigarettes including a ban on sales to under-18s have come into effect. The rules make it illegal for under-18s to buy tobacco and nicotine vapour products, known as NVPs or e-cigarettes. Anyone buying the products for under-18s will also be breaking the law, with shops selling them required to have an age verification policy and to be registered. Public health minister Aileen Campbell said: "We know e-cigarettes are almost certainly safer than cigarettes and have a role to help people quit smoking, but we don't believe children should have access to them - that's why these age restrictions are so important. "From today, it is illegal to sell e-cigarettes to, or buy them for, under-18s. Additionally, all retailers selling tobacco or e-cigarettes must be registered and undertake age verification. "We are working closely with the Scottish Grocers' Federation to make retailers aware of these changes and what they mean for their daily business. "A campaign is already under way across Scotland and will continue to run throughout the summer to ensure everyone is aware of these changes to the law." The changes were brought in by the Health Act 2016, which also set out restrictions on e-cigarette advertising and a ban on vending machines selling the products. Both measures are due to be introduced later this year. Sheila Duffy, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Scotland, said: "Nicotine is addictive and as there is some level of health risk associated with using these products, it is right that we keep them out of the hands of children. "With the regulatory framework for e-cigarettes falling into place, now is the time to remind people that smoking tobacco is by far the more harmful activity. "There are still 30-40 young people in Scotland taking up smoking every day and the priority must be for further action against those retailers who sell to children and to challenge the attitudes amongst adults who buy cigarettes on their behalf." Their first meeting seen as greatly significant for stability, prosperity President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump "will chart the course and map out plans" for bilateral ties at their first meeting next week, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday. The two leaders, who have already talked twice on the phone, will meet for the first time at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Thursday and Friday. Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, will also attend a welcome banquet to be hosted by Trump and his wife, Melania, Vice-Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang told a media briefing. During their meeting, the two leaders are expected to have an in-depth exchange of views on China-US ties and major international and regional issues of common concern, Zheng said. The meeting is of great significance for the healthy and stable development of the ties as well as peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world, Zheng added. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a news briefing on Thursday that Trump "looks forward to meeting with President Xi and exchanging views on each others respective priorities, and to chart a way forward on a bilateral relationship", Xinhua reported. Spicer also said the meeting will be an opportunity for Trump "to develop a relationship in person with President Xi". The two-way trade relations have attracted great media attention as Washington has complained about its trade deficit with China. When asked about the trade issue, Zheng said bilateral trade "has brought tangible, huge benefits" for both sides. The trade imbalance should be seen in a comprehensive and objective manner, since China has a surplus in commodity trade but a deficit in service trade with the US, Zheng said. China "does not seek a trade surplus with the US", he added. About 40 percent of Chinas trade surplus with the US stems from US businesses operating in China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily news conference on Friday. A proper settlement of the issue requires bilateral consultation, and China is looking at the potential between the two countries, Lu said. Su Xiaohui, a researcher on international strategy studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said China and the US have shown a strong need for each other in recent years. Before his US trip, Xi will make a state visit to Finland from Tuesday to Thursday, which will be Xis first visit to northern Europe as president. Wang Chao, vice-foreign minister, said Xi will hold talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and attend a ceremony for the signing of cooperative documents, a joint news conference and a welcome banquet. Protesters ram a barrier into the Congress building during clashes with police (AP) Paraguay's president has fired a minister and top police official after the killing of a young opposition party leader whose death came amid violent clashes sparked by a secret Senate vote for a constitutional amendment to allow presidential re-election. President Horacio Cartes said interior minister Tadeo Rojas and national police chief Crispulo Sotelo had been let go. Rodrigo Quintana, 25, was killed at the headquarters of a liberal youth activist group, in a different location to the congress building in Asuncion where most of the violence took place. Demonstrators set fires around the legislative building after the vote to allow Mr Cartes to run again in a country haunted by the 35-year rule of General Alfredo Stroessner. On Sunday Sinn Fein, led by a resurgent Gerry Adams, pulled the plug on the Stormont talks and thereby dashed the hopes raised at Martin McGuinness's funeral, and attended by Arlene Foster, that there might be a softening of approach. It seems that the Shinners already had their minds made up to ditch power-sharing, and that a triumphalist Adams and his colleagues are now aiming to exploit Brexit and go for joint authority, or even Irish unity, never mind the unionists and others who do not want either development. This is a dangerous ploy, because there is no-one in Sinn Fein, or among the unionists, with the negotiating and bridge-building skills of the late Mr McGuinness. Big trouble looms ahead. The second truly major event this week was the triggering of Brexit, in my view a catastrophic decision, but as an old Bessbrook friend said to me "Sure what can you do?" He is right. We have to accept the consequences, like them or not. The inter-denominational Corrymeela Community has nobly offered to host talks with the politicians, but I doubt if the offer will be accepted. Most of the politicians are too determined to beat "the other" side, rather than caring for all the people of this province. They remind me the comment of an ace London reporter who covered the Derry riots in 1969. He shook his head sorrowfully and said to me: "Both sides still want to win. No-one wants to give in." Corrymella was the brain-child of that remarkable Presbyterian minister the Reverend Dr Ray Davey, a spiritual prince in his time, who survived in the Italian and German prison-of-war camps and saw the need for reconciliation, a quality that has been noticeably absent from Stormont since the start. Most of the DUP and Sinn Fein absolutely loathe one another, so we wonder how these people can work together for the good of all. They remind me of the Billy Goats Gruff who refuse to give way on the bridge. This children's story applies to the hard-faced, grim politicians whose "not an inch" politics cause such despair for the rest of us. The Churches have tried their best to pour oil on troubled waters, and their leaders have been far too kind in offering an ecclesiastical carrot, when a stick might work better. In all fairness the bridge-building between the Churches at all levels has been heartening. There will never be structural Church unity but the members of congregations on both sides of the divide have shown countless times how ordinary Protestants and Catholics, and those of no obvious faith, can live together in peace and respect for one another. The people are far ahead of the politicians, who continue to behave disgracefully, with the Shinners now grimly out-doing the "not an inch" unionists. Therefore all you and I can do is to live with respect for our neighbours and to show our appalling politicians how far out of step they are with very many of those who voted them into power. Of course we must take the blame for electing the two biggest sectarian parties, but we deserve better than the current mess we are in now. Guest post by Padma Kuppa, of Seeking Shanti @patheos.com We are living in a time of demonstrations, demonstrations that can potentially lead to a movement, a movement towards peace and justice. According to a good friend, interfaith leader and pastor of a local Presbyterian church here in Southeastern MI, these demonstrations are a throwback to another great movement, that against the Vietnam War. There was great polarization in the USA in the 1960s, between those who wanted peace, and those who wanted to continue US involvement in the war in Vietnam. At this time of great political divides, it seemed appropriate for a few of us to take up the words of Vincent Harding, and a speech he wrote on peace and poverty, race and economics issues that are as relevant today as they were then, with the country seemingly divided as it was then. As we neared the 50th anniversary of this great speech given by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, many of us in metro Detroit, determined to commemorate it with a 50th anniversary reading on April 2, 2017 at 4 pm. The event is open to all. This 50th Anniversary Reading of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, will be introduced by Aljosie Aldrich Harding, our distinguished guest at the event from Atlanta, GA. She has been a teacher, librarian, and researcher for the causes of peace and justice all her life. She worked side-by-side with her late husband, Dr. Vincent Harding, who drafted Rev. Kings great speech. That Dr. Harding, a historian, author and scholar was also an activist will come as no surprise: this speech that he wrote was one of the most polarizing speeches ever given by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. The speech will be read in 16 parts by 16 Readers, who include former MI State Legislator Rashida Tlaib (now at the Sugar Law Center), Kezia Curtis from the Black Lives Matter movement, Kim Redigan from Michigan Council for Human Rights, the Rev. Dr. Stephen Butler Murray, President of the Ecumenical Theological Seminary, Sidney Simon of Congregation Tchiya, Donnell White of the Detroit Chapter of the NAACP, and the co-leaders of Veterans For Peace Chapter 74. This event is sponsored by 17 organizations including Peace Action, Swords into Plowshares Peace Center & Gallery, Detroit Central United Methodist Church, the National Council of Elders and Detroit Branch of the NAACP. The venue is historic the pulpit the readers will speak from is one where Dr. King preached from several times. The speech itself calls for a revolution of values, to break free from the three-fold illnesses of racism, materialism and militarism, and recognize that A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. This was Rev. Kings first anti-war speech, delivered on April 4, 1967 at New Yorks Riverside Church a year and a day before his assassination. This video, from an event held on the anniversary in 2016, with audio from the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself, will provide viewers a call to action, and the urgency to speak out, to break the silence. I do hope that you will join me this year, on April 2, 2017, either live or via livestream. MLK Promo vr.alt 5 from John Hammond on Vimeo. Three suspects were killed as police raided an extremist den in northeast Bangladesh but it was unclear how they died, authorities indicated in announcing an end to their latest counter-terrorist operation on Saturday. The two-day Operation Maximus, in Moulvibazar town, was one of four counter-terrorist raids targeting suspected hideouts of militant group Neo-JMB in the northeastern districts of Moulvibazar, Sylhet and Comilla within the past eight days. Twenty-one people overall among them 10 militants, three law enforcement officers and four children died during the raids and in bomb blasts near the raid in Sylhet last weekend. The various operations took place amid a cycle of violence by Islamic extremists during the past month, which included two suicide-bomb attacks near Dhakas international airport in one week. After police suspended the operation in the Borohat neighborhood of Moulvibazar town on Friday night, the suspects who were holed up inside a duplex building set off explosives, the head of the Bangladeshi polices counter-terrorist branch told reporters. After we [suspended] yesterday's raid, the militants exploded two bombs. We saw smoke coming out from the den and thought they might have blown themselves up, Monirul Islam said during a Saturday afternoon press briefing in Moulvibazar town that followed the operations conclusion and was broadcast live on private TV stations. The operation had resumed on Saturday morning. We have entered the building. There were dead bodies of two men and one woman, he added. It was unclear whether the three had blown themselves up or were killed by police gunfire, Agence France-Presse quoted Islam as saying. When SWAT team members tried to enter the building on Friday, the suspects, who had stockpiled a large quantity of explosives, detonated some of them, Islam said then. We are relieved that they are finished. We do not know many more are still undetected. Thanks to the police that they made us safe, Md Shahabuddin, a resident of Borohat, told BenarNews by phone. Simply monsters The death toll from last weekends raid and bombings in Sylhet included a suspect identified by police as Mainul Islam (alias Musa), the alleged new commander of Neo-JMB, and Lt. Col. Abul Kalam Azad, the chief of the intelligence wing of Bangladeshs elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). One of the three militants who died during the operation in Borohat was involved in twin bomb attacks that occurred on the sidelines of the Sylhet raid and killed Azad, two police officers and four other people, Monirul Islam said on Saturday. We are almost sure that one of the dead men was directly involved in the attacks in Sylhet. [He is] responsible for the death of seven people. We had the desire to hang him, but we could not, Islam said. Police did not release the names of the three dead suspects. Meanwhile, in Comilla district, about 160 km (100 miles) away, officers recovered eight bombs and two suicide vests at another suspected Neo-JMB den, and a bomb squad deactivated these during a post-raid clean-up operation on Saturday morning, police said. The raid in Comilla took place on Friday but the two suspects had fled. The raids in Bohorat and Comilla were launched a day after police found the bodies of seven people, including four children, while raiding a suspected militant den in Nasirpur, a village in Kahilipur union parishad, in the Moulvibazar Sadar upazila (sub-district). At first, police said that as many as eight bodies had been found but they have since revised the figure. The adults a man and two women were militants who blew themselves and the four children up as police stormed their hideout, Monirul Islam told reporters Saturday. These people are simply monsters. You see, they assembled together their children and detonated the suicide vests. They killed their own children. They are not human beings. They are the enemies of Islam, Islam said. According to the counter-terrorist police chief, the 10 suspected militants who died in Sylhet and Moulvibazar districts all belonged to Neo-JMB, a faction of Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Bangladeshi authorities have blamed Neo-JMB for carrying out the nations deadliest attack a terrorist siege at a cafe in Dhaka during which 20 hostages, mostly foreigners, were cut to pieces with machetes in July 2016. Since the siege at the Holey Artisan Bakery, police and security forces have launched a bloody crackdown on Islamic extremists and made few arrests. Including the past weeks four counter-terrorist operations, at least 59 suspected militants have been killed in raids, gunfights with security forces and suicide attacks. According to retired Brig. Gen. Sakhawat Hossain, a Bangladeshi security expert, militants are willing to die rather than surrender. They want to show that they must not now bow down to the law enforcers whom they hate. You have to remember, they are out to die, Hossain told BenarNews. ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). 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For Immediate Release, March 30, 2017 Contact: Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (971) 717-6403, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org Marcie Keever, Friends of the Earth, (510) 900-3144, mkeever@foe.org Lawsuit Challenges Trump's Approval of Keystone XL Pipeline Controversial Pipeline Rejected by Obama Would Pollute Water, Worsen Climate Change, Endanger Rare Species WASHINGTON Environmental groups sued the Trump administration today for approving the controversial Keystone XL pipeline despite its threats to air, water, wildlife and public health. Friday's pipeline approval also came without any public participation. Those failures violate the National Environmental Policy Act and are the focus of today's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Montana's Great Falls Division by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth and other organizations. This dirty pipeline is a loaded gun pointed at our climate and some of America's most vital water supplies, and we won't let Trump pull the trigger, said Kieran Suckling, the Center's executive director. This arrogant administration wants to ram this massive pipeline through with zero consideration of oil-spill risks or the immense harm Keystone will do to endangered wildlife. But Trump's alternative facts and contempt for our environment won't stand up in court. Keystone XL would carry up to 35 million gallons of oil every day from Canada's tar sands one of the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive energy sources in the world to refineries in Texas. The 1,700-mile pipeline would cross rivers, streams and wetlands that are a source for drinking water for millions of people and provide habitat for at least 20 rare and endangered species, including whooping cranes, pallid sturgeons, interior least terns and piping plovers. Since 1986 pipeline accidents have spilled an average of 76,000 barrels of oil and other substances per year, or more than 3 million gallons. Federal officials estimate that Keystone XL will spill up to 100 times during its lifetime. In approving the pipeline, the State Department relied on a 2014 environmental analysis completed by the Obama administration, which, despite the analysis being incomplete and deficient, ultimately rejected the Keystone XL pipeline for not being in the national interest and for having significant environmental impacts. Even though the 2014 analysis grossly underestimated the pipeline's impacts on the rate of tar-sands development, it still found that the pipeline would pose significant threats to human health and the environment. For almost a decade, Americans have fought to stop the dirty Keystone XL pipeline from polluting our air and water, said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth. We cannot stand by and allow oil and gas companies to ruin our climate and pollute our land, water, and sacred cultural sites. This litigation continues our resistance to Big Oil and Trump's war against our health and planet. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.2 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Friends of the Earth fights to defend the environment and create a more healthy and just world. Our current campaigns focus on promoting clean energy and solutions to climate change, keeping toxic and risky technologies out of the food we eat and products we use, and protecting marine ecosystems and the people who live and work near them. Wild & Weird: How Long Would It Take Spiders to Eat Us? A recent entomological survey seeking to better understand human-arthropod relationships in urban and suburban homes turned up this stunning conclusion: Spiders live in 100 percent of the homes surveyed. That means chances are fairly high that a spider is watching you read this -- with all eight to 12 eyes -- right now. Another recent study, published in the journal The Science of Nature, found that the world's spiders consume between 400 million and 800 million tons of prey each year. The total tonnage of the planet's 7 billion humans is roughly 350 million. So, theoretically, spiders could eat all of us in less than a year. Now stop thinking about it. Spiders rarely eat humans. Lucky for us, they eat tons and tons of mosquitoes and flies -- and sometimes lizards, birds and small mammals. Let's hope it stays that way. Read more about spider consumption in The Washington Post. We are a full-service Market Research Agency and now part of SA's leading Management Consulting firm IQbusiness. We use technology and a deep understanding of human motivations to uncover powerful insights to help our customers to grow. Reciba en su email: noticias de ultima hora, analisis tecnicos o el cierre de mercado Email no valido Nombre requerido Recibira las informaciones mas relevantes del dia en tiempo real Que informacion desea recibir? Noticias de Ultima hora Boletin Cierre de Mercado Boletin analisis tecnico Boletin Fundsnews Debe seleccionar un tipo de boletin Acepto la Politica de privacidad Debe aceptar la politica de privacidad Responsable EMPRESAS DEL GRUPO WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Finalidad La remision de informacion, novedades y promociones Establecimiento o mantenimiento de Relaciones Comerciales. Legitimacion Consentimiento del interesado. Interes legitimo en el desarrollo de la relacion comercial Destinatario Empresas del Grupo WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Derechos Acceso, rectificacion, supresion, limitacion, oposicion y portabilidad Informacion adicional Politica de Privacidad de nuestra pagina Web + INFORMACION Thirty-eight people have been arrested after police in Spain broke up a criminal gang dealing in international credit card fraud. Authorities said on Saturday those arrested were in a ring that specialised in the counterfeit and fraudulent use of credit cards from international banks which were scammed of up to 1.4 million. More than half of people are diagnosing their illnesses on Google before going to a GP, according to a survey presented at the Primary Care Partnership Conference at Croke Park yesterday. The study of patients in 2015 in the US found 57% went to 'Dr Google' first, with half of those then searching for treatment options. The poll, carried out by Rock Health in 2015, found that 35% of patients asked their doctor to prescribe a specific drug or asked to discontinue a specific drug, while 45% sought a specific treatment plan based on their internet diagnosis. They also found that 49% of patients searched online for information on treatment options based on their internet diagnosis. Doctors are worried about the trend, saying people are at risk of misdiagnosing themselves. They are encouraging people to consult with a GP if feeling unwell instead of self-diagnosing. Mr Hal Wolf, Director of the Digital Health Strategy at the Chartis Group (USA), told the conference in Dublin yesterday: "Patients are increasingly seeking out a diagnosis online and presenting this diagnosis, and a treatment plan, to their GPs. "The use of 'Dr Google' poses many dangers for patients who should consult their GP first if they have any health concerns. By self-diagnosing, patients are risking misinterpreting their symptoms which can cause unnecessary anxiety. "However, the use of the internet for immediate information is often a reflection of access problems within many systems as well as the need for convenient but trusted knowledge management. These same patients still rank physicians, friends, and family highest when it comes to trustworthiness of sources suggesting a strong case for digital health and knowledge management systems in association with their provider." Car giant Ford is recalling 53,000 2017 F-250 trucks because they can roll away even when they are parked due to a manufacturing error. Ford said drivers should use the handbrake to make sure that the parked cars do not move. Update 5pm: Scotland Yard said 14 people had been arrested as of 4pm, for "various offences". As the UAF march made its way down Whitehall, police lined the route and as a skirmish broke out a medic could be seen dealing with someone on the ground. Police kept the opposing factions away from each other along Embankment, manning barriers about 100m apart, and Britain First supporters listened to a speech - apparently protected by their own security guards - before marching through the roads shouting "terrorist scum off our streets". UAF (Unite Against Fascism)demonstrators near Trafalgar Square in London, during a counterprotest against Britain First and EDL (English Defence League) marches. Earlier: Protesters have clashed in London as tensions ran high between far-right groups and anti-fascist demonstrators. A march and rally planned by Britain First and the English Defence League (EDL) - described as a "march against terrorism" - is taking place near a counter demonstration from Unite Against Fascism (UAF). Frantic scenes unfolded when ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson arrived and a high number of police officers moved to contain potential trouble. Crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square from around midday and must obey conditions imposed by the Metropolitan Police which include following a particular route. UAF protesters chanted "EDL go to hell" and hundreds of protesters spilled onto the surrounding roads. Scotland Yard said on Friday that the information and intelligence available to the Met meant that they felt it necessary to impose the conditions to prevent the demonstrations from resulting in "serious disorder, serious damage to property, serious disruption to the life of the community, and to prevent the intimidation of local people trying to go about their business". Chief Superintendent Catherine Roper said: "The right to protest is a fundamental right in our democratic society, but this right must be balanced against the right of people to go about their day without fear of violence, disorder or disruption. Unite Against Fascism in place already for the #EDL and #BritainFirst marches... pic.twitter.com/MGPS4KwEWX Paul McNamara (@PGMcNamara) April 1, 2017 "Experience has shown us that when groups with conflicting views come together it can create tension and disorder, not just on the day itself but in the longer term. "What we have had to carefully consider is how to balance the right to protest with the negative impact on our communities and potential violence and disorder that may have resulted from these protests going ahead as they were suggested. "If you want to protest on Saturday, we ask that you do so peacefully, no matter what your view. We will adopt a robust arrest policy on anyone who attends and is intent on violence and disorder, or is in breach of these conditions." On a Facebook event page, Britain First said "all patriots welcome to attend", while the EDL said on an event page: "After the vile terrorist attack on parliment we will stand together and show we will not now, not ever bow down and fear terrorists and terrorism. join us to show our strength." (sic) The event comes just over a week after Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood's murderous rampage left four people dead. For a few hours, it was the most valuable car park in Australia. More than 50 Ferraris, some coming with seven-figure price tags, converged on Mitchell on Saturday, with many coming as far as interstate for the event. Ferrari Club Australia president Michael Rensch, and club member Peter Ciampa with some the cars on display Credit:Jamila Toderas The gathering of the iconic cars comes ahead of the Auto Italia event this weekend, which is the largest Italian car show in the southern hemisphere, being held on the lawns of Old Parliament House. While many of the Italian models on Saturday came in the classic red, some of the cars on display came in the less traditional blue and yellow. Elderly men are especially prone to suicide, with Australian men over 85 having the highest rate. They kill themselves at the rate of 39.3 per 100,000 compared with the overall rate for men of 19.4 per 100,000. Many of these men are lonely (they may have recently lost a partner), they are sometimes incontinent and unable to care for themselves and they don't have the money to pay for care. Others and some elderly women come into this category too, although their suicide rate is a lot lower will do literally anything to avoid going into a retirement home. Chronic pain also drives people to end their lives. You would think that modern medicine could alleviate pain but this is not always the case and there is plenty of evidence that some people decide they just cannot deal with it any more. Writer Nikki Gemmell has written about her mother's suicide, a lonely act that shocked her and her family even though their mother had complained constantly of the pain and had foreshadowed that she might end her life. This death evokes another suicide-related issue: euthanasia. Had her mother been legally able to end her life, with her family around her, might it have been a better death? asks her anguished daughter. As it stands, Gemmell does not know whether her mother's final act was one of empowerment or despair. But, as she acknowledges, even the legalisation of euthanasia would not have helped her mother because Australian parliaments seem willing to contemplate only doctor-assisted euthanasia legislation for people with terminal illnesses. Gemmell's mother's condition was chronic but not terminal. As a society we do not allow mature people the right to doctor-assisted suicide. Instead, we force them to illegally import the drugs that guarantee a quick and peaceful end, or else to use the violent methods of self-harm that are the preponderant methods of suicide in this country. Of course, these arguments do not apply to the vast majority of suicides by those who are younger and whose motivation for wanting to kill themselves can be known for sure only if their attempt fails and we can try to talk to them. The Way Back, a one-on-one program being trialled by beyondblue with people who have attempted suicide is, I am told, finding that economic distress, loneliness and the desire to escape pain are among the reasons people give for having tried to end their lives. Just as we should not automatically brand a person who survives a suicide attempt as mentally ill, nor should we assume that depression and anxiety, crippling as they can be, are the sole causes of suicide in Australia. Kate Daly's existence cleaved in two the day her newborn twins were diagnosed. There is her life before she had ever heard the word cytomegalovirus, and her life upended by it. It was several months later that she discovered taking simple hygiene precautions during her pregnancy could have significantly cut the risk of her passing on the infection to her children; the infection that has left her son William profoundly deaf, developmentally delayed and with mild cerebral palsy. "I was so angry, so frustrated. I still am. I felt disillusioned," Mrs Daly said. "I didn't understand why no one had ever mentioned CMV, or told us there were things I could do to protect my children from this thing." Almost 2000 babies are born with congenital CMV every year in Australia. Roughly 380 of these will have a permanent disability, including hearing and vision loss, developmental delays, intracranial calcification, microcephaly (small head and brain), cerebral palsy and epilepsy. In rare cases the infection can be fatal. Anti-Islamic State fighter Ashley Dyball has been remanded in custody charged with murder over the disappearance of Samuel Thompson. The 25-year-old Albany Creek man was taken into custody late on Friday night, charged with murder and interfering with a corpse. The 22-year-old Samuel Thompson was last seen on March 7. Credit:Queensland Police Service He appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday where his matter was adjourned until May 15. The former professional power lifter had fought IS forces in Syria during 2015 before returning to his home state of Queensland. Election Day 2022: The stakes are high with all eyes on Pennsylvania Pennsylvania voters on Election Day will make decisions that could reshape the future of both the commonwealth and nation. Higher taxes, trash pickup? Many special questions await voters Nov. 8 They're sometimes easy to miss, but many South Jersey communities have special questions before voters on their Nov. 8 ballots. Direct selling have urged the government to extend protection under Consumer Protection Act and do away with the provision for criminal proceedings in case of discrepancies in the product sold by them directly to customers. Two events that severely impacted the fortunes of the domestic automobile industry have hit the headlines. The first of these was an eight-month-long ban on sales of 2,000cc diesel personal vehicles in the National Capital Region in December 2015. The second, also a result of a Supreme Court order, came on Wednesday by way of a ban on sales of vehicles not conforming to BS-III emission norms from April 1. The government is drawing lessons from majors, such as Google and Facebook, to find solutions to problems such as water woes in Rajasthan, drainage in Mumbai during heavy rain, and the safety of women. Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on Saturday reported a 8 per cent increase in total sales at 55,614 units in March this year. The company had sold 51,452 units in March 2016, HMIL said in a statement. Domestic sales were up 8.63 per cent at 44,757 units during the month, as against 41,201 units in the year-ago period, the company said. Exports in March this year stood at 10,857 units, as against 10,251 units in the same month last year, a growth of 5.9 per cent. For the fiscal ended March 31, 2017, HMIL said it sold 5,09,707 units as against 4,84,324 units in the previous year, up 5.2 per cent. Commenting on the sales performance, HMIL Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing, Rakesh Srivastava said the company was able to close the financial year with highest-ever sales creating a strong momentum for the next year. The company's popular models Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta achieved a record sales of over 10,000 units each in a single month in March, he added. The is trying to do with its pan-Indian restaurant Baluchi what diversified conglomerate ITC had once done with its iconic Bukhara restaurant, carving out a separate identity and taking it to foreign shores. SpiceJet on Saturday cancelled the ticket of Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who has been barred by domestic airlines from flying after he assaulted an Air India staffer last month. After Air India and IndiGo, SpiceJet is the third carrier to cancel the ticket of the Lok Sabha member. Sources said Gaikwad's booking on Pune to Ahmedabad flight (SG 524) for April 3 has been cancelled by SpiceJet. Following the incident, Air India along with four private airlines banned him from flying on their aircraft. The domestic airlines' body Federation of India Airlines (FIA) has taken a "strong view" of the incident and accordingly taken a decision to bar the MP from flying on their network, FIA sources said. Jet Airways and three budget carriers IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir are the members of the FIA. Apart from Air India, IndiGo had cancelled Gaikwad's booking after the assault incident. Earlier this week, Air India cancelled two tickets booked by the MP on Delhi-bound flights. On March 23, Gaikwad had repeatedly hit an Air India staffer with a sandal over not being given a business class seat despite having insisted on boarding an all-economy flight. Wheelchair-bound independent film-maker Rustom Irani has travelled to over a dozen countries in the last 20 years. But travelling within India makes him anxious. Public facilities here are usually not disabled-friendly, he says. A Cox & Kings initiative will help people like Irani to plan their holidays. The tour operator earlier this month launched a division, Enable Travel, to cater to tourists with disabilities. Package tours are the mainstay of tour operators in India but over the last few years have been introducing niche offerings such as women-only tours, senior citizen tours and exclusive packages for communities. Thomas Cook has introduced theme park holidays that are popular among children. Debolin Sen, head, Enable Travel, says the focus is on domestic and inbound tours with the US, UK and Australia being key source markets. According to the UN World Travel Organisation, more than 12 per cent of people from the UK who travel have a disability or a long-term health problem. About 11 per cent of Australian tourists have some form of disability and American adults with disabilities or reduced mobility spend an average of $13.6 billion annually on travel. The UK, US and Australia are our biggest source markets and we believe this has huge potential, says Sen. Enable Travel has several itineraries in popular holiday destinations such as Delhi-Agra-Jaipur and Bengaluru-Mysuru-Coorg. The tour operator plans to provide a range of wheelchair-accessible vans with ramps and safety harnesses, escorts, caregivers and sign language interpreters. Irani, who is advising Cox & Kings on the initiative, says it is working with hotels for Braille menus and LED lights in rooms that turn on with the chime of a doorbell. Rajeev Kale, Thomas Cooks president and country head, leisure travel, says the decision to launch theme park tours was taken after a study showed children often had a crucial role in deciding where a family went on vacation. He adds over 300 families have booked for the theme park tours since they were launched earlier last month. Packages include visits to Sentosa Island and Universal Studios in Singapore and Disneyland in Hong Kong. These tours allow children to spend a longer time at the parks and stay in hotels closer to them, Kale says. Thomas Cook is marketing theme park tours in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Dubai and Abu Dhabi and South Korea. Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. At a time when the US government is planning to reduce the number of foreigners, the Canadian government says it will continue to welcome and refugees. Bardish Chagger, the Canadian minister for small business and tourism who is of Indian origin, tells Sahil Makkar in an interview that there are a lot of opportunities for Indian businesses in Canada. Edited excerpts: Five years ago, India had two aircraft carriers and China had none. Now, perhaps as early as this month, the Peoples Liberation Army (Navy), or PLA(N), will match India in carrier numbers. Doctors are on the cusp of launching a in more than a century. But rather than a big pharma lab, the breakthrough is emerging from a university start-up in the heart of rural India. Years of human trials on the injectable, sperm-zapping product are coming to an end, and researchers are preparing to submit it for regulatory approval. Results so far show its safe, effective and easy to usebut gaining little traction with drugmakers. Thats frustrating its inventor, who says his technique could play a crucial role in condom-averse populations. The Columbus City Council approved moving the library/cultural arts center project forward for a third vote on April 11. The ballot question is not asking for new or additional tax funding for the library/cultural arts center. The project will be funded with the already approved half-cent sales tax, grants, and donations. Last spring Columbus voters approved the renewal of the half-cent sales tax to fund both the library/cultural arts center project and public safety facilities. The half-cent sales tax was approved on May 10, 2016, and is already being collected. The financing for the library/cultural arts center project is unique for a public project. The library/cultural arts center project has already been voted on twice. The first vote allowed the library to begin planning and design for the facility. The second renewed the funding mechanism for the project by maintaining the current level of sales tax in Columbus. That second vote also named the library/cultural arts center and public safety projects as the recipients of the half-cent sales tax. The third vote will allow the funds from the already authorized half-cent sales tax to be used for the library/cultural arts center project. The ballot question will ask voters to approve up to $8.5 million of bonds. The half-cent sales tax will be used to repay those bonds. The half-cent sales tax generates roughly $2 million every 12 months. The library/cultural arts center design has been built on community input. Through town hall meetings, focus groups, open houses, committees, and city council meetings, Columbus has arrived at a project that will meet its long term needs. If voters approve the $8.5 million of public funds, the funds will be combined with donations, grant funds and gifts to create a $16 million facility in downtown Columbus. The communitys priorities were identified as a multi-function, multi-purpose building with space for events in a medium sized auditorium style space, a visual arts gallery, and a 21st century library. The library space will provide the community with room to grow collections and services for 25 years. The City of Columbus has a lot of priorities and needs. It is important that the library/cultural arts center fit financially with the needs of the whole community. The already renewed half-cent sales tax is earmarked as a funding source for both the library/cultural arts center and public safety facilities. The bonding for the library/cultural arts center still allows for a funding source for public safety improvements. If you have questions about the ballot question or the library/cultural arts center project, please contact me at Drew.Brookhart@Columbusne.us Woes of the erstwhile construction major just increased manifold, as its managing directors Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra were arrested on Saturday by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police. The (NDB) will have more members and will make public the criteria for prospective members by June, K V Kamath, the multilateral agencys chairman, said on Saturday. NDB board of directors has approved the terms, conditions and procedures for inclusion of new members. State-run miner (CIL) has terminated the services of one of its board members, R Mohan Das, who held the portfolio of director of personnel in the company. Along with the termination of his service in CIL, Das has also been removed from the board of its subsidiary companies. Das was scheduled to retire on May 31. With several months to go before the next monsoon season, live storage of water in the major reservoirs in Tamil Nadu has declined to around 7-8 per cent of the overall capacity. The state, however, is not hit by a heat wave unlike some northern states. The capital city is also facing a huge crisis. Latest data from Central Water Commission (CWC) shows the current live storage in six important reservoirs in Tamil Nadu having dropped to 0.302 billion cubic meter (BCM) as against full reservoir level (FRL) of 4.229 BCM. India had placed a request with the New Development Bank (NDB), or BRICS Bank, to fund $2 billion in various projects, Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday. India is a land of tolerance, says President at 52nd Annual Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee attended the 52nd Annual Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta in West Bengal today (April 1, 2017). Speaking on the occasion, the President said he was happy to address the fifty-second convocation of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, which is a leading institution for management education in the country. He was also glad to observe that the campus has retained its distinctive charm. Yet, the initiatives underway to expand the facilities and enhance the infrastructure of the campus are visible, he said. IIM Calcutta was established on November 14, 1961 to give shape to the vision of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The IITs and IIMs were envisaged by Pt. Nehru as national institutions of excellence in engineering and management education that would mould high caliber of human capital. Over the years, IIM Calcutta has endeavoured to walk this path of excellence. The President said that the atmosphere in our institutions should be free from both physical as well as mental violence. Indians could be described as argumentative but never intolerant. In ancient India, seats of higher learning such as Nalanda, Vikramshila and Taxila attracted mighty minds from all over the world and truly became a confluence of civilizational thoughts and ideas. He quoted Gandhiji and said I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. If our feet are firmly on the ground, we will not be blown off by ideas from outside. India is a land of tolerance. We adopt, embrace and absorb but never reject. Let there be debate, disagreement and dissension but not intolerance. Prime Minister of Malaysia calls on the President Dato Sri Mohd. Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak, the Prime Minister of Malaysia called on President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (April 1, 2017). Welcoming the Malaysian Prime Minister to India, the President expressed hope that Malaysian Prime Minister had a good visit to Chennai. The President said relations between India and Malaysia are centuries old and is best ever so far. The two countries have taken their strategic partnership forward, particularly after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Malaysia in November 2015. The Malaysian Prime Ministers visit comes at a time when India and Malaysia are celebrating the 60th anniversary of India-Malaysia diplomatic relations. While our relations are historic, we have been able to make significant strides in the last 10 years. The President said commercial and investment relations have become the mainstay of India-Malaysia relations. There is also considerable potential for collaboration in defence production especially under the Make in India initiative. He thanked Malaysia for the close cooperation on counter-terrorism issues. Reciprocating the Presidents sentiments, the Malaysian Prime Minister said India has always supported Malaysia in difficult times. Malaysia wants to raise relations to new heights. Bilateral relations between India and Malaysia is multi-dimensional. The two countries can collaborate in a wide variety of fields. Malaysia would like to achieve target of US $15 billion bilateral trade by 2020. Text of the PMs statement to media, in joint press briefing Prime Minister of Malaysia His Excellency Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohammed Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, Members of the media, It is a great pleasure to welcome His Excellency the Prime Minister of Malaysia to India. Excellency Najib, your visit gives me and the people of India an opportunity to reciprocate the warmth and goodwill that I enjoyed during my visit to Malaysia in November 2015. Your visit also comes at a historic time in our relations. We are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations. And, Excellency, your personal attention and leadership has contributed much to the steady direction, strength and vibrancy in our ties. Your contributions have been instrumental in forging a wide-ranging Strategic Partnership with India. Friends, Our links with Malaysia have been civilizational and historic. Our relationship is rich and diverse. Our societies bond at many levels. Ties of culture and religion provide a strong connect between our people. The contributions of a large Indian community in Malaysia are of special value. They have not only nurtured our shared heritage. They have also been a strong driver of economic and people to people connectivity between our two countries. Prime Minister Najib and I had jointly inaugurated the Torana Gate in Kuala Lumpur during my last visit. Modelled on the Torana Gates of the Sanchi Stupa this stands as a symbol of our abiding friendship. Friends, In our extensive conversation today, Prime Minister Najib and I took stock of the full range of our cultural, economic and strategic engagement. We took note of the steady progress in implementation of key decisions taken by us during my visit to Malaysia in November 2015 and we agreed on a shared vision to enhance our strategic partnership. A vision that prioritizes an action oriented approach. In this effort, deepening the existing areas of cooperation, and charting new territory of engagement are among our key objectives. Friends, India and Malaysia have built a thriving economic partnership. In our efforts to scale this up, as the fastest growing large economy in the world, India offers unparallel opportunities. And, to build new avenues of prosperity in our societies we are ready to expand trade and capital flows between our two economies. Infrastructure has been an area of fruitful partnerships between us. But, we can do much more. Indias infrastructure needs and our ambitious vision of developing Smart cities match well with the Malaysian capacities. Malaysian companies are participating in many of our infrastructure projects across different states in India. Indian companies too are extensively engaged and invested in the Malaysian economy. We are pleased that a high level business delegation is accompanying Prime Minister Najib. I am confident that the business partnerships that they forge will enhance the level and momentum of our commercial engagement. We are also converging efforts aimed at food security that are linked to the wellbeing of our farmers. The MOU on proposed development of a fertiliser plant in Malaysia and off-take of surplus urea from Malaysia to India is a welcome development. Friends, The U. T. A. R. University of Malaysia has started Ayurveda degree courses in Malaysia for the first time. This is a welcome development. And, an Ayurveda Chair in the same University is in the pipeline. Its early finalization would further cement our cooperation in this field. Our educational exchanges have always been a strong promoter of people to people ties between our countries. The signing today of the MOU on Mutual Recognition of Degrees is a landmark development that will benefit the students and societies of both our countries. Friends, We live in times and in a region, where both conventional and non-conventional security threats are constantly on the rise. Prime Minister Najib and I agreed that these challenges threaten the stability and economic prosperity of our countries and the region. And, require us and other countries of the region to work together. In this context, I deeply appreciate our continuing cooperation with the Malaysian government in our joint anti-terrorism efforts. Excellency, your own leadership in countering radicalization and terrorism is an inspiration for the entire region. Our wide-ranging defence partnership has already brought our armed forces closer. We are cooperating in: training and capacity building; maintenance of equipment and military hardware; maritime security; and in Disaster response. Prime Minister Najib and I are also conscious of our role and responsibility in promoting economic prosperity, freedom of navigation, and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, especially its Oceans. To secure our societies, and for the greater regional good, we have agreed to further strengthen our strategic partnership to shape an effective response to our common concerns and challenges. Excellency Prime Minister Najib, Let me welcome you once again to India. I thank you for very productive discussions. I am confident that our decisions today will drive our strategic partnership to the next level. I wish you an enjoyable and fruitful stay in India. Thank you. Thank you very much. Canada's tourism board is expecting double-digit growth in tourist arrivals from India in 2017 with the introduction of a new non-stop flight between Mumbai and Toronto. on Friday criticised US President Donald Trump for his plan of budget cuts to health, development and particularly diplomacy. Clinton, who has kept a low profile since January, launched several barbs at Trump in a speech at Washington's Georgetown University during a ceremony for bestowing Hillary Rodham Clinton Awards on participants in Colombia's peace process. "We are seeing signals of a shift that should alarm us all. This administration's proposed cuts to health, development and diplomacy would be a blow to women and children and a grave mistake for our country," Efe news agency quoted Clinton as saying. Trump sent Congress this month his proposed budget for fiscal year 2018, which includes sizeable cuts to the State Department (31 per cent), the Environmental Protection Agency (31 per cent) and the Department of Health (23 per cent). "Turning our back on diplomacy won't make our country safer, it will undermine our security and our standing in the world," said Clinton, who was US secretary of state between 2009-2013. Clinton also referred several times to what members of her party see as the current White House's contempt for the truth, an impression fostered by presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway's unconcerned use of the term "alternative facts." "Here I go again, talking about research, evidence, and facts," Clinton said, adding that when women are included in peace talks, they're less likely to fail, "Women are not inherently more peaceful than men. That's a stereotype. That belongs in the alternative reality," Clinton said. Though Clinton has maintained a low profile since her election defeat, she now says she is "ready to come out of the woods." COLUMBUS A district court judge told a 30-year-old Columbus man it was time to confront head-on a methamphetamine addiction that already caused the breakup of his family and will likely lead to his deportation when he finishes his prison sentence for dealing drugs. You need to deal with this addiction, Platte County District Judge Robert Steinke told Sergio Marino-Marino before sentencing the father of two children to two to three years in prison for two convictions of distribution of meth involving separate drug deals last fall. Its already led to the breakup of your family, the judge told Marino-Marino during Friday's sentencing. Meth distribution is a Class II felony, with each count punishable by up to 50 years imprisonment. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has also placed a hold on Marino-Marino for when he is eligible for release from custody. Steinke told the defendant it is a virtual certainty he will be deported when his prison term ends. Marino-Marino also has a drug case pending in Adams County and an active arrest warrant for possession of meth in Madison County. The defendant pleaded guilty to selling meth to an undercover informant equipped with an audio recording device on two different occasions in October. In exchange for his pleas, the prosecution dismissed other distribution and possession of meth charges involving additional deals during the same four-week period. Marino-Marino was arrested in November following a traffic stop in the area of 23rd Street and Second Avenue. Nebraska State Patrol Investigator Keith Bignell wrote in his arrest statement that the suspect met with the confidential informant to buy meth while under police surveillance. The informant recorded the meetings with a digital audio device, the investigator said. Following Marino-Marinos arrest, a search of the suspects vehicle revealed a plastic box with two plastic bags containing approximately 4 grams of meth and drug paraphernalia, Bignell wrote in his statement. Pamela Edstrom, a communications strategist who shaped the public image of Microsoft and its co-founder, Bill Gates, during the companys reign as the most powerful technology player in the world, died on Tuesday at her home in Vancouver, Wash. She was 71. President Donald Trump has blasted a probe into his team's ties to Russia as an opposition "witch hunt," defending his former top aide Michael Flynn's decision to ask for immunity in the case. Trump's ex-national security advisor, whose links to Russia are one focus of the sprawling investigation, has sought protection in exchange for his testimony to the FBI and congressional committees. Flynn's lawyer said in a statement Thursday that his client has "a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit." But two key committees in the probe, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, both suggested the immunity proposal was premature. Trump nevertheless encouraged Flynn's move in a tweet that appeared to lay down a challenge. "Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!" Flynn's offer to testify under protection from prosecution suggests he has more to reveal about the Russia affair. He could be a key witness as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Congress seek to determine whether Trump advisors colluded with Russia's interference in last year's presidential election. But Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House panel, said there was "still much work and many more witnesses and documents to obtain before any immunity request from any witness can be considered." "We should first acknowledge what a grave and momentous step it is for a former national security advisor to the president of the United States to ask for immunity from prosecution," Schiff said. NBC News also quoted unnamed officials as saying the issue was not on the table at the Senate committee "at the moment." A close advisor to Trump's 2016 campaign, Flynn was forced to step down from his White House job in February after misleading the vice president about conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak after the election. He is also in focus over receiving USD 33,000 from Russian television RT to attend a 2015 gala in Moscow where he sat with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and USD 530,000 from Turkey for lobbying services. But Flynn is not the only member of Trump's advisors to have had contacts with Russia during the campaign. Investigators want to know whether there was any collusion between them and Moscow's concerted effort last year to hurt Trump's Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton. What Flynn could tell investigators is unknown. US prosecutors can offer a suspect immunity in exchange for information that can incriminate others in a case, particularly larger figures. Asking for immunity, said criminal lawyer Mark Bennett on Twitter, is "a reasonable stance for someone to take even if she hasn't done anything wrong -- especially where... The grand jury's investigation appears to have political overtones." Alex Whiting, a Harvard Law School professor writing on the Just Security website, said Flynn's offer to testify in exchange for immunity was "not a serious offer," suggesting it was rather a tactical move. Details of the sprawling real estate holdings owned by the family of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, were made public in documents released late Friday night as was information about Kushners personal debts. US President has said he will get down to some "very serious business" with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping when they meet next week for their first summit. "Next week, as you know, in Florida at the southern White House, we're having the president of China and a large group from China, his representatives, and we're going to get down to some very serious business," Trump told reporters at an Oval Office ceremony to sign executive orders on trade. On April 6 and 7, Trump and Xi would meet at the President's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, often described as the 'Southern White House'. "We look forward to it (meeting with Xi). I've spoken to him numerous times on the phone. We look very much forward to it," Trump said. At his daily news conference, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the meeting with President Xi would be a difficult one. "I don't think it's a surprise to anybody in terms of we've got both national security issues in terms of our political posture towards North Korea, the threat of a missile that extends further and further, the tests that they're using, their nuclear capability. Those should all be very concerning," he said in response to a question. "Then on the trade front, we've got serious concerns with what they're doing, our trade practices with them, some of the things that were mentioned in the past. There's a lot of areas that we need to be concerned about with trade," he said. Spicer said it would not be like a "sit around and play patty-cake" kind of conversation between the two Presidents and they would discuss "big issues". "The President has been making it very clear for decades, frankly, of the challenges that we face. And I think he wants to have a very good and respectful and healthy relationship," Spicer said. "But he also wants to make sure that he tackles the challenges and the problems that are facing American workers and American manufacturers and get to them," he said. Meanwhile, US Commerce Secretary William Ross has alleged that China is one of the most protectionist country in the world. "My view is that the United States is about the least protectionist of the major countries, and that China is one of the most protectionist," he was quoted as saying by media reports. "There's an inherent clash between those two, even though China uses a tremendous amount of free trade rhetoric. We'd like the rhetoric and the behaviour to become more congruent," he said. In a statement, Senator Bob Casey said he has consistently opposed bad trade deals and called for action against countries like China that "cheat" on trade. "We have to crack down on countries that cheat and we must renegotiate bad trade deals," he said. One evening in May 2002, guests in evening dress crowded into 2000s red dining room in midtown Manhattans Palace Hotel. The unofficial VIP space in the storied restaurants second New York location featured a lurid explosion of heavy silk brocade, red-and-gold banquettes, and fawning waiters carrying silver-covered trays. In an airstrike, carried out by the Iraqi fighter jets against the Islamic State group outside Mosul, killed more than 100 militants. As per a report in the Fox News, a government statement confirmed the news. As per the statement the strikes hit three ISIS targets in Baaj, which is a remote northwestern town near the Syrian border, killing around 150-200 militants. The officials also said that the militants had crossed over from Syria, which indictes that ISIS still enjoys free movement across the borders. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least two soldiers were injured after terrorists on Saturday opened fire on an army convoy in Bemina on outskirts of Srinagar. The gunmen attacked an army convoy near a hospital when it was passing the Parimpora Panthachowk Bypass road. The troops retaliated the fire but attackers managed to escape. The area has been cordoned off and search operation has been immediately launched by security forces. Police said, no casualties have been reported yet. Security has been beefed up as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the country's longest road tunnel along Srinagar-Jammu highway tomorrow. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In an attempt to understand the woes of the Tamil Nadu farmers, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president M.K. Stalin on Saturday met them while they were protesting at Jantar Mantar here demanding drought-relief fund adding that the Centre seemed to be "unperturbed" by their issues. While recalling their party's role in addressing farmers' issues while they were in power, Stalin said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy must come to the capital and take up the issue with the Central Government. "The farmers have been continuously undertaking protests in the capital, but the Centre does not seem to be bothered about it. It is very unfortunate. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister must have come here and found a solution to the problem," Stalin said while briefing the media here. Criticising the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for being busy with R.K. Nagar by-polls, the DMK working president said an all-party meeting should be convened. "It is a fact that in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (AIADMK) rule, more than 250 farmers have committed suicide, and incidents are increasing every day. Water must have been released for farmers from the Methur dam every year, but in six and a half years water has not been properly given to farmers. During Karunanidhi's rule, when this type of situation developed we waived off farmers' banks loans to help them," he said. Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for failing to fulfil their promises as promised by them during the elections, Stalin said nothing seemed to have changed even while they were in power. The farmers have been in the capital, demanding that their loans from nationalised banks be forgiven, fair and just prices be set for their produce and to come up with realistic solutions to the water scarcity in the state. They have been staging a protest at Jantar Mantar by holding living mice in their mouths to demonstrate that they will have to feed on them if the government fails to declare drought relief packages and waiver loans for the farmers from the state. Meanwhile, the farmers are expected to meet Union Minister for Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the evening. DMK MP Tiruchi Siva is expected to accompany the farmers. AIADMK member and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha M. Thambidurai, who visited the agitating farmers yesterday for a second time, assured them that the issue would be placed before Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the earliest. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four men were detained on Saturday for chasing down Union Minister Smriti Irani's car, when she was crossing Moti Bagh flyover in the capital. According to the medical report, the four accused tested positive for alcohol, confirming that they were intoxicated while trying to overtake Union Minister's car. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) said four college students in a car tried to overtake Smriti Irani' vehicle, when she was crossing Moti Bagh flyover. A compliant was received from her staff at Chankayapuri Police Station. An FIR has been lodged and further investigation is underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi Police Constable was stabbed by three snatchers while was he searching for a missing scooty. The incident took place on Thursday at around 3 a.m., when Constable Jitender was looking for the stolen scooty in Patel Nagar area through a secret hideout. As soon as the scooty came there with the snatchers on it, Jitender obstructed their way by disbalacing the vehicle. The snatchers tried their best to scare Jitender, but he was hard to resist. After the snatcher realized that they won't be able to get away with the constable, they took out a knife and stabbed him on his back. In spite of his injury Jitender managed to caught hold on one, but two of the snatcher flee off the spot. Soon, the reinforcement reached there and the criminal was arrested, while Jitender was immediately rushed to the hospital. "He is badly injured. He is undergoing treatment and in presently in ICU. We are proud of such brave policeman." said a senior Police officer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) COLUMBUS Scotus Central Catholic seniors Abbie Perault and Alyssa Kuta have been friends since the fifth grade. We live about a block away from each other, said Kuta. So when we couldnt drive wed just walk over to each others house. When they signed up for the Entrepreneurs In Action (EIA) program through Central Community College-Columbus, they knew who they wanted to partner up with. The next step was coming up with a business. We knew we wanted to do something with food because we both like to bake and to cook, said Kuta. Their business, The Pop Shop, sells decorated cake pops in a variety of flavors. I always used to make cupcakes for people, said Perault. I thought if I could handle cupcakes I could handle cake pops. It was something unique that we both know how to make, said Kuta. The two created their own recipes and scan Pinterest for decorating inspiration. We get creative and come up with new things if we cant find anything online, said Kuta. They also hope customers will come with their own ideas for the pops. We decorate all our cake pops differently, said Perault. Our main goal is to have our customers decide on the decorations. Their friends and family were guinea pigs for the creations. For Christmas, they delivered peppermint-flavored pops as presents. And they made some of their tasty treats for a baby shower. Everyone in my family loved them, said Kuta. Starting a business together brought their friendship, which was already very close, to another level. Its definitely brought us closer, said Kuta. Were like sisters we fight all the time, but its a good thing. At the end of our arguments we just laugh because we always fight over the little things, she added. So its not going to affect our business. With EIA they learned the basics of getting a business started developing a plan and getting it off the ground. Doing something different outside of school, where we could say we started our own business, was kind of cool, said Kuta. All our teachers were really helpful in just making sure that we succeeded in what we wanted to do. If someone has a great idea and theyve always wanted to start a business, I think that this is a really good opportunity for them, Perault said. The Pop Shop will have lemon, vanilla, red velvet and chocolate peanut butter cake pops for sale at Monday's EIA showcase, set for 4-7 p.m. at the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, 753 33rd Ave. We have a lot of classmates and family members who have said theyd come to show support, said Perault. After all the hard work you hope it sells. Theyd like to continue the business after graduation and into the summer. But come fall, Kuta is going to the University of Nebraska at Omaha to study business and Perault will attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study architecture. After that, its hard to say what will happen. Its kind of a bittersweet moment that its coming to an end, said Perault. Its a lot of time and work, but its totally worth it in the end. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday condemned President Donald Trump's proposed budget blueprint. As per CNN, while referring to proposal made by Trump to deep domestic spending cuts and increased military spending, Hiliary at Georgetown University said, "(It) should alarm us all." She also said the proposed cuts which include steep reductions to foreign aid would be a "grave mistake." "We are seeing signals of a shift that should alarm us all. This administration's proposed cuts to international health, development and diplomacy would be a blow to women and children and a grave mistake for our country," said Clinton. Earlier in February, the Trump administration released a budget "wish list" that increased defense spending by 54 billion dollars and cut the same amount from non-defense discretionary spending. Both Democrats and Republicans have already rejected aspects of the proposal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) According to a recent global report on food crises, the number of people deemed "severely food insecure" or vulnerable to starvation grew from 80 million in 2015 to 108 million in 2016. The report, whose compilation required integrating several measurement methodologies, represents a new and politically innovative collaboration between the European Union and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), regional food security institutions together with UN agencies including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WPF) and Unicef. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) - developed methodologies for analysing the global situation in the food crisis hot spot areas contributed to the report. The dramatic increase reflects the trouble people have in producing and accessing food due to conflict, record-high food prices in local markets and extreme weather conditions such drought and erratic rainfall caused by El Nino. Civil conflict is the driving factor in nine of the 10 worst humanitarian crises, underscoring the strong linkage between peace and food security, said the Global Report on Food Crises 2017 report. By joining forces to deliver neutral analytical insights drawn from multiple institutions, the report, to be issued annually, enables better-informed planning decisions to respond to food crises in a more timely, global and coordinated way. Around 8.8 billion Euros are devoted by the EU to food, nutrition security and agriculture for the period 2014-2020, with 525 million Euros to address food crisis. For humanitarian food and nutrition assistance in particular, the European Commission's annual average budget in the last 5 years was around EUR 540 million, with a peak in 2016, with over EUR 620 million for this sector. "Political initiatives to tackle global food crises must be based on trusted, independent and sound science in order to be effective and supported by all stakeholders. I am very pleased that the European Commission's science and knowledge service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), provided a solid scientific foundation to this report using its excellence in analytical methodologies and modelling" commented Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, responsible for the Joint Research Centre. "This report highlights the critical need for prompt and targeted action to effectively respond to the food crises and to address their root causes. The EU has taken leadership in this response. In 2016, we allocated 550 million already, followed by another 165 million that we have just mobilized to assist the people affected by famine and drought in the Horn of Africa" said Neven Mimica, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development. "The report is the outcome of a joint effort and a concrete follow-up to the commitments the EU made at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, which identified the urgent need for transparent, independent but consensus-based analysis of crises. I hope this document will be a strong tool for the whole international community to improve the coordination of our responses to crises" added Christos Stylianides, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management. This year, the demand for humanitarian and assistance aimed at building resilience will further escalate as four countries are at risk of famine: South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and northeast Nigeria. Other countries that require massive levels of humanitarian assistance because of widespread food insecurity are Iraq, Syria (including refugees in neighbouring countries) Malawi and Zimbabwe. In the absence of immediate and substantive action, the food security situation in these countries will continue to worsen in coming months, according to the new report. "The cost in human and resource terms only increases if we let situations deteriorate," said Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva. "We can prevent people dying from famine but if we do not scale up our efforts to save, protect and invest in rural livelihoods, tens of millions will remain severely food insecure." "The numbers tell a deeply worrying story with more than 100 million people severely food-insecure, a level of suffering which is driven by conflict and climate change. Hunger exacerbates crisis, creating ever greater instability and insecurity. What is a food security challenge today becomes tomorrow's security challenge," said Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WPF). "It is a race against time - the world must act now to save the lives and livelihoods of the millions at the brink of starvation." The 108 million people reported to be facing severe food insecurity in 2016 represent those suffering from higher-than-usual acute malnutrition and a broad lack of minimally adequate food even with external assistance. This includes households that can cope with their minimum food needs only by depleting seeds, livestock and agricultural assets needed to produce food in the future. Without robust and sustained action, people struggling with severe food insecurity risk slipping into an even worse situation and eventual starvation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Iran has offered to mediate between India and Pakistan over the long-standing issue of Kashmir by using its special influence and relations with two countries. Radio Pakistan quoted Ambassador of Iran to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost as saying in an interview that the Iranian Government is ready to give its assistance for peace and tranquility in the region. He said the progress and development of both India and Pakistan would get hindered by any conflict, or tension between the two countries. The envoy said the Free Trade Agreement between Pakistan and Iran would soon be operative to enhance two-way trade. Ambassador Honardoost also said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is not only a game-changer but would also turn to be a unifying force for the countries in the region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 18-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer produced a resilient performance as he overcame a tough challenge from Australia's Nick Kyrgios in an enthralling three-set thriller to book his place in the finals of the Miami Open here on Saturday. After clinching the first set, the Swiss maestro went down in the second against the spirited Kyrgios before rebounding strongly in the tie-breaker of a thrilling semi-final clash that lasted over three hours. The final score of a three-set affair read 7-6(9), 6-7(9), 7-6(5), in favour of Federer. Federer and Kyrgios have played six consecutive tie-breaks in their two FedEx ATP Head-to-Head meetings, with the rivalry currently tied at 1-1. With the win, Federer has once again set up a clash against Spanish maestro Rafael Nadal, who eased past Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 7-5 in their last-four clash of the men's singles event. It will be Federer's third meeting with longtime rival Nadal in 2017 and 37th in total. The Swiss has won both the clashes, including the Australian Open summit showdown. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF) will resume the consultations process under fifth review in Dubai on Saturday. Consultations are being held under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement to discuss economic reforms and development projects undertaken by the Pakistan government during the last four years, reports Radio Pakistan. Secretary Finance Tariq Bajwa is leading the Pakistani delegation in the preliminary phase of discussions whereas Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar will lead the delegation at the concluding session. The talks are happening in Dubai as IMF officials had refused to visit Pakistan due to the law and order situation in the country. However, later, the two agreed to hold discussions in Dubai. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiv Sena on Saturday continued to express their strong support towards their MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who is now on a 'no-fly' list for assaulting an Air India staffer, saying that people are viewing the entire incident one-sidedly and no looking at the other side of the story. "I have no explanation as to why such negative remarks were against Ravindra Gaikwad, he has always been nice and polite to people. Taking action on him for such behaviour is not right, people are only looking at one side of the coin," Shiv Sena leader Arvind Sawant told ANI. Sawant further stated that Gaikwad's behaviour was provoked and that action should be taken on the airline, and not the MP. "A person who is known for his balanced behaviour was provoked, is what I can say. Even he (Gaikwad) was harassed but no one is speaking on it," said Sawant. Earlier in the week, Gaikwad informed that he has apprised Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, who responded by assuring that he would look into the matter. Gaikwad had come into limelight due to the recent incident where he assaulted an Air India staffer by beating him with his slipper. Gaikwad had also submitted a complaint against Air India before the Delhi Police alleging that he was pushed and yelled on. In his complaint, Gaikwad, who allegedly manhandled Air India staffer, said he was made to travel by Air India on economy class even as he had business class ticket. Air India and six private airlines banned the 56-year-old MP from flying as he refused to apologise for the incident that triggered nationwide outrage. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Tun Abdul Razak, who is on a six-day visit to India, was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Razak later paid tribute at Rajghat, memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. Prime Minister Modi and his Malaysian counterpart are expected to hold delegation-level talks in the capital. The two leaders are expected to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations. Various issues, including terrorism, are expected to come up during the talks. A number of bilateral as well as commercial agreements are also likely to be signed. Prime Minister Razak's high-level delegation consists of several cabinet ministers and senior officials. He will also be accompanied by a large business delegation consisting of many of the top companies and businessmen of Malaysia. Prime Minister Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday. He took some time off to meet Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Friday evening. "Just had a very warm n friendly meeting with Mr Rajnikanth the Tamil superstar at his home," he tweeted. "Who doesn't know @superstarrajini ? Happy to meet the superstar in person today," he said. Rajinikanth, who shot parts of movie 'Kabali' in Malaysia last year, had expressed his wish to meet Prime Minister Razak when he was in Malaysia. This is Razak's third visit to India as Prime Minister. The last one was in 2012. His visit follows the highly successful visit of Prime Minister Modi to Malaysia in November 2015. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Speaking on the Ram Temple-Babri Masjid case, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy on Saturday asserted that the saffron party is ready to allot land for the mosque and put an end to the prolonged argument over the matter. "The Ram Temple row needs to be solved soon; the chaos which is prolonging since ages is not good. It is Ram's birthplace and we all know that, BJP is also ready to allot land for the mosque," said Swamy. Swamy further stated that the Supreme Court has accepted our petition and hope the verdict comes in our favour. "The Nyas committee and Nirmohi Akhara party say that they have been using this temple since ages. So we should give them what is theirs. Also, the Supreme Court has accepted my petition; I hope it's come in our favour," Swamy told ANI. Yesterday, the apex court refused to give early hearing to the Ram Temple row after litigants objected to Swamy's role in the case. The apex court asked Subramanian Swamy to explain what his locus standi in the case is. Swamy, who had filed the petition, had pleaded before the top court to hear the case on a day-to-day basis and pass an order favouring immediate construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. The apex court had earlier described Ram temple as a ''sensitive and sentimental'' issue and called for an amicable settlement of the dispute by all concerned parties. On March 21, the apex court had suggested an out-of-court settlement in the highly vexed case. The top court had set March 31 as the deadline for all the parties involved to present their stance on the issue. While most of the parties, including Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), BJP, have welcomed the court's suggestion, the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) had rejected the idea, saying time for amicable settlement of the issue is long over. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The latest attack on a Shia Mosque in Parachinar in Pakistan's North West Tribal region's Khurram agency was the sixth such attack on Shias in this town since 2012 highlighting their worsening plight and other minorities living in Pakistan. According to Human Rights Activists here in Geneva, attacks against minorities do not appear to raise eyebrows in Sunni-majority Pakistan anymore, and are fast becoming a norm. In the last two days, there have been two incidents, one targetting Shias and the other the Ahmadis. The Banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) took responsibility for the attacks as Pakistan again plunged into a vicious cycle of sectarian violence. Just last month, more than 80 persons were killed in an attack on a Sufi Shrine in southern Pakistan. The latest suicide attack on March 31 at the entrance of a Shia mosque in Parachinar in the remote north western tribal region bordering Afghanistan killed at least 22 and wounded more than 50 people with the majority being Shia. The timing of the attack, which was when people were gathering for Friday prayers, was to ensure maximum casualties. The Parachinar region has witnessed a series of terror attacks in the past, including in January 2017, December 2015, September 2013, and September and February 2012. Like the Shias, the people of another Muslim sect who are subject to systematic persecution by the Pakistani State are the Ahmadis. The March 30 attack on and killing of Malik Saleem Latif, a prominent leader of the Ahmadi community, who was also related to the Pakistani Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam by militants from the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhanghvi, is a case in point. According to a recent report released by the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya, since the Blasphemy law came into effect in Pakistan in 1984, more than 250 Ahmadis have been killed because of their religious beliefs. Apart from facing a threat to their life, a blatant example of the Pakistani State's support and encouragement to Ahmadi persecution is visible in the passport application form that every Pakistani citizen applying for a passport needs to fill in. The application requires all Muslim citizens of the country to sign a declaration affirming that they consider Ahmadis as infidels. While Pakistani leaders and government officials lose no opportunity to claim that people of all religions enjoy equal rights in the country, the requirement of a declaration in a passport application form designating Ahmadis as infidels, is a clear case of the State endorsing discrimination among its citizens. Attacks will continue to take place against the minorities in Pakistan, until and unless the government takes the hard decision to clamp down on the radical Islamic groups, most of whom have the backing of the Army and the country's intelligence agencies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Asserting that he had never put his faith in Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in the first place, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday asserted that India should embrace ballots for its elections to ensure a fair voting process. "I have never put my faith in EVM machines. You never know where the vote goes once the button is pressed. Which is that when elections are being conducted with across the world with ballots, that India is not keen? I stand with Advani ji, Mayawati and Kejriwal that EVMs should not be held. The next State Assembly Elections should not have EVMs," Digvijaya told the media here after the Congress delegation's meeting with the Election Commission. Meanwhile , the Congress has conveyed to the poll panel that there is an extraordinary suspicion about the fairness of the EVM machines post recently conducted elections- specially Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, adding that apparently the polling in these stated did not "reflect the public mood and confidence as noticed by parties. The Congress has also appealed to the Election Commission to direct impartial and unimpeachable experts to revisit and re-verify the authenticity of all voting machines being deployed in the two-by elections in Madhya Pradesh, which must be done transparently in the presence of authorized representatives of political parties. "In the face of the revelation about tempering of EVMs, it is necessary that the entire process should be re-examined thoroughly and all agencies and persons involved in maintenance, operationalisation and data feeding in the machines and all other performing duties and responsibilities including storage before use of EVMs in further elections and all parties should be taken in confidence for the credibility and viability of the use of EVMs or to revert back to the all systems of the ballot papers," the Congress said in a statement. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also met Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi to discuss the EVM tampering issue. "We have been saying that the EVMs were tempered. Are the elections in this nation being conducted fairly? Are people casting their votes or machines itself deciding it?" Kejriwal said addressing media after meeting Election Commission. He further alleged that the software in the machines was changed, so that when the voters press any button it will only lead to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Calling for tampering-free elections, Kejriwal said that machines have not been checked which raises a big question mark on democracy. Defying the Election Commission's claim that machines cannot be tempered, he said they are being tempered at large scale. Earlier today, The Election Commission ordered an inquiry into reports that the EVMs in Madhya Pradesh were malfunctioning, and also sought a report about the incident where the voter-verifiable paper audit trail machine generated an acknowledgment slip with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) symbol even though the chief electoral officer had pressed the button for the Samajwadi Party candidate during a demonstration exercise. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) If you apply restricted use pesticides, you need to keep records of those applications for at least three years and you need to make this recording within 14 days of making the application. Traditionally, applicators did this with paper record books which could be obtained from a variety of sources. Recently, the Pesticide Education Office has developed PeRK, which is short for pesticide record keeping. PeRK is available for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices. It is free. It is an approved method of keeping the restricted use records for pesticides by the Department of Agriculture. A new 2.0 version was released recently, which makes this a good time to let folks know that this exists. The app records the pesticide product applied and how much was applied, product application rate, target site and pest(s), date and time of application, temperature, wind speed, and disposal method. The records are saved and stored within the app on the device. They can be exported via email as a .csv file, which can be opened in Microsoft Excel and other common software programs. Records are saved to each individual device and are not part of a Cloud or internet database. New features in version 2.0 include an updated interface; the ability to take and save up to three photos per record; the option to use the app as a guest to try the app without creating a profile; links to the UNL PSEP's Facebook, Twitter -- you can tweet to us right from the app -- and YouTube accounts; and an added link to Nebraska's DriftWatch map in the app's "additional resources" section. Contact information for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Pesticide Safety Education Program and Nebraska Department of Agriculture Pesticide Program, emergency phone numbers, a link to the DriftWatch website, and links to helpful publications also are included in PeRK. PeRK is specifically designed to meet the needs of pesticide applicators in Nebraska but is also used by applicators outside of Nebraska. PeRK accommodates non-Nebraska users by providing a "notes" text field for writing additional notes about the application to meet their state requirements. It is my understanding that at the beginning, there is some time needed to input the startup information pertaining to the products you are using and the applicator information. But once you get this setup done, the app works really well and actually will save time in recording these required records. Towards capital infusion for FY 2017 Andhra Bank announced that the Government of India has remitted Rs 1100 crore on 31 March 2017 towards contribution of Government of India in the preferential allotment of equity shares of the Bank. The amount will remain in Share Application money till compliance of certain terms. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the revised Air Services Agreement (ASA) with Malaysia. The revised text of ASA was initialed in 2011. However, due to some diversion on Article 13 i.e. related to remittance of earning, the Agreement could not be signed. During the meeting held in ICAN 2016, Malaysian side agreed to revise the text of said article as suggested by M/o Finance, Govt. of India Features of the Air Services Agreement Existing ASA was signed in 1974, hence there is a need to revise, update and modernize the exiting ASA Text of existing ASA has been replaced with the new text as per latest ICAO template. Cooperative Marketing Arrangement for 3rd country airlines has been added Clause on domestic codeshare has been added The articles on 'safety and security' have been added in the revised ASA The article related to 'intermodal services' have been added in the revised ASA that will permit air passengers and cargo to move through any intermodal transport from any point in the territory of other party. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program of Asian Development Bank (ADB) is expanding towards the East with Myanmar formally becoming the 7th member of SASEC in 2017. Shri Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance of India noted that Myanmar is key to realizing greater connectivity and stronger trade and economic relations between the SASEC sub-region and the countries of East and Southeast Asia and that Myanmar's membership in SASEC can offer a host of opportunities for realizing synergies from economic cooperation in the sub-region. SASEC member countries recognize that most of SASEC's multimodal connectivity initiatives include Myanmar. Road corridors in Myanmar provide the key links between South Asia and Southeast Asia. Ports in Myanmar will provide additional gateways to the landlocked North Eastern region of India. Development of multi-modal connectivity between North Eastern region of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar has the potential of unleashing tremendous economic energy in the sub-region. SASEC's energy connectivity and energy trade prospects will be enhanced with the inclusion of Myanmar, involving its substantial resources of hydropower and natural gas. Moreover, developmental impacts of economic corridor in the SASEC sub-region will be maximized by exploring potential synergies with corridors in Myanmar that are linked to those in other Southeast Asian countries. Myanmar was accorded an observer status of SASEC in 2013 when ADB's annual meeting was held in Noida, India. Myanmar has been participating in annual SASEC Nodal Officials' meetings as an observer since 2014. It was invited by the participating countries of SASEC countries to become a full member in 2015. The SASEC program was formed in 2001 in response to the request of the four countries of South Asia - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal - from ADB to assist in facilitating economic cooperation among them. These four countries comprise the South Asia Growth Quadrangle (SAGQ), formed in 1996, as a vehicle for accelerating sustainable economic development through regional cooperation. As a project-based partnership, the SASEC program has been helping realize regional prosperity by enhancing cross-border connectivity, facilitating faster and more efficient trade and promoting cross-border power trade. Maldives and Sri Lanka joined SASEC in 2014, further expanding opportunities for enhancing economic linkages in the sub-region. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At Shahjahanpur manufacturing facility in Rajasthan Vikas EcoTech's newly commissioned Polypropylene manufacturing plant was destroyed in a fire that engulfed this particular section at company's Shahjahanpur manufacturing facility in Rajasthan. The damage was limited to only one building that housed the polypropylene section and a material warehouse. The company's four other manufacturing units situated in the same factory complex are safe and fully operational. No human casualties were reported and all company's employees are safe. The polypropylene unit was expected to contribute around 3% to company's annual sale in FY 2017-18. It would take a minimum of 4 months to restore full production of this unit. According to initial estimates, the total damage to the Factory building, Machinery, WIP, Raw material and Finished goods stock could be around Rs 15-20 crore. The building, machinery and stocks destroyed were fully insured. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Around 10,000 trucks in Maharashtra have stopped plying to south Indian states in support of the strike by truckers there against the sharp increase in third-party insurance premium. "We are fully in support of our brethren on strike and so we are not sending any vehicles from here to cross over to the southern states. The trucks daily carry all types of cargo, ranging from foods, fruits, vegetables, industrial good, general and consumer goods for the markets there.", said Maharashtra State Truck/Tempo/Tanker/Bus Transporters Confederation, Senior Vice-President, Raman Khosla told IANS Trucks from other states which are not on strike come upto the Maharashtra border with their cargo and return without exiting to the southern states with the support of all truckers unions and associations, he added. Around 22 lakh trucks have stayed off the road in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry since Thursday. At least 13 police and three civilians were wounded when a bomb exploded on Saturday near a police training centre in Egypt's Tanta city, country's Interior Ministry said. The explosive device was placed on a motorcycle, Efe news service reported. Security forces have cordoned off the scene and begun combing the area. Police stations and checkpoints in the Egyptian capital and other cities have been the target of attacks in recent years, many of which have been carried out by extremist factions. --IANS qd/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Border Security Force personnel on Saturday seized 49 exotic South American parrots from West Bengal's Nadia district, an official said. Acting on a tip off about bird smuggling, the BSF troopers of Maluapara outpost under Nadia's Krishnanagar sector, raided an abandoned house and seized the rare birds whose import/export is banned according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) agreement. "The BSF personnel launched a special patrol at 12.25 p.m. on Saturday and recovered 49 Scarlet-fronted Conure parrots from an abandoned house near the international border in Hudapara village," BSF's Deputy Commandant General of South Bengal Frontier Naveen Chouhan said. This is a second seizure of parrots in 2017 after BSF officials seized 10 parrots earlier from the same area. "No smuggler could be apprehended in the operation. The birds were handed over to the Kolkata Zoo," the officer added. --IANS mgr/ssp/vgu/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Film: "A Dog's Purpose"; Director: Lasse Halstrom; Cast: Josh Gad, Dennis Quaid, Peggy Lipton, Bryce Gheisar, K.J. Apa, Juliet Rylance, Luke Kirby, Gabrielle Rose, Michael Bofshever, Britt Robertson, Logan Miller, Kirby Howel-Baptiste, Pooch Hall and John Ortiz; Rating: ***1/2 "A Dog's Purpose", directed by Lasse Hallstrom, is an emotionally-packed dramedy based on the similarly-titled 2010 novel by American humourist W. Bruce Cameron. The narrative shares the soulful and surprising story of a devoted dog who finds the meaning of his own existence through the lives of the humans he teaches to laugh and love. The film begins on a very melodramatic note and quickly settles on Bailey, a Golden Retriever whose life is shown from his birth to his death and his reincarnation through three other different breeds and genders; Ellie - the German Shepherd K-9, Tino - the Pembroke Welsh Corgi and as Buddy- The Saint Bernard. Each time he is reincarnated, it tells his story from life to death except in his latest life where he meets Ethan, his first owner, once again. In a major chunk of the film, we see a rather traditional boy-and-his-pet tale unfold. An emaciated dog is adopted by the eight-year-old Ethan who christens him Bailey. They become soul mates as Ethan grows up into his teens. This section of the narrative veers from cute to slapstick silly antics such as the comic disruption of an important business dinner party to pure melodrama with the over-the-top alcoholic Jim, Ethan's father as well as a school bully who harms Ethan. Each episode drags down the proceedings from the real star of the show, Bailey, who like all the dogs in the film is magnificently trained and appealing on screen. There is also a budding romance between Ethan and Hannah that the dog sweetly lands right in the middle of. With each death and reincarnation, the graph of the plot oscillates from sentimental to dramatic comedy which comes a full circle where the core message, and love of animals, is delivered in the film. But there is never that moment that just breaks you in the way you expect a film like this to do. The stars of the show are clearly the dogs, as well as the right-on-the-mark voice-over by Josh Gad who lends his voice for Bailey, Ellie, Tino and Buddy. Gad invests his vocal performance with just the right touch of quaintness, eccentricities and curiosities. Bryce Gheisar as the young Ethan and K.J. Apa as the teenager, are charming and effortless so is Dennis Quaid as the older Ethan. Britt Robertson as the young Hannah, Peggy Lipton as the older Hannah, Kirby Howell Baptiste as Tino's owner and Juliet Rylance as Ethan's mom are cute and equally competent. John Ortiz as the squad officer Carlos has nothing much to offer, and is perfunctory. Luke Kirby as Ethan's dad Jim, Logan Miller as the school bully, are in thankless role but overdo it anyway. Director Hallstrom succeeds in providing a diversified visual style to the proceedings, thanks to Terry Stacey the Directory of Photography and Michael Carlin, the production designer. The period-appropriate pop songs that fill the sound track, conveys the various time slots and Composer Rachel Portman's score drives home the right notes. Overall, the film certainly tugs at the heartstrings of anyone who has ever loved a pet. --IANS troy/rb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Standing ovations, stamping feet and screams of admiration greeted ousted Indian-origin Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas at the memorial ceremony for ANC stalwart and revered anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada on Saturday. Gordhan and Jonas were honoured by a huge crowd of hundreds at the Johannesburg City Hall. Axed Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom and Former Public Service and Administration Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi also attended the ceremony, South Africa's News 24 reported. The former Finance Minister and his deputy were ousted by President Jacob Zuma over allegations that they held secret meetings abroad in an attempt to undermine the country and its economy. Gordhan and Hanekom were seated next to former President Nelson Mandela's widow, Graca Machel. Also in attendance were Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel as well as former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, among others. Representing the Nelson Mandela Foundation, professor Njabulo Ndebele did not mince words in lashing out at the current state of the ANC-led government. "A criminal syndicated government is a beast that can swallow us into oblivion," said Ndebele. The memorial came at a politically heated time, following a cabinet reshuffle by President Jacob Zuma during which he fired a number of ministers. The Kathrada Foundation Youth Desk's Busi Nkosi during her tribute to Kathrada, shared memories of their jokes together and Kathrada's "teddy bear hugs". The memorial was originally to be held jointly by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and the SA Communist Party. However, following the cancellation of a state memorial, the Gauteng ANC also joined in on the commemoration ceremony. Kathrada died on Tuesday morning, and his funeral service was held at West Park cemetery in Johannesburg on Wednesday. President Zacob Zuma was asked by Kathrada's family not to attend the funeral. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday urged the central government to take steps for cancelling the bail of Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case. A day after Aseemanand walked out of Hyderabad jail, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Member of Parliament told reporters that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was adopting double standards in dealing with terrorism. He alleged that the government is soft towards non-Muslims facing terrorism charges but tough towards Muslims. He recalled that the BJP used to talk tough against terrorism and had even stated that it would not view the problem from a religious angle. "Why so much love for Aseemanand. Cancel his bail. You can't take a rigid stand on one side and be soft on another side," Owaisi said. The MP said Aseemanand had confessed his involvement in the Ajmer blast but after he was acquitted by a court, the BJP government did not file an appeal to challenge the verdict. He remarked that 'acchey din' have come for Aseemanand and said 'acchey din' would also come now for Sadhvi Pragya and Colonel Purohit. "When non-Muslims facing terrorism charges get bail, the government adopts silence but on the other hand Muslims facing similar charges have to spend 10 years in jail because they are not granted bail. This is great injustice," he said. On Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's statement comparing 'Namaz' with 'Surya Namaskar', Owaisi said he should stop this 'drama baazi' (theatrics) and discharge his constitutional duty of doing justice to people. He pointed out that 15 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh were on the verge of losing their livelihood due to closure of abattoirs. The AIMIM chief said when millionaires hoarding black money could be given amnesty, why those engaged in the business for generations could not be given some time to streamline their operations. He said the country earns Rs 36,000 crore through export of buffalo meat and Uttar Pradesh accounts for Rs 11,000 crore revenue. The MP said the export policy of the government also talks about promoting export of buffalo meat. Owaisi alleged that the BJP is raising the issue of a beef ban in states where it suits its interests. "In Uttar Pradesh, cow is mummy and in North East it's yummy because elections are scheduled to be held there next year," he said and pointed out that even in Goa, the BJP is not banning beef. On Jammu and Kashmir, he said the misgovernance of the BJP-PDP government was responsible for the present situation in the border state. He wanted the BJP to spell out its policy and wondered why it failed to crush terrorism which it had promised before elections. --IANS ms/pgh/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China's home-grown BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) will expand its cooperation to Thailand and Sri Lanka, and then to the entire Southeast Asia to go global, its operator has said. Du Li, general manager of Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou Holding Group Co., said his company will continue to explore models for scientific and technical cooperation on BDS, including the joint construction of base stations, joint technical development and research, personnel training and exchanges, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou established the first batch of three overseas Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) and its networking for BDS in Chonburi province in Thailand in December 2013. It is also planning to build a China-Asean science and technology city in Thailand for promoting BDS applications. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) consists of 10 countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou will cooperate with Sri Lankan authorities to develop at least 10 CORS in the South Asian country for such applications as land surveying and mapping, ocean fishery and disaster warning, Du said. The establishment of CORS in Thailand and Sri Lanka will extend the BDS coverage at least 3,000 km more towards Southeast Asia and South Asia, Du said. Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou is in charge of the operations and services of BDS, a GPS-like global positioning system. By the end of 2016, BDS already had a constellation of 32 satellites. "Our priority is to expand BDS from China to the frontline of the Belt and Road Initiative, and Optics Valley BeiDou is a pioneer," Li said. China-made smartphones, such as Huawei smartphones, will be good platforms for BDS to go overseas as they carry Chinese chips, Li said. --IANS py/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who arrived in Assam on Saturday, recalled his first arrival there way back in 1959 and expressed his emotional attachment with the state's people and other parts of the region. The spiritual leader arrived in Assam on Saturday to deliver a lecture organised by a local media house, the Assam Tribune Group of newspapers. He is expected to take part in Namami Brahmaputra festival and deliver a speech at the Gauhati University on Sunday. The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit different places of Arunachal Pradesh from April 4 including Tawang, which China often claims as disputed territory. China has expressed its concern over Indian government's move to allow Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh, saying it will impact bilateral relation between the two countries. "Whenever I come here I feel the emotional attachment with the people of Assam and northeast. I had to escape in 1959 due to Chinese Army's increased activity in Tibet. When we send some of our men to Indian border, they readily agreed to allow us entry," he said while recalling his first arrival in Assam. Appreciating India's secular identity, the spiritual leader said Indian secularism teaches everyone to respect for all religion and non-believers. "India also has the tradition of Ahimsa (non-violence). Ahimsa is based on compassion. We have to apply our intelligence to be compassionate. For a peaceful world we need a compassionate mind," he said. Saying that the last century (the 20th century) was one of century of violence where more than 200 million people were killed, the Dalai Lama said that 21st century is, however, giving a ray of hope as the youth are more compassionate. He also advocated for strong spirit of dialogue to resolve disagreements. Opposing the pattern to identify religion with terrorism, the Dalai Lama said that he feels very uncomfortable when terrorists are associated with particular religion. "Terrorists may belong to a particular religion, but that they do not represent the religion. I am very uncomfortable when someone says Muslim terrorists or Buddhist terrorists. A true Muslim never follow the path of violence. There may be mischievous persons among Buddhists, Muslim, Hindus, Christians or Jews. These mischievous persons cannot represent the community," he said. --IANS ah/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Kolkata Mayor and veteran CPI-M leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya on Saturday alleged that he was manhandled by a group of agitators in West Bengal's Hooghly district. Bhattacharya claimed "goons" of the ruling Trinamool Congress beat him up on Saturday and stopped him from going to Hoogly's Bhabadighi village to hold a meeting with the local people as part of an apolitical democratic forum "Save Democracy". "We were stopped on our way to Bhabadighi. Police had barricaded the road. A group of Trinamool Congress supporters attacked us. They dragged me out of the car and pushed me to the ground in front of the police," he said. "The Trinamool goons hit me and my co-workers of 'Save Democracy' and snatched my mobile phone. Even the females in our group were not spared. This is an unthinkable situation in a democracy," he said. The veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader also accused the police of not taking any action against the mob. "Police played the role of a silent spectator throughout. They made no efforts to stop the attack but requested us to go back from the spot. Police have completely failed in maintaining law and order," Bhattacharya added. Rubbishing all the allegations against his party, local Trinamool Congress MLA Manas Majumdar claimed his party activists were in no way involved in the incident and the protest demonstration was organised by the locals. "I have heard about the incident. However, Trinamool Congress has no involvement in this. The locals who do not want unrest and provocation in the area stopped them," he said. District Superintendent of Police Sukesh Jain, however, claimed there was only a "minor scuffle". "Police were there to ensure nobody got hurt. His (Bhattacharya's) phone was not snatched from him. It fell down during the minor scuffle," he said. Jain said police did not have any prior information about Save Democracy's programme. Tension had been brewing since last month in Bhabadighi village, with some residents agitating against the proposed construction of a railway track which, they say, will fill up a large section of a pond. Terming the present situation in the state as a "reign of terror", the Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra strongly condemned the attack on Bhattacharya. "The heinous attack on Bikash Bhattacharya at Goghat by TMC goons in presence of police points to the complete reign of terror. Protest massively," Mishra wrote on Twitter. In the evening, state Left Front heavyweights took part in a rally denouncing the 'attack' and 'vandalism' and 'police inactivity'. The rallyists, led by LF chairman Biman Bose, Mishra and CPI-M leader Sujan Chakraborty walked from Kolkata's Entally to Sealdah railway station. Bhattacharya was also present in the protest rally. State Congress President Adhir Chowdhury criticised the attack on the members of the apolitical forum and charged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with establishing an unofficial law to curb the freedom of speech of the opposition. "Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has formulated an undeclared law that only her party will have all the privileges to speak and act on all the issues. Will no one else apart from Trinamool Congress and its supremo Banerjee be able to voice their opinions?" Chowdhury questioned. --IANS mgr/ssp/pgh/bg (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four Delhi University students were arrested for "chasing, misbehaving and overtaking" Union minister Smriti Irani's car in an inebriated state here on Saturday. Police said the minister's security staff complained to the Police Control Room (PCR) at around 5 p.m. about the four youths chasing her car and trying to overtake her pilot car near the Myanmar Embassy in Chanakyapuri area. All the four students -- identified as Anand Sharma, Avinash, Shitanshu and Kunal -- are in the age group of 20-25 and students of a South Campus college. They have been detained for interrogation at the Chanakyapuri Police Station. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police R.P Meena told IANS: "During their medical examination, they were found to be under the influence of alcohol." Smriti Irani's security staff stopped the students' speeding Santro car after chasing it near the French Embassy, when it tried to overtake the minister's pilot car repeatedly, Meena said. They later handed over these students to the PCR van and the local police, who had reached the spot by then. "They have been held for speeding, drunken driving and misbehaving with the minister and her staff," the officer added. --IANS sp/nir/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Kajol, who successfully completed shooting for comeback Tamil film "VIP 2", says she had a great time working with her director Soundarya. "She is great. She is wonderful person. She has been absolutely amazing to work with and I have had great time working with her," Kajol said at the launch of McVities Kids Culinaire festival. Last seen in 1997 Tamil film "Minsara Kanavu", Kajol has returned to Tamil filmdom after nearly two decades. "VIP 2", a sequel to the 2014 Tamil blockbuster "Vela Illa Pattathari", stars Dhanush in the lead role while Kajol plays a suave businesswoman in a pivotal role. "The role is something I am really very happy about. I really can't reveal much about the film, as I have got strict orders from my director not to talk about the film," the "Dilwale" actress said. Talking about her association with Mcvities, Kajol shared that since she is a mother herself, it is really important to address the issue of nutrition with children. "My association with Mcvities has been great, as we share the same thought process, which is healthy can be tasty as well. It is really important to teach kids about nutrition," she said. Apart from the Tamil film, Kajol is also working with her husband Ajay Devgn for their home production. "It is too early to talk about my home production film. We will most probably start shooting in the coming 2-3 months," she said. --IANS iv/vgu/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The head warden of a prison was on Saturday placed under suspension after a video showing him dancing with a woman inside the jail premises went viral on social media. "Haryana Inspector General of Police (Prisons) has suspended Satwan Singh, Head Warden, District Jail Karnal with effect from April 1, 2017, for his involvement in a video of cultural programme at District Jail Jind, which went viral on social media," a state government spokesman said here. The video showed the jail warden, in uniform, performing some vulgar dance steps with a professional dancer on a stage inside the Jind jail premises during a function organised to mark the Holi festival. Other jail officials were also seen in the video. In the video, people were also seen throwing currency notes on the woman dancer during her performance. --IANS js/lok/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.2 per cent in 2017 and by 7.7 per cent in 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday. "Though this is a challenging time, India has remained a bright spot. We have successfully implemented reform measures," Jaitley said at the second annual meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) here. He said that India requires investment of Rs 43 lakh crore or $646 billion for infrastructure over the next five years and hoped that the NDB, which became operational in 2015, could contribute to this. "This offers enormous opportunity," he said. "NDB President K.V. Kamath has done a commendable job. The bank is now fully operational. It has successfully raised money from the market. It will soon make disbursements in India," he said. "The first agreement on NDB loan in Madhya Pradesh has been signed some days back," Jaitley added. He said that NDB was established to finance sustainable development projects and must fit into the role envisioned by its founding nations -- India, China, Brazil, Russia and South Africa. Hoping that the NDB will offer loans at cheaper rates, Jaitley said India was looking to have a mutually beneficial partnership with the bank. "I hope that NDB will emerge as a development bank and help in funding of emerging economies," he said and added that protectionism and geopolitical tension remained as major challenges for the economies. "Protectionism is a challenge to growth prospects. But global growth is showing positive sign and moving upwards and is expected to improve further in 2017-18," the Finance Minister said. Kamath, who also addressed the opening ceremony said that the bank was looking at financing over $two billion in 15 projects of member countries in 2017. The bank, which has headquarters in Shanghai, had financed seven projects in 2016 and is now working towards opening its first regional centre in Africa. "We found great support in first year of operation. We hope to open African Regional Centre by May," Kamath said. --IANS mm/in/vm (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Colombian Red Cross said on Saturday that at least 127 people were killed in a landslide in southern Colombia's Mocoa city. The tragedy occurred on Friday night when heavy rains caused rivers to overflow, devastating several neighbourhoods in the provincial capital of Mocoa, Xinhua news agency reported. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos arrived in Mocoa on Saturday morning and ordered immediate assistance to all the affected population. He said he would send several aircrafts to deliver humanitarian aid for those affected in Mocoa, a city located in the middle of the jungle of the Amazon region. Santos said earlier that at least 112 people were killed in the landslide in Mocoa. The country's fire department said earlier on Saturday that 102 people were killed and 185 wounded in the landslide. --IANS qd/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat on Saturday said he was innocent and it was up to the people to judge whether he was being politically harassed or not. He was reacting to the attachment of his properties by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Louis Berger bribery case. "I have not done anything wrong. I was given an intimation by the ED that my properties were attached, only after the news appeared in the media," Kamat, a sitting Congress MLA told IANS in Panaji on Saturday. The ED earlier this week attached properties worth Rs 1.95 crore belonging to Kamat and another former Chief Minister Churchill Alemao, which were purchased around the time the Louis Berger bribery scam had occurred sometime in 2010. When asked if he was being made a victim of political harassment, Kamat said: "It is up to the people to decide that." Former Chief Ministers Churchill Alemao and Digambar Kamat and other government officials have been accused of allegedly accepting a $976,630 bribe in 2010 from officials of US-based Louis Berger consultancy firm to secure implementation rights of a multi-billion dollar water and sewerage project in Goa worth Rs 1,031 crore funded by the Japan International Co-Operation Agency (JICA). Top officials linked to the JICA project as well as senior Louis Berger employees have been arrested by the Crime Branch along with Alemao. Kamat has been charged for criminal conspiracy 120-b and 201 (tampering with evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The FIR was first filed after Louis Berger headquarters in the US, discovered during its internal audit that bribes had been paid to elected representatives and government officials in Goa for securing contracts. Subsequently the ED started a separate probe in the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002. ED officials have said that 14 shell companies were formed by Louis Berger officials to transfer the money from the company account to beneficiaries in Goa. --IANS maya/pgh/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak was on Saturday accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here. He also called on Vice President M. Hamid Ansari. Prime Minister Narendra Modi received Razak at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. He was then accorded a ceremonial guard of honour. Razak later met Ansari. "Always a pleasure meeting a valued partner. PM Najib Razak calls on Vice President Hamid Ansari at his residence," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. After arriving here, Razak tweeted: "Namaste! Arrived in New Delhi to begin the second-leg of my official visit." Razak, who arrived in Chennai on Thursday, is on a five-day state visit. The visit, his third to India as Prime Minister, will see both sides discussing projects worth five billion dollars and hold talks on infrastructure, defence cooperation, air services arrangements, tourism and cultural relations. --IANS rs/py/in/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maldives' opposition alliance has denounced the governments "new campaign of intimidation and harassment against opposition leaders" after a failed bid to impeach the speaker of Parliament. Speaker Abdulla Maseeh was accused of allowing President Abdulla Yameen to control the Parliament and preventing the institution from holding the government and state institutions accountable. After a no-confidence motion against Maseeh was defeated earlier this week (March 27), fresh terror charges were raised against former President Mohamed Nasheed. Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was expelled from ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), the party he founded; and former Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim was abruptly taken back to jail, reported Maldives Independent on Saturday. Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim and his deputy, MP Abdulla Riyaz, were interrogated by the police whilst jailed MP Ahmed Mahloof was deprived of his weekly phone call, family meeting and conjugal visit for one month. "This week's crackdown appears to be an attempt by the President to effectively criminalise the political opposition and thwart any attempts by the Parliament to hold the President and his regime accountable," the Opposition alliance said in a joint statement on Friday. Ahead of the no-confidence vote, former Presidents Gayoom and Nasheed along with JP leader Gasim and Adhaalath Party leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla had signed a pact "to unite against President Abdulla Yameen's increasing authoritarianism." The grand coalition sought to dismantle the pro-government parliamentary majority with the bid to remove speaker Abdulla Maseeh, said the report. Hours after the vote, the ethics committee of the PPM expelled Gayoom from the party, accusing him of "working with the opposition to overthrow the lawful government." But Gayoom, who is in India visiting a sick relative, disputed the legal standing of the ethics committee, which he had suspended in October at the height of the PPM's leadership dispute. According to the PPM's charter, the party's president can only be dismissed if a two-thirds majority of delegates at a national conference votes in favour of a no-confidence motion. The PPM on Saturday said that loss of any one person is no obstacle to the party's work, referring to Gayoom ouster. On Thursday, the civil court ordered the police to shut down the "office of the PPM president" set up by Gayoom in Henveiru Thema and to stop any activity being carried out under the party's name with the PPM flag and logo. On Friday evening, police officers broke the padlock on the gate and removed the PPM nameplate and flag from Gayoom's office. Fresh terrorism charges were also filed against former President Nasheed over the military's nine-day "protective custody" of then-MP Yameen in 2010. On Friday night, Anas Abdul Sattar, secretary-general of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), was also summoned for questioning at the police headquarters. Sattar said the police interrogated him over a tweet from the MDP's official account that urged opposition supporters to gather near the police headquarters in solidarity with Gasim when he was summoned for questioning. --IANS soni/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The body of Raudha Athif, a 21-year-old model who appeared on Vogue magazine's cover and was found dead in a hostel dormitory in Bangladesh, was buried in Rajshahi city's cemetery on Saturday. Athif was a second-year student at Islami Bank Medical College in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and her body was found in her dorm room earlier this week by her classmates, reported the Daily Star newspaper. An autopsy was conducted on the body and the officials called it a suicide, according to reports. One of the three members of the autopsy team said: "There was no evidence of sexual or any other kind of abuse. We've sent for further tests in Dhaka to determine if she had ingested any pills. However, at this point, we are certain that this was a suicide." Mahmuda Begum, superintendent of the female-only hostel, said Athif "always looked happy" and "it is hard to believe she would commit suicide". Raudha's family arranged the burial proceedings with the help of the police and through a foundation. A total of 11 members of Raudha's family including her parents, brother, and cousins, attended her funeral. Maldivian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Aishath Shaan Shakir, was also present at her funeral. Athif posted regularly on her Instagram, sharing professional photos and sketches of herself with her 31,000 followers. Outfit snaps, travel logs and selfies highlighting her strikingly beautiful blue eyes were all common from the star, who had described modelling as a hobby rather than something she wanted to pursue as a career, said the report. Athif became an internet sensation in the Maldives in 2014, after a shoot that she posted online called the "Maldivian Girl With Aqua Blue Eyes". --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak ahead of delegation-level talks here on Saturday. "Honouring a shared heritage. PM @narendramodi receives PM @NajibRazak at Hyderabad House," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. A number of agreements are expected to be signed between India and Malaysia following the delegation-level talks between the two sides. Earlier in the day, Razak was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Thereafter he called on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj too called on the visiting dignitary. Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday on a six-day visit to India and reched New Delhi on Friday evening. He will also visit Jaipur on Sunday where he will meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. The is the Malaysian Prime Minister's third official visit to India. --IANS ab/vm (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, March 31 (IANS/AKI) A total 27,850 migrants and refugees landed in Europe in the first 89 days of this year, of whom 23,125 reached Italy, the UN migration agency International Organisation for Migration said on Friday. Although the overall arrivals were a fraction of those in the same period of 2016 (165,697), 7,000 more people reached Italy by sea, the IOM figures showed. The number of people who died on the perilous route from North Africa to Italy also climbed - to 595 from 346 last year - although overall there were 85 fewer deaths in the Mediterranean, according to the IOM. As recently as on Thursday, one migrant's body was recovered and five were missing after a German ship rescued 141 people from a rubber dinghy off Libya that had begun to take on water and was sinking slowly, IOM reported. Over 1,000 people landed in Italy on Thursday, arrivals that were not included in the data for this year up to 29 March, IOM said. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress leader and former Union Railway Minister C. K. Jaffer Sharief has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi supporting Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat for the post of President of India. "Yes, I have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 29 extending my support to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to become President of India," Jaffer Sharief told IANS over the phone. Veteran Congress leader Jaffer Sharief has opined there would be nothing wrong if Bhagwat becomes the President of India. "I want Muslims should be broad-minded on supporting Bhagwat for the post of President of India. He is a patriot and deserves to become the President of the country," Sharief said. The Congress leader, who tried to join the Janata Dal (Secular) during the by-election in Hebbal, Bengaluru, when the Congress tried to select another candidate rather than his grandson as the Congress nominee for the 2016 by-election, declined to comment on rumours of him joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "I do not want to comment on rumours on joining the BJP or any other political party," he said. --IANS str/lok/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 2,826 people were killed in Syria in March, a Britain-based war monitoring group reported on Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights detailed that the number of last month's casualties is similar to February, in which 2,854 people lost their lives, Efe news reported. The NGO pointed out that at least 858 civilians were among the casualties, including 141 minors and 131 women. A total of 288 civilians were killed in the bombings by Syria and Russia, while 76 were killed in the shelling by the Syrian regime forces and seven were tortured to death in prisons. Shells launched by rebel and Islamic factions left another 31 civilians dead, while the shells fired by the Islamic State (IS) terror group claimed the lives of seven others. IS militants also executed 15 civilians, while Islamist factions killed five others. In addition, 14 civilians were killed by Turkish bombings and gunfire by a Turkish border guard, while the US-led international coalition bombings killed another 281 and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an armed alliance led by Kurdish militias, killed four civilians. Another 57 civilians died in car bomb attacks. The casualties also included 43 Shia citizens from Iraq, who died in IS-claimed explosions in the centre of Damascus. The SOHR added that 762 members of radical groups, including IS and former Syrian branch of Al Qaeda, lost their lives. Syria has been the scene of a six-year conflict that has left more than 260,000 dead, according to the SOHR. --IANS ksk/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan is worried about the signs that India is rethinking its policy of 'no first use' (NFU) of nuclear weapons. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Ehsan ul Haq (Retd), who has remained closely associated with Pakistan's nuclear thinking, said on Friday that Islamabad has always been sceptical about Indian 'no first use' claims. According to Dawn online, Haq said the recent disclosure by a scholar has cleared Pakistan's doubts that India's NFU policy is a sham. While speaking at the launch of 'Learning to Live with the Bomb, Pakistan: 1998-2016' book by Naeem Salik, a former official of the Strategic Plans Division, Haq said he was happy that Indians were themselves exposing their claims. He claimed it was happening against the backdrop of the extremist Hindutva agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party government. According to Dawn, Vipin Narang from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said India was moving away from its policy of 'no first use' and might carry out a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Pakistan if it believed Islamabad was going to use nuclear weapons against it. Haq said the rethink in India was the latest in a series of provocative actions. According to the retired General, Indian steps from admission of interference in erstwhile East Pakistan to references to Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, scuttling the Saarc summit, escalation along the Line of Control, claims of surgical strikes, diplomatic manoeuvring to isolate Pakistan and domestic war hysteria had heightened tensions between the two countries. India had been "challenging the credibility of Pakistan's nuclear deterrence through doctrinal as well as technological developments", he said. Salik, who has in his book discussed Pakistan's learning curve as a nuclear power, said Indian moves like the recent talk about transformation from a "passive NFU to pre-emptive disarming strikes" had kept Pakistani strategists on their toes. --IANS py/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, started functioning as unified entity from Saturday post merger of its five associate banks, besides Bharatiya Mahila Bank. The five associate banks merged with the SBI are State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore. With the merger, the SBI joins the league of top 50 banks globally in terms of assets. "We welcome the customers, employees and all other stakeholders of associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank to SBI fold. The bank will strive to conclude the transition process within a quarter," SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said here in a statement on Saturday. "The combined entity will enhance productivity, mitigate geographical risks, increase operational efficiency and drive synergies across multiple dimensions while ensuring increased levels of customer delight," she said. The total customer base of the bank reaches 37 crore with a branch network of around 24,000 and nearly 59,000 ATMs across the country. The merged entity now has a deposit base of more than Rs 26 lakh-crore and advances level of Rs 18.50 lakh crore. "The bank will rationalise its branch network by relocating some of the branches to maximise the reach. This will help optimise its operations and improve profitability. Integration of treasuries of the associate banks with SBI will bring in substantial cost saving and synergy in operations," the statement said. Post-merger, all the customers of associate banks now enjoy the benefits of a wide array of digital products and services offered by the State Bank of India, the bank said. Online SBI, the bank's web banking platform is the fifth-most visited financial site, globally. --IANS mm/nir/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Press Association of India on Saturday demanded from the central government a suitable pension scheme for working journalists, accredited by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). The demand came at the first meeting of the newly elected executive committee of the Press Association headed by senior Journalist Jaishankar Gupta. A resolution, in this regard, was also passed by the association. "It is high time that the Government of India should introduce a suitable pension scheme for the working journalists accredited by it," the resolution said. The demand is genuine and would provide some social security to a large number of accredited journalists who do not come under any such scheme, it added. The Press Association said many state governments already have pension schemes for working journalists in their states while many others, who had no such schemes, have now started introducing such schemes for the scribes. The Press Association also demanded that the existing Central Government Health Scheme for the accredited journalists should be applicable in all government and private hospitals as was done in the case of the employees and pensioners of the government. It also stressed on the need for a suitable health insurance policy for the accredited journalists adding that pension and health facilities are the minimum requirements for the scribes. The Press Association will write letters to the concerned Central Ministers and seek meetings with them to press for the demands. --IANS bns/lok/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leather goods manufacturers, who have experienced a slump in raw material supply from domestic sources, fear that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Uttar Pradesh government's action against illegal slaughterhouses could hit supplies and raise prices. They also say a "blanket ban" on slaughterhouses could defeat the purpose of the Make in India programme for the $12 billion Indian leather industry, which is among the top five in the world's leather market. In case of short supply of raw materials from the indigenous market, manufacturers need to look for costly imports of raw materials instead of cheap domestic sourcing which would make Indian leather exports less competitive in the world market. "The crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses by the Uttar Pradesh government cannot be questioned, but a blanket ban will affect the domestic supply of raw material. Since illegal units were in the supply chain, some amount of short supply is expected," Tapan Nandi, Convenor Chairman for German Investment in India of the Council of Leather Export, told IANS. According to industry sources, Uttar Pradesh being a large state contributes a majority of raw material supply along with Punjab, Bihar and West Bengal. "A blanket ban on slaughterhouses would nudge manufacturers to depend more on imported raw materials, which are costly. If the imports go up, that will add to the cost of Indian leather products and we will lose our competitiveness in the world market. Thus, the Make in India programme could be impacted," he said. According to the Council of Leather Export, India produces about three billion sq ft of raw leather annually. The country's leather industry is bestowed with an affluence of raw materials as India is endowed with 21 per cent of the world's cattle and buffaloes and 11 per cent of the world's goat and sheep population. "The domestic raw material supplies have been showing a declining trend mainly because our exports were hurt. About 2,000 tanneries in India have been facing a crunch in supplies. About seven per cent of fallen animals are not being sourced for value addition," Nandi said. India's export of leather and leather products for the financial year 2015-16 recorded a negative growth of 9.86 per cent, touching $5.85 billion as against $6.49 billion in previous year. "It is too early to say whether the illegal ban in Uttar Pradesh will impact the supply. But some apprehension prevails if a large-scale ban is executed," Adhar Sahni, Vice President, Indian Leather Products Association, told IANS. However, imports of finished leather have been increasing at a rate of 15-20 per cent year-on-year. "Imports are rising according the need of the products. If orders of leather products require imported raw materials, imports will accordingly rise," Sahni said. Nandi, however, asked, "If the ban on slaughterhouses, mainly cow slaughter houses, is a political decision, the imports of raw materials, particularly cow hide and skin, should be a sensitive matter for the political parties. Isn't it?" Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator and Kuwait-based businessman Thomas Chandy was sworn in as a minister in Kerala on Saturday. The 69-year-old businessman was sworn in as the new Kerala Transport Minister by Governor P. Sathasivam at the Raj Bhavan here. A three-time legislator from the Kuttanad assembly constituency in Alappuzha district, Chandy started his political career as a Congress student activist. He later left Kerala to start his own business in Kuwait and now runs a string of schools in the Middle East and other establishments. Known as 'Kuwait Chandy', he tried on many occasions to get a Congress ticket to contest the assembly elections, but that never happened. Finally it was K. Karunakaran's resignation from the Congress party to float his own political outfit Democratic Indira Congress-Karunakaran (DIC-K), that gave Chandy the political break by giving him a seat to contest in the 2006 assembly polls. He was the only DIC-K candidate to win the polls and till the 2011 assembly polls, he remained with the NCP, even when his political mentor Karunakaran returned to the Congress. Ahead of the 2016 assembly polls, Chandy created a flutter by stating in advance that he will win and become the State Minister for Water Resources. This statement irked the Left Front and after Pinarayi Vijayan was elected as the Chief Minister, the ministership for the NCP went to Chandy's party colleague A.K. Saseendran. But on March 26, Saseendran quit after an audio emerged in which he was heard having lewd conversations with a woman on the phone. Rushing down from Kuwait, Chandy forced his national leadership to see that he replaces Saseendran. With none other than these two legislators, the national leadership prevailed upon Vijayan to make Chandy the minister. "I have a big task in front of me and it's to resurrect the state-owned Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, which is in a bad shape. My predecessor did a lot of work and I will continue to carry it forward," Chandy told the media before being sworn in. "I am sure I can do something because I have found out that in other states the transport services are run profitably," he said. Chandy has one son and two daughters who are settled abroad. He also owns a resort on the edge of the famous Punnamada Lake in Kuttanad, where the annual Nehru Boat Race is held. --IANS sg/vgu/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The indefinite strike by the truck owners in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to press for their various demands entered the third day on Saturday. The movement of goods continued to be affected by the strike by lorry owners' associations in both the Telugu states as more than five lakh trucks remained off the roads for a third consecutive day. Officials said the movement of essential commodities remained unaffected by the strike. Transporters have exempted essential items like milk, vegetables, petrol and diesel from the strike. Transport authorities have also made alternate arrangements to ensure uninterrupted supply of essentials. Officials, however, say if the strike continue beyond Sunday, this could impact movement of essentials. The strike has been called by South India Motor Transport Association (SIMTA) to press for various demands including reduction in the rate of third party insurance. SIMTA leaders said their future course of action would depend on the outcome of talks scheduled with Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) here on Monday. SIMTA member and Telangana Lorry Owners Association secretary G.Durga Prasad claimed 80 per cent of the transport vehicles, including lorries and mini vehicles, remained off the roads. SIMTA is demanding withdrawal of the hike in the third party insurance premium, reduction in challan, toll and other Regional Transport Authority (RTA) fees. While transporters in all six southern states have common demands, those in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are also seeking single permit system in the two states. --IANS ms/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UK government has said that it will stand up for Gibraltar's interests after the territory accused Spain of using Brexit to forward its territorial aims, a media report said on Saturday. After reported lobbying from Spain, the European Union's Brexit negotiation strategy is that decisions affecting Gibraltar will be run past the Spanish government, the BBC report said. Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said this was "unacceptable". "This is a disgraceful attempt by Spain to manipulate the European Council for its own, narrow, political interests." "Brexit is already complicated enough without Spain trying to complicate it further," the BBC quoted Picardo as saying. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson held talks with Picardo in an effort to reassure him of the UK's support. Johnson said: "As ever, the UK remains implacable and rock-like in our support for Gibraltar." An EU source told the BBC the inclusion of the Gibraltar issue in the document had come after lobbying from Spain. However, British Prime Minister Theresa May had not mentioned Gibraltar once in her 2,200-word letter triggering Article 50 (the official process of leaving the EU), starting the Brexit process. Spain has long contested Britain's 300 year-rule of Gibraltar. Gibraltarians, who number about 30,000, rejected by 99 per cent to 1 per cent the idea of the UK sharing sovereignty with Spain, in a vote in 2002. However, Spain has continued to press its territorial claim. In last June's EU referendum, Gibraltar voted by 96 per cent to 4 per cent to remain in the EU. --IANS ksk/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress and BJP in Kerala on Saturday demanded that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan come clean on the 'ouster' of Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau Director Jacob Thomas. The Left government late Friday evening asked Thomas to go on a month's leave and as soon as the announcement came, his name plate outside his office was also removed, which signalled that he would not return after his leave ends. The Kerala High Court came down heavily on Thomas last week and told the government that it was high time he was reined in. The court's reaction came while it was looking into various vigilance cases filed by his department. Addressing reporters in Malappuram on Saturday, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said Thomas' removal looks mysterious. "Vijayan should come clean and state if Thomas was moved out as demanded by the court or by the CPI-M. Vijayan has taken people for a ride by promising a strong vigilance department," said Chennithala. Incidentally, during the assembly election campaign last year, the Left Front had promised a strong vigilance department and had criticised Thomas' transfer from the department when Oommen Chandy was the Chief Minister. After being sworn in, in May last year, the first decision Vijayan took was to appoint Thomas as the vigilance chief. Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Kummanem Rajasekheran told reporters on Saturday "there are lots of doubts in the way things are going, especially the sudden removal of Thomas and the people wish to know the reason as well". Meanwhile, Power Minister M.M. Mani on Saturday told the media bluntly that Thomas was moved out. "He tried to do his best and some shortfalls were there... besides, there were some court remarks too and hence this happened," said Mani. Barely two weeks back, Vijayan told the Kerala assembly Thomas would not be moved out. The Chief Minister, however, is yet to react to Thomas' sudden removal but his party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told the media on Saturday that the party never interferes in governance and that's done by the government. --IANS sg/pgh/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For the burgeoning and slack bureaucracy of India's most populous state, peace of mind is the first casualty after the saffron-robed Yogi Adityanath took over the reins as its 21st Chief Minister almost a fortnight back. From day one, as the 44-year-old Yogi began functioning out of his suite in the VVIP guest house, bureaucrats have been burning the proverbial midnight oil to get in his good books and also to fix the "wrongs" of the predecessor government. As Adityanath inspected the Annexe office at the Shastri Bhawan, sprucing up of the dingy, unkept offices across the state began at lightening speed. The officials lost no time in making employees read out and take the "swacchta shapath" (cleanliness oath) and wield the broom to make the offices and the premises spic n' span. Officials like the district magistrates of Ghaziabad (Nidhi Kesharwani), Lalitpur (Roopesh Kumar), Gonda (Ashutosh Niranjan), Sant Ravidas Nagar (Suresh Kumar Singh) and Hathras (Avinash Krishna Singh) have gone into proactive mode to ensure the tehsil and collectorate offices are clean and drinking water is available for people coming to meet them. Adityanath's surprise inspection of the Hazratganj police station in the state capital has also spurred the men-in-khakhi into action, with many happily wielding the broom and cleaning up police stations. This seemingly has annoyed former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav so much so that he told mediapersons last week that he did not know that "adhikaari itni acchi jhaadoo lagate hai, warna main bhi inse khoob jhaadoo lagwata" (had I known the officals can sweep so well, I too would have got them to wield the broom). Inspector General of Police (Lucknow) A. Satish Ganesh has been conducting daily inspections at various police stations, ensuring they are clean and that complainants are attended to in a proper manner. As a result of a diktat from Adityanand, referred to as "maharaj ji" by the faithful, almost all police stations now have earthen pitchers (ghadas) full of clean drinking water and jaggery to go with it. The new Chief Minister's "desire" that officials work for 18-20 hours has also sent jitters down the spine of the babudom. The effect is for all to see as at a public holiday -- Jhulelal Jayanti -- contrary to deserted offices earlier, government offices were abuzz with activity as many senior officials were spotted working, preparing presentations for the next review meetings that the chief minister's office has scheduled over the next few weeks. Pictures of Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav -- the presiding deities of the past dispensation, have been consigned to the store rooms and smiling portraits of Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi now occupy the place of pride in all major offices. Time was when government vehicles with blue bacons could be spotted till as late as 10 a.m. in the popular Lohia and Janeshwar Misra parks. They have suddenly gone missing. Fitness freaks in the bureaucracy now wrap up their morning walks early to be at the office by 9.30 a.m., something which was termed "flexible working hours" during the previous government. Gutkaa, paan and paan masaala which hitherto were part of the 'nawaabi rehan sehan' (princely lifestyle) now stand banned and anyone found chewing these prohibited items is hauled up. On Friday, a driver in the VVIP fleet of the Chief Minister's cavalcade was fined Rs 500 by the Secretariat Administration Department (SAD) for chewing tobacco in the secretariat premises. A religious and committed cow lover, Adityanath's ascendancy has also meant more care for stray cows who are now being herded to 'gaushalas' (cow shelters) across the state and given privileged treatment. Closure of illegal abattoirs, one of the core agenda points of the BJP during the 2017 state assembly polls, has been taken by officials a wee bit more seriously than expected. In a bid to outdo each other in the maddening race to impress the Chief Minister, they cracked down on slaughter houses across the state, even downing the shutters of legal, license-holding shops. Thousands of people employed at these places were rendered jobless and meat delicacies went off the plates, forcing intervention of the Chief Minister himself, who warned officials against any overzealousness and asked them to stop harassing legal meat traders. Adityanath's diktat of "perfect" wheat purchase centers for procurement -- to eliminate middlemen -- has also sent the officials into a tizzy. Having doubled the purchase targets for earlier target of 50,000 metric tonnes, Adityanath got going in his first week of work to provide succour to the farmers, who seemingly voted for the BJP overwhelmingly. These purchase centers began work from Saturday and the Chief Minister has asked legislators and party MPs to go and monitor their functioning so that feedback could be gathered on "compliance of his orders". After a terse warning from Adityanath to ensure pothole-free roads across the state by June 15, officials have begun work on an "elaborate action plan" to get "things moving at the earliest" an official said on Saturday. The task is uphill, rue officials, while pointing out that this would mean work on some 53,615 km of roads under the Public Works Department. "We do not know the Chief Minister much, he is still unknown territory," said an official while trying to explain how difficult it is for them to gauge Adityanath's mind. (Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in) --IANS md/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WBPCC President Adhir Chowdhury today met West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi and demanded resignation of TMC ministers who were purportedly seen accepting money in Narada sting operation. "We have requested the governor to look into the matter, where we have seen several TMC ministers were accepting money in a sting operation. The TMC ministers should resign on moral grounds. The state government instead of taking action are trying to defend them," Chowdhury told reorters here. Chowdhury submitted a memorandum demanding the same. Chowdhury also alleged attack on the former mayor of Kolkata Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya in Hoogly district and accused the state government and TMC of trying to stifle the voice of the opposition. "We have told the governor that it seems the government is decided against any cooperation and coordination with the opposition, be it inside or outside the state Assembly. Saner voices of caution and advice are routinely ridiculed and a brute majority in the Assembly is touted as a license to marginalize dissenting voices of opposition and the civil society," he said. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and six others were allegedly heckled at Ulhaspur in Hoogly district this morning. Leader of opposition Abdul Mannan condemned the alleged attack and said the TMC was trying to subvert the democratic rights and values in the state. "TMC is trying to turn the state into a place where there is no place for opposition. Since 2011, they have been trying to break every democratic institutions and subvert basic democratic rights and values," Mannan said. CPI(M) led Left Front took out a protest rally in Entally area in the city to protest against the alleged attack on Bhattacharya. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today ruled out bringing a Spain-like Historical Memory Law to erase all remnants of the "humiliating British rule" in the state as proposed by Manpreet Badal. "It is a part of India's past from which we have already learnt our lessons and moved forward," he said and made it clear that he is personally not in favour of tampering with history, "be it good or bad". State finance minister Manpreet Badal had reportedly spoken about bringing a legislation in lines with Spain's 'Historical Memory Law' which would pave the way for renaming colonial landmarks in the state and formally condemn British rule. The Historical Memory Law of Spain condemns Francisco Franco's dictatorship and honours its victims. Speaking to mediapersons after appointing Congress leader Lal Singh as chairman of Punjab Mandi Board, the Chief Minister said as a historian himself, he does not believe in "wiping out" history but in "learning from it". Amarinder said this could be Manpreet's personal opinion and he would look into any such legislation as and when it is formally brought to his notice. "By changing the name of Akbar Road, one cannot wipe out the existence of Mughal emperor Akbar. History can neither be changed nor rewritten," the Chief Minister said. Replying to another question, Amarinder said the Reserve Bank of India is likely to release the pending Cash Credit Limit for Punjab on Monday and disclosed that he had personally called up Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last night over this issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Amber Heard has countersued the producer of her 2015 film "London Fields", accusing him of keeping a series of sexy photos of her without her consent. Christopher Hanley initially filed suit against the actress after she and director Mathew Cullen staged a publicity boycott at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival in Canada, following the producer's alleged movie takeover. Hanley's USD 10 million claim against Heard for an alleged breach of contract and her subsequent refusal to attend the Toronto premiere was filed in November last year, and now she has responded by telling a judge, "This case shines a spotlight on the dark underbelly of Hollywood". In a cross-complaint targeting Hanley and his wife Roberta and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Heard's attorney claims, "A rising film star, Heard agreed to play the lead in the motion picture entitled London Fields based on Martin Amis's novel. "After reading the script, she insisted on specific restrictions about nudity and sex scenes in the film as a condition to agreeing to appear in the Movie. Hanley... expressly agreed to Heard's terms, and they were memorialized in the Nudity Rider to her contract." According to Heard, Hanley fired director Cullen and created a "Producer's Cut" that included unauthorised sexual images and vulgar scenes. "The Hanleys also caused to be filmed secretly several additional nude and sex scenes with a body double for Heard and included them in the 'Producer's Cut' - also in violation of the Nudity Rider," states the cross-complaint. "The secret filming of this body double footage was not on the schedule that had been provided to Heard and was shot with a skeleton crew only after Heard had completed filming and had left the set. "The body double footage included an explicit pornographic sex scene that Heard would never have agreed to do herself... The body double footage was designed and intended to leave anyone who saw the images with the distinct impression that it was Heard." The actress also claims Hanley demanded "continuity photos" of Heard during filming. "Such photos can include various states of undress during wardrobe changes. There is no legitimate business purpose for Hanley to have such photographs after filming was concluded, and the Hanleys had and have no rights to use such photographs for any proper purpose after filming ended." Heard is countersuing for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, among other complaints. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages plus a permanent injunction to prohibit distribution of the film. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Pranab Mukherjee today put a premium on debate and discussions, exhorting the student community to be argumentative, but not intolerant. Referring to first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the one who built modern India, Mukherjee said he had helped build an atmosphere of free debate and discussions and not conflict and confrontation. "As Amartya Sen had said, an Indian can be argumentative, but not intolerant," Mukherjee said at the 52nd Annual Convocation of IIM Calcutta today. "India is a land of tolerance, land of Buddha, land of Chaitanya, but not land of intolerance," he said further, adding that "please excuse me if I have hurt any sentiment by saying so". The President also made the point that management education, in order to be world class, needs to be able to embrace contrasting pedagogical approaches, multi-disciplinary allegiances, and contemporary skills and capabilities. "A plural mode of thought leadership in education enables the simultaneous pursuit of multiple paths to excellence," Mukherjee stressed. Such plurality is evident in the priorities and practices of IIM-C, Mukherjee pointed out, saying the institute has shown the way and it will assume leadership in innovative refinements in pedagogy. "Let hundreds of ideas blossom in universities and let there be debate, not confrontation," Mukherjee went on to say. "Accept criticism as argument and not as intolerance." He also spoke of making management education holistic to instil sensitivity of socio economic surroundings in learners. "Management education like education in other professional streams cannot be divorced from the socio-economic reality facing the nation," Mukherjee said. "Skilled and socially sensitive professionals will not only build Indian leadership in global business and industry, but carry on their shoulders the developmental priorities of the nation." He quoted Mahatma Gandhi as saying, "Education in a country has got to be demonstrably in promotion of the progress of the country." The President emphasised that the academic environment should be free from physical and mental violence, particularly in the seats of higher learning. He also touched on flowing of ideas from various parts of the world, saying "our ancient universities used to attract teachers, researchers and scholars from outside". "This had not led to blowing off of the foot from the ground. This is possible only if the foot is firmly placed on the ground," he noted. He also made a mention of IIM Calcutta's "rare capacity" to manage alliances with other educational institutions in the pursuit of complex goals. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and his Meghalaya counterpart Dr Mukul Sangma today met here and decided to resolve the boundary dispute through dialogue taking into account views of both sides. "We are all aware of areas of difference along interstate border between Assam and Meghalaya and certain discussion was held on this," Sangma said after the chief ministerial level meet that was convened after nearly 7 years. It was also decided to hold Chief Secretary level meetings to iron out differences and reach conclusions acceptable to the people of both states, he told reporters. Both the Chief Ministers agreed to take steps to amicably demarcate the 12 disputed areas at the border and fix boundary pillars. Sonowal said that he was confident about resolving Assam's decades-old border disputes with Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram through consultations and mutual understandings. Besides the border problem, extremist issue also came up during the meeting. Sonowal said that a joint mechanism must be put in place to check criminal activities in Assam's South Salmara and Mancachar districts bordering Garo Hills of Meghalaya. Sangma said that his government has been able to reduce crime considerably in his state and Assam government has also extended full cooperation in managing crimes at border areas. As Meghalaya shares a 433 km long border with Bangladesh, stopping illegal migration and managing crime at the border remained key concerns for Meghalaya similar to Assam, he said. Sonowal urged his Meghalaya counterpart to take steps to prevent cutting of hills that cause flash floods in Guwahati and Sangma assured him that it would be stopped. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The offices of Uganda's leading private newspaper were ransacked overnight and all its computers stolen, its editor said today, dealing a fresh blow to independent media in the country. "Almost all our desktops, a couple of laptops, cameras and hard drives were stolen," said The Observer editor Richard Kavuma, standing in the ransacked office in Kampala. "The thieves were probably looking to destroy the evidence (images) that might have incriminated them," he said. Kavuma, who discovered the break-in early Saturday, said the thieves had also taken the paper's computer server which backed up the office's data files as well as CCTV footage of the premises. In October last year The Observer suffered another break-in and its computers were taken. The paper, which is published three times per week, is known for investigative work and has been criticised several times by the Ugandan government. "One break-in is bad enough, to have two in six months is particularly hard on us. It's a big blow," James Tumusiime, managing director of Observer Media, said. Tumusiime described the newspaper, which he co-founded with a collective of journalists, as "a voice of reason" in a "landscape that is politically polarised." Since elections in February 2016 secured another five-year term for President Yoweri Museveni who has ruled the east African country since 1986, there has been a spate of break-ins targeting activist and civil society organisations. A group of 31 non-governmental organisations has petitioned the police, calling for urgent and transparent investigations. Kavuma, an award-winning journalist, described the break-in as "an attack on one of the independent voices the country -- it's bad for democracy, it's bad for the media." Kampala's police today condemned "in the strongest words possible" the break-in at The Observer, and said they would work to apprehend the criminals. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre has released more than Rs 2,000 crore as assistance to Tamil Nadu for drought relief and other works. "The Central Government released an amount of Rs 2014.45 crore as Central Assistance for Tamil Nadu yesterday," a PIB release here said. The state government had sought more than Rs 39,000 crore to take up the works following which an inter-Ministerial Central team (IMCT) was deputed by the Centre to assess the situation. A high-level committee (HLC) meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on March 23 had recommended the quantum of assistance based on the recommendations of IMCT and the Sub Committee of the National Executive Committee, it said. The assistance to Tamil Nadu includes Rs 1748.28 crore for drought (Kharif), Rs 264.11 crore for cyclonic storm Vardha and Rs 2.06 crore under National Rural Drinking Water Programme, the release added. Facing its worst drought in 140 years and the destruction casused by Cyclone Vardah here in December last, the state government had sought Rs 39,565 crore relief package from the Centre. The state government has declared all 32 districts in the state as drought-hit. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China today banned wearing veils or growing "abnormal" beards in Xinjiang as part of a major crackdown aimed at curbing "religious extremism" in the restive Uygur Muslim majority province. According to law, which came into effect today, special task forces to curb extremism would be set up at regional, prefectural and county governments and local leaders would be evaluated annually for their localities' achievements on the matter. The stringent regulation aimed at curbing religious extremism came amid the government's intensifying campaign against what it calls the rising threat of terrorism and separatism in the province was passed this week. The law bans a wide range of acts including wearing veils or "abnormal" beards, without specifying the term. It will also be illegal to refuse to watch state television and listen to state radio, or prevent children from receiving national education - activities deemed "manifestations" of extremism, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. The regulation were passed by the Xinjiang legislature's standing committee. Security and surveillance measures have been beefed up in recent months following reports of heightened violence in the region's rural south, including massive shows of force where thousands of heavily-armed police paraded in a number of cities. The province is restive for several years due to the resentment by Uygurs over increasing settlements of Han population from other provinces. China blames separatist East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an Al Qaeda affiliated group, for the spate of violent attacks in and out of the province. A number of its members reported to have joined Islamic State (IS) to fight in Syria and Beijing apprehends that they would return to carry out more attacks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A ship, loaded with 1,000 tonnes of cargo, crashed into a bridge in southern China today, shifting the 25-year-old structure by 1.6 metres, officials said. The incident happened in Guangdong Province on the South China Sea coast. "The Lianxi Bridge, built in 1992, was hit by the ship loaded with about 1,000 tonnes of goods at around 9:50 a.M. In Zhuhai city," Wang Shiyun, deputy head of the city's maritime administration, said. The vessel, which is 98.8 metres long and 15.6 metres wide, was registered in Wuhu, eastern China's Anhui Province. No casualty was reported and traffic control measures were imposed on the waters around the site, according to state-run Xinhua agency. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An avalanche of water from three overflowing rivers swept through a small city in Colombia while people slept, destroying homes, sweeping away cars and killing at least 154 unsuspecting residents. The incident triggered by intense rains happened around midnight in Mocoa, a provincial capital of about 40,000 tucked between mountains near Colombia's southern border with Ecuador. Muddy water and debris quickly surged through the city's streets, toppling homes, ripping trees from their roots and carrying them downstream. Many of the residents did not have enough time to climb on top of their roofs or seek refuge on higher ground. According to the Red Cross, 400 people were injured and 220 believed missing. President Juan Manuel Santos declared a state of emergency yesterday and said the death toll will likely rise but warned against speculating how many people are dead. "We don't know how many there are going to be," he said of the fatalities when he arrived at the disaster zone to oversee rescue efforts. "We're still looking." Eduardo Vargas, 29, was asleep with his wife and 7-month-old baby when he was awoken by the sound of neighbors banging on his door. He quickly grabbed his family and fled up a small mountain amid the cries of people in panic. "There was no time for anything," he said. Vargas and his family huddled with about two dozen other residents as rocks, trees and wooden planks ripped through their neighborhood below. They waited there until daylight, when members of the military helped them down. When he reached the site of his home yesterday, he found nothing but rocks and mud. "Thank God we have our lives," he said. As rescuers assessed the full scope of the damage, many residents in Moncoa continued a desperate search for friends and relatives. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Development Bank, funded by the BRICS group of nations including India, has approved the terms and conditions for adding new members and will come out with the final criteria by June, NDB head K V Kamath said today. The terms and conditions for membership have been approved by the board at its meeting today, he said. "We will now work on the criteria... Clearly, there ought to be countries which fit in aspirations with which the bank was setup. Global South is an important constituent... We will certainly look at the wider set of countries," he told reporters after the meeting. Asked if any country has evinced interest, he said it is early to talk about the countries which may like to join the board till criteria are announced. "That is a bit premature because before the board formally approves the process going forward we are not in a position to actually go to that stage in terms of getting countries to show interest," he said. Kamath further said: "We expect, by June, we should be able to publish this (the criteria for new membership) on our website." The next board of governors meeting will be held in Shanghai next year, he said. Kamath said NDB has invested USD 1.5 billion in as many as seven projects since its inception in July 2015. "For 2017 we plan to do 15 projects for a value of USD 2.5-3 billion. This will be in the area of infra especially sustainable infrastructure." He said the global economy has started improving and the economies of all our member countries have also started improving including India. India continues to show good performance, China being stable with 6.5 per cent growth and three other member countries which were facing some challenges seem to be showing positive growth this year. Asked by when will NDB approve India's request for USD 2 billion in loans, Kamath said: "The pipeline that they have given us is going to be done over the next year and a half. We will also have to allow that all projects will not be ready for consideration. The USD 2 Billion worth of projects, we expect that to be done over two years." NDB was created with a vision to support and foster infrastructure and sustainable development initiatives in emerging economies. The Bank will complement the efforts of other existing financial institutions to realise the common goal of global growth. The founding members of the NDB -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) -- have put in capital of USD 1.5 billion thus far as capital contribution. NDB is also planning to raise up to 500 million through 'masala bonds' and increase its exposure to infrastructure projects in India to around USD 600-700 million during the year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration Minister S P Velumani today accused the DMK of instigating the people against the government, particularly on drinking water issue. "The state is witnessing an acute water shortage, both for drinking and irrigation, a situation not seen in the last 150 years," he told reporters here on the sidelines of a function. The minister was reacting to a question over a road roko staged by over 500 women protesting shortage of drinking water at Thondamuthur in his assembly constituency, yesterday. "DMK is instigating the people to agitate, as the constituency belonged to a minister...," he said. The minister said he has initiated various schemes for the development of the area and people there should understand and decide accordingly as per their conscience. Steps have been taken to fulfil the drinking water needs of all wards in the city and administration is sending lorries to meet the demand, he said. (REOPEN MES5) Velumani said Government has initiated various programmes for the development of schools and higher education. About Rs 159.32 crore was spent for providing laptops to school and college students free of cost and nearly 1.02 lakh free laptops were given away to the beneficiaries. The government has distributed over 1.97 lakh free bicycles to 11th standard school students at a cost of Rs 35.78 crore, he said. The minister said that the state government was also concentrating on development of girls education, particularly from Most Backward Classes and minorities and had spent Rs 98.21 lakh and Rs 3.92 crore for them respecively. An amount of Rs 91.06 crore was spent for education of SC/ST, he said. A driver was charred to death when a truck carrying clothes caught fire at southwest Delhi's Brar Square area in the wee hours today, the police said. It is suspected that the driver got stuck inside the vehicle that hit a divider, toppled and went up in flames, a senior police officer said. The incident occurred at around 3 AM. The driver was identified as Ikbal (41) who was on his way from Naraina to Dhaula Kuan when the accident occurred. When the police team reached the spot, they saw the truck up in flames. The fire department was informed and three fire tenders rushed to the spot to douse the blaze. "It took the fire fighters half an hour to douse the flames. When the truck was inspected, the driver was found lying on his seat. He was rushed to the hospital and declared brought dead," a police officer said. "It appears that he was speeding. The moment he took a u-turn from the road leading to Dhaula Kuan, he lost control over the vehicle. The truck skid and hit the divider before it turned turtle and caught fire," the officer said. Police said that they had found the broken number plate lying alongside the overturned truck. "The truck's number plate was also burnt but the Haryana registration number was faintly visible. We contacted the authority and traced the owner soon which helped us identify the driver. The investigation is on," he said. Traffic movement between Naraina to Dhaula Kuan was affected till noon due to cleaning works taken up on the site of accident. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) beat Australia's Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (11/9), 6-7 (9/11), 7-6 (7/5) to set up a mouth-watering Miami Open final against Rafael Nadal. Federer and Kyrgios produced an extraordinary range of shots in an enthralling, fiercely intense semi-final that kept a capacity crowd at Key Biscayne on the edge of their seats. When Federer won the third tie-break a furious Kyrgios hammered his racket into the ground three times as the frustration of a remarkable near-miss came flooding out. Kyrgios broke in the first set to go 4-3 up but Federer, with the loud crowd behind him, broke back to level at 5-5 when the Australian missed with an attempted big return. The big-hitting Kyrgios was frequently booed by the crowd for racquet throwing and language -- and sometimes for very little -- but appeared to be enjoying the role of pantomime villain. The first set tie-break was a gripping affair with the Australian twice having set point before it was decided when his return went wide. The boos rang out again as he hurled his racquet in frustration. The serve dominated more in the second set and with neither player able to break another tie-break was needed. Federer had match-point at 8-7 but found the net with his return. Kyrgios finally won the battle with an amazing cross-court return to go 10-9 up, then followed it up with a thundering ace to force a third set. There was nothing to choose between the pair in a third set that went to yet another tie-break. Kyrgios was furious when a fan called out during one point, and Federer enjoyed two successful challenges late on his way to a win that sent the crowd wild with delight as Kyrgios went wild with rage. Nadal defeats Fognini There was little drama in Rafael Nadal's 6-1, 7-5 win over Italian Fabio Fognini. The unseeded Fognini struggled to get going in the first set which was dominated by fifth-seeded Nadal and over with in 25 minutes. The Italian, who indicated he had some trouble with his elbow, put up a better response in the second but his work was undone when he double-faulted on break point, leaving the Spaniard to serve out for the win, Nadal will play in his fifth Miami final but will be looking for his first title in the Masters series event. "I think I played a very good first set," Nadal said. "He had mistakes obviously. In the second, it was not about losing concentration, it's about not being lucky at the beginning of the second set. "Normally I would have a break at the beginning of the second. I had so many chances and then situation changes. When you don't convert opportunities you're in trouble, and that's what happened," he said. Federer beat Nadal in an Australian Open final thriller in January to claim an 18th Grand Slam title and he swept past Nadal in straight sets in the fourth round at Indian Wells en route to the title there. "If it's Roger, going to be another one for both of us, and that's it. Just another one," Nadal said of another instalment in their long-running rivalry. To expand railway connectivity in Arunachal Pradesh and provide impetus to the strategic state from the security point of view, the Centre today formally announced the final location survey of three strategic railway lines. Union Minister of State for Communication and Railways Manoj Sinha and Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju formally announced commencement of the final survey at Naharlagun Railway Station here. The Centre, Sinha said, is attaching top priority to the North East and the NDA government has allocated a whopping Rs 5,886 crore for development of railway connectivity in the region. It is committed to connecting all states with broad gauge railway tracks by 2020, he said. The three proposed lines - Bhalukpong-Tenga-Tawang (378 km), North Lakhimpur-Bame-Aalo-Silapathar (247.85 km) and Pasighat-Tezu-Parsuram Kund-Rupai (227 km) will improve connectivity to northern and eastern frontiers of Arunachal Pradesh. "They will also help from the security point of view besides accelerating socio-economic development of the people," Sinha said in his address. The realistic cost assessment of the three projects would be known only after completion of final location surveys but is expected to be around Rs 70,000 crore. Though the survey for Pasighat-Tezu-Parshuram Kund-Rupai project can be completed within a short time but the other two will take time due to the hostile terrain, he said adding modern technique would be adopted to overcome the challenge. The survey by Northeast Frontier Railway is expected to be completed by October 2020. The minister assured to look into demands for introduction of goods and freight service train, introduction of a train between Naharlagun and Bangalore, Rajdhani Express status to the weekly AC express train and land acquisition for expansion of railways at Borum (Naharlagun). Sinha later told reporters that the Railways ministry had also sanctioned Reconnaissance Engineering-cum Traffic Survey (RETS) for eight new lines in the state for a total length of about 625 km. The new lines include, Itakhola to Seijosa (18 km), Doomdooma to Wakro via Simaluguri, Namsai and Chiwkham (96 km) Dangri to Roing (60 km) Naharkatia-Deomali (20 km), Lekhapani-Nampong-New Khamlang-Deben (75 km) and Tinsukia to Pasighat via Kanubari, Deomali, Lekhapani, Jairampur,Kharsang, Miao, Diyun, Tezu, Bhismaknagar, Roing and Dambuk (300 km). Sinha, who also holds independent charge of communication ministry, said that under the Bharat Net scheme, his ministry has proposed mobile connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country in a phased manner. Accordingly in the first phase one lakh panchayats have been targeted and laying of optical fibres and other requirements have been completed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lashing out at the separatists, Union minister Jitendra Singh today said whether they were ready to make their children stone-pelters for their "cause". Attacking the separatist leaders for giving a strike call tomorrow during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the Chenani-Nashri tunnel, he said it become a "fashion" for them to give such calls. Separatists had given a general strike call in protest against Modi's visit to the state to inaugurate the country's longest tunnel on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. In a joint statement, chairmen of rival factions of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik had said "There should be a complete shutdown on April 2 to protest the proposed visit of Modi. All rhetoric about development or construction of tunnels and roads are futile and will not succeed in luring us". Singh said that giving such calls has become a fashion for separatists and also a culture and tradition in Kashmir politics that "the so-called mainstream political leaders when they are out of power, they start using the language of the separatists and semi-separatists." "The politics of self interest is more important to them (separatists) than the public interest. They are doing it not for public interest," he told reporters. Questioning their representative character, he said that without contesting elections, some of them are self-appointed representatives of the cause of Kashmir. "Nowhere in the world, opposition to growth and development can be justified, whatever may be the cause and how holy it may be," Singh said. "If the cause is so holy, instead of getting the poor neighbours to become stone-pelters, they should first set an example by making their own children stone-pelters and this applies equally to some of the mainstream politicians," he added. The Union minister said that the separatists were against development and have reservations to it. "Some people have reservations to it (development). They are trying to oppose, but they are in fact blatantly exposing themselves because regardless of our political ideology, our faith and belief and our caste and creed and region, I think there is no justification in opposing anything which gets to supplement the growth and development of the region and the people," he added. Singh accused them of doing politics "more for self- interest rather than public interest" and asked the people to come out in large numbers to send out a strong message against the bluff, which is being played for decades by the separatists and some mainstream leaders. Attacking some politicians for resorting to the statements of separatists, he said that the moment they come to power, they start swearing in in the name of India and say Jammu and Kashmir being the integral part of India. The Union minister said that the youth and the common man of Kashmir wishes to be part of the mainstream. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five associates and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank became part of the State Bank of India (SBI) today, catapulting the country's largest lender to among the top 50 banks in the world. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT), besides Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), merged with SBI with effect from April 1, the bank said in a statement. "With this six-way mega merger, SBI has again displayed its ability to change and evolve in order to continue as the country champion among banks in India and to create enduring value," SBI said. With this merger, the bank will join the league of top 50 banks globally in terms of assets, it added. The total customer base of the bank will reach 37 crores with a branch network of around 24,000 and nearly 59,000 ATMs across the country. The merged entity will have a deposit base of more than Rs 26 lakh crore and advances level of Rs 18.50 lakh crore. Welcoming all the stakeholders of merged entities, SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said the bank will strive to conclude the transition process within a quarter. "The combined entity will enhance the productivity, mitigate geographical risks, increase operational efficiency and drive synergies across multiple dimensions while ensuring increased levels of customer delight," she said. Post merger, the bank will rationalise its branch network by relocating some of the branches to maximise reach. This will help the bank optimise its operations and improve profitability, she said. Integration of treasuries of the associate banks with the treasury of SBI will bring in substantial cost saving and synergy in treasury operations, she added. The government had in February approved the merger of these five associate banks with SBI. Later in March, the Cabinet approved merger of BMB as well. SBI first merged State Bank of Saurashtra with itself in 2008. Two years later, State Bank of Indore was merged with it. The board of SBI earlier approved the merger plan under which SBBJ shareholders will get 28 shares of SBI (Re 1 each) for every 10 shares (Rs 10 each) held. Similarly, SBM and SBT shareholders will get 22 shares of SBI for every 10 shares. SBI had approved separate schemes of acquisition for State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Hyderabad. There will not be any share swap or cash outgo as they are wholly-owned by the SBI. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An editor in Somalia says gunmen have kidnapped a local journalist on the outskirts of the capital. Ahmedwali Hussein says Hanad Ali Guled with the Goobjoog radio and television station was taken by six men on his way to work early today. Hussein says the journalist called his family from an unknown location and said he was being tortured by his abductors. Hussein says Guled had received death threats a day earlier. The abduction is reminder of the dangers that reporters face in a war-torn country where authorities have struggled to maintain security amid attacks by the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction. Somalia is often called one of the world's most dangerous places for media workers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India-Malaysia CEO's forum has pitched for a balanced mega trade agreement among 16 countries, including India, China, Australia and ASEAN members, that include both commodities and services. "Both trade and investment will benefit from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) ... Therefore, the Forum calls for a balanced RCEP which will address both trade and services and be concluded at an early date," the forum said in a statement today. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a mega trade agreement being negotiated among 16 countries including ASEAN, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. RCEP aims to be a deep integration trade agreement covering trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, intellectual property, competition, dispute settlement/legal and institutional issues among others. The India-Malaysia CEO Forum held its meeting yesterday and presented its report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the statement said. The meeting coincided with the visit of Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Raza to India from March 31 - April 4, 2017. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razad today held wide-ranging talks on cultural, economic and strategic engagement. The CEO forum said that there is a need for fresh investments by public and private sector companies from both sides, adding, "some hand holding would be needed, which can be provided by Invest India on the Indian side and MIDA on the Malaysian side." "Both sides also noted that companies can also look for the possibility of joint-venture in each other's countries or third countries specially in the ASEAN region," it added. The CEO forum identified key sectors for further cooperation and as well as the next steps required to boost bilateral economic cooperation. "India offers good opportunity for Malaysian Pension and Provident Funds to invest in Indian Infrastructure assets - specially brownfield assets in various sectors like road, aviation, power, offering long-term steady returns. Investments could also be made in Indian Infrastructure Funds," the statement said. Noting that in initial years Malaysian companies participating in India's infrastructure programme had experienced difficulties which have been subsequently addressed by India, the statement said, "This has provided fresh impetus for Malaysian companies to re-look and consider investing in Indian infrastructure projects in a big way." It also pointed out that the Indian side was looking at railway, water treatment and other projects in Malaysia. Malaysia is India's third largest trading partner in ASEAN. Bilateral trade between Malaysia and India stood at USD 12.8 billion in 2015-16, as against USD 16.9 billion in 2014-15. The trade balance is in favour of Malaysia (USD 5.4 billion in 2015-16). The forum members also agreed that specific sectors like manufacturing, industrial corridors in India and SMEs needs to be nourished and given special focus including in the context of India's Make in India initiative and Malaysia's focus on SMEs. "The forum members agreed that laws and regulations should be made easier by the governments to ensure that professionals on both sides can practice in each other's country without impediments," the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India today made a formal launch of BS-IV grade fuel across the country to keep carbon emission in check and set a target of ushering in BS-VI fuel by April 2020. The launch came days after the Supreme Court banned sale and registration of BS-III vehicles from April 1. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan formally launched the BS-IV grade transportation fuel here on the occasion of Utkal Diwas, the state foundation day, here. Pradhan symbolically commenced sale of the eco-friendly and low-emission fuel from 12 different locations across the country through live video links. The cities are Varanasi, Vijayawada, Durgapur, Gorakhpur, Imphal, Bhopal, Ranchi, Madurai, Nagpur, Patna, Guwahati and Shillong. "Today, we begin a new era of clean transportation fuel that will benefit 1.25 billion citizens of our country by substantially reducing pollution levels everywhere," Pradhan said while complimenting oil marketing companies for working in unison to set up refining infrastructure and logistics in a record time for BS-IV grade fuel. The OMCs are incurring an expenditure of Rs 90,000 crore for phase-wise upgradation of the fuel quality. "Migration to BS-IV fuels shows India's resolve to cut down emissions. The next step is to usher in BS-VI fuels by April 1, 2020, to be at par with global standards," the oil minister said. Though India is not a major polluting country, "we shall stand by the Prime Minister's commitment at COP-21 in Paris that India will substantially reduce carbon emissions and greenhouse gas emissions in coming years". Pradhan handed over a deposit-free domestic LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) to a woman here to mark the completion of release of two crore LPG connections to women beneficiaries from BPL households. The government, he said, is committed to providing sustainable, clean and affordable energy as an essential input for economic development of India. The petroleum ministry is pursuing various other forms of energy like liquefied natural gas (LNG) for industries and the transport sector, compressed natural gas (CNG) and autoLPG for automobiles and piped natural gas (PNG) for households, besides ethanol and bio-mass, to expand the existing energy basket. The "resounding success" of initiatives like Pahal, GiveItUp and the ongoing PMUY scheme are proof of the effectiveness of these socio-economic welfare schemes, which go a long way in ensuring energy inclusion of the poor, Pradhan added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India is seeking $2 billion in funding from the for infrastructure projects and wants the multilateral agency to be nimble footed in disbursing faster loans, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday. Stating that the NDB set up by the BRICS bloc two years ago must be alive to the role envisioned for it by its founders, he said India has a huge unmet need for infrastructure investment, estimated at about Rs 43 lakh crore (about $646 billion) over the next five years. "Seventy per cent of this will be required in power, roads and urban infrastructure sectors," he said. "This offers an enormous opportunity to an institution like the NDB, whose core mandate is sustainable infrastructure development." Jaitley said the first agreement for an NDB loan in India to finance major district roads in Madhya Pradesh has been signed a couple of days ago. "With this, the NDB will have its first footprint in India. We have proposed projects worth about $2 billion for NDB funding, which I hope will be taken up by the board expeditiously," he said while giving keynote address at the opening ceremony of the second annual meeting of the (NDB) here. India, he said, will work with the NDB to develop a strong shelf of projects in specific areas such as smart cities, renewable energy, urban transport, including metro railways, clean coal technology, solid waste management and urban water supply. "The uniqueness of NDB should lie in faster loan appraisal, a lean organisational structure resulting in lower cost of loans, a variety of financing instruments, including local currency financing, adoption of country system whenever possible and flexibility in responding to the needs of the clients," he said. Being a lean organisation, "it is also expected that the NDB will not only offer loans at cheaper rate, but will influence the more established MDBs to revisit their high cost model", he said. "Overall, it is our expectation that the Bank will bring in a whiff of freshness in project and loan appraisal as also will be nimble footed to meet the expectations of its clients," he said. Jaitley further said the NDB is at a crossroads and the meeting today will deliberate on the Bank's strategy for the next 5 years, including issues such as the Bank's capital, loan portfolio and expansion of membership. The group of five major emerging economies, known as BRICS, had in July 2015 launched a development bank aimed at financing infrastructure projects, mainly in member countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The NDB has come up amid huge expectations in a difficult time for the global economy, he said, adding that the estimated unmet demand for infrastructure investment in emerging markets and developing economies is pegged at over $1 trillion a year by the World Bank. These nations need to carry out this huge investment in a sustainable manner. "The established MDBs (multilateral development banks) are now capital constrained, and with their overemphasis on processes, are unable to meet this financing challenge. A bank like the NDB is well poised to step into the void," he said. Jaitley acknowledged that the formative years of NDB were never easy. "It is really heartening to know that the Bank is now fully operational, with seven loans already approved by the board of directors. It has also successfully raised money from the market and I am sure will soon make its first disbursement in India," he said. The NDB is considering setting up of an Africa Regional Centre. "As the NDB moves on, it must be guided by the commitment and pledge of the global leaders in 2015 to the sustainable development goals, and to mobilise the means required to achieve the SDGs through a revitalised global partnership," he said. The NDB's core mandate is to finance sustainable development projects. Indian Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat today called on Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid, who underlined the need for exchange of technology and training between the two armies for enhancing their professional skills. Welcoming Gen Rawat at the Bangabhaban here, the president said that the exchange of visit and holding joint exercises and training at army levels will play an important role in boosting relations between the two armed forces. "The president said enhanced exchange of technology and training between the two armies would enhance professional standard of the forces," Bangabhaban spokesman Joynal Abedin told PTI after the top level meeting. The president also expressed gratitude for the cooperation as well as assistance of the Indian army and its people during Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971. "Bangladesh and its people will remember the contribution of Indian army and civilians to our Liberation War," Abedin quoted the president as saying. The president also pointed out the excellent friendly relations between the two neighbours. On his part, Gen Rawat described ties between the two armed forces to be excellent as high-level meeting of two armies were yielding "very positive output". Gen Rawat's visit comes days ahead of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's official trip to India next week. Earlier, Gen Rawat met his Bangladesh counterpart Gen Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Huq at the Army Headquarters here and "discussed on matters of bilateral training of two friendly Armies and professional issues", an army statement said here. Accompanied by his wife Madhulika Rawat, Gen Rawat arrived here today on a three-day visit to Bangladesh along with a four-member delegation. Bangladesh army's logistics commander Maj Gen Ataul Hakim Sarwar Hasan received him at Bangladesh Air Force's (BAF) base Bangabandhu at Kurmitola. Gen Rawat also paid homage to the members of Bangladesh Armed Forces who were martyred during the 1971 war by placing floral wreath at Shikha Anirban in Dhaka Cantonment, where he was offered a ceremonial guard of honour. He thereafter visited northwestern Gobindaganj war field of 1971 and Bogra Cantonment as his battalion, 5/11 GR, had fought with distinction in the region during Bangladesh's war. "This visit is part of the ongoing high level exchanges between the Armed Forces of both countries," an Indian High Commission statement earlier said. The Bangladesh army chief had last visited India in September 2015 and the air and navy chiefs visited India in 2016. Indian air and navy chiefs made return visits to Bangladesh in the same year. "Considering the importance of the bilateral relationship the Indian army chief has chosen to visit Bangladesh in his first international tour after being appointed the Army Chief on January 1, 2017," the statement read. It said Gen Rawat shares a historic association with Bangladesh's 1971 war because of his battalion's stake in battles in the northwestern region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian Coast Guard Ship Shaunak, an offshore patrol vessel built by the Goa Shipyard arrived at her base port here today. It was received by Commander Coast Guard (AP), DIG AK Harbola and senior officers from Coast Guard, an official release said. The ship is 105 meters in length and can achieve a maximum speed of 26 knots with an endurance of 6500 NM. It is equipped with the state-of-art machinery and sensors, advanced navigational and communication equipment. With CRN 91 as its main armament, the ship has adequate weaponry to respond to any threat against its mandated charter. Harbola said that the Coast Guard has recently added two more ships in its existing fleet in Andhra Pradesh and one more Interceptor Boat (IB) will be commissioned into CG on April 13. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) S P Vaid today felicitated constable Rajesh Kumar for his courage and presence of mind while nabbing a youth involved in a weapon snatching incident here last week. The youth, along with his two associates, attacked police constable Mohammad Hanief and snatched his service rifle at Tawi bridge near Mandir-Masjid Point on March 25, an official spokesman said. After the incident, Kumar, the selection grade constable of JKAP 4th battalion, saw his colleague bleeding and without the weapon when he was returning from duty to security lines. He noticed suspicious moments of the youth and immediately overpowered him. The youth, later, was found part of the weapon snatching act. Kumar was awarded with cash and a commendation certificate at Police Headquarters here. Vaid, while lauding the constable, said his timely action and presence of mind led to the arrest of other two youths. "Such act of courage and fearlessness by the constable is exemplary, which would inspire other personnel in the force," the DGP said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government-run KEM Hospital in Mumbai has got additional 62 security guards, six of them armed, in the aftermath of resident doctors' agitation. A delegation of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) today reviewed the security at a meeting with the Dean of KEM. Resident doctors had gone on mass leave last week after there was a string of attacks on doctors at government hospitals in the city and elsewhere in the state. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) had stated last week that there were 210 security personnel at KEM Hospital, and additional 306 guards were required. MARD said in a release here that authorities told its delegation that security at other government hospitals will be beefed up soon. Within a week, security personnels would be deployed in full required strength at KEM, the delegation was told. A full-fledged 'alarm system' has been installed in emergency wards, the MARD statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Malaysia wants bilateral trade with India to touch USD 15 billion by 2020, visiting Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said here today. In his interaction with President Pranab Mukherjee during the welcome ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Najib, who is on a six-day visit, saidIndia has always supported Malaysia in difficult times and his country wants to raise their relations to "new heights". Welcoming the dignitary, Mukherjee said the two countries have taken their strategic partnership forward, particularly after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Malaysia in November 2015. There is considerable potential for Indo-Malaysia collaboration in defence production, Mukherjee said. He said relationsbetween India and Malaysia are centuries old and are "the best ever so far". Reciprocating the sentiments, the visiting Prime Minster said the relations between India and Malaysia are multi-dimensional. "The two countries can collaborate in a wide variety of fields. Malaysia would like to achieve target of USD15 billion bilateral trade by 2020," he said. Malaysia is India's third largest trading partner in ASEAN. Bilateral trade between Malaysia and India stood at USS12.8 billion in 2015-16, as against USD 16.9 billion in 2014-15. The President said the visit is taking place as the two countries are celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations. "While our relations are historic, we have been able to make significant strides in the last 10 years," he said. Mukherjee said commercial and investment relations have become the mainstay of India-Malaysia relations. "There is also considerable potential for collaboration in defence production especially under the Make in India initiative," he said as he thanked Malaysiafor the close cooperation on counter-terrorism. The Malaysian Premier inspected the Guard of Honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. He had arrived in India on March 30. In the first leg of his visit, Najib went to Chennai, where he interacted with Malaysian students and met Tamil megastar Rajinikanth. Najib met Vice President Hamid Ansari today. He will visit Jaipur during his stay in India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After facing a 'moderate heat wave', temperature dropped across Maharashtra bringing respite to the people from the scorching heat. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), Chandrapur yesterday recorded the highest maximum temperature of 44.2 degree Celsius in the state. A day earlier, Akola had recorded a maximum temperature in the state at 44 degree Celsius. "The overall drop in minimum temperature is the main reason behind relief," IMD Director, Mumbai, V K Rajeev told PTI today. Akola recorded 43.6 degree Celsius with a departure of 4.9 degree Celsius than the normal, while the lowest temperature stood at 23.6 degrees Celsius, 1.5 degrees above the normal. "Departure (Change) in maximum temperature is moderate while in minimum temperature, it is negligible. It indicates that the moderate heat wave in isolated parts of the state has subsided," he said. The IMD had yesterday, said, "The change in the direction of northerly winds avoided further escalation of temperature. With warm winds not coming towards Maharashtra, the temperature is expected to subside and it will offer some relief." Hill station Mahabaleshwar remained coolest in the state on Friday with minimum temperature recorded at 20.4 degrees Celsius. Wardha in Vidarbha region continued to sizzle at 43.8 degrees Celsius. Compared to these hot-beds, Mumbai remained relatively cooler yesterday with maximum temperature recorded at 32.2 degree Celsius, while the minimum temperature was 25.8 degree Celsius, down two degrees from the normal. The maximum and minimum temperatures in suburban Santacruz were registered at 33.8 degrees Celsius and 24 degrees Celsius, respectively. Other major cities like Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Jalgaon also reported rise in temperature but within limits. In Marathwada, Parbhani scorched at 42.1 degrees Celsius, followed by Aurangabad at 40.2 degrees Celsius. Malegaon in Nashik district experienced hot weather condition as the highest and lowest temperatures stood at 43 degrees Celsius and 24.6 degree Celsius, respectively. Solapur recorded highest temperature at 41.6 degrees Celsius. IT hub Pune registered highest temperatures at 39.6 degree Celsius, down 2.9 degrees from the normal, while the minimum temperature stood at 21.6 degrees Celsius. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump's approval of greater US military authority to pursue al-Qaida-linked extremists in Somalia will put civilians further at risk, experts say, especially as drought displaces thousands of people in areas that now will be considered a war zone. Trump has approved a Pentagon request to allow more aggressive airstrikes against extremist group al-Shabab as parts of southern Somalia will be considered areas of active hostilities. US special operations forces can move closer to the fight and call in offensive airstrikes more quickly while increasing assistance to the Somali National Army. Some in long-chaotic Somalia, where access to independent information is extremely challenging, could see this as a chance to spread misinformation, said Laetitia Bader, a Somalia researcher for Human Rights Watch. "At a time when thousands of civilians are currently on the move ... The US should be cautious in relying on information about whether civilians are present before deciding to strike," she said. Somalia's fragile central government, which struggles to assert itself beyond the capital and other limited areas, has not yet commented on Trump's decision. The country also was one of the seven predominantly Muslim countries included in Trump's recent travel ban that has been suspended by federal courts. Somalia's government has declared the growing drought a national disaster, with the UN saying roughly half of the country's 12 million people are at risk. A cholera outbreak also spreads. More than a quarter-million people have been displaced in recent months, the UN refugee agency says, as drought-stricken families try to reach points where aid agencies are distributing food. Aid agencies cannot distribute in areas under the control of al-Shabab, which dominates remote towns and villages across the south and central parts of the country. The extremist group has promoted its own drought relief efforts, but they are seen as attempts to keep civilians from leaving areas under their control. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A delegation of over 400 devotees from Pakistan today arrived at the shrine of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti here to pay their homage to the Sufi saint. The devotees, accompanied by the officials of the Pakistani Embassy, reached Ajmer this morning by a special train to attend the 805th 'Urs' (death anniversary) of the saint. They will offer 'chaadar' (sacred cloth) at the shrine on behalf of the Pakistan government. The administration has made special security arrangements in the wake of the visit by devotees from the neighbouring country, District Magistrate Gaurav Goyal said. They will stay put at the Central Girls School here, he said. The devotees will leave Ajmer for Pakistan on April 8. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Horacio Cartes has fired Paraguay's interior minister and top police official following the killing of a young opposition party leader and violent overnight clashes sparked by a secret Senate vote for a constitutional amendment to allow presidential re-election. Dozens of people, including a police officer, were on arrested Friday evening in demonstrations that saw protesters break through police lines and enter the first floor of Paraguay's legislature, setting fire to papers and furniture. Police used water cannon and fired rubber bullets to drive protesters away from the building while firefighters extinguished blazes inside. In the early hours yesterday, 25-year-old Rodrigo Quintana was shot and killed at the headquarters of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, a different location than the congress building where most of the protests took place. Anti-riot police with rifles and their heads and faces covered by helmets had stormed the opposition headquarters amid the anti-government protests. Security camera footage showed people in a corridor running desperately away from police and Quintana falling to the ground, apparently hit from behind. Seconds later, a policeman carrying a gun is seen stepping on Quintana, who is laying face-down to the ground. Before stepping down, police commander Crispulo Sotelo identified Gustavo Florentin as the police agent responsible for Quintana's death and said he had been arrested. Later yesterday, Cartes announced that he had accepted the resignations of Sotelo and Interior Minister Miguel Tadeo Rojas. Because of the violence, yesterday's and tomorrow's sessions of the Chamber of Deputies were cancelled. "We will evaluate the situation on Tuesday," said legislative president Hugo Velazquez. The protests broke out after a majority of senators approved the amendment allowing for presidential re-election, a move opponents said was illegal because the vote was taken without all members of the senate present. Presidents are limited to a single 5-year term and the proposal would allow Cartes and Paraguay's previous presidents to run for the top job again in the 2018 election -- a hot button issue in a country haunted by the 35-year rule of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid high alert and multi- tiered security, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation India's longest road tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway tomorrow, making it operational for traffic. Multi-tier security setup has been put in place ahead of the Prime Minister's visit amid alert sounded along the border and high degree of vigilance at vital installation in J&K. "It is a matter of great pride for the people of Jammu and Kashmir that this great tunnel is being dedicated to the nation by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi - the most popular PM. It is dedicated to the nation in keeping with his call for a new India," Union Minister of State in PMO, Jitendra Singh told reporters. Modi will also address a public rally at Battal Ballian in Udhampur district after inaugurating the tunnel. The tunnel will save fuel worth nearly Rs 99 crores a year. "Rs 27 lakh worth of fuel is likely to be saved per day," Singh said. The tunnel will reduce the travel time between the two state capitals of Jammu and Srinagar by two hours. The distance from Chenani and Nashri will now be 10.9 kms (between two ends of the tunnel), instead of the existing 41 kms. Union Minister said that this tunnel is a game changer. "It is a revolution itself. It is a revolution to be watched and studied. It is a case study itself. It is a wonderful creation," he added. "The connectivity through this tunnel will decrease the time of journey by two hours. It is an alternative all weather route. It is an alternative to the highway which is closed at the time of snow and rains. It will boost trade and increase revenue in the state. It will also help boost tourism," Singh added. The security setup includes elaborate deployments, area domination, checkpoints and alertness in border areas and vigilance at vital installations in the region by various security agencies, a police officer said. Director General of Police (DGP) S P Vaid has expressed satisfaction over security arrangements put in place by security agencies for Modi's visit. A high alert in border areas and Udhampur-Jammu belt and round the clock patrolling has been intensified, he said adding that high degree of vigilance has been put in place at vital installations including airports, railway stations and highways with continuous surveillance. He said the Batal Ballian area and around the venue of the Prime Minister's rally was sealed and area has been fully sanitised. BJP is expecting a huge turnout of people from various parts of the state for Modi's rally. Security drills were carried out by police and other security wings today. Three helipads have also be sanitised and checked by security teams headed by the SPG. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will tomorrow attend the closing ceremony of Allahabad High Court's sesquicentennial celebrations here. The Prime Minister's aircraft will land at the Bamrauli airport on the outskirts of the city at 10 AM where he will be received by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, among others, the district information office said. Thereafter, Modi will be driven to the High Court premises, about 20 kms from the airport, where he will be joined by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar and Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad and a number of judges of Supreme Court and Justices of various High Courts. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya is also likely to welcome the Prime Minister at the airport. Members of the state cabinet Siddharth Nath Singh and Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi are already camping in the city. While Maurya is a Lok Sabha member from Phulpur, which covers a major part of the city, Singh and Nandi respectively represent Allahabad (West) and Allahabad (South) in the state assembly. This is the first visit of the Prime Minister to the city after the BJP came to power in the state last month. During his two-day tour here last year, for attending the BJP's national executive meeting, Modi had paid a brief, informal visit to the High Court and interacted with judges and members of the Bar. The year-long sesquicentennial celebrations were inaugurated in March, 2015 by President Pranab Mukherjee. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V Narayanasamy greeted Vice President Hamid Ansari on his 80th birthday today. Narayanasamy, who is camping in Delhi, called on the Vice President and greeted him, sources close to the Chief Minister said here. The Chief Minister had left for Delhi yesterday to meet Union Ministers and also to call on the Vice President, the sources said. In her greetings to Ansari,Bedi prayed the Almighty to bless him with good health and long life for many more years of distinguished service to the nation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Pranab Mukherjee arrived here today and was welcomed at the airport by Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu, Chief Minister Raghubar Das and his other cabinet colleagues. The President will lay the foundation stone of Ravindra Bhavan and Haj House at Jaipal Singh stadium complex tomorrow morning, an official spokesperson said. Mukherjee will then leave for Deoghar after the programme where he will inaugurate 44-km long Deoghar-Baskinath Solar energy street light project, he said. He will also lay the foundation stone of software technology parks of India (STPI) centre, employees state insurance corporation hospital and drivers training centre in Deoghar, the spokesperson said. On April 3, the President will visit Vikram shila university monuments and museum at Vikram Shila in Bihar, he said, adding he will also pay at visit to Guru Shyama Charan Library Peeth before returning to New Delhi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Venezuela faces calls for street protests today at the tensest moment yet in a political and economic crisis that has brought it close to collapse. President Nicolas Maduro's opponents called on Venezuelans to take to the streets and urged the army to abandon him, branding moves to consolidate his power a "coup d'etat." Maduro has clung to power in a more than year-long standoff with his center-right opponents, but on Friday a sign emerged of possible division in his camp when the attorney general broke ranks with him. Yet uncertainty reined in the volatile nation hit by food shortages and violent crime, which has seen three attempted military coups since 1992. Maduro faced the strongest criticism ever from within his own camp yesterday as his attorney general condemned recent court rulings that strengthened the socialist president's grip on the levers of power. Attorney General Luisa Ortega denounced on live state television what she called a "rupture of constitutional order." She was referring to two Supreme Court rulings this week that effectively dissolved the opposition-majority legislature and revoked lawmakers' immunity from prosecution. Maduro's opponents and political analysts alleged a coup and international powers condemned the moves. The government rejected that accusation. Maduro said in a speech to cheering supporters late yesterday: "In Venezuela, the constitution, civil, political and human rights and people power are in full force." He vowed "through dialogue and the constitution, to resolve the impasse" between the attorney general and the court. He also said he had called a meeting of security chiefs to "deliberate and draw up a resolution." The legislative speaker, Julio Borges, called on the military and other institutions to follow Ortega's example and speak up against Maduro. "Now is the time to obey the orders of your conscience," he said. Street protests erupted for a second day Friday in Caracas. Students marched on the Supreme Court, where they scuffled with soldiers. Protesters also blocked streets in the working-class Petare neighborhood, and opposition lawmakers clashed with Maduro supporters downtown. Two students and a journalist were arrested, activists said. International condemnation has poured in from the United States, the European Union, Spain, Germany and a host of Latin American countries. The head of the Organisation of American States, Luis Almagro, has called for the regional group's permanent council to hold crisis talks on the situation. South American regional bloc Mercosur -- which suspended Venezuela in December -- will also hold crisis talks Saturday, Argentina announced. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a major administrative reshuffle, the Punjab government today transferred 21 IAS officers. A spokesperson said D P Reddy has been posted as the Additional Chief Secretary, Industries and Commerce and given additional charge of the Additional Chief Secretary, Investment Promotion while Satish Chandra as has been posted as the Additional Chief Secretary, Development. Vini Mahajan has been given the charge of the Additional Chief Secretary, Housing and Urban Development while Viswajeet Khanna has been posted as the Additional Chief Secretary, Local Government and Sanjay Kumar has been posed as the Principal Secretary, Labour. Anjali Bhawara has been posted as the Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare and Kirpa Shankar Saroj has been posted as the Principal Secretary, NRI Affairs. Anirudh Tewari has been posted as the Principal Secretary, Finance and given additional charge of the Principal Secretary, Non Conventional Energy. V K Singh, who is holding the charge of the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab and the Principal Secretary Elections has been given additional charge of the Financial Commissioner, Cooperation, subject to the approval of the Election Commission of India. R Venkat Ratnam has been posted as the Principal Secretary, Welfare of SCs and BCs while Rakesh Kumar Verma has been given the charge of the Commissioner-cum-Director, Industries and Commerce and additional charge of the Secretary, Information Technology. Hussan lal has been posted as the Secretary, Planning and additional charge of the Secretary, Tourism and Cultural Affairs and the Secretary, Governance Reforms. The Spokesman further said Kahan Singh Pannu has been posted as the Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training and given additional charge of the MD, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Limited. Krishan Kumar has been posted as the Secretary, Expenditure (Department of Finance) and given additional charge of the Secretary, Personnel and the Secretary-cum-Director, Employment Generation and Training. Shruti Singh has been posted as the MD, Punjab INFOTECH and given additional charge of the Director, Information Technology and CEO, Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion. Manjit Singh Narang, who is currently holding the charge of the Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab has been given additional charge of the MD, PRTC, subject to the approval of the Election Commission of India. Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, who is the Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Punjab has been given the additional charge of the Secretary, Defence Services Welfare and Director, Information and Public Relations. Varun Roojam has been posted as the Special Secretary, Health and Family Welfare and in addition the MD, Punjab Health System Corporation and the Commissioner, Food and Drugs Administration and in addition the Project Director, National Health Mission. Ravi Bhagat has been posted as the Chief Administrator, Punjab Urban Development Authority, SAS Nagar and given additional charge of the Director, Town and Country Planning, the Special Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, the Chief Administrator, greater Mohali area development authority, SAS Nagar. Daljit Singh Mangat has been posted as the Special Secretary, Power and Renewable Energy and given additional charge of the Special Secretary, Planning and Amar Partap Singh Virk has been posted as the Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur and given additional charge of the CEO, Punjab state civil aviation council. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) French auto major Renault today reported a 1.89 per cent decline in sales at 12,188 units in India in March compared to the year-ago month. The company's arm had sold 12,424 units in the same month last year. However, for the entire 2016-17 , the company has posted a growth of 88.4 per cent selling 1,35,123 units as against 71,732 units in the preceding fiscal. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju today called for creating a peaceful atmosphere in Arunachal Pradesh so that fruits of development percolate down to every nook and corner of the state. "NDA's mantra for the North East is 'peace and development' and we are trying to make the region a secured and developed place so that it could compete with other develop parts of the country," Rijiju, union Minister of State for Home Affairs, said at a programme here. "Our responsibility is to support outsiders who visit the state for execution of various developmental projects. If they feel insecure, they will leave the state without completing the projects and in the process development will suffer," he said and called upon the people to contribute for development. "The proposed three broad gauge (railway) lines will change the economy of the state once they are completed," he said and called for proper execution of all developmental schemes without compromising on quality. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State-run SAIL has recorded an 8 per cent growth in total sales at 13.14 million tonnes in FY 2016-17. "SAIL has recorded the best ever sales performance for any given year during Financial Year 2016-17 with a growth of 8 per cent over corresponding period last year (CPLY). The total sales stood at 13.143 million tonnes," Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) said in a statement. The company also recorded the best ever total sales figure for March 2017 at 1.575 MT, a rise of 21 per cent over the year ago, it said. On the production front, the company has recorded a growth of 12 per cent in saleable steel production for 2016-17 over the preceding fiscal. "The techno-economic parameters showed improvement in financial year 2016-17 of three per cent in coke rate and six per cent in BF productivity over CPLY," it said. The company's increasing footprint in exports has also contributed to the best ever numbers with exports rising three-fold during the period, SAIL further said. "At the same time, the SAIL is readying to offer more value added products to cater to the growing needs of domestic steel market with a view towards more customised products," it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After boycotting hospital duties for five days, the striking junior doctors of SCB Medical College and Hospital here resumed their duties this evening. "Since most of our demands pertaining to security at workplace were satisfactorily addressed, we decided to call off the strike", said Junior Doctors Association secretary Ritesh Acharya. Junior doctors deployed for emergency units resumed their duties at 5 pm this evening and many others also went round the wards, said a hospital source. Around 500 junior doctors boycotted hospital duties since Monday evening in protest against an alleged attack on a doctor by some relatives of a patient. Under the new arrangements, armed police will be deployed inside the hospital and escort parties accompany woman doctors visiting wards on emergency duties at night. Patient attendants would be issued with passes to get rid of unwanted visitors and entry inside the campus through the main gates will be regulated and restricted. On the contentious issue of arrest of the culprits, who allegedly attacked a doctor on Monday, the striking doctors did not precipitate the matter further hoping that the local police would act against the accused as per the law. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After months of controversy, Bob Dylan was due in Stockholm today to finally grab his Nobel literature prize in a meeting with the Swedish Academy, which honoured him for his poetry. The first songwriter to receive the prestigious award, Dylan has joined the league of Nobel laureates including Thomas Mann, Samuel Beckett, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Doris Lessing. At a secret time and place, the famously reclusive Dylan is to receive his Nobel diploma and medal in a closed meeting at the weekend with members of the Swedish Academy, which elects the winners of the literature prize. "The setting will be small and intimate, and no media will be present; only Bob Dylan and members of the Academy will attend, all according to Dylan's wishes," Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Academy said in a blog post yesterday. Mikael Timm, a culture reporter at the public Swedish Radio, thinks Dylan wants the meeting to be strictly private to avoid a situation that could spiral out of his control, especially after a series of "humiliating press conferences" in the 1960s. "He obviously wants to communicate but realised he doesn't need to be exposed to aggressive and offensive press conferences," Timm told AFP. Dylan is set to perform concerts on Saturday and Sunday in Stockholm, the first stop on a long-planned European tour for his latest album of cover songs "Triplicate". It is unclear if the meeting will take place before or after the two shows as the Academy has been tight-lipped. But Ake Jonsson, a loyal fan who's seen Dylan perform 75 times, hopes the enigmatic music icon will at least mention the Nobel during his concert on Saturday. "It would be interesting if he talked about the Nobel prize. He's barely said (anything) during concerts these past years," Jonsson told Swedish public broadcaster SVT. The 75-year-old Dylan will not give his traditional Nobel lecture during the meeting, the only requirement to receive the eight million kronor (837,000 euros, $891,000) that comes with the prize. He has until June 10 to deliver his lecture, which could be anything from a short speech to a performance, a video broadcast or even a song. Failing that, he risks losing the prize money. "The Academy has reason to believe that a taped version will be sent at a later point," Danius said on Wednesday, without specifying an exact date. The songwriter of "Blowin' In The Wind", "Hurricane" and "Mr Tambourine Man" was honoured "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition," the Nobel committee said when the award was announced last October. "Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, 'Are my songs literature?'" Dylan said later in a thank-you speech read aloud by the US ambassador to Sweden during the December Nobel ceremony in Stockholm, which he skipped due to "pre-existing commitments". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was a "political reality" and asserted that the Trump administration's top priority was defeating the Islamic State terror group in the war-torn country. "With respect to Assad, there is a political reality that we have to accept in terms of where we are right now," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his daily conference. Spicer's remarks came a day after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley indicated that removal of Assad no longer was a priority for the US. "We lost a lot of opportunity in the last administration with respect to Assad. I think that our statement that both UN Ambassador Haley and Secretary of State Tillerson gave yesterday reflects the reality that it is now up to the Syrian people," he said. "We had an opportunity and we need to focus on now defeating ISIS. The US has profound priorities in Syria and Iraq, and we made it clear that counter-terrorism, particularly the defeat of ISIS, is foremost among those priorities," Spicer said. "That's why our forces in the global coalition are partnering with local forces against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. I think there is a bit of political reality with respect to where we are now versus where we were the last administration in terms of there being a potential -- there is not the opposition that existed last time and the opportunities that existed last time," he said. Syria would be one of the major topics of discussion when US President Donald Trump meets the leaders of Egypt on April 3 and Jordan on April 5 next week at the White House, senior administration officials said yesterday. "Jordan is a key partner for the US in the region and we anticipate the two leaders will discuss a range of shared priorities, including efforts to defeat ISIS, how to end the conflict in Syria and advancing progress between the Israelis and the Palestinians," a senior administration said. Meanwhile, a top Republican Senator John McCain expressed his disappointment over the change in goal post of the Trump administration with regard to Syria. "The suggestion that Assad can stay in power appears to be just as devoid of strategy as President Obama's pronouncements that 'Assad must go once again', the US' policy in Syria is being presented piecemeal in press statements without any definition of success, let alone a realistic plan to achieve it," McCain said in a statement. The administration's statements in this regard, McCain warned, could lead America's true allies and partners in the fight against ISIS to fear the worst: a Faustian bargain with Assad and Putin sealed with an empty promise of counter-terrorism cooperation. "Such a policy would only exacerbate the terrorist threat to our nation," McCain said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nationalist Congress Party legislator Thomas Chandy was today sworn in as new transport minister in the LDF government, replacing A K Saseendran who had to quit after airing of his purported sleaze talks. A business man-turned-politician and arguably the state's richest MLA, Thomas was administered the oath of office by Kerala Governor Justice (retd) P Sathasivam. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet colleagues, besides the NCP leaders and Thomas's relatives were among those present at the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan. Thomas, who represents Kuttanad constituency in the assembly, later told reporters that the revival of loss-making Kerala State Road Transport Corporation was his top priority. The three-time MLA, who runs schools in Middle East and lake resorts in the state, exuded confidence that meeting the business and ministerial responsibilities together would not be a hard task for him. "The transport portfolio is a heavy responsibility. Revival of KSRTC will be my top priority. It will be made profitable. It is the necessity of the state," he told reporters at a meet-the-press programme at Press Club here. He also said he wanted to make the state-run buses air-conditioned. Thomas, however, declined to comment on the circumstances leading to Saseendran's resignation, saying the government has already ordered a police and judicial probe into it. "The judicial enquiry and the police probe have been ordered. The truth should triumph and justice prevail," the minister added. Saseendran had resigned on March 26 after an audio clip of his purported talks with a woman in sexual undertones was aired by Malayalam channel Mangalam. The channel had later admitted they had carried out the sting operation and tendered an apology. Nine employees, including the CEO of the channel, were booked in connection with airing of the audio clip. The women journalists, meanwhile, took out a protest march today to the Mangalam office in Kochi in protest against the channel's sting operation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao today greeted Vice President Hamid Ansari on his 80th birthday. "Your statesmanship, diplomatic acumen have further strengthened our nation's foreign relations. I wish you a long, happy and healthy life in your service to the nation," the Governor said in his message to Ansari. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two persons, including a village guard, were killed by Maoists in Odisha's Malkangiri district accusing them of being police informers. Police said a group of Maoists stormed the house of a 55-year-old village guard at Jantapaie in Chitrakonda area around midnight last night and forcibly took him away. His body bearing marks of wounds inflicted by some blunt object was found in the outskirts of the village this morning, the police said. A letter recovered from the spot said the village guard was killed as he was providing information about Maoist activities to the police. In another incident, the rebels shot dead a man at Cheliamunda village yesterday, police said. In this case too the assailants left behind a letter at the site saying that the man was killed as he was acting as an informer for the police, the police said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Britain sought today to reassure Gibraltar that it will protect the territory's interests in upcoming talks on exiting the European Union amid a dispute with Spain that underscores the complications of Britain's EU divorce. Spain has long sought to regain control of Gibraltar, an enclave of 32,000 people on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula that was ceded to Britain in 1713. Yesterday, the EU suggested that Spain would get a veto over the territory's future relationship with the trading bloc. Gibraltar reacted angrily to the EU position, saying Spain was using the UK's departure from the EU to force negotiations that it has wanted on the status of the territory. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talked with Gibraltar's chief minister, Fabian Picardo yesterday to assure him of the U.K.'s support. "As ever, the UK remains implacable and rock-like in our support for Gibraltar," Johnson tweeted after the conversation. British Prime Minister Theresa May failed to mention Gibraltar in her letter triggering formal negotiations on Britain's departure from the EU causing dismay in the territory. The EU fuelled that anxiety yesterday when it released a nine-page draft roadmap for the talks, which included a statement that no future agreement after Brexit between Britain and the bloc would apply to Gibraltar unless both the UK and Spain agreed. The statement on Gibraltar is unique for the EU, which in other matters has called for the 27 remaining members to speak with one voice in talks with Britain. Picardo expressed outrage at being singled out, describing the guidelines as "a disgraceful attempt by Spain to manipulate the European Council for its own narrow political interests. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi today said that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's statement on 'surya namaskar' being similar to 'namaz' was aimed at fooling Muslims and it would not work. Owaisi also alleged that instead of addressing issues like loss of employment due to action against slaughterhouses in the state, Adityanath was making statements that "won't have any impact whatsoever." "Statements drawing similarity between surya namaskar and namaz, and fasting during Ramzan and Navratri are aimed at fooling Muslims. These are not going to work," the Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad told PTI here. "These are all patronising statements, which the Muslim community has been hearing for the past 55 years," he said. Owaisi said the primary duty of the chief minister was to do justice. Adityanath had recently said 'surya namaskar' was similar to 'namaz' (prayers) offered by Muslims and those opposing the yogic exercise wanted to divide the society on religious lines. "The namaz offered by the Muslims resembles different postures and asanas of surya namaskar including pranayam," he had said. Owaisi also slammed the decision to shut down illegal slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh. "Fifteen lakh people are engaged in the profession of selling and distributing meat and the action against slaughterhouses is putting their employment in jeopardy. Why isn't he (Adityanath) addressing that? Instead of that, all these statements (on surya namaskar) are being made. It will not have any impact whatsoever," he said. Owaisi alleged the food processing units engaged in meat export are also being closed in Uttar Pradesh. "Can you imagine the loss to the nation? Nearly Rs 11,000 crore worth of buffalo meat is exported (every year) from Uttar Pradesh itself." The AIMIM leader also charged that the BJP-led government at the Centre is being soft on Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, who was granted bail by a court here last week. The government's statement that it is firm on its fight against terrorism is "hollow" because it is not "firm" on Aseemanand, he said. "Why are you not firm on Aseemanand? Why are you not challenging the bail given to Aseemanand? Why are you soft on Aseemanad? Aseemanand is still facing grave charges of terrorism in Mecca Masjid bomb blast, Samjhauta blast (cases). You don't want to appeal against the bail. What kind of message are you sending?" he said. Aseemanand was released from the Chanchalguda central prison in Hyderabad last evening. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and noted filmstar Akshay Kumar today appealed to the people to make use of toilets as it was a hygienic practice. Tomar and Akshay arrived at Regva village in the district to promote cleanliness under Swachha Bharat Mission. Addressing villagers, Tomar said, "Even our villages will become clean and healthy if we develop habit of using toilets at home." He along with Akshay took out manure made of human excreta by getting down in a 3-feet deep specially designed pit attached to a toilet constructed at the residence of a villager, Radheshyam Gobru under MNREGA scheme. Tomar said the specially designed pits are capable of producing quality compost from human excreta. The manure is named as "Sone Khad." Under the scheme two pits are dug and initially first one is used and after it fills it is closed and later second one is used. Over a time period excreta in the pit turns into a compost. Akshay said "if people want to see their country clean and healthy, they have to begin from their home and family." "To keep the country clean, it is important to keep our home free from dirt," the Bollywood actor who is shooting the film "Toilet Ek Prem Katha, said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has rejected accusations that moves to consolidate his power in the crisis-hit country violated the constitution, after a sign of division emerged in his camp. Maduro's opponents and political analysts alleged a coup after the Supreme Court took over powers from the legislature and removed lawmakers' immunity. International powers condemned the moves, which gave the socialist president control over the only major state institution that still had been out of his grasp. But Maduro said in a speech to cheering supporters yesterday "In Venezuela, the constitution, civil, political and human rights and people power are in full force." The court's measures earned the government public condemnation for the first time from a senior member of Maduro's own camp, Attorney General Luisa Ortega, who broke ranks with him yesterday. She branded the rulings a "rupture of constitutional order," in a surprise declaration on state television which drew applause from the crowd. Coming from a staunch supporter of Maduro's late predecessor Hugo Chavez, it was the strongest sign of divisions in the government camp since its standoff with the center-right opposition started in January 2016. Maduro responded to Ortega in his speech by vowing "through dialogue and the constitution, to resolve the impasse" between the attorney general and the court. He also said he had called a meeting of security chiefs to "deliberate and draw up a resolution." The Supreme Court, which has staunchly backed Maduro through an economic and political crisis, assumed the powers of the National Assembly on Wednesday. The legislative speaker, Julio Borges, called on the military and other institutions to follow Ortega's example and speak up against Maduro. Street protests erupted for a second day yesterday in Caracas. Students marched on the Supreme Court, where they scuffled with soldiers. Protesters also blocked streets in the working-class Petare neighborhood, and opposition lawmakers clashed with Maduro supporters downtown. International condemnation continued pouring in, adding to the criticism already voiced by the United States, the European Union, Spain, Germany and a host of Latin American countries. Many observers have said the Supreme Court's move amounts to a coup. The government rejected that accusation yesterday, lashing out at its critics as "imperialists." The head of the Organization of American States called for the regional group's permanent council to hold crisis talks on the situation. South American regional bloc Mercosur -- which suspended Venezuela in December -- will also hold crisis talks today, Argentina announced. The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) won a landslide in legislative elections in December 2015. But the court has overturned every law passed by the current legislature. The opposition has called for more street protests today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "We will hang those who kill cows," Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh declared today, a day after BJP-ruled Gujarat passed a more stringent law making cow slaughter punishable with life term. "Does such a thing happen in Chhattisgarh? I don't think it has happened in the last 15 years (of BJP rule). If it happens, we will hang those who dare do it (Marega to latka denge)," Singh told reporters in Jagdalpur rpt Jagdalpur. He was responding to queries by journalists whether his government would, like Yogi Adityanath's in UP, take a tough stand on cow slaughter. Slaughter of cow, buffalo, bull, bullock, calf, and possession of their meat is banned in Chhattisgarh. Transport, export to other states for slaughter is also banned. These offences attract same punishment of 7 years' jail and fine up to Rs 50,000. The Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill was approved by the Legislative Assembly yesterday, providing for life imprisonment for cow slaughter, the first in the country. The bill also has a provision for ten-year imprisonment for transportation, storage or sale of beef. Cow slaughter is already banned in Gujarat. Meanwhile, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi accused the BJP of "hypocrisy" over beef ban after the saffron party said it would not be extended to the northeastern states. "In UP, cow is mummy, and in the northeastern states it's yummy. This shows BJP's hypocrisy. While they are talking about beef ban in UP, they have said there would be no such thing in the northeast. "Assembly elections are going to be held in three states in the northeast. Beef is easily available in (BJP-ruled) Goa. You tell me what is this," he told a TV channel. Reacting to the Hyderabad MP's remarks, BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy said," What's this mummy, yummy thing. Owaisi says he has faith in the Indian Constitution. "Article 48 of the Constitution says cow slaughter will be prohibited. Let him say he has no faith in some articles of the Constitution, then we will see," he said. Article 48 of the Constitution says," The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle." N Biren Singh, the Chief Minister of Manipur too slammed Owaisi for his comments. "Such wild allegations should not be made. We worship cows, we preserve them. He (Owaisi) cannot make such observations about the entire northeast," he said in Manipur capital Imphal. In Manipur, the erstwhile Maharaja had in 1939 decreed prosecution for cow slaughter, but buffalo meat is consumed widely. Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi supportered Owaisi's hypocrisy remark against BJP, saying it has been used by the saffron party as a "tool to further its politics". "We have heard what Raman Singh has said....What's happening in UP. The hypocrisy behind cow protection is obvious. Saying that there will be no beef ban in northeastern states is political opportunism," she said. Soon after assuming office, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered strict enforcement of the ban on cow slaughter and smuggling. Slaughter of buffaloes for meat is, however, allowed in the state. Buffalo meat trade in the state has been badly hit by the clampdown on illegal abattoirs. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SALT LAKE CITY Governor Gary R. Herbert has issued an executive order declaring a State of Emergency in Utah as a result of flooding in Box Elder and Cache counties between Feb. 7 and Feb. 27. The Governors declaration notes that flooding caused severe damage to roads, bridges, culverts, homes, businesses, utilities, and to other private and public facilities and agriculture, overburdening the communities. During February, Cache and Box Elder counties, as well as the cities of Garland and Brigham City, issued local emergency declarations. Though most of the emergency protective measures in those counties have been completed, Gov. Herberts emergency declaration is an important legal document that needs to be in place before he could request a major disaster declaration for the affected areas of the state from the President of the United States. During February and March, the Utah Division of Emergency Management has been working with affected communities to get resources to them and then to identify eligible damages to public infrastructure. Currently, those estimates stand at $6.7 million. The next step is for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to review Utahs damage estimates to validate the amounts submitted. After that, the State will determine whether to submit a request to the President to declare a Major Disaster for Utah, which could then provide federal reimbursement assistance for Box Elder and Cache counties through the Public Assistance (PA) Program. CAMEROUN :: Cameroon:Ghanaian arrested with 300 African grey parrots A Ghanaian national was arrested by wildlife officials from the Centre Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife for illegal possession and export of 300 African grey parrots during an operation that was carried out in collaboration with the police at the Nkoabang Neighbourhood in Yaounde, on Friday March 24, 2017.The operation that was carried out with the technical support of The Last Great Ape Organisation (LAGA) is said to be part of a larger investigation that is ongoing and involving a group of international parrot traffickers. The investigations are attempting to expose and take down an international network of traffickers of the African grey parrots according to sources close to the matter and they hold that the trafficking network extends right to Europe. The investigations are being carried out by the EAGLE network (a network of wildlife law enforcement support projects across Africa) that tracked a consignment of approximately 100 illegal African grey parrots that left the Nsimalen International Airport on board a flight en route to Abidjan. From Abidjan it continued to Ghana where an arresting team took one suspect for the illegal cargo. The 42 year old Ganaian was found to have facilitated the illegal export of the parrots to Ghana. According to Ofir Drori, the Director of LAGA who was speaking to reporters by phone after the arrest, the illegal trade in grey parrots is so organized that many times it is involving complicity and corruption, it fetches a lot of money for the traffickers and therefore they are investing in an international network of facilitating the crimes. A second man was arrested alongside the Ghanaian as one of those who is facilitating the illegal exports and the investigations are getting more leads to how the trafficking network operates. They say this is an attempt at dismantling a network that is carrying out huge harm to populations of the parrots and Ofir Drori declared This arrest that took place in Cameroon is an attempt at dismantling a network in this example a Ghanaian one, the person who got arrested with the parrots is from Ghana and he was trying to facilitate illegal export and had actually facilitated illegal shipment internationally. This is not the first time huge quantities of African grey parrots are seized from traffickers. In 2007 alone, two big seizures of African grey parrots took place at the Douala International Airport. Over 1000 African grey parrots that were about to be illegally exported were seized and taken to the Limbe Wildlife Centre and later released into the wild. The illicit trade in the parrots is immense and the main reason it is widely favoured as pets is because the bird is very intelligent and can master up to 600 words. In a bid to curb the damaging trend of parrots trafficking, CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)., during CoP17 that held in South Africa last year decided to increase the parrots level of protection from Appendix II to Appendix I the highest level within the system. This means the international trade in African grey parrots is banned and in this respect, in January, the Minister of Forestry of Wildlife equally issued a circular letter addressed to the entire staff of his Ministry and to wildlife exploiters informing them of the change of status of the African grey parrots that have been reclassified as totally protected wildlife species and whose capture could only be legal through a special permit issued by the Minister. The seizure of the parrots is an indication that the illegal trade, despite the ban, is ongoing and effective enforcement measures are urgently needed to stop the process. Lacey Clews and Heidi Horvath were psychologists with the AFP for between eight and 10 years from 2004. During that time they helped set up a wellbeing peer support program. Peer support officers either had experienced mental health issues or were passionate about supporting those who were struggling. They completed training in understanding trauma-related illness and regularly discussed strategies to support their colleagues to speak out. Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper. 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 ... Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. March was a busy month for some legislators who held town hall meetings that arent always a regular occurrence. Locally, state Rep. Stephen Bloom, R-Carlisle, held two Coffee and Conversation town hall meetings in the Carlisle area a morning town hall in the borough and an evening town hall in Dickinson Township. Bloom estimated at the Carlisle town hall earlier this month that it was his 44th town hall since he was elected in 2010, and his first in the 2017-18 legislative session. Given that this is not an election year for Bloom, these two town halls are unlikely to be the only two of the year. Normally I do roughly four a year, Bloom said. It varies a little based on scheduling. I can do as many as six or eight, or sometimes two or three. He said factors for how many town halls he can hold can include scheduling, venue availability and if it is an election year. He said he doesnt hold town halls near an election because town halls are legislative events and should not be used as campaign events. Not all representatives host town halls as often as Bloom does. Rep. Greg Rothman, R-Hampden, said hes held two traditional town halls one in Camp Hill and the other in Silver Spring Township as a joint town hall with Bloom, who also represents a part of the township. Rothman, however, will hold one at the Hampden Township Building off South Sporting Hill Road from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. May 25. State Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-New Cumberland, holds annual legislative update meetings, which occur almost every September. She, like the other three local representatives, also often hold other types of meetings, such as concealed carry seminars and gun rights seminars, both of which tend to draw the biggest crowds. After the 193rd District was redrawn to include South Middleton Township, Mount Holly Springs and part of western Cumberland County, into a district largely in Adams County, Rep. Will Tallman has mostly stayed in his home county for town hall meetings. Though most of the town halls Tallman holds are in Adams County, he did host a town hall meeting in October last year in South Middleton Township. Last year, however, was also an election year for Tallman, who had a Democrat challenging him on the November ballot. Congressmen On a national scale, it is much more difficult to find representatives of Cumberland County hosting town halls. U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-4, held a traditional town hall meeting on March 18 (a Saturday), which marked the first time a Pennsylvania Republican member of Congress hosted a town hall meeting since President Donald Trump took office in January. His town hall had a nearly full 400-member audience, as well as an online audience for its live stream broadcast on his Facebook page. Perry announced the event on his Facebook page on Tuesday and that town hall was closed to any further registrants by Wednesday morning due to the 400-seat capacity at Red Lion Junior High Schools cafeteria in York County. He also instituted a policy where those attending the town hall had to show identification to prove they were constituents of his 4th District, which includes the eastern portion of Cumberland County. Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel at Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said thats a legal request for a legislator to make, even for a public forum. Restrictions on public forums must meet constitutional scrutiny, and town hall meetings would have to pass muster, she said. Restrictions must be reasonable and content neutral. Residency requirement, on its own, would be content neutral. The restriction must also support a compelling government interest, and the restriction must be narrowly tailored. Also representing Cumberland County, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, has not held a traditional town hall meeting recently. His communications director, Jon Anzur, said in a statement that the congressman believes the traditional meetings are not the most effective way to reach constituents because of the disruptive behavior of some of the attendees. In its stead, Barletta has hosted telephone town hall meetings, which Anzur said he will continue to do. Barletta also visits various areas across the 11th District, which consists of a large, narrow swath of Pennsylvania from Hazleton to Cumberland County. The congressman finds that he engages more productively with his constituents during his Main Street Tours, which are public visits to downtown areas throughout the 11th District, Anzur said. His next Main Street Tour will take place in Luzerne Borough. Barletta has regularly visited Carlisle for such stops, though those are often only revealed to the press a day or less before the event occurs. Some residents have also disputed Barlettas availability during such visits to answer questions, including his most recent public forum on the opioid crisis, which he co-hosted with state Rep. Mark Keller in late February at Shippensburg University. Barletta was not available to answer open questions then, which attracted protesters outside the forum. Barletta has hosted a town hall in Cumberland County. In September 2013, he was at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center for a town hall that ABC27 News reported attracted at least 50 people. Barletta also attends candidate forums locally during election year. U.S. Senate Just as critics say Barletta cannot be reached for comment, they also claim it is difficult to reach Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. Toomey recently held a tele-town hall in February that attracted thousands of listeners, but he has not held an in-person town hall since 2015. Spokesman Steve Kelly said Toomey did not host any in-person town halls in 2016 because it was an election year, and said Toomey has held 14 traditional town halls since he was elected in 2011. Sen. Toomey has held more town hall meetings than any other statewide legislator or executive over the past six years, Kelly said. These meetings have all been held during the summer months. Where hes held them, however, has been criticized. Toomeys office was the only one to respond to The Sentinel with a full list of traditional town halls the senator has hosted, with locations and dates. The only in-person town hall Toomey held in the Midstate was in Waynesboro, Franklin County, in September 2014, according to Kelly. Other town halls have been in Columbia, Carbon, Elk, Tioga, Snyder, Montour, Sullivan, Clearfield, Greene, Northumberland and Warren counties, as well as twice in Potter County once in 2011 and again in 2013. According to the U.S. Census and Pennsylvania State Data Center, Potter County has a population of 17,457, the fifth lowest in the state. Thats compared to 45,969 people in Perry County, 235,406 people in Cumberland County and 1.5 million people in Philadelphia. Toomeys town halls were also in the second least-populated county in the state (Sullivan County) and sixth least-populated (Montour County), according to the Pennsylvania State Data Centers 2014 county population estimates. The centers 2010 data also shows that the majority of the town halls are held in counties with populations of less than 50,000 (Elk, Greene, Snyder, Potter, Montour, Sullivan, Tioga and Warren counties). The highest populated county where Toomey has held a town hall is Franklin County with 152,892 people, according to the centers 2014 estimates. Of the 14 counties, there are more Democratic voters in only Carbon, Elk and Greene counties, though Republican voters often vastly outnumber Democratic voters in the other counties, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. In Franklin County, there are 30,000 more Republican voters than Democratic voters, according to voter registration statistics as of March 20 from the department. As Republicans come under fire for a lack of accessibility, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said he has stepped up his availability to constituents. We have had an outpouring of calls, letters, and tweets to our office expressing interest in town hall, so we are scheduling them across the state, Casey said in a statement. These town halls are a great opportunity to hear about the issues on the minds of Pennsylvanians and discuss my work in the Senate. Caseys office only provided data on this years town halls, but since the beginning of the year, Casey has held a town hall on climate change in January and was in Philadelphia on a Sunday afternoon in March for a town hall. Caseys office also said he hosts monthly constituent coffee meetings in the Washington, D.C., office that is open to the public. Our Divisions Copyright 2022-23 DB Corp ltd., All Rights Reserved This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics. After teasing us with their take on the Roush Mustang GT back in January, Polish tuning firm Carlex Design has finally released a full batch of images for everyone to enjoy. Right off the bat, we notice that the interior features two distinct shades of red, unlike the teaser image which mostly promoted a red with white accents appearance. It also has red or white stitching (depending on the surface), and plenty of black surfaces and inserts that help with the overall contrast of the cabin. As for the exterior, while we already knew what the car looked like, we can now see the horsepower figure tattooed on the body, and the number is 727 HP. This comes, of course, courtesy of the Roush R2300 727HP (730 PS) Supercharger (Phase 2 kit), which also helps the Mustang GT put down 610 lb-ft (827 Nm) of torque. PHOTO GALLERY The mayors of London and Paris have agreed to introduce real-world emissions testing by the end of 2017. The plan will see new vehicles in the two major European cities scored depending on how environmentally friendly they are. These scores will be available online, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said. We should be able to set up a reliable scoring system which will be put to all our citizens and allow them to know what emissions are coming from which vehicles in reality, Hidalgo said. Currently, emissions testing in the two cities only require vehicles to meet set standards in laboratory conditions and only regulate certain pollutants but the new scheme will measure and rate all air pollutants in real-world scenarios. This new scheme will put an end to the smoke and mirrors that has been employed and provide Londoners and Parisians with an honest, accurate and independent evaluation of the emissions of vehicles on our road, Khan revealed. PHOTO GALLERY Well before Opel dropped the veils off the new generation Insignia last December, petrol heads were pondering about the future of a high performance OPC model. While the automaker has remained silent, refusing to comment on rumors, a mysterious prototype scooped on the Nurburgring earlier this week, could be a tester for the Insignia OPC. If you look past the Mazda-esque camod grille, youll notice the larger air intakes in the front bumper and a discreet apron, while the car sits lower than usual and rides on bigger wheels. Details surrounding the OPC models engine are currently unknown, but the only thing certain is that it will be lighter and faster than the previous Insignia OPC that used a 2.8-liter turbocharged V6 lump that pushed out 320 horses and 435 Nm (321 lb-ft) of torque. Expect the potent family car to be unveiled within the next year, possibly even as early as this fall at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. VIDEO Photo: Contributed Budget 2017 recognizes that it is the right time to make investments in the economy and people to drive growth and build resilient communities. For too long, the growing social deficit has been overlooked, leaving municipalities without the resources to adequately plan for and address critical shortages like affordable housing and public transit. This places a greater burden on many low and modest income households, making it harder to accomplish other goals from raising families to pursuing education, jobs and opportunity. The lack of affordable housing is particularly challenging for those living on fixed incomes, especially seniors. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities reacted positively to Budget 2017, calling it a game changer because it gives municipalities the tools it needs to drive growth and a higher quality of life by providing real housing dollars and putting cities in the drivers seat where transit planning is concerned. As part of a new National Housing Strategy, the government will invest more than $11.2 billion in a range of initiatives designed to build, renew and repair Canadas stock of affordable housing and help to ensure that Canadians have adequate and affordable housing that meets their needs. This will improve housing conditions and accessibility for many including seniors, persons with disabilities and Indigenous people not living on-reserve. The government has also committed to investing $20.1 billion over 11 years through bilateral agreements with provinces and territories to support urban public transit networks and service extensions. This funding will help support Kelowna Regional Transit and the Central Okanagan Transit Future Action Plan. Twenty years ago, Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin vowed to address the federal governments chronic deficit problems and did. It was a necessity. Now in 2017, Canadas economic situation is quite different, making it the opportune time to invest in our communities: Canadas fiscal capacity is healthy; we remain at the top of the G7 in terms of our debt to GDP ratio Interest rates are low, making our debt loads manageable The employment rate has dropped from 7.1 per cent to 6.6 per cent The country has created 250,000 jobs, mostly full time in the last year; and we have seen modest growth in the manufacturing sector. C. Scott Clark, former deputy minister of Finance, and Peter C. DeVries, former director, Fiscal Policy Division at the Department of Finance, noted in a recent National Post article that budget deficits of one per cent of GDP do not constitute a fiscal crisis. Every G20 minister of Finance would love to have this kind of fiscal situation. Eliminating the deficit would not only be bad fiscal policy, it would mean that the Liberal government would be unable to implement the programs and policies it was elected on," they said. As a former business person, I know that there is a time to save and a time to invest. Our governments willingness to work with our provincial, territorial and municipal partners to tackle some of our most pressing local issues from affordable housing, childcare and home care, to employment and skills training, the cost of post-secondary education and clean water and transit infrastructure will have a positive impact on our community. By making key strategic investments where they are needed, and with the fiscal capacity to do so, we will reduce the social deficit, help many low and modest income Canadians join the middle class, support long-term economic gains, and maintain the quality of life Canadians have come to expect. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Photo: Contributed A man prohibited from possessing guns who accidentally shot his girlfriend in the face last July will spend another two years and 4 1/2 months in jail after pleading guilty to criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Evan Anthony Swite was arrested on July 4, 2016, at his home on the 700 block of Spland Road in West Kelowna, after a woman called 911 and said she had been shot. Upon arrival, police found a 31-year-old woman who had been shot in the lower jaw, with the bullet exiting through the back of her neck, just missing her spinal cord. The woman, Swite's common-law partner since 2012, was rushed to Kelowna General Hospital, and Swite was taken into custody, where he has remained since. He was originally charged with aggravated assault, but this was later changed to criminal negligence causing bodily harm. He pleaded guilty in September. Police found two guns on the property, an SKS semi-automatic rifle and a sawed-off shotgun, a prohibited weapon. An extended capacity magazine for the rifle, a prohibited device, was also found. Swite was under a court order to not possess any guns at the time. A bag of methamphetamine was also found in Swite's sock upon arrest. The victim spent eight days in the hospital. Justice Robin Smith described the fact that the woman was not killed or permanently crippled as miraculous. Seven days after the incident, the victim told police the couple had been arguing that evening, and at one point in the argument, Swite brought out the SKS semi-automatic rifle. She described a look in his eyes as crazy and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mr. Swite place the rifle down on his lap, said Crown prosecutor Murray Kaay. It was her perception that Mr. Swite was trying to intimidate her. She says she heard a single click and then realized she had been shot. Eventually he comes over to her and says, 'Oh my God baby, I don't know what I just did, Kaay told the court. Swite says he was simply moving the gun to a bag that he kept hunting and camping supplies in when it accidentally went off. Both had been drinking alcohol that night. Justice Smith told Kaay that the intimidation aspect would drastically affect his sentencing but Kaay chose not to call additional evidence to try and prove Swite was trying to intimidate his girlfriend with the weapon. Despite this, Swite's criminal record, involving past instances of assaults and weapons violations, along with breaching his firearms prohibition by possessing two guns, one of which was illegal, Justice Smith sentenced Swite to 3 1/2 years in jail for criminal negligence causing bodily harm, possessing weapons while prohibited and possession a prohibited device while prohibited. Swite was given enhanced credit for 405 days of time served. The accused had told either the ambulance attendants or police that it was an accidental shooting when they were looking at his hunting guns, said Justice Smith. Of course, neither of these two weapons were hunting guns. One does not hunt with a sawed-off shotgun, nor ought they be hunting with an SKS assault rifle." In addition to the jail sentence, Justice Smith gave Swite a lifetime ban on possessing any firearms and banned him from communicating with the victim while he was incarcerated. Don't make the mistake of ever, ever, ever being in possession of any firearm, Justice Smith told Swite after sentencing. Any judge, after hearing what's happened this time, if you're even in possession of it, you could be looking at multiple years just for possessing the darn gun. Photo: Contributed The Province and the feds are teaming up to provide cleaner water for a North Okanagan community. Armstrong is receiving federal-provincial investment in clean water and wastewater infrastructure. A media release from the province said the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund is providing approximately $310 million to 144 projects throughout the province. Through this fund, Armstrong is receiving $525,390 for wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation. The release did not say how much that money was from the federal government. The fund enables crucial investments in local government infrastructure, specifically supporting long-term benefits in rehabilitating drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems, as well as planning and designing future facilities and upgrades to existing wastewater systems. This funding will help communities ensure residents have safe and reliable access to drinking water and improved environmental protections. It will also assist local governments in meeting provincial and federal regulations. Photo: Dave Ogilvie A minor collision has caused a major traffic backup through West Kelowna. A rear-ender crash involving a Ford Focus sub-compact and a Ford Windstar minivan stalled traffic in the southbound lanes of Highway 97 about 2:45 p.m. Traffic is reportedly still moving slowly through the area, with congestion from Bridge Hill to Boucherie Road. A pickup may also have been involved in the collision, just before the Westlake-Hudson intersection. Ambulance paramedics treated at least one person with minor injuries. Photo: Contributed Voters will have a chance to grill political hopefuls at an all candidate forum in Lumby. The provincial candidates will face the public Wednesday, April 19 at the White Valley Community Centre, 2230 Shields Ave. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with the forum starting at 6 p.m. All of the candidates have been invited to attend. Eric Foster is seeking re-election with the Liberals, but is being challenged by Green Party candidate Keli Westgate, BC Conservative candidate Nels Harrington, NDP hopeful Barry Dorval and Libertarian candidate Don Jefcoat. There is no word on how many of candidates will be at the forum. Photo: The Canadian Press His name was Owen, but he called himself Staxx street-slang for a pile of money. She was 14 when she met him online, at a vulnerable time in her life, and they talked regularly through Instagram and Snapchat. Eventually, the 20-year-old took her to meet his parents in East Preston, N.S. Not long after, however, the sexual assaults, threats, violence and prostitution started. In Halifax provincial court Friday, Owen Ross Gibson-Skeir, now 21, was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was arrested a year ago and pleaded guilty in December to three charges two counts related to human trafficking and one count of sexual assault. "There is nothing more heinous, more offensive and degrading than the selling of children for sexual services," Crown attorney Catherine Cogswell told court. "That's as low as humanity gets." The girl sat at the back of the courtroom with her parents. She chose not to make a victim impact statement. Gibson-Skeir sat motionless Friday while the statement of facts was read into the court record, a swarm of tattoos climbing up the side of his neck and a tiny, blue butterfly fluttering just below his right eye. He declined to say anything when asked if he would like to address the court. The young victim met Gibson-Skeir in late 2015, and by January of 2016 he was her pimp, the Crown attorney told court Friday. For two months, the girl was forced into the sex trade by a man who described himself as a member of the Blood gang in East Preston, a half-hour drive east of Halifax, Cogswell said. Gibson-Skeir took explicit photos of the girl, posted them on a classified website and then arranged all of her liaisons mostly at local hotels and an apartment. As for the men the girl had sex with, they would often ask how old she was. "No one did anything about it," said Cogswell. "This is one of the more shocking aspects of this case." Photo: Contributed Provincial money will be flowing into the Township of Spallumcheen to help the North Okanagan community improve flood protection. Spallumcheen will receive $800,000 to improve flood protection for the area currently administrated by the Fortune Creek Drainage and Diking District by improving the current berm and dredging the channel. The Township of Spalllumcheen also agreed to accept the operation and maintenance of this berm if the government decides to transfer it at some time in the future, allowing this berm to be part of Spallumcheen's flood mitigation planning into the future. In addition, as part of $2.13 million provided to the Fraser Basin Council (FBC), $1 million will benefit the region in supporting the FBC to conduct an inventory and engineering assessment of all orphan or unmanaged dikes in British Columbia. The assessment will evaluate the structural conditions of the dikes and determine the cost to upgrade the dikes to provincial standard and to acquire at-risk properties. The goal of this project is to assess the risks to local communities and to help facilitate the transfer of diking authority to local governments. Photo: The Canadian Press Ontario Power Generation chairman Bernard Lord The CEO of Ontario Power Generation earned nearly $1.2 million last year, making him the highest-paid public-sector employee in the province on a growing list of those earning $100,000 or more. Jeff Lyash tops the so-called sunshine list with $1,155,900 in pay and $9,800 in taxable benefits, but next year he could be making even more. OPG wrote a letter this week to the Ontario government saying its CEO would be paid a maximum of $1.9 million, but it is not changing a $3.8-million compensation cap the premier had asked to be revised. The board "took great care" in calculating the $3.8-million regulatory cap, board chair Bernard Lord wrote, but it has voluntarily set the maximum compensation much lower, with the target at $1.5 million. As a wage freeze lifts, all broader public-sector agencies have until September to post their proposals for new executive compensation packages under a framework that caps salaries at the 50th percentile of "appropriate comparators." That means next year's sunshine list totals could be much higher. This year there are 123,410 workers on the list, up from 115,431 last year, earning salaries and benefits that total nearly $16 billion. The second highest earner and the only other person on the list who made more than $1 million is William Moriarty, the president and CEO of the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation, at about $1,046,000. The rest of the top 10 is rounded out with the executive vice-president and chief investment officer of the Ontario Pension Board, OPG's chief nuclear officer, and hospital presidents. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne was paid about $209,000 which is not the highest of legislative employees. The director of broadcast and recording services, the clerk and the sergeant-at-arms, all of whom retired last year, earned more. Wynne's own chief of staff, Andrew Bevan, made about $313,000. Photo: The Canadian Press A man who had 101 dogs seized from his house in southern Alberta has voluntarily surrendered the animals to the Alberta SPCA. Roland Lines of the Alberta SPCA says they went to the home in the Varsity Village area of Lethbridge on March 24, where they found 101 dogs running around inside. Lines says two of the dogs were young, large breed dogs, while the rest were small dogs, mostly chihuahuas and pomeranians, of varying ages and conditions. He says two needed surgery and the majority need some type of medical treatment. The investigation is ongoing and charges are possible. Since the dogs were seized, one had three puppies, so there are now a total of 104 dogs. Line said when the SPCA seizes animals, there is a 10-day hold period during which time the owner can try to reclaim animals. "Before the 10 days were up, he decided to voluntarily surrender them to us," Lines said. "What that means is that we could immediately start making arrangements for them to be moved over to organizations that do animal adoptions." Photo: The Canadian Press The driver of a pickup truck that collided with a church minibus in rural Texas, killing 13 people, apologized after the crash and acknowledged he had been texting while driving, a witness said Friday. Jody Kuchler told The Associated Press he was driving behind the truck and had seen it moving erratically prior to the Wednesday collision on a two-lane road about 75 miles west (120 km) of San Antonio, near the town of Concan. Kuchler said the truck had crossed the centre line several times while he followed it. Kuchler, 55, a self-employed welder, said he and his girlfriend were driving back to their home in the nearby town of Leakey when he came across a truck that was driving erratically across the road. "He kept going off the road and into oncoming traffic and he just kept doing that," said Kuchler, who followed the truck for at least 15 minutes. Kuchler said he called the sheriff's offices for both Uvalde and Real counties and told them "they needed to get him off the road before he hit somebody." Kuchler said he witnessed the crash and afterward, he checked on both the bus and the truck and was able to speak with the driver of the truck, who has been identified by the Texas Department of Public Safety as 20-year-old Jack Dillon Young, of Leakey. "He said, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was texting.' I said, 'Son, do you know what you just did?' He said, 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry,'" Kuchler recalled. Kuchler first shared the account of what happened with the San Antonio Express-News. The wreck occurred along a curve in the road where the speed limit is 65 mph, according to Department of Public Safety officials. Department of Public Safety Sgt. Conrad Hein declined to comment on Friday on the cause of the crash or if texting might have played a role. But officials have said the truck driver appeared to have crossed the centre line. Photo: The Canadian Press The daughter of one of two men stabbed to death in a grocery warehouse confronted her father's killer Friday before he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Patricia Harris made a point of staring directly at Jayme Pasieka as she shared her rage and sadness in an Edmonton courtroom. "I cannot understand why your murdered my father," she said in a loud and confident voice as she read her victim impact statement. "Why did you have to stab him so many times? He was in so much pain. He was already bleeding out so much after eight, nine, 10 stab wounds from your Grim Reaper blades." Pasieka, who has schizophrenia, attacked and killed Fitzroy Harris, 50, and Thierno Bah, 41, at a Loblaw grocery warehouse where they all worked on Feb. 28, 2014. Four others were badly injured. A jury earlier this month found him guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated assault. Before the sentence was handed down, court heard from some of the victims' relatives. Harris was asked to edit her statement before she gave it. Outside court, she said she removed parts in which she compared Pasieka to Satan. Nine-year-old Kiara Harris said her grandfather was a nice man who didn't deserve to die. Photo: CTV A Canadian man who tried to organize an aid shipment to relatives stranded in a conflict-ridden area of Libya says he recently found out most of his family members had died during his fruitless efforts to send them food and water. Ali Hamza of Mississauga, Ont., had flown to Turkey with his wife and children last month in a bid to mobilize relief efforts for the residents of Ganfouda, a militant-controlled neighbourhood in the city of Benghazi that has been besieged by Libyan army troops that answer to a powerful commander. Amnesty International has raised the alarm over the situation in Ganfouda, saying residents had been trapped there for months with dwindling food and fuel supplies. Hamza spent nearly a month in Turkey attempting to partner with an NGO to send in a delivery of food and water, but the precarious security situation kept the aid shipment on the ground. Two weeks ago, Hamza says he got the devastating news that five of the six family members he was trying to help had died. He says one brother and one sister died on Feb. 25 during a bombing attack in Ganfouda that he learned of later, adding they had been living on tree bark and rain water in the weeks before their deaths. On Mar. 18, Hamza says his elderly mother and three remaining siblings boarded a bus in a bid to flee to a safer part of Benghazi, only to be ambushed on their way out. His mother, a brother and a sister all died, he said, adding only one sister survived and is being detained. Hamza said the news came as a crushing end to an already upsetting trip. "In the plane, maybe three times I cried very loud," he said of the return journey from Turkey. "We lost family. We lost the grandmother of our children, we lost uncles and aunts." Hamza had called on the Canadian government to take a more active role in providing aid and support to Ganfouda and expressed disappointment at the lack of strong public statements from Ottawa on the plight of those stranded in the area. He's not quite soaring through the air, faster than the speed of sound - but he's off to a good start. Richard Browning has unveiled his flying suit, powered by miniature kerosene-powered jet engines. Richard hasn't started on the bionic suit of super-human strength yet, but you have to start somewhere. Walter Fryman of Desloge is deeply connected to the Underwood Cemetery, located outside of Fredericktown off Route W and Madison County Road 208. For the last 20 years he has maintained the cemetery where three generations of his family are buried. My great-grandparents, my grandparents and my dad are buried there, Fryman said. My dad was buried there in 1940. I was just 10 months old. Also buried in the cemetery are at least two Civil War veterans, Washington Underwood and Fielding R. Combs, who fought for the Union at the battle of Fort Davidson in Pilot Knob. When Frymans grandfather, Jerry Lee Fryman, was alive and living in Flat River he was partnered with Don Phelps of Fredericktown in maintaining the cemetery. Jerry would collect donations to fund the cemeterys maintenance, and in the 1970s, he asked his grandson to take over for him. Jerry gave his grandson a list of people who had supported the cemetery, and Walter began visiting the names on the list to ask for contributions as his grandfather had. He said it was difficult to obtain donations to cover the cost of maintenance. I remember one lady, Fryman said. I went to see her she lived over in Esther somewhere. I told her who I was and what I wanted, and she said, Oh yeah, honey, come in. And she went inside and got a little old chain purse and she dug around in that until she finally come up with two dollars. And there were several like that, but she sticks out. Fryman said it seemed like a waste of time to canvass neighborhoods asking for donations, so he started covering the cost himself, which he still does with help from his brother, Paul Fryman, Jr. of Texas. In 1992, Phelps asked Fryman to take over full responsibility of maintaining the cemetery. Phelps gave Fryman the money that had been put toward the cemetery, amounting to between $250 and $300. I went down there and the fence was broken down, Fryman said. And the cattle was getting in through the fence. The road you couldnt get up there. So I, with the help of my stepdad and some friends, we put a new fence in and redid the road, had it graded. After repairing the road and fence, Fryman said the responsibility mostly came to mowing the cemetery when needed. At the gate of the cemetery, Fryman left a letter for visitors explaining the maintenance that had been done and how anyone who wished to make a donation could go about doing so, but he didnt get much of a reply. I had one man from Tennessee, I believe, that sent me $20 and a letter that said it was the best hed seen the cemetery, Fryman said. He was coming through and had some family buried there. In addition to his own contributions, Fryman said he did receive substantial help from Horton-Wampler Funeral Home in Park Hills, as well as his brother, Paul. But now, the place is growed-up and the fence is not good anymore, Fryman said. And Ill soon be 78 years old, and I just cant do much. I used to come down and mow it myself, up until 2010 or so. Id come down and have a guy come with me and Id mow it myself, but I got to where Id just send him. And its gotten to where to be preserved, it needs some attention. Fryman said the cemetery is located on a farm owned by Richard Menteer, who Fryman said has also assisted with the mowing of the cemetery. While hes not sure exactly how old the cemetery is, there are individuals buried there who died in the 1800s. For Fryman, the cemetery has been there as long as he can remember, since his great-grandparents had a farm nearby. When I was coming up as a kid, every Memorial Day weekend, thered be a big crowd gathered there at my great-grandma and grandpas and weve have a big dinner, then everybodyd go up and clean the cemetery off, Fryman said. And that old road back that went to it went up through my great-grandpas place. But you couldnt get a hearse up there. I can remember them, when theyd get there with a body, theyd have to put it on a horse and wagon to cross the creek down there, and thats how theyd get up to it. Fryman said his grandfather and others obtained a right-of-way through the farm now owned by Menteer and built a road up to the cemetery. He said he was too little to be of much help, but he remembers being there when the road was being built. While hes only been officially maintaining the cemetery on his own for 20 years or so, the plot has been a part of his life and the lives of his family members for more than a century. Now, Fryman said, the time has come to pass along the responsibility. Ive got to the point that Im just not going to be able to do it, Fryman said. And Id just like to see that somebody would get involved with the thing and see that its taken care of. While the cemetery was once mowed several times a year, Fryman said he now just makes sure it gets mowed before Memorial Day. The responsibility would mostly be to make sure that the place is kept clean and usable. He would like to find someone before Memorial Day this year. Anyone who is interested in continuing the lifelong work of Fryman and his family to preserve the Underwood Cemetery can contact him at 573-760-2215. Photo: The Canadian Press Japan's whaling fleet returned home Friday after killing 333 whales in the Antarctic, achieving its goal for the second year under a revised research whaling program. The Fisheries Agency said the five-ship fleet finished its four-month expedition without major interference from anti-whaling activists who have attempted to stop it in the past. Japan says the hunt was for ecological research. Research whaling is allowed as an exception to a 1986 international ban on commercial whaling. Opponents of the Japanese program say it's a cover for commercial whaling because the whales are sold for food. The International Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Japan's Antarctic whaling program should stop because it wasn't scientific as Tokyo had claimed. Japan conducted non-lethal whaling research in the Antarctic in 2015, and revised its program in 2016 by reducing the catch quota to about one-third of what it used to kill. "It was great that we have achieved our plan. We will steadily continue our research toward a resumption of commercial whaling," Fisheries Agency official Shigeto Hase said at a welcome ceremony in Shimonoseki, home port for the fleet's mother ship, Nisshin Maru. Officials said the whalers used parts of the whales to determine their age, nutrition, and reproductive conditions. Opponents say such studies can be done using non-lethal methods. Kitty Block, executive vice-president of Humane Society International, an animal protection group based in Washington D.C., said Japan is needlessly killing whales every year. "It is an obscene cruelty in the name of science that must end," she said in a statement. Japan has hunted whales for centuries as a source of protein and cheaper alternative to other meats. Its whale catch has fallen in recent years in part because of declining domestic demand for whale meat. Protests by the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd have also contributed to the decline. Critics say it's a dying industry, but Japan's government has spent large amounts of tax money to sustain the whaling operations, saying it's a Japanese cultural tradition that must be preserved Photo: The Canadian Press Rescuers on Saturday searched for more than two dozen people who were missing after a rain-triggered landslide struck a village on Indonesia's main island of Java. One body was found before the search was suspended as rain started to fall. The landslide hit some 23 houses and farmers harvesting ginger on a hillside in Banaran village in East Java province's Ponorogo district, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency. Nugroho said the discovery of one dead victim left at least 26 villagers missing. The local army chief, Lt. Col. Slamet Sarijanto, said that according to villagers, 38 people were buried by the landslide 22 in their houses and 16 while harvesting ginger. Nugroho said 17 people were injured and being treated at a hospital. "The search was halted and will be resumed tomorrow because the weather conditions and unstable terrain could lead to more landslides," he said. Disaster agency rescuers, soldiers, police officers and volunteers took part in the search for the missing, Nugroho said, adding that difficulties in accessing the disaster site hampered rescue efforts. The landslide measuring 800 metres (half a mile) long and 20 metres (66 feet) high, according to Nugroho overturned vehicles, shattered and buried buildings, and left a massive scar on a hillside where lush vegetation had been torn away. Seasonal rains cause frequent floods in Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago nation, where many of the country's 256 million people live in mountainous areas or fertile, flood-prone plains near rivers. Photo: The Canadian Press UPDATED: 8:26 p.m. With no electricity to light in Mocoa, Colombia, authorities were forced to suspend the search late Saturday evening but vowed to continue combing through the debris at the first appearance of daylight Sunday morning. A total of 193 people were killed and as many as 220 feared missing after a torrent of water and mud swept through the a city of 40,000 near midnight Friday, catching sleeping residents off guard and leaving little time to flee. The bodies of nearly 200 people found dead thus far were being placed in a temporary morgue where three teams of medical examiners were working around the clock to swiftly identify the remains. UPDATED 2:09 P.M. An avalanche of water from three overflowing rivers swept through a small city in Colombia while people slept, destroying homes and killing at least 154 unsuspecting residents. The incident triggered by intense rains happened around midnight in Mocoa, a provincial capital of about 40,000 tucked between mountains near Colombia's southern border with Ecuador. Muddy water and debris quickly surged through the city's streets, toppling homes, ripping trees from their roots, lifting cars and trucks and carrying them downstream. Many of the residents did not have enough time to climb on top of their roofs or seek refuge on higher ground. According to the Red Cross, 400 people were injured and 220 believed missing. President Juan Manuel Santos declared a state of emergency and said the death toll will likely rise but warned against speculating how many people remain missing. "We don't know how many there are going to be," he said of the fatalities when he arrived at the disaster zone to oversee rescue efforts. "We're still looking." Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos says at least 112 people have been killed after intense rains triggered an avalanche of mud and water from overflowing rivers that swept through a small city. Santos arrived at the disaster zone Saturday, warning the death toll could rise as the search for survivors continues. The incident happened around midnight in Mocoa, a city of 350,000 located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. A surgeon at the local hospital says he believes there are at least 300 people injured and that doctors are running out of blood. Witnesses described feeling buildings vibrate and say there was little time to seek refuge, catching some victims off guard in their sleep. Photo: Contributed Pfizer Canada is recalling EpiPens because they may not work properly. The auto-injectors may contain a faulty part in one lot of EpiPen and one lot of EpiPen Jr. The company says there have been two international cases reported where a defective part prevented the auto-injector from activating. There have not been any confirmed cases in Canada. The products involved in the recall are EpiPen auto-injectors with an expiry date of May 2017, and EpiPen Jr. auto-injectors with an expiry date of March 2017. The company said more than 100,000 products that could be affected were distributed in Canada. Superstar Rajinikanth on 31 March dubbed as rumours reports suggesting that he would replace Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan as Malacca's ambassador. "I was shooting a movie in Malaysia sometime ago. I could not meet him then, so I met him now. Malaysia extended extremely good cooperation. It happened that he is here in Chennai. He accepted my invitation. He saw the 'Kabali' clips also for 15-20 minutes. He liked it. He offered me to do more pictures in Malaysia. It was a goodwill meet," he told the media after meeting Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Rajak here. Earlier in 2016, Rajinikanth was in Malaysia for the shoot of his gangster flick 'Kabali'. Ever since his announcement to visit Sri Lanka was made, Rajinikanth's name has been constantly hitting the headlines. The actor was upset with a few political leaders in Tamil Nadu for opposing his decision to visit Sri Lanka and cancelled his plans. -ANI If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... Sen. Angus King said Friday that the Senate intelligence committee investigation has yielded incontrovertible proof that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. "There is no doubt whatsoever that the Russians were behind an effort to interfere with our elections," King said, speaking on CNN's "New Day" just a day after the committee's first public hearing on the matter. "There's no doubt this is a Russian pattern for years," the Maine independent said. "(T)hey have been trying to do this kind of disinformation as part of their toolkit ... they're doing it right now in France and Germany." King was responding to a tweet from President Donald Trump on Friday in which he referred to the ongoing investigations into Russia's efforts to influence the US election as a "a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss)" led by Democrats and the media. In the tweet, Trump said his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, should seek immunity in exchange for his testimony to federal and congressional investigators in their probe. Questions have swirled about the nature of Flynn's ties to Russia and whether he violated any restrictions on contacts with foreign officials. He was forced to resign after he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States. In Thursday's hearing, Senate investigators heard from experts on disinformation tactics -- tools used by Russian operatives to disrupt elections in the United States and elsewhere. "We are seeking to determine if there is an actual fire, but so far, there is a great, great deal of smoke," committee vice chairman Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, said in his opening remarks. CNN's Tom LoBianco contributed to this report. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt story has experienced the best as well as the worst times. Starting from the actress' allegations against the ex-husband to enlisting private judge to handle the matters, the Brangelina matter has gone through everything. However, the increasing closeness of the two actors again is a big question mark. The two of them were known for their devoted relationship. But the filing of the divorce and custody case came as a shock to fans. However, Angelina Jolie and the ex-husband coming close to each other suddenly after so much uglier turns in their story is even more shocking for fans. The actress who held Brad Pitt responsible for domestic violence against her has suddenly shown a change in behavior towards the actor. Angelina Jolie, who filed a divorce after a blow-up fight during an air journey in the family private jet, has instantly started talking to her ex after six months of silence. During the court proceedings, there were allegations that the actor mistreated his kids. Despite the allegations put on Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie has been found praising the actor for his parenthood. To be noted here is that the court has given the actor a clean chit over child abuse allegations. Recently, ABC News reporter George Stephanopoulos asked the actress if she thought Pitt was a good father. "Of course, of course," the actress responded. "We will always be a family, always." Angelina Jolie has been busy shooting in Cambodia recently for her new Netflix production "First They Killed My Father." E News reported that Brad Pitt took multiple trips to the nation while the actress and their children stayed there. A source told the media outlet that the 51-year-old actor often visited Cambodia during the free schedule. "All through production and filming, and on her most recent press trip, Brad came to Cambodia in secret to spend time with the kids," the source said. "They were with Angelina for probably 75 percent of the time when Brad was in the country and they'd go back and forth between her and Brad. ...He wasn't in Cambodia the entire time they filmed, but he made multiple trips there to spend time with the kids." Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that US sanctions against Russia will remain in place until Moscow "reverses the actions" it has taken in Ukraine. The comments are notable given President Donald Trump's at-times reluctance to criticize Russia over its actions in Crimea, though he did declare last month that the territory was "taken" by Russia. As a candidate, Trump hinted he might recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea, and sources have previously told CNN that Ukraine-related sanctions were on the table for review as part of Trump's interest in pursuing warmer ties with Moscow. "American and NATO support for Ukraine remains steadfast. As we have repeated at every ministerial and summit since Russia launched its campaign of aggression against Ukraine, NATO allies stand firm in our support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Tillerson said at a NATO meeting at the organization's headquarters in Brussels. "We do not, and will not, accept Russian efforts to change the borders of territory of Ukraine." He added, "We will continue to hold Russia accountable to its Minsk commitments. The United States sanctions will remain until Moscow reverses the actions that triggered our sanctions." At his confirmation hearings in January, Tillerson called Russia's claims on Crimea "illegitimate." His comments on Friday also echo those made by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, when she told the UN Security Council last month that US sanctions against Russia would remain in place until it withdraws from Crimea. Earlier Friday, Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis criticized Russian actions in overseas comments aimed at reassuring US allies. Mattis, appearing with his British counterpart in London, also called out the Putin regime for "mucking around" in other people's elections -- a particularly notable claim coming at a time when federal and congressional investigators are probing alleged Russian meddling in the US elections last November. "We look to engaging with Russia on a political or diplomatic level, but right now, Russia is choosing to be a strategic competitor," Mattis said during a news conference with Michael Fallon, the UK defense secretary. "We are going to have to carve out diplomatically some kind of maneuver room here, assuming Russia can change its behavior and act in accordance with international norms and international law." He also said "Russian activity" in Afghanistan "gives us concern," though he stopped short of saying the Putin government was arming the Taliban. In response to Mattis, Alexey Pushkov, a senior Russian lawmaker, tweeted, "New US administration sounds just like the old one Mattis is indistinguishable from (former Defense Secretary Ash) Carter, Tillerson is talking about 'Russian aggression.' (Barack) Obama and (Hillary) Clinton must be happy." Tillerson is in Brussels to reinforce US commitment to NATO -- an organization Trump has repeatedly criticized -- and referred to the alliance as "the bedrock for transatlantic security." "We understand that a threat against one of us is a threat against all of us, and we will respond accordingly. We will uphold the agreements we have made to defend our allies," he added. The Trump administration's top diplomat, however, reiterated on Friday Trump's call for members to increase their financial contributions to the organization. "Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders meeting that by the end of the year, all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how, with annual milestone progress commitments, the pledge will be fulfilled," Tillerson told the ministers. Hopes for a thawing relationship fading But Trump's hopes of striking a grand bargain with Russia are fading, two administration officials told CNN Thursday. According to one senior administration official, this isn't necessarily because Trump's view of Putin has evolved. But Trump believes in the current atmosphere -- with so much media scrutiny and ongoing probes into Trump-Russia ties and election meddling -- that it won't be possible to "make a deal," as the President himself has framed it, the officials said. One of the White House officials said the President was particularly "frustrated" in a meeting in the Oval Office with newly minted national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other top officials in the wake of Russia's February cruise missile deployment -- an apparent treaty violation. This official said that with each violation from Russia, the President views it as that much harder to make amends. The President is not closing the door on engaging with Russia on a variety of issues -- including Syria, Ukraine and combating ISIS -- but the administration is not optimistic at the moment. CNN's Nicole Gaouette, Sara Murray, Elizabeth Landers, Eugene Scott, Mary Ilyushina and Matthew Chance contributed to this report. As I write this, it has only been about thirty-six hours since we returned from Washington DC. I have been to DC only twice in my life, both times as a tourist. The first time Clinton was President; so it had been awhile. Of all the monuments, memorials, and museums to visit in DC, the Lincoln Memorial has always been my favorite, not because of the impressive statue but because of one of the speeches engraved on the wall. As you stand to look at the enormous Lincoln statue, carved into the wall to the left is America's most famous speech - The Gettysburg Address, but it is the engraving on the wall to the right that has always drawn my wonder and amazement. It is Lincoln's second inaugural address. I was born during the Eisenhower administration, and I have not heard any political speech close to this speech in my lifetime. To hear anything close to Lincoln's second inaugural address you need to be in a church. On that day Lincoln gave the nation the truth, and he sounds more like a preacher than a politician. Lincoln quotes Matthew 7:1, Matthew 18:7, and Psalm 19:9 and alludes to Genesis 3:19 and Ephesians 4:31-32 in his address. Would any politician today quote the Bible as the Authority behind his words? Politicians will quote a verse from time to time, but Lincoln was using the scripture as the authority behind his words - to prove his point. Lincoln referred to slavery as an "offense" and quoted Jesus, "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" Lincoln states that the war is the "woe" God is giving the country because of the offense of slavery, "If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came." Could you imagine any politician alive making the claim that as a nation we have sinned and our problems are a judgement from God? If a politician did this how much longer would his political career last? Would the American people fall with a contrite heart before God or would we scream, "Separation of church and state!" and force the individual out of politics? Lincoln goes on to suggest the Civil War would continue as long as Almighty God wants it to last, "Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'" Can you even dream of a political figure that after telling us we must suffer because of the providence of God that wouldn't be crucified by the media and a majority of the American public? Lincoln concludes the speech by proclaiming the nation should unite, no longer be enemies and look toward one another's needs with benevolent hearts, "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." Over time people change and therefore nations will change. Obviously, Lincoln spoke of God, sin, judgement, and forgiveness in the most public of arenas. If a speech similar to Lincoln's be given today would it be chiseled into a memorial, preserved for the ages or be torn to shreds? I think most of you know the answer. Why would a speech such as this not be accepted today? Earlier I said that you would need to be in a church to hear a speech like Lincoln's; sadly, that that may be difficult because not many ministers preach on sin, judgement, and the providence of God anymore. Could it be that in the 1860s people wanted to hear the truth regardless of how much it may hurt, but here in the early part of the twenty-first century, we only want to listen to what is pleasant and we agree with? Could it be that the best Lincoln could do today would be an attorney in Springfield, Illinois? Preacher Tim Johnson is the Pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in Parke County Indiana. Email: preacherspoint@gmail.com Website: www.preacherjohnson.com Preacher Johnson is available for revivals, prophecy conferences and other speaking. All Scripture KJV. Chino, CA (91710) Today Cloudy skies with periods of rain late. Low 54F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Cloudy skies with periods of rain late. Low 54F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Greetings from your Missouri Capitol. As I sit and prepare this week's Capitol Report, it's Thursday evening and the Capitol has grown very quiet. I assure you it was very busy today with lots of school groups and Vietnam Veterans in the building. I'm usually on my way home at this time, but tomorrow I have a wonderful group of 4th graders from Viburnum traveling to the Capitol for a visit and I decided that I would stay the night and greet them and show them around the building. I'm not sure who is more excited, me or the kids. Legislators are not here on Fridays and the building will be pretty quiet, but I just didn't want the kids to come up without having the opportunity to meet their representative. Should be fun. This week we honored many of our Vietnam Veterans here in the Missouri House. Back in 2012, Rep. Pat Conway and myself, worked hard to get HB 1100 passed which designated March 30th of every year, Vietnam Veterans Day here in Missouri. It is not a holiday, but it is a day to honor those that sacrificed so much for us in the Vietnam War. Let me remind you, these soldiers did not come home to a heroes welcome and Patriot Guard parades. We must NEVER forget what they did for us. The House Chamber was filled today with Vietnam Veterans from across the state being recognized by their representative. I was very honored to present a Missouri House Resolution to my Veteran, Mr. Paul Merrill. Mr. Merrill was not able to make the trip to the Capitol because of illness, but I intend to present his resolution to him as soon as I can. Mr. Merrill served in the United States Army from 1966 to 1977, during which time he served tours in Vietnam and Germany. Mr. Merrill is a resident of Potosi and he works very hard with our VFW to make sure that all of our Veterans on honored in some way. Thank you Mr. Merrill, but most of all, thank you Sir for your service on our behalf. Missouri Modot Engineer, Preston Kramer stopped by my office this week to give me an update on some of the road and bridge improvements that will be taking place in the Washington County area. 1. Route 8 will get a new asphalt pavement surface across all of Washington County. This project is expected to take place in the summer of 2017. 2. The bridge over Cedar Creek on Route 32 (east of Caledonia a bit) will also be completely replaced with a new, wider, safer structure. This bridge is in critical condition and needs to be replaced. I talked to them about the Caledonia Pumpkin Fest and I was told that there will be a clause in the contract where this bridge MUST be completed before this event. Great news. 3. The bridge over Fourche-A-Renault on Route 185 (Ebo) will be completely replaced with a new, wider, safer structure in 2019. This bridge has been in very critical condition and has been a high priority unfunded transportation need for Washington County for several years. Long overdue. On the political, the House was very busy working to push legislation forward. Legislation that would give Missourians the option to obtain a photo identification that complies with the Federal Real ID Act is now on it's way to the Senate. This bill would require the Dept. of Revenue to issue Real ID compliant driver's licenses and identification cards to those that want them. After the attack in New York on the Twin Towers in 2001, the U.S. Congress in 2005, passed the Real ID Act that was designed to enhance security procedures by establishing new minimum standards for driver's licenses. In 2009, Missouri responded by passing a state law to protect the private information of Missouri citizens by prohibiting the Missouri Dept. of Revenue from complying with this new federal act. Because our state has not complied, our Missouri licenses are no longer a valid form of identification at federal facilities and military bases, and will no longer be valid at airports as proof of identity for domestic flights beginning in 2018. What HB 151, the Real ID Act will do is give all Missourians an opportunity to choose whether or not they want to purchase a Missouri license that is compliant with the new federal ID law or purchase a license that is not compliant. This bill is about freedom. Freedom to choose which type of license I feel is best for me. This bill still has a ways to go, but it has cleared the first hurdle to the Governor's desk. The Missouri House has given initial approval to a proposed tracking system for prescription drugs that supporters hope will fight opioid abuse in Missouri. This bill aims to help stop the practice of "doctor shopping," which involves offender going from doctor to doctor in order to obtain multiple prescriptions for valuable and addictive medications. The Narcotics Control Act would allow Missouri to join the 49 other states that already have a prescription drug monitoring system (PDMP) in place. I find it hard to believe that we (Missouri) are the only state in the country that DOES NOT have a PDMP in place. I believe it is vital that we maintain a program here in our state to monitor the prescribing and dispensing of these drugs that are ruining the lives of so many. Because Missouri does not have a PDMP program in place, border states see citizens cross into Missouri to "doctor shop" for prescription drugs. If implemented, I believe we will see a reduction in prescription pain medication like OxyContin and Vicodin off the streets and hopefully see a reduction in overdoses and deaths. Just let me remind you, there are many of our cities that are tired of waiting for this legislature to act on the issue and are implementing their own PDMP. This is long overdue and we need to get it done and done now. I'll keep you posted. So nice to have Judge Ben Thompson from Ellington in the House this week. We had a great visit and had the opportunity to drop in on Gov. Greitens for a quick visit. Thanks Judge for stopping by. Keep up the great work. Well let me close by saying that I have so many other issues that I would like to share, but time and space doesn't allow at the time. Remember you can contact me at paul.fitzwater@house.mo.gov or my legislative assistant Chris Dinkins at christina.dinkins@house.mo.gov or you can call our office at 573-751-2112. You can write to me at Paul Fitzwater, Missouri House of Representatives, 201 W. Capitol Ave., Room 110B, Jefferson City, Mo. 65101. Have a great week. This week has been a very busy week and we have only seven more weeks left in this Session. Even though the House has passed a lot of very good legislation, we now have to wait and hope the Senate does its job with moving the legislation forward. It is my hope that the bills we have passed in the House will make it to the Governors desk for his signing. One of the committees that I serve on is the Workforce Development Committee. This committee meets weekly and our focus is to pass legislation that will create jobs and the training that is needed for higher paying jobs. The workforce of our society is ever changing and many of our bills being heard are those that will provide the opportunity for an ever increasing job market. HB 151 will bring Missouri in compliance with the federal REAL ID law passed in 2005. REAL ID raises the proofof-identify requirements for IDs and also requires states to retain the personal information they receive for 10 years. Missouri IDs are currently not accepted at military bases and will not be accepted at airports starting in 2018. Supporters say we need this bill so Missourians can board planes and enter military bases. Opponents say REAL ID is a federal overreach and we should apply for another federal waiver. On HB 151, there were 99 Ayes and 40 No Votes. I was a Yes vote. HB 90 & 68 creates the prescription drug monitoring program. This will require the Department of Health and Senior Services to establish and maintain a program to monitor the prescribing and dispensing of all Schedule II through Schedule IV controlled substances. With PDMP doctors would be able to spot the early signs of addiction and be able to end the practice of doctor shopping. Another benefit would allow doctors to see all prescriptions a patient currently is taking; preventing them from accidentally prescribing a drug that could be lethal when prescribed in combination with other drugs. There were 109 Ayes and 40 No votes. I was one of the 109 Ayes who voted for this bill. HB 104 I did not support nor vote for eliminating the prevailing wage law in Missouri, allowing local governments to set their own wage rate on projects, therefore not having to pay the prevailing wage. It is still my hope that the Senate will modify prevailing wage instead of a full repeal. HB 174 acknowledges the right of an alternative to abortion agency to operate freely and engage in speech without governmental interference. This also upholds protections guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and Missouri. HB 174 would prohibit a city from banning or regulating a pregnancy resource center differently than a similar organization. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Christians Will Have a Future in Syria If ISIS Can Be Defeated Assyrians from Turkey and Syria attend mass at Mort Shmuni Syriac Orthodox Church in Midyat on February 2, 2014. ( Umit Bektas/Reuters) A former leader of a Mennonite group who worked for a decade in Syria says he's hopeful Christians will have a future in that country provided the Islamic State terror group is defeated. "If it is a takeover by ISIS, which is increasingly unlikely, I would be very worried about any sort of Christian presence in Syria," Eldon Wagler, former country representative for Mennonite Central Committee and who served in Syria for 10 years, said in a speech at Bethel College, a Christian liberal arts college in North Newton, Kansas, last week, according to The Kansan. "I do not think ISIS is going to last too long. ... If you have been following Mosul, you can see what our bombing has been doing there. ... The islamic factions and definitely ISIS is on the wane at this point. That is partly because of Russia. Iran has been active with that. Let's face it, our bombers have been flying up to 100 missions a day trying to target ISIS targets," Wagler added, speaking at the school, which is affiliated with the Mennonite Church USA. Security forces backed by a U.S.-led international coalition last year took back several cities in Iraq from the Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, and liberated eastern Mosul in December. They are now trying to liberate the western parts of the city. "I see this civil war dragging on for some time until all the parties slump to the table in exhaustion much as they did in Lebanon after 15 years. They were just tired of the fighting," Wagler continued. About 400,000 people have died in Syria's conflict, which began over six years ago. The Connecticut-based Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus has announced it's contributing nearly $2 million to provide crucial humanitarian assistance for Christian refugees in Iraq and Syria. "Those targeted for genocide continue to need our assistance, especially since many have received no funding from the U.S. government or from the United Nations," Knights of Columbus said in a statement, which was shared with The Christian Post. "The new administration should rectify the policies it found in place, and stop the de facto discrimination that is continuing to endanger these communities targeted by ISIS for genocide." Earlier this month, members at the evangelical megachurch Christ Fellowship in southeast Florida prepared over 300,000 meals in just two days that will be sent to refugee families displaced by IS and the ongoing civil war in Syria. Christ Fellowship's associate director of Missions, Philip McCracken, told CP, "It was something that our church could do in a way that creates an easy serve opportunity for people. It allows the opportunity for people to come serve for a small amount of time but when you step back and look at the big picture, you are like, 'Wow! Together, we really did make a big impact.'" According to a report in USA Today, numerous Syrian Muslims who fled their country and found refuge in Lebanon have converted to Christianity despite threats and incidents of attacks on new converts. George Saliba, Bishop of Syrian Orthodox Church in Lebanon, said he has baptized around 100 Muslim Syrian refugees since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011. An evangelical church in Beirut, which was not identified due to safety concerns, also has several Syrian converts, according to the report. The Constitution of Lebanon provides for religious freedom. However, thousands are coming to Christ across the Middle East, Voice of the Martyrs Canada, which runs radio shows in the region, said in January. The Tennessee Board of Regents appointed a new director at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology in Morristown, heard a report from students on the Tennessee Promise scholarship program and approved changes in some student incidental fees requested by colleges. Prior to the Boards regular quarterly meeting, Gov. Bill Haslam, Board members and TBR Chancellor Flora Tydings joined Nissan Senior Vice President for Manufacturing John Martin in formally opening the Tennessee College of Applied Technology at Murfreesboros new Smyrna Campus and Nissan Training Facility. After a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the facility, the Board convened its meeting in the colleges auditorium. Board Vice Chair Emily Reynolds of Nashville said the new campus will make a fundamental difference in the lives of the people coming through these doors. She also noted that the meeting made history because it was the first time the TBR Systems Colleges of Applied Technology hosted a board meeting. It wont be the last time, she said. The Middle Tennessee TCATs jointly hosted the session on the Smyrna campus. The 162,000-square-foot, $45.75 million state-owned facility welcomed its first group of students in January. The campus is a public-private partnership of the State of Tennessee, the Tennessee Board of Regents and Nissan. The College of Applied Technology offers technology certificate programs in several fields to any Tennessee student. The facilitys Nissan Training Center, operated by Nissan, offers advanced manufacturing and management training for employees and prospective employees of Nissan and its suppliers. Governor Haslam proposed the joint-use facility in his 2013 State of the State address and the Tennessee General Assembly approved a $35.4 million appropriation in the 2013-14 state budget. Nissan is paying $1.9 million through a lease agreement. The balance of the funding for its state-of-the-art training equipment and machinery came through internal TBR funding, grants from state and federal agencies, and donations from Nissan and its vendors. During its meeting, the Board approved Chancellor Tydings recommendation for the appointment of Jerry S. Young as director of the College of Applied Technology at Morristown, effective April 1. Young, who has been director of TCAT-Crossville since 2014, began his career with the TBR System in 1988 as an electronics technology instructor at the Crossville campus. He served as assistant director for nine years. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Excelsior College in Albany, N.Y., and a master of arts from the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky. Regent Danni Varlan of Knoxville, who chaired a search advisory committee for the new director, said there were 32 applicants for the position. The board heard a presentation on the impacts of the Tennessee Promise scholarship program by Student Regent Joshua Spurling, Columbia State Community College student Kendal Franks and Travis France, a student at the College of Applied Technology Morristown. Regent Spurling is completing his associate degree in business administration at Roane State Community College and will pursue a degree in management and international business at the University of Tennessee. All three are enrolled in the Tennessee Promise, which provides two years of community or technical college free of tuition and mandatory fees. Regent Spurling said the programs impacts have been widespread, leading to its first cohort of students graduating from their two-year programs this spring. However, as we move forward and our third cohort prepares to begin their first semester, its now more important than ever to keep working to improve Promise and what it has to offer, he said. He recommended continued work to ensure smooth transitions among colleges and universities, including making sure that credit earned by students through Transfer Pathways will transfer. In other action, the Board: Welcomed two new members, Regents Joey Hatch and Thomas A. H. White. Approved resolutions honoring former Regents Howard Roddy and Robert P. Thomas, whose terms expired. Approved a resolution honoring former TBR Chancellor David Gregory, who is retiring. Approved changes in 31 student incidental fees: eliminating 18 existing fees, increasing five fees, decreasing three, establishing four new fees, and clarifying the application of one fee. The changes involve students in a limited number of courses at the eight community colleges who requested changes. Incidental fees are fees charged to students for specific courses, programs and services lab materials fees, for example -- that are not charged to all enrolled students. Incidental fees differ from "mandatory" fees, such as student activity fees and technology fees, that are charged to all full-time students. Heard an overview of the governors budget recommendations and an update on state legislative issues. Heard an update by Chancellor Tydings on the Systems actions since the last regular board meeting in December, including a notification to the Board that a internal audit review at Northeast State Community College is continuing. Heard an update on TBR academic initiatives to improve student success, including a status report on Momentum Year, an effort led by Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Tristan Denley to improve outcomes for first-year students. Gave notice of a proposed change in TBR bylaws to change the titles of College of Applied Technology directors to presidents, to be acted on at the June quarterly meeting. Approved a new bachelor degree program in African Studies at Middle Tennessee State University and an associate degree program in anesthesia technology at Columbia State Community College. Approved a new TBR policy on behavioral intervention teams on TBR campuses. The teams provide early intervention with students and employees whose behavior is disruptive or concerning, and the policy proposed by the TBR Safety and Security Task Force last year attempts to ensure that the teams operate consistently throughout the system and follow best practices. Approved a policy outlining a process for the limited TBR review of university budgets mandated by the FOCUS Act. Eight hundred employees will be out of a job in the western suburbs. (CBS Chicago) Caterpillar plans to close a machine production plant in Aurora, putting about 800 hourly employees out of work, the company confirmed Friday. The Peoria-based heavy equipment manufacturer said in January that it was considering moving production of large wheel loaders and compactors to Decatur and medium wheel loaders to North Little Rock, Ark. Caterpillar will still have about 1,200 workers, including management, engineering and support jobs, in Aurora, the company said. Advertisement Production is expected to be fully moved from the plant by the end of 2018. According to a tentative contract agreement between Caterpillar and the United Auto Workers, severance benefits for affected Aurora workers will include 40 hours of pay for each year of service. Advertisement "The company will work with community leaders to determine the future use of the facility," Caterpillar spokeswoman Lisa Miller said. About 500 positions will likely be added in Decatur and about 150 positions in North Little Rock. Some jobs will move to various suppliers, and other positions will be eliminated. "Moving production from Aurora to other existing facilities allows Caterpillar to efficiently leverage manufacturing space while still preserving capacity for an upturn," Denise Johnson, a Caterpillar group president, said in a prepared statement. Caterpillar also said recently it planned to close a manufacturing site in Belgium, affecting 2,000 employees. Their duties, too, are being moved to other Caterpillar operations. The company, whose tax practices are being investigated by the federal government, recently announced plans to move its headquarters to the Chicago area but has yet to identify a location. byerak@chicagotribune.com Twitter @beckyyerak Parachute restaurant owners/chefs Beverly Kim, her husband John Clark (sitting on counter) and their staff raise a toast to their first night of business. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune) Parachute restaurant owners/chefs Beverly Kim, her husband John Clark (sitting on counter) and their staff raise a toast to their first night of business. Neophyte restaurateurs Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark ran through calculations on their Excel spreadsheet, something they've done plenty in the last year. They knew early on that the margin of error at their new Avondale restaurant, Parachute, was thin. If we averaged 25 customers a day, five days a week, that wouldn't be good for us. That's just skating by, and we'd have to get rid of everybody, said the 34-year-old Kim. Ultimately, because we have our names on the line, if it comes down to only me and Johnny cooking back there, we would do that. It was the prospect of husband and wife working together in the kitchen, doing what they loved and knew best, that brought them to their jump off the cliff moment. It happened on Nov. 1, Day One of their 3-year lease at 3500 N. Elston Ave., the day the romanticism of boundless possibility turned hard and real. They entered an unfamiliar world of decimal points, percentages, contractors, government licenses and seemingly endless paperwork. For Kim and Clark, who have a 4-year-old son, Daewon, their reputation, financial livelihood and ownership of their dream restaurant comes intertwined as a package deal: They have no plan B and are entering a restaurant business where, historically, success is as likely as betting against Vegas house odds. Then there's the mistaken belief among diners that ambitious restaurateurs serving $20-a-plate entrees are printing cash. At Parachute, Kim and Clark will each put in 80 hour-plus workweeks and expect to take in a combined salary of $35,000 this year. Several chef colleagues suggested they not take a salary at all their first year to help the restaurant's bottom line, but raising a 4-year-old renders that argument moot. Look, we're one of the lucky ones. So many people are dying to open their own restaurant. I couldn't be more grateful, said Clark, 33. But as much as I love cooking, it takes a toll over the years when you realize you can't get anywhere with what you love to do. Sometimes the baby sitter makes more than me. Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune Owners of Parachute restaurant, John Clark, and Beverly Kim and their son Daewon Clark, 4, wait for city inspectors to come and check at their new restaurant, at N. Elston Ave., while a man works on the front entrance. Owners of Parachute restaurant, John Clark, and Beverly Kim and their son Daewon Clark, 4, wait for city inspectors to come and check at their new restaurant, at N. Elston Ave., while a man works on the front entrance. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune) The silver lining, if you want to call it that: Living below the federal poverty line qualified their son for free Head Start preschool. When Kim was the executive chef at Aria, inside The Fairmont Chicago hotel, she was making $70,000 a year, great money for a cook. The downside: The job often required 90-hour workweeks, which meant her husband was Daewon's primary caretaker. Being a stay-at-home dad became Clark's full-time job, even more so during the two months Kim was away to film Bravo's Top Chef in 2011. (Kim wasn't paid for the show.) Clark earned his degree at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., the country's most prestigious cooking school. As much as he loved raising his toddler, Clark yearned to put his training to professional use. The opportunity came for Kim and Clark to become co-executive chefs at Logan Square's Bonsoiree in 2012, which back then had just earned one-star status in the Michelin Chicago guidebook. Here was the chance for Clark and Kim to work side by side while evening out parental duties. Even with Kim's decreased salary, their combined wage at Bonsoiree would still be higher than her Aria tenure solo $85,000 between the two. Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune Daewon, 4, takes a treat from his dad, Parachute restaurant owner/chef John Clark, towards the end of Parachute's opening night. Daewon, 4, takes a treat from his dad, Parachute restaurant owner/chef John Clark, towards the end of Parachute's opening night. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune) But after three months, Clark and Kim pulled out of Bonsoiree. Not enough customers walked through the doors to sample their upscale interpretation of Korean cuisine. They left on their own accord, they said, and Bonsoiree was converted into an Alpine dining concept. Suddenly, Clark and Kim were without full-time jobs, picking up freelance dinner gigs and one-off cooking classes where they could. Clark found an hourly position at Prairie Grass Cafe that paid $12 an hour. Kim taught advance-level cooking at her alma mater, Kendall College, a class that simulates running a fine-dining restaurant. What was supposed to be one school quarter at the start of 2013 lasted through much of the year. Still, they lived paycheck to paycheck. Kim was expecting to teach the summer quarter at Kendall, but the class was canceled because not enough students enrolled. They had to withdraw Daewon from preschool for a few months until they could afford the tuition in the fall. Nothing ever seemed to keep going and connect, Kim said over lunch recently in a Peruvian restaurant not far from Parachute. Even though it's hard, you follow what you love to do. My dad keeps telling me, A drip of water doesn't seem like much, but if it keeps dripping it could cut through stone.' Sometimes it takes a few steps backwards to go forward. The thing to know about Clark and Kim's situation is they are not the anomaly. Granted, established head chefs at large-scale operations can earn north of six figures. (TDn2K, a Dallas research firm that tracks 30,000 restaurants nationwide, said the average executive chef of an upscale Chicago restaurant earns $70,500 annually.) But even at luxury establishments like Alinea and Grace, starting cooks earn $8.25 an hour plus overtime. It's not uncommon for, say, four cooks to room in a two-bedroom apartment in a neighborhood far from their job. The margins are even tighter for an upscale startup like Parachute. Clark, Kim and their son live in a $810-a-month apartment in Roscoe Village, where the walk-in closet was fitted with the couple's bed so Daewon could sleep in the master bedroom. I asked why is it chefs pursue this field when the money and hours are lousy. Kim: We think about food all the time. I've invested my whole adult life into cooking, and I can't see myself doing anything else. Clark: I've thought about quitting a lot. Then I'll work construction for a month, and then I tell myself, I don't care if I'm making double here, I want to go back to cooking.' Once they decided to become owner-operators, then came the question of what kind of restaurant to pursue. If they spent $100,000, they could afford a takeout spot, no larger than perhaps 800 square feet, a space limiting their output to a small menu. The revenue generated from such a restaurant would require Clark or Kim to supplement with a second full-time job, and the point was to work together. But if they spent $250,000, they could finance a sit-down restaurant with a roughly 40-seat capacity. They opted for the latter, the higher-risk, higher-reward option. We thought about it a lot. Did we want to open a shack or our dream restaurant? Clark said. In our research, we found that around the country, the average is somewhere around $450,000 to open a restaurant. We're doing it at half that. Kim's family loaned the couple $110,000, while a close friend gave them $6,000, no strings attached. Clark and Kim submitted Parachute's business plan to their bank, and in September they were approved for a $120,000 loan. Next was finding a space. This was the most difficult and time-consuming part of their process. For a full year they searched from Bridgeport to Rogers Park, but nothing clicked. The biggest problem was many spaces required too much renovation behind the walls bringing plumbing and electrical systems up to code and that quickly eats up construction costs. In September, they visited an available space at a Mexican bakery and taqueria in Avondale called Dos Sabores. The room was long and rectangular, 1,500 square feet, with a working kitchen that included a ventilation hood. The clincher was most of the internals were in place and functional, meaning the construction budget could be devoted to cosmetic work and decor, rather than tearing the place up and building from scratch. That's probably our largest saving, Clark said. They projected opening Parachute would require $255,934.57, of which $57,159 was budgeted for construction. But they expected that number to fluctuate. Hand-weaving the seats of their DIY stools brought that figure down $2,000. Hiring a second person to epoxy to floor after the original contractor did a subpar job cost them an extra $1,000. Finding a functioning kegerator on Craigslist: $1,000 savings. Making the required change to pass their health inspection (install hand sink, additional shelves) cost them $3,546 extra. Other do-it-yourself projects, such as building the banquette seating cushion out of furniture pads used by movers, simultaneously saved money and help achieve their aesthetic. The six months spent converting the space from a taqueria to a contemporary Korean-American restaurant was a seesaw of ledger balancing. A few things helped them prepare for the inevitable unexpected costs. They solicited the public via Kickstarter, promising incentives like buttons, signed menus and recipe booklets. They exceeded their $15,000 goal, with 123 backers raising $21,578. Even after Kickstarter and the credit card company take out a combined 8 to 10 percent in fees, Parachute had an extra $19,743 than originally projected. As they built out Parachute, Clark took an early morning prep cook job at Logan Square's Lula Cafe. He arrived for his shift at 4 a.m. and worked until 1 p.m., then spent 5 p.m. to midnight at Parachute. His knees swelled up from the workload, and he had to walk with a cane for two weeks. I'm in that flight-or-fight mode, and I feel like I'm always fighting, he said. I can't say when I'm tired now. I just crash. Recently I woke up on the bathroom floor. I passed out. Just dropped. Cooks who succeed, Clark said, work in one tempo, and it's 100 miles per hour. I feel like we don't have a choice. This is what we have to do. How can I be a prep cook for the rest of my career? This was the risk we had to take in order to move forward. Kim also saw her stresses manifest in physical ailments. My chest feels like it's going to fall apart; it's this crushing feeling, she said. And I'm a pretty healthy person. Their income level in 2014 qualifies them for Medicaid. In early May, what worried Clark and Kim most was the waiting game. Parachute had passed all health inspections and was ready to open. They held their practice dinner for a small group of friends and family, cooking through their entire menu as their inner circle offered blunt critiques. What they needed was two sheets of paper: liquor licenses from the city and state. When they took out the $120,000 bank loan in September, they calculated that, assuming their restaurant opened on schedule in May, they had a financial cushion of three months. Even if no customers walked through the door after it opened, they could operate through August before burning through the $50,000 in reserve cash. In a sense, this scenario was already playing out. They were paying rent, utilities, garbage pickup, insurance and payroll for nine other full-time positions without having served a single diner. Once money comes in, it slows down the trickle of money coming out, Kim said. It's all the money going out before any money comes in that scares us. The waiting is the part we can't control. When I asked Bret Thorn, senior food editor at Nation's Restaurant News, he said, anecdotally, it typically takes new restaurants at least one year for their finances to go from red into the black. The reason most restaurants fail is because they're undercapitalized, Thorn said. New restaurants don't realize how long it can take to turn a profit or just how narrow their margins would be. Kim and Clark said they would prefer to have a six-month cushion, but given their bank loan, they had to make do with three. They concluded the two magic numbers they need to hit were $42 and 250: They need to average 250 covers each week (cover is restaurant lingo for customers). Each customer would have to spend an average of $42 on food and drinks (before tax and gratuity). Hitting those marks $10,500 in net revenue each week wouldn't be considered a wild success, but it would keep the restaurant steady and afloat. After taking away food and beverage costs, plus monthly pays like rent, utilities and insurance, what's left doesn't amount to much for the hired hands. The National Restaurant Association publishes an annual report tracking operational costs across the industry. Its most recent report showed that for businesses where the check average is $33 and over, a restaurant spends a median cost of $19,673 a year on payroll and benefits for every full-time employee. This is why tips are the lifeblood of a restaurant server. Matty Colston, who came from Telegraph as its bar manager, was present when Clark and Kim first met five years ago. In a sense, he's the third leg of Parachute's tripod. Colston will take a nominal hourly wage as beverage director, so most of his income will come via the benevolence of his customers. (The restaurant finally received its liquor licenses May 9.) Hours before the restaurant opened its doors for paying customers, we sat at Parachute's long, room-length concrete bar. I asked Colston what's the point in slaving away 14 hours a day for a pittance? Flat white: When was the last time you took a photo with your barista? Don't answer that. During a recent visit to Intelligentsia Coffee, I was surprised to see two women snapping away at the flummoxed dude who brewed them a flat white, a latte-like coffee drink popular in New Zealand, these tourists' home country. Intelligentsia is serving flat whites ($3.50) all week in celebration of the NZ All Blacks vs. USA Eagles rugby match at Soldier Field Saturday, but come Sunday I see no reason for the aficionado-tailored coffee chain to take it off the menu. It's delicious, mate. Advertisement The big difference between a flat white and most stateside lattes is a refreshing restraint with milk foam. The foam is much denser here than the bubble bath they serve at Starbucks and sits with dignity in a svelte layer at the top, keeping the coffee the center of attention. You're provided a spoon, but let it idle. Allow the drink to blend gradually as you savor each sip. The sumptuous espresso is Intelligentsia's Black Cat Classic. It's strong, yes, but flavorful like a dark, unsweetened chocolate; not burnt. It won't put hair on your chest, but might grow stubble on your cheek. The mature coffee blends with the foam in a manner so relaxing and spa-like. The last sip is bittersweet. Advertisement On Saturday I'll be rooting for the Eagles, surely with a flat white in hand. Find a location near you at intelligentsiacoffee.com Johnny Oleksinski Tired of waiting forever to eat at a high-end restaurant? There's an app for that. As diners grow more inclined to squeeze their way into restaurants that have made a name for shutting people out, companies have responded with a handful of websites and apps promising to secure their users the most coveted tables whenever they want them but often for a fee. The days of waiting at the bar may be numbered: Several services have launched in Chicago over the past year and more are set to come, like San Francisco-based app Table8. If you dream of landing an exclusive, last-minute reservation that isn't for 4:30 p.m., get to know the technology attempting to get enterprising eaters like yourself into Chicago's hottest restaurants. Advertisement 1.TableSavvy (tablesavvy.com): Available only in Chicago, this free app and website promises to help its users score same-night reservations at any of TableSavvy's partner restaurants, which include Nellcote and Cafe Spiagga, for just a $5 processing fee per reservation. TableSavvy has about 50 participating restaurants, which include city establishments such as RM Champagne and Bottlefork, but also suburban locations such as Roka Akor Orchard in Skokie and E+O Food & Drink in Mount Prospect. Jeremy Klein, founder of TableSavvy, said the company is looking to expand into the South Side at locations such as The Promontory in Hyde Park and Nana in Bridgeport. Pros: TableSavvy is the only restaurant reservations app that offers a significant discount on meals: Book through the app, and you'll get 30 percent off your meal that evening. Advertisement Cons: TableSavvy does not always offer prime-time seating. This is because, in exchange for offering diners a 30 percent discount on every meal, the app helps restaurants fill their less popular time slots, according to Steve Tindle, regional manager of Roka Akor in River North, which uses the service. And TableSavvy's list of participants, though solid, has yet to include the Chicago restaurants (such as Les Nomades or Moto) for which most would download this app. 2. Top-Top (top-top.com): A Chicago-only website that launched in January, Top-Top posts a weekly list of reservations for places such as Sixteen and Jellyfish every Monday, and updates its Twitter feed with last-minute availabilities. Users can book each reservation through the site for $2.50 per person or $1.25 per person for groups of more than 12. There is a rotation of about 10 participating restaurants, which include establishments such as Reverie, Kinmont and Table, Donkey and Stick. Pros: Top-Top publishes only prime-time reservations (read: dinner seatings between 7 and 8:30 p.m.), so you don't have to bother with odd hours. Plus restaurants like Top-Top diners, because the site's large no-show fee which ranges from $5 per seat to $87 per seat helps restaurants avoid losing out on wasted tables, according to Aeron Lancero, operating partner and co-owner of participating restaurant Yum Cha. Cons: Most of the restaurants require a minimum amount spent to seat Top-Top diners. It's usually around $40 to $60 per person, but can climb up to $500 per person for seats at the more exclusive places' peak times. 3. I Know The Chef (iknowthechef.com): This restaurant concierge app and website serves Chicago, New York and Miami, is members-only and comes at a pretty steep price: up to $500 per year, depending on the package you choose. It promises users VIP treatment (think complimentary appetizers) and perks like meeting the chef. There are about 25 participating Chicago restaurants, which include primarily restaurants in the Loop and River North such as Table Fifty-Two, Fulton Market Kitchen, Kinzie Chophouse and Union Sushi + BBQ Bar. I Know The Chef currently features two suburban locations, Roka Akor Orchard and E+O Food and Drink, as well. Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Pros: It offers more frills than most other apps, taking account of your dining preferences (what wine you like, where you like to sit in a restaurant) via your own customizable dining profile and communicating those to the places where you dine. Cons: Price the cheapest membership option is $70. Though I Know the Chef boasts a few bigger-name Chicago partners (including Sunda and Mercadito), it doesn't yet compare to its more impressive New York City version, which makes the hefty membership fee a little harder to justify here. 4. Rezhound (rezhound.com): This website serves over 100 places in North America (and a few elsewhere) and is essentially the last-minute-friendly and tough-to-land-reservation-seeking version of OpenTable. Simply choose a place from the massive list of Chicago restaurants and select the time you would like to dine (as well as how flexible you're willing to be). Rezhound will alert you via email and text if the restaurant opens up a table that fits your request. There are at least 200 participating restaurants, including Joe's Stone Crab, Fig and Olive, A10 Hyde Park, Francesca's on 95th, Boltwood and Lake Street Kitchen + Bar. Advertisement Pros: It's free to use, and there's no booking fee in fact, Rezhound uses OpenTable to set up the reservation when an opening is found. It also doesn't have official partnerships with restaurants, which means a number of restaurants not available through the other apps RPM Italian, Nico Osteria may be within your reach. I made a handful of reservation requests through the site for a 6 p.m. Friday seating at Girl & the Goat. There was no availability. But two weeks later, I received an email from Rezhound with an alert that a 6:15 p.m. reservation had opened up at the restaurant for next Friday. Cons: Since the "last-minute" promise of this site thrives on cancellations, there's no guarantee you will get a reservation. If you're looking for a 7:30 p.m. same-night reservation at Les Nomades, you may be waiting quite a long time to hear back. ewickwire@tribpub.com Twitter @ewickwire Of all the pop-punk bands to emerge in the 1990s, few achieved success like Blink-182. Massive hits like "What's My Age Again?" and "All the Small Things" fueled its distinct brand of cheery-cum-snotty adolescence. By October 2001, the band could draw 15,000 eager fans to Maryland's Merriweather Post Pavilion. There the crowd watched as Blink-182, then composed of Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker and Tom DeLonge, performed in front of a giant four-letter word set ablaze. But all flaming swear signs must burn out. The band went on hiatus between 2005 and 2009. In 2015, four years after the New York Times declared that, "no punk band of the 1990s has been more influential than Blink-182," guitarist and vocalist DeLonge walked away. Hoppus and Barker, in a statement to Rolling Stone, said that DeLonge had left Blink-182 "indefinitely." The band continued without him. Advertisement A different kind of stardom - space, and the aliens who lived there - seduced DeLonge. Blink-182 singer/bassist Mark Hoppus (L) and singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge perform during the first show of the band's reunion tour at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino July 23, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images) Now 41, DeLonge has found success in his post-punk pursuit. In February, the Arizona-based International UFO Congress, which each year holds the largest convention of UFO investigators in the world, awarded DeLonge its UFO researcher of the year award. In March, DeLonge published a book, "Sekret Machines: Gods, Man, & War," with occult historian Peter Levenda. The book, DeLonge said, marked the first nonfiction entry in a sweeping project that includes science-fiction novels, concept albums and movies. Advertisement All of those works are related, in one way or another, to a subject DeLonge calls "the Phenomenon." More than 20 years of research and reflection led to the new book. DeLonge's perspective turned to the heavens in early adolescence, he told The Washington Post in a recent phone interview, after witnessing the conflict between his mother, a devout Christian, and his father, who was "not religious at all." He began to wonder if something sinister was at work. "I realized early on there was something odd with the human life experience," Delonge said. "There's all these wars. I had a really difficult, broken family. I got kicked out of high school." DeLonge's phenomenon is a grand unified theory of extraterrestrial encounters. It encompasses virtually all aspects of human culture, including religion, technology, media and science. "It is the UFO phenomenon, to be sure, but that is a box too small to contain it in all its glory," DeLonge and Levenda wrote in their new book, "as no two experts can agree on what it is." In "Sekret Machines," a metaphor for the phenomenon emerges: the human experience as cargo cult. During World War II, indigenous tribes in the South Pacific, who rarely interacted with outsiders, observed planes airdropping food and medicine. "To this day there are religions based on worshiping those planes," DeLonge said, "because they did not know what they were." MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR There is no question that cargo cults have existed on our planet. One group of villagers in the Vanuatu islands honor a holy savior named John Frum, the spirit of an American who lives in a nearby volcano. (It has been speculated that the name John Frum came from World War II soldiers who greeted the villagers, saying, "I'm John from America.") "John promised he'll bring planeloads and shiploads of cargo to us from America if we pray to him," one village elder told a Smithsonian magazine reporter who visited the island in 2006. "Radios, TVs, trucks, boats, watches, iceboxes, medicine, Coca-Cola and many other wonderful things." Similar events happened on an interplanetary scale, DeLonge said. "Whether it is Joseph Smith meeting an angel and forming the Mormon religion, or it's the star of Bethlehem or light hovering over a manger," he said, "what happens is, is people see these things and they create religions off of them. We wanted to say, 'Well, hey, we are all some form of a cargo cult.' The question is, why?" Advertisement DeLonge's book will not convince any skeptics about the reality of aliens. Sufficient evidence already exists, DeLonge told The Post, citing the scale of the universe. "There are trillions of galaxies," he said. "There's trillions of planets within each galaxy, and people go, 'Are we alone?' " DeLonge dismissed his own question with a word Blink-182 once set on fire. He also had little time for those who doubt whether aliens had visited Earth. "It's all out there already," DeLonge said. "It's so frustrating when people say they're waiting for some big person to say something. Well, there's been a hundred books, national press events in District of Columbia, meetings in Congress and multi-star generals on the record." There is no evidence of contact between aliens and humans, according to scientific consensus. "At the moment, life on Earth is the only known life in the universe, but there are compelling arguments to suggest we are not alone," astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote in 2003. When Bill Clinton was president, he denied that the White House had proof of aliens. "No, as far as I know, an alien spacecraft did not crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947," Clinton said during a 1995 speech while in Ireland, responding to a letter sent by Ryan, a 13-year-old resident of Belfast. "And Ryan, if the United States Air Force did recover alien bodies, they didn't tell me about it, either, and I want to know." (As recently as Monday, scientists publicly dismissed the idea. "I do not believe that anyone from outer space has ever visited the Earth," said Alan Bean, 85, the fourth person to walk on the Moon, to an Australian newspaper.) Blink 182 performs at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre Saturday, August 20, 2011. (Handout) In his search for information, DeLonge said he made his way into upper echelons of the American government. In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that DeLonge corresponded with John Podesta, the chair for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, according to emails WikiLeaks had released; Podesta, for his part, has frequently advocated for the United States to declassify any information regarding Area 51 or other UFO incidents. Advertisement It took DeLonge a year, but he managed to set up "very high level meetings" with members of the Defense Department, he said. "And I got to the people that are in charge of this stuff." He declined to confirm to The Washington Post whether he had met with Podesta or any specific government officials. "I can't comment on who I met with," he said, "or what those meetings were about." A Defense Department spokesman said in an email to The Washington Post that neither the Defense Department's Community Relations nor the Air Force had records of such a meeting. The spokesman "did see one open source story that named generals who supposedly worked with Mr. DeLonge." Both of the generals mentioned had retired, the representative said, the first in October 2013 and the other in June of 2014. Several scientists involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, are optimistic that any alien life advanced enough to happen upon Earth would also be benevolent. "I doubt aliens would drop what they're doing to come over here and wipe out Clapham Junction - why would they do that?" Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in California, told the Guardian in July. "They probably have what we have at home - except for our culture, maybe they are big Cliff Richard fans or like our reality television." But DeLonge's air of secrecy - and the government's - stemmed from the danger that alien contact posed, the former Blink-182 guitarist said. It was a pessimistic view of alien intelligence, a fear shared by physicist Stephen Hawking (though Hawking still supports SETI initiatives such as Breakthrough Listen). DeLonge had been "briefed on things" that caused him to lose sleep "for multiple days on end," he said. "Because it really, really threw me down the stairs." DeLonge's view was not completely dour, however. Far from it. He said that exposing the phenomenon as a malevolent extraterrestrial influence would persuade humans around the world to cooperate. He likened current global conflicts to someone incorrectly fighting a fire. "When I was in high school, I wanted to be a firefighter. I learned that y ou spray the base of the flame. You squirt water on the fuel, not the flame itself," DeLonge said. "I feel that lot of the fighting taking place across the world, when we d rop bombs - that's spraying on the flames. The fuel of all these wars are our belief systems. And the sooner we attack that," he said, "t hat we've been duped about our belief systems, maybe we'll start to realize we're much more connected." Advertisement RELATED STORIES: Lollapalooza 2017: Chance the Rapper, Lorde, Arcade Fire top 170-band lineup Panic! At the Disco steps out of the shadows again Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox) Nika Nemirovsky and Matty Witney dance to the music at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion during the 2016 Chicago Jazz Festival. The fest is produced by the Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, which relies on NEA funding, and programmed by the Jazz Institute of Chicago, also a recipient. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) As a culture-vulture, my instinct is to regard Donald Trump as a boorish philistine. But I had an atypical reaction to his plan to scrap the National Endowment for the Arts. The president's 2018 budget eliminates funding for the federal arts agency, and I can see why he might do that. Does it make any sense to send tax dollars to bureaucrats who can't be trusted to recognize a painter or sculptor when they see one? Advertisement If you don't think that question is posed by Trump's budget, please explain this: The NEA's website lists "direct grants to individuals" under the heading, "We Do Not Fund." The NEA supports museums that house an artist's works, and conferences that explore an artist's creativity, but it doesn't cut an artist a check. Why? Advertisement The National Institutes of Health doesn't warn doctors not to come hat in hand to that federal agency. There isn't a help wanted sign outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcing: "Epidemiologists need not apply." The NEA does make an exception for creative writers. Perhaps that's because funding poets and translators hasn't come back to haunt the agency. Other grants have, sometimes spectacularly. Among them was a grant of $10,000 to Artists Space, a New York gallery, for a 1989 show. The catalog included "fantasies by artist David Wojnarowicz of setting Senator (Jesse) Helms on fire with gasoline and throwing another conservative legislator from a high building," according to the NEA's official history. Politicians and clergy cried foul, and the agency pulled its funding. Then the art world accused the NEA of practicing thought control, and the grant was restored provided its dollars didn't pay for the catalog. A Solomonic decision, it satisfied neither waring party. Perhaps the inscription on NEA's tombstone should reflect the cause of death: "An artist's imagination is not a politician's reality." Never was that more true than in the era of the NEA's birth. When it was established in 1965, modern art was running out of steam. It began in 19th-century France, where artists were expected to toe their elders' aesthetic mark. Then came rebels like Van Gogh and Picasso, who rejected conformity and embraced innovation. Novelty has a limited shelf life. The bourgeoise catches up with the avant garde. Witness the mobile Alexander Calder's moving sculptures were cutting edge in the 1930s. Now they hang over myriad baby cribs. So running out of art forms to innovate, artists created a genre: ticking off the middle class. Its measure of innovation is a product or behavior not previously considered artistic. In one sub-genre, the artist is the art object, which denies him or her one way artists make a living: Selling to someone seeking a work of art to go with the furniture. You can't hang Karen Finley over a couch. She got nearly naked in front of an audience. That's like striptease, which is considered vulgar. Then she smeared herself with peanut butter. That transformed her act into art in the eyes of the cognoscenti. When Middle America dissented, the NEA denied grants en route to Finley and three other "performance artists." Advertisement Equally controversial was an NEA-subsidized exhibition that included a photograph that the NEA's history described delicately: "a crucifix as seen through a golden liquid." Photographer Andres Serrano didn't mince words, titling it "Piss Christ." The hinterland called it blasphemy. Finally Congress had enough, and forbid the NEA to make grants to artists. That handicap made the agency like a bird with a broken wing, circled by vultures. President Ronald Regan had wanted to kill it. So too did Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who championed the ban on individual grants. He had to settle for cutting its budget drastically, a tactic Trump borrowed. Hindsight posses a question: Shouldn't the NEA have been more judicious in its grant making? Perhaps asking Serrano: "It's obvious that you're giving the finger to believers, but what makes your photograph art?" To the art world, the question is heresy. Putting limits on creative expression is the high road to barbarism. Yet history says that's not so. In ancient Athens, dramatists were forbidden to write about contemporary politics. That didn't drain the creative juices of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Their plays sell tickets 2,500 years later. Will the art of Wojnarowicz, Finley and Serrano be as long lived? Who knows. Likewise, the NEA's fate isn't quite sealed. A president's budget goes to Congress, where horse trading is a fine art. Line items are erased and rewritten. So the NEA could face, say, a hospital in a Darwin struggle for survival. Advertisement That might not be an easy call for a representative from Manhattan. But consider one from Middle America. He can fund that hospital or an arts agency that isn't credited with enough common sense to distinguish impostors from artists. Wouldn't that be a no brainer. rgrossman@chicagotribune.com From the Bean in Millennium Park to the Picasso in Daley Plaza to works that grace everything from Midway Airport to CTA Pink Line stations, Chicago boasts one of the world's great collections of public art. Mayor Rahm Emanuel even has proclaimed 2017 to be the "Year of Public Art in Chicago." But not everything in the city's celebration, which includes exhibitions, tours and neighborhood art projects, is going according to script. Pieces by some of the 20th century's most celebrated artists are either disappearing or are subject to other threats, leading the advocacy group Preservation Chicago to call for protecting them with a special landmark district. Good luck with that. Advertisement Consider: As of Friday morning, workmen had dismantled all but one piece of a monumental motorized mobile by Alexander Calder that had graced the lobby of Willis (originally Sears) Tower since 1974. The lobby, which will be remade as part of a $500 million renovation of the skyscraper, seems cold and bare without the colorful, kinetic piece. Advertisement With Gov. Bruce Rauner pushing a plan to sell the Thompson Center, the state museum that owns the Jean Dubuffet sculpture in front of the building has started thinking about moving the playful fiberglass design to another location, according to Rich Bossert, a state spokesman. Not Springfield, let us pray. Since early 2016, views of the Joan Miro sculpture next to the Cook County Administration Building have been partially blocked by an ultra-long bus shelter built to help speed CTA buses through traffic-clogged downtown streets. The facelike top of the sculpture, whose crumbling base is about to be renovated by the county, pokes above the bus shelter, seemingly crying for help. Even if you're baffled by public art, these developments should rankle. Notwithstanding variations in quality from piece to piece, public art plays an essential role in making Chicago and other cities more civilized. It animates urban spaces formed by sober steel and stone skyscrapers. It injects much-needed doses of color and whimsy into uber-serious business districts. It can also provoke and inspire. When the best examples of it disappear, so do eloquent expressions of our humanity. Consider what's missing from the office building atrium of 70 West Madison (originally Three First National Plaza): Henry Moore's 20-foot-high bronze, Large Internal-External Upright Form. It had been there for decades. The British sculptor said his design was based on the idea of "one form being protected by another." It evoked a mother and child, or a child in an embryo. Yet when new owners bought the tower three years ago, the privately owned sculpture was taken out, then shipped to London, according to Roger Machin, head of the Chicago-based company that removed it. The piece's current whereabouts are not known. Tourists still ask security guards where it is. The guards point to a bare stone floor. Such is the vulnerability of public art to the shifting tastes and fortunes of private owners. The modern and contemporary version of Chicago's public art collection began in earnest in 1967 with the dedication of the hard-to-grasp Picasso sculpture, which then-Mayor Richard J. Daley introduced with the prescient line: "We dedicate this celebrated work ... with the belief that what is strange to us today will be familiar tomorrow." The collection gained further stature in 1974 when the federal government dedicated Calder's brilliant Flamingo sculpture in the plaza of the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe-designed Chicago Federal Center. 2010 file: Alexander Calder's Universe in the Willis Tower lobby. (Chicago Tribune file photo) As the disappearance of the Moore sculpture reveals, however, works of art need not be publicly owned to be considered public art. The city of Chicago's informative public art guide, for example, includes Calder's Universe, which until last week was displayed in Willis Tower's heavily trafficked main entrance lobby on Wacker Drive. Its location made the privately owned Universe de facto public art. Symbolizing the ever-expanding universe with its whirring, coiling, whimsical elements, Universe is now the subject of an ownership tug-of-war between Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holdings and the tower's previous owners, a group of investors from New York and Skokie. Until the legal dispute is resolved, Universe will remain in a Chicago storage facility, according to Machin, whose company is carefully de-installing the work. Willis Tower's new owner, New York-based Blackstone, which said that buying the mobile was "off the table," faces a daunting challenge in replacing it. Advertisement Unlike Universe, the vast majority of Chicago's public art is publicly owned, with over 500 pieces displayed in more than 150 locations citywide, including libraries, police stations, even the lakefront bike trail. The state and Cook County also own parts of the Chicago public art trove. Yet the fates of the Dubuffet and Miro sculptures show that public ownership is no guarantee of a secure aesthetic future. Jean Dubuffet's Monument with Standing Beast sits outside the Thompson Center on March 31, 2017. The sculpture faces the prospect of being separated from the Helmut Jahn-designed building which could undercut its site-specific character. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) The Dubuffet, titled Monument with Standing Beast, was erected to accompany the controversial Thompson (originally State of Illinois) Center in the mid-1980s. Yet it now faces the prospect of being separated from the Helmut Jahn-designed glitter palace which could undercut the sculpture's site-specific character. Its irregularly shaped pieces form a circular enclosure that can be entered through arches and other openings. The interior space, open to the sky, directly reflects the Thompson Center's vast atrium and, through openings in the enclosure, offers bracing views of skyscrapers like the Daley Center. Put Monument with Standing Beast somewhere else and those relationships would disappear. In sculpture, as in life, relationships and conversations matter. The Miro, originally called The Sun, The Moon, and One Star and now affectionately known as Miss Chicago, was designed as a kind of sister to the vaguely female form of the Picasso across Washington Street. But that visual connection was partly severed last year with the opening of a Loop Link bus shelter that cuts off the mid-section of the Miro when it's glimpsed from Daley Plaza. Already wedged into a tiny open space between the Cook County building and an adjacent skyscraper, the sculpture is now relegated to even lower profile. City transportation officials, who maintain that functional constraints forced them to put the shelter where it is, have tried to remedy this awkward situation by a variety of measures, including removing trees that blocked the sculpture and installing a panel in the bus shelter that describes it. But these are Band-Aids for a deep wound. Poor Miss Chicago stands as a vivid, visible reminder that public art, whoever owns it, is ever-vulnerable and requires champions to protect it. bkamin@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @BlairKamin Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, says hes been pressed to challenge Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2019 and believes the mayor is beatable. I dont think he can cover up a lot of the mistakes that hes made, Waguespack said. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) Mayor Scott Waguespack of Chicago. Dig it. If there's one candidate who would keep Mayor Rahm Emanuel up at night, pick Emanuel apart in a debate, rally a diverse coalition, swamp the secretive Rahm on transparency and ethics issues and drive the mayor absolutely crazy, it's Waguespack. Waguespack, the alderman of the 32nd Ward and reform chairman of the City Council's multiracial Progressive Caucus, tells me he's giving serious consideration to a 2019 mayoral campaign Advertisement "Yeah, because I'm at that level, a frustration level, and it's not just me," Waguespack said during an interview on my WGN-AM radio podcast, "The Chicago Way." "A lot of people are out there looking and saying, 'Would somebody challenge Rahm? Would somebody challenge the system the way it's set up?" With Chicago a national story because of the street violence and Emanuel's feud with President Donald Trump, the city could become America's political ground zero. Imagine Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren rolling in to help the progressive Waguespack as the 2020 presidential campaigns take shape. Advertisement Where could Rahm run for protection? Others I've interviewed who have considered a mayoral run include Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and state Sen. Kwame Raoul, a leader of the Black Caucus in Springfield. Cook County Board President Toni "Taxwinkle" Preckwinkle doesn't like Emanuel, but I don't think she wants to leave her spot. City Treasurer Kurt Summers, another African-American, is a distant mayoral possibility, but he's a Rahm guy, funded by the Rahm guys. Summers would be called into the nonpartisan mayoral race by Rahm to siphon black votes away from a candidate like Waguespack. Chicago politics is all about the arithmetic. Waguespack noted that others have discussed mayoral campaigns, "but I don't know if they have the capacity to take on Rahm, who's very crafty. And to go through the arguments and the battles that will take place." "I've thought about it to the point where people are asking and pushed and pushed and pushed so maybe it's time to at least take a look at it," Waguespack said. The two main considerations would be finances and his family, he said. He has a wife and two young children. Rahm might not have much of a constituency beyond bond lawyers and that crowd, but through them he can raise oodles of cash. So is Rahm beatable? "Yeah, for sure," Waguespack said on "The Chicago Way." "It's going to be tough with the amount of money that he raises and spends. Last time he spent plus $20 million." Advertisement And he wore that soft blue sweater, I said. "Yeah," said Waguespack, laughing. If you've forgotten, it was the sweater Rahm wore in his campaign commercial when he promised, in a soft voice, that if elected, he'd be a new Rahm, a gentle, transparent Rahm. Remember that guy? "Yeah, and he barely won. So I think he's beatable," Waguespack said. "I don't think he can cover up a lot of the mistakes that he's made." One mistake people make about Rahm Emanuel is thinking that he doesn't love Chicago, only himself. That's not quite true. He cares about the city, about the people slaughtered in the gang wars, about the child victims and his inability to stop the carnage. I've seen him at funerals when reporters weren't around. He has a heart. But he has difficulty showing it. Advertisement But everybody's beatable. Rahm barely squeaked into office in his last election, and he probably would have been blown out if City Hall hadn't cynically sat on that Laquan McDonald police video showing a white cop shooting the black teenager 16 times. Sitting on that police video helped Rahm in the short term. He was dragged into a runoff election with the underfunded Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia . But if the video had surfaced, Rahm would have lost the black vote and ended up toast. And when the public realized that City Hall had sat on the video until after Rahm was safe, and paid $5 million in a quick, quiet settlement to the McDonald family, the mayor's credibility plummeted with all constituency groups. The bond salesmen and lawyers and finance guys like him, but many live in the suburbs. They can lard him with campaign cash, and Rahm could sell himself through commercials and try to ignore a Waguespack challenge. But not if Chicago mayoral politics became a national story. There was a push for Waguespack to become mayor years ago, when the reform alderman fought then-Mayor Richard Daley over the parking meter rate hike fiasco that eventually drove Daley into retirement. But in April 2010, Emanuel, a Daley man and then chief of staff to President Barack Obama , appeared on the "Charlie Rose" show and said he'd like to be mayor. It was as if it were a coincidence. And it was done, a Chicago Way bait and switch, with Obama doing the switching, releasing Rahm and bringing mayoral brother William Daley into the White House as his new chief of staff. Rahm has weakened. A direct campaign with Waguespack all about ethics and secret emails and deals could be disastrous. And lately, watching the mayor, you get the feeling that Rahm Emanuel isn't running the city as much as he's just running for re-election. Advertisement "What is the mayor's vision, what are his goals?" Waguespack asked. "You can't really define that. Look at him. 'Where are you going? Where are you taking us? There's not a lot there." Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin at www.wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/category/thechicagoway. jskass@chicagotribune.com Nearly nine months after he admitted to misusing money meant for a police nonprofit, a former suburban police chief had his six-figure pension revoked Wednesday in a case that highlighted the legal debate on how and when to stop retirement checks to cops found to be corrupt. State law requires a pension be taken away if an officer is convicted of a felony that relates to, arises out of or is connected with his or her work as an officer. Based on that, the Countryside police pension board voted 5-0 to stop sending pension checks to ex-Countryside Chief Timothy Swanson. Advertisement Swanson is serving a 27-month sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty in January to felony charges he committed fraud and pocketed money meant for a police helicopter program he ran while chief of Countryside and, later, as an employee in the Kankakee County sheriff's office. The ruling caps a career of a man who once drew praise in law enforcement circles for starting the police helicopter program, and built on that notoriety to rise through the ranks of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police to become its president, a role in which he mingled with top state politicians. But Swanson was forced out of the association in 2012 after a Tribune investigation exposed questionable spending and other problems in his program. Advertisement In the years since, his program was shuttered. He lost the policing job in Kankakee County. He was indicted in March 2014, pleaded guilty in January, was sentenced in May and began serving his sentence in August. Swanson argued to the pension board that he deserved to keep getting his $101,000-a-year pension because he really admitted only to wrongdoing related to "personal tax issues" concerning the nonprofit and a side firm he began, according to legal filings by his attorney. Those filings said his misdeeds were "of an individual nature" and had "nothing to do" with his job as chief. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > However, the city of Countryside, which funds much of the pensions, argued Swanson should lose his pension because his job as chief was critical to his ability to commit the fraud. The military surplus helicopters were formally registered to the city, and Swanson put Countryside police logos on them. He worked on the nonprofit at times from his chief's office, solicited some donations while in uniform, signed some solicitation letters on Countryside letterhead using the title of chief, and had secretaries on city time solicit and track donations for the nonprofit before he retired at age 50 from Countryside in 2009. In a quirk of Illinois law, despite losing his pension, Swanson may qualify for a significant check from the pension fund. State law calls for him to be paid his original employee contributions to his pension roughly $139,000 over the years minus pension payments the board sent him after he was formally convicted May 29. The pension board's attorney, Thomas Radja, said Swanson would have to apply to receive any money back, at which point the board would calculate the amount due. Still, Wednesday's decision is a major financial loss for Swanson, 57, for crimes that prosecutors have said involved stealing more than $200,000 to build a new sun room, pay down a family credit card and prop up a for-profit business, among other things. Federal court records show Swanson is already on the hook to pay $87,457.71 in restitution to Countryside, on top of $55,140 to the IRS and $229,128 to scores of his nonprofit's donors, including many area police departments. The restitution figure may have been lowered depending on the value of items Swanson has since forfeited to the government to begin paying off the debts something not detailed in court records. His sentencing requires that, once he's released from prison, he put 20 percent of his disposable income toward paying off the rest of the restitution. jmahr@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter @joemahr1 Michaela Padilla, 12, has been missing from Logan Square since March 31, 2017. (Chicago Police Department) A 12-year-old girl with autism who left her Logan Square home Friday has been located, police said. Michaela Padilla left her home in the 3700 block of West George Street about 2 p.m. Friday without her parents permission or knowledge, according to a news release from Chicago police. Updated 3:46 p.m. April 5, 2017 Two men were killed and a 15-year-old boy was among five people who were wounded in city shootings Saturday, Chicago police said. In one of the fatal attacks, a 23-year-old man was shot in the head and chest while sitting in the driver's seat of a parked car in the 5200 block of West Chicago Avenue, police said. Two men approached on foot and fired shots before fleeing after the 11:40 p.m. attack. Advertisement The victim was in a red minivan in the parking lot of a strip mall that has a Subway and a liquor store along a busy street in the Austin neighborhood. The driver's-side window of the car was shot out. A silver sedan with shattered glass in the back window sat north of the lot in a Dunkin Donuts drive-thru. A friend of the victim said a pregnant woman was also in the car during the shooting. She was not hit but was treated for stress, he said. Advertisement The man was identified as Peir Charvell Minor, of the 1000 block of North Leclaire Avenue, just a few blocks from where the shooting took place, the Cook County medical examiner's office said on Tuesday, April 4, 2017. In the other homicide, a 34-year-old man identified by the medical examiner's office as Terry D. Torrence, of the 8900 block of South Greenwood Avenue, was found shot dead after a burglary was reported at a home in the West Pullman neighborhood, police said. Officers responded shortly before 6:30 a.m. to a residence in the 11700 block of South Normal Avenue. When they arrived, an unresponsive man was found in the doorway, police said. He had suffered wounds to the head and the buttocks, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The circumstances leading up to the fatal shooting were being investigated. In other shootings: In the Austin neighborhood, a 24-year-old man suffered a graze wound to the head just after 4:15 p.m. in the 1200 block of North Mason Avenue, police said. The man was in good condition after going on his own to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Lawn. He was outside when someone came up to him and fired shots, wounding him. No one was in custody. About 3:45 p.m., a 21-year-old man was shot in the 800 block of North Monticello Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side, police said. He was outside when a dark-colored SUV pulled up and someone fired shots, striking him in the buttocks. He was taken in good condition to Stroger Hospital, police said. About 3:25 p.m., a 25-year-old man was shot in the 1700 block of North Central Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, police said. Someone fired multiple shots at the man, who was struck in a foot. He took himself to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where he was listed in good condition, police said. About 12:35 p.m., a 15-year-old boy was in critical condition after he was shot in the 2100 block of North Tripp Avenue in the Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side, police said. The teen was walking in an alley when he was approached by two people who confronted him, opened fire and fled. He was struck in the head and taken in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, police said. About 9:15 a.m., a 21-year-old man was shot in the 7200 block of South Paulina Street in the West Englewood neighborhood. According to preliminary reports, he was walking when he was approached by two men who opened fire, striking him in the abdomen and right arm. He was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. No one was in custody for any of the attacks. Editor's note: This story was updated on April 3, 2017 when Torrence's identity was released by the medical examiner's office. Lake in the Hills police Sgt. Mark Mogan will not face criminal charges for fatally striking a woman with his car in Wisconsin late in 2016. (Walworth County sheriff's office) Illinois officials now say that a suburban police sergeant involved in a fatal crash out of state will lose his driver's license for a year even though he is already back at work on the patrol division. Mark Mogan, an officer in far northwest suburban Lake in the Hills, was detained on suspicion of drunken driving in Lake Geneva, Wis., in December after his vehicle struck a woman who later died. This month, Wisconsin authorities dropped the criminal case against him when they determined he likely was within the legal alcohol limit. Advertisement But because Mogan refused to take sobriety tests after the crash, a judge in Walworth County, Wis., ordered the officer to forfeit his driver's license for one year. Yet Illinois officials said earlier this week that there were no restrictions on Mogan's license and that his driving record was clear. Advertisement Following the Tribune's inquiry, Mogan's Wisconsin records were faxed to the Illinois Secretary of State's office Friday morning, and his driver's license will be suspended for one year in Illinois beginning April 8, officials said. Why Illinois authorities did not initially become aware of the out-of-state license suspension is unclear. David Druker, spokesman for the Illinois Secretary of State, said Wisconsin officials told his office they had sent a notification, but Druker said it was never received. A Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles official said Wednesday that the information was put in a national registry to which Illinois officials have access. Druker said that the Secretary of State's office only checks that registry when drivers are applying for or renewing their license. The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators maintains the national registry of driver's license suspensions and other related data. "Generally speaking, if one state was to suspend a driver that is licensed in another state, they would provide that information back to that home state," said the association's vice president, Ian Grossman. "If in Illinois it's not something you would lose your license for, Illinois is not going to take your license away." Druker said Mogan renewed his Illinois driver's license on Feb. 15, which court records show is the same day he was ordered in Wisconsin to forfeit his license. It was due to expire in April. Neither Mogan nor his lawyer in Illinois could be reached for comment Friday. Advertisement Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Mogan also is a village trustee in Hebron, Ill., near the Wisconsin state line, and is running against three other candidates for village president in Tuesday's local election. Lake in the Hills officials said they returned Mogan to the patrol division after the drunken-driving case was dropped, with the understanding that his Illinois driver's license was valid. He had been on paid leave since the arrest. "One of the minimum requirements of being an Illinois police officer is to have a valid Illinois driver's license," said Amanda Schmitt, public information officer for the Lake in the Hills Police Department. "He is capable of duty performance at this time and should that change, we will re-evaluate the situation as standards and law would dictate." Linda Cicero, the aunt of Samantha Norris, the 29-year-old woman killed in the crash, said Friday she had just sent off a letter to the Secretary of State's office asking officials to honor the Wisconsin license suspension. "I guess it's better late than never," she said Friday when told Mogan's license would be suspended. "It's something. ... Some justice is better than nothing. But I just don't understand why it's taken so long. If there's a glitch in the process, then they need to fix it." Twitter @GraceWong630 Advertisement gwong@chicagotribune.com The Daley Center in Chicago on April 22, 2015. A Cook County judge has ordered the halting of an unusual police retirement pay tactic that critics said improperly padded pensions. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) A Cook County judge has ordered the halting of an unusual police retirement pay tactic that critics said improperly padded pensions and played a role in a scandal that sent a retired suburban chief to prison. For years, retiring police officers in west suburban Countryside had been given a one-time $850 pay bump that, through a controversial interpretation of Illinois pension law, dramatically boosted a retiree's pension. It has boosted the amount some retirees have individually collected over the years by more than $200,000. Advertisement The state has long deemed the tactic illegal, as has the city of Countryside, which funds the pensions. The suburb stopped setting aside cash for the spiked portion of pensions five years ago. But pensions are set by separate boards controlled by officers and retirees, and the suburb's pension board kept paying out the more generous pensions anyway to new retirees. That led to a four-year legal battle and a ruling Tuesday by Circuit Judge Neil Cohen, who sided with the suburb's municipal officials. Countryside Mayor Sean McDermott welcomed the ruling as a way to "bring this distraction to an end" and focus on the suburb's future. Advertisement "I've always felt that any reasonable person looking at these inflated pension calculations would conclude they are improper," he said in a written statement. The pension board's attorneys did not respond to questions about the ruling, including if the board planned to appeal. Timothy J. Swanson, during his time as Momence police chief. A Chicago Tribune investigation highlighted how Swanson used a tactic to boost his pension asCountryside's ex-police chief by 20 percent. By then, according to court records, the suburb had launched an investigation that led to Swanson's 2015 imprisonment for theft and fraud. (Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police 2012 photo) In practical terms, the ruling if not overturned could result in reduced pensions for a dozen retired officers. It also leaves open the question of who's going to fund a current hole in the pension fund caused by the board handing out overly generous pensions that the suburb hasn't fully funded. But in broader terms, the ruling joins others that have halted a tactic once used across the region to significantly boost the pensions of retiring police officers and firefighters. A 2010 Chicago Tribune investigation on padded pensions highlighted how Countryside's ex-police chief, Timothy Swanson, used the tactic to boost his pension by 20 percent to start at $84,555 a year. By then, according to court records, the suburb had launched an investigation that focused on the tactic and separate suspicions that Swanson had been stealing, which in turn spurred Swanson's 2015 imprisonment for theft and fraud. The spiking tactic is an outgrowth of the unique way that pensions are calculated for suburban and downstate police officers and firefighters. Like other government workers, the longer police officers and firefighters work, the greater percentage of their pay is returned in their retirement checks. For police officers and firefighters, it's between 50 and 75 percent of their final pay. But the difference comes in how their final pay is defined. Other pension systems typically take an average of several years' worth of pay typically the last four. But for a police officer or firefighter, it can be based on the pay rate on the worker's last day on the job. Advertisement Adding a one-time lump sum bonus if done during the last pay period can then be multiplied in a way to dramatically inflate a worker's final "pay" for pension purposes. In the case of Countryside police, it was an $850 lump-sum payment during an officer's last pay period. The pension board multiplied that one-time payment by 26 pay periods to equate to $22,100 of extra annual "pay," on top of the typical annual pay of an officer. That meant an $850 one-time bonus could boost a pension by roughly $11,000 to $16,000 a year, according to a Tribune analysis. And such pensions grow at 3 percent a year compounded. That means a retiree living at least 10 years could receive an extra $120,000 to $180,000 in that time, the analysis found. Illinois police and fire union officials say the tactic was more common about 15 years ago. Towns then were looking to save money on contracts, so they'd cut a deal with police or firefighters by promising the method would pay them more in retirement. The technique allowed them to pay little upfront, and spread out the real costs for years down the road. "That was certainly a much different time in how much scrutiny public pensions received," said Pat Devaney, president of Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois. But the state which regulates the pension funds began deeming the arrangements illegal at least a decade ago. That was reaffirmed last year when an appellate court ruled against Chicago Ridge's pension board using the tactic. By then, union officials told the Tribune, the tactic had been weeded out of contracts in communities across the area in favor of more traditional bargaining over pay and benefits. Advertisement There are two key differences in Countryside: The pension board continued to use the tactic, and the city's leaders convinced a judge that they'd never agreed to it in the first place. The pension board says a "side letter" signed by the village's then-outside labor attorney spelled out the use of the tactic. The board has argued that officers made concessions on health costs to get inflated pensions, and the letter is proof the city agreed to it. But the city countered the letter was just a proposal, and never approved as part of the final deal. Only the $850 longevity bonus was a concession for passing on more health care costs, they argued. The city said it didn't discover the tactic was being used to pad pensions until 2009, when a city official stumbled across it digging into Swanson's then-new pension. City officials alleged their labor attorney knew the tactic was in use and knew it was illegal, but allowed the padding of pensions anyway to benefit, among others, his friend Swanson. The city separately sued the labor attorney alleging malpractice but lost. That case is on appeal. But a Cook County judge in 2014 determined the letter wasn't legally binding because it hadn't been passed by the suburb's council. And Judge Cohen on Tuesday affirmed that, going a step further to conclude the tactic itself was illegal. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > For Countryside, the ruling vindicated the suburb's 2012 decision to stop setting aside extra money to fund the spiked portion of pensions. But it leaves open the question of how the pension board will close the financial gap caused by continuing to fund what the court found were improperly generous pensions. For now, the ruling limits the financial damage to the fund. Advertisement Swanson stopped getting pension payments after his conviction, but Tuesday's ruling orders 12 others who retired with the spike since 2002 to have their pensions cut, including the pension board president, Lou Moravecek, who the city said was one of the first to retire under the deal. The judge ordered the pension board to recalculate the future pension payments of Moravecek and the other retirees, and to stop using the tactic for any new retirees. The ruling, however, does not require the pension fund to claw back any extra pension payments that Moravecek, Swanson or the others already received. According to city lawyers, at least five of the retired police officers have collected more than $200,000 in extra pension payments from the tactic, including Moravecek. jmahr@chicagotribune.com Twitter @joemahr Police have widened their investigation into a married couple charged with sexually abusing three teenage boys, and the state's child welfare agency has removed the couple's children from their home. Prospect Heights police said they are investigating whether the alleged abuse by Christopher Wheeler, 30, and Anthony Wheeler, 25, went beyond the three teens. Advertisement "Our highest concern is the possibility of more victims," Prospect Heights police spokeswoman Stephanie Conboy said, adding authorities hope that anyone with information will feel "comfortable and safe enough to come forward." The Wheelers were arrested on Tuesday and charged with criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse after allegedly forcing the boys, ages 14 and 15, to perform sexual acts. Prosecutors said Christopher Wheeler told one boy, "What happens in the house stays in the house." Some of the alleged victims were given alcohol and shown pornography, police said. Advertisement Police were alerted after a 15-year-old boy who was allegedly sexually abused at the Wheeler home went to a Chicago hospital for medical assistance, Conboy said. Hospital staff informed Chicago police, who then informed Prospect Heights police on March 7, she said. Separately, another boy's mother contacted police after seeing a text message to her son that referenced the alleged sex acts, authorities said. Also on March 7, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services received a hotline call reporting the alleged abuse. The couple have one adopted child and were foster parents to a second child. DCFS launched an investigation, which is ongoing, and removed the children from their Prospect Heights home on March 8, DCFS spokeswoman Veronica Resa said. The foster child is in a "safe place," and the other child was placed with relatives, she added. The Wheelers passed a background check in September, and DCFS placed the foster child in their home in December, Resa said. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "DCFS is in the process of revoking their foster parent license pending the outcome of the investigation," Resa said. None of the three alleged victims is related to the men, officials said. Before moving to Prospect Heights, the family lived in Skokie, records show. Police were called in 2015 after the couple's child went missing, but the child returned before police could complete the missing person's report, Skokie police said. Christopher and Anthony Wheeler made their first court appearance in Cook County on Thursday, when a judge set cash bonds at $4 million for Christopher Wheeler and $3 million for Anthony Wheeler. They remain in custody. Advertisement Their attorney, Marie Taraska, said on Thursday that she expected they would be cleared of the charges. Taraska also said that both men were employed at the time of their arrest, but she did not specify their line of work. Christopher Wheeler worked as bus driver in 2012 for Evanston-based Positive Connections, which provides bus services to school districts and other groups, according to a company employee. deldeib@chicagotribune.com Twitter @deldeib SPRINGFIELD, Ill. A long-debated plan to wrest the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum free of what critics call a stifling bureaucracy occurred Friday when Gov. Bruce Rauner signed an executive order creating a separate state agency for the once-vaunted showplace. It began as Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan's idea to bolster the facility's impact and update tourist-worn exhibits three years ago, then became a subject of bogged-down negotiations between Madigan and a newly inaugurated Rauner a year later. It culminated with a stroke of the executive pen in a rare if unintended moment of agreement between the feuding political powers. "We have made government transformation a priority in order to deliver the best services to taxpayers at the best value," Rauner said in a statement. "We owe it to our citizens to be good stewards of the state's resources, and these changes will deliver on that promise." The order dissolves the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which had oversight of the library and museum. The Department of Natural Resources will absorb its remaining functions. It's expected to save $3.2 million a year 40 percent less than the estimated savings when Rauner promoted the plan just two years ago. In a separate order signed Friday, Rauner combined the Human Rights Commission with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, promising that it will speed up resolution of discrimination complaints. The $115 million library and museum in Springfield, financed heavily with federal earmarks and christened in 2005 by then-President George W. Bush, was lauded as a crowning tribute to Illinois' adopted son, Lincoln, the 16th president. It drew its 4 millionth visitor in February. But the state's constant budget struggles, even predating the current two-year stalemate on an annual spending plan largely viewed as a Rauner-Madigan showdown, has left its exhibits unchanged and some of its technological wizardry dated although the trove of Lincoln documents it holds lures researchers worldwide. Critics such as Madigan have blamed shortcomings on red tape produced by the Historic Preservation Agency, administrator of 29 other historic sites and numerous memorials that drew 1.6 million visitors in 2016. If the library and museum stood alone, they say, it would be able to move more quickly in hiring experts and act with the necessary rapidity to snare historic collections up for sale. "The museum is a great asset to the state of Illinois and is kind of buried as a division within an agency," Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said Friday. "It will flourish as a stand-alone agency." The extrication has also been sold as a money saver during the nation's longest budget standoff since World War II. Government continues to operate because of court orders and patchwork appropriations. State records indicate the Historic Preservation Agency budget to be roughly $22 million, with about $12 million dedicated to the Lincoln library and museum. When Rauner proposed in 2015 that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's tourism division take over the remaining historic preservation functions, his office estimated an annual savings of $5.7 million. A year later, Rauner's proposed budget estimated the transfer to DCEO would save $4.5 million. In the governor's proposed budget for the year that begins July 1, the merger with Natural Resources would save $3.2 million. Madigan proposed the idea in May 2014. Critics said he was doing a favor for the landlord of his state office in Chicago and the landlord's friend, Eileen Mackevich, then the library and museum director. But Madigan said neither had lobbied him. Mackevich resigned in late 2015. Madigan, at the dawn of tense budget negotiations with newcomer Rauner in the spring of 2015, resurrected the library and museum separation. Rauner and he discussed a trade: Madigan's separate Lincoln agency for a privatized commerce department for Rauner. But talks broke down and neither happened. Current Madigan legislation to separate the museum has moved to the House floor. Brown said the speaker's staff has worked with Rauner's on the executive order language. Madigan will continue to push the legislation so the breakup has the force of law. Rauner spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis downplayed a connection between Rauner's action and Madigan's wishes. She said it is standard practice for a governor to consult legislative leaders before penning executive orders that reorganize government. ___ Contact Political Writer John O'Connor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/john-oconnor . Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. An Indiana man who took bus trips to Chicago with a gym bag full of guns and sold the weapons from a West Side porch has been sentenced to two years in prison, prosecutors said. Willie Lee Biles Jr., 44, last year was convicted by a jury in U.S. District Court in Chicago of willfully dealing firearms without a license, according to court records and a news release Friday from the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago. Biles had faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, officials said. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis handed down the sentence Thursday. In the fall of 2013, Biles made several trips on a Megabus to Chicago from his Indianapolis home, prosecutors said. Each time, he brought with a gym bag full of handguns. Biles bought more than 30 guns from licensed dealers in Indiana and brought them to Chicago to sell. Once in Chicago, Biles would "sit on the porch of a residence on the city's West Side and sell firearms." Biles sold the guns for two to three times the price he paid for them in Indiana, prosecuctors said. As he sold the guns, "Biles never asked any of his customers for identification, and he failed to verify whether they could legally possess firearms," according to the release. Advertisement Biles "conducted no background checks on his 'customers,' required no waiting period, and kept no records," prosecutors said in the government's sentencing memorandum. "These firearms have been used in attempted murders, recovered from documented gang members, convicted felons, and hidden inside drug stash houses." At least 12 of the firearms Biles sold were later confiscated by law enforcement in the Chicago area, according to prosecutors. A convicted felon to whom Biles sold four guns was previously convicted in the case. Otto Lewellen, of west suburban Bellwood, pleaded guilty in 2015 to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Lewellen admitted in a plea agreement that he bought four guns from Biles. In 2015, Ellis sentenced Lewellen to 18 months in federal prison. Advertisement The investigation was conducted with the Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force. Illinois State Police, along with Chicago police, Bellwood police and ATF Indianapolis field division officials, assisted in the investigation, officials said. The first call was for a well-being check Thursday afternoon at an apartment building complex in the South Shore neighborhood. Inside a third-floor unit, a 26-year-old pregnant woman was found dead with a gunshot wound to her head. Hours later and about four blocks away, a gunman walked up to a popular chicken and fish restaurant on a busy stretch of South Coles Avenue and opened fire, killing two young brothers who were there visiting their mother and other men who happened to be inside. Advertisement Before the day was done, a man and a woman were slain by someone who pulled up to their car in a black Jeep in front of the South Shore Cultural Center and fired multiple shots. In just under 12 hours, seven people were killed by gun violence in South Shore, a grisly toll for a historic African-American enclave that's home to many middle-class families but also entrenched street gangs that for years have waged a bloody turf war. Advertisement The spate of shootings came just as Chicago police were touting a drop in homicides in the first quarter of 2017. As gossip spread on the street about who was targeted and whether the violence was interconnected, some longtime South Shore residents expressed shock at the violence while others said it was nothing new. "It was pretty shocking that four people would get killed at once," said a barber at the Black Wall Street barbershop and salon on East 75th Street. "But somebody getting shot? That ain't s---." Police sources have said the quadruple slaying may have been retaliation for the gang-related slaying Wednesday night of a 37-year-old man in the 7900 block of South Phillips Avenue, in a pocket so notoriously violent that many refer to it as "Terror Town." In a news conference Friday afternoon down the street from the scene of the quadruple homicide, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters he was "angry and sickened" by the violence but offered few specifics of the investigations, other than to say the shootings were "targeted and are related to gang conflicts in the area." "And while that doesn't lessen the weight of what happened, we know that these weren't random acts of violence," said Johnson, flanked by other command staff. He promised a heightened police presence in the area over the weekend, saying that police saturation teams roving patrols that respond to areas seeing spikes in violence and other units will be in spots where they believe retaliatory shootings may occur. Johnson said some of the people involved in the shootings had gang affiliations but did not elaborate. The killing of the pregnant woman, Patrice Calvin, was not related to the two other shootings, he said. Advertisement Georgia Jackson, 72, learns two of her grandchildren, Raheem, 19, and Dillon Jackson, 20, were among four people fatally shot in the South Shore neighborhood on March 30, 2017. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune) (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) "You will see a heavy police presence until we bring these individuals, get them in custody and hold them accountable for what they did," he said. The South Shore neighborhood has long been one of Chicago's most prominent African-American communities and still boasts a solid contingent of middle-class families, from bungalow-lined streets to high-rise apartment buildings dotting the lakefront. It's the birthplace of former first lady Michelle Obama, who grew up in a middle-class home and attended Bryn Mawr School, now Bouchet school at 73rd Street and South Jeffrey Avenue. In 1992, she and future President Barack Obama had their wedding reception at the South Shore Cultural Center, an icon of the community that hosts jazz festivals, art exhibitions and private events. But pockets of the neighborhood have been long beset by violence, much of it stemming from street gangs such as the Black P. Stones and Gangster Disciples. One of the areas notorious to law enforcement is Terror Town, a two-block by four-block patch where gang conflicts have erupted into several recent mass shootings, often quickly followed by retaliation. But the seven slayings on Thursday took place blocks away from Terror Town. Standing near Nadia Fish and Chicken restaurant at 75th Street and South Coles Avenue, where the four victims were slain, longtime resident Natasha Dunn said Friday she was horrified by the news of the bloodshed in her neighborhood of 42 years. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 25 Georgia Jackson, 72, is overcome with emotion upon learning that her two grandsons, Raheem, 19, and Dillon Jackson, 20, were found fatally shot near Nadia Fish and Chicken, at 2704 E. 75th St., in the South Shore neighborhood on March 30, 2017. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune) "For the most part, I feel safe in South Shore, but this startled everyone," she said Friday as a light drizzle fell. "We have good areas and we have, unfortunately, areas like this. You can walk five blocks west of here and you can find nice homes and things of that nature. And then you come here and clearly see there's some obvious decline." Advertisement Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday condemned what he termed the "evil and depravity" of people who would shoot a pregnant woman or kill a woman's sons in front of her. "For the people that did what they did yesterday...there's only one place for them," the mayor said in a statement to reporters after the groundbreaking for a West Loop building. "They do not belong in our society, they do not belong in our city and they do not belong on the streets. They belong behind bars." Police said the quadruple homicide happened around 3:50 p.m. Thursday when a gunman walked up to Nadia restaurant and opened fire. One woman who lives a short distance from the restaurant said she was talking to one of the victims a neighborhood man who sells loose cigarettes when the gunman shot him just inches from her. "I seen it all, I was right there when the guns went off," said the woman, who didn't want to be identified. "All of a sudden, he came out that side door and shot that boy. The boy stood up and he shot him again." Dillon Jackson, 20, was found dead outside the restaurant. His brother, Raheem Jackson, 19, was found slumped against a tree down the block. Emmanuel Stokes, 28, and Edwin Davis, 32, were both found dead inside the restaurant. Advertisement The Jacksons' grandmother, Georgia Jackson, 72, said at the scene Thursday that her two grandsons had gone to the restaurant to get food and see their mother, who worked there. They weren't the first grandsons Jackson has lost to gunfire. In 2012, her then-16-year-old grandson Jawan Ross, who was a cousin of the two slain Thursday, was fatally shot inside a Church's Chicken store by a gunman who had chased someone inside after a quarrel, she said. "I didn't have kids to lose 'em like this," the distraught grandmother said. About seven hours after the quadruple slayings, a couple were in a silver van outside the Cultural Center on 71st Street near South Shore Drive when a black Jeep pulled alongside and someone inside fired shots, police said. The van accelerated and slammed into a pole just north of the Metra tracks. Police found a 27-year-old man in the back seat with a gunshot wound to the side of his body, and a 23-year-old woman in the front passenger seat with a gunshot wound to the head. A third man in the car was uninjured. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Both victims, 23-year-old Dominique Victoria Scott, of the Gary, Ind., and 27-year-old Cornell M. Patrick, of the 10000 block of South Crandon Avenue, were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the medical examiner's office. Police believe the shooters were targeting one or more of the people in the van. Advertisement Chicago Tribune's Megan Crepeau and Elyssa Cherney contributed. wlee@chicagotribune.com pnickeas@chicagotribune.com jgorner@chicagotribune.com Editor's note: This story was updated on April 3, 2017, when the medical examiner's office released the identities of Patrick and Scott. President Horacio Cartes fired Paraguay's interior minister and top police official on Saturday following the killing of a young opposition party leader and violent overnight clashes sparked by a secret Senate vote for a constitutional amendment to allow presidential re-election. Dozens of people, including a police officer, were arrested Friday evening in demonstrations that saw protesters break through police lines and enter the first floor of Paraguay's legislature, setting fire to papers and furniture. Police used water cannon and fired rubber bullets to drive protesters away from the building while firefighters extinguished blazes inside. In the early hours Saturday, 25-year-old Rodrigo Quintana was shot and killed at the headquarters of the opposition Authentic Radical Liberal Party, a different location than the congress building where most of the violence and protests took place. Anti-riot police with rifles and their faces covered with helmets had stormed the headquarters. Before stepping down, police commander Crispulo Sotelo identified Gustavo Florentin as the riot police agent responsible for Quintana's death and said he had been arrested. Later Saturday, Cartes announced that he had accepted the resignations of Sotelo and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas. Because of the violence, Saturday's and Monday's Senate sessions were cancelled. "We will evaluate the situation on Tuesday," said legislative president Hugo Velazquez. The protests broke out after a majority of senators approved the amendment allowing for presidential re-election, a move opponents said was illegal because the vote was taken without all members of the senate present. Presidents are limited to a single 5-year term and the proposal would allow Cartes and Paraguay's previous presidents to run for the top job again in the 2018 election a hot button issue in a country haunted by the 35-year rule of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner. "My colleagues have carried out a coup because of the irregular and illegal manner in which they modified no less than the Constitution," Sen. Luis Alberto Wagner of the opposition Authentic Radical Liberal Party said after the Friday evening vote. The process to pass the amendment began on Tuesday when 25 senators changed the internal procedures to speed up the vote against the wishes of Senate President Roberto Acevedo and other members of the chamber. Acevedo, of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, said that process violated Senate rules and he filed an appeal to the Supreme Court seeking to have the decision overturned. Political analyst Ignacio Martinez said the extreme reaction to the move likely lies in fears of another long-running government like that of Stroessner, who ruled Paraguay from 1954-1989 after a military coup. The measure for a constitutional amendment allowing for presidential re-election was backed by 25 of the country's 45 senators. The yes votes came from members of the governing Colorado Party and from several opposition groups. After approval in the Senate, the proposal went to the Chamber of Deputies, where 44 of the 80 members belong to the Colorado Party. Approval there would require the scheduling of a national referendum on the amendment. Prosecutor Raquel Fernandez said the one reported death occurred early Saturday at the offices of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party. The circumstances of the death of Rodrigo Quintana, a youth leader of the party, were unclear. AP writer Patricia Luna contributed to this report. White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon listens at right as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting on cyber security in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (Evan Vucci / AP) WASHINGTON New documents released Friday night by the White House revealed hard numbers showing how President Donald Trump, who campaigned as a champion of the working class, has surrounded himself with a circle of wealthy advisers. The disclosures showed that Trump's top aides have generated millions of dollars from Wall Street, Hollywood, real estate and the media, holding a slew of investments that intensify the administration's challenge in navigating potential intersections between officials' personal finances and their policymaking roles. Advertisement Together, 27 White House officials had assets worth at least $2.3 billion when they joined the administration, according to an analysis of their filings by the Washington Post. The list of well-heeled White House officials includes a number of high-profile advisers, such as Trump's daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate holdings, as well as numerous middle- and lower-level staffers who populate the West Wing. Advertisement Top economic adviser Gary Cohn, for example, a former top Goldman Sachs executive, reported assets worth at least $250 million. Another top aide, Baltimore-based real estate developer Reed Cordish, had assets worth at least $197 million. Julia Hahn, the 25-year-old aide to chief strategist Stephen Bannon, reported investments worth between $1.1 million and $2.5 million. The new disclosures - filed by about 180 members of the Trump administration and released by the White House starting late Friday - show how Trump has tapped members of the financial elite to serve as his closest aides. The White House on Friday held up the affluence of its staffers as a badge of honor. "The president has brought a lot of people into this administration, into this White House, in particular, who have been very blessed and very successful by this country and have given up a lot to come into the government by setting aside a lot of assets," said White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who filings show had assets worth between $2.9 million and $6.6 million. Earlier financial disclosures revealed that Trump's Cabinet - which includes two billionaires and several multimillionaires - is the richest in modern American history, a quality that he has trumpeted as a sign of their smarts. "I want people that made a fortune," Trump said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, in December as he was building his Cabinet. The new forms showed that the wealth on Trump's staff is spread across the ranks of White House staffers, from Trump's most senior counselors to low-level aides. Advertisement Bannon, his chief strategist, held assets worth between $11.8 million and $53.8 million. Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, earned nearly $850,000 in the past year and held assets worth between $10 million and as much as $39 million. White House General Counsel Donald McGahn earned $2.4 million last year as a partner at the Jones Day law firm. Even White House staffers with relatively low public profiles arrived with high net worth. Kenneth Juster, the deputy director of the National Economic Council and former partner at the investment firm Warburg Pincus, reported minimum assets of at least $20.4 million. Trump, who last disclosed his finances during the campaign, is not required to release more details until next year. The complex holdings of many top administration officials create potential conflicts of interest that the White House must now navigate, a process that is underway in consultation with the Office of Government Ethics. Financial disclosure forms provide only a rough picture of financial wealth and liabilities. For some categories, the disclosure forms use broad ranges. The official filling out the form also has discretion in assigning value to assets such as real estate and artwork. On Friday, White House officials cited the complex assets of Cohn as an example of how onerous the ethics process is for wealthy individuals joining the government. Advertisement His finances were described in 41 pages that detailed the assets accumulated from his 25 years at Goldman Sachs. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index has previously listed his net worth at about $600 million. White House officials noted that Cohn is subject to a two-year ban on dealing with specific matters having to do with Goldman Sachs. However, as head of the economic council, Cohn will not be recused from policy issues that affect Goldman Sachs. The filings show that Bannon earned at least $917,000 in the past 12 months, drawing at least $545,000 in the past year from four ventures backed by the wealthy Mercer family, underscoring how deeply enmeshed he has been with the influential Trump mega-donors He was paid $191,000 in consulting fees by Breitbart News Network, where he served as executive chairman until joining the Trump campaign in August. That is a significant drop from 2013, when Bannon reported on a rental application that he was making $750,000 at the website. Last year, Bannon earned $167,500 more for consulting and directing by Glittering Steel, the production company he launched with Rebekah Mercer that financed the documentary "Clinton Cash." Cambridge Analytica, a data science company that worked for Trump's campaign, paid Bannon $125,333 in consulting fees for his work as vice president and secretary of the board. And the Government Accountability Institute, an investigative think tank whose president wrote the book "Clinton Cash," gave Bannon a $61,539 salary as chairman. Advertisement Bannon was also paid $100,000 in directing fees from a production company affiliated with the advocacy group Citizens United. And he reported earning between $50,001 and $100,000 from Societe Generale, stemming from a partnership he formed with the French banking giant in 1996. Bannon, who specialized at the time in media investment banking, sold his firm - Bannon and Co. - to a subsidiary of the French bank in 1998. The French company worked closely with Bannon on a variety of deals, including one in which Bannon represented PolyGram, a music and film company that was sold to Seagram's. The strategist had significant cash reserves as he headed into the White House, reporting at least $1.1 million in three different U.S. bank accounts. The forms show how Breitbart News has served as a pipeline for the White House, with the site's payments to Bannon and two other staffers, Bannon aide Hahn and National Security Council aide Sebastian Gorka, totaling more than $246,000 over the past year. The disclosures also show that Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have property and investment holdings worth as much as roughly $740 million. That includes more than $600 million worth of Kushner real estate in New York and New Jersey as well as other assets, much of which Kushner says he has divested. Between January 2016 and March 2017, Kushner's filings show, Ivanka Trump earned between $1 million and $5 million on Trump International Hotel Washington, the luxury hotel project that opened last year in a government-owned building near the White House. The value of Ivanka Trump's stake in the hotel was estimated at between $5 million and $25 million, filings show. Advertisement Kushner, who in January stepped down as chief executive of his family's real estate firm, Kushner Companies, will remain a beneficiary of most of the business's real estate ventures through a series of trusts. In essence, he will no longer officially have management control of the company but will retain a large financial interest. The Kushner company has taken out loans from Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and Deutsche Bank, the German financial giant that is also President Trump's biggest lender, filings show. The company also borrowed money from the French bank Natixis and Israel's biggest bank, Bank Hapoalim, now under investigation by the Department of Justice, according to documents. Kushner's filing shows he also has up to $95 million in borrowed money, much of it in the form of unsecured lines of credit held jointly with his father, from lenders including Deutsche and one of Israel's largest banks, Israel Discount Bank. Ivanka Trump, who this week was officially named assistant to the president, will no longer serve in management roles but will continue to receive money from her fashion-merchandising brand and her family's private company, the Trump Organization. The payments will come as fixed payments from the Trump family's luxury brokerage, T International Realty, and two real estate subsidiaries, the filings show. Ivanka Trump, like her father, had moved her clothing and jewelry companies into a trust valued at more than $50 million, disclosures show. The trust is overseen by two of her in-laws and can be revoked at any time. Kushner's filing, like his father-in-law's disclosure, offers lofty valuations for Kushner real estate holdings that may be higher than what they would be appraised for or sell for on public markets. Advertisement Amy Brittain, Tom Hamburger, Rosalind S. Helderman, Michael Kranish, Robert O'Harrow, Ashley Parker, Lisa Rein and Steven Rich contributed to this report. Bruce Bachmann had a long career in real estate and a history of philanthropic endeavors, supporting organizations out of his own pocket and through the Polk Bros. Foundation. Bachmann's uncles and his mother were the Polks of Polk Bros., the Chicago appliance discounter that at one time operated 17 stores in the Chicago area before closing in 1992. Advertisement That business initially funded the foundation, which has supported more than 3,000 Chicago nonprofits since its founding in 1988 with annual grants of $20 million to $25 million to 350 to 400 local organizations. Bachmann was one of the founders and remained a member of the board, said Sandra Guthman, a cousin and chairwoman of the foundation. Advertisement "He was somebody very concerned about the (Chicago) community," Guthman said. "I think his experience and involvement with (other) nonprofits made him quite sensitive to their needs. He helped us think through our approach and our strategies." Bachmann also played a leading role in helping establish the Polk BrosPark at the west end of Navy Pier. "In 2014, the Polk family and foundation provided the Pier with a $20 million gift," said Marilynn Gardner, Navy Pier president and CEO. "The gift supported the complete redevelopment of Navy Pier's front door." Bachmann, 82, died of natural causes March 22 in his home in Highland Park, according to his daughter, Cathy Ethridge. Bachmann was born in Chicago and attended Austin High School. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, then served in the Army, including time in a presidential honor guard in the late 1950s, his family said. Bachmann worked his way up in the family business run by his mother and uncles, at one point working as a store manager. He began his career in real estate in 1969, managing a real estate investment trust. He later became president of a real estate subsidiary of I.C. Industries. He established Bachmann Associates in 1981, which handled the planning, financing, management of 20 free-standing medical buildings, most in the Chicago area. The firm eventually sold the buildings. With two partners, he later formed GBK Equity Lenders, specializing in what is called mezzanine and gap financing for builders and developers. Advertisement Buz Hoffman, a friend who became a customer of Bachmann's firm in 1990, said GBK provided financing between what a bank would loan on a project and the full amount needed. "They were unique in Chicago. They substituted for you putting in your own equity," Hoffman said. "To Bruce's credit, it was risky to provide equity just as the economy was coming out of a recession. "Bruce didn't just look at the numbers, he looked at the person," Hoffman said. "He became one of my mentors, he was another set of eyes." While much of Bachmann's philanthropy was through the foundation, he also had personal causes. That was the case about 1990 when he and his wife, Ann, who died in 2013, teamed up with his sister Roberta Lewis and her husband Irv to sponsor an I Have A Dream class of 57 students from Burr Elementary School in Chicago. The four committed to mentoring the youngsters from late elementary school through college or other post-secondary education. "Bruce and his wife were very involved, mentoring the kids, going over report cards," said John Horan, who worked with the couples. "They committed their personal support, to help build relationships with the kids and their parents. He was terrific at that." Bachmann and his wife were also supporters of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie. Gardner said Bachmann took a leading role in the Polk Bros. Foundation's involvement in the 13-acre park and Navy Pier itself. "The gift really cemented our status as a nonprofit," Gardner said. "Bruce served on our (Navy Pier) board and was incredibly passionate about arts and culture." Advertisement That confluence of art and culture drew Bachmann and his wife to begin collecting studio glass around 1987. The glass, made into sculptural objects, includes the work of Dale Chihuly and many other contemporary artists. Much of the Bachmanns' collection, about 300 pieces, is now or will soon be on display at The Henry Ford history museum in Dearborn, Mich. "The Bachmann collection is one of the best collections of American glass in the world," said Charles Sable, curator of decorative arts for the museum. "Bruce cared about the people of the world and wanted them to be inspired by this collection," said Christian Overland, executive vice president of the Ford museum. Survivors also include another daughter, Betsy Kushen; two sons, Steve and Andy; and four grandchildren. Services were held. Advertisement Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter. On Tuesday, the U.S. House voted to repeal privacy regulations that would have required internet service providers to obtain consent before sharing the personal data of customers. (malerapaso / Getty Images) On Tuesday, the U.S. House voted to repeal privacy regulations that would have required internet service providers to obtain consent before sharing the personal data of customers. The Senate previously had approved the resolution. As soon as President Donald Trump signs off, broadband providers like Comcast, Charter Communications and Verizon Communications will be free to intercept, track and sell the contents of everything we do on the internet. Cool, I look forward to purchasing the browser histories of the congressmen who voted in favor of repeal. Broadband providers argue that if companies like Google and Facebook can profit off the collection of consumer data, they should be allowed to do so as well. In the interest of fairness, anyone should be free to monetize the personal information of anyone else! Here's a celebratory statement from the Data & Marketing Association: Advertisement "This is an important victory for all who benefit from the data-driven marketing economy, including tens of thousands of businesses and nonprofit organizations and hundreds of millions of consumers. Consumers understand the value that relevant ads provide, and put the value of the services they get for free on the internet at $1,200 per year." That estimate seems a bit presumptuous. Can we similarly assume that marketers put the value of the data they collect from each consumer at $1,200 per year? What if I demand more value for my data? Regardless of price, there is little opportunity to abstain from this transaction: 51 percent of U.S. households have access to only one high-speed broadband provider. Advertisement Consumer-privacy advocates are right to be outraged. Unfortunately, the horse left the barn a long time ago. Internet service providers have been tracking and selling customer activity since the early days of dial-up. Companies like Charter and AT&T Inc. previously inspected their users' web traffic and inserted ads where they saw fit. Other service providers hijacked search-engine queries and redirected browsers to their own paid partners. It's unclear how much of this is still going on. The Federal Communications Commission privacy rules that Congress just repealed were only proposed last October, and would not have taken effect until December. A common defense to data-privacy concerns is that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about. But the argument extends to both sides: If internet service providers had nothing to hide, they wouldn't be using undetectable tracking cookies to collect users' browsing data. What's more, a company that has nothing to hide should have no problem with a rule that requires permission before selling personal information. For the most part, data-driven marketing relies on the fact that people don't know they're being tracked. In one survey, 66 percent of respondents said that they did not want ads to be tailored to their interests. When the researchers explained how ad targeting actually works, that percentage went up to 84 percent. Last year, the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that 26 percent of desktop browsers use ad blockers, an increase of 34 percent over the prior year. Ad-blocker usage is expected to increase to a third of desktops this year. It turns out that most Americans don't want to be judged and labeled without consent. If the only thing previously stopping ISPs from selling user data was a proposed FCC rule, then the control we have over our information usage is tenuous at best. Consumers cannot remove personal data from the hands of internet service providers, but they can make it harder to collect. Websites that use addresses beginning with HTTPS provide encrypted communications to protect the transferred content. Virtual Private Networks route traffic through private servers, and away from the eyes of service providers. A more drastic measure would be to use Tor browser, which anonymizes web traffic by sending it through distributed servers all around the world. Users can also reduce their overall marketability by running ad blockers. The good news is that the recent repeal should bring more attention to the marketing of personal data by internet service providers. The first step toward mitigating the effects of information asymmetry in any market is to raise awareness of the fact that such asymmetry exists. In past cases, broadband providers voluntarily stopped their most blatant tracking and interception activity after loud public complaints. Even the greatest advertisements are useless if consumers don't trust the messenger. Bloomberg Elaine Ou is a blockchain engineer at Global Financial Access, a financial technology company in San Francisco. Previously she was a lecturer in the electrical and information engineering department at the University of Sydney. President Donald Trump loves to vilify immigrants while also claiming that he is going to grow the economy "tremendously," but policies like the wholesale deportation of immigrants living here illegally and his paused travel ban are destined to doom our economy. Recent growth in the U.S. economy is in the service sector such as retail, hospitality, home care and health care. These are all industries in which many jobs are filled by undocumented immigrants as are positions in agriculture and construction. The latter two industries are critical to our food production and to the success of any effort to rebuild our national infrastructure. The former won't be so great for Trump hotels either. Advertisement But Trump's policies also impact highly skilled fields such as the sciences, medicine and academia. Many of our rural physicians are foreign-born and attempts to bar their entry into the U.S. will negatively affect access to care, especially for Americans living in small towns and cities. Likewise, universities balance their budgets with tuition from foreign students and benefit from the diversity of experience brought to campuses by faculty from other countries. In short, these anti-immigrant policies are shortsighted, mean-spirited and ultimately disastrous for the U.S. economy. Wendy Siegel, Chicago Winner:"Chicago, don't give up yet! It's not time to throw in the cow." Frances Norton, Hawthorn Wood Advertisement Extras: "It's the only Chicago Bull people are excited about." Advertisement Paul Lockwood, Woodstock "Did that kite just moo?" Carolyn Wartinbee, Elmhurst "Will Chicago ever rise above the Political Bull?" Placedos Bemons, Norridge "Looks like Rauner tried to grab the bull by the horns, but Madigan yanked it away." Vincent A. Boone, DeKalb "Just another day of the bull flying in the city." Advertisement Pam Campagnolo, New Lenox "Great...As if we don't get enough dung dropped on us by Michael Madigan" Tom Avallone, St Charles "If you don't like this captionI've got udders" John Connolly, Medinah, "Still blaming Miss O'Leary's cow ..." Mike McPartland, Tinley Park Advertisement "I hope that bungee cord wasn't made in China!" Bob Hennessy "I guess he didn't make the moon jump this time." Jim Bugaren, Schaumburg "Looks like more Bull from the Mayor's office!" Tim Collins, Antioch Caterpillar Inc. has made it official - the company will move machine production out of the Aurora plant, taking with it about 800 jobs. The company had announced in January it was contemplating the change, and made it official in a press release Friday afternoon. Advertisement "Moving production from Aurora to other existing facilities allows Caterpillar to efficiently leverage manufacturing space while still preserving capacity for an upturn," said Denise Johnson, Caterpillar group president of Resource Industries. "Supporting impacted employees through this transition is a top priority, as we know these actions are difficult for our talented and dedicated people." The products made in Aurora will be transferred to two Caterpillar facilities. Large wheel loaders and compactors will be made in Decatur downstate, and medium wheel loaders will be made in North Little Rock, Ark. Advertisement The move is in addition to the global restructuring and cost savings plan the company announced in September 2015. That plan resulted in some downsizing at the Aurora plant, which is what the plant is called, despite actually being in Montgomery. Although manufacturing will move out of Aurora, the company does plan to maintain an Aurora office for engineering and product support work. The transitions are expected to be complete by the end of 2018. Scott Gryder, Kendall County Board chairman, said Friday the about 1,200 jobs left in the Aurora plant would be "very high-tech engineering." He added that Cat officials told him and other area officials that the company will give employees a chance to move with their jobs, through the normal human resources channels. "We were at least somewhat pleased to hear that," Gryder said. "Otherwise, this is not good news for us." Gryder said Caterpillar has met with local officials during the past three months, and officials like Gryder, Aurora Mayor Robert O'Connor and Montgomery Mayor Matt Brolley have been talking about what to do. Gryder said he also has spoken with U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Wheaton. "I expect we will all get together here to talk about what's next," Gryder said. slord@tribpub.com Tuition and enrollment were among the top two issues candidates for the Joliet Junior College board focused on during a forum Thursday hosted by the college's student government. Nine candidates are seeking election to four open seats on the board. Of the nine, seven candidates incumbents Dan O'Connell, of Joliet; Alicia Morales, of Joliet; and Patty Deiters, of New Lenox; and newcomers Margaret Hornung, of Shorewood; George Gaspar, of Joliet; Bob Bodach, of Shorewood; and Philip Juarez, of New Lenox attended the forum. Incumbent Mike O'Connell, of Shorewood, and candidate John Mahalik, of Joliet, did not attend. Advertisement Mahalik, Hornung and Mike O'Connell are vying for two two-year terms on the board. Gaspar, Bodach, Morales, Juarez, Deiters and Daniel O'Connell are seeking election to two six-year terms. Candidates at Thursday's forum fielded questions from students, teachers and other community members. Candidates identified a need to increase enrollment and awareness about the college's program offerings as top issues. Joliet Junior College offers 184 degree and certificate programs and serves a seven-county area that includes Will, Grundy, Kankakee, Kendall, LaSalle, Livingston and Cook counties. Advertisement Suggestions from the candidates to increase enrollment included working with area high schools to identify students who do not graduate and could take advantage of the college's GED program, promoting the various adult education classes on campus and educating students about the value of community colleges. Morales, who noted she cast the only vote against a recent $19 credit-hour tuition increase, said increasing enrollment at the college could help avoid tuition increases. She noted growth in student enrollment has been minimal over the past several years. "We have the resources and staff," she said, speaking about promoting the college in the communities it serves. "We just need the will." Candidates also focused on sustainability, noting the issue did not just revolve around the environment. Hornung, Bodach and Juarez said engaging high school students and community residents will be key to the college's sustainability in future years. "If we don't have enrollment, we're going to have a problem," Juarez said. "We have to have a good plan to increase enrollment." Hornung said the college needs to be "accessible and affordable" to all. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > "We need to make sure students finish as soon as possible and get a good job," she said. Bodach noted that JJC has been a part of his life since he was in junior high, when his parents signed him up for a computer class. As an adult, Bodach also turned to JJC to take a landscaping and lawn class after he bought his first home. Advertisement Gaspar focused on the use and design of the college's buildings, noting some of the newer buildings do not make the best use of space. "We need to take a look at what we really need and go that way," he said. Deiters suggested the college take advantage of a recent change in state law that could allow JJC to offer a four-year nursing program for students. O'Connell said the college is "here for the students" and that the board and administration need to continue to work together to ensure the college can maintain its level of service. Alicia Fabbre is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown. Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin talks about the decision of moving into a full-time position as mayor on Oct. 13, 2016. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown) In the days leading up to Tuesday's election, Orland Park voters are seeing an unprecedented barrage of television ads and mailers focused on the race for mayor. The cable TV spots, something not typically seen in a municipal race, are financed by the political action committee Liberty Principles, and its president, radio talk show host Dan Proft, said the PAC is spending close to $200,000 on ads critical of incumbent Mayor Dan McLaughlin. The PAC is aligned with and funded in part by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, and the PAC last fall financed ads critical of Democrats on behalf of Republican candidates in several House and Senate races. Advertisement The ads and mailers allege McLaughlin, running for his seventh term, is to be blamed for a sharp increase in the village's tax rate and a fall in property values. The messages also slam a decision made by the Village Board to make the mayor's job a full-time position, with a corresponding jump in pay and pension. McLaughlin has used robocalls, emails and mailers to rebut the PAC's assault, which he said distort the village's true financial condition. Advertisement Proft said that the mayor is "fleecing the taxpayers for his personal benefit" and is "completely indifferent to the bottom line of anybody but himself." The TV ads began appearing more than a week ago, and the three spots will continue to run until election day, and another mailer targeting McLaughlin was due to hit mailboxes either Friday or Saturday, Proft said. He declined to give details on how many homes the cable ads are hitting or how often they are running, but said "everyone who watches cable television (in Orland Park) has seen these ads." The ads don't mention McLaughlin's challenger, business owner Keith Pekau, who said he doesn't subscribe to cable TV but was made aware of the ads when they first began airing more than a week ago. Both he and McLaughlin had received notice from the state board of elections that, according to the notice, "independent expenditures totaling more than $100,000 (in aggregate) had been made opposing Dan McLaughlin." Proft, a onetime Republican candidate for governor, said the PAC is spending in the neighborhood of $175,000 for the TV spots and roughly another $20,000 for the mailings. The mayor is now paid $40,000, plus another $3,000 a year for serving as liquor commissioner, but the salary will increase to $150,000 and the job be expanded to full time, with the added duties of being Orland Park's lead person on economic development matters. A Daily Southtown analysis that assumes McLaughlin wins re-election and does not continue as mayor beyond 2021 shows his initial pension would be more than $100,000 per year, under the higher salary, growing by 3 percent simple interest each year. By comparison, under the position's current salary, the mayor's pension would start out at $30,000 if he retired after a seventh term. Advertisement Village officials previously noted that, based on the higher salary, the village's contribution toward the mayor's pension would be $19,000 per year, with those payments ending once the mayor retires from office. McLaughlin has said that making the job full time will end up saving the village, and taxpayers, money for both salary and pensions as the Village Board had also considered hiring a second assistant village manager as well as someone to supervise economic development. Pekau and the PAC's messages have criticized the village's debt load and tied McLaughlin to a fall in property values. McLaughlin insists the village has a "reasonable" amount of debt and has relied on borrowing only to finance public improvements. Noting that, during the recession, across "the whole country, property values were down," he said that properties in Orland Park "held onto their values better and are coming back stronger and faster than other communities." He's responded to the PAC's ads with emails and mailers, such as one with a face peering out and the words "Who's trying to buy Orland Park and why?" This week, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin sent out an email highlighting the village as "one of the most financially sound municipalities in Illinois, with little debt." McLaughlin said the email went to the senator's supporters in the village but he doesn't know how many residents received it. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > McLaughlin said the ads and mailers lambasting him do not present "a true picture" of the village's financial health, and that he has "confidence in the voters of Orland Park to see through a lot of this." Advertisement He said it is "very unusual for a big, statewide PAC to get involved in a local race." At its website, Liberty Principles says it supports policymakers who are "committed to the economic liberty policy agenda. The TV spots and mailers in the Orland Park race are an unexpected windfall for Pekau, a Republican, who said that the Village Board's decision last fall to make the mayor's job a full-time position prompted him to run. Not having previously run for elected office, Pekau's campaign is largely self-funded and he said that even without the PAC's tacit support of his candidacy "I think we're winning regardless and I think we're going to win," but that the PAC-financed "attack against my opponent is not going to hurt us." mnolan@tribpub.com Twitter @mnolan_j Donald Leib, 46, of Mount Greenwood, was found guilty Monday, Dec. 5, 2016, of violating the terms of registration as a sex offender. (Illinois Sex Offender Registry) A registered sex offender returned to prison for attending the Queen of Martyrs parish festival in Evergreen Park in 2015 in violation of his registration. Donald Leib, 46, of the 10300 block of S. Albany Avenue, was sentenced Thursday to one year in prison and one year of mandatory supervised release, according to court records. Nearly one-third of his prison sentence, or 115 days, was credited as time served, records show. Advertisement The Mount Greenwood resident, who was forced to register as a child sex offender after being convicted of attempting to lure a 12-year-old child into his vehicle in 2007, was arrested by Evergreen Park police on Sept. 26, 2015 after a vigilant neighbor who recognized him from the Illinois Sex Offender Registry spotted him at the Queen of Martyrs parish festival and notified uniformed police, 19th Ward Alderman Matt O'Shea said. In Illinois, child sex offenders are not permitted to be within 500 feet of school property without the permission of the superintendent or school board, or in the case of a private school, unless the child sex offender is the parent of a child at the school and is on campus to discuss the child's academic or social performance with school personnel. Advertisement For that reason, Leib's presence at the festival was unlawful, and he was found guilty on Dec. 5 of prohibited presence within a school zone by a child sex offender, a Class 4 felony. O'Shea, who has kept 19th Ward constituents abreast of Leib's case through email blasts, thanked the police and court system for bringing a "dangerous predator" to justice. "His imprisonment will make our community a safer place for our children," O'Shea wrote. "Once released, Leib will remain a registered sex offender." zkoeske@tribpub.com Twitter @ZakKoeske Cook County is expected to break its record for early voting for municipal elections, Clerk David Orr said. More than 39,600 Cook County residents cast their ballots as of Friday afternoon, he said. The record about 40,000 was set in April, 2015. Advertisement In Will County, officials didn't provide early voting data. Despite the projected increase in Cook County, Orr would not provide an estimate for overall voting for Tuesday's elections. Advertisement To encourage voter participation, Cook County sends mailer information to residents' homes prior to the election and posts wait times for its more than 50 early polling stations online, officials said. "We're trying to address the constant complaint of voters: Who are these people and who's on the ballot?" Orr said. Will County also sends out election information in the mail. "We're making it easier to vote than ever," Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots said. At the same time, since the 1980s in Will County, even as voter registration has more than doubled, voter participation has decreased from 30 percent in 1981 to 18 percent in 2015. Voots said the clerk's office has stayed open until 7 p.m. for the week before the election to accommodate early voters. But one night, not a single person came in, she said. "I do find it frustrating," she said. "I always encourage Will County residents to participate in the [municipal] elections. They are the people who are actually using your tax dollars. It's sad that turnout is so low." It's a huge contrast from the presidential election in November that drew 74 percent of residents to the polls, Voots said. Charged races draw more voters, she said. Advertisement "It depends who's up for election," Voots said. "It all depends on whether you have heated candidates." Orr said looking at countywide election data is misleading because many races are uncontested and few people vote in them, bringing the average down. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > More than 67 percent of suburban races in Cook County are uncontested this year, Orr said. "It's a mistake to use county-wide numbers," he said. "What you can say is that when there's contested races, people vote. When you don't they don't." He pointed to numbers from 2013. While some municipalities saw voter turnouts of 5 and 6 percent, McCook had 56.7 percent turnout, Stone Park had 50 percent turnout and Schiller Park had 46 percent of residents turn out. Since 1999, Cook County has seen a small increase in turnout from a law that consolidated April and November municipal local elections. UIC Political Science professor and former Chicago Alderman Dick Simpson said voter turnout in the municipal elections is an unabashed disaster, pointing to the high number of unopposed races. Advertisement "People feel there are no real alternatives," he said. "Unfortunately they are often right in that assessment." mmccall@tribpub.com @MatthewMcCall_ A man has been charged with using false identification to obtain cash at the Carpentersville Wal-Mart, according to a news release from the Carpentersville Police Department. Renato Munteanu, 30, address unknown, was charged with a class 1 felony count of continuing financial criminal enterprise, a class 3 felony count of theft, two class 3 felony counts of issue or deliver forged document, two class 4 felony counts of possession or display of fictitious ID card and a class A misdemeanor count of possession of identification material hard or software. Advertisement According to police, a North Carolina resident contacted the Carpentersville Police Department on March 28 to file a complaint following a suspicious incident at the Carpentersville Wal-Mart on Lake Marian Road. The woman said she had been involved in the purchase of an item she had viewed on Craig's List being sold using eBay Buying Protection Services, police said. She was told by the seller to send $1,500 through a money gram from North Carolina that was picked up by a person who presented a fake Nevada driver's license at the Carpentersville Wal-Mart, police said. Carpentersville police requested video from Wal-Mart of the March 28 transaction. On March 29, a Wal-Mart Loss Prevention Officer saw the suspect from the previous day's transaction at the store and called police, police said. Officers took Munteanu into custody after he was identified as the person who had used a fake driver's license during the March 28 transaction, police said. At the time he was taken into custody, Munteanu had two fictitious Nevada driver's licenses and in his rented vehicle were printers, computers and more than $50,000, police said. Advertisement Munteanu has been identified as the person who obtained cash, on two separate occasions, at the Carpentersville Wal-Mart store, police said. Munteanu's bond was set at $400,000 on Friday and he was given a court date of April 12 at the Kane County Judicial Center. Elgin community activist and quilter Ina Dews, center, adresses guests gathered Friday at Bethesday Church of God in Christ in Elgin during her 80th birthday celebration. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News) Friends, family and local officials gathered Friday evening at Elgin's Bethesda Church of God in Christ to honor local activist and noted quilter Ina Dews, who turned 80 in early March. Mayor Dave Kaptain called the church the soul of The Settlement, a three-block area on Elgin's east side that once was the neighborhood to which blacks were segregated. Advertisement "And Ina is the conscience of the city," Kaptain said, declaring Friday a day of celebration to honor Dews becoming an octogenarian. Kaptain said he's known Dews for 20 years, and recalled the first time they met at a meeting where he was being named a committee chairman. Advertisement Dews asked, "What are this man's qualifications?" Kaptain recalled. He reeled off his background, which met with Dews' approval. Steve Martin (right) put together a birthday party held Friday March 31, 2017 at Elgin's Bethesda Church of God in Christ for his grandmother, Ina Dews who turned 80 in March. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News) Dews moved to Elgin from Chicago in 1964, seeking a safer community for her young children, she said. She took a job at the Elgin Mental Health Center, where she was the sewing center supervisor for five years. She later became a radiologist, working at two hospitals on Chicago's West Side for 15 years while raising her children in Elgin and getting involved as a civil rights advocate in the community. Fair and affordable housing were issues for her then, and remain so today, she said. "Now, if you have money, anybody can buy a house anywhere in Elgin," Dews said. "But sometimes there's an attitude the haves have about the have-nots." Over the years, Dews' civic involvement grew to include assisting with the city's annual Martin Luther King Day commemorations each January, becoming a member of the city's Human Relations Commission, helping at the summer Downtown Harvest Market and frequently attending Elgin City Council meetings. "I remember seeing her knitting at council meetings," friend Betsy Couture said. "I think we actually met and became friends at Paul's (where Couture is a waitress) where Ina became a regular." State Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, brought a proclamation from the state Legislature recognizing Dews and spoke of her own bond with Dews. Ina Dews (center right) poses with Elgin Police Chief Jeff Swoboda (left) and Cmdr. Al Young Friday March 31 at Dews' birthday party at Bethesda Church of God in Christ. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News) "I first met Ina in 2000 while on the city's Human Relations Commission," she said. "I've learned a lot of history from her. She's been a huge resource and a wonderful friend." Advertisement Moeller also noted that one of Dews' accomplishments when Moeller was on the Elgin City Council was to convince members not to cut funding for the Ride In Kane program, which provides transportation for qualifying seniors. Beyond her community involvement, Dews is known for her quilting. Dews said Friday she has made about 185 quilts over the years. She has 16 in the works and 57 for which she's trying to find homes. In 2008, Dews donated three quilts to the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, one of which she made when she was 15 and the others made by aunts who taught her the craft. "Quilting in our culture is our history," Dews once told The Courier-News. "We had nothing in our first years. Nobody knew how to read and write, so they put their history into their quilts." Dews has shared her quilting skills in Africa. In 2007, she taught crocheting and quilting to children at the Imbabazi Orphanage in Gisenyi, Rwanda. In 1996, she traveled for a religious mission to Zimbabwe, where she shared her passion for knitting and quilting with street vendors and learned some new stitches as well. Advertisement Ina Dews and Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain share a moment at Dews' birthday party Friday March 31, 2017 at Bethesda Church of God in Christ. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News) "I saw people making hats by hand and the other was crocheting, and I proceeded to communicate with them for three or four hours, showing them what I knew and them showing me what they knew," Dews said at the time. Dews is also well-versed in how members of the Underground Railroad used quilt patterns to communicate with each other. Underground Railroad "conductors" would hang quilts with specific patterns to signal to fugitive slaves, who often were hidden in attics or basements. According to Dews, the design, features and even color choices of a quilt could guide an escaped slave to freedom. Quilts hung over a fence or clothesline could indicate whether a home was a safe place to find shelter or would provide directions. "African-Americans came here and didn't know the language," Dews once said. "But they were able to decipher the numeric, symbolic and colorful codes that were woven into quilts. The quilt carries our history." As for what she enjoys about quilting, Dews said Friday, "It gets me away from people. I like to be alone." That may be, but it doesn't stop from getting involved in civic issues, Deacon Reuben Grissette of New Hope Baptist of Elgin said at her party. Advertisement "She's admired for her community involvement and her commitment to humanity," Grissette said. mdanahey@tribpub.com Some people knew Kathleen "Kathy" Turnquist because she was a teacher and a building representative for the Elgin Teachers Association. Others knew Kathy as an advocate for organ donation, having had two transplants herself. Advertisement Having survived for 30 years with Hepatitis C and two liver and a kidney transplant, Kathy died Tuesday following a six-month battle with cancer. She was 59. Kathy had become an advocate for organ donation appearing in an Illinois Secretary of State pamphlet, regularly walking in American Liver Foundation events and speaking to drivers education classes about signing donation cards, said her husband, Jerry Turnquist. Advertisement Kathy's first liver transplant occurred in 1987 when the procedure was still in its infancy, said her husband in a 2013 interview with the Courier-News. The University of Chicago Hospital that performed her first liver transplant had only performed 100 or so at that time, and perhaps 500 had been done nationwide, Jerry said. No donor could be found an in 1987 so Jerry turned to The Courier-News, television and radio stations and made a direct appeal to find a donor. At that time, lobe donations did not occur either that did not happen until two years later, in 1989. But, the public appeal worked. A man died in a motorcycle crash in Colorado, and the liver was airlifted to Chicago. Then, in 2013, Kathy's liver and one of her kidneys damaged from 26 years of anti-rejection drugs needed to be transplanted. The need for a donor came just in time, Jerry said. A donor was found who had died from a drug overdose, but doctors found no problems with those organs, he said. "We could have passed [on the organs], but where are you going to be then? There is no perfect situation. I have seen Kathy deteriorate so much in the last couple of months," Jerry said in 2013. Advertisement Jerry has become an Elgin historian, writing for local media and often having Kathy as his editor and companion in writing those pieces, he said this week. "She was OK with being the partner who didn't get the attention," Jerry said. "She was happy not being in the spotlight." In addition to Jerry, she is survived by her sons Dennis and Eric of Elgin and a brother, Kenneth Larson of Aurora. Visitation is set for 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Laird Funeral Home, 310 S. State St., Elgin. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at The First Congregational Church, 256 E. Chicago St., Elgin, followed by light refreshments in the church's Fellowship Hall. Burial at Bluff City Cemetery will be private. Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen is taking a public stand against the Forest Preserve District of Kane County's $50 million referendum question on the Tuesday ballot. Lauzen took action because "our property taxes are just too high," he said. Advertisement The referendum question asks voters to authorize general obligation bonds for the district, allowing it to continue its acquisition of open space, restoration and improvement of existing properties. According to the Forest Preserve District, natural area improvements include the revitalization of Dick Young Park in Batavia, restoration of the Helm Woods flatwoods and migratory bird habitat in Carpentersville, a new wetland in Pingree Grove, and a habitat expansion and connection at Freeman Kame in Huntley. Advertisement Last year, the district realized a savings in bond payoffs and refinancing, so this year's referendum measure would allow it to add open space while providing a tax decrease. District officials said that over the next two years, if the ballot measure passes, the owner of a $250,000 home would receive a tax reduction of $82, from paying $185 to $103 annually. The proposal from the Forest Preserve District would have annual payments decreasing over time, although there is a small increase in 2024 and 2025, before sliding downward again. The owner of a $250,000 home would pay $1.83 per month if the referendum passed, or $22 annually. "I don't think it is a proper use of taxpayer money," Lauzen said. "We are not supposed to use tax money to get more tax money. As one taxpayer, that is not how I want my tax money spent. The taxes are too high period." A majority of calls Lauzen gets from taxpayers deal with how high taxes are and how residents are being driven out of their homes, he said. "I respect the proponents, I recognize the value that parks and forest preserves bring to our quality of life," Lauzen said. "But people have given up. The situation is so bad in Illinois that people have given up on their elected officials, and they no longer trust the political process." Illinois is seeing a lot of people leaving the state over high taxes, Lauzen said. Every taxing body asks for "a little bit here, a little bit there," he said. "Illinois is a wonderful place, and I think we are surrounded by really wonderful people," he said. Unless politicians are entrusted to straighten out the problems, people will continue to leave, he said. While the district is a separate entity and has its own tax rate separate from the rest of the county, the district's commission is made up of County Board members, Lauzen said. County Board members have maintained a property tax freeze for five years yet are allowing the district to seek a $50 million referendum measure which is inconsistent, he said. Advertisement District officials declined to comment about Lauzen's opposition because staff cannot campaign for the measure. However, district commission President Mike Kenyon disagreed with Lauzen. "He can't see the forest for the trees," Kenyon said. "You have to have vision. I look at it as a legacy for the younger generation." The referendum timing is good, he said. "You have to do it when the time is right," Kenyon said. Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News. An arrest warrant has been issued for a man that Antioch police have charged in connection with several burglaries in the village. On Thursday, a $100,000 arrest warrant was issued for Anthony J. Altmayer, 25, of Antioch, following the Antioch Police Department's investigation into recent commercial burglaries, according to a news release from the department. Advertisement According to the release, during the early morning hours Monday, Altmayer allegedly burglarized or damaged five unoccupied businesses in the immediate downtown Antioch area. Following an investigation, Altmayer was charged with five counts of felony burglary and one count of felony theft, police said. Advertisement Arrangements were being made this week to place him in custody, according to the release, and a second subject believed to be involved in this case is still under investigation, but charges have not been filed against him. Twitter@NewsSun Fellow citizens, here is a friendly reminder: There's an election actually several on Tuesday. Hopefully, you registered to vote and can exert your power at the polls. You only have impact if you show up and cast your ballots on the candidates and issues you support or don't. From local school boards to village trustees, city mayors, township officials, park commissioners and referendums, the ballot Tuesday is chock full of important decisions for you to make. This is grassroots democracy in its purest, close-to-home form. Early voting has been underway at polling sites across the county since March 20, so municipal ballots already have been cast. Advertisement If past local consolidated general elections are any indication, voter turnout will be poor. In the April 2015 election, for example, turnout was 11.3 percent of the county's registered electorate. At that time two years ago, there were 407,415 registered voters. Only 46,296 voters bothered to show up at the polls on Election Day. In April 2013, turnout was 17.7 percent, with 72,804 voters out of 410,397 registered to vote headed to the polls. Compare that to last year's presidential election in November when turnout was 71.2 percent; 306,829 voters out of 430,436 registered cast ballots. One of the reasons for low turnout is that in many municipal and school races candidates are unopposed. Some may argue that means things are running fine and taxpayers are happy with the status quo. But without ballot choices, voters become apathetic, lazy and distant from the electoral process. Too many Americans have fought for ballot access over the centuries to let voting become easily a forgotten or last-minute task. Advertisement Yet, in several communities there are spirited contests for mayor, township supervisor, village board and school board. Remember, these are the folks who have the most impact on our lives. They assess our homes, levy taxes, make school policy decisions and decide park programs. That's just a smattering of what local government does. If taking part in democracy electing mayors, trustees and school board members doesn't stir your electoral blood, there are referendum questions on Tuesday's ballot in eight communities. They range from Highwood and Round Lake asking voters to allow for the appointment, rather than election, of their village clerks; to building bond issues in Hawthorn Grade School District 73 in Vernon Hills and Diamond Lake School District 76 in the Mundelein area; to voters determining in the Rockland Fire Protection District in the Knollwood area if trustees should be elected instead of being appointed. In an advisory referendum, Wauconda officials are gauging voters' sentiment to determine if the village's Heroes of Freedom Memorial should include the actions of U.S. military in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and the global war on terrorism. For voters, it doesn't get any more of homegrown democracy than this plea. Polls are open continuously from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., at 415 precincts throughout Lake County. If you are uncertain of your polling place, log on to the Lake County Clerk's voting website at LakeVoterPower.info. Please take the time out of your busy schedules to vote on Tuesday, Election Day. It's what keeps our democracy strong and vibrant. Folksy, homespun, down-to-earth Bruce Rauner is back on our televisions this week, wearing a flannel shirt that maybe he didn't just get on mail-order from L.L. Bean and sitting in what would appear to be a humble man's workshop, though one organized by flowchart. Hey, he even uses duct tape that working-class solution to everything, not just duct issues to make his point about "the politicians" ruining the state. Advertisement The last time we saw this Mr. Rogers version of Bruce Rauner, he was running for governor, and successfully. The last time we saw Bruce Rauner in a political ad, it was during the second half of the 2016 nightmare you might recall the relentless Leading Illinois for Tomorrow spot featuring an unflattering clip of his bold stance on the future of his nation: "I will support the Republican party's nominee." Whether or not that ad was successful is subject to debate. True, Republicans nationwide who dutifully supported the nominee of their party delivered us the phrase "President Donald Trump." On the other hand, Donald Trump took less than 39 percent of the vote in Illinois, so there you go. Advertisement The use of Donald Trump as ammunition in negative campaigning is going to be a cottage industry for an indefinite period of our lives, whether or not it has reliable results or we have the stomach for it. And so it is that the gloves are on the ice in Waukegan as the local mayoral race comes down to its final days and Donald Trump is being used as the mightiest of all scare tactics, appropriately or not. "REPUBLICAN LISA MAY WANTS TO BRING THE TRUMP/RAUNER AGENDA TO WAUKEGAN." That's the all-caps opening salvo in just one of several fliers cluttering mailboxes in the City of Progress in recent days. Also on the mailer in a copy provided to the News-Sun are standard black-and-white photos of the prime suspects, including a particularly unflattering one of Donald Trump, caught in mid-bloviation or possibly while mocking a handicapped person. No doubt written to target voters with a University of Chicago level of education, the flier claims that "Lisa May's agenda" is to "cut Medicare and Medicaid, eliminate Meals-on-Wheels, privatize government services, raise taxes on working families (and) give 'HUGE' tax breaks to millionaires." Did you get that emphasis on the word "huge?" You know like how Donald Trump loves that word? Clever. It could be pointed out that a) Lisa May is running as an independent candidate, not as a Republican; b) a Waukegan mayor has no active impact on Medicare, Medicaid nor Meals on Wheels, among other things; and c) in a March 27 News-Sun story that asked May about such fliers, she revealed that she voted for Hillary Clinton last November. But why bother with facts in our post-facts America? Observers of local politics can argue all day about which side of the political fence May really sits. In that same News-Sun story, she acknowledged pulling a Republican ballot in the 2012 primary, saying she wanted to vote for Michael Nerheim, who was facing two opponents in the GOP race for state's attorney. On the other hand, May was endorsed by Sierra Club Illinois, and her campaign Facebook page touted a recent "Know Your Rights" seminar on immigration issues. Not exactly the resume of someone who wants to "turn Waukegan into TRUMPLAND," as this mailer would have the erudite voter believe. Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday > On yet another hand, if there is one, a fresh argument in the world after November 2016 is what defines a "Republican" at this point. There were Eisenhower Republicans 60 years ago, Reagan Republicans a generation after that, and now we have, among others, Mainstream Republicans, Tea Party Republicans and "Trump Republicans." Whether or not that last phrase fills a Republican with shame says a lot about the temperature in America right now. Advertisement What is beyond dispute is someone thought that in our current political climate, this flier was worth a mass mailing. It should be pointed out that supporters of May's opponent, Democrat Sam Cunningham, could point to May's statements throughout the campaign about how the city needs "someone responsive to the people, not to party bosses" or how she wants to "end cronyism and self-serving leadership in our community" and say that she's engaged in negative campaigning of her own. One voter's attack ad is another voter's interpretation of honesty. There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to elections in general and particularly in Waukegan, where races for mayor have literally been decided by six or fewer votes. But one suspicion is that when you have a late burst of negative campaigning in a race that was previously noted for its collegiality, it smacks of desperation for whoever set off the burst. To re-state a previous point, it remains to be seen if the strategy works or backfires. In a culture where Donald Trump won the nation's highest office almost entirely by Going Negative, it will be fascinating to see if the Trump knife cuts both ways. danmoran@tribpub.com Twitter@NewsSunDanMoran A man suspected of DUI drove his car straight at a motorist who was following him Thursday and reporting his erratic behavior in a 911 call, Naperville police said. No one was injured during the incident, which ended in the arrest of Craig W. Rice, police Cmdr. Lou Cammiso said. The 51-year-old Rice gave an address in the 6400 block of County Road 4 in Swanton, Ohio, although an online directory also showed him with two addresses in Bolingbrook. Advertisement While the formal police report on the case remained incomplete Friday, Cammiso said the incident began just after 11 p.m. Thursday when a Naperville man who was driving near 87th Street and Route 59 called 911. "Rice was called in as a DUI driver in his gray Subaru, and was being followed by the caller," Cammiso said via email. Advertisement The Naperville man followed as Rice drove erratically south on Route 59 and then west on 111th Street, Cammiso said. Rice became aware he was being followed, and pulled onto an unidentified side street somewhere between Route 59 and 248th Avenue, Cammiso said. "At some point, Rice turned around and started driving at the caller's car, as if to ram it," Cammiso said. The other driver either stopped or got out of the way before being struck by the Subaru, he said. Police patrol officers located the two cars shortly thereafter and took Rice into custody, he said. Rice was charged with three felony counts of aggravated assault while operating a motor vehicle, and issued a traffic ticket for driving under the influence of alcohol, according to Will County court records. He is being held in the Will County jail in lieu of $50,000 bond, according to jail records. Records show Rice was sentenced to a year in the Ohio Department of Corrections in 1990 after being convicted of an unspecified crime. wbird@tribpub.com When Rafath Waheed was arrested by the DuPage County sheriff's office last month, the department released a mug shot of the Muslim woman without her religious headscarf. It's unlikely the photo was given much thought by those unfamiliar with Islam beyond the photo's connection to Waheed being charged with submitting forged petitions to run for a seat on the College of DuPage Board of Trustees. A person of the Muslim faith, however, would have seen it quite differently and found the picture deeply disrespectful and insulting, religious experts say. Advertisement The situation raised what is becoming an issue for police agencies around the country: the need to be respectful of religious customs with which they may not be familiar while still doing their job in terms of documenting an arrest. During Waheed's March 15 arrest at the DuPage County Jail, the Lisle woman was photographed with and without her religious head covering. Only the mug shot without the scarf initially was released to the public. Advertisement Sgt. Bob Harris, spokesman for the DuPage County sheriff's office, said the standard procedure at the jail is to have an arrestee remove any head covering so it can be checked for weapons or contraband. The person also must submit to a booking photograph without it, he said. In the case of Waheed, two additional photographs were taken one in which she is wearing her head covering and the other in which she is seen with both the scarf and her glasses. Harris said he's never before come across a situation in which there were multiple photos taken. It was only after questions arose a few days later that Harris said he became aware the other photos existed. In the future, Harris said, he plans to release all booking photos upon request and let social and news media outlets determine which mug shot to use. Waheed, who is out on $10,000 bail pending an April 12 court date and denies any wrongdoing related to the charges, declined to comment on the photos, as did her attorney, Stacey McCullough. For Muslim women, being seen without a headscarf, or hijab, is "very offensive for them" and can be considered a sin, said Ali Yurtsever, who serves as the Muslim faith adviser at Benedictine University in Lisle, a school where a quarter of the students are Muslim. Traditionally, the hijab worn by Muslim women is a means of covering their heads when they are in the presence of adult males outside their families, Yurtsever said. Any time a Muslim woman leaves her home, the scarf is worn. Yurtsever, of Aurora, said the wearing of the hijab is a religious obligation similar to praying five times a day that is deeply rooted in the Quran and has been debated through the ages. Advertisement Most scholars agree that once a young woman reaches puberty, her hair and neck should be covered as sign of modesty, he said. "For women in Islam, modesty is very important," he said. Sabahat Raees, a sophomore at Benedictine University, said that if she were asked to remove her hijab in public, she would feel "exposed." The Glendale Heights woman started wearing the hijab as a freshman in high school merely for religious reasons but since then has found dressing modestly means so much more, she said. "It's empowering to know that my hair, my beauty, showing of my body doesn't have to equate to be something great. I can use my mind or my words," she said. Raees said she respects that police need to photograph arrestees without the hijab, but only as long as the photos are used for internal police procedures. "If they ever got into the public, it would be horrible, dehumanizing," Raees said. Advertisement "Hijab for me symbolizes modesty, and it is something I hold near and dear to my heart," she said. The line between what is legal and what is religiously appropriate can get confusing. As an agency, the Illinois State Police have no specific policy addressing the booking photos and leave it up to local county and municipal departments to apply their rules. Master Sgt. Mike Link, public information officer for the Illinois State Police, said via email that photographs of arrested persons are generally taken during the booking process at the county jail or local municipal holding facility. Whatever photos those agencies take are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, he said. Naperville police Chief Robert Marshall, when questioned by the Naperville Sun about his department's policy on the issue, said he would look to other communities for help in drafting one. "When it comes to religious symbols, we don't have any policy," Marshall said. Advertisement Marshall said he planned to broach the subject with Benchmark City Survey affiliates from across the country that are similar in size and demographics to see what policies they might have in place and use that as a starting point. The cities, from Boca Raton, Fla., to Bellevue, Wash., frequently share procedural information, he said. The chief said Naperville has never experienced an incident in which a person who was arrested required religious accommodations. But past experience doesn't necessarily reflect what might happen in the future. "We'd like to be in the front of it," Marshall said. At the minimum, he said, "we need to give officers some direction." Part of the challenge is that religious headwear for both men and women of different faiths is allowed on official identification, such as driver's licenses and U.S. passports. Head coverings for religious purposes are allowed for an Illinois driver's license photo as long as they do not cover any area of the open face and if the driver signs a statement declaring that "he or she wears the head dressing at all times when in public," according to state rules. It's similar for passport photos. A person must submit a signed statement that verifies "that the hat or head covering in the photo is part of recognized, traditional religious attire that is customarily or required to be worn continuously in public," according to the U.S. State Department. Advertisement DuPage County is not alone in its confusion. A similar incident occurred in Maine in July 2016 when Portland police arrested 18 protesters who were brought the Cumberland County Jail for processing. Two months later, Sheriff Kevin Joyce apologized to the Muslim community for being "ill prepared for the types of arrests that came in" and releasing photos of two Muslim women without their hijabs. An investigation by the sheriff's office found the Cumberland County Jail followed its policy with respect to taking photos of the female arrestees with their hijabs off but did not follow its policy on releasing the photos of the two female Muslim suspects. subaker@tribpub.com Twitter @SBakerSun1 An Oswego man has been sentenced to six years in prison for repeatedly threatening Robert Schillerstrom, a Naperville resident who is the former DuPage County Board chairman and now heads the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. James P. Conroy, 58, was convicted of felony telephone harassment after he threatened Schillerstrom's life in December 2015 and then made a similar threat in a phone call made to Naperville police. Advertisement He originally was sentenced to probation in the case, but twice violated it, prompting DuPage County prosecutors to seek the maximum six years in light of Conroy's history. DuPage County Judge George Bakalis agreed with their assessment. "It was not a sentencing recommendation we made lightly," Assistant State's Attorney Louisa Nuckolls said. Advertisement Prosecutors played recordings of Conroy's telephone messages during the sentencing hearing, and Schillerstrom testified, prosecutors said. Almost three decades ago, Schillerstrom, an attorney, defended Conroy on a drunk driving charge and earned a favorable disposition, prosecutors said. But in the intervening years Conroy, who has a history of mental illness, has fixated on the DUI case, Nuckolls said. Conroy will receive credit for just over a year served in county jail, and could be eligible for parole in about two years. Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter. Kerrville, TX (78028) Today Mostly cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 79F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy in the evening, then off and on rain showers after midnight. Low 64F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb outlines his legislative priorities as Lt. Gov Suzanne Crouch looks on during a press conference at the governor's residence in Indianapolis on March 31, 2017. (Michael Conroy / AP) Indiana is about as red as a state can get. Republicans control the governor's office and the General Assembly, and they can pass bills without a single Democrat in attendance. For good measure, former Gov. Mike Pence is now vice president, a heartbeat away from occupying the Oval Office. So it's a little startling to see a hiccup in the GOP legislative hierarchy. It came in February when first-term Gov. Eric Holcomb's key legislative priority, presumably nothing more than a layup, was cast aside by a supermajority of Republicans. Advertisement Holcomb, like his six predecessors, wanted a right-thinking law calling for the position of the state superintendent of public instruction the state education leader to be appointed by the governor, not elected statewide as it's now done. Democrats expectantly disagreed, but they were surprisingly joined by 17 Republicans, leading to the bill's stunning defeat in the Senate, after it already cleared the House. Advertisement Bills aren't always dead for long in the legislature. House Speaker Brian Bosma altered House Bill 1005, and his Senate counterpart David Long said the language changes were enough to warrant the bill to advance again to the Senate floor. Opponents of the bill contend it takes power away from voters to cast ballots for a critical office that impacts education policy. Still, we think it makes sense for the schools chief to be appointed to keep education policy from going off the rails as it did during the four-year tenure of Glenda Ritz, who clashed so much with Pence that he created a shadow education department to usurp her. The sniping was so intense it left educators, who face high-stakes accountability, at a loss to know what to expect from state government. The move to an appointed school leader would also force gubernatorial candidates to put forth straightforward education platforms leading to more seamless development by the Department of Education. More than half of Indiana's $31 billion budget is devoted to K-12 education. As it stands now, the governor's legislative agenda and the schools chief's are not always in sync. They should be. The revised bill faces a test this coming week on the Senate floor, where it awaits final reading. There's likely been some arm twisting, so we'll see if Senate Republicans fall into line behind the bill. If passed, it would almost certainly be headed for a conference committee and another vote. While the bill's changes are fresh, the issue is not. It's time for Indiana to make this change to improve education for all Hoosiers. 2022 election guide: Here are Pueblo County's top races, ballot issues Here's what you need to know about the local candidates and ballot questions in the 2022 election, as well as how to vote in Pueblo, Colorado. He has been cited by Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed on radio, TV and in social media. Inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame, for many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates. Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post and other publications. A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission. He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups. Cirucci's passions include politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel. In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. There he was one of the first teachers in the country to teach African-American history to inner city students. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association. He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, Matt Rooney's sidekick on Save Jersey's videocasts and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba assisted police in busting more than 1,400 counterfeit production sites, leading to the arrest of 880 suspects last year, according to a report issued Friday. The cases involved more than 3 billion yuan (435 million U.S. dollars), double the amount in 2015, said the report. As of last year, Alibaba was cooperating with more than 18,000 international brands on the anti-counterfeit initiative. Counterfeiting in cross-border trade has become a new front for the initiative, as approximately 30,000 cross-border sellers were purged by Alibaba from its platforms with the help of big data technology from February 2016 to the end of last month. "Traditionally, counterfeiters produce in China and sell overseas, but now they are apt to produce abroad and sell domestically," said Zheng Junfang, chief platform governance officer of Alibaba. One typical case, in which lubricating oil labeled under famous brand names, such as Shell, was bottled in Malaysia and sold in China, was solved with the intervention of the Malaysian government. "The outcome was hard won," Zheng said, adding that crackdowns on cross-border counterfeiting are difficult given complicated law enforcement issues in different countries. Despite Alibaba's continuous efforts to cleanse its platforms of fake goods, its customer-to-customer marketplace, Taobao.com, returned to the U.S. trade representative's blacklist of "notorious marketplaces" known for sale of counterfeit goods and violations of intellectual property rights in December 2016. Taobao was first put on the blacklist in 2011 but removed in 2012 after effective rectification. The International Monetary Fund on Friday released data about the world's holdings of the Chinese currency, the renminbi (RMB), denominated foreign exchange reserves for the first time. By the end of December 2016, forex reserves which were identified in the RMB reached 84.51 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 1.07 percent of the world's total forex reserves, according to the data on the currency composition of official foreign exchange reserves (COFER), which was released by the IMF quarterly. It's the first time for the IMF to release the data about the RMB-identified forex reserves. Previously, the currencies identified in COFER were the U.S. dollar, pound sterling, Japanese yen, Swiss francs, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and euro. The IMF announced in last March that it would separately identify the RMB in its quarterly survey of the COFER from Oct. 1, 2016, and would publish the first data with the separate identification of RMB-denominated reserves at the end of March 2017. This move recognized the continuing internationalization of the RMB, facilitated by China's reforms to promote a more market-based economy, said the IMF last March. By the end of 2016, the U.S. dollar-denominated forex reserves reached 5,052.94 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2016, accounting for 63.96 percent of the world's total; the euro-denominated forex reserves ranked the second, with their share at 19.74 percent, according to the COFER data. The COFER lists the currency composition of holdings of foreign exchange reserves across 146 reporters which consist of IMF member countries, non-member countries or economies and other foreign exchanges reserve holding entities. The IMF published the COFER data quarterly and its members voluntarily participate in the COFER survey. The COFER data for individual countries are kept confidential given the sensitive nature of the data. Nestle Health Science (NHSc) and the Chinese Stroke Association (CSA) announced a partnership Thursday that will seek to help stroke patients tackle swallowing difficulties. As part of the collaboration, NHSc will roll out its thickening agent, Thicken Up, across leading hospitals in 25 provinces and municipalities in China. It will also work with the CSA to introduce clinical innovation and best practice standards in China's leading stroke centers. For out-patients, NHSc has also launched an "Easy Eating" hotline. It is estimated that 3.4-7.4 million patients are suffering from dysphagia in China, with strokes the greatest cause of the condition in hospital, according to NHSc. "We are actively developing innovative nutritional therapies for conditions like dysphagia to improve patients'quality of life. China is a very important part of this and we are delighted to serve the market in China, its healthcare system and its people," according to Greg Behar, CEO of NHSc. Cecily Gu, Business Head of NHSc Greater China Region, observed a clear evolution in the medical approach in China from addressing survival two decades ago to improving the quality of life now, especially the quality of life and mental health in the rehabilitation process. Nestle Health Science's factory in east China's Taizhou City is expected to produce food for special medical purposes by the end of this year and the company is now working with a Hong Kong firm to develop products based on traditional Chinese medicine. Heavy smog hits Beijing. [Photo/China.org.cn] More than two dozen cities in north China have drawn up a detailed action plan to address the notorious winter smog. Targets and deadlines were outlined in the action plan, which was drafted by several ministries and the governments of Beijing, Tianjin, and 26 smaller cities in the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Henan. By the end of October, 13 cities including Beijing vowed to close the majority of polluting businesses that operate on a small scale, provide low-end services, hold insufficient licenses, or do not have sufficient emission treatment facilities. In the next seven months, the cities of Beijing, Tianjin and neighboring Langfang and Baoding will ban the use of small coal-fired furnaces for winter heating. Areas in these cities will be declared completely "coal free." Air pollution is more astutely felt in north China in winter. While high concentrations of industrial and vehicle emissions are the main culprits, static air and the use of coal for winter heating only worsen the situation, experts say. Provinces around Beijing are also home to the country's major steel-makers, coal mines, aluminum producers, and chemical plants. The action plan reads that cities with dense heavy industries in the provinces of Hebei and Henan will implement a seasonal reduction on steel output capacity, aiming to slash it by half this winter. Aluminum and chemical plants will also scale down production. Regarding car exhausts, all 28 cities will install monitoring facilities to watch over diesel and high-emitting petrol vehicles. The port of Tianjin will stop receiving coal by road. Most cargo will be transferred to rail. A name-and-shame list is ready for local officials as well. According to the plan, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will publish a monthly list profiling the work undertaken by 28 cities to improve air quality. It will be a "major" criterion on performance evaluations of officials. According to a national action plan issued in September 2013, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region should cut PM2.5, a key indicator of air pollution, by 25 percent from the 2012 levels by 2017. Despite years of efforts to address pollution and a substantial drop of average PM2.5 density, large parts of China still suffer from frequent and severe smog in winter. The average PM2.5 density in 2016 in the region is 71 micrograms per cubic meter of air, down 33 percent than the 2013 levels. But the density in January and February surged 48 percent year on year to 111 micrograms per cubic meter of air in 13 cities of the region. Hebei Province has targeted to further cut PM2.5 density by 10 percent in 2017, and by 15 percent in winter, from the 2016 levels. To curb winter emissions, the province plans to adjust its energy structure and lower coal consumption, provincial Party head Zhao Kezhi said at an air pollution control meeting on Friday. This year the province will require 1.8 million households in 134 counties to replace their coal-fired furnaces with gas or electric heaters, said Zhao. Energy planning official Ma Haiyan with Langfang City, one of the coal-free zones near Beijing, said the city government has offered a grant of 7,900 yuan (1,150 U.S. dollars) or 9,800 yuan who upgrade to gas or electricity heaters. The province this year will also launch a campaign to reduce consumption of inferior coal, said Zhao. A sampling inspection showed that only 35 percent of coal consumption in rural area was qualified and 40 percent of coal products from dealers met the required standards. Coal accounts for 86 percent of the entire structure of primary energy consumption, and bulk coal takes over 88 percent of combustion sources, a major contributor to PM2.5 emission. Total bulk coal consumption in Hebei's rural area reaches 31.4 million tonnes, according to Zhao. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said earlier this month that coal-burning, automobile exhausts and dust will be reduced to tackle the smog, acknowledging it takes time to win the battle. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (C) presides over the 7th plenary meeting of the State Council in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] The State Council decided at a meeting Friday to appoint Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as the fifth-term chief executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Lam will assume office on July 1, 2017. Premier Li Keqiang presided over the meeting and signed a State Council decree on the appointment. Lam won the election to become the fifth-term chief executive of HKSAR on Sunday with 777 of 1,163 valid votes. The election was conducted in line with the HKSAR Basic Law, relevant decisions of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and relevant laws of the HKSAR, Li said, adding that it "embodied the principle of openness, fair play and justice." The result showed that Hong Kong society has extensive recognition, trust and expectations for Lam, according to the premier. The central government will continue to fully and accurately implement the principle of "one country, two systems," "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy, and will act strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the Basic Law to ensure that the principle of "one country, two systems" is steadfastly applied in Hong Kong without bending or distortion, Li said. The premier vowed the central government's full support for the chief executive and the SAR government in their administering of Hong Kong in accordance with the law, developing the economy, improving the people's quality of life, advancing democracy and promoting harmony. The central government will "take effective measures to deepen cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong, promote the development of a city cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, give play to Hong Kong's unique advantage, and raise Hong Kong's status and function in national economic development and opening up," Li said. Li expressed his belief that Lam, after taking office, will unite and lead the HKSAR government and that people from all walks of life in Hong Kong will make pragmatic progress and forge ahead to maintain Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability and create a brighter future. Vice premiers Zhang Gaoli, Liu Yandong and Ma Kai also attended Friday's meeting. Students from the Qiang ethnic group study the regional textbook in Sichuan province.[Photo/China Daily] The People's Education Press has announced that it will remove the "fake text" about Thomas Edison (1847-1931) from textbooks since the next semester from September. According to that text, Edison, as a child, used mirrors to direct light to the operation table during his mother's appendicitis surgery. Though the story highlights the earlier creativity of Edison, the first appendicitis surgery was performed in 1886, when Edison was 39 years old. Some people said some Chinese textbooks have similar factual errors. For instance, one text describes a father rushing to a school to save students after the 1994 earthquake rocked California. Yet a simple fact check shows the 1994 earthquake occurred at 4:30 am when most of the students were in bed. All such texts sound like the story of George Washington cutting the cherry tree, teaching good moral lessons with fake stories, which eventually lead to credibility problems. And after suspecting readers debunk such stories, editors should either correct the mistakes or remove the contents from textbooks. But a few authorities argue that these are not history textbooks, but books to teach Chinese language and literature to students. As such, they allow room for fictional "embellishments". Such arguments are indefensible, as Edison is a historical figure and biographical materials should be faithful to facts. Authors or editors cannot just make up content with factual loopholes. It causes a great uproar every time there is an issue with Chinese textbooks, for instance, when someone detects a problem, or when editors remove a historically revered author's article. One wonders why such debates don't stay in the smaller circles of Chinese teachers and textbook compilers. The main reason is that the teaching of language and literature revolves excessively around the use of a few textbooks students are assigned, even when there are more and better reading materials out there. In urban areas with ample number of bookstores and libraries, students have access to other books they can read, which could mitigate the problems caused by these "fake texts". But in rural and less-developed areas, students don't have facilities or resources to borrow or buy additional books. Their textbooks become the only books they read, hence their importance and the public attention on them. I have also noticed that none of the textbook controversies in the past decade was identified by a student suspecting an error. It is worrisome that the majority of students just accept whatever they get. Heavy dependence on textbooks in China might cause "intellectual malnutrition" among students. It's true that editors carefully select these textbooks, but students should also be taught to find additional reading materials to enrich themselves. Educators and families should not put all their developmental eggs in one textbook basket for students. While publishers should address the problems with textbooks, I have higher hope that teachers and parents would scaffold students' ability to choose additional sources to read. I also plead for more reading, as a thin textbook doesn't offer much for the developmental needs at any grade level. To widen students' scope of reading, the Chinese government ought to build libraries in less-developed areas. With ubiquitous technology and mobile phone access, Chinese educators should also think of innovative solutions to help students overcome the problems with accessing high-quality reading materials. Mobile reading is becoming increasingly available for the average Chinese reader, and plenty of reading materials have already been digitized. The scarcity of content or platforms should no longer be a problem. What follows then is the development of teachers' ability to help students screen and select a vast array of reading materials. Besides, increased need for reading should be an opportunity for textbook publishers, too, as they can offer more products to teachers and parents to choose from. Berlin Fang is an instructional designer, literary translator and columnist writing on cross-cultural issues. Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, and Chang Wanquan, Chinese defense minister and state councilor, on Friday met separately with Guy Parmelin, head of the Swiss Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport. Fan Changlong said China is willing to work with Switzerland to implement consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, enhance strategic communication, enrich military-to-military relations, and make positive contributions to the China-Switzerland innovative strategic partnership. Fan hailed the smooth development of military-to-military relations in recent years and deepening of exchanges and cooperation in areas such as the exchange of high-level visits, personnel training and international peacekeeping missions. Parmelin said that Switzerland adheres to the one-China policy and is willing to advance pragmatic cooperation with China in all fields. Noting the good momentum of development in military-to-military relations, Chang Wanquan said China is willing to work with Switzerland to deepen exchanges and pragmatic cooperation between the two militaries. Parmelin told Chang that Switzerland attaches much importance to developing ties with China and is willing to work together with China to elevate military-to-military relations to a new level. A blog about life under, and resisting, a dictatorship Flash The U.S. government announced Friday sanctions on one entity and 11 individuals for their links to the nuclear and missile programs by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). "Today's action targets North Korean nationals working as agents of the regime in Russia, China, Vietnam, and Cuba to provide financial support or WMD procurement services for UN- or U.S.-designated sanctioned entities," the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. The action was taken "in response to North Korea's ongoing development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and continued violations of United Nations Security Council Resolutions," it added. The one entity that was sanctioned is the DPRK-based Paeksol Trading Corporation (Paeksol), which the U.S. alleged has sold, supplied, transferred, or purchased metal or coal to earn revenue that may have benefited the DPRK. The individuals included Kang Chol Su, Pak Il Gyu and Ri Su Yong, who are officials of the Korea Ryonbong General Corporation (Ryonbong). Kang and Pak are Ryonbong officials in China, while Ri is a Ryonbong official in Cuba. Meanwhile, Kim Tong Ho, Kim Mun Chol, Kim Nam Ung, and Choe Chun Yong were also sanctioned by the U.S. for being representatives of several banks involved in the DPRK nuclear and missile programs. Jang Sung Nam, chief of Tangun Trading Corporation branch in China, Jo Chol Song, Kwangson Banking Corporation's (KKBC's) deputy representative in China, Han Jang Su, Foreign Trade Bank's chief representative in Russia, and Kim Yong Su, shipping representative for the DPRK's Marine Transport Office in Vietnam, were also on the list. The sanctions are aimed at disrupting the networks and methods that the DPRK employs to fund its nuclear, ballistic missile and proliferation programs, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. You are here: Home Flash The UN Security Council on Friday extended the mandate of UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) until March 31, 2018. In a resolution adopted here, the Security Council decided that the mission's troop ceiling will be comprised of 16,215 military personnel, 660 military observers and staff officers, 391 police personnel, and 1,050 personnel of formed police units. The 15-nation council also authorized the mission to protect civilians, support the the electoral process in DRC and to collect information on criminal networks of local armed groups and thus make tailored responses. The DRC has continued to suffer from recurring cycles of conflict and persistent violence by the armed groups. Earlier this week, bodies of two members of a UN group of experts who went missing since March 12 were discovered by MONUSCO peacekeepers outside the city of Kananga. The two UN experts were appointed by the Security Council to investigate a new rebellion. In this regard, the Security Council urged all parties to protect and respect the UN, diplomatic and foreign premises and other civilians in DRC. It also called for joint operations by the DRC armed forces and MONUSCO, including joint planning and tactical cooperation, to neutralize the armed groups. Flash Moscow is being pressured to take a confrontational stance in relations with NATO based on the logic of a military standoff, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday. "What kind of 'constructive' relationship can be expected between Russian and NATO when the U.S. and its allies continue to act on old patterns and have been obsessed with building up their military presence on our borders, justifying this with the need to 'contain Russia'?" The ministry said in a statement commenting on the results of the latest Russia-NATO Council meeting at the ambassadorial level in Brussels. Noting that NATO is not ready to return to practical cooperation with Russia in resolving real security challenges regionally and globally, the ministry called for a radical change in the nature of the alliance so as to better ensure European security. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Thursday voiced deep concern over the security situation in eastern Ukraine at a press conference after the meeting, saying that "ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine have reached record levels." According to sources, the sanctions introduced against Russia over the conflict in eastern Ukraine can be expanded if Moscow continues "aggressive behavior" Flash President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump "will chart the course and map out plans" for bilateral ties at their first meeting next week, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday. The two leaders, who have already talked twice on the phone, will meet for the first time at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Thursday and Friday. Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, will also attend a welcome banquet to be hosted by Trump and his wife, Melania, Vice-Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang told a media briefing. During their meeting, the two leaders are expected to have an in-depth exchange of views on China-US ties and major international and regional issues of common concern, Zheng said. The meeting is of great significance for the healthy and stable development of the ties as well as peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world, Zheng added. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a news briefing on Thursday that Trump "looks forward to meeting with President Xi and exchanging views on each others respective priorities, and to chart a way forward on a bilateral relationship", Xinhua reported. Spicer also said the meeting will be an opportunity for Trump "to develop a relationship in person with President Xi". The two-way trade relations have attracted great media attention as Washington has complained about its trade deficit with China. When asked about the trade issue, Zheng said bilateral trade "has brought tangible, huge benefits" for both sides. The trade imbalance should be seen in a comprehensive and objective manner, since China has a surplus in commodity trade but a deficit in service trade with the US, Zheng said. China "does not seek a trade surplus with the US", he added. About 40 percent of Chinas trade surplus with the US stems from US businesses operating in China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily news conference on Friday. A proper settlement of the issue requires bilateral consultation, and China is looking at the potential between the two countries, Lu said. Su Xiaohui, a researcher on international strategy studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said China and the US have shown a strong need for each other in recent years. Before his US trip, Xi will make a state visit to Finland from Tuesday to Thursday, which will be Xis first visit to northern Europe as president. Wang Chao, vice-foreign minister, said Xi will hold talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and attend a ceremony for the signing of cooperative documents, a joint news conference and a welcome banquet. Flash Head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Erick Solheim on Friday hailed the decision of the Chinese government to ban the processing and sale of ivory domestically. "This is a historic step and may well be a turning point in our fight to save the elephant from extinction. We need more territories to follow suit," Solheim told Xinhua in an emailed statement. The UNEP chief welcomed the Chinese government's decision to shut down 67 carving factories and outlets as part of a partial ban on ivory trade, pending the full ban by the end of this year. "The true measure of the success of these rules will be how well they are enforced," Solheim said. Beijing took the unprecedented step of banning the ivory trade when authorities declared the shutting down of one third of the ivory processing factories on Friday. At least 105 other factories and outlets are earmarked for closure this year. Conservationists say the Chinese clampdown on the ivory trade has already pushed the prices of the ivory and the number of elephants killed in the last three years down by 65 percent, according to a report by Save the Elephants. Save the Elephants researchers said the price of ivory dropped drastically from its peak of 2,100 U.S. dollars per kg in 2014 to 730 dollars per kg in Feburary, 2017. UNEP has been running the Wild for Life campaign against poaching and illegal trade in the endangered species to raise awareness on the need for the conservation of the big game. Solheim congratulated the Chinese authorities for spearheading the campaign to end the trade in ivory, which is illegal in most countries with elephant herds. "We will continue to work closely with the Chinese government to ensure a healthy national legacy remains for our children and grandchildren," Solheim told Xinhua. Flash Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asked British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday to agree to allow Scotland to hold a second independence referendum. Writing to May following the Scottish parliament vote backing a referendum, Sturgeon made her formal request to open talks on a Section 30 order that would facilitate it, according to local media reports. She told the prime minister there appeared to be no rational reason for her to stand in the way of the will of the Scottish Parliament. May's government has already announced it does not want a referendum in Scotland while negotiations are taking place between Westminster and Brussels about Britain's departure from the European Union (EU). Downing Street issued a statement Friday afternoon rejecting Sturgeon's call. The Scottish Parliament has already agreed to seek powers for a poll among the people of Scotland, but it can only go ahead with Westminster's approval. A spokesman at 10 Downing Street confirmed that Sturgeon's letter had been received by e-mail and a response would be made "in due course". In her letter, Sturgeon said: "The people of Scotland must have the right to choose our own future, in short, to exercise our right of self determination." "Whatever outcome is secured, it seems inevitable that it will remove the UK, not just from the EU, but also from the single market. That is not an outcome that the people of Scotland voted for," she said. People in Scotland voted by a margin of 62 to 38 in the June 23 referendum last year, with the Britain-wide vote showing 52 to 48 in favor of Brexit. Where to find non-partisan ballot information Thank you for your non-biased bullet points explaining the three state ballot proposals in "A look at the three state... Kautman-Jones endorses Davis Please support Meredith Davis in her re-election to the Genesee County Board of Commissioners - 8th District. I have had... The unique geographical location of Central China's Henan province positions it perfectly to take advantage of opportunities opening up along the Belt and Road Initiative economies, said the Secretary-general of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Danny Alexander. Alexander said the provincial leadership's plans to capitalize on the development opportunities brought about by the growth of logistics hubs and the expansion and integration of its rail, road and cargo facilities will bring huge development benefits - not only for the freight industry, but also for other industries along the value chain. These include the information technology, insurance, security, travel services and other sectors, said Alexander, who is also vice president of the AIIB. Alexander made the remarks recently at the two-day 11th China (Henan) International Investment and Trade Fair. The Belt and Road Initiative, which was proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. "Shared, win-win benefits are critical to the Belt and Road's success," Alexander said. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, China is encouraging economies along the Belt and Road routes to work together to boost connectivity and support regional integration. One example is the Zhengzhou-Europe Block Train. The new freight container block train - an efficient trainload service where all cars carry the same commodity and are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route - runs from Henan's capital, Zhengzhou, to the continent. "Take the route to Hamburg in Germany for example," said Helmut Vollmers, managing director of EMONS Multitransport Gmbh. "The transit time is cut to nearly 12 days, compared with 35 days in the past by ship. It is very convenient." His company has worked for Zhengzhou International Hub Development and Construction Co, Ltd, a state-owned enterprise, since 2016. He pointed to a world map and said he had witnessed an upgrade in logistics efficiency to "fast speed" with the development of Zhengzhou-Europe Block Train. Vollmers said the advantage for his delivery company in Germany, was that goods such as auto parts and clothes - coming to Henan province from other cities across China - were sent to Hamburg, where his company dispatched them to the whole of Europe. Chen Run'er, governor of Henan said: "More national planning and strategic platforms, such as Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone and Henan Pilot Free Trade Zone, have been approved by the State Council. A clerk (left) in an outlet of Bank of China in Haikou, Hainan province, answers a customer's queries. [Photo/China Daily] Lenders pushing to reduce companies' high leverage levels China's biggest banks are accelerating their debt-for-equity program to offload distressed debts and to help reduce high corporate leverage. The country's big five lenders pledged in their annual earnings reports to continue to push the debt-for-equity program - one of the country's solutions to reduce the corporate debt burden and contain the risk of corporate credit defaults, which is threatening the country's financial system. Zhao Huan, president of Agricultural Bank of China, said that his bank will make "substantial progress" in swapping debt for equity this year with more than 20 deals in the pipeline. The bank has signed contracts with eight companies for debt-for-equity swaps and the total value of the program has reached 70 billion yuan ($10.2 billion), Zhao added. A debt-for-equity swap allows creditors to cancel some or all of the debt in exchange for equity in the debtor. In October last year, Beijing backed the program allowing the bank debts of struggling enterprises to be exchanged for shares in them, as the authorities moved to resolve increasing worries about China's swelling pile of corporate debt. The State Council approved the debt-for-equity swaps, following policy debate, as part of a broader effort to cut back corporate indebtedness in the world's second-biggest economy. Agricultural Bank of China said in its earnings report that it has also established an asset management company with initial investment of 10 billion yuan, which is still subject to regulatory approval. Similarly, Wang Zuji, president of China Construction Bank, said that his bank has seen the value of its debt-for-equity business reach 300 billion yuan in the first quarter. Wang said the bank would continue to provide solutions for its clients through the debt-for-equity program to help them reduce their leverage and improve their debt structure. The bank signed debt-for-equity contracts worth 20 billion yuan with Lu'an Group Co Ltd and Shanxi Jincheng Anthracite Mining Group Co Ltd, two State-owned coal miners. Setting up asset management entities has been a solution for the big banks to deal with the new debt-for-equity business in a market-driven approach. While some believe the debt-for-equity program could help improve the quality of bank assets, some analysts warned about potential risks as there has been a lack of commercial rules and market mechanisms for the new business. "Some of these transactions might not be commercially driven, might not involve a true transfer of risk or may simply shift that risk to other parts of the financial system, without any write-down," analysts at Fitch Ratings Inc said in a research note. Zeng Gang, director of banking research at the institute of finance and banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said allowing banks to set up asset management entities would offer them more market incentives to handle the debt-for-equity business. "More banks will be licensed to set up their own asset management companies, which will not only help reduce the bad loans but also allow them to profit from the business," Zeng said. WASHINGTON - A US trade war with China could be averted as the numbers of US trade deficits do not necessarily reflect the reality, a US China expert told Xinhua in a recent interview. Despite the worry about a possible showdown between the top two economies due to the US complaints about its trade deficits with China, Douglas Paal, vice president for studies and director of Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was somewhat optimistic that such scenario would not become a reality. "I tend to think we are not gonna go to a trade war, because an American trade war with China will also be a trade war with all the suppliers to China, who are friendly with us and have good economic relations (with us)," he told Xinhua. Paal, a former director of Asian affairs at the National Security Council in the White House, cited the trade disputes that existed between the US and Japan during the 1980s. He noted that during that time Japan was a trade harbor for all the Asian tigers and, as a result, it boasted a huge trade surplus with the United States. "But over the last two 20 years, that shifted to China. But it's the same problem which is China is the last point of export (to the US), so the numbers always seem too high for China and too low for everyone else," Paal said. "That's just near illusion, it's not necessarily reality," he commented on the US deficits in its trade with China. Still, there are trade issues that need to be addressed, and the Trump administration has to prioritize all the issues, whether it's market access, technology transfer, investment, or anti-dumping measures, Paal said. Paal believed China understands this and has prepared well for it as it is willing to consider measures, including increasing investment and buying more American goods, technologies and bonds, "to help the American economy and help balance the strong imbalance in the US-China trade." He noted that the Trump administration is still in the process of formulating its China policy and other policies due to the short time since it took office and the staffing problems which have left many positions unfilled so far. "But I think the Trump people will be trying to lay the ground work for longer-term cooperation that may be more mutually beneficial in the economic sphere and (for) its high focus on North Korea's nuclear threat," he said. Some of China-US dialogues expected to continue So far Trump has not taken aggressive actions toward China despite his tough talk during and after the campaign. Paal said that, as a former businessman, Trump may try to hold talks first to "start the tone and certainly trust" before getting to the hard issues. Such talks could get very tough, and if they do not go well, the Trump administration could harden its stance toward China, he cautioned. Meanwhile, Paal expected China and the US to continue some of over 90 official dialogue mechanisms that were established during the previous Obama administration. But he predicted that there will be serious reevaluation of some of the China-US dialogues, led by the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED). He proposed separating the strategic track and economic track because the S&ED has become less efficient as it has grown too big and too bureaucratic to get things done. Need for long-term perspectives on Korean peninsula Asked to comment on the possible China-US cooperation on containing the rising tensions on the Korean peninsula after the recent nuclear test and test launching of missiles by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Paal said efforts should be first made to restart talks. This is an urgent matter for the Trump administration to deal with, but not as urgent as demanding for an immediate solution due to its complexity, Paal said. "The Trump administration is not ready yet with staffing and internal processes to do a complicated and careful consideration of various options," he said, adding that South Korea demands more US attention as it is in the middle of "a very disruptive political period" ahead of the coming election. "So I think we need take it as an urgent matter, but not an immediate matter... Don't rush to judgment," he said. Calling for talks to resolve the DPRK crisis, Paal said if the talks fail, then stronger pressure should be exerted on the DPRK with tougher sanctions. "But I am not a believer that there is a magic formula to turn North Korea around. In fact, I hope we have a very complicated policy to start with making another effort offering talks and try to hold together the coalition of commonly interested nations like South Korea, the US, Russia and China," he said. Paal also urged China and US leaders to discuss the DPRK issue from the long-term perspectives. "I think the United States and China at the very top need to discuss how we think the Korean Peninsula should look in 10 and 20 years, not just about what we would do tomorrow," he said. Only the leaders can give mutual assurances to each other that they will not explore the possible chaotic situation on the peninsula to its advantage and take unilateral measures, he said. Taking advantage of relative tranquility in South China Sea On another contentious issue of South China Sea, Paal played down its urgency, saying he did not foresee new flare-up of tensions in the region in the near term. He noted that currently there is a "relative tranquility" in the region, largely due to two reasons: First, China made big advances in the past two years with its construction activities and it is time "to digest, to consume" the advances. Second, China has reached an understanding with the new Philippine government. "I would hope that during the period of relative tranquility, we can focus on things of our common interests," Paal said. He called for speeding up talks on reach a code of conduct in the South China Sea between China and some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Paal also suggested China and the US play a leading role in managing the fishing stocks in the region to benefit all parties involved. SHANGHAI - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba assisted police in busting more than 1,400 counterfeit production sites, leading to the arrest of 880 suspects last year, according to a report issued Friday. The cases involved more than 3 billion yuan ($435 million), double the amount in 2015, said the report. As of last year, Alibaba was cooperating with more than 18,000 international brands on the anti-counterfeit initiative. Counterfeiting in cross-border trade has become a new front for the initiative, as approximately 30,000 cross-border sellers were purged by Alibaba from its platforms with the help of big data technology from February 2016 to the end of last month. "Traditionally, counterfeiters produce in China and sell overseas, but now they are apt to produce abroad and sell domestically," said Zheng Junfang, chief platform governance officer of Alibaba. One typical case, in which lubricating oil labeled under famous brand names, such as Shell, was bottled in Malaysia and sold in China, was solved with the intervention of the Malaysian government. "The outcome was hard won," Zheng said, adding that crackdowns on cross-border counterfeiting are difficult given complicated law enforcement issues in different countries. Despite Alibaba's continuous efforts to cleanse its platforms of fake goods, its customer-to-customer marketplace, Taobao.com, returned to the US trade representative's blacklist of "notorious marketplaces" known for sale of counterfeit goods and violations of intellectual property rights in December 2016. Taobao was first put on the blacklist in 2011 but removed in 2012 after effective rectification. Premier says election win clearly shows public's confidence in her to lead SAR Premier Li Keqiang signed an administrative order on Friday appointing Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as the fifth chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The SAR's chief executive election was conducted in accordance with the Basic Law, the decisions of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and the election laws of Hong Kong, Li said at a full State Council meeting in Beijing on Friday. Lam won the election on Sunday with 777 of 1,163 valid votes, showing the Hong Kong public's wide recognition of, trust in and expectations from Lam, Li said. She will take the oath of office on July 1. According to the Basic Law, the chief executive is the head of the Hong Kong SAR government, carrying great responsibilities. The central government will continue to fully implement the principle of "One Country, Two Systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy, Li said. The central government will act strictly in line with the Constitution and the Basic Law, to ensure that the implementation of "One Country, Two Systems" will never be bent or distorted, he added. Premier Li pledged to fully support the chief executive and the Hong Kong SAR government to govern in line with the laws, develop the economy and improve the people's livelihoods. The State Council supports the cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland, Li said, adding that the central government plans to make use of Hong Kong's strengths to raise the status of the SAR in the country's economic development and opening-up. Li said he believes that after Lam becomes chief executive, she will definitely unite the Hong Kong SAR government and Hong Kong people from all walks of life to make practical progress, maintain the long-term prosperity and stability in the SAR and secure a better future. The Government Work Report, which Li delivered to deputies of the National People's Congress on March 5, noted that the chief executives and governments of Hong Kong and Macao have the central government's full support in "exercising law-based governance, growing their economies, improving people's well-being, advancing democracy and promoting social harmony". TAIPEI -- Taiwan's coast guard authority said it seized a mainland fishing boat and 10 crew on Friday for alleged "trespassing" following its detention of nine fishermen on Wednesday. The latest boat and its crew, registered in Zhejiang Province, were caught fishing in "limited waters" off the Pengjia Islet Friday morning, and the 10 members are currently being held in New Taipei City to receive investigation, according to a statement released by the coast guard authority in Keelung City. The boat left Zhejiang on March 17. Its owners may be given a fine ranging from NT$1.2 to NT$2.4 million, according to the authority. The nine fishermen caught on Wednesday under the "trespassing" charge are still being held in Taiwan. Aside from the two fishing boats seized this week, the Keelung coastal guard authority had previously seized four mainland fishing boats since the beginning of 2017 and fined them for a total of NT$6.6 million. The United Kingdom expects to forge concrete cooperation plans with China in the grand blueprint for the Belt and Road Initiative at a forum scheduled in May, the UK ambassador to China said on Friday. "We are very much looking forward to the Belt and Road forum ... and looking forward to the UK making a significant, practical contribution to delivering the vision of the Belt and Road Initiative," said Ambassador Barbara Woodward. The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which China will host, will be held in Beijing in May, and cooperation relating to the initiative "will be a highlight for the UK-China relationship this year", she said. The two countries have already engaged in cooperative efforts to that end. Woodward said they have got companies working together in Pakistan, a significant venue in the initiative. The China-Britain Business Council has done a great deal of research about "how relative strength could be complementary in this area", the ambassador said. "For example, many Chinese companies got a lot of experience in infrastructure development in a lot of the Belt and Road countries and regions, but British companies can offer experience in project design, engineering, sustainable green growth and management consultancy and services." "We can see a huge opportunity for the UK and China to cooperate in practical terms." Woodward said she is confident that discussions among leaders and experts at the forum will lead to "further practical steps ... to make this project really work to deliver the vision of President Xi Jinping, and more importantly, development and trade and stability along the countries and regions of the Belt and Road". On Friday, European Council President Donald Tusk sent draft Brexit negotiating guidelines to leaders of Britain's 27 EU partners. "The prime minister is clear that there is no turning back, we are leaving the EU, but this represents an opportunity for Britain to be truly global." "We look forward to developing partnerships with all countries around the world, but, particularly, I think China will be very important in that." Although the UK is leaving the EU, it will remain a very open economy, she said. "We have been steadily introducing policies that make the UK more and more open to investment," Woodward said, adding the UK might be "the most open country in the world to investment from China". In a light moment, the ambassador talked about the news that the full set of mathematics textbooks used in Shanghai primary schools will be introduced to the UK. "We are delighted about this." The UK education system enjoys a very high reputation, but the Chinese education system has its own extraordinary strength, she said. She said Britain has introduced mathematics teachers from Shanghai to teach in the UK. "And the children have loved it. Their mathematics has got much better as a result." So now, the textbooks will also be introduced. "I think that represents part of the wide cooperation between our two countries," the ambassador said. Investigations are underway after netizens reported the butchering of an aquatic animal alleged to be a baby Chinese white dolphin in Zhuhai, said Guangdong Ocean and Fishery Administration on Friday. At 6:30 pm on Thursday, netizens reported that some people were butchering a dolphin near Nanshui in Zhuhai's Jinwan District. After receiving the tip-off, law enforcement officers immediately headed to the spot. They recovered and sealed the remains of the aquatic animal, which will be checked and verified by technical authorities, it was added. A preliminary investigation by the local fishing bureau said a fisherman surnamed Zhong found a big fish floating in the sea near Gaolan Port. He saw the fish had been dead and dragged it to the wharf and let three other men butcher it. The three suspects are currently cooperating with police investigations, the administration said. The Chinese white dolphin, nicknamed "mermaid" and "giant panda of the sea", is mainly found in the western Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. In China, it often appears in the East China Sea, and is guarded under first-class state protection. The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, an unique and specialized paramilitary organization in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, will play a better role in ensuring local stability and fighting terrorism, a senior Corps official said on Thursday. "Maintaining social stability and reinforcing Xinjiang's border control has always been our fundamental role. Such a role must be further enhanced in the future," Sun Jinlong, Party secretary of the Corps, said at the opening of the 7th Party Congress of the Corps held in the regional capital of Urumqi. The congress will outline the future development of the Corps, which handles its own economic development and administrative affairs under armylike divisions and regiments. The previous Party congress was in 2008. Sun said the Corps will become a strategic force in routine tasks to keep Xinjiang stable and provide technical support in emergency incidents. In October 1954, the central government decided to demobilize the troops in Xinjiang and set up the Corps, commonly known as Bingtuan in Chinese, to open agricultural and stock farms in the harsh environments of the Gobi Desert, and station them at the region's border areas as a militia force to stabilize Xinjiang. The Corps was given a ministerial-level administrative status, equal to that of Xinjiang's regional government, in 1998. The Corps now administers nine cities and 10 townships in Xinjiang, with a population of 2.8 million. Some of its members are required to receive systematic and routine training as militias besides their day jobs. On Friday, Sun also said that the Corps will step up its development in the less developed southern Xinjiang region and create more job opportunities there. Social stability in southern Xinjiang is believed to be the key to regional security. The region has been the country's main battleground in the fight against terrorism and the penetration of extremism from abroad. President Xi Jinping paid a visit to the Corps in 2014, and said he expected the Corps to play an important and irreplaceable strategic role in the fight against separatism, extremism and terrorism in Xinjiang. Xi also said that more efforts and reform are needed to build the Corps into a stabilizing force for the country's border areas and a melting pot where various ethnic groups are integrated. In addition, the Corps will further improve the quality of its economic development via new-type industrialization and urbanization as well as agricultural modernization, Sun said. Liu Fu teaches children acrobatics at an art school in Puyang City, Central China's Henan Province, March 31, 2017. Liu began to run the school after he was released from prison three years ago. In prison, he realized that many youths committed crimes mainly because they are from divorced families and lack education or support. The school now has more than 20 children who are either from poor families or orphans. Liu teaches the students for free. Due to financial difficulties, the school has moved several times and now is based at a rural home inn. Without formal classrooms, students sometimes learn acrobatics in the street. [Photo/VCG] Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 A wall of Buddha statue carvings from the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644) is adjacent to a narrow mountain path in Gouwang stockade, village of Hongya county, Southwest China's Sichuan province, in March 2014. [Photo by Yuan Rongsun/photoint.net] Buddhism was first introduced to China during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220) via the Silk Road and it took over a century assimilate into Chinese culture. However, even at that time, Buddhism gradually took root in some ancient Chinese people's daily lives. With the spread of Buddhism, Buddhist art, particularly Buddha statues, flourished throughout ancient China. Buddha statues, whether made of bronze, stone or clay, vividly displayed the dignified Buddha. Since 2005, Yuan Rongsun, a member of the China Photographers' Association, has travelled across China in search for Buddhist grotto sculpture art. Photos that Yuan took show the impressive images of Buddha statues and reflect Buddhism beliefs embedded in Chinese people even today. The following photos selected from Yuan's works mainly show images of Buddha statues in Southwest China's Sichuan province. The experts from the Shanghai Museum are known for their ability to leave no traces of repair behind on the artifacts they restore. [Photo provided to China Daily] A documentary titled Masters in the Forbidden City that was recently screened in China sheds light into the intriguing craft of restoring precious relics in the Imperial Palace. The two-part documentary, comprising a feature film and a three-episode television series, was listed as one of the top 10 documentaries on Douban.com, a major Chinese arts and culture portal. The program has also propelled some of the personalities on screen to fame. Wang Jin, of the restoration experts featured in the show, has since the documentary's release been invited to numerous television talk shows. What is not mentioned in the documentary, however, is that many of these esteemed craftsmen were from the Shanghai Museum back in the 1950s. According to Wu Laiming, head of the conservation center of the Shanghai Museum, the institution opened its first restoration workshop in 1958 and had brought together renowned craftsmen from Suzhou and Yangzhou, two cities famous for the restoration of Chinese paintings. The following year, a group of these craftsmen were seconded to the Palace Museum in Beijing and they went on to build themselves an illustrious career in the Forbidden City. The restoration skills of the Shanghai Museum's craftsmen are not just coveted in the country. Established museums all over the world, such as the British Museum, the Hermitage Museum in Russia and the Freer Gallery of Art in the United States, have worked with restoration experts from the Shanghai Museum to rejuvenate their collections of Chinese art. The Shanghai Museum takes great pride in the quality of their restoration works. And such is their commitment to perfection that new craftsmen who join the institution need to undergo eight years of apprenticeship before they can operate independently. Experts from the Shanghai Museum would painstakingly source for materials and colors most identical to the one used in the artwork before masterfully blending them in. They are so skilled in their craft that people aren't able to find traces of the restoration when their work is complete. Chinese paintings and calligraphy works can be restored multiple times and they can remain in good condition for more than a century, depending on the quality of the restoration work and the storage conditions. Art restoration is a controversial topic in the international museum community. Some Western museums argue that the defects should not be corrected as any addition would render the artwork counterfeit. Some also believe that a restored artwork that looks too perfect might be mistaken as a fake. "But you see, when people restore ancient murals in cathedrals, the images are restored as well. They would not leave an image incomplete and consider the work accomplished," said Chu Hao, a mounting artist and restoration expert from Shanghai Museum who specializes in Chinese paintings and calligraphy works. Chu also emphasized that the techniques used by the craftsmen at Shanghai Museum do not compromise the integrity of the relic because the restoration work is reversible and leaves no mark on the original. Zhang Peichen, a restoration craftsman for bronze artworks at the Shanghai Museum, argued that the restoration work is undetectable "only because you fail to detect it". He said that with the right equipment and technology, the restored areas can be identified and undone without damaging the artwork. According to Wu, the museum relies on state-of-the-art technology to aid in the restoration process. For instance, some of the pigments used in the original artwork are no longer available in the modern age, so experts use technology to determine the best possible alternative. Apart from restoration works, the Shanghai Museum also provides consultancy on museum design, management and measures to protect artworks against earthquakes. "Conservation and protection also means taking precautions ahead of time. For example, there are different types of rust on metal. Some protect the metal from further erosion while others are contagious and will speed up the erosion," said Wu. "Now there are scientific methods we can use to find the best solutions to such problems." Due to the rapid advancement of technology and strong government support over the last decade, the conservation and protection departments in China's museums have achieved much progress, added Wu. In 2015, the Shanghai Museum launched a new conservation center that is equipped with high-tech equipment, such as the country's largest CT scanner which enables researchers to perform intricate examinations of an artwork. Discover the best things to do in Beijing with our weekly roundup of art and exhibitions, music and performances, and trending activities around town. For recommendations, please contact li-ping@chinadaily.com.cn. [Photo/National Center for the Performing Arts] Music: Beethoven powers Vienna orchestra across China As Vienna's cultural ambassador and concert orchestra, the Wiener Symphoniker (Vienna Symphony) handles the lion's share of symphonic activity that makes up the musical life of the Austrian capital. The 117-year-old orchestra was the first concert orchestra in Vienna. Together with the renowned Vienna Philharmonic, which is more famous for its opera productions, the symphony is known for the traditional "Vienna sound". The program for their upcoming show in Beijing will mainly include symphonies by Beethoven (1770-1827) as this year marks the 190th anniversary of the death of the most important composer. Learn more here. Time: 7:30 pm, April 6-7 Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district. Ticket: 180-1,000 yuan ($30 - $150) Contact: 010 - 6655 0000 The 99-year-old qipao master Chu Hongsheng and models wearing his works. [Photo provided to China Daily] This time of the year is usually the slowest for Shanghai's fashion industry. Most designers and stylists have only just returned from their hometowns following the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays. Many stores have yet to even change their displays to showcase their new collections for spring. But while most of the people in the fashion industry are still shaking off the post-holiday fatigue, the workshop of HanartQipao, located on the first floor of a quiet residential building in downtown Shanghai, is already a hive of activity as a dozen middle-aged women piece together exquisite qipao for wealthy and famous clients. HanartQipao, one of the city's most renowned qipao tailors, charges at least 3,800 yuan ($553) for a dress. Some of the more elaborate ones can cost up to 60,000 yuan ($8,741). But for Zhou Zhuguang, the founder and art director of the company, making qipao is much more than a lucrative business. "Qipao is the future and perhaps also the beginning of Chinese haute couture," said the 54-year-old Shanghai native who is also the vice director of the Shanghai Fashion Association and the chief consultant for the Shanghai Qipao Association. "If there is one country that can make haute couture that is as good as France, it should be China. This country has for thousands of years been pursuing perfection in craftsmanship regardless of cost." Visitors flock to Guizhou azalea festival ( chinadaily.com.cn ) Updated: 2017-03-31 Tourists pose under azalea trees in Guizhous Baili Azalea scenic spot. [Photo/Xinhua] The 2017 China International Azalea Festival was held at the Baili Azalea scenic spot in Bijie city, Guizhou province on March 28, attracting visitors from across the nation. The Baili Azalea scenic spot, the worlds only azalea national forest park, is also a pilot zone for low carbon tourism. The azalea forest is the largest native azalea forest on the globe, covering an area of 125.8 square kilometers. Dancers perform during the opening ceremony of the 2017 China International Azalea Festival. [Photo/Xinhua] Dancers perform in colorful azalea-themed costumes during the opening ceremony. [Photo/Xinhua] Edited by Zachary Dye Protesters hold banners while standing outside the House of Commons in central London on Wednesday.[Photo/Agencies] Theresa May, the British prime minister, gave formal notice to the European Union of the country's intention to leave the bloc on Wednesday, nine months after the outcome of a referendum that surprised and disheartened many of the United Kingdom's international partners. The narrow victory for the "Brexit" camp dismayed not just Britain's 27 partners in the EU but also important trading partners further afield, including China. Concerns over the consequences of the referendum dented confidence in markets worldwide, including a temporary downward 1 percent blip in Chinese shares. Just ahead of the referendum, the Global Times, a Beijing-based newspaper, had pointed out that London was an important hub for the internationalization of the renminbi and that a Brexit would cast a shadow over China-EU trade ties. Progress toward closer China-UK ties, highlighted by the state visit to Britain of President Xi Jinping in 2015, was at least in part driven by Britain's role as a key member of the EU and by London's status as a gateway to markets in the rest of Europe. As the May government embarks on negotiations to define the future relationship with the EU, many of Britain's trading partners have decided to adopt a "glass half full" stance that highlights the potential benefits of its departure from the bloc. Among the experts prepared to lend a note of optimism to Britain's future prospects is Li Ruogu, former chairman of the Export-Import Bank of China, who recently said at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province that Brexit would pave a new path for free trade between China and the UK. "After Brexit, China and UK trade may get freer, especially in financial services," Li said, adding that, although the UK is not a big country with a large population, it maintains an advantage in areas such as financial services. Britain's trading partners outside the EU would probably still prefer to see a "soft" Brexit, which would preserve its gateway status to Europe's goods and financial markets. However, there is recognition that post-Brexit Britain would fully embrace free trade in contrast to the growth of protectionism elsewhere. Even while within the EU, Britain has resisted the imposition of punitive measures against Chinese steel exports. In theory, British and Chinese trade negotiators could use a close bilateral relationship to their advantage to win concessions from the EU. In practice, the continuing strength of Chinese investment in the UK indicates China is not about to abandon a post-Brexit Britain. As the UK embarks on two years of tough bargaining with the EU on the terms of its departure, leading pro-Brexit voices are lauding the benefits of the UK going it alone. British industrialist James Dyson, a prominent "leaver", recently said he was "enormously optimistic" about future UK trade with the rest of the world, particularly Asia. His comments came after his company, famous for its innovative vacuum cleaners, announced profits of 631 million ($792 million) last year, driven in part by 244 percent growth in sales to China. Dyson's profits are a useful example for the Brexit camp to show that Britain can thrive once it has left the EU by strengthening its ties with markets beyond Europe. Elsewhere, pro-Brexiters are scratching around slightly more desperately for good news to justify the decision to distance the country from its biggest market. A member of the UK Parliament said recently that Brexit would provide an opportunity for British farmers to increase sales of chicken feet to China, because they are considered a delicacy in that country. The writer is a senior media consultant for China Daily UK. Participants deliver speeches at the 2015 "Shared Joy in Jiangsu" Chinese Speaking Contest for Foreigners. [Photo/jschina.com.cn] East China's Jiangsu province is inviting foreigners living in the province to share their stories about life in China as the annual "Shared Joy in Jiangsu" Chinese Speaking Contest for Foreigners gets underway. The contest has the full support of the Jiangsu provincial government, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education and the Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation. Themed "Happy Jiangsu, Happy Chinese", the contest encourages foreign friends to speak on various topics, such as My Jiangsu Story and My China Dream, to show their love for China and its culture, and demonstrate the appeal of integrating eastern and western cultures. The first stage of the contest an online audition starting from March to April 25 invites interested foreigners to register with a mobile video of two to three minutes in Chinese, introducing themselves and their Chinese connections. The entrants will be selected from their videos, and judges will also conduct phone interviews with them for further consideration. The 60 chosen contestants announced on May 1 will have plenty of time to prepare their speeches as the elimination stage will be held in the province's southern, central and northern parts, represented by Wuxi, Nanjing and Xuzhou respectively, from May 20 to early June. The finals will be filmed in Mid-June at the grand theater of Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation. Winners will be awarded prizes and certificates for their achievements, and have the chance to delve more into Jiangsu culture by taking part in the series of activities "Jiangsu through Foreigners' Eyes". Interested foreigners can sign up at the official website of http://gjzx.jschina.com.cn/20633/2017speech/, via the official WeChat account at "tongleJS", or by email to jswx@jschina.com.cn. University students can also register at their schools' international education colleges. The "Shared Joy in Jiangsu" Chinese Speaking Contest for Foreigners has been successfully carried out for four years. As part of the "Shared Joy in Jiangsu" series which also features talent shows, music festivals and cultural trips, it helps promote the province's diversification and internationalization. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is one of the most unique players on Iran's political stage an unpredictable figure who is no stranger to political U-turns. On Feb. 11, he officially announced that he would not back any candidate in the May 19 presidential elections. Yet, Ahmadinejad, who was president from 2005 until 2013, has become one of the most active campaigners even more so than some of the candidates actually running in the race and he is vigorously supporting his former deputy Hamid Baghaei, who announced his candidacy just days after Ahmadinejad's announcement. Indeed, the conservative former president's activities have not been what could be called stable. On Feb. 26, Ahmadinejad wrote a 13-page letter to US President Donald Trump, offering advice in his unique style. A week or so later, on March 5, which is National Tree Planting Day in Iran, Ahmadinejad attended a private ceremony with Baghaei as well as his former chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. The event marked the first time that Ahmadinejad and Baghaei were caught on camera together since the latter announced his candidacy. Although there was no talk of the elections at the ceremony or any declaration of political support for Baghaei, Iranian media and social media networks broadly covered their appearance together. Many described the videos of Mashaei, Baghaei and Ahmadinejad speaking with each other as fake and ridiculed the trio. Ahmadinejads presence on the Iranian political stage has grown in recent weeks. In a statement issued March 4, he attacked the administration of incumbent President Hassan Rouhani. The following day, he officially joined Twitter even posting a tweet in English along with an video in which he calls on people in English to follow his account. The pinnacle of the former president's recent political activities, however, was his declaration of support for Baghaei in a video released March 19. In the video, Ahmadinejad also referred to the "recommendation" of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who in September publicly "advised" Ahmadinejad against running in the upcoming presidential elections. Ahmadinejad said, "Baghaeis candidacy is in no way against the [supreme] leader's advice that I not run for the presidency. [This is] not to mention that Baghaei's decision to take part in the race was completely independent [of me]. Many have asked that I participate in the elections. We have to help so that the mistake that happened four years ago, when righteous people were prevented from taking part in the polls, is not repeated and that the country can return to its path of progress, from which it has been falling behind for [the past] four years." In another video message March 20, Ahmadinejad is seen sitting next to Baghaei while congratulating Iranians and all those who celebrate Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. The four-minute clip ends with Baghaei also speaking for a few seconds and congratulating the people's Nowruz. The former president has also resumed his provincial trips, traveling to the southwestern province of Khuzestan on March 2. The province has been grappling with dust storms and pollution in recent months, prompting a public outcry over the Rouhani administration's handling of the situation. While in Ahvaz, the provincial capital, Ahmadinejad continued his monthslong criticism of Rouhani's performance not only in regard to the environmental crisis, but also for restricting payments of monthly cash handouts, even going as far as accusing Rouhani of being a dictator. There was another part of his Khuzestan speech that stirred controversy and has been widely circulated on social media. In his speech, Ahmadinejad said that "97% of [the Iranian] people want something, but someone sitting up there says 'no.' This is a bad thing. Who are you to decide for all these people? Where did you get all this power from? Are these people not the ones who gave you this power? The Iranian nation had a revolution so they would not see such people." While some interpreted Ahmadinejad's words to be a direct criticism of the supreme leader, others believe Ahmadinejad was really addressing Rouhani. A thorough review of his speech indeed points to Rouhani as the target of his words; the remark about "97% of the [Iranian] people" was in reference to the public's desire to receive monthly cash payments. The Rouhani administration has notably cut the number of cash subsidy recipients while also trying to forge a mentality among the public that the policy is damaging to the country's economy. Of note, the monthly payments were instituted by Ahmadinejad as part of major subsidy reforms. Headlines aside, what impact will Ahmadinejad's activities have on the outcome of the presidential elections? Although the former president insists on being independent, and his many statements portray him as not being attached to any political movements, his background as well as that of his former Cabinet members during his two terms in office indicate that he entered Iran's political stage with a Principlist record. This is not to mention that he was only able to climb the ladder of power through the backing of the Principlists. For this reason, Ahmadinejad or any person or movement that may enter the election race on his behalf will have commonalities with the Principlists. Sadegh Zibakalam, a prominent professor of political science at Tehran University, told Al-Monitor, "The probability of Mr. Baghaei being approved [by the Guardian Council] is very low, because he has the history of a judicial [corruption-related] case against him. But even if he is approved, I doubt Baghaei will be able to split the vote of the Principlists, because even supporters of Ahmadinejad are not willing to vote for him." Although Baghaei lacks Ahmadinejad's charisma, he can be damaging to the Principlist camp if he gets the green light from the Guardian Council and actually runs for office. Having seen Mashaei disqualified as a candidate in the 2013 elections, this time Ahmadinejad has threatened to not allow "righteous individuals" to be barred from running for office. While he did not publicly declare serious objections to Mashaei's disqualification in 2013, it is not clear what his reaction would be if Baghaei iswill, as anticipated by most political analysts, be disqualified too. Although Ahmadinejad has been proven to be an unpredictable person who will do a lot to remain in power, one thing is clearly different in the current equation: Khamenei's public "advice" that he not take part in the elections. Whether Ahmadinejad will continue to see this "advice" as only being addressed to him and not his allies remains to be seen. Chili peppers were introduced into China only during the late 15th century or early 16th century via the Silk Road. [Photo provided to China Daily] Editor's Note: China is divided into as many culinary regions as there are different ethnic groups. Its geographical diversity and kaleidoscopic cultural profiles contribute to an unending banquet of flavors. The original spice girls are from Western China's Hunan province, where the lasses are famous for loving their red hot chilies. They are immortalized in a catchy ditty that has become the signature song of folk diva Song Zuying, who is also from Hunan. Song first sang La Meizi or Spice Girls during the Spring Festival extravaganza on Chinese national television 15 years ago and later reprised it often in concerts, including her performances in Vienna, at the Kennedy Arts Center in New York and at the Sydney Opera House. Hunan girlsthe la meizi, or spice girls, lauded in the songare known as much for their fiery personalities as their love for the hot, red chili peppers. While Sichuan spiciness is mixed with the tongue-numbing influence of prickly ash berries, Hunan cuisine is pure, unadulterated heat, fueled solely by red peppers. Spiciness is the final crescendo in the five tastes of the Chinese kitchenand it was originally "foreign". That is to say, chili peppers were introduced into China only during the late 15th century or early 16th century via the Silk Road. The peppers took root, literally, in the warmer Western province, as both chefs and gourmets immediately embraced the culinary stimulation of this new spice. Soon, it was firmly ingrained in local gastronomic traditions. There are three main epicurean styles that have adopted the chili pepper as their own. The most recognized perhaps is the mala of Sichuan cookinga numbing spiciness that comes from a mix of fresh and dried chili peppers and green and red Sichuan peppercorns, the native prickly ash berries. Mala, an intensely spicy and oily flavoring, has become popular nationwide, following the migratory path of the Sichuan mala hotpot, and its cousin the malatang, which is skewers of meat, vegetables and tofu products dipped and cooked in a fiery sauce. And then there is that prickly supper favorite of urban night birds, mala crayfish. Next is the xiangla of Hunan cuisine, a fragrant spiciness that depends on the smoky heat of red peppers, often caramelized to extract a sweet heat. This is true heat, and it is in classic Hunan cuisineXiangcaithat we see the chili pepper in all its incendiary glory. Even in Hunan home cooking, red and green chilies are used as vegetables, stir-fried on their own. They are also used as seasoning, chopped up, minced and stir-fried in hot oil to optimize the pepper's natural fragrance. Visit any fresh market in the province and you will see stalls with stacks of fresh peppers piled up high. Demand is such that Hunan is also the largest importer of chili peppers from all around China, from Hainan island, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. It is also in Hunan that the central agricultural department has established a chili pepper research center, and new varieties of peppers are constantly bred, grown and nurtured. A classic Hunan favorite is a large fish head, either of grass carp or crucian carp from the region's many lakes, smothered in a seasoned chili sauce and then steamed. This is Hunan's famous chopped chili fish headduojiao yutoua dish that brings tears of joy to any homesick Hunan spice girl or boy. Even the local version of red-cooked pork belly, or hongshaorou, is spiced up with garlic and chili peppers, a dish reputedly served to Chairman Mao Zedong every day. He was, of course, Hunan's most famous son. The last spicy category is suanla, the spicy-tart flavoring popular in Yunnan and Guangxi, places where people also enjoy the heat of the chili pepper. Here, however, they add vinegar or tamarind juice to the mixture to make it all their own. In Yunnan, the heat and humidity often means people like salads and cold-tossed dishes. While the hot rice noodles, or mixian, are signatures of the local cuisine, lip-puckering tart and spicy cold noodle salads are just as popular. The flavors are strong, to say the least. Hot roasted chili oil, seeds intact, is dressed with vinegar, salt and sugar and tossed with blanched slippery rice noodles. Heaps of local dill, mint and cilantro are added to refresh the palate. All over the southwestern region, chili peppers have become an indispensable seasoning. At every dining table it seems, a bowl of vinegarish chili dip is ubiquitous, ready to spice up noodles, rice, vegetables or meat. Not everybody remembers the long journey the chili pepper took from its original home in Mexico, via Europe and then overland via the long, tedious Silk Road to China. All that matters to its ardent fans is that it's here to stay. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro gestures during a meeting with supporters in Caracas, Venezuela March 31, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday he would resolve within hours controversy over the judiciary's annulment of congress which has sparked opposition protests and condemnation from around the world. "I hope to have very good news this evening and clear up the controversy generated," Maduro said in a speech, calling a meeting of the state security council to discuss the attorney general's criticism of the Supreme Court's decision. The court's ruling that it was assuming the functions of the opposition-led National Assembly was lambasted as a "coup" by critics who viewed it as a lurch into dictatorship by the Socialist Party that has ruled for the last 18 years. Seeking to project himself as above a fray between independent powers and possibly presaging a U-turn by the Supreme Court, Maduro said he had known nothing in advance of its ruling but would immediately address the matter. In a rare show of dissent from a senior official, Venezuela's powerful attorney general Luisa Ortega, long an ally of Maduro, rebuked the court earlier on Friday. "It constitutes a rupture of the constitutional order," the 59-year-old said in a speech on state television. "It's my obligation to express my great concern to the country." Throughout Friday, pockets of protesters blocked roads, unfurled banners and chanted slogans against Maduro's unpopular government, including "Freedom!" and "No To Dictatorship!" In volatile western Tachira state, several dozen demonstrators tore up copies of court sentences in front of local judicial buildings. Having already shot down most of the National Assembly's measures since the opposition won control in 2015, the pro-Maduro Supreme Court on Wednesday said it was taking over the legislature's role because it was in "contempt" of the law. The Supreme Court went into session from Friday afternoon, further fueling rumors of a row-back to diffuse the controversy. New court president Maikel Moreno had called a news conference late afternoon, but it was swiftly canceled, with Maduro taking to state airwaves instead to address a technology conference. Reuters Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon attends a debate on a second referendum on independence at Scotland's Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh, Britain, March 28, 2017.[Photo/Agencies] LONDON -- Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asked British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday to agree to allow Scotland to hold a second independence referendum. Writing to May following the Scottish parliament vote backing a referendum, Sturgeon made her formal request to open talks on a Section 30 order that would facilitate it, according to local media reports. She told the prime minister there appeared to be no rational reason for her to stand in the way of the will of the Scottish Parliament. May's government has already announced it does not want a referendum in Scotland while negotiations are taking place between Westminster and Brussels about Britain's departure from the European Union (EU). Downing Street issued a statement Friday afternoon rejecting Sturgeon's call. The Scottish Parliament has already agreed to seek powers for a poll among the people of Scotland, but it can only go ahead with Westminster's approval. A spokesman at 10 Downing Street confirmed that Sturgeon's letter had been received by e-mail and a response would be made "in due course". In her letter, Sturgeon said: "The people of Scotland must have the right to choose our own future, in short, to exercise our right of self determination." "Whatever outcome is secured, it seems inevitable that it will remove the UK, not just from the EU, but also from the single market. That is not an outcome that the people of Scotland voted for," she said. People in Scotland voted by a margin of 62 to 38 in the June 23 referendum last year, with the Britain-wide vote showing 52 to 48 in favor of Brexit. PYONGYANG - Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has supervised a competition by the tank units of the country's army and praised its full preparedness to "liberate the southern part of the country." The Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday that Kim guided the Korean People's Army (KPA) Tank Crew Competition 2017 and designated a unit responsible for combat in the Seoul area, capital of South Korea as the winner. "Tankmen of the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Guards 105th Tank Division won the competition," said the report. Kim described the performance of the tanks as "excellent" and said "it was marvelous to see the tanks crossing even a steep hill at the maximum speed ... representing symbol of the KPA and they are like iron fists," according to the report. "The competition clearly showed that the KPA tank crew are fully prepared to be stalwart fighters capable of independently and skillfully carrying out any combat tasks in the operational areas for liberating the southern part of the country," he said. The DPRK has warned the United States and South Korea of its own preemptive strike aimed at foiling any attempt by the US and South Korean forces to stage "special operations" against its leadership and strategic military installations. Pyongyang accuses Washington and Seoul of preparing for beheading strikes against the DPRK leadership and destroying its nuclear and missile bases in their ongoing military exercises "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle." US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive to board Air Force One for travel to Chicago to deliver a farewell address, from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, January 10, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] US President Barack Obama did not forget to poke China even in his farewell speech in Chicago Tuesday evening, saying that "Russia and China can not match our influence around the world unless we give up what we stand for." On the same day at the United States Institute of Peace, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, with successor Michael Flynn by her side, declared that "failure to move forward on the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement) is eroding American regional leadership and credibility, with China standing to gain strategically and economically." Such unprovoked jabs once again reflect the zero-sum mentality of Obama and some of his aides on international relations. Under Obama, the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and both China and Russia has deteriorated. People never hear Chinese leaders using such toxic language about the US in their speeches to the Chinese public even though they have plenty of ammunition. However unpredictable president-elect Donald Trump might be, I feel a bit relieved knowing that Obama only has less than 10 days in office, so I don't have to hear him yelling again "the US, not China, should make the rules". A Pew Center survey a year ago showed that only 38 percent of Americans have a favorable view of China, compared with a global media of 55 per-cent across 39 countries. That in part has to do with the toxic rhetoric about China frequently spewed out by Obama and other US politicians. For these politicians, demonizing China is a good distraction from the US' own problems. While Obama touted the US was the world's wealthiest and richest nation on Tuesday, what appeared in my mind is the homeless on the street in freezing winter days in Washington and New York City. The Washington Post reported that the number of homeless families in the US capital has soared by more than 30 per-cent compared from a year ago. Most Americans don't have a sense of the real picture of international affairs, especially China-US relations, after hearing repeatedly the toxic rhetoric from their politicians. For example, the US-China Business Council, which represents more than 200 US companies in China, released a report on Tuesday on US-China trade relationship. The report finds that the rhetoric about the negative impact of China on US economy is both misleading and exaggerated. Instead of killing US jobs, it finds trade with China is responsible for the creation of 2.6 million American jobs. Trade with China has helped boost US economic growth and helped a typical US household save up to $850 in 2015. Meanwhile, the trade deficit, which Trump likes to fear monger, is grossly over-exaggerated. It is a report that speaks very positively of the US-China economic relations. However, when I asked USCBC President John Frisbie why US leaders such as President Obama have never talked about these huge positive aspects to the US public, he politely chose not to answer the question. It is despicable that Obama and other US politicians, who are well aware of the hugely mutual beneficial trade relations, have chosen to keep silent all these years while letting fake news and misinformation about bilateral trade relations spread and indeed spreading themselves. It is no secret that US politicians like to use fake news and misinformation to their own advantage. People have seen plenty of the tricks in the last presidential election cycle. Now after the election, Democrats and Republicans are fiercely accusing each other of disseminating fake news. It is time to stop the spreading of fake news and misinformation about China-US relations. The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com President Xi Jinping tells visiting US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the nations should enhance exchanges at all levels. They met on Sunday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua] Right after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrapped up his visit to China on Sunday, the Washington Post declared that Tillerson appeared to hand Beijing a diplomatic victory. The Post article went on to scold the top US diplomat after he described the US-China relations as "a very positive relationship built on no confrontation, no conflict, mutual respect, and always searching for win-win solutions". Tillerson's words came as a surprise, to the delight of many in Beijing but the dismay of some in Washington. The proposal made by China in 2012 to build a new type of major country relationship between China and the US based on "no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation" was aimed at avoiding a disastrous war if the established power became too fearful of the rising power. While meeting President Xi Jinping in California in June 2013, then US president Barack Obama appeared to accept the idea of a new type of relations. But his administration then stayed away from it, interpreting it as away for China to tell the US to keep quiet no matter what China does. It was a major distortion of the Chinese proposal which clearly acknowledges the issues existing between the two countries, issues that should be resolved peacefully, with mutual respect and through dialogue, rather than confrontation. By rejecting the Chinese goodwill proposal, the Obama administration made a huge mistake in this regard. Strategic distrust and rivalry between the two countries worsened under Obama. The same kind of not handing China a victory mentality seemed also behind the US opposition to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and its Pivot to Asia strategy that aimed to curtail China's influence in the region. Thus, the endorsement of the Chinese concept by Tillerson is simply correcting a mistake made by Obama. Hopefully, Obama's successor Donald Trump will reiterate that when he hosts Xi in Florida next month. That endorsement does not mean that either side should be shy of disagreeing with the other. For example, the two countries agree on the goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, but their approaches are not the same. While Tillerson said all options, including military ones, are on the table, China has called for calm, restraint, dialogue and diplomatic solution. China has endorsed UN Security Council resolutions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for its violation in missile and nuclear tests. But China believes that diplomacy, rather than just sanctions, will lead to a solution. A similar view is held by former US defense secretary William Perry who visited the DPRK to negotiate denuclearization during the Clinton administration. Perry argued in a March 10 article that the DPRK might well agree to give up testing of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles and agree not to sell or transfer any of its nuclear technology, in return for economic concessions from the Republic of Korea and security assurances from the US. Many who have threatened war on the Korean Peninsula have not thought through the consequences it will have and the huge damages it will inflict on the region. There are many differences between China and the US. But as long as they are willing to work in the spirit of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, they are more likely to find a solution, narrow differences and avoid the Thucydides trap. The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com Giant panda cub plays with a zoo keeper at Chongqing Zoo in Chongqing, Southwest China, March 18, 2017. [Photo/chinanews.com] People in the United States like to petition, about everything, from demanding President Donald Trump to release his tax returns to ending wildlife trafficking. But a recent one calling to reunite giant panda cub Bei Bei and his mom Mei Xiang at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington sounds a tearjerker. In the petition, J. J. Medusa accused the zoo of forcibly separating the two giant pandas. It described them as "vocalizing, pacing, not eating and visibly stressed" and "they have been calling to each other and literally climbing walls (and trees) to try to get to one another". It went on to say that "it breaks our hearts to see these two beautiful creatures apart from each other." The petition, which started three weeks ago, has gathered some 2,500 signatures and has been spreading on social media. Living just a block from the National Zoo, I shared the petitioners' feeling having observed the difficult days of weaning of Bei Bei from his mother. However, I understand that is a natural process for giant panda cubs. Just a day before the National Panda Day on March 16, the zoo released a list of frequently asked questions in response to the many giant panda fans who expressed similar concerns. Pandas are solitary animals, they do not live in groups. Mothers and cubs do not stay together in the wild. If the zoo were to keep them together much beyond the point when a cub is self-sufficient, that would eventually cause aggression. Bei Bei and Mei Xiang looked quite good in adapting to the new life in their respective yards when I visited them again this week. The love for giant pandas among Washingtonians, and many Americans, impressed me deeply since I was still based in New York City and travelled to Washington in late 2009 after the zoo announced that giant panda cub Tai Shan was to leave for China. People, some in a group called Pandamania, and some in wheelchairs, came to say goodbye to Tai Shan, even on snowy days. The Metro card in Washington even carried a giant panda logo. There is no doubt that giant pandas are China's ambassadors to the US. They are stars at the National Zoo. The web cams there often draw 1 million viewers on a weekend. Bei Bei's name was given by China's First Lady Peng Liyuan and then US first lady Michelle Obama in September 2015 when they both visited the cub at the zoo. The National Zoo was the first one in the US to house giant pandas after Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing arrived on April 16, 1972, about six weeks after President Richard Nixon's historic trip to China. The welcoming ceremony a few days later was attended by first lady Pat Nixon. The green shipping crate for Ling Ling is still on display in the panda pavilion. Besides Washington, three other US cities, San Diego, Atlanta and Memphis, also house giant pandas. James Sasser, former US ambassador to China, mentioned to me once how proud he was of helping bring giant pandas to his hometown Memphis. New York City is probably the next one. In February, local Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney joined former AIG billionaire Hank Greenberg and others in pushing for a campaign to bring pandas to the Big Apple by 2020, to be housed either in the Central Park or the Bronx Zoo. As I studied the Nixon archives online recently, I came across a conversation between Nixon and his wife Pat about the arrival of the first pair of giant pandas. Having giant pandas in the US was a major step in China-US relations, just like that historic Nixon trip. The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com (Photo : Getty Images) A baby sucks it's feeding bottle at a relief center on May 21, 2008 in Deyang of Sichuan Province, China. Advertisement A mother in Hong Kong is being tried for shaking her baby to death because he was "noisy." Leung Siu-fong pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in a High Court hearing on Tuesday after she lost control and shook her three-month-old son, leading to his death in August 2015. She told police that her newborn baby, Matthew Lee Man-hin, was "very noisy." Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "I didn't like him," Leung said in a statement after the baby's death. On August 25, 2015, Leung called 999, Hong Kong's emergency hotline, and reported that her son was no longer breathing. When the operator asked what happened, Leung feigned ignorance, "I don't know why my child's heart has stopped beating." The police responded to her house in Cheung Chau and brought the baby to St. John Hospital, but at 7pm, he was pronounced dead. According to police, Leung told them that the baby suffered convulsions, turned pale, and stopped breathing. After further questioning by the prosecution, she revealed that she grabbed, shook, and tossed him onto the bed before slapping and pinching her baby's cheeks because he wouldn't stop crying. She told police under caution that she lost self-control and hurt her baby. Autopsy results show that the baby died from abusive head trauma and also suffered from internal bleeding between the skull and the brain. The assigned pathologist said that the baby may have already had head injuries prior to his death. Leung was not living with her husband at the time. Advertisement Tagsbaby, Hong Kong, Weird News, bizarre news, weird news in China, baby death, accidental, Child abuse (Photo : Black Insomnia Coffee Company) Black Insomnia in its various forms. Advertisement "Black Insomnia," billed as "The World's Strongest Coffee" because of its incredible caffeine content, has been unleashed onto the United States and has also launched health concerns about that unnaturally high caffeine content. Black Insomnia's unadulterated caffeine content comes to 17,524 mg of caffeine per kilogram, according to laboratory test results using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography made by SGS Laboratories, the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Black Insomnia Coffee Company, the South African company that launched Black Insomnia in July 2016, said the certified results from SGS laboratories indicate Black Insomnia is the clear winner in the title for The World's Strongest Coffee. It said Black Insomnia Coffee is 27 percent stronger then Wodfee (13,809 of caffeine per kg) and DeathWish Coffee (13,179 kg of caffeine per kg). The results mean Black Insomnia is 33 percent stronger than either of these competing brands. Caffeine Informer, the International caffeine reference website, has accredited Black Insomnia as the World's Strongest Coffee. Black Insomnia retails at $19 per pound and is available on Amazon Prime. Black Insomnia Coffee Company founder Sean Kristafor said he was motivated to develop Black Insomnia because it was "time to offer something a little different -- something stronger and darker, with an edge." He said Black Insomnia is pure and naturally very high in caffeine without any added chemicals, preservatives, sugars or any other additives. Black Insomnia was developed by one of the world's foremost roasters, Gerald Charles, who combined the perfect blend of beans to produce an indulgent smooth sweet nutty flavor. Its high caffeine content, however, might be a source of medical concern. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends 400 mg of caffeine for daily consumption while the International Food Information Council recommends 300 mg. This means that for the same amount of coffee, someone that drinks a cup of Black Insomnia will get double the amount of caffeine. Black Insomnia contains 17,500 mg (17.5 grams) of caffeine per kilogram of coffee. The company, however, noted Mayo Clinic reporting that up to 400 mg (equivalent to 6 mg/kg body weight in a 65 kg person) of caffeine a day appears to be safe for most healthy adults. "That's roughly the amount of caffeine in four (6 oz) cups of brewed coffee," said Mayo. Having just one 6 oz cup of Black Insomnia almost fulfills the recommended maximum intake, said Black Insomnia Coffee Company. Advertisement TagsBlack Insomnia, The World's Strongest Coffee, caffeine, caffeine content, Black Insomnia Coffee Company, Wodfee, DeathWish Coffee, Sean Kristafor (Photo : Russian Navy) K-561 Kazan. Advertisement Russia launched its newest nuclear-powered multi-purpose attack submarine, the K-561 Kazan, on March 31 after an unbearably long development and production process that began in 1990. The launching ceremony at the Sevmash Shipyard at Severodvinsk in northern Russia was attended by top officers of the Russian Navy and Russian defense officials. A bottle of champagne was broken over the Kazan's bow by its commander, Capt. Alexander Beketov, and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "It is a beautiful, powerful boat," said Rogozin later in a tweet. Admiral Vladimir Korolev, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, was even more effusive. He said the Soviet Union's underwater presence has been restored with the launch of Kazan, which cost anywhere from $3.5 billion to $4 billion in 2011 dollars. This staggering amount makes the Kazan the most expensive submarine in the world. In contrast, the U.S. Navy's Virginia-class submarine, its newest and which is still being built, costs $2.7 billion per boat. "Last year, we operated at a level not seen in the post-Soviet era in terms of hours spent underway," said Adm. Korolev. "The Russian submarine fleet last year spent more than 3,000 days at sea. This is an excellent figure." Officially designated "Project 885 (08850)," the Yasen-class fourth-generation multipurpose nuclear submarine was developed in the 1990s by the St. Petersburg-based Malakhit Design Bureau of Maritime Machine-Building under the direction of Chief Designer Vladimir Popov. The boat was built by the United Shipbuilding Corporation, the shipyard engaged in the construction of Yasen-class submarines. Four more boats will be built -- money permitting. Yasen-class boats are designed to destroy U.S. Navy submarines and surface ships, naval bases, ports, naval task forces and other targets. They're 139 meters long and 13 meters wide and have a draft of 10 meters. They displace 8,600 metric tons on the surface and up to 13,800 metric tons submerged. It can submerge to a maximum depth of 600 meters and develops a speed of 16 knots on the surface and up to 31 knots submerged. The submarine has a sea endurance of 100 days and a crew of 85 to 90 men. It is equipped with a single-shaft steam turbine nuclear power unit with a capacity of about 43,000 hp. The submarine's OK-650V water-cooled and water-moderated reactor has a thermal capacity of 190 MW (modernized Project 885M submarines will be outfitted with a power unit of over 200 MW). The sub is armed with eight vertical silos for Oniks and Kalibr cruise missiles; 10 533 mm torpedo tubes with a load of 30 torpedoes each. The Yasen-class will eventually armed with new Kh-101 (Kh-102) cruise missiles and universal deep-water homing torpedoes. The lead submarine in the class, K-560 Severodvinsk (Factory No. 160), was floated out on June 15, 2010, delivered to the Russian Navy for operational evaluation on December 30, 2013. It became operational in the Northern Fleet on June 17, 2014. The third submarine, the K-573 Novosibirsk (Factory No. 162), was laid down on July 26, 2013 and is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in December 2019. The fourth submarine, the K-571 Krasnoyarsk (Factory No. 163), was laid down on July 27, 2014 and is expected to be delivered to the Navy in December 2020. The fifth submarine, the K-564 Arkhangelsk (Factory No. 164), was laid down on March 19, 2015 and is expected to be delivered to the Navy in December 2021. The sixth submarine Perm (Factory No. 165) was laid down on July 29, 2016 and is expected to be delivered to the Navy in December 2022. Advertisement TagsRussia, K-561 Kazan, Russian Navy, Capt. Alexander Beketov, Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Project 885 (08850), Yasen-class submarines (Photo : GETTY IMAGES) Calligraphy are very important historical pieces in China. A visitor views ancient Chinese calligraphy works at the 'Wuying Palace' of the Forbidden City. Advertisement A woman in Central China is now under house arrest for tearing up a valuable piece of calligraphy after a big quarrel with her husband. In November 2015, the woman living in Wuhan, central China, tore up a calligraphy written by Han Xuezhong, a former governor of Hubei and a member of the China Calligraphers Association. The calligraphy was reported to have a value of 51,000 yuan (US$7,400). The couple had a fight that led to the calligraphy's destruction. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Her husband's family filed a complaint against her. She was initially detained for 54 days. She was released on parole in 2016 when prosecutors gave back the case to police for further investigation. She is now placed in house arrest after the parole expired recently. But the husband didn't go unscathed. She filed a case against him for domestic abuse in August 2015. He was detained and then received one year of jail time. Advertisement Tagscalligraphy, Central China, couple, Weird News, bizarre news, weird news about China, China Calligraphers Association, domestic abuse, weird results of quarrel (Photo : GETTY IMAGES) Duck eggs save the day! A customer buys salted duck eggs, a festive food on Duanwu Festival, or the Dragon Boat Festival today, at a shop in Jiangsu Province. Advertisement A 90-year-old woman who got lost in the woods in Chongqing for four days was able to survive thanks to only six duck eggs. The elderly woman surnamed Zhang was reported by hi son, Ma Zewu, to the police after she didn't return home the next day. Zhang came from a fair in a nearby county in March 20, but did not return home for the next four days. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement On the second night of her absence, Ma called the police which immediately mounted a search operation. However, the rain made it hard for them to continue the search. On March 23, a camera footage spotted Zhang walking near a factory. Police were able to trace her in a 2-kilometer remote stretch of road located between the factory and a bee farm. She was found later in the night behind a bush and was immediately rushed to the hospital. Although weak, Zhang's mind was clear and was able to narrate what happened. She said that she took a detour to avoid a vicious dog and got lost in the process. She spent four days and three nights in the forest, and credits the six duck eggs she had for her survival. Doctors said that for a 90-year-old woman to survive on only six duck eggs for four days and three nights was a miracle. Advertisement TagsWeird News, weird news in China, bizarrew news, china news, county, eggs, survival, grandmother survives with duck eggs, surviving on duck eggs Though many pastors have pursued racial reconciliation, more have done so through relational means or through prayer rather than through preaching, according to a LifeWay Research study released on Thursday. When asked, Which, if any, of the following activities have you personally done in the last 3 months to encourage racial reconciliation? most of the 1,000 pastors who were surveyed (57 percent) said they spent time socializing with neighbors of other ethnicities. About 44 percent of the pastors said they shared a meal with a small group of people with at least one other person who was of a different race within the last week, while 29 percent said they did so within the last month. The next most popular method by which pastors encouraged racial reconciliation was leading times of corporate prayer for racial reconciliation (53 percent). Meanwhile, little less than half of the pastors surveyed (45 percent) said they did so by preaching on racial reconciliation. It seems that leaders in the church also have not pushed their pastors to preach on the topic, either, as 73 percent of the pastors said they had not had church leaders urging them to preach about racial reconciliation. But 90 percent of pastors said their congregations would welcome such sermons on the topic. Pastors who were of an ethnicity other than White or African American were most likely to say that their church leaders urged them to preach on racial reconciliation (38 percent). Along denominational lines, Presbyterian/Reformed pastors (37 percent) and Methodist pastors (34 percent) were most likely to say that leaders in their churches have encouraged them to preach on the topic. A city in West Texas has become the focal point of an international hunt for a Mexican politician wanted on corruption charges. Interpol is focusing on El Paso as it seeks former Chihuahua Gov. Cesar Duarte, who is believed to have crossed the border into the Texas city. A man has been arrested and charged for pawning merchandise stolen during multiple recent church burglaries in the Kingwood area. The Houston Police Department Kingwood Division stated another suspect thought to have been involved was recently arrested and charged for five church burglaries in Tyler. "The case is still moving forward, just in case there are other suspects involved, but progress is being made," said Officer D.P. Von Quintus. The police department has not released the identities of the two suspects arrested. Pastor Barb Bartling, of the Holy Comforter Lutheran Church in Kingwood, confirmed two individuals were caught on a surveillance camera burglarizing the church school the morning of Friday, Feb. 10. "The break-in was through a window in the church school office," Bartling said. "It was a window that was in a courtyard. They targeted primarily electronics: the church soundboard, TV and computer in the sanctuary area. They tried to get into a safe and did damage to the safe and the wall; they did not get the safe though. They went through the building looking for quick-sell items." Bartling estimated the burglary's cost to the church was approximately $6,000. "The soundboard itself was $3,000," Bartling said. "I think it's just sad for any individual or group to be targeted," Bartling said. "It makes me wonder about the desperation of the individuals and/or the lack of guidance they have to commit the crime." The Kingwood United Methodist Church was another church targeted in recent area church burglaries. Joe Carbonaro, executive director of Kingwood United Methodist Church, said the break-in occurred Thursday, Feb. 9. The evidence of the burglary was discovered on Friday, Feb. 10. "They came through a window," Carbonaro said. "They rummaged through desks, kicked open doors, broke into a safe. They stole money. In addition to cash, they did some damage to furniture." He said the cost of the stolen money and damage also totaled approximately $6,000. Kingwood United Methodist Church is working with the insurance company to recoup losses due to the burglary. "To me, it's sad that someone would break into a church, but it's happened and it will not stop us from going forward," Carbonaro said. "It's not going to stop us from carrying out our mission." The Kingwood First Baptist Church confirmed it was also one of the Kingwood area churches burglarized that weekend. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Prairie View A&M University student has been charged with murder in the death of a classmate, authorities confirmed Saturday. Tristan Houston, 20, went missing Wednesday, but his body was found around 4 p.m. Friday in the vicinity of Clear Creek and Magnolia Road, according to Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith. Ayinde Williams, a 19-year-old student at Prairie View A&M, was arrested and booked Friday night into the Waller County jail on a murder charge. He is being held on $150,000 bond. RUNAWAY: Missing Texas teen found with older man in Corpus Christi Smith declined to provide further details on how Houston died. Houston's body was believed to be at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science on Saturday morning. In a Facebook post Friday night, the sheriff's department wrote: "Such a tragic end to a young life" and asked that people keep the family in their thoughts and prayers. A person also allegedly died near the university's campus early Saturday morning after shots were fired at a party, according to television reports. HOMEOWNER SHOOTING: Man charged with firing on 2 men attacking his wife The university released a statement Saturday afternoon concerning the missing student's death. "Prairie View A&M University is deeply saddened by the loss of our students. We send our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the victims. Campus safety is a primary concern for our administration. While our students are on campus, our University Police Department does everything within its power to protect our students. We regularly talk to our students about being aware of their surroundings while off campus and we will continue to ask students to stay alert and report any suspicious activity. While it is outside of the University Police Department's jurisdiction to police off campus, we are fully cooperating with ongoing investigations being conducted by the Waller County Sheriff's Department and Texas Rangers." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Houston police are investigating a Friday night shooting in southeast Houston that left one person dead. When police arrived at the 5400 block of Bungalow around 11:30 p.m., they saw a group of people outside trying to perform CPR on a man, according to HPD Homicide Detective S. Jimenez. The man, who had one gunshot wound, died on scene. Police did have one person of interest, but are still actively interviewing witnesses. Jimenez said that police were still unsure what led to the shooting and why the large group was gathered at the home. Anyone with information should call Houston Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate As the sun set outside Montrose Veterinary Clinic, dozens of handwritten notes were posted on a wall near the entrance to the clinic owned by popular vet Valerie McDaniel. Many of the condolences started with the words "I love you." "I've never in my life loved a friend like I loved Valerie," Maggie Whitley, her best friend, told dozens who grieved Friday night outside the clinic for the prominent Montrose veterinarian who on Monday jumped from the seventh floor of her River Oaks area condominium, taking her own life. The 48-year-old was arrested last month with boyfriend Leon P. Jacob, 39, based on solicitation of capital murder charges. But the focus of a candlelight vigil Friday night was to honor the McDaniel they knew as a compassionate and gentle soul. Her sister, Angela Hudson, said that McDaniel's love for animals started as a child. She said her sister, three years younger, had a natural talent for interacting with pets and always wanted to be a veterinarian. "If the animals were hurting, she would cry with them." Hudson recalled. Clients agreed, saying the veterinarian cared for their animals from birth to death. Anne Cannon, who lives six blocks from the clinic, said McDaniel had been her pets' vet since 2000. She cared for all of her animals, including her cats, bird and dogs. "We can just sit here in the exam room until you feel like you can walk out the door," Cannon remembers McDaniel saying when her dog died. David and Sherry Hultsman, who live in Montrose, said McDaniel had looked after their dogs for 15 years. They were shocked when they learned of her death. "It's been days, and we're (still) walking around the house in deep sadness," Sherry Hultsman said. Hudson talked to her sister on Sunday night. She had spent a week with her last month and said that McDaniel seemed in relatively good spirits, even after her arrest. The sister, who lives in Seattle, said she is trying to process the news that her best friend is gone. As a soft breeze blew through the trees, candles were lit and prayers said. Some mourners shed tears, and one woman told the crowd she did not care what the world thought about McDaniel. "People were drawn to her," Hudson said. "Anyone who would meet her would fall in love with her." Inside her condo, McDaniel left sealed letters addressed to family members and a note detailing her final wishes, according to Houston police. McDaniel and Jacob allegedly hired a hitman to murder their exes, but the would-be killer was an undercover officer with the Houston Police Department. Jacob and McDaniel reportedly agreed to pay the officer $20,000 and two Cartier watches in exchange for committing the crime. McDaniel died two weeks after posting $50,000 bail. Jacob remains in Harris County Jail and could face the possibility of life in prison if convicted. A second suspect in the disappearance and death of Zuzu Verk, a West Texas college student, was indicted Friday, Alpine police said. Chris Estrada was indicted for tampering with or fabricating physical evidence by concealing a human corpse by a Brewster County grand jury. A month after Verk's remains were found in a shallow grave near Alpine, Robert Fabian, her boyfriend, was indicted for murder. Hammarskjold High School Canadian history teacher Terry Trewin talks with students during their final meeting on Friday before 42 students and six chaperones from the school head to Europe on Thursday for The Battle of Vimy Ridge ceremony that will take place on April 9. They will be joined on the trip by 52 other students from St. Patrick High School and St. Ignatius High School. The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. Fundatia de Binefacere Caritas Moldova solicita oferte de pret de la companii cu privire la productia de materiale de vizibilitate Akron Police.jpg Akron Police Department recruiters and city personnel will host an informational session about the police officer application process Thursday, April 13 from 2-5 p.m. at the OhioMeansJobs Center, 1040 E. Tallmadge Ave., Akron. (File photo) AKRON, Ohio - Have you ever thought about becoming a police officer? The city of Akron is accepting applications for the position through May 26. "Serving the residents of this city as a police officer is among the most challenging and rewarding calls to public service," Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said in a release. "Our officers are our frontline ambassadors in the neighborhoods - providing direct assistance to residents in need and keeping our community safe. Applicants should be enthusiastic about improving the Akron community and be prepared to meet the demands of an evolving and dynamic law enforcement environment." The city is looking to hire 15 police officers. To apply, candidates must: Be 21-35 years old at the time of the exam Have a high school diploma or GED Have a valid driver's license Candidates must pass written tests, a physical fitness test, a background investigation and a polygraph examination to be considered. Applicants who receive a conditional job offer must also pass a medical and psychological evaluation. Additional consideration will be given to applicants who: Pass the written test and meet a residency requirement Have served in the United States armed forces for more than 180 days and were honorably discharged (active duty) Have completed accredited college course work The exam is scheduled for June 23-24. The city keeps a list of eligible applicants on file for 18 months and may hire several classes of officers from that list. Compensation for an entry-level police officer begins with a training wage, then increases to approximately $53,000 a year. Compensation also includes comprehensive medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision insurance, life insurance, paid vacation time, sick leave and 14 paid holidays. Akron Police Department recruiters and city personnel will host an informational session about the application process Thursday, April 13, 2-5 p.m. at the OhioMeansJobs Center, 1040 E. Tallmadge Ave., Akron. For more information, contact the city of Akron Department of Human Resources at 330-375-2720, 1-888-588-5417 or visit www.akronohio.gov/personnel. Cleveland Heights police car.jpg Cleveland Heights police arrested three people who were initially found sleeping behind the steering wheels of their cars. (file photo) Disorderly conduct, Mayfield Road: At 3:05 a.m. March 25, police were checking the lot of the bar Helen's Gametime, 3962 Mayfield Road, when a man was spotted asleep in a car. Police woke the man who mumbled as he told police his birth date. The man said he did not have identification, or a license, with him. When asked why he was in the lot, the man, 30, replied that he was "waiting for my females." The car, it was found, is owned by the man's mother. It was discovered that the man was wanted on a Shaker Heights warrant. When told to get out of the car, the man did so, then attempted to walk away. Police had to forcibly detain him. After being to taken to jail, the man refused to exit the police cruiser and asked an officer to Taze him. When the officer physically tried to remove the man from the cruiser, the suspect yelled, "Rape! Rape! He's Raping Me!" He refused to stand up and had to be carried into the jail. The man was charged with disorderly conduct/voluntary intoxication, obstructing official business and resisting an officer. OVI, Cedar Road: At 12:55 a.m. March 24, police were called to Wendy's restaurant, 13246 Cedar Road, where a man had fallen asleep behind the wheel while in the drive-through lane. The car had already passed the order station and was near the pickup window. The man's foot was on the brake as the car was in the "drive" position. Police were able to unlock the car's door but couldn't wake the driver for several minutes. A rescue squad was called. When the man spoke, he said he thought he was in Euclid. The man performed poorly on field sobriety tests and was charged with OVI, as well as driving under suspension. His car was towed from the scene. Drug possession, South Taylor Road: At 4:05 a.m. March 25, police received a report of a woman asleep behind the wheel of a running auto. Police found the woman, still asleep, with her foot on the car's brake. Officers woke the woman, who appeared alert with no signs that she was drunk. Inside the car, however, two open containers of beer were found, as was a marijuana cigar. The woman, 38, was arrested and charged with possession of drugs and having an open container of alcohol in an automobile. Assault, Oak Road: At 7:25 p.m. March 23, a woman reported that her grandson, as he walked home from school that day, was struck in the cheek by an object thrown by someone in a passing car. The boy, 9, said a car drove by and then slowed. The passenger shouted at him then threw an unknown object at him. The thrower laughed and the car drove off. The boy had an abrasion on his cheek, but did not require medical attention. Theft from auto, Washington Boulevard: At 10:50 a.m. March 23, a woman, 28, reported that someone entered her unlocked car during the previous night and stole her laptop computer and tax information. Disorderly conduct, South Taylor Road: At 3:35 p.m. March 23, six Cleveland Heights High School students, four of them girls, were walking home when an SUV pulled up. A group of youths, also Heights High students, got out of the vehicle and attacked those walking. The attack stemmed from an incident that took place as school let out. Police located and stopped the SUV. One of the SUV's three occupants, a girl, 15, was charged with disorderly conduct, while its driver, a 17-year-old girl, was charged with assault and was jailed. Disorderly conduct, Brunswick Road: At 9:45 p.m. March 25, police were called to a home where an argument had taken place between a man, 51, and a woman, 44, who both live at the home. Police had been called to the same address just one-and-a-half hours earlier, also due to a disturbance. The second time police responded, they found the woman sitting on the front porch steps. The man, inside the house, said the woman had told him he was a homosexual. He said that the woman had thrown furniture about the house. The woman said the argument began when the man would not allow her to take a shower. Both parties were found to be drunk and were charged with disorderly conduct/voluntary intoxication. Fleeing and eluding, Noble Road: At 12:30 a.m. March 28, an officer on patrol ran the license plates of a passing car and found that they expired on March 8. The officer then attempted to make a traffic stop. The car's driver did not stop. Eventually, the driver, with the car still moving forward, jumped from the car and ran. The officer got a look at the suspect's face. The officer ran after the car, jumped in, and put it in the park position. Inside the car, police found court documents. The name on those documents gave police the identity of the driver as his photo was found to have matched the man the officer saw. The suspect was not apprehended. Criminal mischief, South Taylor Road: On March 24, a man reported that, the night before, he came out of an eatery and was driving his company car away from the establishment when a car drove past. From the passing car, a passenger shot three paintballs at the man's auto, causing dents. The man followed the suspect vehicle and a passenger was able to get a photo of the suspect auto's license plate number. Police went to the home of the South Euclid owner of the suspect vehicle and spoke with a man, 20. The car is owned by the man's mother. The man at first denied knowledge of the paintball incident, but then said a friend he would not identify shot the paintballs. Later, the man, who was driving when the offense was committed, gave police the friend's name. The man was charged for obstructing official business, and a warrant was issued for his friend, 21, for criminal mischief. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our CLEVELAND, Ohio - Raise your hand if you expected Electric Light Orchestra to be a part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2017. Anybody? Anybody? Didn't think so . . . and that's too bad. For Jeff Lynne and his band deserve the honor many in the "serious'' rock 'n' roll world would deny them. So ELO has every right to be on the stage at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday, April 7, when they are inducted alongside Joan Baez, Journey, Pearl Jam, Nile Rodgers, Tupac Shakur and Yes. Eligible since 1996, ELO had never even been nominated before this year. Many snobs in the biz often dismissed the group formed in Birmingham, England, by multi-instrumentalist-vocalist-songwriter-arranger Lynne, multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan as a less-cool version of the Beatles. Sort of a dentist-office/Muzak Beatles. And that is totally unfair. Yeah, there are similarities in the Beatles-ELO sound - especially in the era when classically trained producer Sir George Martin got hold of the Fab Four and began adding strings and such. Like instrumentation and like arrangements on like songs are going to have that effect. But when Lynne and Wood put ELO together in 1970 - the same year the Beatles called it quits - their original premise was to use that classical instrumentation to create rock and pop songs. The thing to remember is that that is exactly what they were trying to do in a previous group, called Move, which also featured Wood, Lynne and Bevan. Critics, who often are the embodiment of the Oscar Wilde quip as "one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing,'' never really gave the band the time of day. But fans did. Remember, this is a band that between 1972 and 1986 put more singles in the combined U.S. and U.K. Top 40 charts than any other band in the world. Somebody had to be buying them. Think about that and think about who was active in that era: Cleveland's own Raspberries, Cheap Trick, the Knack, Peter Gabriel, R.E.M., Slayer, Stevie Wonder, the Eagles, David Bowie and the Beastie Boys, just to name a few, and definitely a musical cornucopia of styles. Pretty heady company for a Beatles Lite band, eh? So what was the appeal of ELO back then? I can only try to explain it from personal experience, partly because for obvious reasons, not a whole lot was written about the band then, but mainly because I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations has run out by now. I first saw the band at The Summit in Houston in 1977 or 1978. I can't recall the exact date for the same reason the band was so popular then. That was the era before metal detectors and emptying your pockets before you entered a venue. So it was the time when you could head into a concert hall with a baggie full of "herb'' in banana papers, pretty sure you'd make it to your seat with them, and not wearing silver bracelets. Keep in mind that the aforementioned "herb'' of that era was different than today's more potent and faaaaaar more expensive varieties. In Houston, it was cheaper than a six-pack of Lone Star beer. Anyway, "A New World Record'' (1976) and "Out of the Blue'' (1977) were made to be listened to in an alternate state. The same can be said for the band's other 11 studio albums, the last of which was "Alone in the Universe,'' which was released as Jeff Lynne's ELO in 2015, when he finally decided to revive the band. ELO's music then and now isn't the kind of Pabulum you get from many artists. It's layered, lush and full of complex musical structures that only sound simple because they were composed and played so well. As such, for those of us who listened and loved, it defied that background-music reputation. For the first two years of the band's existence, Lynne and Wood shared songwriter chores. But Wood - who is among the band's members who will be inducted into the Rock Hall, and rightfully so, along with Lynne, keyboardist Richard Tandy and drummer Bevan - opted out in 1972. When that happened, the band really became "Jeff Lynne's ELO,'' even though that name wasn't adopted until 2014. The elaborate orchestration that is a hallmark of any ELO tune then and now has pretty much required multiple live lineups over the course of the band's life, although in the studio, it was Lynne who played most of the instruments. But for most of the band's initial heyday, the core members were Lynne, Tandy and Bevan. Bevan's unfortunate "scheduling conflicts'' that will prevent him from being at the induction ceremonies probably are not the real reason he won't be in Brooklyn. He and Lynne have been at odds over the use of the name - Bevan in 1989 formed a band called ELO Part II, with approval and licensing by Lynne, who owns the actual ELO name, but the two are far from fast friends. In a 2015 Rolling Stone story, Lynne said he hadn't spoken to his former band mate - at least without having done so through a lawyer - in 30 years. "It's water under the bridge," Lynne told Rolling Stone. "But I don't like talking about them. It's just people pretending to be ... What happens is that the name gets changed to ELO, or the promoter changes it, and I have to sue them every time." In many ways, the induction is an honor primarily for Lynne, the man behind vintage ELO hits such as "Don't Bring Me Down,'' "Mr. Blue Sky'' and "Evil Woman'' as well as "When I Was a Boy,'' a cut off the 2015 Jeff Lynne's ELO album "Alone in the Universe'' album that sounds like vintage ELO. Indeed, Lynne could have been inducted as a non-performer for his work in the producer's chair, especially for one album alone: George Harrison's epiphanous "Cloud Nine'' in 1987. That album pretty much launched the rebirth of the former Beatle's career. It makes sense, then, that Harrison's son, Dhani - whose voice and guitar bear a wonderful resemblance to his late father's - will present Lynne & Co. for induction at Friday's ceremonies. Lynne also added songs for Tom Petty and Roy Orbison before joining them, Harrison and Bob Dylan in the Traveling Wilburys. By the way, that name was derived from the Lynne-Harrison studio days on "Cloud Nine.'' Whenever a problem arose, Harrison would joke, "We'll bury it in the mix.'' As the sessions continued, they jokingly shortened the description of oopsies to "wilburys.'' Frankly, were it not for the deaths of Orbison and Harrison - Oribson of a heart attack at 52 in 1988 and Harrison of lung cancer at 58 in 2001 - I am convinced the Rock Hall would be inducting the Wilburys, too. The combination of voices, musicianship and especially songwriting in that group was nothing short of magical. The greatest pity is that there was but one Wilburys album featuring all four (Orbison died before the recording of "The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 2'' in 1990). Raise your hand if you agree. brock.jpg Brock Lesnar and Goldberg will main event WretleMania 33 on Sunday. (WWE.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio - WWE's biggest event of the year, WrestleMania 33, is set to last roughly seven hours on Sunday. Every minute of it has potential to be exhilarating. Following a weekend of WWE Hall of Fame inductions and NXT Takeover, WWE has loaded WrestleMania 33 with big names and historic feuds. The show will set up the next year of WWE television and likely produce a few new champions. The New Day will host the entire show live from Orlando. Here's what to expect: WrestleMania 33 Kickoff The pre-show stars at 5 p.m., as Renee Young is joined by WWE Hall of Famers Booker T, Jerry "The King" Lawler and Shawn Michaels. From there, two matches have been booked for the kickoff festivities: Neville vs. Austin Aries (Cruiserweight Championship) Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal In case you're wondering, the battle royal will feature 30 competitors including the Big Show, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and Braun Strowman. Main Show The main show begins at 7 p.m. The card headlined by the third showdown between two of the most powerful stars in WWE history: Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar (Universal Championship) Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton (WWE Championship) The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns Bayley vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax (Raw Women's Championship) Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles Seth Rollins vs. Triple H Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho (United States Championship) John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin (Intercontinental Championship) Gallows and Anderson vs. Enzo and Cass vs. Cesaro and Sheamus (Raw Tag Team Championship Ladder Match) Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Carmella vs. Mickie James vs. Naomi (SmackDown Women's Championship) How to watch WrestleMania 33 streams exclusively on the WWE Network ($9.99 a month). Those who don't have the Network can sign up for a free one-month trial that will include Sunday's big event. (This story was updated to reflect the SmackDown Live Women's Championship match being moved back to the main card) Donald Trump,Mike Pence President Donald Trump, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, right, speaks during a signing ceremony for executive orders regarding trade in the Oval Office at the White House, Friday, March 31, 2017, in Washington. Trump spoke to the media but left before signing the orders. (Andrew Harnik, Associated Press) WASHINGTON, D. C. - President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders on Friday that he said would straighten out bad trade deals but critics said wouldn't do enough. The first order Trump signed would increase collection of anti-dumping penalties on importers who flood American markets with undervalued goods. The second requires the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to examine all the factors that contribute to the U.S. trade deficit, and give him a report in 90 days. Trump said the report's findings will be used to "take necessary and lawful action to end those many abuses." We are going to defend our industry & create a level playing field for the American worker. It is time to put #AmericaFirst & #MAGA! pic.twitter.com/GUWx7JqvCi Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2017 "It's been very bad what's been happening to our country in terms of our companies and in terms of our jobs, so we're going to start turning it around," Trump continued. "We're going to turn it around fast." "This marks the beginning of a totally new chapter in the American trade relationship with our partners overseas," added Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The orders were signed days before Trump is scheduled to meet with the president of the country he most frequently blames for trade abuses: China's Xi Jinping. While Ross said the actions weren't meant as a warning to China, Trump alluded to the visit in his remarks. The meeting next week with China will be a very difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017 Democratic Ohio members of Congress who have called for a tougher stance on trade said Trump's actions are inadequate. Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said studies won't create jobs or boost pay for Ohio workers. "The real test will be whether President Trump uses the findings to take bold action to crack down on cheating, like Chinese steel overcapacity," said Brown. Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur said she expects "more than lip service" from Trump on correcting problems created by the North American Free Trade Agreement, which she and Trump have both criticized. "President Trump carried Ohio largely on his promises to correct this massive job outsourcing and gigantic trade imbalance that has hammered Ohio's workers and businesses since NAFTA's passage," she noted. Niles-area Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan accused Trump of "theatric signings of executive orders that do very little, instead of ... the bold action he promised like declaring China a currency manipulator on day one or looking at ways to fix NAFTA." "While efforts to collect the $2.8 billion in unpaid trade penalties should be encouraged, we lose that much every three days to our trade deficit with China, so that is no substitute for a reformed approach to trade that benefits all Americans," Ryan continued. Done deal, California gets more out of its peasants... Both houses of the California legislature passed a 12-cent gasoline tax hike on Thursday, meeting Governor Jerry Browns deadline to provide an estimated $52 billion in new revenues, ostensibly for transportation infrastructure. The bill, which also raises Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) fees, barely reached the two-thirds majority needed to raise taxes in both the State Assembly and the State Senate. Passage marks a huge political victory for Gov. Brown, who is in his fourth and final term as governor. The political consequences for legislators, however, have yet to be seen, as voters have not yet felt the pinch of a tax hike that, critics say, will hit rural and working-class Californians hardest. The vote in the State Assembly was incredibly close, with the measure receiving no more than the 54 votes needed. The Los Angeles Times reported: The bill posed a test of the Democratic supermajority, with members in swing districts wary of casting a politically unpopular vote to raise taxes. Legislative leaders and the governor amped up the arm-twisting in the hours before the vote, negotiating side deals to entice members with projects in their districts. It's that time again! Jim Cramer rang the lightning round bell, which means he gave his take on caller favorite stocks at rapid speed: Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. : "No, no. The downward trend is the opportunity, my friend. It says 'buy, buy, buy!'" AutoNation, Inc. : "I worry about AutoNation and I worry about CarMax . And I've got to tell you, we're going to hear from CarMax next week, they trade together. [] AutoNation is a maybe." CenturyLink Inc. : "I've got to tell you, I regard that yield as a red flag, sir. I'm concerned that I know there's a bunch of analysts that say 'don't worry about it.' I worry about it. If I want to be in [telecommunications], I'm still going to send you to Verizon ." Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC Want to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Vine Questions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com Owlet wants new parents to get some sleep with its high-tech baby accessory. The Utah based company is out with a new and improved smart sock for babies that tracks their heart rate and oxygen levels while they sleep. According to Owlet, its new version fits more snugly and can be worn on either foot. The new design also lets the baby's toes breathe. The gadget's defining featurea sensor placement within the sockhas been improved, and there is now a smartphone application that logs and tracks the data collected. "It's called pulse oximetry," Owlet CEO and co-founder Kurt Workman told CNBC's "On the Money" this week. "So it's that little red light that they put on your finger in the hospital, and it just shines a light through the skin and can measure the heart rate and oxygen." Should the child's oxygen level or heart rate exceed an acceptable range, the base monitor sounds an alarm. Workman has plans to partner with other companies, and integrating Owlet with other devices in ways that will link parents to medical professionals. "We're collecting the largest data base of infant health that's ever existed, so we believe that that data base will solve some of the biggest challenges with infant health," he said. Who would have thought one friendly neighborhood Spider-Man could wallop the entire Justice League? This week saw new movie trailers drop for "Spider-Man: Homecoming" and "Justice League," two of the most hotly anticipated movies of 2017 in a box-office year chock full of superheroes. Yet according to a measure of online buzz by BoxOffice.com, Marvel's teenage wall-crawler from Queens is single-handedly overpowering DC Comics' metahuman squad. "In a nutshell, we're catching more Twitter mentions for Justice League, but the sentiment scores are very modest compared to clearer enthusiasm for Spider-Man," Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com, told CNBC in an email. While Spidey won on quality but lost out to the Justice League on quantity on their respective trailer release days, data from comScore shows the social media conversation around "Spider-Man: Homecoming" has been far more robust over a longer period. The stakes are high for both films. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" is Sony Pictures' second reboot of the franchise. It partnered with Disney-owned hit-maker Marvel Studios, bringing Spider-Man into its massively popular shared cinematic universe, after its second Spidey series fizzled out after two films. Meanwhile, "Justice League" unites Batman, Wonder Woman and other heavy hitters in Warner Bros.' answer to Marvel's multibillion-dollar Avengers franchise. To date, movies in Marvel's cinematic universe have generally drawn better reviews and fan reactions than the interrelated films of DC's silver screen world cheekily nicknamed the " Murderverse " for its grim and gritty tone. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" appears poised to extend that streak. On the day the latest trailer was released, the film drummed up 24 positive mentions for every negative comment. The next day, sentiment improved to 37 cheers for every one jeer. @thatgeekinside: Already said this but I'll say it again: Tom Holland delivers the most accurate representation of a 15-year old Spider-Man. He's nailing it. Sentiment for "Justice League" was more modest. It drew six plaudits for every one criticism the day after its latest trailer dropped. That sentiment carried over on Facebook, according to BoxOffice.com data. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" attracted more new fans on Facebook on trailer release day than the "Justice League" movie page mustered. One factor may be that Sony is revealing more of its hand with the latest tease (though many fans are complaining that the preview spoils too much of the movie). @justinjrusso: cool Spider-Man trailer, I like the part when you can see the entire movie in it There is plenty of flash in the "Spider-Man: Homecoming" trailer, but it focuses more squarely on Peter Parker's struggle to become a worthy hero and his relationship with Iron Man, played by fan favorite Robert Downey Jr. The "Justice League" trailer contains glimmers of humor between its cast, but much of its run-time is spent introducing new characters as they strike hero poses and leap into a battle. There are few clues given about the story. @ghweldon: EXEC: How long is JUSTICE LEAGUE? SNYDER: Three hours. EXEC: ... And if you speed up the slow-mo punching? SYNDER: Hour and fifteen. To be sure, "Spider-Man: Homecoming" premiers in July, a full four months ahead of the "Justice League" release. That gives Warner Bros. plenty of time to drum up excitement. The team-up movie could also get a boost if the "Wonder Woman" solo film slated for June catches fire. Plus, Warner Bros. has shown in the past its iconic lineup of DC Comics characters can rise above muted sentiment and draw in fans. Despite poor reviews, last year's "Justice League" lead-in, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," took in $166 million at its U.S. opening and went on to gross $871 million worldwide. "Suicide Squad," part of DC's movie universe that has ties to the Justice League, also overcame tough reviews to earn $744 million worldwide. Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the change in Facebook fans for the "Justice League" movie. An earlier version cited data measuring Facebook fans of the "Justice League" comic book. The European Union on Friday offered Spain a right of veto over the future relationship between Gibraltar and the EU after Britain leaves the bloc, a move that could smooth Brexit talks but also dash Gibraltar's hopes of winning a special status. The future of Gibraltar, a rocky British enclave on Spain's southern tip, is set to be a major point of contention in the exit talks along with issues relating to Britain's access to the EU's single market or the future rights of EU citizens in the U.K. and of Britons living in Europe. Rows between Spain and Britain over Gibraltar have held up entire EU deals in the past - including current legislation governing air travel - and Brussels is keen to avoid a new bilateral dispute getting in the way of an orderly Brexit. "This seems intended to give Spain something so they don't try to hold the whole withdrawal treaty hostage over it," one senior EU diplomat said in Brussels. According to the EU's draft joint position on the exit talks, which the remaining members are due to approve on April 29, "after the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom." In essence, it offers Madrid a special share of power over Gibraltar's fate, but only once the territory is no longer an internal EU problem. A spokesman for the Spanish government said Madrid was satisfied with the decision. "It is what we wanted and what we have said from the beginning... The recognition by the European Union of the legal and political situation that Spain has defended fully satisfies us," Inigo Mendez de Vigo told a news conference following the weekly cabinet meeting. The Government of Gibraltar issued a statement on Friday evening saying that the draft suggested Spain was trying to get away with mortgaging the future relationship between the EU and Gibraltar. "This is a disgraceful attempt by Spain to manipulate the European Council for its own, narrow, political interests (...) a clear manifestation of the predictably predatory attitude that we anticipated Spain would seek to abusively impose on its partners," the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, said in an e-mailed statement. Picardo also said the draft would not change anything regarding "our continued, exclusive British Sovereignty". Shifting attitudes Spain, which claims sovereignty over "the Rock," which it ceded in 1713, has frequently irritated its EU partners with attempts to use EU negotiations to put pressure on Gibraltar. Since Britain's Brexit vote nine months ago, however, attitudes have shifted significantly, EU diplomats say. "The British didn't give a damn about Gibraltar and they created this situation themselves," a second senior EU official said. "No one is going to blame the Spanish for taking advantage." Gibraltar rejected the idea of Britain sharing sovereignty with Spain by 99 percent to 1 percent in a 2002 referendum, but voted overwhelmingly to remain part of the EU in last June's Brexit vote. The British government declined to comment on Friday although Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday in her statement to parliament on the triggering of Article 50 that London remained opposed to negotiating any transfer of sovereignty unless the Gibraltar people approved. Gibraltar's border with Spain was closed by former dictator Francisco Franco in 1969 and only reopened in the 1980s. It has said it wanted to negotiate a "special status" with the EU after the British exit, something Spain signaled it was ready to discuss without abandoning its claims for joint sovereignty over the disputed territory. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. You've heard about hackers trying to steal credit card numbers and wipe out bank accounts. But there's another group that many cybersecurity experts say especially worry them. These criminals are targeting critical infrastructure, like power grids and what makes them dangerous is that some are backed by governments and big money. "Turning off water, turning off electricity. Those are all realistic attacks now," said Liam O' Murchu a director with cybersecurity company Symantec, the manufacturer of Norton security products. Symantec is currently tracking more than 100 government backed groups, more than ten times the number from five years ago. Using a computer to cause a power outage may seem farfetched, but experts believe it's already happened. Most recently, in December, parts of Ukraine's capital city Kiev lost power because of what was believed to be a cyberattack. And that wasn't the first time. In December 2015, 225,000 customers in Ukraine lost power, likely as the result of malware being placed on the computer network of a power supply company, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The Ukrainian government has blamed Russia for the 2015 attack. Businessman Mark Cuban listens as he is introduced at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Film Interactive Festival 2017 in Austin, Texas, March 12, 2017. President Donald Trump was offered political cover on Saturday by an unlikely source: Mark Cuban, a fellow billionaire and mogul with whom the president has repeatedly sparred. As Congress probes suspected ties between Russia and officials close to the president, Cuban launched into a lengthy defense that was little more than a theory. It was unusual, given that there's no love lost between the two men, who frequently trade barbs and diatribes on social media. In a series of posts on Twitter, Cuban said he believed Trump was "clueless" to any attempts by Russia to co-opt surrogates and campaign officials at the height of the 2016 general election. The billionaire, who owns the Dallas Mavericks and backed Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, theorized that there was "no chance" Trump was in on efforts by the Kremlin to influence the votebut defended the president in the most backhanded way possible. Cuban tweet 1 Trump had " had no idea this was happening," Cuban wrote, adding that Trump has defended Russia in the past based solely on his business interests. "He was doing what he was told to do. Stick to the script and read what was written for him," Cuban said. Protesters stormed and set fire to Paraguay's Congress on Friday after the Senate secretly voted for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. The country's constitution has prohibited re-election since it was passed in 1992 after a brutal dictatorship fell in 1989. "A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us," said Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party. Firefighters managed to control the flames after protesters left the Congress building late on Friday night. But protests and riots continued in other parts of Asuncion and elsewhere in the country well into the night, media reported. Earlier, television images showed protesters breaking windows of the Congress and clashing with police, burning tires and removing parts of fences around the building. Police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Several politicians and journalists were injured, media reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said several police were hurt. One member of the lower house of Congress, who had been participating in protests that afternoon, underwent surgery after being hit by rubber bullets. The number of casualties was unknown. Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter. "Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic," he said. "We must not allow a few barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and general well-being of the Paraguayan people." The unrest coincides with a rare high-level international event in the landlocked South American country. Thousands of businessmen and government officials descended on Asuncion this week for the Inter-American Development Bank's annual board of governors meeting. While Paraguay long suffered from political uncertainty, the soy- and beef-exporting nation has been attracting investment in agriculture and manufacturing sectors in recent years as Cartes offered tax breaks to foreign investors. Instability in the country of 6.8 million is a concern for its much larger neighbors Brazil and Argentina. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was monitoring the events. "I call on political leaders to avoid inciting violence and seek dialogue," the commission's regional representative for South America, Amerigo Incalcaterra, said in a statement. Secret Session The Senate voted earlier on Friday during a special session in a closed office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber. Opponents of the measure, who claim it would weaken Paraguay's democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal. The proposal will also require approval by the House, where it appeared to have strong support. A vote which had been expected early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down, said the chamber's president, Hugo Velazquez. Several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Peru and Chile, prevent presidents from running for consecutive terms in a region where memories of dictatorships remain ripe. Others, including Colombia and Venezuela, have changed their constitutions to give sitting presidents a chance at re-election. Paraguay's measure would apply to future presidents and Cartes, a soft-drink and tobacco mogul elected to a five-year term in 2013. His strongest backers want him to be allowed to run for another term, but critics have said a constitutional change aimed at benefiting a sitting president would be unfair. The change would also apply to former President Fernando Lugo, whose supporters want to be allowed to run for another term. Congress ousted Lugo in 2012, saying he had failed in his duty to maintain social order following a bloody land eviction. The rapid impeachment drew strong criticism in Latin America, especially from fellow leftist governments. A similar re-election proposal had been rejected in August and Congress this week voted to change the rules that required lawmakers to wait a year before voting again. "Everything was done legally," said Senator Carlos Filizzola of the leftist Guasu Front coalition, which supports the constitutional amendment as a way of allowing Lugo to return as Paraguay's leader. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. A worker trims cannabis at the growing facility of the Tikun Olam company on March 7, 2011 near the northern city of Safed, Israel. That hasn't sat well with Trump supporters like Stone, who said the president should "honor his word and keep his promise, irrespective of what his Cabinet members may say." The Republican added that "there are so many other ways that law enforcement can be put to good use rather than to persecute harmless farmers and shopkeepers who are abiding by state law." In a blog post published on Friday , Stone called on Trump to remain true to sentiments he expressed as a presidential candidate, when he said that pot legalization should be left to the states . In recent days, however, his administration has suggested it would err on the side of stricter enforcement of marijuana laws . Roger Stone, one of President Donald Trump's most ardent surrogates, has publicly implored the president to back marijuana legalizationeven as he blasted his U.S. attorney general for "outmoded thinking" on pot while quoting Thomas Jefferson and The Bible to justify his position. Stone specifically took aim at Attorney General Jeff Sessions, writing on his website that the former Alabama Senator was "far from the mainstream" in his opposition to marijuana. "Perhaps Attorney General Sessions has forgotten his Genesis from the Old Testament," wrote Stone, a veteran political operative and self-described libertarian who frequently rides the television airwaves in Trump's defense. He quoted a verse from Genesis decreeing that mankind possessed a God-given right to "every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food." Currently, more than half of the United States has at least partly legalized the use of marijuana, while others are inching in a similar direction. Stone cited that, as he voiced opposition to stricter enforcement by the presidenta man he's known for decades. "The Trump administration should be mindful that the recreational marijuana measures that passed in several states all passed this same way, with overwhelming popular support," he said. "This was clearly the Will of the People. It is not Jeff Sessions place to prosecute his version of morality and President Trump should not allow him to do so." Representatives from the White House and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. A White House aide made an unusual move Saturday by publicly urging voters to oppose a congressman from President Donald Trump's own party. Dan Scavino Jr., director of social media for the White House, called on Michigan voters to "defeat" Rep. Justin Amash, a Republican House Freedom Caucus member and a frequent Trump critic. Scavino called the fourth-term congressman a "liability" in the state, which Trump unexpectedly won in November, partly driven by promises to boost manufacturing there. .@realDonaldTrump is bringing auto plants & jobs back to Michigan. @justinamash is a big liability.#TrumpTrain, defeat him in primary. The libertarian-leaning Amash was among the conservative and moderate Republicans who contributed to defeating the GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. At least for now, Amashamong the Congressional Republicans most critical of Trump appeared unbowed by Scavino's challenge. He responded to Scavino in a tweet, saying the White House aide was attacking "independent thinkers" and used the "same old agenda" of "establishment" politicians. Trump admin & Establishment have merged into #Trumpstablishment. Same old agenda: Attack conservatives, libertarians & independent thinkers. The back-and-forth escalates tensions between Trump and members of his party, whose support he may need as Republicans try to pass a tax reform plan in the coming months. On Thursday, Trump called out specific Freedom Caucus members on Twitter, vowing to "fight" the group in 2018 and arguing that they threatened to hold up the GOP agenda. It is not clear if Trump's attacks will make reluctant members of Congress more likely to follow his lead, especially because his approval rating sits well lower than recent presidents at this point in his administration. Amash is known for explaining his votes to constituents and reportedly cried this year when he missed his first vote since taking office in 2011. Days ago, Amash likened the president to a 5th grader for his broadside against the Freedom Caucus. The holidays are creeping up on us You may never buy another laptop. Ten years ago, laptop sales overtook desktop PC sales to become the dominant hardware platform for computing. Now smartphones are about to do to laptops what laptops did to desktops. But wait, you may ask. What's wrong with laptops? Apple has run out of good laptop ideas For the past decade, Apple has led and dominated the laptop market with design and innovation. The company has been moving toward better quality, so-called "Retina" screens. Apples keyboard designs and unibody aluminum construction have been heavily imitated. The company used to dazzle the industry by sweating the small stuff, like the MagSafe power connector and lights that shine through aluminum. It's not just that Apple innovated. It's that its laptop innovations evolved their products toward elegance and usability. And that's over. After years without a significant new laptop design, their latest release, last year's MacBook Pro, landed with a thud. The laptop was seriously underpowered called by some a MacBook Air at a MacBook Pro price. The company ditched its incredibly popular MagSafe power connector in favor of USB C power. [ To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page. ] And that Touch Bar! Some like it, others hate it. Either way, the innovation turns away from elegance and simplicity toward awkward interface design and complexity. Most reviewers and users either hate the Touch Bar or like the Touch Bar, but few love it. The keyboard is a mixed bag. Its short key travel thrills some and annoys others. And the touchpad is way too big. Users report constant accidental taps. Apple's attempt to be more elegant and minimalist has had the opposite effect. By offering only four USB C ports, the laptop itself has become simpler. But USB C requires the user to buy ugly, awkward, easy-to-lose dongles and adapters for all those devices and media we use that don't support USB C. Yuck! The best thing that can be said about the MacBook Pro is that it's faster and has a better screen than previous models. But this is inevitable and expected, not revolutionary. There's nothing about this laptop that's going to drive the industry to imitate. Rivals are more likely to see the new MacBook Pro as an opportunity to provide something different, not something similar. Most importantly, is the MacBook Pro worth the price? We'll get to that question in a minute. But first, let's look at all the trends happening this year that conspire against the laptop in general. Flying the unfriendly skies The U.S. and U.K. governments recently banned all non-medical electronic devices larger than a smartphone as carry-on for U.S.-bound flights on specific airlines from specific airports in the Middle East and North Africa. Passengers are required to check their laptops. The ban may have been implemented in response to two recent laptop bomb explosions one blowing a hole in an airplane flying from from Somalia to Djibouti and the other wounding six people in a Somali airport. These events coincided with intelligence chatter finding increasing sophistication by Al Qaida in building laptop bombs. One congressman said at a recent security conference that more countries would be joining the ban. There are several assumptions we can make about the ban. First, like so many security measures, the ban may spread globally and eventually include all flights. For the next few years, it may become impossible to use a laptop on a commercial flight. Second, such a ban will affect laptop sales. Many travelers won't want to place an expensive laptop in checked luggage for fear of loss or theft. The general fear, uncertainty and doubt around laptops on airplanes is enough to change consumer behavior. And the frequent flier is the laptop industry's best customer base. Third, the ban will be an incentive to develop alternatives so passengers can travel without laptops. Wait, what alternatives? The docking smartphone alternative Samsung announced this week its upcoming Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones, and the public is impressed. But even more impressive is a Galaxy S8 peripheral called the DeX Station. The DeX is a smartphone dock into which you plug a keyboard, mouse and monitor. DeX enables you to use your Galaxy S8 as a desktop PC. (Instead of a monitor, you can also plug in a TV or projector.) The dock outputs at a 4K resolution, and it supports Ethernet for faster connections. I expect some of you business users to buy two one permanently installed in your office and another in your home office. That would enable you to use your smartphone full time as your only device, even as you benefit from the giant screen, full-size keyboard goodness of a desktop PC everywhere you work. You can take it with you on trips, and use it in hotel rooms to plug into the room's big TV. Years ago, the use of a phone as a desktop PC wasn't practical. But now, thanks to the cloud and the emergence of strong, even enterprise-capable apps for Android phones, a smartphone docking setup makes perfect sense. The DeX Station costs $149.99 and ships in late April, according to Samsung. At that price, you still can get a bigger screen and better keyboard than what you get on a laptop, and at a fraction of the price even if you have to go out and buy a monitor, keyboard and mouse. It's possible that even Apple may get into the docking racket. Apple last week published a patent application for a clamshell laptop-like device that runs off an iPhone. The iPhone is inserted in the same spot in front of the keyboard where the touchpad now sits on a MacBook Pro. The phone not only powers the device entirely, but you use the iPhone's screen as the touchpad. This would give you the laptop experience without the laptop price. Better still, you'd use iOS instead of OS X, and could use a single device for everything. You can bet that if Samsung and Apple are enabling the use of smartphones instead of desktops or laptops, the rest of the industry will do so as well. In fact, a small company called Andromium, which makes the Andromium OS (an app that gives Android the look and feel of a desktop OS) is offering for pre-order something called the Superbook. It's a $129 laptop-looking "shell," that's powered by an Android phone. I think the practice of docking in general, and docking a smartphone in particular, will go mainstream fast. The smartphone-size laptop alternative Docking isn't a new idea even docking a smartphone isn't new (consider Microsoft's Continuum, for example). What's likely new is the embrace of docking as a mainstream alternative. Here's another old idea that's about to go mainstream: clamshell smartphones. In 1997, a company called Psion perfected the so-called personal digital assistant, or PDA. Psion did this through amazing industrial design. The Psion Series 5 had a surprisingly large and touch-typeable keyboard. Sadly, this perfection was washed away by the rising mobile phone movement, which replaced PDAs. Now, the same designer who created the Psion Series 5, Martin Riddiford, is re-creating it as a dual-boot Android and Linux smartphone called the Gemini PDA. He's designing it for a company called Planet Computers. Planet Computers The Gemini PDA is a clamshell Android phone that you can use instead of a laptop. While closed, the Gemini PDA can be used as a phone. While open, it can be used as an Android smartphone with a built-in keyboard or a Linux laptop that fits in your pocket. In fact, the smartphone-size PC idea is emerging more generally, including in the gaming space. Even Apple has a patent for a clamshell iPhone, which uses a bendable screen. If users want a physical, touch-typeable keyboard, in other words, they won't need a laptop to get one. 3 more trends fatal to laptops All these alternatives provide incentives to use smartphones instead of laptops. And there are three more trends the last of which will close the lid on laptops once and for all. The first fatal trend is that young people are already choosing smartphones over laptops, even without docking and clamshell smartphones. ComScore reports that the use of laptops and desktops among younger people is on the decline. Some 20 percent of millennials use their smartphone as their only computing device, according to a recent report, and this percentage grows each year. Raw demographics alone favor the end of laptops. The second fatal trend is that the industry is champing at the bit to move everything off Intel and onto ARM. (Intel and Intel-compatible chips have powered desktop and laptop platforms for decades; the smartphones and smartphone apps run on ARM chips.) Once laptops, especially laptops from Apple, run ARM chips, they'll run iOS and Android instead of OS X and Windows. And at that point, they'll essentially be identical to docking solutions, but more expensive. The third and final fatal trend can be found in your wallet. Smartphones are becoming amazing. The Galaxy S8 is amazing. And this year's iPhone is expected to be mind-blowing as well. The new phones have cameras that rival DSLRs. They have performance that rivals desktop PCs. They run increasingly amazing apps, including professional-quality apps. Unlike laptops, smartphones are exciting. And they're expensive. Consumers are now ready to pay $700, $800 even $1,000 and upwards for a phone. (Already a top-of-the-line iPhone 7 with AppleCare costs $1,100. The iPhone 8 is expected to be more expensive.) Consumers will pay this amount because smartphones are worth it. This is especially true if they don't have to shell out $1,500 or more for a laptop as well. Laptops are too boring and expensive. The industry is churning out new designs that enable smartphones as laptop replacements. Young people are favoring smartphones. The industry wants to use smartphone OSes. And consumers are spending more on smartphones, which will make us spend less on laptops. The dominance of laptops is over. You may never buy another laptop. Now that Republicans in Congress have sold us out, everyone is writing about technical ways to prevent your internet service provider (ISP) from watching your on-line activity. The FBI and the British Government complain about bad guys going dark, but now the rest of us have to do so too, if we want any shred of privacy. The generic, knee-jerk reaction is to use either a VPN or Tor. Both offer encryption that stealths you to your ISP. I wrote about them back in September (A Defensive Computing term paper on privacy: VPNs, Tor and VPN routers) but here I'm taking things a bit further. As a Defensive Computing guy, I have been focused on privacy invasions by an ISP for a while now. I'm well past generic reactions. Here I propose a Chromebook and two VPNs to dial your security and anonymity up to 11. Part of the privacy boost comes from the Chromebook, part from the VPNs. By the way, have you heard the latest re-definition of ISP? Invade Subscriber Privacy. Hats off to whoever came up with that. CHROMEBOOK ISOLATION AND LOCKDOWN For the Chromebook, I suggest creating a Google account that is used only on the laptop and nowhere else. The point is to isolate the machine as much as possible. Nothing new here, anyone serious about privacy should always isolate their private activity to a computer (real or virtual) devoted to that purpose. I would argue that the fatal flaw with Tor browser is that it typically runs on the same computer people use for other stuff. For added protection, disable Chrome browser extensions. As I wrote about recently, there are extensions that can spy on you. And, of course, disable the Adobe Flash Player (it's a plug-in, not an extension). To block Flash in Chrome, click the three vertical dots in the top right corner, then Settings, then "Show advanced settings..," then the gray "Content settings..." button, then, in the Flash section, opt to "Block sites from running Flash." Private browsing mode ("incognito" to Chrome) is, of course, the friend of anyone wanting to hide their tracks. More on this later. OS LEVEL VPN The secret sauce here is using two VPNs concurrently. Chrome OS, the operating system on a Chromebook, supports two types of VPN: OpenVPN and L2TP. I can only speak from experience about using L2TP. Michael Horowitz/IDG Creating a new L2TP VPN definition on Chrome OS 56 You define a new VPN connection to the system with Settings -> Add connection -> OpenVPN/L2TP. This puts you at the window shown above where you need to enter five pieces of data: a VPN server name, a pre-shared key, a VPN userid, a VPN password, and a name by which to refer to this clump of stuff. The name can be anything that makes sense to you. The technical information is provided by the VPN service. All this information should be saved for later use by checking the "Save identity and password" box. Note that there is a bug in Chrome OS version 56. After entering the data for a new VPN connection, the button at the bottom of the window says "Connect." It should say "OK." Clicking the Connect button does not connect you to the just entered VPN, it merely saves the data you entered. Chrome OS version 57, released on March 29, 2017, fixes this. Typically a VPN provider has dozens, if not hundreds of VPN servers that you can connect to. On Chrome OS, each server requires a different VPN definition. I always end up with connections named after the city where the VPN server resides. Once the data defining a VPN connection is saved, you connect to it by clicking in the bottom right corner of the screen, what Windows folks would call the system tray. Then click on "VPN disconnected," then the name of a VPN connection. In Chrome OS 56, there is no progress bar while the VPN connection is being made, but a small (very small actually) key appears under the Wi-Fi signal strength indicator when the connection completes. Chrome OS 57 offers an easily visible message while the connection to the VPN is being made. This typically takes under 5 seconds. I recommend checking your public IP address before and after making the VPN connection to insure that it changes. You can do this at many sites including ipchicken.com, checkip.dyndns.com and ip2location.com. Also, after the connection is made, clicking the bottom right corner of the screen again will say "Connected to xxx" where xxx is the name you gave to the VPN connection definition. BROWSER ONLY VPN Now that Chrome OS is using a VPN, you can start another VPN from within the Chrome browser. A handful of VPN providers offer their service as a web browser add-on. VPN connections made within a browser only protect web pages in that browser. In this way, they function much like the Tor browser. But, in Chrome OS, pretty much everything runs through the Chrome browser. Making a browser-only VPN connection can be as easy as clicking a button or two, assuming you let the browser save the userid/password needed for this second VPN provider. As with the initial Operating System level VPN, check the public IP address before and afterwards to insure the browser-only VPN connection has kicked in. It's a nerd thrill to watch a computer go from its initial public IP address to a second and then to a third. Kind of like traveling around the world without actually going anywhere, especially if you check the public IP address using ip2location.com. You sign up for this VPN service in a normal browser window. If you prefer, Chrome can save the necessary login information for you. Whether it does or not, you will need to initiate the VPN connection from a normal browser window, doing so from incognito mode does not work. Incognito mode also blocks extensions by default. To let the browser-based VPN function in incognito mode, enter chrome://extensions in the address bar. Find the extension for the VPN and check the "Allow in incognito" box. Thereafter, new incognito windows will be protected by the second VPN. You should, of course, verify this by checking the public IP address. TAKING STOCK So, exactly what have we done here? Your ISP can see that you are using the Operating System level VPN (the first one). As with any VPN, they are blind to your online activity. In this case, they have no clue that you are using a browser based VPN. The provider of the operating system VPN knows where you are and may even know who you are, if you pay for the service. But all they see is that you made a connection to the VPN server of the browser level VPN provider. They too, are blind to your online activities. The browser based VPN provider does see what you do online, just as a Tor exit node does. But, they don't know where you are. From their perspective, you came from a VPN server run by the operating system VPN provider. If you play your cards right, they also don't know who you are. ANONYMITY Tor was developed to hide your location, but since there is no sign-up or registration process, none of the computers in the Tor network know who you are either. At least, not at first. If you anonymously sign up with a VPN provider, then the scheme described here is virtually Tor. The browser based VPN provider does not know who you are or where you are. Far too many articles ignore the fact that your identity can be hidden from a VPN provider. Perhaps you use a limited, free version of the service that only requires you to provide an email address. Even when paying, you can be anonymous. Many VPN providers allow payment with Bitcoin or gift cards. Below is a screen shot from the website of Private Internet Access showing that they accept gift cards. Michael Horowitz/IDG VPN provider Private Internet Access is one of many that accept gift cards for payment For still more anonymity, there are VPN providers that take cash. In one case, you go to their website and get assigned a customer number. Then you mail them cash and tell them to apply it to that customer number. STANDING OUT Even with all that, you still need to be aware that the use of VPNs and Tor is visible to an ISP. On the other side, your location (inferred from your IP address) is visible to the first computer you talk to. In the case of a VPN, that first computer is a VPN server (the computer that initiates a VPN connection is called the client). Tunneling one VPN through another hides your location/IP address from the second VPN provider, in this case the browser-based VPN. In the case of Tor, the first computer is called the entry node. For the best possible anonymity, don't use either Tor or a VPN at home. Interesting story about that. Once upon a time, there was a college student who hadn't studied for a test. So, he tried to cancel the test by generating a phony bomb scare. The techies at the university were able to identify who on their network had been using Tor around the time of the bomb scare. This narrowed down the list of suspects sufficiently to identify the guilty party. The more people that use VPNs, the less they will stand out from the crowd. Thanks to Congress, more people will, undoubtedly, be using a VPN. FINALLY Doubling up on VPNs is not something anyone would want to do constantly. It takes time to set up and there will be a performance hit going through two different VPNs. In my limited experience with this, it has been faster than Tor, but your mileage will obviously vary. In part, this comes from the fact that VPNs compete based on speed. And, most VPNs let you chose a server that is physically close to you, something that is not an option with Tor. Speaking of Tor, techies often say that it offers the best anonymity, but Tor is far from perfect. For one thing Tor has a huge target painted on its back. Every spy agency in the world is focused on breaking it. And, the anonymity offered by Tor greatly depends on how you get to it. The safest way to use Tor is by booting the Tails version of Linux off a CD, DVD or USB flash drive, but, this is too hard for many people. The Tor Browser is easier to use but not as secure. Just a few months ago, Darlene Storm wrote that a Firefox zero-day can be used to unmask Tor browser users. Some also suggest using HTTPS secure websites to hide from an ISP, but the privacy this offers is weak. While the contents of web pages are encrypted, the domain name is not. Just knowing that you visited the i-like-to-have-sex-with-turtles.com website is enough for blackmail. As always, if the operating system itself is hacked, all bets are off, regardless of VPNs and Tor. Chrome OS checks itself at system startup to insure that it hasn't been hacked. The paranoid among us can refresh the system at any time with the built-in Powerwash feature. Rest assured, if you are a Yankee fan living in Boston, doubling up on VPNs should keep your secret safe from Red Sox nation. Next up: VPN providers that support Chrome OS UPDATE: April 2, 2017. Edits to make some points clearer. - - - - - - - Now that Computerworld, and all of parent company IDG's websites, have eliminated user comments, you can get in touch with me privately by email at my full name at Gmail. Public comments can be directed to me on twitter at @defensivecomput "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." So begins George Orwell's dystopian drama "1984," his 1949 novel whose popularity has surged since President Donald Trump took office earlier this year. The book climbed to the top spot of Amazon's best-seller list in January after Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway defended false claims about the inauguration crowd as merely "alternative facts." "1984" has been made into a film on two occasions, first in 1956 and later in _ you guessed it _ 1984. The latter version is now heading back into theaters, this time as a pointed commentary on our modern times. On April 4, more than 180 art-house theaters around the United States, including the Darkside Cinema in Corvallis, will screen the film in protest of Trump's administration. Theaters in 165 cities and 43 states will host the screenings as part of a joint effort by the Art House Convergence and United State of Cinema organizations. "A lot of us have felt that (with) the current administration, a lot of our most essential values are sort of under assault," said Dylan Skolnick, co-director of Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, N.Y., and one of the organizers of the national screening. "In particular, things like the existence of actual facts. And '1984' has had this sudden uptick in popularity because it really explores a lot of those issues." Originally released in its namesake year, the more recent film version of the book stars the late John Hurt as Winston Smith, a propagandist tasked with rewriting history to align with the dictates of the Party and its omniscient figurehead known as Big Brother. (The timing of the screenings is not random: April 4 is the date of the first entry in Smith's resistance diary.) "Orwell's portrait of a government that manufactures (its) own facts, demands total obedience and demonizes foreign enemies has never been timelier," a press release for the event stated, adding that the screenings encourage theaters "to take a stand for our most basic values: freedom of speech, respect for our fellow human beings and the simple truth that there are no such things as 'alternative facts.' " "Obviously '1984' is a nightmare, but it's also a warning," said Hadrian Belove, co-founder of Cinefamily in Los Angeles, one of the theaters showing the film. "We felt that thinking about what all this means is a good thing right now." In this weeks New Statesman, George Eatons cover piece is a call to arms for liberal Britain to find some vehicle any vehicle for opposing Theresa Mays Conservatives whilst Jeremy Corbyn is busy irradiating Labour. Remarkably, he revealed that a close ally (often, but not always, code for the man himself) of George Osborne has been going around pitching the idea: A week after the EU referendum, the Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, was taken by surprise when a close ally of George Osborne approached him and suggested the creation of a new centrist party called the Democrats (the then chancellor had already pitched the idea to Labour MPs). Further down we find Anna Soubry (quelle surprise) basically saying that shes on board as soon as someone can get it off the ground: If it could somehow be the voice of a moderate, sensible, forward-thinking, visionary middle way, with open minds actually things which Ive believed in all my life better get on with it. Such talk will surely gladden the hearts of men such as Stephen Daisley, who has in the Spectator called for a caucus of 25 or so patriotic Europhiles to resign the Conservative whip and give the legislature control of the Brexit process (although they have yet to muster to many rebels on even a single vote). Nonetheless the challenges to setting up a new party are formidable. Set aside the hurdles erected by our electoral system theyve been overcome before, as any Liberal will tell you. Ask instead: what would a new party actually be for? Who would it serve? British party names usually denote a philosophy, like Conservative and Liberal, or a sectional interest such as Labour or Scottish National. Democrats basically describes everybody, and so doesnt really describe anybody. Such a bland name speaks to the fact that its far from clear what the various bits of the ancien regime are supposed to unite around. They may have all found themselves on the same side during the Brexit referendum, but that doesnt mean that there arent real differences between them. Liberalism can only claim so much political territory to supplant Labour a new party would have to reach out left or right, and thats where the problems kick in. An obvious answer to the sectional interest point might be the 48 per cent, but it cant be stressed enough that this just isnt a bloc of coherent interests on which to build anything so permanent as a party, let alone a wholesale realignment of the party system. Nor are the 52 per cent. If you doubt it, just see how the latest NatCen research is exploding the myth of a united and outraged Remain Scotland. The referendum seems to have set something in train, certainly, but apart from a period of Tory hegemony its not yet clear what that is. As Tony Blair once put it: The Kaleidoscope has been shaken. The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again. But they may not settle soon enough for Osborne and co. It seems probable that any new party, should one emerge, would be much better for coalescing once the fault-lines of post-Brexit British politics are clear, rather than being cobbled together on the fly to conduct a Europhile rearguard action during the negotiations. A successful new party must be forward-looking; one created to hold the Government to account on Brexit would be fundamentally nostalgic. Theres certainly space for a larger liberal party, now that the liberals who until recently ran all three of the major parties may need to settle for just the one. But actual liberalism is very rarely a mass-market product and its not clear why that tendency will result in anything other than a somewhat restored Liberal Democrats. But you never know. British politics seems to divide itself up into eras defined by the lifespan of whichever party isnt the Conservatives, punctuated by periods of Tory dominance as their opponents find their new shape. We see that pattern between the fall of the Liberals and the rise of Labour, and between the last Old Labour administration and the rise of New Labour. No party rules forever, and its more likely than not that when this Conservative administration does leave office it will bequeath it to a new-look opposition of one sort or another. But just as you couldnt see the Attlee Government from the 20s, or the Blair one from the 80s, we probably cant see that new movement from here. Jefferson City Council members Bob Burns, Brad Cheney and Stan Neal have said they have resigned from the Select Reform Committee of Jefferson and have nothing to do anymore with the group or its lawsuit against the city and City Recorder Sarah Cook. But the three remain listed as the groups chief petitioners, according to Marion County Circuit Court paperwork and the Oregon Secretary of States Office, and thats muddied the waters for the councilors. Residents and fellow councilors have been critical of them regarding the lawsuit during council meetings. Technically, they cant resign (from the committee) until the lawsuit is resolved, said Councilor Dave Beyerly, during a special council meeting on Thursday. I dont know how theyre not involved, said Ross Williamson, attorney for the city of Jefferson, in an interview this week. Show me otherwise. I have the petition for referendum and the lawsuit against the city. Their names are all over it. It is a curious situation, he added. Mayor Cyndie Hightower, however, is no longer named as the treasurer for the Select Reform Committee for Jefferson. She was listed as such in the original filings for the lawsuit and initially with the Secretary of States Office. The Marion County Circuit Court lawsuit, filed in August, sought to force the city to put a 15-acre annexation before voters. Cook had earlier declined to process a referendum to put the matter on a ballot, under legal advice that such a decision would violate a new state law. A judge ruled in favor of the city and Cook in November, but the matter has been appealed with Burns, Cheney and Neal again listed as chief petitioners, as in the original filing. There have been no motions to remove them from this case. Before they were elected, the new councilors and Hightower wanted the city to fight against Senate Bill 1573, a new state law that eliminated the ability of voters to determine annexations. The three councilors and Hightower also were previously members of Jeffersonians for Jefferson, which filed an Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals case regarding the annexation. The four all live near the annexation area's border. So far, legal fees for the annexation, the land use appeal and the Marion County Circuit Court case have added up to nearly $40,000 for the city of Jefferson. Neal has said that the cost could have been much lower if the city sued the state for its right to vote on annexations like the cities of Corvallis and Philomath did in Benton County Circuit Court. Mark Shepard, Corvallis city manager, said that the legal bills for his city are less than $1,000 so far, as the League of Oregon Cities, a lobbying group that represents municipalities, joined the case and is taking the lead in the lawsuit. "The league is not providing funding to any city challenging the annexation legislation," said Mike McCauley, the league's executive director. "The league is involved in the lawsuit as an intervenor and is covering the costs of its participation. We certainly are coordinating our work with the attorneys from other cities," he added. The Benton County Circuit Court matter is intended as a flagship case in which the league is working to set precedent for the benefit of all Oregon cities. It's unclear whether the organization would act as an intervenor in other similar lawsuits. In other Jefferson news, a representative of the Oregon Ethics Commission confirmed this week that complaints have been filed regarding Hightower, Burns, Cheney and Neal. The agency is reviewing whether an investigation is warranted. Details of the complaints are confidential while under the preliminary review stage, the representative said. Secretary of States Office paperwork indicates that the Select Reform Committee of Jefferson did not expect to receive or spend more than $3,500 in either 2016 or 2017. Internet of things News Microsoft Taps Partner Base For Azure IoT Security Audits Lindsey O'Donnell Share this Microsoft is looking to its channel partners to bring its Azure IoT Suite's security services to customers deploying Internet of Things applications. The Redmond, Wash.-based company is expanding its Security Program for Azure IoT, which seeks to reduce risk in IoT deployments by connecting customers to qualified channel partners who know the best practices and standards for security IoT. "Really the goal is driving each other to make sure we're delivering security across the board," said Mark Johnson, cloud solution architect at Chicago, Ill.-based Microsoft partner 10th Magnitude, which just joined the program. "Microsoft is giving back to us in a couple of ways. We talked about a cool way to do some penetration testing." [Related: Channel Players Step Up To Address IoT Security Concerns In Health Care] Partners like Casaba Security, Tech Mahindra, Unisys Corporation, SecureGuard and 10th Magnitude have joined Microsoft's new program. The company will be working with these security auditing partners and standards organizations, such as the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), to establish industry protocols and best practices for security auditing. "In all our security efforts, Microsoft works with security partners to help protect businesses and ultimately help us raise the bar across the industry," said Sam George, partner director for program management at Microsoft's Azure IoT team. "Select Azure IoT customers will be the first to take advantage of this program to evaluate their end-to-end IoT infrastructure and manage their security risk." As part of the program, 10th Magnitude has developed a security framework within its IoT practice. 10th Magnitude's IoT security audit involves an evaluation phase, including threat modeling, cloud assessments, encryption reviews, and authentication reviews; a training phase, which trains the customer for remote monitoring, data analysis and remediation planning; and a remediation phase, which provides solutions to identified risks. "We had a few meetings and are trying to pull together two internal projects. One is a whitepaper on IoT security, and the other is coming up with a threat modeling mechanism for how mature your IoT security platform is," said Johnson. "It's really a maturity model how far along are customers in developing security for their solution or IoT platform we bring it to customers and tell them how far along they are, where they might find gaps." Microsoft is amping up its IoT Azure suite measures as IoT security becomes a larger concern for its enterprise customers. As more devices get connected, IoT deployments present many unique risks, including wireless protocols, limited physical security around devices, as well as limited physical access to the device for the manufacturer and acceptable loss of connectivity. "In the coming months, well continue to provide updates on the Security Program for Azure IoT, our global auditing partners, and auditing standards," said George. Two residents from Bethel and Redding will be among the 11 firefighters honored at this years Connecticut State Firefighters Association Hall of Fame Dinner. Clarence Rees of the Bethel Volunteer Fire Department and David A. Sanford previously of the West Redding Fire Department will be honored at the ninth annual dinner. Rees has served the department for 44 years and was previously Bethels emergency management director and public works director. Sanford, who died in 2007, will be honored for his 45 years as a firefighter with the West Redding, Danbury, Wilton and Westport departments. The award will be presented to his family. The office in Vietnam is the 16th tourism representative office of Japan in the world. Photo by VnExpress/Gia Khoi The country hopes to double the number of visitors from Vietnam by 2018. The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) has opened its first office in Vietnam as part of the two countries effort to boost tourism cooperation. The office in Hanoi will assist Vietnamese travel agencies in bringing more tourists to Japan. There are only 15 similar Japanese offices in other countries. Tourism officials hope to increase the number of Vietnamese visitors to Japan from 233,800 last year to around 500,000 by 2018. Vietnam targets 1 million Japanese visitors, up from 740,000 last year. Vietnam's fast-growing economy has created an increasingly large middle class who can now afford holidays overseas. Ayumi Takahasi, a representative of JNTO in Hanoi, said that the office will organize a range of promotional activities in the coming time. The Vietnam Tourism Association set up its first tourism representative office in Tokyo in 2014. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In another sign that our long drought appears to be coming to an end, rainfall totals for the year have now exceeded average levels. According to the National Weather Service, Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford has received 10.8 inches of rain this year, slightly above the average 9.94 inches. Yes, its not a big departure from the average rainfall, but its still welcome news to the drought that was caused by many months of below-average rainfall. U.S. Drought Monitor has classified the regions dry status to abnormally dry along the shoreline from Greenwich to Milford is classified and a moderate drought for the rest of Fairfield and New Haven counties. Thats an improvement from a severe drought a few weeks ago. A change in the regions drought status could happen Thursday when Drought Monitor releases its weekly assessment. It was Fridays heavy rainfall that inched most of Connecticut into positive territory with normal rainfall for the year. Totals from the NWS and the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network reported significant rainfall totals from Fridays storm. Totals include: 1.30 inches in Stratford and Norwalk 1.14 in Stamford 1.12 in both Bridgeport and Darien 1.10 inches in New Canaan 1.08 inches in Ridgefield, Derby and Milford 1.04 inches in Monroe 1.02 inches in Newtown 1.01 inches in Shelton. The NWS says more rain is in the forecast for next week with up to three-quarters of an inch likely on Tuesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations spring outlook says drought conditions are favored to improve in the Northeast. Yet, despite that fact we now have above normal rainfall for the years, theres still a big rainfall deficit to make up. The drought officially began in June 2014, and has gone on for about 30 months. In the 1960s, the states rainfall was 27 to 36 inches below normal. At its peak last summer the current drough was 18 to 22 inches below normal in Fairfield County. This week, Aquarion said regional reservoirs have been re-charged by the recent wet weather, but theyre still below normal. Were not there yet, said a Aquarion spokesman Peter Fazekas. But well take every drop we can get. Water-restrictions will remain in effect for at least another month, he said, at which time officials will decide whether they will continue. Fazekas said that some reservoirs look full to motorists, but the system relies on more than one body of water. Weve been getting some calls about this. If you look at the Putnam Reservoir (off the Merritt Parkway in Greenwich), it looks basically full. But youve got to remember that one reservoir, thats not the whole system. A tremendous amount of water actually comes from Bargh Reservoir (in the northwest corner of Stamford), which still has a ways to go to fill. Another American Cruise Company arrives in Havana The American Company Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Ltd. -based in Miami, made today the first operation to Cuba destination with the arrival of the cruiser Azamara Quest to Havana bay. Adam Goldstein, president of the company, thanked the Cuban authorities for the facilities provided to make the connection with the island, place they have wanted to travel for five decades, and now they can offer that opportunity to their clients. He announced the upcoming trips of his cruises to Havana, and ratified the desire to continue working hard to make future stopovers in other Cuban ports, and to deal with local authorities on infrastructure, environmental, and supply issues. Angel Diaz Albertini, general manager of Cubas Aries Transportes S.A., cut, along with Goldstein, the inaugural ribbon, and expressed his satisfaction at the increase in cruise activity in Cuba. He regretted that American people are prohibited from traveling to Cuba as tourists, a limit imposed by the US blockade to the Caribbean island, which forces its citizens to avail themselves of one of the 12 categories established by the Treasury Department. However, he stressed the importance of maintaining the operations of ships of US companies to Cuba. Royal Caribbean Cruise is the fourth American company that incorporates Havana in its destinations after Carnival Cruises; Pearl Seas Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line. This company has a program of trips to the port of Havana from Miami, travel destined to the ships Azamara Quest and Empress of the Sea, the latter with space for 1840 travelers. The Azamara Quest holds almost 700 passengers, and on this first trip came with all its capacities covered. Cuban medical contingent departs for Peru A 23-strong Cuban medical brigade, part of the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Physicians Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics, departed Thursday might for Peru. The group, that comprises doctors and other health professionals, carries with them 4.2 tons of medicines and medical supplies, along with 6 million chloride tablets to make water drinkable in the Peruvian areas affected by heavy rains and floods. At the Jose Marti International Airport, Cuban Health Minister Roberto Ojeda spoke to the member of this group before their departure. Minister Ojeda asked them to be safe and to continue with the tradition of the Henry Reeve contingent that since 2005 has worked in disasters and epidemics in over 20 countries, always returning after fulfilling their commitment of saving lives wherever they helped. The main task of this group is to avoid the spread of epidemics in the areas affected by the natural disaster that could worsen the overall situation in Peru. It is expected they treat over 20,000 Peruvians. Since the beginning of 2017, heavy rains in Peru have caused the death of 97 people, destroyed over 180,000 houses, and affected some 125,000 people. Cuban President Raul Castro sent a message of condolences to his Peruvian counterpart Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. This is the third time Cuba helps the Andean nation in case of disaster, after doing it in 1970, when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake and the resulting mudslides killed over 65,000 people; and a second time in 2007 when another quake wreak havoc, killing 595. (acn) UN Women and Mexican officials have launched a project to tackle sexual violence against women on public transport system. UN Women campaign uses 'penis seat' to tackle sexual harassment Bold U.N. campaign uses 'penis seat' to tackle sexual harassment Videos showing Mexico City subway riders reacting to close-ups of men's' buttocks and subway seats with moulded penises were part of a bold advertising campaign launched recently by UN Women, an arm of the United Nations. The videos have been on YouTube since March 20, but it was only this week that UN Women issued a press release taking responsibility for the initiative. At a press conference Thursday, the organization said it would show the videos on 12 subway lines in Mexico City over the next three weeks. The first video, called Seat Experiment showed subway riders' reactions to a seat moulded in the shape of a nude male body with a prominent penis. Lots of men who tried to sit on the seats were surprised or uncomfortable. "It's unpleasant sitting here, but it's nothing compared to the sexual abuse women experience on their commute every day," reads a sign on the floor below the seat. Nearly 6 million people take the Mexico City subway each day and women are molested on a regular basis. Trains have had designated women-only subway cars for years and beginning last year, men who use them have been subjected to fines. In the second video in the campaign, Screen Experiment, men waiting for the subway see their buttocks projected onto subway television monitors. Many women smile as some of the men cover up their backsides in humiliation. The campaign drew angry reactions from some men on YouTube and Twitter, who felt they were being stigmatized as rapists and criminals. According to UN Women, nine of every 10 women in Mexico City, one of the world's most populous metropolises, have been subjected to some type of sexual abuse riding the subway. What to do in Pennsylvania if you made an error on your mail-in ballot The state Supreme Court recently ruled that undated or incorrectly dated mail ballots cannot be counted. Here's what voters can do about an error. For the past 25 years, the Tory Party has been convulsed by a bitter civil war over our membership of the European Union. The feuding has been so vicious that for long stretches, the party has been virtually ungovernable. So when the British people voted to leave Europe last year, and Theresa May was elected party leader and Prime Minister to near universal acclaim, there was a collective sigh of relief. There was a collective sigh of relief in the Tory Party when the British people voted to leave Europe and Theresa May was elected party leader Most observers believed the party would unite around Mrs May as she led us confidently out of Europe. I am now convinced that this analysis was premature. In fact, I predict that the Conservative Party is on course for one last apocalyptic battle over Britain and the European Union. This will be different from the others in one respect. It will not concern British membership of the EU. No attempt will be made to reverse the outcome of the referendum last June. However, the looming conflict will concern the terms on which we leave. I can report that a number of Conservatives are profoundly disappointed by last weeks statements from both Theresa May and her Brexit minister, David Davis. Many Tory MPs and I guess the majority of party activists had been looking for what they call a clean break from the EU. In her comments accompanying the Article 50 notification to Brussels last week, Theresa May made clear that a clean break is the very last thing she has in mind. Theresa May has made it clear that a clean break from the EU is the very last thing on her mind She has listened hard to lobbying from business, from the City, the Civil Service, the intelligence services and even the Trades Unions, all of whom are pressing for British departure from the EU to be as friendly as possible. In other words, relatively little will change. I believe this approach to our new relationship with Brussels may well be common sense. But as night follows day, it is certain to generate claims that Mrs May has betrayed the British voters. Many Conservatives are concerned that she means for Britain to stay in the EU in all but name. These fears have been inflamed by reports that her husband, Philip, a City figure whose views carry weight at home, is a passionate Remainer. The areas of concern over which accords must somehow be struck between London and Brussels are numerous. However, the three most significant involve the headline issues which dominated the referendum campaign last year. First, red tape. Mrs May and David Davis made it plain as a pikestaff last week that a great many EU regulations are here to stay if Britain wants to carry on doing business with Brussels. In private, Mr Davis calls the so-called Great Repeal Bill in which Parliament is supposed to bring thousands of areas currently governed by EU regulation back under British law The Great Continuity Bill. So will we be free in a single bound from European red tape? Forget it! The second contentious issue is money. The Vote Leave side repeatedly claimed on posters and in their literature that leaving the EU would bring 350 million a week back to Britain. Forget it! Thats not going to happen. The main negotiating team is candid that payments to Europe will continue. I understand that, privately, David Davis says he expects to pay between 9 billion and 16 billion in order to guarantee access to key EU markets. David Davis privately says he expects to pay between 9 billion and 16 billion to access key EU markets The third and most inflammatory issue is, of course, immigration. British voters were promised control of national borders. Once again, forget it! Both David Davis and Mrs May, under pressure from business, have made it clear that foreign migration into Britain will continue. There are plenty of Tory MPs who take the view that Mrs May is simply being pragmatic. These loyalists understand that Britain must retain a warm relationship with the EU, and that there will, of course, be a price to pay for that. But some others believe that readiness to give in on the central issues upon which the referendum was fought is a grievous betrayal. This week, those voices were not heard amid the euphoria following the dispatch of the Article 50 letter to Brussels. But be assured of one thing: they will not remain silent for long. For I can reveal that Conservative MPs are already starting to rally around an organisation called the European Research Group. The members include many of the key figures in the Vote Leave campaign. This group communicates secretly through WhatsApp, the internet messaging system which cannot be hacked (and which, by coincidence, was used by Khalid Masood minutes before the recent Westminster terrorist attack). The European Research Group has some of the characteristics of a party within a party. Significantly, it organises members on other issues apart from Europe, and more pertinently, is capable of mustering significant numbers of Tory MPs. For example, it was responsible for the powerful letter sent to the BBC ten days ago complaining about biased coverage of Brexit. Some MPs hostile to this group are already comparing it unfairly in my view to Labours Militant Tendency at the start of the Eighties. I predict that the triumphalism in the Brexit camp will soon diminish as further details of Mrs Mays negotiations emerge Its officers include highly respected party figures such as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Wycombe MP Steve Baker, while senior figures such as Iain Duncan Smith are supporters. At present, this group is loyal. But I predict that the triumphalism in the Brexit camp will soon diminish as further details of Mrs Mays negotiations emerge. And when that happens, the mood of optimism in the Conservative Party, which has held sway in recent months, is likely to become more acrimonious as time goes by. And finally, when Mrs May presents her Brexit deal to the Commons in early 2019, do not rule out the danger that the Tory Party could split in half, in one final epic convulsion. In such circumstances, if Mrs May is to survive as Prime Minister, she will need to depend on the support of Labour, the Liberals and the SNP. For that reason, I do not believe we should count on this government surviving until the official election day in 2020. Though she is determined not to do so, Mrs May would be best advised to go to the country for an endorsement of her Brexit strategy before then. Trump may be gone within a year How much longer can Donald Trump survive in the White House? Hes at war with the Supreme Court. He is fighting a bitter battle with Congress. He is on non-speaking terms with almost the entirety of the Press. Even elements of his own Republican Party have turned against him and hes been in office for less than three months. Donald Trump is at war with the Supreme Court and fighting a bitter battle with Congress Now comes a very dangerous new development for the President. His short-lived National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, who was forced to resign over his links to Russia, has re-entered the fray. He said yesterday that he is ready to testify to a Congressional Committee investigating allegations that the Trump camp conspired with Russia to steal the election from Hillary Clinton. General Flynn has laid down one condition. He wants immunity from prosecution. Yet it is only six months since Mike Flynn said: When you are given immunity that means you have probably committed a crime. Earlier this year, I warned that Donald Trump would most likely not last his full term of office. I am beginning to wonder whether the U. S. President will still be in the White House this time next year. Two weeks ago the Conservative MP, Adam Holloway, a former soldier and foreign correspondent, took himself off to the battle for Mosul, where a coalition of forces have converged to wipe out the remains of the murderous Islamic State caliphate. I hope that all ministers and policy-makers will read his brave and powerful dispatch. The message is stark. Yes, Islamic State will be destroyed. But what comes next may be even worse, and the British Foreign Office is clueless about what will unfold. Shia Muslim Iran is using the crisis to pour its militias into Iraq, while dispossessed, rival Sunni Muslims the remnants of the Saddam Hussein power base are left to fear reprisals when the Islamic State melts away. If Holloway is to be believed, combustible ingredients are mixing for an even greater catastrophe than the one we have already experienced. Pictured: Pippa Middleton Pippa's starry future Pippa Middleton (above) has employed Victoria Beckhams PR guru to help manage the media jamboree that will be her wedding to some hedge fund millionaire. Well, if Jo Milloy can turn an orange-hued, cannonball-breasted Posh into a fashion icon, the skys the limit for Pippa (top right), who is best known for her derriere and whose pearls of wisdom include the tip that star-gazing is easier on a clear night. Advertisement At face value, it is a gesture that shows the companys liberal 21st century credentials as well as compassion and concern for its 17 million UK customers. HSBC is offering customers the choice of ten gender neutral titles to allow people who dont identify as a particular gender or dont want to be identified by gender, to choose the title that works for them. Transgender customers will no longer have to be labelled as Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms; they can choose from a range of options including Mx (which leaves a persons gender unstated), Ind (an abbreviation for individual) and Msr (a blend of Miss and Sir, unfortunately pronounced miser). No doubt the person who came up with this eye-wateringly inclusive concept will get a big bonus. It makes HSBC seem progressive and pins the banks oh-so-virtuous credentials firmly on its sleeve. But to my mind, it is nothing more than a cynical PR exercise by a behemoth bank that shows contempt for customers at home, while engaging in tax avoidance and failing to detect money-laundering activities on an industrial scale overseas. HSBC closed 55 branches in the UK last year and announced this year it would be closing 62 more. In the branches that do exist, bank tellers are all but extinct. Trying to get the simplest transfer done on the phone drives customers to distraction as theyre transferred from one department to another or to a call centre. Little wonder HSBC received 65,313 complaints in the first half of 2016 alone. Overseas, its private Swiss branch was hit by scandals including money laundering, fraud and tax evasion. In Mexico, it laundered hundreds of millions of dollars, which helped the worlds biggest crime syndicate export hard drugs around the world, leading to countless deaths. HSBC repeatedly conducted business with Iran, breaking U.S. sanctions, and had to pay a staggering $1.9 billion settlement to the U.S. authorities after being accused of a pervasively polluted culture. I accept that other banks have also behaved badly, and it has long been a great British institution. And, of course, HSBC should accommodate its transgender customers and treat them with respect. But transgender people constitute just 0.3 per cent of the population. What they and every other customer want is improved service and reduced charges, not fatuous gestures. Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell says this menu of gender options risks attracting ridicule and backlash. And hes right. Because it has almost nothing to do with genuine customer service. Its just a gimmick to make a deeply tarnished institution look good. PRINCE Andrews workshy daughter has a job! Beatrice, 28, will be an outsourcing strategist and relationships manager (aka highly-paid secretary) at a U.S. tech firm that uses artificial intelligence which should come in handy for the gormless princess. Just when ITV bosses thought it couldnt get any worse, Gordon Ramsay made his debut on the excruciatingly awful The Nightly Show. He used the F-word 16 times in half an hour, performed a tasteless stunt in which he pretended to mangle his hand in a blender and 300,000 viewers switched off. Why cant this potty-mouthed, puerile attention seeker take the hint to get back into the kitchen and stay there? Hope: Mark and Maddy Brave family gives us all hope We hear too little about the anguish of parents whose children have life-threatening eating disorders, which is why the soul-baring revelations of ITVs former newsreader Mark Austin have been so moving. His daughter had anorexia and weighed 5 st. He found it impossible to understand she was mentally ill, thought she was being crass, insensitive, selfish and pathetic and told her: If you really want to starve yourself to death, just get on with it. He admits hed present the News At Ten not knowing whether Maddy would survive the night. What a tribute to him and his family and what hope it gives others that, five years later, she is 22, a healthy weight and at university. Meghan's new vanity project Prince Harrys TV celebrity squeeze Meghan Markle has appeared in Vanity Fair. She is portrayed as a young global leader as part of the One Young World initiative, which celebrates young adults speaking out against human rights violations, environmental crises, inequality, discrimination and injustice. It may not make her Amal Clooney, but whats the betting the Middleton girls are stamping their Jimmy Choos at her beckoning super-stardom? My moment of the week was not the smile of Sgt Alexander Blackmans wife Claire outside the Royal Courts of Justice after learning he would be home in weeks, but the expressions of the Royal Marines who had supported their comrade for years. They cheered and punched the air with joy. The Mails Robert Hardman reported how one of them brandished a hip flask the size of a bedpan, while others cracked open champagne and still more wept openly. Marines are renowned for fortitude and valour, but this was never going to be a dry occasion. Westminster wars ... Odd that Nicola Sturgeon should ape the pose made famous by Margaret Thatcher to sign a foot-stamping, independence-demanding letter to Mrs May given that she despises the great Lady. At least now we know how frugal Sturgeon is her shirt was clearly made out of fabric left over from covering her sofa. n BORIS JOHNSON is at odds with the Chancellor Philip Hammond, who has contradicted the Foreign Secretarys claim that in exiting the EU we could have our cake and eat it, too. Maybe Boris is used to having all his cakes and eating them as well as any pies he can lay his hands on. Why else would he be such a porker while still jogging every day? Just when ITV bosses thought it couldnt get any worse, Gordon Ramsay made his debut on the excruciatingly awful The Nightly Show. He used the F-word 16 times in half an hour, performed a tasteless stunt in which he pretended to mangle his hand in a blender and 300,000 viewers switched off. Why cant this potty-mouthed, puerile attention seeker take the hint to get back into the kitchen and stay there? Pictured: Russell Crowe Our one-woman whinge-fest luvvie Emma Thompson says she threatened to walk out of her role in a 2008 adaptation of Brideshead Revisited when another actress was asked to slim. I said: If you speak to her about this again on any level I will leave this picture. Its an evil and its getting worse. Losing weight isnt sexist, Emma. Ask Russell Crowe (above). Preparing for a role by exercising in an Australian park, he looks as if hes eaten the Sydney Opera House. **** Three years since the death of his wife Peaches Geldof after a heroin overdose, Thomas Cohen recalls finding her body. I wasnt surprised [I thought] yes, of course, you had to do that. Their baby son Astala was left in the house alone with Peaches for eight hours after she died. While it may be cathartic for Cohen to air his grief in a magazine, how much does it help little Astala and his brother Phaedra, now aged five and four? Tedious students ignore real issues Third-year student Elsa Scaburri, 21, is the fifth suicide at Bristol University in just six months. A member of the elite Russell Group of universities, it has been criticised for its lack of pastoral care for its more vulnerable young people. Meanwhile, theres a petition demanding that the universitys landmark Wills Memorial Building be renamed because it is dedicated to Henry Overton Wills III, who profited from the 19th century slave trade by importing tobacco from plantations. Students claim it undermines the universitys commitment to diversity and inclusivity. How tragic that instead of their tedious indignation about the past, they dont spend more time on the present, by focusing on their living and dying fellow students. If you had been standing in the House of Commons lobby on the evening of July 22, 1993, you would have been treated to an unusual spectacle. A group of parliamentary researchers some Labour, some Tory suddenly punched the air and embraced one another. I was one of them, and the occasion of this strange cross-party unity was John Majors defeat on the Maastricht Bill. New Labour pro-Europeans and hardcore Tory Eurosceptics put aside their differences to best a common foe. Mrs May and her Ministers should feel uneasy as the line between friends and enemies is about to blur I thought about that evening as I watched Theresa May deliver her historic speech on Article 50. She was measured and statesmanlike, but couldnt quite rise to the occasion. It never really got off the runway, one Minister admitted to me. You could feel a sense of unease on our benches. Mrs May and her Ministers should feel uneasy. Once again, the line between friends and enemies is about to blur. A new, unholy alliance is being constructed and when the time is right, it will strike. Taking Back Control Tory whips were trying to keep their Eurosceptic charges on a tight leash last week, with limited success. 'I've been told no triumphalism,' one confided to me, 'so I'm off to the Carlton Club to toast Article 50. They can't get me in there.' It's called taking back control. Advertisement Until now, Brexiteers and Remainers have been at daggers drawn. While those weapons werent exactly sheathed last week, we did see the first signs of blades being lowered. A few hours after Mrs Mays statement I was approached by a Tory Brexiteer. He was very exercised about Henry VIII clauses being inserted into the Great Repeal Bill, allowing Ministers to amend legislation without consulting Parliament. I didnt just swap one dictatorship for another, he fumed. Soon afterwards a Tory Remainer told me: Those Henry VIII clauses Im going to have to oppose them. The Prime Minister is unlikely to lose her head over Henry VIII. Enough Tory Eurosceptics will shelve their commitment to parliamentary sovereignty long enough for a bonfire of EU red tape. But the mutterings of discontent from both sides of the Tory divide represent the first straws in whats set to become an increasingly violent wind. Although they wont admit it to themselves, never mind anyone else the two great warring tribes are now aligned in pursuit of the same objective. And that is ensuring Mrs Mays attempt to secure a deal with the EU is sabotaged. To understand why, you need to read the Article 50 letter. Or rather, between the lines of it. There has been outrage over the section on security co-operation, but Mrs Mays critics miss the point. Before Wednesday her public position had been no deal is better than a bad deal. The letter effectively said no deal means Europe will be laid waste by the butchers of Islamic State. Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer produced six tests that must be met for Labour to back a deal Mrs May needs her deal desperately which puts her on a collision course with the hardliners on her back benches. On Friday the EU responded to the Dear Donald letter. It rebuffed early talks on a trade deal. It set out a number of red lines. Britain will need to remain tied to Europe on business regulation and tax rates. A bill for contingent liabilities which some believe may be in the region of 60 billion will have to be settled. There is no way Brexiteers will sign up to such a settlement. To them it would be a leap from the EU frying pan into the EU fire. And if Mrs May tries to push such a deal through the Commons, they will savage her. George Has Theresa's Best Interests At Heart George Osborne has reportedly been voicing his opinion on Theresa May's decision not to call a snap Election. 'George thinks she's mad not to do it,' a friend reports. And as we know, George always has Theresa's best interests at heart. Advertisement They will not be alone the Labour Party is again at its self-righteous best. Last week Yvette Cooper raged: Until now, I had assumed, or at least hoped, that security would be sorted separately. What she didnt mention was linking security and trade is her partys position. On Monday, Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer produced six tests that must be met for Labour to back a deal. One test was, Does it deliver exactly the same benefits as we currently have as members of the single market? Another was, Does it protect national security? For Starmer, security and trade are indivisible. Of course, theres no way these tests will be met. If Mrs May tried to deliver a Labour Brexit her party would implode. Which means she is encircled. The SNP and Lib Dems will oppose any deal on principle. Once Donald Tusks price for a divorce settlement is revealed, hardcore Tory Brexiteers will join them. At which point Labour will slide in behind. Its MPs from Leave constituencies will walk through the No lobby branding the deal a betrayal, while colleagues from Remain constituencies will do the same claiming it sacrifices everything progressives hold dear. In her statement, Mrs May said: It is my fierce determination to get the right deal for every single person in this country. Its a noble but unrealistic ambition. And by trying to deliver a Brexit for everyone, she will end up with a Brexit for no one. Mrs Mays enemies are about to become friends. When they do as with John Major they will come for her. Is Unite falling out with Len? Last week I was drinking with a member of the Shadow Cabinet, discussing the Unite leadership election. I think Len McCluskey will lose, he said. There was an element of hope in the prediction hes no McCluskey fan. But it was the first time Id heard anyone suggest Gerard Coyne, his hitherto unknown challenger, could prevail. His rationale was that the way the election has been framed Corbynite McCluskey versus moderate Coyne was sparking interest among the membership. Len was hoping it passed most members by. But I think the controversy may drive turnout up, he said. Theres certainly evidence McCluskeys camp is worried. Having tried to lay low, McCluskey is belatedly making media interventions, whilst his surrogates have begun attacking his opponent. The Unite electorate has shrunk by more than 400,000 since the last election in 2013, so only a small rise in turnout could have a major impact. McCluskey remains favourite, but the odds are narrowing. While most people are aware that having a 'side hustle' as well as your regular 9-5 is beneficial, not everyone's adjacent work project is as successful as Jackie Lee's. The 35-year-old former solicitor started creating her own natural-looking real fur eyelashes company from her home in Sydney 18 months ago. Before she knew it, celebrities such as Chrissy Teigen, the Kardashians and Rihanna were lining up to get in on the action. 'The idea came about while sourcing lashes for my own use,' Ms Lee told Daily Mail Australia of her business beginnings. 'Being an avid fan of semi-permanent lashes, my natural lashes started falling out to the point where it was leaving patches and almost no lashes left to bond!'. Artemes Lashes was founded 18 months ago, and are already beloved by celebrities including Chrissy Teigen (left) and Lara Worthington (right) 'The idea came about while sourcing lashes for my own use,' Ms Lee told Daily Mail Australia of her business beginnings (pictured over dinner) Ms Lee decided to create her own range, predominantly because what she found on the market was lashes that were, she claims, 'uncomfortable, hard to use and did not look natural when on'. Juggling designing her Artemes Lashes project with raising three children, the talented businesswoman succeeded in putting out a product to market in November 2015. 'After I had kids, I wanted to keep working on a side project that allowed me to be creative, keep busy and motivated, but also allowed me some flexibility with the children,' Ms Lee told Daily Mail Australia. 'When I set up the Instagram account, that's when things really started to take off.' Juggling designing her Artemes Lashes project with raising three children, the talented businesswoman succeeded in putting out a product to market in November 2015 (Artemes lashes pictured on Rihanna) 'After I had kids, I wanted to keep working on a side project that allowed me to be creative, keep busy and motivated, but also allowed me some flexibility with the children,' Ms Lee said Since she launched in the US and Australia 18 months ago, Jackie Lee's Artemes lashes have been snapped up by the makeup artists of A-listers including the Kardashians, Lara Worthington, Jodi Anasta and more. 'I still get a thrill every time I see a celebrity with Artemes lashes, it never gets old,' she said. 'My career highlight has to be how quickly there were picked up by stars like Sarah Hyland, Kourtney Kardashian and Rita Ora just a month after we launched them in the US.' Although the eyelashes are made from real mink hairs, the ready-to-wear lashes are ethically sourced during the annual mink moulting cycle - so no harm is done to the minks while the products are made. Artemes mink hairs are responsibly gathered from European sources where minks are raised in exceptional free-range environments. The fur is collected during their natural molting cycles when they naturally shed their hairs and are then treated to ensure that they are hypoallergenic and suitable for use. 'The lashes take over two days each to complete, with each strand individually placed by hand on a hand-braided cotton band,' Ms Lee said. Each pair of eyelashes can we worn up to 25 times, and pairs range from natural-looking flutters right the way up to dramatic red carpet falsies. Ms Lee confesses her highlights are when she sees celebrities wearing the lashes (pictured: left, Nina Agdal and right: Solange Knowles) According to Ms Lee, while her rise to success has all been enjoyable, she has worked hard for her current success. 'As the business began to take off, I did find it hard to balance - which meant extremely early mornings and late nights,' she said. 'However, as time has progressed, I've been able to find more balance and a routine which works for us all. 'I'm often up early answering important emails before the kids wake up and then I'll work throughout the day when they are at school. 'Family is very important, so I still like to maintain some flexibility!'. For more information about Artemes Lashes, you can visit the website here. You can also follow Artemes Lashes on Instagram here. An Australian supermodel has become the first transwoman in history to appear on the cover of GQ Portugal. Blonde beauty, Andreja Pejic, features on the front of the dual-cover international fashion magazine's April edition wearing a silk camisole with a revealing a sheer flesh-coloured bra. It's not the first time the magazine have recognized the glamorous bombshell, in October 2016 she won the 'Female Model of the Year' title at the GQ Portugal Awards. The Australian model is the first transgender woman to grace the cover of GQ magazine The International model allowed a documentary film crew to capture parts of her transition to female which will be released 2018 'To be honest, I never expected this moment. GQ is such a classic and respected men's magazine and, while I am very proud of everything I've achieved, my modelling career has been everything but classic,' she told GQ at the time. 'So, in a way, this is a meeting of two different worlds and it represents progress.' The 25-year-old took to her Instagram to share the cover shot by Branislav Simoncik and celebrate her proud moment. 'I'd say this cover represents me getting my long awaited revenge on all those boys who didn't wanna hold hands in public when I was finding out about love for the first time,' Pejic captioned. 'However, all pettiness aside MUITO OBRIGADO (thank-you very much) to the good peeps at @GQPortugal for the award and this little moment in history. I only hope we can all increase the sorcery in 2017. The blonde beauty won GQ's 'Female Model of the Year' in October 2016 The 25-year-old beauty announced her sexual reassignment surgery in 2014 Miss Pejic revealed details of her sexual reassignment surgery publicly in 2014. Parts of her transition were filmed for an upcoming documentary due to be released by 2018. 'It's a really important part of my life that we filmed and the cameras filmed some of the most personal parts of my transition that I would never imagine sharing with the world, but I felt I had a responsibility because there are young people that are watching,' she told Vogue. 'You need to give them something to help them out without prejudice.' Following the personal changes, she became the first transgender model to feature in American Vogue in May 2015 and was the first transwoman to grace the cover of Marie Claire Spain in March 2016. A common antidepressant could be used to help people with compulsive eating habits choose healthy food instead of fatty snacks, scientist have claimed. In a series of trials researchers found that when people took citalopram, prescribed for depression and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), they were more likely to pick healthy food such as fruit over chocolate biscuits. Ivo Vlaev, professor of behavioural science at Warwick Business School, who led the study, said the discovery could help in tackling the obesity crisis. The trials found that when people were taking the tablets, they were more likely to make healthy food choices Data suggests that 63 per cent of adults in England are overweight or obese a problem that costs the NHS 5.1 billion a year. These findings also have implications for treating eating disorders, added Prof Vlaev. We found that citalopram increased the number of choices for healthy foods made by people when compared to a placebo. Our trials suggest that after taking the drug, people are more likely to make decisions based on health rather than taste. It appears to give people the long-term focus needed to consider how food will impact on their health, rather than the short-term decision to go for what tastes better. In the study, researchers gave a pill to 27 adults and asked them to choose between pairs of snacks shown on a screen, ranging from fruit to chocolate biscuits. Sometimes there were two healthy options, sometimes two unhealthy foods and sometimes one of each. Ivo Vlaev, professor of behavioural science at Warwick Business School, who led the study, said the discovery could help in tackling the obesity crisis. File image The pill was either a single dose of atomoxetine, a tablet used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); citalopram; or a dummy pill with no active ingredients (placebo). Citalopram works by lengthening the time the feelgood brain chemical (neurotransmitter) serotonin is held by the synapse in the cell, so prolonging its action. The researchers found that, when taking citalopram, as much as 60 per cent of the participants choices were healthy, while just 45 per cent of them were healthy when taking the placebo. The number of healthy choices made taking atomoxetine was not significantly higher. Harlots Monday, ITV Encore Rating: Line Of Duty Sunday, BBC1 Rating: Decline And Fall Friday, BBC1 Rating: Three new major drama series this week so, star-wise, shall we work our way up or down? Up, no, down, no, up, no, down no, up. Well go up. My gig, my choice. However, if you feel strongly it should be otherwise, you could start at the bottom and work your way up to here. First, Harlots, which is a costume drama, not that any costume is ever kept on for long. This may even be a costume-off drama. Based on actual historical records, its about life in two brothels in 18th-century London at a time when, the opening titles told us, one in five women earned a living selling sex. Cleavage (with Jessica Brown Findlay attached) in Harlots And this does not stint on that sex. Its sex in alleys, sex rewarded with a pineapple, sex involving flagellation (hello there, Nancy Birch). Remember Versailles? Versailles is Songs Of Praise in comparison. And even when its costumes on, theyre as good as off, given the amount of quivering cleavage. There is more quivering cleavage then you can shake a stick at, should you wish to shake a stick at quivering cleavage, although a word of warning: you will likely end up with an exceptionally tired arm. The narrative concerns two rival madams, Margaret Wells (basically, a cleavage with Samantha Morton attached), who has a kindly side but is ambitious, and Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville), who runs the higher-class establishment and is all cold spite. Plus, theres a subplot involving Wellss two daughters, one of whom has become a society courtesan (another cleavage, with Jessica Brown Findlay attached) and one who is still young and whose virginity is about to be sold off via sealed bids. As written, directed and produced by women, this is offering a whores-eye view, which has to be a relief given that, on screen, prostitutes are rarely shown as actual people. Serially murdered, yes, but as actual people? Almost never. Yet this is tonally all over the place. One minute were getting Margarets sad back story, next its comedy that pineapple, that antiquated prophylactic, that tableau and then the script becomes a social tract, as in: Men dont respect whores. Only property. It never quite comes together so you can believe it, in other words, and its improbably glossy. These prostitutes are the picture of health with their shiny hair and beautiful teeth and are as yet untroubled by disease, violence or having to dump unwanted babies at The Foundling Hospital. OK, lets accept it for the soapy romp it is, and the fact there is much to be said for Samantha Morton and Lesley Manville fighting it out, whatever, but do you care enough about anyone to tune in again next week? I dont think I do. Moving up a star brings us to Line Of Duty, which is back for a fourth series after a cracking first series, a cracking second series and a cracking third series. The beauty of all the past series is that, unlike with most police procedurals, you never went whaaaat? But here? Quite a lot of whaaaat? action, as it happens. This time out we are worried about DCI Huntley (Thandie Newton), who appears to be ignoring certain evidence so she can put away a serial killer who may, in fact, be innocent. Our old friends at AC-12 (Vicky McClure, Martin Compston, Adrian Dunbar) are alerted by the cases forensic expert (Jason Watkins, as terrific as ever), who says Huntley will not listen to him. So McClures Kate is dispatched undercover to get up close to Huntley and discover what she may be up to, and thats when I first went whaaaat? Why didnt AC-12 simply call in Huntley and put it to her straight: why are you ignoring evidence, love? Whats your game? I just didnt understand that at all. And as for Kates cover story, wouldnt Huntley have checked a central database to find out it if was true? Two major whaaaats usually result in a loss of two stars my gig, my rules but this did earn a star back for its nail-bitingly tense opening and that masterful twist at the end. Im on it for next week. I would even go further and say next week seems very, very far away. So, top spot, then, for Decline And Fall, based on Evelyn Waughs debut comic novel, and starring Jack Whitehall as hapless Pennyfeather who is sent down from Oxford and ends up teaching at a hopeless school in north Wales. Whitehall does his usual rabbit-in-headlights shtick, but theres a reason hes the go-to man for that he is just so very good at it while Douglas Hodge is wonderful as Grimes, the ridiculous fellow teacher who is always in the soup. Its a hoot and a riot. Its satirical without ever spelling stuff out. And its been updated with some sly, modern jokes. The pigs head flying out of the window was a dig at David Cameron, right? And I laughed and laughed and laughed, and now Ive run out of space. I should have worked my way down. Sir Nicholas Serota sure likes a challenge. After transforming visual arts in this country for ever, during a three-decade tenure as director of the Tate museums and galleries, the 70-year-old has taken on an ostensibly even more important role as chairman of Arts Council England (ACE). The first question is, why? Though nobody expected a man as dynamic as Serota to retreat to his allotment, many did at least predict semi-retirement. I care passionately about the arts and their place in society, he says. The future of Britain depends hugely on its creative industries, and the new role allows me to be part of that future. Sir Nicholas Serota believes we build culture by investing in new things and supporting new artists OK, so far, so corporate-speak. With little to suggest this was the visionary who spotting the rise of headline-grabbing artists such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin in the Nineties oversaw the construction of Tate Modern. The gallery is now the UKs third-most visited attraction, with nearly six million through its door every year. Though a Londoner himself (raised in affluent Hampstead), Serota is widely praised for making Tate an institution that looked beyond the capital. Under his watch, it opened outposts in Liverpool (1988) and St Ives (1993), and sent countless exhibitions around the UK. Hell be expected to deliver something similar at ACE, the body entrusted by the Government to administer its arts funding (currently 850 million a year), where he officially started on February 1. His last day at the Tate is May 31 and hes currently combining both roles, though hell be treating ACE as a full-time appointment from June. ACE was recently criticised by a House of Commons Select Committee for lavishing 15 times as much cash on projects in London than the rest of the country, and in times of austerity, surely government money would be better spent on the NHS than staging concerts by acid jazz ensembles? Were talking relatively small sums, he says. Whats the annual education budget 90 billion? Or health budget [140 billion]? By comparison, whats handed to the arts is a drop in the ocean. Its not a competition. Serota is a man used to getting his way. Its said his imperious level of control at Tate even extends to choosing the flavour of crisps in the cafes. A more vital decision was singling out a disused power station on Londons South Bank as the venue for Londons first gallery of modern and contemporary art. Tate Modern opened in 2000. Last year, a ten-storey extension was added, doubling its size. This cost 260 million, only 60 million of it publicly funded. Much of the rest was raised thanks to Serotas skill at schmoozing bankers, oligarchs and corporate sponsors. Who was the most memorable character he met at the Tate? Undoubtedly the Queen, he says. Her Majesty, not known as a fan of art, was invited to open Tate Modern and responded surprisingly positively to the avant-garde pieces she encountered the closest she got to negativity, Serota says, was standing before a brightly coloured abstract painting by Bridget Riley and suggesting that it was hard to maintain a conversation in front of all that dazzle. SEROTA IN THE SPOTLIGHT In 1998, Serota conceived Operation Cobalt, a secret operation to recover two of the Tates paintings by JMW Turner that had been stolen in 1994. The paintings were recovered in 2000 and 2002. He ensures good time-keeping by always setting his watch ten minutes fast. His Whos Who entry once had hanging pictures under recreations. Advertisement Trimmer than many men half his age, Serota runs two miles before work every day. He buzzes with energy as he discusses the challenges ahead. There has been one question over his appointment, though: Serota may know the visual arts inside out, but what about other cultural areas? Hes known to be a Cliff Richard fan hardly the cultural cutting edge and hell have a host of interest groups to keep happy, from songwriters and ballet-makers to literary festival organisers. One of his great strengths has always been his embrace of the new. Until Tate Modern opened, it was widely believed the British public had an aversion to contemporary art. Serota realised, however, that, as the nation revelled in the Cool Britannia Nineties, times had changed. To be a truly modern city, London needed a gallery of modern art. The result is a city transformed, though he has created a debate over the decades, mostly for embracing so-called conceptual art like Hirsts dead sharks in vitrines and Emins unmade bed over traditional painting and sculpture. The way you build culture, Serota insists, is by investing in new people, doing new things. When I ask which artists work hed most love to hang above his desk at ACE, he says Constable. Perhaps because, two centuries ago, no artist was doing new things quite like Constable. Will he offer any clue as to which acts hell be giving his first support to at ACE? Not a Cliff Richard tribute group. Of that I assure you. As a lifelong member of The Royle Family, Ralf Little, who played gangly teenager Antony, feels fully qualified to discuss the more outre habits of the other Royals. I am 100 per cent behind the future King of England dancing at a Verbier disco, the 37-year-old declares. Why shouldnt William be throwing a few shapes on the dancefloor? Hes a human being after all. Every time you see William and Harry being interviewed, they seem really cool and its good to know that they can get down to some old-school hip-hop when the occasion arises. Ralf Little, 37, freely admits that his step up to proper theatre is a move to establish himself as a serious acting contender I actually had a dance with Prince Harry a few years ago in the VIP room of a London club, he divulges. Hes got moves, Im telling you moves. In between matinee and evening performances of Ugly Lies The Bone at the National Theatre, Little warms to his story. We were dancing near to each other and then gave each other the nod the man-on-the-dancefloor nod and got into it together for a bit, nothing too competitive. I had a similar thing with Justin Timberlake in Manchester, he adds casually. But that was more of a pseudo-dance-off, during which I realised that all my moves were ripped off from Justin Timberlake. He out-danced me pretty comprehensively but I gave it a shot. Im not a bad dancer. On a scale of one to Timberlake, me and Prince Harry are at best a three. Little is on fine and remarkably frank form. He freely admits that this step up to proper theatre is a move to establish himself as a serious acting contender. Im sure some people still think of me as a 20-year-old northern lad, he says. But I feel like Im having a bit of a career resurgence at the moment. Id love to work in Hollywood but in the way that James McAvoy has done it, in that he did great work here and then went there on his own terms. Being a film star is definitely a career goal, Im not ashamed to admit that. Ugly Lies The Bone, featuring Kate Fleetwood as a disfigured soldier home from the Afghanistan war and Little as her small-town ex, is an elegantly worked piece, full of agonisingly repressed emotion and spirited humour. It feels like Im an actual actor now rather than someone who is just winging it, he says modestly. Littles achievements thus far have been mostly on TV, notably The Royle Family and the sitcom Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps. Working alongside the late Caroline Aherne in The Royle Family and the talented but troubled Sheridan Smith (in both The Royle Family and Two Pints) was an invaluable education for the fledgling thespian. Ugly Lies The Bone, featuring Kate Fleetwood as a disfigured soldier home from the Afghanistan war and Little as her small-town ex, is an elegantly worked piece, full of agonisingly repressed emotion and spirited humour Sheridan is extraordinary and theres not one bit of her success thats a surprise to me or is undeserved, he says. Ive known her since we were 19 years old. He remained in touch with Smith during her recent difficulties, as she dealt with exhaustion and the death of her father. Of course, he shrugs. When you read that somethings happening with one of your friends, thats when you call them and say, Give us a shout and well have a catch-up. He speaks about Aherne, who died in July last year, with touching affection. I had a massive crush on Caroline when we started The Royle Family. She was gorgeous and I was 18 so shed take the p*** out of me relentlessly. Wed be ready to go for a take and in front of everyone shed say, So, Ralfy, are you still a virgin? She was always the sharpest person in the room and she could be cutting but always in a funny rather than a cruel way. Asked whether The Royle Family could ever be revisited, he says: With Caroline gone I cant see a way it could work. But who knows? If [co-writer] Craig Cash said Look, were getting together for a one-off then Id do it in a heartbeat. Little is currently single and thats just how he likes it. Im busy with work so I dont have time to be out looking for a wife. I love the idea of having kids but Ive never stayed with anyone long enough for it to come up. Also, when youve had kids, youre seen as a dad and the perception of you as an actor is different so your casting changes. It would also seem, in todays movie marketplace, that a British actor is perceived differently if he hasnt been to Eton. I didnt, says Little, who attended Bolton School in Lancashire. But you cant hold it against Eddie Redmayne or Benedict Cumberbatch or Tom Hiddleston that they did. Theyre talented guys and theyve worked hard for what theyve achieved. Ralf Little with Caroline Aherne. Little says he had a crush on Aherne when he started working with her on The Royle Family His dark eyes flicker mischievously. Thats the politicians answer, anyway. In June, Little is off to Hong Kong for a feature-length pilot hes also written called The English Detective. He will also appear as Steadfast in the new Doctor Who series, which premieres next month. Little laughs at the suggestion that he might make a go of filling the Time Lords shoes one day. I cant see a world in which Id ever be offered that role, he chuckles. I dont think Id be considered sufficiently quirky. He thinks for a second. But feel free to start a campaign. Ugly Lies The Bone is at the National Theatre until June 6, nationaltheatre.org.uk Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Saturday recalled his 1959 flight to India from Tibet ahead of a visit to northeast India's Arunachal Pradesh despite objections by China, which considers it a disputed region. The Dalai Lama said he had no option but to escape Tibet in view of Chinese military action. He spoke at a function organised by an Indian newspaper, The Assam Tribune, in Gauhati, the capital of Assam state. The state's governor and its top elected official were among an audience of nearly 1,500 people. The Dalai Lama has recalled his 1959 flight to India from Tibet ahead of a visit to northeast India's Arunachal Pradesh The Dalai Lama last visited Arunachal Pradesh in 2009. China protested that trip, but there was no major impact on relations with India. The Dalai Lama told Reuters TV at the airport in the Assam city of Guwahati that his visit was to promote religious harmony. He said he was happy to be back in a region that revived his memories of escape from Tibet in 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama wears a Japi, a traditional Assamese head gear, and greets the audience during the platinum jubilee celebrations of Assam Tribune newspaper in Gauhati 'I still feel the feeling of that time,' he said. He will leave for Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang district on Tuesday, at the end of his Assam state trip. He is scheduled to consecrate a temple and give teachings to his followers during his weeklong stay in the state. The contest for Arunachal Pradesh China claims the partly ethnically Tibetan Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory. The frontier between the two Asian giants remains tense more than 50 years after they fought a brief but bloody border war high in the peaks. China claims about 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 square miles) in Arunachal Pradesh, referred to informally by some Chinese as 'Southern Tibet.' India says China is occupying 38,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of its territory on the Aksai Chin plateau. More than a dozen rounds of talks have failed to make substantial progress on the dispute, although there have been relatively few confrontations in recent years. Advertisement 'Whenever I come to the northeast of India, it feels like a reunion with people here,' the Dalai Lama said Saturday. 'When I revisit the Tawang area, I am reminded of the freedom that I had experienced for the first time (in 1959). That was the beginning of a new chapter in my life.' 'On March 10, 1959, there were huge demonstrations in Lhasa,' the Tibetan region's capital, he recalled. 'Chinese military action also increased. I had no option but to escape. On March 17, I fled.' 'I sent some of my officers to Indian authorities at the border,' he said. 'They readily allowed us in, received us warmly, and today I can tell you that I am the longest guest of the Indian government.' Last month, China warned of 'severe damage' to relations with India and increased regional instability if the Dalai Lama proceeds with his trip to the state. Beijing has expressed its concerns to New Delhi on numerous occasions and urged India to avoid offering a place for the Dalai Lama to carry out anti-China separatist activities, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said last month. An Indian government official said on Friday that the Dalai Lama's visit was religious, not political. The Government must guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK as a matter of urgency, business leaders demanded this weekend putting the status of such workers at the centre of Brexit negotiations. The president of the Confederation of British Industry, Paul Drechsler, told The Mail on Sunday he had spoken to bosses who warned him it was the paramount issue facing their firms. I do not know what the problem is, but I would sort this out on Monday morning if not earlier, said Drechsler. An estimated 3.5 million EU citizens live and work in the UK. On ice: Three quarters of waiting staff in Britain are from the Continent The CBI demand came as the European Union made workers a key issue in its response to last weeks Article 50 letter from the Prime Minister, which formally triggered Britains departure from the EU. Britain had called for parallel talks on the terms of its exit and a new trade deal with the EU once Britain leaves the union. However, the EU said there had to be at least significant progress on the terms of separation including EU workers rights and Britains financial obligations to the union before talks on Britains future trade relations can even begin. Guaranteeing EU citizens residency and working rights in the UK could also tackle fears in the financial sector that an exodus of EU citizens would hit British lenders, if EU workers defaulted on loans issued by UK banks. Credit risk consultancy 4most said a sudden break could land banks with 5 billion in losses if EU citizens driven out of jobs in Britain defaulted on loans issued to them by British banks. There have already been reports that banks in the UK are becoming less willing to offer loans and mortgages to EU citizens. Mark Somers, chief operations officer at 4most, said: Many of those who have come to work in the UK from the EU have taken out loans on the assumption that they would be able to repay them whilst they live here. If they lose that right to remain, without any managed process as to how they can reasonably pay back the loans, there could be significant and unexpected credit risk to UK lenders. While uncertainty remains over all aspects of the talks, Drechsler said the Article 50 letter and the EUs response had set the right tone and could form the basis for a successful deal. He added: Everyone would like to come out of this with a relationship that benefits all countries. Both sides have, however, emphasised they are not bound to reach an agreement. In its outline for trade negotiation, which emerged on Friday, the EU made clear it was planning for a deal but was prepared for the worst. The union would work hard to achieve an agreement, it said. However, it added it will prepare itself to be able to handle the situation also if the negotiations were to fail. Drechsler also said businesses urgently needed a transitional deal to be struck in case no final trade agreement could be reached, adding: We need that set out early on in the process. We in business invest over three, five, even ten years. To make those decisions we need to know there will be no cliff-edge. Drechsler said he had spent recent days meeting businesses in the Midlands and East of England, and the status of EU workers was at the top of their agenda. Last night, one CEO told me he could not express strongly enough how important this was. He told me there were people in tears at his company because of the uncertainty, he said. The CBIs concerns over the status of existing workers was echoed by concerns over future skills shortages from other business groups. Last week, the British Hospitality Association warned of a 60,000 shortfall in workers for the sector if migration from the EU was too tightly controlled, adding that three quarters of all waiting staff in Britain are EU workers. The Institute of Directors new chief executive Stephen Martin also raised the issue in an interview with The Mail on Sunday. Declaring himself to have voted Leave in the referendum Martin nonetheless said: One of the big things seems to be about immigration, but that to me is not an issue. I want more people to come, not just from Europe but from elsewhere in the world. Boom: Bath City Council wants to tax overnight stays Some of Britains top tourist destinations have asked for the power to impose a hotel room tax to capitalise on the expected flood of tourists cashing in on the weak pound. City councils in Bath, Bristol and Edinburgh are joining Londons call for such a levy last year. The Government is expected to respond to the requests as soon as next month. The plans centre on a tax starting at 1 per room per night, which could raise hundreds of millions for cash-strapped cities. But hotels have bristled at even that sum. In January the Greater London Authority mooted a 5 per cent tax a rate similar to Berlins to raise 240 million a year. Councillor Charles Gerrish, of Bath and North East Somerset, is one of those leading the call. He said: We are in conversation with the Government, as are other authorities. He said talks were being held across the joint authorities of Bath, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, but could also be pursued by individual authorities. A possible tourist boom has been identified as one of the few bright spots of the tumbling value of sterling for UK consumers. Another local authority source familiar with the talks said: There is a shortfall in funding for many local authorities. We are about to find out what substance there is in central Government promises to devolve power over local finances. Edinburgh City Council is also understood to have engaged in talks with the Scottish Government. One source said it had yet to receive a response. But a spokesman for Holyrood said last night there were no plans to implement any new taxes as the tourism sector is currently subject to the second highest VAT rates in Europe by the UK Government. Sources in England say they are also waiting for a response. Hotels in London already face a 117 million increase in taxes this year in the form of new business rates, according to consultancy CVS, raising the annual total to 476 million, with the new charges starting to bite this weekend. Mark Rigby, head of CVS, said: It will be hard for the cost to be absorbed long-term and that could result in rising room prices. But a council source said: Is a 1 surcharge per night really going to be the difference between someone holidaying here or not? Advertisement An ISIS car bomb factory with vehicles and explosives to cause mass destruction has been discovered in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Iraqi soldiers found two cars and an armoured plated garbage truck destined to be used in suicide missions. The truck had been spray-painted with bright red paint while the bodywork had been rendered in white - a new ISIS tactic to confuse US surveillance drones into thinking suicide car bombs are ordinary civilian vehicles. Scroll down for video Car bomb: Iraqi forces discovered an ISIS bomb factory, above, as they advanced into the western half of Mosul which is still largely under the control of the murderous jihadis. Above shows a member of of Iraq's Federal Police Destruction: Iraqi soldiers found two unfinished car bombs and a modified garbage truck in the nefarious workshop in west Mosul's Josah district During the offensive in east Mosul, most ISIS car bombs were either painted black or their steel bullet-proof metal sheets were left unpainted. The truck's bodywork had been reinforced with thick steel sheets, designed to act as bullet-proofing to protect the driver traveling at high speed towards enemy positions. Government troops made the terrifying discovery in the Josah district as they advanced into the western half of the city, where hundreds of thousands are still trapped under the terror group's control. Chemical weapons: Iraqi soldiers found explosive vehicles fitted with canisters of chlorine gas, pictured, which ISIS has starting using as a makeshift chemical weapon Armour plated: The rubbish truck, above, had been reinforced with thick steel sheets which acted as bullet-proofing to protect the suicidal driver 'These two car bombs were under construction and were almost ready to be loaded with explosives to be used against us, but Daesh didn't have time to deploy them before we liberated the area,' Heider, a soldier with Iraq's elite Rapid Response Division (ERD), told MailOnline. 'If it had been used, the rubbish truck would have created a massive explosion, easily destroying three houses,' he added. Soldiers say this new strategy of painting lethal vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIEDs) is designed to confuse aerial surveillance operations being carried out near the front-lines by US spy drones to delay the military response against car bombs. Tactic: Iraqi soldiers told MailOnline how ISIS painted the trucks in bright colours to try and confuse US surveillance drones into thinking they are ordinary vehicles 'The US military are here with us on the front lines but not fighting, they are using drones to monitor Daesh activities, especially suicide car bombs,' said Iraqi soldier Mohammed. 'They have a big technologically-advanced drone which they constantly fly over areas we are advancing into, to check for incoming Daesh suicide car bombs.' He explained that, when a car bomb is identified, co-ordinates are given to Iraqi and coalition warplanes, which then target them with airstrikes. Under attack: Iraqi soldier Mohammed told of how they faced four suicide car bomb attacks in a single day, adding: 'Three of them were stopped by airstrikes and our RPGs, but one of them blew up with a massive explosion when we hit it' Near miss: Iraqi troops chased ISIS soldiers from the area before they deployed their death trucks. Heider, a soldier with Iraq's elite Rapid Response Division (ERD), said: 'If it had been used, this rubbish truck would have created a massive explosion' Pictured: Inside an ISIS car bomb factory in Mosul Since the Iraqi military started its operation to liberate West Mosul from ISIS in February, militants have continued to use car bombs and snipers as their main defence. 'Four suicide car bombs came at us yesterday, just on this one frontline,' said Mohammed. 'Three of them were stopped by airstrikes and our RPGs, but one of them blew up with a massive explosion when we hit it. 'Daesh have hidden suicide car bombs in covered areas in residential homes and garages so they can't be seen from the air,' he said. 'We fully expect that there will be a lot more suicide cars waiting for us, hidden in civilian homes.' While Iraqi troops were trying to liberate eastern Mosul, now free from the jihadis, most car bombs were easily identifiable as their bullet-proof metal sheets were left unpainted. Pictured: Bombs loaded onto the back of an armour plated Honda Weapon: The bullet proof car bombs are made with a small slit in the windscreen to prevent an ISIS suicide bomber being shot dead before completing their mission Killing vehicle: ISIS armour plate their vehicles to buy suicide bombers time to reach their destination, Iraqi soldiers claim A few streets away the driver of a a crumpled Honda VBIED was killed before he could detonate the vehicle. His car bomb stood by the side of the road, painted light blue to appear like a civilian car to drones flying overhead. Fake windows and wheels had been painted on the side of the vehicle. A tiny slit had been cut into the windscreen to prevent the ISIS suicide bomber driver from being shot before completing his mission. In the afternoon sunshine, the body of the militant driver, shot through the head, laid prostrate on the ground nearby. 'They are not people, they are just animals,' said Iraqi soldier Ahmed. 'They sent four car bombs for us yesterday. The day before there were ten, and we have already destroyed two today.' Explosives: Iraq's Rapid Response Division found and dismantled a third vehicle found at the base loaded with explosives Rescue team: Iraqi soldier Mohammed told MailOnine how the US military play a significant role in monitoring and warning against ISIS activities, 'especially suicide car bombs' In the bomb factory warehouse, officers from Iraq's Federal Police busily stripped the rubbish truck of its red and white metal panels. One worker said they planned to use the parts on their own military vehicles, which are under constant threat from ISIS IEDs, suicide bombs and RPGs. Engineers also found two chlorine canisters that ISIS reportedly use as a makeshift chemical weapon in their defence of Mosul, formerly their Iraq stronghold. Warning: American surveillance also warn ground forces when ISIS car bombs are too close to the front lines to be destroyed On the run: ISIS militants use car bombs and snipers as their main defence, attacking army positions with multiple vehicles every day, ever since the Iraqi military began their operation to liberate West Mosul three weeks ago An ISIS car bomb painted in the same bright red shade as the rubbish truck recently seized by Iraqi forces was found fitted with chlorine canisters. Chlorine, first used as a chemical weapon by Germany in WWI causes instant death when inhaled. 'These are mortar rounds and plastic canisters containing diluted black oil, which ignite when the vehicle blows up and creates a huge fire,' soldier Heider explained. Former CIA director John Brennan last year warned that ISIS had already used chemical weapons and have the capacity to make small quantities of deadly chlorine and mustard gas. At a nearby public swimming pool commandeered by ISIS, several large chlorine tanks were discovered. 'These were meant for cleaning the swimming pool but ISIS have started using them as chemical weapons on their suicide vehicles,' said ERD lieutenant Walid. 'They fit these canisters onto the back of large suicide bomb cars and the chlorine canisters blow up, releasing a very dangerous gas when they detonate the vehicle,' he added. Iraqi soldiers told of how ISIS have hidden suicide car bombs around the western half of Mosul - or parked them in garages - so they cannot be seen from the air Nadia Louise Cameron, who worked at Bathurst Real Estate, was killed by her long-term partner They hugged in the driveway and then the 'pig of a man' took his lover of four years inside his country New South Wales home for a glass of red wine. But as Nadia Cameron put on her coat and tried to leave - apparently walking out on her relationship of four years - her long-time partner shot her in the leg. Then, as she tried to fend off another bullet, popular Bathurst cafe owner Elie Issa, 60, shot her in the hand. The 52-year-old was still conscious when the bullet nearly blew off her finger. Then Issa shot her in the chest - again and again - before turning the weapon himself. Murdered by her boyfriend in horrendous fashion, the distressing final moments of country New South Wales woman Ms Cameron, 52, have been laid bare in coronial inquest findings. So too were Issa's desperate attempts to save his relationship with a woman who simply wanted to get away from him. In the weeks before the murder-suicide, the Lebanese-born businessman showered Ms Cameron - who worked at a local real estate agency - with loved-up texts and flowers. There he was, at 7.11am on July 16, 2015 - the day he murdered the day he murdered the real estate worker - starting the day with a mushy message, the inquest heard. Mushy messages: In the days prior to her death, Issa would send his partner loved-up texts: 'I love you so much I miss you xxxxxxoooo' A day before she was killed, Ms Cameron texted Issa - thanking him for a bunch of roses he had sent the previous day. 'Last weeks ones are still going strong too (sic),' she said The message Elie Issa sent his wife on the morning of the day he shot her dead 'I feel like I am just a trophy to him. He does not buy me anything or take me on holidays. He just wants me when it suits him,' Ms Cameron told a friend before her death, an inquest heard 'Pig of a man': Elie Issa killed his partner of four years Nadia Cameron. He had been diagnosed with depression on the 'severe' scale at the time of his lover's death 'Good morning darling I love you more then anything in the world xxxxxxooooxxxxx,' he wrote. The message came just two days after he sent her a box of flowers - even though a previous bunch he had sent her were still OK. It was typical behaviour from Issa - who in recent days had bombarded her with messages in the hours after dawn broke. To the outside world, it seemed Issa was a devoted partner. 'Elie appeared to worship Nadia,' his friend Barry Deveney told investigators. Another customer: Elie Issa, seen here with NRL star Brent Tate The couple were well known in the local community. Issa, the cafe who entertained the likes of Governor-General Quentin Bryce and his 'quiet' real estate worker wife. But few knew Ms Cameron felt as if she was just Issa's 'trophy' and just wanted to get out. 'I feel like I am just a trophy to him,' she told her friend Kevin Keogh. 'He does not buy me anything or take me on holidays. He just wants me when it suits him.' An inquest heard how Ms Cameron would be confronted by her partner over what 'anonymous callers' had told him and would question her for talking to men or wearing revealing clothes Acquaintances of both told investigators there was no sign Issa was violent to her before the shootings. But he would 'belittle and control her', the inquest heard, and she feared she could be 'ostracised' by the local community if she left him. Nadia's mate of 30 years, Natasha King, said Elie was 'adoring' of her, but began playing mind games with his partner 'after a little while'. 'Elie would tell Nadia that anonymous people would call him to tell him about her past,' Ms King said. He would scold her for wearing revealing clothing or speaking to other men, the inquest heard. One of 158: Nadia Cameron was part of a tragic number of women killed by their partners in 2015 It's a relationship dynamic that is common in domestic violence cases with tragic endings, victims' advocate Kay Schubach told Daily Mail Australia. And it's often seen in small towns. 'It's really hard in a small town because everyone knows everyone and it's that much harder to even confide in anyone or to leave or do anything,' Ms Schubach said. Mental health, too, may have been an issue. Issa was found to have 'severe' side-effects of depression during a medical test in 2012. But the inquest heard there was no sign he ever received treatment. Ms Cameron, a mother-of-one, worked at Bathurst Real Estate. Colleagues picked up on her distress Ms Cameron had resolved to end her relationship with Issa the evening she was killed. Colleagues at Bathurst Real Estate said she was distressed when she left work that day at 5.39pm. Detectives who viewed CCTV footage believed she was in tears as she walked out of her work for the final time. She embraced Issa when she pulled up at his house in Kelso after 5.53pm. About 7.30pm that evening, neighbours thought they heard firecrackers. They were wrong. The inquest heard it appeared she was about to leave the house when she was gunned down. 'It looks like she was about to leave the house as she had her coat on when Elie made the decision to use the firearm and shoot Nadia and then himself.' Elie Issa's cafe was a Bathurst mainstay until the horrific murder-suicide in 2013 Some questions surrounding the incident will never be answered, the coroner said this week. Both Nadia and Elie's accounts of the incident were taken to the grave. Contacted by Daily Mail Australia this week, a relative of Ms Cameron gave a withering assessment of Issa - who took away a mother from her son. 'He was just a pig of a man who didn't want to lose her - so he killed her'. For confidential crisis support call Lifeline 13 11 14, lifeline.org.au National domestic violence helpline: 1800 737 732 or 1800RESPECT Troubling footage has emerged from inside Australia's most secretive prison, sparking fears Islamic extremists are being further radicalised behind bars. More than 60 per cent of inmates in the SuperMax wing of Goulburn Correctional Centre, north-east of Canberra, are suspected or convicted terrorists. The Australian was recently granted access to what is described as 'the most radical square mile in all of Australia'. 'Power to Islam,' one of the 30 prisoners held on terrorist-related offences can be heard saying in video footage taken by the publication. Troubling footage has emerged from inside Australia's most secretive prison, sparking fears Islamic extremists are being further radicalised behind bars 'You will be held accountable by Allah for this injustice,' another says. 'Every single one of you.' Another yells: 'Expose oppression - it's happening here at SuperMax to everyone here.' Among the inmates to be held in the SuperMax wing is a man who planned to behead a random member of the public at Sydney's Martin Place. 'Why don't you report the truth and that's the oppression of your so-called government,' he yelled at The Australian's Paul Maley, the paper reported. More than 60 per cent of inmates in the SuperMax wing of Goulburn Correctional Centre (pictured), north-east of Canberra, are suspected or convicted terrorists 'Power to Islam,' one of the 30 prisoners held on terrorist-related offences can be heard saying in video footage (stock image) Five times a day, inmates - some who are Al-Qa'ida operatives, others ISIS sympathisers - point their praying mats towards Mecca and recite the Koran. 'What was immediately clear to me was just how Islamified the SuperMax prison population has become and just how hardcore they are in their beliefs,' Mr Maley told Seven News. 'The clear impression I got was that virtually none of those guys had de-radicalised, none of those guys who went in there for terrorist offenses have forsaken their radical beliefs.' Australian National University terrorism Clarke Jones told the network radical beliefs can be reinforced in jail. 'Goulburn SuperMax is not the best place for rehabilitation,' he said. 'It does create opportunities for radicalisation where their ideological understanding of Islam - in this case - can be made worse.' Alaska's capital Juneau is on alert after the city saw its third avalanche in five weeks. A terrifying snow slide nearly crushed multiple homes on Friday, leaving mountains of debris on neighborhood streets. City residents were advised to be cautious of weak layers of snow due to recent wet weather and temperatures above freezing. Scroll down for video Snowmageddon: A resident captured the terrifying avalanche as it tumbled down Mount Juneau Residents had been warned of heightened avalanche danger on Mount Juneau as the city has been hit by recent rainfall causing a weak layer of snow One resident, Carole Triem captured the avalanche on video as it cascaded down Mount Juneau. Triem said she heard an unusual sound when she left an indoor swimming pool in downtown Juneau after her Friday morning workout. Initially, she had thought the startling noise was thunder, 'which is strange because we don't get thunder here in Juneau.' Instead, what she saw was a massive avalanche coming down from 2,500 feet. The avalanche was about 300 feet wide and 10 to 20 feet deep, Anchorage Daily News reported. An avalanche in Alaska's capital city isn't an unusual event after several this year. But what was different for Triem, she said, was that she was able to pull her phone out and capture most of it on a 70-second video. 'I looked up, and I think I caught the very beginning of it,' she said. 'I think I got pretty lucky.' Carole Triem captured the avalanche on video as it cascaded down Mount Juneau A gate that stood near the end of a dead-end street in Juneau, Alaska, was mangled by an avalanche on Friday The mountain of snow made it as far to hit a gate and a van on Friday, but no homes were hit She didn't feel like she was in any danger since she was far enough away from it, and didn't feel a whoosh of air from the avalanche. 'I couldn't feel anything different from where I was standing, just normal cold and wet,' she said of Juneau's typical weather. Juneau Police Lt. David Campbell said there were no injuries and no homes were struck in this southeast Alaska city sandwiched by mountains and the ocean. Local emergency manager Tom Mattice said the avalanche, an edge of which spilled onto a city street near a house, hit a gate and van. The mangled gate had included an avalanche warning sign. Residents had been warned of heightened avalanche danger on Mount Juneau as the city has been hit by recent rainfall. Triem caught not only the avalanche on video, but also more moisture - this time in the form of waterfalls - that followed the snow down the mountain. The edge of an avalanche spilled out toward a street, but no injuries were reported and no homes were struck Notorious father and son crime duo Gino and Mark Stocco have both been sentenced to 40 years' in jail for an eight-year crime spree that ended in murder. The former fugitives, who set off a massive manhunt across NSW in 2015, showed no emotion as the verdict was read on Friday. Gino Stocco, 59, has been told by the NSW Supreme Court that he will likely die in custody, while his son Mark, 37, won't be eligible for parole until 2045. The pair both pleaded guilty to the 2015 murder of 68-year-old central west NSW grandfather, Rosario Cimone. Scroll down for video Notorious former fugitives Gino (left) and Mark (right) Stocco have been sentenced to 40 years in jail following an eight year crime spree Mark Stocco (pictured), 59, has been told by the NSW Supreme Court that he will likely die in custody The notorious pair had been hiding out at a remote Elong Elong property, which was being used to cultivate cannabis for eight years. However Mark Stocco told police that their relationship with the property's caretaker, Mr Cimone, soured after they feared they would be kicked off the property. The court heard that Gino Stocco shot Mr Cimone in the stomach with a pump-action shotgun at his son's urging. The pair dumped the grandfather's body in scrub, burning his clothes, and stealing money and boots. In sentencing, Justice David Davies remarked that the pair had shown little remorse to the senseless killing. 'The killing was cold-blooded, callous and without rational justification.' Nine days after the killing, the pair opened fire on highway patrol officers to avoid arrest at Mangoplah, near Wagga Wagga, sparking the two-week manhunt. The father and son pair were arrested following a two-week police man hunt after they killed central west NSW property caretaker Rosario Cimone , 68, in 2015 In sentencing, Justice David Davies remarked that the pair had shown little remorse to the senseless killing They were finally arrested a fortnight later back at the cannabis property after a tip-off from the person who had introduced them to Mr Cimone. Their motivation for killing Mr Cimone 'was so trivial so as to defy any rational assessment', Justice Davies said. 'He was a human being, a husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle, and he was someone whose family cared about him.' Mr Cimone's daughter, Maria Perre, wept throughout the lengthy judgement. The Stoccos were also sentenced for setting fire in 2014 to two farm sheds at a NSW property where they had previously worked. The mother of the boy who was allegedly raped and killed by her boyfriend in Pennsylvania now faces child endangerment charges. MacKenzie Peters, 21, stands accused of a crime for allegedly being aware of the abuse of her four-year-old son, Bentley Miller, but failing to report it or seek medical treatment for him. Her boyfriend Keith Jordan Lambing, 20, - who is not the boy's father - was charged with homicide and rape of the boy, who died of severe blood loss due to sodomy, a severe burn to his left hand and bruises to the head, behind and extremities, reported the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette. The boy also reportedly had previous injuries. Scroll down for video MacKenzie Peters (pictured) has been charged with child endangerment following the death of her four-year-old son in Butler, Pennsylvania Keith Jordan Lambing (left) and his mother, Kristen Herold, were charged in connection with the murder of four-year-old Bentley Miller Prosecutors said they are considering seeking the death penalty against Lambing and also found drugs in the Super 8 motel at which the incident allegedly took place. Peters's attorney disputed the police claim that she should be held culpable in any way. He told WPXI-TV: 'The idea that [she] could have or should have known that anything like this would happen to her child doesn't make any sense,' KCTV 5 reported. Lambing's mother Kristen Herold, 43, was also charged with child endangerment and hindering apprehension when police said she hid her son in the attic of an abandoned home in Butler, Pennsylvania to avoid police detection. Both Herold and Lambing are being held in Butler County Prison. On March 21, police were called around 9:30am to a report of an unconscious child in a car at a business on Renaissance Drive in Butler. They found Bentley in the car with Herold. Herold told police she had picked the boy up at a Super 8 motel, where her son, Lambing, was staying with his girlfriend, Peters, and their four-month-old son. Miller was not Lambing's biological child. Police say Herold had been in the process of taking the child to his biological father's house, despite the fact that he was bleeding. When he became unconscious, she pulled over and called police. Police said Lambing was alone with the boy when he was assaulted. The boy was rushed to Butler Memorial Hospital, but never regained consciousness. He was pronounced dead an hour later. The boy's mother, Peters, was at work when police were called over the boy's condition, yet police said she may be charged in the future as well, though what charges are unclear, reported the Post-Gazette. When police went looking for Lambing, they eventually found him the next day, hiding in an attic of an abandoned building, where his mother stashed him, say cops. Lambing was already facing charges of burglary, criminal trespass, and conspiracy as well as terroristic threats and harassment, and had failed to show up for a court appointment the day before the boy's murder. Herold had been arrested for retail theft in 2013 and had a bench warrant out for required payments as restitution. Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said he may seek the death penalty for Lambing. 'I have never seen anything like it in 22 years as an attorney,' he told WTAE. 'It's horrific. It's unimaginable that somebody could actually do this to any human being let alone a 4-year-old.' Lambing appeared in court on Monday. When a reporter asked if he'd killed Bentley, he cried and said 'No, sir.' The prosecutor said Bentley had broken his arm two years ago, but officials found no evidence of abuse. Lambing and Peters have a four-month-old toddler together. Bentley Miller, above, died of blood loss from forced sodomy, said police, and he also had a severely burned hand and bruises all over his body Lambing appeared in court on Monday, he appeared to be crying Asked by a reporter in the hallway of his hearing if he killed the boy, he replied 'No sir' The boy's mother, Peters (pictured), was at work when police were called about the boy's condition Son and mother: Lambing and his mother, Herold, were both charged in connection with the boy's murder - Lambing is charged with aggravated indecent assault of a child and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and Herold is charged with aiding her son in hiding from police as well as child endangerment Police have found the remains of a six-year-old girl who went missing from her bedroom in Tucson nearly five years ago, putting an end to an exhaustive search. Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said Friday that police found the remains of Isabel Celis in a rural area of Pima County about a month ago 'not by happenstance'. The remains were identified through an independent out-of-state lab, Magnus said. Scroll down for video Police have found the remains of Isabel Celis, a six-year-old girl who went missing from her bedroom in Tucson nearly five years ago People place their candles at the bottom of a large poster of Celis during a candlelight vigil near a police command post in Tucson (2012 photo) An alley path behind the street where the young girl went missing from her home is cut off with police tape (2012 photo) He said: 'Obviously this is not the ending that any of us had hoped for, but this is also not the ending of the case. 'We are working this case very aggressively as we would with any case involving the death of a child.' Magnus released few details about the recovery of the girl's remains, saying an investigation is ongoing. He wouldn't say how long the remains may have been in the desert or what caused Celis' death. Magnus also didn't reveal whether there are any suspects in the girl's death. Magnus said he could not answer when asked if anyone was in custody, according to Tuscon News Now. Celis was last seen April 20, 2012, when she was six years old. Her father reported her missing the next morning after finding she was not in her bedroom A flyer for missing six-year-old Isabel Celis is placed on a volunteer's car in Tucson in 2012 Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus (pictured) said Friday that police found the remains of Isabel Celis in a rural area of Pima County about a month ago 'not by happenstance' He declined to answer questions about how police were led to her body, only saying that it was not a happenstance. Celis was last seen April 20, 2012, when she was six years old. Her father reported her missing the next morning after finding she was not in her bedroom. Police never named any suspects, but they said they found 'suspicious circumstances around a possible entry point' in the home. Family members have said they last saw her in her bedroom the night before she was reported missing. A window was later found open with the screen pushed aside. A few days after the disappearance, a neighbor told KVOA-TV that she heard her dogs barking and male voices outside her bedroom window around 6.30am on the day the girl was reported missing. The neighbor said there were no sounds that indicated a struggle. According to KTAR, authorities said whoever was behind the crime knew the layout of the residence. Authorities searched the house, but a judge sealed those records, the station said. Police and volunteers conducted exhaustive searches and even renewed a door-to-door effort to find the girl 18 months after her disappearance The case was considered an abduction about a month after it was first handled as a suspicious disappearance, Arizona Public Media reports. It was reported that Child Protective Services asked the girl's father, Sergio Celis, to not make contact with his two other sons. Sergio Celis eventually was able to go inside the house - and information about the reason for the temporary separation hasn't been disclosed, Arizona Public Media reported. Police and volunteers conducted exhaustive searches and even renewed a door-to-door effort to find the girl 18 months after her disappearance. Magnus said Friday that police pursued over 2,200 leads in the case. Tucson Medical Center, where Celis' mother is a nurse, issued a statement on behalf of the girl's family. Police and volunteers conducted exhaustive searches and even renewed a door-to-door effort to find the girl 18 months after her disappearance Sergio and Becky Celis, parents of Isabel Celis, talk about their daughter's disappearance in 2015 in this image The statement reads: 'We want to thank the community for the support they have continued to show for Isa over the years and for refusing to give up hope. 'Now is our time to mourn. We ask for our privacy during this time so that we can do that.' Medical center CEO Judy Rich said in a statement: 'This is not the news we had hoped to hear. 'Becky has been a member of the TMC family for many years, and our hearts grieve for Isa and her family.' Magnus said the department is still asking for tips and that he believes people might know something about happened to Celis. He said: 'We appreciate the fact that this case has been very traumatic. 'In fact, reverberations of this have gone well beyond Tucson and even Arizona, (and) have affected people throughout the country.' According to KTAR, Magnus said: 'This is a very important step in the case, so thats one of the reasons why we're still asking the public if they have any leads. 'We believe there may still be folks out there who perhaps know something or feel now that theyre willing to come forward with information.' Purple balloons and flowers are being placed at the front gate of the Celis' home. Convicted murderer Gerard Baden-Clay has demanded open communication with his three daughters despite killing their mother. Baden-Clay, 46, was found guilty of murdering wife Allison, whose body was found on a Brisbane river bank in April 2012, ten days after she was reported missing by her husband. The 46-year-old requested to send photos from prison as well as receive pictures and the report cards of his three daughters aged 15, 13 and ten. Scroll down for video Convicted murderer Gerard Baden-Clay has demanded open communication with his three children despite killing their mother Baden-Clay, 46, was found guilty of murdering wife Allison, whose body was found on a Brisbane river bank in April 2012 His request was denied and a ban on any contact was upheld, according to The Courier Mail. A friend of Allison's said Baden-Clay is in 'denial about what he's done' and shouldn't attempt to interfere in the lives of his children. 'He has no concept about what he has put those kids through and how he has impacted everybody,' the friend said. 'It's worrying that he thinks he has a right to be involved in these kids' lives. He just hasn't.' An image which was presented as evidence during Baden-Clay's murder trial in 2014. He is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 15 years before being eligible for parole Baden-Clay has been working in metal assembly inside Wolston Correctional Centre (pictured), southwest Brisbane. Baden-Clay was restricted from seeing his three daughters - who live with Allison's parents - when going through a protracted appeals process. His murder conviction was downgraded to manslaughter in 2015, before being reinstated by the High Court of Australia the following year. Baden-Clay is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 15 years before being eligible for parole. He has been working in metal assembly inside Wolston Correctional Centre, southwest Brisbane. Reports earlier this year said Baden-Clay was so fearful for his safety in Wolston, that he had been paying other prisoners to act as his own bodyguards. Developers are abusing the Governments flagship Help to Buy scheme by selling new-build homes with punishing leases. By the end of last year, leasehold houses made up 15 per cent of properties in the taxpayer-funded project. But the arrangement means buyers do not own their home outright and are forced to pay yearly ground rent to the freeholder with some fees doubling every decade. At the end of last year leasehold houses made up 15 per cent of Help to Buy properties Developers often sell the contracts to investors who then charge families huge sums to buy the freeholds back. It is now feared the taxpayer could lose out because the onerous terms make it almost impossible to sell leasehold houses on leading to a slump in prices. The growing scandal has been branded the PPI of the house building industry a reference to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance by the banks. A Tory MP last night said families are being shafted, ripped off and conned by developers with many victims being desperate first-time buyers who turn to Help to Buy for assistance. More than 10,000 new leasehold houses one in nine of the 95,639 total have been sold through the controversial mortgage support programme since it was launched four years ago. The figure includes nearly 5,000 last year alone. Traditionally, leasehold status was restricted to flats but increasing numbers of houses are now being built on this basis. Families who use the Help to Buy scheme to get a mortgage need to raise a deposit of just 5 per cent while the Government puts up 20 per cent of the value of the newly-built property. When the property is sold, the homeowner has to repay 20 per cent of the sale price, which means if the value falls the Government does not get its money back. More than 10,000 new leasehold houses have been sold through the controversial mortgage support programme The scale of the problem is underlined by the Governments own figures showing taxpayers money is increasingly being used to subsidise the sale of new houses with leases through Help to Buy. Figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government show the number of leasehold houses sold through Help to Buy has rocketed since the scheme was launched four years ago. Sales of leasehold houses leapt from 781 in 2013 when it represented less than 7 per cent of new homes sold through the scheme to 4,832 in 2016. By last year it had reached 15 per cent. Some ground rents double every decade hammering household finances and making the property almost impossible to sell in future. Families can attempt to buy the freehold, but if it has been sold by the developer to an outside investor, the new owner may hold them to ransom by demanding a huge premium. The number of leasehold houses sold through Help to Buy has rocketed since the scheme was launched four years ago Campaigner Sebastian OKelly, who runs the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, said: What housebuilders are doing is cheating their customers who simply want a home by creating an investment asset the freehold at their expense. This is then sold on to investment companies. These families cannot sell their homes. Any solicitor acting for a potential buyer will see that the terms of the lease are too onerous and advise their client not to buy. The original purchasers are stuck. The housebuilders are also having a laugh with us, the taxpayers, in palming off these flawed products which are sold to buyers on the Help to Buy scheme. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid described the practice of building new homes and selling them as leasehold as 'practically feudal' Justin Madders, Labour MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, where the use of leasehold is widespread, described the scandal as the PPI of the house building industry. He said: There is no need for most of the houses built in my constituency to be sold on a leasehold basis. Tory MP Andrew Selous added: People are really, really angry about this. They know they are being shafted and they dont like it. They are being ripped off. They are being conned. It is an appalling way to treat ordinary people who worked really hard to afford their first home. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid this week criticised the practically feudal practices of developers who build new houses and sell them as leasehold and is planning a clampdown. A Government spokesman said: Our recent housing White Paper is clear that we will consult on a range of measures to tackle all unfair and unreasonable abuses of leasehold. German car giant BMWs most senior British board member said it is in his firms strategic interest to keep car production in the UK after Brexit. Dr Ian Robertson, sales and marketing director for BMW globally, said Brexit was an issue to be considered but significantly was not a main driver of their major decision-making. There was a clear strategic benefit in BMW having car production in the UK after it leaves the European Union, he said. BMWs most senior British board member said it is in his firms strategic interest to keep car production in the UK He said Are we looking at scenarios about what Brexit could turn into? Yes. Is it a main driver? No. Its one element among many elements. Dr Robertson conceded that board meetings discussing Brexit held in German at their Munich headquarters - were energetic noting: We dont have passive board meetings. We all argue about things. Passive board meetings are not good for people making big decisions. He said discussions were passionate but pragmatic but centred on matters which affected their strategic direction noting: One thing we dont do we tend not to look at short term issues. Dr Robertson declined to say whether a planned new electric MINI would, as has been speculated, be built abroad rather than in Britain. But he stressed that the plug-in MINI was just one variant of the full MINI range, most of which was built at the BMWs MINI factory in Oxford. Asked if he feared a backlash if production went outside of Britain he said:Well consider all the factors and well make the right decision. BMW also has a Rolls-Royce factory at Goodwood in Chichester, West Sussex, and an engine factory at Hams Hall near Birmingham. Dr Robertson said: Our strategy is that production follows sales. Whats the strategic benefit of our production facilities in the UK? We sold 250,000 cars in the UK last year . As a result we have a strategic manufacturing base in the UK. This also helped BMW spread the risk over currency variations, he said: So when we look around the world, the strategy is that we want to balance our production and sales. Above all its about balancing risk. Workers at the BMW UK MINI plant in Oxford The fact that BMW is based in Bavaria a German Land that styles itself Free State Bavaria and regards itself as almost independent has gone some way to helping executives there understand the British mindset over Brexit, he conceded. Dr Robertson made his comments at a select dinner briefing with journalists at Londons Connaught Hotel after he had spoken at a motor industry conference in the capital about autonomous vehicles. His comments marks a significant softening of the line from the firm which in the past has been very vocal in its opposition to Brexit. BMW asked for a retention of freedom of labour across Europe. It also follows repeated goading from Brexiteers such as MP John Redwood and others that BMW and European car-makers will still want to send its cars to Britain after the UK leaves the EU. BMW is pushing ahead as a pioneer for electric and autonomous vehicles. But Dr Robertson believed the use of self-driving cars would be restricted because governments are reluctant to allow them to make life and death decisions. Legislation will limit their use, he said, predicting a phased approach with different rules for motorways and local roads. Speaking at a connected cars conference in London organised by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Dr Robertson said: The autonomous vehicle will be capable of making decisions which would - in the event of an accident - result in a set of scenarios where the decision being made could result in life and death. BMW also has a Rolls-Royce factory at Goodwood in Chichester I dont think we will reach the stage where legislation allows that in the foreseeable future. I think we will restrict it. But BMW would demonstrate its own self driving technology later this year and he predicted that on selected roads there would be vehicles full of passengers with no driver. The drive towards zero-emissions cars including electric will accelerate, he said. But there would still be a place for diesel-powered cars for many years yet, despite moves by civic leaders to ban the worst polluters from city centres. He said BMW was preparing very thoroughly for the hi-tech revolution now underway insisting that as a car-maker it easier to embrace the new technology for vehicle production than it is for tech companies and disrupters seeking to enter the car-market. As BMW celebrates more than a century of car production, he said: The next five years will see more changes than we have seen in the last 100 years. Its a really exciting time to be in the business. Now we have to step up a gear. Tourists driving to France this Easter face a 117 fine if they fail to display a car sticker giving the vehicles emissions. As of yesterday, all drivers who visit Paris, Lyon and Grenoble must show the certificate on their windscreen, which states the vehicles age, engine size and the level of dangerous gases it emits. The new environmental rules also mean cars more than 20 years old will be banned from driving through the three French cities altogether on certain days. New rules: The Crit'Air scheme will see tourists forced to display a sticker, grading how eco-friendly their cars are while motors more than 20 years old will be banned in some cities altogether The CritAir scheme issues stickers in six colours, running from a green sticker for hydrogen-powered vehicles to a grey sticker for the most polluting. Twenty-two other towns and cities, including Lille, Cannes and Dunkirk, may roll out the scheme in the future to cut down on harmful exhaust fumes. However, at the moment, the stickers are only required for drivers travelling to Paris, Lyon and Grenoble. Tourists driving elsewhere in France do not need them. The RAC has said it has been inundated with calls from frantic holidaymakers who have struggled to buy a sticker blaming problems with the French governments website and administrative delays. Drivers say the official website is difficult to navigate and requires a raft of information about their vehicle. British tourists can only apply online, and must supply their vehicles identification number, insurance policy number, the vehicle title and registration details. The stickers, which can only be bought from the official French government website certificat-air.gouv.fr, cost 4.80 each around 4.10 including postage to the UK. And even after applying, Britons face a six-week wait for it to arrive, as the department has been flooded with applications. Banned: Tourists driving cars which are more than 20 years old will not be allowed to travel in Paris, pictured above, on certain days of the week between the hours of 8am and 8pm The French government says anyone whose sticker does not arrive in the post before their holiday should print off a copy of the confirmation email of their purchase to show to police, if stopped. Police can issue on-the-spot fines of up to 135 (117) if they see a car without one. Vehicles deemed too polluting including all petrol and diesel cars registered before January 1, 1997 will be banned from the cities entirely between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday. Others will be barred on days of high air pollution. Reader Jean Phillips, 66, of Worcester Park, Surrey, said she spent 90 minutes trying to get a sticker before giving up. She said: I used to work in IT but we just cannot attach the document because its too large. We are completely stuck. I am amazed anyone ever gets to the end of the form. Simon Williams, of the RAC, said: The RAC travel team has been dealing with hundreds of calls from members asking for help with their applications. [They] can be quite a challenge, even for anyone who is reasonably IT literate. The EU has handed Spain an effective veto over the entire Brexit deal by declaring Madrid must agree to the deal applying to Gibraltar (pictured) The centuries-old dispute over Gibraltar is threatening to halt Brexit negotiations after the EU yesterday backed Spains claim to the British territory. Brussels chiefs sparked a diplomatic feud yesterday after including a veto for Madrid over the Rocks future in their list of Brexit negotiating demands. UK politicians accused the EU of orchestrating a shameful attempt to inflame the historic territorial wrangle. Despite Theresa Mays insistence that Gibraltar would not be used as a political pawn, the EU said Spain should be given a say over any future decisions relating to the territory. The move threatened an early breakdown in negotiations after EU officials said they would not remove the clause. It also infuriated MPs, who said Britain must not be bullied into compromises by Spain. Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, of the all-parliamentary group on Gibraltar, said: British people must and will stand together, we cannot be bullied by Spain. Any agreement must apply equally to the whole British family and that includes Gibraltar. There can be no compromise on this. Jack Lopresti, Tory chairman of the all-party group, said: Its predictable given Spains previous behaviour, they would try to use Brexit as a fig leaf for trouble-making. It is shameful that the EU have attempted to allow Spain an effective veto over the future of British sovereign territory, flying in the face of the will of the people of Gibraltar. Scroll down for video Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo, pictured in Downing Street in 2013, blasted the 'disgraceful' singling out of the 30,000 residents by the European Union Madrid has already indicated it would block a deal over aircraft landing rights in Gibraltar, which could see flights grounded. The decision to include the veto in the negotiating guidelines produced by European Council president Donald Tusk followed intense lobbying by Spanish diplomats. EU sources also revealed Brussels has decided to depart from its current neutral position over the dispute following the Brexit result, and will now take Spains side on Gibraltar. One senior EU official said: The Union will stick up for its members and that means Spain now. There is a difference [now]. After Brexit is notified there is a Union of 27 and only one side of that argument is represented. MPs were outraged at the move, contained in the small print of the draft negotiating guidelines for the EU published by Council President Donald Tusk today As he unveiled the draft guidelines, Mr Tusk warned Mrs May she must strike a deal on the Brexit divorce bill, migrant rights, business rules and the Irish border before trade talks can start Fabian Picardo, Gibraltars Chief Minister, last night accused the EU of singling out the territory in an unnecessary, unjustified and unacceptable way. He said: 'This proposed singling out of Gibraltar and its people was the predictable machination of Spain that the people of Gibraltar foresaw and one of the reasons we voted so massively to remain in the EU. 'This is a disgraceful attempt by Spain to manipulate the European Council for its own narrow, political interests. 'Brexit is already complicated enough without Spain trying to complicate it further.' Mr Picardo accused Spain of holding the EU to ransom over Gibraltars airport, but insisted: The whole EU should know: this changes nothing in respect of our continued, exclusive British sovereignty. The veto clause states no agreement between the EU and UK may apply to Gibraltar without the agreement of Spain. Explaining its inclusion, an EU official said: The text means what it says. Any extension of [a] deal to Gibraltar, which is a disputed territory, will require the support of Spain. The veto demand follows months of increasingly antagonistic behaviour by Spain towards residents of the disputed territory, which became a British colony in 1830. Following the EU referendum, in which Gibraltarians voted 96 per cent to remain, Spains then-foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo proclaimed the likelihood of a Spanish flag on the Rock. Spanish officials yesterday celebrated the EUs decision to give Madrid the power to shape Gibraltars future, claiming it as their colony. Senior Spanish MEP Esteban Gonzalez Pons pointed out that Theresa May failed to mention the territory in her letter to Mr Tusk on Wednesday invoking Article 50. He said this showed it was a colony like St Helena rather than part of the UK. Theresa May could be faced with choosing between accepting a deal that leaves the Rock in the wilderness or walking away from the talks with nothing But the accusation was immediately rebutted by No10, which said Mrs May spelled out her support for Gibraltar when she triggered the beginning of Brexit. In the Commons on Wednesday, she said: We are absolutely steadfast in our support of Gibraltar, its people and economy. We are very clear Gibraltar is covered by our Brexit negotiations. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has also given assurances the UK would mount a rock-like resistance to any attempts to alter Gibraltars sovereignty. British politicians accused the EU of needlessly trying to stir up a dispute during a sensitive diplomatic period. The veto would let Spain block any aspects of a future relationship with the UK that it viewed as unfavourable, allowing officials in Madrid to wreak havoc during negotiations. For example, Spain is likely to insist that Gibraltar changes its unfair 10 per cent corporation tax rate. Spain defended the position today as minister Inigo Mendez de Vigo said 'this is an important point in the future negotiations of the United Kingdom's exit from the EU'. A senior diplomat in Brussels said: 'This seems intended to give Spain something so they don't try to hold the whole withdrawal treaty hostage over it.' Conservative MP Bob Neill said: 'Gibraltar's friends in the UK will be watching this very carefully. There will be no sell out.' Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Tom Brake said it showed the Government's Brexit strategy was potentially damaging to the future of the Rock. Mr Brake said: 'Confirmation that Gibraltar's future must be agreed by the UK and Spain shows just how damaging the Government's hard Brexit will be on this strategically-important British territory. THE ONE SENTENCE THAT COULD TRASH THE WHOLE DEAL The EU's Gibraltar bombshell was revealed in a single sentence of the nine page draft guidelines. It hands Spain a veto over whether the Brexit deal applies to Gibraltar - something which could make the entire deal untenable for Britain. It reads: 'After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom.' Advertisement 'Theresa May must urgently produce a plan that protects the citizens of Gibraltar, including their businesses and communities. 'It is our obligation to support our overseas territories, and any attempt to brush off the importance of this issue is a dereliction of duty by the Government. 'Only the Lib Dems are fighting against hard Brexit, and to keep the UK's place in the single market.' As he unveiled the draft guidelines, Mr Tusk warned Theresa May she must strike a deal on the Brexit divorce bill, migrant rights, business rules and the Irish border before trade talks can start. The EU Council President made a small concession to Mrs May by indicating he would allow some talks to run side by side before the divorce is finalised - potentially as soon as this autumn. But at a press conference Mr Tusk confirmed 'parallel talks will not happen' despite the Prime Minister demanding everything be discussed at once four times in her Article 50 letter. The details of the EU's position were spelt out in a set of draft negotiating guidelines which represent the official response to Mrs May's historic letter. Mr Tusk said he was not seeking a 'punitive' deal, warning 'Brexit is punishment enough'. Agreeing the cost of Brexit will be a huge sticking point in the first phase of the negotiations as Europe is expected to demand up to 50billion - dwarfing the 3billion figure thought acceptable by ministers. Striking an agreement on the rules imposed on companies after Brexit could also be difficult. Mr Tusk's letter suggests the EU wants to stop Britain slashing taxes and regulation in an effort to stop a 'race to the bottom'. Agreements on the rights of EU citizens in Britain and the Irish border will be complicated but striking a deal is firmly supported on both sides. The draft negotiating guidelines for the EU's position in the Brexit talks demand 'sufficient progress' be made on agreeing the divorce before trade deal talks start. Deciding when that point is reached is entirely up to the EU and is not something Britain can declare. Forty years ago, one question dominated British politics. As car factories fell silent, as homes fell dark, as rubbish piled up in the streets, people would ask in frustration: Who governs? The government? Or the unions? The answer was a long time coming. It was only after the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, with a mandate to tame the union leaders power, end the culture of industrial militancy and reassert the sovereignty of the British government, that the question was finally consigned to the history books. Four decades on, I believe it has returned to the heart of British politics. For, as in the Seventies, the Government finds itself heading for confrontation with a group of remote, unaccountable and increasingly militant opponents, who treat our nations elected leaders with contempt and set their own interests above those of the British people. Tech giants' defiance of social responsibility and contempt for national security is becoming one of the defining issues of our age, writes Dominic Sandbrook (file photo) I am talking, of course, about the gigantic multinational technology companies Google, Facebook, Apple, Uber and the like whose defiance of social responsibility and contempt for national security is becoming one of the defining issues of our age. Two days ago, the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, summoned representatives of the major tech firms to Whitehall, to express her frustration at their failure to stop terrorists using their services to communicate among themselves and to distribute extremist material. I doubt Ms Rudd offered her guests beer and sandwiches, the symbol of successive Prime Ministers futile attempts to rein in the militant union leaders in the Seventies. But I suspect Thursdays meeting will produce exactly what all those meetings with the union bosses produced 40 years ago: very little. The firms may have promised to crack down on terrorist videos online. Yet that pledge came on the same day the BBC reported that Britain is losing the battle to eradicate extremist websites from the internet. A pledge to track down on terrorist videos online came on the same day the BBC reported that Britain is losing the battle to eradicate extremist websites from the internet (file photo) Yesterday, it revealed that there has been a rise in worldwide searches for extremist key words, reaching half a million last year, including 54,000 searches in Britain alone. What lies behind this latest confrontation between the Government and the big technology firms is the fallout from the dreadful attack in Westminster ten days ago. We now know that the killer, Khalid Masood, sent a message on WhatsApp the online messaging system owned by Facebook just moments before his car ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. But we dont know what it said or to whom he sent it, because the companys encryption software means the security services cannot access it. So when, last weekend, Ms Rudd said that the Government would like to have the powers to read encrypted messages on social media platforms like WhatsApp, I struggled to see the problem. There has been a rise in worldwide searches for extremist key words, reaching half a million last year, including 54,000 searches in Britain alone (file photo) That doesnt mean, by the way, that I care nothing for civil liberties. After all, we in Britain are famous for valuing our freedom and bridling at government interference. Yet, as most of us recognise, we want to enjoy that freedom without a madman blowing us up or running us down. When terrorists strike, we dont simply shrug our shoulders and say: Thats life. We wonder why our security services failed to stop them; we try to learn the appropriate lessons, and to make sure it doesnt happen again. This doesnt strike me as knee-jerk authoritarianism, just common sense. But, of course, the tech companies and their ultra-libertarian cheerleaders see things rather differently. Cue the hysterical shrieks that the East German Stasi had bugs in everybodys bedrooms, and that this is the slippery slope to George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four, with its Big Brother surveillance. This is, of course, the world view promoted by the Guardian newspapers pin-up Edward Snowden, now a grateful guest of Vladimir Putin in Moscow, who leaked tens of thousands of British and American intelligence files to the media in an attempt to discredit the U.S. governments electronic spying programmes. Ministers have long been campaigning against the easy availability online not just of hardcore pornography, but of images of child abuse and violent jihadist propaganda (file photo) Yet what really baffles me about Mr Snowden and his supporters is that they elevate one principle liberty while ignoring all others. I like liberty as much as anybody, but I like security that protects me from being killed, too. Of course, I would prefer not to have my phone and email conversations tapped but which of us would genuinely elevate our privacy above the lives of innocent men, women and children? I can already hear the howls of protest from the libertarian fringe. But do they really think that the men and women who drive into GCHQ every morning from their suburban Cheltenham homes are itching to become a British Stasi? Behind all this is a deeper and more serious issue. We will be debating the tension between liberty and security for as long as we are debating anything at all. The bigger question, though, is the looming conflict between national governments and the vast technology giants that think themselves above the nation state. This is not the first time, after all, that the British government has come up against their intransigence: ministers have long been campaigning against the easy availability online not just of hardcore pornography, but of images of child abuse and violent jihadist propaganda. The technology companies, of course, claim that these are nothing to do with them. But they provide a platform for them: surely they cannot duck their responsibility for ever. Thus far, the Governments early efforts have achieved nothing. What firms such as Uber, Google, Facebook and Apple have in common is that they avoid paying their fair share of taxes (file photo) Two years ago, for instance, David Cameron demanded so-called back doors to be built into message encryption software so that the security services would be able to monitor conversations between suspected terrorists. Under pressure from the American-owned technology companies, however, Mr Cameron backed down. And we now know that this was part of a pattern. Last week, the Mail revealed the extraordinary story of how Mr Cameron and his chancellor, George Osborne, put pressure on Londons then mayor, Boris Johnson, to halt plans to curtail the business model of the American minicab app company, Uber, which has mercilessly eaten away at the livelihoods of black cab drivers in London, and threatens the survival of taxi services in other British cities. What makes this so shocking is not just the fact that Mr Cameron appears to have been influenced by his friendship with Ubers senior vice-president, Rachel Whetstone. Its that like so many multinational technology firms, Uber pays tax at a rate so low effectively just 1 per cent that it might as well not be paying at all. It is a familiar story. Google, for example, employs almost 2,500 people in this country, but pays a tax rate of just 3 per cent. Indeed, what firms such as Uber, Google, Facebook and Apple have in common is that they avoid paying their fair share of taxes, yet track their customers behaviour and hoard their data. In other words, they cynically profit by leeching off every detail of our lives. But the tech firms track their customers behaviour and hoard their data. In other words, they cynically profit by leeching off every detail of our lives (file photo) And yet they have the brass neck, the flagrant hypocrisy, to invoke the principles of privacy and freedom when the security services come to call! You can see why Government ministers have become convinced that these over-mighty subjects simply do not care about the wider national interest. Take WhatsApp, the secure online messaging service used by Khalid Masood before the Westminster attack. Its chief executive is a fortysomething U.S. computer programmer named Jan Koum, who is estimated to be worth $9.1 billion. In Koums own words: We want to know as little about our users as possible. We dont know your name, your gender . . . we have not, we do not and we will not ever sell your personal information to anyone. Period. End of story. Alas, such pious assurances proved worthless when WhatsApp started sharing more than a billion users phone numbers with Facebook, so the latter could target its adverts at individual consumers. Yet this is the same company that has flatly refused to help the Government look at Masoods phone messages! Little wonder that earlier this week the Defence Secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, accused the technology barons of earning huge revenues but not [being] willing to play their part defending the open society from which they make their money. If that sounds harsh, just remember that after the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in London four years ago, a Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee blasted one internet company for its failure to inform MI5 that Michael Adebowale, one of the killers, had posted messages which should have sent shivers down our spines. But because the system was automated in other words, operated by algorithms no human being had even bothered to find out what was going on. The truth is that companies like these are simply not interested in what national governments want. They see themselves as above the ordinary responsibilities (file photo) The firm was not named by the Parliamentary Committee. But we now know that it was surprise, surprise Facebook, which is based in the United States. Bear in mind that these are not just companies: they are global behemoths with unparalleled reach and power. They wield immense influence over millions of ordinary Britons lives. Most of us use their products on a daily, even hourly basis: even Amber Rudd, ironically, uses WhatsApp. Yet you would have to go far, I suspect, to find more flagrant examples of corporate irresponsibility. Remember how Apple reacted when the FBI asked them to unlock the iPhone of an Islamist terrorist who took part in an attack that killed 14 people in California in 2015. Did they co-operate? Well, I imagine you can guess the answer. In the end, the FBI, desperate to find out whether the man had associates plotting more attacks, paid a hacker over $1 million to access his mobile phone. In the meantime, Apple smugly sat on what the technology barons and their allies laughably regard as the moral high ground. Perhaps the best example of Silicon Valleys smug self-righteousness is Apples chief executive Tim Cook, who wastes no opportunity to pose as a champion of privacy against the police and intelligence services. When the FBI asked for help unlocking the terrorists phone in California, he noisily refused. In a blistering open letter to all Apple customers, Cook warned of the chilling privacy breach posed by the agencys request. If they had to comply over terrorism, he claimed, they might have to do the same for investigators in a tax or divorce case. The truth is that companies like these are simply not interested in what national governments want. They see themselves as above the ordinary responsibilities such as paying their tax dues that apply to the rest of us. We will not help any government, including our own, hack or attack any customer anywhere, the president of Microsoft declared this week. That, I think, says it all. Not even if there were another 9/11-style atrocity? Not if there were a war? The truth, I think, is that these companies are run by people who see themselves not as members of a national community, but as members of a secretive, super-national digital elite, floating above the common herd on clouds of their own hot air. They are, in fact, precisely the kind of people of whom Theresa May famously said last autumn: If you believe youre a citizen of the world, then youre a citizen of nowhere. Her words might have been written specifically to describe the tech giants. Indeed, a moment later Mrs May said: If youre a household name that refuses to work with the authorities even to fight terrorism Im putting you on warning. This cant go on any more. Yet the tech giants have not changed their ways. As the past few days have shown beyond doubt, they have no stake in British society and little commitment to the greater good. There is a nice irony in the fact that this issue has come to the fore in the very week that Mrs May sent her letter to Brussels triggering Britains exit from the European Union. After all, we have heard much in the last year about taking back control. But firms like Google and Facebook have much more influence over our daily lives, and far more power for good or ill, than entire legions of EU bureaucrats. Isnt it time our Government took back control from them, too? Mrs May has shown herself admirably keen to stand up for national identity and the nation state, and I suspect that taking on the technology bosses would prove a very popular battle. Above all, though, it is a battle she must win. It is no exaggeration to say that our national security may well depend upon it. Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are still benefiting from a $740 million business empire and sprawling real estate portfolio while they serve in White House jobs, according to financial filings. The revelations about the President's son-in-law and daughter were part of a massive White House release of financial disclosure forms for more than 100 of its top administration officials. Kushner, who serves as Trump's senior adviser, detailed in his filings that he and Ivanka collected about $195 million in income last year. The New York Times reports they are still the beneficiaries of a combined $740 million fortune, which includes business and real estate investments. Ivanka is also holding onto her stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. She earned between $1 million and $5 million from the stake between January 2016 and March 2017. Her husband's financial disclosures list the value of her stake at between $5 million and $25 million. Scroll down for video Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are still benefiting from a $740 million business empire and sprawling real estate portfolio while they serve in White House jobs, according to financial filings released publicly on Friday Ivanka revealed this week she will formally join the White House as an adviser. She will file her own financial disclosure forms later. TRUMP'S WHITE HOUSE RICH LIST: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner: Assets worth about $740 million. Their income last year was about $195 million Chief strategist Steve Bannon: Assets between $13 million and $56 million. He made up to $2.5 million last year Economic adviser Gary Cohn: Assets between $253 million and $611 million. He netted about $77 million last year Counselor Kellyanne Conway: Assets worth between $10 million and as much as $39 million. She earned $800,000 last year from her consulting business Press secretary Sean Spicer: His income last year was $260,000. Spicer listed four rental properties as his assets, which have a combined worth $1.1 million Chief of staff Reince Priebus: He earned $1.4 million in 2016 Advertisement Kushner resigned from more than 260 entities and sold off 58 businesses or investments that lawyers identified as posing potential conflicts of interest, the documents show. But his lawyers, in consultation with the Office of Government Ethics, determined that his real estate assets, many of them in New York City, are unlikely to pose the kinds of conflicts that would trigger a need to divest. 'The remaining conflicts, from a practical perspective, are pretty narrow and very manageable,' said Jamie Gorelick, an attorney who has been working on the ethics agreements for Jared and Ivanka. Kushner began selling off the most problematic pieces of his portfolio shortly after Trump won the election, and some of those business deals predate what is required to be captured in the financial disclosure forms. For example, Kushner sold his stake in a Manhattan skyscraper to a trust his mother oversees. Kushner, Ivanka and their three minor children have no financial interest in that trust, his lawyer said. The Kushner Companies, now run by Jared Kushner's relatives, are seeking investment partners for a massive redevelopment. The financial disclosures - required by law to be made public - give a snapshot of the employees' finances as they entered the White House. The revelations about the President's son-in-law and daughter (above leaving the White House) were part of a massive White House release of financial disclosure forms for more than 100 of its top administration officials Kushner, who serves as Trump's senior adviser, detailed in his filings that he and Ivanka are holding onto scores of real investments - part of a portfolio of at least $240 million in assets Top officials in the Trump White House tend to be far wealthier - and therefore more entangled in businesses that could conflict with their government duties - than people in previous administrations. Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, disclosed assets between $13 million and $56 million, including his influential political consultancy, Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., worth as much as $25 million. Bannon also disclosed that he earned slightly less than $200,000 last year as executive director of Breitbart News Network LLC, before he resigned to join Trump's campaign last August. The documents show he was vice president of the data firm Cambridge Analytica for more than two years, before resigning in August 2016 to help run Trump's campaign. Cambridge was the main data provider for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who waged a bitter battle with Trump for the Republican nomination. Bannon's consulting firm pulled in more than $125,000 from Cambridge last year. One of the wealthiest members of the Trump administration - aside from the billionaire business owner president himself - is Gary Cohn, who left a top position at Goldman Sachs to become Trump's chief economic adviser. His assets are valued between $253 million and $611 million. His income last year is as high as $77 million. Little information was given on several of his assets and only indicated they were worth more than $1 million. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus earned $1.4 million in 2016. While most of the came from his Milwaukee law firm where he is a partner, he also received more than $500,000 in salary and bonuses from the Republican National Committee. He also earned at least $750,000 from equity buyout and partner-distribution income from the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich. Kellyanne Conway disclosed in her filings that she made over $800,000 last year from her consulting firm. She has assets worth between $10 million and as much as $39 million. Omarosa Manigault, a White House aide and former Apprentice star, disclosed that she was given a wedding dress and veil worth $25,000 for appearing on TLC reality show 'Say Yes to the Dress.' White House press secretary Sean Spicer reported rental income of between $50,000 and $165,000 for four investment properties he owns in Northern Virginia. The properties are worth at least $1.1 million. His main source of income last year was working for the Republican National Committee as communications director and as a chief strategist for which he earned $260,000. Julia Hahn, the 25-year-old former Breitbart writer who now works as Steve Bannon's aide, has a PNC custodial account valued between $500,000 to $1 million. She has also listed stocked on her disclosure of up to $1.5 million. She also earned $117,217 at Breitbart last year and $74,082 from Laura Ingraham's radio show. Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, disclosed assets between $13 million and $56 million, including his influential political consultancy, Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., worth as much as $25 million The assets of former Goldman Sachs president, Gary D. Cohn, who now leads the National Economic Council, were also unveiled. His income last year is as high as $77 million Kellyanne Conway disclosed in her filings that she made over $800,000 last year from her consulting firm. White House aide Omarosa Manigault (left) disclosed that she was given a wedding dress and veil worth $25,000 for appearing on TLC reality show 'Say Yes to the Dress' What's not being provided by the White House is the Office of Government Ethics agreements with employees on what they must do to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Those documents will never be made public, White House lawyers said, although the public will eventually have access to 'certificates of divestiture' issued to employees who are seeking capital gains tax deferrals for selling off certain assets. Kushner, for example, received certificates of divestitures for his financial interests in several assets, including several funds tied to Thrive Capital, his brother Joshua Kushner's investment firm. He and Ivanka built up companies the documents show are worth at least $50 million each and have stepped away from their businesses while in government service. Like the president himself, however, they retain a financial interest in many of them. Ivanka Trump agreed this week to become a federal employee and will file her own financial disclosure at a later date. Kushner's disclosure shows he took on tens of millions of dollars of bank debt in 2015 and 2016, including liabilities with several international banks whose interests could come before the Trump administration. He has as much as $25 million in liabilities to Deutsche Bank, a prime lender to Kushner family real estate ventures as well as a major creditor for Trump Organization-branded real estate projects. Kushner and his father, Charles, also have liabilities worth much as $5 million to the U.S. unit of Israel Discount Bank. The Kushner Companies have separately acknowledged 'long-standing' dealings with two other Israeli banks. Kushner (right) began selling off the most problematic pieces of his portfolio shortly after Trump won the election and he became his father-in-law's senior adviser The White House said the independent Office of Government Ethics, which reviews financial disclosures to help executive branch officials avoid conflicts of interest, has classified about 25 percent of Trump White House staffers as having 'extremely complex' reports, meaning the filers are very wealthy with complex businesses and potential conflicts of interest. This was not the case for all of them. Peter Navarro, Trumps trade adviser, earned a relatively modest $240,000 from University of California-Irvine, with less than $1,000 in royalties from the book 'Death by China,' and speaking fees from the Casket and Funeral Supply Association and other groups. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer described the business people who have joined the administration as 'very blessed and very successful,' and said the disclosure forms will show that they have set aside 'a lot' to go into public service. Neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence's assets were included in the documents, nor are Cabinet members. All other senior White House personnel - and those earning more than $161,755 a year - are required to submit disclosure reports. The president must also file periodic financial disclosures, but he is not required to make another disclosure until next year. Terrorists may now be using laptops to conceal bombs that could evade airport security, US security intel sources say. New government analysis suggests that terrorist organizations like ISIS and al-Qaida have developed innovative ways to plant bombs in electronic devices, CNN reports. US intelligence believe terrorists are testing the effectiveness of their hidden explosives using commonly used airport security equipment. The bombs are possibly being built into laptops in a way that allows the devices to contain enough power to briefly power on and fool security screeners. Passengers on direct flights to the US from certain Middle Eastern countries have been banned from having large electronics in carry-on baggage following revelations from new intelligence The intelligence was one of the reasons behind the Trump administration's recent decision to ban large electronics in carry-on baggage for direct flights from certain Middle Eastern and North African nations. America's Department of Homeland Security announced on March 21 that passengers on airlines flying directly to the U.S. from 10 airports in eight countries will only be allowed to bring cellphones on board with them. Other electronics, including laptops and tablets, will be indefinitely banned from the passenger cabin, and must be checked in checked baggage if they are brought on the plane at all. Checked bags are forced to undergo stronger security detection. The British government added legitimacy to the concerns by following through with their similar ban. New government analysis suggests that terrorist organizations like ISIS and al-Qaida have developed innovative ways to plant bombs in electronic devices 'As a matter of policy, we do not publicly discuss specific intelligence information. However, evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation, to include smuggling explosive devices in electronics,' the Department of Homeland Security said. 'The U.S. government continually re-assesses existing intelligence and collects new intelligence. This allows DHS and TSA to constantly evaluate our aviation security processes and policies and make enhancements when they are deemed necessary to keep passengers safe. 'As always, all air travelers are subject to a robust security system that employs multiple layers of security, both seen and unseen.' The new carry on restrictions come a little more than a year after the bombing of Daallo Airlines Flight 159, a flight from Somalia to Djibouti. The bombing took out a piece of the plane a little more than a row, but only resulted in the death of the bomber and two other injuries. It was believed that the bomb was rigged to a timer device on the bomber's laptop. The flight had been delayed by 20 minutes, so it was believed that the timing of the bomb was premature and may have been intended to occur about halfway through the flight. The new carry on restrictions come a little more than a year after the bombing of Daallo Airlines Flight 159, a flight from Somalia to Djibouti. The bombing took out a piece of the plane a little more than a row, but only resulted in the death of the bomber and two other injuries A Massachusetts man who sued a pair of Dunkin' Donuts owners because he said he was given a butter substitute when he asked for real butter on his bagel has won a settlement. Jan Polanik's suits name two companies that together own more than 20 stores in Eastern and Central Massachusetts, according to The Boston Globe. The suits claim to represent any customer who 'ordered a baked product, such as a bagel, with butter, but instead received margarine or butter substitute between June 24, 2012, and June 24, 2016,' the newspaper reported. Scroll down for video Massachusetts man, Jan Polanik, who sued a pair of Dunkin' Donuts owners because he said he was given a butter substitute when he asked for real butter on his bagel (file image), has won a settlement Video courtesy of WBZ: Polanik's lawyer, Thomas Shapiro, acknowledged that his client's complaint is 'a minor thing,' but they decided to sue 'to stop the practice of representing one thing and selling a different thing'. In 2013, Dunkin' Donuts explained that franchisees usually offer butter packets when customers ask for it on the side, but a butter substitute is 'generally used if the employee applies the topping', according to the Globe. 'For food safety reasons, we do not allow butter to be stored at room temperature, which is the temperature necessary for butter to be easily spread onto a bagel or pastry,' the company said at the time. Dunkin' Brands spokeswoman Michelle King told the Globe that most stores in Massachusetts 'carry both individual whipped butter packets, and a butter-substitute vegetable spread'. Michael Marino, an attorney for one franchisee confirms that the case has been settled and the 17 stores represented by him have changed their butter-serving protocol, but he didn't specify how. 'The litigant is satisfied with the operational changes made in those stores,' Marino told the Globe. Shapiro did not disclose the settlement's terms, because it hasn't yet been filed with the court. A spokesman for the other franchisee could not be reached. Jeremy Hunt (pictured) will introduce fines for trusts that continue to allow law companies to distribute flyers on their premises Hospitals are set to be banned from letting ambulance-chasing lawyers advertise on wards and in waiting rooms. The Health Secretary will introduce fines for trusts that continue to allow law companies to distribute flyers on their premises. Jeremy Hunt said he was becoming increasingly concerned at how lawyers are intimidating patients and families. He also paid tribute to the Mail for exposing the aggressive and opportunistic tactics used by these firms to win new business. Earlier this year an investigation by this newspaper showed how trusts were routinely agreeing contracts with lawyers to advertise in waiting rooms and corridors. One hospital in Dudley, West Midlands, is paid 12,000 by a firm to display flyers telling patients that there is no shame in making an honest claim. The crackdown is part of a major blueprint for the NHS announced this week to save millions that could be invested in better care. Last year the health service paid out an estimated 440million to personal injury lawyers as part of compensation claims for patients. This could have funded 88,000 hip and knee replacements, 440,000 cataract operations or 15,000 nurses for a year. The fines are to be imposed later this year after a review by NHS England, which runs the health service. Any hospitals that allow lawyers to advertise on their premises will be in breach of their contract with the NHS. They will initially be given a warning by the local health trust. If a hospital then fails to remove flyers, it will be fined. The review will establish the size of the fines as well as how the rules will be policed. Mr Hunt said: Im increasingly concerned that the presence of personal injury law firms in the NHS some of whom are pursuing extremely aggressive and opportunistic tactics to win new business is distracting for staff and intrusive for patients and families. Allowing these firms to advertise or base themselves in our hospitals goes against the spirit of what the NHS is all about. Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said: We want lawyers out of hospitals and doctors out of court. The country's most dangerous Islamic terrorists will be held in a specialist unit inside a high security prison. It is understood work is advancing at HMP Frankland, at Brasside, near Durham, which has been earmarked for a 'prison within a prison' - to separate extremists from other criminals. This follows a Government report which found Britain's 'most subversive extremist prisoners' should be jailed separately to tackle the 'growing problem' of committed jihadis radicalising fellow inmates. Dhiren Barot (left) and Tanvir Hussain were both at HMP Frankland, which has been earmarked for a 'prison within a prison' Ministers' concerns rose after it emerged that Westminster terror attacker Khalid Masood may have had an 'abrupt religious conversion' while in jail for stabbing incidents. HMP Frankland - one of eight high security prisons in the country - is already home to a number of the UK's most notorious terrorists. In recent years, it has been home to Tanvir Hussain, who planned to down flights from Heathrow to America using liquid bombs hidden in soft drink bottles; Dhiren Barot, who masterminded a plot to explode a radioactive 'dirty bomb' in the UK and Omar Khyam, convicted of planning to blow up Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. More recently, Michael Adebolajo, who murdered Lee Rigby on the streets of London, was transferred to Frankland amid fears he was attempting to radicalise inmates in Belmarsh. In 2015, a copy of the Al Qaeda magazine Inspire was uncovered during a cell search. The Government revealed plans in August to hold the 'most subversive extremist prisoners' in specialist units to allow greater separation from the rest of the prison population. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'Islamist extremism is a danger to society and a threat to public safety - it must be defeated wherever it is found. We are committed to confronting and countering the spread of this poisonous ideology behind bars. Michael Adebolajo was transferred to Frankland amid fears he was attempting to radicalise inmates in Belmarsh 'Preventing the most dangerous extremists from radicalising other prisoners is essential to the safe running of our prisons and fundamental to public protection.' The move follows a review by former prison governor Ian Acheson into Islamist extremism in UK prisons. One of his principle recommendations was to hold a small subset of extremists who present a 'particular and enduring risk to national security through subversive behaviour, beliefs and activities' in units removing them from the general prison population. Prison staff have warned that lessons must be learned from past attempts to deal with terrorism. Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, said: 'We as a union are sceptical that segregating these people is not the answer. 'We have vast experience of that in Northern Ireland and it didn't work there, it made the situation worse. 'We remain neutral and will watch to see what impact it will have. The security of our members will be paramount at all sites.' Jackie Marshall, a representative of the POA's national executive committee, said the union was happy that appropriate staffing levels had been agreed. HMP Frankland is already home to a number of the UK's most notorious terrorists She said: 'It's due to open within the next couple of months. Appropriate staffing levels have been agreed. 'There are no concerns from staff at Frankland. Until things are up and running we never really know.' The MoJ said no final decisions had been made on timings or staffing levels. Durham City MP Roberta Blackman-Woods said: 'It's really important that prisons address the issue of radicalisation of people when they are in prison. 'If this unit can help in the wider de-radicalisation and prevent strategy then I think it's a good thing and its a recognition that there's an issue that needs to be tackled.' She added: 'On its own it's not enough and we know that. There has to be much, much more in the overall strategy to deal with radicalisation.' Michael 'Younes' Delefortrie says he regrets returning to Belgium A white, Catholic boy who converted to Islam before being radicalised and fighting for ISIS has claimed he 'regrets' returning to his native Belgium. Michael 'Younes' Delefortrie, even named his son after his 'hero' Osama bin Laden, but insists he has no plans of carrying out any terrorists attacks now he is back in Europe. Speaking to CNN as part of an upcoming documentary, he reveals how he became a Muslim to get his life back on track following a troubled upbringing that saw him turn to drugs. But his views became more and more extreme, and he began mixing with a group named Sharia4Belgium, which helps smuggle potential fighters back to Syria and Iraq for jihadi training. He joined ISIS because they were 'the most committed' to introducing Sharia Law and quickly began arresting people for the terror group, although he denies that he ever killed anyone himself. Delefortrie is now back in his country of birth, but already says he misses living in the Middle East. 'I regret coming back,' he told me. 'I want to live under the caliphate.' But, despite his dislike for western culture, he strenuously denied that he would be conducting any terror attacks. He said: 'Why should I? I'm here to live,' he tells me. 'It's not on my agenda.' He even named his son after his 'hero' Osama bin Laden, but insists he has no plans of carrying out any terrorists attacks now he is back in Europe 'I'm doing whatever I can to spread the word of Islam. That's my goal. 'Not every Muslim with an ideology is a terrorist or is a potential time bomb who is going to explode in a shopping mall.' But despite alleging that he will not be directly responsible for any deaths himself, he praises atrocities such as 9/11, and named his son after the man behind them, Bin Laden. He said: 'I'm proud of it, because that man is a hero He became a Muslim to get his life back on track following a trouble upbringing that saw him turn to drugs 'If we have to condemn everybody who kills people, hell will be full.' He added: 'If you are attacking people, sometimes somebody will attack you back. If you spit in the air, sometimes spit will fall back in your face,' Last month, after his interview with CNN, Delefortrie was sentenced to 18 months in prison for domestic abuse, which he is currently appealing. ISIS: Behind the Mask, will air on CNN at 10 p.m. ET Friday. Former Prime Minister David Cameron has told friends it's time to 'put some hay in the barn' after being spotted doing the rounds on the speaking circuit, it has been claimed. Mr Cameron, who resigned from his post in 2016 after the Brexit vote, is rumoured to have told his friends that he believes criticism of ex-politicians earnings are 'entirely predictable but overblown', according to The Sun. Recent speeches - of which the former Conservative party leader has previously charged 120,000 for an event - have included speaking at the Institute of International Relations of the National University in Kiev, Ukraine, for an event titled "Ukraine's Place in a changing world" and the World Economic Forum in Davos two months ago. Recent events he has spoken at include speaking at the Institute of International Relations of the National University in Kiev, Ukraine, for an event titled "Ukraine's Place in a changing world" During his time as Prime Minister his salary was 143,462 per year. It has also been claimed that Mr Cameron is being encouraged to apply for the secretary general role at Nato by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who he was spotted dining with in New York last week. Foreign Secretary is said to have encouraged Mr Cameron to apply for the secretary general role at Nato A source told the Financial Times that Mr Cameron is the candidate the Government wants to put forward for the 200,000-a-year job, although he is apparently reluctant. They said: 'Most of the cabinet has been lobbying for him for a while. He is who we want in the UK, but we need to get him to go for it, as currently he is a bit cold.' The current incumbent Jens Stoltenberg is due to continue in the role until at least 2018. The position is always held by a European. A meeting with an Anglo-Russian banker once falsely dubbed Crazy Miss Cokehead has been linked to the controversial dismissal of one of Donald Trumps aides, sources said last night. Svetlana Lokhova spoke with Michael Flynn at the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar, a gathering of former intelligence officials hosted at Cambridge University in 2014. Moscow-born Miss Lokhova showed the Presidents former national security adviser a number of historic Russian documents including an erotic postcard that Joseph Stalin sent to a woman in 1912. Scroll down for video Forced out: Michael Flynn with Donald Trump It is claimed the two remained in email contact afterwards and swapped messages on an unclassified channel Mr Flynn signed himself General Misha, Russian for Michael. The meeting supposedly caused alarm among British and US intelligence officials who see it as evidence that Mr Flynn was behaving in a worrisome manner. The disclosure came as it emerged that Mr Flynn is willing to give evidence over Russia before Congress in exchange for immunity. However the Senate Intelligence Committee said that it was not receptive to a deal. Mr Flynn was forced out as Mr Trumps national security adviser after less than a month for lying about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the US. He is now offering to give potentially explosive evidence about whether or not the Trump team colluded with Russia to win the President the US elections. Mr Flynn and Miss Lokhova, a Cambridge graduate and historian, are said to have been introduced to each other at the end of the dinner in Cambridge. At the time Mr Flynn was director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Obama and had access to highly classified information and military secrets. Svetlana Lokhova: Her meeting with Flynn alarmed security chiefs What alarmed intelligence officials was that Miss Lokhova appears to have gained rare access to previously classified Soviet-era material in Moscow for her forthcoming book, The Guardian reported. Adding to the intrigue, Mr Flynn did not tell the US authorities about his meeting with Miss Lokhova, who used to work for the London branch of Russias state-controlled Sberbank. Miss Lokhova has previously declined to comment on the claims. In 2015 she won a 3.2million payout after winning an employment tribunal case in London against Sberbank CIB for sex discrimination and harassment. Moscow offers Le Pen 2.6m to fund campaign France's far-Right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen asked for a 2.6million loan from a Russian bank to fund her election bid, leaked documents reveal. The revelation comes amid fears Russia is trying to influence the election. French news outlet Mediapart published two documents from Miss Le Pens party, National Front (FN), showing she agreed to borrow the money from Russias Strategy Bank last year.FN admitted the documents were true but accused Mediapart of dishonesty. A spokesman said the loan was just a project, which was not followed up, and that FN is launching legal action. French banks refuse to lend to Miss Le Pens controversial party. The 48-year-old received 9.5million in loans in 2014 from another Moscow bank, which has since been dissolved. Advertisement The hearing was told her bosses branded her crazy Miss Cokehead and forced her out of her 750,000 a year job as an equity saleswoman. Workmates falsely accused her of being a cocaine user and said she was hired only because of her looks. The tribunal ruled that she had suffered disgraceful harassment and victimisation. Price Floyd, a spokesman for Mr Flynn, said the meeting between the him and Miss Lokhova was an incidental contact. Nobody from the FBI was available for comment. A Marine has been arrested on suspicion of killing a woman and her adult daughter near a Southern California desert base. Rafael Ari Aikens, 22, was arrested Thursday at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department says. Investigators suspect Aikens shot 62-year-old Renee Metcalf and her 32-year-old daughter, Christy McKissic. Their bodies were found on March 24 in their home about 10 miles from the Marine base, where Aikens was stationed. A Marine has been arrested on suspicion of killing a woman and her adult daughter near a Southern California desert base. Pictured are victims Renee Metcalf, 62, and her 32-year-old daughter, Christy McKissic The sheriff's department said in a news release that shortly after midnight on March 24, 'deputies responded to a 911 call reference two people deceased inside of a residence'. It said: 'Deputies arrived at the residence at approximately 12.08am, and found McKissic and Metcalf deceased from multiple gunshot wounds, inside of the residence. 'A ten year old juvenile was located, unharmed, inside of the residence.' Metcalf was a bartender, with her daughter helping her at a Twentynine Palms bar called the Virginian, the Hi-Desert Sun reported. Authorities haven't released a motive for the killings. A GoFundMe page says: 'These two ladies have made huge impacts on others. Always cheerful and full of life that they bring into the room.' Metcalf (left) was a bartender, with her daughter (right) helping her at the Virginian bar in Twentynine Palms, it's been reported Their bodies were found on March 24 in their home in the 7700 block of Bedouin Avenue about 10 miles from the Marine base, where Aikens was stationed. Bedouin Avenue is seen here 'This campaign is for their family and Christy's daughter,' the page says. 'Her daughter is such an angel and for her to have to not have them here anymore is heartbreaking.' The sheriff's department said that since the day victims were found, investigators 'have worked to identify the person responsible for the senseless murders of Christy McKissic and Renee Metcalf inside of their residence in Twentynine Palms. 'During the last week, investigators identified Rafael Ari Aikens as a person of interest in the murders. 'On Thursday, March 30, 2017 at approximately 6.50pm, homicide investigators, assisted by investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), contacted Aikens at his assigned housing on MCAGCC 29 Palms. 'At the conclusion of the contact with Aikens and the service of several search warrants, Aikens was booked into the Morongo Basin jail for the murders of McKissic and Metcalf.' Aikens is being held without bail. An arraignment is an set for Tuesday, according to the Hi-Desert Star. The Marine Corps didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press. The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney has lashed out on marriage equality activists as 'bullying' Australians who don't agree with it. Archbishop Glenn Davies has accused same-sex marriage campaigners of 'swamping the public debate' by denying free speech to those that are against it. Writing a column in The Australian, the Archbishop argued that a plebiscite would reveal that the majority of Australians opposed same-sex marriage. Sydney's Anglican Archbishop, Glenn Davies (pictured) has accused same-sex campaigners as 'bullying' Australians that are against it Dr Davies remarked that the views of gay marriage advocates have silenced the public from voicing their own opinions. 'People have been sold a lie, their views are shutdown, marginalised, ostracised and pilloried in a bullying fashion,' he told the ABC. The Archbishop even commented on how marriage in Aboriginal culture is regarded as being 'between a man and a woman'. Regarding the Federal Government's failed bid to hold a national vote to legalise gay marriage, the Archbishop dismissed the vote from ever being likely to pass. 'A plebiscite would identify there isn't strong support for same-sex marriage as the proponents wish us to believe,' he said. Furthering his view, he said there would be social ramifications that would befall the children of same sex marriage. Dr Davies argues that the majority of Australians oppose gay marriage from being legalised The Archbishop believes that children of same-sex marriages would suffer from social ramifcations His comments comes after Immigration Minister Peter Dutton warned Qantas boss Alan Joyce to stay out of the marriage equality debate. It followed revelations that CEOs of some of Australia's largest companies had been urging the government to take action on the issue. Archbishop Davies argued what the debate had to do with businesses questioning why they weren't talking about 'immigration or Aboriginal detention'. In calling for freedom of expression, the Archbishop claimed that marriage equality advocates had 'bullied into taking a stance on the grounds of diversity'. Firms challenging huge rises in business rates could be left in limbo amid Government plans to cut a thousand staff at the body which deals with disputes. Although millions of firms will have already received their bills, they will be forced to pay up from today when the new business rates come into force. Companies facing tax increases of up to 3,000 per cent will also be given the chance to challenge their rates under the new appeals system. The Government is planning to get rid of 27.7 per cent of the Valuation Office Agency's workforce by 2020 But now there are fears the Valuation Office Agency - which decides the appeals - could struggle to cope because the Government plans to get rid of almost three in ten jobs 27.7 per cent of the workforce - by 2020. This equates to 1,000 of the VOA's 3,609 staff, according to spending watchdog the National Audit Office. There is already a backlog of 250,840 complaints from the last time rates were changed in 2010. Last night it emerged that 196,360 of these are now with the Valuation Tribunal Service, which deals with appeals if they are rejected by the VOA. Some 166,351 appeals have been left in limbo and are still waiting to be listed for a hearing two years after being referred to the Tribunal. The data was released by the tribunal service following a Freedom of Information Act request from ratings specialist CVS, which also predicted a flood of new appeals from today (SAT). The Government's new appeals system - which includes a lengthy registration process has been designed to put off speculative appeals driven by third party ratings specialists which appeal on firms' behalf and pocket generous commission. Ministers have insisted the new regime will speed up appeals. The cutbacks are timed with a significant rise in business rates, which many firms are challenging But crossbench peer the Earl of Lytton told the House of Lords earlier this month the system involved 'the most tortuous' registration process and had been designed to prevent appeals. Experts have warned that the VOA will still be swamped with a fresh wave of complaints from this weekend. An average of around 4,500 appeals per week were lodged in the first three months after the current tax regime was introduced in 2010. Mark Rigby, Chief Executive of CVS, said: 'The Valuation Office Agency today enter a new tax regime with new regulations effectively with one hand tied behind their backs. 'It provides an invaluable service to businesses but it is clear to me that it needs further financial resource.' The Government has faced a backlash from its own MPs and business groups over the first revaluation of business rates to take place in seven years. Business rates are based on the amount a property can be rented for or its 'rateable value'. The government says three quarters of businesses have seen their rates frozen or fall under the new system. But more than half a million firms face steep hikes in their tax bills. These firms are concentrated in the south east and other areas of the country where property prices and rent has soared. In the budget last month the Government announced a 435million rescue package to help the worst hit. This included a guarantee that no firm currently paying no or little business rates would be hit with an increase of more than 50 a month. It also includes a 300million fund established by local councils to go towards discretionary relief for hard-hit businesses. Councils had pledged to have this up and running from this weekend. Firms have complained of being told to pay wildly inaccurate bill , before reclaiming money from their local council. A separate report published by business recovery firm Begbies Traynor yesterday claimed 70,000 firms in London are already experiencing 'significant financial distress' even before the new business rates come into force. A Valuation Office Agency spokesperson said: 'We're reforming the appeals process to make it easier and more transparent for businesses to check, challenge and appeal their rates, while at the same time our business rate reliefs mean thousands more businesses are seeing a reduction. From 1 April, 600,000 businesses will pay no rates at all.' Advertisement Three people have been arrested in connection with a massive fire under Interstate 85 in Atlanta that caused a portion of the bridge to collapse on Thursday. Deputy Insurance Commissioner Jay Florence confirms the suspects were arrested Friday. He identified them as Basil Eleby, Sophia Bruner and Barry Thomas. Eleby faces a charge of criminal damage to property, while Bruner and Thomas were each charged with criminal trespass. 'We believe they were together when the fire was set and Eleby is the one who set the fire,' Florence told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Eleby appears to have a criminal past which included a cocaine arrest. Florence would not discuss how the fire was started or why, saying those details would be released as the investigation progresses. However, he said the suspects used 'available materials' at the site. All three may have been homeless, Florence added, although it is not clear whether they had lived at the site beneath the highway, according to the AJC. Scroll down for video Police arrested three people, including Basil Eleby (pictured), in connection with the massive fire under Interstate 85 in Atlanta that caused a portion of the bridge to collapse Basil Eleby is escorted by his public defender and two Fulton County Sheriff's office officers into the court room at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Saturday April 1 Basil Eleby sits down on the bench for his first appearance hearing at the Fulton County Jail while his public defender attempts to cover his face with a folder Florence did not have ages or hometowns of the three, all of whom were being held at the Fulton County Jail. He didn't say how they ended up being suspects but noted they were interviewed throughout the day and law enforcement subsequently made the arrests. On Friday, crews were seen working to restore the bridge after the blaze collapsed a portion of I-85. Atlanta residents will likely face travel chaos as construction crews repair the fragmented section of the exceptionally busy motorway. Officials have said that the reconstruction of the damaged areas could take several months - prompting a travel disaster for more than 225,000 vehicles that use the segment of the roadway daily. The city's first responders said part of the highway collapsed due to the fire that broke out under the bridge. Deputy Insurance Commissioner Jay Florence confirms the suspects, Sophia Bruner and Barry Thomas, were arrested Friday along with Eleby, who faces a charge of criminal damage to property. Bruner and Thomas were each charged with criminal trespass. Crews (pictured) began work on the severely damaged area on Friday Florence said the suspects used 'available materials' at the site. All three may have been homeless, Florence added, although it is not clear whether they had lived at the site beneath the highway (pictured) On Friday, crews (pictured) were seen working to restore the bridge after the blaze collapsed a portion of I-85. Atlanta residents will likely face travel chaos as construction crews repair the fragmented section of the exceptionally busy motorway Looking to the future, Atlanta residents may be facing a travel disaster as construction crews repair the fragmented section of the exceptionally busy motorway Firefighters on the scene saved the lives of many after noticing cracks in the foundation and ordering an excavation of the area ABC News reporter Steve Osunsami described the future for commuters in the area to be a 'traffic migraine,' and said that he expects his commute to double, as he lives just a mile from the site of the incident ABC News reporter Steve Osunsami described the future for commuters in the area to be a 'traffic migraine,' and said that he expects his commute to double, as he lives just a mile from the site of the incident. There were no reports of casualties in the incident and no cars fell from the motorway during the fire, which is nothing short of a miracle given the usually crowded rush hour traffic in the area. Firefighters on the scene saved the lives of many after noticing cracks in the foundation and ordering an excavation of the area. Atlanta Fire and Rescue said on Twitter at the time that all lanes were blocked and that residents should avoid the area. Video from the fire department posted on their Instagram page showed firefighters battling the massive blaze. The department wrote in the video's caption: '*Major Emergency* Heavy Fire showing under Interstate 85 in Buckhead. 2nd alarm requested. Atlanta Fire on scene.' There were no reports of casualties in the incident and no cars fell from the motorway during the fire, which is nothing short of a miracle given the usually crowded rush hour traffic in the area Firefighters said the fire burned for more than an hour under I-85 northbound near Piedmont Road. The interstate - a major artery for the US South that runs through the heart of Atlanta - is closed indefinitely A number of upscale lofts are located near the area where the fire took place, which was just off of Piedmont Road It is still not clear what was burning under the bridge or how the fire started. The Georgia Department of Transportation said inspectors are looking over the collapse, but there is no timeline on a fix. Firefighters are pictured extinguishing the fire The state's top transportation official said there's no way to tell when the highway can be safely reopened to traffic in either direction Firefighters said the fire burned for more than an hour under I-85 northbound near Piedmont Road, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The interstate - a major artery for the US South that runs through the heart of Atlanta - is closed indefinitely. 'This is about as serious a transportation crisis as we can imagine,' Mayor Kasim Reed said. The Georgia Department of Transportation said inspectors are looking over the collapse, but there is no timeline on a fix. The state's top transportation official said there's no way to tell when the highway can be safely reopened to traffic in either direction. 'We will have to continue to evaluate the situation and adjust as we do,' Georgia Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said. 'This incident - make no bones about it - will have a tremendous impact on travel.' It is still not clear what was burning under the bridge or how the fire started. Video from the fire department posted on their Instagram page showed firefighters battling the massive blaze '*Major Emergency* Heavy Fire showing under Interstate 85 in Buckhead. 2nd alarm requested. Atlanta Fire on scene,' the department wrote in the video's caption On Friday, McMurry said the fire originated from an area below the highway which is used 'as a storage location for construction materials, equipment and supplies'. 'The site was a secured area containing materials such as PVC piping, which is a stable, noncombustible material,' he continued. Atlanta Fire Department spokesman Sgt Cortez Stafford said that his officers acted efficiently and effectively. 'Our guys got here quickly and shut down the interstate and said 'No one else is driving over this bridge.'' Aerial video showed thick black smoke billowing into the sky above the freeway as a line of cars stood halted on either side. The aerial video showed more firefighters extinguishing the fire on one side of the highway. A photo posted on the Twitter feed of local WSB-TV showed what appeared to be barrels and coils under the bridge. The fire broke out in an industrial area near route 400. Witnesses told WSB-TV that Atlanta state troopers were telling cars to turn around on the bridge minutes before it collapsed because they were concerned about its integrity. Atlanta's public transit system, MARTA, will provide extended service through the weekend. Witnesses said that Atlanta state troopers were telling cars to turn around on the bridge minutes before it collapsed because they were concerned about its integrity Aerial video showed thick black smoke billowing into the sky above the freeway as a line of cars stood halted on either side. All of the firefighters were able to get out of the area prior to the collapse. By Thursday evening the fire department had the blaze under control The bridge collapse effectively 'puts a cork in the bottle,' Georgia State Patrol Commissioner Mark McDonough said. Atlanta's public transit system, MARTA, will provide extended service through the weekend Capt Mark Perry of the Georgia State Patrol said the agency doesn't know what started the fire beneath the bridge but that terrorism is not suspected The interstate is a major thoroughfare for traffic heading north and south through Atlanta. The bridge collapse effectively 'puts a cork in the bottle,' Georgia State Patrol Commissioner Mark McDonough said. Capt Mark Perry of the Georgia State Patrol told the Journal-Constitution that the agency doesn't know what started the fire beneath the bridge but that terrorism is not suspected. Gov Nathan Deal told reporters that some PVC plastic materials in a vehicle may have caught fire. 'I do not know why they did or what the source of their transport was,' Deal said. 'But those are questions that will hopefully be answered at least by tomorrow morning.' Deal said inspectors were at the scene and they've contacted the original company that built the bridge to come in and assess the extent of the damage. 'We're trying to determine everything we can about how quickly can we repair it and get it back in service,' Deal said. 'I can assure you we will do everything to expedite the repair and replacement of that section of the bridge.' Firefighters surveyed the section of the overpass that collapsed from the large fire Thursday night Mayor Kasim Reed (pictured) addressed the situation Thursday evening. He said: 'This is about as serious a transportation crisis as we can imagine' Inspectors at the scene said they contacted the original company that built the bridge to come in and assess the extent of the damage Patients are not getting the cover they expect from health insurers, with some charging hefty gap payments on half of all services. The Australian Medical Association's warned consumers to avoid such 'junk policies' and reassess their provider as premiums go up by $200 on Saturday. Its Private Health Insurance Report Card revealed the best and worst health funds for coverage, gap fees, complaints, and how much money was blown on management. The Australian Medical Association warned patients off 'junk policies' that don't provide enough coverage or no-gap fees in its annual rating of private funds 'There are a lot of policies on the market that do not provide the cover patients expect when they need it,' AMA president Michael Gannon said. 'If people have one of these "junk policies", the AMA encourages them to check their policy matches their current and anticipated health care needs. And, if not, dump it for better cover. 'From the AMAs perspective, junk policies should not exist at all.' The annual report showed most funds provided cover for at least 85 per cent hospital-related charges, though percentages were significantly lower in the ACT. The annual report showed most funds covered at least 85 per cent hospital-related charges, though percentages were significantly lower in the ACT The worst coverage in the state-by-state breakdown was Cessnock District Health Fund (CDH), which covered only 55.2 per cent of procedures at all in WA and 73.3 per cent in ACT. Results were more mixed in what percentage of services funds offered with no-gap payments, where patients incur no out-of-pocket expenses. The best performer in NSW and Queensland was doctors' own fund Doctors Health, with 92.6 per cent and 94.6 per cent of services, respectively, having no gap. Patients of CDH were the most likely to pay a hefty excess in Victoria, Queensland, WA, and SA with only 38.9 per cent of services offered with no gap in WA. However, it was only of only two funds to have every procedure with no-gap in a state - Tasmania - along with Onemedifund in the ACT. AMA's Private Health Insurance Report Card revealed the best and worst health funds for coverage, gap fees, complaints, and how much money was blown on management Results were more mixed in what percentage of services funds offered with no gap payments, where patients incur no out-of-pocket expenses The best Victorian insurer was Seventh Day Adventist health fund ACA at 94.6 per cent, closely followed by Australian Unity at 94 per cent. Biggest insurers Bupa and Medibank, which together control more than half the market, ran in the middle of the pack across all states. Bupa's no-gap percentage ranged from 71.2 in WA to 88.6 per cent in Tasmania, while Medibank was between 77.5 and WA and NT, and 92.9 in WA. The fund that paid out most of its premiums to members was Health.com.au at 96 per cent, with Onemedifund the least at 77 per cent. Medibank and Bupa were around the 86 per cent national average with 84 and 86 per cent each, while third biggest HCF was at 87 per cent. The best performer in NSW and Queensland was doctors' own fund Doctors Health, with 92.6 per cent and 94.6 per cent of services, respectively, having no gap Patients of Cessnock District Health Fund were the most likely to pay up in Victoria, Queensland, WA, and SA with only 38.9 per cent of services offered with no gap in WA Mediabank was by far the most complained about insurer, making up 40.2 per cent of all complaints - including more than half of those related to service - compared with its 27.6 per cent market share. Bupa did better with only 21 per cent of complaints compared with its 27 per cent market share, while HBF had a sterling record of 3.3 per cent despite its fourth-ranked 8 per cent market share. Health fund premiums will rise by an average of 4.84 per cent on Saturday - about $200 extra for a family policy and $100 for a single person. Health Minister Greg Hunt said it was the lowest premium rise in 10 years, but many funds will see rises of more than double the average. Mediabank was by far the most complained about insurer, making up 40.2 per cent of all complaints compared with its 27.6 per cent market share Biggest insurers Bupa and Medibank, which together control more than half the market, ran in the middle of the pack across all states in their percentage of no-gap services The fund that paid out most of its premiums to members was Health.com.au at 96 per cent, with Onemedifund the least at 77 per cent Dr Gannon said private health insurance needed to be simplified, more transparent, and cover the real costs of treatment including the theatre fees, equipment, consumables, hospital costs, and staff time. 'The funds must put the interests of their policyholders first and foremost, and stop pointing the finger at doctors or pushing increased out of pocket costs onto patients when their products do not deliver what patients expect,' he said. 'The AMA wants this Report Card to be a catalyst for greater transparency and clarity from the private health insurers about their products.' However, the AMA was less keen on transparency when it came to the billing and service of individual practices in insurer lists doctor ratings sites. Some insurers provided comparisons of doctor's fees and whether they would charge a gap fee for particular procedures. Health fund premiums will rise by an average of 4.84 per cent on Saturday - about $200 extra for a family policy and $100 for a single person BUPA did better with only 21 per cent of complaints compared with its 27 per cent market share, while HBF had a sterling record of 3.3 per cent But Dr Gannon said sites like Whitecoat or Bupas Find a Healthcare Provider did not list all doctors who provided the service, just their own pre-determined lists. He said they were an attempt to manage care for patients, instead of doctors who knew what specialist to refer people to based on their individual case. 'These decisions these patient rights are far too important to be taken away by insurers in an effort to further bolster their profits,' he said. Dr Gannon was even harsher on doctor rating sites, where patients could anonymously post reviews, and should be read with caution. 'There is no apparent or practical way to control the source of the comments and the veracity and integrity of the comments,' he said. 'This means the ratings are based more on subjective opinion than actual data showing how well a doctor provided treatment or care.' A cat who went missing four years ago in California was reunited with its owner after amazingly turning up more than 2,000 miles away in Canada. Olga Chmelicek said she was shocked to receive a call from the Guelph Humane Society in Canada, who informed her that they had found her missing cat BooBoo on March 17. The Watsonville, California, owner eagerly traveled to pick up the cat and after being separated for years, BooBoo was reunited with her family on Thursday in Buffalo, New York. The six-year-old tabby was reported missing in 2013 and somehow managed to make its way all the way to Ontario over the course of four years. The pet was identified through a microchip implant. Chmelicek's daughter Ashley Aleman said she thinks the feline managed to travel the 2,000 mile journey by hitching a ride, as the cat had a habit of jumping into cars. Scroll down for video After BooBoo the cat was missing for four years, she turned up more than 2,000 miles away from her home in Watsonville, California, and was found in Ontario, Canada in March. The tabby was reunited with her owner in Buffalo, New York, on Thursday BooBoo had a habit of jumping into people's cars and the pet's family thinks this may be the reason the feline ended up so far away from home. Owner Olga Chmelicek (right) received a call from the Guelph Humane Society letting her know they found BooBoo on March 17 Chmelicek said to CBC Radio's Ontario Today: 'She survived all these years when we all thought she was gone. It's incredible. I'm still in shock.' BooBoo turned up in Morriston, just south of Guelph, Ontario, earlier in March. She was handed over to the humane society in very good shape, Melissa Stolz, the animal program and intake coordinator said. Video courtesy of CityNews Toronto She added to CBC News: 'This cat came in very good shape and it's hard to believe that she hasn't been taken care of for the past three years.' The charitable animal organization was able to find out who BooBoo belonged to due to a microchip implant. Chmelicek said: 'I can't express how important it is to chip your animal. Even though it's four years later ... miracles happen.' BooBoo went missing in 2013. The six-year-old cat was able to be identified through a microchip implant when the stray was brought to the humane society The feline was mostly an outdoor pet and sometimes wouldn't be seen for days at a time. As a kitten she would hide among stuffed animals and would pop out from the toys when hungry. When the pet first went missing, the family searched for weeks to find her, Aleman said. She added: 'We gave up looking and when we got this phone call it was completely out of the blue, nothing that we had ever expected.' The family plans on keeping BooBoo inside now, in efforts to ensure she doesn't hitchhike across the border again. Ride-sharing service Uber has edged closer to becoming legal nationwide after reaching an agreement with the South Australian government to apply for full accreditation. Uber has been offering services in SA since May last year despite technically being illegal due to a lack of accreditation. The agreement, along with taxi reform last month in Victoria, means Uber is set to become legal across Australia, with the exception of Northern Territory. Uber has edged closer to becoming legal nationwide after reaching an agreement with the South Australian government to become fully accredited The state government's decision, along with taxi reform last month in Victoria, means Uber will become legal across Australia, with the exception of Northern Territory Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan said on Friday that Uber confirmed it will apply for accreditation as a Centralised Booking Service next week, which will bring its services within state regulations. Mr Mullighan said Uber's commitment to accreditation will assure users that drivers and vehicles have been properly checked. 'Cars have to be assessed as roadworthy, drivers have to be assessed as being safe,' he said. 'And there's got to be a good open relationship between these booking providers like Uber and the government.' The cost of compulsory third party insurance is Uber's final hesitation in becoming accredited, Mr Mullighan said. The company is required to pay chauffeur service premiums that are higher than those for standard cars. As part of Uber applying for accreditation, the government has agreed to review the higher premiums for both taxis and chauffeur cars later this year. The deal comes ahead of a range of transport industry reforms coming into effect on Monday. An industry-funded taxi plate buyback scheme will be introduced by the WA government and will potentially be funded by an Uber fee levy Among the reforms is a $1 levy on all fares to help cover the costs of a compensation fund for taxi drivers needing assistance. The levy also serves to cover fee reductions across the industry, including a drop in EFTPOS and credit fees. The agreement between the state government and Uber comes as measures to minimise the impact of ride-sharing were announced in Western Australia. An industry-funded taxi plate buyback scheme will be introduced by the WA government and will potentially be funded by an Uber fee levy. Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the industry was a mess, and a lot of drivers were still hurting after ride-sharing companies were made legal in the state. Ms Saffioti said taxi licence plates used to be worth about $250,000 to $300,000, but their value had drastically decreased due to minimal demand. 'We need a model that actually creates fairness in the industry, that creates a sustainable industry into the future,' she said. Northern Territory remains the only holdout on legalised ride-sharing in Australia, although the government has committed to introducing legislation to Parliament in 2017 that will allow the service. After 50 years of supplying Victorians with electricity the Hazelwood power station has finally closed, but its workers have not gone quietly. Tears were shed against the backdrop of an AC/DC cover band where hundreds of past and present employees gathered to say farewell on Saturday. It comes after the French firm Engie, announced that it was no longer economically viable to keep it open, leaving more than 450 employees and 300 contractors without jobs. Workers were pictured hanging hard hats on a fence outside the Hazelwood power station after the plant finally closed on Saturday More than 750 employees and contractors have been left without jobs, following the plant's sudden closure With hard hats hanging on a perimeter fence over a sign that read 'hanging our hats on a worker transition', many employees felt detached, coming to terms with facing an uncertain future. 'It feels like a death in the family,' electrical contractor Paul Robinson told the Herald Sun. Critics have argued that Hazelwood's closure could have been spread out over several years, giving sacked workers more time to find new work. Yet even the prospect of a potential worker transfer scheme couldn't comfort the men and women who were left jobless and with families to feed. Husband and father-of-three Dave Johnson transferred to Hazelwood from Yallourn power station in February 2016 on the promise of a five year contract. The contractor is a third generation power worker and sole breadwinner for his family. 'They were having job cuts at Yallourn so I volunteered to save redundancies over there,' he told reporters at Hazelwood on Friday. 'But unfortunately I jumped on a sinking ship, unbeknownst, but that's the way life goes, you've just got to soldier on and see what you can do.' The plant supplied electricity to Victorians for more than 50 years Tears were shed after workers bid farewell to the plant, with employees now facing an uncertain future Workers are particularly concerned for the younger employees who were not afforded any redundancy packages as they had not been at the plant long enough. John van Eyk and his son Nick both worked at Hazelwood, for 32 years and eight years respectively. John says he'll retire, but Nick is does not know what the future holds and wants to remain in the industry. 'I have to start working straight away, I've got to pay the mortgage,' Mr Van Eyk said. Workers are particularly concerned for the younger employees who were not afforded any redundancy packages as they had not been at the plant long enough Speaking to the Herald Sun, John Darling who had started working at the plant in 1967 was blunt in his assessment of the future. 'We're in dire straits. That's the reality,' he said. Mr Darling, like many other ex-employees of Hazlewood will now be hoping that the greater Latrobe Valley region will produce more manufacturing jobs. The local council has called on the state and federal governments to do more to create jobs in the region. The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has worked with the state Labor government on its $266 million transition package, but on Friday called on for the federal government to match the funding. 'It feels like a death in the family,' said electrical contractor Paul Robinson The plant's owners, French firm Engie, announced late last year that the plant would need to close as it was no longer economically viable to keep it open In response to Hazelwood's closure, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has blamed Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for his party's lack of direction on the issue. 'Here in this state we're seeing the sad day when the workers of Hazelwood leave that power station for the last time,' the prime minister told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday morning. 'Now that is a consequence of the Labor Party's complete failure to lead on energy. 'Daniel Andrews has allowed that enormous baseline power station to close.' Hazelwood will take a year to decommission, and another three years to demolish, according to Engie. The site will be handed to the Victorian government following another 30 years. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull blamed Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for the Labor party's lack of leadership on energy that caused Hazelwood to close Melvyn Sprowson Jr (pictured), 48, was found guilty on Friday of kidnapping a 16-year-old girl he met through Craigslist and keeping her in his apartment for two months in 2013 An ex-Las Vegas kindergarten teacher was found guilty on Friday of kidnapping a 16-year-old girl he met through Craigslist and keeping her in his apartment for two months in 2013. Melvyn Sprowson Jr, 48, was convicted on four counts of unlawful use of a minor in the production of pornography, as well as one count each of first-degree kidnapping and child abuse or neglect, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. 'I absolutely think today we took a predator off the streets, someone who was in our schools, with the most vulnerable of children, five-year-olds,' prosecutor Jacqueline Bluth told the Journal. Sprowson, who represented himself during trial, rejected an offer from prosecutors to plead guilty to one count of producing child pornography and one count of second-degree kidnapping. During the trial, Sprowson appeared unprepared, stalling at length with witnesses on the stand, including the victim, according to the Journal. He told Bluth she was 'going to hell' as he consulted with standby public defender, Michael Yohay, who did not question any witness. Sprowson was charged with felony kidnapping of the runaway 16-year-old girl and infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease in 2013. Prosecutors said he kept the girl in his apartment for two months in late 2013. At the time, investigators said they used social media to trace the girl to Sprowson's southeast Las Vegas home, where she was found unharmed on November 1. A day earlier, Sprowson told police he didn't know where the girl was, authorities said. Sprowson (pictured), who represented himself during trial, rejected an offer from prosecutors to plead guilty to one count of producing child pornography and one count of second-degree kidnapping The girl said she was at the home willingly, police said at the time. She is old enough according to Nevada law to consent to sex. But it is illegal to keep a minor from his or her parents. Court documents say the girl had a fight with her mother before responding to an advertisement Sprowson had posted for a roommate on Craigslist. At the time, school spokeswoman Melinda Malone confirmed that Sprowson was fired from his position at Wengert Elementary School in the Clark County School District. Sprowson taught kindergarten at the elementary school after moving from Los Angeles, where he had faced allegations of unlawful sexual conduct involving children years earlier. Prosecutor Bluth revealed to Judge William Kephart about Sprowson's history during his time in California, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported at the time. According to Bluth, Sprowson had been accused of making sexual advances on six fourth and fifth graders while teaching at Magnolia Elementary School in Los Angeles between 2004 and 2007. He resigned from the school in January 2012 and moved to Las Vegas six months later after spending nearly a decade working for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Sprowson's attorney argued that the teacher was never charged in the California case, which had been thrown out after some of the witnesses recanted their statements. Sprowson was charged with felony kidnapping of the runaway 16-year-old girl and infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease in 2013. Prosecutors said he kept the girl in his apartment (pictured) for two months in late 2013 At the time, school spokeswoman Melinda Malone confirmed that Sprowson was fired from his position at Wengert Elementary School (pictured) in the Clark County School District According to records cited by 8News Now, a child's legal guardian filed a lawsuit against Sprowson in 2009, accusing him of committing unlawful sexual acts. The school district was also sued, leading to an undisclosed settlement with the family in 2010. In August 2012, Sprowson moved to Las Vegas and was hired to teach kindergarten at Wengert Elementary School. A Clark County School District spokesperson said that the veteran educator had passed a background check without raising any red flags - even though information regarding his past legal troubles is readily accessible in public records. Sprowson and the 16-year-old victim, who is now 19 years old, met when the teen answered his Craigslist ad seeking a roommate. The two began exchanging massages, and when the girl wrote to him on August 29 that she could not bear living at home, the teacher allegedly picked her up and took her to his apartment. The teen later told police that she and Sprowson, who is nearly 30 years her senior, fell in love. According to Sprowson's arrest report, he and the girl had been dating, said 'I love you' and slept in the same bed. Prosecutors also revealed that Sprowson had been accused of making sexual advances on six fourth and fifth graders while teaching at Magnolia Elementary School (pictured) in Los Angeles between 2004 and 2007. He faces the possibility of life in prison at sentencing in May Court documents stated that the couple spent their days playing board games and sharing take-out meals. The 16-year-old was forbidden from going outside after dark, and Sprowson allowed her to consume alcohol. The prosecutors said that Sprowson also gave the girl an unspecified STD. According to Sprowson's attorney, the girl told police that his client inspired her to go into teaching, and that the real issue was the girl's strained relationship with her mother. On October 31, police officers came to Sprowson's place of work at the elementary school and questioned him about the 16-year-old, the Las Vegas Sun reported at the time. The teacher admitted that he had exchanged messages with the teen and even sent her money on one occasion, but claimed that he did not know where she was. The following day, detectives visited Sprowson's apartment, and the 16-year-old answered the door, declaring that she was there of her own accord. Following her rescue from Sprowson's home, MyNews3 reported that the girl attempted to commit suicide and was taken to a hospital specializing in psychiatric care. Sprowson faces the possibility of life in prison at sentencing in May. The boys were in a heavily wooded area of Fort Worth, Texas Two brothers were fatally electrocuted by power lines that were brought down by extreme weather that tore through Texas on Wednesday. Alex Lopez, 12, stepped into a puddle near downed power lines in a wooded area of Fort Worth and was electrocuted by the shock. His brother Isaiah, 11, told their friends: 'Go get help. I'm going to save Alex.' Those were his final words as he was electrocuted upon grabbing Alex to try to save him, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Scroll down for video Isaiah (L) and Alex Lopez (R), 11 and 12 respectively, were found dead on Wednesday in a wooded area of Fort Worth, Texas. Alex stepped into a puddle near a downed power line and was electrocuted. His brother grabbed him and tried to save him, electrocuting himself A vigil was held for the young brothers on Friday night. Their stepmother said: 'They had really good hearts' 'This is never something we want to have to respond to,' Fort Worth Fire Department Lt Kyle Falkner told WFAA. 'We can never talk about it enough, the need for safety around downed power lines. We're just starting storm season.' The boys were in a heavily wooded area on Wednesday night, more than 12 hours after morning storms ripped through North Texas. Rescuers were called at around 6:15pm when a friend was able to escape the danger and find help, according to CBS-DFW. A reporter for the station, Joel Thomas, also tweeted that the younger brother, Isaiah was trying to save his older brother Alex, when he was killed. When fire fighters found the boys the power lines that killed them were still live, and had also set a nearby patch of grass on fire. A crew from the power company in the area later shut off the line. Fort Worth Fire and MedStar personnel determined that the boys had died from their injuries. The boys were in a heavily wooded area on Wednesday night, more than 12 hours after morning storms ripped through North Texas A crew from the power company in the area later shut off the line 'After the storm blew through, a large number of power lines down, trees down, limbs down, things like that,' Faulkner said. 'So, definitely something everyone needs to be aware of around the city. This is still a hazard.' On Tuesday night, thunderstorms and heavy winds left about 200,000 people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area without power, WFAA reported. Three storm chasers were killed Tuesday when their cars crashed into each other in the western part of Texas. The storm is headed toward the Mississippi Valley, putting Mississippi and Tennessee at risk. 'Out thoughts and heartfelt prayers go out to the family,' Oncor said in a statement to WFAA. 'We urge all out customers to treat every power line as if it's energized.' A GoFundMe page set up by the family said that Alex was in 6th grade and Isaiah was in 5th grade. The boys attended the International Leadership of Texas and are survived by their younger sisters. Their former stepmother, Angela Jenkins, told the Star-Ledger: 'They were your stereotypical boys. She added: 'They caused problems sometimes, but they had really good hearts.' 'Alex was usually the protector,' she said. 'And this time it was Isaiah.' The page has raised more than $16,000 for the family's funeral expenses. A candlelit vigil was held for the boys on Friday night, NBC reported. A kitten who nearly burned to death had a quick and impressive recovery that left his caretakers appealing to Marvel for his latest name. Gene, who was found stray or abandoned with burns and four missing teeth in Brooklyn on March 10, was renamed Hugh Jackman. The actor is iconic for his role as Wolverine, who he has portrayed nine times since the 2001. Jackman portrayed the character for the final time in the film 'Logan,' which debuted a week before the cat was found. Scroll down for video A kitten was renamed Hugh Jackman, famous for among other things portraying Wolverine in the X-Men films, after recovering well from burns The cat was found in Brooklyn burned and with missing teeth. Doctors thought he may have been put in a clothes dryer Treating veterinarian Doctor Tara Bellis told the New York Daily News: 'You could call him a superhero cat.' Doctors originally thought the super-feline was thrown in a clothes dryer but later threw doubt on this claim. Bellis said: 'He required very strong antibiotics. He was critically sick for a number of days.' Actor Jackman is seen as Wolverine left and right giving a speech in Las Vegas But Hugh has no long-term health problems and is expected to make a full recovery. He was treated by Animal Care Centers of NYC and BluePearl Veterinary Partners. The cat, who is estimated to be less than half a year old, will likely go up for adoption once he is feeling better. Bellis said that he enjoys grooming himself and being pet. Donations to help the cat can be made at nycacc.org/donate.htm. On March 31, it was revealed that the human Hugh Jackman would star in The Greatest Showman, a biographical musical drama detailing the life of P.T. Barnum, the founder of what would become the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Looking dapper in a slim-fitting grey suit, the hunk broke the news at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, as he spoke on stage with a variety of A-list stars in attendance. The film is due to be released on Christmas Day this year. Ten women say in a federal lawsuit that guards and a worker at Hawaii's only female prison sexually assaulted them while they were incarcerated. The employees a female guard, three male guards and a male janitorial work-line supervisor subjected the women inmates to emotional distress and deprived them of their rights by sexually assaulting them, the lawsuit filed Thursday said. The inmates at the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua, Honolulu, were given food, makeup, crystal meth and special privileges for complying with sexual demands, according to the lawsuit. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety said that officials have not yet been served, as of Friday night. Ten women are claiming sexual abuse at Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua, Honolulu (pictured), according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday. As of Friday no officials had been served with the suit In one of the allegations described, a female guard coerced an inmate to have sex in a control room, a bathroom and a closet. In exchange, the inmate received clothes, hair-care products, access to Facebook, a marriage proposal and a gold wedding ring, the lawsuit said. Another allegation describes a male guard forcing a woman to perform oral sex and then taunting her about it when her boyfriend visited. He gave her extra food in exchange for the sex assault, the lawsuit said. That guard reported an inmate for violations that never occurred when she didn't respond to his demands for sex, the lawsuit said. Another male guard gave inmates makeup, candy, cellphone access and other items in exchange for sex. One of the plaintiffs saw her cellmate having sex with a guard who gave them crystal methamphetamine. The woman who kept silent about what she saw attempted to hang and kill herself. The inmates claim the abuse dates back at least 25 years and the guards gave the women special privileges and crystal meth in exchange for complying with sexual demands, according to the lawsuit. Pictured: file photo of female inmate When she ended up in a hospital, the same guard was assigned to watch her, the lawsuit said. 'His presence caused her undue stress, emotional trauma and outright fear for her life,' the lawsuit said. An inmate assigned to janitorial work alleges in the lawsuit that the supervisor called her into his office and exposed himself. She ran away, but he cornered her and told her no one would believe her because 'she was just an inmate,' according to the lawsuit. The female guard and two male guards no longer work for the department, spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said, while the third male guard and the janitorial supervisor are still department employees. Hawaii officials failed to properly train and supervise employees and ignored 'an obvious and ongoing pattern and practice of sexual abuse of inmates by both male and female guards and employees ... that dates back at least 25 years,' the lawsuit said. 'We have to reserve comment until we receive it and have had time to discuss it with our legal counsel,' Schwartz said. Sky News has axed political commentary program Outsiders just days after sacking controversial commentator Mark Latham. The program, due to go to air on Sunday morning, has been removed from the online program guide. A Sky News spokeswoman confirmed the show was stripped from the airwaves on Friday. 'The program is in recess,' she told Mumbrella. Mark Latham's contract as a contributor with Sky News Australia has been terminated Mr Latham has lost his Sky News Australia contract following a string of heavily scrutinized comments Former Labor leader Mark Latham co-hosted the show alongside ex-Liberal MP Ross Cameron and Spectator Australia editor Rowan Dean. The three men openly discussed political issues on the program, which first aired in December 2016. The outspoken trio were broken up on Wednesday when Mr Latham was axed for controversial on-air comments. In March, the former federal Labor leader labelled a Sydney schoolboy 'gay' for appearing in a pro-feminism video. Mr Latham made the comments about a Sydney Boys High School student who supported feminism on International Women's Day. Following the termination of Mr Latham's contract, Sky News have also axed show Outsiders as well 'I thought the first guy was gay maybe that's all they have left now,' Latham said. 'And so this thing went on and on and it was on Facebook and all these boys standing around pretending to be girls. 'Even though boys aren't supposed to be girls,' the broadcasters said on the show. Former New South Wales premier Kristina Keneally, who is also a Sky News contributor, last week complained to Sky management about Mr Latham referring to her as a 'Yankee sheila' on The Outsiders program he co-hosted with controversial former Liberal MP Ross Cameron. ABC radio 702 Sydney morning show presenter Wendy Harmer on Tuesday took legal action against Mr Latham for suggesting she was a commercial failure, even though she was a No.1 FM breakfast show personality with 2Day-FM for more than a decade, between 1992 and 2003. Mr Latham has come under fire after suggesting Harmer, who has a cleft palate, could only get a job at the 'sheltered' ABC because she is a 'female with a disability'. ABC 702 presenter Wendy Harmer took legal action against Mark Latham this week Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally filed a complaint to Sky News about Mark Latham Lawyers for Ms Harmer have sent Sky News a legal letter arguing his on-air remarks on his program The Outsiders on Sunday were defamatory, The Australian reported. The TV network's political editor David Speers announced on the PM Agenda program the ending of Mr Latham's contract. 'Sky News has ended the contract of contributor Mark Latham,' he said on Wednesday afternoon from the Canberra studio. 'This follows a number of controversies in relation to his comments around Kristina Keneally, Wendy Harmer and indeed the story that's been doing the rounds on a lot of news sites today in relation to some Sydney Boys High School students and a video they recorded for International Women's Day. 'We can confirm the breaking news that Mark Latham's contract with Sky News has been ended so there you go.' Mr Latham slammed Sky News for his sacking. 'Outrage industry totally confected: no reaction to Outsiders as it aired yet two to three weeks later reheating BS offenderati. Complete fraud,' he wrote. Six teenagers as young as 16-years-old are being held in custody after being charged over a string of Melbourne home invasions and carjackings that involved a gang of youths brandishing an array of weapons. Four juveniles and two men were charged following the crime spree which occurred during the early hours of Friday morning around Melbourne's north and west. The gang, who targeted homes in Caroline Springs and Greensborough, were reportedly armed with a range of weapons including a machete, poles and wooden stakes. Money is scattered over the floor of one of the homes targeted by the six machete-wielding invaders The home suffered damage throughout, with the walls being bashed with weapons by the intruding teenagers A number of Melbourne homes fell victim to burglaries on Friday morning They managed to steal an unknown sum of money and four cars, with two of those being recovered. Police failed to comment on whether the burglaries were related to notorious Melbourne gang, Apex. A Greensborough resident, whose home was subject to one of the attacks, described the ordeal to 9 News after hearing 'intense smashing' shortly before the invasion on her home. 'They couldn't get in straight away and so I quickly grabbed my phone,' 28-year-old resident Jade said. 'I wasn't quick enough and then five Sudanese men stormed into my room next to the front door holding weapons and were threatening to kill me if I didn't give them money.' Police say the gang also made failed attempts to break into homes in St Albans and Truganina. Following the burglaries, the youths allegedly sped off in the stolen vehicles - which included a black Volkswagon, discarding their weapons by launching them out of the windows. One resident described the intruders as Sudanese, which suggests they may have links to the APEX gang Two men are due to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Saturday, while four teens will face a children's court at a later date. All six were held in custody on Friday night following the arrest of seven teens in Kings Park. A 19-year-old Taylors Hill man and 18-year-old Kings Park man face charges of attempted aggravated burglary, attempted burglary, attempted theft and committing indictable offences while on bail. Three 16-year-old boys and a 17-year-old boy face similar charges. Police say investigations are ongoing. Travelling solo can be nerve wracking at the best of times, but imagine flying nearly 5,000km and ending up in the wrong destination. That is exactly what happened to a dutch student when he booked a flight to Sydney from Amsterdam. The only problem for Milan Schipper was that he booked his ticket to Sydney, Nova Scotia on Canada's East Coast instead of the land down under. Dutch student Milan Schipper (above) thought he was flying to Sydney, Australia but ended up in Sydney, Nova Scotia. 'I thought I was going to Australia but that turned out a little different,' Mr Schipper told Canada's CBC Radio. The 18-year-old said that made the mistake when booking the ticket as he opted for a flight which was almost $300 cheaper, the only problem was it wouldn't take him to his dream destination. He said that he initially had doubts to where he was going when he saw the plane. 'The plane was really small and so I figured, would that make it to Australia?' he said. 'I saw the flight plan was going to go right, not left. It was about the time that I realised there was another Sydney.' The weather when the young man stepped off the plane was minus two degrees instead of the 25 plus degrees he was expecting. 'I was not dressed for the occasion, he said. The 18-year-old though he was headed for the sun drenched shores of Sydney Australia (above) but ended up in Sydney, Nova Scotia on Canada's east coast The two Sydney's are over 17,000km apart making it a very unfortunate mistake The 18-year-old said that made the mistake when booking the ticket as he opted for a flight which was almost $300 cheaper but ended up in Nova Scotia (pictured) Mr Schipper said that he planned on going backpacking, working and site seeing when he landed in Sydney instead he only stayed for five hours with the only site he saw being the airport car park. With his tail between his legs Mr Schipper made the long flight back to Amsterdam al ot sooner then expected and was met at the airport by his very surprised father. 'He felt really sorry for me but he thought only I could do such a thing.' But it was not all bad news for Mr Schipper with an airline offering him a free ticket back to Australia when they heard of his story. The mistake is more common then people may think, a Dutch man and his grandson did the same in 2009 as did an Italian couple in 2010 who also landed in Nova Scotia instead of sunny Australia. A quick google search discovered there was at least seven Sydneys around the world. David Long, 75. has been jailed for six years for carrying out bizarre and repulsive sexual assaults on schoolgirls An air crash hero has been left in disgrace after being jailed for carrying out 'bizarre and repulsive' sex assaults on schoolgirls. Perverted David Long, 75, sprayed bodily fluids into the hair of dozens of schoolgirls as he followed them round city streets, photographing many of the filthy incidents. The pensioner even invented disgusting names for the streets where he carried out the abuse. The former fire service divisional commander was handed a six year and eight-month jail sentence, and is banned for life from following children. Long, of Loughborough, Leicestershire, had previously been regarded as a hero for his part in the 1989 Kegworth air disaster, in which a plane crashed near Kegworth, Leicestershire. Working as a senior fire officer at the time, he took a leading role in dealing with 'the dead the dying'. Long pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual assault at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday and had 186 similar offences taken into consideration. He also pleaded guilty to having 132 indecent photographs of children. Sentencing Long, Judge John Burgess said: 'It was hugely distressing for the parents of those children. 'However the parents may have tried to contain what happened from the children, the child is bound to have understood the distress of the parents. 'This is serious harm you caused.' Perverted Long, 75, sprayed bodily fluids into the hair of dozens of schoolgirls as he followed them round city streets, photographing many of the filthy incidents. The pensioner even invented disgusting names for the streets where he carried out the abuse The judge accepted that Long had played a 'significant, even heroic role' in the Kegworth air disaster. He added: 'The scene must have been etched into your memory. 'That was an explanation, it is not an excuse. 'Nobody can identify why you started behaving in this way. 'It was clearly out of character.' Julie Warburton, prosecuting, told how Long contained the liquid in a bottle marked 'cough mixture'. The earliest complaint of the filthy activity was made in 2009, but he was not detained until last year. Nottinghamshire Police were able to trace Long after he sprayed a girl's hair with the liquid as she walked down the street with her mother on April 5 last year. Using DNA samples, they were able to link him to two earlier attacks. When visiting his house, cops were stunned to see a briefcase littered with images of sprayed girls, with obscene comments on them. Stephen Bailey, defending, said that Long had been suffering after the death of his wife in 1999, and said the Kegworth air disaster had given him nightmares. He revealed that the defendant had been deeply upset by the 'prolonged, bizarre, unpleasant, sexualised, humiliating behaviour which is deeply out of character.' Mr Bailey said: 'He has essentially appreciated he has degraded these young people 'His family are extremely supportive if understandably shocked and upset. Long, of Loughborough, Leicestershire, had previously been regarded as a hero for his part in the 1989 Kegworth air disaster, in which a plane crashed near Kegworth, Leicestershire 'He is in fact a man who has been devastated and broken by the realisation of what he has done. 'He is acutely aware of what he has done and the effect his behaviour has had on others.' After the sentencing Peter Quinn, detective chief inspector of Nottinghamshire Police's public protection and child safeguarding team, said: 'Long showed extraordinary levels of perversion and we're pleased he has been jailed for his sickening acts. 'The investigation was unable to identify every person affected by Long's actions and there will be people out there who do not know that they have been a victim of his criminality. 'I wish to reassure the public however that every reasonable step has been taken to ensure that Long's actions have placed no-one's health at risk and I am satisfied that this is the case.' Furious protesters torched Paraguay's parliament building, accusing the country's president of staging a 'coup' over a secret vote allowing him to stand for re-election. Senators secretly voted for a constitutional amendment allowing President Haracio Cartes to stand for office again. The move prompted a night of rioting which saw demonstrators storm the Congress building, setting fire to it and injuring a number of police officers. Witnesses said the Congress building was alight for more than two hours, and rioting carried on long into the night across Paraguay Protesters were incensed by a secret vote which paved the way for the country's president to stand for re-election A bloodied demonstrator pictured following clashes between opponents to the plan and police Several politicians, including the country's former interior minister, Rafael Filizzola, were hit by rubber bullets, the Paraguayan media reports. In a call for calm, Cartes described the rioters as 'barbarians'. Journalist Santi Carneri told the BBC that the fire was alight for more than two hours, and described it as a the worst violence since Paraguay became a democracy. Senator Desiree Masi, from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party, said: 'A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us.' Furious groups stormed the building last night, and politicians were among those injured by rubber bullets during the rioting Large teams of police dispersed the angry crowds in what has been described as the worst outbreak of violence since Paraguay became a democracy Riot police agents holding shields crack down on a protest against the approval of a constitutional amendment for presidential re-election, outside Congress in Asuncion The country's constitution has prohibited re-election since 1992, when laws were introduced following the overthrow of dictator Alfredo Stroessner in 1989 after a brutal 35 year rule. Firefighters were eventually able to bring the Congress building fire under control late last night, but protests and riots continued across capital city Asuncion and in other parts of the country. Television images had earlier shown protesters smashing windows of the Congress and clashing with police, burning tires and removing parts of fences around the building. Police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets. A smashed police car outside the Congress building in Asuncion, which was the scene of angry protests A journalist bolts for safety during the riots in the Paraguayan capital, where angry protests were held yesterday The rioting broke out as thousands of businessmen and government officials were in the capital for the Inter-American Development Bank's annual board of governors meeting Several politicians and journalists were injured, media reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said several police were hurt. The number of casualties was unknown. Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter. 'Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic,' he said. 'We must not allow a few barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and general wellbeing of the Paraguayan people.' The rioting broke out as thousands of businessmen and government officials were in the capital for the Inter-American Development Bank's annual board of governors meeting. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was monitoring the events. 'I call on political leaders to avoid inciting violence and seek dialogue,' the commission's regional representative for South America, Amerigo Incalcaterra, said in a statement. CRITICS BRAND SENATE VOTE ILLEGAL AS PROTESTERS RIOT President Haracio Cartes called for calm following yesterday's riots The Senate voted yesterday during a special session in a closed office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber. Opponents of the law change, who claim it would weaken Paraguay's democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal. The proposal will also require approval by the House, where it appeared to have strong support. A vote which had been expected early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down, said the chamber's president, Hugo Velazquez. Several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Peru and Chile, prevent presidents from running for consecutive terms in a region where memories of dictatorships remain ripe. Others, including Colombia and Venezuela, have changed their constitutions to give sitting presidents a chance at re-election. Paraguay's measure would apply to future presidents and Cartes, a soft-drink and tobacco mogul elected to a five-year term in 2013. Advertisement Police use a water cannon in an effort to calm protesters in Paraguayan capital Asuncion yesterday Police clashed with protesters incensed by the secret vote in the Paraguayan senate yesterday A Congress vote on the law change had been set to be held today, but has been postponed following the rioting. If approved, it would allow former president Fernando Lugo, who was ousted in 2012, to stand for re-election as well. He was removed by Congress after politicians ruled he had had failed in his duty to maintain social order following a bloody land eviction. The rapid impeachment drew strong criticism in Latin America, especially from fellow leftist governments. A similar re-election proposal had been rejected in August and Congress this week voted to change the rules that required lawmakers to wait a year before voting again. 'Everything was done legally,' said Senator Carlos Filizzola of the leftist Guasu Front coalition, which supports the constitutional amendment as a way of allowing Lugo to return as Paraguay's leader. Australian teenagers are joining an online community of disgruntled males who vow to abandon all romantic relationships with women. MGTOW, or Men Going Their Own Way, is an international 'men's rights' movement promoting the belief that males always become victims in relationships. Readers of the group's forums can find discussions on everything from 'this is how men get screwed in marriage' to 'why women are getting fatter'. Australian teenagers are joining an online community of disgruntled males who vow to abandon all romantic relationships with women (stock image) MGTOW, or Men Going Their Own Way, is an international 'men's rights' movement promoting the belief that males always become victims in relationships. The above image was posted to its Facebook page Despite the group's loathing of women, homosexual relationships are also frowned upon. The movement, a self-described 'male reaction to the excesses of feminism,' is now striking a chord with Australian teenagers. A 15-year-old boy from New South Wales, named as Tom, is one to throw his weight behind MGTOW. 'It's probably not true of all women, but I've got the feeling that women are dangerous. Maybe the men around me have just had bad experiences,' he told news.com.au. 'My older brother, who's 20, was dating a girl for a few months. She turned really nasty in the breakup and made a string of allegations to the police. That made me suspicious of women too. My brother's a good guy. 'Why should she be able to just say what she wants, accuse him of anything and then get on with her life like that? It doesn't seem fair to me. I'm not sure what rights I have. Maybe none?' The movement, a self-described 'male reaction to the excesses of feminism,' is now striking a chord with Australian teenagers (stock) According to the page, the group promotes a 'way of life which refuses to defer to women in defining the worth of men' The MGTOW Facebook page is awash with expletive-ridden anti-feminist rants and memes. According to the page, the group promotes a 'way of life which refuses to defer to women in defining the worth of men. 'Instead, it focuses on positive male aspects, inviting men to go their own way in life.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted MGTOW for comment. Advertisement The body of 77-year-old man Nelson Raebel who went missing in Queensland floodwaters has been found The 77-year-old man who went missing in Queensland floodwaters on Friday has died. Nelson Raebel, was last sighted at approximately 4:30pm near Eagleby Road. Sadly, he was found deceased by emergency crews at 3.50pm on Saturday - not far from where he was last seen. The tragedy is the first flood-related death, Queesnland Police told Daily Mail Australia. Father-of-three Matthew Roser, 46, collapsed, went into cardiac arrest and died as he tried to protect his South Murwillumba home from flood waters, 9 News reports. 'He was my father, my best mate,' his son Justin, who attempted to revive the 46-year-old, said. Mr Roser initially thought he was having a panic attack before he stopped breathing. A post mortem examination is expected to be conducted next week to determine the cause of death. In total, four people have died in the aftermath of ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie, while three others remain missing in Queensland. Scroll down for video Father-of-three Matthew Roser, 46, (pictured) collapsed, went into cardiac arrest and died as he tried to protect his home from flood waters 'He was my father, my best mate,' his son Justin, (pictured) who attempted to revive the 46-year-old, said. Mr Roser initially thought he was having a panic attack before he stopped breathing An aerial photograph of floodwaters engulfing aircraft parked at the airport, Lismore, after the Wilsons River breached its banks An aerial view of floodwaters engulfing central Lismore, New South Wales, on Friday after the Wilsons River breached its banks An aerial view of floodwaters engulf the Bruxner Highway and Lismore Airport on Friday after the Wilsons River breached its banks A 64-year-old woman has been confirmed dead after her car was swept away by floodwaters in the New South Wales Hunter Valley on Friday night. NSW police said a couple were driving across a causeway on a property in Gungal, west of Muswellbrook, about 9pm on Thursday when their car was washed into floodwaters. A 74-year-old man escaped from the car, but his 64-year-old wife was trapped. She was the second person confirmed dead in the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Debbie. NSW police said the 74-year-old man searched for his wife throughout the night without success and alerted police about 8.30am on Friday. Police divers searched the Worondi Riveulet and found the woman's body in the vehicle about 5pm, submerged in four metres of water. Another woman's body was discovered on a flooded property on Upper Burringbar Road, about 20km south of Murwillumbah, New South Wales. Her body was discovered by a family member about 8am on Friday, police confirmed. NSW Police Media told Daily Mail Australia the cause of death would not be known until a postmortem was conducted next week. In total, four people have died in the aftermath of ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie, while three others remain missing An aerial photograph of floodwaters engulfing residential housing in central Lismore on Friday after the Wilsons River breached its banks Meanwhile, aerial view photos have captured northern New South Wales town Lismore engulfed in floodwaters. The confronting photos taken on Friday capture the epic scale of the natural disaster. One photograph shows the Lismore airport almost entirely submerged by floodwaters. Other photos show residential houses in Lismore's centre just poking their heads above the rising water. Lismore is about 80km from Murwillumbah, where a woman was found dead on her flooded property on Friday morning. Northern New South Wales towns Lismore and Tweed were declared natural disaster zones on Friday after about 20,000 residents were forced to abandon homes and properties overnight. The State Emergency Service rescued hundreds of people in northern NSW after the Richmond, Wilsons and Tweed rivers spilled over. An aerial view of floodwaters engulfing the central business district of Lismore, New South Wales Three people are still missing in Queensland, including 50-year-old Mondure man David Heidemann (pictured) There are fears more people would die as tens of thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate and 140,000 Queenslanders remained without power. There are also reports people in the northern NSW area are missing and can not be reached by loved ones. Authorities were unsure how many people were awaiting rescue as some may not have had access to phones. Three people are still missing in Queensland, including 50-year-old Mondure man David Heidemann and a man in his 60s who went bushwalking at Lamington National Park. Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said efforts were continuing in the park, near the Queensland-NSW border, to find the bushwalker. 'He remains unaccounted for. You can just imagine what the conditions are like are there ... It would be a very treacherous situation,' Mr Stewart said. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Mike Wassing said the state's flood emergency wasn't over, particularly for communities near the NSW border. Locals use a boat to travel through South Murwillumbah in northern NSW on Friday Stranded residents negotiate floodwaters in central Lismore, New South Wales on Friday On Saturday, the Logan River experienced its biggest river peak in 43 years, matching 1974 levels when it reached 10 metres at Waterford, Logan about 1.40pm on Saturday. While it still fell short of a predicted 10.5-metre peak, authorities are still forecasting floodwaters to inundate 300 plus properties, including about 200 homes. This includes those already inundated from the city's other swollen river, the Albert River, which peaked on Friday. Logan mayor Luke Smith warns that the danger is not over as it will take the Logan River some time to subside. 'It will stay (at 10 metres) for the next 12 hours before gradually receding,' he said. He said he was disappointed to see many people rubbernecking around the Larry Storey Park and bridge at Waterford at the time of the peak. 'There were people everywhere. It was crazy,' he said. 'We had to get our park rangers to move people on, police had to get people to keep on driving because they were stopping and causing congestion.' Residents negotiate floodwaters in central Lismore, New South Wales, on Friday The Logan River is yet to peak at Eagleby, which is expected some time on Saturday night. Eagleby - where the Albert and Logan rivers meet - and nearby suburbs including Loganholme and Beenleigh are the most vulnerable areas. On Saturday morning, police rescued an elderly man from public toilets at a flooded park, after the river rose to near-record levels. The man was pushed through fast-moving, ankle-deep water by two officers at Tygum Park as about 20 people who had come to inspect the floods looked on. It came after swift water rescue workers helped three women and two babies escape floodwaters at Waterford West on Saturday morning. While some residents have evacuated their houses altogether, others have sought refuge in the second story of their houses The cyclone flooding has already exceeded the destruction of historic 1954 and 1974 floods in northern NSW The cyclone flooding has already exceeded the destruction of historic 1954 and 1974 floods in northern NSW The government announced disaster relief funding would be made available for individuals and businesses affected by the disaster. Speaking at a press conference on Friday Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: 'Our sympathies go to her family and her friends'. 'As we observed yesterday in Queensland, nature's flung its worst at Australians, but it brings out the best in Australians: the resilience, the solidarity of the communities and the extraordinary response of the emergency services,' he said. The NSW State Emergency Service has made almost 400 flood rescues and had thousands of calls for help since Wednesday night. The cyclone flooding has already exceeded the destruction of historic 1954 and 1974 floods in northern NSW. Meanwhile in Chinderah, in Tweed New South Wales, the army has been called in to help with evacuations. Residents and their pets were taken to safety in army troop carriers on Friday night. An elderly woman and a three-month-old baby were reportedly both taken to hospital after being evacuation from the town. River levels in Chinderah are expected to peak at 2.3 metres on Saturday morning, which is just below record flood levels in 1974. The Kindred Collective store in South Murwillumbah, NSW, is pictured underwater Lismore is flooded after the Wilson River broke its bank on Friday Flooding in Northern Rivers town of Mullumbimby in NSW is pictured on Friday A car is pictured submerged in floodwaters at Toombul in Queensland on Thursday An aerial view of the flooding in the northern New South Wales town of Lismore after the area was hit by Cyclone Debbie MULWILLUMBAH DRENCHED WITH MORE THAN 400MM OF RAIN Up to 423 millimetres of rain fell in Murwillumbah within 24 hours, Bureau of Meteorology said on Thursday. In parts of the northern rivers, 780mm fell within 48 hours in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie. An exhausted horse sheltered in the doorway of a home at Murwillumbah on Friday, according to a heartbreaking Facebook post shared on Friday. 'She is completely exhausted and we have spoken with the vet,' the daughter of the horse owner wrote. Homes and business are underwater in Lismore on Friday as potentially deadly conditions continue. Sirens in the northern NSW town are warning residents to head to higher ground or get on their roofs after floodwater topped the protective levee. Three metres of water is expected to drown the town and exceed floods seen in 2001 and 2005, NSW SES Deputy Commissioner Mark Morrow said. Lismore resident Rebekka Battista said she lived through about three floods, but none devastated the town as badly as this one Lismore resident Rebekka Battista said water levels rose extremely quickly and 'shocked a lot of people' 'A lot of people feel they've lost everything,' Lismore resident Rebekka Battista told Daily Mail Australia 'A lot of business owners are going to come back and find they are lost for words,' Lismore resident Rebekka Battista told Daily Mail Australia Lismore resident Rebekka Battista told Daily Mail Australia on Friday the northern NSW town had been threatened by floodwaters at least three times in her lifetime. But she said none devastated the town quite like this one. 'A lot of people here are very used to floods, but I'm not sure they were ready for this,' she said. 'The water came incredibly quickly and shocked a lot of people.' Ms Battista captured her town in a series of confronting photographs on Friday, and came away from the trip devastated. 'I was lost for words,' she said. 'A lot of people are going to come back to their homes and businesses and find they have lost everything. 'There's going to be a lot of tears.' A girl stands at the edge of flood waters at the flooded Beenleigh train station carpark Vehicles submerged in flood water near Beenleigh train station south of Brisbane, Australia Residents carry sandbags at Mount Warren Park, south of Brisbane, on Friday A man carries sandbags in Mount Warren Park on Friday during floods A horse is pictured taking shelter in a home at Murwillumbah during floods Lismore residents are pictured evacuating their homes through floodwaters Lismore is pictured flooded after the Wilson River breached its banks on Friday Search Emergency Services are pictured rescuing people from a flooded causeway near Tabragalba, south of Brisbane Some of those who called for help overnight couldn't be reached, with the possibility of the 'distressing news' of deaths to come, he said. 'There could be people overnight that perished in that flood, we don't know at this stage,' he told ABC television on Friday morning. 'We expect this morning that as we start to go out and try to find people that made those calls overnight, there could be some very distressing news.' Lismore's city's siren was activated at 4.15am on Friday warning residents to leave immediately. 'It's the first time it's been activated in 12 years,' Lismore mayor Isaac Smith told AAP on Friday. Floodwaters topped the 10.6 metre level at 4.15am on Friday, with water levels predicted to reach 11.5 metres later in the day, Mr Smith said. A boy is seen walking through floodwater south of Brisbane on Friday Lismore is seen flooded on Friday after Wilson River breached its banks Mark 'Huey' Hewitt drinks a beer in floodwaters in central Lismore on Friday Residents wade through rising floodwaters as they leave their home in central Lismore Floodwaters in Kenilworth in Queensland are pictured on Friday morning The SES is predicting the situation could worsen during the day with a high tide due at 1pm. The wind is expected to pick up on Friday, compounding the dangers. 'We'll start to see trees coming down, potentially powerlines,' Mr Morrow said. 'That's the back-end associated with that cyclone in Queensland. 'We're far from out of this and I think the recovery efforts that are going to have to occur are going to be significant.' The Lismore mayor said people had been caught off guard, and the city is in uncharted territory. Central Lismore is seen flooded underwater on Friday A woman evacuates her home in Lismore on Friday Floodwaters in Lismore are pictured on Friday in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie A man is pictured walking through floodwaters in Lismore in northern NSW Heavy rainfall and flash flooding is pictured in southeast Queensland Mr Smith said the city's protective levee had never failed Lismore before. 'It's never happened, 12 years now the levee's stood there and kept out major and minor floods,' he said. 'A lot of people here are just a bit concerned about how it's going to go, but we honestly don't know,' he told ABC TV on Friday. Mr Morrow said floodwaters would reach the roof of homes or even higher. 'A lot of people that are going to be displaced from their businesses or their homes.' Mr Morrow painted a picture of dramatic bids to save lives overnight. 'About 130 flood rescues, people in cars, people trapped on roofs of houses. We'll get out there as soon as we can in daylight with aerial assets as well, helicopters and we'll try and find those people that made calls to us last night and help them this morning.' He said about 6,000 people had left their homes. Residents use a boat in the main street on Friday at Billinudgel in floodwaters Young men surf down the main street on Friday in floodwaters at Billinudgel Locals paddle through floodwaters on surfboards on Friday A man and young boy walk through floodwaters in the main street at Billinudgel Residents surf down the street after heavy rain through flooding Flooding at Beenleigh train station at Logan, south of Brisbane, is pictured A pharmacy employee cleans up storm water from her store in Airlie Beach in north Queensland Floods in the the Jones Park and the South East Freeway bikeway, south of Brisbane, on Thursday Residents in the flood zone caused by ex-tropical cyclone Debbie have spent the night holed up in evacuation centres, as the system tracked south past Brisbane and into northern NSW. River levels in some threatened communities were continuing to rise, even on a low tide, when they should be starting to drop. State Emergency Service deputy commissioner Mark Morrow spoke out on Friday in an effort to stop dangerous behaviour in floodwaters. 'To tell you the truth, I have seen disgusting footage today of people being dragged around behind vehicles on wakeboards thinking it is fun. It is not, it is serious,' he told ABC news. Floodwater threatens homes at Ocean Shores, near Byron Bay, on Friday People wade through flooding in Mount Warren Park, Queensland, on Friday Children play on a paddleboard in Mount Warren Park, south of Brisbane Residents escape their flooded house in Mount Warren on Friday Debris is pictured cutting off the road through floods at South Murwillumbah Residents carry sand bags to their homes in Mount Warren Park Residents row a boat down the flooded street in South Murwillumbah Hayman Island is pictured as guests are allowed to head home Mermaid Waters Canal in the Gold Coast is pictured on Friday Lismore is underwater and floodwaters could reach three metres deep on Friday South Lismore businesses are pictured underwater on Friday morning A church in South Lismore is pictured flooded in on Friday morning He said the worst was not over and people in flood affected areas needed to remain vigilant. 'In some places further to the north, like Chinderah up around Tweed Heads where the water should be falling on a low tide now it's actually increasing. That's not a good sign for today.' He said 13 evacuation orders remained current, affecting about 25,000 people in northern NSW towns. People in Tweed Heads South and West, Chinderah, Kingscliff, Fingal Head and Bilambil have been told to leave. Closer to the Queensland border, residents in 500 homes in the South Murwillumbah, Condong and Tumbulgum areas were also ordered to evacuate, with the Tweed River experiencing major flooding. Floodwaters are pictured dangerously high in South Lismore on Friday morning The Gold Coast is pictured on Thursday where a home was flooded Part of John Muntz Causeway bridge collapsed in Oxenford in the Gold Coast on Thursday Flooding at Mermaid Waters in Queensland's Gold Coast is pictured on Friday Destruction at Hamilton Island is pictured on Thursday evening Norman Buchan Park in Bardon, Brisbane, is pictured on Thursday Kindred Collective is pictured underwater on Friday in South Murwillumbah, NSW Authorities have lamented those ignoring advice and driving through floodwaters. SES spokesman Brent Hunter those people were 'playing Russian roulette with their lives', Daily Telegraph reported. A 'WALL OF WATER' HEADS FOR THE GOLD COAST Gold Coast residents have been warned to prepare as wind gusts up to 100km/h are expected to lash the region this afternoon. Meanwhile, residents of low-lying parts of Logan and the Gold Coast have been told to move to higher ground as a 'wall of water' heads towards the region. The Gold Coast council has told residents near the northern suburbs of Stapylton and Jacobs Well to evacuate, and warned those who remain behind they risk being trapped by floodwaters for several days. Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said people in the area should get out now. Lismore streets are pictured underwater as floodwaters rise on Friday Residents in Lismore (pictured) have been warned to evacuate immediately, as flood waters rise and torrential rain continues Queenslanders are being told to go home at lunchtime on Thursday, as the state prepares to be drenched with a month's worth of rain (flooded Gold Coast carpark on Thursday) The Causeway in Oxenford over the Coomera River fell through A stop sign and homes are pictured inundated with floodwaters at Lismore in NSW 'Floodwaters are approaching, and they are putting out SMS alerts to people in those areas, asking people to go to higher ground, to evacuate to friends and family,' he said. 'They are urgent alerts and we have asked the community to take them seriously. Residents in low-lying areas around Beenleigh have also been told to get out as the Albert River continues to rise towards a possible 130-year record level. The Bureau of Meteorology says the river level may reach around 8.0 metres in the areas on Friday afternoon, near the 8.1 metre record level set in 1887. Chad Allen, 10, and his mother Chloe collect drinking water from an army tank at Airlie Beach Damage to a causeway over the Coomera River near Oxenford on the Gold Coast is pictured on Friday Damage to the Gold Coast causeway is pictured on Friday Logan Mayor Luke Smith told the Courier Mail a 'wall of water' was heading for the area from the Scenic Rim region. 'We're in for a significant inundation of major flooding. It's just about waiting to see where all the water happens to go.' Floodwaters are expected to peak around midday today in both areas. Bureau of Meteorology regional director Bruce Gunn said rainfall totals across the southeast had been extraordinary, with falls of more than 800mm in the Gold Coast hinterland in 48 hours. Lennon Bartlett rows through the McDonald's drive-through in Lismore on Friday A woman rides through floodwaters in Lismore in NSW on Friday A pie shop south of Brisbane has been completely flooded in on Friday The Beaudesert area has already been beset by record floodwaters after being pounded by heavy rain from ex-cyclone Debbie. BOM has also warned of possible minor flooding along the Brisbane River at the Brisbane CBD overnight on Friday and on Saturday. There are also concerns about possible flooding in Rockhampton next week as water makes its way down from rivers upstream. AUTHORITIES HIT OUT AT 'FOOLISH' BEHAVIOUR DURING FLOODING Meanwhile, State Disaster Coordinator Stephan Gollschewski has hit out at 'foolish and quite stupid behaviour' from some during the floods In one case a man was charged with drink-driving after driving into flood waters with his partner and two young children west of Brisbane. And on Thursday a boy was swept away after tying his boogie board to a bridge so he could surf a torrent of water coming down a creek. He was lucky to survive and managed to swim to safety. A destroyed road in north Queensland is pictured in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie A local collects drinking water from an army tank in Airlie Beach on Friday All schools in southeast Queensland remain closed for the second consecutive day but the worst of the weather has passed over the Brisbane area, where the sun has come out. Meanwhile, Mr Gollschewski said the focus in north Queensland, where Cyclone Debbie crossed the coast as a category four storm on Tuesday, had switched to restoring essential services such as communication and power networks, to aid the recovery effort there. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the SES had dealt with about 5600 calls for help since the cyclone disaster began earlier this week. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said around 140,000 households were without powers across the southeast and north Queensland. More than 90,000 homes are currently without power in the southeast and a further 50,000 in the Bowen, Mackay and Whitsunday regions. Some will be without power for days. She said 630 power lines were affected by Thursday's extreme weather in Queensland's southeast. An aerial shot shows Daydream Island after the area was hit by cyclone Debbie A home in Bowen in north Queensland has painted a lighthearted scorecard on the fence Flood waters enter in the parking lot outside the Robina Hospital on the Gold Coast as severe rain continue throughout south-east Queensland A car pictured in flood water in the Toombul Shopping Centre car park, north of Brisbane 'If you have been praying for rain please stop,' the sign for Silkstone Baptist Church in Ipswich says 'Our greatest area of concern this morning for people living in the areas of Beenleigh, Waterford, Woodend and Beaudesert,' he told ABC television. 'We currently got major flood warnings for the Albert River and the Logan River.' He described the situation as 'very serious'. 'It is very serious, it's a major flood warning. If you're in low-lying areas, safely move to high grounds.' Swift water rescue firefighters had saved the lives of 85 people trapped in floodwaters. Mr Wassing confirmed there had been 'a number of rescues and continue to have as we speak'. Cars engulfed in flood waters on the Gold Coast following torrential rain across south-east Queensland Cyclone Debbie aftermath: Mackay in north Queensland is experiencing widespread flooding after Pioneer River burst its banks At 1am Friday, Queensland police urged residents of Beaudesert in southeast Queensland to warn neighbours, secure belongings and move to higher ground as it was hit by record flooding and the Logan River continued to rise. Nine News reported some in Beaudesert had to seek refuge on the roof of their cars as the waters rose. The Logan River in the town was at 13.91 metres early Friday morning, equivalent to the level seen in the town's record 1991 flood and the river is not expected to peak until 7am (AEST). Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutshke told Daily Mail Australia Lismore and other areas have been hit with the most rain since the floods of 1974. There is very little rain expected to come but emergency services are warning the danger is not over. A helpless bull shark lies in shallow water during floods in Burdekin, just south of Townsville Washed away: A car - thankfully with no one inside - sits in floodwater outside a Gold Coast hospital on Thursday A damaged motel is seen in Proserpine after Cyclone Debbie tore through on Tuesday Cattle farmers have had massive livestock losses in central Queensland, 'Beef producers in the Clarke Creek and Lotus Creek region on the old highway between Mackay and Rockhampton were particularly hard hit with a metre of rain falling in just over 24 hours,' AgForce CEO Charles Burke said. He said farmers were still assessing the damage. 'Farming families in the region have never seen water levels like it, and we've had reports of cattle and horses being washed away, families sitting on kitchen tables to stay safe and major damage to sheds and other structures, while all the local bridges and crossings have been completely smashed. NSW children surf a river wave in at Murray Bridge after Cyclone Debbie Peter Stokes (pictured) inspects damage to his motel in Proserpine after the cyclone tore through Kerry Campbell and Peter Stokes inspect damage to their motel in Proserpine, Whitsundays Kerry Campbell and Peter Stokes inspect damage to their motel in Proserpine, Whitsundays 'It's extremely difficult to get in touch with producers in all the different affected areas with many properties isolated by floodwaters, power supplies cut and phone lines still down.' EVACUATIONS BEGIN ON WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS The first guests have been evacuated from the Whitsunday islands resorts smashed by Cyclone Debbie but thousands remain stranded on Hamilton Island. Daydream Island is expected to be closed for a month as further assessments of the extensive damage continue. All guests and more than 100 staff have been evacuated from Daydream after the category four storm belted the region but many more remain stuck at other resorts. A building teeters over the edge of a sand dune on Lamberts Beach near Mackay, Queensland Apartments in far north Queensland are evacuated as floodwaters continue to rise A train on an elevated track hurtles past floodwaters in Eudl, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast The Australian Defence Force delivered food, fuel and water to Daydream Island earlier on Thursday, while local ferries were organised to shuttle guests back to the mainland. The 3,000 people stranded on nearby Hamilton Island, which was lashed with the strongest recorded winds on Thursday at 263 km/h, face a longer wait to reach the mainland. Twelve flights have been scheduled between Hamilton Island and Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Checking in could take up to 25 minutes per passenger, a statement on the Hamilton Island website said. Rivers in Brisbane run high as the city prepares to be smashed with the equivalent of a month's rain in 24 hours Caneland Central car park in Mackay goes under with floodwater as rain continues to bucket down Queensland Education said all schools from Agnes Water to NSW were closed 'We have been advised airlines will be bringing up large volumes of staff to assist with this process,' the statement said. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten visited Bowen in the Whitsunday region on Thursday morning, making financial aid available immediately to the local council to start rebuilding infrastructure. A emergency services source told AAP South Molle Island, to the northwest of Hamilton Island, had been 'totally devastated' but no one was there when Debbie struck. Nearby Hayman Island has also suffered significant damage preventing emergency services personnel landing on Wednesday. Ms Palaszczuk is standing by her last-minute decision to close southeast Queensland schools on Thursday. The premier made the call to shut schools from Agnes Water to the Queensland border early on Thursday morning, and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad announced the move on live television after 7am. Cars parked outside Robina Hospital were seen being swept away by the floodwater as the Mudgeeraba Creek burst its banks Motorists in Gold Coast and Brisbane, who were pounded by the storm on Wednesday and through to Thursday, were seen struggling to make it through the water Tourists stranded on the cyclone-ravaged Whitsundays have spoken of their holiday hell after finding themselves stranded with dwindling water supplies - as looters start to target storm-damaged businesses But parents did not receive a text message notifying them of the closure until around 10am, after school was already due to have started. Ms Palaszczuk has previously apologised for the inconvenience but on Friday defended the timing, saying she made the decision to close schools as soon as she learnt that ex-Cyclone Debbie would bring even worst torrential rain and flooding than initially expected. 'We were expecting between 100mm-200mm of rain,' Ms Palaszczuk said. 'When the (weather) bureau met first thing that morning, they saw there was going to be a whole lot more rain coming into the southeast corner as well as those thunderstorms and the high wind gusts. 'So as soon as the bureau alerted the authorities, that decision was made.' She said she did not want to put children's lives at risk. Drivers have been warned not to drive in flood waters as it is impossible to see if the road is broken, like this Keara, Lacey and Erich Stewart paddle in a kayak after flood waters entered there back yard Children and adults play in the flood water in their back yards Bennett Wood sits on his car after flood waters entered his back yard A young boys looks out over the tweed river as flood waters rise Infrastructure along the tweed river as flood waters rise on March 30, 2017 in Murwillumbah, Australia Infrastructure along the tweed river as flood waters rise on March 30, 2017 in Murwillumbah, Australia Houses threatened by flood waters sweeping down the Queensland coast Houses threatened by flood waters on March 30, 2017 in Murwillumbah NATIONAL SEVEN-DAY FORECAST Sydney Friday: Max 23, possible showeres Saturday: Max 23, possible showers Sunday: Max 22, showers increasing Monday: Max 21, showers Tuesday: Max 22, showers Wednesday: Max 22, showers Canberra: Friday: Max 21, sunny Saturday: Max 23, mostly sunny Sunday: Max 21, mostly sunny Monday: Max 20, possible shower Tuesday: Max 20, possible shower Wednesday: Max 21, possible shower Melbourne Friday: Max 18, mostly sunny Saturday: Max 19, possible showers Sunday: Max 18, possible showers Monday: Max 22, sunny Tuesday: Max 23, mostly sunny Wednesday:Max 24, mostly sunny Perth: Friday: Max 29, sunny Saturday: Max 30, sunny Sunday: Max 31, sunny Monday: Max 29, sunny Tuesday: Max 29, sunny Wednesday: Max 27, sunny Brisbane Friday: Max 29, windy Saturday: Max 29, mostly sunny Sunday: Max 29, possible shower Monday: Max 29, possible shower Tuesday: Max 28, possible shower Wednesday: Max 28, possible shower Adelaide: Friday: Max 19, cloud increasing Saturday: Max 21, possible shower Sunday: Max 20, mostly sunny Monday: Min 11, max 24, sunny Tuesday: Max 24, sunny Wednesday: Max 27, sunny Source: Weatherzone Advertisement This photo shows how far floodwaters have risen across Murwillumbah Kayaking through flood waters in Woolloongabba Streets filled with water after cyclone Debbie moved south A bride-to-be desperate to make it down the aisle despite raging floodwaters was airlifted to her wedding venue by helicopters. Bride Carissa Fowke and her groom Tyson Kolkka were stranded at the Queensland border as they attempted to make it to their Casuarina venue at the edge of NSW. The couple battled the raging floods and with the help of air-lifts and police escorts the blushing bride was given her dream wedding day. The engaged couple (pictured) were determined to marry each other despite the raging floodwater Bride Carissa Fowke was flown by helicopter and groom Tyson Kolkka was escorted to the venue by police With only 24 hours before her wedding, Ms Fawkes and her bridal party were flown to the venue by helicopters to evade the rising floods. The groom was escorted by police to his wedding but the couple were unable to begin the ceremony at the scheduled 2pm time-slot - instead starting two-and-a-half hours late after all guests finally arrived. 'The wedding will go ahead,' chief bridesmaid Sarah Mash told Tweed Daily News. 'Guest will make it rain hail or shine... Three more choppers just delivered people.' The blushing bride began getting ready for her big day at 11am despite not knowing how she would make it to the wedding venue Ms Fowke was flown via helicopter to her Casuarina venue when the floods did not slow The rising floodwaters at the border of Queensland and NSW stopped the happy couple from reaching their wedding venue by car Some guests had even hitchhiked along the Pacific Highway as they made a desperate attempt to make it to the wedding. The determined couple did not let road closures get in the way of their special day despite being kept apart by Cyclone Debbie's watery path. Ms Fowke's bridal party began getting ready at 11am for a wedding that might not even happen as her groom was stranded further up the coast. Police in Gibraltar have seized 6.5 million worth of cocaine hidden inside a purpose-built torpedo attached to the hull of a Liberian-flagged ship which had crossed the Atlantic from Colombia. Officers boarded the ship to search it in a two-day operation involving Customs officials while it was anchored in the Bay of Gibraltar following a tip-off from the US Drug Enforcement Administration. The 108 kilos of cocaine were found in the 'parasite' container by underwater divers. The 108kg of cocaine is believed to have a street value of around 6.5million The ship was anchored in the Bay of Gibraltar when it was raided following a tip-off from the US Drug Enforcement Administration A Customs spokesman said: 'We're expecting this cocaine to be 80 to 90 per cent pure whereas cocaine normally in this area is about 45 per cent pure' Three people including the captain and chief engineer of the vessel, called Mount Faber, have been arrested. Royal Gibraltar Police Detective Superintendent Ian McGrail said: 'Colleagues from the DEA shared intelligence with us concerning this particular bulk carrier. 'It had sailed from a port in Colombia and was heading for a port in Europe. 'They indicated it was laden with a consignment of drugs. Officers boarded the ship to search it in a two-day operation involving Customs officials while it was anchored in the Bay of Gibraltar Officials have described the drugs seized as 'high purity' cocaine worth more than 6million The ship had set off from Colombia and was heading for a port in Europe, say investigators 'It's obviously taken a considerable amount of effort to reach the drugs because they were hidden on the outside of the ship in a purpose-built torpedo. 'It's just shows the efforts these organised crime gangs go to to avoid detection. On this occasion they've been unable to do that. 'Three personnel, the ship's Master, First Engineer and a crew member have been arrested and are currently assisting us with inquiries.' A search was conducted and the drugs were found inside a torpedo on the ship in Gibraltar Forensic officers weighing the drugs, which were found on board the ship in Gibraltar He added: 'A considerable amount of high-purity cocaine has been seized. Operations of this sort cause considerable disruption to organised crime networks who are always trying to come up with innovative ways of transporting drugs from one place to another.' Police have said the drugs have a street value of 6.5 million. Gibraltar Customs chief Ernest Pallas told the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation: 'We're talking about a substantial vessel. We had to use a lot of manpower to control the crew on board and then a private company to survey the hull. 'The crew were pretty helpful and we were able to conduct the search with relative ease. 'We're expecting this cocaine to be 80 to 90 per cent pure whereas cocaine normally in this area is about 45 per cent pure. 'The actual street value could be in the region of 6 million so it's a big blow to the organisation responsible.' The huge drugs haul was discovered following a tip-off from US drugs authorities Police are searching for a man caught stealing a pick-up truck with a young child by his side. The brazen man was spotted on camera walking by the truck in a tobacco store parking lot in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday. The incident took place in the area of 17th Street and Indian School. The man, wearing a checked shirt, can be seen walking by the truck with the young boy following close behind him. The man circles around the pick-up before jumping inside the vehicle and speeding away. The shocked truck owner ran out of the store and chased after his stolen vehicle. He managed to jump on the back of the truck at a junction but soon fell off and an ambulance was called. Police are searching for a man caught stealing a pick-up truck with a young child by his side The brazen man was spotted on camera walking by the truck in a tobacco store parking lot in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday Local police are still looking for the man and are appealing for anyone who recognizes him to come forward. Rod Williamson, who owns a business in the area, told Fox 10: 'The customer just bolted through the door. 'I'm assuming he just left the restaurant and just walking by, and notices there is a truck sitting there and no one is in it,' said Williamson, referring to the suspect. More than 20 girls and women have been abducted in two raids by Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, according to reports in Nigeria. The jihadists launched a dawn raid close to the border with Cameroon, grabbing the women and children as they attempted to flee. In a separate raid a herdsman was killed and 50 of his cattle were shot dead, while a further four women and girls were taken by the group. The raid was carried out by militants from Islamist terror group Boko Haram in eastern Nigeria Eighteen girls were abducted from the village of Pulka, close to the border with Cameroon, on Thursday morning The first raid saw 18 women seized at 6am on Thursday in the village of Pulka, near Nigeria's border with Cameroon. A community leader told AFP: 'Boko Haram fighters from Mamman Nur camp arrived in pickup vans around 6am and seized 14 young girls aged 17 and below while residents fled into the bush. 'They picked four other girls who were fleeing the raid they came across in the bush outside the village.' The men who carried out the raid are believed to be loyal to Boko Haram faction leader Abu Musab Al-Barnawi In April 2014, Boko Haram sparked worldwide outrage after kidnapping 276 female students from a secondary school in Chibok, eastern Nigeria According to the official, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, the attackers were loyal to the Boko Haram faction headed by Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, son of the terror group's founder Mohammed Yusuf. Barnawi was appointed last year by ISIS to replace leader Abubakar Shekau, who had pledged allegiance to the Middle East jihadist group in 2015. Another resident confirmed the raid and said the girls were likely to end up as brides for the fighters. 'They didn't harm anyone during the raid and they made no attempt to shoot people running away from the village,' said the resident. Boko Haram released 21 of the seized schoolgirls in October last year, but nearly 200 remain missing after the April 2014 raid which shocked the world In the second incident outside the village of Dumba, close to Lake Chad, the jihadists killed a herdsman who had tried to escape after refusing to pay protection money, said Adamu Ahmed, a member of an anti-Boko Haram militia. 'When the Boko Haram gunmen came for the money they realised he had left with everything and they decided to go after him on their motorcycles,' Ahmed said. 'They caught up with him near Dumba where they slaughtered him and shot dead 50 of his cattle. 'They took four women from the man's family and the rest of the herd,' he said. The promotion of Barnawi had revealed divisions in the group, as Shekau had been criticised for mass killings and suicide attacks against civilians. Barnawi and his right-hand man Mamman Nur, who is seen as the real leader, had promised residents in areas under their control would not be harmed as long as they did not cooperate with Nigerian troops fighting Boko Haram. But in recent weeks the Islamist fighters have intensified raids in areas near Lake Chad, stealing food from residents. They have also killed several civilians they accused of cooperating with the military. In April 2014, Boko Haram sparked worldwide outrage after kidnapping 276 female students from a secondary school in Chibok, eastern Nigeria. In October 21 of the girls were released, but nearly 200 of them remain missing. The remains of a six-year-old American girl, whose disappearance has been likened to that of Madeleine McCann, have been found by police. Schoolgirl Isabel Celis went missing from her bedroom nearly five years ago, sparking a huge search involving thousands of officers. Her remains were discovered about a month ago, but have now been identified by forensic experts, police announced yesterday. The case bears notable similarities to that of Madeleine, from Leicestershire, who vanished nearly a decade ago, on May 3, 2007, in the Algarve. Her parents, Gerry and Kate, were dining at a tapas bar when the three-year-old disappeared from the room in Praia da Luz. Yesterday a police chief said Isabel's body had been discovered 'not by happenstance'. It is not yet known how she died. Scroll down for video Police have found the remains of Isabel Celis, a six-year-old girl who went missing from her bedroom in Tucson nearly five years ago The case bears striking similarities to the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who vanished in the Algarve nearly 10 years ago Madeleine was abducted nearly a decade ago while her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were dining at a tapas bar People place their candles at the bottom of a large poster of Celis during a candlelight vigil near a police command post in Tucson (2012 photo) An alley path behind the street where the young girl went missing from her home is cut off with police tape (2012 photo) Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said: 'Obviously this is not the ending that any of us had hoped for, but this is also not the ending of the case. 'We are working this case very aggressively as we would with any case involving the death of a child.' Magnus released few details about the recovery of the girl's remains, saying an investigation is ongoing. He wouldn't say how long the remains may have been in the desert or what caused Isabel's death. Magnus also didn't reveal whether there are any suspects in the girl's death. Celis was last seen April 20, 2012, when she was six years old. Her father reported her missing the next morning after finding she was not in her bedroom A flyer for missing six-year-old Isabel Celis is placed on a volunteer's car in Tucson in 2012 Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus (pictured) said Friday that police found the remains of Isabel Celis in a rural area of Pima County about a month ago 'not by happenstance' He declined to answer questions about how police were led to her body, only saying that it was not a happenstance. Isabel was last seen April 20, 2012, when she was six years old. Her father reported her missing the next morning after finding she was not in her bedroom. Police never named any suspects, but they said they found 'suspicious circumstances around a possible entry point' in the home. Family members have said they last saw her in her bedroom the night before she was reported missing. A window was later found open with the screen pushed aside. A few days after the disappearance, a neighbor told KVOA-TV that she heard her dogs barking and male voices outside her bedroom window around 6.30am on the day the girl was reported missing. The neighbour said there were no sounds that indicated a struggle. According to KTAR, authorities have said whoever was behind the crime knew the layout of the residence. Authorities searched the house, but a judge sealed those records, the station said. Police and volunteers conducted exhaustive searches and even renewed a door-to-door effort to find the girl 18 months after her disappearance The case was considered an abduction about a month after it was first handled as a suspicious disappearance, Arizona Public Media reports. It was reported that Child Protective Services asked the girl's father, Sergio Celis, to not make contact with his two other sons. Sergio Celis eventually was able to go inside the house - and information about the reason for the temporary separation hasn't been disclosed, Arizona Public Media reported. Police and volunteers conducted exhaustive searches and even renewed a door-to-door effort to find the girl 18 months after her disappearance. Magnus said Friday that police pursued over 2,200 leads in the case. Tucson Medical Center, where Isabel's mother is a nurse, issued a statement on behalf of the girl's family. Police and volunteers conducted exhaustive searches and even renewed a door-to-door effort to find the girl 18 months after her disappearance Sergio and Becky Celis, parents of Isabel Celis, talk about their daughter's disappearance in 2015 in this image The statement reads: 'We want to thank the community for the support they have continued to show for Isa over the years and for refusing to give up hope. 'Now is our time to mourn. We ask for our privacy during this time so that we can do that.' Medical center CEO Judy Rich said in a statement: 'This is not the news we had hoped to hear. 'Becky has been a member of the TMC family for many years, and our hearts grieve for Isa and her family.' Magnus said the department is still asking for tips and that he believes people might know something about happened to Isabel. He said: 'We appreciate the fact that this case has been very traumatic. 'In fact, reverberations of this have gone well beyond Tucson and even Arizona, (and) have affected people throughout the country.' According to KTAR, Magnus said: 'This is a very important step in the case, so thats one of the reasons why we're still asking the public if they have any leads. 'We believe there may still be folks out there who perhaps know something or feel now that theyre willing to come forward with information.' This is the adorable moment a kangaroo is rescued from rising flood waters and ferried to safety. The rescue happened at the Albert river bed and breakfast in Alberton on the Gold Coast on Friday after concerned locals noticed Debbie the kangaroo trapped in a fence. Footage from the scene shows locals using a kayak to ferry the exhausted joey to safety. A kangaroo has been rescued after becoming trapped in a fence in rising flood waters in Alberton on the Gold Coast on Friday. Rescuer Susan Pepperell who runs the bed and breakfast said that the kangaroo wouldn't of survived much longer in the water. 'All we could see were his ears and nose, he was exhausted,' Ms Pepperell told 7 News. The rescue comes as unprecedented floodwaters endanger hundreds of southeast Queensland properties, swamping local landmarks and leaving thousands without power. There were fears more than 300 properties in the region, including more than 200 homes, could be damaged by the rising waters on Friday. The rescue happened at the Albert river bed and breakfast in Alberton on the Gold Coast after concerned locals noticed Debbie the kangaroo trapped in a fence Rescuer Susan Pepperell who runs the bed and breakfast said that the kangaroo wouldn't of survived much longer in the water Footage from the scene shows locals using a kayak to ferry the exhausted joey to safety The figure already included more than 100 flooded homes and businesses in low-lying areas of Logan Logan Mayor Luke Smith said the city was living a 'tale of two rivers' as the Albert and Logan Rivers swelled from heavy rains brought on following Cyclone Debbie. The Albert River was in an 'unprecedented state' and continuing to increase, to the surprise of local authorities, Mr Smith said on Friday afternoon. Eagleby and other suburbs near the Albert and Logan rivers' conjunction would be at most risk of severe flooding over the next 24 hours, he warned. 'There is a wall of water coming down from the Scenic Rim and Mt Tamborine catchments that's flowing down the Logan River,' he said. The major flooding along the Albert River was forecast to ease on Friday night after it peaked at Wolffdene at 13.55m in the morning, the Bureau of Meteorology said. It's April Fool's Day and media outlets across the country have tried to trick their readers. So, did you clock which of today's headlines were real and which ones were not? Here's our helpful round up that separates the fake news and the implausible but true. Scroll down for video We ran with 'exclusive' pictures and details of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's $300 Las Vegas wedding Daily Mail We ran with 'exclusive' pictures and details of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's $300 Las Vegas wedding. We reported that the Prince tied the knot with the American actress in a secret ceremony, in what would surely have been the most unlikely Royal Wedding of all time. The Prince married the American actress in a secret ceremony (left and right) in what would surely have been the most unlikely Royal Wedding of all time In our imagining Meghan, 35, 'looked elegantly beautiful in a plain, mid-length white wedding dress'. Her face was covered by a veil and she carried a simple posy of white peonies. The Prince, 32, looked very dashing in the white tropical uniform of the Blues and Royals and sported a short, stubbly beard at the request of his bride, who reportedly prefers this look on him. Registrar Mrs Lira Foplo performed the 15minute ceremony in the downtown Vegas. Registrar Mrs Lira Foplo performed the 15minute ceremony in the downtown Vegas wedding chapel where the couple opted for a $300 package (240) that included flowers, music and a souvenir photograph The Guardian George Osborne 'reignited the row' over his multiple business commitments by starting a seventh job as a fashion designer. By Georgio! is the name of the ex-chancellor's new clothing line, joked the Guardian. George Osborne (pictured) was announced as the surprise new editor of the London Evening Standard last month bringing his number of jobs up to six The Mirror Grand National bosses approved personal stereos for horses in a controversial race shake-up, Horses could wear 'hi-tech headphones' playing music as they compete next Saturday, joked the Mirror. A controversial race shake-up could see horses in headphones at this year's Grand National, reported the Mirror Daily Express The Express reported takeaway fans would no longer have to worry about their delivered pizzas getting cold as the heated letterbox had finally been invented. The Domino's supersize 'Heatwave Letterbox' would keep orders warm for up to 12 hours, reported the paper. Telegraph A dog walker spotted a polar bear lurking in Scottish wood after it floated down from Svalbord on a sheet of ice A terrifying 'wee beastie' was lurking in the Outer Hebrides. A dog walker spotted a polar bear lurking in Scottish wood after it floated down from Svalbord on a sheet of ice that broke away in the Arctic, according to the Telegraph. The Sun NASA scientists spotted an uncharted group of islands that looked exactly like Katie Price's 34GG assets, joked the Sun 'Katie Price's boobs visible from space', read a headline in the Sun today. NASA scientists spotted an uncharted group of islands that looked exactly like the former Page 3 girl's 34GG assets. The paper reported that the two atoll rings, 1,000 miles south of French Polynesia, lay submerged until being 'dislodged by recent tremors'. The implausible stories that are actually true.... China is set to ban long beards, according to the BBC. New measures, introduced in the far western region of Xinjiang, include prohibiting 'abnormally' long beards in a campaign against Islamist extremism. Several newspapers ran the story that Pamela Anderson has fallen for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Several newspapers ran with the story that Pamela Anderson (left) has fallen for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (right) But the former Baywatch star really has spoken about her love for the Australian, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for five years to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations. She blogged about their relationship on her website, describing him as, 'the most famous refugee of our time'. The Manchester Evening News ran the story of food phobic Louise Newton, 28, who ate nothing but chicken nuggets and chips for dinner for 24 years. She revealed she was cured of her phobia after just one hour of hypnotherapy. Cat language may have been decoded by British scientists. Not fake news: Academics at the University if Lincoln may have decoded cat language A feline licking its nose while raising its upper lip could mean, 'I have brought you this lovely half-dead vole'. Hissing and showing the tongue might mean 'its dinner time'. While it seems it implausible the article was in fact based on a University of Lincoln study. Hundreds of soft, feathery fights will start up in countries across the world on International Pillow Fight Day today April 1 really is International Pillow Fight Day. Hundreds of soft, feathery fights will start up in countries across the world. A list of cities taking part can be found at pillowfightday.com. A woman, who was born with two vaginas, has revealed the difficulties of the rare condition - including prolonged periods and numerous miscarriages. Nicci, is due to appear on the BBC3 documentary The Woman With Two Vaginas: Living Differently - which will be aired across Britain later this month. In the programme, she describes that sex made her feel like 'a freak of nature' because men would brag about sleeping with a women with two vaginas. Her condition made her feel so bad that she looked into having a hysterectomy. A woman, who was born with two vaginas, has revealed the difficulties of the rare condition - including prolonged periods and numerous miscarriages Nicci, is due to appear on the BBC3 documentary The Woman With Two Vaginas: Living Differently - which will be aired across Britain later this month She first found out she had two vaginas when she was 17 years old. 'I first knew something was wrong when I was a teenager and I was bleeding more than I should. The pain was intolerable and, while on my period, I couldn't function. My doctor told me I had two wombs, two vaginas and two cervixes. 'There were times when I had to wear adult nappies because tampons and pads weren't enough. 'The condition has affected my life severely. Relationships with my friends and boyfriends especially.' Nicci was put on hormone treatment, which proved ineffective and made her periods last up to four weeks. She is now happily married to a man called Andy and is ready to tell her story in the documentary. She is now happily married to a man called Andy and is ready to tell her story in the documentary In February, MailOnline reported the suffering of Claire Wright, 34, who discovered she had been born with two wombs, two cervixes, and two vaginas - after enduring 26 years of stomach pain. The 34-year-old put the years of agony down to extensive surgery she had undergone as a child to treat a rare condition which had left her unable to eat and breathe. It was only when Claire and husband Mark, 32, from Stourport, Worcestershire, had difficulty conceiving that doctors diagnosed uterus didelphys, and told her it had led to the development of the extra organs. The World Health Organisation estimates around one in 3,000 women around the world are affected by the condition, which occurs when the uterus fails to fuse properly during development in the womb. It means a woman can be born with any combination of two wombs, two separate cervixes and sometimes two vaginas. The chief minister of Gibraltar has said the territory will not be used as a 'political pawn in Brexit' and will remain 'entirely British' when the UK leaves the EU. Fabian Picardo, 45, was speaking after the European Union gave the Spanish a veto over the future of the British territory, which shares its northern border with Spain. Prime Minister Theresa May has insisted that Gibraltar would not be used as a political pawn, while the EU said Spain should be given a say over any future decisions regarding the territory. It comes as Brussels was accused of 'discriminating' against Gibraltar and 'shamefully' singling it out in order to satisfy Madrid. Fabian Picardo, 45, has said that Gibraltar will not be used as a 'political pawn' during Brexit Gibraltar (pictured) has been in British hands for more than 300 years under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 As a result, a number of UK politicians accused the EU of orchestrating a 'shameful' attempt to inflame the historic territorial wrangle. Mr Picardo, who was elected chief minister in December 2011, said Spain is 'employing her unhealthy obsession with Gibraltar'. He added that Spain's position is to allow the country to 'discriminate' against the British people who live in Gibraltar. Speaking to Sky News, the Gibraltarian politician, said: 'Let's be very clear about what Spain is doing here, she is employing her unhealthy obsession with Gibraltar and bringing it to the table of a very complex negotiation already. 'The UK hasn't singled out any particular nationality or any particular issue for specific discriminatory treatment, it's included area which require particular attention. 'The Spanish position in relation to Gibraltar is to allow Spain to single out unnecessarily and discriminate against the British people of Gibraltar. 'Gibraltar is not going to be a political pawn in Brexit, neither is it going to be a victim in Brexit. Gibraltar is going to be very prosperous and very successful and entirely British before during and after Brexit.' MPs were outraged at the move, contained in the small print of the draft negotiating guidelines for the EU published by Council President Donald Tusk today Gibraltar, which has a population of around 32,000 people, has been in British hands for more than 300 years. It comes as shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said the people of Gibraltar must not be used as a 'bargaining chip' in the negotiations with the EU. The Labour frontbencher spoke to Brexit Secretary David Davis to discuss the issue after an EU proposal to give Madrid a veto over decisions on the territory's future. The Government has launched a concerted effort to reassure Gibraltar that the UK will stand up for the British overseas territory during the Brexit negotiations. But Gibraltar's government has accused Spain of trying to use the UK's decision to leave the EU to pursue its territorial claims to the Rock. Sir Keir said on Twitter: 'Spoke to Brexit Secretary David Davis this morning about vital need to protect sovereignty & interests of Gibraltar. Not a bargaining chip.' Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, of the all-parliamentary group on Gibraltar, added: 'British people must and will stand together, we cannot be bullied by Spain. 'Any agreement must apply equally to the whole British family and that includes Gibraltar. There can be no compromise on this.' Jack Lopresti, Tory chairman of the all-party group, said: 'It's predictable given Spain's previous behaviour, they would try to use Brexit as a fig leaf for trouble-making. 'It is shameful that the EU have attempted to allow Spain an effective veto over the future of British sovereign territory, flying in the face of the will of the people of Gibraltar.' EU sources also revealed Brussels has decided to depart from its current neutral position over the dispute following the Brexit result, and will now take Spain's side on Gibraltar. Theresa May could be faced with choosing between accepting a deal that leaves the Rock in the wilderness or walking away from the talks with nothing One senior EU official said: 'The Union will stick up for its members and that means Spain now. There is a difference [now]. After Brexit is notified there is a Union of 27 and only one side of that argument is represented.' Madrid has already indicated it would block a deal over aircraft landing rights in Gibraltar, which could see flights grounded. The decision to include the veto in the negotiating guidelines produced by European Council president Donald Tusk followed intense lobbying by Spanish diplomats. Following the EU referendum, in which Gibraltarians voted 96 per cent to remain, Spain's then-foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo proclaimed the likelihood of a 'Spanish flag on the Rock'. Spanish officials celebrated the EU's decision to give Madrid the power to shape Gibraltar's future, claiming it as their 'colony'. Senior Spanish MEP Esteban Gonzalez Pons pointed out that Mrs May failed to mention the territory in her letter to Donald Tusk on Wednesday invoking Article 50. He said this showed it was 'a colony like St Helena' rather than part of the UK. All 12 people arrested in connection with the Westminster terror attack have been released without charge, Scotland Yard has revealed. A 30-year-old man detained on March 26 in Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist attacks was released today, detectives said. He was held on March 26, four days after Khalid Masood's deadly attack which claimed the life of four victims, including police constable Keith Palmer outside the Palace of Westminster. All 12 people arrested in connection with the atrocity have been released without charge, Scotland Yard revealed Eleven other people previously arrested in connection with the investigation have been released without further action. Inquests into the deaths of both Masood, 52, who was shot dead by armed police after his knife attack on Pc Palmer, and his victims, were opened and adjourned at Westminster Coroner's Court this week. US tourist Kurt Cochran and mother Aysha Frade died after Masood drove across the bridge. And 75-year-old Leslie Rhodes died in hospital when his life support was turned off. Pre-inquest reviews for both cases are expected to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on May 19. Mia Mascarinas-Green and children Zoe, 10, with two-year-old twin sisters Zia and Eli, who were in the car when she was killed A widowed British father whose wife died in a hail of bullets in front of her three daughters has spoken of his horror, and called for her killers to be brought to justice. Mia Mascarinas-Green died in February when gunmen on motorbikes pulled alongside her car and opened fire in the Philippines. The 49-year-old was killed when 28 bullets were shot into the car before her killers tried to execute the couple's children. Thankfully the gun jammed and Zoe, 10, and two-year-old twins Zia and Eli survived the ordeal in Tagbilaran City. Their father Stuart Green, 45, believes the horrific murder was linked to a case Mia, a lawyer, was working on. He is set to return to the country where his wife was killed, but said he is fearful of being murdered himself. He said: 'My wife picked up the three children and then was driving her usual way home. 'Then a motorbike overtook the car and stopped in front of her to force her to stop. Stuart Green, pictured with Mia, has called for her killers to be brought to justice in the Philippines Tragic: Parents Stuart Green and Mia Mascarinas-Green with daughters Zoe, Zia and Eli 'The next thing there were two gentlemen left and right. They shot the engine and killed it so the car couldn't move. 'They fired 28 bullets across the car. They were firing across the car basically at each other. One of them then turned a gun on the kids, but thankfully it jammed. 'Then two motorbikes came and the men got on and drove off. It's a miracle the children survived. My wife was absolutely defenceless.' Despite the tragedy, Mr Green said he believes her final moments were happy because his wife would have seen her daughters were still alive. Mr Green said his wife was smiling when she died, and believes this is because she knew her daughters had survived Hundreds of mourners attended her funeral after she was gunned down by two men in the Phillipines He said: 'Her final moments I believe were happy - because she turned around to see the children were okay. 'She had a smile on her face when they found her and a big smile throughout the wake.' Stuart, from Hertfordshire, met Mia in the Phillipines when his job as a marine biologist took him there 22 years ago, and they married in 2004. The couple and their children had visited family in England over Christmas before returning to the Phillipines, where Mia was working on a case before she was killed on February 15. He says the case which seemingly led to her death appeared to be a regular family dispute. In 2016 she took on a client named Conrada Blomqvist, who was arguing about the ownership of a beach resort with her son. Lloyd Gonzaga (left) and Romarico Benegi-an (right) have both been named as suspects and are on the run Mr Green is trying to focus on the positive memories of Mia and the kindness he has received following his wife's death The 34-year-old son, named Lloyd Gonzaga, and another man named Romarico Benegi-an were later arrested in October when drugs and guns were found at the property at the heart of the dispute. Following Mia's murder both have been named as suspects and are on the run. The chief superintendent of the region has been described Gonzago as the 'mastermind'. Mr Green has now moved himself and his daughters back to Hertfordshire. Mia's three daughters were in the car when she was killed, and one of the gunmen tried to shoot them, but his weapon jammed Mr Green has now moved his daughters to Herfordshire, and says he fears for their lives He said: 'I had to move them back here for security, because my eldest daughter was one of the key witnesses.' As he prepares to head back to the country to pursue the case against his wife's killers he is also worried about his own well-being. He said: 'My main concern is they've lost a mother, I don't want them to lose a father as well.' Moving on from the ordeal, Mr Green is trying to focus on the positive memories of Mia and the kindness he has received following her death. He said: 'We've seen the worst of a couple of individuals but the best in so many more. She had a phenomenal life being able to touch so many in the time she had.' Stuart says he was particularly touched by a fundraising page set up to support the daughters in future. He said: 'Friends knew she was very strong on education and believed it really set people up for the future.' A man is accused of sexually assaulting an elderly woman in central Queensland after breaking into her home and holding her hostage for two hours. The 22-year-old man allegedly broke into the 76-year-old pensioner's home in Berserker, Queensland, about 9.15am on Thursday. After allegedly sexually assaulting her while holding her hostage for two hours, the man escaped with some of the woman's possessions. The 76-year-old woman was not known to her alleged captor. A man is accused of sexually assaulting an elderly woman in central Queensland after breaking into her home and holding her hostage for two hours (stock picture) The police were called after the ordeal and the Berserker man was found hiding in an industrial bin nearby. When police found him he is alleged to have punched a police officer in the face and fled. A special police dog squad tracked the man down and found him hiding under a blanket. He was arrested and taken to Rockhampton Base Hospital where he was treated for a dog bite wound. The police were called after the ordeal and the Berserker man was found hiding in an industrial bin nearby (stock) The man has been charged with a total of 32 offences including sexual assault, robbery with violence, serious assault and deprivation of liberty. Police will also allege the 22-year-old man is behind a string of break-ins in the Rockhampton region in the past month. He is due to appear in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on May 24. Advertisement Furious protesters clashed in vicious brawls on the streets of London today as right-wing activists and anti-fascist demonstrators came to blows. Britain First and the English Defence League rallied together in the capital for what they called a 'march against terrorism'. But they clashed with protesters from a counter demonstration group Unite Against Fascism. Frantic scenes unfolded when ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson arrived and a high number of police officers moved to contain potential trouble. Authorities arrested 14 people for various offenses as the potesters gathered at Trafalgar Square and spilled on to nearby roads. Furious protesters clashed in vicious brawls on the streets of London today as right-wing activists and anti-fascist demonstrators came to blows Scuffles break out as police struggle to deal with the EDL and Britain First march in London Protesters have clashed in London as tensions ran high between far-right groups and anti-fascist demonstrators Britain First leader Paul Golding was at the protest in London today flanked by security as his group led a march in response to the Westminster terror attack Britain First and EDL supporters carried Union Jacks and England flags as they rallied on separate campaigns in the capital on the same day Furious protesters clashed in vicious brawls on the streets of London today as right-wing activists and anti-fascist demonstrators came to blows A march and rally planned by Britain First and the English Defence League turned nasty Police confirmed 14 people were arrested today after the protest, which began in Trafalgar Square and moved into surrounding roads Crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square from around midday and must obey conditions imposed by the Metropolitan Police which include following a particular route. UAF protesters chanted 'EDL go to hell' and hundreds of protesters spilled onto the surrounding roads. Scotland Yard said on Friday that the information and intelligence available to the Met meant that they felt it necessary to impose the conditions to prevent the demonstrations from resulting in 'serious disorder, serious damage to property, serious disruption to the life of the community, and to prevent the intimidation of local people trying to go about their business'. Chief Superintendent Catherine Roper said: 'The right to protest is a fundamental right in our democratic society, but this right must be balanced against the right of people to go about their day without fear of violence, disorder or disruption. 'Experience has shown us that when groups with conflicting views come together it can create tension and disorder, not just on the day itself but in the longer term. 'What we have had to carefully consider is how to balance the right to protest with the negative impact on our communities and potential violence and disorder that may have resulted from these protests going ahead as they were suggested. Britain First and the English Defence League rallied together in the capital for what they called a 'march against terrorism' One man was pictured being escorted away from the area by officers. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing They clashed with protesters from a counter demonstration group Unite Against Fascism Frantic scenes unfolded when ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson arrived and a high number of police officers moved to contain potential trouble Former spokesman and leader of the English Defence (EDL) League Tommy Robinson was flanked by police officers as he spoke with other protesters Former spokesman and leader of the English Defence League (EDL) Tommy Robinson in Trafalgar Square in London UAF protesters chanted 'EDL go to hell' and hundreds of protesters spilled onto the surrounding roads 'If you want to protest on Saturday, we ask that you do so peacefully, no matter what your view. We will adopt a robust arrest policy on anyone who attends and is intent on violence and disorder, or is in breach of these conditions.' On a Facebook event page, Britain First said 'all patriots welcome to attend', while the EDL said on an event page: 'After the vile terrorist attack on parliament we will stand together and show we will not now, not ever bow down and fear terrorists and terrorism. join us to show our strength.' (sic) The event comes just over a week after Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood's murderous rampage left four people dead. Police had to walk ahead of the far-right protesters for safety reasons in an effort to prevent the demonstration getting out of control Some carried placards with messages including 'Stop the Islamic Terror' and 'Tommy was Ignored', referring to the EDL leader Scores of Britain First supporters carried their Union Jacks through the streets of London and shouted and chanted as part of the 'We are Not Afraid' march Others carried banners such as this one, which reads 'Political Correctness + Migration = Chaos', hitting out at Britain's recent immigration policies But they were opposed by Unite Against Facism supporters in London who carried their own posters with the message 'No to the Nazis' At Embankment, pictured, the Unite Against Facism group was kept behind metal gates by police to keep the area calm Donald Trump on Saturday morning attacked NBC News' Chuck Todd in a furious tweet, wondering why the 'sleepy-eyed' host didn't give more air time to his claims that the previous administration wiretapped his headquarters. The president's Twitter rant came a day after Todd warned on MSNBC that Trump could be on the verge of a 'lame duck' presidency due to the current investigation over his campaign's alleged ties to Russia. Todd's 'lame duck' quote was immediately picked up by conservative websites such as Breitbart news, where it was making headlines Saturday morning when Trump published his tweet. The Russia probe, which has been fed by Trump's unsubstantiated wiretapping claims, escalated to new heights over the end of the past week, with Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn asking for an immunity deal in exchange for his testimony. Donald Trump on Saturday attacked NBC News' Chuck Todd in a furious tweet, wondering why the 'sleepy-eyed' host didn't give more air time to his baseless wiretapping claims The president's Twitter rant came after Todd warned that Trump could be on the verge of a 'lame duck' presidency due to the investigation over his campaign's alleged ties to Russia The president followed up with another message 21 minutes later, once again taunting media outlets for not predicting his victory in the presidential election Trump attempted to give his own version of events on Twitter Saturday morning, referring to his baseless accusations against his predecessor as a 'surveillance scandal' and claiming the Russia story was 'fake'. Intelligence committees in both the Senate and House are currently investigating Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election. 'When will Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd and @NBCNews start talking about the Obama SURVEILLANCE SCANDAL and stop with the Fake Trump/Russia story?' Trump tweeted. He followed up with another message 21 minutes later, once again taunting media outlets for not predicting his victory in the presidential election. 'It is the same Fake News Media that said there is 'no path to victory for Trump' that is now pushing the phony Russia story. A total scam!' he wrote. His furious comment came in reply to Todd's commentary on MSNBC Friday that Trump's presidency had been left 'beyond crisis mode' by the ongoing Russia probe fiasco. Todd said in a commentary on MSNBC Friday that Trump's presidency had been left 'beyond crisis mode' by the ongoing Russia probe fiasco. He pointed out that it was Trump's own tweets, in which he claimed the Obama administration had wiretapped him, that had backfired and prompted the latest developments of the Moscow investigation. 'You have a presidency right now that I think is, it's beyond saying it's in crisis mode, it's, you know, it's on the brink, the question is on the brink of what?' Todd said on MSNBC's 'Andrea Mitchell Reports'. 'Is it on the brink of collapse? Is it on the brink of becoming a temporary lame duck presidency? Maybe it feels lame-duckish temporarily right now.' Todd then pointed out how Trump had alienated his fellow Republicans with the latest developments. 'You've got a stalled agenda. Republicans who have no fear of this president right now. They don't think there's a political penalty to buck him,' he said. 'Obviously, the Russia cloud darkens all of the time, and all of these problems right now that they're dealing with front and center are self-inflicted by one person, the president of the United States who could not help himself but to tweet on this wiretapping nonsense, which of course has essentially helped unravel 10 days of all things Russia in their part of this story.' Trump on Friday tweeted that Flynn, the adviser he fired in February, should ask for immunity because he's facing 'a witch hunt.' The president weighed in the day after Flynn's attorney confirmed the immunity discussions with intelligence committees in the Senate and House. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was 'ready' for a meeting with Trump in May in Finland. Since July, the FBI has been conducting a counterintelligence investigation into Russia's interference in the election and possible coordination with Trump associates. Flynn's ties to Russia have been scrutinized by the FBI and are under investigation by the congressional committees. Both panels are looking into Russia's meddling in the election and any ties between Trump associates and the Kremlin. Trump on Friday tweeted that Michael Flynn (pictured), the adviser he fired in February, should ask for immunity to testify as part of the Russia investigation In September, Flynn weighed in on the implications of immunity on NBC's Meet the Press, criticizing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her associates in the FBI's investigation into her use of a private email server. 'When you are given immunity, that means that you have probably committed a crime,' Flynn said during the interview. A spokesman for Representative Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, said the panel has not offered an immunity deal to Flynn. The committee 'had a preliminary conversation with Michael Flynn's lawyer about arranging for Flynn to speak to the committee,' spokesman Jack Langer said. 'The discussions did not include immunity or other possible conditions for his appearance.' Meanwhile the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Representative Adam Schiff of California, has called for Nunes' recusal from the investigation because of his close ties to the White House. He has said the committee is interested in Flynn's testimony but is also 'mindful' of the Justice Department's interests. Four other Trump associates have come forward in recent weeks, saying they would talk to the committees. As of Wednesday, the Senate panel had asked to interview 20 people. Flynn was fired from his job as Trump's first national security adviser after it was disclosed that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during the transition. In the weeks after he resigned, Flynn and his business registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents for $530,000 worth of lobbying work that could have benefited the Turkish government. The lobbying occurred while Flynn was a top Trump campaign adviser. Advertisement The Prince of Wales today joked about a daring Italian cat burglar who stole some of his prized jewellery as he watched the country's military police stage a dramatic raid. The heir to the throne was in Vicenza, northern Italy, on the fourth day of his nine-day European tour, which has been widely interpreted as a Brexit diplomacy visit. He visited a Carabinieri police centre and trainee officers performed a dramatic hostage rescue display for the 68-year-old. At the centre, they train officers of all ranks from across the globe in everything from UN peace keeping to armed response techniques. Scroll down for video The Prince of Wales today joked about a daring Italian cat burglar who stole some of his prized jewellery as he watched the country's military police stage a dramatic raid Trainee Carabinieri officers put on a hostage rescue display for the 68-year-old when he visited an international policing centre in Italy At the centre, they train officers of all ranks from across the globe in everything from UN peace keeping to armed response techniques The Prince of Wales inspected the Guard of Honour during his visit to the Carabinieri Headquaters in Vicenza, northern Italy, on the fourth day of his nine-day European tour The heir to throne watched a dramatic special forces team training exercise when he visited the police headquarters The Prince of Wales, with officers tours the training ground area, during a visit to the Carabinieri Headquaters in Vicenza The Prince of Wales with Police officers from different countries in a classroom, during a visit to the Carabinieri Headquaters The prince watched the dramatic rescue exercise from above (left) and was welcomed a the police training centre on Saturday And when he was shown a 1.7million violin recovered by Carabinieri he told some of the senior officers how his cufflinks had been stolen. Fabrizio Rossi, who works with a special Carabinieri unit which hunts down stolen artwork, said: 'He said some of his jewellery was taken by an Italian thief, but it was recovered.' Charles was reunited with five sets of cufflinks - including a pair given to him by Camilla - and other precious items in 1998 after they had been taken four years earlier by the burglar dubbed the 'Riviera jewel thief'. He joked with the special Carabinieri team as he left: 'I know where to come to (next time).' In another part of the sprawling centre he watched from a walkway as a Swat team, made up of trainee Carabinieri officers dressed in black and armed with rifles, bludgeoned their way into a house to rescue a hostage. He also saw their technique for arresting suspects from a car who were handcuffed and taken away before all the officers returned to meet Charles. Earlier in the day, the Prince honoured brave First World War soldiers during the first full day of his visit to Italy. He paid his respects and laid a wreath at the British military cemetery of Montecchio Precalcino, in Vicenza. The prince travelled to north-east Italy to mark the centenary of the deployment of British forces to the Austrian front in 1917. The Prince of Wales (centre right) poses with officers and a special forces team after a training exercise on Saturday The Prince of Wales met police officers from different countries in a classroom, during a visit to the Carabinieri centre in Vicenza The Prince of Wales (pictured) laid a wreath at the British military cemetery of Montecchio Precalcino in Vicenza, Italy The heir to the throne attended a memorial service at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery where he paid his respects Earlier in the day, Prince Charles (pictured) visited the cemetery and paid his respects to those who died during World War I Britain's Prince Charles visits the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Montecchio Precalcino near Vicenza, Italy Britain's Prince Charles carries a wreath as he honors the 439 soldiers who died in the First World War at the British military cemetery in Montecchio Precalcin Duchess of Cornwall visits a Naples villa confiscated from the mafia By Rebecca English, Royal Correspondent in Naples for the Daily Mail The Duchess of Cornwall met families whose loved ones were murdered by the Mafia as she visited a picturesque villa in Naples once owned by a crime boss. Camilla clutched the hands of one widow, whose 45-year-old husband was murdered by the Camorra - the name of the Naples-based crime syndicate - eight years ago when he was working as a security guard and told her: 'You are all very brave women, I think you're very strong, you are united which is so important.' She told another, who lost her 26-year-old son 12 years ago when he was shot in a case of mistaken identity: 'It is so terrible, so many lives destroyed. 'It is good that you all talk and support each other. It is so important to talk.' Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall and Raffale del Guidici, Deputy Major of Naples (4th L), visit La Gloriette, a community centre based on a property which once belonged to one of the biggest bosses of the Camorra She spoke to people who were involved with Orsa Maggiore, a social co-operative engaged in social and education work with vulnerable people Duchess of Cornwall visits a mural of mafia symbols at La Gloriette, a community centre based on a property which once belonged to one of the biggest bosses of the Camorra She stopped to view a fresco displaying a number mafia symbols including a headless women - as females are deemed only useful for procreation - a peacock, which is a symbol of vanity, and a snake There have been 360 innocent victims of the Napoli Camorra over the last 30 years - people with no links to organised crime whatsoever - while the extended death toll runs into the thousands. Camilla, on the second day of a six-day visit to Italy with her husband, Prince Charles flew to Naples, where her first engagement was at La Gloriette, a property with stunning views of of the Bay of Naples, which once belonged to one of the biggest bosses of the Camorra, Michele Zaza. Camorrista Zaza was one of the most powerful kingpins in the region in 70s and 80 but eventually died in custody accused of two counts of murder, mafia association and drug dealing. His lavish villa was confiscated by the state and has now been turned over to a number of charities including victims of crime and women who have fled domestic violence The Deputy Mayor of Naples, Raffale del Guidici, said: 'This is a site of great symbolic significance because it was taken from a Camorra boss and turned into a social centre. It represents the fight against criminality and all forms of violence .' A band greeted the duchess's arrival before she undertook a tour of villa, speaking to the charities involved as well as the still grieving families of Zaza's victims. She stopped to view a fresco displaying a number mafia symbols including a headless women - as females are deemed only useful for procreation - a peacock, which is a symbol of vanity, and a snake. In the kitchen she chatted with young adults with learning disabilities who had created a beautiful spread of canapes. They are all involved with Orsa Maggiore, a social co-operative engaged in social and education work with vulnerable people. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Raffale del Guidici, the Deputy Mayor of Naples (left), visit La Gloriette and attend a fashion show featuring products made by former victims of human trafficking Camilla (pictured) was on the second day of her tour of Italy and enjoyed the sunshine in Naples as she posed for photographs Camilla visited Naples for a series of engagements, including a trip to La Gloriette, a project supporting vulnerable people to help them integrate back into their communities, which is based in a villa confiscated from the mafia The people she spoke to are all involved with Orsa Maggiore, a social co-operative engaged in social and education work with vulnerable people In the kitchen she chatted with young adults with learning disabilities who had created a beautiful spread of canapes She asked one girl what her favourite Italian food who told her it was gnocchi, a type of dumpling, and replied: 'Gnocchi is my favourite too.' Camilla also asked another NGO representative whether the organised crime situation in Naples was improving and was told: 'Yes, but there is still a long way to go.' Before she left the Duchess donned her sunglasses for an open air fashion show featuring products made by former victims of human trafficking - and warmly applauded the models before posing with them for a group photograph. Before she returned to Florence, the Duchess visited the archaeological site of Herculaneum, a major tourist attraction action in the region. The site was still open to the general public, resulting in chaotic scenes as Camilla was given a break-neck speed tour of the ancient city. Herculaneum, which boasted 4,0005,000 inhabitants, lies in Campania, five miles southeast of Naples and at the western base of Mount Vesuvius. It was destroyedtogether with Pompeii, Torre Annunziata, and Stabiae by the Vesuvius eruption of A.D. 79. On arrival at the site Her Royal Highness will be greeted by local dignitaries and Francesco Sirano, it's Director. Having slipped into a pair of sensible low-heeled beige wedges, Camilla nimbly negotiated the cobbles as she traipse round the sites - marvelling at skeletons in their death throes, well preserved fishing boats and the underground baths. The Duchess, who appeared slightly red in the unexpected heat, declared what she had seen as fascinating. A construction company headed by a Latino CEO has been terrorized with death threats after putting in a bid to build President Trump's proposed border wall. Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga said his general contracting company The Penna Group, which employs more than 80 per cent Hispanic workers, has been seen as betraying the community by offering to build the wall. Evangelista-Ysasaga's family members came to the United States illegally from Mexico, and he has several undocumented family members living in the country. Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga said that his general contracting company The Penna Group, which employs more than 80 per cent Hispanic workers, has been seen as betraying the community by offering to build the wall Evangelista-Ysasaga told KHOU that he believes that by aiding President Trump's mission to secure the borders, the government can make room for a real discussion on immigration. Others, however, don't agree with his rationale, and have been making dozens of calls to his company and screaming at him over the last couple of weeks. 'I understand this is a very hot button issue and a lot of people are angry about it, and naturally so,' Evangelista-Ysasaga said. 'It is our hope that once we secure our borders, which is the right and duty of every nation, then I think, at that point, we'll be able to have a rational, productive conversation about comprehensive immigration.' The White House has begun to pick up bids from the 200 companies who have submitted proposals for the Trump administration's border plan. Of those 200, at least 32 companies are headed by Hispanic owners, according to the Washington Post. The White House has begun to pick up bids from the 200 companies who have submitted proposals for the Trump administration's border plan, which will construct and fortify the wall separating the Mexican and United States' borders Evangelista-Ysasaga, a Houston-based lawyer, was inspired to create his own construction company from the lessons imparted on him by his grandfather, who entered the country as an undocumented immigrant. 'Unfortunately a lot of Latino construction companies have decided to sit this one out and I think that's a mistake. It would - I think it's our duty to be a voice at the table for a rational and sane solution,' Evangeslista-Ysasaga continued. The Penna Group's plan for the wall includes a 30-foot tall design which will protect against 'underground tunnels, tampering, climbing, and will be aesthetically pleasing'. All this comes with the price tag of $21.4 billion. However, Evangelista-Ysasaga believes his Latino/West Texas upbringing gives him a unique vantage point for the situation, 'rather than allowing the conversation to be monopolized by other firms that don't really care about immigrants,' he said. 'You have to be compassionate first, and let your compassion guide your judgement,' he continued. A Pakistani Christian was shot dead in the street after refusing to clean an 'influential' Muslim's house on a Sunday. Noman Masih, 20, was shot by two drive-by motorcyclists as he walked to work in Sheikhupura with his brother-in-law and uncle. Three days previously, a local Muslim named Daanu Chaddar allegedly told Masih he would 'break his legs and riddle his body with bullets' for refusing to sweep his outhouse. A Pakistani Christian was shot dead in the street after refusing to clean an 'influential' Muslim's house on a Sunday. Pictured is Wazir Khan Mosque, Lahore Prosecutor Kashif Naimet said: 'Noman refused, citing Sunday as his weekly day off. 'Ostensibly angered by the Christian's refusal to submit to his demand, Chaddar allegedly told Noman to be ready to face "dire consequences," as he will not take no for an answer from a petty sanitary worker.' 'Noman was a simple sanitary worker and had no enmity with anyone. His refusal to clean the Muslim's dera apparently led to his killing.' Police have arrested Chaddar as the primary suspect but he has not been charged. Masih's distraught mother Khalida Bibi said her eldest son was killed by a man with a pistol. She told Morning Star News: 'They were about to leave after dropping off Noman when suddenly two motorcyclists arrived there.' 'One of them whipped out a pistol and opened fire on Noman, killing him instantly.' Noman Munir Masih, 20, was shot by two drive-by motorcylists as he walked to work in Sheikhupura with his brother-in-law and uncle (stock image) Hatred of Christian sanitation workers is entrenched in Pakistani society. Muslims refer to sweepers and other Christian workers as 'Chuhras' - meaning they are so low in the caste system they are considered 'untouchable'. Christian rights activist Napolean Qayyum said that Christians account for 90 per cent of sewage workers and an even high percentage of sweepers in Pakistan. He told Morning Star News: 'It's no hidden secret that Muslims want to keep Christians in this degrading occupation.' 'Several job advertisements from government departments for posts of sweepers clearly state that the candidates must be non-Muslim; some even specify that they must be Christians.' ISIS's deputy leader has been killed in air strike in Iraq, it emerged today. Ayad al-Jumaili, was wiped out by the country's air force along with other leaders of the terror group, in the region of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria. Jumaili is believed to be second-in-command to leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It's understood that al-Jumaili, from Fallujah, was the head of the terror group's internal security unit. File photo of a man holding an ISIS flag Iraqi State TV announced the death, citing the country's military intelligence. It's understood that Jumaili, from Fallujah, was the head of the terror group's internal security unit. He was previously an intelligence officer in the Iraqi army until 2003. Iraqi TV said Jumaili was killed with other Islamic State commanders in a strike carried out by the Iraqi air force in the region of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria. It gave no detail or date for the raid. Iraqi State TV announced the death, citing the country's military intelligence 'The air force's planes executed with accuracy a strike on the headquarters of Daesh in al-Qaim .. resulting in the killing of Daesh's second-in-command...Ayad al-Jumaili, alias Abu Yahya, the war minister,' said state TV, citing a statement from the directorate of military intelligence. Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, have been battling since October to retake the city of Mosul, Islamic State's stronghold in Iraq and the city where Baghdadi declared a caliphate nearly three years ago. Tens of thousands of refugees have been fleeing the city to escape the fighting. U.S. and Iraqi officials believe Baghdadi has left operational commanders with diehard followers to fight the battle of Mosul, and is now hiding out in the desert with senior commanders. A separate battle is in preparation in Syria to drive Islamic State from its stronghold there, the city of Raqqa. The Iraqi state TV report is the first by an official media to announce the death of Jumaili, who was an intelligence officer under Saddam Hussein. Jumaili led Islamic State's top security agency in Iraq and Syria, known as Amniya, answering directly to Baghdadi, according to experts. A well-known anti-vaxxer has blamed doctors for a seven-year-old girl being diagnosed with tetanus as she struggles to fight the deadly disease. The New South Wales girl is critically ill in hospital with the potentially fatal bacterial infection and was reportedly not vaccinated against the virus. Anti-vaccination advocate Meryl Dorey has since blamed the doctors for negligence rather than the girl's parents. The seven-year-old New South Wales girl was reportedly not vaccinated (Stock Image) Meryl Dorey (pictured) is an outspoken anti-vaxxer who blames the doctors for the seven-year-old's disease In a blog post penned by Ms Dorey, the outspoken anti-vaxxer wrote: 'Rather than being a story of irresponsible parenting, one could possibly make a case that this is instead a case of medical negligence based on ignorance of the symptoms of tetanus infections and potentially incorrect or incomplete cleaning of the child's wound in the first instance. Ms Dorey claims the young girl was rushed to hospital after she crushed her toe in February and was taken to Nimbin Hospital to treat the wound - but says her tetanus was contracted because doctors 'failed to see warning signs'. When lockjaw symptoms showed in March, the girl was taken to Lismore Base Hospital where Dr Chris Ingall treated her with tetanus immunoglobulin. Dr Ingall said Ms Dorey's allegations were a reflection of the misinformation touted by anti-vaxxers which has convinced 'good, caring people' away from vaccination, The Daily Telegraph reports. 'The staff at Nimbin cleaned the wound and the parents were told the child needed a tetanus shot to protect her. It was offered and they declined,' Dr Ingall said. The girl needed to be put on life support but is now recovering at Brisbane's Lady Cilento Children's Hospital. The north coast region of New South Wales has some of the lowest vaccination rates across the nation (Stock Image) The bacterial infection, which can be transmitted from soil through a cut or wound, causes painful muscle spasms particularly in the neck and jaw and can lead to breathing difficulties. There is no cure and treatment focuses on managing the complications. The girl was reportedly not immunised against tetanus, which pro-vaccination advocates say is easily preventable. Lady Cilento Children's Hospital said the girl's parents had asked for 'complete privacy'. The north coast region has some of the lowest vaccination rates in Australia. Controversial anti-vaccination advocate David Wolfe recently held a sold-out seminar in the nearby town of Mullumbimby. The child was critcally ill when she was transported from Lismore Base Hospital (pictured) to Brisbane Lady Cilento Children's Hospital Alison Gaylard, from the Northern Rivers Vaccination Supporters, criticised Byron Shire Council for allowing the controversial US speaker to use the Mullumbimby Civic Hall. 'It just seems tragic that while he could have been talking about his stance on vaccinations, there was an unvaccinated child being hospitalised with such an easily preventable disease,' Ms Gaylard told AAP on Friday. Anti-vaccinations views are particularly entrenched in the area and the community needs extra government support to deal with the issue, she said. 'It's time the council takes a stance. We're not getting any help from them or from local MPs. 'I'd call on the federal and state health minister to come here, walk in our shoes, and see what is happening here and how the pro-vaccination message isn't getting through. 'I could cry because it feels like we're failing children.' A Palestinian youth has been shot dead after stabbing three people, including a police officer, in Jerusalem, authorities have confirmed. Spokeswoman Luba Samri said the 17-year-old stabbed two ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in the old city today before being chased by police. He fled into a house, and stabbed a police officer in a scuffle before he was shot. Samri said the victims suffered light to moderate injuries. The attacker has been named on Palestinian websites as teenager Ahmed Ghazzal. The 17-year-old was shot dead by police after stabbing two men and a police officer, according to reports in Israel Authorities have confirmed that the teenager was shot dead by a border guard. He was from Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, Ma'an News Agency states. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said one of the men suffered 'moderate' injuries after being stabbed in the upper body. Today's stabbings took place close to the spot where, three days earlier, border police shot and killed a woman who tried to stab officers at Damascus Gate, a heavily guarded entrance to Jerusalem's Old City. At least 242 Palestinians have been killed in Israel and the Palestinian Territories in a period of sporadic violence that began in October 2015 but has tapered off in recent months. Israel says at least 162 were Palestinians who launched stabbing, shooting or ramming attacks using vehicles on Israelis before being killed by Israeli security forces. Others died during clashes and protests. Two American tourists and 37 Israelis have been killed in such incidents since the violence began. Israel has accused the Palestinian leadership of inciting the violence. The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank, denies incitement and charges that in many cases, Israel has used excessive force in thwarting attackers armed with rudimentary weapons. A teenager has been glassed and three people have been charged with disorderly behaviour after fights broke out when a Perth house party spiraled out of control. Petrified neighbours called police after herds of teenagers as young as 13 gatecrashed the Yanchep gathering as the get-together soon erupted into chaos. Party hosts Josh and Joey, who are in their 20s, had initially invited 70 guests to the Shannon Street address, yet over 100 turned up, according to 7 News. Scroll down for video What is normally a quiet suburban street descended into chaos on Friday night when over 100 party goers lined the streets outside the hosts' bungalow Police soon arrived yet orders to leave the street fell on deaf ears as the youths refused to budge One party goer was injured badly as he was glassed over the back of his head during the chaos at the Perth get-together The young men took the opportunity to throw the party at their north Perth home when their mother had gone on holiday to Bali. Neighbours on the normally quiet suburban street reported that trouble began when around 10.30pm on Friday night party goers arrived to the bungalow via taxis. The large groups of youths that descended on the property started to become aggressive and it wasn't long before punches were thrown and glass bottles were launched, as one teenager was even glassed during the disturbance. The boy, who suffered a deep cut to the back of his head, was looked after by worried neighbours until his mother came to collect him. Fights break out between the gatecrashers and in the chaos one teenager is glassed over the head with a bottle When police did arrive on the scene, they ordered the crowds to leave - yet to no avail as the gathering mob refused to disperse. Videos captured can hear police warning the teenagers to leave immediately or face being arrested. Disgruntled neighbours shared their accounts with 7 News. 'You could hear bottles getting broken out on the street and fights starting up, it escalated from there,' neighbour Andy Cook explained. The hosts had told surrounding neighbours of their plans to host a party, yet what unfolded on Friday night was hardly what they expected. Josh and Joey told 7 News they are sorry and that they will be apologizing to their neighbours in due course. A teenager who threw a brick at a boy during a brawl outside a Perth party, killing him, has been sentenced to six years behind bars. The boy, now aged 18, had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 17-year-old Sudanese-born Kuol Akut. In sentencing him on Friday, WA Children's Court president Denis Reynolds described it as a 'classic example of peer group pressure'. Perth schoolboy Kuol Akut tragically died six days after he was found unconscious with head injuries 'Regrettably, loyalty and wanting a sense of belonging can result in a person, and particularly a young person, engaging in serious anti-social behaviour,' he said. 'The deceased at no time did anything to you.' Judge Reynolds said although the brick was not aimed directly at Kuol, it was a deliberate act. 'What you did was extremely reckless,' he said. 'I'm satisfied that you were nevertheless frightened, and that contributed to your poor judgment.' He remained in hospital in a coma for six days until his life support was switched off and he tragically died at Royal Perth Hospital Shocking CCTV footage emerged showing the final moments of a Perth teen who was killed in a brawl In the video, Perth schoolboy Kuol Akut, 17, appears to be struck by an object which is thrown at his head Judge Reynolds described Kuol's death as a 'tragic and senseless loss', but accepted the offender was remorseful. He also referred to victim impact statements from Kuol's father, who described feeling fear and loneliness at losing his best friend. Kuol's mother also described emotional trauma, stress, anxiety and sleeplessness, and feeling that life no longer had meaning. Judge Reynolds noted the offender had a supportive family, did not have a record and was a good student. As he was led away, the offender's supporters shouted: 'We love you!' Outside court, his father told reporters the family was very sorry and devastated by what happened. 'I know it's not going to calm what they're going through, but I'm just hoping that now that my son has been sentenced that we can all move on,' he said. A siren system to alert the public of terror threats is set to be rolled out across Melbourne in the wake of the Bourke Street rampage and the Westminster attack. Pop-up bollards stopping vehicles from entering the city's streets is another safety measure the Victorian government will consider, the Sunday Herald Sun reported. CCTV revamps giving authorities a greater 'eye on Melbourne' will also reportedly be part of a $10million security upgrade. A siren system to alert the public of terror threats is set to be rolled out across Melbourne in the wake of the Bourke Street rampage and the Westminster attack. Pictured, Dimitrious Gargasoulas - the alleged driver of the car which mowed down pedestrians in Melbourne Pop-up bollards stopping vehicles from entering the city's streets is another safety measure the Victorian government is considering (stock) The plans are said to be backed by premier Daniel Andrews, with the deadly January car attack in the city and last month's horrific incident in London heightening security. On January 20, Dimitrious 'Jimmy' Gargasoulas allegedly ploughed his car through Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall. Six people were killed and dozens more were injured. The wreckage of half a pram is seen at a pedestrian crossing on the corner of Bourke and William streets after a rogue car ploughed through pedestrians at Bourke Street Mall The security upgrade is said to be backed by premier Daniel Andrews (pictured centre) The 26-year-old is charged with six counts of murder, 28 counts of attempted murder and conduct endangering life. On March 22, Khalid Masood began mowing down pedestrians, killing three, before fatally stabbing a policeman on the grounds of UK Parliament in London. He was shot dead by armed police. Khalid Masood mowed down pedestrians, killing three, before fatally stabbing a policeman on the grounds of UK Parliament in London Advertisement Hundreds of bright yellow cars flooded a Cotswold village today in support of a pensioner whose vehicle was branded an 'eyesore'. Peter Maddox, 84, scrapped the bright yellow car he parked outside his home in Bilbury, Gloucestershire after vandals scrawled 'move' on the bonnet and smashed in his windows causing 6,000 worth of damage. He was criticised by posh locals and tourists who claimed his car was a blot on the rural idyll of the village. Scroll down for video Hundreds of bright yellow cars flooded a Cotswold village today in support of a pensioner whose motor was branded an 'eyesore' Pensioner Peter Maddox was criticised by posh locals and tourists who claimed his vehicle was a blot on the rural idyll of the village. After hearing about his plight hundreds of sympathisers in yellow vehicles descended on the village for a rally organised by Matty Bee (pictured right with Mr Maddox) Mr Maddox, 84, scrapped the bright yellow car he parked outside his home in Bilbury, Gloucestershire (pictured) after vandals scrawled 'move' on the bonnet After hearing about his plight hundreds of sympathisers in yellow vehicles descended on the 17th Century village for a rally in support of Mr Maddox. A yellow VW camper van, a vintage Mini and several Ferraris paraded through, with drivers raising salutes to waving crowds. Organiser Matty Bee, 28, said it was 'a celebration of anything yellow'. When photos of his car went viral, Mr Maddox, who moved to Bibury 15 years ago after his wife passed away, said: 'I never intended to cause a problem with the yellow one' Tempers were calmed last month when the retired dentist who owned the bright yellow Vauxhall replaced it with a grey version He added: 'The response has been amazing and overwhelming; people from all over the country and all over the world have applied to join the group. 'We've had everything here from a three-wheeler and a Mini to a Lamborghini super car. I've never seen so many yellow coloured cars in one place.' Mr Maddox said he was 'overwhelmed' by the display of support, which he watched from his picturesque cottage. The row began two years ago in the village, described by William Morris as 'the most beautiful in England', when a photograph was posted online captioned: 'Picture postcard street photobombed by ugly little yellow car.' Maddox's yellow Vauxhall Corsa was vandalised after angry comments were made about it spoiling the view. He has now replaced it with a more neutral grey vehicle The row began two years ago in the village, described by William Morris as 'the most beautiful village in England', when a photograph was posted online captioned: 'Picture postcard street photobombed by ugly little yellow car' Parts of the picturesque village are owned by the National Trust and appeared inside the cover of the UK passport In February, vandals scratched the word 'move' into the car's bonnet, and smashed its windows causing so much damage that the pensioner was forced to replace it. Defiant widower Mr Maddox threatened to buy a lime green replacement to park outside his 17th Century cottage in Arlington Row, but opted for a grey car instead. Parts of the village are owned by the National Trust and have appeared inside the cover of the UK passport. Mr Maddox, who moved to Bibury 15 years ago after his wife passed away, said at the time: 'I never intended to cause a problem with the yellow one.' Mr Maddox said he was 'overwhelmed' by the display of support on Sturday morning, which he watched from his picturesque cottage Car valeter Matty Bee, 28, who organised the rally in Bilbury, said it was 'a celebration of anything yellow' as hundreds of cars drove through the village A Muslim leader has slammed extremists who claim he is a fraud for following Australian law over Sharia and not wanting to form an independent Muslim state. Imam Shaikh Mohammad Tawhidi, who has openly spoken out against ISIS and extremists, confronted members of the Islamic community in a video shared online on Friday. Imam Tawhidi said he was labelled a 'fake' Shaikh because he prioritised Australian law over Sharia law. 'I am considered a fake because I would die for Australia. I am considered a fake because I live by the Australian constitution,' he said. Scroll down for video 'I am considered a fake because I would die for Australia. I am considered a fake because I live by the Australian constitution,' he said in the video posted to Facebook on March 31 'I am considered a fake because I glorify the Australian flag. 'I am considered a fake because I reject Sharia law and live by the Australian law.' In the four minute-long video, Imam Tawhidi listed various reasons for why he had been called 'a fake' by members of the Muslim community in Australia. 'They have called me a fake Muslim Imam or a Shaikh only because I expose their intentions to create a caliphate within Australia,' he said. 'I am considered a fake because I condemn terrorism. I am considered a fake because I oppose and expose extremism.' 'They have called me a fake Muslim Imam or a Shaikh only because I expose their intentions to create a caliphate within Australia,' Imam Tawhidi said Imam Tawhidi defended himself claiming he was legitimate and only accused of being a fraud because he did not serve a radical Islamic agenda He defended himself claiming he was legitimate and only accused of being a fraud because he did not serve a radical Islamic agenda. 'For them, I am too Australian,' he said. The Muslim leader said he rejected controversial Sharia law to live by the Australian law 'because I am an Australian Muslim and not a Muslim Australian'. 'I want an Islam that is compatible with the west,' he said. 'The bottom line is, I want Australia to stay Australian.' Mr Yemini shared the video with his 38,000 followers on Facebook, declaring he was in full support of Imam Tawhidi The video was shared online by prominent Jewish Muslim personality Avi Yemini on Saturday. Mr Yemini shared the video with his 38,000 followers on Facebook, declaring he was in full support of Imam Tawhidi. 'I stand with Imam Shaikh Tawhidi who is being attacked by the broader Islamic community for being a proud Australian,' he said. Imam Tawhidi came under fire in February when he claimed on-air that radical Muslims planned to create an independent Sharia law state within Australia's borders Imam Tawhidi came under fire in February when he claimed on-air that radical Muslims planned to create an independent Sharia law state within Australia's borders. In an interview with Today Tonight, the Muslim leader said 'the agenda is to create a country within your country'. Following the interview he was accused of not being a real Shaikh by Muslim television channel One Path Network. Muslim OnePath TV network's host Malaz Majanni said Imam Tawhidi's claims about radical Islam were 'baseless and outrageous' One Path Network said his claims about radical Islam were 'baseless and outrageous'. In an effort to defend himself, Imam Tawhidi told Daily Mail Australia last month he was concerned to find himself 'being attacked for attacking the terrorists'. 'I'm being attacked because people didn't want me to warn the people,' he said in March. 'They should have said 'thank you' for exposing an extremist cell within Sydney. Instead they are discrediting me for criticising terrorism. 'If you love this country and you are loyal to this country, you should be supporting me.' Jedayah Nesmith, 22, is facing charges after her girlfriend's toddler son Azin Jones-Fearon died while in her care A woman has been arrested after a two-year-old boy was found dead and emaciated in her Philadelphia home. Jedayah Nesmith, 22, is facing charges after her girlfriend's toddler Azin Jones-Fearon died while in her care after being dropped off at her home on Valentine's Day. Nesmith reportedly went out to smoke synthetic marijuana, and when she returned, the boy was foaming at the mouth. Rather than calling police or taking the child to the hospital, she is said to have left, and did not return for weeks. No one visited the home until Nesmith allegedly offered a man named Tobias Vanburen $1,000 to dispose of the boy's body. Vanburen then sickeningly chose to broadcast the ordeal on Facebook live, in an attempt to expose Nesmith, and solidify his 'innocence' in the crime, according to Philly.com. When police arrived at the home, the small child was emaciated, and had suffered broken bones over the course of his short life. Nesmith reportedly went out to smoke synthetic marijuana, and when she returned, the boy was foaming at the mouth. Rather than calling police or taking the child to the hospital, she is said to have left, and did not return for weeks He was found lying naked on a bed in Nesmith's home on the 7100 block of North 15th Street around 8pm on March 22. Nesmith is now facing charges of concealing the boy's death and abuse of a corpse. A GoFundMe was created by a woman claiming to be Azin's aunt, who hoped to raise money for the funeral costs to give the child a proper burial. Police plan to hold a vigil on Monday April 3 at 7101 N. 15th Street, the same block where the child died. The exact cause of Azim's death is still pending an autopsy, and the investigation is ongoing. Philadelphia Police were not immediately available for a comment regarding possible charges against the boy's mother, or Vanburen. A Melbourne woman found in a house in a critical condition has died and the homicide squad has been called in. The 45-year-old woman was found in a critical condition at a Frankston house on Daly St on March 28 and died in hospital on Tuesday, police say. The exact circumstances of the woman's death were yet to be determined and police on Saturday said homicide detectives were investigating. A Melbourne woman found in a house in on Daly St in Frankston in a critical condition has died and the homicide squad has been called in The area is known to be extremely violent, according to locals. 'You will hear them screaming and punching on. Police do drive-bys all the time,' a neighbour told The Herald Sun. 'And cars will quickly stop by, someone will run out and run back in. You know what they are up to.' Police are urging anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers on 1300 333 000. Karla Karina Alvarez (pictured), 27, has been charged with making a false report to police A woman is accused of wrongly accusing a man of raping her when she was found unconscious and intoxicated after having sex with him as part of a six-month affair, authorities have said. Karla Karina Alvarez, 27, has been charged with making a false report to the police, the Laredo Morning Times reported Friday. She and the man she accused of sexual assault both work with her husband, a doctor, at Laredo Medical Center in Texas, according to the newspaper. Alvarez was found 'extremely intoxicated' and 'incoherent' alone in the men's bathroom inside the medical center last month, court documents state. She told medics the man had raped her, while he denied the accusation and said he and Alvarez were lovers. The woman was charged Tuesday in relation to the case. According to an arrest affidavit, Alvarez and the man she accused picked the men's restroom over the women's bathroom because the latter didn't have a lock. Her husband later found his wife alone inside the restroom, at which point she told him the man had sexually assaulted her, the Laredo Morning Times reported. She made the same accusation while talking to paramedics. Police responded to a call about an unconscious woman in the men's restroom around 7:30 pm on February 17, and saw a man seeking to retrieve his car keys that had been left in a doctor's office. Alvarez and the man she accused of raping her both work with her husband, a doctor, at Laredo Medical Center in Texas (file picture), a report stated Friday The man told officers he worked with the woman, then when asked about what had happened, 'made a gesture with his hands, meaning for (the officer) to handcuff the subject,' court documents state. He later said that he and Alvarez had been having an affair for approximately six months, according to the complaint. The man, who told the police he has a girlfriend, said he and Alvarez were drinking a bottle of Jack Daniel's. They then they went into the bathroom and had sex, according to court papers. He showed authorities text messages from Alvarez as proof that the two were involved in an affair and told officials he hadn't assaulted the woman. Alvarez's husband, meanwhile, told officers he had suspected for the past four months that his wife had 'something going on' with a coworker, according to the affidavit. Police have seized Alvarez's clothes as evidence as well as two bottles of Jack Daniel's, one of which is empty while the other is almost full, the newspaper wrote. According to the complaint, Alvarez met with investigators four days after authorities reported finding her in the bathroom, and made it 'very clear that she did not want her husband to know any of the facts of the case'. 'Ms Alvarez stated that she wished to sign a complaint withdrawal form and added that she did not wish to press charges,' the complaint adds. When authorities asked her to reveal the truth, they said the woman had replied she would 'plead the fifth'. Republican Representative Devin Nunes was confronted by a crowd of 300 protesters on Friday during a visit to his home state of California. While Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was welcomed inside an Ag Lenders Society event in Fresno, protesters outside called him a 'coward' and held up signs that read: 'We need a guard dog not a lap dog.' Nunes has been criticized for briefing Trump on classified information he received from White House officials before he reported the findings to his own committee. Many fear Nunes' cozy relationship with the president will stand in the way of the committee's independent investigation into Russia's involvement in the elections. Nunes hit out at reports naming White House sources, saying: 'Those reports are mostly wrong. This something I've known about for a very long time, from people who were not affiliated with the White House.' Republican Representative Devin Nunes was confronted by a crowd of 300 protesters on Friday during a visit to his home state of California One woman held a sign that read, 'Get out of bed with Trump,' while another protester shouted through a megaphone: 'Come out and play, Nunes, you coward' Protesters lined a street while Nunes appeared at an Ag Lenders Society event in Fresno, California, his home state Nunes has been criticized for briefing Trump on classified information he received from White House officials before he reported the findings to his own committee Nunes was ushered in and out of the event in Fresno, while protesters lined the streets outside. One woman held a sign that read, 'Get out of bed with Trump,' while another protester shouted through a megaphone: 'Come out and play, Nunes, you coward.' Nunes, who was a member of the president's transition team, has resisted calls to step down from his committee's investigation into contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians. Nunes, however, shows no signs of giving up his leadership role. 'At the end of the day, this is a tough job, and there's tough work that has be done,' Nunes told CBS on Friday interview. 'I think there's nobody better than me right now to be doing it.' He also called himself a 'Russia hawk' on KSEE and hit out at reports naming his sources. He said: 'Those reports are mostly wrong. This something I've known about for a very long time, from people who were not affiliated with the White House. 'The challenge was being able to find a place to view the information.... 'So I think what's in those stories is a lot of innuendo. There were probably people who knew about this, knew about me being there, but the fact of the matter is, that doesn't make them the source of my information.' Nunes briefed Trump, who tweeted unsubstantiated claims that he was wiretapped by the Obama administration It would appear that Nunes was 'duped' by White House staffers in a 'bizarre' plan to circulate information about Obama administration spying, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said White House staffers met with Nunes and shared classified information showing Trump was incidentally swept up in foreign surveillance by US intelligence agencies, according to the New York Times. Nunes then briefed Trump, who tweeted unsubstantiated claims that he was wiretapped by the Obama administration. Nunes said he had not seen any evidence to support Trump's claim, explaining the president's communications may have been incidentally gathered when US spy agencies conducted foreign surveillance in accordance to a warrant issued by a FISA judge in federal court. The Congressman said the sources were valiant whistleblowers , but Democrats were baffled by the circuitous route of information and suggested Nunes had been used as a pawn in a wider plot. 'Why would the chairman of the committee go to the White House to get information that they could have conveyed to the president, bring it to the president and then take it to the press?' Pelosi said on NBC's 'Today' show. Michael Ellis, a member of the White House counsel's staff who works on security issues, was identified by the New York Times as one of Nunes' sources 'We need people to investigate who actually have an interest in an independent investigation,' said protester Annaliese Herms, a 23-year-old office worker from Fresno. She called Russian interference a 'breach of the democratic process' and called Nunes' integrity into question. Guests leaving the event said the Russia investigation came up at least once during Nunes' talk, which focused mostly on water, a key issue in the farming region in California, the nation's leading agricultural state. Leaving the luncheon, Joseph Butterweck said after listening to Nunes and following news accounts, he believes the congressman and Trump did nothing wrong. 'It probably wasn't there,' said Butterweck, a veterinarian. 'My assessment was that there weren't any ties between the (Trump) campaign and the Russians.' Melinda Winston, a 62-year-old retiree, said she was disappointed Nunes first went to the president with intelligence he learned in a secret meeting before sharing it with members of the committee he chairs. 'It seems like he did not handle that very professionally,' said Winston, a Democrat who voted for Nunes. 'It's too bad to hear his name on national TV.' Melvin Mason didn't fault Nunes for his actions in a job with tremendous pressure. 'I think the guy is just doing his job the best he can,' said Mason, a 71-year-old Democrat and retired truck driver. 'If I was him, I might have done the same thing.' The Russian Government has poked fun at claims it interfered with the US election days after Vladimir Putin said the accusation was a 'lie'. This morning, the Russian Foreign Ministry posted an audio recording of an apparent automated telephone service to aid Russian embassies. In the recording, which was published on its Facebook page, it says: 'To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponent, press one. The Russian Government has poked fun at claims it interfered with the US election by publishing a fake automated telephone service to aid Russian embassies Vladimir Putin vehemently denied Russia interfered in the US elections while speaking at a panel on Thursday 'To use the services of Russian hackers, press two' and 'To request election interference, press three.' A spokesperson for the Ministry confirmed the post was an official joke as part of April Fool's Day. On Thursday, the Russian President fiercely denied interfering in the US elections by using a similar phrase to former President George H.W. Bush's 'Read my lips' quote. While speaking at the International Arctic Forum on a panel moderated by CNBC, he said: 'Watch my lips, no. All those things are fictional, illusory and provocations, lies. 'All these are used for domestic American political agendas. The anti-Russian card is played by different political forces inside the United States to trade on that and consolidate their positions inside. Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States last year after winning 306 electoral votes, defeating Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton U.S. intelligence community officially concluded there was an interference in October last year and is launching a probe next week 'We said on numerous occasions and I reiterate that we are confident And know for sure that opinion polls in the Unites States show that very many people are friendly towards the Russian Federation and I'd like to tell these people that we perceive and regard the United States as a great power with which we want to establish good partnership relations.' However, despite Mr Putin's insistence, U.S. intelligence community stated they believe there was an interference in October last year. A probe into Donald Trump's alleged links with Russian associates will be launched on Wednesday. A suspected drug baron accusing of heading up an international money laundering operation got a shock this week after he was caught by police - wearing just his underwear. Shirtless James Mulvey, 40, wearing pants alone, was arrested by armed police from the National Crime Agency as they raided his Lithuanian hideout on Wednesday. An extraordinary picture shows bulky Mulvey, of Solihull, West Midlands, with his arms behind his back and tattoos running down his naked arms, as cops holding guns, watch on. You're nicked! James Mulvey, 40, was caught out when he was detained by armed police in his Lithuanian hideout He was the subject of a European arrest warrant over a drug haul containing 365kg of cannabis, 20kg of cocaine and 10kg of phenacetin that was destined for Ireland, but was intercepted in Belgium in 2007, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA). Five people were jailed in the UK in 2009 for a total of 88 years in connection with the crime, but the investigation remains live. A gun, 100 rounds of ammunition and two ballistics vests were seized at Mulvey's buildings in Kaunas, Lithuania. Five others were also arrested in the Midlands and Somerset on Wednesday in connection with money laundering and VAT fraud, while a 66 year old from Solihull, West Midlands, was also interviewed. The six of them have all been released while enquiries continue. Detective Constable Derek Tinsley, of the West Midlands Regional Recovery Team, said: 'This was a fantastic example of several law enforcement agencies - including ones overseas - working together to tackle crime. 'About 40,000 in cash was recovered from addresses in the UK along with computers and digital devices which are now being forensically examined. Shirtless: Adam Warnold, from the National Crime Agency, said: 'James Mulvey has been targeted by the NCA as we believe he heads a crime group involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and a multi-million pound VAT fraud' He said: 'Clearly Mr Mulvey wasn't expecting a visit by armed police: the drugs find was a decade ago and he was living in eastern Europe but this operation shows that people we suspect are linked to crime cannot sleep easily. 'We could come knocking at any time.' Adam Warnold, operations manager for the NCA, said: 'The NCA's international partnerships mean we can extend the UK's reach overseas to combat criminal networks and the serious financial crime which props them up. 'James Mulvey has been targeted by the NCA, the West Midlands RART and HMRC as we believe he heads a crime group involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and a multi-million pound VAT fraud.' The five others arrested on Wednesday include a 42-year-old woman from Somerset, a 37-year-old man from Tamworth, Staffordshire, a 50-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman from Wythall, Worcestershire, and a 58-year-old from Atherstone, Warwick. Police, companies and celebrities did their best to pull a fast one with a range of pranks for April Fools' Day on Saturday. Fort Collins Police Services took to Twitter to announce its first patrol cat - officer Buttersworth and shared a staged snap of the kitty making its first arrest. They also shared a video about their feline friend to YouTube in a bid to prank the public. The Boulder County Sheriff's office continued to play along with the gag by tweeting in response: 'It's great that you added a feline unit! Our baby owl has done so well he's already been promoted to sergeant.' The office then shared a snap of an owl with a clearly photo shopped hat and badge on that would unlikely to fool anyone. Scroll down for video Fort Collins Police Services took to Twitter to announce its first patrol cat - officer Buttersworth and shared a staged snap of the kitty making its first arrest. The post Fort Collins Police shared on Twitter is seen above The Boulder County Sheriff's office continued to play along with the gag by tweeting in response: 'It's great that you added a feline unit! Our baby owl has done so well he's already been promoted to sergeant' T-Mobile shared a promotional video and photo for a magenta ONEsie which aimed to guarantee yourself complete coverage from your wireless carrier by wearing it. It's made with 4G LTE nano-fibers and there is a Sport and Work version. Adverts for it said it also supports Bluetooth and has 'Thermanetic Charging' so that you can recharge the body suit using motion and body heat. The telecommunications carrier tweeted out: 'Be fashion forward and cutting edge at the same time in the new #TMobileONEsie. Technology has never felt so cozy.' T-Mobile shared a promotional video and photo for a magenta ONEsie which aimed to guarantee yourself complete coverage from your wireless carrier As usual, Google pulled out a clever gag that may have fooled someone who wasn't aware of the date. The tech giant announced the new Google Gnome, a sassier version of Google Home for the backyard. Google Gnome will help you with tasks outside like watering the lawn and mowing the grass And Google Maps released a Ms Pac-Man game feature on its Maps app for April Fools' Day. The tech giant revealed a new feature on its Maps mobile app and for computers that makes getting lost when following directions that much easier. To celebrate April 1, people can now play the beloved Ms Pac-Man game while walking through the streets or just for fun. Google released Ms Pac-Man for users to play while using its Maps feature for April Fools' Day on Saturday. Players can play the arcade game on their mobile phones or computers Not to be outdone, Amazon also announced a smart home device for pets. Amazon tweeted a video advertisement for Petlexa, an Alexa Echo for your pets. Amazon tweeted: 'Petlexa is here! Now your dog, cat, or favorite pet can communicate with Alexa just like you do. Check out these videos to learn more!' ThinkGeek announced it was launching a product that you never knew you wanted - the $14.99 YASS Catapult Sticking with the feline vibe, ThinkGeek announced it was launching a product that you never knew you wanted - the $14.99 YASS Catapult. It says a plush cat flies through the air screaming 'YASS!' with a slingshot. Toiler paper maker Quilted Northern promoted a uSit to track your bathroom habits which you wear around your waist like a belt. It measures the time taken and exertion! Toiler paper maker Quilted Northern promoted a uSit to track your bathroom habits which you wear around your waist like a belt. It measures the time taken and exertion! Streaming player Roku's new feature called SnackSuggest promised to recommend foods based on what you are watching. The user enters data such as height, weight and diet preferences - watching Vampire Diaries? Munch on some garlic fries! Roku's new feature called SnackSuggest promised to recommend foods based on what you are watching Denver International Airport also tried to get in on the fun. In an effort to 'forever link Colorado's most iconic architecture with Colorado's great outdoors,' DIA announced it had partnered with the Colorado Yurt Company to give the company the naming rights to the airport's iconic tented rooftop. In an effort to 'forever link Colorado's most iconic architecture with Colorado's great outdoors,' DIA announced it had partnered with the Colorado Yurt Company to give the company the naming rights to the airport's iconic tented rooftop Michael Phelps led a host of celebrities who tried to catch out their followers online. He gave Olympics fans a moment of hope and confusion when the swimmer tweeted: 'Some dreams/goals you just can't get rid of...been doing a lot of thinking n I've decided that I'm going 2 make another comeback! #tokyo2020'. The Olympian said he was retired after the London 2012 games but came back for Rio in 2016. He won a gold medal in the final Olympic race of his career in August. Another Olympics? Michael Phelps said he would make another comeback, but he made the announcement on April 1 Check the date: Though Michael Phelps has come out of retirement before, it doesn't sound like this will be the case for the 2020 Olympics George Takei announced he would be the next celebrity to pursue political office, tweeting: 'Well, the cat's out of the bag it seems. Let's do this! #Takei2018' The activist and Star Trek actor clarified he is only joking. Star Trek actor and jokester George Takei is not running for political office Gotcha! George Takei revealed early morning on April Fools' he was not running for Congress Gigi Hadid tricked her followers into thinking she chopped off her long blonde hair Gigi Hadid tricked her followers into thinking she had sheered off her blonde locks and would now be sporting a pixie cut. She posted a photo of the hairdo followed with scissors emojis. The model commented back to her hysterical fans: 'Jokes, jokes...happy April Foolz fwendz.' A producer on the Today show dressed up in a disguise to look like a pile of boxes and jumped out at the hilariously terrified Sheinelle Jones, Craig Melvin and Dylan Dreyer. Thinking out of the box: The Today show producers were creative in how they tricked anchors by dressing up as a pile of boxes Will Arnett partnered with Netflix for the fake release of Netflix Live with 48-minute-long sneak peak into the show where Arnett narrates in monotone everyday everyday life. The tagline for this exciting show was: 'Toasters toasting. Grass growing. Fans blowing. With Netflix Live, you can experience life's biggest thrills, right from the comfort of your couch.' Robert Lee Brooks, 56, had served five years in an Ohio prison for sexual assault A man who was rescued after falling in a drain hole in Texas was arrested after authorities realized he had been wanted as a sex offender. Robert Lee Brooks had been walking in front of a Houston courthouse during a storm when he stepped on a dislodged cover on the sidewalk and fell down a five-foot hole, leaving his leg trapped, KLTV reported. Bystanders rushed to help out the 56-year-old before authorities arrived and rescued him. He was then taken to the hospital, but did not suffer any injuries. Deputies accompanied the man to St. Joseph's Hospital, where they realized Brooks had given them his real name, but a different date of birth than the one he had told them on the scene. The man had been walking near a Houston courthouse during a storm when he stepped on a dislodged cover of a drain hole and fell in The man had become trapped but was later rescued by authorities who later realized he was wanted for not registering a sex offender Assistant Chief Sonny Colunga said it was then when deputies decided to run Brooks's fingerprints and found he had been wanted for not registering a sex offender. Brooks had served five years in an Ohio prison for sexually assaulting a child and he had registered as a sex offender in 2009 after moving to Texas, the news station reported. A warrant was issued two years ago after Brooks failed to register. The sex offender was booked into Harris County Jail and could face felony charges. Mosley's clients were promised profits but received little or no money from the sales of their wine collections A director of a wine broker company who cheated vulnerable investors out of almost half a million pounds to fund his lavish lifestyle has been jailed for four years and four months. Customers of Harry Mosley and his team lost entire portfolios or vast amounts of money when they signed up to his company Optimum Fine Wine. They were promised financial profit in return for buying, swapping or selling wine through the firm initially bankrolled by Mosley's parents. But the clients, many of whom were in their 80s, received little or no money from sales of their own wine collections. The vintage Bordeaux wine they believed they had purchased never materialised. Instead, 25-year-old Mosley 'cut and run', spending his victims' investments totalling 424,352 on living the high life. He spent 100,000 at lavish bars, restaurants and hotels, as well as buying luxury goods, designer clothes, paintings and a Mulberry bag. He also gambled over 57,000 over 16 months, took a holiday in Dubai and gave his then-girlfriend 23,320. There was also evidence in his bank account that he paid himself 112,000 and sold a Bentley car. Mosley, of Keston, Kent, enjoyed his good fortune at the expense of his customers who he saw as 'names on paper'. Some of them lost entire wine portfolios after they were sold on by Optimum Fine Wine to wholesalers. One 84-year-old victim, a retired college lecturer living in a care home, handed Mosley's company over 205,000 for wine to be purchased and held in storage. Mosley (left) pleaded guilty to four offences of conspiracy to commit fraud However, no wine was ever bought and the widower lost the money he had accrued from the sale of his flat following his wife's death. The court heard he is still too embarrassed to tell anyone of his plight. Another who agreed to swap his collection with others through Optimum Fine Wine transferred more than 56,000 in wine, only to have just two cases delivered to his account and leaving him with a loss of just over 49,000. Mosley was on trial at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent accused of two offences of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation but pleaded guilty midway through. Judge Charles Macdonald QC said Mosley's fraud affected a large number of victims and deliberately targeted people based on their vulnerability. Judge Macdonald said: 'The striking and awful thing about this case is to see from the victim impact statements how widespread and in some cases how unexpected this sort of crime was. Judge Charles Macdonald QC said Mosley's fraud was a 'heartless and cruel' fraud which 'gravely damaged a number of lives' 'This was a sustained, planned, multiple victim fraud, and also a heartless and cruel one which gravely damaged a number of lives.' Mosley blew a kiss to his father sitting in the public gallery and gave a thumbs-up sign as he was led from court to the cells. A total of 15 customers were duped by Mosley's company between September 2012 and May 2014. Two died while waiting for a trial to start and others were said to have little or no memory of their dealings with the brokers by reason of their age. The youngest was 57 and the oldest 87. Prosecutor Dale Sullivan said: 'This case doesn't involve ill-advice that led to poor investment. It is based solely on engaging the trust of customers to invest and then cutting and running from them. 'If it wasn't fraudulent from the outset when Harry Mosley went to his parents to get the 61,000 loan, it must have been very soon after.' Mosley is alleged to have spent more than 100,000 on lavish bars, restaurants and hotels Those who became suspicious or tried to complain ended up 'with the trail going cold,' the court was told, and so alerted police. As well as buying, selling and swapping wine, the fraud also involved duping customers into buying Robert Parker collectors' cases at over-inflated prices running into several thousands. Optimum Fine Wine was first based in Croydon, Surrey before moving to Wellington House in Church Road, Tunbridge Wells. But the company was listed at an address in New Bond Street, London - which gave it an 'air of prestige and legitimacy'. The scam was also supported by glossy brochures 'full of lies' and false testimonials. Customers spoke of dealing with brokers who were plausible and professional, and knew the answers to any questions. Mosley was arrested and interviewed by police on three occasions, each time making no comment. On one occasion he even refused to confirm his own name. Bradley Deadman (pictured right), who was said to be Mosley's right-hand man, was acquitted of any involvement in the fraud By the time police were called in, Optimum Fine Wine's own wine storage account with LCB was empty. Craig Harris, defending, said Mosley had not deliberately targeted vulnerable people and did not realise at the time the impact of his conduct on his victims. He said: 'It was greedy, he got used to the high life and carried it on. He didn't see them as people. They were just names on paper.' A confiscation hearing will be held at a later date. The judge also ordered the destruction of company computers and Mosley's iPhone and iPad. Two of Mosley's team, Bradley Deadman, 23, and 22-year-old Lewis Hearson, were cleared of any involvement in the fraud. Deadman was said to have been Mosley's right-hand man, who used the 'broker' name of Henry Croft. Mosley himself referred to him as Crafty Crofty and gave him the business title of Hong Kong chief executive. Theresa Hrindo (pictured), 25, is accused of carrying on a sexual relationship with a high school student A Catholic high school teacher is accused of carrying on a sexual relationship with a student from the same high school she graduated form. Theresa Hrindo, 25, taught graphic design part-time at Roselle Catholic High School, NJ.com reported. She was arrested on Thursday afternoon and now faces charges of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Authorities believe the teacher had sex several times with the student between December 2016 and February this year. Hrindo has also been charged with hindering apprehension for allegedly deleting compromising files and pictures from the student's phone. The teacher graduated from Roselle in 2010, then obtained a degree from Kean University in 2014 - not in teaching but in graphic design, her lawyer has said. A judge on Friday agreed to release the teacher on the conditions that she wouldn't have any contact with the student and that she wouldn't supervise children or teach. The teacher (pictured) taught graphic design part-time at Roselle Catholic High School, where she had graduated from in 2010 before getting a degree in graphic design Hrindo (pictured during her arraignment Friday) was arrested on Thursday afternoon and now faces charges of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child Authorities believe the teacher (pictured in court on Friday) had sex several times with the student between December 2016 and February this year Her position at the high school was her first job ever and she doesn't want to go back to teaching, according to her attorney, who also said Hrindo didn't have a teaching license. 'This whole process for my client, her family and everyone involved is, quite frankly, traumatic,' lawyer Michael G Brucki said in court according to NJ.com. The Archdiocese of Newark, who oversees the school, got in touch with authorities about the case, prompting an investigation that lasted three weeks and ended with the teacher's arrest. Hrindo was suspended and the school notified parents. The teacher, who faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against her, is scheduled to appear in court again on May 3. The family of Sherri Papini has fired back at 'victim-blaming' media sites who published a number of police reports previously fired against the 'supermom' who claimed to have been abducted and tortured last year. According to the reports, Papini allegedly tried to blame a self-harm attempt on her mother 13 years ago. They also allege that she vandalized her fathers home three years before that. Spokeswoman for the family Nicole Wool slammed 'shameful' sights for promoting 'clickbait' and further traumatizing the Papini's. The family of Sherri Papini has fired back at 'victim-blaming' media sites who published a number of police reports previously fired against the 'supermom' who claimed to have been abducted and tortured last year 'Sherri Papini and her family are the very recent victims of an extremely violent crime that has painfully and dramatically changed the course of their lives forever,' the statement said, according to the NY Post. 'It is shameful that a media outlet would intentionally exploit Sherri and Keith Papini and their young children's trauma for the sole purpose of clickbait and selling papers.' Sherri Papini disappeared last November while out for a jog near her northern California home, and was not seen for more than three weeks. The 34-year-old mother-of-two claimed she was abducted by two armed Hispanic women on November 2, before she was then tortured by her captors - whose faces she did not see - and eventually dumped on the side of a road on Thanksgiving. Since she reappeared, no arrests have been made in the alleged kidnapping, no potential motive has been discussed, and Papini has not publicly spoken about her ordeal. The newspaper uncovered documents outlining how Papini's mother, Loretta Graeff, right, called police asking for help after her daughter was allegedly self-harming and trying to blame the wounds on her Sherri Papini (pictured), the so-called 'Supermom' who vanished for several weeks before returning and claiming she was abducted, allegedly tried to blame a self-harm attempt on her mother 13 years ago Documents from a previous incident when she was accused of misleading police were revealed by the Sacramento Bee earlier this week. The statement continued: 'This newspaper's decision to aggressively seek out and publish unsubstantiated online activity and distort phone conversations from 16 years ago is victim-blaming at its most egregious.' 'It is our hope that the media will honor their privacy as they work through this difficult time.' The newspaper uncovered documents from 13 years ago outlining how Papini's mother, Loretta Graeff, called police asking for help after her daughter was allegedly self-harming and trying to blame the wounds on her. The incident report, filed in December 2003, is just two lines long and reads: 'RP states her 21y/o daughter that was living with her was harming herself and blaming it on the RP. 'RP states female is coming back to live with them and she wants advice.' Sherri Papini, disappeared last November while out for a jog near her northern California home, and was not seen for more than three weeks Documents obtained by the Sacramento Bee detailed the police complaint, which can be read above The newspaper also found two other incidents involving Papini, where her father and sister both claimed she damaged their property. In 2000, Richard Graeff said his daughter 'burglarized his residence,' before Sheila Koester, 'alleged her back door had been kicked in and she believed Papini was the suspect', the Bee reports. Shasta County are still investigating the mother's alleged disappearance late last year, however they have said they do not have any reasons not to believe her story. Keith Papini (pictured) was ruled out as a suspect about a week after his wife disappeared last year when he passed a lie detector test Papini (pictured with her husband) claimed she was taken by two armed Hispanic women and tortured while she was being held last November 'The Papini case is still active and the investigation is ongoing,' Lt. Pat Kropholler told the Bee. 'I realize there is a lot of interest in Mrs. Papini and the details of her case. However, I am sure you can understand the necessity of maintaining the integrity of the investigation. 'Please be assured that when it is appropriate to release any further information regarding this case we will do so.' Not enough: Peter Saunders, head of Children's protection charity NAPAC, said the Pope's response to victims of child abuse was almost 'a slap in the face' A British campaigner who has been ousted from a Vatican child abuse commission has accused the Catholic Church of treating child sex abuse victims with contempt. Peter Saunders, who was abused by two priests as a child, said he had lost faith in Pope Francis after learning that the only other abuse victim on the commission had resigned because of a lack of progress. The father of two, who was last year forced to take leave of absence from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, believes that he will shortly be officially dismissed from his role after clashing with other members of the inquiry. Pope Francis formally set up the commission in 2014 amid a rising tide of abuse allegations surrounding the Catholic clergy and mounting evidence of high-level cover-ups by bishops and cardinals. Saunders, a devout Catholic who founded the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, was appointed to the commission by the Pope along with fellow abuse survivor Marie Collins, from Ireland, to allay concerns that the voices of the victims would be ignored. Saunderss attack on the Vatican is sure to embarrass Pope Francis on the eve of a visit by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall to the Holy See, where they will have an audience with the Pontiff. Saunders said: The Pope has not done enough for abuse victims hes made dreadful appointments that are almost a slap in the face for abuse victims and recently he said we should show mercy to abusers. 'Zero tolerance': Pope Francis, pictured arriving at Duomo Milan catherdral last month, said he has no threshold for child abuse He said: The church seems to have nothing but contempt for the abused. I have lost my faith in the Pope. In my opinion the commission needs to be dismantled. I have no faith in it being able to deliver anything. In three years the Pope has not visited the commission once. Is that down to him or his officials? Who is in charge of the Vatican? I wish I knew that. They all follow and obey the Pope and, if he is not cracking the whip on this issue, nothing seems to happen. The Pope is surrounded by cardinals and bishops who do not want to proceed because they have covered up abuse or, more seriously, they have been involved themselves. Last month Marie Collins, the sole remaining abuse survivor on the commission, resigned citing what she called unacceptable resistance to the commission from within the Vatican. The commission, headed by American Cardinal Sean OMalley, is meant to develop initiatives to protect children from paedophiles within the church, but has been widely seen as part of a power struggle between conservative cardinals and the liberal Pope Francis. In February last year, Saunders was told by the commission that he had been put on a leave of absence after a vote of no confidence by his fellow members. He said: The previous day I had put difficult questions to the commission and suggested that hearings should not be private any more. But that was laughed out of the room. I did some interviews that evening and the next morning they told me they could not work with me, they did not have confidence in me and that I was too outspoken. Early last year, a man called Norman Scott was asked to recount to detectives his role in one of the 20th Centurys greatest political scandals. What poured forth over four days was a twisting story involving an illicit affair, secret letters, blackmail claims, a botched assassination attempt on a lonely moor, a shabby cover-up and, finally, a fall from grace unparalleled in Westminster. The man who fell was the former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe, who went on trial accused of conspiracy to murder Scott, a part-time model who had once been his lover at a time when homosexuality was illegal in Britain. Despite his acquittal, Thorpes glittering career was over. When the scandal exploded in the 1970s, everyone knew the name Norman Scott, but as time passed, it faded from public consciousness. In a rare interview his most candid yet and his first for more than 20 years Scott, now 77, today reveals that police were poised earlier this year to bring charges against two men Then, last year, detectives from Gwent Police set up Operation Velum to investigate new claims that vital evidence had been suppressed before the trial and turned to Scott for help. In a rare interview his most candid yet and his first for more than 20 years Scott, now 77, today reveals that police were poised earlier this year to bring charges against two men, one a former detective. However, two weeks ago he received a letter from the Crown Prosecution Service telling him it had decided to drop the case. Had this new evidence not been suppressed at the time, then the trial verdict might well have been different, says Scott. But here they are telling me they cant do anything about it. I cant help feeling this new inquiry has ended with yet another cover-up. In a separate development, The Mail on Sunday can also reveal that newly released Cabinet Office papers show how Thorpe desperately tried to smear Scott as the scandal was about to break. In 1976, three months before he resigned his partys leadership, he wrote to the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and falsely claimed Scott was at the centre of some sort of vice ring run by one of Scotts friends, Jack Levy, an advertising art director who has since died. The claims were said to involve a sunken bath at Levys Georgian home which could take six people. Nothing came of his strange allegation, which both Scott and Levys widow Stella, a former model, were unaware of until last week. Both deny the allegations. Ultimately, of course, Thorpe failed to stop details of his own relationship with Scott, whom he affectionately called Bunnies because he said I reminded him of a frightened rabbit becoming public three years later in court. Thorpes glittering career was ruined by the scandal The trial of the century, as it was called, held the nation spellbound, with Thorpe accused of wanting to silence Scott, whom he believed was hellbent on ruining him. Even the prosecution called it a tragedy of truly Greek and Shakespearean proportions. It was hideous, recalls Scott. But I was staying in the West End with Stella and Jack throughout the trial and we had a lovely time going to nightclubs every evening and having a bop. It sounds awful but I had to do something to unwind. Scott was vilified by the judge, who, in a summing up farcically one-sided in favour of Thorpe, called him a liar, fraud, a sponger, a whiner and a parasite. Little wonder then that the experience left Scott feeling it had been he, and not the well-connected politician, who had been on trial. He has lived quietly in Devon ever since at least until Operation Velum detectives arrived at his home on the edge of Dartmoor last year, asking him to revisit his past. Police told Scott that an antique firearms dealer, Dennis Meighan, had confessed to being hired by a representative of Thorpe in 1975 to kill Scott to protect the politician from public humiliation. Meighan agreed to carry out the murder in exchange for 13,500 (140,000 today) but later changed his mind. Although he was arrested at the time and made a confession, his statement was destroyed and a few weeks later he was made to sign another. This one exonerated both himself and Thorpe. Meighan couldnt believe his luck. A few days later he received an anonymous phone call warning him to keep his mouth shut. But over the years the secret weighed heavily upon him and he eventually revealed the truth to the BBCs Tom Mangold and, later, a Mail on Sunday reporter. It was, it seemed, confirmation of the long-suspected existence of an invisible shield protecting Thorpe. It was chilling to hear Meighan was willing to kill me, says Scott. I didnt know him but I went over everything again with the police. At times it was hard because I have blocked things from my memory. And he reveals he can no longer stand seeing guns on television: I cant bear it it reminds me of the time they tried to kill me. He is alluding to the night of October 23, 1975, when, on a deserted stretch of road on Exmoor, a part-time pilot, Andrew Newton, shot dead Scotts dog, a Great Dane called Rinka. Newton then pressed the pistol to Scotts temple, saying: Its your turn now. But, as Scott heard the hammer click, the gun jammed and Newton then sped away in his yellow Mazda car. Ten minutes later, covered in Rinkas blood, Scott flagged down a car and dramatically blurted out Jeremy Thorpe to the driver. Thorpe's 'sunken bath' vice ring smear to PM Facing humiliation, Jeremy Thorpe wrote a desperate letter to Harold Wilson claiming Norman Scott was involved in a vice ring. In it, he mentions a sunken bath for up to six people at the home of Scotts friend, Jack Levy. Mr Levys wife Stella, pictured right, told The Mail on Sunday: It makes me sick. To spread utterly false rumours on the basis we had a big bath, then to try to get the PM to order a police investigation, is unbelievable. Thorpe also writes about paying 2,500 for letters he feared would reveal his private life. Jeremy Thorpe wrote this desperate letter to Harold Wilson claiming Norman Scott was involved in a vice ring Advertisement What I remember most clearly now all these years on is being in the hospital afterwards and holding poor Rinkas chain so tightly that it cut into my hand, says Scott. Ive asked myself many times, Why am I still alive? Some powerful people wanted me dead. Newton, later convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, agreed to the assignment when Meighan, an old school friend, turned it down. Meighans involvement only came to light after Thorpes death two years ago. Now 69, he would have been willing to help Operation Velum detectives but only if he was guaranteed immunity from prosecution. Who could blame him? After all, he tried to do the right thing by confessing in 1975 only to be muzzled by dark forces. And police did indeed plan to prosecute him for conspiracy to murder and made their intentions clear to Scott. They also sent the CPS a file on a senior detective whose name was on Meighans false statement. This was as close as they got to the cover-up, says Scott. A letter to Scott from a senior CPS prosecutor said: Police have passed the file to me to consider the possibility of bringing charges against either two. [Meighan and the detective]. But she added that there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of prosecution. Meighan had exercised his right to silence when interviewed under caution by police and the detective who appeared to have witnessed Meighans false 1975 statement could not recall him. The prosecutor added that even if Meighans statement was proved to be false there was no evidence to show the detective was there when it was signed or was responsible for putting his name on it. What Scott found more surprising was the letters assertion that as one might expect, the original case papers relating to the [Thorpe] trial are not longer available. The sex scandal, the trial... and the cover-up Jeremy Thorpe, the Liberal Partys rising star, meets model Norman Scott at a friends home in late 1960. He is instantly smitten. With homosexuality still illegal, the pair begin an affair, enjoying liaisons in Thorpes Commons room. The affair later cools. Thorpes MP friend Peter Bessell begins to pay Scott a series of retainers. Senior Liberals conduct a secret inquiry in 1971 after the scandal threatens to ignite but take no action. Thorpe talks of silencing Scott by dropping him down a mine, adding: Its no worse than shooting a sick dog. In an apparently botched murder attempt on October 23, 1975, Andrew Newton lures Scott on to Exmoor. He shoots the models dog before turning the gun on Scott but it jams. In 1979 Thorpe is cleared of conspiracy to murder. After Thorpes death in 2014, it emerges evidence was suppressed, including Dennis Meighans claims told to the MoS that year (above) that he was hired as a hitman before Newton. Police ask prosecutors to consider charging two men. Last month, the CPS dropped the case citing insufficient evidence. Advertisement There must be court records. They cant be gone: it was supposed to be the trial of the century, he says. I was so disgusted when I got the CPS letter. The police were very confident they had a case, which is why the decision is rather puzzling. I suppose thats it now. Scott, a keen horseman throughout his life, was just 21 and working in Oxfordshire for Norman van de Vater, a well-known figure in the equestrian world, when he first met Thorpe, 11 years his senior. Scott says: I thought he [Thorpe] was amazing. You didnt see people like that very often, not in the 1960s, and I was very naive. It was his charisma, his wonderful voice, his way. Thats how it evolved. For a time, Thorpe was the countrys most popular politician. He was a brilliant orator and sparkled with a panache that, says Scott, renders todays politicians monochrome in comparison. Norman Scott modelling alongside his friend Stella Levy in the 1960s. She was later implicated in the vice-ring allegations Id watch him from the Strangers Gallery in the Commons and feel so proud, he says, before quickly adding: But I hated it all really. And he did treat me so very badly. Even so, a picture of Thorpe, with Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, laying wreaths at the Cenotaph, hangs on the wall of his bathroom. For a while, he and Thorpe lived together in a flat in Westminster. Scott says of this period in the early 1960s: He was always bringing these dreadful types back, Swedish sailors as I recall, from his friends pub on the Isle of Dogs. But I wanted nothing to do with it. So Id go off and walk my dog, a Jack Russell, in Green Park. One night I went off in one of Jeremys coats and he tried to pick me up, not realising it was me. We lived together, for goodness sake. He was flashing his lights at me and I was so annoyed that I rapped on his window with the dog lead. He drove off very embarrassed. By 1965 their relationship was over but the scandal would fester for a further decade. During that period Scott was married briefly to former debutante Susan Myers and lived with the Anglo-American socialite, Conway Wilson-Young. Conway adored me he was the opposite of Jeremy who used me and discarded me, Scott says. We lived on the first floor and Margot Fonteyn had the basement flat. She used to come with us to parties. Scott was also friendly with Tara Browne, heir to the Guinness fortune and the inspiration for the Beatles A Day In The Life, and Marianne Faithfull. After he split from Wilson-Young, Scott moved to Devon where he slept rough in public toilets in Barnstaple before finding work. My life was one of extremes, he says. It is easy to imagine he has grown embittered and reclusive over the years and that, at least, is how he has been popularly cast. During our interview at his Grade I-listed medieval longhouse, his home for more than 30 years, Scott who now makes a living buying and selling horses insists that is not the case: People think Im an absolute horror. Ive been painted as a reclusive villain, but its nonsense. I havent let what happened with Thorpe shape my life. And I have done rather well. But of course its had an impact. The other day I was going to look at a horse. Someone with me, whom I have always trusted, said to the owner, You realise who he is? I was aghast someone would do that. But then I am Norman Scott. I cant shake that. Lyla-Grace Barlows frizzy look is the result of an extremely rare medical condition You might think its just an excuse bandied about by lazy types who cant be bothered to tame their unruly locks. But as this remarkable little girl shows, there really is such a thing as Uncombable Hair Syndrome. Lyla-Grace Barlows frizzy look is the result of an extremely rare medical condition. There are only an estimated 100 cases worldwide today, while previous sufferers include Albert Einstein. The condition is caused by a gene mutation which means that Lylas hair follicles are heart-shaped rather than round. Her parents, Alex and Mark Barlow, from Derby, have tried countless products to try to manage the five-year-olds problem but none has worked. Alex, 28, said: When Lyla was little, her hair used to stand up like Sonic The Hedgehog. Its so hard to get a brush through it and she cries when I try. But we tell her to embrace her hair because its so rare and beautiful. She added: One hairdresser said to me, Have you bleached her hair? When I said I hadnt she replied, Well, I have never seen hair like this I dont know what to do with it. When we go swimming it goes like a Barbie dolls hair all wiry and coarse. Lyla, left, dressed up as fellow sufferer Albert Einstein (right). The condition is so rare only 100 living people are estimated to have it The condition is caused by a gene mutation which means that Lylas hair follicles are heart-shaped rather than round Scientists in Germany recently analysed a sample of Lylas DNA and confirmed that she suffers from Uncombable Hair Syndrome Scientists in Germany recently analysed a sample of Lylas DNA and confirmed that she suffers from Uncombable Hair Syndrome. Both Alex and Mark passed a mutated gene called PAD13 on to Lyla, resulting in the condition. The couples other children Emilia, seven, and Nancy-Rose, two are not affected. Retail worker Alex said: Weve been told its the same condition that Albert Einstein had. We dressed Lyla up as him for Halloween one year and we didnt even have to buy a wig. There cant be many kids who can pull Einstein off with their real hair. Dr Andrew Messenger, a consultant dermatologist at Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, has seen only three such cases during a 38-year career and said there is no medical treatment. Lyla with her sisters, Emilia, seven, and Nancy-Rose, two, who are not affected by the condition Lyla gets a piggyback from her mother, Alex, left, and the whole family together, right, including her father, Mark Lyla as a baby, before her frizzy hair started to grow. mutated gene called PAD13 on to Lyla, resulting in the condition was passed on by both her parents He added: The hair tends to stand out from the scalp. It is usually blond and may have a spangly appearance. Professor Regina Betz, of the Institute of Human Genetics in Bonn, who has been researching the condition for four years, said: Usually children have dry and frizzy hair and some parents say that its uncombable. Today there are 100 cases around the world but there may be more which have not been reported. The rarity of the condition makes it extremely unlikely that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is a sufferer so he could brush his famously unruly blond mop should he ever choose to. Think-tank head Laure Ferrari was seen coming out of Nigel Farage's West London home, nearly two months after the Mail on Sunday revealed they had been sharing the property Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage today faces new questions over his relationship with a glamorous French politician 16 years his junior, after she was seen at his 4 million bachelor pad last weekend. Laure Ferrari, the head of a think-tank at the centre of an investigation into alleged illegal funding of his party, was seen coming out of his house in West London nearly two months after The Mail on Sunday first revealed that they had been sharing the property. At the time, Farage told the MoS that suggestions they were lovers were crackers and that he was just providing Ms Ferrari with short-term help. He said: She is someone I have worked with and known for a long time who wanted somewhere to stay for a week that wouldnt cost her any money. Its a working relationship. You can inflate it however you want to. Last night Mr Farage, who celebrates his 53rd birthday tomorrow, confirmed that Ms Ferrari had stayed at his home last weekend, and repeated his denial that they were having an affair. He said she was based in Paris, but sometimes stayed with him when she is in London, adding: So what? Ms Ferrari, 37, who first became involved in politics as a result of a chance meeting with Mr Farage ten years ago while she was working as a waitress in Strasbourg, is the executive director of the Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe (IDDE). Last November, the Electoral Commission announced it was opening an investigation into whether Ukip had accepted impermissible donations from IDDE and the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE), the political party to which it is affiliated. Mr Farage confirmed Ms Ferrari had stayed at his Chelsea home (pictured) last weekend and said he was based in Paris, but sometimes stayed with him when she is in London, adding: So what? It followed an audit by the European Parliament which concluded that ADDE and IDDE used EU grant funding for the benefit of Ukip in breach of its rules, though the claims have been strongly contested by Ukip. Last Saturday, Ms Ferrari was spotted at about 11am leaving Mr Farages rented home in Chelsea by a back door before being photographed buying newspapers in a shop a few minutes walk away. She was then seen returning to the three-storey Georgian house, entering through the same door. About ten minutes later, Mr Farage was spotted going out the same way, hurrying into a chauffeur-driven Land Rover Discovery and being driven away. Two months ago, Farage told the MoS that suggestions they were lovers were crackers and that he was just providing Ms Ferrari with short-term help In another twist, a porn star told a national newspaper that Mr Farage, who is married but separated from his German-born wife Kirsten, had snogged and groped her during a flight from the US to Britain last month. The model, Valerie Fox, who has appeared in several adult films, said she found herself sitting next to him in the first-class cabin of a Virgin Atlantic overnight flight as he returned to Heathrow from Atlanta, Georgia, ten days ago. The Sun reported claims they had flirted before he smothered her with kisses and fondled her. Ms Fox was quoted as saying: He had absolutely no qualms about anyone else seeing us together. Our hands were everywhere. We even joked about having a quickie in the toilet but the cabin crew were constantly around. We thought they were genuinely checking we didnt join the mile-high club. The paper said after the flight, Mr Farage gave Ms Fox a lift to her flat. Mr Farage said last night: A person you meet on a plane gets overfriendly with you and you drop them off and that is the end of it. If you are well-known, people are coming up to you all the time. He added that the advances had come from Ms Fox and that its all a set-up, isnt it? Alicia Lapp is suspected of kidnapping her two biological daughter from school Police are searching for a mother who is suspected of kidnapping her two biological children from school. Alicia Lapp, 33, is accused of taking Laila Pomtong, 9, and Solai Pomtong, 14, from their school in Greenville, in northern California. She is believed to have picked the girls up at 3pm. The Amber Alert issued on Friday applies to Butte, Lassen, Plumas, Sierra, Tehama and Yuba counties. Lapp is a white woman with brown hair and brown eyes. She weighs 105 pounds and is 5'2 tall. Her daughters are both Asian with black hair and brown eyes. Lalia is 4'6 and weighs 60 pounds and Solai is 5'5 and weighs 130 pounds. There were not details on what they were wearing at the time they were taken. Laila Pomtong (left), 9, and Solai Pomtong (right), 14, were allegedly taken by their mother from their school in Greenville Lapp was last seen wearing a green plaid shirt driving a Toyota Prius with California license plate number 7UHH003. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Plumas County sheriffs deputies at 530-283-6300. Advertisement The Special Air Service has launched a series of devastating aerial assaults behind Islamic States lines claiming a decisive victory over the terrorist group and paving the way for a final battle to wipe out the jihadis in their stronghold. The top-secret raids have secured a strategically vital air base in Syria from which Britain and its allies can attack the nearby city of Raqqa, where an army of terrorists are preparing to fight to the death. A monumental hydroelectric dam that the terrorists have been threatening to destroy potentially killing thousands of civilians was also captured after a brutal firefight that went on for several hours as the SAS-led forces met heavy resistance. The graphic above shows the four stages of how the Special Air Service launched a series of devastating aerial assaults behind Islamic States lines The daring operation, believed to be the first airborne infantry operations against IS, began with British Special Forces parachuting from thousands of feet under cover of darkness on a reconnaissance mission deep in enemy territory. The squad of elite SAS troops (whose exact number cannot be disclosed for national security reasons) jumped from a C-130 Hercules military aircraft and steered their parachutes towards a desert area west of Raqqa, where the Tabqa dam and Tabqa air base are located. They watched the jihadists at close range for several hours using night-vision goggles and identified the enemys strengths and weaknesses. This vital intelligence enabled the coalition against IS to finalise plans for the assaults days later on the two key strategic targets. On March 21, SAS troops joined soldiers of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in an assault on the dam. Jihadists defending the northern perimeter of the three-mile dam were shot dead while other IS fighters retreated to the southern end. As the battle raged, support came from US Marines who had crossed the Euphrates river in Combat Rubber Raiding Craft. The fighting continued for several hours, with the jihadists determined to hold their ground until they were largely defeated. Four days later, SAS and SDF troops were airlifted towards Tabqa air base, 25 miles from Raqqa. The SAS and SDF landed just south of the base and launched a ground attack supported by Apache helicopter gunships which fired 30mm cannons and Hellfire missiles at enemy defensive positions identified by the SAS reconnaissance team. The mission ended in complete victory, allowing the air base to be used as a launchpad for imminent operations against an estimated 4,000 jihadists in Raqqa. The SAS is training hundreds of SDF fighters at secret locations. They will be thrust into action in the operation to remove IS from Raqqa, which the jihadists once declared was the capital of the Islamic caliphate, and where the murderer Jihadi John was based. Specialist SAS soldiers, known as Forward Air Controllers, are being used to identify targets for coalition bombers and speak directly to pilots to ensure their munitions land in the right place. IEDs were everywhere. The guys were fighting on treacherous terrain This year there have been more than 300 air strikes around Tabqa and to the west of Raqqa. According to US Central Command figures, hundreds of IS fighters have been killed, while more than 200 fortifications and 50 IS vehicles have been destroyed but there have also been reports of civilian casualties as a result of US bombing. An SAS source said: The SAS jump was part of the recce phase before the raids on Tabqa dam, Tabqa air base and the capture of IS-occupied villages along the Euphrates river valley. Once on the ground, the guys identified ISs strong points and flagged up the proliferation of IEDs [Improvised Explosive Devices] which were everywhere, basically. The terrain underfoot was treacherous everywhere they went. The SAS guys were armed with assault rifles and pistols and had top cover from a Predator drone providing heavy machine-gun fire or launching Hellfire missiles if required. Military aircraft also dropped quad bikes, ammunition and heavy weapons which were used in the assaults. In particular, the recce team noted that the dam was particularly well defended by IS fighters. The daring operation was completed by a combination of SAS, SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces, above shows a member near Euphrates River, north of Raqqa city last month) and US Marines Following the raids on the dam and the air base, US military spokesmen heaped praise on the SDF, as part of a coalition strategy to enhance the reputation of local forces. US Colonel Joseph Scrocca said: It is the SDF on the ground putting their lives at risk and valiantly engaging the enemy. It is the SDF who are making the sacrifices so that other coalition nations do not continue to suffer the threat of IS terrorism inside their own borders. The top-secret role of the SAS and other international Special Forces troops was confirmed, however, by British and US sources, including a news website run by former American military personnel called Lima Charlie News. While the Tabqa dam has been largely wrested from the terrorists, its far southern end remains in IS hands. Although the threat has been minimised, there are still fears that in a desperate last effort to halt Western forces, the jihadists could destroy the dam, a move that would flood the river valley and cause thousands of deaths. IS may also have stockpiled poisons which it could use to contaminate the water supply. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: We do not comment on Special Forces. Elizabeth Smart, who has become a victims' rights advocate and reporter in the years since she was rescued from her kidnappers, will give birth to her second child on Sunday, according to her father Edward Smart. Smart, 29, is expecting a son with husband Matthew Gilmour, whom she married in 2012 in a private ceremony in Hawaii. The Park City, Utah, couple have a two-year-old daughter, Chloe. 'Everyone is excited and ready to meet the newest member of the family,' Edward Smart told People. 'Weve been babysitting her little girl today, looking forward to Sunday.' Elizabeth Smart (left) is expecting her second child with husband Matthew Gilmour (right) The Park City, Utah, couple is expecting a baby boy Her father, Edward Smart (left), said his daughter is 'ready for Sunday and is extremely happy' Although the activist and abduction survivor keeps her personal life private, her father said she is 'ready for Sunday and is extremely happy'. Elizabeth Smart has said that her 'greatest aspiration' was to be a mother. 'I wouldnt be here if it werent for my mom,' Smart said in 2014. 'My mom is a hero and has influenced my life more than any other person, and Id like to have that same influence on my children.' Smart was just 14 when she was taken from her bedroom at knife point on June 5, 2002, by Brian David Mitchell. It was on March 12, 2013 that Smart was found, nine months after she was last seen by her sister Mary Katherine being ripped from her bed and taken away from her home. Edward, Elizabeth and Lois Smart at the White House a month after their daughter was found in April 2003 Smart was discovered in Sandy, Utah, by a biker who had her story on America's Most Wanted Smart was just 14 when she was taken from her bedroom at knifepoint on June 5, 2002, by Brian David Mitchell (above) from her bedroom in Utah Smart was discovered in Sandy, Utah, and Mitchell and Wanda Barzee were arrested for abducting the teenager, was was subjected to repeated sexual assaults during her time in captivity. It was a biker who had seen Smart's story on America's Most Wanted who spotted the girl. On Friday, during her keynote speech at Brigham Young University in observance of April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Smart recalled her ordeal: 'Its not what happens to people, but how they react that defines who they are.' In recent years, Smart, who studied music at Brigham Young University, has become a sexual assault advocate and a special correspondent for Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen. A newly imposed tax increase will raise the prices of cigarettes in California by as much as 40 per cent thanks to voters. The majority of the Golden State residents voted in favor of Proposition 56 on November 8. The legislation imposes an additional two dollars per pack, making it the biggest tax hike on the tobacco products since the state began taxing them in 1959, the Daily Breeze reported. About 9million people voted yes for the tax, compared to the 5million who opposed. Tax hike: The 40 per cent tax hike is a result of residents voting yes on Proposition 56. Some brands will cost up to $10 a pack (stock photo) The extra two dollars will see some brand's prices rise up to $10 a pack, and cartons of cigarettes could cost an additional $20. It will also apply to electronic cigarettes. The extra fee is added onto an existing $1.01 federal tax approved by Barack Obama in 2009, and a state tax which charges 87 cents per pack. While the new law is meant to fight smoking addiction and collect revenue to increase health-care spending on low income Californians, some residents acknowledged that sales will eventually boost again. 'Of course were going to lose sales, but maybe only for a while,' store manager Doris Cruz told the paper. Cruz said smokers will eventually bounce back due to their addiction and because they'll grow accustomed to the tax law. However, this also raised concerns that poor California residents will put more of their money towards cigarettes, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. Bad news for smokers: Cigarette cartons could cost an additional $20 Professor of public policy and economics at the University of California Riverside Robert Kaestner told Daily Breeze the tax increase will have a marginal effect. 'The quantitative effect is very small,' he said. 'This two dollar price hike is not really going to reduce the number of smokers that much. Our evidence suggested that a 100 percent increase in the tax would reduce smoking by at most 3 or 5 percent. It is a very small effect.' Jay Prag, a professor of economics and finance at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, said smokers will potentially find ways around buying expensive cigarettes such as buying them out of state. 'What that will ultimately do is defeat two purposes of the bill. They wont get as much revenue from it, and they wont necessarily decrease the number of people smoking. People will simply find someplace else to buy them,' he said. The tax also raised concerns for sellers of e-cigarettes whose objective is to get people to stop smoking analog cigarettes. It was a chilly winters night. Juan Gilly had picked up a takeaway curry and was driving back to his home. Frustratingly, he got stuck behind a police van crawling along at 15mph. At a junction it stopped. Mr Gilly waited ten seconds, then seeing the coast was clear, he edged past. It was a big mistake. Moments later the vans blue lights were flashing and a shocked Mr Gilly found that he was being chased. He pulled over and was confronted by three burly officers, yelled at and handcuffed. He didnt fight back. A police body-cam shown in court would later reveal him insisting that he wanted to come in peace. But that didnt stop one officer pepper-spraying him in the face, temporarily blinding him. It would be shocking enough to discover that Mr Gilly was charged in December 2015 with causing the policemen harassment, alarm or distress under the Public Order Act. His ordeal only ended last week when Newcastle-under-Lyme magistrates found him not guilty and it emerged that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was investigating the use of the pepper spray. But what makes this story truly alarming is that the case was the culmination of what would appear to be a five-year vendetta waged by Staffordshire Police against Mr Gilly, an entirely innocent man. Staffordshire Police waged a five-year vendetta against Juan Gilly, an entirely innocent man (file picture) Such was the determination of a force that the Gillys MP has described as out of control to get its man, that it even turned on the wife who stood by him. More astonishing still, Julie Gilly was a serving Staffordshire officer. And after presenting evidence to her superiors that put her husbands innocence beyond doubt, she was subjected to what colleagues say was a campaign of intimidation that forced her to resign. It was no coincidence in Juan and Julies minds that the pepper spray incident occurred just five months after Mr Gilly was cleared of a much more serious charge pinned on him by Staffordshire Police. Mr Gilly had spent three years on bail facing the terrifying prospect of 18 years in jail after being falsely accused of being at the centre of a vicious street battle that he had absolutely nothing to do with. When he finally appeared in court on charges of wounding with intent and violent disorder, the judge said his alibi was the strongest he had ever seen. But despite being given full details of that alibi on the day he was arrested, the police refused to check it, prompting the judge to offer a heartfelt apology on behalf of the criminal justice system for ruining Mr Gillys life. Staffordshire Police have already paid a six-figure sum to settle his civil action for misfeasance in a public office, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. The motives for the campaign against the Gillys remain unknown, but this newspaper can reveal it is by no means an isolated case involving questionable methods by Staffordshire Police. Stoke South Labour MP Rob Flello isnt the only critic to say the force is out of control. One of its own officers, former Detective Inspector Joe Anderson, whose career was ruined after he blew the whistle on corruption inside an elite Staffordshire serious crime unit, used those exact words when talking to this newspaper. He said senior officers had for years shown a systemic failure to tackle wrongdoing. Some were more interested in protecting their brand than doing the right thing. This in turn has alienated the majority who do their jobs ethically. Mr Flello added: Ive been coming across cases that have caused me serious concern since I was elected 12 years ago, and others are still ongoing. To be aware of one incident seems unfortunate. His wife Julie Gilly, a serving Staffordshire office, right, was subjected to what colleagues say was a campaign of intimidation that forced her to resign To have at least half a dozen in one constituency is very worrying. I certainly think it has been a force out of control. To restore and maintain trust, there must be thorough investigations. There are some fantastic officers in Staffordshire, but their good name has been dragged through the mud by the behaviour of some of their colleagues. Meanwhile it was announced last week that Staffordshire Chief Constable Jane Sawyers is to be replaced by Avon and Somersets Deputy Chief Gareth Morgan after less than three years in the job. In another case unearthed by this newspaper, a judge at Birmingham County Court took the highly unusual step of awarding 5,000 compensation in 2013 to a woman who had been drugged and raped because the investigation by Staffordshire Police was so incompetent. They failed to gather vital forensic evidence, so fatally damaging the prospects of bringing her attackers to justice. Over the past three years the MoS has revealed: Shocking allegations first made by former Det Insp Anderson to Ms Sawyers, when she was running the forces internal affairs department, about corruption in the Sensitive Policing Unit, which he had been chosen to lead. This concerned several cases including the body in a barrel murder of cocaine smuggler Floyd Dodson, whose decomposing remains were dumped on a country lane. Mr Anderson said the key prosecution witness was paid an upfront sum before the alleged killers trial, so tainting his evidence. Responding to his disclosures, Ms Sawyers ordered only a management review, while Mr Anderson was threatened by another senior officer that if he went public he could be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act. Staffordshire Chief Constable Jane Sawyers is to be replaced by Avon and Somersets Deputy Chief Gareth Morgan Full details of the 2012 case when six mens convictions for killing boxer Kevin Nunes were quashed after judges said the forces behaviour was a serious perversion of the course of justice. Mr Anderson revealed that main prosecution witness Simeon Taylor was wined, dined and given drugs and set up with threesomes with prostitutes by officers while under their protection in a safe house. A damning internal police report was withheld from the trial. After a four-year IPCC inquiry, a file on Ms Sawyers was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, although she was not charged. Questions over the death of businessman John Merrick, whose body was found on a railway line near Tamworth. Police were convinced he jumped from a bridge, but a report by a Home Office pathologist said his injuries were not consistent with such a fall or by being hit by train. Inexplicably, Jon Arnold, the son of Staffordshires Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Arnold, was seen the next morning looking for something on the track where Mr Merrick died, but refused to make a police statement. The victims parents are convinced their son was murdered, and last week British Transport Police announced they were conducting a fresh review. Juan and Julie Gillys nightmare began on August 23, 2012, when at about 10.50 pm two branches of the same Asian family started a violent fight in Park Terrace, in the Tunstall area of Stoke. Weapons were used, a car window was smashed and the street was streaked with blood. One man suffered a fractured skull. By chance, Mrs Gilly, now 51, was serving at the local police station. Armed with a degree in psychology and forensic science, she had joined the force four years earlier. Over the past three years the MoS has revealed several examples of questionable behaviour by Staffordshire Police She was already trained in looking after sex assault victims and planned to specialise in tackling serious crime. Mr Gilly, 43, an Argentinian who met his wife in Tenerife, was running a security business. The couple have two children, then both at primary school. Juan knew some of those in the fight because he had provided security to local Indian restaurants. For reasons that have never been explained, someone fed his name to police and on August 24 he was arrested at 4.45am. As soon as he was interviewed, he told police he had been five miles from Tunstall when the brawl took place. First, he said, he went to the home of a friend, Sian Kirby. Both she and another man later confirmed in court this was true. Then, at about 11 pm he went for a drink at a nearby pub as the landlady would also confirm. The pub had CCTV but the police never asked to see the relevant footage. But the alibi did not rely on verbal accounts alone. While Mr Gilly was at Ms Kirbys house, his phone rang with his distinctive Godfather film theme ringtone. She said she liked it, and so, using her wi-fi, he sent it to her as an email attachment. Electronic evidence proved all this was true. Six mens convictions for killing boxer Kevin Nunes, left, were quashed; and allegations were made of corruption in the case of the murder of cocaine smuggler Floyd Dodson, right When, after many delays, the case came before Judge Robin Onions at Stoke Crown Court three years later, he said it was a story resonant with the truth. In all his time as a judge, he went on, I have never seen a more compelling alibi that was capable of proof by the police at an early stage. Yet the police never checked it at all. The consequences, the judge said, were devastating: Mr Gilly and his family have been caused enormous pain, distress and financial loss and all I can do is express my regret on behalf of the criminal justice system that its taken so long for the truth to come out. Even before he was charged, Mr Gilly told the MoS, he learned that the police were telling my clients I was in deep trouble and would be going to prison. To stay in business he needed a licence from the Security Industry Association. With such a serious case hanging over him, this was withdrawn. Meanwhile, his wife was also suffering. She made it clear to her bosses she was sure her husband was innocent and even sought unsuccessfully an audience with the Chief Constable. Instead of persuading the force to re-examine the case, she was told she was under investigation, accused of breaching police rules when she was at the very beginning of her service. One charge was that she had been a director of a wine company while already in the force although the firm never traded. Having taken weeks off work with stress, she returned in October 2013. To her relief she was told the charges against her had been dropped. Then, on January 11, 2015, Mr Gilly made an official complaint about his treatment. The following day the investigation into his wife was reopened. A few weeks later she left the force the job Id wanted to do since I was at school for good. To friends and colleagues, it looked like sheer vindictiveness. Between April 1, 2016, and December 31, 2016, the force received 181 complaints per 1,000 employees - in the bottom quarter of all forces Former PC Natalie Devaney, her Police Federation rep, said: Of course her treatment was connected to Juans case. She was challenging them, and that meant they had to get her. She was a casualty of a culture in which senior officers were determined to protect themselves. A defiant Mrs Gilly was allowed to defend her husband in court. It was enjoyable, in a weird sort of way. It was personal. This was about my husband, the father of my kids, facing a lengthy prison term. When Judge Onions dismissed the case, she said: We didnt really celebrate. We just went home, made a cup of tea, said to each other, Phew, thats over. Except, of course, that it wasnt. There was still the pepper spray incident to come. Mr Gilly said: Apart from five months, Ive spent the past five years on bail for things I didnt do. Having received damages for the earlier case, he is now suing the police again. Acquitted of the public order charge, he was found guilty and fined 120 for driving without reasonable consideration because he overtook the police van on the wrong side of the road. He intends to appeal, pointing out that on a single carriageway it is impossible to overtake in any other way. So why did the police go to such extraordinary lengths to victimise the couple? Mrs Gilly said: Weve racked our brains about this for years and we simply cant believe it was just incompetence. There has to be a reason. The only one weve been able to come up with is that the person who first lied to officers about Juan had some kind of special relationship with someone senior in the force, and even after it was clear he was lying, was being protected. The couples solicitor, Carolyn Gallwey, a partner at police malpractice specialists Bhatt Murphy, said: Staffordshire Police came close to destroying Juan and Julie Gillys lives by pursuing a prosecution based on a tissue of lies. The IPCC must get to the bottom of what is happening in this force. Deputy Chief Constable Nick Baker said last night: We endeavour to deliver an exceptional service and where we receive complaints we investigate thoroughly, are robust in our actions and processes, and lessons are learnt. Between April 1, 2016, and December 31, 2016, the force received 181 complaints per 1,000 employees. This is in the bottom quarter of all 43 forces. He refused to comment on any of the cases mentioned in this article because they were being investigated. He added: Our Chief Constable Jane Sawyers is retiring after serving the communities of Staffordshire proudly for the last 33 years. After a long career she is exploring new ventures. A secret spy chamber that was built by the mother of Ivan the Terrible has been found under a Moscow street. Archaeologists said the room was originally constructed beneath a 1.5 mile wall designed to protect Russians from Tatar and Polish raids during the 16th Century. The vaulted wall is believed to have created an acoustic effect that allowed Russians to easily hear the enemy on the other side. Russian archaeologists have unearthed a spy chamber in Moscow The chamber was discovered by builders doing construction work in the centre of the city The room was built by Elena Glinskaya, the mother of Ivan the Terrible, pictured The room was discovered by builders doing construction work in the centre of the city. Inside archaeologists found some 150 artifacts dating from the 16th to 19th Century. It is believed the chamber was last used as a spy room in the 17th Century during conflict with the Poles. During times of peace it was used to store food. Leonid Kondrashev, Moscow's chief archaeologist, told RT the room was built 'by Elena Glinskaya, the mother of Ivan the Terrible, who led Russia in the 1530s'. Experts will decide whether the chamber should be opened to the public or preserved as it is The vaulted wall is believed to have created an acoustic effect that allowed Russians to easily hear the enemy on the other side Inside archaeologists found some 150 artifacts dating from the 16th to 19th Century Another archaeologist who worked on the site told Interfax news agency: 'The majority of the artefacts are 18-19th century ceramics: fragments of pots, bowls, there is even a very well preserved ceramic cup. 'A dozen copper coins, lead trade sealing marks, iron knives, nails were also found.' Experts will decide whether the chamber should be opened to the public or preserved as it is. New Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez (pictured) gave a fiery speech against Trump on Friday The new Democratic National Committee chair lashed out against the Republican Party and the president, saying Trump didn't win this election. Tom Perez took the DNC position in February and worked up a crowd in Newark, New Jersey, when he unleashed a tirade against the opposition party. The labor secretary under Obama shouted on Friday: 'Donald Trump, you dont stand for our values. You didnt win this election.' His audience cheered as Perez told those at the rally hosted by the New Jersey Working Families Alliance that the GOP doesn't 'give a s**t about people.' Perez encouraged Democrats to resist Trump and his policies and referred to the president's reign in the White House as being 'a bully in Washington'. Scroll down for video The politician was elected to the role in February and said to the Newark, New Jersey, crowd: 'Donald Trump, you dont stand for our values. You didnt win this election' Perez also praised those who marched against the president and his administration on January 21, the day after the inauguration, The Daily Caller first reported. He was elected in late February to replace interim chair Donna Brazile, who filled the position after former chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down just before the Democratic National Convention last summer. The politician said in the speech: 'Donald Trump, that romance you have with Putin, it's not gonna do you any good, because we will resist. 'One week ago we did, and we did so successfully. Donald Trump wants his name around everything... but when it came to healthcare, he didn't want Trumpcare. 'So what do we call it? Trumpcare.... I'll tell you my idea.. you know what's my idea for a program? "I Don't Care," because they don't care about people.' At the end of his impassioned tirade, Perez said he wanted to make the fiery remarks in New Jersey because he wanted to 'learn about bullies' to help stop the 'bully in Washington', reported Fox News Insider. Perez encouraged Democrats to resist Trump and his policies. He praised those who marched against the president and his administration on January 21, the day after the inauguration After he was chosen for the DNC role, Perez asked every member of staff to send in a resignation letter as he plans for a major overhaul of the party's organization, it was revealed on March 28. It will give him the chance to completely remake the DNC's headquarters from scratch after it was damaged by hacks and accusations of favoritism during the disastrous 2016 election campaign. Every employee has been asked to submit their resignation letter by April 15, multiple sources told NBC News. A shadowy European Union fixer known as the monster is behind a campaign to punish Britain for cutting its ties with Brussels, it was revealed last night. Diplomatic sources said German lawyer Martin Selmayr, chief of staff to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, is malign towards the UK. Selmayr, credited with insisting Britain pays a 50 billion fine for leaving the EU, is a key member of the negotiating team who will line up against Theresa May when Brexit talks start. The 46-year-old has been branded a poisonous, merciless, ruthless, manipulative bully. He despises Boris Johnson, destroys those who fall foul of his boss Juncker and revels in his sinister reputation. Cabinet chief Martin Selmayr, left, with his boss President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker Mrs May has been warned that Selmayr is driving a bid to make sure Britain comes off badly in the talks. Selmayr says his passionate commitment to the EU stems from a schoolboy trip to the First World War trenches with his maternal grandfather, who told him his generation had a duty to keep the peace. His paternal grandfather, Josef Selmayr, learned the lessons of war the hard way: Josef, a Lieutenant Colonel on Hitlers General Staff in the Balkans, won three bravery awards, including the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. After his capture at the end of the war, he was handed over to the Yugoslav authorities by the British. In Belgrade in 1948, he was sentenced to 15 years in jail by a military court for war crimes. He was accused of ordering the deaths of Yugoslav leader Josef Titos Partisans who fought the Nazi invaders. He was freed after five years and helped found West Germanys Military Intelligence Service before becoming a general in its army, the Bundeswehr. It is one of the many bonds shared by Martin with his German-speaking EU boss Juncker, whose father, also named Joseph, was conscripted into the German Wehrmacht during the war. Formidable Selmayr is known as the monster of the EU Commission HQ and even 62-year-old Juncker is said to use the term jokingly. Unlike many EU figures who were dismayed by Brexit, Selmayr triumphantly declared it was good news. One report claimed he said he had observed it would help Europe to finally forge a new identity and he had done so in a crisp white shirt stained with red wine after a late-night EU summit. His larger-than-life boss Juncker shares his love of wine, and according to some accounts, occasionally drinks brandy at breakfast time. Selmayr's grandfather Josef was jailed for committing war crimes Selmayr is seen as paranoid by some because of his obsession with secrecy. He insists on marking any document given to fellow EU chiefs so he can track down leaks. And he has banned them from emailing Juncker direct, insisting they email him instead. He justified his secretive and authoritarian methods by claiming some commissioners leaked private talks with Juncker. He has lunch with them and five minutes later very confidential matters are out there in the media. That limits the possibility of consultation. Selmayrs poisonous methods were blamed by Bulgarias Kristalina Georgieva when she quit as EU Commission vice-president last October over his handling of issues including Brexit. In 2014, he was caught out censoring a testimony by EU Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, apparently without her knowledge or consent, because it was not in line with the political orientation of his boss Juncker. Selmayrs European power base goes much deeper than Juncker: he is a member of Angela Merkels Christian Democrats and she is said to hold him in high regard. His reputation as master of the dark arts led to the Brussels press corps portraying him last year as Darth Selmayr in a satirical review. With the Star Wars theme tune playing in the background, it said the EU empire was in the grip of a man who rules with absolute power and kills his enemies with a thought. His name, which many dare not speak, is Darth Selmayr. Little more than a year ago, Selmayr said his horror scenario for 2017 included David Cameron being ousted over Brexit and having to deal with Boris Johnson at EU summits. Now the nightmare has come true: Mrs May and Mr Johnson will be on the opposite side of the table to him in the Brexit talks. They face a monstrous challenge. The Gibraltar crisis worsened last night after the colonys government accused Theresa May of making it easier for Spain to use Brexit as an excuse to grab it back. Well-placed sources said Gibraltars Chief Minister Fabian Picardo asked Mrs May to include Gibraltars right to stay British in her Article 50 letter but he was ignored. And Spain raised the stakes by threatening to link the fate of the Britons who live in Spain to resolving the row over the Rock. Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo asked Theresa May to include Gibraltar's right to stayin her Article 50 letter, but he was ignored Some diplomats claim Mrs May blundered by not referring to Gibraltar in her letter to the EU setting out terms for Brexit talks. The EUs provocative reply stunned Downing Street by saying Spain could veto any Brexit deal by insisting on new talks on Gibraltars future. Sources close to the Gibraltar government said: The British Government was warned that the Spanish would use every trick in the book to use Brexit to get Gibraltar back on the table. Some diplomats claim Mrs May blundered by not referring to Gibraltar in her letter to the EU setting out terms for Brexit talks 'That is why we advised them to indicate in the strongest terms to the EU that this would not be tolerated. We were bitterly disappointed when we were left out. Former Labour Defence Minister Kevan Jones said: We cannot stand by while the British Government betrays the people of Gibraltar. The Brexit talks havent even started and Mrs May and David Davis have made a total hash of it. Spains Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy yesterday boasted of his coup in persuading the EU to include the fate of Gibraltar in the negotiations. According to reports, Rafael Hernando, spokesman for Rajoys ruling Peoples Party, said giving Spain a veto over Gibraltars future in the Brexit negotiations was an opportunity for Spain. Former Labour Defence Minister Kevan Jones said: We cannot stand by while the British Government betrays the people of Gibraltar' We take a positive view on anything that facilitates the reincorporation of Gibraltar into Spain, he said, adding that the British people had failed to reflect sufficiently on the consequences of Brexit. Mr Hernando added: We will work together to ensure this trauma at the core of the EU has the minimum consequences for all. And in a comment that may cause alarm in the expat community, he added Spain was home to hundreds of thousands of British property owners, not to mention the millions of British tourists. Until now, the EU has carefully avoided taking sides in the Gibraltar dispute: the EUs letter giving Spain the right to re-open it marks a notable hardening of its policy. Madrid has already indicated it would block a deal over aircraft landing rights in Gibraltar, which could see flights grounded. And it strongly opposes Gibraltars unfair ten per cent business tax. A UK Government spokeswoman last night reaffirmed its implacable support for Gibraltar, adding: We have consulted Gibraltar throughout about our approach to exiting the EU and continue to do so. Farmers reacted with fury last night to a proposal to axe their 3 billion in taxpayer handouts after the UK leaves the EU. Former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson told a secret Brexit seminar of former Cabinet Ministers at an Oxford college that Theresa May should follow the example of New Zealand, which ended government help for farmers virtually overnight in the 1980s. The shock forced a radical shake-up in the country, with sheep farms replaced by deer parks and vineyards. But critics claim it led to widespread economic distress and a sharp rise in suicides. New Zealand, pictured, ended government help for farmers virtually overnight in the 1980s During the session at All Souls College, attended by Eurosceptics John Redwood, Iain Duncan Smith and Peter Lilley, Mr Paterson argued that there were clear lessons to be learnt from the policy adopted by New Zealand which demonstrated that food production can increase when farmers are given the freedom to react to the market. In his speech, which has been studied by Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom, Mr Paterson said that since subsidies were removed, sheep numbers have halved, but a spectacular increase in productivity means New Zealand still produces a similar quantity of meat. But last night, the National Farmers Union hit back, saying New Zealand now had the highest rate of farmer suicides in the world. And one pro-Remain MP called it a potty plan which would drive food producers out of business. The 3 billion which British farmers receive each year from the EUs controversial Common Agricultural Policy accounts for around half of their total national income. The Government has only guaranteed that the subsidies will continue at their current level covered by UK taxpayers until 2020, the year after Brexit. A source close to Ms Leadsom said yesterday that Ministers were unlikely to follow the New Zealand precedent directly because the rug had been pulled away too abruptly, although the way in which subsidies are applied would be looked at closely. But Mr Paterson told The Mail on Sunday that the results in New Zealand had been spectacular: With subsidies, you had all these sheep doing terrible damage to the landscape, and disgusting wine which was only fit to be used as a car coolant. Now they have a fabulous viniculture and a highly productive, diversified sector. There is still a role for government subsidies, but only if there is a transparent public good or environmental benefit. Former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson told a secret Brexit seminar of former Cabinet Ministers at an Oxford college that Theresa May should follow the example of New Zealand At the Oxford gathering in January convened by Mr Redwood, an All Souls Fellow Mr Paterson said: The lesson from New Zealand is surely that farmers must look for the opportunities that exist both at home and beyond their borders. The rural collapse which was predicted by some did not occur there were only 800 forced sales from the 80,000 farms, and only around one per cent of farmers were forced to leave the industry. He added that he believed farmers should still receive taxpayer support, but it should be directed at areas such as the Lake District with specific needs, and where food production would not be economically viable without government help. Minette Batters, deputy president of the NFU, said: There is a lot of hype spoken about New Zealand. It is an entirely different natural environment, and after all the changes they have endured the country has the highest rate of farmer suicides in the world. Labour MP Mary Creagh, from the Brexit Open Britain campaign, said: As Britain leaves the EU, hard-working farmers need all the support from the Government they can get. It will terrify farming communities across Britain that hard Brexit enthusiasts are plotting in Oxford colleges to propose scrapping farm subsidies lock, stock and barrel after Brexit. Britain is not New Zealand, and evidence suggests that huge numbers of UK farms would be forced to shut their gates if Patersons potty plan was put into action. Flying air taxis and 'vertiports' could become fixtures across American cityscapes as companies including Uber race to introduce the technology. The taxis, called e-VTOLs or 'electric vertical take off and landing(s),' are being tested by multiple tech firms including Google and Airbus, the New York Post reported. One model, the single-passenger EHang 184 Autonomous Aerial Vehicle, is due to start flying in Dubai in July. The Dubai vehicles, which are made by a Chinese drone company, can fly a passenger who weighs less than 220 pounds for up to 23 minutes. Scroll down for video A model from Uber shows a 'vertiport' and an in-transit e-VTOL or 'electric vertical take off and landing.' The form of transport could be coming to American cities such as New York and San Francisco within a decade The single-passenger EHang 184 Autonomous Aerial Vehicle, made by a Chinese drone company, will start flying in Dubai in July Meanwhile, Uber in particular hopes to incorporate e-VTOLS into its ride-sharing service 'within a decade,' and will host a summit this April for tech moguls to brainstorm ideas. Uber's chief product officer told the Post: 'Flight is a natural extension of what we're doing.' The vehicles are not expected to be 'flying cars' so much as helicopter- or drone-like and are expected to use electric motors. But the vehicles, which may be expensive in the beginning, are expected to cost drastically less than a helicopter ride - and, being electric, better for the environment. A 50-mile trip in an e-VTOL could start out costing around $129 but eventually get down to $20, according to Uber. Uber estimated that a 50-mile trip in an e-VTOL could initially cost $129 but may go as low as $20 One expert raised concerns about the potential for such vehicles, which would fly low to the ground, to crash. Regarding the technology's use of 'ballistic parachutes' below 100 feet, airplane designer Eric Raymond told the Post: 'You could go into power lines, trees, water. 'The idea of a ballistic parachute is you'll probably survive the crash.' Proponents, however, insist that such kinks will be worked out before the technology is introduced to the US public. Salim Mehajer has been arrested after allegedly assaulting a taxi driver outside The Star casino in Sydney overnight. The former Auburn deputy mayor was arrested in Darlinghurst at 5.10am after jumping into a second taxi after the alleged incident, which is believed to have involved an EFTPOS machine. Mehajer, 30, is being questioned by police but no charges have been laid, according to The Daily Telegraph. Former Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer (pictured) has been arrested after allegedly assaulting a taxi driver outside The Star casino in Sydney overnight Mehajer was arrested in Darlinghurst at 5.10am after getting into a second taxi Police said the 38-year-old taxi driver's EFTPOS machine and mobile phone were found at the casino and will be examined during the investigation of the incident. The taxi driver was not injured during the alleged assault. 'A 30-year-old man is assisting with inquiries after the alleged assault of a taxi driver outside a Pyrmont entertainment complex this morning,' police told Daily Mail Australia. Mr Mehajer was arrested in Spain in November after another alleged fight with a taxi driver. The 30-year-old allegedly argued with the driver after he and his friends spilled food in the back of the car. He was not charged over the incident. The symbolism could not have been more stark, nor the power plays more loaded, when Europe formally responded to the historic triggering of Article 50 starting Brexit on Friday. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, stood at a podium in a baroque palace. He spoke about damage control, laid down Brussels terms for negotiation and made clear Britain was already on the opposite side of the table from the 27 other member states. This is my first divorce, he joked in his thick Polish accent. I hope it is my last one. Often unrecognised on the global stage Joseph Muscat is the prime minister of tiny Malta Beside him, fluently responding to reporters questions on EU strategy and security, stood a stocky, smaller man at a second podium. This was Joseph Muscat, often unrecognised on the global stage, the socialist prime minister of tiny Malta in whose splendid medieval offices the event took place. Now this man holds the destiny of our country in his hands. For make no mistake, the obscure Mr Muscat is every bit as crucial to our future as Monsieur Hollande or Frau Merkel. And doesnt he know it. Just 14 years ago Muscat was a prominent voice opposing his own nation joining the EU. Yet today this former radio journalist, educated in a British university, is soaking up his moment in the sun and lecturing us on the inferior deal Britain can expect at the end of Brexit negotiations. As leader of one of the 27 nations who must sign off on any deal, we must treat Malta every bit as seriously as France or Germany if we are to prosper. Muscat, pictured here alongside European council president Donald Tusk, is one of the 27 leaders who must sign off on any trade deal So it was Maltas red-and-white flag that stood alongside the blue-and-gold stars of Brussels for the cameras. And it was this tiny nation that saw presidents and prime ministers drop in last week to discuss Britains disruptive withdrawal. Yet Muscat is leader of the smallest member of the Brussels club, a country with a population the size of Bristols the city that provided him with a university education and a doctorate in philosophy. It is ruled by a government stained by swirling corruption rumours. And its entire economy is more than 20 times smaller than Britains single biggest firm. Yet thanks to Brexit, Malta can hold its former colonial master hostage underlining the cruel conflagration of history and geography ignited by last years referendum and causing waves of concern from Ireland to Gibraltar. Malta's entire economy is more than 20 times smaller than Britain's biggest single firm In a strange twist of fate this insignificant nation currently holds the rotating Europe presidency, placing its leader at the core of discussions over our future. Our terms of departure from the EU, our trade deals, our rights and our freedoms depend on winning agreement from the Maltese, the Cypriots, Croats, Czechs and all the EU crowd. Hence the significance of this politician a puffed-up pin-up of Europes Left pompously discussing the terms of our departure. For his very presence at that podium underscores the huge risks and high hurdles on the path ahead to Brexit. Just six months ago, after all, a Belgian regional parliament stymied a delicate EU trade deal with Canada. The Walloons, fearing competition for their farmers, won last-minute concessions by threatening a 1,600-page treaty that took seven years to negotiate. Yet even those intense discussions were a cakewalk compared with the mind-blowing complexities of Brexit. The Maltese, Cypriots, Croats and Czechs will all play a part in the terms of our departure with the EU After Fridays press conference ironically held on a public holiday to celebrate Maltas freedom from Britain when our last naval base closed there in 1979 I chatted briefly with Muscat and his aides. All insisted they sought a fair deal for both Britain and Europe. Yet the Maltese leader has called for Britain to be treated as roughly as Greece, forced to accept a harsh austerity package when it sought a bailout. Antonio Tajani, president of the European Parliament, said: 'We will lose less than the British' The same talk of a fair deal kept cropping up earlier in the week when 2,500 delegates descended on Malta for a gathering of Europes centre-Right grouping which the Tories quit after David Cameron became leader in his first, foolish and doomed attempt to appease Eurosceptics. Angela Merkel pointedly kept talking about 27 members of the EU in her speech as if Britain had already left. Afterwards Antonio Tajani, Italian president of Europes parliament, underlined their determination to ensure Britain does not win this tense divorce. We will lose less than the British, he told me. The British will lose the most. This was the message I heard repeatedly: we must suffer consequences since there must be costs to exiting the club. Otherwise, what is the point of its existence? So they are preparing for tough negotiations to protect their interests, insisting trade talks will only begin once Britain has settled its 50 billion bill and sorted citizens rights. When the British people see the real price tag that comes attached to Brexit they might think again about leaving, said a Merkel aide. Now think again about the implicit dangers when each member state must ratify our exit deal. Politicians from Baltic states told me they were not bothered about car deals or the City of London, focusing instead on protecting their citizens in Britain. Gibraltar has raised alarm over Spain winning a say on its future in Tusks draft document for Brexit strategy. The people of Malta - along with the 26 other EU countries - hold a veto over our prospects Note also how the EU is insisting Irelands border issues must be resolved and the peace process protected before we start to discuss trade deals. Now go back to Malta, this nation of 423,000 people that holds a veto over our prospects alongside 26 other countries. Malta may be small. But, like every EU state, it is a nation looking out for itself. They speak English, enjoy low taxes and, unlike other south European countries, have a thriving economy. A few crumbs from British business could make a big difference given their diminutive size. Already there are suggestions easyJet might move its base there to stay in the EU. Malta will benefit without doubt, said Jeremy Leach, whose fund management firm moved to the island two years ago. This is why Britain should take note of Muscats place at the top table. We must remember the shape of our country lies not just with the traditional power players of Germany and France, or in the markets beyond Europe in the Americas, Africa and Far east. It lies too with the Muscats and the Maltas, minnows who could yet threaten the big fish. Welcome to the new world order. Dont let on, but this is one of eastern Europes bargains. With 20 miles of beach lapped by the Baltic Sea and backed by pine forest, the Latvian resort of Jurmala three hours away by plane is ripe for discovery. Traditionally, its been packed with holidaying Russians, but sanctions against Putin are biting and prices have plummeted. Latvian charm: Sandy beaches and Art Nouveau villas prove an alluring mixture in Jurmala Now I can take my wife to dinner and not feel frightened of the bill, says my guide, Aldis. And it means visitors like me can buy a cup of coffee for half the price of one in Corfu. Hotels are a steal, whether they are a gabled wood Art Nouveau villas put up when Tsar Nicholas I and his family were popularising Jurmala or an Eighties hotel built when the Soviet Union still had Latvia in its grip. I opt for the immaculate Jurmala Spa hotel where the humungous breakfasts keep you going most of the day. One of the best things about Jurmala is that its only a 30-minute, 1.50 euro train trip from Riga, Latvias enchanting capital, with its medieval Old City, Art Nouveau quarter and opera or ballet at the Latvian State Opera House for little more than 10. Morning feasts: Adriaane opted to stay at the immaculate Jurmala Spa hotel I reel out of Rigas massive market, housed in and around five former Zeppelin hangars, with an armful of herbs, dried mushrooms, jam, bee pollen, honeycomb, an amber bracelet (amber is washed up all along the Baltic coast) and a carved pine cheese board, all for 27. At the former KGB HQ, I pay 4.50 for a tour in English, following the guide around blood-stained cells, interrogation rooms and a bullet-pocked courtyard all just as the hated secret police left them in 1992 when the Soviet Union withdrew. Back in the broad, pine-lined streets of Jurmala, I head for a bargain evening at the Thirties-built Dzintari concert hall. When Russians used to come, tickets were 50 and 70 euros. Now just seven. Best seats are 20! crows Aldis. Hurrah for that. And long may the Russians stay away. Amber Heard has claimed she is the victim of sexploitation. The actress is suing Christopher Hanley, the producer of the already legally-mired London Fields, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Hanley is already suing the 30-year-old for making unauthorized changes to the script and refusing to promote the film as per her contract. Another lawsuit: Amber Heard has claimed she is the victim of sexploitation, suing Christopher Hanley, the producer of the already legally-mired London Fields But in a counter-suit Heard accused the producer of breaking her nudity clause by secretly using a body double to film an 'explicit pornographic sex scene'. She claimed Hanley did this to deliberately mislead audiences into believing she had filmed the scene. The scene involves a female police officer, a female detainee, the hood of a car and a police baton. 'This case shines a spotlight on the dark underbelly of Hollywood,' her lawyers told a judge on Thursday. 'Amber Heard is the latest victim of this lascivious and sexploitive couple.' Counter-suit: Hanley is already suing the 30-year-old for making unauthorized changes to the script and refusing to promote the film as per her contract In the noirish dark thriller, based on Martin Amiss 1989 novel, focuses on Amber's Nicola Six, a clairvoyant femme fatale who has a premonition of her impending murder. She begins a tangled love affair with three men, one of whom she knows will kill her. It also stars Billy Bob Thornton, Jim Sturgess, Theo James, Jason Isaacs, Cara Delevingne and Jaimie Alexander, as well as ex-husband Johnny Depp in a cameo role. But the film has yet to see the light of day, after a bust up between Hanley and director Mathew Cullen. Plot thickens: In the noirish dark thriller, based on Martin Amiss 1989 novel, focuses on Amber's Nicola Six, a clairvoyant femme fatale who has a premonition of her impending murder. She begins a tangled love affair with three men, one of whom she knows will kill her It was pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015 after Cullen filed a lawsuit against for fraud, failure pay him, and taking away final cut. Prior to that the film had already spent a decade in production limbo, with directors like David Cronenberg, Michael Winterbottom and David Mackenzie all walking away at some stage. Heard also accused Hanley of demanding 'continuity photos' of her during filming, supposedly for ensuring her make-up was consistent from scene to scene. Row: But the film has yet to see the light of day, after a bust up between Hanley and director Mathew Cullen (pictured) She claimed he and his wife Roberta retain these pictures - which feature her in various states of undress - yet have no legitimate reason to do so. 'The Hanleys' prurient interest in exploiting Heard both on and off camera speaks volumes about their values,' the complaint claims. In response, lawyers for Nicola Six - confusingly the production company and also the name of Heard's character in the film - claimed the cross-complaint was a 'work of fiction' worthy of said character. Limbo: It was pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015 after Cullen filed a lawsuit against for fraud, failure pay him, and taking away final cut (stars Billy Bob Thornton and Jim Sturgess pictured filming in London in 2013) 'It marks the latest in a series of fantastical allegations she has made, including in connection with her high-profile divorce,' attorney Mathew Rosengart said, dragging her nasty split from Depp into it. 'It is nothing more than a meritless smear tactic designed to distract from her own misconduct.' 'Seeking the limelight, Ms. Heard excitedly signed onto the starring role in London Fields... and then for her own reasons, she illicitly tried to change the role and hijack the movie,' he added. 'Chris Hanley has an established track record as a supportive, talent-friendly producer, which makes the allegations all the more absurd. We look forward to taking Ms. Heards deposition shortly, when she will have to account, under oath, for her claims and misconduct.' She's the mum-of-four who is often seen posting candid snaps of her children to her social media accounts. But now, Rebecca Judd is calling for stronger paparazzi laws in Australia to protect children, just as daughter Billie has been announced as the face of Myer's new Barbie range. The 33-year-old told The Herald Sun on Saturday that she understands she is fair game in public spaces, 'but when children are involved... that's unacceptable.' Protecting kids: Rebecca Judd is calling for stronger paparazzi laws in Australia, saying children's faces should be blurred in the shots The Postcards presenter slammed the idea that people could follow her and her kids, then take advantage of them by selling the pictures they snapped 'for commercial purposes.' Bec said she found it 'appalling' people could take pictures of her children without her consent, saying 'I want to change that law.' The Channel Nine weather reader also indicated that she understood it appeared like celebrities complain about the paparazzi, but said the focus was protecting children. Face of Mattel: It comes as she participated in a photo-shoot with her daughter Billie for Myer's new Barbie campaign Barbie girl! The TV presenter posted a teaser photo of her and three-year-old Billie, with the full spread set to launch in May She posed the idea of having children's faces blurred in any paparazzi shots, claiming that they should be off limits. The comments come as her three-year-old daughter Billie was announced as the face of toy manufacturer Mattel's new Barbie range at Myer. The pair enjoyed some mother-daughter time earlier in the week in a shoot for the campaign, tucking into cupcakes and wearing pink crowns. 'I want to change that law': The Channel Nine weather reader indicated that she understood it appeared like celebrities complain about the paparazzi, but said the focus was protecting children Working with mum: Sharing the photo with her 619k Instagram followers, the proud mum-of-four expressed her joy at the mummy-daughter day with her 'little princess' Sharing the photo with her 619k Instagram followers, the proud mum expressed her joy at working with Billie in a tender caption. 'What an amazing day shooting the new @barbie winter campaign with my little princess. Stay tuned to a @Myer store near you...' Speaking about why she allowed her daughter to do the shoot, the model said she asked herself: 'Is it going to be fun for her and is she going to enjoy it?' Reasons: Speaking about why she allowed her daughter to do the shoot, the model said she asked herself: 'Is it going to be fun for her and is she going to enjoy it?' Family times: Bec is often seen posting photos of her children, including throwback snaps from their holidays Bec is often seen posting photos of her children, including eldest son Oscar, 5, and newborn twins Tom and Darcy. On Wednesday she posted a photo of her young boys to celebrate six months since welcoming the pair. Bec told The Herald Sun that she always considers what her kids want, asking them if they would like to be part of her photographs. 'If they don't want to do it, they don't do it, she said, adding: 'Youve got to respect your childs wishes.' It's television's night of nights costing taxpayers one million dollars a year to host. But the Logies could be leaving Melbourne for Sydney, with the Herald Sun reporting the gala's government funding isn't secured beyond the ceremony next month. It comes as the NSW opposition puts pressure on the state's premier to steal the ceremony away from Melbourne. Scroll down for video TV's night of nights moving to Sydney? Iconic Logies ceremony eyeing shift to Sydney as it's revealed Victorian taxpayers fork out $1 million a YEAR to host the celebrity gala (2016 Gold Logie Winner Waleed Aly pictured) The publication reports that the Victorian government is 'reviewing' its funding of the celebrity gala amid 'little financial return' for the million dollar annual price tag of the ceremony, which saw The Project's Waleed Aly take out top honours last year. A five year agreement to host the event ends after next month's Logies and the NSW government is reportedly interested in seeing the ceremony move to Sydney. The Logies have been held in Crown Casino's Palladium Ballroom for the past 20 years, hosted in Melbourne for all but a handful of years since the awards began in 1959. Melbourne born: The Logies have been held in Crown Casino's Palladium Ballroom for the past 20 years, hosted in Melbourne for all but a handful of years since the awards began in 1959 (2013 Gold Logie winner Asher Keddie pictured) Meanwhile NSW opposition arts spokesman Walt Secord has called for the ceremony to be moved to Sydney. 'It is time we showed Waleed Aly, Bert Newton and Eddie McGuire that the Logies belong in Sydney. Full stop,' he told the Herald Sun. 'It is on. It is time we got aggressive and took back our rightful place as Australias global city.' Would it be at the Opera House? Meanwhile NSW opposition arts spokesman Walt Secord has called for the ceremony to be moved to Sydney (2015 Gold Logie winner Carrie Bickmore pictured) Celebrities feted by the prestigious event have already expressed outrage at the Logies moving from Melbourne. In February, multi Logie winner Bert Newton quoted his wife saying it would be like moving the race that stops the nation. 'Patti said not having the Logies would be like Melbourne not having the Melbourne Cup,' he told News Corp Australia. This week, Kenya Moore of Real Housewives Of Atlanta was granted a restraining order against her ex Matt Jordan. And the reality personality isn't the only one who doesn't want him around. The 29-year-old fitness trainer was not invited to the show's reunion finale, according to a report from TMZ. According to a source close to the show, RHOA producers thought that Moore's ex was 'too violent' to bring back to the series. Persona non grata: Kenya Moore's ex Matt Jordan was not asked to join the Housewives for this year's reunion finale. This week, the reality star got a restraining order against her former boyfriend. Above you can see the pair during happier times, in early 2016 Kenya was granted a temporary restraining order against him Thursday, after alleging months of harassing behavior on his part. The E! star's legal documents claim that following their breakup, Matt was calling and texting the reality persona as many as 30 times a day. When she blocked his number, Jordan reportedly threatened her, telling a mutual friend last week that 'she'd get what she deserves'. The order require the fitness instructor to stay 200 yards away from his former partner and to cease all harassment of Kenya and her family. Loose cannon: According to TMZ, Jordan was not invited to the reunion because producers thought he was 'too violent'. Above you can see a shot from last year's Atlanta reunion finale, where Jordan is pictured top row, far right In addition to his troubles with Kenya, Matt also has a lengthy arrest record, having been arrested an impressive four times this past year. The reality personality says she and Matt ended their relationship after a disastrous vacation to Mexico last summer, which is mentioned in Kenya's legal filings. During the aforementioned Mexico debacle, Jordan reportedly called Moore a 'bitch' and 'c**t', and was also accused of kicking in the door of a hotel room. Moore has also accused him of throwing her clothes out of her house during an argument, damaging her property, breaking into her garage and spray-painting her security cameras, some of which played out for Bravo cameras. Better times: Kenya says she ended her relationship with the personal trainer after a disastrous trip to Mexico together last summer where he reportedly kicked in a hotel door and screamed obscenities at her. Above you can see the duo in January 2016 In an interview with TMZ on March 20 the actress explained: 'I have not dated him in over 6 months. He's been harassing me online, he's been threatening me.' 'I'm not going to just stand for it, I just want him to go away' Moore explained before telling TMZ that she would be taking legal action. Asked about the RHOA by Bravo's Daily Dish, Andy Cohen said 'it's always the most dramatic' of all of the Housewives reunions. RHOA's season 9 reunion airs in two parts, starting April 16 and finishing up on April 23 on Bravo. The Australian model hoped to relaunch her modelling career after making headlines for hanging out with Prince William and his pals during a Swiss vacation earlier this month. And according to the Daily Telegraph, Sophie Taylor, 24, has been inundated with modelling opportunities and offers since photos of the pair surfaced. The Central Coast beauty told the publication this week: 'I have a lot of people contacting me offering various opportunities.' 'I have a lot of people contacting me': Sophie Taylor, the Australian model pictured with Prince William, is fielding modelling offers after hoping the attention would reignite her career, the Daily Telegraph reports on Saturday Out they went: Sophie and Prince William reportedly 'went out and had a couple drinks' after photographs showed them having lunch and hi-fiving before dancing away until the early hours during a boys' ski holiday in Switzerland Since openly admitting she'd like the international attention to help reignite her modelling career on Wednesday, Sophie says she's been fielding a flood of offers. 'I am just considering all my options right now,' she said. The publication claimed while magazines and fashion brands are believed to have reached out, Sophie has also been offered to walk at Fashion Palette at the Art Gallery of New South Wales next week. 'I am just considering all my options right now': The publication claimed while magazines and fashion brands are believed to have reached out, Sophie has also been offered to walk at Fashion Palette at the Art Gallery of New South Wales next week Sophie works at the Farinet nightclub, the popular apres-ski hangout in Switzerland where Prince William, 34, and his friends were spotted. She was photographed high fiving the prince, who danced away until the early hours in footage captured during a boys' ski holiday in Switzerland. The blonde beauty also was pictured having lunch with the Prince earlier this month. She previously told the paper she hopes the attention would have a positive affect on her career. 'If anything could come from this, that is definitely what I would hope,' the former model told the publication. 'I loved modelling and I did not want to give it up': As she fields numerous offers, Sophie seems keen to get back into her modelling career after previous leaving he prestigious agency Chadwicks in order to travel She added that she had left her modelling agency, the prestigious Chadwicks, in order to travel. 'I left Chadwicks a few years ago when I went to travel. I loved modelling and I did not want to give it up, but I really wanted to go travelling,' she told the paper. Taylor flew back into Australia late last week but the leggy beauty told the paper that the trip home was planned weeks ago and had nothing to do with the recent attention she's gotten. New career? And according to the Daily Telegraph, the 24-year-old had previously said that she hoped the attention would help revitalise her modelling career Hopes: 'If anything could come from this, that is definitely what I would hope,' the former model told the publication Earlier this month, Sophie's mother came to her defence and said Sophie would never put Prince William 'in an awkward position'. She adds that the beauty is 'happy' with her boyfriend and there was nothing romantic about the encounter. 'She's very close with her boyfriend,' Joni Taylor told the The Kyle and Jackie O Show. The concerned mother said Sophie and the prince 'went out and had a couple drinks'. It's been 20 years since Luke Bryan lost his big brother Chris in a car accident back in November of 1996, and he's still recovering. 'When Chris passed away I was 19 years old, fixin' to chase my dream,' the 40-year-old country crooner recalled on NBC's Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist airing April 2. 'It just totally rocked our family's world, rocked my world...It makes you appreciate chasing dreams, you know. You're like, "Hey you get one go-round at this thing called life and it's very fragile, so you better go after your dreams."' Scroll down for video 'It just totally rocked our family's world, rocked my world': Luke Bryan lost his big brother Chris (R) in a car accident back in November of 1996, and he's still recovering The 40-year-old country crooner recalled on Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist airing April 2: 'When Chris passed away I was 19 years old, fixin' to chase my dream...It makes you appreciate chasing dreams, you know. You're like, "Hey you get one go-round at this thing called life and it's very fragile, so you better go after your dreams"' Tragedy has a way of finding the Georgia-born belter, whose sister Kelly mysteriously died age 39 in 2007 followed by her husband Ben in 2014. Luke (born Thomas Luther) and his wife of a decade, Caroline Boyer, are raising his 14-year-old orphaned nephew Til alongside their sons Bo, 9; and Tate, 6. And then a month ago, Bryan's infant niece Sadie Brett on Caroline's side passed away after battling a number of health issues. 'I think with everything that's happened in my family, I just have to lean on my faith and the understanding that God has a plan for all of us,' The Voice adviser explained to People in 2015. Life like a country song: Tragedy has a way of finding the Georgia-born belter (pictured Friday), whose sister Kelly mysteriously died age 39 in 2007 followed by her husband Ben in 2014 Blended brood: Luke (born Thomas Luther) and his wife of a decade, Caroline Boyer, are raising his 14-year-old orphaned nephew Til alongside their sons Bo, 9; and Tate, 6 Heartbreaking: And then a month ago, Bryan's infant niece Sadie Brett on Caroline's side passed away after battling a number of health issues 'We just wake up every day and do our best. I'll get down in the dumps, and then I'll meet a Make-A-Wish kid, and I'll ask myself, "What are you complaining about?" You just have to keep your faith strong and rock on.' For the fifth time, the Super Bowl 51 performer will co-host the Academy of Country Music Awards - airing this Sunday on CBS - in Las Vegas alongside 13-time Grammy nominee Dierks Bentley. And Luke's next concert takes place April 7 at Florida's three-day seaside Tortuga Music Festival in Ft. Lauderdale Beach Park. 'We're ready!' The Super Bowl 51 performer will co-host the Academy of Country Music Awards - airing this Sunday on CBS - in Las Vegas alongside Dierks Bentley (L) He's held the top spot for a fourth week with album Divide. And Ed Sheeran was advised by Elton John to take a break last year, warning him against becoming too 'omnipresent'. And the singing legend, 70, also gave the hitmaker, 26, a few frank words of advice- not to gain weight. Scroll down for video Be mysterious: Ed Sheeran was advised by Elton John to take a break last year, warning him against becoming too 'omnipresent' Speaking to Rolling Stone, he revealed he told Ed to take a break from the spotlight before the public had too much of him, adding: 'Yeah, he was so omnipresent I said, 'Ed, even I'm sick of you. Go away.' 'He just went to the Far East with his girlfriend, had a great time, put on a lot of weight, ate food and came back.' Following his smash comeback Elton described his break as the 'most brilliant thing he could have done', adding: 'One thing I said to him when he went, I said, "Don't put on weight," because he's very prone to put on weight like I am. And he came back heavy, but he lost it all for the album.' 'Don't put on weight,': The singing legend, 70, also gave the hitmaker, 26, a few frank words of advice- not to gain weight The Shape of You hitmaker - who is dating Cherry Seaborn - recently revealed he would love to have kids in the future. But he admitted he wants to wait until he stops playing his music around the world because he wants to focus on being a father to the little ones. He told Good Morning Britain: 'I dont want to be touring when I have kids, I want to be like nipping out every now and then and being able to actually be a father so yeah. 'I think I would definitely love kids, I would definitely love all the kids in the world but I dont want to have them right now.' He said: 'This is my idea of happiness; living in the countryside, having a multitude of children always around me and my wife by my side. 'Writing songs every day and then going to pick up my kids at school ... I'm ready [to be a dad], but then it's not me who have to carry a baby in the belly for nine months, so it's not just up to me.' Sean Penn was spotted looking slightly jet-lagged as he made his way through New York's JFK airport on Friday. Dressed smartly in an all-black outfit consisting of trousers, lace-up shoes, a T-shirt and blazer, the 56-year-old actor was seen lugging his baggage through the terminal. The Mystic River star seemed determined to keep a low profile as he walked through the airport solo, dragging a large suitcase behind him and carrying a smaller green bag. Taking off: A dishevelled Sean Penn was spotted at New York's JFK airport after having just come off a flight It's not known where the award-winning actor had returned from, but he was spotted looking worse for wear. His normally artfully messed up hair looked disheveled, and he appeared paler than usual, after no doubt enduring a long flight. It comes just two weeks after the notorious bad boy's son, Hopper Penn, revealed his dad had saved him from an addiction to crystal meth. Excess baggage: The low-key actor was spotted lugging his own bags through the terminal as he made his way to the exit Father figure: The Milk star and activist is dad to kids Dylan, 25, and Hopper Penn, 23, with ex-wife Robin Wright According to the once troubled 23-year-old, Sean dished out some tough love after watching his youngest child land in hospital due to an apparent overdose. 'I was doing a lot of stuff but meth was the main one that brought me down. I went to rehab because I woke up in hospital and my dad said, "Rehab? Or bus bench?" I was like, "Ill take the bed,"' Hopper told the Evening Standard this month. 'Thank God I got out of that because that was the worst time in my life. Because its not fun when it gets to a point where you just need it.' Hopper says his life fell apart after his parents - Sean and House Of Cards actress Robin Wright, 50 - divorced in 2010. Divorced dad: According to Hopper, his life fell apart after his parents divorced in 2010. 'It was not the best. It was tough, talking to them. Because they were both pretty broken too' '[I was] pretty mad because they had split up before and then got back together, and then they did it again,' he confessed. 'I was young and thinking, "Are you just f****** with me and my sister?"' 'I mean, it was not the best. It was tough, talking to them. Because they were both pretty broken too, I think.' And while he's since gone on to find moderate success in both the acting and modelling worlds, Hopper still maintains his job in a pizza restaurant. 'I wouldnt call myself an actor, really. Or a model,' the modest rising star admitted. 'On the acting side, Ive told myself when I do four movies, then I can consider myself an actor.' He's attending the highly anticipated wedding of Peter Stefanovic and Sylvia Jeffreys this weekend, in Kangaroo Valley, two hours outside of Sydney. And Richard Wilkins has applauded the luxury location that his Nine Network colleagues have chosen to tie the knot. The TV presenter told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday morning: 'It's lovely to be in this beautiful spot.' 'It's lovely to be in this beautiful spot': Richard Wilkins praises Peter Stefanovic and Sylvia Jeffreys Southern Highlands wedding location after sinking drinks the night before at rehearsal dinner at The Friendly Inn, in a comment provided to Daily Mail Australia on Saturday Happy to be there! Richard appeared in high spirits as he prepares to attend the much-anticipated Peter Stefanovic and Sylvia Jeffreys wedding this weekend in New South Wales Is this where Peter Stefanovic and Sylvia Jeffreys will exchange vows? Pair are rumoured to be tying the knot next to remote bushland rock formation dubbed by locals as 'The Rock Cathedral' Sylvia and Peter are expected to exchange 'I dos' at Kangaroo Valley at New South Wales' Southern Highlands on Saturday. Insiders claim they could say 'I do' beneath a mammoth rock formation, known to locals as 'The Rock Cathedral.' On Friday night, Richard was seen attending what appeared to be a rehearsal dinner hosted by the happy couple at local country pub The Friendly Inn. He was pictured socialising with wedding guests and the soon-to-be-wed media personalities during the private function. Invite only: On Friday night, Richard was seen attending what appeared to be an exclusive rehearsal dinner hosted by the happy couple Exciting times: He was pictured socialising with wedding guests and the soon-to-be-wed media personalities during the private function Smitten! Pete and Sylvia showcased a loved-up front at the event, with Pete often throwing his arm around his bride in the presence of close friends and family Richard appeared to get some one-on-one time with the in-demand pair during the busy gathering. He was seen enjoying a humorous conversation over a glass of wine, as Pete let out uncontrollable laughter at a comment exchanged during the chat. Richard gripped his white wine as he sauntered around the room at the celebratory late-night soiree. What a laugh! Richard appeared to get some one-on-one time with the in-demand pair during the busy gathering, sharing a humorous conversation that ended in Pete laughing with glee All smiles: Everyone appeared to be enjoying their time a the function Cheers! Richard gripped his white wine as he sauntered around the room at the celebratory late-night soiree He rugged up for the chilly weather, choosing to keep his black coat and scarf on while inside the pub. At one point, Richard was seen sipping on his wine as he spoke at lengths to the bride-to-be Sylvia on the eve of her wedding. Other known guests included singer Holly Candy(nee Valance), Today sports presenter Tim Gilbert and his wife Josie, Today host Karl Stefanovic and Pete and Karl's mother Jenny Stefanovic. Deep in conversation: At one point, Richard was seen sipping on his wine as he spoke at lengths to the bride-to-be Sylvia on the eve of her wedding The group: Other known guests included singer Holly Candy, Today sports presenter Tim Gilbert and his wife Josie, Today host Karl Stefanovic and Pete and Karl's mother Jenny Stefanovic Keeping warm: Richard rugged up for the chilly weather, wearing jeans, boots, a black T-shirt and a coat and scarf Cosy: He chose to keep his black coat and scarf on while inside the pub Inside the pub Sylvia cut a stunning figure in a red floral-patterned frock. The blushing bride was positively radiant as she styled her blonde locks in her signature bob and opted for a flawless application of natural makeup tones. Meanwhile, Pete looked suave in a white button-up, choosing to take off his suit jacket later in the night. Loved-up display! Pete and Sylvia were often spotted gazing lovingly at each other on the eve of their big day The blushing bride: Inside the pub Sylvia cut a stunning figure in a red patterned ensemble Bridal beauty! She was positively radiant as she styled her blonde locks in her signature bob and opted for a flawless application of natural makeup tones Close family and friends have arrived in the Kangaroo Valley over the last few days ahead of the event. The idyllic bush setting of Kangaroo Valley Bush Retreat is located between the regions of Shoalhaven and the Southern Highlands, less than two hours drive from Sydney and Canberra. Peter and Sylvia were an item on screen before they got together - co-hosting Today's Weekend Summer Series in 2013. 'That was the first time we met face to face and it was soon after that that we started courting,' Sylvia recalled in an interview last year. Years in the making: Pete popped the question to Sylvia in July last year while the couple were enjoying a romantic getaway in France, after confirming their relationship in 2014 after Sylvia replaced popular Today host Georgie Gardner Sylvia replaced popular Today host Georgie Gardner in June 2014, confirming her relationship with Peter around the same time. The 33-year-old then popped the question in July last year while the couple were enjoying a romantic getaway in France. Last week sources told Daily Mail Australia, that Sylvia Jeffreys will wear a bridal gown by Australian designer Rebecca Vallance for her wedding day. The journalist is a longtime fan of the dressmaker, whose flagship boutique is situated in Sydney's upscale suburb of Mosman. It is about to be fluffy slides at 20 paces in a US court. Puma are suing chain store Forever 21 accusing the company of copying a number of the Fenty X Rihanna designs created by Rihanna. The shoe wear giant is demanding the retailer not only stop selling the alleged rip offs but hand over all profits it has made from them, TMZ reports. Scroll down for video Headed to court: Puma are suing chain store Forever 21 accusing the company of copying a number of the Fenty X Rihanna designs created by Rihanna (pictured last month) The suit comes as Puma also took action against Topshop in a German court, getting an injunction to stop the store selling slides Puma said were direct copies. The songstress has served as the creative director for the Fenty X Puma range for over two years and her products often sell out. According to TMZ, Puma filed the suit in Federal court claiming Forever 21 had blatantly ripped off at least three of the pop star's designers. Rihanna and fashion fans have long commented on the internet about the similarities between the Fenty X Puma shoes and those sold at Forever 21. At war: The suit comes as Puma also took action against Topshop in a German court, getting an injunction to stop the store selling slides Puma said were direct copies In the suit, according to TMZ, Puma singles out three designs which it claims have been copied by the chain store. Puma holds patents and copyrights on the shoes' designs. These included the sold out Leadcat Fenty Fur Slide which did retail at $80, the Bow Slide which costs $90 and her suede Creepers, which costs $99. Her idea: The songstress has served as the creative director for the Fenty X Puma range for over two years and her products often sell out. She is seen here at the Fenty X Puma Paris Fashion Week Show earlier this month Forever 21 sells bow slides for $24.90, its furry slides cost just $18 and its creepers are $25. In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Puma argues by Forever 21 selling 'copies' it lessens the demand and stops the shoes being seen as luxury. The shoe giant admits that it keeps stock levels low on purpose to ensure this. Spot the difference: In the suit, according to TMZ, Puma singles out three designs which it claims have been copied by the chain store. Pictured left is Puma's bow slides which retail for $80 while right is Forever 21's $25 version Not so tops: Puma has been being granted a preliminary injunction by a German court to stop Top Shop from selling bow slides (pictured). The shoes remained on their website as on Friday According to the suit: '[Forever 21's] business model is based on trading off of the established goodwill of reputable, name-brand companies, such as Puma.' Forever 21 have been sued by brands including Adidas and Diane von Furstenberg that claimed their designs were copied. But Forever 21 has also sued other retailers over copyright claims also. Creepy similarity? Puma holds patents and copyrights on the shoes' designs and claims Forever 21's creepers (bottom) are copies of Rihanna's (top) Meanwhile in Europe, Puma went to court to block Topshop from selling bow and fur slides also. After being granted a preliminary injunction, Puma said in a statement to The Snobette that the company 'immediately reacted to the knock-offs that are being offered by TopShop'. '[Puma] has successfully applied for a preliminary injunction which orders Topshop to not sell anymore their knock-offs of the Puma by Rihanna models creeper, fur slide and bow slide. Fur will fly: The sold out Leadcat Fenty Fur Slide (above) which did retail at $80 appears to look a lot like Forever 21's version (pictured) 'The injunction has been granted by the High Court of Dusseldorf which has substantiated its decision with the fact that the Topshop copies infringe both Puma's design rights and also have to be considered as unfair competition/passing off. 'The Topshop decision is another one in a series of court decisions that Puma has enforced so far in order to stop infringers from copying their Puma by Rihanna and Fenty products. 'We will continue to take action to enforce our global intellectual property rights both against other brands who seek to trade off our designs and reputation and those who trade in counterfeit products.' Kyle Richards' can't wait to enjoy some good shopping. The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star rushed to pick up a purchase from Barney's New York on Friday. The 48-year-old looked fierce, sporting a wild leopard print top teamed with ripped jeans as she sprinted into the Beverly Hills department store. Shop til you drop! Kyle Richards stopped by Barney's New York to do some shopping on Friday As she jetted into the shop, the Housewife carried a loud yellow purse by Balenciaga, which she debuted the day earlier. Pulling her hair back into a high ponytail, the mother-of-four also covered her eyes with a pair of mirrored sunglasses. The reality personality added another pop of color to her cool look with green Gucci mules which she kicked up as she rushed from her car into the shop. Go Kyle, Go! The reality personality rushed into the store like her life depended on it, kicking up her green Gucci mules in the process Call of the wild: The mother-of-four's top was all about animal instinct, seen donning a tight tee in a leopard print pattern which was teamed with ripped jeans It's been go, go, go for Kyle, who was on The New Celebrity Apprentice this year, in addition to shooting RHOBH and developing her latest project, the series American Woman. The 70's era dramedy is inspired by Kyle's life story and set to debut early 2018, starring Clueless sweetheart Alicia Silverstone and Mena Suvari. The former actress will executive produce the show for TV Land, along with writer John Riggi. Spot of sunshine: The 48-year-old star carried a bold yellow purse by Balenciaga as she entered the department store There is still plenty of Housewives drama on the horizon, as the ladies continue to buck heads before next week's season seven finale. During a trip to Hong Kong last week's episode, Dorit Kemsley showed down with Lisa Rinna, who had earlier accused the fashion designer of doing drugs at a party she hosted. The final episode of Housewives promises to be an epic showdown between the 90210 based ladies. The Bravo finale airs on April 4. Forget High School Musical, it is time for style school musical. Ashley Tisdale stepped out in the hottest new jean trend as she stopped by Barney's New York. The star headed to the upscale department store in Beverly Hills, California, on Friday. Strut it out: Ashley Tisdale stepped out in the hottest new jean trend as she stopped by Barney's New York in Beverly Hills, California, on Friday While she emerged empty handed, she did show that she is right on top of the latest trends. For her shopping session, Ashley stepped out in a pair of jeans from AG which had two different washes on each of her legs. Aside from the two tones, the pants were hacked off and frayed at the bottom and had the pockets removed. The deconstructed denim still had the shape of the pockets on them thanks to the wash process. Jean-ius: For her shopping session, Ashley stepped out in a pair of jeans from AG which had two different washes on each of her legs That's different: Aside from the two tones, the pants were hacked off and frayed at the bottom and had the pockets removed She paired the new look denim with a hooded sweater from LA IT girl loved label Rodarte. The star accessorized the look simply by adding a pair of white boots and a black cross body bag. The High School Musical star's ombre locks were out and styled with a soft wave. Warm and fashionable: She paired the new look denim with a hooded sweater from LA IT girl loved label Rodarte Ashley then wore large black oversized sunglasses which covered a large portion of her almost makeup-free face. While it is always refreshing to see a star show off their natural beauty, it was a curious choice as Ashley recently launched her own makeup company. Since last year she has been promoting her new collaborative line with BH Cosmetics, Illuminate By Ashley Tisdale. Ryan Seacrest continues to prove why he's one of Hollywood's top dogs. The multimedia mogul, 42, came to the aid of Mercedes, a listener of his radio program, On Air With Ryan Seacrest, when she needed help with her beloved pooch Romeo. Mercedes told the former American Idol host that Romeo was facing a potential double-amputation of his hind legs after rupturing his ligaments, which led to a critical case of arthritis. Scroll below for audio Hot diggety! Ryan Seacrest, 42, came to the aid of Mercedes, a listener of his radio program, when she needed help with her beloved pit bull Romeo Mercedes, speaking to the mega-successful Keeping Up with the Kardashians producer on his Tell Me Something Good segment, said the only other alternative to the amputation would have been a costly surgery, to the tune of $8,000. With Ryan's donation, Mercedes was able to pay for a series of surgeries, one of which took place March 13, with the other slated for May. The selfless Seacrest covered the tab for Mercedes, who told him how she spent time in foster care during her youth, and what a strong source of support the canine has been for her. Sour puss: The pit bull mix Romeo was in jeopardy of losing his legs until Ryan ponied up $8,000 to fund a pair of surgeries Emotional meeting: Ryan brought his dog into the studio for a rendezvous with Romeo and Mercedes 'I really kind of isolated myself from the world at one point,' she said of her dog, 'and he kind of helped me get out of that.' She revealed how she was spurred to acquire a pet after a TV spot on animal cruelty impacted her emotionally. 'I was feeling down that week and I looked online and I saw these dogs needed to be rescued,' she said of Romeo. 'When we got him, he was very emaciated and he was three weeks old. So we took him in and I bottle fed him.' An owner's love: Both Mercedes (L) and Ryan tended to their dogs during the studio outing Door prize: Ryan sent Mercedes home with a gift basket for Romeo, who underwent surgery this month On his Instagram page, Seacrest posted shots of the meeting - which he brought his dog Georgia to - expressing a message of optimism for the recovering dog. 'Georgia and I finally got to meet Romeo and his mom Mercedes after they called the show a while back and broke my heart with their story,' Seacrest said. 'I had to help out Romeo with a couple leg surgeries he really needed... now he's recovering well from the first operation and has one more to go. Good luck champ.' She is set to see her youngest son Peter Stefanovic wed Sylvia Jeffreys on Saturday. And Jenny Stefanovic was all smiles as she walked arm-in-arm with sister Anita at The Friendly Inn, located in Kangaroo Valley on Friday night. The Stefanovic matriarch looked elegant in her all-black and sparkly, sheer-sleeved frock as she left the rehearsal drinks venue. All smiles: Jenny Stefanovic looked elegant in her all black sheer sleeved frock as she left the rehearsal drinks venue, while her sister Anita appeared surprised at the awaiting media outside of the pub Jenny appeared to be in high spirits as she made her way out of the pub, beaming in anticipation for Peter's big day. Meanwhile, her sister Anita seemed startled by the awaiting media frenzy outside. Anita kept her look casual in a pair of jeans, a black zip-up hoodie and a pair of black flip flops. Just trying to get through: Jenny was seen walking towards the parked cars where her smile turned into a slight frown Sister sister! Jenny and Anita walked arm-in-arm as the awaiting media watched guests leaving the venue Later on, Jenny was seen walking towards the parked cars where her smile turned into a slight frown. It was likely she was making her way to a vehicle that was waiting to take her back to Ooralba Estate where the wedding party is staying. She arrived in Kangaroo Valley, in the New South Wales Southern Highlands earlier on Friday. Preparation mode: Jenny arrived at the Kangaroo Valley venue, in the New South Wales Southern Highlands earlier on Friday Wearing a fitted blue dress, a yellow cardigan and casual flat sandals, Jenny cut a casual look as she brought in her things to prepare for the big day from her car. The sisters were later seen walking together around the quite country town enjoying each others company ahead of the festivities. Before making her way to the luxury country venue, Jenny spent her Thursday at an intimate ladies' luncheon with her future daughter-in-law Sylvia Jefferys in Sydney. Jenny has been a featured guest on the Today show in the past, appearing alongside her son and co-host of the breakfast program and Peter's older brother Karl Stefanovic. He's no stranger to using social media as a platform to air his oft-controversial views about health. And celebrity chef Pete Evans, 42, has once again taken to his keyboard with claims that fluoride is poisonous. On Saturday, the reality TV star posted to Instagram a photo of a tap water and the poison symbol, writing that he was concerned about the 'mass fluoridation of public water'. Scroll down for video 'Educate yourself': Pete Evans goes on Instagram rant slamming the 'mass fluoridation of public water' with a poison symbol Alongside the poison symbol of tap water, Pete wrote that everyone has 'the right' to decide whether they consumed water piped into homes, adding the hashtag '#educateyourself'. 'I am concerned about mass fluoridation of public water, and I strongly believe that if people want to add fluoride to their drinking water then they should, but it should be a choice that each person has the ability and the right to make for their own household,' Pete captioned the photo. Fluoride is added to water to prevent tooth decay and is endorsed by Australian medical bodies. 'I strongly believe that if people want to add fluoride to their drinking water then they should': Alongside the poison symbol of tap water, Pete wrote that everyone has 'the right' to decide 'Water fluoridation is without exception being endorsed by ALL credible health bodies (not only oral health) in Australia and all over the world,' Menzies Health Institute's Jeroen Kroon told The Sydney Morning Herald. It's not the first time Pete has spouted his anti-fluoride views, supporting a Western Australian anti-fluoride group in 2014. Pete has made a slew of controversial claims over the years, including that vegan women should eat meat during pregnancy, that osteoporosis sufferers should not eat dairy, and that Wi-Fi causes health problems. He doesn't drink from the tap! It's not the first time Pete has spouted his anti-fluoride views, supporting a Western Australia anti-fluoride group in 2014 Raising eyebrows: Pete has made a slew of controversial claims over the years, including that vegan women should eat meat during pregnancy, that osteoporosis sufferers should not eat dairy, and that Wi-Fi causes health problems Last year, Pete said it was 'silly' to use 'normal sunscreen' as it was full of 'poisonous chemicals,' before telling a fan that he doesn't generally wear sunscreen. Pete has also previously published claims that camel milk is 'nearly identical in its total composition to human milk' and could 'supplement regular breastfeeding'. However, The President of the Public Health Association of Australia, Professor Heather Yeatman, told the Daily Telegraph that camel milk is 'not a substitute for breast milk'. His children's paleo cook book Bubba Yum Yum was also pulled from shelves, with an expert from the Public Health Association of Australia saying that a bone broth recipe for infants could kill a baby due to its high vitamin A content. If Lisa Vanderpump's career as a reality star falls through, she might want to consider air hostessing. The 56-year-old Vanderpump Rules star stepped out in Beverly Hills on Friday dressed in an air hostess inspired outfit. The brunette beauty was spotted strolling through the streets of the luxurious suburb dressed in long navy blue pants, a black Polo Ralph Lauren blazer and white button-up shirt. Flying high: Lisa Vanderpump was spotted out in Beverly Hills on Friday dressed in an air hostess inspired outfit She had a pink scarf tied around her neck and toted a black and white designer handbag. It sees Lisa returning to the neighborhood that first made her famous. But despite her breakthrough role on The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills, the businesswoman hinted she may be ready to walk away from the long-running hit series. During an interview with Access Hollywood in December, the glamorous star confessed she almost didn't sign on for the show's seventh season. In the dog house: The reality star was seen visiting her newly opened dog shelter in Beverly Hills Getting real: The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star admitted she almost didn't sign on for the show's seventh season 'I was reticent because I felt the last season was just so aggressive towards me,' she confessed. 'Im not a victim in it because I did hit back and the audience were great and really supported me, but it just went down a road I just thought, "I dont think I can do this anymore."' She said an honest meeting with the show's producers ultimately convinced her to change her mind. Fed up: 'I was reticent because I felt the last season was just so aggressive towards me,' she confessed of not wanting to return to the show 'Id been on it for quite a few years, but then I met with them - I didnt start until a couple of weeks after everybody else - and Ive had such a great time on it and it was just really a couple of really negative episodes and I thought that shouldnt define the whole experience because its given me so much.' But Lisa hinted despite smoothing things over, her days on reality TV may be coming to an end sooner rather than later. 'Ive done 250 episodes of reality television now,' she added. 'Its a lot.' He was spotted sharing a few drinks Friday night with his fellow Channel nine presenters, before Peter Stefanovic and Sylvia Jeffreys wedding. And after getting a coffee pick-me-up Saturday morning, Richard Wilkins decided to chow down on one of of 'the world's best pies'. The Channel Nine presenter was spotted by an Instagram user as he stopped at The Kangaroo Valley Pie shop. Pie time: After getting a coffee pick-me-up Saturday morning, Richard Wilkins decided to chow down on one of of 'the world's best pies Richard cut a tired figure as he stepped out in the morning, first stopping to grab some coffee. He was spotted by Instagram user Matt Egan though, who reported that Richard made an appearance at the Kangaroo Valley General store around 10am. Posting a photo of the stunning Fitzroy Falls, 20 kilometres away, Matt captioned the moment with a nod to the Channel Nine star. 'Second most beautiful site I've seen on this trip. First was @richardwilkins getting ready to dig into "The world's best pie" at the Kangaroo Valley General store at 10am this morning,' he wrote. Spotted! Instagram user Matt Egan though reported that Richard made an appearance at the Kangaroo Valley General store around 10am Digging into a pie: The user wrote that he saw '@richardwilkins getting ready to dig into "The world's best pie" at the Kangaroo Valley General store'Saturday morning Richard was spotted sporting navy sweat pants, a black coat with an upturned collar and his trademark hairdo, on the outing. The media personality shielded his eyes from the light with dark designer shades, before dashing to the car to get ready for his friends nuptials. The TV presenter told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday morning: 'It's lovely to be in this beautiful spot.' Created in store: The pies at the Kangaroo Valley Pie Shop are made fresh every day, without colourings or flavourings 'World's best pies': The store sells a number of savoury pies and treats, including traditional Aussie pies and the fan favourite Steak and mushroom pie Established in 1880, the Pie Shop claims to deliver patrons 'the world's best pies', which they can enjoy while checking out the stunning views from its verandah. Among their offerings are the six types of meat pie and one vegetarian option, including the Traditional Aussie and the fan favourite Steak and Mushroom. The store make their pies fresh on the premises every day, without commercial sauces, ingredients, colourings or flavourings. Instead they are said to bake them from scratch from a special recipe. Stunning spot: The TV presenter told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday morning: 'It's lovely to be in this beautiful spot.' On Friday, Richard joined a raft of Channel Nine colleagues at The Friendly Inn at Kangaroo Valley in the lead up to Sylvia Jeffreys and Peter Stefanovic's wedding Sylvia and Peter are said to be wed at a luxurious resort at Kangaroo Valley on Saturday afternoon. While the wedding locale is being kept closely guarded, rumours suggest the pair could say their vows beneath a mammoth rock formation, known to locals as 'The Rock Cathedral.' He is known to be one of the most notable comedic actors in the film industry. And off screen, Adam Sandler is just as much of a leading man when he's with his family. The 50-year-old treated his loving wife and two daughters to a fun Friday in Maui, Hawaii where they had a blast surfing and sunbathing on the beach. Scroll down for video Making a splash! Adam Sandler took his family to Maui, Hawaii on Friday where the foursome enjoyed surfing and the sun Svelte mom! Adam's wife of 14 years, Jackie Sandler, looked amazing in a pastel blue bikini that showed off her toned legs and taut tummy The 50 First Dates star - who frequents the sunny state often - decided to make the day more eventful by teaching his family some tricks on the surf board. Wearing a bright, golden-yellow long sleeve shirt and matching trunks, it was hard to miss the actor, as he was spotted splashing in the water. His wife of 14 years, Jackie Sandler, looked fabulous in a pastel blue bikini that highlighted her toned legs and taut tummy. Action-packed: The 50-year-old actor decided to make the outing eventful by grabbing a surfboard and teaching his family some tricks Famous father: The 50 First Dates actor demonstrated some tips for his precious girls, Sadie, 10 and Sunny, eight She later threw on a black zip-up jacket and a light brown straw hat to block from the sun. 10-year-old Sadie and eight-year-old Sunny, each sporting colorful bathing suits, seemed to love being in the company of their parents. The eldest jumped in on the water sport with her famous father as the youngest bonded with her mom on the sandy beach. Let me show you how it's done: Adam frequents Hawaii quite often with his family Let's go! The funny man sported a bright yellow long-sleeve shirt and swimming trunks Having a blast! The eldest daughter, Sadie, was loving the fun day in the sun And Adam certainly has a reason to celebrate as of lately. He recently inked a four-film deal with his second family, Netflix, as the digital company announced their continuation to work with the Billy Madison actor. 'Love working with Netflix and collaborating with them,' the star said in a statement. 'I love how passionate they are about making movies and getting them out there for the whole world to see. Theyve made me feel like family and I cant thank them enough for their support.' Has her back! Sunny watched from the sideline as she jumped on her mom's back Daddy's little girl: The actor is just as much of a leading man on screen as he is off screen with his adoring family Hug it out: The girls bonded together Doting parents: Adam and Jackie attended to their youngest girl His movie release with Netflix, which will be produced under Adam's Happy Madison Productions, marks him as the first major movie star to bypass theaters. The first two films that the pioneering digital platform produced with the comedian was The Ridiculous Six and The Do-Over. The next film under the Netflix deal - Sandy Wexler - is slated to release on April 14 and will revolve around Los Angeles in the 1990s and also stars Jennifer Hudson, Kevin James, Terry Crews, Lamorne Morris, Nick Swardson, Rob Schneider and Jane Seymour. 'Adam Sandler is one of the leading comedians in the film world, and his movies have proven to be extremely successful with our subscribers around the world,' Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said last week in a statement. 'We are thrilled at the opportunity to extend our partnership with Adam and his entire team at Happy Madison and keep the world laughing.' Celebration: The Big Daddy star has a lot to celebrate as he recently inked a four-film deal with his other family, Netflix Kourtney Kardashian stripped down to just a white terry-cloth towel for yet another lifestyle blog post for her official subscribers. The 37-year-old KUWTK reality star detailed her daily four-step body moisturizing regimen - which involves organic coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, detox salts, face oil, and a silk pillow case. 'My nighttime routine consists of a relaxing bath with detox salts. Soaking relaxes the body and extracts toxins from your skin,' Kourtney wrote on KourtneyKardashian.com on Friday. Scroll down for video Skincare tips: Kourtney Kardashian stripped down to just a white terry-cloth towel for yet another lifestyle blog post for her official subscribers 'Before I go to bed, I apply Manuka Doctor face oil on my [decolletage], chest, hands, and feet and then put socks on to hold the moisture in. Also, I always sleep on a 100% pure silk pillow case.' The Calabasas socialite just so happens to be a paid brand ambassador for the New Zealand skincare company, but she's promoted far more dubious ventures. Kardashian previously advised her eye-popping 92.5M social media followers to drink controversial 'teatox' Flat Tummy Tea and squash their organs with Waist Gang Society trainers. According to Forbes - the half-Armenian beauty, Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi, Lindsay Lohan, and Amber Rose are paid upwards of $200K for each sponsored Flat Tummy Tea post. Advice: The 37-year-old KUWTK reality star detailed her daily four-step body moisturizing regimen - which involves organic coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, detox salts, and face oil Kourtney wrote on KourtneyKardashian.com on Friday: 'Before I go to bed, I apply Manuka Doctor face oil on my [decolletage], chest, hands, and feet and then put socks on to hold the moisture in' On the payroll: The Calabasas socialite just so happens to be a paid brand ambassador for the New Zealand skincare company, but she's promoted far more dubious ventures That being said, Kourtney - who got breast implants at age 22 - is arguably the most natural member of her fame-hungry family. Her ex-partner Scott Disick dubbed her 'the master of healthy eating' for their three children - Mason, 7; Penelope, 4; and Reign, 2. 'I don't want to jinx [our co-parenting style],' the 33-year-old real estate heir told People on March 19. 'I don't think we know any other way, to be honest. We never had any negativity between us and we made a very smooth transition into the way we live, and luckily, we're able to see one another and still be with our children and, knock on wood, that we have that. Victorian Era undergarment: Kardashian previously advised her 92.5M followers to drink controversial 'teatox' Flat Tummy Tea and squash their organs with Waist Gang Society trainers Ka-ching! According to Forbes - the half-Armenian beauty, Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi, Lindsay Lohan, and Amber Rose are paid upwards of $200K for each sponsored Flat Tummy Tea post First born: That being said, Kourtney - who got breast implants at age 22 - is arguably the most natural member of her fame-hungry family 'Thank God we have that and everyone is somewhat happy and it seems to work. It's not broke, so don't fix it.' The University of Arizona grad officially ended her on/off nine-year romance with her philandering babydaddy in October 2015. Fans can catch more of the 5ft brunette and her clan on the 13th season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which airs Sundays on E! 'They eat pretty healthy': Her ex-partner Scott Disick dubbed her 'the master of healthy eating' for their three children - Mason, 7; Penelope, 4; and Reign, 2. He's had a turbulent few weeks of late. But Jeremy McConnell was feeling reflective as he took to Instagram on Friday night with a throwback picture of himself and two friends. The Irish model, 27, credited his friends for their support and admitted that although he may not seem appreciative, he is 'grateful' for the continuous help they have given him over the years. Scroll down for video 'I'm very grateful': Jeremy McConnell, 27, credited his childhood friends for being a continuous support to him in a reflective Instagram post on Friday In the old photo, Jeremy is pictured looking years younger. He captioned his post: 'Crazy looking at the path of growing up, I have great friends that know who they are and I may not show them how much I appreciate the help they have given me as well as support from management etc. 'I'm very [grateful] and wanna thank everyone who has helped me.' Jeremy's post comes amid claims he is seeking treatment for 'drug addiction'. According to his ex-girlfriend Stephanie Davis, the Celebrity Big Brother star has agreed to check into rehab. Getting help: The Irish model has agreed to check into rehab for 'drug addiction', according to his ex-girlfriend Stephanie Davis The former Hollyoaks actress, 24, claimed Jeremy will spend six weeks in an unknown treatment facility to beat his issues with substance abuse. Vowing to stand by her former flame, Stephanie told OK! Online: 'He has agreed to go to rehab for six weeks. It will be quite immediate. Jeremy knows that he is 100 per cent in the wrong.' Despite a difficult few months, which have seen Jeremy accused of abuse, Stephanie explained that her on/off beau was not a 'bad person' - but simply someone who needs help. She said: 'He has done things that aren't good. But he isn't a bad person - deep down, he's not an evil vindictive person.' A spokesperson for Jeremy McConnell declined to comment. Supportive: Stephanie, who shares son Caben-Albi with Jeremy, vowed to stand by her ex, stating: 'He has agreed to go to rehab for six weeks. He that he is 100 per cent in the wrong' Stephanie was also quick to acknowledge that his alleged actions may not have only been heightened by substance abuse, but also the passing of his father earlier this month - having already lost his mother, brother and sister in childhood. However, the beauty affirmed she would support him through rehab to avoid the situation getting worse, and resulting in tragic consequences for both him and Caben-Albi. Revealing he was now banned from seeing his son until he was clean, she finished: 'For Jeremy this is get help or die situation. So I said to him, you either get help or that's it, you lose him for good.' Stephanie claimed the Irish model had suffered a drug problem for over a year - with a video of Jeremy snorting a mysterious white powder surfacing in January 2016. That July, the former Hollyoaks star had gone on to claim Jeremy was 'always out drinking and taking drugs', which she said heightened his paranoid behaviour around her. The couple got together last January after meeting in the Celebrity Big Brother house, but split shortly afterwards following an endless string of blazing rows. Troubled: However she was quick to acknowledge that his alleged actions may not have only been heightened by substance abuse, but also the passing of his father earlier this month After endless tensions throughout her pregnancy as Jeremy staunchly denied he was the father of her child, the pair then rekindled their relationship a few weeks after Caben-Albi was born in January. However, the pair seemingly split again earlier this month when Jeremy allegedly assaulted his former flame while he was staying at her home in Liverpool - which Stephanie now implies is down to his addiction. The Irish model was taken into police custody at a Merseyside police station in North West England a few days after the alleged incident for questioning - just days after Stephanie shared a shocking photo of her brusied legs to Instagram. Last chance: Revealing he was now banned from seeing his son (above) until clean, she finished: 'For Jeremy this is get help or die situation. So I said to him, you either get help or that's it, you lose him for good' A spokesperson for the station said: 'Following a report of an assault at an address in Stephenson Grove, Rainhill, a man has this morning (16.03.17) been arrested. 'A 27-year-old man from Liverpool city centre has been arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage after voluntarily attending a police station on Merseyside. He remains in police custody for questioning.' Jeremy was later released from custody but it remains unknown whether he was charged with assault and criminal damage. Despite Stephanie's support of Jeremy through his stint in rehab, the pair's relationship status is still confusing fans - after the pair appeared to once again declare their love for each other on social media. Hacked: Stephanie Davis has claimed that she had been hacked on Twitter - therefore dismissing her loving exchanges with ex Jeremy McConnell as fake However Stephanie went on to claim that she had been hacked - deeming her exchanges with Jeremy as fake. While the Irish hunk has remained silent on the matter, the 24-year-old took to Twitter on Friday to reveal an anonymous user had intruded on her account, and posted the tender messages to her ex. Having sensed trouble the previous evening when the mysterious posts began to emerge, she had first written on Thursday: 'Someone hacking my twitter deleting tweets and unfollowing people, wonder who that is girl!' However, after deleting an array of seemingly romantic messages and images to Jeremy, 27, she confirmed to her followers she had been hacked on Friday morning by writing: ''Got my twitter back! Crazy what people will do! Passwords changed!' 'Crazy': After deleting an array of seemingly romantic messages and images to Jeremy, 27, she confirmed to her followers she had been hacked on Friday morning She then proceeded to delete the Tweets written by the alleged hacker - which saw her tell Jeremy she loved him, in light of their famously turbulent relationship. While the Hollyoaks actress remains adamant her account had been tampered with, Jeremy has remained silent on the matter - having shared an intimate post of the couple with their son Caben-Albi. On Thursday, he posted a sweet snap with his ex-girlfriend playing with their newborn - captioning it with a heart on Instagram and '#NewProfilePic' on Twitter. The tattooed hunk had then confused fans even further over their relationship status by following the image up with a Tweet, which read: '@Stephdavis77 I love you [middle finger] everyone else.' Happy families: Meanwhile Jeremy has remained silent on the matter - having shared an intimate post of the couple with their son Caben-Albi (above) On again? The tattooed hunk had then confused fans even further over their relationship status by following the image up with a declaration of love to his ex Only adding fuel to the fire, Stephanie then replied to the message with the tender message: 'I love you too.' She then followed the declaration of love up with the images of two romantic quotes. One read: 'Love is a meeting of two souls, fully accepting the dark and the light of each other, bound by the courage to grow through struggle into bliss.' While the other said: 'All relationships go through hell, real relationships get through it.' Troubled: Jeremy's touching snap had caused confusion among fans, following his bold claims in which he alleged Stephanie was putting 'hits on his head' in a series of Tweets Despite exciting fans for a reunion, after they endured a tumultuous split prior to her pregnancy, Stephanie's accusations now throw the claims of love into question. Jeremy's touching snap had caused confusion among fans, following his bold claims in which he alleged Stephanie was putting 'hits on his head'. Taking to Twitter on Tuesday night, he tweeted, then swiftly deleted: 'People saying hits on my head by Steph.' He went on to share a screenshot of a worrying whatsapp conversation, in which the words 'gun' and 'scared' were visible. In yet another convoluted twist in the tale, prior to his terrifying notes he shared a 'throwback' video with his giggling son Caben Albi as his embattled Stephanie appears to laugh alongside. Earlier in the week, Stephanie broke her silence over the assault charges brought against the Irish star, in which he reportedly attacked her earlier this month. Sweet: In yet another twist, prior to his terrifying notes he shared a 'throwback' video with his giggling son Caben Albi (above) as his embattled Stephanie appears to laugh alongside Once he released his video, in which Stephanie's distinctive laugh appears to be heard in the background, some fans ventured to assume the duo were back together, while others pointed out it seemed to be a throwback. The night before the snap was posted, Stephanie said she will 'always love' Jeremy, just weeks after his arrest on suspicion of assaulting her. In a series of now-deleted Twitter messages posted on Monday, the actress defended her ex saying that although what he is alleged to have done is 'wrong', she will 'always be there'. The following morning, the stunner reportedly took to the site to reveal she was: 'Emotionally and mentally drained. Time for a change. Madness how much u can help someone to just have it thrown back in your face. Thanks for all the support.' Former couple: Once he released the video, in which Stephanie's distinctive laugh appears to be heard in the background, some fans ventured to assume the duo were back together, while others pointed out it seemed to be a throwback Loving: Hours before Jeremy posted the snap, Stephanie also took to Twitter to share an adoring image of Caben, as she shared an image of Caben luxuriating on a play mat where she simply captioned with a love heart emoji After Stephanie's notes, Jeremy appeared to be yearning for his son, as he shared the incredible sweet video while playing with Caben. Although his face was not seen, his tattooed hands were visible as he cooed over his son before adding a caption on the shot reading: 'What a dude'. Initially followers speculated if they reunited yet others noticed it was an old clip due to the changed appearance of the baby. Users penned: 'its from when he was with her caben is much more chunky now.... its from way back you can tell cabens grown chunky since then... Heard Steph's laugh! Back together?' Giggling away: Hours before Jeremy posted the snap, Stephanie also took to Twitter to share an adoring image of Caben, as she shared an image of Caben luxuriating on a play mat where she simply captioned with a love heart emoji Matching? The throwback idea was echoed in the fact that Jeremy appears to be draped in a towel, which dangles over Caben's cot - similar to the first image he shared with his son three weeks ago, as he stood with wet hair seemingly straight from the shower in the shot also taken in black and white The throwback idea was echoed in the fact that Jeremy appears to be draped in a towel, which dangles over Caben's cot - similar to the first image he shared with his son three weeks ago, as he stood with wet hair seemingly straight from the shower in the shot also taken in black and white. Hours before Jeremy posted the snap, Stephanie also took to Twitter to share an adoring image of Caben, as she shared an image of Caben luxuriating on a play mat where she simply captioned with a love heart emoji. Jeremy was taken into police custody earlier this month over claims he assaulted former the Hollyoaks actress after moving to Liverpool to live closer to his son and the star - yet he has maintained a low-profile since his release. Laughing away: Jeremy was taken into police custody earlier this month over claims he assaulted former the Hollyoaks actress after moving to Liverpool to live closer to his son and the star - yet he has maintained a low-profile since his release Speaking out: After remaining silent on the issue for some weeks, fans were stunned on Monday when Stephanie took to Twitter to discuss the legal and emotional woes which riddle the couple - yet soon deleted the notes Stephanie and Jeremy's love story began when they starred together on Celebrity Big Brother in January 2016 before becoming embroiled in a toxic romance which ended in April - a month before she announced she was expecting. After a bitter nine-month battle in which Jeremy denied paternity, once he was proved to be the father he swore to step up and moved from his native Dublin to be with her in Liverpool. Earlier this month however Stephanie was reportedly 'shaken' after calling the police on Jeremy at her home. Merseyside Police confirmed to MailOnline that Jeremy was taken into custody after voluntarily coming to the station. After remaining silent on the issue for some weeks, fans were stunned on Monday when Stephanie took to Twitter to discuss the legal and emotional woes which riddle the couple - yet soon deleted the notes. Stephanie penned: 'Jeremy knows he's done wrong. To do wha the did to the mother of his child, he knows isn't right...U can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. I have done all I can regardless what has been thrown in my face... 'He had made the choice to block me after saviour paranoia and that's his choice not mine. To the press, u will always love him... 'But u can't help someone who needs to help them selfs! I will always be there for Jeremy. But he now needs to help himself. (sic)' Moving on: Stephanie went on to praise the heavily inked heartthrob for deciding not to appear on 'Ex on the Beach' for the sake of her and their son, and said she refused to let people 'say anything bad about him' Stephanie went on to praise the heavily inked heartthrob for deciding not to appear on 'Ex on the Beach' for the sake of her and their son, and said she refused to let people 'say anything bad about him'. She added: 'I'll love him always and always be there but sometimes u have to be cruel to be kind I hope he comes back the person I fell in love with 'I won't have anyone say anything bad about him. He has his own Desmond's to deal with. He decided not to ex for me and Caben 'To prove he loves & wants to be with us. He may be horrible to me but I'll always stand by him. He has Deamona to sort of for good... I wish him well despite blocking me after u forgivable behaviour. When he gets help. Done with being abused metaly and all (sic)' She not only stars in the upcoming flick The Zookeeper's Wife, but was an executive producer on it too. And Jessica Chastain looked absolutely sensational as she attended the screening for the historical drama at The Landmark in Los Angeles on Friday. The American actress, 40, put her best sartorial foot forward in a plunging figure-hugging patterned dress, which showcased her lean legs. Scroll down for video Stylish: Jessica Chastain, 40, looked absolutely sensational as she attended the screening for her upcoming movie The Zookeeper's Wife at The Landmark in Los Angeles on Friday Jessica proved to be the star attraction at the screening as she posed for photographs in her stylish ensemble. The two-time Oscar nominee wowed in the garment which teased at her ample assets with its scooped neckline. Her clingy dress went on to place emphasis on her trim midriff, before falling just above her knees. The California born beauty boosted her height in a pair of towering black heels as she cosied up to the movie's director Niki Caro and producer Kim Zubick. Stunning: The American actress put her best sartorial foot forward in a a plunging figure-hugging patterned dress, which showcased her lean legs Injecting some sex appeal: The two-time Oscar nominee wowed in the garment which teased at her ample assets with its scooped neckline Enviable frame: Her clingy dress went on to place emphasis on her trim midriff, before falling just above her knees Girl power! The California born beauty boosted her height in a pair of towering black heels as she cosied up to the movie's director Niki Caro (L) and producer Kim Zubick (middle) The picture is based on the book of the same name written by Diane Ackerman and boasts an all female team of producers, including director Niki. Thrilled to work with so many talented women on the movie, Jessica has said about The Zookeeper's wife previously: 'It was definitely a girls' group. 'It's a labour of love for me. It's an incredible story about this great female hero that has been untold.' Talented: Despite the film not being in cinemas just yet, Jessica picked up the Female Star Of The Year award at CinemaCons Big Screen Achievement Awards on Thursday night Despite the film not being in cinemas just yet, Jessica picked up the Female Star Of The Year award at CinemaCons Big Screen Achievement Awards on Thursday night. Accepting the award, the actress got very animated as she spoke about her upcoming film. In the film, the star plays a Polish zookeeper's wife who helps save Jewish families by hiding them at the zoo after the Nazis invade the company. It's set to hit the big screen in the UK next month on April 28. Plot: In the film, which will hit UK cinemas on April 28t, the star plays a Polish zookeeper's wife who helps save Jewish families by hiding them at the zoo after the Nazis invade the company An Australian supermodel has become the first transgender woman in history to appear on the cover of GQ Portugal. Blonde beauty Andreja Pejic features on the front of the dual-cover international fashion magazine's April edition wearing a silk camisole with a revealing a sheer flesh-coloured bra. And the 25-year-old looks equally as stunning inside the publication, posing for a number of stylish snaps. Cover star: Andreja Pejic is the first transgender woman to grace the cover of GQ magazine Pictured with her long blonde locks flowing over her shoulders, the Bosnian-born stunner is seen posing on a bed, sitting on a chair and leaning against a wall. Showing off her trim legs in one image, Andreja looks ethereal as she lounges in a lace bodysuit and white corset. The beauty also showed off her slender physique, wearing only a loose fitting top and underwear. Poser: Pictured with her long blonde locks flowing over her shoulders, the Bosnian-born stunner poses for shots on a bed, sitting on a chair and leaning against a wall Bed bound: Showing off her trim pins in one image, Andreja is seen in a lace garment and a white corset Fashionista: The beauty also showed off her slender physique, wearing only a loose fitting top and underwear Andreja took to her Instagram on Friday to share the cover shot by Branislav Simoncik and celebrate her proud moment. 'I'd say this cover represents me getting my long awaited revenge on all those boys who didn't wanna hold hands in public when I was finding out about love for the first time,' she captioned. 'However, all pettiness aside MUITO OBRIGADO (thank-you very much) to the good peeps at @GQPortugal for the award and this little moment in history. I only hope we can all increase the sorcery in 2017.' Recognition: The blonde beauty won GQ's 'Female Model of the Year' in October 2016 Big decision: The 25-year-old beauty announced her sexual reassignment surgery in 2014 It's not the first time the magazine have recognized the glamorous bombshell, in October 2016 she won the 'Female Model of the Year' title at the GQ Portugal Awards. 'To be honest, I never expected this moment. GQ is such a classic and respected men's magazine and, while I am very proud of everything I've achieved, my modelling career has been everything but classic,' she told GQ at the time. 'So, in a way, this is a meeting of two different worlds and it represents progress. Coming soon: The International model allowed a documentary film crew to capture parts of her transition to female which will be released 2018 Andreja revealed details of her sexual reassignment surgery publicly in 2014. Parts of her transition were filmed for an upcoming documentary due to be released by 2018. 'It's a really important part of my life that we filmed and the cameras filmed some of the most personal parts of my transition that I would never imagine sharing with the world, but I felt I had a responsibility because there are young people that are watching,' she told Vogue. 'You need to give them something to help them out without prejudice.' Following the personal changes, she became the first transgender model to feature in American Vogue in May 2015 and was the first transwoman to grace the cover of Marie Claire Spain in March 2016. She signed up to star on national dating series The Bachelorette. But in this week's The Thinkergirls podcast, Georgia Love revealed desire in keeping life with her chosen beau Lee Elliott private. 'I don't want to share everything!' the 28-year-old said. 'I don't want to share everything!' The Bachelorette's Georgia Love, 28, revealed her desire to keep life with Lee Elliott, 35, private, in this week's The Thinkergirls podcast, despite appearing on a national dating reality series 'I don't like when people come out of these (reality dating) shows and go, 'You know, we're not going to share anything about our relationship with the public',' Georgia began. 'And I kind of thought, 'Well hang on. You've met in this public way, you've brought us in and we're invested, don't just shut us out',' she continued. 'But then of course, being in it, I've gone, 'Well yeah, you know what? I don't want to share everything with everyone!'' Her man: Georgia famously chose model and plumber Lee on the last season of The Bachelorette Australia Downside of fame: But despite bringing the public into her love making decisions, Georgia would like some level of privacy Georgia famously chose model and plumber Lee Elliott on the last season of The Bachelorette Australia. The highly-anticipated finale episode saw the brunette journalist choose the 35-year-old over fan favourite Matty Johnson, 30. And ever since, Georgia has not been shy in sharing snaps of everyday life with her genetically-blessed beau to social media. She's smitten: And ever since, the brunette journalist has not been shy in sharing snaps of everyday life with her genetically-blessed beau to social media Not just red carpet: Georgia often captures the more mundane moments of everyday life to her Instagram account Numerous images see the pair either putting on affectionate displays at various social events, or the more mundane of tasks such as shopping, eating and going to the gym. Meanwhile, Lee appears to have no qualms in sharing snippets of life with his famous girlfriend. The charmer often gushes over Georgia in a series of snaps shared to Instagram. Gushing: The high-profile pair have no qualms in declaring their love for one another She is often considering one of the most beautiful women in the world. And Penelope Cruz proved just why on Friday when she dazzled in a plunging dress with a coordinating cardigan as she joined film director Pedro Almodovar close a film series dedicated to Pedro Almodovar in Madrid, Spain. The 42-year-old stunner showed off her age-defying good looks as she sizzled in the chic gown which matched both her boots and cardigan in a flawless display. Scroll down for video Cheeky! Penelope Cruz proved just why on Friday when she dazzled in a plunging dress with a coordinating cardigan as she joined film director Pedro Almodovar close a film series dedicated to Pedro Almodovar in Madrid, Spain Penelope looked simply sensational for her turn at the event as she showed off her eye-popping cleavage from beneath the plunging neckline. The bottom of the dress flared out at her knees, in a shape which perfectly highlighted both her long legs and tiny waist. In a gentle stab at covering up, she fastened one button at the top of her cardigan which perfectly matched the dress to create a perfect two-piece. To keep the outfit totally coordinated, she also sported staggering boots with a studded detail around the ankle, which drew attention to her pins. Stunner: The 42-year-old stunner showed off her age-defying good looks as she sizzled in the chic gown which matched both her boots and cardigan in a flawless display Sizzling: Penelope looked simply sensational for her turn at the event as she showed off her eye-popping cleavage from beneath the plunging neckline Look at me! The bottom of the dress flared out at her knees, in a shape which perfectly highlighted both her long legs and tiny waist Her sleek tresses were worn in shoulder-tickling lengths falling from a dramatic side-parting while her make-up was flawlessly applied. Proving her attention to detail, she wore dazzling diamond earrings which perfectly complemented the silver adornments on the ensemble. Penelope was the talk of the show as she strutted in while a mass of cameras pointed towards her hoping to catch a glimpse at the beauty. All eyes on her... Penelope was the talk of the show as she strutted in while a mass of cameras pointed towards her hoping to catch a glimpse at the beauty Hey there! Her sleek tresses were worn in shoulder-tickling lengths falling from a dramatic side-parting while her make-up was flawlessly applied Absent from the festivities was her Oscar winning husband Javier Bardem - who most recently enjoyed a trip to London with his love in January. The couple married in 2010 and are parents to their kids, Leo, 5; and Luna, 3. After co-starring in an impressive nine films, the Oscar-winning couple will share the screen for the 10th time in this year's biopic Escobar. Nowhere to be seen: Absent from the festivities was her Oscar winning husband Javier Bardem - who most recently enjoyed a trip to London with his love in January Pete Evan's wife Nicola Robinson has been vocal about the upcoming removal of her breast implants. And on Saturday, the former kiwi model managed to find a link between an image of a bat that had flown into her bedroom and her upcoming surgery. After claiming the nocturnal creatures symbolise transformation, the personality spoke candidly about her own metamorphosis, expressing regret for 'naively' sewing the implants into her chest. Her breast segue? Pete Evan's wife Nicola Robinson shared an image of a bat that flew into her room on Instagram Saturday, before changing the subject to focus on her upcoming breast explant 'Shikoba, Anais & I awoke to a bat flying around our bedroom this morning...' Nicola captioned the confronting close-up of a lost bat on Saturday. Shortly after, fans began reminding the paleo personality that bats symbolised 'rebirth.' Ultimately, the chorus of comments discussing the animal's transformational powers prompted Nicola to once again remind her fans she was getting a breast explant. Regret: After claiming the nocturnal creatures symbolise transformation, the former model spoke candidly about her own metamorphosis, expressing regret for 'naively' sewing the implants into her chest Free: 'On the 2nd of May I'm finally freeing myself of the two burdensome implants that I naively had sewn into my chest back when I was seeking self acceptance in all the wrong places 'On the 2nd of May I'm finally freeing myself of the two burdensome implants that I naively had sewn into my chest back when I was seeking self acceptance in all the wrong places,' she began the lengthy comment. 'I definitely feel like my whole being is going to feel a whole new sense of liberty.' Threading the tangent back into the post's original subject matter, she added: 'I felt so blessed to have experienced such a unique little visitor.' Soon after, another fan ignored Nicola's attempts to steer the conversation back to the transformational power of bats, instead expressing regrets for her own breast implants. In response, the model offered a second lengthy reply. Liberty: 'I definitely feel like my whole being is going to feel a whole new sense of liberty,' she added 'It's been such an intrusive, expensive & painful journey to find my way to true self love,' she wrote. 'I felt an immense amount of guilt for choosing what I once viewed as pure vanity, but in truth it all just boils down to a deep fear that I learned from a very young age.' Moving onto her second consecutive comment, she added: 'I'm actually really looking forward to just having teeny, tiny little bewbs that are all mine (sic).' 'It's the operation & the recovery time that has been my deepest fear, hence the reason Iv put it off for far too long! 19 years ago I thought big bewbs were glorious, now I view all bewbs as truly glorious, miraculous, life nourishing gifts, no matter what their appearance might be (sic),' she added. Guilt: 'I felt an immense amount of guilt for choosing what I once viewed as pure vanity, but in truth it all just boils down to a deep fear that I learned from a very young age Looking forward: Moving onto her second consecutive comment, she added: 'I'm actually really looking forward to just having teeny, tiny little bewbs that are all mine (sic)' Nicola did not mention the lip fillers and Botox she had admitted to regretting in a previous post. The Nutrition enthusiast is rapidly approaching her May 2nd explant appointment date. Fans will be able to follow her journey in the lead up to surgery, with the personality known for being very responsive to any queries on the matter. She was born six years into the decade. Yet Bella Hadid did not let that stop her borrowing from the Nineties in style as she headed out in NYC on Friday, while looking incredibly chic in flared stonewash jeans paired with a black bomber jacket. The 20-year-old supermodel looked sensational as she tucked a skin-tight black polo neck into the jeans to best exhibit her slender figure while giving an edgy touch with her bomber jacket. Scroll down for video Legs eleven: Bella Hadid did not let that stop her borrowing from the Nineties in style as she headed out in NYC on Friday, while looking incredibly chic in flared stonewash jeans paired with a black bomber jacket Bella is typically seen in scanty ensembles on runways for the world's most prestigious fashion houses, although she showed in her downtime she is inclined to wrap up her famous figure. The black top clung to every curve, ensuring although she was wrapped up she was still flaunting her figure to perfection. Her stonewash jeans looked vintage in style, with a stonewash detail atop a dropped hem with frayed detailing which gave a ragged look. Bella cinched in her tiny middle with a brown belt attached to the jeans, which contrasted dramatically with the otherwise all black look. Great jeans: The 20-year-old supermodel looked sensational as she tucked a skin-tight black polo neck into the jeans to best exhibit her slender figure while giving an edgy touch with her bomber jacket She boosted her already staggering height with the addition of pointed suede boots which also lengthened her legs in a perfect style. Although the streets were dark, Bella pulled on a pair of huge sunglasses - perfect for adding a designer touch to the chic ensemble. The sister of fellow model Gigi scraped her raven tresses back to best show off her incredible bone structure. It's back to business for the in-demand model, who just returned home from a sun-soaked getaway to Jamaica. Coming up roses: It's back to business for the in-demand model, who just returned home from a sun-soaked getaway to Jamaica The Dior spokesmodel hopped on a private jet the Caribbean island for a spur-of-the-moment holiday, with a gaggle of gal pals. 'I need you out in Jamaica relaaaxxin,' she captioned one bikini photo, adding two emojis of smiling faces with hearts in the place of eyes. After taking in some sunshine, Bella slipped into a nude one-piece bikini with a Brazilian-cut bottom and strappy back. She and her girlfriends travelled to a river and spent a pleasurable afternoon splashing around in the water. The raven-haired beauty looked genuinely happy to be on vacation, as she captioned a photo: 'BEST DAY!!! happy place' with several heart emoticons. She wrote under photo of herself grinning: 'Jst really happy to be here.' (sic) They are practically inseparable. Chloe Goodman and her two sisters Lauryn and Amelia were once again loving life as a trio as they frolicked and sipped champagne at The Sun Siyam Iru Fushi spa while on holiday in the Maldives on Thursday. The 24-year-old Ex On The Beach star wowed in a mint green bikini complete with intricate adornments while her siblings went for starkly contrasting looks. Scroll down for video All together now: Chloe Goodman and her two sisters Lauryn and Amelia were once again loving life as a trio as they frolicked and sipped champagne at The Sun Siyam Iru Fushi spa while on holiday in the Maldives on Thursday Chloe soared to fame in 2014 when she starred on the inaugural series of MTV's Ex On The Beach before hitting screens once again on CBB a year later. She made her big TV comeback last year when she appeared on the All Stars edition of EOTB, yet was left red faced after she was ejected following a series of aggressive arguments with CBB victor Stephen Bear. While her sisters have not found any television fame, they spent much of their time together - attending premieres and often holidaying. The stunning star was quick to show off her incredible figure during their vacation as she slipped into a stunning mint green bikini with shimmering adornments. Living it up: The 24-year-old Ex On The Beach star wowed in a mint green bikini complete with intricate adornments while her siblings went for starkly contrasting looks She wore her plum coloured tresses in loose waves while opting to wear heavy make-up despite being in the spa environment. Lauryn drew attention to all her best bits as she wore a triangle cupped bikini with hearts layered over her chest. Covering up more, Amelia wore a plunging black one-piece with a chic sheer sarong wrapped around her middle while sporting lavishly applied make-up. Chloe's reality appearances have always been steeped in controversy, starting with her locking lips with Ashley Cain in the inaugural series of Ex On The Beach, despite his ex Talitha being present. Playing around: Covering up more, Amelia wore a plunging black one-piece with a chic sheer sarong wrapped around her middle while sporting lavishly applied make-up She also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and hit the headlines following a devastating incident, in which she was groped by fellow housemate Jeremy Jackson, 35 - after which she revealed she felt unsafe living in the house. In the infamous scenes from the series, Chloe was seen running out of the bathroom in tears after heading in to comfort the worse-for-wear Baywatch star. She later revealed he had pulled back her robe to indecently expose her. Reflecting on the incident, the Ex On The Beach star explained on This Morning: 'It affected me because I was really comfortable, you're in a show that you've got security, you've got producers, you know you think nothing can touch me in here.' She continued: 'Then to feel so secure and safe, then to go... I felt like my kindness was seen as weakness a little bit with Jeremy.' Chloe was joined by Michelle Visage and Cami Li in comforting the star, who was concerned he'd be sick after mixing rum and vodka. But Chloe revealed she believes his motives were not genuine as she explained: 'Then as soon as he had me on his own in the bathroom I felt like he was waiting for Michelle and Cami to leave to go ahead and do what he did. That's why I felt really vulnerable quite quickly and then after that I didn't feel the same in the house.' Her ex-husband Braith Anasta, 35, joked on Thursday's Kyle and Jackie O Show, that she 'probably hocked' her engagement ring to 'buy a few bags.' And on Saturday, Jodi Gordon appeared to be leaning on friends, as she went glamping in Queensland's Noosa. A snap shared to the 32-year-old's Instagram, saw the Neighbours star cutting a relaxed figure, alongside models Megan Blake Irwin and Elyse Knowles. Scroll down for video Leaning on friends? Jodi Gordon (centre), 32, took to Instagram on Saturday, sharing a snap of herself glamping in Queensland's Noosa with pals, after ex Braith Anasta, 35, joked she 'probably hocked' her engagement ring to 'buy a few bags' 'Glamping w(ith) the girls,' Jodi captioned the snap shared with her 215,000 followers. The image saw the mother-of-one sporting a leopard-print ensemble, as she sat at a picturesque outdoor setting with a group of pals. Two recognisable personalities also in attendance were fashion's 'It' girl of the moment Megan Blake Irwin, and swimsuit model Elyse Knowles. Ouch! The vacation snap comes just days after ex-husband Braith admitted on the Kyle and Jackie O Show, that the engagement ring he used to propose was 'a bad investment' The vacation snap comes just days after ex-husband Braith Anasta admitted on the Kyle and Jackie O Show, that the engagement ring he used to propose was 'a bad investment.' Appearing to make jokes about what Jodi may have done with her 'very expensive' piece of jewellery, Braith told co-hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson: '[She] probably hocked it, bought a few bags or something with it... Handbags.' Jackie 'O' thought the former rugby league star was alluding to something more sinister before he said 'handbags.' 'Oh my God! I thought you meant something else,' Jackie screamed while Kyle burst out laughing. Jodi allegedly told police that cocaine had been consumed during an interview following a bizarre episode in 2009. Braith - who is now dating personal trainer Rachael Lee - also told the KIIS FM hosts 'I wish' when asked if he got the ring back from his ex. Talk of prized bling: Braith told co-hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson: '[She] probably hocked it, bought a few bags or something with it... Handbags' Taking the high road: Jodi appeared to hit back at her ex-husband with an Instagram post shared to the site on Thursday Jodi appeared to hit back at her ex-husband's comments with an Instagram post on Thursday. Referencing a Michelle Obama quote, the post read: 'When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don't stoop to their level. 'No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high.' Jodi captioned the post with the hash-tag #shinebrightlikeadiamond. 'You don't stoop to their level': Jodi referenced a Michelle Obama quote, alongside the hash-tag #shinebrightlikeadiamond Braith and Jodi announced their split at the end of 2015, stating that they would 'remain best of friends' for the sake of their three-year-old daughter Aleeia. Last year, Braith revealed the pair's relationship 'wasn't to be.' 'Our break-up did not come out of the blue. We had both seen it coming for a while, we'd grown apart over the last little while and the reality was that it wasn't working. We tried very hard but it wasn't to be,' he told The Daily Telegraph. In happier times: The former couple ended their marriage in December 2015, stating that they'd 'remain best of friends' for the sake of their three-year-old daughter Aleeia The former Wests Tigers player tied the knot with the New Zealand-Australian actress in October 2012 in a lavish Bali ceremony. Prior to dating Braith, Jodi had a high-profile relationship with Channel Seven heir Ryan Stokes. The former couple split almost immediately following her alleged drug scandal in 2009, when she was found by police cowering in the home of suspected Rebels bikie Mark Judge. 'We had both seen it coming for a while': The former Wests Tigers player revealed to The Daily Telegraph last year, that his marriage to the former Home And Away actress had been struggling for a while Officers responded to a call at Mark's Bellevue Hill home after he reported that armed men were in his backyard and trying to scale his balcony. CCTV footage reviewed by police found no sign of the men, only Jodi and Mark hiding in a bedroom. Jodi, who rose to fame in Home And Away, allegedly told police that cocaine had been consumed that day. Meanwhile, days before the episode, Ryan had called Kings Cross police to report his then-girlfriend missing after a night out. She delightedly revealed she has under four weeks to go till her baby arrives. And Amy Childs certainly looked ready to pop as she slipped into a tiny bikini during a recent trip to Tel Aviv, in which she flashed her burgeoning bump in all its glory. The 26-year-old former TOWIE star looked sensational as she paraded along the shores while cradling her growing stomach and flaunting her eye-popping cleavage. Scroll down for video Baby due! And Amy Childs certainly looked ready to pop as she slipped into a tiny bikini during a recent trip to Tel Aviv, in which she flashed her burgeoning bump in all its glory In October, Amy confirmed to OK! magazine that she is expecting a baby with her jailbird boyfriend Bradley Wright after trying to get pregnant before he served his five-month spell in prison for handling stolen goods last year. In the interview the delighted star revealed she is 'shocked but happy' as she awaits the arrival of her first child after revealing she did not think she could get pregnant. As she continues to revel in her baby joy, it is clear pregnancy perfectly suits Amy as she flaunted her eye-popping bump in all its glory through her tiny bikini. The shimmering material drew the eye immediately to her surgically-enhanced assets while the tie side bottoms ensured her legs looked endless. Hold on tight: The 26-year-old former TOWIE star looked sensational as she paraded along the shores while cradling her growing stomach and flaunting her eye-popping cleavage Woah mama! Amy's bump was the main focus of her beach look Sizzling: Amy's trademark flame red tresses were perfectly coiffed into an elegant blow-dry - an apparent sign that she had no intentions of going for a dip Amy's trademark flame red tresses were perfectly coiffed into an elegant blow-dry - an apparent sign that she had no intentions of going for a dip. Layered over her sparkling swimwear was a white kaftan complete with delicate silver adornments which added further to her Essex girl abroad look. The stunning star looked happy and relaxed as she strolled down the beach yet just days before she was forced to defend her self when she was snapped sipping a glass of prosecco. It transpired the drink was non-alcoholic, leading to her comment: 'So it seems Ive been criticised following a set of photos which surfaced yesterday. Im pretty hurt that people would think I am the sort of person who would put my baby at risk. Silver sensation: Layered over her sparkling swimwear was a white kaftan complete with delicate silver adornments which added further to her Essex girl abroad look Hot stuff: Amy was glowing as she glanced upon her bump A bumpy road: It transpired the drink was non-alcoholic, leading to her comment: 'So it seems Ive been criticised following a set of photos which surfaced yesterday. Im pretty hurt that people would think I am the sort of person who would put my baby at risk' Stunner: Amy's trademark flame red tresses were perfectly coiffed into an elegant blow-dry - an apparent sign that she had no intentions of going for a dip 'Under no circumstances would I ever do that. Being a mum is something Ive dreamt of for so long and I wouldnt ruin it for an act of selfishness. The pictures you are all referring to have been taken way out of context. 'Im a girl that loves a glass of fizz, but since finding out I was pregnant Ive not gone near a drop of alcohol. 'Instead, I've found a non-alcholic version of my favourite drink (prosecco) @scavirayuk which means I can still enjoy myself and have a chat with my friends over a drink! I hope this clears it up for anyone that was doubting me. I will always put my baby first'. Amy, who reunited with her on-off beau in March, delightedly announced the news as she revealed the happy couple are overjoyed after wanting a child for some time. Soaking it up: Amy, who reunited with her on-off beau in March, delightedly announced the news as she revealed the happy couple are overjoyed after wanting a child for some time A bumpy road: Amy's belly was perfectly rounded as she strutted along the shore The pair met in a pub in Essex two years ago but their relationship came to a halt last year when Bradley was sentenced to 16 months in prison for handling stolen goods. However, the jailbird, who is already father to daughter Lexi from a previous relationship, only served five months of his sentence as he was released early for good behaviour leading to their eventual reunion. As she unveiled her bump in a stunning shoot, in the accompanying interview she said: 'We wanted (a baby) before Bradley went to prison but it didn't happen. I didn't think I could get pregnant. She is the quintessentially British star known for her role as Rachel in Cold Feet and her turn as Ross Geller's partner in Friends. And Helen Baxendale was missed by Cold Feet fans when she did not appear in the show comeback last year. But she the 46-year-old is now to appear as part of a stellar new cast - including Samantha Barks and Joan Collins - in mysterious new musical period drama, MELODY, where the star was spotted shooting first scenes in Sidmouth on Friday. Scroll down for video She's back! Former Friends and Cold Feet star Helen Baxendale, 46, was spotted shooting a mysterious new musical period drama, MELODY, in Sidmouth on Friday The mother-of-three looked relaxed as she chatted animatedly Welsh heartthrob Aneurin Barnard, who seduced BBC viewers with his turn in War and Peace last year. Both actors were out of costume in these first snaps revealed from the set, with Helen donning denim jeans, a striped shirt and converse for her day at work. The youthful actress, whose sitcom Cuckoo is currently being screened on Netflix, wore her blonde-tinted locks in a stylish bob and went make-up for before getting into character. While her 29-year-old opposite number donned running shoes, charcoal gray jeans and a khaki bomber jacket for the day. Concentrated: The mother-of-three looked relaxed as she chatted animatedly Welsh heartthrob Aneurin Barnard, who seduced BBC viewers with his turn in War and Peace last year Thinking: Both actors were out of costume in these first snaps revealed from the set, with Helen donning denim jeans, a striped shirt and converse for her day at work Youthful: The youthful actress, whose sitcom Cuckoo is currently being screened on Netflix, wore her blonde-tinted locks in a stylish bob and went make-up for before getting into character Stellar cast: Other stars of the mysterious upcoming production, which has not yet released a trailer, include stunning vocal talent Samantha Barks Plain clothes: Her 29-year-old opposite number donned running shoes, charcoal gray jeans and a khaki bomber jacket for the day Other stars of the mysterious upcoming production, which has not yet released a trailer, include stunning vocal talent Samantha Barks. The 29-year-old Les Miserables star will also be joined by Joan Collins herself on set, while other central characters will be rising star Katie Clarkson Hill and Wilf Scolding. It is not yet known what role the 83-year-old acting grand dame will play in the musical drama. Prepping the role: War and Peace hottie Aneurin Barnard chatted to a crew member behind the scenes As her co-stars shot opening scenes in 20th century costumes on the beach, Helen prepared her character off camera. Katie Clarkson-Hill looked beautiful in 1940s-era clothes and a classic updo, complete with curls at her brow. While The Passing Bells star Wilf Scolding had a traditional World War Two era side parting, breeches and high waisted trousers as a costume. The pair kissed on the beach and waded hand-in-hand in the waves, suggesting a romantic, nautical storyline. Filming the first scenes: The 29-year-old Les Miserables star will also be joined by Joan Collins herself on set, while other central characters will be rising star Katie Clarkson Hill and Wilf Scolding Stunning: Katie Clarkson-Hill looked beautiful in 1940s-era clothes and a classic updo, complete with curls at her brow Bare feet: While The Passing Bells star Wilf Scolding had a traditional World War Two era side parting, breeches and high waisted trousers as a costume Love in the air: The pair kissed on the beach and waded hand-in-hand in the waves, suggesting a romantic, nautical storyline Warrington native Helen, who was a hugely recognisable face while on screen in Friends, chose to escape the limelight many years ago. The private actress lives with her husband, director David Williams, and their children, Nell Marmalade, 18, Eric Mustard, 15, and Vincent Mash, 10. Helen quit Friends and turned down other highly lucrative roles in favour of creating a family life in south London with her husband and children around fifteen years ago - though she has continued to take roles which fit in with her family life. And the star has insisted she does not regret her choice. She told The Daily Mail: I had a little glimpse of what fame holds, and I decided it held a load of nothing. It contained nothing that mattered. Some people can deal with that well; it sits on their shoulders fine. But it wasnt for me. Cold Feet, which first propelled Helen to fame, was a TV phenomenon, winning 20 major awards including Baftas, British Comedy Awards and National Television Awards during its run from 1998 to 2003. Set in Manchester, the original Cold series followed the story of three sets of 20-something couples as they navigated life, love and relationships. After an unpromising start (the pilot pulled in fewer than four million viewers) the show took off and was soon dubbed the British version of Friends. But poducers failed to persuade Helen, whose character Rachel died in a car crash, to return to the comedy drama as a ghost. The returning series was crowned ITV's most successful 2016 drama as it was well received by fans - attracting 8.4million viewers on the opening episode. As a father, there's few greater emotions than walking your daughter down the aisle on their wedding day. And for Sylvia Jeffrey's father Richard, Saturday's wedding between the Today show presenter and the love of her life Peter Stefanovic had a bittersweet significance, with the beauty the last of his three children to be married. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the proud father described the 'very emotional' scenes at the lavish ceremony in Kangaroo Valley, before revealing that kids are already on the cards for the newlyweds. Kids on the cards: Sylvia Jeffrey's father Richard revealed to Daily Mail Australia that kids were on the cards for Sylvia and Peter after the couple tied the knot in Kangaroo Valley on Saturday 'It was a very emotional day. A very exciting moment,' he recounted as feelings of relief, pride and closure stretched across his face. 'She's the last of my children to get married, so it's very special.' The 30-year-old joins brother Andrew and sister Claire as the last of the Jeffreys clan to wed. Richard, who is separated from Sylvia's mother Janine, left the most exciting news to last, revealing 'grandchildren are on the horizon' for the media personalities. 'Very emotional': 'It was a very emotional day. A very exciting moment,' he recounted as feelings of relief, pride and closure stretched across his face (Richard is pictured here in a playful snap shared to Instagram by Sylvia) A star-studded sea of guests including Richard Wilkins and Lisa Wilkinson were on hand to celebrate the pair's wedding in the hills of Kangaroo Valley on Saturday. Sylvia shared the first image of the couple after tying the knot to her Instagram account just hours after saying 'I do', captioning the shot with: 'Best day of our lives'. In the photo, Sylvia is seen wearing a contemporary bridal gown while gazing adoringly at her new husband. The image shared with Sylvia's 138,000 Instagram followers featured the picturesque greenery of Ooralba Estate in the background. Last but not least: 'She's the last of my children to get married, so it's very special,' he remarked Star-studded: A star-studded sea of guests including Richard Wilkins and Lisa Wilkinson were on hand to celebrate the pair's wedding in the hills of Kangaroo Valley on Saturday A plunging neckline highlighted her decolletage, while slight flaring of fabric from the hips down accentuated her slender waist. Sylvia's blonde locks were swept into an elegant style at the nape of her neck, appearing to complement her makeup look. Standing in front of lush greenery and holding onto Pete's hand, the Today show presenter gazed adoringly at her husband who cut a suave figure in a tailored suit. Fellow Today show presenter Ben Fordham, 40, also took to Instagram to share a stunning image of the couple. The picture of happiness: A plunging neckline highlighted Sylvia's decolletage, while slight flaring of fabric from the hips down accentuated her slender waist The close-up snap saw Sylvia and Peter holding onto one another dearly while walking through a lush green walkway. Husband and wife could hardly contain their excitement. NRL WAG Phoebe Burgess was quick to comment underneath the photo: 'How divine. Lots of love and congratulations you two lovebirds'. Today show co-host Lisa Wilkinson, 57, gushed over the couple in another stunning photo shared to Instagram. Happy couple: The happy couple were seen holding hands at the altar throughout the ceremony, with the bride wearing a big smile The happy couple were seen holding hands at the altar throughout the ceremony, with the bride wearing a big smile. Peter and Sylvia were an item on screen before they got together - co-hosting Today's Weekend Summer Series in 2013. 'That was the first time we met face to face and it was soon after that that we started courting,' Sylvia recalled in an interview last year. Smile! The pair were clearly delighted to make it official, pictured with big smiles on their faces She's well known for her eccentric displays of fashion. But Helena Bonham Carter kept it relatively demure as she headed out for a stroll in London on Saturday with a pal. The 50-year-old British actress went make-up free as she wrapped up in a double-breasted black coat, which teased at her floral dress underneath. Scroll down for video Chic sighting: Helena Bonham Carter, 50, kept it relatively demure as she headed out for a stroll in London on Saturday with a pal Despite the lack of vivid colours, Helena still managed to look sartorially savvy in her chic outerwear. A pair of black socks complemented her midi-length whimsical dress, and she completed the look with a pair of cool brown lace-up brogues. The Alice in Wonderland star was very much casual as she forewent make-up and opted to swirl her thick blonde locks into a messy updo. Helena looked in great spirits as she chatted away to her pal, who was clad in a faux-fur cream coat, skinny jeans and buckled boots. Style star: The British actress went make-up free as she wrapped up in a double-breasted black coat, which teased at her floral dress underneath Fashionista: A pair of black socks complemented her midi-length whimsical dress, and she completed the look with a pair of cool brown lace-up brogues Wrapping up: Despite the lack of vivid colours, Helena still managed to look sartorially savvy in her chic outerwear The actress had recently been enjoying a girly getaway with her mother Elena Propper de Callejon in Los Angeles. Helena has always enjoyed a close relationship with Elena, who is a French-Spanish psychotherapist. She has made a point to pay tribute to her mother throughout her illustrious movie career and dedicated her BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress, which she received for her performance in The King's Speech, to Elena. Keeping it low-key: The Alice in Wonderland star was very much casual as she forewent make-up Mane attraction: She opted to swirl her thick blonde locks into a messy updo Casual outing: Helena looked in great spirits as she chatted away to her pal, who was clad in a faux-fur cream coat, skinny jeans and buckled boots Helena had also spent plenty of time with her mother in New York back in February, while she filmed for the new Ocean's Eight movie. The actress is set to star alongside Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock and Anne Hathaway in the big screen all-female reboot of Ocean's Eleven. The actress was previously in a relationship with film director Tim Burton - but the pair split in 2014 after thirteen years together. Former romance: The actress was previously in a relationship with film director Tim Burton - but the pair split in 2014 after thirteen years together The Hollywood couple, who share two children Billy, 13, and Nell, 9, had first got together in 2001, when the 58-year-old cast her in The Planet of the Apes. They went on to make six further films together, including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, Alice In Wonderland and Dark Shadows. The pair famously didn't marry during their relationship and unconventionally lived in two adjoining houses in London with their two children. Work and play: The couple first got together in 2001 on set of The Planet of The Apes, and went on to make six more films together during their relationship (pictured filming Dark Shadows) Melanie B's ex Stephen Belafonte's Hollywood home was searched by federal agents on Friday. A video captured the moment the producer, 41 - who is currently in the midst of a divorce with the former Spice Girl after ten years of marriage - was met by agents from the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as he returned to his Hollywood Hills home. In footage obtained by TMZ, Belafonte is filmed being patted down by officers before they make way into his residence, with the website reporting the agents were 'looking for firearms.' Scroll down for video Swarming his home: Melanie B's ex Stephen Belafonte, 41, had his home searched by federal agents on Friday Stephen is filmed looking shocked as he comes face to face with the officers. 'What's your name?' an officer asked, with Stephen replying, 'Stephen, Stephen Belafonte'. 'Come over here', the officer beckons, before adding: 'You're not carrying any weapons are you?'. Captured on camera: Belafonte is filmed being patted down by officers before they make way into his residence 'No, nothing', he replies as they pat him down. 'Put your hands behind your back- I'm just going to hold them so they don't drop'. After patting him down they then lead him into the property- before they emerge a while later and head off without taking Stephen into custody. The father-of-two is then spotted making a quick getaway in his car, but not before telling the camera man, who is still filming him, that he has 'no idea' why his house was searched. 'What's your name?' an officer asked, with Stephen replying, 'Stephen, Stephen Belafonte' 'Come over here', the officer beckons, before adding: 'You're not carrying any weapons are you?'- to which Stephen replies 'No' However, after the cameraman pointed out that it was 'good news' that he wasn't in cuffs anymore, Stephen is quick to snap back: 'I was never in cuffs. They didn't detain me. They just asked me questions real quick.' 'I have no idea what's going on -maybe they were pranking or swatting,' he adds. Another video shows the police entering the house with what appears to be a crowbar, a mini battering ram, and other tools. 'Put your hands behind your back- I'm just going to hold them so they don't drop', an officer says before they head into the property Before finally speeding off, he was asked once again why he was swarmed by federal agents, to which he responded: 'I have no idea! Maybe someone's pranking me.' MailOnline has contacted representatives for Stephen for further comment. His brush with the law comes after his brother Jeremiah Stansbury, 43, laid bare the couple's issues which saw the former Spice Girl feeling 'nervous' about the presence of a firearm in their household. Scary: In video footage obtained by TMZ, The producer, 41 - who is currently in the midst of a divorce with the former Spice Girl after ten years of marriage - was met by agents from the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as he returned to his Hollywood Hills home Speaking to The Sun, he revealed: 'In America keeping guns is normal but I remember one of the maids telling me that Mel was confused about why he needs one. 'She seemed to be a bit nervous about it,' the sibling divulged further. Not stopping there, Jeremiah claimed it was also Stephen and Mel's 'open' relationship that led to the breakdown of their marriage. Let off the hook: The agents didn't find what they came looking for as they left without putting Stephen (pictured with Mel in 2012) into custody 'Maybe someone's pranking me!' Before finally speeding off, Stephen was asked once again why he was swarmed by federal agents, to which he responded: 'I have no idea!' Speaking to the Kyle and Jackie O Show in Australia, Jeremiah said the couple enjoyed 'a very fun loose open kind of relationship' - but Stephen 'was looking at it like a kid in a candy store'. He said of the situation: 'In my opinion - and I am only giving my opinion here - if you're not a very mature person and you're not very solid, if you're going to look at that as a licence to then do whatever the hell you want the someone is going to end up feeling unappreciated.' Stephen's brother went on to speculate that their relationship may have broken down because the movie producer wasn't being receptive of Melanie's feelings. 'He's not a bad guy by any means but he can be a little rough around the edges and he wasn't probably picking up on the signs that Melanie wasn't quite happy,' Jeremiah said. Not happy: His brush with the law comes after his brother Jeremiah Stansbury, 43, laid bare his opinions on the couple's issues which allegedly saw the former Spice Girl feeling 'nervous' about the presence of a firearm in their household Telling the truth: Speaking to the Kyle and Jackie O Show in Australia, Jeremiah said the couple enjoyed 'a very fun loose open kind of relationship' - but Stephen 'was looking at it like a kid in a candy store' Not stopping there, Mel's brother-in-law went on to discuss their alleged sexual escapades to the Daily Star, claiming they often involved strippers in the bedroom. 'They liked to bring a stripper over and have a little fun and stuff like that.' Meanwhile, Stephen has found himself hitting headlines once again as he posted a risque snap and joked that he and his newly-estranged wife had embarked on a threesome. Taking to Instagram last year, he had shared a saucy snap belonging to Kim Kardashian, and tagged Mel, teasing fans that he and the Spice Girl were involved. Sexy photo: Meanwhile, Stephen has found himself hitting headlines once again as he posted a risque snap and joked that he and his newly-estranged wife had embarked on a threesome The sexy photo depicted a man fondling one woman's thigh, while his head rested on another's stomach, beside her hand clad with fake nails and a dazzling ring. Poking fun with fans, he wrote beside the shot: 'Is that my mouth?? Is that @officialmelb ring?' However Kim later took to her app to explain that none of the implied antics had happened, but that the photos were instead a creative experiment by the group. The photo surfaced the same day that Mel was seen heading to a divorce lawyer in LA - after filing for divorce from Stephen last week. Romantic history: The pair married in Las Vegas in 2007, but Mel is thought to have decided on the split in a 'moment of clarity' following the death of her father Martin, who lost his battle with multiple myeloma cancer in March The pair married in Las Vegas in 2007, but Mel is thought to have decided on the split in a 'moment of clarity' following the death of her father Martin, who lost his battle with multiple myeloma cancer in March. The star had returned to her home town of Leeds soon after to attend the funeral alongside her family - who she is believed to have reconciled with since announcing her separation. The performer had reportedly been in a fall out with her mother Andrea and younger sister Danielle for eight years, over their dislike for 'controlling' Stephen, also 41. Mel has yet to release any kind of statement about the divorce, but she is thought to be seeking joint custody for their five-year-old daughter Madison. Star Wars fans can feel a presence, a presence they've not felt since..... 2002. Hayden Christensen is returning to Star Wars Celebration for the first time in 15 years. The 35-year-old, who played Anakin Skywalker in 2002's Attack Of The Clones and 2005's Revenge Of The Sith, will join the 40 Years of Star Wars in honour of the franchise's 40th anniversary, StarWars.com revealed. Return of the Jedi: Hayden Christensen is returning to Star Wars Celebration for the first time in 15 years (pictured in LA on Sunday) He joins Mark Hamill, who played his son Luke Skywalker, Ian McDiarmid who played his mentor Emperor Palpatine, and Anthony Daniels who played the droid he built as a child, C-3PO. Other guests heading to Orlando on April 13 include Peter Mayhew AKA Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian himself, Billy Dee Williams, Star Wars Rebels producer Dave Filoni and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. Since the announcement, fan sites are abuzz with speculation as to what the Canadian's resurfacing might mean. Some believe a Darth Vader spin-off may be in the works, while other suggested he might make an appearance as a Force ghost in the upcoming Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. Promise: In George Lucas's prequel trilogy, Anakin was padawan to Ewan McGregor's Obi Wan Kenobi Bad guy: He was ultimately seduced to the Dark Side by The Emperor, AKA Darth Sidious Iconic: After an epic lightsaber duel with his former friend and master, Anakin is left burned and disfigured, only to be saved by the Emperor by making him the half-mechanical Darth Vader In George Lucas's prequel trilogy, Anakin was padawan to Ewan McGregor's Obi Wan Kenobi, who was ultimately seduced to the Dark Side by The Emperor, AKA Darth Sidious, with the promise of saving his secret wife Padme (Natalie Portman). After an epic lightsaber duel with his former friend and master, Anakin is left burned and disfigured, only to be saved by the Emperor by making him the half-mechanical Darth Vader, just as his wife is dying in childbirth as their twins Luke and Leia are born. Christensen's somewhat whiny portrayal of the most iconic screen villain of all time rubbed some fans up the wrong way. I hate sand: Christensen's somewhat whiny portrayal of the most iconic screen villain of all time rubbed some fans up the wrong way From my point of view: However many defended him, blaming it on Lucas's infamously sometimes-clunky dialogue However many defended him, blaming it on Lucas's infamously sometimes-clunky dialogue. As well as episodes eight and nine of the main saga, Disney unveiled plans for at least three 'anthology' films, including December's Rogue One, the as-yet-untitled young Han Solo film due in 2018, and a third in 2020 with no subject yet announced. Christensen began dating his Jumper co-star Rachel Bilson in 2007; they have a two-year-old daughter, Briar Rose. I am your father: At Celebration he will join Mark Hamill (pictured) who played his son Luke Skywalker She was forced to pull out of a show in California after burning her legs on a vocal steamer. But Little Mix's Leigh-Anne Pinnock was back on fine form as she returned to the stage at the Forum in LA on Friday night. The 25-year-old showed no sign of her injury as she displayed her thighs in a racy black two-piece, teamed with thigh-high chaps. Back: Little Mix's Leigh-Anne Pinnock returned to the stage for the first time after burning her legs on a vocal steamer Leigh-Anne was forced to pull out of the show at the Honda Centre in Anaheim on Thursday, leaving bandmates Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson and Jade Thirlwall to perform as a trio. But keen to not let down her transatlantic fans, the pop songstress made a surprise appearance near the end of the band's performance, sporting two large white bandages around each thigh. Despite the painful looking injury, Leigh-Anne looked to be in high spirits as she joined her bandmates on the stage. Fine form: The 25-year-old showed no sign of her injury as she displayed her thighs in a racy black two-piece, teamed with thigh-high chaps Sizzling: Leigh-Anne was forced to pull out of the show at the Honda Centre in Anaheim on Thursday A source told MailOnline: 'Leigh-Anne burnt her legs backstage on her vocal steamer. She will be fine and is soldiering on.' A vocal steamer is commonly used by musicians to help clear the mucous build-up on the membranes of vocal folds, larynx, trachea and bronchial tubes from the lungs - leading to a soother voice. Leigh-Anne is believed to have accidentally scolded herself with the steam while using the device. Extensive travel and lack of rest are just a few factors that can take a toll on vocal ability, leading to signers using a vocal steamer. Racy: Little Mix left little to the imagination as they showed off their incredible figures in their skimpy costumes Little Mix have had a hectic schedule while in the US, touring with Ariana Grande since the start of February as well as promoting their new single No More Sad Songs. Fans were quick to send their messages of support to Leigh-Anne on social media, with @haniee.thrilxwards writing: 'Get Well Soon Leigh.' Another fan, posting under @akwardperrie added '[H]ope you're feeling better baby! You are a strong woman!!'. while @sarah_calsam posted '[H]ope u r doing ok. We all love u very much.' Soldiering on: Leigh-Anne made a surprise appearance near the end of the band's performance on Thursday, sporting two large white bandages around each thigh The show must go on! Bandmates Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson and Jade Thirlwall to perform as a trio on Thursday Despite the concern from fans, Leigh-Anne appears to have recovered from her vocal steamer injury, posting a sizzling snap of herself from the No More Sad Songs video. She also shared a picture of herself enjoying a bike ride in the US sunshine on her Instagram page on Saturday, captioning it with the words: 'Ultimate La La land squad goals.' Smouldering: Leigh-Anne appears to have recovered from her vocal steamer injury, posting a sizzling snap of herself from the No More Sad Songs video She has her own boutique in Essex so it's no surprise that Lucy Mecklenburgh always looks immaculately put together, even when running errands. The former TOWIE star was spotted in a casual chic ensemble of a distressed denim jacket and form-fitting black jeans as she visited a bank in Brentwood on Saturday. The 25-year-old brunette looked toned and tanned in her laid-back outfit. Scroll down for video Relaxed style: Lucy Mecklenburgh showed off her casual style in a distressed denim jacket and black form-fitting jeans as she ran errands in Essex on Saturday She sported a grey cotton tank top underneath her artfully ripped pale blue denim jacket and black jeans which showed off her shapely legs. Lucy paired her casual look with a pair of comfy, pristine white sneakers and carried a jolly embellished handbag over her shoulder. Her brunette tresses were teased into gentle waves and flowed over her shoulders and a pair of large sunglasses shielded her eyes. Natural stunner: Lucy's brunette locks were styled into gentle waves and she had slicked her lips with a dark berry shade as she enjoyed the Spring sunshine in Essex Popular: The 25-year-old former TOWIE star looked cheery and was spotted waving to a pal She looked polished and had slicked her lips with a dark berry stain. Earlier in the week Lucy again showcased her elegant style when she attended the Twisted Halo launch party at Bluebird in Chelsea, London. She looked eye catching in a black leather jacket and electric blue cut-off culottes. The ex-reality star, who is rumoured to be dating handyman Nathan Sharp, sported a T-shirt emblazoned with the word 'relations***' and a picture of a rose and a knife - perhaps a hint to more troubled times. Blue beauty: Lucy left The Twisted Halo launch party in London on Wednesday sporting a blue skirt and black leather jacket by Guess She teamed her bright trousers with a pair of silver and black pumps and a coordinating metallic shoulder bag. Whilst Lucy works hard to maintain her phenomenal figure, she recently revealed that she doesn't stress herself with the pursuit of a 'perfect' body. She told the Daily Star: 'Body confidence to me is accepting what you view as your imperfections and loving your attributes even more. 'When you look in the mirror in the morning, focus on the positives and not the negatives. Taking it in her stride: The star looked in high spirits as she left the bash Accessorise: She teamed her bright trousers with a pair of silver and black pumps and a coordinating metallic shoulder bag 'What makes me feel confident is having a workout, putting on some sexy lingerie and doing my hair and make-up nice then going out.' Lucy soared to fame with her stint on The Only Way Is Essex, but departed the ITVBe show in 2013 to launch her online fitness and nutrition guide, Results with Lucy. The star has built up her empire by encouraging her fans with a series of workout videos and showing off her own results in a series of scantily-clad selfies. Ever the hard worker, Lucy has recently returned from Spain, where she embarked on a week-long fitness boot camp. Twisted Halo is a 90 calorie coconut and ginger drink, launched out of the boredom of ordering a 'skinny bitch' at the bar. Voluptuous Demi Rose Mawby proved just how curvaceous she is in a very busty Instagram clip. The beauty, who enjoyed a brief fling with Tyga when he had split from Kylie Jenner, showed off her incredibly pert bosom in the eye-popping video which she shared with her four million followers. The Birmingham-born model looked ravishing as she blew a kiss in a skimpy nude halterneck bikini. Scroll down for video Saucy! Demi Rose Mawby thrilled her four million followers Instagram followers when she shared a clip of herself blowing a kiss while clad in a barely-there nude bikini The barely-there bikini top looked like it was struggling to contain Demi Rose's ample assets as her generous cleavage took centre stage. The minuscule bikini bottoms did nothing to hide her tiny toned waist and curvaceous hips. The 21-year-old looked gorgeous, showing off her tanned skin with her dark tresses pushed off her face. She sported minimal make up with just a dramatic flick of eye liner. The model captioned the clip: 'Summer ready'. Blowing a kiss: The Birmingham-born beauty, 21, looked phenomenal in the clip as she showed off her hourglass figure and tanned skin Showing Tyga what he's missing: Demi Rose, who first came to prominence after enjoying a fling with Tyga during a break from his girlfriend Kylie Jenner, flaunted her incredible bust Demi Rose is known to show off her figure in skimpy outfits and was pictured on Friday arriving at Chino Latino restaurant in London in an extremely revealing dress. Gaping at the front, the flimsy satin material only just protected the stunning brunette's modesty as she left the restaurant. With her curves only just kept in place, the frock stretched across her hips and skimmed the top of her thighs showing off her long slim legs to the maximum. Busting out: Demi Rose flashed the flesh in a typically revealing number as she stepped out in London on Friday night Backless wonder: Demi Rose's frock was completely backless, held up with a halterneck The teal number was also completely backless and held up with a halterneck feature. The model's hair was worn in loose brunette curls while a slick of eyeliner and pale lipstick added to the glamour. A pair of matching platform peep toe heels with delicate floral ankle straps completed the look. Matchy matchy: A pair of matching platform peep toe heels with delicate floral ankle straps added to the look It was in SIXTY6 magazine's inaugural issue that Demi Rose gave an insight into the fleeting romance with Tyga, which happened in May 2016. She told the title: 'He had been messaging me then I went to a party in Cannes and bumped into him. We ended up spending the rest of our time there together.' Demi Rose, who is the daughter of a bank manager, added: 'He was quirky, funny, genuine, thats what I liked about him.' Andrew Andy Gialy a lifelong resident of Elko passed away peacefully in his home on March 20, 2017. He was born April 12, 1926 to Peett and Anita Gialy, the youngest of five children. After graduating from Elko High class of 1944 and serving in the Navy, he attended The University of Nevada. Andy received a degree in business with a minor in art. Although he wore many hats, Andy was best known for his display and sign work for businesses in and around Elko County. Later, Andy discovered and perfected a technique of sand painting using natural sands that he collected in his travels throughout the southwest. Andy was also an avid fisherman and bird hunter. He hunted Chukar over Brittanies, that he raised and trained at his kennel in Elko and was a leader of a family deer camp for many years. Andy was preceded in death by his parents, brothers, Joe, Bill, sisters, Angie Mead and Virginia Hilsmann. At his request, no services will be held. A celebration of life for family and friends will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made to Elko VFW. At 43, she would be 16 years too late to audition for her own show. Now that Tyra Banks has re-claimed the position of America's Next Top Model host from Rita Ora, she's making a few more changes to the series in it's 24th cycle. In a new video posted on Saturday, Tyra tells her fans that the long-standing rule stating that Top Model hopefuls must be 27-years-old or younger is done. In a video posted on Saturday, Tyra Banks, 43, announced that America's Next Top Model would no longer limit applicants by age 'I dont care how old you are, honey,' the runway queen told her fans in a video posted to Twitter. 'You just need to know how to smize and be open to learning how to work the runway like a supermodel,' she continued. The term smize is Banks' word for smiling with your eyes. Replaced: The original Top Model host is taking her role back from Rita Ora However, all applicants still must be US citizens if they want to compete to be America's Next Top Model. This isn't the first time the show has broken it's own rules. In 2013, after being an exclusively female competition, ANTM added men to its 20th season. Back on Top: Tyra is seen here during cycle 19 of ANTM in the show's 2012 college edition Top Model originally ended in October 2015 before it was brought back with Rita Ora as host. Banks still acted as executive producer on the show as it moved from the CW network to VH1. But in March 2016 after one cycle with Ora as host, the former Victoria's Secret Angel announced she'd be taking back hosting duties. Runway queen: Tyra was discovered at the age of 15, here she is on the Victoria's Secret runway in 2003 'Im overwhelmed and humbled by the intensity of the ANTM fan base whose deep affection for the show led me to have a change of heart,' she said in a statement. As if she wasn't busy enough, Tyra is also stepping in to host America's Got Talent as the replacement for Nick Cannon. 'I'm having a lot of fun, it actually reminds me of my talk show days of connecting people and talking to them,' she told Access Hollywood. Justus Rosenberg is believed to be the last surviving member of an anti-fascist smuggling network in France during World War II If it weren't for his blond hair and blue eyes, Justus Rosenberg may have never lived to tell the tale of his little-known role in helping hundreds of artists and other intellectuals escape Nazi-occupied France. The journey of this man -- who still teaches at Bard College in upstate New York at age 96 after a decades-long professorial career -- is a fascinating one that landed him France's highest honor this week. Rosenberg is believed to be the last surviving member of an anti-fascist smuggling network set up by Varian Fry, a journalist dubbed America's Schindler. Fry headed to the southern French city of Marseille in 1940 with just $3,000 and a list of about 200 people to try to save. In the end, he shepherded to safety about 2,000 people via the American-sponsored Emergency Rescue Committee, including artists Marc Chagall, Andre Breton and Max Ernst. Rosenberg, who was just 19 at the time but looked younger and sported stereotypically "Aryan" features despite his Polish Jewish background, was the perfect courier for Fry's network. He delivered messages to refugees and searched for possible routes for safe passage, including through Spain. Rosenberg later served with the French Resistance and the US Army. Through his wartime actions and his continued fight against hate today, Rosenberg is a "living reminder of where history can take us if we lose our vigilance as informed and engaged citizens," French Ambassador Gerard Araud said Thursday in handing him the Legion of Honor in New York. - 'Very selective' - But this short, grey-bearded man doesn't portray himself as a hero. "It really was more of an adventure at the time. It was very romantic," Rosenberg told AFP in a recent interview, his eyes shining brightly as he spoke in French. "Afterwards, yes, I realized. But I did always wonder, why were we only helping the intellectuals, why not ordinary people too? Don't they also have the right to live? It was very selective." He arrived in France after leaving his hometown, the Free City of Danzig, now known as Gdansk, in Poland. A top student, he was excluded from his school by anti-Jewish laws, so his parents sent him to Paris in 1937 to complete his studies. After passing his high school exam, Rosenberg attended Paris-Sorbonne University, "falling in love" with the French language after seeing a performance of Jean Racine's play "Phedre." When World War II broke out, he was suddenly cut off from his family, and penniless. He picked up various odd jobs, including a role in a play adaptation of Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days." Rosenberg had just one line: "Liverpool bound!" - Escaping death, many times - Fry was expelled in 1941 by the collaborationist Vichy regime. Receiving a hostile welcome upon his return to New York, his role in the refugee network long remained in the shadows and he died largely unknown in 1967. With Fry out of France, Rosenberg joined the French Resistance in Grenoble. But the Vichy regime toughened its anti-Jewish laws. In August 1942, Rosenberg was arrested and interned at the Venissieux camp, which sent some of the first convoys to the Auschwitz concentration camp. But Rosenberg faked a peritonitis just two days before his transport was due to leave, and managed to escape with help from a camp nurse. He found refuge in a farmer's house in the southeastern town of Montmeyran, where he relaunched his clandestine activities with the assumed name of Jean-Paul Guiton. "I've never forgotten those two women, who risked their own freedom by helping me," Rosenberg said. French ambassador to the United States Gerard Araud awards Rosenberg the French Legion of Honor medal in New York And that's just one of the many narrow escapes that helped keep the young Jewish man alive during the Holocaust. In 1944, he met some of the first American soldiers to arrive in France after the Normandy landings. They took him on as a guide and translator. The men played a joke on Rosenberg one day, taking off in their Jeep without him. Rosenberg jumped in the back. The vehicle then rolled over a land mine, killing the man in the passenger seat. Rosenberg escaped with minor injuries. - Age is but a number - Upon his arrival in the United States, in 1946, Rosenberg returned to his love of literature and languages -- he is fluent in English, French, German, Russian, Polish and Yiddish. After several teaching stints elsewhere, he joined Bard College in New York state's Hudson Valley in 1962. Today, he still deciphers texts by the likes of Franz Kafka and Guy de Maupassant, mixing literary analysis with history. In 2011, he founded with his wife the Justus and Karin Rosenberg Foundation, whose stated mission is to fight hatred and anti-Semitism. A hearing aid and a walking cane are the only indications of his advanced age. Rosenberg's secrets to longevity are numerous -- "luck," his fluency in French that saved him during the Occupation, family "genes" that he says also helped his parents and his sister escape the Holocaust and migrate to Israel. He also cited his "late marriage," because "after the war, I had to catch up," Rosenberg whispered with a smile. Rosenberg says he sees no parallel between the 1930s and the current, toxic political climate in the United States. "But I wouldn't mind coming back here in 30 years to see how the world has evolved," he said, with a laugh. Queensland police warned the Logan River, which runs through Beenleigh south of Brisbane, would not hit peak flood levels for several more hours Flooded rivers were still rising Saturday in two Australian states with two women dead and four people missing after torrential rains in the wake of a powerful tropical cyclone. Queensland police warned that the Logan River, which runs through Beenleigh south of Brisbane, would not hit peak flood levels for several more hours while the city of Rockhampton to the north was also facing a major threat. Commissioner Ian Stewart warned there was "still a major risk to the community around Logan and further south caused by that flooding situation." Rockhampton, with a population of over 80,000 on the Fitzroy River, was expected to suffer flood levels not seen for a century by Wednesday and Stewart urged residents in low-lying areas to leave. "By Wednesday, we will be at peak flooding in Rockhampton," he said. "It won't just be on Wednesday, it will be a gradual rise, so I encourage people to move now." Queensland police tweeted "we currently have four people missing... that we have serious concerns about," but provided no further detail. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from a string of towns in Queensland and New South Wales as the floods move south towards Ballina Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from a string of towns in Queensland and New South Wales as the floods move south towards Ballina. Category four Cyclone Debbie hit northeastern Australia on Tuesday between Bowen and Airlie Beach ripping up trees and causing widespread damage that is still being assessed. It was downgraded to a tropical low as it tracked southeast. But the storm still packed damaging winds and dumped huge amounts of rain all the way down the east coast to Sydney and beyond before blowing out over the Tasman Sea. Police on Friday found the body of a woman who disappeared in floodwaters near Murwillumbah just south of the Queensland border. And a 64-year-old woman, whose vehicle was swept off a causeway on a property in Gungal, in the Hunter Valley south of Sydney was also found dead Friday. Category four Cyclone Debbie was downgraded to a tropical low as it tracked through southeast Australia, but still dumped huge amounts of rain Lismore, south of Murwillumbah was among the worst flooded towns on Friday with Tweed Heads, Kingscliff and Murwillumbah also subject to evacuation orders. Just to the north the popular Queensland tourist city of Gold Coast and surrounds were also inundated. In areas further north where the cyclone made landfall, water and power were still being restored. Bowen, Mackay and the Whitsunday islands, where power went down for more than 50,000 people, bore the brunt of the cyclone. The military has mobilised 1,300 soldiers for the clean-up, with helicopters and planes deploying to restore infrastructure and supply emergency food, water and fuel. The Insurance Council of Australia declared the Queensland and northern NSW regions disaster zones, adding that the damage bill could top Aus$1 billion (US $770 million). The council's chief Rob Whelan compared Debbie it to Cyclone Oswald, a category five storm which hit in 2013 and caused over Aus$1 billion in damage. Visitors gather under cherry blossoms in a park in Tokyo Japan's cherry blossom season kicks off boozy parties across the country and draws tourists from far and wide, but the annual coming-of-spring ritual isn't official until inspectors like Hisato Nishii sign off on it. Over the past few weeks, local weather offices have been sending civil servants like Nishii out to so-called barometer trees that signal when sakura -- cherry blossom in Japanese -- have bloomed. It's no small matter. Millions of Japanese celebrate the explosion of white and pink flowers heralding the change of season, with the Tokyo area expected to hit full bloom this week. Parks are full, restaurants are packed, and companies get in on the action with sakura-branded merchandise, from pink beer cans to flower-motif candy. The festivities come at a time when Japan kicks off a new business year, many university graduates start their first full-time jobs, and older colleagues shift into new positions. The very short season -- full blooms only last about a week before the petals start falling off trees -- has long been cast as a symbol of the fragility of life in Japanese art and literature. "Sakura have soaked into Japanese peoples minds because they come at a time when many are starting a new chapter in their life," Nishii said, as he inspected a barometer tree in Mito city, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Tokyo. "They capture people's hearts because they bloom only for a short period of time." - 'We drink because it's spring' - Blooms in a particular area -- they start as early as March in southern Kyushu and as late as May in northernmost Hokkaido -- are official when a half dozen or more flowers blossom on a barometer tree. Cherry blossoms in Tokyo Inspectors initially come once a day, but once the buds start swelling up, the visits increase to twice daily, Nishii said. The location of a sample tree is a tightly guarded secret to prevent pranks. "We carefully observe them so as not to miss any open buds and once we confirm it, we officially announce the blossom season's start," he said. The Japan Meteorological Agency has been monitoring cherry blossoms since 1953, but timing the blooms is still far from an exact science. A big rainfall can wash out the delicate flowers while a cold weather snap sometimes delays their appearance. It's a nail-biting experience for some, including many tourists who book travel around the expected times for a full bloom when trees are covered in a blanket of flowers. Parks in Tokyo have already been filling up as friends, families and colleagues stake out choice spots, laying plastic tarps on the grass as they start hours-long parties under the pretty-in-pink trees. Yusuke Kinoshita was one of thousands of locals and tourists who gathered in Ueno Park, one of the capital's most popular sakura viewing spots, even before the blooms started. Women take a selfie with cherry blossoms in a park in Tokyo "I've been drinking since 10 this morning," the 39-year-old hotel worker said one recent weekday afternoon after his shift, noting that his boss would be joining the boozy party later on. "It's the Japanese way for the most junior colleagues to stake out a spot and get the party going once the boss comes. "We drink because its sakura season," he added. "We drink because it's spring." Migrants stuck in Serbia after the closure of the Balkans route into Europe suffer regular violence Driven back by police batons and snarling dogs, or beaten and robbed by the smugglers they relied on, migrants caught in Serbia have regularly been victims of violence as they struggle to reach Europe. About 8,000 migrants have been trapped in the country since the European Union closed its borders, hoping to block the so-called Balkans route taken by hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the Middle East, Asia and Africa. But migrants continue to cross the region in smaller numbers -- a few hundred a day -- often with the help of traffickers. "I could not imagine that European police could be so violent," Najim Khan, a 21-year-old mason from Pakistan, said in a Belgrade park. - 'Maybe they wanted money' - The claims from migrants as well as aid groups are dismissed by the authorities: Croatia says there is "no proof" of abuses, Hungary says it acts "with respect to human dignity", and Bulgaria says it has looked into every claim "but they were never confirmed". Kkan, who arrived from Bulgaria a few weeks ago, says that one evening, the police burst into the squat where he was staying in Sofia. "They beat us, took us to a police station and then to a closed centre. They beat us again during transfers," he told AFP. Afghan 16-year-old Attal Shafihullah, who still bears scars from when his home in Afghanistan went up in flames, is among migrants facing regular violence in Serbia, where they are trapped after the closure of the so-called Balkans route into Europe Once in Serbia, he tried to reach the European Union despite the increased patrols at Hungary's border, but his group was quickly spotted by the Hungarian police. "They made us lie on our stomachs, in a line. They ran on our backs, laughing. They were throwing beers in our faces," Khan said. "They took our cellphones and broke them. They did not take our money." In early March, medical aid group Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) denounced the violence against migrants, calling it a "ritual of brutality... designed to stop people from trying to cross again". "The militarisation of the EU borders has led to a staggering increase in violence, especially along the Balkans," said Andrea Contenta of MSF, which has set up a clinic in Belgrade. "More than half of our patients have experienced violent events during their journey." Rados Djurovic, of the Asylum Protection Centre in Serbia, said migrants "complain mostly about violence suffered in Hungary, where they were bitten by dogs, hit brutally, causing broken bones." Qayum Mohammadi, 14, says he was sprayed with tear gas in Bulgaria and beaten by officers in Hungary Many also complained about abuse in Croatia, but the situation was better in Serbia, where the police have been given clear instructions, according to an aid worker who declined to be named. Contenta added that although smugglers were responsible for some of the assaults, "the vast majority of our patients reported alleged violence perpetrated by state authorities, mainly by EU member states such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia." Attal Shafihullah, a 16-year-old Afghan, said he had experienced both. One night Shafihullah and three comrades were intercepted by the Bulgarian police as they tried to leave Serbia. - Increased risks - "Sometimes they let you go," he said. "Other times not." This time, the officers beat them, he said. "Maybe they wanted money," said Shafihullah, whose face bears the scars of burns suffered when his home went up in flames in Afghanistan. But he is certain that financial motivations were behind the blows of smugglers he met a few weeks later, as they told the migrants to have money sent to them from back home. "They wanted to make an example, to show that it is a serious business," Shafihullah said. In a Belgrade reception centre, 14-year-old Qayum Mohammadi remembered vomiting after being sprayed with tear gas when the bus carrying him and other migrants crashed into a wall while trying to outrun a Bulgarian patrol. Some weeks later, in Hungary, officers made him lie on the ground before sending him back to Serbia, added the teenager with a budding moustache. "They told me to put my hands on the ground, and then walked on them... they hit my thighs with a baton" before sending him back to Serbia, he said. Rights group say the EU border closures have only made the Balkans route more dangerous, now that such attempts are illegal. Medecins sans Frontieres has registered more than 70 migrant deaths between Greece and Hungary since last year. The causes of death include hypothermia, drowning, traffic accidents -- and suicides. The euphoria that surrounded Aung San Suu Kyi's landslide electoral win in 2015 has ebbed as her party struggles to push through promised reforms Aung San Suu Kyi's government will face its first test at the ballot box on Saturday in by-elections around Myanmar seen as a barometer for growing disillusionment with her party a year after it took office. The euphoria that surrounded the democracy icon's landslide electoral win in 2015 has ebbed as her party struggles to push through promised reforms. Discontent is particularly acute in ethnic minority areas where many see Suu Kyi as working too closely with the military that ran the country for 50 years and still controls key levers of government. With only 19 seats up for election, the poll is unlikely to alter the balance of power in a government firmly dominated by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. But the voting may offer a glimpse into the public's view on the party's first year in power. Hundreds of voters lined up outside polling stations on the outskirts of Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon early Saturday, though the scene lacked the fanfare and enthusiasm that marked the historic 2015 polls. Myanmar Chit Min, a resident in Dagon Seikkan suburb, told AFP many of his friends decided not to vote this time around. "But I am sure the NLD will win again," he added. The party will face its toughest challenge to the north in Shan State, where tens of thousands have been displaced by a surge in fighting between the army and ethnic insurgents. "There are many victims of war here and other ethnic areas now," Sai One Leng Kham, an upper house MP from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, told AFP. The NLD "needs to understand the real situation. Sometimes they are working without any understanding of what's going on on the ground," he added. In strife-torn Rakhine State on Myanmar's western coastline, the party will face a strong challenge not only from the local ethnic minority Arakan National Party but also the military-backed USDP. The USDP led the transitional government that took over from the junta in 2011, but was trounced in elections four years later that swept the NLD to power. To the south in Mon, the NLD is facing a backlash over the naming of a new bridge after Suu Kyi's father that many see as a symbol of the party's disregard for minorities. Myanmar's economic and political elite, including the NLD, have long been dominated by the majority Bamar ethnicity. "Now more people think MPs from ethnic parties should be in parliament," said local Nyan Soe, who was among tens of thousands who protested over the bridge. "The NLD has not been good for ethnic people since it took power. They don't care much about how ethnic people feel." Saw Tun, an NLD MP from Mon state, said he is nonetheless confident of victory after receiving strong support on the campaign trail. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) can expect a warm welcome to the White House from Donald Trump, whom he met in New York last year before the tycoon won the US presidential election Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meets his counterpart and admirer Donald Trump in Washington Monday for a "reboot" of relations following years of tension with the American president's predecessor. The former reality television star and tycoon has made no secret of his admiration for Sisi, an ex-army chief who overthrew Egypt's Islamist president in 2013 and cracked down on his supporters. Mohamed Morsi's ouster, a year after he had won Egypt's first democratic election, and the ensuing crackdown on Islamists prompted then US president Barack Obama to suspend military aid to Cairo temporarily. But when Sisi meets Trump during his first state visit to Washington, he will see a partner who better appreciates his "mission" to fight Islamists and jihadists, without Obama's hand-wringing over human rights. Sisi has "led Egypt's campaign to defeat a long-running terrorist threat in the Sinai", a US administration official said in a briefing on Friday. Trump "wants to use President al-Sisi's visit to reboot the bilateral connection", he said. Sisi left for Washington on Saturday and will meet cabinet members and lawmakers ahead of Monday's meeting with Trump, his office said. - 'A fantastic guy' - When the two met in September, they walked away praising one another, with Sisi saying Trump shows "deep and great understanding" of the region. And Trump gushed about his "chemistry" with Sisi. "He's a fantastic guy. Took control of Egypt, and he really took control of it," he told Fox Business of the period after Morsi's overthrow which saw hundreds of Islamist protesters killed and thousands detained. Ahead of Sisi's trip, five US senators announced they would introduce a bipartisan resolution supporting Egypt, but demanding an end to a crackdown on civil society groups and the release of American-Egyptian Aya Hejazy. The US administration official said Washington will approach rights issues in a "private, more discreet way". It will also push for the release of Hejazy, who ran an NGO for homeless children and has been detained since 2014 on human trafficking charges. Her verdict is expected on April 16. Over the past three years, Sisi has met a trickle of delegations from American think-tanks and other groups, drumming home the importance of supporting him. Cairo had demanded Western countries take a tougher stance on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement, something Trump's administration has suggested it could consider. "Beyond Sisi being thrilled that Trump replaced Obama, and the opportunity to turn a page, this is Egypt trying to reassert itself in a more central way to US Middle East strategy," said Issandr El Amrani, the International Crisis Group's North Africa director. Egypt -- one of two Arab countries to have a peace treaty with Israel -- had traditionally played a central role in US regional alliances, in return receiving $1.3 billion in annual military aid. Cairo has also mediated between Israel and the Palestinians. - Advanced military gear - Sisi's office said he will broach the issue with Trump, who has confusingly suggested that he is fine with either a two-state or a one-state solution to the conflict. Sisi's trip comes ahead of Trump's talks on Wednesday with King Abdullah II of Jordan and after a tentative invitation to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to visit. "We are going to be discussing the general outlines of our approach with the Middle East peace process," the US official said on Friday. Although Sisi may be delighted about having Trump's ear, he may yet be disappointed. "The focus (for Trump) is on areas where Egypt has little relevance, like Iraq and Syria," El Amrani said. Egypt is part of the international coalition against the Islamic State group, but is bogged down fighting the jihadists' franchise in the Sinai Peninsula, where they have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen. Western officials who requested anonymity say Egypt is primarily interested in advanced military hardware it believes Western countries are withholding. Cairo also wants conventional equipment that Washington believes is not useful for a counter-insurgency campaign. But it remains unclear whether Trump, who wants to downsize foreign aid and cut the State Department's budget, will maintain current financing to Egypt. The US administration official said Washington wants to "fully support" Egypt. But "the discussions about the details of the budget process and how that's going to be allocated with the input from the Department of State is still an ongoing process," he said. The 2011 revolution that toppled Tunisia's longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ushered in a new era of freedom of expression Tunisian activists say they are frustrated by the slow progress on reforms to improve civil liberties six years after an uprising calling for more freedoms in the North African country. The 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ushered in a new era of freedom of expression and the creation of dozens of civil society groups and political parties. But activists say the law still contains "oppressive" and "backward" provisions inconsistent with a 2014 constitution guaranteeing freedom of conscience, protection of privacy, and equality between men and women. Since the uprising, Amna Guellali of Human Rights Watch says, Tunisian civil society has more openly been tackling issues that were previously taboo such as drugs and homosexuality. But they have made limited headway in terms of legal reform, as they face "a huge amount of resistance" from politicians and parts of the population, she says. "We feel like we're going round in circles... It's frustrating," Guellali says. President Beji Caid Essebsi has categorically refused to support decriminalising homosexuality, which is still punishable by three years in prison. And discrimination against women remains rife, particularly in matters of inheritance, despite Tunisia being viewed as a regional pioneer in women's rights. In December, the government said it wanted to amend a law that allows men who carry out sexual acts with girls under the age of 15 to avoid prosecution if they marry their victims. But parliament has yet to do so, or to approve a wider law to curb violence against women. And in recent years hundreds of young Tunisians have been jailed for smoking cannabis under a law from Ben Ali's era imposing a mandatory one-year prison sentence for narcotics use. - Legal overhaul - Rights lawyer Ghazi Mrabet, who has campaigned against the anti-narcotics law, says political horsetrading causes these laws to stall in parliament. The reforms face opposition from conservatives "in all parties, not just among the Islamists", he says. Wahid Ferchichi, of the Adli association for the defence of individual liberties, says that a complete overhaul of Tunisia's legal system is needed. As laws like the one to stop violence against women address fundamental rights issues, they should "lead to the reform of the penal law, personal status law and labour law", he says. Ferchichi believes lawmakers are wary of backing new legislation on controversial issues out of "fear of not winning the next elections". Walid Larbi, from the Beity association, says the proposed reforms threaten the "all-Tunisian, all-Muslim" image that the country's society has of itself. But there is some progress. Tunisia has amended a law so that women no longer need permission from their husband to travel abroad with their children. Essebsi has also announced measures to limit the number of prison terms for cannabis use. Even publicly discussing civil rights is a huge achievement, campaigners say. "We're starting public debates, and that's extraordinary," says Hajer el-Kefi from Euromed Rights. "Before we never talked about homosexuality, or about a Tunisian woman marrying a non-Muslim," she says. "Before you couldn't even say 'zatla' on television," adds Mrabet, using a slang word for cannabis. In their latest campaign, rights groups have called on authorities to scrap a ban on Tunisian Muslim women marrying non-Muslims. Kefi says she expects criticism. "But we'll keep up the fight," she says. Israeli security forces stand guard in Jerusalem's Old City following a stabbing attack on April 1, 2017 A Palestinian from the occupied West Bank stabbed and wounded three Israelis in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday before being shot dead by border guards, police said. The suspect attacked two Jewish passers-by before fleeing. He later wounded a border guard before he was shot dead. Two of the Israelis were lightly wounded and the third was in a more serious condition, according to police. Clashes broke out afterwards between stone-throwing Palestinians and police officers who used stun grenades, an AFP photographer said. It was the second such attack in days near Damascus Gate, a main entrance to the Old City. On Wednesday, a Palestinian woman said to be the mother of a man killed last year tried to stab Israeli police with scissors before being shot dead. A wave of violence that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 259 Palestinians, 40 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese national, according to an AFP count. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others died during protests, clashes or in Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip. Violence has subsided in recent months, despite sporadic attacks, but the head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service, Nadav Argaman, warned last month against complacency, saying the lull was "misleading". A police official said the security forces would receive reinforcements in preparation for possible attacks during the week-long Passover Jewish holiday beginning April 10 when tens of thousands visit the Old City. Protesters call for the resignation of South African President Jacob Zuma after a highly controversial cabinet reshuffle A memorial service Saturday for anti-apartheid icon Ahmed Kathrada was transformed into a fierce attack on South African President Jacob Zuma, under fire after a controversial cabinet reshuffle. Party veterans of the ruling ANC, sacked finance minister Pravin Gordhan and Kathrada's widow lined up to criticise the state of the country as the crowd shouted "Zuma must go." Zuma sacked Gordhan and several other ministers on Thursday in a shock move that sent the rand currency tumbling amid fears of a political crisis in South Africa. In a rousing speech, the sacked minister told a cheering crowd packed into the Johannesburg city hall that the country was in a "mini crisis." "Comrade Kathy leaves us at a time when the ANC or the democratic government and indeed our society finds itself in a mini crisis," said Gordhan, without mentioning Zuma directly by name. "The problems are very clear. And who is the problem and what is the problem is very clear as well," he said prompting another round of "Zuma must go" chants from the crowd. Some people attending the service brandished posters reading: "Zuma worst President of South Africa." - Worst president - Kathrada, who was jailed alongside Mandela on Robben Island, died on Tuesday in a Johannesburg hospital after a short illness following brain surgery. His funeral on Wednesday also turned into an anti-Zuma rally as speakers drew attention to the growing discontent within the ANC. Kathrada had once called on Zuma to resign as president following a damning court ruling in 2016 that he had violated the constitution. His family barred Zuma from attending his funeral. The event in honour of the ANC stalwart -- who is described as part of the "golden generation" of freedom fighters -- was supposed to be an official government memorial, before authorities postponed it on Friday, without giving a reason. Gordhan described the postponement as "petty and spiteful". Kathrada's widow, Barbara Hogan, also took to the podium, hitting out at Zuma for axing Gordhan, whom she described as "one of our finest finance ministers." "If you had ears to hear and eyes to see, you would have not appointed four finance ministers in less than three years," she said referring to changes in the finance ministry. Hogan urged Zuma "to step down" as her husband had demanded. Three members of the ANC top body, including Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa have rejected Zuma's reshuffle. Kenya's police Inspector General Joseph Boinnet, seen in 2015, said, "I have seen the video and I condemn those actions. Investigations have already started and I can assure you action will be taken against officers involved" Kenya's police chief Saturday ordered an investigation after a video circulated on social media showing a police officer killing a disarmed man in cold blood in front of a crowd of onlookers in Nairobi. "I have ordered thorough investigations on the shooting incident that occurred in Eastleigh," a majority Somali neighbourhood in the Kenyan capital, Inspector General Joseph Boinnet told Capital FM News. "I have seen the video and I condemn those actions. Investigations have already started and I can assure you action will be taken against officers involved," he said. Amateur mobile phone footage first shows one man lying lifeless in a pool of blood having been shot shortly before by police. At his side, two plain-clothes policemen are holding and questioning another young man. Then one of the officers fires several rounds at point-blank range at the suspect. The officer is seen delivering a final shot to the head of the injured and bleeding man. The incident has again raised concerns about police abuse in Kenya and outrage at the apparent "brazen execution of two young men", said the Law Society of Kenya. "The scene is chilling and a frightening reminder that there are elements of the security forces who murder Kenyan citizens without hesitation and in violation of all laws," said Isaac Okero, the society's president. "Even if they were criminal suspects, whatever the nature of their alleged offences or criminal activities, those young men were entitled to due process," Okero added. - 'Enforced disappearance' - Police say they were pursuing two men in their 20s as suspected members of the notorious Superpower gang and caught up with them outside a shopping mall. "These boys have given us sleepless nights because they commit robberies and kill, then they relocate and resurface," a policeman with knowledge of the gang who requested anonymity told AFP. He also alleged the two were involved in the deaths of several police officers, leading to the manhunt. The Kenyan lawyers group called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the officers shown in the video, denouncing what it called "the culture of extrajudicial executions that is now so evidently entrenched in the national police service." Rights groups have previously raised concern about alleged abuse by Kenya's police and security services. A Human Rights Watch report last July documented "enforced disappearances" and "extrajudicial killings" of men suspected of links to Islamist extremists by security forces in the country's northeast. That same month, four Kenyan policemen were charged over the high-profile murders of a human rights lawyer and two others -- another case that sparked outrage. Kenya's police force has been accused in the past of running hit squads targeting those investigating allegations of police abuse. A man speaks during a demonstration for justice on the Place de la Republique on March 30, 2017 following the death of Chinese Liu Shaoyo during a police intervention The first generation of Chinese nationals to settle in France, most of whom arrived in a wave in the 1970s, rarely if ever expressed themselves publicly. Many lacked legal working papers and struggled to learn French, but still they found a foothold as workers in textile businesses and restaurants in the French capital. Now their sons and daughters -- who were born and educated in France -- are speaking up in anger over the police killing of a Chinese national in late March. Chinese immigrants "saw it as a bad thing to criticise the police, and they considered themselves strangers in France," said Richard Beraha, author of a book dissecting the Chinese experience in France. But this new generation of Chinese-French is not afraid to make demands, and the older people, "who were reluctant, are joining the movement," he said. Shaoyo Liu, a 56-year-old father of five, was shot by a police team called to his apartment in northeast Paris over a suspected domestic dispute. Authorities say he attacked a policeman with a knife, causing injuries, and that another officer opened fire in self-defence, killing him. The dead man's family disputes the police version of events. The incident caused tensions between Paris and Beijing as well as sparking nights of protests from members of the French capital's up to 300,000-strong Chinese community. Zhou, a 20-year-old student who came to protest in Paris this week, drew parallels with the case of Theo, a young black man who sustained severe anal and rectal injuries during a police stop-and-search in early February. People light candles during a demonstration for justice on the Place de la Republique on March 30, 2017 following the death of Chinese Liu Shaoyo during a police intervention The case prompted such an uproar in France that President Francois Hollande visited Theo in hospital, appealing for calm following a week of sustained riots in mid-February. "When a Chinese person is killed by police, there is no official response," Zhou said. - 'Guarantee safety' - About 45 people have been arrested in the series of protests in Paris over the Chinese man's killing, with many waving banners bearing slogans such as "colonialist police" and "Wake up French Asians! You are still oppressed in this country". The anger has also spread online where a petition calling for "justice and truth for Shaoyo Liu" has gathered nearly 50,000 signatures. In a rare move reflecting the shock in China over the shooting, Beijing said it had filed an official complaint to France. A woman speaks next to candles during a demonstration for justice on the Place de la Republique on March 30, 2017 following the death of Chinese Liu Shaoyo during a police intervention Beijing called on Paris to "guarantee the safety and legal rights and interests of Chinese citizens in France and to treat the reaction of Chinese people to this incident in a rational way," a foreign ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday. On Saturday, however, the Paris police stressed that security for the city's Asian community is a "priority," outlining new measures for dealing with complaints, including an improved translation system. In the course of a meeting with Jun Zhai -- the Chinese Ambassador to France -- and members from various Chinese immigrant groups, Paris police chief Michel Cadot "expressed his condolences to the Chinese community and his sympathy to the family," a police statement said. In August 2016, similar street protests erupted for greater security after the fatal mugging of 49-year-old tailor Zhang Chaolin in the Aubervilliers suburb north of Paris. Violent robberies tripled in 2016 in the suburb targeting the Chinese community, where ethnic Chinese are seen as lucrative prey as they are thought to carry large sums of cash. At the time of the tailor's death, tens of thousands of ethnic Chinese flooded the streets of Paris, protesting against "anti-Asian racism". "Chinese people were asking for nothing more than to be safe, but were scorned by the government," said Yehman Chen, 49. "Today, it's the straw that broke the camel's back." Ethnic Chinese have routinely complained about frequent attacks in the community, but say little has been done to help, said accountant and mother Weirong Zhang. "The first time was in 2003, I had been here a few months and my luggage was stolen, everything I had" she said. "I went to the police. They asked me if I had papers, a credit card. No? So, they discouraged me from filing a complaint." Police said the anti-occupation demonstration was peaceful, despite tensions over an incident earlier in the day, when Israeli security forces could be seen closing off Damascus Gate following a stabbing attack by a Palestinian man April 1, 2017 Several hundred mostly Jewish protesters marched in Jerusalem late Saturday to denounce nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, police said. The demonstration's organisers and media estimated that some 2,000 people marched from west Jerusalem to near the Old City's Jaffa Gate to a platform bearing both Israeli and Palestinian flags. The event was organised by the secular left-wing opposition party Meretz and the Arab-dominated Joint List, parliament's third largest bloc with 13 seats, and NGOs hostile to the occupation of Israeli territories since the June 1967 war. Slogans such as "Jews and Arabs are not enemies" and "No to a government of annexation" were among chants heard in Hebrew and Arabic. The protest came at a time when those who back the creation of a Palestinian state find it harder for their voices to be heard under a government considered to be the most right-wing in Israeli history. Police said the demonstration passed off peacefully, despite tensions over an incident earlier in the day. A Palestinian attacker from the West Bank who stabbed and wounded three Israelis was shot dead by police near the Old City's Damascus Gate. On Wednesday, a Palestinian woman who attacked border guards with scissors was shot dead in the same area. Malian opposition leader Soumaila Cisse, seen in 2014, told delegates after appearing at the talks in Bamako that "inclusive consultations" were required to end Mali's problems, a remark clearly aimed at the government Mali's opposition on Saturday took tentative steps towards ending its boycott of a political summit enshrined in the country's 2015 peace deal after the government extended a deadline to facilitate extra talks. Opposition parties were the last holdout after former rebels who had led several uprisings against the state in Mali's north ended their own boycott on Tuesday to attend a conference designed to ensure the shaky peace accord remains on course. The government and pro-Bamako armed groups are also represented at the event. "It's a symbolic presence to deliver a message, after a request for our presence by a delegation of participants at the conference," said Nouhoum Togo, an opposition spokesman, explaining why some of its delegates appeared Saturday but stopped short of sitting down to discussions. "It is also because the government has backed off and decided that finally the conference will not end on April 2, but that there will be another phase," he added. The new round of talks is expected to begin on Monday. The head of the opposition grouping, Soumaila Cisse, told delegates after appearing at the talks in Bamako that "inclusive consultations" were required to end Mali's problems, a remark clearly aimed at the government. Mali's north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012 who hijacked a rebel uprising, though the Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013. The implementation of the peace accord struck to prevent a similar crisis has been piecemeal and insurgents who refused to sign the deal are still active across large parts of the country. The current conference aims at solidifying measures agreed by the signatories to reach a lasting peace in the conflict-prone west African nation. Torrential rain left much of North Maclean in southeastern Queensland under water Rising floods continued to plague parts of eastern Australia as emergency workers battled to restore water and electricity in cyclone-hit areas Sunday, with the recovery efforts expected to last several months. At least two people were dead and several missing after torrential rain inundated large areas of Queensland and New South Wales (NSW) states, flooding homes and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. Category four Cyclone Debbie smashed into Queensland on Tuesday between Bowen and Airlie, ripping up trees and causing widespread damage that is still being assessed. It was downgraded to a tropical low as it tracked southeast through the week, packing high winds and dumping huge amounts of rain all down the east coast to Sydney before blowing out over the Tasman Sea. Even as skies began to clear, numerous towns were still on flood alert and some regions remain under water. Logan just south of Brisbane reflected the varied situation, with rising floods affecting some areas while other parts swung into clean-up mode as waters receded. "This is unprecedented for us," Logan city mayor Luke Smith said Sunday, warning that his city was still "in flux" with one key river remaining at high levels. "The sky is the limit at this stage about what that means," he added about the potential damage bill. In Rockhampton in central-east Queensland, residents were bracing for the biggest floods they have experienced since 1954, with peak levels set to be reached late Wednesday or early Thursday. "Debbie is not done with us yet," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said when visiting Rockhampton Saturday. - Fears for missing - The torrential rain also wrecked havoc south of the Queensland border in NSW, bringing severe floods to several towns. The bodies of two women were found in the state on Friday. Another three people were confirmed dead -- two in NSW and one in Queensland -- on Saturday but police were still investigating whether their deaths were flood-related. "The water busted the door open and dad started to have a panic attack," the son of one of the victims, a 46-year-old man from Murwillumbah in northeastern NSW, told the Courier Mail newspaper. "He fell down and it sounded like he was snoring, but he stopped breathing." There were also fears for three other people missing in flood-affected areas in Queensland, with police searching for them Sunday. Meanwhile, the military and emergency personnel were working to restore essential services such as water and electricity in towns that were in the direct path of Debbie in northern Queensland. In cyclone-hit Proserpine, Colin Ridgway's home of two decades was destroyed by Debbie. "Oh, it breaks your heart, really. But not much you can do about it. It's gone," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Saturday. The Insurance Council of Australia has declared the Queensland and northern NSW regions disaster zones, estimating the damage bill could reach Aus$1 billion (US $770 million). "The devastation across our state is huge, it is going to take months to repair," Palaszczuk told reporters in Logan Sunday. Kang Sung of South Korea plays his approach shot on the 13th hole during round three of the Shell Houston Open, in Humble, Texas, on April 1, 2017 South Korean Kang Sung's third-round 71 was good enough for a three-shot lead on Saturday after American Rickie Fowler's late stumble at the US PGA Houston Open. Kang, a 29-year-old chasing a first US PGA Tour title that would give him a late invitation to next week's Masters, couldn't match his sizzling 63 of Friday. But his one-under effort for a 17-under-par total of 199 still left him a slight cushion going into the final round. Kang's round of four birdies and three bogeys helped him withstand the pressure applied by Fowler, who had eight birdies in his first 14 holes to grab a share of the lead before finishing with a bogey at 17 and a double-bogey at the last. Fowler settled for a 67 for 202 -- one stroke in front of American Russell Henley, who signed for a 69. Rickie Fowler waves to the crowd following a birdie on the 13th hole during round three of the Shell Houston Open, in Humble, Texas, on April 1, 2017 Kang, who started the week ranked 202nd in the world, began the round with an impressive six-shot lead, but Fowler wasted little time in eating into that. After birdies at the third and fifth, Fowler rolled in a 47-foot putt at the seventh to ignite a string of three straight birides to cap the front nine. He strung together three more birdies at 12. 13 and 14 to briefly join Kang atop the leaderboard. But he gave a stroke back at the 17th, where he was in two bunkers then fired his tee shot well right at 18. Although he was able to find the green with his second shot, Fowler rattled his par-saving putt from inside four feet past the hole, then missed the bogey putt coming back. Fowler's four-putt finish offered breathing room to Kang, whose bogey at 16 had dropped him into a tie for the lead for the second time on the back nine. Kang knew that something was up in the group ahead of his. "On 15 or 16, I looked at the leaderboard, and Rickie was at like eight under par for the day. It was real impressive. Unfortunately, he putted poorly on the last hole." - Kang playing hard - Russell Henley of the US reacts to a birdie putt on the 18th hole during round three of the Shell Houston Open, in Humble, Texas, on April 1, 2017 Kang, who hasn't posted a victory since the 2013 Korean Open, settled in with birdies at the first and fourth holes. After bogeys at five and seven he rolled in birdie putts of 20 feet at the 11th and 15th, and capped his round with a tough four-footer for par. "I was playing very hard today," Kang said. "The wind was murder. The greens got a lot firmer because we played in the afternoon. The greens got a lot faster. Fortunately, I started with some birdies today and it did help me out a lot." Fowler said he "can't really dwell" on his last two holes. "I just got funky on the greens last two holes," he said. "But we put ourselves in a position to win." With possibly severe storms expected to move into the area on Sunday afternoon, tournament officials moved up fourth-round tee times in hopes of beating the weather. At least 18 players who made the cut -- Kang could be the 19th -- are due to head from Houston to Augusta, Georgia, to begin preparations for the Masters, increasing the pressure to avoid a Monday finish. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - A car bomb exploded Friday near a Shiite Muslim mosque in the town of Parachinar in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 24 people and wounding over 100, officials said. The bomb was detonated near the mosque, which also is not far from the Noor Market, said Mushtaq Ghani, a spokesman for the provincial government. TV footage showed victims being taken away in ambulances and private cars. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of Pakistani Taliban militants, claimed responsibility. Spokesman Asad Mansoor said in a statement that it was carried out by one of the group's members, Abul Durda, and targeted minority Shiites, considered heretics by the militants. The blast also damaged vehicles and nearby shops, according to government administrator Zahid Hussain, who also said Shiites were the intended target. Kamran Ali, hospitalized with a head injury, said he was sitting in his shop when the blast took place. "My shop partially collapsed and I was unable to move for the next 30 minutes or so, and then residents brought me to hospital," he said. The area was littered with broken glass and spattered blood, he added. Parachinar is a key town in the Kurram tribal region bordering Afghanistan and has been wracked by sectarian violence. The area once was a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban and Sunni militant groups. Although the army says it has cleared Kurram of militants, violence has continued. Mansoor and Lashker-e-Jhangvi, another banned Sunni militant group, have claimed responsibility for previous attacks. Two doctors at the government-run hospital said 22 bodies and more than 70 wounded were brought to the facility. The doctors spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Other wounded initially taken to private facilities also were brought to the government hospital. Sabir Hussain, a hospital official, said the Pakistan army took 40 of the most critically wounded by helicopters to hospitals in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where two people died. Angered by the attack, some residents were seen chanting slogans against the government. Security forces fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd, according to officials. Later, mourners returned to the streets carrying the dead in caskets and staged a sit-in near the office of the area administrator. They chanted slogans calling for better security for residents who have been repeated victims of such attacks. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the bombing and vowed to eliminate terrorism. "The network of terrorists has already been broken and it is our national duty to continue this war until the complete annihilation of the scourge of terrorism from our soil," Sharif said in a statement. The bombing came hours after state-run media said President Mamnoon Hussain had signed a bill removing the last hurdle for reviving military courts to bring terrorism suspects to trial. Pakistan's Senate and National Assembly have already passed a constitutional amendment to extend the practice, which has been in place for two years. A previous 2015 amendment established the military courts but expired in January. The move to use military courts followed the December 2014 Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar that killed 154 people - mostly schoolchildren. Pakistan lifted a moratorium on the death penalty at that time. Since then, it has executed over 400 people, although most were linked to routine murders. Meanwhile, the army said it killed a "high-value" Pakistani Taliban leader, Mehmood-ul-Hassan, along with an associate in a raid in the South Waziristan tribal region. In a statement, it said troops also seized a cache of weapons from the hideouts of slain militants, who for years operated from the region to orchestrate attacks. ___ Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, contributed to this report. A recall of the emergency anti-allergy medicine EpiPen is expanding to the U.S. and other markets in North America, Europe, Asia and South America because the allergy shots may not work. The notice issued Friday by Mylan N.V. expands upon warnings made earlier this month after two reports of the device failing. The new announcement comes a week after Mylan said it had recalled about 81,000 EpiPen devices in countries outside the US. The original memo was due to two reports of the company's allergy treatment failing to work in emergencies. The recall now covers 13 lots distributed from December 17, 2015 through July 1, 2016. Mylan NV's EpiPen, pictured, has been recalled in the United States following international recalls of the emergency anti-allergy medication The recall of the product covers 13 lots distributed from December 17, 2015 through July 1, 2016 Mylan didn't immediately respond to a question about how many devices are affected by the recall. The problems could be potentially life-threatening, although Mylan described the incidence of the defects as 'extremely rare.' The company wrote in a statement: 'While the number of reported failures is small, EpiPen products that potentially contain a defective part are being recalled because of the potential for life-threatening risk if a severe allergic reaction goes untreated,' CBS News reported. The EpiPen, manufactured by Meridian Medical Technologies, is used to treat allergic reactions to certain food and bug bites. Mylan is under federal investigation and has been responsible for price increases in the past. pictured: Protesters in New York City in 2014 demonstrating against price hikes including a 1,100% increase for EpiPen Mylan, which is the focus of multiple federal investigations, has come under fire for staggering price increases on the emergency shot in the United States. Mylan has also been heavily criticized for classifying EpiPen as a generic rather than a branded product, which led to much smaller rebates from the company to state Medicaid programs. The products can be replaced at no charge by calling 877-650-3494 or emailing customer.service@mylan.com. CHICAGO (AP) - The gun violence in one South Side Chicago neighborhood that left seven dead in a 12-hour period was mostly due to gang conflict, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Friday. On Thursday afternoon, four people were fatally shot in or near a restaurant after a man approached and opened fire. Two men were found dead from bullet wounds inside the restaurant. A third person was found unresponsive outside the restaurant. A fourth man who sustained gunshot wounds was found unresponsive a block away. Two people were killed late Thursday when a vehicle pulled alongside a van in the city's South Shore neighborhood. A man and woman were shot, police said, and the van crashed into a pole. Georgia Jackson, 72, is overcome with emotion upon learning that her two grandsons, Raheem, 19, and Dillon Jackson, 20, were found fatally shot in the South Shore neighborhood in Chicago on Thursday, March 30, 2017. Chicago police said Thursday several people were found fatally shot Thursday in or near a restaurant. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune via AP) "I'm angry and sick," Johnson said during a news conference. "You have my promise that CPD will utilize the full weight of our resources to go after the individuals responsible for yesterday's incidents." Johnson said investigators have determined most of the victims were targeted and had known gang affiliations. He added the woman's killing wasn't gang related. Johnson said there will be a heavy and aggressive police presence in the South Shore neighborhood until the perpetrators of Thursday's violence are in custody. He added coordinated police operations will target the people who are driving the violence in the neighborhood and where retaliatory violence may occur. "You lose count of the shootings after a while," Kyra Carr, who lives a few blocks away and said she heard the gunfire, told the Chicago Sun-Times. "But seven bodies in a day. Crazy. Something is wrong." The Cook County medical examiner's office identified three of the victims as brothers Raheem and Dillon Jackson, ages 19 and 20 respectively, and 28-year-old Emmanuel Stokes. The identity of the fourth victim was withheld pending notification of family. The Chicago Tribune reports that the Jacksons' grandmother, Georgia Jackson, 72, said the two had gone to the restaurant to get food and to see their mother, who works there. She said their mother called her about the shooting. "She only said one at first but when I got here they said they found the other," Georgia Jackson said. Also on Thursday, about a mile from the restaurant, the body of 26-year-old Patrice L. Calvin was discovered in a home. The medical examiner's office says Calvin, who was four months pregnant, suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Johnson said the woman likely knew her killer, and her death wasn't gang related. No arrests have been reported by police. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Thousands of supporters of arrested former President Park Geun-hye are expected to gather in South Korea's capital to call for her release. Seoul police plan to deploy more than 10,000 officers to monitor Saturday's rally amid concerns of clashes. Park was jailed Friday over allegations that she colluded with a confidante to extort money from businesses, take bribes and allow the friend to unlawfully interfere with state affairs. FILE - In this March 30, 2017 file photo, ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrives at the Seoul Central District Court for hearing on a prosecutors' request for her arrest for corruption, in Seoul, South Korea. The arrest of South Korea's first female president marks a stunning fall for the scion of a powerful general who himself ruled the country during her teenage years and into her 20s. Park was jailed Friday, March 31, 2017, three weeks after the Constitutional Court stripped her of office over a corruption scandal. Prosecutors accuse her of colluding with a jailed confidante to amass an illicit fortune and allowing the friend to manipulate state affairs. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) Dozens of her supporters rallied outside the detention center Friday, some of them crying and bowing toward the facility while vowing to "protect" her. Three people died amid violent clashes between Park's supporters and police on March 10 after the Constitutional Court decided to remove her from office. In 1849, Abner Blackburn and other prospectors heading to the California gold fields discovered the first Nevada gold where Gold Canyon reaches the Carson River at a place that later became Dayton. In the early 1850s, Spafford Hall constructed a log station and trading post to accommodate the needs of emigrants bound for California along the Overland Trail. Halls Station became the center of activity for the Dayton area and was the place where the first dance ever held in Nevada Territory occurred on New Years Eve, 1853. In 1854, Spafford Hall was seriously injured in a hunting accident and sold the station to one of his employees, James McMarlin. Later on, the station was purchased by Major William Ormsby sometime between 1854 and 1860. Ormsby was a supporter of constructing the overland stage route through Nevada Territory and wanted Halls Station to become a stage stop for the Pioneer Stage Line. In April, 1860, when the Pony Express started operation through the territory, Halls Station became Daytons first Pony Express station. Since the Pony Express route did not run through Gold Hill or Virginia City, any mail for the Comstock was taken off at Dayton and brought to the Comstock by a separate carrier. Shortly after the Pony Express started operating, the Pyramid Lake Indian War began. Station owner Major Ormsby was one of the 76 men killed in the first battle of the war on May 12, 1860. This disrupted Pony Express mail service for nearly two months until riders were once again able to make the runs with any degree of safety. Many of the Pony Express stations east of Dayton were attacked by the Indians. Since several of the Pony Express stations out in the desert regions of the territory were burned during the time of hostile Indian attacks, the log structure at Halls Station was likely considered too vulnerable to remain the Pony Express Station. With the death of Major Ormsby, the Pony Express Station for the Dayton area was relocated to a more substantial stone-walled building alongside the present location of the Union Hotel. This was the station for the Overland Stage stop and it then became the second Pony Express station in Dayton. It remained the station until the Pony Express ceased operation in 1861. The site of the original Halls Station was destroyed during the 1930s when it was excavated for a gravel pit and some gold mining activity. There are historical markers near the site of Halls Station and on the Union Hotel and post office building. Both of the sites are now on private property. There is a freestanding rock wall alongside the Union Hotel that was the original wall of the overland stage station and the Pony Express Stop. Originally, the Union Hotel was located across the street near the Odeon Hall. When the hotel burned down in 1870, it was re-built alongside the old stone wall which has remained intact ever since. This massive wall can be seen along the west side of the hotel. A better view can be seen from the rear of the hotel where much more of the wall is visible. Being a Dayton resident, I have taken photos of the remains of the Pony Express station walls to accompany this article. One shows the interior walls now encroached upon by trees and the doorway tall enough for horses to enter. The other photo taken behind the Station shows the brick Union Hotel on the right and the stone wall on the left that extends all the way to Main Street. LONDON (AP) - Britain sought Saturday to reassure Gibraltar that it will protect the territory's interests in upcoming talks on exiting the European Union amid a dispute with Spain that underscores the complications of Britain's EU divorce. Spain has long sought to regain control of Gibraltar, an enclave of 32,000 people on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula that was ceded to Britain in 1713. On Friday, the EU suggested that Spain would get a veto over the territory's future relationship with the trading bloc. Gibraltar reacted angrily to the EU position, saying Spain was using the U.K.'s departure from the EU to force negotiations that it has wanted on the status of the territory. FILE- In this file photo dated Wednesday, March 1, 2017, a woman walks on the Spanish side of the border between Spain and the British overseas territory of Gibraltar with the iconic Rock of Gibraltar in the background, in La Linea de la Concepcion, Southern Spain. Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Friday March 31, 2017, reassured Gibraltar that it will protect the territory's interests in forthcoming Brexit talks on exiting the European Union, following Spain's assertion that it would have a veto over the territory's future relationship with the trading bloc. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza, FILE) British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talked with Gibraltar's chief minister, Fabian Picardo, on Friday to assure him of the U.K.'s support. "As ever, the U.K. remains implacable and rock-like in our support for Gibraltar," Johnson tweeted after the conversation. British Prime Minister Theresa May failed to mention Gibraltar in her letter triggering formal negotiations on Britain's departure from the EU - causing dismay in the territory. The EU fueled that anxiety on Friday when it released a nine-page roadmap for the talks, which included a statement that no future agreement after Brexit between Britain and the bloc would apply to Gibraltar unless both the U.K. and Spain agreed. The statement on Gibraltar is unique for the EU, which in other matters has called for the 27 remaining members to speak with one voice in talks with Britain. Picardo expressed outrage at being singled out, describing the guidelines as "a disgraceful attempt by Spain to manipulate the European Council for its own narrow political interests." "What we are seeing is a clear manifestation of the predictably predatory attitude that we anticipated Spain would seek to abusively impose on its partners," he said in a statement. Although May has since insisted her support for Gibraltar remains firm, some analysts suggest the prime minister's failure to mention the territory in her letter supports the idea that it is a colony, not an integral part of the U.K. Christian Hernandez, president of the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce, disagreed. Gibraltar became a member of the EU when Britain joined the bloc in 1973, and it is considered part of the U.K. for all matters relating to the EU, he told the BBC on Saturday. "We have to trust that the British government is going to represent the interests of its British citizens in Gibraltar," Hernandez said. "The British government now needs to stand firm in the face of Spanish bullying." The people of Gibraltar, who rely on an open border with Spain to fuel their economy, voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU during the referendum on Britain's membership but also have similarly voted to stay in the U.K. They will be leaving the EU, however, because a majority in Britain voted to leave. Several people in Gibraltar expressed little surprise Saturday at the EU document. "I don't think it was unexpected," said retiree Derek Booth. "It's only a draft document and if the British government are true to their word, then they will contest the statement." If the proposal on Gibraltar is accepted as the EU's bargain position, it would increase Spain's leverage in the debate over the enclave's future. The territory's strategic location overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar, which links the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, has long made it an ideal location for military bases. Gibraltar is also a source of jobs for many Spaniards in the region, and Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis has pledged to ensure an open border. Timothy Boswell, chairman of the House of Lords EU Committee, said May's omission was "unfortunate," because "the door has been opened for the EU to present it as a disputed territory, without a voice of its own in negotiations that will have profound implications for its future prosperity." Clare Moody, a member of the opposition Labour Party who represents Gibraltar and southwestern England in the European Parliament, said it was a "shock" that May didn't mention the territory. "If the government has overlooked the interests of Gibraltar, which is a crucial part of the constitutional arrangements of our membership of the EU, then what else are they going to overlook?" she asked on the BBC. __ Donovan Torres contributed to this story. YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) - Armenians are set to cast ballots Sunday in the first parliamentary elections since the ex-Soviet nation modified its constitution to expand powers of parliament and prime minister. Polls show the party of Armenia's president, Serzh Sargsyan, in the lead. Critics have seen the amendments as part of efforts by Sargsyan to retain control of the country after he steps down in 2018 due to term limits. If his party controls parliament, he could be appointed prime minister after leaving the presidency. The 62-year-old Sargsyan, who has led Armenia since 2008, has rejected the allegations, describing the constitutional changes approved in a 2015 referendum as a step toward strengthening democracy. "We have set a task to make resolute step toward developing a European-style democracy and strengthening democratic institutions," Sargsyan said recently. "We will do everything to hold elections in conformity with high international standards." The constitutional changes, set to take force after Sargsyan's term ends, envisage largely symbolic powers for the nation's president who will be elected by parliament instead of popular vote like in the past. Sargsyan's Republican Party has been leading in the polls, closely followed by a bloc led by businessman Gagik Tsarukian, one of Armenia's richest men. Prime Minister Karen Karapetian has spearheaded the Republican Party's campaign, barnstorming across the country and promising to encourage foreign investment in the economically struggling nation. Tsarukian also has pledged to attract up to $15 billion in foreign investment from Persian Gulf countries and elsewhere. The nationalist Dashanktsutyun party and two other parties also are expected to make it into the parliament. Sergei Minasian, an independent political experts based in Yerevan, said that the ruling party has a "significant advantage" thanks to the use of administrative and propaganda resources. The European Union has offered financial and technical support to Armenia to facilitate a free and fair election. In a statement earlier this week, the EU mission in Yerevan expressed concern about "allegations of voter intimidation, attempts to buy votes, and the systemic use of administrative resources to aid certain competing parties." It didn't name any names. Some opposition leaders warned that they would stage protests against possible violations. Armen Ashotian, a deputy head of the Republican Party, said that he sees no threat of instability. "I'm sure that law enforcement agencies wouldn't allow any attempts to undermine the statehood," he said. "I don't see any danger now." Armenia has seen some unrest in recent years. In 2015, thousands of demonstrators rallied in Yerevan for weeks protesting electricity price hikes in the nation's most serious unrest in years. Last July, several dozen armed men captured a police compound in the capital, demanding freedom for an opposition activist and the government's ouster. They held several police officers and medics as hostages before eventually releasing them. The two-week siege left two people dead and several wounded, and triggered rallies in support of the gunmen and occasional clashes with police. In March, several hundred protesters rallied in the Armenian capital after an activist who passed food to perpetrators of the siege died in prison while on a hunger strike. Landlocked Armenia borders Iran, along with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. It has suffered from a crippling economic blockade imposed by Turkey, which supports its ally Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenia, one of the poorest of ex-Soviet nations, is a member of Moscow-dominated economic and security alliances and hosts a Russian military base. ___ Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to the report. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's son-in-law and daughter are holding onto scores of real estate investments - part of a portfolio of at least $240 million in assets - while they serve in White House jobs, according to new financial disclosures. The revelations about Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were part of a massive White House release of financial disclosure forms Friday night for dozens of its top administration officials. Kushner, Trump's senior adviser, resigned from some 260 entities and sold off 58 businesses or investments that lawyers identified as posing potential conflicts of interest, the documents show. FILE - In this March 17, 2017, file photo Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, attend a news conference with the president and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Trump's son-in-law and daughter are holding onto to scores of real estate investments, part of a portfolio of at least $240 million in assets, while they serve in White House jobs, new financial disclosures show. Kushner resigned from more than 260 entities and sold off 58 businesses or investments that lawyers identified as posing potential conflicts of interest, the documents show. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) But lawyers for Kushner and in the Office of the White House Counsel, in consultation with the Office of Government Ethics, determined that his real estate assets, many of them in New York City, are unlikely to pose the kinds of conflicts that would trigger a need to divest. "The remaining conflicts, from a practical perspective, are pretty narrow and very manageable," said Jamie Gorelick, an attorney who has been working on the ethics agreements for Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Kushner began selling off the most problematic parts of his portfolio shortly after Trump won the election, and some of those business deals predate what is required to be captured in the financial disclosure forms. For example, Kushner sold his stake in a Manhattan skyscraper to a trust his mother oversees. Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and their three minor children have no financial interest in that trust, his lawyer said. The Kushner Companies, now run by Jared Kushner's relatives, are seeking investment partners for a massive redevelopment of the building. Top officials in the Trump White House tend to be far wealthier - and therefore more entangled in businesses that could conflict with their government duties - than people in previous administrations. Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, disclosed assets between $13 million and $56 million, including his influential political consultancy, Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., worth as much as $25 million. Bannon also disclosed that he earned slightly less than $200,000 last year as executive director of Breitbart News Network LLC, before he resigned to join Trump's campaign last August. The documents show he was vice president of the data firm Cambridge Analytica for more than two years, before resigning in August 2016 to help run Trump's campaign. Cambridge was the main data provider for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who waged a bitter battle with Trump for the Republican nomination. Bannon's consulting firm pulled in more than $125,000 from Cambridge last year. He has between a $1 million and $5 million stake in Cambridge, but the disclosure said he has an "agreement in principle" to sell his investment. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus received more than $500,000 in salary and bonuses from the Republican National Committee, which he led through the long and divisive presidential primary. He also earned at least $750,000 from equity buyout and partner-distribution income from the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich. One of the wealthiest members of the Trump administration - aside from the billionaire business owner president himself - is Gary Cohn, who left a top position at Goldman Sachs to become Trump's chief economic adviser. His financial disclosure shows he received at least $40 million in income from Goldman Sachs-related dividends, interest, salary and bonuses, about half of which was in some form of stock compensation. Cohn also reported more than $1 million in income from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; the White House has said he is in the process of divesting from that bank, as well as his Goldman holdings. White House press secretary Sean Spicer described the business people who have joined the administration as "very blessed and very successful," and said the disclosure forms will show that they have set aside "a lot" to go into public service. The financial disclosures - required by law to be made public - give a snapshot of the employees' finances as they entered the White House. What's not being provided: the Office of Government Ethics agreements with those employees on what they must do to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Those documents will not be disclosed, White House lawyers said, although the public will eventually have access to "certificates of divestiture" issued to employees who are seeking capital gains tax deferrals for selling off certain assets. Kushner, for example, received certificates of divestiture for his financial interests in several assets, including several funds tied to Thrive Capital, his brother Joshua Kushner's investment firm. He and Ivanka Trump built up companies the documents show are worth at least $50 million each and have stepped away from their businesses while in government service. Like the president himself, however, they retain a financial interest in many of them. Ivanka Trump agreed this week to become a federal employee and will file her own financial disclosure at a later date. Jared Kushner's disclosure shows he took on tens of millions of dollars of bank debt in 2015 and 2016, including liabilities with several international banks whose interests could come before the Trump administration. Kushner has as much as $25 million in liabilities to Deutsche Bank, a prime lender to Kushner family real estate ventures as well as a major creditor for Trump Organization-branded real estate projects. Kushner and his father, Charles, also have liabilities worth much as $5 million to the U.S. unit of Israel Discount Bank. The Kushner Companies have separately acknowledged "long-standing" dealings with two other Israeli banks. Financial information for members of Trump's Cabinet who needed Senate confirmation has, in most cases, been available for weeks through the Office of Government Ethics. The president must also file periodic financial disclosures, but he is not required to make another disclosure until next year. ___ Associated Press writers Chad Day, Jack Gillum and Josh Boak contributed to this report. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - An editor in Somalia says gunmen have kidnapped a local journalist on the outskirts of the capital. Ahmedwali Hussein says Hanad Ali Guled with the Goobjoog radio and television station was taken by six men on his way to work early Saturday. Hussein says the journalist called his family from an unknown location and said he was being tortured by his abductors. Hussein says Guled had received death threats a day earlier. The abduction is reminder of the dangers that reporters face in a war-torn country where authorities have struggled to maintain security amid attacks by the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction. Somalia is often called one of the world's most dangerous places for media workers. LONDON (AP) - UK police say the final person being questioned in the March 22 terror attack has been released with no further action. The 30-year-old man arrested in Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts was released Saturday. No further action is planned against him or 11 others arrested in the probe. Authorities have said they believed Khalid Masood was acting alone when he drove down Westminster Bridge, mowing down pedestrians and killing three. Masood then fatally stabbed a policeman in a courtyard on the grounds of Parliament. Police believe British-born Masood's 82-second rampage was inspired by extremist ideology, though authorities say there is no evidence he had direct links to the Islamic State group or al-Qaida. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The Latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local): 2:30 p.m. Hundreds of soldiers in armored vehicles have blocked the passage of demonstrators who attempted to march from the wealthy east of Caracas to government offices in the city's center. Opposition members shout slogans against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro during a protest, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, March 31, 2017. Venezuelans have been thrust into a new round of political turbulence after the government-stacked Supreme Court gutted congress of its last vestiges of power, drawing widespread condemnation from foreign governments and sparking protests in the capital. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) Some protesters banged on the armored vehicles or climbed atop of them. A small group that tried to get around was turned back by tear gas. ___ 1 p.m. Venezuela analyst Javier Corrales says it's hard to say how much the high court's reversal of its earlier decision has harmed the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Corrales calls the move "huge," noting that it is the first time since the opposition won the National Assembly in 2015 that it has been able to get Maduro to reverse a decision. He teaches Latin American politics at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Saturday's reversal undoes most of the original court decision, but will still allow Maduro to enter into joint oil ventures with congress' approval. ___ 11 a.m. Opposition lawmakers scoffed at how the Supreme Court had disavowed its earlier decisions this week taking powers from congress and limiting lawmakers' immunity from prosecution. At an outdoor rally in the wealthy eastern Caracas, they called on supporters to remain mobilized on the streets to keep pressure on the government to hold elections this year. Several high-profile opposition lawmakers were flying back from trips to nearby countries to participate in the Saturday event. ___ 9:45 a.m. Venezuela's Supreme Court has reversed its move to strip congress of its legislative powers. The move had drawn widespread criticism at home and abroad that the South American country was no longer a democracy. President Nicolas Maduro asked the Supreme court in a late-night speech to review a ruling nullifying the lawmaking body after that decision set off a storm of criticism from the opposition and foreign governments. The court on Saturday released new rulings that appeared to reinstate congress' authority. It was a rare instance of the embattled socialist president backing away from a move that would have increased his power. A man holds up a sign that reads in Spanish: "No more dictatorship," during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, March 31, 2017. Venezuelans have been thrust into a new round of political turbulence after the government-stacked Supreme Court gutted congress of its last vestiges of power, drawing widespread condemnation from foreign governments and sparking protests in the capital. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) WASHINGTON (AP) - Week by week, country by country, the Pentagon is quietly seizing more control over warfighting decisions, sending hundreds more troops to war with little public debate and seeking greater authority to battle extremists across the Middle East and Africa. This week it was Somalia, where President Donald Trump gave the U.S. military more authority to conduct offensive airstrikes on al-Qaida-linked militants. Next week it could be Yemen, where military leaders want to provide more help for the United Arab Emirates' battle against Iranian-backed rebels. Key decisions on Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are looming, from ending troop number limits to loosening rules that guide commanders in the field. The changes in President Donald Trump's first two months in office underscore his willingness to let the Pentagon manage its own day-to-day combat. Under the Obama administration, military leaders chafed about micromanagement that included commanders needing approval for routine tactical decisions about targets and personnel moves. In this photo March 28, 2017, photo, a Somali soldier provides security as newly displaced Somalis gather at a camp in the Garasbaley area on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia. Drought-stricken families facing a hunger crisis are on the move, trying to reach international aid agencies that cannot distribute food in areas under the control of al-Shabab, Somalia's homegrown Islamic extremist rebels who are affiliated to al-Qaida. Week by week, country by country, the Pentagon is quietly seizing more control over warfighting decisions, sending hundreds of more troops to war with little public debate and seeking greater authority to battle extremists across the Middle East and Africa. This week it was Somalia, where President Donald Trump gave the U.S. military more authority to conduct offensive airstrikes on al-Qaida-linked militants.(AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) But delegating more authority to the Pentagon - and combat decisions to lower level officers - carries its own military and political risks. Casualties, of civilians and American service members, may be the biggest. The deepening involvement in counterinsurgency battles, from the street-by-street battles being fought in Iraq right now to clandestine raids in Yemen and elsewhere, increases the chances of U.S. troops dying. Such tragedies could raise the ire of the American public and create political trouble with Congress at a time when the Trump administration is trying to finish off the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and broaden efforts against similarly inspired groups. Similarly, allowing lower level commanders to make more timely airstrike decisions in densely populated areas like the streets of Mosul, Iraq, can result in more civilian deaths. The U.S. military already is investigating several bombings in Mosul in mid-March that witnesses say killed at least 100 people. And it is considering new tactics and precautions amid evidence suggesting extremists are smuggling civilians into buildings and then baiting the U.S.-led coalition into attacking. Alice Hunt Friend, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, cited yet another concern: Military operations becoming "divorced from overall foreign policy" could make both civilian leaders and the military vulnerable to runaway events. "Political leaders can lose control of military campaigns," she warned. But top military leaders say they need to be able to act quicker against U.S. enemies. And they've been staunchly supported by Trump, who has promised to pursue Islamic extremists more aggressively and echoed the view of Pentagon leaders that the Obama administration's tight control over military operations limited effectiveness. Explaining his request for more leeway in Somalia against al-Shabab militants, Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, head of U.S. Africa Command, told Congress this month that more flexibility and "timeliness" in decision-making process was necessary. Approved by Trump on Wednesday, it was hardly the first military expansion. The Defense Department has quietly doubled the number of U.S. forces in Syria. It has moved military advisers closer to front lines in Iraq. It has publicly made the case for more troops in Afghanistan. The White House is tentatively scheduled this coming week to discuss providing intelligence, refueling and other assistance to U.A.E. as it fights Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to officials who weren't authorized to speak about a confidential meetings and demanded anonymity. Some changes are happening with little fanfare. While there is limited American appetite for large-scale deployments in Iraq and Syria, additions are coming incrementally, in the hundreds of forces, not the thousands. The result may be confusing for the public. Trump hasn't eliminated Obama's troop number limits. Thus, the caps of 503 for Syria and 5,262 for Iraq are still in effect. But the military is ignoring them with White House approval and using an already-existing loophole to categorize deployments as temporary. For example, several hundred Marines and soldiers were recently sent to Syria to assist U.S.-backed Syria forces, including in the fight to retake IS' self-declared capital of Raqqa. All were deemed temporary so not counted against the cap. On Friday, the Pentagon said that officially there are 5,262 U.S. troops in Iraq even as officials privately acknowledge at least a couple thousand more there. It's still early in the Trump administration. And as the White House juggles complex details of several military campaigns, it is dealing with tax reform, its health care repeal failure, partisan infighting and expanding investigations into possible Russian ties to his presidential campaign. Observers say the expanding military power may reflect the administration's limited "bandwidth" at the moment. But the military wants some decisions quickly. Iraqi forces are trying to complete the recapture of Mosul, IS' stronghold, and more American advisers closer to the battle can help. U.S.-backed fighters are closing in on Raqqa and the Pentagon is pushing to accelerate the effort. Conducting both operations at the same time, the Pentagon argues, will put a lot of pressure on IS. ___ Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - An avalanche of water from three overflowing rivers tore through a small city in Colombia while people slept, destroying homes, sweeping away cars and killing at least 193 unsuspecting residents. The incident triggered by a sudden, heavy rainstorm happened around midnight Friday and into early Saturday in Mocoa, a provincial capital of about 40,000 tucked between mountains near Colombia's southern border with Ecuador. Muddy water quickly surged through the city's streets, toppling homes, ripping trees from their roots and carrying a torrent of rocks and debris downstream. Many residents did not have enough time to flee. In this handout photo released by the Colombian National Army, soldiers carry a victim on a stretcher, in Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 100 people dead in Mocoa, located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. (Colombian Army Photo via AP) According to the Red Cross, 202 people were injured and 220 believed missing. President Juan Manuel Santos declared a state of emergency and said the death toll will likely rise but warned against speculating about how many are dead. Late Saturday, he said the toll had reached 193. "We don't know how many there are going to be," he said of the fatalities when he arrived at the disaster zone to oversee rescue efforts. "We're still looking." Eduardo Vargas, 29, was asleep with his wife and 7-month-old baby when he was awoken by the sound of neighbors banging on his door. He quickly grabbed his family and fled up a small mountain amid the cries of people in panic. "There was no time for anything," he said. Vargas and his family huddled with about two dozen other residents as rocks, trees and wooden planks ripped through their neighborhood below. They waited there until daylight, when members of the military helped them down. When he reached the site of his home Saturday, nothing his family left behind remained. "Thank God we have our lives," he said. As rescuers assessed the full scope of the damage, many residents in Mocoa continued a desperate search for friends and relatives. Oscar Londono tried in vain throughout the night to reach his wife's parents, whose home is right along one of the flooded rivers. He decided it was too dangerous to try to reach them in the dark. So he called over and over by phone but got no answer. Once the sun began to rise he started walking toward their house but found all the streets he usually takes missing. As he tried to orient himself he came across the body of a young woman dressed in a mini-skirt and black blouse. He checked her pulse but could not find one. "There were bodies all over," he said. When he finally reached the neighborhood where his in-laws live he found "just mud and rocks." Rescue workers with the military oriented him toward the mountain, where he found his relatives camped with other survivors. "To know they were alive," he said, "it was a reunion of tears." Santos said at least 22 people were seriously injured and being airlifted to nearby cities, as the small regional hospital in Mocoa struggled to cope with the magnitude of the crisis. Herman Granados, an anesthesiologist, said he worked throughout the night on victims, cleaning wounds. He said the hospital doesn't have a blood bank large enough to deal with the number of patients and was quickly running out of its supply. Some of the hospital workers came to help even while there are own relatives remained missing. "Under the mud," Granados said, "I am sure there are many more." The Red Cross planned to set up a special unit in Mocoa Saturday afternoon to help relatives search for their loved ones. "In this moment, it's chaos," said Oscar Forero, a spokesman with the Colombian Red Cross. "There are many people missing." Rescuers suspended the search late Saturday night due to darkness but vowed to continue at first light Sunday. Santos blamed climate change for triggering the avalanche, saying that the accumulated rainfall in one night was almost half the amount Mocoa normally receives in the entire month of March. With the rainy season in much of Colombia just beginning, he said local and national authorities need to redouble their efforts to prevent a similar tragedy. The crisis is likely to be remembered as one of the worst natural disasters in recent Colombian history, though the Andean nation has experienced even more destructive catastrophes. Nearly 25,000 people were killed in 1985 after the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted and triggered a deluge of mud and debris that buried the town of Armero. In this handout photo released by the Colombian National Army, soldiers rescue a child in Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 100 people dead in Mocoa, located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. (Colombian Army Photo via AP) This handout photo released by the Colombia Presidential Press Office, shows an aerial view of a portion of Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 112 people dead in Mocoa, located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. (Cesar Carrion/Colombian Presidential Press Office via AP) In this handout photo released by the Colombian National Army, soldiers carry a victim on a stretcher, in Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 100 people dead in Mocoa, located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. (Colombian Army Photo via AP) In this handout photo released by the Colombian National Army, soldiers and residents work together in rescue efforts in Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 100 people dead in Mocoa, located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. (Colombian Army Photo via AP) In this handout photo released by the Colombian National Army, soldiers and residents work together in rescue efforts in Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 100 people dead in Mocoa, located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. (Colombian Army Photo via AP) In this handout photo released by the Colombian National Army, soldiers carry a victim on a stretcher, in Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 100 people dead in Mocoa, located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. (Colombian Army Photo via AP) This handout photo released by the Colombia Presidential Press Office, shows an aerial view of a portion of Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 100 people dead in Mocoa, located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. (Cesar Carrion/Colombian Presidential Press Office via AP) In this handout photo released by the Colombian National Army, a soldier carries a child in Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 100 people dead in Mocoa, located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. (Colombian Army Photo via AP) In this handout photo released by the Colombian National Army, soldiers and rescue workers evacuate residents from the area in Mocoa, Colombia, Saturday, April 1, 2017, after an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through the city as people slept. The incident triggered by intense rains left at least 100 people dead in Mocoa, located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. (Colombian Army Photo via AP) COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Norway's foreign minister says a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is under pressure" as he left Oslo for a visit to the Middle East. Borge Brende says "only a two-state solution can lead to lasting peace between the parties." He says "a sustainable Palestinian economy and well-functioning institutions are essential preconditions for the two-state solution." Brende is meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. Norway, like neighboring Sweden, has expressed concern that Israel will allow expanded construction in major West Bank settlements. Jerusalem has said it will limit new settlement construction in the West Bank "when possible" to within areas already developed or at least to contiguous areas. BERLIN (AP) - German prosecutors say they've arrested a 48-year-old man on charges of murder on allegations he set off an explosion in a multi-family home in the western city of Dortmund that blew the building apart and left one resident dead. Prosecutor Sandra Luecke told the dpa news agency on Saturday that the suspect, whose identity wasn't released, was so badly injured in the explosion that authorities have not yet been able to question him. It's not yet clear what caused the Friday morning explosion, although Luecke says there were indications it was gas. The force of the blast blew the roof and the two top floors off of the house, and damaged adjacent buildings and vehicles on the street. Cranes stand in front of an apartment building which was destroyed in an explosion on the previous day in Dortmund, Germany, Saturday, April 1, 2017. One person died in the explosion in the building. Rescue forces found the body of a female resident on Saturday morning. ( Bernd Thissen/dpa via AP) The 36-year-old victim's body was found early Saturday among the rubble. Debris sits on a street after an explosion in an apartment building in Dortmund, western Germany, Friday, March 31, 2017. Police said one person was injured, another person is still missing. (Bernd Thissen/dpa via AP) You may remember the first pencils they gave you in kindergarten. Sure, you had colored pictures before with crayons and painted scenes with yellow suns in the upper corners but once they handed out pencils the fun was over. This was serious stuff. You now had to learn to write. The word pencil comes from the Latin penicillus meaning a little tail and is closely related to the word penis. It originally meant an artists fine brush of camel hair that was used to draw sketches with ink. The first pencils as we know them, using a core of carbon graphite, did not arise until a large, unique deposit of that material was discovered on the west coast of England, near the hamlet of Seathwaite. This is the site of the famous Borrowdale graphite mine that was started in the 16th century by German immigrants. Here the graphite found was in a very pure form that could be used for pencil making. At first the dark, soft substance was thought to be a form of the metal lead and was called plumbago, more Latin but this time meaning lead ore. Almost everyone knows there is no lead metal in a standard pencil but you can see that the name has stuck. By 1790 the Cumberland pencil industry was running full blast operating on the nearby ore. England continued to enjoy a monopoly on the production of pencils until a method of reconstituting the graphite powder was found and other sources of the material were discovered. There are still factories to this day in the town of Keswick, near the original ore finding, that manufacture pencils cut from raw sticks of graphite, the town being the location of the famous Cumberland Pencil Museum. In the United States, deposits of graphite were rather sporadic, and not as pure. One example was the Tantiusques mine. In 1644, John Winthrop the Younger, son of the first leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, purchased some property from the Nipmuc Indians and began a commercial mining operation that yielded graphite, lead and iron. Unfortunately, the grade of ore was less than desirable and the mine struggled along until 1784 when it closed. In 1828 the property was purchased by a Boston merchant, Frederick Tudor, who successfully mined the graphite for over a quarter of a century until his death when the mining operation ceased. During its operation, however, he employed a Captain Joseph Dixon and his son to help in the mining operation. The Dixons were well acquainted with graphite before helping work the mine and you probably have seen their name associated with pencils to this very day. Joseph Dixon the elder was an inventor, entrepreneur and the founder of what became the Dixon Ticonderoga Company, a well-known manufacturer of pencils in the United States. His fascination with new emerging technologies led to many industrial advances such as a double-crank steam engine, (which he patented) and a method of printing banknotes to thwart counterfeiters. Most notably, in 1829, Dixon manufactured the first wood and graphite pencil in the country, hence his interest in the New England mine. Just as a side note, in 1829 the Dixons had established a factory in Salem, Massachusetts to manufacture graphite products. These included a graphite based stove polish, an additive in lubricants, graphite foundry facings and brake linings, oil-less bearings, and even a non-corrosive paint. It is said that Dixon was single handedly responsible for the development of the graphite industry in the United States. During the 1860s the Civil War created a demand for a dry, clean, easy to use writing instrument and led to the mass production of pencils. By 1872 the Dixon company was making 86,000 pencils a day gobbling up graphite from as far away as Ceylon and Madagascar. Still, by 1900 the U.S. only produced 4 percent of the graphite it used. Besides pencil makers, other industries fought for their share of raw graphite, as well. With the advent of the automobile in the early part of the 20th century there was a considerable interest in graphite due to its properties as a lubricant. In addition to this, the incipient electrical industries needed graphite as well. In our modern times online sources show that the world manufactures about 38 million pencils a day. Almost all use a synthetic form of graphite created by the fusion of carbon materials into the tiny rod-like structure we find encased within the wood frame. At least 82,000 trees meet their doom every year to encase this amount of graphite. As Stan Laurel once said: You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead. PARIS (AP) - Three weeks before France's presidential election, independent centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has focused his attacks on Marine Le Pen, whom he described as his main opponent, and on her party, the far-right National Front, which he accused of being "the party of hatred." Polls suggest Macron and far-right leader Le Pen are now the two top contenders in the presidential race. The two top vote-getters on April 23 compete in the runoff on May 7. Speaking before thousands of followers in the southern city of Marseille, Macron vowed Saturday to "chase away" Le Pen's party "far from this campaign, far from the country" and with it "all those who make us so ashamed." Independent centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron reacts after his speech during a campaign meeting in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, April, 1, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Macron insisted there is little time left. He said "three weeks is tomorrow." Independent centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron gestures as he delivers a speech during a campaign meeting in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, April, 1, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Brigitte Macron wife of the Independent centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron attends a campaign meeting in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, April 1, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Brigitte Macron wife of the Independent centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron attends a campaign meeting in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, April, 1, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Independent centrist Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron reacts a s photo is taken after his speech during a campaign meeting in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, April, 1, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Independent centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron gestures at the end of a campaign meeting in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, April, 1, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Independent centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron reacts after his speech during a campaign meeting in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, April, 1, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Independent centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron gestures as he delivers a speech during a campaign meeting in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, April, 1, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Independent centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron gestures as he delivers a speech during a campaign meeting in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, April, 1, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) NEW YORK (AP) - Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said Saturday that he is "vulnerable to lawsuits" because of his high-profile job, in response to a New York Times report detailing payouts made to settle accusations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior. O'Reilly posted the statement to his website after the Times report Saturday, and Fox News' parent company 21st Century Fox backed him in a statement. The newspaper reported (http://nyti.ms/2nHTteJ ) that O'Reilly or 21st Century Fox have paid $13 million to five women since 2002 over these complaints "in exchange for agreeing to not pursue litigation or speak about their accusations against him." FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2015 file photo, Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Channel program "The O'Reilly Factor," poses for photos in New York. O'Reilly says in a statement posted to his website that he is "vulnerable to lawsuits" because of his high-profile job in response to a New York Times report, Saturday, April 1, 2017, detailing payouts made to settle accusations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior. Fox News' parent company 21st Century Fox backed him in a statement. AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) The story said more than 60 people were interviewed, including current and former employees of Fox News or its parent company and people who know the women behind the complaints or are close to O'Reilly. Most demanded anonymity. 21st Century Fox, which is still dealing with the legal fallout from sexual harassment charges against former Fox News head Roger Ailes, did not reply to questions about the O'Reilly payouts or whether any disciplinary action was taken against O'Reilly. But the company said in a statement that it had looked into "these matters" in the past few months and discussed them with O'Reilly. The company said O'Reilly denied the merits of "these claims" but has "resolved those he regarded as his personal responsibility." The company said it "takes matters of workplace behavior very seriously" and that "Mr. O'Reilly is fully committed to supporting our efforts to improve the environment for all our employees at Fox News." O'Reilly's statement did not deny the payments. "Just like other prominent and controversial people, I'm vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity," it said. Requests for comments sent to a lawyer and a spokesman for O'Reilly were not immediately answered. Ailes left last summer amid sexual harassment charges, which he has denied. Fox also reportedly fired an executive, Francisco Cortes, after a sexual assault complaint and paid his accuser more than $2.5 million in a settlement. News of the settlements capped a difficult few days for O'Reilly, who was criticized earlier this week for saying he had a hard time concentrating on California Rep. Maxine Waters during a speech because he was distracted by her "James Brown wig." O'Reilly later said that his comment about her hair was dumb and apologized. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - At least 500 people have shown up for the funeral of a 13-year-old Brazilian girl who police say was killed by a stray bullet. Maria Eduarda Alves de Conceicao was buried on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro's Parque Jardim cemetery. Police say the bullet that killed her Thursday was fired during a shootout between police and suspected drug traffickers in the low-income Acari neighborhood. The girl was at a physical education class inside a nearby school when she was struck. Relatives, friends, teachers and neighbors wept as they filed past the young teen's white coffin and then accompanied it to the grave site. CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) - U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp says residents of the Caribbean territory deserve full voting rights and political representation. Mapp spoke Friday evening during a ceremony marking the centennial of the U.S. territory's transfer from Denmark to the United States. He said the island's residents also deserve equitable treatment in federal programs. The governor said the territory has experienced stellar growth over the past century and now has advantages such as disaster assistance and military protection because of its U.S. relationship. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke read a message from President Donald Trump during the ceremony hailing the territory's contributions to the United States' vibrancy and strength. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) - Maybe it won't be a procession to the English Premier League trophy for Chelsea, after all. The leader's 2-1 loss at home to relegation-threatened Crystal Palace on Saturday provided an unexpected twist to a title race that most observers thought was virtually over, with Chelsea holding a 10-point lead and in seemingly unstoppable form. Chelsea's advantage is down to seven points after second-place Tottenham beat Burnley 2-0 for a fourth straight victory. Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha, right celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge stadium in London Saturday, April 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) Chelsea remains the big favorite to become English champion for a second time in three years but it could really get interesting on Wednesday if Antonio Conte's side slips up again - and there is a good chance as Manchester City is visiting Stamford Bridge. The schedule for the next month also raises the prospect that the title race could be prolonged longer than many expected, with Chelsea also playing Manchester United away in two weeks' time. Spurs' next three games, meanwhile, are against Swansea, Watford, and Bournemouth - all of whom are still not clear of relegation trouble. "It adds a bit more pressure," Chelsea captain Gary Cahill said. It was only a fourth league loss this season for Chelsea, and first since the 2-0 defeat at Tottenham on Jan. 4. Chelsea had won its previous 10 home league matches stretching back to October. Here's a closer look at Saturday's games, during which Liverpool maintained its recent dominance of the Merseyside derby and Manchester United endured more frustration at Old Trafford: CHELSEA 1, CRYSTAL PALACE 2 The implications of this result to the title race will overshadow the fact that Palace has won four straight games to boost its bid to stay in the Premier League. Wilfried Zaha spearheaded Palace's daring attacking display, canceling out Cesc Fabregas's fifth-minute opener before setting up striker Christian Benteke for the winner moments later. All three goals were scored in the first 11 minutes and it was a lovely finish from Benteke, who calmly lifted the ball over the advancing Thibaut Courtois at the end of a counterattack. Despite its improved form, Palace is still just four points clear of the relegation zone with nine games left, with many of its rivals having also started to pick up points. BURNLEY 0, TOTTENHAM 2 Eric Dier and substitute Heung-min Son scored second-half goals for Tottenham, which earned a fourth straight league win. Last season, Spurs were chasing Leicester to the Premier League trophy only to falter in the final stages. That experience could prove vital. "We have to be there if Chelsea fail," Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said, "and we are there. We are fighting for the Premier League." There were some negatives for Spurs, who lost center midfielders Victor Wanyama and Harry Winks to injuries. MANCHESTER UNITED 0, WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 Winning the Europa League may offer United its best chance of a Champions League return after this latest setback at home. West Brom was the eighth side to leave Old Trafford with a draw this campaign, joining the likes of Hull, Stoke, and Burnley in defying injury-hit United. United stayed fifth and was four points behind Manchester City - the occupier of the final Champions League qualification place - having played the same number of games. LIVERPOOL 3, EVERTON 1 It's now 13 Merseyside derbies in the league without defeat for Liverpool dating to October 2010 - equaling a club record - and this latest win was inspired by Brazil playmaker Philippe Coutinho, who scored one goal after a weaving run and also set up substitute Divock Origi for the clinching third. Liverpool hired a private jet to get Coutinho back from international duty in good time for the match and it proved to be a worthwhile investment. Winger Sadio Mane scored the opening goal for Liverpool in the eighth minute but limped off with a left leg injury in the 57th after landing awkwardly in a challenge. Liverpool already has attacking midfielder Adam Lallana out injured. Liverpool moved above Manchester City into third place. OTHER RESULTS Leicester's revival continued under manager Craig Shakespeare as Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy handed the champions a 2-0 victory over Stoke. Shakespeare, who replaced title-winning manager Claudio Ranieri, joined Guus Hiddink, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, and Carlo Ancelotti in winning his first four Premier League games in charge. Last-place Sunderland dropped seven points adrift of safety by losing 1-0 at Watford and third-to-last Hull rallied to beat West Ham 2-1, moving into a tied on points with Swansea. Southampton was playing Bournemouth in the late game. ___ Steve Douglas is at www.twitter.com/sdouglas80 Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-Min gestures after scoring his side's second goal of the game, during the English Premier League soccer match between Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur, at Turf Moor, in Burnley, England, Saturday April 1, 2017. (Nick Potts/PA via AP) Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, centre, looks out during the match against West Bromwich Albion during the English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, Saturday April 1, 2017. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - A top adviser to President Donald Trump has urged the defeat of a Michigan congressman and member of a conservative group of U.S. House lawmakers who derailed the White House on legislation to repeal and replace the Obama-era health care law. Government ethics lawyers said the tweet by White House social media director Dan Scavino Jr. violated federal law that limits political activity by government employees. The White House denied Scavino had run afoul of the law. Two days after Trump himself tweeted a threat to the conservative House Freedom Caucus, a group of fellow Republicans, Scavino followed up Saturday by singling out Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., for criticism and urging Trump supporters to defeat the congressman in next year's primary election. File-This March 28, 2017, file photo shows Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., followed by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, leaving a closed-door strategy session with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis. A top aide to President Donald Trump is urging the primary defeat of a conservative House member from Michigan. A tweet Saturday, April 1, 2017, by White House social media director Dan Scavino Jr., comes two days after Trump threatened conservative lawmakers who thwarted a House vote on health care legislation. Scavino targeted Amash, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus criticized by Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Scavino tweeted that Trump "is bringing auto plants & jobs back to Michigan" and Amash "is a big liability," adding: "#TrumpTrain, defeat him in primary." Amash, who began serving his fourth House term in January, responded by retweeting Scavino and adding: "Trump admin & Establishment have merged into #Trumpstablishment. Same old agenda: Attack conservatives, libertarians & independent thinkers." Another Freedom Caucus member criticized by Trump, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, said the GOP health care legislation was not only poorly done, but rushed, broadly unpopular and opposed by moderates as well as conservatives. "Tweets and statements and blame don't change facts," he said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "Let's start over," he said. "Even the president said we can get a better bill after it was postponed a week ago." Ethics lawyers who worked for both Republican and Democratic presidents said Scavino violated the Hatch Act, a federal law that limits political activity by government employees. They said it didn't matter that Scavino tweeted from an account marked as "personal" and not from his official government Twitter account. Daniel Jacobson, a White House lawyer under President Barack Obama, tweeted that White House staff "can't use an official or de facto govt Twitter acct (which this is) to call for defeat of a candidate. De facto means that if you tweet only about WH work from your account, it's an official account. Labeling 'personal' doesn't change that." Richard Painter, who at one time was the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, called attention to the description beneath the photo on the account Scavino has designated as personal. It shows Scavino in the Oval Office, and he is identified as director of social media and a senior adviser to Trump. "This is use of official position to influence an election," Painter tweeted. "Look at the photo and description underneath. Bush WH would have fired him." The White House said in a statement that the tweet did not violate federal law "as it clearly comes from his personal account and not his official White House account." It said Scavino created an official account after he started working at the White House "to ensure compliance with the Hatch Act and he has taken the necessary steps to ensure there is a clear distinction between both Twitter accounts." House Freedom Caucus members helped derail a vote last month on legislation long sought by Republicans to repeal and replace the health care law known as Obamacare. Its members argued that the bill didn't go far enough to undo the law. Some moderate Republicans also objected to the legislation, but for different reasons. About a week after House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., pulled the bill from the House floor, Trump directed his Twitter fire on fellow Republicans. "The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!" Trump said Thursday. In follow-up tweets, the president singled out three Freedom Caucus members - Jordan, Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho and the caucus chairman, Mark Meadows of North Carolina. Trump said if they "would get on board we would have both great healthcare and massive tax cuts & reform." ___ Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - Emeralds from a Spanish galleon that sank off the Florida Keys in 1622 are going up for auction in New York City. Manuel Marcial de Gomar of Emeralds International in Key West owns the jewels. According to a report by The Citizen (http://bit.ly/2nXVRAw ), de Gomar was paid in emeralds by treasure hunter Mel Fisher, who discovered the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha in the 1980s. The shipwreck gems are among 20 loose emeralds and 13 pieces of emerald jewelry from de Gomar's collection that will be auctioned April 25 at Guernsey's auction house. Bids also will be accepted online . De Gomar also is selling an 887-carat emerald called La Gloria, believed to be the largest rough gem quality Colombian emerald in the United States. The auction house said it could bring as much as $5 million. ___ Information from: The Key West (Fla.) Citizen, http://www.keysnews.com MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) - Astronaut Buzz Aldrin will take flight once again, this time with the world-renowned Thunderbirds at the Melbourne Air and Space Show in Florida on Sunday. Aldrin was the second man on the moon, piloting the Apollo 11 and following Neil Armstrong onto the lunar surface in 1969. Now 87 years old, the retired Air Force colonel will be the oldest person to fly with the Thunderbirds, known for their rigorous physical requirements. His flight comes as the Air Force celebrates its 70th year. LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Las Vegas public transportation system is investigating how it uses surveillance video and vehicle advertisements, a week after a fatal shooting and barricade situation on a public bus shut down the Strip hotel-casino district for hours. Angela Castro, spokeswoman for the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, said in a statement Saturday that the agency is working with Las Vegas police to examine those issues from the March 25 incident. Police said Rolando Cardenas, 55, fatally shot one man and wounded another on the double-decker bus in front of the Cosmopolitan hotel-casino before barricading himself inside for more than four hours. Cardenas now faces murder, attempted murder, battery and firearm charges. His lawyer has already raised mental competency as a possible defense in the case. Rolando Cardenas makes an initial court appearance Wednesday, March 29, 2017, in Las Vegas. Cardenas has been charged with killing one passenger and wounding another on a double-decker bus last weekend on the Las Vegas Strip. (AP Photo/John Locher) Gary Breitling, 57, of Sidney, Montana, was shot in the chest and soon died at a nearby hospital. The other man hurt was treated and released. Police said Cardenas was sitting in the back on the second level of the bus traveling on Las Vegas Boulevard when he opened fire. All those aboard were able to flee. But during the barricade, authorities were uncertain if there were any victims held hostage and struggled to get a good view of the suspect inside. "Based on the shooting on (the) Las Vegas Strip, we are currently working with law enforcement and our transit contractors to hopefully resolve the issues that reduced law enforcement's ability to see inside the bus," Castro said. The bus on one side, including the windows, was covered in a white vinyl film that advertised for the local outlet shopping mall. The transit agency is searching for an alternative material to improve visibility from the outside, Castro said. Officials are also looking into adding live access to its video monitors. The public buses have multiple surveillance cameras. But they now only tape from inside the bus for later review, without the capability to offer real-time views. Vegas police officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment Saturday. Officer Larry Hadfield, a spokesman for the department, declined to discuss the specific issues with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which first reported the transit agency's plans. He told the paper: "There were issues, but our officers deal with issues they run into, whether it's a brick wall or a glass window." On the day of the shooting, there were eight transit security officers on duty along the tourism corridor. The transit agency budgets $8 million annually for security, Castro said. "The safety and security of our transit riders, contractors and staff is our utmost priority. We remain committed to providing a safe and reliable transit experience," she said. ___ Follow Sally Ho at twitter.com/_sallyho and https://apnews.com/search/Sally%20Ho . Johanna Kontas stranglehold over Venus Williams continues as she became the first British woman to reach the Miami Open final. Konta was just six years old when Williams first won this tournament 19 years ago and has cited the seven-time grand slam winner as one of her heroes. Incredible from @JoKonta91! JoKo is the 1st British woman to reach the @MiamiOpen Final after beating Venus #Williams 6-4, 7-5! pic.twitter.com/HinCrpkE20 LTA (@the_LTA) March 31, 2017 But she is showing no room for sentiment as her gruelling 6-4 7-5 semi-final win was a third successive victory against the American. Venus Williams, left, of the United States, shakes hands at the net with Johanna Konta It sets up a showpiece meeting with Caroline Wozniacki and gives the British number one a chance to win her second title at this level a Premier Mandatory. It was a performance that reiterates her credentials to play at the top end of the womens game, but Konta was more excited by who she beat rather than her own display. To get the chance to play Venus again and share the court with her, I always enjoy it, she said on BT Sport 1. She is such a world class act so I feel very privileged to have had a battle against her. There wasnt much in it so for me to come through that leaves me feeling very happy and maybe a bit lucky. An easy night looked on the cards as Konta raced into a 3-0 lead in the first set, which included two breaks, with some incredible baseline hitting that pinned Williams back. But the 36-year-old salvaged one of those breaks and made the Briton serve it out, which she did. Williams, barely able to land a first serve, saved five break points early in the second set and celebrated by immediately taking Kontas delivery to lead 3-1. But Konta showed her resilience by twice taking Williams serve helped by a plethora of double faults and some monstrous returns to put her on the brink of victory at 5-4. She fluffed her first attempt to serve the match out, but again bounced straight back to break Williams to love and made no mistake at the second attempt, closing it out 7-5, with match point being converted shortly after midnight local time. The win books her return to the top 10 of the rankings, with a career high number seven on offer if she lifts the trophy on Saturday. Wozniacki, who earlier stunned world number three and 2017s most in-form player Karolina Pliskova in three sets, is on her way back up the rankings after a lengthy injury absence in 2016 and Konta is expecting a tough test. She added: Caroline is one of the best athletes on tour, thats no secret so I know I am going to be running for a lot of balls and hitting a lot of balls so I am looking forward to it, it is going to be a battle and I will try my best. The Prince of Wales asked the US if it would be possible to pause the invasion of Afghanistan to honour Ramadan, according to Washingtons former ambassador to Britain. William Farish said Charles asked if his request for the holy month to be considered as part of the battle plans could be passed on to the then president George Bush. The former diplomat recalled the alleged conversation, said to have taken place by phone around a month into the operation, for a new biography of Charles serialised by the Daily Mail. William Farish pictured with the Queen in 2012 (PA) Prince Charles asked me if it would be possible to stop the invasion to honour Ramadan, and if I could convey that request to President Bush, Mr Farish said. When it was explained that it would be difficult to halt the military operation already under way, Charles allegedly replied: But Americans can do anything! Mr Farish, 78, served as US ambassador to the UK between 2001 and 2004 and appeared alongside George Bush senior, Tony Blair and the Queen at a service to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks. The Prince of Wales is also Colonel in Chief of the Army Air Corps (Chris Radburn/PA) Charles also attended the service around seven weeks after the Afghan invasion began on October 7 2001. Ramadan began on November 16 and ended on December 17. Prince Charles: The Passions And Paradoxes Of An Improbable Life, by Sally Bedell Smith, is published by Random House and will be released on April 4. Protesters have clashed in London as tensions ran high between far-right groups and anti-fascist demonstrators. A march and rally planned by Britain First and the English Defence League (EDL) described as a march against terrorism is taking place near a counter demonstration from Unite Against Fascism (UAF). Frantic scenes unfolded when ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson arrived and a high number of police officers moved to contain potential trouble. Video: Protesters from opposing sides have clashed during arrival of Tommy Robinson. pic.twitter.com/kARzbv6QC3 Catherine Wylie (@wyliecatherine) April 1, 2017 Former EDL spokesman and leader Tommy Robinson signs a copy of his book during the protest (Jonathan Brady/PA) Mr Robinson was confronted by people who held opposing views and officers escorted him away as he told people they hate free speech. UAF protesters chanted EDL go to hell as protesters spilled on to the road. A counter demo by Unite Against Fascism is chanting "EDL go to hell!" pic.twitter.com/eRwl21k9Lb Catherine Wylie (@wyliecatherine) April 1, 2017 Scotland Yard said 12 people had been arrested as of 2pm, for various offences. As the UAF march made its way down Whitehall, police lined the route and as a skirmish broke out a medic could be seen dealing with someone on the ground. Unite Against Fascism demonstrators tussle with police (Jonathan Brady/PA) Flags held high by EDL and Britain First protesters about 100 meters away from Unite Against Fascism demonstrators. pic.twitter.com/mzcufmE5eL Catherine Wylie (@wyliecatherine) April 1, 2017 Police kept the opposing factions away from each other along Embankment, manning barriers about 100m apart, and Britain First supporters listened to a speech apparently protected by their own security guards before marching through the roads shouting terrorist scum off our streets. On a Facebook event page, Britain First said all patriots welcome to attend, while the EDL said on an event page: After the vile terrorist attack on parliment we will stand together and show we will not now, not ever bow down and fear terrorists and terrorism. join us to show our strength. Police are trying to keep traffic moving on Whitehall. Police vans with flashing lights and hundreds of police in the area. pic.twitter.com/N3NLzXK7Oy Catherine Wylie (@wyliecatherine) April 1, 2017 The event took place just over a week after Westminster terrorist Khalid Masoods murderous rampage left four people dead. Crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square from around midday under conditions imposed by the Metropolitan Police which included following a particular route in a bid to keep the opposing groups apart. Police keep a watch on UAF demonstrators on Embankment The Met said on Friday that the information and intelligence available meant that they felt it necessary to impose the conditions to prevent the demonstrations from resulting in serious disorder, serious damage to property, serious disruption to the life of the community, and to prevent the intimidation of local people trying to go about their business. Chief Superintendent Catherine Roper said: The right to protest is a fundamental right in our democratic society, but this right must be balanced against the right of people to go about their day without fear of violence, disorder or disruption. Video: Police and protesters clash on Whitehall as frantic scenes continue. pic.twitter.com/hfErvGdTDr Catherine Wylie (@wyliecatherine) April 1, 2017 Experience has shown us that when groups with conflicting views come together it can create tension and disorder, not just on the day itself but in the longer term. What we have had to carefully consider is how to balance the right to protest with the negative impact on our communities and potential violence and disorder that may have resulted from these protests going ahead as they were suggested. If you want to protest on Saturday, we ask that you do so peacefully, no matter what your view. We will adopt a robust arrest policy on anyone who attends and is intent on violence and disorder, or is in breach of these conditions. Liverpool forward Sadio Mane is likely to miss Wednesdays visit of Bournemouth after sustaining a knee problem in the Merseyside derby victory at Anfield. The Senegal international scored the opening goal in the 3-1 win over Everton but was later forced off after sustaining an injury in a challenge on Leighton Baines. Manes left leg appeared to get caught underneath him and after receiving treatment he tried to rejoin the action only to collapse in a heap on the touchline. Liverpool forward Sadio Mane celebrates scoring against Everton. The 24-year-old was later seen walking out of Anfield unaided pulling a suitcase and while the injury has not been properly assessed yet, manager Jurgen Klopp admits Wednesdays match may come too soon for his recovery. When I saw him in the dressing room, it didnt look like hell be ready for Wednesday, said the German. We will see, hopefully its not that serious, but of course its not nothing and that makes our life not easier I would say. I dont know exactly (the extent of the injury), I dont want to speculate now. Obviously he has pain and it didnt look like its only a knock or a muscle or something but we have to wait. When I came in I was looking for him immediately and I saw him on the bed. Hed already had treatment and it didnt look like he felt really comfortable. Bath boss Todd Blackadder praised his players response after they recovered from a battering against Saracens to reach this seasons European Challenge Cup semi-finals by beating Brive. Wales back-row forward Taulupe Faletau and England wing Semesa Rokoduguni each scored two tries as Bath booked a last-four clash against Ospreys or Stade Francais later this month. It came just six days on from a 53-10 defeat at Allianz Park, where Bath suffered a heaviest Premiership defeat against any opponent for 15 years. (David Davies/PA) I am really pleased with the response from last weekend, Bath rugby director Blackadder said, following the 34-20 Recreation Ground triumph. They are always big weeks when you have got to turn things around really quickly. There were a lot of things to fix but I feel we are definitely on the right track. It wasnt hard this week. Things neded to be addresed and we just highlighted things. It wasnt a case of baby out with the bath water but our attack just hadnt been functioning. We hadnt been scoring tries and there were reasons for that. Huge performance from the team at the Rec today pic.twitter.com/49Fz9YYaGF Bath Rugby (@BathRugby) April 1, 2017 Fly-half Rhys Priestland added a penalty and three conversions but Brive did not go quietly as Faletaus opposite number Fabien Sanconnie also claimed two tries, which were both converted by full-back Gaetan Germain, who also kicked two penalties. Brive trailed by 21 points early in the second half, yet France international Sanconnies quickfire double from close range gave Bath plenty of food for thought. The 2008 Challenge Cup winners, though, had enough in the tank. I was a little bit concerned when they got back to 27-20, Blackadder continued. We kept feeding their strengths. They are a big team and we didnt want to get into a set-piece battle with them. Photo of the half | @rocco3225 crosses for @bathrugby's third try of the afternoon and his 50th for the Club. pic.twitter.com/QuywEOrGnk Bath Rugby (@BathRugby) April 1, 2017 We started out with plenty of intent and I am pleased with the result, although we can be so much better than what we were in the second half. We wanted to ask a lot of questions and put Brive under the pump. I felt we did that in the first-half but in the second half we had so many opportunities but didnt make the most of them. They asked a lot of questions but we can certainly be better than we were in the second half. I thought Brive did a good job trying to shut us down but I was pleased with our intent. We tried to play and we changed our mindset from where it had been. Munster started and finished strongly to set up a 41-16 win over Toulouse at Thomond Park and a place in the Champions Cup semi-finals for the first time in three years. Paul Perezs controversially-awarded try breathed new life into Toulouses challenge at 24-16 down but closing tries from Darren Sweetnam, his first in Europe, and replacement Andrew Conway sent the Irish province through in convincing fashion. FULL TIME: @MunsterRugbys 157th match in the competition is a successful one and they progress into the semi-finals pic.twitter.com/iJW5VHA4GJ Heineken Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) April 1, 2017 Munster were 10 points up in as many minutes, profiting from Francois Cros early sin-binning as prop and man-of-the-match John Ryan muscled over for a try. Darren Sweetnam scored his first try in Europe as Munster beat Toulouse to reach the Champions Cup semis Jean-Marc Doussains third penalty success from all of 44 metres brought wind-backed Toulouse to within four points (13-9) at the break. This was a much tighter contest than the 2014 quarter-final in Limerick which Munster won 47-23 but either side of Perezs converted effort, Rassie Erasmus current crop amassed 28 second half points, including a sharp early score from CJ Stander. Ever-dependable fly-half Tyler Bleyendaal finished with 21 points off the tee, including five penalties, and Sweetnam and Conway gleefully put the result beyond doubt, setting up either a home semi-final against defending champions Saracens or a trip to regular PRO12 rivals Glasgow Warriors. Congratulations @MunsterRugby. We'll be seeing you in the semi-finals! pic.twitter.com/cUSsN3MtbB Heineken Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) April 1, 2017 The French clubs discipline was poor from the off, number eight Cros seeing yellow for an elbow on Williams and back row colleague Thierry Dusautoir infringing at a maul. Soon after, the Toulouse captain was unable to prevent the onrushing Ryan grounding the ball for the opening try. Bleyendaal converted and then tagged on a right-sided penalty. Munster captain Peter OMahony soared for two line-out steals early on but Toulouse gained a foothold with a bulldozing 20-phase attack. Although Florian Fritz missed a long range penalty, Doussain was able to split the posts from closer in. Bleyendaal and Doussain swapped penalties after 26 and 31 minutes, the Kiwi punishing a high tackle from Tekori and Toulouse returning the favour after Gael Fickou had gone close to grounding a Doussain grubber kick. Munster had a strong finish to the half, but Bleyendaal had a try ruled out for a prior knock-on from Tommy ODonnell and Doussain drilled over a monster penalty to close the gap further. HALF TIME: Everything to play for after the break between @MunsterRugby and @StadeToulousain at @thomondstadium pic.twitter.com/sx6kirXFO2 Heineken Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) April 1, 2017 Bleyendaal did likewise from halfway just a couple of minutes into the second period, and then a clever peel off a line-out maul paved the way for Standers 47th minute try. The conversion was slid just wide by Bleyendaal but he nailed a 53rd minute penalty to give Munster a 15-point cushion. Toulouse hit back with a brilliantly-constructed seven-pointer from Samoan winger Perez in the left corner and Doussains difficult conversion went over off the right hand post. With OMahony and Stander both off the pitch, Munster had to dig deep and their defence came up trumps, forcing knock-ons and clawing back territory before Bleyendaal punished Arthur Bonneval for not releasing. The New Zealanders 74th-minute penalty had Munster out of reach and they duly added some late gloss. Said it already but have to say it again, thanks for today's support here, around the province, Ireland & abroad #MUNvTOU pic.twitter.com/FxQrNC5uI3 Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) April 1, 2017 A big tackle from Jaco Taute forced a turnover and Sweetnam dribbled through to go over unopposed, before Bleyendaals inviting pass out to the left flank played in Conway, with the Kiwi adding a classy conversion. First of all, to get the win is fantastic. I think if you look tactically and technically there was a good 40 minutes and then a bad 15 to 20 minutes and finally a good four to five minutes. It wasnt perfect but it is a win against a world class team, so we are fairly happy. Its an amazing crowd, everyone knows it. It would have been nicer for me to win here, to finish with a better score. It was something very special to be here and to play against the Munster men. I think we started in a pretty bad way in the first half and the second half too. I think that we could have played a better game. By Antonella Cinelli and Steve Scherer ROME, March 31 (Reuters) - Trade disputes between the United States and Europe would hurt economic growth and global governance at a time when the West needs to show a unified front against unfair trade practices, Italy's industry minister said on Friday. "Any trade clash between the United States and Europe would be dangerous not only for our economies, but also for the rules that govern globalisation," Industry Minister Carlo Calenda told reporters in Rome. Calenda said Western countries should refrain from trade disputes "that would symbolically show a division at a moment when the Western world should be unified in protecting its citizens from unfair trade practices". His general comments on trade came after the U.S. Department of Commerce ruled on Thursday that foreign producers, including in Italy and Germany, had dumped certain types of steel on the U.S. market, opening the way for duties to be imposed. Italy has yet to comment specifically, but Germany said the European Union should consider filing a complaint at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Emma Marcegaglia, head of the family-controlled Marcegaglia steel group that was cited by the U.S. Commerce Department, strongly rejected the idea of new border taxes. "A border tax would be a declaration of trade war that should be brought before the WTO, and when you start a war you don't know where you will end up," she said. A media report on Thursday said the United States was also considering tariffs on several products in response to the EU's ban on American beef from hormone-treated cattle. Italy is hosting a Group of Seven summit in May in Sicily - the first involving U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pledged to fight trade practices that he says hurt American workers. Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni has said major powers should reject "the temptation of protectionism" at the meeting, which also includes the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Japan and Canada. On Friday, Gentiloni told Italian business leaders and industrialists that free trade was "the biggest growth engine in history". "The alliance between the world's major economies will be decisive in tackling the global challenges of trust and economic freedom," Gentiloni said. (Reporting by Antonella Cinelli, writing by Steve Scherer; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - Senate Democrats on Friday stepped closer to having enough votes to block a confirmation vote on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee with three more Democratic senators coming out against Neil Gorsuch for the lifetime job as a justice. Democrats are attempting use a procedural hurdle called a filibuster that requires 60 votes to allow a confirmation vote in the 100-seat U.S. Senate. Senate Republicans are hoping to vote on April 7 to confirm the conservative appeals court judge nominated by the Republican president in January. Democratic Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Brian Schatz of Hawaii came out against Gorsuch on Friday and backed a filibuster. Republicans control the Senate 52-48. But if Democrats can muster 41 votes, they would be able to sustain the filibuster. As of Friday afternoon, 36 Democrats had indicated their support for such a move. Two Democrats have said they support Gorsuch. Another two have voiced opposition to Gorsuch but have not made clear whether they would support a filibuster to block a confirmation vote. Seven Democrats and one independent, Angus King of Maine, who usually votes with them, have not yet announced their position. If Democrats amass enough support to block a confirmation vote, it would force Republican Senate leaders to try to change the chamber's long-standing rules and allow confirmation by a simple majority, a move backed by Trump that is sometimes called the "nuclear option." If confirmed by the Senate to fill a vacancy created by the February 2016 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, Gorsuch would reinstate the nine-seat high court's conservative majority at a time when Republicans control Congress and the White House. McCaskill said in a statement she could not support Gorsuch because a study of his legal opinions revealed "a rigid ideology that always puts the little guy under the boot of corporations." McCaskill is up for re-election next year in a state Trump won in the 2016 presidential election. Blumenthal, a member of the Judiciary Committee that held a four-day confirmation hearing last week and will vote on sending the nomination to the Senate floor on Monday, said in a statement Gorsuch has not been forthcoming with senators about his views on key issues, leaving his core beliefs little known. "Instead he has evaded real answers at every turn," Blumenthal said. "We must assume that Judge Gorsuch has passed the Trump litmus test - a pro-life, pro-gun, conservative judge." Blumenthal said Gorsuch's refusal to "distance himself from right-wing groups" raised questions about whether he may be "an acolyte of hard-right special interests." Schatz said Gorsuch's record as a judge was troubling and he had not shown he would challenge executive overreach. "His refusal to answer questions on long-decided cases or condemn attacks on the judiciary during the hearing demonstrates that he is outside of the legal mainstream," Schatz said. Their statements came one day after Gorsuch won his first Democratic support, giving Republicans who control the chamber two of the eight Democratic votes they need to break a filibuster. Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Democrats who face re-election in states that voted for Trump last year, said they would vote for Gorsuch. Trump made the appointment of conservative jurists to the Supreme Court a key promise during the 2016 presidential election. Republicans have defended Gorsuch as well qualified to be a Supreme Court justice and praised his performance during the confirmation hearings. If the filibuster is beaten, the confirmation vote itself would require a simple majority. Some Democrats have accused Republicans of "stealing" a Supreme Court seat last year when the Senate refused to consider Democratic former President Barack Obama's nominee to replace Scalia, appellate judge Merrick Garland. (Reporting by Susan Heavey and Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) SEOUL, April 1 (Reuters) - South Korea's exports to China rose for a fifth straight month in March, but shipments to the United States and Europe declined, trade ministry data showed on Saturday. Exports to China rose 12.1 percent from a year earlier, compared with growth of 28.8 percent in February. Exports to the United States declined 5.3 percent on-year, wiping out a 1.7 percent gain in February, the same data showed. South Korea posted a $1.82 billion trade surplus against the United States in March, the trade ministry statement added, smaller than $2.75 billion seen in the same month in 2016. Shipments to the European Union declined 8.7 percent, compared with a 27.4 percent jump in February. (Reporting by Christine Kim and Cynthia Kim; Editing by Kim Coghill) By Gayathree Ganesan and Akankshita Mukhopadhyay March 31 (Reuters) - Caterpillar Inc said on Friday it will shut its Aurora, Illinois, plant, costing about 800 employees their jobs as the world's largest construction and mining equipment maker shifts production to other U.S. facilities. Caterpillar was among companies that met with President Donald Trump in February to talk about job creation, at a time when about 2,300 U.S. workers at five major manufacturing companies stand to lose their jobs within the next two years as a result of offshoring. The company said it will transition its large wheel loaders and compactors to its plant in Decatur, Illinois, and medium wheel loaders to North Little Rock, Arkansas. "Out of about 800 production positions, about 500 positions would likely be added to Decatur and about 150 positions would be added in North Little Rock," Caterpillar spokeswoman Lisa Miller told Reuters. The company has already slashed its workforce by more than 16,000 to cope with a slumping economy and had said it would take another $500 million in restructuring costs in 2017. Caterpillar said, in January, that it was considering closing two major production facilities, including the one in Aurora, Illinois, where it makes large-wheel loaders and compactors. The plant closure is expected to be completed by the end of 2018, Caterpillar said in a statement. The company in January forecast 2017 profit sharply below analysts' estimates, hurt by sluggish demand in the construction and energy industries. Caterpillar had about 95,400 full-time employees of whom 54,500 persons were located outside the United States as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing. (Reporting by Gayathree Ganesan and Akankshita Mukhopadhyay in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) By Mitra Taj LIMA, March 31 (Reuters) - Peru on Friday urged other nations to match its tough stance on Venezuela and withdraw their ambassadors from the country to protest the "authoritarian" takeover of its Congress by the pro-government Supreme Court. Venezuela's top court took control of the legislative body earlier this week in what critics described as a coup. Protests and international condemnation have grown, with Peru taking the hardest line. Calling the move a "flagrant breach of democracy," Peru, led by centrist President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, immediately called back its ambassador and won praise from many democracy activists in the region. "It's a rapid gesture that other countries should take so Venezuela sees it's alone on that path," Peru's Vice President Martin Vizcarra told Reuters in an interview. "If we want a country, a continent to be governed by democracy, I think all countries must have a firm position of disavowing any kind of coup or authoritarianism." Latin American leaders have become increasingly critical of Venezuela in recent years as its economic and political crises have deepened and voters have replaced one-time allies of Venezuela's charismatic late President Hugo Chavez with more conservative governments. Peru has emerged as the regional leader on efforts to press Venezuela to enact democratic reforms in the absence of a clear strategy from the United States, which called the Venezuelan court's move a "serious setback for democracy." Even leftist allies like the government of Ecuador's Rafael Correa have sought to distance themselves from Venezuela. Ahead of Sunday's presidential elections, right-wing challenger Guillermo Lasso has warned that the leftist candidate wants to turn Ecuador into Venezuela. Foreign Minister Guillaume Long rejected the comparison. "They've been trying to confuse the population with the argument that Ecuador is going to turn into Venezuela" for 10 years, Long said. "But no, Ecuador is not Venezuela." Mexico helped rally 14 countries to produce a declaration calling for the "re-establishment of democracy" last week in a departure from its usual more neutral stance. But Mexico, which has already been jolted by a diplomatic crisis this year after U.S. President Donald Trump took office, has not withdrawn its ambassador from Venezuela since the Supreme Court power grab. "Peru has contributed the most, because it has been very clear," said Jorge Castaneda, Mexico's foreign minister under former President Vicente Fox, who broke with traditional Mexican foreign policy to take a tough stance against Cuba. Castaneda said Mexico does not yet appear to have a well thought-out strategy on Venezuela and called on Mexico to quickly move a motion in the Organization of American States (OAS) invoking the diplomatic body's democratic charter. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto expressed worry about the "deterioration of democracy" in Venezuela on Friday and instructed his foreign ministry to raise the matter again at the OAS. "Considering these events, we cannot remain indifferent," said Pena Nieto. Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker with strong globalist and free-trade beliefs, has won support at home for his position on Venezuela even as it has prompted personal attacks from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Vizcarra said Peru's own experience with authoritarianism in the 1990s, when now-jailed right-wing former President Alberto Fujimori dissolved Congress with the backing of the military, has left an indelible mark on the country. "We've gone through that before and we wouldn't want to repeat that experience or see fellow countries like Venezuela go through it," Vizcarra said. Maduro on Friday railed against what he deemed the meddling in Venezuela's affairs from right-wing, "fascist" countries. (Reporting By Mitra Taj and Marco Aquino; Additional Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter, Lizbeth Diaz and Frank Jack Daniel in Mexico City and Alexandra Ulmer in Quito; Editing by Andrew Hay, Lisa Shumaker and Bill Rigby) MANILA, April 1 (Reuters) - Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out on Friday at European Union critics of his bloody anti-narcotics campaign, threatening to "slap" them. It is the latest of the leader's near-daily diatribe against the United States, EU and the United Nations while heaping praise on China and Russia. "Come here and we will talk because I want to slap you," Duterte said in a speech during celebrations of Women's Day at the presidential palace late on Friday. Duterte scoffed at the bloc for recommending the Philippines build "clinics around like in other countries, and give shabu, cocaine and heroin like in Holland." The Southeast Asian leader lashed out on the EU last week for hypocrisy and called the bloc "sons of bitches" for recommending a rehabilitation-centred solution to the drugs problem. More than 8,000 people have been killed since Duterte took power on June 30 last year, with police taking responsibility for a third of those deaths, citing self-defence during anti-narcotics operations. The government rejects local and international human rights groups' allegations that police are involved in thousands of mysterious deaths. Duterte castigated the EU for believing reports of non-government groups that tag the leader for the killings. "Even if it's just epilepsy, they count it against me," he said, to the laughter of the crowd. Duterte boasted of his new-found friendship with China, which had been embroiled in a territorial spat with the Philippines before Duterte took office. As for Russia, Duterte said he plans to make it the trade gateway for Eastern Europe. (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Eric Meijer) By Sunil Kataria GUWAHATI, April 1 (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama arrived in India's northeastern state of Assam on Saturday ahead of a visit to neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, a region run by New Delhi but claimed by Beijing. The Tibetan spiritual leader's trip is expected to fuel tensions between India and China over strategic issues such as China's growing ties with India's arch-rival Pakistan. China claims the region in the eastern Himalayas as "South Tibet". The Dalai Lama told Reuters TV at the airport in the Assam city of Guwahati that his visit was to promote religious harmony. He said he was happy to be back in a region that revived his memories of escape from Tibet in 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. "I still feel the feeling of that time," he said. China, which considers the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist, said on Friday it was "resolutely opposed" to the visit, and urged India to "avoid taking any actions that would further complicate the border issue". An Indian government official said on Friday that the Dalai Lama's visit was religious, not political. (Writing by Zeba Siddiqui, editing by Ed Osmond) CIM Sri Lanka Secretary Sujith Silva, Vijaya Corea, Annesley Malewana, Raj Senewiratne, Naresh Sathasivam and Dilan Irugalbandara CIM Sri Lanka hosted its first networking event for 2017, titled Evolution of Music in Sri Lanka recently at the CIM Office, in Colombo. Organised as an evening of networking and fellowship exclusively for CIM members, the event featured an eminent panel from the countrys music industry namely Vijaya Corea, Annesley Malewana, Raj Senewiratne, Naresh Sathasivam and Dilan Irugalbandara. The panellists at the event were a combination of renowned veterans in the music industry and a younger generation of musicians who together contribute to the vibrant music scene in the country. During the invigorating discussions, the musicians shared their experiences and thoughts about the prevailing music landscape in the country and their contribution over time in changing it. The panellists also educated and entertained the participants with many compelling stories about their careers. The event concluded on a high note with the musicians present entertaining the audience with a light repertoire. The fellowship and camaraderie after the event facilitated further networking among the CIM members enabling them to encounter like-minded and creative people. In a desperate bid to come back to power, erstwhile Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf is now on a publicity spree to enter the political arena in the turbulent Pakistani political landscape. Cooling heels in a luxurious London apartment, Musharraf is engaging himself in several TV chat shows, projecting himself as a potential candidate in the general elections. The self-contained apartment is believed to be an expensive gift from the Saudi royalty, leading analysts into speculating that Musharraf continues to enjoy the House of Saud's moral and material patronage for his political survival. His TV appearances are just anti-India acerbic outbursts, Musharraf's favourite tactics, and he expects to thrive politically through India baiting. Interestingly, in one of the shows, he was waxing eloquent on Hafiz Saeed of Jamaat-Ud-Dawa, describing him as a strategic asset as Musharraf strongly felt that Hafiz has never resorted to any terrorist activity within Pakistan, but directed his terrorist misadventures within Kashmir. Such an illustration and effusive praise heaped on Hafiz at this juncture signals Musharraf's attempts to reinduct the terror mastermind into appropriate service once his political career is relaunched. Musharraf described terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed as a strategic asset. Photo: PTI It's therefore evident by these antics that Musharraf is on the ball, carefully following Pakistan pre-election politics. The former Pakistan president has been cautious in praising Masood Azhar, the head of Jaish-e-Muhammad, because he dreads his anti-Musharraf stance and an aborted assassination attempt targeting him in 2003. Musharraf has not forgotten that the attempt was made when he tried to make peace with India engaging Atal Bihari Vajpayee in rapprochement. His restraint in praising Masood Azhar was perhaps prompted by intelligently adhering to the old dictum that "discretion is better part of the valour". The wily statesman that Musharraf is, his survival instincts and "nine lives" have helped him during providential escapes from political exits and the odd brush with death. Such anti-India statements and indications at a political revival have possibly led incumbent Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to display some magnanimity and political astuteness as a statesman with his eye on the elections. An overture to the effect was apparent on March 14 when Sharif attended a Holi event in Karachi that was not only well attended, but also received wide publicity all across Pakistan and beyond. Importantly, Sharif announced a grant of Rs 500 million for the wellbeing of the Hindu community. In the same vein, he also declared the introduction of the health card scheme for Hindus living in Sindh. Simultaneously, on March 19, President Manmoon Hussain signed the Hindu marriage Bill 2017, making it a law to provide for the regulation of Hindu marriages in Pakistan. Sharif gestures to woo Hindus, for electoral or other reasons, are likely to incur the wrath of the forces inimical to the minorities in Pakistan. These forces are extreme and known for their explosive actions, threatening those with a softened attitude towards Hindus, Shias, Ahmediyas or Christians. During a Holi event at Pakistan's Sindh University, those opposed to Hindu festivals demanded unconditional apology from those who participated in the festivity and revelry, with an affidavit to the effect. Going by such a negative reaction from a section of the society, Sharif's overtures may not lead to an easy path to walk. Given Musharaff's political ambitions, he may target the incumbent rather aggressively in the not-so-distant future. After all, Sharif has been Musharraf's principal adversary and oldest political foe. Pakistan politics has been bloodied throughout with an acrimonious standoff between serving or retired generals and the elected polity. RICHMOND Jens Soering, a convicted double murderer whose innocence claims have drawn support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a detective who investigated the case more than 30 years ago, has lost another round with Virginias Parole Board. The board rejected Soerings request for parole, the prisoner learned Friday. In addition to parole, Soering has been seeking a full pardon from Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat. It was not immediately clear if the pardon request was still under consideration. This was Soerings 12th go-round with the board, but the first to follow two developments that he and supporters thought would boost his chances for release. One was the release of a German documentary last year that raised new questions about his conviction. The other was a new analysis of evidence indicating that Soering was not the source of type O blood found at the scene, as prosecutors had contended at his 1990 trial. Obviously, Im extremely disappointed and very surprised, Soering said in a telephone interview from Buckingham Correctional Center in Central Virginia. Im not giving up the fight. Im innocent. The state has done me a great, great harm for 31 years and todays decision is just another one in an enormously long line of horrible injustices. The Parole Board alone decides requests for parole, but it only makes recommendations to the governor on pardon petitions. Soering and his pro-bono lawyer, Steven Rosenfield of Charlottesville, said it was unclear where the pardon request stands. McAuliffes spokesman, Brian Coy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A German diplomats son, Soering is serving two life sentences for the 1985 slayings of his girlfriends parents in Central Virginia. At the time of the murders, he and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Haysom, had been honors students at the University of Virginia. Soering initially confessed to the crime, but later said he was only trying to protect Haysom from Virginias electric chair under the mistaken belief that he had diplomatic immunity because of his fathers position. He was convicted in a sensational 1990 trial that drew international press and gavel-to-gavel coverage on local cable TV. Haysom pleaded guilty to being an accessory before the fact, contending that she helped plan the murders but did not physically take part. She is serving a 90-year sentence at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women near Charlottesville. Soering converted to Catholicism in prison and went on to write a string of books on religion, meditation, prison reform and his own criminal case. He has attracted a large and devoted group of supporters, who have pressed for his release for decades. They include actor Martin Sheen, who wrote the foreword to Soerings latest book, which was published in March by Lantern Books. In 2010, the German Embassy and Richmonds Catholic bishop convinced then-Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, to approve his transfer to a German prison, on condition that he serve at least two years there. But Kaines action which he later justified as a way to save the commonwealth incarceration costs caused an uproar and was reversed by his Republican successor, Bob McDonnell. In the years since, Merkel personally pressed for Soerings transfer during a visit with former president Barack Obama. A new blood analysis performed last summer, which indicates a male other than Soering was the source of the type-O blood found at the home of Derek and Nancy Haysom, won Soering a notable convert: Chuck Reid, a former Bedford County sheriffs deputy who was originally assigned to the case. He began speaking out about his belief that Virginia had locked up the wrong man. But some officials have never doubted Soerings guilt. Among them is Maj. Ricky Gardner, who was also on the case from the start. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. But he dismissed Reids misgivings in interviews last year. In recent years, he said in an email last year, some people have based their feelings of Soerings innocents on what-ifs and vague hypothesis and not on the facts/evidence presented at his trial. Gerrymandering has deep roots in Virginia history. The practice redrawing electoral district boundaries to favor ones own political party dates back to former Gov. Patrick Henry, who tried to use the redistricting process to keep his political rival, James Madison, from winning a 1789 congressional race. Henry failed to keep Madison out of office, but gerrymandering continues to this day although political observers disagree on how to define it or what impact it has. A new film, titled GerryRigged, attempts to tackle the issue by making it accessible to voters. The film, produced by voter advocacy group OneVirginia2021, will be screened on April 26 at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Brian Cannon, director of OneVirginia2021, sees gerrymandering as one of the biggest causes of political dysfunction in the United States. He argues that it allows legislators, who redraw districts following each census, with a way to pick their constituents. This effectively turns the democratic process on its head, Cannon said, and contributes to a host of other issues. I think when two major [2016 presidential race] candidates started talking about the system being rigged you dont have to scratch too far into that to get into gerrymandering, Cannon said. Anti-elitist rhetoric is gaining traction, but the challenge is getting the average voter to take action. GerryRigged attempts just that in a nonpartisan matter, interviewing politicians from across the spectrum (including Sen. Mark R. Warner and former Sen. George Allen) in an appeal for voters to call for major reforms. Gerrymandering is a bipartisan issue but has been associated primarily with Republicans in recent years. Republican redistricting following the 2010 U.S. Census gave the party a huge advantage in state legislative elections, allowing them to take control over 21 legislative bodies around the country. In the 2012 congressional elections, Republicans gained a 33-seat advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives. That was thanks in no small part to the Republican State Leadership Committees project REDMAP (short for the Redistricting Majority Project). The committee proudly trumpeted its achievement in a 2013 post on its website. All components of a successful congressional race, including recruitment, message development and resource allocation, rest on the congressional district lines, and this was an area where Republicans had an unquestioned advantage, reads the post. But Cannon said Democrats have engaged in the practice, as well. In Maryland, Democratic state legislators were accused of redrawing the lines in 2011 so their party would control seven out of the eight congressional districts. The on-again, off-again court battle over the redistricting remains unresolved in its sixth year. Filmmakers also interviewed a local Republican who fell victim to the practice in the early 1990s. Democrats used it to unseat Allen, who ran for governor rather than face longtime Republican Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, R-3rd, in a primary race for Allens newly redrawn 7th Congressional District in 1992. A lot of people think redistricting reform is a left-right issue. Its not its a right-wrong issue, Cannon said. Project REDMAP came along at a time when technology transformed gerrymandering from an art into a science, Cannon said. The use of mass data and new software allowed Republicans to redraw the lines with precision had the roles been reversed, Cannon said he believes the Democrats would have done the same thing. Bill Oglesby, who co-produced and directed the documentary with Beau Cribs, said the level of precision surprised him. With the help of data-gathering consultants, legislators could create exactly the kind of district they wanted, using census numbers, consumer data and voter registration records. Its a far cry from the years when it was done on a small scale to help one incumbent keep his or her post, said Oglesby, a former television journalist who now teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University. For many years, it was done because there was a sense an area was potentially unfriendly for an incumbent, he said. With the new software, it allows them to draw lines that virtually ensure incumbents will be re-elected. The documentary ends with an appeal for citizens to pressure legislators to adopt the use of independent, nonpartisan commissions to oversee redistricting effectively taking the power out of legislators hands. Oglesby said hes not sure reform can ever come from the legislative branch it may have to be resolved judicially but he believes its possible if citizens apply enough pressure. GerryRigged calls on Virginians to exert that pressure. People are fed up with the status quo and theres a tremendous amount of energy, Oglesby said. I do think theres change in the air. The April 26 screening at PVCC will begin at 7 p.m. in the Main Theater in the Dickinson Building. Cannon will address the audience following the film. Rep. Tom Garrett, R-5th, held his first in-person forum with his congressional constituents Friday at the University of Virginia, well-attended by both supporters and opponents. The forum at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy was preceded by a tense demonstration outside the entrance of the building, with supporters and protesters shouting over one another in the rain, while several dozen police officers monitored the area. During the actual event, many of the first-term congressmans answers were met with boos and chants, but he was audibly praised by his supporters from time to time. Allan Stam, dean of the Batten School, moderated the event, which focus on health care, Russian interference in the 2016 election, immigration and the budget. Anticipation had been building up for the town hall as local political organizations had been pressuring Garrett to speak with them in person. Many had accused the congressman of avoiding his constituents and later criticized the logistics and rollout of the forum at UVa. As Garrett was about to speak for the first time at the forum, he was abruptly cut off by people carrying a banner and chanting, Hey hey, ho ho; white supremacy has got to go. They were then taken out of the room. Garrett then defended the decision to hold the forum in a room smaller than some wanted because of more raucous town halls across the country in which elected officials were shouted down. Garrett did say hed look into a larger venue in the future. But even as the forum was well underway, chanting from the same group of supporters and protesters outside the building could be heard inside. The first series of questions in the forum were about health care. Garrett is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group whose members were against the recent legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act because they believe it didn't go far enough. Garrett has defended that decision to oppose the bill, which was later pulled, but said he still wants to see a repeal and replacement of the current health care law. Garrett also was asked about the recent reports about Russian involvement in last years election and was pressed whether he would support the removal of officials of President Donald Trumps administration had colluded with Russia. He agreed they should be removed in that case, which was met with applause, but he said that theres still much more investigating that needs to be done first. As the event came to a close, Stam thanked Garrett for his time and added he hopes to hold the congressman to his commitment to attend another event like this. Garrett agreed, adding that he hopes to have an honest discourse with his constituents, which did not assuage the anger of some critics. Before the town hall started, protesters gathered outside the Batten School to demonstrate against Garrett and his policies. But they were met with supporters, including Jason Kessler, a local blogger and right-wing provocateur. Corey Stewart, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, also was present outside of the forum. The back-and-forth between both parties was tense at times, but just a few yards away was a nonpartisan democracy fair. Groups such as the University Democrats, College Republicans at UVa and Indivisible Charlottesville, a local progressive advocacy group, set up booths with information about their respective organizations. This is proof that American is a democracy, said Brett Curtis, president of the University Democrats. The University Democrats also held a counter event called Tom, Lets Talk, which started on the South Lawn and made its way over to the Amphitheater as a protest to the exclusionary town hall, Curtis said. Leslie Blackhall, one of the many speakers at the rally, said she didnt want to be sad or scared about Trumps presidency; she preferred to be mad and engaged. But tonight I actually felt sad, I really felt a little sad about how all these people came out, in the rain, and we're here trying to talk to each other and there's a whole bunch of other people there, she said, and I just want to acknowledge its sort of sad that were not able to all talk to each other, and I wish we could. Before the event started, Milan Bharadwaj, a first-year student and member of the College Republicans, said he hoped the event could potentially alleviate some fears that those on the left have about Garretts policies. They'll see that he's really not just a candidate for the majority of people, he's a candidate for everybody and he wants to enact policies that will help everybody regardless of socioeconomic status, regardless of race or wealth, he said. He wants to just help people. Ed Yensho, a Greene County resident, came to UVa not to attend the forum he didn't even enter the ticket lottery system but to show his support for the congressman and let others know that there are people in Central Virginia who support him. He hopes the forum can help crank down the rhetoric, tone it down a little bit. Well see, he said. Indivisible Charlottesville, in a statement Friday night, said that the group was pleased Garrett finally showed up in the district, giving constituents a chance to challenge him on certain issues. Of course, tonight's event doesn't change the fact that the lottery rules discriminated against people who work during the day or don't live near UVa nor the fact that he could and should have made this town hall bigger when thousands of people have demonstrated they want to talk to him, the statement said. Daily Progress staff writer Allison Wrabel contributed to this story. WASHINGTON Heres how area members of Congress voted on major issues in the week ending March 31: House Disclosure of personal internet activity. Voting 215 for and 205 against, the House on March 28 nullified a Federal Communications Commission rule that internet service providers, including Comcast and Verizon, must obtain customer consent before they share sensitive user information such as location, financial and medical details and browsing and app activity with advertisers. The rule was published in October but has not yet taken effect. This measure (SJ Res 34) also would prohibit the FCC from restoring the nullified rule or publishing any similar internet-privacy rule in the future. A yes vote was to send the nullification measure to President Donald Trump and his expected signature. Voting yes: Tom Garrett, R-5th; Dave Brat, R-7th. Independent probe of Trump-Russia ties. Voting 231 for and 189 against, the House on March 28 blocked a Democratic bid to force floor debate on a bill (HR 356) now in committee that would establish a National Commission on Foreign Interference in the 2016 Election as a bipartisan, independent panel for investigating what the FBI says were contacts between Russian intelligence officials and associates of candidate Donald Trump starting months before election day. Had Democrats prevailed on this vote during debate on H Res 229, they would have had an opportunity to bring the Trump-Russia measure to the floor. A yes vote opposed the bid for an independent Trump-Russia investigation. Voting yes: Garrett, Brat. Environmental studies, privacy rights. Voting 228 for and 194 against, the House on March 29 passed a GOP-drafted bill (HR 1430) that would nullify specific Environmental Protection Agency rules unless all data from underlying research including confidential health information about participants has been made public so that the studies could be independently replicated. At present, the EPA relies on scientific peer review to validate the research behind environmental measures. Republicans said the bill would promote much-needed transparency at the EPA, while Democrats said it would weaken clean air and water laws because studies are obligated to protect the privacy rights of participants. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. Voting yes: Garrett, Brat. EPA response to black lung, asthma. Voting 189 for and 232 against, the House on March 29 rejected a Democratic motion to HR 1430 (above) that sought to require the Environmental Protection Agency to always use the best available science whether or not it is accessible to the public in responding to threats to public health, including black-lung disease and asthma resulting from exposure to pollution and toxic chemicals. A yes vote was to adopt the motion. Voting no: Garrett, Brat. Senate Clampdown on Planned Parenthood. Voting 51 for and 50 against, with Vice President Mike Pence casting the deciding vote, the Senate on March 30 nullified an Obama administration rule concerning Planned Parenthood funding. The rule affirms Planned Parenthoods eligibility to receive Title X family planning funds despite efforts by some states to deny the funding because it provides abortions. Critics call these denials illegal because Planned Parenthood does not use federal funds for its abortion services. Title X of the Public Health Service Act is the only federal program devoted exclusively to providing family planning and related preventive care for women. A yes vote was to send the nullification measure (HJ Res 43) to President Trump. Voting no: Mark R. Warner (D); Tim Kaine (D). Opportunity for retirement savings. Voting 50 for and 49 against, the Senate on March 30 nullified a rule designed to guide states and cities in setting up privately managed payroll-deduction plans for private-sector workers who do not have access to retirement plans through their employers. Nationwide, about half of private-sector employees are in this situation. In response, at least seven states and several cities are setting up voluntary work-based IRA-style plans that uncovered individuals can use to save for retirement. These mainly low-income employees have not been a favored market for Wall Street retirement plans. Under a typical state program, workers at firms with at least five employees are automatically signed up but can opt out at any time. Participants contribute 3 percent of their pay or choose another rate. Employers are required to forward payroll deductions to the plan administrator but make no matching contributions and cannot be held liable for fund performances. A yes vote was to send the nullification measure (HJ Res 67) to President Trump. Voting no: Warner, Kaine. Montenegros admittance to NATO. Voting 97 for and two against, the Senate on March 28 ratified treaty language allowing the Balkan country of Montenegro to join 26 European nations, the United States and Canada in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO, a mutual-defense alliance in which an armed attack on one member is regarded as an attack on all, was established in 1949 as a bulwark against Soviet aggression, and it has resumed that stance today against Russia. A yes vote was to ratify Montenegro as NATOs 29th member state. Voting yes: Warner, Kaine. The facts alleged against Culpeper County in the federal lawsuit for its rejection of a utility permit to serve a planned mosque leave the impression that the countys permit denial was based on religious hostility, U.S. District Judge Norman Moon wrote in a 20-page opinion published Wednesday. That denial, he added, substantially burdened the Islamic Center of Culpepers ability to exercise its religion. Moon concurrently denied Culpeper Countys motion to dismiss the religious discrimination claim headed for a confidential settlement conference April 6 in Harrisonburg. If the case cant be settled, it will go to trial in January 2018. Moons opinion came a week after an initial hearing in the case in Charlottesville during which he repeatedly questioned the countys attorney as to why the board of supervisors diverged from standard practice when it denied a permit last April to the Islamic Center for a pump-and-haul sewer system to serve a bathroom in the mosque planned for construction along Route 229. Historically, such permits were granted as a matter of course, with little fanfare or scrutiny, Moon wrote. Officials even called the matter routine and stated publicly that the (Islamic Center of Culpepers) application satisfied state law and the countys protocols. Nevertheless, the county denied the application. From 1992 to 2016, the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors considered 26 pump-and-haul applications for commercial or religious use and granted them all, the judge said. In his opinion on this case, Moon referenced anti-Muslim sentiments communicated from constituents to board members who then rejected the Islamic Centers application by a vote of 4-3 after delaying it for the purpose of a legal review which had never occurred previously. It just keeps coming back to the same questionwhy is this request subject to more scrutiny and tighter interpretation of the policy than all the past requests, then County Board Chairwoman Alexa Fritz wrote in an email at the time referenced in Moons opinion. The judge further wrote, contrary to Culpeper Countys stance, that the matter does in fact fall under the Religious Land Use & Institutionalized Persons Act that deals with land zoning and that the case is ripe for decision. Because of the boards vote, the (Islamic Center of Culpeper) cannot build a mosque and its members cannot practice their religion to the fullest extent that their beliefs require, the judge said. There is no other land that the (Islamic Center of Culpeper) can purchase in the county that meets its needs. The board of supervisors stated reasons for denying the permitthe purported lack of a hardship for the center, the fact that it did not own the property at the time of the vote and because no structure yet existed on the propertywere pretexts for religious discrimination, Moon wrote. A reasonable fact-finder could conclude that the denial was not based on an insufficient application or other good-faith reasons, but rather on anti-Muslim prejudice that would not evaporate simply by submitting a new application, he said. Moon said the Islamic Center should not have had to resubmit its application or look into alternative sewer systems, as the county suggested, saying the actions are substantially burdensome especially when compared to the traditional ease of obtaining a permit. Culpeper County subjected the Islamic Centers application to an atypically thorough examination following a nontrivial amount of public anti-Muslim sentiment, the judge wrote. The effect of the boards denial was, at worst, the complete inability to build a mosque in Culpeper or, at best, a significant delay and added expense to the effort either of which flowed from a purportedly discriminatory decision that substantially burdens the (Islamic Center of Culpepers) religious exercise, Moon wrote. Culpeper County government officials have vehemently denied that the boards vote to deny the sewer permit was religiously motivated and have said they would vehemently defend the boards actions. Following last weeks hearing and the subsequent order to mediate the case, Culpeper County Attorney Bobbi Jo Alexis said it was routine for federal courts to hold settlement conferences and/or refer the parties to mediation with the help of magistrate judges to see if the parties can resolve their differences. There is presently no settlement agreement, she said. Dr. Nabeel Babar, an imam with the Islamic Center of Culpeper, said last week that they were pleased that Culpeper County had agreed in principle to settle the case outside of the courtroom. We have always been in favor of a negotiated settlement and feel this is in the best interest of all parties, he said. We will be attending the settlement hearing and look forward to bringing this dispute to a just resolution. Nothing new here, folks. Move right along! This was the mantra of the administration governing America from 2009-2017. Now, the mantra of the same party is, Everything is new. Listen up, folks! Yes, the leftist minions, devastated by the presence of the Trump administration being in charge, has reversed itself and is willing to bet their existence on every bit of news they can sling against the wall to see if it will stick. Of course, the lap dog media is doing their best to put adhesive on the wall so everything thrown at it will stick, hoping some of it will last for a long time. President Trump unveiled his budget, and as expected, the Democrats have issued multiple false narratives, known as Fake News. Within the budget, the president has many cuts of programs many of which are no longer needed, duplicated, triplicated, mired in waste and fraud, or just not performing in the manner they were designed to be. For instance, the Meals On Wheels program. Nancy Pelosi and her comrades have bent themselves out of shape claiming that this budget completely guts the program that feeds 2.4 million senior citizens! Of course, this attack is then picked up by others of her ilk, spread around at every talk show, television show, newspaper, and magazine they can get to publish this fake news. In reality, the budget itself plans to eliminate the Community Development Block Grant. For clarity sake, a block grant is a large sum of money granted by the national government to a regional government with only general provisions as to the way it is to be spent. The important words here are general provisions. That means the local or regional government, who has the money, can fudge any way they want to use this money, and they do. This federal block grant costs Americans $3 billion (yes, billions with a B) per year and $150 billion since its inception. In fact, the Community Development Block Grant is not used to fund Meals On Wheels. MOW actually obtains 3 percent of its funding from the federal government. Another program, Older Americans Act provides most of it, and it isnt proposed to be cut. But, this means nothing to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer as they run around spreading the fact that our president is starving 2.4 million senior citizens. Pelosi ventures to say with a straight face as well, The Republican Congress and this White House never miss an opportunity to suck up money from the middle class. She conveniently and purposely does not mention that in one county, Riverside, in California (her home state), a 2016 audit revealed this county received $761,744 from the block grant and most of it was used to renovate a playground and sidewalk at one school. Not $1 or even 1 cent was spent on the MOW program. All this bloviating by the Democrats in regard to the Meals On Wheels program is just the tip of the iceberg for them. They institute this type of false narrative and fake news with every step our president tries to accomplish. This is the type of fear mongering and scare tactics they use to discredit President Trump and everyone around him. They have such a fear that the American public will like the benefits of President Trumps keeping his word and that Americans will, in fact, wholeheartedly support his budget. They may support it even more if they know whats in it, and President Trump will undoubtedly let them know either through tweets or rallies, since the media wont. It seems that Americans supporting Trump only escalates the burning desires of the left to delegitimize President Trump and, in an effort to do so, they are emboldened to lie, vilify, demean and present a false narrative, fake news, and a phony baloney outrage to his entire budget. Why, you may ask? They have nothing to offer so they attempt to cover this up with everyday prevarications and misinformation. Shame on themthey were not elected to do so. New Delhi: Nissan Motor India today reported 21 per cent rise in sales in March at 5,309 units while also posting its its highest-ever annual sales in fiscal year 2016-17. For the fiscal ended March 31, 2017, the company said it sold 57,315 units as against 39,393 units in the preceding financial year, up 45 per cent. "This fiscal year marked the highest-ever volume achieved by the company in India," the company said in a statement. Commenting on the performance, Nissan India Operations President Guillaume Sicard said: "We are delighted by the progress and the acceptance of our products and services by our customers." On the products front, he said: "Datsun redi-GO has been our most significant new model launch in the last year and has been a key driver of our success and raising brand awareness." Sicard said looking ahead, in the medium-term Nissan India plans to launch right new products in India by 2021 with an aim to achieve 5 per cent market share in India. The company sells products across hatchback, MUV, SUV and sedan segments under the Nissan and Datsun brands in India. New Delhi: Two-wheeler market leader Hero MotoCorp today said it has "almost" sold out all of its BS-III inventory ahead of the Supreme Court imposed ban on such vehicles kicking in tomorrow. The company had offered discounts on its BS-III scooters and motorcycles to up to Rs 12,500 in order to liquidate the stocks. "In the past two days, we have taken tactical steps to assist our dealers and incentivise the customers with an objective to liquidate the remaining BS III stocks," Hero MotoCorp Chairman, Managing Director and CEO Pawan Munjal said in a statement. He further said: "By the end of today, March 31, we would have sold almost all of our BS III inventory." Hero MotoCorp had switched to manufacturing only BS IV compliant vehicles since March 1 and is fully prepared to sell only BS IV vehicles from April 1, as per the order of the Supreme Court and welcomes its decision in the interest of public health, Munjal added. "As a public limited company, we have thereby tried to minimise the losses of all our stakeholders," he added. When contacted, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) declined to comment. Chennai-based TVS Motor also did not comment but industry sources said their dealers have cleared most of the BS-III stocks. HMSI had offered discounts of up to Rs 22,000 and TVS 20,150 on their BS-III models after the Supreme Court banned sales and registration from April 1. Around 6.71 lakh two-wheelers, out of over 8 lakh BS-III vehicles were impacted by the Supreme Court ban. On Wednesday, observing that health of the people is "far, far more important" than the commercial interests of the manufacturers, the apex court said that automobile firms have declined to take "sufficient pro-active steps" despite being fully aware that they would be required to manufacture only BS-IV compliant vehicles from April 1, 2017. Chennai: All India Bank Employees Association would support the strike call given by the employees union of public sector IDBI Bank over settlement of pending wages, AIBEA General Secretary, C H Venkatachalam said today. He said nearly 15,000 employees of the bank would participate in the nation wide strike scheduled on April 12. The Association also shot off a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, seeking his intervention in the matter. Recalling the wage revision settlement to the banking sector which concluded in May 2015, Venkatachalam said in his letter that the settlement of wages include all employees of public and private sector banks. "However, wage revision which is due in IDBI Bank for employees from November 2012 is still lingering on and remains inconclusive", he said. The undue delay in extending wage revision to employees and officers of IDBI Bank alone smacks of discrimination, deliberate isolation and unfair labour approach, he said. Noting that the employees were agitated due to delay in settlement of the wages, he requested Jaitley's intervention to advice IDBI Bank management to expedite the settlement without any delay. Mumbai: State Bank of India, countrys largest public sector lender, will start levying penalty for non-maintenance of minimum balance in savings account. According to NDTV, the bank has indicated it will increase the minimum balance required to run a savings bank account by manifold. The decision was taken keeping in view huge expenditure that the the bank incurred in handling a large number of dormant or 'no-frills' accounts. Banks are already faced with financial troubles due to huge stockpile of bad assets worth $5.3 billion. The bank has around 39 crore customers that includes depositors, pensioners and students. SBI has evaluated the penalty based on the city in which the bank lies. For savings account at a branch in a metro city, SBI has fixed a monthly average balance of Rs 5,000 as minimum required balance. A penalty of Rs 50 and Rs 100 will be levied for violation of the rule. SBI customers that come under the purview of urban and semi-urban branches, the penalty for not keeping required balance has been decided at Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 respectively, NDTV report said. The bank has also revised cash withdrawals charges at its automated teller machine booths. There will be a fee of Rs 20 if the number of transactions in a months exceeds three allowed withdrawals. Apart from that, the bank will also charge Rs 10 for more than five withdrawals at State Bank of India ATMs. Earlier, the bank had defended its move to charge penalty for non-maintenance of minimum balance saying it has large number of Jan Dhan Accounts and the bank needs charges to keep these accounts active. SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya had said that the bank has 11 crore financial inclusion or Jan Dhan accounts and the decision was taken after taking into consideration a number of factors. Amber Heard is claiming that she is a victim of exploitation, and is reportedly suing Christopher Hanley, the producer of her film London Fields. Hanley had earlier sued Heard for making unauthorised changes to the script and refusing to promote the film as per her contract, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The actress is now accusing Hanley of secretly using a body double to film an explicit pornographic sex scene to mislead the audience. This case shines a spotlight on the dark underbelly of Hollywood, Heards lawyer told the judge. The film is based on Martin Amis book London Fields, and Amber is playing the role of Nicola Six, a woman who has a tangled love affair with three men, one of whom she knows will kill her. DailyMail.co.uk reports that the film also stars Heards ex-husband Johnny Depp in a cameo role. Fans are eagerly awaiting the first look and teaser of Mahesh Babus film with A.R. Murugadoss. The makers have finished shooting in various cities, and the team is currently in Vietnam. Though Mahesh conveyed to all his fans that he plans to release the first look soon, we hear that it will be released on April 14. A.R. Murugadoss It is a bilingual film and the makers are not in a hurry to release the first look, as a lot depends on it. It has to be a perfect teaser, and so they are planning to release it on April 14 the Tamil New Years day, says a source. The graphics for the teaser are being worked on, in the UK. Haris Jayaraj, the music director of the film, is currently working on the teaser, added the source. To all my dearest fans, I know you have been eagerly waiting for the first look of #Mahesh23. Our team is shooting day & night for the film. The first look will be out very soon. Requesting you all to be a little patient. Love you guys as always :) (sic), tweeted Mahesh Babu. Researchers found that just 65 percent of youth with type 1 diabetes and 42 percent of those with type 2 diabetes had vision-loss screening. (Photo: Pixabay) Diabetes can lead to blindness, but children and teens with diabetes may not receive recommended eye exams in the years following their diagnosis, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers found that just 65 percent of youth with type 1 diabetes and 42 percent of those with type 2 diabetes had vision-loss screening within six years of their diabetes diagnosis. More youth now than ever are being diagnosed with diabetes. By 2050, the prevalence with type 1 will triple and the prevalence with type 2 will quadruple, with the greatest increase in minority populations, said lead study author Dr. Sophia Wang of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends screening for diabetic retinopathy five years after an initial diabetes diagnosis for youth with type 1 diabetes while the American Diabetes Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend screening within three to five years. For kids with type 2 diabetes, screening is recommended at diagnosis. Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes that may not have symptoms in early stages but can progress to vision loss. The damage to the retina of the eye results from damage to tiny blood vessels that affects other parts of the body as well. About half of people with retinopathy develop diabetic macular edema, a fluid build-up in the retina, or glaucoma. Diabetic retinopathy is the number one cause of vision loss in ages 20-74, so screening is an important component of diabetes care, Wang told Reuters Health by email. To see how many kids with diabetes are getting the recommended screening, Wang and colleagues analyzed data from a national managed care network, which included more than 5,400 youth under age 21 with type 1 diabetes and 7,200 with type 2 diabetes. Overall, researchers found that about 4,000 kids, or 31 percent, had an eye exam. Those with type 1 diabetes were more likely to have had an eye exam compared with those who had type 2 diabetes, the study team reports in JAMA Ophthalmology . White and Asian youth were more likely to have had exams than black and Latino youth. Those with a higher household net worth were also more likely to receive an eye exam compared with those in lower-income households. Despite the fact that all the youth in our study possessed health insurance, we found disparities by race and family affluence, suggesting that they may be particularly at risk, Wang said. In the study, 11 percent of black children and teens and 18 percent of Latino youth were less likely to undergo an eye exam compared to white kids. Younger patients were also less likely to receive an exam than older ones. We must educate adolescents and caregivers on the importance of screening to improve care coordination between different medical specialists such as pediatricians, endocrinologists, ophthalmologists and optometrists, said study author Dr. Joshua Stein of the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center in Ann Arbor. More research is needed on new technologies which might render ophthalmic screening more accessible, such as retinal photography performed in primary care physicians clinics, he told Reuters Health by email. Diabetic retinopathy is considered the most common microvascular complication of diabetes and is projected to grow at an alarming rate, said Dr. Seema Garg of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who wrote a commentary accompanying the study. Visual impairment is detrimental to patients personal independence, economic productivity, employment and overall quality of life, she told Reuters Health by email. The opportunity costs of a lifetime of blindness are enormous. Socioeconomics, geographical barriers, delayed referrals from primary care doctors, language barriers and cultural barriers also play a part in the screening gap. Retina screening via telemedicine could help address the issue, especially for racial minorities and economically disadvantaged youth, Garg writes in the commentary. Telemedicine is an emerging strategy for improving screening with remote expert interpretation, she writes. Telemedicine is effective in reaching underserved populations in remote, rural or urban settings where patients may be at risk for more advanced disease. CHENNAI: The wife of red sander smuggler Markondan Lakshmanan, whose girlfriend was arrested in Kolkata for her links with the illegal business, says she came to know about her husband's smuggling activities only after being 10 years into their marriage. Only when AP police started chasing him in 2010, I came to know about his illegal activities. That was when he got arrested. I was sure he was into something illegal because his earnings were beyond his limits. But he never told me the truth," Rita, his wife who lives in Chennai, told Deccan Chronicle. Lakshmanan (39), who hails from Mannadi in Chennai, has been into red sanders business since 1998 and married Rita in 2000 after a brief love affair with her. Now lodged in Kadapa jail, Lakshmanan owns godowns in Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Manipur from where he first met his wife Rita. After establishing links with smugglers in Chitoor and Kadapa districts, Lakshmanan was allegedly smuggling red sanders logs to Nepal, Myanmar, Dubai and China. Rita, who met her husband last in 2014, knew that her husband was having an affair with Sangeetha in 2012 and says she was handling his business after he landed in jail. I was just 20-years-old when I met Lakshmanan in 2000 and fell love with him and got married. At that time I was told he was into cloth business. But he would always insist he was not doing anything illegal whenever I prodded about his income, she said. A dejected Rita says she had been trying to help her husband correct his mistakes but in vain. "He had committed so many mistakes. I had given him so many chances. He never changed," Rita noted. In later stages, both started harassing me, she says. I have a teenaged daughter. I manage the family expenses with money I get from rent. My parents support me. My friends are also very understanding and now I am planning to divorce him, Rita revealed, adding that her husband's family members brother, sister and mother never supported her. The medical examination of the girl proved that she has been raped, the police said. (Representational image) Mangaluru: A government official in charge of welfare of the Backward Classes has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl at the BC hostel here Police said. Dakshina Kannada district Backward Classes Welfare Officer Nagarajappa (49) was arrested Friday on a complaint from hostel inmates and getting a statement from the girl. The officer, who frequented the hostel for 'inspection,' allegedly used to summon the girl to his office and sexually assault her. The girl revealed this when other inmates grew suspicious and enquired about the matter. The medical examination of the girl proved that she has been raped, the police said. Nagarajappa has been booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and remanded to judicial custody. Hyderabad: The acquittal on Friday of Pidathala Satyam Babu in the Ayesha Meera murder now raises the crucial question: Who killed Ayesha? The 19-year-old first-year BPharm student of Nimrah College was found murdered in her hostel in Ibrahim-patnam on December 27, 2007. Her naked body was recovered from the bathroom. The acquittal of Satyam Babu also raises questions over the motive behind the killing and why the police booked several unconnected people prior to the arrest of Satyam Babu. Many suspects The needle of suspicion immediately after the murder was pointed to Koneru Satish, the local gram panchayat sarpanch and grandson of then minister Koneru Ranga Rao. Another suspect was Congress leader C. Madhav Rao, the president of the local mandal parishad. There were allegations that Satish and Madhav Rao used to visit the hostel at night and were having parties in the wardens room as they were close to the management. TD leader N. Chandrababu Naidu, who was in the Opposition in undivided AP at that time, had demanded the arrest of Satish and sought a CBI probe. In 2009, he had promised in his election campaign that he would order a re-inquiry into the murder if his party came to power. SHRC intervenes Soon after the murder, police had claimed that it was the fallout of a love affair between Ayesha and her uncle. The cops tried to book her relatives at Tenali. When they faced protests, the police took into custody one Sivanjaneyulu, tortured him, took him to Hyderabad, interrogated him, ran tests and declared him the culprit. His family approached the State Human Rights Commission and the police let him off based on its directions. After this, the police arrested Upender Singh of Jagtial, and alleged that he was facing a rape and theft case. Almost 15 days after his interrogation, conducting blood tests and examining his handwriting, the police presented him as Ayeshas murderer. He was also let off after his mother Lakshmibai and complained to the SHRC. The police took into custody Gurvinder Singh Anand alias Laddu, via a prisoner transit warrant. He was subjected to several tests. Cops claimed his footprints matched those at the scene. He was placed in judicial custody. His family approached the SHRC, alleging that he was implicated. Money offered: Lawyer Mr Pichuka Srinivas, defence lawyer for Satyam Babu, who appeared before the trial court at Vijayawada, said that after dragging the case for nine months, and branding several as accused, the police chalked out a plan to conclude the investigation with the use of modern scientific aids like DNA and handwriting test and matching of footprints. They zeroed in on Satyam Babu who at that time was in the sub-jail in Krishna district for some other offence. The cops lured him with a huge sum to confess to having murdered Ayesha. Satyam Babu came from a poor Dalit family. With a sister and mother at home and being the sole bread-winner, he accepted the offer and was shifted to Rajahmundry. There, the evidence was cooked up, Mr Srinivas said. Physical disability Though the families of the others moved the SHRC, Satyam Babus family could not avail legal remedies at the initial stage due to their weak financial position and there were threats from the police. The police took advantage of the physical disability of Satyam. The youth changed his mind after an attempt by the police to eliminate him by creating an false escape drama at Suryapet while he was being taken to Hyderabad, the lawyer said. He said there were minor cases against Satyam Babu, like one for cellphone theft. There were no rape case against him. The cases pertaining to an assault on one Vangapati Radha and an alleged rape attempt on a girl were foisted on him by inserting his name in the FIRs. In these, the accused was shown as unknown and all the cases were acquitted by the High Court on previous occasions. No proof on Satyam Babu Srinivas said there was no evidence against Satyam Babu, except for a report from the forensic lab that said the footprint of Satyam matched with the one at the scene of the crime, as also his handwriting. Even these are not believable as the director of the forensic lab, Dr Venkanna, who gave the forensic report in the case was corrupt. He was caught by the ACB for taking a bribe to give a false report in another case. He stated that the police had claimed that Satyam Babus motive was that she had rejected his offer of love. The cops claimed that is why he had written a letter after killing her, and left it at the scene. This was proved to be baseless. Mr Habeebur Rahman, president of the Muslim United Front which agitated for the arrest of the culprits, said Satyam Babu was not a psycho as was projected by the police. He demanded a CID probe by reopening the case, and action against the officers responsible for pursuing wrong leads. He sought Rs 1-crore compensation to the family of Satyam Babu, besides a government job and a house for him. Sensational events Three Police Commissioners of Vijayawada including C.V. Anand, K. V. R. N. Reddy Seetharamanjaneyulu were changed during the course of investigations. M. Srinivas the then SDPO of Nandigama was instrumental in arresting Satyam Babu in the murder case. The police claimed that they found at the scene of offence a love letter written by Satyam Babu, blood stains on Ayeshas dress and a handwritten word Chirutha (leopard) using a marker written on Ayesha's chest. The defense lawyer brought out on record that the forensic science laboratory at Hyderabad works under the DGP of the State and as such it is clear, as is seen from the record that they acted and danced to the tunes of the police department. The murder took place in the intervening night of 26/27 December 2007 and it came to light on 27 morning. Satyam Babu was arrested on August 17, 2008 and was convicted on September 29, 2010. Satyam Babu moved an appeal before the High Court on October 28, 2010 and the High Court acquitted Satyam Babu on March 31, 2017. New Delhi: Four drunk students of Delhi University on Saturday allegedly followed the car of Union minister Smriti Irani in Lutyens' Delhi, after which they were detained, police said. The Union Textiles minister around 5.15 PM called police saying that some youths in a car were following her vehicle, a senior police officer said. Acting on the complaint, police intercepted the car, in which the four youths were travelling. The four students, in the age group of 18-19 years, have been detained at Chanakyapuri police station. "Their medical examination has confirmed the presence of alcohol in their blood. They were returning from a friend's birthday party in south Delhi and were roaming in the area for fun," he said. Legal action is being taken against the accused youths. New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday launched a country-wide operation and conducted searches at 100 locations in 16 states as part of its crackdown on shell companies. Officials said multiple teams of the ED on Saturday visited these locations and raided the premises of about 300 shell firms in prominent places like Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Patna, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru among others. They said the action is being carried out under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to check instances of money laundering and illegal foreign exchange transactions. The action is part of the mandate given to the ED under a Special Task Force (STF) that was recently created by the government on the directions of the Prime Ministers Office (PMO). The agency has recently attached assets worth crores of such firms in the last over a week's time. Shell companies are defined as those firms which are set up by nominal paid-up capital, high reserves and surplus on account of receipt of high share premium, investment in unlisted companies, no dividend income, high cash in hand, private companies as majority shareholders, low turnover and operating income, nominal expenses, nominal statutory payments and stock in trade and minimum fixed asset. Bengaluru: A 30-year-old woman flying from Bengaluru to Iceland was asked to strip by Frankfurt airport security officers in front of her 4-year-old daughter earlier this week, despite clearing a body scan. The officials, however, backed out after seeing her Icelandic husband. Alleging racial profiling, the woman, Shruthi Basappa, said in a Facebook post, I hate to play the race card here, but I was the only person pulled aside and peeking at my husband instantly changed the woman's mind about the strip search that was now a regular pat down. According to her posts, despite clearing the full body scan, Basappa was asked to step aside for a random check without any explanations. She had further written that this was allegedly to ensure that she did not have anything under her clothes. Her requests for a normal pat-down check due to a recent abdominal surgery were also refused by the woman security personnel in charge, despite showing proof of the operation. Venting her anger in her posts, Basappa wrote, I was asked to remove the dress I was wearing. Yes. Remove my clothes. Is this the new norm? Isn't it enough to always be the one random person picked out of line that now I need to wrap my head around the fact that I might be asked to strip? Do I need to wax my legs? Do I need to carefully put together a special 'for travel lingerie' set that has nothing to do with seducing my husband but more about hiding the outrage, anger, humiliation and disgust that is an inevitable part of travelling through airports? the post read. Reacting to Basappas post, a verified account of the Frankfurt terminal had asked her to furnish more details of the incident. However, in a later post, Basappa said she has been in touch with the airport authorities and was awaiting a reply. "I have filed a complaint with the authorities in Frankfurt Airport but I am not surprised that it has been over two days and I have no answer from them," she further said to NDTV. New Delhi: DMK working president M K Stalin on Saturday visited the protesting Tamil Nadu farmers at Jantar Mantar here, and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi waive off their loans like he promised in Uttar Pradesh during the recent Assembly polls there. Leaders from Tamil Nadu cutting across the political spectrum have offered their support to the state's farmers who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar for the past 19 days demanding a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore from the Centre and farm loan waiver. "Just like how BJP promised farmer loan waiver to UP in its poll manifesto recently, it should promise the same to Tamil Nadu farmers," he told reporters. The Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly also said that Modi should allow the farmers to meet him and offer a consoling solution at the earliest. Taking a dig at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, Stalin said, "The CM is only keen on R K Nagar elections at the moment." "The ruling party is neither able to help nor get anything from the Centre. The state and the Central governments are playing blame games. Instead of debating the issue, they should act immediately considering the hardship faced by farmers," he said. CPI National Secretary D Raja, DMK MPs Tiruchi Siva, and T K S Elangovan were also present. Stalin said an all-party meeting would soon be held on the issue. "I asked Ayyakkannu (who is leading the protest) to call off the strike, but they are not ready to give up. An all-party meeting would be held in the state to decide the next course of action on the issue," he added. Hyderabad: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of destroying Parliamentary democracy in the country, CPM general-secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday said that the Centre got 22 Money Bills passed in the Lok Sabha ignoring the Rajya Sabha, which is unprecedented. He also said that the CPM would continue padayatras, agitations on burning public issues in TS and fight for social justice. Its a dangerous trend and kills the spirit of Parliamentary democracy. In the name of Money Bills and brute majority, the Modi government bypassed the Rajya Sabha. GST Bill too was brought in as Money Bill. Such action will lead to corruption, Mr Yechury warned. He said the government was trying to modify the existing rules to ensure smooth flow of corporate cash to political parties. Under cover of waiving farm loans, the government was trying to waive corporate loans, the CPM leader alleged. Modi talks something in public and does something else. Some of Modis actions in using investigative agencies to settle political scores will increase blackmail, he alleged. Elsewhere, CPI national general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy accused the Prime Minister of creating problems for the people in the name of demonetisation and other measures as he failed to unearth black money. He also flayed new acts brought in by the Gujarat government recently and demanded they be withdrawn. Referring to the Ayesha Meera murder case and release of Satyam Babu by High Court, he said Satyam got a paltry Rs 1 lakh compensation since he was a Dalit. In Ayesha Meeran case, judiciary and police departments were misused. Its not too late to punish the real culprits and take action against those who tried to suppress the facts, Mr Reddy said. CPI leader Chada Venkat Reddy said the just concluded Assembly session in Telangana saw burial of values. There was no respect for the Opposition. GO 123 has become a weapon of the government, he said. In Tamil Nadu, a total of 2,700 Tasmac shops was closed on Saturday and 50 per cent of it was in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur. Chennai: With the Supreme Court ban on liquor in hotels and bars located on highways coming into effect from Saturday, a majority of bars in star hotels on citys arterial roads like Anna Salai, Poonamallee high road, Jawaharlal Nehru Road, GST Road, Old Mahabalipuram Road and East Coast Road went dry. Apart from government owned Tasmac shops and attached bars, star hotels on these roads were asked by the excise department not to sell liquor in their outlets from Saturday because these roads managed by highways department and not by Chennai corporation. The Supreme Court on Friday ordered shutdown of liquor shops and bars on all highways across the country with a view to bringing down the accidents due to drunken driving. According to bar consultant Arasu Dennis, half of the city has gone dry on Saturday. I feel it should not apply to those bars and pubs functioning in city limits. If you are talking about drunken driving and speeding on highways, you should implement it beyond city limits, he said. When contacted, representatives of star hotels located in Guindy and Anna Salai said that they were abiding by the SC order and the management will chalk out future plans after consulting with the legal teams. Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has directed the Income Tax authorities to allow a lady doctor of the city to utilise Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, by relaxing some of the conditions of the scheme. Dr Indira Ajay moved the High Court seeking to direct the I-T authorities not to prohibit her in any manner from utilisation of the seized cash for the purposes of making deposits under Section 199F of the I-T Act 2016 in RBI bonds under the scheme. According to the petitioner she deposited Rs 11.18 crore of demonetised currency in three of her bank accounts in December 2016 by showing it as income for 2017-18 and paying of Rs 3.15 crore as advance tax. Dr Indira submitted that after introduction of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana which allows individuals to legalise their unaccounted money, she thought of utilising the scheme. She brought to the notice of the court when she attempted to utilise the scheme, she realized that there are far too many hurdles to avail it and she now has to borrow Rs 83 lakh and deposit it in the bank to remain eligible to utilise the scheme. While dealing with Dr Indiras plea, a division bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice J. Uma Devi noted the petitioner has a current balance of Rs 7.5 crore after paying advance tax and making other payments and I-T authorities were treating this money as seized currency. As per the scheme, the doctor has to deposit 30 per cent of the seized currency towards tax and 10 percent as penalty and she has to pay cess that is equivalent to 33 per cent of the money she paid as tax which works out to Rs 5.58 crore. This would leave her with Rs 1.92 crore. Dr Indira has to keep 25 percent of the seized currency as deposit in RBI Bonds and the money available with banks falls short by Rs 83 lakh to utilise the scheme. The bench directed the I-T officials to treat the seized currency as tax, cess, penalty etc instead of asking her to get all this from outside while seizing her existing cash. The bench directed the petitioner to deposit Rs 83 lakh from outside to complete the RBI bond transaction. Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is all set to revamp the TRS and Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters. Mr Rao is proposing a major change in the party setup by doing away with district units and replacing them with Constituency committees in all the 119 Assembly constituencies. In-charges will appointed in constituencies where there are no TRS MLAs. This will make TRS MLAs all-powerful in their Assembly constituencies. The TRS chief has been running the show singlehandedly with the party politburo and district in-charges without full-fledged setup from village to State level as he was preoccupied with the Telangana movement. After achieving Telangana and forming the first government in the new state, he was busy with implementing his vision of Telangana. Now he has focussed on organisational setup and towards this end, has launched a major membership drive across the state. CM garu is planning to do away with district units and instead go for Assembly constituency units. This will make MLAs party heads in their respective Assembly constituencies, a senior TRS leader and MLC told DC. He added, We expect a four or three-tier system of village, mandal, Assembly and state committee. The village committees will be completed by April 5, mandal committees by April 12/13. The state plenary will be held in Hyderabad on April 21 where KCR will be re-elected party chief followed by the public meeting at Warangal on April 27, on the occasion of TRS foundation day. According to some leaders, IT minister K.T. Rama Rao could be made working president to ease Mr Raos burden, but some others dont see such a possibility right now. Along with organisational revamp, the CM has decided to give a major facelift to the Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters at Banjara Hills. Sources said a master plan has been prepared to revamp the Bhavan at a cost of Rs 2 crore. Mr Rama Rao and Hyderabad mayor Bonthu Ramamohan visited the Telangana Bhavan and entrusted the job to a builder. The Bhavan is in a bad shape since KCR was busy with T-movement and government setup. Walls, roofs are peeling off and the false ceiling is damaged. Besides major repairs, the convention centre will be redone with quality sound system, KCRs office room and other party offices will be decked up, a party leader said. A full-fledged canteen is also being set up for the benefit of visitors. Mumbai: Senior NCP leader and former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal was tonight arrested by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) here after 10 hours of questioning in connection with its probe in a money laundering case registered against him and others. According to an ED official, the arrest of the former PWD minister was effected under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after he allegedly refused to cooperate during questioning. The agency also recorded his statement in the case. The official said Bhujbal was questioned for 10 hours before he was arrested and he will be produced before a court tomorrow. Read: Maharashtra Assembly adjourned amid noisy scenes over Chagan Bhujbal's arrest The agency has filed two FIRs against Bhujbal, his son and nephew and others under the provisions of PMLA, based on Mumbai Police FIRs, to probe the Delhi-based Maharashtra Sadan construction scam and the Kalina land grabbing case. The senior NCP leader, accompanied by MLC Jitendra Awhad, earlier arrived at the ED office at Ballard Pier in South Mumbai amid tight security around 11.30 AM. Speaking to reporters before entering the ED office, Bhujbal said, "It is political vendetta...truth shall prevail. I will cooperate with the ED." A large number of party workers who had gathered outside the ED office raised slogans even as prohibitory orders were put in place to avoid any untoward incident. The ED had registered a PMLA case involving the Bhujbals and some of their associates and has already arrested the ex-minister's nephew Samir last month in the case. Samir is currently lodged in the high security Arthur Road jail here. The ED had also questioned Bhujbal's son Pankaj in the same case last month. It had also brought out orders for attachment of three properties with an estimated worth of over Rs 280 crore in the case under money laundering laws. ED had twice conducted searches at nine premises, including properties and offices, belonging to the senior Bhujbal, Pankaj, Samir and few others. NCP had then described the searches as "political vendetta". The state Anti-Corruption Bureau has already filed a charge sheet against Chhagan Bhujbal, Pankaj, Sameer and 14 others in the Maharashtra Sadan scam case. The new Maharashtra Sadan was built at the cost of Rs 100 crore when Congress-NCP coalition was in power in Maharashtra. Before Bhujbal's arrival, at least 30 NCP workers were briefly taken into preventive custody outside the ED office here. Police sources said that around 125 police personnel headed by DCP Zone-I, Manoj Kumar Sharma were present at the spot even as roads leading to the office were barricaded on both sides. March has been a week for extraordinary judgements, where between courts and legislature a new way of seeing is being inaugurated. In a landmark judgement, the high court of Uttarakhand declared that the Ganga and the Yamuna will hereafter be treated as persons. On March 27, Parliament of New Zealand declared that the Whanganui river would be recognised as a person, when it comes to the law in the same way a company is, which will give it rights and interests. Two landmark decisions defining a new way of thinking. Both decisions have an arid quality, yet both these decisions hide an exciting moment in law. To capture the spirit of it one has to go back to Christopher D. Stones classic, Should trees have standing? In a lazy moment of curiosity, Mr Stone as an academic began to wonder what it would take for a tree to be treated as a person. He later on developed it into a monograph which he hurriedly completed hoping it would catch the attention of Justice William O. Douglas, who was hearing a famous Sierra Club case. In creating a thought experiment, Mr Stone laid down three conditions. First, a suit filed in the objects name should not be hyphenated with a human. Second, damages should be calculated by a loss to a non-human entity not hyphenated with a human. Third, he argued that damage should not be conceptualised in anthropocentric terms as economic loss to humans. The experiment came to the attention of Justice William O. Douglas. Citing his case in Sierra Clubs appeal against US secretary of interior Rogers Morton, Justice Douglas presented a classic defence around the standing of nature. He argued that inanimate objects are sometime parties to a litigation. Justice Douglas argued that valleys, rivers, lakes, estuaries, groves and swamp lands should have a legal standing. The river, he felt, is a living symbol of life. A river as a system sustains insects, fish, etc. The river as a plaintiff speaks for the ecological unit of life it sustains. In fact, Justice Douglas went on to suggest that those people who have a meaningful relation to the body of water must be able to speak for the valves the river represents. His plea for the river was an eloquent one. Oddly, its poetry and its ethics did not touch a consumerist nation, which felt the idea was silly and threatening. A doggerel verse commented: If Justice Douglas has his way O come not that dreadful day We will be sued by lakes and hills Seeing a redressal of ills Anyone who read the Twitter responses to the Uttarakhand judgement senses a similar sense of dismissal. One spoof demanded that River Ganga pay back all its taxes. But the Stone-Douglas argument was an idea whose time had come. Mr Stone had argued that all major rivers, as ecosystem, should be represented by guardians. Indian environmental activists observed that the idea of trusteeship seemed more relevant, as, in it the relationship with nature is more symmetrical. Guardianship as a humanitarian idea sustains an asymmetry with nature. The New Zealand bill creates an agreement with the Maori people whereby the river has two guardians one from the Crown and one from the people. But the decision is triggering a process as the bill has still to decide what values will be involved in protecting the river. A whole river strategy, which will link commercial and recreational needs, has still to be worked out. The Uttarakhand judgement is a halfway house between these two decisions. It recognises the river not a living ecosystem which needs to be represented. Nor does it give the idea of the river a sense of having rights and being recognised as a person. The judgement is not a full ecological agreement elaborating the idea of nature as having rights and possessing a standing. The judgement is not generalised to rivers as ecosystems. What it emphasises, in fact, is not the aesthetic possibilities of nature but a moral limited argument. The language of the judgement is almost telegraphic. It is a terse recognition that Ganga and Yamuna rivers are sacred to the Hindus and therefore should be recognised as persons. What one senses in the judgement of Justice Sharma and Justice Alok Singh is an administrative diktat verging on the theological. It is neither a full-blooded exercise in eco-philosophical thinking nor a generalised celebration of the river or of nature obtaining rights. In fact, a layman after reading Mr Douglas arguments will be puzzled by the Indian judgement. He has to ask does sacred give rights or is there an attempt to incorporate the river as nature into the Constitution granting nature a different ontological and legal status. The judgement as a narrative disappoints. There is a touch of the parochial. It suggests all Hindus have a deep astha in rivers Ganga and Yamuna and they collectivity connect with these rivers. The judges observe that the rivers have provided both physical and spiritual sustenance to all of us from time immemorial. The argument is only elliptically about rivers. The emphasis is more on the sacredness and historicity of Ganga and Yamuna. It then names the chief secretary of the state of Uttar Pradesh and the advocate-general of Uttarakhand as persons, the human face of the river. A huge part of legal scholarship flows under the bridge. The question one must ask is can one have a wider stakeholder model for the river as an ecosystem or should protecting the river be reduced to a narrow notion of governance? Second, is sacredness a valid argument? What happens to nature in its everydayness? Third, is the decision to be extended to all rivers or restricted to the Ganga? All these issues raise nagging questions on whether there has been a genuine change in legal philosophy? Is the so-called spiritual covering up for a bureaucratic diktat? There is no sense of process, debate or a wider idea of reflection. Is the sacredness of Ganga going to be extended to sacred groves, to ordinary river streams, to ponds dying in the summer? Unfortunately, the judgement is taciturn, even cryptic about it. It is an announcement of good news but one wishes there was a deeper philosophical and legal undertone to it. Democracy otherwise stands puzzled and immobile before it. Hopefully, the rise of singletons in politics, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will help in breaking the stereotypes associated with singleness and society stops questioning their personality or character. In a trend cutting across all demographics, there is a rise in the number of singles. In the US, 25% of homes consist of one person; in India, over 75 million are single, a 40% rise a decade! In a country where marriage is the rule almost cast in iron how has this happened? Is it an indicator of the growing independence of the individual? Is society ready to deal with the new phenomenon of even women choosing to stay single? Even after globalisation and liberalisation, singletons continue to be stigmatised in Indian society. Even when one makes a courageous choice to remain single, one also has to deal with the constant pressure from family, friends and relatives to get married. I dont know why it is so difficult for people to understand that being single could have its benefits. One could be more independent when they are single and living by themselves. They could be more open to being in small term no strings attached affairs, while the engaged ones live their gigantic soap-opera-type-love-stories with a generous helping of pain and drama. Also it allows people to be more concentrated to their work than having a partner demanding a pie of your attention. The fact that many of our politicians chose to remain single, might also lead us towards a few interesting questions. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Didi of Kolkata to the late Amma of Tamil Nadu, all have been single and happy. There is a league of singletons that is ruling states. Trivendra Singh Rawat in Uttarakhand, M.L. Khattar in Haryana, Sarbananda Sonowal, Assam and 70-year-old BJD chief Naveen Patnaik from Odisha are some of the most noted bachelor chief ministers. The latest entrant is Yogi Adityanath from UP. We find such examples in every other discipline, be it arts, commerce or science. However, is there a correlation between singlehood and ambition? Perhaps, being single gives individuals the freedom to have greater control over their career and chase their dreams. Read: Perks of being single In the west, people are using online dating websites and apps to search for partners, but they are ready to wait till they find the perfect match. Even in neighbouring China, more than 20 crore people are singles. However, being single does not necessarily mean that they are alone. On the contrary, singles can have a better social life; stay connected with their friends more than the married ones. As Bella DePaulo (PhD, Harvard), a project scientist at the University of California, in her invited address at the meeting of the American Psychological Associa-tion in August 2016 said, Many reasons have been suggested for the rise of Unmarried America and research has supported the importance of many of them. They include, for example, socio-economic factors such as the challenge of finding decent-paying jobs and the desire to meet educational goals before marrying. I will make the case for a reason that is rarely acknowledged: Increasing numbers of people are single because they want to be. Living single allows them to live their best, most authentic, and most meaningful life. Single people often have stronger and healthier relationships with their friends, families and also lovers. The fact that they dont need to look at reporting to someone or share the burden of rearing a child has its own fruits of benefits. With options like surrogacy and adoption, there is more flexibility in options. And often I have observed single parents tend to be more committed. I may be giving way to a new sterotype, but I will not shy from sharing that have seen children being brought up by single parents be more responsible, loving and independent than the two parent system. Read: It is hard to be single From business tycoons like Ratan Tata to television empress Ekta Kapoor to proud parents like Tusshar Kapoor and Karan Johar, I believe it is about time that we celebrate singlehood and appreciate life to the less. I know enough single people who are strong and happy but who may not be as famous as the names above. Being single could be liberating, just as being in a relationship could also be satisfying. On that note, lets raise a toast: Hail Singularity! Going Solo tracks the greatest demographic shift since the Baby Boom, which is the drastic increase in people living alone (1 in 7 in the US with even higher numbers in Japan, Scandinavia and Europe). Author Klinenberg cites research that shows that rather than being lonely and miserable, these solo dwellers are more engaged in their communities, more social, and even, possibly, more mentally healthy than their cohabitating counterparts. To be clear, this isnt a book about being coupled or single so much as its a study on the rising phenomenon of solo living (regardless of relationship status), but its a refreshing perspective on a lifestyle choice which has been mostly culturally disparaged nonetheless. Harish Iyer is a multiple award winning equal rights activist and columnist Gujarat has passed an unusual law on cow slaughter. The state amended the Animal Preservation Bill and changed the punishment for those convicted of killing bulls and cows. It will now be a life sentence and a minimum of 10 years, meaning that Gujarat has decided that the act of murdering a citizen and killing an animal are equal crimes. The chief minister of the state has said that he wants to turn Gujarat vegetarian. He added, somewhat unusually that he was not against any food. The outsider might ask: if there is no objection to food, then does that mean the chief ministers party, the BJP, have no problem with beef? The answer is that of course it does. Beef is the reason the law has been passed, but not the legal reason. The legal standing comes from the directive principle in the Constitution, which says cows and bulls should be preserved for economic reasons. This logic is from a time when bulls were used for ploughing, which is a time behind us. No other nation has this sort of economic logic; it is only India. And that is because of the Hindu unease with beef. India pretends it has a Constitution that is not linked to any particular religion. Indeed, Indians like myself have always taken great pride that we are very different from Pakistanis who built a State around religion. The reality is that Indias laws are inflected by high-caste Hindu customs. Another example is prohibition. The Constitution also disapproves of alcohol. Sociologist M.N. Srinivas said that prohibition was a Sanskritic act. This is true. Like beef, alcohol is also banned or restricted using other pretences. Indian states have often experimented with prohibition and most often failed. Bihar wrote a law that collectively criminalised the possession of alcohol. Meaning that if I was found with a bottle in my house, my wife and relatives and whoever shared the house with me would also be charged. This law was so ridiculous that it was hard to believe that the state would consider it. The courts finally stepped in to block it, but another variant of the law was approved. Those who think of Nitish Kumar as being a great alternative to Hindutva politics should consider this. Courts do not always weigh in on the side of the freedom of the individual. These days India is implementing a court order that establishments serving and selling alcohol within 500 metres of a highway should be shut down. In some states in the Northeast, which are mountainous and have few roads, this would mean shutting down most of such establishments. The court has made exemptions for these states, though I have not been able to fully understand the logic of that. If the issue is safety, then it cannot be compromised with. To me the issue is that of individual freedom. The state should assume that its citizens will drink responsibly and it should have the capacity and intent to prosecute those who drink irresponsibly and put others and themselves in danger. Instead, in imposing this ban, the state is assuming citizens are generally irresponsible. The state is encroaching on individual rights and imposing a form of prohibition. And so through these various actions, religion is creeping into the framework of our republic. Other countries also do this sort of thing of course. Pakistanis love kite flying during the festival of Basant. However, this is seen by some as an unIslamic practice and so often runs into trouble with the law. Courts feel that kite flying endangers birds and the safety of citizens and therefore should be banned. I think this comes from a very similar instinct as we are seeing in India. The difference is that Pakistan does not claim its Constitution and laws are secular. They are Islamic, though there is some discomfort among many Pakistanis with this fact because religion alone does not offer us a framework for modern government. In India it is the opposite. There is a discomfort among many of us at the fact that the republic is not more Hindu than it could or should be. This discomfort is producing laws such as the one we now have in Gujarat. We should acknowledge that this is a narrow reading of Hinduism, which is being pushed by the BJP on Indian citizens. Those Indians who work with leather and meat, like dalits and Muslims, will face the wrath of this new law. But we can always assure them that we are officially a secular nation whose laws are not specifically aimed at victimising them. Scientists are not sure why Mars' atmosphere became vulnerable to the solar wind, but suspect it had to do with the loss of the planet's magnetic field. Particles blasting out from the sun stripped away what was once a thick, Earth-like atmosphere on Mars, leaving behind a dry and cold world inhospitable to life, researchers said in a study released on Thursday. About 4 billion years ago when life was starting on Earth, Mars also had a dense atmosphere, which kept the planet warm and wet, according to the study in this week's issue of the journal Science. Over time, energized particles in the solar wind stripped off Mars' atmosphere, leaving a thin and still-shrinking envelope of gases around the planet, measurements by one of NASA's Mars-orbiting spacecraft show. "The lines of evidence point to the period between about 3.7 billion years ago and 4 billion years ago as when Mars went bad," lead researcher Bruce Jakosky with the University of Colorado in Boulder, said by phone. Conditions on early Mars could have supported microbes, Jakosky said, but as the thick atmosphere around the planet disappeared, "it went from a wet planet that could support life at the surface to the cold, dry planet we see today." The findings offer insight into why a planet that started off similar to Earth ended up so different and what conditions could make planets beyond the solar system suitable for life. The data was collected by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft, one of eight satellites and rovers currently operating around or on Mars. Scientists are not sure why Mars' atmosphere became vulnerable to the solar wind, but suspect it had to do with the loss of the planet's magnetic field. Earth, by contrast, has a liquid metal core that generates a protective magnetic shield that deflects the solar wind. The research, sponsored by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is based on measurements of the chemical element argon at different altitudes in the thinning atmosphere around Mars, which MAVEN has been assessing since October 2015. The measurements show that Mars has lost 66 percent of its argon since the planet formed some 4.6 billion years ago. Jakosky and colleagues extrapolated from that figure to estimate the loss rate of other atmospheric gases, including water vapor. Mars' atmosphere was and is dominated by carbon dioxide. "It is the answer we expected in some ways," Jakosky said. "It meshes well with everything else that's going on Mars." Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Washington: The US has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was a "political reality" and asserted that the Trump administration's top priority was defeating the Islamic State terror group in the war-torn country. "With respect to Assad, there is a political reality that we have to accept in terms of where we are right now," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his daily news conference. Spicer's remarks came a day after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley indicated that removal of Assad no longer was a priority for the US. "We lost a lot of opportunity in the last administration with respect to Assad. I think that our statement that both UN Ambassador Haley and Secretary of State Tillerson gave yesterday reflects the reality that it is now up to the Syrian people," he said. "We had an opportunity and we need to focus on now defeating ISIS. The US has profound priorities in Syria and Iraq, and we made it clear that counter-terrorism, particularly the defeat of ISIS, is foremost among those priorities," Spicer said. "That's why our forces in the global coalition are partnering with local forces against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. I think there is a bit of political reality with respect to where we are now versus where we were the last administration in terms of there being a potential -- there is not the opposition that existed last time and the opportunities that existed last time," he said. Syria would be one of the major topics of discussion when US President Donald Trump meets the leaders of Egypt on April 3 and Jordan on April 5 next week at the White House, senior administration officials said yesterday. "Jordan is a key partner for the US in the region and we anticipate the two leaders will discuss a range of shared priorities, including efforts to defeat ISIS, how to end the conflict in Syria and advancing progress between the Israelis and the Palestinians," a senior administration said. Meanwhile, a top Republican Senator John McCain expressed his disappointment over the change in goal post of the Trump administration with regard to Syria. "The suggestion that Assad can stay in power appears to be just as devoid of strategy as President Obama's pronouncements that 'Assad must go once again', the US' policy in Syria is being presented piecemeal in press statements without any definition of success, let alone a realistic plan to achieve it," McCain said in a statement. The administration's statements in this regard, McCain warned, could lead America's true allies and partners in the fight against ISIS to fear the worst: a Faustian bargain with Assad and Putin sealed with an empty promise of counter-terrorism cooperation. House Bill 280 permits adults over the age of 21 who have a concealed weapons permit to carry a gun on public campuses. (Representational image/Pixabay) New York: For the second year in a row, lawmakers in the U.S. state of Georgia have passed a controversial bill that allows licensed gun owners to carry concealed firearms on public college and university campuses. House Bill 280 permits adults over the age of 21 who have a concealed weapons permit to carry a gun on public campuses, reports the CNN, adding that exceptions were written in for public college sporting events, student housing such as dorms, fraternities and sororities, and space that may be shared or used by preschool and high school-age students. The measure passed the state's House during the final day of Georgia's legislative session. The Senate passed the bill earlier in the week. It now goes to Governor Nathan Deal, who vetoed similar legislation last year. Conservatives and Second Amendment activists cast the bill as a crucial measure for members of the school community to protect themselves. Opponents, including the University System of Georgia chancellor, have spoken out against it. Critics say that arming students isn't the solution for enhancing their safety. Earlier in January, congressional Republicans introduced bills that would reduce barriers to purchasing gun silencers and allow concealed weapon holders to cross state lines without having to follow local restrictions. President Donald Trump during his presidential campaign had promised to eliminate gun-free zones and to allow loaded handguns in schools, and said that a "national right to carry" concealed weapons should be legal. President Trump's election has encouraged gun rights advocates to mount a new legislative push in states across the country. According to the Hill, legislators in more than a dozen states have introduced bills to allow residents to carry guns in the open, roll back licensing requirements for concealed weapons and limit the number of facilities where guns are prohibited. Measures in several states would allow those with licenses to carry firearms in schools, airports and churches. Nikki Haley drew criticism for playing down US goal of persuading Assad to leave power. (Photo: AFP) Washington: The White House on Friday backed top aides' comments that the United States is not now focussed on making Syrian President Bashar al-Assad leave power, saying the US focus is on defeating ISIS terrorists. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Thursday drew criticism for playing down a long-standing US goal of persuading Assad to leave power to help end the six-year-long Syrian civil war. Tillerson said Assad's future is up to the Syrian people to decide, while Haley said "our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out." At his daily news briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that regarding Assad, "there is a political reality that we have to accept in terms of where we are right now." Spicer blamed the inability of Trump's predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, to persuade Assad to step down. The Obama administration, in its later years, was focussed on reaching a deal with Russia that would eventually see Assad go, though it also shifted its focus to the fight against ISIS terrorists, who captured swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014. "We had an opportunity and we need to focus now on defeating ISIS," Spicer said. "The United States has profound priorities in Syria and Iraq and we've made it clear that counterterrorism, particularly the defeat of ISIS, is foremost among those priorities." Neo-JMB was behind the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka cafe that killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP) Dhaka: Three militants, including a woman,were found dead by Bangladesh security forces Saturday when they stormed their hideout, ending a two-day stand off with Islamist militants in a northeastern city amid a massive nationwide clampdown on militants. Announcing the end of the "Operation Maximums" at the Islamist militants hideout in Moulvibazar town's Borohat area, counter-terrorism Unit chief Monirul Islam told media that bodies of two men and a woman were found inside the duplex house. "We found three bodies including that of a woman as we entered the den today," Islam said, adding the militants had set up explosives at different spots in the building. "Our intension was to capture them alive and therefore we repeatedly called them to surrender but they defied...attacked us back throwing grenades and blasting bombs whenever our SWAT members tried to approach them," he said. Police's elite Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Friday launched the second subsequent raid at the hideout in Moulvibazar town, a day after wrapping up their "Operation Hit Back" at another den nearby when a family of eight, including children, blew themselves up in a suicide blast amidst the security siege. Security forces in the past 10 days have witnessed four major anti-militancy assaults against Islamic-State inclined Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB) in which seven people including an army lieutenant colonel and two police inspectors lost their lives while the assaults killed 15 militants and their children. Neo-JMB was behind the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka cafe that killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners. The first security assault was launched in northeastern Sylhet where authorities called out army commandos. Four Islamists including Neo-JMB chief Musa were killed during the five-day security siege which military called 'Operation Twilight'. As the siege was underway, fellow militants from outside launched two retaliatory clandestine attacks killing six people including two policemen and wounding 50 others near the scene. An army officer who was serving a the intelligence wing chief of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) succumbed to his wounds two days ago. A day after the end of the Operation Twilight led by an army major general in Sylhet, police simultaneously raided three other neo-JMB hideouts, two in neighbouring Moulvibazar and one in central Comilla district. Police's Operation Hit Back saw two militant couples blowing themselves up along with four minor children, staging a suicide blast at a den on the outskirts of Moulvibazar town. Islam at that time said the suicide blast was so severe that it tore into pieces the dead, making it difficult to ascertain exactly how many people were inside and only "the forensic examinations could confirm the exact casualty figure (though) we assume they are seven or eight in number." In Comilla, after three days of security siege, police found it to be a big cache of explosives stored by the militants but none was found there to be encountered. Bangladesh has been witnessing a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. The country launched a massive crackdown on militants specially after the Dhaka cafe attack. ISIS has claimed several attacks in Bangladesh, but the government rejects the presence of foreign terrorist groups in the moderate Muslim-majority country, blaming home-grown groups such as the neo-JMB for terrorist attacks. Philippines: President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out on Friday at European Union critics of his bloody anti-narcotics campaign, threatening to "slap" them. It is the latest of the leader's near-daily diatribe against the United States, EU and the United Nations while heaping praise on China and Russia. "Come here and we will talk because I want to slap you," Duterte said in a speech during celebrations of Women's Day at the presidential palace late on Friday. Duterte scoffed at the bloc for recommending the Philippines build "clinics around like in other countries, and give shabu, cocaine and heroin like in Holland." The Southeast Asian leader lashed out on the EU last week for hypocrisy and called the bloc "sons of bitches" for recommending a rehabilitation-centred solution to the drugs problem. More than 8,000 people have been killed since Duterte took power on June 30 last year, with police taking responsibility for a third of those deaths, citing self-defence during anti-narcotics operations. The government rejects local and international human rights groups' allegations that police are involved in thousands of mysterious deaths. Duterte castigated the EU for believing reports of non-government groups that tag the leader for the killings. "Even if it's just epilepsy, they count it against me," he said, to the laughter of the crowd. Duterte boasted of his new-found friendship with China, which had been embroiled in a territorial spat with the Philippines before Duterte took office. As for Russia, Duterte said he plans to make it the trade gateway for Eastern Europe. From next week, passengers flying from Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi will undergo random explosive detection tests and targeted screening of electronic devices. (Photo: AFP) Sydney: The Australian Government has said that passengers from three Middle Eastern airports flying to Australia will be subject to additional security checks on the basis of national security advice. From next week, passengers flying from Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi will undergo random explosive detection tests and targeted screening of electronic devices, reports the ABC. Federal Transport Minister Darren Chester said there was no specific threat to Australia and the extra security was a precautionary measure in line with action taken by the British and American governments. These new measures do not include the bans on electronic devices being used in cabins on passenger flights. Chester said the new measures would affect passengers traveling with Qatar, Emirates and Etihad Airways and urged people to contact their airline for more details. "The Government is continuing to ensure Australians and visitors who travel by air can do so in the knowledge that every precaution is being taken to ensure they arrive at their destinations safely," he said. "The Federal Government has regular contact with international partners and will continue to monitor security developments and adjust security settings if needed," he added. Last month, the U.S. and the UK announced a temporary ban on certain nonstop US-bound flights from bringing laptops, iPads, cameras and some other electronics in carry-on luggage. The decision was prompted by reports that militant groups want to smuggle explosive devices inside electronic gadgets. The ban in UK applies to inbound flights from six countries that are Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey while in the U.S., the ban applies to flights from eight countries Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The regulation restrains marrying using religious not legal procedures and using the name of Halal to meddle in the secular life of others. (Photo: AP) London: China, on Friday banned burqas, veils and abnormal beards in a Muslim province claiming that it is a crackdown on religious extremism. As per the Independent, the measures also forced people to watch state television, follow decades of ethnic and religious discrimination against Xinjiang's 10 million-strong ethic Uyghur population. The new regulation, which will come to force from today, will dissuade women, who fully cover their faces and bodies, from entering the airports, railway stations and other public places and report about them to police. Apart from this, they also prohibit the abnormal growing of beards and it would be forbidden to reject or refuse radio, television and other public facilities and services. The regulation restrains marrying using religious not legal procedures and using the name of Halal to meddle in the secular life of others. The document also bans not allowing children to attend regular school, not abiding by family planning policies and deliberately damaging legal documents. British Prime Minister Theresa May had been seeking parallel talks on the EU divorce and the future but those apparently will not happen for the foreseeable future. (Photo: AP) Brussels: The European Union on Friday raised the possibility of starting general talks on Britains future relationship with the bloc as early as the fall if decisive progress is made on key parts of the divorce proceedings a move that grants some of the British prime ministers wishes. Draft guidelines obtained by The Associated Press say the EU and Britain must first settle the disentanglement of Britain from the bloc. But once there is a tentative consensus between the two sides on major topics the treatment of citizens in each others nations, billions in budget commitments, legal clarity for companies working in Britain and a solution for Irelands border with the United Kingdom the EU says it would be willing to look ahead. Once and only once we have achieved sufficient progress on the withdrawal, can we discuss the framework for our future relationship, EU Council President Donald Tusk said in Valletta, Malta. He added probably in the autumn, at least I hope so. British Prime Minister Theresa May had been seeking parallel talks on the EU divorce and the future but those apparently will not happen for the foreseeable future. Still, Tusks timetable and the EU draft showed that the EU was willing to compromise. It will take a summit of the 27 leaders, however, to signal that that moment has come to look toward the future. In Germany, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said we will hopefully come to this second step soon. EU leaders have warned that the two years of talks triggered this week to negotiate Britains exit will be difficult but insisted they dont want an all-out economic or diplomatic conflict. The 27 EU leaders are set to agree on common guidelines on April 29, exactly one month after May triggered the Brexit process. The challenges prior to moving onto the next step of talks are sizable, however. Some 3.3 million EU citizens now live in Britain and about 1 million Briton live in the rest of the EU. Since the issue of foreigners taking jobs from British workers fueled the Brexit referendum, a solution pleasing both Brussels and London will not be easy. In addition, the outstanding bill for London to pay in previously agreed EU costs and commitments has been estimated at up to 60 billion euros ($64 billion). Populist voices in Britain have urged the Conservative government not to pay a penny. And when it comes to the U.K.s land border in Ireland, which is key to the Northern Ireland peace process, Tusks draft guideline says that flexible and imaginative solutions will be required. Further complicating things in the full withdrawal negotiations will be Gibraltar, the British overseas territory on the Mediterranean that Spain has wanted back since it ceded it more than three centuries ago. The outpost at the southern point of the Iberian peninsula has a population of 32,000 and about 96 percent of its residents voted to remain in the EU last year. The EU draft says the future of Gibraltar will be set in talks between Spain and the U.K., giving Spain a very strong negotiating position. After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom, the draft says. This is an important point in the future negotiations of the United Kingdoms exit from the EU, said Spanish minister Inigo Mendez de Vigo. Tusk said the EU will not punish Britain in the negotiations, saying that Brexit itself is punitive enough. The head of the rotating EU presidency, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, insisted the negotiations will not be a war. Tusk also ruled out the suggestion that there was an inherent threat in Mays departure letter Wednesday, which some felt hinted that Britain would end its security cooperation with continental Europe unless it gets a good Brexit deal. I know Theresa May well enough and I know her approach to this issue. This is why I rule out this kind of interpretation ... that security cooperation is used as a bargaining chip. It must be a misunderstanding, Tusk said. British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson also insisted Friday that Britains commitment to European defense and security is unconditional and not some bargaining chip in any negotiations over Brexit. Johnson, speaking in Brussels upon arriving for a NATO meeting, said he has had good feedback from EU partners since Britain formally announced Wednesday that it would be leaving the EU, despite worries on both sides of the Channel about Brexit. We really are moving forward now. Theres a lot of good will, willingness to achieve what the prime minister has said she wants to achieve, he said. The British government triggered the two-year EU exit process Wednesday with Mays letter to the EU and began outlining how it intends to convert thousands of EU rules into British laws in a Great Repeal Bill. US President Donald Trump has said he will get down to some "very serious business" with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping when they meet next week for their first summit. "Next week, as you know, in Florida at the southern White House, we're having the president of China and a large group from China, his representatives, and we're going to get down to some very serious business," Trump told reporters at an Oval Office ceremony to sign executive orders on trade. On April 6 and 7, Trump and Xi would meet at the President's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, often described as the 'Southern White House'. "We look forward to it (meeting with Xi). I've spoken to him numerous times on the phone. We look very much forward to it," Trump said. At his daily news conference, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the meeting with President Xi would be a difficult one. "I don't think it's a surprise to anybody in terms of we've got both national security issues in terms of our political posture towards North Korea, the threat of a missile that extends further and further, the tests that they're using, their nuclear capability. Those should all be very concerning," he said in response to a question. "Then on the trade front, we've got serious concerns with what they're doing, our trade practices with them, some of the things that were mentioned in the past. There's a lot of areas that we need to be concerned about with trade," he said. Spicer said it would not be like a "sit around and play patty-cake" kind of conversation between the two Presidents and they would discuss "big issues". "The President has been making it very clear for decades, frankly, of the challenges that we face. And I think he wants to have a very good and respectful and healthy relationship," Spicer said. "But he also wants to make sure that he tackles the challenges and the problems that are facing American workers and American manufacturers and get to them," he said. Meanwhile, US Commerce Secretary William Ross has alleged that China is one of the most protectionist country in the world. "My view is that the United States is about the least protectionist of the major countries, and that China is one of the most protectionist," he was quoted as saying by media reports. "There's an inherent clash between those two, even though China uses a tremendous amount of free trade rhetoric. We'd like the rhetoric and the behaviour to become more congruent," he said. In a statement, Senator Bob Casey said he has consistently opposed bad trade deals and called for action against countries like China that "cheat" on trade. "We have to crack down on countries that cheat and we must renegotiate bad trade deals," he said. AIADMK (Amma) spokesperson C R Saraswathi today alleged that she and her supporters were attacked by the rival O Panneerselvam camp while campaigning in the R K Nagar constituency, where bypoll is to be held on April 12. The rival faction, however, has denied the charge. Saraswathi said she was scheduled to address a roadside meeting atop a four-wheeler last evening when members of the rival AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma), including former chief minister O Panneerselvam and their candidate E Madhusudhanan, were passing through after canvassing for votes. "I switched off the microphone and waited for them to cross but suddenly some of their supporters started abusing us and demanded that our vehicle be removed from the place," she told PTI. "We had sought police permission for the meeting, therefore, we remained calm when suddenly some of them started hurling footwear, stones and bottles at us," she said. Three of my supporters sustained injury in the incident, she claimed. However, the Panneerselvam camp denied the allegations and said a footwear and tomato were hurled at her from nearby houses and not "from the ground level." 'Aspire' K Swaminathan, Panneerselvam camp's Media Coordinator said, "The campaign team comprising the former chief minister and Madhusudhanan wanted to take a right turn, so a request was made to the rival camp to make way. "She (Saraswathi) suddenly started shouting but Panneerselvam asked us to remain calm. Suddely, a slipper was hurled at her from somewhere even as someone else threw a tomato at her," he said. Denying the role of Panneerselvam's supporters in the incident, Swaminathan claimed that the attacks did not emanate "from the ground level," but from nearby houses. "At no point will our leadership get into such activities. This incident is a manifestation of people's anger at her leadership," he said. Police said they have not received any complaint on the matter and declined to divulge further details. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) suffered a vertical split on February 7 after then chief minister Panneerselvam revolted against jailed party chief V K Sasikala, alleging he had been forced to make way for her elevation to the state's top post. Later, some MLAs and MPs from AIADMK also switched to his side. Both factions have fielded candidates for the R K Nagar bypoll, necessitated by the demise of sitting MLA and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The Election Commission has barred the factions from using the name AIADMK and its 'two leaves' symbol. The Sasikala faction has opted for the name AIADMK (Amma) and has fielded Sasikala's nephew and former MP, T T V Dhinakaran. He is contesting on 'hat' symbol. Madhusudhanan, a party veteran, is seeking votes for 'electric pole' symbol. President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the Finance Bill 2017 to give effect to provisions like bar on cash transactions above Rs 2 lakh and compulsory quoting of Aadhaar for filing tax returns. "The President was kind enough to give his assent to the Finance Bill before he left for official visit to Assam yesterday," Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia told PTI here. With this, the provisions of the Finance Bill come into effect from today, he said. This is the first-time ever the annual Budget together with taxation proposals have come into effect from the first day of the financial year. Scrapping a colonial-era tradition of presenting the Budget at the end of February, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had for the first time in the history of independent India presented the annual accounts on February 1. The legislative process of getting approvals for demands for grants or spending, general Budget as well as taxation proposals contained in the Finance Bill 2017 were all completed by March 30. President's assent was taken the very next day. This will give the government more time to implement welfare spending programmes and taxation plans. Previously, when the Budget was presented at the end of February, the three-stage Parliament approval process used to get completed some time in mid-May, weeks ahead of onset of monsoon rains. This meant government departments would start spending only from August-end or September after the monsoon ends. Besides advancing the presentation date, the Budget scrapped the Plan and non-Plan distinction and merged the Railway budget with it, ending a nearly century-long practice. Advancement of the Budget will give government departments more leeway to spend as well as allow companies time to adapt to business and taxation plans. Adhia said all taxation and other proposals in the Finance Bill 2017 have come into effect from today. Among the most important is limiting cash transaction to Rs 2 lakh, at par with the current requirement of quoting permanent account number (PAN) for cash spending. Penalty for violating this is a fine equivalent to the amount of transaction, he said. The fine will be payable by the person or the establishment receiving the cash. Also, Aadhaar number is now a must while applying for PAN as well as filing of tax returns. The Finance Bill also provides that a person holding PAN as on July 1, 2017, has to intimate his Aadhaar number to the authorities in a manner which will be notified by the government. It also amends the Companies Act of 2013 to make donations by companies to electoral trusts only through account payee cheque, bank draft or electronic transfer. The language has also been tweaked to provide for every company disclosing in its profit and loss account the total amount contributed to such trusts. The move is in sync with Jaitley's Budget proposal of introducing bearer electoral bonds, which could be purchased by a donor using cheques from a scheduled bank and encashed only through a notified bank account of a political party within the limited duration of such instrument. Adhia said rules for electoral bonds will be notified within this month. The President's assent to the Finance Bill also means that as many as seven appellate tribunals will now be dissolved and their work taken over by other existing ones. The tribunals scrapped include the Competition Appellate Tribunal, whose functions will be taken by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority Appellate Tribunal and the Cyber Appellate Tribunal will be replaced and their functions would be taken over by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). Also, the Copyright Board will be dissolved and its functions will go to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board. The National Highways Tribunal will be replaced and its functions will be taken over by the Airport Appellate Tribunal while the job of the Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal will be handled by the Industrial Tribunal. China today asked India to exercise "restraint" on its plan to link the strategic border district of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh with a railway network, saying any "unilateral action" might "complicate" the unresolved border issue. "We hope that the Indian side can exercise caution, show restraint and refrain from unilateral actions that might further complicate the question so as to create a sound condition for enhancing mutual trust between China and India and promoting proper resolution of the boundary question," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. "China's position on eastern section of the China-India boundary is consistent and clear. At present, the two sides are working to resolve the territorial dispute through negotiation and consultation," the ministry told PTI in a written reply following a query about reports that India was exploring possibilities to link Tawang with a railway network. China has in recent days upped its rhetoric on claims to Arunachal Pradesh, which it says is Southern Tibet, and even warned India of "serious damage" to ties if New Delhi allows Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to visit the state next week. The ministry yesterday warned New Delhi that the visit of the Dalai Lama, the highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, will "come down to India to make a choice". Tawang, which happens to be the birthplace in 1683 of the sixth Dalai Lama, is at the centre of Tibetan Buddhism and a friction point between India and China relations. India and China are in discussion to resolve their border dispute that covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC). While Beijing claims Arunachal as part of Southern Tibet, India asserts that the dispute also covers the 'Aksai Chin' area, which was occupied by China during the 1962 war. The ministry said the two sides have "agreed that pending final settlement, both sides will work together to properly manage the dispute" and preserve peace in the border areas. The Chinese reaction today to the possible rail network and the Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang was the third time in recent weeks the foreign ministry has aired its objections. Tawang has immense strategic value to India due to its location. The hilly region close to the Sino-India border was also in the news earlier this month when Dai Bingguo, a former Chinese Special Representative for India-China border talks, said the border dispute can be resolved if New Delhi accepts Beijing's claim over Tawang. "If the Indian side takes care of China's concerns in the eastern sector of their border, the Chinese side will respond accordingly and address India's concerns elsewhere," Dai had told the Chinese media in an interview. But the proposal was rejected as impractical by Indian officials as Tawang is an integral part of Arunachal Pradesh and has sent representatives to Parliament in every election since 1950. Lian Xiangmin, Director of contemporary research of China's state-run Tibetology Research Centre, last month said, "Tawang is part of Tibet and Tibet is part of China. So Tawang is part of China. There is not much problem here." India, giving a push to its strategic interests, is exploring the feasibility to link Tawang with a rail network. The government has asked Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha and Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who is also a Member of Parliament from Arunachal West seat, to explore the feasibility of a rail network in the remote area. The two ministers will tour the state to study the viability of connecting Tawang with Bhalukpong - the last station of the Railways on Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary at a distance of 378 kms - and to commence the final location survey of a new broad gauge line connecting the two cities. It takes 18 hours from Guwahati in Assam to reach Tawang by road. Guwahati is the nearest major city and Tawang residents depend on it for medical emergencies. The other broad gauge railway line that will be part of their survey will be the 249-kilometre North Lakhimpur-Bame- Silapathar section, which is between Pasighat airport and Rupa in Arunachal. Karnataka Corrugated Box Manufacturers Association, which is in dire straits due to rising kraft paper prices and supply disruptions, seeks support from the FMCG segment in increasing lead time of supplies of corrugated boxes. The corrugated box industry is reeling under twin blows massive price increase in a short span of two months by Kraft Paper Mills and recurring monthly planned closures by the mills. The increase in price has affected the financial viability, and also frequent closures have completely disrupted the supplies of raw materials for the corrugated box industry, Karnataka Corrugated Box Manufacturers Association President Manish Bothra told Deccan Herald. India has over 12,300 corrugated box manufacturers with a total annual turnover of Rs 18,000 crore. Approximately, six lakh direct employment and 12 lakh indirect employment have been generated till date. The industry plays a pivotal role in the economy by producing almost 52 lakh tpa (tonnes per annum) boxes. We request the ministry of commerce to form a committee to look into the unjustified unified closures taken up by the Paper Mill Association to create an artificial demand and disruption in supplies of raw material resulting in the disruption of supplies to the end consumer. The whole supply chain is being effected, Bothra said. The industry has urged the box users, including large FMCG companies, to allow then to pass on a minimum of 23% price increase immediately to just cover the increased raw material cost. We seek support from the FMCG segment in increasing lead time of supplies of corrugated boxes, as the paper supplies cannot be predicted. Secondly, there is a need to increase prices to set off the increase in paper cost, he added. The major players in this industry include South India Paper Mills, Horizon Packs, MNM Triplewall Containers and WAD Pack. In Karnataka, FMCG consumes over 20% of corrugate boxes, followed by processed food & fresh produce & dairy products (20%), garments (15%), ecommerce and retail (10%), automobile & engineering (7%), liquor, wine and beer (10%), pharmaceuticals (5%), home appliances (5%) and others (8%). Online insurance booking portal Coverfox.com has plans to increase its employee strength from the present 300 plus to 500 by the end of 2018. Co-Founder and CTO Coverfox.com Devendra Rane said the idea is to hire smart, and not hire more. Founded in 2013, when ecommerce started gaining traction, Coverfox.com has developed a very strong product and engineering team that focuses on creating technology products that make it easy to buy insurance. Coverfox.com is a technology company, selling insurance and not an insurance aggregator using technology. Our team of data scientists analyses the consumer interaction with various projects to furnish better trends. The product keeps evolving as we collect data on customer behaviour and product usage, Rane said. According to a report by global management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the online insurance market in India is already in excess of Rs 700 crore and its growing fast. The report adds that online life insurance sales are expected to grow to 3% to 5% of the individual annualised new business premium by 2020. When asked about its competitors, Rane said the company is unique when it comes to products and engineering abilities. Unlike most of the popular players in the space, we are not a web aggregator but an IRDAI licensed broker that works on a standard commission from all insurance companies. This allows us to be neutral and unbiased. Using our proprietary technology and algorithm based platform, users can compare and choose from a range of insurance plans across insurance companies, understand key features and buy policies instantly and safely, he said. Till date, the company has received three rounds of funding; and Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthys Catamaran Ventures has also invested an undisclosed amount in the company. Coverfox.com currently offers over 100 products or insurance plans across motor, health, life and travel to customers through its portal. At the moment, we are doing over 30,000 policies a month across segments. The number of policies sold is a good indicator of our growing customer base, which we are growing more than 15% month-on-month, he said. We have around 35 insurers on board with us, and we are always on a look-out to widen our product offering that are easy to understand, transparent and has a wider network of reach. We will add more products into our portfolio in future. Car insurance is our main focus area and we are taking a pole position, the average premium is upwards of Rs 10,000, he added. A gang of seven armed men barged into a house at Seegehalli in KR Puram, east Bengaluru, early on Saturday, tied up the inhabitants and made off with Rs 2.6 lakh worth of valuables, police said. Parthiban, an accountant with a telecom service provider, was woken up by commotion as the gang armed with rods, longs, machetes and knives broke through the front door. But before he could realise what had happened, the robbers beat him up and tied him up. The gang went on to overpower and tie up his wife Padmavathi, mother Valliyamma and daughter Pavithra. The robbers hit the women with rods when they resisted their attempt to snatch the jewellery on their person. The gang collected the booty and sneaked out. Parthiban managed to untie himself after sometime and raised an alarm. Neighbours rushed into the house and called the police. Senior police officers visited the house and carried out an inspection. In a complaint to the KR Puram police, Parthiban estimated the stolen valuables at Rs 2.6 lakh. He said the robbers were in the 20-30 age group and spoke English and Hindi. Police are looking for CCTV camera footage to identify the suspects. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said Bengalurus temperature will soon rise to 45 degrees Celsius if greenery is not restored and lakes are not preserved. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Sujalaam Water for Bengaluru as part of Adamya Chetanas green lifestyle initiative and responsible living, the minister said: The citys temperature gradation reflects how our lifestyles over the centuries have negatively impacted ecological balance. It is high time we woke up, protected and rejuvenated our lakes and other existing water bodies. Kumar urged citizens to make the city greener by planting at least one sapling every week and by adopting rainwater harvesting and water conservation methods. According to scientific records available, around 500 years ago, Bengalurus climate was said to have been suitable for even growing apples, he said. Sujalaam Water for Bengaluru will see stakeholders like the Karnataka Pollution Control Board, the Indian Institute of Science and residents coming together to rejuvenate lakes, adoption of rainwater harvesting and water saving measures. Meanwhile, the first chapter of a month-long Lifetide Water Festival hosted by Bangalore Film Society (BFS) was flagged off on Saturday. Environment studies in schools Minister Ananth Kumar said he will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take measures to include environment-green lifestyle education in the school and college curricula. He will also write to Union and state ministers and all chief ministers in this regard. Not just in Karnataka, the subject on environment-green lifestyle should be included at educational institutions across the country. I will try to make this happen in the next six months, he said. The right side of Nrupathunga Road facing St Marthas Hospital will open for traffic on Monday, while the other side towards the RBI office will be closed for TenderSURE work. The right side of the 800-metre-long road, which connects southern and eastern Bengaluru, was closed for traffic on February 26 for upgrade under the second phase of the TenderSURE project. White-topping on this part of the road will get over by Sunday evening, and vehicular movement will resume on Monday, R Hithendra, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), told DH. However, the left side will be closed till April-end. BBMP officials have told the police that the entire road would be ready for vehicular movement from May 1 onwards. BMTC buses and government vehicles were allowed to ply on one side of the road while work was taken up on the other. Other vehicles will continue to be disallowed from entering the road until the project is completed, he added. Other vehicles, including cars, motorcycles and auto-rickshaws, should ply via Cubbon Park (Century Club to Central Library) to reach Hudson Circle. For women who break gender stereotypes to become cab drivers, equal opportunity is still a far cry as prevailing social conditions prevent them from earning on a par with men behind the wheels. Three women drivers that DH spoke to shared their concerns of survival and growth in a sector dominated by men. Companies like GoPink and Women on Wheels have provided opportunities for women to work in a safe environment. However, after driving for the companies for several months, some women drivers are looking beyond survival, seeking opportunities to grow. Charulatha, who has been driving cabs for various companies for the past two years, said she along with a group of six women drivers met Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Saturday, seeking help for an opportunity to work with KSTDC cabs at the airport. She said working with Ola and Uber was out of the question unless one was ready to work at night. We have not felt safe to work the night shift in any place, except the airport. But the person at the KSTDC cabs desk said they cant attach women drivers. So we sought the ministers help, she said. KSTDC managing director Kumar Pushkar said he was unaware of the incident. We are launching an online application process within two weeks which will make the process of attachment of cabs completely transparent, he said. Charulatha said there were about 25 women drivers who are in situations worse than hers. Many who came from other towns seeking opportunities here (Bengaluru) have returned. We work just like men. We invest the same effort and time, but we end up earning less, she said. GoPink Cabs, which is more of a social venture, focuses on training the women to drive cars, get driving licences and the yellow badge for commercial operations. Except the airport routes, our operation is within 3 km in Rajajinagar. Men are not allowed to book cabs unless they are with their family. So, our patronage is low, co-founder Anuradha said. Kalyani Krishna, a driver who worked with another firm employing woman drivers, said she was promised a salary of Rs 15,000, but got only Rs 6,000. Asking for an explanation made me a target. I have filed a complaint against the company with the Nagawara police, she said. Anuradha said many companies fail to see that running women cabs needs commitment. After investing Rs 12.5 lakh, we are finding it difficult to make GoPink a sustainable venture. We trained 30 women, but most of them did not stick with us, though we offer a salary of Rs 7,000 per month, she said. She said with limited patronage and without big investors to boost marketing strategies, such firms cannot offer incentives to drivers like others do. Asha Vijayakumar, a 42-year-old driver, said women who buy their own vehicle find it difficult to pay EMIs. There were days when I worked from 6 am to 11 pm in the night, but got few rides. It was tough to go home with at least Rs 350, she said. Anuradha said empowering women was a major challenge, but helping them sustain themselves was more difficult due to the prevailing conditions in society. The Bengaluru Urban district authorities on Saturday reclaimed eight acres of government land worth Rs 600 crore which had been encroached upon at Kothnur. The authorities swooped down on Kothnur with a posse of cops and the demolition squad early in the morning. Shocked by the presence of authorities at their doorsteps, the encroachers who have built houses and commercial buildings on the land protested the move. They even approached the media to bail them out, but to no avail. The officials warned them to vacate the place or be prepared for eviction. Left with no option, the encroachers started shifting their belongings. Later, the authorities razed all the structures, including a few commercial buildings. Bengaluru South Tahsildar S M Shivakumar said the state government had allotted 12 acres of land in survey number 49 in Kothnur to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in 2000 to form a layout. Since the BDA did not form any layout, the the government alloted four acres of land to the BWSSB. The remaining land was encroached upon by vested interests. On Saturday, the district authorities reclaimed the land from the encroachers. After eviction, the officials put up a board at the place claiming the governments right over the land. A few aggrieved residents complained that they fell victim to the politics and blamed politicians for the demolition of their properties. Lingegowda, a resident, said they were all uprooted because a few politicians have set their eyes on the prime property. He said there were rumours in the area before the demolition drive that a big institute will come up in the area shortly. A similar drive was held at Doddanagamangala in Bengaluru South taluk where 15 acres of government land has been encroached upon. Two unidentified men stole Rs 10 lakh from a car after telling its owner about the punctured rear tyre of the vehicle, police said. Zameer, a civil engineer from BTM Layout, south Bengaluru, was driving to Bommanahalli to meet his friends when two strangers waved him down near SRT Travels office around 8 pm on Friday. As he pulled in, the men said the rear tyre of the car had punctured. He panicked and got off the car to check the tyre which was indeed punctured. He called up his relatives seeking help. Meanwhile, the two men rode off. Zameer got back into the car and decided to check the bag he had kept on the dashboard. He was stunned to find it missing. Zameer went to police and filed a complaint. He told the police that the bag contained Rs 10 lakh he had withdrawn from the Madiwala branch of Bank of India to pay the first instalment of a flat he had booked. In an incident of road rage, a 40-year-old KSRTC bus conductor was assaulted by a gang of four in Banashankari in the early hours of Saturday. Shivakumar, conductor of the Kalasipalyam-Mysuru bus (via Banashankari), had stopped near the bus stand to pick up passengers, when the gang came in a car asked the driver to make way for the car. Shivakumar told them to pass through the narrow space available. In the melee, the group assaulted, injured Shivakumar with a button knife and sped away. Shivakumar was taken to a hospital in Jayanagar and was sent home after being administered first aid, police said. Police have registered a case of assault and are on the lookout for the gang members. Connoisseurs of classical music are in for a treat with two big music festivals round the corner. The largest Indian classical music festival Shree Ramanavami festival will start on April 5. Well-known musicians like Bombay Jayashree Ramanath, saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, violin maestro Mysore Nagaraj, K J Yesudas and others will perform at Old Fort High School Grounds, Chamarajpet in the event organised by Sree Ramaseva Mandali. S N Varadaraj, general secretary of the Mandali, said a total of 300 artistes from across the country will give listeners a musical treat. We have added a new programme Pratibhakankshi to the upcoming 79th edition of the fest to encourage budding artistes aged below 25 years. Around 75 artistes have already registered for Pratibhakankshi, he added. The organisers said that they are expecting an audience of 1.5 lakh over one month, specially youngsters. In the morning, Ramayana discourses will be held and evenings will be dedicated to music programmes, they added. A website dedicated to Mandali founder S V Narayanaswamy Rao will be launched on the inaugural day. For details and registrations, call 080 26604031 or 9483518012 or visit Facebook page - Sree Ramaseva Mandali-Bangalore. Yesudas will perform at the music festival for the 46th time on April 9, 6.30 pm onwards. Bombay Jayashree will be perform on April 5 at 6.45 pm. The organisers said they are expecting a minimum of 15,000 people for the Yesudas concert. A five-day music festival will be held at Ravindra Kalakshetra on JC Road from April 5-9. The programme - organised as part of Nenapinokuli a year-long cultural extravaganza to mark the 50th anniversary of Ravindra Kalakshetra will witness Carnatic classical and Hindustani music, Sugama Sangeetha along with contemporary music rendered by well-known artistes. On the last day, there will be a fusion music programme featuring classical musician Vidwan Praveen D Rao and troupe. On April 8, there will be an all-night Hindustani concert 9 pm onwards, according to the festival organisers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Malaysian counterpart Mohammed Najib Razak on Saturday agreed to step up defence and security cooperation. The two leaders also signed seven pacts at a meeting in New Delhi.Modi evinced keen interest in anti-radicalisation and de-radicalisation programmes run in Malaysia to prevent youth from being recruited by terror organisations. Najib presented him a book on the programme. They agreed that Malaysia would also help India hold a conference on ways to prevent radicalisation. Your own leadership in countering radicalisation and terrorism is an inspiration for the entire region, Modi told Najib at a joint press meet after the meeting. Najib is on a six-day tour to India. He called on President Pranab Mukherjee before meeting Modi on Saturday. India and Malaysia signed an air services agreement and six memorandums of understanding for mutual recognition of educational qualifications as well as on cooperation in sports, human resource development, and palm oil technology. The two sides also inked an MoU on proposed development of a urea and ammonia plant in Malaysia, exclusively for export to India and for offtake of existing surplus urea from Malaysia to India. A team of officials from Tamil Nadu on Saturday requested Karnataka to release three tmcft of water from the Cauvery basin on humanitarian grounds. However, Karnataka Chief Secretary Subhash Khuntia expressed helplessness on the grounds that there was severe water shortage in the basin. The available water in the four reservoirs of the Cauvery basin could only meet the demand for drinking water in the summer months, he said. A four-member official team from Tamil Nadu headed by its Public Works Department Principal Secretary S K Prabhakar held the meeting with Khuntia in Vidhana Soudha to request water for drinking. The meeting lasted for an hour. Khuntia told reporters after the meeting, Tamil Nadu has requested us to release water. We have explained our constraints to release water because of the severe shortage in the basin. It is difficult to meet Tamil Nadus request. But we are ready to help in the coming days when the water availability increases. The chief secretary said Tamil Nadu has not requested Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs per day, as directed by the apex court. At the meeting, the court order did not figure. Water is sought on humanitarian grounds. The total water availability in the basin is just 8.8 tmcft. The states requirement is three tmcft per month. We can somehow manage till June. But if we get rains, then the request for release of water could be considered, he added. Addressing reporters in Bengaluru, JD(S) national president H D Deve Gowda said Tamil Nadu farmers are staging a protest in Delhi over the Cauvery water sharing issue. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is supporting the protesters. It is projected in the media at the national level that there is sufficient water in the Cauvery basin. But politicians of Karnataka are not raising their voice. Farmers in Mysuru are in distress due to paucity of water. BJP MPs from Karnataka should take up the cause of our farmers in Parliament. I am ready to take a media team from Delhi by helicopter to the Cauvery basin to show the empty reservoirs, he said. Gowda said he would visit Mysuru on Sunday to understand the plight of farmers. The Centre on Saturday said it has released Rs 1,235.42 crore to Karnataka and Rs 1,447.99 crore to Tamil Nadu as drought relief amid criticism that the funds were insufficient. The government asserted that it is concerned over the prevailing drought in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has instructed that in the next three months, all states should focus on water conservation-related works by utilising the funds available under various schemes. Providing details about the assistance given to the states, an official statement said Rs 1,793.63 crore was sanctioned to Tamil Nadu and Rs 1,782.44 crore to Karnataka for drought relief from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). For Karnataka, after adjusting Rs 96.92 crore available with the state as balance in the SDRF (State Disaster Relief Fund) and earlier release of Rs 450 crore by the central government, a sum of Rs 1,235.52 crore has been released from NDRF, it said. A sum of Rs 1,447.99 crore has been released to Tamil Nadu from NDRF after adjusting Rs 345.64 crore available with the state as balance in the SDRF, it said. The state governments have also been advised to take utmost care and ensure that all the individual beneficiary-oriented assistance is mandatorily disbursed through the bank account of the beneficiaries. These allocations are over and above the releases made to states as devolution of 42% of central taxes, as per the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission. In 2016-17, Rs 6.08 lakh crore was released to states as devolution of Central Taxes. Tamil Nadu has received Rs 24,538 crore and Karnataka Rs 28,750 crore under the devolution formula during 2016-17. Also, during 2016-17, the Centre has provided Rs 48,869 crore to all the states as grant for Rural and Urban Local Bodies to primarily meet the requirement of basic necessities for people living in these areas, the statement added. Sanjay Chandra, managing director of real estate firm Unitech, and his brother Ajay Chandra were arrested on Saturday on charges of duping people who funded a housing project. The brothers were apprehended by Delhi Polices Economic Offences Wing (EOW) following complaints that 91 people who invested Rs 35 crore in the housing project did not get their flats or a refund. They were also accused of investing the money collected from these people in a shell company. Chandra was arrested in 2011 in the 2G spectrum case. The accused, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra, have been arrested for not developing a project, Anthea Floors, at Gurugram. Ninety-one people have invested Rs 35 crore in the project. The probe into the case is being monitored by a trial court, the police said. The brothers were produced before a Delhi Court, which sent them to police custody till April 3. The police had claimed in the court that the duo was not cooperating with the probe. However, the lawyer for the brothers opposed the remand plea and said the police has already searched the premises of the accused and they cannot be forced to give any incriminating evidence against them. The controversy over the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) was rekindled when a demonstration of the workings of the device to reporters went wrong, ahead of byelections in Madhya Pradesh. The bypolls are to take place in the Ater Assembly constituency in Bhind district and Bandhavgarh constituency in Umaria district on April 9. The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) printouts during the trial only showed votes in favour of the BJP even when buttons for the candidates of other parties were pressed. The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday decided to depute two teams of officers, along with technical experts, to make sure that the EVMs and the VVPATs deployed for the bypolls function properly. We have sought a detailed report from the District Election Officer, a spokesperson of the EC said on Saturday. Media reports on this botched trial has prompted the Congress and the AAP to urge the EC to get the credibility of the machines re-examined by independent experts. They also urged the poll panel not to use EVMs in any election till it could be established beyond doubt that the machines could not be tampered with. I never trusted the EVM. You never know where the vote goes once the button is pressed. If ballot papers can be used all over the world to conduct elections, why cannot the same be done in India? Digvijaya Singh, general secretary, All India Congress Committee, told journalists after he led a delegation of the party in a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner M Nasim Zaidi in New Delhi on Saturday. Kejriwal, too, leading a delegation of the AAP, met the chief election commissioner. He said the software used in the EVMs had been tampered with to ensure that pressing any button on the machine will register votes in favour of the BJP. The poll panel had vouched for the credibility of the EVMs even after the BSP and AAP raised questions about the machines after the recent state Assembly polls. After Saturdays incident, the EC said that the integrity of the EVMs and the VVPATs to be used in the poll will be demonstrated to the complete satisfaction of all stakeholders by the team. These teams will remain in the Assembly constituencies till the counting is over. The EC decided to depute a team of high level officers led by Bhanwar Lal, the chief electoral officer of Andhra Pradesh, to supervise the bypolls in Madhya Pradesh. PTI reported that Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Saleena Singh, who was present at the demonstration, has denied reports that the VVPAT machine dispensed only BJP slips. She said the district poll authorities in Bhind have already sent their report to EC. DMK working president M K Stalin on Saturday visited the protesting Tamil Nadu farmers at Jantar Mantar and demanded that the prime minister waive off their loans as he had promised during the Uttar Pradesh polls. Stalin said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy must come to the national capital and take up the issue with the Centre. Slamming the BJP for failing to fulfil its promises, Stalin said nothing seemed to have changed even while it was in power. The farmers have been in the national capital since March 14, demanding that their loans from the nationalised banks be written off. The Centre released a statement saying an amount of Rs 2,014.45 crore has been given to the state. The assistance to Tamil Nadu comprises Rs 1,748.28 crore for drought (kharif), Rs 264.11 crore for cyclonic storm Vardha and Rs 2.06 crore under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, it said. Meat exporters have backed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath following talks of closure of illegal slaughterhouses and meat shops. A top meat exporter in the state said the BJP government did not intend to target the Muslims, but wanted to check illegal businesses. Sirajuddin Qureshi, the president of All India Jamiatul Quresh, urged the meat industry to cooperate with the state government for the regularisation of slaughterhouses and meat shops. Speaking to reporters here, Qureshi said Adityanath told a delegation from the meat industry that he did not want to bring religion into the trade, and promised to take action against the officials who were shutting down legal meat export houses and shops. He said he was impressed by the chief ministers openness to handle the issues that were brought to his notice by the delegation. Qureshi said Muslims only accounted for 30% in this business and the rest belonged to other communities, which contribute at various levels in the chain from slaughtering to packaging and transportation of goat and buffalo meat. He also said Muslims need not fear or feel terrorised under the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. AIMIM president and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi, meanwhile, attacked the BJP for its double standards over the cow slaughter issue. The BJPs hypocrisy is that in Uttar Pradesh, cow is mummy, but in the Northeast, its yummy, said Owaisi, referring to the fact that cow slaughter is not banned in the Northeastern states. The BJP is in power in Northeastern states like Assam and Manipur. Probe into Gomti riverfront project The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a probe into the financial irregularities into former chief minister Akhilesh Yadavs Gomti riverfront project, DHNS reports from Lucknow. According to sources here on Saturday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed a judicial inquiry into the project. A retired high court judge will probe the irregularities. The report will be submitted to the chief minister within 45 days, said a senior government official here. A source said that during his recent visit to the riverfront, the chief minister had expressed his annoyance at the slow pace of work. At least three soldiers were injured when militants mounted an attack on an army convoy on the outskirts of Srinagar on Saturday. The attack comes a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the Jammu region, where he is scheduled to inaugurate Indias longest road tunnel at Chenani in Udhampur district. A source said militants ambushed the convoy on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway near Bemina despite high alert in the state ahead of the high-profile visit. Two militants on a motorcycle fired at an army convoy en route from Baramulla to Srinagar and disappeared from the scene without giving the troops a chance to retaliate, the source said. PRO (Defence) Col Rajesh Kalia, while confirming the injury to three soldiers, said they were evacuated to the Army Base Hospital in Srinagar. Reports said the area was cordoned off and a search operation was launched by the security forces to track down the attackers. A man, identifying himself as Barhan-ud-Din and claiming to be a Hizbul Mujahideen spokesperson, called local news agency KNS and said that the attack was an advance gift to Modi. Earlier, gunshots were heard in the commercial hub of Lal Chowk in Srinagar, triggering panic. The city centre descended into chaos following rumours that suspected fidayeen (suicide) militants had taken position inside a hotel. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday said those who kill cows will be hanged, lending his voice to a chorus in BJP-ruled states for framing more stringent rules banning slaughter. Have you heard of cow slaughter here in the past 15 years? If someone does that, we will hang him, Singh said. The chief ministers reaction comes in the wake of the BJP government in Gujarat amending its law to make punishment for cow slaughter harsher, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordering a crackdown on illegal abattoirs and shops selling meat. Singh, however, did not clarify whether he intends to amend the laws in Chhattisgarh to award the extreme punishment to people who kill cows for consumption. After becoming the chief minister of the tribal state in December 2003, he had banned the slaughter of cows, buffaloes and bulls. Even possession of meat and transportation of animals for slaughter in other states is not permissible under the state laws. The offence invites punishment of seven years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 50,000. Ahead of the elections later this year, the Gujarat Assembly on Friday passed an amendment to the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act of 1954, enhancing maximum punishment for cow slaughter to life imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh. Under the tweaked law, cow slaughter has become a non-bailable offence in Gujarat. Since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, the issue of the protection of cows, considered sacred by the Hindus, has been raised on several occasions, and also lead to attacks on Muslims over consumption of beef. In December, the Union environment ministry wrote to the department of animal husbandry to consider the option of enacting a national law to ban the slaughter and sale of cow meat. The BJP-ruled states of Maharashtra and Haryana have banned the sale of beef since Modi became the prime minister. States and Union Territories where cow slaughter is illegal include Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. States that permit cow slaughter are Kerala, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. A new research has revealed that on an average, a person in India spends 169 minutes daily on mobile phones. This has led to an increase in the dry eye condition. In addition, people spend time spent in front of computers, laptops and TV. According to the survey, conducted by VSERV, a platform for mobile marketing and commerce, the number of smartphone users in India rose to 204 million in 2016 as against 74 million in 2013. The survey shows people below 18 years of age are addicted to their smartphones (gadget junkies) followed by women residing in metros and mini-metros (social stars). Among the priority of users are watching movies, serials and social media apps. Reacting to the survey, Dr Sirish Nelivigi, senior consultant, department of ophthalmology, Sakra World Hospital, said it was mostly the IT employees who were worst affected. Approximately 70% patients we see with dry eye problems are software engineers. There is a very specific trend, an increasing one, and there is a co-relation between use of any visual display unit and dry eye, he said. It is mostly people from around Marathahalli and Bellandur and those aged between 25 and 45 that we see with dry eye in the out-patient section. Dr Rohit Shetty, vice-chairman, Narayana Nethralaya, said even as visual media was one of the major contributors to dry eye, the issue needed to be addressed at a broader level. He said while most people had a stressful schedule, it was important to ensure good rest to the eyes. Our body is not meant to be nocturnal. It needs exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency also leads to dry eye, he said. He emphasised that it is essential that one takes time away from gadgets and focuses on physical health. You get dry eye if autophagy, referred to as the housekeeping mechanism in the human body, fails. This gets altered when one is exposed to stress, Shetty said. Affected by dry eye Dr Sirish Nelivigi, senior consultant, department of ophthalmology, Sakra World Hospital, told DH, Dry eye is a condition with no tears in the eye. The tears act as a lubricant for the eye. They are secreted by the lacrimal gland located in the upper outer corner of the eye. When one blinks, it pumps tears into the eye. When one is constantly staring at a visual display unit, there is a drastic reduction in the number of blinks. The normal frequency is 14-18 times a minute. This comes down to about three times a minute while staring at a visual display unit and hence leaves ones eyes dry. The government is all set to launch Jan Aushadhi centres in all taluk and district hospitals across the state by May-end, said director, health and family welfare department, Dr Nataraj. There are also plans to launch these centres at 30 community health centres and expand them in future. He said private pharmacies in government hospitals will be shut down. Dr Nataraj said the state government has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Health to open as many as 300 Jan Aushadhi centres, which will be increased by 200 in future. Shivakumara Swami of Siddaganga Mutt on Saturday called upon the bureaucrats to desist from taking bribes and respond to the sufferings of people in the villages. The pontiff, who turned 110 on Saturday, said there was a need to change the pattern of education in the country. The devotees should follow the teachings of reformer Basavanna, the seer, who read the written speech without the help of spectacles even at this age, said. He recalled the speech made by Lord Macaulay in the British parliament, in which he said the British could make Indians dance to their tunes by merely changing the countrys traditional education system and culture. In his speech after inaugurating the Gurvandana organised as part of the pontiffs birthday celebrations, Governor Vajubhai Vala said the seer symbolised Indian culture. He recalled the contributions of the pontiff in the last eight decades. The governor called upon parents to ensure that their children study Sanskrit. About 10,000 children were being taught the ancient language at the Mutt, Vala said. Speaking on the occasion, Siddeshwara Swami of Jnanayogashrama, Vijayapura, said Shivakumara Swami had turned his life into a kind of yoga. Shivarathri Deshikendra Swami of Suttur Mutt, Mysuru, said Shivakumara Swami had brought worldwide fame to the Mutt through his deeds. As many as 220 employees of the erstwhile State Bank of Mysore (SBM) have approached the High Court of Karnataka urging it to direct the State Bank of India (SBI) to absorb them on a permanent basis with all the emoluments and benefits accruing to the posts they hold. C Ravi and other sweepers-cum-peons at various branches of the SBM said the SBI had put them on notice despite an assurance by the erstwhile bank that their services would be regularised after the amalgamation. On Saturday, the SBM and five other banks merged with the SBI. The employees said the SBI told them it would retain only permanent and regular officers from the SBM. The petitioners have cited a memorandum of settlement reached between the SBM and the SBI that calls for regularising the services of temporary peons who have worked for more than 240 days in a block period of 12 months in any calendar year. They said most of them had worked for more than a decade, while some others had put in almost 20 years. The petitioners said the SBIs stand was contrary to the understanding arrived at between the managements of both the banks. They also said they would be financially ruined if their jobs were suddenly taken away because most of them were the sole breadwinners in their families. They fear the SBI would sack them. Justice G Narendra restrained the SBI and the SBM from altering the service conditions of the petitioners or sacking them. He also ordered that notices be issued to the Ministry of Finance, the SBI and the SBM, and adjourned the hearing until April 13. The Supreme Court has acquitted two persons from Hassan district of murder charges in a 1991 case, after finding lapses in police investigation at every stage and discrepancies in witnesses accounts. The court should always make an endeavour to find the truth as a criminal offence is not only an offence against an individual but also against the society. There would be failure of justice if an innocent man is punished, a bench of Justices N V Ramana and Prafulla C Pant said. The apex court set aside the Karnataka high court judgement that had convicted in an unconventional way two persons of killing Chennegowda, and 11 others of charges like rioting and causing grievous injuries in a quarrel triggered over pathways near Hemavathi river. The high court has failed to understand the fact that the guilt of the accused has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt and this is a classic case where at each and every stage of the trial, there were lapses on the part of investigating agency and the evidence of the witnesses is not trustworthy, which can never be a basis for conviction, the bench said. The court restored the trial court verdict that had exonerated all the accused. Emphasising that the basic principle of criminal jurisprudence is that the accused is presumed to be innocent until his guilt is proved beyond reasonable doubt, the top court pointed out the high court brushed aside the vital defects in the prosecutions case and in a very unconventional way convicted the accused. The court noted all the eyewitnesses in the case were relatives and the prosecution failed to adduce reliable evidence of independent witnesses for the incident which took place on a public road in broad daylight. It also pointed out that the names of accused number 7 to 13 were added subsequently, clearly demonstrating that it was an afterthought only to implicate them. The court also found that the medical evidence on the injuries sustained by the deceased was not in consonance with the ocular evidence, while the prosecution witnesses concealed the genesis of the incident. It also noted the complaint lodged by the father of one accused was neither investigated by the police nor explained properly. A woman from Bengaluru travelling to Iceland was asked to take off her clothes for a body search at the Frankfurt airport. Shruthi Basappa, who studied engineering at BMS College in Bengaluru, narrated her ordeal on Facebook on March 30. She said the airport staff had allowed her Icelandic husband to pass through with just a pat-down, while they harassed her. I was taken into a room, and was asked to lift my dress/take it off so that I could be checked to make sure I wasnt'carrying anything under my clothes. This whole ordeal happened in front of my 4 year old, her post read. Security staff shouted at Shruthi, who holds an Indian passport and an Icelandic residence permit, when she had sought a regular pat-down on the grounds that she had recently undergone abdominal surgery. The supervisor at the airport stepped in and repeated the order before taking a look at Shruthis husband and changing her mind, the post says. I'd like to think I stood my ground, but I know in my heart that it was a peek at my 'appropriately light husband' that was the proof needed. To say I am angry and upset is putting it lightly, she said, replying to a comment on her post. A member of the Airport Frankfurt Team responded to her post, asking her to email the airport. I regret that the security check has been unpleasant for you, the reply read. Shruthi emailed the airport authorities, but was upset they were taking too long to respond. Sushma seeks report External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has sought a report from Raveesh Kumar, Indias Consul-General in Frankfurt. When social media users brought the story to her notice on Twitter, she responded by tweeting to the official: Raveesh - Plz send me a report on this. @CGIFrankfurt. Sympathy and caste seem to matter the most in the Gundlupet Assembly constituency, which has remained the fiefdom of the Lingayat community. And the two national parties, the Congress and the BJP, are doing everything to address these aspects to emerge victorious in the byelections scheduled on April 9. Both parties believe that the electorate is sympathetic towards their respective candidates. The ruling Congress has fielded Mohan Kumari (also known as Geetha), wife of the late minister H S Mahadev Prasad, while BJP is hopeful that the electorate will bless its candidate C S Niranjan Kumar, as he and his father the late Chowdahalli Shivamallappa had both lost elections in the constituencies twice in the past. All the MLAs who represented the constituency since 1957 are Lingayats. The byelection in Gundlupet is being held due to the death of Mahadev Prasad, a prominent Lingayat leader who represented the constituency five times in a row. The Congress was initially hoping that it will be smooth sailing, riding on the sympathy wave. But the party is finding the going tough as the day of polling nears. The party workers have of late begun murmuring about their candidates difficulty in connecting with the electorate, especially village folk. Mohan Kumari is a novice in politics. Being a writer and a poet, she had kept away from the hustle and bustle of politics. So much so that many people in and around Halahalli, the native village of Mahadev Prasad near Gundlupet, had not even seen her till recently. She is considered more urban. The Congress has therefore deputed a dozen ministers to manage the campaign. The Congress' team is led by Water Resources Minister M B Patil and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, who is known for his organising skills. Mohan Kumari too has been sweating it out in the sweltering heat, crisscrossing villages in the constituencies as part of the campaign. The party is expected to get a leg-up in the campaign with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah joining the team from Saturday. The BJP camp is led by Yeddyurappa's close confidant Arvind Limbavali. A host of party leaders are touring the constituency drumming up support for the party candidate. While the party candidate has been conducting roadshows and padayatras, the leaders are busy holding caste-based public meetings in hoblis. The saffron party leaders are holding womens rallies to get their support. Yeddyurappa chose to celebrate Udagi at a Dalit party worker's house in Chowdahalli near Gundlupet town in order to woo the communitys voters, who form the second largest group next to Lingayats in the constituency. Husbands work will fetch me votes Mohan Kumari and her party leaders are seeking votes promising to continue the developmental work initiated by Mahadeva Prasad. I am totally confident of winning in the constituency which my husband served for over two decades. I want to continue his good work. The electorate will not let me down, she said. Cong misrule will make people pick me Niranjan Kumar is confident that people will vote for a change and he will be their next choice. People are fed up with misrule all these years. Severe drinking water problem across the constituency shows how development was neglected all these years. I am not only highlighting the issues in the campaign but also explaining how each of them can be solved, he said. Islamabad has asked New Delhi to respect its ''ownership rights'' to Jinnah House, the sprawling residence once owned by Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, following a Bhartiya Janata Party legislator's demand that the structure be demolished. South Court in Mumbai, popularly known as Jinnah The house, with grand columns, walnut panelling and Italian marble, stands on 2.5 acres on Malabar Hill and its estimated value is $400 million (Rs2,600 crore). The residence has been at the centre of a long-running legal dispute over ownership between Jinnah's daughter and the Indian and Pakistani governments. ''Pakistan has repeatedly expressed its desire to take possession of the property. The government of India should respect the ownership rights of the government of Pakistan in this regard,'' Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria told a weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday. ''We also expect that the Indian government will fulfil its obligation of protecting that property and its upkeep,'' he said. Zakaria was responding to a question about BJP legislator Mangal Prabhat Lodha's demand that Jinnah House be razed and replaced with a cultural centre. Lodha contended that the house was a ''symbol of the Partition'' and the place where the ''conspiracy'' to divide the Indian subcontinent was hatched. The spokesman said the ownership of Jinnah House had already been taken up with Indian authorities and was ''an ongoing matter''. ''The property belongs to the founder of Pakistan and should be given to Pakistan. On various occasions, the Indian government has promised to hand over the property to the government of Pakistan but (they) have not fulfilled their commitment as yet,'' he added. Pakistan had earlier said it wanted to use Jinnah House as its consulate in Mumbai. However, the issue was linked to India being allowed to reopen a consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi. With bilateral ties at a low over the past few years, the two sides have not been able to make progress on this issue. Dina Wadia, Jinnah's daughter, has claimed ownership of the building but two other Mumbai residents Mohamed Ebrahim and Shakir Ebrahim have approached an Indian court to refute her claim of being the sole heir to the property. They are the son and grandson of Ashraf Rajabally Ebrahim, the daughter of Jinnah's sister Mariam. According to the Indian government, Jinnah bequeathed the property to his sister Fatima Jinnah through his will dated 30 May 1939. India designated the immovable and movable property left behind by people who opted to go to Pakistan as ''evacuee property'' and took it over. However, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ensured Jinnah's assets were not classified as ''evacuee property'' as a goodwill gesture. Li Ka-Shing to buy Canada's Reliance Home Comfort for $2.1 bn Li Ka-Shing, Hong Kong's richest man, yesterday struck a deal to buy Canada's Reliance Home Comfort from private equity firm Alinda Capital Partners for $2.1 billion (C$2.82 billion). The proposed acquisition is being carried out through CKP (Canada) Holdings Ltd, a unit of Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd, of which the Li family trust is the largest shareholder. CKP (Canada) will fund the transaction from cash on hand and an assumption of all of Reliance's existing debt. Post closing, CKP (Canada) said that it plans to continue to keep Reliance in Ontario with the existing executive team managing the business. CKP said it intends to sell up to 25 per cent of Reliance to CK Infrastructure, another company controlled by the Li family trust, upon obtaining the necessary approvals. Last month, Alinda had hired Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Goldman Sachs as financial advisers to advice on the sale. (See: Alinda Capital Partners seeks to sell Reliance Comfort for C$3 bn to C$4 bn) Connecticut-based Alinda had acquired Reliance's predecessor in 2007 for C$1.74. Founded in 1997, Reliance Comfort provides heating, cooling, and water heater solutions for homeowners in Canada. The company sells, rents, maintains, and services heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment, furnaces, water heaters, air conditioners, and other HVAC products. It also offers plumbing services, protection and maintenance plans, and furnace and air conditioner services. ''We are thrilled to have CKP as our new investment partner. This acquisition will continue to support our offerings to our customers,'' said, Sean O'Brien, president and CEO of Reliance. "We have been proud owners of Reliance since June 2007 when we took private the income trust UE Waterheater Income Fund. The company has been well led by its management team and its team members have provided exceptional customer service. We believe Reliance and its customers will be in great hands with CKP as the new owners," said, Chris Beale, Alinda's managing partner. ''I am very happy about the Reliance acquisition. With my close ties in the country, I have always been on the lookout for sizeable investments back in Canada,'' said Victor Li, managing director of CKP and co-Chairman of Husky Energy Inc. The Li family trust has invested substantially in Canada. In addition to Husky Energy, other Canadian businesses in their investment portfolio include Park'N Fly, Canadian Power Holdings Ltd, Wex Pharmaceuticals and Sante Naturelle AG. The picturesque village of Anagaire has a long association with England's second city so when they got an invitation to join in the St. Patrick's day parade there, they graciously accepted. A committee was formed and fundraising began. Former band members were welcomed, once again, into the fold and began to diligently practice for the upcoming event. Seamus Boyle worked with the chairperson of the parade, Anne Tighe in Birmingham, to get matters organised. Table quizzes took place, 'The Goats don't shave' played a gig at Caislean Oir. The hotel was packed on that occasion. However, the highlight of the fundraising events was when Buion Cheoil Anagaire reached the top of Mount Errigal. On reaching the peak, they played a few tunes,which could be heard in the Poison Glen in Dunlewey. It is claimed that no other band has undertaken such a feat. New uniforms, fifes and drums were purchased for the upcoming occasion. On March 12th, the band boarded Feda's bus alongside a BBC film crew and made their way to England, in high spirits. On Friday night, the band went to the Spotted dog, Anne Tighe's pub. The band enjoyed Irish stew and Scotch eggs and played a few tunes to a very appreciative audience. On Saturday night, the band attended The Irish Sacred Heart Club in Aston. On Sunday morning, a March sun shone. The band gathered to the spot where they would join the parade. Members were excited and nervous as all their hard work, all their practice was about to be showcased in Birmingham city. There were hugs, photographs and handshakes as they stood waiting for the moment that they would join the parade. Paddy Forker's float arrived with a crowd of Donegal youth astride, they all cheered, sang and welcomed the band. The atmosphere was electric. After a rousing rendition of the Hills of Donegal, Paul McDevitt of the Druma Mor, issued the instruction band ready and off they marched. The band was led magnificently by Neil Charlie Neil McBride as he strode proudly onto the streets of Digbeth with his band behind him. Irish emblems could be seen everywhere and the band marched forward, heads held high, in perfect unison through the thronged city streets as more and more people from the region fell in behind them in support. When the march ended there was a very pleasant surprise as the Lord Mayor of the city presented Neil McBride with a crystal trophy for the best marching band of the parade. Neil's father was a former leader of the band and would have been exceptionally proud of the band that he once led. It was a sight to behold as Neil proudly accepted the trophy on hehalf of the band. The committee worked tirelessly to make this trip a reality and members of the band would like to thank, Paul McDevitt, Neil McBride, Seamus Boyle and Mary Sweeney for all their hard work and dedication. Organisers would also like to thank members of the Mallaghduff Crickamore and Maghery bands who donned the Anagaire uniform and marched and played alongside them for the occasion. All those who took part in the march enjoyed it and those from the area, living in Birmingham, were delighted to see their band come to their city for St. Patrick's day and made it extra special. For those who couldn't make Birmingham on St. Patrick's day, they will be delighted to hear that the Anagaire band will be out, in all their glory, once again, this Easter Sunday where they will be joined by the Mallaghduff and Ranafast bands. All the bands will play in the village before Mass. It is speculated that the band may be invited to 5th Avenue, New York. Below is the agenda for the regularly scheduled meeting of the Dothan City Commission meeting, set for Tuesday, April 3, 2017, at 10 a.m. in the commission chambers at the Dothan Civic Center. For more information, please click on the hyperlink under each item. Communications from Mayor and City Commissioners: - Proclamation Child Abuse Prevention Month Sherryl Walker, Executive Director, Southeast Alabama Child Advocacy Center. Acceptance of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (Audit) for Fiscal Year ending September 30, 2016. Public Hearings: - Public Hearing on adoption of the: International Code Council 2015 International Building Code (IBC) without Appendixes 2014 National Electric Code (NEC) 2015 International Existing Building Code (IEBC) 2015 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC). 2015 International Mechanical Code (IMC) 2015 International Plumbing Code (IPC) 2015 International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC) 2015 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC) 2015 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings (IRC) with Appendices "A (IFGS)", "B (IFGS)", "C (IFGS)", "D (IFGS)", "E", "G", "H", "J (EB)", "M" and "N". 2015 International Fire Code, Appendices B through E, and Appendix I The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards. Action Items: - Rezoning property owned by Ameribangla, Inc., located on lots 13, 14, 16, and 17 of Richland Estates Subdivision from R-1 (Residential, Single Family) District to B-2 (Highway Commercial) District. - Assessing properties for the cost of demolition of substandard structures and turning the amounts over to the county tax collector to be added to the next regular bills for taxes levied against the respective lots and/or parcels of land. - Appropriating $10,000.00 to help cover costs in preparing, organizing and implementing the 2017 Alabama State Games XXXV June 9-11, 2017. - Entering into an agreement with the United States Bankruptcy Courts to receive bankruptcy transmittals electronically through the Bankruptcy Noticing Center (BNC) Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing (EBN) program pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9036. - Rescinding Resolution 2012-86 and entering into an agreement with FirstCard ATM, Inc. to process ATM transactions at the Magistrates office for a period of (5) years with an automatic one (1) year renewal after the initial term from the executed date of this agreement. - Rescinding Resolution 2012-87 and entering into an agreement with FirstCard ATM, Inc. to process ATM transactions at the Utility Collections office for a period of (5) years with an automatic one (1) year renewal after the initial term from the executed date of this agreement. - Accepting the proposal and service agreement of McGriff, Seibels and Williams, Inc. for Specific Stop Loss Reinsurance for the City of Dothans Health and Accident Insurance Plan, as quoted by Unimerica/Optum. - Entering into a contract with J. Michael Lee Associates, Inc. to provide architectural services for a fee of $77,400.00 for the new multipurpose facility at Eastgate Park. - Entering into a Wastewater Disposal contract with the Town of Napier Field, Alabama. - Entering into a Wastewater Disposal contract with the Town of Taylor, Alabama. - Submitting an application to the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) for a permit to erect an outdoor advertising sign to be located on the Northeast corner at the intersection of East Main Street and North Saint Andrews Street. - Submitting an application to the State of Alabama Department of Education for participation in a Summer Food Service Program for Children, entering into an agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture for administration of the program and entering into an agreement with the Dothan City Board of Education to provide food services. - Reappointing Jeff Coleman, Forrest Register and Jim Ellis as members of the Industrial Development Board to serve a six year term beginning February 27, 2017 and expiring on February 26, 2023. - Awarding bids and approving purchases over $15,000.00 by the City. - Approving advance travel requests for City employees. - Announcing the appointment of Shelia Lee as a member of the Dothan Housing Authority Board. - Adjournment. The death has taken place of Turlough Goss, who passed away suddenly at his home at Dunmor, Avenue Road, Dundalk, on January 31, 2017. Originally from Lurgankeel, Kilcurry, he achieved much in his life, after twice being involved in serious accidents. Turlough was a treasured son of John and Alice Goss (nee Shaw). He was second youngest in the family of five children, and after attending Kilcurry national school, he went to Bush Post Primary School, where he completed his Junior Certificate. At the age of 15, he suffered serious injuries when knocked from his bicycle, and following a long period of rehabilitation, during which time he underwent many operations, Turlough returned to education to be successful in both his junior certificate and leaving certificate. He then went to O Fiaich College in Dundalk, obtaining his Leaving Certificate, before doing a PLC engineering course, also at O Fiaich College. Turlough then proceeded to serve his time as a wood machinist, with a view to setting up his own business. To this end, he also attended Fas in Dublin, and Trades College in Parnell Square. At the age of 20, while travelling home from work in Inniskeen, where he was serving his time as a wood machinist, he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. Again, there was a long period of recovery, as he endured more operations. Turlough endured a lot and all through this he showed his tremendous courage and strength, by getting through it all. He never ever complained about anything; he loved life. Throughout these periods, Turlough was very well looked after by the Louth County Hospital, Beaumont hospital and The Mater hospital and family. In his earlier years, he had a great love of motorbikes, which he shared with his brothers Feargal and Maoiliosa. He was a great and focused person, and he loved to work and always kept himself busy and learning. Every opportunity was availed of by him to learn and better himself. He always had his eye on his future plan which was to open his own woodwork business. He was fun, and enjoyed the craic, while being confident yet calm, with a quiet personality. Turlough displayed the sort of determination which saw him get his swimming certificate in primary school, even though he totally hated swimming! He also played the tin whistle. Unfortunately, his life's path was altered as were his future plans, as his path in life changed. He went on to purchase his own house and lived independently in it getting on with daily living. He had a bout of life-threatening pneumonia in 2016 which he strove through successfully and bravely. He was cared for by the brilliant nurses and doctors in the Lourdes hospital and many family members. Turlough enjoyed a pint in The Emerald on a Sunday evening. He was very good to his mother, calling out to visit her on Sunday afternoons and taking the Independent newspaper out to her. Likewise, he was good to his father. Listening to music was another big interest of his. He also liked to keep up with the news, current affairs and politics, and loved to watch Nationwide and The Late Late Show every Friday night, sometimes in the company of sister Aedamar. Another example of his strength and determination, was when a relatively short time after recovering from his second accident, he overcame his total dislike of flying to attend his brother Lorcans marriage to Michelle in Barbados, where they all had happy times. Turlough is survived by his parents, John and Alice Goss (nee Shaw), sister, Aedamar, brothers, Lorcan, Feargal and Maoiliosa, nephews, Tomas (Australia), Donal (Australia), Criomhthann, niece, Dearbhla, nephew Daithai, brother-in-law, Thomas, sister-in-law, Michelle, cousins, aunts, uncles, and other relatives. After reposing at his residence, his remains were removed to Saint Brigids Church, Kilcurry, where the funeral Mass was celebrated by Fr. Brian Slater, assisted by Fr Vinod. Readings and Prayers of the Faithful were given by Michelle Goss, Andrea Kennaway, Gerard Shaw, Cormac Shaw, Lorraine Goss, Kevina Goss and Cathal Shaw. Gifts symbolising Turloughs life, including a wooden model motorbike, motorcycle glove and two music CDs, were brought to the altar by Dearbhla and Criomhthann McGahon. Uncle and aunt Lorcan and Anne Shaw brought up the Offertory gifts. Hymns were sung by Niamh OHanlon, accompanied by Anne Quinn on organ. Burial took place in the adjoining cemetery. Apple has received a ransom threat from a hacking group claiming to have access to data for up to 800 million iCloud accounts. The hackers, said to be a London-based group called the Turkish Crime Family, have threatened to reset passwords and remotely wipe the iPhones of millions of iCloud users if Apple fails to hand over a total of US$700,000. They have given the company an ultimatum to respond by April 7. Apple reportedly has denied that the group succeeded in hacking its systems, maintaining that it obtained the email addresses and passwords from previously compromised third-party services. Apple is working with law enforcement on the threats. The data set in the iCloud hack matches the data found in the 2012 hack of 117 million accounts on LinkedIn, according to some published reports. However, the Turkish Crime Family strongly denied that in a message to TechNewsWorld on Friday. Correcting the Message The initial reports of a ransom demand of just $75,000 were incorrect, the group said in response to our email query. It actually demanded $100,000 for each of its seven members, plus extra stuff from Apple that are worth more to us than money, which it promised Apple it would keep secret. The group also told TechNewsWorld that the only member based in London is Kerem Albayrek, who is facing charges related to listing a hacked Yahoo database for sale. It claimed that its iCloud ransom demands were in part to spread awareness of Albayrek, as well as of Karim Baratov, a Canadian resident charged earlier this month, along with a second hacker and two Russian FSB agents, in the 2014 breach of 500 million Yahoo account holders. The group told TechNewsWorld that it showed Apple scan logs that contain 800 million iCloud accounts, and that Apple claimed the data had come from outside sources. The group said it planned to launch a website that would list iCloud user names, last names, dates of birth and a captcha of their current location from an iCloud app. The site will not disclose passwords initially, the group said, but it would do so most probably in the future. Shaking Down Apple The Turkish Crime Family threat should be taken seriously, said Pierluigi Paganini, a cybersecurity analyst and member of the Cyber Group G7 2017 Summit in Italy. I consider the threat is credible, even if it is quite impossible to know the exact number of iCloud credentials in the hands of hackers, he told TechNewsWorld. The group is known in the hacking underground for the sale of stolen databases, Paganini said. The group reportedly has approached several media outlets directly; it told TechNewsWorld that it had been in contact with five. However, it is unlikely that the groups efforts to stir public pressure against Apple will be effective, noted Mark Nunnikhoven, vice president for cloud research at Trend Micro, in an online post. Apple is too large and has too many resources to give in to public pressure, he pointed out. The groups demands are similar to a shakedown in the physical world, in which criminals demand monthly payments to protect a business, Nunnikhoven noted. In the digital world, the pressures that make victims pay (e.g. keeping your store in one piece) dont apply, Nunnikhoven wrote. With iCloud accounts, Apple has the ultimate safety valve they control the infrastructure behind the accounts, he added. Which removes most of the pressure points criminals could use. There is no evidence of state involvement in this cyberthreat, Nunnikhoven told TechNewsWorld. However, there is mounting evidence that this is a group whose eyes are bigger than their stomachs, he suggested. Selling credentials on the underground is rather commonplace. Attempting to extort one of the biggest companies on the planet with poor quality data is quite another. Credible Threat A report in ZDNet appeared to lend credence to some of the hacking groups claims, however. The group provided 54 credentials to the publication, which were verified as authentic based on a check of the password reset function. Most of the accounts were outdated, but 10 people did confirm to the publication that the obtained passwords were legitimate and that they since had changed them. Those 10 people were living in the UK, and had UK mobile numbers. Trend Micro is urging iCloud users to protect their accounts by using two-factor authentication, and also to use a password manager. A password manager helps users create unique passwords for every account and stores them remotely so that hackers cannot access one or two accounts and thereby gain access to many more. The FBI declined to comment for this story. Apple officials did not respond to our request to comment, and a Yahoo spokesperson was not immediately available. 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This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020. President Tran Dai Quang (R) receives US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius on March 31st (Photo: VNA) The President affirmed that Vietnam will continue promoting the comprehensive partnership with the US in a practical, constructive, stable and mutually benefiting manner on the basis of respect for each others political institutions, independence, national sovereignty and territorial integration.He asked Ambassador Osius to convey his thanks to President Trump for his recent letter on forging the bilateral cooperation between the two nations.The two sides need to maintain high-level visits and contacts, President Quang said, stressing that this is significant to strengthening mutual understanding and trust.The President noted that Vietnam advocates free trade on the basis of equity and mutual benefits, and will continue participating in and implementing its international commitments, including free trade agreements (FTAs) which Vietnam considers as an impetus for restructuring the economy.He also urged the US to continue its support for Vietnam in addressing post-war consequences, particularly projects to detoxify Agent Orange/dioxin and remove bombs, mines and unexploded ordnance.Discussing the regional situation with rapid and complicated developments that contain risks of conflict, President Quang stressed that Vietnam welcomes the USs increasing cooperation with regional nations in maintaining freedom of navigation and aviation, and supports the settlement of disputes through diplomatic measures and dialogues on the basis of international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, and other relevant ASEANs mechanisms, such as the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and working toward a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).For his part, Ambassador Ted Osius pledged to continue working to persuade the Government, Congress and business community of the US to strengthen ties between the two nations, while noting that the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and the US is enjoying development at all bilateral, regional and global levels.He repeated the content of the US Presidents letter dated February 2 to the Vietnamese State leader, which affirmed the wish to boost cooperation with Vietnam in economics-trade and in regional and international issues. The letter also said the US wants to work with Vietnam and other nations in the region to ensure peace and prosperity in the Asia Pacific on the basis of respect for international law.The Ambassador also spoke highly of the role of Vietnam in hosting the APEC Year 2017, particularly the success of the first APEC Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM 1) in Nha Trang, adding that the US President is considering attending the 25th APEC Summit.President Quang said the US Presidents participation in the Summit will contribute significantly to the success of the meeting as well as to the role and reputation of APEC.Ambassador Osius affirmed that the US will continue working closely with Vietnam to ensure the success of the Summit./. The consultations in Canberra were led by Mr. Philip Green, First Assistant Secretary, South East Asia Mainland and Regional Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia); and Mr. Nguyen The Phuong, Vice Minister of Planning and Investment (Vietnam). Key achievements of Australia-Vietnam development cooperation over 2015-2017 include: * Good progress in construction of the Cao Lanh bridge, which is on track for completion in late 2017 * Encouraging progress in developing three new initiatives to develop a strong and competitive private sector in Vietnam, including Aus4Reform, Aus4Transport and Aus4Water * Effective commencement of the new Aus4Skills initiative in 2016, which will continue to deliver the prestigious Australia Awards Scholarships, as well as a new range of flexible human resource development support packages * Support for womens economic empowerment, including preparation for the new Aus4Equality and Investing in Women initiatives Photo: Nam Anh Vietnam has been an important partner to Australia in the region for a long time, and our commitment to development cooperation with Vietnam is on-going. Given Vietnams tremendous achievements in socio-economic development, it is now time to transform the relationship into an economic partnership, based on mutual benefit and shared challenges, commented Mr Philip Green. The economic partnership is expected to be built on the following principles: * Commitment to pursuing shared economic interests as outlined in our Plan of Action 2016-2019 * Encouraging a dynamic private sector * Fostering greater business and market access opportunities * Empowering women in the economy * Promoting environmentally sustainable growth Australia and Vietnam have a strong and mutually beneficial relationship, cemented in the Declaration on Enhancing the Australia-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, signed in 2015, and supported by the suite of initiatives identified in the Plan of Action 2016-2019, signed by Foreign Ministers in November 2016. This transformation will help boost the comprehensive partnership between the two countries in the years to come, said Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Craig Chittick. Australia has had development cooperation with Vietnam for 26 years. Support from Australia has covered a wide range of development areas, in line with nations socio-economic development plans. In the single financial year 2016 - 2017, Australias estimated aid to Vietnam is AUD83.6 million, making Vietnam the sixth largest recipient of Australian aid. Australian development cooperation activities are guided by a five year Aid Investment Plan (2016 - 2020), where Australian support will focus on three key priorities, enabling and engaging the private sector for development; assisting the development and employment of a highly skilled workforce; and promoting womens economic empowerment, including ethnic minorities. These priorities reflect Vietnams development needs and the areas where Australia can add value./. A view of Da Nang city at night (Photo: VNA) Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Ho Ky Minh said the seminar aimed to provide Shandongs businesses with an insight into the citys investment environment, advantages and potential as well as its development orientations.It was also a chance for enterprises of the two localities to seek partners, especially in the field of hi-tech agriculture, Minh added.Wang Jun Min, an official of Shandong, said his province has been taking the lead in China in terms of agricultural production and export. It has been ranking first in terms of agricultural export revenue for 17 consecutive years, making up one-fourth of Chinas total farm produce export earnings.As Shandong holds a lot of advantages in agriculture and machinery manufacturing, it will encourage Vietnamese firms, including those from Da Nang, to invest in these areas.Wang hoped that Da Nang will provide favourable conditions for Shandong enterprises to invest in the city, and that more Vietnamese key agricultural products will be exported to Shandong and vice versa.Shandong province also wants to cooperate with Da Nang in the industry and service sectors, he added.In 2016, Da Nang earned USD22 million from exports to China while importing USD210 million worth of goods from this country. By the end of March 2017, the city had housed 12 FDI projects invested by Chinese companies with total capital of USD6.2 million./. A lot of fans are now getting pretty excited for the film sequel "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." While the list of cast members has already been out for the movie, there are still many unanswered secrets that enthusiasts are dying to know. One, in particular, is Sylvester Stallone's mysterious character in the film. Many Marvel enthusiasts have already tried to predict who will Stallone play in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" but to no avail. Luckily, film director James Gunn has released a minor teaser for the fans to help them figure out who the actor will play in the movie. He told the enthusiasts to "look for clues" about Stallone's character during his recent talk with Yahoo Movies. Unfortunately, Gunn did not go into further details about Stallone's role in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." He did, however, offer a bit more of a hint to the viewers, and told that he is a "very important part of the Marvel cosmic universe." Because of this, fans are now back to their speculation about the role. Nerdist, on its report last week, has already had a character in mind for Stallone's role in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." The first character that he could play in the sequel is a Nova corps member. This is all due to the set rumor about his costume being similar to Judge Dredd - the character he portrayed in the past. If this is the case, then he could definitely play as Jesse Alexander in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." As said in the report, Jesse is the missing father of Sam Alexander, the current Nova in the Marvel universe. It should be noted that this is unofficial and it is just a fan speculation. With that being said, this theory should be taken with a pinch of salt. More clues about the matter should emerge in the coming days or weeks. "Days of Our Lives" spoilers tease that many events will happen in Salem and they mostly involve complicated relationships. Firstly, Brady confessed his love for Nicole while Chad and Abigail will try to make their marriage work this second time around, through the renewal of vows. However, things do not always work in the way people wants them to be and these resulted in heartaches and conflicts. Firstly, Deimos already knows that Nicole ran away after forcibly taking baby Holly from Chloe. He also learned that Nicole was able to escape because Brady was helping her and this is where the problem lies. As mentioned on Soap Hub, it was from Victor where Deimos learned about Brady accompanying Nicole as she hid with her daughter. He is furious about this because Nicole was her woman not long ago and now she is on the run with another man. "Days of Our Lives" spoilers revealed that Deimos just could not accept the fact that his woman ran to someone else for help even if she knows he can provide her better assistance with his extensive resources. Then again, what Deimos did not realize is that Nicole is trying to get him completely out of her life due to his bad ways and dangerous nature which can make things worse for her. In fact, it is likely that her relationship with Deimos was one reason why she lost in the custody case for Holly. Elsewhere, "Days of Our Lives" teaser shows that Chad and Abigail are planning to hold a marriage vow renewal. The couple believes that this is the best way to make their relationship stronger and strengthen their commitment to one another. However, it may not push through as Kate entered the picture. According to Celebrity Dirty Laundry, Kate does not think that the couple's plan of renewing their vow is a good idea. She will approach Chad and tells him straight that leaving Abigail and settling with Gabi is the better decision. She will try hard to convince Chad that being with Gabi will make him happier since he might only be staying with Abigail out of his sense of obligation. Finally, the latest "Days of Our Lives" spoilers indicate that Abigail will witness how Kate is trying to persuade Chad to leave her and she will wonder if her husband agrees with Kate. In the end, Chad will assure Abigail that all that he wants is to repair their marriage. Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle's alleged feud has been circulating as the "Suits" actress relationship with Prince Harry becomes more intimate. Pippa Middleton's wedding is one of the most anticipated events for the followers of the royal family. Fans are curious to know if Prince Harry's girlfriend will attend the family gathering. While there are rumors that Meghan Markle is not invited to Pippa Middleton's wedding, persons concerned has still to comment. The alleged Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle's feud have sparked more rumors that the actress will not attend the joyous event in spite of Prince Harry's clamor. Last year, some fans were also curious if the alleged Middleton and Meghan Markle's feud will stop Prince Harry and his girlfriend from spending the Christmas together. The tradition usually happens at the Sandringham House in Norfolk where almost all royal family members get together. The Telegraph reports that Kate Middleton and Prince William, and their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte, did not join the royal Christmas celebration last year. Meghan Markle has been reported to be handling the media attention very well. Recently, Meghan Markle was invited to be a counselor at the yearly One Young World summit together with other world leaders and humanitarians according to a report by News.com.au. This is something Princess Diana is well known for. With this latest news, some followers speculate that the alleged Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle's feud is growing. Is Prince Harry's girlfriend trying to be the next Princess Diana? Meghan Markle has been one of the 1,300 leaders who attended the summit in Ottawa to discuss various campaigns and life changing work. Do you think Prince Harry's girlfriend is trying to be the next Princess Diana? What would Kate Middleton say about it? Tell us what you think and stay tuned to Enstarz for the latest news and update on the royal family. Source: VNA National Assembly Vice Chairman Phung Quoc Hien, who is also head of the steering committee for organising the congress, said that the event is an important politic and diplomatic event of Vietnam, contributing to the implementation of its foreign policy.Through the event, Vietnam also hopes to learn knowledge and experience from the ASOSAI members and attract resources to enhance the capacity of the Vietnam State Audit, said Hien.He asked agencies to coordinate together closely in holding the event and increase the dissemination of information, while taking advantage of the congress to introduce the images of a reformed, dynamic and friendly Vietnam, which is a safe destination for investment, business and tourism.The ASOSAI Congress is held every three years, gathering delegates of supreme audit institutions of member countries, regional audit organisations, INTOSAI representatives, development partners and sponsors.The congress aims to decide major issues of the organization, including the election of an executive board as well as approving the posts of President and Secretary General for the new tenure.The theme of the 14th congress is Environmental Audit for Sustainable Development, which is proposed by the Vietnam State Audit and has been supported by member institutions.Established in 1979, the ASOSAI had 11 founding members and its current membership reaches 46. The organization aims to promote cooperation and friendship among its members to improve quality and effectiveness in public audit, while connecting regional audit institutions with those in other regions across the globe./. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. For daily updates and all the latest breaking news sent straight to your inbox sign up to our daily newsletter A brand new 1 coin was launched on March 28 by The Royal Mint, so here is everything that you need to know. The latest design, which includes several security features to lower the chances of counterfeit coins being created, will replace the 'round pound' that was first introduced in the country over 30 years ago. The Royal Mint have also confirmed that any current 1 coins will be refused from shops and vending machines from October 15 this year! From that point onwards, the current 1 coin will no longer be deemed as legal tender in the United Kingdom, so if you have any laying around in piggy banks or cash saving, you might want to consider using them up. Recent stats show that since their launch back on April 1983, around 2.2 billion coins are believed to currently be in circulation - although an additional 45 million fake counterfeit coins are also said to be floating around the country. The 'most secure coin in the world' The new-look 12-sided 1 coin will be "the most secure circulating coin in the world", the Royal Mint has claimed. One of its most advanced security features include a hologram which changes from a '' symbol to the number '1' when the coin is seen from different angles. Royal Mint chief executive Adam Lawrence said: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to support Her Majesty's Treasury in modernising the iconic 1 coin and helping to re-define the world of coinage. "Made from two different metals and including ground-breaking technology developed at The Royal Mint, this new 12-sided coin will be the most secure circulating coin in the world." (Image: Jack Taylor) Discussing any rare editions that budding collectors should watch for, Lawrence revealed the Mint will strike a billion of the new coins, which are made from two types of metal, before its launch in March. It will feature the national flora of the UK's four countries emerging from a coronet. Director of the Royal Mint Museum, Dr Kevin Clancy, said: "This year we also mark the achievements of Jane Austen, Sir Isaac Newton and The Royal Flying Corps all pioneers in their own field. "The British public should start to see these coins appearing in their change from spring 2017." It's time to cash in your old coins before they become void. People are being urged to return the 1 coins before they lose their legal tender status. They can either spend them before October 15 or bank them now. If you have any coins in your savings or loose change lying around, you can start using them up, or opt for one of the following: From 28 March, you'll be able to take your coins to your local Post Office branch where you can exchange them for the new editions. Alternatively, head to your local bank branch and deposit the amount into a savings account. You can do this as early as now, or after 15 October 2017. What will happen after October 15? Many banks and building societies will continue to accept the old pound coin even after October 15, although Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds/Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, RBS and Santander have said they will only offer this service for their own customers. After 15 October, you'll still be able to deposit round 1 coins into your bank account, however, this is at the discretion of your local bank so it is recommended that you consult with them directly. Some of the round 1 coins returned by the public will be melted down and reused to make the new 1 coin. What does the new coin look like? (Image: Justin Tallis) The new coin is made of two metals, with a gold-coloured outer ring and a silver-coloured inner ring. It has an image that changes from a "" symbol to the number "1" when the coin is seen from different angles. It also has very small lettering on both sides of the coin and milled edges. It is thinner and lighter than the round pound, but its diameter is slightly larger. 1 coin factfile Here are some facts about the new 1 coin and coins generally produced by the Royal Mint: The Royal Mint has produced over 2.2 billion round pound coins since 1983 - equating to the weight of nearly 6,000 elephants Twenty five different designs have appeared on the pound coin, from dragons to trees The Royal Mint will make over 1.5 billion of the new 1 coins If you put these coins side by side, there would be enough to go from the UK to New Zealand and back The new 1 coin is based on the design of the old 12-sided threepenny bit, which went out of circulation in 1971 It is being made at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales, at a rate of up to 2,000 each minute Some of the round 1 coins returned by the public will be melted down and reused to make the new 1 coin The oldest British coins in the Royal Mint's collection date back over 2,000 years. The European Union is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and jihadism following the horrendous terrorist attacks that have taken place in France, Germany and Belgium as well as in Turkey, Tunisia and elsewhere in the world. The main of objective of the attacks is to instill fear in the minds of the people and attack urban populations and thus induce a high state of well-publicized terror. While some attacks were carried out by lone wolves young people who had been radicalized others were well-coordinated, complex attacks by groups of militants. The carefully schemed attacks have emphasized the vulnerability and threat to Europe from a fanatic minority. A network of people born and raised in Europe was often radicalized in a very short period of time, proving that it is willing to act as facilitators and active accomplices in terrorism. Moreover, their attacks have exposed the general ineffectiveness of counter-terrorism policies across the continent, thus making jihadist radicalization one of the most serious threats to European security and to the values that the European Union is based on. In order to counter the ideological roots of jihadist radicalization, it is important to mobilize expert knowledge, fundamental democratic principles and civil society players all across Europe. Jihadists are very skillful at using online platforms and social media to lure and recruit followers, which poses a multi-dimensional challenge to policymakers. Countering extremist propaganda is therefore just as vital as promoting positive alternative narratives. Furthermore, the EU should focus on streamlining counter-radicalization efforts in the EUs foreign and security policy through further EU contributions to the global coalition against the ISIS/Daesh, a dialogue with affected third countries and more effective multilateralism. Jihadist radicalization is just one of the many serious issues affecting Europe nowadays, including the rise of populism and refugee crisis. However, it is an insidious challenge crossing ideological, socio-economic and technological domains, which in turn represents a test for the ultimate political resilience of the bloc. Moreover, it is also a test for the EUs ability to secure citizens security, the fundamental principles governing their democracies as well as the essential cohesion of their evolving societies. The Challenge of Jihadist Radicalisation In Europe and Beyond A Study by a Team of Authors European Policy Center (EPC). (The Commentary can be downloaded here) As I understand it, the banns are supposed to be published in the location of residence of each of the respective members of the couple. When I got married here in France, I had to establish residence here in France (for 40 days prior to the marriage) or else the banns would have had to be published in my prior residence (which at the time was in Germany, where I had been living). Normally, in France, the banns are posted for 10 days - though there are a few countries (Italy, being one of them) where local law requires a longer period of posting. A French person can marry overseas without publishing the banns - however, it seems to be more and more required these days if the couple hopes to be able to get a livret de famille (usually for getting a visa for the non-French spouse). If your fiance will not be establishing residence in Bangladesh, then yes, the banns will have to posted in his place of residence in France. In your case, I expect there will have to be some sort of interview, seeing as where you say you have not yet met. That can become a "red flag" issue, and is one of the reasons they ask for an interview prior to the marriage. I don't know if they would expect you to have such an interview as part of the posting of the banns, though. Cheers, Bev An oil and gas investment company owned by San Antonio billionaire B.J. Red McCombs is suing seven former executives, accusing them of taking trade secrets to launch a competing business and severing relationships that spanned four decades. The group was driven by greed when they started F4 Resources in Houston using McCombs Energys confidential and proprietary information, according to the lawsuit filed this week in Bexar County district court. The McCombs business is suing former President William Bill Forney Jr., Chief Financial Officer Ricky Haikin, vice president of operations Larry Wyont, vice president of land Charles Forney and vice president of geology Philip Forney. William Billy Forney III and John Johnny Forney, who served as McCombs Energy vice presidents, also are named in the suit. Some of the executives had worked with McCombs for decades. Bill Forney Jr. worked with McCombs for about 44 years. Haikin and Wyonts LinkedIn pages indicate they each worked at McCombs Energy, and apparently its predecessor, for 37 years. McCombs formed Houston-based McCombs Energy in 1998 by merging his 50 percent interest in the partnership of Forney & McCombs with newly purchased assets of Forney Oil Co., the San Antonio Express-News reported at the time. McCombs also consolidated his other energy holdings into McCombs Energy. Messages left with McCombs office and with five of the defendants were not immediately returned. Calls to two other defendants went unanswered. Forbes magazine last week valued McCombs fortune at $1.6 billion, ranking him at No. 1,290 on a list of the worlds billionaires. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, says the ex-executives formed F4 Resources in 2015 while still employed by McCombs Energy. F4 Resources was intended to replicate McCombs Energys business model, the suit says. This is plain from an October 2016 Financing Memorandum prepared by F4 Resources for use in raising a hoped-for $50,000,000.00 in capital, the suit alleges. The document is replete with references to McCombs Energy and its operations. Included in the document was McCombs Energys proprietary information, such geological information, pricing data and business methods, the suit adds. The executives betrayed their fiduciary duties by accessing McCombs Energys computer systems and data without effective consent, the lawsuit states. They also charged expenses related to F4 Resources formation to McCombs Energy, the suit says. Any energy-related transactions which F4 Resources has engaged were corporate opportunities of McCombs Energy, the lawsuit claims. McCombs Energy wants the court to order the defendants to forfeit any profits and compensation they received from F4 Resources, or have the money placed in a trust. McCombs Energy also says the defendants should be compelled to turn over all compensation they received from the company while they were breaching their fiduciary duties. Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot. At the time McCombs Energy was formed, the Express-News reported McCombs bought more than 30 producing wells and about 10,000 acres of oil and gas leases from Forney & McCombs. McCombs said he would look for exploration opportunities and reserve acquisitions, particularly in the Midwest and the southeast. McCombs Energy also says it was shortchanged on payouts on its investment in Houston-based GHI Energy, which purchases and sells energy-related credits and petroleum products. McCombs Energy formed McCombs GHI in 2013 to invest in GHI Energy. McCombs Energy alleges its stake in McCombs GHI shrank when its interests were diverted to Bill Forney Jr. and his sons William Billy Forney III and John Johnny Forney. McCombs Energy says it ended up with a 30 percent ownership interest rather than full ownership in McCombs GHI. The defendants seized an investment opportunity belonging to McCombs Energy and manipulated it so that McCombs realized a payout disproportionately smaller than its investments, the suit adds. The lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in actual damages, as well as interest, attorneys fees and court costs. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Airbnb, the short-term rental service that upended hotel markets in New York, San Francisco and Miami, is starting to cut into profits for hoteliers in Texas and attract attention from local lawmakers. San Antonio officials, led by District 10 Councilman Mike Gallagher, are looking at regulating rentals on sites like Airbnb and HomeAway Inc., where homeowners and apartment dwellers can rent out their entire place or a spare room on a nightly basis often at a fraction of the cost of a nights stay at a traditional hotel. Airbnb has taken several cities to court, including New York and San Francisco, for overreaching on rules overseeing short-term rental properties. The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, representing property owners, is suing the city of Austin over new rental restrictions it adopted last year. Thats prompted Texas Republicans to introduce statewide legislation designed to prevent cities from overreaching. Gallaghers office took notice of the issue as the number of complaints about rowdy houses and crowded street parking increased in recent months, he said. If you buy a home in a quiet neighborhood and thats what youve invested your money in, is that what youre going to have if you end up essentially with a motel next to you? Gallagher said in a phone interview. San Antonios zoning laws dont currently allow for short-term rentals, Gallagher said. He raised concerns over whether properties are safe for visitors and short-term residents and whether short-term rental companies and proprietors should pay hotel-motel occupancy taxes. Constituents in Gallaghers district which encompasses most of the citys Northeast Side have complained to his office that short-term renters are soaking up parking and sparking privacy concerns among permanent residents, he said. The rise of short-term rentals has riled hotel chains and owners who see companies like Airbnb and HomeAway as infringing on their territory and, in some cases, avoiding taxes paid by hotels and motels. We support the competition, but we want an even playing field when it comes to them paying hotel occupancy taxes and being held to the same regulations, said Bill Petrella, executive director of the San Antonio Hotel and Lodging Association. Currently, the city does not enforce the collection of hotel occupancy taxes on short-term rental properties. Gallagher has asked city staff to look over existing city ordinances and examine best practices for regulating short-term rentals in other U.S. cities, he said, including whether to register host properties with the city, enact policies that enhance safety in the industry and require short-term rentals to remit hotel occupancy taxes. City leaders arent eager to enter another drawn out tug of war with the so-called sharing economy. The City Council voted in December to allow ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft to continue operating in San Antonio after years of rancorous debate between the companies and officials amid outcry from the taxi industry. At least four of Gallaghers fellow council members have thrown their weight behind the effort, according to the San Antonio Hotel and Lodging Association: District 1s Roberto Trevino, District 2s Alan Warrick, District 4s Rey Saldana and District 7s Cris Medina. Gallagher said they dont want to ban the industry altogether. What I want to do is just make sure that nobody gets into trouble, Gallagher said. Were looking at this from all parties and making sure that everybody is properly protected, including people who are renting out their rooms. City officials have held at least two meetings with short-term rental hosts as well as the residents who live near the properties, Gallagher said. Home sharing helps families in San Antonio earn a little extra money to pay their bills, Laura Spanjian, Airbnbs Texas public policy director, said in a statement. We are committed to working with the city on common sense regulations for home sharing and are willing to work to reach an agreement to voluntarily collect and remit taxes on behalf of our hosts, like we do in more than 220 communities around the world. Local property owners who use the services to rent out their homes said they would support potential safety or privacy regulations but not additional taxes. Deborah Davis, a local real estate agent and Airbnb host, rents out a one-story house she owns about a block from her home in northwestern Bexar County. Davis said her neighbors havent complained about her short-term tenants generally military families or people between homes. A hotel occupancy tax would just be passed on to visitors and raise their costs, she said. Its going to affect travelers more than the homeowner, Davis said. Those higher costs could deter tourists who gravitate to Airbnb and other short-term rental services because of lower prices, said Suzanne Ervin, a Rackspace employee who hosts Airbnb travelers at her one-story home in Dignowity Hill near downtown San Antonio. Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot. If theyre charging guests, that might deter tourism in the area a little bit, Ervin said. The new effort by San Antonio leaders arrives as Republican state lawmakers move legislation seen by the industry as setting boundaries on what municipalities can do to regulate short-term rentals. Two bills filed in the state House and Senate would limit how Texas cities regulate short-term rentals and prevent them from banning the practice outright. Last year, the Austin City Council passed measures that would eventually phase out short-term rentals by landlords who dont live in the residence listed for rental a phenomenon that has reportedly given rise to party houses packed with obnoxious partygoers who blare loud music, leave behind heaps of trash and soak up scarce parking in Austin neighborhoods. But short-term rentals are still allowed in Austin if hosts are renting out their permanent residence for use. In October, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked to intervene in a Travis County lawsuit brought by the right-leaning Texas Public Policy Foundation on behalf of Austin homeowners objecting to the new rules. Depending on what shape the San Antonio regulations take, the city could risk courting similar legal action. Airbnb sued New York City last year over a state law that wouldve required the company to pay thousands of dollars in fines for illegally hosting properties on its website. Its currently illegal in New York to rent out an apartment for fewer than 30 days. Airbnb later settled with New York City leaders, provided the city levy the steep fines against listers and not the company itself. And the San Francisco-based company is working to settle a lawsuit against officials in its hometown over city rules that would penalize Airbnb if it listed properties from landlords who havent properly registered with the city. jfechter@express-news.net Twitter: @JFreports This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate President Donald Trump on Friday ordered a comprehensive study to identify every form of trade abuse that contributes to U.S. deficits with foreign countries. The theft of American prosperity will end, Trump said at an Oval Office ceremony announcing the study, along with another directive to step up enforcement of existing trade penalties. Thousands of factories have been stolen from our country, but these voiceless Americans now have a voice in the White House. Trump announced the trade initiatives less than a week before his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, leader of the country Trump has blamed most frequently for trade deficits and job losses. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who briefed reporters in advance, said the two executive actions werent intended as a warning to China. The trade study, to be completed within 90 days, will examine deficits country by country and product by product to assess the extent they are caused by cheating or inappropriate behavior, Ross said. He said the findings, which also will cover currency misalignments, disadvantageous provisions in trade deals and constraints imposed by the World Trade Organization, will help guide Trumps trade policies. Trump also ordered strengthened enforcement of existing countervailing duties and anti-dumping penalties against foreign products to address undercollection, said Peter Navarro, director of the White House National Trade Council. Anti-dumping penalties target exporters that sell goods below the cost of production and countervailing duties are intended to compensate for foreign-government subsidies to producers. Navarro said such duties have been undercollected by a cumulative $2.8 billion since 2001. Last year, the nation collected $1.5 billion in the penalties, he said. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a longtime critic of U.S. free-trade deals, mocked Trumps directives as underwhelming. Working and middle class Americans deserve real actions to level the playing field with fair trade, DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, said in an emailed statement. While initiating a new federal report is a common way to avoid fixing problems, the real test will be whether the Administration takes action to create jobs and reduce the trade deficit. Trump made addressing what he called unfair foreign trade practices a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. At the Oval Office ceremony Friday, he said public discontent over trade is probably one of the main reasons Im here today. One of Trumps first acts as president was to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal his predecessor negotiated. Yet key promises, such as renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, imposing border taxes on companies that move production overseas and labeling China a currency manipulator, remained unfulfilled. Trump sent out a tweet Thursday evening suggesting he remains irritated with China over trade. The meeting next week with China will be a very difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses, Trump said via his Twitter account. American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives. Ross echoed that criticism in an interview Friday with Bloomberg Television. My view is that the United States is about the least protectionist of the major countries and that China is one of the most protectionist, Ross said. Theres an inherent clash between those two even though China uses a tremendous amount of free-trade rhetoric. China is the biggest U.S. trade partner, as well as the nation running up the biggest deficit in trade of goods $347 billion in 2016, almost half of the U.S. total. But China also is among the top three export markets for 33 states. Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot. At a White House briefing for reporters previewing Fridays actions that began barely 15 minutes after Trumps tweets on China, Navarro dismissed questions about whether the orders should be read as a warning to the nation. Nothing were saying tonight is about China, Navarro said at a Thursday evening briefing. Lets not make this a story about China. This is a story about trade abuses. Navarro said the administration will seek better collection of duties imposed as trade penalties by directing the secretary of homeland security to work with the U.S. Trade representative and Commerce Department to impose bonding requirements and take other legal actions based on risk assessments. Another goal is to step up the seizure of counterfeit and pirated goods, Navarro said. The White House on Thursday also distanced itself from a document suggesting it was softening its goals for a renegotiation of NAFTA. A letter sent to key members of Congress as part of a consultation process required before triggering a renegotiation suggested the administration would seek more modest changes and would leave in place controversial pieces of the trade deal, including an arbitration panel that lets investors bypass the court system to redress claims under the pact. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday that the letter is not an accurate statement of where we are at this time. Dirty jokes and NSFW GIFs. Snaps of unsuspecting colleagues on the trading floor. Screenshots of confidential client positions. All that and, on occasion, even legally dubious information is increasingly being trafficked over the new private lines of Wall Street: encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal. From traders to bankers and money managers, just about everyone in finance is embracing these apps as an easy, and virtually untraceable, way to circumvent compliance, get around the HR police and keep bosses in the dark. And its happening despite the industrys efforts to crack down on unmonitored communications, according to conversations with employees at more than a dozen of Wall Streets most recognizable firms. Just this week, a former Jefferies Group banker was fined in the U.K. for sharing confidential data on WhatsApp. In many ways, the development reflects a cultural shift. At big banks and small shops alike, rowdy trading desks and the boys-will-be-boys ethos are no longer tolerated, at least publicly. But the widespread use of encrypted apps is also raising a deeper concern: It could enable reckless behavior thats all but impossible to police and lead to abuses like the chat-room scandals involving Libor manipulation and currency rigging. Youre really able to operate outside of the bank, said William McGovern, a former SEC branch chief and senior lawyer at Morgan Stanley who now works at law firm Kobre & Kim. We have seen in our investigations that the ground is shifting under everyone, and technology changes are driving a lot of it. The rules are clear. Financial firms need to keep records of all written business communications, no matter how innocuous, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Asset managers are bound by similar regulations. Representatives for Wall Street banks, including those at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup, say they have various policies in place to prevent unmonitored communications and unauthorized access to confidential information. They routinely check emails and chats on company devices, restrict personal phones and messaging services on trading floors and require employees to sign agreements prohibiting unmonitored communications for work. In January, Deutsche Bank banned text messages and apps such as WhatsApp and Apples iMessage on company phones globally to improve compliance standards. Across finance, the nearly two dozen employees who spoke with Bloomberg say those policies are routinely ignored and the use of personal phones for work is a fact of life. No one would speak on the record for fear of losing their jobs. When asked about the widespread use of unauthorized apps, SEC spokeswoman Judith Burns declined to comment. A big reason more and more Wall Street types have turned to messaging apps is because they are tired of having every written word work-related or not ingested into vast, Big Brother-like databases and scrutinized for tone and taste in ways that strike many as overbearing. Theyve learned even the slightest misinterpretation can land them in hot water not only with compliance, but with prosecutors on the lookout for financial crimes. Some clients also prefer those apps to communicate. Ignoring those messages would be bad for business (not to mention how awkward it can be to try and steer conversations back onto monitored systems). Many clients are friends, and vice versa. Financial firms have long grappled with new technologies think email, chat rooms or instant messaging software such as BlackBerrys BBM and how to balance the privacy of their employees with the need to comply with securities laws. (Bloombergs message and IB chat services enable firms to set up alerts and restrictions to help enforce compliance.) But in this perennial cat-and-mouse game, its gotten harder for compliance to keep up. Popular texting apps, such as iMessage, already route conversations around most systems that financial firms use to monitor emails and chats. The proliferation of end-to-end encryption services, which can automatically delete messages as soon as they are read, including Mark Cubans Dust, Confide and Signal (which is recommended by the likes of Edward Snowden and others worried about government surveillance), makes things even harder. Foreign-language apps such as Chinas WeChat pose an added language problem for compliance monitors. Theyre always behind, said Jack Rader, a managing director at ACA Compliance Group, which sets up monitoring systems for financial services companies to flag potential regulatory problems. Its almost impossible for a compliance department within buyside or sellside firms to stay ahead of communications technology that is available for employees. How encrypted messaging is used varies widely on Wall Street. At the big banks, employees will often use such apps to share gossip, tell clients during morning sales meetings what theyre looking to buy and sell (often within sight of their bosses) or even boast about a particularly profitable trade, the people said. A dont ask, dont tell mindset prevails. After betting big on Brexit, junk-bond traders at one of Wall Streets largest banks crowed about plans for a blowout celebration in a large WhatsApp chat group that included friends from rival firms. Others say the apps are crucial because theyre faster and more convenient than the monitored software their own firms provide. Several employees at one multibillion-dollar hedge fund set up a WhatsApp group chat to regularly exchange market intelligence with one another, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Its particularly useful if there is a big market move and for money managers traveling to far-flung places who need to be reachable at a moments notice. For more sensitive matters, they turn to Signal. The app can be set to delete messages from both the sender and receiver in as little as five seconds. Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot. Occasionally, the use of personal phones has enabled conduct that would be construed as legally problematic, compliance experts say. At least one investment bank has debt salesmen who routinely send screenshots of chats showing one hedge funds positions to another client to win more orders, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. If you look the other way on this, its only going to get worse, said Warren Small, who teaches a program at Middlebury Institute of International Studies for students seeking careers investigating financial crimes, including with the FBI and the Department of Justice. With financial transactions, temptations and the rewards are just too great. On Thursday, U.K. regulators said they fined Christopher Niehaus, who worked at Jefferies, about $46,000 for sharing confidential client information via WhatsApp while boasting to a personal acquaintance and a friend. The messages came to light after an unrelated complaint led him to voluntarily hand over his phone to Jefferies, a person with knowledge of the situation said. (Jefferies spokesman Richard Khaleel and Niehaus attorney declined to comment.) While the authorities said none of the parties in the Jefferies incident traded on the information, its not hard to see how things could get worse. In December, Navnoor Kang, a money manager responsible for $50 billion of New York states pension fund investments, was indicted for accepting at least $180,000 of bribes from two bond salesmen, including a $17,400 watch, prostitutes and cocaine, in return for business that generated millions in commissions. According to the indictment, Kang and one of the salesmen, Gregg Schonhorn, used WhatsApp in an effort to keep their communications from being monitored by law enforcement. Mark Geragos, an attorney for Kang, who pleaded not guilty in January, said in an email that the WhatsApp messages were benign. Spokesmen for FTN Financial, Schonhorns former firm, and the U.S. Attorneys office, declined to comment. Schonhorn, who pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government, didnt respond to a request for comment. To some Wall Street types, the big surprise wasnt just the alleged crime, but that they didnt delete the incriminating WhatsApp messages. If they had, compliance experts say authorities would have less to go on because WhatsApp itself doesnt store users encrypted messages. Plus, for the most sensitive conversations, employees say they still prefer calling on mobile phones they know arent monitored, even though theres a remote possibility those records could be subpoenaed. Investment banks regularly monitor only certain trading-floor lines; and at least until 2018, financial firms generally arent required to record employees calls. Regardless, firms are getting better at spotting the telltale signs when an employee wants to go rogue, Rader says. Because so many traders and salesmen rely on persistent chats to talk with clients, banks have taken a page from prosecutors and implemented software to immediately flag phrases such as check your phone, sent you a text, take this offline or call my cell. Some are set up to find the names of specific messaging programs. While programs designed to detect unwanted behavior will keep improving, technology can only go so far in keeping Wall Street firms on the right side of the law. When Rader talks to them about compliance, he sometimes encounters pushback from the heads of sales and trading desks, especially because profits are at stake. That raises a whole host of thorny questions, according to Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigans Ross School of Business. Are the firms really doing whats reasonable in trying to stop this? he mused. Or are they sort of wink-winking? The principal of Southside High School resigned Wednesday after community backlash over a 2012 family violence charge in Harris County. Nathaniel Session had intended to leave his job at the end of June, according to a letter sent this month to Mark Eads, superintendent of the Southside Independent School District. He subsequently moved his resignation date to Wednesday, according to Sylvia Rincon, district spokeswoman. Working here has been one of the highlights of my career and Im very proud of what my staff and my students have been able to accomplish in such a short period of time, Session said in the March 3 letter. He was hired for the 2016-17 school year. He could not be reached Thursday for comment. Session was arrested Oct. 30, 2012, and the Harris County Sheriffs Office charged him with assault causing bodily injury to a family member, according to records from the Texas Department of Public Safety. The offense is a class A misdemeanor. He received deferred adjudication about four months later, with a year of probation and a $200 fine. Southside ISD conducts criminal background checks on all candidates for employment, Rincon said. Under state law, districts can decide whether to hire candidates with misdemeanor family violence charges, according to Debbie Ratcliffe, spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency. Southside policy states that the district shall disqualify from employment a person whose criminal history indicates that the person poses a threat to students or employees. It also stipulates the district take into account various factors including the amount of time that has elapsed since the incident and its adjudication. Due to the confidentiality of personnel records, it was not clear whether Eads was made aware of Sessions charge before he was hired. Southside ISD trustee Norberto Chavez said Sessions criminal history set a bad example for students and staff. I think there should be stricter guidelines, Chavez said. amalik@express-news.net Twitter: @AliaAtSAEN As the Texas Department of Transportation winds up its 100th anniversary celebration this month, its an ideal time to clarify a curious Texas highway tradition. The thousand or so newcomers who make Texas home each day might have noticed a little idiosyncrasy in the way locals speak of U.S. interstate highways. Unlike folks in 49 other states, they add an H to the abbreviation. To cite as examples the three that slash across San Antonio, they say IH-35, IH-10 and IH-37. That H is like fingernails across a chalkboard, said TxDOT spokesman Josh Donat, a non-Texan officially speaking only for himself and some H-eschewing sympathizers within the agency. We get calls about it all the time. It even confuses some peoples GPS systems. Its ingrained in Texans, countered a chuckling Dale Picha, TxDOT traffic operations manager and Aggie engineer. Thats the way weve always done it. Well, not entirely. TxDOT veterans say the quirky two-letter convention for the interstates started around 1956, when President Dwight Eisenhower signed into law the Federal Aid Highway Act and created the nations interstate highways. In Austin, home to state government, engineers at the agency then known as the highway department reportedly thought that the federal interstates should adhere to the two-letter Texas nomenclature for its roads, such as FM (farm to market), RR (ranch road) and SH (state highway). While the rest of the nation thought the simple I was sufficient think of the money saved in ink and paint Donat said Texans clung to their peculiar IH as though it were a mothballed stadium blanket from the Southwest Conference. But TxDOT documents have gone back and forth on the usages for decades, and the agencys website is not entirely consistent, either. And Donat admits to fist pumping when he surreptitiously deletes an offending H from a PowerPoint presentation. And while Roger Polson, an official historian for TxDOTs centennial, himself made the lone I the preferred option in a 1990 agency style guide, drivers in San Antonio can see TxDOT electronic bulletin boards alerting them that IH-35 traffic is running slower than turtle soup. The San Antonio Express-News and most media outlets dump the H. But many Texas businesses located along the interstates feel right at home with it. Its a lonely fight, Donat said. The engineers wont give up easily. I fear we could go the way of those who defended the Alamo. bselcraig@express-news.net THE CENTRAL ORGAN OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF VIETNAM The Voice of the party, State and Vietnamese people on the internet Notify: The requested content was not found or the content is invalid! Dimmit County officials have arrested an immigrant from El Salvador who they say was in the country illegally and kidnapped a woman and tried to use her car to get to Houston. Carlos Monge Hernandez, 22, was being held on charges of aggravated kidnapping and burglary of a habitation with intent to commit a felony, said Luciano Quintanilla, the chief deputy for the Dimmit County Sheriffs Office. According to the Border Patrol, the victim had been providing her abductor with food and water for three days before the March 22 kidnapping attempt. The illegal immigrant, he made himself a little camp and he was living out there, and then I guess he wanted to get to Houston and kidnapped her, Quintanilla said. He was going to try to take her against her will. He had the keys to the car and her cellphone. She was tied up, she was forced, he added. She was knocked down on the ground. She had not a bad injury, but she still wound up in the hospital, from the shock. Before her abductor could start the car, the woman escaped, according to law enforcement officials. She jumped out of the car and was able to get away, Quntanilla said. I think he panicked and started running away. In a news release, the Border Patrol said K-9 units found the Salvadoran man unconscious in the brush. He was treated at a hospital, then taken to jail. The area where the woman lives south of the county seat of Carrizo Springs is heavily trafficked by immigrants trying to hike around the Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. 83, Quintanilla said. Its rare that encounters with immigrants in the brush end violently, although car thefts are not unheard of, he said. This is one of the first incidents in our area with somebody being kidnapped, he said. The other incident we had, it was the other way around. Some of the citizens here had the immigrants they had them against their will and they were getting money from them. Six people, including a member of the Zetas drug cartel, were convicted in 2015 of federal crimes related to what prosecutors said was a conspiracy to kidnap immigrants near Carrizo Springs and extort money from them. Sone of the victims were tortured and raped, according to prosecutors. jbuch@express-news.net Twitter: @jlbuch Its all-you-can-eat barbecue, cool margaritas and a chance at hot Spurs game tickets today at the 2017 Margarita Fest, benefiting Special Olympics Texas. The fiesta, sponsored by Special Olympics and the Law Enforcement Torch Run, will be 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Smoke The Restaurant,1170 East Commerce St. Tickets are $35 each. Theres thunderstorms in the forecast for today, but officials say, if that happenes, Margarita Fest will just move inside. SAPD Sgt. Tom Alonzo, Special Olympics Texas chairman of planning and development for the San Antonio area, said its the first time theyve hosted the tasting, a change from last years wine-tasting event. Special Olympics has numerous sporting events every year for about 11,000 athletes in the San Antonio area. jbeltran@express-news.net Twitter: @JBfromSA This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The two young men strumming classical guitars at the Franklin Park Alamo Heights assisted living facility one recent afternoon could have been the great-grandsons of some of the dozen residents gathered for a private concert in the chandelier-lit conference room. Nodding in time, the residents watched Carlos Guevara and Sean Kithas playing Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucias song, Entre dos Aguas (Between Two Waters). After the duet and solos, the new fans applauded the music students from the University of Texas at San Antonio guitar program. Audience member Rose Mary Smith told the pair she enjoyed their performance and thought she had heard a Beatles run in one of the songs. Theyre both excellent, Smith, 83, said. I think the program is unique, its very appealing, especially for the older people that live here. The two young guitarists, unusual as it might seem to some, are the newest residents at the Alamo Heights and Franklin Park Sonterra communities. Guevara and Kithas have been chosen as the inaugural musicians-in-residence at the two Franklin Park senior communities. That means 21-year-old Guevara, a sophomore, and 24-year-old Kithas, a senior, will provide a minimum of three performances each week for room and board at Franklin Park Sonterra, on Sunset Road, and Alamo Heights, respectively. Luke L. Classen, president of Franklin Companies, said he has seen the important role that music plays in the lives of residents at his senior living communities, not only in keeping them active and engaged, but in overall healthy living. He said their communities were the first to offer the inter-generational program in Texas. The support, interest and involvement of our residents will help these young performers develop their talents, Classen said, while our residents will gain inspiration from the students and have the pleasure of watching them grow personally and professionally. Similar musician-in-residence programs at retirement communities have been in place for several years in cities across the nation, including Baltimore, Maryland, Cleveland, Ohio and Urbandale, Iowa. The pair learned about the program from a flyer posted at the music building at UTSA and auditioned at the end of last semester. Guevara said the Franklin Park staff had already made him feel at home. A music performance major, Guevara said the program is a way to connect with diverse groups and build his experience performing before a live audience. I feel like theyre family, he said. They share their stories, give advice to me and they give me the confidence to play better. Kithas said he was close to both sets of his grandparents growing up and welcomed the chance to live in the retirement community. The one thing thats surprised him is how receptive everyone has been to him. I was pretty comfortable playing for them, said Kithas, a music marketing major. I try to cater my songs to the situation and I play a little more jazz for memory care residents. Music therapy sessions, featuring music such as jazz, has been one of the treatments that caregivers at another location, Franklin Park TCP Parkway, have used to help Alzheimers patients focus and link songs to important times in their lives. Alamo Heights resident Dr. Vernon James, 88, quipped that he was fine with the project as long as the musician-in-residence wasnt a drummer. When I went to college I wish I could have had something like this, I would have sung for my supper any day, the retired pediatrician said. Music has a very peaceful, calming influence on people. I think it was Plato who said that music gives wings to the imagination and sets the mind free. vtdavis@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate More than 8,000 refugees from around the world have made San Antonio their home in the last 13 years, most finding a warm welcome, but there are times when theyve felt their neighbors dont see the contributions immigrants can make to their new community. No one chooses to be a refugee, said Sedrick Ntwali, 26. Most of the time, people treat refugees as poor, vulnerable and illiterate, yet they forget that refugees have potential and capacity and capabilities of doing things. People, when they look at you as a refugee, they just see misery, they see negative things, yet there are very good things about refugees. Ntwali, 26, was among the participants who spoke out at a forum this week at the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures that echoed with voices concerned about San Antonios refugee community. Ntwali recalled how he was 17 when his family fled warring troops in the Congo to Uganda, fleeing with only the clothes they wore. He said his last name roughly translates to, Man who cannot fear and is always ready to confront situations. More than 250 people of many races and nationalities took part in the Monday night forum. It was the second cultural conversation at the institute, an initiative started last fall by District 8 Councilman Ron Nirenberg and state Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, in response to vandalism and hate crimes that targeted the Jewish community on the Northwest Side. In a video at the forum, Nirenberg welcomed the groups. Amid the divisive political rhetoric about refugees and immigrants that have sown the seeds of division, we come together today, he said, to break bread, to learn and visit with each other. The forum was sponsored by Catholic Charities, the entity that has brought the refugees to San Antonio through an agreement with the U.S. State Department. Theyve resettled refugees from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nepal, Myanmar, and Syria, fleeing famine, religious persecution and war. Since 2004, the agency has helped refugees with lodging, enrolling children in schools, food assistance and furniture. One of their own administrators benefited from their aid. Saghar Roshan, 42, left Iran at 29, leaving behind her family and forces that persecuted those of her Bahai faith. At the forum, she explained how she made her way to America about 12 years ago by way of Turkey. The refugee resettlement arm of the local Catholic Charities helped her with lodging and support. After a series of other jobs, she was hired at the agency and worked her way up to director of the new arrival program for refugees, helping families escaping persecution and peril as she once had. I have to give back to the people or whoever like me who underwent the same persecution and situation, she said, surrounded by historical exhibits of immigrants who helped shape Texas. Nazli Siddiqui, founding director of the Muslim Cultural Heritage Society, was facilitator of a group that talked about ways to overcome misconceptions, such as starting dialogues in workplaces, neighborhoods and churches. Almost 100 percent of her group said they were passionate about diversity. The reason I chose this topic was I thought it was pertinent to todays environment, she said, and the fear mongering that needs to be conquered. Retired Air Force Col. Brian Lyttle wore a T-shirt with the words Dismantle Racism on the front, drawing glances from passersby as he joined a group with his wife, Terri. This is a catalyst, there are so many people who showed up here interested in acceptance, Lyttle, 75, said. In Texas, there is a lot of intolerance and the younger people dont see it. They dont see color differences or gender preferences. The old guys, you just have to wait for them to die off. vtdavis@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Im sorry, Im sorry. I was texting on my phone, the driver of the pickup that hit a church bus Wednesday in Uvalde County told the first person who reached him in the wreckage. Jack D. Young, 20, was trapped in his truck. In the bus, 13 people were dying. Jody Kuchler, 55, a welder from Leakey, had followed Youngs pickup for miles on U.S. 83, exclaiming as he watched it jerk in and out of its lane and trying to warn authorities as his girlfriend recorded the scene on her phone. Youngs truck hit the small bus as it rounded a curve. The bus was carrying 14 members of First Baptist Church of New Braunfels home from a retreat in Leakey. The guy drifted over across the yellow line, Kuchler said Friday. The driver of the bus moved over to try to avoid him, but there was nowhere to go with the guardrail there, and the truck hit him head-on. I told him, Son, do you know what you just did? Kuchler recalled telling Young. He just kept saying, Im sorry. Im sorry. A still-shaken Kuchler said he couldnt do much to help the bus passengers. Nobody that was alive in there was making any noise. They just looked at me, and I said, Hang on, help is on the way. Kuchler said. None of them said a word. They werent crying. They werent complaining. They were just sitting there looking at me. The lone survivor from the bus, Rose Mary Harris, 64, of New Braunfels, underwent surgery Friday at San Antonio Military Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said. Young, a Leakey resident, was listed in fair condition Friday at University Hospital in San Antonio. His family has declined interview requests. Kuchler said he made repeated calls to report that the white Dodge pickup was drifting onto the two-lane roads shoulder and across the center line. He said Uvalde County deputies were dispatched in response but that as the pickup approached the Real County line, he tried to alert authorities there and a Real County dispatcher told him, Thats not Real County. I told him were talking safety here and they need to get him off the road, Kuchler said. Kuchlers girlfriend, Thania Sanchez, used her phone to film Youngs truck as they followed it north at up to 80 mph. The phone stopped recording after 14 minutes, shortly before the accident. The video will be part of our investigation, said Jennifer Morrison, who is in charge of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation. She said it appeared that most, if not all, of the bus passengers were belted in their seats at the time of the crash. The bus had been converted from a 2004 Ford Econoline van, which she called quite common, and was equipped with seat belts. We will not be making any statements regarding the cause of the crash at this time. We are here to gather the facts and the perishable evidence for an inquiry on safety issues that will run parallel to a Texas Department of Public Safety investigation, Morrison said. She began the briefing Friday in Uvalde by offering condolences to those affected by the tragedy. Daniel Kindred, the district attorney in the 38th Judicial District, which includes Uvalde County, met with DPS investigators Thursday and said no decision on a charge will be made until their inquiry is completed. It will be a few weeks before we get hard data to look at, he said. The allegation that Young had been distracted by his phone was not lost on supporters of House Bill 62, which would ban texting behind the wheel in Texas while allowing the use of handheld phones and GPS systems. The bills author, Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, released a statement saying he was saddened by the loss of life and appalled to learn that this crash could have been prevented if the driver of the truck had been paying attention to the road. The House last week approved the bill and sent it to the Senate with a 114-32 vote. Even before this tragedy occurred, we heard of so many situations of accidents because people had been texting, said Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, a supporter of the bill. Texas is late in getting this done. Kuchler described events as moving in slow motion as he waited for emergency responders and tried to comfort the few senior citizens in the church bus who showed signs of life. But it was clear, he said, that most of them had been killed. There was not a whole lot I could do. I wanted to make sure the truck or the bus didnt catch on fire. I was going to start dragging people out if it did, Kuchler said. I didnt want to move anybody, taking a chance that they had internal injuries. The first ambulance on the scene was transporting another patient, but stopped to assist. Kuchler said he broke out the trucks window in an effort to help emergency medical technicians free Young, whose legs were trapped by crumpled metal. A dog riding with Young was retrieved after the crash by a worker from nearby Garner State Park and delivered Wednesday to Youngs home, according to a neighbor. Kuchler said he and Sanchez have had trouble coming to grips with their emotions from what they saw. I dont know if everything has just set in yet. Its not easy to deal with for either one of us, he said. This was preventable. This accident should have never happened. zeke@express-news.net Staff Writers Elena Lutz and Brittney Martin and News Researcher Misty Harris contributed to this report. Lutz reported from Austin. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Perennially judged by the Texas Department of Transportation as the most congested highway in Bexar County and one of the 100 worst in the state, U.S. 281 at Loop 1604 and its daily mass of 100,000 vehicles have come to symbolize both San Antonios stunning growth and lack of adequate urban infrastructure planning. But relief is on the horizon. Sitting on a stage in the parking lot of Mattress Firm, surrounded by Stone Oak suburban sprawl and morning traffic, Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday joined other political leaders to celebrate the start of a $500 million, five-year expansion of U.S. 281 north of Loop 1604. The reason these roads behind me are clogged, said Abbott to a friendly crowd of supporters and neon-green-vested TxDOT staff, is due to San Antonios dynamic economy. Lets give it up for the workers who built these roads. Texas Transportation Commissioner Bruce Bugg drew applause when he said: San Antonio, this is what youve been waiting for, and youve been waiting for a very long time. The expansion of U.S. 281 will come in two phases. The first, costing $192 million and running from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak Parkway, will start in May and is scheduled to be completed in 2020. The second, costing about $300 million and stretching from Stone Oak to the Comal County line, will start when the first phase finishes and last until 2022, according to TxDOT. The construction will create six primary lanes (three each going north and south) and six frontage road lanes (also three north and south). Two of those primary lanes will be for high-occupancy vehicles. TxDOT said the frontage roads will include bicycle and pedestrian facilities and that HOV lanes will connect directly to VIAs new 281 Park and Ride station being built at Stone Oak Parkway. None of the roads will be tolled. Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff also attended and supports the U.S. 281 expansion, but he lamented privately that a half-billion dollars would be spent only on more traditional roads. As a community, we just havent matured into asking what other means of transportation there are, Wolff said. Not one word was mentioned about mass transit. It was a major fight just to get HOV lanes. A lot of people really fought them. Christine Drennon, director of the urban studies program at Trinity University, said the massive highway project exemplified a 1950s mentality that is directed for a certain demographic and that the half-billion dollars could be better spent on the neglected inner-city neighborhoods of San Antonio. Im concerned about where we put our resources as a city, Drennon said. Other cities like Houston and Dallas are trying transportation alternatives, and we still opt not to. Abbott cited the enormous approval by Texas voters in 2015 for Proposition 7, a constitutional amendment that could direct at least $3 billion to $4 billion annually to the state highway fund for 10 to 15 years and that partially funded the U.S. 281 project. None of the money, however, can go to toll roads, rail or mass transit. TxDOT spends more than 95 percent of its $12 billion budget on highway planning, construction, maintenance and debt. Local businesses and commuters are bracing for what they hope will not be five years of detours and angst. Wow, wow, said Morgan Mehta, owner of Thyme for Lunch on Stone Oak Parkway. Ive just signed a three-year lease. I cant get out of it. I hope the construction doesnt impact us. Were only open for lunch. TxDOT spokesman Josh Donat said: Im sure well have some major closures that run overnight or last through a weekend, but nothing lengthy that would bring traffic down to a single lane during construction. We are working hard to maintain the same level of service that exists today. U.S. 281 in San Antonio opened for traffic in 1978. The federal highway runs from the Mexican border in the Rio Grande Valley to the Canadian border near Dunseith, North Dakota. It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the Delegations of textile manufacturers from Pakistan recently visited Belarus to explore joint venture opportunities for textile production. The manufacturers also set up stands at the international expo BelTEXlegprom 2017, a three-day event that took place in Minsk. They held negotiations and discussions with potential Belarusian investors at the expo. The Pakistani delegations also held talks with representatives of Belarus' industry ministry, chamber of commerce and industry, council of ministers, Bellegprom Concern and Belneftekhim Concern, according to a Belarusian news agency. Pakistani manufacturers began taking interest in setting up joint ventures with Belarusian investors after a various talks and presentations held by Bellegprom Concern in 2015 and 2016. Belarus is exploring opportunities with the Pakistani textile manufacturers in order to purchase textile items that are not available in the Eurasian Economic Union o fulfil the needs of the country's clothing sector. Delegations of textile manufacturers from Pakistan recently visited Belarus to explore joint venture opportunities for textile production. The manufacturers also set up stands at the international expo BelTEXlegprom 2017, a three-day event that took place in Minsk. They held negotiations and discussions with potential Belarusian investors at the expo.# Belarus is looking at investment opportunities in Pakistani light industry companies. The country is also inviting Pakistani manufacturers to help upgrade Belarusian companies. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India ICE USA 2017, the fourth edition of North Americas international converting exhibition, and In Print USA, the Industrial Print Show in Europe for functional and packaging printing in industrial production, record strong registration numbers. The co-located shows will be at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL, from April 25 to 27, 2017.ICE USA 2017 will bring over 250 exhibitors together with thousands of packaging, paper, non-woven, and self-adhesive industry professionals. Manufacturers will showcase their latest equipment and technology from all key areas of converting like web coating, laminating, slitting, rewinding, coating, pouch making, and many more. ICE USA 2017, the fourth edition of North America's international converting exhibition, and In Print USA, the Industrial Print Show in Europe for functional and packaging printing in industrial production, record strong registration numbers. The co-located shows will be at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL, from April 25 to 27, 2017.# The InPrint USA show comes to the US for the first time, focusing on connecting manufacturers who use print as a key component of the manufacturing process with leading brands in the fields of industrial specialty, screen, digital, inkjet and 3D technology print solutions. The broad ranging conference program at InPrint USA will feature top industry experts offering their insights in three key areas functional, decorative, and packaging print.Melissa Magestro, executive vice president of Mack Books Exhibitions Inc. said, For ICE USA, our registration numbers are tracking ahead of previous shows and we have exceeded our forecast for attendees for InPrint USA. We were very excited about co-locating the two shows so we focused on some key strategic initiatives to expand show attendance. We developed really strong technical, educational sessions for both shows for all levels of experience. We reached out to Latin American packaging and converting associations and have received strong support from them expanding the shows reach and awareness in the region. Finally, we provided marketing support to exhibitors who have taken a strong lead on inviting their customers. (GK) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India 1 Tanhaiyan Starring Barun Sobti and Surbhi Jyoti, Tanhaiyan is story of London-returned Haider and fashion designer Meera who meet each other at their common friend's wedding and instantly fall in love with each other. The cast, location, costume, story and the lead pair's chemistry makes the web series super hit! It is most watched show on Hotstar. The web series is produced by Gul Khan (4 Lions Films) and directed by Gorky M. 2 Bang Baaja Baaraat Ali Fazal and Angira Dhar starrer Bang Baaja Baaraat is about two people from different backgrounds, who falls in love and decide to get married, but not without their parents' blessings! A few days before marriage, they are introduced to each others' parents and all hell breaks loose. The web series is directed by Anand Tiwari under the banner of Y-Films. 3 Mans World Another TV series or Web series that is produced under the banner of Y-Films is Man's World. The story is about Kiran (Gaurav Pandey), who is fed up of society that favours women over men and prays for men and women to trade places! It is a comedy series that every boy and girl must watch! 4 Love Shots Love Shots is also produced under Y-Film banner. It is a set of six short films that shows an honest and amusing picture of love. The short films features popular actors like Nimrat Kaur, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Shweta Tripathi, Farida Jalal, Saqib Salim and Rhea Chakraborty. The short films promise sweet romantic, refreshing tales. 5 Permanent Roommates TVF's Permanent Roommates revolves around a young couple -Tanya and Mikesh (Nidhi Singh and Sumeet Vyas), who were in a long distance relationship for 3 years decide to live together as they contemplate marriage. The commitment issues that the youngsters face is nicely shown in the web series. The amazing chemistry between the lead pairs, their nhok-jhok, how the couples deal with their parents, the cool and funny characters Lleo (Anandeshwar Dwivedi )and Purushottam (Deepak Kumar Mishra) makes the web series a must watch! 6 Love Bytes Love Bytes stars Kushal Punjabi and Sukhmani Sadana. The story revolves around the ups and downs that young couple (Ananya and Abhishek) face in a live-in relationship. While a girl wants to keep this a secret from his boyfriend's mother as she feels it might spoil her image, the boy wants to confess about the relationship to his mother! 7 The Trip Bindass' The Trip is the story of four girls (Lisa Haydon, Shweta Tripathi, Sapna Pabbi and Mallika Dua) who go on a bachelorette trip, together. It's all about the trip to rediscover friendship and themselves - how the girls have fun and meet boys, Adil and Neil. Namik Paul (Adil) has played a cameo role on the show. 8 Tripling TVF's Tripling is another road trip story. It is how three siblings (Chandan, Chanchal and Chitvan) who are divorced, jobless and hopeless who plans for unforgettable, unplanned road trip to meet their parents. The story is filled with fun and emotion! NEW ORLEANS, LA--(Marketwired - March 31, 2017) - Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, the former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until May 15, 2017 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Patriot National, Inc. (NYSE: PN), if they purchased the Company's securities between August 15, 2016 and March 3, 2017, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. What You May Do If you purchased securities of Patriot National and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com). If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by May 15, 2017. About the Lawsuit Patriot National and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) the Company's special committee was beholden to CEO Steve Mariano and was operating for the benefit of Mariano, and not the Company or its shareholders; (ii) the special committee did not independently assess the merits of the Ebix transaction; and (iii) the special committee was not exploring strategic alternatives in order to maximize shareholder value. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. Contact: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com 1-877-515-1850 206 Covington St. Madisonville, LA 70447 NEW ORLEANS, LA--(Marketwired - March 31, 2017) - Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, the former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until May 29, 2017 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG), if they purchased the Company's shares between August 29, 2013 and February 27, 2017, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. What You May Do If you purchased shares of Signet and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com). If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by May 29, 2017. About the Lawsuit Signet and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. On February 27, 2017, The Washington Post reported widespread claims of sexual harassment and discrimination by approximately 250 former employees of Signet's Sterling Family of Jewelers division against Company management and executives, including Signet's current CEO, Mark Light. The details of the claims originated from a private arbitration proceeding in June 2013, but had remained under seal until February 26, 2017. The report further detailed that the arbitration encompassed a certified class of 69,000 women who are current or former employees of the Company. On this news, the price of Signet's shares plummeted. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. Contact: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com 1-877-515-1850 206 Covington St. Madisonville, LA 70447 For lakhs of employees working in government organisations and private entities, the dawn of the new financial year (2017-18) beginning on 1 April marks the changes to personal income tax slabs the government had introduced during the Union Budget in February this year. By the end of last month, the Lok Sabha had completed the budgetary exercise and also cleared the Finance Bill. Besides this, the amendments introduced in the Finance Bill was also passed by the Lok Sabha. Other than the income tax rates, employees will also have to take note of other important aspects of tax related matters that will be applicable in this financial year. Here are the 12 important income-tax changes that tax payers need to take note of for this financial year: 1) To put more money into the hands of employees, the government has cut tax rate by half to 5 percent from 10 percent for employees in the yearly income group between Rs 2.5 and Rs 5 lakh. The move is expected to help them save tax of up to Rs 12,500 a year, according to The Economic Times. A tax saving of Rs 14,806 a year, including surcharge and cess, will be available for income above Rs 1 crore a year. And for people whose taxable income is between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 50 lakh, tax savings amount to Rs 12,900. 2) A simple one page form will be introduced for filing tax returns to tax payers with income up to Rs 5 lakh and excluding any business income. The I-T department will not scrutinize those who are filing their tax returns for the first time in this category. 3) Delay in filing tax return for this financial year (2017-18) will attract a penalty of Rs 5,000, if filed by 31 December, 2018, and the penalty will be higher if filed beyond this date. However, for small tax payers with income up to Rs five lakh, the penalty has been restricted to Rs 1,000. 4) For investment under Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme, no deduction will be available from the assessment year 2018-19. The previous UPA government had introduced this tax-saving scheme in the Union Budget for financial year 2012-13 with an aim to encourage first-time investors in the securities market. 5) Long-term holding period for an immovable property has been reduced to two years from three earlier. Hence, the new law coming in place will ensure that an immovable property held over for two years will be taxed at a reduced rate of 20 percent, with various exemptions eligible on reinvestment, the ET report said. 6) Looking to cash in on long term capital gains tax may not be fruitfull as beneficial amaentments would result in lower profits on sales. The goverment has changed the base year for indexation of cost to 1 April, 2001 from 1 April, 1981. 7) Tax exemption on reinvestment of capital gains in notified redeemable bonds will be available for individuals in addition to investment in NHAI and REC bonds. 8) For rental payments in excess of Rs 50,000 a month, individuals will have to deduct a five percent TDS (tax deducted at source). According to tax experts, this move will enable the government to bring people with large rental income into the tax net. This will come into effect from 1 June, 2017. 9) The government has also made Aadhaar compulsory while applying for PAN and filing income tax returns from 1 July. In fact, the Centre in a bid to curb black money from the system has limited cash transactions at Rs two lakh against the originally proposed cap at Rs three lakh. 10) Individuals will not have to pay any tax in case of partial withdrawals from National Pension System (NPS). The proposed changes allows NPS subscribers to withdraw 25 percent of their contribution to the corpus for emergencies before retirement. Remember that withdrawal of 40 percent of the corpus is tax-free on retirement, the NDTV report says. 11) Apart from the changes to income tax rates, individuals will also have to brace for higher insurance premium starting today on cars, motorcycles and health insurance beginning this financial year, as the regulator IRDAI has given its nod for insurers to revise commission of the agents. The change in premium after modification will be limited to +/- 5 per cent of the existing rates. The increase will be in addition to the enhanced third party motor insurance rates, which too will come into effect beginning this month. 12) For lakhs of customers of India's largest commercial bank State Bank of India, penalty will be charged starting today, if a minimum balance of Rs 5,000 is not maintained every month. In metropolitan areas, there will be a charge of Rs 100 plus service tax, if the balance falls below 75 percent of the MAB of Rs 5,000. If the shortfall is 50 percent or less of the MAB, then the bank will charge Rs 50 plus service tax. Looking to quickly calculate your tax, please try it out with our tax calculator below. New Delhi: In one of its biggest crackdown on shell companies, the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday conducted simultaneous raids on around 110 premises and 300 shell companies across the country that were suspected to be involved in dubious and illegal transactions during demonetisation, officials said. The country-wide operation was carried out across 16 states with multiple teams of the agency raiding premises of about 300 shell firms in prominent places like Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Patna, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru among others. "Several top business houses being searched in various cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata," the official told IANS. The raids are being carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to investigate instances of money laundering and illegal foreign exchange transactions. Official sources said the action is part of the mandate given to the ED under a Special Task Force created by the government last month on the directions of the Prime Minister's Office. The task force was created under the co-chairmanship of the Revenue Secretary and Corporate Affairs Secretary to monitor the actions taken against shell companies by various agencies from regulatory ministries and Enforcement Agencies. In a statement, the Finance Ministry said last month that harsh punitive action will be taken against shell companies, including freezing of bank accounts, striking off names of dormant companies and invoking Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016. Shell Companies are companies that exist only on paper, and can be used for money laundering. The statement said there were about 15 lakh registered companies in India and only six lakh of these file their annual returns. After a gap of five years, State Bank of India will from today (1 April) start charging penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance in accounts, which has been set at Rs 5,000 for metro branches. The largest bank in the country also has revised charges on other services, including ATMs. The bank will permit savings bank account holders to deposit cash three times a month free of charges and levy Rs 50 plus service tax on every transaction beyond that. In case of current account, the levy could go as high as Rs 20,000. As per the list of revised charges of SBI, failure to maintain Monthly Average Balance (MAB) in accounts will attract penalty of up to Rs 100 plus service tax. In metropolitan areas, there will be a charge of Rs 100 plus service tax, if the balance falls below 75 percent of the MAB of Rs 5,000. If the shortfall is 50 percent or less of the MAB, then the bank will charge Rs 50 plus service tax. The charges and MAB varies according to the location of bank. It is minimum in case of rural branches. The bank had suspended levying charges on breach of minimum balance requirements in 2012 to acquire new customers. The charges are being reintroduced from Saturday (1 April). The Reserve Bank has permitted banks to levy charges for breaching minimum balance limit. Withdrawal of cash from ATMs will attract a charge of up to Rs 20 if the number of transactions exceeds three from other bank's ATMs in a month and Rs 10 for more than five withdrawals from SBI ATMs. However, SBI will not levy any charge on withdrawals from its own ATMs if the balance exceeds Rs 25,000. In case of other banks' ATM there will be no charge if the balance exceeds Rs 1 lakh. SBI will charge Rs 15 for SMS alerts per quarter from debit card holders who maintain average quarterly balance of up to Rs 25,000 during the three months period. There will be no charge for UPI/ USSD transactions of up to Rs 1,000. An important thing to be remembered is that the new charges are applicable even if your account is in any of the five associate banks - State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Travancore (SBT), State Bank of Patiala (SBP), and State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) - or the Bharatiya Mahila Bank. This is because all these banks are getting merged with the SBI effective Saturday (1 April). With PTI inputs April Fool's Day is here, so you need an arsenal of hilarious pranks that you can play on friends, family members and (especially) bitter enemies. So here's a litany of the best pranks from Bollywood, Hollywood and TV series for inspiration. Ishq Remember this film starring Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, Kajol and Ajay Devgn? This is one of the most hilarious scenes in the history of pranks. We see the funnier side of Aamir Khan as he stabs Juhi Chawla with a fake knife and she recoils in horror. Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara The film follows four men on their last hoorah before one of them takes the big leap into marriage. This scene has the quartlet prank a stranger in the toilet. They act like an earthquake is happening, and while the guy in question starts trying to duck, they laugh and leave in their car. Cocktail The fake 'Mein tumhaare bache ki maa banne wali hu' prank is more hilarious when the setting is a foreign country. Deepika Padukone shines in this one. Andaz Apna Apna Since Aamir and Salman Khan are wooing Raveena Tandon, Aamir tries to get Salman out of the way by putting laxatives in his food: Matilda The film adaptation of Roald Dahl's book of the same name is full of pranks. Matilda glues her fathers beloved accessory of choice to his head in this one: Mean Girls From the treasure trove of moments on how to sabotage your girlfriends' lives, here's one of the best Regina George moments: Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter puts on his invisibility cloak and has fun harassing Malfoy and his gang. After all, what would you do when the school bully starts bugging your best friends? The Office Jim from The Office is the king of pranksters. Jim's Stapler-in-jello prank is one of the most famous pranks he plays on Dwight: The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory's early seasons are full of the cast pranking each other on screen, but this one where Sheldon tries to prank Howard and instead Howard manages to turn the prank around is one of the most hilarious episodes of the show: Bollywood actor Jeetu Verma, who was travelling through a forest in Chittorgarh, was attacked by locals who pelted his car with stones. The wind shield of the vehicle broke, and Verma's right eye bled profusely. The actor was travelling from Mount Abu to Jaipur. He has been admitting to an eye hospital in Wadala. His brother Manohar Verma told Mumbai Mirror that the incident took place in broad daylight and that Verma was sitting in the seat next to the driver. The driver drove faster after locals began throwing stones, but the pelting did not stop. The police have assessed the vehicle and recovered the stones that were lodged in it. "But there needs to be more security. When such occurrences are happening in the region on a daily basis, it is important that stringent measures be taken immediately," Manohar added. Kumar is being operated upon by Dr S Natrajan who has said that he suffered an eye brow fracture and that he has lost retinal function in his right eye. It is unlikely that he will gain sight in this eye. Jeetu Verma is best remembered for his role in Bobby Deol-starrer Soldier, which was released in 1998. The Bombay High Court has granted a stay on Raveena Tandon's upcoming film Maatr because its producer Anjum Rizvi is yet to pay YT Capital his dues. An order was passed by Justice Gautam Patel against both Rizvi and T-Series Film which disallows the film or its negatives to be parted with. Film financier Raju Shah got the injunction on the film, preventing it from releasing until the producer pays his debts. Furthermore, Rizvi has also been prevented by the court from selling seven of his previous films, John Day, India Metro, A Flat, Fast Forward, A Wednesday, Ahista Ahista and Charges: A Joint Effort. YT Capital previously filed a case against Rizvi when he was unable to repay the amount of Rs 2 crore for Katha, a film that never released. According to the agreement between the producer and YT Capital, the latter would have rights over all movies made by him the past and future until he paid his dues. Shah's lawyer Rajiv Narula said, "The makers of the film will not be able to release the film till they return Rs 2 crore that are due to pay to Shah," to Mid-Day. The court also observed that Rizvi had not appeared before the court when summoned. A copy of the injunction order will be given to producer on 4 April, and a further hearing will be held on 10 April. Maatr tells the story of a mother who must bring her daughter's rapist to justice. It was scheduled to release on 21 April, 2017. A year has passed since Balika Vadhu actress Pratyusha Banerjee was found dead in her Oshiwara apartment. Here is a look at the timeline of events in the case involving her death and her then boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh: Sometime in the afternoon-early evening hours of Friday, 1 April 2016, Pratyusha Banerjee died. Sunil Mukhya, who was employed as a cook at Pratyushas neighbours house saw Rahul Raj outside the flat with a keymaker; Rahul told Mukhya that Pratyusha wasnt opening the door. Mukhya then offered to enter the flat through the neighbouring balcony. He has told police that when he entered the flat, he saw the actress hanging from the ceiling fan. He then opened the door to the flat, letting Rahul in, and then helped the latter rush Pratyusha to the hospital. Over Saturday and Sunday, 2-3 April, the police questioned Rahul Raj Singh, although they said that it was too early to suspect any foul play in Pratyushas death. On Saturday evening, Pratyushas last rites were carried out at the Oshiwara crematorium. Reports state that she was dressed like a bride for her cremation. Colleagues from the TV industry attended the funeral. By Sunday evening, Rahul complained of chest pain, and was hospitalised. His lawyer Neeraj Gupta told the press that the actor-producer was in a very fragile condition and has been traumatised by Pratyushas death. In the meantime, police had carried out a search of the fat he shared with Pratyusha in Malad, and in which the actress body had been found. They reported finding a large quantity of medicines, alcohol and cigarette stubs, adding that doctors are helping determine what the medications were for, and whether or not they were prescribed to Pratyusha for depression. Over Monday, 4 April 2016, several members of the TV industry came forward with claims that Rahul was physically violent with Pratyusha, that he had duped several women of their money on the pretext of producing films, that he had hidden his status as a divorcee from Pratyusha. Lawyer Falguni Brahmabhatt submitted a list of names of 10 of Pratyushas colleagues to the police, who wished to share information on the actress death with the authorities. On the same day, the police found medicines, cigarette stubs and alcohol in her apartment. The house was unkempt and clothes were found lying around. The medicines were used as evidence to detect whether Pratyusha had depression. On Tuesday, 5 April 2016, a prayer meet was held for Pratyusha in Mumbai, after which her parents Soma and Shankar Banerjee spoke to the media. Soma said that until January of this year, she lived with her daughter, but moved back to their hometown Jamshedpur since Rahul and Pratyusha had decided to live together. Shankar Banerjee has said that they had some indications of trouble in their daughters relationship, but didnt guess the full extent of it. On the basis of a fresh statement given by Soma Banerjee, the police booked Rahul Raj for abetment of suicide, assault and intimidation under sections 306, 323 and 506 of the IPC. Wednesday, 6 April, Rahul applied for anticipatory bail. However, his lawyer Neeraj Gupta backed out of the case, citing humanitarian grounds. Gupta claims that he was kept in the dark by his client and his family. On 8 April, the police noted that Rs 24 lakh had been withdrawn from her account. While her parents claimed that this amount had been withdrawn over the course of months, the lawyer representing them pointed to the fact that Rahul held Pratyusha's debit and credit cards before her death. On the same day, the police said that the injury marks on Pratyusha's body could be a result of torture. On 21 April, 2016, investigators from the JJ Hospital declared that there was no link between the abortion that the actress underwent and her suicide. They confirmed that she was pregnant and that she had undergone an abortion two months before she allegedly took her life. Rahul revealed that the decision to abort was mutually taken because the couple realised that they did not have the finances to support a child. He produced details of a gynaecologist in Goregaon who performed the abortion, and upon checking, the police corroborated these details. On this day, Singh also offered his version of the story for the first time. He claimed that Pratyusha had a drinking problem and that her finances were mismanaged. On 25 April, during the hearing of the anticipatory bail plea by Rahul, a prosecutor said that early leads suggest that she was murdered. The probe also revealed that the dupatta was not found hanging but rather in a corner of the house. It was also suggested that Singh may have entered the building through an adjacent window but wasted an hour calling the neighbours. He was granted bail. On 20 May 2016, Jazz, a friend of Pratyusha and Rahul's came forward with her version of the story. Jazz is a struggling actress who knew the couple separately. She told the police that she was with the actress and her boyfriend until a few hours before Pratyusha allegedly committed suicide. She met Rahul and then went over to their house. She said that Pratyusha insisted that she stay over, but Jazz left at 7 am. Jazz said that Pratyusha told her the burn marks on her neck were a result of an oil splatter while frying fish and that she looked happy while drinking beer at home. In May, Pratyusha's parents filed a plea in the Supreme Court against the anticipatory bail that Rahul applied for. On 30 May, the Supreme Court rejected this plea. On 8 June, Pratyusha's parents launched a campaign to garner support for a CBI probe into her case. The campaign garnered more than 1000 signatures according to her father. Her parents blamed Rahul for her "cold blooded murder". On 28 June, Pratyusha's parents express fear over tampering of evidence after the flat where she allegedly committed suicide was opened by court order. The Banerjees said that they were not informed of this, and that valuable evidence could have been extracted in the two-day period after it was declared open after being sealed during the police investigation. On 21 July 2016, the Mumbai police filed a 1000-page charge sheet against Rahul at a local court which included statements from 45 witnesses including her parents, relatives, friends and co-workers. In her witness statement, her aunt Barnali talked about how Pratyusha had mentioned that her life had become very difficult and that she had noticed the injuries on her niece's body, which the latter had said was a result of a fight with Singh. Singh had to appear before the court on 30 July. On 30 July, Pratyusha's parents claimed that the police was going easy on Rahul and that they allowed him to go absconding after the charge sheet was filed against him. In November 2016, a transcript of the last phone call Pratyusha made emerged. In it, the actress can be heard blaming Rahul. "B******d man.. I f**k so hard.. In my life i f**k so hard... for everything... I had not come here to sell myself... I had come here to act... to work. And where are you putting me today.. Rahul, you have no idea how bad I am feeling right now," she said. As per advocate Neeraj Gupta, this is a reference to Singh forcing her into prostitution, which she made a mention of later on in the recording too. Days later on 7 November, Rahul claimed that it was Pratyusha's parents who were to blame for her alleged suicide. He mentioned that they forced her to do things that she did not wish to, that she had borrowed a sum of Rs 70 lakh in a loan, and that he had not forced her into prostitution. He said that he was trying to calm her down during that last phone conversation. A year later, on 1 April 2017, Kamya Punjabi releases the movie called Hum Kuch Kah Na Sakeh she made based on Pratyusha's life, despite the Mumbai court staying the release of this film when Rahul claimed that it was not a tribute to her but rather an attempt to create prejudice against him. He even filed a defamation case against her. In the past Kamya had posted a picture of herself and Pratyusha before New Year's and posted another on her death anniversary. The weekend is here. Along with watching the badminton Indian Open semi-final and Avengers: Age of Ultron, here are Firstpost's other picks for what you should watch over 1-2 April. Shows on TV: Impractical Jokers What is April Fool's Day without some good old fashioned pranks, right? Start the first day of April with Impractical Jokers, a show where hidden cameras record practical jokes played on unsuspecting strangers. What makes this show different from other prank shows is that the person playing the prank does not know what it is and must follow the instructions of the other pranksters. Watch Impractical Jokers at 8 am and 9 am on Saturday and Sunday on Comedy Central. The Newsroom This TV series, created by Aaron Sorkin, tells the story of people working in a newsroom of the Atlantis Cable News. It explores the discussions they have, the ethical issues that crop up, the controversies they fall into, as well as their personal lives. It stars Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher Jr. and Alison Pill in lead roles. Watch The Newsroom on FX this Saturday, 6 pm onward. Gigs: Taleem Yatra: The Story and Music of Joel Veena Indian slide guitarist Joel Veena will tell the story of his musical journey and play compositions that he created during the course of his training. He began playing this instrument 10 years ago, and has an album to his credit today. After touring in the US and other parts of India, he is now set to play in Mumbai. He will be accompanied by tabla player Shri Rakshanand Panchal. Joel plays on Saturday from 5:30 pm to 7 pm. You can book tickets here. Movies on TV: Avengers: Age of Ultron In this Avengers film, the superheroes battle Ultron, an artificial intelligence who aims to drive the human species to extinction. Ultron destroys Iron Man's AI J.A.R.V.I.S and attacks the Avengers at their headquarters, as well as building an army of drones. The Avengers team must now battle the army and destroy Ultron. Watch Avengers: Age of Ultron at 9 pm on Star Movies. Movies in theatres: Stand by Me This coming of age film explores the story of four young boys in a small town who decide to go on a hike and find the dead body of a missing child. In the course of the film, this bunch of boys steal a gun and end up in an altercation with a gang. It is directed by Rob Reiner and features Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell in lead roles. Watch Stand By Me at Matterden CFC on Sunday at 12:30 pm. Poorna Directed by and starring Rahul Bose, Poorna: Courage Has No Limit is based on the real life story of Malavath Poorna, an Indian mountaineer from Telangana, who is the youngest girl to climb Mount Everest. It was shot in all of 11 days and features unreleased footage of Poorna's journey to the summit. This film is well-told story of an underdog, as reviews point out. India Open 2017 After beating Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu has reached the semi-finals of this year's India Open. She will be playing against Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea. While Sindhu is seeded third, Ji-hyun is the second seed and can potentially face top seed Carolina Marin in the final. Watch the match here. By David Lawder | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump sought to push his crusade for fair trade and more manufacturing jobs back to the top of his agenda on Friday by ordering a study into the causes of U.S. trade deficits and a clampdown on import duty evasion.The executive orders came a week after Trump's promise to replace Obamacare imploded in Congress and a week before he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, a summit that promises to be fraught with trade tensions. Trump said at a White House signing ceremony that he and Xi were "going to get down to some serious business" next week and vowed that "the theft of American prosperity" by foreign countries would end. One of the orders directed the Commerce Department and the U.S. trade representative to conduct a 90-day review of the causes of massive U.S. trade deficits. It will study the effects of abuses such as the dumping of products below costs, unfair subsidies, "misaligned" currencies and "non-reciprocal" trade practices by other countries."We're going to investigate all trade abuses, and, based on those findings, we will take necessary and lawful action to end those many abuses," Trump said, adding that he wasn't beholden to any businesses.Trump administration officials have said they plan tougher enforcement of U.S. trade remedy laws and will initiate more unilateral trade deals. In his 2016 White House bid, the New York businessman campaigned heavily against free-trade deals and accused China of draining jobs from U.S. factory towns with cheap exports. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang on Friday said the U.S.-China trade imbalance was mostly the result of differences in the two countries' economic structures and noted that China had a trade deficit in services. "China does not deliberately seek a trade surplus. We also have no intention of carrying out competitive currency devaluation to stimulate exports." Zheng told a briefing about the Xi-Trump meeting.The study of trade abuses appeared aimed at justifying unilateral retaliatory trade actions by the United States, said Matt Gold, a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative who is now an adjunct trade law professor at Fordham University in New York."They probably think it will give them better political ammunition," Gold said. But he added that it would not likely reveal anything that is not already in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's annual list of trade barriers, which also was released on Friday. The report criticized China's excess industrial capacity and requirements for technology transfers and cyber security, which it said are aimed displacing foreign products with domestic versions.The trade abuses study will focus on those countries that have chronic goods trade surpluses with the United States. China tops the list, with a $347 billion surplus last year, followed by Japan, with a $69 billion surplus, Germany at $65 billion, Mexico at $63 billion, Ireland at $36 billion and Vietnam at $32 billion.The study also will examine past trade deals that have failed to produce forecast benefits for the United States, as well as World Trade Organization rules that U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said do not treat countries equally, such as on taxation. The United States has long complained that WTO rules allow exports from other countries to be exempt from value-added taxes (VAT), but do not allow equivalent corporate income tax benefits for U.S. exporters.The Trump administration is considering a border tax that would be levied on imports and which would aim to put the United States on a similar tax basis for trade as countries that have VAT.The second trade order will fight nonpayment and under-collection of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties the United States slaps on many foreign goods.White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro said some $2.8 billion in such duties went uncollected between 2001 and the end of 2016 from companies in some 40 countries.Navarro said the order directs the Commerce and Homeland Security departments to close these gaps by imposing tougher bonding requirements to ensure duty collections and new legal requirements for assessing risks associated with importers. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Michael Perry, Lincoln Feast and Jonathan Oatis) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. New Delhi: The central government has released an amount of Rs 2,014.45 crore as financial assistance to Tamil Nadu affected by drought and cyclonic storm, an official said on Saturday. Home Minister Rajnath Singh had chaired a High Level Committee (HLC) meeting on 23 March to discuss the issue of assistance. The aid, released on Friday, includes Rs 1,748.28 crore for drought (Kharif), Rs 264.11 crore for cyclonic storm 'Vardha' and Rs 2.06 crore under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, according to a release. The Tamil Nadu government had submitted a memorandum seeking central assistance in the wake of drought and cyclonic storm 'Vardha' in the state. The central government had sent Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) to Tamil Nadu to assess the situation. On the recommendations of IMCT and the Sub-Committee of the National Executive Committee, the HLC had approved the financial assistance. New Delhi: The Election Commission has sought a detailed report from the district poll authorities in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh on media reports that VVPAT was only dispensing slips of BJP symbol during a demonstration exercise. An Assembly bypoll is due in Bhind next week and the demonstration was part of the familiarisation exercise. "We have sought a detailed report from district election officer and would come up with a response in the evening," a Commission spokesperson said. The voters see Voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slip for seven seconds, which would be an acknowledgement receipt for the party they voted for in the election. VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home. According to media reports, the receipt showed the vote going to BJP, irrespective of button pressed, during the demonstration. The reports also claimed that Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Madhya Pradesh, Saleena Singh was seen telling journalists that the news should not appear in newspapers, else they would be detained at the police station. Meanwhile, in a hurriedly called press conference in Bhopal on Saturday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Saleena Singh denied the reports that VVPAT dispensed only BJP slips. She said her office and the district poll authorities had sent reports on the issue to the Election Commission. "During the demonstration, the VVPAT first dispensed a slip with (BJP's) lotus symbol but the second one had (Congress') hand symbol," she said. VVPAT-enabled machines would be used at Assembly by-elections at Ater in Bhind district and Bandhavgarh in Umaria district on 9 April. Singh explained that if the VVPAT slip doesn't reflect the voter's choice correctly, he or she can file a declaration, and the election officer will have to follow a set procedure to verify the claim. If the officer finds the claim to be correct, the voting will be stopped, the CEO said. "If it is other way round (if the claim is incorrect) the voter will be booked and can face six months' imprisonment or a fine of Rs 1,000 or both after trial (under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961)," she said. Asked about the reports that she threatened to send mediapersons to jail if they continued to say that VVPAT was dispensing only BJP slips, Singh said, "It was in a lighter vein." "Some elements, not mediapersons, twisted the issue," she added. It was exactly a year ago that there was a churn at GHQ and a small group of men and women were told to make themselves useful or else... With no elaboration on the 'or else' or the consequences of failing to make themselves useful what does that even mean? this group decided to start FP Special Forces. And as we mark this Kryptonian Anniversary (Why Kryptonian? Because there's only one Krypton), it's a good time to reflect on the year gone by that saw this very determined, highly specialised and easily distracted bunch conducted detailed investigations into such diverse topics as: The 2016 Assembly elections Censorship The nation's obsession with outrage Brexit Rahul Gandhi The Apple iPhone 7 Surgical strikes Demonetisation Abu Azmi's understanding of women's rights Cricket After a whole year of such solid accomplishments, a decision was taken at the highest level to reward the team for its efforts and here's what we got: An emblem. At long long last, an emblem chock-full of meaning and significance. Let's take a look at the elements: 1) A proud pterodactyl fossil: Partly representing the fossilised art of the sort of investigative journalism in which FP Special Forces specialises and partly representing a pterodactyl. Why? Because it's got swag. 2) The name: Emblazoned across the top is the name of this proud unit, so you and others like you don't mistake it for any other. 3) The deep and meaningful motto: As dead languages go, Latin is fairly passe and so we took the decision to put FP Special Forces' most learned language scholar to work. His mission was to dig up the deepest and most meaningful Sanskrit phrase he possibly could. And while we awaited a phrase with enough gravitas and meaning as "Satyamev Jayate", our resident languages expert returned with the phrase in Sanskrit that now adorns our emblem. He assured us that it is deep and meaningful. We're not entirely convinced it is Sanskrit though, but that's just a minor quibble. 4) The stars: They look pretty. And all those elements come together to make the FP Special Forces emblem our reward on completing a year. Now, if you're thinking to yourself, "What a foolish reward", you should probably remember we're a pretty foolish group. And don't you forget it! The PDP-BJP governments assurance that development will bring peace seems to have made no difference to the disillusioned Kashmiris as the separatists have called for a shutdown on Sunday the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the Chenani-Nashri tunnel in Udhampur. A united faction of Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for a statewide shutdown on 2 April. However, people in the Kashmir Valley are hardly enthusiastic about the opening of the longest road tunnel in South Asia. The tunnel is expected to reduce the travel time between Srinagar and Jammu by two hours and reduce the distance from 41 km to 10.89 km. Moreover, the tunnel is one of the most important infrastructural projects undertaken by the Government of India in decades. The tunnel, which is 9.2 km long, connects Udhampur with Ramban on the 286 km long Jammu-Srinagar highway and the work on building this four-lane engineering marvel started on 23 May, 2011. The scheduled date of completion of the Rs 3,720-crore project was May 2016, but the project saw many delays. It will also act as an all-weather alternative to the existing Jawahar tunnel on National Highway-1A. It is built by Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) and is located at an altitude of 1,200 metres (nearly 4,000 feet). Rhetoric about development or construction of tunnels and roads is futile and wont succeed to lure us. We have presented unparalleled sacrifice and nourished the movement with pious blood. We dont nourish any animosity against the Indian Prime Minister but it is frightening and painful that instead of taking note of the genocide in the state, he is awarding and rewarding the assassins, a joint statement by Hurriyat leadership, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, said on Friday. The Srinagar-Jammu Highway is one of the most important roadways in the country and during winters the road is often closed due to landslides prone in areas like Kud, Patnitop and Batote, the tunnel will now bypass them all. They waited for months to throw it open, even when people were forced to walk for days as the road was closed during winter. They did not allow the dead bodies to be ferried through the tunnel, saying they believe it would be inauspicious to allow dead bodies and ill-patients to cross the tunnel, said Ghulam Mohammad Saki, who drives a passenger taxi from Srinagar Airport to Lal Chowk. Referring to youths often damaging railway tracks when the tension rises in the Valley, Saki said, When the situation gets worse, people go to the railway track and stop the trains and even throw stones at it. What difference does it make to have another tunnel. A total of 124 cameras and a linear heat detection system inside the tunnel will alert the Integrated Tunnel Control Room (ITCR) located outside the tunnel in case there is need for an intervention. The SOS boxes installed at an equal distance of 150 metre will act as emergency hotlines for commuters in distress. Commuters will also be able to use their mobile phones inside the tunnel. In case of an emergency, the engineers have constructed a parallel tunnel as well. In any other state, inauguration of this project would mean celebrations, but in Kashmir, infrastructural development is political and people dont want to be associated with it, Abdul Majid, a leading columnist, said. Though there is no doubt that it will benefit us, but the recent developments and the unrest and the killings in the Valley have marred the excitement." Jitendra Singh, the Union minister in Modi government said that bandh call given by the separatists during Modi's visit has exposed them as the one who are opposed to development and intend to play politics. "Their intention is not to ensure or seek development of Jammu and Kashmir, but to play politics." If development would have solved the problems and issues of Kashmir then the Government of India has put in so much of money that the problems would have been solved long back, said Ashok Bhan, senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India and chairman of Kashmir Policy and Strategy Group. Dialogue and continued development is the need of the hour. After the Gujarat Assembly on Friday passed an amendment bill prescribing life imprisonment for those found guilty of slaughtering cows, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that he wants to make Gujarat a "vegetarian" state. A report in The Indian Express said that while Rupani said that he was "not against any food", he wanted to make Gujarat "shakahari (vegetarian)". "We do not want Jersey cows, but Gir and Kankreji cows instead," the report quoted him as saying. Rupani then went on to describe Gujarat as a "unique state", which followed the principles of Mahatma Gandhi "non-violence and truth". "This is Gandhis Gujarat, Sardars (Vallabhbhai Patel) Gujarat and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modis Gujarat," the report further quoted him as saying. The Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill also has a provision for ten-year imprisonment for transportation, storage or sale of beef. It provides for permanent forfeiture of vehicles involved in transportation of progeny of cows and beef. The bill also bans transportation of animals from one place to another in night. The bill, which seeks to amend the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act, 1954, by introducing stringent punishments, was passed in the absence of Congress MLAs, who were suspended for a day for creating ruckus in the House. Introducing the bill, state Home Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja had said, "Cows not just have religious significance, they also have an economic significance in our society. It is utmost necessary to increase the punishment to deter those involved in slaughtering of cows." As per the bill, those involved in the slaughter of cows, calves, bulls and bullocks, would face imprisonment up to life, but not less than ten years. In the present Act, which was amended in 2011, the maximum jail term for such acts was seven years, but not less than three years. The bill also proposes imprisonment up to 10 years, but not less then seven years, for those found to be involved in transportation, sale and storage of beef. Earlier, the maximum punishment for the same was three years. In 2011, when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the state government had imposed a complete ban on slaughter of cows, transportation and selling of cow meat by amending the said Act. Since then, the crimes related to cow slaughter in the state are covered under the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act of 2011. Under this Act, those found involved in slaughtering cows and related crimes are fined Rs 50,000, besides the jail term up to seven years. In another change, the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill also proposes that all offences shall be considered cognisable as well as non-bailable. In the present Act, such offences are considered only "cognisable" and not "non-bailable". With inputs from PTI Over one million Indian soldiers fought overseas during World War I. The locations were far-flung: Gallipoli, Flaunders, Mesopotamia, East Africa, Egypt. The losses were tremendous: at least 62,000 died during the war. And the tales of valour, numerous with 11 Victoria Crosses earned by Indian soldiers. And yet, their contribution, for the most part, isnt widely known, or celebrated. India1914 is an UK-based initiative that is attempting to redress this. It started in October 2015, with a conversation between Nitin Palan, chairman of the Golden Tours Foundation, and Warwick Hawkins, the Faith Engagement officer for the Department of Communities and Local Government. Referring to the contribution of Sikh soldiers during World War I, Hawkins wondered why nothing was being done to commemorate the Hindu soldiers, ahead of its centenary. Nitin Palan says this got him thinking about why the remembrance wasnt for the contribution of Indian soldiers, as a whole the British soldiers certainly werent remembered as Christians or Irish or Roman Catholic. Why then were the Indian soldiers being remembered in such a fragmented manner? Nitin realised that this was a shared concern of the fraternity of specialists, practitioners and curators focusing on World War I especially those looking at the non-British contribution to the Great War. It was very clear that there were several stories waiting to be told, several fallen heroes that needed to be remembered. The fact that there was hardly any institutional memory or shared remembrance of the role of Indian soldiers worried me. One thing led to the other and the entire team of India1914 was created, Nitin told Firstpost. India1914 (it is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund) was launched in April 2016, and the project will conclude in September 2017. (The World War I centennial ends in 2018.) However, this is only a beginning of the work that will unfold in months and years to follow. As Nitin puts it, This is only the first step to meet, understand, recognise, signpost peoples efforts and to begin the formation of an e-museum through the website, India1914.com. The Indian contribution during WWI was considerable, but much of the story is missing from the public domain. India provided the largest voluntary force ever assembled in history with around 1.5 million individuals. Why then was this contribution (largely) overlooked? Nitin feels it may have something to do with the sense of pride all nations want to instill in their citizens. Often, recognising other nations and their peoples contribution may interfere with their own sense of pride. The West has traditionally not viewed India as an equal partner and always considered it as part of the Third World. On the other hand, India as a nation has failed to recognise the contribution of its own soldiers during the Great War, as it is looked at with pain and not relevance, he surmises. This is especially poignant because the sacrifices made by the Indian soldiers were different from those of other enlisted men. They were not fighting for their nation, but there was a hope that by defending the British, they would have earned their Independence. Prior to 1914, Indian soldiers had already been used by the British army for over a century not only to expand their influence over the Indian subcontinent, but also across continents, points out Nitin. He recounts a story he heard from a friend, the noted solicitor Vijay Sharma: Of a war heros widow who gave away his Victoria Cross to someone who asked for it because she was unaware of its significance. Sharma fought a legal battle to ensure the VC was returned to the woman. The story moved me, says Nitin. It is this oblivion we are fighting today and giving back the due credit, respect that these war heroes and their families so richly deserve. India1914 has ambitious plans for the future. If the website will signpost the continuous knowledge generated, there will also be webinars, seminars, workshops, community outreach via mobile exhibitions that will help take the scope of this project beyond 2018. One of the elements of the project is to organise an interaction between school students and young people based in India as well as the UK and help them share their own impressions of the Indian contribution during World War. Some will also be participating in the actual documentation of oral histories of some of the stories of Indian contribution during the Great War. India1914 is an attempt to make history relevant for ourselves and our progeny, says Nitin. If we dont think history is relevant, then who will? Today is history for tomorrow. If we do not value our history, tomorrow our children and their children may turn around and say that we were not worth remembering! Visit India1914.com for more information As a 16-year-old Class 10 student of an all-girls school in Walkeshwar, Mumbai, watching the newly released sex comedy The Guru (2002) after my internal exams was something I was looking forward to. My friends, however, thought Id have a problem at home, if I told my parents the truth. They were wrong. My parents were cool with it. I picked up the landline and dialled the number of my classmate Divyangana her mother answered the phone (this was 2002 and before the cellphone became ubiquitous). Anyway, her mum said Divyangana had gone to the club but I could leave a message. Me: Aunty Ive got permission. Is Divyangana coming tomorrow? Aunty: What are you girls doing? Me: Watching a film. Aunty: Which one? Me: The Sex Guru. 3 pm show at Sterling. After our last exam. Aunty: Ill ask her to call you. I didnt hear from Divyangana that evening. But next morning I was pleasantly surprised when Divyangna told me she was going to wear her yellow t-shirt and new jeans to the movie. Me: What happened? Divyangana: I told her that Devika and I were watching Makadee and youre confused about which gang youre going for the film with. Considering that I am well-known scatter brain, her mum bought that story. By the way, Divyangana didnt make it to the movie but that whole episode is for another article. This one is about how how sex on the screen and conversations about condoms are no longer in the realm of taboo. And our ads are reflecting it. Ranveer Singhs ad for Durex Jeans is for family viewing and my parents' permissiveness is the new normal. The new Durex ad is cute. It brings the attention back to the category but I think people are still going to continue carrying the condom in their wallets. Were not carrying them to work yet, are we? quips ad guru Alyque Padamsee. If the advertiser is to be believed, the millennial's fundamental problem is no longer HIV, family planning or making the condom sexy. Its apparently carrying it around in our jeans and purchasing it with the same ease as candy. Yes, some people would do that in the age of Amazon, Grofers and condombazar.com because its simpler or maybe they live where e-commerce players dont deliver. "We did get Nirodh (the first condom brand) in 1963 before Nasbandi (1976). Thank God for that! And our ads have changed with the marketers purpose, not with the times because frankly all of India isnt really in the same time zone. When population control became a big concern in 1960s, team IIM, DAVP and USAID came together to launch a condom brand that people could identify with. They wanted to call it Kamraj but alas, the then Congress president had the same name K Kamraj. So they went with Nirodh. Free distribution works like a charm even if the pack is white and plain with red text on it. Until a few months ago, (when the Nirodh packaging underwent a change) the pack still said '10 lubricated condoms. Each condom to be used once only. Manufactured by HLL Lifecare Limited', Padamsee says. Wed be silly to scoff at it though. DAVP and Nirodh did a good job. They did important work. HIV was a huge problem. While it still is a concern, it has been greatly reduced. And those ads worked," says Padamsee, who introduced perhaps the first sexy condom ads with the KamaSutra brand. Ask him about it and he says, "The problem I solved with KamaSutra was different. Condoms werent sexy. And thanks to Pooja Bedi and our classy ad, it became a national brand. All the supply was near Maharashtra but all the demand was coming from Punjab. Sure, Alyque Padamsee had to bear the brunt of some media houses refusing to run the ad and the ASCI threatening to ban it... but for the client, it worked. Also, good looking boys began being called "KS guys" in college. Here's a timeline for the condom ad: 1966- HLLs brand Nirodh is born. 400 million condoms are imported by the government of India from US, Japan and Korea. 1968- 75 percent of that stock remains unused. People say no even to the free stuff. 1987- HLL launches premium condom Moods. Campaign: Moods Please. 1974- TTK launches the first non-subsidised condom. 1991 - JK Ansell launches KamaSutra with Pooja Bedi and Marc Robinson. 2006- HLL- Moods. Campaign: My Man. 2010- Mankind Pharma launches Manforce condoms; first to promote flavoured condoms. 2011- HLL-Moods. Campaign: Your Time, Your Place. 2012- TTK PDL launches Skore. 2014- Mankind Pharma's Manforce condoms ropes in Sunny Leone. 2015- HLL Moods Campaign: Play it Right. 2016- Durex launches eggplant flavoured condoms! 2017 - HLL's Nirodh gets a packaging revamp. 2017- Durex releases India version of Durex Jeans. While the sachet may be novel, the concept and commercial were seen in South Korea more than three years ago. Before Moods came along, there was just free and subsidised varieties of condoms. The Moods men (not too many women) were willing to spend a little extra on condoms because they could relate to the confident chap who wasnt afraid to ask the chemist for a condom. He just says, Moods please and everybody is in awe of him. The fact that he is good looking helps. Till KamaSutras 1991 commercial, condom ads were basically about the awkwardness of purchasing the product. You wont remember, so maybe you can Google the scene from Tere Bina Kya Jeena (1989) where Shekhar Suman tries very hard to say Kya aapke paas Nirodh hai? to the chemist. Eventually an older but more confident man comes along to ask for a pack of Nirodh condoms and Suman says Mujhe bhi. It could have very well been the ad for Nirodh, it would have given the middle-aged man something to gloat about. The Moods ads is the same situation, with a role reversal. The young man is confident. The ad did wonders for the brand. So did their My man campaign which was a little more feminist in its approach. Women enjoy sex too and are a part of the companys target group. After Mankind Pharma picked Sunny Leone to be their brand ambassador, the subtlety of the '90s went out the door. Some people mistook the condom for an aphrodisiac. I did wonder why no one seemed to have a problem with the name Manforce though, for the condoms. Sex sells, and so do their condoms. But with the new Durex ad I think weve come a full circle. Condoms are functional again. The only difference is, in the 1960s only a few were using them and in 2017 only a few arent. As a Kolkatan, an ancient city in one of the few states where cow slaughter is still legal, beef isn't just an irresistible gastronomic option, it is also a part of my cultural identity. As a student in the late 90s, Park Circus and Esplanade were favourite haunts for cheap yet delicious rolls, biryanis, while a visit to the legendary watering hole in Park Street for a mean Chateau Briand was an indulgence saved for special occasions. It was much later that I woke up to other options in different parts of this vast country. Beef chilli fry from the backwaters, for instance, has remained for long a personal favourite. Despite a conservative, middle-class upbringing, my identity as a Hindu never came in the way of gastronomical delights. At the same time, to say that there was never a tension between these two identities would be a lie. The subject was largely a taboo at home despite my father's tacit support and among close family circles. The overwhelming feeling when the subject came up for discussion it rarely did was one of polite disapproval. Not that it mattered to me. The point of touching upon a personal angle is to show that when it comes to the subject of cow slaughter, an ambiguity and unease have always dominated the Hindu sentiment. The tolerance for cow slaughter even in a border state like Bengal which has historically been subjected to cross-cultural currents and intermingling of cuisines, is skin deep. The concept of India that came into existence since Independence as a modern nation-state based on Westphalian sovereignty within a so-called secular framework has always found the question of cow slaughter troubling. For a majority of Hindus, the cow's sacredness is not limited to its totem of divinity. The cow is intrinsically linked to the Hindu identity through history and the familial bond that exists far exceeds the religious mandate that has anyway undergone changes over time. A majority of the population reveres the animal, considers it sacrosanct and its culture is centred to a large extent around the deep familial bond that exists between man and animal. Another significant part of the population uses it as a cheap source of protein. How do you tackle this cognitive dissonance? While putting together the building blocks of the nation as we know it now, the founding fathers of Indian Constitution all men of great sagacity and profound knowledge failed to tackle this issue with all honesty and by styling it as a directive principle instead of a fundamental right, effectively transferred the problem to their successors. The BR Ambedkars were tall men. And yet they refrained from translating their conviction (whatever it may have been) into words. This tells us that discussion on this topic cannot be the subject of stark truth-falsehood binaries. The media has predictably thrown a hissy fit at Gujarat government's passing of The Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill on Friday that 'elevates' the offence of cow slaughter to homicide punishable with life imprisonment at worst or 10 years behind the bars at best. There is not a shadow of doubt that the law is harsh. Some of the clauses are open to misuse. And yet to snigger at the lawmakers as small men trying to drag back the country into medievalism or to look for a Hindutva motive behind Gujarat government's actions betrays a mindset which either suffers from a disregard for the complexities involved with our intercultural existence or prefers to ignore the weight of history. One can understand the position taken by Congress which is in Opposition in Gujarat. Its spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil has described the amendment as "vote bank politics, triggered by the BJP's poor showing in the local body elections". In his haste to sound 'liberal' from India's most 'secular party', Gohil may have forgotten what his party colleague, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, had said in 2015 while addressing a crowd during a religious festival in Haridwar in 2015, "Anyone who kills cows, no matter which community he belongs to is India's biggest enemy and has no right to live in the country." The simple point that eludes the pontification from media though is that no political party can formulate its policies in a vacuum in absence of popular support. A lot has been written and said about the shutting down of illegal slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh. The illogical defence of UP government's action ignores the illegality of these operations. But more importantly, fails to reckon that this was BJP's campaign promise one of the crucial planks that found mention in its manifesto and repeatedly raked up by party president Amit Shah in interviews and campaign rallies. This would signify except to the most obtuse commentator that action against these massively polluting units was rooted in public support. (Read about the NGT order and the extent of pollution unleashed by these units here). Never mind their ideological compulsions, political parties are by definition political parties, not institutions packed with ideologues. Their policies must be rooted in popular sanction or they risk losing power and influence. Therefore, while assessing the Gujarat amendment to cow slaughter law, we must take into account that the piece of legislation isn't a superficial construct imposed from top on unwilling subjects but one that is driven from within. It is the manifestation of a struggle that our founding fathers chose to ignore. It reveals the tension within our deeply conservative society as its tries to eke out a balance between tolerance and reverence, sacredness and profane. New Delhi: DMK working president MK Stalin on Saturday visited the protesting Tamil Nadu farmers at Jantar Mantar, and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi waive off their loans like he promised in Uttar Pradesh during the recent Assembly polls. Leaders from Tamil Nadu cutting across the political spectrum have offered their support to the state's farmers who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar for the past 19 days demanding a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore from the Centre and farm loan waiver. "Just like how BJP promised farmer loan waiver to UP in its poll manifesto recently, it should promise the same to Tamil Nadu farmers," he told reporters. The Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly also said that Modi should allow the farmers to meet him and offer a consoling solution at the earliest. Taking a dig at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, Stalin said, "The chief minister is only keen on RK Nagar elections at the moment. The ruling party is neither able to help nor get anything from the Centre. The state and central governments are playing blame games. Instead of debating the issue, they should act immediately considering the hardship faced by farmers," he said. CPI National Secretary D Raja, DMK MPs Tiruchi Siva and TKS Elangovan were also present. Stalin said an all-party meeting would soon be held on the issue. "I asked Ayyakkannu (who is leading the protest) to call off the strike, but they are not ready to give up. An all-party meeting would be held in the state to decide the next course of action on the issue," he added. DTEK Trading (Ukraine) and Energocom (Moldova) have signed a contract for the supply of Ukrainian electricity in the period from April 1, 2017 until March 31, 2018. Energocom won the tender for electricity supply to the Moldovan markets with its price offer of $50.2 per 1 MWh, according to a report on the website of the Economy Ministry of Moldova. The Moldovan Regional Hydro-Electric Power Plant which is located in Transdniestria and belongs to the Russian-owned Inter RAO originally offered electricity supplies at $58.5 per 1 MWh but later reduced the price to $54.4 per 1 MWh. According to the ministry, the difference between the final prices proposed by the participants will allow saving about 300 million lei. On 1 April, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh completed two weeks in power, admittedly a small amount of time to judge any individual who has occupied a seat of power. But the saffron-robed monk as many describe him has shown a different style in handling the complex issues that this vast state faces. Traditionally, in the past decades, one of the first things that any new chief minister has done after taking over is building a team of chosen and trusted officers, right from the chief ministers secretariat to the chief secretary and the director general of police, to departmental secretaries, district magistrate of Lucknow and some other districts. This has been the practice during the tenures of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, and even Kalyan Singh, Rajnath Singh and Akhilesh Yadav followed this timeless tradition when they took over as chief minister of the state. In fact, people in media, business circles and elsewhere used to be ready with their own list of officers who were expected to rise up in the order of reckoning whenever a certain chief minister took over. The list included the names of the principal secretary to the chief minister, chief secretary, DGP, principal secretaries of key departments, and a little later, the district magistrate of Lucknow, the vice chairman of Lucknow Development Authority, head of the Information Department, and other heads of departments. About a month ago, the spokesman of a certain political party rattled off names of several officers who could become chief secretary, DGP, principal secretary to the chief minister, district magistrate of Lucknow besides other posts, in case the Bahujan Samaj Party came to power. He asserted that this list was taken seriously among other party leaders also. Needless to say, the names on this list were along predictable lines of caste, community and region. However, the Yogi government has set an entirely different example. Not only did he surprise people by visiting offices in the UP Secretariat a day after taking over something no chief minister has done so far he didn't bring in a team of his chosen and perhaps favourite officers either to the chief minister's office or in other key departments. Officers known to be very close to the previous chief minister and other functionaries of the Samajwadi Party are still continuing in their positions, causing widespread bewilderment among leaders of both SP and the BJP. The current chief secretary, DGP, secretary information, power corporation chairman, secretary housing, vice chairman of Lucknow Development Authority and Lucknow superintendent of police are only a few officers in UP who have been known for their proximity to the previous regime, but remarkably, all of them are continuing in their posts. Not only this, Yogi Adityanath has managed to bring a small but significant change in the working of government officers and employees despite the presence of his so-called favourite officers. Could it be that Yogi is trying to give a signal that he does not need a coterie of select officers to get done what he desires? At least the experience of the last fortnight indicates so. The chief minister has not even constituted the team of officers in the Secretariat, where previously Akhilesh Yadav had had seven officers posted. Going by convention, all of them including Principal Secretary Anita Singh who has been a regular on this post since the days of Mulayam Singh Yadav as chief minister resigned from their posts the day the new chief minister took over. But Yogi Adityanath took 14 days to appoint only one from amongst them Ringzin Semphel, a young officer originally from Ladakh as special secretary in the chief minister's office. By retaining one officer who is not from any particular caste (he is a Buddhist) or region of UP, and has an impeccable reputation of honesty and hard work, Adityanath has again sent out a signal that he probably does not need a team of officers from Gorakhpur or from a particular caste to get things done according to his plan. The names of several officers of the UP cadre serving at the Centre have been making rounds, apparently being considered for chief secretary, principal secretary to the chief minister and other principal secretaries. It is also reported in some quarters that some officers in the PMO have been given the responsibility to set up a team of appropriate officers for UP. But nothing has materialised so far. According to a former officer who retired as secretary to the UP government, the chief minister, by choosing to take work from the previous regimes team, could be trying to stay away from the very idea of a committed bureaucracy, much like what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done in the last two years. Also, this could be an indication that officers will have to follow the chief ministers orders regardless of their former political proximity or affiliations. Another interesting input given by this former bureaucrat was that in the last decade and a half, officers of UP had gotten the opportunity of aligning themselves only with two ruling parties SP and BSP and they did not get any chance to cosy up to leaders of the BJP. It was only in 2014 that some officers chose to move to the Centre when they found that the environment in UP was not to their liking. This could perhaps explain why there was a delay in identifying suitable officers. BEIRUT Air strikes struck a hospital in western Syria last week, killing two people, and there is evidence chemical weapons were used, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Friday. A Syrian military source said this week allegations that government forces were using chemical weapons were "devoid of truth".MSF said a bomb dropped from a helicopter hit the entrance of a hospital supported by the medical aid group in the rebel-held town of Latamneh in Hama province on Saturday. "Information collected by the hospital medical staff suggests that chemical weapons were used," it said in a statement."Immediately after the impact, patients and staff reported suffering severe respiratory symptoms and burning of mucous membranes symptoms consistent with an attack using chemicals." The health authority of opposition-held parts of Hama blamed the attack on Syrian government warplanes. The Syrian government denies attacking hospitals and says it only targets militants. The medical charity said the strike knocked the hospital out of service for three days, after which the emergency room reopened. The attack killed an orthopaedic surgeon, leaving nearly 120,000 people with only two such doctors, it added. Jets have pounded rebel-held areas in rural Hama this week, as government forces fought to reverse the biggest assault by insurgent groups in months. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitoring group, said the escalation in strikes injured at least 50 people in recent days. Air strikes that hit the same town of Latamneh on Thursday also led several people to choke, the Observatory and a doctor had said, describing it as sign of a gas attack.Abdallah Darwish, head of the health authority for rebel-held areas of Hama province, said earlier the strikes on Thursday caused "irritation, heavy foaming from the mouth and constricting pupils" citing his medical staff on the ground. A Syrian military source denied the accounts on Thursday. "The army has not, will not, and does not need to use these weapons," the source said.A joint inquiry for the United Nations and the global chemical weapons watchdog has previously accused government forces of toxic gas attacks. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using such weapons during the six-year-old war. (Reporting by Ellen Francis; editing by Andrew Roche) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Philip Wen | SEOUL SEOUL Australia-based Chinese academic Feng Chongyi said late on Saturday he had boarded a flight leaving China, ending an ordeal that saw him interrogated by authorities and delayed from exiting the country.Feng, an Australian permanent resident who retains his Chinese passport, boarded the flight from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and was scheduled to arrive in Sydney on Sunday morning. Flight tracking websites confirmed the plane had taken off. Feng's case had sparked concern among international academics and prompted Australian government intervention. "I'm on the plane," Feng told Reuters via text message shortly before his plane took off. "I will be back." His lawyer, Chen Jinxue, told Reuters that state security officers who had been questioning Feng daily told the academic on Saturday morning that he was free to leave. As a condition for his departure, Chen said, Feng was made to sign a statement agreeing not to divulge details of his questioning or where it had taken place.China's foreign ministry could not immediately be reached for comment late on Saturday.In a short video message to supporters recorded shortly before he left China, Feng described his ordeal as "one of life's little accidents". "Now it is over," Feng, a long-serving associate professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), said in the video seen by Reuters. "I now have the chance to step out of the country, but I will return."Since arriving in China a month ago for research, Feng had met with fellow academics, intellectuals and human rights lawyers in several cities. He was first held for questioning in Kunming, the capital of southwestern Yunnan province, before being barred twice from boarding flights to Sydney from Guangzhou last Friday and Saturday, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters previously.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday that Feng was being prevented from leaving on "national security" grounds, without elaborating.Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.It said earlier this week the Australian government was "monitoring developments closely and has raised this case with senior Chinese officials". (Editing by Tony Munroe) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Over the past few months there have been attempts made at overarching and defining domestic policy changes in the US and India the American Health Care Act and the Finance Bill. There is a remarkable similarity between the two legislative moves including the tactics, the timing used to push them, as well as the vested interests behind them, even if on two opposite sides of the globe. While in the metropolis the measures have not passed at the first try, with around 30 Republicans opposing it in the US House of Representatives there is no doubt that a slightly watered down proposal would be offered as a compromise. For the Senate, the American Healthcare Act would be introduced as a budget reconciliation bill, requiring only 51 votes to pass, rather than the 60 votes required to avert a filibuster. On the other hand, the Finance Bill 2017 has passed in the Lok Sabha, and being a money bill, does not require standard passage in the Rajya Sabha. Donald Trump budget The Trump budget bill was cloaked as a healthcare bill titled the American Healthcare Act. Its defining feature was huge tax breaks for the wealthy, while overseeing mostly cuts to healthcare (including defunding Planned Parenthood) or handing over responsibilities to the states. The Meals On Wheels scheme for the elderly was abolished, a programme that feeds 2.4 million elderly citizens (arguing that taking the load off the taxpayer is compassionate). There was a seismic $880 billion cut to Medicaid, on the excuse of leaving it to the now-slightly-richer-taxpayer and the states, while lifted the weighted tax burden on the super-rich. The bill grossly underfunded the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and offered no new endowments for further action to safeguard the environment. In fact, Trump seeks to defy the Paris Climate Deal, in addition to overturning fracking controls on public land. Further, the bill oversaw huge cuts in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, rendering it virtually unable to tackle the chronic homelessness and the foreclosures that brought it into prominence in 2007-08 onwards. The Appalachian region, whose plight Trump had highlighted during his election campaign had seen huge cuts to its area development fund, and even coal miners, who had voted for him, will eventually face hardship, job and wage cuts due to increased automation. The education budget has been starved out especially the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and for the humanities. Other cuts point towards huge disruption in medical and science research. After school progammes for 1.6 million children have been cut, as have federal meal programmess for schools. Public broadcasting and public funded media have nearly been wiped out, though C-SPAN will remain funded by the financial corpus given by the private broadcasters and cable networks, unlike PBS. While Trump had campaigned on tackling Islamic State (IS) but stopping US interference in endless wars, the budget saw a huge increase in military spending, including on veterans. Further, funding for the CIA, the FBI and the NSA has increased, encouraging covert action and mass surveillance domestically and abroad. To top it all, the much-touted border wall gets billions of dollars in money (from the US Treasury, and not Mexico). A single border wall defies all financial sense as states like New Mexico do not have an immigrant problem and yet the wall would cover those areas as well. Other departments, agencies and programmes getting 12-20% cuts include Agriculture, Labour, Transport, the State Department, Health and Human Services, Amtrak (trains), alternative energy programmes, minority business programmes, and the North Border Commission (ironically!), among others. The level of detail shows that it was not written up from scratch, was probably written up by corporations much before the inauguration, possibly before the election, to be handed as a list of demands to the winner, even if it had been Hillary Clinton. After all, the amount of corporate political contributions to Clinton far outdid any Democrat or Republican rival. This explains the silence of the Democratic establishment. After all, $1.2 billion of corporate money was wasted on Clinton and she was unable to deliver the $880 billion tax-break corporate America demanded (though she would have had to, had she won). That Trump did it for free shows that the Republican Party, now in power in the House, the Senate and the White House, is fully back in favour. Narendra Modi Finance Bill The Finance Bill introduced in Parliament along with the budget initially did what it was meant to, dealt with new taxes and cuts, along with suggestion of public funded elections. The amended version reintroduced was nothing like the original. Its purpose as a finance bill became marginalised as it offered amendments to over 40 acts of Parliament. One of its major features is making the Aadhar mandatory for filing IT returns, for a PAN card, for various subsidies and to avail nearly every public scheme or programme, in defiance of the Supreme Court that limited Aadhar to a small set of uses. Another example of its overreach is in how it makes Aadhar mandatory for not only receiving government fellowships, but for getting university degrees as well. The bill further merges various oversight bodies and tribunals, including the ones that arbitrate between the government and companies, between several companies, between Public Sector Units (PSUs) and private contractors, and between the central and state governments including the fact that the central government will be able to intervene more easily in disputes between states, the nature of which will be dependent on approaching electoral calculations and which party rules what state. There is also a strong element of financial decentralisation of welfare programmes, provided that the Centre funds each state adequately and proportionally. While the central government washes its hands free of the responsibility of welfare, the relations between the regime in power at the Centre and various state governments would determine the capacity of the latter to carry out those relegated functions. The authoritarianism and injustice of the legislation is best demonstrated by the provision allowing income tax and allied officers to raid anyone without accountability, without them necessarily being charged with anything. Further, the assets of that person may be indefinitely seized, with no judicial safeguards laid out in the current form. This is the entry of the practice of indiscriminate civil forfeiture into India. John Olivers video on civil forfeiture does a comprehensive job of explaining the intricacies and implications of the practice in the United States. Companies are not per se people so they would not require an all-encompassing Aadhar identity, they would see no caps on their political donations and there would be no disclosure required for the same. In short, this bill serves as the Citizens United of India only that in the US, the decades long battle was finally decided in the Supreme Court. However, like Citizens United, spending money on a candidate or party will now be considered the right to free speech clubbed with the right to support a candidate. The cherry on top is the provision that parties no longer have to disclose funding. It appears that now, instead of being bribed during office, politicians and parties will be open for bribery before the election itself. The elephant in the Lok Sabha was the silence of the Indian National Congress, relieved that measures got pushed through under BJP, as they would not have to be considered the culprits in the future. Further, in the future, the Congress and other parties will also have to vie for huge corporate donations to be able to compete electorally and politically with the ascendant BJP. Both governments are enabling erosion of privacy Both bills are cloaked as something else, while the real provisions and functions of the bill are altogether different from the title of the bills. Both legislative moves either enable an expansion of government, erosion of privacy, through funding or legislation or encourage private sale of data. While ISPs can sell user data in the US, Aadhar data in India has been repeatedly leaked. Both include huge forms of social security cuts (in India it was part of the Union budget that the Finance Bill initially accompanied). Provident funds and pensions have seen massive negative overhauls in both nations. Both have been spurred on by big political donors, mostly billionaires and corporations, and in turn remove what little limits remained to campaign funding. Both involve huge tax cuts for the wealthy and for the corporations, in one way or the other, including indirect tax shifts burdening the consumer. Both serve the development discourse where one inquires into the welfare of private profits as symbols of national pride (GDP) rather than whether those very corporations are paying their fair share of taxes that would fulfill what people really need - economic rights, welfare and higher standards of living. Thus, while increasing surveillance on ordinary citizens, accompanied by reduced surveillance on corporations, their financial flows, and their political spending at the individual level the elite are enriched and empowered to donate, and in India, foreign investors have been brought to the table as equal partners. Both interact with other, more nefarious bills. The Trump bill was soon followed by a successfully-passed bill in the US House of Representatives that allowed Internet Service Providers, among other corporations, to sell users browsing data to companies. The American media was extremely late in reporting this corporate owners such as Amazon (owns The Washington Post), Viacom, Time Warner, NewsCorp and Comcast (own most of the news channels) have a far greater vested interest in the bill passing than in honest journalism. This also related to the Wikileaks revelations that the CIA and NSA have taken to installing spyware on personal devices at the manufacturing level, as well as the hack tools used to ensure tight mass surveillance. One can also recall the battle over net neutrality in both India and the US waged over the past two years. Increasing right-wing consciousness In India, the Finance Bills interaction with other laws is far-reaching. One of them is the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The second is the compulsory creation of Jan Dhan Yojana bank accounts for every citizen. The third is opening up key sectors such as defence, civil aviation and pharmaceuticals to full-share FDI (allowing India and US to be at the mercy of the same set of investors). The fourth is demonestisation in particular the forced depositing of nearly all the countrys cash reserves and tracing them to respective bank accounts while boosting digital transactions and pushing back the informal economy. The fifth is the post-demonetisation banking sector regulations led by SBI including transaction taxes, lowering of free transactions in ATMs, higher minimum balances, etc put in place to make the Indian system more in line with the US (where ATM fees are a huge problem). The Indian media was late in reporting the Finance Bill, too once the floodgates to money in politics open, the media will be the biggest beneficiary as most campaign money is spent on formal and informal advertising. Corporations wanting to curry favor, corporations wanting to earn through paid news, and parties on campaign blitzes will all inject massive amounts of money into the media. This will also ensure that the Indian government, unto eternity, shall never defy ruthless corporate interests, no matter what party is in power. This is of course, not to say that the mainstream media is not already corporate-owned. Tied to this are the discourses that interpret such actions both long and short-term narratives, from how the media daily reports them to how history judges them. One has witnessed many discourses discussing the global rise of the right mainly worrisome analyses dealing with the dangers of right wing consciousness, but in actuality meaning simply Brexit, Modi and Trump. A fairer media would have provided a clearer picture, which would in turn have provided clearer studies. The victorious Brexit vote had more to do with bipartisan British complacency in the wake of unemployment, healthcare-education-housing shortfalls, wage stagnation and increases in the cost of living that the EUs version of neoliberalism was creating and the lack of an alternative than it had to do with blind xenophobia or the desire for libertarian, small government economic policy (and yet the latter was the result). David Camerons second win was consciously promoted by the media while the spectacular rise of Jeremy Corbyn was suppressed and attacked by the British media. In India, however, there is indeed a rise and empowerment of xenophobic, communal and castiest aspects of consciousness and concurrent socio-political-public forces though when it comes to economics or authoritarian aspects, the government still has to resort to sneaking behind the citizens backs. There is no denying that conservative forces are stronger than liberal forces here, numerically. In the US, however, there are more, if not as many people opposing Trump and his partys policies, and the media (barring Fox News, the New York Post and Wall Street Journal all conservative outlets) usually coming down heavily on him. Further, the Trump movement was miniscule in comparison to the Bernie Sanders campaign in terms of crowds, small donations, volunteers, enthusiasm, and magnitude of change in political consciousness. The Trump movement only looks large because of the Republican laissez faire that followed and Trumps own lack of ideology/competence. As a result, however, Republican activism is at an all time high. Further, Trump could only win because the Democratic primary was rather publicly rigged by the Democratic Party and the media in an election year where the establishment candidate was bound to lose, and Clinton was unable to get the turnout required for her to win in crucial states in an electoral college system. Other than India, we are still dealing with fractured polities, if we take a comparative view. More importantly, are the Right wing moves the governments are making things that the people want? No. Public support for most actions of these governments is either apathetic or nil. That there is a nearly equal left wing wave in the UK and the US, is often undercut in most worried global narratives. In short, there appears to be less of a global rise of Right-wing consciousness and more of a rightward turn of the state in some countries. The author is a research scholar at Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Following is the full text Prime Minister Narendra Modis statement to media, in joint press briefing with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak: "His Excellency Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohammed Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, Members of the media, It is a great pleasure to welcome His Excellency the Prime Minister of Malaysia to India. Excellency Najib, your visit gives me and the people of India an opportunity to reciprocate the warmth and goodwill that I enjoyed during my visit to Malaysia in November 2015. Your visit also comes at a historic time in our relations. We are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations. And, Excellency, your personal attention and leadership has contributed much to the steady direction, strength and vibrancy in our ties. Your contributions have been instrumental in forging a wide-ranging Strategic Partnership with India. Friends, Our links with Malaysia have been civilizational and historic. Our relationship is rich and diverse. Our societies bond at many levels. Ties of culture and religion provide a strong connect between our people. The contributions of a large Indian community in Malaysia are of special value. They have not only nurtured our shared heritage. They have also been a strong driver of economic and people to people connectivity between our two countries.Prime Minister Najib and I had jointly inaugurated the Torana Gate in Kuala Lumpur during my last visit. Modelled on the Torana Gates of the Sanchi Stupa this stands as a symbol of our abiding friendship. Friends, In our extensive conversation today, Prime Minister Najib and I took stock of the full range of our cultural, economic and strategic engagement.We took note of the steady progress in implementation of key decisions taken by us during my visit to Malaysia in November 2015 and we agreed on a shared vision to enhance our strategic partnership. A vision that prioritizes an action oriented approach. In this effort, deepening the existing areas of cooperation, and charting new territory of engagement are among our key objectives. Friends, India and Malaysia have built a thriving economic partnership.In our efforts to scale this up, as the fastest growing large economy in the world, India offers unparallel opportunities. And, to build new avenues of prosperity in our societies we are ready to expand trade and capital flows between our two economies. Infrastructure has been an area of fruitful partnerships between us. But, we can do much more.Indias infrastructure needs and our ambitious vision of developing Smart cities match well with the Malaysian capacities. Malaysian companies are participating in many of our infrastructure projects across different states in India. Indian companies too are extensively engaged and invested in the Malaysian economy. We are pleased that a high level business delegation is accompanying Prime Minister Najib. I am confident that the business partnerships that they forge will enhance the level and momentum of our commercial engagement. We are also converging efforts aimed at food security that are linked to the wellbeing of our farmers. The MOU on proposed development of a fertiliser plant in Malaysia and off-take of surplus urea from Malaysia to India is a welcome development. Friends, The U.T.A.R. University of Malaysia has started Ayurveda degree courses in Malaysia for the first time.This is a welcome development. And, an Ayurveda Chair in the same University is in the pipeline.Its early finalization would further cement our cooperation in this field.Our educational exchanges have always been a strong promoter of people to people ties between our countries. The signing today of the MOU on Mutual Recognition of Degrees is a landmark development that will benefit the students and societies of both our countries. Friends, We live in times and in a region, where both conventional and non-conventional security threats are constantly on the rise. Prime Minister Najib and I agreed that these challenges threaten the stability and economic prosperity of our countries and the region. And, require us and other countries of the region to work together. In this context, I deeply appreciate our continuing cooperation with the Malaysian government in our joint anti-terrorism efforts. Excellency, your own leadership in countering radicalization and terrorism is an inspiration for the entire region. Our wide-ranging defence partnership has already brought our armed forces closer. We are cooperating in: training and capacity building; maintenance of equipment and military hardware; maritime security; and in Disaster response. Prime Minister Najib and I are also conscious of our role and responsibility in promoting economic prosperity, freedom of navigation, and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, especially its Oceans.To secure our societies, and for the greater regional good, we have agreed to further strengthen our strategic partnership to shape an effective response to our common concerns and challenges. Excellency Prime Minister Najib, Let me welcome you once again to India.I thank you for very productive discussions. I am confident that our decisions today will drive our strategic partnership to the next level. I wish you an enjoyable and fruitful stay in India. Thank you. Thank you very much." Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco-based activist and artist best known for creating the rainbow flag representing gay rights, has died at the age of 65, his longtime friend announced on social media on Friday."My dearest friend in the world is gone. Clive Baker gave the world the rainbow flag, he gave me forty years of love and friendship," Cleve Jones said on Twitter. No details were immediately available on the cause of Baker's death or where he died. According to the biography posted on his official website, he had been living in New York City.Jones also tweeted a photo of Baker with former President Barack Obama, inviting mourners to meet him under a rainbow flag in the Castro district of San Francisco on Friday evening to remember his friend. Baker, who was born in Kansas in 1951, was stationed in San Francisco in the early 1970s while serving in the U.S. Army, at the start of the gay rights movement. According to the website biography Baker began making banners for gay rights and anti-war protests, often at the request of Harvey Milk, who would become the first openly gay man elected to public office in California when he won the 1977 race for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.Milk rode under the first rainbow flags made by Baker at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978, just months before the politician was murdered by a former city supervisor, the biography says. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by James Dalgleish) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. BAGHDAD Ayad al-Jumaili, the man believed to be the deputy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed in an air strike, Iraqi State TV said on Saturday, citing Iraq's military intelligence. Jumaili was killed with other Islamic State commanders in a strike carried out by the Iraqi air force in the region of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria, the channel said, without giving the date of the raid. The TV described Jumaili as Islamic State's "second-in-command" and "war minister". The spokesman of the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition couldn't immediately be reached for comments. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. ROME The G7 group of rich nations committed on Friday to pursuing the creation of a U.N. peacekeeping force to protect world heritage sites from destruction in conflict and combating the trafficking of plundered treasures.Destroying antiquities at heritage sites like the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra and the shrines of Timbuktu in Mali has increasingly become a tactic of war for groups like Islamic State, both to feed propaganda and profit from smuggling, the United Nations says.The G7 nations -- Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Britain, the United States and Italy -- signed an accord in the Italian city of Florence, cradle of the Renaissance, to strengthen international collaboration to protect cultural heritage. Armed U.N. peacekeepers deployed in countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Syria are commonly known as "Blue Helmets". Italy has put together a unit of Italian "blue helmets of culture" active in areas where the United Nations has humanitarian operations. The culture ministry said Friday's accord included a commitment to enable such restorers and art experts to join missions in conflict zones.Even so, it is not clear how exactly such an addition to a peacekeeping unit might operate. Last week, the U.N. Security Council adopted its first ever resolution focussing on cultural heritage, in which it called on states to step up the fight against the looting and trafficking of archaeological, religious and other cultural artefacts.Italy, which is hosting G7 meetings this year, set up a special police force in 1969 to track down stolen artefacts and artworks, which are often smuggled abroad. Since then, the force has recovered some 800,000 artefacts stolen in Italy, which has more UNESCO world heritage sites than any other country.Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said Italy wanted "to make culture an instrument of dialogue between nations." Asked ahead of the Florence meeting how others had reacted to his plan to introduce culture to the G7 agenda in light of U.S. President Donald Trump's desire to cut funding for the arts, Franceschini said Italy had met with "a lot of openness". (Reporting by Isla Binnie; editing by Richard Lough) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington: President Donald Trump has blasted a probe into his team's ties to Russia as an opposition "witch hunt," defending his former top aide Michael Flynn's decision to ask for immunity in the case. Trump's ex-national security advisor, whose links to Russia are one focus of the sprawling investigation, has sought protection in exchange for his testimony to the FBI and congressional committees. Flynn's lawyer said in a statement Thursday that his client has "a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit." But two key committees in the probe, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, both suggested the immunity proposal was premature. Trump nevertheless encouraged Flynn's move in a tweet that appeared to lay down a challenge. "Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!" Flynn's offer to testify under protection from prosecution suggests he has more to reveal about the Russia affair. He could be a key witness as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Congress seek to determine whether Trump advisors colluded with Russia's interference in last year's presidential election. But Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House panel, said there was "still much work and many more witnesses and documents to obtain before any immunity request from any witness can be considered." "We should first acknowledge what a grave and momentous step it is for a former national security advisor to the president of the United States to ask for immunity from prosecution," Schiff said. NBC News also quoted unnamed officials as saying the issue was not on the table at the Senate committee "at the moment." A close advisor to Trump's 2016 campaign, Flynn was forced to step down from his White House job in February after misleading the vice president about conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak after the election. He is also in focus over receiving USD 33,000 from Russian television RT to attend a 2015 gala in Moscow where he sat with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and USD 530,000 from Turkey for lobbying services. But Flynn is not the only member of Trump's advisors to have had contacts with Russia during the campaign. Investigators want to know whether there was any collusion between them and Moscow's concerted effort last year to hurt Trump's Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton. What Flynn could tell investigators is unknown. US prosecutors can offer a suspect immunity in exchange for information that can incriminate others in a case, particularly larger figures. Asking for immunity, said criminal lawyer Mark Bennett on Twitter, is "a reasonable stance for someone to take even if she hasn't done anything wrong especially where... the grand jury's investigation appears to have political overtones." Alex Whiting, a Harvard Law School professor writing on the Just Security website, said Flynn's offer to testify in exchange for immunity was "not a serious offer," suggesting it was rather a tactical move. Five people have been detained during the "Patriot, Not a Criminal" unauthorized protest outside the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) building, an Interfax correspondent reported. Some activists have come up to the building in sign of solidarity with those detained earlier. Police are checking documents and inspecting everyone going inside the building and telling people not to stand near it. Police have detained Pavel Severinets, co-chairman of the organizing committee of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party, and at least four other activists. It was reported that on March 22 the KGB detained 26 White Legion and Young Front activists on suspicion of participation in mass disturbances. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said earlier that he suspected a fifth column of an attempt to destabilize the domestic situation and stage a so-called "color revolution" in the republic. There are 2,092 miles between the West Coast and the East Coast. Buried in those thousands of miles are housing markets hitting peaks, cooling down, heating up, and everything in between. In the video segment below, Motley Fool analysts Nathan Hamilton and Kristine Harjes discuss three states with the most active housing markets. Is your state on the list? 5 Simple Tips to Skyrocket Your Credit Score Over 800!Increasing your credit score above 800 will put you in rare company. So rare that only 1 in 9 Americans can claim they're members of this elite club. But contrary to popular belief, racking up a high credit score is a lot easier than you may have imagined following 5 simple, disciplined strategies. You'll find a full rundown of each inside our FREE credit score guide. It's time to put your financial future first and secure a lifetime of savings by increasing your credit score. Simply click hereto claim a copy 5 Simple Tips to Skyrocket Your Credit Score over 800. Kristine Harjes: When you're looking at getting a mortgage, one of the important things to consider is how hot the market in your local area is. Nathan Hamilton: Yep. Harjes: We were doing some research, trying to help our foolish listeners out, and we came across a great article from NerdWallet that broke down by state how active the housing markets are. The results were a little bit surprising. Hamilton: Yes, essentially NerdWallet looked at loan origination, which is essentially applied-for mortgages and subsequently funded, and it's a proxy that you can look at for where there are hotter housing markets. There's more transactions, there's more turning of houses. Specifically, if you look at the top three, you're going to see these in a very central area of the country -- well, Southwest-ish area. But Colorado was the highest at 16.6 origination's per 1,000 residents. If you look at Idaho, 14.6 and Utah 15.4. Harjes: Right, and those are fairly high numbers compared to what you would see in other parts of the country. If you are somebody in one of these states, what does that actually mean for you? Hamilton: Yes, so you want to look at if it is a hotter market, that typically means that the buyers are going to be at a disadvantage, certainly as a seller's market. In those markets, there may be more people paying cash, or there may be more buyers that are fully prepared to turn around on an offer within a week, within a couple of days. Getting pre-approved is very important. Pre-approval, what it does it essentially ... You go through the whole origination process, and you get approved through your lender for a specific mortgage amount. You know what your rates are going to be. You have the terms on paper. You're essentially ready to go. You've done all the preparation, all the legwork. If you do see a house that you do fall in love with, and their are multiple offers, you can come and say, "Okay, here's my offer. I'm a serious buyer," and the seller will take you more seriously. Harjes: Right, it allows you to have that leg up in a competitive market. If you're open for more great tips and tricks like this, please visit fool.com/mortgages for some more helpful tools. We also have calculators, and we can give you access to some highly rated lenders with low rates. As a bonus, we'll also give you access to our free guide called "5 Tips To Increase Your Credit Score Over 800." The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. As the stock market indices continue to climb a "wall of worry," there's plenty of reason to view the market as being expensive -- maybe downright overvalued. After all, the averageS&P 500 stock sells for over 26 times earnings at recent prices. That's a steep premium to historic levels. In fairness, there's more to it than just the market's P/E ratio, but value-minded investors are having a harder time finding stocks that offer both a solid business and a reasonable price. Yet, there are values to be had, if you know where to look. Three stocks worth a hard look right now? Auto-salvage expertCopart, Inc.(NASDAQ: CPRT); a surprising tech leader with huge profit potential,Yandex NV(NASDAQ: YNDX); and beaten-up online travel review siteTripAdvisor Inc.(NASDAQ: TRIP). Image source: Getty Images. On top of the junk pile Jason Hall(Copart, Inc.): It's somewhat ironic to have found Copart as a great bargain stock to buy. After all, the company is in the business of selling junked, wrecked, and otherwise salvaged cars. But with its stock trading at a price-to-earnings multiple of just over 18 and a PEG ratio around 1, it's a lot like finding a pristine 1964 1/2 Mustang buried in the weeds at your neighborhood salvage yard. And Copart isn't just a cheap stock. Over the past five years, the company has grown earnings per share almost 150%, through a combination of expansion, cost efficiency, and share buybacks. Over that period, net income has increased 121%, while management has repurchased almost 10% of shares outstanding. And there's more growth in Copart's future. The company has done a solid job growing its business and expanding its relationships with some of the United States' largest auto insurers, but the auto-salvage business is still ripe for further consolidation both domestically and in the other 11 countries Copart operates in. And as one of the largest players in the business, Copart's scale is a real competitive advantage that should help it continue growing for years to come. Put it all together, and you have an industry leader with solid growth prospects, trading at its cheapest valuation in years. That's a textbook bargain stock to buy. An expensive-looking Russian company that isn't quite so expensive Brian Stoffel(Yandex): Tell me if this sounds like a bargain stock to you: It trades for 63 times trailing earnings and has seen its net income fall 60% in the past two years.Oh, yeah -- and it's a company operating primarily in Russia -- a bastion of excellent business prospects. (Yes, that's sarcasm). OK, so maybe this isn't your prototypical "bargain" stock, but I think shares of Yandex are appealing at today's prices. Hidden underneath all the doom and gloom of the company's falling profit is that sales have been climbing at an impressive rate, up 28% per year over the past four years. The real reason Yandex's profit hasn't kept up is that it's been aggressively reinvesting in itself. Product and development costs have jumped 270% since 2012, and sales, general, and administrative expenses are up 265% over the same time frame. What are these investments in? Primarily, the future of Yandex: e-commerce, online-to-offline (O2O) investments such as tickets and taxi-hailing services, and even TV programs. Those types of investments take a lot of up-front cash, and success isn't guaranteed. But Yandex is building a moat around itself by differentiating what Google currently offers in Russia. Eventually, the spending on that infrastructure will subside, and profits can boom. If you're looking for a real reason to believe that Yandex is a bargain, look no further than the company's price-to-sales ratio, which currently sits at 6. That's a full 75% cheaper than it was at the end of 2011. Dark clouds I can see through Brian Feroldi(TripAdvisor): Online travel-review site TripAdvisor has been a tough stock to hold over the past few years. Shares have fallen by more than 60% from their peak because management made the bold decision in 2015 to become a one-stop shop for customers. The company wants to control the entire consumer experience by becoming an online travel agent, just like ThePriceline GroupandExpedia. To realize this dream they rolled out an"Instant Booking" feature across the site, which allows customers to make their travel arrangements without ever leaving the company's platform. In theory, this move should lead to outsize revenue and profit growth for years to come. However, TripAdvisor has struggled to translate this business model change into financial success. The company's top line has stagnated since 2015, which isn't something growth investors like to see. To make matters worse, the Instant Booking rollout has proven to be expensive. When combined, TripAdvisor's profits have tanked. TRIP Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts Despite the company's financial struggles, a look below the headline numbers shows that the TripAdvisor community is as strong as ever. As of the end of 2016, TripAdvisor welcomed an average of 390 million unique visitors per month. That figure compares quite favorably with the315 million unique visitors recorded as of the end of 2014. Meanwhile, the number of reviews and listingson TripAdvisor's platform also continues to exhibit strong growth. In all,TripAdvisor continues to demonstrate that its platform and brands are as popular as ever with customers. If you believe that the company's Instant Booking rollout will be a success in the long term, then buying shares today could prove to be a smart decision. 10 stocks we like better than TripAdvisorWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and TripAdvisor wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017 Brian Feroldi owns shares of TripAdvisor. Brian Stoffel owns shares of Yandex. Jason Hall owns shares of TripAdvisor. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends TripAdvisor. The Motley Fool recommends Copart and Yandex. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. You never know when you might encounter a complicated tax situation, and while you can sometimes go it alone, in certain cases, you'd be much better off enlisting the help of a personal tax attorney. Because taxation law is extremely complex, a lawyer could spell the difference between a successful IRS battle and one that ends poorly for you. Furthermore, if you're facing income tax evasion charges, you should absolutely hire a tax lawyer to act in your defense. Audit situations Although less than 1% of tax returns get audited each year, sometime, all it takes is a bit of missing or mismatched information to wind up on the IRS's list. While most IRS audits are conducted by mail, in some cases, you may need to engage in a face-to-face battle of sorts with an actual IRS agent. And while he or she may not look scary, you can bet that agent will know a whole lot more about the tax code than you do. If you're facing an in-depth, in-person audit, having a tax attorney in your corner could produce a much better outcome for you. First of all, your lawyer will be able to address any questions that IRS agent throws your way and answer them in the least harmful manner possible. In addition, if you're found to owe a significant amount of money, your tax lawyer will be able to negotiate with the IRS on your behalf. Criminal situations According to IRS estimates, up to 17% of taxpayers fail to fully adhere to the law when filing their returns. But there's a difference between forgetting to report a small amount of side income and actively hiding large chunks of income, and if the IRS thinks you've done the latter, you could face criminal charges. IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES. Anytime you're accused of tax evasion or tax fraud, you shouldn't think twice before hiring an attorney -- because if you are indeed convicted, the penalties can be downright catastrophic. For one thing, you could go to jail if you're found to have willingly evaded income taxes. But even if that never comes to be, if you're found guilty of tax fraud, you could face a 75% civil penalty on the amount of tax you underpaid on top of the actual taxes you owe. And if you are convicted of a tax crime, your attorney can work to help get your penalty (or, in some cases, jail time) reduced. If you're facing an IRS audit and you're willing to spend the time reading up on tax laws, then you may be able to handle the situation on your own and save yourself the attorney fees. But if you're facing any type of criminal charges, you'll be taking a huge risk by fighting back solo. Though tax lawyers can be expensive, in many cases, they're able to more than make up for their fees. That said, if you're going to enlist the help of an attorney, make sure you understand how you'll be charged. Some lawyers charge a flat fee for tax matters, while others charge an hourly rate. The benefit of paying a flat fee is that there won't be any surprises down the line, but if your situation is relatively uncomplicated, you may come out ahead by paying an hourly rate. Finally, if you're looking for a tax lawyer, it never hurts to shop around. Just make sure to choose someone with the right experience and credentials. When you're deep in the throes of an IRS battle, you really can't afford to be stingy. 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. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Despite being given its last rites, it appears that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the landmark health legislation signed into law by Barack Obama more than seven years ago, will remain the law of the land for the foreseeable future. The Republicans' failure to launch During his campaign, President Trump had touted repealing and replacing the ACA, which is more commonly known as Obamacare, as his top priority. When Trump won the presidency in November, and Republicans maintained control of both houses of Congress, Obamacare's demise seemed assured. Image source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Flickr. Yet even though House Republicans passed legislation to repeal the ACA more than 60 times during the Obama presidency, Republican lawmakers were unable to come to a consensus regarding the Republican health bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA). The bill, which would have repealed the mandates, penalties, and subsidies tied to the ACA, and instituted a system of age-based, not income-based, tax credits, simply couldn't muster a majority of the votes in the House. As a result, Republicans pulled the AHCA from voting, solidifying Obamacare as the law of the land at least for the near term. Obamacare's shortcomings are back on the radar With Obamacare back on the radar, it brings the ACA's shortcomings back into light. It also puts the nation's largest insurers in the spotlight, many of which have reduced or pledged to eliminate their ACA coverage in the years that lie ahead. In 2017, the nation's largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), cut the number of states it's operating in to just three from 34 in the previous year. Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Humana (NYSE: HUM) followed suit as well, cutting their respective county-based coverage by close to 70% and nearly 90%. Even more recently, Humana announced that it would pull out of the ACA market entirely in 2018. Finally, Anthem's (NYSE: ANTM) management has suggested that it, too, could pare its marketplace offerings if margins don't improve in 2017. Some may see this pullback as a sign of insurer greed, but it can just as easily represent the unsustainability of Obamacare as we currently know it. Image source: Getty Images. The primary issues with the Affordable Care Act There are certainly no shortage of issues with Obamacare. To begin with, the ACA failed to attract an adequate number of young enrollees. Young adults are often healthier and less inclined to go to the doctor. This means their premium payments are very much needed to help balance the higher costs of treating older patients (50-64 years old). Plus, with insurers being required to accept all patients regardless of whether they have pre-existing conditions, insurers dealt with a lot of adverse selection (i.e., sicker people were enrolling immediately, while healthier people procrastinated with enrollment, sometimes for years). There were inadequate protections for the insurers as well. The risk corridor -- a type of risk-pooling fund that was designed to receive money from overly profitable insurers and redistribute this capital to insurers who had priced their premiums too low and were losing excessive amounts of money -- was a monumental failure. Approximately 12% of the $2.5 billion in funds requested by insurers wound up being paid out. This left a majority of the 23 approved healthcare cooperatives to shut their doors, and it discouraged expansion into new states, counties, and cities for the remaining health-benefits providers. Even estimates from the Congressional Budget Office were a major problem. Insurers leaped at Obamacare with open arms given the impression (as of March 2015) that 24 million people would be enrolled via the marketplace exchanges by 2017. According to the end of the 2017 enrollment period, just 12.2 million people signed up. Plus, this 12.2 million figure doesn't take into account the likely attrition that'll happen as people drop out because of non-payment, or shift to employer-based coverage. In other words, the CBO's estimates were way off, and it left insurers on the outside looking in. Image source: Getty Images. This unpopular fix could cure most of Obamacare's issues Yet the irony is that Obamacare could be fixed with relative ease by modifying one of its most unpopular provisions: the Shared Responsibility Payment (SRP). The SRP is the penalty consumers are required to pay for not purchasing health insurance, although there are well over a dozen exclusions, including low income, that allow certain people to be exempted from the penalty. The reason the SRP exists is to encourage people to buy health insurance. In 2016, the SRP was the greater of $695 or 2.5% of household modified adjusted gross income. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that the average household would owe $969 in 2016 if it didn't purchase insurance. Here's the real problem with the SRP: The penalty doesn't come anywhere close to representing the true cost of health insurance under Obamacare. According to HealthPocket, the average unsubsidized bronze-level premiums in 2016 and 2017 were $257.68 and $311.17, respectively. Over the full year, this works out to almost $3,100 and more than $3,700, respectively. Compare these annual premium figures to an average SRP of $969 in 2016, and many consumers are going to choose the considerably cheaper route of remaining uninsured. Though the penalty does add revenue to help assuage the subsidy costs of Obamacare, it does nothing to help insurers spread their risk out among their pool of patients. Even in instances where consumers could receive a tax break, the difference between the lowest-cost health insurance and the SRP was still far too wide, and many remained uninsured. The solution is simple (and probably very unpopular): dramatically increase the SRP. If the penalty for not being insured were nearly identical to the lowest-cost insurance plan in a state, far more young people would be enrolled, and insurers would have the favorable risk pool needed to maintain a sustainable plan on the ACA exchanges. It's really that simple. Image source: Getty Images. Trump has stopped this possible solution in its tracks However, it's worth pointing out that even if an SRP increase was on the table (which it's not at this point), Donald Trump's executive order on day one in office essentially negates any positive effect it would have. Trump's executive order allows government agencies, "to the maximum extent permitted by law ... to waive, defer, grant exemption from, or delay the implementation of any provision or requirement of the Act [ACA] that would impose a fiscal burden on any State or cast a fee, tax penalty, or regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare providers, health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare services, purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, products, or medications." In plainer English, Trump's executive order eased a requirement that would have allowed the Internal Revenue Service to deny tax returns that didn't have filled in Line 61 the line that states how much you paid in SRP or health premiums for the 2016 calendar year. With this requirement shelved, there's little the IRS can do to verify whether people had health insurance in the previous year. The IRS also can't garnish wages or seize property if you fail to pay your SRP. It could, in theory, come after you individually, but there are presumably hundreds of thousands of people, if not more, in a similar situation. Trump's executive order essentially means Obamacare's easiest fix has been taken away. 10 stocks we like better than HumanaWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Humana wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017 Sean Williams has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The European People's Party (EPP) has approved a resolution on the development of the long-term support plan for Ukraine and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expects European partners to take steps to create a 'Marshall Plan for Ukraine'. "Wonderful news from Malta on the results of my visit to the Congress of the European People's Party. I want to thank the EPP family for the very important resolution on the initiative of our Lithuanian partners to develop a long-term plan to support Ukraine, the so-called 'Marshall Plan for Ukraine'," Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page on Friday evening. According to him, this resolution "proves the determination of the most influential political family of Europe" to support Ukraine on the path of reforms and the desire to help Ukraine realize its European integration aspirations through all possible means. "I look forward to the further steps of the European partners in implementing the idea of creating a 'Marshall Plan for Ukraine' and I will be ready to discuss this issue during the next contacts with the leaders of the EU institutions and member states," the Ukrainian president wrote. The Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) has blasted the casting choice of Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell just ahead of the films opening weekend. In a statement released Friday, the group condemned the movies whitewashing of Johanssons character Motoku Kusanagi who first appeared in the Japanese manga of the same name. The organization also criticized Johanssons recent interview on Good Morning America, in which the actress said she would never attempt to play a person of a different race, obviously. MANAA responded by writing that she was lying. Additionally, the group denounced the casting of Michael Pitt in the role of Kuze in the film, which MANAA said is revealed to have originally been named Hideo, meaning he too was Japanese. Apparently, in Hollywood, Japanese people cant play Japanese people anymore, MANAA President Robert Chan said. Theres no reason why either Motoku or Hideo could not have been portrayed by Japanese or Asian actors instead of Scarlett Johansson and Michael Pitt. We dont even get to see what they looked like in their original human identities a further white-wash. Last year, MANAA vocalized their opposition to the casting of Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange. In the film, Swinton played The Ancient One, who in the original comic book is portrayed as a Tibetan male. Hollywood continues to make the same excuses, that there arent big enough Asian/Asian American names to open a blockbuster film, added Founding President of MANAA, Guy Aoki. Yet it has not developed a farm system where such actors get even third billing in most pictures. Without a conscientious effort, how will anyone ever break through and become familiar enough with audiences so producers will confidently allow them to topline a film? When will we ever break that glass ceiling? The organization later indicated consequences of the casting on the films profit, citing films based on anime and mangas that featured non-Asian actors including Dragonball Evolution, Speed Racer and Matt Damons The Great Wall. Aoki finished by point out that Ghost in the Shell is looking at a moderate opening for its budget, and should trail behind Beauty and the Beast and possibly Boss Baby in its opening weekend. By the time he welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping to Mar-a-Lago this week, President Trump will have a briefcase full of notes about what topics he should raise. Many take just two words: North Korea, fair trade, currency manipulation, patent theft, cyber assault. Two words he should utter, but probably wont: rare earths. Thats because Trump, businessman par excellence, knows he has a weak hand. Trump has already signaled via Twitter that he expects his meeting with Xi to be difficult. That is like telling an employee You are underperforming, instead of Youre fired. The U.S. has little leverage over Chinas economic support of North Korea, whose madman leader Kim Jong Un could test a nuclear device to mar the Sino-U.S. summit. Americas nearly $350 billion trade deficit may be partly the result of Beijings currency manipulation. But while there may be room for a frank discussion, Americans want to pay the lowest possible prices for their consumer goods. And right now, those come from China. Whether Trump can get a meaningful promise from Xi to stop its cyber assault on crucial databanks like the Pentagon, U.S. banks and government employees records depends on whether the Chinese leader will even admit to such crimes. And Xi needs only point to Russias own hacking of U.S. software and shrug. But where Trump could take a serious step in his campaign pledge to return jobs to America is the issue of rare earths. Those are the 17 minerals and elements that are essential to making advanced military aircraft, rocket-guided missiles, GPS systems and even the iPhones that everyone at the summit will be toting. In the late 20th century, the U.S. was the worlds leading producer of rare earths, ensuring our military and civilian manufacturers with a secure supply of the crucial materials. Gradually, U.S. companies sent rare earth mined in the United States to China for processing, and, to ensure quality control, gave away to Chinese producers the technological secrets that had been developed in America. Not surprisingly, China, which also has large rare earth deposits, took the technology being offered for free, improved on it, and quickly outstripped U.S. production. Since it pays little attention to the ecological damage done by strip-mining and smelting, it can undercut competitors prices. China now produces 95 percent of the worlds rare earths. U.S. production: zero. Our military and commercial manufacturers are 100 percent dependent on China for rare earths. And the American jobs created by rare earth mining and separation: gone. Heres Bellwethers advice: Trump need not raise the topic with Xi. Instead, while the Chinese leader is in the room, the president should turn to the top Pentagon hand seated at the summit table and mention casually, By the way, were going to start mining and producing our own rare earths again. And soon. President Xi has won accolades for his cool public demeanor and unflappability in dealing with foreign leaders. It would be interesting to see how hed react to those words. And Trump, a new president who needs to show results soon, could chalk up a rare win. President Trump on Saturday called the ongoing controversy about his White House campaign linked to Russia a total scam. Congress and the FBI are conducting investigations about whether a direct connection existed between campaign officials and Kremlin operatives, amid Trumps insistence about no such contact. It is the same Fake News Media that said there is no path to victory for Trump that is now pushing the phony Russia story, Trump tweeted. A total scam! The U.S. intelligence community has already concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 White House race, in which Trump upset Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. However, there has been no clear evidence that Russian operatives and Trump campaign officials colluded to defeat Clinton. The most recent turn of events is that Michael Flynn, fired as Trumps national security adviser for not disclosing talks with at least one Russian official, is purportedly seeking immunity in exchange for testifying in the Capitol Hill probes. At the same time, California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence committee, one of the two congressional panels investigating the Russia connection, is facing criticism for going to Trump after a secret intelligence briefing before reporting his findings to his committee. Following those revelations late last month, Nunes, who was a member of the presidential transition team, has resisted calls to step aside from his committee's investigation. The Associated Press contributed to this report. U.S. intelligence sources suggest ISIS and other terrorist groups can build laptop bombs capable of slipping past airport security scanners, Fox News has learned. The sources fear that terrorists have gotten their hands on sophisticated airport security equipment that allows them to properly conceal explosives in laptops and other large electronic devices, Fox News reported Friday. That intelligence is behind the recent decision to ban electronics in carry-on bags from flights to the U.S. from 10 airports in eight Muslim-majority countries, Fox & Friends reported Saturday. The U.S. ban applies to nonstop U.S.-bound flights from 10 international airports in Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Cairo; Istanbul; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the Associated Press reports. About 50 flights a day, all on foreign airlines, are affected. Evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation, to include smuggling explosive devices in electronics, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. The intelligence shows ISIS is among several terrorist groups plotting to put bombs in laptops on airplanes bound for the United States, Fox 5 NY reported late Friday. Terrorists have had some success before with a laptop bomb, the station reported. Six passengers were hurt on a plane at an airport in Somalia in March of 2016 when a bomb planted in a laptop exploded. Vice President Pence said Saturday in Ohio that President Trumps effort to overhaul ObamaCare aint over yet, trying to assure voters in the battleground state that he and Trump will make good on their winning campaign promise. Trump suffered a major defeat in late-March when the GOP-led House could not pass an overhaul bill. However, the president now appears willing to resort to more hardball tactics, including negotiating next time with Democrats and backing 2018 primary challenges against members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who led the opposition to House leaderships overhaul bill. Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold later Saturday expressed concerns on Fox News about both tactics, saying that working with Democrats will likely result in a more liberal-leaning bill, which will further alienate more GOP conservatives in Congress. If you move further to the left, youre not just going to lose the Freedom Caucus, he said. Youll lose people like me. Farenthold also suggested a recent White House tweet about backing GOP primary challenges and courting congressional Democrats is the wrong way to get overhaul legislation passed. It aint over yet, Pence said about ObamaCare during a roundtable discuss Saturday at Dynalab, in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, that largely focused on jobs. You can take that to the bank. Im really here to ask one simple question, Pence also told the small group that including Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman, whose support for Trump helped him become the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state since 2004. With this group right here, you have a car (dealer), a flag maker and a pizza maker, Portman said. You have a great group of entrepreneurs here. Pence said that the administration has created about 500,000 new jobs in its roughly first 10 weeks and that Trump remains focused on tax reform and improving the countrys infrastructure. A top spokesman for Russian President Putin said Friday that the U.S.s relationship with Moscow may be worse than during the Cold War. Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told ABC News that President Obamas sanctions before leaving office and swirling allegations that Moscow interfered with the elections contributed to the relationship discord. Peskov denied reports that Russia interfered with the elections. He said many Russians supported Trumps presidency due to remarks he made during his campaign. The reasons is very simple, he said. Its not about preferring someone. Its about whose ideas are more close to you and whose ideas are more welcome in Russian public opinion. Trump has defended his staff from criticism about their relationships with Russian officials. His former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn as forced to resign in February after media reports showed he misled Vice President Pence about a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador during the transition period. Flynns connections to Russia are being looked at by the FBI and form part of the Russia probe by the House and Senate intelligence committees. Flynns attorney had said Thursday that the retired general is in discussions with the House and Senate intelligence committees, indicating he wants immunity from "unfair prosecution" in exchange for talking. Meanwhile, Russian submarines have increased combat patrols to the level last seen during the Cold War, its navy chief said. Adm. Vladimir Korolyov said that Russian submarine crews spent more than 3,000 days on patrol last year, matching the Soviet-era operational tempo. Its an excellent level, he said in remarks carried by state RIA Novosti news agency. Peskov told ABC that he hopes relationships between the U.S. and Russia improve. I think if two presidents meet each other, if they exchange views and if they decide that they want to reestablish a dialogue, then there will be a chance for our bilateral relations to get better. The Associated Press contributed to this report The company that created a discredited dossier for President Trumps campaign rivals and was later used by the FBI in its probe of possible links between Trump and Russia has its own Kremlin connection, according to a powerful U.S. Senator. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation into Washington-based Fusion GPS, which produced the 35-page Trump dossier with help from ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. Grassley wants to know why the FBI might seek evidence tying Trump to Russia from a firm whose own hands may not be clean. The issue is of particular concern to the Senate Judiciary Committee given that when Fusion GPS reportedly was acting as an unregistered agent of Russian interests, it appears to have been simultaneously overseeing the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier of allegations of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians, Grassley said in a letter to the Department of Justice. The dossier, containing salacious allegations pointing to collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow, was leaked to the media in January, prompting Trump to deny its contents. It later emerged that the FBI had hired Steele to dig into Trumps purported Russia links even as Russian operatives hired Fusion GPS for a separate high profile political battle. According to a complaint filed with the Justice Department, Fusion GPS headed the pro-Russia campaign to kill the Global Magnitsky Act, which imposes sanctions on Russians designated as human rights abusers. This was the same time, Grassley said, that the FBI was relying on the anti-Trump dossier and the man who produced it for Fusion to further its investigation into Trump and his Russian ties. It is unclear whether the FBI was aware of the companys pro-Russia activities when the FBI reportedly hired its researcher to further the research on Trump and when evaluating the credibility of the dossier the company helped create, Grassley said. The Global Magnitsky Act, which is named for an attorney who died while in the custody of the Russian government after he accused the Russian government and organized crime of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from Hermitage Capital Management. The U.S. Justice Department in 2013 opened a case against the Russian-owned Prevezon Holdings, which had purchased real estate in New York with the stolen funds, according to the Justice Departments complaint. Prevezon Holdings, backed by the Kremlin, launched a campaign to undermine the Magnitsky Act, Grassley said, citing a 2016 complaint by Hermitage CEO William Browder. Fusion GPS was hired to generate negative press coverage on the Russians behalf, Grassley said. And Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian immigrant who has reportedly acknowledged being a Russian counterintelligence officer, lobbied congressional staffers to repeal the Magnitsky Act itself, Grassley said. It is particularly disturbing that Mr. Akhmetshin and Fusion GPS were working together on this pro-Russia lobbying effort in 2016 in light of Mr. Akhmetshins history and reputation, Grassley said, citing reports Akhmetshin worked for the GRU, Russia's foreign intelligence agency and allegedly specializes in subversive political influence operations often involving disinformation and propaganda. The relationship between Fusion GPS and Akhmetshin casts further doubt on the dossier used against Trump, Grassley said. Fusion GPS is the company behind the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier alleging a conspiracy between President Trump and Russia, Grassley wrote in the letter. It is highly troubling that Fusion GPS appears to have been working with someone with ties to Russian intelligence let alone someone alleged to have conducted political disinformation campaigns as part of a pro-Russia lobbying effort while also simultaneously overseeing the creation of the Trump/Russia dossier. Fusion GPS maintained in a statement to Fox News Friday that it is not required to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, because it partnered with a U.S. law firm to ensure compliance with the law. The company did not respond to inquiries about the dossier, its relationship to Russia or any business dealings with the FBI. The FBI declined comment on its relationship to Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele or Grassleys inquiry. Grassleys committee has launched a separate probe into allegations the FBI wrongly included political opposition research from Trumps opponents in its probe, and then paid the author of that controversial report, Steele, to consult on its investigation. Representative Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, released a statement tonight that criticized how the White House handled the documents were first shown to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) earlier this week. After reviewing what he was told are the same documents that were shown to his colleague. Rep. Schiff had been critical of Nunes for not sharing the intelligence with the full committee, which -- along with the Senate intelligence committee and the FBI -- is investigating Russia's meddling in the U.S. presidential election as well as any potential collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign. The White House this week invited all of the congressional intelligence leaders to view the documents. After he reviewed the documents, Rep. Schiff put out the following statement: The race to develop an unstoppable and unbeatable weapon capable of defeating all the military defense systems in the world is getting much too close for comfort. According to multiple reports, Russia is expected to begin production soon of its 3M22 Zircon, a hypersonic missile that will travel 4,600 miles per hour five times the speed of sound and will have a range of 250 miles. Thats just three minutes and 15 seconds from launch to impact. Guided hypersonic missiles will be more accurate than traditional ballistic missiles and could conceivably be armed with nuclear warheads, according to the geopolitical analysis firm Stratfor. And theyre coming, whether we like it or not. And theyll be on our doorstep sooner, not later. WATCH U.S. NAVY RESEARCHERS TEST-FIRE AN ELECTROMAGNETIC RAILGUN "State tests of Zircon are scheduled for completion in 2017 and the missile's serial production is planned to be launched next year," the Russian news agency TASS reported last year, quoting sources. And last month, Russia's Interfax news agency cited a source familiar with the Zircon project who said the 5-ton missile is likely to be tested for the first time this spring earlier than the projected date of 2018 "from a sea-based platform." The International Business Times (IBT) reported that the U.S. Navy is concerned the missile could be fitted to a Russian warship. Hypersonic speed is the stuff of science fiction. As explained in IBT: The missile employs revolutionary scramjet technology to reach its hypersonic speeds whereby propulsion is created by forcing air from the atmosphere into its combustor where it mixes with on-board fuel rather than carry both fuel and oxidizer like traditional rockets. This makes it lighter, and therefore much faster. ISRAEL'S ARROW ANTI-MISSILE SYSTEM SCORES FIRST HIT It uses no fans, rotating turbines or moving parts just an inlet where air is compressed and a combustor where the air is mixed with fuel. Fewer moving parts also means less chance of mechanical failure. The Zircon would be capable of destroying the world's most advanced warships and aircraft carriers in one strike and could be put into action by 2020. The Zircon will have a radar target seeker and an optical-electronic complex that can trace and detect targets, also at hypersonic speed, according to the Strategic Culture Foundation. "It will greatly reduce the reaction time that [Western military units] have to deploy their own defenses and counter-measures," Tim Ripley, who covers defense issues for Jane's Defence Weekly, told the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle. US ARMY SET FOR NEW LIGHTWEIGHT COMBAT HELMET He said the Zircon could render Western anti-aircraft defenses obsolete, and he warned that Russia appears far ahead of the U.S. in development. "In the public domain, the West seems to be quite a long way behind, Ripley said. But that doesn't mean there isn't some black, super-secret project run by the U.S.' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA." In fact, the U.S. may not be behind at all. According to Stratfor, U.S. Maj. Gen. Thomas Masiello announced in late February that the Air Force plans to have operational prototypes of its own hypersonic missile ready for testing by 2020. And Stratfor forecasts that the U.S. and China will likely have the first operational long-range hypersonic missiles in their arsenals by 2025, years ahead of Russia. THE WEEK IN PICTURES India is also working to develop a hypersonic missile. According to India Today, India is developing its BrahMos II missile in collaboration with Russia, and it will use the same scramjet technology as Zircon. This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 31, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And welcome to this busy Friday news night here on "Hannity." Now, in just a few minutes, we'll have Newt Gingrich, Kellyanne Conway, Jay Sekulow, Monica Crowley. They'll all join us. But first -- for the good of the country, it is time to end this GOP circular firing squad, and that is tonight's "Opening Monologue." All right, so sometimes in life, when things don't go exactly the way we want, people get frustrated, they get annoyed, and there's no more frustrating place on earth than Washington, D.C. So I get why the president is upset that Republicans couldn't hammer out this deal on health care last week. Now, the president, to his credit -- he has a big, bold, aggressive agenda. See that list there? He's checking off his promises one after another. I say he's moving at the speed of Trump. Now, we have promised on this program to hold Washington accountable, and that means everybody. Now, while it's understandable the president is frustrated over the GOP health care bill and it being pulled -- I'm, too, but I see it a little bit differently than he does. From my perspective, after seven years, almost eight years of Republicans promising to repeal and replace ObamaCare, to me, it is inexcusable they didn't build a consensus bill that was ready for the president. Now, the other big mistake is the Republican leadership -- they kept everybody in the dark! Everyone was left guessing what's in the bill, what's in the bill? All these rumors were coming out. Oh, this is in it, that's trouble. That's in it, there's trouble. There was no consensus that was built behind the scenes! Now, the Republican leadership -- they dumped this bill. They literally rolled it out and then left it to the president to close the deal. Well, guess what? That's not his job. Now, the president does deserve credit. He did his best to get it done, got very close, but they didn't get there. The legislative branch, though, from my perspective -- they failed the president because they clearly were not prepared for this moment. Now, in the end, I do believe it is important to get the bill right, rather than get it done fast. Now, some in Washington -- they're trying to put all the blame on the conservative Freedom Caucus. And as I said last night, I think this anger is misplaced. Now, if the Freedom Caucus had been consulted from the beginning and they didn't roll out the bill and they had a chance to see it beforehand and leadership reached out to them from the get-go, I don't think we'd be in this situation. Now, sometimes, we need to stand back and remember who our real friends are. Let me give you an example. Let's talk about Illinois Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger. Now, today, writes an op-ed for The New York Times titled, quote, "How the Freedom Caucus is undermining the GOP" where he literally mocks the Freedom Caucus, literally, and their name by writing, quote, "Interesting name for a group of about three dozen members that refuses to let the will of the people advance on the House floor." Now, keep in mind, this is the same Adam Kinzinger who during the election and prior to the inauguration was mentioned in headlines, like the one you see on your screen, the same Adam who in August said he wouldn't vote for Donald Trump. Watch this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. ADAM KINZINGER, R-ILLINOIS: Donald Trump for me is beginning to cross a lot of red lines of the unforgivable in politics. And so, you know, I'm not going to support Hillary, but you know, in America, we have the right to write somebody in or skip the vote and vote for Mark Kirk in Illinois, for instance, and that's what it's looking like for me today. I just don't see how I get to Donald Trump anymore. (END VIDEO CLIP) HANNITY: And even following the election, Kinzinger played coy about who he actually voted for on November the 8th. Now, is Congressman Kinzinger -- is he really the guy to be lecturing the Freedom Caucus, who did support candidate Trump? I'm not buying that. Now, during the campaign, the Freedom Caucus chairman, Mark Meadows -- he was a staunch ally of candidate Trump, now President Trump. In July, in Greenville on line, they ran an article on Meadows that said in part, quote, "Meadows initially endorsed Texas senator Ted Cruz in the Republican presidential primary, but he is now embracing Trump with more gusto than others in the GOP. And according to Nate Silver's Fivethirtyeight, at least 29 of the 34 members of the House Freedom Caucus endorsed or at least voted for Trump in the election. And by the way, with all due respect to Speaker Ryan, Laura Ingraham last night on this program pointed out Ryan made it clear he wanted little to do with then candidate Donald Trump. So let's be clear. A lot of blame to throw around about the Republican health care bill being pulled, and infighting is not a solution to the problem. I also don't think President Trump reaching out to Democrats is ever going to work. The one thing I do know for sure, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Steny Hoyer -- they're not the president's friends and they do not want him to succeed in any way. Don't believe me? Listen to what they said about the president. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-NY, MINORITY LEADER: My view is he is far too tolerant in accepting the support of racists. REP. STENY HOYER, D-MD., MINORITY WHIP: I think experience would tell us over the last 10 days, and frankly, the last 15 months, who knows. Who knows what President Trump is going to do at any given moment and give offense to people that we need to be -- have confidence in us and we need to have confidence in our relationship with them. REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALI., MINORITY LEADER: Ineffective. They've accomplished nothing. His deceptor -- the deflector-in-chief -- he's deflected from the fact that he hasn't produced a jobs bill, hasn't produced an infrastructure bill, has accomplished nothing. And he just has to deflect by coming up with bans on certain religions-- (END VIDEO CLIP) HANNITY: All right, now the question is, where do we go from here? How do we solve the problem for the American people because this is a promise they made. Now, Republicans, in many ways -- need to go back to the drawing board and do what they should have done in the first place. They need to create a bill that will pass in the House, and that means the Study Group, the Tuesday Group, the Freedom Caucus, moderates. They all need to be brought in a room, as well as senators, Secretary Price, the vice president, everybody included, and hammer out a deal. Get away from the cameras, and certainly don't go on television and negotiate in the public eye. Now, if they do these things instead of pointing fingers at each other, then they'll have an opportunity to give the American people a bill that they really want, need and desire, one that's going to lower premiums and offer better health care. There's the answer. Solve the problem. Remember the movie "Disclosure"? You talk about solve the problem. Find the solution. Here with reaction, the author of the best-seller "Treason," former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Mr. Speaker, really, does the Freedom Caucus need to get lectured? We got a speaker that barely wanted to be seen-- NEWT GINGRICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: No, no. I-- (LAUGHTER) GINGRICH: Look, first of all, you hit it right on the head. The Freedom Caucus had probably the highest percentage of Trump supporters of any group in the House. They disagree about this one thing, and I think, from their perspective, they probably think Trump was misinformed. But this -- let me give you an example of something today that Nancy Pelosi doesn't get. The National Association of Manufacturers met with the president to share with him that their CEOs have the highest level of confidence in making new investments in the United States that they can remember in well over a decade. This follows other things that are going on. Despite all the noise in Congress, President Trump is making real progress and he's getting things done. And every time you turn around, you see new signs of investment, new commitments to build things in the United States. I think that he's got to solve this legislative problem. My personal advice would be to start with infrastructure. And frankly, after the extraordinary fire in Atlanta last night, which is going to cause enormous traffic problems-- HANNITY: That's I-85. GINGRICH: -- for the city for months-- HANNITY: That's -- that's disastrous. GINGRICH: It's a good reminder -- an area you know well from the years you were down there. I mean, this is a good reminder we got to rebuild our infrastructure. I think you start there, then you move to a nice tax cut bill, not just tax reform. And then you get to health care third. But right now, I think they're all gridlocked and too busy being mad at each other. They've got to get over it, relax. This is the beginning of a long game. This is not the end of it. And we got lots of time to get lots of good things done for America. HANNITY: Well, and by the way, they've got to keep the promise. This is not optional. They can't let ObamaCare implode. So to me, it's very simple. You have to, if you're in leadership, show your members the bill before you unveil the bill publicly. Then you got to build consensus. I appreciate that there are moderates and different groups, Study Group, Tuesday Group, Freedom Caucus. You got to -- everyone's got to work together. They got to hammer out a consensus. It would be wise for them to work with the Senate from the get-go so they don't end up in conference and the Senate bill and the House bill are two very different bills, and that then becomes another opportunity for it to fall apart. So bring everybody together. And while they're doing the things you mention, this can get done, right? GINGRICH: Yes, I think it can get done. I also think, if they do it right, they're going to shock all of us because if you look at the collapse of ObamaCare in rural America, I think Senator Heitkamp, who's a Democrat from North Dakota, might have a really hard time voting against a good Republican bill that was well designed. I think the same thing goes for the senator from Indiana, the senator from Missouri, the senator from Montana. I wouldn't automatically assume that they're going to going to hunker down and decide to destroy themselves. They're up for reelection next year. And in parts of rural America, ObamaCare is a total disaster, and we can do something dramatically better. And if the public understands it -- which is the other half of this -- the country has to believe in the bill if it's going to pass. Health is too big an issue to pass if the American people aren't with you. HANNITY: But there is something to learn from this experience. I think, number one, you can't unveil a bill that nobody's seen. You have to bring the different groups in the Congress together. You should include the Senate so you don't have a problem in conference. And why would they have done it this way anyway? That makes no sense to me. They had-- (CROSSTALK) HANNITY: Here's the frustrating thing. GINGRICH: No, no, no! HANNITY: Eight years! GINGRICH: Look, I have no idea how they ended up like this. We used to follow a model of Listen, learn, help, and lead. Or as somebody once said to me, you know, you got one mouth and two ears and there's a pretty good hint there. And I think the fact is that people -- when you're doing something this big, one fifth of the economy, life and death for every American, you need to do it carefully out in the open. People have to have a real sense of participation. You can't ram it through, and you can't assume that a small group of people know enough by themselves. That's what Obama did wrong. That's what Hillary did wrong back in the `90s. This is a really big, complicated issue. I think it's fixable, but-- and it may take three or four bills, all of which ought to be understood from day one. And I think that -- frankly, that's part of why I would shift and look at infrastructure and at tax cuts because you can do those while you're working through what needs to be done in health care. All three could be done this year if they're willing to work with the American people and have an open legislative process. HANNITY: All right, sir. Great idea. Thank you. And up next on this busy Friday news night, liberals and members of the biased press are out to get the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Devin Nunes. They're focusing their anger in the wrong place. We'll explain in a mini-monologue coming up next. And we'll get reaction from Mercedes Schlapp, Jay Sekulow. Also later tonight, former national security adviser Michael Flynn is offering to testify in front of the House and Senate Intel Committees if he's granted immunity. Monica Crowley has reaction. All of that, plus counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway will join us in studio on this busy Friday news night. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." The House Intelligence Committee chairman, Congressman Devin Nunes -- he's standing firm against attacks from the Democrats and members of the alt left propaganda destroy Trump media. Now, true to form, they are focusing their anger on Congressman Nunes instead of reporting extensively on what is the big story here! They're missing it all. That's tonight's mini-monologue. All right, from the very moment that Chairman Nunes made the bombshell announcement last week that he saw reports that prove surveillance was collected on President Trump and his transition team, well, liberals and members of the biased press -- they've been out to get him! Now, just listen to what they have said about Nunes in just the past 48 hours. Watch this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes, it's just easier to explain it away by pure, good old-fashioned 100 percent grade A incompetence and stupidity. (LAUGHTER) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That just may be what we have here with Congressman Nunes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never seen anything like this amateur hour at work now. Here we go with the latest buffoonery from the Trump operation. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do think that Devin Nunes is such a uniquely clueless individual and so out of his depth in this whole investigation that ascribing too much planning and motive to him might be wrong. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Nunes piece is going to get even more interesting and baffling than it is now if you consider a couple of things. First of all, his crazy behavior. Everybody has read about that. (END VIDEO CLIP) HANNITY: You get this? The mainstream alt left propaganda destroy Trump media -- they're trying to distract the country by going after Nunes and questioning his credibility. Now, by doing that, they are ignoring the real story and what we should all be talking about because what Nunes has revealed about the leaks, the unmasking of American names, and of course, the surveillance of the Trump team -- this could end up being the biggest scandal in decades, if not ever, to hit Washington! Now, the big question is this. Did the Obama administration knowingly supreme court the Trump team and incoming opposition party? Now, as Nunes said on this program last week, additional American names were unmasked, and he saw the reports and he said they had nothing to do with Russia and collusion! And this should concern every single lawmaker, every single journalist and every American. And today, Fox's own Adam Housley is reporting that the two individuals who showed Nunes the information at the White House -- they had nothing to do with the outing of this information! In fact, here's what Adam reported earlier today. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ADAM HOUSLEY, FOX CORRESPONDENT: The person who did the unmasking, I'm told, is very well-known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world and is not in the FBI. We're also told the people who helped Devin Nunes navigate were the two individuals that the stories were reported yesterday about, but they were not his sources. It was a navigation situation. And the reason why they had to navigate, I'm told, is that Nunes learned about this unmasking and who this was taking place back in January, before Trump's tweet, before he met with the president. And it took, obviously, a number of weeks to try to figure out a way for him to see this intelligence because the agencies were stonewalling, we're told, to allow him and others to see it. Now, this all coming from folks that are in these agencies and frustrated with the politics that's taking place in these agencies. (END VIDEO CLIP) HANNITY: You hear that? The Trump White House had nothing to do with this! His reporting, Adam's reporting is huge. Now, Democrats and the destroy Trump media -- well, they are doing a disservice once again to you, the American people, by attacking Congressman Devin Nunes instead of reporting on what the scandal is! Here with reaction, the chairman for the American Center for Law and Justice Jay Sekulow, Fox News contributor Mercedes Schlapp. All right, is there anything wrong -- because Pete Hoekstra said this was standard operating procedure. If you're going to see raw intelligence like this, Jay, that it would be normal procedures to see it in an area that we know is safe and secure and that that's what he did all the time. What about that as a distraction in this case? JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: Well, I mean, here's the-- the fact is, there is a statute, two statutes, actually, that deal particularly with this. There's a procedure in place that allows the chairman and others in the intelligence community and the Intelligence Committee to view this data, and it specifically says it shall not be an offense to transmit information described in this section, which is the section involving this kind of material, to either congressional Intelligence Committee. And then that's section 31-22. 31-25 says nothing in this title may be construed as authority to withhold information from the Congress or from a committee of either house of Congress. So there's actually legislation that positively affirms the ability of these committee chairmen and others within the committee to actually get this material (INAUDIBLE) procedures, and of course, the procedures are to protect the intelligence. So there is -- this is rather unremarkable, what took place here. And I think the media -- as you said, this is a distraction, but the law is crystal clear here. There's no violation of law! HANNITY: So what is the big story here? Isn't the big story that, OK, maybe they used real surveillance as a ruse to surveil on a president or a candidate, an opposing party candidate, or the president-elect and his staff? Isn't that the real story here, Mercedes? MERCEDES SCHLAPP, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. I think that the real story is going to be if we see these tables turn where they're investigating the Trump administration, but yet you're going to start seeing an investigation of the Obama administration, whether they're using this intelligence resources and information for political purposes. And that's why Congressman Nunes reacted in a way that he did, which is he was shocked, he was alarmed when he started reading through these classified information, seeing that there was no link to Russia, yet you're seeing this unmasking of these American citizens-- HANNITY: Unbelievable. SCHLAPP: -- particularly those who are part of the Trump transition team. HANNITY: All right, so they're surveilling. They're unmasking. And then, of course, we know in the case of General Flynn, they leaked the intelligence, which is a felony. SEKULOW: Right. HANNITY: What do you make of Evelyn Farkas, Jay, and her comments that we've been playing in total, in context. Now she says the Russians may have leaked it. And she's saying that she's a victim of fake news. But she said she was urging her former colleagues, Get as much intelligence as you can. SEKULOW: Right. HANNITY: And if they found out, the Trump people, how we knew what we knew about the Trump staff dealing with Russian -- isn't that an unveil/unmasking there? Isn't that confirmation of surveillance, and then talking about releasing it to colleagues? Wouldn't that potentially be an intel leak? SEKULOW: Well, she needs to get a lawyer. I mean, I don't know who's letting her these statements. HANNITY: I have no idea! SEKULOW: But she is -- she has -- she has implicated herself-- HANNITY: Big-time. SEKULOW: -- in multiple felonies! First of all, she keeps saying "we." She wasn't even part of the agency at that particular time! She talked about, you know, going to the Hill to make sure that her colleagues and this information's protected from the Trump -- incoming Trump administration to preserve this. Who is she -- who is she to get this information at that point? And then leaking it is a crime. And she's basically -- you know what she did? She'd be my first witness, if I was going to impanel the grand jury. Dr. Farkas-- (CROSSTALK) SEKULOW: -- the grand jury, and you better because protected! HANNITY: She's probably going to have to see a grand jury. She's going to see the House Intelligence Committee. SEKULOW: Yes. HANNITY: And-- SCHLAPP: Oh, yes. HANNITY: Mercedes-- SEKULOW: It's inconceivable! HANNITY: I actually -- I'm, like-- SCHLAPP: She said-- HANNITY: Who's advising this woman? SCHLAPP: Evelyn Farkas -- she- obviously-- SEKULOW: Not a good lawyer. SCHLAPP: -- she was not advised. And it really put her in an incredibly bad situation because she -- she -- she basically almost makes it sounds like she has some sort of -- active (ph) some sort of way to understand what's in these intelligence reports! So there's a lot of questions that need to be asked. Obviously, we saw that the White House counsel, Don McGahn, sent over a letter basically asking those questions. How was this information handled? Did she have access to any of these intelligence documents? These are serious questions that need to be asked. But I -- I have to say, Sean-- HANNITY: Yes. SCHLAPP: -- going back to Congressman Nunes, we have to remember there's a lot of false information out there. It was a source who contacted the chairman, who said, if you guarantee this confidentiality, I want to -- I need to share this classified information with you. You need to see this. This is what sources do in the right way, instead of leaking information of classified information to the press, which, as we know, is a felony. So we have to make sure that that gets out there in terms of that message (ph). HANNITY: Well said. Well said. All right, Mercedes, we're going to lose you. Thank you, as always, for being with us. Jay stays with us. Coming up after the break -- former national security adviser Michael Flynn-- General Flynn is offering to speak to the House and Senate Intel Committees, but he's asking for immunity. President Trump said it was a smart idea because of the political witch hunt that is happening right now. Jay Sekulow stays with us. Monica Crowley joins us. And then later tonight-- (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: My administration is working every day to make it easier for manufacturers to build, hire and grow in America. (END VIDEO CLIP) HANNITY: The president is not slowing down. Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway will join us tonight, right here in studio. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) (NEWSBREAK) HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So this morning, the president took to Twitter to defend former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and the president tweeted, quote, "Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt, excuse the big election loss by the media and Dems of historic proportion." Now, this comes after reports say that Flynn is willing to testify in front of the House and Senate Intel Committees in exchange for immunity. Joining is now with reaction, conservative commentator Monica Crowley, and we continue with Jay Sekulow from a legal perspective. Monica, you were there with General Flynn. What happened to him I don't think there's any doubt was leaking this intelligence was a violation of the Espionage Act and a felony, many other laws were broken, we will ask Jay in a second. But I agree. I think General Flynn wants to say what he has to say because he has a victim of a crime here. MONICA CROWLEY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: General Flynn, Sean, is now a private citizen. So he is perfectly entitled to seek whatever protections he can going forward. And look, I think the reality is none of us know the backstory here. If General Flynn has already been solicited by investigators, then this request for immunity makes perfect sense. If he hasn't yet been approached by investigators, then perhaps he is trying to accelerate the timeline somehow. And look, since we know none of the backstory and none of the details here, perhaps none of this has to do with Russia at all. Maybe there are some other things at play here. But the bottom line is that General Flynn is entitled to these protections. And I also think he has the Watergate story in mind here. Remember that Richard Nixon during the Watergate process was alleged to have been captured on tape merely suggesting the possibility of asking the CIA to interview with the FBI to stop the Watergate investigation. That served as one of the bases for article one of the Watergate impeachment. That's essentially a thought crime. General Flynn does not want to be prosecuted or persecuted for anything, least of all something he may or may not have said or done. HANNITY: Jay, from my standpoint, they leaked this intelligence they never should have leaked. They are surveilling. The NSA does its job. They are surveilling his counterpart in Russia. They're having a conversation. It's a normal procedure. He's getting in touch with people he will have contact with and will be working with. So they're supposed to minimize and they're not supposed to reveal their identity. His identity is unmasked. The contents of their conversation are made public, and then he tells a story to the vice president, maybe left detail or to go, perhaps by accident, maybe on purpose, I don't know. And his career is over because they leaked this intelligence. A felony, right? JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: Right. So in that scenario you just laid out, this is exactly why General Flynn's lawyers are asking them to seek immunity because, as Monica just said, this is a bit of a witch hunt here in this sense -- who is the victim of really what happened here. General Flynn, the president saying this is right. He is the victim. He was unmasked, so no minimization. It was leaked, so you're talking about felonies and civil actions now. And it was leaked to the press and published, and now he is the one made to look to be the evildoer, so to speak, yet we don't even know the backstory of any of this. But we do know two things. He was unmasked and it was a leak. And that leaking is a felony, period. HANNITY: Doesn't every American need to understand that if your government is going to surveil your texts, your emails, your phone conversations, and they don't have any warrant, and then they disclose that, they could ruin anybody's life, especially yours or Monica's. SEKULOW: I will tell you this. Look, here is the reality. Republican, Democrat, independent, libertarian, I don't care what party you are, the idea that this information was gathered, and it was unmasked and then leaked, this is leaking of intelligence about an individual American, an American citizen. Why are we saying that is OK? We should not be. That should be investigated as a crime because that is what it is. HANNITY: Agreed. That's a one crime we know Monica that happened here. Go ahead. CROWLEY: Yes. And I invoked the Watergate example for a reason earlier, Sean, and that's because I spent four years working with former President Nixon during the last four years of his life. And I know a bit about presidential wiretapping. Devin Nunes, all of these peripheral conversations have nothing to do with the actual possible scandal here, which is that the Obama team, the folks who were still in the White House under President Obama may have in fact unmasked people, surveilled political opponents, and then weaponized classified material against their political opponents. If that is true, that makes Watergate look like child's play. HANNITY: That's what I was going to say. Doesn't this have the potential to be way bigger than Watergate, Jay? SEKULOW: This is national security information that is being leaked here. So the seriousness of this is at the highest level. When you look at what is the potential damage to the United States or intelligence gathering capabilities into those that are working within the government, this is the worst-case scenario of what can happen, and it happened. And here is the fact. If you're looking at where the grand jury should be empaneled, it's fine to get testimony from General Flynn and have him appear before the committee and he should seek immunity and he should get it and he should tell it and lay laid out for the community, and that's great, but the crime here is the leakers. HANNITY: Would you recommend he testify without immunity or no? SEKULOW: No, no. No way. HANNITY: Why? SEKULOW: Because, Sean, they will find a form that was filled out with an inadvertent statement and make that into a felony. I do a lot of criminal defense. Here's the answer on that -- no. HANNITY: All right, guys, thank you both, and have a good weekend. Coming up, President Trump keeping his promises and getting things done. The counsel to the president Kellyanne Conway will join us in studio tonight with reaction. And then later tonight -- (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they are going to drink and they're of age, please drink responsibly. Stay with somebody that's sober. Don't wander away from your crowd of people that you know. (END VIDEO CLIP) HANNITY: And also coming up, the final part of our series that exposes what is happening to your kids on spring break. This year, we sent a producer down to South Padre Island, Texas. We asked the local police about the partying and what they are trying to do to keep your kids safe as they are going insane. "Fox & Friends" co-host Ainsley Earhardt joins us for the full report. Tonight, you need to see it. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My administration is working every day to make it easier for manufacturers to build higher and grow in America. We are removing job killing regulations and lifting the burdens on American industry, like I would say they have never been lifted before. (END VIDEO CLIP) HANNITY: That was the president earlier today meeting with the National Association of Manufacturers. That was at the White House. Joining us now, a rare New York in studio appearance. She is the counsel to the president, Kellyanne Conway. How are you? Good to see you. You doing OK? I got to see your husband. I haven't seen him for a while. He's going to be doing some work in D.C. too. You know what's amazing to me, in the opening monologue tonight I pointed out the speed of Trump, checking off promises, and I know we get caught up in the media is obsessed that the health care bill didn't get finished. It will. And nobody ever talks about all the good things he's done. For example, I was so happy this week over the EPA regulations. KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP SENIOR ADVISER: That was huge, and he kept a promise to the coal miners. And he's allowing the EPA to focus on what it's supposed to do, air and water, and really unleash that energy production in a way that makes us less reliant on foreign sources, generates all types of jobs. People complain in this country, Sean, that nothing is made in the USA anymore. Energy is made here. It's under our feet. It's off our shores. HANNITY: We've got more than we'd ever need. CONWAY: It's time we invest in it. The president has promised and is now making good on his promises through a number of executive actions to unleash clean coal and oil and natural gas of course, and any number of different energy sources. But also this week he started the commission on opioids, working with this new White House office of American Innovation that Jared Kushner has put together. HANNITY: You're going to be on this, right? CONWAY: So Governor Christie is the head of the commission and I had the privilege of sitting in on a couple of the listening sessions, and for the first time since I got to the White House I cried, which is saying a lot, because I listened to this story of Vanessa and A.J. and of Pam, and it was incredibly moving to hear their stories. In the case of Vanessa and A.J., both of whom are New Jersey residents, they're success stories. They found treatment. We need to focus on interdiction and prevention. HANNITY: That's also a promise that he made to the people of New Hampshire in particular where they have been devastated as much as other parts of the country. CONWAY: Opioid is a crisis, though, in this country that does not discriminate. It is touching every economic stratum, both genders obviously, all ages, people who have graduated from college, who haven't, who have jobs, who don't. And it really is scary. And this is a president who is very committed to it along with Governor Christie who will be heading up the commission in this Office of American Innovation. HANNITY: So I put this up earlier in the program. Just take a look. I know it would have been nice if the Republicans after eight years had a consensus bill, you know I am very critical of how this was rolled out. But there's all these successes. We'll put it up on the screen. That is President Trump's agenda. He checks it off the list. I don't think I've ever seen a president get a lot done as much as he could do by himself. I wish Congress would get their act together and keep up with him. CONWAY: It's just be good if people got the message. I think actually thing when you look at some of these confidence numbers, it does show that people and job creators, the jobseekers and the job holders, Sean, all our seeing very good in his presidency so far. So if you look at that National Association of Manufacturers survey today, it's the highest it's been in 20 years. The man has been on the job for less than three months. It is a 93.3 percent confidence measure. One year ago it was 56.6 percent. That's not a margin of error. That's not tinkering. That is a huge uptick in confidence. You saw recently the homebuilders' confidence survey, highest in 12 years. The small business confidence survey in Gallop, highest in almost 10 years. And it just goes on and on. People feel good about spending their money. HANNITY: Would you, like me, and I'm not trying to drag you into this fight, like to see Congress better prepared in terms of the legislation, have their caucus, their individual components, the moderates, the Freedom Caucus, the study group, the Tuesday group, the Saturday night go drinking group, get on the same page? (LAUGHTER) CONWAY: I am not aware of that one. HANNITY: I just made it up. These are not small items that he is tackling here on the economy, changing the tax code and infrastructure, even the energy thing. There's only so much she can do on his own. They've got to be ready to game up here. CONWAY: Any one of these achievements would be historic. So if you think about just getting two or three even in the first year, that's huge. And we know that health care reform will happen. We know that the president and every single Republican House and Senate who are there campaigned successfully on repealing and replacing Obamacare. So the question is what are the next steps? You're absolutely right. The conference needs to come together. But you know what I learned through this entire process? Sean, I'm old enough to have worked against HillaryCare and ObamaCare. So I've been in health care for long time. What I learned from this particular process is that this is the price of success. This is a very diverse Republican conference. You have 23 Republican members who sit in districts that Hillary Clinton won. That's a pretty big thing. And so you have everybody from like a plus Republican 25 or 30 district if you will to a plus D single digit district. So bringing together those diverse ideological and geographic viewpoints, it's very important. People have to be brought to the table earlier, but I have to say on this one the president showed a great deal of leadership. He worked the phones. HANNITY: But they dumped a bill that had no consensus on his lap. Why did he have to do the heavy lifting when, in all fairness, the legislative branch had eight years to campaign, run on this, they got to the House in 2010, 2014 the Senate, 2016. Really, they didn't have a bill ready to go? That kind of makes me mad. CONWAY: I'm confident that the conference will come together and that the deficit in votes was in the dozens. We started out in a deficit of dozens and dozens. And it got shrunk down to about 12 to 18 votes perhaps. So that's very heartening. But look, there were moderates not supporting it. There were conservatives not supporting it. But that's the price of success for having a very diverse party. Look at the Democratic Party. Where are the prolife Democrats, the blue dog Democrats, the pro-Second Amendment Democrats? They don't exist anymore. That party is much more myopic now. They've been pulled to the left by some of their factions. But in the case of the president, some people would prefer him to be the closer on this and not the leadoff batter. Some people appreciated the fact that he and the vice president, Secretary Price, Director Mulvaney and others leaned in from the beginning and were very involved. HANNITY: They should have brought everybody in. CONWAY: But it has to really represent, legislation has to represent all of the disparate opinions, and most importantly what the president has promised to do in repealing and replacing Obamacare. It is not sustainable, it's not affordable, so it will get done. HANNITY: All right, good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Coming up, part three of our series exposing what happens to your kids when you pay and send them on down to spring break. Ainsley Earhardt has that report straight ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." As we continue our series exposing what happens when your kids jet on off to spring break with your money. This year, we sent down a producer to South Padre Island, Texas, to see what spring breakers were really up to. We spoke to the police chief in South Padre Island, his name is Randy Smith, about some of the dangers that spring breakers are encountering this year. It's always dangerous. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in jail because I got in a beach brawl, and I got too damn drunk. That's why. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many people have crossed into this island? POLICE CHIEF RANDY SMITH, SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TEXAS: Some days it's been around 9,000, some days 8,000. Yesterday alone for a 24-hour period was 14,482. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This week how many arrests have you totaled? SMITH: We've had at a five day Texas week period, we have had up to 198, mostly simple, Class A municipal issues like public intoxication or simple assault. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One girl got carried away in a stretcher. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you get arrested for? (LAUGHTER) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: P.I., let's say P.I. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Love you, mom. SMITH: If they are combative or give us some issues, or we can't figure out a safe place for them to go, then unfortunately they leave us no option. They come over to our facility here at the jail. They see a judge on the following date, they get released. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said there probably a couple hundred of those? SMITH: Yes, which is kind of typical. Public works for trash cleaning on the beach, so all around all services so we can better serve businesses and visitors. The only few tips I give all spring breakers is if they are going to drink and they're of age, please drink responsibly. Stay with somebody who is sober. Don't wander away from your crowd of people that you know. And don't drink from items that are being passed around. You don't know the original origins. You don't know what has been spiked in that drink that you're drinking. (END VIDEO CLIP) HANNITY: Here with reaction, "Fox & Friends" co-host, our friend Ainsley Earhardt has done this many years for us. Thanks for coming aback. AINSLEY EARHARDT, FOX NEWS HOST: You're welcome. HANNITY: Why am I put in the position of being like the old fuddy-duddy. I don't care that they go on spring break. But when you see they are all wasted. And then you read the people that are preying on the spring breakers. And then you hear about sexual assault that happens here and drunken driving and some people get alcohol poisoning, the fun seems to go away. EARHARDT: Kids are always going to go on spring break. First remember it used to be Daytona Beach, then everyone went to Panama City Beach. You cleaned up Panama City Beach. (LAUGHTER) HANNITY: You did it. EARHARDT: So now they are going to Texas to South Padre Island. They have always gone to South Padre but now we are seeing more people at South Padre, more than 100,000 people estimated for a weekend. Now that is a lot of kids to put in one area. And our producers that went there said basically anything goes. The only rule there is no glass on the beach. But as long as you are not stumbling around wasted and getting in fights, you're fine. The problem is, when you start to drink, they are all saying they're drinking the moment they wake up and they start drinking, so by the end of the day, they are black out. They don't know where they are. So if they are all doing it in a group, then they are separating themselves and they're getting themselves in trouble. HANNITY: Quick programming note. Thank you, Ainsley. Be sure to set your alarm and wake up early and catch Steve, Brian, Ainsley every morning 6:00 to 9:00, "Fox & Friends" right here on the Fox News Channel. Up next, we need your help with an important "Question of the Day." And we'll play some of the messages you left for me that were really mean on the "Hannity" hotline straight ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) HANNITY: All right, time for our "Question of the Day." Earlier today the president tweeted out that the mainstream media and Democrats are on a political witch hunt. That is why I call them the alt left propaganda, destroy-Trump media. Do you agree with me, do you agree with the president? We want to hear from you. Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think. All right, hit me with your best shot. Time for the "Hannity" hotline. Let's see what you left today. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTINA: I agree with everything you say about spring break. It is disastrous. My teenage daughter back in the nineties, I believe it was 96 when she wanted to go. Absolutely not. She disowned me for about a year- and-a-half, but that's what you do as a parent. CHRIS: Hey, Hannity. We don't need waterboarding. All we've got to do is have people listen to your show for about two minutes and I'm sure they'll give anything up. Listening to you is pure torture. But I'm sure you won't play this. Keep up the bad work, Hannity. We love you. (END VIDEO CLIP) HANNITY: Love me? That's hardly showing it. Doesn't matter what you have to say, nice, mean, we don't care. Call the number on your screen, 877- 225-8587. That's all the time we have left this evening. Have a great weekend. Thanks for being with, and we'll see you back here on Monday. END Content and Programming Copyright 2017 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2017 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. During the consultations with Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Olena Zerkal held on March 31, Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Vincenzo Amendola stressed Italy's interest in strengthening mutually beneficial relations with Ukraine in economic sphere, in particular in the field of energy and small and medium enterprises, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported on its website. "In this view, both sides emphasized the significance of holding the next meeting of the Ukrainian-Italian Council on Economic, Industrial and Financial Cooperation," the report reads. Zerkal stressed that Ukraine's cooperation with Italy is getting a special meaning particularly in terms of vast prospects both for bilateral interaction and in the European context. Amendola also said that Italy hasn't changed its position on keeping the EU sanctions against Russia in place, noting the importance of the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements. The Latest on the case of a Tucson girl who went missing nearly five years ago (all times local): 4:40 p.m. The family of a Tucson girl who was found dead nearly five years after going missing from her bedroom has issued a statement thanking the community for support and asking for privacy. The family of six-year-old Isabel Celis said in a statement issued by Tucson Medical Center, where the girl's mother works, that it is their time to mourn. Isabel Celis was last seen when she went to bed on April 20, 2012. Her father reported her missing the next morning after realizing she was not in her room. Police said they found her remains in a rural area in Pima County about a month ago and that an out-of-state lab identified them. Police Chief Chris Magnus says an intense investigation is ongoing. He wouldn't reveal details about how police found the remains or whether there were any suspects, but he said investigators found them "not by happenstance." ____ 3:49 p.m. Tucson police Chief Chris Magnus says remains found in a remote area in Pima County about a month ago are those of six-year-old Isabel Celis, who went missing from her family home nearly five years ago. Magnus said Friday that an independent lab identified the remains as those of Celis. He said an investigation is ongoing but would not say whether there were any new suspects. Celis was last seen on April 20, 2012, and was reported missing by her father when he realized she was missing from her room the next morning. Police haven't named suspects. Magnus said a large team of Tucson Police investigators have worked the case for several years and were led to her remains through the course of an investigation. ___ 2:45 p.m. Tucson police say they're announcing a development in the case of Isabel Celis, the girl who went missing from her home nearly five years ago. Celis was last seen April 20, 2012 when she was six years old. Her father reported her missing the next morning after finding she was not in her bedroom. Police never named any suspects but said they found" suspicious circumstances around a possible entry point" in the home. Police and volunteers conducted exhaustive searches and even renewed a door-to-door effort to find the girl 18 months after her disappearance. Police said they will make the announcement on Friday afternoon. A Pennsylvania coffee shop is brewing up controversy with its loyalty card. The front of the card has the typical 10-count with its logo to punch, but on the back - pictures of 10 people management does not like: Donald Trump, Rick Santorum, Ann Coulter, Mike Pence, Martin Shkreli, Pat Robertson, Bill OReilly, Rush Limbaugh, Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz. Black Forge Coffeehouse co-owner Nick Miller says the cards are designed to look like a shot in the head when the card is punched. CRITICS TO IVY LEAGUES: 'TAXPAYER GRAVY TRAIN NEEDS TO END' Co-owner Ashley Corts says she's had the loyalty cards since 2015 and recently updated the cards to include President Trump. She says its meant to poke fun at the president. "Were not threatening the president," Corts said. "We dont want to physically hurt him, we do not condone any sort of hate. Its completely against who we are." PRESIDENT TRUMP NOW USES AN iPHONE Prior to the card's update, customers could find Glenn Beck, Creflo Dollar, Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham on the loyalty cards. One Black Forge client says its a good business strategy. "They're practicing their freedom of expression," Matt Ticco Thornton told Fox News. "Their coffee shops been packed, and I know how hard it is for a small business to get noticed." But not everyone likes the cards, Black Forge is getting threatening messages from all over the country, Corts told Fox News. "It's no one from our state," she said while looking at the area codes while going through the shop's phone. People also took to social media to post negative comments about the coffeehouse. A few tweeted about the lack of Democrats on the card, suggesting some additions. @BlackForgePGH @realDonaldTrump I'll stop in when U have the same Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Warren, Boxer, Feinstein, & Peduto cards. Ok? Cary Hughes (@c9hughes) March 25, 2017 Others were concerned about the Presidents safety, Drake Bowan commented to Fox News via Facebook message I honestly think they ought to have the secret secretive called in on them. They are telling people that it's OK to [mimic] the idea of murder against the president. Duquesne University College Republicans Vice President Nicholas Lacono expressed dismay, writing in a Facebook message, Seeing such violence and hate coming from the left because we are Republican/Conservative is despicable. I would like this country to unite on both sides of the aisle and this story is certainly not helping the cause. Corts said she has a message for the critics. "Understand that we are people too," she said. "We respect you as a human as well." Corts said the cards could get an update again in the future. Retired Sergeant Major Paul Gaumond enjoys hiking about five to six miles every other day near his home in Asheville, North Carolina. While looking at other trails, Gaumond and his wife came across the Appalachian Trail and decided he was up for the challenge to walk more than 2,100 miles. But he wanted the experience to mean more than just completing the hike. I thought this would be a neat idea to give back and raise money to help veterans families, the 58-year-old told Fox News on Friday. VETERAN WHO HELPS HOMELESS VETS AIMS TO MAKE IT A NATIONWIDE MOVEMENT Gaumond, who retired from the Green Berets in 1998 after 21 years, is raising money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation that helps finance college educations for the children of fallen special operations forces. He will be joined by his daughter on the trail. Weve always given money to the organization, he said. So why not go out and hike, really raise some money, and have a bonding experience with my daughter? Gaumond is scheduled to set out on the hike in April 2018. He will take about five days off to go to his daughters college graduation in Colorado before she joins him the rest of the way. A lot of people hike this trail and a lot of people (who serve) dont come back, he said. The mental prep for this is being focused on why you are doing it. MILITARY VETERAN MAKING STEEL US FLAGS SHOWS HIS METTLE He added: They died doing something special so that we can live the way we do. The retired veteran wants to help raise awareness for the special operations forces and the men and women who died serving this country. He said he wants to make sure people dont forget the sacrifice they made. We should look back at those (soldiers) that didnt come home, Gaumond said. And not forget why we have what we have. A Pittsburgh coffee shop is brewing up backlash over a loyalty punch card featuring pictures of President Donald Trump and other conservatives. Black Forge Coffee House owner Nick Miller says the satiric cards are meant to express frustration with the system and nothing more. However, critics complain the punch holes make it look like the politicos have been shot in the forehead. NORTH CAROLINA RESTAURANT FEELING THE HEAT FOR BANNING YOUNG KIDS The subjects include Vice President Mike Pence, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and conservative pundits Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly. Store owners say the cards aren't meant to endorse violence. "Most people take a look at it and laugh," said Ashley Corts, who co-owns the heavy metal-themed coffeehouse. The shop sits next to a police headquarters and hosts "Coffee with a Cop" sessions and other neighborhood events. News reports about the loyalty cards, though, have spawned critics on social media and sometimes threatening phone calls. "It's definitely been a rough couple of days. It escalated quickly and not to the intent that we wanted," Corts said. "(But) we've had hundreds of people come in to show support." The shop has used punch cards featuring some of the same figures, but not Trump, since before the election. Patrons can earn a free cup of coffee through the punch card. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 The Senate is headed for a tense showdown over President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee that could have far-reaching consequences for Congress, the high court and the nation. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republicans are determined to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch within the week. But to do so, they will likely have to override Democratic objections and unilaterally change Senate rules so that Gorsuch can be confirmed with a simple majority in the 100-seat chamber, instead of the 60-voter threshold. Though it may seem arcane, the approach is known on Capitol Hill as the "nuclear option," because it strikes at the heart of the Senate's traditions of bipartisanship and collegiality. It would allow all future Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed without regard to the objections of the minority party. And senators of both parties say that proceeding with the rules change could ultimately lead to complete elimination of the minority party's ability to block legislation via filibuster, one of the few remaining mechanisms that force bipartisan cooperation in Congress. "Once you go down this path it's awful easy just to keep going, and that is not a good thing," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., a senior lawmaker. Nevertheless, Republican senators are fully prepared to take the step, blaming Democrats for forcing them into it by preparing to filibuster a well-qualified nominee. And Democrats are just as ready to push the GOP to pull the trigger, even as they argue that McConnell and Republicans will have only themselves to blame. "He can prove that he cares about the Senate by not changing the rules," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told The Associated Press, referring to McConnell. As of now, Gorsuch claims support from 54 senators the 52 Republicans, along with two moderate Democrats who are up for re-election in states Trump won, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. One by one, most of the other Democrats have lined up against Gorsuch, citing his rulings in favor of corporations or his vague answers during his confirmation hearings. Though Democrats remain a handful shy of the 41 votes that would be required to mount a filibuster and trigger a rules change, it is the widely expected outcome. "I remain very worried about our polarized politics and what the future will bring, since I'm certain we will have a Senate rule change that will usher in more extreme judges in the future," Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said Friday as she became the latest Democrat to announce plans to join the filibuster against Gorsuch. Gorsuch, 49, has served more than a decade as a federal appeals court judge based in Denver. He is mild-mannered but deeply conservative, in the mold of the justice he would replace, Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. McCaskill and other Democrats have pointed out that while Gorsuch's confirmation won't change the ideological balance of a court that will be likely to split 5-4 on important cases, that could be what happens next as liberal justices age along with Justice Anthony Kennedy, 80, who often acts as a swing vote. Republicans argue that the filibuster has almost never been used against a Supreme Court nominee and they are right; even Clarence Thomas got onto the court without a filibuster, despite highly contentious confirmation hearings over sexual harassment claims from Anita Hill. The only Supreme Court nominee to have been blocked by a filibuster was Abe Fortas, President Lyndon Johnson's nominee for chief justice in 1968. After a procedural vote failed, Johnson withdrew Fortas' nomination. Fortas was already a sitting justice on the Court. But the Supreme Court blowup has been a long-time coming, and both parties share the blame. Republicans were prepared to invoke the "nuclear option" on lower court nominees in 2005, but a bipartisan group of 14 senators made a deal that stopped it. Then Democrats took the step in 2013 when they grew frustrated over lower court nominees getting blocked, but left the Supreme Court subject to a 60-vote threshold. Now, with Trump in the White House and politics ever more polarized, there appears to be no room for compromise. Democrats are still fuming over the treatment of former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, who never even got a hearing from Republicans last year after Scalia died. And for Republicans, Gorsuch's nomination is the one positive note so far in the trouble-plagued Trump administration, and they are determined to get a win. Though some GOP senators have privately counseled caution, McConnell has no plans to wait and has declared definitively that Gorsuch will be confirmed on Friday. If Gorsuch joins the court shortly thereafter, he would be in time to hear the last set of cases in the court's current term, including one about church-state separation. The stage will be set for the next Supreme Court nominee to be confirmed with a simple majority, potentially tilting the court ideologically for decades to come. And an uncertain future will await the filibuster itself, and the Senate as a deliberative, bipartisan institution. "It just continues on a downward spiral; it's us that's to blame, it's the base, it's responding to the base on each side," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. "It's both sides that have taken us to this place." Austin police have suspended two police officers who blocked an activist from recording video of a traffic stop. James Maufrais and Jesse Lane were seen on video in November obstructing and pointing a flashlight at activist Phillip Turner, who has filmed police in various Texas cities and sued at least three police departments in the state after being confronted over videotaping. Maufrais received a 20-day suspension without pay, and Lane was suspended for 10 days. Maufrais' attorney on Friday told KXAN-TV that he was caught off guard by someone videotaping him and had returned less than a year earlier from Afghanistan. Turner told the station that there was "no way" to justify the officers' actions. Texas law generally allows videotaping of police officers in a public space without permission. Investigators have concluded that the 52-year-old man who killed four people in a car-and-knife attack near Parliament made a test run in the days before, two security officials said Thursday. U.K. investigators are still trying to piece together the motives and planning behind Khalid Masood's attack last week, the worst in Britain since a series of coordinated bombings in 2005 killed 52 people. UK POLICE, MUSLIM YOUTHS TO LINK HANDS TO MARK LONDON ATTACK Two security officials said tracking of his car's GPS showed he drove across Westminster Bridge and approached Parliament on Saturday, March 18. The following Wednesday he plowed into pedestrians on the crowded bridge before crashing his car outside Parliament and stabbing a policeman. He was shot dead by police. Masood's movements show he prepared the attack, rather than making a last-minute decision beforehand, the officials said. But it also suggests he wasn't a trained terrorist. In that case, he "would have come on the same day of the week, or at least a weekday, to ensure the security measures and traffic were similar," one official said. A London police spokesman said "the investigation is live and ongoing, and we're not prepared to comment further at this time." U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is welcoming a new cease-fire agreement between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists in the country's east and urging all parties to honor it. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday that Guterres is greatly concerned about "the fate of the civilian population" and hopes the agreement will lead to progress on security and economic, humanitarian and political issues. The agreement announced by Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe calls for adherence to the cease-fire and withdrawal of heavy weapons by Saturday. It also calls for military disengagement in Stanytsia Luhanska by Thursday. A 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany has helped reduce the scale of fighting, but violence has continued while attempts to broker a political settlement have failed. Armenians are set to cast ballots in parliamentary elections, the first vote since the ex-Soviet nation has modified its constitution to expand powers of parliament and prime minister. Polls show the party of Armenia's president in the lead for Sunday's parliamentary election that is the first vote since the ex-Soviet nation has modified its constitution to expand powers of parliament and prime minister. Critics have seen the amendments as part of efforts by President Serzh Sargsyan to retain control of the country after he steps down in 2018 due to term limits. Sargsyan, who has led Armenia since 2008, has rejected the allegations, describing the constitutional changes approved in a 2015 referendum as a step toward strengthening democracy. . next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Three weeks before France's presidential election, independent centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has focused his attacks on Marine Le Pen, whom he described as his main opponent, and on her party, the far-right National Front, which he accused of being "the party of hatred." Polls suggest Macron and far-right leader Le Pen are now the two top contenders in the presidential race. The two top vote-getters on April 23 compete in the runoff on May 7. Speaking before thousands of followers in the southern city of Marseille, Macron vowed Saturday to "chase away" Le Pen's party "far from this campaign, far from the country" and with it "all those who make us so ashamed." Macron insisted there is little time left. He said "three weeks is tomorrow." Ukraine's Embassy: We are grateful to U.S. for continuous support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity The Ukrainian Embassy to the United States has thanked Washington for the continued support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. "The U.S. will continue to lead international efforts to hold Russia accountable for its violation of key principles of international law and undermining the existing system of European security," the press service of the Ukrainian Embassy in the U.S. wrote on its Facebook page. As reported, the United States expressed its support for Ukraine as it defends its sovereign territory, strengthens its economy, and continues to implement reforms. "Sec. Tillerson: We stand by #Ukraine as it defends its sovereign territory, strengthens its economy, and continues to implement reforms," the U.S. Mission to NATO quoted on Twitter Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on March 31. A meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the level of foreign ministers was held in Brussels on March 31. An editor in Somalia says gunmen have kidnapped a local journalist on the outskirts of the capital. Ahmedwali Hussein says Hanad Ali Guled with the Goobjoog radio and television station was taken by six men on his way to work early Saturday. Hussein says the journalist called his family from an unknown location and said he was being tortured by his abductors. Hussein says Guled had received death threats a day earlier. The abduction is reminder of the dangers that reporters face in a war-torn country where authorities have struggled to maintain security amid attacks by the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction. Somalia is often called one of the world's most dangerous places for media workers. Chancellor Angela Merkel says newcomers to Germany must learn the country's values and customs, but that Germans can also learn from them. More than 1 million asylum seekers have arrived in the past two years, and Germany's been working hard on integration. Speaking in her weekly podcast this Saturday, in a question-and-answer form with a Syrian journalist who arrived as a refugee in 2015, Merkel emphasized migrants need to respect Germany's values of "tolerance, openness, freedom of religion and freedom of expression" and also "be a little curious about our way of life." On the flipside, Merkel says Germans should be open, and "seize upon it as a possibility to learn and experience more." Merkel meets with three organizations next week to thank them for their help with migrants. Norway's foreign minister says a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is under pressure" as he left Oslo for a visit to the Middle East. Borge Brende says "only a two-state solution can lead to lasting peace between the parties." He says "a sustainable Palestinian economy and well-functioning institutions are essential preconditions for the two-state solution." Brende is meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. Norway, like neighboring Sweden, has expressed concern that Israel will allow expanded construction in major West Bank settlements. Jerusalem has said it will limit new settlement construction in the West Bank "when possible" to within areas already developed or at least to contiguous areas. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 Britain is seeking to reassure Gibraltar that it will protect the territory's interests in forthcoming talks on exiting the European Union. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talked with Gibraltar's chief minister, Fabian Picardo, on Friday to assure him of the U.K.'s support after the EU suggested Spain would have a veto over the territory's future relationship with the trading bloc. After the conversation, Johnson tweeted: "As ever, the U.K. remains implacable and rock-like in our support for Gibraltar." Gibraltar says Spain is using the U.K.'s impending departure from the EU to force negotiations on the status of Gibraltar, a territory Spain has been trying to get back from Britain for 300 years. The head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP), Nazar Kholodnytsky, has announced the completion of the pre-trial investigation of the criminal proceedings into embezzlement of more than UAH 336 million of public funds provided to Ukraine under the Kyoto Protocol. The SAP said the evidence collected during the pre-trial investigation was sufficient to draw up an indictment. The criminal proceedings have been provided to the defense team, Kholodnytsky wrote on his Facebook page on March 31, 2017. "According to the collected materials, investigators have established that a group of individuals, which included officials of the State Enterprise Ukrekoresurs, through ensuring the victory of sham companies in the tender on the overhaul through technical re-equipment of illumination equipment using LED-based lamps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve social and economic conditions, committed an attempt to seize public funds in the amount of more than UAH 336 million," Kholodnytsky wrote. According to him, as the results of the pre-trial investigation ten people were brought to criminal responsibility, including director of the state enterprise Ukrekoresurs V. Kuznets, who was informed of a suspicion of committing crimes under Part 2 of Article 15, and part 5 of Article 191 (attempt to take possession of other people's property), Part 2 of Article 382 (failure to comply with a court judgment), Part 1 of Article 366 (official forgery) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Two people have already been convicted for fictitious entrepreneurship (Part 1 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Kholodnytsky noted based on findings of the judicial and economic examination, the amount of funds that the perpetrators were able to seize as a result of the criminal acts described above was established and is currently stated in the indictment UAH 336 million. As earlier reported, on January 21, 2016, information pursuant to Part 2 of Article 15, Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on embezzlement of UAH 480 million in state assets was added by NABU detectives to the national register of pretrial investigations. The money was given to Ukraine based on the Kyoto Protocol. The theft occurred at state-owned enterprise Ukrainian Ecological Investments (Ukrekoinvest) during a tender to replace and install LED lamps. All tender participants were screened by NABU agents. A number of suspects were arrested. Two were convicted and arrest warrants were issued for two others along with one additional international arrest warrant. On Jan 31, 2017, National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Head Artem Sytnyk said the criminal investigation into the theft of funds given to Ukraine under the Kyoto Protocol was almost complete. A Richmond judge issued a ruling Friday upholding the constitutionality of 11 state legislative districts that were challenged as being designed for political purposes. The ruling by Circuit Court Judge W. Reilly Marchant is a setback for redistricting reform advocates in Virginia. The lawsuit was backed by the reform group OneVirginia2021. The decision will likely be appealed. Marchant heard evidence during a three-day bench trial in March relating to five state House districts and six state Senate districts drawn by the Virginia General Assembly in 2011. The plaintiffs who sued the state argued that the districts were a politically motivated gerrymander and were not compact as required by law. But lawyers with the office of Attorney General Mark H. Herring and a private firm retained to represent the Virginia House of Delegates argued that the districts conformed with state constitutional requirements. The case was one of two pending legal challenges to district lines drawn by the General Assembly; a second case in federal court challenges districts of African-Americans in the legislature, arguing lawmakers packed too many blacks into the districts to solidify Republican-friendly majority-white districts around them. House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, issued a statement celebrating the ruling and defending the lines drawn by House Republican leaders. The districts were compact, consistent with Virginia Supreme Court precedent, and the process to draw compact districts in 2011 was sound. We are grateful that Judge Marchant declined to apply a new legal standard and we are prepared to defend this plan again should his opinion be appealed by Plaintiffs, Howell said in the statement. Wyatt Durrette Jr., an attorney for OneVirginia2021, issued a statement saying he was disappointed. But he said aspects of the ruling would limit the ability of the General Assembly to gerrymander in the future. So, while we are disappointed that the court did not resolve the case in our favor, Judge Marchant has given those who supported this effort significant help in continuing this battle for redistricting reform, Durrette said in the statement. As for where we go from here, it is too early to say for sure, but an appeal is most likely. IS IT possible that Virginias legislators had too much time on their hands in the recently ended session? How else can you explain the fact that we now have a state spirit? This has nothing to do with the supernatural. Were talking about the kind of spirits that come in a bottle. Sen. Adam Ebbin of Alexandria sponsored a bill that passed both houses and has been signed into law by Gov. Terry McAuliffe recognizing George Washingtons rye whiskey as the commonwealths official liquor. You could make a strong argument that the state spirit should be something distilled by our areas own A. Smith Bowman Distillery. The Bowman Distillery, located just outside the Fredericksburg city limits in Spotsylvania County, was recently honored by Whisky magazine for the second year in a row for having the Worlds Best Bourbon. The honor this year went to John J. Bowman Single Barrel Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Still, its hard to argue against honoring something produced by the father of our country, who learned early on the value of liquor to the ambitious politician. According to Sen. Ebbin, the young Washington, long gone from his Ferry Farm upbringing but not yet ready to sire a nation, ran for the House of Burgesses in Frederick County in 1755. He lost 58140. It was determined that he had an alcohol problem: He wasnt plying the voters with it, and his opponent was. Three years later, Washington showed that he was a quick learner. He gave away some 160 gallons of rum, rum punch, wine, beer and cider to 391 voters, which seemed to sway them sufficiently for him to get elected. By the time he was chosen to be our first president, he was able to stand on his own merits in the eyes of the Electoral College, without the aid of spiritual compensation. Perhaps memories of liquors early contributions to his political success helped encourage Washington to begin distilling whiskey at his Mount Vernon plantation after he left the presidency and retired to private life. By 1799, the year of his death, that distillery was producing nearly 11,000 gallons a year. You can taste some of Washingtons rye whiskey now, or a reasonable facsimile. His distillery has been reconstructed at Mount Vernon and produces small batches of distilled spirits, including rye, for sale on site. If youre touring Mount Vernon, its probably worth your while to sample George Washingtons rye whiskey. If youre not, and you prefer bourbon, you could do far worse than a visit to Bowman to have a sip of the Worlds Best Bourbon. And maybe designating a state spirit wasnt the most unnecessary thing the legislators did this winter. They also decided that Song of the Mountains, a monthly concert series seen on PBS stations, should be Virginias official state television series. Really? Does anybody remember The Waltons? Homeless veterans need comprehensive care Are we doing enough for those who have given most? Im referring to veterans. Its plausible to think that we are, if you just scratch the surface. Maybe holding a door for an older gentleman donning a Vietnam veteran hat or offering up a Thank you for your service will do the trick. But it doesnt. It goes way deeper than our veterans feeling unappreciated for the service to our country. The reality is veterans returning from combat are twice as likely to become chronically homeless as their civilian counterparts. But why is there even one, let alone an alarmingly high homeless veteran population? Using mental illness as a justification and saying, Some folks just cant be helped, is not the answer. Where do we start? Before our veterans exit the military, are they getting what they need for a successful transition and future? Any life transition needs preparation and planning to be successful. The transition into the civilian world is no different. Our homeless veteran population, with a rise in a much younger generation joining the ranks, must be addressed before it grows. Both nationally and in our area, veteran service organizations/nonprofits work tirelessly to provide care for veterans after they separate from the military, but the disconnect is often in follow-up care. The need for more proactive transition assistance, as well as monitoring care for our veterans would be a step in the right direction. No one wants to sacrifice their freedoms, which these men and women promised to defend, so why are we comfortable with their basic human needs going unmet? Taylor Strong Fredericksburg Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has congratulated his Irish counterpart Michael Higgins on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. "I take this opportunity to confirm my invitation to you to come on an official visit to Ukraine this year in order to celebrate the anniversary of bilateral relations together," the message says. Poroshenko thanked Higgins for Ireland's supports of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Government officials have been putting the final touches to a Defra battle bus ahead of a UK tour visiting farms to allay farmers fears over Brexit. Farm leaders are concerned that since Defra secretary Andrea Leadsom started her job eight months ago, she has not visited many farms despite the UK farming industry facing huge changes as a result of the UK leaving the EU. In response to her critics, Mrs Leadsom will lead a 15-date 874-mile tour, dubbed Project Defra: At the heart of British farming, to demonstrate how seriously Defra values farmers and listening to their views. See also: Leadsoms lack of farm Brexit plan under scrutiny The final stop will see the minster and MP for South Northamptonshire, make her first official visit to East Anglia, an arable heartland where 65% of the UKs sugar beet is grown. The tour bus route includes some of the UKs most productive farming areas, such as Devon and Cornwall, the East Midlands, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, before the last leg in Norfolk. A Defra source said: Andrea failed to impress farmers with her speech at the Oxford Farming Conference in January, but shes determined to win their hearts and minds. She wants to drive home the message that she will seek the best deal possible for farmers after Brexit and remind them of the value of opening new export markets to the Far East. Andrea is so excited about visiting farms she can barely sleep. She loves a good bus ride and cant wait to get her free bus pass in a few years Defra source Andrea is so excited about visiting farms she can barely sleep. She loves a good bus ride and cant wait to get her free bus pass in a few years. During her tour, Mrs Leadsom will explain to farmers that after Brexit they will need to submit daily video diaries as part of their Countryside Stewardship agreements, submit quarterly BPS applications and will only be able to trim hedges between January and March. Backseat brawl brewing Farmers Weekly understands that the bus will be decked out with the best of British food, including fish and chips, sausage rolls, deluxe horsemeat burgers and porky pies. But a row is brewing between ministers about where they will sit on the bus. A backseat brawl could be just around the corner, added the Defra source. George [Eustice] is digging his heels in. Hes not going unless he gets that backseat. Simple as. Even a Cornish pasty in Truro wont placate him. For 100 years, politicians have climbed aboard buses and toured the country to spread their messages to the masses. Last year, Mrs Leadsom joined Boris Johnson on the Vote Leave battle bus, which helped to persuade the British public to vote to leave the EU. On Wednesday, April 5, at 11.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled "Results of a Year of Groysman's Government Work: Resignation or New Immunity Expert View." The participants will include head of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the analytical department of the Media Strategies Agency Yevhen Bulavka, deputy director of the Situation Modeling Agency Oleksiy Holobutsky. The results of a survey of leading Ukrainian experts on the results of a year of the government's work, the government's achievements and failures, successful and failed reforms, challenges, and the probability of its resignation will be made public during the press conference. (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. This log includes incidents in which there might have been a public disturbance or a risk to the public. Information comes from the Corvallis Police Department, the Benton County Sheriffs Office and Oregon State Police. It does not include all calls for service. The status of incidents might change after further investigation. Locations are approximate. People arrested or suspected in crimes are considered innocent until proven otherwise. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie Divorce: Brangelina Confirmed Getting Back Together? Mr. & Mrs. Smith Stars Spent Time Together In Cambodia With Kids Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie divorce has become among the much-talked about topics since the day they first announced it. However, new reports are claiming that the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" stars are not splitting anymore after they reportedly got reunited in Cambodia. MStarsNews reported that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had some sort of a family reunion with their kids in Cambodia. According the news outlet, the "By The Sea" stars could possibly cancel their impending divorce for their kids -- Shiloh, Maddox, Knox, Vivienne, Zahara and Pax. Speculations have it that everything went well between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie when they met in Cambodia. As a matter of fact, there have been claims saying that the "Troy" actor has been traveling to the country to spend time with his kids whenever he is free. Advertisement "All through production and filming, and on her most recent press trip, Brad came to Cambodia in secret to spend time with the kids," an unnamed source told New York Daily News. There are also reports claiming that the "Maleficent" actress has been spending time with her estranged husband while Brad Pitt is in Cambodia, which opens the possibility that the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" stars could possibly cancel their divorce and get back together for good. Meanwhile, Korea Portal has previously shared that there are rumors linking Brad Pitt to former wife Jennifer Aniston following his split from Angelina Jolie. Sources have claimed that the ex-couple has been secretly conversing since the infamous split. "Anyway, sources claim that Jennifer and Brad have been casually texting over the past few days, and Brad has been discussing how difficult the divorce has been for him," CLD ha previously reported about the alleged rekindled relationship of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's rumored frenemy, Jennifer Aniston. "Apparently, Jennifer has been helping him through this, which is a little suspicious." Up until now, neither Brad Pitt nor Angelina Jolie has confirmed that they are getting back together. Stay tuned to Korea Portal for the latest news and updates about the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie divorce! Advertisement Advertisement Like us and Follow us Follow @Koreaportal and 2022 Korea Portal, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Fulani Poet, Abdulbaqi Jari Says Igbos And Yorubas Bring So Much Embarrassment To Nigeria clarajancita at 31-03-2017 01:19 PM (5 years ago) (f) A Fulani poet and linguist, Abdulbaqi Jari has called for the division of Nigeria due to the embarrassment caused by the Igbos and Yorubas. A Fulani poet and linguist, Abdulbaqi Jari has called for the division of Nigeria due to the embarrassment caused by the Igbos and Yorubas. See his tweets below.......... See his tweets below.......... Post Reply I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years Posted: at 31-03-2017 01:19 PM (5 years ago) | Hero christianity at 31-03-2017 01:30 PM (5 years ago) (m) Another attention seeker,its obvious that the Britains made the worst mistake of ever joining some part of chad republic and Niger republic as part of Niger area of this entity called Nigeria. Wasted set of animal in human cloth. Posted: at 31-03-2017 01:30 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Another attention seeker,its obvious that the Britains made the worst mistake of ever joining some part of chad republic and Niger republic as part of Niger area of this entity called Nigeria.Wasted set of animal in human cloth. Reply Bebold at 31-03-2017 01:40 PM (5 years ago) (m) It's true naa Posted: at 31-03-2017 01:40 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac It's true naa Reply chukkychukky at 31-03-2017 02:23 PM (5 years ago) (m) make God kill all fulani i protect only u amen Joramentity aka chukkychukky Posted: at 31-03-2017 02:23 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac make God kill all fulani i protect only u amen Reply morgan1 at 31-03-2017 02:37 PM (5 years ago) (m) See em face Jari,,,Jari!!! Posted: at 31-03-2017 02:37 PM (5 years ago) | Hero See em face Jari,,,Jari!!! Reply maizaxx at 31-03-2017 02:44 PM (5 years ago) (m) I can't believe he is saying this. If those are his reasons, what about Fulani herdsmen attacks in the country? That will definitely drive the Igbos and the Yorubas away. Why the Hausas have not moved is because they aren't daring when it comes to such moves. So I suggest you go back and do your research very well before you make derogatory remarks about people when you are equally a culprit. Posted: at 31-03-2017 02:44 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac I can't believe he is saying this. If those are his reasons, what about Fulani herdsmen attacks in the country?That will definitely drive the Igbos and the Yorubas away.Why the Hausas have not moved is because they aren't daring when it comes to such moves.So I suggest you go back and do your research very well before you make derogatory remarks about people when you are equally a culprit. Reply kaposky at 31-03-2017 02:51 PM (5 years ago) (m) BUT STILL U FOOLS NEVER WANT MAKE THE COUNTRY DEVIDE, JUST BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU ANIMALS ARE GAINING FROM THE SOUTH,BUT SOON, U PUNK ASS FOOLS WITH UR IDIOTIC AND PEDOPHILE PRESIDENT AND ALL HIS SUPPORTERS WILL GO UR SEPERATE WAY.BINGOS Posted: at 31-03-2017 02:51 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac BUT STILL U FOOLS NEVER WANT MAKE THE COUNTRY DEVIDE, JUST BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU ANIMALS ARE GAINING FROM THE SOUTH,BUT SOON, U PUNK ASS FOOLS WITH UR IDIOTIC AND PEDOPHILE PRESIDENT AND ALL HIS SUPPORTERS WILL GO UR SEPERATE WAY.BINGOS Reply ngfineface at 31-03-2017 03:08 PM (5 years ago) (f) Its best for me to just ignore this attention seeker. Won't waste my one scent on him Posted: at 31-03-2017 03:08 PM (5 years ago) | Hero Its best for me to just ignore this attention seeker. Won't waste my one scent on him Reply Foxtroft at 31-03-2017 05:00 PM (5 years ago) (m) Yes Agreed, the likes of Beneno, dynasty4all are the prodigal sons causing embarassment everyday Posted: at 31-03-2017 05:00 PM (5 years ago) | Upcoming Yes Agreed, the likes of Beneno, dynasty4all are the prodigal sons causing embarassment everyday Reply Goodluck-just at 31-03-2017 05:12 PM (5 years ago) (m) Where is beneno na,,, tel him to com and say somtin pls. Posted: at 31-03-2017 05:12 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac Where is beneno na,,, tel him to com and say somtin pls. Reply WhaleDog at 31-03-2017 06:17 PM (5 years ago) (m) In fairness every tribe in Nigeria share their respective equal blame of the current status of Nigeria globally .Accusing one another won't resolve the nation bounty hardship because each and every tribe has one way or the other contributed immensely to the nation misfortune .Yoruba and Igbo are good at soiling the national image by doing drugs ,fraud ,stealing and their fair share of looting the nation ,and the Hausas are equally good at treasonable looting ,I mean wholeheartedly sabotage of our collective treasure .In fact,the youtruba and Igbo can be acquitted for not fully concentrated on economy sabotage but their offense can be described as overseas negative branding of Nigeria nation .Therefore,the Hausas still ahead in our nation misfortune . Spare me Posted: at 31-03-2017 06:17 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac In fairness every tribe in Nigeria share their respective equal blame of the current status of Nigeria globally .Accusing one another won't resolve the nation bounty hardship because each and every tribe has one way or the other contributed immensely to the nation misfortune .Yoruba and Igbo are good at soiling the national image by doing drugs ,fraud ,stealing and their fair share of looting the nation ,and the Hausas are equally good at treasonable looting ,I mean wholeheartedly sabotage of our collective treasure .In fact,the youtruba and Igbo can be acquitted for not fully concentrated on economy sabotage but their offense can be described as overseas negative branding of Nigeria nation .Therefore,the Hausas still ahead in our nation misfortune . Reply WhaleDog at 31-03-2017 06:26 PM (5 years ago) (m) The Hausas are ahead in the nation cause of misfortune .Since independent ,the Hausas have ruled Nigeria more than any other tribes and the corruption recorded during their respective administration is far outweighed other tribes combined together . Spare me Posted: at 31-03-2017 06:26 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac The Hausas are ahead in the nation cause of misfortune .Since independent ,the Hausas have ruled Nigeria more than any other tribes and the corruption recorded during their respective administration is far outweighed other tribes combined together . Reply schmit at 31-03-2017 08:40 PM (5 years ago) (f) I no blame u Posted: at 31-03-2017 08:40 PM (5 years ago) | Hero I no blame u Reply gogoman at 31-03-2017 09:59 PM (5 years ago) (m) fcking idiot!! divide your yeye family first Posted: at 31-03-2017 09:59 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero fcking idiot!! divide your yeye family first Reply crocatum at 31-03-2017 10:45 PM (5 years ago) (m) He can go and hug a brand new transformer. Posted: at 31-03-2017 10:45 PM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac He can go and hug a brand new transformer. Reply proly at 1-04-2017 03:25 AM (5 years ago) (f) Mtcheewwww ugly bitch Posted: at 1-04-2017 03:25 AM (5 years ago) | Hero Mtcheewwww ugly bitch Reply Microsoft starts selling Apple iPhones after Samsung Galaxy S8 deal News oi -Samden Sherpa Microsoft has just signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhones in its own stores. Earlier we reported that Microsoft had signed a deal with Samsung for the newly launched Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones. Moreover, as per the partnership between the two companies, the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus would come as Microsoft edition models. And that's not just it, customers paying a visit to Microsoft stores may not see Windows phones on display only. Rather, they will see Galaxy S8 smartphones in the shelves also. However, with this move, it looks like Microsoft is getting into phone retailer business. Samsung Galaxy S8, S8 Plus Microsoft Edition models pegged for April 21 release With such aim, Microsoft may not be satisfied with having Samsung as the only partner onboard. While retailer business requires having more brands in the loop, surprisingly, Microsoft has yet again signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhones in its stores. The signing of the deal now means that customers won't be seeing Samsung phones only. They will see iPhones as well. On the other hand, the new iPhones will be branded as Microsoft Edition as well. Softpedia reports that the iPhones will have the Microsoft logo on the back. A Microsoft spokesperson has also told the publication that this new deal can be interpreted as an effective way to boost store traffic, thus leading to bigger sales for the company. The representative further stated, "Our deal with Apple helps us provide customers with easy access to our services even if they choose a different mobile platform. We respect everyone's decision to use Android or iOS, and this is why we're trying to help them make no compromise. Bringing Microsoft apps on as many devices as possible is a priority." Microsoft testing its latest AI chatbot 'Ruuh' in India Now that the deals are closed, the Microsoft Edition iPhones will be on sale from April 1 and it will come with out of the box customization kit that with replace Siri with Cortana, a default Mail app with Outlook, and iCloud integration with OneDrive. In addition, the iPhone 7 Microsoft Edition will be available in Silver, Rose Gold, Matte Black, and Jet Black colors. As for the pricing, the new iPhones will start at $899 (approx Rs. 58,261). Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Moto G4 Plus to finally get the Nougat update in the US News oi -Shilpa US users to get Nougat features on phone Motorola being used by millions of users globally has recently gained wide popularity after its launch of G series. By providing regular Android updates to the user, it has seen an intense peak in its sale. Already the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus users of Asia received the Android Nougat OS update immediately after the release of OS. Now, it's time for US users to get this latest update on their phone. This update was sent out on February for the Canadian carrier locked devices with Koodo and Telus users. The unlocked G4 and G4 Plus users in the US were waiting eagerly for this update from a long time. Also Read: Moto G5 Sapphire blue color goes on sale in UK They were hoping for this update to come soon after few users of Republic Wireless started getting this update as a 'soak test' part. According to few sources, the success in soak test made this update to roll out on unlocked Moto G4 Plus smartphones. Now, even these users can have all the features offered by Nougat on their phone. With 741 MB size, it looks like a quite heavy update. Since updates stop in between because of the unstable network, it is recommended to switch to any stable Wi-Fi connection before proceeding with the download. Verizon Moto Z Droid and Z Force Droid to get March security update Other than the network, One should also make sure that his phone is having enough power to bear this huge process. If you have still not received any notification regarding this update or worried about missing any notification, then you don't have to worry. You can verify it by going to Software updates section under ' about phone' of device's setting. You can download and install it manually if any updates are present. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Moto G5 will be released on April 4 as an Amazon exclusive News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Moto G5 is releasing in three days. At the MWC 2017, both the Moto G5 and G5 Plus smartphones were unveiled. Following the same, the Plus variant was released in India on March 15 at Rs. 14,999 as a Flipkart exclusive. Now, it looks like it is time for the Indian Moto G fans to get their hands on the Moto G5 as well. The company has started sending invites for an event to be hosted on April 4 in New Delhi. At the event, they will release the Moto G5 in India. While its availability is not confirmed officially, the Twitter handle states that the G5 will be exclusive to Amazon. The company is also posting tweets regarding the same. Moto E4 with 4000mAh battery clears FCC The Moto G5 bestows a 5-inch FHD 1080p display and employs an octa-core Snapdragon 430 processor. The smartphone comes in different variants - 2GB/3GB RAM with 16GB of default memory that can be expanded up to 128GB. Running Android 7.0 Nougat, this smartphone comes with a 13MP rear camera with support for FHD 1080p video recording, dual-tone LED flash and PDAF. There is a 5MP selfie camera as well. The other aspects of the Moto G5 include 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, and a 2800mAh battery. Motorola India teases fans with video of upcoming Moto G5 What we know apart from the April 4 release date is that the Moto G5 Plus will be available in Fine Gold and Lunar Gray color options and that it will be an Amazon exclusive. Though the pricing information will be announced by the company at the time of its launch. We can get more details on Tuesday. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Nokia 3, Nokia 5 pass Wi-Fi certifications; Release date is nearing News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Nokia Android phones are releasing soon. HMD Global is all set to release the Nokia 3, 5 and 6 Android smartphones simultaneously in 120 markets. The release is slated to happen sometime in the second half of this quarter. While we are still not clear about when exactly we can expect to see the release of these smartphones, there is an interesting information that has come up online. The Nokia 6 already received the necessary certifications. Then, it was the turn of Nokia 3 to get certified. We say this as the Nokia 3 variants meant for markets such as Latin America, Asia Pacific and the rest of the world have been spotted passing FCC. Nokia 3 models TA-1020, TA-1028, TA-1032, TA-1038 spotted at FCC In addition to the Nokia 3, the Nokia 5 has also been spotted passing Wi-Fi certification. The Nokia 5 variant TA-1044 has been spotted in the certification listing. This one is meant for the Latin American market. Earlier, a variant of the Nokia 5 with the model number TA-1053 was spotted in the benchmarks. We can soon expect the Asia Pacific and rest of the world variants of Nokia 5 also getting certified soon. While four variants of the Nokia 3 received the Bluetooth certifications, only three of them were spotted passing the Wi-Fi certifications. As the second quarter of this year has already debuted, the release date of the Nokia smartphones is nearing. We can expect to see more models passing certifications. Source Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a meeting Friday, calling for greater effort on poverty alleviation. Members of the bureau heard reports on provincial Party committees and governments' achievements and evaluation work on poverty relief in 2016 during the meeting, presided over by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. China has set 2020 as the target year to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, and "the hardest part is to lift poor rural population and counties out of poverty and eradicate poverty on a regional basis," said a statement issued after the meeting. The meeting agreed that achievements made during the past years showed that the goal could be accomplished as long as practical and solid effort was made and current policy and work intensity maintained. Salient problems, however, remain, including low quality poverty relief, a lack of targeted measures and lax supervision of funds, according to the statement. Stressing strict requirements during poverty elimination, the CPC leadership said the work report system and responsibility system for poverty elimination must be effectively enforced. In addition, strict evaluation and inspection of poverty alleviation must be carried out to ensure goals are achieved. The people's interests should be put in first place in advancing poverty relief, while leading officials at various levels should strengthen their sense of mission and responsibility and synergize efforts,the statement said. Poverty relief is the historical mission of the CPC and the responsibilities of heads of Party committees, governments and departments at various levels, it said. The meeting also called for effort to consolidate the foundations of precise poverty alleviation, take corresponding measures and inspire officials and people in areas with poverty. The requirements of strict Party governance should be implemented comprehensively and responsibilities on poverty elimination should be fulfilled faithfully, the statement said. Evaluation of poverty relief should play its role and pragmatic work styles be followed, it noted. China aims to reduce the number of rural residents living in poverty by over 10 million in 2017, including 3.4 million relocated from inhospitable areas. Overall, dont let the bhoot mislead you, nothing bhootiya about this story. Had the makers tried to push the envelope, the idea could have been outstanding for a bhootiya comedy. Amnesty Says Uzbekistan Spying On Citizens At Home, Abroad RFE/RL March 30, 2017 Amnesty International says Uzbekistan's government is carrying out unlawful surveillance of its citizens domestically and outside of the country. The watchdog said in a report published on March 31 that the Uzbek government's actions are "fostering a climate of fear and uncertainty" for Uzbeks throughout Europe. The report "reveals the far-reaching effects of mass surveillance, not only on the human rights of people in Uzbekistan, but on [Uzbek] people in Europe," said Joshua Franco, a technology and human rights researcher at Amnesty International. The authorities "have designed a system where surveillance and the expectation of surveillance is not the exception, but the norm," he said. Within the Central Asian country, he said, authorities have "created an environment of suspicion where surveillance, or the perceived threat of it, is an ever-present fact of life for human rights defenders, journalists and political activists." "But even outside the country, the effects of surveillance are being severely felt. Fear is driving a wedge between families, with refugees too afraid to contact their loved ones at home due to the terrible risk it can expose them to," the report added. Amnesty's report cited the cases of Uzbeks living in the country and abroad, including a refugee living in Sweden and a journalist forced to flee to France after being watched by Uzbekistan's secret service. Human rights activists, opposition critics, and independent journalists have been forced to leave the former Soviet republic to escape arrest or harassment and intimidation by security forces and local authorities, the report said. Uzbekistan was ruled with an iron fist since before the Soviet collapse by President Islam Karimov. Upon his death last September, Shavkat Mirziyaev, moved into the presidency and quickly consolidated power. He has spoken of instituting reforms in the country of some 30 million people since taking office, but critics say the moves fall far short of real reform. Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/amnesty-international-uzbekistan- government-surveillance/28400894.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address White House Sends Mixed Messages About Flynn's Immunity Request in Russian Probes By VOA News March 31, 2017 The White House sent mixed messages Friday about former national security adviser Michael Flynn's conditional offer to cooperate with congressional investigators looking into contacts between President Donald Trump's campaign advisers and Russia. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters at his daily media briefing he was "not going to give Mike Flynn or anybody legal advice from the podium" about whether he should testify before congressional committees if granted immunity from prosecution. Spicer's remark was in contrast to a tweet earlier in the day from Trump that agreed Flynn should seek immunity for testifying in what he likened to politically motivated harassment campaigns. Asked whether the White House was concerned Flynn had information that could be damaging to the Trump administration, Spicer tersely responded, "Nope." News accounts circulated Thursday that Flynn was in talks with the House and Senate intelligence committees to try to get a promise of immunity, but that no one had agreed to his terms. "General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit,'' Flynn's attorney, Robert Kelner, said in a statement issued later Thursday. Kelner added, "No reasonable person ... would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch-hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution." 'Grave and momentous step' The highest-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, issued a statement Friday describing Flynn's request for immunity as "a grave and momentous step" for a former senior administration official. Schiff added it would be premature to grant Flynn's request. "There is still much work and many more witnesses and documents to obtain before any immunity request from any witness can be considered," he said. Before granting immunity to Flynn, Schiff said, the committee would first need "a detailed proffer of any intended testimony." Flynn, a retired lieutenant general, was forced to resign as one of Trump's closest advisers after it was revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his communications with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. The congressional committees are looking into whether any associates of Trump may have coordinated with agents of the Russian government seeking to meddle in last year's presidential election. Disinformation campaign Experts told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday that Russia had pulled off an unprecedented and wildly successful campaign to influence America's political conversation during the election campaign. "Russia hopes to win the second Cold War through the force of politics, as opposed to the politics of force," said cybersecurity expert Clinton Watts of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a global policy research group in Philadelphia. Watts detailed Russia's use of cyberattacks and an elaborate disinformation campaign to confuse U.S. voters and pit Americans against each other. The testimony confirmed what lawmakers of both parties have been saying for months. "Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a deliberate campaign carefully constructed to undermine our election," said the committee's top Democrat, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. Ahead of the open hearing, Putin blasted accusations of Russian electoral meddling as "provocations and lies." Asked on a television program whether Moscow had tried to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, Putin said, "Read my lips: No." Witnesses before the Intelligence Committee described voluminous and incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. "We've got 10 years of observation here," said Kevin Mandia, chief executive officer of the U.S.-based cybersecurity firm FireEye. "It absolutely stretches credulity to think they [Russian actors] were not involved." Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida shared an experience from his unsuccessful presidential bid last year. "Former members of my presidential campaign team who had access to the internal information of my presidential campaign were targeted by the IP addresses with an unknown location within Russia. [The] effort was unsuccessful," Rubio said. 'Exceptional' efforts "The [Russian] activities in the United States ... do seem to be exceptional," said Georgetown University security and intelligence expert Roy Godson, adding that cyber and disinformation campaigns allow Russian hackers to "hit above their weight" on the world stage. Watts said Russia was aided last year by U.S. media outlets' extensive reports about material hacked by Russia that appeared on outlets like WikiLeaks, as well as occasions when the Trump campaign parroted disinformation that Moscow had disseminated about his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. He added that Russia could one day turn its informational firepower against Trump. Russia's action "is solely based on what they want to achieve ... whatever the Russian foreign policy objectives are," Watts said. "They will turn on President Trump, as well. They win because they play both sides." 'Following the money' The hearing was the first of many the committee expects to hold in coming months some open to the public, but many behind closed doors. Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, repeatedly has pledged an impartial and exhaustive search for the truth, and he has implored fellow committee members to refrain from partisan jabs. "If we politicize this process, our efforts will likely fail," Burr said. Warner echoed the call, saying the goal of the investigation was not to relitigate last year's election, but rather to hold Russia accountable. But as one Democrat argued, if the committee is determined to bring to light any ties Trump's inner circle may have to Russia, the president himself must release his tax returns. "They key to a successful investigation is following the money," said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. "Information about Donald Trump's finances may lead to Russia." Trump has adamantly denied any links to Russia during or after the campaign, questioned U.S. intelligence about Russian meddling, and accused media outlets of mounting a smear campaign against him. Even so, the White House acknowledged the need for investigations to proceed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Colombia: UN receives 7,000 weapons from FARC-EP as hunt for hidden caches continues 30 March 2017 The United Nations Mission in Colombia is set to register some 7,000 weapons this weekend, but the search for other caches of weapons hidden by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) continues, the Mission's chief has said. Jean Arnault, the head of the Mission, said yesterday: "As for registration, we are at 85 percent of the weapons in the camps. This weekend we will reach a figure of approximately 7,000 registered weapons. On these weapons there are concerns: many are new and are short and long weapons, high calibre. It is a record that covers the range of FARC-EP weapons." The weapons hand over has been in place since the beginning of the month and the UN hopes to possess 60 per cent of all FARC-EP arms by April 1. However, in a press conference on the topic yesterday, Mr. Arnault said accessing hidden and hard to reach caches could delay the process. A further 1,000 weapons are set to be received from FARC-EP members participating in peace promotion or, pedagogia de paz, bringing the number of arms collected by the UN to 8,000. It was also reported at the press conference that commitments made at the Cartagena meeting of the Follow up, Promotion and Implementation Commission (CSIVI) to make progress on preparation of registration zones and camps, security and legal guarantees and provision of health services would further accelerate the laydown of arms process. In November last year, the Colombian Government and FARC-EP, the largest rebel group in the South American nation, signed a peace deal, ending a 50 year conflict. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address SecAF nominee testifies before Congress By Tech. Sgt. Robert Barnett, Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs / Published March 30, 2017 WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Heather Wilson testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee during her confirmation hearing for secretary of the Air Force in Washington, D.C., March 30, 2017. The Air Force veteran and former New Mexico representative was introduced by Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds of South Dakota. "If confirmed, she will become the first Air Force Academy graduate in history to serve as the secretary of the Air Force," Thune said. She has served on the National Security staff for President George W. Bush and is currently the president of the South Dakota School for Mines and Technology. "People who worked with her in South Dakota described her as a great manager and inspiring leader," Rounds said. "South Dakota's loss will be our nation's gain." As secretary of the Air Force, Wilson said she will modernize fighters, tankers, bombers, intelligence platforms, the nuclear deterrent force, munitions, space capabilities and more. "If confirmed, I will work with the secretary of defense and the United States Congress to restore the readiness of the force," she said. "I will also work with Congress to address constraints imposed by the Budget Control Act so that the Air Force can be cost-effectively modernized." Wilson, the first female veteran to serve in Congress, addressed several topics, including the pilot shortage across the total force. "We are short fighter pilots," she said. "The Air Force is not currently ready to fight against a near-peer competitor, and that should concern all of us." Wilson said if confirmed as secretary of the Air Force, she will focus on innovation that supports readiness. "The pace of change is going to accelerate," Wilson said. "We're either going to have to rapidly accelerate ourselves and be able to spin-on innovation to the service, or we're going to be left behind." The nominee for secretary of the Air Force concluded her confirmation hearing stating senior leaders need to think about the full range of potential conflicts. "From low-intensity warfare through a near-peer adversary and nuclear deterrents," she said. "There are new techniques, and cyber is one of them, that can be used by both nation states and by terrorists or insurgents to achieve their political objectives we need to be able to play both offense and defense in all of those realms." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Strikes Continue Against ISIS Terrorists in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, March 31, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, conducting 18 strikes consisting of 66 engagements against ISIS targets yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. U.S. Central Command continues to work with partner nations to conduct targeted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as part of the comprehensive strategy to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 10 strikes consisting of 10 engagements against ISIS targets: -- Near Abu Kamal, four strikes destroyed eight ISIS wellheads and a pumpjack. -- Near Dayr Az Zawr, four strikes destroyed nine ISIS wellheads. -- Near Raqqa, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a front-end loader. -- Near Taqbah, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle and a unmanned aerial vehicle. Strikes in Iraq In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted eight strikes consisting of 56 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government: -- Near Mosul, seven strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units; destroyed 18 vehicles, three vehicle-borne-bomb factories, two tunnels, an artillery system, a vehicle-borne bomb, a mortar system, a tactical vehicle, a fighting position and a front-end loader; damaged 12 supply routes; and suppressed six ISIS mortar teams and an ISIS tactical unit. -- Near Rawah, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS-held building and a tactical vehicle. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said. The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect. For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said. The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address In London, Mattis Discusses Security Concerns, Highlights U.S.-U.K. Ties By Lisa Ferdinando DoD News, Defense Media Activity LONDON, March 31, 2017 Defense Secretary Jim Mattis discussed security concerns with his British counterpart here today, and praised the enduring relationship between the U.S. and the United Kingdom in defending freedom and shared values. In his first visit to the U.K. as defense secretary, Mattis met with British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon at the British Defense Ministry. In a joint press conference at a nearby historic mansion, Lancaster House, the leaders said the discussions included enhancing bilateral ties, addressing security challenges, countering extremism and strengthening NATO. "On behalf of the American people, I thank the people of this country for being with us to confront our foes," Mattis said. "If necessary, we will follow them to the ends of the Earth to stop their mayhem." Mattis later met with British Prime Minister Theresa May at her office at No. 10 Downing St. Those talks, according to May's office, focused on the strong U.S.-U.K. defense cooperation and how the two nations can work together to tackle shared challenges. U.S., U.K. 'United by Values' The U.S. and U.K. have stood together for generations to defend freedom and shared values, Mattis said. He pointed out that his visit here comes one week after an attack in London claimed the lives of an American and three British citizens. "It's good to be standing beside you, especially at this time and place, soon after a senseless murderer killed citizens of both of our countries," Mattis said. "The United States and the United Kingdom stand together in good times and bad, united by values that took root here so long ago." Following the attacks of 9/11, the U.K. stood alongside the U.S., Mattis said, as he honored the British troops who have been killed or wounded in the defense of freedom and shared values since then. "We see each other on an equal footing in our assessment to the security challenges and in crafting our partnership's way ahead, because our two nations are bulwarks against the maniacs who think that by hurting us they can scare us," Mattis said. He highlighted the U.S.-U.K. cooperation in military-to-military activities, explaining how the two nations continue to this day to defend those values. "We stand here together today to show that our people are worthy successors to those past generations that defended freedoms we enjoy today," Mattis said. U.S.-U.K. Relationship is 'Source of Strength' The relationship between the U.S. and U.K. is not a historic artifact, Mattis said, instead, it is a "source of strength today for our two nations committed to standing together in defense of our freedoms." Fallon said, "We have no closer friend than the United States. Our relationship endures because it is founded firmly on the values that we share in common." The U.S. and U.K. cooperate in a myriad of global efforts, including as fellow members of NATO, with troops who have served alongside each other around the world, and as members of the coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Mattis arrived in London yesterday. He traveled from New York, where he held closed consultations on defense issues at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and at the Council on Foreign Relations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Army strategizing for holistic change, not just new tech By Sean Kimmons March 31, 2017 TYSONS CORNER, Va. (Army News Service) -- Developing technology for a new combat vehicle or other gear should not be the sole focus as the Army prepares for future warfare, according to the head of the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. As the center publishes the Army's maneuver force modernization strategy, Maj. Gen. Eric Wesley said, collaboration efforts regarding the future of warfare must be in high gear. Many of those efforts won't necessarily be driven by new technology, but may instead spark changes in doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel and facilities, or DOTMILPF. "It's not just about armored platforms," Wesley said. "It's about a transcendent strategy that allows us to lift this entire enterprise, which includes industry and also our NATO partners, in order to move into the future rather than to continue to improve on the past." The strategy, which is expected to be out this summer after its underlying maneuver concept was signed off last month, will provide direction on where work in those areas should go. That could lead to a paradigm shift in what's being taught at schoolhouses or the restructuring of organizations so the Army can compete against near-peer threats. "It's imperative that this entire enterprise collaborates and works together," he said, speaking Monday at an armored vehicles forum hosted by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement. "Otherwise, you'll have nothing but stovepipes going out and exploring their own ideas without a lens or an azimuth." STARRY STUDY This sort of extreme makeover is nothing new for the Army. In 1981, Gen. Donn Starry, in charge of the Army Training and Doctrine Command, rolled out the Army's "AirLand Battle" concept, which focused on air support for land forces. Before doing that, Starry analyzed the Yom Kippur War of 1973, which later became known as the "Starry Study." The armored battlefields seen in that Arab-Israeli war, coupled with how the Soviet Union was updating its armor fleet, gave Starry and others ideas on how to develop AirLand Battle. "We were outgunned and out-tanked," Wesley said of that time. "Our competitor [the Soviets] was able to generate and produce countless tanks and artillery pieces." Rather than try to keep up with the Soviets, Starry suggested taking a step back and changing how Soldiers would fight in modern battlefields, which were expected to be dense with large numbers of advanced weapons systems. "With so many threats coming from the Soviets, we had to consider a different solution instead of attempting to go mano a mano, gun-to-gun," Wesley said. AirLand Battle ended up changing how Soldiers trained and revamped the Army's structure, recruiting efforts and materiel development. "What's amazing about the Starry Study is ... that study ultimately resulted in the Army the United States owns today," Wesley said. "It wasn't something that happened overnight, but it was founded in the analysis of the opponent we were looking at," he added. "So, we have been here before and we know how to do this." MULTI-DOMAIN BATTLE Today, the U.S. Army is honing in on another fundamental shift. While AirLand Battle primarily focused on two domains, Army planners predict future battlefields will be more complex, with Soldiers juggling capabilities in the land, air, maritime, cyber and space domains, while maneuvering in a contested environment. The maneuver force modernization strategy, which is being developed simultaneously with TRADOC's overall multi-domain operating concept, will look at how Soldiers can fight against these threats in the 2020-2040 timeframe. Many of the strategy's ideas are coming from lessons learned involving a familiar competitor: Russia. Last year, TRADOC started the "Russian New Generation Warfare Study," which is looking at how the Russian military has fought in Ukraine, using capabilities such as electronic warfare, long-range artillery and unmanned aerial systems. By 2025, according to Wesley, the Russians are on track to exceed many of the U.S. Army's capabilities, while having parity in a few others. The U.S. military's air superiority is also losing ground as near-peer adversaries develop new anti-access/aerial denial capabilities. "Those days are over," Wesley said of dominating the airspace. "We are strategically out of position in Europe now." Russian advances in cyber and the electromagnetic spectrum are also concerning. After the Berlin Wall came down in 1991, the U.S. Army disbanded all of its electronic warfare capability, while the Russians increased theirs, Wesley noted. To deal with this, the Army needs to figure out how to deploy semi-independent units with young leaders who can make split-second decisions on their own. While at a conference in London earlier this year, Wesley described this as realizing mission command, a concept the Army has adopted but hasn't really followed through on, he said. "[NATO] armies, and in particular, ours, are drunk on information and dependent on permission," he said. "You have to create training environments where a captain, for example, has to choose to do something that he was told not to do, but is consistent with the intent of the expectation of his higher command." Quick maneuvering will also be critical in future warfare, he said, with command posts having to be moved every two hours to prevent troops from being killed. "Ukrainians are telling us now that you have to be more dispersed and you have to keep moving in order to survive," he said. This will require a huge shift from today's operations in Southwest Asia, where Soldiers typically work out of forward operating bases. "That's a far cry from the command posts that we have used for the last 15 years in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. "We stayed in the same place for a decade." In light of what's happening today, Wesley said he hopes multi-domain battle can be fleshed out quicker than it took the Army to finally execute AirLand Battle in 1991, almost two decades after the Starry Study. "We won't have that luxury," he said, "because what we're seeing in the Ukraine right now is that the Russians are fighting in all five domains." Reducing bureaucracy and having Army organizations working more closely together, with input from industry and academia, will help shape the future force, he said. Along with acquisition reform, the Army is also propping up a cross-functional integrated concept development team to speed up the development of new vehicle prototypes. "We're going to push the envelope on that," Wesley said, while adding that industry partners will play a large role. "Without bold initiatives, you're not going to be able to change." This and other ways of cutting through the bureaucratic red tape will help ensure changes are made in a timely manner. "We have a wonderful Army, but it is a big institution and big institutions create bureaucracy, and we want to break that," he said. "We have to turn in tighter cycles," he added, "and if we're going to turn in tighter cycles there has to be maximum collaboration." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A third group of free trade zones (FTZ), including seven Chinese provinces and municipalities, will start operation on April 1, local authorities said. The State Council has approved the seven new zones in the provinces of Liaoning, Zhejiang, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan and Shaanxi as well as Chongqing Municipality, according to an official statement released Friday. China established its first FTZ in Shanghai in 2013, and expanded to three more provincial-level areas of Tianjin, Fujian and Guangdong. The new FTZs will bring the total number of the zones to 11. The decision carries strategic importance in terms of opening up and reform, cutting bureaucratic red tape and exploring financial innovation, according to the statement. Statistics with the Ministry of Commerce show more than 90,000 companies were set up in four trade zones as of 2015. In the first half of 2016, 4,923 foreign-funded firms were established in the four FTZs, with investment totaling 359 billion yuan. The first two sets of zones successfully introduced a "negative list," which specified the investment sectors off-limits to foreign investors and allowed industries not on the list to follow the same new investment rules as domestic firms. The four FTZs have attracted 10 percent of the country's total foreign investment and accumulated R&D power, entrepreneurship, e-commerce and trade projects, experts said. PUSHING FORWARD NATIONAL STRATEGIES So far, about one-third of Chinese provincial-level areas have FTZs. Five of them are in inland provinces and six are along the coast. Observers said FTZs will help carry out major national endeavors such as the Belt and Road initiative, the Yangtze Economic Belt and the development of central and western China. Liaoning Province will focus on reinvigorating the Rust Belt, an industrial area in China's northeast. Zhejiang is expected to capitalize on its e-commerce power and develop bulk commodities businesses. Henan will use its strategic location in China's heartland and grow stronger as a regional logistics hub. Hubei will spearhead the building of the Yangtze Economic Belt, named after the river that flows through the province. Chongqing and its neighbor, Sichuan, will be built in an inland area for opening-up. Shaanxi will seek to develop cultural and economic relations with countries along the Silk Road. Li Qian, director of Chongqing FTZ management office, said Chongqing, through its efforts to build land trade routes with Europe, will help set the rules for land trade, as compared to trade via marine routes. "An FTZ will get Chongqing more policy favors when it joins the international competition as a cargo trade hub," Li said. "The plan for the FTZs reflects that China wants to build an open economy as a whole, but before doing that, it has to experiment with FTZs in different parts of the country," said Lu Shanbing, deputy director of the Silk Road Research Institute of Northwest University. "The FTZs will not prioritize a certain area, rather, they will help coordinate development between the mid-west and the east and close the gaps," he said. TAKING-OFF Lei Hongli has worked at the Henan Airport Group for 21 years. When she started her job at the Zhengzhou airport, she had little occasion to use her English skills. "There were just a few foreign planes. Mostly they were domestic flights carrying vegetables, animal hides and chickens," she said. In 2016, nearly half a million tonnes of cargo were transported through Zhengzhou airport, and over 50 percent were international cargo, said Lei, assistant to the general manager of the Henan airport group. "Henan is neither near the sea nor any border, so it has put up its strength to develop air transport," she said. "Few international consignors knew about Zhengzhou a few years ago, but now it is one of the most popular airports for handling cargo," she added. Wieger Ketellapper, vice president of Cargolux Airlines International, spends at least three weeks every month in Zhengzhou. The company operates 15 flights a week between Luxembourg and Zhengzhou. In 2017, the number will reach 17. The planes bring in luxury consumer goods, fruit, car parts, aircraft parts, and helicopter parts to China and transport electronics, fashion goods and machinery parts out of the country. "In 2014, we moved 15,000 tonnes, and the number reached 100,000 tonnes in 2016," Ketellapper said. "The FTZ will be an important 'soft infrastructure' that will enable Henan to fully use its hard infrastructure," said John D. Kasarda, director of the Center for Air Commerce at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School and president of the Aerotropolis Institute in Zhengzhou. Kasarda noted that there are three fundamental objectives for the Henan FTZ. First is capitalizing on its status as an international logistics hub. Another is leveraging high-end manufacturing and services to move up the value chain. The final aim is liberalization and deregulation of areas such as currency conversion and the free flow of capital, he said. DIFFERENT APPROACHES NEEDED Experts believe the key to the new FTZs, which are important for the opening-up of the country's landlocked central and western regions, is to find their own focuses. "The first and second groups of FTZs are based in the country's most developed coastal regions. Their successful experience would not necessarily work for inland areas," said Xing Houyuan, deputy director of the service outsourcing research center of the Ministry of Commerce. There is a gap between coastal and inland areas in terms of development and governance, and they have different favorable industries, according to Xing. The coastal FTZs have proven effective in stimulating regional economies, but it could be a challenge for the third group, located in relatively backward areas, to attain similar effects, she said. "We expect more specific policies to be made in accordance with the FTZ status in Henan and, more importantly, in line with the conditions and realities of individual areas," said Du Mingjun, an economics researcher in Henan. "In attracting investors and trade, Henan, for example, has to look at its advantages and disadvantages and put its strength in places where it can develop best," he said. Installation heads link thoughtful BRAC round to cost savings By David Vergun March 31, 2017 WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- About 22 percent of installation facilities across the Army are excess, according to J. Randall Robinson, acting assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment. That means they're not needed, yet by law they must be maintained to the tune of $500 million a year, he said. Robinson and others spoke here March 23 at the Association of the United States Army Institute of Land Warfare-sponsored "Army Installation Management" Hot Topic. Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham, assistant chief of staff for Installation Management, said that about 33,000 facilities across the Army are in poor or failing conditions and that it would take about $10.8 billion to get them up to good or adequate condition, money the Army doesn't have. She added that the 22 percent excess facilities cited by Robinson total 161 million square feet of excess capacity in facilities across the Army. The solution, she said, is to shut these facilities down. But to do that would require a new round of base realignment and closure, or BRAC, something she and other Army senior leaders favor. Robinson added that a new BRAC round would allow the Army to consolidate units, functions and activities in a more logical fashion "like defragging a hard drive." Each past round of BRAC, he said, has reduced excess capacity 4 to 5 percent across the board. Total Army-wide savings from BRAC rounds amounts to some $2 billion a year. Bingham said dollars saved from BRAC could be invested in facilities needed in the future as missions change or grow. She cited as examples cyber facilities recently built or being built on Fort Meade, Maryland; Fort Gordon, Georgia; Fort Belvoir, Virginia and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Fred Meurer, a consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton, said he didn't disagree about a new BRAC round, but cautioned that a lot of thought should be put into what is thought to be excess. When he was the manager of the city of Monterey, California, he said, the city had a district called Cannery Row, which was filled with defunct sardine factories. He said the city got creative and developed the facilities into restaurants, hotels and tourist attractions. Fort Ord, adjacent to Monterey, had excess too, including an underutilized child care center and a parade field that needed to be rebuilt, but the Army didn't have money. On the other hand, he said Monterey had the money but no land, so the post and the city formed a partnership. The city refurbished the child care center, opening it up to civilian kids as well as military children and the city upgraded the parade field and added three ballparks, with the understanding that kids from the community could use the ballparks, along with the military kids. It was a win-win for the post and the community, he said. So before consigning space and facilities as excess or liabilities, consider that they might be assets, he advised. It takes some creative out-of-the-box thinking to do that, he added. Also, before shuttering installations and facilities, keep in mind that 15 years from now, the Army could add 15 more combat brigades. "You'd better have a place for them to live if that happens." In sum, he recommended a BRAC "based on analysis and not opinion." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Transcript Presenter: Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis; U.K. Secretary of State for Defense Sir Michael Fallon March 31, 2017 Joint Press Conference with Secretary Mattis and Secretary Fallon in London, England U.K. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENSE SIR MICHAEL FALLON: Well, good morning, everybody. It's a pleasure to welcome Secretary Mattis to London; his first visit here since his appointment. We've only been working together for a short time, but I've already come to value his huge experience and expertise and wisdom. Secretary Mattis, you are visiting our capital at a historic moment. Two days ago, our prime minister triggered Article 50, initiating the process by which Britain leaves the European Union. Our prime minister wants to agree a good and special partnership with the European Union, encompassing not just economic, but security cooperation. When our security is more fragile than at any time since the end of the Cold War, it is in both our interests to bolster this partnership. But this historic week is also an opportunity for us to build a global Britain. Our armed forces embody that internationalist approach. From Afghanistan to South Sudan, our service men and women are working with allies and friends to defend the international rules-based system. And we have no closer friend than the United States. Our relationship endures because it is founded firmly on the values that we share in common. And last week's terrorist attack at Westminster, which claimed the lives of four citizens, including U.S. citizen Kurt Cochran, reminds us that those values are under attack. So we began today by reviewing our international efforts to confront global aggression and extremism. In Iraq and in Syria, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder as leading members of the counter-Daesh coalition. Today, Daesh is failing. In Iraq, it is clinging on to its last stronghold, though 40 percent of west Mosul has now been liberated and hundreds of thousands are returning to their homes. Meanwhile, our two nations are providing reassurance to our Eastern European allies in the wake of Russian aggression. We are leading NATO's enhanced forward presence. By next week, Britain will have 800 troops in Estonia and 150 personnel in a reconnaissance squadron serving alongside U.S. forces in Poland. In May, we will send four RAF Typhoons to Romania as part of NATO's mission to protect the Black Sea skies. This is part of the biggest deployment in Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. The second item of our -- on our agenda was about making the NATO alliance fitter and faster. Fairer burden-sharing is the key here. Only five members of NATO meet the two-percent target, the U.S. and the U.K. among them. Our defense budget here in Britain is growing every year and remains the biggest in Europe. Both Secretary Mattis and I have agreed that others must now raise their game, and those failing to meet the two-percent commitment so far should at least agree to year-on-year real-term increases. And increased burden-sharing is not on its own enough. We've also agreed that NATO must modernize and streamline its military structures to ensure faster decision-making and take a 360-degree view of all the security threats that face us. NATO has the experience and resources to combat international terror. Finally, Secretary Mattis and I agreed steps for an even more dynamic bilateral relationship. Our collaboration is already as deep as it is broad. Our troops serve together around the world. We cooperate on everything from intelligence and innovation to nuclear and conventional capability. Our joint work on the F-35 fighter is a prime example. I was immensely proud when the United Kingdom recently won the F-35 maintenance, repair and overhaul contract and was appointed the hub for all European F-35s. But there is more to come to deepen that relationship even further. Today, I am announcing a 90 million contract for BAA Systems to support the upkeep of these fifth-generation fighters, sustaining hundreds of highly skilled jobs and keeping that great partnership flying high. At the end of this year, we will own 14 F-35 aircraft, and I welcome the continued commitment of the United States to deploying F-35Bs on the first operational deployment of HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2021. Let me say in conclusion that almost exactly 100 years ago, America joined the allied effort to fight for victory in the Great War. One hundred years later, at a time of unprecedented uncertainty, we continue to stand together. Today, we are accelerating our endeavors so that we can continue fighting for freedom side-by-side now and far into the future. Secretary Mattis? SECRETARY OF DEFENSE JIM MATTIS: Thank you, Secretary Fallon, for the very warm welcome on this, my first visit to your country as the secretary of defense. I've been many times to the United Kingdom, building my respect and affection each visit. And the close cooperation between our two military highlights the special relationship between our countries. It's good to be standing beside you, especially at this time and place, soon after a senseless murderer killed citizens of both our countries. The United States and the United Kingdom stand together in good times and bad, united by values that took root here so long ago. I'm grateful for the determination of our two countries to defend those values down through the generations, as we stand here together today to show that our people are worthy successors to those past generations that defended the freedom we enjoy today. I cannot visit this country without a sense of humility and respect for the U.K. lives lost since America was attacked in 2001, and I'm speaking about your troops here. We in America acknowledge and deeply respect the U.K. families that have lost their loved ones and those grievously wounded. On behalf of the American people, I thank the people of this country for being with us to confront our foes. If necessary, we will follow them to the ends of the Earth to stop their mayhem. Britain's global leadership role is as needed today as at any time in history. In the words of President Reagan, the essence of our special relationship is a special concern for democracy and for liberty, and that includes the responsibility to pass those freedoms and intact to the next generation. We see each other on an equal footing in our assessment of the security challenges and in crafting our partnerships way ahead because our two nations are bulwarks against the maniacs who think that by hurting us, they can scare us. But they do not understand and we don't scare. To paraphrase one of your former wartime leaders, as descendants of El Alamein and Normandy, of Iwo Jima and 100 other tyrant challenges, our people are not made of cotton candy. The special relationship between our countries is not an historic artifact. It is instead a source of strength today for our two nations committed to standing together in defense of our freedom and it is demonstrated daily in our military-to-military interactions, such as you noted, Sir Michael, and across a host of domains. Never taking the special relationship for granted at any time. In fact, our relationship grows in strength with the commitments we make and the mutual respect we share in trying times. Sir Michael and I just finished a highly productive meeting that he summarized, one in which we shared a mutual appreciation for the security challenges that we jointly face as strong members of a NATO alliance. In that regard, I point to Britain's leadership and the European Reassurance Initiative, providing a formidable reinforcement of our Baltic allies. With our shared history, our shared values and shared commitments, we will always stand together with our British allies, bound by inseparable ties of friendship. Thank you. SEC. FALLON: Well, thank you. Now, it's time for a few questions. The first from -- (inaudible) -- Sky News. Q: Hello, thank you. General Mattis, perhaps first to you. Back in 2012, when I think you were still in uniform, and when asked what the three greatest threats facing the United States were, you said Iran, Iran, Iran. Now that you are out of uniform and in a suit and defense secretary and in light of their recent ballistic missile test, what are you going to do about it? And Secretary Fallon, the E.U. has said deal-or-no-deal security across Europe will not be affected. The British government has said if there is no deal, that will weaken security. Can you clarify the British government's position and explain why that is not a threat? SEC. MATTIS: Thank you. At the time when I spoke about Iran, I was commander of U.S. Central Command and that was the primary exporter of terrorism, frankly. It was the primary state sponsor of terrorism and it continues that kind of behavior today. But in the larger scheme of things, obviously, in a global situation that's dynamic, you've highlighted appropriately I think the North Korean threat. This is a threat of both rhetoric and growing capability, and we will be working with the international community to address this. We are -- we are doing so right now. We're working through the United Nations, we're working with our allies and we are working diplomatically, including with those that we might be able to enlist in this effort to get North Korea under control. But right now, it appears to be going in a very -- a very reckless manner in what its conduct is portraying for the future, and that's got to be stopped. SEC. FALLON: Thank you. So far as the European Union is concerned, we benefit at the moment, and Europe benefits, from the cooperation between our police forces, our intelligence and security services, and from the judicial arrangements that allow us to have criminals that we want to have tried here returned to us. We benefit from those arrangements and we want to see that cooperation continue. If there is no deal on that, then we're all weaker -- we're weaker here and Europe is weaker because that is a joint effort to tackle organized crime and to combat terrorism. What we're seeking in these negotiations is a deep and special partnership with the remaining European Union on both economic issues and on security. Now, let's take an American question. Bob Burns. Right here. Q: Thank you. Question for both of you, if I may. Secretary Mattis, in recent days, General Scaparrotti spoke of his concerns about Russian threats to European allies and the need for the United States to increase its military presence on a permanent basis, not just rotational, but permanent. Although decisions may not have been made about this sort of thing, you know, as a general matter, do you think that it's time for the U.S. to increase its permanent military presence in Europe? And also, may I ask both of you a question about the alleged Russian violation of the INF Treaty? Secretary Fallon, realizing that this is a U.S.-Russia treaty by itself, nonetheless, do you feel it's the sort of thing that requires some sort of response in kind in terms of missile deployments in Europe? And for you, Secretary Mattis, on the same matter, do you think it's time for the United States to exit that treaty? SEC. MATTIS: Well, thanks, Bob. Russian -- excuse me. Russia's violations of international law are now a matter of record, from what happened with Crimea to other aspects of their behavior in mucking around inside other people's elections, that sort of thing. So I think the -- the point I would make is that NATO stands united, the trans-Atlantic bond is united. We are going to maintain article five as absolute bedrock of the NATO alliance. And we will, as you see with the European Reassurance Initiative, act according if Russia chooses to be a strategic competitor. On the INF issue, we're in consultation with our allies and we're still formulating the way ahead. In fact, it'll be addressed, I think, very, very soon as a matter of highest-level concern. SEC. FALLON: Well, thank you. So far as enhanced forward presence is concerned, we want to see that presence as persistent as the threat that it is designed to deal with, to reassure those allies on our eastern flank, and to deter the kind of Russian aggression that we've seen recently: military build-up, use of hybrid techniques, and indeed, interference in -- in -- through cyber and -- and other techniques. We need to stand up that presence for as long as needed. So far as the INF Treaty is concerned, we reviewed that in our meeting this morning and we look forward to the more formal response from the United States and we too think that is something that needs to be taken forward not just by the United States, but by NATO generally once we have those violations confirmed. SEC. MATTIS: (Off mic) SEC. FALLON: A British question -- (inaudible). Q: Secretary Mattis, one of your generals has said that Russia maybe -- arming the Taliban in Afghanistan and there's also the presence of Islamic State in the country. How concerned are you by these factors? And what will you do about it? And so Michael- the same question for you about Russia. And also, will the U.K. send combat troops back to Afghanistan as it steps in its global war post-Brexit? Thank you. SEC. MATTIS: We have seen Russian activity vis-a-vis the Taliban. I'm not willing to say at this point if that has manifested into weapons and that sort of thing. But certainly, what they're up to there in light of their other activities gives us concern. I would -- I would just say that we look to engaging with Russia on a political or diplomatic level. Right now, Russia is choosing to be a strategic competitor and we're finding that we can only have very modest expectations at this point of areas that we can cooperate with Russia, contrary to how we were just 10 years ago, five years ago. It's no longer a cooperative engagement with them. Right now, it's when we're going to have carve out diplomatically some kind of maneuver room here, assuming Russia can change its behavior and act in accordance with international norms and international law. SEC. FALLON: Thanks. This is -- there's a path of interference by Russia in different parts of the -- that leads us to be -- when we engage with Russia, to be wary of what Russia is up to, and that is there cannot be at the moment any return to business as usual with Russia. We work with Russia to de-conflict in areas where Russian aviation may be involved on the edge of our information regions flight information region or in Syria and we engage with Russia in discussions about a possible role where Russia has great influence. But otherwise, we need to be extremely watchful now of this persistent pattern of Russian interference. I'm sorry- you had a second part to your question. Q: (Off mic) SEC. FALLON: Combat troops in Afghanistan. No, we're not committing combat troops back in Afghanistan. We last year increased our presence in Afghanistan and we continue to wait for advice on the continuation of Resolute Support for 2018. As you know, we're helping staff the Officer Academy, we assist on counterterrorism and we are engaged in supplying the bulk of the Kabul protection force, but we're not going to return to combat in Afghanistan. Now, final question please from Reuters. Phil Stewart. Phil? He's here. Q: Thank you. Just a follow-up on the last question on Afghanistan. We already know that General Nicholson and General Votel will support more forces in Afghanistan. Secretary Mattis, would you support more forces? And then on Syria to both of you, the previous long-standing policy has been in Syria that President Assad must go. Would you please both bring us up to date? Is that still the policy? And if it has changed in any way, is there concerns that what is going on right now as far as the Islamic State fight, could ultimately benefit Assad, should he be around for the long-term? Thank you. SEC. MATTIS: On the -- on the question about the more forces for Afghanistan, the suggestion and recommendations coming in to us from the NATO commander in the field have been received and we are reviewing those right now. Our chairman of the Joint Chiefs is reviewing them. Obviously, in light of our relationship with the U.K., we always engage with them on issues like this simply because we consider them an equal partner. Their advice is always solicited. It doesn't come down to the number of troops in the field. So, we'll be working with our allies on that issue. We have not made a decision yet. I've not put a recommendation forward to our president at this time. And I would say on the Assad issue, we're working this one -- one day at a time as we throw Daesh on the back foot. You're all aware that Daesh has every intention of striking externally from the region, and that's immediate threat goes into Europe and we're going to have to keep them on their back foot and that's where we're concentrating at this point. SEC. FALLON: Well, thank you. The priority, of course, as Jim Mattis has said, is to eliminate the threat from Daesh to us here in western Europe, which is why it's so important the campaign to isolate and then liberate Raqqa continues its momentum. We don't see a long-term future in Syria for somebody who's been bombing his -- his own civilians. On the contrary, what we seek in Syria is a wider political settlement that could embrace all factions in Syria and lead Syria to a -- a better and hopefully more democratic future. Thank you all for your questions. Thank you very much. -END- http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1137368/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Doorstep statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ahead of the meetings of NATO Foreign Ministers NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 31 Mar. 2017 - (As delivered) Good morning. Today we will prepare the ground for the meeting of NATO leaders here in Brussels in May. Our transatlantic bond has been rock-solid for almost seventy years. It is vital for Europe, and vital for North America and it is especially important now, in times of serious challenges. When our Heads of State and Government meet in eight weeks, their agenda will include two key points. First, fair burden-sharing to keep the transatlantic bond strong. We have started to increase defence spending, but we need to keep up the momentum and meet the pledge we have all made. This is about more funding, but it is not just about cash. It is also about investing in the capabilities we need and committing forces to NATO deployments. So it is about cash, capabilities, and commitments. The second major topic will be stepping up NATO's efforts to project stability and fight terrorism. We have made significant contributions for many years - from Afghanistan to the Balkans. But NATO has untapped potential to do more. In Iraq, we are already building the capacity of local forces. Including with life-saving training to counter improvised explosive devices and I hope we will be able to expand our support to new areas. As part of our broad international effort, NATO can and must make a real difference. Over lunch, we will turn to NATO's relations with Russia. Our key partners the European Union, Finland and Sweden will join our talks. We have a united position on Russia: strong defence and deterrence combined with dialogue and we are delivering on both. We will close the ministerial meeting with a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission. A strong sign of our continued commitment to Ukraine. Our support is both political and practical. And we are providing assistance in areas including cyber defence, command and control, and medical rehabilitation. And with that, I'm ready for your questions. Q (WSJ): Mr Secretary General, do you think Americans are pushing too much on defence spending? Do they need to listen to the European explanations about capabilities being just as important? And secondly, do you think Mr Tillerson ruffled feathers here with the scheduling snafu? Are there doubts about the value he places on the Alliance? SECRETARY GENERAL: We have to remember that defence spending, increased defence spending, is something 28 Allies agreed together in 2014. We were together the US, Canada and all the NATO Allies from Europe sitting around the same table, and we decided to stop the cuts in defence spending, gradually increase and then move towards 2% within a decade. So increased defence spending is not about pleasing the United States. It is about investing more in European security because it is important for Europe. Europe is close to the turmoil, the violence we see in North Africa, in the Middle East, Iraq, Syria. And Europe is close to a more assertive Russia, willing to use force against a neighbour, in Ukraine. So investing in defence is in the interest of Europe, and therefore all European Allies agreed when we decided in 2014 to invest more in our collective security. Then on the rescheduling, I would just say that Foreign Ministers are busy people. And it happens that planned dates don't work. And I'm happy that we were able to reschedule the meeting, and to have a meeting today, to actually advance the meeting. And I think that the fact that we were able to reschedule the meeting on such a short notice illustrates the flexibility of the Alliance. But perhaps more importantly, it illustrates the commitment of all Allies to NATO and the transatlantic bond. And it is important that we meet, especially now when we see greater security challenges and we need to strengthen the transatlantic bond. I'm looking forward to welcoming Secretary Tillerson here at the Foreign Ministerial meeting later today, as I was able to welcome Vice President Pence to NATO some weeks ago, and also Secretary Mattis to the defence ministerial meeting. So we see a strong US commitments to NATO, to the transatlantic bond. Not only in words, but also in deeds by participating in NATO meetings but more importantly by deploying more US forces in Europe. Q (CNN): Can you speed up the 2% of spending on defence of the GDP? SECRETARY GENERAL: We have already turned a corner when it comes to defence spending. Because we have to remember that we decided in 2014 was not to spend 2% of GDP on defence next year. We decided to stop the cuts, to gradually increase and then to move towards spending 2% of GDP on defence within a decade. Some Allies already do that. But the good news is for instance that this year, Romania has declared that already in 2017 they will meet the 2% target, adding to those countries which already meet the target. Then next year, Lithuania and Latvia have declared that they will meet the 2% target. And we have seen a significant increase in European spending since we made the decision in the autumn of 2014. In 2015, the cuts stopped. And in 2016, we saw a significant increase in defence spending by 3.8% or 10 billion US dollars in real terms. So we have started to move in the right direction. We still have a long way to go. But I welcome the fact that when we made the decision, we saw that European Allies and Canada started to move in the right direction by stopping the cuts and starting to increase defence spending. Q (AFP): One of the options would be to have national plans where countries will have a bit more pressure, because they'll have to explain every year how they make progress. Is this something that can be decided today? SECRETARY GENERAL: I expect national plans to be an important topic to be discussed today. Because the idea of developing national plans for all NATO Allies is something we've started to look into among Allies. And the plan is to make decisions when Heads of State and Government meet in May. But because this meeting is an important building block or preparation for the meeting in May, I expect national plans for how to meet the defence investment pledge that will be an important topic today. The idea of national plans is to outline how we will implement what we decided on defence spending back in 2014. But it's more than defence spending. It's about investing more in defence, - defence spending but it's also about capabilities. Outlining how we will fill the capability gaps, deliver the capabilities we need, and how NATO Allies can deliver or commit forces to NATO missions and operations. So the idea is to have national plans that cover spending, capabilities and commitments to NATO operations and missions. Exactly how that will be done, exactly how we will develop these plans, it's a bit too early. But we are now looking into it, there's an ongoing discussion. And I think it's also obvious that the design of the plans has to be a bit different from country to country. But the most important thing is to have a document which illustrates and outlines how we will implement what we agreed on defence spending and capabilities and force commitments in 2014. Q (AP): The new US administration's also looking for more action on counterterrorism work from NATO. NATO's deploying troops to the Baltics and Poland as deterrence. Why can't NATO send out troops to combat terrorists, because that's a concern that a lot of citizens have. SECRETARY GENERAL: NATO already plays a key role in the fight against terrorism. We have to remember that our biggest military operation ever, our presence in Afghanistan, is about fighting terrorism. It's about preventing Afghanistan from once again becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. And we are there to help and support the Afghan forces in fighting many different terrorist groups and fighting the Taliban. We provide support to the US-led Coalition fighting ISIL in Iraq and Syria. We train Iraqi officers. We are also providing direct support with our AWACS surveillance planes to the air operations of the Coalition. And we work with different countries like Jordan and Tunisia and other countries to help to build their capacity to fight terrorism themselves. And then I'd like to add that NATO's presence also in the Balkans is related to fighting terrorism. Because a stable Balkans is important to address the threats coming from foreign fighters. I recently visited Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo, and I'm encouraged to see how focused they are on countering the threat of foreign fighters. Then we are looking into what more we can do. And I expect that to be an important issue to be discussed today, but also an issue to be discussed at the meeting in May when President Trump and other Heads of State and Government will meet here in Brussels at the NATO headquarters. Let me add one more thing and that is that I think an important lesson learned from Kosovo, from Bosnia Herzegovina and from Afghanistan, is that in the long run, it is much better to fight terrorism and project stability by training local forces, building local security institutions, instead of NATO deploying large numbers of our own combat troops in combat operations. That's exactly what we do in Afghanistan we have ended our combat operation, but we build local capacity by training the Afghan forces so they can fight the Taliban themselves. And that's also what we do in Iraq by training local forces there. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Venezuela's attorney general condemns 'violations' of constitution Iran Press TV Fri Mar 31, 2017 5:53PM Venezuela's attorney general has publicly criticized the country's Supreme Court following its removal of the immunity of lawmakers and seizing the legislative powers of the parliament after ruling that the legislature was in contempt. Luisa Ortega said on Friday that taking over the legislative functions of the National Assembly and lawmakers' immunity was against "constitutional order". Ortega is the first high-level judiciary official to openly criticize the court ruling that effectively stripped the opposition-majority legislature of its legal powers. The rulings "show evidence of various violations of the constitutional order and ignorance of the state model established in our constitution," Ortega said live on state television at an event to mark the release of her 2016 annual report. Ortega was long seen as a supporter of the leftist "revolution" launched by President Nicolas Maduro's mentor Hugo Chavez in 1999. But now that the once-booming oil giant with the largest oil reserves in the world is struggling with food and medicine shortages and political chaos, she decided to voice her concern over events. "It is my duty to inform my country of my deep concern over these events." The criticism came two days after the court, which has staunchly backed Maduro through an economic and political crisis, assumed the powers of the National Assembly, the only pillar of power that was against the president and his allies. On Tuesday, the court also cleared the way for opposition lawmakers to be prosecuted for what Maduro calls treason. Critics described the move as a "coup." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK secretary asks NATO states to increase military spending Iran Press TV Fri Mar 31, 2017 3:30PM British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has called on all NATO members to commit to increase military spending every year. Fallon made the comments during a joint news conference with his US counterpart James Mattis in London on Friday. "Secretary Mattis and I have agreed that others must now raise their game, and those failing to meet the 2 percent commitment so far should at least agree to year on year real terms increases," Fallon said. The British minister said the UK and the US are providing reassurance to their eastern European allies against what he called Russian aggression. He said the two countries continue sending troops and military hardware to Eastern Europe to this end. For his part, Mattis said that mutual assistance is the bedrock of the NATO alliance. NATO has previously announced that its current priority is for its members to raise the amount they spend on military. Earlier, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also urged NATO members to increase their military spending and to do more to fight terrorism. The United States is urging NATO allies to increase their spending towards the minimum criterion of two percent of their economic output by the end of the year. US President Donald Trump, who once denounced the Western military alliance as "obsolete", has said NATO members should either pay for US military support or rely on their own military might at the time of war. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tillerson tells NATO allies to make spending boost plans Iran Press TV Fri Mar 31, 2017 11:48AM US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called on NATO allies to step up their contributions to the Western alliance's budget by the end of 2017. Ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Friday, Tillerson called on NATO partners to agree with President Donald Trump to make spending boost plans during the alliance's summit in May in Brussels. "Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders' meeting that by the end of the year all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how...the pledge will be fulfilled," Tillerson told reporters at the NATO headquarters. Tillerson is attending his first meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday, which was moved forward to ensure he would participate in it. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will chair talks that will discuss ways of preventing the trans-Atlantic military alliance from falling apart. The ministers would discuss "fair burden sharing to keep the trans-Atlantic bond strong" and "stepping up NATO efforts to project stability and fight terrorism," Stoltenberg said on Friday. Trump wants "real progress" among NATO allies to increase their spending towards the minimum criteria of two percent of their economic output by the end of the year, US Vice President Mike Pence told European chiefs in February. "America will do our part but European defense requires European commitment as much as ours... The president expects real progress by the end of 2017," Pence said after talks with Stoltenberg in Brussels. President Trump, who once denounced the Western military alliance as "obsolete", has said NATO members should either pay for US military support or rely on their own military might at the time of war. Trump reportedly urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel during their meeting in Washington, DC earlier this month to pay hundreds of billions of dollars Berlin owes to NATO. Trump handed the bill thought to be for more than 300 billion (US$375 billion) to Merkel during the meeting, the Sunday Times reported, citing an unnamed German minister, who called the request "outrageous." During the meeting, the new US president reportedly criticized Germany for not making adequate contributions to the military alliance, forcing the US to burden larger spending than its fair share. Under a 2014 agreement, each NATO member should set aside two percent of their GDP for military purposes. However, only the US, Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland have so far been able to meet the target. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yemeni civilians killed in separate Saudi airstrikes Iran Press TV Fri Mar 31, 2017 5:8AM Nine Yemeni civilians have been killed during Saudi airstrikes on residential areas in the provinces of Sa'ada and Sana'a as the civilian casualties of Riyadh's military campaign keep growing. According to Yemen's al-Masirah television, a Saudi airstrike on a market in Sa'ada Province left four people dead and two others wounded on Thursday. In another such attack on the Bani Hareth district of Sana'a Province, a woman lost her life and a child was injured. Saudi warplanes also pounded Yemeni homes in the Nihm district of Sana'a Province, killing three people and wounding two others. Meanwhile, another woman was also killed in artillery attacks by pro-Saudi militias in Ta'izz Province. In response, Yemeni armed forces ambushed Saudi troops in the mountainous areas of Saudi Arabia's southern Jizan Province, killing four of them. Saudi Arabia has been leading a brutal military campaign against Yemen since March 2015. The kingdom has also imposed an aerial and naval blockade on its impoverished southern neighbor. The Saudi aggression, which seeks to restore Yemen's ex-government to power, has killed over 12,000 Yemenis, according to the latest tallies. Over the past two years, Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement has been running state affairs and defending the nation against Saudi aggression. On Thursday, the Yemeni Foreign Ministry slammed the Arab League's support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen in a declaration issued at the end of its annual summit in Jordan. In Wednesday's declaration, the Arab League called for peace talks among Yemeni opposing sides based on a proposal by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Yemen's Foreign Ministry criticized the Arab League's call for peace in Yemen while Saudi warplanes continue to bombard the country. It also noted that the Arab League's support for Saudi Arabia's airstrikes on Yemen showed the animosity of the Arab bloc towards the Yemeni nation. The ministry, however, welcomed any prospect of peace, which would put an end to the Saudi war. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tillerson Urges NATO Allies To Make Spending Boost Plans RFE/RL March 31, 2017 U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has urged NATO allies to boost defense spending or come up with plans to reach the alliance's budget targets. Washington is spending a "disproportionate share" on defense compared with its partners, Tillerson told a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on March 31. NATO members pledged in 2014 to move toward a guideline of spending 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense within a decade, but only the United States and four other NATO members -- Estonia, Greece, Poland, and Britain -- currently meet the target. "Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders' meeting that by the end of the year all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how...the pledge will be fulfilled," Tillerson said. After the meeting, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel seemed to reject Tillerson's demand to meet the target. "Two percent would mean military expenses of some 70 billion euros," Gabriel said. "I don't know any German politician who would claim that is reachable or desirable." The Brussels meeting is the first NATO meeting to be attended by Tillerson. The meeting was initially scheduled for next week and Tillerson had planned to skip it, citing other commitments, but it was subsequently rescheduled. The gathering is preparation for a May 25 NATO summit, which U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will attend. Trump has since his presidential campaign pushed to get U.S. allies to increase their defense spending to help ease the burden on the United States. His criticism of NATO -- which he called "obsolete" during the presidential election campaign -- and his stated desire for closer relations to Russia have raised questions among allies about his commitment to the alliance. But Tillerson told his colleagues that the United States will ensure the alliance has the capability to defend itself. "We understand that a threat against one of us is a threat against all of us, and we will respond accordingly," he said. "We will uphold the agreements we have made to defend our allies." Ukraine Conflict Some leaders have also been concerned about Trump's commitment to end Russian interference in Ukraine. But Tillerson told journalists ahead of the Brussels meeting he would raise the matter of "NATO's posture in Europe, most particularly in Eastern Europe in response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere." Tillerson added that "the United States sanctions will remain in place until Moscow reverses the actions that triggered our sanctions." "We do not and will not accept Russian efforts to change the borders of the territory of Ukraine," he added. Western states have imposed sanctions against Moscow for its illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and for Russia's support of separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine. Russia has said it will not even discuss the status of Crimea and has denied that it is providing military support to the militants in eastern Ukraine, despite compelling evidence to the contrary. Speaking to journalists before the Brussels talks, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg described ties between European members and the United States as "rock solid" and said the alliance had "a united position on Russia: strong defense and deterrence combined with dialogue." Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin joined his NATO counterparts in the afternoon for a session of the NATO-Ukraine Commission, which Stoltenberg described as "a strong sign of our continued commitment" to the country. After a session of the Russia-NATO Council on March 30, Stoltenberg told journalists that the two sides "continue to have clear disagreement" on the crisis in Ukraine. He said the alliance urged Moscow to use its influence with militants in eastern Ukraine to compel them to meet their obligations under the so-called Minsk process. He added that NATO was firm in its support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. "The allies do not and will not recognize Russia's illegal annexation of [the Ukrainian region of] Crimea," Stoltenberg said. Russia's ambassador to NATO, Aleksandr Grushko, in turn criticized NATO for "continuing to provide political and practical support to Kyiv," a policy that he said is "at odds with genuine interests of conflict settlement." With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/nato-tillerson- spending-plans/28402111.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Vucic's Bid To Cement Power In Serbia Raises Concerns Ahead Of Presidential Vote Alan Crosby, RFE/RL's Balkan Service March 31, 2017 In the late 1990s, Aleksandar Vucic stood behind President Slobodan Milosevic as rump Yugoslavia's information minister. Now he is poised to become Serbia's most powerful leader since the late strongman relinquished power in 2000. Serbian voters will cast their ballots on April 2 in a presidential election, and opinion polls show Vucic, currently prime minister, with about 55 percent support, enough for a first-round victory. With his closest rivals, including a parody candidate whose only platform is to mock the country's political establishment, trailing far in his rearview mirror some 35 percentage points behind, Vucic's lead appears unassailable and a tricky second round of balloting on April 16 unlikely. Victory would give the 46-year-old and his Progressive Party, which has a majority in parliament, control over the entire legislative and governing process, and some critics warn that could push the Balkan country back into the autocracy Milosevic symbolized during his decade in power. A government led by his party could end up answering directly to Vucic instead of parliament, critics warn, adding that Vucic may even end up in a strong enough position during a five-year term to try to push through constitutional changes in his favor. "If Vucic succeeds, he will be in a position to select a prime minister of his choice, [and] control the judiciary, and the election apparatus -- eliminating all checks and balances in the Serbian government," Robert Creamer, a political consultant at Democracy Partners, wrote in an editorial comment published by the Huffington Post on March 28. Creamer argued that Vucic dominated the news media through state institutions and the control of major media assets through his allies. That appears to be backed up by a recent survey showing that Vucic received almost 120 times more news coverage than his three most prominent presidential rivals combined. Once an ultranationalist, Vucic's rise to prominence in recent years came after he reinvented himself as a reformer who is committed to Serbia's drive toward European Union membership. He has craftily strengthened his party's position through the ballot box, calling and winning two early elections since 2014. While he once opposed integration with the 28-country bloc, he now pledges to prepare the nation of 7.3 million people for EU accession by 2019. Simultaneously, however, Vucic is also is pushing for deeper economic and diplomatic ties with longtime ally Russia, and he has condemned Western sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine, including the occupation and annexation of Crimea. Vucic even visited Moscow in the waning days of the campaign, reportedly emerging from a meeting with Vladimir Putin with a promise of the Russian president's signature for delivery of six MiG-29 warplanes, 30 battle tanks, and military vehicles to Serbia in a move that exacerbates fears of an arms race in the Balkans. With tensions simmering between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, an ethnically charged political stalemate in Macedonia, and accusations of Russian interference in Montenegro's move toward NATO and the EU, concerns have grown over Serbia's direction and how it could reignite the Balkan powder keg. The West has decried what it calls attempts by Moscow to exploit tensions in the Balkans to hinder progress toward integration in structures such as the EU and the NATO security alliance. The Kremlin has denied playing any role in the Serbian election campaign, even though Putin said on March 27 that he wished "success to the current authorities" amid "a certain deterioration" of the situation in the region. Moscow has also long curried favor in Serbia with its staunch opposition to the 1990 NATO bombing campaign to drive Milosevic's forces from Kosovo. The Kremlin, like Serbia itself, still does not recognize an independent Kosovo. For his part, Vucic has played down the notion that a victory in the balloting this weekend is a power grab. "I am going from the most powerful position to one which hasn't got a 10th of that power, only to ensure continuity and stability," Vucic said on state television last month after being nominated as his party's candidate for the election. The scenario in Serbia is similar to what was seen in the run-up to Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the mood in the United States last year that launched Donald Trump from a fringe candidate to the White House. Vesna Pesic, a sociologist and one of the former leaders of the civil protests against Milosevic during the '90s, says Vucic's popularity is based in part on the breakdown of Serbian society in the face of a struggling economy and fragmented opposition that has him running against 10 other candidates. "Serbia, as a society, has collapsed to the extent that it no longer produces either parties or political pluralism," Pesic says. Nonetheless, Vucic's campaign and its central theme of strong leadership has struck a chord among Serbian voters. Slavica Djokic, a pensioner from Belgrade, admits his pension has declined during Vucic's time in power but says it's not the prime minister's fault and that he still supports him. "Vucic is the strongest politician in Serbia, mainly because he is smart. He is capable of establishing relationships with people around the world and he is able to protect Serbia from attacks, first and foremost, attacks from our neighbors," Djokic says. Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/serbia-vucic-presidential-election -concerns-power-concentration/28402318.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DR Congo: Security Council extends peacekeeping mandate, but reduces troop strength 31 March 2017 The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for another year but reduced the number of troops. In a resolution unanimously adopted, the 15-member body decided to keep the UN Organization Stabilization Mission (MONUSCO) until 31 March 2018, but approved 16,215 military personnel, 660 military observers and staff officers, 391 police personnel, and 1,050 personnel of formed police units. In a previous mandate extension, the Council approved 19,815 military personnel, 760 military observers and staff officers, 391 police personnel, and 1,050 personnel of formed police units. The Council also decided that the strategic priorities of MONUSCO are to contribute to the protection of civilians and support the implementation of the 31 December 2016 agreement on the electoral process. In that regard, the Council called on the Government of the DRC and its national partners, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), to ensure a transparent and credible electoral process, in fulfilment of their primary responsibility to create propitious conditions for the forthcoming elections. The Council tasked the Mission, with, among other responsibilities, ensuring effective and dynamic protection of civilians under threat of physical violence, including by preventing, deterring, and stopping all armed groups and local militias from inflicting violence on the populations. The Secretary-General was requested to take the necessary measures to ensure full compliance of MONUSCO with the United Nations zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse and to keep the Council fully informed through his reports to the Council about the Mission's progress in this regard. It also urged troop- and police-contributing countries to take appropriate preventative action including pre-deployment awareness training, and to ensure full accountability in cases of such conduct involving their personnel. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address An industry association in Beijing's hi-tech heartland Zhongguancun has launched a project to create more job opportunities for international students studying in China. "Cirrus Project"- Job Search (CPJS), launched by Zhongguancun the Belt and Road Industry Promotion Association (ZBRA), aims to attract foreign talent by offering internships and training with enterprises at Zhongguancun, said Zhang Xiaodong, director of ZBRA. The association was founded by high-tech firms, research institutes and entrepreneurs in Zhongguancun park. It aims to push for international cooperation for companies in the park. Under the CPJS, foreign students can seek internship opportunities with companies at Zhongguancun through outreach programs at university. Students with a good internship report will also be rewarded, said Zhang. Now the CPJS has established contact with universities including the University of International Business and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology and Renmin University of China. "This is my first time attending such programs," said Jeun Yeong, a South Korean student studying Japanese in Renmin University. He attended a CPJS job affair in his university on Friday. "I will graduate in a year, and I hope my Chinese, Japanese and Korean skills can help me find a good job here," Jeun said. There are more than 7,000 high-tech companies in Zhongguancun Haidian science park, said Huang Ying, deputy director of the park, "Many are in urgent need of international talent for their overseas expansion." The CPJS aims to reach more than 10,000 international students in five years and help more than 1,000 students establish close contact with local companies. In January, China dropped the work experience requirement for foreign postgraduates and allows foreign students with a postgraduate degree or higher from Chinese universities to be employed within a year after graduation. Approval of Somalia's new cabinet a 'green light for action,' says UN envoy 31 March 2017 Welcoming the Somali Federal Parliament's approval of a new cabinet, the United Nations envoy for the country expressed hope that the new Government will be able to address the challenges confronting the Horn of Africa nation. "The Parliamentary approval was a bright green light," the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Michael Keating, said today in a news release. He noted that with a healthy mix of experienced leaders and relative newcomers to the political stage, the new cabinet will make a vital contribution to the efforts of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo and Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire. In a recent statement, the Prime Minister had highlighted the need to eradicate poverty, build up Somalia's security services to combat the scourge of terrorism, and expedite the constitutional review process that will lay the foundations for the holding of one-person, one-vote elections in 2020. For his part, Mr. Keating added that 27-Minister cabinet includes six women, the largest number of female ministers ever to be named to a Federal Government cabinet is a positive step towards empowering Somali women in the political affairs of the country. "The United Nations and international partners look forward to working closely and fruitfully with the President, the Prime Minister and the new cabinet as they tackle the many political, economic, security and humanitarian tasks facing Somalia today," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Guterres voices 'disappointment and alarm' after latest Israeli settlement announcement 31 March 2017 United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres today reiterated his support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, voicing concern about the latest decision to build a new settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. "The Secretary-General took notice with disappointment and alarm of the decision by Israel to build a new settlement," according to a statement from his spokesman. "He condemns all unilateral actions that, like the present one, threaten peace and undermine the two-state solution," the spokesman added. The UN and the international community have for years urged the establishment of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security. Mr. Guterres today reiterated the call adding that "that there is no Plan B." The settlement noted also that settlement activities are illegal under international law and present an obstacle to peace. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump OKs Broader Airstrikes in Somalia; Experts Urge Caution By Mohammed Yusuf March 31, 2017 In Washington, the Pentagon announced Thursday that President Donald Trump has given it more authority to launch airstrikes in Somalia to attack al-Shabab. The Pentagon said Trump approved a request for additional precision airstrikes in Somalia to help African Union and Somali ground troops "increase pressure" on al-Shabab and to deny the terrorists safe havens from which to attack U.S. citizens or interests in the region. General Thomas Waldhauser, head of the U.S. Africa Command, had said earlier that it would be "helpful" for American forces to have more flexibility and timeliness when deciding whether to launch an attack. The Somali government has so far declined to comment on the U.S. announcement. Laetitia Bader, a Human Rights Watch researcher for Somalia, urged caution in identifying targets for strikes, in light of the ongoing drought. "This is going to be particularly key at a time where we know that there is massive displacement of civilians right now. We are talking about thousands of individuals on the move trying to get access to urban areas in order to find international humanitarian assistance," said Bader. Analysts also express concern that local rivalries in Somalia can muddy intelligence. In September of last year, officials in the Mudug region said a U.S. airstrike aimed at al-Shabab instead targeted a militia allied with the Somali government. The local administration accused authorities in the semi-autonomous Puntland region of providing false intelligence that led the deaths of their fighters. Al-Shabab has kept up a steady string of suicide attacks and bombings in Somalia, despite the fact that Somali and African Union troops have recaptured much of the group's former territory. Abdullahi Halakhe, a Horn of Africa security analyst, said al-Shabab's reduced state may present a challenge for future airstrikes, in particular when it comes to preventing civilian casualties. "They are not anywhere near where they were in the middle of this decade. They have lost some of their top leadership to the American drones, AMISOM on the land and from the sea. They have really turned themselves into a guerilla outfit that that lives within the people." Somalia's new president has made security a top priority, pledging to build up the national army in the hope that it can take charge when the African Union mission comes to an end, possibly some time next year. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tillerson: NATO Allies Must Boost Their Defense Budgets By VOA News March 31, 2017 U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, meeting with his NATO allies' counterparts, said Friday in Brussels that they must increase their countries' defense budgets. The top U.S. diplomat told the foreign ministers the alliance must have "all of the resources, financial and otherwise, that are necessary for NATO to fulfill its mission" in places like Iraq and Syria. Tillerson also addressed Russian aggression in Ukraine with remarks that were tougher than those previously made by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which has stressed better relations with Russia. "We want to have a discussion around NATO's posture in Europe, most particularly in eastern Europe in response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere," Tillerson told reporters. In London Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, meeting with his British counterpart, also expressed concern about Russia. Mattis told reporters at a news conference Russia has been interacting with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. "We have seen Russian activity vis-a-vis the Taliban," Mattis said. Mattis also expressed concern about "reckless" actions involving North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs, as he quickly pivoted to North Korea in response to a reporter's question about Iran. "In the larger scheme of things," Mattis said North Korea is the more urgent threat. "This is a threat of both rhetoric and growing capability," Mattis said. He added that North Korea's reported preparation of a nuclear test has "got to be stopped." In addition to NATO resources, Secretary of State Tillerson said his most urgent matters were NATO's fight against terrorism and the alliance's posture in Europe, "most particularly Eastern Europe in response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere." Ankara talks Tillerson's visit to Brussels comes one day after meeting with top Turkish officials in Ankara. Tillerson hailed Turkey as a trusted ally after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other leaders Thursday. He also underlined the importance of Turkey in the battle against Islamic State. But the two NATO allies remain at loggerheads over Washington's support for the Syrian Kurdish group the PYD and its militia, the YPG, in fighting Islamic State militants. Ankara accuses the PYD of being a terrorist organization affiliated with the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish State. In a joint news conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed Turkey's opposition to support of the PYD, but did not directly criticize the Trump administration. Tillerson acknowledged no breakthrough on the dispute, saying more discussions are needed. "We are exploring a number of options and alternatives," he said while reiterating Washington's support of Ankara in fighting the PKK. With Washington stepping up its military support of the YPG before the operation to liberate Raqqa, the self-declared capital of Islamic State, Ankara increasingly appears resigned to the fact that its call for its military forces to replace the Syrian Kurdish groups has been rejected. But a presidential source ruled out any retaliatory measures against the United States, stressing Turkey did not want the issue to undermine future cooperation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rebels Vow to Stop South Sudan Oil Production By John Tanza March 31, 2017 The main rebel group in South Sudan is threatening to disrupt oil production in the country, a day after it released three foreign oil workers it kidnapped earlier in the month. An official of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM IO) said the government is using oil revenue to purchase weapons and kill civilians. "People in South Sudan are not receiving their money (from oil revenue). This money is going to their pocket (of government officials) and for buying arms for killing our people. If we have chance to stop the oil production, we will do it," said Dak Duop Bichok, the head of the SPLM IO's committee for energy and mining Oil workers released Duop confirmed the rebel group has released three foreign oil workers it abducted in the Adar fields of oil-rich Upper Nile State earlier in March. VOA's South Sudan In Focus obtained a letter dated March 28 ordering the release of two Indians, Muthu Vijaya Boopathy and Ayaz Hussein Jamali, who work with a Chinese-led consortium, and Ambrose Edward, a Pakistani employed by a South Sudanese company. Duop said the three were released after officials from their countries spoke with rebel leader Riek Machar. He said the freed oil workers were flown to Khartoum via Addis Ababa on Thursday and taken to their countries' embassies in Khartoum. Ransom demand denied South Sudan's Information Minister Michael Makuei said early this month the government received reports that rebel forces were demanding a $1 million ransom for the oil workers. He said South Sudan's Transitional Government of National Unity does not deal with what he called terrorists. Duop denied his group demanded ransom for the oil engineers. "We didn't demand anything, we released them without any deal," he told VOA's South Sudan in Focus. Duop said the SPLM IO is not a terrorist group, but fights for the rights of South Sudanese. Repeated warnings At the same time, he said the SPLM IO has given repeated warnings to national and international oil companies to abandon the oil fields. "You please, evacuate the place. The government is producing oil, and is getting money and is buying (arms)," he said. South Sudan's Minister for Petroleum, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth said early this month that his government has learned a lesson and will increase measures to protect oil workers in the area. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address In Rare Video In Persian, IS Threatens To Conquer Iran Golnaz Esfandiari March 30, 2017 The militant group Islamic State (IS) has vowed in a rare video message in Persian that includes the apparent beheading of four captured soldiers that it will conquer Iran. In an appeal to sectarian divides, the group also calls on Iran's Sunni minority to rise up against the Shi'a-dominated Iranian establishment. The 36-minute video, released this week by IS's Diyala Province propaganda arm, has been dismissed by Iran's state controlled media as an attempt the embattled group to divert attention from its losses in Iraq. Iranians are among the foreign forces fighting IS in Iraq, although they describe fighters who travel there from Iran as volunteers defending holy Shi'ite shrines. One of the IS fighters in the video, in uniform with a covered face, directly threatens the highest political and religious authority under Iran's 1979 constitution: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Oh, Khamenei, you cursed person, you who has the control of the idolatrous so-called Islamic Iranian regime in your unclean hands, rest assured that soon we will destroy your house like this on your head," the speaker says, pointing to ruins behind him. Target Practice In another scene, armed men use pictures of Iranian officials, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Quds-force commander, Qassem Soleimani, for target practice. IS has taken control of territories in Syria and Iraq, where Iran has assisted the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with military advisers and thousands of fighters. Reports suggest Iranian forces have also been involved in the fight against IS in Iraq, where Soleimani has appeared alongside Iraqi troops and Shi'ite militias. Iranian officials have said in the past that their forces have rebuffed attempts by IS to create insecurity in Iran and recruit fighters, although they have not provided details. IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said in December 2015 that Iran's "security conditions" make it unlikely that IS could conduct a major attack in the country. "It is possible that they would do something small, but they can't create insecurity in Iran like they do in in other countries," Jafari was quoted by Iranian media as saying. The identities are unclear of the four uniformed captives who are shown beheaded in the video, although AFP described them as "captured soldiers." The IS video appears to be an attempt to recruit among Iranian Sunnis, accusing the 90-percent-majority Shi'ite state of mistreating its Sunni minority and violating their rights. 'Religious War' Sunnis and other religious minorities in Iran frequently complain of state persecution. The video calls repeatedly on Sunnis to wage religious war while promising that one day Sunnis will gain control over Iran. The video also criticizes Iran for allowing its Jewish population to live in safety and have their own temples. Iran's state controlled television said that the IS "rant...in the last days of its life" were reminiscent of threats made by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein against Iran. "[Saddam Hussein] claimed that he could conquer Iran within a few days, but despite having the support of dozens of countries, including the United States, he failed to occupy even one inch of our country," the TV report said. The semiofficial Mehr news agency called the IS threats "ridiculous" while adding that the group was trying "to compensate" for its defeat at the hands of Iraqi forces in Mosul. The top commander of the international coalition backing tens of thousands of Iraqi forces to retake that city in the Kurdish region of Iraq from IS, Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, recently described the battle as "the most significant urban combat to take place since World War II." Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/iran-islamic-state -video-persian/28400781.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump Administration Appeals Latest Travel Order Stay By Molly McKitterick March 31, 2017 The Trump administration is appealing the stay placed on President Donald Trump's executive order banning entry to people from six majority-Muslim countries and halting refugee admissions. A U.S. federal judge extended a suspension of the travel order Wednesday, placing a preliminary injunction against Trump's order at the request of the state of Hawaii. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson had temporarily prohibited the government from enforcing the order in a March 15 decision. Both orders apply nationwide. Watson wrote that the circumstances that led to his initial decision have not changed, including Hawaii's argument that remarks by Trump and his associates have singled out Muslims. The judge said the state has sufficiently established a likelihood it would succeed in challenging the ban on the grounds it violates a constitutional clause that requires government actions to have a primarily secular purpose. The government appeal was filed in the ninth circuit court of appeals Thursday. The ninth circuit has already played a role in the travel ban saga, upholding a temporary stay placed on the earlier executive order limiting travel signed by the president. Muslim ban to extreme vetting Trump's campaign for president once included a call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, a policy that was later changed to advocating "extreme vetting" for people from countries with a link to terrorism. The Trump administration has insisted the current executive order is not a Muslim ban, and the president has argued it is necessary to protect national security. It includes barring the issuance of new visas to people from Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan for 90 days, and suspending the refugee program for 120 days. During those periods, reviews of vetting procedures and how to strengthen the screenings are supposed to take place. Watson said the government has argued the courts should ignore the context surrounding the order. "The court will not crawl into a corner, pull the shutters closed, and pretend it has not seen what it has," he wrote. The government argued that any injunction should apply only to the visa ban and not affect suspending refugee admissions, but the judge said "it makes little sense to do so." President vows to fight back Trump has vowed to continue fighting legal challenges to his order, taking them up to the Supreme Court if necessary. Hawaii's Department of the Attorney General expressed confidence that higher courts will continue to side with its position. "We believe the court's well-reasoned decision will be affirmed," it said on Twitter. The travel ban is also being challenged in a federal case originating from the state of Maryland. That case is only limited to the suspension of visas to the six countries, and a District Court judge issued a similar prohibition against the government enforcing it. But the Justice Department has appealed that decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has scheduled arguments for May 8. A group of attorneys general from 12 states have filed briefs with the 4th Circuit in support of Trump's executive order, arguing it does not amount to a Muslim ban. The states include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DPRK reaffirms strategy to develop nuclear strike capability to foil U.S. ambition People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 20:08, March 31, 2017 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has reaffirmed its strategy to develop a nuclear strike capability to foil the U.S. ambition to annex it and "reduce all Koreans to modern-day slaves," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Friday. Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un "laid down a fresh strategic line of simultaneously pushing forward the economic construction and the building of nuclear force at the March 2013 Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea," said KCNA, quoting a memorandum it said was released by the DPRK government on Thursday. The memorandum praised Kim for setting "the line as a strategic one of the party and the state by carrying forward the exploits of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il who accomplished the great cause of having access to nuclear weapons despite all difficulties." "He thus broke the world political structure centered on the existing nuclear powers and fundamentally changed the world political landscape ...," it said. The fresh line provided the army and people of the DPRK with a firm guarantee for frustrating "the U.S. imperialists' wild ambition to annex the northern half of the Republic and reduce all Koreans to modern-day slaves," it added. The memorandum came at a time when tension is high on the Korean Peninsula with the United States and South Korea staging a large-scale joint military exercise, which the DPRK said is aimed at preparing for special operations to strike its supreme leadership and destroy its strategic nuclear and missile bases. The DPRK has justified its efforts to develop nuclear weapons and warned the United States of preemptive strikes by its military without warning. On March 13, South Korean and the U.S. combined forces kicked off the annual command post exercise code-named Key Resolve, following the launch on March 1 of the joint field training drill coded Foal Eagle. The DPRK has denounced the joint military exercises as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion. The Key Resolve drill reportedly included operation plans on preemptive strikes against the DPRK's nuclear and missile facilities when signs of attack are detected. The DPRK conducted a ballistic missile launch on March 21 and a ballistic missile engine test on March 19, which were strongly condemned by the United Nations Security Council. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korea has got to be stopped: Pentagon chief Iran Press TV Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:18PM US Defense Secretary James Mattis warns that North Korea "has got to be stopped" on its path toward being able to threaten the United States with nuclear attack. Mattis made the remarks at a press conference in London in his first visit to Britain as the Pentagon chief on Friday. He also described as "reckless" Pyongyang's recent behavior in testing ballistic missiles. "Right now, [North Korea] appears to be going in a very reckless manner in what its conduct is portraying for the future, and that's got to be stopped," Mattis said. The Pentagon chief declined to provide further details about how Washington will deal with North Korea to curb its nuclear program, saying only that it is enlisting the help of other nations. "We will be working with the international community to address this, we're doing so right now, we're working through the United Nations, we're working with our allies, and we're working diplomatically including with those that we might be able to enlist in this effort to get North Korea under control," he noted. Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, said during a visit to East Asia earlier this month that all options were on the table to deal with Pyongyang's missile and nuclear ambitions, including military action. North Korea has so far conducted five confirmed nuclear tests and numerous missile launches. The United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) have already imposed an array of crippling sanctions on the country over its missile and nuclear programs. Pyongyang says the programs are meant to guarantee security against potential US military aggression. Last month, Pyongyang fired a missile into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula just as US President Donald Trump was hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida retreat. The North's military also fired four ballistic missiles into the sea near Japanese territory earlier this month. Tensions have been running high between the US and North Korea for months now. Last week, Pyongyang warned Washington that a preemptive strike was always a possibility, after the US and South Korean military forces simulated attacks on North Korean targets during joint military drills that involve 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans. Washington has been sending sophisticated weapons to the South in order to prevent Seoul against what it calls the North's "aggression." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Malaysia, North Korea reach agreement in Kim's killing row Iran Press TV Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:37AM Malaysia and North Korea have lifted mutual bans on nationals from each country leaving the other as part of an agreement that ends a bitter row following the assassination of the North Korean leader's exiled half-brother in Kuala Lumpur. The nine Malaysians who had been barred from leaving North Korea in the wake of the dispute returned home after Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur reached an agreement over transferring the body of the North Korean leader's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam. Malaysia, too, started allowing North Korean nationals to leave. In a statement on Thursday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said that after "very sensitive" negotiations, Malaysia agreed to release Kim's body, which Kuala Lumpur was refusing to hand over to North Korean officials because they had not been cooperative in the Malaysian investigation of Kim's killing. No next-of-kin had stepped forward to claim the body either. "Following the completion of the autopsy on the deceased and receipt of a letter from his family requesting the remains be returned to North Korea, the coroner has approved the release of the body," Najib said. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency also confirmed the agreement, saying the two sides had pledged to "guarantee the safety and security" of each other's citizens. Following the development, Malaysia put Kim's body on a plane to be delivered to Pyongyang. Earlier, a van was seen leaving the morgue where his body was being held. Later on Friday, China confirmed that the body had been returned to North Korea. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also said that "relevant" North Korean citizens had traveled back to their home country. The Malaysians stuck in North Korea three embassy workers and six family members including four children were flown home in a government plane and greeted by Foreign Minister Anifah Aman at the airport. The exchange effectively ended a seven-week diplomatic row between the two countries that erupted with Kim's murder at Kuala Lumpur's International Airport. He was killed with a banned nerve agent amid crowds of travelers at a public terminal of the airport on February 13. Malaysia, outraged by the brazen act of murder, sought several North Korean nationals, including a diplomat, for questioning. It also said it would conduct an autopsy on the body to determine the cause of the death. North Korean officials quickly opposed any autopsy, refused to allow access to the North Koreans sought by Malaysia, and demanded that the body be promptly handed over to them. The dispute lingered as the two sides refused to meet each other's demands, and a ban was subsequently put in place on nationals from leaving. Malaysian police arrested the two women who carried out the assassination by rubbing the nerve agent on Kim's face, which led to his death only after 20 minutes. Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, claimed they were fooled into believing they were taking part in a television prank show. They face the death penalty if convicted of the murder at court. It was not clear what would happen to the two under the deal between Malaysia and North Korea. North Korea has denied any role in the killing. But South Korean intelligence sources have been putting the blame on Pyongyang. Kim was planning to travel to the autonomous Chinese region of Macau when he was killed. His death is considered as the most high-profile death during the reign of his younger brother, Kim Jong-un, since the execution of Jang Song-thaek, the brothers' once powerful uncle, in December 2013. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Powerful Bomb in Northwest Pakistan Kills 22, Wounds Dozens By Ayaz Gul March 31, 2017 Officials in Pakistan say a powerful bomb Friday ripped through a busy market in a northwestern tribal town on the Afghan border, killing at least 22 people and wounding more than 50 others. Witnesses and local politicians say the blast in Parachinar, the administrative center of the semi-autonomous Kurram tribal district, occurred near an entrance to a Shi'ite mosque dedicated for female worshipers. It is not clear if the car bomb was set off by remote control, or a suicide bomber carried out the attack. Jamaatul Ahrar, a militant group fighting along side the anti-state Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing. The group has taken credit for most of militant attacks across the country this year in which scores of people have died. Death toll could rise Many people have been seriously wounded and residents fear the death toll will rise. Military helicopters have been sent to the remote tribal area for speedy evacuation of victims, said an army statement. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack and reiterated Pakistan's "unflinching resolve" to eliminate terrorism from the country. ''The network of terrorists has already been broken and it is our national duty to continue this war until the complete annihilation of the scourge of terrorism from our soil," an official statement quoted Sharif as saying. U.S. ambassador to Pakistan David Hale also denounced the bombing. "The United States will continue to work in partnership with Pakistan to dismantle and destroy terrorist networks," Hale vowed. Deadly January attack A suicide blast in Parachinar in January killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 50 others. Kurram is one of Pakistan's seven federally administered tribal districts, mostly lining the porous border with Afghanistan. The tribal belt is traditionally notorious for harboring militants engaged in violent attacks in both countries. Notorious tribal districts One of the tribal districts North Waziristan was until recently condemned by American military commanders as the "epicenter" of international terrorism. The region has for years served as a training ground for Taliban and militants linked to the Haqqani network waging insurgency in Afghanistan. Pakistani authorities, however, say recent sustained counterterrorism military operations have secured most of the border region. Islamabad alleges that militants linked to the anti-state Pakistani Taliban have fled and taken shelter in Afghan border areas and are plotting attacks in the country from there. Pakistan has lately stepped up efforts to strengthen security along the nearly 2,600-kilometer largely porous Afghan border, including building a fence in areas vulnerable to militant infiltration. Friday's bombing happened on a day when President Mamnoon Hussain signed a bill into law reinstating controversial military courts in the country for two years, after a lapse of two months. A wave of suicide bombings last month killed scores of Pakistanis and prompted the government earlier this week to move the parliament to approve revival of the courts. Officials insist the courts are required to speedily try and punish suspects in terrorism-related cases to deter militancy in Pakistan. The special tribunals were first introduced for two years in January 2015. Human rights groups have opposed the military courts from the outset and condemned their reinstatement, saying they fail to provide transparent justice and violate the suspects' legal rights, unlike civilian courts. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Senators McCain, Graham Assail Apparent U.S. Shift On Demand For Assad Removal RFE/RL March 30, 2017 Two veteran Republican senators are criticizing U.S. administration officials for saying the United States is no longer insisting on the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a prerequisite for resolving the six-year civil war in Syria. Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham in separate statements on March 30 assailed the new Trump administration stance as "self-destructive" and a "grave mistake." Speaking in New York on March 30, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said "our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out." Earlier on the same day, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, speaking in Ankara, said Assad's future "will be decided by the Syrian people." McCain and Graham have been leading critics among fellow Republicans of President Donald Trump's policies and a wide variety of issues. McCain said Tillerson's statement "overlooks the tragic reality that the Syrian people cannot decide the fate of Assad or the future of their country when they are being slaughtered." McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, blamed Assad's military, Russia's air force, and Iranian-backed militias for the attacks on Syrian citizens. "I hope President Trump will make clear that America will not follow this self-destructive and self-defeating path," McCain said. 'Crushing Blow' Graham, also a member of the Armed Services Committee, said it would be a "grave mistake" if the United States drops the removal of Assad as a goal. He said the move would be a crushing blow to the Syrian opposition and "a great reward for Russia and Iran." Responding to the U.S. comments, Syrian opposition spokesman Monzer Makhos told journalists in Geneva that "the opposition will never accept any role for Bashar al-Assad at any phase; there will be no change in our position." Russia and Iran back Assad, while Turkey and the United States have supported rebel forces fighting for his removal. In August 2011, Obama said Assad must leave power. In 2015, then-Secretary of State John Kerry said Assad must go, but that the timing of his departure could be a subject of negotiation. The war in Syria, which began with a government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in March 2011, has left an estimated 300,000 people dead and has displaced millions. With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/un-u-s-ambassador-haley -syria-assad-removal/28400846.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Over 2,000 terrorists killed in clashes with Syrian army near Hama: Report Iran Press TV Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:7AM Heavy clashes are underway between the Syrian army and Takfiri militants near the western city of Hama where about 2,200 terrorists have been killed in less than a week, the official SANA news agency says. Those killed in six days of counter-terrorism operations in the northern countryside of Hama were members of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terror group, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, the news agency reported Thursday. During the offensive, army units, backed by the air force, carried out strikes on the positions of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terrorists and their affiliates in the area. There were a number of senior militant commanders among those killed. It was also reported that the Syrian soldiers had retaken the Arza town as well as Bazam, al-Samsam and al-Shaihat Hills in the city's suburbs. On Friday, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian armed forces have retaken 16 villages briefly lost to militants last week. The operations are being backed up by Russian airpower. Due to their brutality, the Takfiris were excluded from an all-Syria ceasefire agreement, which has been in place since last December. Amid the chaos around Hama, other militants have in recent days attacked government positions around the city, prompting clashes with army forces there in defiance of the truce. Hama fighting 'mere game of influence' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the attacks by "radical armed groups" near Hama have been provoked by a "number of external players" who are involved in "a game of influence" in Syria. "They launched a huge offensive now in the northern part of the Hama province and they basically coordinate with Jabhat al-Nusra under its new name," Lavrov said in an interview with the US bi-monthly magazine The National Interest published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website on Thursday. "It's the fight for influence on the battleground, and this is unfortunate. We don't need this now. What we need is to strengthen the cessation of hostilities and to support strongly the political process in Geneva, concentrated on the new constitution," he added. The developments come amid ongoing UN-led peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups in Geneva, Switzerland, aimed at ending six years of violence in the Arab state. The foreign-backed opposition wants the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of any solution to the Syria crisis. Damascus, however, argues that it is up to the Syrian people to decide Assad's political future, calling for the talks to focus on fighting terrorism as a priority. Opposition: US sending contradicting messages On Thursday, Farah al-Atassi, a member of the opposition's High Negotiations Committee, criticized the US, a longtime supporter of anti-Damascus militants, for its U-turn on the policy of backing Assad's removal. "It's unfortunate that we are hearing such contradicting messages from the U.S. administration. We would like to see a more decisive role and leadership from the United States on the Syrian file," said the opposition member. The US used to stiffly oppose the continued incumbency of Assad. However, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday most that Assad's fate had to be decided by the Syrian people. In similar comments, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley also said Thursday that the priority was no longer "getting Assad out." Speaking in Geneva, Atassi further said that the US had to put pressure on Russia, a Damascus ally, and see the Syrian opposition as a reliable partner against "terrorism." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkish prosecutors seek life sentences for 45 coup suspects Iran Press TV Fri Mar 31, 2017 2:39PM Prosecutors in Turkey seek life sentences for more than 40 people stationed at an air base outside Ankara, from where plotters allegedly led the attempted coup of July 15, 2016. According to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency, the prosecutors formally charged the 45 along with 436 others in a 4,658-page indictment issued on Friday. Twenty-five generals stationed at Akinci Air Base as well as 25 pilots who are charged with commandeering F-16 jets that flew low over the cities of Ankara and Istanbul or dropped bombs on key government installations are among the 481 suspects. The indictment needs to be approved by an Ankara court before a trial date is determined. The coup began when a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later. Following the failed coup, Ankara launched a heavy-handed crackdown on those deemed to have played a role in the attempt, which was blamed on a movement led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. The Pennsylvania-based cleric has, however, categorically denied the allegation. Over 240 people were killed during the failed coup. Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Scotland makes formal request to UK for independence referendum Iran Press TV Fri Mar 31, 2017 1:53PM The Scottish government has formally asked UK Prime Minister Theresa May to allow it hold a second independence referendum following the beginning of Britain's exit process from the European Union. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the request in a letter she wrote to May on Friday, two days after London wrote to Brussels announcing the UK's formal withdrawal from the EU. "I am... writing to begin early discussions between our governments to agree an Order under section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998 that would enable a referendum to be legislated for by the Scottish Parliament," Sturgeon wrote in the letter. "The people of Scotland must have the right to choose our own future -- in short, to exercise our right of self determination," wrote Sturgeon, the leader of the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP). Sturgeon tweeted a picture in the day, sitting on a couch at her official residence in Edinburgh and writing the Section 30 letter on a fresh referendum vote for her country. Earlier this week, Scottish lawmakers had voted 69 to 59 in favor of seeking permission for a second referendum on independence to take place between autumn 2018 and spring 2019. The Scottish first minister said her mandate for another vote is now "beyond question," and warned it would be "democratically indefensible and utterly unsustainable" to attempt to stand in the way. "There appears to be no rational reason for you to stand in the way of the will of the Scottish parliament and I hope you will not do so," she wrote in the letter. This is while May has repeatedly said the referendum request submitted by the government in Edinburgh will be turned down, insisting that now is not the time for another independence referendum and that all efforts should be on securing the best Brexit deal for the whole of Britain after Article 50 is triggered. "Now is not the time to focus on a second independence referendum or to be looking at that second independence referendum, because [now] is the time when we need to pull together as a United Kingdom," Britain's prime minister recently said in an interview with BBC. Scotland held its first referendum in 2014, when over 55 percent of the people voted against independence. In June last year, nearly 52 percent of Britons opted to leave the bloc during the EU referendum; however, some 62 percent of the Scottish people voted against the Brexit decision. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Defence Secretary welcomes US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to the UK for the first time 31 March 2017 Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has hosted Jim Mattis on his first visit to the UK as US Secretary of Defense. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon welcomed Secretary Jim Mattis to London today for his first visit to the UK as US Defense Secretary. They reviewed a number of defence and security issues, including the need for NATO modernisation and increased defence spending by all members, progress in the fight against extremism, including Daesh in Iraq and Syria, and joint equipment and defence trade programmes. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: "We have no closer friend than the United States and across the globe our nations are standing side by side in defending our values. Together we're showing leadership on the world stage - tackling extremism, standing up to Russian aggression and modernising NATO, making it fitter, faster and more agile." Sir Michael outlined at today's meeting how Britain is playing a leading role in European and global defence and security, and wants a deep and special economic and security partnership with the EU after the UK leaves. The Defence Secretary confirmed that as of next week, all 800 British troops would be deployed in Estonia as part of NATO's enhanced Forward Presence (eFP), alongside over 300 British Army vehicles. And continuing UK and US forces' long history of joint operations, the UK is supporting the US-led eFP in Poland, contributing hundreds of troops and more than 50 vehicles. British armour transporters will be helping to move US tanks across Poland, underlining the depth of UK/US cooperation. Sir Michael and Secretary Mattis also agreed steps for NATO modernisation, including simpler command structures, and reviewed the pressing need for NATO members to meet their 2% defence spending commitments. The Defence Secretary called on NATO members not meeting the 2% spending commitment to increase their defence budget annually in real terms, in order to demonstrate greater burden sharing. Both the Defence Secretary and Secretary Mattis reviewed progress in the fight against Daesh and agreed to keep up the campaign momentum, with Iraqi forces liberating more territory from Daesh's tyranny in western Mosul and planning the campaign to isolate and then liberate Raqqa in Syria. Britain and the US are leading the Coalition effort to defeat Daesh in Iraq and Syria, striking extremist positions from the air and training the Iraqi security forces on the ground. Visiting the UK for the first time in his new role, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said: "I thank Minister Fallon for the very warm welcome to the UK on my first visit as Secretary of Defense. The special relationship is a source of strength for our two nations, standing together in defense of our freedoms. It is demonstrated daily in our military-to-military interactions across a host of domains, and our relationship grows in strength with the mutual respect and friendship we share." During a press conference at Lancaster House, Sir Michael announced a 90 million investment to support the UK's new F-35 Lightning aircraft. The F-35 programme is a joint undertaking with the US that will deliver cutting-edge aircraft to British and American Armed Forces. This multi-million pound contract, providing maintenance, training and logistic services at RAF Marham in Norfolk the future home of the jets' squadrons - will sustain hundreds of highly skilled British jobs. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: "Nothing demonstrates the strength of our relationship better than our joint work on the most advanced combat aircraft in the world the F-35. The UK is proud to be the future repair hub for all the European jets. This additional investment at RAF Marham will ensure that we have a formidable fighting force that, at a time of growing danger, will help us work with our US partners to promote international peace and security." In testament to the British skill base, the UK has been chosen by the US F-35 Program Office to be a global repair hub, providing maintenance, overhaul and upgrade services for European F-35s. The deal builds on the strong foundations of Britain's pre-eminent and enduring defence partnership with the US, and will help create hundreds of high-end jobs, safeguard thousands more and be a substantial boost to UK exports. This new 90 million contract, placed through the F-35 Joint Program Office with Lockheed Martin, in partnership with BAE Systems, will support services being operated out of RAF Marham. The new support services contract comes as the UK gets ready to receive its ninth F-35 aircraft, which will be based at US Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina. A further 167 million investment was announced last year for the construction of three new state-of-the-art buildings at the Norfolk base and construction of these facilities is well under way. In March the F-35 also successfully conducted first firing trials using MBDA's Advanced Short Range Air to Air Missile (ASRAAM), marking the first time a British-designed missile has been fired from the F-35. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Larry Wallace Jr. grew up in Danville. He returned to the city because he wanted to give back. If Danville aint the way I want it to be, then its partially my responsibility to make it better, Wallace said at the community forum entitled Am I my Brothers Killer? on Friday evening at the Cardinal Village Community Center. The event had Wallace, Russell Betterton with Southwest C.A.R.E.S., Marty Jackson with Virginia Organizing and Shakeva Frazier people with a history of bringing others together throughout community addressing issues of crime and violence with a crowd of about 50 people. The panelists addressed issues like holding oneself and others accountable, conflict resolution, family issues and more to the people of Cardinal Village people who daily deal with issues of community violence. The event was put together by the Community Law Enforcement Partnership committee, responsible for the annual event with the same name held in September. The committee plans to hold three more forums throughout the year. As violent crime in the Danville area has increased, forums such as the one Friday had citizens asking what can they do better for themselves and to help their neighbors. Frazier said pride is a big factor in conflicts because peoples mindset is I didnt want to look weak I would never back down." To walk away from conflict means youre the bigger person, Frazier continued. About 20 children were in attendance, paying close attention to the words from the panelists. Betterton said the children are like beautiful young flowers who need love and a chance. Jackson remarked he used to be involved in criminal activity such as selling drugs, but he turned his life around for his children and his family. I realized the damage that I was doing to [my son] as well as my community, Jackson said. I had to forgive myself." In time, he rebuilt relationships with his children and became active in the community by teaching youth about the path he initially chose. [Now] I give back double than what I took from my community, Jackson said. Wallace said he gives back through mentoring in jails and by hiring people to work for his business. Later in the event, Frazier read letters from Danville residents now incarcerated in the state's prisons. Change begins with us as individuals, Frazier read from the first letter. The author wrote about how people like the panelists at Fridays forum tried to convince him to take a different path. Instead, he now is serving a 15-year prison sentence. I have cried in my cell thinking about all of the times he should have listened, inmate wrote. The author of another letter is serving an active sentence of 30 years in a world thats cold and bitter. Hes been reduced to a last name and a state number, the letter read. I wouldnt put this on anyone. BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a meeting Friday, calling for greater effort on poverty alleviation. Members of the bureau heard reports on provincial Party committees and governments' achievements and evaluation work on poverty relief in 2016 during the meeting, presided over by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. China has set 2020 as the target year to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, and "the hardest part is to lift poor rural population and counties out of poverty and eradicate poverty on a regional basis," said a statement issued after the meeting. The meeting agreed that achievements made during the past years showed that the goal could be accomplished as long as practical and solid effort was made and current policy and work intensity maintained. Salient problems, however, remain, including low quality poverty relief, a lack of targeted measures and lax supervision of funds, according to the statement. Stressing strict requirements during poverty elimination, the CPC leadership said the work report system and responsibility system for poverty elimination must be effectively enforced. In addition, strict evaluation and inspection of poverty alleviation must be carried out to ensure goals are achieved. The people's interests should be put in first place in advancing poverty relief, while leading officials at various levels should strengthen their sense of mission and responsibility and synergize efforts,the statement said. Poverty relief is the historical mission of the CPC and the responsibilities of heads of Party committees, governments and departments at various levels, it said. The meeting also called for effort to consolidate the foundations of precise poverty alleviation, take corresponding measures and inspire officials and people in areas with poverty. The requirements of strict Party governance should be implemented comprehensively and responsibilities on poverty elimination should be fulfilled faithfully, the statement said. Evaluation of poverty relief should play its role and pragmatic work styles be followed, it noted. China aims to reduce the number of rural residents living in poverty by over 10 million in 2017, including 3.4 million relocated from inhospitable areas. Edmonton, March 31, 2017 - Grizzly Discoveries Inc. (TSXV: GZD) (OTCPK: GZDIF) (FSE: G6H) ("Grizzly" or the "Company") announces that it has closed the first tranche of a private placement (the "Offering") by the issuance of 2,760,000 non-flow-through units of the Company ("Units") at a price of $0.05 per Unit for gross proceeds of $138,000. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company ("Common Share") and one non-transferable warrant ("Warrant") with each Warrant entitling the holder to acquire one additional Common Share at an exercise price of $0.075 per Common Share until the earlier of : (a) 30 days following the issuance of a news release by the Company that the trading price of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange is at or greater than $0.12 per Common Share for 10 consecutive trading days; and (b) March 31, 2019.800,000 of the 2,760,000 Units sold were purchased by insiders of the Company. The Company paid a cash finder fee of $3,800 and issued 76,000 finders warrants with terms equivalent to the Warrants to eligible persons in connection with the Offering. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Offering for general working capital.The Common Shares and any Common Shares issued on exercise of the Warrants will be subject to restrictions on trading until August 1, 2017 in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. Following closing of the Offering, the Company has 55,348,605 Common Shares issued and outstanding.Grizzly is a diversified Canadian mineral exploration company with its primary listing on the TSX Venture Exchange with 55.3 million shares issued, focused on developing significant Potash assets in Alberta and its precious metals properties in southeastern British Columbia. The Company holds over 235,000 acres of precious-base metal properties in British Columbia; more than 205,000 acres of properties which host diamondiferous kimberlites in the Buffalo Head Hills region of Alberta; and metallic and industrial mineral permits for potash totaling more than 250,000 acres along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.On behalf of the Board, Grizzly Discoveries Inc.Brian TestoCEO, President (780) 693-2242For further information, please visit our website at www.grizzlydiscoveries.com or contact:Nancy Massicotte, Investor RelationsIR PRO COMMUNICATIONS INC.Tel: 604-507-3377, Toll Free: 1-866-503-3377Email: ir@grizzlydiscoveries.comwww.irprocommunications.comIan Lambert, COOTel: 416-840-9843Email: ilambert@grizzlydiscoveries.comNeither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. This information and statements address future activities, events, plans, developments and projections. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information and statements are frequently identified by words such as "may," "will," "should," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "believe," "estimate," "intend" and similar terminology, and reflect assumptions, estimates, opinions and analysis made by management of Grizzly in light of its experience, current conditions, expectations of future developments and other factors which it believes to be reasonable and relevant. Forward-looking information and statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause Grizzly's actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information and statements and accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed thereon.Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary include but are not limited to the availability of financing; fluctuations in commodity prices; changes to and compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including environmental laws and obtaining requisite permits; political, economic and other risks; as well as other risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in our annual and quarterly Management's Discussion and Analysis and in other filings made by us with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. Grizzly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements except as may be required by law. WASHINGTON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. trade war with China could be averted as the numbers of U.S. trade deficits do not necessarily reflect the reality, a U.S. China expert told Xinhua in a recent interview. Despite the worry about a possible showdown between the top two economies due to the U.S. complaints about its trade deficits with China, Douglas Paal, vice president for studies and director of Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was somewhat optimistic that such scenario would not become a reality. "I tend to think we are not gonna go to a trade war, because an American trade war with China will also be a trade war with all the suppliers to China, who are friendly with us and have good economic relations (with us)," he told Xinhua. Paal, a former director of Asian affairs at the National Security Council in the White House, cited the trade disputes that existed between the U.S. and Japan during the 1980s. He noted that during that time Japan was a trade harbor for all the Asian tigers and, as a result, it boasted a huge trade surplus with the United States. "But over the last two 20 years, that shifted to China. But it's the same problem which is China is the last point of export (to the U.S.), so the numbers always seem too high for China and too low for everyone else," Paal said. "That's just near illusion, it's not necessarily reality," he commented on the U.S. deficits in its trade with China. Still, there are trade issues that need to be addressed, and the Trump administration has to prioritize all the issues, whether it's market access, technology transfer, investment, or anti-dumping measures, Paal said. Paal believed China understands this and has prepared well for it as it is willing to consider measures, including increasing investment and buying more American goods, technologies and bonds, "to help the American economy and help balance the strong imbalance in the U.S.-China trade." He noted that the Trump administration is still in the process of formulating its China policy and other policies due to the short time since it took office and the staffing problems which have left many positions unfilled so far. "But I think the Trump people will be trying to lay the ground work for longer-term cooperation that may be more mutually beneficial in the economic sphere and (for) its high focus on North Korea's nuclear threat," he said. NEED FOR LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVES ON KOREAN PENINSULA Asked to comment on the possible China-U.S. cooperation on containing the rising tensions on the Korean peninsula after the recent nuclear test and test launching of missiles by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Paal said efforts should be first made to restart talks. This is an urgent matter for the Trump administration to deal with, but not as urgent as demanding for an immediate solution due to its complexity, Paal said. "The Trump administration is not ready yet with staffing and internal processes to do a complicated and careful consideration of various options," he said, adding that South Korea demands more U.S. attention as it is in the middle of "a very disruptive political period" ahead of the coming election. "So I think we need take it as an urgent matter, but not an immediate matter... Don't rush to judgment," he said. Calling for talks to resolve the DPRK crisis, Paal said if the talks fail, then stronger pressure should be exerted on the DPRK with tougher sanctions. "But I am not a believer that there is a magic formula to turn North Korea around. In fact, I hope we have a very complicated policy to start with making another effort offering talks and try to hold together the coalition of commonly interested nations like South Korea, the U.S., Russia and China," he said. Paal also urged China and U.S. leaders to discuss the DPRK issue from the long-term perspectives. "I think the United States and China at the very top need to discuss how we think the Korean Peninsula should look in 10 and 20 years, not just about what we would do tomorrow," he said. Only the leaders can give mutual assurances to each other that they will not explore the possible chaotic situation on the peninsula to its advantage and take unilateral measures, he said. TAKING ADVANTAGE OF RELATIVE TRANQUILITY IN S. CHINA SEA On another contentious issue of South China Sea, Paal played down its urgency, saying he did not foresee new flare-up of tensions in the region in the near term. He noted that currently there is a "relative tranquility" in the region, largely due to two reasons: First, China made big advances in the past two years with its construction activities and it is time "to digest, to consume" the advances. Second, China has reached an understanding with the new Philippine government. "I would hope that during the period of relative tranquility, we can focus on things of our common interests," Paal said. He called for speeding up talks on reach a code of conduct in the South China Sea between China and some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Paal also suggested China and the U.S. play a leading role in managing the fishing stocks in the region to benefit all parties involved. SOME OF CHINA-U.S. DIALOGUES EXPECTED TO CONTINUE So far Trump has not taken aggressive actions toward China despite his tough talk during and after the campaign. Paal said that, as a former businessman, Trump may try to hold talks first to "start the tone and certainly trust" before getting to the hard issues. Such talks could get very tough, and if they do not go well, the Trump administration could harden its stance toward China, he cautioned. Meanwhile, Paal expected China and the U.S. to continue some of over 90 official dialogue mechanisms that were established during the previous Obama administration. But he predicted that there will be serious reevaluation of some of the China-U.S. dialogues, led by the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED). He proposed separating the strategic track and economic track because the S&ED has become less efficient as it has grown too big and too bureaucratic to get things done. Over the past three years, Philadelphia has developed a three-tier approach to improving the way municipal government uses tech to better serve the public by deploying a trio of similarly named initiatives: the Innovation Lab Innovation Academy and Innovation Fund . Now, city officials say a fourth facet, one that is advisory in nature, has evolved and it could be the future of civic tech in the city. Dubbed Innovation Consulting, the program is a simple one. City staffers who have graduated from the Innovation Academy make themselves available to share what theyve learned with departments throughout city hall. Andrew Buss, Philadelphias director of innovation management within the Office of Innovation and Technology, described Innovation Consulting as a logical next step, one that tackles long-standing city challenges with fresh and, presumably, innovative eyes. Its still a young program frankly, and what we wanted to do was to be able to use that infrastructure we created through the fund and the lab and academy to take the next step, Buss told. Eventually with this innovation stuff, you have to show that this is doing something, its adding value. The consulting began accidentally as more city workers went through the Innovation Academy, which has so far graduated four cohorts of 18 or 19 participants per year. It has since crystallized into something more structured. Buss described the Innovation Consulting program as a series of workshops that are set up after graduates of the academy speak with the department they plan to train, learning the problems they face. The graduates then apply innovation principles things like thinking about which solutions provide the most value with the least difficulty, or considering who primary stakeholders are so you can serve them more efficiently to the challenges the department has called them in to combat. City officials are hopeful that the Innovation Consulting program will also eliminate the need for pricey external consultants. In addition to being available to city departments, Philadelphia is also making its consultants open to outside institutions that work with them. Currently, two staff members that work with Buss inside the Office of Innovation and Technology organize the program, fielding requests and setting up the initial meetings. The consultants then make themselves available on a volunteer basis. To become a consultant, one need only have graduated from the Innovation Academy, which, like the other programs in the tier system, was started in 2014. In addition, the network of consultants includes some extra members that sit on the Innovation Fund advisory group. The evolution of the consulting program took place amid mild uncertainty about the city governments continued dedication to civic tech . When Mayor Jim Kenney was inaugurated in 2016, he gained a reputation in some circles as being opposed to operating in any way similar to what his predecessor might have done. His predecessor, Mayor Michael Nutter, held office for eight years, a period during which the city earned accolades for its burgeoning tech prowess. The Innovation Lab, Innovation Academy and Innovation Fund were all projects that took hold under Nutter, and there was some question as to whether Kenney would continue them, particularly after Charles Brennan was put in place to lead the Office of Innovation of Technology, having his title subsequently changed from chief innovation officer to chief technology officer. The citys commitment to innovation, however, remains strong, and Buss said any changes were more a matter of organization than anything else. In the past, his team was entrenched in city halls IT group, whereas under the new administration they report to the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). The work, in other words, continues, just in a new place. The thinking, Buss said, is that the work done by the CAO is more in line with the performance-based efficiency improvements his team seeks to ultimately foster. Christine Derenick-Lopez, the chief administrative officer, voiced support for the innovation work, specifically the ideas and insights from academy graduates who are powering the consulting. Our team in the CAO works each day to make government better, Derenick-Lopez toldvia email. This can mean things like improving procurement or updating the citys technology applications, but it also involves supporting employees who can bring fresh thinking to municipal challenges by developing new ideas and trying them out. Our approach to innovation acknowledges that complex problems arent typically solved by a single employee, but rather through cross-departmental collaboration that brings together multiple perspectives. Under the new administration, more support has come for innovation work in the form of the Digital Literacy Alliance , a 19-organization collective that involves a plethora of major city stakeholders, including the Mayors Policy Office, Comcast, Verizon and many others. Its stated goal is to alleviate the digital divide in Philadelphia by developing strategy, overseeing existing seed funds and raising more money. That group is launching with $850,000 in seed money, including a $500,000 grant from Comcast and a $350,000 grant from Verizon. Its work will complement and support the innovation efforts already in place. Philadelphias Innovation Academy was initially founded in partnership with Philadelphia University (PhilaU), and Buss estimated that it has now been used by a representative from every department in the city. The school also collaborated with the city on the Innovation Lab, an actual physical space that gives municipal workers an area to meet and collaborate with the technology community. The Innovation Fund is the money that powers these endeavors, drawing inspiration from the Bloomberg Philanthropies challenge While Buss said hed love to be able to paint the new Innovation Consulting program as part of some master plan crafted by leadership to continue growing the civic innovation landscape in the city, the reality is that they taught a bunch of their people about innovation, and, lo and behold, those folks came up with a great idea. Sometimes things come up, and they seem pretty cool," Buss said, "and you just got to go with it." (TNS) -- City lawmakers and a drivers advocacy group welcomed the announcement of a smaller, better-monitored camera system, but said they wanted to make sure whichever company runs the program doesn't issue erroneous tickets as previous vendors did."I have no problems with a speed camera program. I have constituents on some roads who are dying for them to come back," City Councilman Brandon Scott said. "I hope we are awarding it to a company that can operate it in a fair way, where we aren't making the same mistakes as before."Baltimore officials solicited bids on operating a new camera system last January and said Wednesday they are deciding among six finalists. Typically, the city releases the names and proposals of those who respond to a request for bids. But on Thursday, the Pugh administration withheld the names of the speed camera bidders.Department of Transportation spokeswoman Adrienne Barnes said the names of the competing firms will be disclosed once a winner is selected. A proposed contract is expected to go before the city's spending panel by May."It's still an ongoing process," Barnes said. "We want to wait until the process is complete."With millions in profits at stake, several speed camera companies have registered lobbyists with city government, including Optotraffic, Xerox State & Local Solutions, and American Traffic Solutions Pugh revealed her plans to restart the camera program as she unveiled her $2.8 billion budget Wednesday. Pugh's budget director said the projected $8 million the cameras would generate next fiscal year would help close a $20 million budget gap."It has always been considered a revenue-producing tool, but it's also a tool to slow down traffic and make our city safer," Pugh said.This will be the city's third program after two failed attempts in which cameras issued erroneous tickets. The system, which was run for years by Xerox and briefly by Brekford Corp. , was shut down in April 2013.At its height, Baltimore's speed camera system brought in nearly $20 million a year for the city. But the system was dogged by questions about its accuracy after a Baltimore Sun investigation revealed numerous problems, including tickets issued to stopped or slow-moving cars.Pugh assured drivers the camera system will be smaller and better monitored that it was before. "We expect them to be accurate," she said.City officials confirmed Thursday they have hired former Prince George's County Police Maj. Robert V. Liberati to oversee the program. Liberati previously ran the Prince George's speed camera system.Ragina Averella, public and government affairs manager at AAA Mid-Atlantic said she was "encouraged" by the city's plans for a better-monitored system. Averella served on a city speed camera task force under Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake."We're hopeful we won't see similar issues to what we've seen in the past," Averella said.A spokesman for City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young said the president was also pleased the cameras are returning in smaller numbers.Last January, Baltimore's Transportation Department issued a request for bids for 10 red light cameras, 10 fixed speed cameras and 10 portable cameras to relaunch its once-vast network. City officials said Thursday they also plan to use six cameras to catch commercial trucks traveling on car-only roads.The camera program will begin no earlier than June and then will issue warning citations for a month. Transportation officials said they've added new "quality control staff," including an ombudsman to deal with allegations of erroneous tickets. All camera locations will be published on the city's website before the program launches.Most of the pledges made by city officials are required by a 2014 law passed by the Maryland General Assembly . The law mandated that jurisdictions employ ombudsmen and banned the so-called "bounty system" in which contractors were rewarded financially for issuing more tickets. The law does not apply to contracts that were in place before it passed.Jurisdictions are also required to alert motorists to the presence of mobile cameras by posting signs and waiting 15 days before issuing tickets from them. The law did not include some reform proposals, including requiring time stamps on tickets to help verify accuracy. But it did require local governments to publish detailed annual reports, and it subjects contractors to damages if their error rate exceeds 5 percent.State Sen. James Brochin, a Baltimore County Democrat who is against the cameras, was the lead sponsor of the Senate version of the bill."I hope they go through the legislation that passed and make sure all the safeguards are in place," Brochin said of plans to relaunch speed cameras in Baltimore. "Everything in that legislation was the result of something they were doing that wasn't right."They got speed camera crazy. They became the jurisdiction that had more speed cameras than anywhere in North America."After a months-long investigation beginning in 2012, The Sun documented erroneous speed readings at seven cameras in Baltimore, including one in which the driver of a car stopped at a red light was accused of speeding. The investigation also showed that several jurisdictions, including Baltimore and Baltimore County, were engaged in contracts in which the vendor was paid per citation.Amid continued questions, Baltimore took its entire speed and red-light camera system offline in 2013. The system, once the largest in North America, had brought in $140 million since 1999 to city government.At the time, a single Baltimore officer reviewed 1,000 to 1,200 of the machine-generated citations per shift sometimes as many as five or six per minute.Critics of the automated cameras have argued that running such a large system relies too much on technology, which is known to sometimes produce false readings, and makes it harder to do a substantive review of the tickets. For instance, city officials have acknowledged that, in 2011, their red light camera system issued about 2,000 tickets to motorists with a signature bearing the name of a dead police officer.Ron Ely, chairman of the anti-speed-camera Maryland Drivers Alliance, said he doesn't believe the basic problems with the cameras have been fixed."The fundamental problems that made erroneous citations possible have not been solved," he said in an email. "Unfortunately the rest of the speed camera programs in the state think Baltimore's real problem was that they ultimately ADMITTED that errors took place. I am worried that anyone hit with an erroneous citation in the future may be presumed guilty and denied access to exculpatory evidence."Local governments can use the cameras to issue $40 tickets to drivers found to be traveling more than 11 mph over the speed limit in school or work zones. In Baltimore County, the speed camera vendor, Xerox, receives $19 of every $40 ticket paid. (TNS) -- If a companys proposal for President Trumps border wall relies on artificial intelligence, drones and sensors but leaves out a physical, tangible barrier then the federal government is not interested.U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials advised bidders this week that technology alone would not meet the requirements of the solicitations, according to an amendment on the governments request for proposals.Several Bay Area companies submitted proposals to the agency to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The deadline was originally Wednesday but was extended to April 4 because of the high volume of applications received, an agency spokesman said.Rejecting proposals for virtual walls would disqualify companies like Richmonds Simularity. The company said it wants to build a nonphysical barrier out of drones, artificial intelligence and sensors.CEO Liz Derr said that to not even consider tech-driven proposals is a naive move by the government especially in light of how much technology has advanced since the last time a barrier was constructed along the border.Our technology can supplement a physical wall, Derr said. It seems that the physical wall is most likely not going to get funded so they need to look at other solutions.David Inserra, policy analyst for homeland security and cyberpolicy at the Heritage Foundation, a think thank that has a focus on defense policy, said combining a physical wall with technology would be the most effective barrier.Even if you did install a very robust tech system, I still think there are areas where additional fencing is called for, Inserra said. There are areas where you just need to go beyond the tech.Quanergy, a company that makes lidar sensors, a laser version of radar that can detect objects, proposed using that technology and artificial intelligence either as a virtual wall or in conjunction with a physical wall or fence.It is unclear whether the Sunnyvale companys proposal will meet government specifications, which call for a barrier made either from solid concrete or alternative materials. Among other requirements: It must be at least 18 feet tall, 6 feet deep and strong enough to withstand attacks from tools such as a sledgehammer, car jack or pickax.The wall still lacks funding. The White House proposed budget cuts Tuesday to pay for the wall; experts say the cuts are unlikely to pass Congress.While advocates for virtual walls say they will reduce the cost of the project, the idea would not match Trumps chief campaign promise of building a great, great wall, said Theresa Brown, director of immigration policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank.This idea of a wall is as much symbolic as other things, she said. Whether or not it will actually have an effect is beside the point. Turnover in the United States Digital Service (USDS) continues, as Erie Meyer, one of the agencys co-founders, has announced that she will join civic tech behemoth Code for America (CfA).Code for America is a national network of people asking not just how we can fix individual instances of injustice, but what are the systems that can create injustice, and how we can fix them, Meyer said in a release . Its an honor to serve alongside the thousands of people who invest their labor and their dreams in the idea that these systems must work for everyone.Meyer also will become a member on the National Advisory Council , which helps create and facilitate a dialogue between the various brigades, governments and tech leaders across the country.Prior to founding the USDS, which was created in the wake of the HealthCare.gov launch, Meyer served as senior adviser to then-U.S. CTO Todd Park in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. While there, she worked on a number of open data initiatives, helped run the presidents Innovation Fellowship and helped launch the Tech + Innovation team at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.And before making her way into the federal government, Meyer worked to set up the digital office for former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray. She also spent time with Blue State Digital, a digital strategy and technology firm, and co-founded Tech Ladymafia, a network of women in technology.CfA Founder and Executive Director Jennifer Pahlka will be reunited with Meyer after they worked closely together in the White House during Pahlka's time as deputy chief technology officer.She has been a pioneer and leader in the movement to make government work better for the American people her entire career, said Pahlka. Her coming to Code for America means the chance to apply her brilliance and unstoppable positive energy nationwide through the thousands of people dedicated to this idea, and the thousands more who will grow and strengthen the movement.According to a recent report, the USDS was still active within the White House. Co-Founder Haley Van Dyck has returned to the agency after a brief stint away. Eyragon Eidam is the Web editor for Government Technology magazine, after previously serving as assistant news editor and covering such topics as legislation, social media and public safety. He can be reached at eeidam@erepublic.com. The Chinese military will continue to participate in global medical assistance, especially in African countries, according to an article run by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily Friday. Assistance will include medical cooperation with Africa after the Ebola breakout, and sending experts to the African Union to support the development of a disease control system, said PLA Daily. In recent years, China's military has sent out more than 170 medical team groups to over 50 countries and regions, according to the article, which quoted an official from the Central Military Commission's Logistical Support Department. Since 2003, over 4,000 soldiers who specialized in health care or logistics were dispatched on United Nations peacekeeping missions, treating more than 130,000 patients worldwide, according to PLA Daily. The army will also promote global cooperation on prevention and control of infectious disease and the treatment of health emergencies, said the PLA Daily. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Friday called for more cooperation with Serbia within the 16+1 cooperation mechanism to realize mutually beneficial and sustainable development. Li made the pledge when meeting with visiting Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic at the Great Hall of the People. The "16+1" refers to China and the 16 Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC). Li said trade and investment between China and Serbia have grown rapidly and bilateral cooperation on production capacity and infrastructure construction continued to make breakthroughs. He encouraged both sides to further explore cooperation potential, give full play to the 16+1 mechanism and forge ahead with major cooperation projects under market principles and a commercial framework to achieve sustainable development on the basis of win-win cooperation. Both countries should further promote the Serbia-Hungary railway and make the project an example of China-Serbia flagship cooperation and China-CEEC cooperation on production capacity, Li said. He also called on the two countries to expand two-way trade, strengthen cooperation in areas including finance, customs, culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, and intensify coordination within the 16+1 framework. Nikolic, for his part, said Serbia is the first country among the CEECs to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. Serbia is ready to expand cooperation with China and welcome Chinese enterprises to invest in the country, he said. He also called for more cooperation on projects in the fields of infrastructure and production capacity, expanding trade of agricultural produce and exploring opportunities on a third market. Also on Friday, top Chinese legislator Zhang Dejiang met with Nikolic. Zhang, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said China's NPC attaches great importance to relations with the Serbian National Assembly and would like to step up bilateral exchanges at all levels. Nikolic said he is full of confidence in the future of bilateral ties and supports cooperation between the two legislature bodies. Prior to his meeting with Li and Zhang, Nikolic offered a wreath to the Monument to the People's Heroes at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing. (Global Times) 08:52, April 01, 2017 A nurse pushes Xin Yue in a wheelchair at a hospital in Huizhou, South China's Guangdong Province. Photo: IC Xin Yue (right) and her wife Leng Rui (left) Photo: CFP At the age of 72, Xin Yue decided that it was time to realize a lifelong dream: to become a woman. Two days after Valentine's Day, Xin, a Beijing local, went to a hospital in Huizhou, South China's Guangdong Province, to undergo breast implant surgery and construction of an artificial vagina. As every surgery has its risks, especially for elderly people like Xin, her wife Leng Rui was anxious about the outcome. To her relief, Xin survived the hours-long operation. "I didn't think too much [about Xin's decision]. All I wanted was for her to be happy," she told the Southern Metropolis Daily. According to a guideline issued by China's health authorities in 2009, patients first need to get approval from their direct relatives if they want to undergo sex reassignment surgery. The couple also has a daughter now living abroad, who also expressed her support. "She even joked that later she would have two mothers," said Xin. Xin hasn't encountered any problem in her gender change. After living with her wife for 47 years, she said they have already become "bosom friends." Traditional life Xin grew up with two brothers in a traditional family. Her parents had wanted a daughter, so when Xin was young, she was dressed like a girl. They braided her hair and bought her colorful clothing and shoes. She also earned the nickname Erguniang, which literally means "second girl." Xin recalled that she quite enjoyed this status, but when she entered primary school, she was required to dress like a boy and told to cut her long hair. The changes made Xin quite unhappy. At school, she didn't like to play with other students and didn't go to the boys' washroom. Her favorite pastime was doing needlework at home. Xin said that she didn't think much about being different from other people back then. Xin met her wife in the workplace. Both loved music and arts, and were in a relationship for nearly three years before getting married. According to Xin, being in a relationship at that time was a very serious thing. Kissing was forbidden, and even interlacing the fingers was considered an act of transgression. The couple had their only child three years after getting married. "At that time, the social environment was different. Traditional beliefs, family pressure and your economic conditions didn't allow you to have other choices," said Xin, explaining that's why she chose to marry. Leng said that she has never regretted marrying Xin. "Xin is talented and loves to read. If there is something that I don't understand, she can always explain it to me," she said. Finding herself The couple retired in 2000. Their life was supposed to be just like other retired couples', but this was changed by the popularity of the Internet. After retirement, Xin bought a computer and learned how to surf online, and later, did most of the surfing on her smart phone. The Internet opened a new door for her. There, she met many other netizens who also wanted to change their sex. She met more than 1,000 people in an online forum for transgender people. In the broad sense, being transgender means that one is not content with the gender one is assigned at birth. Some people undergo surgery to change their sex, or use hormones to change their appearance, while others choose to do nothing. Xin started to consume hormones that increased estrogen levels, following the advice of some netizens in the forum. As there is a lack of medical resources for trans people in the country and many are also too embarrassed to go to a doctor, they often gather in online forums and share their experiences of using hormones on their own for other people's reference. But this does carry some risks. When Xin used hormones, she felt that her veins were blocked and something was wrong with her kidney and liver. She did this without Leng's knowledge. It was only when she decided to undergo sex reassignment surgery that she told her wife. Leng was shocked after hearing this, and even suspected that her husband may have had mental problems. She took Xin to see psychologists, but they couldn't find a cure. On one occasion, when they left the hospital, Xin began sobbing and said she didn't want to go on living. Xin became depressed and started wandering the streets at night, unwilling to stay at home. Seeing Xin's misery, Leng had no choice but to support her. Xin underwent surgery to get rid of testicles in June 2015. After the surgery, she said she felt like she had lost dozens of pounds, and her mood improved. But Xin didn't feel satisfied with this. In January of this year, she decided to go for the entire operation. Before the operation, Xin was first required to pass a psychological test in a hospital in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province first. The doctor asked Xin over 1,000 questions, many of them repeated. Xin scored more than 90 points on the questionnaire, and was then given approval. With the operation over, Xin is now in recovery. "In the future, my wife and I can use the term 'sister' to call each other. We will still live together," she said, adding that she hasn't planned to change her identity on her ID card yet. "My skin is still soft and white like a woman in her 20s. I feel I'm only in my 30s and I can live to 100 years old." BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Britain is looking forward to making a significant and practical contribution to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, said British Ambassador to China Barbara Woodward on Friday. Britain is very much excited about the vision of the Belt and Road Initiative, an inclusive development project, and sees a huge opportunity of bilateral cooperation in practical terms, said Woodward in an interview with Xinhua. The Belt and Road Initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, was put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. It aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa. The infrastructure is important "to the development and growth of the countries along the road" as well as "to global trade," said Woodward. While Chinese companies are experienced in infrastructure development, British companies could contribute in project design, engineering, sustainable and green growth, as well as management and consultancy, she added. "Our relative strength could be complementary," said the ambassador. The year of 2017 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic ties between China and Britain. "I think at all levels the UK-China relationship in the golden era is in very good shape," said Woodward in the interview. The China-UK ties have grown steadily over the past decades and reached a new high after Xi's state visit to Britain in 2015, which unleashed the start of the "golden era." The two sides have witnessed a significant business and investment growth, said Woodward. From 2004 to 2014, Britain's total exports to China grew from 4.8 billion U.S. dollars to 23.6 billion dollars, according to statistics provided by the Chinese embassy in Britain. In 2016, China-UK bilateral trade in goods reached 74.3 billion dollars. Britain is an attractive destination for Chinese companies and its financial services sector looks forward to growing its cooperation with China as Chinese economy is opening up in the services sector, said the ambassador. Referring to the Brexit, the senior British diplomat said that her country saw it as an opportunity "to be truly global" and was ready to establish "stronger and deeper" ties with partners outside Europe. "Obviously with China, that will be a very important example," said the ambassador, noting that the two countries share a common vision of global free trade. Britain will "remain a very open economy," said Woodward. More cooperation opportunities between the two countries could be found in areas of innovation, research and development, and sustainable and green growth, she added. Increasing people-to-people exchanges are another highlight in the China-UK relations. Woodward said that around 582,000 UK visas were issued to Chinese nationals in 2016, 19 percent up from the previous year. Among them, 73,000 were study visas for Chinese students studying in Britain, a 14 percent increase on a yearly basis. "We are very keen to encourage more Chinese tourists to the UK," said Woodward, adding that the embassy has already been working to streamline the visa application procedures, which would make it faster and easier for eligible applicants to get a visa. CHENGDU, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Another panda has died after being released into the wild, putting the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding under criticism. Hesheng, a captive-bred panda, died in September 2016, two months after being released into the wild in southwest China's Sichuan Province, the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding announced Friday. The announcement sparked an outcry among Chinese netizens, questioning whether the panda reintroduction program was protecting or "murdering" the adorable animals. However, experts in the field have not backed down. Wild giant pandas inhabit six highly separated mountain systems in China, leading to frequent inbreeding and increasing the risk of extinction. "We release pandas into the wild to live, mate and breed in an attempt to diversify the species' genetic pool," said Zhang Hemin, director of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP). He said the purpose of captive breeding is to keep the number of pandas at a stable level, but as a species they belong to the wild. A staff member from the Chengdu base who did not want to be named told Xinhua that releasing pandas back into the wild is a complicated process involving many twists and even failures. The accidental death of Hesheng has put the base under a lot of pressure. The male panda, born in 2013, had undergone training at Liziping Nature Reserve starting in March 2016 and was released into the wild in July. On Sept. 11, Hesheng was spotted safe some 3.5 km from where he was released. Just weeks later, however, on Sept. 27, his GPS collar sent an alarm, prompting an overnight search for Hesheng. When researchers found his limp body, they noticed injuries on his right shoulder, right ear and right hind limb. An autopsy confirmed Hesheng died of septicemia due to a bacterial infection after being attacked by unknown animals. The number of wild pandas in China has grown steadily to 1,864 as of the end of 2016, and those in captivity numbered 464. China has released eight pandas into the wild since the reintroduction program began in 2006. Five have survived. In addition to Hesheng, Xiang Xiang, the first panda released into the wild, died roughly a year later after fighting with wild pandas for food and territory. Xue Xue, the fourth released captive panda, died of illness a month after being released. There are several steps that must be completed before a release can be declared a success. Releasing is just the beginning. The reintroduced pandas need to survive for at least one year to prove that they can feed themselves. Then they have to "socialize," create their own territories and be able to mate and breed. "Pandas are not pets. They should go back to the wild. And the process of captive breeding, wild training and releasing is a road that must be travelled," Zhang said. "The reintroduction program is after all a scientific experiment that can take up to several decades. Risks remain, but I believe we can do better in the future," he said. Members of the Supreme Courts conservative majority are questioning the continued use of affirmative action in higher education. In lengthy arguments Monday, the justices wrestled with persistent, difficult questions of race. The justices heard from six different lawyers in challenges to policies at the University of North Carolina and Harvard. Those policies consider race among many factors in evaluating applications for admission. One conservative justice likened affirmative action to giving some college applicants a head start in a footrace. But a liberal justice said universities are the pipelines to leadership in our society and suggested that without affirmative action minority enrollment will drop. Richard Pettys second annual Blue Jeans and Boots fundraising dinner will be held from 6 to 9:30 p.m. May 10. Proceeds from the event will go to support the mission of the Petty Family Foundation. This year is going to be extra special because we are also celebrating daddys 80th birthday, said Rebecca Moffitt, executive director of Petty Family Foundation. It will be a wonderful way to raise money and honor a man who truly loves his community, and enjoys giving back. The evening will kick-off with free tastings by several local distilleries and craft beer companies including Titos Vodka, followed by a cigar roller, live music and other activities. After dinner, Petty will be presented with a specially designed birthday cake from Deweys Bakery. The event, which is sponsored by Hutchinson Family Office, will be held at Reverie Place, the home of Richard Petty in Randleman. For information, call Shannon Newman at (336) 495-6643 or email Shannon@pettyfamilyfoundation.org. Carolina Farm Credit announces dividend from 16 Carolina Farm Credit has announced that a cash dividend of more than $14.8 million will be distributed to members. This distribution represents the cooperatives sharing of 2016 profits. Carolina Farm Credit had another successful year in 2016. We are pleased to be able to share our success with our borrowers by putting our profits in their pockets, said Kim Starnes, chairwoman of the Carolina Farm Credit Board of Directors. Carolina Farm Credit has declared patronage refunds for 29 consecutive years, and since 1988, patronage refunds have totaled $449 million. St. Johns United Methodist hosts A Night to Remember St. Johns United Methodist Church will hold A Night To Remember, a buffet dinner and dance, on May 12 at the Dynacon Event Center, 2100 E. Wendover Ave. in Greensboro. The adults-only fundraiser begins at 7 p.m. Proceeds benefit the churchs various ministries. Rob Massengale and Chuck Martin will perform a variety of music, and the emcee for the evening is Cindy Farmer of WGHPs Fox 8 News. Tickets are $20, and the dress attire is formal or Sundays best. To sponsor this event or for information, contact Joy Ellison at (336) 706-6082. WINSTON-SALEM Legal Aid of North Carolina could lose nearly half of its funding under President Donald Trumps budget proposal. The recommended funding cuts could leave poor people in North Carolina and around the country without the means to get legal assistance for domestic-violence restraining orders or to keep from losing homes to foreclosure. Trump is recommending the elimination of funding for Legal Services Corp., which has a current appropriation of $385 million. Legal Services, which Congress established in 1974, provides funding for 133 Legal Aid agencies throughout the country, said Jim Sandman, president of Legal Services. It would be devastating, he said Friday about the potential cuts. Sandman, however, said he remains confident that Trumps potential cuts wont be approved by Congress. He said Legal Services has gotten increases of $10 million in three of the last four fiscal years. And Congress has consistently approved funding for Legal Services, regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats held the majority in Congress or whether a Republican or a Democrat was president, he said. Most Legal Aid agencies get an average of 38 percent of their funding from Legal Services, Sandman said. Legal Aid of North Carolina gets 48 percent of its funding from Legal Services, according to George Hausen, the agencys executive director. That amounts to $10 million to $11 million out of a $22 million budget, he said. The agency has 150 lawyers, including 130 who work full-time, across North Carolina. Nearly 4 million people are eligible for Legal Aids services, Hausen said. Those people would have nowhere to go, he said. Valene Franco, the managing attorney for Legal Aids Winston-Salem office, said 12 to 15 lawyers work in the office. The Winston-Salem office covers nine counties Forsyth, Davie, Iredell, Yadkin, Surry, Stokes, Ashe, Alleghany and Wilkes counties. The lawyers deal with cases involving such things as foreclosure, domestic violence, public benefits such as food stamps, education and bankruptcy, she said. Its a wide variety of cases that we handle, she said. The office also has a partnership with the Downtown Health Plaza on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and has another program that helps people understand the Affordable Care Act, Franco said. This isnt the first time Legal Aid of North Carolina has faced cuts. In 2015, the agency eliminated 45 positions from about 300 statewide after losing $1.4 million in state and other financing the previous year. More than 100 law schools, the American Bar Association and law firms have objected to Trumps budget proposal. Both the House and Senate in Congress will eventually submit budget resolutions. Those resolutions will be debated and an agreement will be reached that will be signed by the president. Sandman said Legal Aid organizations are important because the justice system was made by lawyers for lawyers. For people to navigate the justice system, they need to have legal assistance, and that can be hard to come by for poor people, he said. Legal Aid is critical to making the civil justice system accessible to them, he said. BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China is firmly opposed to any visit by the Dalai Lama to the disputed border region between China and India, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday. Spokesperson Lu Kang made the comment when asked if China has protested to India about the Dalai Lama's scheduled visit next week to a disputed zone in the eastern part of the China-India border area. "China is gravely concerned about this. Our stance on the eastern part of the China-India border is clear and consistent," Lu said at a routine press briefing. Lu said the Dalai Lama has long engaged in anti-China separatist activities and has behaved disgracefully on the China-India border issue. India understands the seriousness of the Dalai Lama issue and the sensitivity of the border disputes, he said, noting that India's invitation to the Dalai Lama for activities in the disputed border areas will gravely damage peace and stability of the border areas, as well as bilateral relations. Lu said China demands the Indian side meet its political commitments on Tibet-related issues and abide by the consensus reached by the two sides on border issues. He urged India to refrain from taking actions that could further complicate the China-India border issue and to not provide a platform for separatist activities of the Dalai Lama clique in order to safeguard the healthy and stable development of bilateral ties. "Maintaining a good relationship between the two big developing countries serves the interests of the two peoples. But China-India relations are based on certain principles," Lu said. Similar incidents have happened in the past and triggered opposition from China, resulting in harm to bilateral relations, Lu said. "Therefore, we urge the Indian side to deliver its political commitments on this issue so that bilateral relations won't be hurt. Otherwise, it will also be detrimental to India," the spokesperson said. BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China said Friday it offered "necessary assistance" to the transit of the remains of a Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) citizen murdered in Malaysia. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang cited a Malaysian statement as saying the remains and relevant people were back to DPRK from Kuala Lumpur via Beijing on Friday. He said China helped as a humanitarian act and in line with common international practice. The spokesman made the remarks at a press conference when answering a question about the death of the 46-year-old DPRK national, who was murdered Feb. 13 at Kuala Lumpur airport. The man was reported to be Kim Jong Nam. Malaysia and the DPRK were plunged into a dispute over the man's death and finally reached agreement late Thursday. Malaysia agreed to transfer the body of the deceased to his family after the DPRK produced the required documentation. Well, that was quick. It's April 1, and Samsung has already started rolling out the security patch for the month. The update - arriving as build number J320FXXU0AQC3 - is currently hitting Galaxy J3 (2016) units in Europe. Some regular bug fixes as well as device optimizations are included as well. As is usually the case with OTA roll outs, it might take time for the update to hit your device. Meanwhile, if you feel impatient, you can manually check for the update by heading to your handset's Settings menu. Via Aside from the (badly placed) fingerprint sensor and the iris recognition system, Samsung's new Galaxy S8 and S8+ also come with a third biometric authentication option: facial recognition. So far so good. But if you expected this to be any better than similar efforts from many, many years back... well, get ready to be disappointed. Like the Face Unlock feature Google added to the Ice Cream Sandwich release of Android way back in 2011, Samsung's new facial recognition system can be easily fooled by showing it a photo of the person that has set up his or her face as trusted. The proof is in the short video below. Interestingly enough, after Google's Face Unlock proved easy to compromise, Samsung released its own interpretation of the feature which required blinking before unlocking. This was in 2012, mind you, so we're not sure why the Korean company seemingly forgot about that in the meantime. Anyway, note that the blinking requirement makes such systems a tad better, but they can still be defeated by using two photos: one of the person with eyes open, and the other with eyes closed, and quickly switching between the two when trying to unlock. It's a bit more complicated than what's shown above to have worked on the S8, but still doable. So a word of advice: don't consider facial recognition to be on par, security-wise, with the iris scanner or fingerprint sensor. You might regret it if you do. Source These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. The South Korean Sewol ferry has completed its final journey. The ferry has arrived at the port of Mokpo, according to China's Shanghai Salvage Company, which undertook the operation to raise the vessel. The remains of sunken South Korean passenger ferry Sewol arrive at a port in Mokpo, some 90 km away from the Jindo Island, South Korea, March 31, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua] The stricken 140-meter vessel resurfaced from bottom of the sea on Feb 25, had sludge pumped out, and was then stabilized with the help of two barges. It's estimated that the 14,000-ton wreck contained nearly 4,000 tons of sludge and sea water. The remains of sunken South Korean passenger ferry Sewol arrive at a port in Mokpo, some 90 km away from the Jindo Island, South Korea, March 31, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua] The most difficult part of the salvaging work, involving 590 days of preparation, is to keep the vessel at the original angle it sank, to ensure the ferry won't break apart during transportation, and to allow an investigation to be carried out into why it sank. The Sewol ferry sank on its regular overnight journey from Incheon to the volcanic island of Jeju on April 16, 2014. A total of 304 people, most of whom were high school students on a school trip died, with investigators concluding that the sinking was a man-made disaster. Relatives of the dead passengers in sunken South Korean ferry Sewol wait for the arrival of the remains of Sewol at a port in Mokpo, some 90 km away from the Jindo Island, South Korea, March 31, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua] Nine bodies are still unaccounted for. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is now available to pre-order in Europe through third-party retailers. Specifically, those in Germany and Italy can now place their pre-orders on Amazon. Pricing and availability details for both the markets are different. Amazon Germany has the phone listed for 799, with shipments beginning April 20 onwards. On the other hand, Amazon Italy is selling the phone for 829, with release set for April 28 - the pricing is in line with what we already know. Source 1 2 | Via Job Archive July 2021 (524) June 2021 (681) May 2021 (698) April 2021 (659) March 2021 (688) February 2021 (615) January 2021 (698) December 2020 (714) November 2020 (671) October 2020 (631) September 2020 (690) August 2020 (713) July 2020 (713) June 2020 (690) May 2020 (713) April 2020 (690) March 2020 (713) February 2020 (667) January 2020 (713) December 2019 (713) November 2019 (687) October 2019 (711) September 2019 (689) August 2019 (711) July 2019 (707) June 2019 (688) May 2019 (2002) April 2019 (1978) March 2019 (2039) February 2019 (1688) January 2019 (2253) December 2018 (2095) November 2018 (1932) October 2018 (1985) September 2018 (1914) August 2018 (39) July 2018 (72) June 2018 (44) May 2018 (76) April 2018 (65) March 2018 (16) February 2018 (32) January 2018 (201) December 2017 (352) November 2017 (381) October 2017 (600) September 2017 (1211) August 2017 (1655) July 2017 (1590) June 2017 (1506) May 2017 (1902) April 2017 (1965) March 2017 (1417) February 2017 (1808) January 2017 (1807) December 2016 (1593) November 2016 (1376) October 2016 (1408) September 2016 (1317) August 2016 (1499) July 2016 (1504) June 2016 (1421) May 2016 (1391) April 2016 (1340) March 2016 (1476) February 2016 (1396) January 2016 (1474) December 2015 (1409) November 2015 (1367) October 2015 (1478) September 2015 (1441) August 2015 (1467) July 2015 (1465) June 2015 (1410) May 2015 (1057) April 2015 (1269) March 2015 (1132) February 2015 (1151) January 2015 (1152) December 2014 (1156) November 2014 (1267) October 2014 (81) China is willing and able to play a bigger role in Arctic development and cooperation, said Vice-Premier Wang Yang during the Fourth International Arctic Forum, which ended in Arkhangelsk, Russia, on Thursday. China is an important stakeholder in Arctic affairs, and it has been participating in these affairs for a long time in accordance with laws, said Wang, adding that China upholds the spirit of respect, cooperation and sustainability. At the two-day event, Wang called on the international community to strengthen environmental protection of the Arctic and continuously deepen scientific exploration of the North Pole. The vice-premier also called on countries involved with the Arctic to exploit its resources in a lawful and proper manner, to improve Arctic governance and to jointly preserve peace and stability in the region. China is ready to share insights with other countries and expand cooperation to create a bright, new future for the Arctic, Wang added. More than 2,000 government officials, business leaders and senior experts gathered at the forum. They came from nearly 30 countries, including the United States, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. On Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated China's position on Arctic affairs, saying China values cooperation in the Arctic. President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to Finland next week. Lu said China hopes to see further development in cooperation in Arctic affairs under Finland's chairmanship of the Arctic Council. In 2013, China became an observer of the council, an intergovernmental forum based in Norway that includes eight Arctic states and focuses on cooperation on Arctic issues. Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said China has been taking an active and constructive approach to participating in Arctic affairs. Scientific research in the Arctic is becoming increasingly significant in the sense that it is an important part of climate change research, Ruan said. "China has been investing ever greater research resources in this regard, and has been cooperating well with countries along the Arctic coast, which hope to see China play a bigger role in Arctic affairs," he said. Kat Jamieson is an author and tastemaker who has been sharing her passion for lifestyle topics such as fashion, decor, travel, and cooking since 2011 on her blog: With Love From Kat. Her first book, Blended, was recently released in October. In this book, Kat shares a seasonally inspired and holistic approach to cooking, as well as her take on entertaining and living well. She shares more than 125 recipes that have helped her to feel energized, vibrant, and balanced. Aside from these nourishing recipes, Kat also discusses how she has obtained a truly balanced and... Published on 2017/04/01 | Source Added episode 6 captures for the Korean drama "Radiant Office" (2017) Advertisement Directed by Jeong Ji-in, Park Sang-hoon-III Written by Jeong Hee-hyeon Network : MBC With Go Ah-sung, Ha Seok-jin, Lee Dong-hwi, Kim Dong-wook, Lee Ho-won, Kim Byung-choon,... 16 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00 Synopsis An abrasive marketing director and a female temporary contract worker at the same furniture company. She faces repeat rejection in her job search until despair drives her to attempt suicide. At the hospital, she learns she has a terminal condition, but then, finally succeeds in getting hired. With nothing to lose, she tackles her job and her life with a perspective. Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2017/03/15 More By Lily Lee | Published on 2017/03/31 So, we have all of these brilliant Korean actors we love, who are all so handsome and charming and so great at acting. Now, if we have to choose the number 1 actor in Korea, I would say that we can have an on-going discussion for days. Advertisement You may think I am biased since he's not a familiar face to a lot of foreign fans, but really, if you ask any Koreans about this actor, 10 out of 10 will say they would pick Won Bin as #1. Of course, there are many other great actors will excellent acting skills but if you add the categories of Looks and Popularity in South Korea, This guy triumphs everyone else. He has many nicknames. From God (Yes, we almost worship him *rolls eyes* lol) to Celebrities' Celebrity. There are so many memes about him how he is actually a CG, not a real person because of how flawless and perfect he looks. Also, it's really hard to see him around, so, the rare photos released of him will be treated like it was CG'd and photoshoped. Haha His biography regarding his work is fairly short compare to the other top actors. He hasn't been on a lot of dramas nor movies (In fact, only 5 movies) but every one of his movies have been successful. He took main roles in all 5 movies "Guns and Talks", "Taegukgi", "My Brother", "Mother - 2009", and the famous "The Man From Nowhere". For the dramas, he has not been in any drama as of 2002. The latest movie "The Man From Nowhere" was his last work, which was in 2010 and he swept 7 major awards from different ceremonies just from this one role. Many fans are patiently waiting for his return but he's been focusing on his family since he was married to the actress Lee Na-young in 2015 and had a son shortly after. Every time actress Kim Sae-ron appears on news, you can see the comments going "While she grew up this big, Won Bin is still nowhere to be seen" Since Kim Sae-ron acted with Won Bin in 2010 as a child actress, she's done 7 movies and 11 dramas in 7 years, so when you compare, it's really sad that Won Bin have not been active at all. His agency explained that he is very cautious in selecting his work and was considering couple of dramas and movies but have fell through.For example, he was the original cast for "The King 2 Hearts" with the condition of not revealing the fact that he is in the drama until the official announcement, but the news was leaked and he decided not to go with the drama. With this much excitement going on (I'm being very sarcastic, just in case you can't hear my tone over my keyboard.), people are desperate for any news of him showing even a slightest bit of consideration on his next work. Many of his senior actors such as Lee Soon-jae and Park Geun-hyung mentioned that it makes them a little sad and even disappointed that such a good actor like Won Bin is not actively pursuing his career, just participating in couple of expensive advertisements as a model. Especially for actor Park Geun-hyung, it would be upsetting since he trained Won Bin when he was a new actor and were in the same drama together. We are all patiently waiting for your return, Won Bin! But we really, really want to see you soon (: By. Lily Lee The US and Chinese economies are heavily dependent on each other. In such a codependent economic relationship, actions taken by any one partner have critical implications for the other, Stephen Roach, former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia told the Peoples Daily in a recent interview. His remarks came ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinpings upcoming US visit, during which he will meet with his US counterpart Donald Trump. Roach, also a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute of Global Affairs, pointed out that the US has long been one of Chinas largest and most lucrative export markets in its spectacular 30-plus years of development trajectory. He illustrated that exports went from 5 percent of Chinese GDP in 1979 to nearly 38 percent in pre-crisis 2007 by far the sharpest increase of any major sector in the Chinese economy over that same period. At the same time, the US has also become heavily dependent on China, he noted, explaining that China is now Americas third largest export market and its fastest growing source of foreign demand for American-made products over the past decade. Moreover, with China long the largest foreign holder of US Treasuries and other dollar-based assets, it has played a vital role in funding Americas chronic budget deficits, the scholar said. Their two-way trade increased 211 times from the 2.5 billion dollars in 1979 to 519.6 billion dollars in 2016, Roach added, citing it as another evidence of the increasing dependence between the two economies. The expert also believed the codependency as a very reactive relationship, saying that if one partner alters the terms of engagement, the other will most certainly respond. Specifically, if the US imposes some type of punitive sanctions on China, the Chinese can be expected to respond in kind, he said. It would set in motion a vicious cycle that could well culminate in a US-China trade war that would take a big toll on both economies, as well as triggering spillovers that could put a major crimp in the global economy, the researcher expounded. The Chinese economy remains the single largest contributor to world GDP growth, Roach affirmed Chinas contribution. Chinese GDP growth has slowed significantly from the 10 percent average annual growth recorded during the 1980-2011 period, but of the 3.1 percent global growth in 2016, China contributed over 30 percent of the total, he said, adding that such share dwarfs the contribution of other major economies. Citing the US, Europe and Japan economies as example, he illustrated that while the US is widely praised for a solid recovery, it contributed just 0.3 percentage points to overall world GDP growth, or only about one-fourth of the contribution made by China. A sclerotic European economy is expected to add a mere 0.2 percentage points to world growth, and Japan not even 0.1-percentage point, the scholar underlined. Chinas contribution to global growth is, in fact, 50 percent larger than the combined 0.8-percentage-point contribution likely to be made by all of the so-called advanced economies, the expert stressed. Since China and the US formally initiated discussions on Bilateral Investment Treaty in 2008, there have been 30-plus rounds of painstakingly slow negotiations, Roach pointed out. Significantly, there is now broad agreement between both countries on the principles of cross-border investment especially in terms of transparency, technology transfer, ownership caps and the nondiscrimination of national treatment, he added. If the treaty can be finally concluded, Trump administration has the chance for a quick win in his pro-growth agenda, Roach said, emphasizing that for a growth-starved US economy, there could be no better way of tapping into what promises to be the worlds greatest market expansion in the years ahead. Both nations need to deal with their own unique economic challenges, the economist said, but noted that they have one important strategic objective in common rebalancing. He elaborated that China needs to shift from export- and investment-led growth to private consumption, whereas the US needs to shift from excess consumption to greater impetus from investment and exports. To do that, China needs to save less and consume more, whereas the US needs to do the opposite and consume less and save more, Roach further explained, adding that successful economic restructuring of both nations will allow them to address their relationship from positions of strength. THE owner of a petrol station has agreed to pay 2,000 for two drivers vehicles to be repaired after they were damaged in its car wash. Paul Fewtrell, of Manor Wood Gate, Shiplake, said the Tiger Wash at the Esso Regatta garage in Reading Road ripped the rear spoiler off his 77,000 Range Rover Sport on Tuesday last week. When he took it to be repaired, mechanics put him in touch with another driver whose Range Rover Vogue had been heavily scratched by the car wash on the same day. Mr Fewtrell had to pay more than 600 for a new spoiler and says the other driver, a woman who also lives in Shiplake, paid about 1,400 for new paint and body work on her 4x4, which she had purchased only two weeks earlier. Euro Garages, which owns the petrol station, initially refused to compensate the pair, saying drivers used the car wash at their own risk and this was clearly signposted on site. However, it backed down after Mr Fewtrell told them he had contacted the Henley Standard. The 60-year-old, who works in wealth management, purchased his Range Rover about a year ago and had used the car wash to clean it on several previous occasions. Two weeks ago, he had just driven inside and stopped to let the automatic cycle begin when one of the brushes descended too steeply, clipping the back of the vehicle with a loud bang. Mr Fewtrell initially thought he had been hit by another car but looked in his rear view mirror to see his spoiler, which houses one of the 4x4s brake lights, dangling by its electrical cables. He said: I just went into the car wash as normal when there was this almighty crash and bang which shook the whole car. Theres a sensor thats meant to work out your position and I suppose it didnt work properly. It must have come down with some serious force to take the spoiler clean off like that, so I wonder how dangerous it is. Id used it a couple of times before without any problems so it was quite a shock. Mr Fewtrell went straight to Shiplake Motors, which told him about the other incident when he returned to collect the vehicle. He said: They told me, youre never going to believe it, but a lady has come in with another Range Rover thats even more damaged than yours. I was surprised but it goes to show theres a problem with that car wash. I spoke to two people at the petrol station, the station manager and an area manager but they all said it wasnt the companys liability. I stressed that I wasnt the only one the other lady and I are regular customers whove spent hundreds of pounds over the years on petrol, sandwiches and things like that, so I argued it was in their interest to think twice about turning down our claim. I said it would be bad publicity to ignore it as Id approached the Henley Standard and everyone in Shiplake was talking about it. They werent interested at first but they eventually changed their tune and got back to both of us with a written offer. However, that car wash is still open and I still think they need to either close it or improve the signage because it could happen again. Euro Garages would not comment. Despite long-term uncertainties, Brexit offers a treasure trove of potential opportunities for China-U.K. and China-European Union (EU) relations in the future, with China eyeing a potential free trade agreement with the U.K. for wider world market entrance and RMB internationalization, Chinese experts said. The U.K.s breakaway from EU membership opens the door to freer trade with China, currently the U.K.s sixth largest export destination and third largest source of imports. Reciprocally, it could allow Chinese products that meet U.K. standards to enter a vast swath of Commonwealth nations in Africa, Latin America and South Asia, according to Wei Jianguo, vice chairman of Beijing-based think tank China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), during a CCIEE-moderated panel on Friday. Existing China-U.K. mechanisms are poised to accelerate, Wei said, citing the 1.7-billion-pound ($2.12 billion) Royal Albert Docks project. In May 2013, Chinese developer ABP sealed the mega-deal with London to turn the historic dock into a 3.5-million-square-foot office complex, making it a bustling Asian business port and London's third business district. The project has steadily taken shape, as Chinas CITIC Construction signed a deal to become the projects general contractor in October 2015, witnessed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.K. then-Prime Minister David Cameron. On Nov. 10, 2016, four major Chinese banks joined hands to follow up on its financing. Witnessed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.K. then-Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinas CITIC Construction signed a deal to become general contractor of China's New Financial District in London, Oct 21, 2015. Refuting reports that some Chinese enterprises view Britain as merely a springboard to enter the wider European market, and that Brexit would jeopardize this effect, Wei said that is not the case based on what he observed during recent visits to Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, both strongholds of private companies with global reach. I met people from Huawei, Geely Auto and many more private enterprises. They said they dont see any investment as a stepping stone to another, because each new market is different, Wei said. Brexit might also give a boost to Taiwan-mainland economic integration, according to Wei. If a China-U.K. free trade agreement grants China entry into Commonwealth countries, opportunities will be created for mainland enterprises to strengthen exchange with their Taiwanese counterparts. Panelists expressed optimism about the future of China-U.K. relations, citing, among other factors, the so far mild nature of the U.K.s departure from the EU. The economy of the U.K. has maintained good momentum after the Brexit announcement. In 2016, its GDP increased by 1.8 percent, the highest rate in Western Europe and second fastest in the G7 group after Germany. U.K is a main hub for the offshore trading of Chinese currency. The two countries will continue to benefit from their highly complementary economies, with China in need of help with green finance and the U.K. wanting Chinese exports of mechanical products, textiles, raw materials and high-speed rail investment, said Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher at CCIEE. A China-U.K. free trade agreement will establish Sino-British relations as an example of China's new form of great-power relationships with developed countries. It might also pave the way for a China-EU bilateral investment treaty (BIT), said Ding Yifan, an economist at the State Council's Development Research Center. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council and Chinese President Xi Jinping at G20 meeting, Semptember 2016. Security cooperation the Blue Ocean between China, EU Though China firmly upholds EU integration, as it is in the interest of EU member states, which supports a stable investment environment for China, a weakened EU in the post-Brexit era may display a stronger reliance on the Chinese market, especially pending a combative stance from the Trump administration, panelists pointed out. Experts have encouraged talks about a China-EU bilateral investment treaty, though the talks have stalled since their start in 2013 due to a lack of unanimous recognition of Chinas market economy status in all 28 EU member states. As Wei noted, the EU has apparently stepped up trade talks overall, as it formed a free trade agreement with Canada in October of last year, and pledged to ink one with Japan by end of 2017. According to Feng Zhongping, vice president of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, Chinas Belt and Road Initiative has given rise to a new arena of China-EU cooperation: regional security management. The EU has rich experience in North Africa and the Middle East, and China needs to protect its investment as the Initiative prepares to bring more deals to those regions. Addressing the EU's incessant protectionism, panelists cited EU efforts to thwart Chinas $3 billion Hungary-Serbia high-speed rail project in February, a priority project of the Belt and Road Initiative. Zou Hong, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that China halt its explosive investment in the EU to avoid negative consequences, and to instead carefully search out high-quality investment projects. China will begin to fully explore its new relationship with the EU during the One Belt, One Road summit to be held in Beijing in May, the G20 summit in Hamburg in July, and activities celebrating the 45th anniversary of China-Germany diplomatic ties in October, panelists said. Recently, China-U.S. relations have attracted global attention. While some find endless faults with the trade relationship with China and blame China for Americas decline, we shouldnt overlook the numerous positive aspects of the bilateral relationship, which overall outweigh the disadvantages. One way to explain this truth is to look at data about Chinese travelers. The U.S. trade relationship with China is helping to create a burgeoning middle class in a country with a population of about 1.4 billion people. The growing ranks of affluent Chinese is spearheading an explosion in travel, which is changing global tourism and creating new opportunities for all countries. The influx of Chinese spending benefits the U.S. economy. China and the U.S. enjoy a strong, close relationship. Each year, millions of Chinese visitors travel to the U.S., and when they do, they spend big. According to data by the U.S. Travel Association, China is one of the fastest-growing inbound travel markets to the U.S. In 2015, 2.6 million Chinese travelers visited the U.S., accounting for 7 percent of overseas arrivals. This number continues to grow; and in 2021, the country is projected to be number one in terms of overseas travelers to the U.S., with 5.7 million Chinese visitors. Travelers from China spend more than any other country. In fact, Chinese visitors and students put billions back into the pockets of Americans, each and every year. The economic impact of millions of Chinese visitors to the U.S. is substantial, and is a testament to the fruits of the China-U.S. relationship. Spending by Chinese visitors and students, including money spent on U.S. airlines, reached $30 billion in 2015; and the average spending by Chinese visitors was about $7,200, according to the trade associations data. Most would agree that maintaining a peaceful, productive relationship with China is of the utmost importance for the U.S. It is therefore vital to take a step back and examine all aspects of the bilateral relationship, both positive and negative; more importantly, it is vital for both sides to find ways to emphasize strengthening the positive over the negative. While challenges exist, the bilateral relationship as a whole benefits both sides, as well as the world. A Dublin man said he started growing cannabis to relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression. Reginald Horton (45) was found with 11 cannabis plants, with a street value of 8,800, after his home was raided. Judge John Lindsay imposed a five-month sentence. The defendant, with addresses at Glenview Park and Alderwood Green, both in Tallaght, admitted before Tallaght District Court to cultivating genus cannabis without a licence, as well as possession of cannabis. The search took place at his home at Glenview Park on October 21, 2012. The court heard that the DPP had directed summary disposal on a guilty plea only in the district court. Sergeant Michael Ahern said that gardai obtained a warrant and searched the defendant's home. During the course of the search, gardai found a small amount of cannabis herb, valued at 75, as well as 11 cannabis plants. Convictions The court heard each plant had an estimated street value of 800, making the total value of the cannabis 8,875. Horton further admitted to driving without insurance at Citywest Business Park on September 15, 2015. The court heard that the defendant had 36 previous convictions, including three for uninsured driving. Defence solicitor Eddie O'Connor said that the defendant made full admissions in relation to the cannabis plants when interviewed by gardai. Mr O'Connor said the defendant was cultivating the cannabis for his own use, as he suffers from depression and anxiety. Mr O'Connor said Horton has since attended his GP and is now on prescribed medication to cope with his depression. In relation to the uninsured driving, Mr O'Connor said Horton no longer has a car and accepts he shouldn't have been driving. Mr O'Connor asked the judge not to send Horton to jail. Imposing a five-month sentence and disqualifying Horton from driving for seven years, Judge Lindsay said he had no choice but to send him to jail. An alleged tiger kidnapper was seen buying a litre of milk at a petrol station in the early hours of the morning of the alleged offence, a jury has been told. Jonathan Gill (35) is accused of kidnapping a Drogheda postal worker, his partner and their 10-week-old daughter before stealing more than 600,000 from the man's workplace. It is alleged that Mr Gill was one of a group of five who were involved in holding the family hostage in their own home before moving them to a shed about 90 minutes' drive away. Crying Mr Gill, of Malahide Road, Swords, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to falsely imprisoning Warren Nawn, Jean Marie Nawn and their baby in Drogheda between August 1 and August 2, 2011. The trial has previously heard that the baby started crying as they were being taken to the shed in Swords, where they were held overnight. Ms Nawn said the child was hungry and the raiders stopped to buy him a litre of milk. It is alleged that gardai later recovered the empty container from a partially burnt-out vehicle after the kidnapping ended. Yesterday, a detective gave evidence that, in the aftermath of the kidnapping, he canvassed 24-hour shops in search of one that sold a litre of milk in the early hours of August 1, 2011. Staff at the Topaz Garage in Balgriffin said they had sold a litre of milk during that time. The detective told Vincent Heneghan, prosecuting, that he then pulled up the CCTV footage from the garage. He said he saw a male on the footage buying milk at 5.14am, who he identified as the accused. The trial continues before Judge Elma Sheahan and a jury. An ice cream seller was punched in the chest and threatened with an iron bar by a man who was annoyed he was selling the sweet treats to young children. John Green (24) had to be pulled away from the victim by his sister, who had told him to "cop on". The ice cream seller ran away from his van after he was assaulted, but came back and was able to drive away. Judge Anne Watkin ordered Green to enter into a probation bond for two years. The defendant, of St Louise's Park in Blackrock, admitted before Dun Laoghaire District Court to charges of assault and possession of an iron bar. The incident took place near his home in Blackrock on September 5, 2014. Garda Mairead O'Sullivan said that the victim was selling ice-cream from his van when Green started verbally abusing him. Gda O'Sullivan said Green was unhappy that the man was giving ice cream to young children. She said the victim got out of his van to speak to the defendant and Green tried to punch him in the face, but missed. He then punched him in the chest. Injuries Gda O'Sullivan said there was a building site next door to the housing estate and Green picked up an iron bar and started waving it at the victim. The victim started to run away, leaving his van behind. Gda O'Sullivan said Green's sister intervened and pulled him away, and the ice cream seller returned, got into his van and drove away. Gardai said that the victim did not suffer any injuries during the assault. The court heard that Green has 34 previous convictions, but has not been in trouble for a few years. Defence solicitor Ronnie Lynam said Green has battled difficulties with cannabis and crack cocaine, and these would have been factors at the time of the assault. Mr Lynam said Green recently attended St John of God's for substance abuse and suicide issues. He is also attending psychiatric services and drug treatment services. Ordering Green to enter into a probation bond for two years, the judge said she was giving him a "chance to get his life in order". The woman wanted the candles for a squat she was in (stock pic) A pregnant woman said a prayer before stealing a bag of candles from a church, a court heard. Kelly Ann Jennings (37) was squatting in a house at the time and there was no lighting or heating there. She wanted the candles for light as she was "trying to keep herself safe". Jennings claimed she put some coins in the church box but accepted she should not have taken the bag of candles. Judge Anne Watkin ordered a probation report and adjourned sentencing to a date in April. The defendant, of Bentley House in Dun Laoghaire, admitted stealing a bag of 80 church candles, worth 16. Dun Laoghaire District Court heard Jennings was caught with the items leaving St Joseph's Church, Berkeley Road, Dublin, on December 23, 2014. Gardai said CCTV cameras showed that Jennings put some coins in the church box before the theft. Jennings told the court that she "said a prayer" before taking the items. Defence lawyer Eoin Byrne said Jennings was homeless and living in a squat at the time. She needed light for her own safety. Extraordinary The defendant's parents were both drug addicts and she previously had a drug problem but has been stabilised for years, her lawyer added. Anthony Flynn, from the Inner City Homelessness group, said "it's not the first time" he had heard of people going to extraordinary lengths to keep warm. "People are forced to steal sleeping bags from shopping centres so this sort of thing is not uncommon," he said. "There were a total of 118 rough sleepers in the city on Thursday night and there were no beds available. People are being forced to the limit. "Homeless sleepers in the city are taking unusual measures to keep warm and they are being forced to steal to survive." A spokesperson for the Peter McVerry Trust said it was not aware of the incident and that it "was not an issue that has been replicated before". Father David Donnelly, from St Joseph's Church, said it "was not a great issue". "I had never heard of such instances before this one and it is certainly not a regular occurrence," he said. Fr Donnelly said the usual system of donations with coins was still in place before anybody could take a candle to be used. Gardai were warned that a Kinahan cartel hit team was travelling to the north inner city to carry out a murder this week sparking a major alert. The tip-off led gardai to advise unarmed officers not to stop any suspect vehicles without the assistance of armed back-up. Unarmed gardai were also told not to attend any firearms incidents without having armed officers with them. The alert was issued to gardai working in the capital's north inner city at around 10pm on Thursday. The warning about the hit team came following investigations from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB). Checkpoints Sources say that detectives may have received the tip-off from a planted listening device, a bugged phone call or a garda informer. Gardai who man permanent checkpoints in the vicinity of the Hutch clan in the north inner city were also warned about the hit team. "Thursday night's alert shows that the feud has certainly not ended and tensions remain very high," a senior source said. "Its purpose was to make sure that gardai exercised caution and were very careful. There is a high level of concern that an unarmed garda could get caught in the crossfire between these gangs. These kind of alerts have popped up before and it is important that gardai are as safe as possible while carrying out their duties. "There has not been a murder in this feud for over three months now but that does not mean it is over." There were no firearms incidents in the city on the night and detectives did not intercept a car containing gang members. The development came as sources said that it is believed that members of the Hutch gang once again have access to a large haul of heavy-duty firearms. Tensions could also increase if, as expected, a number of senior cartel figures are back in Ireland next week. There have been no major incidents in the capital's deadly feud since the murder of Noel 'Duck Egg' Kirwan, who was shot dead in Ronanstown on December 22, 2016. Since then, gardai have made a number of significant firearms and drugs seizures from the cartel. A total of 11 men have been shot dead in the bloody feud since it started with the murder of Gary Hutch in Spain in September 2015. It exploded when his associates carried out the Regency Hotel revenge attack in February of last year and murdered cartel figure David Byrne (33). In late December, gardai said that they had foiled at least 15 feud murders in 2016. A figure for this year to date has not been disclosed. Interventions Speaking to the Herald in December, Detective Superintendent Howard, of the DOCB, said the number of feud murders would have been significantly higher had it not been for the last-minute interventions of gardai. "There were at least 15 occasions when we had to react quite quickly because there was an imminent threat to somebody's life," he said. "We're talking minutes to a couple of hours away from the attack being carried out. It's really all hands to the pump at that stage." Earlier this week, Byrne's close pal Richard O'Reilly (32) was jailed for six years after being found in possession of a handgun, ammunition and a can of petrol. O'Reilly had been the subject of a surveillance operation by detectives in the days before he was arrested last June. When the car O'Reilly was in was stopped at Walkinstown, it is believed that he was on the way to kill at least one member of the rival Hutch mob. Chinas educational authorities have approved a new undergraduate program that will teach students how to "nourish life through traditional Chinese medicine." Sixty students will be enrolled in the brand new program this September. The major will be offered at Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine (NUCM) and will take five years to complete. It will focus not only on conventional subjects like traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theories, acupuncture and massage, but will also emphasize nerve-soothing arts such as tea ceremonies, Qi Gong and flower-arranging. The major is named after yangsheng, or life nourishment, a fundamental TCM concept that focuses on the treatment and prevention of disease. It stresses the importance of fostering health and well-being by nurturing the body, mind and spirit. The new majors establishment is in accordance with the needs of modern patients. Due to fast-paced social and economic development in China ... more and more people are suffering from chronic diseases related to lifestyle, Chen Diping, secretary of the Party committee at NUCM, told Thepaper.cn. According to Chen, public focus on healthcare has shifted from curing diseases to spiritual vitality. Anxiety and sub-optimal health have also become commonplace among young people. Under such circumstances, yangsheng is set to become a major research area. Though it has great potential, yangsheng as a medical principle is still unregulated in China, and it lacks dedicated professionals. Among 20 million medical workers who provide TCM healthcare nationwide, very few hold degrees or even specialize in the concept of yangsheng. Meanwhile, fraud related to TCM healthcare has been a major social problem in recent years. The spring scenery in Wuxi, Jiangsu province has attracted many visitors to the renowned city, which is the cradle of Chinas modern industry and commerce. Pink peach flower petals float on the mirror-like emerald river, which encircles the city's ancient architecture. (Xinhua) Voting in Maryland? Here's what you need to know Need help looking up candidates? Here's a breakdown of the critical seats across the state. BEIJING, April 1 -- China's home-grown BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) will expand its cooperation to Thailand and Sri Lanka, and then to the entire Southeast Asia, in a bid to go global, the system's operator has said. Du Li, general manager of Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou Holding Group Co., told Xinhua recently that his company will continue to explore models for international scientific and technical cooperation on BDS, including the joint construction of base stations, joint technical development and research, personnel training and exchanges, and others. Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou established the first batch of three overseas Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) and its networking for BDS in Chonburi Province, eastern Thailand in December 2013, while it is also planning to build a China-ASEAN science and technology city in Thailand for promoting BDS applications. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) consists of 10 countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou this year will cooperate with Sri Lankan related authorities to develop at least 10 CORS in the South Asian country for such applications as land surveying and mapping, ocean fishery and disaster warning, Du said. The establishment of CORS in Thailand and Sri Lanka will extend the BDS coverage at least 3,000 km more towards Southeast Asia and South Asia, Du said. Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou is based in Wuhan, capital city of Hubei Province in central China. It is in charge of the operations and services of BDS, a GPS-like global positioning system. By the end of 2016, BDS already had a constellation of 32 satellites.The Belt and Road Initiative is an opportunity for China's space science and technology, said Li Deren, a professor at a state key laboratory in Wuhan University located in Wuhan. "Our priority is to expand BDS from China to the frontline of the Belt and Road Initiative, and Optics Valley BeiDou is a pioneer," Li said. China-made smartphones, such as Huawei smartphones, will be good platforms for BDS to go overseas as they carry Chinese chips, Li said. BEIJING, April 1 -- Steady and healthy trade ties between China and the United States will benefit both sides as well as the world. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed trade-related executive orders and one of them was aimed at reviewing the cause of massive U.S. trade deficits. The 90-day investigation on "trade abuses" will focus on a dozen U.S. trade partners including China, and the data will be used to shape trade policy of the new U.S. administration. Indeed, China is America's largest source of trade deficits, which reached 347 billion U.S. dollars last year. However, the figures are misleading as they do not truly reflect the China-U.S. trade relationship. Bilateral trade in goods hit 519.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, an increase of 207 times compared with the figure in 1979 when the two countries established diplomatic relations, according to the Chinese Commerce Ministry. Trade in services between the two countries exceeded 110 billion dollars last year and two-way investment reached 170 billion dollars. Now China has become the largest trade partners of the United States and the United States is China's second largest. Obviously, both countries, especially the United States, have greatly benefited from such a close trade relationship. From 2001 to 2016, U.S. exports of services to China increased 15-fold, with the U.S. service trade surplus rising 29-fold, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said. In 2015, bilateral trade and two-way investment created about 2.6 million jobs in the United States and contributed 216 billion dollars to the U.S. economy, equivalent to 1.2 percent of the U.S. GDP, said a report from the U.S.-China Business Council. China is expected to be the world's largest importer by 2022, when U.S. exports to China will surpass 530 billion dollars and create more than 3.34 million jobs. As China and the United States account for a third of the global economy and bilateral trade accounts for a fifth of global trade, the steady and healthy development of China-U.S. trade ties is significant for the stability of the world economy, which is struggling to recover. A trade war between the two largest engines for global economic growth will benefit neither country and will bring disastrous consequences. As to the massive trade deficits with China, it is the result of the evolution of global distribution of industries and global value chains. China, as a main manufacturer of staple commodities especially consumer goods, has advantages in labor-intensive industries compared with the United States. China's trade surplus with the United States is mainly in goods trade due to imbalanced global trade rules, under which service trade liberalization is undergoing a slow process. U.S. restrictions on exports in such areas as high technology have further hindered U.S. exports to China. In addition, more than 40 percent of the trade surplus was created by foreign-invested enterprises in China, which would be the first to be affected by a trade war. If calculated through the value-added approach instead of the existing rules of the origin in trade, the U.S. trade deficit with China will be only half of the current volume, the U.S.-China Business Council said. < As mutually beneficial cooperation in economy and trade has become one of the pillars in China-U.S. ties, it is believed that Washington will seize the opportunity to work with China to build a relationship that upholds the principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation. HICKORY Mountain View Elementary school students took part in a special opportunity Friday morning with representatives from Google leading them in a hands-on lesson in coding. The event, Google CS First, is a nationwide tour that has been to more than 4,600 schools. Mountain View Elementary is the first North Carolina school for the program. Google spokesperson Alex Sanchez said before the event the students, from grades four through six, would code a short project during the event. The students, gathered two to a laptop, worked using a program called Scratch. The program allows coding via drag and drop blocks, instead of typing code. Were excited to be here today. Theyll be coding a short story called Adventure on the High Seas, Sanchez said. It teaches them valuable skills that we think are really critical for future success. Sanchez said there are around 500,000 computer science jobs unfilled in the U.S. By 2020, experts say that number will double. A lot of these skills are incredibly valuable for kids to have a leg up moving forward. We want to inspire them to use code to do cool things, Sanchez said. Coding is more than ones and zeros. It is an opportunity for them to be creative online. U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry attended the event and said he hopes the students can be prepared to succeed in the future. Google has amazing programs in education, and this is a great charitable act they are bringing to school districts, McHenry said. These kids know much more about computers than any generation. Their capacity to learn coding, learn how to do sophisticated things is really amazing. McHenry, in remarks to students, called Googles products a benefit to humanity. He said Catawba and Hickory schools have adapted well to introduce computer sciences. If we dont adapt and change, we are going to have shortfalls in computer science fields, McHenry said. A program like this, I hope will inspire a number of these boys and girls to pursue this field. Marty Sharpe, chief technology officer with Catawba County Schools, said he hopes they can draw more women, such as his daughter, into computer science. We are trying to integrate a lot of the coding into what they are doing in the classroom. This is not a separate computer science class, but is integrated with social studies, science, math and English, Sharpe said. Sharpe said the schools use offline activities and games to teach students coding principles. Our goal was to get them excited about computer science. There are so many jobs opening up in it, Sharpe said. Two students, Genesis Waldrop and Kelly Jakobs, said they had never coded before but were enjoying it. I think what were making is going to turn out well, Waldrop said. NEWTON Newton Police and the Conover Police Municipal Narcotics Enforcement Team (MNET) conducted a search of a room at Hewitts Rooming House on South College Avenue in Newton on Thursday afternoon, according to a press release. Officers seized 29 grams of cocaine, 30 grams of heroin, 70 grams of marijuana and a large amount of cash during the search. The seized drugs have a street value of $24,375, according to the release. Anthony Towan Roberson, 50, of Newton, and Al-Malik Saalik, 23, of St. Louis, Mo., were arrested in connection to the seizure. Saalik is Robersons son. The men received felony charges of one count of trafficking a schedule I controlled substance, one count of trafficking a schedule II controlled substance, one count of possession with intent of a schedule VI controlled substance, one count of possession with intent of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a daycare and one count of maintaining a dwelling for controlled substances. According to the release, several complaints had been made about the room, including possible drug activity. Roberson had rented the room. Roberson was issued a $75,000 secured bond. Saalik was issued a $100,000 secured bond. According to the release, the investigation is ongoing. BEIJING, April 1 -- China has issued more than 98 million e-chip passports, which contain the personal information of the bearer, the Ministry of Public Security said Saturday. Since chipped passports were launched in March 2012, 6.6 million were issued that year alone and the annual average rate of issuing new passports grew by 20 percent. The ministry estimates that it will have issued in excess of 100 million e-chip passports by the end of April. At present, smart cards have replaced the paper permits issued to Hong Kong and Macao residents commuting between the Chinese mainland and the two regions, said the ministry. The ministry has simplified procedures and delegated power to local administrations aiming to provide convenience to people who made such application. In 2016, 79 million residents of the Chinese mainland held chipped passports for exit or entry, 30.6 percent of the residents who travelled outside the mainland. This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ The Andhra Pradesh Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday unearthed unaccounted wealth and assets estimated to be worth Rs80 crore from the properties of state roads and buildings departments engineer-in-chief and his family members. The book value of the seized assets is placed at Rs8 crore but official estimates suggest that their market value could be over Rs80 crore. Five lockers belonging to the official were yet to be opened. The ACB raids began on Saturday morning and were continuing at over 20 places across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka till evening. In Hyderabad alone, searches were carried out at 11 places owned by engineer-in-chief M Gangadharam and his relatives. ACB teams swooped on Gangadharams and his relatives houses simultaneously based on the information that he allegedly made illegal wealth thorough bribes and benami contracts. The ACB recovered Rs40 lakh in cash and Rs50 lakh worth gold from Gangadharams house at Kukatpally and Rs42 lakh in cash from his benami contractors Nagabhushanam and Visweswaraiah in Guntur. Sources said Gangadharam came on ACBs radar early this year when the state roads department proposed an increase in the cost of expanding the 9.6 km Visakhapatnam- Bheemili beach road from Rs65 crore to Rs195 crore. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In what is set to be a pioneering event, the Raza Foundation is organising the countrys first poetry biennale at the Triveni Kala Sangam in Delhi, in which 45 poets from 15 Indian languages will participate. Titled VAK: The Raza Biennale of Indian Poetry, the three-day event that starts on April 7 is one of the most ambitious projects of the Raza Foundation, set up by the late illustrious artist SH Raza. The biennale is being helmed by Hindi poet and former bureaucrat Ashok Vajpeyi, who is also the foundations executive trustee. The event is being helmed by Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi. (Wikimedia Commons) We want to bring to the attention of the people of Delhi the magic of poetry, not just in Hindi, English and Urdu but also languages like Kashmiri, Assamese and Manipuri. For this inaugural festival, we are bringing in poets, both well known and those upcoming ones who have been recommended by stalwart poets, Vajpeyi said. The festival will see each invited poet getting 15 minutes for reading selected poems, including translations. The invited poets include K. Satchidanandan (Malayalam), Sharmila Ray (English), Kanji Patel (Gujarati), Kutti Revathi (Tamil) and Ratan Thiyam (Manipuri). We would through this poetry feel, see and hear an India which is on the move, which is changing and inventing new imagination, which is accommodative and inclusive, which lives and celebrates plurality, Vajpeyi said. Besides readings, there would be three panel discussions with writers and intellectuals on Poetry as Freedom, Poetry as Memory and Poetry as Conscience. Keki Daruwala, Sitanshu Yashaschandra, Shiv Visvanathan, Udayan Vajpeyi, Ashis Nandy, Ramin Jahanbegloo, Shamim Hanfi, Ananya Vajpeyi, Krishna Kumar and Apoorvanand are among those participating in the seminars. The poetry biennale is being entirely funded by Razas personal financial resources and no state or corporate assistance has been sought, the organisers said. Raza, a widely acknowledged master of Modern Indian Art, was deeply interested in other arts especially poetry. Unusually, he inscribed many lines of poetry in his canvases reviving a convention of miniature painting. These lines came from the Vedas, the Upanishads, Sanskrit, Hindi and Urdu Poetry and included Kabir, Tulsidas, Surdas, Ghalib, Mahadevi, Agyeya, Muktibodh, Faiz, among others. The biennale is conceived as a three edition event. The first one will centre on Indian Poetry, the second in 2019 would be featuring Asian Poetry and the third in 2021 (Razas birth centenary year) would be devoted to World poetry. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. Timeless. Haunting. Incredibly powerful. Those are some of the words jury members used to describe Warren Richardsons swift, clandestine shot of a man handing a baby through barbed wire over the Serbia-Hungary border. The image won the 2016 World Press Photo of the Year and first prize in the awards Spot News Category as well. Richardsons photo is part of an exhibition of award-winning photojournalism on display in Delhi until Monday. The World Press Photo Foundations annual contest honours the best across the world: 42 photographers from 21 countries won the 2016 awards. From heartbreaking portraits of missing Syrians refugees to a bleak Pyongyang skyline; from vividly intimate shots of chameleons to documenting rape in the US Army, the photos are both visceral and profound. This is a mere peek into a rich collection that spans both the globe and the breadth of reportage. (Warren Richardson, Australia Hope for a New Life) A baby is handed through a hole in a razor wire barrier to a Syrian refugee who has already managed to cross the border from Serbia into Hungary. The photo shot around 3 am on August 28, 2015 was taken in moonlight, without a flash, because that would alert the police. By then, Richardson had been waiting with a group of Syrian refugees for nearly five hours. I was exhausted by the time I took the picture, he said in his winners statement. (Kevin Frayer, Canada, Getty Images Chinas Coal Addiction) Chinese men pull a tricycle in a neighbourhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China, in November 2015. The province in North China is a leading producer of the countrys coal annual production crosses 300 million tonnes. (David Guttenfelder, USA, for The Associated Press / National Geographic / The New York Times North Korea: Life in the Cult of Kim) The skyline of central Pyongyang, North Korea, at dusk on April 12, 2011. The photographer was granted access to a country where local media are strictly regulated and foreign media are rarely allowed inside. He visited North Korea some 40 times between 2008 and 2015. (Daniel Berehulak, Australia, for The New York Times An Earthquakes Aftermath, Nepal) Residents forage through their destroyed homes, gathering salvageable belongings in Bhaktapur, Nepal, in April 2015. On April 25, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Kathmandu, followed by a series of aftershocks, that left more than 8,000 dead and over 21,000 injured. (Dario Mitidieri, Italy, for CAFOD Lost Family Portraits) A Syrian family in a refugee camp in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, on December 15, 2015. The chair represents a missing family member. According to UNHCR, by the end of 2015, more than 370,000 Syrian refugees were living in camps in the Beqaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. (Tim Laman, USA, for National Geographic Tough Times for Orangutans) Orphaned baby orangutans get a ride from their night cages to a patch of forest where they can play for a day, at the International Animal Rescue facility in Ketapang, Borneo. Orangutans are found in the wild only in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. Sumatran orangutans are listed as a critically endangered species, with around 7,000 living out of captivity. What: World Press Photo Exhibition Delhi When: 11 am to 7 pm, Until April 3 Where: India International Centre, 40, Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate Nearest metro station: JLN Stadium Entry is free. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A demand to scrap electronic voting machines (EVM) intensified on Saturday as the Congress alleged an EVM malfunctioned during an official media demonstration ahead of an assembly byelection in Madhya Pradesh next week. Leaders from the Congress which is the opposition party in the state said the paper trail attached to the EVM generated a receipt with the BJPs lotus symbol when chief electoral officer Saleena Singh had pressed the button for the Samajwadi Party candidate. But Singh dismissed the charges and said the EVM wasnt fully calibrated. When you have a fully calibrated machine, this cannot happen like this. But they (journalists) misrepresented the facts without trying to understand the whole issue, she told HT. Singh later said at a hurriedly called press conference that she and the Bhind collecter have sent a report to the Election Commission after it sought details of the incident. A purported video of the incident went viral on social media where Singh allegedly sounds surprised on seeing the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) receipt. She is also purportedly heard laughing and warning journalists that they could face police detention if the incident was publicised. Local media widely reported the allegations but HT couldnt independently verify the video clip. The trial on Friday was held because the byelection for the Ater assembly seat scheduled for April 9 is the first time the EC uses VVPAT in the state. The paper trail was ordered by the Supreme Court last year as proof for the voter that her vote was correctly cast. VVPAT is a machine that dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home. The Congress said it would approach the election commission and several Aam Aadmi Party leaders including Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal demanded that EVMs be scrapped and a probe ordered. The Congress has now demanded that bypolls to Ater and Bandhavgarh also on April 9 should be held via ballot paper. EVMs are under scrutiny following a clamour of allegations from several parties especially the Bahujan Samaj Party and AAP that EVMs were tampered to benefit the BJP during the recently concluded five state elections. A petition challenging the efficacy of EVMs is in the SC. According to journalists present at the demonstration on Friday, when Singh pushed the button number 4 on the EVM during a press conference, the printout of the VVPAT machine bore a lotus symbol and name of a candidate Satyadev Pachouri. When she pushed the first button, the Congress symbol was on the printout. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)s symbol elephant and an independent candidates symbol hand pump were generated when button numbers two and three were pushed, respectively, the scribes reported. Congress leaders say this order of VVPAT receipts didnt correspond with the order of candidates on the EVM. They say the EVM order was: BJP at number 1, Congress at 2, Bahujan Mukti Morcha at 3 and SP at 4. The BSP isnt fighting these bypolls and there is no Satyadev Pachouri in the electoral fray. Singh told HT that some people were trying to create an illusion that only the lotus symbol was printed during the demonstration. In a dummy voting process or a demo anything can come first. When the first button was pressed, lotus came. When the next button was pressed hand symbol came. That should have clarified the matter. But the Congress wasnt convinced with state vice-president and MLA Govind Singh alleging the demonstration established it beyond doubt that elections in Uttar Pradesh, in particular, were rigged by the BJP and that bypolls to Ater and Bandhavgarh would also be fixed. He demanded a high-level inquiry on EVMs and role of officers, including Singh, involved in the election process. Digvijaya Singh, Congress general secretary, posted the purported video of the trial on his Twitter page and wrote, Magic of machines used in Uttar Pradesh. Vote to lotus on pushing the button before chief electoral officer. State BJP chief spokesperson Deepak Vijayvargiya said his party had complete faith in the election process being conducted for 67 years. The Congress too should respect the constitutional bodies. There was no manipulation in the machine, he said. This comes roughly three weeks after BSP chief Mayawati alleged that EVMs had been manipulated to ensure a BJP landslide in Uttar Pradesh and engineered victories even in constituencies with large Muslim populations, which is said to be hostile to the saffron party. Kejriwal had also said that a fourth of his partys votes was transferred to the Akali Dal-BJP combine in Punjab. The BJP and the EC have dismissed the charges. (with agency inputs) Actor Saif Ali Khan has reacted to reports that a British national, Antony Ray, used the actors pictures on the dating app Tinder to start a relationship with a UK- based woman, Anna Rowe. On being asked about the incident, Saif tells us in a text message, I felt bad for the lady and was complimented the man chose my picture. However, the 46-year-old actor says that an incident like this should make people take note of the hazards of looking for love on mobile applications and websites. This is a good example of the risks of online dating. There is a parallel universe out there and people need to be aware that they may be taken for a ride. Sometimes the deception can even lead to violence and death, as in Israel a few years ago when a boy was lured into enemy territory by a fake date and was killed, he says. Khan adds that while people need to be careful, even apps need to verify the identity of the users. A new world requires new awareness and rules like authentication of identity for certain sites should certainly exist. These will always be a risk though, he says. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Had it not been for demonetisation, India would have taken six to seven years to leap frog into the era of digital banking, according to KV Kamath, the president of New Development Bank. Demonetisation was the economic activity undertaken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government, which weeded out 86% of the bank notes in circulation in hope to curb black money and aid digital transformation, causing the biggest cash crunch in the world history. Speaking to Hindustan Times, the BRICS bank chief also said that the pile of non-performing assets (NPA) that the public sector banks were sitting on needed to be addressed at the earliest. The former ICICI Bank chief said that higher aspiration of more than a billion Indians could easily push the countrys growth rate to 9%. Indias GDP growth is estimated at 7.1% for 2016-17. Talking about the challenges in the economy, he said: There is a need to systemically resolve the issue of bad debt...the finance minister (Arun Jaitley) has said that the issue will be resolved soon. Lets hope the problem is addressed. The idea of a bad bank can work only if it has the required funds, he added. Drawing analogy between India and China, Kamath said that Chinas focus on infrastructure and rural sector much earlier, as compared to India, has given it the edge. The newly launched multilateral agency, set up by the BRICS countries, has plans to lend about $3 billion totally to all its members in 2017. This is almost double of what the 2016 lending figures. India is expected to get about $600-700 million of the total pie. Kamath also said that more than the global economic slowdown, volatility in every sphere including the commodity and foreign exchange markets was a key challenge that the BRICS countries needed to address. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Layers of dust have covered bound volumes of Bengals important 19th and 20th century books and periodicals on the first floor room that is hardly opened. On the ground floor, in the room designated for the librarian, shelves are full with publications from the 18th and 19th century, printed in India and abroad. The collection even includes The General History of the Mogol Empire: From its Foundation by Tamerlane, to the Late Emperor Orangzeb, printed in London in 1709. But the members hardly have access to these gems in Serampore Public Library. Established in 1871 at the heart of the town that played a crucial role in Bengal Renaissance during the 19th century, it is run by a lone Group D staff, as the positions for the librarian and two library assistants are lying vacant for years. The only room full of readers was the students corner that houses text books and those on competitive exams. Ironically, books on competitive exams are keeping alive the trickle of readers to these once-grand repositories of knowledge. The scene is no different in Konnagar and Mahesh Public library, both about 150 years old and trying to keep their head above water by attracting students aspiring to crack competitive exams for jobs. The Konnagar Public Library & Free Reading Room was established on April 01, 1858 at Konnagar, Hoogly district. (Samir Jana/HT Photo) Footfall decreased over the years due to change in reading pattern but we still attracted about a hundred people daily. Presently, though, there is only a Group D staff and people are not getting service. Students help themselves to find out books stacked in their room, said Chapal Chakraborty, a member of the managing committee. Members of the committee volunteer for the library in their spare time. Chakraborty was not exaggerating as it is impossible for a Group D employee to identify books and suggest them to potential readers. Ironically, these are the very institutions that acted as repositories of knowledge and nurtured the Bengal renaissance that is regarded to have flourished between Raja Rammohun Roy (1772-1833) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). The books and the public library movement were integral to Bengal Renaissance. It picked up pace in the 1850s in the immediate aftermath of the enactment of the Public Library Act, 1851, in the UK, and a series of public libraries and free reading rooms came up in the first decade itself. Many of the libraries established around that time are still operational. But all of them are struggling to attract readers due to lack of staff and poor service, said Ashok Basu, secretary of Bengal Library Association. Uttarpara Jaikrishna Public Library was established on 1859 at Uttarpara, Hoogly district. This library is also facing an acute shortage of librarians. (Samir Jana/HT Photo) According to government records, there are more than 3,000 vacancies among the 5,520 sanctioned posts for about 2,000 functional public libraries. Among the libraries founded in Bengal in the 1850s are Rishi Rajnayaran Basu Smriti Pathagar in Midnapore (1851), founded byRajnayaran Basu, a prominent face of the Renaissance, and Uttarpara Jaykrishna Public Library (1859), founded by Jaykrishna Mukherjee, another celebrated personality. Other libraries include Hooghly Public Library (1854), Krishnanagar Public Library (1856) and Konnagar Public Library (1858). Jaykrishna Public Library was patronised by luminaries of Bengal Renaissance, including Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar (educationist, social reformer), Michael Madhusudan Dutt (poet, pioneer of Bengali drama), Keshab Chandra Sen (Huindu philosopher, social thinker) and Mahendralal Sarkar (who founded Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in 1876 that is one of the countrys oldest research institutes). It is one of the three Grade A libraries in the state. Prominent personalities, from linguist Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay to former chief minister Jyoti Basu, demanded that it be declared a library of national importance because of its rich heritage and exceptional collection of rare and old books and manuscripts. Of the 1.65 lakh books in its collection, more than 60,000 are considered rare. ONCE A VAST REPOSITORY OF KNOWLEDGE Sl no. Name Set up in District No of books Present staff/ Sanctioned strength 1 Rishi Rajnayaran Basu Smriti Pathagar 1851 West Midnapore 35,000 2/4 2 Jaykrishna Public Library 1859 Hooghly 1.65 lakh 8/24 3 Hooghly Public Library - Hooghly Closed now - 4 Krishnanagar Public Library 1856 Nadia 30,000+ 2/4 5 Konnagar Public Library 1858 Hooghly 40,000 2/4 6 Mahesh Public Library 1869 Hooghly 25,000 1/4 7 Serampore Public Library 1871 Hooghly 40,000 1/4 Jaykrishna Public Library has 24 sanctioned posts but is presently being serviced by only eight people, half of who are group D staffs. There has been no librarian for months, said a library assistant. We are already struggling to provide service to the hundred odd people who visit every day, but the district magistrate has instructed to open a students corner focusing on books on competitive exams, another staff said. The district magistrates order to Jaykrishna Jaykrishna Public Library came following state library minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury decision to revive these age-old libraries by changing focus. We have asked the libraries to increase importance on books and journals on competitive exams and strengthening career guidance units to keep the libraries relevant, Chowdhury told HT, without committing anything on filling up vacancies. The vacancies were created during the erstwhile Left Front regime, he argued. The Midnapore library has two staff members instead of four and at least five thousand books from its collections, including rare and old ones, have been damaged due to lack of maintenance. Konnagar Public Library and the one in Krishnagar are in similar state. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses has not only affected peoples food habits, but has also left a big dent on the 400-year-old bone craft in Lucknow. Reason: Those engaged in the trade are not getting supply of buffalo bones after the state government launched the drive. Initially, it was thought to be a routine drive, but things got worse when almost all the slaughterhouses in the city downed their shutters, said a craftsman. The Allahabad high court had ordered closure of three slaughterhouses in Motijheel, Fatehganj and Maulviganj areas of the city on March 11, 2015. But, all these kept operating illegally. However, these were shut after the state governments recent crackdown. Over 350 families are engaged in bone craft. In Lucknow, Hussainabad, Daulatganj, Thakurganj, Yaseenganj, Wazir Bagh, Billaujpura, Khadra and Mehbullapur areas are the hub of bone carving trade that is our citys legacy since the nawab era, said Israr Ahmed, a craftsman who received a Presidents Award for his fine carvings in 2016. He said the craftsmen buy buffalo bones on daily or bi-weekly basis. If slaughterhouses remain closed for a few more days, bone carving trade will be adversely hit and artisans would be left in a hand-to-mouth situation, added Ahmed. The art of carving bones or horns into intricate pieces got maximum patronage during the era of Nawabs. Lucknow used to be the centre of bone craft, which was largely done on ivory tusks, said Ahmed, who has spent 40 years in the bone carving trade. An intricate jewellery box made of buffalo bone (Deepak Gupta/HT Photo) However, the trade virtually stopped after a global ban on ivory came into effect in the 1990s. But the craftsmen found an alternative and switched over to carving buffalo and camel bones, pointed out Mohammed Jalaluddin, another craftsman, hailing from Hussainabad. Buffalo bones are used for making small artefacts while camel bones are used for creating bigger ones, added Jalaluddin. Buffalo bone costs Rs 45 per kg while camel bone costs more than double at Rs 110 per kg. Buffalo bones are widely used in Lucknow as camel bones are scarce. On an average, a trader buys around two to three quintal bones from slaughterhouses as theres huge demand for this artwork abroad, he said. The bones are first cleaned, trimmed using heavy duty grinders and then boiled with soda for at least four hours to give them a clean look. The bones are dipped in a solution of hydrogen peroxide and kept under the sun for around seven hours. The pieces are then joined together using adhesive and then comes the engraving part, added Jalaluddin. Craftsmen make several patterns using miniature chisels, drills and special tools that are not easily available in the market. The final product is then buffed, polished and painted, he said. Other than UP, bone craft is popular in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Rajasthan and Chennai. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The United Nations on Friday issued a statement, welcoming efforts leading to peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Xinhua reported. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a press release that the UN had noted the recent statements by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and expressed "full support" for the call to the sides to refrain from any actions that would undermine the ceasefire agreement. "We welcome all efforts to reduce the level of tensions and call on all sides to demonstrate the necessary political will to resume substantive negotiations leading to a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," he said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. I wonder what Shakespeare would make of Yogi Adityanath and the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh? His Romeo and Juliet is the unforgettable story of illicit love. Though it ends in tragedy, their death also represents the triumph of their spirit and the shaming of their families. They may have been thwarted in life but through their suicides their love emerges victorious. Alas, the Yogi would probably call it love jihad. He would side with the Montagues and Capulets not the teenage lovers. Their romance would not soften his stony heart. Instead, his police would spy on them, intercept their secret notes, eavesdrop on their trysts and prevent their kisses. Cupid is not a deity the Yogi worships. Star-crossed lovers do not evoke his sympathy. In fact, they incur his wrath. So if the ladies of Lucknow have taken to Shakespeares famous lament O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? its likely to be in vain. The Yogis police wont allow the states young men to respond. They do not approve of boys and girls sitting together on benches, meeting surreptitiously in cafes, sneaking off to the movies. Holding hands when the lights go down or snogging in the dark is simply out of the question. The ascetic does not understand the thrill of romance. He cannot imagine the charm of courtship. For him affection, it seems, is literally calf-love. This, sadly, is the situation that prevails in Uttar Pradesh and its a direct, if not inevitable, outcome of the Yogis anti-Romeo squads. Heavens what a name! No one would defend what we delicately call eve-teasing but the enthusiasm and persistence with which its being battled by the UP police can only lead to injustice, pain and suffering. And broken hearts too! In the governments defence UP health minister Siddharth Nath Singh has called it police vigilantism. But this oxymoron is more misleading than disarming. Its a blatant contradiction. In fact, its an attempt at clever obfuscation. The Oxford dictionary describes a vigilante as a member of a self-appointed group undertaking law enforcement but without legal authority. The police, therefore, can never be vigilantes. Furthermore, in this instance, they are operating under the Yogis instructions. Hes the one whos set them loose. They havent ventured out on their own. Indeed, its even possible their hearts are with the Romeos they have to chase or the Juliets they seek to deny. To appreciate why hes wrong I suggest the Yogi listen carefully to the lyrics of Dean Martins famous number The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane. It starts suggestively: The naughty lady of shady lane has hit the town like a bomb, the back fence gossip aint been this good since Mabel ran off with Tom. It would appear shes a lady of easy virtue, an impression enhanced by what follows. You should see how she carries on with her admirers galore, she must be giving them quite a thrill the way they flock to her door. She throws those come hither glances at every Tom, Dick and Joe. When offered some liquid refreshment, the lady never never says no. If by now the Yogis convinced the ladys not a gent he should wait because things are not what they seem. Dont give up in disgust. The naughty lady of shady lane, she is delectable, quite respectable and shes only nine days old The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Reeling under scorching heat, parts of Uttarakhand are likely to receive some relief in the form of rain over the next few days. Light rain and thunder showers are likely to occur at isolated places, especially in higher reaches, in Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts on April 2-3, the MeT Centre said. Post April 3, the spread of rainfall is likely to extend further to other parts of the state as well, it forecast. While light to moderate rain and thunder showers are likely to occur at a few places in Uttarakhand on April 4, a wet spell of the similar intensity is likely to occur at most places in the state on April 5, said Bikram Singh, the director of the Dehradun MeT Centre. Thereafter, from April 6 to 8, a slight decrease in precipitation seems to be on the cards, he said. Notably, temperatures are running over 5 to 8 degrees above normal for this time of year in most parts of the state for the past one week. Dehradun also witnessed its hottest day in the month of March in the past 17 years on Friday, with 35.9 degrees Celsius, which was over seven degrees above normal. According to the MeT Centre, Uttarakhand witnessed 44.6 millimetres rainfall or a deficit of around 18% from March 1 till 29, against the normal quantity of rain (54.2 mm) which should have been received during this period. The likelihood of rain showers has brought cheers to the tourists who are visiting the hill towns of Uttarakhand these days. We planned to visit the Garhwal hills for a break from the soaring mercury in Delhi, but found out that things are not much different here either. We hope we enjoy a relatively cooler stay over the next few days, said Debabrata Bhattacharya, a retired banker who was visiting Tehri on Saturday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON DEHRADUN: In a move to check the flight of industries from Uttarakhand, the BJP-led Centre and the state government have mutually agreed to bear the cost of 100% excise duty exemption for industrial investors in the region. The Centre has agreed to share a major part (58%) of the excise duty and the rest will be borne by us. The move would help attract capital investment and boost the states dwindling industrial sector, state finance minister Prakash Pant said, adding that the investors will have to pay the fee initially but the entire amount will be reimbursed. The understanding was reached between the two sides at the 13th meeting of the Goods &Services Tax (GST) Council, presided over by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, in Delhi on Friday. Once the GST Bill is passed in Parliament, it (understanding) would enable the industrial investors to avail of excise duty exemption, which would further boost the industrial sector in the state, Pant, who represented Uttarakhand in the GST Council meeting, clarified. The GST Bill has long been passed by the Lok Sabha. The Centre hopes that the proposed law is likely to get a smooth passage in the Rajya Sabha as well. Pant said the Centre agreed to share 58% of the cost of the excise duty exemption when he mentioned about the state governments inability to bear the full price. According to the minister, industrial investors are entitled to excise duty exemption and other tax holiday benefits, as per the concessional industrial package announced by the erstwhile Vajpayee government for the state in 2003 for 10 years . Later, the package was cancelled mid way by the UPA government at the Centre. In the fiscal 2015-16 alone, the industrial investors got the excise exemption to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore, Pant said suggesting that the then government lacked sufficient funds to bear the cost of the excise exemption, which resulted in the flight of industries from the state causing an industrial downturn. In the seven years (since 2003 when the concessional industrial package was announced by the Centre) the state had witnessed a tremendous growth both in terms of GDP and per capita income. The scenario is likely to look up again following the understanding reached between them (Centre) and us, Pant said adding that it (understanding) would also help attract industrial investment for the states 10 hill districts. Plans are underway to set up eco-friendly industries in the hills. The industries would be information technology or agro-based, he added. ENDS: Scientists and experts from 49 member countries of the Commonwealth will gather here on April 3 to participate in a five-day forestry conference, an official said on Saturday. It is for the second time India will host the conference. In 1968, Delhi hosted the event. The 19th Commonwealth Forestry Conference at Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute will focus on biodiversity conservation and management, livelihood and economic security from forests, diversification, multiple use and sustainable harvest, forest and climate change. Over 500 delegates will share their ideas and researches on Forests for Prosperity and Posterity in consonance with Aichi targets of the UN Convention on Conservation of Biological Diversity (UNC-CBD) and Sustainable Development Goals. Addressing a conference in the state capital, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Educations director general SC Gairola said, The conference will cover three main agendas- global warming, productivity of forest and ways of increasing forest cover. We aim at extracting information and ways of dealing with these issues through this event. The event will witness four plenary sessions and altogether 21 technical sessions. There will be a global forestry conclave to deliberate on the role of forestry in implementing international agreements in Commonwealth members and beyond. A male leopard was killed after being run over by a vehicle on Friday night in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand, forest officials said. Morning walkers found the body on Saturday and informed officials who then sent the carcass for a post-mortem. After the post-mortem, the DNA of the leopard was sent to the Wildlife Institute of India and the body was burnt. There was a possibility that the leopard, around one-a-half-year old, was injured in a fight with another big cat, and then came towards the road where it was run over by some vehicle, said forest officer Prayag Dutt Bhatt. The exact cause of the death will be known after completion of investigations. According to data available with the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), 157 leopards 31 in Uttarakhand -- died across the country since the start of this year; 436 leopard deaths were recorded in 2016. There are close to 14,000 leopards in the country. Bageshwar has been witnessing increased presence of leopards in city limits; a few weeks ago, a leopard entering a home in the night was sighted in a CCTV footage. The stage is set for an intense electoral battle in Delhi with all major political parties setting their sights on the three civic bodies of the national capital going to polls on April 23. What initially seemed to be a three-cornered contest initially between the ruling BJP, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress has turned multi-cornered with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Yogendra Yadavs Swaraj India joining the poll fray. Coming immediately after the assembly elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, the Delhi municipal polls have caught much attention with all political parties for the first time ever lining up their big guns for campaigning. BJP chief Amit Shah has deputed Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe along with three central ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh and Sanjeev Balyan to monitor the elections while the Congress too is deploying its bigwigs in a desperate comeback bid in the national capital after drawing a blank in the 2015 assembly polls. While the BJP is going to the civic polls with huge confidence following the victories in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and forming the governments in Goa and Manipur despite coming second, the Congress is also buoyed by its win over the AAP in Punjab. Political analysts say while the BJP is keen to see the decline of the AAP, the Congress is fighting a revival battle and the other parties are contesting merely for notional purposes. For BJP, AAP is a bigger threat than Congress. So, they (BJP) want to see the political demise of AAP. Congress is trying to correct the perception that it is going down in all states, said Sanjay Kumar of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) For the Congress, party vice-chief Rahul Gandhi opened the campaign with a rally in Ramlila Grounds on March 7. Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has emerged as a star campaigner for the Congress after he single-handedly punctured the high-voltage AAP campaign in his state. He will target the substantial Punjabi electorate in Delhi which also has sizeable Poorvanchali and Uttarakhandi voters. Senior Congress leaders P Chidambaram, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Salman Khurshid, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Shashi Tharoor and Randeep Singh Surjewala have also been involved in the partys election strategy. Leaders from Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand will also be deployed. Similarly, the Delhi BJP wants Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his Uttarakhand counterpart Trivendra Singh Rawat among other senior leaders to campaign in the national capital. From the SP, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, his wife Dimple Yadav, Jaya Bachchan and party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav are likely to campaign. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Mayawati will be the star campaigners for the JD(U) and the BSP respectively while Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will lead the AAP campaign in these polls. Though the SP, BSP and JD(U) are likely to divide the anti-BJP vote, Congress leaders are hoping that Nitish Kumars appeal could have an impact on Poorvanchali voters. A large number of Poorvanchali voters are BJP supporters. If Nitish Kumar is able to divide them, it will automatically help us, said a Congress leader from Delhi. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 37-year-old auto-lifter has been arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly stealing motorcycles in Delhi. A senior police officer said that Imran Khan stole motorcycles to raise funds for his childrens education and support his lavish lifestyle without taking up a regular job. A resident of Sangam Vihar in south Delhi, he was caught riding a stolen motorcycle in his locality on Friday evening after the police received a tipoff. Eight more stolen motorcycles were recovered after his interrogation. With his arrest, the police claimed to have solved 33 motorcycle theft cases reported at different police stations in Delhi. Our teams were looking for Imran for the last two months, as he had been frequently striking. He has admitted that he stole over 50 motorcycles in the last two months. We are in the process of recovering the other stolen bikes, said Romil Baaniya, deputy commissioner of police (southeast district). Police said Imran has five children. Three of them study in boarding schools in Delhi NCR. Another child studies in Kendriya Vidyalaya in Delhi. His fifth child doesnt go to school yet. His wife is a homemaker. Since Imran was unemployed and had no permanent source of income, he took to crime and started stealing motorcycles and supplying them or their spare parts to his receivers, said an investigator while adding he was earlier arrested in 2015 for a similar crime. Apart from paying school fee of his children, Imran was also fond of leading a lavish lifestyle. Imrans interrogation, the officer said, has revealed that he has multiple female friends on whom he spent a lot of his ill-gotten money. He used to impress them with expensive gifts such as mobile phones, and branded clothes. Imran himself loved living lavishly. He wore branded clothes, sunglasses, and expensive wristwatches. We recovered three Ray Ban sunglasses and an expensive wristwatch from him, said the officer. The police also said that Imran had a unique modus operandi. He mostly stole a motorcycle as per the demands of his receivers. After stealing a motorcycle, Imran replaced its registration number plate with his own motorcycles number plate. He changed number plates to avoid getting caught during checking at police pickets. Imran used to park stolen motorcycles in authorised parking lots and mostly outside hospitals and important buildings to avoid detection, the officer said. According to the police, Imran later dismantled the stolen motorcycles in most cases and sold their spare parts to different receivers. We are conducting raids to recover more stolen motorcycles, the officer added. Four drunk youngsters in a car allegedly pursued a vehicle carrying Union minister Smriti Irani around Chanakyapuri in central Delhi on Saturday evening, giving rise to security fears. A complaint lodged by Irani with the Delhi Police claimed that the accused all in the 18-19 age group also overtook her vehicle twice in a rash and negligent manner. They were later identified as students of the Delhi Universitys Ram Lal Anand College. The matter was first brought to the authorities notice through a call made by Iranis personal security officer to the police control room around 5.18 pm. The caller claimed that four people in a Hyundai Santro were giving chase to the ministers car near the Myanmar embassy, said a senior police officer. The call was transferred to a nearby patrol vehicle, which intercepted the Santro near the French embassy at Shanti Path in a matter of minutes. Dependra Pathak, chief spokesperson of the Delhi Police, said the four were brought to the Chanakyapuri police station for questioning. Later, the minister dropped by too. However, no FIR was lodged till the filing of this report. A medical examination at a government hospital confirmed that the four were drunk. Appropriate action will be taken, said Pathak. Apparently, they were returning from a friends birthday party in south Delhi. A police officer said Irani was heading to Ashoka Hotel in her official vehicle when the incident occurred. The Santro used by the four was a hired vehicle, he added. Irani, a television actor, was appointed as the human resource development minister when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014. She was later shifted to the textiles ministry. The dimly lit basement office of Sumaitri has several framed posters with myriad messages, one of which reads the only thing holding her back is a telephone line with you at the end of it. The grim black and white poster has a picture of a distraught woman, her head resting on a table next to a telephone. The purpose of the poster is to seek volunteers for Sumaitri, Delhis oldest suicide prevention helpline. The poster promises prospective volunteers no salary, no travel allowance, no other monetary benefits may be lots of satisfaction. Sumaitri is a crisis intervention centre and operates a suicide prevention helpline at Bhagwandas Lane in the heart of the Capital. One of the reception walls of the bleak basement office, which looks more like a polyclinic with its many cabins, has clippings of newspaper articles on suicides. The room with the telephone line spells out clearly in big, bold letters: No Entry. The helpline operates for eight hours on weekdays and 12 hours on weekends. The two volunteers work in shifts one answers a landline telephone, and the other counsels visitors. Sumaitri, which started its operations in 1988, is one of the 16 helplines that are affiliated to the Indian branch of Befrienders, an international volunteer-based suicide prevention organisation. We do not have the funds to jazz up our office or relocate but we try to make up for that with our befriending skills. We are a volunteer-driven organisation. Our priority is to be a 24/7 helpline but we do not have resources to do that, says Ajay Malhotra, a volunteer. The office of Sumaitri. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo) India has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. According to a 2014 World Health Organisation report, it accounted for the highest estimated number of suicides in the world in 2012. Data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said 1,33,623 people committed suicide in India in 2015. Delhi with 1,553 suicides stood at number 3 among the cities from where the highest number of suicides were reported. Recently, Parliament passed the mental health bill that decriminalised suicide. Ironically, most of the countrys 20-odd volunteer-driven suicide prevention helplines, are struggling to survive. While distress calls have increased five times in the past few years, many of them have had to reduce their operation time, due to a lack of resources and dwindling number of volunteers. Snehi, one of Delhi three helplines, has reduced its operation time from eight hours, seven days a week to five hours six days a week. Earlier, about 50 volunteers were managing our operations, and now we have only 15 volunteers, most of whom work five hours a week. Earlier, we operated out of a 3,000 sq ft facility now and we operate from a 400 sq ft space, says Abdul Mabood, director, Snehi. Set up in 1994, Snehis two helplines get about 120 calls a day during exam season. The number of missed calls has increased drastically. Our suicide prevention and student helplines have 50 missed calls every day unlike a few years back when we had only about 10 missed calls. We do not have the resources to take all the calls. Our volunteer-driven helpline is dying a slow death, we cannot survive on loans for too long, says Mabood. In fact, not just Delhi, helplines in other cities too are struggling. Aasra in Mumbai, one of the countrys first 24-hour suicide prevention helplines, is finding the going tough. These days it gets about 170 calls a day up from 50 five years back. It has 28 volunteers from varied backgrounds. Most of them have a day job and work at Aasra four-six hours per week. Aasra director Jonhson Thomas says that the organisation is funded by his friends, family, and volunteers. Most corporates ask for details like our success rate as a condition for funding, which is very difficult to measure. Besides, getting volunteers is increasingly becoming difficult. Ten years back, we had committed volunteers who would stay with us at least for three years, but now they stay for a couple of months. We mostly get students whose only interest is getting a certificate for social work. It puts pressure on our resources as we train our volunteers for six months, says Thomas, who himself volunteers four hours a day for the helpline. Both Thomas and Mabood feel that the changing dynamics of modern day life have made it difficult for people to work as volunteers. Unlike in the past, a lot of people do not have time. They work longer hours in the office, leaving them with no time for volunteering, says Thomas, who started the helpline in 1998. Mabood blames the general attitude towards suicide in India for the state of helplines. What we need to understand is suicide speaks of the pathology of society, not of the individual. It is high time the government created a centralised suicide helpline, he says. Rajesh Pillai, president, Befrienders India, says that suicide prevention in India has never been the priority of the government. Unfortunately, as of now India has no suicide prevention policy. Even Sri Lanka has one, but we hope that the proposed mental health authority in the bill will focus on suicide prevention activities. Sixteen suicide prevention helplines across the country which are affiliated to us roughly have 700 volunteers, which is just not enough, says Pillai. He adds that the role of trained volunteers is very important because India is short of mental health professionals. A psychiatrist in India is not able to give enough time to patients. We need to understand that suicide is not always a mental illness, it could be a result of emotional stress, which can be mitigated by talking to someone. Volunteers are trained to listen proactively and help people ventilate, says Pillai. Unlike in the West where people take pride in volunteering, very few young people in India come forward to volunteer. We mostly get retired people. Nimesh Desai, director, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Delhi, says that suicide prevention is a multi-faceted strategy, so different models may suit different people. He points out that the anonymous telephone services, based on the befriending model, are very different from most professional models. It is based on basic human spirit of helping other human beings in distress as unpaid volunteer effort. There are some inherent advantages and disadvantages of this model. So in a society like ours all models are worth encouraging, he says. The office of Sumaitri in Delhi. (HT Photo) Volunteers working with helplines say that pulling people from the brink is not an easy job. Brijinder Grewal, 51, who volunteers five hours a week at Senhi, says that the reasons for growing emotional distress is the fact that isolation has increased, the family has taken a backseat, and people are scared of being judged. A suicide attempt, she says, is essentially a cry for help. These days a majority of our calls are from teenagers with suicidal thoughts over heartbreak. We did not get such cases when we started as volunteers 19 years back. The social media, which promotes people to compare their lives with others, has also become a source of distress, she says. So are not volunteers getting affected by the perpetual tales of pain and misery that they hear? It overwhelms us at times. We have to learn to switch off. Besides, we take mandatory breaks. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The driver of a truck, laden with clothes, was charred to death after he got stuck inside the vehicle which hit a divider, toppled and went up in flames at Brar Square in southwest Delhi on Saturday. The police could not identify the trucks driver initially as his body was badly burnt. Later, they identified him as Rajasthan-based Ikwal after tracing the trucks registration details. Ikwal was headed to Bengaluru and was on his way to Dhaula Kuan from Naraina when the accident occurred. It appears that he was speeding. The moment he took a u-turn from the road leading to Dhaula Kuan, he lost control over the vehicle. The truck skid and hit the divider before it turned turtle and caught fire, a senior police officer said. The trucks number plate was also burnt but the Haryana registration number was faintly visible. His (Ikwals) body has been preserved at the mortuary and the investigation is on, the officer added. A passerby crossing the road stopped by and made a PCR call. When the police team reached the spot, they saw the truck up in flames. Fire department was also informed and three fire tenders rushed to the spot to douse the flames. It took the fire fighters half an hour to douse the flames. When the truck was inspected, the driver was found lying on his seat. He was rushed to the hospital and declared dead on arrival, a police officer said. Police said that the trucks door was jammed after it caught fire because of which Ikwal was unable to escape. The truck toppled and went up in flames. Since there were clothes stacked inside, the fire spread very quickly. The driver must have tried to escape but he was stuck, a police officer said. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 2 Trend: Twenty-four years pass since the occupation of Azerbaijans Kalbajar district by Armenia. Kalbajar was among Azerbaijani districts that got occupied by the Armenian Armed Forces during the Karabakh war. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Launching a large-scale military operation on March 27 in 1993, the Armenian armed forces occupied Kalbajar on April 2. As a result, 511 people were killed in Kalbajar, which has a territory of 1,936 square meters. As many as 321 people were captured and went missing. Fifty-five soldiers were killed during the fights, while 132 settlements were captured by the Armenian Armed forces. Armenian occupiers destroyed more than 500 industrial, construction, catering and retail facilities, 97 schools and 76 health facilities. Kalbajar districts 53,340 residents became IDPs. After Kalbajars occupation, the UN Security Council adopted the resolution 822 demanding the immediate withdrawal of Armenian forces from the district and other occupied areas of Azerbaijan. Armenia has not fulfilled the resolution. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. In general, Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. While India takes pride in its ISRO satellite launches, academic research in the country is being hollowed out by practices like predatory publishing. The results of a global sting operation by Polish researchers published in March revealed that 48 so-called scientific journals were happy to have a fictitious scientist Anna O Szust on their editorial board. Interestingly, Oszust is Polish for fraud. Thousands of academic journals do not aspire to quality. They exist primarily to extract fees from authors, the Polish researchers said in their paper. These predatory journals exhibit questionable marketing schemes, follow lax or non-existent peer-review procedures, and fail to provide scientific rigour or transparency. G Mahesh, head of the International Standard Serial Number International Centre (ISSN) in India, has come across hundreds of such applications with bizarre journal titles, fake addresses and non-existent editorial board members in the last three years. An example is the Springer Group of Journals, an MP-based outfit that sounds similar to Springer Nature -- a reputed publishing group. The website of a publishing company called Springer. (Screengrab) Feeding this frenzy of publishing low-quality journals is the UGCs method of calculating academic performance indicators (APIs). The API system was introduced in 2010 to decide recruitments and promotions. Experts, however, decry the manner in which it rewards quantity instead of quality. These dubious journals are run as businesses with no regard for academic rigour. When the UGC announced the API system, it granted points for papers published in journals with ISSNs. Since then, Indias ISSN centre has been flooded with applications from publishers who seek the legitimacy of an ISSN number. However, the ISSN number is a unique numerical code that identifies publications not a character certificate. Predatory publishing is an unintended consequence of the open access movement, launched two decades ago to make research easily accessible to the public. When big names in publishing dominated the global market in the past, they could act as gatekeepers for good research. The internet changed all that. In the current scenario, setting up a publication is as easy as creating a website. These so-called academic journals lure researchers with the promise of quick publication time and names that sound legitimate. As publishing in international journals fetches more points in the API, many bogus Indian publishers prefix their titles with international or world. Or, as seen in the case of Springer Group of Journals, they simply borrow the titles of renowned international players. A big stumbling block to checking this phenomenon is the absence of a universally accepted definition of a predatory journal. Though Jeffrey Beall, an associate professor and librarian at the University of Colorado Denver, decided to make a list of predatory publications in 2008, pressure from publishers brought it down earlier this year. Meanwhile, Indian researchers are increasingly finding predatory outfits an attractive medium of publication. Almost 35% of the papers published in cash-seeking, pay-to-publish journals reportedly come from India. This figure far exceeds Indias overall share of the worlds scholarly output (4.4% in 2016). The UGC chose to turn a blind eye to the problem until January. After academics cried foul, it came out with a list of 38,000 journals where academics would have to publish for the researcher to earn points in the API system. However, questions have been raised about the UGC list of journals, considering that several among them figured in Bealls blacklist. We have identified 75 journals that are predatory, said Vasantha Raju N, an expert. There is also the matter of cost. Indian authors have used 488 open access journals who charge anywhere between 500 and 3.24 lakh in a period of five years to publish about 15,400 papers. India could be spending as much as US$2.4 million annually on author processing charges, another paper in Current Science found. This is a problem for a country that spends around 1% of its GDP on research. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is planning to make it mandatory for schools to install lockers for students to keep books they dont need to take home, hoping to lighten backpacks that have become a health concern for being too heavy. CBSE, Indias largest board with 18,000 schools affiliated to it, plans to lay down lockers as a prerequisite when it comes up with new affiliation bylaws. A number of students and parents have raised this issue and despite us having issued many advisories and directions, a lot still needs to be done. If schools have a locker inside the premises, students will be able to keep books that are not required (at home) in the school itself. The investment by the schools will also be a long-term one and which is why we are planning to link it to affiliation, said a senior official. The CBSE has set up a committee to review its affiliation rules to combat commercialisation of school education. With the Boards curriculum following a two semester system, the government is also considering bringing out NCERT books in two volumes to reduce the burden, sources said. This plan is at a preliminary stage and requires more discussion. All stakeholders will be consulted before a decision is taken regarding books, said a senior official. In the past, CBSE has exhorted students to pack their bags efficiently and asked parents to raise concerns over heavy loads during parent-teacher meetings. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Delhi University professor, who had complained to Gurgaon police that she was threatened by the management of an old age home in which she was staying, on Saturday alleged that she has been forcibly evicted from her accommodation. Neelam Singh, a former professor of medieval and American history at Delhi University, alleged that some unknown persons have disconnected the power and water connection to the house in which she lives. Later, on the pretext of repairing the power connection, Singh alleged that some men called her out of the house, and locked it from inside. I was thrown out of the old age home, which is being run illegally. Despite repeated calls to the police and other officials, no effort was made to help me, said Singh, who came to the Sadar police station after borrowing money for an auto from someone. Gurgaon police officers said they were looking into Singhs claims that the house owner, with the help of some miscreants, had thrown her out. Read more: Ex-DU professor rescued from Gurgaon old age home, says she was beaten by former MLAs men Her earlier complaint pertaining to physical attack could not be corroborated by the medical report as there is no mark of injury on her. We will do everything to help her as she is a senior citizen, said Vijay Kumar, SHO, Sadar police station. The DU professor alleged that the local police was not helping her and demanded that an inquiry be conducted and action be taken on the report submitted by the Gurgaon administration regarding Aastha Old Age home. I had to call the helpline of Director General of Police in Chandigarh to seek help, but even then nothing happened, the retired professor said. The Sadar police said that it had approached the district social welfare department to ensure that the senior citizen could be provided a safe and good quality accommodation. We are ready to help her in any way and if the professors claims pertaining to payment of Rs 10 lakh to the old age home turn out to be true, we will take action against the house owner, Kumar said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As many as 100 aggrieved parents of students of Blue Bells Model School, Sector 4, staged a protest outside the campus on Saturday against the hike in annual development charges and fees. The parents have already moved the education department and administration against what they claim is an arbitrary hike in fees by private schools every year. Stepping up heat on the school authorities, the parents have now decided to join members of the All India Parents Forum for Education who will hold a demonstration outside the divisional commissioners residence on Sunday. The same is part of the Forums effort to intensify their protest against the school fee hike. However, the schools management refuted the charge of an arbitrary hike in fees in saying they have to revise the charges from time to time to fund the development initiatives on campus. Our school was founded 35 years ago and one has to make changes and fund newer initiatives in keeping with the times. While other schools only have computer laboratories, we recently set up mathematics and language laboratories. A lot of developments are taking place every year and we need to revise the fees to pursue our goals, Suman Gulati, director, Blue Bells group of schools, said. Read I Gurgaon: Education department wants schools to display fee structures on notice boards She said the school will revise the salaries of its faculty and staff this month in accordance with recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. Amit Vashist, one of the aggrieved parents, said, There is a fee hike every year and the school also keeps increasing the development charges. However, theres been no significant improvement in infrastructure or the facilities currently in place for the students. There is no lift in the school building and neither there are air conditioners in classes. So what development are they charging us for? Rupesh Arora, another parent, said, The tution fee hike is nearly 30%. This is unreasonable. While the general printing charge of 3,750 is levied quarterly, the parents have to get all printouts by themselves. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The street vendors model adopted by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) was discussed at a national conference of vendors held in New Delhi. The National Association of Street Vendors of India (Nasvi) organised a two-day national conference on Three Years of Street Vending Act 2014 - taking stock and surging ahead on March 29 and 30. The conference was aimed at creating a positive atmosphere towards street vendors who mostly work in unauthorised spaces across the nation. Read more: Gurgaon Sector 31 residents oppose resettlement of vendors in the area The MCG has designed new colourful rehris, what it called carts, and it is earmarking special zones across the city. The concept has been well liked and we all wish to visit Gurgaon, said Arvind Singh, Nasvi president. Shabir Bhai Chaiwala, a participant from Surat, said that he has requested the MCG to share the model with him and he would ask the Surat civic body to replicate it. We want all of us to get such places and well-designed carts. V Mageshvaran, the general secretary of the Tamil Nadu street vendors workers federation, said, We liked (the Gurgaon) civic bodys approach towards poor people who are treated by local police as unauthorised vendors. Now, they have beautiful carts, a safe place and a new status. Our intent is to make Gurugram the hub of street food and ensure a high standard, Vivek Kalia, MCG joint commissioner, said at the conference. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Over 200 people from Gurgaon, Delhi and NCR participated at a demonstration at CyberHub to protest against the thrashing of three youth at a pub on late Monday night. People from all walks of life including friends, relatives and pub hoppers came together to show their solidarity and to step up pressure on the police to take action against the culprits. The protesters displayed placards, and also took out a torchlight march on the CyberHub premises, but were not allowed to get close to the The Wine Company by the security officials. Police personnel were also present at the venue to ensure the situation remained under control. Also at the rally, Roshan Lal Gorakhpuria, a businessman from Delhi and the father of Ishant Agarwal, one of the victims, said that he wants that law to take its own course. This was an attempt to kill my son and his friends and I am ready to knock on the doors of any and every court to get justice. The police should act in a fair manner, said Gorakhpuria, who hails from the village of same name in Haryana. Read I Four men, including an NRI, thrashed at upscale Gurgaon pub in CyberHub The protesters also demanded that the culture of employing bouncers and musclemen, who misbehave with people and are not trained to handle such situations should be brought to an end. This incident could have led to a fatality and someone might have lost his life. It is just plain luck and the boys are under serious trauma, said Ishwar Gupta, who had come to participate in the protest. Deepak Gupta, who had come from Gurgaon to participate in the protest said that the rights of the citizens must be protected by government agencies. Such behaviour and violence in a civilised society is not acceptable, he said. Sudeep Singh, SHO, DLF Phase 2, who was present at the protest, however, said strict action had followed after the police complaint. Two more persons have been arrested in connection with the violence and we will soon arrest the remaining accused. There is no question of showing any laxity, said Singh. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Two persons were arrested in connection with the abduction and murder of a corporate executive in Gurgaon last month. The duo was identified as Sumit Kumar and Pritam, and they were arrested by the CIA team from Huda City Centre Metro station on Thursday evening. Both were produced before the court on Friday. Police said the accused were involved in killing Ashok Kumar, who hailed from Alwar, Rajasthan, and worked for a company in Sector 44, Gurgaon. Kumars body was found by the police in village Dhorka on the outskirts of Gurgaon on February 12, and the accused had been absconding with his ATM cards. According to the police, the two men were arrested from an autorickshaw stand near Huda City Centre Metro station by the crime investigation agency, which had received a specific information that the suspects will be in the area. On questioning, they told the police that they had spent around Rs 98,000 using Kumars ATM cards and cash robbed from him. On the day of the crime, both Sumit and Pritam had offered a lift to Kumar in their vehicle. They later killed him after stealing cash and ATM cards from Kumar. His body was dumped near Dhorka village from where the police recovered it. Both the accused are from Murthal in Panipat district of Haryana, police said. Dear artists who depict mythology and dear parents and teachers who buy epic tales for the young and young-at-heart, Im sure you know that when our fables are questioned in this column it is with love and belonging as an insider and not as a hostile outsider. Im certain you share the distress and shame that we feel deeply about our societys health - the frequent lack of respect for people who are racially different from us. Does it come from the way we depict demons in mythology? Wouldnt you agree that this influences people without their being even aware of it? Years ago, I made a choice to describe asuras as titans and rakshasas as demons because titan is better suited to asura. And recently, in the story Hells Bells in my new book, Hindu Fables, Chatura, the heroine of the story, describes a demon as lean and pale, and extremely tall, with straw-coloured hair (Mr Tharoor may approve). Read: Sermons in stones, and good in everything I chuckled when I found Chatura saying so, for my sub-conscious had written it. It was not meant to malign gora friends but certainly it came from rejecting the demon stereotype in our mainstream visual culture. So I know that a shuffle of cards is doable. You could do that so creatively in your own, unique way, if you accept that you are mentally and culturally free to change your depiction of demons. By doing so, you would not only extend the boundaries of your personal artistic freedom but also, you would significantly contribute to making a nicer, kinder society. Its like embedding a microchip in the head. Stereotypes come, after all, from a set pattern of expression. Such demonizing is ayogya or unworthy on our part and it would be a positive artistic and cultural choice to change it. As to which, there is another deep pattern of thought that is never openly stated. Unlike the public matter of the demonic stereotype, this is one of Hindu societys private feelings, a truth from the heart. It is what a number of regular, devout, live-and-let-live Hindus seem to feel but cannot freely express today without angering some in their own community. Such people simply dont want to go to Ayodhya. Whereas, beyond the holy places of the Dakshin and Maharashtra, they absolutely pine to see Kashi, Mathura-Vrindavan, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Ujjain, Kamakhya, Dakshineswar Kali in Kolkata, particularly for Sri Ramakrishna; and Dwaraka, Puri, Bhubhaneswar, the Char Dham (Gangotri-Yamunotri, Badri-Kedar), Shankaracharya Hill in Srinagar, the Devis of Himachal, especially Chamunda, Pasupati in Kathmandu - and just about every other place mapped in sacred geography. If its a holy place, they instinctively like to see it. Read: A rule for you and a rule for me But they emotionally spurn Ayodhya as a mean place that was cruelly unjust to Sita. It doesnt come up in pravachan because nobody wants to unreasonably go on blaming the people of Ayodhya today for things that happened in the past. But Ayodhya as a place of pilgrimage is ayogya on several Hindu maps because of this sorrowful association from very old days. A curious but emotionally profound artistic and cultural choice, wouldnt you say? shebaba09@gmail.com Views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Johnny Depps ex-wife, actor Amber Heard has countersued the producer of her 2015 film London Fields, accusing him of keeping a series of intimate photos of her without her consent. Christopher Hanley initially filed suit against the actor after she and director Mathew Cullen staged a publicity boycott at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival in Canada, following the producers alleged movie takeover. Hanleys $10 million claim against Heard for an alleged breach of contract and her subsequent refusal to attend the Toronto premiere was filed in November last year, and now she has responded by telling a judge, This case shines a spotlight on the dark underbelly of Hollywood. In a cross-complaint targeting Hanley and his wife Roberta and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Heards attorney claims, A rising film star, Heard agreed to play the lead in the motion picture entitled London Fields based on Martin Amiss novel. After reading the script, she insisted on specific restrictions about nudity and sex scenes in the film as a condition to agreeing to appear in the Movie. Hanley... expressly agreed to Heards terms, and they were memorialized in the Nudity Rider to her contract. According to Heard, Hanley fired director Cullen and created a Producers Cut that included unauthorised sexual images and vulgar scenes. The Hanleys also caused to be filmed secretly several additional nude and sex scenes with a body double for Heard and included them in the Producers Cut - also in violation of the Nudity Rider, states the cross-complaint. The secret filming of this body double footage was not on the schedule that had been provided to Heard and was shot with a skeleton crew only after Heard had completed filming and had left the set. In this November 3, 2011 file photo, actors Johnny Depp, left, and Amber Heard arrive for the European premiere of their film, The Rum Diary, in London. (AP) The body double footage included an explicit pornographic sex scene that Heard would never have agreed to do herself... The body double footage was designed and intended to leave anyone who saw the images with the distinct impression that it was Heard. The actor also claims Hanley demanded continuity photos of Heard during filming. Such photos can include various states of undress during wardrobe changes. There is no legitimate business purpose for Hanley to have such photographs after filming was concluded, and the Hanleys had and have no rights to use such photographs for any proper purpose after filming ended. Heard is countersuing for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, among other complaints. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages plus a permanent injunction to prohibit distribution of the film. Follow @htshowbiz for more Four-star military general Daniel McMahon has been posted to Afghanistan and put in charge of US operations there -- a mission unlike any other hes been involved in. Based on a true story, War Machine is heading for a digital debut on May 26, 2017. With non-fiction war account The Operators as its basis, and with some names changed, War Machine stars Brad Pitt as General McMahon, a highly respected army officer given the task of sorting out the US Armys predicament after eight years in Afghanistan. But the rules of this conflict, and the conflicting aims of those involved, are not straightforward. With Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3), Tilda Swinton (Doctor Strange), John Magaro (The Finest Hours), Scoot McNairy (Batman v Superman) and Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3) among the supporting cast, Pitt plays McMahon, who replaces the central character from The Operators, real-life general Stanley McChrystal, and Anthony Michael Hall plays Greg Pulver (in the book, General Mike Flynn). Australian director David Michod, who previously helmed crime thriller Animal Kingdom, directs the Netflix original film. Follow @htshowbiz for more Baku, Azerbaijan, Aprel 1 Trend: The Republic of Azerbaijan once again underlines that it shall never reconcile with the occupation of its territories, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend on April 1. "One year has passed since the April 2016 escalation in the frontline. On April 2, 2016, the armed forces of Armenia increased fighting from their positions in the occupied territories, subjecting the armed forces of Azerbaijan along the line of contact and the adjacent densely populated areas under control of Azerbaijan to intensive fire with heavy artillery and large-caliber weapons. As a result of Armenias attacks and subsequent hostilities, 34 towns and villages in Azerbaijan were shelled, 6 civilians, including children were killed and 33 were seriously wounded. Substantial damages were inflicted upon the private and public property. The armed forces of Azerbaijan have taken the necessary counter measures within its internationally recognized borders to ensure the safety of civilian population and to stop the further provocations of Armenia. Armenias provocative offensive actions also caused casualties and injuries among the servicemen of the armed forces of Azerbaijan. Numerous signs of post-mortem mutilation of the bodies of Azerbaijani servicemen committed by Armenian side were also registered. On 5 April 2016 in Moscow, under the mediation efforts of the Russian Federation, the ceasefire was agreed between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Despite that, Armenia subjected to intensive heavy artillery fire the civilian Azerbaijani population in the towns and villages situated along the line of contact on April 26-27, 2016 as well. The April escalation once again demonstrated that the unlawful presence of the armed forces of Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan remains the main cause of escalation in the frontline and is the major impediment to political settlement of the conflict. After April escalation upon the initiative of Foreign Ministers of OSCE Minsk Group C-Chair countries the meeting of Presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia was organized in Vienna on May 16, 2016. At the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation, the Presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Armenia and Russian Federation met in Saint Petersburg on June 20, 2016 and had substantive negotiations towards the resolution of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, since then by deliberate political-military provocations and different pretexts Armenia did not let to sustain the momentum and transform the understandings reached in Sankt-Petersburg meeting into the concrete actions, reduce tension and did not start the withdrawal its troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The recent statements and warmongering rhetoric of political-military leadership of Armenia and its attempts to boycott and precondition the substantive negotiations indicate the apparent unwillingness of the Armenia to engage constructively for the settlement of conflict. Continued efforts of Armenia to strengthen its military build-up in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, illegally changing the demographic, cultural and physical character of these territories reveal notorious intentions of the Armenian side to derail the peace process and ensure annexation of Azerbaijans territories. The Republic of Azerbaijan once again underlines that it shall never reconcile with the occupation of its territories. The resolution of the conflict is possible only on the basis of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders. The principled basis for the settlement of the conflict is laid down in the United Nations Security Council resolutions 822(1993), 853(1993), 874(1993) and 884(1993), which condemn the use of force against Azerbaijan and occupation of its territories and reaffirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the inviolability of its internationally recognized borders. In those resolutions, the United Nations reaffirmed that the Nagorno-Karabakh region is an inalienable part of Azerbaijan and demanded immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan. We urge the international community and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs to demand from Armenia to engage constructively in substantive negotiations with a view of withdrawing its armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and changing the status quo of occupation and ensuring lasting peace in the region". When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie announced that they would be separating after more than 10 years together (two of them as husband and wife), the internet didnt take it lightly. To make matters more scandalous, the initial report was closely followed by others that alleged Pitt physically abused his kids, and was being kept away from them by Jolie and her team. Both kept out of the public eye for months. Pitt was largely absent during the publicity tour of his film Allied and the awards circuit, where Moonlight, a film produced under his banner won Best Picture at the Oscars. Jolie, meanwhile made her first public appearance only a few weeks ago, in February, when she took her six children to Cambodia. This was the first time rumours emerged that Pitt and Jolie had been in touch. It was reported on eonline that Pitt secretly accompanied her to Cambodia to spend more time with the kids, with whom he had been steadily meeting with in the months since the separation. This file photo taken on February 17, 2017 shows Hollywood star Angelina Jolie (2nd L) and her children including Maddox Jolie-Pitt (C) as they gather at the royal residence for a meeting with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni in Siem Reap. (AFP) But now, a new eonline report claims that the two have been constantly meeting up, co-parenting their children, and carrying out legal proceedings, without ever letting the world know. Over Thanksgiving, Pitt stayed at the familys French chateau while Jolie was in America with the kids, backing up an earlier report which claimed Jolie wouldnt let him be near the kids over the holiday weekend. But over the next month, relations had improved enough for him to carve out a special Christmas-themed weekend with the kids. In Cambodia, Jolie told George Stephanopoulos that her family was doing much better. Choosing her words carefully, she replied, nodding affirmatively, We are focusing on the health of are family, and so we will be. We will be stronger, when we come out of this, because thats what we are determined to do as a family. When prodded about Pitts role in this new phase, she said, We will always be a family, always. This file photo taken on February 17, 2017 shows Hollywood star Angelina Jolie (3rd L) and her children including Maddox Jolie-Pitt (C)as they gesture to media in front of the royal residence for a meeting with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni in Siem Reap Angelina Jolie had warm words for her estranged husband Brad Pitt and is optimistic about the future of their family, the Hollywood star said in an interview on February 21, 2017. (AFP) The new report goes on to say that not only was Pitt there with the family in Cambodia, he was also present while Jolie was making her new movie in the country. They were with Angelina for probably 75% of the time when Brad was in the country and theyd go back and forth between her and Brad, a source said. Last week, E reported that tensions between the couple had eased considerably, and that they were now communicating without the presence of lawyers. This file photo taken on July 28, 2013 shows US film stars Brad Pitt (R) and Angelina Jolie (2nd L), accompanied by their children, arriving at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo. (AFP) Brad hopes that they can be successful at co-parenting and get to a place where they can be friendly, a source close to Pitt told E. They both have agreed to put the kids first. And they did it without letting the world know. Follow @htshowbiz for more It all began with a furious social media post by Dwayne Johnson. In it, he ranted about an anonymous Fast and Furious 8 cast member with whom he was very, very angry. Universal Pictures reply came fast. Quashing the rumours of a beef between literal heavyweights Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Vin Diesel, they said that the two had buried the hatchet after the disagreement, which Johnson had claimed had got his blood boiling. Eight months later, it appears that the fight continues. Last week, during the annual Las Vegas CinemaCon, an event in which movie studios showcase their upcoming fare to theatre owners in lavish presentations, Johnson and Diesel, the Fast franchises biggest faces, were noticeably separated. When the time came to present The Fate of the Furious, the eighth film in the franchise, which Universal secretly premiered at the event (to positive responses), stars Diesel, Charlize Theron, Tyrese Gibson, Kurt Russell and Ludacris were present on stage. The notable absentee? Dwayne Johnson. (L-R) Director F. Gary Gray, actors Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, and Vin Diesel speak onstage at Universal Pictures' presentation featuring footage from its upcoming slate at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. (AFP) To further fuel speculation, Johnson had appeared at the event only a day prior, while promoting his upcoming film Baywatch, with stars Zac Efron and Priyanka Chopra, and Jumanji (with Jack Black). Now, a new report by The Hollywood Reporter says that the two are deliberately being kept apart during the promotional tour of the upcoming Fate of the Furious. (L-R) Actors Zac Efron, Jon Bass, Kelly Rohrbach, Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, and Priyanka Chopra speak onstage at CinemaCon 2017 Paramount Pictures Presentation Highlighting Its Summer of 2017 and Beyond at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon. (AFP) Theyre keeping them separated as much as possible, says an insider. Universal downplayed any simmering tensions and said the two actors simply have been on different continents throughout the tour. But sources say that the CinemaCon scheduling could have been easily accommodated, the THR report went on to say. The beef began in August 2016, when Johnson, in a heated Facebook and Instagram post said, My female co-stars are always amazing and I love em. My male co-stars however are a different story. Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others dont. The ones that dont are too chicken shit to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses. Johnsons rant came because Diesel, allegedly, arrived late on set. The two exchanged heated words. At the time, a studio source said, What happened is over, and no one expects there to be any lingering effects. When it comes time to promote the movie, this will have no bearing. Both Johnson and Diesel are contractually obligated to be present at the films New York City premiere on April 8. The Fate of the Furious opens worldwide April 14. Follow @htshowbiz for more Twenty-two people were injured at a Jallikattu event held in Pudukottai district in Tamil Nadu on Friday. The event, which took place in Keezhakurichi in Pudukottai, involved 350 bulls from Pudukottai, Sivaganga, and Thanjavur districts, and saw a total of 250 participants. According to local reports, a huge crowd was present at the venue as the bull-taming sport was being held for the first time in the village in six years, and after it was legalised earlier this year. A team of paramedics was on standby at the venue as per the new stipulations. On February 12, seven people died at different places across Tamil Nadu during Jallikattu bouts, including three in Krishnagiri, two in Vellore, and two more in Madurai district. In January, three people died during a bout organised by the then health minister, Vijaya Bhaskar, at his home village of Rapoosal in Pudukottai. Jallikattu, a traditional sport played predominantly in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, was the subject of intense protests at Chennais iconic Marina Beach earlier this year, after the Supreme Court and the Centre refused to legalise the sport in time for Pongal, the Tamil harvest festival. Following a week of continuous protests, the Tamil Nadu government passed an emergency legislation which allowed the sport to be played. President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday put a premium on debate and discussions, exhorting the student community to be argumentative, but not intolerant. Referring to first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the one who built modern India, Mukherjee said he had helped build an atmosphere of free debate and discussions and not conflict and confrontation. Accept criticism as argument and not as intolerance. As Amartya Sen had said, an Indian can be argumentative, but not intolerant, Mukherjee said at the 52nd Annual Convocation of IIM Calcutta on Saturday. India is a land of tolerance, land of Buddha, land of Chaitanya, but not land of intolerance, he said, adding please excuse me if I have hurt any sentiment by saying so. The President also made the point that management education, in order to be world class, needs to be able to embrace contrasting pedagogical approaches, multi-disciplinary allegiances, and contemporary skills and capabilities. A plural mode of thought leadership in education enables the simultaneous pursuit of multiple paths to excellence, Mukherjee stressed. Such plurality is evident in the priorities and practices of IIM-C, Mukherjee pointed out, saying the institute has shown the way and it will assume leadership in innovative refinements in pedagogy. Let hundreds of ideas blossom in universities and let there be debate, not confrontation, Mukherjee went on to say. Accept criticism as argument and not as intolerance. He also spoke of making management education holistic to instil sensitivity of socio economic surroundings in learners. Management education like education in other professional streams cannot be divorced from the socio-economic reality facing the nation, Mukherjee said. Skilled and socially sensitive professionals will not only build Indian leadership in global business and industry, but carry on their shoulders the developmental priorities of the nation. He quoted Mahatma Gandhi as saying, Education in a country has got to be demonstrably in promotion of the progress of the country. The President emphasised that the academic environment should be free from physical and mental violence, particularly in the seats of higher learning. He also touched on flowing of ideas from various parts of the world, saying our ancient universities used to attract teachers, researchers and scholars from outside. This had not led to blowing off of the foot from the ground. This is possible only if the foot is firmly placed on the ground, he noted. He also made a mention of IIM Calcuttas rare capacity to manage alliances with other educational institutions in the pursuit of complex goals. Prime accused Yasin Bhatkal behind the 2008 serial terror blasts in Ahmedabad that killed 56 people and injured 150 others, was on Saturday remanded in police custody for 12 days. Yasin was sent to the police custody by additional chief metropolitan magistrate AS Vyas along with co-accused Assadulla Akhtar after they were produced in the court. The two were brought to the city on Friday by the states crime branch on a transit remand from Delhis Tihar jail. The police sought the duo in 14-day remand, saying the two were not cooperating with the investigators. Read: Yasin Bhatkal not kept in solitary confinement, Tihar jail officials tell court The police said Bhatkal and Akhtar were linked to the banned outfits SIMI and Indian Mujahideen and needed to be interrogated about their own involvement in the blasts conspiracy as well as that of others, the police said. As many as 56 people were killed and 150 others were injured as 18 blasts ripped through Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008. The crime branch has filed chargesheets against 77 people in the case. Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav launched a stinging attack on his son and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday, deepening the faultlines in a party reeling from a drubbing in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections last month. Speaking to reporters in his bastion of Mainpuri, the 77-year-old leader said he never felt as insulted in his life as he did during the five years of Akhileshs term as CM. I allowed Akhilesh to become chief minister when no father allows his son to become chief minister during his life time. He (Akhilesh) continued insulting me for five years and talked to me only for five minutes, he said. Mulayams comment is the latest episode in a bitter public spat inside SPs first family that saw a series of tit-for-tat sackings and vitriolic barbs. Akhilesh staged a virtual coup against his father before the polls and took control of the party, sidelining Mulayam and his influential brother Shivpal. The then CM also forged an alliance with the Congress against his fathers wishes but suffered a shock loss in the assembly polls, winning just 47 seats in the 403-member assembly. Mulayam has been silent about his son since election results were announced on March 11. But on Saturday, he launched his most scathing attack yet. I had never been insulted so much as I was during these five years. The chief minister even removed his uncle Shivpal from the post of minister, the veteran leader said. I allowed Akhilesh to become chief minister when no father allows his son to become chief minister during his life time. He (Akhilesh) continued insulting me for five years and talked to me only for five minutes. --- Mulayam Mulayam also appeared to support a statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election campaign rally, where the BJP leader had criticised Akhilesh and asked how anyone could trust a person who wasnt faithful to his father. Without naming the partys national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav, Mulayam said: Those having no vote base are hatching a conspiracy against me. But he (Ramgopal Yadav) should understand that I rely on the masses, and not him, now. Some sections are suggesting floating of a new party but I have to see what my people want, he said. Mulayam also said there was a conspiracy against him and asked supporters to wait for some time before decisions were taken. I did not intervene in what happened in the last few months but I have to speak here so that my people do not find fault with me, he said. Mulayam said the people voted the Samajwadi Party to power in 2012 with a majority of seats because of him. But at the same time, he applauded the development work undertaken during Akhileshs five-year rule, adding the reasons for the defeat in 2017 elections were being assessed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday demanded an inquiry after a paper audit trail machine attached to an electronic voting machine (EVM) in Madhya Pradesh dispensed slips only of the BJP. There should be an inquiry after the electronic voting machine in Madhya Pradesh were only dispensing BJP slips, Akhilesh said in a tweet. There should be an inquiry after electronic voting machines in Madhya Pradesh were only dispensing BJP slips. pic.twitter.com/VIpxQBVi9a Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 1, 2017 In another tweet, he said it was not just the matter of probing EVMs, but was about the faith of people in the election process. ... , Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 1, 2017 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati was the first one to question EVMs and demanded a probe after the UP assembly election results came out. Akhilesh later agreed with her and has been consistently demanding a probe. There are many people who said that they voted for SP but their votes went to BJP and they are ready to say it on affidavit, he said at a press conference earlier. Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party chief has called two back-to-back meetings of the party. The first meeting on April 6 is for district presidents and state executive office bearers, while the second meeting, the very next day, will be of district presidents and state executive members of all the four youth wings of the party. A row erupted on Saturday over a video of VVPAT demonstration by a poll official in Madhya Pradesh where the machine attached to an EVM allegedly dispensed slips of only the BJP. The opposition knocked at the doors of the Election Commission seeking scrapping of EVM use in upcoming polls. The EC sought a report from the district poll authorities in Bhind, where a bypoll is due on April 9. Madhya Pradesh chief electoral officer Saleena Singh, who was seen in the video, however denied reports that the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machine dispensed only BJP slips. She said they have sent their report to the EC. VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home. It has only been used on trial basis in some places. The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had raised doubts on the functioning of EVMs after the recent assembly elections, sought a through probe and return to the old ballot paper system in the upcoming polls, including in Gujarat. (With agency inputs) BJP president Amit Shah on Friday appointed Anil Baluni (45) as the new head of the partys media department. A native of Uttarakhand, Baluni is also a national spokesperson of the party. In his new role, Baluni will work on improving the relation between the party and media and also evolve a communication strategy to popularise the welfare schemes for the Narendra Modi government. Closely associated with the RSS, Baluni is known as a soft-spoken leader and a backroom boy whose management skills impressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah. He was actively involved in the campaign management for Modi in Varanasi during the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Baluni was seen as a potential chief ministerial candidate in Uttarakhand, but the party decided to retain him in Delhi. A nature and wild life enthusiast, Baluni was the vice chairman of the forest and environment advisory committee in the previous BJP government in Uttarakhand between 2007 and 2012. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday electronic voting machines (EVMs) were being fudged repeatedly in elections, remarks that came a day after the Congress party alleged EVM malfunctioning during a media demonstration in Madhya Pradesh. Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party chief, visited the Election Commission to lodge his protest against EVMs, reiterating that tampering of these devices was a serious fraud. Days before civic elections in the national capital and by-elections in some states, the Delhi CM also alleged that the software was being changed to make EVMs malfunction. He also demanded that the old ballot boxes --- where people cast their votes in papers --- should be brought back. The chorus against EVMs gained momentum after the recently held assembly elections in five states. Opposition parties, including the AAP and Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party, raised the issue, with some sections alleging that EVM tampering helped the Centres ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The Election Commission denied the charges. EVM tampering is possible. If there is no investigation, then how can we know the truth? Kejriwal asked the media on Saturday. The Election Commission will issue a statement later in the day. Agency sources said each machine undergoes a test three times and the faulty ones are sent back to the factory. Congress on offensive A delegation of Congress leaders, comprising Mohan Prakash, Digvijaya Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Vivek Tankha and KC Mittal, too met Election Commission officials, expressing concern over the Madhya Pradesh incident. Their move came after a paper trail attached to an EVM generated a receipt with the BJPs lotus symbol when an official pressed the button for the Samajwadi Party candidate during a trial ahead of a by-election in Madhya Pradesh next week. There is an extraordinary suspicion about the fairness of the EVMs post recently conducted elections especially Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Apparently the polling in these states did not reflect the public mood and confidence as noticed by national parties, the main Opposition party said in its memorandum to the election commission. The party demanded that the Election Commission should direct impartial and unimpeachable experts to revisit and re-verify the authenticity of all voting machines being deployed for two by-elections in Madhya Pradesh. Deserted by her boyfriend and shunned by his dowry-seeking family, a Dalit girl in Rohtas district of western Bihar resorted to Gandhigiri to bring about in him a change of heart. Ignoring her familys advice to seek legal remedy, Nitu Paswan, 18, from Sikraur village in Shivsagar block of Rohtas, about 200 km west of state capital, Patna, decided to take matters in her own hand. She draped herself in a wedding attire, reached her beau Dhananjay Paswans Konki village, along with her co-villagers, on Tuesday and squatted in front of his house. Sensing trouble, members of Paswans family locked the house and fled from the village, which falls under the Baddi police station. But, after the residents of Konki openly came out in support of Nitu, the family returned to the house on Friday and tendered an apology to her. The drama ended on a happy note when the wedding of Nitu and Dhananjay was solemnized that evening. Nitu, a Class 10 student, later told reporters that she was in a relationship with Dhananjay for the past one year and both their families were aware of it. During the last marriage season, my father had met Dhananjays father to finalise the wedding date, but he demanded Rs 5 lakh as dowry. When all efforts to persuade him failed, my father decided to take legal action, which I opposed, she said. The occurrence of her wedding, she said, had vindicated her stand of not seeking legal recourse against Dhananjay. Many villagers who witnessed the turn of events and were glad with the happy ending, were, however, disappointed that the local police and officials of the civil administration took no initiative to resolve the matter. Baddi police station SHO Dipak Jha sought to justify non-interference by the police, arguing the matter at hand did not present a law and order problem. Such matters cannot be resolved in courts, either. I salute the courage of Nitu who took things in her own hand to secure justice, Jha said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 1 By Elmira Tariverdiyeva Trend: Relationship between Azerbaijan and China has reached a high level of political dialogue and active economic cooperation, Deputy Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan Arastu Habibbayli said in an interview with the Xinhua News Agency. Habibbayli said the coming April 2 marks the 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, adding that relations between China and Azerbaijan developed successfully on the basis of principles of friendship and mutual productive partnership. Noting that both Azerbaijan and China are important players in various international transport and logistics projects, he emphasized that the countries are working actively to realize great potential of cooperation. Azerbaijan will be an important component of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, he said, adding the project will bring valuable opportunities to Azerbaijan, particularly in terms of the transit fees and industrial cooperation opportunities. Relations between China and Azerbaijan are growing fast and Azerbaijan has great potential to become a valuable partner in the Silk Road project one of the great initiatives of the 21st century, Habibbayli said. He outlined the importance of the state visit of Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev to China in December 2015 and noted that reciprocal visits contribute to the steady development of ties between the two countries. During Ilham Aliyevs visit, a series of agreements was signed with China, including a memorandum of understanding over the Silk Road Economic Belt. China is a huge opportunity and a priority market for Azerbaijan. More than 50 agreements were signed between the two countries so far. The two countries have great potential in energy, transport, in high technology and tourism. Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and China reached $641.39 million in January-September 2016, $145.81 million of which accounted for export to China, according to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee. A week after opposition BJP demanded that illegal slaughterhouses flourishing in Bihar should be closed, seven of them were sealed in Rohtas district on Saturday, officials said. The district administration bordering Uttar Pradesh, sealed the illegal slaughterhouses running for years, following clearance of action against them from the top brass in Patna, an official said. The state government is also likely to take further action against illegal slaughterhouses in coming days in line with the Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath, the official said. District officials in Rohtas said action against the slaughterhouses was taken after a directive from the Patna High Court that they be sealed within six weeks. The licenses of these slaughterhouses expired on Friday. Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar had raised the issue of illegal slaughterhouses in the state assembly last week demanding their immediate closure in Bihar. He also said that licences of all slaughterhouses should be cancelled adding that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was keen on making Bihar beef-free to ensure protection of cows. Bihar should ban beef in line with Maharashtra, he said. According to officials, cow slaughter is banned in Bihar as per a 1955 law. But the trade continues unabated due to a flaw in the law that permits killing of cow, buffalo or bull more than 15 years old or diseased. The violation of this provision invites a maximum jail term of six months and a fine of Rs 1,000. Former veteran Congress leader CK Jaffer Sharief has backed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for the President post, saying nobody should doubt his patriotism just because he was from one school of thought. I personally believe nobody should find fault with Mohan Bhagwats name being considered as a choice for the presidentship of our country, Sharief said in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. The 83-year-old leader exhorted all minorities, including Muslims, not to have any fear or crisis of confidence in Bhagwats name being considered for the post. He said there were different schools of thought in India, which is but natural for such a vast secular country. While Bhagwat might belong to one school of thought, there should not be any doubt about his patriotism. Bhagwat, who has courted controversy several times in the past with his staunch pro-Hindu stand has said that he was not in the race to become the President --- after the Shiv Sena proposed his name. President Pranab Mukherjees term is set to end in July this year. Sharief, however, urged people to show a large heart and not doubt as long as one worked under the Constitution. Why should anyone now become small and narrow minded to say we have no faith and confidence in an Indian? he asked. The former railway minister also cited the RSSs support to former prime minister Indira Gandhi after the Bangladesh war to drive home his point. His support to Bhagwat comes in the wake of another former Congress leader from Karnataka, SM Krishna, joining the BJP. Sharief also expressed support for the Centres proposal for concurrent elections to various constitutional bodies. I have seen that elections to different bodies with different timings has been causing an unnecessary strain on the exchequer and hindering the progress of the country. Crying foul over efficacy of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress on Saturday knocked at the doors of the Election Commission (EC) and demanded scrapping its use in upcoming elections while reverting to old ballot paper system. Citing the incident of Bhind where voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines dispensed slips only with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) symbol, a delegation of Congress leaders met chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi and two other election commissioners seeking a thorough probe and strict action against officials involved. The delegation comprised Digivijaya Singh, Jytiraditya Scindia, Mohan Prakash, KC Mittal and Vivek Tankha, who told the EC to discontinue use of EVMs. All parties should be taken into confidence for the credibility and viability of use of EVMs or to revert back to the old system of ballot papers, the Congress delegation said. In the face of revelations about tampering of EVMs, it is necessary that the entire process be re-examined thoroughly and all agencies and persons involved in maintenance, operation and data feedings of machines be examined before use of EVMs in further elections, the party said in a memorandum. Congress general secretary Mohan Prakash said, In a democracy, time and again there have been doubts created on EVMs. We have demanded that elections be held on ballot paper because every section has created doubts on EVMs. If there are doubts on votes cast, then democracy is weakened. Another party general secretary Digvijay Singh said, The next elections, be it in Gujarat or elsewhere, should be held with ballot papers and the use of EVMs be stopped. He also questioned the compulsion of using EVMs whose chip was imported. He argued that if the Bank of Bangladeshs account can be hacked and 80 million Dollars be stolen, besides 30 million dollars from the Russian bank, then why cant EVMs be tampered. When elections all over the world, including in the developed countries, are taking place with ballot paper, why should we have problems in doing so, Singh said, adding he had doubts on the efficacy of EVMs right from day one. Scindia said, We hope that the EC will seriously act on our complaint and EC has assured us that it will seriously look into complaints raised by us. Terming this as a serious issue, Mittal said, This is something substantially wrong. If this is found in EVMs, then it is better to discontinue its use. The entire credibility of electoral process is in jeopardy. Singh added, From (LK Advani) Advani to Mayawati to (Arvind) Kejriwal, I stand with them on this. BJP veteran Advani had raised doubts about possibility of EVMs malfunctioning after the 2009 elections when UPA emerged victorious second time in a row. Indias financial crime investigation agency on Saturday raided more than 100 locations across 16 states in a sweeping crackdown on dubious companies suspected of money laundering on behalf of businesses and individuals including two top politicians. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched the early morning raids targetting 300-odd shell companies, many of which are fronts for a slew of illegal transactions and crime and act as the backbone of Indias huge shadow economy. The raids were carried out under Operation Shell Companies. Some of the companies were involved in major money laundering cases related to Chaggan Bhujbal, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Yadav Singh, NHRM, AGS Infotech, Rajeshwar Exports etc while some other entities were found to have been used for laundering demonetised currency during post demonetization period, the ED said in a statement. Some of the searches were also in connection with a scam in the National Rural Health Mission scam in Uttar Pradesh as well as one involving the Jain brothers of Delhi, who were named by the agency when it attached a hotel in Dwarka managed by Radisson Blu in a money laundering case. An agency official said the operation had three specific targets -- bogus import businesses, premises being used for conversion of black money to white and entry operators, actual people involved in money laundering. Investigations had revealed that certain entry operators and fraudsters were using network of companies (to launder money), some of which have been used repeatedly while some other were discarded after use or kept dormant for a long period, said ED spokesperson AK Rawal. Some other entities were found to have been used for laundering demonetised currency during the post-demonetisation period, Rawal added. WHAT ED FOUND OUT DURING THE RAIDS Among the 110 locations raided by ED included one allegedly belonging to a person named Jagdish Prasad Purohit. Purohit allegedly admitted that he had formed around 700 shell companies using 20 dummy directors. Out of 700 fake firms 130 are still in existence. He had also provided accommodation entry to the tune of rupees 46.7 crores to Chhagan Bhujbal, ED said in a statement. The directorate said that in Kolkata, more than 50 companies had the same registered address which was found to be a vacant residential premises . When questioned, the landlord of the premises said he had let out the premises three years ago to an individual who disappeared in December. An entry operator connected to Rajeshwar Exports was also searched by ED. The company, according to ED, had made remittances to the tune of Rs 1476 crores for import of diamonds which were grossly overvalued. A chartered accountant located at Delhis Barakhamba Road was found to have formed 200 shell companies A shell company was found to have exported carpets to its sister concern incorporated outside India. The export proceeds were never realised and the person behind these companies had applied to RBI for writing off of outstanding export proceeds. An operator in Mumbai, identified as Jagdish Prasad Purohit, was allegedly found to be running 700 shell companies with 20 dummy directors. The operator is accused of converting 46.7 crore of illegal cash to legal money for Bhujbal, a former Maharashtra deputy chief minister who is in jail on laundering charges. After the government pulled out 86% of Indias cash in circulation last November to stamp out corruption and illegal transactions, many of these firms helped tax evaders convert slush funds into legal money, experts say. Senior ED officials said while no one was arrested during the raids, questioning of the suspects was underway. Officials said multiple teams of the ED raided premises of suspected shell firms in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Patna, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru, among others. An HT investigation in January found thousands of phantom businesses and drop-box addresses masquerading as company headquarters registered in Delhi and Kolkata alone. A source in the agency said some shell companies were found to have remitted huge amounts to other countries for imports which never took place. These companies, the sources said, are being probed for their alleged links to Reddy. The official added that Yadav Singh and Bhujpal are being probed for conversion of black money to white. The drive was part of a recent PMO directive to check the illegal operations of these companies. At one of the premises in Mumbai, a scanned copy of an apparently fake Interpol ID card bearing the name of one Chetan Shah was found on a laptop. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Lucknow district administration on Saturday ordered a magisterial probe into the death of suspected- terrorist Saifullah, who was killed on the outskirts of Uttar Pradesh capital on March 8 after 12 hours long of anti-terror operation. A magisterial inquiry into the death of slain terrorist Saifullah has been ordered by the Lucknow district administration on the request of UP Anti-Terror Squad, Additional District Magistrate (Lucknow West) Jai Shankar Dubey said. He said that Sub-Divisional Magistrate Lucknow (Sadar) would be conducting the magisterial probe. The probe will be comepleted in one month, after which a report would be submitted to the Uttar Pradesh government, Dubey said. Saifullah, suspected to have been influenced by the ISIS, was killed after a 12-hour police operation in the wake of the Ujjain-Bhopal train blast. His body was found with weapons lying next to him when the doors of the house, where he was holed up, were opened at the end of the operation. The encounter came following the arrests of several self-radicalised persons, by the UP and MP police, suspected to be linked to the train blast in Shajapur in MP in which 10 persons were injured. On March 15, the National Investigation Agency took over the probe into the activities of an alleged self-radicalised ISIS inspired module. With the country witnessing a warmer summer already, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked states to prepare for a drought-like situation by focusing on water conservation, irrigation and rural job schemes. In view of the onset of summer season, the Prime Minister has instructed that in the next three months, all the states should focus on water conservation related works by utilising funds available under schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana and MGNREGS, an official release said on Saturday. Indias weather office IMD on Saturday warned that heat wave conditions are very likely in many places. Private weather forecaster Skymet said, Heat wave has tightened its grip over India as early as in March itself, this year. Mercury has been soaring to new levels every day, with several cities witnessing record breaking day maximums. The Centre has already released close to Rs 2,950 crore to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to compensate for the losses suffered due to drought and cyclone. While Tamil Nadu has got Rs 1,712.10 crore for drought and cyclone relief, Karnataka has received Rs 1,235.52 crore for drought relief, an official release said. The central government is concerned at prevailing drought situation in the States of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. After the receipt of detailed memoranda from these states, inter-ministerial central teams (IMCT) were deputed to visit the drought affected areas for spot assessment of the calamity, it said. The disaster relief comes over and above the sharing of 42% of central taxes as per the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission. During 2016-17, the Centre has released about Rs 6.08 lakh crore to states as devolution of central taxes. Tamil Nadu has received Rs 24,538 crore and Karnataka Rs 28,750 crore under the devolution formula. The Centre has also provided Rs 48,869 crore to all states as grant for rural and urban local bodies to primarily meet the requirement of basic necessities for people living in these areas. For the benefit of farmers, Rs 13,240 crore has been provided under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana in 2016-17. The Centre has also provided a total Rs 2,45,435 crore to states for various Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) during 2016-17, including Rs 47,499 crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The Gujarat government did not spend Rs 15,114.51 crore budgetary provisions, which is 28.5% of the total Rs 53,041.05 crore provisions last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in its report. The CAG report on the state finances for the year ended March 2016 was tabled in the Gujarat Assembly on Friday. The report said the amount remained unspent either due to non-implementation or slow implementation of schemes/ programmes. The CAG said that substantial surrenders, in which over 50 per cent provisions or more than Rs one crore remained unspent, were made under 95 different heads. Substantial surrenders were made due to either non-implementation or slow implementation of schemes/ programmes. Of the total provisions amounting to Rs 53,041.05 crore, Rs 15,114.51 crore (28.5 per cent) were surrendered, which included cent per cent surrender in 254 cases (Rs 5,107.86 crore), it said. Some of the schemes in which the entire funds remained unspent were Slum Free City Planning Scheme under Rajiv Awas Yojana, scheme for construction of police buildings, operation and maintenance of major and medium irrigation schemes, strengthening of seed testing laboratory and distribution of sugar to BPL and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families, among others, the CAG said. Some of the reasons behind the surrender of amounts were non-finalisation of projects, non-release or less release of grants by the Centre, non-receipt of the central share, de-linking of the scheme by the Centre, among others, it said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address thousands of aspiring innovators participating in Smart India Hackathon 2017 on Saturday at 10 pm through video conferencing. Part of Modis Digital India Initiative, the Smart India Hackathon is intended to promote innovation and out-of-the-box thinking in young minds, especially engineering students. The hackathon is focused on the problems of social importance identified by 29 ministries and departments of the government. They identified 598 problems, which 7,531 teams of approximately 42,000 students responded to. Of them, 1,266 teams of 10,000 participants were shortlisted for the finale. The event started at 8 am on Saturday across 26 locations in the country. Some of the solutions expected to come out of this hackathon after 36 hours on non-stop work include: An accurate detection of impersonation in online examination Impersonation detection has become a huge problem in conducting school and competitive examination, especially online examination. One of the main causes of the difficulty is the lack of efficiency and integrity on the part of the invigilator. To have a fool-proof automated system, the ministry has asked the students to remove the human factor in impersonation detection. An electronic personal safety system A GIS based integrated solution for personal security where instant police assistance can be provided to a person in extreme distress or facing high threat to safety. The system will cater to women and children when they need immediate help. An online submission and processing of telephone and newspaper bills in government offices In government offices telephone and newspaper bills are largely submitted on paper for reimbursement. If a system is put in place for an online submission of these bills, it would avoid wastage of paper and time in the government offices. Detecting condition of railway tracks The condition of railway track is critical for safety of train operations. There have been many rail accidents in the recent past. The condition of tracks needs to be monitored proactively. A software solution that keeps track of the condition of the track and allied infrastructure and generates auto warning messages about the need of urgent maintenance can help in preventing such incidents. Identification of fake universities One of the major problems in the education sector is the menace of fake universities and even bona fide universities running unapproved courses through distance or regular mode. They need to be tracked. Action required to stop them can be taken through effective monitoring. Ambulance service on national highways In case of an accident, user can be directed to the nearest ambulance service, through the app. A list for all ambulance services can be prepared and mapped in the app, along with contact details as well as calling through the app facility. Develop a solution for protecting photocopy of highly confidential documents Some of the confidential document requires even higher security and needs to ensure that no one is able take its photocopy using external camera. Students will work out a solution to protect such document from photocopying. Nutritional value of midday meal served in government-schools To enhance enrolment, retention and attendance and at the same time improve nutritional levels among children, the government provides mid-day meals to lakhs of students across the country. Though the real-time data on number of children availing mid day meal can be tracked using the real-time school attendance of children, it is important to also monitor the nutritional value of food provided to children. For this, a low-cost and time-efficient kit is likely to be developed that gives the nutritional status of the food being served to the children on the spot and without sending to the labs for testing. Creating games for prevention of dengue and chikunguniya Every monsoon the entire country witnesses an upsurge of dengue and chikunguniya cases in the country. Both of these diseases are spread by Aedes mosquitoes. There is a need to create public awareness and mobilize the community about correct use of preventive measures against these diseases. Some of the preventive strategies include repellants, mosquito nets, covering water containers, preventing clogging of gutters and roof tops, avoiding stagnation of water. Dengue prevention through games may help in creation of awareness. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Union minister Harsh Vardhan took a jibe on Saturday at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over his attack on EVMs and said that for the AAP leader, the voting machines means Everyone Votes (for) Modiji. The Union minister for science and technology said Kejriwal will soon demand the Election Commission be handed over to the Delhi government. For Arvind Kejriwal, EVM stands for Everyone Votes Modiji Im sure hell soon demand the Election Commission be handed over to Delhi gov?? (sic), he tweeted. For Arvind Kejriwal, EVM stands for 'Everyone Votes Modiji' I'm sure he'll soon demand the Election Commission be handed over to Delhi gov Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) April 1, 2017 Harsh Vardhan, the Lok Sabha member from Chandni Chowk, was the BJPs Delhi chief ministerial candidate. Earlier in the day, Kejriwal urged the Election Commission to investigate cases of faulty EVMs and ascertain if their software can be tweaked in favour of the BJP. The CMs remark came a day after some media reports suggested that Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine was dispensing slips of BJP symbol only, irrespective of the button pressed, during a demonstration exercise in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh. VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home. After the Punjab assembly polls, Kejriwal had alleged that EVM tampering may have led to the AAPs poor showing there and had said it could be part of a conspiracy to keep the party out of power in the state. Haryana government will provide one-time grant of Rs 21,000 to all those families whose third girl child was born after August 24, 2015, under the Aapki Beti, Hamari Beti scheme. The eligible families will receive the amount irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, income and number of sons, an official release issued on Saturday said. The scheme is aimed to combat the problem of declining child sex ratio and promote girls education in the state. Earlier, under the scheme, the first girl child born in the families belonging to Scheduled Castes and all Below Poverty Line (BPL), and second, twin or multiple girls born on or after January 22, 2015 in any family were eligible for the grant. Infamous for its adverse sex ratio, Haryana has witnessed a significant improvement in it, which was recorded at 938 in February this year. The efforts of the state government under the ambitious Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao programme were clearly reflected in the improved sex ratio at birth (SRB), which was recorded at 938 girls per 1,000 boys in February, 2017, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said recently. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 1 Trend: Trend Agency (Trend) and Macedonian Information Agency (MIA) have signed a cooperation agreement. The agreement was signed by Trend Director General Ilgar Huseynov and MIA Director General Ljupco Jakimoski. According to the document, the sides will regularly exchange news articles, photos and videos about the sociopolitical, economic, social, as well as cultural and humanitarian life in Macedonia and Azerbaijan. At the same time, the parties intend to pay special attention to the information coverage of important national, regional and international events in Azerbaijan and Macedonia, as well as neighboring countries. Founded in 1995 as a private media outlet in Azerbaijan, Trend Agency is a leading news provider in the Caucasus, Caspian and Central Asian region. Trend has English, Russian, Azerbaijani and Farsi news services, covering virtually the entire global audience. The services are focused on regional news, particularly from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Trends main office is located in Baku - Azerbaijan's capital. MIA was established as a public information service by Macedonian Parliaments decision in February 1992. With a decision reached by the government of Macedonia in April 2006, MIA was transformed from public enterprise to joint-stock company. MIA works 24 hours a day, distributing news in Macedonian, English, Albanian languages. MIAs main office is located in Skopje Macedonias capital. MIA cooperates with the largest news agencies - the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Chinese Xinhua, the Iranian IRNA, the British World Service BBC, the German DPA, the Anadolu Agency, the TASS Russian news agency. Deutsche Welle, Radio Free Europe, the Voice of America worldwide information services are using the MIA services. MIA is a member of the News Agencies World Congress (NAWC) and the Association of the Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA). The Indian Army breeds some of the finest horses and the equines seem to have cemented their reputation as the forces favourite gift to countries in the neighbourhood. Army chief General Bipin Rawat presented seven animals a stallion light breed, two brood mares, two gelds and two donkey stallions to his Nepali Counterpart General Rajendra Chhetri earlier this week, during his four-day visit to the Himalayan country. The Indian Armys horses are much sought after and sometimes given voluntarily as a goodwill gesture or following a request from a neighbouring army. The Indian Armys animal transport units play an important role in carrying rations and stores to remote posts where vehicles cannot reach. Indian Army horses being handed over to the Bangladesh Army in March 2008. (File Photo) The President of Nepal conferred the title of Honorary General of the Nepalese Army on General Rawat at a special investiture ceremony on March 29. The tradition is a reciprocal arrangement between the two countries that has continued uninterrupted since 1969. General Chettri was given the title of Honorary General of the Indian Army during his first official visit to the country in February 2016. Nepal is not the first country to receive Indian Armys horses. In 2008, then army chief General Deepak Kapoor handed over two stallions and four mares to the Bangladesh army as a token of goodwill and friendship. Kapoor handed over the reins of the horses to his Bangladeshi counterpart General Moeen U Ahmed at a special ceremony. The animals were bred at the armys Remount Veterinary Corps stud farms at Hisar and Babugarh. The transfer of horses has not always been smooth. A few years ago, the Sri Lankan army had sought six horses from India. The proposal, however, got stuck in red tape. Very promptly, the Pakistani Army stepped in and provided the horses that Sri Lanka had sought. Indian Army regiment on horse back during Army Day function at Army Parade ground in Delhi Cantonment. The army breeds some of the finest horses in the country. (Arijit Sen/HT File Photo) India did gift six horses to Sri Lanka Military Academy (SLMA) in Diyatalawa for training two years ago but it was much after Pakistan had met the requirement. Sri Lankan cadets still hone their equestrian skills on the horses provided by India and Pakistan. Army officials said Myanmar has also received horses as gifts from the Indian Army. Around a year ago, the army gifted 26 horses and mules to the neighbouring army. So impressed was the Myanmarese army with the well-bred animals that within a few months it bought 15 more horses from the Indian Army. Our horses are as sturdy as our men and in high demand, said a senior officer, making a reference to Indian Army being sought after by other armies for conducting joint military training. An Indian woman was allegedly asked to remove her clothes at the Frankfurt airport as part of a random security check while she was on her way to Iceland via Germany with her family. The woman said she was the only person pulled aside for the strip search, and termed it a case of racial profiling. The 30-year-old woman, an Indian passport holder with Icelandic residence permit, was travelling with her Icelandic husband and her four-year-old daughter when the incident took place. As claimed by the woman in a Facebook post, she was travelling to Iceland from India, via Frankfurt, when she was asked to move aside for the random check and with no other explanations offered. I was taken into a room, and was asked to lift my dress/ take it off so that I could be checked to make sure I wasnt carrying anything under my clothes. This whole ordeal happened in front of my 4 year old, the woman said in the post. I was given no explanation as to why I was put through this ordeal. My constant requests to be patted down gently because of a recent abdominal surgery (proof of which I was carrying on hand) was constantly ignored and resulted in being shouted at aggressively by the woman in charge. She then proceeded to call her supervisor who parroted the same lines about how they wanted me to take my dress off. The Election Commission on Saturday asked the Andhra Pradesh chief electoral officer to supervise by-elections in Madhya Pradesh after a controversy erupted over the malfunctioning of an electronic voting machine in the state. The poll panels order came after Congress and Aam Aadmi Party leaders knocked on its doors, alleging fudging of voting machines -- a concern some opposition parties first raised after the BJPs unexpectedly massive victory in Uttar Pradesh elections last month. The election commission also transferred Bhind collector Iliyaraja T and superintendent of police Anil Singh Kushwaha out of the district. Madhya Pradesh holds by-polls to two assembly seats next week. The row erupted after a purported video of an electronic voting machine (EVM) trial ahead of the by-polls showed the paper trail attached to it generating a receipt for the BJP when state chief electoral officer Saleena Singh pressed the button for the Samajwadi Party candidate. A Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail or VVPAT allows a voter to know if the machine registered a vote for the candidate selected. The slip is visible for seven seconds before it drops into a box. There is an extraordinary suspicion about the fairness of the EVMs post recently conducted elections especially in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the Congress said in a memorandum to the election commission. Apparently the polling in these states did not reflect the public mood and confidence as noticed by national parties. AAP leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also met the poll panel officials and told them that EVMs were being repeatedly fudged and that their software could be faulty. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav too weighed in on the controversy, demanding an inquiry into allegations of EVM fraud. Both Congress and AAP demanded reverting to the old ballot paper system. Shortly after the Uttar Pradesh elections last month, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had alleged that the EVMs used in the state were fudged. Kejriwal had echoed those allegations. At the time, the election commission had rejected the charge. In the video of the purported EVM trial in Bhind on Friday, state chief electoral officer Singh was seen looking surprised on seeing the VVPAT receipt. She is also purportedly heard laughing and warning journalists that they could face police detention if the incident was reported. Local media widely reported the allegations. HT couldnt independently verify the authenticity of the video clip. Singh, however, dismissed the charges and said the EVM wasnt fully calibrated. When you have a fully calibrated machine, this cannot happen like this. But they (journalists) misrepresented the facts without trying to understand the whole issue, she told HT. In a statement, the election commission said the team of officers, led by Andhra Pradesh CEO Bhanwar Lal, will supervise the implementation of all administrative and security instructions for conduct of elections. The integrity of EVMs and the VVPATs to be used in the poll will be demonstrated to the complete satisfaction of all stakeholders. These teams will remain in the assembly constituency till the counting is over, the commission said. But crying foul, a Congress delegation comprising Mohan Prakash, Digivijaya Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Vivek Tankha and KC Mittal, knocked at the doors of chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi on Saturday and demanded scrapping the use of EVMs in upcoming elections. The party also demanded that the election commission direct impartial and unimpeachable experts to revisit and re-verify the authenticity of all the voting machines being deployed in the two by-elections in Madhya Pradesh. BJP veteran LK Advani had raised doubts about the possibility of EVMs malfunctioning after the 2009 elections when the UPA emerged victorious second time in a row. Three Dalit men accused of the rape and murder of a 15-year-old school girl last year at Kopardi in Maharashtra were attacked with lethal weapons by four men on Ahmednagar court premises around noon on Saturday. The victim in the Kopardi rape and murder case belonged to Maratha community and the crime triggered massive protests across Maharashtra. Read | Women ambush Ahmednagar rape case suspects in court The three accused Jitendra Shinde, Santosh Bhaval and Nitin Bhailume were attacked with sickles when they were being brought to the court for hearing, said a police source. One constable was injured in trying to stop the attackers, the source added. Police arrested the four attackers after a brief chase and confiscated the weapons they were carrying. Police identified the attackers as Rajendra Patil, Baburao Walekar, Pramod Khane and Ganesh Khane. All four are reportedly from Beed district in Marathwada region. This is the second instance of people trying to attack the accused in the case. Less than two weeks after the girl, a Class 8 student, was gang raped and murdered when she was on her way home from her grandfathers house, a group of women activists had tried to attack two of the suspects Read more | Govt on its toes as Ahmednagar rape case takes a caste turn SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday alleged that there was a pervasive, systematic and infringed control over the owners of media by the Narendra Modi government. Today, believe me, there is all pervasive, systematic infringed control over the owners of the media. You talk to any journalist in Delhi, they will tell you that. Stories are simply killed. This is a serious problem, he said in an interaction after the launch of his book Fearless in opposition - Power and Accountability in Bengaluru. The former Union minister said there may have been control over media during Emergency, but that was an aberration. The control over media today is unparalleled. Maybe the control was there during Emergency, but that was an aberration. We have admitted that aberration and also apologised, he said. He claimed that it would be a straight fight between Congress and BJP in the next round of elections as there were no major regional parties in some states including Gujarat and Rajasthan. In the next round of elections, there will be a straight fight between BJP and Congress in at least seven or eight states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh among others, as there are no major regional parties in these states. All regional parties were defeated in the last state elections including Uttar Pradesh, he said. Chidambaram, however, said he did not mean it was the end of regional parties. The Congress leader said the next round of elections would be very crucial for both Congress and BJP and would decide the strength of these two parties. The next round of elections is very crucial. This will decide whether the Congress party has increased its strength. It may not be number one, but a number two certainly becomes a strong number two. Whether BJP is going to run over the Congress, I wont know, he said. In Keezhamaligai village in Ariyalur district in Tamil Nadu, men carefully paint mangoes on the walls of newly built homes, the fruits yellow mirroring the searing sun. Five mangoes on every house exert the presence of the locally dominant political power, distinct from the usual rising sun and two leaves, the stark symbols of the states two main political parties, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The mango is the symbol of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), led by S Ramadoss and his son, former Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss, a party that has its vote base predominantly in northern Tamil Nadus Vanniyar (Most Backward Caste or MBC) population. Vanniyars, traditionally agricultural labourers, but now equipped with considerable political clout, are the dominant caste in these parts, outnumbering the Dalit Paraiyars and often clashing with them. Moving away from the fierce sun, daily wage labourerspredominantly womenconverge under a tree, attentive to roll call, for a condolence meeting for Nandini. The teenaged girl, gang-raped and murdered, is one of their own. At the mention of her name, they compose themselves and voice their weariness at the rising instances of caste violence in the village. The 17-year-old had died horribly, and her decomposed body was found more than a fortnight after her disappearance was reported. No one had paid any attention to a missing pregnant young Dalit in the uproar over the jallikattu ban. The few celebrities and politicians who had called for justice in this case were Kamal Haasan, music director GV Prakash and MK Stalin, who all took to Twitter. When Nandini did not come home on 29 December, 2016, her frantic mother had gone to the police saying her daughter had been kidnapped, but the police filed a missing person complaint instead. The police did receive a call from one Thamizharasan from Vellore saying Nandini had been found. But investigation later revealed it was a diversionary tactic by the murder accused. The police then got a lead when M Devi, Nandinis close friend, told them about the missing girls affair with one Manikandan Ramasamy, and that she was pregnant. Manikandan, a mason with a criminal record, who was also the Union Secretary of the local unit of the religious organisation Hindu Munnani (Hindu Front), was called in for an inquiry, but he denied any complicity, and so the local sub-inspector, G Rajendran, let him go. Matters took a horrific turn when a body was recovered from a well on 14 January. Nandinis family was called to identify it. It was indeed her, raped and stripped of all clothes and jewellery. Police again summoned Manikandan. It emerged that the pregnant Nandini had asked Manikandan to marry her, while he had pressured her to go in for an abortion. Finally, Nandini was gangraped and murdered, allegedly at the hands of her boyfriend and his three accomplices. Ariyalur district collector Saravanavel Raja said the other three, Thirumurugan, Mannivanan and Vetriselvanall Manikandans cousinshave been booked under the Goondas Act (Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Gamblers, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum-Grabbers Act). Under this Act, the jailed men cannot get bail for a year. The two other accused have been lodged under SC and ST (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act, 1989, POCSO Act (Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act), rape and murder. They are now awaiting trial. Just a sex crime? This case would have been just another tragic statistic of a boyfriend choosing coldblooded murder but for the complex political turn it has taken. Even Dalit groups are fragmented over the issue though Nandini belonged to the Paraiyar caste. Timeline 29 December 2016: 17-year-old Dalit girl, Nandini, goes missing 30 December 2016: Family lodged a kidnap complaint. Police register a missing person case 5 January 2017: Police file an FIR and start the investigation. Devi, the victims friend, tells the police about Nandini and Manikandans affair 9 January 2017: Police investigate Manikandans friends 12 January 2017: Manikandan is hospitalised after consuming poison 14 January 2017: In an extrajudicial confession to the Village Administrative Officer, he admits to the murder and is arrested. Nandinis brutalised body is found with her hands tied at the back. Nandini had studied up to class 8, supporting her family with a job in construction, mainly concrete laying, bringing home Rs 50-100 a day. She saw a dashing hero in her supervisor Manikandan, who dropped her back from work on his bike during late nights, says K Muthamizhan, Manikandans neighbour. Borrowing a phone from her economically and caste-privileged friends, she spent long hours conversing with him, progressing to a year-long relationship. She often waited near the toilet outhouse of the Dalits to meet him. Manikandan, who has studied up to class 10, supervised concrete laying work under the guidance of S Rajshekar, a local Hindu Munnani leader, a fringe pro-Hindu outfit founded in 1980. Muthamizhan, also a Hindu Munnani member, paints his neighbour as a hell raiser and short-tempered. He is also a history sheeter with several cases against him, including vandalising two churches and being a public nuisance. A crime of caste? In Nandinis recently constructed house, a ray of light falls on her framed picture placed on the front yard. Plastered across the wall is a logo of the Indira Awaas Yojana, under which the family received a grant to construct the house. The cement is fresh and porous, dotted with turmeric and saffron from the previous days puja. Nandinis mother sits crouched from across her older daughter, and puts away her lunch, forlorn and caressing her dead childs picture. I have just started eating, she mumbles. The surviving daughter, and her brother, who is away at work, are married. Nandini had a lot of aspirations. This clock you see, this dress Im wearing, and that showpiece, she bought all of them. She always wanted to make sure we live well and not lesser than anyone else, no matter what their caste, the mother says. He [Manikandan] told her that there is nothing wrong in him [a Vanniyar] marrying a Paraiyar and that she would be happy with him. He led her on and then did this, the sister butts in. Slouched on plastic chairs, black-shirted members of the Dravida Kazhagam (DK), the much-desiccated mother organisation of the DMK and the AIADMK, are reverently offered cups of fizzy orange drinks as they spit expletives about the Hindu Munnani. The Dravida Kazhagam, founded by EV Ramaswamy in the 1940s, was initially aimed at eradicating caste and forming a separate but united Dravida Nadu. Now, its goals lack definition, but includes protecting Tamil culture as they call it. Back in Nandinis house, the dynamics then take a strange turn. Inside their house, the women made it clear that her death had its roots in caste. On seeing the DK men outside, they change. Its definitely an issue of religion, the mother declares, conscious that both the DK men are Vanniyars. This line of argument, which occurs over and over again in the Nandini murder case, is inexplicable if you dont know what is really being said. DK would now like to confront the institutional discrimination faced by Dalits and not have caste be one of the factors in the violence Nandini faced. At the same time, complaining about religion is a stand-in for newer groups elbowing in, like the Hindu Munnani, for instance. The irony is of course that neither DK nor Hindu Munnani are working towards ending discrimination and violence Dalits face. So they have more in common than theyd like to think. Tamil Nadus history of caste violence Caste dynamics permeate every aspect of life here. The Hindu Munnani set up its unit here in mid-2015. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), a caste-based party pandering to Vanniyars, is the strongest party in Keezhamaligai with a membership of at least 1,000. The AIADMK follows with 700, and includes both Vanniyars and Dalits. The DMK scores lowest, with little support from both castes, and comprises some Chettiars and Nadars, numerically small castes in the area. The dominant Vanniyar caste outnumbers the Dalits: 3,000 homes to a meagre 250. Relations between these two groups have always been simmering. And now, the Dalits have another battle: They find themselves pincered between the Vanniyars and the Hindu Munnanis fight for dominance. The existing Vanniyar order, with its traditional ties to the PMK and other major parties, does not want the Hindu Munnani to emerge as a new political force. This is a genuine possibility as the youth are seduced by the Munnanis call to violence. Organisations like the Munnani and the DK, besides the mainstream political parties, are attempting to make inroads here with opposing ideologies. The DK, known for its atheist, rationalist ideology, has a small following of about 100 in the village and began a unit there in 2012. Soon, it began to assert itself, taking on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) musclemen. Then the Hindu Munnani set up shop. Throughout all this, tensions between the Vanniyars and Dalits continued to simmer. In November 2016, three Vanniyar students clashed with two Dalit students over a Dalit woman, leading to violence when soda bottles were broken over each other. Such aggressive attacks date back to the 1980s when then Chief Minister MG Ramachandran allocated 10 acres of patta land to the Dalits, and the Vanniyars promptly staked claim to it. Even now, Dalits are warned not to stray into the land, especially at night. Crime of religion? In Sirugambur in Tiruchi district, a lopsided lock greets those who care to stop by Manikandans home. Word is that his family has fled, fearing violence from the community and police harassment. Waving his hand to silence any contrarian views of fellow villagers, J Vetriselvan, a Dravida Kazhagam member, also a Vanniyar, half-heartedly recites the refrain of the past few weeks. Hindu Munnani is a terrorist organisation. This is slowly permeating our society and these fringe elements must be stopped. A caste angle is irrelevant; this is a religious problem. Both the Vanniyars and Dalits are with us, then how can it be an issue of caste? he asks, glossing over the fact that both victim and accused are Hindus. In Sriperumbudur, just 40 km outside Chennai, Hindu Munnani partys head Rajshekars office reeks of lubricants. Running a Daikin air-conditioner service centre, it is evident that he has distanced himself from the happenings in Keezhamaligai. I am awaiting the report on the case in a bid to clear my conscience and that of the partys, he says. Vanniyars comprise the biggest number [in the party] and Dalits are next. All are youths under 30 years. I know Manikandan but we knew he had gone rogue a year ago; so we sidelined him. Our objective is to unite Hindus, not see caste. And he quickly resorts to some victim blaming. We hear that the girl had aborted many children (sic) before and had relationships with many men. Uneasy undercurrents K Ravichandran, Superintendent of Police for Jayankondam in Ariyalur, sits pensively at his desk while on the lookout for any tip-offs of potential violence brewing in the village. This is definitely a case of caste violence. Weve deployed 24-hour police protection in case something breaks out. The Hindu Munnani is a non-entity in this. What we fear is the Vanniyars taking control and lashing out at the Dalits. Things are already at a delicate stage. His apprehensions are not entirely unfounded. In 1997, when Thol Thirumavalavan, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK, a Dalit party) leader, visited Keezhamaligai upon launching his party, Murugesan, a local Vanniyar leader, created problems. Violence broke out, and since then, caste politics has always been simmering, ready to boil over at the slightest trigger. From temple worship issues every year when Vanniyars are allowed to pray during nine days of Sivaratri and Dalits only on the 10th dayto violence over land, the police have always had their hands full here. In Nandinis case, police nailed Manikandan with phone records traced backed to the teens neighbours number. Moreover, Devis statement about their affair and the pregnancy helped. Sub-inspector Manivannan, entrusted with investigating Manikandan after he was let off the first time, has a few things on his mind. It appears theres a lot unsaid within the police themselves, and the crackling lines of communication have worsened the case. SI Manivannan feels he was given the spoilt leftovers. I received a lot of blowback for the work my senior had done. I had arrested Manikandan promptly after the body was found. I dont know why Rajendran let him off. To date, that is the biggest mistake I consider in my professional life. Rajendran was the sub-inspector who let Manikandan go after he was initially questioned. But his superior, Deputy Superintendent of Police Inikudevan, stands up for him, saying, There wasnt enough evidence to arrest him so I let him off: As simple as that. Failed by Dalit parties Following Nandinis murder, the Intellectual Collective for Dalit Actions (ICDA) released a fact-finding report that stressed on the importance of caste violence. [The] rape and murder fitted with the template of honour killings happening in the region for many years. Previous instances have always been directed to the PMK, says Stalin Rajangam, a scholar of Dalit culture, who led the team. C Lakshmanan from the Madras Institute of Development Studies, also part of the team, says it is as much a DMK, AIADMK and PMK problem, as it is a VCK problem. PMK, which has time and time again alleged that this is a drama kaadhal [fake love between people of different castes], is silent on this issue. Why? he asks. D Ravikumar of the VCK, which held a road roko in protest, says this is first a gender issue, then a caste issue, and finally a communal issue. She is a woman first and then a Dalit. While it is clear that it is a caste issue, it is foolish to blame the Hindu Munnani, he says. Experts explain why VCK did not play an active role in the protests demanding justice for Nandini. They say it can be traced to the non-Dalit solidarity as opposed to the fragmentation present in the Dalit community. There has been no continuity maintained since their electoral debut because they have a tokenistic protest [ritual]. They never follow the legal course of the rapes or murders they protest against, says Rajangam. But Dalit leaders defend their stand. We have to look at both the communal angle and the caste angle; they are interrelated, asserts Thirumavalavan. The former MP says, VCK believes it is a womens issue first, and then a Dalit issue. Male domination is the issue. Caste is secondary. DK is giving priority to communalism. Dalit organisations only see caste, while the PMK is silent. That silence is support. In the midst of all this, there is not much coming from both the AIADMK and the DMK, though DMKs Working President MK Stalin issued a statement about violence against women. For now, news reports point the finger of blame squarely at the Hindu Munnani. The community vote bases of the DK, DMK and PMK could be banking on the fire aimed at the fringe outfit, to not only render irrelevant the vicious caste undercurrent but also to negate the emergence of any other political foe. Local residents, especially Dalits, could be doing the same to avoid caste clashes. The quick change in narrative by Nandinis family as to the nature of their daughters murder points to uneasiness, perhaps even fear of repercussions. Police themselves fear caste clashes breaking out. At the end of it all, Nandini is reduced to a mere case number. Perhaps everyone and everything killed the young girl. (Published in arrangement with GRIST Media) After Air India and Indigo, it was SpiceJets turn to thwart reviled Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwads attempts at air travel on Saturday. Gaikwad had booked a seat on a Pune-Ahmedabad flight, scheduled for 8.40 pm on April 3. However, we cancelled the ticket as soon as the booking was brought to our attention, said a SpiceJet official. The Shiv Sena MP beat up a 60-year-old Air India duty manager with his sandals on a Pune-New Delhi flight last Thursday, after he was forced to travel by economy class instead of business. He was blacklisted by Air India and five private airlines following his refusal to apologise for the incident. In the days that followed, Gaikwad tried to trick the Air India ticketing staff repeatedly by booking tickets under misspelt names. The state carrier first cancelled a Mumbai-Delhi ticket booked by him, followed by another Hyderabad-Delhi ticket on Tuesday. Last Friday, he again tried in vain to book a Pune-Delhi ticket for April 3. Still undaunted, the politician tried his luck on a Nagpur-Mumbai-Delhi flight on Wednesday. However, airline officials managed to thwart him at every turn. Private carrier Indigo had also rejected a flight booking made by him in a display of solidarity with Air India. We flagged several names including Ravindra Gaikwad, R Gaikwad, Prof V Ravindra Gaikwad and Prof Ravindra Gaikwad on our system after the MP tried booking under various abbreviations. In some cases, he even tried misspelling his name, said an Air India official. Gaikwad received widespread criticism for assaulting the Air India staffer, R Sukumar, and Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan even said she would consider taking action if parliamentarians brought the matter to her notice in the house. The MP, however, remained defiant choosing to blame Sukumar for the incident. Kaahe ka pashchaataap (what is there to repent)? he told reporters at Maharashtra Sadan on Thursday morning. I will not apologise ... he (Sukumar) should come and apologise. Then we will see. A 60-year-old man should know how to behave. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Amid fresh warnings by Beijing, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama began his 12-day tour of the northeast on Saturday and recalled his escape from Tibet to India 58 years ago. On his first trip to the region after eight years, the Dalai Lama said he gets emotional when he revisits Assam and Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh) as he enjoyed freedom for the first time (here) and started a new chapter in life. China has issued several warnings to India of deterioration in bilateral ties if the Dalai Lama is allowed to go ahead with his trip to Tawang. But New Delhi hasnt paid much heed to the threats. On his arrival at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi airport in Guwahati, the spiritual leader didnt attach much importance to Beijings threats and said, All these things are normal. Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama being gifted a memento at an event in Guwahati on Saturday (AP) The extremist United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) also issued a warning to the Dalai Lama earlier this week not to utter any anti-China statements from Assams soil. The spiritual leader recollected how he and his followers entered India via Arunachal Pradesh in 1959 in a speech delivered at the concluding ceremony of The Assam Tribunes platinum jubilee celebrations. Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama lights the ceremonial lamp, as Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal (right) and Governor Banowari Lal Purohit look on at an event in Guwahati on Saturday. (AP) The 81-year-old recounted how he tried to control the situation in Lhasa after a huge demonstration took place on March 10, 1959, but with Chinese military involvement increasing there was no other option but escape. He left Lhasa on March 17, 1959 with great risk to his life, but was still hopeful of resolving the issue after talks with Chinese officials on reaching South Tibet -- that hope was lost when China started bombarding Lhasa. It took 15 days on foot for the Dalai Lama and his entourage of 20 people to dodge the Chinese and enter India on March 31 and take shelter at the Buddhist monastery in Tawang. I came to India in 1959 as a refugee. I have spent over 58 years as a guest of the Indian government. In a way I am their longest (staying) guest, he joked as hundreds present in the audience applauded. The spiritual leader will deliver an address in Gauhati University on Sunday and another one in Dibrugarh University the next day before heading to Tawang. He will end his trip at Itanagar on April 12. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said that Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanaths statement saying many postures of surya namaskar closely resembled namaz was aimed at fooling Muslims and asserted it would not work. Owaisi also alleged that instead of addressing issues like loss of employment due to action against slaughter houses in Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath was making statements that wont have any impact whatsoever. Statements drawing similarity between surya namaskar and namaz, and fasting during Ramzan and Navratri are aimed at fooling Muslims. These are not going to work, the Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad told PTI here. These are all patronising statements, which the Muslim community has been hearing for the past 55 years, he said. Statements drawing similarity between surya namaskar and namaz, and fasting during Ramzan and Navratri are aimed at fooling Muslims. These are not going to work, Owaisi said the primary duty of the chief minister was to do justice. Adityanath had recently said surya namaskar was similar to namaz (prayers) offered by Muslims and those opposing the yogic exercise wanted to divide the society on religious lines. Everyone knows that surya namaskar postures are similar to that of namaz, but troublemakers give it a communal hue, he had said. Owaisi also slammed the decision to shut down illegal slaughter houses in Uttar Pradesh. Fifteen lakh people are engaged in the profession of selling and distributing meat and the action against slaughterhouses is putting their employment in jeopardy. Why isnt he (Adityanath) addressing that? Instead of that, all these statements (on surya namaskar) are being made. It will not have any impact whatsoever, he said. Owaisi alleged the food processing units engaged in meat export are also being closed in Uttar Pradesh. Can you imagine the loss to the nation? Nearly Rs 11,000 crore worth of buffalo meat is exported (every year) from Uttar Pradesh itself. The AIMIM leader also charged that the BJP-led government at the Centre is being soft on Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, who was granted bail by a court here last week. The governments statement that it is firm on its fight against terrorism is hollow because it is not firm on Aseemanand, he said. Why are you not firm on Aseemanand? Why are you not challenging the bail given to Aseemanand? Why are you soft on Aseemanad? Aseemanand is still facing grave charges of terrorism in Mecca Masjid bomb blast, Samjhauta blast (cases). You dont want to appeal against the bail. What kind of message are you sending? he said. Aseemanand was released from the Chanchalguda central prison in Hyderabad Friday evening. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday linked an event to promote out-of-the-box thinking among the youth to his vision of a new India, saying innovation and technology will shape the future of the country. India has been a hub of knowledge. We invented zero. We have travelled from zero to Mars, we have travelled from Upanishad to upagrah, Modi said in his address to thousands of innovators and engineers at Indias biggest innovation fest named Smart India Hackathon. Your innovations, products will change lives. Your approach will strengthen New India, Modi added. The PM asked questions during his interaction to students in different states to know about their plans. You will get more happiness from this exercise as it will help poor and may become the part of governments policy, the PM added. The hackathon is focused on the problems of social importance identified by 29 ministries and departments of the government. They identified 598 problems, which 7,531 teams of approximately 42,000 students responded to. Of them, 1,266 teams of 10,000 participants were shortlisted for the finale. A student told Modi, the dream of your New India is also our mission. Emphasising that demographic dividend will turn into development dividend for India through innovations, Modi also advised students not to give up on any idea. He indirectly mentioned how Steve Jobs started Apple from his car garage and said, Everyone has power to dream. But dreams should be turned into resolutions. IT innovations had started even from a garage. I wish to say, dont allow any idea to die. No one knows that idea can turn into a billion dollar company, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 1 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: The staff of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association will be fully formed until late 2017, Head of Kazakhstan Railways National Company Kanat Alpysbayev told reporters in Baku. He made the remarks on the sidelines of the general meeting of the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association. The associations staff will include representatives of all its member organizations, he added. He said that this will make it possible to further elaborate a general action plan for the promotion of this transport project. This route is very promising, and the efforts made by all countries of this route to develop transport and logistics infrastructure will guarantee its success, Alpysbayev said. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe. In October 2016, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia signed an agreement on the establishment of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association with its office in Astana. Its activities are aimed at attracting transit and foreign trade cargo, as well as developing integrated logistics products via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova The press association of India on Saturday demanded from the central government a suitable pension scheme for working journalists, accredited by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). The demand came at the first meeting of the newly elected executive committee of the press association headed by senior journalist Jaishankar Gupta. A resolution, in this regard, was also passed by the association. It is high time that the government of India should introduce a suitable pension scheme for the working journalists accredited by it, the resolution said. The demand is genuine and would provide some social security to a large number of accredited journalists who do not come under any such scheme, it added. The association said many state governments already have pension schemes for working journalists in their states while many others, who had no such schemes, have now started introducing such schemes for the scribes. It also demanded that the existing central government health scheme for the accredited journalists should be applicable in all government and private hospitals as was done in the case of the employees and pensioners of the government. It also stressed on the need for a suitable health insurance policy for the accredited journalists adding that pension and health facilities are the minimum requirements for the scribes. The association will write letters to the concerned ministers and seek meetings with them to press for the demands. The governments remonetisation exercise is expected to be completed by the middle of April after months of cash crunch since November 8 following the scrapping of old bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000, a State Bank of India report has said. Earlier, experts said that about Rs 2-2.5 lakh crore would not come back into the system. However, despite the fact that almost the entire amount has been deposited back into the system, the central bank would be required to print less currency notes as a sizeable population has moved towards using less cash. Hence around Rs 1.17 trillion worth of notes need not printed, Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic advisor SBI Group said. We are facing no cash shortage and the ATMs and bank branches are working well after the restrictions have been removed ... there have been no complaints, said a senior executive of a private sector bank. The RBI has already removed all restrictions on cash withdrawals either from the ATMs or bank branches. Sources said that the cash supply for ATMs has become normal, though a large part of transaction has moved to the digital platform. Read | RBI need not print entire amount of extinguished currency There were 17,165 million pieces of Rs 500 notes and 6,858 million pieces of Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on November 8, 2016, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the demonetisation announcement. The government, which is also trying to move towards a less cash economy, announced mega cash awards Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar for both consumers as and merchants adopting digital payment modes. These schemes, which have started from Christmas last year, will cover transactions between Rs 50 and Rs 3000. Niti While the first draw to decide on the winners names was announced on December 25, the mega draw will be on April 14 the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar. The total amount of high denomination currency circulating in the system was estimated at Rs 15.44 lakh crore of which Rs 8.58 lakh crore was in old Rs 500 notes and Rs 6.86 lakh crore in Rs 1,000 when these notes were banned. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON GAYA Driven by the realization that sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks needed to be discouraged for well-being of inhabitants of the region, they enforced a voluntary practice of levying cash penalties on those infringing upon the consensus decision. Two years on, a group of 21 villagers of adjacent Haridaspur and Balasot villages, in Imamganj and Aamas blocks of the Maoism-hit Sherghati sub-division in Gaya district of south Bihar, had their zest for social reform rewarded. During this period, they had collected enough money by way of cash fines realized all of Rs 2 lakh, to construct two temples one each dedicated to Shiva and Hanuman, at Haridaspur in Aamas block, to thank the deities for the social reform they had inspired. We had to face resistance from the liquor mafia and other anti-social elements who even went to the extent of threatening our volunteers with dire consequences for enforcing the anti-liquor drive, said Sujit Kumar Pal, mukhia of Kalvan Panchayat and a resident of Haridaspur. Later on, we roped in Anganwari Sevikas and with their support we could ensure closure of 22 liquor outlets and about a dozen brewing centers at Balasot and Haridaspur, said Subedar Kumar Yadav, who spearheaded the campaign, along with Pal. He has since received a letter of appreciation from the Sherghati SDO for his effort. According to Anganwari Sevika Pritimala of Balasot (population: 1,300), not one resident of either of the two adjacent villages had touched liquor since the ban was imposed two years ago, that is, much earlier than total prohibition came into force in Bihar on April 5, 2016. Only outsiders come to the outskirts of Balasot and Haridaspur (population: 2,000) from time to time to consume alcohol. Our village committee members catch them and realize fine from them. That is how we collected money to build the temples, Pritimala explained. Sherghati SDO Jyoti Kumar said the anti-liquor campaigners had set an example by ensuring their alcohol ban even before the government enacted fresh laws to curb the menace. We are extending a helping hand to the committee, he said. We have also initiated efforts to ensure better education for our children by regularly monitoring the functioning of government primary school of these two villages, said Sudesh Yadav, president of the village committee. The villagers commitment to liquor avoidance appeared to cascade when Kamalesh Manjhi of Tetaria village, under Fatehpur police station of Gaya, about 30 km from the district headquarters, lodged an FIR against his own wife, Ruby Devi, for selling liquor. The police then raided the shop of his wife and recovered 35 litres of country liquor from the premises, although Devi managed to escape. According to the Fatehpur SHO Lalmani Dubey, Devi used to sell liquor at the behest of Ganapati Yadav alias Rupesh, who has been bringing the stuff from Jharkhand. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Anyone found killing cows in Chhattishgarh will be hanged, chief minister Raman Singh said on Saturday, underpinning the BJPs radical shift in its plans to protect the bovine considered sacred by many Hindus. Singhs comments came a day after Gujarats BJP government amended its laws to make cow slaughter punishable by life imprisonment. The party government in Uttar Pradesh led by the firebrand Hindu icon Yogi Adityanath has also launched a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses and cattle smuggling. #WATCH: Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh says 'will hang those who kill (cows)' when asked will Chhattisgarh make any law against cow slaughter. pic.twitter.com/V5fdNs4CEk ANI (@ANI_news) April 1, 2017 Pichhale 15 saal se ek bhi ghatna aisee nahi huee...jo maarega usko latka denge (Not a single incident of cow slaughter has taken place in the last 15 years...anyone who doesso will be hanged), the chief minister told reporters when asked if Chhattisgarh was also considering any changes in its law against cow slaughter. The chief ministers comment could be seen as provocative by critics as no state laws have death penalty as a punishment for cow slaughter. Opposition parties often criticise the BJP govenrment at the Centre and states of not doing anything to reign in self-styled vigilante groups targetting people they suspect of cow slaughter or smuggling. Last year, two suspected cattle smuggler were lynched by cow vigilantes and hanged from a tree in neighbouring Jharkhand, also a BJP-ruled state. Under the Chhattisgarh Pashu Krurata Adhiniyam, cow slaughter and transporting beef is banned. Anyone found guilty faces up to seven years in jail and a fine of Rs 50,000 or both. Officials said Chhattisgarh was the first state to ban slaughter of cows and other animal belonging to its family There are slaughter houses but only goats are permitted to be killed. No bovines and pigs are slaughtered across the state, said a senior municipal officer of Chhattisgarh. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Real estate company Unitechs managing directors Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra were arrested by the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police, an officer said. The Chandras were booked for cheating buyers as Unitech failed to complete a project in Gurugrams Sector 70 on time and did not refund the money along with the interest. A team of the EOW went to Gurugram on Friday night and raided the residence of Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra. The team arrested them for money laundering of around Rs 35 crore, said Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma. He added that there were 91 complaints against the Chandra brothers in connection with the Gurugram project for which valid permission from the competent authority was not taken. Both would be presented before a Delhi court for remand proceedings on Saturday afternoon. Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday ordered an inquiry into the work being carried out on Rs 1,513 crore Gomti river channelisation project, an ambitious project of the SP government. The project is also known as the Gomti riverfront development project. A retired HC judge will head the committee, which will submit its report within 45 days. While Yogi has asked chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar to constitute the committee, he has also asked minister for urban development Suresh Khanna and minister for irrigation Dharam Pal Singh to monitor the implementation of the project. He has asked the officers to link the project to Centres Namami Ganges scheme as the Gomti merges with the Ganga in Jaunpur district. If the project is linked, the state government can seek funds from the Centre for installation of STPs, said the CM while reviewing the project. Of the Rs 1,513 crore allocated, Rs 1,435 crore or 95 % of the amount has already been spent while only 60% of the work has been completed up to now. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Meat sellers in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday called off their strike against crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses in the state. Office bearer of Lucknow Bakra Gosht Vyapar Mandal Mubeen Qureshi said, The Uttar Pradesh government assured us that it would open the Maulviganj slaughterhouse in Lucknow and at the same time build another slaughter house. Showering praises on chief minister Yogi Adityanath, he said, The state government listened to our views and grievances with an open mind. We are opening our shops tomorrow. (April 2) He also said that the government has assured the mutton sellers that their licences would be renewed in the framework of law. We are expecting to get renewed licences in the next 15-20 days, Qureshi said. Meat sellers across the Uttar Pradesh had launched an indefinite strike on March 27 against crackdown on illegal abattoirs. Endorsing the state governments directive to ensure cleanliness at shops, Qureshi said the shop keepers have been told to maintain hygiene which all of them would adhere to. Secretary of All India Jamait ul Quresh Ashfaq Qureshi said that chances that the indefinite strike, which began on Monday, will end soon gained ground after representatives of the agitating meat-sellers and exporters met Adityanath a few days ago. Though the strike had been going on for sometime now, the impact was not felt much in view of Navaratra during which people in north India generally abstain from consuming non-vegetarian food. Shops selling fish, egg and chicken were open in the state capital but there were not many buyers. Representatives of agitating meat-sellers and exporters had earlier met the state Health minister Siddharth Nath Singh on Tuesday to arrive at a reconciliation. The office-bearers of their associations had submitted a memorandum to the state government and wanted to meet the chief minister with their demands which included allowing them to operate the slaughter houses as their closure was affecting their livelihood. She is a very Iron lady, says Krishna, a municipal stenographer as I wait to meet the mayor of Aligarh, the BJPs Shakuntala Bharti on a sultry afternoon. After over an hour, clad in a bright red sari with a thick golden border, vermillion streak on forehead and sindoor all the way back in her hair, Bharti, 51, walks in with a small black pug called Blackie. Amongst the first things she brings up is her crusade against illegal cow slaughter, the basis for her iron lady reputation. I have rescued so many cows that there is no count - not just within Aligarh but outside the city as well. If there is any incident then the first person to reach is Aligarh mayor Shakuntala Bharti. If there is anyone to save their lives, it is Shakuntala Bharti, she says smugly. The gau raksha strand of Hindutva politics, represented by those like Bharti have so far been restricted to the fringes of the BJP, for a reason while it was seen to have some political traction, it also carried the incendiary potential of communal tension. But today, the new BJP government in Uttar Pradesh under the chief ministership of hardline priest Yogi Adityanath has converted the rhetoric of gau raksha, powered by half-truths and rumours, into policy by shutting down slaughterhouses and meat shops across the state. Shakuntala Bharti, BJP mayor of Aligarh, says that the previous Samajwadi Party government gave a free rein to cow slaughter. (Niha Masih) The chaotic impact of these actions trace back to some erroneous claims made by the BJP in its manifesto, justifying the crackdown. The document stated that the party would shut down all illegal slaughterhouses and prohibit mechanised abattoirs as illegal cattle smuggling during the Samajwadi Party rule had led to a drop in UPs livestock population and milk production. The facts suggest otherwise. The UP livestock census has shown a consistent upswing in buffalo population, from 229 lakhs in 2003 to 306 lakhs in 2012. The last all-India livestock census of 2012 shows a similar increase. It also indicates a 6.5 percent increase in cow population from the previous census in 2007. As for milk, the national dairy boards figures for UP have shown an increase from 24,863 tonnes in 2012 to 29,086 tonnes last year - a jump of 17 percent. A FICCI report estimates that selling buffaloes that no longer yield milk for slaughter, greatly benefits farmers. For the administration to enforce this policy even if it has nothing to do with unearthing illegal cow slaughter, has led to a frantic search for every minor lapse. To this end, teams of over 30 officials and policemen, representing ten departments set out every morning to inspect godowns, meat factories, unused buildings or even homes. We accompanied one such team in Aligarh. In a cold drink storage unit, they found sacks of animal trachea. So far in over 35 raids in Aligarh, 9 premises have been sealed based on similar discoveries. The municipal corporation slaughterhouse just outside Aligarh city has been lying defunct for years. (Niha Masih) The Additional District Magistrate of Aligarh, SB Singh confirmed none of the recoveries ostensibly seem to be of the cow. The animal remains recovered are of buffaloes most are old, only in one or two cases fresh parts were found. No cow related incidents have been reported from these proceedings. Instead, FIRs registered against the 9 establishments are for public nuisance and negligence. But the drumbeat of the cow in peril is kept alive by the party faithful. Bharti maintains that cows are being slaughtered openly. When asked for evidence, she brushes it off saying, If you know Im going to raid you and you know you are indulging in illegal activity, you will be cautious. All slaughterhouses are careful now. Charging the last Samajwadi Party government with giving a free rein to cow slaughter, she says, Rakshas ke muh mein khoon lag jata hai. Us tareeke se un logon ki pravartiyan ban chuki hai. (The demon has tasted blood and it has become a habit now). She adds sternly that she will ensure anyone caught from now on will be booked under the National Security Act, a stringent law which gives police the power to detain people upto 12 months. The accusation of a Samajwadi Party government that favored Muslims reflects a volatile strand of the BJPs campaign pitch where its top leaders routinely accused the Akhilesh regime of doling out selective benefits to minorities - be it scholarships or electricity. Sustaining such divisive rhetoric even when in power suggests that the party intends to use its crusade on meat to keep alive Hindutva sentiment - perhaps till the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, or even beyond. Its a strategy fraught with risks. The actions of the state government have greatly emboldened fringe groups. Last week, during an inspection at the Unnao plant of Indias oldest and top meat exporting group, Allanasons, two local members of the Hindu Jagran Manch tried to enter the factory to conduct their own check. Sporting a saffron scarf, a muscular and moustachioed Vimal Dwivedi, 38, said he was denied entry during the inspection but managed to force his way in later. When the documents were being checked by the officials, the media persons were removed from there. But I stubbornly insisted on sitting there as a member of the civil society. No illegality or lapses were found. One of the largest export abattoirs in the country, the Allanasons plant at Aligarh employs 2100 workers . (Niha Masih) While sealing illegal slaughterhouses operating without due licenses is easy, such licensed slaughterhouses and buffalo meat export units are also facing the heat. Of the 41 such units in Uttar Pradesh, 9 were sealed for minor reasons ranging from dysfunctional CCTVs to a pending permission for groundwater use. This isnt an isolated incident. In Meerut, Bajrang Dal activists raided a meat packaging unit without informing the authorities. They beat up a worker who turned out to be a BJP member. Dwivedi claims that he has also pressurized the local administration into closing down meat shops in the vicinity of temples during the ongoing Navratri week. Far from reining in vigilantes, the police appear to be acting in tandem with them. This was borne out in the bylanes of Dodhpur road in Aligarh where almost ten meat shops remain shut. Faizan, a worker at one of the shops alleges that local police forced them to shut down shops on account of Navratri, a charge denied by the local administration. For an overzealous administration, or for vigilantes, slaughterhouses can easily be labelled as illegal, the legacy of previous regimes. The domestic demand of buffalo meat is supposed to be met by slaughterhouses which come under the jurisdiction of the municipal corporation. In Aligarh and most cities across the state, these premises have been lying defunct and unused for several years due to inadequate facilities. This spurred a rise in small and unauthorized slaughterhouses. While the district magistrates office in Aligarh is trying to revive the municipal slaughterhouse in the coming month, Bharti as the head of the corporation says a firm no. Till the time I am mayor, I have no such plan. They are worried about jobs, our gau mata is being murdered, in whom 47 crore gods reside. Their job is not more important than gau matas life. They need to be punished for it, she adds. In a city like Aligarh, where 42 percent of the population is Muslim, this drive has disproportionately hit the community who are both consumers and earn livelihood from the sector. Bharti remains unmoved, Where in Quran does it say that cow meat, buffalo meat, milk giving animals have to be eaten? Which religious text says that? Watch: UP governments clampdown on slaughterhouses But Muslims arent the only casualties. Santosh Kumar Upadhyay, 40, voted for the BJP. To celebrate the partys win he bought motichoor laddoos for family and neighbours on the day of the result. Now he may lose his job because of them. Upadhyay, a vegetarian, has worked at the Allanasons meat export factory for the last six years. He is in charge of the deboning process on the factory floor. All kinds of speeches are made during the election but we didnt think that the industry would come to the brink of closure. Uncertainty and disruption in the supply chain has reduced the factorys production to just 20 percent. They have not fired any of the 2100 workers yet but may have to do so if the production remains low. To keep the morale going, the workers are called in daily even in departments which have no work. About 50 workers stood idly infront of empty assembly lines at the packaging unit, when we visited. Upadhyay, the sole earning member of a family of eight says, I regret voting for a party that is taking away our livelihood. Even during the Parliamentary election, we voted for the BJP thinking that ache din will come. Par ache din ki jagah bure din aa gaye. (Instead of good days, only troubled days have arrived). SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Imagine youre walking down the street and you point the camera on your phone at a crowd of people in front of you. An app superimposes on each persons face a partially-redacted name, date of birth, address, whether shes undergone police verification, and, of course, an obscured Aadhaar number. OnGrid, a company that bills itself as a trust platform and offers to deliver verifications and background checks, used that very imagery in an advertisement last month. Its website notes that As per Government regulations, it is mandatory to take consent of the individual while using OnGrid, but that is a legal requirement, not a technical one. Since every instance of use of Aadhaar for authentication or for financial transactions leaves behind logs in the Unique Identification Authority of Indias (UIDAI) databases, the government can potentially have very detailed information about everything from the your medical purchases to your use of video-chatting software. The space for digital identities as divorced from legal identities gets removed. Clearly, Aadhaar has immense potential for profiling and surveillance. Our only defence: law that is weak at best and non-existent at worst. The Aadhaar Act and Rules dont limit the information that can be gathered from you by the enrolling agency; it doesnt limit how Aadhaar can be used by third parties (a process called seeding) if they havent gathered their data from UIDAI; it doesnt require your consent before third parties use your Aadhaar number to collate records about you (eg, a drug manufacturer buying data from various pharmacies, and creating profiles using Aadhaar). It even allows your biometrics to be shared if it is in the interest of national security. The law offers provisions for UIDAI to file cases (eg, for multiple enrollments), but it doesnt allow citizens to file a case against private parties or the government for misuse of Aadhaar or identity fraud, or data breach. It is also clear that the government opposes any privacy-related improvements to the law. After debating the Aadhaar Bill in March 2016, the Rajya Sabha passed an amendment by MP Jairam Ramesh that allowed people to opt out of Aadhaar, and withdraw their consent to UIDAI storing their data, if they had other means of proving their identity (thus allowing Aadhaar to remain an enabler). But that amendment, as with all amendments passed in the Rajya Sabha, was rejected by the Lok Sabha, allowing the government to make Aadhaar mandatory, and depriving citizens of consent. While the Aadhaar Act requires a persons consent before collecting or using Aadhaar-provided details, it doesnt allow for the revocation of that consent. In other countries, data security laws require that a person be notified if her data has been breached. In response to an RTI application asking whether UIDAI systems had ever been breached, the Authority responded that the information could not be disclosed for reasons of national security. The citizen must be transparent to the state, while the state will become more opaque to the citizen. HOW DID AADHAAR CHANGE? How did Aadhaar become the behemoth it is today, with it being mandatory for hundreds of government programmes, and even software like Skype enabling support for it? The first detailed look one had at the UID project was through an internal UIDAI document marked Confidential that was leaked through WikiLeaks in November 2009. That 41-page dossier is markedly different from the 170-page Technology and Architecture document that UIDAI has on its website now, but also similar in some ways. In neither of those is the need for Aadhaar properly established. Only in November 2012 after scholars like Reetika Khera pointed out UIDAIs fundamental misunderstanding of leakages in the welfare delivery system was the first cost-benefit analysis commissioned, by when UIDAI had already spent 28 billion. That same month, Justice KS Puttaswamy, a retired High Court judge, filed a PIL in the Supreme Court challenging Aadhaars constitutionality, wherein the government has argued privacy isnt a fundamental right. Every time you use Aadhaar, you leave behind logs in the UIDAI databases. This means that the government can potentially have very detailed information about everything from the your medical purchases to your use of video-chatting software. Even today, whether the deduplication process using biometrics to ensure the same person cant register twice works properly is a mystery, since UIDAI hasnt published data on this since 2012. Instead of welcoming researchers to try to find flaws in the system, UIDAI recently filed an FIR against a journalist doing so. At least in 2009, UIDAI stated it sought to prevent anyone from [e]ngaging in or facilitating profiling of any nature for anyone or providing information for profiling of any nature for anyone, whereas the 2014 document doesnt. As OnGrids services show, the very profiling that the UIDAI said it would prohibit is now seen as a feature that all, including private companies, may exploit. UID has changed in other ways too. In 2009, it was as a system that never sent out any information other than Yes or No, which it did in response to queries like Is Pranesh Prakash the name attached to this UID number or Is April 1, 1990 his date of birth, or Does this fingerprint match this UID number. With the addition of e-KYC (wherein UIDAI provides your demographic details to the requester) and Aadhaar-enabled payments to the plan in 2012, the fundamentals of Aadhaar changed. This has made Aadhaar less secure. SECURITY CONCERNS With Aadhaar Pay, due to be launched on April 14, a merchant will ask you to enter your Aadhaar number into her device, and then for your biometrics typically a fingerprint, which will serve as your password, resulting in money transfer from your Aadhaar-linked bank account. Basic information security theory requires that even if the identifier (username, Aadhaar number etc) is publicly known millions of people names and Aadhaar numbers have been published on dozens of government portals the password must be secret. Thats how most logins works, thats how debit and credit cards work. How are you or UIDAI going to keep your biometrics secret? In 2015, researchers in Carnegie Mellon captured the iris scans of a driver using cars side-view mirror from distances of up to 40 feet. In 2013, German hackers fooled Apple iOSs fingerprint sensors by replicating a fingerprint from a photo taken off a glass held by an individual. They even replicated the German Defence Ministers fingerprints from photographs she herself had put online. Your biometrics cant be kept secret. Typically, even if your username (in this case, Aadhaar number) is publicly known, your password must be secret. Thats how most logins works, thats how debit and credit cards work. How are you or UIDAI going to keep your biometrics secret? In the US, in a security breach of 21.5 million government employees personnel records in 2015, 5.2 million employees fingerprints were copied. If that breach had happened in India, those fingerprints could be used in conjunction with Aadhaar numbers not only for large-scale identity fraud, but also to steal money from peoples bank accounts. All passwords should be replaceable. If your credit card gets stolen, you can block it and get a new card. If your Aadhaar number and fingerprint are leaked, you cant change it, you cant block it. The answer for Aadhaar too is to choose not to use biometrics alone for authentication and authorisation, and to remove the centralised biometrics database. And this requires a fundamental overhaul of the UID project. Aadhaar marks a fundamental shift in citizen-state relations: from We the People to We the Government. If the rampant misuse of electronic surveillance powers and wilful ignorance of the law by the state is any precedent, the future looks bleak. The only way to protect against us devolving into a total surveillance state is to improve rule of law, to strengthen our democratic institutions, and to fundamentally alter Aadhaar. Sadly, the political currents are not only not favourable, but dragging us in the opposite direction. (Pranesh Prakash is policy director at the Centre for Internet and Society, and Affiliated Fellow at Yale Law Schools Information Society Project) Indian student attacked in Poland, no sale of liquor near highways, getting Indian visa now easier: Heres a list of top 10 stories to bring you up to date. 1) Indian student survives brutal attack in Poland, Sushma Swaraj seeks report An Indian student, who was allegedly brutally assaulted in Poland and was reported to have died, has survived the attack, according to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. There was an incident of beating. Fortunately, he has survived. We are inquiring into all aspects of the incident, she tweeted. Read the full story here. 2) Pubs and bars in Gurgaons Cyberhub, Delhis Aerocity to go dry after SC upholds liquor ban verdict Watering holes at DLF CyberHub in Gurgaon and hotels at Aerocity in New Delhi will go dry immediately in view of a Supreme Court decision to uphold a previous order prohibiting the sale of liquor near highways across the country. The apex court on Friday maintained that its verdict banning the sale of alcoholic beverages at establishments located within 500 metres of state and national highways will extend to hotels, pubs and bars too. Consequently, thousands of bars and pubs across the country are likely to lose their liquor licences. Read the full story here. 3) Getting Indian visa to become easier from April 1: Here is all you need to know The government has further liberalised its visa regime aimed at bringing more tourists and business travellers to the country. The new changes approved by the cabinet will be rolled out from April 1. With immediate effect, e-visa has been sub-divided into 3 categories -- e-tourist visa, e-business visa and e-medical visa. Till now, e-visa was only for tourists. E-visa facility has been extended to nationals of 161 countries for entry through 24 airports (earlier granted through 16 airports) and three ports: Cochin, Goa and Mangalore. Here is all you need to know about the new changes in various visa categories. Read the full story here. 4) Amit Shah eyes what even Narendra Modi could not: 150 seats in Gujarat BJP chief Amit Shah has set a target for himself in Gujarat that even Narendra Modi could not achievewinning 150 assembly seats. Modis best performance is 127 out of 182 seats in the 2002 polls, held after Godhra riots. Addressing BJP workers at the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, Shah said, After 325 seats in UP, go out with confidence that we will get more than 150 seats in Gujarat. Under Modi, BJP won 127 seats in 2002, 117 in 2007 and 115 in 2012 assembly elections. Read the full story here. 5) VHP to create jobs, takes dig at Modi government for not fulfilling electoral promise The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is promising work for Indias jobless Hindu youth. The hardline affiliate of the RSS has floated a helpline number for those who want jobs or training and will offer the service free of cost. The service, however, is open only for Hindus. In what can be perceived as a potshot at the Narendra Modi government for not fulfilling its promise of creating more jobs, VHPs international president Pravin Togadia in a statement said: We do not know the art of building castles in the air. We tirelessly work on the ground, and try to fulfill what we said. Read the full story here. 6) Why no one wants to live in the bungalow next to the UP CMs house in Lucknow Who wouldnt want to live next to the most famous address in Uttar Pradesh 5, Kalidas Marg, the residence of the chief minister of Indias most-populous state? No one, it turns out, spooked by a superstition of ill luck descending on every occupant of the bungalow in the heart of Lucknow. The buzz in UPs political and administrative circles is that anyone who occupies 6, Kalidas Marg whether an IAS officer or a minister -- either ends up in political or official ignominy, a decline in political fortunes, jail, or grave illness. Read the full story here. 7) Govt aimed to build 15,000 km of roads in 2016-17 but laid down only 8,200 km The Narendra Modi government built 22 km of roads per day in 2016-17, missing its ambitious target of constructing 41 km every day. Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari had set an all-time high target of building 15,000 km of roads in 2016-17 but only managed 8,200 km of roads. This construction figure, however, is the highest that the ministry has achieved till date and more than double of what the previous UPA government managed. Read the full story here. 8) Jio extends Prime offer till April 15, offers additional summer surprise Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio, the newest telecom company, has announced it has notched an unprecedented 72 million paid subscribers, and extended by 15 days its rock-bottom priced data offer under Prime membership. The company, whose free extended promotional offer came to an end on March 31, also announced a complimentary offer for three months for those who paid Rs 303 prior to April 15. Read the full story here. 9) Indian-origin entrepreneur takes on Democrat firebrand Elizabeth Warren in Senate race VA Shiva Ayyadurai, an Indian American who says he is the inventor of email, is looking to unseat firebrand Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, with supporters calling next years election a battle between a real Indian and a fake Indian. Warren had claimed in her 2012 campaign for the senate she was part Cherokee, an American Indian tribe. She won that election, but has not been able to shake off the controversy about her heritage since. Ayyaduria launched his campaign in February on Shivratri, tweeting, Today, ShivaRatri, when Light overcame Darkness, we launched my campaign for US SENATE against @SenWarren. Defend the American Dream! Read the full story here. 10) Saina Nehwal is like another player I have to play, dont have to win every time we play: PV Sindhu PV Sindhu said Fridays blockbuster India Open superseries contest against former world No. 1 Saina Nehwal was just another match. She (Saina) is not special that I have to win against her. She is like another player whom I have to play.Its not that I have to win against her whenever I play. But I try to give my best against each player and gave my best against her too. Saina Nehwal did not attend the post-match conference. Read the full story here. Details added (first version posted on 14:27) Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 1 By Anvar Mammadov - Trend: Single tariffs for cargo transportation along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route will be determined in the near future, Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov told reporters in Baku on Apr. 1. He made the remarks on the sidelines of the general meeting of the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association. He said that the tariffs will be developed taking into account Ukraines joining this route. After the signing of todays protocol, Ukraine will also officially become a member of our route, Gurbanov said. If earlier Batumi was our final destination, now the route will continue through Ukraine, so the tariffs will be set considering this factor. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe. In October 2016, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia signed an agreement on the establishment of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association with its office in Astana. Its activities are aimed at attracting transit and foreign trade cargo, as well as developing integrated logistics products via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. The act of begging is a crime in 20 states and two union territories of India, reflecting societys embarrassment at manifest poverty and annoyance at perceived encroachment of public spaces. In most places, people can be arrested for looking poor, as our analysis of laws in 18 states and union territories (UTs) shows. Laws allow the police to round up beggars without warrant and judges to confine them in government-run institutions for long or indefinite periodsa violation of constitutional principles. The language of the law essentially allows the law enforcement agencies and the courts to internalise and legitimise a hostile attitude towards a section of society. Usha Ramanathan, an expert on law and poverty, in her analysis of the anti-begging law in Delhi, observed that the law has bold signatures of unconstitutionality. This is true of other state laws on begging as well, and calls for a rethink and a recalibration of the governments engagement with this community. In October 2016, the ministry of social justice and empowerment held a consultation on a new model bill for destitute people which has been referred to state governments for comment. Model laws are usually drafted by central government ministries for state governments to adopt on a voluntary basis, with or without changes. The Persons in Destitution (Protection, Care and Rehabilitation) Model Bill of 2016 aims to set up a rehabilitative framework for homeless people, people found begging, and destitute people with disabilities. It does not criminalise begging, other than for repeated and organised begging, and does not allow for detention of dependants. It focuses instead on providing resources for the destitutein addition to imposing a duty on the state government concerned to set up well-equipped and -staffed rehabilitation centres to provide vocational training and counselling, the model bill envisages setting up of outreach and mobilisation units to identify destitute people, create awareness and mobilise communities. However, the bill falls short of taking a progressive and humane approach towards begging, and needs to be reframed after an informed debate. Who is a Beggar? More than 400,000 destitute people across the country are classified as beggars, vagrants, etc. in government data (based on the 2011 census). Source: Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 457, 01.12.2015; Press Information Bureau, Empowerment of Beggar Population, 26 April 2015 But this figure is contested, and the government admits there are no authentic data available. Activists say government statistics underreport the number of beggars. For instance, the 2011 census puts the number of beggars in Delhi at 2,187. However, previous estimations by government departments and civil society organisations put the figure between 60,000 and 100,000 between 2004 and 2010. Further, information about the number of people booked and detained under anti-begging laws is not readily available. In five states, even the text of the laws that criminalise begging is not available in any publicly-accessible resource. Most of the state laws (except of Assam and Tamil Nadu) consider the mere appearance of not having the means to sustain oneself or wandering about in a public place as begging. In other words, if you look poor, you can be arrested. There have been reports of police raids rounding up homeless working people or nomadic tribes as beggars. The law in West Bengal uses language similar to early colonial laws, such as the term vagrants. Some laws date back to pre-Independence times (Tamil Nadu), some are as recent as 2004 (Sikkim), but the classification of begging as a criminal activity remains unchanged. In Karnataka and Assam, an exception has been carved out for religious mendicants who seek alms to fulfill religious obligations or beg in temples and mosques. These laws effectively sanction begging in the name of religion. Yet, seeking alms by singing, dancing and performing tricks falls within the definition of begging, and is illegal. In Tamil Nadu, however, the law exempts street artists and performers in the oral tradition, bards, jugglers and street magicians from the definition of a beggar. Under most laws (with the exception of Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and West Bengal), the court can also order the detention of people who are dependent on the person arrested for begging. So if a man is arrested for begging, his wife and children can be detained. In Himachal Pradesh, the law goes a step further by allowing the court to send people who knowingly live off the earnings of a beggar to jail. Under this law, anyone proved to be living with or to be habitually in company of, a beggar can be punished. The police can arrest and detain entire families under this provision. The model bill retains a definition broadly similar to that of existing state laws, one in which having no visible means of subsistence and wandering, (sic) about or remaining in any public place can constitute begging. Essentially, it continues to presume that anyone appearing to be poor could be a beggar, although it does shift the focus from punishment to rehabilitation. Lets clear the street of beggars Local police or officers of the welfare department conduct periodic raids to clear the streets of beggars. Those rounded up routinely include members of the transgender community, for whom begging is a significant source of livelihood. Many state laws treat begging as a cognisable and non-bailable offense, for which a summary inquiry can be held to ascertain guilt and award punishment. Under the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure, crimes which require the immediate intervention of the police are classified as cognisable crimes; in fact, it is possible for the police to start an investigation and make an arrest even without a complaint from anyone and without prior permission from a court. Most state laws allow the police to arrest anyone they think is a beggar without a warrant. The crime of begging is also non-bailable, i.e., the accused has to make an application in court to get out of jail while the inquiry goes on. The level of awareness regarding free legal representation is very low in India and activists have often found the quality of representation to be poor. A person accused of begging would typically have no means to hire legal representation, and would find getting bail very hard. In its drive to beautify the city in the run up to the Commonwealth Games, the Delhi government decided to rid the city of beggars. It set up mobile courts where a magistrate would sit in a minibus and summarily try the beggars rounded up. The question arises: if the crime of begging is so serious that it is classified as cognisable and non-bailable, how is a summary inquiry sufficient to establish guilt? Though the model bill does not criminalise begging per se, it allows for people found begging repeatedly to be detained indefinitely in rehabilitation centreswith police assistance, if necessaryand claims this detention is in their own interest. Further, the bill envisages the issuance of identity cards which can potentially be used for surveillance purposes. These provisions could also allow and assist the police to conduct raids and clean-up drives, making the situation not very different from now. Where do arrested beggars go? Various state laws prescribe sending those declared beggars, and in some cases, their dependants, to government-run institutions called by different namescertified institution, workhouse, special home, beggars home or relief centre. In some states, a distinction is made between a workhouse (where those capable of physical labour are detained) and special homes (for those incapable of physical labour). No comprehensive data are available on the status of these institutions, but isolated reports indicate deplorable conditions and even a significant number of deaths each year at some of these homes. It is easy to see how these laws reflect the commonly perceived nexus between begging and criminality. States which have adopted versions of the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959 (for example, Delhi) prescribe detention in a certified institution as normal punishment. In several states such as Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the court has the option to either send the person to jail or detain them in an institution. In West Bengal, the person can be released only once the manager of the home has found a job for them or if a relative provides personal guarantee, thereby making it possible to detain someone indefinitely. Repeat offence invites harsher punishments. If a person is found begging a third time, they can be sent to a government institution for up to 10 years, of which two years can be in jail. In nine of the states analysed, judges can send an accused person to an institution for up to 10 years. While awarding the maximum punishment of 10 years, the judge has the power to send the person to eight years in an institution and two years in jail. A similar model is followed in states such as Assam, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh although with shorter maximum duration of punishment (between three and five years). In a few states such as Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir, the judge can only send a repeat offender to an institution. In one state, Himachal Pradesh, the repeat offender (who is not a woman or child) will only be sent to jail. Women and children can be sent to a beggars home instead. Here again, the maximum prescribed punishment ranges from three to 10 years. The question arises: why is begging in one state a more serious crime than in another? In some states such as Haryana and Punjab, the law prescribes compulsory manual labour at a certified institution (after a medical check-up). Compulsory labour is again indicative of the nature of detention being punitive rather than rehabilitative. A number of state laws allow for the courts to send a person to jail for up to three months for refusing to give their fingerprints when in a certified institution. In some states such as Gujarat, the remainder of the term in a certified institution can be converted into jail time if the person refuses to follow rules. Existence of State Laws And Maximum Punishment For Begging By Repeat Offenders State Law on Begging Availability in Public Domain Maximum Punishment (for Repeat Offenders) Andhra Pradesh Yes Yes 3 years in workhouse OR 5 years in jail Assam Yes Yes 3 years in institution (of which one year can be in jail) Bihar Yes Yes 10 years in institution (of which two years could be in jail) Chhattisgarh Yes No NA Delhi Yes Yes 10 years in institution (of which two years could be in jail) Goa Yes Yes 10 years in institution (of which two years could be in jail) Gujarat Yes Yes 10 years in institution (of which two years could be in jail) Haryana Yes Yes 5 years in institution (of which one year could be in jail) Himachal Pradesh Yes Yes Imprisonment of not less than 3 months Jammu and Kashmir Yes Yes Beggars home for not less than 7 years Jharkhand Yes No NA Karnataka Yes Yes 3 years in relief centre Kerala Yes No NA Madhya Pradesh Yes No NA Maharashtra Yes Yes 10 years in institution (of which two years could be in jail) Punjab Yes Yes 10 years in institution (of which two years could be in jail) Sikkim Yes Yes 10 years in institution (of which two years could be in jail) Tamil Nadu Yes Yes 10 years in work house or special home (of which two years could be in jail) Telengana Yes Yes 3 years in workhouse OR 5 years in jail Uttarakhand Yes No NA Uttar Pradesh Yes Yes 5 years in institution (of which two years could be in jail) West Bengal Yes Yes Indefinite detention in a home (till employment is obtained) Daman and Diu Yes Yes 10 years in institution (of which two years could be in jail) Source: State laws compiled and analysed by Nyaaya here. What about children? State laws on begging differ fundamentally in their approach towards the treatment of children found begging. Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, children found begging are treated as victims in need of care and protection to be dealt with by child welfare committees. Some of the state laws, on the other hand, treat them as criminals who can be sent to an institution. There are also inconsistencies in who qualifies to be a childthe maximum age ranges from 14 to 18 among various state laws. A 2010 Delhi district court judgment recognised the inconsistencies in the legal regime involving child beggars in Delhithe law on begging treats children above 5 years of age found begging liable for punishment as adults, while the juvenile justice law requires these children to be sent to a child welfare committee. Persons with disability A substantial percentage of people who are found begging are persons with disability, infirm or affected by illnesses such as leprosy. A provision found in most of these laws allows for indefinite detention in a certified institution of a person who is blind, crippled or incurably helpless. The law does not define incurable helplessness and therefore such indefinite detention can be applied arbitrarily. The very idea of legally sanctioned indefinite detention is antithetical to the spirit of the Constitution. The language used in a similar provision in Karnataka is interestingpeople who are infirm, disabled, decrepit or suffering from any loathsome or incurable disease have to be immediately sent to their relatives when arrested. The state comes into the picture only if there is no relative to whom the responsibility can be entrusted. Similarly, under these laws, people with mental illness and leprosy are usually clubbed together and are required to be sent to a mental hospital or leper asylum. It is unclear how people with the highly stigmatised disease of leprosy are actually treated given that the law under which leper asylums existed (the Lepers Act, 1898) has been repealed. The shift from a punitive to rehabilitative approach By treating beggars simultaneously as criminals and as those in need of help, different state governments have failed in their duty to reintegrate them into society, with the result that they usually end up begging again. Doing so incriminates them again, and the punishment for repeat offences is higherextending to detention for an indefinite period of time. Indias policy-makers must develop a consistent and humane approach towards begging, which focuses not on penalising but on rehabilitating them. The model bill marks a shift towards a more rehabilitative approach, but continues to perceive ostensible poverty as indicative of begging, and allows indefinite detention and the involvement of police in certain circumstances. As state governments deliberate on whether and to what extent to adopt the model bill, they must enable an informed public debate. (Nyaaya.in, is a free, online source for Indias laws and has recently made criminal laws of Indian states available here.) The Congress accused the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government of corruption during its campaign for the Dholpur by-election to be held on April 9. BJPs corruption could be gauged from the fact that chief minister Vasundhara Rajes government was embroiled in mining scandal worth 45,000 crore, but it didnt allow an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), leader of opposition Rameshwar Dudi said on Saturday. The government was also involved National Rural Health Mission and LED lights scams. Addressing media persons during the campaign in Dholpur, Dudi said, The BJP government can be summed up in 4Cs -- crime, corruption, controversy and confusion. Dudi alleged that the government has failed to curb increasing crimes, saying four murder and 10 rape incidents are being registered in the state every day. The government has failed to arrest notorious gangster Anandpal and the home ministers statement in this regard is shameful. Dudi said the BJP government has not fulfilled its promises made in the party manifesto. State Congress chief Sachin Pilot and other senior leaders were also in Dholpur to campaign for party candidate Banwari Lal Sharma. On Friday evening, chief minister Vasundhara Raje reached her residence in Dholpur and called upon community leaders to support BJP candidate Sobha Rani Kushwaha. She assured them that the city will be developed in one-and-a-half years if the BJP candidate wins the election. Health minister Kalicharan Saraf, transport minister Yunus Khan, and parliamentary affairs minister Rajendra Rathore are campaigning in Dholpur. Sobha Ranis husband and suspended BSP MLA Banwari Lal Kushwaha was shifted to the central jail in Ganganagar from Dholpur jail on Saturday after state Congress chief Sachin Pilot complained to the election commission. Banwari Lal, elected as a BSP MLA from Dholpur in 2013, was suspended from the assembly after a court sentenced him to life imprisonment on December 8 last year for the murder of Naresh Kushwaha on December 27, 2012. Shobha Rani joined the BJP on February 15. In 2013, the then chief minister Ashok Gehlot had given his nod to tourist police stations in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur to boost the security of lakhs of tourists who flock to the desert state. Four years down the line the police station, meant exclusively for tourists, is yet to see the light of the day in Jodhpur. Jodhpur, known for the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort, is a preferred destination for tourists visiting Rajasthan. At present, their security is in the hands of the tourist assistant force (TAF), which does not have any legal sanctity. Incidents of misbehaviour with domestic and foreign tourists, cheating by shopkeepers, hawkers, unauthorised guides and touts are regularly reported in Jodhpur. Moreover, a case of rape of a foreign tourist and two cases of molestation was lodged in Jodhpur in the last three years. In view of these incidents, the state government had sanctioned the three tourist police stations in 2013. Recently, the state tourism minister while responding to a question by Babu Singh Rathore, MLA from Shergarh, in state assembly cited lack of land and building as the reason for not setting up the police stations. The police have written a letter to the Jodhpur Development Authority and the municipal corporation. The tourist police station will only start functioning once land or building is made available. We have got the letter from the police and we will ask them where and how much land they need. We will have a look at our land bank and then jointly decide where the police station can come up, said Durgesh Bissa, JDA commissioner. About 15 guards of TAF are at work in Jodhpur. These guards do not have any legal entity. The guards themselves depend on the police for help and action if tourists report any misbehaviour. Tourists can get immediate justice at tourist police stations, like at a women police station, without the issue of jurisdiction, said Indra Sharma, a tour operator. Over five lakh domestic and foreign tourists visit Jodhpur every year. The 105th Indian Science Congress, to be held at Osmania University, Hyderabad in January 2018, will make an effort to reach out to the poor and underprivileged through its theme, Reaching the Unreached. This is a noble effort and we hope to send out a strong message to students of science, Achyuta Samanta, general president of the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) and founder of KIIT and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) announced on Saturday. Since we work with children from backward and underprivileged sections of the society at KISS, the subject is close to my heart, he said. Read: Sanskrit, yoga debut at Indian Science Congress KISS hosted the Congress in 2012. The 105th Congress will also host a plenary session on diseases ranging from asthma to cancer, announced Dr P P Mathur, general secretary, scientific activities, ISCA. For the first time in its history, as many as 20 Nobel laureates from across the globe have accepted invitation to come to Hyderabad, said Samanta and Dr Ashok Saxena, ex president of ISCA. The organisers, however, did not wish to reveal their names so early. The journey of the Indian Science Congress started in Kolkata in 1914 at the Asiatic Society. Eminent academician Asutosh Mukherjee was its first president. After taking stern action against illegal slaughterhouses, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has now decided to wage a war against bonded labour prevalent in brick kilns, mines and quarries. According to a missive from chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar, district magistrates have been instructed to crack down on all such set-ups engaged in bonded labour. FACTS IN FIGURES UP has over 17,000 brick kilns, including 384 in Gorakhpur, 216 in Varanasi, 407 in Allahabad, 360 in Lucknow, 308 in Barabanki and 234 in Meerut and hundreds of quarries and mines where many bonded labourers work in appalling conditions. During 2015-16, 2,216 bonded labourers were freed and rehabilitated in UP but no bonded labourers were rescued and rehabilitated during the 2016-17 fiscal. Clearly pointing out that the onus of implementing provision of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 was on the DMs as well as the sub divisional magistrates and additional district magistrates under them, the missive dated March 30 ordered the DMs to identify bonded labourers in their districts and take steps to free and rehabilitate them besides ensuring lodging of FIRs against the persons indulging in such criminal activity. The missive also instructed the DMs to hold monthly prosecution review meetings to ensure timely submissions of charge-sheets in such cases as well as staff meetings to oversee progress of summary trails in courts of ADMs. All DMs will have to send details of bonded labourers identified, freed and rehabilitated in their districts as well as FIRs and prosecution of the accused, to the labour commissioner, UP, on the 5th of every month. The immediate assistance to rescued bonded labourers was hiked to Rs 20,000 from Rs 5,000 with effect from January 17, 2017. Typically poor migrant workers are recruited with job offers by agents, who trap them by extending advance on earnings, which turns out to be a loan at exorbitant interest that no worker can afford to repay. The agent then suggests that the worker bring his wife and children, and soon the entire family is enslaved. Unpaid debts can be bequeathed from one generation to the next, shared Prof Badri Narayan of Allahabad Universitys GB Pant Social Science Institute. Read more: Now, smart classrooms for poor students at Sarvodaya Schools SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tension gripped a village in Uttar Pradeshs Bahraich district after carcasses of over a dozen cows were found in a farm house of an additional chief medical officer (ACMO) on Friday evening. Activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HVV), who filed a complaint with the district magistrate, alleged remains of the animals were used in making banned and rare Ayurvedic medicines by the ACMO, JN Mishra. District magistrate Ajay Deep Singh constituted a team of police and health department officials to probe the allegations. A team led by ASP Bahraich Dinesh Tripathi and chief veterinary officer (CVO) Dr Balwant Singh sealed the farm house in the evening. The team found 45 live cows and stockpile of unnamed Ayurvedic medicines and capsules. They also found about 35 graves, purportedly used to bury the dead animals. While some carcasses appeared to be only a week old, others were a few months old, said an official who raided the farm house. The carcasses were sent for postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, the DM said. He said sampling of the recovered medicines was done to find out their compositions. The cows, which were found alive, were in a poor health as there was no arrangement at the farm house for their shelter and food, said the CVO. When contacted, the ACMO however denied the animals were used in any illegal purpose. He said he started his farmhouse with nine calves to help and serve the animals for his self-satisfaction. Later, I found that people who could not feed their cows started leaving them at the farmhouse, he said. He, however, could not give a satisfactory reply on how such a large number of animals died at the farm house and why their bodies were secretly buried. Hindu Yuva Wahini activist Rajdev Singh said it was a case of cow slaughter and stern action must be taken against the guilty. The MIDC police recently arrested a 48-year-old man for duping two brothers of Rs2.80 lakh on the pretext of selling them ayurvedic medicine, which was later found to be fake. The police said the accused, Swami Shirke, is a resident of Kalwa in Thane. He sells ayurvedic medicines. On March 13, Shirke met the brothers at Holy Spirit Hospital on Mahakali Caves Road in Andheri (East), where one of them was seeking dialysis treatment. Shirke told them he had ayurvedic medicines which could treat the mans kidney ailment and asked them to meet him in Malad the next day. They paid him Rs25,000 in cash and rest by cheque. When the victims health did not improve till March 29, the brothers got suspicious. Incidentally, one of their friends told them about an ayurvedic medicine that could help the victim. He gave them a phone number on which the medicine could be ordered. The brothers called the number and went to meet the person selling the medicines in Dadar. The seller turned out to be Shirke himself. On realising that Shirke was a fraud, the man approached the MIDC police, who registered an FIR under section 420 (cheating) and 34 (crime committed with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The police sought custody of Shirke to ascertain how many people he has duped using the same operandi. He was produced before a magistrates court and remanded in police custody till April 3. Read In Mumbai: Two men pose as cops, dupe woman of gold worth Rs50,000 Three men get five years RI for cheating gold trader of Rs2.35 crore in Mumbai In Mumbai: Mechanical engineer arrested for duping man of 20L in Powai SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A bill to prevent attacks on journalists will be introduced in the ongoing Budget session of the Maharashtra Legislature, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced in the state Legislative Assembly on Saturday. The draft of the bill regarding attacks on journalists is ready and we plan to introduce it in the ongoing session of the state Legislature, he said. The session is scheduled to conclude on April 7. Fadnavis made the statement while replying to a discussion in the Lower House over the debate on a bill to amend the Indian Penal Code and CrPC Act, seeking to enhance the punishment for attacking public servants from the present three years to five years imprisonment and making the offence cognisable and non-bailable. Fadnavis had on Friday introduced the bill in the Assembly. Despite the BJP and Sena members taking objection to the bill that proposes to amend provisions of the IPC and CrPC, the chief minister told the House that the purpose of the bill was not to support ineffective government officials, but those who were genuine and honest and were target of corrupt contractors and sand mafia. I assure you on the floor of the House that if any loopholes are found, suitable amendments would be made in the Monsoon session in July, he said. Fadnavis said the scope of the term hurt is well defined and there is no room for any misuse of the law. In majority of cases, public servants are attacked by corrupt contractors and sand mafia, while the number of attacks by politicians and general public are negligible. There is a need to enhance the punishment, as presently the accused in such cases can get bail easily. The need of the hour is to ensure that honest officials work efficiently, he said. Wrongdoings of public servants will not be protected. However, genuine and honest public servants need to be protected, he added. As per the bill, sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) will be amended and to be made punishable up to five years of imprisonment from the present three years, fine or both. The bill seeks to make the offences cognisable and non bailable. Members of the ruling parties, including BJP MLA Ashish Shelar and Shiv Sena legislator Chandradeep Narke, earlier today took objection to the Bill. Sena members Jayprakash Mundada and Shambhuraje Desai had also demanded the bill be postponed till next week for a detailed debate. Security at a few of the citys major civic hospitals was beefed up on Saturday as the civic body deployed 400 security personnel from the Maharashtra State Security Corporation. Resident doctors had demanded in an increase in the number of security guards posted at hospitals after seven resident doctors across the state were attacked by relatives of patients last month. Around 4,000 resident doctors went on mass leave for five days to protest against attacks. Speaking about the development, additional municipal commissioner Idez Kundan said, The guards will keep an eye on all the entry points of the hospitals. We have started monitoring CCTV camera footage and out-patient departments have been demarcated. She added, Also alarms and signboards have been set up in various sections of the hospitals and soon, help desks will be activated. Ninety three guards each were posted at Sion and KEM hospitals. We have implemented a strict colour code for both patients and their relatives. There will also be random checks to ensure that people without passes are not present within the hospital, said Dr Suleman Merchant, dean of the Sion Hospital. While Avinash Supe, dean of KEM Hospital said, The guards will work in three shifts, and each batch will have around 30 guards. While resident doctors welcomed the civic bodys move, they also said that security at hospitals across the state must be increased. What about the security at the Dhule Hospital or Aurangabad civil hospital? They must be made secure too, said a third year resident doctor from KEM Hospital. Also read: Maharashtra strike goes on as more doctors are attacked The state Assembly on Saturday passed an amendment bill according to which those found guilty of hurting or assaulting government officials or elected representatives while discharging her duty will have to face imprisonment for five years. Currently, such an offender faces maximum three years imprisonment. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that there was a need to make the punishment harsher for the offence as the number of such cases of assault on public servants has increased. Between 2011 and 2015, the state recorded 17,682 cases of assaults on public servants, while they were on duty. He also clarified that the term public servant includes both government officials and elected representatives - legislators, corporators, members of Parliament. Fadnavis also informed the lower house that the bill had been sanctioned by the President of India before it was placed in the Assembly. Even the Centre applauded the move and said that they will ask all the states to follow it, he said. Also read: Hit him 25 times with sandal: Sena MP says he assaulted 60-year-old AI staffer SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 1 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Kazakhstan plans to export over 450,000 tons of gas oil via the new Kuryk port and then through Azerbaijan and Georgia until late 2017, Head of Kazakhstan Railways National Company Kanat Alpysbayev told reporters in Baku. He made the remarks on the sidelines of the general meeting of the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route association. He noted that currently the work is underway to expand the line of cargoes transported through the port of Kuryk, and first of all, the export of goods from Kazakhstan is being considered. Also, the opportunities for the transportation of transit cargo, for example, raw sugar, in the volume of over 150,000-200,000 tons back to Uzbekistan before the end of the year through the Kuryk port are being worked out, he added. Alpysbayev said that more than 15,000 tons of cargoes have been transported through the port of Kuryk so far. Until the end of the year, it is planned to transport about one million tons of cargoes in all directions, he said. The first cargo arrived at the Baku International Sea Trade Port from Kazakhstans new port Kuryk in Alat on March 25, 2017. The Kuryk port with a total area of 40 hectares is located on the Trans-Caspian international transport route, which is of great importance for handling the cargo going via this route. The new complex is located closer to the Baku port, than the Aktau port, through which transit was carried out previously. The voyage from Kuryk to Baku takes 18 hours. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) paid Februarys salary to more than 40,000 employees only last week. Accoriding to a source, as the transport section of BEST has been running losses and needed about Rs1,000 crore to recover from it, a detailed presentation on the restructuring the plan of BESTs transport unit was given to civic chief Ajoy Mehta and group leaders of various political parties in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) by BEST general manager, Jagdish Patil on Saturday. One of the important measures for recovering the losses proposed in the presentation was an increase in the BEST fare by Rs2, source said. If approved, the BEST fare is likely to be hiked from minimum Rs8 to Rs10. Several measures such as shutting down the services of air-conditioned buses in the city, discontinuing the allowances given to various officers and BEST employees and also a complete halt on purchase of any new buses among many others were presented in front of the group leaders to curtail losses. The civic chief has, however, yet again agreed to grant BEST money so that salaries of the employees were paid on time. Instead of purchasing new buses, it was suggested in the meeting that private buses should be hired so that there is not much of investment which is involved. And an option for AC buses could be mini-AC buses that can be ferried on a trial basis in the city. While Mehta has given a nod for raising money for salary of the employees, various points of the presentation will have to be approved by the BEST committee and also from the employees union and general body for all these to be implemented, said officials. Mayor, Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, said, We are making all possible attempts to stabilise BEST so that the employees do not suffer and their salaries are paid on time. Read In Mumbai: BEST to replace safety valves in 250 buses by Feb-end SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 47-year-old man from Manor who was arrested for allegedly raping his two minor daughters hanged himself using his pants at a police lockup in Palghar on Saturday. Prima facie, we suspect he committed suicide as he was ashamed of his act. We are still investigating, Nimit Goel, deputy superintendent of police, Palghar The incident came to light when an on-duty policeman found the mans body handing from the bars of the lockup at 6:30 am. He was taken to the Rural Hospital, Satpati, where he was declared dead on admission, said the police. Goel ordered an inquiry and hinted that some police personnel who were on night duty at the police station could face actions. A CID probe is also on in the case. The father, who worked as a watchman at a steel unit, was arrested for allegedly raping his two minor daughters, aged 10 and 15, and performing un-natural sex whenever their was their mother, a vegetable vendor, was out in the field. He had continued his beastly act for several months before being caught by his wife. She lodged a complaint on March 23 and the police charged him under sections 376 (rape), 377 (un-natural sex) of the IPC and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. He was remanded in police custody till April 7, said a police official. Since there is no lockup at Manor police station, the man was lodged in the Satpati Coastal police station, said Nimit Goel, DySP, Palghar. The police have registered a case of accidental death, said Goel. We are checking footage of CCTV cameras placed in the direction of the cell. We cannot place cameras inside the cell, as it is a violation of inmates human rights, he said. READ Mumbai: 13-yr-old girl raped by school teacher; principal arrested Concerned citizens and environmentalists filed a police complaint against the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) Limited at Aarey police station on Saturday, alleging that the corporation carried out work on the areas no-development zone (NDZ), without the requisite paperwork. A group of 36 citizens, comprising Aarey residents and members of the Aarey Conservation Group (ACG), said the MMRC carried out soil testing with police protection at unit 19 on Thursday, in violation of National Green Tribunals January order that issued an interim ban on all constructions. MMRC plans to construct a car shed for the Metro 3 project at Aarey across a 33-hectare area. However, the NGTs Pune bench has put an interim stay on any construction at the green lung until final orders are dictated on April 10. Activists said trees near the construction site were marked to be felled in Aarey. (HT Photo) Aarey colony is a notified NDZ. The proposal by the state to convert Aarey from a NDZ to commercial zone has not yet been sanctioned. In view of this, no work, including soil testing, is permitted in the NDZ.The police department is supposed to stop illegal activities and not protect such acts, read the complaint, which attached government documents identifying Aarey as an NDZ and the NGT status-quo order from January 17 restraining any construction. The complaint further requested the police to stop such work and withdraw police protection. Kindly lodge a first-information-report (FIR) against MMRC, its officers and contractors for carrying out the illegal work, read the letter, a copy of which HT has. Environmentalists said they told the police that they were facilitating the illegal activities at Aarey. We requested the police to show us what permissions the MMRC took to start work at Aarey. They had nothing, said Stalin D, director, Vanashakti. A cattle shed that currently houses 18 buffaloes will be razed to pave the way for the Metro 3 car shed. (HT Photo) Activists said trees near the construction site were marked to be felled in Aarey. We know what they are doing is illegal but since they have gone ahead and sought police protection, we thought the police should know what the facts are. We will present the issue before the court, said Zoru Bathena, Khar resident and environmental activist. Aarey police said they had taken cognisance of the complaint. As of now, our officers have been instructed to give protection to MMRC contractors. If we find that the MMRC has no permissions, action will be taken against them, said an officer from Aarey police station. MMRC officials said all the permissions were in place. MMRC conducts its business with the highest level of compliance to legal and regulatory requirements. All work undertaken by MMRC is in accordance with regulatory approvals. We want to assure the citizens and all stakeholders that we are committed towards adherence to the high standards of business and ethical conduct, said an MMRC spokesperson. Metro 3 will displace 160 people The Metro 3 line, the car shed for which will be constructed at Aarey, will lead to the demolition of an existing structure that houses 160 people near unit 19. The demolition will pave the way for a ramp for the car-shed project 40 houses belonging to cattle shed owners across a 1.5-hectare area will be demolished 1 cattle shed with 18 buffaloes will be razed 500 trees will be felled What do the cattle-shed owners say? A ramp for the car shed will be constructed by demolishing our homes. In 2014, after recurring visits to the MMRC office, we were told that we would be rehabilitated. Since then, no formal communication has happened. We do not know when the demolition will start and when we become homeless, said Asim Nandolia, cattle shed owner and resident of one of the 40 houses. Residents have been living here for 66 years and working under the dairy development board. While we are not against the Metro project, we should at least be told about where we will stay once the project begins. Now that it has started, we have not received any formal communication yet, said Chand Kumar Singh, cattle shed owner from Aarey. What do the authorities say? A senior MMRC official said the 40 houses come under the dairy development board, who must take responsibility and ensure that the cattle shed owners are rehabilitated Aarey authorities passed the buck back to the state government. We have not received any official communication from the state to rehabilitate them and we will only start the process once we are told to, said Nathu Rathod, chief executive officer, Aarey. Read Mumbai Metro 3: Despite NGTs interim ban, MMRCL tests soil at Aarey Colony Aarey has been used for non-forest activities since 1949: Maharashtra tells NGT MMRC says its new plan for Metro-3 car shed at Aarey Colony in Mumbai will help save trees SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Bombay high court recently asked the state revenue department how it preserves, maintains and disposes of its documents, especially when government departments are moving towards digital record-keeping. Acting on a petition filed by Rahul Tanpure, a farmer from Pune, the court directed the principal secretary of the revenue department to file the report within eight weeks. The state government started acquisition procedure of a part of Tanpures land at Dhangwadi of Bhor tehsil in Pune in 2012, said his counsel Rahul Thakur. But the acquisition lapsed as the farmer was neither paid compensation nor the government took possession of the land, said Thakur. To prevent the government from taking possession of his land, Tanpure filed the plea. Replying to the plea, the tehsildar (revenue officer) of Bhor said under Andershons Manual all documents of land acquisition, except the award, are destroyed within a year, and expressed his inability to specifically state whether the government had taken possession of Tanpures land. Shocked, the court refused to accept tehsildars arguments and directed the revenue department to conduct an inquiry into his affidavit. The court said in several land acquisition cases, even if they are old, all documents were produced by the revenue department to the court. It directed the principal secretary of the revenue department to conduct an inquiry into the tehsildars stand. An engineering student at Amity University allegedly committed suicide at his paying guest accommodation in Noida Sector-15 on Friday night. Police said 23-year-old Mihir Madhur, a third-year B Tech student, was found hanging from a ceiling fan by his friends the next morning. A police team from Sector-20 was rushed to the spot as soon as they were informed about the incident around 8:45am. After doctors at a nearby hospital declared him dead on arrival, the body was taken to a mortuary in Sector-94 for a post-mortem examination. Read: Amity University student from Telangana commits suicide in hostel room Madhurs family members, who reside in Jaipur, were informed around 10:30am. The body was handed over to them after they reached Noida later in the evening. A suicide note recovered from the spot described study-related stress as the reason for Madhur taking the extreme step. The letter, which was written in English, started with an apology to loved ones. Then the deceased went on to explain that he was having a hard time coping with academic pressure, considering that he had recently flunked a subject, said investigating officer Patneesh Kumar. Madhurs relatives said he had called up his mother at 9pm on Friday, but did not sound depressed. Rahul, a flatmate, said the incident came to light when two friends tried to wake Madhur up. They knocked repeatedly, but got no answer. When they finally broke into the room, Mihir was found hanging from the ceiling fan, he added. This was the fourth instance of an Amity University student committing suicide since August, 2016. Read: First-year engg student of Amity varsity falls to death, cops suspect suicide Madhurs father, Murlidhar, is an IRS officer posted as a senior chief executive officer with the Indian Railways in Jaipur. Though the family hails from Buxar district in Bihar, they have been staying in the Rajasthan capital for over two decades, said Kumar. Madhurs brother, a Class 10 student at a private school in Dehradun, wasnt informed about the incident. A case has been registered at the Noida Sector-20 police station, and an investigation is on. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The two clerks had been fighting over cupboard space for a year now. Finally, one of them lost his cool and threw out some 50-odd property files stored in the cupboard by the other. The belligerent act finally got the attention of the Ghaziabad development authority (GDA), which suspended the duo and initiated departmental proceedings against them. The GDA on Saturday suspended the two clerks Pabbar Ram and Deepak Talwar for throwing the files into a storage dump outside the main building complex. The files were recovered from the dump after senior officials visited the office and directed that the files be stored in the building. The officials said departmental proceedings have been initiated against them. Both clerks are on deputation with the authoritys property section that deals with allotments, refunds, cancellations and sale of properties. According to officials, Ram had stored around 50 property files in a cupboard allotted to Talwar. For the past one year, Talwar had been asking Ram to remove the files, but he did not do so. This angered Talwar who threw out all the files. The files were later discovered by other staff members, who informed senior officials. The clerks should have deposited the files in the record room or informed their seniors, but neither did so, said DP Singh, officer on special duty (OSD), GDA. On Thursday, all the files were found dumped in the temporary storage area behind the law department. After senior officials were informed, they visited the office and directed all files to be restored to the main building record room. There were around 50 files, including 15 related to refunds for various properties. The other files contained photocopied records. Taking cognizance of the issue, the two clerks were suspended and departmental proceedings initiated against them, he added. Apart from the suspension, the officials also ordered an inquiry by Hanuman Prasad Maurya, OSD. If the charges are proved in the inquiry, the clerks may face stoppage of increment in salary or stricter action, officials said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 16-year-old girl suffered around 45% burns while a woman got away with minor burn injuries after an electricity cable snapped at Vaishalis Sector 2 in Ghaziabad on Saturday afternoon. The girl was rushed to a private hospital in Kaushambi and was later referred to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. According to the victims families, their shanties are located near an electricity transformer in Vaishali and the cable snapped after a loud explosion in the transformer. I was present nearby when I heard the explosion and saw my shanty on fire. I rushed to it and saw my daughter screaming in pain. She got electrocuted as she was taking a bath at the time. She suffered severe burns and I rushed her to Yashoda Hospital where the doctors referred her to Delhi, said Ram Nath, father of the girl, Kiran. According to the attending doctors at Yashoda Hospital, she suffered nearly 45% burns. The entire right side of her body sustained burns. Some parts on her left were also burnt. She was administered primary aid and referred to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, said Dr Sunil Dagar, spokesperson, Yashoda Hospital, Kaushambi. The other victim, Sunita, a housewife, also suffered burns, but is said to be stable. Our belongings were burnt in the fire that started after the cable fell. My mother was rushed to a hospital, but her injuries are not serious. The doctors said she will return home soon, said Chandni, her daughter. While the girls family is from Hardoi, the womans family hails from Mahoba district. When asked, MC Sharma, superintending engineer, Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited, said he will order an inquiry into the incident. In a similar incident that took place in December last year, a Honda City car in Ramprastha was reduced to ashes after an overhead electricity cable snapped and fell on the car. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The five-year-old daughter of a priest was allegedly raped and then murdered at an under-construction building in Indirapuram, police said on Saturday, sparking tension in the area and prompting heavy deployment of police. Police are also looking for a 19-year-old man who people said was last seen offering water to the minor near the under-construction house where she was later found dead.. The priest hails from Gorakhpur, the constituency of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. The girl was cremated on Saturday morning. Prima facie, we suspect that there was sexual assault. There were four injuries found over her body and the post-mortem report indicates death due to strangulation. The slide-test report is awaited. Five teams are trying to locate the accused who is absconding, said Deepak Kumar, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad. Officials said that they have detained the accuseds father and other relatives to inquire about his possible hideouts. Kumar said they have added sections of murder, attempted rape and provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act to the investigation initiated as per original FIR. The youth was also named as accused in the original FIR lodged under sections of abduction at Indirapuram police station. Angry people demanded that the suspect be handed over to them for punishment. The girl was cremated on Saturday morning . We know that people here are agitated and bringing her body could have triggered tension that could have led to some untoward incident. So, we performed her last rites immediately after the post-mortem, victims father said. The girl was the eldest among four siblings and was about to be admitted to pre-school. According to the victims father, the girl was playing outside her house around 1pm when she went missing and could not be traced despite repeated search. He accused the 19-year-old, who reportedly arrived in the area from Bihar 10 days ago, of abducting the girl. He said the suspect fled the spot despite being asked not to go anywhere. Though police too joined the search, the body was discovered by some neighbours on the first floor of an under-construction house at around 11.30pm. She was bleeding from the nostrils and had marks of injury over her neck. Her clothes were (also) not in proper order, the distraught father said. Meanwhile, Hindu Raksha Dal members visited the victims family and handed over a memorandum to the district magistrate for immediate arrest of the accused within 24 hours and also a compensation for the family. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Greater Noida police is scanning the hate messages that were circulated on WhatsApp groups and social media platforms a couple of days before the Monday evening attacks on Africans. Gautam Budh Nagar superintendent of police (rural) Sujata Singh said, We are scanning the hate messages posted by locals against Africans on WhatsApp groups and social media platforms. We have directed the local intelligence unit (LIU) to submit a report on these messages that were doing rounds on several WhatsApp groups. The external affairs ministry has also sought a report in the matter, Singh said. The hate messages seeking support of locals against Africans living in Greater Noida could have played a vital role in fuelling public anger which translated into xenophobic attacks on Monday evening, the police said. Read more: Nigerian brothers recount Greater Noida horror, video of attacks emerges Once the report is submitted by the LIU, we will book the administrators of such WhatsApp groups and those responsible for circulating such messages. It will be a part of the investigation of the entire hate crime against Africans, she said. So far, six persons have been arrested and about 60 of the 1,200 who were booked for rioting on Monday evening have been identified by the police. Sixty persons have been identified so far on the basis of video footages obtained from Pari Chowk, Ansal Plaza and the surrounding areas. We are on lookout for the assailants, said Abhinandan, circle officer, Greater Noida 1. Read more: How Greater Noida police failed to prevent the attack on Africans At least nine Africans were injured in the attacks on March 27. Even as government is yet to notify the act on appointments of law officers, it has come under criticism over its criterion with a section of lawyers at the Punjab and Haryana high court expressing resentment over enhanced criterion of income and experience. The appointments at states advocate general office have been courting controversies for years and successive governments have faced allegations of making appointments of those close to corridors of power, that too in excess to work load. The previous SAD-BJP government had close to 200 law officers in Delhi and Chandigarh, which prompted the SC to issue directions to state to frame rules. It is for the first time that Punjab government has proposed to have a criterion but it too is inviting criticism and being termed for rich and highly experienced advocates. Advocate general, Punjab, Atul Nanda answers HTs queries. Why is criteria proposed by the government to appoint law officer facing flak? For putting stringent criteria in place, we should get appreciation not brickbats. Had we come up with a weak criterion, I would have welcomed the criticism. But it is not so. Hence, criticism is uncalled for. But its not stringent at all. Criteria are in tune with the times and taking into account factors such as fee being charged by lawyers. Legislature has fixed a criterion on the Supreme Court directions, which will attract talent and will help in a transparent selection process. Also read: HT face to face | Will make the fight against drugs a peoples movement: ADGP Harpreet Sidhu It is being termed the criteria for rich and experienced advocates. If a lawyer is helping a poor and charging merely Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per case and getting three cases a month, he makes the cut for appointment. Take example of additional advocate general, if apart from retainership, he argues two-three private cases in a month, which is not a big deal. He becomes eligible. Look at the states finances. It is in doldrums. We have been losing due to poor assistance in courts and losing money. Also, we want lesser burden on government in terms of expenditure of the AG office. We want competent people who can guard interests of the state. Look what I have inherited 42 law officers in Delhi, where you have 12 courts (in SC) and pendency is only 3,000 cases. My predecessor might have his own compulsions, but I cant justify this. It is being alleged that the criteria has been fixed to import lawyers (from Delhi). There is no question about it. We will have law officers for Chandigarh office from amongst lawyers here and for Delhi office from there only. Questions are also being raised over Punjabi not being part of eligibility conditions? English is the official language in courts here. Local lawyers are well versed with Punjabi. This is not an issue. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Baku, Azerbaijan, April 1 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Azerbaijan is a core area for BP company, said BP CEO Bob Dudley in an interview with Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. "It's definitely a core area for BP, for a couple of reasons," he said. "One, we've signed a letter of intent on behalf of all the partners, [the partners for development of Azerbaijans Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields], to extend the ACG contract out to 2050, and later on this year we'll work out all the details of that contract. But that's a big indicator." Second, the project for development of Azerbaijans largest gas field Shah Deniz is ahead of schedule, now in through Turkey, Greece, and it's come in under budget now, so that impacts the economics significantly, added Dudley. "I wouldn't say at all it's not going to be economic at these gas prices," he said. And then BP is doing a lot of separate exploration in the Caspian Sea, noted BP CEO. He expressed confidence that the 25-year ACG extension will be finalized soon. "I think it'll happen this year," he said. "The contract expires in 2024, but you don't want activity to drop off in the end of the contract period." Dudley said he is hopeful the partners can agree with Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR this year on extending it, which would be very far-sighted of the Azerbaijani government. A contract for development of ACG block of oil and gas fields was signed in 1994. The proven oil reserves of the block near one billion tons. The shareholders in the project are BP (operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli, 35.78 percent), Chevron (11.28 percent), Inpex (10.96 percent), AzACG (11.65 percent), Statoil (8.55 percent), Exxon (8 percent), TPAO (6.75 percent), Itochu (4.3 percent) and ONGC (2.72 percent). --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Handpicked by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to command the Special Task Force (STF) constituted to eradicate drug menace in Punjab, 1992-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and additional director general of police (ADGP) Harpreet Sidhu has hit the ground running. After ending his deputation with the Central Reserve Police Force on Thursday, he took over the STFs charge on Friday. Tasked with fulfilling Capts promise within one month, Sidhu shared his plans for the ambitious mission with Hindustan Times. What will be the immediate strategy of the STF? The first aim is to involve the masses in this drive against drugs. Only seizure and crackdown wont help. We need a synchronised strategy for prevention, seizures and rehabilitation of the addicts. But such exercises were launched earlier too. How will this STF be any different? I have prepared a special blueprint. The CM has also suggested a special strategy. Cops will ensure that either the drug suppliers fall in line and are compelled to leave this illegal business or fall in the police net. The three inspector generals of police in the STF and I would monitor each and every big operation personally. You can gauge the governments seriousness from the fact that the CM has openly given the STF a free hand and I have been given an office in the CMO so that I can report to him daily. What will be your immediate instructions to police at district level ? I will start my tour across the state from Gurdaspur and Amritsar on Saturday. My team will be holding district and zonal meetings. The message to cops is going to be loud and clear: ending drug trade is our first and foremost priority. District police personnel are already on the job for the past 15 days. We will help them develop area-specific strategies. Generally, its seen while the addicts get nabbed, the big suppliers remain untouched. Your views? You wont see such a thing happening this time. In drug trade, consumers generally become couriers and suppliers. Big or small, every fish will be on our target. Once the government approves our strategy, we will present a long-term sustainable model to fight drug menace. Its widely believed that police-politicianpeddler nexus is the main reason behind the problem. How will you tackle it? The CM has already clarified that whosoever is found guilty wont be spared. The STF will work in tandem with central narcotics bureaus and other agencies to keep a tab on such nexuses. Besides traditional drugs like opium, Punjab has also been flooded with synthetic and medicinal drugs. Supply of heroin too continues from across the border. Which of these will face a crackdown first? We will impose a crackdown on everybody (involved in drug trade). As far as crossborder supply of heroin is concerned, the Border Security Force (BSF) is doing a commendable job. Cops will remain on their toes to catch any drug consignment that slips through. Is it possible to end the deeprooted drug problem in a month? Why not? What you need are good intentions, strong willpower and well chalkedout strategy. The CM has shown strong commitment, and with the help of citizens, the police will make this drive a peoples movement. ADGP Harpreet Sidhu, incharge, anti-drugs Special Task Force SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ever since Anas Rashid, the lead actor of the show, Diya Aur Baati Hum, announced the news of his marriage, fans have been curious to know more about his to-be wife, Hina. In an interview, Anas revealed that his fiancee, Chandigarh-girl, is 14 years younger to him. The 38-year-old Anas, who shared this picture of Hina with Hindustan Times, says that right now the family has planned to have a small ring ceremony and the wedding is most likely to take place by the end of this year. Actor Anas Rashids fiancee Hina is fourteen years younger to him. When asked about why he didnt choose a girl from the (television) industry, Anas said that he always wanted to get married to the girl of his familys choice. Everything happened very quickly. Im working in this industry; aur agar bahu bhi kaam karegi, toh ghar pe kaun rahega? (And even if my wife works here, who will be at home?) For my family, the fact that Im working in this industry is enough, he told us in an earlier interview. In fact, Anas hadnt even seen Hinas photo before he agreed to marry her. His mother had informed him about Hina and her family and that was enough for him to say yes. The actor says that they are still getting to know each other, which is why, he doesnt want to rush for the wedding. Anas was rumoured to be in a relationship with actor Rati Pandey, and the two parted ways in February, last year. Meanwhile, on the work front, Anas hadnt taken up any new show post Diya Aur Baati Hum (the show ended in September last year), as he wanted to concentrate on settling down in his personal life. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Chinese government has declined to reveal the budget for the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) economic corridor, saying that the finance model for it is market driven. The budget for the multi-billion dollar CPEC, a cluster of projects that would connect Xinjiang in Chinas west to the Gwadar port in Balochistan, has been variously put between $46 billion and, more recently, at $51 billion; the $46 billion number has been used more liberally. The CPEC is a flagship project under President Xi Jinpings Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which aims to connect China with the rest of Asia and Europe by land and over sea through infrastructure projects. India hasnt signed up for BRI because the CPEC passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). According to diplomats, India endorsing the BRI would mean giving up its claims on PoK. Privately, Chinese experts say the CPEC budget numbers have been circulated by Pakistani officials and not by China. The ministry of foreign affairs told HT that, in fact, that there is no specific budget for the project. There is no specific budget for the construction of the CPEC. Instead, it follows international practices, adopting a market driven model, encouraging enterprises to play an essential role to move it forward. It (the project) is based on scientific evaluation and it is being implemented under the principle operating when mature, the ministry told Hindustan Times in a written response. It didnt clarify whether the projected budget would be more than the numbers that are circulating. It also failed to answer as to how many CPEC projects would be inside PoK. Till September 2016, China had invested $14 billion in 30 early harvest projects to be completed under CPEC, Pakistani media quoted Chinese embassy deputy chief of mission Zhao Lijian as saying. During President Xi Jinpings visit to Pakistan in April 2015, over 30 cooperation project agreements for the CPEC were signed. The project covers infrastructure, energy and industrial cooperation, the ministry said in a written response to questions. The ministry shared some details about the ongoing projects under the CPEC, saying that constructions under the CPEC were progressing smoothly. Under transportation, the Lahore city rail transit project, the phase II of Karakoram Highway upgradation project (from Thakot to Havelian), the Lahore-Karachi Expressway (from Sukkur to Multan) and construction for three other transport projects (relating to building) infrastructure have started, the ministry said. In the energy sector, construction work on 13 projects including the Sahiwal Coal Power plant in Punjab, the Port Qasim coal plant in Sindh and well as ZTE Energy Pakistan PV power plant also in Punjab were also going on, the ministry said. On the model being followed to complete, the ministry said the CPEC was open and transparent. There are many countries (which have) expressed a strong interest to participate. It is believed that the corridor construction is not only beneficial to the development of China and Pakistan but also for the region and even outside countries, it said. The CPEC it added provides platforms and opportunities for regional economic integration. It is also a great attempt for countries to develop mutually through support and helping each other. Protesters stormed and set fire to Paraguays Congress on Friday after the Senate secretly voted for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election, a change that will also require approval by the House. The countrys constitution has prohibited re-election since it was passed in 1992 after a brutal dictatorship fell in 1989. A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us, said Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party. Television images showed protesters breaking windows of the Congress and clashing with police, burning tires and removing parts of the fences surrounding the building. Police in riot gear responded by lobbing tear gas and firing rubber bullets. Hundreds of demonstrators protesting against the approval of a constitutional amendment for presidential reelection broke into the Congress building. (AFP Photo) Several politicians and journalists were injured, local media reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said many police were hurt. Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter. Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic, he said. Men pose for a photo outside the congress building during clashes between police and protesters. (AP Photo) The number of casualties was unknown. Several people were inside Congress as the flames spread and television images showed firefighters arriving on foot to fight the blaze concentrated on the first floor of the building. Protesters battered down entrances and shattered windows of the congress building in Asuncion. (AFP Photo) The unrest coincides with a rare high-level international event in the landlocked South American country. Thousands of businessmen and government officials descended on the capital city of Asuncion this week for the Inter-American Development Banks annual board of governors meeting. Paraguayan senators approved a contested law allowing President Horacio Cartes to seek re-election in 201. (AFP Photo) While Paraguay long suffered from political uncertainty, the soy and beef-exporting nation has been attracting investment in agriculture and manufacturing sectors in recent years as Cartes offered tax breaks to foreign investors. Instability in the country of 6.8 million is a concern for its much larger neighbours Brazil and Argentina. Secret session The Senate voted earlier on Friday during a special session in a closed office in Congress rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber. A selfie is taken by a demonstrator protesting against the approval of the constitutional amendment. (AFP Photo) Opponents of the measure, who claim it would weaken Paraguays democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal. The proposal goes to the House, where it appeared to have strong support. A vote expected to take place early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down, said the chambers president, Hugo Velazquez. The law will allow President Horacio Cartes to seek re-election in 2018. (AFP Photo) I call for calm, Velazquez said. Tomorrow we will not take any decision; we will not hold a session. Several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Peru and Chile, prevent presidents from running for consecutive terms in a region where the memories of military dictatorships remain ripe. Riot police crack down on demonstrators who broke into the Congress building. (AFP Photo) Others, including Colombia and Venezuela, have changed their constitutions to give sitting presidents a chance at re-election. Paraguays measure would apply to future presidents and Cartes, a soft-drink and tobacco mogul elected to a five-year term in 2013. A protestor wounded by a rubber bullet fight against the police during the demonstration in Asuncion. (Reuters Photo) His strongest backers want him to be allowed to run for another term next year, but critics of the measure have said a constitutional change aimed at benefiting a sitting president would be unfair. Furious protesters broke into the legislature and ransacked lawmakers' offices. (AFP Photo) The change would also apply to former President Fernando Lugo, whose supporters want to be allowed to run for another term. Congress voted to oust Lugo in 2012 saying he had failed in his duty to maintain social order following a bloody land eviction. The rapid impeachment drew strong criticism in Latin America, especially from fellow leftist governments. A similar re-election proposal had been rejected in August and Congress this week voted to change the rules that required lawmakers to wait a year before voting again. Police charge at protesters outside the congress building during clashes between police and protesters. (AP Photo) Everything was done legally, said Senator Carlos Filizzola of the leftist Guasu Front coalition, which supports the constitutional amendment as a way of allowing Lugo to return as Paraguays leader. Professor Ajay Agrawal feels like hes back in 1995. That year, the first major commercial Internet service providers like AOL went online and Yahoos search engine became available to the public. It was an inflection point for the Internet and, Agrawal believes, artificial intelligence or AI may now be nearing that stage. Agrawal, 47, is a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Torontos Rotman School of Management, but he also happens to be the founder of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL). He has emerged as a prominent figure in the field of machine learning, with CDLs AI stream. The programme launched in 2015, and the 2016 batch has 50 companies engaged in AI-related enterprises. To our knowledge, having 50 AI companies represents the greatest concentration of AI companies on any programme on earth. As far as we know, thats still true, Agrawal said in an interview with Hindustan Times. Agrawal, who was born in Vancouver, is also the co-founder of NextCanada, which started NextAI last year. NextCanadas mission is to increase national prosperity by providing an ecosystem to support the countrys most exceptional entrepreneurs and innovators. He said AI, as of now, is a prediction technology, its a way to taking many forms of data, voice, text, all sorts of data captured by sensors, all types of cameras, heat sensors, lights sensors, and converting that into predictions of things, whether its predicting traffic or weather or what website youre going to click on or what movie youre going to watch. Ive been interested in intelligent machines for a long time. I became interested in the economics of artificial intelligence about four years ago and then launched the AI stream of the Creative Destruction Lab two years ago and then launched NextAI in late 2016. Playing the part of guides at the CDL course are leaders in AI technology, such as Cambridge, the England-based William Tunstall-Pedoe, founder of Evi, which was acquired by Amazon and became an integral part of Alexa; Barney Pell, who managed an 85-strong team at NASA that flew the first AI system in deep space; and Russ Salakhutdinov, Apples director of AI research. There were no Indian companies in the 2015 and 2016 programmes, but Prof Agrawal (left) hopes that will soon change. (Courtesy: Creative Destruction Lab) As Agrawal plays a pioneering role in building AI talent in the country, CDL will increase its intake to 75 companies in 2017. The big thing that will occur is that while 50 will come in classical machine learning, they will launch the worlds first seed stage programme in quantum machine learning, featuring 25 companies. This programme will be in partnership with Vancouver-based D-Wave, believed to be the maker of the worlds first commercial quantum computer, which has been purchased by the likes of Nasa and Google. The 2015 batch of the AI stream, the only one to have graduated, has already seen nearly half of the companies funded. Investors, including those from Silicon Valley, have been flying into Toronto. As Agrawal said, Weve brought intelligent investors into the Canadian eco-system. This programme will be formally announced in about five weeks, and it will be open to people from around the world, Agrawal said. While the first two batches have no Indian companies, Agrawal hopes that will change. I imagined when we launched this new quantum machine learning, that students at places like IITs might be interested. For many people, it will be the only place in the world where they will be able to go to in order to get access to a quantum computer. Rather than using binary bits as in conventional computers, quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits to encode information, enhancing the power of the system. This is a nine-month programme that pairs start-up founders with experienced technology entrepreneurs and investors in a unique setting that is laser-focused on designing a series of objectives with measurable deliverables. Agrawal expects the next five years to witness a surge in narrow applications of AI. After that, he said, It will become a lot more interesting. Rather than having narrow prediction applications, well start seeing things that feel like real intelligence embedded into inanimate objects. In a decade, according to Agrawal, we could see the artificial gaining ground on the real. In that period, he will be among the leaders in Canada in harbouring and harnessing a catchment of intelligence required to mine that potential. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Iran rejected an allegation by US Defense Secretary James Mattis that it was the primary exporter of terrorism and said on Saturday that the main source was U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. Some countries led by America are determined to ignore the main source of Takfiri-Wahhabi terrorism and extremism, foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi was quoted by Irans state news agency IRNA as saying. He was referring to hardline Sunni Muslim groups and Saudi Arabias official Wahhabi school of Islam. Saudi Arabia denies backing terrorism and has cracked down on jihadists at home, jailing thousands, stopping hundreds from travelling to fight abroad and cutting militant finances. Shia Muslim power Iran and Saudi Arabia, bastion of Sunni Islam and a close U.S. ally, are longstanding religious and political arch rivals and often accused each other of backing terrorism. Relations are fraught as they back each others foes in regional wars such as in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Giving a wrong address when referring to the roots and the financial and intellectual resources of terrorism is a main reason for a lack of success by international anti-terror efforts, Ghasemi added. Ghasemi was reacting to remarks by Mattis on Friday when he was asked about comments he made in 2012 that the three main threats the United States faced were Iran, Iran, Iran. At the time when I spoke about Iran I was a commander of U.S. Central Command and that (Iran) was the primary exporter of terrorism, frankly, it was the primary state sponsor of terrorism and it continues that kind of behaviour today, Mattis told reporters. Ayad al-Jumaili, believed to be the deputy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed in an air strike, Iraqi State TV said on Saturday, citing Iraqi military intelligence. The U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition said it was unable at the moment to confirm the report. Iraqi TV said Jumaili was killed with other Islamic State commanders in a strike carried out by the Iraqi air force in the region of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria. It gave no detail or date for the raid. The air forces planes executed with accuracy a strike on the headquarters of Daesh in al-Qaim .. resulting in the killing of Daeshs second-in-command...Ayad al-Jumaili, alias Abu Yahya, the war minister, said state TV, citing a statement from the directorate of military intelligence. Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, have been battling since October to retake the city of Mosul, Islamic States stronghold in Iraq and the city where Baghdadi declared a caliphate nearly three years ago. Tens of thousands of refugees have been fleeing the city to escape the fighting. U.S. and Iraqi officials believe Baghdadi has left operational commanders with diehard followers to fight the battle of Mosul, and is now hiding out in the desert with senior commanders. A separate battle is in preparation in Syria to drive Islamic State from its stronghold there, the city of Raqqa. The Iraqi state TV report is the first by an official media to announce the death of Jumaili, who was an intelligence officer under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president toppled in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Jumaili led Islamic States top security agency in Iraq and Syria, known as Amniya, answering directly to Baghdadi, according to experts. For Ecuadors 15 million inhabitants, Sundays presidential election run-off will pose a fundamental question whether to continue with a leftwing government that has reduced poverty but also brought environmental destruction and authoritarian censorship, or to take a chance on a pro-business banker who promises economic growth but is accused of siphoning money to offshore accounts. But they are not the only ones for whom the result will be critically important. In the countrys embassy in London, Julian Assange will be watching closely to see if his four and a half years of cramped asylum could be coming to an abrupt, enforced end. Guillermo Lasso, the businessman and leading opposition candidate, has vowed that if he wins, the WikiLeaks founders time in the embassy will be up. Lasso has said he would cordially ask Senor Assange to leave within 30 days of assuming a mandate , because his presence in the Knightsbridge embassy was a burden on Ecuadorian taxpayers. His government opponent, Lenin Moreno, has said Assange would remain welcome, albeit with conditions. We will always be alert and ask Mr Assange to show respect in his declarations regarding our brotherly and friendly countries, Moreno said. The most recent polling showed Moreno ahead of his rival, though earlier polls had Lasso in the lead, and many analysts caution that the results are within the margin of error. Could this weekend really trigger the beginning of the end for Assanges extraordinary central London refuge? Neither Lassos victory, nor precisely what he would do if he won, are certain (he later softened his position to say Assanges status would be reviewed). But the Australians legal team are nonetheless extremely worried. We are obviously very concerned that any candidate would threaten to undermine the protection that the Ecuadorian state has granted Julian, says Jennifer Robinson, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers who is a member of Assanges UK legal team. No government should play politics with the granting of asylum. Its a legal protection provided for under international law, Ecuador has granted that protection, they have recognised him as a refugee, and now they have obligations to protect him whatever happens in the elections. Assanges team are reluctant to be drawn on what legal avenues they might be able to pursue, but he is understood to have instructed lawyers in Quito, while others are looking at whether they may have potential options through the Inter-American and European courts of human rights. But according to Arturo Moscoso, an Ecuadorian lawyer and academic, No organisation, no law and no person can prevent the president from revoking the status of political asylum. His asylum was granted by a presidential decree, says Moscoso, and can just as easily be removed by one. Police in Ohio say the young son of a woman who was among four people found dead inside a home escaped after being swooped up by another man when a shooting broke out. Investigators say the womans former fiance shot her and two others at the Canton home before killing himself Thursday. Police say the shooter, 21-year-old Tres Peterson, of Massillon, was in the Army Reserves. They identified the victims as his former girlfriend, Cheyenne Calderon, her mother, Kelly Freshour, and Timothy Keyser. The citys police chief says another man grabbed Calderons 3-year-old son and ran from the house when Peterson began firing. Police tell The Canton Repository that Peterson and Calderon broke up a week ago. A detective says Peterson bought the gun an hour before the shooting. A landslide in Colombias southwestern border province of Putumayo sent mud and debris crashing onto houses overnight, killing 154 people, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos said on Saturday Heavy rains caused several rivers to overflow, pushing sediment onto buildings and roads in the provincial capital of Mocoa. At this time we have removed 93 bodies. We have adults, women and infants, police commander Colonel Omar Bonilla told radio station Caracol. The disaster response unit has so far only given a toll of 24 deaths, with 120 people injured. We have sent a team of 150 people to make our response effective and machinery began work immediately, Carlos Ivan Marquez, head of the unit, said in a statement. We will be with the governor and the mayor giving all necessary attention. Photos posted on Twitter by the air force showed neighborhood streets filled with mud and damaged houses while cell phone videos on social media showed residents searching for survivors in the debris. Its a big area, Mocoa Mayor Jose Antonio Castro told Caracol on Saturday. A big portion of the many houses were just taken by the avalanche but above all the people were warned with enough time and they were able to get out but houses in 17 neighbourhoods have basically been erased. Two bridges also were destroyed, Castro said. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is on his way to the area, the government said. Santos said on Twitter that he was praying for the victims. Heavy rains and a mountainous landscape regularly cause landslides in the Andean country. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 1 By Fatih Karimov Trend: The Islamic Republics foreign ministry has rejected claims by the US defense secretary, James Mattis about exporting terrorism by Iran. Giving wrong addresses about the roots and the financial and intellectual resources of terrorism is one of the main reasons for failure of international anti-terror efforts, the spokesman of the Islamic Republics foreign ministry, Bahram Qasemi, said, IRNA news agency reported Apr. 1. He made the remarks while reacting to statements of Mattis on Mar. 31, who said, Iran continues to be the primary exporter of terrorism. Qasemi accused the US allies in the region of supporting terrorism without mentioning any country. He advised the US officials to oblige their close regional friends to cut financial, intellectual and army supports for terrorist groups, in order to fight terrorism. Britains contribution to European security is unconditional, foreign secretary Boris Johnson told a French newspaper, denying the government had made a veiled threat to reduce cooperation if there was no post-Brexit trade deal. Prime Minister Theresa May, in a letter to the European Union on Wednesday, said that our cooperation in the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened if Britain left the bloc without a new deal on trade and other matters. Asked in an interview with Frances Le Figaro whether Britain was trying to use security cooperation as a bargaining chip to secure an EU trade deal, Johnson said: No, not at all. We consider the historic contribution of the UK to the security and stability of Europe as unconditional, he said in the interview published on Saturday. We will maintain this contribution, which benefits all of Europe and the world. Its in our interest and in the interest of others, and we hope this will be one of the planks of our deep and special partnership (with the EU). Earlier, Brexit minister David Davis had also said that Mays words did not amount to a threat. This is a statement of the fact that this will be harmful for both of us (Britain and the EU) ... if we dont get a deal. Its an argument for having a deal, he said. Despite these assurances, Mays words were widely interpreted as a veiled threat on both sides of the English Channel. The EUs top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said on Friday that the effect of Brexit on the blocs joint defence and security operations would be minimal. She said she expected security and defence cooperation between Britain and the EU to continue after Brexit, not least through NATO. Aung San Suu Kyis government faced its first test at the ballot box on Saturday in by-elections around Myanmar seen as a barometer for growing disillusionment with her partys first year in power. The euphoria that surrounded the democracy icons landslide electoral win in 2015 has ebbed as her party struggles to push through promised reforms. Discontent is particularly acute in ethnic minority areas where many see Suu Kyi as working too closely with the military, which ran the country for 50 years and still controls key levers of government. With only 19 seats up for election, the poll is unlikely to alter the balance of power in a government firmly dominated by Suu Kyis National League for Democracy. But the voting may offer a glimpse of the publics view on the NLDs first year in office -- a rocky 12 months marked by a surge in border unrest and disappointing economic gains. Hundreds of voters lined up outside polling stations on the outskirts of Myanmars commercial capital Yangon Saturday, though the scenes lacked the fanfare and enthusiasm of the historic 2015 election. Chit Min, from Dagon Seikkan suburb, told AFP many of his friends decided not to vote this time around. But I am sure the NLD will win again, he added. Officials of the Union Election Commission sit while people cast their votes at a polling station in Yangon on Saturday. (AP Photo) The party will face its toughest challenge to the north in Shan State, where tens of thousands have been displaced by recent fighting between the army and ethnic insurgents. There are many victims of war here and other ethnic areas now, said Sai One Leng Kham, an upper house MP from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy. Sometimes (the NLD) works without any understanding of whats going on on the ground. Ethnic politics In strife-torn Rakhine State on Myanmars western coastline, the party will face a strong challenge not only from the local Arakan National Party but also the military-backed USDP. The USDP led the transitional government that took over from the junta in 2011, but was trounced in elections four years later that swept the NLD to power. To the south in Mon, the NLD is facing a backlash over the naming of a new bridge after Suu Kyis father that many see as a symbol of the partys disregard for minorities. Myanmars economic and political elite, including the NLD, have long been dominated by the majority Bamar ethnicity. Now more people think MPs from ethnic parties should be in parliament, said local Nyan Soe, who was among tens of thousands who protested over the bridge. The NLD has not been good for ethnic people since it took power. Suu Kyi herself is constitutionally barred from campaigning while in office. A voter signs his name to get a ballot sheet from an official of the Union Election Commission at a polling station in Yangon on Saturday. (AP Photo) But she came out to defend the NLDs record -- while also conceding that progress in some areas had been slow -- in a rare national address to mark her administrations one year anniversary on Thursday. We have had to face many daunting challenges, she said, admitting the NLD had not achieved the level of development that people have expected. But she stressed that her party was dedicated to rebuilding the impoverished nation and that this process would take time. I believe most people are becoming increasingly aware that they do not have to live in fear of the government anymore, she added. I see this as progress. President Donald Trumps son-in-law and daughter are holding onto scores of real estate investments part of a portfolio of at least $240 million in assets while they serve in White House jobs, according to new financial disclosures. The revelations about Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were part of a massive White House release of financial disclosure forms on Friday night for dozens of its top administration officials. Kushner, Trumps senior adviser, resigned from some 260 entities and sold off 58 businesses or investments that lawyers identified as posing potential conflicts of interest, the documents show. But lawyers for Kushner and in the Office of the White House Counsel, in consultation with the Office of Government Ethics, determined that his real estate assets, many of them in New York City, are unlikely to pose the kinds of conflicts that would trigger a need to divest. The remaining conflicts, from a practical perspective, are pretty narrow and very manageable, said Jamie Gorelick, an attorney who has been working on the ethics agreements for Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Kushner began selling off the most problematic parts of his portfolio shortly after Trump won the election, and some of those business deals predate what is required to be captured in the financial disclosure forms. For example, Kushner sold his stake in a Manhattan skyscraper to a trust his mother oversees. Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and their three minor children have no financial interest in that trust, his lawyer said. The Kushner Companies, now run by Jared Kushners relatives, are seeking investment partners for a massive redevelopment of the building. Top officials in the Trump White House tend to be far wealthier and therefore more entangled in businesses that could conflict with their government duties than people in previous administrations. Trumps chief strategist, Steve Bannon, disclosed assets between $13 million and $56 million, including his influential political consultancy, Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., worth as much as $25 million. Bannon also disclosed that he earned slightly less than $200,000 last year as executive director of Breitbart News Network LLC, before he resigned to join Trumps campaign last August. The documents show he was vice president of the data firm Cambridge Analytica for more than two years, before resigning in August 2016 to help run Trumps campaign. Cambridge was the main data provider for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who waged a bitter battle with Trump for the Republican nomination. Bannons consulting firm pulled in more than $125,000 from Cambridge last year. He has between a $1 million and $5 million stake in Cambridge, but the disclosure said he has an agreement in principle to sell his investment. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus received more than $500,000 in salary and bonuses from the Republican National Committee, which he led through the long and divisive presidential primary. He also earned at least $750,000 from equity buyout and partner-distribution income from the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich. One of the wealthiest members of the Trump administration aside from the billionaire business owner president himself is Gary Cohn, who left a top position at Goldman Sachs to become Trumps chief economic adviser. His financial disclosure shows he received at least $40 million in income from Goldman Sachs-related dividends, interest, salary and bonuses, about half of which was in some form of stock compensation. Cohn also reported more than $1 million in income from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; the White House has said he is in the process of divesting from that bank, as well as his Goldman holdings. White House press secretary Sean Spicer described the business people who have joined the administration as very blessed and very successful, and said the disclosure forms will show that they have set aside a lot to go into public service. The financial disclosures required by law to be made public give a snapshot of the employees finances as they entered the White House. Whats not being provided: the Office of Government Ethics agreements with those employees on what they must do to avoid potential conflicts of interest. North Korea claimed on Saturday that the US was putting the peninsula in danger of another war by continuing madcap military drills in the region. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that B-1B Lancer strategic bombers made a series of flights over Korea between March 15 and 30. The B-1Bs from Guam conducted bombing drills in South Koreas airspace on five sorties in preparation for a surprise attack on the Norths major targets, the communist nations state news agency added. The US Forces Korea (USFK) made public a joint exercise involving one B-1B bomber and South Koreas fighter jets that was held on March 22, reported Yonhap news agency. The deployment of such bombers on the Korean Peninsula is made in accordance with a related training programme. We do not reveal every information, a USFK official said. But a South Korean defence source said its true that the US flew B-1Bs over Korea five times in the past two weeks. The source cited the allies principle of only disclosing specific moves of strategic weapons when necessary. The KCNA also took issue with a reported exercise of American special forces here, calling it a madcap rehearsal for carrying out the beheading operation, which drives the situation into the most extreme phase. It was referring to the possibility of the US trying to take out the Norths leadership. South Korea and the US have been carrying out their annual combined defence drills since early March. The North has long responded angrily to the allies move. This year, in particular, Pyongyang has shown a sensitive reaction to rumours of a possible pre-emptive attack or an operation to remove leader Kim Jong-un. The Donald Trump administration has stated that it will consider all options to deal with North Korea. The US intelligence has warned of an alarming level of sophistication by al Qaeda and Islamic State bomb-makers, who can plant explosives inside electronic devices which can go undetected by standard screening equipment used at most airports. Multiple US media reports suggested that the terror groups might have used sophisticated airport security equipment to test and improve their devices. One report suggested bomb-makers with these outfits are able to pack laptops with explosives and still get them to switch on just long enough to fool security screeners, despite the missing batteries. These intelligence inputs collected and analyzed in the past few months were the leading reasons for the US and UK banning electronic devices larger than mobile phones as cabin baggage on direct incoming flights from eight Muslim-majority West Asian and African countries recently. But given the new intelligence, questions are being asked if the current restrictions are broad enough and whether they be extended to other destinations, and whether other countries that have a long history of dealing with terrorism could consider similar steps. As a matter of policy, we do not publicly discuss specific intelligence information. However, evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation, to include smuggling explosive devices in electronics, the department of homeland security told CNN in a statement. The US government continually reassesses existing intelligence and collects new intelligence. This allows the department and the transportation security administration to constantly evaluate our aviation security processes and policies and make enhancements when they are deemed necessary to keep passengers safe. As always, all air travellers are subject to a robust security system that employs multiple layers of security, both seen and unseen. The intelligence community around the world has long prepared for any and every foreseen threat from terrorists trying new ways to smuggle explosives aboard. Richard Calvin Reed carried them in his shoes in 2001. In 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab packed his underwear with explosive that he set off when his flight entered US airspace, but was muscled down by fellow passengers alarmed by smoke and foul smell. In 2011, al Qaeda managed to load explosives packed inside printer cartridges inside electronic printers onto the cargo holds of two US bound flights from Sanaa, Yemen. They were detected and defused on a timely tip-off from Saudi Intelligence. The present threat of a laptop laden with explosive was first detected in February 2016, when a bomb in the cavity meant for a CD-ROM exploded on a flight in Somalia while the plane was midair. The plane had not reached cruising height and the pilots brought it down without casualties. Bomb-makers of al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula and Islamic State are now trying to use the battery space, while still be able to switch on the device, to fool screening personnel. A judge on approved an agreement for President Donald Trump to pay $25 million to settle lawsuits over his now-defunct Trump University, ending nearly seven years of legal battles with customers who claimed they were misled by failed promises to teach success in real estate. US District Judge Gonzalo Curiels ruling settles two class-action lawsuits and a civil lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Trump had vowed never to settle but said after the election that he didnt have time for a trial, even though he believed he would have prevailed. Under terms of the settlement, he admits no wrongdoing. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling. The lawsuits alleged that Trump University gave nationwide seminars that were like infomercials, constantly pressuring people to spend more and, in the end, failing to deliver. Attorneys for former customers have said their clients will get at least 90 percent of their money back, based on the roughly 3,730 claims submitted. Trump University dogged the Republican businessman throughout the campaign as rivals used Trumps depositions and extensive documents filed in the lawsuits to portray him as dishonest and deceitful. Trump brought more attention by repeatedly assailing Curiel, insinuating that the Indiana-born judges Mexican heritage exposed a bias. The judge rejected requests by two former students who objected to the settlement, scuttling the possibility of derailing the agreement with the prospect of more litigation. Sherri Simpson, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, attorney, said she and a partner paid $35,000 in 2010 to enroll in Trump Universitys Gold Elite program to be paired with a mentor who would teach them Trumps secret real estate investment strategies. Simpson, who appeared in two anti-Trump campaign ads, said they got little for their money a the videos were 5 years old, the materials covered information that could be found free on the internet and her mentor didnt return calls or emails. Simpson argued that she should have been given more opportunity to opt out of the settlement. Attorneys for Trump and those suing him say the deadline to opt out was in November 2015 and that she missed her chance. Another customer, Harold Doe, objected because he wanted more money. In clearing those final hurdles, the president brought closure to the trio of lawsuits, the first of which was filed in April 2010. When attorneys reached a deal shortly after Trumps election, Curiel said he hoped it would be part of a healing process that this country very sorely needs. A month later, he granted preliminary approval of the deal. The settlement was announced 10 days before a trial was set to begin, sparing Trump what would have been a major distraction. The trial would have been pinned on whether a jury believed Trump misled customers by calling the business a university when it wasnt an accredited school and by falsely advertising that he hand-picked instructors. Court documents unsealed last year revealed strategies for enticing people to enroll even if they couldnt afford it. The documents outlined how employees should guide people through the roller coaster of emotions after they express interest and tells employees to be very aggressive during these conversations to in order to push them out of their comfort zones. Transcripts of about 10 hours of Trump depositions provided additional material to rivals, though Curiel denied a request to release video of Trumps testimony that would have likely been used in campaign attack ads. Trump acknowledged in the depositions that he played on peoples fantasies, and he could not recall names of his employees despite his advertising pitch that he hand-picked them. Trump has repeatedly claimed a 98 percent customer satisfaction rate on internal surveys. Plaintiffs countered that students were asked to rate the product when they believed they still had more instruction to come and were reluctant to openly criticize their teachers on surveys that were not anonymous. A judge in North Carolina has ordered a woman to pay $500,000 for writing a Facebook post falsely accusing her former friend of killing her son. According to a report in The Telegraph, Jacquelyn Hammond from Asheville wrote on Facebook, in 2015, of Davyne Dial: I didnt get drunk and kill my kid. But Dial who claimed to have nothing to do with her sons death sued Hammond for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Dial and Hammonds friendship broke down after the failed attempt to work together on the radio station. There are no filters on social media to say whatever you think behind the safety of your screen. She had made other untrue statements through the years, but when this happened, it was very painful, said Dial. The announcement delivered last month awarded Dial $250,000 in actual damages and $250,000 in punitive damages, for a total judgment of $500,000. I think people today dont recognise the importance of their words, said Missy Owen, a lawyer in North Carolina, adding that people should learn from Hammonds mistake. Just because it is very easy to get your words out there does not mean you should. You can get in trouble anytime you make a false statement about someone else that damages their character or reputation. Why dont Muslims condemn terrorism, a classmate asked 19-year-old Heraa Hashmi during an argument. Its a question Muslims are often asked, and one that they are weary of answering again and again. I told him You are completely wrong, says Heraa, in an email interview with Hindustan Times. We do, but our voices are suppressed. And we dont agree with the violent ideology of those on the fringe, but its not our fault if the public doesnt hear it. Her classmate, however, remained unconvinced and a frustrated Heraa returned home, only to hit upon the perfect way to counter prove her point: creating a 712-page Google document, compiling 5,000 entries of Muslims across the world condemning acts of terror. Heraa, who was born in Bihar but moved to the United States with her parents as a child, studies Molecular Biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder. One of the things that contributed to her single-mindedness in executing the project was the political climate in the US, where as a minority you become answerable for the actions of fringe elements in your community. Growing up, I had to be extra careful with each word I spoke and every action I took, because people would see it as an example of Muslims in general, she says. It took her three weeks of painstaking research and manual input to create the spreadsheet, without any automation or web crawlers. She dove head first into the internet, beginning with general Google searches and indexing everything she could find: condemnations by Muslim advocacy groups, organisations, companies to statements of religious scholars and even tweets by laypersons. From London mayor Sadiq Khan condemning the recent Westminster terror attack to statements by Deoband scholars or actor Shah Rukh Khan condemning terror, Heraas list is nothing if not diverse. I wanted to illustrate that its not a specific group of Muslims that condemn terrorism, but it is a view majority of Muslims hold across the board, from the layperson to scholars who have studied the religion their entire lives, she says. While it helped that Heraa is a self-confessed spreadsheet nut, what kept her going was her determination to dismantle this argument for once and for all. After she was done, she tweeted out the list. classmate: why dont muslims condemn things me: *goes home makes 712 page long list of Muslims Condemning Things with sources* me: fight me pic.twitter.com/sDhwUMIAK1 Heraa Hashmi (@caveheraa) November 12, 2016 She didnt expect the tweet to go viral it has been retweeted over 18,000 times till date. The Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University, an effort dedicated to fighting Islamophobia, reached out to her to pool resources. And this is how, last November, one womans spreadsheet turned into Muslimscondemn.com. The site is now open to public, who can submit cases of Muslims denouncing terrorism as well as other less-publicised threats to the planet, such as climate change. The initiative has received overwhelming support from people who see the site as a resource to counter false claims, but its detractors think it panders to ignorant, racist arguments by answering them. What Heraa has assembled is an army of facts to prove how often, and how vociferously, Muslims condemn terror. But the larger point she wanted to get across to her classmate and to the world in general -- was how unfair it was to place this burden on all Muslims. I see this happening every time a Muslim perpetuates a crime Islamophobes use it as fuel to oppress Muslims...it becomes a vicious cycle, she says . As a minority, I represent more than just myself. Were expected to apologize on the behalf of some lunatics. The perception that Muslims support violence or remain indifferent to terrorism is very, very wrong, says Heraa. And, so, while she waits for the world to stop asking Muslims to prove how much they hate terror, her work has ensured that the next time you get ready to battle against this old chestnut, you go in armed with a battalion of facts. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Half Moon Bay, CA (94019) Today Rain likely. Thunder possible. Low 47F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.. Tonight Rain likely. Thunder possible. Low 47F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Ayad al-Jumaili, believed to be the deputy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed in an air strike, Reuters reported citing Iraqi State TV. The U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition said it was unable at the moment to confirm the report. Iraqi TV said Jumaili was killed with other Islamic State commanders in a strike carried out by the Iraqi air force in the region of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria. It gave no detail or date for the raid. "The air force's planes executed with accuracy a strike on the headquarters of Daesh in al-Qaim resulting in the killing of Daesh's second-in-command Ayad al-Jumaili, alias Abu Yahya, the war minister," said state TV, citing a statement from the directorate of military intelligence. Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, have been battling since October to retake the city of Mosul, Islamic State's stronghold in Iraq and the city where Baghdadi declared a caliphate nearly three years ago. Tens of thousands of refugees have been fleeing the city to escape the fighting. U.S. and Iraqi officials believe Baghdadi has left operational commanders with diehard followers to fight the battle of Mosul, and is now hiding out in the desert with senior commanders. A separate battle is in preparation in Syria to drive Islamic State from its stronghold there, the city of Raqqa. The Iraqi state TV report is the first by an official media to announce the death of Jumaili, who was an intelligence officer under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president toppled in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Jumaili led Islamic State's top security agency in Iraq and Syria, known as Amniya, answering directly to Baghdadi, according to experts. Rumors of a live-action version of Akira, the beloved anime film that originally introduced the genre to American film audiences, have been bouncing around for quite some time. The latest has Warner Bros. eyeing Jordan Peele to direct a live-action adaption of the cult classic. Peele is a hot topic after the incredible success of his Get Out horror film, although this would be a massive leap in genre from small budget social thriller to big budget adaptation of an existing story. Given the lukewarm reception to the Ghost In The Shell live-action remake starring Scarlett Johansson, making Akira would certainly be a gamble for Jordan Peele. Especially given the conflicting interests that want to put white characters in the main roles, and the fans who want to see authentically Asian actors. After the success of Get Out, were willing to give Peele the benefit of the doubt as to whether he could pull something like this off. However, do anime fans even want an Akira remake, or should they leave the original as it is? [via tracking-board.com] Akira Back in February, Young Dolph was involved in a shootout in Charlotte, North Carolina where he was shot at over 100 times, but thankfully walked away without a scratch. But to show off his resiliency, Dolph decided to record & announce a fitting new project following the incident called Bulletproof, which arrives today (April 1) after weeks of promotion. Laced with 10 tracks in total, the follow up to last months Gelato tape finds the Memphis rapper addressing everything surrounding the shooting with tracks like 100 Shots, In Charlotte, & But Im Bulletproof to name a few. Featuring a lone appearance from Gucci Mane on the lead single Thats How I Feel, fans can now stream Dolphs new body of work in its entirety via Apple Music now. Be sure to show your support on iTunes if youre fuckin with it. To sand and pipe, add water. It's not exactly a recipe, but these ingredients - whether combined or separate - are indicators of the health of the oil field services industry. And lately, they've shown that the sector is regaining its vigor as higher crude prices lead exploration and production companies to increase output, and services companies to demand more sand, water, chemicals and piping to drill, frac and complete wells. Last week, in another sign of increasing activity, Houston's Rockwater Energy Solutions said it made an all-stock deal valued at $207 million to acquire Crescent Companies of Oklahoma City as it seeks to expand market share for its water management and injection chemicals businesses that supply hydraulic fracturing operations. Rockwater chief executive Holli Ladhani said the deal creates a larger company focused on the U.S. and western Canada, where activity has recovered in recent months. Oil field services companies provide fracking crews, drill and complete wells, and sell supplies and equipment to the production companies that are their clients. Services providers were battered during the two-year slump as producers idled rigs and demanded steep discounts, losing billions of dollars and laying off workers by the tens of thousands. As oil prices have risen to about $50 a barrel and rigs have returned to U.S. shale fields, services companies have begun to rebound. Just over a week ago, Halliburton of Houston, which slashed some 40,000 jobs worldside between 2014 and 2016, said it was hiring again, adding 2,000 jobs in the U.S. in the first quarter. That surging activity has led to record demand for sand, which is mixed in massive amounts into fracking fluids to prop open shale rock fissures to allow oil and gas to escape. After virtually selling out of sand earlier this year, Houston-based Hi-Crush Partners said it would spend $275 million to buy the Permian Basin Sand Co. to beef up its sand reserves. In Atascosa County, south of San Antonio, the Pennsylvania company Preferred Sands has proposed developing a sand mine to produce 300 tons to 400 tons of sand per hour, although the plan has run into fierce community opposition. Piping is also getting a boost. The specialized steel piping for the oil and gas industry includes drill pipe used for drilling and creating wells; casing pipe that's cemented into place to line the walls of the well and give it structural stability; and tubing pipe inserted into the well through which the oil and gas travel. As companies drill longer and longer horizontal wells to produce oil more efficiently, they need more pipe; global demand for well piping will grow by more than 6 percent a year through 2020, driven largely by North American shale drilling. Vallourec, a Paris company with North American headquarters in Houston, has in recent months added some 250 workers at its U.S. plants to meet rebounding demand. "It took us a couple of months to determine that activity was sustainable to justify rehiring," Nicolas de Coignac, Vallourec's North American president."It's not a bubble." EDNA - Johnny Dugger's livelihood depends on one well, the only source of fresh water for hundreds of cattle on his family ranch, a peninsula stretching between a saltwater-filled river and marsh. So when Houston-based Hilcorp Energy said it planned to inject millions of gallons of chemical-laced saltwater and carbon dioxide into the ground to recover oil from a nearby field, Dugger and other ranchers turned to the Railroad Commission, the state's oil and gas regulator, to help protect their most important asset - clean water. They didn't oppose Hilcorp's permit; they only asked that the company be required to pay for independent groundwater monitoring. They said they also want the results made public. But in February, the ranchers said they were stunned when the commission rejected the ranchers' request, siding with Hilcorp, whose top executives have donated more than $300,000 to the political committees of railroad commissioners since 2010. In the most recent campaign funding cycle, which runs from July to December, Jeffrey Hildebrand, Hilcorp's billionaire CEO, gave $5,000 to each commissioner. "Our property's worthless if the water goes bad," Dugger said. "I always thought that the Railroad Commission was supposed to protect us from them." The regulatory board's three commissioners, all of whom have taken Hilcorp campaign contributions, declined to comment on the Hilcorp vote. Hilcorp said its project was approved on its merits, following days of detailed hearings on the company's plans, and not because of political contributions. "There is a very simple reason these permits have been granted," said Jill Fisk, senior vice president of operations in the continental United States. "Hilcorp spent 16 days of scheduled hearings before both legal and technical examiners, presenting dozens of scientific and technical exhibits and multiple expert witnesses that provided a sound basis for the granting of all permits to date." But watchdog groups, environmentalists and other critics say the commission's refusal to buck an oil company on a modest request again raises questions about the influence the industry and its money has over regulators. These groups have long advocated for limiting the amount of money commissioners can raise from the oil and gas industry, but such restrictions have been rejected by the Legislature and opposed by commissioners, who insist that political donations don't affect their decisions. The oil and gas industry accounted for $6.6 million, or 60 percent of the more than $11 million in campaign contributions raised by commissioners since 2010, according to Texans for Public Justice, a watchdog group. "The agency is fraught with problems and the appearance of a conflict of interest is the largest one dogging them," said Andrew Wheat, a research director with Texans for Public Justice. "The commissioners seem to do a poor job dispelling that notion. They raise money hand over fist, and the majority of that money comes from the industry that they regulate." 60 million barrels Dugger's family has raised cattle for 140 years on the saltwater marshes around the Lavaca River. Today, Dugger, 68, keeps around 400 heads on 750 acres - a quarter of his ranch. He grew up in Edna, a community of less than 6,000 about 100 miles southwest of Houston, working cattle near the West Ranch oil field, which was discovered in 1938. Hilcorp purchased the flagging oil field in 2007 with a 15-year plan to recover 60 million barrels of oil using enhanced oil recovery, the process of injecting carbon dioxide and water underground to force more oil out of the earth. The project employs more than 300 people, the majority of whom live in or near Jackson County, a rural Gulf Coast ranching and farming community where cattle pastures and rice fields share the flatlands with oil derricks. Around 75 percent of Jackson County's land is used for agriculture. Dugger and others say they support Hilcorp's project and the economic lift it provides, and have no interest in shutting it down. But Hilcorp's plan to squeeze more oil from West Ranch still worries ranchers and farmers, who learned to be wary of contaminants seeping from hundreds of inactive wells. In 2012, Dugger discovered pools of water around several unplugged wells on his and other properties near West Ranch. Tests showed that the water's salt content was higher than seawater - so high that it could kill cows, crops and wildlife. A year later, the Railroad Commission plugged about 20 wells after the locals complained, Dugger said. In 2014, the Texana Groundwater Conservation District, charged with protecting groundwater quality in the county, put in place a policy to protest every injection well, which are drilled as part of oil recovery process in older fields. Once the groundwater district gets notice of a new well, as required by state law, officials typically negotiate with a company on guidelines for monitoring groundwater quality, said Tim Andruss, a former general manager for the district. Hilcorp, however, wouldn't negotiate, Andruss said. To date, the commission has approved 52 of the 160 injection wells planned by Hilcorp. The company began injecting carbon dioxide into the field late last year. Justin Furnace, a Hilcorp spokesman, said the company is voluntarily running its own monitoring program, precluding the need for the Railroad Commission to mandate one. The company has sunk about 400 monitoring wells and hired companies to collect and test the samples, Furnace said, and even offered free groundwater monitoring to ranchers and farmers, but only two have taken advantage of it, Furnace said. Andruss, however, said a voluntary monitoring program doesn't go far enough. It needs to be a requirement of the permits and it needs be overseen by an independent entity, he said. Any results from the groundwater testing, he added, should be made public, which Hilcorp has refused to do. At the Railroad Commission's Feb. 28 meeting, Robert Martin, another local cattle rancher and member of the groundwater district's board of directors, pleaded for a mandatory and independent monitoring system. Requiring a groundwater monitoring project would be a gesture of good faith, he said, even if the commissioners and Hilcorp could assure the community that nothing would go wrong. "The groundwater monitoring is not burdensome, when compared to the expected recovery of 60 million barrels of oil," Martin said. "Is the plan to recover the oil as fast as they can and deal with the consequences later? I hope not. What would be the cost to hundreds of farmers and ranchers if the potable water was lost?" The commissioners, at the recommendation of their staff, unanimously approved Hilcorp's applications for 10 new injection wells. They told Martin to contact them with any future problems. Promoter or regulator? The groundwater district's concerns that oil and gas companies unduly influence the Railroad Commission echo years of complaints that the agency has become a promoter, rather than regulator of the industry. Christi Craddick, who was elected chair of the Railroad Commission in December, frequently champions the need for oil and gas development in Texas. In December, she praised the incoming Trump administration's plans to eliminate or relax regulations on oil and gas companies, saying. "They at least get us, I hope, as an industry." Craddick has a campaign war chest with nearly $2 million. In the last half of 2016, she accepted more than $726,000 in campaign contributions, half of which came from oil and gas interests, according to campaign finance records. She declined to comment on her vote on Hilcorp's permits and her campaign contributions. Commissioner Ryan Sitton received more than $750,000 during the same period, with about half the money also coming from oil and gas interests. He also declined to comment on his vote and his campaign contributions. The newest commissioner, Wayne Christian was elected in November. His campaign raised $500,000 from the oil and gas industry, about half the total. He said that oil and gas companies generally seek to be good stewards of the environment, adding that campaign donations do not influence his opinions. "My decisions before the commission are based on sound science and evidence presented before me in the record," he said. "While I am appreciative of all who helped our campaign, both financially and through volunteer efforts, this does not impact my impartiality at the podium." The groundwater district last week filed a motion for rehearing to the commission, asking it to reconsider its decision. Meanwhile, the district's board is considering a groundwater monitoring system of its own, which would require it to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from outside sources to buy equipment and launch the program. After that, the cost of running such a system for a year would essentially wipe out the district's annual budget of about $200,000. "We don't have a large budget, we can't continue to fight it legally," said Michael Skalicky, a rice farmer who is president of the groundwater district's board. "Texas is pro oil. I find it very disturbing that the regulatory agency that's in charge of regulating the industry is able to accept political contributions from the industry." A majority of people struggle to prepare financially for their retirement, but public school teachers and employees in Texas face a particularly difficult set of circumstances. I'm enough of a fiscal tightwad to think that every public school teacher should self-fund his or her retirement to supplement their pension plan, which for Texans is the Teachers Retirement System of Texas. Unfortunately, there's the grim reality facing many teachers about how hard this is to actually do. I learned a lot recently from my teacher friends about why that's so. The stakes are high because most public school teachers in Texas don't contribute to Social Security and, thus, aren't eligible for the federal benefits when they retire. Most Texas school districts - 95 percent of them - have opted out of the federal retirement system. And the retirement advice teachers receive is either nonexistent or just really bad. My friend Dina Toland, who has worked as a public school teacher for 23 years, walked me through her experience. She said the school would typically invite a salesperson from an insurance or investment company to a faculty or staff meeting where they would offer raffle prizes or other incentives to collect contact information. They would follow up with one-on-one meetings where they would scare the bejesus out of teachers like Dina about their uncertain retirement. Anxious teachers like Dina are often urged to invest in variable annuities, which I consider one of the four horsemen of your personal financial apocalypse because of their high fees, lack of liquidity, low returns and generous sales commissions. Variable annuities perform the best for the people who sell them, not the ones who invest in them. Dina was convinced to buy into this mess when she was just starting out as a teacher. Ironically, the salesperson herself was so inexperienced that she convinced Dina and her similarly clueless colleagues to withhold too much money from their paychecks, so much that they all had trouble paying their bills in subsequent months. Besides taking too much money, they all bought into these terrible variable annuities. As Dina says, how would they have known any better? This problem afflicting teacher retirement planning isn't limited to Texas. The New York Times ran an excellent six-part series last year with provocative and true headlines like "Think Your Retirement Plan is Bad? Talk To A Teacher" and "An Annuity for the Teacher - And the Broker" about precisely these difficulties. The series featured public school teachers in Connecticut who were sold products that weren't liquid and combined high fees, low returns and hefty commissions for insurance salespeople. My friend David Nungaray, in his sixth year of teaching and administration in public schools in Texas, has a similarly discouraging story. Early in his career, an insurance salesperson was invited to speak to new teachers like him, at which he was of course urged to purchase an annuity. I later learned that he bought one, much to my chagrin. This year he resolved to open up a 403(b) employee-sponsored retirement account, the next big option for self-funding one's retirement. Helping my friend David set up his 403(b) account was anything but easy and straightforward. David is extremely competent on his own. But we agreed that he never would have been able to do it without help. As a first step, David asked six of his colleagues in the public school system - chosen for their seeming prudence and likelihood to have a 403(b) account - if they had any advice for him. Only one had a 403(b) account. Not an auspicious start. David then contacted his school district to look for help. Could David get any investment advice from his school district? No. The human resources department at his school district referred David to TCG Group, which administers all employees' 403(b) plans for his school district, as well as many others in the state. The TCG Group website provides a list of 51 approved annuity and investment firms, with links to contact them. David had no idea which investment firm to pick. Could TCG Group help? No, that's not their job. They are 403(b) plan administrators only. As a side note, I tried for three days to have a substantive conversation with folks at TCG Group, for the purposes of this article. They were as helpful and open with me as they were with David. The next step was to pick an investment firm and to open an account. I helped him do that. Having done that, he returned to TCG Group for instructions on making 403(b) contributions from his paycheck. Of course, then he needed to select an investment, or series of investments, at an investment firm of his choice. That's easy for me to help him with, so I did. But this hand-holding happened over the course of four weeks, with many barriers along the way. The barriers would have deterred a less determined employee, especially one without a friend in finance who was helping for free. Of course any of the investment firms could have "helped" him, but he might have ended up with terrible annuity-like products totally inappropriate for the retirement account of a teacher still in his twenties. I'm all for self-funding and self-reliance as a theory, but I've become concerned about whether it can be done well for most teachers. So teachers fall back on the state retirement system and do little else. If you are one of the over 1.5 million Texans who are members of the TRS, you should ask at least two big questions about your retirement. First, as my main safety net, is TRS financially strong? Second, will payments from TRS be enough to cover my needs in retirement, personally? If you are not a member of the TRS, then as a citizen and taxpayer you should hope that state leadership is also asking important questions and having a good dialogue around these challenges and solutions. In a subsequent column we'll talk about the finances of TRS, and that dialogue. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Bethany United Methodist Church has persevered in a leafy neighborhood near the Astrodome for 65 years, though its membership today would fill less than a third of its 1,000-seat sanctuary if everybody showed up. Pastor Dan Jones, a Wharton-educated MBA, speaks of a "transitioning model" as church attendance continues to decline nationally. It is imperative to expand beyond the traditional "one hour a week" to remain relevant, he says. But Jones' most ambitious step in that direction - a proposal to build a four-story apartment building for seniors on site - has unleashed yet another contentious homeowner uprising in a city that has seen several in recent years. The target of ire this time, rather than developers or the government, is a religious organization that enjoys tax advantages and other preferences not otherwise available in the free market. Longtime residents accuse Bethany of "betraying their neighborhood" with a plan to abruptly change the nature of development there, increasing traffic and parking problems, threatening public safety and endangering property values. Yard signs reminiscent of the high-profile Ashby high-rise fight have arisen in testament to the growing feud. A letter to homeowners posted on a website set up by the opposition accuses Bethany United of trying to fix its "membership and income problem" by becoming a landlord. "It just boggles my mind that somebody would take a church parking lot and turn it into apartments," says Harold Kidder, who bought his house across the street from the church 40 years ago and assumed it would always be a good, and quiet, neighbor. Disrupting the peace The word "quiet" is invoked a lot these days in the Woodside, Linkwood, Knollwood Village and Westridge neighborhoods, a cluster of modestly sized, postwar ranch-style houses located comfortably inside the Loop, just south of Brays Bayou, where home prices have soared along with demand for homes closer to the city's core. The interest in preserving the peace, as well as the property values, is often cited among the 670 people who have signed written and online petitions opposing Bethany United's plans to build a 101-unit complex for residents age 62 or older, with half of the units offering below-market rents reserved for people on fixed incomes. The church already runs a day school on its six-acre campus. For several years, it has sought to add an active senior housing component. Church leaders see it as another way to serve the community. "I think this is all part of the transitioning model," says Jones, Bethany's pastor for the last decade. Several years ago, the church joined forces with a developer to seek tax credits to build the project. To qualify for the competitive housing tax credit program, applicants must meet certain requirements and achieve a high enough "score" from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. After receiving a lower score than anticipated on its application, the church abandoned the effort. "Part of the reason the scoring didn't come out well was a difference of opinion what the city and state were calling supportive housing," said Christopher Johns-Krull, a resident and church member who chairs the project's planning committee. The church then decided to pursue more conventional financing and enlisted commercial real estate firm Stream Realty Partners to develop the complex. In its current plan, the church would own it through a nonprofit, which would likely pay the church rent to lease the land. Tax implications are unclear. Many homeowners in the nearby neighborhoods were against the original plan. Its revival could spark a public fight rivaling that waged over a proposed mixed-income apartment project in the upscale Briargrove area near the Galleria and, before that, the protracted battle against the so-called Ashby high-rise near Rice University. Briargrove residents successfully pushed back against that project and, although the Ashby neighbors ultimately failed in a high-profile court case, the property set aside for the 21-story building remains vacant. In the current dispute, signs protesting the church project carry the battle cry of "Stop Bethany Apartments." They are notable for the graphic representation of an anthropomorphized apartment building with sharp teeth and a menacing grimace - modeled after the Ashby signs and bumper stickers. Some residents who support the church's project have fashioned their own signs in reaction. But many, like Kidder, a retired engineer who lives across from Bethany at the corner of Linkwood and Bevlyn, are fiercely opposed. "I basically moved here because the area was very quiet," he says. "Even though there was a church across the street and an elementary school nearby, my assumption has always been that's a good thing because the area would never be developed." Kevin Antill, a 15-year resident of Knollwood Village who went door-to-door passing out fliers voicing concerns over the project, said the homeowners are not against the church, or seniors, just the apartment project. He cites other potential problems, including flooding, lighting and an overall loss of "peace and tranquility." "We bought our house here for it not to be disrupted," he says. Vocal opponents argue their part of town is already too densely populated and the new building would not fit in with the character of the existing neighborhoods. Commenters on the protest website express fear for the safety of children who go to school in the area. Others mention the increased traffic, the size of the project and the loss of mature trees on the property should the building be developed. "Original zoning was for a church, not a multifamily apartment complex," one comment reads. "Shame on BUMC for betraying their neighborhood!" Expanding its missions Pastor Jones denies charges that the church's motivation is financial. Membership, he says, has been "up and down a little bit" but relatively stable over the last 10 years. He estimates there are close to 300 members today. Yet he acknowledges that Bethany has been focusing on expanding its external missions and commissioned a market study to identify the most pressing needs in the community. That research found a dearth of housing for active seniors. Jones says the Bethany project would allow residents to stay in the neighborhood where they go to church, where they bank and where their friends live - without worry of being priced out by rising property costs. "That was the ministry impetus," he says. Jones also says the church held "communication events" with neighborhood groups for nearly a year after it began considering the development. There would be no religious test for residents and the project would not be "low income" housing or qualify for federal Section 8 housing programs, according to an FAQ on the church's website. Rather, the site contends that units offering below-market rents would be made available for "retired professionals such as teachers, public administrators, nurses and firefighters." "We thought we were doing what we needed to do to communicate with the neighborhood," he says. Jones would like to see construction begin within a year, although many details are unclear, including construction costs, rents and property tax implications. The church also has not detailed how it plans to finance the project. "We're still researching a number of possibilities," says Jones. Aging in place When church groups expand beyond their traditional work, tax consequences can be ambiguous. Of the other faith-based organizations with similar housing projects in Houston, some qualify for a property tax exemption and some don't. The Harris County Appraisal District estimates that 95 properties owned by faith-based groups are exempt under tax code that classifies them as either "charitable" organizations or "community housing development" organizations. "It all depends on how they are organized and, especially, operated," HCAD said in an emailed statement to the Chronicle. "The issues can vary from organization to organization or property to property." Bethany United holds its land in trust for the larger Methodist church organization. Johns-Krull, says the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church is supportive of the current apartment plans. He also says Bethany is working with Stream to try to secure grant funding to offset some of construction costs and keep rents down. "The goal is to provide affordable housing for seniors with fixed incomes," he says. "So there's definitely a charitable aspect that we're trying to do." In a emailed statement, Iggy Grillo, vice president of multifamily development for Stream Realty, notes that longtime residents of the area are being displaced "in substantial numbers due to the skyrocketing cost of living." Bethany's proposal, he says, would provide an opportunity for residents to "age in place." He also applauds the church leadership for "working diligently with area neighborhood organizations to find the best way to provide desperately needed senior housing within this community in the city of Houston, for the benefit of its residents and the neighborhoods that it serves." Religious or charitable motivations aside, Bethany's critics question whether the church should be prevented from building apartments based on the property deed, a portion of which reads: "...premises shall be used, kept, and maintained as a place of divine worship of the Methodist ministry and members of The Methodist Church." Longtime resident Anita Woods thinks the potential good outweighs other concerns. Woods, who is not a member of Bethany but whose children attended preschool at the church, cites research showing most people do not want to move out of their communities as they get older. She sees the Bethany plan as a way to perhaps provide that opportunity. Otherwise, she fears, "a lot of older people living in this neighborhood can't afford it." After hours of increasingly violent protest both ahead of and following a vote on a controversial change to the country's presidential election process, angry demonstrators broke into and set a fire on the ground floor of Paraguay's Congress building in its capital, Asuncion, Sputnik reported. Protesters clashed with police for several hours in the capital city following a secret vote by 25 senators for a bill that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for reelection. Demonstrators contend that this is unconstitutional. Instead of being held on the Senate floor as usual, the vote took place in a closed office in Congress. Police have used rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the crowd, but protesters continue to surround the building and, according to reports, have broken in and are vandalizing the interior. Several journalists and politicians have been injured according to local media reports. Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party said, "A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us." Tadeo Rojas, interior minister, said that a small group of protesters injured police as well, telling a press conference, "The national police were not under any instruction to repress. They were attacked." The controversial bill will now go to Paraguay's House, where it was expected to be voted on Saturday morning. If passed, the change would apply to Cartes, as well as future presidents. Paraguay's presidents are elected to five-year terms. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 1 of 2 Kemah Police Department Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Kemah Police Department Show More Show Less A stretch of SH 146 running through Kemah is closed to traffic because of problems from repaving the road, officials said Friday afternoon. Large chunks of fresh asphalt along SH 146 between FM 646 and FM 518 are apparently being pulled free when vehicles pass over it. Authorities said it is causing damage to the cars. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate With winter in the rearview mirror and spring in full swing, Paula Moorhaj knows everyone has the itch to get out and enjoy the weather and some neighborly fun. With that in mind, Moorhaj and her buddies at the Dayton Chamber of Commerce are hosting their first Mudbug Festival at the Dayton Community Center, 801 S. Cleveland Street in Dayton on Saturday, April 8. "This is just a great time for everyone to come out and enjoy good food, fun and music on a Saturday evening and at the same time, support their local chamber," said Moorhaj, chamber executive director. The gates open a 4 p.m. and activities run from 5 - 10 p.m. including two live bands, the Philip Griffin band and the Don Vicker Band. General admission tickets are $50 per person and includes the free crawfish, beer and street dance admission. "We also have raffle tickets at $100 that includes a chance to win a 2017 Polaris Ranger 570," she said. To purchase tickets, one must be 18 years or older to enter and the winner is responsible for the cost of tax, title, license, and dealer prep, Moorhaj said. "This is a BYOB and lawn chairs event," she said. "We will have set ups for sales and you have to bring your own." The chamber will provide several kegs of beer and 1,200 pounds of crawfish so come early to get in on the fun. There will also be two food trucks at the event: Fish Tails and Lord & Barrett Sausage Co. Both will have alternative foods for the event. "We will also have a live auction beginning at 7 p.m.," the chamber director said. There will be underage arm bands since there will be alcoholic beverages served. The funds raised at the event go to help support the mission of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce. "This helps us with the many programs we sponsor, especially for those that help our members and local business," Moorhaj said. The event will be on the backside of the Community Center property and parking will be available in the front and side lots. LibertyRadioTX will be broadcasting live from the event. For more information on the event, call Moorhaj at the chamber office at 936-257-2393 or drop her an email at paula@daytontxchamber.com. "Come support your chamber!" she said. ROBERTS COUNTY - It's not as if the Lone Star State's best-known canine was unaware of prairie fires. In Hank the Cowdog Book 51, "The Case of the Blazing Sky," the floppy-eared self-appointed "head of ranch security" finds himself facing "a roaring, leaping, hissing monster of a prairie fire that sent a spray of sparks shooting up into the dark sky." For Hank's creator, imagining a fire is one thing; seeing a roiling black cloud of smoke top the canyon wall and head your way is something else entirely, as author John Erickson and his wife Kris discovered three weeks ago, when a "roaring monster" blazed across more than a million acres in the Panhandle and nearby Oklahoma and Kansas. (See last week's column.) The fire killed six people and thousands of cattle, burned up grass and forage and destroyed homes and property, including the Ericksons'. The couple has lived since 1993 on a ranch in the ruggedly beautiful Canadian River Valley in the upper reaches of the Panhandle. Seven miles from the nearest neighbor, the M-Cross Ranch is at the base of the Caprock, the 100-foot-high, nearly 200-mile-long escarpment that marks the upthrust of the Llano Estacado. The trail to the ranch is gouged out of the face of the escarpment. The March 6 fire destroyed their ranch house, John's writing studio, a bunkhouse for guests, signed copies of books by writers he admires, two unpublished novels he wrote in the 1970s - "That may have been a blessing to the world," he said - as well as a performance banjo worth $7,000. The fire also claimed Kris' quilting materials and sewing machine, along with dozens of quilts and scrapbooks and things she wanted to pass on to her grandchildren. John managed to grab his laptop computer and Kris her mandolin, but not much else before they drove out of the canyon just ahead of the flames. Most of their 120 cattle survived, as well as five of their six horses. Dixie, their beloved blue heeler, didn't. She was a smart dog, John said. She liked to sit on the front porch of the ranch house and survey her domain. He suspects she was sitting on that porch when the roof collapsed. When I spent an afternoon with John on a beastly hot day last week - 99 degrees in March? - Kris had not been able to bring herself to visit the ranch, now a wasteland of gray ash and blackened tree trunks. Of John, a friend of his told me, "I think he's still in a little bit of shock." In well-worn Wrangler jeans and blue work shirt that had belonged to a deceased Perryton man - donated by the Ericksons' church, they were the only clothes he owned last week - John took a call from a friend. Phone to his ear, he stood on a bare patch of earth where the family home had been a few days earlier. "I'd invite you to come up to the house and have a beer," he told his caller, "but I don't have any house, or beer." We climbed into his well-used ATV and with two lively dogs on the back bench drove into what had been an old-growth forest of aromatic cedar bordering spring-fed Picket Ranch Creek. The blackened trunks of "the dark enchanted forest" (Hank's description) were so big, they probably had been growing, and avoiding fires, for more than a century. We watched ash-dusted Lena, a blue heeler, and Daisy, a yellow Lab, splashing around in the creek. "I'd come up here and sit in my lawn chair and write in my journal," John said. "That journal's gone up in smoke." A small-town boy from Perryton, the 73-year-old rancher/writer graduated from UT-Austin and spent two years at Harvard Divinity School, anticipating life as a minister. Although he came to realize he'd never be a Harvard man or a minister, he finds solace in his faith. He and Kris are avid supporters of Christian home-schooling, sing in their Methodist Church choir and often do Hank-inspired readings and musical performances for church gatherings. I wasn't surprised when he brought up a Biblical reference to illuminate what he and his wife are experiencing. "The fires snatched away what we thought we had," he wrote in an e-mail a couple of days ago, "and has left us pondering that great line from Job: 'Naked I came into this world and naked I will leave it.'" In what he calls "an odd twist of irony," all the family Bibles burned up, as well. Although he quit riding horses a few years ago, John has been a cowboy for most of his adult life - a good one, Lipscomb rancher Lance Bussard told me. "He knows where to be and what to do." He took a fiction-writing course at Harvard and began writing short stories in 1967, while still working as a cowboy and a ranch manager. "For 15 years," he told writer Kay Ellington in a recent interview, "I wrote four hours a day and sent out manuscripts. I attended writers' conferences and talked to editors. Nothing worked." In 1982, he and Kris started Maverick Books, their Perryton-based publishing house. It was an act of desperation, he says. Sixty-nine Hank books and 9 million copies later, he's six ahead of schedule and continues to enjoy his hero's adventures and misadventures. Once he gets going on a story, he looks forward to where good-natured, mistake-prone Hank will take him. The Ericksons happened upon the ranch in 1990, six thousand rough, canyon-covered acres for sale in an isolated river valley. "Once I saw it, I couldn't let it go," he told me. "It's one of those places that only comes up once in a lifetime." Despite what's happened, John considers himself fortunate. Years ago he found his place, found his purpose, thanks in large part to an imaginary dog. "That sense of belonging somewhere, to soil, grass, animals and a human community, has become an important ingredient in the Hank stories," he said. "They tell about people and dogs who belong to one particular place on this globe." Until the fire, John adhered to a routine that hadn't varied much in 50 years: get up about 4 in the morning, make himself a cup of coffee and write from 5:30 to 9:30 before switching over to ranch chores. Now that his studio is gone, he's still putting in the four hours, in the Maverick Books warehouse. With insurance, he and Kris are hoping to get the house rebuilt in about a year. These days, he's writing about the fire. "It's the kind of event that needs to be remembered," he said. "It's part of my job. I don't know whether it'll be a book or a long essay." Nathan Dahlstrom, a Lubbock teacher/writer/cowboy, had this to say about the man he considers his mentor: "He's had six generations of hard-knock farming and ranching in West Texas, so he's from pretty rough stock. I think he's going to be all right." Dahlstrom reminded me of something else, something John had mentioned, as well. Long before mankind came along to complicate the ecology of the llano estacado, fires had a cleansing effect on the prairie. Life begins again. Hank a few years back had his own way of putting it: "It's always darker before it gets any darker." On my father's first trip from small-town Texas to a big-city cancer hospital here in February, I tried to see things through his eyes. I noticed the long walk from the parking garage, the somberness of the waiting area, and the foreign accents that drifted from the conversations of both patients and hospital staff. In an exam room, a friendly woman from the Philippines came in and asked Dad if he'd like to donate two tablespoons of blood for research. Sure, he said. She consulted paperwork, paused, looked at my father in his cowboy hat, farmer's tan and plaid shirt, and asked how he pronounced his last name. "FAHL'-ken-berg," he told her. After a second, he added helpfully, "It's German." A faint glimmer of "I thought so" lit her eyes. "That is not an American-sounding name," she said playfully. We shared a much-needed chuckle. At one time, Falkenberg was probably every bit as exotic, every bit as suspicious, as, say, Satija or Ummat. It still is in parts of East Texas. These days, though, even those South Asian names aren't foreign in America's hospitals. They're typical. It's estimated that about 25 percent of practicing physicians in the United States are foreign-born. Which is partly why the plight of husband-and-wife Houston neurologists Dr. Monika Ummat and Dr. Pankaj Satija is so incomprehensible. After more than a decade living and working legally in the United States, the West University Place residents with two American-born kids were nearly deported last week. On Wednesday, they were given 24 hours to pack, collect their children and return to India, as the Chronicle's Lomi Kriel reported. Apparently, a common discrepancy the government made in paperwork, for which the doctors had recently been given a waiver to correct, had suddenly under Trump-era immigration policy become a threat to national security. The doctors who hadn't gotten so much as a traffic ticket in this country were desperate not just for themselves but for their patients. Satija alone said he had dozens of surgeries scheduled for the next few days, including an operation to remove hardware from a woman's spine. Satija, who helped found the Pain and Headache Centers of Texas, said he performs about 200 operations a month. American lives at stake Now, maybe you're someone who struggles to empathize with the plight of a law-abiding immigrant couple from India. Maybe you're even among those in the comments section unmoved by their predicament and spouting off smug responses: They were stupid not to notice the discrepancy sooner, said one. Off you go, said another. No excuses, said one more. But can you empathize with a patient? The woman waiting to have the hardware in her spine removed, expecting the specialist she knows and trusts to do it, only to learn that he might be banished from the country by then? How about the parent whose epileptic child is expecting Dr. Ummat to show up for the next appointment? At the airport, Kriel reported that the agent who notified the couple about their last-minute reprieve noted: "I understand that you are physicians, and a lot of lives are at stake." Yes. Lives. American lives. At stake. Wake up, people. It shouldn't take an emergency like this to make Americans see the danger of the president's black-and-white enforcement of immigration law. It is snaring good people those who don't intend to harm Americans, and now, even those who try to help Americans. Many supporters of Trump's immigration policies revel in them. They delight in painting those affected as lazy or law-breaking. They'd rather not think of the immigrant doctors with whom Americans trust their lives, their children's lives, their parents' lives, every day. Welcome and wanted A privilege. That's how many in this country look at the act of leaving one's native land for the opportunity of America. And surely, it is. But we are privileged as well to have immigrants such as Satija and Ummat here. The notion that they need us more than we need them is naive. Many countries need doctors, nurses and other health-care workers. They come here not just for the standard of living, the freedoms and ideals, but because they feel welcome and wanted. I pray they don't stop feeling that way. And I pray that the next time my dad shows up for an appointment at that big cancer hospital in Houston, and he's greeted by a doctor or a nurse with an accent or a name that doesn't sound quite American yet! she'll smile and know we're glad she's here. The near removal of two Houston physicians to India this week indicates immigration officials are being hesitant to use discretion, perhaps defaulting to a blanket policy against granting exceptions in unusual cases, a practice lawyers worry might increase under President Donald Trump's enforcement policy. In memos issued in February, the Trump administration instructed immigration officials to reform a broad program known as parole that gives officials some flexibility in dealing with cases that aren't clear cut, where immigrants who technically aren't supposed to enter or leave the U.S. are allowed to due to some compelling reason. It directed the practice be used "sparingly." Michael Neifach, a lawyer who held senior positions at the Department of Homeland Security during the George W. Bush administration, said it's unclear how the government might change the program, which it claims is being abused. In the meantime, without clear guidelines, federal agents might be less likely to consider individual cases on their merits and instead adopt a black-and-white position. "There's a concern that the desire to be more enforcement-oriented is taken as 'never give it,' " Neifach said. "It could lead to a broad-based, 'no one wants to make a decision favoring parole and so our default is we're going to deny it' attitude." The impact of that, he added, would be "the fire drill you saw yesterday," when immigrants like Drs. Pankaj Satija and Monika Ummat, who have permission to stay, are forced to leave out of a rigid interpretation of the law without consideration of the circumstances. The policy of parole has been used to permit Cubans to stay in the country after reaching American soil, though former President Barack Obama ended that practice in January. Some Central American children and Haitians also have been allowed to come here through the program. But it's probably most widely used by immigrants who are waiting on their green cards and need to travel abroad while their applications are processing, as was the case for Satija and Ummat. 'More conservative approach' The couple, who have been here legally for more than a decade and applied for their green cards in 2008, had to return suddenly to India last year after Satija's father was hospitalized. Confused by a conflicting date on their paperwork from another agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, they did not realize that their advanced parole permission required to travel had expired. Customs and Border Protection officials agents allowed them back in to the U.S. through deferred inspection, a type of discretion that permits certain travelers without the correct paperwork to enter the country so that they can fix the error. The Satijas immediately applied to renew their advanced parole so that their re-entry to the U.S. would be considered legal. In the meantime, they checked in every month as required with CBP, who extended their permission to stay each time. On Wednesday, however, they were told that the agency suddenly had a new policy and would no longer renew that authorization. They were told they had to leave the country in 24 hours, even though they had been approved for their advanced parole but didn't yet have the paperwork. "Somebody up there has decided," the CBP agent told them. That launched a dizzying day of calling legislators and taking their case to the media, where it instantly went viral. By Thursday night, a CBP officer told them they had been given three months of humanitarian parole, a measure allowing immigrants who are otherwise not permitted to enter the country the opportunity to do so because of a "compelling emergency," enabling them to sort out their paperwork. "In this case, it eventually worked out," said Angelique Montano, an attorney with Quan Law Group who helped secure the couple's reprieve Thursday. "But with this administration, there does seem to be a more conservative approach for the use of parole or discretion." Three areas of parole There are three broad areas of parole, and in its most drastic action, the Trump administration could severely restrict or cut two of them, said Sarah Pierce, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington D.C. The first effectively grants discretion to people from certain categories, such as certain Filipino World War II veterans and their spouses who can apply for their family to come here, or immediate relatives of U.S. service members who are here illegally but can receive green cards without having to leave the country. The second, known as advanced parole, applies to people who are in the United States and need to leave without imperiling their immigrant status, such as the Satijas. People who are waiting for their green cards normally cannot leave the country or their applications are dismissed. But because of rules limiting how many immigrants actually can receive permanent residency each year and a tremendous backlog in the overwhelmed system, some immigrants wait decades to receive their green cards even after they have been approved. Many of them need to travel out of necessity during this period, so they often receive advanced parole allowing them to do so. The third category is the type of parole the Satijas were finally granted this week, which is rare and allows immigrants to come here or leave because of a significant public interest or another crucial reason. The Satijas are both neurologists who had patients waiting for surgery or other critical treatment, which was cited as the reason they were granted parole Thursday. The Trump administration doesn't appear to like the idea that there are special classes of people who almost automatically get what it thinks should be an unusual exception, Pierce said. If it cuts or reduces the first two types of categories, it would create "major problems for a lot of people," she said. Supported by reform group Groups such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform who push for reduced immigration and whose policy recommendations have often been adopted by Trump, however, advocate for exactly that: to repeal advanced parole and limit the general practice to the narrowly-defined "humanitarian parole" on a strict case-by-case basis. It appears the intent is to turn parole from an exception that certain people can rely on to an extremely infrequent privilege. But until the agencies release regulations, how that manifests won't be clear. Gillian Christensen, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, said she had no new information on the guidelines or when they might be issued. "There's a lot of uncertainty," said Montano, the attorney for the Satijas. "The government itself is still working things out and it's trickling down to agencies and officers who are dealing with things on an individual basis." Neifach, the former DHS official, said he hoped the Trump administration realizes that use of parole is necessary in a rigid system where the messiness of real lives often don't fall into neat boxes. "Parameters could be interpreted on the ground in a reasonable way and still have it done on a true case-by-case basis," he said. Federal investigators say most, if not all, of the 14 occupants of a church minibus were wearing seat belts when the bus was slammed head-on by a heavy pickup truck on a two-lane Texas highway. Jennifer Morrison of the National Transportation Safety Board said the minibus was fitted out with seat belts, but only the driver's seat and front passenger seat had three-point lap-and-shoulder belts. All of the other seats were equipped with lap belts only. Morrison, who heads the NTSB team investigating the crash that killed 13 of the 14 bus occupants, said a major focus of the federal investigation will be why the elderly passengers did not survive, despite the use of lap belts. Morrison also said the bus was the body and chassis of a 2004 Fort Econoline van converted into a small bus by Turtle Top. It was carrying members of the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels home from a retreat in Leakey. Department of Public Safety Sgt. Conrad Hein declined to comment on Friday on the cause of the crash or whether texting might have played a role. But officials have said the truck driver appeared to have crossed the center line. Distracted driving eyed Federal investigators would not comment on the report Friday. However, Morrison said Friday that distracted driving will be among the issues investigated. Jack D. Young, identified as the pickup truck driver, remains hospitalized following the crash. Twelve people died at the scene, authorities said. Another bus passenger died at a San Antonio hospital. Texas is unusual in that it has no statewide ban on texting while driving. Dozens of cities across the state prohibit the practice, but local ordinances may not have applied where Wednesday's crash occurred in a rural area. Laws in 46 other states ban sending or reading email, using apps or engaging in other use of the internet while driving. Texas' GOP-controlled Legislature approved a statewide ban in 2011, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Rick Perry, who characterized such prohibitions as government micromanagement and said educating drivers was the key to deterrence. A similar proposal passed the Texas House a few weeks ago but has yet to make it to a Senate floor vote. Surgery for suvivor The lone survivor from the bus, Rose Mary Harris, 64, of New Braunfels, underwent surgery Friday at San Antonio Military Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said. Young, 20, a Leakey resident, was listed in fair condition Friday at University Hospital in San Antonio. His family has declined interview requests. Jody Kuchler, a welder from Leakey, said he had been driving behind Young's pickup and reported to authorities that it was being driven erratically. He also said he tried to help the crash victims and Young after the accident. Kuchler said he had made repeated calls to report the white Dodge pickup was drifting onto the two-lane road's shoulder and across its center line, saying he feared a head-on collision. Houston is set for another round of storms on Sunday. The region was battered by a midday storm Wednesday that caused flooding, high winds and at least five tornadoes. HOUSTON WEATHER HQ: Stay on top of the weather According to the National Weather Service, the potential for severe weather is expected to begin for most of southeast Texas after sunrise Sunday and through the evening. Tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds are possible. Weak showers should develop prior to sunrise on Sunday and then gradually intensify as the day goes on. A line of thunderstorms will approach southeast Texas from the west by late morning. The severe weather should occur between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Most of the area is expected to receive between 1 to 3 inches of rain. A few areas, north of Brenham to Livingston, could reach 4 inches. The Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management is motoring the storm system. EARLIER THIS WEEK: Tornado touches down near Bellaire as severe storms rake Houston area The team asks residents to make sure that their storm drains and culverts are clear from debris. They're also reminding Houstonians to not drive through high water. "Less than two feet of water can float and wash away a vehicle. Be especially cautious at underpasses and at night when water across roadways can be difficult to see," the team said in a release Friday. It appears Houston is in for a sunny week after this weekend's rains move through. We know that the Houston Art Car Parade folks are hoping that sunny weather sticks around through next Saturday. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ATLANTA - Atlanta's dreadful rush-hour traffic could be extra nasty for months to come after a raging fire underneath Interstate 85 collapsed an elevated portion of the highway and shut down the heavily traveled route through the heart of the city. Traffic was bumper to bumper on nearby streets as drivers were forced to take a detour Friday, the day after the blaze caused the concrete to crumble. Friday evening, officials announced that three people had been arrested in connection with the fire. Must find new routes to work The collapse took place a few miles north of downtown, and the effects could fall most heavily on commuters from Atlanta's densely populated northern suburbs. They will have to find other routes to work or ride mass transit. Deputy Insurance Commissioner Jay Florence identified the three suspects arrested in the case as Basil Eleby, Sophia Bruner and Barry Thomas. Eleby faces a charge of criminal damage to property; Bruner and Thomas were each charged with criminal trespass. Florence would not discuss how the fire was started or why, saying those details would be released as the investigation progresses. Connie Bailey-Blake, of Dacula, 37 miles northeast of Atlanta, waited for a MARTA commuter train to reach her job downtown. She typically drives, often by way of the interstate. "I'm supposed to be at work at 9 a.m. and it's 9:15 a.m.," Bailey-Blake said. "The first few days are going to be difficult. This will be my new life." Georgia Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said 350 feet of highway will need to be replaced in both directions on I-85, which carries about 400,000 cars a day through the city and is one of the South's most important north-south routes. He said repairs will take months but declined to be more specific. The collapse effectively "puts a cork in the bottle," Georgia State Patrol Commissioner Mark McDonough said. The fire broke out Thursday afternoon in an area used to store state-owned construction materials and equipment, sending flames and smoke high into the air. Fire authorities said they had not determined how the blaze started. McMurry said his department stored coils of plastic conduit used in fiber optic networks beneath the span but insisted they were noncombustible. No injuries were reported. Firefighters shut down the section of highway before it gave way, and made it to safety themselves after hearing the road cracking and seeing concrete go flying, authorities said. Rail service increased In the meantime, MARTA increased rail service and said additional staff would be on hand to help passengers figure out how to get where they're going. U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao promptly released $10 million for the initial repair work, and the Federal Highway Administration promised more in emergency repair funds. Officials gave no estimate of how much the job would cost. Built in 1953 and renovated in 1985, the span scored high in its most recent inspection, receiving a rating of 94.6 out of 100 in 2015, said Natalie Dale, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Transportation Department. RALEIGH, N.C. - Tense negotiations over a deal to undo North Carolina's "bathroom bill" gave way Friday to uncertainty. Will the compromise Gov. Roy Cooper signed Thursday quash the furor that made businesses, sporting events, conventions and entertainers pull out of the state in a yearlong economic backlash? In a vote of confidence, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced Friday that it's ready to start considering North Carolina again as it schedules future events. Some business leaders applauded the deal, while others were doubtful. Local protections nullified LGBT advocates, meanwhile, expressed outrage. They say House Bill 142 is not a true repeal, and it still exposes gay and transgender people to discrimination. "I don't know why any of these people thought they could use the exact secret process and incompetence that got them into this problem to get them out of this problem," Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in an interview Friday. She complained that transgender people were left out of the negotiations. HB142 has now eliminated HB2's requirement that transgender people use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates in many public buildings. But the new law also makes clear that only state legislators - not local government or school officials - can make rules for public restrooms from now on. HB2 also invalidated any local ordinances protecting gay or transgender people from discrimination in the workplace or in public accommodations. HB142 prohibits local governments from enacting any new such protections until December 2020. The ACLU said it's continuing its legal battle on behalf of transgender residents. The stakes are high. An Associated Press analysis this week found that House Bill 2 would cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business over a dozen years. The tally was based on companies and events that already backed out, meaning that money won't likely return even with the 2016 law gone. The response to the "reset" from business leaders was mixed, despite an optimistic tone struck by Cooper. "Companies that I have talked to, companies that I have recruited, who were hesitant or refusing to bring businesses to our state before the passage of today's bill now are telling me: We are coming," the governor said after signing the bill. Bipartisanship celebrated The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce thanked Cooper and Republican legislative leaders "for coming together on a bipartisan basis to find a solution." Bank of America, the largest North Carolina-based company, said in a news release: "We support this bipartisan measure to repeal HB2 and create the conditions for continued dialogue and progress." But some companies responded negatively, such as the Durham-based advertising agency McKinney. "As a national agency with a global creative reputation, our success depends upon attracting the very best talent and clients to Durham. This new bill continues to stand in the way of that," McKinney CEO Brad Brinegar said. The angry reaction by gay-rights activists means the issue could remain a red flag, said Pete Mohan, a site selection consultant in Florida. "It's more of a stopgap than anything else," Mohan said. "The whole situation has sort of soured the broader national desire to locate in North Carolina." BRUSSELS - In his first meeting with NATO, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday delivered a firm rebuke of Russian "aggression" and promised allies that the United States will stand by their side - while also demanding they spend more on defense and do more to fight terrorism. Tillerson participated in abbreviated discussions with foreign ministers from the 27 other NATO member nations, who were sent scrambling last week to accommodate the top U.S. diplomat after he said he could not attend the meeting originally planned for early April. What was supposed to be a two-day meeting was compressed into a half-day of talks; Tillerson spent just under five hours at NATO headquarters in Brussels and left for Washington before NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg gave a closing news conference. The foreign ministers' meeting is crucial because it lays the groundwork for a NATO summit with heads of state in May, which will be President Donald Trump's first overseas trip since taking office. Trump has had to work hard to dispel doubts he created about his commitment to NATO, an alliance that has served as the foundation of Western security since World War II. "The United States is committed to ensuring NATO has the capabilities to support our collective defense. We understand that a threat against one of us is a threat against all of us," Tillerson said. But, he added, "as President Trump has made clear, it is no longer sustainable for the U.S. to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO's defense expenditures." The United States is amping up pressure on NATO members to increase their defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product, in line with a 2014 agreement among the alliance's member countries to meet the target by 2024. Only five NATO countries meet the 2 percent threshold. The U.S. spends 3.61 percent of its GDP on defense, more than any other member of the alliance. Tillerson said that if countries have not met the 2 percent spending goal by the end of the year, they should at least have a concrete plan "that clearly articulates how, with annual milestone progress commitments, the pledge will be fulfilled." Pressure to meet that strict deadline is likely to upset some allies. German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told reporters before Friday's meeting that he thinks it would be "completely unrealistic" for Germany to bring its military defense spending up to 2 percent of GDP. Germany is increasing its military spending this year to $39 billion, or 1.2 percent of its GDP. In private talks with the ministers, Tillerson harshly criticized Russian "aggression" and "intimidation" in Ukraine and pointedly blamed Russia for a recent escalation in violence there. He said, twice, that U.S. sanctions slapped on Moscow as punishment would remain in place. This was significant because in his previous career as CEO of ExxonMobil, Tillerson had lobbied against the sanctions, which he said were causing the firm to lose money on exploration deals in Russia. Several ministers from Eastern European countries said they were reassured by Tillerson's rebuke of Russia. There have been concerns that Trump would seek closer ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Baltic countries Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia see Russia's intervention in Ukraine as a particular threat. Tillerson "has no illusions about Russia," Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said in an interview. According to ABC media outlet, Paraguay's prosecutor office has been questioning so far only 12 of the detained protesters, Sputnik reported. The unrest was triggered by decision of the ruling Colorado Party to establish an alternative Senate, passing laws favorable to the country's leader. On Tuesday, a group of 25 senators began holding "parallel sessions," making changes to the Senat's rules and procedures. Early on Friday, the lawmakers approved a re-election bill. According to Paraguay's laws, Senate requires 23 out of 45 votes to pass legislation, which means the voting results of the alternative Senate was enough for the adoption of changes. On Friday evening, protesters started storming the congressional building and set it on fire. The riot police had to use water tanks and rubber bullets at some of the protesters to restore order. The mass protests resulted in death of one of the protesters, the investigation is underway. WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday revived President Donald Trump's unproven wiretapping allegations against the Obama administration, insisting that there is new evidence that it conducted "politically motivated" surveillance of Trump's presidential campaign. Senior government officials, including James Comey, the FBI director, and lawmakers from both parties have repeatedly and forcefully rejected the president's claim, saying they have seen no evidence of direct surveillance. A spokesman for former President Barack Obama has denied that Obama ever ordered surveillance of Trump or his associates. 'Who else did it?' But Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, asserted to reporters during his daily news briefing that members of Obama's administration had done "very, very bad things," just as Trump alleged without proof on March 4 when he posted messages on Twitter accusing Obama of "wire tapping" his phones at Trump Tower. "The question is why? Who else did it? Was it ordered? By whom?" Spicer said. "But I think more and more the substance that continues to come out on the record by individuals continues to point to exactly what the president was talking about that day." Spicer appeared to be basing his assertions on reports from right-wing news outlets that took out of context a month-old interview with a former Obama administration official. Spicer's remarks Friday seemed designed to give new life to the allegations against Obama after weeks of trying to focus attention on the damage that Spicer said had been caused by leaks from the investigations into Russia's involvement in the 2016 presidential campaign. A non-signing The allegations dominated his briefing, crowding out other parts of the White House agenda, including the president's signing of two executive orders on trade and meeting with manufacturing executives. Trump hastily left that signing ceremony without adding his signature to the trade orders as a reporter shouted a question about possible testimony in the Russia probe by Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser. The White House said Trump had signed the directives later. At Spicer's news conference, the press secretary chastised reporters for failing to accept that Trump had been right all along. "The substance we are talking about continues to move exactly in the direction that the president spoke about in terms of surveillance that occurred," Spicer said, even as he deflected questions about the White House's role in providing intelligence reports to Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Schiff sees documents The senior Democrat on that committee, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, arrived later in the day at the White House to view the intelligence reports. In a statement, Schiff confirmed that they were the same materials Nunes had seen, and said nothing justified Nunes' failure to share them with the entire committee. "The White House has yet to explain why senior White House staff apparently shared these materials with but one member of either committee, only for their contents to be briefed back to the White House," Schiff said in a statement. Spicer provided no evidence of the surveillance allegations. But he pointed several times to news reports that he claimed backed up the president's accusations. One was a March 2 interview with Evelyn Farkas, a who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration until leaving the government in September 2015. TheGatewayPundit.com, a right-wing site, called it a "notorious" interview and said it proved that Obama administration officials had disseminated "intel gathered on the Trump team." Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show that Farkas had made "just an incredible statement." Breitbart News reported on Priebus' comments. Questionable evidence The comments by Farkas, Spicer said, were evidence that Trump or his associates "were surveilled, had their information unmasked, made it available, was politically spread." He said that such stories were proof that Obama administration officials had "misused, mishandled and potentially did some very, very bad things with classified information." In fact, the reports do not back up the allegations that Trump or any officials in his campaign were ever under surveillance. In the March 2 interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program, Farkas said she had expressed concern to her former colleagues about the need to secure intelligence related to the Russian hacking of the U.S. election. Farkas was commenting on a New York Times article a day earlier that documented how in the days before Trump's inauguration, Obama administration officials had sought to ensure the preservation of those documents in order to leave a clear trail for government investigators after Trump took office. In a statement she gave to the American Spectator, a conservative publication, Farkas said the furor over her remarks was "a wild misinterpretation of comments I made on the air in March." She added, "I was out of government, I didn't have any classified information, or any knowledge of 'tapping' or leaking or the NYT article before it came out." Hopes that Houston's firefighter pension board might agree to a compromise set of benefit reforms and end their opposition to Mayor Sylvester Turner's landmark reform package proved too optimistic, after the two sides passed a Thursday deadline without a deal. It remains unclear what effect counting the firefighters as confirmed foes will have on the bills now working their way through both chambers of the Legislature. The Houston Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund had joined police and municipal worker groups in backing preliminary terms last fall, but did not join their counterparts in agreeing to final legislative language. Fire pension board chairman David Keller reopened the door to an agreement in testimony before a state House committee on Monday, saying recent talks with Sen. Joan Huffman - the Houston Republican whose committee approved the reform proposal last week - had been productive and that he was "hopeful" his board could agree. Keller acknowledged he verbally agreed to a compromise Turner offered that included more than the estimated $800 million in benefit reductions the board had approved last October but less than the nearly $1 billion in cuts currently reflected in the legislation. After the final numbers were crunched, however, Keller said the proposal cut too deep. "There was an all-in number that the city gave us for benefit reductions that just proved to be a very difficult challenge," he said. "This thing has been punitive, it's been unfair and, even while we're trying to be conciliatory, we still couldn't get there. This whole thing from start to finish has been moving goalposts." City officials have a similarly uncharitable view of Keller and his colleagues, saying the board has been dragging its feet through months of negotiations. Turner had suggested on Wednesday - hours after Keller had canceled a scheduled pension board meeting - that the talks may not pan out, saying, "this ship has sailed." The mayor said Friday that staff, legislators and experts who have participated in the negotiations, such as state Pension Review Board Chairman Josh McGee, have given the firefighters every opportunity to get on board only to watch them blow every deadline. "We are moving forward aggressively and will not be stopped by any one entity," Turner said. "Never has there been a plan with this much support. It is a good plan and we are moving ahead to obtain legislative approval." Devil in the details McGee was reticent to discuss closed-door negotiations in detail, but said that while the parties reached broad agreement on key elements of the reforms, some specific requests from both sides prevented a final deal. "There were some productive talks that discussed fire on board, and I think that we made some progress, but weren't able to get all the way there," he said. It remains unclear what the fire trustees' continued opposition will mean for the bill in Austin. Though many individual firefighters testified against the measure, Huffman's State Affairs Committee approved the proposal by a 7-1 vote. Huffman is expected to substitute a new, cleaned-up draft of her bill on the Senate floor next week. Keller said he does not know what benefits she plans to include for firefighters or whether he has the votes to block the reforms, which have the support of the police and municipal workers, the Greater Houston Partnership, the city controller and 15 of 16 members of City Council. "We're still willing to work, but we just need that ability," Keller said. "We need that forum. Honestly, I don't know what that forum is right now." Reining in costs The fight must play out in Austin rather than before City Council because benefits for the city's police, fire and municipal retirees are enshrined in state statute and cannot be enacted without action by the Texas Legislature. The reform discussion has its roots in benefit increases that were passed in 2001. The changes caused costs to spike rather than increase slightly, as flawed studies had predicted. Despite reforms to the police and municipal plans in 2004 and 2007, the city has failed to keep up with rising costs, leaving the three plans underfunded by about $8 billion today. The past reforms to the other two systems also mean the retirement benefits awaiting newly hired firefighters are more generous than those received by new police cadets or municipal hires. Turner's proposal recalculates the city's pension payments, using lower investment return assumptions and aiming to retire the debt in 30 years, both of which would increase the city's annual costs. To bring that cost back down, the plan would cut workers' benefits, and includes a mechanism to cap the city's future costs even if the market tanks. To bring the police and municipal funds to the table, the city also agreed to inject $1 billion in bond proceeds into their plans to make up for past city underfunding. AUSTIN - The Texas House and Senate budget proposals are only $500 million apart, a miniscule amount when talking about spending more than $217 billion over the next two years. The real gulf between the two chambers is how to pay for it, with each accusing the other of using accounting gimmicks and tricks to balance the books. Under the Senate plan, the state would delay transferring $2.5 billion into a transportation fund for one month in 2018 to generate $2.5 billion in savings that would be used to avert deeper spending cuts in public schools, universities and health care programs. House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, has accused Senate budget writers of "cooking the books." For its part, the House, under a plan initially approved Wednesday, would spend $2.5 billion from the state's savings account - the so-called Rainy Day Fund - to shore up a revenue shortfall. It also would defer a $1.9 billion payment to the school funding system for a year and assume that not-yet-approved changes to the federal Medicaid program will yield another $1 billion in savings. Senate leaders accuse the House of hypocrisy. "In the world of this budget that we live in, that's not too much money for us to get our arms around," House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Zerwas, R-Richmond, said of the roughly $500 million difference in the two plans. "At least in terms of total money spent, we have come very close to each other. We have chosen to find $2.5 billion in a very different way, but that's just part of the conferencing process." Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said the upper chamber "is very confident" about the budget it approved by a 31-0 vote. "We are ready to sit down and get to work on the final product," she said. When they started out, the two chambers were much further apart, $5.3 billion overall. The Senate budget passed last week totalled $217.7 billion, including federal money and other revenues from special accounts. The House budget to be voted upon in a week totals $218.2 billion. In legislative parlance, however, nothing is close until it's the same. Because of rock-bottom oil prices and decisions they made two years ago to set aside $4.7 billion for transportation projects and to cut business taxes by $2.6 billion, lawmakers have about 7 percent less to spend in the next two years than they did in the biennium that ends Aug. 31. Fighting over the state budget is nothing new, especially in lean times. Delaying approval until the final days of the legislative session, which ends in late May, used to be a bargaining chip to force an agreement. Conflicting priorities This year, both chambers' budgets are expected to be completed well before mid-April, when the final stretch for legislating usually starts and horse-trading on bills intensifies. For seasoned lawmakers in both chambers, the early fireworks over the budget year say more about the personal distance between Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Straus than they do about budget principles. The two have never been in political lockstep. Though both claim the conservative mantle, Straus is viewed as a moderate, while Patrick walks proudly and loudly on the far right. Lately, however, Straus has eschewed his usual measured tone in favor of more forceful critical assessments of the priorities of Patrick and the Senate. His initial target was Senate Bill 6, the Texas Women's Privacy Act, also known as the "bathroom bill," which would require Texans use bathrooms in public buildings that correspond to the sex listed on their birth certificates. While Patrick has made it a cornerstone of his legislative priorities this session, Straus is not a fan of the bill and has little interest in moving it through the House. When Patrick recently told a Dallas radio station audience that Straus was "out of touch," the speaker jabbed back. "He has a different audience," Straus told the same talk show host. "I mean, literally an audience. He was in your business. He's an entertainer, a talk show guy. And a statewide elected official. I'm not." When the Senate Finance Committee approved its budget plan days ago, Straus responded in unusually blunt language: "Counting money twice in order to balance a budget is not a good idea. This is the Texas Legislature. We are not Enron." Constitution question Both chambers, Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, said, are following their leaders in the budget fight. "When I came to the Senate in 1990, there were 23 Democrats here, a majority," he said. "Some of them had their own agendas, and that made for what we're seeing here now, only it's Republicans. But that's how politics works." In recent days, the differences have played out with Straus and Zerwas calling out the Senate plan. Zerwas on Wednesday charged the $2.5 billion transfer was unconstitutional, comments that rankled Senate leaders. "The (House) budget does not rely on budget gimmickry that puts the state's investment in transportation at risk," Zerwas said. Nelson blasted back, accusing the House of "borrowing money to increase spending" by delaying a $1.9 billion monthly payment to the Foundation School Program until the first month of 2020, a maneuver the Legislature has used in the past. Zerwas said the House plan on the school funds is allowed that because there is no constitutional requirement the payment be made within a specific timeframe, unlike the Senate's proposal to delay a $2.5 billion payment of the transportation funds. Nelson said the Senate plan still allows the Texas Department of Transportation to spend the money in the 2019 budget year, and is allowable because the Texas Constitution contains conflicting language on how to handle the transportation transfer. "The Senate is not willing to default on a commitment that 83 percent of Texas voters approved," Nelson said, referring to the results of a 2015 election approving the transportation set-aside. "This is constitutional and common sense." Abbott absent Tapping the Rainy Day Fund would "create a hole in the base budget next session (that) is not sustainable," she said. House leaders pointed out that the Rainy Day Fund was created in 1987 as a financial cushion to buffer against roller-coaster changes in the state's economy that force massive cuts in state programs when boom goes to bust. This is exactly the time it should be used, they said. Patrick and fiscal conservatives in the Senate have said the fund should only be used during natural disasters or for one-time expenses. Despite their hard-line stance, some Senate leaders have hinted they may consider using Rainy Day money for one-time projects. Conspicuously absent from the growing budget brouhaha is Gov. Greg Abbott. Top aides said he is fine with staying out of the fray to see whether the two chambers can come together on their own, before stepping in to ensure a balanced budget is adopted that meets the state's most pressing needs. In a speech on Wednesday to the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce, Abbott was sanguine about the contentious budget process, which so far has hammered many of his priority projects with less-than-requested funding, particularly his pre-K initiative. "The House has a plan, the Senate has a plan and anybody who knows anything about it realizes that the real plan is the one that will come out in conference committee," he said. "And that will be sometime in late May." Houston made a mistake. The chancellor of the University of Texas System may have made mistakes, as well, but it's up to this city to launch an effort to recover from its own shortsightedness. We're referring, of course, to plans the UT-System had for its 300-plus acres near the Texas Medical Center, plans now scuttled after UT Chancellor William McRaven was forced to surrender a few weeks ago to petty politics and parochial concerns exhibited by lawmakers, UT regents and University of Houston officials. Houston-area lawmakers with UH connections were high-fiving each other when McRaven walked away, but a just-released report from an advisory group of Houston civic and business leaders underscores what we've lost. Co-chaired by Carin Marcy Barth and Paul Hobby, the 18-member Houston Task Force envisioned, not a full-fledged campus offering undergraduate instruction but a collaborative institute for data science. As the report lays out, the Houston institution would have been a research and academic consortium of public and private partners from academic institutions, national laboratories and industry. The institute might have resembled Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study or the National Humanities Center in North Carolina or Cornell University's forthcoming New York City campus that will offer data and business programs. The focus of the institute would have been the role of so-called Big Data in three areas that reflect this city's strength - energy, health care and education systems. The advisory group's report included an endorsement from Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet. "Big Data is the oil wealth of the 21st Century," he said. "Texas needs to invest in Big Data, and I am excited that the University of Texas System is leading the way. I can think of no better place to start this initiative than Houston." Other Houstonians thought otherwise, to this community's detriment. Tilman Fertitta, chairman of the UH System Board of Regents, said the university's leaders, supporters and elected officials mounted a group effort to "stand our ground against an unnecessary duplication of resources that didn't align with the state's plan for higher education." In this case, the star of CNBC's "Billion Dollar Buyer" came a cropper on a billion-dollar idea for Houston. So did UH Chancellor and President Renu Khator, who should have followed the example set by her counterpart at Rice University. President David Leebron saw the UT proposal, not as a threat, but as an opportunity for collaboration. Houston's legislative delegation was just as short-sighted. State Sen. John Whitmire and state Rep. Carol Alvarado, both Houston Democrats and both UH alumni, worked hard to fend off what they considered a UT intrusion. So did state Sens. Sylvia Garcia and Borris Miles, also Houston Democrats. When it comes to Gov. Greg Abbott, who made the appointment of three new UT regents conditional on their opposition to the UT-Houston plan, petty politics may have been at play. Perhaps McRaven, the man who directed the successful raid to kill Osama bin Laden, didn't pay due deference to the governor. Or perhaps Abbott sees the charismatic former admiral as a potential political rival. McRaven could have handled his ambitious project more deftly. Speaking to Rice MBA students a few weeks before the UT-Houston effort crashed, he laid out leadership lessons from his 37 years in the military. As reported by the Houston Business Journal, those lessons included keeping stakeholders informed. "As a leader you have to communicate at all times," he said. The chancellor didn't do that. Can the plan be revived? We believe the effort should be made. So does David Wolff, chairman and president of Wolff Companies and former Metro chairman. He points out that the nation's fourth-largest city can accommodate any number of higher-education ventures and that a greater UT presence in Houston would diversify the city's economy and boost its reputation as a laboratory of new ideas and innovative thinking. So who will take the lead? The Greater Houston Partnership? UT alumni? The mayor's office? Philanthropic groups and individuals? We need farsighted men and women with ambitious ideas about this city's future, a future that includes a greater UT presence. The eyes of Texas have been averted, for now. We need a robust effort to re-direct them to the Bayou City. After one long day of evidence and argument a Pulaski County jury last Thursday found Licking resident Kalen Hall guilty of first-degree assault (a class-A felony) for attempting to drown a woman last year. The case was transferred to Pulaski County at the request of the defense attorney. Texas County prosecuting attorney Parke Stevens Jr. said the jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before reaching its decision. Judge John Beger presided over the trial and will assess punishment on May 16 in Texas County, while Hall is being held in confinement. Hall, 32, was on trial for actions that occurred May 30 during an incident on Beth Street in Licking. Hall is accused of striking a 29-year-old woman, rendering her unconscious, and then dragging her body to a ditch full of water where he held her face down under water. One of several witnesses reportedly ran Hall off and pulled the victim from the water. After a thorough investigation by the Licking Police Department, a probable cause statement and evidence was submitted to Stevens, and a Texas County grand jury indicted Hall and requested a warrant for his arrest. This is an individual with a lengthy criminal background who hasnt learned from previous incarcerations, Stevens said. Him being in confinement makes our community safer. I want to express gratitude to the honorable Judge Beger, the Pulaski County jurors, witnesses who testified, the circuit clerks of both counties, the Texas County Sheriffs Department for confining the defendant and defense counsel for Mr. Hall. The actions of all these individuals enable the criminal justice system to seek justice. Hall has been held without bond after being charged. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Graveside services for Phyllis Hurt, 92, of Houston, are 10 a.m. Monday, April 3, at Oak Hill Cemetery, Houston, under the direction of Evans Funeral Home, Houston No visitation is planned. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to Oak Hill Cemetery. Send an online condolence. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. ADS ADS A trendsetting global get-together At this years Baselworld, held in the city centre from 23 to 30 March, 220 of Switzerlands watchmaking and jewellery brands presented their latest creations. The Swiss exhibitors stood out among the 1,300 exhibitors from 40 countries for the unparalleled expertise of their creations a perfect blend of innovation and tradition. As a global leader in terms of value, the Swiss watchmaking industry boasts a 60% market share in the sector worldwide. From entry-level timepieces to ultra high-end models, it leads the way in setting new trends, and Baselworld is a reflection of this. Through its sheer size, the glamour of its many stands and, above all, the tremendous diversity of the products on offer, Baselworld is without a doubt the place to be seen in the sector on a world level, where professionals and the public alike can gain a rapid overview of the market. Its all go at Les Ateliers Inaugurated this year, the new Les Ateliers space in Hall 1.2 was a resounding success, with 40 independent watchmaking brands exhibiting their latest offering in an open and welcoming space, laid out in such a way that the stands reflected the daring nature of the creations being presented. A Swiss economic powerhouse Buffeted by a challenging context, between a strong Swiss franc and the economic and political uncertainties on the international front, Swiss watch exports have suffered a slowdown in the last two years. Nevertheless, watchmaking remains the countrys third biggest export sector, behind pharma and chemicals and the machine industry. Swiss watch exports finished 2016 with sales of CHF 19.4 billion, almost double the figures of the early 2000s. A thorough rethink at all levels Against the backdrop of a constantly evolving market, watchmakers and jewellers are working relentlessly to keep up with social changes. While the priority focus remains the products themselves, much energy has gone into rethinking the entire value chain, from design and price positioning to distribution. In response to the latest consumer trends, which increasingly favour online shopping, brands now have to be able to stock products that are immediately available, and to regularly renew their collections. In terms of positioning, they also need to be able to offer a range of price points. As a result, even the most prestigious brands now sell entry-level timepieces at more affordable prices, equipped with simpler complications, or in steel, for example, rather than gold or platinum. All the while devoting the same care as ever to quality and the fine manufacturing standards which have been the hallmark of Swiss watchmakers and jewellers down the centuries. Baselworld 2017 in figures Buyers 106,000 (-4%) Journalists 4,400 As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. What is April Fool's Day in a fake news world? If you found yourself asking that question today, you definitely weren't alone. Despite the risks, the Internet abounded with plenty of hilarity and yes, plenty of pitfalls for those willing to believe pretty much anything. Advertisement But as musician Jay Kuo put it on Twitter: So why not enjoy it? Here are the jokes we loved this year: Look Netflix, if you're going to offer us 48 minutes of Will Arnett narrating sensory experiences like parking a car or watching a fire crackle, who are we to argue with you? Available now on the Netflix homepage (if you have an account), with no indication when it's expiring. Feeling particularly lazy and in need of KFC? The Canadian arm of the company has got you covered, with a "smart bucket" (available for order on Amazon.ca and everything) that allows you to order via voice control. The bucket also promises to learn your habits and dining preferences, which won't make you feel judged at all. Advertisement They took my suggestion! My favourite beer, now 3 times as patriotic. Can't wait to try it... #Canada150pic.twitter.com/Zjk8fq6dNn Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 1, 2017 We'll admit, this isn't the greatest prank, because we didn't believe it for a second. But we appreciate the PM getting into the spirit of things (in a decidedly on-brand way), so there are points for trying. And then he even managed to make us LOL, with this one: I've been giving it some thought, and you know what, who hasn't wanted to punch Chandler? How about a rematch @MatthewPerry? Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 1, 2017 Pornhub is giving out mass Heart Attacks today . pic.twitter.com/6sd5Ti1qSC Justin O'Neill (@dzstin) April 1, 2017 This one's a double header, because it's an excellent joke on the part of the porn site, and anyone who shares it is basically proving their point entirely. Advertisement Burger King released a video a few days ago revealing how to get "the Whopper taste in your mouth" at all times, and people were immediately suspicious. But considering there are legitimately pickle and champagne toothpaste flavours out there, it almost seemed plausible. Offered in the U.K. and Ireland, this gin spa via the mass coupon company promises to steam you using gin infused with botanicals. It's like a retox instead of a detox, and we're kind of into it. Well, the cat's out of the bag it seems. Let's do this! #Takei2018https://t.co/Wf7qvV1eXj George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) April 1, 2017 Advertisement The RCMP have been sporting their trademark uniform for quite some time. So much so that their outfits have become recognizable as a symbol of Canadian pride across the world (and occasionally, usurped by world famous musicians). But like all good things, a portion of their signature look will be coming to an end, commissioner Ronald Smallson told The Huffington Post Canada Saturday, as Mounties will soon swap their symbolic brown hats for tuques. Advertisement "We want our personnel to embody a more Canadian look," he says. "This is something we've been discussing for a number of years now and we've finally come to a decision." Smallson also adds that several Mounties have made complaints over the years of their ears getting cold while working during the winter months, which pushed the force to alter the uniforms. The changes are set to take effect by Friday. While it's a small tweak, the change is expected to cause some serious backlash from patriotic Canadians and others who love the look. But Smallson wants to encourage Canucks to embrace the switch. Advertisement The Canadian Mountie uniform is ridiculous but I'd be proud as hell to wear it! #OfficerRon#AlterEgo Greg (@Mr_McWillows) March 19, 2017 Where do I get a tear-away Canadian Mountie uniform? Gerald Farinas (@GeraldFarinas) February 28, 2017 When your son is scared to dress up in a Mountie uniform, so you put one on yourself! @fortcalgary@CalgarysChild#bestdad#rcmppic.twitter.com/i3BLLl0e8j New West Mom (@nwmomblog) February 20, 2017 And while it may take some folks a little time to adapt, others who are feeling the new look can go ahead and purchase their own gear from the official Mountie shop. Advertisement Another important fact to note with the uniform change is that this is totally an April Fool's joke. Also on HuffPost ADS ADS For decades, the Geneva-based brand has served as the gold standard, the ultimate benchmark on the flourishing Fine Watchmaking scene. It is thus with the same undiminished interest that we regularly analyze a Patek Philippe model in this column. For this GMT issue, the watch submitted for us to examine was the Reference 5230, unveiled at last years edition of Baselworld. We should start by saying that, in this particular instance, the term new release is a question of subtle nuance. This new world time model is more about mastery of a long- standing tradition than pure innovation, whether in terms of its self-winding movement or the authentic legend forged by the brands interpretations of this horological complication. Collectors and other faithful and longstanding aficionados of the famous Calatrava cross logo will not be disorientated by this 5230, which will spontaneously inspire the sense of absolute confidence that they are accustomed to finding in Patek Philippe. Exterior : This model epitomizes the traditional and classical side of watchmaking according to Patek Philippe. Reference 5230 provides a more understated and affordable alternative than the 5131 which has been on the brand catalog for several years. The changes in fact involve only the exterior elements, since the design of the case has been simplified almost to the point of austerity, but will undoubtedly not risk being quickly outdated. The curves of the case middle have given way to angular profiles as well as a flat case middle and bezel that have made it possible to trim down the diameter by another 1mm to a modest 38.5mm. The enamel dial of the previous model is replaced by a restrained hand-guilloche dial in a noble taupe color, enlivened by the extremely legible 24-hour and city rings. The highly distinctive world time hands of the Geneva brand form an elegantly consistent whole together with the dial and case. In terms of adjustment, the crown guard has been eliminated within the logic of this design, while the rectangular world time corrector appears in its usual place at 10 oclock. Movement : The development of Caliber 240 HU powering this new reference dates back to 1977, a period when information technology was not yet a part of R&D departments and workshops. Over its 40 years of existence, the movement has naturally been treated to various updates including the Gyromax balance and the Spiromax balance spring beloved by Patek Philippe for the past decade, while the components are now machined by cutting-edge equipment. When a caliber finds its way through the decades, it is a sure sign that its performance and reliability are synonymous with elegance. The incorporation of an 22K gold micro-rotor to drive the automatic system is undoubtedly one of the most successful aspects of this movement, enabling it to flaunt remarkable slenderness. When one considers the difficulties involved in developing an efficient micro-rotor, one can but salute the talent of the movement constructors and watchmakers behind the original feasibility study. The single barrel drives the regulating organ oscillating at 21,600 vph with a minimum declared 48-hour autonomy. World time comes in the form of an additional module exceeding the small diameter of the base caliber. This module also has several years behind it and not much more to prove in terms of functionality and reliability. The caliber naturally bears the Patek Philippe Seal in-house certification and is adorned with traditional decoration such as Cotes de Geneve, as well as circular- grained and chamfered bridges. One might perhaps regret the bridge contours forming a succession of curves betraying the industrialized nature of the decoration. Tests : Not too many surprises here either. We are well acquainted with this Caliber and its performance is worthy of the finest Patek Philippe years. Another major asset of this caliber relating to its respectable age is that it is known not only for its reliability but also and above all for its ease of maintenance an insufficiently mentioned yet important argument. In the hands of a qualified watchmaker, Caliber 240 is known for being restored to its initial glory after maintenance and generally performing impeccably thereafter. The performance of the micro-rotor definitely makes it one of the best if not THE best on the market. The timekeeping precision and the power reserve correspond to the standards of the 1970s and to those inherent in the small size of the caliber. Announced as a minimum 48 hours, the power reserve was measured twice at between 48 to 50 hours. The amplitudes were between 265 and 285 at maximum wind. Naturally, the influence of the power reserve on the amplitude and the chronometry is particularly strong in such a model, but the results are still surprising after 24 hours and the measured variations in rate fell within a 7-second range of between -2 and 5 seconds/day. Both legibility and ergonomics are remarkable despite the small diameter of the watch. Conclusion : Collectors and keen advocates of traditional watchmaking will find in Reference 5230 a pleasingly reassuring watch. And that is precisely what they are looking for, preferring the assurance of tradition to the sometimes whimsical paths sometimes taken by a watch industry that has all too often innovated for purely marketing reasons since the birth of Caliber 240. It is nonetheless worth noting that this movement was born during the quartz crisis. It is due to this ability to adopt an innovative approach during such tough times that both haute horlogerie in general and Patek Philippe in particular have survived various crises and emerged from them stronger than ever. One can safely wager that the Patek Philippe R&D department is making the most of the current period of uncertainty to dream up the Caliber 240 of the future, and the prospect already makes us look forward to writing a test bench article on the doubtless promising result. Less than a week after tragic events on Westminster Bridge and within the Palace of Westminster the story of a police officer mildly rebuking the parents of a child illegally picking daffodils somehow made headlines in our national media. Just the other day, footage of anti-terror police wrestling a suspect to the ground whilst shouting at him was described as 'shocking' by the Birmingham Mail a quote repeated by the Daily Mirror who also ran the story. True, in the aftermath of the brutal murders that saw headlines around the world, sympathy was clearly evident both in Parliament and the media with tributes being rightly paid to a brave, hugely professional police officer who had also served his country in the military. Advertisement Yet how quickly the atmosphere started to sour as the media then quickly began the blame game and in the crosshairs, yet again, were the perennial whipping boys of many within the media namely the police The "Amazing" Times Exclusive. The 'exclusive' that caused considerable anger amongst the police community emerged some two days after the event when The Times triumphantly proclaimed a headline story with a video exposing a 'security breach' in the aftermath of the fatal stabbing. The video shot by the Times journalist Sam Coates, clearly from within the safety of an upper floor in the parliament buildings, showed gates by which Masood entered the grounds of Parliament being left open by the police in the immediate aftermath of the shooting Fellow Times journalist Matt Chorley, exultantly tweeted 'amazing footage' yet what did it show in reality? Imagine being on duty in the vicinity of the incident on what appeared to be a routine day. Suddenly you are hearing shouting, seeing panic stricken crowds and hearing shots before being confronted with two persons lying on the ground some distance apart. The scene may well have been complicated by the fact that the shots that killed Masood were fired by Michael Fallon's protection officers who were in plain clothes. Advertisement Even the best trained SAS soldier could have been forgiven for struggling to process the scene that turned a normal routine day into a vision from hell. Those first on the post-incident scene would have been primarily concerned with the welfare of their colleague lying prostrate and bleeding on the ground. Confusion may also have been likely as to the identity of the second man lying on the floor and, even when it was established he was the terrorist responsible, police protocol is to attempt to save his life. A Sky news piece featuring boxer Frazier Clarke and some brief footage filmed by him illustrates the chaos on the day. Amidst all this total confusion the gates remained open for about 60 seconds after officers reached both police officer and terrorist lying on the ground. The footage will be of use in subsequent debriefs and reviews, yet why was it necessary for The Times to use the footage as a cheap tool to humiliate grieving police officers and an embattled police force? Could it not have been quietly handed over and perhaps used by the paper when the dust clouds settled, in a calm, reflective review? Perhaps the bitter pill would have been sweetened had Mr. Coates had been able to make a well-publicised positive comment in respect of policing on the day. Instead this 'exclusive' compounded the grossly insensitive Times front page the day after the murders. Social media subsequently resounded with serving and retired officers stating they intended to cancel their subscriptions. Where were the armed officers? Yet it wasn't just this incident that involved mud being thrown at police. Where were the armed officers was the cry? Advertisement It later transpired that which many of us knew anyway; namely that MP's and those in the Lords were 'uncomfortable' with the presence of armed police in and around Parliament and the 'hostile' nature of some of the physical defences. In fairness to the press, this did form the basis of some newspaper pieces. Yet for all the words of genuine sympathy emanating from shocked members of both houses together with praise for police action as lockdown commenced, police know only too well that they have few friends amongst parliamentarians and the establishment. The actions of MP Tobias Ellwood and the speech by James Cleverley won't be forgotten. However, one of the few MP's held in esteem by the police community is Holly Lynch who is campaigning for improved safety for officers. Conservative MP's have largely stood supinely by as their former Home Secretary Theresa May imposed damaging cuts on police which has resulted in 21,000 fewer officers thus impacting upon operations against terrorism. These, together with changes to pay and conditions, have also severely damaged morale. Many on the Labour side, especially those close to Jeremy Corbyn, have long been critical of police and are perceived to be uncomfortably close to activists who don't confine themselves merely to verbal attacks on police. The green empty rows of House of Commons seating during the House of Commons debate called by Holly Lynch on police officer safety perhaps illustrated better than anything else the attitude of many MP's towards police. Advertisement Police and public including faith groups walk across Westminster Bridge in a tribute to victims of the tragedy. Theresa May's Extraction Another brick bat thrown in the direction of police concerned the 'extraction' of Prime Minister Theresa May as her protection officers became aware of the potential danger. Such delay as there was amounted to a few seconds and criticisms were dismissed by those qualified to comment. Criticism then of the Prime Minister's protection detail but little praise for those of Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, one of whom coolly dispatched the attacker. Advertisement Acting Commissioner Flees More criticism, especially on social media, concerned acting Commissioner Craig Mackey who, immediately after witnessing the incident was whisked away by his protection team. Craig Mackey could have achieved little by remaining at the scene and 'taking charge.' No-one knew whether this atrocity heralded multi-venue attacks in other parts of London and had this been the case the most senior officer in the Met clearly needed to be at the centre of the operational wheel making crucial decisions. Give Police a Chance? Front line police are, of course, used to media criticism. Arguably looking ridiculous now are headlines commenting on armed police 'scaring the public' by virtue of being seen with holstered firearms in Tesco's, or smiling in Newcastle while comments by newspaper columnists such as Peter Hitchens include sneering references to armed officers including the term 'Robocop's.' Armed police 'terrifying' the local populace of Hull. Sympathy towards police by some crime'journo's is swamped by a press that trawls frantically around for any police transgression regardless of how trivial whilst ignoring acts of bravery, compassion and kindness....... unless it involves a human tragedy. Advertisement Of course there are lessons to be learnt from this terrorist atrocity as there are from each and every terror attack in the UK and elsewhere. Perhaps those in Parliament will now show a greater appreciation of their protectors and not just in respect of the estate that is parliament. Perhaps also they will let the police get on with the job of protecting them in the way determined by police and competent security experts. Kansas mens basketball starts KJ Adams Jr. in win against Omaha The Jayhawks opened their 2022-23 regular season the right way. Kansas mens basketball is 1-0 after a win at home against Omaha. ADS ADS Diffusing light is often a central issue in architecture. It is also the Holy Grail of watchmaking, which seeks to infuse light into the heart of the mechanism of time so as to enhance clarity and achieve perfect radiance. From Graff to the MuCEM, architect Alex Leuzinger highlights the kinship between these two worlds, based on a central theme : the quest for absolute transparency. The watch : MasterGraff Structural Skeleton Automatic Flying Tourbillon At once airy and monumental, this new flying tourbillon plays on this ambivalence in a technical mode that appears to be released from all constraints. Despite the mechanical complexity involved in assembling such a movement, which takes the Graff watchmakers at least one month of work, transparency and light were clearly the fundamental rules as confirmed by the skeletonized dial, sapphire bridges, cut-out hands and the use of a micro-rotor. In its Geneva workshops, the in-house artisans display a wealth of virtuosity in achieving such a high degree of transparency in a tourbillon watch. The same goes for the case. Its cut-out sides in DLC-treated titanium resemble the metallic structure of a building, a clever architecture that captures the light in order to diffuse it as effectively as possible. MasterGraff Structural Skeleton Automatic Flying Tourbillon Case : pink gold or white gold and black DLC-coated titanium Diameter : 46mm Movement: mechanical self-winding, 72h power reserve Functions: hours, minutes, flying tourbillon Dial: skeletonized Caseback: sapphire crystal Water resistance : 50m Strap: alligator leather Its architectural alter-ego : the MuCEM, Marseille, France, by the Rudy Ricciotti architectural firm MuCEM (Musee des Civilisations de lEurope et de la Mediterranee), in Marseille, is as its name implies entirely dedicated to the cultures of Europe and the Mediterranean. This spectacular building that opened in 2013 has quickly become one of the citys most visited museums. Standing proudly at the entrance to the Vieux Port, with a spectacular view out to sea, its location is particularly significant in that travelers from around the world for many centuries passed through this exact spot. While strongly anchored in the past, the MuCEM also and above all testifies to the present, in a period when the Meditterranean world is experiencing religious, social and political transformations. The over 18m-high building designed by Rudy Ricciotti is a powerful and majestic signal that is nonetheless extremely delicate with its matt concrete lacy mesh that plays with the harsh Mediterranean light while protecting the interior from its excessive strength. An aesthetic reminiscent of Arabian-Andalusian architecture and the arabesques of Middle Eastern cultures, as if to assert its deeply embedded sense of belonging within this Mediterranean culture. It naturally presents itself as a standardbearer for its home city of Marseille, a city consistently open to the four winds of various civilizations. As Rudy Ricciotti explains : it shows an architecture of gauntness, stretched like the taut muscles of a distance runner, armed with mighty and feminine fragility. It is a metaphor of the Mediterranean space. Light effects, constantly shifting shadows and the fascination of a structure capable of stirring poetic memories, are thus the common denominators of these two creations that are unique in their kind. ADS ADS It has been familiar to car buyers for a number of years, in some cases even going as far as replacing the bricks and motor showroom for car makers. But it is only now starting to gain traction in the watch industry. What is it? Its the configurator. Basically its an application that allows you to choose the individual components of your watch. The reason that it has not caught on earlier is that many watch brands do not have full control over the components that they use in their watches and cannot therefore offer such a choice. But with the increasing possibilities of watch customisation, such applications are becoming more widespread. Such a configurator is what allows Armin Strom to boast, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that it is presenting 180 new models at Baselworld this year. Since the brands annual production is barely more than a couple of thousand watches, the figure seems staggering. But it is also virtual. The fact that Armin Strom can offer this service at all is thanks to its extremely high level of vertical integration. Around 95% of the components in an Armin Strom watch are produced internally at the companys workshop in Bienne, Switzerland. It all starts with the movement, which buyers can choose from the range of the brands existing mechanical calibres. But since Armin Strom also has its own in-house galvanising department, it can also offer a choice of colours, finishes and engravings for the movements, or just for individual components. The buyer can then complete his or her watch with their own choice of case material, the style and colour of the dial and hands, the clasp and even the colour of the stitching on the strap. The price is constantly adapted on screen as the different options are chosen, even though the watches bought via the configurator are no more expensive than the brands series production models. Such systems call into question the relationship between the brand, its retail network and the customer, however, since the configurator effectively bypasses the in-store retail experience. The customer can even choose to pick up their watch directly from the workshop in Bienne, with a free tour of the factory thrown in. But Armin Strom stresses that its Watch Configurator will also be an indispensable tool for its authorised dealers to assist customers with their choice of a watch. Watches are not rocket science. Or are they? Watches are not rocket... Perhaps you dont have a PhD. Well, thats a shame, because with some watches, youll need one to understand how to tell the time. Perhaps you dont have a PhD. Well,... Chinas Internet Plus Model Can Be Used in Emerging Markets The Internet Plus model helped Xiaomi achieve the companys goals of increasing operations efficiency as well as developing better products and innovative solutions. (Photo : Getty Images) Entrepreneurs and businesses from emerging countries have a solid chance to break through stiff competition through Chinas Internet Plus model, China Daily reported. According to Lei Jun, founder and CEO of tech giant Xiaomi, the model can ultimately help small enterprises to stand out in market competition and eventually become market leaders. How? By offering great products at affordable prices. Advertisement Unveiled in 2015, the Internet Plus action model launched by China aims to slowly integrate the Internet into more traditional industry sectors as a means to improve the quality of services and products offered. One of the first companies to apply the model into their business was Xiaomi. The Internet Plus model helped Xiaomi achieve the companys goals of increasing operations efficiency as well as developing better products and innovative solutions, Lei shared at the Global Business Summit held in New Delhi last Monday, March 27. Through word-of-mouth marketing, Xiaomi was able to build a customer base that gave useful feedback vital for product improvement. Meanwhile, e-commerce helped Xiaomi cut down costs by eliminating the need for middlemen. I believe that the power and unstoppable influence of the Internet means information asymmetry will sooner or later come to an end, said Lei. In the summit, Lei moved on to discuss how emerging markets can apply the Internet Plus action plan into local enterprises business models. For Lei, quality, efficiency, and user experience should not be sacrificed. I believe that in the next decade or so products that enable lifestyle changes and offer more choices will rule the marketplace. Companies in emerging markets need to offer their consumers a compelling vision so that they not only solve problems today but even address problems on the horizon. Xiaomis presence at the summit indicates its key position as the top selling smartphone brand online in India. Additionally, Xiaomi is the second-largest smartphone brand in India, having performed exceedingly well in the last quarter of 2014. D-Link International bags tech awards at the HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards D-Link International Pte Ltd, one of the worlds biggest suppliers of networking products, kicks off 2017 with a bang by receiving two technology awards during the start of the quarter. D-Link has once again proved its leadership in the tech industry by winning the Best IP Camera Brand during the annual HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards in Singapore. The HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards recognizes brands, products and services for their innovative and revolutionary contribution to the technology industry. D-Link has been known for its wide array of IP cameras ranging from baby cameras to full-HD Wi-Fi cameras. The company bested all its competitors in the Best IP Camera Brand category, which was launched only this year. D-Links flagship product, the DIR-895L AC5300 Ultra Wi-Fi Router, grabbed the Best Wireless Router at The Straits Times Digital Awards 2017 Readers Choice. This feature-packed router provides users with premium HD streaming and gaming experience. It has eight high-performance external antennas designed for maximum range and ultimate speed. We are proud and thankful that HWM+HardwareZone.com and The Straits have recognized our efforts in delivering revolutionary products for todays fast-evolving technology industry. These awards encourage us to continue providing our customers with cutting-edge technologies that help address with their mobility and connectivity needs, said D-Link International President Jacky Chang. D-Link has been the leading provider of award-winning I.T. network solutions for consumers. For 30 years, it has lived by its mission of building networks for people by providing groundbreaking innovations. It has recently expanded its business solutions with the SMB line targeted at enterprises. This one-stop enterprise networking solution is designed to meet the varying networking needs of all kinds of businesses. The hunger is over with MENUVER The wait is finally over! MENUVER is now available for both iOS and Android. Explore the best places to eat in the City of Love. Hungry yet? Head over to any of the links below to get the next-level dining experience in Iloilo! Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.menuver.menuver App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/ph/app/menuver/id1179959460?mt=8 You could check their Facebook (fb.com/menuver) and website (https://menuver.com) for more updates. DOST Secretary Fortunato T. de la Pena (second from the right) and DOST VI Regional Director Rowen R. Gelonga unveil the Nutri Kart to the public in line with the 2017 Technology Caravan celebration at the University of Antique. Along with them are UA President Dr. Victor Navarra, Vice Governor Edgar Denosta and UA Complementary Food Project Manager Dr. Marie Ann J. Reymaro. The University of Antique (UA) sealed the deal with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST VI) in addressing malnutrition through Nutri Kart, a movable food stall which sells nutritious food and snacks. DOST Region VI has developed the Nutri-Kart in order to address malnutrition, particularly in kindergarten, elementary and secondary schools. DOST VI Regional Director Rowen Gelonga expressed, The Nutri-Kart is a movable food stall which will sell nutritious food and snacks. It will particularly promote the nutritious food products developed by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) as well as by the academe and other research institutions. Equally important, the Nutri Kart sells different products of the university based on the rice-mongo-sesame blends developed by DOST-FNRI. It also sells products of DOST Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) clients who produce healthier alternatives to junk foods and heavily processed food items. I have come to realize that sometimes our feeding programs are not focused towards addressing malnutrition. Sometimes, we fail to realize that we are just addressing hunger, and hunger and malnutrition are two different things. If hunger was addressed, it does not mean that the child is already healthy. Therefore, malnutrition should have a science and technology-based component. Director Gelonga added that the Nuri Kart offers healthier choices not only for children but also for adults. Through this, we hope that malnutrition will be minimized, if not eradicated in the country. In the 2015 Updating of Nutritional Status, DOST-FNRI revealed that problems in malnutrition affect all regions of the country as well as all age brackets. This malnutrition comes in the form of underweight, stunting and wasting. Among children 5-10 years old, 31.2% are underweight, 31.1% are stunted and 8.4% are stunted. For children 10-19 years old, 31.9% are stunted and 12.5% are wasted. In the case of Filipino adults, a different form of malnutrition has emerged as 31.1% of Filipino men and women are considered to be either overweight or obese. Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Sylvester Stallone has quit The Expendables franchise which was first spearheaded by the Rocky star in 2010. Sources report that the actor has turned down what would have been 'the biggest upfront payday' of his career due to creative differences with American film company Nu Image. Stallone - who plays mercenary leader Barney Ross in the series - is said to have been concerned about the quality of the confirmed fourth instalment. Deadline reports that Nu Image co-founder Avi Lerner believed he could sort out his differences with Sly. He stated: "Weve got disagreements with Sly, but weve had them for over a year and a half. Right now, each one has an opinion. We agreed on 95% of things, but there are certain things in production we dont agree on. I dont think its over, but write whatever you want. "In my opinion, its not dead. Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Show all 14 1 /14 Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Bill Murray With only one Oscar nomination to his name (2003's Lost in Translation), Bill Murray is one oversight that - in many people's eyes - could easily throw the Academy Awards into disrepute. AFP/Getty Images Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Samuel L. Jackson Considering he's one of the most bankable film stars in the world, it's a surprise that - with over 160 credits to his name - Samuel L. Jackson has only received a mere one nomination (Pulp Fiction in 1994). 2016 Getty Images Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Joaquin Phoenix With three previous nominations under his belt - for films including Gladiator and The Master - it was his performance as Johnny Cash in 2005 biopic Walk the Line that was expected to see him win an Oscar (he lost to the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's for Capote). 2015 Getty Images Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Brad Pitt The ever-present fixture he remains in Hollywood today, you'd think Brad Pitt would have won an Oscar by now; while serving as producer of 2014 Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave, he currently has zero acting wins to his name despite three nominations (Twelve Monkeys, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Moneyball). 2015 Getty Images Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Tom Cruise Still one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, Tom Cruise seemed like a sure awards bet back in the Nineties with films Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia all earning him nominations - and yet, he never once emerged victorious. 2015 Getty Images Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Richard Gere Would you believe us if we told you Richard Gere has never even been nominated? Well, it's true - and, quite honestly, shocks us quite a bit. Poor guy. Juan Naharro Gimenez Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Gary Oldman One of the film industry's finest character actors, Gary Oldman has been nominated just the once for playing George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 2014 Getty Images Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Johnny Depp Despite his recent dip in quality, Johnny Depp has delivered several Oscar-worthy performances in the past. With a total of three nominations to his name - all for post-2000 releases including Pirates of the Caribbean and Finding Neverland - it's more a wonder he didn't receive more recognition for standout films such as Ed Wood and Donnie Brasco in the Nineties. 2015 Getty Images Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Harrison Ford Harrison Ford may now be the world's highest-grossing actor (sorry, Samuel) but still doesn't have the Academy Award to back up such a feat. In fact, he's now into his third decade of not receiving recognition from the Academy with his sole nomination arriving back in 1985 for Witness. Getty Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Edward Norton Edward Norton is just the kind of actor you'd assume would've scooped a statuette at some stage or another, but no - Norton just has three nominations to speak of; his first in 1996 (Primal Fear), his second in 1999 (American History X) and his third just last year (Best Picture winner, Birdman). AFP/Getty Images Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't John Malkovich American actor John Malkovich was nominated once in 1984 (Places in the Heart) and again in 1993 (In the Line of Fire) but hasn't posed much of a threat since. 2013 Getty Images Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Annette Bening Poor Annette Bening, who has come close to victory four times (The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right) but is yet to clinch one. 2015 Getty Images Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Glenn Close ...well, it could be worse; she could be Glenn Close who has been on the shortlist six times for films including Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons and, most recently, Albert Nobbs. Actors you think have won Oscars but haven't Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter may have received a Best Actress nomination for Wings of a Dove (1997), but it was her Best Supporting Actress nomination for 2012's Best Picture winner The King's Speech that seemed a sure bet; Melissa Leo's role in The Fighter won that round. 2015 Getty Images Right now, it seems as if The Expendables will move ahead without Stallone. The series, which follows a team of mercenaries, began in 2010 and lured action film fans with the stunt casting of an assortment of action film stars. The third entry into the franchise starred Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Randy Couture, Terry Crews alongside new cast additions Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes and Ronda Rousey. The actor most recently reprised his role of Rocky Balboa for spin-off Creed for which he won a Golden Globe. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Every time I see Rob Brydon these days he seems to be on holiday somewhere, and sighing this is the life. One minute hes doing dad-dancing in some ad for cruises shot on some lovely location, I should say or, as here in The Trip to Spain, hes off with his good friend Steve Coogan on some equally lovely road trip. This time round theyve taken the Range Rover and ferry route to Spain, where they explore caves, restaurants, some nice wines and the windmills of their middle-aged minds. As Coogan stresses to his travelling companion they both play characters close to their own personae with what looks a lavish dressing of improvisation at around 50 years of age they are at the sweet spot of our lives ripe. As with other of their adventures, you have to be comfortable in the company of two men who luxuriate in their own comfortable cleverness and talent at mimicry, and not all of us have the confidence to do so, even remotely through a television screen. Youll enjoy the competitive anecdotage about beheadings, though. Well worth a Sky subscription. At some point at least one of them ought to sigh this is the life, as a nod to the realities of commercial life as a sleb, even an intellectual one. We shall see, as this is part one of six half-hour episodes. The highlight of my week would have to be Roof Racks and Hatchbacks: the Family Car. This is because I love archive footage, I love cars, and I love the way the BBCs Timeshift team use the material available to them with a lot of time fruitfully spent in the edit suite. Anyway if youve ever wondered how we managed to get from standard family transport being a Ford Anglia, then, to a Land Rover, now, vastly larger and less green, then this will shed at least some light on that progression. Its of especial interest, oddly, to those of us who werent rich enough to have a car, often forgotten in this age of automotive plenty. Anthropologist Desmond Morris brings his love of surrealist art to our screens (BBC) Desmond Morris used to be hardly off our television screens and was a seemingly ubiquitous presence in our bookshops too, with his pioneering fun and engaging documentaries about anthropology: Manwatching and all that. Back in the 1970s, as families became self-consciously modern and sophisticated, taking to their new European fondue sets, cars and fridges, Morris reminded us just how much we owed to apes, in terms of our social and sexual habits, and how like them we were, unselfconsciously. We were, as his great phrase went, merely naked apes. Anyway, not quite forgotten and now approaching his 90th year, he makes a welcome return in The Secret Surrealist: Desmond Morris, an account of how the very civilised pursuit of surrealist art helps him make it through the night. Literally. He joins psychotherapist Philippa Perry in a surrealist double bill on Tuesday night, as she presents How to be a Surrealist. Your oh-so-weird evening is rounded off with Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dalis 1928 classic silent movie Un Chien Andalou (that the one where an eye gets sliced), and a compilation of Spike Milligans Q sketches, which, to be honest, havent aged quite so well. Finally, your duty watches this week as a loyal citizen anxious to take part vicariously in moments of national pageantry comprise the final of The Voice this evening (with will.i.am) and the Oxbridge Boat Races (womens and mens, both with Clare Balding) tomorrow. I was rude about Red Nose Day lately, talking about national telly festivals, and I now realise I oughtnt to have been, because the endless hours of Russell Brands failed rehabilitation, forced jollity and awkward juxtapositions also included a four-minute segment from the This Country team. So for that, Red Nose, all is forgiven. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A nine-year-old girl has filed a court case against the Indian Government for failing to take ambitious action to tackle climate change. Ridhima Pandeys lawyer told The Independent she was a compassionate child who wanted her Government to help protect the planet for future generations. The northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, where Ridhima lives, has been devastated in the past three years by heavy rains, flash floods and frequent landslides, estimated to have killed thousands of people. And Ridhima has argued that India, the worlds third carbon emitter, has failed to put into action the promises it made in signing and ratifying the Paris Agreement on climate change. According to the World Bank, climate change will exacerbate the stress on Indias water sources, and the country is expected to suffer major health crises. The case includes allegations based on Indias constitution, the public trust doctrine, intergenerational equity and the alleged non-implementation of four environmental laws dating back as far back as 1980. Ridhima knows she will have to inherit her countrys growing climate disasters and she is frustrated not to be able to participate in the decision-making process. She has made it her mission to force her Government to prevent any further damage until she is old enough to help shape her countrys environmental polices. My Government has failed to take steps to regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are causing extreme climate conditions. This will impact both me and future generations. My country has huge potential to reduce the use of fossil fuels, and because of the Governments inaction I approached the National Green Tribunal, she said. Indian army personnel help stranded people cross a flooded river after heavy rains in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, Flash floods and landslides killed thousands. (Reuters) A petition has been filed in the National Green Tribunal (NGT), a specialised court established in 2010, which hears only environmental cases. In the petition, Ridhima asks the court to order the Government to prepare a carbon budget and a national climate recovery plan to ensure that India does its share to reduce atmospheric CO2 below 350 parts per million by 2100, according to scientific recommendations. The nine-year-old also wants the Government to move away from fossil fuels, protect forests, grasslands, soil, mangroves, engage in massive reforestation and improve agricultural and forestry practices. Soldiers assist a woman carrying a child on her back during rescue operations in Govindghat in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand during the 2013 floods (REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui) Environmental attorney Rahul Choudhary filed the petition on her behalf and is representing her along with Ritwick Dutta and Meera Gopal. Mr Choudhary said Ridhima was simply asking her Government to fulfil its own duty to protect the vital natural resources on which she and future generations depend on for survival. He told The Independent: Children in India are now aware about the issues of climate change and its impact. The Indian constitution says that it is the duty of every citizen of India ... to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures. He added the case will highlight three important elements including the stall of renewable energy levels, the lack of robust examination of environmental impact statements for polluting projects and the monitoring of reforestation initiatives. On the one hand there is a gap in legislation and on the other hand, when there is legislation it is not being implemented. The most important thing about this lawsuit is that the Government needs to realise that it is not doing anything about climate change. It is signing paperwork to show the world it is doing something but on the ground nothing is happening, he said. Ridhima inherited her passion for climate change campaigning from her father, Dinesh Pandey, who has been working for 16 years for an environmental NGO in Uttarakhand. Flood waters flow next to a residential complex during major floods in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand in 2013 (Reuters) Speaking to The Independent, the father-of-two said he was very proud of his daughter. I have raised her by teaching her about environmental issues. One day, she said to me Daddy you raise a lot of these issues and nothing is being done so why are you not raising these issues in the courts? She then decided she wanted to do it, he said. Mr Pandey said that since the 2013 flood in Uttarakhand, the countrys worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami which killed thousands, heavy rainfalls and flash floods episodes are happening more frequently. Its the poorest people who are going to suffer the most. The situation is dangerous to human life, he said. Climate change protests around the world Show all 25 1 /25 Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Rome, Italy Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators gather in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world People hold hands to form a human chain during a gathering called by ecologist organisations in Marseille, southern France, to protest against global warming a day ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during protests on Place de la Republique, ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during a protest on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world A group of people perform during a rally to promote climate protection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Climate change protests around the world A protester sits next to his sign that reads 'Monsanto the Devil Incorporated ' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Environmentalists dance during a protest near the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), in Paris, France Reuters Climate change protests around the world People protest next to characters dressed as wild animals during a march against climate change near the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City AP Climate change protests around the world Protesters carries a banner while they take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People take part in a protest about climate change around New York City Hall at lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Piazza Castello, Turin, Italy Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a globe during a protest for the global climate day in Lugano, Switzerland Climate change protests around the world Yemenis hold banners as they participate in the Global March for Climate in the old city of Sanaia, Yemen Climate change protests around the world Protesters dressed as Santa Claus take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People gather at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, during the Global Climate March to demand action on climate change telling world leaders on the eve of a crunch UN summit that there is "no planet B". From Sydney to London, humid Rio to chilly New York, at least 683,000 hit the streets in 2,300 events across 175 countries at the weekend, co-organiser and campaign group Avaaz said, calling it the largest number of people to protest over climate change all at once Getty Images Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators participate in the Global March for Climate in Athens, Greece Climate change protests around the world A man wearing a Bernie Sanders mask leads hundreds of demonstrators who marched near City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Patricia Hauser joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a poster of a sick Earth as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators march around City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world A demonstrator holds cut-out of US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world George Patten holds a sign that reads 'No Fracking Ever!' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Gabrielle Sosa wears 'Rising Sea Levels' sign as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA This is not the first time a child has taken its Government to court over a lack of climate change action. In the US, a group of 21 youths aged between nine and 20 are claiming the federal Governments promotion of fossil fuel production and its indifference to the risks posed by greenhouse gas emissions threaten the survival of future generations. By allowing the case to move ahead, District Judge Ann Aiken, laid the legal foundations for many more to follow. Similar lawsuits are also being carried out in Belgium and New Zealand, and have already been won in Pakistan, Austria and South Africa. In the Netherlands, a court ordered the Government to reduce carbon emissions by a quarter within the next five years. Julia Olson, the lead in the climate kids case in the US and the executive director of Our Childrens Trust, a nonprofit organisation which aims to protect children from climate change, said: This climate petition is evidence of a global movement of youth rising up and taking their Governments to court to seek protection of their fundamental rights to a stable climate system and demand science-based climate action. Meanwhile, the legal challenge in India is allowing Ridhima to hang on to hope for the future. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A church minister who sexually assaulted a teenage girl and a woman has been jailed, along with his female secretary who acted as his accomplice. Benjamin Egbujor and Rose Nwenwu "preyed on their victim's vulnerabilities, whilst satisfying their own sexual urges under the guise of private prayer," said Police Constable James Bell, of Scotland Yard's Offences and Child Abuse Command (SOECA). The Inner London Crown Court heard the younger victim, who was under the age of 16, was told by Egbujor, a bishop at the Jubilee Christian Centre in Peckham, South London, that she had been chosen to attend a special private prayer session. But after being taken to the 55-year-old's office, the girl was forced to undress and oil was poured over her. After she told her family what happened, they reported the incident to London's Metropolitan Police who discovered during the course of their inquiries that another woman in her 30s had also been sexually assaulted by Egbujor. Egbujor, of Belvedere, Kent, was sentenced to three years in prison for the sexual assault and four months, to be served consecutively, for inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Nwenwu, 43, of West Norwood, London, was also sentenced to three years' imprisonment for sexual assault and three years, to be served concurrently, for helping and encouraging Egbujor. Both were made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will have to sign the Sex Offenders Register. Police believe there may be other victims and urged them to come forward. Detective Inspector Angela Craggs, of the Mets Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Command, said: Egbujor and Nwenwu exploited the trust of their congregation when they targeted and abused these victims. They believed their position within the church would protect them from facing justice, but the court has held them accountable for their actions. I hope this conviction serves to empower victims of sexual violence to come forward and report to police, and as a warning to offenders who think they can use their position to protect them from the law, she said. The Jubilee Christian Centre was approached by The Independent for comment, but none had arrived at the time of publication. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Police have launched a hate crime investigation after a 17-year-old boy was brutally beaten by a gang after revealing he was an asylum seeker. The Kurdish Iranian refugee was in a critical condition in hospital after the attack, which took place in Croydon, South London. Police believe eight people approached the boy as he sat at a bus stop with friends outside a pub in the Shrublands area. Gina Miller sexism racism DS Kris Blamires from Croydon CID said: It is understood that the suspects asked the victim where he was from and when they established that he was an asylum seeker they chased him and launched a brutal attack. He has sustained critical head and facial injuries as a result of this attack which included repeated blows to the head by a large group of attackers. A number of people came to the aid of the victim as he lay unconscious and injured following the assault. DS Blamires said the suspects fled after the attack. He encouraged witnesses and bystanders who came to aid of the boy to contact the police. Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell described the attackers as "scum". He told the Press Association: "I think most people in Croydon will be as appalled as I am that what appears to have happened is a young man who came to this country seeking sanctuary has apparently been targeted because of his ethnic background. "It's an appalling crime and I hope the people responsible are caught quickly and receive the full force of British justice." He said Croydon, a very diverse community, generally had "very good relations between people of different backgrounds". "This is completely out of character but that is no comfort to the individual who is fighting for his life now," he added. All communities stand together against hate and we would ask anyone with any information to come forward immediately, DS Blamires added. The boys friends escaped the attack and suffered only minor injuries. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters No one has yet been arrested and enquiries are ongoing. Anyone with information can call Croydon CID on 0203 276 2234 or 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. China Dairy Company (Photo : Getty Images) The Chinese government came to the rescue of China Huishan Dairy after shares of the Liaoning-based dairy company dipped 85 percent in just an hour on March 24, which wiped out more than $4 billion from its market value. The Hong Kong stock exchange said that the Huishan Dairy shares crash, the biggest stock fall that day, caused the suspension of trading that Friday. It also affected firms connected to the dairy company, qz.com said. Advertisement On March 28, the company issued a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, saying that it had failed to pay the interest to its creditors at credit crunch. The company said that it met with the Liaoning government and more than 20 of the creditor banks to save Huishan Dairy and talk about remedies on March 23. Based on the action plan proposed by the Liaoning government, the overdue interest payment will be resolved within two weeks. The local government will also help the company with its liquidity issues within a month. During the meeting, some creditors, such as Bank of China and Jilin Jiutai Rural Commercial Bank assured the company that "would continue to have confidence in the Group [Huishan] which has over 60 years of operating history". The company also denied reports that it had issued false invoices and that its chairman, Yang Kai, had spent funds on a real estate in Shenyang. Huishan, however, confirmed reports that Yang's wife Ge Kun, who is also the company's executive director in charge with the principal bankers, has been away since March 21, when Yang learned of the late payments. A report by Caixin said that the Liaoning government will pay more than 90 million yuan ($13 million) for land owned by Huishan to provide the company with cash. Financial institutions involved with Huishan were also told not lower the company's credit rating or file lawsuits against the company. Yang reportedly promised to sell some of his shares in the company to raise 15 billion yuan to solve the liquidity crisis, Caixin said. Since last year, Huishan has been a target of short-seller, including hedge fund Muddy Waters. However, before its stocks fell last week, its stocks were one of the most stable. The company's profit has been declining in the past years, due to drop in milk prices amid a global oversupply. According to the report, the Chinese government would not allow Huishan to collapse as it could discourage credit markets, which are already doubtful of its local authorities. Last year, Liaoning officials were found to have faked the data on the province's GDP growth from 2011 to 2014. Huishan's failure or collapse would be damaging to some Chinese banks, especially the company's creditors. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} All suspects detained in connection with the Westminster attack have been released with no further action. The Metropolitan Police said the final man in custody, a 30-year-old from Birmingham who was originally held on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts, was freed on Saturday. Eleven others arrested in connection with the investigation have previously been released, with Scotland Yard saying inquiries continue. Westminster terror attacker named as Khalid Masood Investigators have been searching for potential accomplices who may have helped Khalid Masood plan or carry out his attack. Suspicions over a potential wider extremist network intensified after it emerged he used WhatsApp just minutes before ploughing his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. British mother Aysha Frade, pensioner Leslie Rhodes and American tourist Kurt Cochran died of injuries sustained during the rampage. Masood then crashed into railings outside the Houses of Parliament and ran into an entrance where he stabbed PC Keith Palmer to death, before being shot dead by armed police. Investigators believe Masood was inspired by Islamist terrorism and Isis has claimed responsibility for the massacre, although the extent of the groups involvement is not yet known. In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP Scotland Yards acting deputy commissioner, Mark Rowley, said police were probing whether the father-of-three acted completely alone after being inspired by terrorist propaganda or was encouraged, supported or directed by others. Deputy assistant commissioner Neil Basu acknowledged that the method of attack, following Isis propaganda instructions on using cars and knives, echoed Isis rhetoric but said investigators had not yet found any evidence of a direct link. Whilst I have found no evidence of an association with Isis or al-Qaeda, there is clearly an interest in jihad, he added. Questions over whether Masood may have been radicalised in part by extremist material online have sparked renewed efforts to remove such content, seeing the Home Secretary meet with technology companies this week. Investigators continue efforts to establish the motive of Masood, a 52-year-old Muslim convert who had a lengthy criminal history and lived in areas including Sussex, Birmingham and London. Thousands of people joined hands in a vigil for the victims exactly a week after the attack on Wednesday, while further tributes have been paid across the country. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Police have arrested 14 protesters today after rival groups clashed during a far-right demonstration in Central London. Far-right protesters gathered in London on Saturday for a march called by Britain First and the English Defence League "against radical Islamic terrorism". Britain First claimed in a Facebook post that "3,000 patriots have confirmed attendance", but estimates of the size of their crowd range from 100 to 250. The march was called in the aftermath of last week's Westminster terror attacks, where Khalid Masood killed four people and left dozens injured. A counter-protest has been organised by anti-racist group Unite Against Fascism, who said in a statement: "Both groups are notorious Islamophobes whose concern is not with the victims or their relatives, but only lie in racism." Protesters from Unite Against Fascism gather near Trafalgar Square to counter EDL protest Police issued two Public Order Acts in an attempt to avoid clashes between the protesters, and keep each march to its designated route. Despite these precautions, confrontations between the far-right groups and the rival march could not be avoided. As of 4pm Saturday, 14 arrests for "various offences" have been made. Chief Superintendent Catherine Roper said: "The right to protest is a fundamental right in our democratic society, but this right must be balanced against the right of people to go about their day without fear of violence, disorder or disruption. "Experience has shown us that when groups with conflicting views come together it can create tension and disorder." What we have had to carefully consider is how to balance the right to protest with the negative impact on our communities and potential violence and disorder that may have resulted from these protests." Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, was escorted through the streets by police on his way to the rally, after he was confronted by anti-fascist protesters. Tensions grow at Britain First & EDL protest as Tommy Robinson arrives Sally Dhabu, the UAF Joint Secretary, said: "While the turnout by fascists today was pathetic, we must remember the threat they currently pose in Britain is not in numbers, but in their attempt to whip up fear, hatred, division and violence." Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A shop-worker who has lived in Britain for 27 years is facing deportation after being detained by immigration officers. Stojan Jankovic, 52, has worked at Earth Natural Foods in Camden, London for 15 years but is currently being held at a detention centre in Dorset while officials attempt to remove him from the country. Mr Jankovic arrived in the UK in 1991 from the then Republic of Yugoslavia, but his application for asylum is understood to have been refused. It is believed his leave to remain in the country expired in 1999 but he has been working and paying taxes since then without encountering any problems. Mr Jankovic's boss, John Grayson, described him to the Camden New Journal as kindly, avuncular, cheerful [and] reliable". I dont think hes had a day off sick in the 15 years hes worked for us, he added. This has been his home and his work and his community for the last 27 years. Hes known to hundreds if not thousands of people in Kentish Town as the bloke with a beard that serves in our shop. Anne Hall, a local resident who has known Mr Jankovic for 15 years, said: He was very special. He was always so lovely. He is a very educated, peace-loving man. I just cant believe it, I think were becoming a police state. The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Show all 20 1 /20 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Digital Economy Bill Give every household the legal right to fast broadband but if they live in some remote areas, theyll have to pay part of the cost themselves Phone and broadband companies to be forced to release details of customer complaints and average broadband speeds New powers to allow public bodies like councils and government department to share swathes of data including unpaid bills Controversy Rating: 1/5 Change Britain Rating: 3/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Transport Bill New laws to govern the development of driverless cars, drones and space planes which the Government hopes will encourage investment in the new technologies to take place in the UK Making it legal for customers to buy insurance for driverless vehicles Controversy Rating: 1/5 Change Britain Rating: 4/5 This content is subject to copyright. The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Planning Bill Giving legal powers to villages and towns to set their own priorities for new housing. They wont be able to turn down new homes, but they will have a say in where they can be built Create a new National Infrastructure Commission to push through big projects such as nuclear power stations and new rail and road links cutting the amount of time it takes to develop them Controversy Rating: 3/5 Change Britain Rating: 3/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Jobs Bill Give powers to local authorities to reduce the level of business rates they charge. City Mayors would also be able to increase rates in some areas to pay for specific infrastructure projects to that would boost local growth Controversy Rating: 2/5 Change Britain Rating: 2/5 This content is subject to copyright. The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Markets Bill Making it easier for consumers to switch electricity and gas suppliers Cutting down the time it takes for the Competition and Markets Authority to launch investigations into uncompetitive practices Controversy Rating: 1/5 Change Britain Rating: 3/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Bus Services Bill Give local authorities and mayors powers to set standards for local buses including frequency of services and fairs Force all bus companies to provide real time information on services to app developers so everyone across the country will have the same ability as Londoners to know when the next bus is coming on their smart phone Controversy Rating: 1/5 Change Britain Rating: 3/5 2007 Getty Images The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 NHS Overseas Charging Bill Increasing the number of services for which the NHS charges foreign patients Reduces the number of people from the European Economic Area who are eligible for free services Controversy Rating: 1/5 Change Britain Rating: 1/5 2016 Getty Images The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Pensions Bill Capping early exit fees on company pension schemes Create a new pensions guidance body to help consumers know their pension rights and make best use of previous Government reforms allowing pensioners the right to take the money they have saved in a lump sum on retirement to invest how they like Controversy Rating: 1/5 Change Britain Rating: 3/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Children and Social Work Bill New obligation on councils to be a corporate parent to children in care and look after them even after they have grown up Giving all children leaving care a personal advisor to help them find jobs, secure a home and deal with any problems Create a new regulator for social work along the lines of Ofsted to drive up standards in the profession Controversy Rating: 2/5 Change Britain Rating: 3/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Education Bill Force failing local authorities to convert all the schools in their area to academies Reform school funding to address long standing disparities across the country that has disadvantaged schools in some rural areas Controversy Rating: 3/5 Change Britain Rating: 2/5 2015 Getty Images The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Higher Education Bill Making it simpler and easier for companies and other providers to set up new universities around the country. Ministers want to encourage institutions like Harvard and companies like Google to consider setting up campuses in the UK Allowing universities who have been rated "excellent" for teaching to charge more than those who are not Law to force universities to publish information about their application processes broken down by ethnicity, gender and socio economic background Controversy Rating: 2/5 Change Britain Rating: 4/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Prisons and Courts Bill New law to create reform prisons giving governors powers to set their own regimes and budgets Obligation to publish re-offending rates by prison Controversy Rating: 2/5 Change Britain Rating: 4/5 2016 Getty Images The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 National Citizen Service Bill New law to force schools to promote NCS to all 16 year olds and putting the scheme for the first time on a statutory footing Controversy Rating: 1/5 Change Britain Rating: 3/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Lifetime Savings Bill Putting into law a Government plans to give people on working tax credits who save 50 a month a Government "bonus" of 50 up to a maximum of 300 a year Controversy Rating: 1/5 Change Britain Rating: 2/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Soft Drinks Industry Levy Bill Introduce a sugar tax on soft drinks to fund school sports Controversy Rating: 3/5 Change Britain Rating: 5/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Bill of Rights A new bill of rights to replace the Human Rights Act that will be based on the European Convention of Human Rights but will also take account of English common law Controversy Rating: 5/5 Change Britain Rating: 4/5 This content is subject to copyright. The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Counter-Extremism Bill New civil powers to allow authorities to ban so-called "extremist preachers" New powers to intervene in Madrassas and other unregulated environments where children are present New undisclosed powers to come out of Louise Caseys review of Muslim integration Controversy Rating: 5/5 Change Britain Rating: 4/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Criminal Finances Bill Make it an offence for companies not to stop their staff facilitating tax evasion New undisclosed powers for courts to recover criminal assets Controversy Rating: 1/5 Change Britain Rating: 1/5 2016 Getty Images The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Cultural Property Bill (Armed Forces) Making it illegal for UK troops to damage cultural property in conflicts at home or abroad Controversy Rating: 1/5 Change Britain Rating: 1/5 The governments legislative programme for 2016-17 Wales Bill Bill to put plans for further Welsh devolution on a statutory footing following the new powers recently given to the Scottish Parliament Controversy Rating: 2/5 Change Britain Rating: 3/5 Mr Jankovic was arrested when he attended his weekly appointment at an immigration reporting centre on Thursday. Hes done that once a month for ten years, just so they know where he is, Mr Grayson said. Yesterday, with no warning, they didnt let him go and bundled him into a back of a van. It was totally out of the blue, from his point of view and ours." Asked what had changed to warrant his employees' arrest, Mr Grayson said: The Tories took over, thats whats happened. Discretion has gone out the window and the Home Office can do whatever they want. Mr Jankovics MP, Keir Starmer, has asked the Home Office to delay his deportation in order to allow time for a full legal challenge. The Home Office does not comment on individual cases. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An unexploded Second World War bomb has been found in the River Thames, close to the starting point of Sunday's annual Oxford-Cambridge boat races. The device was spotted near Putney Bridge by a member of the public, who called the police. The race starts just metres away from the spot and thousands of people are expected to converge on the Thames for the event on Sunday. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Police were called by a member of the public at approximately 1.50pm on Saturday reporting what they thought to be World War Two ordnance on the Chelsea shoreline by Putney Bridge. "Officers including the Marine Policing Unit attended. The item is currently submerged." Race organisers are currently planning on continuing with the event as anticipated but are working with police. They said any decision made would be done in conjunction with the authorities and would not be made on Saturday. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters The men's event has been running for 163 years and will begin on Sunday at 5.35pm. The women's race is in its 72nd year and will start at 4.35pm. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A pillow fight involving hundreds of people has taken place in London. Armed with pillows and an appetite for rambunctious weekend activity, participants gathered in Kennington Park to mark International Pillow Fight Day 2017. On the strike of 2pm, the battle commenced. Pillows were swung, feathers flew, and allegiances were made across the park. The event, which is celebrated in cities across the world, is in its 8th year. Its beautiful. And its international, and everyones enjoying themselves, said one participant. Another commented: We thought it was going to be an April Fools thing, but it turns out everyone is actually here. Its amazing. It might sound like a recipe for a weekend trip to A&E, but the rules are made clear at the beginning: be gentle with one another. Pillow fighters of every age attended the free event with many wearing fancy dress, as suggested on the events Facebook page. Similar gatherings took place across the globe including events in Amsterdam, Vancouver and Rio De Janeiro. World's biggest pillow fight The event organiser, The Urban Playground Movement, promotes free, outdoor events around the world with the aim of bringing communities closer. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said the UK will stand up for Gibraltar, in the wake of what the territory called "unacceptable" lobbying from Spain over Gibraltars future as part of the Brexit negotiations. On Friday, documents published by the European Council showed that decisions affecting Gibraltar would be referred to the Spanish government. The small territory in southern Spain voted overwhelmingly to remain part of the UK in a referendum in 2002. In last years EU referendum, 97 per cent of its citizens voted Remain. Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo said Spains lobbying for its interests over Gibraltar was "unacceptable. Recommended A new centre ground party could provide a functioning opposition Boris Johnson revealed he had held talks with Mr Picardo to make clear the UK would continue to support its wish to remain part of the United Kingdom. Mr Johnson said: "As ever, the UK remains implacable and rock-like in our support for Gibraltar." Clare Moody, Labour MEP for Gibraltar and South West England, told BBC Radio Four's Today programme it was the Government's job to "represent the people of Gibraltar". She said: "I was amazed that they failed to do that in the letter they sent on Wednesday. "It worries me that we are about to enter into the most detailed negotiations that we have known for decades. "If the Government has overlooked the interests of Gibraltar, which is a crucial part of the kind of constitutional arrangements of our membership of the European Union, then what else are they going to overlook as well?" Christian Hernandez, president of the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce, said the British Government needed to "stand firm in the face of Spanish bullying". "We don't want to be independent from the UK. We've made it very clear in the last 100 years, in the last 20 years, in the last 15 years, we want a constitutional relationship with the UK, where we continue to be part of the UK and independence is not something we aspire to," he added. Spain has long contested Britain's 300-year rule of Gibraltar. In its draft Brexit negotiating guidelines, the European Council identified future arrangements for Gibraltar as one of its 26 core principles. It wrote: "After the UK leaves the union, no agreement between the EU and the UK may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without agreement between Spain and the UK." But all 27 remaining EU countries are able to veto the UKs deal, so it is not clear what this means in practical terms. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Trump administration has stopped disclosing significant information about US military involvement in Iraq and Syria, in a marked departure from Obama-era foreign policy. Earlier this month, 400 Marines were quietly deployed to northern Syria to to support local militias fighting Islamic State, according to U.S. officials. An additional 300 Paratroopers were sent to help the Iraqi military in their six-month assault on the city of Mosul. During Barack Obamas Presidency, the Pentagon routinely announced foreign troop deployments. According to a spokesperson for the Department of Defense, this policy has now been changed in order to maintain tactical surprise. To ensure operational security and force protection, the coalition will not routinely announce or confirm information about the capabilities, force numbers, locations, or movement of forces in or out of Iraq and Syria. The coalition commanders intent is that ISIS be first to know about any additional capabilities the coalition or our partner forces may present them on the battlefield. Iraqi forces launch push to retake western Mosul from IS It was the first time ground troops have been dispatched to Syria since the beginning of the civil war. Up to 1,000 more soldiers might join the initial deployment ahead of the battle for Raqqa, according to Pentagon officials. American soldiers will provide logistical and fire support to enable a successful assault on Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of ISIS, said Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the American command in Syria. Congress have not been consulted on the decision to deploy ground troops to Syria, and some Democrats have opposed the move. I do not think it is right for the U.S. military to become involved in the Syrian civil war based on the 9/11 Authorisation for Use of Military Force, said Tom Udall, Democrat Senator for New Mexico. I voted for that AUMF as a House member. I never imagined that vote being used to justify U.S. ground troops in Syria in the year 2017. And I dont think anyone else who voted in favor of it did either. President Trump has pledged to increase military spending by $54 billion and cut non-military programmes- such as Social Security and Medicaid - by the same amount. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has stormed out of an executive order signing ceremony without signing the orders after being questioned over Michael Flynn and Russia. Exactly a week after his vow to repeal and replace Obamacare imploded in Congress, the President told assembled reporters he was going to get down to some serious business. The two executive orders, sitting on his desk in the Oval Office, aimed to put his drive for American trade and manufacturing jobs back at the top of the agenda, ordering a study into the cause of US trade deficits and a crackdown on import duty evasion. We're going to investigate all trade abuses, and, based on those findings, we will take necessary and lawful action to end those many abuses, Mr Trump said, before handing over to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro. But after Mike Pence hailed a great day for the American economy in a planned speech, Mr Trump took back the podium to cut the event short. Thank you everybody, youre going to see some very, very strong results very, very quickly thank you very much, he said, before swiftly walking towards the door. Mr Pence gave him a passing tap on the arm as other attendees at the signing ceremony appeared confused, with Mr Trump flashing a thumbs up before leaving the Oval Office. Donald Trump leaves without signing executive orders on trade during a ceremony at the Oval Office of the White House on 31 March (AP) The President appeared to become flustered as a reporter called out questions on his former national security adviser Mr Flynn, who Mr Trump claimed should ask for immunity in investigations into links between his administration and the Russian government. With your tweet, were you trying tell the Justice Department to grant immunity to Michael Flynn? he could be heard asking. Were you trying to do that Mr President, was that your intention sir? The Vice President rushed to the doorway and had a brief word with his superior, presumably to tell him he had forgotten to sign the executive orders waiting on his desk. Mr Trump motioned towards himself before disappearing into a corridor, leaving Mr Pence to collect the documents and lead the group out in front of bemused members of the press. He is thought to have signed the orders later behind closed doors, with the White House publishing the full text online. Vice President Mike Pence was left to collect the executive orders Donald Trump had been due to sign on 31 March (Reuters) The incident unfolded on the White Houses official live stream of the event but was cut from an edited video later posted on Mr Trumps personal Twitter account. A lawyer for Mr Flynn said he was in talks with congressional committees investigating Russias alleged interference in the US election to testify before them in exchange for immunity from prosecution. He was forced to resign from his role as national security adviser after admitting he gave the Vice President incomplete information about discussions with the Russian ambassador over sanctions. Mr Trump took to Twitter to urge Mr Flynn to ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion! Critics swiftly pointed out that the President had himself attacked the practice after Democratic staff were given immunity in the Hillary Clinton email investigation. If you're not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for? he asked a supporters rally. The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters Have you ever seen anything so corrupt in your life? Have you ever seen a greater embarrassment to our country? Mr Trump has been struggling to move attention away from the continuing scandal over Russias alleged interference in his favour but has suffered several embarrassing defeats on his attempted immigration bans and healthcare reforms. His latest executive orders came before he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, a summit that promises to be fraught with trade tensions. Mr Trump said he and Mr Xi were going to get down to some serious business and vowed that the theft of American prosperity by foreign countries would end. One of the orders directed the Commerce Department and the US trade representative to conduct a 90-day review of the causes of massive trade deficits, with the second trade will non-payment and under-collection of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on foreign goods. Additional reporting by Reuters Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Hillary Clinton has emerged from a period of relative silence following her defeat in the US presidential election to warn that Donald Trumps proposed budget cuts are a grave mistake" for America. Ms Clinton, a former Secretary of State, made the comments during a speech at Georgetown University Institute for Women, Peace and Security, when she warned that the proposed 29 per cent cut - approximately $10 billion - to the State Department budget would be a blow to women and children". The cuts include programmes in global public health, international development and poverty reduction, and diplomacy. They would also be coupled with Mr Trumps reinstitution of the Global Gag Rule, which prevents organisations receiving any type of global health funding from the US from offering any family planning or abortion services around the world. The move would put women and girls in conflict zones who are victims of rape at the greatest risk. The proposed budget sends a clear signal to the world, according to Ms Clinton, because the cuts are being made to pay for an increase in military and defence spending of $54 billion. Ms Clinton argued that advancing the rights of women and girls is not only the right and moral goal for us to be pursuing... this is strategic and necessary for matters of peace, prosperity and security". She also took a swipe at the White House senior aide Kellyanne Conways comment about presenting alternative facts when describing Mr Trumps inauguration crowd size and Mr Trumps habit of accusing the media of being fake news. Here I go again, talking about research, evidence, and facts, she quipped while providing data on the effectiveness of programmes administered by the US Agency for International Development, housed within the State Department, that are geared towards helping ensure security and prosperity of women and girls around the world. It was a pillar of her work at the State Department as well as a cornerstone of the development work being done through the erstwhile Clinton Global Initiative run by her family. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Slaughtering cows will now be punishable with life imprisonment in the Indian state of Gujarat. Politicians passed a law that will also includes 10-years behind bars for anyone found guilty of transporting beef. Cows are considered sacred by Hindus and the killing of cows is illegal in many states across the nation. "A cow is not an animal. It is a symbol of universal life," Gujarat Law Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja told the state's assembly, according to Al Jazeera. "Anybody who does not spare the cow, the government will not spare him." The fines for committing the crime have also been doubled from 50,000 rupees (615) to 100,000 rupees (1230). Gujarat now has the toughest laws in India on the slaughter of cows. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The issue itself is a hot topic in India and can often lead to religious riots and murderous reprisals. In 2015 a 50-year-old Muslim man who was accused of eating beef was dragged from his home and beaten to death by a mob. The viral milk photo of then high-schooler Zhang "Nancy" Zetian earned her an endorsement deal from Bubs Australia. (Photo : Weibo) Thanks to a viral milk tea photo, a young Chinese mom named Zhang "Nancy" Zetian has landed a huge endorsement deal from an Australian firm, news.com.au reported. Advertisement The 23-year-old Nancy Zetian will be endorsing for Bubs Australia as the company eyes to gain a lead in the fierce competition in China's $295 million baby formula industry. Recently, a photo of a high-school student Zhang from the province of Nanjing emerged online and became a sensation on various social media sites. The popularity of the photo has earned her the moniker, Milk Tea Sister. According to Chinese netizens, her online fame can be mainly attributed to her fair complexion, which is considered by Chinese women as an "angelic" trait. Apart from the endorsement deal, Zhang has also earned a huge following on Instagram because of the viral milk tea photo. Now touted as China's first social media influencers, gaining over 50,000 followers. The news report noted that the fact that she herself is a young mother has helped her gain credibility to promote baby products to Chinese moms. Zhang, nonetheless, is no ordinary Internet sensation. Her husband, Liu Qiangdong, with a net worth of $8 billion, is the CEO of the e-commerce firm JD.com, which also sells milk products made by Bubs Australia in the country as well as overseas. Through Zhang's investment firm, she has also taken a 17 percent stake in the venture. Back in 2015, the couple's marriage also became widely known, not because of their fame, but of their wide age gap. The mom-turned-model is 19 years younger than the Chinese billionaire. Zhang and Liu's high-profile romance has been followed by the public eye since its beginning--back when Liu courted Zang when she was still in U.S. as an exchange student. Chinese media has then covered their story quite extensively until their talked-about wedding. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A huge explosion rocked a popular French carnival, injuring at least 18 people. Onlookers were hit by chunks of burning wood and other debris after the fireball erupted from the guy-style figure known as Mr Carnival which was made of straw and wood. "Many are injured in the face, and all are in hospital," said Nathalie Crespin, a spokeswoman for the Paris fire brigade, adding that five were "in a very bad way." At least one child is thought to have been among the injured, many of whom suffered from burns. Dramatic footage was posted to social media of the incident in Villepinte, a town north of Paris. Five of those who were injured were taken to hospital with severe injuries but it not believed their lives are in danger. One eyewitness told Le Parisien that the person who lit the fire was projects several meters into the air. Another said that they had seen a child "screaming and covered in blood." They said that "to begin with, everyone thought the explosion was planned, then we realised something had gone terribly wrong." World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty A few hundred people, including local families, the mayor and other officials were waiting to watch the lighting of the 20ft high effigy when the explosion took place. The fuel that was used to light the fighter had apparently been mishandled, Ms Crespin said , adding that the children injured were aged between two to 14. Along with a few hundred members of the public, she said the mayor and other officials, had gathered to watch the lighting of the effigy. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Owned again! Your site is ours Daesh. You have nowhere to hide. You are weak, reads a message by hackers waging war on Isis online caliphate. They are celebrating a huge cyber attack that sees anyone attempting to view the terrorist groups Amaq propaganda website met with malicious software disguised as an update. By creating a virtual back door into devices, it is able to activate cameras, log keystrokes, steal files, read phone messages, take screenshots, detect GPS locations and collect contacts from unsuspecting jihadis. The infiltration forced Isis to issue a warning to followers through Amaqs encrypted Telegram channel, saying its latest Arabic language website had been penetrated by a virus, adding: Please exercise caution. Hackers installed malware on an Arabic language propaganda website run by Isis to track supporters When The Independent tried to access the site, it was automatically blocked with a warning from Google that attackers might attempt to install dangerous programs on your computer that steal or delete your information including photos, passwords and credit cards. It is the latest move to ensnare Isis supporters through the groups own propaganda, with a fake version of its Android mobile app previously created to track extremists and convincing forgeries of a propaganda magazine released online. Recommended How Isis turns normal towns into theatres and factories of death Charlie Winter, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR), said extremists were becoming agitated by intensifying online attacks. Its leaving a lot of Isis paranoid and its a joy to behold, he told The Independent. Somethings afoot. Someone is putting a lot of effort in sowing discord and paranoia its very effective. Hackers around the world are launching ever more sophisticated attacks on Isis websites and communications, with collectives hailing their success using the hashtags #OpIsis and #OpIceIsis on Twitter. Isis was forced to release a warning to followers over 'false and sometimes dangerous' content Among them is CtrlSec, which has declared its mission to limit and destroy online extremism in all shapes. Its founder is Mikro, a 20-something hacktivist leading global efforts to get jihadi Twitter accounts taken down. Recommended Westminster terrorist used WhatsApp minutes before attack Isis is the main target but we handle all types of extremists, he told The Independent. They adapt to the situation they are put in, like any other person would over time. When the caliphate was declared three years ago, militants were openly using Twitter to call for people to travel to Syria or Iraq, while sharing gory videos alongside rosy depictions of their lives in the so-called Islamic State. So brazen were communications that in 2015, Mikro and fellow hacktivists chanced upon an Isis cell in Tunisia plotting attacks on British and Jewish tourists and passed the information to security services, resulting in more than a dozen arrests. The accounts of Isis most prolific tweeters have long been removed but supporters and fanboys continue to start countless new accounts in running battles to evade activists and moderators. British Isis member Aqsa Mahmood tweeted calls for terror attacks and urged people to travel Syria before her account was shut down (Twitter) (TWitter) Mikro believes technology firms and governments are not doing enough to crack down on extremist social networking, claiming activists efforts are more effective. The day we run out of work then enough is done, but I do not see an end to this in sight, he added. We are playing whack-a-mole since third parties dont collaborate. Mikro said he has received so many death threats that he stopped bothering to record them two years ago, and keeps his name, identity and location a closely guarded secret for his own safety. Similarly secretive is a Muslim collective called Di5s3nSi0N, which has been hacking websites hosting Isis propaganda including its Amaq and Halummu news agencies, al-Furqan video outlet and al-Bayan online radio station. It overwrites sites with its calling card a red and black picture with the caption Stand Against Isis and the message HaCK3d by Di5s3nSi0N, accompanied by smiley faces. The group identifies itself as Sunni Muslim, with a mission statement reading: The steadfast youth of ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jammah can no longer tolerate the obscenities of the Baghdadi gang who abuse religion and insult the dignity of people. It sends out frequent tweets aiming to enrage Isis supporters, telling them they are soooooo weak and you are not Muslim, warning: Were coming for you. Hackers have been leaving messages on websites carrying Isis propaganda Meanwhile, the End of Daesh group describes itself as the online nemesis of Isis, calling for help to smash extremist sites with cyber attacks. Members of the Anonymous hacking collectivist are also continuing their own #OpIsis attacks after declaring war on the group following the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Gregg Housh, a former Anonymous activist, said hackers were using a range of methods including distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that flood websites with traffic until they crash, to great effect. I think the hacktivists are winning the battle for one very simple reason, he told The Independent. When you have to move, your user base has to find the new sites and accounts. Its hard to build a large following and a large amount of influence if you have to keep jumping around to new domains, new hosts and new Twitter accounts. But Mr Winter warned that Isis is continually adapting to spread its message, even as it loses swathes of territory around its most symbolic strongholds in Syria and Iraq. Certainly the landscape has changed profoundly over the course of the past few years, but the group is still eminently capable in propaganda dissemination, he said. A website gets knocked down and it comes back exactly the same in a few days or hours with a slightly different urlits a game of cat and mouse. Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawis successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a real war with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assads regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a conspiracy. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Ladens successor) concerned about Isis expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraqs second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloffs murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist groups al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isiss deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic citys ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyras residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamists positions. AFP Mr Winter said that although it had become more difficult for Isis to circulate its propaganda and posts do not stay online for as long as they once did, the group is still publishing huge amounts of articles, magazines, videos, photos and audio files. No matter how inhospitable the environment is, theyre still going to be able to use the internet, he added, warning of far-right websites republishing Isis material that remains very easy to access. Mr Winter said: Islamphobes are circulating propaganda more efficiently than Isis itself can ever do, we need to start having that conversation. The Westminster attack has once again turned the British Governments focus on to the groups online propaganda efforts after Isis claimed responsibility for the massacre the left four victims dead. Revelations that Khalid Masood used the messaging service WhatsApp just minutes before launching his attack sparked fresh debate over encryption and privacy, with communications providers meeting the Home Secretary on Thursday. Amber Rudd said that although progress has been made, she would like to see the industry to go further and faster in not only removing online terrorist content but stopping it going up in the first place. Id also like to see more support for smaller and emerging platforms to do this as well, so they can no longer be seen as an alternative shop floor by those who want to do us harm, technology firms were told. Iraqi PM says Isis will be defeated 'within the next few weeks' Michael S Smith II, a terrorism expert who recently gave evidence at the Global Coalition conference hosted by the Foreign Office, agrees, arguing that companies need to increase the risk of exploiting their technologies to recruit and incite violence. Theres really only so much that the UK government can do apart from diplomacy, he added. Propaganda is merely one factor in the larger set of problems when you look at Isis unprecedented recruitment and incitement capabilities. He warned that Isis was using social media not only to spread its message, but to incite and control attacks, including a 2015 shooting at an exhibit featuring cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed in Texas. That was linked to British Isis hacker Junaid Hussain, who foreshadowed attack on Twitter after the perpetrators used the social network to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Mr Smith argued that Western governments had been left behind by Isis exploitation of technology created in their own countries, with the group issuing detailed advice on how to encrypt communications and evade detection. He called for more efforts to disrupt the publication of extremist material, warning that once it was flagged and removed, it was too late to stop countless copies popping up elsewhere. When you see all these hactivist groups forming, Isis has succeeded in undermining confidence in our governments capability to manage threats emanating from the cyber domain, he added. The British Governments Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit, which searches for extremist material and works with internet companies to take it down, has helped remove 250,000 pieces of extremist content since 2010, working at a current rate of 2,000 per week. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Attacks on refugee accommodation have doubled in Austria, seeing homes firebombed, vandals spray Nazi graffiti on walls and a man threaten to get a gun and shoot the dogs. The interior ministry revealed the figures at the request of an MP, who said the vast majority of cases were motivated by hatred and called for more to be done to catch the culprits. Albert Steinhauser, an opposition Green party politician, said he was dismayed to find out that more than three quarters of the 49 recorded cases remain unsolved. Recommended Austria says it will double money offer to refugees who leave country The most important thing is for the interior ministry to take these incidents seriously and make every necessary effort to investigate, he told the Austria Press Agency. Among the incidents was a firebombing that saw two Molotov cocktails launched at a refugee home in Himberg, Lower Austria, in November. It was one of several reported arsons, including a fire in Rohrbach, Upper Austria, in June, which damaged one accommodation centre so badly it had to be evacuated and rebuilt. Police said refugees were put at severe risk in August when assailants broke into a storage unit and cut a gas supply hose to cause a leak that went unnoticed for more than a week. Austria puts refugees to work to boost economy Authorities said the motivations of the perpetrators were unknown, but they could have caused poisoning or a gas explosion. In May, a man approached a centre in the Alpine town of Imst and shouted threats at asylum seekers, saying he would get a gun and shoot the dogs. He was later arrested. The following month, a man falsely posing as a police officer entered a home in Fulpmes armed with a baton to carry out a supposed inspection. Other attacks involved fireworks, paintball guns and homemade Molotov cocktails, while others saw stones and other projectiles launched at windows. Most incidents involved vandalism, including the smashing of windows and spraying of racist and Nazi graffiti, including swastikas, the phrase Heil Hitler and SS runes. Activists believe many more incidents may have occurred in 2016 than the 49 officially recorded, compared to 25 in 2015. The interior ministry also listed numerous attacks and threats by asylum seekers, including carers being threatened with decapitation gestures in Linz, where another refugee told his supervisor I will kill you all. Austrian citizens and asylum seekers march during a pro-refugee protest called 'Let them stay' in Vienna, Austria on November 26, 2016. (AFP/Getty Images) At least two sexual assaults were recorded. In one attack in Bad Hall in June, a female supervisor was threatened with a smashed glass, pinned to a wall by the neck and assaulted until she managed to flee. A female worker was repeatedly assaulted by a migrant in Poysdorf, attempting to kiss her, grabbing her breasts and leaving her with a bleeding lip on one occasion. A female social worker was forcibly held in her office and prevented from making phone calls by three Afghan asylum seekers in Gortschach, who told police they terrorised her for five hours because she was a woman and a bitch. We have to look closely at what the causes are. We strongly suspect that trauma, experiences of war and extreme violence play a role, Mr Steinhauser said, calling for better psychiatric care. In all but two of 49 violent incidents or threats against workers recorded at refugee homes the perpetrators were caught, the interior ministry said. More than 130,000 people have applied for asylum in Austria since the start of the refugee crisis, with the country sitting on the route from the Greek islands into western Europe. In neighbouring Germany, more than 900 attacks on refugee homes were recorded in 2016, with the arrival of more than one million asylum seekers driving a spike in political violence and hate speech. Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily. Austria, where the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) has seats in Parliament and almost had its leader elected President last year, has been hardening its stance towards refugees this year. The government is doubling the amount of money offered to asylum seekers who leave the country voluntarily, while announcing plans to increase surveillance, ban the burqa and force refugees to sign an integration contract and work for benefits. Christian Kern, the Austrian Chancellor, announced he would be seeking an exception from accepting more asylum seekers under EU quotas. He argued that Austria had fulfilled its obligation and taken in its fair share, sending a letter to kick-start negotiations with the European Commission on Tuesday. Fewer than 14,500 migrants have been relocated from overcrowded camps in Greece and Italy under a two-year plan that was supposed to see 160,000 people housed by September. Thousands of refugees continue to make treacherous sea crossings to Europe, with more dying than ever before on the passage between North Africa and Italy. More than 28,000 asylum seekers have arrived this year, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Iraq, with at least 905 dying in the attempt. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Germany has opened an investigation into a Turkish religious organisation accused of spying on behalf of the government over an attempted coup against Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Prosecutors are reportedly probing Halife Keskin, who heads the foreign relations department of Turkeys Diyanet state religious authority, over allegations imams were asked to gather information on supporters of an exiled cleric. Investigators have a document appearing to show Keskin personally instructing Turkish missions around the world to spy on alleged members of Fethullah Gulens Hizmet movement, German media reported. Diyanet asked Turkish consulates in 35 countries including Australia, Nigeria, Mauritania and Mongolia to gather information about Gulen supporters, according to leaked documents. President Erdogan and his allies accuse Mr Gulen of plotting a failed coup in July, but he has denied the charge and governments in the US and Europe have found no evidence to support it. The US-based clerics movement admits some of its supporters may have been involved in the failed uprising, which left hundreds dead, but ensuing anti-Gulen purges seeing thousands jailed and newspapers shut down have been seen as a wider crackdown on dissent. German, Austrian and Swiss authorities have all launched investigations into whether Turkey is conducting illegal espionage on their soil. Turkey's Erdogan steps up anti-Europe rhetoric Documents made public by an Austrian politician this week alleged that Turkish embassies on four continents had submitted reports on alleged Gulen supporters after receiving a request from Ankara in September. There is clearly a global network of informants, Greens MP Peter Pilz said. We cannot say exactly how long it took to build up this network. I assume that it happened in a matter of years. Among the documents released by Mr Pilz was a written demand for information on Gulenists on 20 September, using the letterheads of the Prime Minister's office and Diyanet. The returned reports listed the names, addresses and social media activity of alleged dissenters, as well as of publishing houses, media groups, educational centres, politicians and schools deemed to support the US-based cleric. Turkey has rejected previous accusations of using religious bodies in Europe to spy on Mr Erdogan's critics, with a senior government official calling the most recent claims completely false. But the religious attache of Turkey's embassy in Austria told a local newspaper that mosque groups had a duty to check whether people of Turkish origin in Austria had been radicalised by Mr Gulen and any reports on them were legitimate. Countries routinely post intelligence officers in their embassies, and European authorities have not said in what ways the alleged Turkish activity went beyond acceptable levels of information-gathering by a foreign power. The scandal intensified in Germany after the head of Turkey's MIT intelligence agency demanded help spying on hundreds of suspected Gulen supporters from Germany's Federal Intelligence Service during last month's Munich Security Conference. In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Show all 17 1 /17 In pictures: Turkey coup attempt In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Erdogan attends the funeral service for victims of the thwarted coup in Istanbul at Fatih mosque on July 17, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey Burak Kara/Getty Images In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised in Istanbul on 16 July, 2016 Gokhan Tan/Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A civilian beats a soldier after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 REUTERS/Murad Sezer In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Surrendered Turkish soldiers who were involved in the coup are beaten by a civilian Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave flags as they capture a Turkish Army vehicle Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt People pose near a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Brigde Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A Turkish military stands guard near the Taksim Square in Istanbul Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Pierre Crom/Twitter In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square AP In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Murad Sezer/Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers detain police officers during a security shutdown of the Bosphorus Bridge Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish Army armoured personnel carriers in the main streets of Istanbul Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Chaos reigned in Istanbul as tanks drove through the streets EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks to media in the resort town of Marmaris Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of President Erdogan celebrate in Ankara following the suppression of the attempted coup Reuters Some of the images included on a list of around 300 names were allegedly secretly recorded using CCTV and other means, showing they had been gained using espionage. Boris Pistorius, the interior minister for Lower Saxony State, called the move was intolerable and said there was no evidence that Gulen supporters in Germany had anything to do with the attempted coup. Saying all listed people in his state had been warned, he accused the Turkish government of having an almost paranoid fear of conspiracy and of trying to silence its critics, with 41,000 arrested in the post-coup crackdown on Gulen supporters. A report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee found that evidence of the Gulen movements involvement in the group was anecdotal and circumstantial, as was evidence used for its terrorist designation by the Turkish government. While some of the individuals involved in the coup may have been Gulenists, given the large number of Gulenist supporters and organisations in Turkey, it does not necessarily follow that the Gulenists were responsible for the coup or that their leadership directed the coup, MPs concluded last week. A lack of evidence caused Barack Obamas administration to refuse Ankaras calls to extradite Mr Gulen from his home in Pennsylvania but there has been speculation that Donald Trump may not share the position. Refusals by the American government and much of Europe to recognise Ankaras accusations against Mr Gulen has worsened relations with Turkey amid a dispute over cancelled political rallies. Local authorities in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands were likened to Nazis by Mr Erdogan after blocking campaign events by ministers attempting to drum up support for a constitutional referendum that could see Turkeys parliamentary democracy replaced by an executive presidency. The move has generated international alarm over the prospect of dramatically increased powers for the Turkish President, which human rights groups warning the proposed changes threaten human rights and democracy. Additional reporting by Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Isis' deputy leader has reportedly been killed by an air strike in western Iraq. Ayad al-Jumaili was hit by the country's air force near the region of al-Qaim near the Syrian border, Iraqi state TV reported, although no dates or details were provided about the raid. It said he was known by the alias "Abu Yahya, the war minister." The US led anti-Islamic State coalition said it was unable to confirm the report. Al-Jumaili was reportedly the head of the groups internal security unit which has carried out public beheading, beatings and rape. It answered to the group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Before joining the extremist groups, he served as an intelligence officer in the Iraqi army until 2003 when Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown. The strike is part of Iraqi forces extensive effort to retake the city of Mosul, Islamic State's stronghold in Iraq. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty US and Iraqi officials believe Baghdadi has left operational commanders with diehard followers to fight the battle of Mosul, and is now hiding out in the desert with senior commanders. A separate battle is in preparation in Syria to drive Islamic State from its stronghold there, the city of Raqqa. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The United Nations Secretary-General has said he is is disappointed and alarmed by Israel's decision to build a new settlement on land the Palestinians seek for a state and has condemned the move. Israel's security cabinet approved the construction of the first new settlement in the occupied West Bank in two decades on Thursday, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu negotiates with Washington on a possible curb of settlement activity. Antonio Guterres condemns all unilateral actions that, like the present one, threaten peace and undermine the two-state solution, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Recommended Israel approves first new settlement in two decades The White House appeared more accommodating to Israel's plans for the new settlement, intended for some 40 Jewish families evicted from Amona, a West Bank outpost razed in February because it was built on private Palestinian land. A White House official noted Mr Netanyahu had made a commitment to the Amona settlers before he agreed to work on limiting settlement activity with Donald Trump. The US President, who had been widely seen in Israel as sympathetic towards settlements, appeared to surprise Mr Netanyahu during a White House visit last month, when he urged him to hold back on settlements for a little bit. Barack Obama uses final interview as President to slam Israeli policy on settlements The two then agreed that their aides would try to work out a compromise on how much Israel can build and where. The Israeli government has made clear that Israel's intent is to adopt a policy regarding settlement activity that takes President Trump's concerns into consideration, a written statement from the official said. Following Thursday's announcement, Israeli officials said Mr Netanyahu's security cabinet decided out of respect for Mr Trump's peace efforts to limit construction in settlements to existing, built-up areas and not to expand beyond present boundaries. The White House was informed in advance about the planned announcement of a new settlement as well as the Israeli policy shift and raised no objections, a person close to the matter said, signalling possible coordination between the two governments. US and Israeli officials completed a round of talks on the settlements last week without agreement, saying the discussions were ongoing, and the two sides have yet to announce any final understanding on the issue. The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Show all 10 1 /10 The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Medics evacuate a wounded man from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a bus stop then got out and started stabbing people before he was shot dead AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Israeli ZAKA emergency response members carry the body of an Israeli at the scene of a shooting attack in Jerusalem. A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks that escalated a month long wave of violence AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Getty Images The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians throw molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank. Recent days have seen a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have wounded several Israelis AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Women cry during the funeral of Palestinian teenager Ahmad Sharaka, 13, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah, at the family house in the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Ramallah AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A wounded Palestinian boy and his father hold hands at a hospital after their house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians look on after a protester is shot by Israelis soldiers during clashes at the Howara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus EPA The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A lawyer wearing his official robes kicks a tear gas canister back toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration by scores of Palestinian lawyers called for by the Palestinian Bar Association in solidarity with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, near Ramallah, West Bank AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Undercover Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian in Ramallah Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinian youth burn tyres during clashes with Israeli soldiers close to the Jewish settlement of Bet El, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Israel barred Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child Mr Trump's Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, this week wrapped up a second trip to the region aimed at reviving peace talks that collapsed in 2014. Palestinians want the West Bank and East Jerusalem for their own state, along with the Gaza Strip. Most countries view Israeli settlement activity as illegal and an obstacle to peace. Israel disagrees, citing biblical and historical ties to the land it captured in the 1967 war, as well as security concerns. The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in December that demanded a halt to settlement building, after the Obama administration decided to abstain from the vote instead of vetoing the moving. Sweden's UN Ambassador Olof Skoog, a member of the Security Council, said the 15-member Security Council should respond to the latest announcement by Israel on settlements. The urgency of the situation and the deterioration on the ground might call for some sort of Security Council action, although we know that finding unity on this is not easy, he told reporters. Reuters Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} British Airways has chosen 1 April to launch its latest cunning plan: flying more fresh air around. Starting today, the airline will fly the same network of domestic service linking London with northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. But it will deliberately keep some of the seats empty. BAs move will shrink the number of tickets on sale from Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle to London. It now promises a window or aisle seat for every business-class passenger, and more personal space for working and relaxing. This is achieved by leaving the middle seats empty in the front of the plane. Every row of six seats from Gatwick and Heathrow in Club class has a maximum of four occupants, with the middle seat on each side left unsold. On the average BA domestic flight on an Airbus A320, 20 seats are free allowing for 10 rows of business class, which should be enough on a typical flight. But where airlines make most money is at peak time, when every seat is filled at high fares. Yesterday, for example, two late afternoon flights from Heathrow to Edinburgh were completely sold out and the next departure was selling at 320 at about a pound a mile, almost Concorde prices, though with tea, coffee or champagne extra. British Airways is engaged in a fine balancing act, said Malcolm Ginsberg, Editor in Chief of Business Travel News. Will the reduced number of seats be reflected by the increased revenue that the business-class passengers will generate? The airline says the decision is unrelated to the removal in January of complimentary catering from economy passengers on short-haul flights in Europe. A spokesperson for BA said: "We're delighted to be launching our short-haul business class cabin, Club Europe, on our UK domestic flights. The introduction of the cabin enables us to offer to UK domestic customers the use of our spacious lounges, with complimentary catering, priority boarding and disembarkation, more generous baggage allowances, extra Avios and frequent flyer points plus excellent free onboard food and drink." Environmentalists are alarmed at the development. John Stewart, Chair of the HACAN group, which opposes expansion at Heathrow, said: More fresh air inside the plane will do nothing about the dirty air outside it. At a time when air pollution is a real problem, if airlines have seats to spare they should be looking to cut flight numbers rather than fly around with even more empty seats. The Independent has identified a way to emulate the British Airways proposition on a budget airlines domestic flights. On Ryanair services from London to Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow, it is possible to book two seats together. The first using the passengers real name, the second requires the purchaser to enter Mr Extra Comfort Seat. Test bookings between Edinburgh and London suggest prices for this DIY business class are around half the corresponding fare on BA. But without lounge access, baggage allowance or champagne. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Red tape for British motorists venturing abroad is getting more tangled from today, even though the final shape of post-Brexit travel is far from certain. From 1 April, foreign motorists in Paris, Lyon and Grenoble must display an air-quality certificate known as CRITAir. The cost of the certificate is 4.18. The AA says the fine for infringement is 135. The new rules are part of the widening of Low Emission Zones across Europe. Meanwhile Germanys attraction to foreign motorists to drive on toll-free, unlimited-speed motorways is soon to end. The Bundestag in Berlin has voted to require drivers from outside Germany to buy a pass to use the autobahn network. The cost will depend on the size and environmental impact of the vehicle. The minimum period for passes is 10 days, costing 5 for 10 days for a small, clean car to 15 for a larger gas-guzzler. German motorists will also pay the fees, but the cost will be mitigated with correspondingly lower annual vehicle charges. Neighbouring Austria already has a Motorway Vignette scheme which costs 8.90 for 10 days. But British travellers who prefer to let the train take the strain in Spain are in luck, according to the April edition of the European Rail Timetable. Writers for the guide, Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries, say: Most long-distance tickets for journeys within Spain actually include entirely free travel on suburban trains at both the start and end of your journey. So with a ticket from Barcelona Sants (the main station in the Catalan city) to Madrid Atocha you can in fact start your journey at any suburban station in the Barcelona area without having to pay a cent more. And, upon arrival in Madrid, you can without extra charge use trains on the Madrid cercanias network to reach your final destination. Passengers whose tickets show the words Combinado Cercanias can secure a free suburban train ticket from station machines or booking offices. It applies for services to and from Madrid airport Terminal 4. The system really works, say the writers. "But it is important that your ticket is booked directly with the Spanish national operator RENFE or with a ticket retailer which has a direct link into the Spanish system. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump is lot like a cockroach and not just because hes generally chock-full of horse excrement. You can step on the guy all you want, but he always seems to scuttle away completely unscathed. And hes survived more nuclear fallouts in the past 70 days than any other so-called politician would ever hope to see in ten lifetimes. Cabinet resignations, court defeats, legislative setbacks, thousands of lawsuits, allegations of rape, mass protests and the lowest approval rating for a generation are just a no, never mind to him. Up until recently, it seemed like Trumps ego, shameless ambitions and grip on power simply could not be killed. But Michael Flynn might just be the industrial-grade pesticide the world has been desperately praying for. The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters Even if youre unfamiliar with the name, youll have caught bits and pieces of his backstory. Flynn was a three-star army general turned ardent Trump warhawk. The two sparked quite a bromance over the course of 2016, and so it was hardly surprising when Trump named Flynn Americas top national security advisor after The Donald was sworn into office. Within 24 hours of that appointment, Trump fed his friend to the crocodiles and kicked him out of the White House after it leaked Flynn had some alleged dodgy dealings with the Kremlin. Apparently Flynn met with a Russian ambassador to chat about the possibility of removing US sanctions after Trump came to power, and then lied to everybody about it. Bad call. Critics scoffed at the early face plant, but everybody seemed to move on just fine. But fast forward two months, and Russia has become Washingtons favourite buzzword. A few days ago, FBI Director James Comey announced that he was finally going to take action, and that he was formally investigating the Trump administration to see if the Presidents team may have actually been working alongside Russia to cheat Hillary Clinton out of last years election. And guess which disgraced former general with a huge chip on his shoulder immediately stepped out of the shadows offering to dish the dirt? Trump walks out of an executive-order signing ceremony without signing the executive orders Thats right. Michael Flynn and his new, aggressively anti-Trump lawyer have volunteered to tell members of congress and the FBI everything there is to say about Americas greasy new president and his supposed links with Moscow but only under the sole condition that Flynn is guaranteed total immunity from being prosecuted for what it is he has to say. Senate insiders have already dismissed Flynns immunity offer as wildly preliminary, but members of the House Intelligence Committee sound quite keen. And unless this is all just some sort of pathetic Hail Mary to get his job back, Donald Trump should be pretty damn worried about this guy. After all, as Michael Flynn himself so gingerly pointed out while campaigning for Trump in last years election: When you are given immunity, that means youve probably committed a crime. We could speculate forever-and-a-day about what sort of crime that may have been, and where the big man with the little hands ultimately fits into all this. But the fact that wild speculation is even on the table speaks volumes as to just how far we as a society have fallen. Donald Trump has completely and utterly desecrated the integrity of his office. He bathed the American people in snake oil in a desperate bid to reach what he perceived to be the top, and he stepped on a whole lot of friends along the way. Well, Mr President, karma sure is a bitch because it looks like Michael Flynn might have been the wrong friend to step on. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} While a small matter when placed against Scottish independence or a united Ireland, the future of Gibraltar is much more intractable, or at least will soon become so if the implicit threat of a Spanish veto on its future becomes real. For Spain could easily make life for the Gibraltarians next to impossible. Closing the frontier, refusing access to aircraft travelling to Gibraltar, punishing Gibraltars liberal tax and financial regulation regime, and any number of other measures could be taken if the UK refuses to compromise on sovereignty. The Spanish have blockaded the territory many times in the past, but that was mostly brought to an end when the Spanish had to accept special status for Gibraltar when they negotiated to join the European Union in the 1980s and the UK and its colonies were firmly in. This time round it will be Spain that has the rest of Europe on its side. Given that the Gibraltarians also voted so overwhelmingly to Remain there are many painful ironies in their current predicament. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters As Boris Johnson declared, Britain should defend the rights of the people of Gibraltar, but will it make sense if the economic cost is absurdly high? Might there even come a moment when Gibraltar has to choose between British rule in penury, or prosperity inside the European Union as a special province of the Kingdom of Spain, with rights and liberties guaranteed by the EU itself? Unthinkable until now, it is but one of many unpalatable and unintended consequences of the Leave vote last year. It is a further reason why the British people and those of Gibraltar will have to have a second referendum on the terms of Brexit. It may be that there is some clever, rational compromise that is acceptable to Britain, Gibraltar and Spain, but in such an emotional case it is more likely to be knocked out of the way by patriotic pride and nationalism. At any rate, none of this was on the ballot paper in Gibraltar last summer. Sooner or later it will have to be, and the awkward question of how far the UK is prepared to go to look after its tiny overseas territory will have to faced up to at this end of Europe, too. Brauer and his partner focused the study on deaths related to fine particulates, which are deeply embedded in Chinese-made goods. (Photo : Getty Images) Products made in China may be cheap and plentiful, but they have also caused the death of over 700,000 people in 2007, USA Today reported. The data was gleaned from a new study published in the most recent issue of Nature, which also revealed that 11 percent of deaths related to Chinese air pollution were caused by products made in China and later used in the United States and Western Europe. Advertisement Coincidentally, the U.S. and western Europe are also the largest importers of Chinese-made goods. We may be benefitting from lower prices, but they may be coming at the expense of someone elses health, Michael Brauer from the University of British Columbia, wrote in the report he co-authored. There is no free lunch. Brauer and his partner focused the study on deaths related to fine particulates, which are deeply embedded in Chinese-made goods. These contaminants are microscopic in size and have been linked by scientists to diseases such as lung cancer and stroke. Fine particulates are abundant in Chinas polluted air and are considered as deadlier than ozone. According to the study, approximately 3.5 million people around the globe have been killed by fine particulates in 2007, with almost a quarter of the incidents related to imported goods. For instance, 238,000 deaths are linked to products made in China. For the researchers, the trade and movement of imported goods are a culprit behind these air-pollution deaths. To help curb these incidents, Dabo Guan, Brauers co-author from Tsinghua University and the University of East Anglia in Britain, encourages shoppers to invest in more durable, quality items. We need to make sustainable consumerism the fashion, he said. Surprisingly, President Trumps planned tariffs and America first policy might also help reduce deaths caused by trade-related air pollution. Now you can see what sort of jobs have been moving from the U.S.A. and Europe to China and India and Asia, Jos Lelieveld from Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, said. Theyre associated with pollution." Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The chattering classes are chattering about creating a new centre party again. Pro-Europeans in Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats make common cause over their concern that the UK might be heading for an economically damaging hard Brexit. Richard Dawkins, the scientist, has proposed a "European Party" pitched at the 48 per cent who voted Remain last year. He said it might not win the next general election, but would stand a better chance than Labour or the Lib Dems under their present name. He was writing in the New Statesman, which has a dramatic cover saying: Wanted: an opposition. Anna Soubry, the Europhile Conservative MP, teased the magazine that she might be open to joining a moderate, sensible, forward-thinking new party. When pressed later, however, she insisted that she is a One Nation Tory. Such public hints reflect many private discussions among politicians who wonder whether they have more in common with like-minded liberals in other parties than their own. They sniff something in the air after Brexit left the 48 per cent largely unrepresented. Brexit has cut across party boundaries; our party system can no longer accommodate the new dividing lines. It is no longer about socialism versus capitalism, or working class versus ruling class. As well as close links to the EU, centrists in all three parties support a market economy with strong public services; they are broadly pro-immigration and socially liberal. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters Yet politicians break party bonds only when there is a big enough catalyst. Walking out on your political family is hard. For the Labour moderates who formed the SDP in 1981, Labours hostility to Europe amid its lurch to the left pushed them over the edge. Sound familiar? Today Labours pro-EU wing are furious with Jeremy Corbyn for giving Theresa May such an easy ride on Brexit so far. Potential Labour defectors do not rule out forging a new party, but insist the stars are not aligned yet. Corbyns internal critics are convinced the tide is turning against him among once-loyal party members who now accept he is not up to the job. His MP opponents have stopped attacking him in public, claiming the Corbynistas have nothing to say when they cannot blame Labours dire opinion poll ratings on bitter Blairites. Critics ask why they should surrender Labours brand and assets to the left. They suspect the trade unions will force Corbyn to fall on his sword before the election, so it would be odd for them to walk out now. The SDP is not a good advert. It did not break the political mould even though it forced Labour to return to the centre and by splitting the non-Tory vote, helped keep Margaret Thatcher in power. With just nine MPs, the Lib Dems ought, in theory, to be keen on a realignment. But Brexit has revived the party and given it a huge target audience, so it would be a strange time to gamble on a new venture. Although Cameronites exiled by May enjoy a little mischievous plotting with Blairites and their former Lib Dem coalition buddies, May has a nuclear weapon to force Tory MPs into line: Do you really want to throw Labour a lifeline and scupper 20 years of Conservative rule? Tory whips deploy it against the partys 30 pro-EU MPs. Donald Tusk outlines EU guidelines for Brexit talks So perhaps a more realistic prospect in the short term is a progressive anti-Tory alliance by Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens. It would have to be grassroots driven rather than imposed from the top; indeed, there are growing signs of anti-Tory pacts at local level. Less painful than political divorce. Another barrier to a new party is the absence of a leader with the star quality and fresh appeal of Emmanuel Macron, who is prospering in France under a presidential rather than party-based system. It would be easy for opponents to portray Tony Blair, George Osborne and Nick Clegg as a coalition of yesterdays men and losers (and some Labour figures say the Austerity Chancellor might be a hard sell to Labour members and voters). Yet the chatter goes on and politicians who might be tempted to take the plunge see two scenarios in which it might just happen. One is Corbyn leading Labour to a catastrophic election defeat, with its number of MPs falling from about 230 to 150. The left keeps its grip on the party through rule changes and deselecting centrist MPs, who form the New Democrats with the Lib Dems after their recovery fails to translate into big parliamentary gains. With the UK still in a transitional exit deal from the EU, a group of Tory Europhiles sign up and the new party offers voters a choice between Return and Leave in another referendum. The second scenario is more immediate: despite Mays genuine desire for an EU deal and her professed support for liberal democratic values, her party drives her to a hard right Brexit under a World Trade Organisation regime. The pound plunges and the economy sinks. This is a sufficient catalyst for Labour, Tory and Lib Dem figures who want a soft (or no) Brexit to throw off their party chains and start over in the hope that shaking the kaleidoscope prevents a bad Brexit. On balance, I doubt it will happen. But stranger things have. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} On Wednesday HM Government served a notice that puts this country in a position similar to that of a tenant who has given a notice to quit without having another home to go to, or an employee who quits without having another job to go to. It hands virtually all the cards to the other party. Ironically perhaps, the only people on the Leave side who seem prepared to deal with the implications of this are those who are so viscerally affronted by everything they think the EU stands for that they are happy to contemplate a situation in which from 30 March 2019 all trade conducted by this country with members of the EU will be undertaken under WTO rules. In the long run, probably after several decades, the position will change, because it is the younger generations who voted heavily to remain who will gradually assume power. No one should ever forget that what is happening is driven largely by those over 35, and especially over 65. At some point that pigeon will come home to roost. Philip Morgan Llanelli You didn't fool me I have been away for a while but I readily spotted your many April Fool references to a President Trump. You really will have to be more subtle in future to fool The Indys sharp-eyed readership. Brian Mitchell Cambridge We have been taken for a ride Thats it, Article 50 has been triggered and the European Union given official notice of the UKs intention to leave by the 29 March 2019. Or is it, when such an intention can be withdrawn at any time during the coming two years of negotiations, during which unbiased light will be shed on all the discussions we should have had, but didnt, before the referendum took place? And if folk find that they have been kept in the dark over the proper issue theyll have every right to feel awfully aggrieved over having been sold something way too dodgy by far. Article 50 is not so much triggered as heaven help us Rodneyed or Del Boyed! John Haran Essex The UK doesn't need the EU or Scotland to prosper What an institution the EU is. At last the people are seeing what we are affiliated to, bullying dictators hell bent on punishing the UK for their democratic rights to leave. We entered into the common market to trade freely and fairly but slowly and stealthily we have been drawn into their clutches. We liberated Europe in two world wars do they forget our sacrifices and the price we paid for their freedom? Now they are demanding we pay them billions for the pleasure of being a member of their gang. We once had a proud nation: we fought wars throughout the world in the name of justice and freedom; we endured two world wars without asking Europe for a penny; and we survived. We don' need Europe now, or Scotland for that matter. Theresa May now needs all the support she can muster from all parties within Parliament, excluding the rebellious SNP of course, who are hell bent on destroying the British. I have nothing but admiration for Theresa May. I hope she finds the strength and will to see this through. Better days will come once were out of this cauldron of mayhem. Its going to be harder than getting out of an online book club and thats saying something. David Mitchinson Address supplied Brexit will harm hospitality recruitment James Moore is right to be alarmed at the recruitment challenges facing the hospitality industry post-Brexit (Brexit to cause 60,000 hospitality recruitment shortage, industry warns, 31 March), but this issue is long-standing and rooted in the poor public image and profound misconceptions of the sector. Government has a role, but all of us in the industry, including the BHA, need to raise our game and show young people and their families the wealth of exciting and rewarding careers that exist in hospitality and tourism. As Principal of a hotel school, I see the brightest and the best graduates move into prestigious jobs within global brands as well as the best UK independents, but this industry offers opportunities for development and progression at all levels as well as future job security. We are told that in our digital age, many professions will become automated in the near future, but hospitality requires initiative, creativity and a flair for communication skills which a robot can never replicate. Andrew Boer Principal, the Edge Hotel School Colchester Ukip is far from dead Both Labour and UKIP are having their own issues, but, in fairness, we have suffered for a long time the slings and arrows of the press in the overblown obituary writing of the death of UKIP. The party has some great policies and people. Sadly, they are not currently being shown in the best of light; and the departure of Douglas Carswell is a point in question. When asked about the death of UKIP I and others answer it this way; we are not a protest party, we represented at the last GE over four million people in this country and it is only the antiquated first past the post system that stops ourselves and the Greens from being a force for change. We also are not a single issue party and should not be painted in that manner, as only being about leaving the EU. We are a party in our own right with great policy ideas and should be seen in that way. However, sadly, some are bathing in the reflected glory of a referendum result, great though that was, I am not one of them and wish to speak for those who voted for us then, now and in the future. So, to close, the death of UKIP is much exaggerated as will be seen. Chris Gallacher Chairman, Ukip Redcar An 800-pupil international school opening in south Dublin in September next year will be hoping to cash in on the influx of company executives expected to relocate to Ireland in the wake of Brexit. The school will cater for both local and expatriate pupils, aged between three and 18, on a campus in a refitted former Microsoft office block at South County Business Park, Leopardstown. It is a partnership between Nord Anglia Education, which runs 43 international schools globally, and Irish technology entrepreneur, Barry O'Callaghan. There is a growing market in international education at second level, much of it driven by families based in places such as Asia, who want their children to be educated through English. International schools are also often favoured by executives of multinationals, many more of whom, particularly in the banking and insurance sectors, are expected in Dublin as a consequence of Brexit. Fees for Nord Anglia Dublin have not been disclosed but they will be significantly higher than those for traditional fee-paying schools in the city, which range between 4,000-8,000. Nord Anglia Madrid charges tuition fees of about 20,000 a year for second-level pupils, plus extras. "We've sold 100 since January," Dermot Tobin tells me on the phone. He is the man behind the Moscha swivel spout in Ireland and is also a farmer from Carrick on Suir who specialises in fattening bulls. I asked him to tell me how he came to be the sole agent for the Moscha spout in Ireland and the UK. "I was over at the Agritechnica show in Germany a few years ago and stumbled across the Moscha stand. I was interested in it straight away and thought it would work well in Ireland. "There were two German lads on the stand; they didn't have a word of English and my German wouldn't set the world alight. But I was intrigued with the design; I went away and thought about it and the next day I bought one." We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference After a few months spreading slurry on the home farm with the Moscha Dermot became convinced it was a device Irish farmers could use in numbers. The basic idea is that the swivel spout applicator slows down the speed at which slurry leaves the tanker, but also increases the slurry droplet size. The swivel spreader works on a pendulum movement initiated by the slurry guide plates, and gives a working width of 12-18m depending on the vacuum tanker's pump size. The attachment can also be fitted as the spreader unit for an umbilical system. After trialing one at home, Dermot went back to Moscha and agreed a deal to become the sole distributor for Ireland and the UK. He has not appointed dealers appointed to date and has no plans to do so. The units are delivered by courier and the farmer or contractor fits the unit. Estimated fitting time is around 45 minutes. No extra power is required from the tractor and fitting it simply involves replacing a female/male coupling splash plate with the Moscha unit by clamping it onto the 120mm outlet pipe on the tanker. Tobin explained; "I always ask the customer if they intend on changing their tanker size in the future. If they do, I sell them the Moscha size most suitable for the incumbent tanker. Our most popular seller is the 77W model. "This costs 1,000 plus VAT and would be suited to the 10,000 litre pump commonly found on a 2,500 gallon tanker, and gives a 17m spread. The tank empties quite quickly, about 30pc faster than with a splash plate system. The key benefits are less tracking on soft ground, reduced smell, faster grass regrowth and better distribution of slurry. "We have a bigger model suited for a 13,000 litre pump that costs 1,100 plus VAT. The entry level Moscha costs 950 plus VAT and is designed for an 8,000 litre pump." The Carrick-on-Suir man hasn't looked back since that first confusing encounter in Germany. He has sold 500 in total since he took the agency on. Teagasc Oakpark currently have one of his machines and are in the process of testing it for ammonia emissions. This will be the acid test for its claims of reduced ammonia losses over the splash plate spreading system and will go some way towards deciding whether it will be GLAS approved. The Supreme Court has referred a case taken by Ryanair against the Revenue Commissioners to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Ryanair is appealing against a High Court ruling that it cannot claim back 770,000 Vat incurred on stockbroking fees connected to its failed 2006 Aer Lingus takeover attempt. The Supreme Court has said that in order to determine the appeal, certain questions on European law must be referred to the ECJ. Just days after Aer Lingus floated on the stock market in 2006, Ryanair swooped in with an offer to buy its smaller rival for almost 1.5bn. The approach was rejected. Ryanair made subsequent efforts to buy Aer Lingus, all of which failed. It sold its near-30pc stake in Aer Lingus to British Airways owner IAG in 2015, after the airline group successfully bid 1.3bn for the Irish carrier. Ryanair sought to claim back Vat paid to stockbrokers in respect of the 2006 Aer Lingus takeover attempt. The tax appeal commissioners rejected Ryanair's claim and the airline then appealed that decision to the Circuit Court. The Circuit Court agreed with the appeal commissioners' decision, but referred the case for the opinion of the High Court in 2012. Circuit Court Judge Jacqueline Linnane asked the High Court to determine whether she was correct in law in reaching her conclusion. Counsel for Ryanair had argued in the High Court that Judge Linnane had erred in law on a number of grounds, including that the airline had provided evidence that it did not intend to hold shares in Aer Lingus as a passive investor -which would have constituted a "non-economic activity" for the purposes of a Vat deduction. But in 2013, Judge Mary Laffoy agreed with the decisions of both the appeal commissioners and the Circuit Court. Ryanair then appealed the High Court ruling to the Supreme Court. Judge Frank Clarke, of the Supreme Court, said this week that he had concluded that it was necessary in order to determine the outcome of the appeal to refer certain questions of European law to the European Court of Justice. He referred to relevant cases which demonstrated that in certain circumstances, the purchase of shares can amount to qualifying preparatory work directed towards an economic activity where Vat could then be considered an input cost and possibly be deductible. "At the level of basic principle, however, there is a distinction between the purchase of shares for the purpose of holding as a passive investment, on the one hand, and the purchase of shares by a holding company for the purposes of engaging in the economic activity of providing management and other services to its subsidiaries, on the other," noted Judge Clarke. "It is clear that the latter constitutes economic activity and amounts to the provision of a Vatable service. It is equally clear that the former does not," he added. Ryanair never provided management services to Aer Lingus because it never took it over, but it insists that its ultimate intention was to provide those services, notwithstanding the fact that it did not succeed in its takeover attempt. The Revenue Commissioners argued that paying professional fees in relation to a possible acquisition of a company, to which it is intended that management services might be supplied, could not amount, as a matter of law, to such a direct and immediate link. Supermacs will sponsor a Formula 1 team in 2018 in a move to develop the Irish food chain's relationship with the motorsport sector. Speaking exclusively to Independent.ie, founder Pat McDonagh said We are confident that we have designed a car that is fast, competitive and Irish so we can take our place at the top table again. Supermacs connection with motorsport currently includes involvement with the Galway International Rally and as proud sponsor of rally driver, Aaron McHale. The restaurant chain has also developed the Supermacs Racing brand to help develop engineering talent through the motorsport sector. Since the time of Joe Kelly Ireland has had a presence on the F1 circuit. Derek Daly, David Kennedy, Tommy Byrne and John Watson played their part to keep the Formula 1 and in recent years Eddie Irvine held the torch for us, Pat McDonagh said. Expand Expand Previous Next Close / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Eddie Jordan brought things to a new level with the Jordan Racing team in the 1990s but since 2005 there has been no recognizable Irish presence on the circuit and we aim to change that in 2018, he said. There has been almost a natural progression in the world of motorsport since our involvement as rallying sponsors that we now feel the time is right to pursue sponsorship in one of the highest echelons of the sport and our Supermacs Racing sponsorship brand has given us the taste for success, McDonagh continued. The Supermacs MD was giving little away when it came to who would be supplying the car but he was confident that they would be ready and competitive for the 1st race of 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. There is a lot of work to be done to drive this along, he said. We have been working behind the scenes with the Formula 1 governing body and with a major Formula 1 brand who are looking to re-enter the scene in 2018 and we are confident that we have designed a car that is fast, competitive and Irish so we can take our place at the top table again. Supermacs has recently sponsored the Supermacs Racing team at the World Finals of the F1 Schools Competition in Austin, Texas towards the end of last year. This is where we got a feel for the power of the Formula 1 project and we began to look at ways of tying in with the races and more specifically with the racing team,McDonagh said. Expand Close Aaron McHale Supermacs 2017 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Aaron McHale Supermacs 2017 It soon became clear that the Formula 1 Circuit was lacking an Irish element and our focus quickly turned to generating a relationship with a car provider with a strong Irish connection. Its been in the fast lane since then, he said. Supermacs Racing was a partnership between Supermacs and St. Brigids College in Loughrea where the team designed and manufactured a 1/20th scale CO2 powered Formula 1 car capable of travelling at speeds in excess of 120km/h. The car won the award Best Engineered Car at the F1 National Finals in the RDS last May. They also won additional awards for their marketing strategy and social media activity. North Korea Coal (Photo : Getty Images) According to official data, the worth of North Korea coal imported by China rose by almost 40 percent in February when Beijing pledged to put the trade on hold due to nuclear and missile threats. Advertisement Last month, China brought in $97.6 million worth of North Korea coal according to Chinese customs website. This is higher than the $70.1 million worth of imported coal during the same period the previous year. The countrys total imports from North Korea surged to $16.7 million in the month, with a 47 percent increase from last years $119.9 million. However, the volume of imported coal the previous month decreased from 1.52 million a year ago tons to 1.23 million tons. The data was released following Beijings announcement on Feb. 18 that China was suspending all imports of North Korea coal for the rest of 2017. The decision came after another North Korean rocket launch and the killing of Kim Jong-uns half-brother in Malaysia. Chinas customs did not clarify whether the data only cover the period prior the official suspension was implemented or the entire month. Beijing is Pyongyangs only major ally and its economic support. However, the Chinese government has been pressured to exert more effort in restricting its neighbor. China has been frequently accused by U.S. President Donald of not using its influence to help halt North Koreas nuclear and missile program. Earlier this month, Trump tweeted, "North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been 'playing' the United States for years. China has done little to help!" The U.S. Presidents comment was given subsequent to two North Korean nuclear tests last year and the recent missile launches. Pyongyang said that the launches were practice for attacking U.S. bases in Japan. Under U.N. resolutions, North Korea is prohibited from conducting nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches. China fears that a total ban may spark a conflict or worse, a total regime collapse. Beijing wants to resume multilateral diplomatic negotiations with Pyongyang on forsaking its nuclear ambitions. However, previous talks aiming to dissuade North Korea have been unsuccessful. Chinese officials customarily made certain that U.N. Security Council resolutions on sanctions against Pyongyang included humanitarian exemptions. Thus, the county had persisted in importing large amounts of coal from North Korea. However, the most recent U.N. resolution approved in December did not include such exemption. China then halted from buying North Korea coal for three weeks to Dec. 31. Insurance companies have been accused of wriggling out of paying claims by alleging that customers are not being upfront with them. Banks have also been heavily criticised for denying consumers access to financial services. Financial services ombudsman Ger Deering has found against banks that closed the current accounts of customers over false allegations there was a breach of money-laundering rules. Insurers have also been accused of failing to pay out on claims by saying consumers had not disclosed all relevant facts when taking out the policy. Presenting a review of consumer complaints dealt with last year, Mr Deering said he has seen a rise in banks and insurers telling customers they would no longer deal with them. This has left people without banking services and left others unable to get insurance cover, as someone denied cover by one company is then rejected by the rest. "I have been concerned to note, in a number of complaints to this office, the manner in which some banks and insurance companies either denied or curtailed services to customers," said Mr Deering. "Access to certain financial services in the banking and insurance sectors is not a luxury. "I will continue to pay attention to the conduct of banks and insurance companies to ensure that their conduct is fair, reasonable and proportionate." Statistics released by the ombudsman show Ulster Bank had the most complaints upheld against it last year, followed by Irish Life, and then AIB. Bank of Ireland Mortgages would be in joint second for the number of complaints upheld if Bank of Ireland and Bank of Ireland Mortgages were not listed separately in the table. Mr Deering said a bank was ordered by him to pay 4,000 in compensation to a customer and refund fees after it denied access to online banking. It is understood the customer had exceeded an overdraft limit and issued cheques that bounced. The bank had shut off the online banking option as a punishment, but allowed the customer to continue to use its branches. Mr Deering said he was aware banks had to comply with anti-money laundering legislation but he warned them not to go beyond the limits of those requirements. The ombudsman ordered an insurance company to pay 3,000 in compensation after it "unreasonably" denied a claim and cancelled the policy. Mr Deering is concerned that insurance companies are increasingly resorting to saying a policy is invalid, and then refusing to pay out. They do this by alleging there was a non-disclosure of a key fact. This might include an allegation that the consumer did not admit they had made a previous insurance claim. A bank was also ordered to pay a customer 10,000 and issue an apology for freezing a bank account. This was done in "unfair, unreasonable and embarrassing circumstances", Mr Deering's report said. A total of 4,334 valid complaints were received by the ombudsman last year. The State body said 2,198 complaints were still active from the previous years. The ombudsman operates a free dispute resolution mechanism for consumers and can award compensation of up to 250,000, and reverse decisions of finance companies. A security update message is seen on a Whatsapp message the issue of online security has become a large concern on Wall Street Dirty jokes and "not safe for work" GIFs. Snaps of unsuspecting colleagues on the trading floor. Screenshots of confidential client positions. All that - and, on occasion, even legally dubious information - is increasingly being trafficked over the new private lines of Wall Street: encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal. Many are embracing these apps as an easy, virtually untraceable way to circumvent compliance rules. Expand Close William McGovern of law firm Kobre & Kim / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp William McGovern of law firm Kobre & Kim It is happening despite industry efforts to crack down on unmonitored communications, according to employees at more than a dozen of Wall Street's most recognisable firms. Just this week, a former Jefferies Group banker was fined in the UK for sharing confidential data on WhatsApp. The use of such apps is also raising concerns that it could enable reckless behaviour that is all but impossible to police. "You're really able to operate outside of the bank," said William McGovern, a former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) branch chief and senior lawyer at Morgan Stanley, who now works at law firm Kobre & Kim. "The ground is shifting under everyone." Expand Close Wall Street / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Wall Street The rules are clear. Financial firms need to keep records of all written business communications, according to the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Asset managers are bound by similar regulations. Representatives for Wall Street banks say they have policies in place to prevent unmonitored communications and unauthorised access to confidential information. They check emails and chats on company devices, restrict personal phones and messaging services on trading floors and require employees to sign agreements prohibiting unmonitored communications for work. In January, Deutsche Bank banned text messages and apps such as WhatsApp and Apple's iMessage on company phones. The nearly two dozen employees who spoke off the record with Bloomberg say those policies are routinely ignored. In December, Navnoor Kang, a money manager responsible for $50bn of New York State's pension fund investments, was indicted for accepting $180,000 of bribes from two bond salesmen, including a $17,400 watch, prostitutes and cocaine, in return for business that generated millions in commissions. According to the indictment, Mr Kang and salesman Gregg Schonhorn used WhatsApp "in an effort to keep their communications from being monitored by law enforcement". Mr Kang pleaded not guilty in January. To some, the surprise wasn't just the alleged crime, but the failure to delete apparently incriminating WhatsApp messages. If they had, compliance experts say authorities would have less to go on because WhatsApp itself doesn't store users' encrypted messages. For sensitive conversations, employees say they still prefer calling on mobile phones they know are not monitored, even though there is a possibility the records could be subpoenaed. Regardless, firms are getting better at spotting the signs when an employee wants to go rogue, says Jack Rader, a managing director at ACA Compliance Group. Banks have taken a page from prosecutors and implemented software to flag phrases such as "check your phone", "sent you a text", "take this offline" or "call my cell". Technology can only go so far in keeping firms on the right side of the law. When Mr Rader talks about compliance, he sometimes encounters pushback from heads of sales and trading desks, especially because profits are at stake. That raises a host of questions, according to Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan's business school. "Are firms really doing what's reasonable in trying to stop this?" he said. "Or are they sort of wink-winking?" (Bloomberg) Empathy: Before The Boomtown Rats found fame, singer Bob Geldof lived on the streets in London, in a church crypt, and made money by selling hot dogs and busking Photo: Gerry Mooney Joseph O'Connor wrote in Banana Republic: Reflections On A Suburban Irish Childhood about an important time in modern Irish history - November 1978 - when The Boomtown Rats became "the first Irish group of the era to get to the top of the British charts". They ousted "twee single Summer Nights" with the thunderous anti-establishment Rat Trap. "In school," added O'Connor, "my friends and I were speechless with pride." Ever the self-effacing iconoclast, The Boomtown Rats' frontman Bob Geldof is dismissive of discussing the legacy of the band. In my view, he wrote three songs - Rat Trap, Lookin' After No. 1 and, of course, Banana Republic - that said more about Ireland than any song Van Morrison or Bono wrote ever did. He talks about the Rats' historic show at Leixlip in March 1980 when the Irish establishment, especially the courts, the State and the Church, seemed against these dirty, godless gurriers from Dun Laoghaire. Geldof identifies the reaction to the concert as a cusp moment when that young Irish generation just said 'enough'. "For that generation, there was a sense that it was a moment of change," he says, "and that this was different from an older type of behaviour, an older type of deference." It was a reaction to the Church/State alliance and "everything that came out of that. That's what I was saying in the Yeats documentary I made", he says, referring to A Fanatic Heart: Geldof on Yeats. "That was the original sin, the great betrayal of everything that they had been striving for in the beginning of 1900s," he adds. "It was a stitch-up. I am not equating it [The Boomtown Rats and Leixlip Castle] with that amazing generation, but I am saying that it seemed to come to a head in the 1970s/1980s and the politics that were locked into the perennial status of incompetence, mismanagement and open corruption... the overt governmental corruption in zoning areas, and the Church nodding along with it. "I don't want to be specific and I don't want to be boring about this because it was such a long time ago that it is meaningless to most people and it roots us back in that time," says Geldof, who once compared Charlie Haughey to Zimbabwean despot Robert Mugabe. "But if you want to ask what was it we were fed up about, it was that," Geldof says, adding that it took a bunch of people like him and his band to make a noise that was appropriate to the disgust they and young people felt about Ireland. They didn't want to be sucked into the vortex of the showbands - "which was meaningless musically and the death of musicians". "So, The Boomtown Rats' legacy? In the teeth of it, a couple of tunes. That's it," he adds dismissively. "Had it a cultural impact? Don't know. Had it a function somehow sensing the mood? Definitely. Do the people who were around at that time associate their youth with the Rats' music? Probably. Does that mean anything to their contemporaries? Probably not. And they are probably sick of people going on about that time because they live in a radically different Ireland. A much better Ireland." Even though, Geldof continues, the homelessness crisis in Ireland is an appalling disgrace (this is the reason he has agreed to headline INM's Rock Against Homelessness concert in Dublin on April 7). "Don't forget I worked in The Simon Community at 15, and then when I pitched up in London, I lived on the street, down at the crypt in a church in Holborn," he said. "I was afraid of what was going to happen to me in my life. I had a stark image - my fear was a park bench at 60. That's what I thought. I had to work very hard not to end up there, because you remember that there was nothing going for this kid. Nothing. I had not a penny. Not a single exam. I had no qualification. I had nothing. So it was likely that this was going to be the case. "I had been among those people in The Simon Community. I was afraid of that. I did any old f**king job. I was selling hot dogs in the West End. Then busking at a cinema at night." Video of the Day I'm glad that the privileged Blackrock College education stood to you, Bob. "Well," he laughs, "a lot of it was a rejection of that. I know you're winding me up, but you're right. It's true. And you get to The Rats and all those things that were in my head at 18 and 19, and that you are going through, and suddenly you find a vehicle for expression. The f**king energy. "It was like, f**k off! That was the animus." If Bob's mother Evelyn hadn't died of a brain haemorrhage when he was six, would he have had that animus? "No. There is nothing for us to discuss any more," he says. "I doubt it. I think that's the pool of anger. I mean, it is certainly the animus in my life. I get worked up quite easily about things that I think aren't good." Getting inside Geldof's head is a surreal experience. No matter how long you peer in, I imagine the view is never quite the same as from within his complex brain (add the deaths of his ex-wife Paula Yates and his daughter Peaches into all that, and it is a wonder how he coped). The 65-year-old talks of meeting Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. "Pathetically, I was looking at his shoes," Geldof admits. "And this man comes out who is tortured with pain and he will not let his dignity succumb to the pain. You see it in his every step - his dignity and his agony. I felt such a fool, an immature fool, for having these sort of childish reactions to things." Did he tell the Pope that some people believed after Live Aid that Geldof was the reincarnated Christ? "No, I didn't say that," he laughed, "but it wasn't that they thought that - somebody went and did a survey and they would quote things I said, then something from the Bible, and they'd ask, 'who said that, the Bible or Geldof?' 68pc of people confused me with God." Geldof once said that perhaps Live Aid was the most selfish act in the world, but maybe he had to do that to rid himself of his "own demons and his own anger". "Well, it hasn't f**king worked, has it?" he laughs. Geldof has spoken before about his distaste, even hatred, for Irish nationalism. I ask him if he felt anything when he heard Martin McGuinness had died. "Yeah, I did. I felt he was a guy who'd done an extraordinary intellectual journey if nothing else and ended up certainly being a key part in finally ending the murder," he says. "To which you would say, 'Well, of course he f**king did'. "It is quite easy for men of violence to suddenly become men of peace. They just put down their gun and become men of peace. It is much harder to be a man of peace all your life without picking up a gun at all. "But nonetheless, he made that journey and people say, 'Well, it's Mandela-like'. Not quite. "Up to the end I think of his political life, his parliamentary political life, he was absolutely critical and a model for why that [non-violence] is always better. Always. Always better. You know, that talking and cooperation, fighting your corner with argument and debate; and law is always better and will always win. "Like many people, you are torn between disgust at what he was as a young man and then the journey he went on to finally." I ask him how people see him. "Every taxi driver thinks the same things about me," he admits. "It doesn't matter whether they're true or not. That I ripped up f**king John Travolta's picture on Top of the Pops. I didn't. That I told Thatcher to f**k off. I didn't. And that I told six billion people on television to 'Give us your f**king money now!' "And I did," he roars with laughter. "Look, I don't think about the f**king past. I don't live in the f**king past. I am more concerned with what I am going to have to have for my tea tonight." And what's that? "Probably cod." I let him off to dine with his beautiful French wife Jeanne Marine. And, with that, Geldof is gone to solve the riddle inside the puzzle inside the maze inside his brain. The Boomtown Rats play Rock Against Homelessness in aid of Focus at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, on April 7. Tickets cost from 30 and are on sale now via Ticketmaster and the Olympia Theatre Emmerdale actor John Middleton said he agreed with the soap's writers when they suggested killing off Ashley, the character he's played on the TV3 programme for more than two decades. The actor filmed his last scenes as vicar Ashely Thomas in the long-running soap and although it was difficult, he said he has never been presented with a more powerful storyline. Expand Close Laurel Thomas [Charlotte Bellamy] is busy at home oblivious to Ashley Thomas [John Middleton] struggling to stand up in the next door room. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Laurel Thomas [Charlotte Bellamy] is busy at home oblivious to Ashley Thomas [John Middleton] struggling to stand up in the next door room. Middleton's character has been living with dementia for two years in the Yorkshire-set soap. Speaking to The Irish Star's Chic magazine, Middleton said: "It's the best story that anyone's ever pitched to me in my career, let alone my time on Emmerdale. I was delighted to take this on. We're really stretching the boundaries and even as we were making it we weren't sure it was going to work, but it did and I'm immensely proud of it." Expand Close Charlotte Bellamy and John Middleton filmed Ashley Thomas' last scenes on the soap / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Charlotte Bellamy and John Middleton filmed Ashley Thomas' last scenes on the soap Middleton said filming Ashley's final scenes on the soap was emotional but he's delighted he won't be missing his on-screen wife Charlotte Bellamy, who plays Laurel, too much as the pair are neighbours. "I was going to say I'd miss Charlotte the most but I won't miss her, she lives right around the corner from me. We're great friends." Expand Close John Middleton has filmed his last scene on the TV3 soap / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp John Middleton has filmed his last scene on the TV3 soap The actor said he's looking forward to the opportunities open to him now that he's departed from the programme that's been his life for twenty years. "I have no plans, I have hopes, and what I hope to do is keep working on television because that's where the most exciting work is taking place," he said. Gardai have seized drugs valued at 1.5m and arrested one man in an operation in Dublin. As part of an intelligence led operation, Gardai from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau assisted by the Garda Emergency Response Unit and supported by local Gardai searched a premises in Artane yesterday. During the course of the operation Gardai discovered 20kgs of cocaine - with an estimated value of 1.4m - and 4kgs of cannabis resin - with an estimated street value of 100,000; as well as component parts of firearms and a quantity of ammunition. One man, in his 40s, was arrested at the scene and he is detained at Coolock Garda Station under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996. Iron Fortress (Photo : Getty Images) On Monday, China said that it will create an Iron Fortress along its Asian borders. Chinese State Councillor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun said that civilians must cooperate with authorities to build "a fortress of iron and a wall of bronze" along its borders. Guo gave the statement on the last day of his three-day visit to the troubled border with Myanmar. Advertisement The Chinese military has been deployed to the area for a series of annual military drills. The government intended to display Chinas defense capabilities. The state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted a Chinese army colonel saying that the Chinese forces comprising its "Southern Theater Command" conducted joint exercises. The drills included both land and air units firing at random targets. According to reports, the training operations were meant to highlight the Chinese governments commitment to protecting its national security in the border region. Thousands have crossed China's roughly 1367-mile-long border with Myanmar to escape the world's longest running civil war. There has been a rampant sectarian conflict in Myanmar since 1948 when the United Kingdom left the country. For decades no less than 15 armed rebel groups have competed for power, fighting over territory in the Southeast Asian state. In 2015, Myanmar had its first open elections where activist Aung San Suu Kyi won. She has made efforts to address long-held grievances through extensive institutional reforms. However, violence continued raging across the country. According to Associated Press, as many as 30 people perished in a confrontation in a Chinese-speaking town in Myanmar last month. BBC News reported that the Chinese government has been impelled to take a firmer stance on border security after 5 people from Yunnan Province were killed by a bomb dropped by a Myanmar warplane in 2015. China has since struggled to stabilize the area and intercede in the conflict. Beijing used its influence over some of the rebel groups which are actively contending one another, The Diplomat said. The military drills on Tuesday coincided with paramilitary police training in the city of Guigang of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, along Chinas Vietnam borders. Chinas Iron Fortress signals the countrys commitment to defend its territories. Military jets were spotted swooping low over Dublin city on Friday - and many people were wondering why. As people flocked outside to make the most of the good weather in the capital, many questioned why there were several Air Corps planes flying low over th city centre. One asked Independent.ie: "Everyone in the office would like to know why are there three military jets swooping low over Dublin city centre today?" Others took to social media to question why the jets were buzzing overhead. An Air Corps spokesman told Independent.ie that it's all just a routine practice procedure. He explained: "They were practicing for an upcoming ceremonial fly pass using PC9Ns from the training school of the Air Corps. "It would have taken around 30 minutes, although I'm not sure how many planes were involved today. "It's fairly normal, we would have had a lot more of them last year with the 1916 commemorations." Artists impression of the new Luas Belltower stop in Trinity College and the new Luas map A major error in the laying of the new Luas line through parts of Dublin city centre means the track is too wide. The new joined-up track running around College Green was built based on designs for trams in 1916, rather than the 2016 model. However, the new cross-city line will still open on time this summer, as it will now run through the middle of Trinity College campus. The Trinity Luas stop will be based at the iconic belltower on the Campanile. The development will make the Trinity courtyard the focal point for all public transport in Dublin city centre. The move is expected to open the college to vastly more visitors, leading to some speculation the students will have to be moved out to a new campus based on RTE's spare lands in Montrose. The location, adjacent to UCD's Belfield campus, will allow a twinning arrangement between the two universities, to be known as the Greater United College of Civic and Interurban Dublin (GUCCI Dublin). The historic cobblestones of Trinity's campus won't be damaged during construction. Each stone will be individually named after a graduate of the college and numbered to be reinserted in the same spot. Trinity graduates will be encouraged to 'Sponsor a Stone' by donating 3 shillings and 5 pence (67.38) to have the rock named after them in perpetuity. However, the excavation works are expected to unearth new details of Dublin's first brewery, which is buried under the college. It is thought there may still be some kegs of malt beer stored under the Dining Hall, although there are suggestions they were 'liberated' by a group of medical students in the cold January of 1953. The construction of the Luas line will mean taking a skelp off the east wall of the magnificent 18th-century Old Library building, where the Book of Kells is currently on display. The knock-on effect means the 9th-century book - which is regarded as one of Ireland's greatest cultural treasures and the world's most famous medieval manuscript - will have to be moved back to Kells in Co Meath for storage in the local post office. To avoid any loss of tourist revenue, Trinity will display a 3D printed version of the book, complete with rich decorations of the four Gospels. The Government is already circling the wagons and sending out signals that it is prepared to ditch Noirin O'Sullivan. Ministers know from past experience that such a drastic move is fraught with danger, given the botched handling of the early "retirement" of Ms O'Sullivan's predecessor, Martin Callinan. The fallout from that fiasco resulted in two other leading players in the justice system, minister Alan Shatter and department secretary general Brian Purcell, also becoming casualties. A repeat of that performance would, inevitably, create even greater collateral damage. But desperate times need desperate measures and ministers are anxious to be seen to be ready to take radical steps to distance themselves from the latest scandals. Thus, the disclosure by Education Minister Richard Bruton, pictured right, while taking leaders questions in the Dail on Thursday, that An Garda Siochana may be split up, with the force no longer taking responsibility for security and intelligence as well as policing. Mr Bruton said a division of the two roles was now on the table as part of the Government's plans to order a root and branch external review of the organisation. At first, this seems simply to be hiving off some of the many responsibilities held at the moment by the Garda. But the hidden agenda in such a move is that by removing security from the Garda portfolio, it would pave the way for somebody from outside the State to become the next commissioner of policing. Until now, the main argument against bringing in an outsider is that a foreigner could not be placed in charge of the country's security and intelligence gathering. Hiving off security into another agency would solve that problem. But it's not that easy. For many decades, Ireland has been the envy of other countries with its single police force taking charge of all of the duties related to the investigation and prevention of crime and security. It has stood the country well during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the consequent impact of 30 years of terrorism on this side of the Border. Read More Political and policing leaders from other countries regularly voiced their views to their Irish counterparts, and sometimes to journalists, about how fortunate Ireland was to be in that position. It meant that if the head of intelligence received confidential information that required an immediate response from the law and order authorities, action could be taken immediately. In contrast, the British security service, MI5, must liaise with the police and go through channels before launching a major operation. For politicians, far-off fields are often greener and it might seem tempting to look outside this jurisdiction for a successor to Ms O'Sullivan. But how many suitable candidates might be found from outside Ireland to take on the task of heading up an organisation that has been plunged in so much internal and external turmoil? An answer to that question might be found in the interest shown overseas in the Policing Authority's advertisements to fill vacancies at the rank of assistant Garda commissioner. A total of 31 candidates applied, of which 19 were Garda chief superintendents and the remainder from other Garda ranks. Nobody applied from the PSNI or any other police force. If nobody with a background in policing is interested, it is not likely that too many suitable civilian candidates from outside Ireland will be found, particularly with a salary set at 180,000. Ms O'Sullivan's position looks safe in the short term, as a sitting commissioner is needed to answer questions before the Charleton tribunal, rather than two former commissioners. By the time Charleton has been completed, the current management team, most of whom have been promoted to a top rank within the last two years, will have gained wider experience and knowledge of the problems involved in running an organisation that will include 15,000 gardai as well as 4,000 civilians and 2,000 reserve gardai by 2021. The outcome of the tribunal will then give the Government a fuller picture of how the organisation has been run over the past few years and influence a decision of who should be at the helm in the future. RNLI lifeboat and a rescue helicopter searching Barmouth Beach as two boys and a man are feared dead after they went missing off the Welsh coast in separate incidents A rescue helicopter searches over Barmouth as two boys and a man are missing in the sea off the Welsh coast in separate incidents Handout photo taken with permission from the Twitter feed of @huw_price of a rescue helicopter in the Yr Aran area of Snowdonia, as North Wales Police said that emergency services are at the scene of an incident involving a helicopter Handout photo taken with permission from the Twitter feed of @crugfarmplants of smoke rising from a mountain in the Yr Aran area of Snowdonia, as North Wales Police said that emergency services are at the scene of an incident involving a helicopter A footpath leading up the Snowdonia mountain range in north Wales where the search for theTwin Squirrel helicopter was focused early on Thursday (Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire) Relatives have spoken of their heartbreak at the death of five members of a UK-based Irish family in a helicopter crash in Wales. Atrocious weather conditions including rapidly deteriorating visibility are now considered to have been key factors in the tragedy. The revelation came as UK rescue officials defied appalling weather in the Rhinog mountains in Snowdonia in north Wales to recover the bodies of brothers Kevin, Barry and Donald Burke, as well as Kevin's wife, Ruth, and sister-in-law, Sharon. The helicopter crashed on Wednesday en route to Dublin. Mayo publican Noel Collins, a cousin of the Burke brothers, said the Kilcummin area was shocked. "They would have been here [in the pub] tomorrow [Saturday] night if things had gone right. They were on their way over. "Kevin would go out farming with me as a lad, making turf, saving hay. In later years, like the others, he would help out in the bar. There was no one friendlier with the lads than me," he said. British model and celebrity TV star Danielle Lloyd paid tribute to Kevin and Ruth Burke, with whom she was very friendly. "They were two of the nicest people I've ever had the privilege to meet and my thoughts and prayers are with all the family," she said. Proinsias ORathaille, grandson of The ORahilly who was shotin 1916 in Moore Street, reading the Louth Volunteers 1916 book The remarkable publication from the Rising centenary year - Louth Volunteers 1916 - goes on general release to the public to coincide with the events of Easter Week this year. The story is the definitive account on the journey of the Louth Volunteers and how it corresponded with events in Dublin as it is told in their own words. The book also shines a light on the social history of Louth in the years leading up to the Rising and the aftermath. Members of the Louth Volunteers 1916 Facebook page, Alan Bogan, Marcus Howard and Padraig Agnew felt it important to do justice to the memory of the Volunteers. They said: 'These Volunteers weren't motivated by money, but by love of their country, to take on an empire.' The book's foreword has been written by Eoin MacLochlainn, a relative of Patrick Pearse who was fascinated to find out what happened outside of Dublin. The book gives a real insight into how the Louth Volunteers did everything they could to follow directions given to them in spite of the countermanding order by Eoin MacNeill. The Louth Volunteers had tried to form an alliance with the Fingal battalion to help form a ring around the city. The book had been launched to relatives in 2016 as it was important to get it out in the hundredth year anniversary. Marcus said: 'We were blown away with the demand for the book and it sold out in just over two weeks. 'We are now on a second run with more photos and improvements made to the finished book. We know that Louth had an important role to play and were one of the few areas to mobilise around the country. The book has had to be completely financed themselves yet has been a huge success already'. The book also tells the story of the confrontation a number of Volunteers had in 1910 when they faced down a number of people who wished to praise the accession of King George V. Many witness statements given to the Bureau of Military History are bursting with fascinating details. Alan Bogan said: 'We are delighted to see the demand for such an important time in our history and feel we have done our best to remember our relatives correctly'. Marcus added: 'A number of 1916 relatives from around the country have snapped it up as well as many history enthusiasts. 'One person at the relatives' launch, which took place at the end of last year, bought 16 books. We have received orders from Australia, Chicago and London'. The general launch will be April 11 in The Stonehouse in Blackrock at 7pm. The book is being released in various shops over the Easter period and can also be purchased at the www.thewritespace.ie as well as the Facebook page The Louth Volunteers 1916. Blockchain Technology to Be Used to Fight Counterfeit Food on Alibaba Blockchain Technology (Photo : Getty Images) To combat counterfeit food on Alibaba, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Blackmores, and Australia Post have teamed up with the e-commerce giant in using Blockchain technology. The project aims to increase the traceability of food products, reduce the risk of fraud and ensure that Australia continues to be a trusted exporter of high-quality food. Advertisement The initiative would help assure that genuine products are delivered safely to Chinese consumers, said Australia Post Executive General Manager Parcels and StarTrack CEO, Bob Black. We are delighted Alibaba has invited us to create an innovative platform, which will track food from paddock to plate, strengthening the supply chain, Black said. The initiative will leverage our secure, reliable and fast service to support the authentication of Australian products bound for the Chinese market. "Our food producers have a global reputation as being clean, green and safe provider of food and we are pleased to help deliver a solution to enhance the integrity of their produce, he added. New technologies, including Blockchain technology, will be explored in the project Blockchain technology is a decentralized and highly available database. It can be used to obtain key details from suppliers about where and how their food was produced and map its journey across the supply chain. With its potential to enable up-to-date audits, the technology can increase transparency between producers and consumers. Taking into account potential health risks linked with adulteration, food fraud is deemed as one of the biggest issues in the global food industry. Food fraud can also cause loss of trust from consumers and governments. Australian products have recently been the targeted by counterfeiters. Among products which had cases of food fraud are health supplements, beer, wine, honey and cherries. Since 2014, Australian businesses are now able to sell their products across Alibabas key platforms, including Tmall Global, Taobao Global and 1688.com. This is because of Australia Posts relationship with Alibaba. Last month, Australia Post and Alibaba have partnered to extend Australia Post online storefronts beyond China to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. According to the agreement, the storefronts will operate on Lazada, South-East Asias leading eCommerce network. Alibaba holds a majority stake in Lazada. The move will create a powerful online platform, allowing Australian companies to sell their products to millions of consumers across the region. With Blockchain technology, Australian companies stand on the better ground against counterfeit food on Alibaba. Principal Michael Lambert speaking to guest at the blessing and ribbon cutting of the new wing of the school Principal Michael Lambert and Archbishop Eamon Martin help Atene Awbraziejute to cut the ribbon on the new building at Dundalk CBS NS The CBS national school embarked on a new era with the official opening of their stunning new extension ahead of the school's 150th anniversary next year. Archbishop Eamon Martin was the chief celebrant at a Mass held at St Patrick's Cathedral on Thursday before performing the ribbon cutting at the new extension that afternoon. Archbishop Martin was praised for keeping the long-standing engagement at the CBS on the day of the funeral of fellow Derry man Martin McGuinness. Principal Michael Lambert said he was proud to welcome the archbishop, who was joined by Fr Mark O'Hagan and Fr Brian Slater, St Patrick's; as well as Brother Christopher Glavy from the Christian Brothers; Sean McStay and Liam Murphy from builders Glas Given Contracts and representatives from EML Architects who designed the extension that includes 12 new classrooms, four resource rooms, a sensory room, a library, a courtyard with a magnificent sculpture by Drogheda artist Breda Marron and an extension to the existing school hall that more than doubled its capacity. In addition, among the 150 invited guests at the official opening were two former students who were at the CBS when the first extension to the building was opened in 1940 - Dr Don McQuillan and Artie McManus. And guest Donna McBride was among the first intake of girls to the school in 1993. The first lay principal of the school in 1986, Billy Shaw, was among the guests, along with many former students and staff, as well as members of board of management chaired by Deirdre Kerr and TD Peter Fitzpatrick. Beautiful music, singing and Irish dancing from the students entertained the guests ahead of a gala reception. Mr Lambert said praised all those involved in the design and building of the new extension and added a special word of thanks to the staff, parents and students of the CBS for their patience during the construction and their backing and commitment to the project, first conceived seven years ago. He pointed out how a mural in the new hall, which depicts Christian Brothers' founder Ignatius Rice at the root of a large tree with branches going out into sport, education, tolerance and respect and which was completed by artist Fergus Maguire, showed how the school had grown from its foundation in 1868. Mr Lambert said the extension represents a 'bright future for the school community' which now has children from 31 countries. 'At a time of great change in society, we will continue to reflect our Catholic ethos and values and children will continue to learn and develop in a place where they are cherished and welcomed.' Cheile Choir have been invited as guest performers to the prestigious Choir Festival in the medieval town of Sarzana in Northern Italy during September 2017, where they will represent Bray, County Wicklow and their Country, Ireland. 'This invitation has given the Cheile Choir an enormous boost of confidence along with a sense of excitement and pride in their community,' said a spokeswoman for the group. The Italian choir hosting Cheile will make a return visit in 2018, which will enable Bray to return the hospitality. Chiele Community Choir is based in Fassaroe and was set up in March 2016 with a mission to include everyone. The choir is led by Tony Norton, a member of the Irish Tenors. He has a passion for community choirs and has set several up around County Wicklow since moving home to Ireland in 2013. T There were no auditions, and no strict rules about being able to read music. The director teaches passionately and patiently the craft of singing and has the ability to bring the best out in all through confidence building. The choir was formed to lift the hearts of the community, having weathered all the storms of recessions. The choir will fund-raise themselves, and will also seek funding and sponsorship for the tour to Italy. The committee decided that every member will make the trip, nobody will be left behind because they can't afford to travel. Jazz will be coming to Bray a few weeks early this year, as Bray Jazz Festival gets involved with the nationwide 'Creative Ireland' celebration by hosting a free to attend concert at The Well Church (opposite Royal Hotel) on Easter Monday evening, at 7.45 p.m. The gig is a part of Wicklow's contribution to the inaugural 'Creative Ireland' programme - a government initiative to celebrate the country's rich culture - and will feature two of Ireland's leading jazz acts in the intimate setting of the medieval church. Piano trio 'The CEO Experiment' will perform with saxophone player Michael Buckley. Stella Bass and Hugh Buckley will pay tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, preparations are at an advanced stage for the 18th edition of Bray Jazz Festival, which will return to the town on the May Bank Holiday weekend (April 28 to 30). Full details about this year's festival are available from: www.brayjazz.com, and tickets can be purchased from Mermaid Arts Centre on 01 272 4030. Bee-Anka, the Loreto mascot, was on hand at the Vevay Road school recently to get everyone running to prepare for the forthcoming Loreto Bray Challenge. The 10km and 5km challenge will take place at Killruddery on Saturday, April 1. Register for the event on myrunresults.com or at 11 a.m. on the day. This is the third year of the fundraising event, which is hugely popular amongst friends of the schools. This year the school is fund raising to replace the data projectors in the classrooms. The local sponsors to date include McDonalds, Nissan, School Warehouse, Fleurtique and Oriflame. The Cowen Group logo. (Photo : Twitter) China Energy Company has agreed to acquire 20 percent of U.S. financial services firm Cowen Group for $100 million and loan out an additional $175 million in what the two groups called a "long-term strategic investment," according to a report from the Financial Times. Advertisement The Chinese conglomerate, which focuses on energy, finance and banking, will buy a 19.9 percent stake from Cowen at $18 per share, or a 29.5 percent premium to Cowen's closing share price earlier on Tuesday. Cowen's shares surged 9 percent to $15.15 on Wednesday. "We have been looking for strategic partners who could help us scale our business outside the U.S., particularly in China," Jeffrey Solomon, Cowen's president told the Financial Times. "It has a burgeoning technology culture and an energy and alternative energy culture--all industries that play really well to Cowen's strengths." The deal also provides Cowen with $175 million in debt financing, which will mature in six years and used for acquisition and internal investment. China Energy will also be given the right to appoint three directors to the New York-based company's board. Solomon said the partnership, which was initiated by China Energy in January, would enable Chinese investors to tap into the U.S. market and allow Cowen to access capital flows from China. The money would enable Cowen to invest in its business with leveraged finance and equity finance being two areas it is interested in developing, he said. Both the sale and loan are expected to close by the end of the third quarter this year and will be subjected to regulatory and government approvals. The move comes a day after U.S. electric car maker Tesla announced that Chinese e-commerce company Tencent has acquired a 5 percent stake in the company for $1.78 billion. Citing insider sources, the Financial Times also reported that Cowen is in talks to buy Convergex, a brokerage firm based in New York. Solomon declined to comment on the report. A 19-year-old father-to-be received a suspended sentence, with a judge hoping he will turn his life around and be a good father. Ricky Troop (19), 23 Rathin Cuilinn, Gorey, County Wexford, appeared in Bray District Court last Thursday, March 23. On August 28, 2016, he took a keyfob from a bedroom windowsill at a house in Kilgarron Park, Enniskerry. On the same date, he took 12 from a car at Kilgarron Park. He was identified by CCTV from the house, as well as fingerprints at the scene. The court heard that Troop has 16 previous convictions and is currently serving a sentence. Barrister Jordan Fletcher said that Troop's partner is expecting a baby. He said that he has used his time in prison to think about his life. He said that Troop is to be released in the coming weeks and plans to go to Youthreach. 'He is very young, although he has amassed a few serious convictions,' said Judge David Kennedy, imposing a 12-month suspended sentence. 'If you are back before me I will have no hesitation in imposing that sentence,' said the judge. Lucy, Sinead and Tom Murray being presented with their 20 in Bernie's XL, Fassaroe, after Jackie Kelly and the Bray People's Mary Fogarty spotted them buying their copy of the paper. Five lucky Bray People winners got rewarded in cash for their loyalty last week, as part of the 'Buy and Win' campaign. In a series of local shops, our spies were out watching for people to purchase a copy of the paper and get 20 in return. In SuperValu in Bray , Mary Doyle was delighted to encounter our people handing her a crisp 20 note. Mary buys the Bray People every week and was thrilled with her good luck. In The Green Tree Londis on Herbert Road, it was Geraldine Connick we spotted picking up a Bray People. We paid a visit to Deveney's on Albert Avenue, where Louise Knatchbull received 20 as her prize for buying the paper. Right in the centre of Bray, in Gala on the Main Street, Austin Flood was presented with the money after he purchased his Bray People. In Fassaroe and Bernie's XL, Sinead Murray along with her children Lucy and Tom got a nice surprise when they received 20 for buying the paper. A second male was arrested yesterday morning (Wednesday) as part of the garda investigation into the brutal killing of a mother-of-three in the Farranree area of Cork city late on Mother's Day. The 44-year-old was being questioned at Mayfield Garda Station at the time of press as the murder probe into the brutal death of Nicola Collins (38) continued. Gardai are also now to prepare a file for the DPP after releasing without charge a North Cork man arrested for questioning early on Monday about the murder of the mother-of-three at a flat in Cork city earlier this week. The 42-year-old man from North Cork was arrested at his rented flat on Pophams Road in Farranree on Cork's Northside following the death of 38-year-old Nicola Collins at the flat on March 27th. The man was arrested for assault causing harm to Ms Collins and detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardai hold suspects for up to 24 hours. He was conveyed to Mayfield Garda Station but a doctor certified he was not fit to be questioned at that point and questioning was delayed until 12 noon on Monday when the interview began. The man was detained overnight and again questioned by detectives on Tuesday morning about the death of Ms Collins before being released without charge shortly before noon on Tuesday. Supt Mick Comyns of Mayfield Garda Station, who is heading up the investigation into the killing of Ms Collins, confirmed that gardai will now prepare a file on her death for the DPP. Ms Collins was found with serious injuries when the emergency services were called to the flat over a convenience store on Pophams Road in Farranree at around 3.30am on Monday morning. The emergency services had been alerted by the man who was living in the flat and they attended to Ms Collins but they were unable to revive her and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Gardai had cordoned off the scene and Ms Collins's body remained in the bedroom area where she had been found until Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster arrived on scene. Dr Bolster carried out a preliminary examination at the scene before Ms Collins' body was removed to Cork University Hospital for a post-mortem which confirmed she died a violent death. Gardai under Supt Comyns upgraded their inquiry into Ms Collins's death to a murder investigation upon receipt of Dr Bolster's findings on Monday afternoon. Although gardai have not released the results of the post-mortem examination for operational reasons, it's understood that Ms Collins suffered a number of serious injuries to her head. It's understood that Ms Collins has three young children but they did not reside with her at her flat on Clashduv Road in Togher on Cork's southside where she had lived for a number of years. Gardai released Ms Colllins' name on Monday afternoon after they made contact with her father who lives in Cork city and her mother who lives in the St Brendan's Park area of Tralee. Gardai technical experts carried out a forensic examination of the scene and Gardai began door-to-door inquiries in the area and also began examining CCTV footage from shops in the area. Local Farranree Sinn Fein Cllr Kenneth Collins, who lives just around the corner from where the apartment where the woman's body was found, said the tragedy had shocked the neighbourhood. "It' s a shock to everyone here in the community in Farranree to hear that someone has been killed in a flat on Pophams Road - it's terrible tragedy in what is a very settled area," Cllr Collins said,adding: "It's a very mature area of Cork with a lot of older people. It's awful to hear that a young woman has lost her life in these circumstances and my thoughts and prayers are with her family." CPEC's Gwadar Port (Photo : Getty Images) Some Pakistani power firms are complaining that they are being shelved in the $57-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and were not given the same advantage as other local and Chinese companies. Reuters said in a report that Pakistani power firms are expecting to benefit from China's $36 billion investment in the Pakistani power sector, hoping to get a share from the huge "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR) project, China's modern-day "Silk Road" network of land and sea trade routes. Advertisement But according to some firms, the powers stations built for the CPEC project are already equipped with Chinese cables which are exempt from import duty and sales tax. Kamal Amjad Mian, a local electricity cable supplier, told Reuters that exemption such as this, do not help local companies but instead undermine the industry. "The government, instead of giving us a level playing field, gave them an advantage," Mian said. A Water and Power Ministry official, who declined to be named, however, said that "there were question marks about whether the local cable industry could fulfill the demands under CPEC and we worried it would slow down projects." China's huge investment in the CPEC has revived Pakistan's economy and drove a 5-percent growth for the first time since 2008. Chinese investment in CPEC Chinese investment has gained the support of people and the country's political parties as CPEC contracts were initially given to cement and steel companies, which are now expanding. As some businessmen say that Chinese investors are set for an acquisitions spree in the country, some criticized the CPEC projects and doubted Pakistan's ability to repay the costs of the project. Some companies are concerned about competing with Chinese companies, which have bigger capital and better financial backing. "We have to make sure (CPEC) doesn't become a Trojan Horse and start hurting existing industry," Ehsan Malik, chief executive of the Pakistan Business Council, said. The report, however, said that local companies can still join in several projects as the next phase of CPEC would involve the setting up of Special Economic Zones with factories established by China's state-owned enterprises to help Pakistan develop its industrial base. Meanwhile, China moved to allay the fears of some sectors. "The dividend, the well-being delivered by the corridor will benefit the people of both China and Pakistan, as well as of the region," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular briefing on Pakistan. On the other hand, the Pakistani government also reassured domestic producers. Miftah Ismail, a state minister charged with setting up CPEC Special Economic Zones, said that they will give equal protection to both local and Chinese companies. "I want to assure people we will never give greater protection to our Chinese investing friends," Ismail added. "It will never be an uneven playing field." In January, the Pakistani government said domestic companies will be given priority over Chinese firms in the upcoming sell-off of state-run companies. Pack the suitcase and check the passport is in order as passengers will soon be able to fly out of Cork Airport to Chicago for as little as 139 one way. Wow Air is to further expand its routes to Chicago which will begin on May 19. Last year, Wow air announced that it will also launch a new Cork - Reykjavik service which will start in May this year - again out of Cork Airport. The launch of the new year-round service makes low-cost transatlantic connections from Cork a reality. There are expansive choices of destinations across the US and Canada reaches 10 key destinations across North America, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, New York City, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington DC. The ticket prices for the new Cork - Chicago route are expected to start from 139.00 each way. The Louth branch of Arthritis Ireland are holding a table quiz on Thursday, March 30th in the Pheasant Bar, Duleek Street starting at 8pm. The cost of taking part is 40 for a table of four and light refreshments will be served. Meanwhile, The seated exercise class starts every Monday at 7:30pm. Seated Exercise class every Monday at 7.30pm in Ballsgrove Community Centre - Cost 4 Aqua Aerobics every Tuesday at 8pm and Thursday at 12pm in Energie Fitness Centre - Cost 5 Walking Group meets at 11am every Saturday in Oldbridge House. Suits all levels. Parents from eight local schools lost saw amazing results, losing almost 500lbs between them during the eight week Operation Transformation/Drogheda Moves programme. Working with two trainers, over 100 parents signed up for the programme to get fit, meet new people and lose some weight along the way. The grand finale of the eight week programme took place in the Barbican centre on Friday, March 24th where it was revealed that as well as improving their overall health, the parents from St Josephs, St Patricks, St Brigids, Presentation NS, St Pauls, St Johns, Marymount , and St Oliver's Secondary School, s lost a fantastic 473lb and 7oz between them. The whole event was co-ordinated by the Home School and Community Liasion (HSCL) Officer's for the eight schools involved, Annette Horan, Maire Devine, Greta Bohan, Regina Clarke, Maura Halvey and Bairbre English, and it has proved to be a huge success with plans already underway to make it an annual event. 'It was on once a week for eight weeks in eight sessions where they would be weighed in, following the Operation Transformation format on the TV really, that's why we did the eight weeks. They would be weighed in, they were measured the first week and the last week for inch loss. We would have done walking groups in the middle of the week as well for people who wanted to keep moving, and yoga classes as well,' said Maire Devine, HSCL officer for St Patricks and St Brigids schools. This is the second year of the Operation Transformation programme; last year it took place on the northside of town and it proved so popular with the four schools involved it was decided to expand it to include four more schools on the southside of town this year. Parents were made aware of the upcoming programme through notes and texts sent home by the schools and just over 105 parents signed up to take part. Trainers Sean Kilroy and Declan DeBrun kept participants interested and involved with eight weekly fitness sessions, weigh ins and advice. The parents were measured on the first week and the last week to chart their inch loss progress and there was advice on nutrition, recipes printed from the Operation Transformation page, mindfulness as well as weekly walking and yoga sessions organised by the home school liasioin officers. They were given advice and nutritional tips and recipes, we downloaded stuff from the Operation Transformation website. A lot of people did both the yoag and the exercise classes and they would have went to the walking as well,' said Audrey Lynch the HSCL offier with the Presentation NS. 'The whole idea is to get parents more active and the more healthy they are the more supportive they can be for their own children,' explained Annette Horan, the HSCL officer for St Joseph's NS. Agreeing, Maire said there is also a significant social aspect to the programme. 'We had parents taking part from all over the world and some of them have only arrived in the country, this is their first year here so they used it as a way to get to know people and other parents therefore they'll join in other things that are gong on in the schools,' said Maire. 'It has helped with their English and their integration into Irish society,' added Annette. A group of successful local female entrepreneurs have recently completed the 'Illuminate' Female Entrepreneurship Programme at The Mill. The project culminated with he participants pitching their businesses to a panel of judges from Enterprise Ireland, Meath LEO and AIB. The Illuminate programme was created by The Mill Enterprise Hub, with assistance from DKIT and DCU, to empower early stage female entrepreneurs to develop and expand their business. The judges commended the high quality of pitches, and according to Christine Meade: 'The ambition, and ability of the entrepreneurs is truly remarkable. It's critical that female entrepreneurs are supported in taking the often difficult steps in growing a business. We're delighted to have supported this initiative, and look forward to hearing of the futures success stories of the graduates.' The Illuminate Programme commenced in January 2017, with thirteen participants. It is the second Illuminate programme to be delivered at The Mill, which has identified Female Entrepreneurship as one of its priority sectors. It delivers to early-stage female entrepreneurs from Louth and Meath, an opportunity to participate in the specially created Illuminate course, which is accredited by QQI at Level 6, Minor Award. Participants are given the knowledge, skills and understanding to commercialise sustainable and profitable products by completing 12 study modules including Sales Strategy, Project Management, Business Risk Management, Sustaining & Growing Your Business, Marketing, and Leadership. Two graduates from the first programme continued to work with DCU Ryan Academy via the Enterprise Ireland supported programme, High Fliers. The judging panel included Caroline Lynch from Meath LEO, Susan Cahill of Enterprise Ireland, Christine Meade from AIB, and Breanndan Casey of The Mill. The judges heard entrepreneurs from myriad sectors including business services, training, and technology firms. The motive behind the 'fake' 100,000 pitch is to encourage female entrepreneurs to focus on scaling their business, either with financial or mentoring support. Sue Foreman of Georgetown Visitation, Washington with Mary Caffrey, former principal at Sacred Heart planting a tree to mark 13 years of exchange programmes between the schools There have been special moments, special days and joyous occasions, but last week, the Sacred Heart and Georgetown Visitation school in Washington cemented their links for life. Overlooking the college at Sunnyside, as the flags of Ireland, Europe and America fluttered in the breeze, two women who have helped create a wonderful sense of adventure between two schools proudly planted two cherry blossom trees. In doing so,Mary Caffrey, the former Sacred Heart principal, and Sue Foreman from Washington spoke of the bonds of sisterhood the link up had developed over the last 13 years. On October 12 2004, Ms Caffrey, some fellow teachers and a group of students jetted off from Drogheda to Washington to meet up with students from the Visitation school in the city for the very first time. 'We travelled with 16 girls and we didn't know what to expect,' Ms Caffrey stated. It was before snapchat and the social media revolution, but Ms Caffrey saw a growth in those that travelled and again when the group from Washington travelled here. The decision was taken to continue the bond and since then 500 students on both sides have taken part in the exchange and many still keep in touch, as Washington based Ms Foreman remarked, she sees some Drogheda students more than her former ones! 'I hope the friendship continues to endure, for teachers and students it's a wonderful programme, exciting and challenging,' Ms Caffrey remarked. In some cases, sisters have made the same journey, years apart. Ms Foreman, who arrived with her group in Drogheda last week - heading off to Newgrange on one memorable trip - said the planting of the trees was a new beginning, 'the trees will remind me of what we have in common and I hope it endures for many years to come.' She said she felt 'at home' in Drogheda and Sunnyside and thanked all those that embraced the idea and keep it alive. 'It changes your life and gives you an independence. We feel this friendship across the ocean all the time,' she added. Principal Leoni Carroll said the tree planting was a 'wonderful occasion' and celebrated Irish/ American links. Teachers like Ms Singleton, Ms Heatley, Ms Mitchell, Ms Mullins were some that had played key roles and all were praised for their efforts in such an enlightening programme for the school. She explained that the mayor of Tokyo had recently donated cherry blossom to the city of Washington to symbolise the friendship between the two cities. She felt it appropriate that the blossom also recognise the link between the two schools. As part of the ceremony, two of the girls who were part of the exchange in the past, Eimear Matthews and Hannah Tracey attended while present Head Girl, Aiobheann Russell read a poem. The start of three weeks work on four roads was welcomed by Executive Engineer Joanne Kehoe at last week's meeting with works starting soon on the L240 approaching Ballymurn. Coucillors then expressed concern for numerous roads around the district that needed to be looked at and possibly added to the project list. Cllr Barbara-Anne Murphy requested something be done about the main road in Bunclody where a part of the N80 was not completed. 'I have had residents complain saying they can feel the road move beneath their feet where there are just patches of tar. It is the only section of the N80 not completed and everyday there is more and more cracks and breakages in it,' she said. Cllr Kathleen-Codd Nolan called for the Clohamon Road to be lit up a bit more as it is very hard to see at night time and had received complaints. 'The Transport Infrastructure Ireland will be out to inspect that area as I had got calls about it too. They should be out within the next month for inspection,' said Ms Kehoe. Cllr Keith Doyle complained about Pierce Road, Enniscorthy as it has 'disintegrated' in some parts. 'Works had been done on that road two years ago where all they did was put down pockets of tar. It is now gone because of heavy trucks turning around up there,' he said. Cllr Paddy Kavanagh asked if lorries could use Esmonde Street instead of Templeshannon. 'I have received many complaints and it is a problem. Templeshannon is not built for lorries. If we could just get someone to look at it,' he said. Ren Hang was a controversial artist in China who was famous for his brand of nude photography. (Photo : Facebook) For years, young photographer Ren Hang played an important role in Chinese youth culture, inspiring other Chinese artists with his work. In an article by Observer, writers Josh Feola and Michael Pettis examine the effects Ren Hangs death will have on Chinas arts and culture scene. Advertisement Ren Hang, who originated from the rustbelt province of Jilin in northeastern China, rose to prominence in the art world with his photographs when he attended university in Beijing, only 19 years old. It would only take a few years for Ren Hang to captivate Chinese youth culture and become one of the most well-known and interesting Chinese photographers, even in international circles. Among friends, Ren Hang was described to be someone who loved music, loved to go out, enjoyed hanging out with friends and working at a manic pace, musician Helen Feng shared with Observer. His influence was only fully realized when he died at age 29. According to Geola and Pettis, Ren Hang was instrumental in Chinese art and culture. His generation of Chinese artists and musicians filled the void that was created by Chinas massive transformation. Ren made waves for being gay and for his choice of photographic subjects, often nude figures. Due to the graphic nature of his work, conservative Chinese labeled his work as anti-social and pornographic. Meanwhile, Western fans and critics alike tried to connect Ren Hangs body of work with dissident artists like Ai Weiwei--a comparison Ren rejected because he did not understand the comparison. Ultimately, Ren Hangs work showed Chinas urban youth and their struggles against societal pressure and the narratives assigned to them by their families or Western observers. Without Ren, Chinese urban youth have one less voice to fight for them. The students of Gaelscoil Inis Corthaidh enjoyed a raft of celebrations over the past number of weeks as they marked Seachtain na Gaeilge. The school which is an Irish speaking school were extra busy during the festivities which took place from March 1 until March 17. The celebrations started with a visit to Enniscorthy Library on World Book Day where they enjoyed stories read by Ghrainne, Cici and Ribin from TG4. There was also a fun event which saw half of the student body travel to its sister school, Gaelscoil Charman, and half of the students at Gaelscoil Charman travel to the Gaelscoil for Siamsa an Earraigh, an annual event which takes place at both schools. The pupils spent a fun filled day in the two schools and marvelled at the differences they encountered. There was also a coffee morning for parents and friends of the school and a quiz and treasure hunt for the children. Last Wednesday there was 'An Bricfeasta Mor Gaelach' where all the pupils were served breakfast in the school 'Hogwarth's Style'. The week's activities came to a close with the highlight of the week, An Ceili Mor, which took place last Thursday. There was plenty of music and craic as students got to perform the dances they have been learning from principal Judy Ui Ifearnain in the run-up to Seachtain na Gaeilge while wearing the national colour green in honour of St Patrick. Throughout the three weeks pupils from the Infant Classes classes first to third studied Irish proverbs and based their art-work on these. Pupils the senior classes focused on Irish myths, creative writing and Irish poetry) and wrote their own poems 'as Gaeilge'. A gathering of volunteers for the Irish Guide Dogs was held in Balbriggan recently where volunteers from different branches of this great organisation got to meet up and swap stories and update each other on their collective efforts to advance the aims of the organisation. The aim of the meeting was to update all old and new volunteers on the work of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. The Balbriggan and North County Dublin Branch who hosted the event, felt very honoured that Pat Bourke, vice chairman of Irish guide Dogs for the Blind took time to attend to talk to those gathered in the room. Una Deasy, the Community Fundraising and Volunteer Care Manager of the organisation also attended as did Nick Palmer and Donna Lang, both members of the Board of Directors Over 30 volunteers attended and the questions were very broad from queries about the breeding of the dogs to questions about puppy walking and having a driver to assist a guide dog owner attend a school talk. The buzz in the room was great all evening and Balbriggan Lions Club members, Joe Monks and Donal Ward were recognized for their recent donation to the charity of 500. Looking to the immediate future, the charity needs more money to continue training more guide dogs for blind people in the region and more assistance dogs for families who have a child with autism. The Balbriggan and North County Dublin branch will be selling its pins throughout the area during April and always need extra help. You could take a box of pins into your work place and sell them and the branch hope to have a presence in Millfield Shopping Centre and Supervalu Balbriggan as well as Tesco's in Rush. In May, the branch will have a table quiz and ask that you go along to support that event. If you would like to be involved with the local branch or a branch around the area or just want to be kept posted on upcoming events send an email to guidedogsbalbriggan@gmail.com or ring or text 0857663107 and the branch will link you to whoever you would like to be involved with This is a great local organisation helping people gain their independence all over Fingal. Vivienne Traynor with her nephew Martin, Vivienne donated a kidney to him in 2009 For the second year living kidney donor and RTE broadcaster Vivienne Traynor, who hails from Skerries continues her voluntary role of ambassador for Organ Donor Awareness Week. Organised by the Irish Kidney Association, Organ Donor Awareness Week takes place from Saturday, April 1 to Saturday, April 8 with the key focus of the campaign to continue to remind the Irish public to have the important family discussion about their wishes concerning deceased organ donation. The annual life-saving awareness campaign aims to highlight the ongoing and ever increasing demand for organ transplantation which relies on the public for organ donation and encourages people to support the Association by buying a 'Forget-Me-Not' flower and other merchandise, while its volunteers distribute the organ donor cards. The RTE News Anchor and Courts Correspondent has a deep personal connection to organ donation. Vivienne's nephew Martin Traynor (36) from Skerries, underwent two kidney transplants, his first for which she was the living kidney donor. Five years later, in November 2014, his second transplant was from a deceased donor. Martin and his partner Mary are expecting the birth of their third child since receiving his kidney transplants. Just last September another relation of theirs, Michaela Delany (17) from Clondalkin, underwent a second transplant, - this time from her kidney donor mother Liz. She had her first kidney transplant when she was just two years old thanks to a deceased organ donor. 'I am delighted to have been invited by the Irish Kidney Association to continue as ambassador for Donor Awareness Week for a second year and I hope that my family's personal stories of donation and transplantation can help other families to start the conversation about their wishes surrounding deceased organ donation.' The 2017 campaign will feature mum-of-four Vivienne in radio advertising as well as on posters, encouraging the public to support organ donation. Approximately 600 people in Ireland are awaiting life-saving heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas transplants. In 2016, 280 organ transplants were carried out in Ireland. A total of 230 were as a result of the generosity of the families of 77 deceased donors and the remaining 50 were from living kidney donors. A further nine specialist kidney transplants were performed on Irish HSE patients in the UK, which included seven extra living donors who travelled, with the recipients, to the UK for the operations. St Vincent's University Hospital conducted 58 liver transplants in 2016. The Mater Hospital conducted 35 lung transplants as well as 15 heart transplants in 2016. Beaumont Hospital carried out 172 kidney transplants including a record 50 from living donors. Over 4,450 people in Ireland being treated for kidney failure, with 2,075 (47%) undergoing dialysis treatment and, thanks to the gift of organ donation, 2379 (53%) people are enjoying extended life from a kidney transplant. All proceeds raised during Organ Donor Awareness Week will go towards the Irish Kidney Association's aid for patients on dialysis and those patients fortunate enough to have received a kidney transplant. The Irish Kidney Association's charitable activities include the provision of a 13 double bedroom free accommodation facility for patients and their families in the grounds of Beaumont Hospital and holiday centres located in Tramore and Kerry, together with patient advocacy, advice, financial aid and rehabilitative, health promotion through sport and the provision of kidney patient information and education. The Irish Kidney Association is the national organisation charged with the promotion and distribution of the organ donor card in Ireland, on behalf of Organ Donation Transplant Ireland. Free information fact files, which accompany organ donor cards, are obtainable from the Irish Kidney Association and are available nationwide from pharmacies, GP surgeries and Citizen Information Offices. Organ Donor Cards can also be obtained by phoning the Irish Kidney Association LoCall 1890 543639 or Freetext the word DONOR to 50050. Visit website www.ika.ie. It is now possible to store an organ donor card, the 'ecard' on Smart mobile phones by simply searching for 'Donor ECard' at the IPhone Store or Android Market Place. Public consultation on the Metro North line is to get underway next year A public consultation process on the Metro North line from Swords to the city centre will get underway in 2018, the Minister for Transport has revealed. Minister for Transport, Shane Ross TD was answering a parliamentary question on the issue from Fingal TD, Deputy Brendan Ryan (Lab) who wanted to know what progress had been made on the project which was taken off the shelf and dusted off in September of 2015. Deputy Ryan asked the minister to report on the 'progress that has been made on the new Metro North project since March 2016; the preparatory works that are taking place; the timeframe for the preparatory works he expects will take place over the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter'. In response, Minister Ross said: 'The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for the development of public transport infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA), including the new Metro North project. Funding for the project is provided under the Government's Capital Plan, allowing initially for the planning and design phases of the project, followed by the construction phase which is expected to commence in 2021 with a view to delivering the project by 2026/2027.' Minister Ross added: 'The NTA and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) have commenced preparatory work on the planning and design of new Metro North and a dedicated project Steering Group has been established which is meeting on a regular basis. 'The NTA, in collaboration with TII, is undertaking an option analysis and selection study of possible metro alignments and station locations. Arising from this work a final route and station configuration will be established.' The Minister for Transport concluded: 'It is my understanding that the NTA and TII expect that this process will be complete by the end of 2017, after which a public consultation process will be undertaken in 2018.' Deputy Ryan reacted to the minister's comments, saying: 'Since September 2015 when the last Government chose Metro North as the only long-term transport solution for the M1 corridor including the Airport and Swords, 'I have been pushing the NTA and Transport Infrastructure Ireland to get their skates on and get this project underway.' The Labour TD added: 'With a construction start date slated for 2021 I asked the Minister what progress has been made in the year since this Government came to power. 'I was informed that work on a final route and station alignment is being prepared and that this work will be completed in 2017. This will be followed by a public consultation in 2018.' Deputy Ryan concluded: 'This all seems very familiar to many people and I know people won't truly believe this project will be delivered until work begins. Until then, I will keep the pressure on the Minister to ensure this project is moving forward as quickly as possible.' A logo sits illuminated outside the ZTE pavilion on the opening day of the World Mobile Congress at the Fira Gran Via Complex on February 22, 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo : Getty Images/David Ramos) A new ZTE handset has been spotted on China's telecommunication certification authority (TENAA), which is rumored to be the ZTE Nubia Z17 Mini. The upcoming ZTE handset is recently certified in China's TENAA under the model NX569. Although no further detail on the smartphone's marketing name is mentioned on the said listing, the certification website spilled the major specs for the said ZTE phone. Advertisement Android Geeks revealed the latest poster for the rumored ZTE Nubia Z17 Mini. As shown in the phone's poster, the Z17 Mini will sport a metal build chassis. It will also include a dual-camera setup and visible antenna lines on its rear panel. Furthermore, the Nubia logo sits at the center of the back cover, while a circular fingerprint scanner is placed above it. Up front, the smartphone will sport large bezels on the top and bottom panel. As the specifications are concerned, the TENAA listing revealed the major key specs coming to the Nubia NX569J. The handset will feature a 5.2-inch full HD display resulting to 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. Under the hood, it is powered by a 1.8 GHz octa-core processor, coupled with 4GB RAM and a 64GB of internal storage, expandable storage via a micro SD card. According to China Topix, the phone's processor is still yet to be known, although reports suggest that it could be powered either by the Snapdragon 653 or Snapdragon 625 octa-core SoC from Qualcomm. As for the mentioned dual camera setup, no further details are also revealed on the listing. Right now, the phone is expected to come with 13MP primary rear camera with LED flash, while a 16-megapixel sensor will serve as the front camera. On the software front, the phone runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow operating system out-of-the-box, along with ZTE's latest customized UI layered on top of it. The Z17 Mini will also house a 2930 mAh battery. Its connectivity options include 4G-LTE, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS/A-GPS and a micro USB port. Sensors on the phone are distance sensor, Gravity sensor, and a light sensor as per the listing. The dimensions of the phone are 146 x 72.14 x 8.1 mm and it weighs 160 grams. The ZTE Nubia Z17 Mini will be offered in Gold and Silver colour options at launch, which is expected to be on April 6 in China. At the event, ZTE could reveal the bigger Z17 rumored to include a large battery capacity. A Fingal Sinn Fein TD speaking after she attended the funeral of Martin McGuinness in Derry, described her friend and colleague as simply 'a patriot'. Speaking after attending his funeral, Deputy Louise O'Reilly said: 'Martin was a patriot. He worked every day of his life for the reunification of Ireland and for a better Ireland. His contribution to the history of our country, and more importantly, to its future, was immense.' She added: 'He was a revolutionary and a peacemaker and, as a statesman, Martin rose to each challenge with determination and positivity. He was a giant of a leader, a gentleman and a proud Derry man.' On a personal note, Deputy O'Reilly said: 'I am proud to have known him as a friend and colleague. My thoughts are with Bernie and family as they deal with their immense loss.' Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Trade, Darragh O'Brien added his words of tribute, saying: 'Martin will be deeply mourned not only by his family, friends and colleagues in Sinn Fein, but also in communities throughout Ireland and in particular, in his beloved Derry.' 'Martin was an influential and transformative individual who came to recognise that the best route to peace was not through armed struggle but through dialogue, compromise, respect and reconciliation. Rumours were circulating around Dingle that Julia Roberts was in town over the weekend and if she was she would have blended in beautifully with the collection of movie stars, screenwriters, producers, animators and film buffs who were soaking up the sunshine. Dingle's 11th Film Festival was a glittering affair,;even the weather put on its gladrags for the event as attendees were treated to exceptional screenings and inspiring guest speakers. The festival screened 24 feature films and 51 short films over the four days and guests included Ben Wheatley, Jack Reynor, Jim Sheridan, Pat Shortt and Dean DeBlois. As well as screenings, more serious film industry matters were addressed with networking events and talks bringing together aspiring film industry professionals and those who are established as the best in the business. The very fine weather influenced attendance at some of the midday screenings but despite this the screening on a sunny Sunday afternoon of films made by four women working in West Kerry was packed to the doors. The films by Brenda Ni Shuilleabhain, Aine Ni Chiobhain, Coleen Grace O'Herlihy and Elaine Kennedy dealt with issues of arranged marriages, exiles, returned emigrants and local history. There was great interest in the screening of Aine Ni Chiobhain's 'A Tragedy in Kerry' which detailed the circumstances surrounding the betrayal and subsequent execution of Tomas O Suilleabhain from Baile 'n Eanaigh in February 1922. The red carpet was rolled out on Sunday night to announce the audience's favourite films of the festival. 'Rath', took the best feature film prize. The film which had its world premiere at the festival tells the story of Brendan O'Sullivan as he journeys through fields near his home, at Rath near Kenmare and highlights the folkore of the locality and the oral tradition that is at risk in this modern day. Elaine Kennedy's Uisce Beatha, won the Audience Choice Award for 'Best Short Film'. Her charming first venture into film-making has already won awards in London and Chicago. Fisin, the Irish language short film script competition award was won by Barry O'Donoghue on Sunday night. Art Parkinson, Seachtain na Gaeilge Ambassador and star of Game of Thrones presented the award and, in keeping with the good-natured atmosphere of the festival, Art hesitated as he opened the envelope and announced "the winner is La La Land". Barry O'Donoghue's script 'Gan Caoirigh, Gan Chodhladh' [no sheep, no sleep], was selected from the shortlist of five potential Irish language scripts, which also included 'Misneach' by Neasa Ni Bhric. Barry's script for an animated tale of a world devoid of sheep to be counted before sleep charmed the judging panel of Nuala O'Connor, Marina Ni Dhubhain and Billy Mag Fhloinn. Fisin chairperson Tor Cotton said: "We were very impressed with the depth to which he engaged with Fisin... we are very excited to see his piece". Barry won the 5,000 cash prize and 2,000 worth of filming equipment as well as mentoring support from Fisin, all towards the making of the film that will be screened at next years film festival. The festival is about developing new talent and no more so than Conor O Cinneide, who stepped in to replace his mother, Tor Cotton, at the Fisin awards presentation. Tor, who is chairperson of the Fisin awards, was taken ill over the weekend so 17-year-old Conor stepped into the breach and filled the role with great aplomb on the night. Flesh and blood actors aside, Animation Dingle - run over two days of the film festival - brought senior programming executives from Amazon, Disney, Nickelodeon, CBBC, RTE and Netflix to town. Introduced to the film festival five years ago, Animation Dingle has become a focal point for the rapidly expanding animation industry in Ireland to the extent that attending the festival has become part of the college curriculum for animation students. Film festival director Maurice Galway told The Kerryman that Animation Dingle is now one of the biggest events of its kind worldwide and a key networking venue where those working in animation in Ireland can meet representatives of the world's top production companies. Among the locals attending the Animation Awards - which were presented in the Skellig Hotel on Saturday night - was Louise Ni Conchuir from Ventry who works as Project Manager on 'Danger Mouse', the superhero mouse from the 1980s which was dusted off by Boulder Media and brought back to our screens in 2015. It was a fruitful trip home for Louise as Danger Mouse won the award for the Best Music and Sound Design at the Animation Awards. A Tralee man who is seriously ill in Canada after collapsing at his home in Calgary on February 12 has this past week been the subject of a huge online fundraising campaign, with over $11,200 so far raised to help bring him home to Ireland so that he can receive further treatment. Niall Hurley, who had been working on a number of residential sites carpenter in Calgary for the past two years, was due to return to Ireland on February 16 as his visa was due to expire; four days before his departure date, however, Niall blacked out at his home and was rushed to the Foothills Medical Center where he was diagnosed with an Ependymoma brain tumour. Niall was operated on by doctors in the centre for over 10 hours and it is believed that it could take up to two years for him to make a full recovery. "We cannot say enough good things about the people here in the hospital and the people that started to help Niall by visiting, sending cards and prayers and texting our family non stop," said Niall's brother Ian, talking to The Kerryman. "The Irish community here are amazing in the way they come together as a team when times call for it. It means so much especially when people are away from home." Niall will require treatment for the foreseeable future with all the funds raised from the online campaign going towards bring him back to Ireland, a journey for which he will accompanied by a doctor and a nurse. People can donate at www.gofundme.com/irish-cultural-society-calgary. Jimmy has no regrets over his handling, as minister, of two controversies on his doorstep that undoubtedly cost him dearly at the last election, Shannon LNG and the ban on turf-cutting on Moanveanlagh Bog. The Government of which he was a cabinet member was, he feels, unfairly perceived as not having done enough to facilitate the plan for a gas terminal on the Ballylongford Landbank. And he had no choice as Minister for the Arts and Heritage but to enact the ban on turf-cutting on Moanveanlagh Bog north of Listowel where his own relations once drew turf. "The point with LNG is that the then owners Hess LNG had decided not to go ahead with it, but it was definitely something that was used against me in my time in government. "I met John Hess in January of 2012 in New York at a time when we had everything in place, all the planning and permits. I asked him when they were going to go ahead with it and he told me 'it has to make business sense'. They had spent 60 million on Shannon LNG by then, but had also just pulled out of a similar project in Boston after spending 150 million on it." He said that John Hess was sincerely committed to the Kerry project 'but the fact it went on too long and the objections didn't help, but by the time these hurdles were cleared Hess LNG had changed its policy." Moanveanlagh sounded a bitter note to the very start of his tenure as Arts and Heritage Minister in the very first brief across his desk. "I saw the danger straight away. Moanveanlagh was designated under the Habitats Directive in 2004 but Fianna Fail gave a ten-year moratorium on it. When I became Minister for the Arts and Heritage it was the very first thing that came across my desk. "I had no choice as a minister but to enact the legislation. I went to the EU commissioner responsible for the area asking to review the matter and he was postively hostile. He was very clear it could not be reviewed at a time when our reputation in Europe was in tatters because of how we handled our financial affairs. Failure to uphold the directive would have resulted in swingeing penalties for the State. "I was directed by the Taoiseach and the Attorney General to enact the law, which I did, that was my duty as Minister and I had to uphold the law." Chinese Premier Li Keqiang with Australian PM Turnbull (Photo : Getty Images) Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's five-day visit to Australia is considered by many to be successful as China and Australia have agreed to reject U.S. protectionist policies and reaffirm both their commitment to global free trade, Reuters reported. Advertisement "The cooperation between China and Australia showcases to the region and the world our determination to defend trade liberalization and advocate the benefits of free trade," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told business leaders and politicians at a forum in Sydney. The report, however, said that the growing trade ties are only part of Australia's move to maintain the delicate balance between its security relationship with the U.S. and its economic ties with China. According to the report, Li was aware of the situation and took advantage of his visit to warn Australia to avoid "taking sides, as happened during the Cold War." Although Turnbull had pointed out that "the idea that Australia has to choose between China and the United States is not correct," some analysts believed that Australia has to make a choice. "The problem Australia faces is the growing tensions from China's desire for influence and that is going to mean Australia may have to choose between its two allies," Nick Bisley, professor of international relations at Melbourne's La Trobe University, said. As both countries enjoy peace and economic growth for many years, China has been slowly getting the support of Australians although a survey conducted by the Lowly Institute showed that respondents were divided on whether China or the U.S. is more important to Australia. After the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-member trade agreement that was essential to the U.S. "pivot to Asia," China started to assume the vacuum and moved to further strengthen China-Australia trade ties. Li came to Australia to announce that China has lifted the restrictions on chilled beef exports, as a token to Australia's cooperation. Last year, China bought $114-billion worth of Australia goods and services. "We've made it a priority to get access for agricultural products into China," an Australian government source told Reuters. "Getting access to China for agricultural products can take years but as they get hold of more and more produce and they appreciate the quality, that opens the door for access for additional products." Australia' balancing act Experts said that Australia has to keep the delicate balance between its trade and security interests. The country has to develop Darwin, a strategic jump-off point and surveillance base for Australian-U.S. military to the disputed South China Sea, the report said. While Australia has strengthened its security alliance with the U.S. as part of the Five Eyes intelligence network, it is seeking major investments for infrastructure and industry development in the underdeveloped northern region. China has been urging Australia to join its One Belt One Road (OBOR) strategy, which industry experts believe would happen soon. It is considered a big boost to its plan, if Australia would tap into OBOR projects, according to Infrastructure Partnerships Australia chief executive Brendan Lyon. "We want to be part of that supply chain," Lyon said, referring to Australian companies pitching for construction, finance and engineering contracts on the Silk Road. Other roadblocks Another challenge to the strengthening of the Sino-Australian relations is how to treat Chinese investment. In addition to this, Australia failed to ratify the extradition treaty with China as Turnbull failed to get Parliament's vote on the pact that had been signed 10 years ago. Meanwhile, delegates at China-Australia business forum discussed the approach on Chinese investment and potential Chinese businesses in Australia. Although Australia sees the need for overseas funding, they looked at Chinese-led bids as security risks. This brought back the rejection of bids from Chinese state-owned investors in electricity network Ausgrid and cattle empire S. Kidman and Co. This year marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of Hugh Mahon, a former New Ross Standard journalist, who, after serving time in Kilmainham Gaol for his activities in the Land League, found fame and fortune in Australia, where he rose to high political office as a member of the Australian parliament for two decades and a government minister four times. A new book, Hugh Mahon: Patriot, Pressman, Politician tells the life-story of this fascinating character, who never forgot his County Wexford roots. The book will be launched at the New Ross Boat Club on Friday, April 28, at a lecture to be given by the book's author Australian historian Jeff Kildea. In Australia, Mahon is best known for having been expelled from the Australian parliament, the only person to have suffered that fate. This happened in 1920 after he made a speech critical of British rule in Ireland, leading the prime minister Billy Hughes to accuse him of 'seditious and disloyal utterances'. But, as Dr Kildea tells it, there is much more to this intriguing Wexford newspaperman than that singular, spectacular event. In his day Mahon was both revered and reviled. One contemporary wrote, 'He may be acclaimed as one among the best newspapermen in the Commonwealth'. Another declared, 'He must have been nourished in his infancy on the venom of a squid'. Born at Killurin, County Offaly, in 1857, Mahon was the 13th of 14 children of James and Anna Mahon (nee McEvoy). In 1869 James, Anna and eight of their children, including young Hugh, gave up their farm and emigrated to America, first to Ontario, Canada and then to Albany, the capital of New York state, where Mahon trained as a printer and newspaperman. Unfortunately their American dream failed and in 1880 the family returned to Ireland, where Mahon's brother Patrick held a small remnant of the family farm. The newspaper trade was not all Mahon learnt in America. At the time, Albany was the country's most Irish city. It had an Irish Catholic mayor years before Boston or New York. It was also a fenian stronghold. On Mahon's return he soon found employment as editor and manager of the New Ross Standard and a reporter for the Wexford People. Both newspapers were owned by Edward Walsh, a prominent Wexford nationalist, who in the late 1880s served three prison terms for his newspapers' outspoken opposition to landlords. Like his employer, Mahon was an activist as well as a journalist, using the newspapers to support the tenants during the Land War of 1879-82. He also used the Standard's printing press to print leaflets calling for boycotts of landlords. These activities brought him under police notice. Sub-Inspector Wilson reported to the government, 'Mahon is by occupation a reporter and by inclination a rebel'. When a landlord's son, Charles Boyd was murdered in an ambush at Shanbogh, across the river from New Ross, Mahon organised a defence fund to help the two Whelan brothers, Walter and John, who were charged with the crime, and used his newspaper to criticise the police and prosecution authorities, whom he accused of intimidation and sharp practices. He was also an important witness at the trial, providing an alibi for one of the accused, both of whom were acquitted. In September 1880 Mahon helped organise a monster meeting at Irishtown, where, according to the Wexford People, thirty to forty thousand turned up to hear Parnell speak about the Land League. Soon thereafter, a branch of the league was established in the town, with Mahon elected as assistant secretary and later secretary. In October 1881 Mahon, with a number of Wexford men, was arrested and interned without trial during the government's crackdown on the league. He was imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol with Parnell. After two months he was released on health grounds following a diagnosis of tuberculosis. He immediately returned to his Land League activities in and around New Ross, but after being threatened with re-arrest he took his doctor's advice and emigrated to Australia. Writing to the Australian branch of the Land League, Henry Doyle, nephew of Fr Thomas Doyle of Ramsgrange, introduced Mahon as 'a sterling young Irishman, a victim of British tyranny, one of Wexford's honoured "suspects"'. On arriving in Melbourne in May 1882 Mahon travelled extensively raising funds to send back to the league in Ireland. When John and William Redmond visited Australia in 1883 to promote the league, Mahon helped to organise their tour. He then resumed his calling in journalism as a reporter, editor and ultimately newspaper owner. In 1886 Mahon joined Sydney's Daily Telegraph as a political reporter, rising to become chief of the Telegraph's parliamentary staff. Through his political contacts Mahon was appointed secretary of the Rabbit Royal Commission, set up in 1888 to conduct a world-wide competition to find a cure for the rabbit plague then sweeping Australia and threatening its sheep industry. This put him at the centre of an international political storm as supporters of the German bio-chemist Robert Koch attempted to undermine the entry put forward on behalf of the Frenchman Louis Pasteur. That year Mahon married Mary Alice L'Estrange of Melbourne. They had four children. In 1891 Mahon attempted to enter the New South Wales parliament, but his ambition was thwarted by the skulduggery of his Free Trade faction which led to another candidate being nominated in his place. Following his disappointment he moved to Melbourne with his family, where he took a job with the Australian Mining Standard, a newspaper providing news and comment concerning mining. There he met James MacCallum Smith, with whom he formed an investment syndicate after Smith moved to the newly-discovered goldfields of Western Australia. In 1895 the fortunes of the Mining Standard turned for the worse and Mahon left for Western Australia (WA) at the invitation of Smith who had acquired newspapers in the goldfields. In partnership with Smith, Mahon established the Menzies Miner in the new boom town of Menzies, 160 km north of Kalgoorlie. During his time in Menzies Mahon was elected to the inaugural town council and in 1897 unsuccessfully stood for election to the WA parliament for the seat of North Coolgardie. But he also became embroiled in a libel action in which Henry Gregory, the popular Mayor of Menzies, sued him for 5,000. In 1898, Mahon was appointed editor of the Kalgoorlie Sun, a Sunday newspaper which aimed to reach the masses, critical of society, to expose social abuses and to promote contemporary literature by publishing reading matter of a high literary standard. Mahon quickly fitted into the role, often attacking the government of Sir John Forrest. His career as a journalist effectively ended in 1901 when he was elected to the first parliament of the newly federated Commonwealth of Australia. Initially representing the seat of Coolgardie, he became the member for Kalgoorlie in 1913 following a redistribution of electoral boundaries. In parliament Mahon was an early advocate of Aboriginal rights. He served as a minister in four Labor governments, including Postmaster-General in the first Labor ministry in 1904 and Minister for External Affairs during World War I. After the war his passionate campaigning in support of Irish self-determination during the War of Independence led to his expulsion from parliament. In 1922 Mahon visited Ireland for the first and last time since his exile 50 years before. On returning to Australia, he saw out the rest of his life as managing director of the Catholic Church Property Insurance Co., which he had established in 1911 at the request of the Australian bishops. He died in 1931 and his buried in Melbourne. Hugh Mahon: Patriot, Pressman, Politician, Volume 1: the years from 1857 to 1901 is published by Anchor Books Australia, Melbourne (Webpage: anchorbooksaustralia.com.au). Councillors voted unanimously on Monday to insert a ban on fracking in the new County Development Plan. Officials had warned that putting such a ban in place the council could be seen ac acting unlawfully. However, at a special meeting of the Council yesterday (Monday), a motion from Councillor Declan Bree, seconded by Cllr Gino O'Boyle banning fracking was unanimously passed. Cllr Bree said when the Council commenced the process of considering the Draft County Development Plan last June, the elected members made a very wise and significant decision, to include a comprehensive ban on hydraulic fracturing. "The fracking ban was warmly welcomed by the people of this community who fully recognise the dangers that fracking poses to water quality, to human safety and to the general environment," he said. He said he was surprised to learn that the move was opposed by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly and was subsequently backed by Council Chief Executive Ciaran Hayes who stated that the format and wording of the motion was not appropriate for a Development Plan or policy document. "Fortunately, it is not regional assembly or the chief executive who ultimately decide what is included in our Development Plan - it is the elected representatives of the people of this county who make the decision, "What we in Ireland need now, is not to indulge the greed of the oil and gas companies who will do anything to get further profit out of the ground, What we need is investment in clean, safe and sustainable energy that can provide for people's needs and protect the environment," said Cllr Bree. Hundreds of commuters were affected as a number of bus and train services came to a stand-still in Sligo on Friday as Bus Eireann drivers began striking. A picket placed at the entrance to MacDiarmada Station by the bus workers also disrupted train services after staff refused to pass pickets but these had resumed over the the week-end. However, the bus services, both local and provincial have ground to a halt as the dispute enters its fifth day today (Tuesday) and with talks between management and the NBRU having broken down disruption is likely to be long term. The loss of the town bus routes which serve IT Sligo and the Rosses Point and Strandhill service has caused great inconvenience. To date, school bus drivers have not joined in the dispute but this situation may change as the strike continues.0 The strike comes as the company introduced significant cost reduction measures without union agreement. The strike caught most people by surprise last Friday morning with many people having to make last minute alternative travel arrangements especially those going to Dublin by train for medical appointments. Local bus driver, Allister Kee, representative of the (NBRU) and a Bus Eireann employee for the last 15 years said that they had no other option but to strike. He said that as long as the company are imposing drastic measures against them, they will strike for as long as it takes. "We are here against our will. We would rather be behind the wheel of the bus and away up the road. But we had no other option. I would hope it gets resolved soon: the shorter the time the better so that we can get back to work. "There are three people involved in this strike: Bus Eireann, the drivers and the public and the public are the people you feel sorry for. The sooner it is resolved the better." added Allister. While customers were given very short notice about the in-definite strike and were faced with difficult travelling circumstances, Allister said that they have all been very supportive with their actions. There have been fears the strike could result in customers seeking private transport and no longer returning to Bus Eireann services. The strike represents a serious escalation of the Bus Eireann row and the strike which could push the company over the edge. It is estimated that the company lost 9.4 million last year and a further 50,000 a day in January and each strike day will cost another half a million. A statement issued from Bus Eireann said the company is facing insolvency in a few short months and not acting to implement cost savings urgently would be completely irresponsible. Bus Eireann said they would offer refunds for tickets bought for cancelling services arising from picketing at a number of locations. Transport Minister Shane Ross has said he will not be intervening in the dispute despite a call from the NBRU for him to set up a forum for talks. "The Minister remains extremely concerned about the impact of the Bus Eireann strike on the travelling public," a statement from his department said. "The strike is also harmful to the company's already difficult financial position. Realistic negotiations are required, the type that will lead to an agreement that improves the company's operations and efficiency and restores the Company to a sustainable future. "The State's industrial relations institutions are available to assist the two sides in reaching a fair and sustainable agreement." Members of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) have said they support striking bus workers, and have asked that the Minister Ross to intervene to seek a resolution. USI President Annie Hoey said: "This dispute has gone beyond the dispute between management and workers - it has created a complete gridlock for students seeking to get home and to college. She said that "tens of thousands of students" rely on Bus Eireann and Irish Rail to travel around the country, and are unsure if they'll be able to make critical classes in the lead up to exam season." Ashford Community Group held a tea dance for older residents in the Ashford Community and Heritage Centre. Over 40 people attended the event which featured some much appreciated music from Thomas and Shay. Guests were also served some tea, coffee and light snacks in what turned out to be a most enjoyable evening. The tea dance was just one of the many events organised each year by the Ashford Community Group. The local community organisation provides support and a social outlet for older people in the area. They arrange annual outings, days away and lunches. Marie Crean was recently elected as Chairperson at the group's AGM held at the beginning of March. Fiona O'Rourke is the Vice-Chair and Oona McKiernan the Secretary. The Treasurer is Ann Lyons and the PRO is Ann Byrne. One of the church walls which Hollywood Tidy Towns hopes to restore. The community of Hollywood is uniting for a new project at St Kevin's church. The church and churchyard are among the first things visitors to the idyllic village see when they descend from the Wicklow Gap and the local Tidy Towns committee plans to restore the historic church yard walls of the ancient pilgrim church. Hollywood Tidy Towns, with the help of Wicklow County Council's Community, Cultural and Social Development Department is carrying out the work at the Church of Ireland church as part of their ongoing plan for the village. The Tidy Towns initiative was launched recently with a meeting in the church attended by the Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough, Dr Michael Jackson. Also present were the Rector the Revd Leonard Ruddock, parishioners, members of Hollywood Tidy Towns, Fr James Prendiville of Hollywood Parish and representatives of Wicklow County Council including Cllr Jim Ruttle, Michael Nicholson the director of services of the Community, Cultural and Social Development Department, as well as the council's heritage officer, Deirdre Burns. Built in the 17th century, St Kevin's is part of the Blessington Union of Parishes. Over the last number of years parishioners have been working hard to maintain and enhance the building. The church, in which pilgrims traditionally received a blessing before embarking on St Kevin's Way over the Wicklow Gap to Glendalough, has been restored inside and people from all over the parish and farther afield come there in increasing numbers to worship when there is a fifth Sunday in the month. The Rector praised the community in Hollywood and the Tidy Towns committee for taking on the project at St Kevin's which he said was a spiritual and historic place which belonged to the entire community. 'I want to thank Hollywood Tidy Towns for taking an interest in this church. The initiative in St Kevin's is something for the entire community. 'I know that this year the main aim is to start work on the wall so that as people come to Hollywood, the wall is attractive. 'Today is about launching an initiative and raising awareness of the project,' he said. Revd Ruddock highlighted the Camino de Glendalough which was launched last year and follows St Kevin's Way from Hollywood to Glendalough, starting with a pilgrim blessing in the church. St Kevin's was also visited last year by the Anglican Bishops of Spain and Lusitania (Portugal) and the chaplain to the Archbishop of Jerusalem. Archbishop Jackson spoke about the sense of community and church and the sense of shared ownership, responsibility and adventure which is involved when a community takes on a new project like this. He congratulated everyone for keeping the flame alive in St Kevin's. He outlined developments with the Camino de Santiago in Spain which will enable people to do part of the pilgrimage in their own country and stated that he is hoping to connect into that with the Camino de Glendalough. 'Sitting here in St Kevin's you can see what makes it a special place. There is a lot of work to do and a lot of restoration. But it is a treasure of national and international significance and for the Tidy Towns to take on this project will continue to put Hollywood on the map.' Cllr Ruttle added his praise for the Tidy Towns Committee for taking such an interest in the unique church. 'We have a unique spiritual site here and you couldn't come to a better place looking for support than Hollywood,' he stated, pledging the support of the Community, Cultural and Social Development Department. US Should Have Sent Fleet to Stop Chinas Construction on Isles, Says Duterte Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on South China Sea Dispute (Photo : Getty Images) The United States should have sent a fleet to stop Chinas construction on isles if it really intends to avoid conflict in the disputed territories in the South China Sea, said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Advertisement Duterte had a talk with U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim earlier this week. In their conversation, the Philippine President said that he was surprised that the U.S. did not deploy the 7th fleet of its navy to halt the Chinese from building infrastructure once the patrolling units spot them. The fleet is based in Japan and scouts the Pacific Ocean. In his speech in Mindoro on Wednesday, Duterte brought up his conversation with Kim and quoted himself, saying, [I said], I am surprised Mr. Ambassador, because had America really wanted to avoid trouble early on . . . why did you not send the armada of the 7th fleet? . . . and say to their face, You cannot build manmade structures [in] high seas. According to Kim, he was sent to watch over issues concerning North Korea at the moment. Since 2013 and 2014, there have been reported Chinese advancements signaling intent to build structures in the disputed South China Sea islands. China has continued to construct airfields, a harbor, cement plants, loading piers, communication facilities, defense structures and lighthouses at the Spratly Islands. The Chinese have also persisted with scouting activities in areas including the Mischief Reef. The relationship between the Philippines and China had turned sour during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, the previous president of the Philippines. The two countries were involved in a heated dispute over territories in the South China Sea. China asserts its rights over the majority of the sea, even waters near the coast of the Philippines and other Asian countries. Since his administration started in June 2016, Duterte has made efforts to restore the ties between the two countries. His four-day visit to China last October suggests the mending of the soured China-Philippines relations. In his speech earlier this month, Duterte stated that his official visit to Beijing has led to a closer bilateral trade and people-to-people ties. Talks between China and the Philippines are set in May. The dialogue will focus on the maritime dispute, including China's construction on isles. Leslie Martin with his son Ciaran who received a blessing from Pope Francis. The young Rathnew child receiving life-saving treatment over in Italy received a special blessing from Pope Francis at the San Siro Stadium in Milan on Saturday. Last month one-year-old Ciaran Martin was diagnosed with the rare condition known as metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD). His three-year-old brother Cathal was only diagnosed with the same condition in December. The condition, which affects the nervous system, is terminal for Cathal. However, Ciaran has been deemed eligible for a Gene Therapy Clinical Trial over in Italy. The treatment will take six months and requires one of his parents, Leslie and Lynda Martin, or family member to be with him 24 hours a day. The Italian hospital where Ciaran is being treated arranged for the youngster to receive a special blessing from Pope Francis. His Holiness also said a prayer for Ciaran. The Martin family need to raise 250,000 for Ciaran's treatment and the associated costs. Numerous fundraisers have already taken place, with other events lined up for the coming months. A 'Get Moving for the Martins' 5k Run and Walk fundraiser takes place in Avondale Forest Park on Sunday, May 7, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.. The entry fee is 15 per adult and 40 for a family rate based on two adults and two children. Refreshments will be served afterwards. Registrations starts at 2.30 p.m.. Sponsorship cards will also be available and card holders can enter the event free. For more info contact Gillian Murphy on (086) 1782153, gillm20@hotmail.com or on Facebook. On Saturday, April 1, Doyle's Pub of Rathnew will host a music night from 7 p.m. for the Martin family. Donations were also made to the family by Rathnew Village Active Forum and Rathnew AFC. A power-lifting competition takes place on Saturday, April 1, in PureFitness, Arklow, starting at 9 a.m.. William Clarke, David Comerford and Caroline O'Neill will compete in an IDFPA power-lifting competition, with all the proceeds raised going directly to the Martin family. View Hair and Beauty, Rathnew, will hold a bake sale in the salon on April 8 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. The Waxies will perform in Rathnew House on Sunday, April 9, starting at 7.30 p.m.. There is a 5 admission cost and spot prizes will also be presented on the night. Bag collections will take place at Tesco Wicklow from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on April 21 and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 22. Healy's Mini-market have organised a coffee morning for Friday, April 14, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.. Another coffee morning will also take place in Glenealy Hall on Monday, April 3, at 10.30 a.m. featuring Mr Dunne and the St Joseph's NS Band. Glenview Karate Club will host a Karateathon due to take place at South Beach, Greystones on April 8. The actor says he is unsure if he will continue the impression after the Saturday Night Live series finale in May. Alec Baldwin has suggested Donald Trump is satire resistant as he confirmed he may retire his impersonation of the president in a few weeks. The Hollywood star said he was unsure if he would continue playing Trump on Saturday Night Live after the series finale on May 20. Alecs portrayal of the president has helped the US sketch show to its highest ratings in years, while Trump has branded the impression mean spirited. Alec said he is considering quitting the role because he believed people would no longer be in the mood to laugh about Trump in the coming months. Asked how much longer he intended to play the US president, Alec told the Press Association: Not much longer. This season on SNL Im going to do it as much as I can because I love them. Theyre my dear friends. After that, I dont quite know. I dont quite know if people want to continue with that. If everything stays the same in this country as it is now, I dont think people will be in the mood to laugh about it come September. Well be around the corner to the one-year anniversary of the election this fall. I think people will be in a completely different frame of mind. Video of the Day Well see if this is actually the first satire-resistant president. Alec acknowledged his impression was not the most accurate version but said he performs a caricature of a more malicious Trump. I suppose if I spent some time I might be able to refine my impersonation of him, the 58-year-old said. Were quoting Trump almost verbatim, and therefore we couldnt help but make him a little angry. Alec said he would have to be paid an ungodly amount of money to play Trump in a film or on stage. I dont know if Id want to be Trump for more than a five-minute slug of time on Saturday Night Live. Youd have to pay me an ungodly amount of money because it would be exhausting. It would be tiresome. Alec was speaking as he promoted new Dreamworks animation The Boss Baby. He voices the films title character, a suit-wearing baby who works as a secret agent in a hidden war between babies and puppies. The Boss Baby is released in UK cinemas on April 7. The gap has been reduced from 10 points to seven Chelseas 2-1 defeat AT HOME to Crystal Palace, combined with Tottenhams hard-fought 2-0 win at Burnley, means that the Premier League title race has sprung back into life. Or has it? Heres what fans of the top two clubs in the country make of it all. The Chelsea point of view Chelseas defeat was just their fourth in the league this season, and their first since the start of January. The result means that their lead over Spurs is now just seven points, with nine games to go is that enough of a cushion? The Blues have Manchester United, Tottenham and Everton all to come, as well as welcoming Manchester City to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Scary. Some saw the result as a timely reminder that the league isnt won until its won, if you know what we mean while others were a little more optimistic. Squeaky bum time? The Tottenham point of view Tottenham, meanwhile, have lost just one league game in 14 and are currently enjoying a run of four wins in a row. We think this is what might be termed, cautious optimism. The north London side finished third last season can they go two places better this year? Evo Morales was treated in Cuba last month after losing his voice due to a viral infection (Juan Karita/AP) Bolivian President Evo Morales must rest his voice for a week following successful throat surgery in Cuba, an official has said. The operation was a success and the 57-year-old president must rest his voice before resuming activities, presidential minister Rene Martinez told the Telesur news service. Mr Martinez said he did not know when Mr Morales, who travelled to Cuba on Thursday, would return to Bolivia. Officials have previously said the operation was to remove a nodule from his vocal cords. The surgery was originally planned for April 8 but was pushed forward. Mr Morales was treated in Cuba last month after losing his voice due to a viral infection. AP Civil protection rescue teams work on the debris of a destroyed house to recover the body of people killed during fighting between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants on the western side of Mosul (AP) Iraqi fighter jets have carried out air strikes against Islamic State (IS) outside Mosul, killing more than 100 militants, the Iraqi government said. The strikes hit three IS targets in Baaj, a remote north-western town near the Syrian border, and killed between 150-200 extremists, ministers said. The Iraqi government added that militants had crossed over from Syria, suggesting that IS still enjoys free movement across the borders. The statement did not say when the strikes happened and officials were not available to offer more details. Air strikes by Iraqi air force and US-led international coalition jets have been vital to the months-long operation to retake Mosul from IS. In January, Iraqi authorities declared eastern Mosul "fully liberated". Fighting is under way to recapture the city's western side. China's Carrier Air China Ltd (Photo : Getty Images) China's "big three" carriers--Air China Ltd., China Eastern Airlines Corp. and China Southern Airlines Co.--reported a combined profit of 16.3 billion yuan ($2.4 billion), the biggest since 2010, according to filings submitted to the exchange on Thursday, March 27, China Daily reported. Advertisement According to Bloomberg, the gains of the three carriers could be attributed to the increase in the number of direct flights from mainland China to Europe and the U.S., with no stopover in Hong Kong and Singapore. The airlines also expanded their markets with the addition of new aircraft and more destinations. Chinese airlines bridging flights, however, are still available. In the past decade, the three airlines have served some 488 million people, equivalent to the combined populations of Germany, the U.S. and the U.K. "Chinese travelers prefer to fly with Chinese airlines and hence, as the Chinese travel more, their airlines benefit," Steve Saxon, a Shanghai-based partner at McKinsey & Co, said. "Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are all becoming powerful hubs as well, being able to draw traffic from China to Europe and U.S., increasingly competing with Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong." The big three's earnings also justify their strategy of capacity expansion, new routes and cheaper fares. As the yuan depreciated in the last quarter, the three companies increased their sales by selling their yuan-denominated bonds and reduce financing costs by cutting their dollar debts. With the airline market growth of 11 percent last year, China's carriers have kept up with the demand for air travel by increasing their aircraft, the report said. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, the Hong Kong carrier, suffered the effects of the three carrier's expansion as it reported its first loss in eight years. It is also undergoing a three-year corporate transformation program that resulted in job cuts and changes to management. Being state-owned companies, the three airlines were able to take the majority of the air rights given by regulators. Its new destinations now include Brisbane, Las Vegas, San Jose and Adelaide. The three airlines control nearly 80 percent of the international market, the report said. Among Chinese rivals, Hainan Airlines Co., a company controlled by billionaire Chen Feng's HNA Group, is the most aggressive. Its profits grew 4.5 percent in 2016 to 3.14 billion yuan, with sales up 16 percent. According to Saxon at McKinsey, the demand for outbound travel is still strong and investing in an expansion is a good decision. In 2016, more than 120 million Chinese traveled abroad, making the country the world's largest source of outbound tourism. China tourism is also considered a billion-dollar business abroad. Global operators also showed their interest to invest in Chinese airline industry. Last week, American Airlines Group Inc., the world's largest carrier, agreed to invest $200 million in China Southern in a code sharing deal. in 2015, Delta Air Lines Inc. also signed a $450-million investment in China Eastern. As far-right populism sweeps so much of Europe - though the results of the recent Dutch elections suggest it may already be losing some of its momentum - it can be just as instructive to examine where it has failed to gain a foothold. While certain ingredients - flailing economies and concerns over immigration - have fed the rise of ultra-nationalist and Eurosceptic movements in various parts of the continent, in other places particular historical contexts have helped to immunise. Take Portugal, where far-right populism is absent. On a recent visit to Lisbon, Portuguese officials explained how their country had avoided the populist trap partly due to grim - and still vivid - memories of the era of Antonio Oliveira Salazar, Europe's longest-serving dictator. Salazar's repressive regime, which included secret police notorious for their brutality, lasted for over four decades until he was overthrown in 1974. Just as Irish people of a certain generation view Ireland's joining of the EU in 1973 as an opening up in so many ways, Portuguese old enough to remember the dark days of Salazar consider securing EU membership in 1986 a key step in their transition from dictatorship. Portuguese also say their experience of immigration has been different. Those who have moved to the country from former colonies like Brazil, Angola and Mozambique plus eastern Europe are considered relatively well integrated. Prime Minister Antonio Costa has boasted he is the first person of Indian origin - his family roots are in Goa, the former Portuguese enclave in India - to lead a European country. Portugal has offered to host more refugees than had been determined by the EU quota system. The strikingly designed pink minaret of Lisbon's 20-year-old central mosque rises above a central district of the capital, serving a congregation largely drawn from the African diaspora. Other Portuguese say a careful balance of political dynamics has ensured more radical elements - whether of the right or of the left - are kept in check several years after the country got a bailout when the financial crisis bit hard. "You can be popular without being populist," says President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who helped write Portugal's constitution in 1976 and was a well-known TV pundit before he was elected last year. As president, the centre-right Mr Rebelo de Sousa's role is largely ceremonial - his penchant for selfies has become something of a trademark - but his political cohabitation with Socialist prime minister Mr Costa has helped burnish the latter's centrist credentials. When Mr Costa took office in November 2015, he built a coalition with the far left that raised some eyebrows. Conservatives labelled the resulting government the 'geringonca', which translates along the lines of an unlikely contraption built of spare parts. Mr Costa's pledges to row back austerity measures while at the same time meeting tough fiscal targets were also met with scepticism. But in the 16 months since he became prime minister, Mr Costa has defied the expectations of many, both inside and out of Portugal. According to figures released last month, his government slashed the budget deficit last year by more than half to just under 2.1pc of GDP. Under Mr Costa, state pensions, wages and working hours have been restored to what they were before Portugal's bailout. The country's economy has experienced an arc of growth for a couple of years now: in the third quarter of 2016 it recorded a faster growth rate than any other EU member state. Unemployment is at a five-year low. But there are still dark clouds. As the European Commission warned this week, the situation of Portugal's banks remains precarious and public debt continues to rise, making the country more vulnerable than most to any future shocks to the eurozone, such as a possible victory for the far-right Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen in the forthcoming French presidential elections. One way Portugal seeks to stave off further economic woes is through more foreign investment. Its tourism sector is booming, capturing holidaymakers concerned about security in places like Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. The government has also set up a task force to lure investment away from the UK following the Brexit vote, presenting itself as a haven of relative stability in a continent beset by political upheaval. US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with US manufacturers in the White House yesterday. Photo: Saul Loeb/Getty Germany last night rejected American demands for Nato members to comply with defence spending targets. Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, ramped up pressure on allies to uphold a long-held pledge to spend 2pc of their economic output on the military by 2024. "As President Trump has made clear, it is no longer sustainable for the US to maintain a disproportionate share of Nato's defence expenditures," he told a meeting of 28 foreign ministers in Brussels. "Allies must increase defence spending. They must demonstrate by their actions that they share the US government's commitment." Mr Tillerson asked that nations outline concrete plans for payment before Donald Trump attends a meeting of leaders on May 25. Separately, he said US sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine would remain in force, and the US "will not accept Russian efforts to change the borders of territory of Ukraine". Expand Close Boris Johnson, left, and Rex Tillerson attend a meeting at the Nato HQ in Brussels. Photo: AFP/Getty / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Boris Johnson, left, and Rex Tillerson attend a meeting at the Nato HQ in Brussels. Photo: AFP/Getty He also urged Nato to do more to fight Isil, particularly in countering its online propaganda. Mr Tillerson, the former chief executive of oil giant ExxonMobil, did not say what would happen if European allies and Canada failed to meet spending targets. In 2014, Nato leaders pledged to move toward the 2pc goal within a decade. Apart from the US, only four other nations - Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland - currently meet it. The US provides nearly 70pc of Nato's budget and spent 3.6pc of its gross domestic product on defence last year, compared to 1.19pc in Germany. However, Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's foreign minister, said the target was "unrealistic". He said that 2pc would mean "military expenses of some 70bn. I don't know any German politician who would claim that is reachable or desirable. "I don't know where we would put all the aircraft carriers we would need to buy to invest 70bn a year." He said Germany had spent large amounts on refugees who arrived because military interventions had failed. Read More In the US election campaign, Mr Trump criticised Nato as "obsolete" and suggested America might not come to the defence of allies who did not pay their fair share. Mr Tillerson offered reassurances to allies. He said: "The United States is committed to ensuring Nato has the capabilities to support our collective defence. "We will uphold the agreements we have made to defend our allies. "We understand that a threat against one of us is a threat against all of us, and we will respond accordingly." He said the alliance was fundamental to countering Russian aggression, in particular in Ukraine. Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato Secretary General, said ties between European members and the US were "rock solid". Meanwhile, Britain has found itself at odds with the US over Syria after Mr Trump's administration announced that American policy would no longer focus on getting Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power. The UK and the Obama administration spent years saying that Mr Assad's brutal tactics during the Syrian war meant that he had lost legitimacy and must step down to allow for a political transition in Syria. But the Trump administration appears to have backed away from that position, saying the question of whether or not Mr Assad stayed in power was no longer a priority for the US. "You pick and choose your battles and when we're looking at this, it's about changing up priorities and our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out," said Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN. Her comments echoed those of Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, who said yesterday that "the longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people". Hours after the new American position was announced, Boris Johnson, the British Foreign Secretary, reiterated that Britain still believed Mr Assad had to go. "For the long term good of the Syrian people there must be a transition away from the Assad regime, which has dealt so much death and destruction to the people of Syria," he told the Nato summit in Brussels. Michael Fallon, the British defence secretary, said yesterday that the UK does not "see a long term future in Syria for someone who has been bombing his own civilians". Also yesterday, Mr Trump has said his summit with Xi Jinping, China's president, will be "very difficult", setting the tone for a tense first meeting between the world's most powerful leaders. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] The grandmother of two young men who were shot dead in the South Shore neighbourhood of Chicago (Chicago Tribune/AP) Police are on high alert in a Chicago neighbourhood where seven people were killed in a 12-hour period. The gun violence in the South Side area was mostly due to gang conflict, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said. On Thursday afternoon, four people were shot dead in or near a restaurant after a man approached and opened fire. Two men were found dead from bullet wounds inside the restaurant, a third person was found unresponsive outside the restaurant, and a fourth man was found a block away. Two people were killed later on Thursday when a vehicle pulled alongside a van in the South Shore neighbourhood. A man and woman were shot, police said, and the van crashed into a pole. "I'm angry and sick," Mr Johnson said during a news conference. "You have my promise that Chicago Police Department will utilise the full weight of our resources to go after the individuals responsible for yesterday's incidents." He said investigators have determined most of the victims were targeted and had known gang affiliations, but the woman's killing was not gang related. Mr Johnson said there will be a heavy and aggressive police presence in the South Shore neighbourhood until the perpetrators are in custody. He added that co-ordinated police operations will target the people who are driving the violence and where retaliatory violence may occur. "You lose count of the shootings after a while," said Kyra Carr, who lives a few blocks away and heard the gunfire. " But seven bodies in a day. Crazy. Something is wrong." Cook County medical examiner's office identified three of the victims as brothers Raheem and Dillon Jackson, aged 19 and 20, and 28-year-old Emmanuel Stokes. The Chicago Tribune reported that the Jacksons' grandmother, Georgia Jackson, 72, said the two had gone to the restaurant to get food and to see their mother, who works there. She said their mother called her about the shooting. "She only said one at first but when I got here they said they found the other," Georgia Jackson said. Also on Thursday, about a mile from the restaurant, the body of 26-year-old Patrice L Calvin was discovered in a home. The medical examiner's office said Ms Calvin, who was four months pregnant, had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Mr Johnson said the woman probably knew her killer, and her death was not gang related. No arrests have been reported by police. AP Venezuelan officers are confronted by university students during a protest outside the Supreme Court in Caracas (AP) President Nicolas Maduro has urged Venezuela's Supreme Court to review a decision stripping congress of its last powers, a ruling that set off a storm of criticism from the opposition and foreign governments. The announcement came hours before the opposition hoped to mount major protests against the socialist government, spurred by anger over the ruling. In an address after a meeting presided over by Mr Maduro, the National Security Council announced it was supporting a review by the court "with the goal of maintaining institutional stability". "April is starting on a good step," Mr Maduro said jubilantly, surrounded by a dozen officials after the emergency meeting. "Constitutional victory!" Opposition leaders were quick to condemn the announcement as a ploy that did little to alleviate the crisis. "Let's be absolutely clear," said Freddy Guevara, first vice president of the National Assembly. "A revision of a decision that leaves everything like before doesn't resolve a coup." The three-hour meeting capped an extraordinary day in which Venezuela's chief prosecutor and long-term loyalist of the socialist government broke ranks and denounced the court ruling. Luisa Ortega Diaz said it was her "unavoidable historical duty" as the nation's senior judicial authority to condemn the ruling against the opposition-controlled National Assembly as a "rupture" of the constitutional order. "We call for reflection so that the democratic path can be retaken," she said to the loud applause of aides around her. Mr Maduro convened the National Security Council seeking to calm the political uproar, although at least one key member refused to attend. About a dozen officials were present at the session, but among those notably absent was congress president Julio Borges, who said the meeting was a circus act created for a convenient photo opportunity by the person the opposition blames for the country's troubles. "In Venezuela the only dialogue possible is the vote," Mr Borges said. Mr Maduro, dressed in black and waving a small blue book containing the Venezuelan constitution early in the televised meeting, likened the international condemnation of this week's Supreme Court decision to a "political lynching". On Friday, troops from the National Guard fired buckshot and swung batons at students protesting in front of the Supreme Court in Caracas. A few people were arrested and some journalists covering the demonstration had their cameras taken. A few small protests popped up elsewhere in the capital. Larger demonstrations are expected on Saturday in what opposition leaders hope will be a big turnout to denounce Mr Maduro and call for elections. "We all have to get out - for the dignity of our country, the dignity of our children and the dignity of Venezuela," Mr Borges said. The Supreme Court ruled late on Wednesday that until legislators abide by previous rulings that nullified all legislation passed by congress, the high court could assume the constitutionally assigned powers of the National Assembly, which has been controlled by the opposition since it won a landslide victory in elections in late 2015. Friday brought a second day of condemnations of the ruling by the US and governments across Latin America. The head of the Organisation of American States likened the decision to a "self-inflicted coup" by the leftist Mr Maduro, and the top UN human rights official urged the high court to reverse its decision. AP Human Rights on the Table in Any Canada-China Free Trade Deal, Says New Canadian Ambassador Newly appointed Canadian ambassador to China John McCallum (L) expressed hopes of entering into deeper trade relations with Beijing. (Photo : Getty Images) John McCallum, Canada's new ambassador to China, said human rights and labor standards will be included in free trade talks between the two countries. While formal trade negotiations have yet to begin and Ottawa is still conducting a round of exploratory consultation, Canada will pursue a "progressive" deal that would include chapters on both those areas should both nations enter into talks, McCallum told the press on Wednesday. Advertisement McCallum said he has seen lots of enthusiasm in Canada for a deal with China and is ready to pursue deeper economic ties with them but at the expense of human rights. "We have to do this with our eyes open," McCallum said in an interview with the Canadian Press. "We know that in many areas, China and Canada have different views of the world, different priorities, different laws." "There are huge gains for Canadians if we're successful. We also have responsibility on the human rights side. We do both," he added. Potential trade agreements between Canada and China have been met with opposition as critics point to recent comments from Beijing that human rights issues in China and limits on investment by Chinese state-owned companies should not be part of trade discussions. Former World Bank chief and U.S. trade czar Robert Zoellick warned that Canada should not become too close to China if it wants to stay on the good side of the Trump administration. At a recent event in Washington, Zoellick raised concerns about the timing of Canada-China trade talks in light of highly-publicized anti-China sentiment from President Trump and several top U.S. trade officials. "I'm not trying to interfere with your sovereign decisions... But given the personality [of Trump], just be careful about that. If you're going to do it, make sure you get something good for it," he said. In response, McCallum said that the U.S. still does not have its Chinese ambassador and it remains to be seen how the White House will actually engage with Beijing. "But whatever the American position is, the Canadian position has been defined clearly by our prime minister and it's my job to put that into effect," he said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated his administration's stance when asked Wednesday about Zoellick's comments. "Canadians expect me as prime minister to grow our economy and defend our jobs while, at the same time, standing up for our values and principles and those are two things that I will always do," he said. McCallum noted that even before there are talks of a trade deal, there is much that Canada and China can accomplish economically, including increasing tourism and making progress together on dealing with climate change. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna is expected to visit China in the near future to pursue Canada's plans for a potentially lucrative deal on green energy technology, he added. McCallum also expressed his eagerness to start a high-level economic dialogue with China sometime in the next three months, but will be watching closely for signs on where the country will be headed on human rights. "The more we can establish good ties, the more they will listen to us in other areas. I am cautiously optimistic that as we deepen our relationship, they will listen to us more in general than they may have in the past," he said. PDS board approves interim dividend of Rs2.50 per share PDS Limited has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company on Monday has approved an Interim Dividend of Rd2.50 per share. The Company adopted a dividend distribution policy... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 3:10 pm Rajesh Exports incorporates 100% subsidiary ACC Energy Storage; Stock climbs 2% Rajesh Exports Ltd. has announced that it is foraying into Advanced Technology Solutions with a focus on Energy Storage Solutions. REL has been selected by the Government Of India as one ... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 2:42 pm Markets under selling pressure with Nifty around 18,100-levels Domestic benchmark indices trading mixed after a gap-up opening on Monday. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks are marginally lower in the afternoon market session. On the sectoral front... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 2:00 pm Rupee rises 23 paise to 82.12/ $ Early on Monday, the rupee strengthened versus the US dollar by 23 paise to 82.12 amid rising local stocks and falling oil prices. The native currency rose 23 paise from its previous close to t... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 1:20 pm Cineline India opens 5-Screen multiplex, MovieMAX in Mumbai; Stock jumps 3% Cineline India Limited stocks in the fast lane after announcement of opening of 5-Screen multiplex at Sarvodaya Mall Kalyan, Mumbai. In a regulatory filing, the company informed the ... November 07, 2022 | 07-11-2022 12:47 pm Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with Saudis King Salman last week on the sidelines of the Arab League Summit in Jordan, the leaders exchanging invitations to visit one another's countries The Egyptian and Saudi ministers of foreign affairs agreed in a phone call Friday night to hold a round of political consultations, soon in Cairo to discuss regional and international issues ahead of countries two leaders exchanging diplomatic visits, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement issued Saturday read. Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with Saudis King Salman last week on the sidelines of the Arab League Summit in Jordan. The two leaders exchanged invitations to visit one another's countries and affirmed the need to "bolster their relationship in all fields in a way that reflects the historical ties [between Egypt and Saudi Arabia]." Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry followed up with his Saudi Counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir on the two leaders last meeting as well as other aspects of the two countries' relationship, the statement added. El-Sisi and Salman met in April 2016 during a visit by Salman to Cairo, during which they agreed on the transfer to Saudi Arabia of two Red Sea islands under Egyptian control. In January, an Egyptian court struck down the controversial deal to transfer the islands, with the backlash within Egypt against the agreement reportedly causing tension between the two countries. Some reports have suggested that the two countries have also quarrelled over differing positions on the Syrian civil war. However, officials from both countries have repeatedly emphasised close ties between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, denying the existence of tensions or disagreements. There has been speculation that the alleged row over Syria stems from Riyadh's conviction that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad must be removed to put an end to the country's six-year civil war, while Cairo advocates a political solution that denies Islamist militants any future role in Syria. Saudi Arabia was one of several Gulf countries that provided the government of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi with billions of dollars in aid shortly after El-Sisi's election in 2014. The kingdom has also contributed with investments and currency deposits to prop up Egypts ailing economy, but suspended petroleum supplies in September amid growing differences. In March, Saudi Arabian state oil company Aramco resumed oil product shipments to Egypt. Search Keywords: Short link: Unable to block the upcoming visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, China is now emphasising that India is committing a major mistake in allowing him to visit the border state. ap "This will have serious damage on bilateral relations (sic)," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang warned on Friday. "China firmly opposes the Dalai Lama carrying out any activity in the relevant region and we have expressed our concerns to the Indian side," he said. Also Read: War Of Words Between China And Dalai Lama Intensifies, Beijing Calls Spiritual Leader 'A Liar' ap China's protest highlights the dichotomy in its stand on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor where Chinese construction companies are building infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, a region claimed by India. ap Beijing says India need not worry about CPEC work because it will not affect its policy on the Kashmir issue. "On the eastern section of the China-India border, China's position is clear and constant. The Dalai clique has long been engaging in separatist activities with the inglorious record (sic) ... But despite this India still invited the Dalai Lama to visit the region," Lu said. Chennai police have arrested a 36-year-old man, identified Saravanan for the rape of a 15-year-old girl. Police said Saravanan, who worked with a private school in the city, is the uncle of the girl whom he sexually abused. BCCL/ Representative Image The crime came to light on Wednesday after the girl committed suicide by setting herself on fire, unable to bear his blackmailing. The girl was allegedly raped by Saravanan in September, when she had gone to meet her aunt Sasikala. One day, when her aunt was not at home, Saravanan offered her a soft drink laced with sleeping pills. Soon after the girl fell unconscious, he raped her and captured the act on his phone. Since then, he had been threatening the girl with the video clip, a senior police officer said. He told the victim that he would release her rape video if she revealed the incident to anyone. The girl disclosed it a couple of months ago to her family, which scolded the alleged rapist and prevented the girl from disclosing the incident to anyone else. However, the uncle was encouraged by this and kept harassing the girl to have sex with him. The girl who was left alone while her parents and sibling away took the drastic step after leaving a suicide note. The girl is said to have disclosed the incident to her grandparent and the blackmailing which she was facing, but they asked her to remain silent. BCCL/ Representative Image The girls grandmother even wanted her to be married off to the accused. My mother wanted me to marry off my daughter to him (the accused). We resisted it. We were not aware that he had been blackmailing my daughter, the girl's father was quoted saying by The New Indian Express. In her suicide note, she said despite revealing the blackmailing she was facing her family did not take her seriously. If I am alive, it will bring only disrepute to you all... the 15-year-old wrote in the note. The victim's mother admitted that they had noticed her depressed for the past couple of days, but was unaware of the mental trauma that she was going through. When the latest batch of trainees passed out of Tamil Nadu Police Academy on Friday, it added a new chapter in recognising sexual minorities. This is because, one of the 1,028 trainees was K Prithika Yashini, a 25-year -old who will soon join the police as a Sub-inspector. BCCL/ File What makes Yashini's appointment unique is that it is the first time ever in India, a transsexual has been selected for the uniform service. Born and raised as male, Yashin left her family in Salem in 2011 as she couldn't handle the internal conflict over her sexual identity. Yashini recalled how her parents, tried everything from 'medicines' to taking her to temples and astrologers, to 'cure' her. BCCL/ File Ever since she underwent a sex change beginning in 2011, he has been fighting her way against discrimination based on her sexual identity. "Wherever I went for an interview, I was literally thrown out. I had almost stopped dreaming about leading my life on my terms," she said. Her childhood dream of becoming a police officer was no different, Yashini, a Computer Applications graduate had to fight a lengthy legal battle to get selected. BCCL/ File Her application was rejected as the state police recruitment board doesn't have a third gender category. But in a landmark judgement in November 2015, the Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board to include members from the transgender community under 'third category', which paved way for her selection. BCCL/File Recalling her training Yashini said, "Both men and women training to be sub-inspectors were very cooperative, helpful and friendly with me." A female friend and a driver who were present with the judge during his arrest were sentenced to 10 years in prison Related Egyptian judge arrested after 68kg of cannabis found in his car A Suez criminal court sentenced Saturday a judge to life in prison after finding 68 kilogrammes of hashish (cannabis extract) in his possession last November. The unnamed judge was arrested when security forces stopped his car at the Ahmed Hamdy Tunnel that connects the eastern and the western banks of the Suez Canal and discovered the drugs, which have a value of around EGP 1.5 million. Life in prison is 25 years according to the Egyptian penal code. The judge's driver and a European woman travelling with them were also arrested. The court also sentenced the female friend and driver to 10 years in prison. The sentences can still be appealed in front of the appeals court. At the time of the judges arrest, judicial sources had told Al-Ahram that Justice Minister Hossam Abdel-Rahim accepted the resignation of the judge following the incident. Hashish has been illegal in Egypt since it signed the Geneva International Convention on Narcotic Control in 1925. Search Keywords: Short link: External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has sought a report on an alleged racial attack on an Indian student in Polish city of Pozan. This comes after a twitter user reached out to Swaraj claiming that the student had succumbed to his injuries. reuters Based on this tweet, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had sought a report on the issue from the Indian Ambassador in Poland, Ajay Bisaria. Swaraj then spoke to Bisaria regarding the assault on the student whose name was not disclosed. However, it was later clarified by Agnihotri that he has survived the attack and is in ICU for the treatment of his injuries. Both Swaraj and Bisaria later confirmed the same. There was an incident of beating. Fortunately, he has survived. We are inquiring into all aspects of the incident. https://t.co/uO9hJ171aB Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 31, 2017 @SushmaSwaraj @IndiaPoland Prelim enquiry suggests student attacked in Poznan tram on Wed. Thank God, he survived. Getting details. @IndianDiplomacy @ndtv Ajay Bisaria (@Ajaybis) March 31, 2017 Responding to a tweet Sushma said, "There was an incident of beating. Fortunately, he has survived. We are inquiring into all aspects of the incident." Agnihotri, described the incident as a 'racist issue' similar to USA. "... the person shouted at him (victim) and then start hitting," Agnihotri said, adding, "He has been badly beaten and is in ICU." bobfostersrailgallery/ representative image "When my friend got pushed from the back, he thought, I was doing it for fun. But soon, it turned out to be an attack by stranger. The victim suffered wounds on the head, hand and face and was bleeding heavily," Agnihotri said. "On Wednesday, an Indian student was beaten by unidentified persons, are still at large. The boy had a cut on his head, because he fell after being hit on the edge stall," a report published in Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, said. AFP/ Representative Image Despite medics and passersby alerting police about the incident, the boy couldn't get immediate attention as cops failed to understand the word "beaten", the report said. Sunil Kumar was doing a comfortable job with electronic commerce company Amazon, as a chartered accountant, when he met a man who had travelled to the Antarctica. At the risk of running into an exaggeration, that encounter changed his life or at least, altered it considerably. Sunil Kumar In 2011, the 27-year-old from Hyderabad participated in Jagriti Yatra, a 15-day long, national train journey through India, to understand remote towns and villages through enterprise, where he met someone who had travelled to the 90th degree of the Earth. I couldnt believe it, said Sunil. Till then he believed that only chosen ones could travel to Antarctica, one of the harshest places on the planet. Following that conversation, Sunil took a leap at the chance and applied to the International Antarctica Expedition, and to his surprise he was selected. I didnt tell anyone for four days and kept reading and re-reading my application to understand why they chose me. On some level, I still dont know why? he said. Sunil Kumar But, Sunil does have any idea why he was selected. He used to work as a chartered account and at least 9 per cent of the Board of Directors of companies listed on the Indian Stock Exchange are from his fraternity. Can you imagine the amount of influence they can yield in a board meeting? If chartered accountants are equipped with the advantageous benefits of investing in sustainable and renewable energy, then they can carry that belief into the boardroom. It doesnt take long and its certainly not difficult to gauge Sunils passion he truly believes renewable energy is the way forward to maintain the longevity of this planet. Before he made his first journey to the North and South Pole, Sunil was in two minds about climate change: Like most people are, he says. Of course, hes a believer now. In climate change, that is, not God. I was in two minds about climate change. But when I went there, I witnessed it first-hand. I saw the Larsen and Beeshells iceberg, which is bigger than the size of Hyderabad and its split because of global warming. All my preconceived notions about climate change were shattered. It was a wake-up call for me, he said. Sunil Kumar There was one night on the 10-day expedition where they had the option of camping right under the stars. Sunil opted for it, which entailed sleeping without a tent, just inside a sleeping bag on bare ice. They say you can see the milky way from Antarctica, once in a century. And that night, he saw it. I cant even begin to explain the experience in words. During that night, ice mountains were also breaking. In that moment I realised that Im just a tiny spec on this magnanimous Earth. If mother nature wanted to, she couldve killed me that night. But she didnt. Mother Nature is so humble despite being so powerful, and we specs are so arrogant and think we can overpower nature, said Sunil. Sunil Kumar He shared his epiphany with the expeditions leader, Robert Swan, who announced at the end of the trip that Sunil will be joining him for the 2018 expedition. India cant be ignored in the world, given its growth rate and huge young population. Sunil said he realised his purpose in that expedition to bring individuals at the centre of altering climate change by altering their perceptions. Everyone needs to understand, he told Indiatimes, that global warming cannot be stopped if everyone doesnt participate and the first step can be as simple as walking to the kirana (grocery) store instead of taking your vehicle. The former Chartered Accountant told us what his expedition leader, Robert Swan, told him: Right now the biggest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it. Sunil, along with leader Robert, and 10 others will embark on the worlds first Green South Pole expedition for a better planet in January 2018. Though the expedition is being funded by organisations around the world, Sunil has quit his job to give his full attention to raising funds, Rs 90 lakhs, to get him there. Sunil Kumar Sunil will fly from Hyderabad to Dubai to Peru and then take a flight to the 89th degree, from where they will start their expedition to the 90th degree, that is, the South Pole. Indiatimes/Zikariya Siddiqui They are going to survive the 10-day trip solely on clean energy to show the world that living sustainably is very much possible. If it can be done in worlds harshest environment, then it sure can in easier life conditions. US space agency NASA is providing them with solar energy to convert hard ice into hot water, which will be used for cooking. Siemens is giving them wind power apparatus, which the team will use to propel their bodies forward. And Shell is providing them with biofuel to power satellites that will make communication with the outside world possible. Some of the dangers he and the team might encounter during the trip are: 1. Antarctica isnt really the place for weekend trips. Its a place where scientists live for research. So just undertaking an expedition of this sort is dangerous enough, not to mention surviving on clean energy in a harsh environment, which has never been attempted before. 2. They face the risk of landslides and harsh weather. Temperatures will range from -40 to -50 degree Celsius. Also, wind speed will be at least 200 miles/per hour, which can significantly hamper their movement. 3. The team will only be carrying bare necessities on their back. Each member will carry about 80 kgs and if they dont constantly err on the side of caution, then they might extinguish their resources. Sunil will walk 100 kms for 10 days and you can help him in his mission to create a cleaner world for the rest of us by donating a meagre sum of Rs 1 for every KM that he walks at http://suniltosouthpole.com/. Hundreds of pubs, bars and liquor store situated along national and state highways have been forced to shut down from Saturday after the Supreme court refused to stay its order in this regard. The apex court had in December 2016 ruled that all liquor outlets within 500 metres of state and national highways across the country should be closed. The court had cited these outlets as the reason behind the rise in road accidents. Read more 1. Swarajya Bhoomi Trust Wants To Convert Jinnah House Into Bal Gangadhar Tilak Memorial A day after Pakistan demanded India to hand over the possession of the Jinnah House in Malabar Hill, the Lokmanya Tilak Swarajya Bhoomi Trust has staked a claim for the property for creating a memorial depicting the legacy of Tilak. In a statement, founder president of the trust, Prakash Silam said it had written to the Public Works Department on January 29, 2016, that the Jinnah House premises be handed over to it. Read more 2. China Warns India Against Dalai Lama's Visit To Arunachal, Calls It A 'Big Mistake' Unable to block the upcoming visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, China is now emphasising that India is committing a major mistake in allowing him to visit the border state. "This will have serious damage on bilateral relations (sic)," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang warned. Read more 3. Sushma Swaraj Seeks Report After Indian Student Survives 'Racial Attack' In Poland External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has sought a report on an alleged racial attack on an Indian student in Polish city of Pozan. This comes after a twitter user reached out to Swaraj claiming that the student had succumbed to his injuries. Based on this tweet, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had sought a report on the issue from the Indian Ambassador in Poland, Ajay Bisaria. Swaraj then spoke to Bisaria regarding the assault on the student whose name was not disclosed. Read more 4. UP's Anti-Romeo Squad Takes Moral Policing To Another Level, Shaves Head Of Man For Inter-Religious Affair A video of policemen shaving the head of a youth who was in an inter-religious relationship in Shahjahanpur has been widely circulated online. The incident happened under Rajghat, after an anti-Romeo squad caught an inter-faith couple. Following an outcry against the police action, the superintendent of police, Shahjahanpur, has ordered an investigation into the matter. Read more 5. India May Change 'No-First-Use Of Nukes' Doctrine In War Against Pakistan Nuclear doctrines have come a long way from the time Ronald Reagan declared in 1984 that ''A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.'' Forced to counter Pakistan 's persistent use of terrorism under a nuclear cover and the slippery slope that introduced to the region, India may be re-interpreting its no-first-use of nuclear weapons policy to allow pre-emptive strikes against its neighbor, the nuclear pundits community is deducing, based among other things on cryptic statements from the Indian establishment. Read more Thousands of refugees from the middle east are going to Canada after US President Donald Trump has imposed a ban on the Muslim immigrants from several countries. Here are some photographs that show how these refugees are battling cold weather to find a safe place for themselves. 1. A young girl carries her doll and suitcase as her family that claimed to be from Turkey are met by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers after they crossed the U.S.-Canada border illegally leading into Hemmingford, Quebec, Canada. reuters 2. A woman walks towards the border to cross into Hemmingford, Quebec from the US after arriving in a taxi with a group that claimed to be from Syria. reuters 3. A man is met by an RCMP officer after he crossed the U.S.-Canada border illegally leading into Hemmingford, Quebec. reuters 4. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers assist a child from a family that claimed to be from Sudan as they walk across the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford. reuters 5. A man from Yemen crosses the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford. reuters 6. A group that claimed to be from Eritrea crosses the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford, Quebec. Security experts predict more will attempt to enter Canada as the snow melts and the weather warms. reuters 7. A family claiming to be from Turkey are met by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer after they cross the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford. reuters 8. A group that claimed to be from Syria is detained by an RCMP officer after they crossed the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford, Quebec. reuters 9. A family that claimed to be from Turkey are arrested as they are met by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers after they crossed the U.S.-Canada border illegally leading into Hemmingford. reuters 10. A young girl holding her doll cries as her family that claimed to be from Turkey are met by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers after they crossed the U.S.-Canada border illegally leading into Hemmingford. reuters 11. A man who told police that he was from Sudan is taken into custody by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer after arriving by taxi and walking across the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford. reuters 12. A woman who told police that she and her family were from Sudan is taken into custody by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers after arriving by taxi and walking across the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford. reuters 13. A man carries a child as a group that claimed to be from Syria crosses the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford, Quebec. As dawn broke Reuters photographer Dario Ayala watched the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrest a group of five - a man, two women and two children - after they scrambled across a ditch near the Quebec town of Hemmingford, on the border with New York state. The people said they came from Syria. reuters 14. A man who told police he was from Mauritania drops on his knees as he arrives at the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford. reuters 15. An RCMP officer waits as a group that claimed to be from Syria arrives at the U.S.-Canada border in Hemmingford, Quebec. reuters 16. A group that claimed to be from Turkey crosses the U.S.-Canada border illegally leading into Hemmingford, Quebec. reuters 17. A man that claimed to be from Syria is detained by an RCMP officer after he crossed the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford, Quebec. reuters 18. A woman claiming to be from Yemen wipes tears from her eyes as she is told by Canadian police not to enter the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford. The woman crossed the border despite being told not to and was then arrested. reuters 19. A child cries as a man gathers his bags after a group that claimed to be from Syria crossed the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford, Quebec. reuters 20. A woman claiming to be from Yemen is detained by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer after crossing the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford. reuters 21. A woman that claimed to be from Syria cries as she is detained by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer after crossing the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford, Quebec. reuters 22. A woman and children that claimed to be from Eritrea sit inside an RCMP vehicle after being detained for crossing the U.S.-Canada border in Hemmingford, Quebec. reuters 23. A man who said his name was Abdullah and that he was a student from Yemen walks towards the U.S.-Canada border to cross into Hemmingford, Canada, from Champlain in New York. reuters 24. A man who told police that he was from Sudan is taken into custody by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers after arriving by taxi and walking across the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford. reuters 25. Luggage from a group that claimed to be from Eritrea sits in the back of an RCMP vehicle after they crossed the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford, Quebec. reuters 26. A man who claimed to be from Sudan who kept saying "I just want to be safe" is stopped by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer after he illegally crossed the U.S.-Canada border leading into Hemmingford, Quebec, Canada reuters 27. A man who claimed to be from Sudan who kept saying "I just want to be safe" is told to stop by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer telling him "Stop, you are already in Canada" after he illegally crossed the U.S.-Canada border leading into Hemmingford, Quebec, Canada reuters President Donald Trump will order staff on Friday to pinpoint countries and goods responsible for America's nearly $50 billion trade deficit, in a protectionist warning shot to trade partners like China. AP Top administration officials said Trump will issue a pair of executive orders aimed at rooting out the causes and culprits behind America's trade deficit, in a first step toward converting tough trade rhetoric into action. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said one order would result in analysts going "country by country, and product by product," reporting back to Trump within 90 days. They will look, he said, for evidence of "cheating," inappropriate behavior, trade deals that have not lived up to their promise, lax enforcement, currency misalignment and troublesome World Trade Organization constraints. AFP "It will form the basis for decision making by the administration," he said. The order comes a week before Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping and is likely to be seen as a warning shot across Beijing's bow. "Needless to say the number one source of the deficit is China," Ross said, before listing more than a dozen other "countries that will potentially be involved." The others listed were: Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. However, Ross said the presence of a deficit does not necessarily mean that retaliatory or remedial action would be taken. ap "We've under collected 2.8 billion of these duties" said Peter Navarro, a top Trump trade advisor outlining the plan. Under the proposals being considered US customs officials could impose more substantial bonding requirements at the border or examine products' risk. Listing various problem areas, Navarro said: "This is a big deal. It's steel, chemicals, agricultural products, machinery -- it's the whole gambit." Germany protested over planned US punitive anti-dumping duties on steel plate products from companies in that country and six others. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel charged the step breached global trade rules and unfairly disadvantaged suppliers in Germany, as well as in Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. afp Italy also voiced alarm, amid fears that products like Vespa scooters could be hit by punitive duties. "Trump declares war on the Vespa" said a headline in national daily Il Messaggero, reflecting the tone of most of the media coverage on an issue that dominated front pages and topped news bulletins. The European products are vulnerable to potential measures because of a transatlantic dispute over Europe's ban on beef produced with the aid of hormones that pre-dates Trump coming to power. The United Nations refugee agency's most recent data shows that the number of people leaving the war-torn region of Syria has passed the 5 million mark. reuters Since 2011, the refugees have been fleeing the nation to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Egypt to flee the conflict that has torn the nation apart. Now, according to the data collated by the UNHCR and the Turkish government, a total of 5,018,168 Syrian nationals have taken refuge in neighbouring countries. reuters Most of them are women and children trying to run away from the rebel-controlled region. (Also Read: With 652 Lives Lost, UNICEF Claims That 2016 Was The Worst Year Yet For Syria's Children) Syrians have also sought asylum in Europe making the refugee claims as large as 884,461 between April of 2011 and October of 2016. Of this number, two-thirds were estimated to be in Germany or Sweden. Trump Succumbs to Bush/Obama Perpetual War President Trump is becoming the third post-9/11 president to prosecute bloody conflicts in the Mideast and impose mass surveillance at home, with no end in sight, observes retired Col. Ann Wright. By Ann Wright Fourteen years ago on March 19, 2003, I resigned from the U.S. government in opposition to President George W. Bushs decision to invade and occupy Iraq, an oil-rich Arab/Muslim country that had nothing to do with the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and that the Bush Administration knew did not have weapons of mass destruction. In my letter of resignation, I wrote of my deep concerns about Bushs decision to attack Iraq and the predictable large number of civilian casualties from that military attack. But I also detailed my concerns on other issues: the lack of U.S. effort on resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the U.S. failure to engage North Korea to curb nuclear and missile development, and the curtailment of civil liberties in the United States through the Patriot Act. Now, three Presidents into the Iraq War and other unsettled conflicts, the problems that I was concerned about in 2003 are even more dangerous a decade and a half later. As a U.S. diplomat, I was on the small team that reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in December 2001. Sixteen years later, the U.S. is still battling the Taliban in Afghanistan, as the Taliban takes more and more territory, in Americas longest war, while the graft and corruption within the Afghan government due to the mammoth U.S.-funded contracts for support of the U.S. military machine continues to provide the Taliban with new recruits. The U.S. is now fighting against ISIS, a brutal group that emerged because of the U.S. war in Iraq, but has spread from Iraq into Syria, as the U.S. policy of regime change has resulted in arming international as well as domestic Syrian groups to fight not only ISIS, but the Syrian government. The deaths of civilians in Iraq and Syria continue to rise with the acknowledgement this week by the U.S. military that it is likely that a U.S. bombing mission killed over 200 civilians in one building in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Slaughtering Palestinians With U.S. government acquiescence, if not complicity, the Israeli military has attacked Gaza three times in the past eight years. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed, tens of thousands have been wounded and the homes of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been destroyed. Over 800,000 Israelis now live in illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian lands in the West Bank. Israeli government has built hundreds of miles of separation/apartheid walls on Palestinian land which separate Palestinians from their farms, schools and employment. Brutal, humiliating checkpoints purposely attempt to degrade the spirit of Palestinians. Israeli only highways have been built on Palestinian lands. The theft of Palestinian resources has ignited a worldwide, citizen-led boycott, divestment and sanctions program. Imprisonment of Palestinian children for throwing rocks at Israeli occupation military forces has reached crisis levels. Evidence of the Israeli governments inhumane treatment of Palestinians has now been formally called apartheid in a United Nations report that resulted in massive Israeli and U.S. pressure on the U.N to withdraw the report and force the Under Secretary of the U.N. who commissioned the report to resign. The North Korean government continues to call for negotiations with the U.S. and South Korea for a peace treaty to end the Korean War. But the U.S. government has responded with a rejection of any discussions with North Korea until North Korea ends its nuclear program. The U.S. also has increased U.S.-South Korean military drills, the last one named Decapitation, moves that have resulted in the North Korean government continuing its nuclear testing and missile projects. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter The war on civil liberties of U.S. citizens under the Patriot Act resulted in unprecedented surveillance through cellphones, computers and other electronic devices, massive illegal data collection and indefinite, perpetual storage of private information of not only U.S. citizens, but all inhabitants of this planet. The Obama war on whistleblowers who have exposed various aspects of the illegal data collection has inflicted severe punishments on people accused of sharing truthful information with the public, including: bankruptcy for National Security Agency official Tom Drake in successfully defending against espionage charges; Pvt. Chelsea Mannings long prison sentence for exposing war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan; forced exile for NSA contractor Edward Snowden for revealing U.S. government lies about the NSAs bulk collection; Julian Assanges virtual imprisonment in Londons Ecuadorian Embassy for fear of retaliation against WikiLeaks disclosures of U.S. government secrets. Trumps Complaint In the latest bizarre twist, President Donald Trump has accused President Barack Obama of wiretapping the Trump Tower in New York City during the Presidential campaign but then amid widespread denials refused to provide any evidence, although its true that virtually all citizens have become targets of electronic surveillance. The past 14 years have been difficult for the world due to U.S. wars of choice and the growth of the surveillance state. And, the next four years do not appear likely to bring any relief to the citizens of planet earth. The election of Donald Trump, the first U.S. President who has never served in any level of government nor in the U.S. military, has led to in a little more than two months an unprecedented number of domestic and international crises, many self-inflicted: The Trump administration has attempted to ban persons from seven mostly Muslim countries (later reduced to six); The Trump administration has appointed to Cabinet positions members of the billionaire class from Wall Street and Big Oil, people who have the intention of destroying the agencies they are to lead. The Trump administration has proposed a budget that will increase the U.S. military war budget by 10 percent, but slash the budgets of other agencies to render them ineffective. The Department of State and International Affairs budget for conflict resolution by words not bullets will be slashed by 37 percent. The Trump Administration has appointed a person to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who has declared the worsening climate chaos a hoax. In retrospect, I am glad I resigned from the U.S. government when I did. My decision to resign has allowed me to speak publicly in the United States and around the world on issues that jeopardize international security from the perspective of a former U.S. government employee with 29 years of experience in the U.S. Army and 16 years in the U.S. diplomatic corps. I am glad that I could join the millions of citizens around the world who are challenging their governments when the governments violate legal standards, kill innocent civilians and wreck havoc on the planet. Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She served as a U.S. diplomat for sixteen years before her resignation in March 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war. She is the co-author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience. This article was first published at Consortium News - At least 16 people, including 13 police conscripts, were injured in a bomb blast in the Egyptian Nile Delta city of Tanta in the vicinity of a police training centre, the interior ministry said on Saturday. "The bomb was planted in a motorcycle parked near the centre and the area has been cordoned off and is being combed by security forces," the ministry said in a statement. A health ministry official in Tanta said all the injured are receiving treatment in hospital, including three civilians. Five of the injured are in critical condition. Militant group Lewaa Al-Thawra has claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement, claiming on Twitter that the bombing resulted in "dozens of deaths and injuries, and the safe withdrawal of our fighters after accomplishing the operation." Lewaa Al-Thawra has claimed responsibility for several attacks on security forces in recent months. The group said it had murdered a high-ranking army officer in Dahshur, south of Cairo, in October 2016 and claimed responsibility for an attack on a security checkpoint in Menoufiya governorate, where two policemen were killed and five were injured, two months earlier. Egypt has been battling an entrenched Islamist insurgency for several years in North Sinai, with hundreds of security forces killed in militant attacks. Militant attacks have also been carried out in Cairo and other governorates. Search Keywords: Short link: The Unbelievers Documentary By Richard Dawkins & Lawrence Krauss Scientists Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss, speak publicly about the importance of science and reason in the modern world - Encouraging others to cast off antiquated religious and politically motivated approaches toward important current issues. Posted March 31, 2017 http://www.unbelieversmovie.com/info.htm No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Russia Justifiably Fears Possible Preemptive US Nuclear Attack By Stephen Lendman March 31, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Americas rage for endless wars is the greatest threat to world peace, stability and security. Russia fears a possible preemptive US nuclear attack on its territory. According to Russias General Staff deputy head of operations Gen. Viktor Poznikhir, (t)he presence of American ABM sites in Europe and ABM-capable ships in the seas and oceans close to Russias territory creates a powerful clandestine potential for delivering a surprise nuclear missile strike against Russia. The presence of the global ABM system lowers the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, because it gives the US the illusion of impunity for using strategic offensive weapons from under the protection of the ABM umbrella. The ABM shield is a symbol of the build-up of rocket forces in the world and a trigger for a new arms race. Since the onset of Western-instigated Cold War in the late 1940s, analysts in Washington and at the Pentagon believed nuclear war on Russia was winnable. Madness persists, undermining global security, threatening humanity more than ever with neocons in charge of US militarism and war-making. Intense US hostility toward Russia negates the chance for nuclear sanity, increases the unthinkable mass annihilation from possible nuclear war. In testimony before House Armed Services Committee members, CENTCOM commander General Joseph Votel lied about Iran, calling the Islamic Republic the greatest longterm threat to (Middle East) stability. America and Israel earned that dubious distinction long ago threatening the region and world peace. Votel: Iran seeks regional hegemon(y). Fact: Iran seeks mutual cooperation among all nations. It seeks world peace, forthrightly opposing US-led imperial wars. Votel: (H)umanitarian cris(es) are exploited by violent extremist organizations and terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS. These groups have clearly indicated their desire and intent to attack the US homeland, our interests abroad and the interests of our partners and allies. Fact: America bears full responsibility for creating humanitarian crises in the Middle East, North Africa and central Asia. NATO, Israel and their rogue allies share blame. Fact: America created and supports al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups. Chances of them attacking the US homeland are virtually nil. Votel lied claiming otherwise. Votel: (T)he central region has come to represent the nexus for many of the security challenges our nation faces. Fact: Americas only threats are invented ones, no others. Theyre used to enlist public and congressional support for out-of-control defense spending funds used for militarism and endless wars of aggression against nations threatening no one. Votel: An investigation will be conducted on the March 17 Mosul airstrike killing hundreds of civilians to establish what happened, establish what the facts are, identify accountability, andlessons learned No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Fact: America indiscriminately massacres civilians in all its wars. Investigations when conducted are systematically whitewashed to avoid accountability for Nuremberg-level high crimes. Fact: Eyewitness survivors blamed US-led warplanes for the March 17 massacre. Facts dont need to be establish(ed). Theyre indisputable. Mass Pentagon-led slaughter of civilians will continue in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. US war criminals remain unaccountable for high crimes of war and against humanity. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net . His new book as editor and contributor is titled Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III. http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html - Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com . Is Putin the 'Preeminent Statesman' of Our Times? By Patrick Buchanan March 31, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - "If we were to use traditional measures for understanding leaders, which involve the defense of borders and national flourishing, Putin would count as the preeminent statesman of our time. "On the world stage, who could vie with him?" So asks Chris Caldwell of the Weekly Standard in a remarkable essay in Hillsdale Colleges March issue of its magazine, Imprimis. What elevates Putin above all other 21st-century leaders? "When Putin took power in the winter of 1999-2000, his country was defenseless. It was bankrupt. It was being carved up by its new kleptocratic elites, in collusion with its old imperial rivals, the Americans. Putin changed that. "In the first decade of this century, he did what Kemal Ataturk had done in Turkey in the 1920s. Out of a crumbling empire, he resurrected a national-state, and gave it coherence and purpose. He disciplined his countrys plutocrats. He restored its military strength. And he refused, with ever blunter rhetoric, to accept for Russia a subservient role in an American-run world system drawn up by foreign politicians and business leaders. His voters credit him with having saved his country." Putins approval rating, after 17 years in power, exceeds that of any rival Western leader. But while his impressive strides toward making Russia great again explain why he is revered at home and in the Russian diaspora, what explains Putins appeal in the West, despite a press that is every bit as savage as President Trumps? Answer: Putin stands against the Western progressive vision of what mankinds future ought to be. Years ago, he aligned himself with traditionalists, nationalists and populists of the West, and against what they had come to despise in their own decadent civilization. What they abhorred, Putin abhorred. He is a God-and-country Russian patriot. He rejects the New World Order established at the Cold Wars end by the United States. Putin puts Russia first. And in defying the Americans he speaks for those millions of Europeans who wish to restore their national identities and recapture their lost sovereignty from the supranational European Union. Putin also stands against the progressive moral relativism of a Western elite that has cut its Christian roots to embrace secularism and hedonism. The U.S. establishment loathes Putin because, they say, he is an aggressor, a tyrant, a "killer." He invaded and occupies Ukraine. His old KGB comrades assassinate journalists, defectors and dissidents. Yet while politics under both czars and commissars has often been a blood sport in Russia, what has Putin done to his domestic enemies to rival what our Arab ally Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has done to the Muslim Brotherhood he overthrew in a military coup in Egypt? What has Putin done to rival what our NATO ally President Erdogan has done in Turkey, jailing 40,000 people since last Julys coup or our Philippine ally Rodrigo Duterte, who has presided over the extrajudicial killing of thousands of drug dealers? Does anyone think President Xi Jinping would have handled mass demonstrations against his regime in Tiananmen Square more gingerly than did President Putin this last week in Moscow? Much of the hostility toward Putin stems from the fact that he not only defies the West, when standing up for Russias interests, he often succeeds in his defiance and goes unpunished and unrepentant. He not only remains popular in his own country, but has admirers in nations whose political establishments are implacably hostile to him. In December, one poll found 37 percent of all Republicans had a favorable view of the Russian leader, but only 17 percent were positive on President Barack Obama. There is another reason Putin is viewed favorably. Millions of ethnonationalists who wish to see their nations secede from the EU see him as an ally. While Putin has openly welcomed many of these movements, Americas elite do not take even a neutral stance. Putin has read the new century better than his rivals. While the 20th century saw the world divided between a Communist East and a free and democratic West, new and different struggles define the 21st. The new dividing lines are between social conservatism and self-indulgent secularism, between tribalism and transnationalism, between the nation-state and the New World Order. On the new dividing lines, Putin is on the side of the insurgents. Those who envision de Gaulles Europe of Nations replacing the vision of One Europe, toward which the EU is heading, see Putin as an ally. So the old question arises: Who owns the future? In the new struggles of the new century, it is not impossible that Russia as was America in the Cold War may be on the winning side. Secessionist parties across Europe already look to Moscow rather than across the Atlantic. "Putin has become a symbol of national sovereignty in its battle with globalism," writes Caldwell. "That turns out to be the big battle of our times. As our last election shows, thats true even here." No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of the new book "The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority." To find out more about Patrick Buchanan and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at www.creators.com . COPYRIGHT 2017 CREATORS.COM Home The Russia Hacking Fiasco: No Evidence Required By Mike Whitney So far, no single piece of evidence has been made public proving that the Trump campaign joined with Russia to steal the US presidency nothingStop to let that thought reverberate for a moment. Paul Wood, BBC News, Washington, March 30, 2017 March 31, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Heres what bugs me about the Russia hacking story: Why would the media, whose credibility is already at its lowest point ever, go after Trump when they had no facts to back them up? Why? Do the media bosses really think that if they set their hair on fire and run around yelling, The Russians did it, the Russians did it, the American people will sheepishly nod in agreement? And what do they think the Russians actually did? Why they meddled in our elections, the media tells us. Okay, but how? Russia hackers stole damaging emails from the Democrats at the DNC, they tell us. Alright, but how did that effect the elections? Well according to a report on the BBC the stories based on this hacked information appear on Twitter and Facebook, posted by thousands of automated bots, then on Russias English-language outlets, RT and Sputnik, then right-wing US news sites such as Infowars and Breitbart, then Fox and the mainstream media. Russia downloads the online voter rolls. The voter rolls are said to fit into this because of microtargeting. Using email, Facebook and Twitter, political advertising can be tailored very precisely: individual messaging for individual voters. You are stealing the stuff and pushing it back into the US body politic, said the former official, you know where to target that stuff when youre pushing it back. This would take co-operation with the Trump campaign, it is claimed. (BBC) So the Russians stole the election by bashing Hillary on Facebook? Is that what youre telling me? And they needed the Trump teams help to carry out this nefarious operation? Is that the nuttiest explanation youve ever heard? And yet some people believe this baloney. Did you know that the FBI opened this investigation in July 2016? Thats eight months ago. And what have they got to show for it? Nothing. Not a damn thing. So far, theres not a shred of evidence that Russia hacked the DNC computer system or that anyone on the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election. They have nothing and they know it. But the farce goes on regardless. Its all politics. Thats not to say that their werent any connections between the 2016 political campaigns and Russia. There sure were, but the connections were all on Hillarys side. As Robert Parry reports in his latest piece at Consortium News: An irony of the escalating hysteria about the Trump camps contacts with Russians is that one presidential campaign in 2016 did exploit political dirt that supposedly came from the Kremlin and other Russian sources. Friends of that political campaign paid for this anonymous hearsay material, shared it with American journalists and urged them to publish it to gain an electoral advantage. But this campaign was not Donald Trumps; it was Hillary Clintons. Indeed, you have the words of Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, in his opening statement at last weeks public hearing on so-called Russia-gate. Schiffs seamless 15-minute narrative of the Trump campaigns alleged collaboration with Russia followed the script prepared by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele who was hired as an opposition researcher last June to dig up derogatory information on Donald Trump. Steele, who had worked for Britains MI-6 in Russia, said he tapped into ex-colleagues and unnamed sources inside Russia, including leadership figures in the Kremlin, to piece together a series of sensational reports that became the basis of the current congressional and FBI investigations into Trumps alleged ties to Moscow Since he was not able to go to Russia himself, Steele based his reports mostly on multiple hearsay from anonymous Russians who claim to have heard some information from their government contacts before passing it on to Steeles associates who then gave it to Steele who compiled this mix of rumors and alleged inside dope into raw intelligence reports. (The Sleazy Origins of Russia-gate, Consortium News) Get the picture? The whole case against Trump is based on a pile of unverified BS from some ex-MI-6 flunkey trying to make a killing off sexed up rumors of imaginary collusion. (BTW, Steeles dodgy dossier also contained the idiotic claims that Trump hired Russian prostitutes to urinate on him in a swanky hotel in Moscow.) Parry also adds this revealing comment at the end of his article: In the last weeks of the Obama administration, I was told that the outgoing intelligence chiefs had found no evidence to verify Steeles claims but nevertheless believed them to be true. Of course they said they believed it, because they know what side their bread is buttered on. What would you expect them to say; that its all an absurd witchhunt based on nothing but sketchy rumors? The Intel chiefs are no different than anyone else. Theyre just trying to placate their paymasters like any good employee. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter Check out this comment that FBI Director Comey made during the recent Congressional hearings on alleged Russian meddling. It helps to expose what a political animal the man really is: He (Putin) hated Secretary Clinton so much that the flip side of that coin was that he had a clear preference for the person running against the person he hated so much. They engaged in a multifaceted campaign to undermine our democracy. They were unusually loud in their intervention. Its almost as if they didnt care that we knew, that they wanted us to see what they were doing. Their number one mission is to undermine the credibility of our entire democracy enterprise of this nation. Theyll be back. Theyll be back, in 2020. They may be back in 2018. Nice, eh? So among his other talents, Comey also knows how to read minds. He knows that Putin hates Hillary and favors Trump. He knows the Russians engaged in a multifaceted campaign to undermine our democracy, even though he hasnt produced a lick of proof to verify his claims. And he knows that the Russians number one mission is to undermine the credibility of our entire democracy, even though according to a recent survey the main reason Hillary lost the election was because undecided voters swarmed to Trump en masse after Comey announced he was reopening the investigation of the Clinton Foundation just 11 days before the election. I guess Comey forgot to mention that part. The Russia hacking fairytale is the biggest joke in history. I cant believe were even wasting time on it. Unfortunately, gullible liberals have taken the bait, hook, line and sinker. A recent CBS poll shows that 67% of Democrats think Russia interfered in the election to help Trump, while only 13% of Republicans believe the same. (CBS News) What does it all mean? Are Democrats more prone to believe uncorroborated politically-motivated rubbish than Republicans or are they just so blinded by their hatred for Trump that theyll accept any dirt the media dishes up? I cant answer that, but its never wise to let ones emotions cloud ones judgment. Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition . He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com . This article was first published at Counterpunch - The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Professor Stephen Cohen explains in 5 minutes why RussiaGate is 100% fake news Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments Please read our Comment Policy before posting - It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section. The FCT Administration has said it will continue to collaborate with various security agencies and other stakeholders to improve the security of lives and property in and around the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello gave this assurance during the FCT Security Committee meeting in Gwarinpa I District (Life-Camp), Abuja. The meeting was attended by the FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, FCT police Commissioner, FCT Director of DSS, the Nigerian Army (Guards Brigade & Garrison Command), Nigeria Air Force, Nigerian Navy, Customs, Immigration, NSCDC, Prisons, FRSC, NDLEA, all the FCT Area Council Chairmen, Chairman, FCT Council of Chiefs, representatives FCT CAN and Abuja National Mosque, Acting Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council as well as all Acting Secretaries of FCT Mandate Secretariats. The Minister further said the Administration would continue with efforts being made to ensure compliance with the various regulations on street hawkers, Commercial Motorcycles (Okada), Tricycles (Keke Napep), unpainted taxis and commercial sex workers in the Territory. Malam Bello while noting the shortage of Police personnel and security vehicles in the Area Councils, called on the Council authorities to do more in assisting the security operatives in the surveillance of the various security flashpoints in the their respective domains. The Minister, however, called on religious leaders, traditional and political authorities to put in more efforts in sensitizing and mobilizing the people in the fight against poliomyelitis in the capital city. He charged the security agencies to equally facilitate immunization in some communities, which have been unreachable due to security challenges While stressing the need to intensify efforts against the upsurge of counterfeit currencies, particularly foreign currencies, the Minister advised FCT residents and other travelers to always source their foreign currency from credible channels in the FCT. He promised that the FCTA would liaise with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works & Housing to continue with the rehabilitation of the failed portions of the Nyanya/Keffi road to ensure free flow of traffic in that axis. Signed Muhammad Hazat Sule, FCAI Deputy Director / Chief Press Secretary, Friday, March 31, 2017. Source: NTA The Federal High Court in Lagos Friday heard how former Oyo State Governor Rasheed Ladoja diverted part of N4.7billion he allegedly looted from the state treasury. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) re-arraigned Ladoja for allegedly converting state funds to his personal use. He was first arraigned eight years ago. He was charged along with Waheed Akanbi on eight counts of money laundering and unlawful conversion of public funds. Ladojas Senior Special Executive Assistant, Mr. Adewale Atanda, while testifying for the prosecution, said the former governor gave directive that Oyo States shares be sold. He said N634million, which was part of the commission and profit realised by stockbrokers handling the shares sale, were used as slush funds to prevent Ladojas impeachment. The witness said the N634million was delivered to him by the stockbrokers. He said he removed N180million from the sum, which he had earlier borrowed and spent on Ladojas instructions during the heat of the impeachment saga. Part of the N180million, he said, was the N80million he obtained from Wema Bank Plc, which Ladoja used to purchase 22 vehicles for Oyo State lawmakers to prevent his impeachment. Another was a loan of N80million, which he (Atanda) obtained from Lagoon Savings and Loans to buy Ladoja a property at Quarters 361, which the Oyo State Government put up for sale. He said there was also N13.8million which Ladoja used to buy two Land Cruisers for the state security personnel for his protection. Atanda said having deducted the N180million which he borrowed on Ladojas behalf, he distributed the balance of the N634million according to Ladojas instructions. Among the beneficiaries, he said, was Bimpe, to whom he delivered pounds in London in 2007, and Ladojas wife, Yinka, who also got N20million, N19.5million and $13,000 on different occasions. Other beneficiaries, Atanda said, were lawyers who represented Ladoja in court. Explaining the circumstances in which 600,000 was paid to Bimpe, Atanda said: His Excellency wanted me to pay the money into his account but I had difficulty doing it. I told him and he said he would ask his daughter to contact me. She did and I gave her the money. The money was mostly in 50 notes; I put it in small suitcases and handed the money over to her in London. I think it was in 2007. Under cross-examination by Ladojas lawyer, Bolaji Onilenla, Atanda said neither Bimpe nor Ladoja gave him anything to acknowledge the payment of the 600,000 to Bimpe. Ladoja was governor from May 29, 2003 to January 12, 2006 when he was impeached. On November 1, 2006, the Appeal Court Ibadan, declared the impeachment null and illegal. The Supreme Court upheld the decision on November 11, 2009, and Ladajo resumed office on December 12, 2006. He, however, lost a re-election bid. Justice Mohammed Idris adjourned until April 12 and 13. Source: TheNaton Some burglars have barged into an elderly couples home at night to do the poor old fellows serious harm. Kacey Adams, 33, and 32-year-old Daniel Wallace, two barbaric and cruel burglars who tied up an elderly couple and poured boiling water over their heads are facing lengthy prison sentences. According to Metro UK, the men smashed their way into their victims home in Halstead near Sevenoaks, Kent Police said. The men subjected their victims, aged in their 60s, to a near-two-hour ordeal in which they beat them, poured boiling water from a kettle on them and threatened them with a knife and a hot iron. They fled with cash and jewellery at around 11pm on April 26 2016. Police were alerted shortly afterwards when the male victim managed to untie himself. Both men were arrested at Heathrow Airport as they returned from a shopping trip to Dubai on May 31 2016. Adams, formerly of Covert Road, Hainault, London and Wallace, of no fixed address, both admitted aggravated burglary and causing grievous bodily harm with intent at an earlier hearing at Maidstone Crown Court. A third man, 27-year-old Drew Morris, of Rayleigh, Essex, pleaded guilty to simple burglary at a separate hearing at Maidstone Crown Court. Detective Inspector James Derham, of the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate said: Adams and Wallace were responsible for crimes which can only be described as barbaric and cruel beyond words. The elderly woman had two kettles of boiling water poured onto her, inflicting horrific burns and injuries, which could quite easily have proved fatal. The psychological scars that both victims are continuing to deal with are unimaginable. All three men are listed to be sentenced by Judge Charles Gratwicke at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday. Nollywood actress Uche Nnanna who is apparently sadden about Kemi Oluloyos detention took to Instagram to ask all Christians to stand up against the punishment. Uche questioned why Pastor David cannot be like Jesus. Talking about the crucification, what did Christ do to the Jews that crucified him on the cross of Calvary, she asked. Continuing with her questions, the actress said, We say our Lords prayer everyday Father forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespassed against us. Yet the man of God cannot seem to forgive Kemi despite this being the Lenten season. Fellow Nigerians and Christians. I have been so worried since yesterday after reading that a Federal High Court in Rivers State remanded Kemi Oluloyo again in prison. Please if I may ask? What is her offense, please? Who did she offend? God or man of God? And I ask again why is everybody keeping quiet over this. I may not be her fan; neither do I have anything against her. Do I assume everybody is keeping quiet because it is not a Nigerian Authority nor one powerful politician who go her arrested, else hell would have been let loose with everyone calling for her release. So why is this case different? For crying out loud why will a man of god arrest a journalist because she wrote something about him? What happens to practicing what we preach. As Christians we are the followers of Christ and so why cant we live a Christ-like life? We say our Lords prayer everyday Father forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespassed against us. Please this man of God that arrested Kemi, what did Christ do to the Jews that crucified him on the cross of Calvary? This is the Lenten season as we all know. He said Father forgive them for they do not know what they do. Now, this apart lets reflect back on the case of Late Pope Johnpaul the 11, sure we all can remember. What did he do to the man that shot him? When the authorities brought the man before him, he pleaded with them to him go. He even went as far as visiting him in the prison and also prayed for him. This is what my faith as a Catholic taught me to imbibe, forgiveness The bible made it clear that all have sinned and come short go the glory of God. So please let all Christians stand up and say no to this. I am expecting bash from this because it may be misconstrued in some quarters that Uchenna Nnanna Maduka is seeking for 5 minutes fame. So be it, I have spoken my mind because I have been hurting since yesterday. Let us be like Christ who we represent here on earth. #PleaseFreeKemiOlunloyo Thank you. The Police in Lagos has finally arrested suspected online fraudsters and yahoo-yahoo boys who have been duping unsuspecting victims. The operatives of Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command has arrested four suspects who specialise in tricking sellers of expensive mobile phones pretending to be online buyers and thereafter rob the sellers at the point delivery. The suspects, Wilfred Ehis, 30; Bright Eloho, 24, Emeka Egbemedu, 22 and Olanrewaju Kamilu, 33 were arrested on Wednesday evening in Olamulti Hotel, New Site, Iba, Ojo, Lagos. The gangs had on 7th march, 2017 shot one Sgt. Garba Kadiri, an RRS operative while attempting to evade arrest when they were tracked down by the officers in Pretty Street, Iyana School, LASU Iyana Road. According to Ehis, a Chemical Engineering graduate of University of Benin, Ekpoma, Edo State, what I do is shop online for expensive phones and goods. I request the sellers to make home delivery. I would send the delivery address to the seller. When the seller gets to the address, he would call me and I would control my boys to go to the delivery address and rob the seller. I dont follow them to the robbery scene. It is only Nurudeen, alias Onyeabo that I know carry out the execution. I know he has a locally made short gun. And, I am aware he had recruited other boys to join him in the robbery. All I do is stay in hotels. I dont even go out at all. They do the robbery, sell the phones and give me, my own share of the deal. Sources stated that Ehis has several gangs who do his runs for him. The source added that he was into internet fraud and ATM point robbery. After his arrest, about 5 victims besieged RRS headquarters to give information about the operation of the gang. Two of such victims claimed they lost N800,000 and N450,000 to him. Items recovered from Ehis are 3 phones; 2 Wrist watches, a Canon camera Eo87D; 1 necklace, 1 Sony laptop, a rap of Indian Hemp and an ash colour Altima salon car. A man has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) saiat the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos vomited 94 wraps of heroine. The suspect, 37-year-old Nnaemeka Chinedu, an auto parts dealer in Lagos, was arrested during the screening of passengers on a Rwanda Airline from Uganda. Shortly after he was placed under observation, he vomited the narcotics weighing 1.59kg. According to the spokesperson for the agency, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, this is one of the largest quantities of drugs ingested by a drug suspect arrested at the Lagos airport in recent times. Chinedu said he was paid N450,000 for smuggling the drug. I was desperate. This is my first time of smuggling drugs. I have been selling auto parts in Lagos for the past 15 years but things have been very rough with me financially. I was paid in Uganda to smuggle the drugs, Nnaemeka said. Also arrested was a 57-year-old jewellery importer, Okonkwo Godwin, who hid 750 grammes of cocaine in his boxer shorts. He was also arrested at the MMIA during the inward screening of passengers on a South African Airline flight from Brazil. The suspects are currently being interrogated for illegally importing narcotics into the country. Okonkwo Godwin was caught with one wrap of cocaine in his boxer shorts and another inside his bag all weighing 750 grammes, NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Ahmadu Garba, said. Godwin told narcotic investigators that he smuggled drugs because of his numerous financial problems. I am married with two children and I am in a terrible financial crisis. I used to import jewellery for sale at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos and Onitsha main market. Things have changed so drastically that l even find it difficult to feed my family. This was what led me into drug trafficking. l was given two wraps of cocaine; one was hidden in my boxer shorts while the other was in my luggage. The agreement was for me to sell the drugs and share the proceeds with my partner in Brazil, Okonkwo told investigators. The NDLEA Chairman, Col. Muhammad Abdallah (retd.), said that the agency would continue to disappoint the plans of drug traffickers who wish to make money from drug trafficking. He said, The NDLEA is working very hard to intercept drugs at all entry points and also arrest every trafficker. Those who intend to enrich themselves with proceeds of drugs will end up in detention. The arrest so far made validates our resolve to address the problem of drug trafficking in the country. Femi Falana ,Senior Advocate of Nigeria( SAN) has rubbished to decison of the Senate to suspend Senator Ali Ndume. According to the Senate, through its spokesman, had insisted that based on the internal House rules, it has the power to suspend a member even if the 1999 constitution does not validate the claim. Falana said, The Senate labours under the very erroneous impression that it can do anything, whether allowed by law or not; particularly when it purports to exercising its oversight functions. In the first place, allegations of crime, certificate forgery, allegations regarding under-payment of Customs duties, are criminal allegations that can only be investigated by the appropriate agencies of the government the Police. The Senate always relies on all the time Section 88, begins with the phrase: subject to the provisions of this constitution, which means the powers of the Police, the powers of the Auditor-General of the Federation, the powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the powers of the President, take precedence over the powers of the Senate to carry out an investigation. Then he went on to explain in clear language; The Senate with profound respect, the House of Representatives with Profound respect, cannot investigate allegations of crime, (just like) the murder that took place in Ife or southern Kaduna. That is within the constitutional province of the Police. If somebody has stolen money, you either go to the Police or the EFCC. That is the law. You cannot audit the accounts of the federation, it is the job of the Auditor-General, he said to the lawmakers. He found it most unfortunate that the court has made definitive judicial pronouncements on similar issues but the senator chose to ignore. Mr Falana reminded Senator Dino Melaye how he made criminal allegations against the Dimeji Bankole leadership during his time in the House of Representatives, an action which led to him being suspended indefinitely. However, he (Falana) went to court on his (Melaye) behalf and the court told the House, under your own rules, you cannot suspend a member for more than 14 days. Melaye was reinstated along with others. Falana then maintained that a group of lawmakers cannot indiscriminately overrule the mandate given by thousands of people from a constituency by suspending their representative. Source: ( Bounce News ) The golden days of Ekiti when it comes to academics seem to be coming back as an indigene of Ekiti State, Master Adedipe Oluwatosin, emerged the Best Young Scientist of the Year in a competition organised by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. The competition was organised under the 774 Young Nigerian Scientists Presidential Award in which a winner is picked from each of the 774 local government areas of the federation to compete at the national level. This statement was released on Friday by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, said the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, informed the governor of Adedipes feat in a letter dated March 15, 2017. Onu was quoted as saying the aim of the competition was to develop the interest of young people in science and technology and for the country to produce world beaters in the field. The statement added, The minister said the emergence of Oluwatosin was a testimony to the great attention the Fayose administration pays to education which is now yielding results. Onu said Oluwatosin, a pupil of Shepherd International School, Ado-Ekiti, would be presented the award at the coming Technology and Innovation Expo in Abuja next week. Ekiti State has once again stamped its authority as the leader in the education sector with the emergence of Master Adedipe Oluwatosin. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) Senate President, Bukola Saraki, is in the news again, as a 35-year old kidnap suspect, Abdulrasheed Maigari, arrested by the police has revealed how he and others stole N310m from the residence of the Senate President in Abuja in 2015. Maigari, in a report published by the Vanguard, said he and his gang suspected that the money found in Sarakis house was government money wrongly appropriated by the Senate President and so decided to steal it. The suspect who is now in police custody with members of his gang, confessed that he was part of the security men who stole N310million from Sarakis house. According to him, it was an Army captain in charge of the security of the place that ordered the robbery. He disclosed that his share from the stolen N310m was N30m. The report described Maigari as a graduate of political science from the Ado Bayero University, Kano who enlisted into the Department of State Service (DSS) as a Senior Intelligence Officer in 2011 and was later posted to the Maitama residence of Saraki in 2015. I served in operations department at Gombe and Osun Commands of the DSS before my dismissal in 2015. Before I was dismissed, I was posted to the home of the Senate President Bukola Saraki in Maitama and in November 2015, I cant recall the exact date, three vehicles brought in the N310 million into the compound and the army captain who was on ground that day ordered that we should take the money away because he suspected the money was government money which could have been wrongly appropriated and could, therefore, be taken. We were four DSS operatives and four army officers involved and we drove the three cars to a house in Suleja where the money was shared. I got N30 million and I bought a car and took it to Kaduna state where I hid the rest of my share. Maigari revealed further that when he returned to Abuja, he was asked to report at DSS headquarters where he was interrogated over the theft and detained for five months, dismissed and charged to court. He was remanded in Kuje Prison but later granted bail by the court on health grounds. Maigari was among kidnappers who kidnapped Alhaji Isa Ozi Salami last month and were apprehended by the police after their leader collected N2.8 million and was still spoiling for more money when luck ran out on them. Source: ( PM News ) N600 million worth of pirated works has been seized by the Nigerian Copyright Commission, NCC during its anti-piracy raid of seven warehouses in Awodi-Ora Estate of Apapa area, Lagos State. The Zonal Manager of the commission, Obi Ezeilo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday that this was part of its ongoing war against piracy. Mr. Ezeilo said the commission seized thousands of boxes containing textbooks, motivational books, bibles, dictionaries, medical and health books. Among the pirated books are: Songs of Praise belonging to University Press, Mastering Steps to Numbers for Beginners belonging to Metropolitan Publishers. Others are: Engineering Mathematics belonging to Macmillan Publishers, Oxford Dictionary belonging to University Press and Modular English Course belonging to Evans Publishers. Also seized are: Champion Mathematics belonging to Macmillan Publishers, Primary Mathematics Workbook belonging to University Press Plc, Living as Gods Children belonging to African University Press, Holy Bible belonging to Holman Publishers and Social Studies belonging to Lantern Publishers. According to him, the anti-piracy operations unit of the commission has been targeting some warehouses in Apapa. They were suspected to be storing pirated books in their warehouses without the consent of the owners. Mr. Ezeilo said that the commission inspected seven warehouses located at No 47, Dada Onijamah Street, Apapa. There, the commissions officials discovered several thousands of pirated works in various boxes belonging to various publishers, he said. The anti-piracy raid followed a series of surveillance and intelligence gathering by the commission within Apapa environs. These provided the commission the clues to the targeted location where the literary works were pirated and stored, he said. Mr. Ezeilo said that a team of Copyright Inspectors in collaboration with the Nigerian Police Force carried out the anti-piracy operations. He said that throughout the raid, none of the owners or operators of the warehouses were found within and around the premises. Only the landlord of the premises, Anthony Iwuala, showed up and said he was not aware that the warehouses were being used for the storage of pirated literary works, he said. The zonal manager said that the commission would carry out further investigations to fish out the actual owners of the warehouses and prosecute them accordingly. He warned those involved in piracy to desist and re-affirmed the commissions `zero tolerance for piracy. He also warned owners of warehouses to ensure that their premises were not used for illegal activities. (NAN) The Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, and some other Northern traditional and political leaders have approached Senate President Bukola Saraki and other lawmakers, asking them to upturn the suspension of Ali Ndume.. Mr. Shettima led a team, described as Borno elders by our source, to the residence of Mr. Saraki, Thursday night, seeking to end the feud between the estranged allies and ensuring the suspension slammed on Mr. Ndume is lifted. The purpose of the visit, disclosed the source who is knowledgeable about the development, was for mediation. They went to meet other leaders in Senate as well, the source, a Senate insider, added. Mr. Ndume was suspended from legislative activities for six months, after the Senate, on Wednesday, upheld the report of its committee on ethics, privileges and public petitions chaired by Samuel Anyanwu, PDP-Imo. Mr. Ndume had, at plenary last week, raised the bullet proof car scandal involving Mr. Saraki, and the certificate scandal involving another senator, Dino Melaye. The two matters, Mr. Ndume said, had made the Senate subject of public ridicule. He then asked the Senate to investigate Messrs. Saraki and Melaye, two persons he had aligned with in 2015 in subverting the will of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in electing the Senate leadership. Mr. Anyanwus ethics committee, tasked to conduct the investigation, convened an investigative hearing on Monday, attended by parties concerned with the cases regarding Messrs. Saraki and Melaye. The Vice-Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Ibrahim Garba, confirmed Mr. Melaye graduated from the school, while Lanre Shittu, a car dealer, absolved Mr. Saraki of culpability in respect of the fake documents with which the bullet proof car was imported. In its report, the committee cleared Messrs. Saraki and Melaye, and recommended one-year suspension for Mr. Ndume alleged to have demeaned the reputation of the Senate with the issues he brought against his colleagues without conducting proper Investigation. However, there was plea for a lighter punishment, and the suspension was reduced to six months. But beyond the matters raised by Mr. Ndume, he has had broken relationship with Mr. Saraki over his support for Ibrahim Magu, embattled acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Mr. Ndume had disagreed with the Senate resolution on Mr. Magu, when the EFCC acting chair was first rejected in December last year. He also faulted a resolution of the upper chamber indicting the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, over what has come to be known as grass-cutting scandal. It was majorly on the basis of his open disagreement with the two resolutions of the Senate that Mr. Ndume was removed as Senate Leader. He had told PREMIUM TIMES Mr. Saraki masterminded his removal. But the Borno State Governor, Mr. Shettima, has commenced efforts to reconcile Mr. Saraki and Mr. Ndume with a view to ensuring the latters suspension is lifted. Mr. Shettimas spokesperson, Isa Gusau, declined comment on Friday. But he did not deny that the meeting between his principal and Mr. Saraki held. However, it was gathered from lawmakers that Mr. Shettima also met with Danjuma Goje (APC-Gombe) and even Dino Melaye and that he is determined to meet and persuade as many Senators as possible over Mr. Ndumes suspension. According to reports, Mr. Ndume is key to Bornos efforts at recovering and rebuilding after years of devastation caused by Boko Haram insurgency. Borno cant afford not to have a Senator like Ndume in the Senate for six months, said a source, because Borno is a peculiar case. More so, some of the worst hit areas, like Gwoza, Damboa, fall within Mr. Ndumes constituency and therefore he has to be there to push their interests as he is also part of the presidential committee on north east, one source said. But apart from Mr. Shettima, there are other Northern leaders, including emirs, retired generals, former governors and ex-senators, who are prevailing on Mr. Ndume that he should submit to a process of political solution which will see Mr. Saraki and other lawmakers agree to lift the suspension slammed on the Borno politician. In fact, a team of Northern leaders arrived Abuja after the suspension, seeking to resolve the crisis. When contacted and told what we gathered on Friday, Mr. Ndume said: what you heard is correct. Source : ( Premium Times ) Two suspected Boko Haram terrorists carrying scout surveillance on Kareto and Dangalti villages in Borno State, were apprehended by troops of 158 Task Force Battalion of 5 Brigade, Nigerian Army on Tuesday, 28th March 2017. Preliminary investigation shows that the apprehended spies were on reconnaissance mission to facilitate possible attack on the communities by Boko Haram terrorists. Similarly, one Bulama Kailani Mohammed Metele from Tumbun Bera, a confessed Boko Haram terrorist belonging to Mamman Nurs faction of the terrorists group, surrendered himself to troops of 145 Task Force Battalion, 5 Brigade, troops at Damask. It has been confirmed that Metele was a high profile terrorist as he is at Serial number 253 on the Nigerian Armys Wanted Boko Haram terrorists poster produced recently. He is currently undergoing further interrogation. The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted its first resolution addressing Boko Harams presence in the Lake Chad Basin. In unanimously adopting the resolution 2349 (2017), on Friday, the Council expressed concern about the protection of civilians affected by terrorism. The Council strongly condemned all terrorist attacks, violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses by Boko Haram and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the region. The UN body also condemned killings, abductions, child, early and forced marriages, rape, sexual slavery and the increasing use of girls as suicide bombers by the Boko Haram terrorists. Those responsible must be held to account and brought to justice, the Council declared. The Council encouraged governments to enhance regional military cooperation, and to move vigorously and decisively to cut funding flows to individuals, groups, undertakings and entities on the ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions List, which includes Boko Haram. It urged Lake Chad Basin Governments to implement consistent policies to promote defections from Boko Haram and ISIL, to deradicalize and reintegrate those who had already defected and to ensure there was no impunity for those responsible for terrorist attacks. On the humanitarian front, the Council urged all parties to the conflict to ensure respect for and protection of humanitarian personnel, and to facilitate safe, timely and unhindered access for humanitarian organisations to deliver aid. In terms of follow-up, the Council encouraged the Secretary-General to carry out a joint visit to the Lake Chad Basin region with the Chairperson of the AU Commission, the President of the World Bank Group and the President of the African Development Bank. In the ensuing discussion, delegates welcomed the Councils unity in passing the resolution on the heels of its mission to Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger from March 2 to 7, to better understand the conflicts root causes. Several members urged the quick disbursement of funds pledged at the Oslo Humanitarian Conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region held on Feb. 24. Cameroons ambassador to the UN Tommo Monthe, speaking on behalf of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, described the resolution as a step change in mobilising international support for countries to combat Boko Haram. Monthe said that the military response, while essential, should be part of a holistic approach. He urged states to adopt and implement measures to tackle the causes and consequences of the current situation. Monthe expressed hope that the resolution would mark the start of more decisive support to the affected countries, who had been forced to curtail spending on education, health and other efforts. In a similar vein, Nigerias representative, Anthony Bosah, welcomed the resolutions call for enhanced regional military cooperation and coordination, emphasising that Nigeria was resolute in its efforts to defeat terrorism. Bosah said people of the Lake Chad Basin needed support, pointing out that shrinking of Lake Chad had exacerbated their hardship, with cross-border knock-on effects making it difficult for governments to meet the peoples needs. Senegals representative, Fode Sech, welcomed the resolution, especially its pledge to support the efforts of Lake Chad Basin countries to combat Boko Haram activities. The Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom and UN Security Councils President for the month of March, Mathew Rycroft, said the fact-finding mission to the region was an eye-opener. We will fail the people of the region if we do not respond to what we saw, Rycroft said. NAN This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Superior Data In. Superior Results Out. Thunderstorms are some of the most dynamic phenomenon on earth, resulting in hail sizes that can vary from the size of a pea, to greater than softballs over a short geographic distance. Every year, hail fall and its related damage is a significant contributor of insurance claims and losses in the Continental United States. Furthermore, hail damage can go undetected for months, causing considerable collateral damage and resulting in very long claim tails, which can have a significant impact on customer satisfaction. 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With this new ability to accurately verify and pinpoint affected areas, more targeted response plans can be developed to improve customer satisfaction, catastrophe response efficiency, and confidently detect fraudulent claims. Click here to learn more about our CoreLogic Hail Verification Technology 2.0. 2017 CoreLogic, Inc. All rights reserved. Topics Tech If you want to retire in the United Kingdom as an American, you may think that the transition will be easyeverything's in English, right? The U.K. does indeed offer some advantages to retirees, but many aspects of life there can take some adjustment, from the metric system to the autosthey drive on the left side of the road, sitting at steering wheels on car's right sideto the uniquely moist chill-to-the-bones climate. Here's what you should know before you cross the pond permanently. Key Takeaways Americans retiring to the U.K. need to qualify for a visa. The U.K. is expensive, though the farther from London, the more reasonable the prices are. American ex-pats can't join the U. K.'s National Health Service. Necessary Paperwork Americans can visit the U.K. as a tourist and stay for up to six months, no visa required. To stay longer, youll need to qualify for a visa. Family ties, established business connections to the U.K., or dual citizenship with a Commonwealth country like Canada may help. Owning property, however, does not guarantee a longer visa term. People who are already in the U.K. as a "retired person of independent means" can apply to extend their stay up to a maximum period of five years or for indefinite leave to remain, according to the UK Home Office. (That categorization is defined as those having a minimum yearly disposable income of 25,000 and meeting several other requirements). As the U.K. prepares to exit the European Union, much is still unsettled. We asked Lucy Culpepper, European correspondent for ex-pat-oriented site Live and Invest Overseas, what the implications might be for Americans anticipating a retirement move to the U.K. I really dont think anyone knows yet, she responded, least of all the British government or people. I cant see that it will adversely affect American retirees wanting to come here. In fact, it may be good for retirees with an income. Location Choices The location you choose will depend on the kind of life you want to lead, which gives you several options to consider: Urban or rural A busy city like London, Birmingham, or Edinburgh A smaller city like Exeter, Cheltenham, York, or Bath A small town like St. Ives, Wotton-under-Edge, Ambleside, Tenby, Beaumaris, Much Wenlock, or Chipping Norton International Livings report on retiring in England cites the east coast county of Suffolk as an attractive choice. Within commuting distance of London, Suffolk is a treasure trove of squat-towered churches and high-hedged lanes...thatched roof cottages painted in summertime colors...medieval towns of crooked streets and half-timbered Tudor houses. Devon, another county amply equipped with hedgerows and thatched cottages, as miles of countryside walks for ramblers and splendid seascapes as well. Cost of Living According to Culpepper, the U.K. is expensive. In my experience, its more than Spain, about the same as France and far more than Latin America, she says. Of course, actual costs vary widely depending on where you choose to live. Not surprisingly, London is the U.K.s most expensive destination. In Expatistans ranking of 282 cities in the world, its the 4th most expensive; in Europe, it ranks third, and in the U.K., it takes first place. Its public transportation is the most expensive in the world and housing costs are the highest in Western Europe. Numbeo, which also compiles cost-of-living data from cities around the world, reports an average rent of $2,291 for a one-bedroom apartment in Londons city center and $1,753 outside the city center as of July 2021. The average price to buy an apartment in the center of London is around $1,438 per square footjust over 2% more than a comparable apartment in New York City. Once you leave London, things get more reasonable. Edinburghs rental housing costs are 93.93% lower than in London, local transportation is 55% less and groceries are about 7.49% cheaper. Head for Plymouth and rent is 66.31% less than London, restaurants are about 13.24% cheaper, and overall, you would need around $6,602.60 (4,800) in London to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with $4,111.98 (2,989.35) in Plymouth. Healthcare As an American retiree living in the U.K., you wont be able to take advantage of the comprehensive National Health Service, except for emergencies. You will be required to purchase private health insurance. Information on insurance and many other matters including paying taxes, buying property, and arranging your move can be found on a number of ex-pat websites such as Expatica.com and UK-Yankee.com. The Bottom Line The United Kingdom is an attractive place for Americans to retire, according to Culpepper. American ex-pats are welcome in the U.K. In the provincial towns, Americans are still viewed as unusual, and as 'cool' among the younger generation, she says (though she advises staying away from political discussions). The U.K. is a safe country. It is a fantastic place for anyone who loves history, the countryside, eating out...Anyone who loves the outdoors and hiking will revel in the freedom to walk almost anywhere unrestricted...And its small enough to be able to travel quickly from one region to another and experience a complete change in culture. Beyond that, connections to Europe are good and cheap. One note of caution: Americans who come from the warmer/blue sky states may struggle with the weather. The meetings the Egyptian delegation has held with US congressional leaders come ahead of President El-Sisi's upcoming visit to the White House Two Egyptian MPs who are members of a parliamentary delegation currently visiting Washington said they met a number of US Congress leaders to gather support for designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation in the United States. The Egyptian parliamentary delegation, led by deputy speaker Soliman Wahdan, left Cairo for New York and Washington Sunday to hold talks with US Congress members and Trump administration officials in a bid to rally support for the White House labeling Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. The delegation includes MPs primarily affiliated with the Egyptian parliament's foreign affairs committee, such as Coptic MPs Emad Gad and Nadia Henry, and with the human rights committee, such as MP Hussein Gad. In a statement Saturday, MP Hussein Gad said the Egyptian parliamentary delegation's visit to the US is mainly focused on gathering support among US Congress leaders for classifying Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. "The visit also comes in harmony with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's expected meeting with new US President Donald Trump next Monday, as the White House said the meeting will focus on combating ISIS," said Gad. Gad said the Egyptian delegation submitted to US Congress leaders a dossier of "documents and judicial rulings" establishing that the Muslim Brotherhood engages in terrorism. Hussein Wahdan, head of the Egyptian parliamentary delegation, also said in a statement Saturday that the delegation met with US senator and former presidential election candidate Tex Cruz "to provide him with all the documents necessary to put Muslim Brotherhood on the US State Department's list of terrorist organisations." "In our meetings with US Congress officials, we did our best to expose the terrorist nature of the Muslim Brotherhood," said Wahdan, adding that "We agreed with Senator Ted Cruz that we should work together in the coming period to expose the crimes of the Muslim Brotherhood before American public opinion." 'Call the enemy by its name' Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, and Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican from Florida, introduced a bill aimed at listing the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation in 2015, and in January this year it was introduced again. Cruz tweeted that he was "proud to introduce the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act because it's time to call the enemy by its name." Gad said one month ahead of President El-Sisi's visit to Washington that the Muslim Brotherhood "has been spending millions of dollars to lobby Washington officials and Congress members to avoid being designated a terror organisation." "The conservative American media and research centres revealed that the leadership of the group, which is currently operating in Turkey, signed a contract with an American lobbying firm to spend $4.8 million to polish its image in the US mainstream media such as The New York Times and help it establish ties with Trump administration officials," said Gad. Gad added that they learned from US Congress members that the Muslim Brotherhood's affiliated Egyptian Institute for Political and Strategic Studies, which operates from Turkey and is headed by former cabinet minister Amr Darrag, stands behind funding the pro-Muslim Brotherhood campaign in US media and congressional circles. "The group began early preparing to confront the bill and prevent its passage in the form of launching a widespread informational media campaign, and as a result various articles have been published extolling the group and conveying a message that it is not a terrorist organisation," said Gad. Gad said many American media outlets have also claimed in recent days that the Trump administration postponed an executive order designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. "All of these are just rumours that form a part of the pro-Brotherhood campaign," said Gad, adding that he expects that "after his meeting with Arab leaders who will visit Washington this month, such as President El-Sisi, King Abdullah of Jordan, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the administration of Donald Trump will be able to reach a final conclusion on whether the Muslim Brotherhood should be designated a terrorist organisation." The delegation also met with US Republican congressmen Steve King and Louie Gohmert. Gad indicated that "After Egyptians revolted against the Muslim Brotherhood regime in the summer of 2013, the two, Steve King and Louie Gohmert, issued a statement describing the 2013 revolution as a glorious battle against terrorism." "They told us they fully support listing Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation," he added. Another Egyptian delegation is also currently visiting New York and Washington to gather support for President El-Sisi's first state visit to the US. The so-called "popular diplomacy" delegation met with leading members of Egyptian Coptic organisations in the United States. The delegation is composed of members from different political parties such as the Future of Homeland, the Congress and the Free Egyptians. Ahmed El-Fadali, head of the Democratic Peace Party, said the delegation met "the judicial committee that is affiliated with the US Congress" to probe labeling the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. "This is the committee that is tasked with giving a final say on whether Muslim Brotherhood should be listed a terrorist organisation," said El-Fadally. "The delegation provided the committee with tens of reports and videotapes documenting the terrorist nature of the Muslim Brotherhood and showing that it is the mother of all radical and militant Islam movements, particularly ISIS." El-Fadally said the delegation urged all Coptic organisations to work hard to stand up to pro-Brotherhood media campaigns in the US. "We told them you should do your part in exposing the terrorist nature of this organisation to Americans and how it harassed Copts and torched Coptic churches under its rule." Maged Nour, a US businessman who is head of the American Coptic Association, met with the Egyptian parliamentary and popular diplomacy delegations and Egypt's ambassador to the US last week. Nour said Copts will be keen in organising pro-Sisi demonstrations in Washington. "These will be particularly on 3 April when presidents Sisi and Trump meet in the White House," said Nour. Search Keywords: Short link: Police are on high alert in a Chicago neighbourhood where seven people were killed in a 12-hour period. The gun violence in the South Side area was mostly due to gang conflict, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said. On Thursday afternoon, four people were shot dead in or near a restaurant after a man approached and opened fire. Two men were found dead from bullet wounds inside the restaurant, a third person was found unresponsive outside the restaurant, and a fourth man was found a block away. Two people were killed later on Thursday when a vehicle pulled alongside a van in the South Shore neighbourhood. A man and woman were shot, police said, and the van crashed into a pole. "I'm angry and sick," Mr Johnson said during a news conference. "You have my promise that Chicago Police Department will utilise the full weight of our resources to go after the individuals responsible for yesterday's incidents." He said investigators have determined most of the victims were targeted and had known gang affiliations, but the woman's killing was not gang related. Mr Johnson said there will be a heavy and aggressive police presence in the South Shore neighbourhood until the perpetrators are in custody. He added that co-ordinated police operations will target the people who are driving the violence and where retaliatory violence may occur. "You lose count of the shootings after a while," said Kyra Carr, who lives a few blocks away and heard the gunfire. "But seven bodies in a day. Crazy. Something is wrong." Cook County medical examiner's office identified three of the victims as brothers Raheem and Dillon Jackson, aged 19 and 20, and 28-year-old Emmanuel Stokes. The Chicago Tribune reported that the Jacksons' grandmother, Georgia Jackson, 72, said the two had gone to the restaurant to get food and to see their mother, who works there. She said their mother called her about the shooting. "She only said one at first but when I got here they said they found the other," Georgia Jackson said. Also on Thursday, about a mile from the restaurant, the body of 26-year-old Patrice L Calvin was discovered in a home. The medical examiner's office said Ms Calvin, who was four months pregnant, had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Mr Johnson said the woman probably knew her killer, and her death was not gang related. No arrests have been reported by police. AP The security services tapped the phone of the late Ian Paisley while he was an MP, Britain's Lord Prescott has claimed. The firebrand leader of the UK's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had his calls tapped despite a long-standing convention that MPs should not have their communications monitored, the former deputy prime minister said. Lord Prescott said then prime minister Tony Blair told him in 2005 that security services had eavesdropped on an MP. He said that after pressing Mr Blair for a name, the then premier told him it was the DUP leader, who later became the North's first minister and a peer before his death in 2014. Writing in his Sunday Mirror column, Lord Prescott said the surveillance watchdog had wanted to name Mr Paisley, but Parliament was not informed. Lord Prescott said: "Downing Street had been told by the Interception of Communications Commissioner, who wanted to name Paisley. "Tony asked me to discuss the Wilson Doctrine with the Speaker of the House of Commons. I never told him that an MP had been tapped or that it was Paisley. "Parliament was not informed and Paisley went on to become First Minister of Northern Ireland. "I can only think that as the peace process was still a concern, mentioning the fact a leading loyalist politician had been tapped by Britain's security services in the past would not have helped." The newspaper said Lord Prescott has decided to break his silence over fears that electronic snooping to catch terrorists will lead to an erosion of privacy. The convention that MPs' communications should not be intercepted by police or security services is known as the Wilson doctrine, after former prime minister Harold Wilson, who announced the policy in 1966. In March 2006, Mr Blair assured Parliament that the Wilson doctrine would be maintained, despite advice to scrap the policy. The Sunday Mirror said Lord Prescott does not know when Mr Paisley's phone was tapped or whether MI5, MI6, police or the Army were responsible. He approached then Commons speaker Michael Martin to discuss how the Wilson doctrine was applied but did not mention it was prompted by what he had learned about Mr Paisley. Lord Prescott was concerned that a constituent's private matters could be overheard if spies were listening to MPs' calls. In his column, Lord Prescott said he was concerned about the state's powers of surveillance under Theresa May. "The challenge as a minister is to balance national security against the freedoms we enjoy," he said. "But this government seems determined to ensure Big Brother is not only watching you, he's monitoring your calls, emails and texts." Update 9.30pm: President Michael D. Higgins has written to the President of Colombia, expressing his sympathy following the deaths of 154 people. The letter to Juan Manuel Santos expresses his sympathies to the victims of the landslides in the Putumayo region, to their families and to all those affected by the tragedy. President Higgins recently made an official visit to Colombia, during which he had bilateral meetings with President Santos. The Presidents discussed a number of issues, including the work of Roger Casement, who worked in the Putumayo region, during a period in the early 20th century. Update 9pm: The president of Colombia says the death toll from an avalanche of water in Mocoa has risen to 154. Update 8pm: An avalanche of water from three overflowing rivers swept through a small city in Colombia while people slept, destroying homes and killing at least 127 residents, authorities have said. According to the Red Cross, 400 people are injured and 220 believed missing. President Juan Manuel Santos declared a state of emergency and warned the death toll could rise. "We don't know how many there are going to be," he said of the fatalities when he arrived at the disaster zone. "We're still looking." Witnesses described feeling buildings vibrate and though an alarm reportedly went off to alert residents, it could not be heard throughout the city. Videos residents posted online showed vast areas filled with wooden planks and debris. Some could be heard calling out the names of people missing. "In the middle of the night and this morning people lost loved ones," interior minister Juan Fernando Cristo said. "They lost families, boys, girls, young people, the elderly." The Red Cross planned to set up a special unit in Mocoa to help relatives search for their loved ones. "In this moment, it's chaos," said Oscar Forero, a spokesman with the Colombian Red Cross. "There are many people missing." Herman Granados, an anaesthesiologist at the local hospital, said he arrived early on Saturday morning and worked throughout the night on victims. Mr Granados said the hospital does not have a blood bank large enough to deal with the magnitude of the crisis and was quickly running out of supplies. He said some of the hospital workers came to help even though their own relatives remained missing. "Under the mud," he said, "I am sure there are many more." - AP Latest 7.30pm: The Colombia Red Cross said 127 people are dead, 220 are missing and 400 were injured in a water avalanche. Latest 6pm: At least 112 people have been confirmed dead after a river overflowed triggering an avalanche of mud and water that swept through a small city, Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos said. President Santos arrived at the disaster zone on Saturday and warned the death toll could rise even further as the search for survivors continues. The incident triggered by torrential rain happened around midnight in Mocoa, a city of 350,000 located near Colombia's border with Ecuador. Earlier: Twenty-four people died when an avalanche of water from an overflowing river swept through a city in Colombia destroying homes and killing people while they slept, officials said on Saturday. The incident triggered by intense rains happened around midnight in Mocoa, a city of about 350,000 located near Colombia's border with Ecuador, tucked between mountains and at the crux of two rivers. Muddy water and debris quickly surged the city's streets, toppling homes, ripping trees from their roots, lifting cars and lorries and carrying them downstream. With most of the community asleep when the water avalanche began, many residents did not have enough time to climb on top of their roofs or seek safety on higher ground. Herman Granados, a surgeon at the local hospital, said he believed there are likely to be more than 300 people injured and that doctors were quickly running out of blood. He suspected the death toll would rise. "Under the mud, I am sure there are many more," he said on Saturday after working throughout the night on patients. President Juan Manuel Santos was traveling to the region and called on the military and disaster authorities to respond to the disaster. "Our prayers are with the victims," he said in a statement. Witnesses described feeling buildings vibrate as the flood began. Although an alarm reportedly went off, it could not be heard throughout the city, survivors said. Videos that some residents posted online showed vast areas filled with wood planks and debris. People could be heard calling out the names of missing loved ones. "There are many people looking for their relatives," said Oscar Forero, a spokesman with the Colombian Red Cross. The Red Cross planned to set up a special unit in Mocoa on Saturday afternoon to help relatives search for their relatives. - AP Huawei, founded by former army engineer Ren Zhengfei three decades ago, has emerged as one of Chinas most recognisable consumer brands. A relatively new entrant in mobile devices, it has rapidly grabbed market share from Apple and Samsung with premium phones and is now ranked third globally. However, that expansion comes at a cost, as the company boosts spending to keep up. Its main business of networking equipment is also slowing as phone carriers rein in network rollouts and prepare for the advent of faster 5G standards. And smartphone competition at home from the likes of Oppo is intensifying. Net income inched 0.4% higher to 37.1bn yuan (5bn) in 2016, the company which is based in Shenzhen said yesterday. That was its slowest pace of growth since a profit decline in 2011. Its net margin dipped to 7.1% from about 9.3% the previous year. That level of profitability is appropriate, said Eric Xu, the current rotating chief executive. Huawei said it spent 14.6% of its 2016 revenue on research and development and will set aside $10bn (9.3bn) to $20bn annually for that purpose as it ramps up research into everything from artificial intelligence and wireless technology to cloud computing. It has also begun keeping a closer eye on the bottom line. Xu pledged in December to cut extravagant marketing events and warned against blind optimism and rhetoric. Mounting expenses would damage efficiency and profitability, he said in a memo to staff. Were paying more attention to efficiency and scaling back on investments that cannot bring value,said Xu. Under the current rotation he will cede the helm this week. The company blamed a rapidly expanding consumer business for weighing on margins. Revenue grew 32% to 521.6bn yuan, said Huawei, a closely held company that discloses only basic finances. That was a tad ahead of its own expectations. However, the consumer division outstripped that pace, increasing revenue 44% to 179.8bn yuan by shipping 139m smartphones in 2016. Huawei has become less dependent on its traditional networking business as the company attempts to grow sales from cloud computing and smartphones. About 56% of its sales came from the telecoms-carrier business last year, down from about 60% in 2015 and about two-thirds in 2014, according to previous reports. It has declared its intention of becoming the worlds largest smartphone player within half a decade and Huawei is said to be aiming for $33bn in 2017 revenue for its consumer electronics business, which include smartphones, tablets and wearables. However, that business is under assault at home. It lost its top position in Chinas smartphone market last year to Oppo Electronics, which attacked rural areas and lower-tier cities. And Vivo ranked just behind Huawei domestically in the December quarter, according to research firm IDC. While Huawei has voiced ambitions to expand abroad, it remains heavily reliant on its home market. China contributed 45% or 236.5bn yuan of revenue last year compared with 42% in 2015. A little over half of its smartphones were shipped within the domestic market in the quarter ended December, according to IDC. Deputy chairman Guo Ping will now become CEO. Guo started as a project manager at Huawei nearly 30 years ago and once headed the smartphone business. Huawei employs a unique rotating-CEO mechanism after Ren excused himself from daily operations more than five years ago. Ken Hu, who used to lead information security and US businesses, is the other executive in the rotation. Bloomberg They allegedly concealed millions of euro from authorities by placing them in Swiss bank accounts, the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service said in a statement yesterday. Criminal investigations are also under way in Australia, Germany, the UK and France. Credit Suisse said its offices in London, Paris and Amsterdam were searched on Thursday by authorities in connection with client tax matters. The UK tax authority is investigating senior employees at a global financial institution, it said. Australias Serious Financial Crime Taskforce said that it had identified 346 of its citizens with links to Swiss banking relationship managers alleged to have actively promoted and facilitated tax evasion schemes. Credit Suisse is co-operating with the authorities, the bank said in a statement from Zurich. The bank said it has implemented Dutch and French voluntary tax disclosure programmes and exited non-compliant clients, and has applied a withholding tax agreement with the UK since 2013. The bank has been hit hard in the past over tax evasion allegations. Credit Suisse was fined $2.6bn (2.4bn) in the US in 2014 and pleaded guilty to helping Americans evade taxes. The bank paid a 150m fine in Germany in 2011 to end court proceedings over allegations it helped clients evade taxes. The raids were done without informing authorities in Switzerland, the attorney generals office in that country said in a statement. The Swiss arent conducting a criminal probe into the matter, a spokeswoman said. The sheer volume of data and its international scope makes this an exceptional case, said Thierry Boitelle, a lawyer with Bonnard Lawson in Geneva. The investigations come as Credit Suisse begins implementing a new global standard for the automated exchange of information for its European locations. About 100 countries, or jurisdictions, including Switzerland, have agreed to collect data from banks to share annually with other tax authorities, making it harder for tax dodgers and money launderers to hide money with private banks. Bloomberg Judge Tim Lucey granted the licence stating it seemed to be a bona fide, professionally run restaurant and that it was for the gardai to deal with the public disorder. Inspector John Deasy described Winthrop Street as a public disorder hotspot with incidents observed by gardai and reported by business people in the area to meetings at the joint policing forum. He said there were frequent incidents of public disorder and also some incidents of drug use and drug dealing on Winthrop Street. Insp Deasy testified that the new premises was proposing to get a wine licence and then to make a further application, if successful, for a beer licence. Andrew Maxwell, a director of Boojum at 7 Winthrop Street, said they had been operating for the past four weeks at the premises where Ginos Pizzas operated for many years. Mr Maxwell told his barrister, Dorothy Collins, that between Dublin, Belfast, Galway and Cork they had eight premises and that this one had 40 seats and operated as a restaurant. He said there were no problems with their sale of beer with food in other outlets around the country. Insp Deasy expressed the concern that patrons would carry bottles of beer on to the street. Mr Maxwell that staff were fully trained and that if security became an issue this would be addressed. Judge Lucey granted Boojum the wine on-licence and said the sale of beer would have to be the subject of another application. The judge said: It is hard to blame someone setting up in business for public disorder. It is hard to see why they should be saddled with the public disorder. Winthrop Street is a vital link between Patrick Street and South Mall and Oliver Plunkett Street. This is one of the main little streets in the city. It is a vital artery in the city. If gardai cannot stop drug dealing on Winthrop Street we might as well pack it in. It is up to the gardai to prevent drug dealing. Let them do their job and let everyone else do their job. This is a vital part of the city. We cannot have that as a grounds of objection. If I was the gardai I would be asking the question, why are you not stopping drug dealing on the street? I am sorry to have to say that. I dont think it should be put on a new person coming in, to stop them trading. I dont see the logic there, I dont go with it. I am not criticising the gardai, quite the opposite. They have done their duty (in objecting to the application). They have done it well. But I am going to grant the applicant his licence. I strike out the objection. Speaking on RTE Radios News at One programme as unofficial secondary strikes in Dublin brought the capital to a stand-still, Mr Varadkar increased pressure on management and unions to resolve the dispute. While emphasising Bus Eireann has an important role in the future, he said if the public company folds then private firms will fill the gap: Its not our preferred option, but needless to say over time there will be more and more private provision in public transport. There are lots of private firms operating buses today, but thats not our preferred option. We would like Bus Eireann to be a successful public company, we would like it to be doing so well that it tenders for contracts in other countries, for example. Related Govt surveys Cairo residents asked to vacate homes for preferred method of compensation Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail approved on Saturday the start of a project to tear down and rebuild the Cairo slum area known as the Maspero triangle, despite complaints by local residents that they will not be able to afford to remain in their homes after development is complete. The project will cost an estimated EGP 4 billion, Ahram Arabic news website reported. A set of compensation options for local residents has also been approved, which include relocation, remaining in the area at an increased cost, or receiving cash compensation. The approval came during a meeting of the Higher Council of Planning and Urban Development headed by Ismail and attended by the ministers of housing, culture, environment, agriculture, local development, as well as the governor of Cairo. Egypt's housing ministry began last week to survey residents for their preferred method of compensation. The government has been planning for years to develop the area into an investment and residential hub. The government has listed five methods of compensation for locals in return for their homes, which will be demolished and replaced with commercial and residential buildings over three years. These options include: leasing an apartment in the area after development is complete, to be owned after 30 years; renting a home in the area; buying a home in the area; receiving a one-time financial compensation of EGP 100,000; or relocating to El-Asmarat neighbourhood in Muqattam district. The Maspero triangle, in the old Boulaq neighbourhood by the Nile, is home to countless small workshops. It neighbours deluxe shopping malls and five-star hotels along the Nile Corniche The area, which was given its name because of its triangle shape on the map, stands on 74 feddans (77 acres) and is home to at least 18,000 residents, according to 2014 estimates by Madd platform, an independent urban development institution. The controversy over the area dates back some three decades, when development projects began to be proposed and Gulf investors started acquiring buildings and blocks of land in the area. The government has said that it is willing to provide homes in the same area for the 4,500 families that currently live there, but residents say the solution is inadequate because they would not be able to afford to rent or buy in the area after it is developed. A list of demands by residents presented to the housing ministry earlier this month included lowering rent to EGP 300 and ownership instalments to EGP 700; increasing the cash compensation; and offering alternative residential units in a nearby area. Search Keywords: Short link: Train drivers downed tools when about 25 bus drivers, who have been picketing the citys bus depots at Parnell Place and Capwell for the last week, mounted a surprise early morning picket at the train station entrance. They staged a similar action last Friday. Inter-city and commuter train services ground to a halt from 5.30am until the picket was lifted at 11am. German tourists, Viktoria Kirstein, who lives near Frankfurt, and Lea Klose, who lives near Cologne, were among several hundred passengers who were left stranded at the station for several hours. The friends arrived in Dublin earlier this week to start a two-week tour around Ireland. They were hoping to travel by bus. However, the bus strike meant they had to travel by train from Dublin to Cork on Tuesday. They booked rail tickets online on Thursday night for the Cork to Killarney train yesterday morning, only to discover on their way to the train station that the trains werent running either. Lea said there was a notice online about the bus strike but there was no notice about the train strike. We dont know if its a good idea to hitchhike or not. Its a long journey to Killarney. Holly Murdock and Meagan Lee from Belfast who were stranded at Kent train station yesterday morning by the wildcat strike action. Viktoria said: And we are under 25 and we are not allowed to rent a car, and thats so bad because the buses arent going; now the trains arent going; we cant rent a car. We are stuck here. Asked if the strikes had ruined their holiday, Viktoria said: Not yet. But its annoying because travelling around by bus would be cheaper and easier. We are here for the next 10-days or so. Lets hope it gets better. German tourists Viktoria Kirstein and Lea Klose whose travel plans were disrupted by yesterdays wildcat strike at Kent station. Work colleagues Holly Murdock and Meagan Lee from Belfast were also left stranded at the train station. They arrived in Cork on Wednesday for two days work at Boojum, the citys new Mexican restaurant, and were due to catch the 9.20am train from Cork to visit a Galway branch of the restaurant chain, before catching a train to Dublin in the afternoon and then catching an aircoach home to Belfast later. We found out about the strike on the way to the train station, said Holly. However, she was philosophical about it: As long as we can get home, we dont really mind. Were not going to get angry about it, theres no real point. John Houlihane, who has been a bus driver at the citys Capwell depot for 38-years, said the wildcat action was borne out of frustration at grassroots level among workers who have been on the picket line for a week. Weve been on the picket line for the last seven days nothing has happened. The minister hasnt gotten involved, the WRC isnt talking to us, the company arent speaking to us. So eventually, frustration at that situation means people are going to break and take action on their own, he said. Bus Eireann workers picket outside Kent Train Station, Cork yesterday. Pictures: Larry Cummins We are transport people. We work in the transport industry. So we know what its like when people are left down, when a bus doesnt turn up, or a train doesnt run. We know the frustration involved. We dont enjoy it, and that is the worst part if the picket for us. Its tough on the public. But this is borne out of frustration. People have been generous in their support. I hope it continues. It has been revealed that two of the 17 CCTV cameras currently being installed in the town will be equipped with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology. All the cameras will be monitored by gardai in Macroom station, but the ANPR ones will set off a buzzer in the station immediately alerting gardai to suspect vehicles which have just passed by. The ANPR system allows gardai to monitor the movements of vehicles which dont have current tax, insurance and NCT certificates, but even more importantly, it can track vehicles which are suspected of carrying criminals. Council senior executive engineer James Dwyer told a meeting of the Blarney/Macroom municipal district council that before its dissolution Macroom Town Council set aside money to install the CCTV cameras. The contract for erecting them was given to ESS Ltd, which has installed all but three of the cameras. He said it was likely they would all become operational within the next two weeks. The system consists of 17 CCTV cameras located in the Market Car Park, Main Street, the three squares, Masseytown and near the Castle Arch. Two of these cameras are the ANPR type which can be moved as operational needs require, Mr Dwyer said. The news was welcomed by a number of councillors. Cllr Des OGrady said he was especially pleased to hear that two of the cameras would have ANPR technology. They are very efficient, especially for tracking criminals, Cllr OGrady said. He also praised the former town council members for having the foresight to put away money to purchase the CCTV system. Mr Dwyer said that gardai had also contacted council staff to let them know they would be glad to show councillors the system when it was fully operational. This will be of great benefit in combating crime, Cllr Michael Creed said, while Cllr Ted Lucey, a former member of the town council, proclaimed the state-of-the-art system would protect local citizens. Meanwhile, council officials announced they are to seek planning permission for a new fire station in Macroom. They said that it will be built on a site on the outskirts of the town on the Killarney Road. The OPW is also proposing to build a new garda station on the same site, which will be constructed through a Public/Private Partnership (PPP). Some demolition works on old sheds on the site will have to be undertaken before the fire station is constructed. It will feature two bays which are larger than the present fire station so they can house bigger fire tenders. The plan went out to public consultation and only one submission was received. It came from the owners of a local B&B who said they are worried that noise from sirens could impact on their guests. The council officials said that, on average, Macroom fire brigade gets about three call-outs a week. They said they would provide a timeframe for its construction at next months municipal district meeting. Rebecca McNamara, aged 22, of Castlerock, Castleconnell, and James Price, aged 30 of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to robbing the man. Price, who had previous convictions for robbery, got five years. McNamara was jailed for four. Det Garda Gary Laide said the victim, in his 60s, was walking at Davis St at around 7pm on May 14, 2016. He was scheduled to have heart surgery and had to take daily pre-op walks. At nearby Baker Place, the two accused proceeded to follow the victim before striking him in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground. While on the ground, McNamara went through the mans pockets and took his wallet which contained 200. Price kicked the victim as he lay helpless on the ground. Both ran off and flagged down a taxi. They were identified from CCTV material harvested from street cameras nearby. McNamara, had 29 previous convictions and Price had 78. Defence counsel said McNamara had been taking drugs since she was 14 and Price had a chaotic lifestyle due to drugs. Judge Tom ODonnell said their victim was an easy target. He jailed Price for five years and McNamara for four years. Imposing a longer sentence on Price, he said this accused had previous convictions for robbery which was or enormous concern. Rev Hugh Symes-Thompson, who is based in Cranfield near Milton Keynes, from where the Twin Squirrel helicopter left on Wednesday destined for Dublin, said it was too early for funeral arrangements for a couple he said were enormously popular in the local community. His words came as specialist teams were hampered by the weather as they sought to recover the bodies of five family members who died when the helicopter crashed in Snowdonia. North Wales Police said the crash site is remote and treacherous and that more than 80 rescue workers and investigators are currently involved. Kevin, 56, and his Dublin-born wife Ruth Burke, 49, from Hulcote near Milton Keynes, were killed in the crash. The other three passengers killed are understood to be Mr Burkes two brothers and sister-in-law, Barry, Donald and Sharon. Police said the victims were adult members of the same extended family. The wreckage of the helicopter was found in the Rhinog mountains near Trawsfynydd on Thursday, following a major search which began on Wednesday. It is understood the party had been due to attend a confirmation service in Ireland. The Burkes, directors of Staske Construction, have two teenage children. Chief Inspector Richie Green, of North Wales Police, said the crash site is remote and treacherous, with access only possible on foot and that the scene is approximately two hours walk over challenging terrain from the last discernible road. The site itself, and access to it, is precarious, on a steep slope and covered in heather, lichen and moss which, after the recent heavy rain, is making just standing upright difficult, he said. At over 700m above sea level, just getting to the site involves a degree of scrambling. Weather is unfortunately worsening, making the task of getting both personnel and their equipment there alone very difficult and potentially dangerous. He said the force and mountain rescue teams are utterly determined and focused in recovering all those lost. Over 80 personnel from local and RAF mountain rescue teams, Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigators, HM Coastguard and police are involved and, at this time, the safe, sensitive and prompt recovery of all those lost is our priority. A joint investigation led by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch is now under way, with a large team of inspectors gathering evidence on site, according to an AAIB spokesman. Dewi Pritchard Jones, senior coroner for North West Wales, also told the Press Association that a coroners investigation to determine the causes and circumstances of death has been opened. Solidarity TD for Dublin South West, Paul Murphy, 33, together with Dublin councillors Kieran Mahon, 39, Michael Murphy, 53, and four other men are due to go on trial this month on charges arising out of the alleged false imprisonment of then tanaiste, Joan Burton, during a water protest in Jobstown on November 15, 2014. The case was listed yesterday after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday it has concerns about a campaign in respect of the trial and an assembly happening in the capital today. Sean Guerin SC, defending Paul Murphy, said his client was prepared to make an undertaking to the court that he will not speak on the subject matter of the trial at todays assembly. Lawyers for the other accused told the court their clients instructed them to give the same undertaking as Deputy Murphy. Judge Melanie Greally said she is relieved to see such a responsible position being adopted. Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, told the court that on the day the jury panel arrives, the accused and the supporters should take into consideration the fact that the courthouse has only one way in. Some supporters in the packed courtroom began shouting no and no way to this. Judge Greally said she didnt know what these exclamations were about. But I can assure you that anybody present here who is seen acting in any way intimidatory of likely jurors or actual jurors will be met with the most severe of consequences, she said. The trial is due to begin on April 24 when a jury will be selected. The court heard that there is some consideration for having a specially enlarged jury panel if the trial will take a number of months but that this will be unnecessary if the trial runs within the scheduled six weeks. Brenda Romero, who is a lecturer in games design at UL, will be presented with the Special Award at the British Academy Games Awards next Thursday. The award acknowledges an individual for their creative contribution to the gaming industry and will be presented to Ms Romero for her advocacy for the process behind gamemaking. I am first and foremost grateful to Bafta for recognising the artistic potential and power of games. This recognition is culturally critical for games overall. So for that, I am profoundly thankful, Ms Romero said yesterday. As for me? Genuinely, I am still in a state of shock, having been chosen. Ive devoted my life to games, making them, teaching them, playing them and to receive any honour from the community is incredible. But a Bafta? Its well beyond anything else, she said. Last year Ms Romero was appointed to her position in UL as the program director for their Masters degree in Game Design and Development. Born in New York, she was also a Fulbright Scholar in 2014 and in 2015 received the Game Developers Choice Ambassador award. Nick Button-Brown, chairman of the Bafta games committee yesterday described her as a great role model. Brenda is such a great role model for people wanting to enter the industry and her advocacy for the excellence of creativity within the games industry helps us all, said Mr Button-Brown. Given the work that Bafta does on helping people get into the games industry, having Brenda as such an eloquent advocate is fantastic, he saied. As a designer, Ms Romero has worked on 47 games so far in her career as well as contributing to household titles such as the Wizardry and Jagged Alliance series and the Bafta-award winning Ghost Recon and Dungeons and Dragons series. She also co-owns Romero Games, which is based in Galway. In 2013 Ms Romero was presented with the Women in Games Lifetime Achievement award by Microsoft and in the same year, she was listed as one of the industrys top 10 game developers in the world by Gamasutra.com. At the time of her appointment in UL, the designer and lecturer said that she is impressed with Irelands potential in the gaming industry: I have been impressed with the global potential for Irelands games industry and look forward to collaboration with Lero (the Irish software research centre) through its research projects. The natural creative and technical talent that Ireland is renowned for, in software, animation, music and literature is a resource that is key to developing world-class games. The award will be presented in London next week where nominees for other awards include Pokemon Go and Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Rebels in Yemen have detained five staff members of the International Medical Corps and two contracted drivers, the aid organisation and a local source said on Saturday. "We are working to ensure this matter can be resolved as soon as possible," the Los Angeles-based relief agency said in a statement posted on Friday on its website. The non-governmental organisation declined to reveal further details on Saturday, but a Yemeni aid official told AFP that the detained staff are all Yemenis, and were captured in the central province of Ibb. The organisation's website says it has more than 150 local staff in Yemen and that it has operated since 2012 from three offices in the Arabian Peninsula country. It says its relief efforts continue to provide a lifeline for families in the rebel-held capital and in Ibb, as well as the flashpoint southwestern city of Taez and Aden and Lahj in the south. Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies control most of Yemen's north and west, while forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, control the south and east. Humanitarian agencies have long complained of the lack of access to people in dire need for help in war-torn Yemen. The UN says seven million people face serious risk of famine unless international donors intervene, and has called for $2.1 billion in humanitarian aid. More than 7,700 people have been killed since the coalition intervened in March 2015, most of them civilians, according to World Heath Organization figures. Search Keywords: Short link: Ayad al-Jumaili, believed to be the deputy of Islamic State (IS) militant group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed in an air strike, Iraqi State TV said on Saturday, citing Iraqi military intelligence. The U.S.-led anti-IS coalition said it was unable at the moment to confirm the report. Iraqi TV said Jumaili was killed with other IS commanders in a strike carried out by the Iraqi air force in the region of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria. It gave no detail or date for the raid. "The air force's planes executed with accuracy a strike on the headquarters of Daesh in al-Qaim .. resulting in the killing of Daesh's second-in-command...Ayad al-Jumaili, alias Abu Yahya, the war minister," said state TV, citing a statement from the directorate of military intelligence. Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, have been battling since October to retake the city of Mosul, IS stronghold in Iraq and the city where Baghdadi declared a caliphate nearly three years ago. Tens of thousands of refugees have been fleeing the city to escape the fighting. U.S. and Iraqi officials believe Baghdadi has left operational commanders with diehard followers to fight the battle of Mosul, and is now hiding out in the desert with senior commanders. A separate battle is in preparation in Syria to drive IS from its stronghold there, the city of Raqqa. The Iraqi state TV report is the first by an official media to announce the death of Jumaili, who was an intelligence officer under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president toppled in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Jumaili led IS top security agency in Iraq and Syria, known as Amniya, answering directly to Baghdadi, according to experts. Search Keywords: Short link: Ayad al-Jumaili, believed to be a deputy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in an air strike on Friday, an Iraqi intelligence spokesman said on Saturday. The U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition said it was unable at the moment to confirm the information that was reported earlier in the day by Iraqi state-run TV. Jumaili was killed with other Islamic State commanders in a strike carried out by the Iraqi air force in the region of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria, a military intelligence spokesman told Reuters. "The air force's planes executed with accuracy a strike on the headquarters of Daesh in al-Qaim .. resulting in the killing of Daesh's second-in-command...Ayad al-Jumaili, alias Abu Yahya, the war minister," state TV said earlier, citing a statement from the directorate of military intelligence. Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, have been battling since October to retake the city of Mosul, Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq and the city where Baghdadi declared a caliphate nearly three years ago. Nearly 290,000 people have fled the city to escape the fighting, according to the United Nations. FORMER SADDAM OFFICIAL U.S. and Iraqi officials believe Baghdadi has left operational commanders with diehard followers to fight the battle of Mosul, and is now hiding out in the desert with senior commanders. A separate battle is in preparation in Syria to drive Islamic State from its stronghold there, the city of Raqqa. The Iraqi state TV report is the first by an official media to announce the death of Jumaili, who was an intelligence officer under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president toppled in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Jumaili led Islamic State's top security agency in Iraq and Syria, known as Amniya, answering directly to Baghdadi, according to experts. Although the loss of Mosul would effectively end Islamic State's territorial rule in Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi officials are preparing for the group to go underground and fight an insurgency like the one that followed the U.S.-led invasion. The last official report about Baghdadi was from the Iraqi military on Feb. 13. Iraqi F-16s carried out a strike on a house where he was thought to be meeting other commanders, in western Iraq, near the Syrian border, they said in a statement. More than 40 leading members of the group have been killed in coalition air strikes, according to experts. Baghdadi has not officially appointed a successor. Search Keywords: Short link: A Paraguayan opposition political activist was shot in the head and killed when police raided his party headquarters during riots against a contested electoral reform, the movement's leader said Saturday. Rodrigo Quintana, 25, leader of the opposition Liberal Party's youth branch was shot as police searched the premises in the capital Asuncion, party leader Efrain Alegre told reporters. The interior ministry said in a statement that "the authorities are investigating the circumstances of the death, which is presumed to have occurred at the hands of a member of the National Police." Police raided the party offices after activists took refuge there during a night of riots, Alegre said. Furious protesters broke into the Congress late on Friday, ransacking lawmakers' offices and starting fires after senators approved a reform to allow the president to run for re-election. The unrest left about 30 people injured, including three lawmakers, according to firefighters and an opposition senator. Right-wing President Horacio Cartes is seeking to reform the constitution to enable himself to run for office again in an election in 2018 after his current term ends. His opponents say it will clear the way for a return to dictatorship in Paraguay, a South American nation of some 6.8 million people. Paraguay has banned re-election since 1992 in an attempt to avoid a return to dictatorships like that of general Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled from 1954 to 1989. Search Keywords: Short link: Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. The World Bank will hold a meeting Tuesday to approve second $1 bln tranche of $3 bln loan to support Egypt's budget Egypt signed on Monday the second tranche, worth USD 500 million, of a $1.5 billion loan package from the African Development Bank (AfDB), Egypt's Ministry of International Cooperation (MoIC) announced. In a statement on the ministry's website, minister Sahar Nasr also said the World Bank would hold a meeting on Tuesday to approve the second $1 billion tranche of its $3 billion loan to Egypt, which is set to be delivered over three years to support the country's budget. According to the MoIC, the AfDB loan is intended to support government programmes that aim to achieve social and economic development by creating new jobs and improving the business environment. Nasr signed the first $500 million tranche of the AfDB loan in December 2015. That loan is also scheduled to be delivered over three years. Leila El-Mokadem, the AfDBs representative in Egypt, confirmed that the bank aims to continue its partnership with Egypt in 2017 to deliver the 3rd and final tranche of the fund, also worth $500, the statement said. The World Bank provided the first $1 billion to Egypt in September. The second tranche is expected to arrive in January, and the final one later in 2017. On 11 November, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) confirmed its receipt of an initial $2.75 billion from the International Monetary Fund following the boards approval of a $12 billion loan to support Cairo's ongoing economic reforms. Egypt's economy has been struggling since 2011 due to a sharp drop in tourism and foreign investment, two main sources of hard currency for the import-dependent country. The country's foreign reserves stood at $23 billion by the end of November. Search Keywords: Short link: Scott Custer, the former chief executive of Yadkin Financial Corp., worked just 11 days with the buyer of the Raleigh bank before departing. F.N.B. Corp. said in a regulatory filing Thursday that Custer resigned from its board of directors March 24 in order to pursue other business opportunities. F.N.B., based in Pittsburgh, completed its $1.4 billion purchase of Yadkin on March 13. It gained its first presence in North Carolina with 98 branches, including four in Forsyth County and 39 in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina. Yadkin Financial was founded in Elkin. Custer was Yadkins lone representative on the F.N.B. board. The bank did not say whether another former Yadkin official would take Custers place. Custer would have been paid an annual board retainer fee of $55,000 and an annual stock award worth $40,000. He could have received $3,500 annually for serving on the nominating and governance committee, and $7,500 each for serving on the executive, audit, compensation and risk committees annually. Custer also terminated the three-year consultant contract he received as part of the purchase. The bank said Custer was given a limited waiver to a noncompete clause in the contract. He is entitled to receive a pro-rated fee for his consultant work. The bank said Custers departure was not as a result of any disagreement with F.N.B. on any matter relating to F.N.B.s operations, accounting matters, policies or practices. Custer served as the chief executive and president of Yadkin since its $299 million purchase of VantageSouth Bancshares Inc. of Raleigh in July 2014, as well as serving on its board. He came to Yadkin from his role as chief executive of VantageSouth. According to an Oct. 17 filing by Yadkin, Custer was scheduled to receive a golden parachute of $6.55 million: $2.8 million in cash, of which at least $600,000 is consulting pay, along with restricted stock valued at $1.52 million on Sept. 16, $2.11 million from the Yadkin pension and other retirement compensation, $22,275 in perks, and $106,019 in other compensation. By comparison, the top executive of NewBridge Bancorp, Pressley Ridgill, qualified for a golden parachute compensation package of $3.25 million and an annual $1 million consulting fee for three years as part of the $456 million sale to Yadkin. Chris Marinac, the managing principal with FIG Partners of Atlanta, said he and the investment community are not surprised that Custer would chose to end his consultant contract so soon. Scott must have other plans in mind, Marinac said. F.N.B. is quite capable of running the company and integrating their investment. Thank goodness that North Carolina is growing, which affords new opportunities every day, he said. With the Yadkin purchase, F.N.B. has nearly $30 billion in total assets and more than 400 branches in eight states. F.N.B. holds a Top 10 retail-deposit share in six major metropolitan markets with populations greater than 1 million with the additions of the Triad, Triangle and Charlotte to Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Cleveland. On Friday, F.N.B. reported its executive compensation for fiscal 2016. Vincent Delie Jr., its chief executive, received a 2.5 percent increase in salary to $926,008 and total compensation of $4.59 million, down 18.7 percent. Delie received incentive pay of $1.22 million, up 22.8 percent. He gained stock awards valued at $2.26 million on the date they were awarded. He received $169,132 in all other compensation, including $103,638 in an ERISA contribution match; $20,462 for a company-provided automobile; $16,724 in a company 401(k) match; $15,073 for country club dues; $11,000 for financial-planning costs; $1,860 for parking fees; and $350 for excess liability insurance premiums. Vincent Calabrese Jr., the chief financial officer, received a 3.4 percent raise in salary to $460,008, incentive pay of $423,502 and total compensation of $1.71 million. Gary Guerrieri, the chief credit officer, received an 8.3 percent raise in salary to $390,000, incentive pay of $256,464 and total compensation of $1.05 million. Robert Moorehead, the chief wholesale banking officer, received a 32.1 percent raise in salary to $375,000, incentive pay of $246,600 and total compensation of $951,516. Barry Robinson, the chief consumer banking officer, received a 27.4 percent raise in salary to $350,016, incentive pay of $230,171 and total compensation of $867,107. F.N.B. will hold its 2017 shareholder meeting May 17 in Cranberry Township, Pa. No shareholder proposals are on the agenda. In November, Kalvin Michael Smith was released from prison after serving 20 years for an assault he and supporters have always maintained he did not commit. Less than five months later, the 45-year-old is in critical but stable condition after being shot Friday night in Winston-Salem. Police said they found Smith lying on the sidewalk in the 900 block of North Jackson Avenue shortly before 9 p.m. He was taken by EMS to a local hospital. A neighbor, who declined to be identified citing safety concerns, said the shooter was on a parallel street from Smith and fired multiple shots from between houses. Three bullets struck the neighbors house and after Smith collapsed with a bullet wound near his ribs, the shooting stopped, the neighbor said. I didnt see the shooter it was dark but I saw the flashes from the gun, the man said as he covered the bloodstain on the sidewalk with dirt Saturday. Then I saw a man lying on the ground and he said, Im dying, help me. The location of the shooting was about a 5-mile drive from Smiths Winston-Salem residence where he was staying with his parents. Family members believe robbery may have been a motive in the attack on Smith. Since he came home, hed been doing all right, said Smiths aunt, Barbara Dark Garrett. With his situation, maybe someone thought hes got money (because) he just got out of prison. Garrett said Fridays shooting was appalling and she was receiving regular updates on Smiths condition from her brother, Augustus Dark, who is Smiths father. They had to operate on him twice, but they finished his surgery, Garrett said. Hes in critical condition, but they think hes going to pull out of this. Police said the investigation is ongoing. His condition remains the same, Winston-Salem police Lt. Tolley said. He suffered a critical injury but is in stable condition. Sad and shocked Friends and supporters were horrified that someone tried to take away Smiths second chance at life, calling again for justice. During Smiths time in prison, students at Winston-Salem State University, Wake Forest University, Salem College and other community members fought to help overturn Smiths conviction. This is a tragedy. I am so sad and shocked, said Stephen Boyd, a longtime supporter of Smith. He was in the process of rebuilding his life after 20 years of wrongful imprisonment. Boyd co-chair of the Silk Plant Forest Truth Committee, a citizens group of supporters that formed in 2007 calling for Smiths exoneration said Smith recently enrolled in barber school. One of the things he did in prison and really enjoys is being a barber, said Boyd, referencing a program at the prison. He lost time he can never get back and we are praying for his full recovery. 20 years Smith was released from prison on Nov. 11, after serving 20 years for a conviction in 1997 of assaulting a pregnant woman. Jill Marker, an assistant manager at the former Silk Plant Forest store off Silas Creek Parkway, had severe brain injuries and gave birth to a son while in a coma. She now lives in Ohio under 24-hour care. Smith has maintained and has been fighting to prove his innocence. The Journals series showed that Winston-Salem police failed to thoroughly investigate Kenneth Lamoureux, a man with a history of violence who was seen at the Silk Plant Forest store the day of Markers assault. Don Williams, the lead detective, dropped him as a suspect when Lamoureux, who died in 2011, moved to Charlotte. Police never had any physical evidence connecting Smith to the crime scene and police and prosecutors failed to corroborate significant information from Smith and other witnesses, according to a feature on MTVs documentary series Unlocking the Truth last summer. Smiths case is Winston-Salems most prominent allegation of wrongful conviction since Darryl Hunt, who died last year, was exonerated in 2004 of the murder of Deborah Sykes, a copy editor at the now-closed afternoon newspaper, The Sentinel. After a successful career on stage and in films such as National Lampoons Animal House, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Scrooged, Karen Allen is enjoying working behind the camera as a director. Allen, 65, recently wrote and directed her first short film, A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud., based on a short story by writer Carson McCullers. Allen is in town for the RiverRun International Film Festival, and today she will be participating in a panel discussion with Blanche Baker, a fellow actress and filmmaker who appeared in such films as The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Sixteen Candles. That panel will include screenings of both Allens film and Bakers Streetwrite. Growing up, Allen never intended to have a career in show business, and instead was interested in textiles and fashion. That all changed when she saw a Polish stage play when she was in her early 20s. I didnt understand a single word of it, but it really transcended language in the most profound way, she said. I feel like the top of my head came off, and I really understood something about expressing my own true self. The play, she said, moved me so profoundly that literally within a week I had begun to study acting. She worked in theater for her first several years, mostly acting but also some directing. A big change in her life came when, leaving an acting class, she glanced up at a card posted on a bulletin board looking for college-aged actresses for a feature film. I was 26 or 27 but I looked young for my age, she recalled. I wrote down the address. I had nothing but theater credits on my resume, so I thought nothing would come of this. A few days later, she was talking with Harold Ramis and John Landis, the co-writer and director of that film, Animal House. I didnt have an agent, I didnt know anything about that world at all, she said. I came to it very seat-of-the-pants. The movie was released in 1978 and became a major hit, propelling Allen deeper into a film career. You become the darlings for that moment, and every door was really being opened to us, she said. People were very eager to meet us, and suddenly I had these opportunities coming at me. She appeared in more than 40 feature films. She is perhaps best known for playing Marion Ravenwood, the feisty, self-reliant ex-girlfriend of Indiana Jones in the 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark and its 2008 sequel Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but says that she is often recognized in public for a number of films, including Animal House, Starman, The Sandlot and Scrooged the latter of which, she said, seems to be growing in popularity in recent years, perhaps because it is a television staple at Christmas time. She stepped back from her busy film career somewhat after the birth of her son Nicholas in 1990, not wanting to travel as far from home for film roles and shifting more toward the stage. She started directing stage productions about 10 years ago, including such plays as Moonchildren, Extremities, Frankie & Johnny in the Clair du Lune and Asheville, which won an Obie award. People around me kept saying when are you going to direct a film?, she said. Having worked on film sets so much of her life, she had no illusion that film direction was a simple task. Ive seen the toll it takes on first-time directors, she said. I kept pondering it, and thought maybe I would be willing to try it if it was with a piece of material I knew well and loved and it was on a small-enough scale that I wouldnt find it overwhelming or daunting. Allen is a devoted fan of McCullers work, having discovered A Tree when she was in her early 20s. I find (McCullers) work extraordinary, she said, Particularly in the context of when she wrote it. As a female writer, she broke all the rules. ... It turns out looking back on it that she has really influenced an enormous number of writers in the latter half of the 20th and into the 21st centuries. It was also a good opportunity for her to stick my foot in this particular water, as she put it, directing her first film. There are only three speaking roles in A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud., she said, and most of the story is set in one location. I thought Id just give myself a project, she said. I think it scaled down to my inexperience on this side of the camera, and Id give myself a chance to do what I hoped would be good work. Response has been positive, and Allen has been taking the film to various film festivals and events. McCullers would have turned 100 this year, so there are a number of events happening around the world that weve been invited to, Allen said. They want to show the film to celebrate her writing, and her work and her life. She may direct a feature-length film, but I imagine I would want to carefully choose what it would be, she said. If I worked on a feature, it would be something I developed or wrote. You put so much time into directing a film. This little film, Ive now been involved with for 2 years, and Ive probably got another two years to go. My task is really to go with the film to festivals and let the film have that life. It will be a little while before I can put my mind to what Im doing next. You probably missed the news that the members of the overwhelmingly Republican state Senate finally came to their senses Monday and voted to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and provide health care to hundreds of thousands of people. One Republican senator said it was simply the right thing to do and that the state had citizens who are uninsured and hospitals that are suffering. Another Republican told a reporter that he couldnt believe it took the state so long to embrace Medicaid expansion. Theres a reason you likely missed this monumental decision. It didnt happen in North Carolina. It came in Kansas, in the state Senate where Republicans hold a supermajority. The Kansas House, where Republicans also hold a supermajority of seats, had already approved expansion. The bill soon heads to Gov. Sam Brownback, who has long opposed expanding Medicaid and is likely to veto the proposal, setting up a showdown with the legislature that may have the votes to override him. Thirty-one states have already expanded Medicaid, roughly half of them with Republican governors including New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio and Indiana when former Gov. Mike Pence was in charge. Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory flirted with Medicaid expansion but never presented the General Assembly with a plan despite the overwhelming benefits to the state insurance coverage for several hundred thousand people, billions of federal dollars to help struggling hospitals and thousands of new jobs. Republican legislative leaders have adamantly opposed expansion since they took over control of the General Assembly, with much of their opposition based as much on their dislike of President Obama as any objections to the specifics of what expansion would entail. Their ideological arguments rang increasingly hollow as Republican states starting signing up for the program, but legislators refused to budge. After the November election, they claimed the push by the Trump administration to repeal the Affordable Care Act made the issue irrelevant, despite claims to the contrary by new Gov. Roy Cooper, who has called for Medicaid expansion repeatedly since taking office. Its actually now more important than ever, given the failure last week of Trumps effort to repeal the federal health-care law. One of the sticking points in that effort was what to do about the 31 states that have expanded Medicaid, with Republican governors from those states demanding that they be treated differently from states that have not expanded the program. The failure of Trumpcare to pass the House was cited by legislators in Kansas as a reason for expansion in their state. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said last week that the Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land, and that means states can still expand Medicaid to provide health-care coverage for uninsured low-income adults. Kansas is on the way and Maine may be, too, with a referendum scheduled on expansion this November. There is little doubt where the people of North Carolina stand. Numerous polls have found strong support for Medicaid expansion. Even an absurdly biased question in the last survey by the right-wing Civitas Institute confirms that. The March Civitas poll asked voters, In order to expand Medicaid in North Carolina, the federal government will have to borrow another $3 billion dollars a year. Knowing that information do you support or oppose North Carolina expanding Medicaid? Even with that question clearly designed to influence responses, Civitas found that 54 percent of voters support expanding Medicaid, while 32 percent are opposed. Imagine the result if folks werent misled before they were asked. Or if they were reminded of the benefits. Expanding Medicaid has made sense from the beginning of this health-care debate. Thats why Democratic and Republican governors have expanded it and why states like Kansas and Maine are considering expansion now. Its been 13 years since noted journalist and historian Thomas Frank wrote his widely read book Whats the Matter with Kansas? about that states conservative voting patterns that were out of line with the states economic interests. Now Kansas of all places is pushing ahead with Medicaid expansion. Its time to start asking whats the matter with North Carolina when it comes to an obvious way to create jobs, help hospitals and, most important, provide health care for 350,000 people who cannot afford it. Or maybe more correctly, whats the matter with the people in charge of the General Assembly? European Union President Donald Tusk [government website] laid out plans for the EUs future negotiations with the UK during a speech [text, PDF] in Malta on Monday. In response to the UKs invocation of Article 50 [JURIST report], whereby the UK is now on the other side of the negotiating table according to Tusk, he outlined four of the main elements of the larger draft guidelines [text, PDF]. Tusk laid out what he said were the top priorities for the negotiations We need to think of people first. Citizens from all over the EU live, work and study in the UK. And as long as the UK remains a member, their rights are fully protected. But we need to settle their status and situations after the withdrawal with reciprocal, enforceable and non-discriminatory guarantees. Second, we must prevent a legal vacuum for our companies that stems from the fact that after Brexit the EU laws will nolonger apply to the UK. Third, we will also need to make sure that the UK honours all financial commitments and liabilities it has taken as a Member State. It is only fair towards all those people, communities, scientists, farmers and so on to whom we, all the 28, promised and owe this money. I can guarantee that the EU, on our part, will honour all our commitments. Fourth, we will seek flexible and creative solutions aiming at avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. It is of crucial importance to support the peace process in Northern Ireland. Tusk said that parallel talks between the UK and the EU on other issues cannot begin until these four main issues have been addressed, despite suggestions by some in the UK that negotiations begin immediately. There has been controversy surrounding Britains choice to leave the EU since June when a majority of UK citizens voted [JURIST report] to leave the EU due to a growing discontent with EU policies, including immigration. Yesterday the UK Parliament released the Great Repeal Bill[JURIST report], outlining the process to solve issues that could arise out as Britain leaves the EU.The Brexit bill received royal assent [JURIST report] from the Queen earlier in March allowing May to use Article 50 to exit the EU. Implications of Brexit extend well beyond immigration, however. Scottish lawmakers, under the guidance of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, on Tuesday voted [JURIST report] 69-59 in favor of holding an independence referendum. [JURIST] Human rights group Reprieve [advocacy website] has filed a lawsuit [text, PDF] in the US District Court for District of Columbia [official website] against the US government for allegedly placing them on a kill list to be targeted for a deadly drone strike. Former Al Jazeera Islamabad [Newsweek report] bureau chief Ahmad Zaidan and freelance journalist Bilal Kareem claimed that they were erroneously added to the said list and stated that it was a violation of the U.S. Constitution and international law because of the lack of due process. The two journalists are seeking for declaratory and injunctive relief to remove their names from the said list. The use of drones [JURIST backgrounder] is controversial in both domestic circles and in the international arena. In April the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] upheld [JURIST report] a district courts dismissal of an ACLU request for information about drone killings. In January the Second Circuit ruled that the presidents National Security Council (NSC) [official website] is not subject [JURIST report] to FOIA. In November of last year the circuit also ruled that the US government may keep secret memoranda [JURIST report] related to the legal justification for the use of drones for targeted killings of those in other countries believed to be involved in terrorism. In June 2015 the families of two Yemeni men killed by US drone strikes filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against the government, claiming they were wrongfully killed. In December 2010 a judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the Obama administrations ability to conduct targeted killings, a challenge spurred because one subject of a targeted killing, al-Awlaki-Khan, was a dual US-Yemeni citizen. The Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children that took place between 7 and 16 March brought theatre and other activities to children in Cairo, Alexandria and Luxor Following her performance in Cairo, Shona Reppe, the creator and actress of The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean, said Good theatre for children is essential. The play was one of numerous performances Egyptian children and young people were offered through the seventh edition of the Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children (7-12 March in Cairo, as well as 14 and 16 March in Alexandria and Luxor, respectively). No matter how many times we talk about the importance of art in childrens education, it will never be enough. It is also important to shed light on both big and small initiatives that create opportunities for children and the young to be acquainted with theatre, music and all other forms of art. It is equally vital to encourage all artists to follow the path of those who are already active in the field of education through arts and those who simply create art for a young audience. In Egypt in particular, not only is there still much room for such initiatives but there is also a pressing need for artists to embrace the youngest audience. 7th year of Hakawy This is where the Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children steps in, responding to the needs of the youngest audience. The festival is organised by AFCA for Arts and Culture, whose founding director Mohamed El Ghawy sees as part of the natural development of AFCA in the field of education through art. In this sense, AFCA is one of the most dynamic players, creating palpable outreach through art and introducing artistic activities to thousands of Egyptian children from all walks of life private and state schools, underprivileged communities and to orphans, homeless and ill children. The Hakawy Festival one of AFCA's youngest and most sparkling initiatives. The festival first saw the light in 2011 when it was held at the College du Sacre-Coeur in Heliopolis, bringing together troupes from Egypt, Croatia, Ireland and Finland. Ever since, the festival has evolved, testing new locations, and since its third edition in 2013 Hakawy has taken place mostly at the Hanager Arts Centre while creating dynamic outreach for children across a range of neighbourhoods, hospitals etc. Indeed, as I wrote in my profile of El Ghawy, throughout its seven-years-long history, the Hakawy festival has brought over plays for children from 15 countries and four continents, initiated creative cooperations between Egyptian and foreign artists and engaged in dynamic partnerships with Egyptian troupes and ensembles working for or with children. In other words, the festivals audience grew from 800 in its first edition, held at a Cairos school, to several thousand in each of its recent editions. The festivals seventh edition included performances of storytelling, puppet theatre and object theatre from Egypt, Germany, USA and UK as well as workshops for children. In the week days, between 7 and 9 March and then on 12 March, the festival focused on morning performances, giving schools the opportunity to bring over classes. A large number of children from private and public schools in Cairo, Minya and Banha, from orphanages and economically underprivileged neighbourhoods and from hospitals and associations for disabled children were brought by buses to attend the festival. During the weekend, Friday 10 and Saturday 11 March, the festival created a lively family atmosphere in the Hanager and an open area in front of it, with whole families bringing their children to enjoy the theatre. In addition to the plays staged in Cairo, attendees could also participate in puppetry workshop and other activities for children and artists. On 14 and 16 March, children in Alexandria and Luxor consecutively had the opportunity to see one of Hakawys plays, Follow the Yarn (Germany), in their home cities. And though this year the programme was smaller than usual -- a fact El Ghawy explains by reference to the challenging financial situation, especially since the floatation of the pound last November -- the intelligent distribution of the programme elements, their quality and organisation still left the audience spoilt for choice. The festive atmosphere with a play for every child The dynamic commotion at the Hanager was in itself impressive. There were times when, while The Pigeoning (USA) was being performed at Hanagers main theatre, the Gallery was taken up by The Wonders of Science (Egypt). At the same time, children queued in front of the Planetarium erected in Hanagers hall by the AUC its contribution to the festival, which accommodated 20 children per round, taking them on a journey through the galaxy and time while others attended an open-air storytelling performance provided by the Bibliothekbus, an Egyptian storytelling initiative supported by the Goethe Institut which brought the mobile library to the Hanagers grounds. The festive atmosphere bubbling with boundless creativity is probably one of the major factors behind Hakawys success. This year science and reading were the festivals two main themes. The first theme was particularly obvious in The Wonders of Science, the latter in the Bibliothekbus. The Wonders of Science, a performance organised by the American University in Cairo, introduced basics of science in a fun and engaging way. Live experiments showcased the laws of motion, sound waves, electricity and magnetism, and invited the children to interact. Different kind of discoveries were made through three remarkable shows, from the USA, the UK and Germany. The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean by Shona Reppe (UK), the provider of the opening quote for this article, ignited the childrens imagination and invited them to think, while providing a lot of fun. In it, the audience, or rather the scrapets as the protagonist Dr Patricia Baker (Shona Reppe) calls them, follow the investigation of the magnificent scrapbook that belonged to an old watchmaker from the Victorian era, Artemis J Mood. As the story evolves, and together with Dr Baker, the audience connects bits and pieces that lead to understanding who Josephine Bean was. The UK play relied in large part on language, and since English is not first language of the young audience in Egypt, Shona Reppe introduced a translator. However, instead of adding a dry translation, Isra Ghazali, an Egyptian actress, became Dr Bakers assistant seated on the stage. While translating the text into Arabic, together with the audience, the assistant was surprised, thrilled or puzzled by the many discoveries made by Dr Baker. It is a new practice of El Ghawys to bring shows that require translation and previous editions hosted mainly performances where the message was delivered through dance, movement or pantomime. As El Ghawy mentioned during the first day of Hakawy, this year he selected quality shows regardless language barriers, which were dealt with in a creative way whether in The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean, The Pigeoning, a show from the USA or elsewhere. In The Pigeoning, the recorded voice of an Egyptian narrator walks the children through the puppet show created by Robin Frank. The protagonist, named Frank, an obsessive compulsive office worker in huge glasses, possessed by cleanliness and order, is convinced that pigeons are plotting against him. His struggle to protect himself from pigeons, understand and eventually befriend them provides an insight into the contrast between nature and the four walls of a clerical office in a busy city where there is little room for self-reflection. At the heart of this bittersweet story is the life of everyone trapped in an urban environment, where the only contact we may have with nature is translated through pigeons. As much as the story is made for young viewers who quickly sympathise with Frank the puppet, it is equally absorbing for the whole family, inviting a reassessment of our taciturn lives versus the many voices that nature can offer. Seemingly much simpler was Follow the Yarn, a show from Germanys HELIOS theatre targeting children as young as two years old. While there are three actors on the stage, the shows main protagonist is the yarn. The yarn takes on many qualities: it is part of a sheep personalised by the actors, it is jumbled when they play with it and tidily wrapped when they use it for knitting. It is the source of all the clothing we wear but, as we soon discover, it can carry social elements too, when it is stretched to every member of the audience, creating woollen tracks that join the children together. There is something very unique about shows for toddlers, which are usually very different from plays for viewers aged six or older. Toddlers lose interest fast; they prefer a simple storyline, few puzzles and clear direct messages without patronisation. They enjoy the wrapping together of language and sounds, music and songs, and clever repetitions. Like all children toddlers like to be addressed directly and engaged in the play. Follow the Yarn offered just about everything, keeping these very young viewers interested for its 45 minute duration. A much older audience was targeted by two Egyptian plays, both relying on the involvement of children and/or youth in their creation. First was Tales of Ancient Egypt, performed by the Young Scholars of Egypt. The play consisted of three short plays written by students aged eight-14, based on Roger Lancelyn Greens short stories collected in a book with the same name. The second play, titled Nour, was produced by AFCA and addresses an audience aged 15 and older. It is a play that welds storytelling, amateur energy and ideas with professional theatre components. As we read in the programme notes, the play is part of a larger project that includes collecting stories from young people aged 15-25 through workshops held in governmental schools, associations and universities across Egypt. Over two years, young people spoke of their real life experiences and reflections. A collective work all the way through, it involved four boys and girls from the group aged 18-25 (Mostafa Mohamed, Lina Sakr, Menna Waleed and Perlina Ashraf) writing the script and music, designing the scenography and directing the final play. They were supervised by a team of professionals: Baher Dewidar in scriptwriting, Mohamed El Gharabawy in scenography, and Mohamed El Ghawy in mise-en-scene with assistant stage director Khadija El-Dessouky. Nour, an ongoing experience In the performance, we find Nour and Nour, a male and a female character, who despite sharing the same name are divided by many differences resulting from their gender as well as by the expectations, hopes and restrictions placed on each of them by society. However, despite those differences, Nour is an everyman story about living in a society governed by societal, religious or traditional requirements. We follow Nour from the time his/her parents met, fell in love and got married; then we see Nour as a child, adolescent and a young adult. The reflections on the family, individuality and society, are supported by statistical data braided into the script. The simple scenography underscores the double-protagonist while the sand artist Michael Romanycreates captivating drawings of spaces and emotions, presented to the audience with the aid of an overhead projector on the screen. Engrained in the realities of Egypt, Nour speaks to the audience by exposing reality or simply by raising awareness. And while the play includes a presentation of sheer facts, some surprising, others shocking the viewer, it is also an interesting theatrical journey packaged in a well-balanced creative vocabulary. There is no dogmatism, no forcing of opinionated messages onto the viewer, and no calls for specific actions -- a trap into which many such productions fall. The play trusts the viewer to judge the necessity for taking action and eventually to do what is needed, whether in their own household or on a larger scale. The play, like art in general, does not provide solutions; it rather invites the viewer to step back and reflect on their social and cultural surroundings. Following one of the performances, the audience members eagerly shared their impressions of the topics developed in Nour, emphasising the need for the performance to be presented to a wider audience. Is there a more obvious proof that the aims of the play have been accomplished? Nour is an experience and an ongoing process. As the programme notes reveal, the performance is yet to tour Egyptian cities where it will definitely generate more discussions and further reflections. It is also through this ongoing process that the director will continue looking for stronger formula to package all the energy of the amateur performers with creative ideas into an aesthetically engaging work. As I have mentioned, this year, the Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children brought a smaller a variety of performances. They were however unique in their approach to the audience, targeted different ages and invited to different levels of discussions. Indeed, Good theatre for children is essential. And good theatre stays in the young audiences minds, adding to their development and experiences. A festival of good theatre for children does not end with the curtain falling on the last performance. It lives on in the hearts of many children and young people, with the discussion opened, the minds triggered and enriched until the next year and the eighth edition of the Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children This article was first published in Al Ahram Weekly For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: On Friday, twenty-two members of the so-called Sunflower Movement were acquitted [text, in Chinese] of charges related [Taiwan News report] to their 2014 occupation of the Legislative Yuan. The activists were protesting plans to pass a trade deal with China. The protesters entered the Legislative Yuan on March 18 of 2014 and stayed until April 10. The protesters acquitted include Tsay Ting-kuei, the head of the Free Taiwan Party, and Huang Kuo-chang, the New Power Party Chairman. They were originally charged with obstruction of official business and inciting others to commit a crime. Charges against 126 protesters were dropped last year. A decision on another 6 protesters is expected on April 10. In February 2015, Amnesty International had urged [JURIST report] Taiwan to drop criminal charges against the protesters. The rights of protesters has been a concern in many countries throughout the world. In January 2016, many human rights groups called [JURIST report] for Ethiopia to address the killing of 140 protesters. In September 2015, UN human rights experts urged [JURIST report] Saudi Arabia to block the execution of an individual who was convicted of protesting when he was 17. In February 2015 an Egyptian court sentenced 230 protesters [JURIST report] to life in prison, finding them guilty of taking part in violent clashes between protesters and security forces in Cairo in December 2011. [JURIST] Paraguays Senate [official website] on Friday approved a constitutional amendment lifting Paraguays one-term rule for presidents. Put in place by Paraguays 1992 Constitution [text] following long-term dictatorship, the current rules limit the president to one five-year term. Current president Horacio Cartes [Britannica profile] is seeking to lift the one five-year term limit, a measure supported in the Senate by 25 of 45 legislators. The vote will now go to the Chamber of Deputies [official website], where 44 of the 80 members belong to the presidents Colorado Party [official website]. If approved there, the vote will go to a national referendum. In the interim, protests have erupted outside Congress, with at least one protestor reported killed and the Congressional building burned. Opponents of the term-limit lift assert that to do so is unconstitutional, including Senate President Roberto Acevedo of the opposition Authentic Radical Liberal Party, who argued [LA Times report] that the means used to bring the amendment to a vote violated Senate rules. Paraguays term-limit vote largely mirrors other corruption issues worldwide. The same day, the recently-impeached South Korea President Guen-Hye Park was arrested [JURIST report] on charges of bribery, coercion, abuse of power, and leaking government secrets. Park may be facing an additional nine other charges and can be held behind bars for up to 20 days during the course of the investigation. Earlier that week Attorney General Edgar Veytia of the state of Nayarit, Mexico, was arrested [JURIST report] on charges of international narcotics trafficking conspiracy. Earlier in the month Argentinian Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio ordered [JURIST report] former President Cristina Kirchner to stand trail in a multi-billion dollar fraud case. Kirchner and 14 other government officials have been accused of collaborating in an attempt to to defraud the Argentinian government of $3.5 billion by selling the Central Bank of Argentinas dollar futures at below-market rates. Following its release in France, Issa Murads first album is now available in Egypt Joussour (Bridges), Palestinian composer Issa Murads first album, was recently released in Egypt. The album, released in France a few months ago, is getting great attention in the jazz music scene. The title of the album, Joussour, was not chosen at random. In common language, the word bridge is used to designate a construction built to overcome an obstacle by passing above it; in music, the bridge is a more or less developed transition between two musical phrases or sections. Murad wanted to be like this medium, bringing cultures and even bringing people closer together. To achieve this, he founded a band in 2012, also called Joussour, which consists of three French musicians pianist Richard Turegano, bassist Marc Burnofosse, and percussionist Frederic Chapperon as well as Indian bansuri (an Indian instrument) player Rishab Prasanna, Syrian percussionist Samir Homsi, and Murad himself on the luth (oud). Featuring 10 of the bands tunes, Murads album is a voyage transgressing the borders of genres and culture: jazz and Balkan influences are blended with Arab and Indian music. The album was recorded in La Buissonne studio in Avignon, the sound and mixing were done by Sylvain Thevenard, and the mastering was done by Marwan Danoun. In La Mer (The Sea), which was given Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafi cultural foundations award for best soundtrack in 2015, the composer reflects on a personal experience. Born in Bethlehem, I was forbidden from seeing the sea. When I went to Jaffa, I was moved to see the sea for the first time in my life. I started to compose this piece. I did not finish it until a few years after my stay in France, when I saw the Atlantic ocean for the first time," says Murad, in amazement. This tune greatly resembles the sea: simultaneously calm and lively, rich in opposite emotions. With LEgare (The Lost One), Murad goes from this very personal experience to one that is shared by many. This piece was originally composed for one of the scenes in a documentary (one that was never released for financial reasons), and tells the story of a Palestinian-Egyptian young man who goes through an identity crisis, clearly expressed through the rhythms and derviches. With La Folle qui danse (The Crazy Woman who dances), he wanted to experiment with a new and unexpected genre. The intent behind this piece was rather technical. The idea was to do a variation between scales and rhythms. Since the rhythm is not constant, it is impossible to dance to this tune, unless the dancer is crazy: which explains the title, Murad explains. This variation between cultures, genres, melodies and rhythms is indeed very characteristic of the artist. Born in Bethlehem, Palestine, Murad took an early interest in music. At the age of 16, he enrolled in the national Edward Said Music Institute, where he learned to play the luth and to sing. In 2001, he received the Marcel Khalifa Award for the best oud player in Palestine. After earning his diploma, he travelled to Cairo to join Beit-Al-Oud, founded by prominent oud player Nassir Shamma. As years go by, nothing is constant for Issa Murad. His travel to France was also an important step on the young composers journey. The musician earned his Master's degree in ethno music from the Sorbonne, opening many doors into ethno jazz and world music. Thus his music is essentially based on jazz structures from the perspective of theme and improvisation, but his rhythms and harmony are inspired by world music, particularly Asian music. This is one of the reasons why he was chosen to take part in a number of festivals around the world dedicated to world music, among them the World Sacred Spirit Festival in India. Murad released his album in Egypt without playing his music in any concerts in the country. The Egyptian scene still prefers singing concerts to instrumental ones! he said. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany and members of parliment inaugurated Alexandria's cistern and imperial bathing complex area in the Kom El-Dikka archaeological site. The area had been undergoing excavation and restoration since 1960 by an Egyptian-Polish mission from Warsaw University. Mahmoud Afifi, head of the ministry's Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Department, said that the newly inaugurated area will be included within the Kom Al-Dikka tourist path, which includes the Roman amphitheater, the bird villa and residential houses from the Hellenistic period until the Islamic era. El-Enany describes the bathing complex as "one of the finest edifices of its time," and that the bathing halls had welcomed hundreds of bathers at a time. The complex also includes palestrae for physical exercises, colonnade passages and amenities such as public latrines. Water was supplied to the complex using huge cisterns and heated by a complex system of furnaces and pipes. The minister and the parlimentary delegates also paid a visit to the planned Mosaic museum in downtown Alexandria to inspect the ongoing work and address any obstacles to its completion. During the tour, Mohamed Abdelmaguid, director-general of the Underwater Archaeological Department, introduced a three-phase plan to develop the Qayet Bey Citadel and its surroundings. Abdelmaguid also reviewed a plan for the construction of the first underwater museum beneath the city's eastern harbour, which once was the ancient Alexandria royal area. Abdelmaguid suggests the building of an underwater park to promote diving as well as the establishment of a training centre for underwater archaeology. Search Keywords: Short link: LINCOLN Nebraska feedlots with capacities of 1,000 or more head contained 2.44 million cattle on feed on March 1, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Agricultural Statistics Service. The inventory was up 1 percent from March 1, 2016. In February, placements that totaled 425,000 head were up 8 percent from 2016 and fed cattle marketings, at 420,000 head, were unchanged. KEARNEY Head nurse and Intensive Care Unit supervisor Susan Brill of CHI Health Good Samaritan has been presented the Patriot Award in recognition of extraordinary support of her employee, Staff Sgt. Jose Torres Garcia, who serves in the National Guard and Reserve. The Patriot Award is from the Nebraska ESGR (Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve) and was presented by ESGR volunteer Garth Scism. Supportive supervisors are critical to maintaining the strength and readiness of the nations Guard and Reserve units, and its a pleasure for me to recognize nurse Brill with this award, Scism said. Assisting in Brills recognition were members of the Army National Guards 734th Brigade Support Battalion stationed in Kearney More information about ESGRs outreach programs and volunteer opportunities are available at 800-336-4590 or at www.ESGR.mil. LEXINGTON Children gathered around Kelli Benders vehicle in a Lexington neighborhood two years ago because they wanted to go with Bender to Wednesday night church. Bender, a Lexington first-grade teacher, said she had gone to the unfamiliar neighborhood to pick up another family for the weekly Awana childrens ministry at Parkview Baptist. However, Bender didnt have room for the rest of the children in the neighborhood. And so God just laid it on my heart to figure out a way to reach more kids, she said. As Bender was reading the Bible one morning, she said she thought, After school. Weve gotta reach these kids after school because theyre already here, and the parents dont have to take them. That is when she researched the Good News Club, a Christian after-school program through Child Evangelism Fellowship. Bender said the program allows children who arent necessarily involved in a church to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Bender and fellow Lexington first-grade teacher Christy Franz implemented the program in all four of Lexingtons elementary school buildings with the permission of the Lexington school board and superintendent. The duo also petitioned for volunteers from local churches. Our initial dream was to have it in at least one school. After we spoke to the churches, we got volunteers wanting to do it. ... We were able to put it in all four elementaries, Bender said. Children participating in the after-school program are given permission by their parents to attend, Bender said, and they are notified of the program outside of the school. The week before the first club date, we had volunteers handing out fliers to parents and children on the sidewalks outside of the school, Bender said. We are not allowed to be on school grounds. We are very respectful of this law. Within the 20-minute program, the children have play time, sing worship songs, eat snacks, memorize Bible verses, read a short Bible lesson and then pray at the end of the program. By the end of that first school year, Franzen said five churches were involved, they had enlisted 30 volunteers and 258 children were affected. Because of Benders passion for spreading the gospel in Lexington, Franz nominated Bender for the Hubs Religion Freedom Award. I saw this in the paper at my parents house on my dads birthday, and I said, Oh, I know exactly who Id nominate for this. It was easy, hands down, Franz said. Shes doing it out of the goodness of her heart because she knows the importance of spreading the gospel. Bender said she got started volunteering with Parkview Baptist 10 years ago as a Sunday school teacher and then led Bible story time at Wednesday night Awana. Around that time, she also started volunteering for vacation Bible school at Parkview. For those children who cant go to VBS at the church, Bender and Franz take VBS to the mobile home courts in Lexington. The five-day VBS clubs feature a Bible lesson, songs, a memory verse and games for about an hour at each trailer court, Bender said. The VBS is in someones yard or community gathering places within the court, and there are usually about 30 kids who attend at each location. I have always just had a desire to tell kids about Jesus, and I just love interacting with them, Bender said. Bender is now the Sparks director for the kindergarten through second-grade children at Awana. She also is the childrens ministry team leader at the church. In this role, she encourages volunteers to make the ministry program the best it can be for the kids. Bender and Franz have expanded their outreach to families of children in the community. We reach out to the kids all the time, but wanted to do something to where the families could come and hear the gospel, Bender said. The way they did that was by having a carnival and gospel outreach through Parkview Baptist last fall at Plum Creek Park. Bender said there were games and prizes, bouncy houses, and food for the children and families. Parkviews pastor and a Spanish-speaking pastor from another church then spoke about the gospel, Bender said. About 300 people attended that outreach program, Bender said, so she plans to have another event just like it in the fall. Benders go-getter attitude is why Franz believes Bender is perfect for the Freedom Award. She goes above and beyond everybody else that I know. She inspires a lot of people to do more and be more, Franz said. Bender doesnt like to take the credit for all the work that has been done. It takes a body of believers to do Gods work, and so Im not alone in this, and Im just so grateful and thankful to all the people that have sacrificed their time and have come alongside, you know, Jesus mission with Christy and I, Bender said. Franzen is quick to say that she is not a co-leader in their mission work. I just listen a lot, and I encourage the dreams and the aspirations she (Bender) has, Franz said. She has a lot of big ideas and dreams on how to bring the gospel to the community, and shell probably make it happen. LINCOLN Betty Jean Hultman Sjogren, 88, of Lincoln, formerly of Kearney, died Thursday, March 30, 2017, in Lincoln. Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Southwood Lutheran Church in Lincoln. Visitation with the family will be from 4-6 p.m. Sunday at the church. Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. She was born in Omaha on July 7, 1928, to Swedish immigrants John Ivar Hultman and Margaret Ruth Cronstrom. She attended Columbian Grade School, Omaha Central High School and Luther College in Wahoo. She met a young University of Nebraska Medical Center medical student, Merle Sjogren, in 1946, and they married a year later in Omaha. They moved to Portland, Ore., while Merle completed his residency. After the birth of their first child in 1948, they were commissioned as missionaries and set off for a six-month stay in London where Merle studied tropical medicine. For the next five years, they served on mission stations in Machame and Kiomboi, Tanzania, East Africa. Two daughters were added to the family. Betty loved Tanzania, its people, its culture and its beauty. In 1953, they returned by ship to the U.S.A. and back to Omaha where another daughter was born. The family lived in Omaha for 30 years except for three years in Abilene, Texas, while Merle was a major in the U.S. Air Force. He served as a flight surgeon at Dyess Air Force Base. In 1986, Richard Young Hospital opened a new facility in Kearney. Merle and Betty moved as Merle continued his psychiatry practice. They enjoyed the seven years they lived in Kearney. In 1992, Betty and Merle retired to Lincoln. Wherever Betty was planted, she volunteered in the community. She was enthusiastic and dedicated to the task she would set out to accomplish. In Omaha, she served as an officer and member of Lutheran Medical Center Distaffs and loved working on the First Ladies Dolls committee that dressed dolls in the inaugural gown of each Nebraska governors wife on display in the Governors Mansion in Lincoln; the Service Guild of LMC; the auxiliaries of Immanuel, Methodist and Clarkson hospitals; and UNMC Faculty Womens Club. She was a charter member of Mobile Meals that became Meals on Wheels. She delivered meals for many years while she lived in Omaha and later in Lincoln. She was an active member and volunteer at Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha, First Lutheran Church in Kearney and Southwood Lutheran Church in Lincoln. During her life, she was active in P.T.A., Girl Scouts, Sewing Circles, PEO (FN in Kearney and FF in Lincoln) and the Betty Club of Nebraska. Betty lovingly cared for her home and family. She was a wonderful mom and loved being a grandmother and great-grandmother. She was proud to say she was a homemaker in every way. She was an artistic craftswoman in fiber and cuisine. Her creative energy inspired those around her. She was open, caring and thoughtful of others. She easily made friends wherever she lived. She was loyal and supportive to her friends. Betty and Merle loved to travel, and they visited many parts of the world. She loved music and loved to sing. She always believed in the best of people and had a positive attitude toward life. Betty was a woman of faith. She was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, Dr. Merle E. Sjogren. Survivors include her sisters, Vernelle Case Borchman of Omaha and Marilyn Roberts of Lake Oswego, Ore.; children, Mark and Chris Sjogren of Omaha, Barbara Sjogren of Brooklyn, N.Y., Sue and Tom Tallman of Lincoln and Linda Sjogren and Barry Hirshorn of Honolulu; 14 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren. Memorials are suggested to Meals on Wheels, Tabitha Hospice or Southwood Lutheran Church. Email to condolences@lincolnfh.com to offer condolences. For my many loyal readers who noticed a different column in this space last week, I offer a simple explanation. My editor refused to mince words. He sat in the wire cage he calls an office in the middle of the newsroom and shoved my manuscript back through the slot in the cyclone fencing that encircles his desk, using his swagger stick to poke at my papers. Youre late, he barked through clenched teeth, chomping an unlit cigar for emphasis. But ... but the deadline is 4:15, I stuttered. You didnt get the memo, did you, Brown, because I didnt send it to you, he growled sideways. I moved the deadline up a couple of hours. Im going with another columnist. Tough luck. He wiped what was left of his egg salad sandwich from his chin with a dirty cuff and then slapped the stick on my carefully typed column, slightly tearing several pages. See if the Wall Street Journal will print your Pulitzer Prize winner, he sneered. I sat back down at my desk in the dimly lit newsroom and opened the weekend newspaper to see a column by some newbie named Pete Ricketts occupying the very place that readers usually find my column. After more than a decade of pounding out these essays on my Underwood typewriter, carefully crafting each thought and word, this Ricketts guy slips into my space, no questions asked, his mug shot smiling back at me in the place where my deer-in-the-headlights expression usually resides. Who is this Pete Ricketts guy, anyway? As a personal favor to this new kid, I decided to look over his column and offer a few pointers on the knack of writing an essay. First, Pete, consider your subject National Ag Week. Sounds too much like gag. Spell it out. Not everybody knows that ag is short for attorney general. After your opening, you drift off into a few paragraphs about commodity prices and farming. My advice? Stick to one topic. Use a little humor to get your point across. Research shows that up to 87 percent of our subscribers would rather read something funny about a mother-in-law than suffer through a TED Talk by a breathless interior designer. Go figure. Knock off the humblebrag. You wrote: I joined Nebraskans from Scottsbluff to Omaha at 11 events over three days to highlight how our states number one industry continues to grow Nebraska. Nanny, nanny boo-boo. All of my readers except my mother find this stuff very tedious. If you want to talk about yourself, do it in a way that feels honest and sincere. Or do it the way I do and just bluff your way through. Avoid cutesy sentences like this humdinger: We must continue to grow agriculture to grow Nebraska. Grow Nebraska? Seems like the only way we can grow Nebraska is to annex a chunk of Wyoming or grab a slice of Kansas. We turned that down 150 years ago for a very good reason. Have you ever run out of gas in eastern Wyoming? Not pretty. Look, Pete, keep writing. As a novice columnist, the road may look dark and bleak. It is. But if you keep your forehead to the keyboard and look on the sunny side, people will loathe you a little less. At least thats what my mom says. After I turned in my latest column, something on the newsroom loudspeaker interrupted my daydream: Hey Brown, thats the best column youve ever written. Dynamite stuff. Thats award winning material, if you ask me, my friend. Followed by a pregnant pause, April Fools. Now get back to work and write something worthwhile. Rick Brown is a Hub staff writer best known for putting the nanny in the boo-boo. If youre wondering how the 2018 national elections will unfold, just remember what happened in Nebraska in 2016, when Gov. Pete Ricketts supported the candidates he wanted on his side in the Legislature. In 2018, President Donald Trump may have to pull off something quite similar to achieve a more unified and moderate Republican majority in Congress. More precisely, Trump must do what his predecessor, Barack Obama, and House Speaker Paul Ryan were unable to do, and thats to disrupt or dismember the ultra conservative House Freedom Caucus. It was that group of 30 or so lawmakers who spoiled the Republicans efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, a move the GOP was preparing to make for years but could not pull off, even after winning the White House and majorities in the House and Senate. The Freedom Caucus now finds itself the target of President Donald Trumps tweets. This week he threatened that if the ultra conservatives dont fall into line and march like good Republicans, he would recruit and support more moderate candidates to oppose them in their Republican primaries. Ricketts was mostly effective in his strategy. Several of the lawmakers who voted to override his vetoes in 2016 were defeated in their primary contests, and still more lost their seats when they were voted out in the general election. If Nebraskas governor could pull it off, then shouldnt Trump be capable of the same? Perhaps, but Trump will face some tough obstacles. First, strong candidates dont just materialize out of thin air. Recruiting viable challengers to take on members of the Freedom Caucus will be challenging. The larger obstacle rests with the president himself. He needs to establish some direction with his presidency. So far hes managing to keep almost everyone in Washington off balance, along with most of our nations friends and foes overseas. Trumps lack of consistency translates into lawmakers and would-be supporters who appreciate the mans grit and confidence, but theyre unable to line up behind the president because he lacks a consistent message. It is essential that the president put together a coherent and distinctive agenda and political philosophy, and then stick with it. If he can do that, hell gain more support in Congress and, important to the future of his presidency, he might more effectively recruit candidates to oppose the ultra conservative Freedom Caucus. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Anyone looking for an excuse to make the most of the sunny weather at the weekend had the perfect opportunity thanks to the folks at Tree Services Ireland. The local tree care company, in conjunction with the Native Woodland Trust, Kilkenny County Council, Keep Kilkenny Beautiful, hosted a community tree planting day in Kilkenny City. More than 60 people turned out during the course of the afternoon, planting over 1,000 trees in total. Interested local residents and greenfingered have-a-go heroes of all ages planted native trees Birch, Alder and Oak in the area at linear park, Riverside Drive, right down beside the river towards Greens Bridge. There was a little more rock and rubble beneath the soil than some people had expected or remembered; remnants perhaps from housing construction or the flood relief scheme. Along with people from the neighbourhood, members of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful (KKB) came to help out and each plant a tree. Youngsters also played on the new outdoor gym equipment which has appeared in the park in the past fortnight. Tree Services Ireland aims to plant two native trees for every one it removes. Dan OSullivan of Tree Services Ireland says that community-based tree planting initiatives such as this will promote the natural environment and encourage nesting birds and other wildlife. There is an additional long-term goal of providing a scenic and natural amenity for the people of Kilkenny. For more information on Tree Services Ireland, see their website www.treeservicesireland.ie. There were scenes of celebration at Tullaroan GAA Club, as it hosted a 99th Birthday party on Sunday, March 19 for Dick Walsh, The Church, Tullaroan. After 10.30am Mass in the Church of The Assumption, where Dick was greeted with a round of applause, Dick and his extended family along with parishioners adjourned to the local community centre where ladies supplied a packed centre with refreshments. Dick is a very well-known local historian who has featured on numerous RTE Ireland Hurling previews. Chairman of the GAA club Dick Walshe welcomed Dick and his extended family to the happy occassion. He spoke briefly on Dick's involvement in the GAA club of which he was a prominent member all his life. He won a county senior hurling medal in 1948 and was a selector on the team which won the county final in 1958. Dick has been the hon. president of the club for over ten years. Ned Kennedy of Freshford gave a detailed account of Dick's life. Ned Quinn, chairman of Kilkenny County Board, was special guest, and said he was privileged to be invited to the occasion. Later the crowd were treated to singing and music by Paddy Fitzpatrick and Claire Walsh. Dick, his wife Kitty and his family are wished all the best from the Tullaroan GAA Club. Kilkenny graduate Michael Hennessy is sowing the seeds of a future career in farm management after successfully securing a two-years long overseas placement under a Fyffes Graduate Management Programme. Raised on a sheep and beef farm in Radestown, the 23-year old is currently applying his knowledge as an Irrigation Supervisor working on one of Fyffes pineapple farms in the Central American state of Panama. Previously he had spent time under the programme working on a similar farm in Costa Rica. One of ten applicants from across the country chosen by Fyffes to participate in their 2016 programme, Michael graduated with a BSc in Agriculture and Land Management from Waterford Institute of Technology in 2015. Speaking from Panama, Michael described his role as an out of the ordinary placement, going on to say: the Fyffes International Graduate Management Programme has given me a unique opportunity to progress my career and gain first-hand experience of agriculture and crop harvesting whilst working in a totally different climatic environment. Currently, Fyffes is engaged in recruiting graduates under its 2017 graduate recruitment programme and, to that end, the company invites applications from graduates interested in experiencing what its Head of Human Resources, William Faulkner says are the very special opportunities that the programme has to offer'. Those interested in pursuing a career in agriculture, horticulture, agribusiness, agri-technology, engineering or forestry are asked to visit Fyffes LinkedIn page for further information: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fyffes/ BEIJING, April 1 (Reuters) - Activity at China's factories expanded for a ninth straight month in March but at a softer pace as new export orders slowed, a private survey showed, raising questions about whether a recent pickup in global demand is losing steam. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index (PMI) fell to 51.2 in March, missing economist forecasts' of 51.6 and down from February's 51.7. While the index was still well above the 50.0 mark which separates expansion from contraction on a monthly basis, the rates of growth in output, total new orders, input and output prices all slipped in March from the previous month. Growth in export orders slowed sharply, falling to a three-month low of 51.9 from 53.8 in February. The findings contrast with those of China's official factory survey on Friday, which showed activity grew the fastest in nearly 5 years in March. It also showed orders improved from home and abroad. But the Caixin/Markit survey tends to focus more on small and mid-sized manufacturers, which may be benefitting less from a months-long construction boom than big industrials such as steel mills. A sub-index of the official survey had showed small companies were still struggling, though conditions were slowly improving. The private survey is also believed to be more reflective of export-oriented firms. CLOUDY EXPORT OUTLOOK While China and other North Asian exporters have seen a strong rebound in shipments in recent months both in value and volume terms, the outlook is being clouded by fears of growing U.S. trade protectionism under President Donald Trump. The Trump administration on Friday slammed China again on a range of trade issues from its chronic industrial overcapacity to forced technology transfers and long-standing bans on U.S. beef and electronic payment services. China's manufacturing sector has been enjoying its best profits in years as a booming housing market and government infrastructure spending boosted construction. But economists worry that fresh curbs on the heated property market and tighter credit conditions, coupled wit uncertainties about global trade, may intensify pressure on the world's second-economy later in the year. "Overall, the Chinese manufacturing economy continued to improve, but signs of a weakening have started to emerge ahead of the second quarter. Downward pressure may further increase," said Zhengsheng Zhong, Director of Macroeconomic Analysis at CEBM Group. The survey showed manufacturers continued to shed staff, and at a slightly quicker pace than the previous month, but the employment outlook remained relatively positive as it was the second-weakest seen in just over two years. On the brighter side, the pace of inventory reduction quickened in March with stocks of purchases and stocks of finished goods both falling into contractionary territory. An industry survey on Friday showed that China's steel inventory by March 31 was almost 30 percent higher than the same time last year, igniting worries that steelmakers would soon face large destocking pressures. (Reporting by Yawen Chen and Nicholas Heath; Editing by Kim Coghill) SEOUL, April 1 (Reuters) - South Korea's crude oil imports rose 7.8 percent in March from a year earlier to 92.6 million barrels, preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy showed on Saturday. Final data will be released later this month by state-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC). Details of preliminary imports and previous actual figures are as follows: (In millions of barrels) March 2017 February 2017* March 2016* Crude Oil 92.6 88.6 85.9 * Actual import figures Note: The ministry did not break down imports by country of origin. South Korea's total crude imports in February dropped 8.3 percent to 88.6 million barrels year-on-year, according to KNOC data last month. (Reporting by Jane Chung; Editing by Kim Coghill) (Adds comments by prime minister) By Sergio Goncalves LISBON, March 31 (Reuters) - Portugal has agreed to sell a 75 percent stake in state-rescued lender Novo Banco to U.S. private equity firm Lone Star in exchange for a capital injection of 1 billion euros into the institution, the government said on Friday. The sale was carried out ahead of an August deadline agreed with the European Commission and closes a banking saga which started with the collapse in 2014 of Banco Espirito Santo, at the time Portugal's largest private bank. Portugal injected 4.9 billion euros into the BES rescue, which at the time was the first such collapse to fall under new European rules on operations for failed banks. Prime Minister Antonio Costa said the sale fulfilled a key criterion of not extending any state guarantees to the buyer, as had been raised earlier in the negotiations with Lone Star, and guarantees Novo Banco's future. "The operation has removed the spectre of a liquidation, Novo Banco's future to carry out its role of financing the economy is guaranteed," the prime minister told journalists. "There is no direct or indirect impact on public accounts, nor any new costs to taxpayers." Bank of Portugal governor Carlos Costa said the "sale is an important step for stability of the banking system." Under the deal, Portugal's Bank Resolution Fund will retain the remaining 25 percent stake in Novo Banco, which is the bridge bank carved out of Banco Espirito Santo, which collapsed in August 2014. The country injected 4.9 billion euros, mostly via the resolution fund, into the "good bank". Under the terms of the deal, Lone Star will inject 750 million euros when the deal is formally closed and another 250 million within three years. Also, Novo Banco will swap 500 million euros of senior bonds for new bonds as means to reinforce its common equity Tier 1 capital ratio before Lone Star takes over the bank. The Bank of Portugal said a contingent capital mechanism will be set up to meet potential capital needs at the bank worth up to 3.89 billion euros, explaining that the mechanism did not represent any guarantee to cover any losses. The sale is the end of a long process that started with the emergency rescue of BES, which at that time was Portugal's largest listed bank. BES collapsed under the weight of the debts of its founding family and an investigation is still ongoing. A first attempt to sell Novo Banco failed in 2015 as bids came in far below the rescue amount, stirring investor concerns about the already flagging banking sector's contributions to the Bank Resolution Fund. In March, the government extended the maturities on state loans to the resolution fund by nearly three decades to 2046 to avoid imposing extra costs on the banking sector. The sale was also complicated by a decision, late in 2015, by the central bank to transfer some bonds from Novo Banco back to "bad bank" BES, thus boosting Novo Banco's capital. A group of bondholders, including Pimco and BlackRock, have challenged the decision in the court. (Reporting By Sergio Goncalves, writing by Andrei Khalip, editing by Axel Bugge and David Evans) JOHANNESBURG, April 1 (Reuters) - The treasurer general of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC), one of the party's highest-ranking officials, said on Saturday he had "reservations" about this week's cabinet reshuffle that saw Pravin Gordhan ousted as finance minister. "I have my reservations on the process followed and the manner in which this cabinet reshuffle was done," Zweli Mkhize said in a statement. President Jacob Zuma's sacking of the widely-respected Gordhan shook South African markets on Friday, undermining his authority and threatening to split the ANC that has governed since the end of apartheid. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. ANKARA, April 1 (Reuters) - Turkish exports rose 19 percent year-on-year in March to $13.616 billion, the Turkish Exporter's Assembly (TIM) said on Saturday. In February exports rose 5.1 percent year-on-year to $11.3 billion, according to TIM data. The assembly releases its figures almost a month before official data from the Turkish Statistics Institute. (Editing by Daren Butler) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. Stuff reports: The $630 million Kapiti expressway has actually doubled the amount of time it takes to commute into Wellington during the morning rush, some motorists say. One Kapiti Coast resident believes the morning crawl into the capital is now so bad that she is vowing to use the train instead, even though it will cost her $100 more a month. Councils across the Wellington region have asked the New Zealand Transport Agency to look into the problem. But there may be no quick fix until construction of the Transmission Gully motorway is finished in 2020. This is not a total surprise that if you clear congestion from one part of the network it moves to another part. But that is not a reason to improve the roading network. It is a reason to do it properly according to an overall plan. The overall plan is four lanes from the airport to Levin. That network will make a huge difference to scores of thousands of motorists. The level of traffic going north of Levin is small enough that any congestion at Levin would be quite minor. But what is needed is to get Transmission Gully done, and also to get a solution to the Basin Reserve. Once you have that, then you get the full benefits. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. By Nam Hyun-woo The creditor banks of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) are nearing an agreement on sharing the burden to rescue the debt-riddled shipbuilder, bank sources said, Wednesday. They may issue a written agreement this week. According to the sources, DSME creditor banks have held a series of working-level meetings since Monday with the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), which is DSME's largest shareholder and main creditor, over the government's request for a debt-equity swap on 80 percent of their unsecured loans to DSME worth 700 billion won. The lenders such as KEB Hana, Woori, Shinhan and KB Kookmin banks have "virtually" agreed on the debt rescheduling and are now working on details for a written agreement. The sources also said the banks agreed to offer a $500 million refund guarantee for DSME's fresh shipbuilding contracts. "Banks are by and large on the same page regarding DSME," a bank official said. "The agreement is expected to be documented soon." The government announced a bailout plan for DSME last week, under which the KDB and Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) will provide 2.9 trillion won of loans on the condition the company's creditors and bondholders agree to a 2.9 trillion won debt-to-equity swap and a 900 billion won debt rescheduling. If any of the creditors fail to agree on the rescue plan, the government said DSME will be placed under a "pre-packaged plan," a mixture of court receivership and a debt workout plan. With banks getting closer to agreement, holding the key are private bondholders, especially the National Pension Service (NPS) which holds DSME corporate bonds worth 390 billion won. That is about 29 percent of the entire amount of DSME corporate bonds of 1.35 trillion won. Reportedly, the NPS will meet with DSME and KDB officials to discuss its participation in salvaging the shipbuilder. The NPS was asked for a debt-equity swap on 50 percent of its DSME corporate bonds. Their talks are expected to be rough because the NPS has been showing a negative stance on providing additional support to DSME, while asking KDB to share more of the burden, such as by reducing additional capital. KDB is rejecting such calls. DSME will hold a two-day private bondholders' meeting on April 17 and 18 where they will discuss the rescheduling of its bonds. DSME CEO Jung Sung-leep said he will return all of his salary, asking employees to share the burden for the company's normalization. "The main creditor and other private creditors want us to thoroughly carry out self-rescue efforts," Jung said through DSME in-house broadcasting. "The efforts include all of the employees returning 10 percent of their salaries. And I will return all of mine." The remark came in response to mounting criticism over the government's bailout plan for DSME. Jung had received his annual salary of 340 million won in comparison to the heads of DSME's domestic rivals of Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries. To overcome the global slump in the shipbuilding industry, the heads of Samsung and Hyundai have returned all of their salaries to their companies. By Ko Dong-hwan Stella Daisy / Yonhap A Korean cargo ship with eight Korean and 16 Filipino sailors went missing in the South Atlantic earlier this week after making a distress call, according to Korean foreign ministry Saturday. Stella Daisy, a 266,000-ton ore carrier owned by Polaris Shipping, was sailing in waters near Uruguay after departing Brazil on Mar. 26. But at about 11:20 p.m. Friday (Seoul time), the ship's crew members told their employer using Korean mobile text app KakaoTalk that their ship was sinking. "It is emergency," the distress call said, according to Yonhap News Agency. "Water leakage at Port No.2. (The ship is) slanting fast toward the port side." A ministry official said they "cannot rule out the possibility that the ship may have sunk" and whether the crew members survived has yet to be confirmed. Jeong Mae-ju, a makeup artist, leaves former President Park Geun-hye's home in southern Seoul, Wednesday, one day before Park is scheduled to attend a court hearing for a decision on whether to issue an arrest warrant for her. / Yonhap By Kim Rahn One of the key reasons the Constitutional Court gave when it removed former President Park Geun-hye from office early this month was that she reneged on her pledges to cooperate with prosecutors in their investigation into the presidential corruption scandal. She instead attempted to cover up the truth and made her aides tell lies, according to the verdict. This is part of the reason that more than 70 percent of Koreans believe Park should be imprisoned to stand trial even after she was removed from office. All eyes are now on whether a court will approve the prosecution's request for an arrest warrant today. Park decided to defend herself by attending the court review. She is again expected to deny all allegations in the massive corruption scandal involving her longtime confidant Choi Soon-sil, by saying she was not aware of her associates' wrongdoing. But such an explanation has so far failed to persuade the people, but only disappointed them. According to an opinion poll by Realmeter last week, 72.3 percent of the respondents said Park should be put behind bars before trial, while 25.1 percent disagreed. It was her responses and attitude toward the scandal which drove public sentiment such that the people became fed up with the former leader. When the scandal emerged, people were shocked at the allegation that the former president let Choi, who did not hold a government post, meddle in state affairs, shared confidential documents with her and extorted money from conglomerates for Choi. 2+2 meeting to level up Seoul-New Delhi ties Korea and India have agreed to regularize their security meeting involving vice ministers of foreign and defense affairs in the so-called two-plus-two format. Korea has a similar format for meetings with the United States that involve ministers. Also on the docket for Korea and India are meetings of deputy prime ministers for economy and trade, and industry ministers. True, much of this bilateral interactivity has been scheduled but it is inevitable to review them in the context of the fraying ties with China, Korea's No. 1 trading partner, as the result of Seoul's decision to deploy U.S. missile interceptors and Beijing's hypersensitive reaction in the form of trade retaliation. It would be hard to dispute that India can countermand the effects of China's withdrawal from Korea in the short term and provide an eventual alternative to Beijing as a key long-term strategic partner. On the economic front, Korea and India have a lot of potential to exploit. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India is hitting a high gear for growth in comparison to China, being slowed down by the side effects of superhot growth: high wages, a property bubble and a rigid political system. Besides, New Delhi strikes a marked difference with Beijing in a couple of key areas, most conspicuously, the absence of "historical baggage." Indian Ambassador Vikram Doraiswami told The Korea Times, "The two countries don't have historical baggage so can start from a clean slate to do a lot for each other and the world." Also, the two are so economically structured that they can exchange technology and markets with each other for mutual benefit. On top of that, India is a capitalism-based democracy that shares the same values such as respect for human rights and freedom of speech with Korea, contrary to Beijing that is at its core a one-party dictatorship with capitalist trappings, which is now turning into a one-man autocracy under President Xi Jinping. Korea has an added urgency to foster ties with India, considering its disastrous track record in its traditional focus on the four big powers in the region _ the United States, Japan, China and Russia. The biggest trap for this diplomatic infatuation is, as shown in the case of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), being habitually caught between a rock and a hard place. India, Britain's former colony, has long been trying to gain an independent voice in the global politics of big powers and can grow to be an ideal partner for Korea to make the world a more level playing field for middle and small power countries. As Amb. Doraiswam pointed out, it is important for the two countries not to take each other for short-term gains. Korea has a tendency, also relevant in its external relations, to go all in for one country, and is paying heavily for it in the case of China. A strategic alliance needs a lot of time to build with efforts to find common ground and reconcile differences with each other. For Korea, India is worth it. So for India, is Korea. By Lee Hyo-sik Hankook Tire has been causing controversy for its decision not to allow vehicles equipped with tires made by its competitors to enter its plants beginning April 1. Hankook Tire employees as well as those of the firm's business partners will be subject to the new rule. Korea's largest tire manufacturer says the measure was introduced jointly by labor and management, stressing that it is designed to bolster employee loyalty to the company, not to boost tire sales. But critics argue the "Hankook Tire only" rule is way out of date, adding that it is wrong for the tire company to force its workers and contractors to use its products for their vehicles when they visit its two domestic plants in Daejeon and Geumsan, South Chungcheong Province. Hankook's smaller rivals Kumho Tire and Nexen Tire do not deny access to their employees or contractors even if their cars are equipped with other brand tires. "I think it is just too much for Hankook Tire to prevent employees and those from business partners from entering its plants if their vehicles are equipped with tires made by Kumho and other firms," said an industry analyst who declined to be named. "It is like we are still living in the 1970s and 1980s when Korea was ruled by military dictators. People should be able to choose what tires they want to use, regardless of their occupational affiliation." The analyst said it is wrong for the world's seventh-largest tire maker to apply the rule to its contractors who may also deal with other tire companies. "Buyers do not have a choice over what brand tire they are going to get when purchasing cars," he said. "So, if the tires are not from Hankook Tire, people have to spend extra money to replace their tires with Hankook products. This just doesn't make much sense." However, Hankook Tire is sticking to its controversial rule, saying the company will put it into practice as planned. "We will restrict the entry of vehicles using other brand tires as scheduled. We have plenty of parking spots outside our facilities," a company official said. "But trucks and other vehicles delivering goods to our plants will be exempt from the rule so it won't cause much inconvenience." He said workers voluntarily proposed the measure in the name of boosting employee loyalty to the company. "The employees had initially come forward with the idea that Hankook Tire workers should use company products. We offer a 90 percent discount to employees when they purchase company tires, while those of our business partners get our products at half price." In 2016, Hankook Tire earned 6.6 trillion won in sales with a 1.1 trillion won operating profit. The company runs eight plants in Korea, China, the United States, Hungary and Indonesia, and employs 22,000 workers. By Kim Ji-soo The Korean cosmetics trend in China seems to be cooling down amid the conflict between Seoul and Beijing over the former's deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, which the latter considers a threat to its security. But Korean cosmetics companies will not be deterred. Many are diversifying and strengthening their export and niche markets. The Korean "cosmeceutical" industry is still small, estimated at 500-billion-won by some reports. However, it has significant growth potential, as "K-beauty" brands are thriving globally and customers around the world continue to embrace Korean cosmeceuticals. Cosmeceutical is more of a marketing word, a combination of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, which contains ingredients that may have medicinal or alleviating effects of skin symptoms. Leading cosmeceutical brand It'S SKIN, for instance, has opened stores in the South American country of Ecuador. Owing to brand recognition, the company's Prestige Creme D'escargot, which won atop cosmetics award for three years straight for 2014, 2015 and 2016, has seen a significant sales increase. The opening of its stores two in the capital Quito including one in Inaquito, a district within Quito that is part of the company's global strategy, its PR firm said. "Female consumers in Central and South America are very interested in basic skincare products to protect and preserve their skin against the hot sun," a company official said. While cosmeceuticals may seem largely a buzzword to the uninitiated, the Korean industry comprises not only of cosmetics companies but also pharmaceutical companies, dermatology clinics and bio companies,and is boldly entering overseas markets. And It'S SKIN entry into the Latin American market defies the general concern that K-beauty products have rallied mostly from their success in the Chinese market. Other leading K-beauty firms are branching out to other markets. More than 160 K-beauty firms, including large ones such as Cosmax, Hanbul Cosmetics and Style Nanda attended the Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna from March 16 to 20, gaining significant interest from customers overseas. Mediheal, a top Korean beauty brand known for its facial masks and strong sales in China, said it has established manufacturing facilities and distribution channels in countries other than China, such as Japan, where it opened a production facility late this month, and Cambodia, where it opened a store. Leo Choi, director of the marketing communication team for Mediheal, said the company will be able to sell its products in Europe, particularly in Spain, Italy and Britain in April. It has said it plans to enter the Latin American market as well but no date has been set for that region yet. Kolmar, one of the top global original design manufacturers, established a foothold in Canada last year, after previously doing so in the United States. And with these footholds, the company hopes to achieve 1 trillion won in sales by 2018. Meanwhile, Cosmax acquired a factory in Solon, Ohio, in the United States in 2013. Last year, TonyMoly products made news by becoming sold in Sephora stores in Europe. Because of its expansion into other overseas markets, the company is not seeing a backlash from China's THAAD retaliation. "But we have also obtained the necessary permits for our products in other countries including China," an official at TonyMoly said. Products of Nature Republic, which advanced into the U.S. market in 2012, are now sold at four shopping malls and the company's own 17 stores there. One industry watcher said the effects on the Korean cosmetics industry of China's opposition to South Korea's deployment of the THAAD battery may become clear once the March figures are in. "So far, the February figures in terms of exports to China and the number of Chinese visitors to Korea are okay, so the March figures are the ones to watch for," she said. Other analysts, however, said a more long-term view is required to gauge any possible negative effects, and point to the need to see what the first half figures look like. But considering all constraints, it is safer to say a post-China strategy is the answer. Companies that have planned ahead by pioneering expansion into other markets, such as Cosmax, and by obtaining patents seem less concerned about the overall gloomy outlook on the industry. Indeed, some analysts believe it will be cosmetics sales at duty free stores, not sales at retail or flagship stores, that may well be hit by China's retaliatory measures, including its ban, starting this month, on group tours to Korea. janee@koreatimes.co.kr PRESS RELEASE Putin Rejects Global-Warming Nonsense March 31, 2017 (EIRNS)On the sidelines of the annual Arctic Forum conference in Arkhangelsk yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it made no sense for mankind to fight global warming, since it was not man-made. The warming had to do with "global cycles on Earth, or maybe even of planetary relevance." Mankind simply had to adapt to the changes, therefore, and, after all, warming also has benefits, particularly in the Arctic region, Putin said. Before the Forum began, Putin had visited the Franz Joseph archipelago in the Arctic Sea, according to accounts in the German press. Putin also referenced an Austrian scientist who had toured the same archipelago in the 1930s and seen pictures of the same location 20 years later showing that the iceberg melting had already begun, long before the growth of greenhouse gases had appeared. Putin said that it was more important to develop the Arctic region and to conduct more research in it, than drawing premature conclusions on its ecological situation now. In this context, Putin also wished Trumps new Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, who is a "climate skeptic," good success, adding that one has to look into Pruitts views. Actress Kim Yun-jin is returning to the big screen after a three-year absence in the mystery-thriller "House of the Disappeared," which is scheduled for release on April 5. Kim plays the role of a housewife who has spent 25 years in prison after being accused of killing her husband at their home while her son went missing and returned home. "I had no second thoughts at all. I was all for it. I had never had such a script in my 20-year career. It was so captivating," Kim told the Chosun Ilbo on Thursday. "I watched the final edited version for the first time yesterday. First of all the running time is not too long to bore viewers, and it keeps them drawn in until the end." "I'm not very fond of violent slasher movies. I love films that constantly stimulate your imagination. They give me great pleasure," Kim added. "And this is the very kind of movie." Kim has been spending more of her time for the past 13 years in Hollywood than in Korea, but she has only appeared in two TV series there -- "Lost" and "Mistresses." Although they were successful and she made her name known, she said she has felt anxious wanting to do more projects. "It is only natural that I feel anxious, because 13 years isn't short. I just will be happy if I can serve as encouragement for actors who wish to venture into Hollywood. They can certainly do it, if I can." Kim said she is very interested in doing a TV series as well in Korea. "I'd love to if I get a chance, but I don't want to be working under intense time pressure," she said. "The most important thing to me is the quality of work into which I can put sufficient time and energy." PRESS RELEASE Putin Denounces Endless and Groundless Campaign Against Russia; Warns It Could Lead to New Cuban Missile Crisis March 31, 2017 (EIRNS)The charges that the Russian government and Donald Trump somehow conspired to steal the U.S. Presidency from Hillary Clinton are "endless and groundless," Russian President Vladimir Putin told the press yesterday, after attending a meeting in the far northern city of Arkhangelesk on "The Arcticthe Territory of Dialogue." Putin described current relations between Washington and Moscow as "at zero level," and lit into the slander campaign. "We are seeing whats going on. They are preventing the new [U.S.] President from fulfilling his campaign promises on many issues: health care, other issues, international relations, ties with Russia. We are waiting for the situation to normalize and become more stable. And we arent interfering in any way." He reiterated: "Read my lips: No." Putin warned of the extreme danger of this provocative campaign. "This anti-Russian card is being played in the interests of some political forces inside the U.S., with an aim to strengthen and consolidate their positions. I dont think its in the interests of the majority of the American people to bring U.S.-Russian relations to absurdity for the sake of domestic politics. Do we want to completely cut diplomatic relations? Do we want to bring the situation to what it was in the 1960s during the Cuban [missile] crisis? Where do people behaving in such an irresponsible way want to take us all, including the American people?" Putin also dismissed the idea that the Arctic could be an area of conflict with the United States. Wells Fargo & Co. this week agreed to pay $110 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over the banks creation of as many as 2 million accounts that customers didnt authorize. If a judge approves the deal, most of that money will be sent to customers affected by the banks practices. So how much might an individual customer get? And what happens next? Here is what we know so far. Advertisement What do I need to do to make sure I get some of the settlement money? For now, nothing. Before anything else happens, the settlement must get the preliminary approval of a federal judge in San Francisco. Wells Fargo and the attorneys who filed the case will submit a settlement plan to the judge next month. The plan will explain who will be eligible for the settlement and how they will be contacted. Wells Fargo has identified about 2.1 million accounts that might have been unauthorized, and it has paid refunds of fees paid on about 130,000 unauthorized accounts. Customers who have received those refunds the bank hasnt disclosed how many that is will probably receive notices in the mail. (The settlement is separate from the banks pledge to refund fees, so customers who received refunds will be still be eligible to participate in the settlement.) To reach customers who might have been affected but havent yet been identified, a settlement administrator might place advertisements in newspapers and elsewhere, asking customers to come forward. How much might I get? We dont know yet, but we should have a better idea next month. Part of the settlement plan is an estimate of potential payouts. Dont expect big payments. For starters, customers wont be splitting $110 million. The lawyers who brought the case could get as much as 25% of that or $27.5 million leaving $82.5 million for customers. The estimated 2.1 million unauthorized accounts were created between 2011 and last year. But the settlement applies to accounts created as early as 2009, so the number of potentially unauthorized accounts could be higher. If the settlement money were evenly split between 2.1 million accounts the actual plan is a little more complicated that would work out to a little less than $40 per account. Many customers say the bank opened several unauthorized accounts for them, so some people could get more. In a statement, Wells Fargo said settlement funds would be distributed based in part on the number and kinds of unauthorized accounts. What happens next? The bank and plaintiffs attorneys will submit their settlement plan to U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria by April 20. Other attorneys, ones who filed class-action suits of their own against the bank over unauthorized accounts, will likely object to the deal. Lawyers in some cases told The Times this week that they believe the deal is premature and far too small. A preliminary approval hearing will be held May 18 in San Francisco. Chhabria could OK the deal essentially saying it looks fair and reasonable or reject it, in which case the parties could renegotiate or continue fighting in court. If he approves the deal, it would start a months-long process of finding and notifying affected customers. Customers who dont like the deal can formally object by writing a letter to the court. Instructions for objecting should be included in the notices customers receive. Later, Chhabria would have to give final approval before payments would start going out to customers. james.koren@latimes.com Follow me: @jrkoren ALSO Wells Fargo cuts pay for CEO and other top executives after scandal Column: No surprise: Wells Fargo is leveraging its arbitration clause to win an advantageous scandal settlement Two Southern California executives out at Wells Fargo amid stream of departures A conversation with British actor, writer and director Simon McBurney is a meditative adventure not unlike one of his genre-blurring theatrical collages created with his London-based internationally touring company, Complicite. Sitting in a lounge off his dressing room after a matinee late last year when he was still performing his mind-bending solo piece, The Encounter, on Broadway, he jumped naturally from one heady topic to the next. The subject of memory led him to the mystery of consciousness, which gave rise to musings on the human instinct for storytelling. (With McBurney, everything circles back eventually to art.) The quicksilver intelligence will be familiar to those who have experienced one of Complicites hallucinatory stage works, such as Mnemonic, A Disappearing Number and Shun-kin (presented by UCLAs Center for the Art of Performance in 2013) productions in which thinking itself seemed to float majestically along a stream of visually stunning theatricality. Advertisement The Encounter, which has its official opening at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on April 7, was an uncommon sight on Broadway. Inspired by Petru Popescus book The Encounter: Amazon Beaming, an account of National Geographic photographer Loren McIntyres experiences in the Brazilian rainforest, the show unfolds like an experimental radio play in which the spectacle of creating the sound effects is part of the act. Fittingly for a story about a man who loses not just his way but his perceptual bearings while searching for the source of the Amazon River, the production shuffles the senses of audience members. Theatergoers wear headphones and experience the photographers disorientation in a direct auditory manner intended to open the minds eye. McIntyres mystical encounter with the Mayoruna tribe turns into a kind of theatrical acid-trip. The 59-year-old McBurney is drawn to literary sources, but the Cambridge-educated director doesnt so much adapt prose narratives as transfigure them to the stage. For this edited conversation about The Encounter, he spoke of testing his multimedia range while pursuing with feverish intensity those questions of identity and artistic representation that seem to be at the heart of all Complicite investigations. The Encounter combines so many of your obsessions memory, the nature of fiction, the power of theatrical ritual, the way culture informs our sense of reality. Does the production represent a grand synthesis of your work with Complicite? What you say is true, but at the same time Im sometimes unaware of any of those things because Im just making something. And I want the thing to speak for itself. There is a very simple method of the show, which is about a man in his 50s who thinks he knows what hes doing and then becomes utterly lost. Thats a literal sense of disorientation. But its also, of course, like any human story, a metaphor. And I guess that in my 50s, I better understand what T.S. Eliot meant when he said as we get older, the world becomes stranger. You play yourself onstage but then you merge into McIntyre. What was it about his story that drew you in? I have felt quite lost, particularly in relation to this thing that we are this curious amalgam of electrical impulses that then nonetheless provide a very powerful sense that you are Charles McNulty and I am Simon McBurney. Were passionate about our distinctiveness. And its a very odd thing because we have the impression that we have chosen to be like that whereas the majority of things that we do are not choices despite our insistence on free will and autonomy. Do you find venturing beyond familiar cultural territory helps to expose these forces at play on our identities? Ive never been terribly at home in the society that I grew up in, Western European society. I mean, I am, of course, Western European, so its a ridiculous thing to say. But at the same time, there are things which just feel uncomfortable to me. So youre right in saying that I have certain obsessions about where I come from and what does it mean to be a person. Mnemonic was not just about remembering. It was about who am I. The Encounter takes this thought even further. Is what we think even real? There is a dominant thought process now on the planet, yet everywhere we look is violence and destruction. So is that really the only way were capable of thinking. Or is there another way of seeing the world? The piece is as much a philosophical an epistemological journey as a geographical one. Its been difficult for people here [in the U.S.] to publicize the show because the story of the National Geographic photographer who was lost in the jungle, well, it sounds like a great adventure story but thats really only the literal surface level. The show looks like it must be dizzying to perform. I tend to get into a kind of trance when Im doing it because its like going down the river. The key thing is concentration and energy. Its almost like playing a piece of music. Photographer Loren McIntyres encounter with the Mayoruna tribe is feverishly surreal. Ones own hold on reality as a theatergoer begins to loosen as his mind unspools. Is disorientation the theatrical goal? I want people to immediately know how the piece is done and yet for them to experience something. Not just to follow the story but also to go through something, an event which requires, necessarily, participation on the part of the observer. What I hope happens is that they begin to see things that are not there. At first what theyre looking at, the back wall of the stage, is pretty prosaic. But gradually through the process of what theyre hearing, through the secrets of words, the story and the different situations, they start to build out this picture. They experience me becoming Loren, but I want to be so convincing that when I come back as myself at the end, when they hear my voice and not Lorens, they experience a shock because they see him rather than me. In your warm-up with the audience you made a joke about that Mike Pence wasnt expected at the performance. Has The Encounter changed since the election? Yes, hugely. The audience changes it. On the night after the election about 200 people who bought tickets didnt turn up. They were so depressed. There was an audible sense of mourning in the theater. And I found inevitably a very great sense that people are still absolutely involved in what has happened and concerned. Certain lines, like when I say, some of us are friends, start to have a particular power. Because one of the dominant feelings about this election and indeed of Brexit is not just about what the consequences are in terms of government. But its a very personal thing, this sense of division and unleashing of hate. This is a very remarkable thing: People cant quite believe how aggressive people are. The Encounter is also about our relationship to nature. Do you think art can play a role in how we think about our environmental crisis? I dont know. But I do know that art is not separated from society and life. I think the function of art in our society, which is so covered in layers of different fiction, is to be able to take a knife through it and to open it up. Very often people think of art as the add-on extra. Its like that famous American critic who called music mental cheesecake. Whereas I think its at the heart of our society because its the heart of the way that human beings think. Because we think metaphorically, because we think through a process of stories. And, therefore, one of arts imperatives is to be able to pierce through that fiction and go, OK. This is a story but actually it shows us reality. Were you influenced on this project by Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness? Ive read Conrads Heart of Darkness. But no I mean its there, but his Heart of Darkness is part of a kind of colonial myth. The real heart, the real heart of darkness, is somewhere within ourselves. Its more metaphysical? Weve grown up with a very Greek idea of the world, which is extremely dualistic when you say yes and no, black and white, it begins and it ends. And one of the remarkable things I found when I was in the Amazon is when I asked different tribes where they thought consciousness was in their bodies, they didnt like us put their hands on their faces or heads but rather pointed at the forest. I questioned my translator but then I thought how incredibly stupid I am because what is inside of us is alive and out there is life. So what is out is also within. There isnt this separation between outer and inner reality. In addition to constructing these innovative theater pieces and directing operas by Mozart and Stravinsky, you also do a lot of screen acting (Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, The Theory of Everything, a good deal of British television). Do you see any connection between these realms? Working on film has brought me to the realization that I have to be very in touch with the reality of who Im playing. You have to be very accurate. The camera will see what youre thinking, and if its artificial it will expose it very quickly. I like that kind of precision and detail and find it very helpful in combination with the language of theater. I like the idea that suddenly something is hyper-hyper-hyper-realistic. In The Encounter Im working with this very sensitive microphone, so there is a quality that feels filmic. Youll be debuting your adaptation of Robert Evans Hollywood memoir, The Kid Stays in the Picture, at Londons Royal Court before heading to Beverly Hills to do The Encounter at the Wallis. Is adaptation how you normally begin? Ive done a lot of them. I love working with words and I love text thats my upbringing. I studied literature at university and by the time when I left university I had already directed or acted in at least 25 Shakespeares. Thats sort of my seedbed. SIGN UP for the free Essential Arts & Culture newsletter charles.mcnulty@latimes.com Follow me @charlesmcnulty ALSO Lin-Manuel Mirandas Hamilton, as vital as ever, opens in San Francisco Feminist debate turns into ideological free-for-all: Wooster Groups Town Hall Affair Robert Schenkkans Building the Wall, set in Trumps America This weekends arrival of Ghost in the Shell, the live-action adaptation of the landmark Japanese anime film, is being met with criticism from the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), which is condemning what it calls the whitewashed casting of Scarlett Johansson in the lead role. The organizations complaint joins the backlash that erupted following the announcement in early 2015 that Johansson had signed on to star in Paramount and DreamWorks version of Masamune Shirows manga series that spawned the classic animated film. Many fans of the franchise called the casting of Johansson yet another example of Hollywood whitewashing because she plays an Asian heroine named Motoko Kusanagi. Advertisement When asked about the ongoing flap, Johansson didnt agree with the critics point of contention. I think this character is living a very unique experience, in that she is a human brain in an entirely machinate body, Johansson said on ABCs Good Morning America earlier this week. Shes essentially identity-less. I would never attempt to play a person of a different race, obviously. She added, Hopefully, any question that comes up of my casting will ... be answered by audiences when they see the film. But MANAA leaders who have seen the film say they are angered, and said in a statement that the actress was lying in defending her portrayal. Though defenders of the casting claimed that both the original 1989 manga and 1995 animated Japanese film were vague about Major Motoko Kusanagis original ethnic identity before her brain was placed into the body of a cyborg, this film verifies she was Japanese; her real name, in fact, was Motoko Kusanagi (her cyborg identity, implanted with false memories, was Major Mira Killian), the statement read. MANAA also denounced the casting of Michael Pitt in the role of Kuze in the film, which MANAA said is revealed to have originally been named Hideo, meaning he too was Japanese. Apparently, in Hollywood, Japanese people cant play Japanese people anymore, MANAA President Robert Chan said in a news release. Theres no reason why either Motoku or Hideo could not have been portrayed by Japanese or Asian actors instead of Scarlett Johansson and Michael Pitt. We dont even get to see what they looked like in their original human identities a further whitewash. Though the Japanese versions of Ghost took place in Japan, and the latest film version does not specify a location, it was partially shot in Hong Kong and is clearly an Asian city, Chans statement continued. There are many Japanese/Asian/Asian-American actresses who couldve handled the role of the Major, including Rinko Kikuchi, Karen Fukuhara, Kiki Sukezane, Chloe Bennet, Maggie Q, Doona Bae, Li Bingbing, and Gemma Chan. Chan did not note that most of the actresses he named are not well known to audiences or do not have the proven box-office record of Johannson, who stepped into the role after Australian actress Margot Robbie dropped out in order to focus on Suicide Squad. At the New York premiere of Ghost in the Shell earlier this week, the films cinematographer, Jess Hall, told The Times that he was confused by the flap. Ive found the casting controversy quite weird, Hall said. If you look at Section 9, its really very diverse casting, he added, referencing the films self-defense unit. You have a Fijian [Lasarus Ratuere], a Dane [Pilou Asbk], several Japanese actors, including one of the countrys biggest stars [Takeshi Kitano]. I dont really understand it. Times reporter Steven Zeitchik contributed to this report. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour gerrick.kennedy@latimes.com For more music news follow me on Twitter:@GerrickKennedy ALSO Ghost in the Shell cinematographer says the casting controversy is quite weird Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs calls for diversity upon receiving Pioneer Award The ravishing sci-fi noir Ghost in the Shell is fascinating, and not without its glitches Stories about Gentile saviors of European Jews during the Holocaust have been a staple of international cinema for decades, whether its Schindlers List, Agnieszka Hollands subterranean In Darkness, Richard Chamberlains 1980s TV movie Wallenberg or the most ambiguous of the bunch, the 2015 foreign-language Oscar-winner Ida. But none of those movies has focused on the many women who risked their lives to help victims of Hitlers Third Reich. Women were, after all, instrumental in these efforts, sufficiently under the radar of a male-driven military culture to pull off acts of great heroism. In the past weve associated being brave and strong and powerful as masculine qualities, says actress Jessica Chastain. But not all heroes have to use violence as a weapon. In fact, it can take greater courage to fight something without a weapon. Advertisement Thats both premise and raison detre of Chastains new movie, The Zookeepers Wife. Directed by Niki Caro from Diane Ackermans 2007 bestseller, the film tells the true story of Antonina Zabinska and her husband, Jan, proprietors of the Warsaw Zoo who risked their lives to save 300 Jews from the citys infamous ghetto. War in the movies is so often about men. Theres never been one about the role someone played in history from a feminist point of view. The Zookeepers Wife director Niki Caro A director of movies about on-the-margins feminist heroines such as Whale Rider and North Country, Caro believed that the canon cried out for Antoninas story. There are very incredible films about this period of time. But war in the movies is so often about men. Theres never been one about the role someone played in history from a feminist point of view, says the New Zealand director as she sits next to Chastain in a midtown restaurant on a recent evening. The actress had just come from an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where a good-spirited round of charades would, she hoped, help sell the movie to a Middle American audience. Joe Manganiello (seated, left), Tariq Trotter of the Roots (standing, left), Jessica Chastain, center, and host Jimmy Fallon, seated right, play charades on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on March 21, 2017 in New York City. (Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images) Also believing in that populist potential: Focus Features, which released the movie wide this weekend with the belief that an animal-centric story that avoids showing some of World War IIs grimmer horrors could accrue mass appeal. The story begins as Antonina refuses to leave her beloved zoo with young son Ryszard even as the Nazi invasion of Poland looms. The brutal bombing soon destroys the zoo, and the Nazis occupy Warsaw, rounding up Jews to the ghetto. Antonina and her husband devise a plan under the nose of a Nazi zoologist (Daniel Bruhl) to start a smuggling operation that will bring the Jews to safety. (It cleverly involves a pig farm on the grounds of the now occupied zoo.) Soon the refugees are living in an underground bunker, where they hope to eventually find safe passage out of the occupied country and avoid the gas chambers that is the fate of so many in the ghetto. A scene from The Zookeepers Wife with, from left, Efrat Dor, Jessica Chastain, Timothy Radford, Shira Haas and Martha Issova. (Anne Marie Fox / AP) In the past weve associated being brave and strong and powerful as masculine qualities. Jessica Chastain While Jan joins the resistance, Antonina devises the plan and then executes it, her sensitivities allowing people at home to feel comfortable while her sexuality is wielded in a more modern feminist manner to keep Bruhls prying eyes at bay, Antonina redefines what it means to be a hero, says Chastain. At the end of the movie her character gives birth to a second child, a daughter, Teresa. The real-life daughter would go on to grow up at the zoo which her parents continued to operate after the war where she was taught the remarkable history. Nobody had to tell me these stories because many of the so-called guests of the villa were still living with us after the war, says Teresa Zabinska, speaking via a translator from Poland this week. It was all around me. Teresa Zabinska, daughter of Jan and Antonina Zabinski, in front of the Zabinskis Warsaw villa. In the villas basement, accessed with a secret tunnel to the garden, the Zabinskys hid nearly 300 Jews and resistance fighters on zoo grounds during most of World War II. (JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP/Getty Images) The younger Zabinska met with Chastain before shooting began and also visited the Prague set, where she had a small part as well. Im very happy my parents are memorialized in this way, she adds. Theres a love and a sense of humanitarian values in the film that I hope people will take from it. The movie was shot in Prague because Warsaw was leveled during the war beyond the point where it could represent the events of the movie. The zoo, however, remains. The connection between animal compassion and human rescue is made strongly in the film. The same principles that have Antonina assuaging a distressed elephant inform her desire, when the stakes are raised, to embrace risk in the name of saving people. Its the rare Holocaust movie that puts animals as central characters. Chastain and Caro in the interview are eager to emphasize the connections between helpless creatures of all sorts (nearly all those used in the shoot were real for this reason), as well as their thoughtfulness in dealing with the animals on set. Chastain says she was simply playing with the creatures instead of trying to induce them to any action; even the sight in the film of them as scared, as they inevitably must be during the invasion, was the result of an incidental reaction captured on camera rather than a staged shoot. Jessica Chastain in The Zookeepers Wife. (Anne Marie Fox / AP) Anne Frank is required reading in school, but its such a betrayal when they teach the book and dont tell us that we in America turned her family away, Jessica Chastain In a happier moment before the war, a young camel gallops along behind Antoninas bicycle. Chastain says the camel was simply running to see its mother, just out of frame, and she had to pedal to time her movement with the camel instead of the other way around. Naysayers have lamented that the movie sanitizes the difficult moments of the film to center on the beauty; indeed, what the ghetto occupants were being saved from is, in most scenes, suggested only obliquely. The film is a counterpoint of sorts to the 2016 Oscar winner Son of Saul, which confronted those realities head-on. But Caro says that to focus on what isnt there is to miss the point. Its a point of difference with this film, she says. Were talking about healing and humanity, which takes a certain confidence and courage. Were telling a story of warmth and love, set in a zoo. When I came aboard people werent talking about refugees. I couldnt imagine that reading the newspapers would be parallel to what was happening in the 1930s. Jessica Chastain Chastain also argues against the cultural eye-roll that has at times accompanied the release of new Holocaust movies, particularly during Oscar voting the idea that there are too many of the form. She says such a reaction is troubling, an implied quota that comes with subtle bigotry. If anything, she says, there have been gaps in the pantheon, particularly when it comes to the subject of American complicity. Anne Frank is required reading in school, but its such a betrayal when they teach the book and dont tell us that we in America turned her family away, she says. I cant believe I was never taught that. It feels like such a failure of the U.S. educational system. That inevitably raises the modern resonance of Zookeepers Wife, particularly the question of sanctuary for those fleeing slaughter. The film, of course, remains firmly in period. But in person the principals are willing to make the connection. When I came aboard [in 2010] people werent talking about refugees. I couldnt imagine back then that reading the newspapers would be parallel to what was happening in the 1930s, says Caro. And when we shot [in 2015] the migrant crisis was all around us. But I cant help seeing new relevance today, she continues. It should be considered right now, where paranoia leads to fear and then, logically, to hatred. We dont talk about decency much anymore, she adds. Chastain says that she wouldnt even restrict the parallels to the current moment. This is a story about the present and the future, she says. Antonina wasnt a celebrity or a politician; she didnt have a huge social-media following. She was an ordinary person driven to action. You can feel angry or hopeless about politics. And I think people have to move away from that. I think the biggest lesson Antonina taught is that compassion and protecting the lives of others is contagious. Sign up for our weekly Indie Focus newsletter steve.zeitchik@latimes.com Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT ALSO Review: Niki Caro and Jessica Chastain create an emotionally satisfying Zookeepers Wife The Sunday Conversation: Zookeepers Wife author Diane Ackerman sees parallels between World War II and today Niki Caro to helm live-action Mulan movie Heady days for Jessica Chastain as The Martian and Crimson Peak loom With the birth of her sons first child, Anna Wintour has become a grandmother. Wintours son Charlie Shaffer and his wife, Lizzy, have welcomed their first child, a daughter named Caroline. Lizzy posted on her Instagram account that Caroline was born on Tuesday, March 28, weighing six pounds, 14 ounces. Vogue confirmed her full name is Caroline Anne Shaffer. Wintours daughter Bee posted a photo to her own page, writing Welcome little Caroline and congrats @lizzyshaff and @cwshaffer. Looking forward to many more chic hats!!! Advertisement Charlie and Lizzy were married in June 2014 at Wintours home in Mastic, N.Y. They met attending Oxford University, according to their New York Times wedding announcement. The baby arrival is the latest in family news for the Vogue editor in chief. Earlier this month, it was revealed that Bee is engaged to be married to Francesco Carrozzini, son of late Italian Vogue editor in chief Franca Sozzani. The question of which designer will design a gown for Ms. Shaffer remains to be seen. The Vogue first daughter also recently exited her job as a segment producer on Late Night with Seth Meyers, reportedly for a job in the theater industry. With the arrival of a grandchild, will more baby clothes be making their way into the pages of Vogue? Will little Caroline be the most well-dressed little one to take on the streets of Manhattan? Stay tuned. ALSO Inside Dolce & Gabbanas exclusive celebration of life, love, opera and couture That 70s runway show: A Rebecca Minkoff showcase of groovy girl power at the Grove Tommy Hilfiger, Gigi Hadid dip into the 70s for a fun and youthful fashion show in Venice Beach As book editor, Im supposed to be keeping up on the latest in literature, but I recently started reading Anna Karenina for the first time. And its great! I think this Tolstoy kid could really go places. Whats your favorite book published before 1900? THE BIG STORY Critic at Large Laila Lalami is the author of a short story collection and two novels, the most recent of which, The Moors Account, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. As shes become more and more of a public writer, shes learned to make space for her private self. She writes about those tensions in this fabulous essay. Advertisement Laila Lalami writing at home. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) WAR: WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? The biggest dystopia of the spring is American War by Omar El Akkad: It imagines a future America torn apart by climate change and fights over fossil fuels. Jeff VanderMeer, author of the Southern Reach Trilogy, has our review; hes impressed by the way the book envisions regular people under terrible circumstances, but wonders if its science fictional elements dont go quite far enough. Military historian Gene Fax looks back to the Great War in his book With Their Bare Hands: General Pershing, the 79th Division, and the Battle for Montfaucon. It was during this phase of World War I, writes Tony Perry in our review, that America came into its own as a world power. SOCIETYS MIRROR Adrian Matejkas poetry collection Map to the Stars is not a Hollywood riff but an exploration of Matejkas growing up in Indianapolis in the 1908s with a love for all things space the Voyager II mission as well as Star Trek reruns. Craig M. Teicher reviews that book alongside Robin Coste Lewis stunning 2015 collection Voyage of the Sable Venus. These black poets jog our collective memories, he writes, facing the distant and recent history of black Americans, asking us to try to see ourselves in their mirrors. BESTSELLERS An old favorite returns to our bestseller list this week: Anthony Doerrs All the Light We Cannot See. The 2014 novel about a blind girl in France and the German teen at the end of World War II took a break from our list but pops back up at No. 9, bringing the total weeks its been on our list to 140. FESTIVAL OF BOOKS The schedule for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, which will take place April 22-23 at USC, is online now but tickets wont be available until April 16. (Sorry, I got that wrong last week. I was excited). For some events, such as the childrens stage, you dont even need tickets. Who can you see there? Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett with their book Triangle; Megan McDonald, author of Judy Moody and the Bucket List; Danica McKellar, whose new book is Goodnight Numbers; Drew Daywalt and Adam Rex with their book, The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors; and Adam Rubin with his upcoming sequel, Dragons Love Tacos 2. Childrens book author and illustrator Jon Klassen (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) No joke: Id really like to know. What is your favorite book published before 1900? Email me at the address below. carolyn.kellogg@latimes.com @paperhaus Good morning. Im Paul Thornton, The Times letters editor, and it is Saturday, April 1, 2017. President Hillary Clinton will later today announce her administrations historic commitment to greenhouse gas emissions targets that are more ambitious than those sought by the Paris climate agreement, renewing hope that humanity can avert the worst effects of climate change. Heres a look back at the week in Opinion. Yes, this newsletters introduction contains an April Fools Day joke, but what youre about to read actually happened: The Times Editorial Board this week came to the defense of anti-abortion activists who allegedly resorted to blatantly dishonest tactics in order to undermine Planned Parenthood. On Tuesday, California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra announced that his office was filing 15 felony charges against the two activists who surreptitiously recorded Planned Parenthood officials talking about the donation of fetal tissue for research. The Times Editorial Board called Becerras action disturbingly aggressive: Theres no question that anti-abortion activist David Daleiden surreptitiously recorded healthcare and biomedical services employees across the state of California with the intent of discrediting the healthcare provider, Planned Parenthood something his heavily edited videos failed to do. Theres also no question that its against state law to record confidential conversations without the consent of all the parties involved. But that doesnt mean that California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra should have charged Daleiden and his co-conspirator, Susan Merritt, with 15 felony counts one for each of the 14 people recorded, and a 15th for conspiracy. It's disturbingly aggressive for Becerra to apply this criminal statute to people who were trying to influence a contested issue of public policy, regardless of how sound or popular that policy may be. Planned Parenthood and biomedical company StemExpress, which was also featured in the videos, have another remedy for the harm that was done to them: They can sue Daleiden and Merritt for damages. The state doesnt need to threaten the pair with prison time. Daleiden describes the effort as journalism, although his methods were decidedly not those employed by respectable reporters. He and Merritt allegedly concocted fake identities and business records to dupe Planned Parenthood officials into taking the pair into their confidence, and misrepresented themselves throughout. Nevertheless, as misguided as they were, their aim was to change peoples views on important and controversial issues abortion and fetal tissue research. In similar cases, we have denounced moves to criminalize such behavior, especially in the case of animal welfare investigators who have gone undercover at slaughterhouses and other agricultural businesses to secretly record horrific and illegal abuses of animals. That work, too, is aimed at revealing wrongdoing and changing public policy. Thats why the state law forbidding recording of conversations should be applied narrowly, and to clear and egregious violations of privacy where the motive is personal gain. >> Click here to read more Our editorial was noticed, including by abortion foes. A blogger with the conservative Washington Examiner writes that politics can make for strange bedfellows, perhaps none stranger than the Los Angeles Times editorial board and James O'Keefe. The Hill judged the editorial newsworthy enough to merit its own report. Hot Air, SarahPalin.com, Fox News and NewsBusters also took note. This ex-congressman lost his seat over Obamacare, and he doesnt regret his vote. Tom Perriello, a Democrat running for governor of Virginia and a former member of Congress who lost reelection after casting a vote in favor of the Affordable Care Act, said he was warned his job would in jeopardy if he sided with President Obama in 2010, but today he does not regret his support for the law. He writes: Hundreds of Americans have reached out to tell me how the ACA has helped them personally: parents who obtained life-saving treatment for their adult children because they were able to keep them on their insurance plans; workers who left dead-end jobs to pursue their dreams, secure in the knowledge that they could buy insurance on newly created exchanges. L.A. Times The family that sleeps together stays together. When in human history before industrialization did children sleep apart from their parents? Never, writes Benjamin Reiss, and our insistence that parents and children slumber in separate parts of the house has numerous ripple effects in society, including larger houses that consume more energy and strained family ties. Far from being a backward practice, co-sleeping, or at least sleeping in close proximity, may be a more enlightened, sustainable use of space and natural resource, Reiss says. L.A. Times Do you live in Devin Nunes' district? Call his office, now. The House Intelligence Committee chairman has all but completely stalled his committees investigation of Russian meddling in the presidential campaign. In so doing, says contributing writer Conor Friedersdorf, he has done a grave disserve to this nation, and voters in his district need to do something about it: So far, Speaker Paul Ryan is standing by Nunes, but the people of Fresno, Clovis, Tulare and Visalia have the power as Trump might put it to drain the swamp. L.A. Times Heres one campaign promise Trump may actually fulfill: defeating Islamic State ASAP. Civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria have increased since the new president took office, but Trump still deserves credit for helping to move the offensive against Islamic State rapidly toward success, writes Doyle McManus. L.A Times Reach me: paul.thornton@latimes.com A popular access point that thousands of tourists and hikers use every month to get near the Hollywood sign will close April 18, Los Angeles city officials said Friday. Pedestrians will no longer be able to travel up Beachwood Canyon to reach the Hollyridge Trail or other paths into Griffith Park. They still will be able to reach trails near the famous sign from other points, such as Canyon Lake Drive to the west, officials said. The city is closing the gate at the top of north Beachwood Drive to hikers in order to comply with a court order to reduce the number of people on the route. Advertisement The Sunset Ranch Hollywood Stables sued the city, saying officials had advertised the route, flooding it with 15,000 people a month. The stables argued that customers were unable to get to the property, situated a few hundred yards beyond the gate, and sometimes were turned away by city guards. The City Council voted Friday to spend $100,000 to study improving park access, with a goal to provide recommendations on the best ways for the public to view the Hollywood sign while minimizing impacts on surrounding neighborhoods and wildlife. joe.mozingo@latimes.com @joemozingo The guidelines also say it is a priority to settle questions about British and other European citizens living in each other's countries, and call for "flexible and imaginative solutions" for the issue of the U.K.'s land border with Ireland. Draft guidelines obtained by the Associated Press say that the EU and Britain must first "settle the disentanglement" of Britain from the bloc but added that "an overall understanding on the framework for the future relationship could be identified during the second phase of the negotiations under Article 50." The European Union softened its public stance on Britain's exit from the bloc Friday, with Council President Donald Tusk signaling some flexibility on allowing talks on a new relationship before the divorce proceedings are complete. Talks Will Be Difficult EU leaders warned after a meeting Friday that the two years of talks triggered this week to negotiate Britain's exit will be difficult, but insisted they don't want all-out economic or diplomatic conflict. Tusk is presenting the EU's draft negotiating guidelines to leaders of the remaining 27 member states Friday. Tusk said the EU will not punish Britain in the talks, saying that Brexit itself is "punitive enough." The head of the rotating EU presidency, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, insisted the negotiations "will not be a war." Tusk said there would not be parallel discussions about Britain's exit and its future relationship with the EU, but said that the negotiations could move onto a second phase if there is "sufficient progress" in the exit talks. He didn't define what kind of progress that would have to be, but said that the 27 remaining EU members would have to agree before moving on. Threat Ruled out Tusk ruled out the suggestion that there was an inherent threat in British Prime Minister Theresa May's departure letter Wednesday, which some felt hinted that Britain was threatening to end security cooperation with continental Europe unless it gets a good Brexit deal. British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson also insisted Friday that Britain's commitment to European defense and security is "unconditional" and "not some bargaining chip in any negotiations" over Brexit. Johnson, speaking in Brussels upon arrival for a NATO meeting, said he has had good feedback from partners since Wednesdays British formal announcement of its departure from the EU, despite worries on both sides of the Channel about Brexit. Gilbert Baker was a soldier from Kansas, stationed in San Francisco at the start of the gay liberation movement. When he was honorably discharged from the military, he decided to teach himself to sew. He was a drag queen, explained his longtime friend Cleve Jones. He sewed gowns and costumes. Advertisement Soon he began sewing flags for gay and antiwar street marches. In 1978, he designed and sewed the banner that would become a symbol for LGBTQ rights around the world: the rainbow flag. Baker died at 65 in his sleep at his New York home, said Jones, a longtime gay rights and AIDS activist. He did not know the cause of death, but said Baker had suffered a massive stroke several years ago and had to teach himself to sew again. He said Baker, his best friend for 45 years, was a creative, big-hearted force of nature. He was crazy, Jones said. He was still a hippie at heart, part of the psychedelic generation. In the mid-1970s, gay activists in the Castro District of San Francisco including Jones, Baker and Harvey Milk were trying to come up with a symbol for their movement. Baker didnt like two symbols they were using: The Greek letter lambda seemed too obscure, and the pink triangle that the Nazis had forced gay prisoners in their concentration camps to wear was too dark. Gilberts idea was to create something that reflects the diversity of the LGBT community, Jones said. Milk, the first openly gay San Francisco supervisor, urged Baker to come up with a symbol of hope, according to Bakers online bio. On the citys Gay Freedom Day Parade in 1978, Milk rode under the first rainbow flags sewn by Baker, and dyed by him and Jones. Milk was assassinated five months later, along with the then-mayor, George Moscone. The first flags had eight color stripes, but Baker removed pink and turquoise because those fabrics were more expensive. The six simple panels of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple would become a universal beacon of pride for gay and transgender communities. In 1979, Baker went to work at Paramount Flag Co.in San Francisco and created flamboyant window displays, according to his online biography. Dianne Feinstein, now a U.S. senator, saw them and commissioned him to design flags for her first inaugural as mayor. Baker liked to joke that he was the gay Betsy Ross. He moved to New York in 1994 and created a mile-long rainbow flag to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, widely viewed as the start of the gay liberation movement. He did fine art silk screens on linen celebrating the flag, and worked with photographers to document it. He held exhibitions in Rome, New York and San Francisco. In 2003, for the 25th anniversary of the symbol, he built his largest flag yet stretching across Key West from the Gulf of Mexico to the Florida Strait. Five years later, he returned to San Francisco to re-create the 1970s banners for the movie Milk. Gilberts presence in the world will never be forgotten, Jerome Goldstein, a close friend, told the San Francisco Chronicle. HIV disease may be forgotten, all of the ugly political and religious fights that weve had, they may be forgotten, Goldstein said. But the rainbow flag will endure forever. joe.mozingo@latimes.com @joemozingo The son of Mexican mariachi superstar Pepe Aguilar has been arrested at a U.S.-Mexico border crossing on allegations of attempting to smuggle four Chinese nationals in to the United States. Jose Aguilars attorney, Jeremy Warren, said Friday that his client will tell his side in court. He said the Grammy-winning musician has nothing to do with his sons arrest. Warren declined to comment further. TMZ first reported the March 14 arrest at the Tijuana-San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego. Advertisement According to court documents, inspectors found four Chinese nationals in the trunk of his car. Jose Aguilar has been released on bond. The complaint says two of the immigrants were headed to Los Angeles and two were going to New York. The women were forced into the sex trade and moved from one state to another. They were required to make $800 a day working 12 to 14 hours while paying house fees, transportation costs and hotel and food expenses. Often times they were assaulted, raped and robbed by customers. Investigators said that when they began to unravel the national prostitution ring in Minnesota last month, they traced the heart of the operation nearly 2,000 miles west, to a home in a quiet, well-landscaped neighborhood of Irvine. Prosecutors said it was from this home that Hong Gina Jing and her daughter, 23-year-old Fangyao Michelle Wu, ran the sex trafficking enterprise with the help of two other people, including a woman from Chino Hills. Advertisement This week, Minnesota prosecutors charged the four with multiple counts of racketeering and sex trafficking. Jing and Wu are being held at Womens Central Jail in Orange County on $100,000 bail each, according to arrest records. Sophia Wang Navas, 48, of Chino Hills was released Friday after posting bail. Minnesota prosecutors plan to extradite the three women to face the charges. It seems to be the Uber of sex trafficking, frankly. Washington County Atty. Pete Orput The operational control, we believe, was centered in California. There were ads posted; dozens of phones were used to communicate and set up dates for these females, said Washington County Atty. Pete Orput, whose agency led the investigation. These men would be given the address and just show up, he said. It seems to be the Uber of sex trafficking, frankly. Prosecutors said Jing and Navas were dubbed the boss ladies and allegedly used massage parlors, private residences and hotels for sex services in Minnesota, North Dakota and California. Jing had been arrested before, in June, for running a brothel in Irvine. The victims were mostly Chinese and Korean nationals who didnt speak English, according to the complaint and prosecutors. Their passports sometimes were taken away, and they often were moved from one location to another to prevent them from developing ties or reaching out for help. The complaint said that investigators were able to connect email and phone accounts to all four defendants, who posted thousands of advertisements for sexual services on Backpage.com in 29 states over the last two years. Investigators also were able to connect bank accounts to all suspects. At least six women were found at several locations in Minnesota when investigators served search warrants. At least one investigator reported seeing hundreds of used condoms at one location. County prosecutors said the case began to take shape late last month when authorities arrested Dongzhou Mark Jiang, 28, for prostituting a woman in Woodbury, Minn. Detectives served search warrants at his home in Blaine, Minn., where they discovered $36,000 in cash that had been divided and placed in manila envelopes with the names of various women written on them. Detectives also seized several cellphones, photographic ledgers and bank deposit receipts that connected Jiang to Jing and Wu in Irvine and Navas in Chino Hills. According to the complaint, Jiang spoke with authorities and described the victims brutal working conditions. Sometimes, he said, the women had to pay off their debts with sex acts. The complaint said that Jiang told detectives that getting beat and raped is just part of the business; it is a high-income, high-risk enterprise. These victims were especially vulnerable, as they were trapped in a foreign country where they barely spoke the language and sold for sex, said Ramsey County Atty. John Choi. As someone who has been deeply involved in the fight against sex trafficking in Minnesota, I want to say that this is the most sophisticated human trafficking operation that I have ever seen. At an Irvine home that authorities said was connected to the mother and daughter, a 72-year-old man answered the door. He said he has known Jing, whom he knows as Gina, and Wu, whom he knows as Michelle, for years. He declined to give his name. Theyre painting them as these evil people, and theyre not, the man said. I dont believe it. They wouldnt do anything like that. He said the women had rented a room in his house this year but were not living there. He said Jing had been visiting this week when authorities arrested her and searched his house. He said he was working to bail the women out. He described Jing as a swell person with a soft heart who was living in the United States on asylum. He said that she had put her daughters name on a condo she owned nearby because thats the Chinese way. Because her name is on the house, they assume shes involved. He said the daughter was studying to be an eyebrow-tattoo artist. Poor Michelle calls me every day from jail trying to get me to bail her out, he said. As he spoke, his cellphone rang. He said it was Wu, calling from the Orange County jail. I have good news, he told her. You should get out in four to six hours. OK, hon, please keep a stiff lip. ruben.vives@latimes.com christopher.goffard@latimes.com Follow @latvives and @latchrisgoffard on Twitter. ALSO 15 Freeway lanes to be closed for 55 hours on back-to-back weekends starting Friday Someones getting shot right now ... oh well: L.A. deputy ignores call in video to ex-girlfriend Supreme Court declines case over Glendales controversial comfort women statue A federal jury found that a Los Angeles police officer used excessive force when he fatally shot a combative suspect in the back, awarding the dead mans family $2 million, according to court records and attorneys involved in the case. The jurors this week awarded $1.5 million to the mans mother, Maria Delores Ramirez, and an additional $500,000 to the family of the deceased for the fatal 2014 shooting, officials said. Officer Joshua Towe shot Luis Ramirez, 38, during a confrontation that occurred when police responded to calls of vandalism and trespassing in a Lake Balboa neighborhood, officials said. Officers encountered Ramirez wielding a broom when the shooting occurred. Advertisement My client was shot in the back and killed by the LAPD when he was only carrying a broomstick, said attorney Shane Hapuarachy. Hapuarachy and John DeNove, who represented the Ramirez family in the civil case, said police could have used other methods to resolve the situation. The attorneys said the city tried to argue that the mother did not have standing to file the claim because she was in Guatemala. Last December, the Los Angeles County district attorneys office found the shooting lawful given Luis Ramirezs actions. The Los Angeles Police Commission and Chief Charlie Beck also found the shooting to be within the departments shooting policy on use of force. When officers first confronted Ramirez on a July morning in 2014, he tossed rocks at them and refused to comply with their orders to stop, wielding the broom, authorities said. Ramirez had been trying to force his way into a home in the 6700 block of Hayvenhurst Avenue home and was apparently drunk, according to police reports. An officer shot Ramirez with a Taser and another shot him with a bean bag from a shotgun, authorities said. In its report on the shooting, the district attorneys office noted that after Ramirez was hit with the Taser, he lunged at a female officer holding the stun gun and tried to strike her on the head. City lawyers argued that Ramirez refused officers commands to drop his weapons and that when he moved toward the officer with the stun gun, Towe fired his 9-millimeter handgun three times, striking Ramirez in the back. richard.winton@latimes.com Twitter: @lacrimes ALSO Lifeguards rescue four after powerful winds smash boat against Redondo Beach Pier Irvine mother and daughter accused of operating a national prostitution ring Someones getting shot right now ... oh well: L.A. deputy ignores call in video to ex-girlfriend In 2013, something changed on the streets of Los Angeles. Police officers began making fewer arrests. The following year, the Los Angeles Police Departments arrest numbers dipped even lower and continued to fall, dropping by 25% from 2013 to 2015. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and the San Diego Police Department also saw significant drops in arrests during that period. The statewide numbers are just as striking: Police recorded the lowest number of arrests in nearly 50 years, according to the California attorney generals office, with about 1.1 million arrests in 2015 compared with 1.5 million in 2006. Advertisement It is unclear why officers are making fewer arrests. Some in law enforcement cite diminished manpower and changes in deployment strategies. Others say officers have lost motivation in the face of increased scrutiny from the public as well as their supervisors. The picture is further complicated by Proposition 47, a November 2014 ballot measure that downgraded some drug and property felonies to misdemeanors. Many police officers say an arrest isnt worth the time it takes to process when the suspect will spend at most a few months in jail. In Los Angeles, the drop in arrests comes amid a persistent increase in crime, which began in 2014. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck noted that arrests for the most serious crimes have risen along with the numbers of those offenses, while the decrease comes largely from narcotics arrests. The arrest data include both felonies and misdemeanors crimes ranging from homicide to disorderly conduct. From 2010 to 2015, felony arrests made by Los Angeles police officers were down 29% and misdemeanor arrests were down 32%. Two other measures of police productivity, citations and field interviews, have also declined significantly. The LAPD could not provide final tallies for arrests in 2016. But based on numbers that include arrests by other agencies within city limits, the downward trend continued last year, Assistant Chief Michel Moore said. A direct link between the crime pattern and the drop in arrests is difficult to draw, in part because the arrest data include minor offenses not counted in the tally the city uses to measure crime. Still, some city officials are concerned. Those are dramatic numbers that definitely demand scrutiny and explanation. L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin Those are dramatic numbers that definitely demand scrutiny and explanation, said Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, who sits on the Public Safety Committee and represents the Westside. If crime was dramatically down, I wouldnt have a problem with arrests going down. But if crime is going up, I want to see arrests going up. Beck said although arrests are an important component of policing, they are not the sole barometer of officer productivity. As an example, he pointed to community policing programs that he credits with reducing homicides in housing developments hit hard by violent crime. Modern policing includes an array of strategies, such as swarming hot spots to prevent crimes from occurring, that may increase public safety without generating many arrests, he said. For the LAPD, Beck said, modern policing also includes a different philosophy than the one the department embraced decades ago, during the Operation Hammer days when officers would stop, search and arrest thousands of people during weekend raids. The only thing we cared about was how many arrests we made. I dont want them to care about that, Beck said of his officers. I want them to care about how safe their community is and how healthy it is. Nationwide criticism of police stoked by the 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and other highly publicized law enforcement killings has had an effect on officers mindsets but not to the detriment of crime fighting, Beck said. Id be denying human nature if I didnt say police are very cautious about what they do now because of the scrutiny, Beck said. But do I see it? I dont really see things that make me think that the workforce as a body is retreating. I dont see that at all. The decline in arrests had already begun before Brown, an unarmed black man, was killed by a white Ferguson police officer in August 2014, setting off nationwide demonstrations. After a grand jury declined to indict the Ferguson officer, protesters in Los Angeles and other cities marched through the streets. Protesters stare down Los Angeles police officers during a November 2014 demonstration against a Missouri grand jurys decision not to indict the officer who fatally shot Michael Brown. Protests erupted across the country after the announcement. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) In a nationwide survey conducted in 2016 by the Pew Research Center, 72% of the law enforcement officers questioned said their colleagues were less likely to stop and question suspicious people as a result of high-profile incidents involving blacks and the police. Police officers and sheriffs deputies interviewed by The Times echoed that view. Everyone is against whatever law enforcement is doing, so that makes an officer kind of hesitant to initiate contact, said one LAPD officer, who has worked in South L.A. for more than a decade and requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. A lot of guys will shy away from it because weve got the dash cams, weve got the body cams. We dont want it to come back on us. The heightened atmosphere surrounding ordinary police encounters was apparent one day in Compton last summer, when L.A. County Sheriffs Deputy Anthony Federico made a routine stop of a vehicle without license plates. Federico gave polite directions, calmly telling the driver why he had been pulled over, and the driver complied. But as Federico moved back toward his cruiser, someone stepped out of a house and trained a cellphone on him. About 25 feet away, an Uber driver pulled over and also began filming. Federico said he refuses to let the added scrutiny affect his work. It doesnt bother me, because I know Im not doing anything wrong, he said. But others say it is inevitable that some officers will pull back, taking care of necessary work while not engaging in the proactive policing that could lead to more arrests and to more encounters that turn violent. Not to make fun of it, but a lot of guys are like, Look, Im just going to act like a fireman. Im going to handle my calls for service and the things that I have to do, said George Hofstetter, a motorcycle deputy in Pico Rivera and former president of the union representing L.A. County sheriffs deputies. But going out there and making traffic stops and contacting persons who may be up to something nefarious? Im not going to do that anymore. LAPD officers are troubled by contentious demonstrations at Police Commission meetings and by public criticism of their colleagues for using deadly force, said Robert Harris, a police officer on the LAPD unions board of directors. Suddenly, you feel like you cant do any police work, because every opportunity that you have might turn into the next big media case, Harris said. Of course, youre going to take stock a little bit more, I think, before you put yourself out there like that. The recent decline in police activity is not limited to arrests: The number of field interview cards, or FI cards, written by officers has plummeted at both the LAPD and the L.A. County Sheriffs Department. The cards document some encounters between police and civilians that stop short of an arrest or citation. They are a tool sometimes used to keep track of gang members and other suspected criminals. The number of LAPD field interview cards fell nearly every month in the second half of 2014, and the department recorded its lowest number of cards in nearly five years in November of 2014. Suddenly, you feel like you cant do any police work, because every opportunity that you have might turn into the next big media case. Robert Harris, a director of the union representing rank-and-file LAPD officers Field interviews conducted by Los Angeles sheriffs deputies have also been in steep decline, falling by 67% from 2012 to 2016. Sheriff Jim McDonnell said the drop-off is probably connected to the elimination of many gang enforcement teams due to budget cuts. But the trend is worrisome, he said, because the cards are useful in documenting the movements of potential suspects. It would be naive to think the national debate over policing hasnt affected the Sheriffs Department, McDonnell said. Nevertheless, he said, his deputies are not shying away from potentially dangerous situations. The number of citations, which includes traffic violations and other types of tickets, issued by LAPD officers also fell sharply, from almost 600,000 in 2010 to about 269,500 five years later. The biggest drop came in 2015, when police issued roughly 154,000 fewer citations than the year before. Beck said that in 2014, the department began issuing written warnings as a substitute where appropriate. The goal is not to write citations, Beck said. The goal is to manage traffic flow, the goal is to create safe streets. The LAPD could not provide the number of field inquiries conducted or citations issued by its officers in 2016. McDonnell and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti are among local officials who have blamed Proposition 47, which took effect on Nov. 5, 2014, for a rise in crime, especially property offenses, in both the city of L.A. and the Sheriffs Departments territory. Critics of the measure say that with some drug and property felonies downgraded to misdemeanors, offenders spend less time in jail and have the opportunity to commit more crimes. In 2016, violent crime in Los Angeles increased for the third straight year and was up 38% over the previous two years. Property crime jumped for the second consecutive year, with a 4% rise that was driven by double-digit increases in car-related thefts. Still, the city remains far safer than a decade ago, when there were 40% more robberies than in 2016 and 480 homicides compared with 294 last year. Proponents of Proposition 47, which was designed to funnel funds that would have been used to jail low-level offenders into creating treatment programs for those same people, say there is no evidence linking the legislation to crime increases. They say that criminal justice officials, including prosecutors and judges, need to change the way they do business. But the measure has almost certainly contributed to the decline in felony arrests, since some drug and property crimes are no longer felonies. Moreover, some police officers and sheriffs deputies are less inclined to make a misdemeanor arrest for a Proposition 47 crime, saying it is not worth the hours it takes to book a person who could wind up back on the street soon after being placed in handcuffs. In 2015, the first full year after the legislation took effect, Los Angeles police made 37% fewer narcotics arrests than they did the year before. Narcotics arrests made by L.A. sheriffs deputies fell by 28% in the same time frame. Beck said that with possession of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs reduced to misdemeanors, it is absolutely predictable that felony arrests would drop off. Harris, the LAPD union director, said that Proposition 47, combined with the departments inadequate staffing levels, has altered the calculus for officers when deciding whether to engage with someone. Are you going to go and make an arrest that you know is only going to be a misdemeanor? You know your impact is not going to be very great, Harris said. That guy is going to be right back out again. But declining arrest totals are not necessarily a bad thing, some officials and activists said. If officers think twice about approaching people, some situations where police use force might be avoided, said Melina Abdullah, a leader of the local Black Lives Matter movement and chair of the Pan-African studies department at Cal State L.A. If police are more cautious about making arrests that might be controversial, making arrests that might elicit protests, then that is a victory, Abdullah said. We want them to begin to check themselves. Los Angeles City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who represents neighborhoods in South L.A., said he was not particularly alarmed by the decline, noting that the numbers do not always mirror annual crime patterns. Some of the LAPDs most crucial work building relationships with residents may not be reflected by statistics, Harris-Dawson said. In some parts of his district, he said, a cop stopping and talking to a group of kids four or five times between the hours of 3 and 8 is probably more valuable than 10 citations. Herb Wesson, president of the Los Angeles City Council, said the numbers might be an indication that officers are trying different approaches. They could also be a sign that the city needs more police officers working at certain times, he said. Why is this occurring? That, for me, is the critical question, he said. You have all of these statistics, and now we need to break them down. james.queally@latimes.com kate.mather@latimes.com cindy.chang@latimes.com Follow @JamesQueallyLAT @katemather and @cindychangLA for crime and police news in California. ALSO Should video from LAPD body cameras be released after a police shooting? If so, when? Police Commission wants to know Police commissioners concerned by significant increase in shootings by LAPD officers L.A. officials ask LAPD to find ways to put more officers on city streets The use of a hazardous chemical at the Torrance Refining Co. should be eliminated in the wake of repeated fires and explosions that have occurred at the facility in recent years, elected officials and community activists said at a news conference Saturday morning. The news conference took place outside the Torrance Marriott shortly before the South Coast Air Quality Management District began an investigative hearing on the effects on air quality at the Torrance refinery in the wake of what they termed repeated breakdowns and associated flaring. In February, firefighters were called to put out a blaze at the former Exxon Mobil facility, now owned by New Jersey-based PBF Energy Inc. The fire occurred on the two-year anniversary of a major explosion that halted most of the refinerys operations for well over a year. Advertisement The ensuing investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board revealed that a piece of equipment nearly crashed into a tank holding tens of thousands of pounds of modified hydrofluoric acid a chemical that, according to the agency, could have produced a toxic cloud that could have caused serious injury or death to many community members. Speaking at the news conference, state Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) said he had introduced a package of bills last month to address the safety concerns surrounding the plant, including eliminating the use of modified hydrofluoric acid in California refineries; requiring refineries to build a more effective community alert system and to install air quality monitors in neighborhoods around refineries; increasing the number of state safety inspectors; and establishing a state interagency task force on refinery safety. The Torrance refinery must make public safety their No. 1 priority, Muratsuchi said, adding that he had lived just a few miles from the refinery at the time of the 2015 explosion. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes the Torrance refinery and the Valero refinery in Wilmington, both of which use modified hydrofluoric acid, said she asked the county Department of Public Health what the dangers of this chemical were. Among them, she said, are that inhalation of the chemical causes blood and fluid to build up in the lungs, essentially drowning the person who comes into contact, she said. The dangers this chemical poses to the public are clear and real, Hahn added. Hahn pointed to a report released by the Environmental Protection Agency this week that described operational and safety problems at the Torrance refinery. It is for these reasons that I believe that phasing out the use of modified hydrofluoric acid is not a matter of if, but when and how, she said. Catherine Leys of the group Families Lobbying Against Refinery Exposures and Torrance City Councilmen Tim Goodrich and Kurt Weideman also spoke at the news briefing. It is not enough to say in 30 years we have never had an incident beyond the fence line, Weideman said, adding that he would use my position as a Torrance council member as a bully pulpit, because I believe that history is on our side. The news conference followed a contentious Torrance City Council meeting Tuesday that was packed with residents concerned about the refinery. In a recent opinion piece in the Daily Breeze, Jeffrey Dill, president of PBF Energy Western Region, pushed back against a proposed ban on the chemical. Scientifically valid analysis, a thorough and thoughtful review process and stakeholder input must be used to temper the emotion, misinformation and hasty decision-making that has been influencing public dialogue on this topic, he wrote. ALSO Police arrests are plummeting across California, fueling alarm and questions Irvine mother and daughter accused of operating a national prostitution ring Once middle class, she hung on as long as she could. Now she and her two dogs live in a car in Carlsbad The driver was pulling away with a nearly full cabin of seven men, three women and several giant suitcases when a commotion caused him to hit the brakes. A young man pushed a wheelchair in front of the van, yelling in a desperate voice, Can you take him? The driver tried to wave him off. The ramp doesnt work, he said. Advertisement The older man in the wheelchair with one leg missing, a tremor in his hands and pain on his face pleaded. The drivers resolve melted. He and an assistant got out and lifted the man, who grunted pathetically, up the four steps to a seat. He was the last passenger to board the last shuttle that since December had collected the downtrodden of skid row, seven days a week, for the ride to the winter shelter at Bethel AME church in South Los Angeles. After a one-month extension because of the heavy rain early in March, all but one of the winter shelters took in their last clients Thursday afternoon and closed their doors Friday morning. The last is set to close April 15, eliminating a total of 1,259 beds from the countys overburdened shelter system and forcing hundreds of men and women to scrounge for a bed or a place on the sidewalk. This years program wound down amid a bureaucratic commotion set off when the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority sent an email Tuesday to nine shelters floating the possibility that they could be extended until December, in effect making them year-round. Due to the adverse weather this season along with their being a need for more year-round shelters in Los Angeles, the city has recently approved to extend winter shelter an additional 8 months, the email said. I am writing to see if you all would be interested in participating in this extension. Though given only a day to respond, seven of the shelter operators jumped at the offer. That wasnt even a question, said Quanetha Hunt, program director for the Bethel shelter. We would be more than happy to extend it. A follow-up email the next day chilled her enthusiasm. There wasnt actually money for an extension. The email had been precipitated by a query from Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, who is exploring the possibility of funding the winter shelters year-round. He wanted to know if the operators were interested. We sent out the email, which had some unfortunate language, said Chris Callandrillo, director of programs for the homeless authority. We didnt intend to say it was approved. The mix-up highlighted the view of some shelter operators that the winter program needs to be re-examined. Im hoping that they will continue their internal conversations and come back to the shelters and say can you reopen, Hunt said. There are clients that are out there in the street as of this morning. We need more shelters and they need to be in peoples communities, said Monica Alcaraz, a volunteer with Recycled Resources for the Homeless. The Highland Park nonprofit founded and helps run the 35-bed winter shelter in All Saints Episcopal Church. After a one-month extension because of the heavy rain early in March, all but one of the winter shelters closed their doors for the summer. Residents of Bethel AME church in South L.A. discuss their situations. The shelter opened in late 2015 as a refuge for dozens of people who had been displaced from makeshift camps in the Arroyo Seco. But this year, Alcaraz said, it became overwhelmed by the closure of the winter shelter in Glendale. It was hard, she said. Sometimes we had just up to 70 people coming. They came from Hollywood, MacArthur Park, South Los Angeles, skid row and Pasadena, Alcaraz said. Lately a shuttle has been provided to take some people to the shelter in West Los Angeles. Ideally we would want a permanent shelter, Alcaraz said. Not at the church; its just an old church with so many people using the restroom. The winter shelter network, with 14 locations from Pomona to West Los Angeles, was conceived as an emergency response to provide comfort and save lives during the harshest weather. Consequently, it is not funded to provide the level of services and 24-hour accommodations that year-round shelters do. Shelter doors open in the afternoon and close early in the morning. Most of the programs provide shuttle service. At Bethel, men and women come from two stops in South Los Angeles and one downtown to sleep on rows of Army-style cots in the church social hall. The women stay in a separate location. In the morning some disperse into the immediate community at 79th Street and Western Avenue. Others ride the bus. Despite the daily disruption, Bethel is home for the men who spend their nights there, Hunt said. Its a community, Hunt said. These are friends that they can talk to, that they can hang out with. Its a relationship thats built inside of the shelters. They leave early in the morning together. They come back in the evening. They eat dinner, they talk to each other, they watch TV. They try to figure out how to survive in the midst of all this. As the days counted down, their ranks dwindled from an average in the high 90s to the mid-60s, and those remaining pondered their next move. Many spent their last two weeks searching for a year-round shelter that would accept them. Others drifted back to the streets, or found friends to take them in. Asked earlier in March what they would do after the shelter closed, many residents said confidently that they had taken advantage of the free lodging to save up money and they would be moving into apartments. Thats their wish, Hunt said, rolling her eyes. Half these men are in a state of trauma survival. Mike Brown said he planned to apply to a crisis housing shelter. Kenneth Sampay carried paperwork showing he would receive $500 a month from the county. He was looking for an apartment. Art Reeder, who moved around in a wheelchair, said he was planning to call a year-round shelter the next day. Arthur Reeder, 62, waits for a dinner of chicken, beans and rice served by Willie Brooks at the winter homeless shelter at Bethel AME church. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) After finishing a chess game, Carl Trammell said he would go back to the streets of Hollywood. Those who find spots in year-round shelters, where case managers and housing navigators are ready to work with them, have a chance at getting permanent housing. But Hunt doesnt think that necessarily means home. This is one of the challenges, Hunt said. If you take them outside and house them, theyre glad to be housed, but these are their friends. Now they have a home, they have a place to stay, but they dont have their community. Housing will not be in the immediate future for most, however. As he waited to be checked in for his first night at Bethel, and what would be his last this season, the man in the wheelchair said he had a plan for the following day. He would go to an office on skid row he didnt recall the name where they would try to get him help. But he didnt like it there, he said, because the guards made faces at him. doug.smith@latimes.com Twitter: @LATDoug First things first, says the American artist teaching Mexican kids to paint: This is not about saving the children or rescuing Mexico. Its just about decorating a big, ugly wall. To be fair, the walls bleak aesthetics are perhaps not the fault of the architect, who only had giant concrete blocks or sheets of corrugated metal to work with, and didnt have much leeway in its design. Looks are beside the point when building a barrier separating Mexico and the United States. But a few years ago artist Gretchen Baer decided to turn these blocks and sheets into massive canvasses, where she painted dozens of panels with fanciful images: a smiling sun, cactus, a stained-glass window pattern, a red cartoon heart inscribed with the words Te Amo I love you. With a few cans of mixed paints donated from a local church, she started working first on the U.S. side of the border in Bisbee, Ariz., in 2012, then began to take trips every few weeks into Naco, a small but vibrant city in northernmost Mexico that shares a border with an American burgh of the same name. Advertisement In the way these things often happen in a small town, first came a couple kids, interested in the foreign lady wearing big pink sunglasses. A few more joined them until Baers semi-monthly painting visits officially became a Thing To See. By this year, she and the children have painted an entire mile on the Mexican side of the wall. Baer laughs when told she is like the Pied Piper of Naco, leading the children to defacing U.S. property. I dont have a mothering bone in my body, she says from behind those giant, pink sunglasses. It was her way to protest a closed border. And the kids came along. The children of Naco painted panels of toy trucks, their own graffiti tags and the Eiffel Tower. Spectators came from across the world and added a few brushstrokes, sometimes an entire panel. TV news crews did interviews. Baer christened her small group the Border Bedazzlers. Then, just before President Trumps inauguration, Baer heard from the Border Patrol: The wall needed to come down. Its replacement would be taller and two layers. It would also be made of wire. It would be impossible to paint. Then something extraordinary happened. One day last month, Baer was muttering about the callousness of the U.S. border policy as she drove her 1989 Toyota to the crossing separating the Arizona and Mexican Nacos. Just then an unmarked SUV pulled up behind her, its blue and red lights flashing. Oh, what is this going to be? Baer said, staring into her rear-view mirror. Out of the SUV, decked cap to pant cuffs in olive green, walked Border Patrol Agent in Charge Michael G. Hyatt. Baer lowered her window. Hyatt closed in, ducked his head next to her and smiled. Hey, Ive been looking for you! he said with a grin. I didnt want to come by your job you know, have them think the Border Patrols out here trying to find you! Uhmr. Baer managed. That wall you guys painted? Listen, its coming down, Hyatt said. Oh, yeah. I heard about that, Baer said, still trying to pull her identification from her wallet. Was this guy just trying to rub it in? So, we wanted to let you all keep a couple pieces of it. Is that OK? Were moving it out soon, and we could move it somewhere, Hyatt said. It was not what she was expecting. She thanked Hyatt and drove on.(And, no, he didnt ask to see her ID.) Baer says that her experience with the Border Patrol and customs agents is usually, at best, muted derision. Sometimes she experiences outright hostility, and sometimes, she concedes, she can be a little hostile back. But here was the Border Patrol extending an olive branch. She didnt know what to think. One month later, she still doesnt. The wall still stands, unmoved, though the Border Patrol says plans are still in place to begin work it does not yet have a beginning date. On the Naco, Sonora, side of the border, painting the wall has been a way to teach children that though the U.S.-Mexico border may appear intimidating at first, manned as it is on both sides by men and women in fatigues and long guns, the two countries have no reason to fear each other, said Maria de la Borques, who helps operate a small art museum in Naco, Sonora. I hope people keep it going, De la Borques said. In Bisbee and Naco [Ariz.], and in our Naco, art helps us speak even though we do not speak the same language. Hyatt told Baer that his men would help move one or two panels of the painted wall and asked her where she might want them. Baer has been eyeing an abandoned kitchen that once served migrant workers on the Mexican side of the border as a potential landing spot and gallery for the artwork. Even if its just [a fence made of] wire next year, then people will still see that the art stands, Baer said. It will be facing north, though, this time right at the U.S. Follow Nigel Duara on Twitter: @nigelduara nigel.duara@latimes.com ALSO Hillary Clinton returns to the spotlight in signature style with caution Rep. Adam Schiff, Trumps public prosecutor, says he must be a guardian against the worst abuses Mexicos bargaining chips with Trump? How about a corn boycott The White House on Friday began disclosing financial holdings of 180 administration officials, revealing the significant personal wealth of President Trumps top aides. Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter and unpaid assistant, valued her retail brand at more than $50 million. Her husband, senior aide Jared Kushner, who is also forgoing a salary, reported hundreds of real estate holdings and other assets totaling more than $700 million. Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council and a former Goldman Sachs executive, reported a half-billion dollars in combined income and assets. Advertisement And Stephen K. Bannon, the White House chief strategist, received more than $1 million in income from the Breitbart website and an array of other conservative media projects he was involved with before joining the presidents campaign. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, briefing reporters prior to the release of the disclosure forms, emphasized the sacrifice many officials were making to join the president in public service. Upon joining the administration, many officials with complex financial holdings were required to begin divesting to avoid conflicts of interest. One of the really interesting things that people are going to see today and I think its something that should be celebrated is that the president has brought a lot of people into this administration, and this White House in particular, who have been very blessed and very successful by this country, and have given up a lot, he said. It speaks volumes to the desire for a lot of these people to fulfill the presidents vision and move the agenda forward that they are willing to list all of their assets, undergo this public scrutiny. The president has brought a lot of people into this administration ... who have been very blessed and very successful. Sean Spicer, White House press secretary Spicer told reporters that the administration was going above and beyond previous administrations in disclosing the financial arrangements of top officials. Still, documents arrived at a trickling pace Friday night, delivered only to reporters who specifically requested the information. All administration officials who have been commissioned with titles of assistants to the president, and civilian employees who earn a salary of more than $160,000, are required to complete the disclosures. White House ethics and compliance officials said 180 were doing so and that only a handful had requested additional time to do so. Officials emphasized that the forms offer only a snapshot of an individuals financial relationship at the time they entered into their White House service, and only initial steps to begin addressing potential conflicts of interest. Compliance officers interviewed each of the 180 officials from lower-level press officers to the chief of staff and offered instructions about how to avoid conflicts. Kushner had to resign from 266 positions and had already divested from connections that represented a conflict or was in the process of doing so, an official said. Ivanka Trump listed the value of her investment in the new Trump International Hotel in Washington as between $5 million and $25 million. Whether she will maintain a financial stake in it now that she has taken on a formal government role was not immediately clear. Because individuals in some cases report asset values in broad ranges, individuals net worth is an estimate rather than a precise value. A document provided to reporters showed that well over half of the disclosures revealed financial arrangements deemed to be complex or extremely complex, based on criteria from the Office of Government Ethics. By comparison, most early-serving Obama administration officials finances fell into the simple or moderate categories. These are incredibly successful individuals, one administration official told reporters at a briefing Friday. Very high net worth, very sophisticated, complex asset structures. Numerous sub-LLCs, Trusts, other items. The president has estimated his net worth at approximately $10 billion but has not filed the same disclosure required of his staff. Trump has defied the modern tradition of presidential candidates making their tax returns publicly available, and Spicer would not say Friday whether Trump would reveal his 2016 tax returns, noting the filing deadline was still weeks away. Im worried about getting my own done, said Spicer. Officials with healthy, if far more modest finances include several who came to the White House from the world of politics or the campaign. Stephen Miller, a senior policy advisor, reported $125,000 in income from the campaign. Dan Scavino, director of social media for the White House, reported $300,000 income, both a salary and bonus, from his work in the same capacity on the presidents campaign. K.T. McFarland, the deputy national security advisor, reported $63,518 in income from Fox News where she served as an analyst, and more than $126,000 for paid speeches and appearance fees. michael.memoli@latimes.com For more White House coverage, follow @mikememoli on Twitter. ALSO Tillerson tells NATO allies to spend more on defense, bolster anti-terrorism efforts Rep. Adam Schiff, Trumps public prosecutor, says he must be a guardian against the worst abuses A trade war is brewing inside the White House between rival camps Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Saturday, April 1, and heres whats happening across California: TOP STORIES Trumps chief prosecutor Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, says he must be a guardian against the worst abuses. And in his seemingly daily appearances on cable television or before the microphones at news conferences, Schiff eschews the usual Washington hyperbole and snarky sound bites. The slow, relentless precision with which he speaks reflects his six years at the U.S. attorneys office in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times Advertisement Trump University settlement A San Diego federal judge on Friday morning finalized the $25-million settlement in the Trump University litigation, dismissing the objection of a Florida woman and finding in favor of the 3,700 others who stand to recoup the vast majority of what they spent on the real estate barons investment program. Los Angeles Times Study says Aliso Canyon isnt needed A Los Angeles County study has found that the Aliso Canyon natural gas facility isnt needed to ensure reliability of electricity and gas service in the region this summer or the coming winter. Los Angeles Times L.A. STORIES AND BEYOND A safe place to shop and sell: On the teeming streets around MacArthur Park, a community market has debuted as a novel effort to legalize street vending, which has long been a lifeline in this immigrant community. Los Angeles Times The sriracha argument for immigration: How the amazing success story of a Southern California-born hot sauce offers a powerful story about the importance of immigration. The New Yorker KCBS anchor to retire: Paul Magers opens up about his struggles with alcoholism and how it influenced his decision to give up the anchors desk. CBS Local Living to help others: This Orange County mothers son died of a drug overdose. Now she lives to help other young people avoid the same fate. Orange County Register Legally avoiding taxes: How a huge energy provider in Southern California has managed to avoid paying corporate taxes for several years now. San Diego Union Tribune Its never been this bad: In the Bay Area, traffic is so bad that residents are demanding officials take emergency action. Mercury News An 82-year-old president? California Gov. Jerry Brown jokes that you shouldnt rule it out. SFGate A funhouse mirror: Its a house. Its an art installation. And its also the darling of social media in the Palm Springs desert. Los Angeles Times THIS WEEKS MOST POPULAR STORIES IN ESSENTIAL CALIFORNIA 1. Reps. Devin Nunes and Adam Schiff couldnt be less alike just like the two Californias they come from. Los Angeles Times 2. Big Sur lost a bridge and slipped back in time. Now residents are wondering what happens next. Los Angeles Times 3. Southern Californians are being urged to fix their defective air bags before they explode like a grenade. Los Angeles Times 4. The legal stakes at play in Californias case against antiabortion activists. Los Angeles Times 5. A $3-million real estate deal with Paul Manaforts son-in-law goes south for Dustin Hoffman and son. Los Angeles Times ICYMI, HERE ARE THIS WEEKS GREAT READS Living in California as a Trump supporter: No bumper stickers, lest someone key your car. No lawn or window signs to prevent vandalism. And steer clear of Facebook and other online forums. Los Angeles Times A new breed of lowrider: On the outside, the vintage cars seemed identical to lowriders that cruised Whittier Boulevard in the 1960s and Van Nuys Boulevard during the 1970s, when rolling examples of Southern Californias homegrown road art met for weekly exhibitions. But under the hoods of the pinstriped, chromed-out cruisers was something unusual. Los Angeles Times A purgatory for deportees: To me, this is a nightmare, one man says about Tijuana. You get taken away from everything you care about, your loved ones, everything. Thats the only way I can describe it its a nightmare. L.A. Weekly The evolving lawn: How climate change and the drought have altered the California lawn and the very political and esthetic debate over whether it looks better or worse. The Outline LOOKING AHEAD Sunday: The ninth annual Cambodia Town Culture Festival will ring in the Cambodian New Year in Long Beach. Wednesday: Courageous Citizen Awards Ceremony with honors handed out by L.A. Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey. Saturday: State officials discuss a proposed new area code that would be added to the region served by the 909 area code. Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad. Police step up security at railway stations as Qingming Festival approaches From:Shanghai Daily | 2017-04-01 04:40 SHANGHAI railway police have stepped up security measures at and around the citys three railway terminals as the Qingming Festival holiday draws near. Police at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station in a crackdown yesterday afternoon discovered six illegal taxis hailed from the Internet on the departure level of the terminal. During the evening, police found 13 suspects who were accused of approaching tourists and offering them accommodation. Police dissuaded seven tourists from taking the offers. Police said they targeted agents who make money by recommending certain hotels to tourists, and the suspects were admonished, fined or detained for up to 15 days. Police said the number of objects banned from being taken onto trains discovered has surged since the beginning of this week. So far among the objects were 2,212 lighters, 17.4 kilograms of paint, 21 kilograms of kerosene and 7,330 banned knives and daggers. Police said they make sure that every piece of luggage is scanned and travelers are checked. A memorial honoring Burbanks first responders was unveiled Wednesday afternoon in Story Tavern during a small ceremony attended by members of the citys fire and police departments. The memorial was the brainchild of tavern owner Brian Slaught, who wanted to show his appreciation of the citys first responders. Dubbed the Wall of Heroes, it displays the names and photos of both active duty and fallen firefighters and police officers. Its also one of the first things people see when they enter the tavern. Slaught, whose grandfather was a 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, said during the ceremony hes fully aware of the sacrifices first responders make in order to ensure cities such as Burbank are safe and attractive places to live. Join the conversation on Facebook This wall is a thank you, and I cant thank [them] enough, he said. I felt that words could only do so much and it needed to be backed up by action. This wall is an example of that. Burbank Police Chief Scott LaChasse said the wall will act as a constant reminder to Burbank residents of the sacrifices made by first responders in the line of duty. I felt that words could only do so much and it needed to be backed up by action. This wall is an example of that. Brian Slaught As we go on, generation after generation, its very important to both departments that new people understand the rich histories, traditions and the losses that we have sustained, LaChasse said. One of the names on the wall is that of Burbank Officer Matthew Pavelka, who died in 2003 at the age of 26 when he was shot during a routine traffic stop. His passing marked the first shooting death of a Burbank officer since 1920. Pavelkas family his parents Sue and Michael as well as his aunt Kathy were on hand for the memorials unveiling. Other names include those who have been recently honored by their departments such as Sgt. Mark Stohl, who was named Officer of the Year by the Burbank Police Department. Burbank Fire Battalion Chief Danny Alvarez said community support such as the wall makes it such a joy to come to work. Anyone on either one of our organizations would say that its an honor, not just to serve in this capacity [as responders] but to serve in the city of Burbank, he said. Its times like this and in these situations that makes this such a special place to work. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc Some women look like walking works of art, nearly every inch of torso and limbs covered in tattoos that read like road maps of colors and shapes that beg to be studied. Others opt for a more subtle touch. That could describe 2017 as well as 1917 and earlier, since tattooing goes back thousands of years. Over the years, women have seen tattoos as adding to their beauty, making a statement, declaring their independence, honoring a loved one. From members of the upper crust to punk rockers, women have gotten tattooed for a host of reasons. For Native American women [of the early 20th century], it was sometimes for aesthetic reasons, but it was also a rite of passage, said Amy Cohen, who has put together an exhibit of photographs of tattooed women through history. For wealthy women, it was copying the European nobles. For women in the circus in the late 19th century, being tattooed meant having a career where they could travel and earn $100 to $200 each week, a substantial living at the time. All these women had a choice in what they had tattooed And in a time when women didnt always get to make their own choices, I think thats important, Cohen said. I think that for women today, part of the reason for getting tattooed is influenced by the feminist movement and reclaiming their bodies. Her Tattooed and Tenacious: Inked Women in Californias History, a traveling display from the San Francisco-based nonprofit Exhibit Envoy, is currently at Cal State Fullerton. As part of the colleges museum practicum course, students installed the exhibit, which will be on display until April 23 at the campus McCarthy Hall, Room 424. Cohen, who besides being the shows original curator is Exhibit Envoy director, assembled Tattooed and Tenacious with a focus on the inked women in Native American tribes, the circus performance business and upper-class society. Almost three years ago, Cohen was searching for topic ideas for her graduate school thesis, wanting something that would be of interest that few people would know about, when inspiration struck. She had worn a sleeveless shirt, revealing her own tattoos, at the Hayward Area Historical Society north of San Jose, where she was interning. Her supervisor suggested the idea of exhibiting tattoos. The curator discovered the photos for the exhibit through the Library of Congress, archive sources and tattoo artists. Theres Betty Broadbent, a circus performer and tattoo artist whose more than 350 designs spread from her shoulders down to the frilly ankle socks she is often seen wearing in photographs. Broadbent who was famously known as the Tattooed Lady sought to challenge societys beauty standards of the time by entering a beauty pageant at the 1939 Worlds Fair, her body art on display. Although she did not win, in 1981 she was the first person inducted into the Tattoo Hall of Fame, which is not a place but rather an honorific list of those who were influential in the world of tattooing. Olive Oatman, also featured in the touring exhibit, was a teenager when she was given a chin tattoo by a Mohave tribe that she was traded into after the Yavapai kidnapped her during her familys travels west in 1851. She received five blue lines on her chin, a common place for California native women to be inked, while living with her Mohave family, who treated her well, according to the exhibit. Women in high society were said to have tattoos, such as Jeanette Jennie Churchill, Winston Churchills mother, who was rumored to have had a snake tattoo on her wrist. But the long sleeves and full skirts of the time would often keep such body art secret. Tattooed and Tenacious made its premiere at the Hayward Area Historical Society in 2015, after six months of research. The show spent several months in Hayward and at the Pasetta House in San Jose, before Cohen met Cal State Fullertons museum practicum professor Trish Campbell at a conference and they discussed having Tattooed and Tenacious travel to her campus. Since January, Campbells students have worked on installing and promoting the exhibit, which includes not only photos but also a chart of native womens facial tattoo designs and a mannequin bearing art drawn by six female Bay Area tattoo artists. To make the exhibit more interactive for guests, the students decided to set up a table where people can color in tattoo outlines printed on paper and a station where they can draw their own tattoo designs on a wall. For me, I see it as a mode of expression for women and a means of control over their own bodies, which historically women have not had, Campbell said of tattoos. Ultimately, its about expression. Its an art form. And for Cohen, who has six tattoos on her arms? I got them because like the ideas of certain symbols, like the hourglass. ... I like the way it looks, but its not there for any specific reason, Cohen said. The one tattoo that is meaningful to her, she added, is a wreath with a yellow ribbon, matching a design that was hand-drawn on the mannequin. I wanted, in some way, to commemorate the exhibit and start of my career, she explained. alexandra.chan@latimes.com Twitter: @AlexandraChan10 Fountain Valley High School nurse Marci McLean is calling on friends, family and colleagues to vote for her in Pfizers 2017 Americas Greatest School Nurse contest. McLean is among 49 nurses nationwide selected as finalists to win the grand-prize package of a roundtrip flight for up to four people to a destination of the winners choice within the United States. The winner also will receive an eight-day, seven-night stay at a hotel, with an $800 travel stipend. Voting is open until April 16, and the winner will be announced May 5. People can vote once a day for the finalists of their choice at americasgreatestschoolnurse.com. McLean, who was born and raised in Santa Ana, attended Santa Ana College for nursing and later earned a masters degree from Cambridge College. She began her career as a nurse in her hometowns school district in 2005. She took a year off to focus on her family and worked a year in labor and delivery at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo. She worked in the Tustin Unified School District from 2007 to 2010 and now serves as the nurse for Fountain Valley High School. McLean said she often tweets about teen-related topics such as reproductive health, vaccines and LGBTQ topics. After she tweeted about the school nurse contest, Fountain Valley High alumnus Michael Luong tweeted her, saying he had nominated her for the contest. In 2010, Luong had approached her while holding his head, moaning and throwing up, McLean said. McLean did a quick assessment and told her health clerk to call 911 and Luongs parents. While they waited, Luongs condition worsened and he became less responsive, McLean said. When paramedics arrived, they hooked him up to a heart monitor and saw the readings decrease quickly. Soon, he was rushed to a hospital. I later found out he had an AVM rupture, McLean said. An AVM is a malformation of the vessels in the brain. Some people are born with them and never know about it until this happens, and its usually fatal. Luong and McLean had never met before the incident, and even afterward there wasnt much interaction between them, McLean said. But Luong felt he needed to pay her good deed forward, so when he found out about the contest while on winter break from Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, he filled out the nomination form and wrote why McLean should be named Americas Greatest School Nurse. On the contest website, Luong wrote that he nominated McLean because she helped him adjust to my life in high school after being diagnosed with a brain AVM. She worked with his parents and school staff to ensure that the stress I felt would be kept at minimal levels at the beginning and to see whats best for my health and the future, he wrote. She did a lot for me, so I felt like I needed to give back, Luong said Friday. He said he went through months of rehabilitation as he transitioned back to high school. With the contest coming to a close soon, the two are tweeting reminders to vote. Luong said hes also spread the word through Facebook and Instagram. McLean said that if shes selected as the winner, she hopes to travel to Florida with her family to visit Walt Disney World. priscella.vega@latimes.com Twitter: @VegaPriscella More signs may be popping up in Laguna Beach as the city tries to alleviate confusion for people who are unfamiliar with the area. The Planning Commission on Wednesday will provide feedback on a design for new signs from San Diego-based Graphic Solutions, a firm the city hired last fall to work with a committee on the project. Its unclear how many signs would be installed and where, but a city staff report states they would be placed on all major corridors leading to respective destinations. The purpose of such signs is to direct visitors and residents to beaches, parks, shopping areas, parking lots and trolley stops, among other locations. Pedestrians cluster around downtown and may be unaware of other areas of the city and the distances to those destinations, according to the staff report. For example, some pedestrians walk no farther than the intersection of Legion Street and South Coast Highway, unaware of shopping areas south of downtown such as the HIP District. There is more stuff down that way, and its walkable, said Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce Vice President Kavita Reddy, a business owner who suggested the signs. The committee included Reddy, Mayor Toni Iseman, Councilman Rob Zur Schmiede, Planning Commissioner Roger McErlane, Arts Commissioner Michael Ervin, Visit Laguna Beach President and Chief Executive Ashley Johnson and city staff members. The signs would be color-coded depending on the area and would include walking times to locations. The city hopes information on the signs would persuade drivers to park their cars and explore the city on foot. Many visitors stay in their cars, not realizing what is within walking distance, the staff report states. The City Council will have the final say on a sign design. If the council approves, the city hopes to place some signs this summer as a trial and gather public input. Wednesdays Planning Commission meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the City Council chamber at 505 Forest Ave. bryce.alderton@latimes.com Twitter: @AldertonBryce While serving on a special unit at a prosecutors office in New Jersey, Michelle Ditzhazy took on cases involving sexual assaults, domestic violence and stalking. Now shes hoping to use her expertise to help clean up downtown issues in Huntington Beach. Ditzhazy, 31, was recently sworn in as the citys deputy community prosecutor by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Mayor Barbara Delgleize. The City Council approved the position in early September. Anaheim is the only other Orange County city that prosecutes its own misdemeanors; the rest are handled by the O.C. district attorneys office. Ditzhazy served as an attorney for about 41/2 years in the Hudson County Prosecutors Office, Special Victims Unit, in New Jersey, where she prosecuted felonies and misdemeanors. She said Wednesday the new job will allow her to be more active in the community, including working closely with the Police Department and the Orange County District Attorneys office. Shell also provide legal advice and training to law enforcement personnel. City Attorney Michael Gates said Wednesday that hed conceived of the program to aid local authorities, and while the DAs office will take most of the cases, the city will take the pick of the crimes it wants to prosecute, working closely with police. Ditzhazy has already begun meeting with police, getting to know Huntington Beach and its police officers. She arrived in town a few weeks ago and since gone on a ride-along , an activity she recommends as a way to observe the difficulties of policing. Gates said the program will focus on prosecuting misdemeanors, such as public intoxication, drug possession and fighting, crimes plague downtown. The city will also emphasize prosecuting repeat offenders, or as Ditzhazy said, the small number of people who overcontribute to crime. Gates believes this will improve quality of life. Although the city is making headway, the program is still in its infancy and Gates and Ditzhazy will work together to develop it. Ditzhazy said this is appealing to her because she will get to be creative. Gates said he hired Ditzhazy after a rigorous interviewing process. About 80 candidates were initially considered. The city attorney said he chose Ditzhazy because of her experience working felony and misdemeanor trials. Ditzhazy is licensed to practice law in New Jersey, California and New York. Ditzhazy grew up in Palmdale and attended UC Santa Barbara. She earned her law degree fromSeton Hall University in New Jersey. After graduating, she quickly moved on from clerking to her prosecutor role in Hudson County. She said shes excited to finally return to her California roots. benjamin.brazil@latimes.com Twitter: @benbrazilpilot Many in the community are dismayed by the proposals to indefinitely delay the needed update of the combined Corona del Mar library and fire station. These are among the oldest public facilities in the city and both suffer from significant deferred maintenance and outdated design. This project was ready to be bid for construction in December, but bids were rejected after coming in a bit high. Rather than rebidding or making some adjustments to its scope, the new council is considering indefinite deferral. Former Mayor Nancy Gardner had been a strong advocate for the library and had worked hard to keep this facility relevant to the many young families and neighbors who regularly use it and to preserve high-quality fire department response times for Corona del Mar. Dropping this project appears to reflect the ambivalent support of District 6 Councilman Scott Peotter, who had previously proposed canceling funding for project and has supported this indefinite delay. Peotter has proposed draconian cuts of more than $3.5 million annually in the business license taxes, which would create a huge deficit. Fortunately, Councilman Will ONeill has demonstrated leadership and independent thinking in addressing the citys facilities and has been working with the city manager and community leaders to preserve funding for the combined library/fire station in the upcoming budget. The project is fully affordable today. . Keith Curry Newport Beach The writer is a former Newport mayor. Trump rally coverage fell short There were only four initial arrests, all counter-protesters, despite your cover photo showing a man in a Trump hat with a gleam in his eye wearing brass knuckles, apparently ready to punch someone and your quote from a marcher stating that, I hit him five times with the flag over his head. Arent brass knuckles illegal? Isnt hitting someone in the head with a flag considered an assault? There are other disturbing aspects of the story that should have been investigated and reported. Your article states that an anti-Trump protester doused marchers with pepper spray. The OC Weekly provides a completely different perspective, as their interns and photographer were attacked while trying to cover the march. The O.C. Register interviewed a witness that saw a protester wield pepper spray in self-defense and reported that banners with swastikas were seen. Your coverage of the march was not the comprehensive journalism I expect as a long-time reader. Mary Camarillo Huntington Beach Remake Mariners Mile for mariners, residents Widening Coast Highway along Mariners Mile is absurd. Why? We already fought this battle in the early 1970s, when similar forces were also at work for private economic gain. We won that battle with good reason: to tone down the race track and to keep Newport a civilized seaside town. More lanes, and narrower ones at that, being proposed invariably mean faster, more-dangerous driving conditions. Already, between Dover Drive and Avocado Street, there are three lanes in each direction, and it is clear that the extra lane is no solution to a traffic jam. The last thing the Newport Beach City Council needs to spend money on is the widening of PCH, when money could be put to much better use in paying down the debt for City Hall, not to mention the citys pension responsibility. Every beach city between San Clemente and Sunset Beach has two lanes, not three, in each direction. Newport should be supporting small businesses, not ripping them out by widening PCH. Just leave it alone. The city surely has more important things to do. Better to focus on helping to make Mariners Mile really for mariners. David A. Grant Newport Beach Residents dont want so-called trolleys Re. Balboa Peninsula Trolley survey finds support for red bus and no bus (March 22): This is how the article leads: If an online survey is any indication, Newport Beach could have a bold red shuttle bus to carry visitors and residents through the Balboa Peninsula during busy summer weekends. But this is how it should read: If an online survey is any indication, there will be no bus. This is headed under the presumption that the second-to-top vote-getter will somehow be the one that wins, and is an example of the media presuming victory of an unpopular source rather than simply citing the facts as given. As is proven by the numbers and the meetings on this subject previously, there will be serious resistance against this wasteful expenditure, and none of that is reflected in the media. Why is this? Is this not important for readers to know? The extreme plurality (204 of 572) voted for no bus, and that is despite the fact that the city intentionally shut down the option to vote for hours on end a huge story unto itself and yet for some reason, went unreported. Why is this? Is this not important for readers to know? Somewhat ridiculously, this is not a trolley. This is a bus, despite what the city may call it. There is a very real difference between the two, and incorrectly leading readers to think it is a trolley is something that elicits a different response than the truth does. As you might be able to tell, this is going to be an issue I take up going forward. This is a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars. Expect unusually high attendance on these meetings and a loud base moving forward. Mike Glenn Newport Beach More details needed about legal settlement Re. Newport pays $200,000 in attorneys fees to settle documents case, (March 17). Why didnt the Daily Pilot reveal the details surrounding this settlement? Pilot reporters were made aware of the fact that there was alleged city and Sister City Assn. misconduct going back as far as 2014. To me, this boils down to a serious lack of oversight of a city-sponsored, nonprofit association, which ultimately cost taxpayers and the plaintiff a lot of money. What a waste. Tim Stephens Corona del Mar Why did award go to anti-Trump professor Re. Professor who made anti-Trump comments will accept OCC Faculty of the Year award, (March 24): Is this the state of our education when the best teacher is the one who says the election of our president is an act of terrorism? There has got to be better candidates! Rick Nicholson Newport Beach Sightless dog provides great insight So often I am reminded of the lessons dogs present to us. Among these lessons are the ability to enjoy the moment without worrying about what the next thing is. The art of forgiveness when they have been wronged or not treated well. The true empathy that is not in any way phony or contrived. You see, dogs are great teachers, and one of the Huntington Beach shelter dogs that has a great truth to share is our Manotas. He has taught me that it is not with the eyes that we truly see, but with the heart. Manotas is visually impaired but a sweeter spirit you will never find. He finds so much joy in our walks, and especially loves to sit at the curb with me on the Edison Access Road and snuggle into my arms when we share special time together. He is a special older gentleman with so much more life left to share. Manotas walks well on the leash and is as cuddly as a dog can be. He loves to snuggle and have his neck and back petted and is trusting and good-natured. The fact is that he has been at the shelter entirely too long while waiting for his special someone to come along. What is also impressive about him is that unlike many of the dogs who have resided in the pens for a long while, he is in no way depressed. Rather, he finds joy in every moment, and when you talk to him he is thrilled. Manotas takes no kindness for granted. He appreciates every kind word and returns it tenfold. I know there is a special someone who also has the ability to see with their heart instead of only with their eyes -- and will understand the beauty of our Manatos. Please feel free to pass this tale on to anyone who might be willing to open their heart and home to our sweet boy. Jackie Maleck Huntington Beach Laguna Beach offers respite to this travel Re. Welcome to Laguna Beach here are a few pointers, Dave Hansen column, March 8: Soon after my wife and I arrived at the Comfort Suites I found a copy of the Daily Pilot. This morning I read your piece with its pointers. Well done! Admittedly, I really havent spent much time in Laguna these past few decades. In the 70s, Id hang out with friends or family at the beach or at the Festival of Arts. Once I was rescued by a Laguna lifeguard after struggling in a rip current. That made for a great story that I still tell today at the age of 61. All your pointers reinforce the idea that only a few, hardy visitors should make the pilgrimage to your hood. We live in San Marcos, in northern San Diego County, which lacks a beach and Lagunas ambiance, but does offer a California State University campus and a wee bit of mountain hiking with spectacular views. If only we had a few of those vegan paleo places you decry! We do have plenty of traffic but offer more than three ways in and out of the city, which helps a lot. Oh, and we dont have the tourist population you do, but do have loud motorcycles, leaf blowers and other noise pollutants. So should we venture into Laguna again some day? I wax nostalgic when I think of the beach I knew back in the day and a brief romance I once had. But these days maybe I should just leave your town-by-the-sea to the throngs that desire the myriad amenities Laguna Beach offers. Lorenz Osen San Marcos Public safety treated man with humanity While doing some shopping at the CVS on 17th Street and Orange Avenue in Costa Mesa on a recent Friday afternoon, I stumbled upon a sad event wherein a very large man was virtually passed out in front of the store with various liquor bottles near him. The security guard for the shopping center where CVS was located called for the police and an ambulance. . The officers and the paramedics appeared to be very gentle, even taking the time to check his blood pressure and attempting to talk to him. I was touched by the kindness and the time the officers took to help the guy. He was eventually placed in an ambulance and taken away. Kudos to the men in uniform from Costa Mesa for being human and understanding to someone who obviously is in very poor shape. Bill Spitalnick Newport Beach Give us Congressional healthcare Congress should work on providing all with the same healthcare plan as it has for its members. Ahmad Sanati Mission Viejo GOP needs to hear climate change message Re. Commentary: Some conservatives are concerned with climate change, (March 18): Lets hope Congressional Republicans listen to the solution James Baker, George Shultz, Henry Paulson and other leading conservatives have recommended to deal with climate change. They might. Denial in Congress is overstated by the media. True, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) are rabid deniers, but they are the exception to the rule, not the norm. And now climate change is the Republicans responsibility, as the Climate Leadership Council correctly points out. Congress, like most of America, knows we must address the issue. We can still be optimistic, despite the Trump team of deniers. Farrah Hedayati Costa Mesa CSU fee hikes reflect lack of accountability My question is what happened to the estimated $6.8 billion taxpayer money the state is collecting as a result of Proposition 30, which was intended to take care of education programs through 2019 and help with tuition hikes? Gov. Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov Gavin Newsom cannot account for the money collected thus far, and only give ambiguous excuses for spending the money elsewhere, but perhaps someone else can explain. I am genuinely curious as to why we continue to elect leaders who are unaccountable for their actions. Juli Hayden Newport Beach The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case calling for the removal of a controversial statue in Glendale that honors women who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during World War II. The decision comes three years after a lawsuit was filed against the city asking that the statue be removed. Honoring comfort women, the statue depicts a girl in Korean dress sitting next to an empty chair. As many as 200,000 women from Korea and other countries were reportedly coerced into becoming comfort women. Filed by Michiko Gingery, a Glendale resident, and the Global Alliance for Historical Truth, a nonprofit group that seeks to deny recognition of comfort women as sex slaves, the lawsuit claimed the statue infringed on the federal governments ability to conduct foreign affairs and violated the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Join the conversation on Facebook In 2014, a U.S. District Court rejected the suit, ruling that the city didnt break any laws with its placement of the statue and the plaintiffs had no standing. The fact that local residents feel disinclined to visit a local park is simply not the type of injury that can be considered to be in the line of causation for alleged violations of the foreign affairs power and Supremacy Clause, Judge Percy Anderson said at the time. The decision was also upheld in 2016 by an appellate court where it reaffirmed Glendales right to erect the statue. The Supreme Courts rejection effectively ends the case. Glendale City Atty. Michael Garcia praised the high courts decision. We are pleased that the court recognized our City Councils right to make public pronouncements on matters important to our community, Garcia said in a statement, adding that the lawsuit was without merit from the start. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc With the hope that such support would curb deportation fears in the community, the Glendale City Council approved a resolution Tuesday affirming the police chiefs recent statement that his officers are sworn to ensure Glendales public safety, not enforce federal immigration law. Chief Robert Castros statement which says, in part, that Glendale police do not have the authority nor the responsibility to incarcerate or detain individuals solely based on immigration status comes after President Donald Trumps Jan. 25 executive order that threatens a cut off of federal funding for so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that willfully violate immigration law. Though the council approved the resolution 4-0, city officials noted that Castros statement has long been the policy of Glendale police, whose policy professes protecting and serving the entire community and recognizing the dignity of all persons, regardless of their immigration status. Join the conversation on Facebook >> City officials noted, however, that they do have an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which allows the federal agency to rent space in the city jail for ICE detainees. Deputy Police Chief Carl Povilaitis, who spoke on Castros behalf Tuesday, said ICE rarely uses the jail, and the city makes little revenue off the agreement. According to a city report, in 2015 and 2016, ICE paid $7,225 to Glendale for its jail, under the rate of $85 a day, per person. The contract was signed in 2007 by then-City Manager James Starbird and is indefinite, but can be canceled by either party with 60 days notice. Though one resident called for Glendale to rescind the ICE agreement, City Manager Scott Ochoa warned against it because the police need to maintain good working relationships with a variety of federal agencies other than ICE, such as the FBI. Canceling the agreement, I think has potential for unintended consequences, Ochoa said. Povilaitis said the resolution will have little effect on the departments long-standing practices. We will continue to do exactly what were doing, he said. Jenny Martella, a Filipino immigrant and 15-year Glendale resident, said backing Castros statement would help diminish the fear of uncertainty for many in Glendale. She said she has felt new pangs of discrimination since Trumps inauguration and was recently told by a passing motorist to go back to Mexico. I was not afraid before. I was not worried, but now I am, Martella said. Glendale resident Mona Montgomery said she supports Trumps policies, which she feels will ensure stronger border protections. Do you really want the United States not to have borders, which is basically what we have now? she said. We have to stop tolerating the intolerable. Councilman Zareh Sinanyan said ones immigration status is not important for the city. Theyre all our residents, and we care for them equally, he said. Were not in the business of enforcing immigration status. Sinanyan did express some reservations with the resolution, calling its process rushed. He said the council seemed to be doing a resolution for the sake of doing a resolution. Councilman Ara Najarian said the immigration debate will be ongoing. He suggested the city website offer resources to immigrants, such as names of attorneys. Mayor Paula Devine said she wants the community to know the police department is not going hunt down the undocumented. We are all committed to respecting our residents, she said. We are a very diverse community, and we value everyone in this community. In other council action, the four members supported another resolution opposing discrimination against the LGBT community. bradley.zint@latimes.com Twitter: @BradleyZint Susan Wolfson has lived in Glendales Rossmoyne neighborhood for 10 years, but it wasnt until recently she felt compelled to seek public office, throwing her name in the hat with nine other candidates running for Glendale City Council in an election on Tuesday. The first-time candidate attributes the recent initiative to the urging of several neighbors, as well as being inspired by working as an account clerk for the city of La Canada Flintridge and seeing an efficiently run city up close. Its been a wonderful experience, Wolfson said of her time at La Canada City Hall. Because the city is small, I get to interact with everyone who works there in every department. Its made a huge impact on me and how I see things. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Though she initially pursued a music degree at Claremont College, later majoring in anthropology at UCLA and earning a masters degree from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, Wolfson has spent the bulk of her professional life working in the field of accounting. In addition to providing accounting services for a number of clients on a consulting basis, shes held positions at Touche Ross & Co. (now Deloitte), California Federal Bank and KPMG. Wolfson, a certified public accountant, said she will bring a sense of fiscal responsibility and sustainability to the Glendale City Council. If elected, she wants to be a point person who can explain complicated budget matters to the general public. Im good at communicating financial information, she said. When youre deeply involved with it, you forget how arcane it is, Wolfson added. You assume people understand it, but they might not. Wolfson said her expertise would also aid Glendales ongoing discussions about its pension liabilities, which she feels have been made to look worse than they actually are. Thats something I bring my CPA hat to, she said, adding that pension debt is a challenge, absolutely. We need to work on it, steadily and without giving up and without giving in to the temptation to slack off. With 10 contenders vying for a council seat her competitors are all male, some of whom have raised tens of thousands in donations, compared to the $1,700 shes amassed from supporters she acknowledges she may seem an underdog candidate, but assures voters her intentions are serious. With most of these guys, its big business here in Glendale, she said. But I think Im a serious candidate because I have a good grip on the issues and have a good mind for solving problems. Thats what should really matter. Locally, Wolfson is a longtime member of the Glendale Historical Society and an active member of Rossmoyne Mountain Homeowners Assn. She also served for a year as treasurer of the Glendale Educational Foundation. For its part in the region, Wolfson said Glendale does need to build affordable housing, but I dont think the projects that have been approved are solving that need. She suggested stopping the citys approval process for new development long enough for us to figure out how we absorb whats coming in the pipeline and, considering how development affects the citys infrastructure and public safety needs, financially if we can make it. Wolfson said shes also bringing some environmental awareness with her candidacy. She pointed to a need for better solid-waste disposal than using the Scholl Canyon landfill. She also pointed to some residents frustration that a minimal environmental impact report was completed on some recent projects. Thats something that should be revisited, Wolfson said. Whether she wins or loses, Wolfson said shes learned so much and is eager to continue engaging with community groups shes met on the campaign trail. Her ultimate goal is to be able to bring more of the transparency and customer service she sees at La Canada Flintridge City Hall to her hometown. When people come into City Hall, theres an attitude of Let us help you, she said. I think thats terrific and I think it can be like that anywhere. sara.cardine@latimes.com Twitter: @SaraCardine bradley.zint@latimes.com Twitter: @BradleyZint Inside a bar that sparkled like a delicate jewel box, New York mixologist Rael Petit whisked together a charcoal-colored cocktail that practically glowed against the backdrop of the 4,000 obsidian tiles that cover the walls. I was in Casa Dragones reservations-only tasting room, a six-seat space in an unassuming corner of a hybrid retail/dining spot in this city northwest of Mexico City, at a celebration of the fall opening of the independent, small-batch tequila distillers newest venture. If the thought of tequila makes you scrunch up your face at the thought of sugary mixes and limes, time to unscrunch. This spirit experience rivals the finest single-malt Scotch or the smoothest whiskey. Advertisement Casa Dragones commitment to innovation and craftsmanship from the details etched into each bottle to the intricate mosaics of the tasting room is what co-founder and Chief Executive Bertha Gonzalez Nieves hopes consumers will remember. We want to elevate the experience of tequila wherever we go, Gonzalez Nieves said. Bringing Mexicos terroir into the tasting room is one way Casa Dragones does just that. Mexican designer Gloria Cortina sourced obsidian from the rich agave fields of Tequila, Jalisco, then carefully sized 4,000 tiles for the tasting rooms walls. Aztecs used obsidian for good energy and for health benefits. It is a rock that is a big part of Mexican culture, Gonzalez Nieves said. A celebration of craftsmanship as the brand ethos is also evident in the production of Casa Dragones. Each crystal bottle is signed, numbered and hand-engraved by Mexican artisans who use a traditional technique called pepita. For us, its one bottle at a time, and we never want that to change, Gonzalez Nieves said. Only a few thousand bottles of Casa Dragones are created each year. We are in the business of taste, not volume, Gonzalez Nieves said. Her reverence for tequila has strong roots. She spent a decade at Jose Cuervo in various jobs, including marketing, and she was certified as a maestra tequilera a tequila master, by the Academia Mexicana de Catadores de Tequila, a title usually held by men and recognized by the Tequila Regulatory Council. Gonzalez Nieves co-founded Casa Dragones with Bob Pittman, MTV creator and chief executive of iHeartMedia Inc. Their mission: To deliver a product so smooth, it could only be called a sipping tequila, she said. How does the tequila become so smooth? Casa Dragones is made from individually selected blue agave plants on an estate about 4,000 feet above sea level in the west-central state of Jalisco. The spirits are distilled multiple times with pure spring water that originates from the Tequila Volcano, which sits at about 9,500 feet. The soil in the region is rich in silica and potassium, ideal for growing agave plants. In 2009, Casa Dragones debuted Casa Dragones Joven (about $275), a small-batch, limited production, 100% blue agave sipping tequila. Joven is a rare blend of silver tequila with extra aged tequila that has rested in new American oak barrels for five years. Five years later, it expanded its collection with Casa Dragones Blanco (about $75), a 100% pure blue agave silver tequila that served as the brands first product meant to be enjoyed in cocktails or on the rocks. Since its inception, Casa Dragones has been well received. Oprah Winfrey consistently included it among her favorite things. She called Blanco dangerously smooth and included it in her 2014 holiday gift guide. Tequila has all the history and credentials of other spirits, Gonzalez Nieves said. Casa Dragones appears to be taking its place in the world. Guests can make a reservation to visit Casa Dragones Tasting Room for a comprehensive tasting of Casa Dragones Joven sipping tequila and Casa Dragones Blanco. Contact concierge@casadragones.com. San Miguel de Allende is also home to the brands private four-bedroom spiritual home, La Casa Dragones, created from 17th century stables. (The name was inspired by Los Dragones, an elite cavalry that helped lead Mexico to independence.) You can schedule a tour of the house by contacting concierge@casadragones.com. Info: Casa Dragones To read the article in Spanish, clic here travel@latimes.com @latimestravel Reborn Dashijie reopens after a long break From:Shanghai Daily | 2017-04-01 04:40 SHANGHAI Dashijie, or the Great World Center, officially opened to public this morning with a ticket price of 60 yuan (US$8.70) each. Inheritors of traditional skills are invited to the century-old center which now mainly showcases Chinas intangible cultural heritages are and teaching visitors past skills. The first batch of skills being showcased includes traditional costume-making, wooden plate painting, clay sculpture, jade carving and embroidery. Traditional Chinese operas are being played on the central stage. The building is can handle 3,000 people at any time. But as a safety precaution, visitors will be asked to wait when there are more than 1,900 people already inside the building, said Xie Jun, general manager of the centers operating company. Shanghai-style cuisine and Mediterranean food are also on offer. Another feature is a theater on the fourth floor, where visitors can watch various performances. Visitors need to book tickets. Visitors cannot bring food or drinks, except water. Children under 1.3 meters and injured servicemen can enter free. Children over 1.3 meters tall, students, people over 60, soldiers in active service and disabled citizens receive a 50 percent discount. Visitors need to show their identity cards or passports when buying entrance tickets as part of an effort to crack down on ticket scalpers. The center was built in 1917. It closed in 2003 and reopened for a trial operation on December 28. After President Carter commuted her seven-year sentence for armed robbery, Patricia Hearst was released from prison, having served 22 months. She and her bodyguard, Bernard Shaw, were married two months later. Hearst was a captive-turned-comrade of a group of 1970s radicals, the Symbionese Liberation Army. She was kidnapped on Feb. 4, 1974, at age 19. Los Angeles Times staff photographer Rick Meyer took this image and others on the morning of Feb. 1. One of the images made the afternoon edition of the paper. Advertisement I did quite a lot of the Patty Hearst coverage, said Meyer, who worked for The Times for nearly 30 years, from 1973 to 2001. In 1979, we would head over to the San Francisco AP office in Fox Plaza and run our film and make the prints ourselves, and the AP would send them down to the LAT as a special. Often at the same time, AP would move the same photo on their network with a Rick Meyer/Los Angeles Times credit. On Feb. 1, 1979, a couple of Meyers photos were moved as AP specials. But, as Meyer noted, on occasion we wanted to keep the art out of the hands of the AP. We would go to the airport and find a PSA flight going to Burbank. We would hand our caption bag containing the film and $20 to a passenger and tell them that a messenger would meet them at the gate in Burbank for the pickup. This was the fastest way to get the film to L.A. Meyer added, Tri-X was the film of choice, and I was shooting Nikon then. This post was originally published on Aug. 12, 2010. Venezuelas president and Supreme Court backed down Saturday from a surprise move to strip congress of its legislative powers, a plan that had sparked widespread charges that the South American country was no longer a democracy. In a late-night speech, President Nicolas Maduro asked the Supreme Court to review a ruling nullifying the lawmaking body after that decision set off a storm of criticism from the opposition and foreign governments. The court on Saturday released new rulings that apparently reinstated congress authority. It was a rare instance of the embattled socialist president backing away from a move to increase his power. Opposition leaders dismissed the backtracking as too little too late and called on Venezuelans to take to the street Saturday morning against what they called an attempted coup. They said the clarification issued by the judges only proved yet again that Maduro controls the courts and that there is no longer a real separation of powers in Venezuela. Advertisement The dire situation were living through in Venezuela remains the same. There is nothing to clarify when it comes to respecting the Constitution, moderate leader and former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said in a statement. At the same time, administration critics celebrated the reversal as proof that cracks are beginning to show in Maduros control of the country, with his approval ratings dipping below 20% amid a worsening economic and humanitarian crisis. Maduro made the announcement after an emergency Friday night meeting of the National Security Council that was boycotted by congressional leaders. He said the council was supporting a review by the court with the goal of maintaining institutional stability. April is starting on a good step. Constitutional victory! Maduro with a grin, flanked by a dozen officials. The three-hour meeting capped an extraordinary day in which Venezuelas chief prosecutor, a longtime loyalist of the socialist government, broke with the Maduro administration and denounced the court ruling. Luisa Ortega Diaz said it was her unavoidable historical duty as the nations top judicial authority to decry what she called a rupture of the constitutional order. Small protests popped up around the capital beginning at dawn Saturday. Troops from the National Guard fired buckshot and swung batons at students protesting in front of the Supreme Court, and several journalists had their cameras seized. As some analysts began to predict the beginning of the end of 18 years of socialist rule in Venezuela, Maduro invited congress president Julio Borges to speak with him about the situation. But Borges has refused, breaking a years-long streak in which the opposition ramps up pressure on the administration only to help defuse it at the last minute by coming to the bargaining table, usually fruitlessly. In Venezuela, the only dialogue possible is the vote, Borges said Friday night. Maduro, dressed in black and waving a small blue book containing the Venezuelan Constitution, likened the international condemnation of the weeks Supreme Court decision to a political lynching. The Supreme Court ruled late Wednesday that until lawmakers abided by previous rulings that nullified all legislation passed by congress, the high court could assume the constitutionally assigned powers of the National Assembly, which has been controlled by the opposition since it won a landslide victory in elections in late 2015. The ruling had brought down two days of condemnation from governments across Latin America as well as from the United States and the United Nations. Colombia, Chile and Peru withdrew their ambassadors over the ruling. The South American trade bloc Mercosur, which suspended Venezuela in December, called an emergency meeting for Saturday in Argentina. The Organization of American States announced that it would hold an emergency meeting at its Washington headquarters Monday to discuss what Secretary-General Luis Almagro called a self-inflicted coup. Maduro was conspicuously silent during much of the two days of turmoil. He concluded his remarks Saturday morning with a call for more dialogue. Im ready with whoever is willing, he said. ALSO Venezuelas top prosecutor rebukes Supreme Court power grab as protests continue Op-Ed: Venezuelas raging homicide epidemic is going unrecorded Venezuela in showdown with OAS, U.S. over political prisoners New data shows air and ground strikes near the Iraqi city of Mosul have resulted in nine civilian deaths and injuries to three others in the ongoing battle against Islamic State, the U.S.-led military coalition announced Saturday. The casualties are the latest sign of the challenges facing the Pentagon as it launches daily bombing raids against Sunni extremist fighters who often mix among civilians in densely populated cities. The figures, released in a monthly report compiled by the U.S. military, bring the Pentagons total official civilian death toll to 229 since the air war against Islamic State began nearly three years ago. Advertisement Independent monitors say far more people have died as a result of the airstrikes. The issue of civilian deaths has attracted new international attention since the release of vivid images of a March 17 airstrike in west Mosuls Jadidah neighborhood that is accused of killing 200 or more Iraqi citizens. That airstrike is under investigation by Iraqi and U.S. officials and is not included in the new report. The U.S.-led military coalition launches airstrikes and ground-based artillery attacks each day in support of Iraqi and Syrian forces advancing against Islamic State strongholds. The military said Saturday that it had received 41 new reports of possible civilian casualties from recent months. It has examined 17 claims; 12 were dismissed as noncredible, while five were deemed valid. Military officials are still reviewing the remaining allegations. Human rights and humanitarian aid groups estimate that hundreds of civilians have been killed or wounded in the more than 19,300 airstrikes and ground artillery attacks launched by the U.S. and its allies since August 2014. Airwars.org, a nonprofit group that relies on social media and witness accounts to track casualties, estimates that coalition airstrikes have killed 2,831 civilians. Were certainly glad that the coalition is taking civilian casualties and their reduction seriously, said Chris Woods, director of Airwars. Our concern here is that even with the coalition looking at many more cases than they did a while back, they still cant keep up with all the allegations coming in. The military did not release many details of its investigations of civilian casualties. It instead summarized the findings in a six-page news release that did not identify any of the victims. All of the incidents were reported to have occurred near Mosul. According to the release, four civilians were unintentionally killed and two injured on Sept. 20, 2015, when an airstrike hit what was evaluated at the time to be an ISIS headquarters building. ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State. In another incident, a civilian was unintentionally killed in a Jan. 30, 2017, strike against an Islamic State weapons manufacturing facility. During a Feb. 6 strike against a group of fighters, the military assessed that three civilians were unintentionally injured when they entered the target area after the munition was released. Two more civilians were unintentionally killed when they entered the target area on Feb. 12, and a bomb was released on a suicide bomb-making facility. A similar incident occurred four days later, the military said, at another bomb-making facility where two civilians were killed. The military said all strikes complied with laws on armed conflict and all feasible precautions were taken to prevent civilian casualties. Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report. william.hennigan@latimes.com Twitter: @wjhenn ALSO: Climate change is real: Just ask the Pentagon Overweight, tattooed, stoned? The Pentagon may still want you Captured battlefield cellphones, computers are helping the U.S. target and kill Islamic States leaders All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced. 19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc. 'Mr. And Mrs. Smith' Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Allegedly Seen Together With Their Kids In Cambodia staff@latinoshealth.com By CEM Mar 30, 2017 03:31 PM EDT "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are famous celebrity couple who had surprised everyone with their split in September. Their relationship as husband and wife truly inspired lots of people, thinking that they might be a great family figure. That's why several "Brangelina" fans were deeply saddened when the two went separate ways. However, the couple was reported to have traveled together recently during a trip to Cambodia. Could this mean that the two have finally come to terms again? The "World War Z" actor Brad Pitt was reported to have secretly joined his ex-wife "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider star" Angelina Jolie during their family's trip to Cambodia in February. According to E!Online, Brad Pitt was confirmed to have been in Cambodia most of the time except when it conflicted his shoot schedule. It was also reported that the children would often leave Cambodia and fly to Los Angeles, California to spend time with their father. It was claimed that Brad Pitt joined Angelina Jolie and their family around mid-February to attend the premiere of her new film "First They Killed My Father". However, it was confirmed that Pitt was not there to reconcile with his ex-wife, but to spend time with his six children, Daily Mail reported. The split between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie occurred when Pitt was reported to have hit one of their children during their flight from Europe to the United States in September 2016. The FBI and other agencies have looked into the incident and found that there was no evidence of any domestic violence. Pitt was later cleared of any wrongdoing. Angelina Jolie is now open about her plans for her children. In an interview, she discussed how she sees that her kids would eventually travel all around the world, as reported by Just Jared. Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! This year, Microsoft is expected to release one of its flagship phones, however, it seems like it won't push through anymore. Apparently, Microsoft Surface Phone will undergo more major developments, causing the device to suffer a delay. It looks like the American multinational technology company is really aiming to release something huge! Previously, Trusted Reviews reported that the Microsoft Surface Phone will be released sometime this 2017. However, a contradicting report claims that the flagship phone is still under some major development, perfecting the key features that it has as this will be the brand's major selling point. It also claims that it will be sporting Win32 applications. As Droid Report cited, one of HP Elite X3's flaw is its feebleness with Windows 10, in regards to running desktop apps. Despite the smartphones' positive feedbacks, fans have flaws that need improvement. Because of this, supporters were turned off causing most of them to ditch the product. Meanwhile, some users were hopeful in looking fir a workaround. According to DrWindows, a German publication, the anticipated flagship phone will address its previous concern by designing it as a pocket-sized laptop in terms if functionality. Although the company has proven a lot in the past years, Microsoft will surely find it challenging for the Microsoft Surface Phone to catch up with the improvement. Without a doubt, it will take the brand a longer time than expected to attain its goals. Because of this, a source has announced that Microsoft will take a time to work on the Microsoft Surface Phone. Therefore, instead of 2017, the smartphone is expected to arrive in 2019. The said improvement will touch not only the Windows 10 ARM, but also its other features such as CShell, Windows 10 Cloud, and Windows 10 Mobile. While this will require a long wait, the brand has promised its users about a forthcoming Windows 10 device. The tech world is already abuzz with excitement for Samsung's upcoming flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy S8. The Korea-based tech giant will reportedly be hosting a special event in New York this March 29 to unveil the latest offering from their line of smartphones. It has already been established that 2016 was not a good year for Samsung as the debacle on the exploding batteries broke loose. Samsung lost a lot of users and the trust for their units dropped to an all time low. With this premise, it is only logical that the company find ways to regain its popularity and the public's trust putting a very big pressure to the Samsung Galaxy S8. According to The Verge, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is under a lot of pressure as it needs to separate from the shadow of the exploding battery debacle of the Note 7. Admittedly, this is not an easy feat to do but clearly not impossible. Tech analysts believe that given the right features, functionality and novelty, Samsung might win the hearts of the consumers once again. According to The Investor, Samsung is taking the extra mile to entice the public to patronize them once again by offering unconditional refunds to Samsung Galaxy S8 users. However, this report must be taken with a grain of salt as the Korean tech company has yet to confirm the said reports. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is previewed to come in two sizes - a standard S8 unit with 5.7-inch display and a larger version dubbed as the S8+. Obviously, the terms seem to be all too familiar with iPhone users, as Apple offers two sizes for one phone model. Display-wise, the upcoming Samsung flagship phone is expected to have edge-to-edge curved displays with round corners. Siri will also be having a new rival as Samsung Galaxy S8 will reportedly be offering a new digital assistant called Bixby. According to reports, Bixby will be widely compatible to be integrated into several apps to help users get more things done with just a tap of their fingers. Specs-wise, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is expected to come with a 12-megapixel main camera, 8-megapixel front camera, 4 GB RAM, iris scanner and 64 GB memory that can be expandable via micro SD cards. Logistics industry acts to bar people selling data from getting jobs From:Shanghai Daily | 2017-04-01 04:40 AN effort to bar those who sell their clients information from being employed in the logistics and delivery industry was launched today in Shanghai following an initiative taken by Shanghai police, Cainiao Network, and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Groups logistics company. So far, China Post, EMS, YTO, ZTO, STO, Deppon, Yunda and ZJS have signed onto the platform which will basically compile a black list of personnel involved in the criminal business which has been rampant in China. Industry representatives said some companies already have strategies in place but this was the first time that the industry was getting its act together and shutting the door against these people. The move was announced at an industry conference on information security held by Shanghai police in Qingpu District and Cainiao Network, which established a working framework last year. Qingpu police said they solved 26 criminal cases of personal information leak from logistics and delivery companies in the past year and caught 64 suspects. IKEA store offers its parking space to neighboring residents From:Shanghai Daily | 2017-04-01 04:40 RESIDENTS living in the vicinity of IKEAs Xuhui store can park their vehicles at the stores parking lot and rent bicycles home, the Xuhui District police said on Friday. In an arrangement worked out between police and multiple authorities in the district, a trial project called P + B Park and Bike has been launched to deal with parking problems at big residential complexes. The IKEA store on Caoxi Road is located on the intersection of several major residential complexes in Tianlin and Xujiahui areas. Almost all of them have parking space problem. From March 17, the IKEA store opened 100 of its 700 parking spaces for residents from 6pm to 9am. The monthly rental fee is 250 yuan, and the parking fee for a night is 20 yuan. However, some residents said it was a long walk home from IKEA. To meet this discomfort, authorities got Mobike to set up bike parking spots near the furniture store. IKEA said residents have already started to register for the monthly package. The police said if the trial proves a success, it will be expanded to other subdistricts. Rid urban areas of septic tanks was the message from the March Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick Municipal District meeting. Complained Cllr Paddy Bracken: A big section of Mountmellick is not connected to the mainsright in the middle of the town. And Cllr Brendan Phelan said at least 20 houses in Rathdowney had septic tanks built on rock. This despite the fact that the towns treatment plant was well capable of servicing them, he added. Cllr Seamus McDonald had called on Laois County Council to seek funds to extend the sewer at Brittas, Clonaslee. He said there were 12 houses within the speed limit and, he added, it was a fear the river could become flooded with septic tanks. Water Services Engineer Tom OCarroll, in a written reply, said the matter had been referred to Irish Water. But, he cautioned, initial feedback suggested that Brittas was unlikely to be a priority for Irish Water for a sewer main extension. Chairman Cllr John King believed there were 35 to 40 houses in every town that wanted to be part of the sewerage system. Cllr David Goodwin said two years ago he had tabled the same motion as Cllr McDonald and the Council had said no. Director of Services Donal Brennan said he would raise the matter with Irish Water. Today as students are gearing up for that final exam the Leaving Certificate many are still left wondering what it is all for. They can move from a place where they are dedicated and have a sense of purpose, to a feeling of despair and wonder, as they think about their future. People First Credit Union are hosting a FREE practical information evening for Leaving Certificate Students and their Parents in the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel on Thursday 6th April at 7.30pm. This evening is open to students across our common bond in Portlaoise, Stradbally, Abbeyliex, Ballinakill, Heywood and Athy. What is most important at this point of change for any student, is to see this the next step on your career journey. To talk about these changes, we have enlisted some top experts to speak at our student evening. We are delighted to have Dr Eddie Murphy, one of Irelands leading Clinical Psychologists and Wellbeing advocates, as our Guest Speaker. Dr. Eddie will be on hand to discuss: m Education and emotional health m How to manage stress for both parents and students in the run up to exams m How to prepare and plan for life after secondary school financially & emotionally Mary Quirke, owner of Career Confidence is a qualified career guidance counsellor for over 20 years. Some of the topics Mary will discuss: m CAO m Change of mind form m What if college is not for you and what your options are Carol from People First Union has seen first-hand stressed parents and students worrying about how to plan for the future. Carol will discuss: m Student Loans Grant Payments and Paypal m Students and their Credit Union in the 21st Century Cian Power Is the Vice President for Welfare in the Union of Students in Ireland. Cian will share his knowledge of securing accommodation how to cope with college life and the SUSI Grant. Places are limited and booking is essential. To register please email carol.dempsey@peoplefirstcu.ie with your school name and number of places required. You can go for quite a while without seeing what is right under your nose. Or toes, in this case. Then, once youve opened your eyes to the problem, you encounter it everywhere. Ive started seeing huge, ugly spackles of dirty, spent chewing gum matted onto the pavements of Newbridge and Naas and now I cant walk down either town without getting riled by what Im looking at. Ive always known they were there, of course, but never appreciated, until the last fortnight, just what an eyesore theyve become. I was scuttling through a dreary, wet Newbridge Main Street on a recent Thursday morning. I dont know what it was perhaps the lack of bustle on a usually crowded street, due to the hour or the inclement weather but all of a sudden, all I could see on the cobblelocked streets between the Post Office and Whitewater was a vast expanse of dirty, off-white gum spots. They must take up at least a quarter of available pavement space on that particular streetscape. It is vile, it is horrible, and it is disgusting. Im not blaming Kildare County Council for the state of the streets and footpaths. In fact, far from it. Council cleaners have been asked to carry out gum-busting work in Newbridge, which must done by hand. Surely theres better things for hard-earned taxpayers money to go towards, such as speed ramps or filling pot-holes. No, the blame for these unsightly blots on our landscape must lie squarely at the feet of those who feel its fine behaviour to hawk up a gob of gum and spit it out on the pavement. Im genuinely mystified that any parent or guardian would bring someone up to think that this is acceptable. Surely it ranks up there with dont pick your nose in public or dont pee on the pavement as a basic rule of behaviour to be taught in early childhood. Yet its not just a few outliers who do it, judging from the state of our town footpaths. Theres a lot of it going on. Imagine that instead of germ-filled, saliva-flecked gum, our footpaths were dotted with snot, or dog droppings, or human excrement. There would be a massive outcry. Yet why has not a voice been raised against gum spitters? In Singapore, they banned the white stuff completely in the 1990s, with fines or imprisonment though not, as is a popular misconception among horrified holidaymakers, caning for those found with an illicit pack of the sticky stuff. I dont know if they could do that here. I dont know if there would be the political will. Yet Id happily see every offender handed a bag of ice and a paint stripper (or, if Im feeling particularly evil, a teaspoon) and given ten yards of pavement to clear. Until they learn to use a tissue and a dustbin, the rest of us will have to walk over their foul expectorates. Gum on the streets of Newbridge The Naas Ball has been voted the top Irish tourist attraction that foreign tourists want to visit The unlikely Kildare landmark took the top gong in an online poll of Emerald Isle landmarks conducted by one of the most prestigious package tour operators in Japan. Kildares motorway monolith beat out competitors such as the Cliffs of Moher and the Guinness Storehouse to take the prize, announced at a lavish gala hosted by the Irish Embassy in Tokyo. Its unclear what propelled the Perpetual Motion statue - to give it its proper name - to the top spot. Punters speculate that it gained a cult following after an appearance in an underground horror movie called Stalled at the Ball, in which a busload of tourists are caught for hours on end in a traffic snarl at the M7/N7 junction turnoff. Whatever the reason, the Kildare County Council-sponsored artwork has topped other Kildare tourist attractions such as the Irish National Stud or Newbridge Silverwares Museum of Style Icons as the place to visit in the Lilywhite county. When asked by the Leader for a comment on its unlikely win earlier today, April 1, the Ball said: Sure, its no more unbelievable than that tourists would visit a cutlery factory to see an auld pair of Marilyn Monroes undercrackers. We hope you enjoyed our little bit of April 1 fun although from the comments it seems that some took it seriously. Anyone want to have a guess as to which member of the team came up with this? I got it wrong when I read it for the first time. I then asked the rest of the team and got a variety of answers but with two main suspects. The author has, since I first wrote this, revealed themselves on Facebook so if youve seen that, dont spoil it. Sadly, it doesnt seem that the Governments Brexit strategy was a slow-burning April Fool after all. Here are some delights of the day that Ive found. Feel free to add any others that tickled your fancy in the comments. First up, I always knew that Neil Fawcett was a rascal, but how dare he seek to deprive us of the gently soothing rhythm of the risograph producing our leaflets. Secondly, Mark Pack is very good at challenging our core assumptions. He suggests here that we may be about to campaign FOR potholes. Iceland Foods are now doing frozen flowers, apparently: And Aldi Scotland has health and safety in mind. Islay is famous for its whiskies, so why might its haggis not attain international acclaim also? And some that didnt quite make the grade. Too obvious, from the Guardian. But new roles for Osborne are a bit of a theme that The Stage did a bit better. And the Telegraphs, about melting ice caps meaning polar bears had to take refuge in Scotland was just silly. You are supposed to start out with something vaguely plausible and get more and more ridiculous through the piece. Its not very well crafted at all. And one that wasnt an April Fool Someone shared this on Facebook or at least a tabloid equivalent of the same story but it wasnt an April Fool. David Laws, in his book Coalition, told about how Owen Paterson had suggested that pensioners be employed to do the work done by Rumanian and Bulgarian fruit pickers. Enjoy the rest of your day. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings UP to 15 jobs will be lost when the Ulster Bank branches in Newcastle West and Castletroy close on September 15, the union representing bank workers, the Financial Services Union (FSU), has said. The union is opposing the Limerick closures and the 20 other branch closures nationwide announced last week Ulster Bank as part of a restructuring of their network and a downsizing of staff of 220. However, a spokeswoman for Ulster Bank insisted that any redundancies would be volunteer led and across the company, not just in the retail end. Putting the Limerick closures in context, she said, an average of 150 customers had used those branches in the past week or just 30 per day. In 2016, 62% of our customer interactions were digital, compared to 10% in branches, she pointed out. We know this wont suit some customers, and for those, we have a number of supports in place including the newly created roles of Community Bankers. But the FSU has countered that Ulster Bank made a profit of 280m in its Irish operation in 2016 and said that the scale and severity of the cuts announced are completely disproportionate and unjustified. The 22 bank closures bring to 46 the number of closures announced by financial institutions since the start of the year, FSU general secretary Larry Broderick said. And he warned about the the consequences for financial services generally. In the Republic there is also very grave speculation regarding the future of the post office network. What is clear is that we cannot allow this hollowing out of access to banking and other services continue on an ad hoc basis, he said. The closure of the bank was met with dismay in Newcastle West. Gutted, was the reaction of Vickie OSullivan, the chairperson of Newcastle West Business Association when the announcement became public. It has come as a shock, she said, expressing sympathy for the staff. But she added, it had become less attractive for businesses to conduct their affairs with the bank. You could do lodgements and withdrawals but if you wanted to discuss issues or there was any change to your business status you had to ring a number elsewhere, she said. It is a huge pity for the town just when people were beginning to think that things were picking up for Newcastle West, Ms OSullivan added. The closure of the branch in September would have a huge knock-on effect on the Market Yard, she added, particularly as Garveys SuperValu had closed and the post office had relocated. Public reaction was muted in Castletroy according to Cllr Joe Pond, FF, but he believes it is crazy to be closing banks. I dont think it should be closed. Castletroy is a huge area to be served, he said, pointing out that a lot of people locally use their bank to pay bills. It is unfortunate that the branch is closing, first of all because of the loss of jobs, Labours Cllr Elena Secas said. We are trying to get more businesses into this area and when you see a business closing down it is very unfortunate. Sinn Feins Cllr Seamus Browne has called on Ulster Bank to reconsider. While this is clearly a corporate decision which has been made by a private company, I would strongly urge Ulster Bank to make every effort to keep the branches open for the good of the local community, he said. Only three months ago Sinn Fein questioned Ulster Bank over what plans if any they had to close further branches, and they gave no indication then that further closures were imminent. DOZENS of careless driving prosecutions relating to offences detected across the Limerick garda division are unlikely to proceed it has emerged. In recent weeks, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has instructed gardai and prosecutors to seek adjournments in cases which are currently before the courts. A Supreme Court challenge is pending against a decision in the Court of Appeal last year which found that careless driving is not a strict liability offence. As revealed by this newspaper last August around a dozen prosecutions relating to fatal road collisions have already been adjourned pending the outcome of the challenge. While cases listed before the circuit court have been adjourned previously, it has now emerged that cases before the district court are also in jeopardy. During a recent sitting of Limerick District Court, Sergeant Donal Cronin sought to adjourn a number of cases on the instructions of the DPP while at a sitting of Kilmallock Court, Sergeant Michelle Leahy also sought two adjournments. One of the cases related to Jonathon Kennedy, aged 48, of Kenmore, Clashbane, Pallasgreen who appeared before the court on a number of charges. In addition to being charged with careless driving at Clashbane, Dromkeen on January 13, 2016, he was also charged with two counts of assault and with breaching the Public Order Act. Opposing the application, solicitor John Herbert said his clients case was due to be heard before Limerick District Court but had been transferred to Kilmallock Court as the (prosecuting) inspector knew one of the brothers of the alleged injured party. My client works for a multinational company and has had to cancel international trips as well as medical appointments, said Mr Herbert. Sgt Leahy said she was completely sympathetic but told the court her instructions were to seek an adjournment Legal discussions then took place to ascertain if the case relating to the assault allegations could proceed. Sgt Leahy told the court said it would be alleged the assault happened after the alleged careless careless offence. Having made further enquiries, the sergeant said the state was going to withdraw all matters. COUNCILLORS opposed to Irish Cements plans to burn waste for energy at its plant at Mungret are preparing to make a submission to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which controls emission licences. Earlier this month, Limerick City and County Council gave planning permission for the proposal. However, it emerged at Mondays meeting of the full council that the council management now intends making a submission to the EPA which controls the emissions licence for the plant. Chief executive Conn Murray however stressed there was a clear distinction to be made between planning and licencing. It is not part of planning. It is part of the EPA licensing process, he said. Cllr John Gilligan however was scathing. The CEO has already made his decision. He was wrongly advised and made the wrong decision. But Solidaritys Cllr Cian Prendiville called on Mayor Kieran OHanlon to call a meeting of party leaders with a view to agreeing a submission to the EPA from councillors registering its opposition to Irish Cements proposal to burn tyres and other rubbish at the plant. Supporting the motion, Cllr Daniel Butler FG said he had met no-one who supported Irish Cements plans but a lot of people with concerns. Fianna Fails Cllr James Collins was equally strong. I have already made a personal objection to the variation of their licence, he said. We are very disappointed that the planners of Limerick City and County Council agreed planning for this facility. This is not a proper modern incinerator, he argued. This is an aging cement kiln. And the company was doing it because they will make money out of it. People, he added, think this is a localised issue. The drop zone is in excess of 30 kilometres. However, several councillors raised questions about an EPA submission. It cannot be done legally on a whole county basis, Cllr Bill ODonnell FG argued. I would not be happy with any proposal to be submitted on my behalf. I know something about Irish Cement. I worked there, Cllr Emmett OBrien Ind said. But any submission to the EPA would have to be on the basis of actual facts, he argued and he didnt have those. I cant make an informed decision, he said. Cllr Stephen Keary said it was a very tricky situation. It is the rigours of the licence that come into play, a lot of legalities. I would be staying back from it. The same technical advice available to management is to be made available to councillors in deciding their submission and councillors will also get sight of managements submission. Supporting the motion to make a submission, Cllr Seamus Browne said this was the second attempt at getting rid of industrial waste through incineration in this county. And he warned the uncomfortable truth is that government policy favoured incineration. Whichever local authority blinks first will end up with an incinerator. I hope it is not Limerick. AN AWARD-winning writer from the US has transformed a screenplay into an heroic romance novel, set in early 1900s rural Limerick. Fenians Trace, by Californian writer Sean Patrick Mahoney, tells the story of two best friends of diverging personalities; Rory is the rogue who wants to fight against the British as part of the Brotherhood, while Conor is a quiet dreamer who wants to live a life far away from Ireland. However, Conor finds himself embroiled in rebellion, after the two friends fall in love with American blow-in Maria, whose father is a staunch Brotherhood member. In the book, Fenians Trace is an old ruin which becomes a secret hang-out spot for the two friends, after old gruff publican Liam Clancy, the narrator, orders the two to find the site. Mahoney tells the Leader that the book was inspired by his many visits to Limerick, as his partner Toni hails from Clare, and also by the events of the 1916 Rising. As the centenary was approaching, I assumed it would create a resurgence of interest in those times and decided to make that my deadline for adapting my screenplay into the novel, rather than wait another hundred years. I got the first draft done in time, he says. Accurately conveying Limerick back in the early 1900s was a challenge, but he says that he received help from Irish friends and from Tonis grandmother, who educated him on social life in earlier days. He also read old books on pubs, old maps of Limerick, and sourced material from the Old Limerick Journal. Mahoney says that he is eager to return to Ireland with his two young sons, and visit the sites that are mentioned in his new novel. He is hoping to have the book stocked locally in the near future. Cancer victims choose eco-friendly burial From:Shanghai Daily | 2017-04-01 04:40 MORE than 1,000 members of the Shanghai Cancer Recovery Club bid farewell to11 fellow members at a group burial ceremony at the Fushouyuan Cemetery in Qingpu District on March 31 ahead of Qingming. These departed members chose an eco-friendly and land-saving burial they were buried in a 14-square-meter fan-shaped flowerbed which can accommodate the urns of 255 people. The urns buried are biodegradable. Each takes only 0.05 square meters. So far, about 60 members of the club have been buried here. They made their wishes known to other club members when they were alive. "In the past, very few members of our club were willing to be buried through such a way because a grand funeral is a deeply-rooted tradition people, but more people are changing their concepts now," said Yuan Zhengping, director of the club. "These departed struggled against diseases optimistically when they were alive and they had a broad mind over death and funeral. "The group burial ceremony is solemn and shows great respect for life. A member surnamed Jiang, 66, said he, too, wants to be buried in the flowerbed. "The environment is good. There is plenty of sunshine and it is my last contribution to society because the burial saves land. Most cemeteries in Shanghai are running short of land. The club has about 16,000 members. Two new U.S. stamps revealed, unassuming cover carries hidden treasure: Weeks Most Read Apr 1, 2017, 3 AM The new United States nondenominated ($1.15) Succulent global forever stamp is among two new issues that were announced in the top article of the week on Linns.com By Joe ODonnell Its time to catch up on the week that was in stamp-collecting insights and news. Linns Stamp News is looking back at its five most-read stories of the week. Click the links to read the stories. 5. The Smurfs and emoji deliver messages of happiness on new stamps: Were checking in on new stamps from the United Nations Postal Administration, the Emirates Post Group, and Irelands An Post. 4. U.S. Postal Service pushing PRC to lift 10-year cap on stamp price increases: The price cap has proven not to be enough to keep the nations mail system from running huge deficits, the USPS said in a March 20 filing with the PRC. 3. Monday Morning Brief | Position 76 Jenny Invert stamp: Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries has been selected to sell the Position 76 1918 Jenny Invert stamp that was part of the McCoy block of four stolen in 1955. 2. Unassuming 1 1861 cover carries hidden demonetized treasure: How many stamps are on this 1862 cover? The answer might surprise you, as Wayne Youngblood explains in this month's The Odd Lot column. 1. Two new U.S. stamps in the works: The United States Postal Service has revealed details of two new stamps that it will issue in the coming weeks. Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Expat invited to explore district icons From:Shanghai Daily | 2017-04-01 04:40 THE city's foreign affairs office has launched a promotion campaign with local district governments to invite expats to visit iconic venues of each district. Over 300 foreign consuls, overseas companies' officials, foreign organizations' representatives and students have visited the riverside area of Yangpu District as the first leg of the campaign. "The promotion aims to create better environments for local districts to carry out international cooperation as well as let the foreigners better understand Shanghai," said Yang Xiaosong, director of the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office. Yangpu's riverside area was once home to many of the earliest Chinese industries, including the earliest paper and textile mills, shipyard, water plant, coal gas plant as well as a fish market, most of them dating back almost a century ago. The 15.5-kilometer-long area by the side of the Huangpu River is now being planned into a public space for residents and tourists. It will include parks, pedestrian and cycle paths, as well as renovated industrial buildings. Many original industrial heritages have been kept along the riverbank. "The riverside area reminds me the High Line Park in New York," said Alton, an American architect with AECOM. The High Line Park is built on the disused railways in Manhattan. Yangpu's riverside development plan is part of a Shanghai blueprint to create 45km long continuous public area on both sides of the river by the end of 2017. Man with mental disease injures French man in Shanghai From:Shanghai Daily | 2017-04-01 04:40 SHANGHAI police said they are investigating a case involving a French man who was attacked by a 27-year-old man with mental diseases in downtown Xuhui District. Police said they received a report at about 1:40pm on Wednesday that a foreigner was injured at the crossroads of Yongjia Road and Jiashan Road. The foreigner went to the hospital on his own before police arrived on the scene. He had a cut on his neck, police said. The suspect, a Shanghai native surnamed Mao, was caught at about 7pm the same day. Police said he used a small blade to hurt the foreigner and acted alone. This story was updated April 4 at 12:24 p.m. EDT. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, but why is that? To answer this question, "we need to go back to the Big Bang," said May Nyman, a professor of chemistry at Oregon State University. The Big Bang created the elements on the periodic table, building blocks that help make up the universe. Each element has a unique number of subatomic particles: protons (positively charged), neutrons (neutral) and electrons (negatively charged). [What Are the Ingredients of Life?] Hydrogen with just one proton and one electron (it's the only element without a neutron) is the simplest element in the universe, which explains why it's also the most abundant, Nyman said. (However, an isotope of hydrogen, called deuterium, contains one protron and one neutron, and another, known as tritium, has one proton and two neutrons.) In stars, hydrogen atoms fuse to create helium the second most common element in the universe, according to Encyclopedia.com. Helium has two protons, two neutrons and two electrons. Together, helium and hydrogen make up 99.9 percent of known matter in the universe, according to Encyclopedia.com. Even so, there is still about 10 times more hydrogen than helium in the universe, Nyman said. Oxygen, the third most common element, is about 1,000 times less abundant than hydrogen, she added. In general, the higher the atomic number, the less abundant is the element is, Nyman said. Earth's composition, however, is different from that of the entire universe. For instance, oxygen is the most common element by weight in Earth's crust, followed by silicon, aluminum and iron, according to HyperPhysics, a site run by Georgia State University. In the human body, the most common element by weight is oxygen, followed by carbon and hydrogen, according to HyperPhysics. Hydrogen has a number of key roles in the human body. Hydrogen bonds help give DNA its signature twist, and it helps the stomach and other organs maintain the correct pH, or how acidic or basic it is, Nyman said. "If your stomach gets too basic, hydrogen will be released to what it's bonded to," she said. "If it's too acidic, [hydrogen] will bond to something." In addition, hydrogen allows ice to float on water (H20) because the hydrogen bonds push the frozen water molecules apart, making them less dense. "Usually, substances are more dense when they're solid than when they're liquid," Nyman said. "Water is the only substance that is less dense than when it's [a] solid." However, hydrogen can also be dangerous. Hydrogen gas reacting with oxygen led to the Hindenburg blimp catastrophe that killed 36 people in 1937, according to Airships.net. Moreover, hydrogen bombs can be incredibly destructive, although they have never been used as a weapon, "just demonstrated by the United States, USSR, Great Britain, France and China in the 1950s," Nyman said. Hydrogen bombs, like atomic bombs, use a combination of nuclear fusion and fission reactions to cause destruction, and release both radiation and mechanical shock waves when detonated, she said. Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include information about hydrogen isotopes and to say that H-bombs can release radiation. Original article on Live Science. Oakland firefighters urged senior fire officials in January to consider immediately shutting down the West Oakland halfway house that burned Monday, killing four people, because of safety problems, newly released city emails show. The emails show that firefighters who responded to medical calls in January and February at the three-story building reported seeing dangerous conditions trash, exposed electrical wires, a locked door to a fire escape that posed a danger to life safety. They urged fire inspectors to shut down the building. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Michael Macor/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 3 That assessment is at odds with Mayor Libby Schaafs explanation after the fatal blaze for Oaklands refusal to shut down the building immediately: She said the problems did not amount to an imminent life safety threat. On Friday, she said she was disturbed and shocked at the revelations in the emails, which her office released. In one email, a Fire Department captain had told his superiors, This building is dangerous! After the Ghost Ship fire in December, which killed 36 people at an unsanctioned music event that was held in an unpermitted live-work warehouse, Oakland was criticized for failing to take earlier action against that sites owner and prime tenant. The newly released emails show that the problems at the West Oakland halfway house were glaringly clear to the Fire Department barely a month after the Ghost Ship inferno. The first email was sent Jan. 8 by fire Capt. Richard Chew, head of a firehouse whose crews had responded to a medical call at the halfway house at 2551 San Pablo Ave. He told Battalion Chief Geoff Hunter that firefighters had found open piles of garbage on the third floor, a nonworking alarm system and a fire escape door that was padlocked. I recommend that we consider shutting this building down immediately due to the danger to life safety, Chew wrote. Hunter told Chew to cut the padlock and forwarded the report to Maria Sabatini, an acting assistant fire marshal who helped oversee fire inspections. She replied in a Jan. 9 email that the building owner should remove the trash and give a reasonable amount of time to repair the alarm system; 30 days is appropriate. Later that day, fire crews returned to the building and found other problems, including a lack of fire extinguishers and a fire sprinkler inlet full of debris, Capt. Chris Landry told Sabatini and Hunter in an email. There is no indication in the emails that the city did anything until firefighters responded to another medical call at the San Pablo Avenue building Feb. 25. That is the day that city officials had earlier reported was the first time the Fire Department had checked the building and seen safety problems. There were still no fire extinguishers, Lt. Steve Padgett told Sabatini, Fire Marshal Miguel Trujillo and others Feb. 25. Whats more, there were faulty or unmaintained smoke detectors and storage in the hallways. This building is dangerous! Padgett wrote in an email. Please let station 15 know what we can do to get this place shut down, updated and repaired. One possibility is to get the city attorney involved. Hunter then asked Sabatini when the departments fire inspectors would get to the building. That didnt happen until after March 18, after yet another visit by a station house crew on an incident call. Lt. Frank Mui told Hunter that extension cords, including one whose insulation had apparently been gnawed away by rodents, were supplying electricity to parts of the building. There was exposed wiring and debris in the hallways, Mui reported, and still no fire extinguishers or functioning alarm system. Hunter told Sabatini and her boss, Trujillo, that the issues reported weeks earlier seem to be getting worse and asked when an inspector would visit. Hunter said: This building appears to be hazardous to both our public and our firefighters. Six days later, on March 24, Sabatini told Hunter that she and fire Inspector Flanoy Garrett had visited the building and given the owner a list of deficiencies to correct. This is the beginning of a coordinated effort along with Building Services to address the issues at this location. The owner, Keith Joon Kim, was given 30 days to correct the problems. Three days later, a fire accidentally started by a candle tore through the building. Two of the four people who died have been identified: Edwarn Anderson, 64, and Cassandra Robertson, 50. More than 80 people were displaced, with many sleeping at an emergency shelter set up in the area. As acting assistant fire marshal, Sabatini was responsible for sending inspectors to buildings whose owners arent complying with safety laws. Reached by phone Friday, she declined to comment. Fire inspectors generally require a buildings owner to fix any problems within a certain time frame, but when life-threatening conditions exist, they can red-tag the property and order residents out. Schaaf has said since the Ghost Ship fire that she is reluctant to do so, fearing that low-income residents will find nowhere else to live in the city. In an interview after the emails were released, Schaaf said she was extremely upset and concerned by the level of urgency and the lack of coordination that the emails suggest. But she said she had no plans to fire anybody over the incident. She defended her statement earlier this week that the building hadnt been blighted enough to shut down immediately, saying that was based on information I received from professionals. ... But I am not a fire inspector. The mayor also characterized the references in the emails to shutting down the building as suggestions. We need to do much, much better, Schaaf said. The level of urgency, the level of professionalism, has got to go up significantly. As the emails were released, Schaaf and City Administrator Sabrina Landreth said they would hire six additional inspectors for the Fire Prevention Bureau, doubling its size and then triple it with six more inspectors. It is clear that over-demand and inadequate staffing require an immediate remedy, they said in a statement. An Alameda County civil grand jury found in 2014 that the Oakland Fire Department was failing to check thousands of buildings that are required to be inspected annually. Oakland records show that the San Pablo Avenue halfway house had not received a full Fire Department inspection since 2012. Schaaf said the San Pablo Avenue and Ghost Ship fires accelerated pace of the changes she announced Friday, because both of these fires have exposed the need for stronger leadership, staffing, training and tools. She blamed some of those problems on cuts in the Fire Department during the recession. This is part of a process of digging out, but also being very clear with our workforce about our priorities and professionalism particularly at this time, when unscrupulous landlords are putting profit over safety, Schaaf said. Representatives of the Oakland Fire Department did not respond to requests for comment, some referring calls to the mayors office. But the head of the firefighters union said he welcomed the citys announcement to add staff. We applaud the mayors efforts to address this serious issue, and weve always felt that the fire prevention bureau has been understaffed and underfunded and in our eyes that means underprotected, said Lt. Dan Robertson, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 55. The emails from our members in the firehouses speak for themselves. The halfway house has been owned since 1991 by Mead Avenue Housing Associates, which is run by Kim, a Piedmont entrepreneur with a colorful and controversial past. He has not responded to requests for comment. Kim was once owner and chief executive of the now-defunct Granny Goose potato chip company, but later filed for bankruptcy and was convicted of lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission amid a probe into insider trading. In 2012, Kims building was rented by Urojas Community Services, a nonprofit founded in 1996 by the Rev. Jasper Lowery that sought to offer transitional housing and services including mental health and addiction counseling. Before the fire, Kim was seeking to evict Urojas and its clients for failing to pay rent, but Urojas refused to leave. Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A bill that would allow cities to extend the hours its bars can serve alcohol passed the California Senates Public Safety Committee the furthest a bill of this kind has made it in the Legislature since Prohibition, according to its backers. The bill, which state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced last month, would allow bars and restaurants to serve alcohol between 2 and 4 a.m. with the appropriate permits and approval from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Wieners bill is similar to one proposed in 2013 by his predecessor, Mark Leno. That bill was voted down in committee. Wieners bill will now move to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Current law requires establishments to stop serving alcohol at 2 a.m. Wieners bill would allow but not require local jurisdictions to decide whether their bars and restaurants can extend their last call. Opponents of the bill say it is an unnecessary move that will require more law enforcement and lead to more problems for cities. Michael Scippa, director of public affairs for Alcohol Justice, a San Rafael nonprofit advocacy, research and policy organization, criticized the bill for prioritizing alcohol revenue over public safety and said he was disappointed in the committees vote. In 2013, there were people (on the committee) who really cared about public safety, he said. Right now it seems like the focus is really just on business. Scippa said his group took credit for killing Lenos bill in 2013, and they will continue to fight Wieners bill. Proponents of the bill argue that being able to serve alcohol later will stimulate the states economy, and in turn make cities like San Francisco more attractive to tourists. Nate Allbee, owner of the Stud Bar in the South of Market neighborhood, said allowing bars to stay open until 4 a.m would create a nightlife renaissance in San Francisco. This is a huge victory that it has come out of committee it is a symbol that this is an idea whose time has come, he said. By having two extra hours we would actually double our profits. Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani If you had just 36 hours in San Antonio, where would you go? The New York Times made a pit stop in the Alamo City and were able to stuff some of San Antonio's best features into a quick weekend getaway. Andy Segovia / IBC Bank said Friday it is proud to announce the appointment of bank manager Becky Banda to the board of directors of United Way of Laredo. Some of her duties as board member will include educating the public about United Way, raising money and ensuring that the funds will be used appropriately among the 23 organizations. Palestinians have a saying: When your occupier is your judge and your jury, where do you go for justice? To understand this, look no further than the story of Rasmea Odeh. Odeh was convicted of participating in two bombings in Israel after a confession she says was made under torture and sexual abuse, including in front of her father. For me it is simple: I believe her. I believe a trusted and beloved community leader, not an Israeli military court especially given the 99.74 percent conviction rate that Israeli military courts in the occupied Palestinian territories are reported to have. But the energy with which my organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, is being attacked for inviting her to speak at our national membership meeting this weekend in Chicago is truly alarming. I shouldn't be surprised by this harassment and demonization of a Palestinian elder who has faithfully served her community for decades. The attacks on Odeh come in the context of long-standing anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim policies both in Israel and in the U.S. These policies are intensifying under the Trump administration. And Jews are not immune from participating, and at times initiating and fueling, Islamophobia. I am not proud to admit it, but it is important that I do: The Jewish community that educated me also taught me to hate. I recently found a note I wrote my parents from my Jewish summer camp when I was 11 years old. I wrote to them "Camp is great. We played Arab-Israeli war today. I had to be an Arab (frowny face) but luckily I got 'killed' and we lost." When I wrote that note I had not ever met, spoken with or known a single Arab. Now that I am a mother, I could not be prouder that my kids are being raised in a Jewish environment that prioritizes listening to and partnering with those harmed by systems of oppression. I am proud that next weekend my family will join me at JVP's national convention to hear from leaders from the Movement for Black Lives, the Women's March, Standing Rock, Muslim communities, immigrant communities and, of course, Palestinians. I don't take lightly the enormity of the loss to the victims of the bombing in 1969 that Odeh is alleged to have been involved in. I hear and feel their grief. I do this work out of a deep reverence for all life. At Jewish Voice for Peace we condemn all forms of violence against civilians. The way Odeh is being targeted and harassed is deeply Islamophobic. It plays into the "war on terror" rhetoric that defines Muslims as terrorists. As a Jew and a rabbi, I take seriously that we must be part of creating cultures and societies centered on justice. The work I do is inspired by the Jewish education I got from my Jewish day school and summer camps, and of course my rabbinical training. It is because of the strong ethical imperatives woven living a Jewish life: how we pray, how we mourn, how we forgive, how we eat, how we engage with text and history. We are proud to be a Jewish organization rooted in love for people and love for community. That is who we are, why we do this work with one of the fastest-growing Jewish organizations in the United States. For the past 18 years I have been organizing for justice for Palestinians, and I have had that time to reflect on the question: When your occupier is your judge and jury, where do you go for justice? I have an answer. We go to communities of conscience and integrity. We go to each other. Rabbi Alissa Wise is deputy director at Jewish Voice for Peace. I did not set out to be a product manager. That seems strange for me to write, considering I have led product and strategy at six companies now. When I started my career, though, I was happy just finding great market opportunities and build products that served customers well. However, early in my career I noticed that product managers set the strategic direction for the company. They were the group with the highest concentration of top performers and leaders. So, I became a product manager. My passion for product management found its natural progression to entrepreneurship. Today, as the CEO of Aha!, I speak with product managers every week at many of the worlds leading software and technology companies. That passion also became the inspiration for Roadmap.com, an online community of innovators and product managers. The conversations that take place there reinforce the reality that for most companies, the product is the business. Technology is at the center of every product and service today. Every business is now a software business -- that is true for emerging companies as well as multinational behemoths. That means entrepreneurs and founders must operate like product managers to succeed. Of course, making the jump from employee to company founder is a big transition. But, my experience as a product manager prepared me for that leap -- more than I could have imagined. It also gave me the confidence that I could do it well. I find success every day as an entrepreneur by calling on my experiences as a product manager. These are the product management traits that I lean on most: 1. Vision Before you can take the helm as a company founder, you need a clear vision. Product managers also need to understand and define the "why" for their product decisions and how those decisions will support the overall business. Defining a strong vision takes commitment. But, once you do, your vision will be your true north as you move ahead and build your company. Related: 11 Ways to Make Money While You Sleep 2. Motivation Product managers help each person on their team -- and cross-functional teams -- see how they make unique contributions to building what matters. This is an essential skill for any entrepreneur. Success is incremental, and gaining momentum requires being able to motivate yourself and others around a shared goal. Related: 5 Habits of the Wealthy That Helped Them Get Rich 3. Prioritization Smart product managers guard their time by cutting through endless requests to prioritize what must get done now. Successful entrepreneurs know how to prioritize what matters most by aligning each new request against their vision. Tackle today's problems and reserve the rest for later. Related: Inspiring Quotes to Help You Get Through Your Work Day 4. Transparency Working well with diverse teams and business partners is a requirement for product managers. Transparent communication is integral to ensuring alignment and buy-in from others. At every step of the entrepreneurial journey, communication will be key. You need to be able to succinctly sway others, deftly share plans, and inspire confidence through your words and actions. There are two careers best suited for those who continually seek great business adventure: managing products and building companies. Product managers are always the greatest champions of their products -- that fortitude makes it possible to weather challenges along the way. Leading products to market is not for those afraid of change, but neither is starting your own business. That is why those who thrive as product managers are so well prepared for the entrepreneurial ride. Related: Three Tips For UAE Business Owners For Designing Employee Health Packages 3 pasos para crear una startup exitosa The 4 Traits Every Good Project Manager Needs Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Close to half of Protestant senior pastors have recently preached on racial reconciliation and more have publicly prayed about it but few find that their congregations are urging them to address the topic. "It seems like most congregations are eager for somebody else to do the work of reconciliation, rather than embrace it for themselves," said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research, a Nashville, Tenn.-based evangelical firm that finds these practices in a phone survey conducted from Aug. 22-Sept. 16. A Houston man was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for his role in a March 2015 deadly shooting outside a popular Midtown nightclub. Damondre Blackshire, 18, was sentenced after pleading guilty to the murder of Juan Carlos Ramirez, 22, in the parking lot of the F Bar at 202 Tuam near Helena, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate According to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, missing San Antonio teen Gabriella Sanders, 13, was located Friday night in Corpus Christi. Sanders was found by Texas Department Public Safety and BCSO investigators and taken into custody along with 22-year-old Logan Joseph Carter at approximately 10:35 p.m., BCSO office reported. Details on where and how the two were found were not disclosed. RELATED: Missing San Antonio teen last seen on far NW Side Sanders had been missing from her home in the 8900 block of Oakwood Park since on March 29. Carter was arrested on a warrant for harboring a runaway child and booked into Nueces County Jail. Sander's was released to family and is safe at home, according to BCSO. Four defendants who pleaded guilty after their trial collapsed on day seven of proceedings during a recent sitting of Longford Circuit Court, will be sentenced in May. Paddy Stokes, Tommy Stokes, Gary Stokes and Patrick Stokes all with addresses in Longford appeared before Judge Keenan Johnson charged in connection with an incident at Dillons Bar in Ballinamuck on March 5, 2015. All defendants were charged with violent disorder, criminal damage at the premises and assault causing harm on the date in question. Paddy Stokes and Tommy Stokes were charged with assaulting James Mongan and causing him harm, while Gary Stokes and Patrick Stokes were charged with assaulting Anthony (Patrick) Mongan and causing him harm on the same date. The four were remanded on bail and ordered not to make contact with any members of the Mongan family. If you break this, I will send you to prison, added Judge Johnson before pointing out that he had serious concerns since it emerged during earlier proceedings that witnesses in the case had been interfered with. If I find out this is happening, bail will be revoked. The defendants also entered into a bond to keep the peace and hand over their phone numbers to the Gardai so they could be contacted at any time within a 24 hour period. I accept what happened on the night in question was appalling; outrageous in fact, Judge Johnson continued before asking Garda Liam Staunton to act as mediator between the parties until the May 23 sentencing date. I want these gentlemen to seriously consider restitution and recompense in relation to this - this is what restorative justice is all about. Some of the behaviour that was brought to my attention during the course of this trial was disgraceful and should not happen in a civilised society, the Judge continued referring to information received regarding money being offered to witnesses to withdraw from proceedings altogether, and threatening gestures made through the doors of the courtroom to jury members. If there are any problems whatsoever I will revoke bail. Opening matters, Mr John Barnes, Counsel for the State said the case centred around a 50th birthday party that took place in the north Longford bar in March of 2015. A fracas broke out, he added. Damage was caused at the premises and two men were assaulted. In his direct evidence to the court, Garda Staunton said that he arrived at the scene following a call to attend Dillons in Ballinmuck where a disturbance had taken place on the night in question. He said he met with James Mongan who had cuts on the left hand side of his head. One of the cuts was so severe, there was a deep piece of flesh hanging from it, added Garda Staunton before pointing out that the injured party was also covered in blood. AnthonyMongan was also seriously injured. Members of the Mongan family said they were assaulted by the Stokes family. The court was then told that after further investigation, Garda Staunton discovered the ladies toilets at the premises covered in blood, glass strewn across the floors and damage caused to doors and other fixtures and fittings. There was blood everywhere - the scene was horrific, added the Garda. James and Anthony Stokes were taken away from the scene by ambulance and removed to hospital. The injured parties, the court was told, while slow in coming forward to give statements in respect of the matter to the Gardai, eventually did so. During their direct evidence to the court, the Mongan brothers said they had no idea how the fracas started but James was the first to be assaulted and when Anthony went to assist him, he too became injured. They stated clearly in their evidence that they were stabbed with glass and beaten and were in fear for their lives throughout the ordeal. Anthony, the court heard, eventually managed to grab his brother and the pair got to safety by barricading themselves into a toilet cubicle. James lost consciousness at that point, the court was told. During deliberations, Judge Johnson was also critical of the way in which the trial was handled by the State. He said he had been led to believe proceedings would last only three to four days and yet they continued on until day seven at which point the trial collapsed due to a number of factors. It is not satisfactory, the Judge told Mr Barnes BL. This is the first time this has happened in my career, however it will not be a complete waste of time if these men do the right thing. Following a 30 minute break, the defendants and their four barristers returned to the courtroom where they pleaded guilty to the charges before the court. I want peace to reign, added the Judge before adjourning matters to May 23 next. Granard Community Centre hosted a Charity Whist Drive on St Patrick's night to raise funds for Muscular Dystrophy Ireland (MDI). This was the second time in as many years in which Granard Community Centre held a Whist Drive for MDI. The event was organised at the request of 101 year old Anne Byrne from Ardagh, Co Longford who is a regular whist player and requested that all funds raised from this event to go towards support services for adults with muscular dystrophy as her nephew Hubert McCormack (originally from Legan, Co Longford) has muscular dystrophy and has been working for the organisation for over 27 years. Hubert attended on the night and spoke about the work of Muscular Dystrophy Ireland and the importance that events like this make from both an awareness and fundraising perspective. He thanked everyone for attending and buying tickets, and for playing their part in helping to raise the fabulous amount of 783 for MDI. After the event, Anne (who will be 102 in July) told Hubert that she was delighted to be able to continue to help raise funds for MDI and said that she hopes to arrange for another Whist Drive to be held again next year, to mark her 103rd birthday. On behalf of MDI, Hubert would especially like to thank: Martin Clyne and Seamus Coyle (from Granard Community) for agreeing to organise and host this event, his cousins Gerard Leavy and Una Byrne (from Ardagh) for their support, and his aunt Anne for requesting that the proceeds go to MDI. All funds raised have been sent to MDI and will go towards adult support services as requested. Muscular dystrophy is the collective name for a range of neuromuscular conditions, which are characterised by the progressive weakening and wasting of the muscles. It can affect both adults and children. Muscular Dystrophy Ireland aims to provide information and support to people with neuromuscular conditions and their families through a range of support services, such as Family Support Services, Youth Services, Respite Support, Information and Research. For more information about Muscular Dystrophy please visit: www.mdi.ie or call (01) 6236414. As Turkey is a member of EPC, any provision of the EPC has the power of national law and can be directly applicable for European patents validated in Turkey. However as is well known, the EPC does not have many provisions binding the national courts. One of them is Article 138/3 which gives the European patent owner the right to limit the patent in the event of an invalidation action and orders the national court to take the limited version of the patent as the basis of invalidation proceedings. This provision is inconsistent with the national patent law of Turkey. National law permits any kind of amendment in the patent document only during the proceedings before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TPTO) and explicitly forbids any amendment including limitation after grant of the patent. Therefore, the IP courts and the TPTO have rejected applying Article 138/3 in national invalidity proceedings until now. However very recently one of the IP courts in Istanbul applied Article 138/3 and accepted claim limitation in the national proceedings. The invalidation action was filed right after the first grant decision set by the EPO; however the EPO continued with opposition and then appeal proceedings which are still pending. The patent was maintained on the basis of an auxiliary request, which limits the scope of the patent. However as an appeal is continuing the limitation has not been published in the official bulletin yet and therefore the limitation could not be validated in Turkey. The patent owner first requested the court to wait for the outcome of the EPO proceedings and not to render a final decision until the end of the EPO proceedings. However although the Opposition Division (OD) maintained the patent on the basis of the auxiliary request the patent holder was of the opinion that the first granted claim set does meet the patentability criteria,and he also applied to appeal with other opponents. Since the IP Court decided not to wait for the EPO proceedings and decided to render its final decision, as a last attempt to save the patent, the patent owner filed an application for the limitation of the claim set under Article 138/3 of the EPC. Limitation was based on the claim as allowed by the OD. Surprisingly but fairly the Court and the TPTO accepted the claim limitation request of the patent holder. It was important to emphasise to the court that the claim set has become identical with the limited set of claims before the EPO. This may lead us to a new era where there is parallelism between EPC and Turkish patent legislation and also the procedures to obtain a patent will complete each other resulting in consistency between the claims of Turkish and referred European patent. The recent decision of the IP Court and TPTO may also reduce the number of invalidation cases and save patent holders in the same situation from the invalidation of their patents by limiting the claims of the patent before EPO proceedings were resulted or more importantly after EPO proceedings were already finalised. Selin Sinem Erciyas Aysel Korkmaz Gun + PartnersKore Sehitleri Cad. 17Zincirlikuyu 34394Istanbul, TurkeyTel: + (90) (212) 354 00 00Fax: + (90) (212) 274 20 95gun@gun.av.trgun.av.tr The Central Government on Tuesday intervened to prevent the transfer of Malayali officer Sanu Jose arrested by Equatorial Guinea to Nigeria. George Takei George Takei (AP file photo) "Star Trek" actor and LGBT activist George Takei said on Saturday that he will seek the congressional seat held by Republican U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, only to reveal hours later that it was an April Fool's Day prank. Nunes, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, has been criticized in recent days by Democrats and at least one GOP lawmaker for his handling of the probe into possible meddling by Russia during the 2016 presidential election. The Daily Beast reported that Takei, a longtime Los Angeles resident, and his husband bought a ranch-style home in Visalia, which is located in the 22nd District Nunes represents. Questioned by the website, Takei said, "Well, I guess the jig is up. With what is going on now in the country, I couldn't stand by any longer merely as a citizen. I knew I had to take a bigger stand. So that's why I'm running for Congress. My hope is to challenge Devin Nunes for his seat in 2018." Takei, 79, sent to the story to his 2.2 million Twitter followers and 10 million Facebook fans. It was repeated on several websites, though mainstream media websites quickly noted the "news" was broken on April Fool's Day. His brief hoax candidacy was hailed by his fans, but it caused a stir among conservative Republicans on social media. Among the few printable negative remarks was a comment asking "What are the chances of a super-liberal gay outsider moving to and winning an all-red district? Uphill battle!" Another tweeted, "Does Takei have children? It seems to me he is insecure, lonely and needy. It's not fun to be old and gay. Really want him as a politician?" Takei confirmed it was prank hours later by tweeting, "No, I'm not running for Congress. Happy 4/1!" Later, he added, "We're living in a world where every piece of news about the White House could have qualified as an April Fool's headline in years past." Well, the cat's out of the bag it seems. Let's do this! #Takei2018 https://t.co/Wf7qvV1eXj George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) April 1, 2017 BOSTON Four men were arrested in a drug sweep Thursday, and an interagency task force seized more than three pounds of heroin and approximately $200,000 in cash from a gang prosecutors said sold heroin in the Waltham area. The Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Marshals, Haverhill police, Lawrence police and the Suburban Middlesex County Drug Task Force executed search warrants at two residences and two houses used to store drugs in Haverhill and Lawrence. The warrants were executed after a lengthy investigation during which heroin was bought by an undercover investigator. Richard R. Fernandez, 26, of Lawrence, Jose C. Torres, 27., of Haverhill, Angel G. Rivera, 36, of Haverhill and Luis Humberto Arias-Lara, 41, of Lowell were taken into custody and each is being charged with distribution and possession with the intent to distribute heroin. The Eagle Tribune reported that the four are being held by the U.S. Marshal's Service pending preliminary hearings April 6. The charges of distribution and possession with the intent to distribute carry a potential sentence of 20 years in federal prison and up to lifetime supervised release. Fines range up to $1 million. The Suburban Middlesex County Drug Task Force is made up of officers from the Waltham, Watertown, Newton, Arlington, Belmont, Weston and Lexington police departments. John Morrison mug.jpg John Morrison, formerly of Northampton, was arrested in San Francisco on March 13, 2017, and faces felony child pornography charges. (SFPD) NORTHAMPTON -- A co-founder of the once-iconic Pleasant Street Theater has been arraigned on child pornography charges in California. John Morrison, 71, was arrested at his home in San Francisco's Crocker Amazon neighborhood on March 13 after a search turned up numerous devices with hundreds of videos and images, including ones showing minors in sex acts with adults, according to various news reports. Police obtained a warrant after launching an investigation in November into an individual who was uploading and trading child pornography through a smartphone messaging app. Morrison is charged with one count of possession of child pornography and three counts of distribution of child pornography, all felonies. He allegedly had more than 600 images, including more than 10 depicting children under the age of 12 and some depicting acts of sexual sadism or masochism. Morrison ran children's outreach programs for a nonprofit film institute in Marin County, and was education director at the California Film Institute in San Francisco. His involvement in the institute's programs is the subject of an ongoing investigation. He resigned from the institute soon after his arrest. Morrison served as Ward 4 City Councilor in Northampton for several terms in the 1990s. He wrote film reviews for The Valley Advocate and Disney Magazine. Morrison opened the Pleasant Street Theater in 1976 with business partner Richard Pini. After the art house theater closed in 2007 under different ownership, the Amherst Cinema Arts Center re-opened its doors, but it closed for good in 2012. Morrison was also co-founder of the related Pleasant Street Video store, which closed in 2011 after a 25-year run. Morrison moved to San Francisco in 1999, according to his LinkedIn profile, where he describes himself as "a practicing Buddhist and meditator and a fading Marxist." "Presently I am also the Co-Block Captain for my Neighborhood Watch in San Francisco and have recently been appointed to the Citizens Advisory Committee for the San Francisco Transportation Authority," Morrison's profile states. Anyone with more information on the case, and potential victims, is asked to call the SFPD Special Victims Unit at 415-558-5500. heroin.jpg A State Trooper discovered 25,000 packets of heroin in a New York man's car on Tuesday evening. (Massachusetts State Police ) SPRINGFIELD - A New York man was arrested in Springfield on Tuesday evening and is now facing a heroin trafficking charge. 37-year-old Rey Flores was behind the wheel of a Chevy Equinox headed east on Route 291 in Springfield when a State Trooper noticed he had failed to stop at the bottom of the Dwight Street exit. The Trooper proceeded to pull him over. Over the course of the motor vehicle stop the Trooper searched Flores's vehicle, discovering a hidden compartment holding 25,000 packets of heroin with a street value of over $100,000. Flores now faces one charge of heroin trafficking. He was booked at the Springfield State Police Barracks before being transferred to the Hampshire House of Correction for lack of $10,000 bail. Boston drug gun arrest Curet A father and son are charged with distributing drugs in Roslindale after police raided their Fawndale Road home and found "large amounts" of narcotics and a loaded gun. Entered April 1, 2017. (Courtesy: Boston Police Dept.) BOSTON - A father and son are charged with distributing drugs in Roslindale after police raided their Fawndale Road home and found "large amounts" of narcotics and a loaded gun. Harold Curet Sr., 57, and Harold Curet Jr., 38, were arrested Friday morning without incident, according to Boston police. Police executed a search warrant at 158 Fawndale Road at around 10 a.m. Officers recovered "large amounts of various Class E Drugs, seven medium bags of marijuana, a small amount of heroin," a loaded revolver, 95 rounds of ammunition and $369 in cash, police said. Class E drugs include codeine, morphine and opium. Police did not immediately specify which of these substances were found. The elder Curet is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, four counts of possession with intent to distribute Class E drugs, possession of heroin and being an armed career criminal. Curet Jr. is charged with unlawful possession of ammunition and possession with intent to distribute Class D drugs. Marijuana is a Class D substance. Both suspects will be arraigned in West Roxbury District Court. Michael Pina fentanyl Lawrence Michael Pina, 21, of Lawrence, is charged with trafficking in fentanyl, the synthetic opioid responsible for a surge in overdose deaths across Massachusetts, after he ran away from a traffic stop in North Reading. Entered April 1, 2017. (Courtesy: North Reading Police Dept.) NORTH READING - A 21-year-old man from Lawrence is charged with trafficking in fentanyl, the synthetic opioid responsible for a surge in overdose deaths across Massachusetts, after he ran away from a traffic stop. On March 29, Michael Pina was pulled over in North Reading for running a red light at the intersection of Main Street and Lowell Road. Pina fled and was soon picked up by another man driving a minivan. North Reading police notified other law enforcement agencies, and he was soon arrested in Lawrence by Massachusetts State Police. In a news release, North Reading police said they recovered 22 small plastic bags filled with a powdery substance, which was found to be 14 grams of fentanyl. Pina is charged with trafficking in a Class A substance, failure to stop for police, giving a false name and address to a police officer, failure to stop for a red light and driving with a suspended license as a subsequent offense. He was arraigned Thursday in Woburn District Court. "Fentanyl is an extremely dangerous substance that has made the nationwide opioid epidemic even worse," said North Reading Police Chief Michael Murphy. "Thankfully, multiple police departments worked together to quickly locate an alleged drug trafficker and remove a quantity of drugs from circulation." The Wakefield and Wilimington police departments also assisted with the arrest. TYNGSBOROUGH - Police are searching for two suspects who stole drugs from the Tyngsborough Family Pharmacy early Saturday morning, then fled across the New Hampshire state line. Just before 6 a.m., a 911 caller reported a break-in at the pharmacy on Middlesex Road. The caller said the suspects fled in a gray pickup truck with a yellow strobe light on the roof. An officer spotted the vehicle, occupied by two males, and tried to pull it over. The driver fled, leading to a pursuit onto Westford Road and then Route 3. Police ended the pursuit at the New Hampshire state line "due to concerns for public safety," Tyngsborough police in a news release. The vehicle is described as a gray Dodge Ram pickup truck with chrome wheel rims, a yellow strobe light on the roof and Florida license plates containing the letters D and X. Police believe the break-in may be related to a similar but unspecified incident "that occurred recently in a nearby community." Anyone with information about the crime or the suspect's vehicle should immediately call Tyngsborough Police at 978-649-7504. Ask for Detective Sergeant Cynthia Shay or Detective Peter Kullusich, or press "9" to leave an anonymous tip. DANBURY, Conn. Two Connecticut men were arrested Thursday in connection with a year-old investigation into sex trafficking of mentally ill and drug-addicted men living in a state-funded Danbury half-way house. Danbury police and the FBI said Bruce Bemer of Glastonbury was charged with patronizing a trafficked person after police said he paid for sex with men provided by Robert King on Danbury. William Trefzger, 71, of Westport was also charged with patronizing a trafficked person, but police allege he was also an organizer of the sex ring. The Hartford Courant and WTNH-TV reported that authorities allege that King and Trefzger organized a sex ring at a mobile home King owned in Danbury and coerced men from a live-in program provided by Ability Beyond Disability, Inc., at 19 Cleveland St. in Danbury, to provide sexual services for money and drugs. The private company provides state grant funded counseling, medication and training in independent living skills for men with psychological and mental disabilities, and drug dependency histories. King was arrested in August of 2016 and has been held in jail since pending trail. He faces charges of promoting prostitution and tampering with a witness. State prosecutors alleged that more than a dozen men were used as prostitutes at one time or another during the life of the ring. Bemer was arraigned in Danbury Superior Court Thursday and released on $500,000 bond. He is expected back in court April 26. SAUGUS - Police are investigating "a fatal automobile incident" that left a woman trapped under her own car in a gas station parking lot. Officers responded to the Sunoco station at 700 Broadway, Route 1, shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday. A 36-year-old woman somehow became trapped under her Chevrolet Captiva and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. Investigators are trying to determine the circumstances of her death. The Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section is assisting. The victim's name is being withheld at this time. cuffs.jpg (The Republican) SPRINGFIELD - A West Springfield man has been jailed after allegedly beating his daughter with a shoe for staying too long at her robotics team meeting. Ian Osbourne, 38, pleaded not guilty Friday in Springfield District Court to assault and battery on a child with injury and two related charges. He was arrested Thursday after the girl showed up at Agawam High School with injuries to her face and hand. Questioned by school officials, she said her father had beaten her with his hands and a shoe the night before, according to the arrest report. Osbourne was angry because he had to wait an hour before giving her a ride home from a robotics team meeting at the high school, the report said. "He yelled at her all the way home, saying she was disrespectful," the 15-year-old told police. At home, Osbourne slapped her in the face, breaking her glasses, and then came to her room, striking her in the arms, legs and face with the bottom of a shoe, the report said. At school the next day, the right side of her face was bruised and one of her hands was swollen from fending off the blows, the report said. Osbourne had hit her many times before and had been arrested in Texas for assaulting her mother, the girl told police. Later in the day, the Department of Children and Families, which had previous dealings with the family, removed the girl and her two younger siblings from the home, the report said. Osbourne was arrested and held overnight for a court appearance Friday. Assistant District Attorney Cary Szafranski asked for $10,000 bail, citing the new charges and Osbourne's criminal history. For the past 30 months, he has been in default in a drug case in Newburyport District Court and has convictions on his record, the prosecutor said. She asked Judge John Payne to revoke his bail in the drug case, effectively jailing him for 90 days. Defense lawyer Peter Lane asked for $1,000 bail, and urged the judge not to jail his client on the bail violation. Osbourne contests much of the girl's account, Lane said, before adding that parents in Massachusetts are allowed to use corporal punishment. All three siblings have been placed with their grandparents, according to Lane, who said his client would comply with any court order to stay away from them. "$10,000 bail is excessive," Lane said. Payne set bail at $2,500 on the new charges and revoked Osbourne's bail in the Newburyport drug case. Under the ruling, he will be held without right to bail for the next 90 days. Osbourne is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on the new charges on May 5. 20083890-mmmain.jpg Developer Cinda Jones is looking for a brand name for Amherst. (Republican file) AMHERST -- Cinda Jones has issued a $100 challenge -- she's looking for a slogan for Amherst and is willing to pay a C-note to the winner. In an email, the W.D. Cowls Inc. president and Mill District developer explained why: "Over the past decade as a local business person, former Chamber of Commerce board member and president, and current BID board member, I've been starving for a home run of a brand for the awesome town that's Amherst," she wrote. "I recently began really pushing to do something about this." "Brands and slogans are hard to come up with," Jones continued. "They have to be unique to just one place and they have to promise and deliver a value. Amherst is such a cultural, economic and gastronomical bonanza ... you'd think coming up with a sassy tagline would be easy. But it's really not." "The last thing I'm going to do is ask someone out in Oklahoma to figure us out," Jones said, alluding to the controversial rebranding of the Pioneer Valley as "West Mass" by an out-of-state consultant hired by the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. "We know ourselves best and we have the best chance of coming up with a winning brand," Jone wrote. "I've been informally meeting with a rather shady and unofficial group (of) arts/organization/business/writing/drinking friends trying to come up with a home run of a town identity. "We've gotten so far and so close, but it just feels like if we open up the question to a greater audience, someone will really call Amherst like it is and give us a slogan -- a brand we can be proud of. The slogan "Amherst, MA: Where only the 'h' is silent," which appears on T-shirts sold by A.J. Hastings Inc., has been around since at least 2008, when residents were preparing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the town's founding. Jones, though, is looking for something new. "People who love and can laugh at our college town ought be able to come up with a sassy sentence to represent it," she said. "It's one way for local folks to put all those Ph.D.s to use." Help! Amherst needs a brand. A slogan. A tag line. What's your idea?!?! $100 goes to the BEST (most potentially... Posted by The Mill District on Thursday, March 30, 2017 People can post suggestions on the Mill District Facebook page. Suggestions so far include "Smart women, Minute men," "Where history and hipsters collide" and "Telling people what to think for 250 years." Richard Neal in Pittsfield U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, highlighted ways Berkshire County residents can make their voices heard and effect change during remarks at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield on Saturday, April 1, 2017. (Shannon Young | The Republican) PITTSFIELD -- Touting the power of civic engagement in wake of the 2016 election cycle, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, highlighted ways Berkshire County residents can make their voices heard and affect change at a Pittsfield forum Saturday. The congressman, who kicked off a series of morning civic participation workshops at Berkshire Community College, encouraged attendees to speak out on issues they find important, but cautioned them against failing to acknowledge opponents' concerns -- something which he argued could exacerbate the current division in American politics. Pointing to lessons he learned from organizing George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign in Western Massachusetts and his time on Capitol Hill, Neal argued that Democrats must appeal beyond their base and do more to win back support in historically red states. The congressman noted that while the U.S. House was comprised of Democrats from across the country when he entered congress, now one-third of House Democrats hail from Massachusetts, New York and California. "I've been forthwith aggressively arguing time and again that the path to 218 has to include some of them again" he said. "You are not going to win anymore seats in Massachusetts." Neal further stressed that Democrats must listen to and acknowledge opponents' concerns before presenting them with fact-based data, if they want to broaden the party's base. "If you grew up in the 60s you're for free speech, the right to hear things that you don't want to hear. And if you grew up in the 1960s we weren't seeking safe spaces: We thought everything should be put under the magnifying glass of critical analysis," he said. Contending that Democrats are united, the congressman also encouraged Democratic attendees to focus on wooing divided Republicans and independents, who are unsure of whom to believe, by presenting them with facts "in a pleasant way." "I don't think that when we find ourselves in disagreement with somebody, if we out-shout them, then we're right," he said. "You challenge them based on what they've said and you take apart the arguments based on what they've said." Becky Meier, who organized the BCC and Four Freedoms Coalition-sponsored workshops, said the event came in response to Berkshire County residents' efforts to become more politically engaged in the wake of the 2016 election. "I think it's wonderful that people are taking their citizenship responsibilities seriously, but a lot of people don't have the tools and the skills and the knowledge to know what to do ... So we designed a series of workshops that will give people the tools to become civically engaged," she said in an interview. Sessions included in the daylong workshop event focused on how to run for office, write a letter to the editor, contact legislators and to have conversations across the political aisle. State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, and State Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, also attended the event. Kevin Brady,Richard Neal House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, left, listens to the committee's ranking member, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 8, 2017, as the committee began markup of the long-awaited plan by Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (J. Scott Applewhite) With the White House turning its attention to tax system overhauls, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, said he will push President Donald Trump's administration to ensure that any such changes benefit all Americans -- not just those at the top. Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, remained firm Saturday in his opposition to cuts that disproportionately benefit wealthy Americans, contending the tax system should improve the quality of life for all. The congressman said he plans to make that argument to Vice President Mike Pence, whom he is tentatively set to meet with on Monday, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who is expected to sit down with panel Democrats on Wednesday. Although the Springfield Democrat said there is widespread support for overhauling the tax system, he argued that varying opinions on what those changes should entail creates challenges. "We're going to move now toward a discussion on tax reform, which is going to be very, very difficult," he said in an interview. "Everybody agrees on what's wrong with the tax system, that's kind of where the agreement ends. In trying to repair it, that's where there's disagreements." Neal added that House Republicans' failure to come to consensus on health system changes also does not bode well for success on tax overhauls. "One of the interesting parts of the Affordable Care Act (debate) was on Thursday of last week when they had 30 votes on the Republican side against (House Speaker Paul) Ryan's plan. Then they explained it, they had 50 against it. And it's of note that the chairman of the Appropriations Committee - a Republican - when he says he's against it, you know how hard that is it for committee chairman of a majority party to be against what the president of their own party is saying?" he said. "I think that portends what could be difficult going forward on tax reform." Ryan, however, said he's optimistic about the House's chances to modify the tax system in a recent CBS interview. "I'm still confident we're going to get tax reform, because we, Republicans, this is in our DNA. Cleaning up the IRS, cleaning up the tax code, making America more competitive, getting jobs and manufacturing restored to America, restoring tax rates to make us more competitive: that's something we all agree on," he said. "We don't have a schism whatsoever in our party on that." Neal further said he hopes to avoid reverting to tax policies like those seen under former President George W. Bush, which he argued left middle-class Americans with "virtually nothing." "I think the most important thing is a tax system that improves the quality of life for all members of the Americans people," he said. "And that reality will play out when you see their proposal on distribution tables: who gets what." White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Thursday that the administration was beginning work on tax policy changes and "weighing the best option to develop a plan that will provide significant middle-class tax relief and make American businesses more competitive." "The president is committed to delivering results that the American people and American businesses will be able to see and feel in their paychecks," he added. Trump, throughout his White House run, called for revisions to the individual and corporate tax codes, including: collapsing the current seven individual income tax brackets to three; increasing the standard deduction for joint filers from $12,600 to $30,000; lowering the business tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent; and eliminating the corporate alternative minimum tax. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. A group of white blood cells has been found to play an important role in bringing the replication of the harmful virus, BK polyomavirus (BKPyV), under control after kidney transplantations. The findings by a research group at the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel could contribute to: improving control of immunosuppression avoiding transplant rejection developing relevant vaccines The harmful BK polyomavirus was first identified as a cause of early transplantation failure more than ten years ago at the University Hospital Basel. Advertisement Behaviour - Repetitive behaviors Communications - difficulty communicating and interacting with others They may exhibit very focused interests Resource Person for World Health Organization Projects Projects Expert for Indian Council of Medical Research Geriatrics Research Committee & Disability Research Group Geriatrics Research Committee & Disability Research Group National Board of Examinations Curriculum Review Committee Founder Director of Indian Federation of Neurorehabilitation Editor of Newsletter of Indian Stroke Society and Peer Reviewer for various International Journals Stanford Veterans Affairs Hospital, Palo Alto Health Care System, Stanford University, California, USA Singapore General Hospital, Singapore Case Western Reserve University Hospital, Cleveland, USA Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland Medindia spoke to the President of the Centre for Child and Adolescent Wellbeing, Dr. Deepak Gupta & Dr. Abhishek Srivastava, the WHO resource person forThere are approx. 10 million children within India but there are very few centres or resource people to help these children. There is lack of awareness about the condition among parents, teachers and even among the medical professionals. Help is often sought late and late corrective measures do not yield the same results as early interventions.group of neurological developmental disordersGenerally the symptoms appear before three years of age but the diagnosis is often delayed.Children and adults with ASD often have the following common characteristics:These symptoms results in difficulty to function socially, at school or work, or other areas of life.The symptoms may be mild when it is not so noticeable or severe. When severe it leads to disability. Early intervention and treatment improve a person's symptoms and ability to function. There's no " known cure" for ASD, however interventions such as speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and educational support can help the children.The President of the Centre for Child and Adolescent Wellbeing,answered the following question about the condition and the carnival - for MedindiaThe main challenge is lack of awareness, people don't know where to go, who to speak to and how to go about obtaining treatment. The knowledge available with pediatricians and family members should be improved.The next challenge is there are not enough places for international strategies to be implemented with a lack of the right resource people to implement them. There are very few centres which are dedicated to helping children with autism. There are 10 million children with autism in India and the available resource people cannot cater to the needs of all of them.This carnival is a great place for families to unwind,most parents claim that their child is very difficult to manage in the house, but the carnival show them in a truly different light. It is held in a farmhouse where the children get to play outside with no restrictions.This provides them the support to showcase their talent, we have already obtained 40 entries and had to close registrations as it would then become difficult to manage. There has been growing popularity since 2013, when the idea was started.Have people with autism been able to secure jobs through this carnival? Do you invite prospective employers?Their talent lies mainly in the arts and music arena, so last year we invited people from multimedia.This year too we have invited people from the hospitality industry. 'Spectrum Stars' is a unique program, where 5 talents will be projected. One is that of a girl in her mid-twenties who is good at canvassing for products or services. Another is a young man who is a good content writer while another 19 year old boy sketches well and has even drawn a sketch of my face recently.Currently we are funded by private agencies but we are confident that we will receive Government funding soon. Our Chief Guest is Mr. Mukesh Jain, Joint Secretary & Chief Executive Officer, National Trust of India, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India.Medindia also spoke to, Director of The Center for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Kokilabhai Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. Dr. Srivastava has a triple PhD and won the "Young Physician's Scholarship" from World Stroke Organization, IAPMR Gold Medal, Best Research Paper form Neurological Society of India, IAPMR Dadhichi Award and Dr Anisya Vasanth Award for his exemplary research studies. He is aHe has received fellowships fromI work with stroke and brain injury which lead me to autism. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in this area, increase awareness and sufficiently support people with autism.In India, 1 or 2 per 1000 have autism.The main method of identification is through lack of social communication expressed by people with autism. They will draw back into a shell and will be unable to deal with their peers.Children with autism also have repetitive behavior. They keep doing the same things again and again, which could be either motor behavior or an activity that the child repeats multiple times.Diagnosing the condition too late will lead to child not being self- sufficient as the right guidance for integration into the society would not have been provided. Such children will begin to face the ire of social stigma and which will keep them further away from society. As a result, the individual may not be able to gain employment.Children with very serious case of autism will fell drained and will not be trainable if they are diagnosed too late.It depends upon the type of autism that the child has.There are three types of autism that is present, mild, moderate and severe. A person with mild autism will be able to lead an independent life with adequate training, however, an individual with severe autism will require lifelong full time care.Yes they say that Einstein and Newton had certain autistic features.Parents need to make their autistic children independent and they require plenty of help and resources for that. If their child has a severe form of autism, then they need to find life long care for their child.Parents should ensure that their autistic child is taught self care, undergoes speech therapy and is provided with vocational training which will help secure jobs.Robots and humanoids are a requirement for the Western communities where most families are nuclear families. In India, where the joint family system is still very popular, there will be no need for such technology.My most uplifting moment is when I see an autistic patient of mine secure a job or get into mainstream schooling.We in India require many medical professionals to champion the cause of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Our two doctors are doing the best to create awareness and form support groups for this disorder in India.Source: Medindia Lets go back to the days when men were men and arguments were settled with a bullet. The Western is the quintessential tough guy genre and for good reason! The characters were badasses who were only doing the right thing, villains always got what was coming to them and the musical scores, oh the musical scores. This weekend, were going through some of the best Western films ever made and you can check them out below. 1. Unforgiven (1992) Malpaso Productions Directed and produced by Clint Eastwood, this movie is a dark western that shows the uglier side of violence. Set in 1880, the movie follows William Munny, also played by Eastwood, an aging gunfighter and former killer who takes up one more job years after turning into a farmer. Eastwood bought the rights to the script on the 70s, but waited till he was old enough to play the protagonist himself and looking at the movies success and Oscar wins, it was totally worth the wait. 2. Tombstone (1993) Hollywood Pictures Named after and based on the events in Tombstone, Arizona, the movie depicts a retelling of one of America's founding myths the Gunfight at the OK Corral. The movie follows the most famous Old West lawman, Wyatt Earp, played by Kurt Russell, as he retires and settles in the town of Tombstone, but his respectable business is interrupted when a gang called the Cowboys starts causing trouble in the area. Fast-moving and full of action, Tombstone has definitely earned its place as a western classic. 3. Bone Tomahawk (2015) Caliber Media Company A horror western film set in the 1890s, simply put, the movie follows four men out in the wild to rescue captives from a bunch of cannibalistic cave dwellers. The Troglodytes, who are basically mutant flesh-eaters, bring out a different and gory side to the usual western theme. A horror western movie is rare, but when its so well made with an impeccable cast of Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox and Richard Jenkins, it surely becomes a must-watch. 4. Django Unchained (2012) Columbia Pictures Set in the Deep South during the antebellum era, Django Unchained is a perfect reimagining of the spaghetti Western. The movie follows Django, an African-American slave who teams up with Dr. King Schultz, a German bounty hunter, pretending to be a travelling dentist. Dr. Schultz buys Django and promises him his freedom in exchange for his help in collecting a large bounty. Full of visual and narrative references, this is a quintessential Quentin Tarantino film. 5. Hell or High Water (2016) Sidney Kimmel Entertainment A neo-western crime thriller, the film follows two brothers who are desperate to save their family ranch and end up carrying out a series of bank robberies to do it. With great performances by Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, and Ben Foster, and an excellent underlying family melodrama, no wonder this movie received widespread critical acclaim and a bunch of prestigious nominations. 6. Magnificent Seven (1960) Mirisch Company The movie follows a group of seven gunfighters hired to protect a small village in Mexico from a group of marauding bandits and their leader. Even though its a remake of Akira Kurosawas 1954 classic, The Seven Samurai, John Sturges manages to make this western adaptation completely stand out. 7. Mackennas Gold (1969) Highroad Productions, Inc. The movie is about a group of men who are being led by a questionable sheriff and a wanted bandit, as they search the desert for a lost canyon of gold which is protected by and belonging to Native Americans and their traditions. Even though Mackennas Gold didnt do that well in the US, it remained the top grossing Hollywood movie in India for a really long time. 8. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) Produzioni Europee Association Probably the most accurate depiction of the violent American West, the plot of the movie revolves around three gunslingers competing with each other to find a fortune in a buried cache of Confederate gold amid the violent chaos of the American Civil War, while also having to compete in many battles and duels along the way. This is also considered as the best western movie by a lot of people. 9. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) Jolly Film A Fistful of Dollars is about a wandering gunfighter who pits two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge. The first edition of what came to be known as the Dollar Trilogy, these movies were behind Clint Eastwood catapulting into stardom. 10. 3:10 To Yuma (2007) Relativity Media 3:10 To Yuma follows a drought-impoverished rancher, played by Christian Bale, who takes on the risky job of bringing a notorious outlaw, played by Russell Crowe, to justice. Even though this is a remake of the 1957 movie of the same name, the incredible acting, and the cinematography behind the film gives it a whole new perspective. BAD AXE Huron Countys circuit judge denied a former Caseville womans motion to withdraw her guilty plea stemming from an incident that began with a $300 drug debt owed to her husband last summer. Rebecca P. Williams, 47, is currently an inmate lodged in the Womens Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti. She was sentenced last August to a minimum term of one year and three months maximum 30 years on one count of delivery of hydrocodone. The punishment stems from an incident last May where Williams neighbor appeared to be coming down from a high and she offered him some pills, which he denied, but later took. Williams gave the neighbor two hydrocodone pills and a third pill was later recovered on the ground outside of the duplex. Williams was arrested May 4 and took a plea agreement two weeks later, which led to her pleading guilty to the hydrocodone charge and her habitual offender status was reduced from fourth to second. Judge Gerald M. Prill listened to arguments from Dory A. Brown, Williams new attorney, regarding a motion to withdraw the plea on Monday during circuit court proceedings. Brown argued that the pills recovered were indeed hydrocodone, but were mixed or stepped on with other chemical compounds. Hydrocodone is classified as a Schedule II drug on the Drug Enforcement Administrations (DEA) list. Brown said because the pills werent 100 percent pure, they should be considered a Schedule III drug, which would change Williams charge to a seven-year offense as opposed to a 15-year offense. Huron County Prosecutor Timothy J. Rutkowski told the judge that a statue passed by the federal government three years ago made Browns arguments invalid. In 2014, the DEA upped hydrocodone from a Schedule III drug to Schedule II. However, the statue didnt go into effect in Michigan until April 19, 2016 15 days prior to Williams arrest. Rutkowski said the schedule change was effective before the defendants date of offense. Thats like someone having cocaine and not charging them with possession of cocaine because it was mixed with something else, Rutkowski said. Prill told the prosecutor and attorney he felt Williams was properly charged according to the statue. The plea was knowingly and willingly taken, Prill said. I find no basis to withdraw the plea and it will stand as is. Williams will be up for parole on Aug. 3, according to Michigans Department of Corrections. Her maximum discharge date is May 3, 2046. Camp Lejeune Town Halls Aim to Help Those Exposed to Toxic Water. Heres How You Can Go. Retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger made it his mission to tell the world that if they lived or served on Camp Lejeune... Writing from his Fort Leavenworth, Kansas cell on death row, Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan has declared he is going on a "99 pound hunger strike," according to a letter reviewed by Fox News. The former Army psychiatrist, who opened fire on unarmed fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009, killed 13 people and injured 31 that day. Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013 and continues to declare himself an SoA, "soldier of Allah." Hasan stated in the handwritten letter that by going on a hunger strike, he will "reduce and then maintain a total body weight of 99 pounds" while protesting "America's hatred for [Shariah] Laws." On March 27, Lt. Gen. Sean B. MacFarland, the commanding general at Fort Hood, issued a statement effectively saying Hasan will not be dismissed by the U.S. Army until he is executed. "In the case of Major Nidal M. Hasan (redacted) ... the sentence is approved and, except for that portion of the sentence pertaining to a Dismissal from the Service and being put to death, will be executed," he wrote. Hasan's civilian attorney John Galligan told Fox News they are looking at a "very lengthy appellate process -- initially via the military appellate courts ... then on to the Supreme Court and thereafter through the tangled web of federal courts." Retired Staff Sgt, Shawn Manning, who was shot six times by Hasan, told Fox News senior executive producer Pamela Browne, "The fact that this guy who has no regard for human life still thinks he still has the right to make a statement is tragic." Nearly eight years after the attack, Manning is still mired in the military's appeal process to receive combat-related benefits for his injuries. Manning's next hearing is scheduled for April 11 at Fort Lewis, Wash. Manning and 41 of his fellow soldiers injured and killed at Fort Hood were finally awarded Purple Hearts in 2015. Hasan's 2009 massacre finally ended when he was shot by civilian police officer Sgt. Kimberly Munley. Hasan, now partially paralyzed, is one of six inmates on military death row at Fort Leavenworth. Galligan maintains the trial was not fair. "If Major Hasan dies while the mandatory appellate process is pending, the findings and sentence will be set aside," Galligan said. "Millions of dollars were wasted on this show trial but as I said repeatedly, he did not receive a fair trial at Fort Hood." 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Since we started this search, we've heard all sorts of names for this sandwich. And while the most common name for this layered delicacy of meats, cheeses, vegetables and condiments stuffed into a long, crusty roll might be "sub", it also goes by a variety of other names. Mostly regional in their usage, these different names vary across the country. Don't Edit Submarine With the advent of national sub chains, "submarine" is the most common term used for the sandwich. The resemblance of the sandwich to and actual military submarine is indisputable. Some sources claim that the name "sub" came out of Connecticut, which during World War II, was the site of the United States Navy's primary submarine base. This may have led to the name spreading from the Northeastern region to the rest of the country, but the name was already in use prior to the war, possibly as early as 1910. If you get an extra long sub, or one over stuffed with extra ingredients it's known as a "battleship" or "destroyer' sandwich. I'll take two destroyers please. Thank you. Don't Edit Grinder If you call it a "grinder" you are most likely from New England. This name either has it's origins in the fact that the traditional roll used is crusty and can be hard to chew, or in an Italian American slang term used to refer to dock workers, who regularly enjoyed these sandwiches. Out East, if the sub is hot, it is referred to as a grinder. If it's served cold, it is called a sub. And if you are from out East and now live in Michigan, you probably argue with your friends about this all the time. Don't Edit MARCIA BUTTERFIELD Don't Edit Hoagie In 1992, Mayor Ed Rendell declared the "hoagie" the official sandwich of Philadelphia. There is a lot of debate about the origin of this name. A few versions: In the late 1800's poor people were referred to as "on the hoke". In South Philly, deli owners would put scrap meats and cheeses on a hard roll known as a "homie" as a free give away to the destitute. Italian Americans mispronounced it as "hoagie" and the name stuck. The name might have originated out on Hog Island, a World War I era shipyard located in Philadelphia. Italian Americans enjoyed the sandwich as a portable lunch, and the "Hog Island Sandwich" got shortened to "hoggie" then "hoagie". In the early 20th century, men who sold antipasto, meats, and buns on the streets of Philly were known as "Hokey Pokey" men. Someone at some point had the brilliant idea to stuff the antipasto INTO the bun, and the hoagie was born. Don't Edit Don't Edit This term comes from New York City, and can apply to any sandwich that comes on a long roll, with any type of Italian flavor. They can be hot or cold. So when in the Big Apple, be a hero and order one. Don't Edit Bradley S. Pines Don't Edit Wedge From the three counties located just north of New York City, comes this term. Residents of Westchester, Putnam and Fairfield counties refer to the sandwich as a "wedge". This might derive from the slice made in the top of the roll, to create two wedges. Or maybe from the sandwich maker having to wedge in the fillings. It could also come from an Italian deli owner who shortened "sandwich" to "wich" which sounded like "wedge" when said with an accent. Don't Edit Spuckie If you call a sub sandwich "spuckie' you most definitely are from Boston. This term comes from the Italian word "spuccadella" which is the type of bread roll that was used for this sandwich. And of course, people debate whether it originated in the North End or in Southie. We'll let Bostonians continue that debate, and instead focus on eating our spuckie. Don't Edit Bradley S. Pines Don't Edit Don't Edit Po'Boy Maybe not filled with traditional Italian inspired meats and cheeses, the "po'boy" is what Gulf Coast residents (and specifically Louisiana) refer to fluffy french bread stuffed with all sorts of things. Fresh fried seafood is common, as is sloppy roast beef. Ask for it "dressed" and your po'boy will come with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise. Don't Edit eizX Sometimes shortened to just "zep", this is a local speciality of Eastern Pennsylvania, specifically from Norristown. This is always a single meat sandwich, featuring cotto salami, provolone cheese, tomatoes, onions, oregano, and peppers in oil all nestled onto a slightly wider than normal hoagie roll. Nice and simple, and simply tasty. Don't Edit Amy Sherman | asherma2@mlive.com Don't Edit Bomber Central New York state birthed this name, and it generally refers to an extra large sub. Don't Edit Italian In Maine, they call subs just simply "Italians". Featuring traditional Italian cured meats and cheeses, these are traditional subs in every sense, where a balance of flavors, from fatty to spicy, to pickled all blend together into something delicious. Invention of the Italian is claimed by Giovanni Amato, a baker in Portland, Maine, who back in 1903, would sell bread from his street cart to dock workers at lunch time. They requested the addition of meat to the roll, and the Italian was born. Don't Edit Don't Edit Rex Larsen | Grand Rapids Press Don't Edit What did we miss? Do you use another term for a sub sandwich? We'd love to know about it, tell us in the comments. Don't forget to vote for your favorite sub in Michigan. Polls are open until April 7. More Michigan's Best Red Coat Tavern has Detroit's Best burger. Cool things we found on our search for Michigan's Best bowling alley. Iva's Chicken Dinners, one of Michigan's Best for fried chicken, is now open. Funny, how wondrous imagery is rendered forgettable when it's at the service of a lackluster story. "Ghost in the Shell" is akin to building an architectural masterpiece on a shifting fissure - without a foundation of character and theme, a gorgeous construct crumbles in the halls of memory. Rupert Sanders' movie remakes, in live action with a meticulously coiffed, made-up and costumed Scarlett Johansson, the 1995 Japanese animation ("anime") of the same name, itself based on Masmune Shirow's comic book. My memory of the original, viewed two decades ago, is impressionistic - I recall headtrip-cyberpunk imagery, and an alien sense of time, place and character. The film is considered a classic of its genre, and in a larger context, it's a cinematic signpost, the first true attempt at pushing anime to mainstream audiences (even if it proved too artsy for mainstream success). To refresh myself on the anime, I looked up Roger Ebert's 1996 Chicago Sun-Times review: "There is much moody talk in the movie about what it is to be human. All the information accumulated in a lifetime, we learn, is less than a drop in the ocean of information, and perhaps a creature that can collect more information and hold onto it longer is... more than human. In describing this vision of an evolving intelligence, Corinthians is evoked twice: 'For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as I am known." The remake, unfortunately, doesn't follow through with such impressive thematic ambitions. It's far simpler in plot, and more transparent in its Hollywood calculation, dropping a Jason Bourne/RoboCop hybrid hero into the future-noir vision of "Blade Runner," with the stylized action flourishes of "The Matrix." Sanders' "Snow White and the Huntsman" suffered from a similarly suffocating sense of grim self-importance, and passably generic approach to action. One other thing I remember about watching the anime: thinking about nothing but this strange, beautiful and original work revealing itself in front of me. That did not occur with the new movie. Johansson plays Major, a human brain transplanted in a synthetic body, the first of her kind. The film's opening scenes depict her "birth" and awakening, and the kind eyes of Dr. Ouelet (Juliette Binoche) welcome her to the world. The doctor asks if she recalls "the accident," in which Major's refugee parents were killed when terrorists sank their boat. Major goes into convulsions. Next, the subtitle: "ONE YEAR LATER." Major takes a Batman-style pose atop a skyscraper in futuristic Tokyo, where elevated highways cut between buildings enveloped in towering, holographic advertisements. A pseudo-Vangelis synthesizer hums on the soundtrack. The city bursts with bustling color and movement; it's overwhelming, a vision blending the extremes of wondrous art and crass commerce. Major strips down to a near-nude bodysuit and leaps off the building. She can somehow navigate the airways without harness or tether, she's an expert martial artist and markswoman, she can communicate telepathically, and she can render herself invisible. She's some type of corporate-government supercop, investigating a scheme to steal information directly from the brains of robotics scientists. In a scene memorable mostly for its functionality, an alarmingly strange geisha robot - one of the film's garishly creepy, effectively tactile visual effects - violently ports into a man's skull, hacking his mind. (This is a world where many humans enjoy the luxuries of cerebral cybernetic enhancements.) Major fills the robot with bullets, and her next task is to uncover the who, what and why of the plot. I struggled to parse the nature of Major's abilities, which are never clearly defined or explained. A scene in which she's captured, and forced to fight a group of men while handcuffed to a pole, is directed with generic style, more of a rote exercise than a thrilling display of her superhuman abilities. More time clearly was spent on costume and art direction than choreography. Her warrior abilities are extraordinary, but inconsistent; one moment, she can fight off a horde with one hand, and the next, she allows herself to be captured by goons with nary a struggle. Inside Major's head is where a deeper conflict is allegedly taking place. Sanders and the screenplay - by Jamie Moss, William Wheeler and Ehren Kruger - ask Johansson to pose and scowl; she affects a stiff, almost hunched gait suggesting discomfort in a beautiful, but less-than-human body. Does a death wish lurk behind those eyes? It might explain her willingness to take great risks, to the concern of her superiors, and the closest thing she has to a friend, the human warrior with cybernetic eyes, Batou (Pilou Asbaek). A perfunctory conflict exists between Dr. Ouelet, who sees Major as a wondrous scientific advancement shrouded in ethical concerns, and Cutter (Peter Ferdinando), an ill-defined military-boardroom figure who sees her as nothing more than a weapon. That's as far as the idea is explored, the film choosing to ignore its ripe psychological implications. It's as if the movie sees a marvelous apple tree in front of it, and chooses to munch on the twigs instead of the fruit. A scene deep in the film features a visually striking character played by Michael Pitt - key to a twist I won't reveal - who pops off a section of Major's face like a piece from a jigsaw puzzle. It's a convincing and horrifying effect, suggestive of her need to piece herself together metaphysically. It blows open her perception of herself and her environment. Maybe this is where it invokes Corinthians, although it's ultimately another instance of wasted potential. The movie smothers its intricacies and implications beneath the burdensome familiarity of a simplistic story of revenge, conspiracy and self-discovery. "Ghost in the Shell" illustrates, exquisitely, the cliche about being all dressed up with no place to go. Granted, style over substance isn't always a cinematic sin - the "John Wick" films are thrilling, visually evocative action films fronted by a one-dimensional, indestructible action-figure hero, but they don't puff themselves up with the hot air of phony studiousness like "Ghost in the Shell." It's all visual panache with no true dramatic weight. Maybe there's a richer story occurring in the corners of the screen; perhaps the film plays better with the sound off. These suppositions are not intended to be complimentary. FILM REVIEW: 'Ghost in the Shell' 2 stars (out of 4) MPAA rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, suggestive content and disturbing images Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbaek, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche Director: Rupert Sanders Run time: 107 minutes ANN ARBOR, MI - As clouds of smoke billowed above a crowd of thousands of marijuana advocates, a loud battle cry echoed throughout the University of Michigan's Central Campus Diag in Ann Arbor. "Freeeeeedom!" That came just moments after Jeffrey Hank, a marijuana legalization activist and civil rights attorney from Lansing, released a pair of white doves from a cage to commemorate the 46th annual Hash Bash on Saturday, April 1. Hank said the doves, which flew out over the crowd and away from the Diag, were symbols of peace and unity, and their release was symbolic as the fight for legal freedom for people to use marijuana continues. More than 10,000 attend Hash Bash, call for Michigan marijuana legalization Musician Laith Al-Saadi sends message from the road back to Hash Bash "We have to unite, and we have to unite now," Hank told the cheering crowd, including many people openly smoking joints as campus police watched. "So these doves ... they represent us in our cage, our cage that after today, spiritually, mentally, physically, we shall no longer be in." Jim Powers, co-founder of Michigan Parents for Compassion, and his young son, Ryan, a pediatric cannabis patient, joined Hank on stage for the release. Watch the video below to see Hank's remarks and the releasing of the doves during the rally on the Diag. (Warning: The video briefly contains explicit language at one point.) NILES, MI -- Police have identified a boy who died from a carbon monoxide buildup at a hotel pool as 13-year-old Bryan Douglas Watts of Niles. Watts and five other children, ages 12 to 14, were found unresponsive near the pool at Quality Inn & Suites about 10 a.m. Saturday, April 1. Watts was pronounced dead at Lakeland hospital in Niles and the other children are being treated at Memorial hospital in South Bend. Their conditions were not immediately known. Niles Fire Capt. Don Wise said a problem with the ventilation system for the pool heater caused the carbon monoxide buildup. Arriving firefighters found the highest concentrations at 800 parts per million when they first entered the pool area and opened doors to ventilate the area. Wise suspects the levels were much higher before the doors were opened. Levels of 800 parts per million can cause someone to fall unconscious after about an hour, but someone may fall unconscious much quicker at higher levels. Police said a seventh child also had carbon monoxide poisoning and she was found in a first floor room. She had just been with the other children in the pool area and went into the room, where she became unresponsive. Rescuers quickly managed to get her fully conscious and she was able to walk outside to an ambulance. The hotel was evacuated and officers went from room to room to make sure everyone was out. There were 24 rooms booked at the time. The hotel has been closed to make repairs to the pool heater ventilation system. It's not clear when it will reopen. Police said that a Niles police officer and Berrien County sheriff's deputy also were taken to a hospital for treatment and were released. Other rescuers also were checked for exposure and Wise believed 12 people in all -- children and adults -- received some type of treatment. Of the juveniles taken to Memorial hospital in South Bend, two were in serious condition late Saturday and five were in fair condition. 20150814_family_health_cv_04 Family Health Center's Medical Assistant Penny Labadie administers a vaccination to five-year-old Airries Ryan's arm as his 9-month-old brother Jabril watches in Kalamazoo, MI on Friday August 14, 2015. (Crystal Vander Weit/Kalamazoo Gazette) (CRYSTAL VANDER WEIT) State rules that add additional steps for parents looking to obtain vaccination waivers for their children would be eradicated under legislation introduced in the House and Senate this week. Michigan children entering kindergarten must show proof of immunization for measles, pertussis, polio, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, chicken pox, diphtheria and tetanus, unless a parent signs a waiver. Under a rule change implemented by the Michigan Department of Community Health -- now the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services -- in January 2015, parents seeking an exemption to vaccinations must be educated by a local health worker about vaccines and sign a universal state form, which includes a statement of acknowledgement that parents understand they could be putting children at risk by refusing the shots. Since that change, the state has seen a 35.4 percent decrease in overall waiver rates, said Jennifer Eisner, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. State Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton, said in a statement this week that the state health agency went beyond the Legislature's intent when they went ahead with the rule change. His legislation, Senate Bills 299 and 300, would end the additional requirements for parents seeking a waiver. "It was never the intention of the Legislature to see a vaccination opt-out procedure put into place that essentially mandates that parents have to take time off of work to meet with specific people, view videos, or sign inflammatory forms to exert a right they should be able to exercise more simply," he said. "State legislators are increasingly concerned about departments implementing rules that go beyond legislative intent. There is a strong desire to reform the administrative rule-making process across the board, thereby limiting the need for retroactive correction," he continued. The bills are similar to HB 4425, which was introduced in the House on Tuesday by state Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Potterville. Vaccination waivers will be tougher to obtain in Michigan under new rules Eisner said the department is working hard to improve immunization rates, especially among children and teenagers. Data from the 2015 National Immunization Survey had Michigan at 43rd lowest in the nation for immunization coverage among children 19 to 35 months of age, and the latest Michigan Care Improvement Registry shows 29 percent of Michigan teens are up to date on their vaccinations. "Having strong immunization rates helps protect our communities, schools, and family members -- especially those who cannot be vaccinated -- from cases and outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. "The current rules are based on sound public health practice and we believe they are in the best interest of Michigan schools and communities," she said. All 50 states in the U.S. offer medical exemptions to vaccination, and nearly all states offer an exemption for religious reasons as well. Michigan is one of 18 states that allow a philosophical exemption, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The issue of child vaccination has been the cause of much debate in recent years, with some parents questioning the need and safety of vaccinating children. Medical experts throughout the country have defended the need for vaccinations, saying high vaccination rates are critical to preventing epidemics of highly contagious diseases such as whooping cough and measles. Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services announced the "I Vaccinate" campaign, which includes a website, social media and television public service ads encouraging parents with questions about vaccines to seek out more information. Congressman Justin Amash holds a town hall meeting Congressman Justin Amash speaks during a town hall meeting at City High Middle School in Grand Rapids on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. (Mike Clark | MLive.com) GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A Twitter spat between the White House and U.S. Rep. Justin Amash continued into the weekend, with a Trump adviser taking a pointed jab at Amash on Saturday, labeling him a "liability" and calling for his defeat in the next primary election. The social media slap came from Dan Scavino Jr., who met President Donald Trump when Scavino caddied for him more than 20 years ago. Scavino rose through ranks and is now Trump's social media and senior adviser. The president touched off the Twitter back-and-forth a couple days ago when he called out the congressional Freedom Caucus group for not supporting his health care change initiative. Amash, a West Michigan Republican, responded to Trump on social media, saying it didn't take long for the president to join the establishment he'd vowed to drain when he was on the campaign trail. Scavino picked up the Twitter ball and lobbed it back Saturday morning, and Amash was quick with his reply, using the phrase "Trumpstablishment." Stay tuned for the next round ... .@realDonaldTrump is bringing auto plants & jobs back to Michigan. @justinamash is a big liability.#TrumpTrain, defeat him in primary. Dan Scavino (@DanScavino) April 1, 2017 Trump admin & Establishment have merged into #Trumpstablishment. Same old agenda: Attack conservatives, libertarians & independent thinkers. https://t.co/ALcV59iHXx Justin Amash (@justinamash) April 1, 2017 JACKSON, MI - Kibby and Denton roads will see a massive facelift this summer, but some residents living in the area aren't thrilled with the plan. Kibby Road is in poor shape - both sides agree on that. As part of the fix, Jackson will add a roundabout at the intersection of Kibby and Denton roads; abandon the north side of the boulevards, center strips of grass and trees; and narrow the two roads from four to two lanes. Public meetings in January and March eased some tensions between the city and residents. Misconceptions were clarified. "When we first started saying we were going to remove the boulevard, the residents thought we were just going to go in and bulldoze out all the trees and grass and everything," said City Engineer Jon Dowling. "It was never our intent to get rid of those islands. It's to get rid of two lanes of traffic on one side of the islands." Those lanes are not needed as the city population and traffic flow on Kibby Road, a mostly two-lane road, have decreased. A drawing of the construction plans for Kibby and Denton roads. Still, many residents pushed for a different option from four plans originally considered. The city countered, saying other methods would require new curbing or extra snowplowing. "The decision seemed to be a done deal," said area resident Christine Lake. "The old adage, 'You can't fight city hall,' was there that night." Lake is a leader of the grassroots group, specifically against the loss of the boulevard and addition of the roundabout. The group collected more than 200 signatures to show the city their disapproval. The efforts were mostly fruitless, as the Jackson City Council passed the original plan 6-1 on Tuesday, March 28. "To me, it seemed like a stealth bomber coming in under the radar - the radar being the citizens," Lake said. "They did their business, dropped their bomb with the roundabout and took our boulevards away and flew off." Some feedback from citizens is being incorporated into the project, however. There will be improvements to the Kibby Road-Glen Drive intersection and a focal point added to the roundabout, such as a sign or fountain welcoming people to Cascade Falls Park. Roundabout anxiety Residents will become comfortable with the roundabout over time, Dowling said. Also, it won't look exactly like the Fourth Street-West Avenue roundabout, which has two entrance lanes and one exit lane. Roundabout design has changed since that one was constructed about 16 years ago, Dowling said. Because of this, it will be updated in 2018 with work on Fourth Street. The new standard is a one-lane roundabout with one entrance and one exit lane to ease confusion. The city chose a roundabout for multiple reasons. It is safer, allows for a continuous flow of traffic and doesn't require a turn lane to the intersection, Dowling said. Most of the eight speakers during Tuesday's public hearing were concerned with roundabouts. "I know that I could probably organize a roundabout anxiety therapy group and it would be filled with Jackson citizens," Lake said. "There are people who currently plan their day - 'I've got to get from here to there and how can I avoid that Parkside roundabout?'" Project details Of the $1.7 million in project costs, $929,000 come from the Michigan Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration. Another $564,000 are from city major street funds, $142,000 come from city water funds and the remaining $96,000 are from assessments on residents in the area. Since the funds must be allocated by Sept. 30, council members were hesitant to step back and reconsider other options. The public hearing already had been delayed more than a month as non-discrimination ordinance conversations dominated meetings. "My concern is, voting this project down puts another road project in the city that badly needs it in jeopardy," said Councilman Derek Dobies. The project also incorporates a bike lane, connecting three miles of trails around Cascade Falls Park to a trail through a wooded area linking to the Inter-City Trail near the Middle School at Parkside. Work on Kibby Road will begin after July 4 so it does not disrupt holiday festivities, said City Manager Patrick Burtch. HILLSDALE, MI - Instead of laying on a warm, sandy beach somewhere, 35 Hillsdale College students volunteered in their community as a "Spring Break Alternative." The students spent roughly 1,120 hours helping out during the week of March 13. Their volunteering efforts took the students to Hillsdale Hospital, A Few Good Men Project, Hillsdale Medical Care Facility, Greenfield School, Hillsdale Youth Center and Salvation Army. Some students also traveled to Flint to volunteer for the day. Other activities included helping at mobile home parks and a food pantry, taking prayer walks and hosting a luncheon for the college's custodial, security and maintenance staffs. KALAMAZOO, MI -- The Michigan State Geography Bee was held Friday at Western Michigan University, with students in grades 4-8 vying for the state title. The competition featured 101 students from around Michigan testing their knowledge of the world. Peter Deegan-Krause, from Ferndale Middle School in Ferndale, took first place and won an all expenses-paid trip to Washington D.C. for the national competition May 14-17 at National Geographic Society headquarters. He will be competing for a $50,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society, including a subscription to National Geographic magazine and an all-expense-paid expedition to the Galapagos Islands aboard the new National Geographic Endeavor II. Ajay Sumanth from Avondale Middle School in Rochester Hills took second place. Brady Noble from Greenhills School in Ann Arbor took third. Prior to Friday's event in the Fetzer Center, geography bees were held in schools throughout the state to determine each school's winner. School-level winners then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The society invited students with the top 100 scores in each of the 50 states, District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories to compete at the state level. This is the 10th straight year WMU has hosted the Michigan State Geography Bee. KALAMAZOO, MI -- More than 250 people participated in the Captain Drew Russell Memorial 5k Walk/Run at Western Michigan University Saturday morning. The run benefits an endowed scholarship established for Western students by the classmates of U.S. Army Capt. Drew Russell, a WMU ROTC graduate who was killed in action October 8, 2011 while serving in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. His father, Jim Russell, said the scholarship helps support students returning from service to pursue an education. While this year was the eighth year of the run, Russell said this was the first year the funds went to the scholarship named for his son. This year's run was organized by two ROTC students. Allie Zachs began the preparation and tapped Kameron Meintsma to finish organizing the run when she graduated in December. Meintsma said the event raised more than $5,000. "A lot of this goes back to honor," WMU senior cadet Tommy de Jongh said. "Its one of the Army values and we're just honoring the sacrifice that Captain Russell made in combat," he said. The run also featured more than 30 people who were rucking. Rucking involves competing in the race carrying a weighted military backpack holding anywhere from 40 to 60 pounds. In addition to ruckers, a variety of runners carried American flags and two people ran in T-Rex costumes. "Its a great way to not only support (Russell's) family, but to support future officers in the program," de Jongh said. TS.AUDIT3.JPG Fruitland Township is surveying its residents concerning the Duck Creek Natural Area. (MLive file photo) FRUITLAND TOWNSHIP, MI - Fruitland Township residents may have a new park to experience the outdoors. And, those same residents will help make the decision on the use for the Duck Creek Natural Area via a survey sent out to over 3,000 residents. The survey has a deadline of April 19 and inquires about what residents would like to see in a proposed park at the 400-acre parcel known as Duck Creek Natural Area. Potential park boundaries would be Todd and Thompson roads to the north and south, with Simonelli Road and Mystic Lane forming the east and west borders. A proposed park would only include land currently owned by the township, and the land is prioritized to be a natural area without commercial developments like housing or shopping centers. "I don't think the township has ever had plans to develop that property into a subdivision or anything like that because you can't grow more property," said Fruitland Township Clerk Karolyn Rillema. "People like having it for hunting and (other outdoor activities)." The survey will not be the determining factor in what the area will be turned into, but it will be considered by the township board in making the final decision. In order to garner more public input, there will be public meetings and presentations in the coming weeks. "If we're going to put a conservancy easement on public property, we definitely want the public's blessing," Rillema said. "Once you have land and you do something with it, it's there forever." An initial proposal will be made to the public in a meeting from 6:30 to 8 p.m. April 19, when survey results will be revealed and questions from the public will be answered. On June 21, the board will hold a public open house from 5 to 7 p.m. when the public can place markers on places they would like to see trails, bridges and other things positioned within the parcel. Participants will also be able to speak with members of the committee, consisting of members of the township board, Land Conservancy of West Michigan, Muskegon Conservation District, Duck Creek Watershed, Fruitland Township Parks & Recreation Commission and a couple of residents. Both meetings will take place at the township hall, 4545 Nestrom Road. "This is the next step to see what the public wants to do," Rillema said. "Looking at some of the survey results, everyone seems to be very favorable of doing something with a natural recreation area." Fruitland Township applied for and was awarded an assistance grant through the National Parks Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program in June 2016. The township also has the potential to receive funds for accepting a land conservancy easement over the Duck Creek Watershed that runs through the parcel. There is a bit of a deadline crunch on making a decision, as the township received a two-year window from accepting the easement proposal to decide on and complete any project using the funds. Once public input has been sought, the township board will decide whether to move forward with a proposed park. WHITEHALL, MI -- If you've ever traveled by air, you depended on products made in Whitehall. Arconic "creates breakthrough products that shape industries" around the world, and the nine plants in Whitehall Township are a big part of that, said Mike Pepper, former chair of of Arconic Power and Propulsion, and current special advisor to Arconic for advanced technologies, in a presentation at Muskegon Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce Business for Breakfast on Friday, March 31. Arconic, formed on Nov. 1, 2016, is a Fortune 500 company that had $12.4 billion in revenue during 2016, and has 41,500 employees at 157 locations in 25 countries, according to the presentation. Whitehall is Arconic's second largest manufacturing hub in North America with about 2,200 employees. It's the largest manufacturing employer in Muskegon County. While Arconic as a whole supplies products for automotive, space, drones, military, power and more, most of the work in Whitehall centers around aerospace products. "While we're having this breakfast this morning, there are about 300,000 people in the air," Pepper said. "At any given point in the U.S. on a daily basis that number can go up to 600,000-650,000. ... 100 percent of those folks depend on what the people in Whitehall, Michigan, do every day. That gas turbine blade passing from hand to hand up in Whitehall right now will be flying somebody from point A to point B in about six months time. That's been going on here since 1951." Arconic was carved out of Alcoa to make two separate companies. Alcoa remains in the raw materials business, specifically dealing with aluminum and alumina. Arconic comprises of what was Alcoa's "downstream" business - making products out of aluminum and other materials. Arconic Power and Propulsion, or APP, is the new name of the Whitehall business, formerly known as Alcoa Howmet. The Whitehall operations, which started in 1951 with 25 employees, consists of products and processes that will enable "the next general of more fuel efficient aero engines," according to the presentation. They are titanium ignot, turbine airfoil castings, thermal coatings, titanium structural castings, hot isostatic pressing/specialty materials, and research and development. In Whitehall, the specialty is gas turbines, Pepper said. The gas turbines produced in Whitehall are helping make airplanes more fuel efficient, he said. The turbine blades are 20 percent lighter and 20 percent more aerodynamic than previous models. "What we call Whitehall operations for APP is the turbine airfoil center of the world," Pepper said. "What we really specialize in at Whitehall is producing turbine airfoils for the hottest section of the turbine. These are the airfoils that sit right behind the combustion chamber, they can operate in temperatures up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit." That temperature is higher than the melting point of the metal. "We have the unique capability to be able to create cooling geometries inside advanced turbine blades that allow that blade to survive those extreme temperatures," Pepper said. "It is absolutely one of the core competencies that we have in APP and in the Whitehall operations." The company's tagline is "Innovation, Engineered." "When we say 'innovation, engineered,' what we mean is the products and the collaboration that we do with customers, which leads to shareholder value and influences our primary markets, and those are how we fly, how we drive, how we build and how we power the global economy," Pepper said. Although Arconic is a new company, it's 128-year heritage can be traced back to the invention of aluminum reduction by an Alcoa co-founder Charles Hall, and the Wright Brothers in 1903 when they used an aluminum engine crankcase made of Alcoa's materials. Since then, Alcoa - now Arconic - products have been "on every aircraft that's ever been built in the western world," he said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to explain to the Trump administration the importance of free trade between Canada and the United States, particularly for jobs. US President Donald Trump is threatening to target countries, including Canada, that contribute to America's substantial trade deficit, a move being taken as a protectionist warning shot. The United States is Canada's biggest trading partner, with a trade surplus on merchandise alone last year of 32.5 billion Canadian dollars (USD 24.4 billion). Trudeau said it was "extremely important" to work with the Trump administration on the issue, without dramatising the US decision to target Canada along with more than a dozen other countries. "The United States regularly assess their trade partners, there is nothing particularly new about this," Trudeau told a press conference. "We know the conversations we will be having on how we can improve trade, freedom to send goods of services people across the border. It's good for both of our countries," he said. "We emphasise with the Americans... that there are many jobs in Canada that create jobs in the United States and vice versa. We do better when we have open and robust relationships in international trade." He said the neighbouring countries had "a very positive working relationship" to ensure good jobs on both sides of the border. Canada is linked to the United States and Mexico through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which Trump wants to renegotiate. The Canadian premier said the agreement "has been improved upon." He said good jobs on both US and Canadian soil "rely on the smooth and efficient flow of goods and services and people" across the border, adding that "growth for the middle class" was a shared goal. In addition to an ongoing conflict over US curbs on imports of Canadian timber, dairy products are also a source of discord between the two partners. Trump is set to sign an executive order today requiring staff to pinpoint countries and goods responsible for America's nearly USD 50 billion a month trade deficit. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd (FLF) has announced the completion of transfer of Lee Cooper business, a leading brand in its portfolio, to one of its step down subsidiaries. "FLF has moved the Lee Cooper brand business to Future Speciality Retail Limited, a step down subsidiary of FLF, on March 29 2017," a statement said. According to the statement, FSRL has issued Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) aggregating to Rs 250 crore to FSRL CCPS Trust. The FLF has entered into an investment agreement with the CCPS subscribers, which also allows them to exit at an agreed price as per the terms of the investment agreement. The CCPS are convertible into 26 per cent equity of FSRL on fully diluted basis on or before 48 months from the date of subscription of the CCPS. The articles of association of FSRL have been suitably amended to reflect the terms of the investment agreement. This is an important step in FLFs endeavour to unlock value in the Lee Cooper brand. Going forward, FLF foresees a significant potential to scale up Lee Cooper business. Lee Cooper is one of the fastest growing denim wear brand and FLF is focusing on taking it to the leadership position in the segment. This transaction along with the investee brands value unlocking has resulted in a combined Rs 700 crore fund raise for FLF. This gears FLF for a stronger growth combined with an expansion of the bottom-line resulting in higher returns on capital employed and equity. FLF, listed on NSE and BSE, is India's leading integrated fashion house. FLF has world class retail formats like Central and Brand factory along with a strong portfolio of brands such as Lee Cooper, John Miller, Indigo Nation, Scullers, and Jealous 21 etc. For the 9 months period ended Dec 31, 2016, FLF achieved a revenue of Rs 2,890 crore, with a strong growth of over 18 per cent in 9 M FY17 (primarily driven by robust same store sales growth). During this period, FLF reported net profit of Rs 27 crore. FLF operates over 5.5 million square feet of retail space which is the largest in the country. Anubhav Aggarwal Considered to be the most expensive city of India and one of the top expensive real estate in the world, Mumbais real estate has always been under scanner for property investment. Despite its premium property rates, Mumbais property market is still considered as a bankable decision to turn your investments into. But, the question remains, is the city with 20 million population and counting, has reached its saturation when it comes to offering good ROI (return on investment)? For decades, the city has been struggling to keep up its infrastructure to match population. Although the strength of population for any town can become its strength, overcrowding, lack of open spaces, traffic jams, insufficient parking spaces and other population-based problems have become true to the personality of Mumbai City. In such a time, the city has extended to new locations for affordable housing in areas within its geographical reach such as Navi Mumbai & Thane. Some of the biggest real estate industry players are developing the finest property projects offering self-contained features that are well worth the investment as well as relocation. Both these areas may witness increase in property rates in the next two-three years. Both Navi Mumbai and Thane are emerging as popular investment areas in suburbs. Thane & Navi Mumbai today stand as one of the fastest developing city of India, be it in terms of some of the best schools, colleges, luxury projects, malls, commercial spaces or its easy connectivity with the city of Mumbai. The residential areas are already offering play parks and shopping attractions. These two locations are offering promising ROI for investors who are ready to look beyond Mumbai. Mumbai has always been challenged with its population, with growth rate of 2 percent per annum. The citys geographical constraints and rapid population growth, road and rail infrastructure development has not been able to keep pace with growing demand over the last 4-5 decades. However, with the introduction of Mumbai Metro due for completion by 2021, prices around metro line locations are likely to go high significantly. There are no two ways about popularity of Mumbai on the basis of its real estate value. Even the areas like Santacruz East, Vile Parle (East), BKC, Mira Road East, Sewri can be viewed as promising ROI for this year. Premium developers have launched luxury residential projects in these areas offering better living and an option of lucrative choice for investment. Some of the other affordable areas poised to become profitable due to much-needed infrastructure initiatives are Chembur, Mulund and Ghodbunder Road in Thane. Mumbai has always witnessed re-development project as an answer to shortage of land. Developers have turned into redevelopment projects to meet the increasing residential property demands. Many low demand areas and patches of suburbs in east have undergone make-over through redevelopment projects. Developers are turning cheap and polluted realty pockets into great residential complexes offering better lifestyle, thus, much of the population who previously resided in the west parts of the suburbs are now relocating to east for better life and connectivity with national highway. One such great example is BKC. Several new redevelopment projects are launched while various housing societies are undergoing re-development that makes great investment option. The Central Line of the city has witnessed upward trend in development of office complexes. Many companies are now having their offices in Mulund, Bhandup, Ghatkopar, Kanjurarg and other locations. This has led to an increase in residential projects as people now prefer to live near their workplaces, saving them travel time. Parallel to development in office complexes and residential projects, these areas have witnessed development in good schools, hospitals, malls and overall infrastructure. Property costs in these area are also comparatively lesser than western suburbs. Other areas that are seeing an upward trend in real estate tied to job opportunities nearby are Chembur, Bandra East and Wadala. With so many profitable investment options that city offers and an announcement by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during the Budget that National Housing Bank will refinance individual loans worth Rs 20,000 crore this year, residents have been given an opportunity to finally consider investing in their dream home in favourable parts of Mumbai city. With constant developments and launch of new projects almost every week, Mumbais real estate scene is very unpredictable for investors. The city is caught in the vicious cycle of developing itself to keep pace with growing number of citizens needs, while the development and opportunities itself attracts more and more people every year from other towns and rural regions. (The writer is Managing Director of RNA Corp) N Chandrasekaran, who took over as the chairman of Tata Group, will be taking huge cut in pay, according to a report in the Economic Times. Chandrasekaran will be getting a basic salary of approximately Rs 14.4 crore a year in salary plus bonus. This will include basic salary of Rs 4.8 crore with a variable component of 200 percent or Rs 9.6 crore based on his and the companys performance, as per the media report. The resolution letter says that the group chairman will be taking basic salary of Rs 20 lakhs a month and maximum of Rs 40 lakhs per month. The former TCS chairman is also eligible for commission from the company. Annual increment will be decided at a later date by the boards remumeration and nomination committee. In his previous position, Chandrasekaran had earned Rs 25.6 crore in FY16 with an additional Rs 10 crore as a one-time special bonus from the company. In the year before that FY15 the former chairman of Tata Group Cyrus Mistry took home Rs 16 crore as salary. Mistry was removed from the position in October last year. The company refused to comment on the subject to Economic Times. Tata Sons has shares in 100 group companies, including the listed ones, which have combined market capital of USD 116 billion. India's largest bank is even bigger starting today, with State Bank of India commencing operations in FY18 following the merger of five associate banks and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Dinesh Khara, MD- Subsidiaries at State Bank of India (SBI) spoke about the merger and operational plans henceforth. Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview. Q: It is an emotional moment for you today, the six-way merger is finally under way effective April 1. How does it feel from here on? What lies next? A: Of course, today is a historic event for all of us here at State Bank of India and also for the associate banks because today it is a six-way merger which is going through. It gives us an opportunity of becoming one of the top-50 banks across the globe. So, actually it meets our aspirations in becoming one of the leading global banks. This is something, I am sure, each Indian also will be proud of. Q: Tell us about your combined balance sheet now. You said it will be about Rs 44 trillion. How many branches, how many employees will you have now and what will be the whole transition process? How long will that entire process take for all six banks to become one? A: Today, by this merger, there would be more than 23,000-24,000 branches. The balance sheet in terms of deposits and advances would be about Rs 44 lakh crore. We would have a very significant number of ATMs on the ground. It would be 59,000 odd ATMs on the ground. So, I perceive ATM to be one of the major footprints in terms of delivering service to the customers. It is a major event for the State Bank Group today because we are in a position to reach out to about 45 crore population. Now we are banker to about 44-45 crore population which is almost, I would say that we are bankers to every second Indian whosoever would be eligible for opening an account. So that is a kind of a situation. As I mentioned, it is a very proud moment for all of us for the whole group and we hope to service our customers with the same amount of efficiency and courteousness which we were doing through the associate banks as well as the Bharatiya Mahila Bank. Q: I was asking about the transition of the bank. Effective April 1, the merger comes into effect. All other five banks plus Bharatiya Mahila Bank becomes State Bank of India. How long will the transition period be? A: As far as the customer is concerned, for them it makes no difference. It is State Bank of India only, but yes of course, we have got some internal processes in terms of the alignment of the structure because there are many administrative offices through which the branch network of associate banks was being controlled. So, we will be integrating all such kind of administrative offices and we will be actually reducing the kind of duplicity which is there in the administrative structure. So, that piece will take some time. We will actually start all that after completing the audit process of all these associate banks. So, we expect the audit, etc. to get over by around April 20 and thereafter, we will get on to the rationalisation of the administrative office structure. And also, simultaneously the data merger piece will also happen. We expect data merger as well as the rationalisation of administrative office structure to get complete within May. Q: Tell us more about this rationalisation you are looking at for branches as well as the ATM network and also the headquarters of the current associate banks, what becomes of them? A: There used to be five head offices of associate banks, so that will be adding two more local head offices from April 24 and then one would be based out of Telangana, the other would be based out of Jaipur. Other than that, administrative offices would be there, there would be regional offices and we will be rationalising these offices also and as against 241, we will be bringing down to about 168 or something like that. So, that is the kind of effort which we will put in. Q: 241 local offices? A: No, it would be the administrative offices which would comprise of the regional offices, which would comprise of administrative offices which will also comprise of networks. So, these were merely administrative structures. These were not really affecting the customer service piece. So, these were essentially the organisational set up for controlling these branches. So, post-merger, since we have the branches across the country, we will have a situation that the same set of geography will be controlled by those administrative offices also. So, we will be actually doing the rationalisation of these offices and avoiding the duplicity of the controlled structure. Authorities in Europe and Australia announced a sweeping tax evasion probe today reportedly targeting Credit Suisse clients and senior employees, as investigators detailed arrests and the seizure of artworks and gold. There was no definitive confirmation that Credit Suisse was the main target of the fraud investigations, run by at least four European countries and Canberra and apparently involving hundreds of suspects. The Swiss financial giant simply confirmed that its offices in London, Paris and Amsterdam had been visited by local authorities on Thursday "concerning client tax matters". "We are cooperating with the authorities", Switzerland's number-two bank said in a statement. Dutch prosecutors said dozens of people who allegedly concealed millions of euros were being probed for tax fraud and money laundering and that records were seized on Thursday from "a Swiss bank" which they did not name. Similar operations were carried out in Britain, France, Germany and Australia, all focused on clients who "deposited their money in the same Swiss bank", according to a statement from the National Prosecutor's Office for Serious Fraud, Environmental Crime and Asset Confiscation (FIOD). Two people accused of not declaring their savings have been arrested and two other suspects were interrogated, the FIOD said. "Properties, and jewellery, an expensive car, expensive paintings and a gold bar", were seized from houses in The Hague and three other areas, the Dutch statement added. Britain's Revenue and Customs office said that it on Thursday along with international partners had launched a criminal probe into tax evasion and money laundering "by a global financial institution". "The first phase of the investigation, which will see further, targeted, activity over the coming weeks, is focused on senior employees from within the institution, along with a number of its customers," the statement from London said. It also made no mention of Credit Suisse, but said the investigation should serve as a stark reminder to institutions that aim to help clients evade tax. Would-be tax cheats "need to wake up to reality and accept that attempting to hide wealth overseas, or within institutions, doesn't work." French prosecutors confirmed that they too had opened a tax fraud investigation into undeclared Swiss bank accounts. The financial fraud office said it had identified several thousands of accounts in Switzerland that were allegedly used to hide money. This amounted to suspected "aggravated dissimulation of tax fraud", it said, with no reference to Credit Suisse. After Uttar Pradesh, it is now the turn of the Madhya Pradesh government to crackdown on Romeos with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan promising to reform "majnus" and bring about a legislation to hang those raping minors. "We will reform 'majnu-type' of persons. They don't know how to respect... They are not good for the civilised society... A campaign will be launched against majnus," he had said yesterday while addressing the 89th Passing Out Parade at MP Police Academy here. He also said that an amendment to the criminal law providing death penalty for raping a minor would be introduced in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly soon. "A bill providing death sentence for rape of minors would be presented in the coming monsoon session (of Assembly). Once it is passed it would be forwarded to the President for assent," the chief minister said. He also said that police should keep a vigil near places like girls hostel to ensure that women don't face any difficulty. "Police should create such an atmosphere so that women are able to move around independently without any fear. It should take stern measures against criminal elements," he added. Disclosures under the second tax amnesty scheme (IDS-II), which closed last night, turned out to be a damp squib, with Mumbai region netting under Rs 500 crore while the total added up to less than Rs 13,000 crore from across the country. The low collection is against the Rs 1 lakh crore target set by the government, according to sources in the Income Tax department. Officially, however, no target had been announced. Meanwhile, the CBDT today extended the deadline to file the returns to April 10 for those who have paid the penalty under the scheme. Mumbai tax officials said the low declarations at under Rs 500 crore from the city, which contributes more than 33 percent of total Income Tax collection, is surprising. "We believe the disclosures under the Income Tax Declaration Scheme-II so far would be somewhere near Rs 13,000 crore," a department official from New Delhi told PTI. An official here attributed the cold response to the scheme to a delayed start. "The scheme came into effect on December 16, but proper information with details of bank deposits started pouring in only from the last week of February. So we were left with very short time to meet the deadline," he said. The department today issued a notification extending the last date of filing returns to April 10 considering the rush at banks on the last day of the financial year, which is also the last date for making the declaration under IDS-II. If an assessee has paid the tax along with surcharge and penalty under the scheme in a bank by the closing hours of March 31, he or she shall be allowed to file the tax return under the scheme by April 10, CBDT said in a notification. The scheme provides an opportunity to declare unaccounted cash and cash deposits and black money in a confidential manner and avoid prosecution by paying up 50 percent of the undisclosed income as fine. An additional 25 percent of the undisclosed income will be invested in the scheme that can be refunded after four years, without any interest. Not declaring the unaccounted income under the scheme will attract a fine of 77.3 percent if the income is shown in the tax returns. In case income is not shown in the return filing, it will attract a further 10 per cent penalty followed by prosecution. State Bank of India (SBI) State Bank of Indias existing and new customers from the merger with associate banks will now have to pay more charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance in accounts, transactions above the capped limit on ATMs and other services. This is likely to affect over 31 crore savings deposit account holders including pensioners and students. After a gap of five years, SBI, which is also the country's biggest bank and from today among the top 50 banks globally, will be charging on non-maintenance of minimum balance on savings and current account. The new charges are applicable even if your account is in Bharatiya Mahila Bank and any of the five associate banks - State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Travancore (SBT), State Bank of Patiala (SBP), and State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH). This is because all these banks are getting merged with the SBI effective Saturday. Here some FAQs about the new charges: How much minimum balance should I have? For metro cities, the minimum balance is Rs 5,000. In urban, semi-urban and rural areas, the charges will be Rs 3,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000, respectively. What if I do not have the above balance? As per the list of revised charges of SBI, failure to maintain Monthly Average Balance (MAB) in accounts will attract penalty of up to Rs 100 plus service tax. In metro cities, there will be a charge of Rs 100 plus service tax, if the balance falls below 75 per cent of the MAB of Rs 5,000. If the shortfall is 50 per cent or less of the MAB, then the bank will charge Rs 50 plus service tax. For rural areas, the penalty ranges from Rs 20-50 plus service tax, the bank notification said. ATM withdrawal limit Customers of top banks including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are allowed five free transactions at their own bank ATM and three free transactions at other bank ATMs. Cash withdrawal beyond the five limit at ATMs of your own bank will attract a fee of up to Rs 10 and at any other bank ATMs, more than three transactions will be charged Rs 20. However, SBI will not levy any charge on withdrawals from its own ATMs if the balance exceeds Rs 25,000. In case of other banks' ATMs there will be no charge if the balance exceeds Rs 1 lakh. Cash deposit charges Savings account holders will be allowed to deposit cash in their accounts free of cost three times a month. The fourth and above cash deposit transactions will be charged Rs 50 plus service charge. On SMS alerts SBI will charge Rs 15 for SMS alerts per quarter from debit card holders who maintain average quarterly balance of up to Rs 25,000 during the three months period. There will be no charge for UPI/USSD transactions of up to Rs 1,000. US exports to India continue to face barriers as its customs officials generally require extensive documentation, leading to frequent and lengthy processing delays, the Trump administration said. Despite the Indian government's efforts to pursue economic reforms, the structure of India's customs tariff and fees system are "complex and characterised by a lack of transparency" in determining net effective rates of customs tariffs, excise duties, and other duties and charges, the US Trade Representative (USTR) said it its annual report. Noting that US exporters have raised concerns regarding India's application of customs valuation criteria to import transactions, it said India's customs officials generally require extensive documentation, inhibiting the free flow of trade and leading to frequent and lengthy processing delays. This is a consequence of India's complex tariff structure, including the provision of multiple exemptions, which vary according to product, user, or intended use, it said. India, it said, lacks an overarching government procurement policy and, as a result, its government procurement practices and procedures vary among the states, between the states and the central government, and among different ministries within the central government. In its annual 2017 National Trade Estimate, the first under US President Donald Trump, the US goods and trade deficit with India was USD 24.3 billion, a 4.2 per cent increase (USD 970 million) last year, the USTR said. The report came hours before Trump was expected to sign an executive order instructing his administration to examine the cause of trade imbalances with over 15 countries, including China and India. According to the report, US goods exports to India were USD 21.7 billion, up 1.1 per cent (USD 237 million) from the previous year. Corresponding US imports from India were USD 46.0 billion, up 2.7 per cent. India was the US' 18th largest goods export market last year, the report said. On the other hand, US exports of services to India were an estimated USD 18.1 billion in 2015 (latest data available) and US imports were USD 24.7 billion. Sales of services in India by majority US-owned affiliates were USD 22.7 billion in 2014 (latest data available), while sales of services in the US by majority India-owned firms were USD 13.4 billion, it said. Further, the US Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India (stock) was USD 28.3 billion in 2015 (latest data available), a 4.4 per cent increase from 2014. The US FDI in India is led by professional, scientific, and technical services, manufacturing, and wholesale trade, USTR said. Taking note of the national Goods and Services Tax (GST), the report said it would replace most indirect taxes, including various charges on imports. The GST is designed to simplify the movement of goods within India, it said. In 2015, the Indian government introduced the GST Bill in Parliament and it was passed in July last year. India is working on the implementation of the GST law, which would put in place a two-part system. The first part of the system are the State and Central GST that will be levied simultaneously on every transaction of goods and services within a state. The second part is an "Integrated GST" that covers goods and services sold between all Indian states. The Integrated GST would apply to imports. India intends to implement GST by July, the report said. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Moneycontrol News Benchmark indices had a good financial year, with the Nifty registering a gain of nearly 19 percent during the same period. The NSEs midcap index gained 37 percent during the fiscal, while the exchanges smallcap index registered a gain of whopping 42 percent. Despite this phenomenal gains, there were some stocks in midcaps and smallcaps that almost destroyed investors wealth due to a variety of reasons. Moneycontrol takes a look at such stocks in both the segments, which lost the most in a year. Midcaps (I) Divis Laboratories | CMP: Rs 624.15 | Price on March 31, 2016: Rs 987.25 | Loss: 36.77 percent The stock took a bad hit in the past one month on the back of multiple serious observations by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its plants. The company has been consistently getting this observations and alerts over the past year, adding to the stocks fall. (II) MindTree | CMP: Rs 452.4 | Price on March 31, 2016: Rs 653.25 | Loss: 30.74 percent This mid-sized IT firm has taken a hit on the back of poor outlook towards Indian IT firms due to uncertainties over visa issuances for migrant workers. The Trump administration has been signaling cuts in those issuances, along with increasing base pay to boost local recruitment. (III) Wockhardt | CMP: Rs 720.00 | Price on March 31 2016: Rs 973.95 | Loss: 26.07 percent Wockhardt has eroded investors wealth by over 26 percent on the back of many import alerts. The company has been severely hit due to these alerts on manufacturing practices as well as observations. Smallcaps: 1. Future Enterprises | CMP: Rs 30.2 | Price on March 31, 2016: Rs 128.5 | Loss: 76.49 percent The stock chopped investors wealth by more than half after the company announced a demerger during the year. The stock also had a few block sale deals, coupled with poor results, which hit its performance during the fiscal year. 2. Inox Wind | CMP: Rs 170 | Price on March 31, 2016: Rs 259.2 | Loss: 34.41 percent The stock has lost over 34 percent during the year after the governments push to renewable energy reduced. Moreover, poor business environment in the renewable energy sector has reflected in the results. 3. Bajaj Hindusthan | Rs 13.34 | Price on March 31, 2016: Rs 20 | Loss: 33.3 percent. As such, the stocks performance was hit by the weak quarterly figures, but its loss was seen narrowing as well. However, investors could have bet negatively on the stock after the firm reduced its deal size to sell the power business to Lalitpur Power Generation Company to Rs 1,227 crore. It had earlier plans to sell its co-generation power business, with 449 MW capacity at 14 locations in Uttar Pradesh, to the firm at Rs 1,800 crore. A broker in Bombay looks at a screen showing the downward trend in share prices January 10, 2001, a day of volatile trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The index ended the day nearly two percent down, dragged lower by software maker Infosys Technologies' 4.35 percent drop. Shares of Indian media stocks have also fallen steadily since the arrest of diamond trader Bharat Shah on Monday, amidst fears that it could expose links between India's entertainment industry and the underworld. SK/JD - RTRCRXS live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The market posted handsome returns in the Financial Year 2016-17, with the Nifty rising 19 percent and testing an all time high, amid global and domestic headwinds. On the global front, the market survived Brexit, uncertainty in the run up to the rate hike by the US Federal Reserve along with the surprise victory of Donald Trump in US elections. Meanwhile, on domestic front, the market saw some pushback from government's step of demonetisation and lacklustre earnings, which weighed on the growth rate of the economy and revenues of India Inc. Largecaps witnessed a strong performance and the index soared 20 percent in the past fiscal year. While there are stocks which gave good returns in current market rally, a few stocks in the sector were did not give out much returns. Moneycontrol takes a look at 5 stocks which failed to deliver during the last fiscal. If you continue to hold it your portfolio, here's how you can approach it. 1. Idea Cellular | Down: 22 percent The stock had volatile swings during the year and gained momentum after the consolidation buzz with Vodafone emerged. The combined entity was made to take on Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. However, it also reacted negatively after the merger between the two was announced, stressing out the scrip. It declined 22 percent in FY17, while its P/E ratio stood at 61 times. "Idea Cellular was in a severe bear run as it declined 21 percent in FY17 after a massive decline of around 40 percent in the previous financial year. Despite an uptick in voice revenue in Q1FY17, higher capex and pressure on data growth had dented the profitability of the company. Adding to the curse was launch of Reliance Jio, which led to drastic changes in telecom industry. We maintain a neutral stance on the stock in the coming financial year," said Harshit Mantri of Stewart & Mackertich Wealth Management. Disclosure: Reliance Industries, which owns Reliance Jio, also owns Network18, which publishes Moneycontrol.com. 2. Sun Pharmaceutical | Down: 16 percent The pharmaceutical major was under pressure after the US drug regulator had observations at its major plants and such developments hurt the stock. The scrip was trading at a P/E ratio of 20 times "Sun Pharmaceutical hogged the limelight with negative new flows, leading to sharp decline in fundamentals and earnings cut. The unprecedented regulatory issues from the US FDA found that breaches of manufacturing standards in Mohali plant and issues in its Halol unit under the re-inspection category, led to a body blow to the company," Mononita Mitra, Research Analyst at Stewart & Mackertich Wealth Management said "However USFDA decided to lift the import alert on Mohali facility which raises the possibility of an earlier resolution of Halol facility. This may lead to a gradual revival in fundamentals for Sun Pharma," she said. 3. Infosys | Down: 16 percent Infosys was in the news on the back of global developments and the fear of protectionist policies on H1-B visa front from US President Donald Trump. The stock was trading at a PE ratio of 16 times. "Mirroring the trend in IT sector but underperforming the sector by a wide range, Infosys had a tough year and the share price corrected to Rs 900 levels before it recouped with a loss of around 10 percent for the FY17. Throughout the year, Infosys cut their guidance for FY17 to an extent of 8.4-8.8 percent from 11.5- 13.5 percent estimated prior to Q1FY17," Mantri of Stewart & Mackertich Wealth Management said. "H1-B visas related rhetoric in the US, rising protectionism and anti-globalization sentiments across US and Europe impacted the industry negatively. However, the company may perform in line as the worst is priced into the stock," he added. The stock most recently reacted negatively after Vodafone and Idea announced their merger. Its PE ratio currently stands at 21 times. "The announcement of Vodafone-Idea merger led to sell off in Bharti Infratels on expectation that the company may lose tenancies in the long term and the merger would lead to lower rentals after the carriers rationalize their tower assets which can dampen Infratels revenue and EBITDA margins. However, the recent stake sale in the company by the parent at Rs 325 may limit the fall in the stock in the near term," Mantri told moneycontrol. 5. Dr Reddys Laboratories | Down: 13 percent This pharma stock too has seen pressure on the back of actions of the US drug regulator at its plants. The stock was trading at P/E ratio of 40 times. "Dr Reddys Laboratories (DRL) has been an underperformer in the pharmaceuticals space on back of the US FDA getting a warning letter to two of its major facilities which includes the API plant (CTO-6) and SEZ formulation facility at Srikakulam," Sarabjit Kour Nangra of Angel Broking told moneycontrol. "However, FY2018 onwards, the company is expected to see a bounce in the growth on back of the base effect. But, the stock price has equally dipped on back of the same and current valuations are fair, hence we are neutral," she added. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Richard Heald, CEO of UK-India Business Council (UKIBC) said that Indian companies are investing in UK not because it is a part of the European Union but because of UK's domestic market. Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview. Q: What are the risks to UK's trade after Brexit and how is the business confidence in UK economy? A: There are two aspects to the question that you ask. The first is Scottish referendum - that is a decision that is obviously the Scottish Parliament has said yes, we would like a second referendum. But actually it is not their decision, it is the decision of the UK Parliament sitting in London and the Prime Minister has made the position very clear: not at the moment. Therefore, to a certain extent, we can put that element of uncertainty, as you characterise it to one side. As far as Brexit goes and the process it is now going to be evolving for the next two years, there is uncertainty there but again, you can analyse that down. If you are a UK company looking at India, India is still an extraordinarily attractive economy in which to invest, in which to do business. So, we are seeing an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI), an increase in activity flowing from UK into India. The opportunities are there and connects are improving and therefore from that side, clearly Brexit is a diversion in those flows. Q: But what about the other way round? We will talk about how UK businesses look upon India, but how about the other way round, outward FDI? India has been among the top-three FDI inflows into UK comes from India. So, in that sense, has the mood changed? What are you picking up? A: We did a survey immediately after the Brexit vote came through in June and we were surprised to find that a large amount of the Indian investment in the UK is in the UK not for European Union (EU) reasons. It is actually for UK reasons. So, an Indian company is investing because of the research and development (R&D) capability in pharmaceuticals or IT or engineering. They are not necessarily using it as a manufacturing base in which to export into the EU. Undoubtedly, some companies are and there are certain sectors where there are concerns about what is going to happen. If you look at the financial services sector in particular, its aspect that we talk about co-passporting which allows UK registered companies to sell their products into Europe. That is being called into question and no doubt it will be one of the cards that are played or used in the negotiation process. Q: Theresa May was of course here in India a few months back, here first bilateral visit outside of the EU. The big opportunity, the areas where you think India and UK could really collaborate on during these uncertain times. A: The major area is around the key areas that India is developing in, around defence, around IT, information technology services (ITS), particularly in areas like financial technology (fintech), educational technology (eductech), these sort of areas which are crucial to the development of India. Q: One concern has always been about how India has 29 states, but they often operate as 29 different countries and this has been said mostly in terms of the taxation rules. Now with the goods and service tax (GST), almost there. It has been a 17 year long wait. Things take time, but eventually finally; it seems that the July 1 deadline will be met. I am sure you must be sending briefs to many of your clients, updating them about what this means. What are they telling you? A: Actually I am hearing from my clients rather than sending the briefs and indeed, GST is going to be an evolving process. Yes, July 1 is your deadline but at the same time, I am sure that the finance ministry do not believe that it will be spring to life from January 1 perfectly formed. There are a lot of areas that we believe that there are areas where we can interrelate with the ministry of finance with industry in general to help this whole process work. Do not get me wrong. I think GST is really good news and it does actually create for the first time, a single market in goods and services within India. Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yogi Adityanath takes the oath as the new Chief Minister of Indias most populous state of Uttar Pradesh during a swearing-in ceremony in Lucknow, India, March 19, 2017. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar - RTX31PLH Three policemen were suspended after a video of some persons shaving the head of a youth, who was roaming with a female friend, in their presence went viral on social media. "The incident took place on March 22 after residents of South City Colony called police on finding a youth and a girl roaming around together," said SP K V Singh. They caught hold of the youth and shaved off his hair despite three constables of Azizganj police post being present there. One of the constables captured the incident on his mobile phone camera, the SP said. It was when the constable sent the video to his friend through WhatsApp that it went viral and the incident came to light, he added. The three constables -- Suhel Ahmed, Layek Ahmed and Sonpal -- have been put under suspension. Besides, an inquiry has been ordered against the in-charge of Azizganj police post K K Chaudhary who allegedly tried to hush up the matter. Despite Yogi Adityanath government issuing clear directions to police and administration to ensure that youngsters are not troubled unnecessarily in the name of curbing eve-teasing, the state has witnessed such an incident. you are here: Rabbis installation at Keneseth Israel will get a boost of student creativity Students of Voices College-Bound Language Academy honored Cesar Chavez on the holiday named after the farmworkers rights activist by hosting a march and demonstration at Nordstrom Park in east Morgan Hill. The afternoon of March 31, known as Cesar Chavez Day in California, about 140 elementary students from the charter school marched with parents and teachers from their campus on Murphy Avenue to the park. Along the way, they chanted motivational slogans such as Si se puede! and held up pictures of Chavez and other activists. Some of the adults marching played hand drums and bells. Voices principal Juan Carlos Villasenor led the march while directing the students through a megaphone. Shortly after the march concluded at Nordstrom Park, Villasenor handed the megaphone to Monica Delgado, a granddaughter of Chavez. Its very important to my grandfather that we come together as a community to honor the people who bring fruits and vegetables to our platesthe farmworkers, said Delgado, who works for the City of Morgan Hill as budget manager. When you think of Cesar, you should always think of farmworkers. Chavez, who died in 1993, was an American labor and civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association. He became known as an influential Latino rights activist who dedicated his life to supporting farmworkers. Every year, March 31 is Cesar Chavez Day in California, Colorado and Texas. The demonstration was also a celebration of activism more broadly, one of Voices Academys key values. At one point while the students were assembled at Nordstrom Park, Villasenor asked the second-grade students to tell an adult in the audience something they have learned about activism. Luis Casas, 7, approached a Times reporter and told him about Mahatma Gandhi, another world-renowned activist who peacefully led the Indian independence movement in the 1940s. Gandhi said, We dont fight, we talk. We want peace, Casas said. Students who participated in the march were in grades transitional kindergarten through second, Villasenor said. Voices Language Academy is a dual-language charter school organization that opened an elementary school in Morgan Hill in 2015. The school is currently housed at Advent Lutheran Church on Murphy Avenue, but is in the process of acquiring a permanent facility in Morgan Hill. Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive. To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research. Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process. These days at Midland International Air & Space Port, two types of sounds fill the air. Theres the all-too-common whine of turbines as airliners take off and land, and theres the unfamiliar grunt of heavy equipment and their perpetually beeping back-up alarms. Its quiet inside the Orbital Outfitters building at the under-construction Spaceport Business Park, but theres a lot going on. In a small office with large windows packed with science books and gadgetry, works a man with grand ideas to revolutionize the aerospace industry. Hes a lifelong lover of all things outer space and hopes to make it big on Earth so he can someday reside outside its atmosphere. Dale Amon is an entrepreneur. While many look at the likes of billionaire businessmen Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson as the archetypes of those trying to do the impossible, Amon says theyre not the complete picture. Ive been an entrepreneur most of my life. People see the highest point for the people that make a lot of money, but for every one of those high points, there are the times when youre scraping for a peanut butter sandwich, he said from the new home base of his company, Immortal Data, on a late January afternoon. Immortal Data is one of a handful of space companies in Midland. The Midland Development Corp. in 2012 brought in XCOR Aerospace, which has high hopes to someday launch and land its Lynx suborbital spaceplane from Midlands fledgling spaceport. Theres Orbital Outfitters, a spacesuit company also recruited by the MDC that has since partnered with the city to operate its Midland Altitude Chamber Complex that has altitude testing capabilities not seen outside of NASA. The MDC partnered last year with LeoLabs, a company that will set up a space-debrisdetecting radar facility on city-owned landin Winkler County that otherwise sits idle as the source for water from the aquifer beneath. XCOR and Orbital received millions of dollars from the MDC, while LeoLabs received tens of thousands as part of a marketing agreement. Immortal Data and upstart Agile Aero, founded by former XCOR leader Jeff Greason, have so far had to find funding elsewhere. Immortal Data has about 15 employees around the U.S., three of whom, including Amon, its CEO, live in Midland. Most are wellseasoned aerospace industry veterans, and all are 1099 independent contractors who pay themselves based on the jobs they get to keep cash flow reasonable. Immortal Data makes most of its money through consulting work. Amon is an expert in real-time data systems and understands both the hardware and software sides. Before coming to Midland in July 2015 as part of the XCOR staff, Amon was a consultant developing systems for the Lynx space plane. He and others were laid off last year after the Lynx project was put on hold indefinitely, so he went back to work for himself. He has survived so far. Were managing to keep enough cash flow here that I can pay the rent and buy my peanut butter sandwiches. Immortal Data currently is in search of venture capital to fund Amons patented, why didnt I think of that invention that changes how flight data recorders work in order to give a clearer picture of the situation when an aircraft breaks up during flight. Normally, there are so-called black boxes in the nose and tail of an aircraft. His Distributed Black Box is an auxiliary replacement, and the system puts more boxes around the aircraft. But its more than just adding more data recorders for a better chance at recovery. Each box has GPS and wireless communication capabilities, he said. Our idea is that the GPS keeps track of where each box is, and they send that data to each other. If the aircraft breaks up in the air, they continue transmitting via battery power over Wi-Fi. They trade positions. If you collect any of the boxes, youll know what the debris pattern is. Amon said he was inspired by the space shuttle Columbia disaster. The craft broke up over Texas upon re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003. A video tape made it to the ground of the astronauts inside the orbiter just before re-entry. It struck me that if that could survive all the way from re-entry to hitting the ground and be recovered and shown on TV by just pure chance, then if you have enough of those, you can make chance more certain and do it cheaply. The project was entirely self-funded and was considered new and interesting by the Patent office, so Immortal Data was granted all of its claims. The hunt for investors is on, but this isnt unfamiliar territory for Amon. Amon is a Pittsburgh native who graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in electrical engineering, with a computer option and minor in cognitive psychology. He did three semesters of graduate work under Nobel laureate Herbert Simon in a multidisciplinary program involving psychology, engineering and computer science but left to join start-up company Compuguard Corp., which has folded. After going back to Carnegie Mellon to work in the computer science department, he joined another startup, MicroMed Corp., in 1989, which took him to Northern Ireland to work on medical instrumentation. There were high hopes to receive significant capital from both the United States and United Kingdom governments, along with other interested parties, but funding issues killed the company, and Amon was forced to find work elsewhere. His next effort was nothing short of pioneering.In todays interconnected world, the internet is ubiquitous, but in the early 1990s, it was still largely the domain of governments, academic institutions, large businesses and hobbyists. Amon brought connectivity to the masses through the Genesis Project, Northern Irelands first true commercial internet service. It was bought in 1997 by Direct Net Access. This spawned his next company, Village Networking Ltd., whose products included mobile web-casting stations, hotel internet access systems and a private financial trading system prototype. The company closed in 2003, and Amon has been a consultant ever since. He loves startups and being his own boss. The only jobs that Ive had that werent startups after college were when I worked for Carnegie Mellon as research staff and at Queens University, he said. Other than that, everything has been out in this dicey world where your job is to keep your job alive and make money for the company. To help pay the bills, Amon worked many years as a professional musician in Northern Ireland, but he ultimately had to make a big life decision. I was at the level where I probably could make a living as a guy going out to bars and such. I was doing some touring. I knew a lot of the major people in Ireland. Ive been onstage with some of the best known musicians in Ireland. But I wasnt going to that next level, he said. I have friends who are recording artists and are very well-known. Theyre making a living; they have a house. But if the music business wasnt just so much fun, it wouldnt be a lifestyle youd want. As theyd say over there: The craic is mighty. Space is clearly his first love. Ive always been into space. I think I was imprinted on aviation when I was 6 years old. I grew up under the pattern for the greater Pittsburgh airport. My mother rented out apartments to stewardesses, pilots, air traffic controllers and Air Force guys, so I grew up with aviation people all around me, he said. This was also the time of Disney and Von Brauns thing, IGY, Sputnik and going on into the Mercury program. That was my youth. There was no doubt in my mind if you would have talked with me when I was a teenager that I was going to be on Mars by the time I was in my 30s. Amon has long been a part of the space industry. He started an L5 Society chapter in Pittsburgh in 1982 and has been closely associated with the National Space Society. He oversaw the International Space Development Conference for 16 years and was the chairman of the Space Settlement Conference in 2016. As for Midland and its venture into the space industry, Youre in early days, but its looking positive, he said. Youre creating more companies, but you have to hit a critical mass where there are enough companies around that everybody is feeding off each other, and if someone gets laid off at one company, they get picked up at another. There are an awful lot of great people who left (XCOR) because there simply wasnt enough work here. The people who stayed are the entrepreneurs. I suspect youre going to see some quite large buildings here (in Midland). Youre going to see a fair number of launches and landings of horizontal craft. I would like to hope the Lynx spaceplane comes back from suspension and is flying out of here. These things have a tendency to grow around nuclei. The place on Earth right now is still Mojave. Amon said what Midland needs most is more venture capital and a greater focus on small companies. Midland Development Corp. is there to pour concrete, build buildings and attract companies. Theyre not really encouraging the little companies like Immortal Data. Its the little companies that grow up in the environment that really make an area a major facility. XCOR was started by four people who got a little bit of help getting into a hangar and were just about selling T-shirts and lemonade to keep the doors open when they were starting up. You cant expect to bring in just the large companies. A large company can come in, but they can leave just as fast. If you help the small companies in the field grow, you get an ecosystem of people who are interconnected and part of the community. Theyre going to stay and grow in this area. Theyre going to attract other startups. He gave XCORs 2016 layoffs as a prime example. XCOR came in and laid off a couple of people. The layoffs caused two more startups in Midland. If you look at whats in Midland, (theres) Agile, Immortal Data and XCOR. Theres Sierra Nevada coming in for some things, LeoLabs and Orbital Outfitters. Three out of those six are from one source. Thats the family tree. Today, Amon is doing consulting work for the federal government, EXOS Aerospace in Caddo Mills and Excalibur Almaz in Houston. His expertise takes him around the nation, and the entrepreneur wouldnt have it any other way. Im just too bloody independent. Its being a pioneer. I want to be on the cutting edge, even if I get cut. As for his dream for space, he hopes to make enough money, live long enough and leave Earth. I love the quote from Elon Musk: Id like to die on Mars just not on landing. Until then, hell continue working diligently on his home planet, a pioneer in Midland helping the citys promising future as a critical hub for the space industry become reality. We are collating signatures to petition ... GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. Florida House Republicans propose spending $200 million on building new charter schools in neighborhoods served by perpetually failing public schools. FL House Republicans propose $200 million for new charter schools Schools would go in neighborhoods with failing public schools Priority for Florida House speaker. Wife runs a charter school CAPITOL CONNECTION: Latest News | Contact your Florida legislators The plan is part of the education budget package the chamber finalized this week and is being met with vocal opposition from Democrats and the state's teacher union. Under the so-called "Schools of Hope" program, the state would commit to funding new charter schools in zones where a public school has received a grade of D or F for at least five consecutive years. The strategy is a top priority for House Speaker Richard Corcoran (R-Land O'Lakes). "It is reprehensible that you would take a child and make them stay in a failure factory not for one year, not for two years, not for three years, not for four years, but five years," Corcoran told reporters this week. "That whole system has to end, and so, we're going to fund it in a way that we think ends that system." But ending the system, critics argue, could personally benefit Corcoran, whose wife runs a charter school. They're also taking issue with the redistributive effects of the proposal: funding the new charters would mean taking money away from existing public schools. In many cases, failing schools have been placed on turnaround plans that require more funding, not less. During a Thursday hearing of the House Education Committee, public school administrators also told lawmakers that charter schools can fall far short of being golden bullets, in some cases faring worse than the failing schools they were designed to compete with. "We love good charter schools," said Pinellas County School Board Chair Peggy O'Shea. "We welcome to them to Pinellas and we have some that are excellent, some of the best in the state, but there are others that just struggle very...the struggles are great, and they're financial struggles as well as academic struggles." Further compounding the plan's challenges, Senate leaders have declined to put the $200 million in their education budget. Along with other spending disparities between the two chambers, it could represent a point of contention during budget negotiations next month. "When you can get...the people to come and then educate those students so that they no longer have that generational poverty and they have dignity and they have a future, that's a priority," Corcoran said. A wildfire consumed 500 acres in Marion County on Friday. Wildfire destroys 500 acres in Marion County Fire in area north of Fort McCoy 50 homes evacuated due to fire Marion County Fire Rescue was called out Friday to the area of Northeast 212th Road and NE Highway 315, north of Fort McCoy, for reports of an outside fire. Crews said the fire was moving very fast due to the wind gusts in the area. Officials said 50 homes in the area were evacuated due to the fire. The fire covered approximately 500 acres. One small shed was destroyed in the fire and luckily, no homes were affected by the fire. No injuries were reported, officials said. Florida Forest Service and US Forest Service assisted Marion Fire Rescue in containing the fire. They worked to plow a line around the fire and dumped retardant and water on the fire. Officials said fire suppression units stayed on scene overnight and into Saturday morning to manage the fire. Residents are urged to use caution while traveling in the area. The Plainview/Hale County Crime Stoppers Committee will pay a reward of up to $350 to anyone with information that will lead to the arrest and indictment of the person or persons responsible for the following crime: --On March 29, someone entered 711 Beech and took a wood burning stove. WALLINGFORD Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr.s proposed 2017-18 budget uses $7.2 million in town financial reserves to offset reductions in state funding. The budget, released late Friday afternoon, calls for $162.1 million in spending and raises the mill rate by 2.44 percent. Here are other things to know about Dickinsons budget proposal: Mill rate Dickinsons budget would raise the mill rate from 27.89 to 28.57, an increase of .68 mills or 2.44 percent. A mill equals $1 for every $1,000 of assessed home value. Under the proposed increase, the average residential property owner would pay $5,228 in taxes, a $124 increase over the current year. State cuts Dickinson said the towns state grant revenue is expected to drop $5.8 million from the current year $3.9 million less in educational funding and $1.9 million less in municipal revenue sharing. Dickinson wrote in a budget overview, We, individually and as a community, are unavoidably feeling the rending and tearing currently stressing the financial fabric of the state of Connecticut. The $5.8 million cut does not include potential teacher pension costs that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed municipalities pay in his state budget proposal. Malloy proposed that municipalities pay about one-third of pension costs, however, state legislators have since debated alternative plans. Dickinson is delaying appropriation for the proposed teacher pension payments until the state budget is adopted. He said any additional pension expenses would be offset by reserve funds and would not impact the mill rate. According to data from the Office of Policy and Management, Wallingford would contribute $5.2 million to the pension fund next fiscal year under Malloys budget proposal. Dickinson noted this amount is in excess of one mill. Using reserves The budget uses $7.2 million in reserves to offset what Dickinson called a fiscal crisis, $3 million more in reserves than what was designated to balance the current budget. The towns overall general fund balance grew to $29.2 million in the last fiscal year. Dickinson said using town reserves to offset lost revenue is not sustainable. Education funding The Board of Education requested a 2.99 percent funding increase, a total increase of $2.95 million. Dickinsons budget increases education funding 1.8 percent, or $1.77 million. In addition to the increase, Dickinson has agreed to use $336,659 from the towns Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority Distribution Funds to pay for 14 capital projects in the school boards budget. These expenses include $80,000 for oil tank removal at Parker Farms Elementary School, $50,000 for a plow truck with a sander, and $53,000 for asphalt resurfacing at Pond Hill Elementary. The CRRA funds come from a former trash-to-energy plant in Wallingford that distributed surplus funds to five municipalities that used the plant. Ambulance Fund The town is reincorporating the ambulance enterprise fund into the Fire Department budget. Dickinson said the move is necessary because the fund no longer receives enough revenue to qualify as an enterprise fund under town ordinance, predominantly due to declining health insurance reimbursement rates. Dickinson said the change will not cause any reduction in services. Utility budgets The Electric Divisions operating budget increases 1.5 percent, however that increase becomes 8.18 percent, or $5.85 million, if purchased power costs and extraordinary legal costs are factored. The Electric Divisions proposed capital costs decreased $866,845 from last year. The Sewer Divisions operating costs decrease 3.65 percent, or $296,742, which Dickinson said reflects declining sales and usage of 4.17 percent and no new positions and no rate increase. The Water Divisions operating expenses decrease by .73 percent, or $54,845. The divisions capital expenditures would increase by $55,835. About 100 people rallied in San Francisco to protest the Trump administrations first months in office and the nomination of Neil Gorsuch for the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday. The group gathered at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco where they heard speeches and carried signs reading No Vote Gorsuch and No Gorsuch. The rally was led by the Peoples Defense, a grassroots campaign organized by NARAL Pro-Choice America. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MAGDALENA BAY, Mexico Just off the bow of our 22-foot open boat what Baja fishermen call a panga a whale spout erupts with an adrenalin-spiking fwooosh. Seawater jets into the air, catching the brilliant Mexican sun in a fleeting rainbow. Woo-hoo! I yelp. (Sometimes I cant help myself.) As the gray whales barnacle-armored back slices the water less than 20 feet away, in the near distance my eye takes in a scissor-sharp line of barren coastal peaks. A thought occurs: This is a bit like visiting another planet, where alien life-forms seem just as interested in us as we in them. Indeed, for a visitor from Seattle, the burnt-sienna crags of coastal Baja seem like another world compared with the Pacific Northwests emerald and gray coastline. And the whales that surround our boat not fleeing, often lolling just beneath us, sometimes surfacing so close they can look us in the eye are intriguing visitors from a watery world. More Information If you go Getting there: Magdalena Bay can be reached by car in a few hours of driving on paved highways from airports at Loreto, La Paz or San Jose del Cabo, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. Puerto San Carlos, pop. 5,500, is the largest town on the bay. Whale-watching guides: I went out with Magdalena Bay Whales (magdalenabaywhales.com), which charges $89.99-$99.99 per person for a 6-hour outing. Several other operators offer outings during whale season, January to April. Ask at any local hotel or look for signs around Puerto San Carlos. Lodging: Lodging with breakfast at Hotel Isabela costs $59.99 a night. See magdalenabaywhales.com/hotel.html. Among other options in Puerto San Carlos, with a pleasant location on the water's edge: Mar y Arena Hotel, villasmaryarena.com. Whale Camp: Magdalena Bay Whales operates its remote, beachside Magdalena Whale Camp on the bay about a 30-minute boat ride from Puerto San Carlos. It features "comfort camping" in tents or yurts on raised wooden platforms. There's a dining palapa (where whale-watch boats stop for lunch), restrooms with flush toilets and hot showers. All-inclusive rates start at $495 per person, including two days of whale watching. magdalenabaywhales.com/magdalenawhalecamp.html See More Collapse I was on a daylong adventure on this wide and wild 30-mile-long bay on the lower reaches of Baja California. To this coast, after one of the longest migrations of any mammal on Earth more than 5,000 miles each way as many as 20,000 gray whales from cold Alaska seas come every winter to mate and have their calves. Magdalena Bay is one of the places where curious humans pay homage to them. And it seems the curiosity is mutual: Its common here for whales to come right up to boats, sometimes letting humans pat them on the head. A REFUGE FROM THE SEA I was last in Magdalena Bay 22 years ago when my family and I piloted our 32-foot sailboat from San Diego 850 miles down Bajas wild Pacific Coast and into the Sea of Cortez. Mag Bay, as its known among sailors, offered us a few days of welcome refuge from capricious wind and waves. Most of the huge bay was relatively untouched by human development then. It has changed little, still lined with sand dunes and mangroves, its skies filled with pelicans and frigate birds, its waters with sea lions and clams. For this visit, Id flown the previous day on Alaska Airlines via Los Angeles into the Sea of Cortez town of Loreto, then rented a car for the 2 1/2-hour drive across the peninsula to the small fishing town of Puerto San Carlos. Online research had led me to a locally run tour service, Magdalena Bay Whales, managed by 40-year-old Captain Marco (full name: Crispin Marco Antonio Mendoza Lopez). His fisherman father, Crispin Mendoza, 78, was the first local who started taking tourists out to see gray whales here in 1970. He got the job because gringo visitors had begun asking for whale-watching rides and he was the only fisherman in town who spoke good English. He has come to be known as the Whale Whisperer. I feel like I can talk to the whales and I feel they can listen to me, he told me over dinner one night. I talk to the whales like I talk to my little puppy at home: Come on, baby, lets play! These days, his son is an affable and enterprising businessman. Book a whale-watching outing with his company online and hell also book you into his familys little hotel, Hotel Isabela. Dont expect the Hilton. Just to find the place, you have to stop by the whale-tour office in town and someone will lead you through a maze of dirt streets and ragtag cinder-block homes typical of rural Mexico. The hotel rooms are modern and well-furnished (except for the shortage of reading lamps). But dont anticipate more than a drizzle from the shower. And the best I could find on the TV was a fuzzy-picture tribute to Mexican boy bands But put aside a few First World expectations. The friendly folks who run the place make up for all that, the food in the little palapa-style restaurant is tasty, and breakfast is included in your stay. OUT TO SEA At 7 a.m. we meet in the restaurant before our day of whale-watching. Ill be in one boat and another will carry a family from Los Angeles: a mom, dad, their grown daughter (named Kia, like the car) and her husband (Dakota, like the states). Kia and Dakota are adventure-tourism junkies. Theyve just come from La Paz, a few hours to the south, where they went diving with whale sharks. Theyve done a shark-cage encounter in Hawaii, with Galapagos sharks, and a dolphin encounter. What we want to do next is off the coast of California, a shark-cage dive with great whites! Dakota tells me as I munch my huevos rancheros. Im conflicted, hoping this outing goes beyond belt-notching. That it will be life-affirming, not exploitative. Captain Marco sits and tells us about Mag Bays whales. We started to see whales at the end of December, and this year we see a little bit more than the usual. In the area we can go, there are 25 to 30 whales right now. Its late January when I visit. He says were too early to see many calves, which usually appear more around mid-February. Around far-flung corners of the bay there might be as many as 250 whales, he says, but government regulations bar whale-watching boats from areas where mother whales typically take their calves to nurse. Ive chosen his outfit because online reviews said the boat captains respect the whales. But Im also concerned about a reviewer who said she had seen whales bloodied by boat propellers on Mag Bay. Captain Marco tells us that regulations require boats to stay 30 meters away from whales (about 98 feet). U.S. standards in areas such as the San Juan Islands require boats to stay 200 yards away (1,200 feet). If whales approach us or want to interact with us, thats allowed, Marco explains. Currently in his area, 32 boats have permits to take tourists whale watching. Of every 10 tours, he says, maybe seven have whales come right up to the boat. Thats an adult whale of 35 to 45 feet, or a calf of 8 to 12 feet, getting friendly with a 22-foot skiff. Surprisingly, accidents are rare. DIAMONDS ON THE WATER Captain Juan is at the helm of my boat. Captain Marcos niece, 13-year-old Merary, accompanies us as we launch from the edge of a mangrove lagoon at 8:30 a.m. The sun, still low in the east, glints diamonds off the serene bay. Far shores are lost in mist. Pelicans, a blue heron and a white egret perch among mangrove branches. Captain Juan soon gooses the outboard to put the panga up on plane. We race the other boat across the bay in water shallow enough that I can see waves cast spidery shadows on the sandy bottom. The air is cool; Im thankful Ive been warned to wear layers. We pause to inspect sandy Isla de Patos, with thousands of pelicans and cormorants clustered ashore, then circle a channel marker where we bark back and forth at tawny sea lions who bask on its base. We see another tourist boat with visitors in orange life vests. No life vests are offered on my boat, nor is there any discussion of safety. At 9:05, near the bays entrance, Juan cries out. I spy a fluked tail breaking the water a half-mile ahead. Merary points to the spray of whale spouts off to our left. For the next three hours, we slowly cruise the mouth of the bay as whales appear, some in the distance, some right next to our boat. At one point around us I count six more pangas with tourists. None are chasing whales at high speed. Most maintain their distance unless the whales approach them. We see myriad tale flips, we see lumbering giants loafing beneath our boat, we see a distant breach and for one dramatic moment a whale thrusts its colossal, barnacled beak up over the transom of our panga, as if to give Captain Juan a big wet kiss. Whoa, did that just happen? Bonita! Bonita! chants Merary, calling whales to us, using the Spanish word for pretty. When were all getting a tiny bit jaded, Captain Juan gets out his iPod, holds it up to the microphone of his marine radio and broadcasts Mexican hip-hop to our partner boat. The Angelenos all start jiving and doing their version of a whale dance. We laugh across the water. Very different species of Earthlings checking each other out? Ill come down on the side of life-affirming. Our Jeep is stationary and Im marveling at the scenery when I feel someone nuzzling my back very gently. Turning slowly I find myself eye to eye with an adult zebra whose broad smile displays a set of large, yellow teeth. His message is clear: Corn, please! This being the Global Wildlife Center in Folsom, La., the zebra isnt overstepping his boundaries in the slightest. He knows only too well that private Jeep tours like ours are well stocked with one of his favorite treats dried corn. I fill my plastic cup and pour corn directly into his gaping mouth, watching as my new friend guzzles the food in seconds. The largest free-roaming wildlife park in the country, the Global Wildlife Centers 900 acres are filled with 30 species of very tame herbivores and omnivores from all over the world. There are Somalian giraffe, Chinese Father David deer, South American rhea birds, African eland and zebra, Australian kangaroos, Indian black buck and at least 1,000 fallow deer. Its the latter that all the other animals are eyeing wearily the day of our Jeep tour. Its rutting season, explains our guide, Paul. This is a time when the fallow deer are mean to each other and to all the other animals, too! More Information If you go For general information on area attractions, accommodation and dining, visit LouisianaNorthshore.com. Where to stay: Covington's new boutique Southern Hotel is an elegant oasis of comfort in a 110-year-old building located in the heart of the city's historic center. Southernhotel.com; 844-866-1907. Global Wildlife Center: offers wagon tours (kids $11, adults $17) and private Jeep tours at $35 per person. Globalwildlife.com; 985-796-3535. Kayak rentals and guided bayou tours: are offered at bayouadventure.com in Lacombe. Bayouadventure.com; 985-882-9208. For swamp tours contact Pearl River Eco-Tours at pearlriverecotours.com; 985-892-0708. Liz's Where Y'At Diner: is open for all-day breakfast and lunch through 5 p.m., seven days a week. Lizswhereyatdiner.com; (985) 626-8477 See More Collapse The animals scamper toward the Jeeps and wagon tours, conditioned to understand that visitor-filled vehicles mean free food handouts. Their proximity allows close encounters, with some animals feeding directly out of our hands and others opening their mouths gratefully as my daughter Sarah and I pour food inside. Trust me, nothing gets a kid off their iPod faster than the extended tongue of an African watusi cow with impressive horns and imploring eyes, or the sweet, kissing sensation of a 16-foot reticulated giraffe willingly scooping food from the palm of your hand. Sarah, 11, turns to me with shining eyes and a huge smile. This is so cool, she declares. Wed crossed the 24-mile Causeway from New Orleans to St. Tammany Parish a few days earlier, intent on exploring Louisianas North Shore. With Lake Pontchartrain behind us we quickly learned that the nine communities that comprise the parish offer the warm friendliness of the south coupled with a great selection of outdoor, family friendly attractions from giraffes to swamp monsters and beady-eyed alligators. We started out on the still waters of Cane Bayou in Lacombe, paddling past trees heavy with Spanish moss and turtles sunning lazily on upturned logs. Within minutes the traffic was far behind us and birdsong filled the air. With Fontainebleau State Park on one side of the bayou and a national wildlife refuge on the other, this is a landscape untouched by time, one as perfect today as it was 150 years ago. I had bare feet drifting overboard the kayak when our guide, Shannon Bordelon, owner of Bayou Adventure, pointed out a statuesque 10-foot alligator a few yards away. Best to put your feet back in the boat, she said, reeling in the shrimp bait that was dangling from a fishing line off the end of the kayak. I followed her advice. Later that day, though, Captain John was determined to do just that. Our guide on the Honey Island Swamp had attached a white marshmallow to the end of a stick and was dangling it off the end of our boat. Within seconds we were in the company of an alligator a small one, but a reptile whose larger relatives werent far away. They think these are turtle eggs, explained the Captain of the Pearl River Eco-Tour excursion, who was leading our group of 20. The brochure had tempted us with potential sightings of panther, wild boar, alligators, and perhaps even the elusive swamp monster. In no time at all the feral hogs showed up on the embankment, pushing each other out the way to get as close to the boat as they could. It turned out they were avid marshmallow fans, too. Theyre a real problem right now, says the captain, describing the speed at which the wild pigs reproduce - three times a year from the age of three months. The two-hour tour takes us deep into the swamp and we putter gently through some of its narrow channels, examining the plant life. Bald cypress trees point their skinny knees out of the water while Spanish moss hangs like thick, ghostly white hair from their branches. A day later we rent bicycles in Covington and head out on the Tammany Trace, a rails-to-trails bike route that extends 31 miles from one end of the parish to the other. Its a flat, easy path interspersed only by the occasional road crossing and the brilliant flash of red as a cardinal flits across the path. Our destination was Mandevilles glorious waterfront, 12 miles away, with a stopover at Abita Springs to visit the small towns museum and its kooky Mystery House, a bizarre roadside attraction filled with recycled art. By the time we reached Mandeville it was a relief to surrender our bikes for the large swinging benches that overlook Lake Pontchartrain, catching our breath as we watched dragonflies zoom above the water. Hungry for a meal, we were directed to a nearby bistro, the funky, colorful eatery called Lizs Where Yat Diner. We snuck into one of the bright blue booths, ordered a late breakfast and watched a cheerful scene unfold as proprietor Liz Munson greeted us and other diners with her signature welcome of conversation, warm smiles and genuine warmth. Thats my grandmothers recipe for grits, she said, looking at my plate of the house special, Where Yat Bennies. But people dont just come here for the food. They come because they get taken care of here, because they can feel the love. Munson, a bundle of joyful energy who waited tables for 16 years before opening her diner, flits from table to table, touching each of her patrons with the personal attention that has made her eatery a popular fixture the past eight years. You come as strangers, but you leave as friends, she says, giving us a hug when its time to go. True to her words, we cant help hoping well be back. Lauren Kramer is a freelance writer. DANBURY The arrest of a Danbury man by U.S. immigration agents on his scheduled court date last week has led some observers to wonder whether courthouses have become target enforcement areas since President Donald Trumps crackdown on illegal immigration. ICE arrested Julio Virgilio Paida-Morquencho, 22, a citizen of Ecuador, on Monday. The agency later said he was considered a fugitive after failing to leave the United States as ordered by a federal immigration judge in 2013. It was the latest incident in what Susan Storey, the states chief public defender, sees as a disturbing pattern. She noted that similar incidents have occurred in Norwich, Middletown and New London, and that immigration agents interviewed more than 20 inmates on March 20 when they were brought to the Bridgeport Correctional Center. I am getting reports from different public defender offices around the state, since ICE seems more emboldened to detain clients who are known to be coming to court or in scheduled programs that have been court-ordered, Storey said. People are just disappearing and its very concerning. She said these people include those charged with less serious crimes, not just those charged with or convicted of serious felonies. Im very concerned about children going home and not knowing where their parents are, she said. Targeting these defendants, even those who have committed violent crimes, can have unintended and detrimental consequences, said Mike Lawlor, Governor Dannel P. Malloys criminal justice advisor. It is not only criminals that come to court, Lawlor said. Victims come, witnesses come, and if they are afraid to come then it will make it impossible to convict criminals that victimize immigrants or anybody else where immigrants are the witnesses. Obviously ICE has a job to do and they get to do it, he added. On the other hand, we have a job to do, and that includes protecting public safety. An ICE official confirmed Friday that the agency uses state law enforcement records to locate aliens for targeted enforcement in federal immigration matters. However, the official said, the agency does not ask state or local judicial officers to report suspected immigration violations. ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer added that current ICE policy directs agency personnel to avoid conducting enforcement activities at sensitive locations unless they have prior approval from a supervisor or the circumstances are exigent. Sensitive locations include schools, hospitals and places of worship, but not courthouses, correctional facilities or probation offices. While ICE does arrest targets at courthouses, generally its only after investigating officers have exhausted other options, Neudauer said. He said many of those ICE take into custody at or near courthouses are foreign nationals who have prior criminal convictions in the United States. Absent a viable address for a residence or place of employment, a courthouse may afford the most likely opportunity to locate a target and take him or her into custody, Neudauer said. In such instances, where deportation officers seek to conduct an arrest at a courthouse, every effort is made to take the person into custody in a secure area, out of public view, but this is not always possible. According to court documents, Paida-Morquencho faced numerous charges from 2014, including fourth-degree sexual assault and illegal sexual contact with the victim. He had pleaded guilty to risk of injury to a child and was scheduled to appear in court on Monday for sentencing. Storey has asked the states public defenders to contact her every time they become aware of ICE activity. Karen Martucci, director of external affairs for the state Department of Correction, confirmed Friday about two dozen men at the Bridgeport Correctional Center were interviewed by ICE agents on March 20. Martucci said all the inmates signed consent forms before being interviewed, which is policy at the state-run institution. She added that ICE has interviewed large groups of inmates during intake, as it did March 20, before Trump became president, but it was not a consistent practice, and that it has long been ICE practice to have agents visit the prison two or three times a week. To help ensure that immigrants rights are not violated, Storeys office created an internal task force, including public defenders, private immigration attorneys and representatives from Yale University, to draft a fact sheet for dissemination to the clients of the 43 public defenders offices. The document was translated into several languages, including Spanish, Haitian Creole, French, Portuguese and Mandarin. I think theres an attitude now ICE can act with impunity, Storey said. Were scared and angry for our clients. 1 Storm damage: Local jail inmates helped with cleanup efforts Saturday in Virginia Beach, Va., after strong storms struck the Tidewater area the night before, authorities said. The Sheriffs Office said it coordinated with city officials to dispatch inmate crews to assist with cleanup from Friday nights weather. Dozens of homes were damaged, and a church in Chesapeake was nearly destroyed. The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. There were no reports of injuries or deaths. 2 Overpass collapse: A man accused of starting a raging fire that collapsed a portion of Interstate 85 a few miles north of downtown Atlanta was charged with arson Saturday. The first-degree arson charge was added to a first-degree criminal damage to property charge Basil Eleby already faced in connection with the fire Thursday evening that caused a heavily traveled overpass to disintegrate. Jail records show that Eleby has been arrested more than a dozen times since 1995, mostly on drug charges. Deputy Insurance Commissioner Jay Florence said Eleby was arrested Friday along with Sophia Brauer and Barry Thomas. Brauer and Thomas were charged with criminal trespass. We believe they were together when the fire was set and Eleby is the one who set the fire, Florence said. 1 Charleston massacre: Convicted South Carolina church shooter Dylann Roof is set to plead guilty to state murder charges to avoid a second death sentence. Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said Friday that Roof is scheduled to enter a guilty plea during a hearing April 10 in Charleston. She said he will enter the plea in exchange for a sentence of life in prison. Roof has been awaiting trial on state murder charges for the deaths of nine black parishioners at Charlestons Emanuel AME Church in June 2015. The deal wont save Roof from a possible execution. Earlier this year, a federal jury sentenced him to death on charges including hate crimes. 2 Deadly crash: A witness to a deadly Texas wreck involving a church minibus says the driver of a pickup truck that crossed the center line apologized and acknowledged he had been texting while driving. Jody Kuchler told the Associated Press on Friday that he was driving behind the truck before the collision on a rural road about 75 west of San Antonio. Kuchler said he spoke with the driver Jack Dillon Young, 20 as he was pinned in his truck Wednesday moments after the collision. Thirteen people on the bus were killed and the lone survivor remained hospitalized Friday. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NORWALK Linda Blackwood was a straight-A student, a social butterfly and the so-called ray of hope in her family. But behind closed doors, her upbringing was not so glossy. Plagued by sexual, physical and emotional abuse, she was looking for a way out. So, in 1989 when she felt her life was falling apart, she joined the Navy and learned how to build explosives. I think I wanted to do something that almost felt illegal, but that I was in control of, Blackwood said. As one of only a few women in the Navy at the time, she faced similar abuse to that she had been hoping to escape. No one felt they had to listen to a blonde with big (breasts), she said. Toward the end of her service, while stationed in Guam during the height of the first war in Iraq, she started drinking. Just 11 days before she was to be discharged, Blackwood failed a drug test. I think a lot of us started using drugs when we got out, Blackwood said. We had PTSD, but there wasnt a name for it back then. We didnt know what it was so we started medicating on the streets. In hindsight, thats what it was. We all have it. Following her discharge, she moved to Connecticut, but the failed drug test was the start of a downward spiral for Blackwood. She continued to battle alcoholism and addiction for years and, ultimately, ended up homeless. She spent three years living on the streets in New Haven, unaware of the benefits she was entitled to as a veteran, including medical services and help for her addictions. In November, she wound up at Female Soldiers: Forgotten Heroes, a Bridgeport-based transitional housing program dedicated to to serving homeless female veterans. When I came here I got to have the nervous breakdown I deserve, Blackwood said. I didnt have a drinking problem before I went into the military, but even if youre not in combat, you see things no one should ever have to see. Im just now getting the benefits I didnt think I was entitled to. Last year, Connecticut became one of just three states to effectively end veteran homelessness. Now, nonprofits and local officials fear that progress could come to an end. President Donald Trumps proposed budget would eliminate, among other things, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates the efforts of 19 federal agencies that play a role in preventing and ending homelessness among all Americans. But the strides made with veterans make the proposed cuts particularly upsetting to advocates. Homeless advocates in any given state consult the council, whose annual budget is about $3.5 million, on which strategies are working elsewhere as they seek to house veterans. Jeannette Archer-Simons, executive director of Norwalks Open Door shelter, said the council is essential in connecting service providers and resources to clients. What that does is it gets resources to work together, Archer-Simons said. When were getting people to connect the dots about how things can happen more effectively, were able to do things more effectively so people can access homeless services, which weve done in this state. Its that partnership that is the strength of the system that works. When you eliminate that, then we operate in silos and thats never any good. Veteran support Adding to the ire and confusion, the budget proposal also says the Trump administration will support the Department of Veterans Affairs programs for homeless and at-risk veterans and their families, but does not elaborate. Trump, who promised on the campaign trail to support veterans, wants to give the VA a 6 percent increase. Thats why Blackwood voted for him. Still, the federal government needs someone to make sure housing resources are well spent and to look across agencies for solutions instead of just down at their own, advocates say. If I would have known earlier what I know now, I probably never would have been homeless, Blackwood said. Id be pretty upset if those departments that helped me out werent there for other people. We also need help knowing where to go and what the benefits were entitled to are. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said Tuesday that he and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, have introduced legislation to prevent the council from being shuttered. They say it takes a collaborative, comprehensive approach to reducing and preventing homelessness. The White House's $1.15 trillion plan, released this month, emphasizes military and other security-related spending and slashes many domestic programs. The proposal is the first step in a lengthy process that requires congressional approval. Proponents of small government praised it. The interagency council, created during President Ronald Reagans administration, is one of 19 independent agencies for which Trump proposed eliminating funding. The federal government needs to prioritize what it does, said Dan Holler at Heritage Action for America, the advocacy arm of the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. It's the community groups and local officials who know best how to help homeless people and other underserved groups in their area, he added. Some advocates fear that in addition to the loss of the council, fewer rental assistance vouchers will be available for the homeless. The budget proposes a 13.2 percent cut to the Housing and Urban Development Department. From what we understand, hes recommended that they eliminate that funding altogether, and if they do that, I know locally, its hundreds of thousands of dollars that is used to fund community development projects and serve low income communities, Archer-Simons said. I think all of us in nonprofits have to work to be less reliant on government funding, but at the same time the government is relying on us to provide services. Ending homelessness Connecticut is part of the national Zero: 2016 initiative to end veteran homelessness, a goal set by former President Barack Obama, and to end chronic homelessness by the end of 2016. The federal government confirmed in February 2016 that Connecticut was the second state in the nation to functionally end veteran homelessness by housing all long-term homeless veterans and securing housing for any veterans newly identified as homeless in less than 90 days. The count found only 45 veterans statewide in emergency shelters, less than half the number identified in 2015, most of whom are engaged in VA services and on their way to housing. In Norwalk, only five veterans were counted as chronically homeless. The number of homeless veterans nationwide is down 47 percent, or about 35,000 people, since 2010, but there are roughly 40,000 more, HUD said in August. Homelessness among veterans is effectively ended in Connecticut, Virginia and Delaware and in about 40 communities as of 2016, according to the interagency council. The council ensures agencies aren't duplicating spending and efforts, or spending money at cross-purposes, and it serves as a clear way into the federal process for communities tackling the issue, said Jake Maguire, spokesman for the nonprofit Community Solutions, which does similar work to tackle homelessness and has branches in Connecticut. He's hopeful the president, a businessman, will learn more about the council and keep it. I think anyone who has worked in business knows that if you have 19 people working on something, he said, you need someone coordinating that work. This story includes reporting from the Associated Press. Clear lines are forming between state and local officials over the legal basis for the towns proposed Harbor Management Plan. Three state officials have all come to the same conclusion in different memos: Portions of the draft plan are not consistent with state law and need to be amended. For its part, the town maintains that the draft is built on powers granted Greenwich by two special acts of the state Legislature from the late 1940s and early 1950s. The state has taken exception to draft sections that govern state harbormasters roles and responsibilities, mooring and anchoring, boating safety, swim floats and docks, navigational markers and other issues. Referring to the towns reliance on the special acts, one state DEEP regulatory analyst wrote, In the past, the town of Greenwich has asserted authority over these matters, citing the special acts. However, section 15-140 of Connecticut General Statutes renders these acts with no force. This should be acknowledged in the text of the plan where appropriate. The cited Section 15 reads, All special acts and municipal ordinances inconsistent with the provisions of this part are superseded and shall be of no force or effect. To me, thats a pretty clear statement that the special acts are yesterdays laws. But the town continues to maintain that the special acts will carry the day. Harbor Management Commission Chairman Bruce Angiolillo, a corporate litigator, is perhaps the strongest advocate of the special acts primacy. Angiolllo asked the town Law Department to review a mid-February email from state regulators that listed several objections to the towns proposed harbor plan. This specific email claimed that the towns draft regulations were in conflict with the Connecticut Harbor Management Act (CHMA) of 1984. CHMA contains no language repealing existing Special Acts. Consistent with well-established rules of statutory construction, Greenwichs Special Acts continue to be valid and in effect; they continue to operate and co-exist with CHMA an other State and Federal laws, wrote Town Attorney John Wayne Fox in his response to the Harbor Commission. He does not address the state statute language that asserts special acts inconsistent with state law have no force. The town has gone through three different appointed commissions and nine years of effort to draft a harbor management plan. It has been told repeatedly by outside counsel and by state officials that any action the town takes under its interpretation of special acts has to be consistent with state law. First Selectman Peter Tesei has claimed for nine years that he wants a working harbor management plan. The first two groups he appointed failed at this very basic task. And the third one is now going on its fourth year of work with no approved plan. One has to wonder why, after so much time and effort, a basic question of law has not been agreed to. Why waste thousands of man-hours drafting a plan that town officials know stands on a questionable legal premise? The town did seek outside counsel on the special acts versus state law question in 2010. But that counsel said the same thing the state DEEP officials are saying now. The town chose to ignore its outside counsel; the state will not let it ignore state laws and regulations. There will be no harbor management plan without state approval. So until the very basic special acts versus state law question is answered, all work should stop on the harbor management plan. One of the benefits of having such a plan is the town could charge an annual fee for a mooring and use those dollars to make harbor and navigational improvements. Greenwich went about it backwards; it implemented a mooring fee almost 10 years ago, and then started work on the management plan. Several years later, town officials realized they could not impose a mooring fee in the absence of a management plan, so they changed the name of the fee. It is now a mooring application fee. Call it what they want, the money is not being used to improve the harbor. It is being used to fund an assistant in the first selectmans office and on legal fees. The money should be returned to boaters until the Board of Selectmen and the Harbor Management Commission can get their acts together. Bob Horton can be reached at bobhorton@yahoo.com. The Grim Reaper will be stalking the halls of Plainview High School on Thursday collecting another young victim every few minutes as a grim reminder that on average a life is lost every 53 minutes to impaired driving. The statistics are simply staggering, Plainview Fire Marshal Philip Mize explains. The cost of alcohol-related crashes are $44 billion annually in just the United States alone. And the total consumption of alcoholic beverages is equally astounding. In 2016, Americans consumed 3,571,694 gallons of distilled spirits and 46,092,256 gallons of beer. Since 2004, the Shattered Dreams program has been staged every other year to bring to life to the PHS junior and senior classes the deadly consequences of distracted and impaired driving. This years two-day event is set for April 6-7, with the wreck being staged at 10 a.m. Thursday at the corner of 13th and Smyth. The public is invited to watch, but asked to do so across the street from the school campus. Sometimes we become desensitized about the dangers of drinking and driving. But when you see your friends gone and your parents hurting, it hits home, explains program co-organizer Joani Chapman Its a very intense time for these students, but if we can save just one life with this program its well worth it. For the past 13 years, Shattered Dreams in Plainview has worked to combat the number of deaths by bringing education and awareness to the youth of the community. With a city-wide effort, volunteers stage an elaborate scene which brings to life the consequences of drinking and driving. Its made as realistic as possible, right down to the victims being made up to show real injuries including broken bones sticking out, ambulances, police cars and the AeroCare helicopter, Mize explains. And to help drive it home, every 15 minutes during the rest of the school day the Grim Reaper pulls a student out of class and they arent seen again until an assembly the next day. Instead, the teacher reads their obituary to the class after they leave. The crash scene, on the southwest edge of the campus, will be filled with realism. Local first responders will join with paramedics and EMS to treat the injured who are student volunteers. The Jaws of Life will be used to free victims from the crumpled wreckage, and victims will be taken from the scene by ambulances and an AeroCare helicopter. Body bags and appropriate alternate transporation will be on hand for those who didnt make it. At the hospital, doctors and nurses will treat injured students the way they would if it was an actual wreck. Those fatally injured, whether they died at the scene to from injuries at the hospital, will have to lie motionless while they are identified by their grieving parents at either the hospital or the morgue. Once those scenarios are complete, the dead and injured will have their phones taken away and not allowed to contact family and friends until the next day. Instead, they will be privately sequestered overnight inside the First United Methodist Churchs Cross and Flame youth center. On Friday, the dead students reintroduced to their classmates during an assembly. At that time, the PHS audiovisual club will show a video from the day before, showing the drinking party, crash, anguish at the hospital and arrest and sentencing of the students charged with drinking and driving. During the assembly, students who died during the event will share letters from their parents. While heart wrenching, the program is extremely effective in driving home the realities associated with impaired driving. Among the businesses and individuals who help stage Shattered Dreams each year are Plainview Fire Department and EMS, Plainview police, Hale County Sheriffs Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Hale County constables, AeroCare, Dulaneys Auto Parts, Covenant Health Plainview, Central Plains Center and various restaurants who donate food to feed those participating in the two-day program. We have a lot of businesses willing to donate goods and services, but what we really need is money, Mize says. We need to help pay for the DVDs we make for the students who participate as well as for TABC which oversees the program, and other expenses. With whats left, we give scholarships each year to some students who participate as either a junior or senior. In 2015 our scholarship went to Christopher Vega, and last year it went to Caitlyn Isaguirre. The recipients are screened and selected by the PHS Scholarship Committee. Donations can be made to Plainview High School and are tax deductible. Contributions should be made payable and sent to Plainview Shattered Dreams, 1501 Quincy, Plainview, TX 79072. To schedule a program, contact Mize at 291-1251 or Joani Chapman at 291-4470. #prosecution Prosecution raids bakery giant SPC in probe into alleged unfair practices Prosecutors raided the offices of the nation's largest bakery chain SPC Group on Tuesday as part of an investigation into alleged unfair practices of awarding business contracts to... This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Naima Khan insists Biryani Kabab Factory exists only to serve good food, no matter who wants it. But, that statement has been drowned out over the last week by a Twitter attack from folks who believe the Irving, Texas, restaurant is a Muslim hotspot. Twitter A Twitter user at an account called AMTrump4Pres sent out a year-old picture of people praying during Ramadan. It showed Muslims gathering for prayer outside the restaurant. Since then, the picture has been retweeted - with commentary - many times over. ONLINE TUSSLE: Twitter reacts to divisive tweets with hilarious responses The social media attack has left Khan at a loss, for both words and business. Khan told WFAA-TV in Dallas that the firestorm initially hurt business last week. But, by Tuesday and Wednesday, people started to return to the restaurant. Also jumping into the fray was CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, a civil rights organization vilified by some on the political hard right. Twitter It's left Khan grateful for the fans and friends the restaurant has. But also wondering when the online attacks will subside. As of Saturday, the restaurant was still a hot topic on Twitter. And, given the current political climate, it shows few signs of letting up. >>>Scroll through the above gallery to see hilarious responses to divisive tweets Six people were at University Hospital on Friday night, two of them in critical condition, after a head-on collision on the South Side. A Chevrolet Cobalt and Toyota Corolla heading in opposite directions met head-on at about 9 p.m. on Probandt Street at its intersection with East Malone, according to San Antonio Police Department detectives. Dimmit County officials have arrested an immigrant from El Salvador who they say was in the country illegally and kidnapped a woman and tried to use her car to get to Houston. Carlos Monge Hernandez, 22, was being held on charges of aggravated kidnapping and burglary of a habitation with intent to commit a felony, said Luciano Quintanilla, the chief deputy for the Dimmit County Sheriffs Office. According to the Border Patrol, the victim had been providing her abductor with food and water for three days before the March 22 kidnapping attempt. The illegal immigrant, he made himself a little camp and he was living out there, and then I guess he wanted to get to Houston and kidnapped her, Quintanilla said. He was going to try to take her against her will. He had the keys to the car and her cell phone. She was tied up, she was forced, he added. She was knocked down on the ground. She had not a bad injury, but she still wound up in the hospital, from the shock. Before her abductor could start the car, the woman escaped, according to law enforcement officials. She jumped out of the car and was able to get away, Quntanilla said. I think he panicked and started running away. In a news release, the Border Patrol said canine units found the suspect unconscious in the brush. He was treated at a hospital, then taken to jail. The area where the victim lived south of the county seat of Carrizo Springs is heavily trafficked by immigrants trying to hike around the Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. 83, Quintanilla said. Its rare that encounters with immigrants in the brush end violently, although car thefts are not unheard of, he said. This is one of the first incidents in our area with somebody being kidnapped, he said. The other incident we had, it was the other way around, some of the citizens here had the immigrants, they had them against their will, and they were getting money from them. Six people, including a member of the Zetas drug cartel, were convicted in 2015 of federal crimes related to what prosecutors said was a conspiracy to kidnap immigrants near Carrizo Springs and extort money from them. Sone of the victims were tortured and raped, according to prosecutors. A beloved purveyor of Mexican-style mesquite grilled chicken on the Southeast Side has agreed to clean up its smoke that often billows over the neighborhood. Pollos Asados Los Nortenos owners Frank and Maria Garcia have already purchased one piece of pollution control equipment and agreed to conduct tests from its smoke stacks and install new equipment as necessary, according to the agreement filed last week. The following personal injury accident recently was reported to local law enforcement agencies: Monday, March 27 5:55 p.m. South McGruder Road near West Pine River Road Driver Michael Ross Hartner, 53, Saint Louis, was hurt when the truck he was driving struck a tree that had fallen in the roadway. He refused medical treatment, the report states. In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, President Donald Trump was asked about waterboarding. He said he had asked people at the highest level of intelligence, " 'Does it work? Does torture work?' And the answer was, 'Yes, absolutely.' " Trump went on to say, "Do I feel it works? Absolutely, I feel it works." Trump nonetheless said he would rely on the advice of his defense secretary, James Mattis, and CIA director, Mike Pompeo, before he would bring back waterboarding. Moreover, it is now illegal under U.S. law to waterboard any suspect. And Mattis and Pompeo have both said they would oppose its reintroduction at an interrogation method used by the U.S. government. Here are the answers to basic questions about waterboarding and its history: What is waterboarding? Waterboarding is an enhanced interrogation technique that simulates the feeling of being drowned. A person is strapped to a board with the upper part of his body on a downward incline. Then, a cloth is placed over the person's mouth, and water is poured over his face, causing the person to have difficulty breathing and to feel as if his lungs are filling with water. CIA medical staff determined that the process was dangerous enough that they required resuscitation and medical equipment to be placed in interrogation rooms where waterboarding took place. On at least once occasion, a detainee required resuscitation. More on the Trump transition Trump says torture 'works,' but he'll defer on decision over tactics to his defense secretary When was it first used? According to historians, waterboarding dates to the Middle Ages and has been a form of torture in many conflicts. Japanese soldiers used it on American prisoners of war in World War II, and U.S. soldiers used it when interrogating captured North Vietnamese soldiers. U.S. military personnel are still trained on SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape) techniques and subjected to waterboarding in training situations to help them resist if they are captured. How did it come back into use by the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks? The CIA hired two former military psychologists after 9/11 to assist in the interrogation of high-value al-Qaida detainees held at secret CIA prisons overseas. The psychologists, James Mitchell and John "Bruce" Jessen, helped develop an escalating series of enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, for the agency to use on terrorism suspects. Which terrorist suspects have been waterboarded and where? Three CIA detainees were waterboarded after 9/11. Abu Zubaydah, an alleged al-Qaida facilitator, was the first detainee to be waterboarded. In 2002, while being held at the CIA black site in Thailand, Zubaydah was subjected to waterboarding 83 times. Abd Al-Rahim al-Nashiri, an al-Qaida operative accused of involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, was waterboarded two times in 2002 at the CIA black site in Thailand. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused of being one of the main planners of the 9/11 attacks, was waterboarded 183 times in the course of one month after his capture in 2003. Zubaydah, Nashiri and Mohammed are all currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where Nashiri and Mohammed have been charged with war crimes in military commissions. Did the waterboarding of terrorist suspects lead to actionable intelligence? Opinions on the efficacy of torture vary and are the subject of intense and emotional debate. After an exhaustive study the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded the CIA's use of torture and other harsh interrogation techniques did not produce unique, critical intelligence that had not been replicated elsewhere or obtained through other means. In response, senior current and former CIA officials said the agency's interrogation program, including the use of waterboarding, had produced actionable intelligence that among other things led to the identification of Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Is it still legal? No. It is prohibited under federal law. Former President Barack Obama banned the use of torture as an interrogation technique in 2009. That ban was later codified in law by Congress. The Army Field Manual, which now guides interrogations by U.S. officials overseas, prohibits "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment." Waterboarding is one of eight techniques of interrogation expressly prohibited from being used in the field. What have Trump's Cabinet nominees said about waterboarding? During his Senate confirmation hearing, CIA director Mike Pompeo said he would "absolutely not" restart the use of waterboarding. He added that he could not "imagine that I would be asked that by the president. Defense Secretary James Mattis told then President-elect Donald Trump at a meeting in November that he did not find the technique of waterboarding to be useful. Mattis told Trump, "I've always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and I do better with that than I do with torture," according to an interview with the New York Times. He's the new Al Sharpton on steroids - and he's coming to a TV near you. Benjamin Crump, camera-lovin' lawyer for the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, rocketed to fame perpetuating the "Hands up, don't shoot" lie. Never mind that even the left-wing Obama Justice Department concluded that the 22 witnesses who manufactured the Black Lives Matter-promoted narrative were unreliable, inconsistent, self-contradictory, unsupported by a shred of forensic evidence, or outright lying. In Crump World, anti-police ideology trumps facts. Social justice trumps actual justice. And lying about crime pays. Big time. Crump is going Hollywood. Next week, the Florida-based legal celebrity will debut as one of six featured attorneys participating in show trials on the new Fox reality series, "You the Jury." Crump is also serving as host and executive producer of a six-hour miniseries on the A&E Network titled "Who Killed Tupac?" And busy Benjamin is hosting "Evidence of Innocence," a documentary series that will profile "the unbelievable true stories of individuals who were convicted of crimes they didn't commit." The series will air on TV One. Originally co-owned by Comcast and now controlled by Radio One (a minority-owned company that syndicates racial rabble-rouser, cop-basher and hate crime hoax godfather Al Sharpton), the station claims to reach 57 million households. This is the same social justice TV network whose liberal anchor Roland Martin fed Democratic debate questions last year to disgraced former CNN contributor Donna Brazile, who finally admitted last week that she leaked the information to Hillary Clinton's campaign. CNN president Jeff Zucker declared after an internal investigation that the network "would not partner ever again" with TV One. But not to worry. TV One was happy to partner with Sharpton's National Action Network to co-sponsor an awards show last fall that bestowed a special civil rights honor on Crump "for historic and transformative service." "Transformative service"? Try manipulating reality for political gain. While the network has cast Crump as a champion of the falsely convicted, both are responsible for spreading falsehoods and inciting hatred against a former Oklahoma City police officer whose case is one of the worst miscarriages of justice I've ever encountered. Last fall, TV One's true-crime hit, "Justice By Any Means," reenacted the story of former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw with blowhard commentary from pundits who had no clue about the actual evidence in the case. "Legal analyst" Tanya Miller, for example, put words in Holtzclaw's mouth that appear nowhere in the court record, trial transcripts, police reports or interviews. As I've been reporting over the past year, Holtzclaw was arrested, charged and convicted on numerous alleged sexual assaults in summer 2014, during the racially inflamed, anti-cop riots in Ferguson and Baltimore. A circus mob of militant Black Lives Matter protesters gathered at the courthouse, chanting, "Give him life!" during proceedings and drowning out testimony as they demonstrated inside and outside on the streets. Agitators took photos of jurors in defiance of the steamrolled judge's orders. Riot threats hung over jury deliberations. Crump now represents nine accusers (all black women from the gritty northeast OKC neighborhood Holtzclaw patrolled) who are plaintiffs in high-dollar state and federal civil rights lawsuits. Those clients include a convicted felon who preposterously described Holtzclaw as a "short, black man" when he's 6'1," half-Japanese, and pale and a convicted felon who denied seven times she had been the victim of any inappropriate police conduct - until a sex-crimes detective informed her about the Holtzclaw investigation and she changed her story to claim that he had forced her to expose her breasts. Crump also represents the troubled young prostitute and drug user with a violent criminal record who called Holtzclaw a "hot cop" before accusing him of rape - months after Jannie Ligons' charges were publicized and Holtzclaw's name and face widely disseminated. The teen's mom had filed a missing persons report and assault and battery complaint against her daughter on the day Holtzclaw encountered her and searched her purse. The Oklahoma City police department's crime lab identified a minute amount of what it characterized as "epithelial cell" DNA from this accuser on Holtzclaw's uniform pants - the lone piece of indirect forensic evidence found out of 17 alleged crime scenes, which became the prosecution's inaccurately portrayed "smoking gun" in the case. Crump falsely claimed on TV One that the crime lab found "DNA evidence inside" her "panties" and "vaginal DNA material on the inside of (Holtzclaw's) trousers" that "matched the DNA of the 17-year-old." But the crime lab expert admitted on the stand that she had not tested any items for vaginal fluid, observed no suspicious stains, and acknowledged the possibility of innocent DNA touch transfer. More facts: The girl's underwear was never obtained as evidence and skin cell DNA from several unknown individuals - including at least one unknown male - was found on Daniel Holtzclaw's pants. I've reached out to Crump to explain his egregious falsehoods and omissions. But the fake news rising star may be far too busy to bother with facts that undermine the lucrative social justice racket. Damn the truth. It's showtime! Michelle Malkin is host of "Michelle Malkin Investigates" on CRTV.com. Her email address is writemalkin@gmail.com.To find out more about Michelle Malkin and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com. Here is an SAT-style question that occurred to me after a recent trip to my birthplace, San Francisco. One of these places is not like the others: San Francisco, Cleveland, Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver. I am going to take a wild guess and say that you have chosen Cleveland. Youre right. But why? One of the many ways Cleveland is different is in the cost of living. Demographias 2017 affordability study has Cleveland as one of the most affordable cities for housing, and each of the other cities in my SAT question as among the least affordable. This suggests something important about the affordability crisis that has not entered the discussion of housing affordability: The cities that we find most attractive are cities where housing is unaffordable. In other words, the affordable-housing crisis is not just about a lack of housing supply. In my city, Los Angeles, one hears over and over that everyone is leaving because no one can afford to live here. This talk reminds me of the Yogi Berra homily, Nobody goes there anymore. Its too crowded. Of course, exactly the opposite is true, and that truth is what should guide us in our housing policy. The oft-made mistake is to suggest that housing is expensive because, as Demographia incorrectly puts it, Studies do not leave the slightest doubt that unaffordable housing is almost everywhere and every time caused by the same factor: housing supply restrictions. Well, these studies, some of which are by very thoughtful people, leave plenty of doubt, and some of their authors ought to go back to Econ 101. Prices are not just a supply phenomenon but are rather an interaction between supply (what is available for sale) and demand (what people want to buy). Clearly the people who live in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities on Demographias list of cities with affordability crises could afford to live there. They just paid a larger portion of their income to do so. They could have moved to someplace affordable, like Cleveland. So those who say that housing prices are unaffordable are saying that, at lower prices, there would be more demand than supply. Lets explore this. Cleveland is so affordable because many people find it less desirable (think lake effect blizzards). Half the population of Cleveland left over the past 50 years. The housing stock is more than ample for the people who want to live there. The reason San Francisco is different is that it is a wonderful place with spectacular scenery, mild climate, and abundant cultural amenities. Edward Glaeser, in his towering work on urban economies, Triumph of the City, said vitality makes people willing to pay for space. To be sure, San Francisco is not to everyones taste. But given the housing stock, many more people want to live in San Francisco than can. An estimate in a 2015 paper by UC Berkeley economist Enrico Moretti and the University of Chicagos Chang-Tai Hsieh found that more affordable housing could increase San Franciscos population by 100 percent or more. So there exists significant demand for San Francisco housing that a moderate change in zoning and building standards will not correct. So whats happening in San Francisco or Seattle or Austin, Texas, or any number of popular places where the cost of living is rising is the market system doing its thing. The market increases prices to ration the available land through the cost of housing. And people economize on their consumption of housing by living in smaller quarters, sharing with roommates, or stacking up generations. And for some, the price is not worth the value they would receive, and they leave. That is how any market rationalizes differences between supply and demand. What about those who are squeezed out of California (such as my kids, who moved to Colorado)? The dad in me says, Thats horrible, I want them down the block from me. But the economist in me says, They do not value what Los Angeles has, relative to their life in a small town in Colorado, enough to sacrifice other things for it. Resources, when scarce, are appropriately allocated according to their value to those consuming them. And what about our schoolteachers, firefighters and police officers who struggle to live in the high-priced cities where they work? Here is the rub: When a place is really attractive and therefore really expensive take Santa Barbara many who perform valuable services live elsewhere, like in Ventura, 90 minutes away during rush hour. Instead of wringing our hands about affordability in high-demand places, and trying to build enough to meet a worldwide demand that is difficult to satiate, we should be saying, Great, we have a really successful city, but we also want to have a city with certain professional, service, and demographic characteristics, and design housing policy targeted to that. For example, Santa Clara County built high-quality affordable housing that it rents to schoolteachers. It is a small program, but it is a good start. What doesnt work are overly broad measures, such as directing developers to make 20 percent of their units affordable in exchange for building permits. Such policies generate homes for only a very few San Franciscans (while attracting ever-more newcomers who want to live there). That is not to say we should ignore affordability. But in paying attention to affordability, we must keep in mind not only whether we have enough housing supply but also the nature of the demand in places where people want to live. If we ignore demand, we risk creating urban nightmares of crowding, traffic, long commutes and ill health in pursuit of a successful and affordable city. Jerry Nickelsburg, an economist at UCLA Anderson School of Management, wrote this commentary for Zocalo Public Square. He would love to hear from you at Jerry.Nickelsburg@Anderson.UCLA.edu or via Twitter @jnickelsburg. To comment, submit a letter to the editor at http://bit.ly/SFChronicleletters. In preparing to celebrate San Antonios 300th anniversary next year, it is fitting to reflect on the little-known personalities who figured prominently in the initial stages of its founding. The story of Father Benito Fernandez de Santa Ana (1707-1761) is typical. Indeed, Catholic priests created San Antonios most famous foundation enterprises for example, Mission San Antonio de Valero and Presidio San Antonio de Bexar. Mission San Antonio de Valero was founded in 1718 by Father Antonio Olivares. Yet the churchs beginnings are much older. Established in 1700, it was originally named Mission San Francisco Solano and was located just south of todays Eagle Pass. Father Olivares closed it in 1716 and moved the mission work to San Antonio. Father Olivares built Presidio San Antonio de Bexar, too, also in 1718. Although relocated closer, he planned the military posts location one mile north of the mission. The arrangement was intended to keep military personnel away because soldiers caused fear among the Payaya and other Coahuiltecan people he sought to Christianize. It was around the Bexar presidio that civilians built their homes. These Bexarenos became San Antonios first European-descent citizens. Fifteen Isleno families about 50 Canary Islanders arrived in 1731 to formally establish Villa San Fernando de Bexar. Young San Antonio quickly acquired three of the founding Spanish-Mexican institutions of early Texas; a mission, presidio and villa. Note that the presidio (not the mission) is the place residents nicknamed El Alamo. Why? Because it was there that soldiers from Alamo de Parras, Coahuila, and their families were stationed after 1800. For the record, Presidio San Antonio de Bexar (El Alamo) was demolished by city leaders many years ago to open the site for the commercial buildings seen today. Although early San Antonio proved to be a viable startup community, safety and security were early troubling concerns. By the late 1730s and 1740s, Apache attacks made any trip outside the fortifications a life-and-death situation. Thoughts of survival occupied most of the settlers minds day and night. Some wished to flee, but the risks were too great. Everyday life was grim. The question was, would San Antonio survive? Military help was out of the question. The viceroy kept operating costs to a minimum, and expecting the Spanish armys protection was uncertain, at best. Then Father Santa Ana arrived on the scene. Few details are known about his early years. Born in Spain (1707), Santa Ana became a priest in 1731. He was immediately sent to the Queretaro monastery in New Spain. Soon, he was assigned to San Antonio. In spite of experiencing a serious encounter with Apaches, Father Santa Ana was convinced that, with the correct approach, peace was possible. And he believed local indigenous families would join the missions to escape danger from stronger tribes. Still, recruiting new believers remained a tough job. But as the head cleric, he was confident he could handle his evangelization work. He was unprepared, however, to deal with ensuring harmony among his own kind his fellow Spaniards. Beside the clergy and the mission native residents, there were three other distinct groupings of people the military stationed at the presidio; the locals, known as Bexareno; and the recently arrived Islenos. Instead of pulling as a team, the factions mostly quarreled with each other. Father Santa Ana set out to resolve the issue by taking on a peacekeeper role. Focusing first on the military, Father Santa Ana greatly disapproved that military leaders treated all indigenous people as combatants. He asked for the viceroys help, convincing him that the heavy-handedness had to stop. He argued that once Native Americans were part of their Christian community, they could contribute to the missions production of cattle, horses and crops. With the viceroys support, military pressure on the natives subsided significantly. As for dealing with Bexarenos, he was aware they had suffered much eking out a bare existence. He also understood that they had assumed that the Islenos would share their heavy load of clearing land, building the town, and tending large herds of cattle and horses. That expectation quickly evaporated. He also understood the Islenos situation. They had faced difficulty since arriving in San Antonio. They were given the authority to officially organize the town by setting up its first cabildo (town council), but the fact was that they were fishermen, not ranchers and farmers. And Father Santa Ana realized that the Bexarenos perceived that the Islenos, having been awarded the gentry title of hidalgos, treated them disrespectfully. The result was a stubborn standoff, and it worried Father Santa Ana. The situation seemed hopeless. Nonetheless, Father Santa Ana saved the early community by solving its many problems. He skillfully achieved a truce with the military commander and helped secure peace with the hostile Apaches. He used all his persuasive talents to force Isleno and Bexareno inhabitants to co-exist. Through church rituals, he united the Bexarenos, Islenos and Native Americans as comadres and compadres by means of marriage and baptisms. In truth, Father Santa Ana and his brother religious leaders (Antonio Olivares, Francisco Hidalgo, Antonio Margil, Juan Morfi, Alonzo Terreros and many more) were San Antonios first administrators. Using what can only be described as an early version of the Army Corps of Engineers, they acted as their own management consultants and presented their projects to the viceroy. They provided their own planners, engineers, architects, masons, carpenters and painters. Practicing what they preached in humility, they hauled rocks and dug ditches alongside Native American laborers. Catholic padres built the many historical buildings still standing that give Texas and the Southwest its world-renowned Spanish-Mexican flavor. Their legacy is the reason the historic structures are designated as World Heritage Sites. In addition to those extraordinary endeavors, the priests had to maintain their religious obligations conducting daily Masses, ministering to the sick, tending to their fields and herds of animals, and assuring the proper feed and care for mission residents (with little or no pay). What CEO of today would be up to the task? So, when you see and touch the magnificent thick walls of Mission Concepcion, San Antonio de Valero and other historic structures, be aware that the blood, sweat and tears of the padres and their Native American apprentices are mixed in with the mortar. In the coming months of celebration, remember to honor San Antonios real heroic founding fathers (no pun intended). The first chapters of San Antonios history are written in Spanish our history is truly bilingual, bicultural and part of the seamless story of this great place we call Texas. Que vivan las misiones; que vivan los padres; que viva Padre Benito Fernandez de Santa Ana! (Long live the missions; long live the priests; long live Father Santa Ana!) Jose Joe Antonio Lopez was born and raised in Laredo, and is a U.S. Air Force veteran. He lives in Universal City and is the author of four books. His latest is Preserving Early Texas History (Essays of an Eighth-Generation South Texan). A war zone. Hopeless. Unsafe. Broken. Thats not how most people describe San Antonio. Its probably not the San Antonio most of our readers know or experience. But this is how East Side residents and community activists describe the violence and poverty plaguing this part of our community. There were 42 homicides on the East Side last year. Thats almost a third of the 151 homicides citywide in 2016. It easily makes City Council District 2, home to the entire East Side, the most dangerous part of our community. The toll and strain leads to some jarring and unsettling statements from those with East Side connections. You dont know how easy it is to walk around this corner and get shot, Eddie Sullivan, whose son was murdered in 2015, told Express-News reporter Vianna Davila, who recently wrote an outstanding series on the East Side. Theres no hope, said Hubert Brown, an anti-violence outreach worker. We created this mess over decades of local and federal policy, said Christine Drennon, a Trinity University professor who has closely studied the East Side. We have to pump significant resources into those places that were denied them for so long. All of these statements are true. If you live on the East Side, you can walk around the wrong corner at the wrong time and get shot. Despite some noticeable gentrification in the area, for many longtime residents the East Side remains a hopeless place. The poverty levels, poor schools, general lack of opportunity and patterns of violence are so entrenched, it will take years and untold resources to transform the area in a meaningful way much more than the $54 million in federal grants being infused to address these issues; much more than snazzy new developments, gentrification, that attract new residents but do little for existing ones; and much more than community activism and small-scale projects designed to boost civic pride. The story of the East Side reflects the very real and human price San Antonio pays for being one of the most economically segregated cities in the country. We have consistently been ranked as such. Roughly 20 percent of our population 275,000 people live below the poverty line. Many of these neighbors live on the East Side. More than 50 percent of the residents in a 2-square-mile area bordered by New Braunfels Avenue and the AT&T Center live below the poverty level, Davila reported. Not only does this economic segregation mean that San Antonio often can feel like two different countries one with opportunity and investment, and one without but it also means there is no common understanding to make this community a more equitable place. Homicides, unchecked roaming dogs, bad schools and low wages: This is daily life, and not just something that happens over there. There is some innovative police work happening on the East Side, although clearly relationships between the community and San Antonio police must improve. But Mayor Ivy Taylor is right to look beyond law enforcement to workforce training and economic development as pathways to change. But the question remains, how? How to bring economic pathways to a place long devoid of opportunity? Better schools, higher wages and improved public transportation are important. But lets also focus on remembering. Lets remember the violence on the East Side. And lets remember the desperation so many families are feeling as they work to improve their communities, even as it feels hopeless. Remember that no one in our community should feel walled-in by hopelessness or describe their neighborhood as a war zone. But if you are not living that reality, it can be all too easy to forget. This time, dont forget. And lets work as one community as one City Council as if the problems of some of us are concerns for all of us. To quote Paul Ryan, Obamacare is the law of the land. So what now, Mr. President? Millions believed your promise that any alternative would allow all those who have insurance to stay covered at far cheaper rates. There is no such alternative on the horizon, so Obamacare will be with us for a long time. You cant walk away. It is a violation of your oath of office to say health care will explode, then not only do nothing to fix it but actively make the problems worse. Stop trying to kill it. Rescind Executive Order 13765, which is designed to kill Obamacare. And immediately address issues the insurance industry has raised; continued uncertainty will cause companies to withdraw from some markets, hurting Americans. Also, a bipartisan effort is needed to fix the problems in the existing law or create a better one. If you want to repeal and replace, all options should be on the table, including single-payer. This will take a lot of your personal time and hard work. Its complicated. John Fehlauer On loo patrol Assuming SB 6 becomes law (very doubtful this time), exactly how does the state intend to enforce this law? Bathroom police? Timothy Richley Digging into details I suspect that, like me, many other senior citizens (I am 76) have become disgusted with the purveyors of the national news (cable and noncable) in recent years. My disgust with those news channels has caused me to begin recording and watching Gunsmoke reruns, but doing that has resulted in me noticing things that I never noticed when I watched that show 50 or 60 years ago. For example, after watching about 40 reruns in recent weeks, I have concluded that 140 or so years ago the country around Dodge City, Kansas, must have been littered with old shovels stored behind almost every bush and boulder. I reached this conclusion after noticing that Marshal Matt Dillon would ride his horse across the country with no sign of a shovel tied on his saddle, but whenever he got into a shoot-out (which he always won), there would be at least one desperado left dead on the ground, and Marshal Dillon never had any problem finding a shovel to bury the guy. Then after stacking several hundred pounds of rocks on the grave, he would hold his hat over his heart, mumble a few unintelligible words and ride off, still with no sign of a shovel secured to his saddle. This letter has no real purpose, other than to maybe indicate that as we enter the category of elderly folk, we notice a few details that we failed to notice when we may have had more serious matters to deal with and think about when we were much younger. Marcus D. Williams Jr., Charlotte Dont need gloom Its curious why so many so-called liberals are surprised about the public movement that voted Donald Trump in. Isnt it time to look within? There is a tendency, especially among my fellow environmentalists, to sigh in disdain (as Al Gore did in the presidential debates) when hearing the other side. Then they just walk away red-faced or in disgust, and no counters are offered. Nothing aggravates a person more than a condescending reaction no matter how misinformed the thought may be. Yet there it is were surprised. A simple restating of paradigms (such as mission statements) should be stressed repeatedly. For example, regarding the environment, why dont more understand what 7 billion-plus people has meant to the balance of nature we all depend on? And why dont we realize what an upset balance of natural systems will mean to that civilization of 7 billion-plus? You dont have to be doom and gloom to explain this simple principle. Bill Hurley Must be Martians Why does the Secret Service, FBI and CIA allow so many little green men to whoop and holler on the White House lawn when our dear president is trying to compose his next, well thought-out, rational tweet at 3 a.m.? It has to be the little green men keeping him from communicating better with his loyal subjects. William Larson, Universal City Our real enemies Re: Hiring freeze may threaten gains by VA, front page, March 19: I wonder why folks are incredulous over the presidents proposed budget cuts. Veterans who voted for him should have known better. Teddy Roosevelt stated, A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that, no man is entitled, and less than that no man shall have. Obviously, the presidents no Teddy Roosevelt. Then theres the article about the woman complaining about the cuts for meals on wheels (Activists warn seniors could starve under budget plan, State, Monday). I suspect these folks werent worried about budget cuts to other vulnerable folks until they found out they, too, will be affected, and therein lies the rub. We should, as a Christian nation, be concerned about the least of our brothers. The president thinks the press and everyone who doesnt buy his alternative facts are enemies, and a lot of his followers think likewise. Were quickly finding out who our real adversaries are; theyre the unscrupulous snakes and leaches who replaced the alligators in the Washington swamp. As my Republican friends like to say, Wake up, America! Youre in for a rude awakening. J.J. Torres What? No tacos? What I hate most about Donald Trumps election is not his egomaniacal rants, tweets and alternative facts, but now were not going to have taco trucks on every corner. Sad. Tom Priolo We've given up trying to figure out how Rick Perry could become Donald Trump's Energy secretary after lambasting him during the presidential campaign as a "barking carnival act that can be best described as Trumpism: a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued," But now the former Texas governor has done something even more, uh, interesting. According to Politico, Perry doesn't want Energy Department staffers using the phrases "climate change," "emissions reductions" or "Paris Agreement" in any written communication. Newly-appointed Cabinet ministers will take their oath of office before President Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House in Harare today. President Mnangagwa last week announced a 22-member Cabinet to run Government business until harmonised elections next year. In a statement on Saturday, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda, said the swearing-in ceremony starts at 9am. Cabinet ministers are invited to State House for the swearing-in ceremony scheduled for 0900hrs, 4th December, 2017, reads the statement. The invitation was also extended to Ministers of State for Provincial Affairs and Deputy Ministers. However, there have been adjustments to the original list of Cabinet ministers that was announced on Thursday last week in order to ensure compliance with the Constitution and considerations of gender, demography and special needs. Cde Lazarus Dokora, who had been appointed Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, was dropped and replaced by his former deputy, Professor Paul Mavima. Goromonzi West legislator Mrs Petronella Kagonye becomes the new Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, taking over from Professor Clever Nyathi, who becomes Special Advisor on National Peace and Reconciliation. Mrs Kagonye was formerly the Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development before she was fired in December 2014. President Mnangagwa also brought in two other special advisors to the President Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa and Cde Joshua Teke Malinga (Disability Issues). Cde Victor Matemadanda, who was initially designated as Deputy Minister for Defence, Security and War Veterans, has been reassigned to lead the ZANU-PF commissariat. He replaces the sacked Mr Saviour Kasukuwere. Similarly, Cde Pupurai Togarepi will no longer be taking up the post of Deputy Minister for Women and Youth Affairs but will concentrate on his role as ZANU-PF Secretary for Youth Affairs, a position that was previously held by the embattled Kudzanayi Chipanga. Some of the ministers-designate did not represent parliamentary constituencies as required under Section 104(3) of the Constitution. These are Air Marshal Perrance Shiri, Cde July Moyo, Major-General Sibusiso Moyo, Ambassador Mutsvangwa, Prof Amon Murwira, Mr Winston Chitando, Cde Matemadanda, Professor Clever Nyathi and Cde Pupurai Togarepi. Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba highlighted last week that President Mnangagwa was alive to the constitutional requirement for him to appoint only up to five Cabinet ministers from outside Parliament. The new team will have its work cut out as it needs to deal with the current economic challenges. The 2018 National Budget, which is expected to be presented by Finance and Economic Planning Minister Mr Patrick Chinamasa, is tentatively scheduled for Thursday. In his inauguration speech on November 24, President Mnangagwa said the countrys economic recovery would be predicated on agricultural performance. Our economic policy will be predicated on agriculture, which is the mainstay, and on creating conditions for an investment-led economic recovery that puts a premium on job creation. Key choices will have to be made to attract foreign direct investment to tackle high levels of unemployment while transforming our economy towards the tertiary, he said. Already, Government has given an ultimatum to individuals and corporates who externalised money and other assets to bring them back. The amnesty will run until February 28. Breaking News via Email PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday disclosed that he dangled an offer of land in the picturesque Victoria Falls to United States President Donald Trump to build a golf course. Mnangagwa, who is in the US for the United Nations General Assembly, revealed his offer to Trump at the Zimbabwes Investors Forum held in New York yesterday. Mnangagwa urged the American business community to support Zimbabwes rebirth in areas such as agriculture, mining, infrastructural development, tourism, ICT among others. Zimbabwe and the US have frosty relations dating back to the early 2000s where the later slapped the southern African nation with sanctions under Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (Zidera) for alleged human rights abuses under former President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe denies the alegations. The US renewed the sanctions soon after the July 30 elections this year, saying that Zimbabwe had no culture of democracy. Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe wanted an new era of relations with the US and pursue economic co-operation between the two countries, adding that he had wanted to meet Trump at the Davos conference held in Switzerland in January. When I was in Davos I met staffers from the Trump administration, Mnangagwa said. I had hoped to meet President Trump but I had to leave before he arrived, but I told his people that if President Trump wishes, I will offer him ground in Victoria Falls in the national park. We have wildlife national park in Victoria Falls, but I had offered President Trump ground to build a state-of-the-art golf course so that as he plays, he can be able to see the big five, he said amid cheers from delegates. The President said his government was keen for investments in the form of joint ventures or infrastructure based on the build operate and transfer (BOT) model. My government is reforming the public sector to eliminate bureaucratic red tape, bureaucratic bottlenecks and enhance efficiency and responsiveness. We are resolved to make Zimbabwe an attractive and a safe investment destination where capital feels safe. In addition, I have committed that my administration will ensure policy clarity, consistency, transparency and predictability. The government is working on the ease of doing business, he added, and wants to reduce the approval process from around six months currently to a week or less. This will also reduce cases of corruption where investors pay bribes to speed up the granting of licences. This would include the setting up of a one-stop centre that will facilitate all clearances under one roof instead of sending investors from one ministry to the other. Mnangagwa said his government will ensure that there is protection of investments. As part of our economic reform measures, we will continue to guarantee the protection of private property rights. Equally we will observe bilateral investor promotion and agreements. Let me assure you that all foreign investments will be safe in Zimbabwe and foreign investors are free to repatriate their proceeds in accordance with our laws. Mnangagwa also met diasporans in the US and invited them to invest back home. NewsDay Breaking News via Email WAR veterans have accused President Emmerson Mnangagwas government of insincerity, lying and abusing former freedom fighters by falsely promising them money if they campaign for Zanu PF ahead of the 2023 general elections. The war veterans told The NewsHawks this week that the announcement by Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri this week that the government was looking into the plight of the ex-combatants and war collaborators was a well-calculated lie to lure them into campaigning for Zanu PF. Muchinguri this week said pensions for war veterans are being reviewed upwards to match those of the uniformed forces and the rest of the civil service. Government is working tirelessly to improve the welfare of the veterans of the liberation struggle. The pensions are being reviewed and benchmarked with uniformed forces and the rest of the civil service, Muchinguri said this week. But the war veterans, who have traditionally campaigned for Zanu PF in previous elections and have been accused of using violence in the process, particularly in rural areas, insist they will not be used and lied to this time. They have always been lying to us saying they gave us shares in mining and companies. They say all sorts of lies to us, war veterans welfare pressure group chairperson Amos Sigauke told The NewsHawks this week. We have our case before the courts now where they are refusing to give us money. They have even hired expensive lawyers to defend their case and we wonder why we are not getting our money. Thirty-nine war veterans were arrested in October last year and charged with inciting public violence. The state insists they have a case to answer. Why would she (Muchinguri) lie to us like that? They are shameless and we have had enough of their lies, Sigauke fumed. Sigauke said the regime has resorted to arresting the ex-freedom fighters for demanding their dues. The timing of the new offer was suspicious and meant to position youths linked to the ruling elite at the feeding trough. On suspicion that war veterans were being lured to garner support for Zanu PF ahead of the elections, Sigauke said this time they will not be used. If it used to happen before, it will not happen again. The comrades are now wiser. If it used to happen, we will not allow that. That will not happen again, we cannot be used again to serve a purpose to have few people lining their pockets, Sigauke said. We cant have a handful benefitting from the countrys independence while the rest suffer. We cant continue having such a situation. In saying they are pushing for some mujibhas to benefit, they want to push their own youths to get in and benefit and get onto the feeding trough ahead of 2023, but war veterans are wiser than that. We cannot have that. They have failed to deliver for the last 41 years. We are not asking for the impossible, all we are asking for are our dues. We are asking for our money which is legally binding but was stolen by some of them. Imagine as we speak 39 of our comrades are before the courts for demanding what is theirs. The 39 are on bail with stringent conditions that include reporting every Friday to their nearest police stations. Imagine reporting every Friday at our age with the different (health) conditions we have. I personally go for dialysis and if I do not go to report I am arrested. We dont take that nonsense, Sigauke said. Now they are negotiating with white farmers to compensate them their US$3.5 billion and they did that because they fear them. They are subservient to the whites and where were these people during the war? Most of them ran away from the bush and were in hotels and universities while sacrificing others and they still want to sacrifice war veterans now but we are not going to do that, never again. He said Mnangagwa had promised to meet war veterans every April since 2018, but has not done so. They lied and in 2018 he said he will meet us every April. How many Aprils have passed since then? We cant be lied to when he meets whites almost all the time and having dinners and all. Why do they launch their things in hotels and not Zimbabwe Grounds? We cant be fooled like that. We are wiser than that. We are all war veterans and bigger in our own right and they must not scare us to say shefu says this or that. We are all equal and of the same age, we fought the same war and no one should threaten anyone. Tell me, who is in government now who was not there in 1980? What new things do they want to deliver now that they failed to deliver then? Everyone is crying and it is another way of hoodwinking the people by registering their own youths to benefit from the funds and campaign for them in 2023. They should be sincere and they hired private lawyers to defend against giving us money. Muchinguri this week urged war veterans to use the correct channels to air their grievances and not resort to confrontation. War veterans are unhappy with how the Zanu PF government is treating them. Sources say there was a heated meeting two weeks ago in Manicaland province where the party secretary for war veterans was quizzed by the ex-freedom fighters over the authorities insincerity in addressing their grievances. During the Manicaland meeting chaired by Cde Mahiya, war veterans were given the platform to share their views. Some of the issues raised include demands for a congress to elect new leadership, sources who attended the meeting told The NewsHawks. They accused (Christopher) Mutsvangwa and (Douglas) Mahiya of holding them to ransom and using them for their personal gain. They openly demanded unity, the return of exiled G40s and declared that they are prepared to support any movement that has people at heart. The war veterans, sources said, raised the issue of welfare, accusing the government of giving them a paltry US$30 a month, no medical aid support and the sudden cutting of fees payment to both schools and institutions of higher learning. They accused the ED administration of failing to run the country and vowed not to campaign for ED until their demands are fulfilled. Mahiya refused to comment on the meeting. NewsHawks Breaking News via Email Great-grandma survives five days in Colorado wilderness BBC US hiker given warning for rescuing abandoned bear cub BBC Polar bears spotted in Scotland as animals flee melting Arctic ice cap Telegraph :-( Jane Austen, a 400 painting and an art mystery Financial Times Trump EPA Green Lights Pesticide Known to Damage Childrens Brains Chicago Tribune (furzy) Multifunctional Landscapes Would Be a Boon to Rural Vitality for the Midwest Big Picture Agriculture Brexit EU draws up tough stance on Brexit transition deal Financial Times. Quelle surprise! The EU did what it said it would do. Outrage as Spain and EU accused of using Brexit to take back Gibraltar, as MPs say Britain will not be bullied Telegraph. Someone noticed this in the FT comments section yesterday. This means this is a bargaining chip, as in the UK is expected to concede something to keep it. The EU is making it clear that Brexit is not going to come cheap. First Ministers Questions Scottish Parliament. Our Richard Smith gets a shout out, and a prominent one too! Congrats Richard! Britain Demands That Twitter, Facebook, Google Tackle Extremism Fortune Protesters set fire to Paraguay Congress after secret vote on presidential term DW Big Brother is Watching You Watch Russia and China Catch Security Council in a Devastating Lie Russia Insider Trump Transition Obamacare The Democrats Are Learning Something They Should Have Learned a Long Time Ago Charles Pierce, Esquire (resilc) How the Freedom Caucus Is Undermining the G.O.P. New York Times FASCISM HAS ALREADY COME TO AMERICA MTV (Bob K) South Carolina U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford: Trump threatened to back primary challenger against me Post and Courier The Anti-Trump Movement In North Carolina Has The Potential To Flip The South Huffington Post This piece is way over its skis. Its not as if what happens in one state affects another. Mass state politics do not affect Maine, for instance. North Carolina is not Deep South. In any other Southern state advocating transgender bathroom rights would be political suicide (save Virginia which despite having been part of the Confederacy is not hard core South). And Alabama loves Trump. California lawmakers release details on universal health care bill East Bay Times (martha r) Official says interstate repairs to take months Washington Post (martha r). Wowsers. Police State Watch With Trump, Police Hope to Deploy Military Gear Banned Under Obama Wall Street Journal (furzy) Fake News Trucker drives non-stop from Seattle to Mass. while high on drugs New York Daily News (martha r) CalPERS Pension Myths Busted California Political Review. Some of the counter-claims here are exaggerations or flat out false. The analysis attributed to Stanford University was made by grad students and has been criticized (but oddly not by CalPERS in any sort of rigorous manner, all the agency has attempted is a handwave). It also flagrantly misrepresents SB 400, which effectively applied only to badges as in police officers like state troopers, who are in jobs deemed hazardous and can retire in their 50s at full benefits. But it is 100% correct in depicting how cack-handed CalPERS has been in its use of the lame Myth vs. Facts and its other messaging efforts. We wrote about an earlier misrepresentation here. Wall Streets New Favorite Way to Swap Secrets Is Against the Rules Bloomberg Amazon and Walmart are in an all-out price war that is terrifying Americas biggest brands Recode (martha r) Guillotine Watch How a Cruel Foreclosure Drove a Couple to the Brink of Death Dave Dayen, Vice (Steve). Todays must read. Note that part of why this came about is that bankruptcy judges are Federal judges and way over the caliber of state court judges that handle foreclosures. And bankruptcy judges take very badly to violations of the bankruptcy stay. What Caused the Downfall of New York Citys Glitziest Restaurant? Bloomberg. This piece is missing something. Le Cirque went out of its way to try to be a club for rich regulars, to the point of giving noticeably poor service to newbie diners, on the apparent assumption that they were out of town hicks. This was long established; I ate there once in the 1980s when I was on an expense account and resolved never to go there again. Class Warfare Penn Plaza Matters Memorial March Against Gentrification. Pittsburghers call on the City to purchase Penn Plaza Apartments for long-term affordable housing and to adopt policies to prevent city-wide displacement. Dunno why the e-mal for a march on April 1 at noon hit my inbox at 5:41 PM on Friday, but it you are in Pittsburgh and can participate on short notice, I hope you will. March begins at the corner of Penn Ave and Centre Ave in East Liberty and will end with call to action at Penn Plaza Apartments near the corner of Penn Ave and Negley Ave Contacts Crystal Jennings: 412-335-7093; Randall Taylor: 412-537-2564, randalltaylor2016@gmail.com; Helen Gerhardt: 412-518-7387, helengerhardt1@gmail.com How pharmacy benefit managers morphed from processors to predators Dave Dayen, American Prospect (furzy) WILL ROBOTS REPLACE HUMAN DOCTORS? JSTOR. This is nuts. Interaction with doctors has major placebo effects. And I would not consent to being treated by a robot. Antidote du jour. Lawrence R, from Spring Ledge Farm,New London, NH which sent this via e-mail: Even with all the white stuff falling from the sky, we will have the scheduled seed sowing workshop tomorrow, Saturday April 1st, from 10-3. Why are we still having the workshop in a snowstorm, you ask? Here are some reasons, in no particular order: -Its April dammit. -And then theres denialthats in play for sure. -Plus were farmers, who just have to deal with the weather every day of the year, so no big whoop. -And possibly stubbornness plays a role, As yankees, we dont like to see things change. -Although it could be pride; yup, Im not proud to admit that pride does play a role. And the picture caption is: Floppy & Joe enjoying an exotic ray of sunshine. See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. Gu Yu is among one of the few Ju Ci experts in Shanghai. She currently operates a pottery repair studio at Hongqiao Antique Mall. [Photo provided to China Daily] Itinerant craftsmen used to travel through villages in China, alerting residents of their repair services simply by shouting. These craftsmen were often hired to fix broken household wares and the skilled ones were renowned for their ability to mend something as small as a cup without using any glue. They would first drill tiny holes on either side of the crack before bending metal staples to hold the pieces together. Though the technique, called Ju Ci, might sound rudimentary, it was undoubtedly effective. With the onset of industrialization, Ju Ci was gradually replaced by modern techniques. The craft, however, looks to be making a comeback today, and people are willing to spend more than what they paid for the original item just to have it repaired in this manner. The cost of each repair job depends on the complexity of the task. Each staple used costs 100 yuan ($14.5) while a circular bonding agent with a diameter of no more than 10 centimeters costs 600 yuan. When clients request for gold to be used in the repairs, the total fee could amount up to thousands of dollars. "It is an art of understanding. You feel a broken piece, re-design it, and give it a new life," was how Hou Yu, a photographer who documents the craft, described Ju Ci. A new tourism campaign aimed at marketing Tipperary as the foremost inland tourist destination in Ireland was launched in the Rock of Cashel on Thursday evening. Time to take it all in will form the centrepiece slogan to the marketing drive, aimed at promoting the Premier County as one of the top three destinations in Irelands Ancient East. Minister for Tourism and Sport Deputy Patrick ODonovan said the promotion of the Wild Atlantic Way and Irelands Ancient East, is beginning to bear fruit. Tipperary offers a package of authentic experiences that few other counties can rival. Youre very fortunate where youre situated, with two international airports nearby, criss-crossed by a major motorway, and within touching distance of the three largest cities in the country, said Minister ODonovan. Tipperary will be marketed for the first time as a single entity, with a single brand, said County Chief Executive Joe MacGrath. For many years, this county was fractured into two parts, but in 2014, a decision was made that this County would be marketed as a single county, and today marks the achievement of that very single purpose. The aim is to showcase the abundance of visitor experiences that Tipperary has to offer, from ancient sites to historic landmarks, vibrant activities, authentic cultural trips, fun-filled family adventures, gourmet treats and contemporary hospitality offerings. A new suite of marketing materials is now available from Tipperary Tourism and every tourism provider in the county is encouraged to get behind the new branding and use the new marketing collateral to market Destination Tipperary (www.tipperary.com). The Strategic Tourism Marketing, Experience and Destination Development Plan 20162012 aims at building on the 184,000 international visitors, and 217,000 domestic visitors, who came to Tipperary last year, amounting to a tourism spend of 103m. The new logo resembles the Romanesque arches of the Rock of Cashels Cathedral, while the slogan time to take it all in implies a slow, real, authentic opportunity to de-stress, and re-connect. The Rock is the second most visited tourist site in Ireland, said County Council chairperson Siobhan Ambrose. Some 2.1m visited Ireland in Q4 of last year, but the task is to get those 2.1m from the airports to Tipperary. Elizabeth Nallen Bowen of the Minella Hotel, and Marie Phelan, chief Tourism Development Officer with Tipperary County Council, were central to bringing the new campaign to fruition. Ms Bowen said the vision is of a Tipperary that is the undiscovered heartland of Ireland, abundant, authentic, yet-to-be discovered experiences, but rooted in a land even more ancient than the historic buildings which remain, yet fully in harmony with the modern world. Ms Phelan said Tipperary offers an attractive package of hillwalking, festivals, sport, heritage, and local food produce, all within easy drive to Irelands major cities. Damian Clifford, Creative Director of One Little Studio, designing the new brand, said the theme of time, combined with the arches of the Rock, give Tipperary a timeless quality. Its inviting you to come to Tipperary, and its very simple, and brings a modern edge to the heritage aspects of the county, he stated. What the faces on Mount Rushmore said about Indians: Indians and wolves are both beasts of prey, tho they differ in shape. ~George Washington, 1778 If ever we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe we will never lay it down til that tribe is exterminated, or driven beyond the Mississippi . . . in war they will kill some of us; but we will destroy all of them. Adjuring them, therefore, if they wish to remain on the land which covers the bones of their fathers, to keep the peace with a people who ask friendship without needing it, who wish to avoid war without fearing it. In war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them. ~Thomas Jefferson, August 28, 1807 I suppose I should be ashamed to say that I take the Western view of the Indian. I dont go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldnt like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth. ~Theodore Roosevelt, January, 1886 NATO delivered and demonstrated 160 sets of counter-IED equipment to Iraqs Ministry of Interior on Sunday (26 March 2017). Financed by NATOs Defence Capacity Building Trust Fund, the equipment is an important contribution to Iraqs efforts to fight terrorism and protect civilians. Speaking at a meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers on Friday (31 March), Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the delivery, saying one of our best tools in the fight against terrorism is training local forces this equipment will help save lives. At Iraqs request, NATO agreed in July 2015 to provide defence capacity building support in a number of areas, including countering improvised explosive devices, explosive ordnance disposal and demining, security sector reform, military medicine and civil military planning. In 2016, NATO trained over 350 Iraqi officers in Jordan, and at the Warsaw Summit in July 2016, Allies agreed to expand this training into Iraq itself. Since January 2017, NATO advisers have been working in the country, overseeing training activities and working with the Iraqi authorities to reform their security institutions. NATOs presence in Iraq includes a core team and mobile training teams. Saturday, April 01, 2017 by: Gregory Van Dyke Tags: food , food safety , Foods , rice This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author (Natural News) In the past, experts have warned that eating leftover rice could cause a case of food poisoning. Cooking rice unfortunately doesnt always destroy all the pathogens residing on it; there is also a higher risk of food poisoning when rice is left at room temperature. Dr. Bejamin Chapman, North Carolina State Universitys resident Food Safety Specialist, said in an interview that a pathogen, known as Bacillus cereus, is prevalent in dried rice. Although the pathogen is commonly found in soil and food, some strains can cause harm to humans. According to Dr. Chapman, Bacillus cereus spores can survive on rice even when cooked. If the rice is stored at room temperature after cooking, the spores can grow and propagate. As soon as these spores germinate, they release toxins which include those resistant to heat. Although it is not clear how many infection incidents of Bacillus cereus there are, a report suggest that it constitutes up to two percent of food-borne diseases. A study published in Epidemiology and Infection stated that boiled rice must be kept hot (more than 63 degrees Celsius) or cooled immediately, and be placed in a refrigerator within two hours after cooking. Fried or boiled rice must not be kept in warm conditions, especially in the range of 15-50 degrees Celsius; this temperature is ideal for the bacteria to multiply. Meanwhile, Dr. Donald Shaffner, Rutger Universitys food scientist, warned that there are restaurants who cook a large batch of rice, then keep it at room temperature all day. The best way for these restaurants to fend food poisoning is to refrigerate rice leftovers two hours after cooking. It is important to note that their are different kinds of rice, and some can be stored at room temperature without risking a case of food poisoning. Sushi rice, for instance, can be left out at room temperature due to its content, which includes vinegar. The acidic properties due to the vinegar make it impossible for bacterial growth. Foods you must not reheat While on the subject of leftovers, here is the list of the foods you must not reheat. These foods cause food poisoning, especially if they were incorrectly stored. Also stay safe by avoiding microwaves when reheating food. Potatoes Potatoes must be immediately refrigerated. If they are left to cool down at room temperature, a bacteria known as Clostridium botulinum may develop. It can lead to botulism; a rare disease that could lead to paralysis. Mushrooms Mushrooms must be consumed at least 24 hours after they are prepared. Mushrooms are rich in proteins, but proteins quickly deteriorate as soon as you slice the mushroom. It is safe to eat mushrooms if they are reheated at a high temperature. Eggs Eggs may be reheated, but it must be done properly. When reheating, eggs should reach an internal temperature of 74 degrees Celsius to ensure they are safe for consumption. It is wise to skip reheating eggs in the microwave if you do not have a food thermometer. Chicken Reheating chicken might lead to digestive problems. The protein composition of the meat may be altered during reheating. Spinach, celery, and beets Spinach, celery, and beets contain high levels of nitrates that can be carcinogenic when reheated. This happens when these foods are heated, stored, then reheated. Sources: DailyMail.co.uk Clark.com WomansDay.com (Natural News) Mars may have been flooded by water in a not so distant past, according to a new study. Researchers from the Trinity College Dublin and the University of Oxford found that a patch of land in the planets Lucaya crater exhibited arcuate striations. Researcher Mary Bourke from the Trinity College Dublin, who previously studied a similar phenomenon in the Namib Desert in South Africa, explained that arcuate striations are geochemically formed patterns. These patterns occur when evaporating ground water interacts with salts in the sands, which then form fine sediments that may extend beneath the surface. The salts left behind by the evaporated water accumulate and harden over time and remain in place as sand dunes drift. Following our work in Namibia, we hypothesise that on Mars, similar arcuate striations exposed on the surface between dunes are also indications of fluctuating levels of salty groundwater, during a time when dunes were actively migrating down the valley. These findings are hugely significant. Firstly, the Martian sand dunes show evidence that water may have been active near Mars equator potentially in the not-too-distant past. And secondly, this location is now a potential geological target for detecting past life forms on the Red Planet, which is important to those involved in selecting sites for future missions, said Bourke. The findings of the recent discovery were published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. (RELATED: Find more news about space and the planets at Space.news.) NASA confirms water on Mars; explains where it all went In 2015, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) provided strong evidence that the red planet may have intermittent flow of liquid water. Researchers used image data from NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and found signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where darkish streaks seems to flow and cease over time. According to the researchers, the streaks seem to darken and flow down during warm season and fade during cool season. These flows, known as recurring slope lineae, have been previously associated with liquid water. The results were published in the journal Nature Geoscience. In 2016, NASA was also able to detect the presence of water ice in the Mars mid-northern latitudes. Researchers used data from the MRO to examine part of Mars Utopia Planitia region. Data analysis revealed a deposit of water ice beneath the regions plains. The analysis showed that the deposits thickness ranged between 260 feet to about 560 feet. Its composition was 50 percent to 85 percent water ice mixed with larger rocky particles and dust. According to the researchers, the water ice deposits hold as much water as the Lake Superior. This deposit probably formed as snowfall accumulating into an ice sheet mixed with dust during a period in Mars history when the planets axis was more tilted than it is today, said lead researcher Cassie Stuurman of the Institute for Geophysics at the University of Texas, Austin. Their findings were also published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. A recent study published in the journal Science offers a new insight on the red planets lack of water. Data from NASAs MAVEN spacecraft revealed that strong solar wind and intense radiation caused about 65 percent of gas deposits in the Martian atmosphere to rise up into space. This led to an eventual lack of vital elements that depleted and dried the planets oceans, lakes, and rivers. According to the team, the Sun emitted stronger solar winds and more intense radiations during its earlier years, suggesting that the likelihood of atmospheric loss was much greater in the Red Planets history. This discovery teaches us about the processes that can change a planets habitability over time, said MAVEN Program Scientist Elsayed Talaat. Sources: Sci-News.com UPI.com NASA.gov Earlier this week, a farmer in Sulawesi, Indonesia was found dead inside a giant serpent's stomach. Akbar Salubiro reportedly went missing Sunday after he went out to harvest palm oil. The following day, the villagers found a python with a body outlined with a shape of a man. The villagers confirmed it was Akbar who was inside the 23-foot snake after it was cut open. In an interview with a snake expert, local news reported that the 25-year-old farmer may have agitated the giant serpent by striking it first. "Snakes only attack or prey on humans if disturbed or attacked... Some people think all snakes are dangerous. They get shocked and scared, then try to catch or kill the snake. And then an accident like this happens," Evi Ayu Arida, a reptile expert from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, told the local news site. Speaking with Live Science, Jeff Beane, the reptile collections manager at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, said most snakes in the presence of humans will retreat to avoid conflict. Unless humans attempt to touch them or get closer to them, they will fight back in order to defend themselves. BBC said the snake encountered by Akbar was a reticulated python, which usually wraps themselves around their prey and kill them by suffocation or cardiac arrest. It is unusual for them to eat their prey, especially a human, the report said. "The restricting factor is human shoulder blades because they are not collapsible," said Mary-Ruth Low, conservation and research officer for Wildlife Reserves Singapore and a reticulated python expert. Until this incident, there was no proof that snakes could ingest a whole human body. In 2005, a python in Florida attempted to ingest an entire alligator. They ended up both dead after the python exploded. Rahmansyah, a lecturer at Hasanuddin University in Makassar, told the Jakarta Post that the incident involving Akbar could have been caused by deforestation, citing that because the snake's natural ecosystem has changed, it went as far as the palm oil plantation to seek for food. A British man was mauled by his dog in Wood Green on March 20 during an interview with BBC. According to New York Post, the Staffordshire bull terrier attacked his owner's neck. It was not the first time Mario Perivoitos was attacked by his pet, but he loved his dog so much that he still kept him despite the "danger," the report added. In an interview with The Guardian, a neighbor of Perivoitos who refused to be named recounted the relationship of Perivoitos and his Staffordshire bull terrier named "Major." "He loved his dog. His dog was his world. If he went out, you could hear the dog crying. He looked after his dog: if he didn't have money he was always asking me for money to get it dog food, so it seems really strange," the neighbor said. Rescuers arrived to save Perivoitos, but he was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Meanwhile, BBC said they were filming for a documentary but declined to give more information about what was being filmed. They also clarified that the camera was not rolling when the unfortunate incident happened. "A crew making a BBC documentary were present -- but not filming -- at the time of the incident and called an ambulance. Given the ongoing inquiries, it would not be appropriate to comment further," a spokesperson said. In a statement, the Met Police said the autopsy at Haringey mortuary revealed that the cause of death is "hypovolemic shock and damage to the airway consistent with a dog bite." Heat Street said after the bloody incident, Major was placed in a secure kennel. Authorities are still deciding what should be done to the dog. American Kennel Club noted that a Staffordshire bull terrier is brave, tenacious, a bit stubborn but also gentle, playful and clever. A man in Alabama nearly died after being electrocuted while he was sleeping with his phone charging in his bed. Wiley Day, 32, was treated for second and third-degree burns on his neck and hands, ABC7 reported. Day was sleeping wearing his dog tag. The metal, as he mentioned to WAAY 31, acted as a conductor when it touched the space between the charger and his extension cord. Seconds later, he was electrocuted. "Thursday morning is probably the most scariest morning I've ever been through in my life," Day said. "When I felt the electrocution here (pointing at his neck) ... It somehow, some way, jolted me over here to the floor," he recounted. "I kept yelling, 'Jesus.'" Doctors said he was lucky he survived 110 volts, citing that it takes 100 volts to kill a person. Asked about how it felt, Day explained to Washington Post that when he managed to rip off the necklace, he fell to the ground and felt nothing except for the pressure around his neck. Read Also: Number of Phone Charger Fires Increasing, Investigators Warn The report added that when he was found, holes were burnt on his shirt and strips of skin and flesh were missing where the necklace had scorched his neck. Day said he wanted his experience to serve as a lesson to everyone who has a habit of charging their phones beside them during bed time. "From my experience to others, it is not worth your life charging your electronics in bed. I mean, it's not worth it," he said. "I wouldn't wish what happened to me on my worst enemy." Last year, a 41-year-old man from Indonesia was electrocuted to death by his charging smartphone. Rappler reported that his body was found by his landlord the day after, citing that his corpse was leaning against a wall while holding his charging smartphone. Extension cords could be dangerous especially when they overheat. Experts recommend that extension cords that are broken be immediately disposed to avoid fire hazard. Read Also: LOOK: Woman Suffers Burns, Blisters After Headphone Explodes Midflight APRIL IS A MONTH... that's flush with nature-found gifts, from flowering fruit trees to sunshiny afternoons to beachside mornings that aren't too cool (but aren't yet too warm). It's also when we celebrate Earth Day by hosting a caboodle of festivals focused on eco-minded topics and creative ways to conserve energy. Many Golden State wineries also mark the day by honoring planetary causes over the entire fourth month in a host of ways, under the banner of Down to Earth Month. Down to Earth Month launches on April 1, when "California wineries will be offering dozens of sustainability-focused events and activities (including) Earth Day Wine Festivals, farm-to-glass tours, and walks with the winemaker to vineyard hikes, VIP eco-tours, and more." Finding out if your favorite vineyard is up to something is as easy as... CHECKING THE SCHEDULE: Even if your go-to grape place isn't participating, you can bet another label you like will be on the roster, or one you've perhaps wanted to get to know. Look to to-dos like the Celebrate Earth Day in Green Valley happening, on April 23, which will feature several wineries showing off their lovely libations at Iron Horse Vineyards. And the wineries around the Santa Cruz Mountains will host a Passport Day on Saturday, April 15, and visitors are encouraged, while there, to check out the Organic Wine Trail. It's all about great wines and new introductions, for sure, but also about spreading the word on the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance's Sustainable Winegrowing Program. If you want to know more, if you want to delve into April's sweetnesses, or if you want to find a new-to-you winery that folds in sustainable steps in its daily doings, begin your Earth Month adventure here. Two-year-old Arianna Fitts has been missing for nearly a year, but on Friday San Francisco police uncovered a new lead a car that may be connected to the case. The missing toddler's mother Nicole Fitts was found dead in John McLaren Park on the morning of April 8. Recreation and Park Department employees found her body buried in a shallow grave near a playground and covered with a plywood board. Police have not released a cause of death. On Friday, while the FBI examined the newly seized car, Claire Bonnar, a friend of Nicole Fitts took the painful walk down to the spot where her body was discovered. Nicole Fitts was the sister of Bonnar's partner. Its very unsettling to realize just feet from where we are standing, Nicole was found," Bonnar said. Nicole Fitts was last seen on the night of April 1, when she went to meet someone she knew, and was reported missing by her family on April 5, according to police. Police said they had obtained video showing Nicole Fitts near the area where her body was later found. The family also alerted police at that time that Nicole Fitts' daughter, Arianna, was missing. Police said Arianna, who sometimes stayed with caregivers for extended periods while her mother worked, was last seen in February. "I do believe she is alive," Bonnar said of Arianna Fitts. Bonnar and her family are planning a vigil on Saturday at John McLaren Park to remind the public that Arianna is still missing. She can be anywhere in California, in America, she can be across the border," Bonnar said. The woman also said that she believes the child could be with a former babysitter, Helena Martin, who has been questioned multiples times by police. Martin's attorney told NBC Bay Area that "she's given them all the information she can." He added: "Now that they changed from her being a witness to a possible suspect, Im not going to let her give anymore statements. Nicole Fitts was an employee at a Best Buy store on Harrison Street in San Francisco, and the store last year announced a $10,000 reward for information in the case. Bonnar said the family is in something of a holding pattern, "waiting for that day, waiting for that call for Arianna to be found." Police have executed search warrants at locations in Oakland, Emeryville and Daly City in an effort to locate Arianna and also followed up on leads in Southern California. Police are also reviewing computer, cell phone and financial records. Police say a husband and wife found dead in their suburban Chicago home were both shot in the head, and their deaths are being investigating as a double homicide. Seventy-year-old Tommie Moore and 67-year-old Ira Moore were found dead in their Berwyn home Friday morning. Police said investigators initially thought they may have died in a homicide-suicide. But the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said Saturday that autopsies determined both were homicides. In a statement, police say Ira Moore was a Vietnam Veteran. He and his wife, Tommie Moore, had been married more than 20 years. Police found the couple on the kitchen floor after a report of "two people down" inside the home. The medical examiner says Tommie Moore was stabbed multiple times in addition to being shot. A southern Indiana health campaign is enlisting black-owned barbershops in a push to bring free health screenings and information on common diseases to black men. The seventh annual Black Barbershop Initiative kicks off Friday at Community Action of Southern Indiana in Jeffersonville with free health screenings, door prizes and health information. Four black-owned barbershops in New Albany and Jeffersonville will then host Saturday health screenings and provide information about health insurance. The News and Tribune reports participants learn about their blood sugar and blood pressure levels and their risk factors for certain diseases. Pam Clark with the Community Action of Southern Indiana says the events are fun for participants. But she says the message about getting health assessments and being seen regularly by a doctor are "very clear." A northern Indiana man is facing reckless homicide charges in a Lake Michigan boat crash that killed two men. Prosecutors allege 37-year-old Tony Gibson of Lake Village was intoxicated last July when the 42-foot powerboat he was operating crashed into a break wall near East Chicago's marina. The crash killed his passengers, 68-year-old Richard A. Wade of Hammond and 62-year-old Timothy P. Dunlap, of Lynwood, Illinois. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says Gibson faces two counts each of reckless homicide, criminal recklessness and operating a motor boat while intoxicated resulting in death. He was released Friday from the Lake County Jail after posting bond. Gibson's initial court hearing has not yet been scheduled. It wasn't immediately clear if he has an attorney who could speak on his behalf. After years of North Korea thumbing its nose at the international community, on Friday Defense Secretary James Mattis appeared to signal enough was enough. "Right now, [North Korea] appears to be going in a very reckless manner and that has got to be stopped," Mattis said at a news conference in London. He didn't give any details about how the administration of President Donald Trump plans to deal with the reclusive nation, which, under Kim Jong Un, has drastically increased its missile and nuclear-testing program. But Mattis' remarks continue a recent trend of Trump officials taking a harder line on North Korea, NBC News reported. Dozens of people gathered outside the Connecticut Supreme Court in Hartford Saturday to rally in support of transgender students. Organizers said the event was in responsive to the withdrawl of federal guidelines protecting the rights of transgender students in schools, the US Supreme Courts decision not to hear the Gavin Grimm anti-discrimination case, and the outcome of a recent vote in North Carolina to repeal part of HB2, the controversial "bathroom bill." The North Carolina vote repealed the widely discussed section of House Bill 2: a requirement that transgender people use the public restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate. However the vote seemed to do little to appease anyone on either side of the issue. Organizers said they wanted to show that COnnecticut is committed to making sure transgender, gender non-conforming and queer students feel safe in school and in public. Participants included transgender students from throughout the state and their parents, and advocates. Sponsoring organizations include the ACLU of Connecticut, GLSEN Connecticut, New Haven Pride Center, OutCT, PFLAG Hartford, PFLAG Hampton, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, Triangle Community Center, and True Colors, Inc. Police were searching for the suspect in a New Britain triple shooting in New Haven Saturday morning, according to New Britain police. New Britain police confirm that authorities were at an address on Thompson Street in New Haven searching for 36-year-old Jermaine Tywane Scott, who is accused of shooting a 12-year-old, a 17-year-old and an adult woman in New Britain Wednesday morning. Authorities said the incident was not random and that it appears to have stemmed from a domestic dispute. New Haven police responded to assist with Saturdays search and a large police presence could be seen around the home. Police did not release many details but said that Scott was not in custody. Scott is wanted on an arrest warrant charging him with three counts of criminal attempt to commit murder, one count of criminal possession of a firearm, one count of criminal use of a firearm and one count of criminal possession of a high capacity magazine. He is considered armed and dangerous and anyone who sees him should contact police immediately. Leatha Mullins, the acting superintendent at Dallas County Schools, is speaking out for the first time about what she's discovering inside the scandal-ridden school bus agency while hoping they can secure enough cash to make it through to the end of the year. Mullins told NBC 5 Investigates the agency lacked proper financial controls and that they're now conducting internal audits to determine how they got where they are. At the same time, she's attempting to restructure millions of dollars in debt, hoping to buy the agency a lifeline. Mullins told NBC 5 Investigates she's optimistic the agency can survive its current financial crisis. "I believe they can, with all of us working together. We do have to have the right pieces that fall into place," Mullins said. Mullins said she is confident DCS can pay its bills through June. But when asked if DCS will be able to raise enough cash to make it through the end of the year she was less sure. "Let me get all of the financial reports that we're working on and let me see what we're going to be able to present to the board mid-April and then we will be able to give you a better answer." Mullins was promoted to acting superintendent three weeks ago when Superintendent Rick Sorrells stepped down with a generous retirement deal amid questions into a $42 million budget gap and runaway spending on a school bus stop-arm camera program that cost the agency millions of dollars. In the last two weeks, DCS has lost millions in revenue with canceled bus service contracts in Coppell and Weatherford. Mullins said she's meeting with others and hopes they remain customers of the beleaguered agency. She's also gearing up for a fight in Austin where Texas Sen. Don Huffines (R-Dallas) wants to introduce legislation that would shut down the agency. At the same time, DCS has hired a former FBI agent to investigate whether financial crimes contributed to the current mess. Mullins said they've not yet learned if the financial mess is the result of mistakes and mismanagement or something more criminal, but that she was "hoping and praying that ... it wasn't done intentional." Meanwhile, Mullins is reaching out to staff, addressing new concerns as they come in and urging them to not give up. In a small, but symbolic move, she has removed free coffee in the DCS offices -- a reminder to employees that the agency needs to be frugal with every dollar they spend. "There are some mistakes, some decisions that were made and we possibly didn't go the right direction, but that doesn't mean we can't keep the legacy of this organization and serving the community that we serve," Mullins said. Mullins said former superintendent Sorrells is still available to assist DCS as questions come up. Sorrells hired the investigator looking into the financial situation before he left DCS. Prosecutors say a former South Texas city manager faces up to five years in prison for lying to the FBI in a public corruption probe. Former Eagle Pass City Manager Hector Chavez Sr. pleaded guilty Thursday, in a plea agreement, to making a false statement to a federal agent. The 68-year-old Chavez remains free on bond pending sentencing in Del Rio. Chavez resigned last year after being indicted in the case that prosecutors say involves bribes and Maverick County contracts. Investigators say Chavez in 2015 gave false statements to related to work on county contracts and a personal consulting agreement. Chavez was indicted on charges also including bribery, obstruction and falsifying records. U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Daryl Fields said Friday that those counts are expected to be dropped during sentencing. Local The latest news from around North Texas. DNA extracted from a 35-year-old piece of chewing gum helped detectives connect the dots in the murder of a mother in her apartment in England. Nova Welsh was found dead in the storage cupboard three weeks after her family moved to Miami. "We were trying to reach her to confirm that we had arrived safely, but we could never get any answer, said Valerie Welsh, the victims sister. The father of her children, Osmond Bell, was arrested in 1981 in connection to Welshs death, but he was later released due to insufficient evidence. Welshs sister was not convinced Bell was innocent, because she said Bell was a possessive ex-boyfriend. Years later, British police re-opened the case and focused on a piece of bubble gum used to seal the lock on the storage cupboard in which Welshs body was found. DNA from the gum matched with Bell's, and forensic scientists also found a match of Bells DNA on an envelope that contained an anonymous letter which had been sent to one of Welshs friends. There will always be advances to technology, and we will always seek to use them and bring people to justice, said Det. Justin Spanner of the West Midlands police. Jurors were presented with this evidence at Bells trial, and they convicted the now 60-year-old of manslaughter on March 22. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Welshs family members said they are happy their loved ones killer has been brought to justice. We forgive him, but he still needs to pay for what hes done. He never admitted to that, said Welshs sister. Bell has not answered any questions regarding the murder since his arrest, police said. While many doctors in Florida prepare to start prescribing medical marijuana to patients, there are some medical professionals who have reservations because they say the states new cannabis laws lack clarity. State records show about 630 doctors in Florida are permitted to recommend medical marijuana and 258 are in South Florida. Miami physician George Tabi is one of the concerned doctors who are worried that medical marijuana could jeopardize their professional careers. It makes me uncomfortable because now I am working in a situation where I don't know what legal ramifications could be held against me. So, I do not want to move in that way. I want to move comfortably as a physician, said Dr. Tabi. The South Florida doctor passed a state-mandated eight-hour training course, but he says he is still somewhat confused by the medical marijuana law, which was approved by Florida voters in November. Although there are many questions regarding the legality of medical marijuana, lawmakers in Tallahassee are considering measures aimed at moving the cannabis program forward and faster. The state legislature has not indicated whether it will consider offering more clarity to the medical marijuana laws. Patients and parents of young patients complain that red tape and the slow start have worked against them. Dr. Tabi says he feels frustrated that he cant recommend medical marijuana for his patients. I want them, my patients, to be able to have their symptoms, have their treatment for them and feel comfortable about it, said Dr. Tabi. As the grand opening of The Museum of the American Revolution gets closer, workers are beginning to put the final touches on the new building. On Saturday, two large-scale bronze sculptural panels were installed in the museums outdoor plaza, located on South Third Street in Philadelphia. Cranes carried in the 1500 pound sculptures that depict paintings of the American Revolution to the outdoor plaza at the museum. The installations were designed and donated by Ellen Schicktanza recently new U.S. citizen who was born in China. According to museum officials, Schicktanz began the project, with her team of 8-10 sculptors, to better understand the history of the United States and was inspired by the countrys ideals and principals. The sculptures each feature a historic moment in the time of the Revolution. The first, Washington Crossing the Delaware, painted by Emanuel Leutze, depicts the nighttime crossing of the Delaware River that was the turning point of the Revolution-- when Washingtons army found the courage to launch a raid, despite months of defeat. The second, The Declaration of Independence, shows John Trumbulls famous painting of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress by the drafting committee, which included Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. The panels will sit in two separate courtyards in the outdoor plaza, surrounded by a display of Revolutionary-era canons and engravings of words from the Declaration of Independence. The Museum of the American Revolution officially opens on April 19. For more information and a glimpse of the collection, visit the museums website. Don't Miss Out on These April Events Residents in San Diegos South Bay reported feeling an earthquake that rattled Baja California Friday night, striking near Tijuana, Mexico. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the quake a 3.5-magnitude rattler, 10.5 kilometers in depth hit south of the border at 11:40 p.m. Friday. It was centered 3.1 miles southeast of Tijuana. Residents in Chula Vista, Eastlake, Otay Ranch and Imperial Beach told NBC 7 it was strongly felt in their communities. Chula Vista Jenn Pavlov said she first heard rumbling, then felt the movement. Sunny Rodriguez described a similar experience: "It started with a low rumble, then the house shook hard once side to side," Rodriguez told NBC 7 on Facebook. The USGS said the epicenter of the earthquake was about five miles from San Ysidro and less than 10 miles from Chula Vista. No damage or injuries were reported. Eastlake resident Amber Fournier told NBC 7 she felt a huge jolt hit her home. It almost felt like an explosion and I jumped up. I was in bed; I started hitting my husband, like, What is going on? Fournier said. She said the jolt lasted only a few seconds. Her kids slept right through it. Eastlake resident Michelle Portilla also described the temblor as quick. I heard the noise first, Portilla recalled. I felt like someone was shaking the walls and then I felt kind of like a wave. [It was] very quick though. Portilla said her children didnt feel the quake, but her husband did although for him, it was no big deal. Residents in other parts of the county reported feeling the earthquake, too, including in Spring Valley, Lakeside, El Cajon and Rancho San Diego. El Cajon resident Heidi Lee told NBC 7 the quake "felt like a giant gave our house a good swift kick." Did you feel the earthquake in your neck of the woods? Share in the comments section below. Rain-fed wildflowers have been sprouting from California's desert sands after lying dormant for years producing a spectacular display that has drawn record crowds and traffic jams to tiny towns like Borrego Springs. An estimated 150,000 people in the past month have converged on this town of about 3,500, roughly 85 miles (135 kilometers) northeast of San Diego, for the so-called super bloom. Wildflowers are springing up in different landscapes across the state and the western United States thanks to a wet winter. In the Antelope Valley, an arid plateau northeast of Los Angeles, blazing orange poppies are lighting up the ground. But a "super bloom" is a term for when a mass amount of desert plants bloom at one time. In California, that happens about once in a decade in a given area. It has been occurring less frequently with the drought. Last year, the right amount of rainfall and warm temperatures produced carpets of flowers in Death Valley. So far this year, the natural show has been concentrated in the 640,000-acre (1,000-square-mile) Anza Borrego State Park that abuts Borrego Springs. It is expected to roll along through May, with different species blooming at different elevations and in different areas of the park. Anza Borrego is California's largest state park with hundreds of species of plants, including desert lilies, blazing stars and the flaming tall, spiny Ocotillo. Deputies were brought in to handle the traffic jams as Borrego Springs saw its population triple in a single day. On one particularly packed weekend in mid-March, motorists were stuck in traffic for five hours, restaurants ran out of food, and some visitors relieved themselves in the fields. Officials have since set up an army of Port-A-Pottys, and eateries have stocked up. The craze has been dubbed "Flowergeddon." Locals call those who view the tiny wildflowers from their cars "flower peepers." Thousands of others have left their vehicles to traipse across the desert and analyze the array of delicate yellow, orange, purple and magenta blooms up close in the park. Many carting cameras have taken care to step around the plants. Tour groups from as far as Japan and Hong Kong have flown in to catch the display before it fades away with the rising temperatures. Wildflower enthusiasts worldwide track the blooms online and arrive for rare sightings like this year's Bigelow's Monkey flower, some of which have grown to 8 inches (203 millimeters) in height. The National Park Service has even pitched in with a 24-hour wildflower hotline to find the best spots at the state park. "We've seen everything from people in normal hiking attire to people in designer flip-flops to women in sundresses and strappy heels hike out there to get their picture. When I saw that, I thought, 'Oh no. Please don't go out there with those shoes on,'" laughed Linda Haddock, head of the Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce. On a recent day, a young woman sat among knee-high desert sunflowers and shot selfies against the backdrop of yellow blooms that looked almost neon in contrast to the brown landscape. A mother jumped in the air as her daughter snapped her photo among yellow brittlebushes. The blooms are attracting hungry sphinx moth caterpillars that munch through acres. The caterpillars in turn are attracting droves of Swainson hawks on their annual 6,000-mile (9,656-kilometer) migration from Argentina. "It's an amazing burst in the cycle of life in the desert that has come because of a freakish event like a super bloom," Haddock said. "It's exciting. This is going to be so huge for our economy." Desert super blooms always draw crowds, but lifetime residents said they've never seen the natural wonder attract tens of thousands like this time. The park is about a two-hour drive from San Diego and three hours from Los Angeles. This year's display has been especially stunning, experts say. The region received 6 inches (165 millimeters) of rain from December to February, followed by almost two weeks of 90-degree temperatures, setting the conditions for the super bloom. Five years of drought made the seeds ready to pop. Humans also helped. Park staff, volunteers and female prisoners have been removing the Saharan Mustard plant, an invasive species believed brought to California in the 1920s with another plant, the date palm. Saharan Mustard stole the thunder of another super bloom six years ago, said Jim Dice, research manager at the Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center. "It completely took over the usual wildflower fields and starved out the wildflowers so what we had were giant fields of ugly mustard plant," Dice said. "That galvanized the community, which depends on tourism largely brought in during the good wildflower years." Lia Wathen, a 35-year-old investigator in San Diego, took a Monday off from work so she wouldn't miss the desert flowers. "Any single color that you can think of, you're going to find it right here," said Wathen, walking with her Maltese dogs, Romeo and Roxy, before stopping to examine a magenta bloom on a spikey Cholla cactus. Sandra Reel and her husband drove hundreds of miles out of their way when they heard about the super bloom. "It is absolutely phenomenal to see this many blooming desert plants all at the same time," she said. "I think it's probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing." A traffic stop escalated to the point where a police officer punched a handcuffed woman in the face Tuesday evening. Police said the accused female officer acted in self-defense. I didn't understand how a simple traffic stop could escalate into being punched in the face, Carlett Johnson said. Cheverly Police pulled her over on Route 202 for driving without a front license plate, she said. Police learned her tags had been suspended because the tint on her windows was too dark, for which she had previously been ticketed. Police placed her on the curb and searched her vehicle before impounding it. She said she wanted to retrieve her phone to call her son who was at home alone. They pushed me back, and at that point kind of grabbed me and started tussling and now at that point they said, Well, now youre under arrest. Police handcuffed her and put her in the front seat of a police car. The officer asked Johnson to turn her head to the left so she could buckle her seat belt, according to the police report. Johnson would not comply with her orders, the officer said. When I turn back around I just saw her fist coming straight for my face, Johnson said. She had me dead in my eye, and I was shocked. I think I kind of blacked out for 10 seconds or so. Police took her to Prince Georges Hospital Center, where she received stitches. The Cheverly Police Department is reviewing the incident and said preliminarily it appears the officer followed protocol. Police released a statement saying, in part, it appears Ms. Johnson attempted to bite the officer, who was attempting to seat belt Ms. Johnson, prompting the officer to defend herself. Officer safety is paramount, and being bitten has the potential of exposing officers not only to bodily harm but to serious, infectious disease Johnson denies trying to bite the officer. If I did, in fact, try to bite you -- I didn't, I still didnt so what would constitute you punching me to the point of gashing my eye open? Cheverly Police said they have body camera video of the incident but arent releasing it while it is under review. The accused officer started with the department earlier this month. Prince George's County school officials say they are investigating complaints about air quality at a public elementary school. Parent Phyllis Wright told News4 she has kept her two daughters home from school since Wednesday because she believes there is mold at District Heights Elementary School. "I'm hurt not only for my children. I'm hurt for the 500 other children that goes there," Wright said. She said she complained to the school after she volunteered at the school on Monday. "Two teachers, said to the other one -- one said 'I'm sick.' The other one said it's because of the mold that's in the building," Wright said. Prince George's County Public Schools sent a letter home to parents on Friday saying there is work underway to assess and improve the air "Prince Georges County Public Schools is aware of indoor air quality concerns at District Heights Elementary School. Work is currently underway by our Building Services staff to assess and improve air quality," a spokesperson for the school system said in a statement to News4. District Heights Commissioner Johnathan Medlock said the school system took Wright's complain seriously. "They did reach out and acted immediately to try to resolve whatever the issue was," Medlock said. A spokesperson for the school district said a officials have conducted a mold test. The school is waiting for the test results. On Monday, the school will host a community meeting to talk about the air quality concerns and the steps the school system is taking. Audience members repeatedly booed and yelled at U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) during a loud Friday night town hall on the Eastern Shore. They waved signs with their ZIP codes on them, a gesture participants said was meant to remind the congressman he represents them. The booing began about five minutes into the Republican's slideshow on the federal deficit. Audience members yelled at Harris to answer questions. "You work for us," one person yelled. "We want answers." The noise caused Harris to pause a number of times. At one point, he leaned against a lectern and looked out at the audience in a mostly full auditorium that holds about 900 people at Chesapeake College. "Don't treat us like children," one man yelled. The booing relented enough for Harris to continue. He answered questions about President Donald Trump's proposed cuts to a federal program to clean the Chesapeake Bay, education, immigration and funding for Planned Parenthood, but audience members often weren't happy with his answers and continued to boo. At one point, Harris asked the audience: "Are you all done?" The audience responded loudly and in unison: "No!" Harris finished the event, which lasted more than an hour, often talking over the booing and heckling. Harris, the only Republican member of Maryland's congressional delegation, ended his remarks by saying the nation was a great country because people could agree to disagree without fear. "If you don't agree with me, God bless you," Harris said. "We're going to agree to disagree, but America is the best country in the world." The audience chanted: "More town halls." People who attended were expressing their displeasure before the event even began. When the audience was told signs needed to be limited to a certain size, many booed and waved signs from their seats. "This is what democracy looks like," they chanted. A long line of people gathered more than an hour before the event in Wye Mills. Some had signs critical of the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Republicans pulled the replacement bill last week, because it didn't have enough support. Some waiting in line say they're worried Republicans will try again. Jan Plotczyk, of Rock Hall, wore a sandwich board sign that read: "Trump Care Makes America Sick." "Even though the immediate threat of losing the Affordable Care Act might be gone for a while, I think that the threat is not dead, and I think that the tide is turning in this country and more and more people want their health care," Plotczyk said. Tim Kingston, who is the chairman of the Queen Anne's County Republican Central Committee, said he had come to support the congressman. "I'm excited that we get a chance to come together and ask some questions," Kingston said, adding "and he's going to protect the Eastern Shore." The Boston Metropolitan area points south and southeast saw a wet start with very little snow and ice, while those in north central and northeast interior Massachusetts points north and west began Saturday slippery with falling snow, sleet and freezing rain. The National Weather Service issued an Areal Flood Warning for parts of Massachusetts around 8 a.m. Some locations that were expected to experience flooding include Boston, Cambridge, New Bedford, Brockton, Quincy, Lynn, Fall River, Newton, Somerville, Framingham, Waltham, Malden, Brookline, Plymouth, Medford, Taunton, Weymouth, Revere, Peabody and Arlington. As the storm center impacting New England starts to move southeast of New England, winds aloft will change, allowing cold air to slip southeast and change areas of rain back to a last gasp of snow before ending. Expect the change to snow impacting Bostons northwest suburbs mid-morning to march through the City late morning and the South Shore midday, with the snow burst lasting a few hours into the afternoon before departing east and south, leaving just flurries by late day and evening. As was indicated in our NBC Boston and necn forecasts over the last couple of days, this will put snow totals in the immediate Boston area at an inch or two, with increasing amounts north and west up to a foot in higher terrain of Vermont and New Hampshire and decreasing amounts south and east. We'll see just a dusting in Southeast Massachusetts. Of course, during the burst of snow, some slush very well may develop on area roads, creating one more period of slippery travel. Winds Saturday will gust to 35 mph at times, creating a pelting feeling from falling wintry mix and driving wind chill values into the 20s, but thankfully wind mostly stays quieter in areas of heaviest snow, limiting the number of expected power outages. Sunday looks to be a complete dipole sunshine and 50! Another beauty on tap for Monday. A student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, like many of his classmates, took a trip for spring break. But he didn't head to Florida or the Caribbean; instead, he remained in Massachusetts for an unconventional seven-day trip. Gilbert Hernandez, a 21-year-old junior, embarked on a walk across the Bay State. "I just like taking the time to enjoy and admire the countryside at a slow pace," Hernandez said. The Texan is mechanical engineering student who enjoys outdoor adventures. "I've always done a walking stunt," he said. Hernandez made his first walking trip in Texas while he was a senior in high school. For the past three years, he's been exploring Massachusetts on foot. "Worcester to Boston, Worcester to Providence, and Worcester to Cape Cod," said Hernandez, describing his first few adventures. Instead of relaxing on his most recent spring break, he decided to walk across the entire state. He started in Pittsfield, making his way through Hindsdale, Peru, Worthington and every other city between until he made it to Boston. Hernandez documented the more-than-130-mile trip with photos and videos. He wore sneakers and a few layers of clothing, but he wasn't fully prepared for all the weather he endured. "Rain that lasted all day, sweaty heat, 50 mile per hour wind gusts," said Hernandez. "On the last day, a mini-snow storm." Hernandez's fellow WPI students are impressed by his journey and courage. "He is mentally strong," said Oscar Lee, a biochemistry student. "Mentally strong, and really good at exercising." Hernandez said he didn't pack much, aside from Clif bars, peanut butter and bananas. "The potassium in bananas reduces leg cramps," he said. "Fun fact." While walking more than 20 miles a day, he learned a valuable lesson. "If I set my mind to it, I can do anything I want," said Hernandez. Doing anything he wants now includes walking across every state in the U.S. "I might as well walk across all 50 before I get to 50 years old," said Hernandez. After his recent trip, he has one down, 49 to go. Police have arrested a suspect in the murder of a man found dead this week in Manchester, New Hampshire. New Hampshire Attorney General confirms that 34-year-old Jordan Gamache was charged Friday with second degree murder in the shooting death of 39-year-old Ryan Chafin, who was found dead early Tuesday morning in a home on Douglas Street. Authorities believe Gamache shot Chafin multiple times. Gamache is due to be arraigned Monday in the 9th Circuit District Division Court in Manchester. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 603-792-5506. A Maine State Police Trooper thought he was assisting a driver and passenger during a deer crash in Bangor, but actually discovered some interesting cargo in the vehicle. Trooper Tyler Maloon said he needed to assist the driver and his wife recently after they struck the deer in Fairfield. The couple, who was on their way to Pittsfield Irvings, told Maloon that "the trophy" needed to be at an event they were attending at the Cross Insurance Center by a certain time. Maloon was pleasantly surprised to learn that the couple worked for the New England Patriots and that they were transporting the Lombardi Trophy from Super Bowl LI to the event. "My mind was blown, seriously what are the odds," Maloon wrote on Facebook. Not only did Maloon get to give the trophy a ride in his cruiser, but he got to pose for a picture with it. The White House announced Friday that come this summer it will be issuing commemorative safety glasses in anticipation of the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse, an extraordinarily rare event that will cast a rolling 60-mile wide swath of daytime darkness from Oregon cross-country to South Carolina. Emphasizing the danger of viewing a solar eclipse without protective eyewear (NASA explains), these safety glasses will come emblazoned with the slogan, Make America Safe Again, the choice of which need not be explained. The glasses will cost $9.95, with 100% of the proceeds going to charity, according to a White House press release that included a photo of President Trump modeling a pair (above). As with everything involving the Trump Administration, the safety-glasses initiative was quickly met with criticism and rumor-mongering on social media. It was noted that that the path of the eclipse begins in Oregon, a traditionally blue state that voted for Hillary Clinton, but then makes a beeline through red-state Trump country Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina just barely clipping Democratic stronghold of Illinois along the way. Make The Parts of America That Voted For Trump Safe Again, groused one Twitter user. A number of others speculated that the task of designing the glasses may have fallen to presidential daughter Ivanka Trump, though there was no mention of that in the press release. We've asked the White House where the glasses will be manufacturered and will update this post if we receive a reply. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The second annual meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) began on Friday in the national capital with the meeting of its Board of Directors, who would explore ways to push forward, sustainable development and financing and the dynamics of banking in India. The three-day event will start with BRICS Business Council Meeting, which will be followed by the Opening Ceremony of the Second Annual Meeting of the NDB Board of Governors. The Finance Minister and NDB Governor for India, Arun Jaitley will deliver the key note address. Finance ministry officials pointed out that NDB has matured from the time it was conceived in in 2012 at the fourth BRICS Summit in Delhi. The members felt a new development bank will help mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS region, other emerging economies and developing countries. On Saturday, the event will be attended by NDB President K V Kamath, Minister of Finance of China and NDB Governor for China, Xiao Jie among others. Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, will government perspective at the event. Five memoranda of understanding (MOU) will be signed during the next two days. The five MOUs are likely to be signed by NDB president K V Kamath one each with European Investment Bank (EIB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and International Investment Bank (IIB). NEW DELHI: The second annual meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) began on Friday in the national capital with the meeting of its Board of Directors, who would explore ways to push forward, sustainable development and financing and the dynamics of banking in India. The three-day event will start with BRICS Business Council Meeting, which will be followed by the Opening Ceremony of the Second Annual Meeting of the NDB Board of Governors. The Finance Minister and NDB Governor for India, Arun Jaitley will deliver the key note address. Finance ministry officials pointed out that NDB has matured from the time it was conceived in in 2012 at the fourth BRICS Summit in Delhi. The members felt a new development bank will help mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS region, other emerging economies and developing countries. On Saturday, the event will be attended by NDB President K V Kamath, Minister of Finance of China and NDB Governor for China, Xiao Jie among others. Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, will government perspective at the event. Five memoranda of understanding (MOU) will be signed during the next two days. The five MOUs are likely to be signed by NDB president K V Kamath one each with European Investment Bank (EIB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and International Investment Bank (IIB). By Reuters WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump sought to push his crusade for fair trade and more manufacturing jobs back to the top of his agenda on Friday by ordering a study into the causes of U.S. trade deficits and a clampdown on import duty evasion. The executive orders came a week after Trump's promise to replace Obamacare imploded in Congress and a week before he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, a summit that promises to be fraught with trade tensions. Trump said at a White House signing ceremony that he and Xi were "going to get down to some serious business" next week and vowed that "the theft of American prosperity" by foreign countries would end. One of the orders directed the Commerce Department and the U.S. trade representative to conduct a 90-day review of the causes of massive U.S. trade deficits. It will study the effects of abuses such as the dumping of products below costs, unfair subsidies, "misaligned" currencies and "non-reciprocal" trade practices by other countries. "We're going to investigate all trade abuses, and, based on those findings, we will take necessary and lawful action to end those many abuses," Trump said, adding that he wasn't beholden to any businesses. Trump administration officials have said they plan tougher enforcement of U.S. trade remedy laws and will initiate more unilateral trade deals. In his 2016 White House bid, the New York businessman campaigned heavily against free-trade deals and accused China of draining jobs from U.S. factory towns with cheap exports. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang on Friday said the U.S.-China trade imbalance was mostly the result of differences in the two countries' economic structures and noted that China had a trade deficit in services. "China does not deliberately seek a trade surplus. We also have no intention of carrying out competitive currency devaluation to stimulate exports." Zheng told a briefing about the Xi-Trump meeting. The study of trade abuses appeared aimed at justifying unilateral retaliatory trade actions by the United States, said Matt Gold, a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative who is now an adjunct trade law professor at Fordham University in New York. "They probably think it will give them better political ammunition," Gold said. But he added that it would not likely reveal anything that is not already in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's annual list of trade barriers, which also was released on Friday. The report criticized China's excess industrial capacity and requirements for technology transfers and cyber security, which it said are aimed displacing foreign products with domestic versions. The trade abuses study will focus on those countries that have chronic goods trade surpluses with the United States. China tops the list, with a $347 billion surplus last year, followed by Japan, with a $69 billion surplus, Germany at $65 billion, Mexico at $63 billion, Ireland at $36 billion and Vietnam at $32 billion. The study also will examine past trade deals that have failed to produce forecast benefits for the United States, as well as World Trade Organization rules that U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said do not treat countries equally, such as on taxation. The United States has long complained that WTO rules allow exports from other countries to be exempt from value-added taxes (VAT), but do not allow equivalent corporate income tax benefits for U.S. exporters. The Trump administration is considering a border tax that would be levied on imports and which would aim to put the United States on a similar tax basis for trade as countries that have VAT. The second trade order will fight nonpayment and under-collection of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties the United States slaps on many foreign goods. White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro said some $2.8 billion in such duties went uncollected between 2001 and the end of 2016 from companies in some 40 countries. Navarro said the order directs the Commerce and Homeland Security departments to close these gaps by imposing tougher bonding requirements to ensure duty collections and new legal requirements for assessing risks associated with importers. WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump sought to push his crusade for fair trade and more manufacturing jobs back to the top of his agenda on Friday by ordering a study into the causes of U.S. trade deficits and a clampdown on import duty evasion. The executive orders came a week after Trump's promise to replace Obamacare imploded in Congress and a week before he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, a summit that promises to be fraught with trade tensions. Trump said at a White House signing ceremony that he and Xi were "going to get down to some serious business" next week and vowed that "the theft of American prosperity" by foreign countries would end. One of the orders directed the Commerce Department and the U.S. trade representative to conduct a 90-day review of the causes of massive U.S. trade deficits. It will study the effects of abuses such as the dumping of products below costs, unfair subsidies, "misaligned" currencies and "non-reciprocal" trade practices by other countries. "We're going to investigate all trade abuses, and, based on those findings, we will take necessary and lawful action to end those many abuses," Trump said, adding that he wasn't beholden to any businesses. Trump administration officials have said they plan tougher enforcement of U.S. trade remedy laws and will initiate more unilateral trade deals. In his 2016 White House bid, the New York businessman campaigned heavily against free-trade deals and accused China of draining jobs from U.S. factory towns with cheap exports. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang on Friday said the U.S.-China trade imbalance was mostly the result of differences in the two countries' economic structures and noted that China had a trade deficit in services. "China does not deliberately seek a trade surplus. We also have no intention of carrying out competitive currency devaluation to stimulate exports." Zheng told a briefing about the Xi-Trump meeting. The study of trade abuses appeared aimed at justifying unilateral retaliatory trade actions by the United States, said Matt Gold, a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative who is now an adjunct trade law professor at Fordham University in New York. "They probably think it will give them better political ammunition," Gold said. But he added that it would not likely reveal anything that is not already in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's annual list of trade barriers, which also was released on Friday. The report criticized China's excess industrial capacity and requirements for technology transfers and cyber security, which it said are aimed displacing foreign products with domestic versions. The trade abuses study will focus on those countries that have chronic goods trade surpluses with the United States. China tops the list, with a $347 billion surplus last year, followed by Japan, with a $69 billion surplus, Germany at $65 billion, Mexico at $63 billion, Ireland at $36 billion and Vietnam at $32 billion. The study also will examine past trade deals that have failed to produce forecast benefits for the United States, as well as World Trade Organization rules that U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said do not treat countries equally, such as on taxation. The United States has long complained that WTO rules allow exports from other countries to be exempt from value-added taxes (VAT), but do not allow equivalent corporate income tax benefits for U.S. exporters. The Trump administration is considering a border tax that would be levied on imports and which would aim to put the United States on a similar tax basis for trade as countries that have VAT. The second trade order will fight nonpayment and under-collection of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties the United States slaps on many foreign goods. White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro said some $2.8 billion in such duties went uncollected between 2001 and the end of 2016 from companies in some 40 countries. Navarro said the order directs the Commerce and Homeland Security departments to close these gaps by imposing tougher bonding requirements to ensure duty collections and new legal requirements for assessing risks associated with importers. By Express News Service MUMBAI/INDORE: Enforcement Directorate officials who carried out inspections of 30-35 places in Mumbai on Saturday reportedly recovered sensitive documents from the office of one Jagdish Prasad Purohit in Andheri. He is said to have aided former Maharashtra deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal in laundering over Rs 46.7 crore through a network of 700 shell companies run from the one address. Bhujbal was arrested on March 14, 2016 by ED in connection with the Maharashtra Sadan scam and the Kalina land case in which he and his relatives were alleged to have received kickbacks. On June 17, 2015, ED had filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Bhujbal and his relatives. This came after the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) searched 26 properties belonging to Bhujbal as part of its investigations into alleged irregularities in the award of a contract of over Rs 100 crore for three projects in 2006 when Bhujbal was the deputy CM and PWD minister. "Bhujbal is in jail over charges of money laundering. But that is not sufficient. Several shell companies were used by him or his agents for money laundering. Hence it was necessary to find out who else these agents helped. With the scale of ED raids today it appears that work on that part of the case has begun," BJP MP from Mumbai Kirit Somaiya told The New Indian Express. In Madhya Pradesh, two coal trader brothers are under the ED scanner. Reports from Bhopal said an ED team from Indore searched the residential and business premises of two coal trader brothers in Katni, 375 km from Bhopal. The siblings, Satish and Manish Saraogi, considered close to mining baron and minister Sanjay Pathak, are suspected of being the masterminds of a Rs 2000 crore hawala racket. According to ED sources, the raid at the Saraogis' three-storeyed building in Katni's Ghantaghar locality started at around 2.30 pm Saturday and was continuing till late in the evening. Over 100 shell firms with accounts in various banks in Katni were used to park and siphon off proceeds of illegal mining activities between 2006 and 2010, sources said. Satish Saraogi was arrested by the Katni police from Jabalpur on March 16 and is presently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bhopal. In January and February, an ED team had camped in Katni, known as MP's aluminium and limestone mining hub, investigating the siblings operations. In Kolkata, seven locations in Howrah and Kolkata were raided by ED officials on Saturday. Some five shell companies located in Kolkata are on the ED radar. Sources said the raids were completed by mid by afternoon. No names of any politicians involved with any of the shell companies were revealed. MUMBAI/INDORE: Enforcement Directorate officials who carried out inspections of 30-35 places in Mumbai on Saturday reportedly recovered sensitive documents from the office of one Jagdish Prasad Purohit in Andheri. He is said to have aided former Maharashtra deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal in laundering over Rs 46.7 crore through a network of 700 shell companies run from the one address. Bhujbal was arrested on March 14, 2016 by ED in connection with the Maharashtra Sadan scam and the Kalina land case in which he and his relatives were alleged to have received kickbacks. On June 17, 2015, ED had filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Bhujbal and his relatives. This came after the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) searched 26 properties belonging to Bhujbal as part of its investigations into alleged irregularities in the award of a contract of over Rs 100 crore for three projects in 2006 when Bhujbal was the deputy CM and PWD minister. "Bhujbal is in jail over charges of money laundering. But that is not sufficient. Several shell companies were used by him or his agents for money laundering. Hence it was necessary to find out who else these agents helped. With the scale of ED raids today it appears that work on that part of the case has begun," BJP MP from Mumbai Kirit Somaiya told The New Indian Express. In Madhya Pradesh, two coal trader brothers are under the ED scanner. Reports from Bhopal said an ED team from Indore searched the residential and business premises of two coal trader brothers in Katni, 375 km from Bhopal. The siblings, Satish and Manish Saraogi, considered close to mining baron and minister Sanjay Pathak, are suspected of being the masterminds of a Rs 2000 crore hawala racket. According to ED sources, the raid at the Saraogis' three-storeyed building in Katni's Ghantaghar locality started at around 2.30 pm Saturday and was continuing till late in the evening. Over 100 shell firms with accounts in various banks in Katni were used to park and siphon off proceeds of illegal mining activities between 2006 and 2010, sources said. Satish Saraogi was arrested by the Katni police from Jabalpur on March 16 and is presently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bhopal. In January and February, an ED team had camped in Katni, known as MP's aluminium and limestone mining hub, investigating the siblings operations. In Kolkata, seven locations in Howrah and Kolkata were raided by ED officials on Saturday. Some five shell companies located in Kolkata are on the ED radar. Sources said the raids were completed by mid by afternoon. No names of any politicians involved with any of the shell companies were revealed. By Express News Service CHENNAI: The actual impact of demonetisation on the entire economy might never be calculated, chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian conceded on Friday. This, according to Subramanian, is primarily due to the lack of effective means to measure its overall impact on the unorganised sector. The lack of such tools, he added, was also one of the reasons why economists expectations and headline numbers on the impact were so wide apart. Answering a students question during an interaction with students of IIT-Madras on the huge differences between economists predictions of the impact and those reflected by government-released economic data, Subramanian said, Demonetisation had an impact in the short term. But one of the worst affected sectors was the unorganised sector of the economy. We have very little high- frequency data that is gathered from this segment and we cannot capture the impact on it as well as we can the impact on the organised sector. He went on to add that this was why the headline numbers were so different. Headline numbers do not reflect the impact on this segment very well. We will have to wait for some more time before we get a better picture, he pointed out. However, he also warned that this might never be possible. But, we will probably never get a true picture of the impact because we lack the tools. Subramanian, who was speaking on the Economic Survey tabled every year before the Union budget, also touched upon the effect of foreign exchange rates on exports and domestic competition, pointing out that governments have to do a tricky balancing act in maintaining the value of the rupee. Devalue too far and it leads to higher import costs, but if rupee value rises, exports suffer, Subramanian noted. CHENNAI: The actual impact of demonetisation on the entire economy might never be calculated, chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian conceded on Friday. This, according to Subramanian, is primarily due to the lack of effective means to measure its overall impact on the unorganised sector. The lack of such tools, he added, was also one of the reasons why economists expectations and headline numbers on the impact were so wide apart. Answering a students question during an interaction with students of IIT-Madras on the huge differences between economists predictions of the impact and those reflected by government-released economic data, Subramanian said, Demonetisation had an impact in the short term. But one of the worst affected sectors was the unorganised sector of the economy. We have very little high- frequency data that is gathered from this segment and we cannot capture the impact on it as well as we can the impact on the organised sector. He went on to add that this was why the headline numbers were so different. Headline numbers do not reflect the impact on this segment very well. We will have to wait for some more time before we get a better picture, he pointed out. However, he also warned that this might never be possible. But, we will probably never get a true picture of the impact because we lack the tools. Subramanian, who was speaking on the Economic Survey tabled every year before the Union budget, also touched upon the effect of foreign exchange rates on exports and domestic competition, pointing out that governments have to do a tricky balancing act in maintaining the value of the rupee. Devalue too far and it leads to higher import costs, but if rupee value rises, exports suffer, Subramanian noted. By PTI NEW DELHI: The European Investment Bank (EIB) has okayed Rs 1,400 crore (EUR 200 million) loan to State Bank of India to fund solar power projects. The long-term loan will support total investment of EUR 650 million in five different large-scale photo-voltaic solar power projects, EIB said in a statement. This will contribute to India's National Solar mission and reduce dependence on fossil fuel power generation. Four solar power projects at a generation capacity of 530 MWac have already been identified under this funding, it said. "The new cooperation between the State Bank of India and the European Investment Bank will scale up investment in large scale solar power generation across India," said B Sriram, Managing Director, State Bank of India. Close cooperation between technical and financial teams from both institutions will ensure that world class projects are supported, he said. "This new project reflects the shared commitment of India and the European Union to tackle climate change and implement the Paris Climate Agreement," said Andrew McDowell, Vice President of the European Investment Bank. The 20 -year long-term EIB loan will support individual projects. Projects in Tamil Nadu and Telangana are amongst those to be funded under this agreement. This funding will be in addition to financing from Indian banks and project promoters. One of the largest lenders in renewable energy investment, EIB has financed projects of EUR 1.7 billion (about Rs 11,900 crore) in India since 1993. Owned by the 28 member states of the European Union, it is the world's largest international public bank. NEW DELHI: The European Investment Bank (EIB) has okayed Rs 1,400 crore (EUR 200 million) loan to State Bank of India to fund solar power projects. The long-term loan will support total investment of EUR 650 million in five different large-scale photo-voltaic solar power projects, EIB said in a statement. This will contribute to India's National Solar mission and reduce dependence on fossil fuel power generation. Four solar power projects at a generation capacity of 530 MWac have already been identified under this funding, it said. "The new cooperation between the State Bank of India and the European Investment Bank will scale up investment in large scale solar power generation across India," said B Sriram, Managing Director, State Bank of India. Close cooperation between technical and financial teams from both institutions will ensure that world class projects are supported, he said. "This new project reflects the shared commitment of India and the European Union to tackle climate change and implement the Paris Climate Agreement," said Andrew McDowell, Vice President of the European Investment Bank. The 20 -year long-term EIB loan will support individual projects. Projects in Tamil Nadu and Telangana are amongst those to be funded under this agreement. This funding will be in addition to financing from Indian banks and project promoters. One of the largest lenders in renewable energy investment, EIB has financed projects of EUR 1.7 billion (about Rs 11,900 crore) in India since 1993. Owned by the 28 member states of the European Union, it is the world's largest international public bank. By Express News Service BENGALURU: A family of four were in for a rude shock in the wee hours of Saturday when a gang of seven armed men broke into their house at White City Colony in K R Puram and roughed them up. The gang also made away with gold and other valuables worth about Rs 25 lakh. Police said Parthiban, who works as an accountant in a multinational company, stated in his complaint that a gang of seven barged into his house around 3.30 am when the family was asleep. They broke open a window next to the main door to gain access to the house. Parthiban came out of the bedroom after hearing noises and was attacked by the gang. His mother Valliammai and wife Prabhavathi, who came to his rescue, were shoved. His daughter Pavitra was locked in a bathroom, the complainant said. The gang threatened the family at gunpoint and robbed them of gold and other valuables. After they fled, Parthiban alerted his neighbours who rushed him and his wife to a private hospital for treatment of injuries. KR Puram police, along with a dog squad, inspected the spot. The gang escaped on foot and the dog squad picked up their trail till a nearby lake but lost scent thereafter, police said. Police have gathered CCTV footage from nearby areas to ascertain the identity of the gang. City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood and other senior police officials visited the crime scene and a special team has been formed to nab the gang. Preliminary investigations revealed that the gang might have planned the robbery well in advance. 'Gang first tried to set fire to main door' The armed gang that struck at accountant Parthibans house first tried to pry open the lock on the front door. When they could not, they tried to set fire to the door after pouring petrol. They finally managed to gain entry by breaking open a window next to the door. Narrating the incident, Parthibans wife Prabhavathi told his cousin Rajkumar, who resides in Banaswadi, that the gang had covered their faces with dupattas, stood on Parthibans leg and hit him with an iron rod. Initially, they were speaking in Hindi and later started conversing in broken English, she told Rajkumar. Rajkumar told Express that Parthiban had built the duplex house two years ago and the area is well developed. The gang snatched four of the mobile phones before they escaped. They also threatened the family not to make calls to police or any relatives about the incident, he said. The familys neigbours Venkatalakshamma and her son Somu alerted the police after Prabhavathi ran from the house and started screaming for help, Rajkumar said. Parthibans mother Valliammai (76) was gagged and tied with a rope. Then, four men entered the bedroom and stuck a fake pistol into Parthibans mouth and demanded that he hand over the cash. When he tried to get out of bed and resist them, they hit him with an iron rod and kicked him repeatedly, the family said. They snatched Prabhavathis mangalasutra and other jewellery. The gang took a laptop bag, dumped the laptop and packed all the stolen jewellery and cash in it, the family said. BENGALURU: A family of four were in for a rude shock in the wee hours of Saturday when a gang of seven armed men broke into their house at White City Colony in K R Puram and roughed them up. The gang also made away with gold and other valuables worth about Rs 25 lakh. Police said Parthiban, who works as an accountant in a multinational company, stated in his complaint that a gang of seven barged into his house around 3.30 am when the family was asleep. They broke open a window next to the main door to gain access to the house. Parthiban came out of the bedroom after hearing noises and was attacked by the gang. His mother Valliammai and wife Prabhavathi, who came to his rescue, were shoved. His daughter Pavitra was locked in a bathroom, the complainant said. The gang threatened the family at gunpoint and robbed them of gold and other valuables. After they fled, Parthiban alerted his neighbours who rushed him and his wife to a private hospital for treatment of injuries. KR Puram police, along with a dog squad, inspected the spot. The gang escaped on foot and the dog squad picked up their trail till a nearby lake but lost scent thereafter, police said. Police have gathered CCTV footage from nearby areas to ascertain the identity of the gang. City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood and other senior police officials visited the crime scene and a special team has been formed to nab the gang. Preliminary investigations revealed that the gang might have planned the robbery well in advance. 'Gang first tried to set fire to main door' The armed gang that struck at accountant Parthibans house first tried to pry open the lock on the front door. When they could not, they tried to set fire to the door after pouring petrol. They finally managed to gain entry by breaking open a window next to the door. Narrating the incident, Parthibans wife Prabhavathi told his cousin Rajkumar, who resides in Banaswadi, that the gang had covered their faces with dupattas, stood on Parthibans leg and hit him with an iron rod. Initially, they were speaking in Hindi and later started conversing in broken English, she told Rajkumar. Rajkumar told Express that Parthiban had built the duplex house two years ago and the area is well developed. The gang snatched four of the mobile phones before they escaped. They also threatened the family not to make calls to police or any relatives about the incident, he said. The familys neigbours Venkatalakshamma and her son Somu alerted the police after Prabhavathi ran from the house and started screaming for help, Rajkumar said. Parthibans mother Valliammai (76) was gagged and tied with a rope. Then, four men entered the bedroom and stuck a fake pistol into Parthibans mouth and demanded that he hand over the cash. When he tried to get out of bed and resist them, they hit him with an iron rod and kicked him repeatedly, the family said. They snatched Prabhavathis mangalasutra and other jewellery. The gang took a laptop bag, dumped the laptop and packed all the stolen jewellery and cash in it, the family said. Jayanthi Pawar By Express News Service CHENNAI: Nobody believed me... These words of a 15-year-old girl in her suicide note came as a stark reminder as to how families often ignore what minor sexual abuse victims reveal to protect family honour. The Class X girl set herself afire when she was alone at home on Wednesday allegedly after her uncle not only raped her but also threatened to release videos of the act. The suicide note, accessed by Express, reflects the trauma the girl had been undergoing since last September when uncle Saravanan (35), who runs a private school, allegedly raped her. She had told her grandparents about the incident after she failed in her attempt to commit suicide shortly after the rape. Yet, they did not report it to the police. The note speaks of the girls aunt (the accuseds wife) who had blamed the victim and the girls grandmother who had even wanted her to be married off to the accused. My mother wanted me to marry off my daughter to him (the accused). We resisted it. We were not aware that he had been blackmailing my daughter, the girls father claimed on Thursday. Though the girls family had snapped ties with the accused after the incident, they did not lodge a police complaint. The suicide note says she kept telling her family members about the video her uncle had been blackmailing her with to have sex with him again. But no one took it seriously. If I am alive, it will bring only disrepute to you all... the girl said in the note. She was found depressed for the last two days. But on that day she got up early and dressed up. We never thought she had such a thing in her mind, said the girls mother. She completed her Class X board exams and was awaiting the result. On Thursday, the police arrested Saravanan. Andrew Sesuraj, State Convener, Tamil Nadu Child Rights Observatory (TNCRO), pointed out that a research carried out in 2007 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development showed that 70 per cent of crimes against children were committed by a person known to them. Based on this, the POCSO Act also had made punishments more severe. Parents and teachers have to be more responsible in such cases and identify the childs problem and study their behaviour. They should break the silence and make the child overcome the fear. The more they ask the child to remain silent on the issue owing to their family honour, the more it encourages the perpetrator to continue with his behaviour, he said adding this makes the child feel betrayed. CHENNAI: Nobody believed me... These words of a 15-year-old girl in her suicide note came as a stark reminder as to how families often ignore what minor sexual abuse victims reveal to protect family honour. The Class X girl set herself afire when she was alone at home on Wednesday allegedly after her uncle not only raped her but also threatened to release videos of the act. The suicide note, accessed by Express, reflects the trauma the girl had been undergoing since last September when uncle Saravanan (35), who runs a private school, allegedly raped her. She had told her grandparents about the incident after she failed in her attempt to commit suicide shortly after the rape. Yet, they did not report it to the police. The note speaks of the girls aunt (the accuseds wife) who had blamed the victim and the girls grandmother who had even wanted her to be married off to the accused. My mother wanted me to marry off my daughter to him (the accused). We resisted it. We were not aware that he had been blackmailing my daughter, the girls father claimed on Thursday. Though the girls family had snapped ties with the accused after the incident, they did not lodge a police complaint. The suicide note says she kept telling her family members about the video her uncle had been blackmailing her with to have sex with him again. But no one took it seriously. If I am alive, it will bring only disrepute to you all... the girl said in the note. She was found depressed for the last two days. But on that day she got up early and dressed up. We never thought she had such a thing in her mind, said the girls mother. She completed her Class X board exams and was awaiting the result. On Thursday, the police arrested Saravanan. Andrew Sesuraj, State Convener, Tamil Nadu Child Rights Observatory (TNCRO), pointed out that a research carried out in 2007 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development showed that 70 per cent of crimes against children were committed by a person known to them. Based on this, the POCSO Act also had made punishments more severe. Parents and teachers have to be more responsible in such cases and identify the childs problem and study their behaviour. They should break the silence and make the child overcome the fear. The more they ask the child to remain silent on the issue owing to their family honour, the more it encourages the perpetrator to continue with his behaviour, he said adding this makes the child feel betrayed. Sushmitha Ramakrishnan By Express News Service CHENNAI: Next time you head for a bar, dont forget to check the address and availability of liquor. After the Supreme Court order clarified that not just liquor shops, bars too will be prohibited in the 500m radius of highways, several of Chennais iconic bars may have a change of address. Bars close to Anna Salai, ECR, OMR & GST Road may have to temporarily close and shift their address once the enforcement of the SCs order begins. In most other states, this has already come into effect and led to closure of bars on the highways. Star hotels that Express contacted are still uncertain about the situation and do not know if the order will exempt them. Particularly within the city, several bars are situated in close proximity to roads such as Anna Salai, Arcot Road, Jawaharlal Nehru Road and GST Road. Bars attached to hotels in densely populated areas such as T Nagar, Nungambakkam, RA Puram would all have to relocate. Some iconic bars that fall under this category are 10 Downing Street, Plan B, US 101, Leather bar and Dublin. In order to maintain reasonable distance from the airport, several of citys star hotels dot the GST road. Now they too will have to find an alternative. Bars in star hotels such as ITC Grand Chola, Hilton, Hablis, Radisson Blu and even the liquor shops and bars within the airport may soon have to relocate. CHENNAI: Next time you head for a bar, dont forget to check the address and availability of liquor. After the Supreme Court order clarified that not just liquor shops, bars too will be prohibited in the 500m radius of highways, several of Chennais iconic bars may have a change of address. Bars close to Anna Salai, ECR, OMR & GST Road may have to temporarily close and shift their address once the enforcement of the SCs order begins. In most other states, this has already come into effect and led to closure of bars on the highways. Star hotels that Express contacted are still uncertain about the situation and do not know if the order will exempt them. Particularly within the city, several bars are situated in close proximity to roads such as Anna Salai, Arcot Road, Jawaharlal Nehru Road and GST Road. Bars attached to hotels in densely populated areas such as T Nagar, Nungambakkam, RA Puram would all have to relocate. Some iconic bars that fall under this category are 10 Downing Street, Plan B, US 101, Leather bar and Dublin. In order to maintain reasonable distance from the airport, several of citys star hotels dot the GST road. Now they too will have to find an alternative. Bars in star hotels such as ITC Grand Chola, Hilton, Hablis, Radisson Blu and even the liquor shops and bars within the airport may soon have to relocate. By IANS MUMBAI: Actress Kajol, who successfully completed shooting for comeback Tamil film "VIP 2", says she had a great time working with her director Soundarya. "She is great. She is wonderful person. She has been absolutely amazing to work with and I have had great time working with her," Kajol said at the launch of McVities Kids Culinaire festival. Last seen in 1997 Tamil film "Minsara Kanavu", Kajol has returned to Tamil filmdom after nearly two decades. "VIP 2", a sequel to the 2014 Tamil blockbuster "Vela Illa Pattathari", stars Dhanush in the lead role while Kajol plays a suave businesswoman in a pivotal role. "The role is something I am really very happy about. I really can't reveal much about the film, as I have got strict orders from my director not to talk about the film," the "Dilwale" actress said. Talking about her association with Mcvities, Kajol shared that since she is a mother herself, it is really important to address the issue of nutrition with children. Dhanush and Kajol in a poster from VIP 2 (Photo | Facebook) "My association with Mcvities has been great, as we share the same thought process, which is healthy can be tasty as well. It is really important to teach kids about nutrition," she said. Apart from the Tamil film, Kajol is also working with her husband Ajay Devgn for their home production. "It is too early to talk about my home production film. We will most probably start shooting in the coming 2-3 months," she said. MUMBAI: Actress Kajol, who successfully completed shooting for comeback Tamil film "VIP 2", says she had a great time working with her director Soundarya. "She is great. She is wonderful person. She has been absolutely amazing to work with and I have had great time working with her," Kajol said at the launch of McVities Kids Culinaire festival. Last seen in 1997 Tamil film "Minsara Kanavu", Kajol has returned to Tamil filmdom after nearly two decades. "VIP 2", a sequel to the 2014 Tamil blockbuster "Vela Illa Pattathari", stars Dhanush in the lead role while Kajol plays a suave businesswoman in a pivotal role. "The role is something I am really very happy about. I really can't reveal much about the film, as I have got strict orders from my director not to talk about the film," the "Dilwale" actress said. Talking about her association with Mcvities, Kajol shared that since she is a mother herself, it is really important to address the issue of nutrition with children. Dhanush and Kajol in a poster from VIP 2 (Photo | Facebook)"My association with Mcvities has been great, as we share the same thought process, which is healthy can be tasty as well. It is really important to teach kids about nutrition," she said. Apart from the Tamil film, Kajol is also working with her husband Ajay Devgn for their home production. "It is too early to talk about my home production film. We will most probably start shooting in the coming 2-3 months," she said. By Express News Service KOLKATA: A fourth-year electrical engineering student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, who had been missing from the hostel since Thursday, was found dead on the railway tracks near Hijli railway station in West Bengal on Saturday. The head of 20-year-old Sana Sriraj, a native of Tekkali in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh, was found severed from his body on the railway tracks near IITs main gate. Though the institute authorities hinted at suicide as a result of depression, the deceaseds father Ramanna, has demanded a CBI probe alleging that his son was harassed by his classmates and forced to commit suicide. Another third-year civil engineering student of the college hailing from Rajasthan had killed himself on the railway tracks in January 17. Lokesh Meena was found mowed down by a locomotive engine on the railway tracks between Madpur and Jakpur stations, some 20 km from IIT Kharagpur. He is also suspected to have taken the extreme step due to depression. KOLKATA: A fourth-year electrical engineering student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, who had been missing from the hostel since Thursday, was found dead on the railway tracks near Hijli railway station in West Bengal on Saturday. The head of 20-year-old Sana Sriraj, a native of Tekkali in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh, was found severed from his body on the railway tracks near IITs main gate. Though the institute authorities hinted at suicide as a result of depression, the deceaseds father Ramanna, has demanded a CBI probe alleging that his son was harassed by his classmates and forced to commit suicide. Another third-year civil engineering student of the college hailing from Rajasthan had killed himself on the railway tracks in January 17. Lokesh Meena was found mowed down by a locomotive engine on the railway tracks between Madpur and Jakpur stations, some 20 km from IIT Kharagpur. He is also suspected to have taken the extreme step due to depression. By PTI NEW DELHI: An Indian woman was allegedly strip-searched at Frankfurt airport, prompting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today to seek a report from the Indian consul general concerned. "Raveesh - Plz send me a report on this. @CGIFrankfurt (sic)," Swaraj tweeted to Indian consul general in Frankfurt Raveesh Kumar. Her tweet came following news reports based on the woman's Facebook post in which she alleged that she was strip-searched at the airport while she was on way to Iceland from Bengaluru on March 29. "We were travelling to Iceland from India via Frankfurt with our 4-year-old daughter when I was asked to move aside for this 'random check', no explanations offered. I was taken into a room and was asked to lift my dress/take it off so that I could be checked to make sure I wasn't carrying anything under my clothes," Shruthi Basappa alleged in the Facebook post. "I'm always the 'chosen one' for random security checks - pat down, baggage check, lets take you into a room for a closer pat down etc. Of course it is random. Of course it is not because I'm brown. But this happens every time. Every. Single. Time," she alleged. NEW DELHI: An Indian woman was allegedly strip-searched at Frankfurt airport, prompting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today to seek a report from the Indian consul general concerned. "Raveesh - Plz send me a report on this. @CGIFrankfurt (sic)," Swaraj tweeted to Indian consul general in Frankfurt Raveesh Kumar. Her tweet came following news reports based on the woman's Facebook post in which she alleged that she was strip-searched at the airport while she was on way to Iceland from Bengaluru on March 29. "We were travelling to Iceland from India via Frankfurt with our 4-year-old daughter when I was asked to move aside for this 'random check', no explanations offered. I was taken into a room and was asked to lift my dress/take it off so that I could be checked to make sure I wasn't carrying anything under my clothes," Shruthi Basappa alleged in the Facebook post. "I'm always the 'chosen one' for random security checks - pat down, baggage check, lets take you into a room for a closer pat down etc. Of course it is random. Of course it is not because I'm brown. But this happens every time. Every. Single. Time," she alleged. By Express News Service MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Saturday revoked the suspension of nine of the 19 opposition members suspended for unruly behavior in the lower house of the legislature during presentation of the State budget. The Assembly had suspended 10 members of NCP and nine of the Congress on March 22. Out of these, the suspension of five NCP members and four Congress members was revoked. Terming the suspension as the ruling party's attempt to threaten them, the opposition had boycotted proceedings of the house for over a week. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Friday, had assured the upper house of the legislature that the government is positive about revoking suspension if the opposition comes forward for it. Accordingly minister for Parliamentary Affairs Girish Bapat moved the motion for revoking suspension which was passed by a voice vote. Bapat said the members were suspended till December 2017 for "indiscipline and lowering the dignity of the House". "Due to the suspension, they could not attend the rest of the budget session and would also miss the monsoon and winter session of the assembly. The government was of the view that it would not be right to keep away the members from attending the proceedings of the House," he added. However, the opposition did not resume the house immediately as most of them are currently on a week-long 'Sangharsh Yatra' to highlight the governments 'apathy' towards the plight of farmers. The opposition MLAs, who had been demanding crop loan waiver had displayed banners before Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar as he was reading out his budget speech. They played cymbals and raised slogans in the house and burnt budget copies outside. MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Saturday revoked the suspension of nine of the 19 opposition members suspended for unruly behavior in the lower house of the legislature during presentation of the State budget. The Assembly had suspended 10 members of NCP and nine of the Congress on March 22. Out of these, the suspension of five NCP members and four Congress members was revoked. Terming the suspension as the ruling party's attempt to threaten them, the opposition had boycotted proceedings of the house for over a week. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Friday, had assured the upper house of the legislature that the government is positive about revoking suspension if the opposition comes forward for it. Accordingly minister for Parliamentary Affairs Girish Bapat moved the motion for revoking suspension which was passed by a voice vote. Bapat said the members were suspended till December 2017 for "indiscipline and lowering the dignity of the House". "Due to the suspension, they could not attend the rest of the budget session and would also miss the monsoon and winter session of the assembly. The government was of the view that it would not be right to keep away the members from attending the proceedings of the House," he added. However, the opposition did not resume the house immediately as most of them are currently on a week-long 'Sangharsh Yatra' to highlight the governments 'apathy' towards the plight of farmers. The opposition MLAs, who had been demanding crop loan waiver had displayed banners before Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar as he was reading out his budget speech. They played cymbals and raised slogans in the house and burnt budget copies outside. Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRINAGAR: A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Jammu and Kashmir to inaugurate countrys longest road tunnel on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, militants on Saturday attacked an army convoy near a hospital in Srinagar injuring three soldiers. Militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the attack. Militants fired from AK-47 rifles towards an army vehicle, which was part of an army convoy, near SKIMS hospital Bemina, about 5 kms from city centre Lal Chowk, at around 1.20 pm. An army official said the militants fired on the last vehicle of the convoy, which was on its way from North Kashmir to Srinagar. They targeted the last army vehicle of the convoy. They fired indiscriminately on the vehicle from one direction. Many bullets hit the windscreen of the vehicle. At least a dozen bullets hit the windscreen. The official said the soldiers retaliated with caution. The army men exercised maximum restraint to avoid any civilian casualties because of presence of large number of civilians in the area. He said three army men sustained injuries in the militant attack. The injured army men were evacuated to military hospital in Srinagar for specialized treatment and their condition is stable, the official said. Immediately after the attack, police, paramilitary CRPF and army men launched a combing and search operation to track down the militants responsible for the attack. However, no arrests were reported. Top police and security officials visited the spot to take stock of the situation. A police official said police has launched investigation to ascertain the identity of the militants involved in the attack. We have launched a manhunt to track the militants involved in the attack, he said. The militant group Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for attack. The operational spokesman of Hizbul, Burhan-ud-din, said militants of the outfit carried out the attack on army convoy. He claimed that six army men were killed and many others injured in the attack. The attack was carried out against Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modis visit to the State, he said. The attack on army convoy has taken at a time when the security apparatus in the Valley has been heightened for parliamentary bypolls and for Prime Ministers Narendra Modis visit to the State. PM Modi will visit Jammu, the winter capital of the State, tomorrow to inaugurate the countrys longest and Asia's longest bi-directional road tunnel at Chenani in Udhampur district on Srinagar-Jammu National highway. He will also address a public rally after inaugurating the 10.89 km long road tunnel built at a cost of Rs 2,519 crores, which will reduce distance between Srinagar and Jammu by 31 kilometers. The bypolls for Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary seat in Central Kashmir and Anantnag-Pulwama seat in South Kashmir will be held on April 9 and 12 respectively. In view of the polls, the security personnel are on alert to foil any militant attack on security installations or on contesting candidates. A police official said after todays militant attack, security arrangements will be further tightened for PMs visit to Jammu tomorrow and for bypolls in the Valley. Foolproof security arrangements have been put in place for PMs visit to Jammu tomorrow, he said. SRINAGAR: A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Jammu and Kashmir to inaugurate countrys longest road tunnel on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, militants on Saturday attacked an army convoy near a hospital in Srinagar injuring three soldiers. Militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the attack. Militants fired from AK-47 rifles towards an army vehicle, which was part of an army convoy, near SKIMS hospital Bemina, about 5 kms from city centre Lal Chowk, at around 1.20 pm. An army official said the militants fired on the last vehicle of the convoy, which was on its way from North Kashmir to Srinagar. They targeted the last army vehicle of the convoy. They fired indiscriminately on the vehicle from one direction. Many bullets hit the windscreen of the vehicle. At least a dozen bullets hit the windscreen. The official said the soldiers retaliated with caution. The army men exercised maximum restraint to avoid any civilian casualties because of presence of large number of civilians in the area. He said three army men sustained injuries in the militant attack. The injured army men were evacuated to military hospital in Srinagar for specialized treatment and their condition is stable, the official said. Immediately after the attack, police, paramilitary CRPF and army men launched a combing and search operation to track down the militants responsible for the attack. However, no arrests were reported. Top police and security officials visited the spot to take stock of the situation. A police official said police has launched investigation to ascertain the identity of the militants involved in the attack. We have launched a manhunt to track the militants involved in the attack, he said. The militant group Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for attack. The operational spokesman of Hizbul, Burhan-ud-din, said militants of the outfit carried out the attack on army convoy. He claimed that six army men were killed and many others injured in the attack. The attack was carried out against Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modis visit to the State, he said. The attack on army convoy has taken at a time when the security apparatus in the Valley has been heightened for parliamentary bypolls and for Prime Ministers Narendra Modis visit to the State. PM Modi will visit Jammu, the winter capital of the State, tomorrow to inaugurate the countrys longest and Asia's longest bi-directional road tunnel at Chenani in Udhampur district on Srinagar-Jammu National highway. He will also address a public rally after inaugurating the 10.89 km long road tunnel built at a cost of Rs 2,519 crores, which will reduce distance between Srinagar and Jammu by 31 kilometers. The bypolls for Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary seat in Central Kashmir and Anantnag-Pulwama seat in South Kashmir will be held on April 9 and 12 respectively. In view of the polls, the security personnel are on alert to foil any militant attack on security installations or on contesting candidates. A police official said after todays militant attack, security arrangements will be further tightened for PMs visit to Jammu tomorrow and for bypolls in the Valley. Foolproof security arrangements have been put in place for PMs visit to Jammu tomorrow, he said. By ANI NEW DELHI: Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Tun Abdul Razak, who is on a six-day visit to India, was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Razak later paid tribute at Rajghat, memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. Prime Minister Modi and his Malaysian counterpart are expected to hold delegation-level talks in the national capital. The two leaders are expected to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations. Various issues, including terrorism, are expected to come up during the talks. A number of bilateral as well as commercial agreements are also likely to be signed. Prime Minister Razaks high-level delegation consists of several cabinet ministers and senior officials. He will also be accompanied by a large business delegation consisting of many of the top companies and businessmen of Malaysia. Prime Minister Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday. He took some time off to meet Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Friday evening. Just had a very warm n friendly meeting with Mr Rajnikanth the Tamil superstar at his home, he tweeted. Who doesnt know @superstarrajini ? Happy to meet the superstar in person today, he said. Rajinikanth, who shot parts of movie 'Kabali' in Malaysia last year, had expressed his wish to meet Prime Minister Razak when he was in Malaysia. This is Razak's third visit to India as Prime Minister. The last one was in 2012. His visit follows the highly successful visit of Prime Minister Modi to Malaysia in November 2015. NEW DELHI: Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Tun Abdul Razak, who is on a six-day visit to India, was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Razak later paid tribute at Rajghat, memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. Prime Minister Modi and his Malaysian counterpart are expected to hold delegation-level talks in the national capital. The two leaders are expected to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations. Various issues, including terrorism, are expected to come up during the talks. A number of bilateral as well as commercial agreements are also likely to be signed. Prime Minister Razaks high-level delegation consists of several cabinet ministers and senior officials. He will also be accompanied by a large business delegation consisting of many of the top companies and businessmen of Malaysia. Prime Minister Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday. He took some time off to meet Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Friday evening. Just had a very warm n friendly meeting with Mr Rajnikanth the Tamil superstar at his home, he tweeted. Who doesnt know @superstarrajini ? Happy to meet the superstar in person today, he said. Rajinikanth, who shot parts of movie 'Kabali' in Malaysia last year, had expressed his wish to meet Prime Minister Razak when he was in Malaysia. This is Razak's third visit to India as Prime Minister. The last one was in 2012. His visit follows the highly successful visit of Prime Minister Modi to Malaysia in November 2015. By IANS KOLKATA: Protesting against the sharp increase in third-party insurance premium, goods vehicles owners across states started an indefinite strike from Saturday. The move is likely to disrupt the supplies of commodities and it could lead to a spike in prices of essential goods. "We have no alternative but to go ahead with the strike. As many as 35 lakh trucks will be off the road in the southern states," the All India Confederation of Goods Vehicles Owners' Association (ACOGOA) President Channa Reddy told IANS. The South India Motor Transport Association had already gone for the indefinite strike from Thursday and now ACOGOA joined the protest. All India Motor Transport Congress' (AIMTC) and Bombay Goods Transport Association will join the league from April 20. AIMTC President S.K. Mittal said truckers have been demanding the category-wise real time data from the insurance regulator but it has not been provided. Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) initially proposed 50 per cent increase but later it asked to implement 41 per cent increase in third-party insurance premium effective from Saturday, Mittal added. "The fight for justice by truckers of India will continue till IRDAI reverses its proposal to third party insurance premium hike," Federation of West Bengal Truck Operators' Association's (FWBTOA) Joint Secretary Sajal Ghosh said. Ghosh also said that as many as 20 district level associations in West Bengal with three lakh trucks joined the indefinite strike starting from Saturday. "As members of the ACOGOA decided to keep their goods vehicles off the road, it will have impact in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Tripura, Bihar, part of Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka," he added. According to Ghosh, truck owners had a meeting with the Union Finance Department's officials and would meet IRDAI officials on Monday to resolve the issue. "After that, associations will decide the next course of action," he added. KOLKATA: Protesting against the sharp increase in third-party insurance premium, goods vehicles owners across states started an indefinite strike from Saturday. The move is likely to disrupt the supplies of commodities and it could lead to a spike in prices of essential goods. "We have no alternative but to go ahead with the strike. As many as 35 lakh trucks will be off the road in the southern states," the All India Confederation of Goods Vehicles Owners' Association (ACOGOA) President Channa Reddy told IANS. The South India Motor Transport Association had already gone for the indefinite strike from Thursday and now ACOGOA joined the protest. All India Motor Transport Congress' (AIMTC) and Bombay Goods Transport Association will join the league from April 20. AIMTC President S.K. Mittal said truckers have been demanding the category-wise real time data from the insurance regulator but it has not been provided. Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) initially proposed 50 per cent increase but later it asked to implement 41 per cent increase in third-party insurance premium effective from Saturday, Mittal added. "The fight for justice by truckers of India will continue till IRDAI reverses its proposal to third party insurance premium hike," Federation of West Bengal Truck Operators' Association's (FWBTOA) Joint Secretary Sajal Ghosh said. Ghosh also said that as many as 20 district level associations in West Bengal with three lakh trucks joined the indefinite strike starting from Saturday. "As members of the ACOGOA decided to keep their goods vehicles off the road, it will have impact in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Tripura, Bihar, part of Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka," he added. According to Ghosh, truck owners had a meeting with the Union Finance Department's officials and would meet IRDAI officials on Monday to resolve the issue. "After that, associations will decide the next course of action," he added. Balbir Punj By Dear lawmaker, Recently, 107 of you (members of the US Congress, both Republicans and Democrats) wrote to the Indian Home Minister, Rajnath Singh to allow the American charity, Compassion International (CI) to continue it's work in India. Your missive opens on a warm note: ''As the largest and oldest democracies in the world, India and the US share bonds rooted in political pluralism and respect for the rule of law." The subsequent sentences, reveal your real intent. "It is with this in mind that we write to express our deep concern over the lack of transparency and consistency in your government's enforcement of the Foreign Contribution (regulations) Act." "The ongoing case of US-based Compassion International, which will have harmful consequences for many Indian children, has caused serious concern within the US Congress." Dear US lawmakers, on the face, your letter is touching, full of concern for the unfortunate destitute children of a faraway developing country. But are you sure that CI's activities are motivated purely by compassion for the underprivileged children of India? Is there no hidden agenda? What has been the record of CI since it started its operations in India in 1968? If compassion for the destitute kids was the core of the organisation's operations in India, it has a lot of work cut out for it in the US itself. In 2011, child poverty in the US reached record-high levels with 16.7 million children living in insecure households, about 35 per cent over the 2007 levels, the second highest relative child poverty rates in the developed world. According to a 2016 study by the Urban Institute, teenagers in low income communities are often forced to save school lunches, sell drugs or offer sexual favours because they couldn't afford food. A 2014 report by the National Center on Family Homelessness states the number of homeless children in the US has reached a Along with poverty, children in your country suffer in broken families as well. There is a divorce every 36 second. That is nearly 2,400 divorces per day, 16,800 divorces per week and 8,76,000 divorces a year. As a result, only 46 per cent of the children are living with two parents who are both in their first marriage. While in the early 1960s, babies typically arrived after a wedding, today four in ten births in your country occur to women who are either single or live in with a partner. Honourable US lawmakers, you will agree that a secure home and strong family help a child cope up with poverty better. In your country, a large number of children suffer double disadvantage. They need enormous emotional support from the society to make up for broken homes, apart from monetary assistance. But CI's heart does not bleed for these hapless American children. It spends around $50 million annually in India as "humanitarian aid". Why? Because, CI has souls to save for the Christ in India and the US does not offer any such opportunity, since the destitute there are already Christians. Dear US lawmakers, CI has been duly investigated by Indian officials, within the framework of our legal system, accountable to our Parliament and Judiciary. Is it fair on your part to interfere in our affairs? CI operated through Caruna Bal Vikas Trust in India. Its child "welfare" activities included holding Christian prayers on a daily basis, celebrating only Christian festivals, offering prizes for recitation of Bible verses and holding "Compassion Young Adult Meet", where a person gives Christian inputs. Are the CI's objectives not clear? We have had enough of such "service" after the Portuguese landed in Goa in the 15th century and also when the Church secured the inclusion of a clause in the East India Company's charter Act of 1813 that opened the doors of our country to British missionaries. In the name of "service", missionaries broke families, divided communities and alienated converted individuals from the land of their birth. In the 1857 war of independence, the community of Indian Christian converts was the only one to remain loyal to the British in the areas that revolted. Are you caught in a time warp? We are in the 21st Century, but a part of you lives in 18th, wherein western Christian missionaries and organisations took upon themselves the "noble" task of shouldering the "white man's burden" of saving the souls of heathens and civilising them. Christopher Columbus "discovered" Americas for the Christian world in 1492. The long sea voyage had worn him out. The locals, later called "Red Indians" welcomed him. We all know how Columbus, his colleagues and successors returned their hospitality. Red Indians and their culture are now museum pieces in their own land. US lawmakers, you can dismiss my views as that of a Hindu zealot. But remember, even Mahatma Gandhi was so scandalised by the unethical activities of Christian missionaries that in 1935, he said, "If I had power and could legislate, the first thing I would ban is conversions." Because most conversions are through fraudulent means or inducement. You, the distinguished leaders of the US democracy, please do not become a part of the racket to purchase souls in exchange for a loaf of bread. I am sure the Christ will never forgive this. Together, we can work for a better world where everybody's faith is sacred, respected and there is no place for conversion through fraud or force. For God, irrespective of the name we give, and the path we take to reach Him, is One. The author is former Rajya Sabha member and Delhi-based commentator on social and economic issues Email: punjbalbir@gmail.com Dear lawmaker, Recently, 107 of you (members of the US Congress, both Republicans and Democrats) wrote to the Indian Home Minister, Rajnath Singh to allow the American charity, Compassion International (CI) to continue it's work in India. Your missive opens on a warm note: ''As the largest and oldest democracies in the world, India and the US share bonds rooted in political pluralism and respect for the rule of law." The subsequent sentences, reveal your real intent. "It is with this in mind that we write to express our deep concern over the lack of transparency and consistency in your government's enforcement of the Foreign Contribution (regulations) Act." "The ongoing case of US-based Compassion International, which will have harmful consequences for many Indian children, has caused serious concern within the US Congress." Dear US lawmakers, on the face, your letter is touching, full of concern for the unfortunate destitute children of a faraway developing country. But are you sure that CI's activities are motivated purely by compassion for the underprivileged children of India? Is there no hidden agenda? What has been the record of CI since it started its operations in India in 1968? If compassion for the destitute kids was the core of the organisation's operations in India, it has a lot of work cut out for it in the US itself. In 2011, child poverty in the US reached record-high levels with 16.7 million children living in insecure households, about 35 per cent over the 2007 levels, the second highest relative child poverty rates in the developed world. According to a 2016 study by the Urban Institute, teenagers in low income communities are often forced to save school lunches, sell drugs or offer sexual favours because they couldn't afford food. A 2014 report by the National Center on Family Homelessness states the number of homeless children in the US has reached a Along with poverty, children in your country suffer in broken families as well. There is a divorce every 36 second. That is nearly 2,400 divorces per day, 16,800 divorces per week and 8,76,000 divorces a year. As a result, only 46 per cent of the children are living with two parents who are both in their first marriage. While in the early 1960s, babies typically arrived after a wedding, today four in ten births in your country occur to women who are either single or live in with a partner. Honourable US lawmakers, you will agree that a secure home and strong family help a child cope up with poverty better. In your country, a large number of children suffer double disadvantage. They need enormous emotional support from the society to make up for broken homes, apart from monetary assistance. But CI's heart does not bleed for these hapless American children. It spends around $50 million annually in India as "humanitarian aid". Why? Because, CI has souls to save for the Christ in India and the US does not offer any such opportunity, since the destitute there are already Christians. Dear US lawmakers, CI has been duly investigated by Indian officials, within the framework of our legal system, accountable to our Parliament and Judiciary. Is it fair on your part to interfere in our affairs? CI operated through Caruna Bal Vikas Trust in India. Its child "welfare" activities included holding Christian prayers on a daily basis, celebrating only Christian festivals, offering prizes for recitation of Bible verses and holding "Compassion Young Adult Meet", where a person gives Christian inputs. Are the CI's objectives not clear? We have had enough of such "service" after the Portuguese landed in Goa in the 15th century and also when the Church secured the inclusion of a clause in the East India Company's charter Act of 1813 that opened the doors of our country to British missionaries. In the name of "service", missionaries broke families, divided communities and alienated converted individuals from the land of their birth. In the 1857 war of independence, the community of Indian Christian converts was the only one to remain loyal to the British in the areas that revolted. Are you caught in a time warp? We are in the 21st Century, but a part of you lives in 18th, wherein western Christian missionaries and organisations took upon themselves the "noble" task of shouldering the "white man's burden" of saving the souls of heathens and civilising them. Christopher Columbus "discovered" Americas for the Christian world in 1492. The long sea voyage had worn him out. The locals, later called "Red Indians" welcomed him. We all know how Columbus, his colleagues and successors returned their hospitality. Red Indians and their culture are now museum pieces in their own land. US lawmakers, you can dismiss my views as that of a Hindu zealot. But remember, even Mahatma Gandhi was so scandalised by the unethical activities of Christian missionaries that in 1935, he said, "If I had power and could legislate, the first thing I would ban is conversions." Because most conversions are through fraudulent means or inducement. You, the distinguished leaders of the US democracy, please do not become a part of the racket to purchase souls in exchange for a loaf of bread. I am sure the Christ will never forgive this. Together, we can work for a better world where everybody's faith is sacred, respected and there is no place for conversion through fraud or force. For God, irrespective of the name we give, and the path we take to reach Him, is One. The author is former Rajya Sabha member and Delhi-based commentator on social and economic issues Email: punjbalbir@gmail.com By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: With the High Court acquitting Pidathala Sathyam Babu, accused in the sensational murder case of B.Pharmacy student Ayesha Meera, peoples organisations, Muslim welfare associations and Sathyam Babu family members demanded reinvestigation into the murder to catch the real culprits. On December 27, 2007, the body of 17-year-old Ayesha was found in a pool of blood. She was raped and murdered. Several allegations were made against the hostel management and also on Koneru Satish, grandson of the then deputy chief minister Ranga Rao. As there was no progress in the case, massive agitations were taken up demanding the arrest of the culprits. Muslim United Front, Telugu Desam Party and various organisations demanded the then government to arrest the culprits. Subsequently, as many as four people were taken into custody and questioned for several days. Peoples organisations and relatives of the accused started agitations accusing the police of safeguarding the real culprits and trying to foist false cases against the innocent. Later, one Gurvinder Singh alias Laddu was taken into custody and questioned for several days. They let him off after Human Rights Commission intervened in the case. The police nabbed Sathyam Babu in August 2008 and interrogated him for about five days. With this Dalit organisations and villagers of Anasagaram, native village of Sathyam Babu, in Nandigama mandal of Krishna district, staged protests against the police arrest. Ayeshas parents also alleged that police were making Sathyam Babu a scapegoat to close the case guarding the true culprits. After trial, the Women Special Sessions Court sentenced life imprisonment and 10 years rigorous imprisonment to Sathyam Babu. Challenging the court verdict, Sathyam Babu filed a petition in High Court. After eight years, the High Court acquitted Sathyam Babu. Ayeshas mother accuses Koneru and three others Right from the beginning, when the police brought Sathyam Babu into the scene, we were opposing it, as we were confident that the boy was innocent. The then commissioner of police CV Anand also knew who the accused were in my daughters murder case. In order to safeguard Koneru Satish (grandson of former deputy chief minister Koneru Ranga Rao), Koneru Suresh, Alluri Ganesh and Chintha Pavan Kumar who brutally murdered my daughter with the help of the hostel warden Padma and her husband I Sivarama Prasad, Sathyam Babu was falsely implicated in the case, Shamshad Begum, mother of Ayesha said. Ayesha had witnessed that several boys were coming into the hostel with the help of warden. Satish, Suresh, Ganesh and Pavan Kumar on December 26 night, 2007 went to the hostel and decided to kill Ayesha fearing that she would leave the hostel and inform the police about their illegal activities. As planned they murdered her, she said. Sathyam Babus cousin demands compensation Sathyam Babus cousin Yadala Ramesh said the police influenced by some big leaders had arrested his cousin brother. He claimed that at one time, the police even tried to kill Sathyam Babu in a fake encounter. They had not even allowed him to see his fathers body and perform the last rites. Who will bring back his eight years of lost life, he demanded to know. Ramesh said it was police brutality that left Sathyam Babu, who was not physically disabled, with badly injured leg. He demanded the government to own up the responsibility and compensate him justly. VIJAYAWADA: With the High Court acquitting Pidathala Sathyam Babu, accused in the sensational murder case of B.Pharmacy student Ayesha Meera, peoples organisations, Muslim welfare associations and Sathyam Babu family members demanded reinvestigation into the murder to catch the real culprits. On December 27, 2007, the body of 17-year-old Ayesha was found in a pool of blood. She was raped and murdered. Several allegations were made against the hostel management and also on Koneru Satish, grandson of the then deputy chief minister Ranga Rao. As there was no progress in the case, massive agitations were taken up demanding the arrest of the culprits. Muslim United Front, Telugu Desam Party and various organisations demanded the then government to arrest the culprits. Subsequently, as many as four people were taken into custody and questioned for several days. Peoples organisations and relatives of the accused started agitations accusing the police of safeguarding the real culprits and trying to foist false cases against the innocent. Later, one Gurvinder Singh alias Laddu was taken into custody and questioned for several days. They let him off after Human Rights Commission intervened in the case. The police nabbed Sathyam Babu in August 2008 and interrogated him for about five days. With this Dalit organisations and villagers of Anasagaram, native village of Sathyam Babu, in Nandigama mandal of Krishna district, staged protests against the police arrest. Ayeshas parents also alleged that police were making Sathyam Babu a scapegoat to close the case guarding the true culprits. After trial, the Women Special Sessions Court sentenced life imprisonment and 10 years rigorous imprisonment to Sathyam Babu. Challenging the court verdict, Sathyam Babu filed a petition in High Court. After eight years, the High Court acquitted Sathyam Babu. Ayeshas mother accuses Koneru and three others Right from the beginning, when the police brought Sathyam Babu into the scene, we were opposing it, as we were confident that the boy was innocent. The then commissioner of police CV Anand also knew who the accused were in my daughters murder case. In order to safeguard Koneru Satish (grandson of former deputy chief minister Koneru Ranga Rao), Koneru Suresh, Alluri Ganesh and Chintha Pavan Kumar who brutally murdered my daughter with the help of the hostel warden Padma and her husband I Sivarama Prasad, Sathyam Babu was falsely implicated in the case, Shamshad Begum, mother of Ayesha said. Ayesha had witnessed that several boys were coming into the hostel with the help of warden. Satish, Suresh, Ganesh and Pavan Kumar on December 26 night, 2007 went to the hostel and decided to kill Ayesha fearing that she would leave the hostel and inform the police about their illegal activities. As planned they murdered her, she said. Sathyam Babus cousin demands compensation Sathyam Babus cousin Yadala Ramesh said the police influenced by some big leaders had arrested his cousin brother. He claimed that at one time, the police even tried to kill Sathyam Babu in a fake encounter. They had not even allowed him to see his fathers body and perform the last rites. Who will bring back his eight years of lost life, he demanded to know. Ramesh said it was police brutality that left Sathyam Babu, who was not physically disabled, with badly injured leg. He demanded the government to own up the responsibility and compensate him justly. By Express News Service RAYAGADA/BHUBANESWAR: Left Wing Extremists late on Thursday night attacked Dahikhal (Daikallu) railway station in Rayagada district where they carried out two blasts. A group of about 20 armed cadres stormed the railway station, located about 10 km from Muniguda, and took Station Master Sanjib Parida and porter Govind Hikaka under captivity shortly after midnight. They demanded extortion money from Parida and Hikaka. When Parida refused, the duo was taken to one end of the platform. The Maoists planted an IED inside the Station Masters office and triggered it. The radicals also caused a similar explosion in the cabin of the engine of a bauxite laden train which was parked at the station. Daikallu station is under Amobodola police limits and comes under Sambalpur Railway Division. At least 10 armed Maoists got inside Paridas office chamber while the rest including women members guarded the station. The Maoists kept the entire railway platform under their control for 45 minutes and remained in the village upto 3 am. The Naxals also forced the Railway staff to raise slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Before they left, the Red rebels released the Station Master and the porter but snatched two walkie-talkies. They also left behind posters in which Maoists urged people to protest visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the State next month for the BJPs national executive. In the posters, the rebels protested the anti-Naxal operations and loot of natural resources in the tribal districts. They also raised the issue of non-Odia officers being preferred not only in the para military forces but also in State cadre IPS. The incident paralysed movement of goods and passenger trains as Rayagada SP Siva Subramani and East Coast Railway Officials rushed to the spot on Friday morning. The ECoR officials said all the Railway staff were safe. Movement of goods train started at about 9 am with speed restriction. An hour later, Express train movement resumed on the route. Rayagada district has been put on high alert while Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took stock of the situation at a meeting with Chief Secretary AP Padhy and DGP KB Singh. Naveen has directed that combing operations be intensified. Recently, the Naxal outfit had brutally killed one Mali Pushika of Salphajhola village under Muniguda police limits. Bunty, originally Bauribandhu Sethi who operates the Odisha State Committee of CPI (Maoist) along with Dikisha in Niyamgiri hills, is believed to be behind the attack. RAYAGADA/BHUBANESWAR: Left Wing Extremists late on Thursday night attacked Dahikhal (Daikallu) railway station in Rayagada district where they carried out two blasts. A group of about 20 armed cadres stormed the railway station, located about 10 km from Muniguda, and took Station Master Sanjib Parida and porter Govind Hikaka under captivity shortly after midnight. They demanded extortion money from Parida and Hikaka. When Parida refused, the duo was taken to one end of the platform. The Maoists planted an IED inside the Station Masters office and triggered it. The radicals also caused a similar explosion in the cabin of the engine of a bauxite laden train which was parked at the station. Daikallu station is under Amobodola police limits and comes under Sambalpur Railway Division. At least 10 armed Maoists got inside Paridas office chamber while the rest including women members guarded the station. The Maoists kept the entire railway platform under their control for 45 minutes and remained in the village upto 3 am. The Naxals also forced the Railway staff to raise slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Before they left, the Red rebels released the Station Master and the porter but snatched two walkie-talkies. They also left behind posters in which Maoists urged people to protest visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the State next month for the BJPs national executive. In the posters, the rebels protested the anti-Naxal operations and loot of natural resources in the tribal districts. They also raised the issue of non-Odia officers being preferred not only in the para military forces but also in State cadre IPS. The incident paralysed movement of goods and passenger trains as Rayagada SP Siva Subramani and East Coast Railway Officials rushed to the spot on Friday morning. The ECoR officials said all the Railway staff were safe. Movement of goods train started at about 9 am with speed restriction. An hour later, Express train movement resumed on the route. Rayagada district has been put on high alert while Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took stock of the situation at a meeting with Chief Secretary AP Padhy and DGP KB Singh. Naveen has directed that combing operations be intensified. Recently, the Naxal outfit had brutally killed one Mali Pushika of Salphajhola village under Muniguda police limits. Bunty, originally Bauribandhu Sethi who operates the Odisha State Committee of CPI (Maoist) along with Dikisha in Niyamgiri hills, is believed to be behind the attack. By AFP MOCOA: The death toll from a devastating landslide in the Colombian town of Mocoa stood at around 200 on Sunday as rescuers clawed through piles of muck and debris in search of survivors. The Colombian Red Cross, which provided the revised consolidated toll, said it was unclear how many people were still missing. An earlier Red Cross tally said 234 had been killed and more than 100 were unaccounted for. A spokesman for the organization said the miscount was due to confusion about the identities of the victims. At the Vatican, Pope Francis said he was "profoundly saddened" by the disaster, which struck the town of 40,000 with little warning late Friday after days of torrential rains that caused flooding of three area rivers. "I pray for the victims and want to assure those who weep for the missing of my closeness to them," the pope said in a statement. At least 203 people were injured, some 300 families were affected and 25 homes destroyed, the Red Cross said. The Pacific rim of South America has been hard hit in recent months by floods and mudslides, with scores killed in Peru and Ecuador as well. In Mocoa, the capital of the department of Putumayo in Colombia's Amazon basin, the avalanche of mud and water swept away homes, bridges, vehicles and trees, leaving piles of wrecked timber buried in thick mud. President Juan Manuel Santos was scheduled to return to Mocoa on Sunday along with cabinet ministers to supervise rescue efforts in the heavily forested region. The president met with rescuers and survivors in Mocoa on Saturday, and declared a public health and safety emergency to speed up rescue and aid operations. "Dear God, I don't want to even remember that," said street vendor Marta Ceballos, who survived the mudslide. "To see how some people screamed, and others cried, ran, tried to flee in cars, on motorcycles, and how they were trapped in the mud. It's all too, too difficult," she told AFP. Ceballos said that she lost all of her material possessions. "The only things I, fortunately, did not lose were my husband, my daughters and my nephews," she said. Putumayo Governor Sorrel Aroca called the event "an unprecedented tragedy" for the area. There are "hundreds of families we have not yet found and whole neighbourhoods have disappeared," he told W Radio. Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of the National Disaster Risk Management Unit, told AFP the mudslides were caused by the rise of the Mocoa River and tributaries. Some 130 millimetres (5 inches) of rain fell Friday night, Santos said. "That means 30 percent of monthly rainfall fell last night, which precipitated a sudden rise of several rivers," he said. "Our prayers are with the victims and those affected," he added. One thousand emergency personnel, including soldiers and local police, were deployed to help the rescue effort. Mocoa was left without power or running water, and there were reports of people looting stores searching for bottled water. "There are lots of people in the streets, lots of people displaced and many houses have collapsed," retired Mocoa resident Hernando Rodriguez, 69, said by telephone. "People do not know what to do... there were no preparations" for such a disaster, he said. Several deadly landslides have struck Colombia in recent months. A landslide in November killed nine people in the rural southwestern town of El Tambo, officials said at the time. A landslide the month before killed 10 people in the north of the country. Climate change can play a big role in the scale of natural disasters, such as this one, a senior UN official said. "Climate change is generating dynamics and we see the tremendous results in terms of intensity, frequency and magnitude of these natural effects, as we have just seen in Mocoa," said Martin Santiago, UN chief for Colombia. MOCOA: The death toll from a devastating landslide in the Colombian town of Mocoa stood at around 200 on Sunday as rescuers clawed through piles of muck and debris in search of survivors. The Colombian Red Cross, which provided the revised consolidated toll, said it was unclear how many people were still missing. An earlier Red Cross tally said 234 had been killed and more than 100 were unaccounted for. A spokesman for the organization said the miscount was due to confusion about the identities of the victims. At the Vatican, Pope Francis said he was "profoundly saddened" by the disaster, which struck the town of 40,000 with little warning late Friday after days of torrential rains that caused flooding of three area rivers. "I pray for the victims and want to assure those who weep for the missing of my closeness to them," the pope said in a statement. At least 203 people were injured, some 300 families were affected and 25 homes destroyed, the Red Cross said. The Pacific rim of South America has been hard hit in recent months by floods and mudslides, with scores killed in Peru and Ecuador as well. In Mocoa, the capital of the department of Putumayo in Colombia's Amazon basin, the avalanche of mud and water swept away homes, bridges, vehicles and trees, leaving piles of wrecked timber buried in thick mud. President Juan Manuel Santos was scheduled to return to Mocoa on Sunday along with cabinet ministers to supervise rescue efforts in the heavily forested region. The president met with rescuers and survivors in Mocoa on Saturday, and declared a public health and safety emergency to speed up rescue and aid operations. "Dear God, I don't want to even remember that," said street vendor Marta Ceballos, who survived the mudslide. "To see how some people screamed, and others cried, ran, tried to flee in cars, on motorcycles, and how they were trapped in the mud. It's all too, too difficult," she told AFP. Ceballos said that she lost all of her material possessions. "The only things I, fortunately, did not lose were my husband, my daughters and my nephews," she said. Putumayo Governor Sorrel Aroca called the event "an unprecedented tragedy" for the area. There are "hundreds of families we have not yet found and whole neighbourhoods have disappeared," he told W Radio. Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of the National Disaster Risk Management Unit, told AFP the mudslides were caused by the rise of the Mocoa River and tributaries. Some 130 millimetres (5 inches) of rain fell Friday night, Santos said. "That means 30 percent of monthly rainfall fell last night, which precipitated a sudden rise of several rivers," he said. "Our prayers are with the victims and those affected," he added. One thousand emergency personnel, including soldiers and local police, were deployed to help the rescue effort. Mocoa was left without power or running water, and there were reports of people looting stores searching for bottled water. "There are lots of people in the streets, lots of people displaced and many houses have collapsed," retired Mocoa resident Hernando Rodriguez, 69, said by telephone. "People do not know what to do... there were no preparations" for such a disaster, he said. Several deadly landslides have struck Colombia in recent months. A landslide in November killed nine people in the rural southwestern town of El Tambo, officials said at the time. A landslide the month before killed 10 people in the north of the country. Climate change can play a big role in the scale of natural disasters, such as this one, a senior UN official said. "Climate change is generating dynamics and we see the tremendous results in terms of intensity, frequency and magnitude of these natural effects, as we have just seen in Mocoa," said Martin Santiago, UN chief for Colombia. By AFP SANAA: Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a recent deadly attack on a government building in southern Yemen, which involved a suicide bombing. Al-Qaeda's Ansar al-Shariah arm in a statement yesterday identified the suicide bomber as Abu Amer al-Hadrami, saying he had rammed his explosives-laden car into the gate of the local government building in the provincial capital of Lahj on Monday. Officials said at the time that six soldiers and four civilians were killed in the bombing and an ensuing gun attack by jihadists. Security forces killed the assailants, including three who were wearing explosive belts. The online Al Qaeda statement acknowledged the death of three militants "who controlled the building for three hours" before being killed, in addition to Hadrami. The statement said the attack was carried out "to avenge martyrs" killed in raids by security forces, and those "tortured to death in prisons." It did not refer to the many US air strikes which have targeted members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in southern Yemeni towns in recent months. At least 25 suspected AQAP members have been killed in the air strikes. AQAP has exploited a power vacuum created by the war between the government and Huthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa and number of major cities along the Red Sea coast. The United States regards AQAP as the jihadist network's most dangerous branch. SANAA: Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a recent deadly attack on a government building in southern Yemen, which involved a suicide bombing. Al-Qaeda's Ansar al-Shariah arm in a statement yesterday identified the suicide bomber as Abu Amer al-Hadrami, saying he had rammed his explosives-laden car into the gate of the local government building in the provincial capital of Lahj on Monday. Officials said at the time that six soldiers and four civilians were killed in the bombing and an ensuing gun attack by jihadists. Security forces killed the assailants, including three who were wearing explosive belts. The online Al Qaeda statement acknowledged the death of three militants "who controlled the building for three hours" before being killed, in addition to Hadrami. The statement said the attack was carried out "to avenge martyrs" killed in raids by security forces, and those "tortured to death in prisons." It did not refer to the many US air strikes which have targeted members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in southern Yemeni towns in recent months. At least 25 suspected AQAP members have been killed in the air strikes. AQAP has exploited a power vacuum created by the war between the government and Huthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa and number of major cities along the Red Sea coast. The United States regards AQAP as the jihadist network's most dangerous branch. By PTI DHAKA: Three militants, including a woman, were found dead by Bangladesh security forces today when they stormed their hideout, ending a two-day standoff with Islamist militants in a northeastern city amid a massive nationwide clampdown on militants. Announcing the end of the "Operation Maximums" at the Islamist militants hideout in Moulvibazar town's Borohat area, counter-terrorism Unit chief Monirul Islam told media that bodies of two men and a woman were found inside the duplex house. "We found three bodies including that of a woman as we entered the den today," Islam said, adding the militants had set up explosives at different spots in the building. "Our intension was to capture them alive and therefore we repeatedly called them to surrender but they defied...attacked us back throwing grenades and blasting bombs whenever our SWAT members tried to approach them," he said. Police's elite Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) yesterday launched the second subsequent raid at the hideout in Moulvibazar town, a day after wrapping up their "Operation Hit Back" at another den nearby when a family of eight, including children, blew themselves up in a suicide blast amidst the security siege. Security forces in the past 10 days have witnessed four major anti-militancy assaults against Islamic-State inclined Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB) in which seven people including an army lieutenant colonel and two police inspectors lost their lives while the assaults killed 15 militants and their children. Neo-JMB was behind the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka cafe that killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners. The first security assault was launched in northeastern Sylhet where authorities called out army commandos. Four Islamists including Neo-JMB chief Musa were killed during the five-day security siege which military called 'Operation Twilight'. As the siege was underway, fellow militants from outside launched two retaliatory clandestine attacks killing six people including two policemen and wounding 50 others near the scene. An army officer who was serving a the intelligence wing chief of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) succumbed to his wounds two days ago. A day after the end of the Operation Twilight led by an army major general in Sylhet, police simultaneously raided three other neo-JMB hideouts, two in neighbouring Moulvibazar and one in central Comilla district. Police's Operation Hit Back saw two militant couples blowing themselves up along with four minor children, staging a suicide blast at a den on the outskirts of Moulvibazar town. Islam at that time said the suicide blast was so severe that it tore into pieces the dead, making it difficult to ascertain exactly how many people were inside and only "the forensic examinations could confirm the exact casualty figure (though) we assume they are seven or eight in number." In Comilla, after three days of security siege, police found it to be a big cache of explosives stored by the militants but none was found there to be encountered. Bangladesh has been witnessing a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. The country launched a massive crackdown on militants especially after the Dhaka cafe attack. IS has claimed several attacks in Bangladesh, but the government rejects the presence of foreign terrorist groups in the moderate Muslim-majority country, blaming home-grown groups such as the neo-JMB for terrorist attacks. DHAKA: Three militants, including a woman, were found dead by Bangladesh security forces today when they stormed their hideout, ending a two-day standoff with Islamist militants in a northeastern city amid a massive nationwide clampdown on militants. Announcing the end of the "Operation Maximums" at the Islamist militants hideout in Moulvibazar town's Borohat area, counter-terrorism Unit chief Monirul Islam told media that bodies of two men and a woman were found inside the duplex house. "We found three bodies including that of a woman as we entered the den today," Islam said, adding the militants had set up explosives at different spots in the building. "Our intension was to capture them alive and therefore we repeatedly called them to surrender but they defied...attacked us back throwing grenades and blasting bombs whenever our SWAT members tried to approach them," he said. Police's elite Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) yesterday launched the second subsequent raid at the hideout in Moulvibazar town, a day after wrapping up their "Operation Hit Back" at another den nearby when a family of eight, including children, blew themselves up in a suicide blast amidst the security siege. Security forces in the past 10 days have witnessed four major anti-militancy assaults against Islamic-State inclined Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB) in which seven people including an army lieutenant colonel and two police inspectors lost their lives while the assaults killed 15 militants and their children. Neo-JMB was behind the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka cafe that killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners. The first security assault was launched in northeastern Sylhet where authorities called out army commandos. Four Islamists including Neo-JMB chief Musa were killed during the five-day security siege which military called 'Operation Twilight'. As the siege was underway, fellow militants from outside launched two retaliatory clandestine attacks killing six people including two policemen and wounding 50 others near the scene. An army officer who was serving a the intelligence wing chief of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) succumbed to his wounds two days ago. A day after the end of the Operation Twilight led by an army major general in Sylhet, police simultaneously raided three other neo-JMB hideouts, two in neighbouring Moulvibazar and one in central Comilla district. Police's Operation Hit Back saw two militant couples blowing themselves up along with four minor children, staging a suicide blast at a den on the outskirts of Moulvibazar town. Islam at that time said the suicide blast was so severe that it tore into pieces the dead, making it difficult to ascertain exactly how many people were inside and only "the forensic examinations could confirm the exact casualty figure (though) we assume they are seven or eight in number." In Comilla, after three days of security siege, police found it to be a big cache of explosives stored by the militants but none was found there to be encountered. Bangladesh has been witnessing a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. The country launched a massive crackdown on militants especially after the Dhaka cafe attack. IS has claimed several attacks in Bangladesh, but the government rejects the presence of foreign terrorist groups in the moderate Muslim-majority country, blaming home-grown groups such as the neo-JMB for terrorist attacks. By PTI ISLAMABAD: Iran has said it is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir issue if requested as any conflict between the two nations will impact upon the economies of other countries in the region. "Any conflict or tension between the two countries [Pakistan and India] will hinder the progress and development of both the countries but will also impact upon the economies of other regional countries," Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost said. Tehran is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the long-standing issue of Kashmir if requested, the Express Tribune quoted Honardoost as saying in an interview. The paper said Iran has also offered its assistance to attain peace and tranquillity in the region. Commenting on Pak-Iran trade ties, Honardoost said that a Free Trade Agreement draft has been signed between the two sides and it will soon be operative to enhance two-way business and trade engagements. "Our future is bright after the removal of impediments. Hopefully, our trade relations would continue to grow," he said. On China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Honardoost said the project was not only a game-changer for the region but would be a unifying force for the countries in it. When asked if Iran was interested in joining Saudi Arabia's Islamic coalition, Honardoost said Iran has already announced its desire to join the alliance since it firmly believes that the problems being faced by the Muslim world should be resolved mutually. ISLAMABAD: Iran has said it is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir issue if requested as any conflict between the two nations will impact upon the economies of other countries in the region. "Any conflict or tension between the two countries [Pakistan and India] will hinder the progress and development of both the countries but will also impact upon the economies of other regional countries," Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost said. Tehran is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the long-standing issue of Kashmir if requested, the Express Tribune quoted Honardoost as saying in an interview. The paper said Iran has also offered its assistance to attain peace and tranquillity in the region. Commenting on Pak-Iran trade ties, Honardoost said that a Free Trade Agreement draft has been signed between the two sides and it will soon be operative to enhance two-way business and trade engagements. "Our future is bright after the removal of impediments. Hopefully, our trade relations would continue to grow," he said. On China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Honardoost said the project was not only a game-changer for the region but would be a unifying force for the countries in it. When asked if Iran was interested in joining Saudi Arabia's Islamic coalition, Honardoost said Iran has already announced its desire to join the alliance since it firmly believes that the problems being faced by the Muslim world should be resolved mutually. By PTI PESHAWAR: Angry residents of a northwestern Pakistani city that was rocked by a Taliban bombing protested today with the bodies of those killed in the attack, slamming the security lapse and demanding action against the perpetrators of the assault. The Pakistani Taliban yesterday targeted a Shiite imambargah in Parachinar, Kurram Agency, with a powerful car bomb, killing at least 24 people and injuring over 100 others at a crowded market. Parachinar residents protested with the bodies of those killed and demanded immediate action against those involved in the attack. All trading, shopping centres, markets, bazaars, government and private institutions were closed as part of a protest against the bombing. The Tori and Bangash tribes which held the protests later called off their demonstration after negotiations with the administration. The protesting tribesmen asked the administration how the explosives-laden car entered the agency despite tough security arrangements and presence of a number of security check posts. Tribal elders and representatives of the political administration negotiated for two hours following the protests. Members of the armed forces and religious scholars were also part of the negotiations, Geo News reported. Later, protesters moved the dead bodies of those killed in the attack to the central imambargah for the last rites following which they were buried in their hometowns. The local tribes have announced three days mourning. Medical superintendent at the agency headquarters hospital said he received 135 injured people of whom 37 were airlifted to Peshawar and over 40 were being treated in Parachinar. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. Kurram Agency is considered one of the most sensitive tribal regions as it borders three Afghan provinces and was once the main route for cross-border militant activity. The blast was the latest in a series of attacks targeting the minority Shias in the Sunni-majority Pakistan. Pakistan, a country of nearly 200 million, has lately been rattled by a number of deadly terrorist and sectarian attacks. Last month, more than 125 people were killed and another 300 injured in a series of suicide attacks across the country, including the one in Lahore and another on the popular Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sindh. Pakistani security forces retaliated with a crackdown, killing dozens of terrorists and destroying militant hideouts along the border with Afghanistan. Pakistan army has launched operation 'Radd-ul-Fasaad' (elimination of discord) to defeat terrorists and consolidate the gains of its counter-terrorism operations across the country. PESHAWAR: Angry residents of a northwestern Pakistani city that was rocked by a Taliban bombing protested today with the bodies of those killed in the attack, slamming the security lapse and demanding action against the perpetrators of the assault. The Pakistani Taliban yesterday targeted a Shiite imambargah in Parachinar, Kurram Agency, with a powerful car bomb, killing at least 24 people and injuring over 100 others at a crowded market. Parachinar residents protested with the bodies of those killed and demanded immediate action against those involved in the attack. All trading, shopping centres, markets, bazaars, government and private institutions were closed as part of a protest against the bombing. The Tori and Bangash tribes which held the protests later called off their demonstration after negotiations with the administration. The protesting tribesmen asked the administration how the explosives-laden car entered the agency despite tough security arrangements and presence of a number of security check posts. Tribal elders and representatives of the political administration negotiated for two hours following the protests. Members of the armed forces and religious scholars were also part of the negotiations, Geo News reported. Later, protesters moved the dead bodies of those killed in the attack to the central imambargah for the last rites following which they were buried in their hometowns. The local tribes have announced three days mourning. Medical superintendent at the agency headquarters hospital said he received 135 injured people of whom 37 were airlifted to Peshawar and over 40 were being treated in Parachinar. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. Kurram Agency is considered one of the most sensitive tribal regions as it borders three Afghan provinces and was once the main route for cross-border militant activity. The blast was the latest in a series of attacks targeting the minority Shias in the Sunni-majority Pakistan. Pakistan, a country of nearly 200 million, has lately been rattled by a number of deadly terrorist and sectarian attacks. Last month, more than 125 people were killed and another 300 injured in a series of suicide attacks across the country, including the one in Lahore and another on the popular Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sindh. Pakistani security forces retaliated with a crackdown, killing dozens of terrorists and destroying militant hideouts along the border with Afghanistan. Pakistan army has launched operation 'Radd-ul-Fasaad' (elimination of discord) to defeat terrorists and consolidate the gains of its counter-terrorism operations across the country. By PTI WASHINGTON: The IS and al Qaeda terror groups, developing a bomb small enough to fit in a laptop that could get past airport scanners, may have prompted the US and the UK to ban air travellers from eight Muslim-majority nations from carrying large electronic devices onboard, media reports have said. According to new intelligence, the terror groups have been testing the new bomb on airport scanners they have obtained. The concern about such an explosive hidden in a laptop or an electronic device prompted the US and the UK to prohibit travellers flying out of 10 airports in eight countries in the Middle East and Africa from carrying laptops and other large electronic devices aboard planes. "As a matter of policy, we do not publicly discuss specific intelligence information. However, evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation, to include smuggling explosive devices in electronics," CBS News quoted a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. "The US government continually re-assesses existing intelligence and collects new intelligence. This allows DHS and TSA to constantly evaluate our aviation security processes and policies and make enhancements to keep passengers safe. To that end, we use a robust security system that employs multiple layers of security, both seen and unseen," it said. The military and intelligence community have become increasingly concerned in the last few months about the potential ability of terror outfits to get bombs on board aeroplanes, according to several US officials. The US has been tracking specific intelligence from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al Qaeda in Syria and ISIS, officials told CNN. FBI experts have tested variants of the laptop bombs using a different battery and explosive configurations to assess how difficult it would be for airport screeners to detect them, it said. The airline restriction, which took effect March 21, bans many electronic items from the cabins of planes flying directly to the US from Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey. WASHINGTON: The IS and al Qaeda terror groups, developing a bomb small enough to fit in a laptop that could get past airport scanners, may have prompted the US and the UK to ban air travellers from eight Muslim-majority nations from carrying large electronic devices onboard, media reports have said. According to new intelligence, the terror groups have been testing the new bomb on airport scanners they have obtained. The concern about such an explosive hidden in a laptop or an electronic device prompted the US and the UK to prohibit travellers flying out of 10 airports in eight countries in the Middle East and Africa from carrying laptops and other large electronic devices aboard planes. "As a matter of policy, we do not publicly discuss specific intelligence information. However, evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation, to include smuggling explosive devices in electronics," CBS News quoted a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. "The US government continually re-assesses existing intelligence and collects new intelligence. This allows DHS and TSA to constantly evaluate our aviation security processes and policies and make enhancements to keep passengers safe. To that end, we use a robust security system that employs multiple layers of security, both seen and unseen," it said. The military and intelligence community have become increasingly concerned in the last few months about the potential ability of terror outfits to get bombs on board aeroplanes, according to several US officials. The US has been tracking specific intelligence from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al Qaeda in Syria and ISIS, officials told CNN. FBI experts have tested variants of the laptop bombs using a different battery and explosive configurations to assess how difficult it would be for airport screeners to detect them, it said. The airline restriction, which took effect March 21, bans many electronic items from the cabins of planes flying directly to the US from Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey. By PTI TEHRAN: Iran's hard-liners are hoping they can benefit from the election of US President Donald Trump, arguing that their own country needs a tougher leader to stand up to an American president whose administration has put the Islamic Republic "on notice." They say it's time for a "revolutionary diplomacy" to confront the US after four years of a more conciliatory policy under moderate incumbent President Hassan Rouhani. Hard-liners feel energised by the Trump administration's repeated criticism of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. The agreement found little support among the group, who feel Iran gave too much away in exchange for too little in the way of sanctions relief. The US president's tough talk on Iran plays into hard-liners' hands too, reinforcing anti-American sentiments they can use to rally their base. A group of hard-liners banded together late last year to form the Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces, which is assessing more than a dozen potential candidates. But with less than two months to go before the May 19 election, they have yet to settle on one to run against Rouhani. One potential candidate, Mohsen Rezaei, a former chief of the elite Revolutionary Guard, has lashed out at the administration for lacking revolutionary spirit tough words in a country that prizes the heroes of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that created the current governmental system. "A group (of officials) has become hopeless and tired while trying to find a prescription for problems outside the revolutionary framework," he said. A lack of reliable polling in Iran makes it difficult to gauge how the election could play out, particularly given that no hopefuls have formally declared their candidacies yet. But Tehran-based political analyst Soroush Farhadi said Trump's stance on Iran could bode ill for Rouhani's chances because it gives hard-liners a way to denounce his foreign policy of outreach and negotiation with the West and regional rivals. Earlier in March, the current chief of the Guard, Mohammad Ali Jafari, warned that an "un-revolutionary viewpoint" that had taken hold in recent years was the greatest danger facing Iran. The daily Javan, which is affiliated with the Guard, has meanwhile criticised the Rouhani administration for choosing "smile diplomacy" that has done little to improve Iran's standing with the rest of the world. While candidate Trump said he'd renegotiate or dismantle the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel fiercely opposes, his administration is continuing to implement the accord for now. Because the agreement was negotiated with a group of international powers, Washington does not have the ability to tear it up on its own. But continued hostility to it by the Trump administration could discourage Western companies from doing business in Iran and embolden US allies such as Saudi Arabia that are hostile to Tehran. TEHRAN: Iran's hard-liners are hoping they can benefit from the election of US President Donald Trump, arguing that their own country needs a tougher leader to stand up to an American president whose administration has put the Islamic Republic "on notice." They say it's time for a "revolutionary diplomacy" to confront the US after four years of a more conciliatory policy under moderate incumbent President Hassan Rouhani. Hard-liners feel energised by the Trump administration's repeated criticism of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. The agreement found little support among the group, who feel Iran gave too much away in exchange for too little in the way of sanctions relief. The US president's tough talk on Iran plays into hard-liners' hands too, reinforcing anti-American sentiments they can use to rally their base. A group of hard-liners banded together late last year to form the Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces, which is assessing more than a dozen potential candidates. But with less than two months to go before the May 19 election, they have yet to settle on one to run against Rouhani. One potential candidate, Mohsen Rezaei, a former chief of the elite Revolutionary Guard, has lashed out at the administration for lacking revolutionary spirit tough words in a country that prizes the heroes of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that created the current governmental system. "A group (of officials) has become hopeless and tired while trying to find a prescription for problems outside the revolutionary framework," he said. A lack of reliable polling in Iran makes it difficult to gauge how the election could play out, particularly given that no hopefuls have formally declared their candidacies yet. But Tehran-based political analyst Soroush Farhadi said Trump's stance on Iran could bode ill for Rouhani's chances because it gives hard-liners a way to denounce his foreign policy of outreach and negotiation with the West and regional rivals. Earlier in March, the current chief of the Guard, Mohammad Ali Jafari, warned that an "un-revolutionary viewpoint" that had taken hold in recent years was the greatest danger facing Iran. The daily Javan, which is affiliated with the Guard, has meanwhile criticised the Rouhani administration for choosing "smile diplomacy" that has done little to improve Iran's standing with the rest of the world. While candidate Trump said he'd renegotiate or dismantle the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel fiercely opposes, his administration is continuing to implement the accord for now. Because the agreement was negotiated with a group of international powers, Washington does not have the ability to tear it up on its own. But continued hostility to it by the Trump administration could discourage Western companies from doing business in Iran and embolden US allies such as Saudi Arabia that are hostile to Tehran. Sorry, that page not found! Please visit our Home Page for latest updates All Women Team Drive a Tata Hexa to Promote Literacy across 24 countries Kolkata, Mar 31 : XPD2470 - A 70 days journey by all women team from Coimbatore to London by Tata Hexa carrying Rotary India Literacy Mission's message of Total Literacy and Quality Education and raise awareness on Women Empowerment. (Posted on 31 March 2017, 1667887978 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/west-bengal-news.php (Posted on 31 March 2017, 1667887978 173O212O198O32) Flagged off from Hotel Park Plaza,Ballygunge on Friday, 8:30 am by - Usha Uthup and Shyamashree Sen (District Governor Rotary District 3291) for Kolkata Flag off.Greetings to you from Rotary Club of Coimbatore Texcity, Team XPD2470 Rotary India Literacy Mission! The team reached Kolkata on Mar 30.XPD2470 is a 70-day road journey across 22 countries (24 including India and UK), over 24000 km, in 70 days, and 8 time zones.This journey will be undertaken in a Tata Hexa Car by an All-Woman Team comprising ofMeenakshi Arvind, A Roadaholic 45 years, Married, Mother of 19 year old daughter Lives in Coimbatore,Mookambikai Rathinam Age : 38 Single ,mother of an 8 year old daughter and{image_1}Priya Rajpal- An explorer on the journey called life, Age : 55 Single, Mother of a 21 year old daughter, which will be flagged off from Coimbatore on Mar 26, 2017 to arrive in London on June 2.XPD2470 is an initiative of Rotary India Literacy Mission, ROTARY CLUB OF COIMBATORE TEXCITY ROTARY CLUB OF AAKRUTHI (an All Women Rotary Club) to promote the T-E-A-C-H program of Rotary India Literacy Mission (RILM) and raise awareness on Women Empowerment.This journey will raise funds along the way to make this the longest Literacy Charity Drive and aims to spread the message that Rotary India is promoting through its Literacy Mission. The official flag-off took place on March 3rd by our Minister of Human Resource Prakash Javadekar, in Chennai. When Alia Bhatt brought sexy back on Grazia New Delhi , Mar. 31 : Donning Dior, Tommy Hilfiger and Savio Jon, Alia Bhatt oozes an understated sensuality on the cover of Grazia magazine. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887980 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/bollywood-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887980 173O212O198O32) The magazine's Instagram handle recently shared a photo of the cover of their new edition, celebrating their ninth anniversary.They captioned the snap, "We are 9! Celebrating our 9th anniversary with @aliaabhatt. She is wearing @saviojon, @tommyhilfiger and @dior #YoungAndRestless. Photographs - #TarunVishwa Styling - @eksters Art - @nikita_315 Hair and make-up - @eltonjfernandez."In the photo, the 'Dear Zindagi' star can be seen wearing a v-neck top with deep sleeves tucked into a striped skirt which had the signature blue, red and white of Tommy Hilfiger on it.The actress is on a roll in her acting career, as her latest offering 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania,' alongside Varun Dhawan has joined the 100-crore club.On the work front, Alia Bhatt will start shooting for Ayan Mukerji's next 'Dragon,' alongside Ranbir Kapoor. Stephen Kings' 'IT' becomes most watched trailer in 24 hours Los Angeles [USA], Apr. 1 : Looks like, the clown has taken the Internet by storm. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887981 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/hollywood-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887981 173O212O198O32) Warner Bros. recently released the first teaser trailer for the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's 'IT' and in its first 24 hours, it has racked up 197 million views across platforms, reports Hollywood Reporter.'IT' has broken the record previously set by 'The Fate of the Furious: Fast 8,' which garnered 139 million views in its first 24 hours.In a single day, the New Line production had 81 million views on Facebook alone, and the trailer held the number one spot on YouTube's trending videos.Now, after 48 hours online, the trailer has 246 million views.The movie focuses on seven children who are terrorized by a being that exploits the fears of its victims, most often taking the form of Pennywise the clown in order to lure young children into the sewer.Helmed by Andres Muschietti, the film stars Bill Skasgard as Alfred Pennywise. The kids are played by Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs and Jeremy Ray Taylor.The flick is slated to release on September 8. Trump signs twin orders to target trade deficits Washington D.C. [U.S.A.], Apr. 1 : United States President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders to initiate a comprehensive review of U.S. trade deficits, which would start a process leading to implementation of a framework to collect all import taxes levied on foreign exporters that break global trade rules. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887982 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/us-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887982 173O212O198O32) Trump said the two executive orders would set the stage for a revival of American manufacturing."During the campaign, I travelled the nation and visited the cities and towns devastated by unfair trade policies, probably one of the major reasons I'm here today -- trade. Nobody has ever made bad trade deals like our country has made," Trump said.The first order directs the Commerce Department to review the practices that leads to the trade deficit and violations of trade rules.The second order seeks better collection of anti-dumping and countervailing duties, local U.S. media reported."Thousands of factories have been stolen from country. But these voiceless Americans now have a voice in the White House," Trump said adding that under his administration, the theft of American prosperity will end.Trump said his administration was going to defend American industry and create a level playing field for the workers."President Trump was elected to do everything he can to support American workers and American manufacturers. Together, these two executive orders are a significant step in accomplishing the President's promise to end unfair trade practices once and for all," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. PM Modi meets Malaysian PM; key agreements likely to be signed New Delhi , Apr. 1 : Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Tun Abdul Razak, who is on a six-day visit to India, was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887982 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887982 173O212O198O32) Prime Minister Razak later paid tribute at Rajghat, memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi.Prime Minister Modi and his Malaysian counterpart are expected to hold delegation-level talks in the national capital.The two leaders are expected to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations. Various issues, including terrorism, are expected to come up during the talks. A number of bilateral as well as commercial agreements are also likely to be signed.Prime Minister Razak's high-level delegation consists of several cabinet ministers and senior officials. He will also be accompanied by a large business delegation consisting of many of the top companies and businessmen of Malaysia.Prime Minister Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday. He took some time off to meet Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Friday evening."Just had a very warm n friendly meeting with Mr Rajnikanth the Tamil superstar at his home," he tweeted."Who doesn't know @superstarrajini ? Happy to meet the superstar in person today," he said.Rajinikanth, who shot parts of movie 'Kabali' in Malaysia last year, had expressed his wish to meet Prime Minister Razak when he was in Malaysia.This is Razak's third visit to India as Prime Minister. The last one was in 2012.His visit follows the highly successful visit of Prime Minister Modi to Malaysia in November 2015. SBI begins operations as merged entity from April 1 Mumbai (Maharashtra) , Apr. 1 : The State Bank of India has merged its five Associate Banks - State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore besides Bharatiya Mahila Bank - with itself with effect from April 1. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887983 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/bank-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887983 173O212O198O32) With this six-way mega merger, the SBI has joined the league of top 50 banks globally in terms of assets.The total customer base of the bank is now expected to reach 37 crore with a branch network of around 24,000 and nearly 59,000 ATMs across the country.The merged entity will have a deposit base of more than Rs. 26 lakh crore and advances level of 18.50 lakh crore.Post merger, all customers of Associate Banks will enjoy the benefits of a wide array of digital products and services offered by the SBI."We welcome the customers, employees and all other stakeholders of Associate Banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) to the SBI fold. The bank will strive to conclude the transition process within a quarter. The combined entity will enhance the productivity, mitigate geographical risks, increase operational efficiency and drive synergies across multiple dimensions while ensuring increased levels of customer delight," Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI said. IIT-B collaborates with Next Education for two Massive Open Online Courses New Delhi , Apr 1 : Next Education India Pvt. Ltd has collaborated with Indian Institute of Technology Bombay to offer two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for teachers. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887984 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/education-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887984 173O212O198O32) The courses will commence on April 6, 2017. School teachers who aim to hone their skills in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are invited to register online for the courses. Both the courses will be taught by professors of IIT Bombay.These courses, namely 'Pedagogy for effective use of ICT for school teachers' (MOOC1) and 'Pedagogy for effective use of ICT for computer science (CS) school teachers' (MOOC2) aim to help teachers tackle teaching-learning problems competently.Teachers who face myriad problems in addressing varying student interests and abilities, managing large classes, integrating digital tools in their lesson plan, using the right digital strategy for the right concept and so on, may apply for these courses."At Next Education, we firmly believe that teachers should be given formal training and right guidance to ensure the overall development of a child. Over the years of conducting teacher training and regular workshops, we have realized that there is a dire need to understand the effectiveness of technology than just implementing the new innovative methods of teaching. Through this association with one of the top institutions in India, we aim to fill the gaps in the teaching-learning ecosystem and expect to change the scenario for the better," said CEO and Co-founder Next Education India, Beas Dev Ralhan.This course will provide an introduction to research-based and learner-centred pedagogies and expound on effective integration of ICT in school education. Participants will apply different strategies during the course to design materials and activities for topics in their own domain. 'Smart India Hackathon 2017' kicks off at Allahabad's Civil Aviation Training College Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) , Apr.1 : Taking forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Startup India, Standup India' initiative Smart India Smart India Hackathon 2017 kicked off today at Civil Aviation Training College in Allahabad. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887986 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887986 173O212O198O32) The Ministry of Civil Aviation is a 'Premier Partner' in this two-day unique initiative launched with an aim to formulate solutions for improving governance and quality of life, and provides opportunity to citizens to provide innovative solutions to the country's daunting problems.'Smart India Hackathon 2017' is conceived by All India Council for Higher Education (AICTE), under the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development 2017'to harnesses creativity & expertise of students and builds funnel for 'Startup India, Standup India' campaignsKeshav Sharma, Executive Director, Civil Aviation Training College, Allahabad said "This is Smart India Hackathon 2017 event. It is organized by the Ministry of HRD and other 16 ministries of the government of India. The event has been going on since November and we have contacted nearly 3 lakh students from across the country. We had a talk with these young minds of the problems and issues in the government departments. Then, these students sent their entries and we shortlisted them and this event is the finale. Now, all of us, including students and different departments will sit continuously for 36 hours and give specific solution to the problems of government departments."On behalf of Ministry of Civil Aviation, 43 problem statements were thrown to students for which more than 350 ideas from teams of young IT students were received.After preliminary evaluation, 61 teams were shortlisted who participated at this 36 Hours long Grand Finale.Out of the 7531 idea submissions received for the 598 problems posted by 29 govt. departments, 1266 ideas have been shortlisted for the 'Grand Finale' on April 1 & 2, 2017, during which these teams will work nonstop for 36 hours to build products based on their ideas across 26 locations in India.Dr. Abhijeet Vichare, AICTE Coordinator further added "Smart India Hackathon 2017 is a pan-India event. Students from nearly 2100 colleges have participated in the event. In this two-day event, 10,000 students across the 26 centers are solving the problem. All the problems have been given by the different ministries of the government of India."S R Mishra, Airport Director, Civil Air Terminal, Allahabad adds "We have made wide arrangements for receiving our guests for Hackathon. Today, lots of judges are also expected to come. Similarly we have made arrangements for their departure also. So, our arrangement is perfect for handling additional passengers."'Smart India Hackathon 2017' is expected to become the 'World's biggest open innovation model' that other countries can replicate.The name of the winner will be declared at 8 p.m. tomorrow and they stand to get cash prizes and a chance to be part of the NASSCOM's '10,000 Startups' program. Pakistan, IMF to resume consultations in Dubai Islamabad [Pakistan], Apr. 1 : Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF) will resume the consultations process under fifth review in Dubai on Saturday. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887987 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887987 173O212O198O32) Consultations are being held under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement to discuss economic reforms and development projects undertaken by the Pakistan government during the last four years, reports Radio Pakistan.Secretary Finance Tariq Bajwa is leading the Pakistani delegation in the preliminary phase of discussions whereas Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar will lead the delegation at the concluding session.The talks are happening in Dubai as IMF officials had refused to visit Pakistan due to the law and order situation in the country.However, later, the two agreed to hold discussions in Dubai. The world conducts elections with ballots, so why not India: Digvijaya Singh New Delhi , Apr. 1 : Asserting that he had never put his faith in Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in the first place, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday asserted that India should embrace ballots for its elections to ensure a fair voting process. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887988 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887988 173O212O198O32) "I have never put my faith in EVM machines. You never know where the vote goes once the button is pressed. Which is that when elections are being conducted with across the world with ballots, that India is not keen? I stand with Advani ji, Mayawati and Kejriwal that EVMs should not be held. The next State Assembly Elections should not have EVMs," Digvijaya told the media here after the Congress delegation's meeting with the Election Commission.Meanwhile , the Congress has conveyed to the poll panel that there is an extraordinary suspicion about the fairness of the EVM machines post recently conducted elections- specially Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, adding that apparently the polling in these stated did not "reflect the public mood and confidence as noticed by national parties.The Congress has also appealed to the Election Commission to direct impartial and unimpeachable experts to revisit and re-verify the authenticity of all voting machines being deployed in the two-by elections in Madhya Pradesh, which must be done transparently in the presence of authorized representatives of political parties."In the face of the revelation about tempering of EVMs, it is necessary that the entire process should be re-examined thoroughly and all agencies and persons involved in maintenance, operationalisation and data feeding in the machines and all other performing duties and responsibilities including storage before use of EVMs in further elections and all parties should be taken in confidence for the credibility and viability of the use of EVMs or to revert back to the all systems of the ballot papers," the Congress said in a statement.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also met Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi to discuss the EVM tampering issue."We have been saying that the EVMs were tempered. Are the elections in this nation being conducted fairly? Are people casting their votes or machines itself deciding it?" Kejriwal said addressing media after meeting Election Commission.He further alleged that the software in the machines was changed, so that when the voters press any button it will only lead to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Calling for tampering-free elections, Kejriwal said that machines have not been checked which raises a big question mark on democracy.Defying the Election Commission's claim that machines cannot be tempered, he said they are being tempered at large scale.Earlier today, The Election Commission ordered an inquiry into reports that the EVMs in Madhya Pradesh were malfunctioning, and also sought a report about the incident where the voter-verifiable paper audit trail machine generated an acknowledgment slip with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) symbol even though the chief electoral officer had pressed the button for the Samajwadi Party candidate during a demonstration exercise. Australia to impose stricter security checks for flights from Middle East Sydney [Australia], April. 1 : The Australian Government has said that passengers from three Middle Eastern airports flying to Australia will be subject to additional security checks on the basis of national security advice. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887989 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887989 173O212O198O32) From next week, passengers flying from Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi will undergo random explosive detection tests and targeted screening of electronic devices, reports the ABC.Federal Transport Minister Darren Chester said there was no specific threat to Australia and the extra security was a precautionary measure in line with action taken by the British and American governments.These new measures do not include the bans on electronic devices being used in cabins on passenger flights.Chester said the new measures would affect passengers traveling with Qatar, Emirates and Etihad Airways and urged people to contact their airline for more details."The Government is continuing to ensure Australians and visitors who travel by air can do so in the knowledge that every precaution is being taken to ensure they arrive at their destinations safely," he said."The Federal Government has regular contact with international partners and will continue to monitor security developments and adjust security settings if needed," he added.Last month, the U.S. and the UK announced a temporary ban on certain nonstop US-bound flights from bringing laptops, iPads, cameras and some other electronics in carry-on luggage.The decision was prompted by reports that militant groups want to smuggle explosive devices inside electronic gadgets.The ban in UK applies to inbound flights from six countries that are Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey while in the U.S., the ban applies to flights from eight countries Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Dharmendra Pradhan launches BS-IV transportation fuel across nation New Delhi , Apr. 1 : Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan launched the BS-IV transportation fuel across the country from Bhubaneswar today. (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887990 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667887990 173O212O198O32) To mark the launch of BS-IV fuels across the country, Pradhan symbolically commenced sale of the eco-friendly and low-emission fuels from 12 different locations across the country through live video links - Varanasi, Vijayawada, Durgapur, Gorakhpur, Imphal, Bhopal, Ranchi, Madurai, Nagpur, Patna, Guwahati and Shillong.At the event, the Petroleum Minister also handed over a deposit-free domestic LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY) scheme to Swalia Bibi of Shikharchan Basti in Bhubaneswar to mark the completion of release of 2 crore LPG connections to women beneficiaries from below poverty line (BPL) households across the country under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY).Pradhan said that with the launch of the BS IV fuel , a new era of clean transportation fuels has begun, adding that this era will benefit all citizens of the country by substantially reducing pollution levels everywhere.Speaking about the new milestone crossed by the PMUY scheme, Pradhan said that the Government is fully committed to providing sustainable, clean and affordable energy as an essential input for economic development of India, which has emerged as the fastest going economy in the world.He said that the resounding success of initiatives like PaHaL, GiveItUp and the ongoing PMUY scheme are ample proof of the effectiveness of these socio-economic welfare schemes, which go a long way in ensuring energy inclusion of the poor.The Petroleum Ministry is vigorously pursuing various other forms of energy such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) for industries and transport sector, compressed natural gas (CNG) and AutoLPG for automobiles, and piped natural gas (PNG) for households, besides ethanol and bio-mass to expand the existing energy basket, he added. A new restaurant has plans to move into the former Carmella's Pizzeria Reporter/Columnist Julie Wurth is a reporter covering the University of Illinois at The News-Gazette. Her email is jwurth@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@jawurth). The American Pain Society (APS), www.americanpainsociety.org, today condemned the Trump Administration's proposed 19 percent cut in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and warned that such a draconian budget reduction would devastate biomedical research in the United States unless Congress acted to prevent it. "It has taken decades to expose pain as a serious public health problem and a national research priority," said APS President David Williams, PhD, professor of anesthesiology and psychology at the University of Michigan. Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the National Pain Strategy serving as a blueprint for addressing the problem of pain in the United States. Later this year, the Federal Pain Research Strategy will be announced as a plan to fill crucial gaps in pain research. "A huge cut to the NIH budget will destroy this momentum, which would impact the millions of Americans who suffer with pain," said Williams. Neuroscience eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today "NIH is the foundation of the biotech industry in the United States, and agency funding creates jobs and leads to new discoveries and innovations that make a difference in people's lives," said Theodore Price, PhD, an APS director, biotechnology entrepreneur and professor of neuroscience at University of Texas Dallas. "This action will decimate biomedical research in the United States and tear down our international standing as the leader in biotech. "Pain research often focuses on mechanisms and on discovery of new treatments. We need new treatments that bring better relief while also reducing the problems associated with opioids," said Williams. "The proposed budget cut would not only threaten pain research but would hurt America's universities and medical schools, which also depend on receiving NIH funds. "My greatest concern is the impact this has on our early career investigators and physician scientists," said APS Director Jennifer Haythornthwaite, PhD, professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins University. "We already are facing numerous challenges in keeping these early career trainees and faculty engaged in developing productive academic careers, and the cuts to the NIH budget will increase these challenges substantially, further demoralizing and threatening the strength of our academic institutions." APS has petitioned its members to contact their representatives in Congress are urge them to reject the president's NIH budget cuts. "We in the pain care community must not be complacent in fighting this existential threat to the health and wellness of our nation's population," said Williams. "NIH and biomedical research have been the beneficiaries of strong bipartisan support in Congress and that must continue." The healthy development of an embryo created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) depends on whether most, if not all, of the cells have the proper number of chromosomes. With pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) technology, doctors can, in principle, spot-check chromosome count before choosing which embryo to implant in the mother. In a new article, however, scholars at Brown University and the University of Washington report that PGS has serious limitations that can only be overcome with more human embryo research, even as they acknowledge the controversy surrounding that research. What doctors and hopeful parents want to see in PGS is 46 chromosomes -- two pairs of 23 -- a normal state of affairs called "euploidy." An abnormal number, or "aneuploidy," could signal a fatal flaw in early development. In 2013 in the United States, more than 15 percent of IVF pregnancies ended in miscarriage, often because of aneuploidy, wrote Dr. Eli Adashi, professor of medical science and former dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown, and Rajiv McCoy, a genome sciences postdoctoral fellow at Washington. The miscarriage rate rises quickly with maternal age, as does the rate of aneuploidy. Hoping to prevent a bitter loss, a growing percentage of infertility patients using IVF have turned to PGS. But as Adashi and McCoy wrote in the journal EMBO Reports, PGS has yielded mixed results. Sometimes it has predicted the doom of embryos that became healthy children, and in the small studies conducted so far, there has been mixed evidence that its use leads to a greater likelihood of a successful pregnancy. "The impact of PGS on the outcome of assisted reproduction remains uncertain," they wrote. Tricky biology and ideology The problem with PGS, Adashi and McCoy wrote, stems from how little doctors and scientists really know about early embryo development, which is a complex process. There are two main sources of aneuploidy -- the original cell division that creates an egg cell, called meiosis, and the division of cells in the growing embryo, called mitosis. The first cause, because it occurs in one of the two sex cells that form an embryo, is especially serious and is known to increase with maternal age. Errors in mitosis will affect some but rarely all the cells in an embryo. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today In most applications of PGS, doctors sample genetic material from several cells on the outer edge of a five-day old embryo, called a blastocyst. If that yields evidence of aneuploidy, the test usually still can't discern whether it's meiotic, in which case all cells could be affected, or mitotic, in which only a few might be (creating a "mosaic" of ploidy). Among the many things doctors don't know is what ploidy status they would find if they could safely look elsewhere in the embryo, including its inner cells. Finally, they don't understand yet why some mosaic embryos will succeed and others will not. "Such insights may improve the diagnosis and selection of healthy embryos through PGS and hopefully will lead to the development of new technologies," Adashi and McCoy wrote. But human embryo research remains controversial in many places around the world, including the U.S., they acknowledge. Public funding, and sometimes the research itself, is often prohibited. They conclude with a call to accelerate research. "This state of affairs hampers the acquisition of new insights into the intricate process of early human development," they wrote. "More importantly, translational breakthroughs intent on improving infertility care are being delayed. Patients afflicted with infertility deserve better." Northwestern Memorial Hospital is now home to the Chicago area's first combined magnetic resonance (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, a machine that shortens the total time a patient spends in imaging tests while providing exceptional image quality at lower doses of radiation. Partnering with the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, and available to specialties throughout the Northwestern Medicine system, the Biograph mMR scanner from Siemens Healthineers, housed in the Department of Radiology in the Northwestern Memorial Hospital Arkes Pavilion, provides real-time information on anatomic structure and metabolic activity at the molecular level in the same sitting. This provides physicians with precise diagnostic data to accurately detect disease and plan treatment. "It allows you to acquire both sets of images simultaneously, without having to move the patient to undergo two separate imaging tests," said James Carr, MD, vice chair for research in the department of radiology and Knight Family Professor of Cardiac Imaging at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "We are excited to offer this advanced system to Northwestern Medicine patients and to be the first in the area and among a select few medical centers in the United States to integrate this new frontier in radiology into our health care system." Through an arrangement with the Feinberg School of Medicine, dedicated time on the scanner is also reserved for investigational protocols to advance molecular diagnosis and personalized medicine. The innovative imaging system is expected to be particularly valuable in the identification of neurological and cardiac conditions, and cancer, especially in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. The lack of ionizing radiation with PET-MRI, relative to PET-CT, is especially beneficial to pediatric cancer patients who often undergo several rounds of imaging in the course of their diagnosis and treatment. The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences will also use the scanner for studies related to the diagnosis of mental health disorders and brain development in adolescents. "The availability of molecular imaging will allow us to examine the impact of specific biological processes, such as inflammation, on brain development," said John Csernansky, MD, chair of psychiatry at Stone Institute of Psychiatry at Northwestern Memorial and the Lizzie Gilman Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Feinberg, who is leading the research. "This work will shed new light on illnesses that emerge in adolescence such as depression." For patients who need both an MRI and PET scan, undergoing the scans on separate systems can take up to 120 minutes. Physicians using the combined scanner can acquire a precise set of images in about 45 minutes, with exceptional results because patients are less likely to move between scans. The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine will soon begin one of the nation's first full-scale Zika vaccine clinical trials testing the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) experimental DNA-based vaccine. As Miami-Dade County has been ground zero for the Zika virus outbreak in the U.S., testing the vaccine in an endemic region is critical to help determine the vaccine's safety, effective dosage and whether it can effectively prevent disease caused by Zika infection. The Miami arm of the NIH study will be led by Margaret Fischl, M.D., a renowned UM infectious disease physician and scientist with the University of Miami Health System and Miller School. "The vaccine is really important in Miami because we saw the nation's first cases of locally-acquired Zika, which needed a more immediate response," said Fischl, a professor of medicine, Director of the HIV/AIDS Clinical Research Unit, and co-director of the Miami Center for AIDS Research, who was also instrumental in testing the first influenza vaccine. "A Zika vaccine was an important effort to respond to the Zika outbreak." Researchers will initially recruit individuals from Miami-Dade County, who will be given the vaccine in varying dosages to test safety. The second part of the study, called part B, aims to determine if the vaccine can effectively prevent disease caused by Zika infection. Part B will enroll residents who have not had Zika infection previously from the "Zika zone" neighborhoods where local transmission of Zika occurred. Half of the participants in part B will receive the vaccine and half will receive a placebo. Neither the study investigators nor the participants will know who receives the investigational vaccine. UM is one of three sites in part A and one of 11 sites in part B. The other part A sites are located in Houston and Puerto Rico. The other sites in part B are located in Houston, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil, Panama and Mexico. Part A will enroll 90 healthy men and non-pregnant women ages 18-35 years, and part B will enroll 2,400 men and non-pregnant women ages 15-35 years. The vaccine was developed by government scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH. NIAID is leading the trial. Most people with Zika infection have either no or only mild symptoms, such as fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). However, when Zika infection occurs during pregnancy, the pregnant woman can pass the virus to her fetus, which can result in a range of fetal defects known collectively as congenital Zika syndrome. Currently there is no licensed vaccine to prevent disease caused by Zika infection, which is mainly transmitted via the bite of infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes but also can be transmitted sexually. Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Scientists at NIAID's Vaccine Research Center (VRC) developed the NIAID Zika virus investigational DNA vaccine. It entered early-stage human testing in 2016 following extensive testing in animal models. Initial findings indicate the vaccine is safe and able to induce a neutralizing antibody response against Zika virus. The Phase 2/2b trial aims to gain more safety and immune response data and determine if this immune response protects against disease caused by natural Zika infection. The Zika vaccine platform is based on a strategy VRC scientists used previously to develop a West Nile virus vaccine candidate. The Zika vaccine candidate contains a single circular strand of DNA called a plasmid into which is inserted genes that encode two proteins found on the surface of the Zika virus. Once injected into muscle, the proteins assemble into particles that mimic Zika virus and trigger the body's immune system to respond. The vaccine does not contain infectious material, so it cannot cause Zika infection. The trial is being led by protocol co-chairs Julie E. Ledgerwood, D.O., chief of VRC's Clinical Trials Program, and Grace L. Chen, M.D., deputy chief of the same program. Part B participants will be followed for nearly two years, during which time they will undergo assessments for adverse events and symptoms of Zika infection. Trial participants in both parts will be counseled on how to protect against Zika infection. Investigators will compare the rates of confirmed cases of Zika in the placebo group and the vaccinated group to determine if the investigational vaccine protects against disease caused by Zika infection. Each site will have a principal investigator responsible for ensuring daily review of safety data as they become available. A protocol safety review team that includes the protocol chairs and other medical officers at NIAID will review safety data reports weekly. The NIAID Intramural Data and Safety Monitoring Board will also review cumulative study data at least twice per year. The study is currently expected to be completed by 2019. British tax authorities said they had opened a criminal investigation into suspected tax evasion and money laundering by "a global financial institution" and would be focussing initially on "senior employees", along with an unspecified number of customers. "If any individuals are implicated or have violated against these processes or procedures or policies that are in place then we will identify that very quickly." "If the Swiss authorities wish to receive information on the investigation, we, the other countries involved and Eurojust, are always willing to discuss (that) with them," the FIOD said in a statement. Credit Suisse has paid more than 2 billion Swiss francs ($2 billion) since 2011 in the United States, Germany and Italy to settle allegations it helped clients dodge taxes. It has pushed clients in Europe, Latin America and Asia to participate in government programmes facilitating the declaration of untaxed assets. Swiss bank Credit Suisse has been dragged into yet more tax evasion and money laundering investigations, after a tip-off to Dutch prosecutors about tens of thousands of suspect accounts triggered raids in five countries.Coordinated raids began on Thursday in the Netherlands, Britain, Germany, France and Australia, the Dutch office for financial crimes prosecution (FIOD) said on Friday, with two arrests confirmed so far.The Dutch are "investigating dozens of people who are suspected of tax fraud and money laundering", the prosecutors said, adding that suspects had deposited money in a Swiss bank without disclosing that to authorities.Prosecutors in the German city of Cologne said they were also working with the Dutch. "We have launched an investigation against clients of a bank," a spokesman said.None of the authorities disclosed the name of the bank involved. However, Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, said local authorities had visited its offices in Amsterdam, London and Paris "concerning client tax matters" and it was cooperating.It said later it had launched an internal probe. "The investigation will be executed by compliance, it will not be executed by the business," Iqbal Khan, who is responsible for Credit Suisse's private banking operations outside Switzerland and Asia Pacific, told Reuters.The Dutch FIOD seized administrative records as well as the contents of bank accounts, real estate, jewellery, a luxury car, expensive paintings and a gold bar from houses in four Dutch towns and cities. The FIOD tweeted a photo of some of the seized assets.The people arrested, one in The Hague and one in the town of Hoofddorp, were not identified.The actions angered Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General, which said it was "disconcerted" by the way Dutch authorities had handled the matter and would demand an explanation.Dutch prosecutors responded that Swiss authorities had been left out of the investigation because none of the suspects were Swiss they were just linked to secret Swiss bank accounts.Eurojust, the European Union agency that coordinates cross-border prosecutions, said the investigation had begun in 2016, and representatives from the countries involved Switzerland not among them had held three preparatory meetings to share information before Thursday's raids.Prosecutors "analysed a huge amount of data," Eurojust said, looking for "individuals and groups suspected of tax fraud and money laundering."The investigation uncovered "undeclared assets hidden within offshore accounts and policies... (worth) millions of euros."Credit Suisse shares fell 1.2 percent, underperforming the wider European banking sector index which rose 0.1 percent on Friday.For Zurich-based Credit Suisse, the case reopens the thorny issue of tax evasion which has dogged Swiss banks for years as wealthy individuals around the world have used the country's strict bank secrecy laws to hide cash from the taxman.The bank said in December this process had been completed for Europe.Switzerland is also among the countries that have signed up to a global initiative led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Under the OECD's Automatic Exchange of Information, banks pass on information to local tax agencies, which then share it with foreign counterparts.Switzerland began collecting data at the start of the year and will exchange information from 2018.The Dutch FIOD said the coordinated raids were prompted by a tip-off about 55,000 suspect accounts, and it had passed information to the other countries about the accounts.Spokeswoman Wietske Vissers said the investigation would "continue for days and weeks" across the various countries. The Netherlands is investing 3,800 Dutch leads. French authorities said they had 25 agents working on the case.Credit Suisse's Khan said the 55,000 was "not a number that I can reconcile because as of today, in International Wealth Management in Europe, the total number of accounts is lower than 55,000".Australia's minister for revenue and financial services, Kelly O'Dwyer, said the country's financial crime investigator was looking at 340 Australians linked to Swiss bank accounts, which she said were only identified by number."The fact that these accounts are unnamed," ODwyer said, "means that by their very nature they are likely to have been established to hide the identity of the owner." When Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took the stage at a rally in Outer Delhi's Burari, his supporters welcomed him with loud cheers. However, some, who were expecting him to take sharp jibes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were left disappointed.In a measured, calmer speech, Kejriwal stuck to a message and spoke almost exclusively of the work his government has done in Delhi over the last two years. In his 35-minute-long speech, he did not mention the PM even once."If you use 400 units of electricity in Delhi, your bill is Rs 1,370. If you use the same amount of electricity in BJP-ruled Gujarat, your bill will be Rs 2,700. In Congress-ruled Karnataka, the bill is going to be Rs 2,700. In Mumbai, where BJP runs the state government, 400 units of electricity would cost Rs 4, 000," he said."During the election, I promised I would slash electricity and water rates. The BJP and Congress people used to make fun of me. They used to say this could not happen. Within the first month, we did what we said," he added. Within the first month, we did what we said," he added.When he needed to attack the BJP, he chose to target BJP chief Amit Shah rather than his usual target the PM. "Amit Shah ji, I challenge you. Your party has been in power for the last 15 years in Madhya Pradesh and 10 years in Chhattisgarh. Your party is in power in Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Let's have a debate and compare the work that our respective governments have done. I challenge Amit Shah if you have the courage, slash power tariffs in Gujarat and Mumbai."He went on to talk about Mohalla Clinics, government schools in Delhi and new flyovers constructed by the government. "We don't indulge in corruption and dont let officials do so either. That is why we save a lot of money for the people. We have built five flyovers in just a year. The BJP-ruled MCD has been trying to build a flyover near Rani Jhansi Road since 2006. It's been 11 years. They were supposed to spend Rs 177 crore, but they have already spent Rs 724 crore on it. The flyover has still not been built."Kejriwal also repeated his poll promise of waiving house tax, eliciting cheers from the audience. "The MCD waived the house tax for Vijay Goel (BJP MP). I want to waive house tax for all my fellow Delhiites. They say the MCD does not have the power to do so. I say we will use the same rules they used to waive the tax for Vijay Goel. If you go to a BJP councilor for some work, they say they dont have the money. We promise you we will turn the MCD into a profit-making body within a year by simply ending corruption."A senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, however, said this was not a conscious call. "This so-called shift was not conscious and was never discussed. We need to understand that the MCD election is about drains, streets and sanitation. It is about local issues so he will obviously speak on local issues. It doesn't make sense to bring the Prime Minister into this. His statement on Amit Shah was a response to what the BJP president had said during a rally at Ramlila Maidan." Tamil Nadu's former chief secretary Ram Mohan Rao may have been accommodated with a different posting barely three months after the Income Tax raid on his house, but another Tamil Nadu officer isn't having such a happy journey in the services.IPS officer NK Senthamaraikannan, who was Inspector General (IG) of the North Zone when the state saw quite a bit of political turmoil last month, had been transferred out of his post and is currently still without a posting.Senthamaraikannan, who was unfortunately responsible for the inquiry at the Koovathur resort where over 100 MLAs had been staying while waiting for the Governor's decision on who will become Chief Minister, today finds himself nowhere to go. He has no office. Apparently, the current dispensation found "he insulted the MLAs" because he went for an on-ground inquiry at the behest of the High Court and the Governor.This ace police officer, incidentally, was decorated with the Chief Minister's medal for excellence in investigation just seven months ago (when J Jayalalithaa was chief minister). In fact, when he had led a police team to the resort, a video had emerged showing the MLAs getting into an argument where they hurled abuses at this officer.Ironically, Kannan, as he is known among colleagues, is best known for having been the main strategist in the Special Task Force that caught India's most feared forest brigand, Veerappan, 10 years ago.The man who neutralised the country's toughest bandit, now finds himself without a job, stuck as he is in a political mire. As News18 told you last month, it's the IPS that's struggling, caught between OPS and EPS. New Delhi: Two inebriated British nationals of Indian origin were arrested for allegedly harassing a 28-year-old air hostess on an Air India flight from London to Delhi. After a complaint was filed, both the accused, who are real estate agents were arrested and later got bail, police said. In a statement, Air India condemned the incident and said that they will also probe the matter at their end. The accused were identified as Jaspal Singh (35) and Charandeep Khaira (36), who had come here from London to attend a marriage ceremony in Jaipur, said DCP (Airport) Sanjay Bhatia. Their breathalyser test indicated they were drunk, he said. On March 29, while they were on the flight they asked the air hostess to get them some food but when she took some time to respond they got irritated, police said. They started making lewd comments. After the plane landed here, the crew reported the matter to the security agencies and a case was registered. Condemning the incident, Air India said in a statement, "The AI is also carrying out its probe and the incident is condemned. At the same time we urge our passengers to draw a line of ethics while flying and using our services so that it does not cause inconvenience to either the airline and supporting staff or our valued travellers". New Delhi: A batch of UN woman peacekeepers, also known as 'Blue Berets', will be trained here during a 12-day workshop starting next week. The April 3-14 workshop, being jointly organised by the the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping (CUNPK) in India and UN Women, will be held at the Manekshaw Centre. A total of 41 participants from 27 countries are slated to attend the course which will make them deployment-ready. It would be the third batch of female troops to be trained by the CUNPK. "The training team consists of some of the most experienced and seasoned speakers from across the globe. Participation from all the continents including instructors, facilitators and evaluators has ensured balanced regional representation," said a Ministry of External Affairs statement. India has historically been one of the leading contributors to UN peacekeeping missions. Around 100,000 peacekeepers, contributed by 126 member states, are presently deployed in 16 missions across the globe. There was an incident of beating. Fortunately, he has survived. We are inquiring into all aspects of the incident. https://t.co/uO9hJ171aB Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 31, 2017 An Indian student, who was allegedly brutally assaulted in Poland and was claimed to have died, has survived the attack, according to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.Swaraj, on Friday night, spoke to the Indian ambassador to Poland, Ajay Bisaria, regarding the assault on an Indian student in Poznan city whose name was not disclosed.Swaraj sought a report from the envoy after she was approached by a netizen who informed her about a news item in Polish media regarding the death of an Indian student after being severely beaten up."There was an incident of beating. Fortunately, he has survived. We are inquiring into all aspects of the incident," she tweeted.Bisaria had earlier tweeted, "Prelim enquiry suggests student attacked in Poznan tram on Wed. Thank God, he survived. Getting details." Islamabad: Iran has said it is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir issue if requested as any conflict between the two nations will impact upon the economies of other countries in the region. Any conflict or tension between the two countries [Pakistan and India] will hinder the progress and development of both the countries but will also impact upon the economies of other regional countries, Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost said. Tehran is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the long-standing issue of Kashmir if requested, the Express Tribune quoted Honardoost as saying in an interview. The paper said Iran has also offered its assistance to attain peace and tranquility in the region. Commenting on Pak-Iran trade ties, Honardoost said that a Free Trade Agreement draft has been signed between the two sides and it will soon be operative to enhance two-way business and trade engagements. Our future is bright after the removal of impediments. Hopefully, our trade relations would continue to grow, he said. On China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Honardoost said the project was not only a game-changer for the region but would be a unifying force for the countries in it. When asked if Iran was interested in joining Saudi Arabias Islamic coalition, Honardoost said Iran has already announced its desire to join the alliance since it firmly believes that the problems being faced by the Muslim world should be resolved mutually. Ahmedabad: Former state minister Maya Kodnani has moved the Special SIT court for summoning BJP chief Amit Shah and 13 others to prove her alibi in the Naroda Gam massacre case, involving killings of 11 people. Sentenced to 28 years in jail in another Gujarat riot case of Naroda Patiya massacre but presently out on bail, Kodnani has urged the court to call Shah and others as her defense witnesses to prove that she was not present at the scene of the crime involving Naroda Gam massacre on February 28, 2002. The plea was made on Thursday to Special SIT Judge P B Desai. As Kodnani's counsel sought time till Monday to submit the reasons to justify the relevance of the plea at this stage of trial, Judge Desai slated Monday for further hearing to decide if the plea can be admitted. Through her application, Kodnani, a gynaecologist, urged the court to issue summons to Shah to prove that she met him in state assembly in Gandhinagar and then at Sola Civil hospital here, where bodies of Godhra train massacre were being brought on February 28, 2002. She also claimed in her plea that she had then gone to her nursing home and then to the main civil hospital in Asarwa area of the city. To prove her claim, she also sought summoning of 13 other persons, including former BJP MLA Amrish Patel, erstwhile Civil Hospital Superintendent, Dr Anil Chaddha and various staffers of her hospital besides a person whose child, she claimed, was born in her hospital that day. Naroda Gam massacre is one of the nine major riots cases investigated by the Special Investigation Team. Eleven persons of the minority community were killed in Naroda Gam in 2002 riots during a bandh call given to protest the Godhra train burning incident. A total of 82 persons are facing trial in the case. The Supreme Court had in September last year given the special court six months to conclude the trial. Kodnani has been sentenced to 28 years in jail in another riot case of Naroda Patiya, in which 97 people, mostly of the minority community, were killed by a crowd. Kodnani was a State Minister for Women and Child Development in erstwhile Chief Minister Narendra Modi's government. "Veerappan was suffering from 70 percent cataract. He was struck by this idea of a separate Tamil 'Eelam' based on LTTE's ideology. He also wanted to go to Sri Lanka to access treatment. He had been assured by the 'extremists' we had infiltrated into his team that he would get help in more men and weapons. So he agreed to come out. The ambulance was driven by STF men in disguise. They were told that if Veerappan suspected something, they are to dash against a tree and immobilise him do anything but not let him escape," said Kannan, in an interview during the book's launch in Bengaluru. "Yes, we did try to get him (Veerappan) alive, we gave him one opportunity to surrender when we had him surrounded. Then once more. He started firing and we retaliated. We had already lost enough men, anything could have gone wrong. We would have lost more of our men, we did not want that," said Kumar at the launch. "I remember two of my officials went to a temple in Kumbakonam (in Tamil Nadu) to consult an astrologer to ask how long this operation will take. When they came back, they didn't tell me what the soothsayer told them. I egged them on, they let out that the astrologer had told them it would take 10 years... 2004, they were told," Bidari recalls in a lighter vein, adding that he was all the more determined to bring down Veerappan's strength when he heard this. A fake plan to get him safe passage to Sri Lanka for cataract treatment was what lured slain forest brigand Veerappan out of his safe spots in the Mudumalai forests into an 'ambulance' decoy of the police, says former chief of the Special Task Force K Vijay Kumar who has now come out with a tell-all book Veerappan: Chasing the Brigand.And, interestingly, the final Operation Cocoon that killed Veerappan in 2004 used the trust built by several local informants who had infiltrated his gang and kept track of the problems with Veerappan's gang, which had been reduced to just four members. This, recalls NK Senthamaraikannan, who was second-in-command to Kumar during the operation, took six painstaking months before the force could build enough ground to lure him out.NK Senthamaraikannan (left) was the second-in-command during the operation, while Saravanan (right) was the constable who drove the ambulance during the op. The latter is now a sub-inspector.Kannan, as he is known, was SP (Intelligence) and one of the last three men to see Veerappan alive. The brigand kept the police forces of two states on their toes for at least two decades, and continues to be a mystery that invokes fear in the Mudumalai forest range that spans the boundaries of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.A fake route plan from the forests to Salem to Trichy to Pudukottai and the coastal town of Adirampattinam and then on to Sri Lanka including a fake plan to change drivers in different places to ward off suspicion were all made as part of the trap. Veerappan, who emerged from the forest with his three gang members, was carrying an AK-47 self-loading rifle and boarded the van wearing white, having shaved off part of his famous handlebar moustache to avoid being recognised.If he had, indeed, escaped to Lanka, Veerappan hoped to come back with good eyesight and better equipped to resume sandalwood smuggling and poaching.Saravanan, the constable who drove that ambulance, is now a sub-inspector. He was armed and accompanied by another officer, SI Velladurai, who had recently joined the team and was chosen for this operation as his face was little-known.And above all, Saravanan was deeply conscious of how this was, literally, a do-or-die situation, considering how many policemen had earlier been killed by Veerappan. "I was told not to talk to him at all. Not a single word. I drove to the pre-decided point, waited for the cargo as we called it and drove out by the route decided," he said.Most of these officers can recall the events of October 18, 2004 as though it were yesterday the day Operation Cocoon to kill Veerappan was carried out. Kumar even says in the book's prologue that he kept wondering on that fateful night whether he was sending two more policemen to their deaths. And decided to reassure himself by what an astrologer had told him 18th October would be a special day.Recalling that nothing shakes a commander of a force like the STF than seeing bodies of his men being brought out repeatedly, Kumar recounted that the STF often used caricatures of the bandit as their target boards during shooting practice.The bandit, who continues to capture the imagination of many in the region, was easily one of the most-feared ones in the country, with hundreds of crores having been spent by successive governments on the manhunt launched to find him. Veerappan had kept the police forces of three states on their toes, having killed nearly over 180 people at least half of them police and forest officials.But the tell-all book is perhaps just 20 percent of what went into catching the brigand, says Shankar Bidari, former DGP of Karnataka, who led the STF briefly.Bidari is credited with decimating Veerappan's gang from 300-plus to merely a handful in the mid-90s."The crux of how we got Veerappan to believe our decoys, and how he came out that hasn't been told," agrees Kannan.And some stories, as they say, will perhaps be taken by these officers to their graves and never make it to print. But this book, undoubtedly, is the most authentic version of the real-life thriller that Veerappan's manhunt was. Mumbai: Hindi film Mukti Bhawan, which has been screened in various international film festivals and received appreciation from the audience, will be released in theatres in the the Middle East, producer Sanjay Bhutiani said on Friday. "After receiving huge appreciation from various film festivals in different countries we are planning for a theatrical release of 'Mukti Bhawan' internationally. So far, it is confirmed that the film will be released in Middle Eastern countries. "We are also in talk with other countries like Korea, some of the European and south east-Asian countries. We will confirm the release date within coming three weeks," he told the media here. The film, directed by Shubhashish Bhutiani and featuring Adil Husain and Lalit Behl, revolves around an interesting relationship between a father and son after the former decides to die in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi and his son forced to join his journey. Since the film is in Hindi, Bhutiani, asked about if the exhibitors are planning to dub the film in local language, said: "This is their call but so far they are planning to subtitle the film in their respective local language." The film has already premiered in Venice Film Festival, won the UNESCO award for peace and human rights and screened in Dubai International Film Festival among others. As the film is releasing in India on April 7, Bhutiani said they were mainly focusing on multiplexes "as they are our primary audience" but also releasing the film in cities like Nagpur, Jodhpur, Indore, Lucknow, Chandigarh along with metro cities. Akhilesh ditched me. Why then are you so surprised that he sacked (his uncle) Shivpal, Mulayam added. However, sources within the party admit that the fight between the two camps, one led by Akhilesh and the other by Mulayam along with Shivpal, may go on all the way. Fissures within the Samajwadi Party are widening fast. A day after UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited a cow shelter run by Prateek Yadav and his wife Aparna, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday publicly spoke of being betrayed by his son Akhilesh Yadav.Speaking during a public function in his hometown Mainpuri, Mulayam said, Jo apne pita ka nahi ho saka wo kisi ka kya hoga? [He who betrayed his father can betray anyone].Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used similar language several times during his campaign speeches in the run up to assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Modi had never criticised Mulayam and attacked Akhilesh for forging an alliance with Congress which had conspired to have his father [Mulayam] killed.Speaking to reporters in Mainpuri, Mulayam said he had anointed his son Akhilesh, as the Chief Minister despite opposition from all quarters. No father while he had still political life in him has sacrificed what I sacrificed for my son. But how did Akhilesh return the favour? In my entire life I have never been humiliated like this, he said.He went on to criticise his son, who snatched the reins of his party in a public power struggle just before polls, for throwing out his uncle Shivpal Yadav. Akhilesh didnt do justice to his uncle Shivpal. Does anyone remove their uncle from their own party? This is what Akhilesh did. It was not fair, Mulayam said.SP leaders are treating Mulayams outburst as an anomaly. It is natural that after such a big loss, party leaders will make contradictory statements. But this is not Samajwadi Partys point of view. Samajwadi Partys point of view is that the family will stick together no matter what. And we will try to resolve all the issues, said SP national spokesperson, Ghanshyam Tiwari.You know there is a fight in the family and we both know what the result is going out to be. Akhilesh hasnt responded to his fathers statements because he doesnt want to sever relations altogether. But things cannot go on like this, said an MLC who is a close aide of Akhilesh.But Mulayam has his own reasons to be upset with his son. Mulayams frustrations were voiced by his second wife and Prateeks mother Sadhna Yadav, just after the elections when she said that she would not keep quiet if Netaji (her husband) continued to be humiliated.The question of party leadership, which Akhilesh had taken over through his coup in January, arose again after polls which was among SPs worst performances. The question of who would lead party on the national front and in the newly created legislative assembly rose before the party again. And Akhilesh snatched the reins, again.On March 28, Akhilesh held a meeting of all SP MLAs and MLCs and announced himself the national president and leader of state legislature, and appointed his loyalist Naresh Uttam as the state president.Party leader Azam Khan has also been absent from all Akhilesh led meetings since polls.Mulayam, who had called a separate meeting of his party members, had to cancel the meeting and suffer humiliation of cancelling dinner in honour of the party 47 elected legislators in the UP assembly.Since then rumours of the increasing proximity between BJP and Mulayam-Shivpal faction have been rife. SP has been rubbishing these rumours till now.As far as the question of BJP trying to create a rift in party is concerned, let me make it very clear that Samajwadi Party can take care of its own affairs and will not entertain any outsiders interference. No one from the family is joining BJP, Tiwari said. "This is a glaring example of misutilisation of EVMs in the country. From the very beginning, doubts were raised over the impartiality of the EVMs," a senior Congress leader said. "This is shocking, and it raises a question. Button was pressed on Congress name, but the slip which came out had BJP's name," he said, adding the EC's claim that the machines cannot be tampered with is wrong." Mujhe shuru se EVM pe bharosa nhi.Jb sare vishwa mein chunaav ballot paper se ho rahe hain, toh hume kya aitraaz hona chahiy:Digvijaya Singh pic.twitter.com/yh9EJBnvDM ANI (@ANI_news) April 1, 2017 "The EC has assured us that they will consider our complain and take the necessary action. We have full faith in the EC that the government body will hold free and fair election in the country," he added. : Congress and Aam Aadmi Party-led delegations on Saturday approached the Election Commission of India (EC) alleging that during the testing of VVPAT machines in Madhya Pradesh for the by-polls, it dispensed only the BJP slips, no matter what button you pressed. Congress leaders also alleged that even the EC officers were not neutral.An Assembly by-poll is due in Bhind next week, and the demonstration was part of the familiarisation exercise.Addressing the media outside EC's office, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said that he "didn't trust the EVMs since the very beginning".Following Congress, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also raised questions over the same issue with EC. "When the chief election officer demonstrated the machine, the slips coming out of the machine only had BJP's name on them."Raising doubts over free and fair elections, Kejriwal said, "Are people voting or are machines casting votes? There should be a proper checking, and the recent incidents have made it clear that whoever casts vote, the vote gets registered for BJP."Demanding the return of ballot paper voting in the coming elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, he said: "The whole world is using the ballot paper, why aren't we doing it? If hackers can hack into Reserve Bank of Bangladesh account, EVM is nothing.""In this regard, I had talked to LK Advani, BSP chief Mayawati, and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal. We want ballot papers in place of EVMs," Singh added.Lashing out at Congress and AAP, Senior BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi said that Congress and AAP were just staging a drama. "These allegations of EVM tampering is just a drama. They are doing it to keep their cadres happy," she said.Speaking on the EVM controversy, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia said, "We have complained to the EC, district collectors and election representatives regarding EVM tampering."Immediately after the poll debacle in Uttar Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati had alleged that the EVMs, used in the electoral process, were tampered with.Echoing her sentiment, former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had also asked the Election Commission to take notice of the charges levelled by Mayawati. "If Mayawati is saying something, we should perhaps look into the matter," Akhilesh had said. Mohali: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday ruled out bringing a Spain-like Historical Memory Law to erase all remnants of the "humiliating British rule" in the state as proposed by Manpreet Badal. "It is a part of India's past from which we have already learnt our lessons and moved forward," he said and made it clear that he is personally not in favour of tampering with history, "be it good or bad". State finance minister Manpreet Badal had reportedly spoken about bringing a legislation in lines with Spain's 'Historical Memory Law' which would pave the way for renaming colonial landmarks in the state and formally condemn British rule. The Historical Memory Law of Spain condemns Francisco Franco's dictatorship and honours its victims. Speaking to mediapersons after appointing Congress leader Lal Singh as chairman of Punjab Mandi Board, the Chief Minister said as a historian himself, he does not believe in "wiping out" history but in "learning from it". Amarinder said this could be Manpreet's personal opinion and he would look into any such legislation as and when it is formally brought to his notice. "By changing the name of Akbar Road, one cannot wipe out the existence of Mughal emperor Akbar. History can neither be changed nor rewritten," the Chief Minister said. Replying to another question, Amarinder said the Reserve Bank of India is likely to release the pending Cash Credit Limit for Punjab on Monday and disclosed that he had personally called up Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last night over this issue. Allahabad: Uttar Pradesh minister Siddharth Nath Singh on Saturday said that SP leader Azam Khan's role in the sale of property belonging to Waqf Board was being probed thoroughly. "Prima facie, senior minister in the previous SP government Azam Khan appears to have committed irregularities in the sale of property belonging to the Waqf Board. It seems he had facilitated sale of Waqf land to different people at throwaway prices," he told reporters here. "He could not have done so without getting something in return. The matter is being investigated thoroughly and justice will be done," he said. Prominent Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad had also in the past accused Khan of selling Waqf property illegally. The SP leader, however, had denied the charges and called them "politically motivated". New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Saturday said it will issue an interim order on April 3 on Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj India's plea against a single judge's verdict dismissing their petition for allotting a common symbol to its candidates in upcoming MCD polls. A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar said that as the matter requires consideration, at present it will pass an interim order on Monday as to whether a common symbol can be allotted to Swaraj India in the upcoming municipal corporation elections or not. MCD elections will be held on April 23. "Due to paucity of time we will at present pass an interim order, as the matter requires consideration," the bench said, adding that "in democracy we will have to allow others also to contest election. It cannot be restricted to only one or two political parties". It observed that even the Delhi state election commission is examining the issue and has written to the authorities concerned to consider amending the rules for allotment of common symbols to registered but unrecognised political party. Senior advocate Shanti Bhushan and advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for Swaraj India, submitted before the larger bench that they had urged the Delhi poll panel and the single judge that a common symbol be allotted to registered unrecognised parties so that a level playing field is created in the elections. The counsel argued that the Election Commission of India has created a level playing field by allowing common symbols to be granted to registered unrecognised parties in case of Assembly and Parliamentary elections. Delhi poll panel's counsel Sumeet Pushkarna opposed their appeal on the grounds that 42 more requests have been made by similarly placed parties. "In case it relaxes the rule under challenge by Swaraj India, it may have a situation where we will have to given all of them a common symbol," Pushkarna submitted. He explained that it will be a logistical challenge to do it immediately, since electronic voting machine (EVMs) may have to be tagged and even voters can get confused. They also told the court they have procured 12,000 EVMs from Rajasthan and that each candidate's photo is going to be displayed on the machine for benefit of voters and unrecognised parties. The single judge on March 29 had rejected the party's plea for common symbol asking it to first "make a place for itself under the Sun" and "prove its mettle". The single judge's verdict had come on the party's plea challenging the Delhi poll panel's decision not to allot a common symbol to it to contest the MCD polls. Swaraj India had sought quashing of the panel's March 14, 2017 notification and an April 2016 order which had said that the nominees of such parties would be treated as independent candidates for allotment of symbols. Swaraj India was floated in October last year by Yadav and advocate Prashant Bhushan, who were expelled from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after they questioned Arvind Kejriwal's leadership. New Delhi: DMK working president M K Stalin on Saturday visited the protesting Tamil Nadu farmers at Jantar Mantar in the capital, and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi waive off their loans like he promised in Uttar Pradesh during the recent Assembly polls there. Leaders from Tamil Nadu cutting across the political spectrum have offered their support to the state's farmers who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar for the past 19 days demanding a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore from the Centre and farm loan waiver. "Just like how BJP promised farmer loan waiver to UP in its poll manifesto recently, it should promise the same to Tamil Nadu farmers," he told reporters. The Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly also said that Modi should allow the farmers to meet him and offer a consoling solution at the earliest. Taking a dig at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, Stalin said, "The CM is only keen on R K Nagar elections at the moment." "The ruling party is neither able to help nor get anything from the Centre. The state and the Central governments are playing blame games. Instead of debating the issue, they should act immediately considering the hardship faced by farmers," he said. CPI National Secretary D Raja, DMK MPs Tiruchi Siva and T K S Elangovan were also present. Stalin said an all-party meeting would soon be held on the issue. "I asked Ayyakkannu (who is leading the protest) to call off the strike, but they are not ready to give up. An all-party meeting would be held in the state to decide the next course of action on the issue," he added. Four men detained after Union Minister Smriti Irani lodged a complaint with Delhi Police saying that they chased her. (file picture) pic.twitter.com/B0Rw54exXz ANI (@ANI_news) April 1, 2017 Four men detained after Smriti Irani lodged a complaint with Delhi Police saying that they chased her: Visuals from Chanakyapuri Police stn pic.twitter.com/zljPheYFAn ANI (@ANI_news) April 1, 2017 : Delhi police on Saturday detained four college students, following a complaint lodged by Union Minister Smriti Irani at Chanakyapuri police station. The minister in her complaint alleged that the youth, in a car, chased her and tried overtaking her vehicle.The incident reportedly occurred at around 5:30 PM. The Union Minister called up PCR before personally going to the police station to file a complaint."Their medical examination has confirmed the presence of alcohol in their blood. They were returning from a friend's birthday party in south Delhi and were roaming in the area for fun," police said. Legal action is being taken against the accused youths.CNN-News18 has learnt that the Santro car used by youth was reportedly involved in an incident near Myanmar Embassy at around 5.20 PM.Sources in the police told CNN-News18 that students categorically rubbished all the allegations levelled against them by Smriti Irani. "They were returning after attending a birthday party," a source said.Delhi police, in a tweet, informed that four persons in a car tried to cross Smriti Irani's vehicle when she was crossing Moti Bagh flyover.Further, the students informed police that they are second and third-year students from Moti Lal Nehru College of Delhi University. : AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's statement on 'surya namaskar' being similar to 'namaz' was aimed at fooling Muslims and it would not work.Owaisi also alleged that instead of addressing issues like loss of employment due to action against slaughterhouses in the state, Adityanath was making statements that "won't have any impact whatsoever.""Statements drawing similarity between surya namaskar and namaz, and fasting during Ramzan and Navratri are aimed at fooling Muslims. These are not going to work," the Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad said."These are all patronising statements, which the Muslim community has been hearing for the past 55 years," he said. Owaisi said the primary duty of the chief minister was to do justice.Adityanath had recently said 'surya namaskar' was similar to 'namaz' (prayers) offered by Muslims and those opposing the yogic exercise wanted to divide the society on religious lines."The namaz offered by the Muslims resembles different postures and asanas of surya namaskar including pranayam," he had said.Owaisi also slammed the decision to shut down illegal slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh."Fifteen lakh people are engaged in the profession of selling and distributing meat and the action against slaughterhouses is putting their employment in jeopardy. Why isn't he (Adityanath) addressing that? Instead of that, all these statements (on surya namaskar) are being made. It will not have any impact whatsoever," he said.Owaisi alleged the food processing units engaged in meat export are also being closed in Uttar Pradesh. "Can you imagine the loss to the nation? Nearly Rs 11,000 crore worth of buffalo meat is exported (every year) from Uttar Pradesh itself."The AIMIM leader also charged that the BJP-led government at the Centre is being soft on Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, who was granted bail by a court here last week.The government's statement that it is firm on its fight against terrorism is "hollow" because it is not "firm" on Aseemanand, he said."Why are you not firm on Aseemanand? Why are you not challenging the bail given to Aseemanand? Why are you soft on Aseemanad? Aseemanand is still facing grave charges of terrorism in Mecca Masjid bomb blast, Samjhauta blast (cases). You don't want to appeal against the bail. What kind of message are you sending?" he said.Aseemanand was released from the Chanchalguda central prison in Hyderabad last evening. New Delhi: The Lok Sabha passed the Mental Healthcare Bill, 2016, that decriminalises suicide, and bans the use of shock treatment on children suffering from mental illnesses, earlier this week. The bill also provides for mental health care and services for persons suffering from mental illnesses. In an exhaustive conversation with CNN-News18's Marya Shakil, Union Health Minister JP Nadda talks about the new bill decriminalising suicide, the state of health as a fundamental right, and explains why there was a need for a patient-centric bill. Here are the excerpts: MARYA: It's being called healthy law making as the parliament witnessed extensive debate over the mental healthcare bill. With me is Health Minister JP Nadda to talk about the various initiatives and also the mental health bill in particular. Sir, the key takeaway of the mental healthcare bill is that it decriminalizes attempt to suicide. Psychiatrists, though, are saying that not every attempt of suicide is a case of depression, and that there are several cases of some kind of personality disorder, attention seeking etc. How will you respond to those apprehensions? NADDA: As far as the issue that came forward in the discussion when this bill was being drafted, we had consulted all stakeholders and we came to a confirmed opinion that suicide is done when in an acute stage of stress and so it needs to be decriminalised. After discussions with doctors, specialists, stake holders, we came to this opinion, and I think it's a progressive step, it is a humane decision and it reflects that we are seeing the person who commits suicide as a mentally ill patient at that point in time. And it has to be seen that he is not taken as a criminal, this act should not be taken as criminal, that's why we said it should be decriminalised. MARYA: You've said that this is a patient-centric bill, a number of psychiatrists we spoke to say that this will impact the relationship between patient and doctor and that patient determines his course of treatment, which means that there will be suspicion, doubt and that the doctor will perhaps be on the defensive. NADDA: I think the psychiatrists have not understood the right perspective in which it is said to be a patient-centric bill. Patient-centric bill means that patient will have right of advance directive i.e. when the patient is sane he/she has to decide what course of action or what relief he needs or how he is to be addressed, admitted in an institution or treated in the community itself. But that does not mean that psychiatrist or doctor will be asked to administer a particular kind of drug or kind of treatment MARYA: Line of treatment? NADDA: Line of treatment will never be decided by patient. He can only decide where he wants to be treated, who the persons treating him will be, but the line of treatment is exclusively with the doctors and that does not mean when we say advance directive the directive is how he should be treated, not what treatment is to be given or what medicines are to be administered. This is only in the domain of doctors and this is a wrong notion which has been there with psychiatrists that need to be removed MARYA: Another aspect is changing the mindset, mental illness or depression wasn't really seen as acceptable, there's a taboo attached to it. Do you think there is a need for training? Will you ensure that police will be trained such that they see suicide as a cry for help? NADDA: Certainly, what we want to do is... we want to shift two things about bill that are now becoming an act- One: patient-centric, advance directive- patient will tell what kind of treatment he needs, what environment he needs, he will have right of nomination, who will take care when he is ill... you were talking about the community- Two: we are shifting the treatment from institution to the community, when we shift patient to community, its not only the police, the Asha workers, the caregivers, for the first time, care givers have been recognized and taken on board- so all these people need to be sensitized MARYA: sensitization and training? NADDA: Yes, that is a very important component, but we are now making it a legally acceptable thing where we will legally give position to the patient, that he cannot be coerced or forced and he has to be treated in the community and in the community the people who take care are to be trained and sensitized... even the police. MARYA: But sir, the concern is also about the doctor-patient ratio. There's 1 psychiatrist for every 5 lakh Indians. How will you handle that number, the disparity? NADDA: Its not just with psychiatry it is with other disciplines also, we are going in a big way. This year itself. More than 5000 seats of post graduate have been enhanced and we are going very fast on it. We are trying to see to deregulation in the sense that we want to relax norms so the number of students increases and the PG students increase so we are able to cater to it. There is a backlog, all this should have been done some 10 years back, 15 years back. MARYA: UPA didn't function? NADDA: At this point in time, it's a debate where I have to focus on mental health care not talk about UPA, but yes, it should have been done much before, which it has not been done, but better late than never, we are going forward MARYA: Talking about educational institutions or corporate offices, how will they really examine a patient suffering from mental illness or some kind of ailment? NADDA: This act or bill gives a position where the patient will be given a safe workplace and we have to see that safety is provided accordingly and it is the behavioural part that tells us about the changes in the patient. They will have to report that. It is for the individual or family or institution which has to take care. MARYA: This is not retrospect. A number of cases of attempt to suicide, legalities, how do you plan to address these? NADDA: Yes, this is prospective. Certainly, when a law comes it has to be when it is enacted, only after it happens. So we cant think about the retrospective cases, we have to think about prospective cases. But yes, in the light of it, it is the judiciary which has to decide the cases and they can understand what the prospective law is. MARYA: Talking about the national health policy, you have said that health as a fundamental right cannot... was removed in fact from national health policy 2017, though it was part of the draft policy of 2015, keeping in mind the absence of infrastructure. At a time when your government is talking about digital media, start-up India, don't you think the time has come for health as a fundamental right? NADDA: I will be very clear... talking about fundamental rights and just taking a political advantage of it is not correct. We should live in reality, and we should do what we can do. We are working in a way where it is reaching the stage of a fundamental right, we are giving them health assurance. We have made universal screening which is a major step. We have increased budget. We are also trying to see to it that health facilities like drugs and diagnosis are provided to the common man and poor man. So in a way, all type of health assurances are being given. We want to be practical, not come out with a policy and then say we cant do it at this point of time. MARYA: In two years? Perhaps at the end of the first term, there is a possibility of health as a fundamental right? NADDA: What I will say is that by the end of this term, we will make health an assured facility to be given to every citizen of the country. MARYA: Talking about National health policy, it talks about regulating private sector and grading private and government hospitals, how do you plan to go about this regulation and grading? NADDA: Not just plan, we are working on it. We have graded government hospitals, we know what type of facilities, we have graded accordingly. And now we are trying to see to it which institutions fall under which grade and the same way we'll do for private hospitals. The norms are there we only have to develop the infrastructure to see how to regulate. The regulation, protocol are ready. What we have to do is put things in place and we will do it. MARYA: The ministry's flagship programme, the national health mission faces an uncertain future with the end of the 12th 5-year plan on March 31. Can the government really afford to do away with such a massive initiative? NADDA: I don't think there is any thinking of doing away with NHM. It is a very important programme of health ministry. It has given very good results, we have been able to see to it that the indicators show there is a decline in IMR, MMR, under 5 mortality... very good indicators are there. In fact, we are going faster than the world pace on these parameters so we are going to continue with it. MARYA: In February, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, the government's highest body on immunisation, cut financial ties with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, because of the foundation's ties with pharmaceutical companies. Did it have to do with the concerns raised by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch? NADDA-No our central supervisory board takes care of all these things and we work on their advice. MARYA-There's been a lot of criticism of the recent HIV bill, especially of the clause 14(1)" as far as possible regarding the centre and states responsibility to ensure diagnosis and ART treatment. The community is worried that the government will see this as an escape route and not do their utmost to provide free and complete and free treatment. This fear has been compounded by regular stock-outs of testing kits and medicines even in Delhi hospitals. NADDA-I would like to clear here that we believe in practical things, this is not mine but standing committees opinion that we should write as far as possible, but as for the government, we have decided that we will have test and treatment programme, Earlier, when I took over the CD4 count was 350 then ART used to start which is Anti Retro Viral treatment but we increased it to 500 counts and the moment we get to know a person has HIV virus the treatment will start. So we are giving them universal treatment, we are giving them free treatment. As far as possible, it has been said in terms of the practical procedure. We will give free and complete treatment. There should be no doubts about it because of this clause, even among patents and health activists. MARYA- To the regulatory bodies - Dental and Medical councils of India need a revamp - the current DCI chairman has an FIR... that the regulatory body is vested... how will you clean up the system with its members facing questions on themselves - conflict of interest is the charge. NADDA- We are on the way, we have drafted a bill called National Medical Commission, and discussion is going on. Very soon, we will be bringing it to the cabinet and we will bring it to the parliament. At this point in time, these are all autonomous bodies and it is they who regulate and we work accordingly. But there are changes in National Medical Commission so NMC will take care of all these things. All issues are being taken care of. MARYA- Is this an area of concern? How soon will the bill come? NADDA- of course, it is. The bill will come as soon as possible. NITI Aayog has worked on it. Many new aspects are taken into consideration. MARYA-What happened in Maharashtra? Doctors going on strike because of the assault they face from attendants and patients...Why is there always such a harsh reaction to these strikes? The Bombay High Court said that hospital management could take action against the striking doctors and last year, the Delhi government threatened doctors with invoking Essential Services Maintenance Act. NADDA-No, I think states will have to be more proactive. They have to talk not only with doctors but they have to provide security as well, this is condemnable. This is a serious concern and I have spoken to CMs. I have spoken to health minister also to see to it to provide an environment to see to it that doctors work in a congenial environment and to provide them security also. MARYA- Private hospitals also charge exorbitant amounts for treatment. Will you assure the people that this treatment cost will come down? NADDA-We have taken many steps. We provide them subsidized and quality medicines through Amrit. We have reduced prices of stents and we are doing it for others also. But as far as private institutes are concerned. We have a clinical establishments act that has to be adopted by states. The moment they adopt it and adhere, things will improve. Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Google have joined bidding for Toshiba's NAND flash memory unit, vying with others for the Japanese firm's prized semiconductor operation, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported on Saturday.Toshiba shareholders on Thursday agreed to split off its NAND flash memory business, paving the way for a sale to raise at least $9 billion to cover U.S. nuclear unit charges that threaten the conglomerate's future.The Yomiuri newspaper said bidding prices from Apple, Amazon or Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, were not known.The Nikkei business daily reported on Friday that U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake Partners and U.S. chipmaker Broadcom Ltd have offered Toshiba about 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) for the unit.About 10 potential bidders are interested in buying a stake in the microchip operation, a source with knowledge of the planned sale told Reuters earlier.Suitors include Western Digital Corp, which operates a chip plant with Toshiba in Japan, Micron Technology Inc, South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc and financial investors.Toshiba officials were not immediately available for comment. An Australian consumer watchdog has barred four banks from collectively bargaining with Apple for gaining access to the contactless payment technology used in iPhones.Four banks -- Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank -- wanted to negotiate with Apple to gain access to its payments technology used in "Apple Pay" for their own apps, avoiding having to pay fees to Apple, the BBC reported on Friday.The banks do not allow their cards to be used with "Apple Pay" because they never reached agreement on the conditions.By collectively bargaining with the Cupertino-headquartered tech giant, these four banks wanted to convey to Apple that unless it gave them access to its iPhone technology, they would continue to prevent their customers from using Apple Pay.In its final ruling on Friday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said that the collective threat to boycott Apple was "likely to reduce or distort competition".The commission said that ruling in favour of the banks would have reduced competition by forcing Apple to act more like Google, whose more open Android operating system allows contactless payments from individual apps."It is a tricky issue for a competition regulator to force one competitor to adopt a strategy of the other competitor," ACCC chairman Rod Sims was quoted as saying.Meanwhile, the banks have said that they were "disappointed" by the decision and would review their future strategies.The near field communication (NFC) system used in "Apple Pay" allows users to transact by just holding their phone to a small terminal, with the money deducted from a bank card registered with Apple Pay. Beijing: China on Saturday banned wearing veils or growing "abnormal" beards in Xinjiang as part of a major crackdown aimed at curbing "religious extremism" in the restive Uygur Muslim majority province. According to law, which came into effect on Sunday, special task forces to curb extremism would be set up at regional, prefectural and county governments and local leaders would be evaluated annually for their localities' achievements on the matter. The stringent regulation aimed at curbing religious extremism came amid the government's intensifying campaign against what it calls the rising threat of terrorism and separatism in the province was passed this week. The law bans a wide range of acts including wearing veils or "abnormal" beards, without specifying the term. It will also be illegal to refuse to watch state television and listen to state radio, or prevent children from receiving national education activities deemed "manifestations" of extremism, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. The regulation were passed by the Xinjiang legislature's standing committee. Security and surveillance measures have been beefed up in recent months following reports of heightened violence in Xinjiang's rural south, including massive shows of force where thousands of heavily-armed police paraded in a number of cities. The province is restive for several years due to the resentment by Uygurs over increasing settlements of Han population from other provinces. China blames separatist East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an Al Qaeda affiliated group, for the spate of violent attacks in and out of the province. A number of its members reported to have joined Islamic State (IS) to fight in Syria and Beijing apprehends that they would return to carry out more attacks. "As a matter of fact President-elect Trump has shown deep and great understanding of what is taking place in the region as a whole and what is taking place in Egypt," Sisi, who met Trump in September before his election, said in an interview. "He's a fantastic guy. Took control of Egypt, and he really took control of it," he told Fox Business of the period after Morsi's overthrow which saw hundreds of Islamist protesters killed and thousands detained. "He made a passionate and convincing case for why all nations should stop working with Islamists," said a member of one delegation who requested anonymity. Cairo is pleased by signals from Trump's administration and Congress that they may consider blacklisting Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement, a move which also has its critics in Washington. After four years of tension with the United States, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi now has a fan in the White House and on Monday he meets President Donald Trump.The American former reality television star and tycoon has made no secret of his admiration for the ex-army chief who overthrew his Islamist predecessor and cracked down on his supporters.Mohamed Morsi's ouster in 2013, a year after he had won Egypt's first democratic election, and the ensuing crackdown on Islamists prompted then US president Barack Obama to suspend military aid to Cairo temporarily.But when Sisi meets Trump on Monday during his first state visit to Washington, he will see a counterpart who better appreciates his "mission" to fight Islamists and jihadists, without Obama's hand-wringing over human rights.A senior White House official said Friday that Trump wants to "build on the strong connection the two presidents established" then.Trump has been gushing about Sisi.Over the past three years, Sisi has met a trickle of delegations from American think-tanks and other groups, drumming home the importance of supporting him.Sisi often speaks of himself as though he were a Cassandra whose warnings go unheeded."We warned two years ago our European friends, the foreign fighters in Syria will return and commit terrorism in Europe," he said during a 2016 visit by French President Francois Hollande."America prepares to confront the Brotherhood," read a banner headline in red in the official Al-Ahram newspaper."Beyond Sisi being thrilled that Trump replaced Obama, and the opportunity to turn a page, this is Egypt trying to reassert itself in a more central way to US Middle East strategy," said Issandr El Amrani, the International Crisis Group's North Africa director.Egypt one of two Arab countries to have a peace treaty with Israel had traditionally played a central role in US regional alliances, in return receiving $1.3 billion in annual military aid.Cairo has also mediated between Israel and the Palestinians. New York: Rampant violence, aging jails: The notorious Rikers Island prison complex could fade into history after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, in a political about-face, backed a plan Friday to close it. "We had to do a lot of work to figure out a path that actually could achieve this goal," said Mayor Bill de Blasio as he announced the commitment, which he was previously reluctant to make. "For a long time I have said publicly it was a noble idea but I did not see how it was attainable under the conditions we were facing," he said at a news conference. The Democratic mayor, who is running for re-election this year, said it became clear that "we that had to adjust the time line if we were going to be honest about it -- that a decade was the minimum in which it could be done. That was the breakthrough." For years many New York officials and legal experts have been calling for the closure of the huge complex, which shares its name with the island in the East River where it is located. The site sits between the city's boroughs of Queens and the Bronx. The first jail there dates back to 1935. Rikers Island is one of the best-known prisons in the United States, along with Sing Sing in New York state and San Quentin in northern California. - Tupac and Strauss-Kahn - Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols and the rapper Tupac Shakur have slept in its cells. So has then-managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was briefly detained in 2011 after a hotel maid accused him of attempted rape. The lawyer for the high-flying French IMF chief asked for his transfer, pointing to the prison's bad reputation. "For too long, Rikers Island has stood out as a symbol of injustice in our city and as a stain on our criminal justice system," said Melissa Mark-Viverito, the speaker of the City Council and longtime critic of the prison, at the news conference. "Its legacy of systemic violence and abuse has been a blemish on New York City for decades," she added. The first prison on the island dates back to 1935 and the complex now sees almost daily violence. In September, six guards were sentenced to several years imprisonment for assaulting an inmate. And some 80 percent of the prisoners at Rikers are stuck there without a criminal conviction as they await trial. Until now, de Blasio, who is up for re-election in November, has tried to improve its functioning by boosting staff training and limiting the use of solitary confinement. - Falling crime - De Blasio said that he could now envision a long-term plan for the prison closure because New York's crime rate has dropped. The number of deaths and shootings fell in 2016 to their lowest level since the early 1990s. Detainee numbers on Rikers have effectively dipped by 18 percent since 2013, according to recent statistics, from a daily average of 11,696 prisoners to 9,756 in 2016, and 9,362 in March. The mayor said that the decline would likely continue, with a target of reducing the number of inmates to 5,000 over the next five years. But he acknowledged that the city cannot close Rikers without opening new, smaller prisons in New York neighborhoods. And he said the long-term plan would require commitment from his successors. Though public opinion polls now indicate de Blasio is well-placed to win a second four-year term in November, the idea of putting prisons in neighborhoods could raise hackles among New Yorkers. Islamabad: Pakistan's electronic media watchdog on Friday imposed a fine of Rs one million each on two prominent TV channels including Geo News for showing "indecent contents". Geo News and Hum TV were fined after they could not give satisfactory answers to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) about allegations of airing objectionable clips. It imposed a fine of Rs one million on Geo News for its program 'Geo Pakistan' for allegedly airing indecent clips. The channel was also ordered to keep the program off air for five days. "Geo Pakistan is banned from broadcasting, rebroadcasting, fresh, old or repeat content on Geo News from 9 AM Monday April 3 till 12 AM April 7, 2017," PEMRA said. Hum TV was punished for drama 'Chew Gum' which it aired last month and for which it was issued a notice on February 20, seeking an explanation within seven days. "On account of the airing of the episode 'Chew Gum' in the drama serial 'Kitni Girhein Baqi Hein' having indecent content... A fine of Rs 10,00,000 (Rupees one million) is imposed on Hum TV, payable within three weeks from the issuance of this decision," PEMRA said. It also asked media outlets that the selection of the theme of their dramas or soaps and other items should be made keeping in mind the provisions of the Electronic Media (Programmes and Advertisements) Code of Conduct 2015, socio- cultural norms and values of the country. Washington: US-Egypt relationship has been historically driven by security which would remain a key component of bilateral ties, the White House said on Friday ahead of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's visit to America. The Egyptian President will meet his US counterpart Donald Trump at the White House on April 3, which officials said would lay the foundation of a strong bilateral relationship. "The President is excited to welcome Egyptian President al-Sisi to the White House on April 3 and he wants to use the visit to reboot the bilateral relationship and build on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September," a senior Trump administration official told reporters. Noting that Egypt is one of the traditional pillars of stability in the Middle East and has been a reliable US partner for decades, he said Trump's initial interactions with al-Sisi, including their phone call on January 23, have already improved the tone of the relationship. "Trump aims to reaffirm the deep and abiding US commitment to Egypt's security, stability and prosperity," the official said, adding that al-Sisi has taken a number of bold steps on very sensitive issues since becoming President in 2014. "He has called for reform in moderation of Islamic discourse, initiated courageous and historic economic reforms and saw to reestablish Egypt's regional leadership role. He has also led Egypt's campaign to defeat a long-running terrorist threat in Sinai," the official said. The US wants to support President al-Sisi's efforts in all of these areas. "Our relationship has historically been driven by security and that will remain a key component of the engagement with Egypt. The US and Egyptian militaries have built close relationships and many military officers from Egypt have trained at US military installations," he said. Trump supports al-Sisi's ambition to develop a comprehensive counter-terrorism approach that involves military, political, economic, as well as social efforts, the official said, adding that at the same time, Trump also wants to increase the focus on economic and commercial cooperation in bilateral relationship. Building a more stable and productive economy is a critical step to ensuring long-term stability in Egypt, the official said. The Egyptian President has begun a necessary economic reform plan that would strengthen the Egyptian economy if it is fully executed, he said. "There is no question the transition in their economy will be difficult, but in the long run, Egypt will be stronger if it follows through on its homegrown reform plan. Our ties with Egypt is complex and covers a number of very challenging issues and we are fully aware that next week's meeting is only the start of a long process of improving this historical relationship. "We are optimistic that we are heading in the right direction and President Trump is very much looking forward to the visit," the White House official added. Islamabad: Pakistan army chief General Qamar Bajwa on Friday said that those wishing to isolate Pakistan should see how it was actually "valued" by international community. The world acknowledged Pakistan's efforts in combating terrorism, Gen Bajwa said while addressing foreign delegates participating in the second Pakistan Army Team Spirit competition at the National Counter Terrorism Centre. "Those who propagate to isolate Pakistan should see how Pakistan is actually valued and honoured by our global friends," Bajwa said. Ten foreign teams from China, Indonesia, Jordon, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Thailand and the UK armies would participate in the event to be held from April 1-5, the army said in a statement. "Your presence here is the evidence," he said. He said terrorism has been affecting the whole world and requires collective response approach. "Pakistan is a peace-loving country and has significantly contributed towards peace and stability," Bajwa said. The competition is aimed at testing survival skills and physical endurance spread over 72 hours and includes 23 field events focusing on counter-terrorism operations. Bajwa's remarks were apparently aimed at India which has been trying to isolate Pakistan on the issue of terrorism. The organization of an artisan trail representing Lynchburg and the counties of Amherst, Appomattox and Campbell currently is underway. The trails purpose is to attract tourists by highlighting and connecting artists, artisans, studios and galleries; agri-tourism-based businesses and farms; breweries and distilleries; restaurants and hotels; and other potential sites that qualify. Basically anything that makes a visitor interested culturally, said Sherri Smith, executive director of the Artisan Center of Virginia (ACV), a Greenville-based nonprofit that aims to improve economic outcomes for Virginia artisans and also oversees the trail network. The trail network began as a way to help small artisan entrepreneurs in rural areas, Smith said. You think of lodging. B&Bs have associations. Restaurants have associations. Well artisans, the creative ones and the farming/agricultural ones, not so much back in the day, she said. We discovered this incredible connection between the artists. The meaning of what they do really connects in with the making. [We said], Lets build this artisan industry in Virginia. Lets talk about whats so beautiful in this meaning-and-making story we have. The new trail will be ACVs 33rd; they also have created the Bedford County Artisan Trail and the Monticello Artisan Trail, which covers Nelson and Albemarle counties and Charlottesville. A management team for the new trail has been formed, made up of representatives from arts organizations like Appomattoxs Wolfbane Productions, Amhersts Second Stage, the Academy Center of the Arts, Riverviews Artspace, Opera on the James and the Lynchburg Art Club, as well as county economic development and parks and recreation offices, the Lynchburg Community Market, Amhersts Ankida Ridge Winery and even individual artists. We need to make sure we have boots on the ground out in those regions, Smith said. Theres a real grassroots underpinning, you might say, for a trail. It really takes having people who know the communities [to] really design it and make it happen the way they want. [To] tell their story. Sergei Troubetzkoy said he reached out to Smith not long after he came on as Lynchburgs director of tourism in 2014. In his previous gig as Bedfords tourism director, he was involved in the creation of the countys artisan trail and saw its benefits firsthand. We anticipate a lot of people coming out of the woodwork who are not on our radar. It happened in Bedford, he said. It was amazing to see how many people showed up. One of the benefits of a program is these people get to know each other. I think they get [just] as much out of it, just the interaction between the artists. And they start thinking about ways they can partner with each other. Even the management team. There were a lot of those people in that room, when we had our management meeting, who did not know each other. And that was wonderful. Just bringing them together was very beneficial. The management teams next steps, according to a news release, will be to identify potential participants, hold information sessions, start building consensus for a trail name, and develop promotional materials and activities. The first information session will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 11 at Riverviews Artspace. The goal is to eventually produce a brochure and map featuring all of the trail sites, to use as a tourism marketing material. This first year, its all about getting everybody together, Smith said. Were going to do this beautiful map brochure thats a wonderful call to action. Theres a lot of fun in this first year. But thats just putting it together. We have years after that [when] we want to see fun things happening and really [be] engaging the communities to do things and the businesses to do things and work together. Smith said the process typically takes 12 to 14 months and can be longer or shorter depending on the needs of the community. Trails must feature a minimum of 50 sites in order to launch. The Loudon County Artisan Trail, which is in the midst of its implementation, has 70 sites, she said, while others have as many as 100 or more. The Bedford County Artisan Trail features more than 80. The cost to get a trail up and running can range from $30,000 to $45,000, Smith said, depending on the success of the trails membership, sponsorships, grants and other fundraising efforts. The Lynchburg Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau has committed to providing the $15,000 seed funding ACV requires, with $10,000 coming from the current fiscal year, Troubetzkoy said. But that number could drop as they look at other sources and sponsorships. Participation fees for members range from $100 to $170 the first year, Smith said, depending on the type of business or organization. They try to keep the fees low so we can get a lot of stakeholders involved. Ken Arpino, Wolfbane Productions director of development and a member of the trails management team, said he sees the trail as an amazing form of exposure. Appomattox is doing a really great job rebranding. We really are becoming a destination, he said. There is a lot to do there and, certainly, one of the things, outside of the rich Civil War history, is we do have a lot of artists. We do have a lot of farms that have specialties, and artisans. The benefit for me is to be like, Wow, thats so crazy. I didnt know that was happening in my own backyard, Arpino added. Its been a learning experience not only for us who live there, but Im excited to see how visitors will respond. Over in Campbell County, Mike Davidson, director of economic development, said the idea of teaming up is advantageous to everyone involved. The wider they can cast that net, the bigger they can make that trail the better its going to be for everybody, he said. Weve got some really wonderful properties and facilities that meet the artisan trail criteria that wed love to showcase and help them take advantage of being part of something bigger, like the entire trail, versus trying to do something on a local basis. Smith said there is a certain give and take that is essential to the program. We want people to have fun with it. We want them to use it, she said. And its really important to say theyll get out of it what they put into it. Its partly their responsibility to use those tools. All of that is woven in. RICHMOND - Jens Soering, a convicted double murderer whose innocence claims have drawn support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a detective who investigated the case more than 30 years ago, has lost another round with Virginia's Parole Board. The board rejected Soering's request for parole, the prisoner learned Friday. In addition to parole, Soering has been seeking a full pardon from Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat. It was not immediately clear if the pardon request was still under consideration. This was Soering's 12th go-round with the board, but the first to follow two developments that he and supporters thought would boost his chances for release. One was the release of a German documentary last year that raised new questions about his conviction. The other was a new analysis of evidence indicating that Soering was not the source of type O blood found at the scene, as prosecutors had contended at his 1990 trial. "Obviously I'm extremely disappointed and very surprised," Soering said in a telephone interview from Buckingham Correctional Center in central Virginia. "I'm not giving up the fight. I'm innocent. The state has done me a great, great harm for 31 years and today's decision is just another one in an enormously long line of horrible injustices." The Parole Board alone decides requests for parole, but it only makes recommendations to the governor on pardon petitions. Soering and his pro-bono lawyer, Steven Rosenfield of Charlottesville, said it was unclear where the pardon request stands. McAuliffe's spokesman, Brian Coy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A German diplomat's son, Soering is serving two life sentences for the 1985 slayings of his girlfriend's parents in central Virginia. At the time of the murders, he and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Haysom, had been honors students at the University of Virginia. Soering initially confessed to the crime, but later said he was only trying to protect Haysom from Virginia's electric chair under the mistaken belief that he had diplomatic immunity because of his father's position. He was convicted in a sensational 1990 trial that drew international press and gavel-to-gavel coverage on local cable TV. Haysom pleaded guilty to being an accessory before the fact, contending that she helped plan the murders but did not physically take part. She is serving a 90-year sentence at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women near Charlottesville. Soering converted to Catholicism in prison and went on to write a string of books on religion, meditation, prison reform and his own criminal case. He has attracted a large and devoted group of supporters, who have pressed for his release for decades. They include actor Martin Sheen, who wrote the foreword to Soering's latest book, which was published in March by Lantern Books. In 2010, the German Embassy and Richmond's Catholic bishop convinced then-Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, to approve his transfer to a German prison, on condition that he serve at least two years there. But Kaine's action - which he later justified as a way to save the commonwealth incarceration costs - caused an uproar and was reversed by his Republican successor, Robert McDonnell. In the years since, Merkel personally pressed for Soering's transfer during a visit with former president Barack Obama. A new blood analysis performed last summer, which indicates a male other than Soering was the source of the type-O blood found at the home of Derek and Nancy Haysom, won Soering a notable convert: Chuck Reid, a former Bedford County sheriff's deputy who was originally assigned to the case. He began speaking out about his belief that Virginia had locked up the wrong man. But some officials have never doubted Soering's guilt. Among them is Maj. Ricky Gardner, who was also on the case from the start. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. But he dismissed Reid's misgivings in interviews last year. "In recent years," he said in an email last year, "some people have based their feelings of Soering's innocents on what-ifs and vague hypothesis and not on the facts/evidence presented at his trial." After Houston Rowley met with major energy companies, including British Petroleum (BP), Shell, ExxonMobil, and EOG Resources. On the agenda were strategies for navigating the challenges facing the energy sector and opportunities for growth and partnerships at home and in the region. A US$5 billion investment by BP in TT was announced, and EOG will commence significant seismic work and drilling. Also, Shell will be investing billions in TT over the next four years. While Rowley was engaged in these talks, reports emerged in Guyana over the operation of ExxonMobil there. Preliminary findings from the Snoek-1 well, the companys latest exploration in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, were favourable. The finds could bolster Guyanas status as being something of a sleeping giant. The country has an abundance of natural resources but is lacking infrastructure needed to maximise profits. Trinidad and Tobago has the opposite problem. We have infrastructure but our unrenewable resources are dwindling. It makes sense, therefore, to seek to partner with Guyana, which may need refinery facilities as it works to jump-start its economy. If such facilities have to be built from scratch, this will represent a substantial capital investment. If, on the other hand, cross-border partnership happens, then margins could be widened. Therefore, there is much expectation that this country will seek to play a role in the shifting dynamics of the region. But there is another reason why Trinidad and Tobago is key. Tensions between Guyana and Venezuela threaten to undermine any efforts to move forward with projects in Guyana. The longstanding border dispute creates an aura of uncertainty that is counter-productive to stable business. Depending on the margins of the finds involved, Venezuela is likely to invoke a claim to territory that might affect the lay of the land. This country has good relations with both Guyana and Venezuela and is poised to play a meaningful role in mediating any tensions that might escalate. Furthermore, our leadership role within Caricom which was demonstrated by US President Donald Trumps recent call to Whitehall means we also have influence over key regional collaborators who will be looking on and who have an interest in regional security. Therefore, the matter is not only economic, but diplomatic. The irony is that all of this also underlines how much more work needs to be done locally in terms of the diversification of our economy. This country has for a long time relied on oil and natural gas to fund its operations. At the same time, systems and structures have not been efficient in terms of the use of the windfall from these operations. The journey to a new procurement regime has been a long and difficult one. As the world seeks to wean itself off hydrocarbons, we cannot afford to ignore the fact that the tide is changing. While Trumps presidency has already set in motion a rollback of the forward-looking energy policies of his predecessor Barack Obama, it is not likely that the global trend and the gains made at the Paris climate conference will evaporate overnight. This country must play a role in any potential expansion of the oil and gas industry in the region with an eye to stimulating the economy. But it must equally have its eyes on developing alternative power sources, reducing carbon emissions, and developing economic segments that can provide less volatile income levels, such as manufacturing and tourism. There must be follow-up after Houston, yes. But charity must also begin at home. Our house needs to be in order sooner rather than later. Young artists show at Art Gala Founders of the society Jonathan Edwards and Srikanth Rao said the society is providing a platform for young artists not only for sale but to receive valuable feedback from other artists. Its an important forum to promote local talent. What Ive noticed is that many persons have the skill and the potential to become fantastic artists, but they unfortunately dont know how to present their work and as a result of this, some lovely pieces are locked away in basements for years. The pieces featured on March 18 took on a variety of media ranging from colourful, nostalgia-inducing paintings of life in rural Trinidad to black and white photographs depicting the stages of depression. Returning artist and local favourite Nalini Singh displayed some of her popular local scenes and several hand-painted, seashells which caught the eyes of patrons. Singh said that she was pleased with the response to the event and said the turnout of young artists was an indication that art in Trinidad was alive and well. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Im happy to see the turnout of patrons to support local artists. Tonights success isnt measured only in terms of sheer numbers but also the quality of work on display from artists with such limited experience is nothing short of impressive. Other works took on a life of their own as artists coupled bright images and dark silhouettes to create their finished product. Whatever their individual tastes, patrons were treated to a variety of styles and topics highlighting social themes such as homelessness and domestic violence or more contemporary, upbeat abstract works. Realist designer and engineering student Jonathan Mapp was among one of the first time exhibitors. Using charcoals, Mapp sketches detailed drawings of wildlife, merging strokes into an eye-catching art. This is really the first time Im being featured here at a gala, its been a wonderful experience and Im happy that there is a forum like this which gives young, up and coming artists an outlet for us to showcase our works. Francophonie celebration Francophonie is an international organisation representing countries and regions where French is the first or customary language, or where a significant proportion of the population are francophone (French speakers) or where there is a notable affiliation with French culture. French Ambassador, H?di Picquart, told guests: There are 275 million French speakers in the world, of which 212 million speak French daily. French is the fifth most spoken language in the world, the fourth most used on the Internet, third most used globally in business and the second working language of the UN. He said the International Francophonie Organisation comprises 80 states and governments of which 54 are full members, 26 member states and four associate members. Canadian High Commissioner, Carla Hogan Rufelds said Thursdays commemoration helps us to remember the important role played by la francophonie in the promotion of peace, democracy, respect for human rights and sustainable development, and the central place it gives to women, youth and the vulnerable in its work. Amer G Haidar, Lebanese Honorary Consul in TT then raised a toast to commemorate the occasion. Tom Brady Just Became First NFL Player to Do This In 2004, one in 10 American women under the age of 45 with cancer in one breast opted to have the second, healthy breast removed as well. Just eight years later, it had increased to one in three women, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Surgery. When looking at breast cancer patients of all ages in 2012, only 13% opted to have the healthy breast removed with the cancerous one; but that's still a major increase from 4.5% in 2004. The New York Times reports there's no evidence that removing a healthy breast will reduce a person's chances of dying from breast cancer in the future. In fact, the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Society of Breast Surgeons recommend against it. So, it's unclear why breast cancer patients are increasingly choosing to go that route. Ahmedin Jemal, senior author of the study, tells CNN it may be for symmetry or because of the widespread coverage of Angelina Jolie's choice to have both breasts removed. Or maybe patients just don't believe doctors when they say removing a healthy breast doesn't significantly reduce their risk of developing breast cancer a second time. Jemal also says there was a "very striking"and unexplainedgeographical difference in the number of women choosing to have a healthy breast removed, Reuters reports. The highest rates were seen in five contiguous states in the Midwest; the lowest in Hawaii. (Meanwhile, a report found the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer could double by 2030.) A herd of elephants has attacked a group of wildlife park employees in South Africa, trampling one to death and seriously injuring another, the AP reports. South Africa's national parks service said Friday that the incident occurred Thursday afternoon near a camp in the flagship Kruger National Park. The parks service says police and medics were called to the scene and an investigation is underway. There have been occasional reports in some African countries of villagers being killed or injured by elephants, which are heavily poached for their ivory and sometimes attacked by villagers who want to protect their crops. Kruger Park has seen a few instances of elephants charging cars that get too close. In at least one case, an elephant stamped on a vehicle and caused injuries. (Read more elephants stories.) Artist and activist Gilbert Baker has died nearly 40 years after creating the Rainbow Flag that now symbolizes gay pride around the world, ABC 7 reports. Baker's death was first announced by fellow activist Cleve Jones. "Gilbert gave the world the Rainbow Flag; he gave me forty years of love and friendship," Jones posted on Facebook. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Baker died in his sleep at his home in New York. He was 65. Baker was asked by Harvey Milk to create something to replace the pink triangle used to identify homosexuals by the Nazis; he decided on a flag. "Flags are about power," ABC 7 quotes Baker as saying. "Flags say something." The first Rainbow Flag flew over the 1978 Gay Freedom Day celebration in San Francisco, according to the GLBT Historical Society, to which Baker gifted one of the sewing machines he used to make his flag. A memorial will be held for Baker Friday night in San Francisco. The GLBT Historical Society is asking that all Rainbow Flags be lowered to half staff in his honor. (Read more obituary stories.) Manatees passed a huge milestone this week, but not everybody was cheering about the removal of the marine mammals from the endangered species list after 50 years. The US Fish and Wildlife Service called the change a "success story" for the species when it announced the change Thursday, the day after Manatee Appreciation Day, NPR reports. In a statement, FWS said the Florida manatee population had rebounded from a few hundred in the early 1970s to an estimated 6,620 today. FWS said that in considering the downlisting, it had looked at populations of the West Indian manatee throughout its range, which extends from the southeast US down as far as Brazil, CNN reports. While there is still plenty of work to be done, "manatee numbers are increasing and we are actively working with partners to address threats," said acting FWS director Jim Kurth. But Patrick Rose, director of the Save the Manatee Club, described the move as a "devastating blow to manatees." He warned changing classification at this time will damage the "chances of securing the manatee's long-term survival" and said in light of the new administration's plans to cut regulations that protect wildlife and water quality, the move appears to be a political one. Manatees are now on the threatened list and FWS says the reclassification will not diminish federal protections. (Some 16% of Florida's manatees died off in 2013.) Two men and one woman have been arrested in connection with a massive fire that could leave traffic in Atlanta snarled for months. Basil Eleby, the man believed to have intentionally started a blaze that caused an overpass on Interstate 85 to collapse, was booked on suspicion of first-degree criminal damages to property, which could get him up to 10 years in prison, CNN reports. Two other suspects facing criminal trespassing charges were identified as Sophia Bruner and Barry Thomas. Authorities believe all three suspects are homeless. "We believe they were together when the fire was set and Eleby is the one who set the fire," said Jay Florence, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Insurance. Eleby has been arrested at least 19 times for offenses including assault and cocaine trafficking, WXIA reports. Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry says the fire started during rush hour Thursday in an area under the highway where the state stores materials including high-density polyethylene piping used for fiber optics networks, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Nobody was injured in the blaze, but repairing and replacing around 700 feet of affected roadway in both the northbound and southbound lanes of I-85 is expected to take months. The federal government has agreed to chip in $10 million toward reconstruction costs. (Read more Atlanta stories.) Protesters smashed the windows of the Congress building in Asuncion, Paraguay and set fire to the interior Friday after a majority of Paraguayan senators approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the election of a president to a second term, the AP reports. The amendment was called illegal by opposition members and opposed by the Senate president himself. The vote was followed by clashes outside the Congress building. Some protesters broke through police lines and entered the first floor, where they set fire to papers and furniture. Police fired rubber bullets to drive demonstrators away from the building while firefighters extinguished blazes inside. The measure was backed by 25 of the country's 45 senators. Most of the yes votes came from members of the governing Colorado Party. "A coup has been carried out," opposition senator Desiree Masi said, per the BBC. "We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us." The proposal would allow current President Horacio Cartes and Paraguay's previous presidents to run for the top job again in the 2018 election. Presidents are now limited to a single 5-year term. After approval in the Senate, the proposal went to the Chamber of Deputies, where 44 of the 80 members belong to the Colorado Party. The clashes are believed to be the worst political violence since Paraguay became a democracy in 1992. (Read more Paraguay stories.) Thursday marked the 150th anniversary of Russia's sale of Alaska to the USand in honor of the occasion, the New York Times takes a look at Russian attitudes toward the sale. Turns out some Russians are pretty bitter about it, claiming that Russia would be even stronger today if the country had kept hold of Alaska and its vast natural riches; the Times notes that the issue is an especially sensitive one given the current battle for influence over the Arctic. Even Vladimir Putin recently weighed in on the matter, saying Thursday that "what the US does in Alaska, it does on the global level." He said he's especially concerned about the US developing a missile system there. The Russians, who started to settle Alaska in 1784, sold it less than a century later amid fears that Britain might seize it or Americans might overrun it if gold were discovered there. For the US, the deal meant a closer trade position with China and increased protection of the West Coast from the British, although of course there were some who called the $7.2 million purchase ($125 million in today's dollars) "Seward's folly." (William H. Seward, then-US secretary of state, signed the deal with Russia.) For the indigenous people of Alaska, the anniversary brings mixed emotions; Alaska's Native peoples were mistreated by both the Russians and the Americans. Professor William L. Iggiagruk Hensley, a descendant of Inupiaq Eskimos, takes an extensive look at the deal and its impact on Alaska's Native peoples at The Conversation. (Read more Alaska stories.) Venezuela's president and Supreme Court backed down Saturday from a surprise move to strip congress of its legislative powers that had sparked widespread charges that the South American country was no longer a democracy, the AP reports. President Nicolas Maduro asked the Supreme Court in a late-night speech to review a ruling nullifying the lawmaking body after that decision set off a storm of criticism from the opposition and foreign governments. The court on Saturday released new rulings that apparently reinstated congress' authority. It was a rare instance of the embattled socialist president backing away from a move to increase his power. Opposition leaders dismissed the backtracking as too little too late and called on Venezuelans to take to the street Saturday morning against what they called an attempted coup. They said the clarification issued by the judges only proved yet again that Maduro controls the courts and there is no longer a real separation of powers in Venezuela. At the same time, administration critics celebrated the reversal as proof that cracks are beginning to show in Maduro's control of the country, with his approval ratings dipping below 20% amid a worsening economic and humanitarian crisis. (Read more Venezuela stories.) A northern Wisconsin man suspected in a string of fatal shootings that ended in a shootout with police died of his wounds Saturday, the AP reports. Nengmy Vang, 45, died at around 1:30am, state Department of Justice spokesman Johnny Koremenos said. Vang had been hospitalized since March 22, when police shot him during a standoff at his apartment in Weston, one of a cluster of small towns near Wausau, about 90 miles west of Green Bay. Investigators say Vang barricaded himself in the apartment after killing three people in a rampage that spanned three cities. Investigators say Vang launched his attack after a domestic incident with his wife. The couple were going through a bitter divorce. It's not clear when or where the domestic dispute took place, but investigators have said Vang went to the Rothschild bank where his wife worked at around midday on March 22. He is accused of killing two of his wife's colleagues, Dianne Look and Karen Barclay, and then traveling to nearby Schofield, to kill his wife's divorce attorney, Sara Quirt Sann. He then fled to his apartment and barricaded himself inside. Investigators say he shot and killed Everest Metro Police Detective Jason Weiland as Weiland was setting up a perimeter around the apartment. A standoff ensued before police shot Vang and took him into custody. (Read more shooting spree stories.) WikiLeaks latest disclosure of CIA cyber-tools reveals a technique used by the agency to hide its digital tracks Washington : WikiLeaks latest disclosure of CIA cyber-tools reveals a technique used by the agency to hide its digital tracks, potentially blowing the cover on hacking operations aimed at gathering intelligence on foreign targets, the media reported. The release on Friday of the Central Intelligence Agency's "Marble Framework" comes less than a month after the WikiLeaks disclosed a trove of files -- dubbed "Vault 7" -- that described the type of malware and methods the CIA uses to gain access to targets' phones, computers and other electronic devices, The Washington Post reported. The material includes the secret source code of an "obfuscation" technique used by the CIA so its malware can evade detection by anti-virus systems. The technique is used by all professional hackers, whether they work for the National Security Agency, Moscow's FSB security agency or the Chinese military. Since the code contains a specific algorithm -- a digital fingerprint of sorts -- it can now be used to identify CIA hacking operations that had previously been detected but not attributed, The Washington Post said. In response, CIA spokesman Dean Boyd said late Friday: "Dictators and terrorists have no better friend in the world than Julian Assange, as theirs is the only privacy he protects." It said "the American public should be deeply troubled by any WikiLeaks disclosure designed to damage the intelligence community's ability to protect America against terrorists and other adversaries," The Washington Post quoted Boid as saying. "Such disclosures not only jeopardise US personnel and operations but also equip our adversaries with tools and information to do us harm," he added. Sorry! This content is not available in your region Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Variable clouds with snow showers. Low 16F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 50%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.. Tonight Variable clouds with snow showers. Low 16F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 50%. Snow accumulations less than one inch. New Delhi: The Congress released its first list of 140 candidates on Saturday for the upcoming municipal elections in Delhi. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken tweeted the list saying the remaining names will be announced on Sunday. "Following is the 1st List of 140 Congress Candidates for Municipal Elections in Delhi. Rest would be declared tomorrow. All the Best!," Maken tweeted Following is the 1st List of 140 Congress Candidates for Municipal Elections in Delhi. Rest would be declared tomorrow. All the Best! pic.twitter.com/IsWDNYMmp4 Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) April 1, 2017 Congress' rival BJP is yet to announce its candidates for elections of 272-member corporation. Meanwhile the Delhi State Election Commission has extended time for filing of nominations for the polls by three hours on last date- April 3. Read | Watch: When Arvind Kejriwal 'chanted' Modi-Modi during MCD polls campaign in Delhi The nomination papers will be filed by candidates from 11am to 6pm on Monday. The process was scheduled to close at 3pm earlier. The Election Commission took this decision as per Delhi Municipal Corporation (Election of Councilors) Rules 2012, after receiving requests from BJP and Aam Aadmi Party. A delegation of Delhi BJP went to meet the Election Commission official in this regard, while a petition was also filed by AAP for consideration of extending the date or time of nomination. State Election Commissioner S K Srivastava exercising his powers under DMC Act 1957 directed for extending the hours for filing nomination papers. The State Election Commission order has directed all the returning officers to issue coupons with seal and signature to arriving at their offices up to 6 PM on April 3 and allow them to present their papers and issue them receipts after accepting it. Read | MCD elections 2017: BJP campaign song released in Manoj Tiwari's voice The process of filing nominations has been affected for two days due to consecutive holidays including Saturday and Sunday. The extension of three hours on final day of nomination is likely to have a little respite for the candidates specially those of BJP which is yet to come out with list of their candidates. Monday is expected to witness a mad rush of candidates to complete lengthy paper work and complete formalities required for filing nominations as offices will open after two days of closure. Besides BJP and Congress, candidates from BSP, Samajwadi Party, JD(U) and other small parties will also file nominations on the last day. Also, there will likely be a large number of independents filing nominations. However, AAP, which is contesting the MCD polls in a big way to assert its political dominance, has already announced all its 272 candidates. Some of its candidates have filed nominations, while many are yet to do so. Read | MCD polls: Delhi LG Baijal rejects CM Kejriwal's demand for paper ballot instead of EVMs, says change not feasible New Delhi: Monday is the last date of filing nomination papers for MCD elections as no nominations will be filed due to holidays for next two days. BJP and Congress are yet to name candidates for the April 23 polls. An order issued by State Election Commission, Delhi, stated that the offices of returning officers for the election will be closed on Saturday due to public holiday. As such no nomination papers will be filed. Also Read: Delhi BJP's door-to-door campaign for MCD polls to begin from Friday The closure of offices due to public holidays on Saturday and Sunday will result in a last time rush of candidates including those of main contenders BJP and Congress besides those from BSP, Samajwadi Party, JD(U) and other small parties that are contesting the elections for 272 wards of three municipal corporations in the city. The last date of filing nomination papers for the election is due on April 3. Also Read | MCD Polls: Yogi Adityanath among eight BJP CMs to campaign for party Both BJP and Congress have yet to announce their candidates. Not even a single candidate has been announced by the parties. Congress was expected to release its first list of around 150 candidates but it has now been postponed for Saturday. However, the ruling Aam Admi Party (AAP) in Delhi, which is contesting the MCD polls in a big way to assert its political dominance, has already announced all its 272 candidates. Ghaziabad: A local court awarded life imprisonment to two people on Friday who were accused of killing their friend fifteen years ago. Additional District Judge Satya Praksh Tripathi awarded life term to Aasif Ali and Kanhaiya apart from imposing a fine of Rs 17,000 on both, additional district government counsel Anil Sharma said. The main accused in the case, Pramod Sharma, had passed away four years ago. On October 5, 2002, the three accused had called their friend Chandrapal from his house on some pretext and killed him. They dumped his body on the railway tracks in Sahibabad. The next day Chandrapal's body was found following which his father lodged a police complaint against the threeaccused. New Delhi: In a shocking news, Bollywood actor Jeetu Verma has been reportedly attacked by miscreants while travelling from Mount Abu to Jaipur. Jeetu, who has done side roles in popular films like Bodyguard, Soldier and others, was attacked in Chittorgarh by a group of local men started pelting stones at his car. The media reports suggest that the actor has hurt his one eye in the attack and might lose sight. "There is a 40-km patch of forest area near Chittorgarh, which is en route. It was broad daylight and Jeetu was sitting next to the driver in the front seat. Suddenly, some locals started pelting their car. The driver picked up speed but the stones kept coming. One hit the windshield and it cracked. Jeetu's eye was hit and bleeding profusely even as the driver raced away," Manohar Verma, who is an action director, told Mumbai Mirror. Jeetu was rushed to Udaipur airport and flown to Mumbai immediately where he was hospitalised. Suniel Shetty helped the family and made all arrangements for Jeetu after the attack. Two days after the incident, Jeetu was operated upon. The doctor in charge, S Natarajan, confirmed to Mumbai Mirror that he had a fractured eyebrow, which required 10 stitches, and had lost retinal function in one eye. This is around the same place where Sanjay Leela Bhansali was attacked on the sets of Padmavati. But with this incident, an actor might even lose vision in his eyes. And it's becoming a serious problem to deal with now. Watch video | 'Padmavati': Bhansali's period drama in trouble again; sets attacked, set ablaze For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Chennai: Megastar Rajinikanth has rubbished the reports of him joining any political party and stated that he isn't afraid of joining politics but is rather hesitant. "Politics is dangerous and deep. I am not afraid of politics, but hesitant. In politics you need strong roots," the 63-year-old actor said at the launch of the audio and trailer of his tri-lingual action-thriller 'Lingaa'. "I have been moving in the direction shown by God. If he desires that I should come to politics, I will serve the people," the megastar said. Also Read | Superstar Rajinikanth thanks Sri Lankan Tamils for their love and affection Rajinikanth added that doing films with social message is also a 'service to the society'. The actor praised the 'Lingaa' team including director KS Ravikumar, saying, "They looked after me like a kid on the sets. The care and warmth shown by them touched me a lot." A large numbers of fans had gathered on the occasion to witness the launch of the audio release. A couple of songs and the trailer of the film were screened during the launch which was also attended by the female lead of 'Lingaa'- Sonakshi Sinha and Anushka Shetty, besides producer Rockline Venkatesh. Also Read | Rajinikanth, Deepika Padukone not reuniting again: Pa Ranjith 'Lingaa' is expected to release on Rajinikanth's birthday on December 12. The film is being produced in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Oscar winner A R Rahman has scored the music. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Kamya Punjabi has shared an emotional post marking the first death anniversary of television actress Pratyusha Banerjee. Pratyusha had committed suicide in her flat on April 1 last year. A lot of speculations were being made about the reason behind her suicide. And while the case is still on, Kamya chose to express her feeling about Pratyusha's first anniversary on social media. Also Read: Pratyusha Banerjee death: Anandi's last Whatsapp status said it all about her suicide intentions (see pic) She shared a picture of the late actress on Instagram, where Banerjee was seen as the bubbly and fun-loving girl. In the caption, Kamya wrote "Ek saal ho gaye..... Pagal kahi ki... bas tu khush rehna yaara". Ek saal ho gaye..... Pagal kahi ki... bas tu khush rehna yaara Y A post shared by Kamya Panjabi (@panjabikamya) on Mar 31, 2017 at 11:55am PDT Kamya was said to be one of Pratyusha's close friend and was deeply moved by her death. She even chose to bring her last movie to the audience which will reportedly bring focus on Banerjee's troubled love life which in turn led to her death. It was reported that her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh forced her to take the drastic decision. He even faced the charges of abetment to suicide, however, Rahul continued to plead not guilty. Also Read | Pratyusha Banerjee's last film: 'Hum Kuch Keh Naa Sakey' promo gives a glimpse of Anandi's troubled life In fact, Singh also demanded say on Pratyusha's last movie, saying it fake and bogus. The movie titled, 'Hum Kuch Keh Naa Sakey', was ealier expected to release on April 1 to mark Pratyusha's first death anniversary. However, post Rahul's legal petition, Mumbai court stayed the release of the movie. Nagpur: Pitching for electronic registration of driving licence, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday asserted 30 per cent of the driving licences in the country are bogus. Thirty per cent of the driving licences in the country are bogus. Now onwards the driving licences will be electronically registered under umbrella of e-governance, Gadkari said. He was addressing the grand finale of Smart India Hackathon 2017. The Minister also said it will be made mandatory for Regional Transport Office (RTO) to issue licence within three days of a person clearing the driving test. Information of the licence holder will be available across the nation and he/she will not be able to register bogus licences anywhere. Now any person, small or big, will not get the licence without clearing the driving test, said Gadkari. The senior BJP leader also informed that 28 driving examination centres have been opened and 2,000 more will come up. Also Read: Bombay HC sets aside Maharashtra govt order that made Marathi language compulsory for auto-rickshaw permits If the RTO does not issue the driving licence within three days of the test, then action will be taken against the RTO. This will facilitate transparency and corruption free work. Similarly, cameras will be installed at traffic signals which will reduce the need for physical presence of policemen, he said. Engineers are responsible for 50 percent of the road accident deaths. The wrong designs of road engineering is a matter of concern, he added. The Cabinet yesterday approved the amendments in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Also Read | NHAI all set to finish Eastern Peripheral Expressway to decongest Delhi: Nitin Gadkari For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A Canadian citizen travelling to China was held at the Delhi airport on Saturday for allegedly carrying six live bullets in his hand baggage. Officials said the incident was reported late on Friday when a CISF official detected the bullets during x-ray scanning of the baggage. Six .32 calibre bullets were found from the hand baggage of the passenger, identified as MS Bassi, who was travelling to Shanghai, they said. "Bassi could not produce a valid license or required documents for carrying the ammunition and he was later handed over to police," a senior officer said. Read | Bombs small enough to fit in laptops may evade airport security: Reports In a similar incident reported on Friday, a man was arrested for allegedly carrying a country-made pistol and ten live rounds when he entered the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) to travel to Sharjah. The man, identified as S Faisal, could not produce valid documents for possessing the arms and ammunition and hence was handed over by the CISF to the police which arrested him. Carrying of firearms and ammunition inside aircraft is a criminal offence under the law. Read | Man shot dead at Paris' Orly airport after taking soldier's gun; area evacuated For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Delhi Police detained four men for allegedly chasing Union minister Smriti Irani's official vehicle in Delhi on Saturday. According to media reports, Irani noticed her vehicle was being followed by another car while she was returning to her official residence from the Delhi airport. The four students, in the age group of 18-19 years, have been detained at Chanakyapuri police station. "Their medical examination has confirmed the presence of alcohol in their blood. They were returning from a friend's birthday party in south Delhi and were roaming in the area for fun," he said. Legal action is being taken against the accused youths, a police official said. Four men detained after Smriti Irani lodged a complaint with Delhi Police saying that they chased her: Visuals from Chanakyapuri Police stn pic.twitter.com/zljPheYFAn ANI (@ANI_news) April 1, 2017 About 5 PM today, 4 persons in car tried to cross vehicle of Smriti Irani when she was crossing Moti Bagh flyover: Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/WDNEEoDoJV ANI (@ANI_news) April 1, 2017 Read | Union Minister Smriti Irani describes Samajwadi Party as protector of rapists (With inputs from PTI, more details awaited) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Saturday decided to depute a high-level team to supervise the by-elections in Madhya Pradesh, after complaints of faulty EVMs in the state. A delegation from INC today (Saturday) met the Commission in connection with bye-election from 9-Ater and 89-Bandhavgarh(ST) assembly constituencies in MP. The delegation demanded the Commission to ensure free and fair election and absolute neutrality of the officers, an ECI notification said. The official statement, issued on behalf of EC Director Dhirendra Ojha added, The Commission has decided to depute a team of high level officers led by Bhanwar Lal, CEO Andhra Pradesh (Chief secretary level officer) to supervise the bye-elections in MP. The team will also include RK Srivastava, Senior Principal Secretary and Varinder Kumar, Principal Secretary. These teams of senior officers will supervise the implementation of all administrative and security instructions of the ECI for the conduct of elections. To ensure the correct functioning of EVMs and VVPATs being deployed in the two ACs, the Commission has also decided to depute two teams of officers of the Commission along with technical experts. The integrity of the EVMs and the VVPATs to be used in the poll will be demonstrated to the complete satisfaction of all stakeholders by the team. These team will remain in the Assembly Constituency till the counting is over. The commission is committed to conduct entire electoral process transparently, fairly and to the complete satisfaction of stakeholders including esteemed voters. ECI will always hear and redress genuine and credible suggestions from stakeholders to further strengthen the electoral system, the notification said. Complaints of faulty EVMs A major row erupted on Saturday over a video of VVPAT demonstration by a poll official in Madhya Pradesh where the machine attached to an EVM allegedly dispensed slips of only BJP as the opposition knocked at the ECs doors seeking scrapping of EVM use in upcoming polls. The Election Commission sought a detailed report from the district poll authorities in Bhind, where a bypoll is due on April 9. Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Saleena Singh, who was seen in the video, however denied reports that voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machine dispensed only BJP slips. She said they have sent their report to EC. VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home. It has only been used on trial basis in some places. Latching onto the report, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had raised doubts on the functioning of EVMs after the recent Assembly elections, sought a through probe and return to old ballot paper system in upcoming polls including in Gujarat. Congress, AAP register complaint at EC A delegation of senior Congress leader comprising Mohan Prakash, Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi here demanded scrapping of EVMs forthwith and action against officials involved. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal separately met the CEC urging him to investigate cases of faulty EVMs and ascertain if their software can be tweaked in favour of the BJP. He also demanded ballot papers be reintroduced in the country. All parties should be taken into confidence for the credibility and viability of use of EVMs or to revert back to the old system of ballot papers, the Congress delegation said. The Congress memorandum said, in the face of revelations abour tampering of EVMs, it is necessary that the entire process should be reexamined thoroughly and all agencies and persons involved in maintenance, operation and data feedings of machines be examined before use of EVMs in further polls. Kejriwal asserted after the meeting that the Election Commissions claim that EVMs cannot be tampered with is completly wrong.EVMs may be faulty, but every time they record votes for the BJP and not for the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and other parties.... The incident in Madhya Pradeshs Bhind district was not the only one. In Assam too, there was a recent case of EVM being tampered with, he claimed. Congress general secretary Mohan Prakash said, We have demanded that elections be held on ballot paper because every section has expressed doubts on EVMs. If there are doubts on votes cast, then democracy is weakened. Another party general secretary Digvijay Singh said, The next elections, be it in Gujarat or elsewhere, should be held with ballot papers and the use of EVMs be stopped. He also questioned the compulsion of using EVMs whose chip was imported. When elections all over the world, including in the developed countries, are taking place with ballot paper, why should we have problems in doing so, Singh said, adding he had doubts on the efficacy of EVMs right from day one. Singh added, From (LK Advani) Advani to Mayawati to (Arvind) Kejriwal, I stand with them on this. BJP veteran Advani had raised doubts over EVMs after 2009 polls. An Assembly bypoll is due in Ater seat of Bhind district on April 9 where VVPAT-enabled machines would be used and a demonstration in front of state Chief Electoral Officer was part of the familiarisation exercise for poll officials. We have sought a detailed report from district election officer and would come up with a response in the evening, a Commission spokesperson said. At a hurriedly called press conference in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Saleena Singh said her office and the district poll authorities had sent reports on the issue to the Election Commission. During the demonstration, the VVPAT first dispensed a slip with (BJPs) lotus symbol but the second one had (Congress) hand symbol, she said. Singh explained that if the VVPAT slip doesnt reflect the voters choice correctly, one can file a declaration, and the election officer will have to follow a set procedure to verify the claim. If the officer finds the claim to be correct, the voting will be stopped, the CEO said. Asked about the reports that she threatened to send mediapersons to jail if they continued to say that VVPAT was dispensing only BJP slips, Singh said, It was in a lighter vein. Some elements, not mediapersons, twisted the issue, she added. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday blamed that the Modi government has "general , systematic and infringed control" over the owners of media. Today, believe me, there is all pervasive, systematic infringed control over the owners of the media. You talk to any journalist in Delhi, they will tell you that. Stories are simply killed. This is a serious problem, he said in an interaction after the launch of his book Fearless in opposition - Power and Accountability here. The former Union Minister said there may have been control over media during Emergency, but that was an aberration. The control over media today is unparalleled. Maybe the control was there during Emergency, but that was an aberration. We have admitted that aberration and also apologised, he said. He claimed that it would be a straight fight between Congress and BJP in the next round of elections as there were no major regional parties in some states including Gujarat and Rajasthan. In the next round of elections, there will be a straight fight between BJP and Congress in at least seven or eight states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh among others, as there are no major regional parties in these states. Also Read: Chidambaram dubs Modi govt as 'most anti-intellectual' All regional parties were defeated in the last state elections including Uttar Pradesh, he said. Chidambaram, however, said he did not mean it was the end of regional parties. The Congress leader said the next round of elections would be very crucial for both Congress and BJP and would decide the strength of these two parties. The next round of elections is very crucial. This will decide whether the Congress party has increased its strength. It may not be number one, but a number two certainly becomes a strong number two. Whether BJP is going to run over the Congress, I wont know, he said. Also Read | No evidence of wholesale use of Jan Dhan accounts for money-laundering post demonetisation: Chidambaram For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Patna: A district court on Saturday denied bail to Madhepura MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, arrested five days ago allegedly for disturbing the law and order in the city two months ago. First class Judicial Magistrate Sangita Kumari dismissed the bail plea of Yadav, who was arrested in a case registered with Gandhi Maidan police station on January 24, 2017 allegedly for creating nuisance at the city's Kargil Chowk. The MP was arrested on March 27 night from his residence at Mandiri area in Patna by the district police and the court had sent him to judicial custody till April 13. Also Read: Pappu Yadav's arrest issue raised in Lok Sabha, wife accuses Bihar police of lawmakers' rights violation Even on the day of his arrest, the Madhepura MP, who is also the chief of Jan Adhikar Party, had led a protest by his party workers against the state government over the leakage of question papers of Bihar Staff Selection Commission examination and a steep hike in power tariff. His party workers had clashed with the police and pelted stones at them that day. After argument by his lawyers, the MP himself appealed to the court to set him free saying he has been "punished by the state government for raising the people's voice against corruption." Yadav was brought to the court in a prison van fromBeur jail here and after his bail plea was turned down he was taken back to the prison. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kochi: A smart safety jacket for BSF personnel that senses imminent attacks on the wearer and communicates the enemy's location in real time has won first prize at a two-day hackathon for product start-ups developing smart solutions for everyday problems. The prototype safety jacket was developed by Ajay Sangwan, Rohit T and Vivek Jose from Kochi's Maker Village electronics incubator under their 'Quick response eco-systems for Border Security Forces' project. Besides the jacket, the team also developed an IT-enabled hardware device which can be installed along the borders to detect human presence and alert the control room. According to the developers, the device has passive infrared sensors to measure thermal radiations, which help distinguish between human and other presence. The two-day 'Hack2help' event was jointly hosted by the US Consulate General Chennai and Learning Links Foundation, with support of Kerala Start up Mission, Maker Village and Science Society of India, a release said in Kochi on Tuesday. The hackathon, held at the Kerala Technology Innovation Zone, drew participation from 120 students (30 teams) from colleges across Kerala. A group of students from School of Engineering, Cochin University of Science and Technology won the second prize for coming up with technology solution to address the problem of dirty public toilets in India. Samir Dayal Singh, Mayank Raj, Abhinav Gautam and Shantanu Garg were the team members. Jithin M S, Govindan Nampoothiri, Jobin Joseph and Clinz Stephen of Saintgits College of Engineering bagged third prize for developing a web portal that helps farmers sell their products direct to the end customer. Sivaprasad K, Arshad M P,Manikandan Vijayan and Gokuladas V R of College of Engineering, Cherthala won fourth prize for their 'Augmented Reality-based' dissection tool for learning that eliminates the need for lab dissection of animals. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Despite being barred by all domestic airlines, Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad made another attempt to fly to Ahmedabad by SpiceJet but the air-carrier cancelled his ticket. The Shiv Sena lawmaker is struggling to book an air ticket after a row erupted when the lawmaker assaulted an Air India staffer last month. After Air India and IndiGo, SpiceJet is the third carrier to cancel the ticket of the Lok Sabha member. As per media reports, Gaikwad had booked a ticket from Pune to Ahmedabad flight (SG 524) for April 3, but the low-cost air carrier has cancelled his ticket. Following the incident, Air India along with four private airlines banned him from flying on their aircraft. Also Read: Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad uses aliases to book Air India flight tickets, fails The domestic airlines body Federation of India Airlines (FIA) has taken a strong view of the incident and accordingly taken a decision to bar the MP from flying on their network, FIA sources said. Jet Airways and three budget carriersIndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAirare the members of the FIA. Apart from Air India, IndiGo had cancelled Gaikwads booking after the assault incident. Earlier this week, Air India cancelled two tickets booked by the MP on Delhi-bound flights. On March 23, Gaikwad had repeatedly hit an Air India staffer with a sandal over not being given a business class seat despite having insisted on boarding an all-economy flight. Also Read | Ravindra Gaikwad-Air India row: Barred by all domestic airlines, Shiv Sena MP travels by road to Delhi For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A comet will make a closest pass to the Earth in more than a century on Saturday, according to US space agency NASA. Since the event is taking place on April 1, it is being called as an April Fools Day comet. Well, this might sound like a joke but its actually not. NASA said that the April Fools Day comet is officially named 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak in honour of its three discoverers, However, it is being called the April Fools Day comet on this pass playfully. The April Fools Day comet will come as close as at a distance of about 13 million miles (0.14 astronomical units), or about 55 times the distance from Earth to the moon. This is the comets closest approach to Earth in more than 50 years and perhaps more than a century, NASA said. 41P is a member of the Jupiter family of comets. It revolves around the Sun every 5.4 years, hence coming relatively close to the Earth on some of those trips. Scientists see this as an opportunity to seek details about the April Fools Day comets composition, coma and nucleus. An important aspect of Jupiter-family comets is that fewer of them have been studied, especially in terms of the composition of ices in their nuclei, compared with comets from the Oort cloud, said Michael DiSanti of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. On April 1, the 41P will be observed DiSanti and his team using NASAs Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii. How and where to watch the April Fools Day comet? Observers with binoculars or a telescope will also get a special viewing opportunity as the April Fools Day comet will make a close approach to our planet Earth. NASA said comet hunters in the Northern Hemisphere should watch out for April Fools Day comet near the onstellations Draco and Ursa Major, which the Big Dipper is part of. ALSO READ | Landslide on comet 67 P: Rosetta probe spots most dramatic of several geologic phenomena Whether a comet will put on a good show for observers is notoriously difficult to predict, but 41P has a history of outbursts, and put on quite a display in 1973. If the comet experiences similar outbursts this time, theres a chance it could become bright enough to see with the naked eye, NASA said. ALSO READ | NASA's Hubble Space Telescope discovers exocomets plunging onto young star The comet is expected to reach its closest approach or perihelion to the Sun, on April 12. For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Technology has driven the lives of many in the present modern era, with searching anything on the internet to latest gadgets; technology has become todays need. One such example is of Google which has made our lives easier, from searching anything on the internet to locating something on Maps, Google has it all. But think what if Google can also control the weather? In its latest technological innovation, Google has announced its latest project Google Wind Where the company claims to control the weather in the Netherlands by the ability to change the weather. So what do you think its really possible? Netherlands, formerly known as Holland is well known globally for its windmills and tulips. With a moist climate, days generally are not sunny on most of the days. In a video shared by Google on YouTube, the company is giving a sneak peak about their project. Not only has the climate, the Google project also claimed to control the rainfall. Also Watch: Thirsty King Cobra given water from bottle by villagers of drought-hit Karnataka's Kaiga Still cannot believe it, Watch the video here released by Google: Well till now, you must have got any an idea that it isnt true. The mega excitement comes to a haul after knowing that its an April fool prank by Google. Viral Video: Neem tree offers 'free beer' in Delhi Universitys north campus Got irritated? Dont think much as its an every years tradition. Google every year comes out with a wacky idea just before the prank day on March 31. Last year too, Google tried to fool people with Google cardboard Plastic VR glasses. Lets hope the Google Wind project also turns out to be an April Fool prank. For all the Latest Viral News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Dhaka: Ending a two-day stand off with Islamist militants in a northeastern city amid a massive nationwide clampdown on militants, Bangladesh security forces found three militants, including a woman, dead on Saturday when they stormed their hideout. Announcing the end of the "Operation Maximums" at the Islamist militants hideout in Moulvibazar town's Borohat area, counter-terrorism Unit chief Monirul Islam told media that bodies of two men and a woman were found inside the duplex house. "We found three bodies including that of a woman as we entered the den today", Islam said, adding the militants had set up explosives at different spots in the building. "Our intension was to capture them alive and therefore we repeatedly called them to surrender but they defied...attacked us back throwing grenades and blasting bombs whenever our SWAT members tried to approach them", he said. Read more: J&K: Suspected militants open fire on cop's house in Kulgam, third attack in three days Police's elite Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) yesterday launched the second subsequent raid at the hideout in Moulvibazar town, a day after wrapping up their "Operation Hit Back" at another den nearby when a family of eight, including children, blew themselves up in a suicide blast amidst the security siege. Security forces in the past 10 days have witnessed four major anti-militancy assaults against Islamic-State inclined Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB) in which seven people including an army lieutenant colonel and two police inspectors lost their lives while the assaults killed 15 militants and their children. Neo-JMB was behind the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka cafe that killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners. The first security assault was launched in northeastern Sylhet where authorities called out army commandos. Four Islamists including Neo-JMB chief Musa were killed during the five-day security siege which military called 'Operation Twilight'. As the siege was underway, fellow militants from outside launched two retaliatory clandestine attacks killing six people including two policemen and wounding 50 others near the scene. Read more: Budgam encounter: Separatists call for strike over civilians deaths, demand probe An army officer who was serving as the intelligence wing chief of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) succumbed to his wounds two days ago. A day after the end of the Operation Twilight led by an army major general in Sylhet, police simultaneously raided three other neo-JMB hideouts, two in neighbouring Moulvibazar and one in central Comilla district. Police's Operation Hit Back saw two militant couples blowing themselves up along with four minor children, staging a suicide blast at a den on the outskirts of Moulvibazar town. Islam at that time said the suicide blast was so severe that it tore into pieces the dead, making it difficult to ascertain exactly how many people were inside and only "the forensic examinations could confirm the exact casualty figure (though) we assume they are seven or eight in number." In Comilla, after three days of security siege, police found it to be a big cache of explosives stored by the militants but none was found there to be encountered. Read more: Pakistan to boycott international meeting of parliamentarians in Dhaka Bangladesh has been witnessing a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. The country launched a massive crackdown on militants specially after the Dhaka cafe attack. IS has claimed several attacks in Bangladesh, but the government rejects the presence of foreign terrorist groups in the moderate Muslim-majority country, blaming home-grown groups such as the neo-JMB for terrorist attacks. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: President Donald Trump on Friday defended a decision by his former top aide Michael Flynn to ask for immunity in a probe into the Trump teams ties to Russia, blasting the case as an opposition witch hunt. Trumps ex-national security advisor, whose links to Russia are one focus of the sprawling investigation, has sought protection in exchange for his testimony to the FBI and congressional committees. Flynns lawyer said in a statement on Thursday that his client has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit. Also Read: US prez Trump expects 'tough' summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping But two key committees in the probe, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, both suggested the immunity proposal was premature. Trump nevertheless encouraged Flynns move in a tweet that appeared to lay down a challenge. Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion! Flynns offer to testify under protection from prosecution suggests he has more to reveal about the Russia affair. He could be a key witness as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Congress seek to determine whether Trump advisors collided with Russias interference in last years presidential election. But Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House panel, said there was still much work and many more witnesses and documents to obtain before any immunity request from any witness can be considered. We should first acknowledge what a grave and momentous step it is for a former national security advisor to the president of the United States to ask for immunity from prosecution, Schiff said. Also Read: Donald Trump to sign executive orders to inspect cause of trade imbalances in countries including India and China NBC News also quoted unnamed officials as saying the issue was not on the table at the Senate committee at the moment. A close advisor to Trumps 2016 campaign, Flynn was forced to step down from his White House job in February after misleading the vice president about conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak after the election. He is also in focus over receiving USD 33,000 from Russian television RT to attend a 2015 gala in Moscow where he sat with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and USD 530,000 from Turkey for lobbying services. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Beijing: India's plan to link the strategic border district of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh with a railway network should exercise "restraint", China told so on Saturday. They further said that any "unilateral action" might "complicate" the unresolved border issue. "We hope that the Indian side can exercise caution, show restraint and refrain from unilateral actions that might further complicate the question so as to create a sound condition for enhancing mutual trust between China and India and promoting proper resolution of the boundary question," the Chinese foreign ministry said. "China's position on eastern section of the China-India boundary is consistent and clear. At present, the two sides are working to resolve the territorial dispute through negotiation and consultation," the ministry told PTI in a written reply following a query about reports that India was exploring possibilities to link Tawang with a railway network. China has in recent days upped its rhetoric on claims to Arunachal Pradesh, which it says is Southern Tibet, and even warned India of "serious damage" to ties if New Delhi allows Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to visit the state. Also Read: Donald Trump to sign executive orders to inspect cause of trade imbalances in countries including India and China The ministry yesterday warned New Delhi that the visit of the Dalai Lama, the highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, will "come down to India to make a choice". Tawang, which happens to be the birthplace in 1683 of the sixth Dalai Lama, is at the centre of Tibetan Buddhism and a friction point between India and China relations. India and China are in discussion to resolve their border dispute that covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC). While Beijing claims Arunachal as part of Southern Tibet, India asserts that the dispute also covers the 'Aksai Chin' area, which was occupied by China during the 1962 war. The ministry said the two sides have "agreed that pending final settlement, both sides will work together to properly manage the dispute" and preserve peace in the border areas. The Chinese reaction today to the possible rail network and the Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang was the third time in recent weeks the foreign ministry has aired its objections. Also Read: India rejects China's objection on Dalai Lama's Arunachal visit Tawang has immense strategic value to India due to its location. The hilly region close to the Sino-India border was also in the news earlier this month when Dai Bingguo, a former Chinese Special Representative for India-China border talks, said the border dispute can be resolved if New Delhi accepts Beijing's claim over Tawang. "If the Indian side takes care of China's concerns in the eastern sector of their border, the Chinese side will respond accordingly and address India's concerns elsewhere," Dai had told the Chinese media in an interview. But the proposal was rejected as impractical by Indian officials as Tawang is an integral part of Arunachal Pradesh and has sent representatives to Parliament in every election since 1950. Lian Xiangmin, Director of contemporary research of China's state-run Tibetology Research Centre, last month said, "Tawang is part of Tibet and Tibet is part of China. So Tawang is part of China. There is not much problem here." For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: Iran has said it is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir issue if requested as any conflict between the two nations will impact upon the economies of other countries in the region. Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost said his country was ready to use its special influence and relations with Pakistan and India to mediate on the Kashmir issue and help bring sustainable peace in the region, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. Iranian government has announced its readiness for any support, for any hope of peace and tranquility in the region, Honardoost was quoted as saying by the APP. Read | Pak ISI provokes innocent boys in Kashmir, says J-K DGP We have not yet received any official request from both sides for Iran as a large country in the region to come and try to solve the matter, the envoy said. He said any conflict, or tension between the two countries would hinder the way of progress and development of both countries but would also impact upon the economies of the other countries in the region. It is important to remove such tensions to ensure sustainable and durable peace in the region, he added. He said it may be true that some forces wanted such tensions to find excuses for its engagements in our region. We hope that the wise leaders of the conflicting countries pay attention to this issue that a lot of problems that we face in this region have exogenous sources, he added. Responding to a question, the ambassador said, right now terrorism is a global phenomenon. Its not located only in one area or in one country, and it is the consequence of the approach of the super powers towards terrorism, he said. Read | Chinese Media alleges India of using Kashmir to oppose Silk Road project Commenting on Pak-Iran trade ties, Honardoost said that a Free Trade Agreement draft has been signed between the two sides and it will soon be operative to enhance two-way business and trade engagements. Our future is bright after the removal of impediments. Hopefully, our trade relations would continue to grow. Replying to a query on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said it is a giant project with full of opportunities, not only for Pakistan and China but for all countries of the region. He said the project was not only a game-changer for the region but would be a unifying force for the countries in it. When asked if Iran was interested in joining Saudi Arabias Islamic coalition, Honardoost said Iran has already announced its desire to join the alliance since it firmly believes that the problems being faced by the Muslim world should be resolved mutually. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A young Maldivian Vogue model student was found dead hanging from a ceiling fan with a scarf tied around her neck inside a hostel dormitory. Raudha Athif, 21, was discovered by her roommates in an apparent suicide. Though the Superintendent of the hostel couldnt believe it as she said that Athif always looked happy and its hard to believe that she would commit suicide. Athif was quite active on social media and has posted her numerous modelling pictures on Instagram. The medical student saw modelling as a hobby rather than a career and ultimately prioritised her desire to become a doctor over the fashion industry. She was a second-year student at Islami Bank Medical College in Bangladesh and became an internet sensation with her unique Maldivian Girl With Aqua Blue Eyes photos. The heartbroken family and friends of Maldivian model have created an online memorial in her honour. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: Prominent two TV channels including Geo News has been fined Rs one million each by Pakistan's electronic media watchdog or showing "indecent content". Geo News and Hum TV were fined after they could not give satisfactory answers to Pakistan Electronic Media RegulatoryAuthority (PEMRA) about allegations of airing objectionable clips. It imposed a fine of Rs one million on Geo News for its program 'Geo Pakistan' for allegedly airing indecent clips. The channel was also ordered to keep the program off air for five days. Also Read: Watch | April Fool's Day special: Will Google now control weather, rain in Netherlands? "Geo Pakistan is banned from broadcasting, rebroadcasting, fresh, old or repeat content on Geo News from 9 AM MondayApril 3 till 12 AM April 7, 2017," PEMRA said. Hum TV was punished for drama 'Chew Gum' which it aired last month and for which it was issued a notice on February 20, seeking an explanation within seven days. "On account of the airing of the episode 'Chew Gum' in the drama serial 'Kitni Girhein Baqi Hein' having indecent content... a fine of Rs 10,00,000 (Rupees one million) is imposed on Hum TV, payable within three weeks from the issuance of this decision," PEMRA said. It also asked media outlets that the selection of the theme of their dramas or soaps and other items should be made keeping in mind the provisions of the Electronic Media(Programmes and Advertisements) Code of Conduct 2015, socio-cultural norms and values of the country. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bogota: Mudslides have killed 206 people, injured 180 and left up to 200 missing after destroying homes in southern Colombia, the Red Cross and officials said on Saturday. The surge swept away houses, bridges, vehicles and trees, leaving piles of wrecked timber and brown mud, army photographs from the town of Mocoa showed. The mudslides struck late Friday after days of torrential rain. President Juan Manuel Santos visited Mocoa, the capital of Putumayo department, on Saturday to supervise rescue and assistance efforts in the heavily forested region. "I have just been informed that 206 people are dead," he said. "We don't know how many more there will be; we are still searching." Earlier, the Red Cross aid group's rescue official Cesar Urena told AFP that 92 people were dead and 180 injured. He warned that the death toll -- initially put at 16 --would probably rise further because 200 people were still missing. "The number is rising enormously and at considerable speed," he said. The disaster is of "large proportions," he added. Putumayo Governor Sorrel Aroca called the development "an unprecedented tragedy" for the area. There are "hundreds of families we have not yet found and whole neighborhoods have disappeared," he told W Radio. Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of the National Disaster Risk Management Unit, told AFP the mudslides were caused by the rise of the Mocoa River and tributaries. The rivers flooded, causing a "big avalanche," the army said in a statement. Some 130 millimeters (5 inches) of rain fell Friday night, Santos said. "That means 30 percent of monthly rainfall fell last night, which precipitated a sudden rise of several rivers," he said. He promised earlier on Twitter to "guarantee assistance to the victims of this tragedy, which has Colombians in mourning." "Our prayers are with the victims and those affected," he added. The authorities activated a crisis group including more than 100 local officials, military personnel, police and rescuers to search for missing people and begin removing mountains of debris, Marquez said. Mocoa, a town of 40,000 people, was left without power or running water. "There are lots of people in the streets, lots of people displaced and many houses have collapsed," retired Mocoa resident Hernando Rodriguez, 69, said by telephone. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: Trump administration will raise the human right issues with the countries concerned privately as it is the most effective way to deal with it, said the administration in a departure from the previous government. Human rights are always an issue of concern to the United States and theyre first and foremost in our discussions, a senior White House official said. Our approach is to handle these types of sensitive issues in a private, more discrete way. We believe its the most effective way to advance those issues to a favourable outcome, the official said on Friday. The official was responding to a question if human rights would be an issue that could be raised during the visit of the leaders from Egypt and Jordan next week. The answer from the administration official was general in nature reflecting the policy of the Trump administration. But this was a departure from the administration of Barack Obama which had on several occasions made human rights the most potent vehicle of Americas public diplomacy and at times even publicly mentioned a country to name and shame it. Under the Obama administration, the US had often expressed concern over rights violations in China. Obama and his two Secretaries of States Hillary Clinton and John Kerry included this in their public remarks every time they met a Chinese leader. The remarks from the White House come ahead of the first meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida next week. Under Obama administration India was also targeted on rights situation. Obama had mentioned the issue when he made his second visit to India in January 2015 as the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade that year. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DANBURY If Mark Boughtons season finale party for The Walking Dead was scheduled one day earlier, it might be chalked up as the perfect April 1 event. As it is, the citys longest-serving mayor and GOP frontrunner for governor has scheduled his $25-per-person Walking Dead fundraiser for Sunday. And its no joke. The fact that Boughton is dead serious about a dystopian zombie show in the midst of his third run for governor should not be taken lightly. This is a classic example of where culture and politics converge, and it is not unusual for a politician to want to be perceived as understanding pop culture, and understanding what is important in pop culture, said media observer Richard Hanley, a professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University. From Bill Clinton with his saxophone on Arsenio Hall to Donald Trump as a reality show star running for the White House and understanding the power of social media, this is another example of a politician inserting himself into a major pop culture moment for some political payoff down the road with the tastemakers of the 21st century. If you ask Boughton, the Sunday night fundraiser at Kennedy Flats, where he has an apartment, is all about his favorite television show. We are going to have multiple screens set up with one screen for my Twitter feeds, Boughton said. And of course we will have refreshments like popcorn and ice cream, and people are encouraged to dress up as their favorite character if they want to. Boughton cannot dress up as his favorite character, Dale, because Dale got eaten in season three. Dale had the conscience of the group and tried to keep them morally centered, and when you do that you get eaten, Boughton said. So Ill be wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Boughton said he has no plans to mix politics and prime-time drama. Thats good thing, Hanley said. If he tried to make The Walking Dead into a political metaphor, there is a risk he would open himself up to ridicule - and ridicule online, which is the worst kind, Hanley said. Fans of The Walking Dead might see that as contamination of their values if he seeks to capitalize on their show for political gain. Little chance of that happening, Boughton said, adding that Connecticut taxpayers sometimes feel like the walking dead. Ironically, there is a character on the show with an eye patch who calls himself The Governor. But Boughton refuses to put on an eye patch and call himself the governor on Sunday night. No, I couldnt do that, he said. But I did get an eye patch for Christmas. rryser@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342 Nearly a year and a half after the Connecticut Hospital Association started its legal challenge of the states controversial hospital tax, both state officials and the association have confirmed that settlement discussions have begun. David Dearborn, spokesman for the state Department of Social Services, said Friday that both parties had participated in a settlement conference. We have no details available because it would be premature to comment at this point, Dearborn said. CHA also declined to provide any additional details this week. In November 2015, CHA and several hospitals filed documents with the state departments of revenue and social services asserting that the tax violates state and federal laws, as well as the state and federal constitutions. The filings requested that the two agencies issue declaratory rulings that the tax is invalid and unenforceable. The state rejected that request last September. About two months later, the hospital association asked a state Superior Court to toss out the tax. They also filed a petition with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, arguing that the states reimbursement and tax scheme violates the federal Medicaid Act. Connecticut hospital officials and advocates have repeatedly said the hospital tax costs them millions of dollars and forced hospitals to cut services and staff. The state has countered by saying that Medicaid payments to hospitals have increased over the last decade, and that hospitals are seeing fewer patients without coverage because of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. The tax was adopted as a way for the state to secure funds to obtain matching federal grants that would then be redistributed to the hospitals. In 2012, the hospitals paid about $350 million in taxes and received about $400 million in state and federal funds. But this fiscal year, the hospitals will be taxed $556 million and receive $118 million. Last year, the hospitals were taxed $556.1 million and received $164.3 million. The Trump Administration has said it will view medical marijuana leniently but is considered renewed federal enforcement to shut down recreational marijuana sales legal in eight states and the District of Columbia. Lawmakers in Colorado have proposed a simple solution. Senate Bill 192 would allow Colorado recreational marijuana producers to reclassify as medical marijuana businesses if the Trump Administration decides to enforce federal law that still places marijuana on the list of illegal drugs. The bill allows the state licensing authority to authorize single-instance transfers of retail marijuana or retail marijuana products from a retail marijuana licensee to a medical marijuana licensee based on a business need due to a change in local, state, or federal law or enforcement policy, according to a summation of the bill by the Colorado General Assembly. The Associated Press called the bill the boldest attempt yet by a U.S. marijuana state to avoid federal intervention in its weed market. Related: Can Marijuana Replace Lost Steel Jobs? Pennsylvania Town Has High Hopes. Sacrificing millions. Sen. Tim Neville, who represents a suburban area outside Denver, introduced the bill in the wake of repeated, if vague, threats from Trump Administration officials to crack down on the legal marijuana industry. In most cases, the comments seemed to have targeted recreational marijuana sales. Recreational marijuana sales have been legalized in Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. The Colorado bill essentially offers some protection for recreational marijuana businesses in the Rocky Mountain State. Should federal authorities attempt to seize recreational cannabis product or stop production, switching to a medical marijuana license would prevent the businesses for being stuck with product they cannot sell. It also would potentially cost the state hundreds of millions in tax revenue. Colorado places a 17.9 percent tax on recreational marijuana, far more than the 2.9 percent charged on medical marijuana. Tax money from marijuana funds schools, police training and public campaigns to educate people about marijuana use, among other areas. Still, Neville told the Associated Press that the move would at least protect entrepreneurs in Colorado. If there is a change in federal law, then I think all of our businesses want to stay in business somehow. They've made major investments," he said. Related: 5 Routes the Cannabis Industry Could Take to Get Around Federal Banking Restrictions A muddled picture. It remains unclear what, if anything, the Trump Administration plans to do that could affect the legal marijuana industry. So far, the rhetoric has been high on cryptic warnings but low on actual policy specifics. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters to expect greater enforcement of federal law in regard to marijuana, but has seemed to target recreational, rather than medical, marijuana. However, in a speech this month in Virginia, new Attorney General Jeff Sessions again talked about his opposition to marijuana, this time including medical marijuana. He said the value of medical marijuana has been hyped, maybe too much and scoffed at the notion that marijuana could help with widespread opioid addiction by being used for pain management. How stupid is that? Give me a break, Sessions said. Follow dispensaries.com on Twitter to stay up to date on the latest cannabis news. Related: Colorado Considers End Run if Feds Crack Down on Recreational Marijuana Hurdles and Hopes in the Development, Production and Distribution of Cannabis Who Knew There Is a Market for a $15,000 Vibrator? Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved LONDON, ENGLAND--(Marketwired - Mar 31, 2017) - Condor Gold (CNR.L) ('Condor', 'Condor Gold' or 'the Company') is pleased to announce that, following a Placing which raised 5.242 million (See RNS dated 20th February 2017), work is now underway on a 10,000 m drilling programme for 2017 at the La India Project, Nicaragua (the "La India Project"). This will have dual objectives, being (i) resource expansion- to increase the existing mineral resource (18 Mt at 4.0 g/t Au for 2.31 Moz gold) over the La India Project, and (ii) scout drilling, which hopes to identify new resources hosted in additional veins sets on the 313 km2 Project and demonstrate a major Gold District. Resource Expansion In accordance with the first objective, Condor has completed approximately 360 m of a 2,000 m drilling programme, which has commenced on the Mestiza Vein Set ('Mestiza'). This will test a historic Soviet mineral resource. If successful, it is expected that further drilling of about 4,000 m would be needed to convert the majority of the Soviet mineral resource to a NI 43-101-compliant Inferred Mineral Resource. This is significant for four reasons: Soviet-backed drilling in 1991 estimated a Soviet-style mineral resource of 2,392 kt at 10.2 g/t gold for 785,694 oz gold at Mestiza (Table 2). Condor has used the Soviet data, and subsequent drilling undertaken by Canadian companies, to plan a drill programme to convert the Soviet resource to Western standards. Mestiza already hosts a NI 43-101-compliant mineral resource of 1,490 kt at 7.47 g/t for 333,000 oz gold (Table 1). However, this is excluded from the current Pre-Feasibility Study and Preliminary Economic Assessments at La India Project. There is a high possibility of bringing additional high grade gold from Mestiza into a future mine plan, feeding a centralised processing plant. The current 2,000 m drill programme is relatively shallow, with 18 drill holes mostly less than 100 m. Furthermore, the existing resource is open along strike in both directions and at depth. The shallow nature of the resource suggests it could be added early on to the mine plan, enhancing the production profile and economics of the Project. Table 1 Mestiza Vein Set NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate SRK NI-43-101 resource estimate (30-09-2014) Vein Category Tons (kt) Grade (g/t) Au (oz) Espinito Inferred 200 7.7 50,000 Buenos Aires Jicaro Inferred 210 8.0 53,000 Tatiana Inferred 1,080 6.6 230,000 TOTAL 1,490 7.5 333,000 Table 2 Mestiza Vein Set Soviet GKZ Mineral Resource Estimate (including the above NI-43- 101 resources) Soviet GKZ mineral resource estimate (1991) Vein Category Tons (kt) Grade (g/t) Au (oz) Espinito C1,C2,P1 353 9.8 112,013 San Pablo P1 39 12.2 15,338 Buenos Aires Jicaro C2, P1 317 16.8 171,489 Tatiana C2, P1, P2 1,682 9.0 486,855 TOTAL 2,392 10.2 785,694 To view Figure 1, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cnr0331fig1.pdf. Note: The numbers in Table 1, Table 2 and Figure 1 have been rounded where appropriate. Scout Drilling In line with the second objective, and as announced on 27 January 2017, as part of a 4,000 m scout drilling campaign, drilling at the Cacao Prospect has been completed. A total of 720 m of drilling demonstrated a significant dilational vein, below near surface phreatic breccia and sinter. Drill intercepts included 7.85 m at 3.75 g/t, and 7.85 m at 2.95 g/t gold. There is the prospect of a much larger gold resource and future drilling is planned. Furthermore, Condor has completed 6 drill holes, for a total of 945 m, on the Andrea Vein. This is an entirely grassroots discovery, with generally low grades at surface and scattered high grade grab samples (in excess of 30 g/t gold). The principal vein, and veins which split from it, have a strike length of at least 2.2 km. It forms a zone of anomalous soil and rock geochemistry (the 'Andrea Corridor', see RNS dated 29th January 2017) with a much greater strike length. The drill program, with a man-portable rig because of poor access roads, tested for potential La India-style mineralization (an epithermal vein with a boiling zone and high gold grade). The 6 relatively shallow holes on the Andrea Vein encountered abundant zeolite veinlets, minerals typical of the upper parts of epithermal systems (above the boiling zone) . The northern holes hit barren quartz/carbonate veins, but the deepest, and southernmost, hole encountered significant gold mineralization, with 5.1 m @ 1.9 g/t gold. This began at 186 m depth. Drilling at Andrea was suspended because of the lack of water required for drilling. Future drilling is planned to follow up on these encouraging results and will probably recommence in the wet season, expected to be in 6 months' time. It will target the southern portion and be deeper. The drill rig also completed 429 m drilling at Real De la Cruz and 664 m drilling at Tatescame. Drill results from Real de la Cruz demonstrated poor continuity of the high-grade veins, though it may still have bulk mineable potential. The drilling at Tatescame gave poor results and it has been downgraded. It effectively demonstrated that the known vein, with grades up to at least 10 g/t gold, terminates towards the West. Several new scout drilling targets have been identified and are being ranked in order of priority. The market will be updated as these are drilled. Competent Person's Declaration The information in this announcement that relates to the mineral potential, geology, exploration results and database is based on information compiled, and reviewed, by Dr Warren Pratt, Chartered Geologist (1994), Fellow of the Geological Society of London and Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists. Dr Pratt is a geologist with over twenty five years of experience in the exploration of precious metal mineral resources. Dr Pratt consults to Condor Gold plc on an ad hoc basis and has considerable experience in epithermal mineralization, the type of deposit under consideration, and sufficient experience in the type of activity that he is undertaking to qualify as a 'Competent Person' as defined in the June 2009 Edition of the AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Dr Pratt consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears and confirms that this information is accurate and not false or misleading. Technical Glossary Assay The laboratory test conducted to determine the proportion of a mineral within a rock or other material. Usually reported as parts per million which is equivalent to grams of the mineral (i.e. gold) per tonne of rock C1 C1 reserves are broadly equivalent to JORC indicated resources and have been estimated by a sparse grid of trenches, drill holes or underground workings. The quality and properties of the deposit are known tentatively by analyses and by analogy with known deposits of the same type. The general conditions for exploitation are partially known C2 C2 reserves are broadly equivalent to JORC inferred resources and have been extrapolated from limited data, probably only a single hole Dilational Vein A mineral deposit in a vein space formed by bulging of the walls, contrasted with veins formed by wall-rock replacement. En echelon In structural geology, en echelon veins are structures within rock caused by tension fractures that are parallel to the major stress orientation. They appear as sets of short, parallel, planar, mineral-filled lenses within a body of rock. Geochemistry The study of the elements and their interaction as minerals to make up rocks and soils. Geophysics The measurement and interpretation of the earth's physical parameters using non-invasive methods such as measuring the gravity, magnetic susceptibility, electrical conductivity, seismic response and natural radioactive emissions. Hydrothermal Hot water circulation often caused by heating of groundwater by near surface magmas and often occurring in association with volcanic activity. Hydrothermal waters can contain significant concentrations of dissolved minerals. Kt Thousand tonnes Mineral Reserve The economically mineable part of a Measured and/or Indicated Mineral Resource. It includes diluting materials and allowances for losses, which may occur when the material is mined. Appropriate assessments and studies have been carried out, and include consideration of and modification by realistically assumed mining, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental factors. These assessments demonstrate at the time of reporting that extraction could reasonably be justified. Ore Reserves are sub-divided in order of increasing confidence into Probable Ore Reserves and Proved Ore Reserves. Mineral Resource A concentration or occurrence of material of economic interest in or on the Earth's crust in such a form, quality, and quantity that there are reasonable and realistic prospects for eventual economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade, continuity and other geological characteristics of a Mineral Resource are known, estimated from specific geological knowledge, or interpreted from a well constrained and portrayed geological model. NI 43-101 Canadian National Instrument 43-101 a common standard for reporting of identified mineral resources and ore reserves. Phreatic breccias Fragmental rocks formed near the Earth's surface by the interaction of hot rock and cold water, or vice versa. Commonly occur at the top of mineralized epithermal gold systems. Radiometric Also known as gamma ray spectrometry, is the measure of natural radiation on the top 30- 45cm of the earth's surface. The abundance of the three naturally occurring radioactive elements, potassium (K), thorium (Th) and uranium (U), is proportional to the abundance of minerals containing those elements. This information can be used in mapping the surface geology including the definition of areas of potassium enrichment related to hydrothermal alteration. Rock chip A sample of rock collected for analysis, from one or several close spaced sample points at a location. Unless otherwise stated, this type of sample is not representative of the variation in grade across the width of an ore or mineralised body and the assay results cannot be used in a Mineral Resource Estimation. Sinter Finely banded chalcedony and quartz, formed from an ancient hot spring. Soviet Classification The former Soviet system for classification of reserves and resources, developed in 1960 and revised in 1981, which divides mineral concentrations into seven categories of three major groups, based on the level of exploration performed: explored reserves (A, B, C1), evaluated reserves (C2) and prognostic resources (P1, P2, P3). Soviet GKZ The former Soviet State Commission for Mineral Reserves. Stockwork Multiple connected veins with more than one orientation, typically consisting of millimetre to centimetre thick fracture-fill veins and veinlets. Strike length The longest horizontal dimension of an ore body or zone of mineralisation. Vein A sheet-like body of crystallised minerals within a rock, generally forming in a discontinuity or crack between two rock masses. Economic concentrations of gold are often contained within vein minerals. Zeolite veinlets Zeolites are hydrated aluminosilicates found in gas bubbles within basalts and in geothermal districts. They also found in the upper parts of gold-bearing epithermal systems. For further information please visit www.condorgold.com. About Condor Gold plc: Condor Gold plc was admitted to AIM on 31st May 2006. The Company is a gold exploration and development company with a focus on Central America. Condor completed a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) and two Preliminary Economic Assessments (PEA) on La India Project in Nicaragua in December 2014. The PFS details an open pit gold mineral reserve of 6.9 Mt at 3.0 g/t gold for 675,000 oz gold producing 80,000 oz gold p.a. for 7 years. The PEA for the open pit only scenario details 100,000 oz gold production p.a. for 8 years whereas the PEA for a combination of open pit and underground details 140,000 oz gold production p.a. for 8 years. La India Project contains a total attributable mineral resource of 18.08 Mt at 4.0 g/t for 2.31 M oz gold and 2.68 M oz silver at 6.2 g/t to the CIM Code. In El Salvador, Condor has an attributable 1,004,000 oz gold equivalent at 2.6 g/t JORC compliant resource. The resource calculations are compiled by independent geologists SRK Consulting (UK) Limited for Nicaragua and Ravensgate and Geosure for El Salvador. Disclaimer Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement. TORONTO, March 31, 2017 /CNW/ - GMP Capital Inc. (GMP) (TSX:GMP) will release its first quarter 2017 financial results and hold its annual meeting of common shareholders (Annual Meeting) on Thursday, April 27, 2017 in Calgary. First quarter results are expected to be released at approximately 6:00 a.m. (EST). FIRST QUARTER CONFERENCE CALL A conference call and live audio webcast to discuss GMP's first quarter 2017 results will be held that morning at 8:00 a.m. (MST) / 10 a.m. (EST). Interested parties are invited to access the quarterly conference call on a listen-only basis by dialing 416-340-2216 or 1-800-273-9672 (toll free) or via live audio webcast at http://gmpcapital.com/Investor-Relations/Quarterly-Information. A recording of the conference call will be available until Thursday, May 4, 2017, by dialing 905-694-9451 or 1-800-408-3053 (toll free) and entering access code 5328158#. The webcast will be archived at http://gmpcapital.com/Investor-Relations/Quarterly-Information. ANNUAL MEETING GMP's Annual Meeting will be held at the Calgary Petroleum Club, Viking Room, 319 5th Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, and is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. (MST) / 12 p.m. (EST). GMP's President and Chief Executive Officer, Harris Fricker, and Chair of the Board of Directors, Donald Wright, will host the Annual Meeting. A slide presentation and live audio webcast will be accessible at http://gmpcapital.com/Investor-Relations/Annual-Meeting. ABOUT GMP CAPITAL INC. GMP is a leading independent diversified financial services firm headquartered in Toronto, Canada, providing a wide range of financial products and services to a global client base that includes corporate clients, institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals in two integrated reporting segments. The Capital Markets segment provides investment banking, including advisory and underwriting services, institutional sales and trading and research through offices in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Bahamas and Asia. Wealth Management consists of GMP's non-controlling ownership interest in Richardson GMP Limited. Richardson GMP Limited, Canada's largest independent wealth management firm, is focused on providing exclusive and comprehensive wealth management and investment services delivered by an experienced team of investment professionals. GMP is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "GMP". For further information, please visit our corporate website at gmpcapital.com. SOURCE GMP Capital Inc. For further information: GMP Capital Inc., Rocco Colella, Director, Investor Relations, 145 King Street West, Suite 300, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1J8, Tel: (416) 941-0894; Fax: (416) 943-6175, [email protected] or [email protected] Related Links http://www.gmponline.com MUMBAI, India, March 31, 2017 /CNW/ - The Honourable Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism, today concluded her successful visit to India. During her trip, the Minister travelled to New Delhi and Mumbai, where she met with senior Indian leaders from both the government and the private sector. Throughout her trip, she pointed to the strong cultural ties between Canada and India as a foundation on which to build a closer investment relationship and noted that Canadian entrepreneurs and small businesses are the drivers of innovation and key partners for these closer ties. The Minister also promoted Canada as a world-leading tourism destination, especially as the country celebrates the 150th anniversary of Confederation. While in Mumbai, Minister Chagger met with Devendra Fadnavis, India's Chief Minister, State of Maharashtra. She also joined the Chief Minister for the inauguration of a new solar panel installation at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. This installation is Mumbai's largest and was built by Guelph-based clean energy firm Canadian Solar. Senior executives from YES BANK, CuroCarte and Rolta India Limited all expressed potential interest in expanding to Canada following productive meetings with Minister Chagger. Minister Chagger also led a panel discussion on women's entrepreneurship hosted by empoWer India's first accelerator for women entrepreneurs building tech ventures where she promoted Canada as a destination of choice for women entrepreneurs looking at entering the North American market. The Minister also delivered a keynote address at a luncheon hosted by TiE Mumbai, a local branch of the world's largest entrepreneurship network, where she encouraged entrepreneurs to consider start-up investment opportunities in Canada. During meetings with representatives of the Indian film industry, Minister Chagger encouraged greater collaboration with Canada's world-renowned film industry. The Minister invited them to visit Canada for the International Film Festival of South Asia, North America's largest South Asian film festival, taking place from May 11 to 22 in Toronto. Quote "The Canada-India relationship is a top priority for our government. There are more than one million Canadians of Indian heritage, and the deep ties that bind Canada and India offer tremendous potential for building and strengthening our commercial relationship. Meeting with leaders from both the Indian government and the private sector has allowed me to promote investment in our Canadian small businesses and encourage greater growth and export opportunities for our Canadian entrepreneurs." The Honourable Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism Quick facts India is one of Destination Canada's 10 key overseas markets, with more than 215,000 visitors to Canada in 2016. is one of Destination Canada's 10 key overseas markets, with more than 215,000 visitors to in 2016. Starting July 1, 2017 , which is also the 150th anniversary of Confederation, Air Canada is offering non-stop flights from Mumbai to Toronto three times a week. , which is also the 150th anniversary of Confederation, Air Canada is offering non-stop flights from to three times a week. Two-way merchandise trade between Canada and India was worth almost $8 billion in 2016. and was worth almost in 2016. More than 400 Canadian companies have a presence in India , and more than 1,000 companies are actively pursuing business in the market. Associated link Follow Minister Chagger on social media. Twitter: @MinofSBT Instagram: minofsbt SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada For further information: Marie-Emmanuelle Cadieux, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Small Business and Tourism, 343-291-2700; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, 343-291-1777, [email protected] Related Links http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/home Kaduna governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai, is no doubt facing what could pass for a political battle of his life. And the outcome would make or mar him politically.Already, following the long memo he wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari, in September 2016, details of which was leaked to the media last month, there are moves by some All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftains, to block him from seeking a second term, and to also frustrate any effort that may see him replacing Buhari, as the partys presidential candidate, should Buhari decide not to run in 2019.Two persons, Saturday Sun further learnt, have been penciled down as possible replacement for El-Rufai, ahead of the Kaduna governorship contest. They are: current Senator, representing Kaduna North, Suleiman Hunkuyi and former House of Representatives member, Hon. Isa Ashiru. But for Buhari, it would have been difficult for El-Rufai to defeat Ashiru at the APCs primary in the run up to the 2015 polls.Ashiru is a member of the APC-Akida, while Hunkuyi, from his public appearance is not. But like all members of the APC-Akida, Hunkuyi too, Saturday Sun can reveal, is not pleased with the way El-Rufai is running the party and the affairs of the state.Although, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, representing Kaduna North, who incidentally provided the structures that saw El-Rufai defeating Isa Ashiru, at the APC primary election in the build up to the 2015 elections, seems to be appearing in public with el-Rufai, Saturday Sun can reveal that at the appropriate time, Hunkuyi, would confront el-Rufai frontally for the governorship contest. If that happens, it would no doubt further deplete the support base of the governor.Long before el-Rufais memo was leaked, he has been having a running battle with the APC faction in the state, known as APC Akida. Once the issue of the memo became public knowledge, the APC Akida came out publicly to upbraid el-Rufai, declaring that everything the governor accused Buhari of, he too was guilty of them.Addressing a press conference last Sunday in Kaduna, Chairman, APC-Akida, Mataimaki Tom Maiyashi, said unless all aggrieved members are brought under one roof, the party was doomed in the state, adding that the governor was not the right person to write a memo to the President because, It was a case of a pot calling the kettle black.He further said that the Kaduna governor lacks the moral standing to raise the issues he raised in the memo as his approach to governance was not different from the observations he made in his memo to President Buhari.Kaduna is made up of 23 Councils. The state for political convenience is further divided into three Senatorial Districts: Kaduna North, Kaduna South and Kaduna Central. But while Kaduna South Senatorial District, which is predominantly Christians, has eight Councils, the remaining two Senatorial Districts, which are predominantly Muslims, have 15 Councils. But there are also about two Councils, within the Kaduna Central that are also predominantly Christians.Although in the Southern Senatorial District, there are pockets of Muslims who are indigenous to the state, there are also substantial number of non-natives, who are equally Muslims, same, goes for the two other Senatorial Districts.But while it is easier for Muslims to claim to have come from either the North or Central District of the state for the purpose of political benefits and patronage, it is always difficult for a Christian to claim either of the two Senatorial Districts, just as the Christians would also resist any attempt to allow a Muslim nominee to represent Kaduna South Senatorial District for the purpose of political patronage.For instance, when Senator Nenadi Usman first signified her intention to run for the Senate, to represent Kaduna South Senatorial District, the mere fact that her husband is a Muslim, was used as campaign tool against her. Though a Christian, the people of the area believed that she was not likely to stand up and be counted when the need arises.What however helped Nenadis election in 2011, was that the then serving Senator, who later defected to the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, had alienated himself from the people. Ironically, this was the same man the people had queued behind in 2007 against a more formidable Hassan Hyet, the then SSG, heavily backed by the then government.However, for the Muslims in the state, it is always easy for them to navigate between North and Central Senatorial Districts of the state, for political gains.Before Patrick Yakowa became governor in 2010, from 1999, there was a deliberate act of political balancing, whereby the SSG and Deputy Governor, will always come from Southern Kaduna. But when Yakowa, from Southern Kaduna became governor, he retained the SSG, from his area. He was however quick to correct it, after he won the election in 2011, by bringing on board Abdullahi Samaila Lawal Yakawada, a Muslim, the first Muslim to be so appointed since 1999, as SSG.But following his death, Ramalan Yero, Yakowas deputy, who became governor, removed Yakawada, and brought in another Muslim, from the Zaria axis, as SSG, thus altering the political balancing act of the state, again.el-Rufais case appears worse. Saturday Suns investigations revealed that he not only altered the political balancing act; he has continued to carry on, as if the Southern Kaduna area does not matter in his future political calculations.For instance, while el-Rufai, from Zaria, is the governor, the SSG, Chief of Staff and the Head of Service are not only Muslims, but are all from Zaria. Also, out of 15 commissioners, only five are Christians from Southern Kaduna, the remaining 10 are all Muslims from either the Central or the Northern Senatorial districts. Again, in a minor cabinet reshuffle, el-Rufai removed a Veterinary Doctor, Manzo Daniel Maigairi, as Commissioner for Agric and Forestry and replaced him with Professor Kabiru Mato, a Political Scientist, a Muslim, from the Northern Senatorial district. Maigari, a Christian, from Southern Kaduna, is now Commissioner for Trade and Commerce.Also, since coming on board of el-Rufai as governor, he has sent not less than five Southern Kaduna youths, including a traditional ruler to prison. With all these, how do you expect the Southern Kaduna people not to scream? And the governors arrogant silence and arrogant explanations do not also help matters, most of the time, a former government official, who is a Muslim, from the Central Senatorial district of the state, told Saturday Sun.Before the APC factions reaction to el-Rufais memo, the chairman, APC caucus in the state, Alhaji Ahmed Tijjani Ramalan , who had all along been on the side of el-Rufai, also fired a memo to the governor, once his memo to Buhari, became public knowledge.In the memo, titled OPEN MEMO TO GOVERNOR NASIR EL- RUFAI ON THE REPOSITIONING OF APC KADUNA STATE AND GOVERNANCE, the APC caucus chairman said The party is docile in its statutory duties and activities as a political party. No Excos, and Stakeholders Meetings from the Ward to State Levels.Most Stakeholders and members are feeling used and dumped and lack of consultations in decision making processes as it affects the party at the Local, State and National Levels.The party also complained of the governors long standing ally, Jimi Lawal, insisting that Lawal was not known to the APC in Kaduna state, as he was reaping from where he did not sow.Efforts by Saturday Sun to get el-Rufais reaction, proved abortive, as two weeks after making contacts, and sending two mails to one of his media aides, he was yet to get back. However, one of the governors confidants spoke to Saturday Sun in confidence, just as el-Rufai, tried to address some of the issues in an interview he granted one of the northern-based Newspapers last week.According to one of the close confidants of the governor, who spoke to Saturday Sun in confidence, El-Rufai could not have leaked the memo to the President, because he handed over the memo to him, hand-to-hand. Those within the corridors of power, who are not happy with Kyari and Babachir Lawal, may have leaked the memo, the governors confidant, declared.On his part, el-Rufai, took the chairman of the partys caucus to the cleaners, saying I will talk about Jimmy Lawal. Those that said he did not contribute to our election are totally ignorant. He was a member of the CPC from 2010. He was in the presidential campaign council of President Buhari in the 2011 elections. After we lost the election and started the process of merger, he was in the renewal committee. He was a member of the APC Merger Committee under the chairmanship of Tom Ikimi, representing the CPC.The people who are making that claim are those from the PDP who joined the party after we had struggled and formed it. They dont know the history. One of them is Tijjani Ramalan, who wrote and I responded to say: When Jimmy was working for the CPC and was in the APC merger committee, you were in another party. Thats why you dont know. The fact that you dont know doesnt mean you are right. If you dont know you should ask.There are people who were not part of our campaign; they were not even members of our party, but we made them commissioners. We were looking for people like Dr. Yau Usman, who has a PhD in Physics and was a director in the Federal Civil Service. We were looking for somebody with those kinds of skills to be appointed as commissioner for environment. I did not see him until the day I swore him in as commissioner. We just looked at his curriculum vitae and appointed him. Government has to have a mix of that.What I observed in the Federal Government was that people who were in the PDP were brought in and given positions of responsibility that should have gone to longtime APC members with similar or even better skills. But those that were saddled with the task of recommending those to be appointed did not even know the history of the APC. These mistakes were made. This is what I wanted us to avoid because many longtime party members are complaining. If anybody says this is happening in Kaduna, I will say that it is just sour grapes. I picked people I knew could deliver. Nigerias controversial senator, Dino Melaye, has explained how he became a graduate of the Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and London School of Economics (LSE) in London.According to Melaye, the fact that he underwent training in those prestigious institutions and was certified after his training programme, makes him an alumnus and consequently a graduate of the institutions.He said this during a live political programme on Channels Television, Politics Today anchored by Seun Okinbaloye.The senator, who hails from Kogi State, noted that the kind of training programme one undergoes whether mere apprenticeship, diploma, or degree does not determine his graduate status but the fact that the training programme was completed and certified.He said: Even a mechanic, a plumber who undergoes apprenticeship is certificated and he GRADUATES from his training.Anyone who attends an institution and is certificated for the programme he went there to attend whether Diploma, Degree, or Ph.D and is certificated, you are an alumni, you are a graduate of that institution, because you carry a certificate of that institution.I believe in investigative journalism and I am not going to be ridiculed on the platform of a television station.It is not a question and answer series, whatever I have is mine.Whatever I have is mine. Whatever I possess is mine. If you think otherwise, go to cour and sue me for forgery.Whatever I possess, I have indicated. Anyone that has arguments against me, the onus is on you to prove it, not me.Watch video below: Due to viral photos of people posing with transformers over the lack of constant electricity since President Buhari came to power, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned Nigerians to stop hugging transformers. According to the statement made via the party UK Twitter account, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola is working non-stop to improve power services in Nigeria A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, has said that the winner of the 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, cou... Lake MKO Abiola A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, has said that the winner of the 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, could not have died of natural causes.Abiola whose election was annulled by the Ibrahim Babangida-led military administration in July 1993 was arrested by the late Gen. Sani Abacha-led junta in 1994 when he declared himself the winner of the election and his resolve to reclaim his mandate.The business mogul turned politician later died in detention in controversial circumstances on July 7, 1998.But Bamaiyi, the Chief of Army Staff under the Abacha regime, has insisted in a book that was launched in Abuja on Thursday that former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar owes the nation more explanation on the death of the late politician.I believe only Gen. Abubakar and those he used to handle Abiolas death can tell Nigerians how Chief M.K.O Abiola died. Abiola could not have died the way he reportedly died, Bamaiyi declared in the book titled Vindication of a General.Recalling the circumstances in which he learnt about Abiolas death in the said book, Bamaiyi, who was also the Chief of Army Staff in the brief period Abdulsalami held sway as head of state, said: One evening, the Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar called while I was in Lagos to tell me we had a problem.I asked him what was wrong and he told me Chief Abiola was dead.I was shocked and asked him what we were going to do about it. He told me he was handling the situation.I was disturbed because I expected problems in Lagos. But nothing happened.I was directed to lead a delegation to Abiolas house to commiserate with the family and was told Abiola had some visitors, including some Americans.He had taken tea, which raised suspicion about his death.Bamaiyi said the late business mogul never relinquished his mandate in spite of the pains of incarceration.At no time did Abiola relinquish his mandate. His death came as a surprise to me because he had been healthy when we met, he added.Bamaiyi recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a former Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters and others were involved in a coup plot against the late Abacha in 1995.He also said the botched 1997 coup allegedly led by a former Chief of General Staff, Gen. Oladipo Diya against Abacha was real.He said Diya made $60,000 and N2 million cash available for the feeding of soldiers during the coup against Abacha.He said the plan was to blow up Abachas car at a function in Sheraton Hotel, Abuja with an RGP-7.Excerpts from the book, whose launch was presided over by a former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon said: It will forever remain a puzzle to many Nigerians that two former helmsmen, a former head of state and his deputy, were arrested and tried for the coup that sought to remove General Sani Abacha from power in 1995.Interestingly, the 1995 coup, which, either out of ignorance or for political reasons, has been termed phantom by the actual players highlights the challenge of lack of honour and integrity among highly-placed officers because of naked pursuit of power.Despite spirited denial by these key officers, some of them will always tell the truth, including Col. Lawal Gwadabe and Col. Bello Fadile, whose recordings cannot be denied.I want to state clearly and without fear of contradiction that the 1995 coup in which Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo was convicted was real.I am glad that Gen. Mujakpero, who investigated the coup, stood his ground in asserting that it really happened.Gen. PN Aziza carried out his duties by trying and convicting Gen. Obasanjo, and has clearly stated that if he retried that case, he would still convict Obasanjo.I know the coup was real and was reported to Gen. AZ Kazir when he was GOC 1 Mechanised DIV, but he did nothing about it until he was appointed COAS.I remember going go Gen. Kazir when I was commander of the Lagos Garrison and telling him there were rumours about the coup. He confirmed that he had heard about it.I asked him what he was going to do about it, and he said he was handling it. He was my boss, so I did not go further.I dont remember the exact date. But on a Sunday, the COAS, Maj. Gen. Kazir, invited us into his study at his residence.Present at the meeting were Gens. Kazir; Olanrewaju who happened to be in Lagos from Jos; Muktar, the DMI; and Adeleke Kola, the provost marshal, and me, Comd. LGC.Gen. Olanrewaju briefed us on how the coup plan started from his Division and said that he had lot of officers involved.In Lagos, we had two involved officers named Col. Bello Fadile and Col. Gabriel Ajayi- my Col. Administration and Quartering. The decision to arrest these officers was made at the meeting.Based on Gen. Olanrewajus briefing, it was clear the officers could strike anytime.It was decided that Gen. Olanrewaju be given an aircraft to take him to Jos. The same aircraft would then proceed to Yola to bring in Col. Gwadabe, who came to Jos and was put in detention.I read some falsehood Colonel Ajayi wrote several times claiming he and I took Holy Communion in the church, but I did not say anything to him.I received instruction to arrest him in the evening. I directed CO 26 Battalion to arrest him, and he was arrested.If I had received this instruction before going to church, I would have ordered his arrest as soon as he left church.I was not involved in the matter again after Ajayis arrest.Headquarters Lagos Garrison Command (HQ LGC) has always been the venue for coup trials in Lagos and was used as such in 1995.After the trial and conviction of Gen. Obasanjo and Gen. Shehu Musa YarAdua, efforts were made by many Nigerians, including some army officers, to get them released.At one point, I went with Gen. PN Azazi to the Head of State and we pleaded with him to pardon the two generals and release them from prison because they were a former head of state and his deputy.He promised to look at it. But I was told later, though I did not confirm it, that some security officials advised him against the release, and nothing was done.I did not go to Abacha because I had doubts about Gen. Obasanjos involvement in the coup based on the briefing we received from DMI, Col. Sabo, the SIP report, and the statements of other coupists.Bamaiyi also fingered a former Chief of General Staff, Gen. Oladipo Diya and others in the 1997 Coup plot against Abacha.The book says: Again, within a space of two years, Gen. Oladipo Diya, second in command to Gen. Sani Abacha, was caught in the centre of another coup.It is an issue which Nigerians have extensively debated and commented upon.Unfortunately, the coup plotter, Gen. D. O. Diya, cowardly denied that he masterminded it with the support of officers like Gen. Ibrahim Sabo, who wanted to destroy me.Gen. Diya started planning to overthrow Gen. Abacha as early as 1994 when I was at Lagos Garrison Command (LGC).At that time, it was the responsibility of the service chiefs to receive the Commander-In-Chief anytime he visited Lagos, which during Gen. Abachas time, was occasional.The commander LGV would receive the Chief of General Staff (CGS) at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (Presidential Wing) and see him off.I always received Gen. Diya at the airport and escorted him to his private residence at Fajuyi Road in Ikeja or the Vice Presidents home at Ikoyi, depending on where he felt like staying.On one such visit, at his Ikeja residence, he mentioned how Gen. Abacha had not been doing well. He made the statement during the next visit and I asked him what the problem was.Gen. Diya mentioned that the Commander-In-Chief did not come to the office early and was not listening to him and other senior people in the government.I told him I believed Gen. Abacha would listen to him because of their special relationship. I knew how many times Gen. Abacha had stopped plans to retire him.On the next visit, Diya said openly that there was a need to remove Gen. Abacha and that he was being blamed for the failure of the government from various quarters. I asked him which quarters he was talking about but he did not mention specifics.Gen. Diya went on to tell me I was one of the officers he trusted and he would rely on me to get Gen. Abacha out of office so the country would move forward under his leadership. I told him I would think it over and get back to him.I informed Gen. Abacha, who said he was going to put Gen. Diya on trial. I suggested there would be no evidence for a conviction and Gen. Diya would not be acting alone, so there was need for patience.I was appointed the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) in April 19996 and Gen. P.N. Aziza was appointed to take over LGC. It became Azizas responsibility to receive and see off the CGS (Diya) at Murtala Muhammed Airport.After returning to Lagos from a tour of 2 Mech. Div., Gen. Aziza came to me at the COAS official residence. He looked worried, and I said I hope all is well.He later told me how Gen. Diya had told him of the need to overthrow Gen. Abacha, and he believed Gen. Diya was serious about it.I laughed first, and Gen. Aziza was surprised. He said, Giwa [this is how we addressed each other since we were such old friends], why are you laughing at something so serious? You know this is a matter of life and death.I told him it was nothing new. Gen. Aziza asked me what I was going to do about it. I assured him I would do something.I knew Gen. Aziza would want me to act, and it was in my best interest to do so because if there was an investigation, I would be held responsible for having known about a coup and hiding it.I went to Abacha the following day and told him what Gen. Aziza had told me. Gen. Abacha said he wanted to hear from Aziza directly. I sent for Gen. Aziza to meet me in Abuja, and the two of us went to see Gen. Abacha.Gen. Aziza told him exactly what he had told me. From Gen. Abachas looks, he was not surprised. He directed us to play along with Diya until we knew what he really wanted.I suggested to Gen. Abacha that he should call Gen. Diya for Aziza and me to challenge him and then make him resign or retire.Gen. Abacha disagreed and said we did not know what had been happening. I later found out that Gen. MC Ali as COAS and some service chiefs were retired because of their alleged plan to remove Gen. Abacha.Other meetings took place at a guest house with Gen. Diya, Gen. Olanrewaju, Co 7 Gds Bn, Gen, Diyas security officerMajor Fadipe and me. Of course, Gen. Abacha was always briefed after the meetings.Other meetings were held between Gen. Diya and me in his office. The issue of international support came up, he told me he was working on it.When the issue of feeding soldiers was brought up, he provided USD $60,000 to be given to GOCs to provide feeding for soldiers if there was the need.The money was taken to Gen. Abacha and I made a joke with him saying: This is your worth at present. He only smiled and collected the money and later returned it to me. The money was used as exhibits during the trial. The Nigerian military yesterday gave reasons why the elusive Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has not been captured in spite of seri... The Nigerian military yesterday gave reasons why the elusive Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has not been captured in spite of serious manhunt and the capture of Camp Zairo in the Sambisa Forest.The Director Defence Information (DDI), Major-Gen. John Eneche, who spoke at a press forum in Abuja, admitted that there was a mix-up regarding information about the capture or death of the Boko Haram leader because of the various faces Shekau uses.The Defence spokesman also said even though the real Shekau has not been captured, the military is on the hunt for him and would soon capture him.Eneche said: There were so many Shekau faces. That was what was responsible for that. But we will get the real thing.We have now come to know that the real Shekau is yet to be apprehended. So, that is the truth.When Osama Bin Ladin was killed, they went further to do a DNA test. That was what happened.The truth is because of so many faces of Shekau that came up, that was what brought about the mix up. But it is true the real Shekau is yet to be apprehended, and we will get him.Eneche also gave an account of military operations in Nigeria, saying that the Nigerian Armed Forces have done well.The Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) has been able to decimate and degrade the Boko Haram terrorists (BHT) from their terrogensic activity to splinter acts of terrorism here and there, mostly within Borno State.Currently, clearance operation is ongoing jointly by the AFN to eliminate both active and passive acts of terrorism in the NE.It is worthy of note that some countries such as Britain, USA and France, among others, provided one form of assistance to the military in our effort so far in the North East, he said.General Eneche also said Operation Sharan Daji in the North-West has been able to curtail the activities of cattle rustlers with many of them embracing the amnesty offered by the government of Zamfara State.He said: Currently, the activities of the criminals have been checkmated tremendously.It is highly desirable to point out here, that a good number of criminals that were engaged in these activities embraced the amnesty offer by the Zamfara State Government.It is expected that other states in the North-West will emulate Zamfara State, so that this wickedness of criminality is eradicated from the zone in particular and Nigeria in general.He however dismissed the notion that the military is not doing anything to curtail the activities of herdsmen, saying it is a conflict between brothers which will require a political solution.Eneche said: It is not the one that you have an identified enemy, the issue of Fulani herdsmen and locals, it is an issue an African would put as brothers that have misunderstanding.It is an issue of two brothers. Even in our houses, children that follow almost immediately have this kind of argument, that is the issues of the herdsmen and the locals. At various fora, we have agreed that it needs more or less a political solution. Kashim Shettima, governor of Borno state, led a high-powered delegation from Borno state to Senate President Bukola Saraki in Abuja on Fri... Kashim Shettima, governor of Borno state, led a high-powered delegation from Borno state to Senate President Bukola Saraki in Abuja on Friday.The visit comes two days after the senate handed a six-month suspension to Ali Ndume, a senator from the state.The ethics and privileges committee had recommended Ndumes suspension because he moved a motion that Saraki and Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west, be investigated.Saraki was accused of harassing Hameed Ali, comptroller-general of customs, because the agency seized a vehicle belonging to him.Melaye was said to have forged a certificate of his degree from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.Both men denied the allegations and were subsequently cleared by the senate committee.Although details of the meeting with Saraki was not made public, there are strong indications that it is connected with the disciplinary action taken against the Borno lawmaker.In Shettimas delegation were Adamu Timpta, a close associate of Ndume and son of the emir of Gwoza; Abubakar Kyari, senator representing Borno central, and some influential personalities.On Thursday, youth in Biu, a town in Borno, trooped to the streets to protest the suspension.A non-governmental organisation (NGO) also gave the senate a 48-hour ultimatum to reverse its decision or face court action. The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday heard how former Oyo State Governor Rasheed Ladoja diverted part of N4.7billion he allegedly l... The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday heard how former Oyo State Governor Rasheed Ladoja diverted part of N4.7billion he allegedly looted from the state treasury.The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) re-arraigned Ladoja for allegedly converting state funds to his personal use. He was first arraigned eight years ago.He was charged along with Waheed Akanbi on eight counts of money laundering and unlawful conversion of public funds.Ladojas Senior Special Executive Assistant, Mr. Adewale Atanda, while testifying for the prosecution, said the former governor gave directive that Oyo States shares be sold.He said N634million, which was part of the commission and profit realised by stockbrokers handling the shares sale, was used as slush funds to prevent Ladojas impeachment.The witness said the N634million was delivered to him by the stockbrokers.He said he removed N180million from the sum which he had earlier borrowed and spent on Ladojas instructions during the heat of the impeachment saga.Part of the N180million, he said, was the N80million he obtained from Wema Bank Plc which Ladoja used to purchase 22 vehicles for Oyo State lawmakers to prevent his impeachment.Another was a loan of N80million which he (Atanda) obtained from Lagoon Savings and Loans to buy Ladoja a property at Quarters 361 which the Oyo State Government put up for sale.He said there was also N13.8million which Ladoja used to buy two Land Cruisers for the state security personnel for his protection.Atanda said having deducted the N180million which he borrowed on Ladojas behalf, he distributed the balance of the N634million, according to Ladojas instructions.Among the beneficiaries, he said, was Bimpe to whom he delivered pounds in London in 2007 and Ladojas wife, Yinka, who also got N20million, N19.5million and $13,000 on different occasions.Other beneficiaries, Atanda said, were lawyers who represented Ladoja in court.Explaining the circumstances in which 600,000 was paid to Bimpe, Atanda said: His Excellency wanted me to pay the money into his account, but I had difficulty doing it.I told him and he said he would ask his daughter to contact me. She did and I gave her the money.The money was mostly in 50 notes; I put it in small suitcases and handed it over to her in London. I think it was in 2007.Under cross-examination by Ladojas lawyer, Bolaji Onilenla, Atanda said neither Bimpe nor Ladoja gave him anything to acknowledge the payment of the 600,000 to Bimpe.Ladoja was governor from May 29, 2003 to January 12, 2006 when he was impeached.On November 1, 2006, the Appeal Court, Ibadan declared the impeachment null and illegal.The Supreme Court upheld the decision on November 11, 2009 and Ladajo resumed office on December 12, 2006.He, however, lost a re-election bid.Justice Mohammed Idris adjourned until April 12 and 13. Wole Olanipekun, senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFC... Wole Olanipekun, senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was not given fair hearing before being condemned by the Department of State Services (DSS).Ahead of Magus unsuccessful confirmation hearing at the senate, the DSS had provided the lawmakers with a report which questioned his integrity.But the former pro-chancellor of the University of Ibadan and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) believes Magu should have been granted the opportunity to clear his name.Olanipekun lamented that the culture of crucifying people without trial was a growing anomaly in Nigeria.Speaking on Friday while delivering a lecture entitled: Breaking the Jinx, the Cyclical Nature of Nigerias Problems, at the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Olanipekun said: We have to be very careful in the way and manner we pronounce and crucify people in this country, without trial, and without affording them the right to be heard.The right to fair hearing is inalienable, given to man by God, right from the time of creation. God gave Adam and Eve the right to fair hearing before He passed judgement on them.The acting Chairman of the EFCC was quoted by several national dailies as saying that he was not given fair hearing by the DSS before he was condemned of wrongdoing by them. I sympathise with Mr. Ibrahim Magu and I agree entirely with him that he ought to have been given fair hearing.But I want to plead that every tier of Government in this country, including agencies of government, including also the EFCC and the DSS, should give Nigerians the right to fair hearing in obedience to the clear provisions of the Constitution, as well as the right bequeathed to man by God. Annexed to the right to fair hearing, is also our duty, whether as government or people, to obey court orders under the doctrine of the Rule of Law.We cannot also hide under the pretext that we are fighting corruption or any particular vice, in refusing to obey any court order, whether in civil or criminal cases, and also including others where courts have directed that citizens should be released on bail. The Supreme Court succinctly summarized the imperative of obedience to the rule of law. It was jubilation galore yesterday in Ondo State as civil servants received their March salaries. It was jubilation galore yesterday in Ondo State as civil servants received their March salaries.The state governor, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu SAN, has by this gesture kept the promise that his administration would not owe salaries.His predecessor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, owed the workers seven months salaries before he left office.It was observed an usual queue of the workers at various Automated Teller Machines (ATM) after they received the alerts on their phones.A staff at Ministry of Environment, Mr. Bode Ojajuni, who spoke with our reporter commended the governor for keeping to his promise.According to him, we are happy because we are no longer in the era of waiting for months without salaries.At least I can now act like a father and husband at home. We have been sustaining ourselves at home with the little gains we make from the petty business of my wife.Another workers, Mrs Funmi Bambi, urged Akeredolu to clear the seven months owed by Mimiko..She said some of us cannot go to the bank to cash our money because our monthly salaries are being used to service out loans.If our governor can clear all the seven months or three months, we will be able to smile home, she said.Aside from the salary, the governor, also, yesterday ordered the immediate rehabilitation of all roads in the three senatorial districts of the state.The governor mobilized engineers, technicians and other relevant officials of the Ondo State Agency For Road Maintenance and Construction (OSARMCO) to the areas where the massive Road Revolution Programme had kicked off.A statement by OSARMCO spokesman ,Wale Omosebi, said major towns in the three senatorial districts were being affected as work has commenced on the internal and access roads in the Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH) in Okitipupa in the southern part of the state.It said walkways were already being cast with kerbs just as the components of the car park are being put in place.The statement said Akeredolu has assured that his administration would take urgent steps to put in place structures and processes that would make the dream on the academic institution a reality.It said: In the Central Senatorial District, reconstruction of the road linking Ilara-Mokin with Ikota in Ifedore Local Government Area is in progress to ensure that the project is delivered in time.The road, when eventually completed to Ikota will enable road users from Ilesa and Ibadan attempting to link Orita-Obele area of the state capital and Ijare as well as other neighbouring towns to avoid the FUTA area thereby reducing traffic challenges in the area.OSARMCO Chairman, Engr Kehinde Osikoya,said the first phase of Ilara-Mokin-Ikota road would be completed soon while the second phase is expected to follow in due course. Lagos state Chairman of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Otunba Segun Adewale has expressed his displeasure over Ekiti state governor ... Lagos state Chairman of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Otunba Segun Adewale has expressed his displeasure over Ekiti state governor Ayodele Fayoses unbridled romance with leaders of the ruling party, the All Progressive Congress (APC).In his reaction to an advertorial placed in the Punch newspaper on the 29th March 2017, by the Ekiti State Governor to celebrate and eulogise Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at 65, Adewale described such romance as unfortunate and a major blow on the confidence of the grassroots members and supporters of the PDP.In a release made available to journalists signed by the chairman, he lamented how some leaders of the party, including Fayose, have completely sold out to individuals within the ruling party at the detriment of the members.I am surprised that Governor Ayodele Fayose the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum could throw cautions to the wind and rub his alleged alliance with the leadership of the ruling party in the south-west on our faces. As a leader and beneficiary of the PDP goodwill, I expect him to clearly understand that members and supporters are looking up to him and such unguided actions demoralise them.Continuing, Adewale noted No doubt, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu paid his dues towards the success of APC in the last general elections. He deserves the admiration of members of the ruling party for providing a responsible leadership within his party. I want to advise Governor Fayose to emulate Bola Tinubus team spirit and respect for party organs in his dealings within the PDP and not embark on actions that may further demoralise our members. The political sagacity of Tinubu is worthy of study by upcoming politicians. However, open acknowledgement of Asiwaju doggedness that saw our party out of power in 2015 is a mockery on the PDP.It will be recalled that Governor Ayodele Fayose was present at the inauguration of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, Ondo State some weeks ago and enjoyed the company of APC leaders in attendance while he neglected the welcoming party and thanksgiving service organised by the good people of Ondo kingdom in honour of their son, former Governor Segun Mimiko.Unequivocally, the said advertorial is a confirmation of Governor Fayoses anti-party activities that have finally come to fore. I wonder how the APC would have viewed such advertorial for former President Jonathan by former Goverrnor Fashola or Governor Aregbesola for instance in the build up to the 2015 general election. Even during the first or second republic, no opposition leader openly embraced Pa Awolowo despite awos popularity, achievements and sagacity. The fact that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has done very well for himself and his political party is not an excuse for Governor Fayose demonstration of impunity and disregard to party loyalty.It is an aberration for Governor Fayose to publicly acknowledge the role played by Asiwaju in destroying PDP that made Fayose what he is today. It is impossible to also forget the role played by Asiwaju Tinubu in the emergence of President Buhari as the Nigerian President, a decision that has brought untold economic hardship on Nigerians. Obviously, the choice of President Buhari wasnt in the interest of the people but for personal aggrandisement of a few politiciansAdewale insisted that the Fayoses action is an open confrontation and an attempt to undermine the PDP in the south-west. He appealed to members of the Party to remain steadfast saying I wish to sincerely appeal to our members not to be deterred by actions targeted at damping their spirit as the storm is over already. What we are seeing presently are last minutes efforts by a few wolf in sheep skin struggling to have a safe landing now that the PDP has been returned to the People by Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, the National Chairman he concluded. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Youth Frontier has called on well-meaning Nigerians to join voices in the condemnation of all... The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Youth Frontier has called on well-meaning Nigerians to join voices in the condemnation of alleged provocative utterances against the Senate credited to the Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay (SAN).Sagay had said that the Senate rejected Ibrahim Magus nomination as substantive chairman of Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission (EFCC) because of their fear of his anti-corruption stance.He also slammed the Senates refusal to proceed with the screening of 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners as requested by President Muhammadu Buhari, describing the action as childish and irresponsible and further threatened that the Senate will regret its decision.http://dailypost.ng/2017/03/29/inec-recs-senate-will-regret-decision-threaten-buhari-sagay/He also stated that he will not honour Senates summon to appear before it, boasting that the upper legislative chamber lacks the capacity to do so.http://dailypost.ng/2017/03/30/senate-vs-presidency-cannot-invite-sagay-mocks-senate/However, the opposition youth group, in a statement signed and issued on its official Twitter handle by its national co-ordinator, Austin Okai Usman, said Prof. Sagay ought to encourage the strengthening of Nigerias democratic institutions rather than advocating for the operation of a rubber stamp National Assembly where everything emanating from the Presidency goes through with necessary checks.The PDP youths further said that Sagay in his capacity as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) should have demonstrated an understanding of the principle of separation of powers, instead of undermining it through his uncultured utterances.The statement reads in part: A President who doesnt have respect for the Judicial Branch needs a strong legislature to tame him.Prof. Itse Sagay should encourage strong institutions instead of advocating for the rubber stamp NASS. Senate resolutions must be obeyed.It is expected of a Professor of Law, understand the principle of separation of powers, but unfortunate Sagay is undermining this principle.We condemn this carefully orchestrated campaign of calumny launched by the Magu, Sagay and its surrogates against the SenateItse Sagay is directly provoking the Senate and we must stand up in unity and condemn these careless utterances in a strong term. Ex-militant leader, Asari Dokubo, in an interview, said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo should stop visiting the Niger Delta to discuss with ... Ex-militant leader, Asari Dokubo, in an interview, said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo should stop visiting the Niger Delta to discuss with the area's elders.Here's what he said:This jamboree by the vice president is funny. Are they our overlords or are we being colonized that they are coming to visit here and there? Dont they know what is right? The oil belongs to us; it does not belong to Nigeria.Ijaw oil belongs to us. If Itsekiri say their oil belongs to Nigeria, that is their business and if Urhobo say same of their oil, that is also their business and same applies to others. But we, Ijaw, are saying that Ijaw oil belongs to Ijaw, they should leave our oil alone.God put the oil there for us to develop ourselves, so there is no need for any Yoruba man called Osinbajo to be perambulating Ijaw land. What is he perambulating about for in the Niger Delta? Dont they know what is right?Okay, in trying to be good neighbours to others and share with them, are they the ones that would decide for us the percentage that we would give to them? Their groundnut, did they share their groundnut or give it to us? Which road was built in Ijaw land with groundnut money or with revenue gotten from cocoa?So the thing is that this jamboree should stop, they know what is right and they should leave what is ours for us because they do not have the right to give it to us. That is the issue at stake and people are not addressing these issues as it should be addressed.So for me, they are only postponing the doomsday, they should do what is right because the oil of Ijaw people belong to them. Abdulmumin Jibrin, suspended member of the house of representatives, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to step down based on his health... Abdulmumin Jibrin, suspended member of the house of representatives, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to step down based on his health condition.Jibrin made the demand about 24 hours after he claimed that Buhari had lost what made so many people admire him as a military head of state.In a series of tweets, Jibrin said the illness of the president had cost the country a lot.He suggested that Aisha Buhari should be given a position in a new cabinet, while her husband be allowed to nominate a new vice-president.PMB, TIME TO LET GO: So many issues are left unattended even small issues that a presidential cough can deal with are left hanging, he wrote.Supporters are worried, understandably resorting to grumbling in hush voices while keeping bold faces and holding on to hope and prayers.At PMBs age, working actively for over 50 years , even without his present health condition, his capacity will be greatly challenged.Mr president himself admitted that he has never been this sick in his entire life which makes the entire scenario really worrisome.Then we are reminded everyday that PMB will travel abroad again to attend to his health as if it is just normal and we should celebrate?I believe that the combination of these two factors of his age and health situation has slowed down the pace of PMB and the APC govt.Life and health belongs to God but the more I see pictures of Mr President, the more I am convinced he needs to go and rest. He needs it!PMB gave his all to Nigeria. He is a great man, an enigma like Mandela. If we truly love him, We must not allow him to be rubbished. SaharaReporters claim to have obtained a document issued by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) declaring that Senator Emmanuel N... SaharaReporters claim to have obtained a document issued by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) declaring that Senator Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba, better known as Andy Uba, forged both a secondary school certificate and Confirmation of Result which he presented to British authorities.In a letter dated February 12, 2014 and addressed to the attention of George Smith of Public Agencies, located at 57 Peel Road, Wembley Middlesex, HA9 7LY in the United Kingdom, WAEC stated, Letter reference no. L/CR/CONF/05465089 dated 21st November, 2013 is fake. According to the examination body, Mr. A.A. Okelezo, as you rightly observed, reported as the Controller of our branch office in Calabar on 7th October, 2013 having been deployed from the Ikeja Zonal Office. He was never the Head of National Office, as indicated at the foot of the letter under reference. The signature on the document is in no way similar to his signature.In a report earlier today, SaharaReporters disclosed that Senator Uba, who represents Anambra South senatorial zone, had falsified the grades he earned in the secondary school leaving certificate exams conducted by WAEC throughout West Africa. Mr. Uba, a former senior domestic assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, attended Union Secondary School (formerly Boys High School), Awkunanaw, a suburb of Enugu, the current capital of Enugu State. Records obtained from the school and elsewhere showed that the controversial senator attended Union Secondary School from 1970 to 1974, when he sat the secondary school leaving certificate.WAECs letter to Mr. Smith clarified that the Examination conducted in May/June 1974 was GCE [General Certificate of Education] and not WASSCE as indicated on the Confirmation of Result.Signed by O.M. Adebayo, deputy Registrar in charge of School Exams Department, WAECs letter added: The Certificate No: SC 544753 with candidate No. 05465089 was found to be fake, as signatures on the document were forged. Also, the serial number quoted on the certificate was non-existent in our system. In addition, the spelling of GRADE as GARDE let the document out as fake. Mr. Adebayo stated that a candidate with the same name as Mr. Uba sat the GCE in the school in 1974, and then detailed the authentic results earned by the senator.Mr. Ubas real results, as certified by WAEC in its letter to Mr. Smith, showed that the senator performed woefully, scoring credit in only one subject, Chemistry. He failed English Language, Bible Knowledge, and Economics. He earned grades of mere pass, which are close to fail, in the following subjects: English Language, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, and Biology. By contrast, Mr. Ubas falsified results claimed that he earned the following grades: English Literature 4, English Language 7, Christian Religious Knowledge 7, Economics 4, Statistics 6, Mathematics 6, Physics 4, and Chemistry 6.In addition to fraudulently altering the grades he obtained in his terminal secondary school certificate, Mr. Uba also claimed on his official website as well as his page on the National Assembly website that he obtained bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees from Concordia University, Canada, California State University, and Buxton University in the UK. Our investigations disclosed that Mr. Uba indeed registered as an undergraduate student in both Concordia University and California State University, but that he dropped out of both institutions without completing enough work to earn even a bachelors degree. Our further investigation also showed that Buxton University is not an accredited institution of learning, but a certificate mill that sells degrees to anybody willing to pay a small fee. Even though Mr. Ubas official website claimed that the senator attended Buxton University in the UK, the fake institution does not have any physical address in Britain. It once operated out of Portugal, using that country as a location from which to send certificates to customers around the world.In his forged secondary school leaving certificate, Mr. Uba claimed that he scored First Division. WAECs document to Mr. Smith debunks the claim. In his letter, Mr. Adebayo stated, for a candidate to have been qualified for a First Division Certificate under the WASC/GCE regime, he/she must have passed in at least six subjects selected in accordance with the Regulations, reaching Credit in at least five of them (including English Language WAECs letter was emphatic that Mr. Uba did not fulfill the condition and could therefore not have been awarded Division One.(SaharaReporters) CaesarsSentencing.jpg Aaron Evans and Nathaniel Greenlee (top) were both sentenced for their roles in an armed robbery at the Caesars Casino. Izyiah Plummer and Donavon Jackson (bottom) were already sentenced for taking part. (U.S. Attorney's Office of New Jersey ) ATLANTIC CITY -- A judge sentenced two men Friday who took part in an armed robbery at the Caesars Atlantic City casino in 2014, according to a statement from the Office of the Attorney General. Aaron Evans, 26, of Atlantic City, was sentenced to eight years in state prison. He pleaded guilty on Dec. 12 to second-degree theft. Nathaniel Greenlee, 23, of Bear, Delaware, received a 7-year sentence. Greenlee pleaded guilty to second-degree theft in June 2016. Two other men were previously sentenced for their roles in the heist, the statement said. Izyiah Plummer, 22, of Atlantic City, who led the armed robbery, received 11 years. The former Caesar's security guard was arrested in August 2014 and pleaded guilty to all charges against him. Donavon Jackson, 23, of Wilmington, Delaware, was sentenced to seven years on Mar. 17. He pleaded guilty on June 2016. Plummer and Evans entered the casino on the morning of July 21, 2014 wearing masks and gloves, and robbed a security guard and casino employee who were removing cash boxes from a kiosk at gunpoint. Greenlee and Jackson remained in the getaway car. Police located cash, a handgun, a ski mask and a handle from one of the casino cash boxes in Plummer's apartment. Rajeev Dhir may be reached at rdhir@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @googasmammoo. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEWARK -- Weary travelers looked up from their phones and cracked a smile. Airport workers stopped and took pictures. And a gray day outside seemed just a little bit brighter. A parade of puppies was taking over Newark Liberty International Airport. On Saturday, 89 puppies training to become seeing eye dogs and their handlers spent the morning at the airport as part of a yearly training organized by The Seeing Eye, a Morristown-based group that trains dogs to help the visually impaired. There were Labradors, poodles, golden retriever mixes and German shepherds, most only months old. For about three hours, the puppies and their handlers went through ticketing, security checkpoints, baggage claim and boarded a plane to accustom the dogs to traveling -- and the chaos that comes with it. "We have to make sure the dogs are steady when there's a lot of noise so they're confident and it doesn't scare them," said Jeanne Kollmer, of Franklin Township, a longtime puppy raiser. "It's so many different experiences you can have in one venue." Shari, a 10-month-old black Labrador, sat calmly by her side as the two waited to board a United Airlines plane. "You're making a difference in someone else's life, there's nothing better than that," Kollmer said. Shari was the 18th dog she'd help raise. Frank Radics, the interim deputy general manager at the airport, said they've been hosting the animals for more than 20 years. "This program has trained nearly 3,500 dogs to assist visually impaired passengers navigate busy airports like ours, making air travel a little easier," Radics said. The Seeing Eye pairs about 260 people who are blind with guide dogs every year; about 500 puppies are placed in volunteer homes to be raised for 12-14 months and then undergo four months of training with The Seeing Eye. "We take her everywhere with us," Tricia Gomez said of her puppy, a six-month-old black lab named Kendall. Gomez, an elementary school teacher from Byram, said her students also love the lab. "(Kendall) is used to a lot of chaos," Gomez, a first-time volunteer said. She said it's going to be hard to say goodbye. "Throughout the process I'm thinking what a good job she'll do for someone else." Inside the plane, the puppies calmly curled under the seats, though a few paws and tails popped out of the aisles. Some rubbed noses with each other under the seat and others sniffed each other across the aisles. "It's a new experience," Jessie Kayalo, 15, of Union County said. Yurik, her 10-month Labrador lay on his back hoping to get a belly rub. "The hardest part is having patience." Trained volunteers receive the puppies when they are seven weeks old and help the animals be good family dogs and learn commands like "park," which means go to to the bathroom. A few of the puppies -- still in training -- had accidents along the terminal. The puppies also livened up the terminal for passers-by. One family was on a two-hour layover and heading back home to Chicago when their four young children stopped to play with an 11-month black lab and rub her belly. Janet Keeler, a longtime volunteer, said taking the dogs to the airport was a good exercise in case they are paired with a person who travels often. "You never know who they are going to be matched with," she said. Keeler was holding the 55th puppy she's trained over the years. "I'll be back here with the next one," she smiled. Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. BAYONNE -- U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez called for greater federal infrastructure investment and criticized President Trump's proposed federal budget at a press conference at the Global Container Terminal this morning. Menendez was joined by local officials and GTC President John Atkins and longshoreman's Local 1588 President Virgil Maldonado -- all of whom expressed concern over the effect $2.4 billion in cuts to infrastructure and transportation funding would have on the area's economy. "We have learned that sometimes the president's rhetoric does not line up with reality," Menendez said. "The Trump administration's budget proposal does not rebuild our transportation system -- it ultimately leaves it to languish in disrepair." President Trump's federal budget proposal would cut 13 percent from U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) discretionary programs. It would eliminate the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program, which enabled funding for the GCT's ongoing expansion in 2012. GCT was awarded an $11.4 million TIGER grant in 2012 to build the South Hudson Intermodal Facility in Bayonne and expand the capacity of the port to accommodate larger vessels following the expansion of the Panama Canal. Menendez, a member of the Senate transit subcommittee, lauded the container terminal, pointing to its ongoing expansion project as vital to the local economy. "The funding provided by the TIGER program supported a doubling of the terminal's rail infrastructure, and the purchase of two state-of-the-art electric gantry cranes," Menendez said. "The investment helped to remove truck traffic from our crowded roadways, reducing pollution and helping to improve our air quality. "It was also an investment in the American worker, bringing hundreds of good-paying, union jobs to our community," he added. Since it was established in 2009, the TIGER grant program has invested nearly $120 million in transportation projects in the state, such as the Port Newark Container Terminal expansion project. The proposed budget would also do away with the New Starts program, which funded the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system and would be instrumental in expanding it to the western edge of Jersey City and into Bergen County. Along with local economic benefits, Menendez emphasized the need to stay economically competitive in the Northeast Corridor, an area of economic commerce and activity that contributes $3.7 trillion to the country's gross domestic product. He questioned whether the area could stay economically competitive if affected by large funding cuts, and was adamant that the budget proposal would not pass. "This budget, as far as I'm concerned, is dead on arrival," Menendez said. Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis also emphasized the economic importance of federal grants and said that Trump's budget would "hurt immensely." "Whether it's the roads we drive on, the trucks that drive over those roads or the jobs that load the trucks .... the practical economic and social benefits of TIGER grants are all around us," Davis said. "In short, TIGER grants put people to work." Davis has previously come out against similar funding cuts proposed by the Trump administration. Earlier this month, Davis called the Trump administration's proposed budget "a disaster" for Bayonne. The budget plan would cut funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and as a result would eliminate Community Development Block Grants. Corey McDonald may be reached at cmcdonald@jjournal.com. Mayor Steve Fulop took a shot at New Jersey's bail reform during his sixth and final state of the city address this week, saying the system is keeping the city from "turning a corner" on preventing gun violence. Fulop, in a 30-minute speech delivered in the Casino in the Park banquet hall, slapped state lawmakers for devising a system that makes it easier for people picked up with illegal guns to be charged and released instead of held behind bars. Fulop cited the Tuesday murder of 19-year-old DaJour Riley as an example of what he sees as a flawed system, which went into effect in January. "In this situation, this young man who died should be alive and likely should be incarcerated," Fulop said. "The JCPD had arrested this individual just last month with an illegal gun. However, due to the new bail reform from Trenton, possession of illegal guns has been classified as a non-violent crime. I am taking this opportunity today to call on Trenton to change the loophole that allowed this to happen." State Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham, who was in attendance, told The Jersey Journal she has spoken to Gov. Chris Christie about revising the scoring system put in place by the bail overhaul. The system gives defendants a score intended to reflect their danger to the community and the likelihood they will appear in court on the charges. Cunningham, D-Hudson, said the system was not devised to reflect the danger of releasing suspects picked up with illegal guns. "And we're feeling it," she said. Fulop said he largely agrees with most aspects of the state's bail revamp. The mayor delivered six state of the city speeches this year instead of the usual one, giving one in each of the city's six wards. This week's was focused on Ward B, which includes the West Side and portions of McGinley Square and Greenville. Fulop pledged to create a new business district along West Side Avenue, saying the proposed special improvement district would help solve the issue of littering on the West Side, where residents have organized their own clean-up efforts. Fulop also said the city is conducting traffic studies "to keep traffic flowing smoothly" on congested West Side roadways. If approved by the City Council, the West Side Avenue SID would be the city's seventh SID. The special districts are funded by a special tax on businesses inside the district that provides funding for litter removal, extra security and other items intended to boost the local economy. Councilman Chris Gadsden, who represents Ward B, supports the move, saying, "We need a crew out there besides DPW cleaning the West Side." Gadsden added that he wants to work with city officials to make sure West Side Avenue shop owners are comfortable with the added tax, given the difference between businesses there and those in the Downtown SIDs. "These are bodegas," he said. The mayor, first elected in May 2013, is seeking a second term in November. Councilman Rolando Lavarro said, "without a doubt Jersey City is much better off than it was four years ago," before he introduced Fulop. Bill Matsikoudis, a longtime Fulop foe who is challenging him in November's mayoral race, had a campaign team outside Casino in the Park handing out anti-Fulop fliers. "He spent the first three years of his mayoralty running around the state of New Jersey trying to win over political insiders," the flier reads. "Six state of the city addresses don't make up for being gone for three and a half years." Communities throughout Hudson County marked the 44th anniversary of the final withdrawal of American troops from the Vietnam War on Wednesday during the United States' first-ever National Vietnam War Veterans Day. President Donald Trump signed the bi-partisan Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 into law earlier this week, establishing March 29 as a national day of recognition. In Secaucus, town and county officials joined Vietnam veterans and other residents to honor the troops who served in the unpopular conflict that spanned parts of three decades. Jo Ann Northgrave, veterans coordinator for Hudson County, helped lead the ceremony, which included a wreath-laying. EDISON -- John Basilone Detachment 190 of the Marine Corps League hosted a walk on March 25 in an effort to raise money for the Women In Military Service For America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Members of the detachment and friends of the organization walked 1.5 miles from the Veterans' Memorial in Roosevelt Park in Edison to the New Jersey State Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park to raise money for the memorial, the nation's only memorial for women in the military which opened in 1997. The Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation is a nonprofit organization that depends on donations of individuals, corporations, organizations, and state and local governments to equip and maintain its education center, theater and exhibit areas, expand its artifact collection, and continue to locate and register eligible women. The Milltown-based detachment expects to donate $2,000 to the organization. Myriam Charriez, commandant of the detachment said, "Since March has been declared 'National Women's History Month' it is fitting that we conduct this event on this date." For more information on the memorial or to make a donation, go to womensmemorial.org; or, send checks payable to John Basilone Detachment, c/o Janet Misak/paymaster, 55 Gordon Ave., Fords, NJ 08863 (Women In Military Service For America Memorial in the memo line). DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / April 1, 2017 / Dallas employment attorney Keith Clouse stresses the importance of expressly notifying employees of company arbitration policies. Many companies use online acknowledgments to enter into arbitration agreements with employees. However, under Texas law, these are only enforceable if the employee received notice of the policy and accepted it. A recent opinion from the Fort Worth Court of Appeals demonstrates some of the challenges companies may face with enforcing online arbitration policies. In Doe v. Columbia N. Hills Hosp., et al., Columbia tried to enforce an arbitration policy that was posted on its intranet website. However, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals found that Doe was not expressly notified of the arbitration policy. 'Merely posting an arbitration policy on an intranet site is insufficient to give an employee notice.' Moreover, Columbia provided no evidence that Doe actually accessed the intranet site. Because Doe did not have notice of the arbitration policy, the trial court abused its discretion in compelling arbitration. Companies should expressly notify employees of online arbitration policies and, if possible, have employees sign and acknowledge receipt of the arbitration polices. To speak to an employment law attorney about company arbitration policies, send an email to debra@clousedunn.com or call (214) 239-2705. This article is presented by the Dallas employment law lawyers at Clouse Dunn LLP. SOURCE: Clouse Dunn LLP via Submit Press Release 123 You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Mark Cuban Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban took to Twitter on Saturday to outline his theory on the Russia-related controversy surrounding President Donald Trump and his administration. Cuban, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank," came to the conclusion that there is "no chance this is a [Trump] led conspiracy." Cuban argued that Trump is not savvy enough to "pull off" such a plot. Cuban has teased reporters in recent weeks about making a potential run at the presidency himself in 2020. Read Cuban's lengthy tweetstorm below: 1) Here is my take on Trump and Russia Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 2) Russians have made him a lot of money buying condos and investing in his bldgs and hosting his beauty pageant.That makes them his friends Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 3) He ignored their backgrounds. But that's not unusual. Starbucks takes anyone's money and so do most businesses including mine. Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 4) He spoke favorably about Putin to get his approval for Russians to get $ out of Russia and into Trump deals. He saw it as easy money Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 5) When Manafort was recommended, he didn't vett him. He saw it as a win win. Win the election or open the door for more Russian business Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 6) As people with Russian connects came into the campaign he had no clue that those connections were possibly being influenced by Russia Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 7) His lean campaign took direction from people he trusted and he followed those directions. He had no clue where the Russians fit Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 8) when Manafort got "hot" he got rid of him but the campaign approach had been established. Bannon took it to the next level FTW Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 9) No chance this is a DJT led conspiracy. He isn't detail oriented, organized or big picture enough to pull off any time of conspiracy Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 10) I think Putin recognized trumps greed and took advantage by back channeling coordinated misinformation in an attempt to influence voters Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 11) Trump had no idea this was happening. He was doing what he was told to do. Stick to the script and read what was written for him Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 12)Because he didn't recognize or understand as it was happening he has no idea what to do now or how to respond. So he turns to Fox News Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 13) That's what I think happened. Feel free to agree or disagree Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 1, 2017 Earlier Saturday, Trump lashed out over the Russia-related cloud hanging over his White House, specifically targeting NBC's Chuck Todd, host of "Meet the Press." Story continues When will Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd and @NBCNews start talking about the Obama SURVEILLANCE SCANDAL and stop with the Fake Trump/Russia story? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2017 It is the same Fake News Media that said there is "no path to victory for Trump" that is now pushing the phony Russia story. A total scam! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2017 NOW WATCH: Trump appears to ignore requests for a handshake with Angela Merkel during their first meeting More From Business Insider WASHINGTON (AP) The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all. The Secret Service said it was his unusually inquisitive nature about military matters that tipped off personnel about a German man working as a waiter in the officers mess at Camp Dodge, according to the Des Moines Register in 1917. John Conrad Ebert, 24, was arrested by federal agents on Nov. 24, 1917, at the camp. The agents had him under surveillance for about six weeks. He was charged as a suspected spy for Germany. Ebert had left his homeland in 1913 and traveled to the United States. He took out naturalization papers but never completed the process. He had worked at a variety of jobs across the country. Though he was trained to be an expert stenographer, he worked at jobs that did not require his special skills. Along the way, he worked for a railroad, steamship company, wagon factory and the Pabst Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He always came to jobs with a bundle of references from former employers from New York to San Francisco. That was another red flag for the Secret Service. They had long suspected there was a chain of German spies operating from coast to coast. They believed Ebert was part of a bigger network. And the suspected spy was known to have four brothers back home in the German military. In addition, a sister worked as a Red Cross nurse on the French front. She was using an assumed name, but the French Secret Service was sharing information with their American counterparts about the Ebert woman. It was thought Ebert passed along secrets he learned at Camp Dodge to his relatives, who shared the information with the German government. Under interrogation, Ebert was reluctant to provide helpful information. The Des Moines Register described his responses: How did you happen to leave Germany when you were liable to military service? US agents asked. I received a pass to leave the country, Ebert replied. How long did the pass cover? One month, he said. He didnt have an answer for why he overstayed his visit. He did admit he had been offered a job with the Great Western Railway Company in Des Moines but had not taken it. Rather, he took the job as a waiter at Camp Dodge. Why didnt you accept the job when you arrived here? interrogators asked. I thought the waiter position out at the camp was the best job, Ebert explained. He couldnt remember who offered him the job at the camp, but he said it paid $60 a month with board. The Secret Service said they had enough evidence on Ebert to hold him without bail. He was bound over to a federal grand jury. They expected he would go on trial in December in federal court in Des Moines. They said most likely Ebert would spend the duration of the war in Leavenworth prison, according to the Jacksonville Daily Journal. All the worlds a stage. Its an idea that Iowa Western Community College Theater Program Chairwoman Shea Saladee wants everyone to understand. I know everyone is really big into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), but I like to look at it as STEAM and add the arts in there, Saladee said. The arts are what make us human because we get to communicate and write and read and express those feelings that we dont always get to in science and math fields. In her second year as chairwoman, Saladee is making major changes to the colleges theater program. In the past, students attending IWCC and pursuing theater chose between a stage management track or an acting/directing track. Both programs have now been streamlined into one program to offer students a better liberal arts degree. Instead of focusing so much on being a technician or an actor, I want them get a well-rounded education, so I fused the two programs together, Saladee said. This way, students are getting a broad range of education, so they can sample different things to help them discover their talents instead of pigeonholing them right away. Under the new program, students will take both technical classes and acting and directing classes. Not only will this provide students a more versatile education, but it will also make them more marketable, Saladee said. I tell my students its important to be an actor that can hang a light, she said. The more skills you can acquire, the more jobs there are to be had. Having a background in both education and theater, Saladee spent time teaching in Omaha Public Schools before landing her position at IWCC two years ago. In 2013, she worked on a team with 30 other educators to help write the first Nebraska Theatre Fine Arts Standards. The first of its kind for the state, the Nebraska State Board of Education adopted the standards in March 2014. The standards were created as a guideline for what students should know in dance, music, media arts, theater and visual arts. Bringing that experience with her to Iowa Western, Saladee spent last summer rewriting some of the theater college courses to align with the new curriculum, which will start this fall. Under the new program, Business of Theatre will be a new class requirement for students, where they will learn how to build a resume, write a cover letter and build a digital portfolio. Students will also be required to research and find four-year institutions or jobs and find contacts and resources for when they leave the school, Saladee said. We want to set them up for that next step in life, she added. As part of other program changes, Saladee also increased the number of performances hosted each year by the college from two to three productions. This years productions included Othello, 12 Angry Jurors and this months spring production of Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead. Othello was recently recognized at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, a regional theater festival, for Outstanding Direction and Adaptation and Outstanding Production and Performance Ensemble all four performances sold out in under 60 seconds. Also a sold out show, 12 Angry Jurors, saw more than 50 people turned away at the doors when the college presented it last month. Currently, all productions are open to both student and community participation. This months spring production will feature nine IWCC students, one student from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and one student from Papillion-La Vista High School. I try to give students priority on opportunities, but we have cast outside the department, Saladee said. Especially, when a role needs to be filled by something we dont specifically have. I do try to give students first pick, but this year we have an abundance of men, and were lacking women. Iowa Western also offers free admission and tours to its productions for high school students. Its important that we are seeing those high school kids coming through our doors, Saladee said. Coming from the public school system, I had a lot of students who wanted to see theater, but cost was always an issue; and I never want that to be a barrier for anyone who wants to come and enjoy the arts. This year, the program has 25 theater majors, five of whom will graduate this spring. Under a different program and new curriculum, Saladee said she hopes more students will consider attending the college. I think its an incredibly exciting time right now, Saladee said. Were a growing department and weve got a lot of new, fresh blood and talent; and theyre so eager to learn. A Bellevue, Nebraska, man pleaded guilty to car theft and burglary charges Thursday after police said he habitually failed to comply with court orders. Dustin Minkler, 24, pleaded guilty to credit card forgery, first-degree theft and third-degree burglary. A charge of ongoing criminal conduct punishable by up to 25 years in prison was dismissed as part of his plea agreement. Minkler was sentenced to two years in prison with no minimum and more than $2,000 in fines. According to police records, Minkler burglarized a car in the early morning hours of Feb. 13, stealing a womans credit and debit cards, cash and a walkie talkie. Later that day, police spotted Minkler in a stolen car in the parking lot of Buckys, 3501 W. Broadway in Council Bluffs. They found nine of the womans stolen cards in his pockets. At that time, police found a clear glass pipe on Minkler and also charged him with possession of drug paraphernalia. In court Thursday, Minkler apologized to those affected by his actions. I know sometimes it doesnt seem to matter much, but I want to say sorry to all the people I hurt. I dont have a reason I can use, but I want to apologize, he said. Emirates Airbus A380 The Department of Homeland Security's ban on large electronics has been in effect for a week. The ban, which covers nine airlines, forbids passengers from bringing any electronic devices larger than a cell phone into the cabin of non-stop flights to the US from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa. The ban has been an unmitigated headache for the airlines and their customers. Business travelers and their laptops are generally inseparable. Many passengers use time in transit to work. The laptops might also contain sensitive or confidential information companies don't want getting out. The ban and resulting headaches have become a major concern for the affected airlines because repeat corporate business travelers and their immense spending power are their single most important block of customers. Emirates Airlines CEO Sir Tim Clarke As a result, several of airlines including industry heavyweights, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, and Turkish Airlines have come up with a series of work arounds to counter the ban. Based on the latest rankings from the respected consumer-aviation website Skytrax, these four airlines also represent the first-, second-, sixth-, and seventh-ranked carriers in the world. Emirates, was the first of the major airlines to offer a response to the conundrum. On March 23, Emirates announced a service that will allow passengers to use their laptops and tablets until it's time to board their US-bound flights instead of checking them with their luggage. Prior to boarding, passengers hand over their laptops and other electronic devices to staff members to who pack them in secure boxes before storing them in the cargo hold. Operations at Emirates, one of the major carriers affected, has gone relatively well apart from some slow arriving bags at US airports, airline president Sir Tim Clark told Business Insider. "Our aim is to ensure compliance with the new rules, while minimizing disruption to passenger flow and impact on customer experience," Clark said in a statement. "Our new complimentary service enables passengers, particularly those flying for business, to have the flexibility to use their devices until the last possible moment." Story continues Even though Emirates' work around doesn't quite offer a perfect solution for the problem, it does mitigate a good portion of the hardship created for passengers by the ban. Hand in your tablets/laptops during boarding to USA and use our free inflight WIFI service starting on March 31st. pic.twitter.com/LoqMOAapij Turkish Airlines (@TurkishAirlines) March 28, 2017 Turkish Airlines has joined Emirates with a similar laptop handling policy. According to Turkish, passengers' electronic devices will be packed in secure boxes at the departure gate. Once in the US, the boxes will be returned to them by the airline. To ensure security, airline employees will personally return each box to its rightful owner by matching baggage tag numbers. In addition, Turkish Airlines announced on Twitter this week that passengers who turn in their laptops and tablets at boarding would receive free WiFi on board the flight. Skytrax has named the Istanbul, Turkey-based carrier Europe's best airline six years in a row. Saudia also tweeted that all passengers going to or returning from the US and UK will get 20 MB of free WiFi access. This week, Etihad upped the ante by announcing that first and business class passengers on flights to the US will have access to complimentary WiFi and loaner iPads. All the cool stuff happens on the internet anyway. Free Wi-Fi & iPads on our US flights. Learn more: https://t.co/HU8g5GASY1 #ElectronicsBan pic.twitter.com/Uy8M8WMELB Etihad Airways (@EtihadAirways) March 29, 2017 "To help guests keep in touch with work, friends and family, we are offering First & Business Class guests free WiFi and iPads on all our US-bound flights, beginning Sunday, April 2," Etihad said in an email to Business Insider. "Wi-Fi vouchers will be distributed by our cabin crew onboard, providing free Wi-Fi for the duration of the flight. In addition, well have iPads available for those that need them. Power and USB sockets at every seat will help keep devices charged." One day after Etihad's announcement, Qatar Airways raised the bar again by offering its business class passengers free loaner laptops along with an hour of free WiFi on all of its to the US. (Qatar's US-bound fleet does not offer a traditional first class cabin.) "By providing this laptop loan service we can ensure that our passengers on flights to the US can continue to work whilst on-board," Qatar Airways Group's CEO, Akbar Al Baker, said in a statement. "This unique ability to offer 'business as usual,' above and beyond the competition, is yet another example of Qatar Airways justification for being the 'World's Best Business Class.'" It's 'Business As Usual' on all United States flights with our complimentary Laptop Loan Service https://t.co/uYMWPHnltg #ElectronicsBan pic.twitter.com/kB31u1opuw Qatar Airways (@qatarairways) March 30, 2017 While Emirates' program extends to all passengers, neither Etihad nor Qatar Airways' service are available for the economy cabin. Emirates has also hinted that it, too, may offer laptop loans on board its flight. However, the Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based carrier has not made an official decision. That's because the airline does not yet have conclusive data on the long-term effect the laptop ban will have on its business, which according to Clark won't happen until sometime in May. For now, airlines are simply working to make the best of an inconvenient situation. NOW WATCH: A penthouse owned by Trump's trust is on the market for $35 million heres a look inside More From Business Insider Funding for the YMCA at Gothenburg Health project received a boost Thursday when the Union Pacific Foundation presented a check for $30,000. Becky Jobman, executive director of the Gothenburg Hospital Foundation, said it learned it would receive the funds last month. The Gothenburg Hospital Foundation is incredibly grateful for the generous contribution from Union Pacific, Jobman said. Every donation and grant awarded to our foundation gets us that much closer to fully funding our project. It is heartwarming to see Union Pacific invest back into a community where their employees live and work. The YMCA will be connected to Gothenburg Health as part of a joint project that will include hospital renovations and expansions. Theres a little more than $1 million left to raise to reach the projects final goal of $4.95 million. The facility will feature a high school regulation-sized gymnasium, a four-lane swimming pool and an indoor walking track, among other amenities. Groundbreaking is scheduled to take place this spring. Last August, the Gothenburg Hospital Foundation submitted a grant request to the Union Pacific Foundation. The project was eligible for the grant partially because of Gothenburgs location on Union Pacifics line. The Miss Nebraska Organization has announced the judges of this years state pageant. The pageant will take place June 7-10. The judges will decide who moves forward to the Miss America competition in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Sept. 10. This years judges will be: Kelly Keiser-Terrell Kelly Keiser-Terrell was crowned Miss Nebraska in 2005. After competing at Miss America, she earned a bachelor of science in business marketing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master of science in integrated marketing communications from Eastern Michigan University. She and her husband, Shane, moved to Manhattan, Kansas, where Keiser-Terrell worked at Kansas State Universitys Global Campus, first as the coordinator for the English as a Second Language program and then as the marketing research coordinator. The couple moved back to Nebraska, and Keiser-Terrell currently works on the familys farm and feedlot in Gothenburg. She and her husband, Dr. Shane Terrell, have a son, Clay, a daughter, Brett, and a dog named Tuck. Keiser-Terrell also works as the marketing and communications director for a group of consulting veterinarians called Production Animal Consultation. She started a magazine called Protein Producers, serves on the Mothers of Preschoolers steering committee, the Nebraska 4-H Foundation Board and the Gothenburg Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee. Alex Hoffman-Bisson Alex Hoffman-Bisson, an award-winning broadcast journalist, stepped away from the newsroom to focus on being a wife and mother. She is a Eureka, South Dakota, native and attended South Dakota State University. She was part of the schools swim team and broke nine records in her first season. Hoffman-Bisson was nominated as the NCAA Woman of the Year and was team captain her senior year. She was crowned Miss South Dakota in 2008 and finished in the top 15 at Miss America. During her year of service, Hoffman-Bisson traveled the state warning students of the dangers associated with tobacco, alchohol and performance-enhancing drugs. Hoffman-Bisson worked at KETV in Omaha for five years, most recently as a morning news anchor. Hoffman-Bisson currently lives in Mitchell, South Dakota, with her husband, John, and their son, Jackson. Alex Henery Alex Henery, a former Nebraska Cornhusker kicker, set the NCAA career accuracy record. Henery is Nebraskas all-time leading scorer and received a number of honors including first-team All-American. He was a three-time team captain and was named to the Brook Berringer Team for his community work. Henery graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in construction management. He spent four years playing in the NFL for the Eagles and the Lions. Henery now lives in Omaha with his wife. He works for Tetrad Property Group. Jade Roper Jade Roper, a Gering native, found love on the nationally televised hit "Bachelor in Paradise" in 2015. She and her co-star, Tanner Tolbert, were married in a special edition of "The Bachelor" that aired on Valentines Day 2016. The couple later appeared on a TV show called Marriage Bootcamp. Roper has been featured in magazines such as People, US and E! The couple lives in Kansas City, Missouri. Theyll be welcoming their first child in September. Sean Bellamy Sean Bellamy kicked off his pageant career more than 15 years ago when he was crowned Teen Mr. Wilmington, North Carolina. Bellamy earned a bachelors in elementary education from Winston-Salem State University and a masters degree in curriculum and instruction from George Washington University. He serves on the National Miss Black and Gold Scholarship Pageant Committee and has judged several local and state pageants. Hes also the mind behind Bemade , a styling, consultation, embellishment, accessory and garment construction business. His designs have been spotted on many local and national titleholders across the country. Bellamy also works as a second-grade teacher in Washington, D.C. Edwin Coleman Edwin Coleman has been a volunteer for the Miss America Organization for more than 25 years. He currently serves as the executive director and producer of the Miss Collierville Scholarship Pageant in Tennessee. He has won the Miss Tennessee Outstanding Production Award five times and was named director of the year for the Miss Tennessee Scholarship Organization. Hes judged local and state pageants in more than 14 states. He is a journalism graduate of the University of Mississippi and is trained in voice and piano. He works as a corporate communications program manager for FedEx Corp., based in Memphis, Tennessee. He has worked in the companys International Communications Division, where he served as the public relations manager for FedEx Canada, and in media relations working with national and international news media and overseeing sales and marketing communications. DailyFX.com - OPEC Extension Confidence Gives Oil Best Week of 2017 Fundamental Forecast for USOIL: Neutral Talking Points: What are the DailyFX analysts' expectations for Q2 2017 and key lessons they took away from 2016? Sign up for both on the DailyFX Trading Guides page. The beginning of Q2 is setting up to be important for Oil traders to watch given whats happening behind the price, which could determine if Crude Oil turns lower or much higher over Q2. One thing that is helpful to note is that counter to the equity market rallies across the world; Oil had a bad quarter. In looking at Energy stocks, the Oil & Gas sector was the worst performing sector for Q1 being down nearly 3%. In looking at the options markets; options traders are betting on theupside or a large reversion to the mean on the back of reports that OPEC is building consensus to extend the production cuts and encouraging US refinery demand data. When comparing out of the money puts (which favor further downside), to out of the money calls (favoring further upside), Calls relative to Puts has reached a two-year high for energy stocks. Naturally, energy stocks are a highly correlated derivative of the energy market. While the upside in Oil may be limited relative to Energy Stocks, stocks in the Oil & Gas sector are said per Bloomberg to be trading at their cheapest level compared to the market since 2015. The $64,000 question is whether or not Oil price and the Oil sector is leading or set to revert higher to stocks. The options market is betting on the latter as hope emerges that OPEC will extend the cut and give time for market demand to pull down the global stockpiles, which reached record levels in the US in Q1 due to US supplies. Story continues Technical View: The price action turn-around of Crude Oil of ~5% off the 55-week moving average ($47.60/bbl) should keep traders focused on Oil at the start of Q2. We have recently looked at the 200-DMA because over the last year, recent price tests of the 200-DMA have been met with large buying volume that subsequently lifted prices to multi-month highs over the following months. However, stepping back, its work looking at the 55-WMA because it reduces some of the noise of day-to-day price action, and maintains technical significance. If the 55-WMA holds price and we continue to move higher, which aligns with the developing sentiment picture, we could see a move to $52/55. If the upside does not develop and we get a breakdown below the last weeks low at $47/bbl, then we will focus on the chart support at the $44/40.5 zone, which is the 38.2-50% retracement of the February 2016 to January price range of $55.13-$26/bbl. Weekly Chart Is Encouraging & Aligns With Emerging Sentiment Picture OPEC Extension Confidence Gives Oil Best Week of 2017 Chart Created by: Tyler Yell, CMT Next Weeks Data Points That May Affect Energy Markets: The fundamental focal points for the energy market next week: Tuesday 4:30 PM ET: API weekly U.S. oil inventory report Wednesday 10:30 AM ET: EIA Petroleum Supply Report Fridays 1:00 PM ET: Baker-Hughes Rig Count at Friday 3:30 PM ET: Release of the CFTC weekly commitments of traders report on U.S. futures, options contracts This weekend, Iraq energy forum starts in Baghdad that will host OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo and Iraqi President Fuad Masum. Oil Sentiment Picture From IG Traders OPEC Extension Confidence Gives Oil Best Week of 2017 Oil - US Crude: Retail trader data shows 65.1% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 1.87 to 1. In fact, traders have remained net-long since Mar 01 when Oil - US Crude traded near 5433.1; the price has moved 7.2% lower since then. The number of traders net-long is 12.0% lower than yesterday and 9.5% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 23.2% higher than yesterday and 7.3% higher from last week. We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests Oil - US Crude prices may continue to fall. Traders are less net-long than yesterday and compared with last week. Recent changes in sentiment warn that the current Oil - US Crude price trend may soon reverse higher despite the fact traders remain net-long. (Emphasis Mine) 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. April 15 festival will raise funds for families who lost homes in McConaughy fire When Darin Husmann heard about the March 19 fire near Lake McConaughy that destroyed at least eight homes in Lemoyne, it hit home. Husmanns parents grew up in nearby Ogallala, and his uncles friend lost everything in the fire. So Husmann, vocalist and guitarist for Denver-area country band Buckd Off, contacted a friend in Scottsbluff and organized a music festival. Hosted April 15 at Rendezvous Square in Ogallala, the event will feature 10 musical acts from 10 a.m. to midnight MST. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children, and all proceeds benefit victims of the fire. Hes just a working guy like we are, Husmann said of his uncles friend, adding that the friend had two daughters at home and two daughters out of the house who grew up in the home. Husmann said his mothers childhood home had burned down years ago, and she always remembered how the community came together in support. Husmann had wanted to organize a music festival before. He said the musical acts are coming from all over Nebraska to play for free. Buckd Off has represented Nebraska in past country showdowns. While everything at the show including food is a donation, Husmann is currently in search of gas sponsorships for musical acts. Buckd Off alone brings three vehicles of equipment and personnel, he said. Although he lives in Colorado, Husmann grew up visiting Lake McConaughy and spent every summer in high school working on a farm near Ogallala, he said. He still spends much of his time in the area. With a laugh, he described seeking out license plates that arent green, to avoid a stigma that many Colorado visitors to the lake receive. Its like a second home for us, he said. Ill be honest, my heart sinks when we have to cross back to the state line. Lorena Beckius, a marketing manager at Wolf Auto Center in Ogallala, said that T-shirts can be ordered ahead of the event at agpestores.com/5starcustomdesigns/groupproducts.php?prodgroup_id=16334&prodgroupbypass=true, or purchased that day. Donations are also being taken at multiple locations in Ogallala and at The North Platte Telegraph office, 621 N. Chestnut St. The following items are needed the most: Womens spring and summer clothing sizes large and extra-large, womens pants sizes petite 10 and 12, and 14 regular; womens shoes size 6, 7 and 8 Mens spring and summer clothing sizes large and 3XL, pants size 32x34, 44x32, 40x32 and 48x34; mens shoes size 10, 15 and diabetic shoes size 14 Kitchen items, queen-size sheets and a queen comforter Gift cards for groceries, and money to help with rebuilding. Monetary donations can be sent to 119 E. Second St., Ogallala, NE 69153; checks can be made payable to Lake Mac Fire Fund. WARSAW, Poland Poles, who have settled in large numbers in Britain in recent years, expressed confusion and apprehension as Britain formally triggered the process to leave the European Union. They rue being cut off from Europe's most attractive job market, while some even fear that weakened European unity leaves them more vulnerable to a belligerent Russia. "It makes me very sad," said Anna Koziolek, 51, a Warsaw airport employee who traveled to Britain to visit friends on Wednesday, the day that Britain officially launched the exit process. Brexit means "a closed path to a better life," she said before boarding. "It will be harder to travel to work there. Everything will be harder. Finding work will be harder. What we earn here is not enough for a decent life. We need to work abroad." Seeing her off at the airport was her husband, Adam Koziolek, 53, who also worries that Poland "will be poorer" because the EU will lose the financial support of a rich Western contributor. Those EU subsidies have fueled dramatic economic development in Poland in recent years. To be sure, some people in the proud Central European nation sympathize with Britain's decision to restore greater national sovereignty, a priority for Poland's own nationalist government. But it appears that most Poles have little to celebrate. After decades behind the Iron Curtain, they eagerly seized the chance to emigrate for work or study when they joined the bloc in 2004. No country drew more Poles than the U.K., which beckoned with jobs aplenty and much higher wages than most could ever dream of earning at home. Young Poles often speak English and also adapt quickly to life in Britain. Experts estimate that there are anywhere from 850,000 to somewhere over 1 million Poles living in Britain people who have built families, homes and new lives and feel little desire to return home. Many of their relatives back in Poland have also come to depend on financial help sent from abroad. "I think that current levels of uncertainty and anxiety connected to this are very high, much higher than even the biggest pessimists could have expected," said Jacek Kucharczyk, the director of the Institute of Public Affairs, a think tank in Warsaw. "This is related to the fact that the British government treats EU citizens, including Poles, as a bargaining card in the negotiations with the EU." Prime Minister Theresa May rebuffed pressures in Britain to guarantee before negotiations that all EU citizens could remain. Until those negotiations are concluded the target is 2019 no doors will be closed to citizens of other EU countries. But after that? Amid the uncertainty, officials from De Montefort University in Leicester were in Warsaw on Wednesday to reassure upcoming Polish students that the university will continue to welcome them despite Brexit, making available the same loans, grants and fee levels as before. "I have basically been reassuring them that our country is still open for business," the university's vice-chancellor, Dominic Shellard, told The Associated Press after delivering that message to dozens of young Poles who will begin attending the school in the fall. Students interviewed by the AP said that message of openness made them feel welcome in contrast to the punch in the gut they felt when Britain voted last year to leave the EU. "Many of our classmates came to school crying," said Malgorzata Swiderska, an 18-year-old from Lodz, recalling that day in late June. She said they feared they would never be able to study in Britain and felt "unwanted." Another student, Wojciech Choinski, also 18 and from Lodz, said the prospect of Brexit actually gave him greater impetus to study there. "This thought at the back of my head that this opportunity can be lost in two years' time it pushed me toward my goals to study in the U.K., to visit this country that I've always wanted to visit," Choinski said. "That just really gave me the kick to go there." Monika Scislowska contributed to this report. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy WASHINGTON Former Gary Mayor John S. Visclosky died Friday night. He was 101. He was the father of U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville. "Johnny V loved his family and he loved people because he never met a stranger. He loved life and he always loved the city of Gary and its people," Visclosky said in a news release. The Crown Point resident is survived by three children, Valerie Segovia, Annamarie Visclosky and Rep. Visclosky, three grandchildren, three sisters and a brother. He and his late wife, Helen Visclosky, were married for 63 years. His first job was caddying at age 11 at Turkey Creek Country Club. He temporarily left Lew Wallace High School to work with the Conservation Corps in Kentucky and served in the U.S. Navy as a chief petty officer. He also served as deputy city controller, city controller as well as mayor of Gary, according to the release. Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said in a news release, "I am saddened to hear of the passing of former Gary Mayor Johnny Visclosky. My prayers go out to Congressman Pete Visclosky and his family. I was privileged to know Johnny V and hear his recollections in city hall. It was an honor to have him at my inauguration, and I will always remember him fondly." A 1998 Times column by the late Mark Kiesling said the elder Visclosky became interim mayor of Gary in 1962, after Mayor George "Cha Cha" Chacharis pleaded guilty in 1961 to charges of conspiracy to evade income taxes and resigned as mayor. In 1963, city Judge A. Martin Katz became mayor, according to Kiesling. Visclosky was proud of his membership in Ironworkers Local 395 and worked through the union following his service as mayor, according to the press release. His theory of public service was straightforward, the release said make sure people had access to good jobs and help people out. The rules of his house were simple: always respect every person you meet, and always do your best. A 2004 Times story about new health treatments focused on Visclosky, who, at 88, chose to treat a lung tumor with a new cancer treatment option called Stereotactic Body Radiosurgery. The story noted that he was a "health nut" who exercised four times a week and had never smoked. Though his wife joked that he was no better after the treatment, he said he was pleased the cancer was wiped out at the time, and he continued his daily exercise routine, according to the story. Rep. Visclosky said his father's wish would be "to remember a good laugh you had with him, and do somebody a favor in his memory." Family and friends may visit from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday at Pruzin Brothers Funeral Service, 6360 Broadway, Merrillville. A Mass Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Mary Catholic Church, 321 E. Joliet St., Crown Point, with Rev. Pat Kalich officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Carmelite Home for Girls or to St. Anthony Home in Crown Point. Family and friends may share an online condolence or memory at pruzinfuneralservice.com. By Andrius Sytas VILNIUS (Reuters) - A professor said on Thursday he had found a copy of Lithuania's lost declaration of independence languishing in a German archive, an achievement hailed by authorities as the discovery of the nation's "birth certificate". Liudas Mazylis, political science professor at Lithuania's Vytautas Magnus University, told Reuters his find on Wednesday was the culmination of an eight-month search, funded by himself. The discovery of the 1918 document, a year short of its centenary, triggered celebrations in the Baltic state. Lithuania was already planning to mark the 100th anniversary, keen to assert its independence in the face of what it sees as renewed aggression from its neighbour Russia. Memories are still fresh of Lithuania's emergence from Soviet occupation in the 1990s. Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite said she had asked Germany to send the document back, and was confident Berlin would comply. "We now have the best gift, the best monument to our centenary", Grybauskaite said. Germany's foreign ministry said it had confirmed the identity of the document uncovered in its own archives by the Lithuanian professor. "What a great find! This is perfect news for our Lithuanian friends. We celebrate together with them," it said in a statement that did not mention a return. Lithuania traces its modern statehood to the independence declaration signed on Feb. 16, 1918, but it lost track of all copies as turmoil and fighting engulfed the region after the end of World War One. The Lithuanian state was announced with the approval of Germany, whose army controlled the territory at the time, following a successful offensive against the Russian Empire in 1915. "I was driven by an excitement of the possibility of finding such an important document, which was lost for so long," Mazylis told Reuters. "We found our birth certificate", Lithuania's ambassador to Germany Deividas Matulionis said. "The historians always thought that at least three copies of the declaration were signed, with two of them meant for Russian and German governments", he added. Lithuanian business group MG Baltic last month offered a one-million-euro ($1.07-million) reward for the discovery of the document. The group's owner, Darius Mockus, told LRT television he would pay out once the document was delivered to Lithuania. ($1 = 0.9314 euros) (Reporting By Andrius Sytas; Editing by Daniel Dickson and Andrew Heavens) Arriving at an exact definition of a sanctuary city was one of issues discussed during a meeting this week between some of the country's mayors and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, according to Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson. Freeman-Wilson joined other officials with the U. S. Conference of Mayors at the Washington, D.C., meeting. Freeman-Wilson serves as the Criminal & Social Justice Committee Chairwoman of the organization. Also at the Wednesday meeting were representatives of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Police Executive Research Forum. The leadership of the groups requested the meeting with Kelly to discuss President Donald Trump's Jan. 25 Executive Order regarding interior enforcement and how the order would affect local policing and public safety policies. The order, entitled "Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States," states that, "Sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States," and threatens the loss of federal funds for those communities not complying with federal laws on the issue. Representatives of the group apparently indicated they do regularly cooperate with federal officials, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Where there is concern, Freeman-Wilson said, is when local police are being asked to serve as surrogates for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. She also noted that there is not a real definition of what a sanctuary city entails. Freeman-Wilson said the group was trying to convey the message that they shared the president and secretary's desire to maintain safe communities and a safe country. She said they just want to make sure that the enforcement methods being used do not create more volatility than public safety. She noted that this was only the first meeting and described it as a "getting to know you" type of session. In addition to the discussion on the executive order, Freeman-Wilson said another reason she was excited about being part of the meeting has to do with the city's desire to get a U.S. Customs facility at the Gary/Chicago International Airport. She said while she did not talk to Kelly about the issue at the recent meeting, when she does make a request he will be able to put a name with her face, which she believes is important. MERRILLVILLE Town officials are familiar with the frustrations of dealing with empty storefronts, and they don't want to repeat history with Strack & Van Til's upcoming departure from a plaza at Taft Street and 73rd Avenue. Town Councilman Shawn Pettit reached out to Frank Van Til, the building's owner, to find out what's in the works for the area that currently houses the grocery store. Van Til said it hasn't yet been decided what will happen there, but it appears he has some time to contemplate the matter. Van Til, whose business is affiliated with Strack & Van Til, said the lease with Strack & Van Til runs through April 2018, and he has to honor that lease until it expires. Strack & Van Til plans to vacate the Merrillville facility at the end of the month. Company executives said they are closing the Merrillville location and four Illinois stores because they weren't profitable and their leases were up. Pettit said there were discussions with Van Til about tax incentives and tax abatement for the site the grocery story will leave. I don't know what that does to his leasing, Pettit said. He said Merrillville is willing to offer assistance to ensure the facility doesn't go vacant long because there are many other smaller businesses in that plaza that rely on an anchor to draw customers. Pettit said Merrillville saw the former Handy Andy on Broadway and a previous grocery store at 57th Avenue and Harrison Street sit empty for years before new owners occupied those spaces. He doesn't want the Taft Street plaza to encounter those issues. We can't have that happen, Pettit said. Many town officials believe the municipality was fortunate At Home replaced the Kmart that closed on U.S. 30, and they hope the Taft Street building won't be vacant long. Councilmen Richard Hardaway and Marge Uzelac said they have fielded numerous calls from residents concerned about the upcoming closure. Several town officials, including Plan Commission member Brian Dering, said they would like to see another grocery store open there. Dering said the site is near a retirement community and has been visited regularly by elderly residents. He said service there has been well appreciated by those customers because employees would bring groceries out to their cars. They have been a mainstay in town, and so many people rely on it, Dering said of the store. VALPARAISO Thirty-one Valparaiso High School students got the chance to perform at Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago earlier this year. VHS choral director Linda Schonbachler chose the top students in her concert choir to attend the Windy City Choral Festival. "You have to be invited to perform there, and there were a total of nine choirs there with 325 people performing together," Schonbachler said. "Our concert choir is the advanced choir which features the top choir of juniors and seniors." The concert choir has won the state title three times and has been in the state finals 27 times. Schonbachler has taught at VHS for 28 years and has taken her choirs to a variety of places to perform including Carnegie Hall, England, France, Germany, Italy and Austria. The director of the performance in Chicago was Z. Randall Stroope. Schonbachler met him at an earlier performance in Rome in 2011. "We have performed at so many different festivals, but this one was special because it was the Music Celebrations International," Schonbachler said. "The students got to sing in Orchestra Hall and to be able to sing with a group that large is amazing." The students had to learn eight pieces for the performance. There was an a capella number along with songs in English and Latin. "We had about two months to practice and prepare," Schonbachler said. The 325 people consisted of high school and college students and adults, too. Family and friends said their final goodbyes to a man killed in what police are calling a hate crime in Manhattan. Funeral services for Timothy Caughman took place in Jamaica, Queens this morning, at Mount Zion Baptist Church on Union Hall Street near 107th Avenue. Mayor Bill de Blasio was in attendance with first lady Chirlane McCray. Police say the 66-year-old Caughman was stabbed to death last week by Army veteran James Jackson, who they say was armed with a sword. Prosecutors say the 28-year-old traveled to New York from Baltimore to specifically kill black men. Jackson is being charged with murder as an act of terrorism along with hate-crime charges. Police seized $2 million worth of cocaine from what investigators say is a fake jewelry business in the Diamond District. Prosecutors say it was part of a joint investigation between the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force and the Los Angeles DEA. Authorities say Divine 21 on 47th Street was operating as a front for a drug ring. Police say 54 kilograms of cocaine were recovered from various packages shipped from another phony jeweler in Los Angeles. 26 year-old Junior Pena-Lopez was arrested and charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First and Third Degree. WASHINGTON There was no filibuster for Clarence Thomas, whose Supreme Court confirmation hearings provoked a national uproar over sex, race and the behavior of powerful men. Antonin Scalia, for a generation the courts irrepressible conservative id, earned 98 votes in the Senate. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, now the patron saint of liberal jurisprudence, got 96. But with the Senate careering toward a chamber-rattling showdown over President Donald Trumps nominee, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, the bodys long history of relative collaboration on Supreme Court matters has come to this: Next week, the last bastion of comity is expected to fall over a plainly qualified, mild-mannered nominee who had no major stumbles in his hearings. And each partys justification can often be summarized with a schoolyard classic: They started it. I worry for the institution, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who broke with her colleagues last year in calling for a hearing and a vote on Judge Merrick B. Garland, President Barack Obamas own plainly qualified, mild-mannered nominee. I think, at the risk of alienating everyone I have to work with here, that theres real shortsightedness on both parts. Leaders of both parties seem largely resigned to the next act. With Republicans eager to vote on Gorsuchs nomination next week, he is seen as unlikely to attract the support of at least eight Democrats, which he needs to reach the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster. And the Republican majority, led by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has hinted strongly that it intends to change long-standing rules to elevate Gorsuch with a simple majority vote if necessary. Trump has encouraged such a move. The specter of Garland, whom Republicans refused to even consider in a presidential election year, has wafted over Gorsuchs nomination from the beginning, leaving Democrats and the partys progressive base to stew over what they view as a stolen seat. But veteran lawmakers and scholars of the court have absorbed the present tumult in a deeper context: a prospective Senate nadir achievable only after years of creeping institutional shifts, a mutual recognition of the judiciarys capacity to accelerate a partys agenda, and a bipartisan embrace of hypocritical arguments and counterarguments, adopted and abandoned with the political winds. This is more the coup de grace than a new beginning, said Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and an author on Supreme Court matters. It may indeed make it impossible for presidents to confirm any nominee at any point in their terms unless they also have control of the Senate. Some past flash points are familiar charged enough to enshrine Bork as a verb and forever alter the connotations of Coke cans rendered already in history as signposts of the electrified politics surrounding the courts nominees. Other episodes, like the escalating partisan tensions over federal judgeships, served to erode Senate cooperation on judicial matters in less immediately perceptible ways. A surge in spending from outside groups, particularly on the right, has also increasingly lent the proceedings a campaign-style feel. Then there was the precursor in 2013, when Democrats controlled the Senate under Obama. Facing a blockade of the presidents appeals court and executive branch nominees, the party changed the rules to bar filibusters for such positions, but left the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations untouched. Republicans have not forgotten. I say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, youll regret this, McConnell predicted at the time. And you may regret it a lot sooner than you think. The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, has indeed said he regrets his partys choice then, when Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada was the Democrats leader. But the Supreme Court was meant to be different. Under current rules, the minority party can still prevent a vote on a nominee if more than 40 members band together in the filibuster. If 60 senators invoke cloture, the filibuster is broken and a full vote can proceed, with only majority support required. In an interview on Thursday at his office in the Capitol, Schumer said his partys efforts were about more than protesting the treatment of Garland. He cited concerns over Gorsuchs record on workers rights and his degree of independence from Trump and conservative groups like the Federalist Society, which pushed for Gorsuchs nomination. Its not vengeance for us, he said. Its not payback. There has never been a successful partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. In 1968, senators from both parties joined forces to block Justice Abe Fortas, whom President Lyndon B. Johnson sought to elevate to chief justice. Their obstruction ironically, in the middle of a presidential election year, McConnell noted this week centered on Johnsons lame-duck status and ethical questions surrounding Fortas, among other issues. The Senates rejection in 1987 of Judge Robert H. Bork signaled a newfound focus on judicial philosophy and temperament, not merely a nominees qualifications, as grounds for credible opposition. Four years later, Thomas explosive hearings and narrow confirmation, by a vote of 52-48, cemented the process as inescapably political, even as the next quarter-century of Supreme Court confirmations often proceeded with a bipartisanship that has summarily vanished. And for all the outcry over Thomas, no senator chose to filibuster him. It was a function of norms of the Senate, not rules of the Senate, said Martin B. Gold, a former senior Senate staff member who is considered an authority on the bodys procedures and protocols. The rules would have permitted what the norms did not. Thomas is one of two sitting justices, along with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., to have fallen short of 60 votes, complicating Democrats recent claims that Gorsuch must be held to a 60-vote standard for confirmation. There is likewise, with respect to Garland, no rule prohibiting the consideration of Supreme Court nominees eight months before an election. Sanford V. Levinson, a Supreme Court expert at the University of Texas School of Law, said the present enmity stemmed as much from bitter quarrels over lower-court judgeships as from past clashes over Supreme Court picks. He noted the series of filibusters against judicial nominees under President George W. Bush. The Democrats did escalate, Levinson said. And the Republicans in turn escalated further with regard to doing what they could to delay Obamas appointments and then the kind of ultimate escalation with regard to Merrick Garland. In the interview, Schumer argued that the treatment of Garland was worse than a filibuster. And no one, he added, is forcing the Republicans hand. If they change the rules, its their volition, he said. It has been a trying moment for the institutionalistsof the Senate, members with a particular attachment to the bodys rituals and norms. At the same time, Republicans have generally declined to assign themselves any blame for the rancor. This week, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the longest-serving Republican in the chamber, said the Democrats pursuit of a filibuster had become demeaning to the Senate and to this country. Last year, both Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Ted Cruz of Texas suggested they might seek to keep Scalias seat vacant indefinitely if Hillary Clinton won the election. But there is perhaps no surer signal of the Senates lurch toward confrontation than Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., the bodys longest-serving member. On Monday, Leahy was quoted as saying he was not inclined to filibuster, even as he expressed his opposition to Gorsuchs nomination. Hours later, as liberal activists scolded him, the septuagenarian senator issued a clarification on Twitter. I am never inclined to filibuster a SCOTUS nom, he wrote, leaving the requisite wiggle room. But I need to see how Judge Gorsuch answers my written Qs, under oath, before deciding. SAN BERNARDINO A former law enforcement officer in California has been convicted in the televised beating of a man who tried to escape from authorities on horseback. A jury found former San Bernardino County sheriffs Deputy Charles Foster guilty Thursday of one felony count of assault by a public officer under the color of authority. Two other deputies also were charged, but jurors deadlocked on verdicts against them. A judge has scheduled a retrial. Fosters attorney, Heather Phillips, told the San Bernardino Sun newspaper that she will appeal. The charges stem from April 2015, when deputies chased Francis Jared Pusok on a horse he stole in the desert. A KNBC-TV helicopter followed the pursuit as Pusok fell off the animal and deputies set upon him, repeatedly punching and kicking him on the ground. During the 2-hour chase, Pusok fled by car and then on horseback as deputies chased him on foot. They were trying to serve a search warrant in an identity theft investigation, authorities said. Pusok was not wanted in that case but had been sought earlier in the day in connection with a burglary and the theft of a motorcycle. The televised video showed Pusok, dressed in bright red clothing, falling from the horse as a deputy runs up and tries to use a stun gun on him. It was ineffective. Pusok was face down with his legs outstretched and hands behind his back as a deputy threw punches and kicks. One deputy kicked him in the crotch. Other deputies arrived moments later. In announcing charges against the three deputies in 2015, San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos said they had crossed the line under the color of authority. The jury has spoken, and I have the highest respect for our criminal justice system, Sheriff John McMahon said in a statement Thursday. Our employees will continue to provide dedicated service and will always be committed to serving the public. The union that represents sheriffs deputies said on Twitter that although the outcome is painful to accept, we must give it due regard. The county reached a $650,000 settlement with Pusok. KEEPING IT REAL Saturday is April Fools Day, so were going to give you some facts about fake news. WHAT IS FAKE NEWS? Fake news is not new, and phony stories made up for political reasons have been around since the country was founded. Whats new about fake news is that in the age of social media its been easy to make, easy to spread and profitable. Two examples It doesnt take long to create a fake news site. A report by the New York Times found that the site Christian Times was started with a $5 domain name purchase and a clever college graduate looking to pay off student loans. The site collected thousands of dollars in ad revenue in a few months from Google as its fabricated stories began to be widely shared. A story from a site called denverguardian.com had the headline FBI agent suspected in Hillary email leaks found dead in apparent murder-suicide, At one point the tale was being shared on Facebook at a rate of 100 shares per minute. When the Denver Post looked into the story, it found the Denver Guardian and the story were fabrications. Read it here Google announced it permanently banned nearly 200 publishers from its AdSense network in December. AdSense has about 2 million publishers. Five categories of fake news A paper written by Information and Media Studies professor Victoria Rubin of the The University of Western Ontario developed five categories of fake news to help readers understand what they encounter. 1. Intentionally deceptive 2. Jokes taken at face value Satirical sites such as the Onion, Weekly World News, Daily Mash. OAKLAND The father of a man who died in the Ghost Ship fire last year has filed a lawsuit against the property owner and operators. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the suit charges that a confluence of avoidable circumstances killed Edmond Lapine II and 35 others in the Dec. 2 fire. The suit, filed last week in Alameda County Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages. The 34-year-old Lapine was attending a dance party at the converted warehouse when the fire broke. The complaint alleges that Derick Ion Almena and his wife, and building owner Chor Ng, were aware of the fire hazards inside the building and did nothing about them. The new suit is one of many against them. Almena and Allison could not be reached for comment, and an attorney for Ng did not immediately return a request for comment. The fundraising letter was blunt. Union bosses spent some $100 million in member dues trying to elect Hillary Clinton and other liberal Democrats, it read. Well, the Deplorables had the last laugh. With its mocking gibe at Clintons critique of Trump voters, the appeal from the Freedom Foundation, an Olympia, Washington-based think-and-action tank, landed in thousands of California mailboxes a few weeks ago, seeking tax-deductible gifts of up to $5,000. The solicitation was part of an ambitious Golden State expansion by the conservative foundation, starting with Orange County, as it wages what it calls hand-to-hand combat to persuade government-paid workers to drop out of unions. Reclaim California from the union bosses who dominate our politics and culture, foundation CEO Tom McCabe wrote to potential donors. Tax-exempt groups such as the Freedom Foundation, deemed educational entities under federal tax rules, have been newly energized by a growing number of Republican-controlled state houses and a GOP-led Congress and White House. They are playing a prominent role in a decades-long drive to undercut public sector unions, which conservatives view as linchpins of Democratic political influence. Many such nonprofits, including the Freedom Foundation, have close ties to oil tycoons Charles and David Koch, as well as a network of other wealthy libertarians and Republicans, according to liberal watchdog groups. In California, the foundations initial target is the United Domestic Workers, which represents 97,000 caregivers statewide, including 21,400 in Orange County, where two-thirds currently pay union dues. As the U.S. population ages, these workers, who feed, bathe, and assist low-income elderly and disabled patients who might otherwise find themselves in nursing homes and institutions, are in one the nations fastest growing occupations. UNION PUSHES BACK Most of Californias 460,000 homecare workers earn the minimum wage of $10.50 an hour, with a few counties paying slightly more. The $10 billion-a-year In-Home Supportive Services program serves more than a half million clients, with federal, state and local governments sharing the cost under Medi-Cal, the states health plan for its poorest residents. IHSS was created in 1973 under then-governor Ronald Reagan as part of a national push to help the elderly and disabled remain at home, rather than move to more expensive nursing homes and institutions. The Freedom Foundation is going after who they think is most vulnerable, said UDW executive director Doug Moore, whose union bargains for caregivers in 21 California counties. Three-quarters of homecare workers are female and two-thirds belong to racial and ethnic minorities. The foundation is counting on them wanting to save money by dropping union dues that range from $10 to $40 per month, depending on the number of hours worked. But Moore predicts the campaign will fail because our members know our value. Weve fought pay cuts in Sacramento. And, last year, we won them the right to earn overtime. We offer paid medical benefits. About 70 percent of Californias IHSS workers are family members of clients: children of Alzheimers patients, parents of autistic children, siblings of blind adults. Most could not afford to devote themselves to the job without being paid. Thats the case for Toni Monique Taloa, 50, a former AT&T customer service representative, who became a provider in 2009 for her 83-year-old grandmother. I took her out of a nursing home where she was neglected, said Taloa, who rents a small Buena Park bungalow a few yards from the 91 freeway. She had had six strokes and was diabetic. She couldnt get out of bed, so they would leave her there. Taloa said IHSS officials initially allotted her only 20 hours of paid work a week, although her grandmother required 24-hour care. I had never changed an adult diaper or given an insulin shot, she said. I was exhausted. I was isolated. UDW staff helped her negotiate 66 paid hours a week, so I could sleep more than two hours a night and hire another part-time provider to help out. The union gave me back my life. Taloas grandmother died three years ago, and she now cares for her 53-year-old sister, who was brain-damaged at birth and suffers from epilepsy and heart disease. United Domestic Workers from Kelly Candaele Plus Account on Vimeo. A MEDIA CAMPAIGN To help balance state budgets in the wake of the great recession, both former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown slashed IHSS services and cut home worker pay. Unions filed lawsuits, sent busloads of protestors to Sacramento, lobbied for more federal dollars and succeeded in delaying and reducing many of the cuts. Taloa said she is happy to pay $40 a month in UDW dues. Without the union, I couldnt afford to care for my sister, she said. The foundation chose Orange County as a launch pad, according to its California director Sam Han, because O.C. has a base of people sympathetic to our cause. People here dislike public sector unions. Han, a former district director for termed-out GOP Assemblyman Donald Wagner, now mayor of Irvine, noted that while the county voted for Clinton, many of its local officials are Republican, including all five members of the Board of Supervisors. But that didnt help the foundation as it sought a list of Orange County homecare providers for door-to-door canvassing. On March 6, the countys Social Services Agency rebuffed its request for names and addresses, noting that caregivers are exempt from the California Public Records Act. Undeterred, the foundation is set on Monday to launch a five-figure, three-week multi-media advertising campaign on Orange County cable television and social media. One 30-second spot shows a mother sitting by her wheel-chair bound son, saying: The union hasnt helped us, and were better off without them. Learn more today at OptOutToday.com. Ads will also target Facebook pages related to homecare. Ethnic radio and television spots are in the works featuring Vietnamese and Spanish-speaking caregivers. During a visit to the groups Tustin office, Executive Vice-President Brian Minnich was frank about the foundations motive: unions such as the UDW are a huge political operation in California, he said. McCabe and Minnich are former corporate lobbyists and GOP consultants themselves, proud of their own aggressive tactics. Donors are tired of funding white papers, Minnich said. We do a frankly political operation. We ruffle feathers.Were not your grandmothers think tank. Orange Councilman Fred Whitaker, chairman of the countys Republican party, praised the approach. Many union members dont realize that money is taken from their paychecks to support political candidates with whom they dont necessarily agree, he said. The Freedom Foundation is advocating for California to be more of a right-to-work state, where nobody has to belong to a union. AN ANTI-UNION PUSH Californias police, firefighters, and prison guard unions have sparked more controversy than homecare workers, as their generous pensions and early retirements squeeze municipal budgets. But Minnich said the foundation has no plans to take them on. Caregivers present a more strategic target thanks to a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision in an Illinois case. The court held that homecare providers, unlike many workers in jobs covered by collective bargaining agreements, cannot be made to pay union fees. The ruling applied only to workers who are jointly employed by their clients and the government, as homecare workers are. But with President Trumps pending appointment of a new Supreme Court justice, a conservative majority might apply the no-fee rule to all unionswhich would likely shrink organized labors finances nationwide. With a staff of 30 and a $4 million annual budget, the foundation claims success in its home state of Washington, where it dispatched door-to-door canvassers, ran TV spots, used robo-calls and sent fliers to persuade caregivers to drop out of their union after the 2014 Supreme Court ruling. Today, 8,900 of the states 44,400 childcare and homecare workers are not union members, whereas all had to pay fees before the 2014 Supreme Court ruling. The foundation has also been party to three dozen lawsuits in Washington and Oregon, seeking to weaken unions dues-collecting practices and force public officials to disclose homecare workers addresses. In November, the Service Employees International Union fought back with a successful Washington ballot initiative outlawing any further release of information on individual caregivers. The foundation also suffered a setback when Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, signed a law exempting names and addresses of homecare workers from the states public disclosure statute. Federal tax rules allow the Freedom Foundation and similar nonprofits to shield its donors identities. Minnich said revealing information on financial backers would subject them to harassment. But the Center for Media and Democracy, a liberal research group, has identified many of the foundations principal contributors, including Donors Trust, the State Policy Network and the American Legislative Council, as closely tied to the Koch brothers, along with the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a backer of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkers high-profile efforts to constrict public employee unions. Nineteen labor and allied groups have filed a complaint asking the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the foundations tax-exempt status on the grounds that it engages in partisan political activity. Minnich called the complaint an intimidation tactic, adding that the foundation complies with IRS rules. In Orange County, Minnich said the foundation is recruiting a handful of plaintiffs for a federal lawsuit expected to be filed in Santa Ana in July. It will accuse the United Domestic Workers of refusing to allow members to opt out of paying duesa charge the union denies. Membership is voluntary, said UDWs Moore. Theres no arm twisting. The suit will also challenge the unions 10-day opt-out window. The UDW contends the provision is for administrative efficiency, similar to health insurance plans. RALLYING IN BUENA PARK In early March, 400 caregivers gathered at a Buena Park union hall for a UDW meeting. Many brought their chargesdisabled veterans in wheelchairs, children with down syndrome, octogenarians pushing walkers. There were sign-up tables for volunteers to help caregivers with bureaucratic paycheck snafus, a food bank, a group handing out forms required by the state and piles of translation headsets for Spanish and Vietnamese speakers. Two Democratic legislators, Sen. Josh Newman of Fullerton and Assemblyman Tom Daly of Anaheim took the stage, pledging support. Newman praised the caregivers for their noble and selfless work. He added, You walked the precincts for me I will always be grateful. As the group munched on fried chicken, Donta Harrison, UDWs Orange County coordinator, issued a warning: Have you heard of the Freedom Foundation? This group is paid for by billionaires who want to destroy this program. They believe you would rather keep your dues money in your pocket than fight. But are you going to support our cause? The crowd responded, Yeah! Among those applauding was Silvia Briseno, accompanied by her daughter, Berenice, 36, who suffers from cerebral palsy. A lot of millionaires want to get rid of unions, said Briseno, who lives in Santa Ana with her husband, a janitor. If that happens, a lot of people will end up on the street homeless. As the meeting broke up, Roy Pridemore, a former construction worker, pushed his wheelchair-bound uncle, Rod Vernon, a Vietnam veteran from Fullerton, towards the parking lot. Vernon, wearing a Marine Corps cap and sporting an American flag on his chair, has diabetes, a tumor in his spine and injuries from a car accident, Pridemore said. I had to take him out of a rehab place that cost $15,000 a month. He said it was living hell. Pridemore gets paid for 222 hours a month caring for his uncle. If the Freedom Foundation comes around, he said, theyll get nothing but the backside of the door. Minnich pledged the foundations canvassers will be polite. We will educate these providers on their rights, he added. Their main right is they dont have to join a union. They can use that extra money for groceries, or medical bills. But he is under no illusions. When you take on this fight with the unions, he acknowledged, It will get ugly. Contact the writer: mroosevelt@scng.com; Twitter @MargotRoosevelt IQUITOS, Peru Venezuelas attorney general on Friday condemned the decision by the countrys Supreme Court to seize power from the National Assembly as a rupture in the constitutional order a rare rebuke of President Nicolas Maduro from a top figure in his own government. At a regularly scheduled news conference in Caracas, the attorney general, Luisa Ortega, said that the ruling, which transferred all powers of the countrys National Assembly to the court, violated the inclusive spirit of the countrys laws. We were able to achieve a social contract, she said. We all participated in this constitution. It is a rupture in the constitutional order, she said. Although she is one of the countrys top law enforcement officials, it is unclear what ability Ortega has to stop the courts decision, given the growing authority of the president. But her criticism of the ruling exposed a rare fissure within the leftist movement led by Maduro, which has mainly presented a united front as he has accumulated more and more power over the last year. The courts decision, issued late Wednesday night, has generated condemnation both within and outside Venezuela that the country has become a dictatorship in all but name. After more than a year of conflicts with the National Assembly, controlled by Maduros opponents, the court ruled that the assembly was in contempt and transferred parliamentary powers to the judges. The court, packed with judges loyal to Maduro, is seen as a rubber stamp for the president. On Friday, members of Maduros political opposition applauded Ortegas remarks. The opposition of the attorney general is the opposition that causes dictatorships to crumble, said Freddy Guevara, an opposition legislator, in a recorded message. BRUSSELS Secretary of State Rex Tillerson joined on Friday a growing list of Trump administration officials to visit the hub of North Atlantic solidarity and scold the United States European allies, saying they do not spend enough on their collective defense. Allies must increase defense spending to meet their commitments, Tillerson said, again and again, in a speech to NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. Like Vice President Mike Pence and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis before him, Tillerson insisted that all 28 members of the alliance spend at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on their military, a level only a handful of members meet. Along with the familiar rebukes, Tillerson also sought to reassure Europe that the United States despite comments from President Donald Trump referring to NATO as obsolete remains committed to an alliance that has kept the peace on most of the continent for nearly 70 years. Our bond remains essential for facing national and international security challenges in an increasingly unstable world, Tillerson said. And like Mattis and Pence, Tillerson made clear that the United States had a jaundiced view of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, saying that facing down Russian aggression, as the alliance has done for most of its history, remained a crucial task. The meetings in Brussels included discussions of military budgets, combating terrorism and addressing the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. In comments after the meeting on Russia, Tillerson said Moscow must roll back its annexation of Crimea. Today, Russias ongoing hostility and occupation is compromising our shared vision of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace, Tillerson said, adding that sanctions will remain until Moscow reverses the actions that triggered our sanctions. His comments echoed similarly hawkish remarks made Friday by Mattis in London, where the defense secretary said that Russia is choosing to be a strategic competitor, and were finding that we can only have very modest expectations at this point of areas that we can cooperate with Russia. The comments from both men came as investigations into the Trump presidential campaigns contacts with Russian officials have transfixed much of Washington. Tillerson initially said that he would not attend this meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels because it had been scheduled for next week, when President Xi Jinping of China would be visiting the United States. After missing White House meetings with the leaders of Canada, Germany and Israel, Tillerson had decided he could not miss Xis visit. NATO officials hastily moved up the meeting so that the United States top diplomat could attend. Well, Im very pleased to be in Brussels for this meeting and discussions with my NATO colleagues, Tillerson said when he arrived. Tillerson flew here Friday morning from Turkey, where he had sought with limited success to reassure a crucial ally in the fight against the Islamic State group. He was in Brussels for only about five hours and left before the meeting concluded and just as the harping began. Sigmar Gabriel, Germanys foreign minister, said that the notion that Germany would spend 2 percent of its gross domestic product on its military was nonsense. That is not going to happen, he said, adding that spending on areas such as refugees should be included in the calculations: The actual conflict with the United States is that we dont consider it justifiable if security spending only means defense spending. In a meeting two weeks ago in Washington with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump not only demanded that nations like Germany increase military spending but also that they reimburse the United States for past U.S. contributions. In 2016, Germany spent 1.2 percent of its gross domestic product on its military, compared with 3.6 percent for the United States. Trump has signaled that he intends to increase military spending whether or not NATO allies follow suit. In a news conference Friday after the Brussels meetings, Jens Stoltenberg, the alliances secretary-general, sought to paper over the differences. All allies understand and accept the need for fair burden sharing, Stoltenberg said, adding that after years of decline in German defense spending, we have seen an increase. SEOUL, South Korea As president of South Korea, Park Geun-hye never appeared in public until stylists had arranged her hair in the trademark updo of her mother, a popular first lady who was killed by an assassin in 1974. On Friday, Park was required to remove the hairpins she uses to maintain that style before entering the jail where she now resides. Inmates at the Seoul Detention Center cannot have metal hairpins, because they could use them to hurt themselves, officials said. When she wakes up in the morning and realizes that she cant do her hair anymore, she will be faced with the stark new reality, Lee Yong-ju, a former prosecutor who is now an opposition lawmaker, said in a radio interview Thursday. Park, who was jailed before dawn Friday on charges stemming from the corruption scandal that ended her presidency three weeks ago, now lives alone in a cell, eating $1.30 meals, washing her own tray and sleeping on a foldable mattress on the floor. It is a stark comedown for someone who spent more years living at the Blue House, South Koreas sprawling presidential palace, than anyone else first as daughter of long-ruling dictator Park Chung-hee, and later for four years as president herself. If convicted of the charges on which she was arrested Friday, including bribery, Park Geun-hye would face between 10 years and life in prison. Because of her father, many South Koreans long derided Park as a princess. She was known to be fastidious; when she once visited the port city of Incheon as president, officials had to install a new toilet specifically for her, according to a former mayor of the city. Many South Koreans stayed up late to watch the live coverage of prosecutors escorting Park to the detention center in Uiwang, south of Seoul. She was the most prominent inmate to arrive at the center since at least 1995, when Roh Tae-woo, a former military dictator, was detained there. Hundreds of her supporters chanted Park Geun-hye, our president! as her motorcade pulled in. But others celebrated her arrival. Its time to pay dearly for what you have done! one woman shouted as Parks car passed through the steel gate. At the gate, Parks government-provided bodyguards, the only official privilege she still enjoyed, turned around. Since her formal removal from office on March 10 by the Constitutional Court, she had lost most of the other perks provided to an ex-president, like an office, a personal staff and a pension. The court unanimously upheld the National Assemblys vote in December to impeach her, on charges that included abusing her power to help a longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, extort tens of millions of dollars from businesses. Once inside the detention center, ringed by a high wall interspersed with watchtowers, Park changed into a pea-green jumpsuit required for all inmates and was assigned an inmate number, according to jail officials who briefed reporters on procedures at the center. Her photograph was taken, she underwent a quick medical checkup and she was taken to a solitary cell, of a kind used to hold prominent politicians and business tycoons, to ensure their safety. Most inmates are held in 129-square-foot cells, with six inmates to each cell. Detention center officials would not reveal the size of Parks cell but said the usual solitary cell was 71 square feet. They added that Roh, the former president, had been allowed a larger cell, of 118 square feet, and his own shower. Most inmates are allowed to use communal bathing facilities twice a week. Each cell has a TV set, a sink, a small cupboard and a reading desk that doubles as a dinner table, officials said. The TVs show only programs authorized by the Justice Ministry. There are roll calls at 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Forty-five minutes of outdoor exercise are allowed per day. Because no time limit is imposed on attorney visits, inmates wealthy enough to be unconcerned with lawyers fees will often take advantage of the rule to spend several hours a day in a visiting area with their attorneys, rather than alone in their cells. Park is expected to meet frequently with her lawyers to prepare for her trial. On Friday, Park would have been served bread, ketchup, cheese, soup, salad and soybean milk for breakfast, according to the jail menu for the day. Lunch was to be a bone-marrow and vegetable stew with rice, bean sprouts, kimchi and seaweed. Each meal costs $1.30, although a limited supply of private snacks can be purchased from a jail cafeteria. The government pays for inmates regular meals. Park will have access to none of the stylists, personal chefs, plastic surgeons, skin-care specialists or physical therapists who used to regularly visit her at the Blue House, prosecutors said. Park knows several inmates at the center, including her former chief of staff and several other senior aides who have been indicted in connection with the scandal that brought her down. Also there are Choi, the friend of Park who is at the center of the scandal, and Lee Jae-yong, the de facto head of Samsung, South Koreas largest and most powerful conglomerate, who is charged with giving $38 million in bribes to Choi and Park. But prison officials said it was unlikely that Park would interact with any of her former associates in jail. Male and female inmates are segregated, and inmates involved in related legal cases are kept separate. Jeong Jun-gil, a spokesman for Parks conservative Liberty Korea Party, expressed hope Friday that she would be the countrys last former president to be jailed, even if she was not the first. Its really sad, Jeong said. We hope that the painful history of former presidents being arrested will not be repeated again in this country. WASHINGTON The military is allowed to keep secret at least 28 videotapes showing guards at the Guantanamo Bay wartime prison extracting a hunger-striking detainee from his cell and then force-feeding him, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. After the tapes were made part of the court record in a lawsuit challenging the militarys force-feeding procedures, a coalition of 16 news organizations, including The New York Times, petitioned the court to unseal them. Judge Gladys Kessler of U.S. District Court in Washington had ruled that the government must disclose them. But the Obama administration appealed, and on Friday, a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned her ruling. The panel held that even if the public has a qualified constitutional right to have access to classified evidence in such a lawsuit a question about which the judges disagreed disclosing the videotapes would create national security risks trumping that right. The news organizations had argued that it was in the public interest to see how the government was treating the men whom the United States is holding in open-ended detention without trial and force-feeding to keep alive. But the government argued that the videos could be used in propaganda to incite violence against Americans and to recruit terrorists. Judge A. Raymond Randolph agreed. Extremists have used Guantanamo Bay imagery in their propaganda and in carrying out attacks on Americans, Randolph wrote. For example, the Islamic State beheaded American journalists wearing orange jumpsuits commonly associated with Guantanamo Bay detainees. The government also argued that if detainees knew that such videotapes had become public, they might act out during force-feeding sessions in hopes that the episodes would also be taped. And, it said, if militants could study the guards techniques as shown on the videos, they might develop countermeasures. By contrast, Kessler had rejected the Obama administrations arguments that the disclosure would jeopardize national security as unacceptably vague, speculative, lacking specificity or just plain implausible. But the appellate panel ruled that she had erred. The Justice Department declined to comment. David A. Schulz, a lawyer representing the news media coalition, said it had not yet decided whether to appeal. A momentous French presidential election is drawing near, and despite the headline news its really a tale of two Le Pens. With Marine Le Pens ascendant Front National squaring off against the centrist candidacy of Emmanuel Macron, attention has fixed around the odds of another populist triumph at the polls. Coming on the heels of Brexit and president Trumps election, Le Pen has presented herself as part of an irresistible, worldwide anti-globalist wave. But she has also signaled shed sideline her charismatic and popular niece, Marion Marechal Le Pen, from her cabinet raising important questions about a more complex story unfolding on Europes right wing. Rather than just a family disagreement, Marines dig against Marion ought to draw attention across the West to some political differences with resounding potential, no matter who replaces outgoing socialist President Francois Hollande. The best way to understand the evident division between Marine and Marion is generational, not familial. One of just two Front National members of parliament, Marion, 27, represents a southern French constituency thats in some ways more historically connected to Frances deep past than Paris and its environs. But at the same time, Marions nationwide appeal is more youthful, and therefore future-facing, than her aunts. Marine, a child of the 1960s, pulled the Front National away from the unreconstructed reactionary roots that her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, watered for years on end. Nontraditional and sexually liberal, Marine drove her party to new heights by remaking it as a more respectable voice for populists and nationalists frustrated under continued domination from Brussels by the floundering European Union. But if Marine represents a longing to return to a modern Gaullist past, Marions brand of reactionary politics would reach for inspiration much farther backward in time and, remarkably, forward. An observant Catholic, sexual conservative and proud mother, her vision of France is one where immigration and globalization are turned back like a tide. Yet shes understood to have drawn inspiration from Napoleon Bonapartes vision of French nationalism one that may not translate today into a third French Empire, but that itself tapped into a profound pan-European sentiment that squares better than many critics suppose with the longings the EU has nourished but ultimately failed to meet. Although arcane, especially to Americans, a strong reactionary and conservative pan-European tradition has persisted on the Continent for generations and not just in fascistic circles. Rather than grounding itself in a vision of racial purity or political utopianism, the most viable strain of this tradition takes its bearings from the semi-imperial cosmopolitanism of the Catholic Church. Here, the touchstones are Charlemagne and Constantine, the great Christian rulers of diverse Europe at its most peacefully united (by more than regulations, economics and bureaucrats). For young Europeans on the right, a longing is taking shape to restore vitality to their civilizations moribund grandeur without taking another fatal detour into the twisted, totalistic doctrines of the mid-20th century all of which, despite lingering controversies, opened onto depths of transgressive disenchantment fundamentally at odds with reactionaries who take their Christianity seriously. This emergent worldview on the young right shows better potential than Marines 20th-century nationalism to address the pan-European fears recently expressed by former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta. The difficulties of our present society are not due to Europe, but to globalization, Letta, a liberal, told ABC. The cause of our problems lies in globalization, in the fact that European countries, once the center of the world, are now challenged by the new great powers that in recent years have become giants such as China, India and Brazil. A century ago, European inhabitants represented a quarter of the world population. In a few decades, we will be a 20th part. While Lettas co-partisans have struggled mightily to address Europes centrifugal decline in stature, Marine Le Pens have rallied the disgruntled around the ideal of a salvaging nationalism. But neither Europes modern left nor its modern right have nourished European unity by harkening to foundations deeper than finance and administration. That task, or that opportunity, is set to fall to Marions generation if willing and able to push for it. She is young, and she is quite inflexible, its true, a little like the French youth, Marine said of Marion. French youth is quite uncompromising, it is getting more so. Young Europeans patience for modern political forms may wear thinner than Western analysts think, and faster. In the United States, too, reactionary cultural and political communities are forming in the quasi-underground of the internet, then coming together in person to develop identities that have already been forged at the intersection of the postmodern and premodern imagination. While Americas remove from the pressing perils and memories of the Old World means these new communities can form at relative ease, in Europe, increasingly anti-modern, conservative youth will feel ever-stronger pressure to develop them much more quickly, publicly and powerfully online and off. In a symbol of the likely limits of modern nationalist populism in Europe, Marines candidacy looks poised to score a big first-round victory only to come crashing down in her presumptive runoff against Emmanuel Macron. That outcome would open a big political window and not just in France for Marion and the more youthful, more anti-modern right she represents. Anyone with a stake or an interest in the future of Europe, professionally or otherwise, ought to watch closely and study accordingly. James Poulos is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. President Trumps worsening political entanglements underscore not only the uncharted territory in which the country now finds itself, but the extreme lengths to which his thinning legion of supporters are willing to travel in order to justify the leader theyve chosen. By any reasonable metric, Trump has had a bad month. The FBI in March confirmed that it had opened a counterintelligence investigation to determine whether Trumps cabinet colluded with Russia in an attempt to throw the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. Then, disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn allegedly said hed testify to Congressional intelligence committees on that collusion in exchange for prosecutorial immunity. And just before the month closed, the New York Times issued a bombshell report that House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (who leads the House committees investigation into Russias alleged tampering) was fed information by White House staff to substantiate Trumps conspiratorial March claims that Obama had wiretapped him, allegations that have now been debunked by the FBI and NSA, as well as both the House and Senate intelligence committees. If Trump has a problem with facts, its only fitting that its a quality he shares with his supporters. Its fascinating to watch his hardline followers double down at this juncture, denying through clenched teeth that anything is afoot here, refusing to acknowledge what any sane, rational person would recognize as a case of a President facing crisis. It doesnt help their confirmation biases that there remain scores of Trump apologists in the media who are willing to take impressive and concerning measures to toe this line, peddling absurd conspiracy theories in a bid to justify Trumps lies, no matter how constricting the logical entanglements. When Evelyn Farkas, a former Obama administration Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine, spoke during a March MSNBC interview regarding the administrations efforts in its final days to gather intelligence on Russias possible election meddling, fringe blogs and media sites interpreted her claims as a tacit confirmation of Obamas surveillance of Trump. Foxs Sean Hannity, who has referred to Trumps alleged ties with Russia as liberal fake news, in March falsely claimed on his radio show that Farkas admitted Obama had wiretapped Trump, and thus, what Donald Trump tweeted out was correct. Gateway Pundits Christina Laila similarly wrote on March 28 that there was a massive amount of evidence piling up that the Trump camp was spied on by the Obama administration. Perhaps most famously, Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Andrew Napolitano lifted a specious claim from a conspiracy website that Obama had asked British spying agency GCHQ to illegally wiretap Trump Tower during the 2016 election. Fox later benched Napolitano for making these baseless statements, but not before they were repeated by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer during a March press briefing, which resulted in the U.S. government issuing a formal apology to the U.K. Spicer, whos in the unenviable position of being forced to mediate Trumps falsehoods daily, approaches his briefings like a man going into combat. When hes not talking in circles or misdirecting questions, the former Republican National Committee communications director has a habit of dressing down reporters, often telling them what angles their stories should take. Spicer should learn that defending the Commander in Chief is just one part of the job; crystalizing the Administrations policy into honest, forthcoming and substantive messages is another. There seems to be no threshold to this political Stockholm Syndrome, no ceiling at which point Trumps supporters will concede, at the very least, to what are obvious flaws in his leadership capabilities. His meteoric rise during the 2016 election may have subverted every expectation, but just ten weeks in, his performance as President has been an abject failure. His signature promise to replace Obamacare was rebuffed by members of his own party. His executive attempts to temporarily bar travelers from majority-Muslim countries were blocked by the courts. The swamp of Washington under his tutelage resembles a luxury spa, with massive infrastructure spending proposals that run contrary to every classic Republican tenet. Polling authorities reveal that as few as 38 percent currently approve of the job hes doing, which means hes less popular than Bush during the Iraq war and Obama at any point during his two terms (even right-leaning Rasmussen in late March showed Trump with an approval rating of only 44 percent). Still, Trumps remaining supporters live in this confabulatory reality where behaviors that run contrary to their own values lying, authoritarian rule, colluding with Russia to swing U.S. elections, and using a fog machine of tweets to deflect our attention are now seen as acts of political cunning simply because Trump is the one doing them. Its a new level of cognitive dissonance, exhibited by people who ironically purchased firearms during the last administration out of fear of authoritarian tyranny, folks who now sincerely believe that the coal industry can be returned to America. These are desperate dreams that accompany the delirious, ameliorative warmth of fooling oneself. Denial, it turns out, isnt unlike a drug, but it too has effects that will last for only so long. Elon Musk SpaceX falcon 9 reusable rocket launch landing BI Graphics 4x3 Elon Musk is about to try something he's dreamed about for more than 15 years: fuel up a used rocket booster, fire it off, then recover it for yet another launch. SpaceX, Musk's rocket company, has scheduled the potentially historic launch for Thursday, March 30. If you want to see it go off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, SpaceX is hosting a YouTube webcast that you can watch live below. Tune in around 6 p.m. EDT: While the SES-10 mission should go off at 6:27 p.m., SpaceX often begins its live broadcasts shortly before launch. Serious rocketry nerds can also watch a second, commentary-free technical broadcast here. Why this SpaceX launch is so important The main mission of this launch is to get a satellite called SES-10 into orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth. From there, it will blanket much of Central America and South America with internet and television coverage. But the bigger story is the lower half, or first-stage booster, of the 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket that the satellite will ride into space. Boosters ordinarily cost tens of millions of dollars to build, yet always burn up, sink into the ocean, or crash into the ground after helping to deliver a payload into orbit. Not so for the bottom halves of most 229-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) Falcon 9 rockets. Those boosters, which comprise most of the expense of a rocket, can touch down on land or on a ship at sea. However, SpaceX has not yet re-launched one to prove that its scheme works. If Thursday's launch is successful, John Logsdon, a space policy expert and historian at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute, told Business Insider it could be a "potentially revolutionary" moment, since reusing boosters could reduce the steep cost of getting to space. "Reusability has been the Holy Grail in access to space for a long, long time," Logsdon said. Story continues spacex falcon 9 rocket booster scale parts labeled flickr 24038722499_34c10216a3_o The booster for the SES-10 mission first fired off on April 8, 2016. It helped deliver an inflatable room to the space station, screamed back to Earth, righted itself, and self-landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. John Taylor, SpaceX's director of communications, wrote in an email to Business Insider that the company is hoping for a repeat performance by landing the booster once again following launch. Reusing a rocket booster could save customers about 30% on a $62-million Falcon 9 rocket launch, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's COO, has said. The Falcon 9 is already the most affordable orbit-capable rocket system in the world, but such a discount would save companies more than $18 million per launch. Marcus Payer, the global communications director for SES (the telecommunications company behind the new satellite) said the deal with SpaceX was solidified in August 2016, with a planned launch for later that year. But SpaceX's uncrewed rocket explosion on September 1 and the months-long accident investigation that followed delayed the flight. "Wherever we can change the industry equation, we will do it. We were waving our hands to be the first," Payer told Business Insider. "We are not risk-averse, otherwise we would not be launching satellites." If you have time to kill until the livestream begins, we suggest trying landing a Falcon 9 booster yourself in this simple-yet-maddening video game. NOW WATCH: SpaceX has successfully landed 8 rockets watch them all in 60 seconds More From Business Insider The Internet can be a dangerously stupid place, and never more so than on April Fools Day. If you allow it, April 1 can become a day of death hoaxes, bad jokes, parodic reports gone awry and goofs taken out of context or repeated as gospel. And dont forget just plain old lies. Thank goodness the web is such a reliable font of fact and goodwill the other 364 days of the year! (Just to be clear: This was sarcasm. The web is not those things.) The point is there are places on the Internet where every day is April Fools Day. The origin of this phenomenon is as debatable as everything else these days. Some believe the spark started when the single-celled organism of a fact collided with a Facebook post by your uncle Joe. (Some people have been saying otherwise. Weve been hearing things.) Whatever the case, these are confusing times, and if youre not careful the boundaries between truth and lies can blur. As a result, the term fake news is on the verge of meaning too many things to really mean much of anything at all. It can describe lies created knowingly and misinformation shared unknowingly. It encompasses dummy sites created for fun, profit or political gain. And, in some cases, the term has been appropriated to just mean news you dont agree with. The truth is, information we now call fake news is the latest version of an old problem. Lies arent new. But the liars tools are. Social media has allowed falsehoods to spread at a rapid rate. Making a liars job easier is the impossible amount of information consumers are supposed to digest every day. Forbes reported in 2015 that more data had been created in the previous two years than in all previous years of human history. With that in mind, we spoke with journalists and academics from various fields about living in an age of information overload. Our goal was to create a survival guide for fake news. And April Fools Day. Defining fake news Fake news was the label given to partisan-driven falsehoods spread online leading up to the 2016 presidential election particularly misinformation on social media, where 62 percent of Americans get their news, according to the Pew Research Center. Another Pew study found that about two in three American adults think fabricated stories sow confusion about the basic facts of current events. Fact-checking site Politifact called fake news the lie of the year. Oxford Dictionaries named post-truth the word of the year. The term fake news was eventually co-opted in politics as a label for news that candidates and others didnt like. President Donald Trump has used the term in describing information released by mainstream media. Jenna Johnson, White House reporter for the Washington Post, Omaha native, University of Nebraska-Lincoln alum: A lot of time when I get emails accusing me of being fake news, I write back and ask, Whats your definition of fake news? And Ive yet to hear back from anyone. Aaron Duncan, communication studies professor at UNL: The term has been misused and overused. Gary Kebbel, journalism professor at UNL: I think a problem is that the term fake news at one time implied news that was not real. This could be demonstrated by the facts. Now the term fake news is being used for that and also to mean news I dont agree with. A lot of this relates to the political polarization of the country. Why people do it As with any form of lying, there are a lot of reasons. Money is one factor. Theres money in misinformation right now. Dealers in misinformation publish targeted, sensationalistic headlines on social media, which are then shared and clicked on, racking up ad revenue for the author. One of the most outrageous related reports from last year was about a group of Macedonian teenagers who were making thousands of dollars a month duping Americans with fake stories. The other obvious motivation is to advance a political agenda. While early research suggested that a lot of misinformation helped the cause of conservative minds, the fact-checking site Snopes.com reports a rise in false information geared to assist liberal causes. Johnson: When it comes to people seeing that information and believing it and using it, its not just Trump supporters; its not just conservatives. Ive also come across a lot of liberal protesters who have read a narrative of a situation and completely believed that narrative and dont seem open to hearing other bits of information that might challenge that narrative. How effective is it? A Buzzfeed News analysis found that in the last three months of the presidential campaign, the top 20 fake news stories outperformed the top 20 legitimate news articles on Facebook. That said, its hard to say how much of a long-term effect that misinformation had. A study released by New York University and Stanford University found that fake stories favorable to Donald Trump were shared nearly four times the rate of those favorable to Hillary Clinton. However, the study also concluded that stories based on misinformation did not sway the results of the election. One reason, the study cites: People could barely remember the details of the lies they were being told. It isnt new Fake news used to just be called lying. Hand-wringing over this specific kind of lying always seems to emerge around times of technological and social progress. Consider this quote from 1922 by philosopher and activist Bertrand Russell: Credulity is a greater evil in the present day than it ever was before because ... it is much easier than it used to be to spread misinformation, and, owing to democracy, the spread of misinformation is more important than in former times to the holders of power. Hence the increase in the circulation of newspapers. Even in 1922, the proliferation of misinformation was making it difficult to get a clear picture of reality. Another reason for fake news of yore: Historys flexible view of journalism. Todays newspapers are more committed than ever to accurate reporting. But the idea of the press as a free, objective and dignified institution was mostly a 20th century invention. Before modern rules took hold, papers were partisan and sensationalistic and not so concerned with rigorous reporting. Randy Adkins, political science professor at University of Nebraska at Omaha: Its almost like weve come full circle. Because of the proliferation of news sources created by the Internet, weve come all the way back around to where were getting news that looks more like news we would have seen 200 years ago. Why today's misinformation is different Maria Marron, dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at UNL: What is new is that algorithms designed to capture your interests and worldview and feed only a stream of information in keeping with that worldview are enabling this problem. In other words, information curated specially for your worldview means that you can live in a world of make-believe, a world based on non-truths, and you can share that worldview with people of a similar mindset, fed with a similar stream of misinformation. Duncan: Many sources have attributed Abraham Lincoln as having said, You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. However, President Lincoln didnt have social media. Kebbel: The current amount and intensity of misinformation in the news stream is unique because the news stream used to be filled by journalists. Now the news (and information) stream can be filled by anyone with a computer or a smartphone. That means there are millions and millions more sources of news than there used to be, and theres no boss or professional ethics to guide what every individual writes. Why is the truth important? I posed this question to UNO philosophy professors Cederblom and Melanson. They emailed a response: Truth matters because true beliefs are the most reliable way to get at what we need and want. If youre hungry, you are better off with a true belief about the location of the nearest good diner. Yes, we have all gotten lost and accidentally stumbled across a great diner by accident. Yet more often, when we are lost, we stumble across nothing or places that we decide to pass by because they look pretty awful. What applies to diners, applies even more so to the unemployment, the deficit and terrorism. In short, true beliefs (plain-and-simple true) tend to bring the best results. When facts dont matter In his book The Death of Expertise, scholar Tom Nichols writes that many Americans cant be told theyre wrong about anything: It is a new Declaration of Independence. No longer do we hold these truths to be self-evident, we hold all truths to be self-evident, even the ones that arent true. All things are knowable and every opinion on any subject is as good as any other. John Hibbing, political science professor at UNL: The solution to fake news which is popular is to have some kind of fact-checking. But the data tend to suggest that that really doesnt do a whole lot of good, that people tend to think fact-checkers are biased or fake. Actually people tend to dig in their heels. So a lot of times if Ive kind of bonded with a candidate, lets say its Trump, and then a fact-checker comes out and says this really isnt true, it tends to make the person who has bonded with Trump be even more attached to Trump. Dona-Gene Barton, political science professor at UNL: In my own research, I find that voters have very short political attention spans and that new information is incredibly powerful. So if politicians are able to dominate the news cycle with continuous streams of misinformation, this can have a huge impact on the type of information that matters for shaping public opinion. By the time journalists are able to correct falsehoods, the public likely has moved on to the new hot topic of the moment. Many of Americas biggest corporations, including Apple and Walmart Stores, are sticking by their pledges to fight climate change even as President Donald Trump guts his predecessors environmental policies. Companies say their pledges, coordinated by the Obama administration, reflect their push to cut energy costs, head off activist pressure and address a risk to their bottom line in the decades to come. This work is embedded in our business, Walmart spokesman Kevin Gardner said in an email. Its good for the business, our shareholders and customers; if ultimately we are able to positively impact the environment in the process, thats a win too. Walmart was one of 81 companies that promised to reduce emissions in the run up to the 2015 Paris global climate negotiations. The company upped its targets last November, saying it would get half its power from renewable sources by 2025. Trump signed an order Tuesday that tells the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider former President Barack Obamas climate rules, and rescinds a series of orders Obama issued to embed consideration of climate change in government actions from where to lease buildings to whether to allow oil pipelines to be built. Most big companies in the U.S. recognize that climate change is real, Geoffrey M. Heal, a professor at Columbia Business School, said in a telephone interview. They need to move ahead on the climate change front no matter what Trumps government does. Business biggest lobbying force supports Trump on this issue. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce welcomed Trumps order, calling that shift vital to stimulating economic growth. The group argues that Obamas regulations held back economic growth, preventing business owners from constructing needed pipelines, roads and other infrastructure. It also warned that the climate push would lead to a jump in energy prices. But many of the groups members and other corporate titans supported Obamas Clean Power Plan, or have set their own goals. Anheuser-Busch InBev, the worlds largest beer-maker, also announced Tuesday that it would get 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025. Nearly 90 companies have made similar pledges, according to the Sierra Club. We believe climate change is real and the science is well accepted, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt wrote in an internal blog post shared by the company. We hope that the United States continues to play a constructive role in furthering solutions to these challenges, and at GE, we will continue to lead with our technology and actions. Mars, the maker of M&Ms, committed to eliminating its emissions entirely by 2040. Andy Pharoah, vice president of corporate affairs, said that Mars is disappointed the administration has decided to roll back climate regulations. Technology companies including Apple, Amazon.com, Alphabet Inc.s Google and Microsoft also expressed their support for Obamas policies. We believe that strong clean energy and climate policies, like the Clean Power Plan, can make renewable energy supplies more robust and address the serious threat of climate change while also supporting American competitiveness, innovation and job growth, the companies said in a joint statement after Trumps order was signed. Other companies, while stopping short of criticizing the Trump administration, said they would keep pursuing lower emissions in their own operations. Procter & Gamble, Nestle Inc., Ikea, Levi Strauss & Co. and Best Buy Co., which all signed the 2015 pledge organized by the Obama administration, said they still intended to honor their commitments. We will continue to integrate sustainability into our business practices, operations, innovation, brand building and culture, said Damon Jones, a spokesman for Procter & Gamble. Many energy businesses welcomed Trumps rollback. The Independent Petroleum Association of America, which represents oil and natural gas producers, joined the Chamber of Commerce in praising his move. So did the National Federation of Independent Business, which challenged the Clean Power Plan in court. People are going to freeze in the dark because of the destruction of the reliable electric power grid under Obama and the Democrats, Robert Murray, the president and CEO of coal-mining company Murray Energy Corp., said in an interview. Mr. Trump is doing the right things. Some environmental groups cautioned that action from the private sector wasnt enough to make up for the pullback in federal policy. Policy is going to be required to get us where we need to be, said Karen Palmer, research director at Resources for the Future. Southeast Texas has one in its city of Victoria. So does Nashville. Now work has started on a local version: the Duke of Omaha apartments, developed by the Giddings Group of Augusta, Georgia. The 283-apartment Duke complex, which is to run parallel to 46th Street between Dodge and California, is the developers first project in Omaha. Giddings specializes in apartments. Managing partner Peter Caye III said the Duke name also has become an identifier for its apartment complexes in Victoria and Nashville. He said Duke is a nod to his wifes maiden name and an old family diner where people gathered to chat about business news of the day. It stands out, Caye said of the name. We like to stand out. The eight-acre residential complex, at 151 N. 46th St., essentially becomes the eastern border of the Dundee neighborhood, Caye said, replacing an industrial site used for years as a maintenance yard for concrete company Lyman-Richey. Caye declined to talk about cost, but city documents describe the Duke as a nearly $44 million project comprising five four-story buildings, about 450 parking spaces and amenities including a pool, a fitness center, a dog park, a bike-repair shop, electric vehicle charging stations and a concierge service. City officials have approved up to $7.1 million in tax-increment financing to help offset expenses such as public infrastructure improvements. Lund-Ross Constructors has started site preparation. Caye said his group was attracted by Omahas diverse economy, low unemployment rate and growing University of Nebraska Medical Center facilities. He expects many of the Dukes residents will study or work at the medical campus. The market-rate residences range from studios to two-bedroom units and are expected to be available by summer of 2018. Caye is not worried about filling the units, and said that renting suits the fast-paced lifestyles of many professionals today who dont want the upkeep of a house. In an effort to blend in with historic Dundee, Caye added touches including Dundee-style street lamps, planters and trees. Molly Romero, president of the Dundee-Memorial Park Association, said she was glad Caye sought neighborhood input, and she looks forward to having hundreds more residents on its eastern border. Were in favor of density and were in favor of well-designed projects, which this one is, Romero said. Residents were concerned, Romero said, about traffic flow and whether streets could sufficiently serve the growth. Murthy Koti, city traffic engineer, said the city believes existing streets can handle the additional traffic. He said the city will adjust signal timing to accommodate spikes in traffic. Will the third time be the charm? Starting Monday, Starbucks will begin answering that question when it officially hands over the coffee companys reins to Kevin Johnson, its president and chief operating officer, marking only the third time the top job will be held by someone else at Starbucks in the nearly 30 years since Howard Schultz first became chief executive. Seventeen years ago, Schultz handed the title to Orin Smith, a longtime company insider, and five years later, it went to Jim Donald, a former grocery executive whod run the companys North American operations. Schultz stayed on as chief global strategist and chairman, yet he remained actively involved a vocal chairman who spoke out on earnings calls, kept the same physical office at headquarters and penned a famous leaked email in 2007 about how the Starbucks brand had become commoditized. Amid a global recession, the board fired Donald, and Schultz returned to the job in 2008. As Schultz sees it: There is no more important responsibility for a CEO of a public company than to get succession planning right. Now, Schultz and Johnson will again attempt one of the most delicate transitions in all of business: The handoff by an iconic, wildly successful CEO or founder to a successor. Its a paradigm of its own, fraught with potential for ego clashes and muddled lines of authority, and one of corporate Americas most precarious high-wire acts. For founders and CEOs closely associated with a brands success, their identities are often hyphenated with the enterprise, says Jeff Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management. Schultz, for his part, says hes ready. Asked in a recent interview whether hell find it hard not to meddle, he said, I dont think its going to be challenging at all. Kevin and I have laid out a very specific level of understanding between us in terms of role and responsibility, and Im going to respect that. That division of specific roles and responsibilities is also what observers say could help the succession stick this time around. Schultz has carefully outlined what he plans to spend his time doing in his post-CEO role: running the companys premium Reserve brand and shepherding its Roastery locations, the companys new sprawling, tasting-room style temples to coffee. In addition, hell continue to lead the companys social impact initiatives, such as hiring refugees across its global locations and offering college benefits to baristas. Hes got meaningful projects to work on, something hes really impassioned about, said Sonnenfeld, who described Schultzs role in the first CEO handoff as less well-defined. Steve Mader, a managing director with the executive search firm Korn Ferry, agreed that when many founders or high-profile CEOs pass the reins, they dont have such a specific mandate. They come to work every day, but they basically find themselves as a quasi-supervisor of the CEO, working old relationships, he said. Whats often going on when a founder leaves is an experiment in leaving his or her post. Mader, who says he knows Johnson well, also believes the duo have complementary skills. Johnson is the former CEO of Juniper Networks, so his tech background versus Schultzs retail and services history will come in handy. They learned to work together as CEO and COO, and their skill sets are so different I dont think theyll have any trouble carving their jobs out, he said. But it doesnt always go so well. Business history is littered with stories of iconic CEOs who clash with their successors. One recent example: Ralph Lauren handed the CEO title to outsider Stefan Larsson, but the two couldnt agree on creative direction for the fashion brand and Larsson is leaving the company less than two years after he started. Jason Schloetzer, a professor at Georgetown University who studies CEO succession, says the indefinite nature of Schultzs executive chairmanship is unusual, as are the responsibilities Schultz will retain. This is a lot of detailed involvement for someone whos relinquished day-to-day operations, he said. Yet it can also work well. Sonnenfeld cites examples such as Microsofts Bill Gates or Intels Andy Grove, saying both were iconic CEOs able to remain in the post while carving out distinct strategic roles from their successors. The conventional wisdom is they should move on, he said. But the conventional wisdom is often wrong if they can define a meaningful role. Investors, for their part, are glad to see Schultz remain actively involved, said Sara Senatore, an analyst with Sanford Bernstein. The company is growing fast in China and rolling out a host of new digital and retail initiatives, but U.S. sales have missed analyst expectations five quarters in a row, and the company trimmed its full-year revenue forecast in January. Schultzs presence is far more likely to be viewed as a positive than a negative, she said. If he were to segue entirely, investors would view that unfavorably. Having been through this before, Schultz has also surely learned something about the succession planning process. He told the Harvard Business Review in 2010 that in all fairness to former CEO Donald, I dont think I did that well. And in Onward, a book Schultz wrote in 2012, he acknowledged that being a chairman was like a parent standing back and watching his children make their own choices, one that had its unique emotional challenges for him. Now, Schultz says he and Johnson are ready. He said hes involved the leadership team more in this transition to help them feel they had a stake in the outcome. And he says hes learned the value of having his successor spend more time learning from the inside Johnson was COO for two years but has been on the board for seven. With this succession, I was much more deliberate and thoughtful, Schultz said, by taking a longer view of how to do this in a way where there would be no pressure to assume the level of responsibility until there was the proper immersion and the opportunity to really understand the company from the ground up. Meanwhile, Schultz has said he is more prepared on a personal level. Emotions about the handoff, he said, would probably come when he was onstage at the annual meeting March 22 rather than on the official day. Weve been planning this for so long, he said. I feel very comfortable in my own skin with regards to the decision. The National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, Mo., will host a centennial commemoration of the U.S. entry into World War I on April 6 from 9 a.m. to noon. This national event, titled In Sacrifice for Liberty and Peace, will feature commemorative flyovers, aerobatic demonstration team of the French Air Force, honor bands and color guard, Army and Air Force legacy units that served during WWI, era video presentations, a film of historic images put to music and a presentation by Kevin Costner. Learn more about World War I at these local and regional commemorations and events: America Goes To War, 1917: Sheet music from World War I Today through April 30, University of Nebraska at Omaha Criss Library Thirty-five pieces of sheet music and a slideshow on display to illustrate patriotism, trench warfare, hatred of Germany, racial segregation, death in combat and the humorous aspects of the war. Atlantic WWI commemoration 2 p.m., today, American Legion Memorial Building, Atlantic, Iowa A presentation about a soldiers experiences in World War I. Wreath-laying ceremony 9 a.m., April 7, Omaha National Cemetery, 14250 Schram Road Manning during WWI 6:30 p.m., April 25, Manning (Iowa) Public Library The American Legion Auxiliary will host this discussion about life in Manning during the war. Nebraska in WWI 2 p.m., April 30, Sarpy County Historical Museum Spencer Davis, a Peru State College history professor, will give a presentation about Nebraskas role in the war. WWI aviation and medics 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., June 12 and 13, Nebraska National Guard Museum, Seward, Nebraska June 12 activities include a presentation from local and state pilots about Nebraska WWI Ace Orville Ralston and a discussion on avaition advancements during the war. On June 13, learn about medical advances in World War I and see artifacts related to medicine. WWI: Legacies of a Forgotten War 6:30 to 9 p.m., June 15-18, Seward (Nebraska) High School, and June 21-24, Nebraska City High School Hear presentations about the war-time perspectives of historical figures, including Nebraska politician William Jennings Bryan; womens suffrage leader Jane Addams; civil rights activist and author W.E.B. Du Bois; and novelist Edith Wharton. For more information, go to humanitiesnebraska.org/program/chautauqua. By Gram Slattery SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Spanish renewable energy firm Cox Energy is in advanced talks to bring in a partner for its South American operations, the company told Reuters on Friday. The Madrid-based firm has assets on four continents and its operations in South America include a large, potentially lucrative contract with the Chilean government that it won in an auction last year. "Cox Energy is in negotiations with a strategic partner to give an entry point into the entirety of the South American platform," said a Cox spokesman, after two industry sources said the company had been in conversations with outside firms. "Of course, once these negotiations culminate, Cox will stay on said platform as a participating partner," said the spokesman, who asked not to be named, citing company policy. The partner would gain an equity stake in the South American assets should the deal go through, he added. Cox has multiple very early stage solar developments in Chile, which has experienced a solar boom in recent years, and is also looking at expansions in other countries nearby. Last year, it was among a cluster of European renewables companies that scooped up contracts to supply Chile's public grid from 2021. Under the terms of that contract, known as a power purchase agreement (PPA), Cox will provide 250 megawatts of power on a 24-hour basis. It will inject energy into Chile's public grid for $52.72 per megawatt-hour, a price that is above the most recent averages in Chile. The investment needed to fulfil the PPA will be around $300 million, the company has said. Its early-stage solar projects in Chile include the 60-MW Valleland solar park near the city of La Serena. The spokesman said Cox had begun discussing possible partnerships shortly after the August public auction, though talks were now exclusive. He declined to name the counterparty. However, one source with knowledge of the process said Cox had previously talked with industrial conglomerates and international investment funds. Story continues The biggest investment funds operating in Chilean renewables are British private equity fund Actis and Canada's Brookfield Asset Management (BAMa.TO). While August's auction was hailed as a massive victory for renewables, speculation has swirled that some of the winners would seek sales or partnerships with companies more experienced in large-scale infrastructure development. Consolidation in Chile's dispersed renewable energy sector has also been heating up. In March alone, Brookfield and Actis announced major purchases, while Reuters revealed U.S. solar producer SunPower (SPWR.O) had put a large solar asset on the block. (Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Marguerita Choy) LINCOLN The state agency that is reviewing the proposed Keystone XL route across Nebraska approved several parties Friday as intervenors, but also asked a few to consolidate their testimony to save time. More than 130 residents and several environmental and labor unions filed to be formal intervenors at the hearings over the pipeline route conducted by the Nebraska Public Service Commission. Tim Schram, one of the five elected members of the commission and the hearing officer for the route hearings, said in an order Friday that he has broad discretion under law to impose conditions on the hearings. That, he said, includes ordering intervenors with similar interests to work together and combine their presentations. Thus, Schram told three unions, two Indian tribes and several environmental groups to work together and present one witness each on their respective issues. No limitations or conditions were placed on landowners, Schram ruled, because they have a clear and substantial legal interest in the pipeline route. Jane Kleeb, a leading opponent to the pipeline, said she was pleased that the process gives critics a foot in the door to argue that the Keystone XL is designed for foreign export of oil and does not meet the standard of being in the public interest of Nebraska. Pipeline owner TransCanada Corp. has said the proposed route is the same as that approved by the state in 2014, and that safety is its utmost concern. Among the alternative routes proposed by TransCanada is one that mostly parallels a 30-inch-diameter pipeline already in service across eastern Nebraska, the Keystone pipeline. The PSC is expected to schedule public meetings and a hearing on the pipeline later this spring and summer. Schrams order stated that the PSC must issue its ruling within eight months of the signing of a permit by President Donald Trump to authorize the pipeline. That means a decision must be made by Nov. 23. Urban and rural interests sometimes collide in the Midlands over school aid, tax policy and more. State leaders have an important obligation to bring people together to seek a reasonable reconciliation of such disagreements. Thats the need in Iowa, given ongoing frictions between ag producers and an independent utility serving the Des Moines area. Des Moines Waterworks filed suit several years ago against three northwestern Iowa counties over high nitrate levels in the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers, from which the utility draws water. Nitrate levels in the rivers have been measured up to four times what is allowed under federal regulations. The utility says it has spent millions of dollars to remove pollution. The lawsuit was an attempt to spur ag producers and state officials to step up efforts to reduce the runoff. A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit, saying the utility lacks the legal standing to file the suit. Meanwhile, Iowa state lawmakers are considering legislation to disband the utility. But even if the utility went away, its important to note that the underlying water-quality problem wouldnt automatically follow. Iowa needs a robust ag economy. It also needs a capital city thats able to meet residents water quality needs at an affordable level. Its a difficult matter certainly, but this is precisely the kind of issue on which local leaders and interest groups need to step up and pursue constructive options, for the good of the state. The Trump administration has emphasized higher spending on national defense, proposing a 10 percent increase. Weapons and equipment purchases will account for some of that added spending, but its imperative that military readiness and training also receive added support. Information presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee by the various service branches last month highlighted the need. Fifty-three percent of the Navys aircraft are not ready to fly, the senators were told. Only 38 percent of the Navys F-18 fighter jets are currently airworthy. Lauren Fish, an analyst with the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C., reported that extended maintenance timelines and the lack of available Air Force aircraft have decreased the number of flight hours each Air Force pilot receives below the minimum requirements for peak performance. The Marine Corps, too, is failing to meet the minimum monthly training standard for its pilots because of funding constraints, said Gen. Glenn Walters, the Corps assistant commandant. He told lawmakers that means, in the end, that in a major combat option, well send a lot of pilots that dont have the adequate training. As for the Army, senators were told that only three of its 58 brigade combat teams could immediately deploy for combat. The complexities and trade-offs in setting the defense budget are great. But as our leaders set their priorities and allocate spending increases, its crucial the readiness problems be remedied. Protests over civilians death Policemen fire tear gas shells to chase away protesters, who were blocking the railway tracks at Wanibal on the outskirts of Srinagar on Friday to protest against the killing of three youths in Chadoora encounter. Youngsters lead protests Protesters throwing stones on CRPF men while blocking the railway tracks at Wanibal on the outskirts of Srinagar on Friday to protest against the killing of three youths in Chadoora encounter. Southeast Asia's longest road tunnel Tight vigil ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Friday. The PM will inaugurate Southeast Asia's longest road tunnel between Chenani and Nashri on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and attend a public rally on April 2 at Udhampur in Jammu. Shouting out loud Police arrest a protester, who was marching towards Lal Chowk to protest against the killing of three civilians in Chadoor encounter, at Chota Bazar in Srinagar on Friday. Men in khaki guard the streets Police personnel patrol a street following a protest call given by Hurriyat leadership against the killing of three civilians in Chadoor encounter, at Chota Bazar Chowk in Srinagar on Friday. Adityanath Yogi gives UP's bureaucracy the jitters India ians-IANS By Ians English Lucknow, April 1: For the burgeoning and slack bureaucracy of India's most populous state, peace of mind is the first casualty after the saffron-robed Adityanath Yogi took over the reins as its 21st Chief Minister almost a fortnight back. From day one, as the 44-year-old Yogi began functioning out of his suite in the VVIP guest house, bureaucrats have been burning the proverbial midnight oil to get in his good books and also to fix the "wrongs" of the predecessor government. As Adityanath inspected the Annexe office at the Shastri Bhawan, sprucing up of the dingy, unkept offices across the state began at lightening speed. The officials lost no time in making employees read out and take the "swacchta shapath" (cleanliness oath) and wield the broom to make the offices and the premises spic n' span. Officials like the district magistrates of Ghaziabad (Nidhi Kesharwani), Lalitpur (Roopesh Kumar), Gonda (Ashutosh Niranjan), Sant Ravidas Nagar (Suresh Kumar Singh) and Hathras (Avinash Krishna Singh) have gone into proactive mode to ensure the tehsil and collectorate offices are clean and drinking water is available for people coming to meet them. Adityanath's surprise inspection of the Hazratganj police station in the state capital has also spurred the men-in-khakhi into action, with many happily wielding the broom and cleaning up police stations. This seemingly has annoyed former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav so much so that he told mediapersons last week that he did not know that "adhikaari itni acchi jhaadoo lagate hai, warna main bhi inse khoob jhaadoo lagwata" (had I known the officals can sweep so well, I too would have got them to wield the broom). Inspector General of Police (Lucknow) A. Satish Ganesh has been conducting daily inspections at various police stations, ensuring they are clean and that complainants are attended to in a proper manner. As a result of a diktat from Adityanand, referred to as "maharaj ji" by the faithful, almost all police stations now have earthen pitchers (ghadas) full of clean drinking water and jaggery to go with it. The new Chief Minister's desire that officials work for 18-20 hours has also sent jitters down the spine of the babudom. The effect is for all to see as at a public holiday -- Jhulelal Jayanti -- contrary to deserted offices earlier, government offices were abuzz with activity as many senior officials were spotted working, preparing presentations for the next review meetings that the chief minister's office has scheduled over the next few weeks. Pictures of Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav -- the presiding deities of the past dispensation, have been consigned to the store rooms and smiling portraits of Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi now occupy the place of pride in all major offices. Time was when government vehicles with blue bacons could be spotted till as late as 10 a.m. in the popular Lohia and Janeshwar Misra parks. They have suddenly gone missing. Fitness freaks in the bureaucracy now wrap up their morning walks early to be at the office by 9.30 a.m., something which was termed "flexible working hours" during the previous government. Gutkaa, paan and paan masaala which hitherto were part of the 'nawaabi rehan sehan' (princely lifestyle) now stand banned and anyone found chewing these prohibited items is hauled up. On Friday, a driver in the VVIP fleet of the Chief Minister's cavalcade was fined Rs 500 by the Secretariat Administration Department for chewing tobacco in the secretariat premises. A religious and committed cow lover, Adityanath's ascendancy has also meant more care for stray cows who are now being herded to 'gaushalas' (cow shelters) across the state and given privileged treatment. Closure of illegal abattoirs, one of the core agenda points of the BJP during the 2017 state assembly polls, has been taken by officials a wee bit more seriously than expected. In a bid to outdo each other in the maddening race to impress the Chief Minister, they cracked down on slaughter houses across the state, even downing the shutters of legal, license-holding shops. Thousands of people employed at these places were rendered jobless and meat delicacies went off the plates, forcing intervention of the Chief Minister himself, who warned officials against any overzealousness and asked them to stop harassing legal meat traders. Adityanath's diktat of "perfect" wheat purchase centers for procurement -- to eliminate middlemen -- has also sent the officials into a tizzy. Having doubled the purchase targets for earlier target of 50,000 metric tonnes, Adityanath got going in his first week of work to provide succour to the farmers, who seemingly voted for the BJP overwhelmingly. These purchase centers began work from Saturday and the Chief Minister has asked legislators and party MPs to go and monitor their functioning so that feedback could be gathered on "compliance of his orders". After a terse warning from Adityanath to ensure pothole-free roads across the state by June 15, officials have begun work on an "elaborate action plan" to get "things moving at the earliest" an official said on Saturday. The task is uphill, rue officials, while pointing out that this would mean work on some 53,615 km of roads under the Public Works Department. "We do not know the Chief Minister much, he is still unknown territory," said an official while trying to explain how difficult it is for them to gauge Adityanath's mind. IANS Drones could one day routinely deliver medical supplies and lab samples between hospitals in Switzerland. The country's national postal service said Friday that after it concludes a series of test drone deliveries this year, it hopes for the flying robots to regularly ship medical goods for two major hospitals by 2018. The Swiss Post and California-based drone company Matternet have conducted about 70 drone deliveries between two hospitals since mid-March. Switzerland's Federal Office for Civil Aviation approved the test deliveries and has been overseeing the drone project for safety and legal reasons. Get Data Sheet, Fortune's technology newsletter. The Swiss Post plans to continue the drone delivery trials until April 4, which will be followed by an evaluation of the project. The postal service said it plans for another month of testing this summer. "As soon as the drone meets all of the strict requirements regarding safety, practicality and reliability, the regular use of drones between the two hospitals will become an everyday occurrence," said the postal service. For the drone deliveries, hospital staff load their lab samples into a box affixed to the drone, and then send the drone to the other hospital location with the help of a mobile app. The Swiss Post did not say how far away are the hospitals from each other, but it's likely to be less than 12 miles since that's how far the Matternet drones used in the tests can travel without being charged. The two hospitals also have landing pads that use infrared technology to help guide the drones to their correct locations. If something were to go wrong with the drone during its flight, a parachute would deploy from the drone so it could safely fall to the ground. What makes this proposed drone delivery system interesting is that it involves flying the drones in an urban area, as opposed to rural locations where many drone delivery tests have taken place. Story continues Compared to the U.S., Switzerland's regulatory environment appears to be more welcoming to these kinds of drone testing and wide-scale delivery projects. Although the Federal Aviation Administration debuted in August rules for commercial drone use, companies still need to seek approval for drone projects that require drones to fly beyond the line of site of operators and above the heads of pedestrians, which could impede routine drone deliveries. , parent Alphabet, and are all testing drone deliveries in the U.S. However, several drone analysts and technologists say that current regulatory conditions, technological limitations, and lack of financial viability could prevent the projects from taking off in the U.S. for several years. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com No more lovers enemy? UPs anti-Romeo squad sheds its past image with help from IIM Anti-Romeo squad comes under scanner for tonsuring alleged molesters head India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Lucknow, April 1: A day after new dos and don'ts for Uttar Pradesh's anti-Romeo squads were issued by the state's police chief, officers of the aforementioned squad came under the scanner for tonsuring the head of an alleged 'molester' in Shahjahanpur on Saturday. According to ANI, officers of an anti-Romeo squad detained a man for allegedly molesting a woman in Shahjahanpur. Afterwards, the squad tonsured the alleged molester's head. Currently, the police is investigating the matter as it has created a new controversy. Anti-Romeo squads have been formed across Uttar Pradesh after Adityanath Yogi became the chief minister of the state recently. The Bharatiya Janata Party in its election manifesto had promised to form such squads to protect women from eve-teasers, molesters and rapists. These squads are run by the state police department. The Uttar Pradesh police was on Friday directed by the state government to ensure that such squads do not resort to blackening of the face or 'murga position-type punishments (a stress position used as a corporal punishment where sit-ups are done holding the ears) in the name of protecting women. The move by the government comes amid outrage over the way the squads have punished loitering men on the streets and a day after the Allahabad high court directed it to ensure that guidelines were followed by the police teams and action taken as per the law. There should be no shaving of heads, blackening of faces or a murga pose, said a senior official while listing out the dos and don'ts. The fresh guidelines were issued after Adityanath's intervention amid reports of alleged harassment by anti-Romeo squads. OneIndia News Army convoy attacked in Srinagar, 2 jawans injured India oi-Shubir By Shubir Rishi An army convoy was attacked near the JVC Hospital in Bemina area of Srinagar on Saturday. The attack occurred at around 1 pm, while the convoy was on its way from Parimpora to Panthachowk, an official said, adding that the troops retaliated, forcing the militants to flee. According to reports, three jawans have been injured in the attack. A combing operation is being conducted to apprehend the militants. In December last year, three soldiers of the Indian Army were killed when militants opened fire on a convoy along Pampore highway in Jammu and Kashmir. The militants are said to have fled the spot after firing indiscriminately. [Pampore attack: Hizb's 'highway squads' targetting army convoys] Incidents of attack on the army have been on the rise since the September 29 surgical strike. Police and Intelligence Bureau officials have said that security convoys are sitting ducks during surprise attacks. Terrorists feel that they can kill as many as possible if the attack is on a convoy. Moreover, these attacks have the surprise element, which makes the operation even more dangerous. The other aspect is that the buses that carry the soldiers are not bulletproof. More details are awaited. Can Kar recover Rs 100 crore in Jaya DA case? Decision on Wednesday, 1.40 pm India oi-Vicky By Vicky On Wednesday at 1.40 pm, Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy will hear Karnataka's review petition against the abatement of Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case. The case would be heard in the chamber of the judges as is done in all review petitions. Karnataka had filed a review in the Supreme Court challenging a portion of the order in which Jayalalithaa was abated from the case. As a result of the abatement, Karnataka is in no position to collect the Rs 100 crore fine that had been imposed on her by the trial court. The SC had convicted Sasikala Natarajan and two others and even upheld the fine imposed on them by the trial court. In the review petition, Karnataka said that if a party dies after the conclusion of arguments and the judgment is reserved, an order of abatement cannot be passed. The judgment subsequently pronounced shall have the same force and effect as if the same was pronounced before the death took place, Karnataka has contended. It has been contended that there is no provision in the Constitution, or the Supreme Court rules for such an abatement of appeal. It was also pointed out that as per the 2013 rules of the SC in both civil appeals and election petitions there shall be no abatement if the death takes place after the conclusion of the hearing. There cannot be an order of sentence since it is infructuous in the event of her death. However, the SC should have ordered that the fine of Rs 100 crore which was levied by the trial court must be paid. The fine should be recovered from her estate, Karnataka has contended. Even though the question of A 1 (Jayalalithaa) undergoing further imprisonment does not arise, sentence to pay fine is legally sustainable which has to be recovered from the estate. This is particularly so where the offence alleged is of illegally acquiring disproportionate assets. Therefore, the finding that the appeal has abated is not correct, it was further argued. Karnataka also pointed out that a criminal appeal involving offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act stand on a slightly different footing where the allegation is of acquisition of disproportionate assets by a public servant. In the circumstances, though the death of the accused No 1 [Jayalalithaa] renders sentence of imprisonment infructuous, the question whether any fine is liable to be imposed as also confiscation of illegally acquired property will survive for consideration. OneIndia News Bharat Jodo Yatra will proceed to Srinagar, come what may, says Rahul Gandhi as march enters Maharashtra Confirmed: Rahul Gandhi decides to take SANYAS from politics India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer New Delhi, April 1: If sources are to be believed, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has decided to take retirement from politics. Now, the scion of the Gandhi family wants to concentrate on his hobbies -- travelling and sports. Yes, Rahul dabbles in a number of sports. He is a licensed scuba diving instructor, a black belt in Aikido and a squash player. He also wants to read more books. Currently, he is reading the English translation of the Upanishads. According to the Congress leader, who confirmed the news to OneIndia, said Rahul wanted to leave politics and the party, so that a better and more efficient person could take over the reins of the grand-old party. Rahul's 'shocking' decision to abruptly end his political career has got mixed reactions. While his supporters want him to stay as long as possible (no matter whether under Rahul's leadership party wins or loses elections), his detractors within the party have heaved a sigh of relief. Rahul's decision has come at a time when the Congress is witnessing one of its worst crises after the party's humiliating defeat in the recently held assembly elections in five states. Several senior party leaders have openly criticised the Congress' top leadership for losing elections after elections to the resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress source told us that the news of Rahul's exit from politics would be officially announced in a day or two. (Disclaimer: Sorry, the news is a hoax. Today is April Fools' Day. We hope we have the liberty to play some pranks with our readers.) OneIndia News Crackdown on slaughterhouses spills to Bihar, 7 sealed India oi-Anusha Seven illegal slaughterhouses were sealed in Bihar's Rohtas after the Patna high court ordered all illegal abattoirs in the district to be shut down within six weeks. The crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses that was initiated by the Uttar Pradesh government is fast catching up in other states. While five BJP-governed states had also started shutting down illegal slaughterhouses, Bihar is the latest to join the list. Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh initiated action against illegal meat shops and slaughterhouses following in UP's footsteps. It may be noted that the Gujarat assembly on Friday amended its cow protection bill to make the punishment for cow slaughter and illegal beef transport harsher. With the new amendment, cow slaughter will attract life term in the state. Meanwhile, self-proclaimed cow protection organisations in Karnataka have called for similar action against illegal slaughterhouses as well as illegal transportation of cattle in the state. Their demand comes a week after the Karnataka government announced funds for modernisation for meat shops across the state. OneIndia News EVM tampering row: AAP, Congress launch joint attack India oi-Anusha New Delhi, April1: The Congress, as well as the Aam Aadmi Party, knocked on the doors of the election commission on Saturday making fresh allegations of EVM tampering. Both parties filed complaints with the election commission following reports of EVM malfunction in Madhya Pradesh where VVPAT machines allegedly dispensed slips of only BJP symbol during a demonstration exercise. Delhi Chief Miniter and chief of Aam Aadmi Party Arvind Kejriwal said that the election commission's claims of the tampering being impossible are wrong and that he was 'shocked' to see EVM malfunction. "EVMs are being tampered with. Congress symbol's button was pressed but the slip which comes out is in BJP's name. Largescale tampering is taking place," he alleged. The Congres on its part also levelled allegations against the BJP for tampering with the EVMs and demanded that ballot paper be reintroduced. "We do not trust the EVMs anymore. We want ballot paper voting back. First world countries are voting on ballot papers," said Digvijaya Singh after filing the complaint with the election commission. Congress' Jyotiraditya Scindia claimed that when suspicion was being cast of EVMs, action should also be taken against officials who may have been involved in EVM tampering. Election commission officials stated that both complaints would be taken seriously and necessary action would be initiated. The Election Commission has sought a detailed report from the district poll authorities in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh on media reports that VVPAT was only dispensing slips of BJP symbol during a demonstration exercise. An Assembly bypoll is due in Bhind next week and the demonstration was part of the familiarisation exercise. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2017, 17:29 [IST] Mehbooba Mufti gets notice to vacate official bungalow 'meant for J&K CMs' Accession Day: Valley lights up on this day when J&K became part of India AAP "merely a party of UT Delhi", only Cong can challenge BJP in Gujarat, HP: Azad Gunshots heard in Srinagar, 1 held India oi-Gulam Rabbani Srinagar: Gunshots were heard in the Lal Chowk market on Saturday triggering panic in public. "Firing of gunshots has been reported from Lal Chowk area. We are investigating the incident," a police official said. According to reports, police fired a few rounds in the air to stop a mentally-challenged person who created panic in the public. A senior police official said that a person entered a hotel building and asked everyone to leave the place saying that the militants has entered the hotel. Police officials rushed to the spot to nab the person who tried to evade from the place, forcing cops to fire warning shots. The man was taken into the custody and was shifted to the local police station. Earlier, youths in Maisuma started pelting stones at the security forces who were trying to control the situation in the area. On March 28, one terrorist and three civilians were killed in an encounter that took place at Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir. As the encounter began, scores of locals came out on the streets and began pelting stones at the security forces. In the clashes three civilians were killed. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2017, 14:58 [IST] I am loyal to Congress, claims Guj opposition leader Vaghela India pti-PTI New Delhi, Mar 31: Gujarat Congress strongman Shankersinh Vaghela on Friday met Rahul Gandhi, a day after he courted controversy by meeting BJP president Amit Shah. Vaghela, a former Gujarat Chief Minister and currently the leader of opposition in Gujarat assembly, said he was not going anywhere and was a loyal Congressman. His meeting with Gandhi lasted around half an hour and he was accompanied by Gujarat PCC chief Bharatsinh Solanki. [Also read: Can Congress come back to power in Gujarat after 22 years?] Sources said the two leaders discussed the party's strategy for the upcoming Assembly polls in the state slated later this year. Sources also said that Vaghela also sought to clarify his position to the party vice president on his meeting with Shah. Vaghela later told reporters that he was a loyal Congressman and would not quit the party and go anywhere. He said he was committed to the party and would work towards helping it win the upcoming polls. His meeting with Shah had on Friday triggered speculation over his future plan. PTI India-Malaysia agree to strengthen strategic partnership: Modi India oi-Lisa New Delhi, April 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Malaysian PM Najib Razak issued a joint statement on Saturday in New Delhi after bilateral meeting. PM Modi while addressing media said it was great pleasure to welcome Malaysian PM. Modi said Malaysian PM's contributions have been instrumental in forging wide ranging strategic partnership with India. India and Malaysia signed seven agreements and memorandum of understandings during the state visit of PM Najob Razak. Modi said to media that, "We have built a thriving economic partnership. Infra has been an area of fruitful partnership between us but we can do much more." He also added that India and Malaysia are also converging efforts aimed at food security that are linked to well-being of our farmers. Modi also talked about his deep appreciation for continuous cooperation with Malaysian Government in joint anti-terrorism efforts. The PM said that, "Your own leadership in countering radicalisation and terrorism is an inspiration for the entire region." He added, "We live in a time and in a region where both conventional and non-conventional security threats are constantly on the rise." PM ended by saying that, "We agreed that these challenges threaten stability, eco prosperity and require us and other countries of region to work together." Malaysian PM Najib Razak began his address to media by saying that he would like to take this opportunity to place on record his deep admiration for the leadership of PM Modi. PM Razak added, "Defence and strategic partnership will be very important for us to fight global terrorism, militancy and extremism that includes fight against IS." Razak added, "History binds us together. Indian languages, culture and food are popular in Malaysia. I am fan of Indian films, especially after visit to Chennai." Malaysian PM also said, "We are partners to make sure Malaysia and in other part of world will never be place in which militancy and extremism will take root." OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2017, 19:51 [IST] Man rapes 8-year-old to use her blood for removing obstacles to his marriage Not an April Fools joke: Artificial eggs' make entry into Kolkata; 1 arrested India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Kolkata, April 1: Have you ever heard about 'artificial eggs'? If not, then here comes the news of sale of 'artificial eggs' in Kolkata, West Bengal on Saturday. This is not an April Fools' joke. News agency, ANI, reported that a man has been arrested for selling 'artificial eggs' in the city. "A man has been arrested for selling 'artificial eggs' containing plastic-like material from Kolkata's Park Circus area," reported ANI. "The eggs have been sent for testing," added the ANI report. Once the testing of the eggs would be completed, further details could be revealed about the entire bizarre incident, said a police official investigating the case. The man arrested has been identified as Mohammed Shamim Ansari. Ansari was arrested after a consumer lodged a complaint against him selling 'artificial eggs'. Ansari claimed that the eggs were of duck and if kept in refrigerator for a day and then consumed, become like plastic. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has ordered an investigation into the matter. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2017, 13:26 [IST] Good news: You will not have to visit the RTO office for these 18 services, including renewal of DL Now get your learning driving licence online thanks to new MV act India oi-Vicky By Vicky Now you can get your learning driving licence online. There would be an Aadhaar based verification for the grant of licence. Not only would this ensure the integrity of the online services, but would also prevent the creation of duplicate licences. The rule comes into force following the Cabinet approval of the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill 2016 that provides for linking of driving licence and vehicle registration with Adhaar-based platform. "We have proposed an amendment in the Motor Vehicle Act where people need to have Aadhaar number to apply for driving licence and need not to visit transport offices to get a learning driving licence as it all will be online," Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters after the Cabinet meeting. The government has also decided to make an all-India register for driving licences and vehicles. This would be available across the country and will also prevent de-duplication of licences and registration of stolen vehicles. Once the bill is approved in Parliament, then vehicle dealers would be authorised to issue vehicle numbers and register them through an all-India electronic register. The government has also proposed compulsory vehicle recall, amendments like third party insurance, relief to good Samaritans, stricter punishment and fines to traffic rule violators, etc. Other features of the bill: The important aspects of the bill are 100 per cent e-governance to be brought in transport sector. Identity verification using Aadhaar will be used, bad roads contractor to be liable for fine, drivers will included in third part Insurance and claims would be time bond. The bill specifically targets traffic offenders with stringent penal provisions. The bill has identified priority areas for improving road safety. Stricter penalties are proposed for high risk offences such as drunken driving, dangerous driving, overloading, non-adherence to safety norms by drivers such as use of seat belt, helmets. The bill provides for facilitating delivery of services to the citizens and transporters. The bill aims to provide for maximum governance with minimum government. This would help in reducing the harassment faced by the stakeholders in the RTO offices. A national data base of vehicles and driving licences would help in safety and security and avoid malpractices. A ten fold increase has been made in the amount of compensation awarded under a simplified process of claims disbursal wherein the family of an accident victim would get compensation of Rs 5 lakh as settlement within four months of the accident. Presently it takes at least four to five years for an award," he said. In the accidental death cases arising from hit and run accidents, the bill proposes an increase of compensation to Rs 2 lakh, an eight fold increase over current. OneIndia News Pak smuggled heroin seized in Amritsar, 2 held India oi-PTI Chandigarh, April 1: Two persons were arrested and 2 kg of heroin, apparently smuggled from Pakistan, was seized from their possession in Amritsar on Saturday. The sleuths of the Narcotics Control Bureau, acting on a tip off, intercepted an SUV near Kamaska village on Kamaska Vanike road in Amritsar and during its search seized two kg of heroin, officials said. Two persons travelling in the vehicle were arrested, NCB, Zonal Director (Chandigarh unit), Kaustubh Sharma said. During the preliminary investigation, it came to light that one of the arrested persons had been getting the delivery of consignments from a supplier in Pakistan, officials said. The packets of heroin in 250 gram each were thrown by the supplier from across the fence into the agricultural fields and during the night the accused used to pick them up, they said. He then handed over the packets to the other accused to sell them in the market, officials added. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2017, 17:05 [IST] No comment on Pranab Mukherjee book before reading it: Former Union Minister Pranab memoirs: PM Modi must speak more often in Parliament Pranab Mukherjee gives assent to Finance Bill, 2017 India ians-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, April 1: President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the Finance Bill, 2017. With his assent, the tax proposals in the union budget get the status of law. The Finance Bill 2017 was passed by Parliament on Thursday, with the Lok Sabha rejecting the amendments proposed by the Rajya Sabha. The Finance Act provides for a Rs 2 lakh cap on cash transactions to check tax evasion and makes it mandatory to quote the Aadhaar number for filing income tax returns from July 1. It also provides for doing away with some tribunals by assigning their work to the existing ones. IANS Bharat Jodo Yatra will proceed to Srinagar, come what may, says Rahul Gandhi as march enters Maharashtra 'Shame on you', Digvijaya retaliates to Parrikar's 'thank you' jibe India oi-Gulam Rabbani New Delhi: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday slammed goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and said that he has to apologise for the people of the state. Singh alleged that the BJP is indulged in buying of MLAs in the state, on Saturday took to Twitter and said, "If he (Parrikar) has to thank anyone, it is Nitin Gadkari who did aggressive MLA shopping on the 12th March early morning from Hotel in Goa." Digvijaya Singh in his another tweet said, "Shame on you Mr Parrikar and your hunger for power. You have cheated the People of Goa. Apologise to them." If he has to thank anyone it is Nitin Gadkari who did aggressive MLA Shopping on 12th March early morning from Hotel in Goa digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) April 1, 2017 The annoyed leader also blamed the Goa governor and alleged that Mridula Sinha 'robbed people's mandate'. These series of tweets came after the former defence minister on Friday attended the Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour and said if he has to thank anyone, it is Singh who despite being in the state failed to form a government and letting the BJP do that. Earlier in March, no party claimed the majority in the Goa elections. BJP with few seats behind the congress formed an alliance with left parties and formed a government. Governor Mridula Sinha invited BJP to form the government where the state in-charge looked hapless as Parrikar resigned his post from defence ministry and took oath as a chief minister of the state. Later many Congress leaders blamed Digvijaya Singh for the loss in Goa. Singh alleged that the governor should not have invited BJP to form the government without consulting the Congress, which is the largest party in the state. It is to be mention that Parrikar resigned from Defence Ministery on March 14 and took charge of the state. As he did not contest for this year Goa's polls this year, he will now have to be elected from an assembly seat within six months. OneIndia News Stalin slams Centre, TN CM for not addressing plight of drought-hit farmers India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer New Delhi, April 1: On Saturday, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president MK Stalin met Tamil Nadu farmers protesting for drought relief fund at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. "Tamil Nadu farmers have been continuously protesting in Delhi, but the Centre does not seem to be bothered about it," Stalin told ANI. "Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami should have come here and found a solution to their problems, instead he is busy with RK Nagar bypoll in Chennai," added Stalin. Stalin was accompanied by D Raja of the Communist Party of India. "An all-party meeting should be convened on this issue," the DMK chief demanded. On Friday, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and DMK MP Kanimozhi separately met the farmers at the protesting site. Both the leaders slammed the Centre for not addressing the issues of the farmers. It has been 19 days since a group of farmers from drought-hit Tamil Nadu are protesting at Jantar Mantar in the national capital. These 80-odd farmers from Tamil Nadu are demanding financial relief as they have lost their crops and savings in the ongoing drought in the state. The peaceful agitation has brought a lot of attention as the farmers are protesting with skulls. Apart from regular media attention, because of the unique way of their protest, a couple of film personalities, including Prakash Raj, and leaders of ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham in Tamil Nadu met the farmers at the protesting site. The skulls are the remains of Tamil farmers who committed suicide due to severe drought in the state, say protesters. There are at least eight skulls at the protest site, reminding onlookers how drought forced several farmers in Tamil Nadu to commit suicide as they failed to pay back their loans taken from the banks and private money lenders. OneIndia News Unable to deposit demonetised currency in RBI, 1,000s to approach Supreme Court India oi-Vicky By Vicky At least 1,000 people are readying to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court after the RBI turned down their request to deposit demonetised currency on Friday. March 31 was the last date to deposit the old notes in the RBI, but nine out of 10 people failed to do so. There was chaos and confusion all day long at the RBI offices, especially the one in Delhi. People lost their cool several times and aged citizens were seen moving around helplessly. People complained that the RBI staff were not cooperative. One person even shouted back at an RBI staff, "Mind your language, you are here to serve the people." Several persons of Indian origin who were abroad during the demonetisation period of November and December were left in the lurch. Some had not followed the mandatory rule of getting a letter of approval from the customs. Others who were abroad had found old currency at their homes upon their arrival. These persons had the hardest time as the RBI demanded that they needed a customs approval for the same. Going back to the customs was not an option for them. Most of the people have now decided to go to court and seek relief. They argued that the money they had was legal. One aged person holding old notes worth Rs 3,500 wept and said that the money was legal. The only option he has now is to join the rest in court. The Supreme Court is already seized off a matter in this regard. A batch of petitions has been filed seeking an extension to deposit old currency. The main contention, however, is that the despite the PM saying in his speech on November 8 that old notes could be deposited by March 31 in the RBI, the same was not permitted. OneIndia News 'Unmarried, hence honest', Karnataka Chief Minister's bizarre logic India oi-Anusha Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiahseems to think that marital status of a candidate decides how honest he or she is. The CM made this bizarre inference while campaigning for his party's candidate in Nanjangud assembly constituency on Friday. In an attempt to convince the voters that Kalale Keshavamurthy is a 'clean hand' the chief minister asked him if he was married. When Keshavamurthy replied in the negative, Siddaramaiah said, "Since he is not married, he is honest and has a clean hand. He does not have any motivation to make money. Thus, there could be no better candidate than him." While the chief minister was attempting to portray his candidate as a clean hand, his logic of deeming Keshvamurthy honest because he was unmarried did not go unnoticed. By attributing honestly to an 'unmarried person', is the Karnataka chief minister implying that leaders who are married are prone to being corrupt? This when Siddaramaiah himself is married, like many of the tall leaders in his party within as well as outside the state. If 'unmarried' and 'not having a family' translates to 'not having the motivation or need to make money', Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi fits the former but Prime Minster Narendra Modi fits the latter as well. If Siddaramaiah's logic is anything to go by, Modi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Uma Bharati, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati, even Jayalalithaa, who was convicted by a court in a disproportionate assets case, are 'honest and have a clean hand'. The Congress imported their candidate, Keshavamurthy, from the Janata Dal-Secular to counter Srinivas Prasad's clout in the constituency. While the BJP continues to play the Dalit and development card, Siddaramaiah attempted to play the non-corrupt and honest card. Siddaramaiah made the statement while addressing rallies in Golur and Badanavalu of Nanjangud. Being careful not to evoke his former friend, Srinivas Prasad's name, Siddaramaiah said that the bypoll was an unnecessary hassle for the voters with assembly polls just a year away. Siddaramaiah blamed former minister Srinivas Prasad for resigning and leaving the seat vacant unnecessarily. OneIndia News They stay among you to kill you: Ansarul Bangla Team could be Indias biggest threat Watan se mohabbat ka Islam mein kya mahetva hai: MP Madrasa Boards new syllabus India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Bhopal, April 1: At a time when madrasas across the country have come under the scanner of security forces for allegedly propagating 'radical Islam', the Madhya Pradesh State Madrasa Board has decided to introduce special syllabus on the importance of loving one's own country in Islam. Speaking to news agency, ANI, Syed Imad Uddin, chairperson of MP Madrasa Board, said, "We are introducing a syllabus on the topic--Watan se mohabbat ka Islam mein kya mahetva hai (the importance of loving one's own country in Islam)." He also stressed that madrasas across the country teach students peace. However, he admitted that he was not sure what the madrasas in Kashmir were teaching students. "Baaki poore desh ke Madarson mein shanti sikhayi ja rahi hai, Kashmir ka mujhe pata nahi (Across the country, madrasas teach students peace, but I don't know about Kashmir)," he added. Uddin said that students should learn what a high status the religion they follow (Islam) has given to those who love their country and to the loyalty to the country. "We are also including lessons on the lives of Narendra Modi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Abul Kalam Azad, who himself was a product of madrasa, APJ Abdul Kalam, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya and others to educate madrasa students about their life struggles and their achievements," he said. The ongoing Narmada river conservation programme--Namami Devi Narmade--would also be a part of syllabus, he said. "It (love for the country) is not something new, it is already there and one should not construe that those studying in madrasas are not aware of it as it is already there in the religion," he clarified. A committee would soon submit its report on these new topics in the syllabus to the Rajya Shiksha Kendra for approval, and after getting the nod, these new lessons would be taught in madrasas, he said. OneIndia News Ahead of Dalai Lama's visit, China issues another stern warning International oi-Vicky By Vicky China has issued yet another warning to India over the visit by the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh from April 4 to 13. This is the second warning that has been issued by China in the past month. China has once again reiterated that the visit could cause serious damage to bilateral ties between the two countries. Dont utter a word against China: ULFA warns Dalai Lama ahead of India visit China has asked Delhi to honour its political pledges on the Tibet issue. While stating that it was seriously concerned about the visit, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told media in Beijing that the Dalai clique has long been engaging in separatist activities with an inglorious record. India should be very clear about the true nature of the Dalai clique, Lu said. It may recalled that even the ULFA-I, a proscribed terror group, had also warned against the visit by the Dalai Lama. The outfit warned that not a single word should be uttered against China during the visit. It warned against serious consequences if the proposed visit went ahead. China had said last month that such visits will have deep damage on China-India relations. We have asked India to stick to its political pledges and not to hurt China-India relations. It will come down to India to make a choice," China had said. OneIndia News In Iran, men and women are 'equal' only in torture Iran offers to mediate between Pakistan, India over Kashmir International ians-IANS By Ians English Islamabad, April 1: Iran is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the long-standing Kashmir issue if requested, Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan, Mehdi Honardoost, has said. "Any conflict or tension between the two countries (Pakistan and India) will hinder the progress and development of both the countries but will also impact upon the economies of other regional countries," said Honardoost during an interview to the Associated Press of Pakistan. Commenting on Pakistan-Iran trade ties, Honardoost said a Free Trade Agreement draft has been signed between the two nations and it will soon be operative to enhance two-way business and trade engagements. "Our future is bright after the removal of impediments. Hopefully, our trade relations would continue to grow," he remarked. Concerned officials from both the countries are also expected to meet in an upcoming 20th round of Pakistan-Iran Joint Economic Commission soon to further strengthen trade ties between the two, he added. To a question on the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Honardoost said the project was not only a game-changer for the region but would be a unifying force for the countries in it. IANS The Vogtle Unit 3 and 4 site, being constructed by primary contactor Westinghouse, a business unit of Toshiba, near Waynesboro, Georgia, U.S. is seen in an aerial photo taken February 2017. Georgia Power/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo By Kentaro Hamada and Taro Fuse TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp will likely miss a third deadline to report its quarterly business results, two sources told Reuters, forcing the Japanese conglomerate to ask for a fresh extension or face a possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. A third postponement of the October-December earnings, past the latest deadline of April 11, looks necessary because Toshiba's auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata LLC, has questions about results for the business year through March 2016, said the sources. One of the sources has direct knowledge of the delay and the other was briefed on the matter. Toshiba also may not be able to decide the favoured bidder or group for its semiconductor business by its general shareholder meeting in late June, said another person with direct knowledge of the matter. He had previously said the decision would be made in May, or at least before the shareholder meeting. Toshiba and PwC officials could not be reached for comment in Tokyo outside business hours. The Japanese conglomerate, which only recently emerged from a huge accounting scandal, has been dragged down by billions of dollars of cost overruns at its former U.S. nuclear unit, Westinghouse Electric Co. Disagreements with auditors forced the company to postpone its earnings release in February and again in March. After April 11, Toshiba will have eight working days to publish its results for the three months that ended Dec. 31 unless it can persuade regulators at the Ministry of Finance to give it more time. Despite some progress in tackling writedowns at Westinghouse, a new delay to the Japanese parent's earnings announcement would underscore the seriousness of the financial crisis that threatens the 144-year old company. For the business year ended Friday, Toshiba forecasts a net loss of 1 trillion yen ($9 billion). Westinghouse on Wednesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors in New York, a move by Toshiba to fence off losses at the unit it bought in 2006 for $5.4 billion. The filing marks the start of what will likely be lengthy and complex negotiations with creditors and customers that could embroil the U.S. and Japanese governments. Story continues Toshiba's shareholders at an extraordinary meeting in Japan on Thursday agreed to split off the company's profitable NAND flash memory unit, green-lighting a plan to sell most or all of the business to raise at least 1 trillion yen to cover charges at Westinghouse. The company received about 10 bidders in the first round, which ended Wednesday, with bids as high as 2 trillion yen, the semiconductor business source said. A source earlier said Western Digital Corp and Micron Technology Inc in the United States, South Korea's SK Hynix Inc and financial investors were among those expressing interest. The Japanese government-backed Innovation Network of Japan Corp and the Development Bank of Japan are also expected to submit bids as part of a consortium, sources have said. ($1 = 111.4800 yen) (Reporting by Kentaro Hamada and Taro Fuse; Additional reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by William Mallard and Mark Potter) Landslides in Colombia kill at least 150 International oi-Lisa Bogota, April 1: Hours of heavy rains caused rivers in Colombia to burst their banks and flood homes with mud in Putumayo province of Colombia on Saturday. Landslides have killed at least 150 people and many more have been left injured. The landslides have caused lot of destruction in Colombia and an unknown number of people are missing. The number of injured people is so high that one army officer said the main local hospital was struggling to cope. President Juan Manuel Santos has deployed the troops as part of a national emergency response. The governor of the region told the Colombian media that whole region has been buried. The mayor of the capital of the province informed media that the town was totally isolated and there was no supply of water and electricity. President of Colombia had tweeted that he had taken charge of the situation and that citizens were in mourning for the victims. National Disaster Risk Management Unit informed media that the landslides were caused by the rise in the water level of the Mocoa River and its three tributaries. For Putumayo, which shares borders Ecuador and Peru, March was the rainiest month since 2011, according to the state meteorological agency. Across Peru also more than 90 people have died since January due to unusually heavy rainfall, that has caused landslides and flash floods in Peru. OneIndia News Sushma asks for report on alleged racial profiling of Indian at Frankfurt airport International ians-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, April 1: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has asked for a report from the Indian Consulate General in Frankfurt, Germany, after an Indian woman alleged racial profiling after she was asked to strip at Frankfurt airport. In a direction to Indian Consul General Raveesh Kumar, Sushma tweeted "Please send me a report on this", tagging a news report on the incident. The woman, Shruthi Basappa, wrote about the incident in a Facebook post. She said she was flying from Bengaluru to Iceland along with her Icelandic husband and their four-year-old daughter earlier this week. Basappa says she was asked to strip by Frankfurt airport security officers in front of her daughter, despite clearing a body scan. "We were travelling to Iceland from India, via Frankfurt with our 4-year-old daughter when I was asked to move aside for this 'random check', no explanations offered. I was taken into a room, and was asked to lift my dress/take it off so that I could be checked to make sure I wasn't 'carrying anything under my clothes'. This whole ordeal happened in front of my 4-year-old," Basappa wrote. She told them that she was willing to go through a pat down search but requested they be gentle about it as she had gone through an abdominal surgery. She said she had the medical records to back her request but they refused. Basappa refused to pull up her dress and demanded that her husband be called in. She says the behaviour of the officers changed after they saw her Icelandic husband. "I hate to play the race card here, but I was the only person pulled aside and peeking at my husband instantly changed the woman's mind about the strip search that was now a regular pat down," she wrote. IANS 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. NowThis 03 Nov 2022 '[You have to] show up to the polls and tell your members of Congress that youre paying attention' This org wants young.. Rumble 17 Aug 2022 Paul Manafort discusses how Americas justice system in corrupt and how the FBI & DOJ is targeting Trump advisers because.. Upworthy 04 Nov 2022 Top aides to former President Donald Trump have been eyeing the third week of November as an ideal launch point for his 2024.. The Archbishop of Catholic Archdiocese Port Moresby is calling on the National Government to act immediately to address the issue of climate change in Manus.Cardinal Sir John Ribat made this call in Port Moresby, following a visit to the province last week, accompanied by Catholic Bishops Conference Secretary General Father Victor Roche.Cardinal Sir John Ribat said Manus used to have 268 islands but is now only left with 206.Close to 300 families from the Andra and Ahus Islands are being affected by the rising sea levels.He adds that the seawall they built using coral is being depleted and they are slowly losing their marine life as well due to the loss of corals in the area.Cardinal Sir John said the islanders will also be facing the prospect of being relocated if nothing is done immediately."I'd like to call on the government to think seriously and try to put money aside to cater for our people on Manus," he said."This is only the beginning of more problems to come."Its not only a problem in Manus but everywhere else." NBC News 2017-2022 Cat Furniture Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications www.qyresearcheurope.com/ www.qyresearch.com www.qyresearcheurope.com/ www.qyresearch.com Sample Request , email: iris@qyresearch.comOther Reports,please visit web:What will be discussed in the report:This report studies the Cat Furniture market status and outlook of global and United States, from angles of players, regions, product types and end industries; this report analyzes the top players in global and United States market, and splits the Cat Furniture market by product type and applications/end industries.The global Cat Furniture market is valued at XX million USD in 2016 and is expected to reach XX million USD by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Southeast Asia regions.North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Cat Furniture . United States plays an important role in global market, with market size of xx million USD in 2016 and will be xx million USD in 2022, with a CAGR of XX.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share (%) and growth Rate (%) of Cat Furniture in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East and AfricaThe major players in global and United States Cat Furniture market, including All for Paws, Trixie, Zolux, Armarket, Kitty Mansions, Majestic Pet, Whisker City, The Refined Feline, PetPals Group, You & Me, New Cat Condos, Imperial Cat, Molly and Friends.The On the basis of product, the Cat Furniture market is primarily split intoCat TreesCat ScratcherCat PlaygroundCat StairsOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report coversHouseholdCommercial UsePublic ServicesOthersTable of Contents2017-2022 Cat Furniture Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications1 Methodology and Data Source1.1 Methodology/Research Approach1.1.1 Research Programs/Design1.1.2 Market Size Estimation1.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation1.2 Data Source2.1.1 Secondary Sources2.1.2 Primary Sources1.3 Disclaimer2 Cat Furniture Market Overview2.1 Cat Furniture Product Overview2.2 Cat Furniture Market Segment by Type2.2.1 Cat Trees2.2.2 Cat Scratcher2.2.3 Cat Playground2.2.4 Cat Stairs2.3 Global Cat Furniture Product Segment by Type2.3.1 Global Cat Furniture Sales (K Units) and Growth (%) by Types (2012, 2016 and 2022)2.3.2 Global Cat Furniture Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Types (2012-2017)2.3.3 Global Cat Furniture Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Types (2012-2017)2.3.4 Global Cat Furniture Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2012-2017)2.4 United States Cat Furniture Product Segment by Type2.4.1 United States Cat Furniture Sales (K Units) and Growth by Types (2012, 2016 and 2022)2.4.2 United States Cat Furniture Sales (K Units) and Market Share by Types (2012-2017)2.4.3 United States Cat Furniture Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share by Types (2012-2017)2.4.4 United States Cat Furniture Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2012-2017)3 Cat Furniture Application/End Users3.1 Cat Furniture Segment by Application/End Users3.1.1 Household3.1.2 Commercial Use3.1.3 Public Services3.1.4 Others3.2 Global Cat Furniture Product Segment by Application3.2.1 Global Cat Furniture Sales (K Units) and CGAR (%) by Applications (2012, 2016 and 2022)3.2.2 Global Cat Furniture Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications (2012-2017)3.3 United States Cat Furniture Product Segment by Application3.3.1 United States Cat Furniture Sales (K Units) and CGAR (%) by Applications (2012, 2016 and 2022)3.3.2 United States Cat Furniture Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications (2012-2017)4 Cat Furniture Market Status and Outlook by Regions4.1 Global Market Status and Outlook by Regions4.1.1 Global Cat Furniture Market Size and CAGR by Regions (2012, 2016 and 2022)4.1.2 North America4.1.3 Asia-Pacific4.1.4 Europe4.1.5 South America4.1.6 Middle East and Africa4.1.7 United States4.2 Global Cat Furniture Sales and Revenue by Regions4.2.1 Global Cat Furniture Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Regions (2012-2017)4.2.2 Global Cat Furniture Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Regions (2012-2017)4.2.3 Global Cat Furniture Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)4.2.4 North America Cat Furniture Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)4.2.5 Europe Cat Furniture Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)4.2.6 Asia-Pacific Cat Furniture Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)To be continued...Noted: We also provide other regional reports which focus on Europe/India/China/Japan ect..market.QYResearch established in 2007, has an over 200 analysis team who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience). Our reports covering energy automobile pharmaceutical chemical agriculture more than 30 industries, services from the data analysis and recommendations-Consulting landing one-stop solution, and research regions cover China,US,EU,Asia,Middle East and Africa,South America,Australia,etc.Contact:Iris - QYResearch Report Global SalesTel: 86-20-2209-3278Email:iris@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. the company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business.QYResesarchVILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe District Guangzhou City 510610 ChinaTel:8620-22093278Presscontact:Iirs@qyresearch.com MSU Extension of Midland County and cooperating parent educators sponsor the Parents Corner. Send submissions to Midland County MSU Extension Educator, Lisa Treiber, 220 W. Ellsworth St., Midland, MI 4864 Spring Exploration Days April 1 to April 9, Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays and holidays, noon to 5 p.m. Free for all ages, under 18 with adult. Enjoy your break from school while exploring the wonders of nature in Michigan! This indoor program includes a variety of self-guided, hands-on explorations stations. Experiments, fun facts, crafts and scavenger hunts are just a few activities. Each day is the same, but feel free to come back again and again. Contact info@chippewanaturecenter.org Free Airplane Rides for Kids Free Young Eagle Flights offered to anyone 8-17 years old, with a signed permission slip by a legal guardian, 9 a.m. to noon. The second Saturday of the month (April 8, May 13, June 10, July 8, Aug. 12, Oct. 14, Nov. 11 and Dec. 9). Pilots will explain the aircraft, describe the flight and then they will fly it. EAA Chapter 1093 Young Eagles program is an unique way of welcoming young people (8-17). The program is sponsored by the EAA Aviation Foundation, a non-profit organization. For more information on this free event at the Midland Barstow Airport, 2800 E. Airport Road, Midland, call (989) 835-3231. Story Hour: A Wood Frogs Life April 1, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Free for ages 3 to 5 years, accompanied by an adult. Come spend an hour learning about nature. The hour will include a story, crafts, time outdoors and other age-appropriate activities. Candy Making Kids Easter Treats Diana Bradley at Creative 360 will lead children, ages 6-9 in making tasty and colorful handcrafted candies that include molded and dipped chocolates, peanut butter balls and molded themed mints. Bring two cookie sheets to the class. Younger children are welcome with a helper. Registration is required by calling (989) 837-1885 or registering at www.becreative360.org The class takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 8. Cost is $15 per participant. Families in Nature: Vernal Pools Venture out to Chippewa Nature Center for the monthly Families in Nature program series from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 8. Vernal pools appear each spring as the snow melts and rains fall. These special wetlands are home to frogs, salamanders and aquatic invertebrates. Kids T-shirt Painting at Creative 360 Children, ages 5-10, will have the opportunity to paint a fun Easter themed T-shirt with Diana Bradley and Diane Conklin. Registration is required by calling (989) 837-1885 or registering at www.becreative360.org The class takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 9. Cost is $15 per participant. Full Moon Stroll Before it gets dark, join the staff at Chippewa Nature Center to check the ground to see if this months name is appropriate the Sprouting Grass moon. On April 10, from 7:30 to 9 p.m, explore wildlife in the fields and experience a spring evening. Be sure to wear dark clothing and bring your own flashlight. Join Interpretive Naturalist Jeanne Henderson at the Visitor Center to learn all about the Sprouting Grass Moon. NEMCSA Head Start Preschool Programs NEMCSA Head Start is a free preschool program for qualifying families with children ages 3-4. Head Start also serves children with special needs and/or disabilities. Head Start is a member of the Midland County Regional Preschool Partnership. Complete a preschool interest form online at www.michiganpreschool.org NEMCSA Head Start offers full day and half-day preschool classrooms that run four days a week. Classroom locations in the Midland and Sanford areas include sites at Longview Early Childhood Center, First Baptist Church, Grace Bible Church and Sanford Early Childhood Center. Contact Katie Estelle at (989) 832-0968 or Kelly Scoles at (989) 832-7520 to schedule an application appointment. to learn if your family is eligible for these free NEMCSA Head Start Preschool Program. Dan Kildee makes Midland visit before election Kildee addressed a crowd of 30-plus people with remarks on his campaign and hot-button issues in... Owner of condemned Valley Plaza hotels arrested Bhavin Patel will be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Midland County District Court on 19 counts of... Farm vehicle traffic accidents on the rise As of Oct. 28, there were 168 accidents involving farm vehicles, according to State Police... Midland high schoolers have two more weeks to apply for the chance to visit Midlands sister city of Handa, Japan this summer. Two or three Midland students will be selected for a three-week stay between July 20 and Aug. 11. If selected for the program, students will receive a free round-trip flight to Japan and stay with three different host families during the exchange. In honor of April 1, the following includes excerpts from an April Fools Day 2012 column and an update. Early one morning many years ago, when I was still in grade school, my stepfather excitedly ran into my room. It was April 1. Susan, get up! he said. A circus train stopped at the railroad crossing and animals escaped. Theres an elephant in the front yard! Look out the window! I jumped out of bed and ran to the window, anxious to see Dumbo on our front sidewalk. But there was nary an elephant in sight. Not even a random monkey or even the neighbors cat. April Fool! he exclaimed. He and my mom got quite a chuckle from the prank. Then, the following year, he tried the same joke again. This time, I opened my eyes and stayed in bed. But he insisted. There really is a tiger in the yard! Well, Im embarrassed to say, despite my better judgment (for a 9-year-old anyway), I did look out the window. But there was nothing. He got me again. It was a pretty funny joke and we have laughed over it for 40 years. Now, when the shoe was on the other foot, and I was the mother of a 9-year-old, I tried the same prank. I went to our daughters bedroom and said an escaped elephant was in the front yard. Maybe our daughter is more worldly-wise, or maybe just smarter, but she did not budge. Not even a flutter of an eyelash. She was not to be duped. Some people are just better pranksters than others. My beloved great Aunt Josie had a fabulous sense of humor and was a wonderful story teller. In her 90s, Josie moved to a nursing home. During my visits to the home, I frequently saw an elderly gentleman sitting near the front door. Although I always said hello, he never spoke or even acknowledged he heard me. So you can understand my happy surprise when one day he spoke to me. It was April 1. Good morning, I said, per my routine, as I headed to see my aunt. Your shoe is untied, he said. I stopped in my tracks and smiled. Why, he had spoken to me! I knew, however, my shoe was not untied because I was wearing loafers. But it would be rude to argue, particularly since this was our first official conversation. So, I looked downward, at my feet. Then, with great satisfaction, he slowly said, April Fool! Made you look! A smile spread across my face. Yes, he had made me look, but more importantly, he had fooled me all these months with his silent disposition. He had heard my greetings; he just didnt have anything to say. I laughed, and said, You got me! Wait until I tell my Aunt Josie. She will love it. I thought a moment and added, Say, did you happen to hear theres an elephant in the parking lot? An update: After this column appeared in 2012, a reader named Lillian took the time to send me an email. She wrote, When I was a student nurse in New England, we had a male patient who could not speak or hear. One morning I came into his room to change his bed linens and found him very agitated. He handed her a note which read, There is a large bug that crawled into my bed." The young nurse began to timidly search for the bug. Then the patient handed her a second note. To her relief, the message read, April Fool" Regardless of phantom bugs or elephants, dear readers, I hope your day is filled with harmless jokes and fun. BLOOMINGTON Encouraging healthy eating and active living and combating West Nile virus, smoking, opioid abuse and cancer are ways in which Tazewell, Woodford and Peoria counties will recognize National Public Health Week. The week will be Monday through April 9, and the health departments for the three counties are using the week to focus each day on a different community health priority. The joint Community Health Improvement Plan for the three counties identified physical activity as a need so the three health departments encourage people to be physically active and eat healthfully on Monday. Warmer temperatures and standing water from this week's rain will create conditions for breeding mosquitoes that carry disease-causing West Nile virus. The health departments urge people, beginning Tuesday, to use insect repellent, to repair torn window screens and to reduce mosquito breeding grounds by emptying standing water outside. Lung cancer from radon exposure and tobacco use is a major cause of death in the three counties. The health departments urge residents on Wednesday to buy radon test kits at the Tazewell and Woodford county health departments. The EPA website, www.epa.gov, lists simple solutions to radon hazards. Tobacco users are urged to call the Illinois Department of Public Health's free Tobacco Quitline on Wednesday for support, guidance and ways to quit. The Quitline is 866-784-8937 or visit www.quityes.org. More than 80 percent of heroin users started with prescription opioids, and opioid overdoses have been increasing in the three counties. On Thursday, residents are urged to get rid of any old prescription or over-the-counter medications at safe drop-off locations. Call your local police department or sheriff's department to find the drop-off location closest to you. Friday is Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Awareness Day. The HPV vaccine can reduce the risk of a future cancer. Females and males ages 11 through 26 are urged to get the vaccine. Meanwhile, in McLean County, National Public Health Week will be celebrated with a Downtown Walk Around between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. April 7. People who are interested in walking may check in on the south side of the McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St., Bloomington. There are so many reasons to love Shia LaBeouf. He gave us the beautifully disturbed Disturbia (no, not the Rihanna song), he once showed up on a red carpet wearing a paper bag over his head that read "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE" after having tweeted the same phrase everyday for the preceding three weeks (in the name of performance art), and he loves Sia just as much as the rest of us do. (Plus, he has that gloriously unkempt beard that somehow manages to get more appealing the messier it gets). But even with all of these things, Shia LaBeouf's biggest crowd-pleaser might be his grand response to the ongoing Trump presidency. A collaboration with Jaden Smith, HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US was originally slated to be a four-year-long anti-Trump livestream (the duration of the Orange Man's time in office) that would run from outside the New York Museum of the Moving Image. After the New York Museum shut down the livestream, LaBeouf relocated the project to New Mexico in late February. One of the big headlines from HWNDU came in the beginning (less than a week into the livestream) when the Transformers star was arrested for assaulting a white supremacist who, after asking LaBeouf for a selfie, told the actor that "Hitler did nothing wrong." Naturally, LaBeouf, who is Jewish, reacted: allegedly, he pulled off the guy's scarf, accidentally scratching his face in the process. Though he wasn't jailed, LaBeouf was given a desk appearance ticket and given an early April court date. Today, however, it seems that our beloved Shia has been let off the hook a week before he even was required to appear in front of a judge. According to sources from TMZ, all "charges for assault and harassment have been dismissed because there isn't enough evidence to prove a crime took place during Shia's confrontation with another protester in January." Here's what I take away from Shia's proven innocence: Fight Nazis. You'll be forgiven in the long run. [h/t Jezebel] Splash photo via Matteo Pradoni/BFA.com The state of Georgia denied a young girl's parents' right to name their daughter "Allah." Elizabeth Handy and Bilal Walk filed a lawsuit against the state for blocking their choice. They filed with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The parents chose the name Allah for its nobility and spirituality. They hoped their children can aspire to these values as adults. The state of Georgia, however, won't allow them the name for a technical reason. Its laws stated last names must follow one of the parents' last names, Handy or Walk, or a combination of both, as per CNN. Now at 22 months, ZalyKha Graceful Lorraina Allah is still without a birth certificate or a Social Security number. Her parents foresee problems with school registration, access to health care or travel, if this won't be resolved soon enough. "We have a personal understanding that we exercise in regards to the names," the girl's father said. "It is just plainly unfair and a violation of our rights." Named in the lawsuit were Brenda Fitzgerald, the state's Department of Public Health commissioner, and Donna L. Moore, of the Office of Vital Records. ACLU Georgia Executive Director Andrea Young said this lawsuit is an example of a government overreach. "[It's] a clear violation of the right to freedom of speech and the right to equal protection under the law," Young said in a statement. A University of California at Davis law professor Carlton F.W. Larson, who is an expert on parental rights in naming children, also saw no compelling reason for the state's rejection. "Naming your child is an expressive action," the professor said, as per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "The idea that you get to name your child, and not the state, is a fundamental right." Handy and Walk have a 3-year-old son whose last name is Allah, which encountered no problems with the state. Walk has a 16-year-old son from a previous marriage who uses the same last name as well. Handy is currently six months pregnant and worries the same problem might happen to their unborn child. They also plan on naming their baby after a noble name. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions As some of you know, I used to work for Answers in Genesis back in my fundamentalist days. And certain contacts Ive maintained have let slip the next big phase of Ken Hams Ark Encounter theme park. According to my sources, plans are underway for an immersive re-creation of the plagues of Egypt. The book of Exodus teaches that God inflicted the land of Egypt with ten plagues in order to convince them to release the people of Israel. Now tourists will have a chance to encounter the full fury of Gods holy indignation, as his simulated wrath is poured out upon them. Visitors to the exhibit will first be separated into groups of either Egyptians, who get to suffer the plagues firsthand, or Israelites, who get to witness the carnage while remaining unscathed. All firstborn individuals are strongly encouraged to go with the Israelite group. The Egyptian group will face copious amounts of blood (sourced fresh from local butcheries) and dead fish. Theyll wade through piles of frogs (both living and then dead), receive an infestation of lice, fight through swarms of flies and later locusts, rub shoulders with diseased livestock, gain boils on their skin, withstand showers of hailstones, endure intense darkness, and have all of their valuables taken from them (as a tax-deductible donation). It is currently unclear whether any firstborns will actually die and what legal loopholes that might entail, but PETA is already investigating suspected cruelty to animals involved. And complaints have been filing in about more tax dollars being spent on a religious attraction. Additionally, some local pastors are wondering whether the estimated $40 million it will take to build the exhibit could be put to better use, like helping the poor. Yet Ken Ham remains undeterred. This is really another opportunity to reach the world with the Good News of Jesus, Ham is reported to have said, in his trademark Australian accent. Thats why we separate the visitors into two groups. The Israelites experience Gods loving salvation, while appreciating the just damnation of those who are not among the elect. The Egyptians, on the other hand, taste only a small fraction of Gods wrath during the plagues, before entering the eternal fire of hell that awaits them. But the Good News is that you can escape this fate by placing your faith in the inerrancy of the Bible and rejecting the lie of Darwinian evolution. Assuming the exhibit performs well, they hope to re-create the seven plagues of Revelation next. For more details, please consult your calendar. New Delhi: With the post lying vacant for the past four months following the end of the tenure of Gopa Sabharwal, President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday announced his decision to appoint Sunaina Singh, the sitting Vice Chancellor (VC) of Hyderabad English and Foreign Language University, as the new VC of Nalanda University in Bihar. Sabharwal, whose five-year term ended in 2015, was given an extension of one year but that was revoked by President Mukherjee who, instead appointed Pankaj Mohan, a senior professor at the Nalanda University, as the interim Vice Chancellor of the university. Sunaina Singh was chosen from an initial list of 125 applications. She made the first short list of six candidates and later an even shorter list of three candidates, former Rajya Sabha MP and a member of the Nalanda University governing body, N K Singh said. Since its revival, Nalanda University has been marred with one controversies or other involving bruised egos of office holders and general administrative failure. Earlier last November, its Chancellor and former Singapore politician George Yeo resigned from his post accusing lack of autonomy in the university. As if that was not enough, two days ago on March 29, acting Vice Chancellor Pankaj Mohan resigned from his post on 'moral grounds' after a girl student accused her classmate of sexual harassment. The accusation led to a massive protest within the campus forcing the Nalanda SP to intervene to stop students from going on a rampage. Mohan, taking full moral responsibility for the unrest, resigned from his post forcing the President of India to speed up the appointment of Sunaina Singh, reports said. Iran Rejects U.S. Terror Claim, Blames Saudi Arabia 04/01/17 Source: RFE/RL Iran has rejected U.S. allegations that the Islamic republic continues to be a main sponsor of terrorism and suggested that the main source was its regional rival and U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia. cartoon by Taher Shabai, Iranian daily Arman U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters in London on March 31 that the Shi'ite Iranian state continues to be an "exporter of terrorism" and a "sponsor of terrorism." Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi reacted on April 1, saying, "Some countries led by America are determined to ignore the main source of Takfiri-Wahhabi terrorism and extremism," according to state news agency IRNA. He was referring to hard-line Sunni Muslim groups and Saudi Arabia's official Wahhabi school of Islam. "Giving a wrong address when referring to the roots and the financial and intellectual resources of terrorism is a main reason for a lack of success by international antiterror efforts," Ghasemi also said. Based on reporting by Reuters Iran: Oil exports near record 3 million bpd 04/01/17 Source: Press TV Iran's total exports of crude oil and gas condensate by Iran neared a record 3 million barrels per day (bpd) in the Persian month of Esfand which ended on March 20, Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh says. Iran has been ramping up crude oil production to win back its market share since sanctions were lifted on the country in January 2016 under a nuclear accord with six world powers. "The pace of growth in Iran's crude oil production and exports has amazed international observers who did not think Iran could raise its production by 1 million barrels per day within three to four months after the removal of sanctions," Zangeneh said. Iran's oil exports stood around 1 million bpd during the years when the West intensified sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program. Iran's total exports of crude oil and condensate averaged 2.8 million bpd in the months leading to the new Iranian year which started on March 21, Zangeneh said. "We have managed to establish this rate as a right of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and bring Iran's (market) share to the pre-sanctions levels," Zangeneh said. South Pars projects Zangeneh also said a series of South Pars development projects, implemented with $20 billion of investment, will become operational in the current Iranian year. The South Pars field in the Persian Gulf contains some 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, which accounts for eight percent of the world's known reserves. It is divided into 24 phases on the Iranian side for development. According to the oil minister, Phases 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 as well as South Pars' oil layer are among the projects to come online. Last month, an official from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said Iran had begun producing oil from the oil layer which lies in the same area as the super giant South Pars gas field, but is developed separately. The asset is now producing from seven subsea wells connected to a floating production, storage and offloading unit and has a target of 35,000 barrels per day in its first phase. The South Pars oil layer is shared with Qatar, where it is known as Al Shaheen. As a joint field, it is among those prioritized for investment and has been named as a likely candidate for development under an Iran Petroleum Contract. France's Total is seeking a 50.1% stake in the $4 billion South Pars Phase 11 development. The company inked a preliminary agreement with Iran last year, but it is looking to Washington for authorization to finalize it. International firms have been cautious in their dealings with Iran despite the lifting of sanctions early last year because of fears of being blacklisted by the US. Total became the first Western oil major to sign an energy agreement with Iran after the European Union and the United States undertook to lift sanctions on the Islamic Republic under a nuclear deal signed in July 2015. The company helped Iran develop phases 2 and 3 of South Pars in the 2000s, before pulling out of the country after Western sanctions were imposed in 2011. Anxiety has never been a stranger to students. Midterms, finals, project deadlines, food and housing expenses and worries about job prospects can all add up and become a bit overwhelming. A new report says thats more the case today than ever. The annual survey by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors shows that over the past decade the number of students seeking help for anxiety at college counseling centers has risen dramatically. In 2008, anxiety was most reported concern among college and university students seeking help at a counseling center, but it was only slightly ahead of depression, 36.7 percent vs. 37 percent. Since that time both have risen, but anxiety has far outpaced depression. The latest survey was conducted between September 2015 and August 2016. It found that more than half (50.6 percent) of students at counseling centers reported problems with anxiety, a 37 percent rise over 2008s low. Reports of depression have risen to 41.2 percent. Third on the list of reported problems are relationship issues, at 34.4 percent. That figure has remained fairly steady in the past 10 years. The survey provides no analysis of the results. Proposed Cuts If anxiety for students was at an all-time high last year, students may find reasons to be ever more anxious since the survey was taken, particularly those that rely on government help with tuition. The Trump Administration has proposed holding Pell grant funds steady in the coming year the grants are aimed at assisting low-income students. But it has also asked for $3.9 billion to be cut from the programs $10.6 billion surplus, money that would normally be carried into the next fiscal year and funding that some had hoped could be used to help students with summer school costs. Last week, the administration asked Congress to cut an additional $1.3 billion from the fund before the current fiscal year ends. The cut is part of a plan to cut $3 billion to the Department of Education in the current year, something its unclear that Congress would agree to. President Donald Trump hopes to reduce next years education budget by $9.2 billion or 13.5 percent. In contrast to that, the presidents daughter, Ivanka Trump, spent time this week championing the push to get more female students into science, technology, education and math programs. She and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos were at a screening of Hidden Figures at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to encourage young women to think about STEM fields. Critics pointed out that Trumps budget proposals cut funding from many of the agencies that support such efforts, such as NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education itself. Philosophically Speaking Heres something to think about: UC Riversides department of philosophy was recently recognized as the top department in the world for work cited by other philosophers in their papers. Frequency of citation is often used as a gauge of the quality of scientific work. The QS World University Rankings included 200 philosophy departments from 37 different countries. Which raises the question: When philosophers win a prize, do they question its existence? With Chinese travelers converging on California in droves, the influx could offer revenue-generating opportunities for hotels, restaurants and other businesses that pay heed to their visitors language and cultural differences. That message was conveyed Tuesday at a Global Ready China seminar that was held at the InterContinental Los Angeles Century City hotel. Hosted by Visit California and Discover Los Angeles, the event drew business leaders, hotel representatives and others from throughout Southern California. Chinese tourism means big bucks Los Angeles welcomed a record 1 million Chinese visitors in 2016, a first for any U.S. city, and that number is expected to grow by double-digit percentages over the next several years. More than 2 million Chinese visitors are expected in 2020. Chinese visitors spend $2.9 billion in California every year, supporting jobs and generating tax revenue for communities across the Los Angeles region, Visit California President and CEO Caroline Beteta said. Our state is becoming global ready to ensure we are delivering an unmatched experience. Chinese travelers are the Golden States highest-spending international market. Since 2008, Visit California has doubled its marketing investments in China from half a million dollars to nearly $10 million this year. The organization has four offices in mainland China in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu. Tips for luring and retaining travelers Jason Pacheco, president of the BRIC Marketing Group, has worked to set up Visit Californias offices around the world. Pacheco said there are lots of things hotels and other businesses can do to create a more welcoming experience for Chinese travelers. How do we make them stay longer? We give them service, he said. Having slippers in the room is one thing. But if you want a luxury client, put the slippers on the floor so when they get to the room they are there ready and waiting for them. We also talk having about tea kettles in the room not coffee makers. You just want a water boiler. And have the tea available because Chinese travelers definitely like their tea. Its those simple things that mean a lot. Hotels can make their accommodations hotel ready by having a welcoming letter for Chinese travelers that explains the services that are available to them. Experts at the seminar also advised hotel operators to provide at least one Mandarin-speaking employee and provide a listing of nearby Chinese restaurants with directions to each one. If you have a restaurant take your signature dishes and just explain those in Chinese so travelers will say, Wow, theyve gone the extra mile for me, Pacheco said. Let me put it this way: When you go into a place thats foreign and you cant read the language but you walk by a store and see a little sign that says Visa or MasterCard accepted, most likely youre going to walk into that shop. Display those so people will walk into your shop simple details. Dream Hollywood hotel to open soon Yasmin Liang, front office director for Dream Hotels, attended Tuesdays Global Ready China seminar. The company operates boutique hotels in such locations as New York, Miami and Bankok and its gearing up to open a 178-room Dream Hollywood hotel soon. Ive done quite a bit of China-ready stuff already, Liang said. For the most part were a lifestyle/boutique hotel so we cater to lifestyle travelers who are looking for the full experience. We have seven food and beverage menus. Liang said Dream Hollywood is anticipating a robust wave of Chinese visitors. A lot of our investors are from China, so thats kind of a big focus for us to make sure that were catering to those clients, she said. We have things like tea kettles and slippers and we try to serve things on our menu that will cater to them like the hot breakfast items, so were getting there. Poppy reserve a big draw for visitors Bobbi Keay, a marketing consultant for Destination Lancaster, said the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is especially popular among Chinese tourists. They come because they like the nature, she said. Its just fields and fields of poppies. RELATED Number of Ontario airport passengers increasing in 2017 Visit California offers seminar on Chinese market Mitchell Caverns started as Depression-era attraction As the recession and its aftermath hit hard in San Jacinto, the city cut staff members in an effort to keep finances stable. Now that the city is on a more solid financial footing and looking to grow, City Manager Rob Johnson is asking to hire three people to ease the burden on current workers. The City Council will hear a proposal Tuesday, April 4, to recruit an assistant city manager, a manager of information technology services and an executive coordinator. With new and increased development opportunities being realized throughout the city, it is imperative to add staff now and possibly more in the next fiscal year to accommodate the anticipated growth and promote the city as open for business to the greater development community, Johnson wrote in a report. Johnson wrote that having fewer workers has meant members of the management staff tend to work on multiple projects at once. Taxing of the employees has resulted in many staff being overburdened with too many demands to complete in a normal work day, week and/or shift, he reported. Councilman Andrew Kotyuk said he realizes adding staff could be a tough sell to residents of a city that not long ago saw a fire station and parks closed and a reduced police presence. But he said positions are necessary to help the city move forward. We are understaffed and there are things falling through the cracks, Kotyuk said. Kotyuk also mentioned another item on the agenda one to regulate the commercial cultivation of marijuana as a component to raising revenue to help pay for the positions. San Jacinto voters approved taxing recreational marijuana growers and businesses in November at the same time California voters approved legalization. The council will vote on land use issues regarding cannabis Tuesday. The revenue can be used to advance the city of San Jacinto, Kotyuk said. Its an injustice if we dont move forward and approve the land use. The deputy city manager would oversee human resources, public works, building, code enforcement, community services, information technology and animal control. The expected salary range for the position would be $145,000 to $150,000, with up to $66,500 in benefits. Other allowances, for such things as a vehicle and cellphone, bring total compensation an estimated $207,500-$221,500. The IT manager would oversee the current contracts for IT services, website development, phone systems and information systems. By hiring someone in-house, the city could reduce or eliminate outside contacts, saving up to $80,000 per year, Johnson said. The salary range for the position would be $90,000-$100,000 annually, with benefits bringing the total compensation to $129,000-$145,700, increasing the budget $65,700 after cutting contract costs. The executive coordinator would coordinate the information, communication, scheduling and administrative functions of the city managers office, as well as coordinate council calendars, marketing/publicity, social media and assist with special events and economic development programs. The annual salary range would be $50,000-$60,000, with total compensation between $70,900 -$84,900. With a goal to have the new employees on board by May 1,The city would spend $101,000 in the current year to pay for the positions, using reserve funds. In the future, the positions will be paid for though the annual budget. REDLANDS >> A group of Kingsbury Elementary students walked into Famous Daves restaurant Thursday and helped a Calimesa father and daughter pay for their meal. The kind gesture caught Gloria Denver and Frank Ramirez off-guard, especially after dealing with a burglary that took place Tuesday. You know, his home was broken into a couple of days ago, Denver told the students. So this is a really nice surprise. The random act of kindness brought joy to the group, who walked around the Citrus Plaza shopping center passing out gift cards and notes to strangers in hopes of making their day. The dozen participating in the activity are part of Kingsburys RAK Random Acts of Kindness Club, which takes on various philanthropy projects to help better the community both on- and off-campus. The students raised more than $150 to make Thursdays acts happen through the sale of Candy Grams during the holidays. RAK members there are about 80 total then voted on how they would use the money. With help from club advisers and Kingsbury educators Melissa Anderson and Cosette Gaytan, the group made stops at Starbucks and Chick-fil-A, to name a few, passing out the cards and cheer. The stop at Famous Daves was the groups last and not only made Denver and Ramirezs day, but also put a smile on the faces of employees inside the eatery who watched the exchange. I think, first of all, doing something like this, we hope, can be contagious, Anderson said. The RAK Club at Kingsbury holds biweekly meetings and has taken on several projects during the 2016-17 school year, including the recent building of buddy benches at the school. A food drive also recently helped provide baskets of goods to 19 families in the area, Anderson said. It is really powerful for them to understand that they may be only 8 years old, but look what they can do, she said. And hopefully they can take this to middle school and beyond and continue to make a difference. I feel like this is a meant-to-be moment, said fifth-grader Hayden Clark as she waited for a panel of judges to decide who would win Romoland School Districts Second Annual Future Chefs Cook-Off on Wednesday, March 29. Her premonition was spot on. Haydens Los Cabos shrimp cocktail, with a jalapeno bite, won first place among four contestants vying to be recognized as the top chef among the districts third-grade through fifth-grade students. My mom inspired me, the Mesa View Elementary School student said during the award presentation by Superintendent Julie Vitale. Shes been making shrimp cocktail for a long time. The nationwide Future Chefs Challenge is sponsored by the firm Sodexo, which partners with nearly 500 school districts around the country to provide healthy, nutritional food options on campuses. Toby Taeger, who is Sodexos general manager in the Romoland District, started the student chefs contest there when he took the job two years ago. Serving as a judge was a natural for district board President David Sperry, who said he cooks as a hobby and has a vast collection of aprons. Its a unique way of learning and it gives them an opportunity to look into doing other things as they get older, Sperry said of the contest. Its really cool that parents and kids work together on a goal. Last year, Romoland fifth-grader Kimberly Diaz advanced to the regional competition with her Greek Yogurt Parfait recipe. After the district-level round, the regional and national contests are decided based on photos of the winning dishes, recipes and judges scoring, Taeger said. This year, more than 30 students participated in the Romoland district contest. The four finalists, including fifth-grader Rhiannon Findley of Harvest Valley Elementary, fourth-grader Ethan Holthaus of Romoland Elementary and fifth-grader Rayna Mullan of Boulder Ridge Elementary, won the right to participate in Thursdays cookoff. Several dozen parents, supporters and classmates attended the event held at Ethan A. Chase Middle School in Menifee. Perris resident Theresa Cavin came to see how Ethan, her grand-nephew, would fare. He loves to cook, she said. It teaches them math and reading skills. Its a huge life-learning skill. They can help their parents at home and it really gives them utilitarian skills at school. The students had 30 minutes to prepare their dishes with the assistance of an adult based on recipes submitted beforehand. Ethan took second with his pesto chicken pasta, followed by Rhiannon with her Tilapia Extreme, and Rayna came in fourth with her vegetable-stuffed burger. The contestants received a statue molded into a chefs hat and spatulas, while each of the three runners-up received a bag with prizes, including cooking utensils. For her first place finish, Hayden received a box of items that included utensils, a cookbook, games and a drone. Participation in last years cook-off and losing gave her an idea of how to approach the task this year, Hayden said. You always want to believe in yourself and I did, and I won. Seven of Idyllwild Arts Academys most promising musicians edged out bands across the country to win first place at the Berklee High School Jazz Festival in Boston in spite of a flight delay that left competitors drained. Thousands of students from 13 states attended the festival which, aside from the competition, featured feedback from Berklee College of Musics top faculty. Two Idyllwild Arts students, bassist Owen Zorn and jazz pianist Sumi Onoe, both Idyllwild Arts seniors, also took home individual awards. Zorn won the Superior Musicianship award, which is only given to one musician per division, and the Judges Choice award, given to one student per band. Onoe received the Outstanding Musicianship award, a distinction granted to one musician per band. Idyllwild Arts advanced jazz group, Combo A, overcame less-than-ideal conditions to win the festivals first prize. The students flight was delayed by over a day, causing them to arrive in Boston a mere five hours before they competed and leaving them little time to rest after the cross-country trip. I think it was actually better because we just had to do it without any time to get nervous or anything, Onoe said. Everyone was exhausted, but I think we played really well and everyone was so concentrated. Additionally, the group does not have a drummer this year, a constraint that Onoe explained makes winning more difficult. Without a drummer, the job of keeping time is left to the pianist and bassist, who are already focusing on their own instruments. We didnt think that we were going to win the first place, but we were really confident about getting third or second place, she said. We were really surprised that we won first place without a drummer. Despite the hectic conditions, neither Onoe nor Zorn was nervous to perform. It was just fun. I didnt really feel like I was competing with anybody, Zorn said. I just felt like I was there to play. For Zorn, who has been playing the bass since he was 12, music keeps him grounded. He said he rarely gets nervous when he plays, whether in competition or with his own jazz combo. Both students will bring their talents to their respective colleges next year Onoe to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, and Zorn, hopefully, to USC. Though Zorn plans to pursue a career in music, Sumi isnt sure how much of a role music will play in her professional future. A Los Angeles man is being held on more than $1 million bail after he allegedly broke into his former girlfriends Ontario apartment and attacked her, choking her until she was unconscious, Ontario police said. Edmanuel Ruiz Lugo, 33, and his girlfriend of three years had broken up a few months ago when he broke into her home earlier this week, Sgt. Jeff Higbee alleged. (He) snuck into her house, beat her up and strangled her until she went unconscious, he said. Lugo then allegedly fled with her purse and cellphone, officials said. Officers were able to track down Lugo to a home in the 14800 block of Don Julian Road in City of Industry, according to booking logs, and arrested him Monday morning, March 27. He was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, assault of a spouse or cohabitant, assault with a deadly weapon and petty theft. Court filings show he was only charged with assault of a spouse or cohabitant, assault with a deadly weapon and petty theft. The attempted murder allegation was dropped. Lugo was in West Valley Superior court Thursday for a scheduled arraignment, but court records dont indicate how Lugo pleaded. He is expected to be back in court Tuesday. If Riverside trumpeter John Shannons life were a song, it might have just made the transition from bridge to chorus, or returned to pleasing harmony after a dissonant passage in a minor key. Six months ago, he was homeless and camping in the Santa Ana River bed. Now he has a motor home, a place to park it and hes in a jazz band with an Inland gig coming up. With hundreds of social media hits on stories about him and videos of him playing, Shannon finds himself with not just friends but fans. Its different. Im not used to it, he said during band practice Wednesday, March 29, at a home in Riversides Greenbelt. RELATED: Riverside homeless trumpeter leaves his riverbed camp Fame comes with fortune, I think but I dont know, he added wryly. The house and sprawling property are owned by his bandmate, saxophonist Karolyn Francoise Verville, who invited him to park his motor home there. Her group, Saxuet, played its first show with Shannon on March 22 in West Hollywood. Theyre preparing for an April 9 jazz festival in Ontario. A Riverside native, Shannon, 58, lost his family home to foreclosure about 2007 and became homeless a couple of years later. In January, he bought the motor home with money he earned playing Christmas tunes for holiday crowds at Riversides Festival of Lights. Verville, Shannon and Bill Snyder, who plays a stand-up bass named Gertrude, practice in Vervilles living room using pre-recorded backing drums and piano. The place was crammed with instruments two keyboards, a drum kit, three saxophones, a few small amps and a set of conga drums among them. Watching over it all was an antelope head mounted high on the wall. Shannons dog, Blackie, an Australian shepherd who often performs with him, lied on the floor next to his master, looking a bit bored. As they ran through a few jazz standards On Green Dolphin Street, The Odd Couple theme, and Miles Davis Seven Steps to Heaven Shannon burst into a solo, rocking gently in his seat as the notes climbed and tumbled from the bell of his trumpet. Ive never heard a brass player that can do what he does with no bottom teeth, said Snyder, who also plays trombone but had to quit until he got new dentures. Dressed casually in baggy brown corduroys and a short-sleeved button-up shirt, a package of loose tobacco jutting from his pocket, Shannon sometimes squints his eyes shut when playing, as if hes feeling the music rather than thinking about it. Carl Wilson, a Riverside wedding and event planner who is putting on the Ontario jazz festival where Saxuet will play, said he was impressed by Shannons musical abilities and touched by his history. After hearing about Shannon from Verville, I just fell in love with the guy, Wilson said. I said Thatd be a great story, from living on the streets to living on a property to playing in an actual band again.' Shannon said he still goes to downtown Riverside to work as a street musician nearly every night, but hes also happy to play with the band. _informq.push([embed]); Its not about the money, its really not, he said. I play because I enjoy (it). While he sometimes misses his river bottom camp, Shannon said, hes enjoying his new life too. He recently cooked a pot roast and looks forward to swimming in Vervilles pool. Now hes able to help his former neighbors who are still on the street. Jeff Coble, a pastor who works with the homeless, said Shannon gave him bags of oranges from Vervilles large property and helped people replace tents and other things they lost to flooding after recent rains. Shannon, in turn, can rely on help from Verville, who mothers him, asking if he drank enough water, texting him if he stays out after playing for tips downtown, and helping him shop for suits and ties to wear to their gigs. When he marveled that he has new clothes and a new place to live, Verville prompted him, And people who love you, to which Shannon echoed, And people who love me. Contact the writer: 951-368-9461, arobinson@scng.com or @arobinson_pe on Twitter RELATED Riverside homeless trumpeter leaves his riverbed camp Riversides homeless rely on minister, riverbed camps, to survive ONTARIO >> Enormous interest in 147 acres east of Ontario International Airport has commissioners asking themselves one question: Should the Ontario International Airport Authority sell or develop and lease the property itself? What is the best for airport operations? Commissioner and San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman asked. Yes, we could use the capital influx right now, but in the long term, we want to bring the landing fees down and operational costs for airlines as minimal as possible. In turn, lower landing fees and operational costs could attract more flights and new airlines to the airport. The discussion arose Tuesday afternoon during the commissioners monthly meeting at the airports administrative offices. CEO Kelly Fredericks asked commissioners for direction on how to handle developer inquiries about the 147-acre property, located east of Haven Avenue and commonly referred to as the boot because of its complex boundaries. Development around the airport was one of the opportunities Fredericks eyed when first hired before the airport changed hands. Its previous owners, Los Angeles World Airports, handed ONT over in November after a long process. As part of our due diligence, we took over ownership of the airport and we were evaluating all our developable pieces of property. This was identified as non-aeronautical use, Fredericks told the three commissioners in attendance. Staff learned that LAWA purchased the property without Federal Aviation Administration grant funds, so theres no encumbrances or reimbursement associated with grant funds, he said. Regardless of the direction by the commission, the authority would have to receive FAA approval, and any type of financial transaction would require fair market value, Fredericks said. Commissioner Lucy Dunn, president and CEO of the Orange County Business Council, said she was concerned the option be compatible with the airports future master plan under development and with the surroundings. It was premature, Dunn said, to make a decision based solely on a map outlining the property. Im looking for you as the experts to come to us with making sure that theres connectivity here, she told Fredericks. Hagman, on the other hand, would like for the OIAAs air service division to research the options. He envisioned warehouse space that could be used by shipping companies. These companies in turn would use ONT to deliver their goods to the warehouses, Hagman said. Are we trying to sell off land to supplement our air business or are we trying to supplement just cash in our pocket, or are we trying to do both? he asked commissioners. Alan Wapner, president of the OIAA, suggested the authority conduct an auction. Not only would it be expedient, he said, once the offers come in, the commission can determine the best model. His biggest concern with the other suggestions: timing. The market is a very hot market right now, and I really dont want to take the chance in missing the cycle not that were going to miss in the next two to three months, Wapner said. Im hearing the master plan will take 18 to 24 months, and we could very well miss the cycle in 24 months. Wapner tried to reassure commissioners that by going the auction route doesnt mean they have to accept any of the offers. We need to see what the market is offering, he said. If we dont like it, then we can reject them. Itll at least give us that option to see whats available in the market. Fredericks reminded commissioners there are limitations to the types of facilities that can be permitted. Pursuant to the settlement agreement with LAWA, Fredericks said, those funds must be used to pay off the $70 million debt. The commission ultimately directed Fredericks to bring back a staff report with options and outlining the benefits. Riverside County would be safer if more criminal justice dollars were spent on prevention rather than locking people up, according to a new report. The report, Healthy and Safe Riverside County: Investing in What Works, encourages the county to focus more on mental health, homeless outreach and other services and less on adding jail beds. It is possible to reduce the amount of funding going to criminalize and incarcerate people while keeping communities safe and at the same time, keeping communities healthy and vibrant, wrote Kim Gilhuly, the reports author. A county spokesman said the county already is taking steps to address issues raised in the report. The Human Impact report does not acknowledge all the programs and services provided to those re-entering Riverside County communities from jail or prison, or who are under court-ordered supervision, Ray Smith said. Probation has developed extensive housing opportunities for this population in order to address the housing needs of those who are interested in making use of the housing options. Gilhuly is with Human Impact Partners, an Oakland-based outfit focused on inequalities affecting community health. The report is a collaboration between Gilhulys group and three others Straight Talk Inc., which provides counseling services; Starting Over Inc., which deals with transitional housing; and the American Civil Liberties Union. The 49-page report criticizes the county for spending too much on jailing and punishing criminals. More than two-thirds of the countys discretionary budget goes to public safety, and the county oversees probationers and runs five jails with almost 4,000 beds, with another 1,200 beds coming with the John J. Benoit Detention Center expected to open next year. According to the report, 47 percent of those in jails have some kind of mental illness. Almost 2,200 are homeless in the county on any given night, with 21 percent having recently been released from prison or jail, the report found. Cheaper options? Spending money ticketed for jails on mental health services and supportive housing for the homeless reduces the likelihood that the mentally ill and homeless will be rearrested, the report argues. It points to a number of programs in the county and throughout California aimed at treating mental illness and helping the homeless as good investments that reduce the need for jail space. Programs like the ones highlighted in our report reduce homelessness, treat mental health issues and substance use, get people employed, hold people accountable for their actions, and generally decrease the use of arrest, probation, and jail as the answers for Riverside Countys social issues, Gilhuly wrote in an email interview. These solutions respect dignity, reduce harm, and are cheaper than our expensive criminal justice system. The report also called for consulting firm KPMG, which recently conducted a review of public safety spending, to determine the savings to the county from Prop. 47, a 2014 measure approved by voters that reclassified a number of felonies as misdemeanors. While Prop. 47 advocates say the measure relieves an overburdened criminal justice system, critics blame it for an increase in crime. Responding to the report, Smith pointed to a number of ongoing efforts in the county, including a $35 million grant for a Whole Person Care program to assess probationers for physical, behavioral health and social service needs and link them to integrated services through appropriate agencies. The Board of Supervisors in April 2016 approved the Stepping Up Initiative, which serves as a blueprint for counties to assess existing efforts to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jail, Smith said. The countys social services department assesses probationers to see if they qualify for social services help, he added. The county is at an all-time low in its juvenile-detention population, Smith said. Over 70 percent of the youths placed on contract though the Youth Accountability Team program do not return to the juvenile justice system over a three-year period, he said. Smith said the countys efforts are hampered by a possible $100 million budget shortfall, created largely by state actions. Departments are working to make progress using existing resources, looking for new funding and the county is always looking for ways to do more. At this time there is no way to know exactly how the budget issue will affect programs, but it will make things more difficult. Additional police resources were assigned to Martin Luther King High School in Riverside on Friday, March 31, after a person at the school reported that a threat had been made toward students via text message, a police spokesman said. Officer Ryan Railsback did not know the exact wording of the threat, but said it made mention of a shooting at the schools planned pep rally Friday. The text message was being sent from student to student, he said, and someone reported it to school administration. Railsback said that as a result, extra officers were in place at the rally. Everything went smoothly during that time and the threat went unsubstantiated, he said. In an auto call to parents, the schools principal, Michael West, said the school became aware of the threat late Thursday night and had been working closely with police. I can assure you we have been working with the Riverside Police Department and District Administration all morning regarding this rumor and at this time there is no credibility to this rumor, he said in one part of the message to parents. Riverside Unified School District Spokesman Justin Grayson said teachers provided alternative settings for students to stay if they were concerned by the rumor and did not want to go to the rally. This is the second time this week a threat has prompted police activity at the school. A 15-year-old sophomore was arrested Wednesday, March 29, after a series of bomb threats phoned into the schools front office prompted an evacuation of students. Grayson said that it seems as though pranks and jokes tend to escalate in periods before breaks such as spring break or summer break. Its just a shame because one thing that kids need to know is making threats like these are crimes and we dont take these situations lightly, he said. Railsback shared a similar sentiment, saying the so-called pranks take police resources away from other matters while making parents and students feel worried. He said police arent looking at the text message as a joke, but a serious situation that could merit criminal consequences. Every time a threat like this comes in, we are diligent in trying to get to the bottom of it and we will. We have to, he said. We take it very seriously and it is not a joke. Parliament on Friday passed the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2017, which would require all taxable retailers and wholesalers to account for the Value Added Tax (VAT) at a flat rate of three per cent. The rate would be calculated on the value of the taxable supply unless the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) directs otherwise. The Bill, taken through a certificate of urgency, seeks to amend the Value Added Tax Act, 2013 (ACT 870) to classify the supply of financial services, domestic transportation of passengers by air and supply of immovable property by a real estate developer as exempt supplies. According to the Finance Committees Report on the Bill, the bill is also to give legal backing to a VAT Flat Rate Scheme that would facilitate collection of VAT on the supply of goods in the distribution chain and to provide for related matters. The Government, as part of the 2017 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, proposed to reduce or abolish some taxes in order to bring relief to consumers and to stimulate growth of certain sectors of the economy. Pursuant to that objective, the Government introduced the Bill to amend the VAT Act, 2013 (Act 870) to reduce the cost of supplies of real estate and transportation by air in order to provide relief to consumers. The Bill also aims at providing a simplified VAT scheme for retailers so as to improve their compliance levels. The report said the Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance informed the Committee that the Bill would remove the VAT on the supply of financial services. However, this removal would not affect VAT on professional services in the nature of accountancy, investment and legal advice. This is because the VAT on these professional services had always existed. The three per cent VAT Flat Rate Scheme is, however, said to be revenue neutral as it is not expected to occasion any loss of revenue but rather bring about enhance efficiency, ease of compliance and convenience administration. The Commissioner General of the GRA explained that the VAT Flat Rate Scheme of three per cent would be applicable only to wholesalers and retailers who failed within the VAT registrable threshold. He said it would not rope in other traders who did not meet the VAT threshold which currently stood at GH200,000.00. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Dr Cadman Mills, brother of the former President John Evans Atta Mills has disclosed that his brother neither died of throat cancer nor oral sex infection as speculated by a section of the public especially members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). The former Presidential Adviser revealed that per his research and that of the autopsy report, the late Mills died of related stroke disease. Debunking the allegations, he added that his brother suffered a growth in his sinuses caused by polluted air which is curable. Speaking on Starr Chat with Bola Ray about the health of his late brother which was questioned by a section of Ghanaians especially his political opponents, he questioned why some members of NDC blamed him for going public on the cause of Prof Mills death. Dr Cadman Mills who refused to mention if his brother died a natural death or not accused some members of NDC of mocking him in the press for telling the truth about his brothers death. He was coherent but he was complaining of very severe neck pain, few days before his death he was complaining of sensitivity to light. Since his death I have done lots of research. And some of the symptoms he evidently exhibited very clearly pointed to the very beginning of a stroke of some sort.what I saw and per the autopsy report he died out of a very massive, the term stroke and Aneurysm, hemorrhage is very often used interchangeably, that is what I saw. At the material moment he collapsed, I was not physically there,. I have to be honest with you, that people sort of questioned me why I revealed the cause of his death. Why would you say that, I said am sorry am telling you the truth, would you rather I allow Ghanaians to think he died out of throat cancer, oral sex and things like that. But that is not what he died of. Let's tell the truth, of course not, he didnt die of truth cancer, I know he will forgive me, Prof Mills had a growth in his sinuses and it was quite sizeable, that some people call pre- cancerous, others call cancerous, I dont know, he debunked. According to him, his brother was medically fit to run for presidency in 2008 and 2012 adding that doctors cleared him. He said the Asomdwee hene wouldnt have contested in the presidential race if he was not physically fit. There was no medical reasons for him not to run for the presidency. Prof Mills I knew him wouldnt have run if he knew he was not physically well to run for the presidency. Doctors cleared him to run for the 2008 and 2014 elections, he recalled. Prof Mills died on July 24, 2012. Source: ultimatefmonline Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Finally justice had been served, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Gifty Mawuenya Tehoda who was embattled in the cocaine changed to baking soda case in 2011 stated after a court ordered for her reinstatement. I am very grateful to God for sustaining me and the family for the past five years. I am very grateful to my family and friends who supported me. I would not have come this far without my family. DSP Tehoda told journalists after a Human Rights Court in Accra on Friday ordered her reinstatement into the Ghana Police Service. When asked how she had coped with life for the past five years, DSP Tehoda said: It has not been easy at all. I was taking care of my two kids who are at the university and Senior High school respectively. I feel very happy about the ruling because that was what I asked the court. I hope the representative of the Inspector General Police was in court and I hope they will enforce the courts order, she told journalists. She said her colleagues were now at the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police. A Human Rights Court ordered her re-instatement into the Ghana Police Service. This was after the Court had held that DSP Tehoda was wrongfully dismissed from the Ghana Police Service. It therefore ordered that all her entitlements, allowances and promotions due her for the past five years be accorded. The court accordingly awarded GH10,000.00 as general damages and GH8,000.00 as cost against the Ghana Police Service, and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). According to the court the dismissal of DSP Tehoda constituted breach of natural justices, right to be heard and fair trial during a service enquiry instituted by the Police. The court further asked the BNI to pay GH5,000.00 as damages to the DSP Tehoda for wrongful detention. In March this year this year, the court presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei-Addo granted an application by DSP Tehodas lawyers to adopt proceedings including addresses before Justice Kofi Essel Mensah who had been dismissed from the Judicial Service. In September 2011, Nana Ama Martins was arrested over alleged large quantities of cocaine which later changed into baking soda during a trial. DSP Tehoda was named in the missing cocaine case; subsequently she was interdicted by the Ghana Police Service. She was then tried by an Accra Circuit Court for her involvement however at the end of the trial she was acquitted and discharged. DSP Tehoda then proceeded to the Human Rights Court seeking reliefs for wrongful dismissal from the Ghana Police Service. She also prayed the court for an order for her reinstatement, compensations as well as general damages suffered over the period Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Madam Joyce Aryee, Founder, Salt and Light Ministry, has challenged Ghanaian women to take spiritual control of the country and unleash their potentials. She said the country was at a crossroad and needed Daniels and Daniellas who were strong, bold and incorruptible leaders. Madam Aryee was speaking at the Third National Leaders Delegates Conference of the Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church, Ghana, in Ho. She said it was time women in Ghana moved away from their comfort zones and resisted negative influences and break new grounds for the rapid socio-economic development of the country. Madam Aryee noted that women were naturally entrepreneurial and challenged them to graduate from petty trading to real business. Right Reverend Dr Seth Agidi, Moderator, General Assembly of the E.P. Church asked the women to be creative and move away from the ordinary and blaze pioneering trail. Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister urged the women to explore strategies and opportunities to get them spiritually, socially and economically charged. He said government was creating an enabling environment for the participation of women in all sectors of the economy and called for the support of all. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, wants the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, to apologize for his claims that he [Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh], called the Tamale North MP, Alhassan Suhuyini a fool thus escalating tensions in Parliament to near-fisticuffs. This was after the Joe Ghartey committee found the Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga guilty of contempt of Parliament, and recommended that he should apologize to the House. Dr. Opoku Prempeh in a statement said he took grave exception to the scurrilous and unfounded allegations. He further said he expected Sam George to do the honourable thing by swiftly apologizing for his unfounded claim. I owe him no apology But responding to the statement on Eyewitness News, Sam George asserted that, he owed the Education Minister no apology. I stand fully and solely by the words I uttered in my interview this [Friday] morning on the Citi Breakfast Show. He should run away from it. He should rather be a man and admit that he did the wrong thing and stop running around and bundling words around. I owe him no apology. He owes the honourable member from Tamale North an apology. And if he will be humble enough, he owes me an apology from four weeks ago, the Ningo Prampram MP stated. Dr. Opoku Prempehs statement also made reference to proceedings on March 10, 2017, and denied Sam Georges claim that he had called him a fool for prompting the Speaker to ask him if he was wearing a school uniform or was properly dressed to Parliament. Sam George again stood by his claims that Dr. Opoku Prempeh called him a fool on the floor of Parliament for his actions, noting that Parliaments Hansard chose to omit some very unprintable words. We were all in the chamber and I was not the only one who heard it. There are members of Parliament on our side who equally heard it and that is what triggered Alhassa Suhuyinis anger During the heckling, a lot of words were bundled around that dont make their way into the Hansard. Source: Citifmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ahh, wonderful: the controversial American rent-bidding app, Rentberry, is going to be launched in Australia this year. Just in case your housing future wasnt already shaky enough, now you get to bid against other desperate tenants! The app has been ambivalently described as the eBay of renting. It hosts online auctions for rental properties, allowing tenants to create profiles and submit offers that a landlord will then assess. Bidding tenants can see how much others are putting on the line, and the landlord gets to pick their favourite from the bidding pool. While the thought of frantically trying to outbid other poor blighters just trying to put a roof over their heads turns my stomach, the apps developers are quick to deny that landlords will just pick the highest possible rent. According to co-founder Alex Lubinsky, Rentberrys built-in credit checks and references will help landlords to decide whether a prospective tenant will be a good bet. The idea is to give renters with a good rental history a better chance. Despite Lubinsky saying that the apps transparency was a benefit for everyone, Tenants Union of NSW senior policy officer Ned Cutcher is not convinced. From that perspective, people might look at it and say maybe thats alright, but I think it still missing the point of whats dangerous about rent auctions, which is that it has the potential to really push the cost of renting even higher than it already is. Bidding wars are really only designed for one thing and that is to push prices up. Tenants Union of Victoria policy officer Yaelle Caspi agrees: With so many tenants desperate for a home, it is likely that tenants will offer more than they can afford in an attempt to get ahead. Rentberry has got the legal go-ahead, and will launch in Sydney before spreading to Melbourne and beyond. What fantastic news for everyone. Source: Domain.com.au. Image: Broad City. Esteemed actor Alec Baldwin has discussed his past history with alcoholism and drug abuse, including an overdose that he kept secret, in an interview with Good Morning America set to air next week. Baldwins appearance on the show coincides with the release of his memoir, Nevertheless, in which he recall the exact date that he gave up drinking: February 23, 1985. When asked by host George Stephanopoulos what his life might have been like if hed continued along the same path, Balwdin revealed that he once overdosed, a fact that he kept secret for many years. Thinking back on the era, the 30 Rock star said there was really, really a lot of pain in there, a lot of pain, adding: I think I was one of the people who was lucky that [sobriety] stuck, and therefore if I didnt get it then, I think I wouldve got it eventually. I know that at that time, what I describe overdosing on drugs which Ive kept very private for years and years. But Im glad I got it when I did cause not many people get sober when theyre young. Baldwin has recently earned plaudits for his spot-on Donald Trump impersonation on Saturday Night Live, but is still unsure if hell continue in the role when the new season starts later this year. Some have pointed out that the actor, who provides the voice of a suit-wearing, briefcase-toting baby in the GCI animated kids movie Boss Baby, is basically playing Trump in that anyway. Though there are numerous similarities between Boss Baby and the current US president including the fact that hes a control freak who shouts youre fired! at people the films screenwriter insists that its a big coincidence. Source: US Weekly. Photo: Roy Rochlin / Getty. London Fields was meant to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival all the way back in 2015, but it was pulled from the lineup due to some ugly legal wrangling, and hasnt seen the light of day since. Director Mathew Cullen sued the producers for fraud; they in turn sued him for breach of contract, and took further action against star Amber Heard, saying she had breached performance and promotional obligations. Now, Heard has fired back with a suit of her own, alleging that Chris and Roberta Hanley, the films producer and writer, recorded explicit sex scenes for her character using a body double, and tried to make it look as if shed performed them. Per reports in the NY Times, these scenes appear in a Producers Cut of the film. Heards lawyer wrote: After reading the script, she insisted on specific restrictions about nudity and sex scenes in the film as a condition to agreeing to appear in the Movie. [Christopher] expressly agreed to Heards terms, and they were memorialized in the Nudity Rider to her contract. The Hanleys caused to be filmed secretly several additional nude and sex scenes with a body double for Heard and included them in the Producers Cut also in violation of the Nudity Rider The secret filming of this body double footage was not on the schedule that had been provided to Heard and was shot with a skeleton crew only after Heard had completed filming and had left the set. The body double footage included an explicit pornographic sex scene that Heard would never have agreed to do herself the body double footage was designed and intended to leave anyone who saw the images with the distinct impression that it was Heard. London Fields, which is based on a novel by Martin Amis, also stars Billy Bob Thornton, Cara Delevingne and an uncredited Johnny Depp. It currently has no release date. Source: NY Times. Photo: Axelle / Bauer Griffin. Compiled by Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Looking for a quick, wonderful meal? Check out these 15 local favorites Trendy fast casual lies somewhere in between fast food and full table service, casual restaurant. These vastly popular venues offer higher quality, healthier ingredients, friendly staff and counter service. They are pricier than fast food chains but in return expect fresher, clean tasting, ingredients. Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Byblos Mediterranean Grill 421 Friendship Road, Harrisburg, 717-564-4800 Catering to the surrounding office crowd, cafeteria-style, herbaceous Mediterranean meals are spooned into plastic take out containers that can easily be snapped shut, if youre on a quick lunch break. Choose from falafel, shawarma (marinated chicken thighs) marinated Greek spiced beef and lamb gyro, grilled chicken breast, chargrilled 7 spiced ground beef log rolled into pita, laffa (thin Lebanese bread wrap), served in bowls or as platters. Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Red Sky Caf Located at Ever Grain Brewing company at the Hampden Terminal, 4444 Carlisle Pike By all means bring the kids to this noisy German beer hall-style venue. Order freshly made, Carolina-inspired meals at the peek-a-boo counter located by the ping pong table and corn hole game at the Ever Grain Brewing Company. Housemade chili-brushed wings, overstuffed, fresh squeezed lime tickled rockfish tacos and creamy bacon and tomato flecked shrimp and grits atop baby spinach are highlights here. Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Forrests Feed Co. 283 East Main St, Hummelstown, 717-566-6666 Down a wooded alley, this small, rustic barbecue shack is easily missed without its sign and wood fired smoke signal. Split the Forrest & Jenny (Forrests girlfriend in the movie Forrest Gump and in real life.) combination, which features 1 pulled pork sandwich, 1 brisket sandwich, choice of two small sides and extra pickles on the side ($19). Excellent shards of pink tinged, charred pulled pork makes a delicious, stacked sandwich. Some of the slices of brisket tasted overly salty due to too much rub. However, other charred-edged slices had wonderful, subtly seasoned, smoky finish. Freshly cut french fries made in-house are golden brown with crispy edges, small, ($3.00) Don't Edit Susan Gleiter | sgleiter@pennlive.com Woo de la Kitchen 23 Briarcrest Square, Hershey, 717-520-1500 Hidden among vacant and occupied storefronts at Briarcrest Square, lunchtime reunites friends and neighbors at communal tables. Woos crisply fried egg sandwich slipped under an everything English muffin highlights the limited breakfast menu but its the overflowing sandwich fillings that garner wide eye attention. At lunchtime, varied breads and unique fillings create mouth-watering sandwiches. If you order Jesss chicken salad sandwich grab a plastic fork. Youll need a least one utensil to gather up cubes of poached chicken breast, chopped apples, pears and sliced grapes that drop out of the croissant. Don't Edit Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Hellenic Kouzina Greek Caf 500 East Main St., Mechanicsburg, 717-766-2990 Fresh, made-to-order homemade, Greek recipes are served in cafeteria setting. Clean, fresh flavors are evident throughout home made sauces, soups and Greek entrees. Avgolemono soup ($4.49) has citrusy backlash and garlicky tzatziki sauce distinguishes chargrilled, herb-crusted chicken souvlaki. ($11.99) Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive The Jackson House 1004 N. Sixth St, Harrisburg, 717-238-2730 During the depression years, 1929-1932, German I. Jackson and wife Betty ran a black rooming house and adjacent shoebox-size coffee shop, Jackson House Coffee shop. Big names poured into this little space. Wilma Jackson, the famous track star, was noted to have been here. Pearl Bailey and Joe Louis visited too. Once the coffee shop closed, the space lay vacant for the next 4 decades. In 1982, Dave Kegris reopened the doors as the old original Jackson House. Super tossed base salads, chargrilled hamburgers ($6-8) and hand packed hoagies ($6-$8) are the heroes on the menu. Italian antipasto ($7.75) hoagie gets its distinctive flavor from aged sharp provolone, hot or sweet peppers and house made garlicky roasted red pepper strips, thinly sliced genoa, proscuittino and cappicolla salamis. Don't Edit Sophia's at Walden 129 Walden Way, Mechanicsburg, 717-791-0100 Everything is made from scratch from breads to soups to desserts and you can taste the freshness and quality of ingredients. Dont get sidetracked by desserts like everyone else at this crowded, chatty plum and avocado painted dining room. Hot sandwiches such as Pastrami Reuben $8.75, ham and Swiss on French baguette swiped with Dijonnaise ($8.75) and California Tuna, avocado and melted Provolone on club roll ($10.25) are just some of the local favorites. Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive The Brats Grille 3867 Derry St, Ste A, Harrisburg, 717-558-3610 DK Dogs has changed to The Brats Grille. Creative all beef Angus hot dogs, burgers, fresh hand cut Boardwalk fries are still the focus here but Dusseldorf wine braised bratwurst ($6.49) with spicy mustard and red cabbage could become the new go-to favorite. Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Caf Uovo 2163 Market St, Camp Hill, 717-761-6856 The name Cafe Uovo or translated into English from Italian, Cafe Egg gives this small eatery away. Short concise menu focuses on clean-tasting omelets, brustini and salads. Brustini are crisp, toasted ciabatta slices topped with interesting ingredients. Light, crisp and not very filling, you may just want to order three toasts for ($10). Omelets are chockfull of interesting and creative ingredients. The Raphael ($7.75) is an especially delectable bundle combining sauteed Italian sausage, chopped bell peppers and onions with mozzarella cheese. Sumptuous ribbon of red pepper sauce leaves a pattern across the top. Don't Edit Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Burger Yum 400 N. Second St, Harrisburg, 717-727-7127 Youll smell like a French fry after waiting for made to order fat, juicy burgers and fresh cut fries at this rustic, long and narrow hot spot. The place has been crazy busy and lunch is visibly popular by the line up at the counter. Simple, straightforward menu offers just 5 burger choices, fresh cut fries, all beef hot dogs, shakes, cups and cones. Despite having full liquor license status, limited beer and wines are offered. Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Kababish Grill 3433 A Simpson Ferry Rd, Camp Hill, 717-761-3370 Kababish Grill is a no-frills establishment tucked into a strip mall. Tomatoes, garlic, fresh shards of ginger and lemon liven up chunky sauce for knuckles of bone-in chicken karhai ($8.99). Beware of the skinny but very hot green chilies strewn over top of the chicken pieces like nonchalant green beans. They burn tongues. A vertical grill is the secret to charred spicy Beef bihari kebabs ($7.99)accented with squeeze of lemon and . Spice paste consisting of ground chiles, cumin, garlic and spices evenly coat thinly carved tender pieces of meat. Vegetable biryani ($6.99), marinated vegetables tossed into slow cooked basmati rice, served with raita sauce are a must next to chargrilled beef or spicy chicken. Don't Edit Susan Gleiter | sgleiter@pennlive.com Mezza Caf 829 State St., State Street Plaza, Lemoyne, 717-972-0589 Small dishes served before entrees are called mezza." Youll find plenty of delectable full flavored mezzas in the case at this Lebanese focused eatery. Baba Ghannouj, $6 is an excellent airy mousse rendition of this pulpy eggplant dip and crunchy tender falafels are house specialties. Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Roburritos 1277 W. Market St., (West) York, 717-848-5323 Dive eatery in West York has skater/punk vibe and fat, wholesome burritos, quesadillas and filling nachos. Its first come, first served but at peak lunch hours expect 10-15 minute wait times. Simple menu uses fresh quality ingredients. Assorted hot sauces add heat and citrusy elements to breakfast and lunch meat, bean and potato bursting burritos. Check out these other locales: 227 N. Prince St, Lancaster, 717-824-4306 201 Memory Ln., East York, 717-650-6066 397 West Main St. Dallastown, 717-244-4247 Central Market, York Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Mother's Subs 2101 N. Second Street, Harrisburg, 717-857-7087 Order at the open kitchen counter opposite the austere dining room with dark wood furnishings and the original "Mother's Submarine Specialties" banner pinned up across the wall. Italian sub loaves made fresh and delivered every morning by a private local baker. These wispy-crusted, pillowy Italian-style loaves hold up well beneath layers of high quality deli meats and house made tuna salad, cheeses and garnishes. House favorite sub brought back from the Mother's of old is the super Italian -- 10" half, $7, or 20" whole, $13.50. Thinly sliced onions, shredded lettuce, tomato, onion, mayonnaise and traditional house dressing made up of oil, vinegar and oregano goes on top of numerous slices of ham, cooked salami, capicola, Genoa salami and aged sharp provolone cheese. Don't Edit Don't Edit Mimi Brodeur | Special to PennLive Sophia's on Market The Shoppes of Hampden, 3700 Market St., Camp Hill, 717-975-3800 This breakfast and lunch hot-spot does not disappoint. Sophisticated breakfasts gain attention accompanied by made from scratch muffins, flaky, oversized scones, assorted artisan bread choices and rich, flavorful cups of coffee. Even the egg sandwich, $3.75 made with bacon, ham or sausage, $4.75 gets clasped between flaky folds of fluffy croissants. Omelets, creatively topped oatmeal, French toast and Sophias choice, $6.95, 2 eggs, 2 pancakes or French toast and choice of meat are available until 11a.m. Don't Edit Looking for more restaurant suggestions from Mimi? HARRISBURG--Richard Soto isn't the only candidate with a criminal record running for the Harrisburg School Board. School Board candidate Cory Williams said he also got into legal trouble years ago with felony convictions for burglary and forgery but has been working hard to put his past behind him and continue to be a productive member of society. The Dauphin County District Attorney's office last week warned Soto to withdraw from the race because of his felony convictions or risk a perjury charge. Prosecutors say the state constitution bars all felons from serving in any "office of trust." The district attorney, however, has not approached Williams to ask him to abandon his campaign. That's because the district attorney's office wasn't familiar with Williams' background, said First District Attorney Fran Chardo. Richard Soto (at left) and Cory Williams are running for Harrisburg School Board seats. Soto has defied the order to drop out and instead pledged to stay in the race. Williams said he too planned to stand firm on his campaign for a seat. That could set up a showdown after the general election in the fall if either or both of the candidates end up winning one of four open seats on the school board. There are eight candidates vying for the four-year terms. Williams said he believes the language is vague in the Constitution and that he could legally serve on the school board. Here is the exact language of the law, which is included in a section about serving in the Legislature: "No person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public moneys, bribery, perjury or other infamous crime, shall be eligible to the General Assembly, or capable of holding any office of trust or profit in this Commonwealth. Williams admitted he made poor decisions in the past, but said he served his punishment and has taken a new path. "My main goal is to assist in any way possible to help young people so they don't follow the direction I had taken in my youth," said Williams, a carpenter by trade. "My motto for years has been self-improvement." Chardo said he would seek to remove Soto from office if Soto were to win. He said he had not yet checked Williams' record, but if Williams is ineligible, he would notify him. "If he wins the seat, we will file a quo warranto action to remove him, Chardo said. "Under the Pennsylvana Rules of Civil Procedure, generally only the Attorney General or the District Attorney can pursue a quo warranto action. Since it is our obligation and the Pennsylvania Constitution bars persons convicted of felonies and crimes of falsehood from holding public office, we would have to file the action." The situation involving the candidates has prompted a debate about whether felons who turn their lives around should be able to seek political office. Fellow school board candidate Carrie Fowler, whose candidacy is being challenged by Soto in court, said she supports second chances for felons but thinks the school board race is the wrong venue to take the stand. "I'm puzzled as to why individuals are exploiting a school system that is fraught with challenges and in desperate need of help and hope are making a selfish personal grandstand to challenge a Supreme Court decision regarding people with felony charges serving public office," she said. "Please don't misinterpret me, the issues of (criminal) records creating second class citizens is a worthy debate and an issue worthy of challenging, but not on the backs of a broken school system... Let's take the debate about felony records preventing citizens from running for elected office out of the electoral system for School Board and into the legislative system where it belongs." Williams said he has a lot to offer and should be allowed to serve the community on the school board. "I've been living behind my past for way too long," he said. "Now it's time to get ahead of it." HARRISBURG --Harrisburg school board candidate Carrie Fowler thought she had secured her spot on the Democratic primary ballot earlier this month when she won a court challenge against her petitions. But not so fast. The school board opponent who initially challenged her, Richard Soto, has filed an appeal, asking the Commonwealth Court to intervene in the case and review the ruling by Common Pleas Judge Scott Evans that kept Fowler on the ballot. No court date has been set. Attorneys from a law firm in Hatfield, Pa., which is south of Allentown, are representing Soto's effort, which typically can carry a high cost. But Soto told PennLive that he knows many attorneys through his work as a community activist and that his attorneys were working for him pro-bono. Fowler, meanwhile, defended herself at her first court appearance and has asked for volunteer legal help to defend the appeal. At issue is whether Fowler properly filled out the candidate portion of her petitions. The initial challenge against her alleged that she did not sign all of the candidate affidavits' sections on her petitions. But only one is required by law, so Fowler prevailed. "It was a baseless challenge," Fowler said previously, noting that the court hearing lasted nine minutes. But Soto said she left other parts of her form blank. Soto said he does not know Fowler and has nothing personally against her but that he was pursuing the challenge out of fairness. Soto said the county elections director refused to accept a petition by fellow Cory Williams that lacked similar candidate information. "Mr. (Jerry) Feaser rejected one of Cory's and I had to help him get more signatures," Soto said. "So I asked to see everyone's petitions and compared them to his and why his was rejected. You had to fill out everything in the back properly and hers was not like that." Fowler defended her petitions and said she thinks Soto is wasting time and taxpayer dollars by "running his campaign for school board via our court system rather than putting his efforts into making the case with Harrisburg voters that he is best suited for the job." Soto's candidacy also is being challenged for the school board, but in a much different way: by the district attorney. Prosecutors have said Soto is ineligible for any political office because of his past felony convictions. Soto said he believed the legal challenge from the DA's office is related to his petition challenge against Fowler, as the prosecutors' office contacted him the day after he filed his suit. But prosecutors said their attention to the race is only because they were familiar with Soto's criminal history. The primary election is May 16. Eight candidates are vying for four school board seats with four-year terms. Angela Kirkland photo.jpg Harrisburg City Council candidate Angela Kirkland (PennLive file) (PennLive.com) By Sam Moore I'm writing to express my disappointment over a recent PennLive story about City Council candidate Angela Kirkland ("Harrisburg candidate compares police to snakes in Facebook post.") I'm also writing to express my sadness over many of the responses by white folks. If you're reading this, you know the story so I won't outline what happened. I'll just share my two cents. The story of the Irish immigrants, Irish indentured servants and Irish prisoners working to overcome their oppression in this country is nothing short of awe-inspiring. And today, there are many police officers, of various backgrounds, who feel compelled to serve and protect all kinds of people. I am related to some of them. But there is also a history of policing as an institution in this country that is fearful, racist, ill-trained to de-escalate violence, ill-equipped to respond to mental health crises, militarized, violent and deadly. As a white woman, I hope my white neighbors in Harrisburg and around the country will figuratively remove themselves from being the victims of Angela Kirkland's Facebook post. It may be hard to not feel personally attacked, but it's not necessarily about you as an individual. Being profiled by local police, being shoved by local police, watching on screens black and brown people being harassed and killed by white officers, watching on screens those officers being absolved, receiving threats in direct messages and comments online--that is attack with a capital A. It is about you in a way, though. There is an opportunity for white people who feel targeted and upset by Kirkland to ask themselves, why? And then consider the larger reasons she may have written that post. Chinua Achebe wrote: "My position, therefore, is that we must hear all the stories. That would be the first thing. And by hearing all the stories we will find points of contact and communication, and the world story, the Great Story, will have a chance to develop." The Great Story will be one in which people work together to protect those who don't feel, and subsequently aren't, safe within society's institutions--by listening and unpacking. And not by instantly reacting, not instantly jumping to defend your own morality. Because when you do, you don't hear it all. You can't see beneath the surface. Kirkland says she wants "alternative training programs that enact peaceful community policing" and to "decrease the militarization of the department." I don't know what is so threatening about that. Even if you feel like you don't have a lot of privilege, you have power within your circles, work groups and families to practice disarming your gut judgments about black activists and to listen, as uncomfortable as it makes you. There will be points of contact and connection, I promise. (See Black Jeopardy). What a Great Story it would be--how awe-inspiring it would be to be a part of--if society really did serve and protect all. Until then, Kirkland is going to speak out. And white people are going to have to choose between reacting defensively or moving in a bit closer to hear and digest the story behind the story. Sam Moore writes from Harrisburg. FILE - In a June 20, 2014, file photo, the Rikers Island jail complex stands in New York with the Manhattan skyline in the background. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday, March 31, 2017, that he's developing a plan to shut down the massive jail within 10 years. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru is anchored in Shimonoseki, western Japan, Friday, March 31, 2017. Japanese whaling fleet has returned with 333 whales it caught in the Antarctic, filling its planned quota for a second straight year under a revised program following an international court ruling. The Fisheries Agency said Friday that JapanAos five-ship fleet killed 333 minke whales during the four-month expedition. (Souichiro Tanaka/Kyodo News via AP) Election explainer: How Michigan's university boards are determined Michigan's process for determining the members of university governing boards is unique. The state is just one of four that uses a statewide vote. By Leischen Stelter, editor of In Public Safety Police officers are expected to play a role in the fight against terrorism, but are they being given the right training and tools? While large agencies are more likely to have the resources for counterterrorism training tactics, smaller agencies are often unable to provide equivalent instruction. The FBI is helping to bridge this gap by offering a unique training program taught by officers who have had first-hand experience responding to terrorist attacks. "We realized that we needed to provide training blocks on fundamental terrorism and violent crime investigations and provide tools to enhance the capability of state and local analysts," said Special Agent Steven Shepherd, who is assigned to the Baltimore Field Office and has been with the FBI for 18 years. In 2011, Shepherd helped his agency spearhead the creation of the Mid-Atlantic INLETS (INtelligence and Law Enforcement Training Seminar), a five day seminar aimed at delivering counterterrorism training for all levels of law enforcement. The training includes an in-depth look at violent crimes and terrorism trends. The huge success of the INLETS seminars is largely due to its widespread support. In addition to the FBI offices in D.C. and Baltimore, the seminars are also supported by Maryland's state fusion center and InfraGard, an association between the FBI and private sector individuals representing businesses, critical infrastructure, academic institutions, and others. FBI Special Agent Steve Shepherd welcomes attendees to INLETS. INLETS has gained a reputation for featuring high-quality presenters, many of whom have responded directly to terrorism incidents and can offer lessons learned. "We're really humbled that these presenters are coming to share lessons," said Shepherd. "This isn't just a case study presentationthey discuss some of the missteps in detection and response in order to help other agencies prevent something like this from happening again." Previous seminars featured: INLETS has become so popular that it has expanded its reach across the country. The 2nd annual Gulf Coast INLETS seminar will be held on April 10-14 in New Orleans, Louisiana. A few presentations and presenters at this year's seminar include: The French National Police who will provide a first-hand look at the terror events that have targeted major cities in Europe. San Bernardino Police will share the response to the terror attack by Islamic radicals. Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent manhunt that followed. This year's keynote speaker will be Captain Richard Phillips, who was captured by Somali pirates after his ship was hijacked. His story has been famously depicted in the movie, Captain Phillips. In addition to its April Gulf Coast seminar, INLETS will hold its 7th annual Mid-Atlantic seminar in Annapolis, Maryland. This year's educational sessions will include presentations on the Dark Web, human trafficking, high-profile homicides, homegrown violent extremism, drone countermeasures and more that will be added as the seminar nears. In addition, this year's keynote speaker will be Mark "Oz" Geist, who will present an account of six American security operatives who responded the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The INLETS seminars aim to offer high-level training at an affordable cost. For officers who are not able to afford the cost of registration, INLETS offers an Above and Beyond scholarship. Nominations for the scholarship are currently being accepted. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print During his New Rules segment, Bill Maher called the people who make Trumps crazy possible his gang of White House enablers. Video: Maher had a great point. A president cant live as deeply in denial and delusion without a dedicated staff of enablers who keep reality out. Trump has created a culture around himself where his enablers compete to appease their boss. The President Of The United States is treating governing like The Apprentice. Sean Spicer puts on blustery lie filled performances each day where he scolds the press and disavows reality. Kellyanne Conway goes on Fox News to break government rules by hawking Ivanka Trumps fashion line. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus says things on the Sunday talk shows that easily proven to be false. However, the problem goes much deeper. It takes more than a staff to enable a delusional president. It also requires an entire political party. When Speaker of the House Paul Ryan enables Trump by helping Devin Nunes with the Russia cover-up or by refusing to condemn Trumps lies as lies, he is enabling this president for his own political gain. When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to talk about Trumps lies, or disagree with false statements, he also is enabling Trump. Trump isnt just a crazy man living in the worlds most famous white house. He is a man who got to where he is today because a political party didnt have the guts to stand up to him. Trumps staff is the immediate problem, but the bigger concern for America is that one of the two major political parties has given up on sanity and embraced the crazy. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Emperor Trump rode into the Offal Office on a slogan even he didnt believe: DRAIN THE SWAMP! But D.C. has nothing on the leeches in the Fox News swamp, with an equally empty slogan, FAIR & BALANCE. The definition of a swamp is an area of low-lying, uncultivated ground where water collects; a bog or marsh, which also defines the Fox News Channel perfectly, especially the lying part: Fox News said Trump spent the weekend working at the White House. He was at his golf club. IRONY ALERT LEVEL ORANGE: The station may have rid itself of its biggest leech [read: lech], the Swamp Thing also known as Roger Ailes, who gave the Trump campaign advice both before and after he was fired with a $40 million parachute. However, the aftermath may be worse. People could go to jail. Ironically, as Michael Flynn begs for immunity, news sites are filled with stories that Federal prosecutors (in the office of former-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, recently fired by Emperor Trump) are offering immunity to former Foxites, who may want to roll over on who authorized secret payments to keep several sexual harassment scandals quiet and off the books. Therefore, its probably merely a bizarre coincident that Fox News fired its long-time Comptroller Judy Slater, after two black women filed a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination. However, Slater didnt provide cover for Emperor Trump, like Judge Andrew Napolitano does. As Friday Fox Follies reported last week, Fox yanked him from the air after proffering a unhinged conspiracy theory, which was then repeated by professional liar Sean Spicer in his daily presser. Not only is he back, but he reaffirmed his whacked out conspiracy. Nothing to see here. SWAMP LIFE: Since 2009, long before it became a cottage industry, this reporter has been tracking the swamp dwellers. Its good to see others turning their attention to the bog. First up, a NYT, article which should be read in full: One nation, under Fox: 18 hours with a network that shapes America Many of these updates came with an underlying message: that the world can be a dark and often dangerous place, and that it is under the threat of radical Islamic terror, as was said with emphasis on Fox and Friends. (That phrase is one that Trump proudly and frequently uses.) The message of fear would resonate throughout the day, in the London coverage and later in segments on the Maryland rape case. [] Kilmeade repeatedly turned his focus to Londons Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, calling on him to discuss the difference between his faith and that of the attacker. Fox and Friends also spent time on comments that Khan made in 2016 about how terrorism preparedness was part and parcel of living in a big city. After the attack this past week, Donald Trump Jr. wrote a Twitter post about Khans comments and was roundly criticized for taking them out of context. Fox and Friends did not note that. The Guardian also has a deep dive: Fox & Friends in the henhouse: how Trumps beloved show wields power On Monday, Trump was being criticized in much of the mainstream media as he has been for weeks over alleged ties to Russia among his campaign aides. In the Fox & Friends studio, efforts were being made to tell viewers why Russia connections dont matter. Fox & Friends is the start of the pipeline where the effluent begins in the Fox to Trump, to Fox, to Trump pipeline (incidentally not made with Merkin steel either). Just this morning: Trump praises Flynn for seeking immunity in Russia witch hunt after watching Fox & Friends Flynn segment Other pipeline examples this week: Fox News hypes WikiLeaks claims about Clintons ties to Russia just as Trump asks followers to watch Trump Promotes Fox Pal Pirros Show In A Tweet Priebus Does Not Fully Deny Trump Knew In Advance About Pirros Fox Show When He Promoted It Trump And Fox Both Attempt Look Over Here Strategy To Deflect From Russia Controversy SWAMP PEOPLE: The Curvy Couch Potatoes are special. This week they seized on a new conspiracy theory to cover up the ballooning Russian scandal and disgorged segment after segment demonstrating Islamophobia. The best article in which those Foxy Friends are mentioned is Fox News: The bad news network. Can you count how many times Eric Wemple used the word idiotic? However, this is what got F&F and Loofah Lad in so much trouble this week: Fox News Anchors Laugh and Laugh After Bill OReilly Says Black Congresswoman Looks Like James Brown Those who have followed his career know the long history of clueless racism. Now there are calls for his firing DRAIN THE SWAMP!!! and protests outside Fox affiliates. However, long before that almost immediately, in fact there was a sighting of the rarest swamp critter of all: A Yellow-Tailed Apology: OReilly Apologizes For Saying Rep. Maxine Waters Hair Looks Like A James Brown Wig As Media Matters President Angelo Carusone [says]: Bill OReillys Apology Is Meaningless And He Should Be Fired, the internet laughed with righteous condemnation. Other pundits lit into him. However, Maxine Walters had no problem holding her own. Maybe thats why: Bill OReilly wants to talk about political correctness after his racist and sexist comments After Apology, Bill OReilly Continues Attacks on Maxine Waters After Making Racist Remarks Towards Her, Bill OReilly Attacks Rep. Maxine Waters Patriotism Putting this all into greater context is Microaggressions Are No Small Matter: Just hours after Bill OReilly was widely criticized for characterizing Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters hair as a James Brown wig on Tuesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer also found himself subject to condemnation after scolding American Urban Radio Networks correspondent April Ryan in a manner many have likened to how a parent might discipline a child. The fact that both exchanges involved white men criticizing black women who are veterans in their respective fields quickly became a subject of scrutiny. [] OReillys dismissal of the slight on Rep. Waters coupled with Schlapps feisty characterization of the exchange between Sean Spicer and April Ryan serve to punctuate precisely how covert racism (and sexism for that matter) operates in America. These individual incidents, taken alone, might seem harmless, but when taken together over days, weeks, months and years form the foundation of ongoing oppression. Much like a death by a thousand paper cuts, microagressions might be small in scale, but are no small matter to the women, people of color and other marginalized groups across the country who experience them on a daily basis. Not to be outdone or maybe just to provide Loofah Lad with cover Bully Boy Bolling takes it one step farther: Fox News Host Tells Black Congresswoman To Step Away From Crack Pipe The racism is strong in the Fox Swamp. JOURNALISM 101: Sean Scammity failed this week by asking a question he didnt want to know the answer to. Its hard to believe he even asked this question. But he did. He asked Ted Koppel if he was bad for Merka. Truth Teller Ted couldnt lie. He said, YES. Snowflake Sean Hannity Is Having A Meltdown Over His CBS Interview With Ted Koppel Im honest youre not: Sean Hannity demands Ted Koppel prove he puts ideology ahead of facts Listen To Sean Hannitys Unhinged Response To Ted Koppel Calling Him Bad For America Fox & Friends Attacks Ted Koppel After He Called Out Sean Hannity For Promoting Lies Round 2 of Sean Hannity versus Ted Koppel, with a cameo by Bill OReilly Its hard to know youre part of the swamp when youre living right in the middle of it. Or, as Pogo Possum, the most well-known denizen of the Okefenokee swamp, famously said, We have met the enemy and he is us. Headly Westerfield invites you to read The Post-Truth Twitterer Emperor, his latest political story in the Not Now Silly Newsroom. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) sent a letter to Trump administration officials asking when they became aware that their own staff was feeding information House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes. The questions that Cummings asked should terrify the White House. In his letter to White House Counsel Donald McGahn and National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Cummings asked: (1) Were either of you personally aware of the activities of your own staff in contacting Chairman Nunes, facilitating his entry onto the White House grounds, or providing him with access to classified information? (2) If so, when did you become aware? Did you inform Mr. Spicer of their activities, and if so, when did you do so? (3) If you were not aware, then how did this breach of the chain of command occur? (4) If these activities occurred without your knowledge, will any disciplinary measures be taken against these staff for this apparent breach? (5) Was anyone else at the White House involved in these activities, and if so, who? Low-level staffers dont go nosing through intelligence data on their initiative. They were directed by someone in the White House to find information that would prove their boss was right about Obama wiretapping him during the campaign. Rep. Cummings wants to know who was behind the operation to feed Nunes the information. These are the vital questions that get to the heart of the White Houses behavior. Democrats arent going to let Trump and his allies sabotage the investigation. They are going to keep digging, and if one wants to understand why Donald Trump walked out of the room when he was asked by reporters about Mike Flynn think about those five questions above and ask yourself what is it that this White House does not want me to know? Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print A new poll reveals that Donald Trumps presidency is reaching a code red level of political danger as even Republicans are abandoning their partys president. According to the McClatchy-Marist Poll: There has been a shift in Republicans views about Trumps job performance. While more than three in four Republicans, 78%, have a positive opinion of how the president is performing in his post, the proportion has declined from 85% last month. Comparatively, 84% of Democrats and 52% of independents disapprove of how Trump is doing his job as president. . There has been a profound shift in public opinion about whether or not President Trump is fulfilling campaign promises. 57% of Americans either strongly agree, 18%, or agree, 39%, that Trump is making good on the promises he made on the campaign trail. This is down from 71% in February. Regardless of party, fewer voters think he is keeping his word. Of note, 83% of Trumps Republican base, down from 96% previously, believe Trump is fulfilling campaign promises. Some Republicans are beginning to realize that they were conned. Since Trump is a president who has zero bipartisan reach, if he loses a substantial number of Republicans, he will lose his only base of support. In polling, the Republican base varies between 35%-37%. If Trumps approval rating falls below 35%, it will be a clear indication that he is losing the Republican base. As a candidate, Trump promised the moon and stars to his party. He has lost on health care and had two executive orders overturned by the courts. Trump has delivered nothing and is running a government that is the opposite of what he promised his voters. This is the second poll this week that shows Republicans leaving Trump. Support for Trump among some Republicans was conditional. It was based on Trump delivering on his promises. There is not a vast well of personal loyalty to Trump. A president who cant deliver on his promises is a president who wont be in office for very long. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) Senate Democrats stepped closer to having enough votes to block a confirmation vote on President Donald Trumps Supreme Court nominee with three more Democratic senators coming out against Neil Gorsuch for the lifetime job as a justice. Democrats are attempting use a procedural hurdle called a filibuster that requires 60 votes to allow a confirmation vote in the 100-seat U.S. Senate. Senate Republicans are hoping to vote on April 7 to confirm the conservative appeals court judge nominated by the Republican president in January. Democratic Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Brian Schatz of Hawaii came out against Gorsuch on Friday and backed a filibuster. Republicans control the Senate 52-48. But if Democrats can muster 41 votes, they would be able to sustain the filibuster. As of Friday afternoon, 36 Democrats had indicated their support for such a move. Two Democrats have said they support Gorsuch. Another two have voiced opposition to Gorsuch but have not made clear whether they would support a filibuster to block a confirmation vote. Seven Democrats and one independent, Angus King of Maine, who usually votes with them, have not yet announced their position. If Democrats amass enough support to block a confirmation vote, it would force Republican Senate leaders to try to change the chambers long-standing rules and allow confirmation by a simple majority, a move backed by Trump that is sometimes called the nuclear option. If confirmed by the Senate to fill a vacancy created by the February 2016 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, Gorsuch would reinstate the nine-seat high courts conservative majority at a time when Republicans control Congress and the White House. McCaskill said in a statement she could not support Gorsuch because a study of his legal opinions revealed a rigid ideology that always puts the little guy under the boot of corporations. McCaskill is up for re-election next year in a state Trump won in the 2016 presidential election. Blumenthal, a member of the Judiciary Committee that held a four-day confirmation hearing last week and will vote on sending the nomination to the Senate floor on Monday, said in a statement Gorsuch has not been forthcoming with senators about his views on key issues, leaving his core beliefs little known. Instead he has evaded real answers at every turn, Blumenthal said. We must assume that Judge Gorsuch has passed the Trump litmus test a pro-life, pro-gun, conservative judge. Blumenthal said Gorsuchs refusal to distance himself from right-wing groups raised questions about whether he may be an acolyte of hard-right special interests. Schatz said Gorsuchs record as a judge was troubling and he had not shown he would challenge executive overreach. His refusal to answer questions on long-decided cases or condemn attacks on the judiciary during the hearing demonstrates that he is outside of the legal mainstream, Schatz said. Their statements came one day after Gorsuch won his first Democratic support, giving Republicans who control the chamber two of the eight Democratic votes they need to break a filibuster. Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Democrats who face re-election in states that voted for Trump last year, said they would vote for Gorsuch. Trump made the appointment of conservative jurists to the Supreme Court a key promise during the 2016 presidential election. Republicans have defended Gorsuch as well qualified to be a Supreme Court justice and praised his performance during the confirmation hearings. If the filibuster is beaten, the confirmation vote itself would require a simple majority. Some Democrats have accused Republicans of stealing a Supreme Court seat last year when the Senate refused to consider Democratic former President Barack Obamas nominee to replace Scalia, appellate judge Merrick Garland. (Reporting by Susan Heavey and Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print DUBAI (Reuters) Iran rejected an allegation by U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis that it was the primary exporter of terrorism and said on Saturday that the main source was U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. Some countries led by America are determined to ignore the main source of Takfiri-Wahhabi terrorism and extremism, foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi was quoted by Irans state news agency IRNA as saying. He was referring to hardline Sunni Muslim groups and Saudi Arabias official Wahhabi school of Islam. Saudi Arabia denies backing terrorism and has cracked down on jihadists at home, jailing thousands, stopping hundreds from traveling to fight abroad and cutting militant finances. Shiite Muslim power Iran and Saudi Arabia, bastion of Sunni Islam and a close U.S. ally, are longstanding religious and political arch rivals and often accused each other of backing terrorism. Relations are fraught as they back each others foes in regional wars such as in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Giving a wrong address when referring to the roots and the financial and intellectual resources of terrorism is a main reason for a lack of success by international anti-terror efforts, Ghasemi added. Ghasemi was reacting to remarks by Mattis on Friday when he was asked about comments he made in 2012 that the three main threats the United States faced were Iran, Iran, Iran. At the time when I spoke about Iran I was a commander of U.S. Central Command and that (Iran) was the primary exporter of terrorism, frankly, it was the primary state sponsor of terrorism and it continues that kind of behavior today, Mattis told reporters. (Reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by Alexander Smith) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) seems unaware that nowhere in the United States Constitution will you find mention of 2 Thessalonians 3-10 or any other biblical passage. That, as it turns out, is the least of his problems. His biggest problem is that he did not read his own Bible before he opened his mouth. Arrington cited those verses if a man will not work, he shall not eat as justification for cutting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing, The Next Farm Bill: The Future of SNAP. He cited them in response to a Jewish witnesses recitation of a passage from Leviticus, the Jewish law Republicans claim to uphold with all their talk of the Ten Commandments. Watch courtesy of The Washington Post: The witness from MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, Josh Protas, when it was his turn to speak, cited Leviticus 23:22 in defense of those in need of SNAP assistance: Leave the corners of our fields and the gleanings of our harvest and vinyards for the poor and the stranger. Or, as Republicans call the poor and the stranger, freeloaders. Something of which Rep. Arrington was quick to remind Mr. Protas: I did hear Mr. Protas, your opening remarks, where you quoted Leviticus, I believe and I think thats a great reflection on the character of God and the compassion of Gods heart and how we ought to reflect that compassion in our lives. But theres also, you know, in the Scripture, tells us in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3:10 he says, uh, for even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: if a man will not work, he shall not eat. And then he goes on to say we hear that some among you are idle I think its a reasonable expectation that we have work requirements. Protas was having none of this, telling Arrington, No one is suggesting that people who dont want to work should get benefits. There are stereotypes about SNAP recipients and myths about the program that are very harmful to people in need who could take advantage of it. We are talking here about, as The Washington Post reminds us, the mentally ill, the borderline disabled and another group Republicans pretend to champion, veterans. People who literally cannot work. The author of 2 Thessalonians, on the other hand, was talking about people who chose not to: he was talking about Christians of the First Century who, thinking Jesus return imminent (2:1-2), had simply stopped working on the grounds that a job no longer mattered. Its right there in the letter, literally right in front of Arringtons eyes if he would but read it. The problem for that early Christian community in question is that those who were still working had to feed those who had stopped in expectation of the end. Through a conscious decision and not an inability to work, they had become a burden on the community of believers. Context is everything, and Rep. Arrington should abandon his cliff-notes version and actually read the book he claims to champion. The biblical passages are as problematic as the Words of the High One in the Heathen Poetic Edda as a matter of public policy but it seems particularly egregious that he chose a New Testament passage to pit against the Old Testament passage from Leviticus. Though scholars agree 2 Thessalonians is only questionably the work of Paul of Tarsus (there are clear signs of fiddling by a later hand), even if it were certainly written by Paul, that would not privilege it. According to the First Amendment, the New Testament does not trump the Old, or, for that matter, the Poetic Edda. Worse yet is the complete hypocrisy of Rep. Arrington. Leviticus is one of the Five Books of Moses, or as they are more commonly known to Christians, the Pentateuch, or Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Leviticus is a book of law. It is remarkable that a Republican of all people, a party that promotes the Ten Commandments, should reject a passage from Leviticus, which, just to drive the point home, has as its final passage (NRSV): These are the commandments that the LORD gave to Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. Add to that, Jesus said (Matthew 5:17-20): Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Rather than rejecting Leviticus, Arrington should have defended it to his last breath, but his Bible is not a Bible of belief but a Bible of talking points, in contradiction of the very words of Jesus, a weapon with which to beat the poor over the head. For Jesus, these people were not freeloaders. They were blessed. Charleston, SC (29403) Today Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 74F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low 52F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. PITTSBURGH Gisele Fetterman, who started the Braddock Free Store and co-founded the excess food collection service 412 Food Rescue, goes to great lengths to instill values of egalitarianism in her three young children. In 2013, before state-level bans against same-sex marriage were overturned, her husband, Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, performed the first gay marriage in Allegheny County in their home, although the union would not be legally recognized. Gisele Fetterman originally from Rio de Janeiro told her oldest child, Karl, now 8, that the ceremony would be between two men. He simply responded, "So what?" Now, amid fallout from the Trump administration's revised travel ban, daughter Grace, 5, doesn't understand why none of her dolls resemble her friend Salma's mother, Safaa Bokhari, a 30-year-old Muslim from Saudi Arabia who wears a hijab, or a traditional head covering. She lives in Oakland. "I love that Grace doesn't understand why someone would have an issue (with veiled dolls)," Gisele Fetterman said. But while Gisele Fetterman easily found doll-sized glasses for Grace's Barbies on Amazon after her daughter got her first pair, she could not find a hijab. It was difficult for her to explain to her young daughter why a portion of the population was not represented in her doll collection, which includes an African-American doll and a doll in a wheelchair. As of 2015, Pew Research Center estimated 3.3 million Muslims live in the United States. ADVERTISEMENT Hello Hijab Out of this frustration, Gisele Fetterman enlisted help from Cindy McCune, a stay-at-home mother of two and artist based in Rankin. McCune, who operates Etsy shop TheBigOh, fashioned Grace's first Barbie hijab among about 100 others she has made. Gisele Fetterman's idea since has grown into Hello Hijab, a locally based initiative that will sell doll-sized hijabs for $6 each. The hijabs will be available online at her site, ForGoodPgh.com, beginning today. The small squares of fabric each are handmade in varying colors and patterns, mirroring the real-life headscarves that typically measure 36 inches on each side. Gisele Fetterman said Muslim seamstresses will create the next round of mini hijabs at what she called a living wage of $15 per hour. "If children grow up playing with the dolls and understanding that we're all different but similar, too, they will be much more accepting adults," Gisele Fetterman said. For her, Hello Hijab is securely grounded in education. Each scarf will be packaged with a tag, featuring the Hello Hijab logo and a few lines of text describing the nature of the hijab and why they're important. The message will be written with positivity and inclusivity in mind, Gisele Fetterman said. The number of scarves produced depends on demand, Gisele Fetterman said, but she already has gauged interested from customers in other states, such as New York and New Jersey. Role models ADVERTISEMENT Last year, Nigerian medical scientist Haneefah Adam, then 24, created the wildly popular Hijarbie Instagram account, which now has amassed 781,000 followers, worldwide. Previously, she had not seen dolls in the head garb, she told CNN, so she was inspired to create role models who dressed modestly. On the site, Adam posted photos of Barbie dolls clad in mini hijabs she had made herself. Some of the posts feature side-by-side comparisons of the dolls with real-life style influences. Mattel, the manufacturer of Barbie, did not respond to telephone or email requests earlier this week for comment on past or future plans to create Muslim dolls or accessories. Gisele Fetterman said any small difference the Hello Hijab makes is worthwhile. "If every playroom has at least one doll with a hijab and that affects five more children who affect 10 more, then I think our work will be considered a success," she said. After paying seamstresses, Gisele Fetterman said 100 percent of Hello Hijab's proceeds will benefit the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, the ACLU, Community Blueprint and the refugee relief department of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. "I joke, but it's true if my kids saw a person walking down the street with purple skin and three eyes, to them it would be just like another person walking down the street," Gisele Fetterman said. "I think this will be a much kinder generation." Alaska cruises account for half of the state's tourism revenues, and with cruise lines adding to their inventories this season, the state is looking forward to a record-breaking year of visitors. Additionally, Alaska is looking for a near perfect-storm convergence of key anniversaries as described by Travel Age West publication to spark additional interest in travel to the state. Cruise Lines International Association the marketing arm for the cruise industry reports that major lines are scheduling more itineraries than usual in Alaska and using more and larger ships. As a result, CLIA is forecasting a record-breaking cruise season with 1.06 million passengers, up from the previous record of 1.03 million cruise passengers in 2008. The state's landmark celebrations that are sparking interest, reports Travel Age West, range from noting the century mark for Denali National Park & Preserve to the 150-year commemoration of Alaska's purchase from Russia. ADVERTISEMENT Alaska cruise numbers have been rising steadily in recent years, reports the publication, with 999,600 passengers noted in 2015 and more than a million last year. Holland America Line is making the major ship deployment to Alaska in 2017. The line is scheduling seven ships in that area that will offer a total of 135 Alaska departures, more than any other cruise line. The line will operate 126 seven-day cruises. The ships have a larger capacity than HAL's usual deployment, according to reports. A cruise line spokesman said, "Alaska continues to see bigger ships and that trend is expected to continue. Demand for Alaska cruises remains strong, demonstrated through advanced bookings." This year, Holland America is noting its 70th year of cruising the Alaska coast. Several other major cruise lines, among them Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, are offering Alaska itineraries. The major cruise season there runs from mid-May to mid-September. We've cruised there a half-dozen times or so and favor cruises from mid-July to mid-August when the weather is warmer but always be prepared for showers. China's always building China is continuing to add to its infrastructure as it bids to become a major player in the tourism industry. The latest announcement from Beijing focuses on building 136 new airports by 2025. These airports would create a complex of international and regional transport hubs throughout most of the country. The country has 207 airports now and hopes to have 260 by 2020. ADVERTISEMENT 'Bucket trip' Travel Scene will be among the missing for the next month or so as we make our long-awaited ''bucket trip." It's a long one a cruise starting in Bangkok, a tour there, a stopover in India to visit the Taj Mahal and ending with four days in Dubai. Whew! A Rochester man faces criminal charges after authorities say he punched a young boy in the face. Gary Paul Johnston, 47, has been charged with one count each of gross misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child and misdemeanor domestic assault. His first appearance in Olmsted County District Court is set for May 18. The investigation began Jan. 31, when Olmsted County Social Services contacted law enforcement; the victim, who is younger than 10, reported Johnston had punched him in the face, giving him a black eye, the complaint says. The boy said it happened Jan. 28 as he sat in the back seat of a car on Elton Ridge Court. Johnston opened the car door and allegedly punched the boy four or five times before closing the car door and leaving. A woman who witnessed the assault said she saw Johnston punch the victim in the eye once and slap him multiple times, court documents say. The officer noted the boy had a black eye. ADVERTISEMENT Johnston met with an investigator and reportedly admitted he punched the boy once and slapped him multiple times in the head and body. Johnston said he "lost control" of his temper, the document continues, and "felt extremely upset about his conduct." At noon on Friday, April 6, 1917, somber worshipers filed into Calvary Episcopal Church in downtown Rochester for a three-hour Good Friday service. Many of them had probably already seen that day's edition of the Rochester Post and Record newspaper, where the top headline read "United States Has Declared War Against Germany." Finally, after months of uncertainty, it was here. The U.S., three years after the Great War began, had entered on the side of the Allies, including Great Britain and France, and soon American boys would be marching off to battle. "It is a serious matter," stated the Post and Record in the next day's editorial. "We must do our part. To furnish money and munitions will not be sufficient. We must furnish men. This is no phantasy." But for many young men, this war was, if not a "phantasy," then certainly an adventure. They rushed to enlist and do their part. Young F. Scott Fitzgerald desperately wanted to go overseas with the Army and later said it was one of his biggest regrets that he missed out on the fighting. ADVERTISEMENT By the time the war ended, in November 1918, though, Americans would be cruelly robbed of their delusions about war. "It brought an end to our age of innocence, where this was a romantic undertaking," said Iric Nathanson, author of a new book, "World War I Minnesota." Still, in the heady days after war was declared, there was a rush of patriotism that engulfed Rochester and the entire state. The Rochester Post and Record set the tone by helpfully publishing an article headlined "Here's how to fly the flag." On Easter Sunday, it was reported that local churches were more crowded than usual. The weather was ideal for displaying new gowns, and city residents enjoyed a stroll in their Easter finery. The next day, war came back to the forefront of everyone's thoughts and actions. The front page of the Post and Record was full of war news, and six Stewartville men arrived at the local recruiting office to enlist in the machine gun company of the National Guard. The newly organized branch of the Red Cross was given use of an upstairs meeting room in the Rochester Public Library, and the Rochester Rifle Club held discussions about making members familiar with military drill. Rochester's population in 1917 was about 12,000. Mayo Clinic's 1914 building was still practically new. The Zumbro Hotel, located next to the Mayo building, had opened in 1912. There was, as yet, no Plummer Building, no Kahler Hotel. Similar to nearly every God-fearing patriotic burg in the land, Rochester quickly moved to support the war effort. Within weeks, Rochester men left for military training, and local doctors and nurses were attached to Base Hospital 26, which eventually would be moved to France. Drs. Charlie and Will Mayo became surgical consultants with the War Department. ADVERTISEMENT Then, almost in a flash, it was over 19 months later. But, said Nathanson, "During that period, there was so much focus on the war, it was clearly the overwhelming preoccupation of daily life in Minnesota." We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. For nearly three years, the Great War was "over there" and most Americans intended to keep it that way. After what became World War I broke out in August 1914, the United States was content to stay on the sidelines. President Woodrow Wilson was re-elected in 1916 with the slogan "He kept us out of war." However, on April 6, 1917, it became apparent Wilson could keep our boys out of the war no longer and his request for a declaration of war against Germany was approved by Congress. Support for war was not unanimous three Minnesota congressmen were among those voting against the declaration especially in a state with a large immigrant population. "The usual story is that with the state's large German population, there was a lot of ambivalence about going to war with Germany," said Brian Horrigan, of the Minnesota History Center, where a new exhibit on the war opens next week. "A lot of people had relatives over there." Many of the immigrants had just come from Germany themselves, and many still spoke German in their homes and shops and on the farms of rural Minnesota. ADVERTISEMENT For years, the state had swung back and forth between advocating for peace or preparedness. "Preparedness became a flash point," Horrigan said. "It meant you were a militarist and you're going to push us into war." Once war was declared, a wave of patriotism swept away those doubts, said Iric Nathanson, author of a new book, "World War I Minnesota." "There clearly had been ambivalence, but that was washed away in the loyalty crusade," Nathanson said. Or rather, it was buried. The state's Public Safety Commission made sure of that. "There was very little room for dissent," Nathanson said. "One of the lead editorials I saw in the Rochester paper talked about how we had to support democracy, and Germany did not have a democracy and did not believe in freedom of the press. But very soon, we didn't have freedom of the press either. It was a very repressive period." The suppression of dissent gave rise to the American Civil Liberties Union, but in general, as Nathanson said, there were few respectable voices speaking out for the right to disagree. Against this background, America built and trained an army and sent it overseas to join the quagmire that was trench warfare on the western front. Conditions and combat where ghastly and casualty rates were high, especially for America's allies. ADVERTISEMENT For example, 56,638 Canadian troops were killed in combat (out of a national population of only 7.2 million). By comparison the U.S. lost 54,402 in combat (0.13 percent of the population of 92 million). The United Kingdom suffered 774,000 combat deaths (about two percent of its population) and France lost 1.15 million men to combat, 4 percent of its population. Of course, our allies had been at war much longer. "We didn't lose so many men because it ended so quickly," Nathanson said. That brings up another point about the war: Have Americans largely forgotten it? Has what followed in the ensuing decades the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression and World War II overshadowed World War I? Evidence might be found in the relative lack of great American literature or film about the war. Whereas Britain produced such literary classics as "Parade's End," "Goodbye to All That," "Testament of Youth" and the war poems of Siegfried Sassoon, and Germany produced "All Quiet on the Western Front," practically the only famous American book about the war is Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms." "It's a much richer canon in England," Horrigan said. But World War I did leave one lasting mark on both the United States and the world. When the war ended, nothing was really settled. The resulting disputes would simmer for several years before boiling over to cause another conflict. "One of the legacies of World War I," Horrigan said, "is World War II." In the last couple of months, a new political group has emerged in the Rochester area as part of a nationwide resistance movement. Borrowing tactics once used by the Tea Party, Indivisible Rochester seeks to effect the same political earthquake as its conservative predecessor, but in a progressive direction. Its handiwork can be seen locally in various ways: at town hall meetings where activists coordinate their questions in advance; on Facebook where daily action lists are posted to instruct activists which legislators and members of Congress to deluge with calls; in rallies held outside DFL lawmakers' Rochester offices at the Northgate Mall urging resistance to President Donald Trump's agenda and policies. Many of these Indivisible Rochester activists describe themselves as casual or even indifferent observers of politics until the last several months. They indulged in the usual political rituals. They voted. They followed the news. But few imagined or saw themselves as activists until they were jolted out of their political passivity -- several said by the election of President Trump, whose policies and behavior they saw as an assault on their values. At one Indivisible Rochester meeting, 80 percent of hands flew up when an Indivisible leader asked how many people had never been politically active before, one member said. There are more than 400 people listed on Indivisible Rochester Facebook. ADVERTISEMENT They view the current moment as a historical turning point. They see the totality of Trump's and GOP lawmakers' agenda the Muslim travel ban, the crackdown on undocumented workers, the proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood, the cutting of Meals on Wheels and a health care proposal that would have led to millions losing their health insurance as a fundamental challenge to the way they see the country. A step-by-step manual Laura Zumbrunnen, a Rochester entrepreneur who runs a biomedical startup company, said she was never an overtly political person until she joined Indivisible. Today, she attends forums and rushes to legislative hearings in St. Paul. She confesses to being scared at the prospect of being labeled an activist, "yet, I'm willing to do that," she said. Indivisible appealed to her because she saw it more as offering a plan of action than an ideological platform. "For me, it was important that it wasn't an extreme group because I'm someone who hasn't been active, and I'm leery of that kind of thing," Zumbrunnen said. "The fact that this was so practical and not particularly ideological appealed to me a lot." Agitated and fearful, uncertain what to do next, several said they gravitated to Indivisible because it offered a guide, a step-by-step manual crafted by former congressional staffers who had observed the Tea Party and distilled its lessons. These staffers gleaned two strategic lessons from the the Tea Party's rise and success in thwarting former President Barack Obama's agenda. One was that small, locally based groups could be powerful agents for change. And two, their efforts were almost entirely defensive. They avoided any attempts at policy development that might fracture their ranks. And instead they focused on resistance. Practical knowledge, combined with Facebook's ability to connect, has allowed Indivisible to grow, as well as coordinate and mobilize. ADVERTISEMENT 'I gave up my life' That action plan is what drew people such as Suzanne Peterson, a Rochester attorney, to Indivisible. "Some of us were itching to do something," Peterson said. "We didn't want to just post, not just Facebook and commiserate. We wanted to be active." It's difficult to say how many Indivisible chapters there are, but Rochester activists believe they are part of a growing nationwide groundswell. They describe Indivisible as loosely organized, a work still in its infancy. Its lack of structure allows people to gravitate to the issues and concerns that interest them. For some, the cause has become all-consuming. "I gave up my life, really," said Deb Duffy-Smet, a Rochester mother and grandmother. "It's like a full-time job. The thing is for me: I have five kids spread across the U.S. I have four grandkids and growing. And I'm scared to death what kind of world that we're leaving for my children." Indivisible members believe the group's efforts have begun to pay off. They cite the failure of House Republicans to pass legislation last week that would have repealed and replaced Obamacare as one sign of the movement's impact. The conservative Freedom Caucus has been assigned much of the blame for torpedoing the bill, but moderate Republicans opposed the bill, too. And that moderate opposition, they argue, was stiffened and reinforced by Indivisible members and other activist groups, who flooded Washington switchboards. ADVERTISEMENT At the state level, an Indivisible Rochester group has focused on tracking bills at the state Legislature. For most of these Indivisible members new to the legislative process, following the progress of a bill is like peering into tea leaves. "I have to say: Anyone who wants to track these bills, they could not make it any more difficult," one Indivisible Rochester member said at a recent meeting. Of particular concern to the group have been redistricting bills authored by GOP Rep. Sarah Anderson and Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer. Indivisible members say the bills would lead to gerrymandered districts and an unfair playing field because they would disallow an independent commission or the state Supreme Court from drawing congressional and state legislative districts. On Feb. 24, after a 24-hour Facebook notice went out, Indivisible activists and other opponents of the bill packed a hearing room in St. Paul to oppose the bills. Recently, it was discovered that a Senate omnibus bill had been changed. It no longer containing language that confined redistricting to the state Legislature only. "This is indeed a HUGE victory!" DFL Rep. Jennifer Schultz, of Duluth, wrote in an email. Shultz is authoring a bill that would delegate redistricting to a nonpartisan independent commission. "I think the activists did play a role, with so many testifiers, emails and phone calls." But she noted the redistricting language still could be introduced in conference committee, "so we are a long way from over." Asked if she was aware of Indivisible at the Legislature, Sen. Carla Nelson, a Rochester Republican, said she has held five town hall meetings since the legislative session started, all of them well-attended. "As in the past, I receive a high volume of emails daily," she wrote in an email. "I read them all and try to respond to as many constituents as possible. While there have been more town halls than usual, the volume of email is usual hundreds per day." Activists point out that Indivisible is not the only resistance movement in Southeast Minnesota. Other groups include Minnesota Southeast Progressives and Stand Up, Minnesota. Given the welter of such groups, concerns have been raised by some that the groups overlap to the point of redundancy. The groups have been talking among themselves about ways in which to better differentiate themselves. Sarah Hocker, a member of Indivisible Rochester and chair of Rochester United Now, another grassroots group, sees value in the diversity of activist groups. "I've heard that concern from a lot of different people. 'Why are there so many groups?" Hocker said. "I tend to strongly disagree. I think people need to work where they are and where they feel most comfortable. These different groups have formed for a reason, and it also makes it more grassroots." ST. PAUL The Minnesota House passed its environmental finance bill that Republicans say will help "slow down the government spending spree." The $1.2 billion legislation passed 80-53 Thursday night with Republicans championing the bill that they said will make environmental agencies more responsive to the public, remove unnecessary regulatory burdens and halt overspending in a number of areas. Republican Rep. Dan Fabian of Roseau said state agencies, like the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, have continued to be unresponsive to legislative inquiries. "MPCA is unwilling to meet with myself and the people who are interested in streamlining the permitting process," he said. "It's a pretty sad commentary on the way the pollution control agency works when they refuse to meet to work on these things." Under the bill, the MPCA would create a budget within each division of the group, Fabian said, a measure that would increase transparency. ADVERTISEMENT MPCA spokesman Dave Verhasselt disputed Fabian's claims. He said the agency tried to meet with Fabian in late February with its concerns about the legislation, but Fabian declined to talk with them over a disagreement of what was to be discussed. Restrictions on lead ammunition, county control over environmental projects and the Environmental Quality Board were all subject to debate on the floor. Democratic Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, of Roseville, said there were numerous pieces of legislation that weren't heard in the environmental committee before they were included in the larger legislation. Democrats fought hard against the bill. They said it was too concentrated on policy attempting to dismantle environmental protections. Rep. Rick Hansen, the South St. Paul Democrat, pointed to the fact that about one-third of the bill was focused on finance. Hansen introduced an amendment to strip the bill of all policy provisions, but his and other Democrats efforts to derail the bill ultimately failed. That divide played out most of the night, with Democrats introducing amendments that were shot down mostly along party lines. The bill brings the Legislature one step closer to negotiations with Gov. Mark Dayton. The debate over the slimming of the state agencies will likely be contentious as the governor has made environmental protection on of his flagship issues during his tenure. Saying they cannot afford to wait for a congressional rewrite of the nation's health laws, House and Senate negotiators this week announced a deal on a bill that aims to rein in soaring health insurance costs in Minnesota. The proposal would prop up the individual insurance market by creating a reinsurance program to help insurers cover expensive medical claims. Insurers have experienced hundreds of millions of dollars in losses in the individual market, prompting the largest, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, to drop out this year. Republican Sen. Gary Dahms of Redwood Falls warned more insurers might do the same if the state doesn't provide the reinsurance safety net. "So now we have a marketplace that's collapsed and we need to do something to bring that marketplace back," said Dahms. "And this one of the ways we can do that." ADVERTISEMENT The bill has a price tag of $271 million in each of the next two years. Some funding would come from the state's general treasury and some from a special health account fed by medical-related taxes. More could come from a pending legal case with insurers, if that is resolved in the state's favor. Plus, there's a chance federal grants might take some of the load off state taxpayers. But Gov. Mark Dayton expects the state to shoulder most of the tab. "It would be great if the federal government would face up this need for reinsurance and use its much deeper pockets to provide for all of the states," said Dayton. "But I don't see that happening at this point." Dayton says the state has no choice but to do what it can to prevent further erosion of the individual insurance market. The reinsurance bill applies only to a small slice of the overall insurance market, specifically policies sold to people who don't get coverage from an employer or a government program. The individual insurance market serves about 5 percent of Minnesota's insured population, and they're the ones who have experienced especially sharp increases in costs the past couple of years. Already this year, state lawmakers approved more than $300 million in one-year discounts for individual policy-holders who don't qualify for other subsidies available through the federal Affordable Care Act. Here's how the reinsurance idea would work starting next year: The backup insurance wouldn't be available until an individual's claims exceed $50,000. Beyond that threshold, the state program would pay 50 percent or more of the costs. Once claims exceed $250,000 the primary insurer would be back on its own. ADVERTISEMENT The thinking is that if the state provides a financial buffer for insurers they won't have to jack up premiums as high. Customers themselves won't have to do anything. It's a largely back-office program. Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman says he expects the program will help ease premiums for consumers. "In terms of the annual premium relief target, again it's an approximation based on the estimates, of about 20 percent," he said. There's actually a requirement in the bill to make insurance companies report how much they would have charged in premiums absent the reinsurance plan. The information will be included in annual rate filings with state regulators. Republican Sen. Jim Abeler of Anoka questioned whether the requirement will amount to relief that consumers can bank on. "There's no guarantee of anybody doing anything in this bill," said Abeler. "They're just guaranteed to get the money and do the best they can." DFL Sen. Tony Lourey of Kerrick said the bill doesn't appear to give commerce officials the authority to challenge insurer projections over how much consumers will save on premiums. ADVERTISEMENT The reinsurance system will be managed by a 13-member board of directors. That will be made up of mostly of health industry representatives, but there must be two plan enrollees on the board. The bill could come to a vote as soon as Wednesday in the House. Passage there would send it to the Senate and eventually on to Dayton. The Associated Press wants us to think that momentum is growing behind an anti-Gorsuch confirmation movement. It headlines: Dem opposition to Trump court pick grows; Schumer warns GOP. Senate Democratic opposition to President Donald Trumps Supreme Court nominee swelled Friday as Democrats neared the numbers needed for a filibuster, setting up a showdown with Republicans who have the votes to confirm Neil Gorsuch. Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Brian Schatz of Hawaii became the latest Democratic senators to announce their opposition to Gorsuch, a 49-year-old federal appeals court judge in Denver whose conservative rulings make him an intellectual heir to the justice he would replace, the late Antonin Scalia. The fact that Democratic Senators are falling in behind their partys line is hardly news. Howard Dean bluntly explained why the Democrats will filibuster Neil Gorsuch: I expect two or three or four Democrats to vote for Judge Gorsuch. That is what their constituency wants. I can tell you right now if Judge Gorsuch, if hes confirmed by Democrats that is unless we force McConnell to exercise the nuclear option if hes confirmed straight up with 60 votes, 10 of which are Democratic, the Democratic Senatorial committee might as well hang it up cause theyll never raise any money from our base. Thanks, Howard, for making clear why the Democrats are engaging in this exercise in futility. Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer warns the GOP: Changing Senate rules would not be unprecedented. In 2013, Democrats were in the majority and upset about appellate court nominees getting blocked. They pushed through a rules change lowering the vote threshold on all nominees except for the Supreme Court from 60 to a simple majority. Schumer warned against the rules change in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, arguing that Republicans would be the ones to blame if it does occur. Senate Republicans are acting like if Gorsuch doesnt get 60 votes they have no choice but to change the rules, Schumer said. That is bunk. No, actually, it is reality. Neil Gorsuch is a non-controversial nominee. As Senator Charles Grassley said, If youd filibuster Judge Gorsuch, its obvious youd filibuster anybody. So the Republicans have no choice but to proceed with the Harry Reid option and confirm Gorsuch, and any future Trump nominees, on a majority vote. But at least Democratic senators will be able to tell their constituents that they are Resisting. If this Fox News report is correct, Rep. Devin Nunes is way ahead of the Democrats, and has known since January the identity of the Obama holdovers who illegally leaked the names of Trump associates to the press: The U.S. intelligence official who unmasked, or exposed, the names of multiple private citizens affiliated with the Trump team is someone very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world, a source told Fox News on Friday. Intelligence and House sources with direct knowledge of the disclosure of classified names told Fox News that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., now knows who is responsible and that person is not in the FBI. *** Nunes has known about the unmasking controversy since January, when two sources in the intelligence community approached him. The sources told Nunes who was responsible and at least one of the Trump team names that was unmasked. They also gave him serial numbers of reports that documented the activity. This was long before Trump sent out his now-infamous March 4 tweets claiming then-President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election. Nunes had asked intelligence agencies to see the reports in question, but was stonewalled. He eventually was able to view them, but there was only one safe place to see the documents without compromising the sources identities the old executive office building on White House grounds, which has a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) required to view classified or top secret reports. *** The White House, meanwhile, is urging Nunes and his colleagues to keep pursuing what improper surveillance and leaks may have occurred before Trump took office. Theyve been emboldened in the wake of March 2 comments from former Obama administration official Evelyn Farkas, who on MSNBC suggested her former colleagues tried to gather material on Trump team contacts with Russia. *** In addition, citizens affiliated with Trumps team who were unmasked were not associated with any intelligence about Russia or other foreign intelligence, sources confirmed. The initial unmasking led to other surveillance, which led to other private citizens being wrongly unmasked, sources said. In his weekly NRO column Andy McCarthy demonstrates with great precision how the Democrat/Media Complex persists in A dangerous fraud regarding the Russian effect on the 2016 election. In his March 28 NRO column Victor Davis Hanson captured The Russian farce that belies the story line that is shoved down our throats with the force of a jackhammer. Referring to President Obamas famous hot-mic moment with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, kindly asked by President Obama to convey an important message to his friend Vladimir, Hanson recalls: Barack Obama naturally wanted to continue a fourth year of his reset and outreach to Vladimir Putin, the same way that he was reaching out to other former American enemies such as the Iranians and the Cubans. Yet Obama was uneasy that his opponent, Mitt Romney, might attack him during his reelection campaign as an appeaser of Putin. Thus, to preempt any such attack, Obama might be forced to appear less flexible (offer less space) toward Putin than he otherwise would be in a non-election year. In other words, he couldnt publicly assure Putin that he would be flexible about implementing missile defense in Eastern Europe (all these issues) until after he was reelected. An apprehensive Obama, in his hot-mic moment, was signaling that after his anticipated victory, he would revert to his earlier reset with Putin. And most significantly, Obama wished Putin to appreciate in advance the motives for Obamas campaign-year behavior. Or he at least hoped that Putin would not embarrass him by making international moves that would reflect poorly on Obamas reset policy. Furthermore, Obama did not want his implicit quid pro quo proposal to become part of the public record. Had it been public, it might have been interpreted as a message to Putin that he should empathize with Obamas plight and that he should interfere with the American election by behaving in a way that would empower Obamas candidacy rather than detract from it. In the present hysterical climate, substitute the name Trump for Obama, and we would be hearing Democratic demands for impeachment on grounds that Trump was caught secretly whispering to the Russians about compromising vital national-security issues in a quid pro quo meant to affect the outcome of the 2012 election. The White House said on Friday that the United States must accept the political reality that the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is up to the Syrian people. It said that the U.S. focus in the region must be on defeating Islamic State militants. With respect to Assad, there is a political reality that we have to accept in terms of where we are right now, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a news briefing. We lost a lot of opportunity in the last administration with respect to Assad, we need to focus now on defeating ISIS, he said, using an acronym for the group. The U.S. has profound priorities in Syria and Iraq and we have made it clear that counterterrorism, particularly the defeat of ISIS, is foremost among those priorities. (Reuters/NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook Eleven years after Nigeria banned the use of oral artemisinin-based monotherapies (oAMTs) for malaria treatment, chloroquine, a notable oAMT, is still readily available at patent medicine stores across the country and is being used for treatment of malaria. A PREMIUM TIMES investigation shows Nigerians have continued to use chloroquine against malaria, and some have done so unaware of the ban and the attendant danger. Chloroquine was banned as a first line treatment drug for malaria in Nigeria in 2005. The decision, based on the recommendation of the World Health Organisation, was taken by the Federal Ministry of Health due to high treatment failures resulting from drug resistance. NAFDAC said it has continued to grant licenses for the production of the drug because of its use for the treatment of other ailments. But since most drugs are dispensed over the counter in Nigeria without prescription notes, many Nigerians, unaware of the limitations of the drug, have continued to use chloroquine for malaria treatment. In 2014, the Nigeria National Malaria Elimination Programme reported that malaria accounted for approximately 60 percent of outpatient visits and 30 percent of hospital admissions. Due to recurring drug resistance, monitoring of the efficacy of antimalarial drugs is a critical component of global efforts to eliminate malaria. In 2002, the WHO recommended the ban of chloroquine for treatment of malaria when the Therapeutic Efficacy Testing conducted across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria showed that the drug had an efficacy of 35% as against the standard 95% efficacy. This led to the removal of chloroquine as a first line treatment for malaria in the National Antimalarial Treatment Policy 2005. Awareness of chloroquine ban in Nigeria According to WHO recommendation, the withdrawal of manufacturing licenses of oral artemisinin-based monotherapies should be conducted six months after the deployment of Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs). Though this target had been met in Nigeria as reported in the 2010 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey, in which only ACTs are sold in the public hospitals and prescribed by health care providers, the drugs remain available elsewhere without regulation of its use. Although a WHO document updated in 2015 lists Nigeria as one of the countries that have taken regulatory measures to withdraw the marketing authorisation of oral artemisinin-based monotherapies (Chloroquine inclusive), chloroquine tablets are still widely sold in Nigeria, with many manufactured as recently as 2016, and bearing authentic NAFDAC registration numbers. In 2014, NAFDAC said chloroquine was being gradually phased out. However, it is taking longer than anticipated. An examination of medicine stores in Abuja, revealed that chloroquine under brand names such as Albequine and Quimal could be readily purchased for as low as N200. An official at Dana Pharmaceuticals, one of the producers of the drug, told PREMIUM TIMES the company was producing chloroquine for non-malarial treatment. Chloroquine is not banned but no longer recognised for malaria treatment because it is believed not to be effective, the official who refused to be named said. We produce Chloroquine for other ailments but we know some people still buy our Chloroquine for malaria treatment. While the drug remains in the market for other illnesses, many Nigerians buy them for malaria treatment many, unaware of the ban. Celine Egbuchulem, a patent medicine vendor, says she not only sells chloroquine for malaria treatment, but uses same for her treatment. Chloroquine is very effective against malaria. I use Chloroquine and it doesnt itch me. Some of my customers prefer buying drugs that end with quine for malaria treatment, she said. One of my customers, a 45 years old man always come once in 2-3 months to buy Chloroquine for malaria treatment. Esther Peters, another vendor at Gwarimpa, Abuja, told PREMIUM TIMES that she was unaware the drug had been banned for the treatment of Malaria. She said she routinely buys the drug from a supplier at Jabi in Abuja, and emphasised the authenticity of the drug by showing the reporter the NAFDAC registration number. I only sell the Chloroquine tablets to people who ask for them to treat malaria because some people complain of side reactions to the drug. Six tablets are sold for N50, Mrs. Peters said. In Delta State, a pack of Chloroquine (10 tablets) goes for N200. Poor monitoring and regulation At the 30th World Health Assembly in 2007, after Nigeria and other WHO member states agreed to stop the sale and use of oral artemisinin-based monotherapies (including Chloroquine) against malaria, a monitoring system was launched by WHO to track compliance at the country level and pharmaceutical companies. The pharmaceutical companies manufacturing the banned drugs were identified from the drugs advertised online. However, a limitation to this system is that most of the domestic pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria operate offline. In fact, only six companies were involved in the list: Bond Chemical Ind Ltd, Jubilee & Associate Ind Ltd, Justeen Pharm Ltd, NPL, Neros Pharm Ltd, Geneith Pharmaceutical Ltd, and Vixa Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. In Nigeria, 43 percent of the listed companies declined to disclose their intention to comply with WHOs resolution. A search of the NAFDACs website revealed that a total of 374 Chloroquine products had been registered by the agency. Although NAFDAC acknowledged that chloroquine was being registered, manufactured and sold in Nigeria, Abubakar Jimoh, Director, Special Duties/ Public Relations and Protocol Unit of the agency, said the drugs were for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and intestinal infections. NAFDAC is constrained in putting a blanket ban on chloroquine in Nigeria because of other indicators. We are constrained in banning chloroquine outrightly because it is used for other purposes like treatment of arthritis and also intestinal infections and disease. So, if we want to ban it, then what of the other ailments it is meant for? What we decided to do was to do a kind of selective banning and tell all stakeholders or manufacturers that they should not produce chloroquine for the treatment of malaria. We are still registering chloroquine but for other indications, not for malaria and that is why we are promoting the use of combined therapy, artemisinin combined therapy for treatment of malaria. He said NAFDAC had launched a campaign to dissuade the public from using the drug for malaria treatment. We have embarked on massive public health campaigns, nobody goes around now to start buying Chloroquine for treatment of malaria, Mr. Jimoh insisted. PREMIUM TIMES asked the WHO Nigeria office if it was monitoring pharmaceutical companies involved in the manufacturing of Chloroquine and other oral artemisinin-based monotherapies in Nigeria. A WHO spokesperson, Rex Mpazanje, said In Nigeria, NAFDAC is such a regulatory body. NAFDAC is responsible for monitoring local manufacturing of Chloroquine and local marketing/importation of oral artemisinin monotherapies in Nigeria. He said NAFDAC, does report to WHO annually on status on the status of the pharmaceutical market. However this report does not normally go into details of specific drugs. In addition to NAFDAC reports, the national malaria elimination programme (NMEP) does also report to WHO on malaria control and these reports do include specifics on therapeutic efficacy testing assessments/studies conducted, he said. The National Malaria Elimination Programme said while chloroquine is also used for other ailments aside malaria, the agency is involved in awareness creation amongst Nigerian citizens of the use of ACTs in malaria treatment and training of health workers. The availability of chloroquine is due to market dynamism, law of demand and supply driven by clients that use it for malaria treatment, Godwin Ntadom, Head of Case Management of the agency, told PREMIUM TIMES. He said the success story is that chloroquine is no longer openly advertised and also the government doesnt stock chloroquine in her health facilities. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Federal Ministry of Health in response to the current cerebrospinal meningitis outbreak across some states in the country has issued a public advisory note on how to curtail the spread of the disease and advised Nigerians to remain calm as the ministry is working to put an end to the epidemic. The ministry also said 328 deaths have been recorded so far. A press statement signed by Boade Akinola, Director Media and Public Relations released on Friday, said the current outbreak of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis, CSM, has spread across the country, mostly affecting states in the part of Nigeria which fall within the African Meningitis Belt. The situation report from the ministry as at Friday, March 31, show that 90 local government areas in 16 states of the federation have so far been affected including Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Nasarawa, Jigawa, FCT, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe, Osun, Cross Rivers, Lagos and Plateau. The epidemic is not unique to Nigeria, the ministry said, with other neighbouring West African countries like Niger, Chad, Cameroun, Togo and Burkina Faso are facing similar outbreak. CURRENT SITUATION According to statistics from the federal health ministry, 2524 people have been affected across the states, 131 samples confirmed in the laboratory with majority as meningitides type C, and 328 deaths recorded so far. The outbreak started in Zamfara State in November, 2016. The ministry has, however, advised Nigerians to remain calm as the disease is preventable and curable if presented early. We advise Nigerians to continue abiding by health advice which will be issued periodically as feed back of the situation will be given to the public, it stated. Some of the health advice given for prevention are avoidance of overcrowding, sleep in well ventilated places, avoidance of close and prolonged contact with cases, proper disposal of respiratory and throat secretions, strict observance of hand hygiene, reduce hand shaking, kissing, sharing utensils or medical intervention such as mouth resuscitation. Self medication should also be avoided and relevant stereotype vaccination for meningococcal should be taken. It is also important for individuals to acquaint themselves with basic knowledge of CSM in order to prevent transmission. Mrs. Akinola said people should seek early treatment as all secondary and tertiary public health facilities have been directed to provide free treatment to all CSM patients. Although the cumulative number of people and locations affected may continue to increase, the actual rate of increase has begun to decline in some states indicating that the end to the epidemic is in sight, she added. Share this: Twitter Facebook PREMIUM TIMES Festus Owete and Idris Ibrahim travelled to Sapele, Delta State, to speak with the mother of Canadian-based Nigerian woman, Stephanie Otobo, who accused the pastor of the Omega Fire Ministry, Auchi, Johnson Suleman, popularly called Apostle Suleman, of having amorous relationship with her. For two days, attempts by our reporters to trace the mother, Bukky, to her home were unsuccessful. When finally located, it would take hours to convince her to speak with this newspaper. Bukky explained why she apologised to Mr. Suleman, the formative years of her daughter, the allegation her daughter had marital introduction with Mr. Suleman, and other issues. Excerpts: PT: You travelled to Auchi to attend a church service where you also apologised to Apostle Johnson Suleman. What prompted you to do that? Bukky: I did that because of my daughter, (and) because I am a mother. The way I am seeing her is not the way I brought her up. And all those her character is not giving me happiness which I want to put an end to. That is why I went to Auchi. PT: Did anybody threaten to arrest or kill you before you went there? Bukky: No, nobody threatened me. It is because I am a mother. When I saw what was going on, the day you people came to the market I said I wanted to go and meet the man of God to apologise so that we can put an end to the matter. Because I know my daughter. I did not bring her up this way and the way she is behaving is not normal. So, I said I want to go and beg the man of God to forgive her so that this matter can die off. Because I cannot continue with this (and) the way I am seeing it, I dont want anything of such to happen again. Nobody threatened to kill me or prompted me to do so. I went there on my own to apologise to man of God. PT: I am asking because shortly after that church service, your daughter said on Instagram that you were threatened to go to Auchi. Bukky: No, I was not threatened. I am a mother. I cannot continue to see her in that manner. She has been saying all sort of things. We are not happy and that is why I went to apologise. I went there alone; nobody threatened me. PT: That implies that your daughter lied? Bukky: Yes, because what she is saying is not true. PT: How old is your daughter? Bukky: I dont want to answer that. PT: Dont you think your daughter is old enough to take responsibility for her actions? Bukky: What I am still saying is that they should pardon her and the matter should just go down like that. They should forgive this matter because theyve been manipulating her because this is not her real self. She was not behaving like this before. It seems all those lawyers are manipulating her, using her to say all this rubbish and bringing all this things out. So I begged that this matter should die down now because this is not my real daughter. I believe somebody must have been manipulating her. All those lawyers (and) all those her friends are using her. This is not the way I brought her up because I brought many children up. They are not behaving like this. Somebody is brainwashing her, polluting her mind and that is what is making her to do all this things that she is doing now. PT: You are accusing a lawyer for doing that? Bukky: Yes, all those lawyers are using her to get their own names. They should leave my daughter alone. They should leave my daughter out of this matter. I am still talking about all those lawyers, they should leave my daughter alone. PT: Can you mention names? Bukky: I dont know them but I believe that all those lawyers supporting her are using her. I am begging the government that they should leave my daughter alone. They should release my daughter from what they are doing to her. PT: Do you know the lawyer they call Festus Keyamo or any lawyer from his chamber? Bukky: I dont know him and any lawyer from his chamber though they call me but I dont know them. PT: When the lawyers called you, what were they telling you? Bukky: They asked me whether they came to arrest me or they forced me to say all those things when they came to my market. They also asked whether I was tortured. They came and said they want to ask me about my daughter, (but) I told them that I want to go and beg the man of God myself to die down the matter. That is what every mother will do. I dont want to see my daughter destroyed. That is why I am saying that all those lawyers should leave my daughter and bring her out of this matter. PT: You said you were going to beg the man of God, what were you afraid of? Bukky: Well, we begged the man of God that he should forgive my daughter. You know when you call somebody a man of God, he can go to any length. So I dont want the man of God to go to any length, to do any evil prayer because when we heard of it that time, this pastors association (South-South chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria) praying all their sorts of things. I cannot sit down here watching my daughter like that. That is why I said I want to go to the source to beg that man. Nobody tortured me. I went alone. I entered vehicle from Sapele to Auchi. PT: So, was it the first time you went to Auchi? Bukky: No, I have been to Auchi before. PT: She (Stephanie) said Apostle Suleman held marriage discussions in the pastors office. Is it true? Bukky: No, it is not true, nothing like marriage, I did not go there for marriage. No woman goes to collect dowry. That one na abomination. PT: Did she ever tell you that she was pregnant? Bukky: No, she never told me. PT: Did she ever tell you that she was stooling blood for a year? Bukky: No. PT: So, when you heard about all these things, what was your first reaction as a mother? Bukky: I really want to see that they bring my daughter back to me. I wanted her to come back to me that moment. I did not see her and that was why I said I was looking forward to seeing the man of God so that I can beg the man of God to forgive her (and) to cancel all this matter. PT: Have you made any attempt to reach her so that you discuss with her? Bukky: No. PT: When she was growing up, what kind of child was she? Bukky: She is not wayward, that is why what is happening is surprising me. Somebody is behind this matter because she was not like that before. She is a good child. She loved me and I love her. So, along the way, I dont know what happened; that is why I said they are manipulating her, using something against her and I want every Nigerian to help me to pray, pray for her that God should deliver her. PT: Do you know what she does in Canada where she lives? Bukky: She was going to school before (and) she is a musician. PT: Does she send you money? Bukky: Before she dey send me money sometimes. PT: What do you do for a living? Bukky: I am a business woman. PT: How many children do you have? Bukky: Dem plenty, even the one I born, the one I no born, through herself I brought many of her friends up. PT: Now if this matter goes to court, are you ready to go to court to testify? Bukky: I dont want to go to court, that is why I said they should cancel the matter. PT: Do you have any advice for mothers? Bukky: Well they should bring up their child in the way of God. PT: Do you know anybody who is against your child and who is polluting her against the man of God? Bukky: I dont know anybody. Na the lawyer wey make her dey talk all this bad word. The lawyer should leave my daughter alone. Watch Interview here: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXIvQ9fhI4w&w=560&h=315] Share this: Twitter Facebook Then Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, has assured Nigerians that the Federal Ministry of Health would check the scourge of meningitis ravaging some states. The ministry confirmed that so far, 328 have died of suspected meningitis. Worst hit states at Zamfara and Katsina. In a press statement signed by Boade Akinola, director, media and public relations, Federal Ministry of Health, the minister said extensive efforts had been deployed to curtail the further spread of the epidemic. Mr. Adewole said the ministry had was working with all affected states on sensitization, laboratory investigation and analysis, proper documentation and disease surveillance techniques through the National Centre for Disease Control and National Primary Health Care Development Authority. The ministry is also in constant discussion with World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, E-health Africa and other international health agencies for supplies of vaccines and injections, the ministry said. Through our initiatives, we have secured 500,000 doses of the meningococcal vaccines from WHO which will be used in Zamfara and Katsina states with an additional 800,000 units from the British government, the statement said. By next Tuesday, there will be a meeting with the International Review Group of The World Health Organization (WHO) where request for additional vaccines shall be approved, as part of practical and medically certified efforts to stem this ugly incidence. The statement said Nigeria had been assured of millions of vaccine doses. Unfortunately, Nigeria had always been bedeviled with the stereotype A in years past, but this new strain of the bacterial disease, Meningitis Stereotype C, which the vaccine is not commercially available in required quantities, can only be shipped to the country by WHO only if laboratory investigation confirms the existence of the strain type C, it said. The Minister said efforts were ongoing widen nationwide immunisation. We are equally advocating for prompt diagnosis and have issued directive to all Federal medical facilities and PHCs to treat all cases of meningitis free of charge. All Nigerians especially residents of Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Niger, Zamfara and Jigawa states are advised to seek early attention when discomforted with symptoms of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) and avoid clogging together in unventilated and over-crowded rooms, he added. Share this: Twitter Facebook A high ranking member of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Bulama Kailani Mohammed Metele, has surrendered to 145 Task Force Battalion, 5 Brigade troops at Damasak. Sani Usman, a brigadier general and army spokesman, made this known in a statement on Saturday in Maiduguri. Mr. Usman said that Metele, from Tumbun Bera in Borno, belonged to Mamman Nurs faction of the terrorists group under the leadership of Abu Mustapha. He said Metele was of serial number 253 on the Nigerian Armys wanted Boko Haram terrorists poster produced recently. He is currently undergoing further interrogation, he said. Meanwhile, Mr. Usman said that two suspected Boko Haram terrorists carrying out surveillance on Kareto and Dangalti villages were arrested by troops of 158 Task Force Battalion of 5 Brigade based on information. According to him, preliminary investigation shows that they are on reconnaissance mission to facilitate possible attack on the communities. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook The group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, has thrown some light on the modular refineries the Federal Government is planning for the Niger Delta. Mr. Maikanti, at the 53rd International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) in Abuja, said the government would organise the youth now engaged in illegal refining of crude into consortia. Each consortium will refine 1000 barrels of crude daily. Mr. Baru also defended the Federal Governments plan to transform illegal refineries in the Niger Delta into legal entities for proper integration of the youth in the region. He argued that getting the youth to form consortia to set up 1000 barrels per day modular refineries would get them off criminality and create jobs. He said the reform programme being executed by the NNPC is geared towards transforming it from an oil and gas company into an integrated energy outfit with interest in power generation and transmission. In a paper entitled, Challenges and Prospects for the Diversification of the Upstream, Downstream and Frontier Basin Exploration in the Oil and Gas Sector, Mr. Baru said NNPC had identified opportunities in the power sector and was ready to take advantage of them to transform from being a gas supplier to the power sector, into a major player, in the sector. He said the Corporation was already working on a project to generate four Megawatts (4000MW) of electricity while also exploring the possibility of investing in the transmission segment of the power sector. The GMD explained that the Corporations decision to diversify into the power sector was hinged on the need to bridge the huge energy gap in the Nigerian market. He said contrary to the impression that the poor power situation was caused by inadequate gas supply, the real problem was inadequate transmission capacity, adding that there was enough gas to generate eight gigawatts (8GW) of electricity but the transmission grid could not support such volume of power without complications. In the upstream, he said his goal was to accelerate frontier exploration and grow crude oil reserve to 40 billion barrels from the current 37 billion. He also challenged the geoscientists on the need to deploy more sophisticated technology and drill deeper than the current 13,000 to 15,000 feet in the Niger Delta to produce more oil. We have to look deeper with intensive 3D and 4D seismic surveys over the so-called matured Niger Delta. The older, the better, he declared. Share this: Twitter Facebook The police on Saturday charged 13 students of the University of Lagos before a Special Offences Mobile Court in Oshodi, Lagos, for unlawful invasion of TVC television. The accused are: Femi Adeyeye, Toni Aina, Kodri Yaya, Asimi Oladime, Ismahim Olalekan, Segun Okesola, Abdulazeez Soneye, Idris Abogunloko, and Muyiwa Olaniyi. Others are; Toheed Oladimeji, Joseph Akanni, Lukumon Olusegun, and Abiodun Agbeniyi. They are standing trial before Chief Magistrate P.E Nwaka, on two counts of unlawful invasion and disruption of activities. They were arraigned at about 10.20 a.m. on Saturday. The students pleaded not guilty to the charges. Mr. Adeyeye is currently serving a four-semester rustication, handed down by the university last year, over a Facebook post criticising the schools management. PREMIUM TIMES learnt the students were protesting the rustication for two semesters of a visually-impaired student, Lawrence Success, for criticising the institutions management. They were arrested on Friday and charged to a mobile court on Saturday. The magistrate ordered their remand at Kirikiri Prison pending their bail application and adjourned the case to April 6, for determination of their bail. The police prosecuting counsel, Effiong Asuquo, the Officer in Charge, Legal, of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, had told the court that the accused committed the offence on March 31. He said the accused had engaged in a riotous invasion of TVC television station in Lagos, protesting the alleged rustication of one of their students. According to him, the students also invaded the main campus of the University of Lagos, Akoka, and had disrupted normal activities in the institution. The prosecutor said the institutions semester examination is scheduled to begin on April 3 (Monday) adding that the invasion by the students, was simply a ploy to stall the commencement of exams. He said that the offence contravened the provisions of section 168 (1) (d), and section 2 of the Criminal Law, Laws of Lagos State, 2015. Share this: Twitter Facebook Nineteen years ago my wife, our 14-year-old daughter Cate and I set out from the little principality of Andorra in the Pyrenees mountains and headed west on the long-distance Spanish hiking route called GR 11. With optimism born of ignorance, I had bought a dozen detailed trail maps enough to get us 200 miles closer to the Atlantic. At the end of our allotted 19 days, we had used six of the maps and covered 86 miles kind of like Lewis and Clark getting as far as Nebraska. I wrote about that bare-bones excursion in The Washington Posts Travel section. A lot happens in 19 years. Not, obviously, to the Pyrenees; they endure. But how about us humans? Creakier, to say the least. Hey, how old are you, anyway? a younger man asked as he breezed by us this past summer on our way up to Collata Anisclo, an 8,000-plus-foot pass in the heart of the High Pyrenees along the northern tip of Spains Aragon region. Daughter Cate is long gone from the nest, but this past August my wife, Margaret, and I set off on the GR 11 from the same Spanish village where we ended the trip 19 years ago. In addition to finally using those surplus maps, the two of us were going to find out to what extent we had endured. A well-traveled reporter gives her tips on trekking on the cheap Since I was young, I dreamed of a day when I would travel the world. In truth, there was another, more powerful force pulling us back. The Pyrenees, that massive chain of soaring peaks separating Spain and France, offer the walker a constantly changing mix of visual pleasures. Nineteenth-century explorer Henry Russell was downright lyrical on the subject: It is to the Pyrenees that the smiles of the artist and the heart of the poet will always turn. Im neither artist nor poet, just an old newspaper hack, but in those intervening 19 years I often daydreamed about taking up where we had left off. Almost daily, the High Pyrenees trekker makes his or her way through a valley village of small stone houses, up green pastures punctuated by patches of blue wolfsbane and streaks of cascading streams, and then up more steeply across the gray scree to a notch in a wall usually of limestone or granite but always with a top-of-the-world view. The distant peaks may be a glistening white if the sun is shining or dark, even forbidding if it is not. The whining of the wind, the whistle of a marmot and an occasional bleat from sheep somewhere in the distance are the only sounds. It is a magnificent experience, but a challenging one. Not as tall as the better known and more heavily visited Alps to the north, the Pyrenees nevertheless are plenty steep and rugged, especially for someone with crying knees. Mine were absolutely bawling as we inched up the almost impossible Anisclo incline almost impossible for us but not for Franco, the speedy Italian who inquired about our age as he zipped by. Maybe it was our less-than-rapid pace indeed, the use here of pace is debatable that informed his question; no doubt Margarets white hair and the scarcity of mine contributed. The answer, which we gladly shared with our new and fast-disappearing acquaintance, was that I was at the tail end of my 73rd year and Margaret was early in her 72nd. The Pyrenees stretch a little over 250 miles from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. But the GR 11 covers twice that distance as it twists and turns to find gaps and avoid summits. Its part of Europes GR network of long-distance footpaths, GR for Grande Randonnee in French, Gran Recorrido in Spanish, meaning great excursion or tour. Except for one brief skip across the French border and a short section in semi-independent Andorra, the GR 11 is entirely in Spain, running from near the resort city of San Sebastian on the Atlantic to the Mediterranean shore of Catalonia at Cap de Creus, mainland Spains easternmost point. The High Pyrenees, where we were, cover the trails 235-mile middle section. Peaks there top 9,000 feet, and hikers cross a 7,000-plus-foot pass almost daily. Not to confuse things, there is also a GR along the Pyrenees French side GR 10. Its a bit longer than the Spanish version but not as rough, according to Brian Johnson, author of guidebooks on both for the British publisher Cicerone. Johnson makes two other comparisons of interest to anyone weighing the options: GR 11 is generally sunnier and drier, and spends more time above the tree line. Neither requires technical climbing know-how or equipment just some stamina and, every now and then, free hands. On particularly steep ups and downs, I needed all four extremities and would have welcomed a fifth. Hiking poles were definitely a must. We started last summers trip and ended our previous one in Benasque, an attractive tourist village not far from Aneto and Posets, the Pyrenees two highest peaks. The bus ride there was itself an adventure. The first leg from Barcelona to Barbastro was uneventful. But the second into the mountains was on a narrow, sharply curving road, and as we were going up, one large, heavily loaded truck after another was coming down. That our driver and his co-pilot managed to get past each without a scratch seemed a small miracle, and that they did it in continuing good humor a large one. It definitely took both of them, one inside slowly turning the wheel, the other outside negotiating with the oncoming trucker and measuring inches between vehicles. We picked up the GR 11 just north of Benasque, and had an easy walk up to the Refugio dEstos, one of the routes numerous backcountry hostels offering meals and overnight accommodations. Like the refuges scattered through the Alps, these are informal, lively establishments but on the spartan side, which is to say you can expect to be packed away for the night on a wooden platform in a tightly spaced dormitory a little too cozy for us claustrophobics. One fellow sufferer, a Dutch backpacker, showed me his coping strategy: Bose headphones that numbed him through the night with musical meditations. We carried a tent and used it five of our 10 nights out, our other accommodations ranging from a small hotel to a fancy parador. But when a storm threatens, as it did that first afternoon, a refuge no matter how sardine-like is a welcome sight. Given that we arrived at the facility in prime vacation season without reservations, we were lucky to get in for the night. Thankfully, the storm turned out to be merely raindrops, and the next morning the sun was out in force as we headed up to our first pass, the Puerto de Chistau at 8,438 feet. As throughout the GR system, the GR 11 is blazed with red and white stripes painted on rocks and trees. Where there are no such surfaces only loose dirt and stones, as on the approach to Chistau there are cairns to show the way. We had serious trouble divining the trail at only one spot: a high pasture where a herd of summering cows had obliterated the waymarks. Conquering Chistau boosted our confidence, which was promptly shaken by the descent. As with a number of passes, the terrain was rockier and steeper on the downside. But I dont want to overemphasize the physical difficulties. We spent much of the trip tramping contentedly along forested valley paths and shaded farm tracks. Cruising down the gently sloping pasture above the deep Ordesa Canyon in the soft, late afternoon sunlight was bliss itself. The next day, we would descend to the canyon floor and into the throng of tourists attracted by this spectacular chasm. But up there on top of the canyon walls, it was just the two of us and sheep, literally hundreds of them. Our end-of-trip stats wont knock you over: In 10 days we covered 77 miles. But, as they say, whos counting? We had learned 19 years earlier about expectations and this time had none, at least not for distance. The only requirement was to end up somewhere with enough time to get back to Barcelona for our flight home. That turned out to be a resort complex five miles north of Panticosa, a mountain village with bus connections south to the major city of Huesca. Rather than mileage, our main goal was internal: to find out if we had endured sufficiently to complete a Pyrenees trek, whatever the length. Simply put, could we do it? The answer, we concluded the final night at a celebratory dinner in our hotel above Panticosa, was a resounding yes. To experience the High Pyrenees and emerge exhausted but whole that is the very definition of success. Authorities arrested 16 people and seized 21 guns and more than 10,000 bags of heroin and fentanyl Thursday in connection with a gun- and drug-trafficking organization operating in Pleasantville and Egg Harbor City, the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office said Saturday. Local, state and federal authorities executed five search warrants in the Egg Harbor City area beginning at 4 a.m. Thursday, the Prosecutors Office said in a news release. The bust netted handguns, shotguns, rifles, automatic weapons, ammunition, high-capacity magazines, about 10 ounces of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid, the Prosecutors Office said. The Prosecutors Office said the arrests disrupted a gun-running operation originating in the southern part of the country and ending in Atlantic County. The arrests and warrants were the result of a two-month investigation by the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office Gangs, Guns and Narcotics Unit, the FBI, the New Jersey State Police, the Galloway Township and Pleasantville police departments, and other agencies, the Prosecutors Office said. Kenneth J. Burrell, 39, of Egg Harbor City, was the organizations leader and was charged with being the leader of a narcotics trafficking network, a first-degree crime, the Prosecutors Office said. Burrell faces a list of other charges, including second-degree illegal transport of firearms, seven counts of second-degree possession of a handgun during the commission of certain crimes, and second-degree conspiracy to distribute controlled dangerous substances, the Prosecutors Office said. Tyson Nieves, 25, of Egg Harbor City, was charged with seven weapons offenses, including second-degree possession of handguns for unlawful purposes, second-degree possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, and second-degree illegal transport of firearms, the Prosecutors Office said. Scott Dorn, 18, of Egg Harbor City, was charged with second-degree illegal transport of firearms, second-degree possession of a handgun during the commission of certain crimes and four other weapons offenses, the Prosecutors Office said. Leonard Allen, 26, of Egg Harbor City, was charged with second-degree possession of a firearm during the commission of certain crimes, second-degree possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and four other weapons offenses, the Prosecutors Office said. Samuel Davis Jr., 22, of Mullica Township, was charged with second-degree possession of a shotgun, second-degree possession with intent/distribution of heroin, and three other gun-and-drug-related counts, the Prosecutors Office said. Brian Foster, 19, of Egg Harbor City, was charged with second-degree possession of a handgun while distributing a controlled dangerous substance, second-degree possession with intent/distribution of heroin and three other charges, the Prosecutors Office said. Joshua Sims, 18, of Augusta, Georgia, was charged with six counts related to weapons, including second-degree illegal transport of firearms, second-degree possession of weapons for unlawful purposes-community gun and second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun, the Prosecutors Office said. Umar Salahuddin, 25, of Egg Harbor City, was charged with first-degree distribution of cocaine, second-degree possession of weapons for unlawful purposes and seven other drug-and-gun-related offenses, the Prosecutors Office said. Catoby Collier and Dawayne Fleming, both 40 and from Egg Harbor City, each faces two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun, multiple counts of third-degree distribution of controlled dangerous substances within 1,000 feet of school property and four other drug-and-gun related offenses, the Prosecutors Office said. Isaiah Cooper, 27, of Pleasantville, was charged with second-degree possession of an assault firearm, second-degree possession of a firearm during the commission of certain crimes and five other weapons offenses. Others arrested Thursday and charged with drug offenses include Timothy David, 19, and Sara A. Davis, 24, both of Mullica Township; Hiram Matos-Aviles, 20, and Rodney Cline, 34, both of Egg Harbor City; and Tariek L. Mack, 27, of Galloway Township, the Prosecutors Office said. First-degree crimes in New Jersey carry a potential penalty of 10 to 20 years in state prison. People convicted of second-degree crimes face a possible prison sentence of five to 10 years in prison, and third-degree crimes carry a potential penalty of three to five years in prison. ATLANTIC CITY Throngs of revelers weaved in-and-out of craft beer tents Saturday amid the thundering sounds of rock music and the smell of alcoholic brews. The two-day Atlantic City Beer and Music Fest sold about 27,000 tickets and attracted 154 breweries to the Atlantic City Convention Center, according to the events producer, Jon Henderson. The events last session ends 10 p.m. Saturday. Amid big names like Guinness and Yuengling are smaller brewers trying to gain wider recognition in New Jersey, like Coronado Brewing Company, which is based in San Diego County, California. We make probably about 12 different beers in San Diego year-round, said Cory Bradford, the companys sales manager for the eastern United States. Coronado has been producing beer for nearly 21 years but only expanded to New Jersey two years ago, Bradford said. He said the Atlantic City event is the second-biggest beer festival in the country, only behind the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. Bradford has been to that event, and its more for the beer geeks, he said. People come here just to party, Bradford said Saturday, during the festivals second session. The event features three sessions one on Friday, and two on Saturday. In-between filling their mini-mugs with beer and chomping on pretzel necklaces, attendees have the opportunity to ride a blow-up slide, play an oversize game of cornhole or even get a haircut. Rock bands, including Flogging Molly on Friday night and the Front Bottoms and Streetlight Manifesto on Saturday, are providing the soundtrack for the festival, which debuted 11 years ago. Its evolved an insane amount, and were proud just because its local to us, said Courtney Rosenberg, who handles social media and marketing for Cape May Brewing Company. Cape May Brewing Company, which is based in Lower Township, began pouring beer at the event in 2012, she said. Henderson said the 154 breweries at the festival is up from 142 last year and 137 in 2015. And 46 of the companies participating this year brew their beer in New Jersey, he said. In New Jersey, its really taking a lot of strides, he added. People are looking for that next beer to drink. Its so much fun being with all the New Jersey breweries all in one area, said Jennifer Simmons, who co-owns Millville-based Glasstown Brewing Company with her husband. The festival is an opportunity for local brewers like Glasstown, which was founded in 2013, to expand their reach to thousands of potential customers. Its the biggest (festival) on the East Coast, so were really excited to be here, Simmons said. PLEASE BE ADVISED: Soon we will no longer integrate with Facebook for story comments. The commenting option is not going away, however, readers will need to register for a FREE site account to continue sharing their thoughts and feedback on stories. If you already have an account (i.e. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account. ATLANTIC CITY The past 10 years have not been kind to the resort. Local economist Oliver Cooke has a name for it: The lost decade. Property values fell by a third, the casino industry shed more than 21,000 jobs and the poverty rate increased dramatically. By any metric, the last several years have been grim for the greater Atlantic City area, said Cooke, associate professor of economics at Stockton University. The great recession didnt help, but the fall of the (casino) economy played a huge role. But the next decade may mark an improvement, according to the South Jersey Economic Review, a biannual report released last week in conjunction with the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton. Cooke warns it could be a slow process because of how far the city has fallen over the past decade. But the announcements of a tax settlement between the city and Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and a $300 million Hard Rock Hotel and Casino at the former Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort have increased confidence the citys economy may be starting to turn around. The fact remains that Atlantic Citys redevelopment will take many years, Cooke said. Among the biggest questions is which of the recent redevelopment projects and proposals are likely to most help the city in the long run, he said. There are other questions, too, in a city whose primary industry was hammered when casinos opened in Pennsylvania, New York and elsewhere in the past decade. These siphoned gamblers from Atlantic City properties and contributed to the closings of five casinos since 2014. The decrease in local competition generally benefited the surviving Atlantic City properties. But Jim Kennedy, former executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, said adding Hard Rock to the casino market could put the city back in the same situation it was in at the start of the decade. It will make for a much more spectacular trip, but you are still in the end going to hit the iceberg, Kennedy said. The continuing expansion of casinos in the surrounding states guarantees a sinking Atlantic City casino industry. The really good idea for Atlantic City would be to create economic diversification. That has been the goal of the city and Atlantic County for years, particularly in the past few years. The reasons are in the economic data. During the past decade, payroll employment in the city dropped by more than 25,300 jobs, or 16.5 percent, according to The South Jersey Economic Review. The gross domestic product of the metropolitan area that includes Atlantic City fell by 21 percent from 2006 to 2015, the report states. That is the largest decline recorded among the nations 382 metropolitan areas, according to the report. While the casino industry continued to retract, reliance on government safety-net programs increased, according to the report. In 2000, unemployment insurance, Medicaid benefits and other income-maintenance programs totaled $374 million, or 4.7 percent of the personal income in the city. By 2015, that number had spiked to $907 million, or 7.6 percent of total personal income, according to the report. Despite the dire situation, Mayor Don Guardian never gave up hope the city would return to its former glory. We have been planting seeds and rebuilding Atlantic City block by block so that our new beginning would lead to a brighter future, Guardian said. Our residents never lost hope in the greatness of Atlantic City. We are rebuilding Atlantic City together. One day, many years from now, we will all be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor in a revitalized Atlantic City. New Jersey drivers wont be able to board an airplane in 2020 if the state does not bring its ID cards up to federal standards. On Oct. 1, 2020, New Jersey-issued drivers licenses or other ID cards will no longer meet the standards to board airplanes or enter nuclear facilities, among other federal buildings, because of the Real ID Act. States were supposed to have the new ID system in place by this year, but New Jersey was given another extension by the Department of Homeland Security in December to comply with the federal law. New Jersey officials insist the state will be in compliance by the 2020 deadline. Mairin Bellack, director of communications at the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, says New Jersey residents shouldnt rush to get a passport or other forms of federal ID because the state will be in compliance well before the deadline. This is not an issue, Bellack said. The new IDs are to include security features that prevent tampering and duplication, including an RFID chip or bar code that can be used to pull up biographical or biometric data. Passed by Congress in 2005, the REAL ID Act established security standards for drivers licenses and ID cards based on a recommendation from the Sept. 11 Commission in response to the 2001 attacks. Federal agencies, military bases and federal government buildings are prohibited from allowing access to anyone who does not have an ID card that is not up to the laws standards. The only exceptions are ID cards from states that have been given extensions by Homeland Security. After Oct. 1, 2020, New Jersey residents may still use the old drivers licenses for driving and other nonfederal purposes, Bellack said. Once New Jersey updates its licenses, they will be available at local MVCs. New Jersey is one of 21 states that have been given extensions to comply with the new rules. Residents in neighboring Pennsylvania will not be able to use their IDs at airports by January 2018. Residents in four states Maine, Missouri, Montana and Minnesota cannot use their IDs to enter federal facilities. They can still board planes with the IDs until next year. New Jersey is still working through information technology and process changes to bring the ID cards up to federal standards. I do what you do and, no, I dont get help from the state with the kids Im raising. I only get food stamps. Nicole Fischer via Facebook How this Atlantic City family survives amid poverty The commercial limit in New Jersey is only 14 inches. Why not raise that number to 16? Vincent G. Reale Measuring flounder a complex undertaking with a big impact Why dont they finish the routes 42/295 interchange? Larry Meidt via Facebook Christie signs $400 million bill for transportation projects They simply arent worth saving. Look at Pleasantville, the UEZ has done nothing to revitalize the community. Joseph Miller via Facebook Will anyone save South Jerseys Urban Enterprise Zones? Gov. Christie has called this to the attention of N.J. and the nation. Proud of him doing this. Maggie Kelly Please do depart for Washington. New Jersey needs to heal. Stell Roberts via Facebook Christie to lead Trumps federal opioid task force My husband and I have visited this shelter many times. We have been very pleased with the love and care shown to each and every animal that comes there. Beth Keegan Wood As far as the freeholders go, they are clueless about the shelter animals and their needs. They could care less about the animals. Beth Lyons Our view: Animal shelter should not be required to spread unfounded accusations Downbeach communities like Ventnor, Margate, and (God forbid) Longport could share so much more than they do now. John Piatt via Facebook New Jersey lawmakers debate measure aimed at consolidating small towns Gov. Christie is talking about what a success it is. The police arent. Michael Zarella via Facebook Reviews mixed on new bail system three months after implementation Come on ladies. Give the guy a break. Maybe hes just trying to pay his college tuition. Christa Ritzler via Facebook Ex-TLC reality star Jon Gosselin to make stripping debut in Atlantic City Nothing against the police or firemen. Theyre awesome people who do very hard jobs. But, theres no money. Cliff John via Facebook Atlantic Citys police and fire unions fight back They need a hospital closer than Wilmington. Angela Craig Goldin via Facebook Vietnam vets lead cry for better health care Why cant stores make it in that center, with sales tax 4 percent and plenty of parking? Judie Cady Hewitt via Facebook Attention Kmart shoppers, time to say goodbye to Pleasantville store Banning is easy. Enforcing is difficult. Sue Shaffer via Facebook Longport bans smoking on the beach Christie came in with a bang; hes going out with a whimper what a disappointment. Joe Trifiletti via Facebook Moodys downgrades New Jersey credit rating Dont blame street people Regarding the Feb. 23 letter, Clean up lot loitering before Head Start opens: The writer is worried about the kids in Atlantic City. I walk through the park on my way to Save A Lot. The boys or men treat me with respect some call me Mom. It is not their fault they are there. The people who taught useless words to them are to blame. They were so intent on Jake and Maggie going to college they forgot about Mary and John. Nobody taught them a skill, or someone passed them in school to get rid of them and put them in the next class. Adults are to blame for the next generation. I walk with a walker and I am white and 88 years young. I feel safe to sit on the bench. Try it. Anna Castine Atlantic City Trump conned everyone Alternative facts keep coming and we are in danger of normalizing them. President Obama tapped his phone. His inaugural crowds were the biggest in history. Going to repeal and replace Obamacare. Ted Cruzs father was there at the Kennedy assassination. Obama wasnt born here. Global warming advocacy is a hoax. If he wins, hell lock up Hillary Clinton. Hell build a wall and Mexico will pay for it. The Keystone pipeline will be built with American steel. He wont take a salary. Theres a terrorist attack in Sweden. Three to 5 million voted illegally. Some journalists are the most dishonest people on Earth and the fake news media are the enemy of the people. People voted for him because they believed he was a great businessman. He said so! He is a great con man, and his supporters and opponents have been conned. May God help us, the environment and especially the free press, because without it we cannot have a free country, and a lot of people died for that freedom. I pray they didnt die in vain. Jennifer Benson Villas Naked fear unfounded Foolish thinking, based on wish or fear without a contribution of evidence, is a frequent influence on human conduct. It may spread and flourish before subsiding in ridicule. Early in Elvis Presleys performing career, pressured television networks avoided showing his hip movements. Parents fretted his gyrations could send teenagers into immorality. During the hippie area, college students sometimes streaked down city streets wearing nothing. News stories addressed this with humor, never gravity. Were this fad to return today, participants would be compelled to register in a database. Parents might be advised to get counseling for children who had witnessed it. Foolish thinking has assigned imaginary evil power to playing cards, attractive women, old maids, defiant kids, acne, tomatoes and mirrors. If the current trend continues, we may one day visit the zoo and find all the chimps in diapers. Ray Lewis Corbin City BEIJING, April 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to xuetangX, the leading Chinese MOOC company, in only two years their LMS platform reached one and half millions users, most of them universities students. In 2014 xuetangX launched "xuetangX Cloud", at Tsinghua University campus, a learning management system (LMS) that combines online digital media with traditional classroom methods. The platform has such a good acceptance that in this moment more than 200 Chinese Universities are using it. The platform is very easy to use. The teachers upload courses in the MOOC format (including videos, assessments, teaching materials, etc). Students can watch videos and do assignments anywhere, at any time and when they come back to classroom, the teacher normally explains some difficult key points using most of the time for practice and discussion. Students normally don't need any special training for enrolling or following up the online lessons. The platform uses MOOC's courses from Chinese and International universities. Some campuses produce and upload their own courses. Li Jiahao is a young Chinese student, who is earning his Ph.D. degree at Tsinghua University and he has been using xuentangX Cloud said "It was a great experience studying on this platform. Before if there was some topic that I didn't understand at the conference, I could only discuss it with classmates or the teacher after class but afterward we started to use the MOOCs we spend more time for group discussion and analysis. For those courses containing too much content, some students even had to use the recorder to help them a review. But now, thanks to LMS, all the videos are accessible without any difficulty. I can study the course before the class starts and pay more attention to the more difficult parts. It really improved my learning efficiency and help me study better" Mr. Zhang Bo, xuetangX Vice President estimated that by the end of this year more than 400 Chinese high learning institutions will implement xuetangX Cloud including international Universities (the platform is also available in English). The company is working on a new version that will add more functions for schools instructors and to big data analysis. Notes to Editors About xuetangX xuetangX is MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) Chinese Education company, founded in 2013 by the Tsinghua University under the supervision of the China Ministry of Education Research Center for Online Education. We are the sole partner for the Chinese market of Edx. We have nearly seven million Chinese students registered on our website where we offer them a 1000 online courses supported by first class Chinese and foreign Universities. For media enquiries, contact: Alejandro Bauza xuetangX E: [email protected] Twitter: @Xuetangx SOURCE xuetangX NEW YORK and LISBON, Portugal, April 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lone Star today issued the following statement on the agreement signed yesterday by the Portuguese Resolution Fund and Lone Star with the approval of Bank of Portugal for Lone Star to acquire a controlling stake in Novo Banco, subject to closing conditions, including various regulatory approvals. "We are pleased to reach this agreement with the Bank of Portugal, and we look forward to working with Portuguese authorities, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission to ensure the agreement meets all closing conditions in the coming months," said Olivier Brahin, president of Lone Star for Europe. "We believe in the future of Portugal's economy. We recognize the strength of Novo Banco's unique franchise in working with small and medium-sized companies, an important engine of growth in Portugal. This agreement marks a significant step toward providing Novo Banco with the capital, resources, and expertise necessary to ensure that the bank remains a strong, domestically focused pillar of the Portuguese banking system." BACKGROUND ON LONE STAR FUNDS Lone Star was founded in 1995, and invests on the behalf of its fund limited partners, who include pension funds for public sector and corporate employees and retirees, as well as foundations and endowments that support medical research, higher education and other philanthropic causes. Lone Star is deeply familiar with owning and managing banks, having acquired six financial institutions worldwide. These acquisitions included European financial institutions with need of restructuring, such as AHBR (later renamed Corealcredit) and IKB. Both banks were entrusted to Lone Star by the German Government and the German Deposit Protection Fund to be restructured and returned to sustainable profitability. Since the establishment of the first fund in 1995, Lone Star has organized 17 funds with aggregate capital commitments totaling over USD $70 billion . Lone Star has vast transactional experience, having closed approximately 470 investments in over 1,400 transactions at an aggregate purchase price of more than USD $180 billion (including acquisition financing and co-investors). Lone Star keeps its promises. Lone Star embraces the evolving nature of regulation and takes a responsible, forward-looking approach to applying industry or market best practice. We are committed to treating people with dignity and respect. MEDIA: CONTACT Jose Barata [email protected] +351 9620 13726 Maria Joao Soares [email protected] +351 91 423 7487 Vitor Cunha [email protected] +351 96 661 9794 Christina Pretto [email protected] +1 (212) 849-9662 or +1 (917) 499-4260 SOURCE Lone Star Funds Related Links http://lonestarfunds.com The focus of CCI's proposal is on its unique iCON Wall Solution (iCON), a patent-pending wall system that will provide DHS with artistically-creative design options for the building of the border wall. CCI's bid specifically addresses the aesthetics of the wall and the way iCON can be utilized given the challenge of building a wall in some areas with difficult terrain. iCON is a tilt-up wall that is cast on-site, decorated like concrete flatwork and positioned vertically, which offers unlimited design options. iCON is unique in that it uses concrete to connect the tilt-up panel to the footing rather than a mechanical connection such as anchor bolts, weld plates or structural steel supports. In addition, the iCON Wall Solution offers an "aesthetically pleasing" option for BOTH sides of the wall. "Our focus is on creating safe, aesthetically pleasing and cost-effective concrete walls," said Russ Baumgartner, CCI's President and CEO. "This will be a very challenging project but we believe that iCON is an ideal option for DHS to consider for construction of the border wall with its unique design capabilities and flexible construction process. We appreciate the opportunity to participate in the RFI process for what we consider to be a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity." CCI envisions its involvement as a value-added subcontractor in support of the general contractor(s) ultimately selected by DHS. Since the company's expertise is in creating unique, visually-attractive concrete walls, it believes that it is best suited as a partner in the aesthetics of the border wall. The iCON walls are built using a horizontal cast method, meaning it can be created on site. This is important since many of the locations for the border wall are positioned in remote areas with rough terrain. CCI's response to the DHS RFI points to the "inherently controversial nature of the border wall," and that iCON's unique aesthetic-focused production provides the ability to "integrate diversity into the border wallutilizing artistic representations of various cultures and communities who will be in its line-of-sight." Additionally, CCI stated in its RFI response that iCON allows for unlimited design creativity at a fraction of the cost required by traditional concrete techniques to achieve a similar look and feel. Single Eagle Inc. dba Concrete Contractors Interstate (CCI) is a Poway, California-based Small Business Enterprise-designated corporation. It has been working with Southern California construction leaders since 1958 and its project superintendents have more than 67 years of experience. CCI has completed multiple regional projects at the San Diego Zoo, Port of San Diego, Safari Park and an iCON wall for Sudberry Properties. Visit CCI's website at www.seicci.com. SOURCE Single Eagle Inc. dba Concrete Contractors Interstate Related Links http://www.seicci.com HOLMDEL, N.J., April 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Beginning April 1, German-based Microsoft Dynamics NAV partner, the agiles Group, commences its partnership with New Jersey-based Microsoft Dynamics NAV ISV, NAV-X, to directly serve the North American Dynamics NAV partner community. NAV-X was chosen to be the master VAR for the agiles productivity suite, which includes agiles Workflow, a business process automation tool for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. NAV-X will specifically deliver pre-sales and deployment services, webinars, trainings and all marketing-related activities, including representation at NAVUG Summit and Directions North America. agiles group, corp. logo "By partnering with NAV-X, we will better equip our current and future agiles Workflow partners to support and meet the needs of end-customers," said Christian Sega, the agiles Group CEO, "From my experience, it is clear that, if you're not close by and can't react quickly to support your partners, you can't be successful in any market." "NAV-X and agiles are both focused on providing the Dynamics NAV community with business competitive solutions. We have worked with agiles for over seven years and are excited to be able to enhance their support to partners and end-customers in North America," said Thomas Falteich, CEO of NAV-X. "Business Automation is a competitive advantage for Dynamics NAV customers in North America. We are happy to support them and their partners in obtaining that advantage." Additional details include: NAV-X has been a trusted regional partner of the agiles Group since 2010. NAV-X will offer services for the agiles Workflow on-premise solution, both as perpetual and subscription license. Full product responsibility will remain with the agiles Group, both teams will work closely together to fulfill partner and end-customer needs. About the agiles Group Specialized in consumer goods trading, the agiles Group provides expertise in the domestic and international food and non-food trade business. Its professionals offer a full range of services to integrate and support ERP software and tailored solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, O365, and the Microsoft cloud portfolio. The agiles Group is based in Hamburg, Germany and has been a Gold-Certified Microsoft partner since 2005. About NAV-X NAV-X is a publisher of functionality commonly required by distribution and manufacturing business, but unavailable in native NAV. This functionality is offered through partners for Microsoft Dynamics NAV and direct on Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Financials. To serve its customers and partners and assist in successful implementations, NAV-X offers a full range of professional services including training, implementation assistance, and support around its full product line. Contact To learn more about this new partnership, please contact [email protected] or visit our website at www.nav-x.com. Press Contact: Laura Farbo The agiles Group +49 40 30 95 33-0 [email protected] Related Files NAV-X + agiles Group Press Release - Final.pdf Related Links NAV-X website agiles Group Website This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE agiles Group, NAV-X Related Links http://www.nav-x.com WASHINGTON, April 1, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau: PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS Profile America Saturday, April 1st. For much of history, firefighting was an improvised voluntary activity. The ancient Romans had a permanent corps of firefighters who were neither volunteers nor professional they were slaves. But for centuries thereafter, volunteer units were the rule. The first professional fire department in the U.S. was established on this date in 1853 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Members of the company received $60 per year, with lieutenants earning $100, and captains $150. The real money was made by the pump wagon drivers $365. Today, while trained volunteer companies perform much firefighting, there are some 65,000 professional firefighters in the U.S. Their mean annual pay is slightly over $41,000 per year. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at . Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 4103 Firefighting history/accessed 2/9/2017: www.fireserviceinfo.com/history.html#profireddept Firefighters/American Community Survey: https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_5YR/B24121 Earnings/American Community Survey: https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_5YR/S2412 Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu). SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau Related Links http://www.census.gov TORONTO and OTTAWA, Ontario, April 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On behalf of the Sikh Heritage Month Celebration Committee, we would like take this opportunity to invite your organization to the Sikh Flag Raising ceremonies taking place in and around the City. The Sikh Heritage Month was proclaimed by the Government of Ontario in 2013 followed by the City of Brampton. This is a great opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the deep rich heritage of the Sikh Community said Sukhminder Singh Hansra president of the Sikh Heritage Month Celebration Committee. Now in 21st century the Sikh Heritage finds its roots in Canada since the 19th century added Hansra. It is the admiration of the Creator, harmony; sharing, honest earning and help of fellow mankind are the basic principles of the Sikh Heritage. During the Month of April, the Sikh Community across the province of Ontario will host various events to mark the Sikh Heritage Month. The Sikh Heritage Month Celebration Committee will be hoisting Sikh Flag at the Parliament Hill Ottawa on April 3rd 2017 @11:30am-1:00pm. Other Flag Raisings are as following: Program: Brampton City Hall Sunday April 2nd @2pm Parliament Hill Monday April 3rd @11:30am Mississauga City Hall Tuesday April 4th @6pm Toronto City Hall Sat April 8th @10:30am RSVP via email. The Sikh Heritage Month Celebration Committee [email protected] This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE The Sikh Heritage Month Celebration Committee 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 New Delhi, March 27 : The AAP on Monday approached the Election Commission over alleged EVM tampering in Punjab and demanded that slips generated by VVPAT machines be matched with the election result. After meeting Election Commission officials, AAP leader Raghav Chadha told reporters that the party's preliminary analysis of booth level voting pattern showed that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were tampered with. "There were many polling booths where the number of votes the party received were fewer than the count of AAP supporters in the area. They (supporters) are ready to file affidavits in court stating that they voted for the AAP," Chadha said. The Aam Aadmi Party leader said if the EVMs were tampered with, then it was a violation of the fundamental rights. He said the people were losing faith in the electoral process. "To reinforce people's faith in electoral process, we demand that wherever VVPAT (Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail) machines were used in Punjab, the election results in those booths be tallied with the paper trail generated by EVMs," he said. Chadha added that many developed nations in the West gave up EVMs to conduct elections by paper ballot as they believed EVMs were vulnerable to tampering. "We hope that the Election Commission would take cognizance of the matter and would appropriately respond to our plea," he said. After the Congress won the Punjab assembly election with 38.4 per cent vote share and the AAP got only 23.5 per cent of votes, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that EVMs may have been tampered with, resulting in 20-25 per cent of AAP votes getting transferred to the SAD-BJP alliance which got 30.5 per cent of votes. Kejriwal had then said that there were numerous booths where his party got only "two, three or four" votes though the number of its activists and family members were in dozens. He demanded that in 32 of the 117 constituencies where VVPAT system was installed, the results should be tallied with the paper trail generated by the EVMs. New Delhi, March 28 : Actor Akshay Kumar attended the screening of the forthcoming film "Naam Shabana" with women police officers here, and enjoyed the experience. Akshay on Mondy morning said that he enjoyed the first screening of the the film, which is the second installment of the 2015 film "Baby". The actor also shares a photograph of himself along with actress Taapsee Pannu in a theatre full of female police officers in uniform. "Enjoyed my first screening of 'Naam Shabana' with these brave female police officers of Delhi last night. Nothing but respect," Akshay captioned the image on Tuesday morning. Taapsee's character in "Baby" is what has resulted in its spin-off "Naam Shabana", produced by Neeraj Pandey and directed by Shivam Nair. The film, which also stars Anupam Kher and Danny Denzongpa along with Akshay and Taapsee, is releasing on Friday. Raipur, March 28 : A Canadian citizen has been abducted in Chhattisgarh, police said on Tuesday. John Schlazak is said to have disappeared from Singamdagu village in Sukma district, a Maoist den, Sukma Assistant Superintendent of Police Jitendra Shukla said. Schlazak had left Mumbai on a bike on March 14. He reached Bastar two days ago and was last seen in Singamdagu village in Sukma district, the officer said. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, however, said Schlazak was kidnapped from Koraput district in Odisha and she sought a report from the state government. Sushma Swaraj tweeted that she had spoken to Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik. Police officials in Chhattisgarh said that they were trying to find out when Schlazak reached Bastar and who all he was in touch with. Dhaka, March 29 : Police on Wednesday cordoned off two suspected militant hideouts in Bangladesh's Moulvibazar district, a media report said. Moulvibazar Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohammad Shahjalal told Dhaka Tribune that they suspect militants are hiding in the buildings in Borohat and Khalilnagar areas of the district which have been cordoned off by the law enforcers. "We have information that a large number of militants are hiding in these two hideouts," police's Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit Deputy Commissioner Moinul Islam said. "Three grenades were hurled later targeting the law enforcers from the building in Borohat area," police officials said. A huge cache of arms and bombs are stockpiled in the single-storey building in Borohat, the Daily Star reported citing the police. Both the houses are owned by an expatriate Saifur Rahaman, currently living in Britain. Meanwhile, gunshots were heard until 10.20 a.m. in Sarker Bazar under Khalilpur union. Reazaul Karim Mallik, Special Superintendent of Police in the district, said law enforcers could not tell about the exact number of suspected militants in the duplex house. On Tuesday, army commandos ended an operation codenamed "Operation Twilight" at a house called Atia Mahal in Shibbari of Sylhet city and handed the crime scene over to the police. Four militants, including a woman, were killed during the commando assault in Sylhet. Kolkata, March 29 : A Bengali film that deals with the plight of people post-demonetisation has been referred by the Kolkata regional office of the Central Board of Film Certification to the board's chairman Pahlaj Nihalani for a decision on certification. The Kolkata office of the censor board in it's intimation to "Shunyota" ("Emptiness") makers has cited "differences of opinion among members of the (examining) committee regarding certification" as a reason to refer it to the chairman for the decision on certification. "The film was scheduled to release on March 31. We were informed yesterday (Tuesday) that committee members couldn't take a call regarding category of certification. I think it has got to do with the fact that it goes against demonetisation... there cant be any other reason," director Suvendu Ghosh said. He claimed his film was the first on demonetisation. "We urge the chairman to clear the film," he said. Johannesburg, March 29 : South Africa's revered Indian-origin anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada was laid to rest in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Kathrada, who was once jailed for defying a law that discriminated against Indian South Africans, died on Tuesday at the age of 87. He passed away after a short period of illness and following a brain surgery, reported the BBC. Early on Wednesday morning, Kathrada's coffin was carried from his home in Houghton to a nearby mosque. President Jacob Zuma had declared an official funeral for the African National Congress (ANC) stalwart, but he did not attend Kathrada's funeral at the request of his family, said the report. Kathrada had called on Zuma to resign last year after he became mired in a series of corruption scandals. Zuma had ordered the national flag to fly at half-mast following Kathrada's death and had postponed a cabinet meeting so that officials could attend the funeral. The President would also not attend a memorial service for Kathrada later this week, a government statement said. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa represented the government at Kathrada's funeral, the BBC reported. Former President Kgalema Motlanthe, the keynote speaker at the funeral, said that "on a day like this we should not mince our words". He said that the anti-apartheid veteran was "deeply disturbed by the current failure of post-apartheid politics". "Today, we close his eyes permanently. During his life, he opened ours forever," Motlanthe said. Born on August 21, 1929, to Indian immigrant parents in a town of northwestern South Africa, Kathrada was introduced to politics when he joined a non-racial youth club run by the Young Communist League. At 17, Kathrada participated in the 1946 Passive Resistance Campaign led by the South African Indian Congress. He was part of 2,000 persons arrested and imprisoned for defying a law that discriminated against Indian South Africans. Kathrada spent 26 years and three months in prison, 18 of which were on Robben Island where Nelson Mandela, who later became South Africa's first black President, was also imprisoned. Kathrada was one of Mandela's closest colleagues in the struggle against the white rule. He had an illustrious political career, having served between 1994 and 1999 as the parliamentary counsellor to then President Mandela. Kathrada is survived by his wife, Barbara Hogan, also an ANC stalwart. Dhaka, March 30 : At least seven suspected militants were killed in Bangladesh on Thursday, the police said. Police stormed a house in Moulvibazar district where they said members of the Neo-JMB militant group were holed up, Xinhua news agency quoted Dhaka's counter-terrorism police unit chief Monirul Islam as saying. The Neo-JMB, an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, was blamed for the July 2016 attack on an upscale cafe in Dhaka that left 29 persons killed. New York, March 30 : It may be easy to carry on a conversation with Siri on your iPhone or your Google assistant from your living room as they can help fill a void when you feel lonely. But, according to a new study, these humanlike products keep people from seeking out normal human interaction -- which is typically how people try to recover from loneliness - thus negatively affecting their social needs. "Generally, when people feel socially excluded, they seek out other ways of compensating, like exaggerating their number of Facebook friends or engaging in prosocial behaviours to seek out interaction with other people," said Jenny Olson, Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas in the US. However, "when you introduce a human-like product, those compensatory behaviours stop", Olson rued. The study, published the in the Journal of Consumer Research, showed evidence that people who felt socially excluded would exhibit these compensating behaviours unless they were given the opportunity to interact with an anthropomorphic product. In the study, the participants were asked to play an online game of "catch" in which other participants who were computerised, unknown to them. After engaging with a Roomba vacuum whose design made it seem like it was smiling or when asked to think about their cellphone in humanlike terms, participants would not feel the need to plan to spend time talking to family or friends, the researchers noted. Nevertheless, the ability for these products to replace human contact has its limits because certain statements seemed to snap participants back to reality. "As soon as we tell people we know that it looks like the Roomba is smiling, they seemed to realize it was a machine and not a person," Olson said. "The effect goes away. This seems to be happening on a very subconscious level," he added. The research could be important for consumers to realise how these types of products could thwart their motivation to interact with real people, especially because so many new products feature interactivity. New Delhi, March 30 : Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Thursday said states should consider loan waiver for farmers after the Congress in the Lok Sabha demanded that the Centre announce the measure across the country. The issue was raised by Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia soon after Question Hour. "This government says Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas (inclusive development) but the farmer is only committing suicide," Scindia said. He said the way the BJP promised farm loan waiver in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre should do that across the country. "We demand that farmers' loans should be waived off," he said. "Look at the condition of farmers in Tamil Nadu. They are facing a bad drought. Farmers have come to Delhi with skulls of other farmers who committed suicide. They asked for Rs 40,000 crore, they (Centre) did not even give Rs 2 crore. They are stuck on rhetoric, there is no action," Scindia said referring to farmers protesting at Jantar Mantar in the national capital. Radha Mohan Singh, however, said the government has given Rs 15,000 crore from the disaster fund in 2015-16, and added that states had received more funds from the Finance Commission this year, so states can take the step of loan waiver. "Our sympathy and support is with the farmers," the minister said. "In Uttar Pradesh, BJP said they would waive loans for marginal farmers... As far as loan waiver is concerned, I will be happy if any state does that. States have got lot of money from the Finance Commission," the minister said. He also pointed out that farm loan waivers given by the UPA government in 2008 did not have much effect on farmers' suicides. "You gave farm loan waiver in 2008. In 2008, suicides due to agricultural distress were 13 per cent of all suicides. In 2009, it was 13.7 per cent. Now it is around 9.4 per cent," he said. This comes as a group of farmers from Tamil Nadu stayed put at Jantar Mantar here for the seventeenth day in a row to demand drought relief packages from the Central government. The Agriculture Minister said Tamil Nadu was given Rs 1,082 crore under the disaster relief fund in five years prior to 2014 while Rs 3,000 crore was given by the NDA government in the last two years. He also said that he has met the Agriculture Minister of Tamil Nadu and also the farmers in the chamber of Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai. On Thursday, the farmers at Jantar Mantar taped their mouths shut in a silent protest. The farmers are demanding a drought relief package and a loan waiver. "The natural calamities that are there in Tamil Nadu and the country... States have money in disaster funds. For whole country, the allocation for this fund was Rs 24,000 crore. We made it Rs 47,000 crore," the minister said. He added that an amount of Rs 1,748 crore has been sanctioned for Tamil Nadu from the national disaster fund. According to the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) latest data, farmer suicides saw a spike of 41.7 per cent in 2015 from 2014. The year 2015 saw 8,007 suicides by farmers, as compared to 5,650 suicides in 2014. According to the data, of the over 3,000 farmers who committed suicides across the country in 2015 due to debt and bankruptcy, 2,474 had taken loans from banks or microfinance institutions. Chennai, March 31 : Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak met superstar Rajinikanth at his residence here on Friday. "Just had a very warm and friendly meeting with Rajinikanth, the Tamil superstar, at his home," Razak tweeted on Friday. He also shared a photo that features him along with the 66-year-old actor. Razak is in the city to receive an honorary doctorate from Thanjavur University. As part of his two-day visit, Razak is believed to have met Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami. According to sources close to Rajinikanth, he met Razak over breakfast at his residence. Razak became a fan of Rajinikanth during the latter's long stay in Malacca, Malaysia for the shoot of the 2016 film "Kabali". "When we were shooting for 'Kabali' in Malaysia, we were touched by the support Malaysian government extended to us. Due to our busy shooting schedule, I couldn't meet and thank him (Razak) in Malaysia. "When I learnt he was coming to Chennai, I invited him home. He accepted my invitation and came home. He even saw some portion of 'Kabali'," Rajinikanth told reporters here. Asked if the rumour that he was going to replace actor Shah Rukh Khan as the brand ambassador of Malaysian tourism was true, Rajinikanth trashed such reports. New Delhi, March 31 : Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday thanked Congress leader Digvijay Singh for failing to cobble together a majority in the state despite the party winning the largest number of assembly seats. Parrikar came to the Rajya Sabha during the Zero Hour and thanked the chairman, Deputy Chairman and other members. "I express my thanks to the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and members of this house for their support during my tenure as Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister), and invite them to Goa whenever they want to come," Parrikar said. "My special thanks to honourable member Digvijay Singh, who happened to be in Goa but did nothing so that I could form the government," he said. Digvijay Singh has given notice for a substantive motion to discuss in the house the conduct of Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, which is now pending for two weeks. Outside the house, Parrikar said there was no question of immorality in the way the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the government in Goa with the help of smaller parties and Independents. "Other parties supported us as they didn't trust the Congress...It's a coalition government and there is no question of morality of immorality in it," Parrikar said. The Congress won 17 seats in the February 4 state assembly elections and emerged as the single largest party, while the BJP won only 13 seats. The BJP, however, managed to form a coalition government with support from Independent legislators and regional parties. Parrikar ruled out the possibility of coalition partners switching loyalties. "Not as long as I am there," he said. Asked why he gave special thanks to Digvijay Singh, Parrikar replied: "I thanked him for his incompetence." Washington, March 31 : US President Donald Trump on Friday will sign two executive orders aimed at combating foreign trade abuses that contribute to the country's half-trillion-dollar trade deficit, officials said. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro said the Trump administration will launch a wide-ranging review of the US trade deficit with the purpose of identifying forms of "trade abuse" that have contributed to the deficit, reported The Hill newspaper reported. Ross said the investigation will go through US trade relationship country-by-country to look for issues like cheating, lax enforcement or currency misalignment. "It will demonstrate the Trump administration's intention not to hip-shoot, not to do anything casual, not to do anything abruptly, but to take a very measured and analytical approach," he said. Trump has tied deficits to unfair trade practices and has vowed to renegotiate major trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to give the US a better advantage. NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the US, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. Ross said that the report will look at factors from trade barriers such as tariffs to currency misalignment and other issues that tip the trade balance into the favour of foreign countries. He emphasised that the comprehensive report would be the first of its kind and would take an analytic deep dive into the issues the US faces with its trading partners, said the report. "The report will demonstrate the administration's intention not to hip-shoot, not to do anything casual, not to do anything abruptly, but to take a very measured and analytical approach," he said. He ticked off a dozen or more countries in the order with a combined goods and services trade deficit, starting with China and including Mexico, Germany and Canada that run a surplus with the US. Ross said results could produce action against unfair trade practices before the 90-day period is up, reported The Hill. The second executive order will give US agencies, especially those working at the borders, greater power to collect import taxes. Navarro said the inability of the US to collect anti-dumping duties on a wide range of products is a "long festering problem." Navarro said that China accounts for about one-third of more than 300 anti-dumping cases. Islamabad, March 31 : Pakistan on Friday decided against participating in the 136th Inter Parliamentary Union Assembly, which is due to begin from April 1, in Dhaka. A 10-member parliamentary delegation from Pakistan was due to participate in the international parliamentary meeting under the leadership of National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. However, the decision has been taken in view of the "continued malicious and uncalled for propaganda and unfriendly attitude" of the Bangladesh government against the people and the state of Pakistan. In a statement, Sadiq said members of the assembly have noted with dismay and disappointment the continuing actions and negative public statements of the leadership, public officials and media of Bangladesh despite Pakistan's restraint and overtures to the country. "I have, therefore, decided not to travel to Bangladesh as a visit at this point will not serve the purpose," he said. Amid India-Pakistan tensions, a number of countries, including Bangladesh, boycotted the SAARC Summit scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan in Islamabad last November, resulting in postponement of the Summit. Parliamentarians, including 53 Speakers of Parliament, will make concrete proposals on a range of issues, from ending rising inequality to promoting women's access to financing, during the 136th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The Speaker recalled that the Pakistani parliament had sincerely laboured to harness good friendly and brotherly relations with the people of Bangladesh. "It was in this spirit that Pakistan's parliamentary delegation had unanimously voted in favour of the Speaker of Bangladesh Sharmeen Chaudhary for the post of the Chairperson of the Executive Committee of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in Cameroon in 2014," he said. Chaudhary had won this election with a narrow margin of 82 votes in favour and 78 against with 10 votes of Pakistan going in her favour. "However, it is noted with much regret that the friendly gestures were never reciprocated in the same coin. The Speaker of Bangladesh did not visit Pakistan despite repeated invitations," Sadiq noted. The parliament of Bangladesh also boycotted all international parliamentary meet, organised by the parliament of Pakistan during the last two years despite personal requests by the highest parliamentary leadership. New Delhi, March 31 : A delegation of Indian parliamentarians led by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan left for Dhaka on Friday to attend the 136th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to be held April 1-5. "During the assembly, a general debate on the overall theme of 'Redressing Inequalities: Delivering on dignity and well-being for all' will be held. Speaker Mahajan will address the assembly during the general debate," an official statement said. The agenda of the assembly also includes an "emergency item" relating to a major event of international concern on which it appears necessary for the IPU to express its opinion. The requests for inclusion of the emergency item were made by member countries Mexico and Britain. "One of our delegates will participate in the discussion on emergency item," the statement added. The assembly will also witness a meeting of women parliamentarians in which Sushmita Dev and Dola Sen will represent India. Sushmita Dev, along with Deepak Adhikari, will also participate at the meeting of the forum of young parliamentarians where the members will share their views from youth perspective. Mahajan and other delegates will attend a meeting of IPU's governing council which will also be held during the assembly as well as a meeting of the Regional Asia-Pacific Group. The Indian delegation also comprises parliamentarians N.K. Premachandran, Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, Viplove Thakur, Anil Desai, Nagendra Singh, Raj Kumar Singh and Lok Sabha Secretary General Anoop Mishra. Mumbai, March 31 : Breaking the three-day gaining streak, the key Indian equity indices closed on a flat note on Friday -- the last day of the financial year 2016-17 -- as negative global cues hampered investors' sentiments. The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed flat -- unchanged at 9,173.75 points from the previous day's close. The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE closed at 29,620.50 points -- down 26.92 points or 0.09 per cent from the previous close at 29,647.42 points. It touched a high of 29,687.64 points and a low of 29,552.61 points during the intra-day trade. "Markets ended the fiscal on a flat note with the BSE Sensex closing the day 26.92 points lower while the NSE Nifty closed flat at 9,173.75. During the fiscal, broad indices gained nearly 17 per cent," Vijay Singhania, founder and Director of brokerage firm Trade Smart Online, told IANS. In contrast, the BSE market breadth was bullish -- with 1,613 advances and 1,131 declines. The broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE mid-cap index closed higher by 0.79 per cent and the small-cap index edged higher by 0.72 per cent. "Markets ended flat on Friday after three sessions of gains amid volatility and subdued global cues. Mid-cap and small-cap indices outperformed the Sensex and the Nifty," Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS. "Major Asian markets ended on a negative note, barring the Shanghai and Straits indices. European indices like FTSE 100, DAX and CAC 40 traded lower." Commenting on the currency front, Singhania asserted: "Rupee is expected to end March 2017 as the best first quarter since 1975 as foreign investors pumped in $12 billion." The Indian rupee strengthened by seven paise to 64.85 against a US dollar from its previous close of 64.92 to a greenback. The day witnessed substantial buying activities by the domestic institutional investors (DIIs), who pumped in funds worth Rs 1,499.41 crore, provisional data with exchanges showed. However, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers of scrip worth Rs 295.92 crore during the intra-day trade. "IT sector stocks faced resistance at higher levels due to profit booking and witnessed volatile trades, while energy, metal and media remained top performing sectors on the positive side," said Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, on sector-specific movement. "On the daily scale, Nifty registered yet another narrow ranged body though slightly on the bullish side. Hence, only a breach below its previous days swing low near 9,100 could distort the ongoing bullish momentum," Desai explained on technical levels. Sector-wise, the S&P BSE banking index plunged by 180.25 points, followed by the FMCG index, which slipped by 33.88 points, and the IT index, which fell by 32.04 points. On the other hand, the oil and gas index surged by 246 points, the capital goods index edged up by 160.15 points, and the consumer durables index rose by 158.92 points. Major Sensex gainers on Friday were: Reliance Industries, up 3.93 per cent at Rs 1,319.20; NTPC, up 1.59 per cent at Rs 165.95; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 1.28 per cent at Rs 1,577.60; Maruti Suzuki, up 1.18 per cent at Rs 6,024.30; and Tata Steel, up 0.94 per cent at Rs 482.65. Major Sensex losers were: Axis Bank, down 1.65 per cent at Rs 490.80; ICICI Bank, down 1.53 per cent at Rs 277.10; HDFC Bank, down 1.47 per cent at Rs 1,442.30; HDFC, down 1.22 per cent at Rs 1,502.40; and Hindustan Unilever, down 1.03 per cent at Rs 909.75. New Delhi, March 31 : Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday thanked Congress leader Digvijaya Singh for failing to cobble together a majority in the state despite the party winning the largest number of assembly seats. Parrikar made the remarks in the Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour. "I express my thanks to the chairman, deputy chairman and members of this house for their support during my tenure as 'raksha mantri' (Defence Minister), and invite them to Goa whenever they want to come," Parrikar said. "My special thanks go out to honourable member Digvijaya Singh, who happened to be in Goa but did nothing so that I could form the government," he said. Outside the house, Parrikar said there was no question of immorality in the way the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed a coalition government with support from Independent legislators and regional parties. "Other parties supported us as they didn't trust the Congress... It's a coalition government and there is no question of morality of immorality in it," Parrikar said. The Congress won 17 seats in the February 4 state assembly elections and emerged as the single largest party, while the BJP won only 13 seats in the 40-member assembly. Parrikar ruled out the possibility of coalition partners switching loyalties. "Not as long as I am there," he said. Asked why he gave special thanks to Digvijaya Singh, Parrikar replied: "I thanked him for his incompetence." Digvijaya Singh has given notice for a substantive motion to discuss in the House the conduct of Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, which has been accepted by the Chair but the matter is yet to be taken up. On Friday, the Congress leader again pressed for the substantive motion to be taken up, and asked Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien for the time slot. "Sir, I have become a butt of jokes. When I come to the House reporters ask me what happened to my substantive motion, when I go out they ask me the same question," he said, adding that the urgency of the matter is lost. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) member Tapan Kumar Sen said the government is trying to avoid the matter. "He (Digvijaya Singh) has given a substantive motion and it has been accepted. It means it should come in the list of business. But it appears there is an attempt to dodge out the matter during the remaining session," Sen said. The Budget Session has six more working days left and would conclude on April 12. New Delhi, March 31 : Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the BJP government is "Kisan Virodhi" (anti-farmer) and asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi can give debt relief to the rich, then why not to farmers. Accusing the Prime Minister of being disrespectful to farmers, Rahul Gandhi, who met Tamil Nadu farmers agitating in the capital for drought relief funds, said the plight of the drought-stricken farmers and their families did not affect the government. "I don't understand why this discrimination. If PM has given debt relief to the richest people in the country, why is he not ready to give debt relief to those who build this country -- the farmers. He has no concern for the farmers," Gandhi said. "BJP government works only for a few super rich families," he added. The Congress leader also said it was the responsibility of the Prime Minister to listen to the farmers and solve their problems. Pointing to the demands of the farmers -- drought relief and waiving of loans, among others, Rahul Gandhi said a solution "needs to be worked out and at least a conversation needs to be started by these people". He also vowed to raise the issue in Parliament in support of the farmers' cause. "This government is 'kisan virodhi' (anti-farmer) and 'garib virodhi' (anti-poor). They (farmers) are sitting here for so many days. Neither the government nor the PM is listening to their voice," he said. "In the past three years, relief worth Rs 1.40 lakh crore has been given to the 50 richest families of the country. What is the farmers' fault? Why are they not getting the support? Why aren't their loans being waived off?" The farmers' protest action continued for the 18th day on Friday at Jantar Mantar where they have been protesting with skulls of farmers who have committed suicide in Tamil Nadu. They blew conch shells as one of them lay on the ground like a corpse, which symbolised farmers' suicide. Many were also seen with rats and snakes in their mouth as they demanded waiver of loans. As per reports, more than 200 farmers have committed suicide in Tamil Nadu since last year's drought. Apart from Gandhi, DMK leader Kanimozhi also visited the agitating farmers at Jantar Mantar on Friday. "We also took it (loan waiver) up with the Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley). The DMK has been raising this time and again in Parliament. I don't understand why the central government is refusing to respond," she said. Asuncion, April 1 : Demonstrators in the Paraguayan capital Asuncion stormed the National Congress building in a protest against senators' closed-door vote to allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. The opposition crowd that deemed the measure illegal was on Friday confronted by police wielding water hoses. They stormed the legislature, broke windows and fences. Police fired rubber bullets to disperse them, RT News reported. According to photos posted on social media, demonstrators managed to storm the first floor of the Congress after breaching the poorly armed police lines. The rioters then set fire to papers and chairs causing the flames to spread throughout the floor. The building was eventually cordoned off by police after the entire ground floor burned down. According to media reports, some MP's were still inside the building. "We guarantee that the police will not repress [you] again. We ask you not to break down the fences, not to try to enter the Congress building," Police Commander Crisis Sotelo said in a desperate plea to the rioters. "We ask for calm, tranquility," he said. Several politicians, including Senate Speaker Roberto Acevedo and journalists were among the wounded. "The police were not under any instruction to repress. They were attacked," Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said, blaming rioters for attacking the building and the police. Local media said several people were hurt by rubber bullets. Among those were former Interior Minister Rafael Filizzola of the opposition Popular Democratic Party, and Efrain Alegre, the presidential candidate from Authentic Radical Liberal Party. Paraguay's constitution allows presidents to serve only a single term in office to guard against a return to dictatorship after Alfredo Stroessner ruled from 1954 until 1989, the BBC reported. But an agreement between the ruling and opposition party approved the amendment to allow Horacio Cartes of the Colorado Party to run for re-election in 2018. The reform will also allow left-wing former President Fernando Lugo, who held power from 2008 to 2012, to run for office again. Before the amendment is cemented, it must be approved by the Chamber of Deputies, where 44 of the 80 members belong to the ruling Colorado Party. The vote will take place early on Saturday, according to a document posted on the lower chamber's official Twitter account. Those opposing the amendment have promised to resist the move, calling the change to the constitution a "coup d'etat" and imposition of "dictatorship". New Delhi, April 1 : Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak was on Saturday accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here. He also called on Vice President M. Hamid Ansari. Prime Minister Narendra Modi received Razak at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. He was then accorded a ceremonial guard of honour. Razak later met Ansari. "Always a pleasure meeting a valued partner. PM Najib Razak calls on Vice President Hamid Ansari at his residence," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. After arriving here, Razak tweeted: "Namaste! Arrived in New Delhi to begin the second-leg of my official visit." Razak, who arrived in Chennai on Thursday, is on a five-day state visit. The visit, his third to India as Prime Minister, will see both sides discussing projects worth five billion dollars and hold talks on infrastructure, defence cooperation, air services arrangements, tourism and cultural relations. New Delhi : Title: The Golden Legend; Author: Nadeem Aslam; Publisher: Penguin Random House; Pages: 376; Price: Rs 599 Nadeem Aslam never disappoints his readers and the characteristic features of his novels -- vividly beautiful, lucidly painful and yet surprisingly convincing -- tend to leave a lasting impression. It was this overwhelming sense of reverence for the Pakistan-born author that led one to flick through this brilliant novel, which combines realism and fable in a tale that is exhilarating as it counters despair with hope. "The Golden Legend" is a thrilling novel and carries more realism than meets the eye. Just like "the spring of hope" and "the winter of despair" that Dickens mentioned in the opening paragraph of "A Tale of Two Cities," Aslam's fantastic work seems to reverberate with paradoxes and yet sounds surprisingly convincing. The novel, set in contemporary Pakistan, begins on a dark note: The death of an architect, Massud, who leaves behind his wife and collaborator Nargis. Together, the husband-wife duo have worked hard to preserve culture and build exquisite buildings. All of this at a time when the world around is turning increasingly hostile. After the death of her husband, Nargis is solely responsible for bringing up Helen, the daughter of their Christian servants. Now Helen too is unsafe. A journalist by profession, she is the target of Islamic fundamentalists who are not at ease with her reporting. The fundamentalist elements, on their part, want the Christians to be driven away from Pakistan and Helen, being both a Christian and a journalist, finds it difficult to survive in the increasingly hostile surroundings. Meanwhile, Nargis is persuaded, or rather compelled, by a powerful US intelligence officer, who demands she publicly forgive the American citizen who killed her husband. All of these little elements form the perfect background of violence and fear and allow for a classic shift in the plot. Aslam, in a departure from his previous novels, appears to have given greater emphasis on highlighting the lively and colourful aspects in this latest work. Enter Imran, a Kashmiri terrorist, who decides on a course-correction soon after learning that he is expected to kill and cause brutality in Pakistan itself. Straight out of some fairy tale, the next twist in the novel brings Helen and Imran face-to-face -- and they fall in love. The love story comes to life on an island, where the two unusual souls -- Helen, a Christian and the target of fundamentalists; and Imran, a Muslim and a former terrorist -- seek to unite. Their love story seems to be just blossoming when darkness spreads once again. It was on this very island that Nargis and her late husband Massud had built a mosque to bring the different branches of Islam together and decrease tensions among them. Massud had even planned to build a Hindu temple and a Church beside it to spread communal harmony among the residents. Fate, however, had other plans. A murder is committed inside the mosque and the entire island is abandoned! The trio -- Nargis, Helen and Imran -- remain at constant risk of being discovered and harmed. So the characters must do something, right? As they say, "Love alone is not enough," Helen and Imran, led by Nargis, must engage in something to keep the plot moving and its readers engrossed. Aslam, a master storyteller, understands the nerves of his readers and sort of himself talks in the voice of his different characters. He acts like a psychiatrist, diagnosing his readers while building the plot on his characters. Massud's father had written a splendid book, honouring the great ideas and philosophies that spread over the ages. This book is, unfortunately, torn apart by the US intelligence officer. The three of them spend the following days in weaving the pages of this book together in a golden thread. Can it get more magical or realistic? Aslam is at his creative best in "The Golden Legend", and he succeeds in busting all typical notions associated with romantic fiction. The novel, while being enchantingly romantic, reverberates with the contemporary socio-political situation in Pakistan. Even as Pakistan is caught between violence and fundamentalist elements, Aslam elegantly portrays "the pockets of love" and the collective spirit of ordinary people, for whom evil is not a way of life but a stupidity, which has no place in their lives. No doubt the novel is full of despair and disdain, but at the heart of it lies hope. And this is what makes "The Golden Legend" an exhilarating read. (Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in) Chennai, April 1 : Actor Varun Tej on Saturday said he along with his team of forthcoming Telugu romantic-drama "Mister" are headed to Italy to shoot the final song for the film. "Off to Italy for shoot with Sreenu Vaitla and Lavanya Tripathi. Last song of 'Mister'," Varun tweeted. Directed by Sreenu Vaitla, the film is slated for April 14 release. Varun, for the first time in his career, has reportedly attempted a full-length comic role in the film. The film also stars Hebah Patel in a crucial role, with a supporting cast of Chandramohan, Nasser, Tanikella Bharani, Prince and Tejaswi Madivada. Besides shooting in Switzerland, a major part of the film was shot in picturesque locales of Spain. Some portions were shot in Hyderabad and its surrounding villages. New Delhi : In Ahmed Kathrada's death in Johannesburg at age 87, students of South African history have lost a precious resource person with a unique perspective on one of the world's great national liberation movements -- how it peaked, then lost its fizz. On February 11, 1990, I was among the willing throng of the world's journalists, waiting outside Victor Verster prison near Cape Town, waiting for history's most iconic political prisoner to walk free after 27 years in the Apartheid regime's captivity. It is difficult to communicate the heady excitement of the moment. It might interest anti-meat enthusiasts in India that the first meal out of prison Mandela asked for was "Indian curry and rice". His host for the night, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, tossed in a few more items to make it more decorative. That is when I first met Kathrada or "Kathy" as everyone, including Mandela, affectionately called him. Out of prison Mandela seemed to constantly require by his side a transistor radio set to one frequency, BBC's Africa Calling, and, if possible, Kathy. Mandela's dependence on Kathy manifested itself when he occupied the President's office in Pretoria. Kathy was given the adjacent room as his adviser. Although, he had become the second-most powerful man in South Africa, he was so modest in his mannerisms that he almost looked embarrassed holding high office. Kathy had spent almost as many years as Mandela in jail, most of it in the same prison, Robben Island, a turbulent boat ride away from Cape Town, a more vicious version of Alcatraz from San Francisco. It was in the yard of the prison where the plot was hatched to smuggle out chapters of the "Long March to Freedom". In this project, Kathy became the lynchpin. In 50 years of journalism, it has remained one of my most cherished stories for a singular reason: Mandela confided in me all the details (they became common later) in his Johannesburg bungalow after he had handed over the Presidency to his successor, Thabo Mbeki. Throughout the narrative (with an impish smile) he played with Amina Cachalia'a hand. I shall dilate on this fascinating digression later. The conspirators had rationed out the work according to their respective talents. "I would hand over the first draft to Kathy to check out factual details -- you see, I have never in my life met anyone with a better memory." Only after Kathy had edited the draft was it shown to "comrade Walter Sisulu for ideological consistency". "All this could be arranged from cell to cell -- which overlooked the yard, where prisoners assembled before being taken to the lime quarries for their day's labour." The next step was loaded with high voltage suspense: how was the final draft to be smuggled past the heavily guarded gate to the prisoner's cages? The genius for this vital step was Laloo Chiba, with silver hair and eyebrows, a wheatish complexion and eyes which were unexpectedly blue. "He had a talent for very fine, miniaturised writing." From a matchbox, he would slide out the card-board tray stacked with match sticks. Keep the sticks in a drawer, and carefully steam out the rectangular paper, the size of a large postage stamp. Chiba would pack a thousand words on the reverse side of this "postage stamp"; another thousand on the cardboard. With grains of cooked rice, the paper was neatly stuck to the bottom of the tray. At the appointed hour, when there were no guards in the courtyard, the match box was tossed out of the window, to be picked up in the morning by one of the "conspirators". It was left to the resourcefulness of "Comrade" Mac Maharaj to smuggle the manuscript out of Apartheid South Africa. Having sacrificed their lives for South Africa's liberation, did leaders like "Kathy" depart with a sense of fulfillment? He spent his last years as a guide at Robben Island. That was more nostalgia for the years of struggle than a celebration of victory. Yes, the yoke of apartheid was lifted. But, at this distance in time, that was all. When South African Communists (most of them doubled up as The ANC for tactical reasons) returned from the Italian Communist stalwart Enrico Berlinguer's funeral in June 1984, described by historian Paul Ginsborg as "the greatest spontaneous civic demonstration in the history of the Italian Republic", there were stars in their eyes. Mikhail Gorbachev, though, still a few months shy of taking over as the Soviet leader, was among the world statesmen at the funeral. The Left seemed to be on the ascendant everywhere - in Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Afghanistan. ANC/Communist leaders like Sisulu, Kathy and Joe Slovo hoped to win riding that crest. Ironically, Gorbachev lost control of his Glasnost, Perestroika agenda. He supervised the liquidation of the Soviet Empire. History took an unimaginable turn. There was now no question of any victory for SA leaders. The victorious system's project was globalization. Freed of the Soviet fear, the West would now, for its own convenience, open the prison doors for Mandela and his cohorts to walk free. They would be brought into focus as pliant victors. Gavin Relly, chairman of Anglo-American, South Africa's most powerful company, told me on camera that "Mandela would, we hope, pursue sensible economic policies". It may not have been a degrading bargain (Kathy protested) but a bargain it was. The first Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, was not in Robben Island. In fact, in 1994, the World Economic Forum selected him as "Global Leader for Tomorrow". Where South Africa has been led is in plain view. Similarities with our own partitioned freedom from a Britain exhausted by war are purely coincidental. (A senior commentator on political and diplomatic affairs, Saeed Naqvi can be reached on saeednaqvi@hotmail.com. The views expressed are personal.) Johannesburg, April 1 : Former South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, a person of Indian origin (PIO), has slammed allegations that he held a secret meeting abroad in an attempt to undermine the country and its economy. "What sickens me is the allegation that I had secret meetings to undermine this countryA let me say categorically, there was no such meeting. Why would we do that," Gordhan asked. In a surprise move on Thursday night, President Jacob Zuma ousted Gordhan and other top ministers, inviting economic uncertainty for the country and resulting in the rand slipping four per cent against the US dollar. Gordhan and former Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas addressed the media on Friday in the National Treasury building, just hours before they were set to be removed, South Africa's News 24 reported. Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba replaced Gordhan. During the press conference, Gordhan said the allegations in the alleged intelligence report were upsetting. He said both he and Jonas had joined the liberation struggle as youths to help bring South Africa to where it is today. He urged South Africans to see a pattern of events, and not to view each incident in isolation. Gordhan first served as finance minister between 2009 and 2014. Zuma appointed him for the same portfolio after sacking two other finance ministers within a month. It was the period of turmoil that hammered South Africa's markets and currency, but Gordhan helped stabilise the situation. According to media reports, Gordhan and Zuma clashed over issues such as the management of state-owned enterprises and the need for a big new economic plans. Gordhan maintained that the hard work done by Treasury officials should not be undone. "Any undoing of confidence or decline of rating status of country will hurt ordinary South Africans. South Africans must not pay for nonsense that happens elsewhere," News 24 quoted Gordhan as saying. Analysts have warned that dismissing Gordhan and other key cabinet ministers could cause chaos, a CNNMoney report said. Zuma's deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, criticised the President's decision to fire Gordhan. South Africa's main opposition party, Democratic Alliance, said it would try to remove the president via a vote in parliament. "We therefore urge all political parties, including members of the ANC, to vote President Jacob Zuma out when (our) motion of no confidence is debated in the National Assembly," said the party's leader Mmusi Maimane. New Delhi, April 1 : The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday conducted simultaneous raids on 110 shell companies across the country, an official said. According to an ED official, these companies were suspected to be involved in dubious and illegal transactions during demonetisation. "Several top business houses being searched in various cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata," the official told IANS. The raids are being carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to investigate instances of money laundering and illegal foreign exchange transactions. Hyderabad, April 1 : Seventy-five years after it was set up to manage the currency of Nizams, the State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) on Saturday became part of history with its merger with the State Bank of India (SBI). It was the identity and an integral part of the rich legacy of this historic city and one of the last remnants of the Asaf Jahi dynasty of the erstwhile Hyderabad state. The curtains were drawn on Saturday on the last of the famous symbols built by Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh and last Nizam of the then largest and wealthiest princely state. The bank was a contribution of Osman Ali Khan, the architect of modern Hyderabad who also developed railways, airlines, postal services, High Court, Osmania University, Osmania Hospital, reservoirs, irrigation projects and industry. Considered world's richest man of his times, he set up 'Hyderabad State Bank' on August 8, 1941. As the central bank of the princely state, it managed Nizam's currency -- the Osmania Sikka, public debt and commercial banking operations. The bank opened its first branch at Gunfoundry in Hyderabad on April 5, 1942. When Hyderabad State acceded to the Indian Union in 1948, the bank had nearly 50 branches spread over Telangana and parts of the present day Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Hyderabad State Bank became State Bank of Hyderabad and was taken over by the Reserve Bank of India in 1956. In 1959, it became a subsidiary of the SBI. After formation of Telangana in 2014, SBH was the lead bank of the newly created state. SBH's headquarters at Gunfoundry was an iconic building and one of the city landmarks. SBH's total business stood at Rs 2.60 lakh crore as on December 30, 2016. Nothing will change for customers of the bank, which had about 2,000 branches and the life will also be same for its 19,000 employees. However, for Hyderabadis this change in the identity is a huge loss. "It is a sad day. It is one more deletion from our history," heritage activist P. Anuradha Reddy told IANS. She recalled the iconic building was designed by Muhammad Fayazuddin, who was Hyderabad state architect and India's first town planner, who designed many other lanmark buildings in the city. Reddy points out how Hyderabad is losing one institution after the other having strong identity with the city and its history. Deccan Airways started by Hyderabad State was also absorbed into Indian Airlines Corporation. "My father Sreeram Bhoopal who was from Hyderabad Civil Service had an account in Hyderabad Bank. It had a unique system where one can deposit his valuables in safety box even during night time and the next day move it to his bank locker," said Reddy, a member of India National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. "The development has come as a shock for us," said Mohammad Safiullah, a city historian who was planning an exhibition to mark platinum jubilee of the bank. Deccan Heritage Trust wanted to display its collection of currency of Nizam and India. Safiullah feels sad that the name of Hyderabad has been dropped for forever from the bank, which had strong link to the city and its history. (Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in) Srinagar, April 1 : Panic gripped Srinagar city on Saturday after gunshots were heard following reports that two militants had entered a hotel building, police said. Shops were shut in Lal Chowk and Maisuma areas, but it was not immediately clear what the origin of the gunshots was. "There is no evidence of militants having entered the hotel," a senior police official said. "It seems that a security man must have fired speculative shots in the air," he said. Youths in Maisuma started pelting stones at the security forces who were trying to control the situation in the area. Washington, April 1 : Combined assets of US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, senior advisor Jared Kushner could exceed $700 million, a White House financial disclosure has revealed. Ivanka and Kushner, collected about $195 million in income, according to the disclosure issued on Friday which included also about 180 of the men and women serving in the White House. Other Trump aides with lucrative histories include Trump's top economic adviser Gary Cohn, the former president of banking giant Goldman Sachs, who netted up to around $75 million in the previous year, and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon who made up to $2.5 million, CNN reported. The financial background of Kushner, Bannon and Cohn are detailed in new forms that disclose the assets that they held when they walked in the doors of the White House -- before administration counsel advised them to resign from various postings, divest certain holdings or recuse themselves from future decisions. Kushner, like Trump, a prominent real estate titan, held positions in 267 separate entities, ranging from the Trump transition team to dozens of property holdings in New York and New Jersey. Ivanka Trump, who just this week formally said she would join the West Wing after serving as an informal adviser to her father, is yet to file her own disclosure forms. But the White House said earlier on Friday that her documents would look largely similar to her husband's. Set up a portable in the yard. Tell to take care of the upkeep themselves. Where is the Christian Chapel in Peel region schools. Seems what's fair for one, is fair for the other. New Delhi, April 1 : External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday called on visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. "Namaskar Malaysia. EAM Sushma Swaraj calls on PM Najib Razak ahead of extensive bilateral engagements planned during the day," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. "Malaysia and India share a bond that goes beyond formal relations. A friendship that is reflected in the warm welcome I received at Rashtrapati Bhavan," Razak said in a tweet on Saturday. Earlier on Saturday, Razak called on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President M. Hamid Ansari. Razak, who arrived in Chennai on Thursday, is on a five-day state visit to India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi received Razak at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday, following which he was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour. Washington, April 1 : US President Donald Trump wants former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn to testify to Congress to seek an immunity deal against allegations that he colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential elections, the White House said on Friday. "I think he believes that Mike Flynn should go testify," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a press briefing on Friday. "He should go up there and do what he needs to do to get the story out," The Hill magazine quoted Spicer as saying. Asked whether the White House is concerned about what Flynn might say to congressional investigators, Spicer said "nope". Spicer disputed the notion that Trump's advice to Flynn means he believes the retired Army lieutenant general committed a crime in his dealings with Russia. "Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media and Democrats, of historic proportion!" Trump tweeted earlier on Friday. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly needled Clinton aides who reportedly sought immunity in a federal investigation into her use of a private email server. He expressed his belief that immunity details were a sign of guilt, the Hill magazine reported. "The reason they get immunity is because they did something wrong," he said in September. "If they didn't do anything wrong, they don't think in terms of immunity. Five people. Folks, I'm telling you: Nobody's seen anything like this in our country's history." Flynn's lawyer told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that, in exchange for the promise of not being prosecuted, he is willing to talk to the House and Senate Intelligence panels as part of their probes into whether Trump associates colluded with Russia to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. The panels have not, thus far, accepted the offer. Imphal, April 1 : The newly-formed Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in Manipur has ordered an inquiry into a 2010 CCTV scam involving over Rs eight crore. The three-member committee constituted on Friday began working on the pre-poll pledge of the BJP to fight corruption beginning from even a single rupee and punishing the guilty ones. The Committee will submit its report within 15 days. Then Congress government in 2010 had sanctioned Rs 8.01 crore for the installation of 100 CCTV cameras. At least 50 and 27 cameras were to be installed at the Raj Bhavan and the Chief Minister's office complex, respectively. The rest were for different parts in the city here. It is alleged that soon after installation, the cameras installed by a Bengaluru firm began to malfunction. Following the media attention, a three member inquiry committee was constituted but it never filed a report. The coalition government in Manipur was formed in March after three consecutive terms by the Congress party. Dhaka, April 1 : Three more bodies of militants were found on Saturday after the police in the country's northeastern region stormed the second hideout of the Neo-JMB members holed up there, the police said. The Neo-JMB, an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, was blamed for the deadly July 1, 2016 attack on a Spanish cafe in Dhaka, which killed 22 people. Bangladesh's Counter-Terrorism Police Unit Chief Monirul Islam said that "Operation Maximus", to flash out the second militant hideout in the country's Moulvibazar district, about 200 km north-east of capital Dhaka, was over. "The bodies of two men and a woman were found after the law enforcers managed to enter the Neo-JMB hideout" the police official said. He said the militants were most likely killed in "suicide explosions" like seven other militants of another hideout of the district where law enforcers conducted "Operation Hit Back" on March 30, Xinhua news agency reported. Security forces surrounded two buildings in two separate places in Moulvibazar district since early Wednesday. After the first operation, Islam said "Seven bodies were found scattered at the militant den in Moulvibazar's Nasirnagar". He said "We're primarily sure the slain militants of both the hideouts are members of Neo JMB". Georgia (Usa) : Georgia (USA) April 1 (IANS) Not putting a timetable on his return, four-time champion Tiger Woods confirmed he will not be fit for next week's Masters. "Unfortunately, I won't be competing in this year's Masters. I did about everything I could to play, but my back rehabilitation didn't allow me the time to get tournament ready," the former World No.1 said in a statement on his official website. Winner of 14 majors, the American has not played since withdrawing from the Dubai Desert Classic on 3 February with ongoing back spasms. "I'm especially upset because it's a special anniversary for me that's filled with a lot of great memories. I can't believe it's been 20 years since I won my first green jacket. "I have no timetable for my return, but I will continue my diligent effort to recover, and want to get back out there as soon as possible," Woods added. Woods returned to action in December after a 17 month hiatus but missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open in January after rounds of 76 and 72 and was injured again after an opening round of 77 in Dubai the following week. "I'd like to pass along my regrets to Billy Payne, the Augusta National membership, staff, volunteers and patrons, that I won't be there. I will be at the Champions Dinner and I look forward to seeing a lot of old friends," he said. "Augusta National has been a very important place to me and my family for over 20 years, and while I'm disappointed, it will be good to be back there Tuesday." Islamabad, April 1 : Iran is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the long-standing Kashmir issue if requested, Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan, Mehdi Honardoost, has said. "Any conflict or tension between the two countries (Pakistan and India) will hinder the progress and development of both the countries but will also impact upon the economies of other regional countries," said Honardoost during an interview to the Associated Press of Pakistan. Commenting on Pakistan-Iran trade ties, Honardoost said a Free Trade Agreement draft has been signed between the two nations and it will soon be operative to enhance two-way business and trade engagements. "Our future is bright after the removal of impediments. Hopefully, our trade relations would continue to grow," he remarked. Concerned officials from both the countries are also expected to meet in an upcoming 20th round of Pakistan-Iran Joint Economic Commission (JEC) soon to further strengthen trade ties between the two, he added. To a question on the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Honardoost said the project was not only a game-changer for the region but would be a unifying force for the countries in it. Seoul, April 1 : North Korea claimed on Saturday that the US is putting the peninsula in danger of another war by continuing "madcap" military drills in the region. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that B-1B Lancer strategic bombers made a series of flights over Korea between March 15 and 30. The B-1Bs from Guam conducted bombing drills in South Korea's airspace on five sorties in preparation for a surprise attack on the North's major targets, the communist nation's state news agency added. The US Forces Korea (USFK) made public a joint exercise involving one B-1B bomber and South Korea's fighter jets held on March 22, reported Yonhap news agency. "The deployment of such bombers on the Korean Peninsula is made in accordance with a related training programme. We do not reveal every information," a USFK official said. But a South Korean defence source said it's true that the US flew B-1Bs over Korea five times in the past two weeks. The source cited the allies' principle of only disclosing specific moves of strategic weapons when necessary. The KCNA also took issue with a reported exercise of American special forces here, calling it a "madcap rehearsal for carrying out the beheading operation," which drives the situation into "the most extreme phase". It was referring to the possibility of the US trying to take out the North's leadership. South Korea and the US have been carrying out their annual combined defence drills since early March. The North has long responded angrily to the allies' move. This year, in particular, Pyongyang has shown a sensitive reaction to rumours of a possible pre-emptive attack or an operation to remove leader Kim Jong-un. The Donald Trump administration has stated that it will consider "all options" to deal with North Korea. Yangon, April 1 : Multi-party parliamentary by-elections began across Myanmar on Saturday morning with two million voters going to the polls to cast their votes. A total of 94 candidates, including 16 women, were competing for 19 vacant parliamentary seats in 22 townships across the nation. It is the first by-election since the new government, led by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), took office last year, reported Xinhua news agency. Of the 19 vacant parliamentary seats, nine are with the House of Representatives (Lower House), three with the House of Nationalities (Upper House) and seven with the state parliaments. Of the 94 candidates, 87 are from 24 political parties with 18 each shared by the NLD and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), while seven are individuals. In Yangon region, over one million voters are expected to cast their votes in five townships constituencies, including two competitively strong ones -- Kawhmu and Hlaingtharya. The vacant seat of House of Representatives in Kawhmu, left by Aung San Suu Kyi after she became a government cabinet member, was contested among nine candidates, while Hlaingtharya's similar seat was competed among eight candidates. In Kawhmu township constituency, the main opponents for the seat of House of Representatives are U Kyaw Swe Win of the NLD and U Kyaw Zin Hein of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). In the Hlaingtharya township constituency, the main competitors are represented by U Win Min of the NLD and U Tin Yu of the USDP. The 19 seats were left by Parliament members after they were appointed government cabinet ministers, while other vacancies were available as some constituencies failed to hold polling in the last general election in 2015. The polling began at 6 a.m. (local time) and will close at 4 p.m. It will be followed by open counting of votes. Election results or names of winning parliamentarians-elect will be announced in Nay Pyi Taw late Saturday. New Delhi, April 1 : Real estate company Unitech's Managing Directors Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra were arrested on Saturday by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police. A court here sent them to two days police custody. The Chandra brothers were booked for cheating buyers as Unitech first failed to complete a real estate project in Gurugram's Sector 70 on time and later refund the money along with the interest to buyers. The court sent them to two days police custody after police told it that their custody was required to ascertain the money trail and to recover the related documents. The two were produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ashu Garg. "A team of the EOW went to Gurugram on Friday night and raided the residence of Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra. The team arrested them for laundering around Rs 35 crore," said Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma. Verma added that there were 91 complaints against them in connection with the Gurugram project for which valid permission from the competent authority was not taken. The project was to be completed by 2014. The accused are booked under charges dealing with criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy. In 2015, the court had issued a non-bailable warrant against them in a misappropriation of funds case. It was alleged by the investors that the accused persons collected around Rs 500 crore from the investors as well as banks but did not utilise even a single penny towards the fulfilment of the contractual obligation and instead misappropriated the money for some other project. New Delhi, April 1 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak ahead of delegation-level talks here on Saturday. "Honouring a shared heritage. PM @narendramodi receives PM @NajibRazak at Hyderabad House," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. A number of agreements are expected to be signed between India and Malaysia following the delegation-level talks between the two sides. Earlier in the day, Razak was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Thereafter he called on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj too called on the visiting dignitary. Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday on a six-day visit to India and reched New Delhi on Friday evening. He will also visit Jaipur on Sunday where he will meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. The is the Malaysian Prime Minister's third official visit to India. Ludlow said: There are appx 60 indigenous tribes in Mexico and I'll bet you before the Spaniards infested that area, women were treated as equals. That's just my guess. Click to expand... taxslave said: I hope the young lady has a couple of brothers. With sharp knive. Click to expand... Aztec slavery, within the structure of the Aztec or Mexica society, where slaves (tlacotin) constituted an important class. Tlacotin were distinct from war captives.Slavery in the Aztec Empire was very different from what Europeans of the same period established in their colonies. Aztec slavery was personal, not hereditary. A slave's children were free. The slave could have possessions and even own other slaves. Slaves could buy their liberty, and could be set free if they were able to show they had been mistreated or if they had children with or were married to their masterserrr maybe notjust sayini guess I am becoming disillusioned about humanity in general lately and often think the worst about usor conversely"wanna buy my sister mister?"Thank gawd for george carlin on youtube Guwahati/Shillong, April 1 : Meghalaya and Assam on Saturday ordered the Chief Secretaries of both the states to re-start their dialogue process to resolve the vexed inter-state boundary disputes. The decision was taken at a meeting between Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma at Brahmaputra State Guest House in Guwahati. "The Chief Secretaries of Assam and Meghalaya have been asked to continue the dialogue on the 12 areas of difference," Sonowal told journalists after the meeting. "We have discussed a lot of issues, and it was fruitful. The Chief Secretaries will discuss the boundary dispute. We have also decided to work together for our mutual growth," he said. The 12 areas of difference include Upper Tarabari, Gizang reserve forest, Hahim, Langpih, Borduar, Boklapara, Nongwah-Matamur, Khanapara-Pilangkata, Deshdemoreah, Khanduli-Psiar area, Ratacherra and Blocks I and II. The total area of difference is 2,765.14 square km, of which Blocks I and II cover 1,583.42 square km. Saturday's meeting was the first official meeting between the two Chief Ministers after Sonowal assumed office in Assam in May last year. Sangma last held discussions with then Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on June 5, 2010 following the incident in which four Khasi villagers were killed during firing by Assam police personnel at Langpih on May 14, 2010. "We had a fruitful dialogue and as a follow up of discussions held earlier, more discussions will be held so that both the states can resolve the long pending issue mutually which will be acceptable to both the states," the Meghalaya Chief Minister said. Moreover, he said that issues related to disputes would be further discussed at the level of the chief secretaries. On the Meghalaya Assembly resolution asking the central government to constitute a Boundary Commission to resolve the inter-state boundary imbroglio, Sangma said: "They (Assam) have made their stand but we will discuss mutually." In March 2011, the Meghalaya Assembly had passed a resolution to urge the central government to constitute a Boundary Commission to re-examine and redefine the inter-state boundary between the two states. The Assam assembly adopted another resolution negating the Meghalaya resolution. Meanwhile, both the Chief Ministers decided to conduct joint operations along the inter-state boundary to flush out militants along the inter-state boundary to ensure peace and tranquillity. "We have also decided to work together to restore the environment and whoever is doing illegal activities like hill cutting should stop, and action will be taken jointly on this issue," Sonowal said. Bhubaneswar, April 1 : Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday formally launched the BS-IV grade fuel distribution across the country on the occasion of Utkala Dibasa here. In a bid to provide a clean environment, the minister launched distribution of the BS-IV grade fuel in 13 cities through video conferencing here. Pradhan termed the initiative as the beginning of a new era to reduce environment pollution. "Today we begin a new era of clean transportation fuels that will benefit 1.25 billion citizens of our country by substantially reducing pollution levels in our cities," the minister said. While BS-IV grade fuels have been introduced from April 1, the BS-VI standard fuels have been targeted to be launched from 2020. "Migration to BS-IV fuels shows India's resolve under the leadership of the Prime Minister to cut down emissions in a voluntary commitment to @COP21," Pradhan tweeted. Speaking on the ongoing tussle with the Odisha government over IOCL's refinery project at Paradeep, Pradhan said the Centre is ready for a fresh dialogue to break the deadlock between the Odisha government and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL). The state government has denied providing fiscal incentives to the company's 15 million-tonne crude oil refinery at Paradeep in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district. "The present government at the Centre is not responsible for the delay in setting up of the project. The expansion of the refinery's capacity from nine million tonnes to 15 million tonnes is good for the people of the state. If the Odisha government feels that there should be more financial support to minimise the state's burden, we are ready for fresh negotiations," said Pradhan. Vatican City, April 1 : Addressing an audience of Spanish Archbishops on Saturday, Pope Francis warned that the Devil entered through the pocket, urging the religious leaders to cultivate the spirit of poverty. The Archbishops of Valladolid, Sevilla and Toledo had gathered at the Vatican to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Pontifical San Jose Spanish School in Rome, Efe news reported. "Don't forget this. The Devil enters via the pocket," said Francis, adding: "please, eschew ecclesiastical careerism...it's a curse." The pontiff said "you cannot be content with a comfortable, worry-free life without feeling the need to cultivate the spirit poverty rooted at the Heart of Christ." He said the formation of a priest must not only be academic, although that was an important aspect, but rather should incorporate all facets of life. Priests must not be content with getting a degree, but must also be full time disciples, he said. The pope held the meeting in Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. Chennai/New Delhi, April 1 : Indian passenger vehicle makers closed last month with positive sales numbers despite the scare created by the Supreme Court's ban on the sale of BS IV emission norm non-compliant vehicles from April 1 onwards. "March 2017 was challenging as automobile sector in India had to offload BS III inventory which was re-affirmed by Supreme Court's decision towards the closing. Yamaha however, has managed it well and logged in a decent growth for this month," said Roy Kurian, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt. Ltd. Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd in a regulatory filing in BSE said it sold 139,763 units (domestic 127,999 units, exports 11,764 units) in March, up from 129,343 units (domestic 118,895 units, exports 10,450 units) sold during March 2016. For the whole of last fiscal, the company sold 15,68,603 units, up from 14,29,248 units sold in 2015-16. India's second largest car maker Hyundai Motor India Ltd sold 55,614 units (domestic 44.757 units, exports 10,857 units) last month, up from 51,542 unis (domestic 41,201 units, exports 10,251 units) sold in March 2016. In the last fiscal, Hyundai Motor sold 676,827 units, up from 656,541 units sold during 2015-16. Tata Motors logged total sales of 57,145 units last month, up by eight per cent over 53,057 units sold in March 2016. While Tata Motors logged sales growth under its passenger vehicles segment selling 15,433 units in March 2017 in the domestic market, the sales of commercial vehicles went into reverse gear last month at 35,876 units, a fall of six per cent over March 2016 numbers. The wholesale figures of Tata Motors commercial vehicles were affected by the Supreme Court judgement announced on March 29, leading to confusion and the consequent focus at the dealer level to increase retail and to reduce the levels of unsold stock, the company said in a statement. Tata Motors closed last fiscal with total sales of 542,561 units, higher by six per cent over 511,705 vehicles sold the previous fiscal. The Japanese-Indian car making joint venture Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 13,796 units in the domestic market and shipped out 636 units of the Etios series in March. The company had sold 7,637 units in the domestic market and exported 1,370 units of the Etios series in March 2016. "With the end of this financial year, we are happy to announce that Toyota has registered a growth of 12 per cent when compared to the last financial year. This has been possible with the launch of our two new products -- the Innova Crysta and the new Fortuner," N. Raja, Director and Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing, said. "This growth further reinforces the trust our customers have in Toyota products and we would like to thank our customers for this appreciation," Raja was quoted as saying in a statement. On its part, Honda Cars India said it closed last month selling 18,950 units against 17,430 units in the corresponding month last year, registering a growth of 8.7 per cent. Ford India Pvt Ltd said it sold a total of 24,832 units in March, up from 21,198 units sold in March 2016. Similarly, two-wheeler makers too announced positive sales numbers for the last month of the fiscal that went by. Eicher Motors Ltd, the makers of the Bullet range of bikes, said it sold 60,113 motorcycles last month as against 51,320 units sold in March 2016. "Owing to our strong order book, we have cleared all BS III inventory in due time. Our customers will be receiving BS IV-compliant motorcycles from April 1, 2017," Eicher Motors President Rudratej Singh was quoted as saying in the statement. Eicher Motors closed last year selling 666,490 units, up from 508,154 units sold in 2015-16. Yamaha Motor India said it sold 76,144 units, up from 60,032 units sold in March 2016. New Delhi, April 1 : Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Najib Razak headed delegation-level bilateral talks between India and Malaysia here on Saturday. "Mutual intent to deepen cooperation. PM @narendramodi and PM @NajibRazak reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations during their meeting," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. A number of agreements are expected to be signed between India and Malaysia following the delegation-level talks. Modi and Razak held a one-on-one meeting ahead of the delegation-level talks. Earlier in the day, Razak was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Thereafter he called on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj too called on the visiting dignitary. Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday on a six-day visit to India and reached New Delhi on Friday evening. He will also visit Jaipur on Sunday where he will meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. The is the Malaysian Prime Minister's third official visit to India. Panaji, April 1 : Former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat on Saturday said he was innocent and it was up to the people to judge whether he was being politically harassed or not. He was reacting to the attachment of his properties by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Louis Berger bribery case. "I have not done anything wrong. I was given an intimation by the ED that my properties were attached, only after the news appeared in the media," Kamat, a sitting Congress MLA told IANS in Panaji on Saturday. The ED earlier this week attached properties worth Rs 1.95 crore belonging to Kamat and another former Chief Minister Churchill Alemao, which were purchased around the time the Louis Berger bribery scam had occurred sometime in 2010. When asked if he was being made a victim of political harassment, Kamat said: "It is up to the people to decide that." Former Chief Ministers Churchill Alemao and Digambar Kamat and other government officials have been accused of allegedly accepting a $976,630 bribe in 2010 from officials of US-based Louis Berger consultancy firm to secure implementation rights of a multi-billion dollar water and sewerage project in Goa worth Rs 1,031 crore funded by the Japan International Co-Operation Agency (JICA). Top officials linked to the JICA project as well as senior Louis Berger employees have been arrested by the Crime Branch along with Alemao. Kamat has been charged for criminal conspiracy 120-b and 201 (tampering with evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The FIR was first filed after Louis Berger headquarters in the US, discovered during its internal audit that bribes had been paid to elected representatives and government officials in Goa for securing contracts. Subsequently the ED started a separate probe in the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002. ED officials have said that 14 shell companies were formed by Louis Berger officials to transfer the money from the company account to beneficiaries in Goa. MalA, April 1 : The Maldives' opposition alliance has denounced the governments "new campaign of intimidation and harassment against opposition leaders" after a failed bid to impeach the speaker of Parliament. Speaker Abdulla Maseeh was accused of allowing President Abdulla Yameen to control the Parliament and preventing the institution from holding the government and state institutions accountable. After a no-confidence motion against Maseeh was defeated earlier this week (March 27), fresh terror charges were raised against former President Mohamed Nasheed. Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was expelled from ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), the party he founded; and former Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim was abruptly taken back to jail, reported Maldives Independent on Saturday. Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim and his deputy, MP Abdulla Riyaz, were interrogated by the police whilst jailed MP Ahmed Mahloof was deprived of his weekly phone call, family meeting and conjugal visit for one month. "This week's crackdown appears to be an attempt by the President to effectively criminalise the political opposition and thwart any attempts by the Parliament to hold the President and his regime accountable," the Opposition alliance said in a joint statement on Friday. Ahead of the no-confidence vote, former Presidents Gayoom and Nasheed along with JP leader Gasim and Adhaalath Party leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla had signed a pact "to unite against President Abdulla Yameen's increasing authoritarianism." The grand coalition sought to dismantle the pro-government parliamentary majority with the bid to remove speaker Abdulla Maseeh, said the report. Hours after the vote, the ethics committee of the PPM expelled Gayoom from the party, accusing him of "working with the opposition to overthrow the lawful government." But Gayoom, who is in India visiting a sick relative, disputed the legal standing of the ethics committee, which he had suspended in October at the height of the PPM's leadership dispute. According to the PPM's charter, the party's president can only be dismissed if a two-thirds majority of delegates at a national conference votes in favour of a no-confidence motion. The PPM on Saturday said that loss of any one person is no obstacle to the party's work, referring to Gayoom ouster. On Thursday, the civil court ordered the police to shut down the "office of the PPM president" set up by Gayoom in Henveiru Thema and to stop any activity being carried out under the party's name with the PPM flag and logo. On Friday evening, police officers broke the padlock on the gate and removed the PPM nameplate and flag from Gayoom's office. Fresh terrorism charges were also filed against former President Nasheed over the military's nine-day "protective custody" of then-MP Yameen in 2010. On Friday night, Anas Abdul Sattar, secretary-general of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), was also summoned for questioning at the police headquarters. Sattar said the police interrogated him over a tweet from the MDP's official account that urged opposition supporters to gather near the police headquarters in solidarity with Gasim when he was summoned for questioning. Mumbai, April 1 : With the Supreme Court order banning sale or serving of liquor becoming effective from Saturday, bars and wine shops dotting highways in Maharashtra went 'dry' amidst the affected sector predicting huge losses of revenues and jobs and spelling a acatastrophe.' Thousands of hotels, restaurants, bars and liquor shops dotting the national and state highways across the state stopped sale or serving liquor since midnight, after "polite reminder calls" from the state Excise Department. This will remain in force at least till September 30 when the next hearing is due in the Supreme Court. According to Hotels and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI), around 35,000 restaurants, bars and liquor shops either face closure or downsizing in the western region along, spelling doom for the industry. "This could lead to massive job losses, of more than a million, across India in the hoteliering industry since it cannot be run in an environment of flux or state of uncertainty," said HRAWI President Dilip Datwani. The axe will fall on around 13,655 bars and liquor shops in Maharashtra, including 290 in Mumbai city, 2,000 in Mumbai Metropolitan Region and another 9,925 across the state, rued ex-President of Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India, Kamlesh Barot. "The food service industry is valued at Rs 408,000 crore of which Rs 200,000 crore could be lost. Owing to government policies and rules, these restaurants and shops cannot relocate, or diversify in any manner," he said. Barot said that if these figures are extrapolated for India, there will be a "catastrophe" for the tourism and hospitality industry in terms of revenue lost of more than 30 percent directly for liquor and another over 20 percent on food, besides guests avoiding to visit or stay at such dry outlets adjacent to highways. "Excise revenue from alcohol estimated at around Rs 12,000 crores per annum would be slashed to half, the travel and tourism sector which contributes seven percent of India's GDP with 3.75 crore jobs may be forced to terminate over 10 lakh jobs, as the industry is capital-intensive but works on wafer-thin margins," Datwani warned. While imposing the 500 metres ban, the state governments will henceforth not issue new or renew excise licences for such outlets though subsisting licenses can operate till September 30. Both Datwani and Barot feel that the impact will be harder on highways running through big cities - like Eastern Express Highway and Western Express Highway in Mumbai - which are patronised more by locals than inter-state travelers, and most are likely to shut down permanently. Former HRAWI President Bharat Malkani said that while licensed outlets will comply, the illegal vendors may still continue their services, and travelers will also find ways and means to procure it. Datwani pointed out that besides huge losses to the exchequer, tourism industry will be hit, particularly when hotels in India rank among the most highly-taxed in the world. "Hotels here pay direct and indirect taxes to the tune of 38 percent overall, compared to barely 5-7 percent in Japan and China. The annual licence fees for permit rooms in Mumbai was recently hiked from Rs.366,000 to Rs.600,000 and for beer bars from Rs 95,000 to Rs 150,000. The impact of the ruling is expected to be huge on the revenue collections of states," Datwani said. On the moves from certain quarters to "reclassify" highways running through cities as "local roads", the industry feels it may help, but the procedure could be very long-winded and complicated to achieve this. Beijing, April 1 : China has introduced new restrictions in the far-western region of Xinjiang in what it describes as a campaign against Islamist extremism. The measures, which took effect from Saturday, include prohibiting "abnormally" long beards and the wearing of veils in public places, reported South China Morning Post newspaper. The latest restrictions, outlined in a sweeping new anti-extremism legislation, come on the heels of a series of steps to increase surveillance in the region that include the surrender of passports and mandatory GPS trackers in cars. It will also be illegal to refuse to watch state television and listen to state radio, or prevent children from receiving national education -- activities deemed "manifestations" of Aextremism, according to the Aofficial news website News.ts.cn. "They're doubling down on security in Xinjiang," said James Leibold, an associate professor at Australia's Le Trobe University, whose research focuses on China's Uyghur minority. The law didn't explain these measures in detail or define abnormal, but according to the state-run China Daily, long beards would be banned "as they are deemed to promote extremism". The regulation, passed by the Xinjiang legislature's standing committee, said special task Aforces to curb extremism would be set up at regional, prefectural and county governments and Alocal leaders would be evaluated annually for their localities' achievements on the matter. Beijing blames Islamist militants and separatists for attacks in Xinjiang that have killed hundreds of people in recent years, reported the daily. Rights groups claimed that the conflicts were caused by the government's repression of religious freedom and unfair ethnic policies. The new law also banned: Using religious instead of legal procedures to marry or divorce, meddling in other people's weddings, funerals and inheritance; not abiding by family planning policies, and Adeliberately damaging legal documents. The rules also stated that workers in public spaces, such as stations and airports, are now required to "dissuade" those who fully cover their bodies, including veiling their faces, from entering, and to report them to the police. New Delhi, April 1 : Real estate company Unitech's Managing Directors Sanjay Chandra and brother Ajay Chandra were arrested on Saturday by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police. A court here sent them to two-day police custody. The Chandra brothers were booked for cheating buyers, as Unitech first failed to complete a real estate project in Gurugram's Sector 70 on time and also did not refund the money along with interest to buyers. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ashu Garg sent them to police custody as the police told the court that their custody was required to ascertain the money trail and to recover the related documents. "An EOW team went to Gurugram on Friday night and raided the residence of Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra. The team arrested them for laundering around Rs 35 crore," said Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma. Verma added that there were 91 complaints against them in connection with the Gurugram project, for which valid permission from the competent authority was not taken. The project was to be completed by 2014. The accused were booked on charges relating to criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy. The Delhi Police on Friday told the court that Unitech company had allegedly collected Rs 363 crore from 557 customers for the Anthea Floors residential project. It also alleged that their licence was not approved by the competent authority for building a township. The project was started in 2011 without getting environment clearance. Unitech obtained environment clearance in September 2013. Even though it did not have environment clearance, the accused continued booking the flats without giving the real picture to investors and thus misrepresented facts to the investors, Public Prosecutor Anil Paswan told the court. He sought three days' police custody of the accused to ascertain the expenditures on the projects and the money trail. The court observed that the interrogation was required to recover the money and said: "Apparently, a large number of investors are involved and a huge sum of money is in question." "Such investors had handed over their hard earned money to the accused persons... They are still in the dark about where their money has gone and how it can be ever recovered," the court said. "It is also clear that till now, the cheated/ misappropriated amount has neither been recovered nor its trail could be established so as to secure the interests of investors." The court further said: "In my considered view, police custody of the accused persons is extremely necessary to recover the relevant documents and information either from the accused persons or at their instance." "Again, the money trail has to be ascertained and the accused persons would be required to disclose the mode, manner and destinations where the money was appropriated," the court said in its order. In 2015 also, the court had issued a non-bailable warrant against them in a misappropriation of funds case, though it was cancelled later. Sanjay Chandra is also facing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case and currently he is out on bail in that matter. Chandigarh, April 1 : The head warden of a prison was on Saturday placed under suspension after a video showing him dancing with a woman inside the jail premises went viral on social media. "Haryana Inspector General of Police (Prisons) has suspended Satwan Singh, Head Warden, District Jail Karnal with effect from April 1, 2017, for his involvement in a video of cultural programme at District Jail Jind, which went viral on social media," a state government spokesman said here. The video showed the jail warden, in uniform, performing some vulgar dance steps with a professional dancer on a stage inside the Jind jail premises during a function organised to mark the Holi festival. Other jail officials were also seen in the video. In the video, people were also seen throwing currency notes on the woman dancer during her performance. Kolkata/Chennai/Mumbai/Bengaluru, April 1 : Truck owners began an indefinite strike from Saturday to protest mainly against the proposed 50 per cent hike in the third party insurance premium, amid apprehensions that the protest could lead to supply disruption and raise commodity prices in the coming days. In a bid to resolve the stand-off, the strikers will meet Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) Chairman on Monday, and take a decision on whether to continue with the agitation based on the discussions with the regulator. "One of the reasons for going on strike is the drastic 50 per cent increase in the third party premium charged for trucks by the insurers. We have a meeting with the IRDAI Chairman on Monday at Hyderabad," said P.V. Subramani, Vice President, All India Motor Transport Congress-South Zone. The third party premium for automobiles is decided by IRDAI while all other premium rates are decided by the insurers - private and government-owned. Fleet owners normally go only for third party policies and take care of the damages to vehicles on their own. The South India Motor Transport Association and South Zone Motor Transporters' Welfare Association (SZMTWA) had gone for the indefinite strike from Thursday and All India Confederation of Goods Vehicles Owners' Association (ACOGOA) joined the protests from Saturday. "We protest the exhorbitant rise in premium of the third party insurance, which has gone up by 800 percent from 2002 to till date," ACOGOA's President Channa Reddy told IANS. On the insurer's argument about the rising third party accident claims and the compensation paid, Subramani said: "Let them show their numbers in a transparent manner. If the business is loss-making, why is that the insurers are offering discounts on premium that ranges up to 70 per cent in the case of comprehensive policies and up to two per cent in the case third party policies?" Around 22 lakh trucks have stayed off the road in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry since Thursday midnight. "Our future course of action will depend on the outcome of the meeting with IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) on Monday in Hyderabad," said SZMTWA's General Secretary G.R. Shanmugappa. "The five states and one union territory (in South India) will incur a loss of Rs 5,500 crore per day due to this agitation," he added. Around 10,000 trucks in Maharashtra have stopped plying to south Indian states in support of the strike. Maharashtra State Truck/Tempo/Tanker/Bus Transporters Confederation Senior Vice-President Raman Khosla told IANS: "We are fully in support of our brethren on strike and so we are not sending any vehicles from here to cross over to the southern states. The trucks daily carry all types of cargo, ranging from foods, fruits, vegetables, industrial good, general and consumer goods for the markets there." Truck owners are also demanding reinstatement of tariff advisory committee and protesteing against fines proposed in the Motor Vehicles Act amendment. All India Motor Transport Congress's (AIMTC) President S.K. Mittal said truckers have been demanding category wise real time data from the insurance regulator but this has not been provided so far. "Previously, tariff advisory committee was an active body having representatives from all stakeholders. The committee must be re-instated and real time data should be made available to the committee to take the final decision of hike. Till then, the current arbitrary and unilateral third party insurance premium hike should be kept in abeyance," Mittal told IANS. According to truckers in West Bengal, the strike has been successful not only in Bengal but also in Odisha, Assam, Tripura and Bihar. "Along with premium hike, we are protesting against the fines proposed in the amended Motor Vehicles Act. We met officials of Union Surface Transport Department and they assured to take care of truckers' concerns. But after that IRDAI announced its decision to implement the premium hike," said Federation of West Bengal Truck Operators Association President Mahinder Singh Gill said. Thiruvananthapuram, April 01 : Communist party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has sought to distance the party from the issue of vigilance chief Jacob Thomas proceeding on endless leave. Mr. Balakrishnan told reporters on Saturday that the CPI(M) did not ask for Jacob Thomas to be removed from the post of VACB chief. The Marxist strongmans comments come in the wake of reports that Jacob Thomas will not return as vigilance chief and that he had gone on leave at the instance of the CPI(M)-led LDF government. Opposition legislator Ramesh Chennithala, too, had the other day alleged that the vigilance chief was removed owing to pressure exerted on the government by the CPI(M). The party never interfered in administrative issues, the CPI(M) state secretary said, adding that it was for the state government to decide where officers should be posted. The CPI(M) neither interferes nor doles out counsel to the government on the matter of assigning posts to officers, he clarified. The LDF government has drawn severe flak from several quarters over Jacob Thomas proceeding on leave. The issue snowballed into a controversy after vernacular news channels reported that Mr. Thomas had gone on leave at the instance of the state government. However, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has denied reports that he asked the vigilance chief to proceed on leave. Jacob Thomas had come under fire from the Kerala high court on multiple occasions with the court going so far as to ask whether a vigilance raj was prevailing in the state and charge the vigilance chief with overstepping his bounds. A single bench the other day asked the counsel for the state government during a hearing why Jacob Thomas was still continuing as VACB chief. Political observers are viewing this particular observation by the Kerala HC as the proverbial last straw for the LDF government that was reportedly growing frustrated over Jacob Thomas style of functioning. The view that Jacob Thomas was ousted as VACB chief by the govt. rather than the former going on leave of his own volition is gaining traction, even though it has hardly been two weeks since the chief minister expressed unwavering support to the embattled IPS officer while speaking in the state assembly. Chandigarh, April 1 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday assured that the spike in sand and gravel prices, triggered by his government's crackdown on illegal mining, would get reversed as more legal mines become operational over the next few days. "The Amarinder government has come down heavily on the mining mafia, which flourished during the erstwhile (Parkash Singh) Badal regime, initiating several measures to curb illegal mining in the state. This has led to a temporary spike in the price of sand and 'bajri' (gravel), with even the legally operated mines cutting down on production as a precautionary step, taking an excessively cautious approach in the face of the government action," a government spokesman said here. The situation on the mining front was reviewed here on Saturday, at a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister and attended by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa. Officials of the Directorate of Mines, Department of Industries and Commerce made a detailed presentation on the mining situation in the state and the measures being taken by the department to check illegal mining and improve the supply situation. The Chief Minister directed the officials that a new transparent mining policy should be formulated within 30 days and asked them to submit its draft for a further review. The meeting discussed various measures to improve the supply situation, including an increase in the number of legal mines, deployment of modern digging techniques and stringent enforcement of rules to ensure that illegal mining becomes unviable, the spokesperson said. The concerned officials told the Chief Minister that 59 mines were ready for auction while another 58 are awaiting environmental clearance and would be auctioned soon. Chandigarh, April 1 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday ruled out a Spain-like 'Historical Memory Law' to "erase all remnants of the cruel and humiliating British colonial rule" in the state. The Chief Minister made this clear in response to questions from media persons at Mohali town, 10 km from here, regarding a proposal of state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal to bring in such a legislation to formally condemn British rule and destroy its remains in Punjab. Amarinder said that being a historian himself, he did not believe in wiping out history but in learning from it. "By changing the name of Akbar Road, one cannot wipe out the existence of Emperor Akbar," he said, making it clear that he was not in favour of the kind of legislation that Manpreet Badal had propounded. He added that these could be Manpreet's "personal opinions" but he would look into any such legislation as and when it is formally brought to his notice. "History can neither be changed nor rewritten. It is a part of India's past, from which we have already learnt our lessons and moved forward. I am personally not in favour of tampering with history, be it good or bad," Amarinder said. Johannesburg, April 1 : South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) treasurer general, Zweli Mkhize, on Saturday said he had "reservations" about President Jacob Zuma's cabinet reshuffle that saw Indian-origin Pravin Gordhan ousted as Finance Minister even as the widely-respected minister slammed allegations he held a secret meeting abroad in an attempt to undermine the country and its economy. Mkhize said the ANC leadership should have been consulted on Zuma's cabinet reshuffle. "Unlike previous consultations which take place with senior officials of the ANC during such appointments and changes to the composition of the national executive, the briefing by the President left a distinct impression that the ANC is no longer the centre and thus depriving the leadership collective of its responsibly to advise politically on executive matters." The ANC needs to be able to justify all its leadership decisions as a collective, he said, and previous decisions have ordinarily been handled that way. Zuma dismissed Gordhan as part of a late night cabinet shuffle in which 10 of 35 ministers were fired. Jackson Mthembu, a senior ANC lawmaker, said Gordhan's only crime was "incorruptibility." Gordhan has slammed allegations that he held a secret meeting abroad in an attempt to undermine the country and its economy. "What sickens me is the allegation that I had secret meetings to undermine this countryA let me say categorically, there was no such meeting. Why would we do that," Gordhan said on Friday. The surprise sacking led to the rand slipping four per cent against the US dollar, reported Independent Online portal. Gordhan and former Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas addressed the media in the National Treasury building, just hours before they were set to be removed, South Africa's News 24 reported. During the press conference, Gordhan said they were not "walking out of the door voluntarily", adding the so-called intelligence report that had been used to justify their firing was "absolute nonsense". According to the report, Gordhan and Jonas had set up secret meetings to start what it called "Operation Check Mate" to sabotage Zuma. This led to Zuma calling on Gordhan to cancel the international investment roadshows to Britain and the US and immediately return to the country this week. Gordhan has been replaced by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba and Jonas by Sfiso Buthelezi. Jonas described the intelligence report as nonsensical, saying: "It's like it was written by amateurs. It's so fundamentally flawed". Gordhan strongly criticised the Indian-South African Gupta family, who is said to have close ties with Zuma, for orchestrating a campaign to malign him, Jonas and democratic institutions in South Africa. He said both he and Jonas had joined the liberation struggle as youths to help bring South Africa to where it is today. Gordhan called on the masses to organise, saying it was up to them to make history, not individuals. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his dissatisfaction with Gordhan's sacking, adding that Zuma presented the top African National Congress (ANC) leadership with a "ready made" list of the new Cabinet without consultation. Gordhan first served as finance minister between 2009 and 2014. Zuma appointed him for the same portfolio after sacking two other finance ministers within a month. It was the period of turmoil that hammered South Africa's markets and currency, but Gordhan helped stabilise the situation. According to media reports, Gordhan and Zuma clashed over issues such as the management of state-owned enterprises and the need for big new economic plans. Gordhan maintained that the hard work done by Treasury officials should not be undone. "Any undoing of confidence or decline of rating status of country will hurt ordinary South Africans. South Africans must not pay for nonsense that happens elsewhere," News 24 quoted Gordhan as saying. Analysts have warned that dismissing Gordhan and other key cabinet ministers could cause chaos, a CNNMoney report said. Zuma's deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, criticised the President's decision to fire Gordhan. South Africa's main opposition party, Democratic Alliance, said it would try to remove the President via a vote in Parliament. "We therefore urge all political parties, including members of the ANC, to vote President Jacob Zuma out when (our) motion of no confidence is debated in the National Assembly," said the party's leader Mmusi Maimane. Bengaluru, April 1 : Congress leader and former Union Railway Minister C. K. Jaffer Sharief has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi supporting Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat for the post of President of India. "Yes, I have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 29 extending my support to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to become President of India," Jaffer Sharief told IANS over the phone. Veteran Congress leader Jaffer Sharief has opined there would be nothing wrong if Bhagwat becomes the President of India. "I want Muslims should be broad-minded on supporting Bhagwat for the post of President of India. He is a patriot and deserves to become the President of the country," Sharief said. The Congress leader, who tried to join the Janata Dal (Secular) during the by-election in Hebbal, Bengaluru, when the Congress tried to select another candidate rather than his grandson as the Congress nominee for the 2016 by-election, declined to comment on rumours of him joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "I do not want to comment on rumours on joining the BJP or any other political party," he said. Dhaka, April 1 : The body of Raudha Athif, a 21-year-old model who appeared on Vogue magazine's cover and was found dead in a hostel dormitory in Bangladesh, was buried in Rajshahi city's cemetery on Saturday. Athif was a second-year student at Islami Bank Medical College in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and her body was found in her dorm room earlier this week by her classmates, reported the Daily Star newspaper. An autopsy was conducted on the body and the officials called it a suicide, according to reports. One of the three members of the autopsy team said: "There was no evidence of sexual or any other kind of abuse. We've sent for further tests in Dhaka to determine if she had ingested any pills. However, at this point, we are certain that this was a suicide." Mahmuda Begum, superintendent of the female-only hostel, said Athif "always looked happy" and "it is hard to believe she would commit suicide". Raudha's family arranged the burial proceedings with the help of the police and through a foundation. A total of 11 members of Raudha's family including her parents, brother, and cousins, attended her funeral. Maldivian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Aishath Shaan Shakir, was also present at her funeral. Athif posted regularly on her Instagram, sharing professional photos and sketches of herself with her 31,000 followers. Outfit snaps, travel logs and selfies highlighting her strikingly beautiful blue eyes were all common from the star, who had described modelling as a hobby rather than something she wanted to pursue as a career, said the report. Athif became an internet sensation in the Maldives in 2014, after a shoot that she posted online called the "Maldivian Girl With Aqua Blue Eyes". New Delhi, April 1 : An Indian parliamentary delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Saturday attended an assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Dhaka, an official said. The delegation is participating in the 136th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Dhaka from April 1 to 5. "The members of delegation attended three events: Meeting of the Forum of Women Parliamentarians; Advisory Group on HIV/Aids and Maternal, Newborn and Child Death and Meeting of the Asia Specific Geo-Political Group," a press statement added. In the meeting of women parliamentarians, Lok Sabha MP Sushmita Dev and Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen participated on the topic 'Debate on Women's Political Participation: A New Impetus to Break the Glass Ceiling'. On the occasion, Dola Sen said the commitment of India to women participation in democracy is reflected not only by their active participation in the voting process, but also in the growing enthusiasm and interest among women to secure representation in the country's legislative and other representative bodies. She said the Parliament of India has consistently endeavoured to translate the ideas and ideals of the Constitution into reality. New Delhi, April 1 : The central government has released Rs 1,447.99 crore to Tamil Nadu and Rs 1,782.44 crore to Karnataka as financial assistance for drought relief. Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) were deputed to visit the drought affected areas for spot assessment of the calamity, as per a statement. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh-headed High Level Committee (HLC) had recommended the quantum of assistance to the states based on the extant norms of assistance and the report of the IMCT. The HLC has also advised the state governments to take utmost care and ensure that all the individual beneficiary-oriented assistance is mandatorily disbursed through the bank account of the beneficiaries. In addition, the Central government has released Rs 264.11 crore from NDRF for providing aid to Tamil Nadu for the cyclonic storm 'Vardha' during December, 2016. As per reports, more than 200 farmers have committed suicide in Tamil Nadu since the 2016 drought. Many farmers from Tamil Nadu had been protesting for two weeks in Delhi with skulls of farmers who committed suicide. They demanded a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore from the Centre and farm loan waiver. On Friday, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited the farmers and demanded drought relief and waiver of loans. On Tuesday, DMK Working President M.K. Stalin met the protesting farmers and asked the Centre to promise loan waiver to Tamil Nadu farmers as it did to the farmers of Uttar Pradesh. New Delhi, April 1 : The Congress on Saturday reiterated its demand that Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) should be scrapped after an EVM malfunctioned during an official demonstration ahead of by-elections to two assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh. In a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Congress asked the poll panel to "revert to paper ballot". The by-polls are scheduled to be held in Ater and Bandhavgarh assembly constituencies next week. During a demonstration to the media ahead of the by-polls, the voter-verified paper audit trail showed the BJP as the voted party no matter whichever button was pressed on the EVM. The Congress asked the ECI to investigate the case alleging that the District Returning Officer (DRO) in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, threatened media personnel not to publish the news. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also urged the ECI on Saturday to investigate cases of faulty EVMs to ascertain if they were tampered with to favour the BJP in the just-concluded assembly elections in Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Punjab. Lucknow, April 1 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday ordered a probe into the work done under the Gomti Riverfront project. During a review meeting of the project, the Chief Minister also directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a committee for the probe. The committee will be headed by a retired judge and a report would be submitted within 45 days. He also directed Urban Development Minister Suresh Khanna and Irrigation Minister Dharmpal Singh to monitor the work on the riverfront project on a regular basis. During the meeting, the Chief Minister was apprised that of the Rs 1,513 crore earmarked for the project, almost 95 per cent -- Rs 1,435 crore -- had been spent but the work completed was only 60 per cent. Expressing his dissatisfaction at this, Yogi said the probe would also cover the delay in the completion of the project and where the money was spent. Officials presented a revised estimate of Rs 2,448 crore to the Chief Minister, after which he directed them to rethink on various works under the project, remove the unnecessary ones and complete the project at the earliest. He also observed that the pollution level was very high in the Gomti river and that if this aspect was attended to first, it would have been better. Yogi also asked the officials to set up a sewage treatment plant (STP) and directed for adequate disposal of waste and byproducts coming from various mills into the Gomti river in Pilibhit and Lakhimpur Kheri districts. The decision does not augur well for the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government, as this project was one of the most hyped dream projects of then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. A probe, insiders say, could nail many of his associates, close officials and some party leaders. Sources say the government is in the know of large-scale irregularities in the multi-crore project and wants to establish wrong-doing through a probe committee before initiating action against the corrupt. In this way, it will not just fulfil its promise to act against graft but also weaken its political opponents, they feel. New Delhi, April 1 : India and Malaysia have expressed keenness to take their bilateral trade to $15 billion in the "immediate future", with the CEO's Forum identifying infrastructure, healthcare, education and SMEs as key areas of furthering cooperation. A joint statement of the India-Malaysia CEO's Forum issued on Saturday called for a balanced Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and its conclusion at an early date. The forum's meeting held on Friday coincided with the visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. The Malaysian leader is on a five-day visit to India. The statement said that Malaysia is India's third largest trading partner in Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Bilateral trade between Malaysia was $12.8 billion in 2015-16 as against $16.9 billion in 2014-15 and the trade balance is in favour of Malaysia. "The prime ministers have expressed their aspiration to see this trade increase to $15 billion in the immediate future," it said. The statement said there has been significant growth between the two nations in various sectors. "The total investments from Malaysia stood at around $7 billion or more as against total investments of around $2.5 billion from the Indian side." At present, there are around 120 Indian companies, including 61 Indian joint ventures, seven Indian Public Sector Undertakings and 60 Indian IT companies operating in/from Malaysia. The CEO's Forum noted that there exists knowledge deficit on the opportunities available in both countries and underscored the need for greater business to business exchanges, regular meetings of the CEO's Forum and organising trade and investment promotion events. It said both trade and investment will benefit from RCEP, which aims to be a deep integration agreement covering trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, intellectual property, competition, dispute settlement/legal and institutional issues, among others. "Therefore, the forum calls for a balanced RCEP, which will address both trade and services and be concluded at an early date." The statement said India offers good opportunity for Malaysian Pension and Provident Funds to invest in Indian Infrastructure assets, especially brownfield assets in various sectors like roads, aviation and power. Investments could also be made in Indian Infrastructure Funds. The forum noted that there has been an upsurge of Indian investments in the healthcare sector in Malaysia. Noting that Malaysia with 3.2 million diabetics has one of the highest diabetes prevalence rates amongst adults worldwide, the statement said experience from India will be used to work with the local communities in Malaysia to improve screening, early detection, awareness and management of diabetes. It said Indian and Malaysian governments must form a Joint Healthcare Taskforce to deliberate and ease processes that would permit doctors to practice in either nation after necessary licensing. The statement said a joint cord-blood repository between India and Malaysia for both private and public users must be considered as Cord Blood Stem Cell Therapy is a greatly preferred option for treating blood disorders. The forum members welcomed the move of the Government of Malaysia to invite Ayurveda and Siddha practitioners to Malaysia. On education, the forum members called for early signing of a MoU to recruit Indian teachers for English language education in Malaysia. Referring to tourism, the members emphasised on the need to encourage visa-free travel for Indians and Malaysians. It said Malaysia should support and champion the introduction of the Asean Common Visa for travellers from outside the region. The forum said there is a need to review the bilateral Air Services Agreement. The two sides agreed that separate working groups would be set up on infrastructure, healthcare and education to suggest recommendations and strategies. The statement said meetings of the CEO's Forum would be held bi-annually, alternatively in India and Malaysia. New Delhi, April 1 : India and Malaysia on Saturday said that the fight against terrorism should go beyond eliminating terrorists and terror networs to take tough action against states which sponsor terror group and glorify terrorism. "Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to peace and stability in the region" and "there should be no glorification of terrorists as martyrs," said the Joint Statement after Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Najib Razak held talks along with their delegations. Modi and Razak held a one-on-one meeting ahead of the delegation-level talks. Welcoming the ongoing cooperation on counter terrorism, the two nations "agreed to further enhance cooperation in this direction" and recognised the need "to address the challenges posed by terrorism, and other traditional and non-traditional threats." The two leaders noted "the increasing cooperation under the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding on Cyber Security between the two countries". On regional security, the statement reaffirmed the importance of strategic engagement of India in regional initiatives and stability in the region, while appreciating the growing engagement between India and ASEAN, especially in light of India's 'Act East' policy. On the South China dispute, the two nations expressed the need for the freedom of navigation and lawful commerce as stated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 and urged all parties to resolve disputes through peaceful means without resorting to threat or use of force, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities, and avoid unilateral actions that raise tensions. Taking note of India's aspirations for permanent membership of a reformed United Nations Security Council, the statement urged for quick and comprehensive reform of the United Nations. In the 60th anniversary of India-Malaysia diplomatic relations, the nations agreed to take the strategic partnership, established in October 2010, to the next level to a truly multi-dimensional partnership, through regular summits. The joint statement recognised the growth in defence cooperation between the two countries. India and Malaysia signed Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation in 1993. The Royal Malaysian Air Force and Indian Air Force are working on setting up of the Aircraft Safety and Maintenance Forum for cooperation in training while the two sides welcomed proposal of joint naval exercises. The two sides also agreed to hold joint Army exercise 'HARIMAU SHAKTI' at the company level, and subsequently as tri-services exercises. Both sides also agreed to enhance the regular dialogue between the Defence Ministers, senior officials, and service chiefs, as well as regular meetings of the Joint Commission headed by the Foreign Ministers. The statement recognised the need to finalise the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Partnership Agreement at an early date. Stressing the importance of the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement in providing the foundation for economic cooperation, they agreed to enhance cooperation in the financial sector including through participation on each other's capital market. They agreed to look forward to grant commercial banking licences to each other's banks and collaborate in the Small and Medium Enterprise sector of each other. On the cooperation in the field of traditional medicine, like ayurveda and siddha, they welcomed the signing of an MoU between Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia and National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur, in December 2016 for cooperation in the field of education, training, research and popularisation of ayurveda in Malaysia. A chair for ayurveda will also be set up in the Malaysian university, it said. The two sides welcomed the signing of bilateral Air Services Agreement which would enhance air connectivity between the two countries. India welcomed the initiative by Malaysia to expand the visa-free programme to Indian nationals from April 1, 2017 until March 31, 2018 under the Electronic Travel Registration and Information system. On his third official visit to India, Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday on a six-day visit and reched New Delhi on Friday evening. He will visit Jaipur on Sunday where he will meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Kolkata, April 1 : The censor board has recommended six cuts in the Bengali film "Shunyota" (Emptiness), that deals with the plight of people post-demonetisation, for a U/A certificate, the filmmaker said here on Saturday. He added he will accept them. In a letter to the movie director Suvendu Ghosh on Friday, the Kolkata regional office of the Central Board of Film Certification has asked him to communicate within 15 days his "acceptance or otherwise" of he recommended cuts. The missive said, the cuts were decided as per the directives of the CBFC chairperson and recommendations of the examination committee. ".. This is to inform you that that as per the directives of the chairperson, CBFC, as well as the recommendation of the Examination Committee, your film has been passed for issue of certificate under 'U/A category with the cuts." The recommended cuts included deletion of two sequences and muting of four sentences/parts of sentences/words with beeps. One of the recommended deletions was a ten-second sequence that talks of "a large number of unacceptable death processions in the country revolving around demonetisation". Ghosh was also asked to mute a part of a sentence with a beep that says "the government has committed the wrong, and while the big fish will survive, the small fish will be trapped". "If I accept the four mutes and two deletions, the film will be passed," said Ghosh, adding: "I will go by the recommendations." Earlier, the Kolkata Regional Office of the SBFC had referred the film to the board's Chairman Pahlaj Nihalni for a decision on certification citing "differences of opinion among members of the (examining) committee". Ghosh has claimed his film was the first on demonetisation. New Delhi, April 1 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that India and Malaysia have agreed to further strengthen bilateral strategic cooperation while continuing with joint anti-terrorism efforts. "We live in times and in a region, where both conventional and non-conventional security threats are constantly on the rise," Modi said while jointly addressing the media with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak following delegation-level talks between the two sides. "Prime Minister Najib and I agreed that these challenges threaten the stability and economic prosperity of our countries and the region and, require us and other countries of the region to work together. "In this context, I deeply appreciate our continuing cooperation with the Malaysian government in our joint anti-terrorism efforts," he said. Modi praised Razak for his leadership in countering radicalisation and terrorism and said it "is an inspiration for the entire region". He also said that he and Razak were conscious of their "role and responsibility in promoting economic prosperity, freedom of navigation, and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, especially its oceans". "To secure our societies, and for the greater regional good, we have agreed to further strengthen our strategic partnership to shape an effective response to our common concerns and challenges," he said. On the economic side, Modi said both countries "have built a thriving economic partnership". "In our efforts to scale this up, as the fastest growing large economy in the world, India offers unparalleled opportunities. "And, to build new avenues of prosperity in our societies we are ready to expand trade and capital flows between our two economies." Modi also said that business partnerships forged between the two countries would enhance the level and momentum of commercial engagement. "We are also converging efforts aimed at food security that are linked to the well-being of our farmers," he said. On his part, Razak said that the defence and strategic partnership would be very important for both countries to fight global terrorism, militancy and extremism, including the fight against the Islamic State terror outfit. He expressed "deep admiration" for Modi for undertaking bold economic reforms and congratulated the Indian leader for the country's high economic growth. Terming their bilateral relationship at a "historic high", Razak said that there was still potential that could be fulfilled. He said that with the end of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has become all the more important. RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement between the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the six countries with which Asean has free trade agreements - Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. Following Saturday's talks, India and Malaysia signed agreements, including on civil aviation, education, human resource development and setting up of a fertiliser plant in Malaysia and a technology park in Andhra Pradesh. A joint statement statement issued later reaffirmed the importance of strategic engagement of India in regional initiatives and stability in the region, while appreciating the growing engagement between India and Asean, especially in light of India's 'Act East' policy. On the cooperation in the field of traditional medicine, like ayurveda and siddha, the two sides welcomed the signing of an MoU between Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia and National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur, in December 2016 for cooperation in the field of education, training, research and popularisation of ayurveda in Malaysia. India welcomed the initiative by Malaysia to expand the visa-free programme for Indian nationals from April 1, 2017, until March 31, 2018, under the Electronic Travel Registration and Information system. Earlier in the day, Razak was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan here. He subsequently called on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj too called on the visiting dignitary. Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday on a six-day visit to India and reached New Delhi on Friday evening. He will also visit Jaipur on Sunday where he will meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. The is the Malaysian Prime Minister's third official visit to India. The delegation accompanying him includes 10 cabinet ministers and over 80 business leaders. New Delhi, April 1 : The Congress on Saturday asked the Election Commission to re-examine the process concerning use of EVMs in view of report of its tampering from a constituency facing a bypoll in Madhya Pradesh, saying that the poll panel should revert back to the system of ballot papers if political parties are not convinced about credibility of machines. In a letter to the Election Commission, party leaders Digvijaya Singh, Mohan Prakash, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Vivek K. Tankha and K. C. Mittal said that reported tampering of EVM machines had been widely reported by the media in Madhya Pradesh. The by-polls are scheduled to be held in Ater and Bandhavgarh assembly constituencies next week. The party said that the "EVM tampering episose" has been videographed in presence of senior district officials in Ater district and had raised questions about authenticity of the machines. The party also demanded replacement of some officials. The Congress, in its complaint, referred to reports which said that during a demonstration ahead of the by-polls, the voter-verified paper audit trail showed the Bharatiya Janata Party as the voted party on pressing two different buttons. Responding to the Congress complaint, the Election Commission said that it has decided to depute a team led by Bhanwar Lal, CEO of Andhra Pradesh to supervise by-elections in Madhya Pradesh. It said the team will superivse implementation of administrative and security instructions of the poll panel. The EC said that it has also decided to depute two teams of officers of the panel along with technical experts to ensure the correct functioning of EVMs and VVPATs (voter verified paper audit trial) being deployed in the two assembly constituencies. "The integrity of the EVMs and the VVPATs to be used in the poll will be demonstrated to the complete satisfaction of all stakeholders by the team. These team will remain in the assembly constituency till the counting is over," the poll panel said. It said the commission is committed to conduct entire electoral process transparently, fairly and to the complete satisfaction of stakeholders including the voters. "ECI will always hear and redress genuine and credible suggestions from stakeholders to further strengthen the electoral system," it said. The Congress had said that that the entire process should be re-examined thoroughly in the face of revelation about tampering of EVMs. "All parties should be taken into confidence for the credibility and viability of the use of EVMs or to revert back to the system of ballot papers," the party said. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also urged the ECI on Saturday to investigate cases of faulty EVMs to ascertain if they were tampered with to favour the BJP in the just-concluded assembly elections in Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Punjab. Baghdad, April 2 : Iraqi intelligence networks on Saturday said one of the Islamic State's highest-ranking leaders has been killed in an airstrike near the border with Syria. Known as IS' number two, Ayad Hamid Khalaf al-Jumaili was killed in the town of al-Qaim in Anbar province, located on Iraq's border with Syria, Efe news service quoted Iraqi intelligence as saying. Al-Jumaili was dubbed the IS minister of war. The Iraqi authorities pointed out that the bombing also claimed the lives of IS military leader in al-Qaim, Turki Jamal al-Dulimi, known as Abu Hajar, and Salem Muzfer al-Ajami, an IS administrative official in that town. The intelligence added that the aviation directed "a precise blow" against a position of IS leaders in that Iraqi town. However, the intelligence gave no further details regarding the time of the attack or whether it was carried out by aircraft of Iraqi air forces or the US-led international coalition. IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi talked to his supporters one month ago through a written speech distributed in the Iraqi city of Mosul, acknowledging the defeat of his forces against Iraqi government troops, according to military officials. Mohamed Ibrahim al-Bayati, head of Security Council of Nineveh province, saids that IS prominent leaders move aimlessly on the borders between Iraq and Syria. Iraqi forces, backed by the international coalition, launched a major offensive in Mosul to drive IS extremists out their main stronghold, where al-Baghdadi proclaimed the caliphate on June 29, 2014. FDNY EMTs currently enrolled in the paramedic training program spent an entire day at Calvary Hospitals Bronx Campus. Calvary Hospital recently hosted its latest group of emergency medical technicians from The Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY). During their one-day visit to the Hospitals Bronx campus March 22, the seven EMTs learned about Calvary's unique approach and international leadership in palliative care, how to best care for patients at the end of life and effective pain management tips. They also made rounds with two Calvary physicians. The EMS members are currently enrolled in a nine-month training program to become certified paramedics. EMS members have basic life support skills. Paramedics, with advanced life support skills, practically bring the emergency room to wherever it is needed. Since the first group of EMS members came to Calvary 13 years ago, we have found this training to be invaluable to our paramedics," said Maria Levoce EMT-P CIC, Paramedic Original Program clinical liaison, FDNY EMS Training Academy. "Our goal is to ensure the safety of all New York residents. Our collaboration with Calvary allows us to provide our members with the tools and knowledge to care for all patients, even those at the end of life. Our EMS members tell us frequently how meaningful it was to be at Calvary and learn from them. Our students have voted Calvary their favorite rotation in the training program, said Levoce. Calvary and FDNY have collaborated since 2004 with this palliative care module. This is one of 60 modules in the curricula for their paramedic training program. More than 60 men and women are enrolled in FDNYs 2017 paramedic training program. All will visit Calvary before they graduate later this year. Since 1985, we have shared our palliative care expertise with health care professionals from around the country and the world, noted Robert A. Brescia, MD, director of the Palliative Care Institute and director of psychiatric services, Calvary Hospital. We are delighted with our long-term collaboration with FDNY. PCIs annual visitors include health care professionals from coast to coast and over 800 medical students, residents and fellows from throughout the greater New York area. They come to Calvary for visits ranging from one day to several months. In 2005, the NIHs National Cancer Institute designated Calvary an international leader in palliative care and invited the Hospital to participate in the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC). Comprised of the national ministries of health from Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, MECC members have visited Calvary regularly during the past decade. Since its inception in 1865, The Fire Department of the City of New York has helped lead efforts to make New York the safest big city in the nation. FDNY is the largest Fire Department in the United States and universally is recognized as the world's busiest and most highly-skilled emergency response agency. The Department's main goal is to provide fire protection and other critical public safety services to residents and visitors in the five boroughs. The Department also works to continually educate the public in fire, life safety and disaster preparedness, along with enforcing public safety codes. About the Company: For more than a century, Calvary Hospital has been the nations only fully accredited acute care specialty hospital devoted exclusively to providing palliative care to adult patients with advanced cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. More than 6,000 patients are cared for annually by Calvarys inpatient, home care, and hospice services. Inpatient care is offered at our 200-bed facility in the Bronx and our 25-bed Brooklyn Satellite at NYU Lutheran. Calvary Hospice provides short-term inpatient care at The Dawn Greene Hospice, located at Mary Manning Walsh Home in Manhattan. To learn more or sign up for the e-newsletter, Calvary Life, please go to http://www.calvaryhospital.org. Choosing an agent is as important as the home you buy. There are many great agents in the DC metro area but not all of them can save you a ton of money when buying or selling a home Khalil Alexander El-Ghoul, principal broker at Glass House Real Estate has been honored by Northern Virginia Magazine in their March 2017 list of Top Real Estate Agents. Published each year, this list includes the top agents within Northern Virginia based on sales volume, client satisfaction and more. As a local agent since 2005, Khalil and the team at Glass House are thrilled to be featured in the March issue of Northern Virginia as well as listed on their website under Top Real Estate Agents 2017. Northern Virginia Magazine is a trusted resource for residents seeking to stay up to date on their community and find the best professionals local to their area. Choosing an agent is as important as the home you buy. There are many great agents in the DC metro area but not all of them can save you a ton of money when buying or selling a home. Im excited to spread the word about our modern real estate process at Glass House says Khalil El-Ghoul. About Glass House Real Estate: Khalil Alexander El-Ghoul of Glass House Real Estate has been featured in the Washington Post, NBC News, and several other publications for his innovative efforts to fundamentally change the way Real Estate is done. Call Khalil for a confidential and no obligation conversation to see if we could work well together. At Glass House, we are great at what we do and will save you money along the way, its that simple. Biomass Energy Systems, Inc. (BESI) provides the patented TURNW2E(R) Gasification System. The research facility, funded by the United States military, features waste to energy (WTE) through gasification, and features the patented TURNW2E Gasification System. A distinguishing factor of this unit, is that it has the capability to produce different types of final energy output types, including steam, hot water and air conditioning, in addition to electricity. The pilot facility represents a unique opportunity for the military to experiment with a variety of applications for the TURNW2E core, integrated with specially designed equipment to use specific waste types and produce specific power outputs, and at a scale comparable to what an installation at a base or forward operating position might be, commented Ms. Renee Comly, president and CEO of BESI. Comly added that the full scale WTE research and development facility is now open for evaluation for not only military, but also for visitors interested in municipal and commercial evaluation. The BESI system offers advantages beyond its ability to dispose of wastes such as wood, biomass, packaging, paper, plastics, cardboard, yard, and demolition debris, all of which are processed and converted efficiently by the system. The system also handles traditionally difficult to dispose of wastes such as tires, dewatered sewage sludge green waste and oils, in addition to a variety of facility maintenance wastes including rags, gloves, apparels, used engines filters, organic solvents, paints, and other nonhazardous chemicals. Liquid waste remediation is a specific area of interest for the TURNW2E system, which has a facility accomplishing this overseas, with plans for many more. By enabling different forms of energy to be evaluated and produced at the research facility, all branches of the military can evaluate how to best implement WTE on their respective bases. The facility is modular by design, with all of the key components skid-mounted to facilitate a variety of waste scenarios and energy output types. And, the TURNW2E system in University Park is large enough to replicate real world scenarios and base requirements in terms of both waste consumption and resulting energy production. Comly explains, For military or municipal purposes, electricity is not always the best-case energy output. For instance, forward operating bases, especially those situated in extreme weather climates, may have alternate energy requirements such as in the form of air conditioning or steam. By using the system to convert waste directly into a specified energy type, were providing a vivid picture of how a WTE gasifier will realistically perform for an array of scenarios. The new pilot facility is the culmination of several successful TURNW2E demonstrations and installations that BESI has completed for the US military. A full scale, 100TPD commercial facility in Korea, followed by the trial installation of a BESI-designed TURNW2E system, located in Wilmington, IL, initially validated the military use concept. Then, a larger scale subsequent installation at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on the campus of the Hawaii Air National Guard demonstrated the efficacy of converting 10 tons of waste to energy per day. The University Park, IL pilot installation will provide the US military with an even more comprehensive evaluation of ongoing real applications of the TURNW2E driven system. BESIs methodical approach to prove it has the fundamental ability to make the technology reliable and sustainable is resonating with both military and government leaders, as with each trial, they come one step closer to making W2E gasification technology a military reality to support strategic waste reduction goals. The demonstrations to date have already opened up dialogue with different military branches, as they realize potential applications. For example, Navy ports could potentially utilize a WTE system to provide cold ironing shore side electrical power to a ship at berth using the same waste coming off a ship upon arrival, for a true zero net waste solution. BESI is also in discussions with regional universities to use the research facility as the basis for developing education programs for military and civilian engineers, as well as hands-on training. Since its origins, the company has worked closely with numerous universities on educational and training programs for alternative energy usage and production. We look forward to continuing our work to support the militarys energy resilience and waste reduction goals, concluded Comly. Im confident that our mutual commitment to scalable, reliable energy will lead to a variety of gasification solutions for the military, which may include coal as well as waste, and ultimately create sustainable, eco-friendly energy programs to serve the global civilian population as well. About Biomass Energy Systems, Inc. (BESI) BESI is a woman-owned engineering company that provides innovative technology for alternative and renewable energy projects. Based in University Park, IL, BESI was formed in 2007 to develop applications for alternative and renewable energy conversion technologies. Beginning with small-scale gasification, the Company has branded a variety of innovative designs and specific features that are an evolution in the application of gasification, including the TURNW2E system. For more information, visit: http://www.besiusa.com. About TURNW2E Waste-To-Energy Gasification System A patented technology, BESI provides custom-designed solutions using the TURNW2E gasifier core integrated with a series of basic balance-of-plant units, which are designed to work together as one continuous operation. The systems are highly customizable based on energy and performance requirements. Applications include industrial waste, wastes from disaster recovery operations, animal and crop wastes, cellulosic biomass, tires, non-recyclable plastics, PVC plastics and municipal solid waste (preferably after recyclables have been removed). Through the use of an innovative and proprietary reactor design, the TURNW2E Gasification System can accommodate a variety of materials with different moisture contents, providing maximum feedstock flexibility for gasification, while producing consistent syngas. For additional press information, please contact: Ed Delia Delia Associates T: 908-534-9044 E: edelia(at)delianet(dot)com The National Womens Commission of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) will be hosting its annual National Womens Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1. With the theme Women UnitedUna Voz Unida, the conference will focus on empowering Latina women with workshops, leadership development, and inspirational speakers. This years event is presented by The Coca-Cola Company and will be held at the Westin Peachtree Plaza in downtown Atlanta. The two-day conference will feature workshops and seminar discussions on some of the most important issues impacting Latinas. The workshops will focus on civic engagement, running for political office, womens health issues, Latina entrepreneurship, media engagement, and immigration issues. Notable leaders providing remarks include Mayor of the City of Atlanta Kasim Reed, Georgia State Representative Brenda Lopez, Georgia State Representative Pedro Marin, President & CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Domenika Lynch, Co-Chair of the National Womens March Carmen Perez, and Head of Inclusion Strategy for BRANDthropologie Media Ana Maria Chavez, Esq. Latinas are fundamental to the work and advocacy efforts of LULAC, and we are thrilled to bring the National Womens Conference to Atlanta, said LULAC National Vice President for Women Lourdes Galvan. The Womens Commission is dedicated to ensuring that issues affecting women are at the forefront of LULACs legislative priorities. Issues like equal pay, access to education, and reproductive health do not only benefit Latinas, but are critical to the advancement of all of our communities and families. As the Latino population continues to grow in the United States, Latinas are quickly asserting their influence in politics, business, and other important professions. Over one third of Latino elected officials are women and are most prominently represented in state legislatures across the country. At the federal level, there are currently twelve Latina Members of Congress and one Latina U.S. Senator. With such low numbers of representation, the LULAC Womens Conference will help empower women to seek political office to ensure that all levels of government represent the diversity of the population that they serve. In addition to the conference, LULAC is joining efforts with Tyson Foods to distribute 31, 240 lbs. of protein to the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Since 2000, LULAC and Tyson Foods have donated millions of pounds of protein to food banks across the country. Through LULAC programs, services and advocacy, LULAC will continue to tackle important issues by making information and resources available to the community. Were proud to assist great partners like LULAC and the Atlanta Community Food Bank in the fight against hunger, said Nora Venegas, director of federal government relations, Tyson Foods. We hope this donation will not only help feed those in need, but also raise awareness about the seriousness of this problem that impacts the lives of so many Americans, including right here in Atlanta." "This generous donation of nutritious protein will make a real difference in the lives of the people we serve in Metro Atlanta and North Georgia, said Kyle Waide, President & CEO, Atlanta Community Food Bank. 1 in 4 children in our state don't know where their next meal will come from, but thanks to the kindness of LULAC and Tyson Foods, more families will have a hearty meal of fresh chicken on the table this week." LULAC appreciates the support of The Coca-Cola Company, Pfizer RxPathways, P&G, Fueling U.S. Forward, Southwest Airlines, Tyson Foods, MGM Resorts International, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Walgreens, and Walmart. About LULAC The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the largest and oldest volunteer-based civil rights organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 1000 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULACs programs, services and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit http://www.lulac.org. http://www.facebook.com/lulac.national.dc. http://www.twitter.com/lulac . Derek Clark, Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg and Albert Wilson are among KVC Health Systems' special guests This conference for foster families is not only unique and privately funded by leading companies; KVC has hosted it for over 18 years. Nearly 2,000 children and foster parents in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. will come together for a weekend of learning, networking and fun at KVC Health Systems 18th Resource Family Conference (RFC). The gathering takes place March 31-April 1 in three cities Overland Park, Kansas; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Daniels, West Virginia. The event is a one-of-a-kind training opportunity for kinship, foster and adoptive families who are caring for children who are temporarily in foster care due to abuse, neglect, parental drug use or other family challenges. These resource families, a term which includes foster and adoptive parents and relatives, will hear from guest speakers, network with other foster parents and learn about topics such as helping youth feel safe and connected, promoting healthy brain development and resilience, and partnering with other members of a child and familys support team. Children will enjoy fun activities like games, bouncy houses and talent shows. In prior years, the keynote speakers presentation has been simulcast from the KVC Kansas RFC to the other conference locations in Nebraska, Kentucky and West Virginia. This year, each location will have its own keynote speaker: Derek Clark, a renowned motivational speaker who was in foster care and author of the book I will Never Give Up, will speak in Overland Park, Kansas. Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg, a pediatrician specializing in adolescent medicine at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Director of Health Services at Covenant House Pennsylvania, will speak in Lincoln, Nebraska. Bob and Beth Hughes Noone, KVC foster parents and past RFC speakers, will speak in Daniels, West Virginia. While the Resource Family Conference has been exclusive to KVC foster families only, this is the first year that KVC Nebraska has opened up registration to foster families outside of the KVC network across the state of Nebraska. KVC Kansas will also welcome another well-known individual who spent time in foster care to the conference on Saturday. Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Albert Wilson was in foster care in Florida as a child and credits two incredible foster families for providing the structure and guidance he needed to become successful. Since signing with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014, Wilson has created a foundation to help kids aging out of foster care. He will meet with children and families attending the RFC and read books to the kids while parents attend training sessions. Learn more about his foster care experience here at https://kansas.kvc.org/2016/12/09/kc-chiefs-player-shares-experience-of-growing-up-in-foster-care/ KVC raises private funds to fully underwrite the hotel, meal and training costs of each conference. Generous companies, foundations and individuals in the community make the RFC possible by sponsoring and attending fundraising events hosted by KVC Health Systems and its subsidiaries throughout the year. KVC provides foster family care to more than 6,300 children each year in Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky and West Virginia. The agency also works to prevent foster care whenever possible by keeping families safely together. There is an urgent need for more kinship and foster families to meet the needs of children experiencing abuse, neglect or other family challenges. Learn more about becoming a foster parent. Learn more about the foster family conference at http://www.kvc.org/rfc. All resource reporters and attorneys will be able to have access to their own login credentials on an online repository when opting to work with Oklahoma City based Steno Services LLC. Ginger Baze, owner of the company, has made this opportunity possible because all transcripts including past witnesses and cases will be accessible online for easy viewing as well as access. More frequently, attorneys need access to information quickly and easily in order to make the most of deposition time and to craft their own line of questioning. Keeping everything centrally located makes things easier for everyone, particularly when the court reporter helping with the case also has access to share their finished transcripts in this same location, too. Technology has evolved in order to allow attorneys and those being deposed to conduct the deposition from a distance, but now online repositories also make it easy to access all the necessary details in one place, too. With simple scheduling and realtime translation available through web and videoconferencing, travel time and costs are reduced so that attorneys can easily prepare for and conduct depositions. This can also make it easier for attorneys to sign in and make annotations on particular cases. The software for Steno Services LLC will be upgrading their production software to Acclaim Legals Solaria, which integrates with ServiceLink. ServiceLink is the online portal that will be accessible to attorneys and reporters. Individuals signing in to ServiceLink will be able to share access with their paralegals, staff, assistants or partner attorneys on the cases. The information can be viewed from smartphones as well as iPads. They will be able to easily pay with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and ACH. Wasted postage and mailing checks are some of the biggest reasons that attorneys may opt to use the service, Baze says. It also allows them to tap into reducing their carbon footprint and being more green by ordering transcripts in a digital format only and accepting invoices over email. Reporters will be able to check-in to the ServiceLink portal after they get to the job site and check out digitally, which alerts their office immediately in the event that they are available for a last-minute job that could come up in the same area. Attorneys and reporters alike will benefit from this new service, Baze said. An official online repository being accessible by reporters and attorneys will make things easier for everyone. To learn more about the services offered by the Oklahoma-based court reporting firm, visit https://courtreporterok.com/ To commission or not to commission? That is the question facing Congress and the White House regarding how best to investigate Russias meddling in the 2016 elections. Actually, let me rephrase that: That is the question that should be facing Congress and the White House. There is no indication, however, that the independent commission question is receiving any serious attention on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue since Republicans control both ends of that famed thoroughfare (although control is too strong a word for the mastery Republicans are able to exert on anything these days). On the other hand, two-thirds of the American people support an independent commission investigating the potential links between some of Donald Trumps campaign advisors and the Russian government, according to a recent Quinnipiac Poll. And Democrats in Congress want a commission or a special prosecutor. It is still an open issue. Democrats might want to be careful what they wish for because the history of independent commissions there are several types is mixed. Republicans might want to reconsider their knee-jerk rejection of committing to a commission for the same reasons. The partisan fallout of commissions and inquisitions is not always predictable. Nor is their usefulness in explaining or investigating their assigned topics. The most compelling reason to form an independent commission is decidedly not to investigate whether Trump or any Trump associates or staff colluded with Russian meddling. In the end, that is a criminal or prosecutorial matter. Congressional committees and independent commissions dont indict evildoers but they can surely muck up cases against them. The criminal part should be left to the prosecutorial pros the FBI and the Justice Department. In my mind, it is obvious the Justice Department ought to appoint a special prosecutor to oversee that investigation; both the attorney general and the director of the FBI already are tarnished and conflicted. The case for some kind of commission will be stronger if a special prosecutor is not appointed, which seems likely. Commissions and prosecutors, however, have different missions that arent always compatible. A prosecutor is not a substitute for oversight. In the Russian affair, there are obviously urgent questions far beyond the purview of a criminal investigation, whether FBI Director James Comey or a special prosecutor leads it. They include: Were Comeys various public pronouncements about the investigation of Hillary Clintons emails improper or unethical? Should the Obama administration have made public more of what it knew about Russias operations in the U.S. before the election? Did the intelligence community do a competent job of detecting and rebutting Russias attempts to undermine the elections? Are the intelligence community and election oversight organizations prepared for the next elections in 2018 and 2020? Now, isnt it the job of the House and Senate intelligence committees to answer precisely those kinds of questions? Indeed it is. The question then is whether those committees have enough credibility within Congress and with the public to give trusted answers. The answer for the House Intelligence Committee is absolutely not. The answer for the Senate Intelligence Committee is probably not. Together, these threads tie up the case for an independent commission fairly well. A criminal investigation, unless led by a special prosecutor, will be tainted and it cant address policy questions. The standing congressional committees already are locked in partisan combat at a time when Congress is held in public contempt anyway. The question of Russian interference in American elections is obviously commission-worthy. So what kind of commission? There are three different set-ups we refer to as independent commissions: presidential commissions, obviously are appointed by the president (the Warren Commission on the JFK assassination, the Rogers Commission on the Challenger disaster); joint commissions are created by Congress (the 9/11 Commission led by Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton); and special committees of Congress like the Senate Watergate Committee and the Iran-Contra committees. The record of commissions isnt so strong that it is a slam-dunk case that we need one now. Some have been shallow, partisan or interfered with criminal prosecutions. Others met pressing national needs. Philip Shenon, who has written histories of the Warren Commission and the 9/11 Commission, recently wrote that history doesnt offer much hope that an independent commission would accomplish the Democrats goals, at least not if those goals include getting to the bottom of this mess in a timely fashion and holding individuals accountable for their wrongdoing. In the real world, Trump will not appoint a presidential commission and the Republican Congress wont sanction either a joint commission or a special committee of Congress not unless a stash of smoking guns turns up that gives them absolutely no choice. The upside of this partisanship is the country might be spared a long political circus. The downside is that we may never know the full story of the Russian escapades of 2016 and well still have to endure a long political circus. Born in Venezuela, Maria Paulina Camejo immigrated to the U.S. in 2011 after her father was imprisoned during the Chavez regime. Camejo, 26, is a member of a generation of Latin-American writers whose works transcend borders: her novels are set in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe. She has been influenced more by Little Women and Harry Potter than by the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Both her novelsBeatriz decidio no casarse (Beatriz decided not to wed) and Los complicados amores de las hermanas Valverde (The complicated loves of the Valverde sisters)were published by HarperCollins Espanol March 21, and Camejo is set to appear at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla., April 13. PW caught up with Camejo in Miami. Los complicados amores de las hermanas Valverde is a contemporary novel that narrates the love stories of three sisters. Is there a bit of Little Women in this book? Absolutely! Julia, the oldest sister, a devoted Catholic, and the most religious of the three sisters falls in love with an atheist. The middle sister, Cristina, thinks that being in a relationship is like being in jailthat is, of course until she falls in love with a political prisoner. Through Cristinas relationship I delve into what families of political prisoners in Venezuela go through. Luna, the youngest sister, is still in high school and falls in love with her nerdy math tutor. The book is really about how love shows up at the time and place we least expect it, and it can become so complicated that, quite possibly, that is what makes it so marvelous. Who is the main readership for your novels? Mostly women in their 20sthey identify with the characters. Beatriz [in the first book, Beatriz decidio no casarse] is 45, but she chose her career over Santos when she was in her early 20s. Many young women are having to make those same decisions today: focus on career or marriage and start a family. The Valverde sisters are between 16 and 22, and their love stories are each unique and yet the same, as they all fall in love with the least likely of men. Young women will see themselves in these stories, and the complexity and the beauty of being in love. Your novels almost read like a movie script. Is that intentional? Yes, because I love writing dialogueit makes me laugh, especially the lines I write for men. Most of my male characters are based on men I know, so I have fun with that. My readers also enjoy it; they feel they are part of a conversation, they feel as if they are having a conversation with their best friends about their love lives. My books are about love, they are easy to read, and they are funny. I want readers to enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them. The subtitle of Dangerous Ground, the latest from award-winning investigative journalist and New York Times bestselling true crime writer M. William Phelps, is My Friendship with a Serial Killer. But is it really possible to be friends with a serial killer? Phelps says hes using the term friends loosely. I viewed our professional relationship as reporter vs. psychopath, but there were times when I felt there was a breath of a human being trapped deep inside this killers mind. Dangerous Ground tells the story of that interplay between the human and the psychopath. Its an unusually personal book for Phelps, who has written more than 20 true crime books to date. Like his other work, Dangerous Ground offers readers a fascinating glimpse inside the mind of a criminalbut it also puts Phelps squarely in the story, exploring how his relationship with the killer develops. Its as much a memoir as a true crime book. Phelps first contacted the killer, whom he calls Raven, in 2011 while working on his television series Dark Minds for the Investigation Discovery network. Raven served as a consultant on the show, which examined unsolved serial murders. He offered insight into the crimes, but his identity was concealed from viewers. (It is revealed in the book.) Over the course of five years, Raven sent Phelps thousands of pages of letters and they spoke for hundreds of hours by phone and Skype. Phelps also met Raven at the state penitentiary where hes serving two life sentences for murdering several women. Their encounter is described in vivid detail in the book. Phelps says of meeting serial killers: They are able to come across as any other person you might meet on the street, at the post office, or in the supermarket. But also, when talking about the most despicable, graphic aspects of murder, the tone they use sounds as though theyre talking about a recipe they might want to cook. Theres a resigned, glassy polish about them that you can only experience in personand part of it, believe it or not, draws you in. At first Phelps despised Raven, but then something happened. I began to experience the faint rustlings of a human being behind Ravens dark persona, he says. Which scared me, but also inspired me to dig deeper into his mind. Phelps approached his subject not just as a journalist but as someone whose own life has been touched by a murder. In 1996, his sister-in-law, then five-months pregnant, was strangleda crime that remains unsolved. As someone who has lost a family member to murder, I think I can step into the shoes of a murder victims family members, sympathize, and grasp their pain, he says. As Phelps got to know Raven, the killer offered to share his own dark insight on Phelpss sister-in-laws case. Raven also told Phelps about one of his victims who hadnt yet been identified by police. Over the course of their many conversations, an unlikely bond developed between the twoa bond explored in vivid detail in Dangerous Ground. In order for readers to fully grasp the manipulation, the charm, and the mixture of personality disorders behind the serial killers mask of sanity, the story had to be told from my point of view, Phelps says. I can assert with absolute confidence that by the end, readers will understand this serial killer and how his mind works. The result is an engrossing read, but it came at a cost to the author. Writing this book broke me: physically, spiritually, psychologically, Phelps says. It took a part of my soul I will never get back. I also left a part of myself on the pages I do not want back. A funny thing happened while writing this book: I learned a lot about myself, my past, my family. It was all in me, yet forcing it out on the page allowed me to see it clearly for the first time. And what I saw, I did not always like. Enthusiasts of China Mievilles fiction recognize that cities and revolutions are central among the themes and settings of his 11 novels and two short story collections. For nearly two decades, Mieville has placed his characters in clearly recognizable yet subtly altered versions of London and Paris, as well as in the meticulously created metropolises of Bezsel, New Crobuzon, and Ul Qoma. Many of the stories denouements arrive through some form of urban uprising, whether in King Rats confrontation between rats, spiders, and a reanimated Pied Piper of Hamelin in the drum n bass club culture of late 1990s London, or, in The Last Days of New Paris, through the attempts of surrealist-inspired hybrid creatures (manifestations, or manifs) to drive Nazi occupiers from Paris. Mievilles latest book, out from Verso this May, is October: The Story of the Russian Revolution; its a history of the Russian Revolution, an event that turns 100 this year. His fiction is informed by his vivid imagination, as well as by London, the city where he was born and still lives, and his deep commitment to the study and practice of leftist politics. Mieville received a doctorate in international relations from the London School of Economics, ran for Parliament on the Socialist Alliance ticket in 2001, and is a founding member of the U.K.s Left Unity party. Given this background, along with the striking diversity of his published work, its not surprising that radical publishing house Verso turned to Mieville to write about the Russian Revolution. He describes October as a book for the lay reader rather than the specialist and hopes that his nonspecialist perspective will benefit such readers. The book opens with a Prehistory of 1917 and then proceeds month by month (following the Julian calendar then in use in Russia), starting with Februarywhen an insurrection in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), the imperial capital, resulted in the abdication of Czar Nicholas II and the establishment of a moderate provisional governmentand ending with October, when the Bolsheviks seized power, eventually establishing a Communist state under the leadership of Lenin. Mieville is all too aware of how quickly the idealism of these early days curdled into paranoia and violence, later leading to the horrors of Stalins purges, the establishment of the gulags, and the forced collectivization of peasant lands. But Mievilles aim in retelling this story of urban uprising is to emphasize that the degradation of the Revolution was not a giventhat there were many points at which things might have turned out very differently. He argues that had Lenin succeeded in removing Stalin as leader, or had any of the other European nations offered the nascent U.S.S.R. friendship rather than hostility, the story might have taken a very different turn. In the course of writing October, Mieville spent time in St. Petersburg, conversing with Russians he met there. What he found was a society deeply committed to capitalism but also one in which many are nostalgic for the Stalin era. The revolution is remembered as a sort of national epic, when Russia emerged as a great global power. Given that Mieville takes pains in October to point out that the moment of possibility that emerged in St. Petersburg a hundred years ago was not only Russias (It could be ours, he writes), I asked him what parallels he sees between that moment and the present, particularly with Britain undergoing a series of traumatic political, social, and economic dislocations. In response, Mieville describes himself as pessimistic about the current situation, at least for those on the left, but he emphasizes that this feeling is not the same as acceptance of the status quo. You can be pessimistic without being at all resigned, he says. Understanding the scale [of the challenges] can be energizingas can the knowledge that, while current British, American, and global politics are dismaying, things could change very quickly, as they did in Russia in 1917. Mieville echoes the words of an eloquent letter, sent by the peasants of an isolated region, Rakalovsk Volost, to the Petrograd Soviet and quoted in October: We are sick and tired of living in debt and slavery. We want space and light. To Mieville, these words, probably composed communally and put to paper by one of the villages few literate inhabitants, display a utopianand not at all in the pejorative senseyearning for equitable relations, in which the haziness of the details is a feature, not a bug. He adds, Its a protean yearning for something that seems almost in their reach. In talking about the unfulfilled yearnings that animated the August 2011 riots that briefly convulsed London, then spread to a number of other English cities, Mieville attributes the conventional wisdom regarding these events to politicians and the media. The participants were cast as feral youth motivated entirely by a desire for material goods, as an act of social sadism on the part of the privileged against what they perceived as a violent and feckless underclass. Moreover, such judgments serve as a wicked piece of misdirection by which the public was encouraged to fear and hate those who lacked financial and political power, and thus not only to approve of harsh punishments for their actions but to dismiss their uprising as completely devoid of political consciousness or meaning. While the events of 2011 did not lead to the dramatic changes of Petrograds revolutions, Mieville sees modern London as a city in which the ever-widening divide between the wealthy and everyone else alters the environment in ways that could catalyze some type of radical shift. Having lived in London for more than 40 years, he feels that the city has changed for the better in a number of waysnotably in the lessening of everyday racism and the improvement in the lives of women and LGBTQ people. But Mieville expresses deep concern about the massive socioeconomic inequality, and by what he sees as a deliberate policy of making London more like Parispushing the less-affluent residents to the citys outskirts in a program of grandiose, middlebrow rebuilding of the central areas. Even for those who, like himself, have thus far been able to continue to live in central London, these changes have resulted in a loss of contingent, unplanned space, a phenomenon also mourned by Iain Sinclair, whose forthcoming work on the hyperfinancialization of urban space is called The Last London, a title Mieville thinks is apt. Despite his concerns about the current tenor of national and global politics, Mieville has every intention of staying engaged, not only with activism but with writing. A current project that connects both areas is the journal Salvage, which he recently cofounded. He calls the journal an aspirational quarterly, in the sense that we aspire to publish quarterly, and it aims to be a serious, nonscholarly outlet for radical discussion that focuses on the absolute seriousness of how bad the political situation is, without mistaking pessimism for despair. Salvage will also engage with culture and the arts, and though, Mieville adds, nonfiction contributions appear on its website, the core of our identity is the print edition, where these pieces come out first, and which includes fiction, art, and poetry that is in print only. In the immediate future, Mieville intends to continue to produce shorter works, including essays, stories, and comics, while working on a novel that he describes simply as a big project. He is aware that many of his readers are keen for him to return to the city-state of New Crobuzon and its surrounding world of Bas-Lag, where he set three novels, two of which won Arthur C. Clarke awards, but he says that, while this possibility exists, he is reluctant. His concern is that a return to settings or characters from previous works can dilute and weaken work that youre proud of. He adds that the bar should get higher, not lower for each successive book in any series. He is also slightly amused by the fact that these and some of his other novels have been widely associated with the subculture of steampunk, a genre in which he professes a cordial, amused interest, but I feel that it is very much from the outside. Early in his career, Mieville expressed a desire to write a novel in every genre. Although he has yet to accomplish that goal, his works of both fiction and nonfiction testify to the idea of contingency and possibility that he sees as inherent in even the most discouraging circumstances. The final image in October is of trains, of railway sidings and branch lines, and of the switchmen who control them. Mieville writes that authorities expect trains to move back and forth according to carefully calibrated routes and schedules, but at times it has happened, as it did in 1917, that the revolutionaries divert their train, with its contraband cargo, unregisterable, supernumerary, powering for a horizon, an edge as far away as ever and yet careering closer. Or so it looks from the liberated train, in libertys dim light. Natalie Zacek teaches American studies at the University of Manchester. Readers Respond In last weeks issue, we published a map of every current and planned Amazon Books physical bookstore (visit publishersweekly.com/amazonbooksmap for an interactive version). Unsurprisingly, the story sparked plenty of debate online about how Amazons expansion of its bricks-and-mortar presence helps or hurts the book biz and book lovers. Two readers got into a compelling debate: Im reading about Amazon opening stores at a more rapid clip in neighborhoods and communities that have probably been starved for (any) bookstore for several years. John Bouldry These are NOT neighborhoods starving for bookstores, indie or otherwise. Quite the opposite: Amazon is shouldering its way into communities where indies have long been successful and supported. Why would Amazon go into a community where the bookstores have already shuttered (most often due to being unable to compete with Amazons predatory practices)? These B&M stores are intended to chase out the few remaining survivors who have thrived, DESPITE Amazon. Sarah Kimmell When Borders closed, and a few BNs afterward, Northside of Chicago became a Book Desert. There is no large-footprint general bookstore on the northside of Chicago.... I am curious to see how the Amazon merchandise plan by ranking benefits smaller or independent publishers that are either ignored by large chain or independent, or dont get the benefit of strong handselling sales representation J.B. Amazon doesnt do them any favors by a LONG shot.... Amazon stores arent large-footprint general bookstores in the least. They are boutiques; Chicagos is 6,000 sq. ft., much of which is dedicated to Amazons electronics offerings, and far less than 4000 titles. For comparison, B&N averages more than 20,000 sqft per store. So you can see EXACTLY what market Amazon is chasing after, and who they are intending to shut down next. S.K. What do you think? Is Amazons expansion predatory or good news? From the Newsletters Tip Sheet Hannah Tinti talks with her editor, Noah Eaker, about the editing process for her new novel, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley. Childrens Bookshelf A heartening, come-full-circle publishing story that spans a quarter century, starring Caitlyn Dlouhy and William Joyce. BookLife Report Tips for getting self-published e-books into libraries. PW Preview for Librarians Librarians: Want a sneak peek at each weeks starred reviews? Sign up for PW Preview for Librarians and have highlights of the coming issues stars delivered to your inbox every Friday afternoon. Sign up for these and other great, free newsletters. The most-read review on publishersweekly.com last week was The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. Podcasts Week Ahead PW senior writer Andrew Albanese breaks down a controversial new bill that would politicize the Copyright Office and empower Donald Trump to pick the next register of copyrights. More to Come An interview with Michelle Ollie and James Sturm, cofounders of the Center for Cartoon Studies, an acclaimed program for educating cartoonists. KidsCast Marcus Pfister talks about the 25th anniversary of his shimmery picture book star, Rainbow Fish, and about the latest entry in the series, You Cant Win Them All, Rainbow Fish. Blogs ShelfTalker An ode to Enchanted Lion Books. PW Radio Alyssa Cole discusses her new book, An Extraordinary Union. And PW editorial director Jim Milliot explains how major publishers fared in 2016. Fiction La chica que dejaste atras (The Girl You Left Behind) Jojo Moyes Suma ISBN 978-19-4554-031-8 Another bestseller by the author of Me Before You, After You, and One Plus One, this is a story of two women united in their fight for what they love most. Escrito con la sangre de mi corazonr (Written in My Own Hearts Blood) Diana Gabaldon Salamandra ISBN 978-84-9838-775-9 Gabaldon continues her series of Outlander fantasy romances in this eighth novel about Claire Randall, who walks through a stone circle in the Scottish Highlands in 1946 and disappears into 1743. Los ninos de la estrella amarilla (The Children of the Yellow Star) Mario Escobar HarperCollins Espanol ISBN 978-0-7180-9191-0 The story of two Jewish children who travel across France searching for their parents after the country is occupied by the Nazis. Solo nosotros dos (Two by Two) Nicholas Sparks Roca ISBN 978-84-1649-831-4 Sparks returns with a story of unconditional loveits challenges, its risks, and its rewards. Todos los dias son nuestros (Every Day Is Ours) Catalina Aguilar Mastretta Editorial Oceano ISBN 978-60-7735-954-8 After 10 years, Maria and Emiliano realize they are no longer happy and need to separate. This novel deals with intimate and frank grief that exists after a breakup. Nonfiction 30 Jugos para perder peso (30 Juices to Lose weight) Veronica Cruz American Book Group ISBN 978-1-68165-030-2 With 30 recipes for easy-to-prepare juices and smoothies, this book aims to help readers improve their physical and emotional health. El evangelio segun Pablo (The Gospel According to Paul) John MacArthur Grupo Nelson ISBN 978-0-7180-8648-0 From Bible teacher John MacArthur comes an exploration of what Paul the Apostle actually taught about Jesus. Grit (Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance) Angela Duckworth Urano ISBN 978-84-7953-964-9 The author argues that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls grit. Fidel Castro (19262016). De luces y sombras (Fidel Castro (19262016): Of Lights and Shadows) Carlos Canales and Miguel del Rey Edaf ISBN 978-84-4143-720-3 A biography of Fidel Castro by historian del Rey along with lawyer and writer Carlos Canales, covering the period from 1926 to 2016. La historia de la Republica (The History of the Republic) Chumel Torres Aguilar ISBN 978-60-7315-005-7 YouTuber Torres writes about Mexican history with acidic humor. Liberate de la trampa de la culpabilidad (Skip the Guilt Trap) Gael Lindenfield HarperCollins Espanol ISBN 978-0-7180-8754-8 This guide argues that guilt damages our health, relationships, and career prospects. It also provides exercises and advice about how to manage guilt more effectively. Childrens/YA La espada de cristal (Glass Sword) Victoria Aveyard Editorial Oceano ISBN 978-60-7527-018-0 The second installment of the thrilling Red Queen trilogy escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world Mare Barrow has always known. El nido (The Nest) Kenneth Oppel Editorial Oceano ISBN 978-60-7735-899-2 This story is about a young boy, his baby brother, and a wasps nest. It explores disability and diversity, fears and dreams, and what makes a family. La pocion del sonambulo (Nightmares! The Sleepwater Tonic) Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller Editorial Oceano ISBN 978-60-7527-005-0 The second installment of the Nightmares! series, Charlie cant shake the feeling that something strange is afoot. El senor de los ladrones (The Thief Lord) Cornelia Funke Ediciones B ISBN 978-60-7530-025-9 Two orphaned brothers, Prosper and Bo, have run away to Venice. The leader of this crew is a charming boy with a dark history: he calls himself the Thief Lord. El verano de Raymie Nightingale (Raymie Nightingale) Kate DiCamillo Editorial Oceano ISBN 978-60-7735-904-3 Two-time Newbery Medalist DiCamillo returns to her roots with this story about the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition and a summer friendship. Three men on Friday entered guilty pleas in Henry County Circuit Court to possession of cannabis and were given jail terms and probation sentences. Alexander M. Coffran, 28, of Delhi, N.Y., was fined $1,000 fine and sentenced to 120 days in jail with day-for-day credit and credit for time served. Matthew P. Hill, Jr., 22, and Nigel D. Aldrich, 25, both of Oneonta, N.Y., were fined $5,000 fines and had 180-day jail terms stayed pending compliance with the terms of their probation. Mr. Hill was given permission to live in Michigan. All three also face a $50,000 street value fine. A charge of possession with intent to deliver was dismissed. Judge Terry Patton accepted the plea agreements. The men were stopped in September in a traffic stop due to a cracked windshield, and an Illinois State Trooper smelled cannabis as a window was lowered in their vehicle. A number of contested races will be decided April 4 in Henry County. The most competition is in the Annawan School District where five candidates are seeking three school board seats (see separate story and profiles online) and in the Wethersfield School District where six candidates are running for four seats (see separate story and profiles online). The Kewanee School District has five candidates for four school board seats (see separate story and profiles online). In Cambridge, Chad Humphrey, Kim Moriarity and Dianne Jeffries are running for two school board seats. The Galva School District sends four candidates Andrew Larson, Darcy Jeffries, Gary Edmonds and Kyle Streeter for three seats. Both the Colona and Geneseo school districts have four candidates running for four seats. The Orion School District has three candidates for three seats. In municipal elections, Kewanee has three candidates Kellie Wallace-McKenna, Tim Hammy Hamilton and Mike Yaklich seeking two open council seats. Only Mr. Yaklich responded to our invitation to complete an Election Survey; it appears at QCOnline.com. In Hooppole, Rhonda Norberg and Sheldon Miller are running for mayor while five candidates Warren Smith, Kim Turner, Lisa Brandts, Craig Drinkall and Robert Hartman seek three four-year trustee seats. In Geneseo, Paula Simosky, James Roodhouse, Martin Rothschild and S. Jason Robinson are unopposed for four alderman seats. In Alpha, village president Paul Dean Kernan Jr. and all other candidates are running unopposed. The same is true of village president David Crippen and the other candidates in Andover. In Annawan, Timothy Wise is unopposed for mayor and three candidates are running for three open trustee seats. The same is true in Atkinson where incumbent mayor Kenneth Taber is unopposed as are three trustees running for three seats. In Bishop Hill, Mayor Michael Funke, Village Clerk Terri Wigant and incumbent trustees Eleanore Larson, Benjamin Strand and Fred Dehler are all unopposed. In Cambridge, president Margie Martin and the slate of four trustees are all unopposed. In Cleveland Steve Ballegeer and Richard Lindell are running for mayor and five candidates Gary Sides, Valerie Peal., Sherri Krogman, Janice Hipkins and Chad Davis are seeking three trustee seats (see separate story online). Coal Valley voters will find Michael Bartels unopposed for mayor after Emil Maslanka dropped out. Dale Keppy, Richard Stone, Kevin Stickell and Stanley Engstrom are vying for the three open trustee seats. (see separate story onbline). In Colona, the only challenged race is for Ward 3 between two write-ins, Jeff Stulir and Tom Jones. There also are no contested races in Galva. In Orion, no candidate filed for mayor but James Cooper is a certified write-in candidate. Bob Milton is a write-in candidate for treasurer. Clerk candidate Lori Sampson is unopposed and Ryan Hancock and Jamie Lawson are the only candidates for three trustee seats. Severe townships have elections on April 4, but the majority of the positions are unopposed. So will community college districts and the regional boards of school trustees. Michael Yaklich (Kewanee Council) Address: 701 Morton Ave., Kewanee Age: 57 Occupation: Self employed Education: Masters in adult education, University of Illinois; B.S. Economics, University of Illinois. Civic/Community involvement: Current city council member; Kiwanis Club; Chamber of Commerce; Kewanee Economic Development Corp.; Prairie Chicken Festival Committee; Wall Dogs Festival Committee; city-wide clean-up volunteer; Kewanee Hospital Board (past member); member Church of Peace; Rebuild Henry County volunteer Previous Offices Held : Henry County Board, Kewanee City Council Office for which you are running: Kewanee Trustee What special knowledge or experience do you have that qualifies you for this office? As a local businessman and actively involved citizen I bring a conservative common sense approach to the office of Kewanee City Council. Our initiatives to clean up our town, improve streets and infrastructure, and expand our economic base and job opportunities are ongoing and tremendously important. We are making a focused effort toward excellent communication with the citizens, businesses, and the visitors we serve. A 2016 community wide survey helps us to zero in on the highest priority needs in our community and to effectively target scarce resources to those needs. We also have initiated a quarterly newsletter that is delivered to each household in Kewanee. In it we ask for suggestions and convey up to date information about what we are accomplishing. As a member of the city council I share the successes we are achieving with the mayor, fellow council members, our city manager and staff, and our excellent employees. What are the key reasons you decided to run for this office at this time? I hope to continue the positive momentum and accomplishments we are seeing in Kewanee. Common sense budgeting and prioritizing services to meet the needs of the community involve tough decisions. Our focus needs to remain zeroed in on what we can accomplish to improve our community. What do you believe are the top three priorities facing the city? Image and appearance: We are allocating 3x more resources to demolishing unsafe and unsightly properties. We have initiated neighborhood improvement programs that help fund a wide range of residential improvements. We have increased our code enforcement efforts and many properties have been cleaned up. 2.) Business growth and expansion: We have restructured our relationships with our Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development group to insure improved communication and more effective response to the needs of our local businesses. As a result of these efforts we have established a downtown district that qualifies for matching funds for a great number of eligible improvement projects and reimbursements for a portion of eligible expenses involved with renovations. We have already used these new programs with a number of local businesses and the excitement and enthusiasm is building. 3.) Streets and sidewalk improvements: Our citizens responded in last years community-wide survey that street and sidewalk improvements should be our #1 priority. We listened and we have enhanced our sidewalk cost reimbursement to residents and businesses to stimulate more repairs. We have increased the number of sidewalk improvements in our downtown and made handicap accessible crossings a reality in our downtown area. Today, Kewanee has a much easier downtown to walk around in than it had two years ago. We are also focusing on maximizing our street improvement budget and prioritizing early bid preparation so we get better quotes from our contractors. We also are using software enhancements to track infrastructure repair needs so that we tear up the least amount of pavement possible. How should the city/village balance its financial needs with requests from taxpayers to lower assessments? Our number one goal has to be efficiency. We have to maximize bang for our buck. We do this by listening and responding to our customers. We prioritize where our resources are most needed. It is working. We have held taxes level or slightly decreased them over the last two budgets while taking care of important community needs. What is your vision for your community's downtown district? I see our downtown as a destination. Improved facades and sidewalks, great retailers, convenient hours of operation, and support for local businesses all are geared towards a viable downtown. We have an increased number of special events on our community calendar and more are in the planning stages. Come and visit. What is your philosophy on whether city business should be conducted in public or private? I believe that the taxpayers deserve honest and transparent government. I encourage citizens to come to our meetings and share opinions. Closed session meetings should only contain content that is of a confidential nature. Why should residents vote for you and not your opponent? I am elected to serve our customers. I have no hidden agendas that sway my decision making. I am committed to improving our operations so that we efficiently give great service to our 13,000 citizens, our local businesses, and the folks who come to our town. ROCK ISLAND -- Anchors and people hitting the bottom only can go one way next. Up. Edgewood Baptist Church, 2704 38th St., Rock Island, is helping to toss out some free lifelines. Church members have bought 100,000 copies of the book "An Anchor for the Soul" written for people in the military, prisons, homeless shelters, pregnancy resource centers and other similar outreaches. The church also expects to soon have 50,000 copies of the book translated into Spanish, senior pastor the Rev. Brian Bill said. Rev. Bill once was an associate pastor for book author Ray Pritchard, when they served in a Pontiac, Ill., church. Rev. Pritchard founded the Keep Believing Ministries and Rev. Bill remains one of the group's board members. Edgewood serves as a distribution center to ship boxes of books to churches requesting them. The Rock Island church keeps copies of the book in a Moline storage center, Rev. Bill said. Each box contains 100 copies and gets shipped by request to other churches and organizations seeking free copies. People interested in seeing a copy can email him at brian@edgewoodbaptist.net. A million copies of the book are in print, Rev. Bill said. They've been translated into eight different languages, including Mandarin, Korean and -- soon to be released, Spanish. Rev. Bill describes them as being the Gospel written in easy-to-understand language, explaining who Jesus was and that He died for our sins and can forgive our souls. "We give them out to people who need it, and may not have otherwise heard the Gospel," he said, "People have used this book to learn about salvation, forgiveness of their souls and to see God use their lives." Thousands of prisoners and victims of natural disasters have credited the book for inspiring them to turn their lives around and recover from past pains, he said. "There is a spiritual hunger right now," Rev. Bill said. "People are searching for something. They're searching for Jesus." In his book's introduction, Rev. Pritchard says everything in the book is based on two facts. "First, you were made to know God, and you can't and won't be truly satisfied until you know Him personally. Secondly, the Bible tells us how we can know God personally." "We've had everyone from doctors to inmates read it," Rev. Bill said, "from military troops to people in bikers' ministries." It's only 179 pages, so it's a quick, yet meaningful read. I heard the story of the most sensational manhunt ever held in Henry County several times when I was growing up and how my mother played a role in it. Three men came from Chicago to Henry County looking for work in December, 1928. The group included Louis Guthrie, Tom John and Robert Crawford. Guthrie had persuaded the others to go with him to Kewanee where he said there was work at a local hotel. But there was no work for them. Guthrie persuaded them to go with him to Galva to burglarize a store. They got caught, were arrested, and sent to the Henry County Jail in Cambridge. They managed to get the drop on Sheriff Charles Nash and Merle Dugger, a trusty, assaulting both of them. While the sheriff was unconscious on the floor of the cell block they robbed him of $15 cash and a check for $29. Then the three escaped through a window in the sheriffs office. A sensational manhunt followed. I heard the story many times as my mother, Ruth Munson, who was Ms. Lindquist at the time, was a school teacher at Vail school where the escapees went past. She was given credit in the Rock Island Argus for helping to capture them. During their escape, the men traveled north from the jail. They were first noticed near the Glenn Sherrard farm. Mrs. Ben Grier discovered the men yesterday morning after the jail break as they were crossing the Sherrard pasture, moving toward Osco, said the Argus. Residents of Osco formed a posse. The three escapees separated near the Sherrard farm, as Guthrie was unable to keep up with the other two because of illness. Several posses were formed around the county. One of the posses included Victor Boltenstern, Mark Scott and Arthur Crawford. (This may have been a Cambridge posse.) Yesterdays manhunt brought into use many firearms that had not been handled for years, said the Argus. Weapons of all descriptions, shotguns, repeaters, rifles and revolvers were used to arm the posses. The county was searched for several miles around Cambridge. It was estimated that at least 150 people took part in the biggest manhunt in Henry County. Telephone operators were sounding alarms on country lines warning farmers to be on the alert. (If my memory is correct Central, the main telephone operator on duty, had a specified number of rings when she wanted everyone to pick up and listen for information.) Guthrie was captured about 4:30 p.m. by Gib Anderson, a Lynn Center farmer. Guthrie was found hiding in a culvert near the Burlington railroad tracks at Lynn Center. Anderson held Guthrie at the point of a revolver until Sheriff Nash arrived. John and Crawford walked past Vail school where Vera and Alvin Swanson attended. Ms. Lindquist, the teacher, noticed the men near the school yard. She quickly called the children inside from the playground and drew the shades. As soon as the men left, Ms. Lindquist sent a student to the Louis Schnowski home where the sheriffs office was notified by telephone. More posses were sent. Robert Crawford was wounded by Roy Palmer, Cambridge, who fired a 45-caliber bullet at him when he refused to stop. Palmers Cambridge posse also included Frank Gustafson, Alvin Johnson, Herman Stephens and Earl Rishel. Crawford lost a lot of blood but was expected to recover. Tom John escaped the posse. Fred Sandquist, Cambridge, captured John about 1 p.m. Sandquist discovered John wading in Spring Creek on the Oscar Setterberg farm. He was wading in water up to his knees and crawling over a log in the slough when Sandquist ordered him to halt. Raymond Johnston and John Atkinson, of Cambridge, were with Sandquist. Ms. Ruth Lindquist and 12 pupils of Vail School went to the Louis Schnowskis home afterwards, said the Argus. Mother told me they were all very frightened by the experience. Her father also raced to the school to make sure she was safe. Id like to address the elephant in the room. That elephant being the Republican Party and their refusal to represent the majority of their constituents. Lets begin with stricter gun control (something that would help lessen the fears parents have when sending their children off to school), 53% of Americans favor this (Pew Research) yet the elephant in the room refuses to consider any such thing. Over 70% of Americans want stricter background checks yet again; the elephant in the room refuses to represent them. 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal. Again, the elephant in the room pushes laws that do the opposite. 74% of Americans do not want social security reduced in any way. But the elephant in the room pushes to do just the opposite, cut social security. 63% of Americans now prefer Medicare for all, but the elephant in the room fights it with all its might. 67% of Americans feel more needs to be done to reduce climate change, but not the elephant in the room. The elephant sides with the fossil fuel industry claiming its not a big concern. Given these few statistics (there are more like them) its obvious that the Republican Party is the party of minority rule, quite the opposite of what our founding fathers envisioned. The Republican Party has become a power cult, not a party that represents the majority of Americans. Remember this while you mark your ballot in this midterm election. Save Democracy! Vote Democratic! 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! CSX is the latest North American Class 1 freight railway to succumb to the crusade by Mr Hunter Harrison and his financial activist backers to spread his precision railroading model across the continent, reduce operating ratios and return better value to shareholders. Harrison perfected scheduled freight train operation at the former Illinois Central Railroad, before moving on to Canadian National, and then coming out of retirement to do the same at Canadian Pacific (CP). Harrisons model certainly works as he has managed to improve the financial performance of every railway he has run. CP, for example, achieved a 58.6% operating ratio in 2016, which is a vast improvement over the 81.3% operating ratio recorded in the year preceding Harrisons appointment as CEO. But it comes at a price with aggressive cost cutting and asset stripping. However, some observers question whether Harrisons model is applicable to CSX which had already announced plans to eliminate 1000 management positions, in addition to the 800 employees who have already left, in a bid to improve its 2016 operating ratio of 69.7%, its first sub-70 score. Doubtless more redundancies can now be expected. CSXs financial performance is already better than that of CP. Last year CSX reported annual revenues of $US 11.8bn and an operating income of nearly $US 3.6bn, approximately double that of CP. As railway economist Mr Jim Blaze observed recently, in a blog published by our sister magazine Railway Age, being led by sharp cost-cutters in a declining-share and declining-volume market may be great for short-term current investors, but it will not work when a major dip in the market occurs. Blaze points to a key challenge facing North American railways. Despite a slowdown in growth and margin erosion in rail freights ageing core business, railroad management continues to focus on developing it at the expense of launching new growth businesses, Blaze says. In the process, management tries to swap asset ownership and downsize the asset scale. Eventually, investments in the railroad network core stop producing the previous growth that investors have come to expect. To revitalise the stock price, management often announces a targeted growth rate that may be beyond what the core business can deliver, thus introducing a larger growth gap and uncertainty. Blaze also points to another deficiency: rails aversion to risk. The effect internally is that the railroads often reject or stretch out riskier projects that might generate payback. Internally, rail managers often respond with overly optimistic projections to gain funding for initiatives. These are issues that need to be tackled now at a time when traditional types of rail traffic such as coal face a very uncertain future. Failure to address them will jeopardise the long-term future of North American rail freight. Moving across the Atlantic to Europe, the supervisory board of DB has made an historic decision to appoint Dr Richard Lutz, a career railwayman, as CEO rather than bringing someone in from outside, ending a decades-long tradition. As Lutz explained during a press conference to announce DBs 2016 results on March 23, the day after his appointment: I come from a railway family in southwestern Germany. And so, for me, being the CEO of DB is truly a job like no other: it is a job close to my heart. Lutz joined DB in 1994 and rose through the ranks to become responsible for group control and planning in 2003. Lutz has been CFO since 2010, a position he will retain which could prove troublesome in the future as the two jobs require different skills and have different challenges. Lutz pledged to put all his energy into making DB a more attractive company, step by step. DB has certainly turned a corner having transformed a loss of 1.3bn in 2015 into a 700m profit last year. The 2016 fiscal year demonstrated that the objectives of our Future Rail programme were the right ones: better quality, more customer focus and greater success, Lutz says. Punctuality of both passenger and freight trains is improving - long-distance passenger traffic grew by 5.4% and passenger-km by almost 7% to 39.5 billion - although tonne-km fell by 3.8% to 95 billion. This is partly explained by the fact that open-access freight operators increased their market share from 27.5% in 2015 to more than 30% in 2016, a new record. Lutz says DB intends to defend its position with strong products and top quality. For 2017 Lutz is forecasting an increase in revenue from 40.6bn in 2016 to 41.5bn and a growth in Ebit from 1.95bn to at least 2.1bn. The first few months of the year are consistent with this assumption: revenue and Ebit performance is very encouraging, Lutz says. To sum up, 2017 got off to a very respectable start. While Lutz did not give much away about his vision for DB, one area he should address is DBs rather parochial attitude in dealing with the outside world. Despite operating freight trains throughout Europe and passenger trains in many countries, DB still acts like a traditional national railway. DB has a good story to tell and needs to step out of the shadows. Property details: Normal 0 Land for sale in San Bernardino, California, (Cedar Glen area). Only a few minutes from the lakes, forested, Incredible views! Straight Sale, Clear Title. $1800.00 buy it now or make an offer. The purchase price: Purchase price for the property. Plus there is an additional document processing fee of $189.00 The property is being sold AS-IS, WHERE-IS. Please perform your due diligence and bid only if you are able to follow through on your purchase. LAKE ARROHEAD CEDAR GLEN LOT - POWE... Price: $ 1,800 Seller State of Residence: California State/Province: California City: San Bernardino Type: Homesite, Lot Zoning: Residential Location: 924**, San Bernardino, California You will be redirected to eBay Nearby Residential 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 , We're sorry, this article is not currently available We know that April First is the day that people look at news items with a more skeptical eye. Let us start by assuring you that in fact this isn't an April Fool's joke. Recently we reported on the state of the suppressor industry and the slump they've been having due to a number of contributing factors. Though the silencer industry has it's own unique complications, they are far from the only sector that's experiencing new obstacles. We'd been hearing rumors that US Palm, the Arizona-based manufacturer of soft gear and assorted AK accessories, would be ceasing operations in the near future. We're not prone to report on what may just be hearsay or open speculation about exactly how well a company is or isn't doing; however, the following was posted on the US Palm Facebook page at ~3a EST: It reads: At this time, US Palm is suspending all consumer sales and will be reorganizing our product offerings as well as the retail avenues of purchase during the month of April. In the mean time, you can contact us at [email protected] We appreciate your patience. -Mgmt. As of the time of this publication, nothing can be purchased or even added to the cart on US Palm's webpage. We truly hope that US Palm is indeed just under a reorganization and not suspending operations for good. This announcement is following right on the heels of another statement, also via social media, that Strider Knives would be shuttering its doors. The complete message from Mick Strider reads: 25 years! Wait what? Twenty five years of the Mick and Duane show known as Strider Knives. Twenty five years of the He Man Woman Haters Club. Twenty five years of changing an industry. Twenty five years of employing our retired friends and supporting those still in the fight. Strider Knives is written into history We have been hated and loved and hated some more. I've been pondering over this post since January. I've come to the conclusion that it's just not possible to do in a single sitting. There's just too much. I will be writing about this for some time.. So here's the short Duane and I have decided to retire Strider Knives Inc. BLAM! The last Strider Knives will be sold at Blade Show 2017, at the end of which we will strike the Strider Knives colors. I will continue to produce select items on a limited basis thru MSC as my Classic Line. I will also continue warranty service on all Strider Knives products. Your guarantee is still valid. Duane and I made this decision because Strider Knives isn't the same. With he and I doing our own things, and our buddies having moved on to other things, we would rather finish strong then start doing the Indian casino circuit. When we started this there was a giant hole in the knife industry. We filled that hole. There are now plenty of knife makers building actual hard use knives, we have earned a rest. We started this ride with a PALS mentality and never once let off the gas pedal. I'm proud to say it was an epic ride with a hell of a lot of amazing Friends. Thank you all!!! PALS m Though a once thriving custom knife operation may not directly be in the so-called firearms industry there is certainly a lot of crossover in the customer base. And these two aren't the only ones. Perhaps to serve as a preview of what's to come, at the end of January Olympic Arms announced that February 28th would be their last day of operations. While this notice was met with snark by many who aren't fans of Olympic Arms, the cessation of a firearms manufacturer that's been producing for more than four decades doesn't bode well for anyone. The message reads: After more than 40 years of business, it is with great sorrow that we announce that February 28th, 2017 will be the last day of operation for Olympic Arms, Inc. The Schuetz family would like to express their heartfelt thanks to all their friends, associates, and partners that have been a part of the Olympic Arms experience. Most of all we would like to thank our loyal customers and patrons who have been with us all this time. In the course of closing, we are announcing the following changes in policy effective immediately: All sales are final. No refunds or returns will be accepted after 1-25-2017. On-line Shopping Cart will be active and effective while supplies last. All Warranty service ceases 1-25-2017. Warranty work and repairs currently in-house will be serviced and returned. New orders will only be taken for inventory currently in stock, or that can be built from remaining inventory. All inventory will be liquidated. ALL SALES will cease at close of business 28 February, 2017 Thank you for your patronage. Other retailers have shown signs of trouble as well. Big-box outdoors chain Gander Mountain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month. According to at least one report they owe Vista Outdoors more than $15 million dollars and has overall debt somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion dollars. Though we hope these are outliers, unfortunately we strongly suspect that there will be similar announcements from more companies in the coming weeks and months. @DM Porterville, CA (93257) Today Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low near 50F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low near 50F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Mariana Nunez turned 24 years old yesterday, and her birthday present was waking up to find out that her Dreamer status would be revoked as ea 'The wonderful thing about being a liberal is that you can go ahead and be the very last one left standing.' 'So go ahead and fling social media faeces at us, tell us how irrelevant we are, and accuse us of opposing Modi to be cool,' says Mitali Saran. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com Sometimes, after I return from a trip to social media, I have to take a moment to compose myself. Only when the whites of my eyes are no longer visible, and my blood pressure has stabilised, can I sit down and calmly cuss the idiots out over dinner like a normal human being. Just kidding. They're not idiots, they just have views different from mine. Just kidding! They totally are idiots. In this deeply polarised political climate, it's becoming harder to talk to whoever constitutes the 'other' side on any issue -- not because of their views per se, but because of their view of the origin of your views. The same Modi-backer who claims to have arrived at her choices via cool-headed independence is quick to dismiss opposing views as motivated by blind hatred, by slavish loyalty, by political puppetry or financial incentive, or (my personal favourite) by the desire to be 'fashionable.' I figure this last accusation arises out of the notion that power and success so obviously require compliance and deference, that critique can only be a form of attention-grabbing cockiness. The other accusations seem to arise from the belief that your views must be dictated by something suspect -- by class, political allegiance, sour grapes, or payroll -- anything but your own principles. The Modi-backer, for her part, must resent her views being perceived as springing from bigotry, religious chauvinism, venality, insensitivity, jingoism -- anything but her genuine desire to see a man of action stop corruption in its tracks and develop the hell out of the country. I feel her pain, and feel that I should make an effort to reassure her that I understand her. So here's the best case scenario: I have nothing against any economic good that the BJP can accomplish in terms of fighting corruption and raising incomes without trampling over rights and environmental regulations. But if she thinks that she can cherrypick economic roses out of a nasty bouquet of social hemlock, she is either unaware of the agenda, or aware but certain of her own acceptability to the majority and uncaring of her fellow citizens, or deluded into thinking that Modi does not represent the Sangh despite his tireless, lifelong service to it. There, does that make it clearer? Seven years ago, when the world was merely horrible, rather than horrible and proud of it, I wrote a column 'Left brain-right brain.' It paraphrased a friendly conversation about Palestine. Re-reading how it degenerated into insults hurled across a deep, wide belief gap, I recognise that dynamic as today's mainstream. The only difference is that now the conversation is about Indians and other Indians. The BJP's storming of Uttar Pradesh has disheartened a lot of liberals, who are keenly feeling their political marginality. But the wonderful thing about being a liberal is that you can go ahead and be the very last one left standing. That's the principle of the thing -- individual rights, down to the last individual. So go ahead and fling social media faeces at us, tell us how irrelevant we are, and accuse us of opposing Modi to be cool. (Face-palm -- glad you think it's cool, but that's not why were doing it.) Tell us about our 'political masters.' Tell us how you felt put down by our superior tone, so you chose a religious supremacist. We're still not going anywhere. And regardless of what you believe about the source of our respective stupid opinions, in the same way that mine reflect on me, know that yours reflect on you. 'After Independence, whoever has been the prime minister of the country has sent a chaadar' 'The Salafists and Wahhabis are extremists and cannot be associated with Islam' We have peace in our country because of the tradition of Sufis and saints IMAGE: Congress president Sonia Gandhi along with other party leaders holds a 'chaadar' before sending it to the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer. Photograph: Subhav Shukla/PTI Photo. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi may be bitter rivals in the political arena. However, there is one activity that the both carry out each year. Both the leaders, among many others in India, offer 'chaadar' at the Ajmer Sharif dargah every year on the occasion of the annual Urs of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. This year, too, while Sonia Gandhi's 'chaadar' was offered on Thursday, PM Modi's 'chaadar'was offered on Saturday. While it is an event that has now become a political tradition, Rediff.coms Syed Firdaus Ashraf speaks to Haji Syed Salman Chisti, Gaddi Nashi, Dargah Ajmer Sharif, the hereditary custodian of the dargah and the 26th generation descendant of Khwaja Garib Nawaz (as the Pir is known) to understand the meaning and significance of the gesture. What is the history behind the offering of the 'chaadar' at the Ajmer Sharif dargah? This is a very ancient tradition in India. Be it Mughal kings or the kings before them, they all have been practising this tradition. Even Britains Queen Mary used to offer the chaadar at Ajmer dargah. She made a place for ablutions and till this day it is called as the 'British monument' inside the dargah. After Independence, whoever has been the prime minister of the country has sent a 'chaadar'. This is not restricted to the Indian prime minister alone; the rulers of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have also sent across 'chaadars' regularly. This practice has been going on for the last 800 years, after it was started by Sultan Altamash (1211-36). He had also constructed the dome at Ajmer dargah. IMAGE: Thousands of pilgrims and fakirs from all across South Asia have been coming to celebrate and pay their respects to the saint at the dargah for the last 800 years. Photograph: Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images. What was the reason for Sultan Altamash to send this chadar? It was in 12th century when Khwaja Garib Nawaz went behind the curtain (as passing away is referred to in Sufi tradition). Sultan Altamash was his disciple and therefore he started this practice. This tradition has been practised for the last 800 years. This year we complete 805 years of this tradition. Till date, we receive Vajpayee Sahabs 'chaadar'. We also receive one from Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Even former president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, sent a 'chaadar' to Ajmer in 2013. He was the first US president to send a 'chaadar'. But what is the significance of this 'chaadar'? It is to cover the saint's grave with respect. It is said that those who send the 'chaadar', their wishes are fulfilled by Allah. But these things are not allowed in Saudi Arabia, right? Wahhabi Islam (practised Saudi Arabia) cannot be associated with Islam. The Salafists and Wahhabis are extremists and they cannot be associated with Islam. When the Ottomans ruled Saudi Arabia, they had different rules. With the coming of the present rulers of Saudi Arabia, they abolished all the ancient practices of Islam in Saudi Arabia. IMAGE: Muslim devotees at the Ajmer dargah where Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is buried, during the annual Urs procession. Photograph: Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images. But why is Moinuddin Chishti the most revered Muslim saint of India? The first message of humanity in India was sent by Garib Nawaz. He spread the message of humanity across South Asia. Ajmer Sharif is the centre of Islam in South Asia and the design of the tomb of Ajmer dargah is replicated across India. Why did Garib Nawaz Moinuddin Chishti came to Ajmer? When Garib Nawaz was in Medina he saw a dream where Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) gave a signal to him that he must go to India and spread the message of peace and humanity. He then took permission from his own guru, Hazrat Harooni, for the same which he gave. He came to India in the 12th century at the age of 52 and lived here till he was 94 (1141-1236) after which he went behind the curtain. He taught how humans should be treated and how untouchability needs to be abolished. It was a very different India then. He embraced the people and spoke of human rights. He said that in front of Allah, all are same. 'The world media does not see one million people coming to Ajmer every year for the last 800 years. But if one man becomes a suicide bomber for the cause of Islam, he gets covered in the media.' But there are people who say that he came to India to convert people to Islam? In Chishtiya Silsila (Chishti dynasty of saints) no one was told to convert to Islam. Anyone who converted from his heart was welcomed and even those who did not convert were welcomed. Even today, a majority of the people at the Ajmer dargah are non-Muslims. There is no forced conversion happening. Sufis never ask anyone what is your name or what is your religion, they only ask for what work they have come to the dargah (naam ka nahi, kaam ka poonchtey hai yahaan). More importantly, thousands of people who eat at the dargah's langar are served vegetarian food. For the last 800 years the langars at the dargah have served only vegetarian food. It is done because no non-Muslim must feel that he or she cannot eat at the Khwajas langar. Everyone is welcome and no one asks anyone about his/her name or religion. Nobody talks of anything which will hurt anyone. This conversion allegation is only for political agenda. Are you saying that for the past 800 years, no non-vegetarian food has been served at Ajmer dargah? Yes. Never has non-vegetarian food has been served inside the dargah. The official langar, which opens at 5 am, has never served non-vegetarian food. Even during the Mughal rule, when Akbar sent across his huge utensils to cook, he ordered only sweet rice to be cooked in it and no non-vegetarian food. This place is the biggest example of secularism in India. Why do people believe their mannat (wish) will be fulfilled? The belief is that no one goes empty-handed from here. During the Urs, one million people come over 10 days. They come because they get peace of mind at Ajmer. What is the significance of Urs? Historian-author Rana Safvi on Urs and offering 'chaadar' The death of a Sufi saint is celebrated like a wedding anniversary. The ultimate goal of the Sufi is union with the divine. This is the visal (meeting) of which we talk about in shayaris. The Sufi visal is with Allah. This is based on the quote in one of the Hadiths (the Prophet's sayings) where he says on the first night, sleep on the bed as a bride sleeps on her bridal bed. It is based on that concept, like you are going to meet your beloved. As the saying goes, Yeh duniya mere babul ka ghar, woh duniya mera sasural. This is a grand sending off and therefore Urs is celebrated on a large scale. On offering the 'chaadar' It is out of respect. Or sometimes it is offered out of happiness when a wish has been fulfilled. Sufism has made a great contribution to Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb. They never divide on the basis of religion or caste. For them, it was always service towards humanity. It means union. It is from a Persian word, shab-e-urusi (night of union). When the saint went behind the curtain it is not mourned because the Sufis have only one wish when they are alive and that is to meet Allah. All their lives they serve people and desire only one thing, when will they meet Allah. They never desire anything for themselves. And during this moment of Urs, Allah accepts their will and therefore it is celebrated. People from all over the world celebrate this day because Khwaja is meeting Allah. People pray and meditate. Every human being rejoices at this blessed moment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too sends a 'chaadar' every year? Yes. Every year he has sent a 'chaadar' to Ajmer Sharif. Prime Minister Modi speaks highly of Sufi Islam. Do you feel Sufi Islam is the right way in todays world? Sufi Islam is no different from Islam. Sufi Islam is the essence of Islam. The new ideologies of Salafis and extremists have spread terror. They have made organisations like the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the ISIS. They have got nothing to do with Islam. They have hijacked Islam. They have perpetrated terrorist acts and people think that is the only true face of Islam. They do not see one million people coming to Ajmer every year for the last 800 years and celebrating love and life. The world media never sees this angle of Islam but if one man becomes a suicide bomber for the cause of Islam, he gets covered in the media. The more they get coverage in the media the more they get encouraged. Is it true that Indian Muslims dont follow Sufi Islam in large numbers? This is wrong. India has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. How many ISIS members came from India? Not more than a dozen, and that too from south India. The ideology of Sufis is very strong in India and therefore Islam has been saved in India. A majority of Indian Muslims come to dargahs. India is safe because they follow Sufis and the saints ideologies. We have a spiritual tradition and therefore India is safe and will always be safe in future. Wherever Sufi tradition has been eliminated, extremism has risen in those places. See the condition of Afghanistan, Pakistan and now even Bangladesh is suffering. Wherever Sufis have been attacked, extremism has increased and peace has disappeared. Alhamdullilah (by god's grace) these things are not happening in India. In spite of such a large Muslim population we have peace in our country because of the tradition of Sufis and saints. PLEASE READ: Leader of opposition in Bihar assembly, Prem Kumar of the BJP, had raised the issue of illegal slaughterhouses in the assembly last week, demanding their closure and cancellation of licences. Following the Uttar Pradesh government's move, the grand alliance government in Bihar led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered the sealing of seven illegal slaughterhouses in Rohtas district. However, a leader of the ruling Janata Dal-United, Shayam Rajak, said that action against the seven illegal slaughterhouses was taken after the Patna high court directed the government to seal them within six weeks. "It has nothing to do with the (UP chief minister) Yogi Adityanath factor," Rajak said explaining the reason behind the move. According to district officials in Rohtas, which borders Uttar Pradesh, the illegal slaughterhouses were sealed after their licenses were not renewed by March 31. Upbeat over the slaughterhouses being sealed across Uttar Pradesh following Adityanath's appointment as the chief minister, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had demanded in the Bihar assembly that illegal slaughterhouses flourishing across the state should be closed and sealed. Leader of opposition in Bihar assembly, Prem Kumar of the BJP, had raised the issue of illegal slaughterhouses in the assembly last week, demanding their closure and cancellation of licences. He said the BJP is keen for a beef-free Bihar to ensure the protection of cows. Bihar should ban beef in line with Maharashtra, Kumar said. According to officials, cow slaughter is banned in Bihar as per a 1955 law, but cow slaughter continues unabated because of a flaw in the law that permits killing of a cow, buffalo or bull that is more than 15 years old or is diseased. Violation of this provision carries a jail term of six months with Rs 1,000 fine. In 2015 Bihar assembly polls, BJPs top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah tried to play beef politics during the campaign to polarise voters. However, the party failed to cash in on the issue and lost the lection to the Janata Dal-United, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress combine. IMAGE: A closed meat shop in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Photograph: PTI Photo The Centre has released Rs 1,712.1 crore for Tamil Nadu from the National Disaster Response Fund for drought and cyclone relief and another Rs 1,235.52 crore to Karnataka for drought. The decision comes in the wake of Tamil Nadu farmers protesting here in the national capital demanding loan waiver and other assistance. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are both facing severe drought in many districts. "The Central government is concerned at prevailing drought situation in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka," an official statement said. The decision to provide relief under NDRF to both states was taken in the recent meeting of a High Level Committee chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Out of Rs 1,712.1 crore released to Tamil Nadu, Rs 1,447.99 crore is for kharif drought relief and Rs 264.11 crore for cyclonic storm 'Vardha'. For Karnataka, the entire Rs 1,235.52 crore is for drought. The committee has approved sanctioning of Rs 1,793.63 crore to Tamil Nadu for kharif drought, but the Centre has released a sum of Rs 1,447.99 crore to Tamil Nadu after adjusting Rs 345.64 crore lying in the State Disaster Response Fund. In case of Karnataka, the HLC has approved sanctioning of Rs 1,782.44 crore to Karnataka from the NDRF, but the Centre has released Rs 1,235.52 crore after adjusting Rs 96.92 crore available with the state as balance in the SDRF and earlier release of Rs 450 crore by the central government. The two states have been asked to disburse relief funds directly to the bank account of beneficiaries. Farmers belonging to the Cauvery belt in Tamil Nadu are protesting here demanding a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore from the Centre, farm loan waiver and setting up of Cauvery Management Board. On Friday, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited Jantar Mantar to express solidarity with the farmers from the southern state who are camping here for the 18th day in a row. As per the official statement, the relief fund released to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are over and above the amount allocated to them as devolution of 42 per cent of central taxes as per the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission. For 2016-17, Rs 6.08 lakh crore has been released to all states as devolution of central taxes. "Tamil Nadu has received Rs 24,538 crore and Karnataka has received Rs 28,750 crore under devolution formula during 2016-17." During 2016-17, the central government has also provided Rs 48,869 crore to all states as grant for rural and urban local bodies to primarily meet the requirement of basic necessities for people living in these areas. For the benefit of farmers, Rs 13,240 crore has been provided under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana in 2016-17. Also, Rs 2,45,435 crore has been provided under Centrally Sponsored Schemes for transfer to states from the central government during 2016-17. This includes Rs 47,499 crore under MGNREGS which is used for employment generation and water conservation works. In view of onset of summer season, the Prime Minister has instructed that in the next three months all the states should focus on water conservation related works by utilising funds available under schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana and MGNREGS. The template that has emerged in Armenia over the past 20 years for the conduct of parliamentary elections is unedifying. With a few exceptions, clearly thought-through policies have been eclipsed by superficial rhetoric, and the appeal of individual politicians is such that they tend to carry greater weight with voters than do the parties they head. At the same time, the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) has clung to power since the early 2000s despite its failure to create the foundations for economic prosperity, a feat many disenchanted voters are convinced reflects the ever more sophisticated abuse of technology and "administrative resources" to falsify the outcome of the voting in its favor. The ballot scheduled for April 2 largely conforms to that template. The electoral campaign has been marked by a string of violent incidents in which at least six people, most of them affiliated with opposition parties, have been injured. True, the HHK reached agreement last year with the parliamentary opposition on amendments to the electoral code intended to preclude fraud, in particular multiple voting, and succeeded in securing some $10 million in funding from the United States and the European Union to finance such measures as electronic verification of voters' identity and live online broadcasts of voting in a majority of polling stations. Those measures have failed to restore voters' confidence, however. The independent daily Hraparak commented on March 22 that "no matter how clean the elections are, nobody will believe that they were not rigged." Just days later, the NGO Union of Informed Citizens claimed that school principals across the country have been ordered to pressure teaching staff and students' parents to cast their ballots for the HHK. The ruling party has also sought to bribe voters by offering financial incentives, according to opposition Armenian National Congress Deputy Chairman Levon Zurabian. Those reported irregularities impelled the U.S. Embassy and the EU representation in Yerevan to issue a joint statement on March 29 expressing concern at "allegations of voter intimidation, attempts to buy votes, and the systemic use of administrative resources to aid certain competing parties," RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. The Prosecutor-General's Office responded by announcing that all but five of the 45 election-related complaints it has received have proved unfounded. In one key respect, however, this election is different, insofar as it is being conducted under a new election law and will pave the way for the transition in 2018 from a semipresidential to a parliamentary republic. Once incumbent President Serzh Sarkisian's second term in office ends next year, constitutional amendments passed in a controversial referendum in December 2015 that transfer most presidential prerogatives to the prime minister will take effect. That scheduled transition only serves to reinforce the widely held conviction that the HHK will again resort to every trick in the book to ensure it retains control of the new legislature, and thus the right to appoint the prime minister. The new election system is abstruse and complex, to the point that it is not clear precisely how many lawmakers in addition to the minimum 101 will be elected. The parliament previously numbered 131 lawmakers; in the previous two elections (2007 and 2012) 90 of them were elected under the proportional system and 41 in single-mandate constituencies. Under the new system, deputies will be elected under a two-tier proportional system, meaning that voters will designate their preference from both a single nationwide list that comprises the five political parties and four electoral blocs that registered to participate, and for individual candidates in 13 regional electoral districts. In addition, four mandates are guaranteed for representatives of the country's four largest ethnic minorities (Yezidis, Russians, Assyrians, and Kurds). Parties must garner a minimum of 5 percent of the vote, and blocs 7 percent, to qualify for parliamentary representation. A party or bloc must poll a "stable majority," defined as 54 percent of the vote, in order to form a government. If no coalition can be formed within six days after the results are finalized, a runoff between the two parties or blocs that polled the largest number of votes will be held on April 30. The five individual parties registered are: -- Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) -- Communist Party of Armenia -- Free Democrats -- Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiun, which was a junior coalition partner of the HHK from 2007 to early 2009, and again since early 2016 -- Armenian Revival Party, the successor to former National Security Council Secretary Artur Baghdasarian's Country of Law party (Orinats Yerkir), which was also a former junior coalition member. It has not ruled out again forming a coalition with the HHK, according to RFE/RL's Armenian Service. The four blocs are: -- Former President Levon Ter-Petrossian's Armenian National Congress and the People's Party of Armenia headed by Stepan Demirchian. That opposition alliance claims that in recent days its support has increased substantially, primarily as a result of its insistence on a compromise solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as the prerequisite for economic development. -- Bargavach Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia, BHK), which is headed by wealthy businessman/philanthropist Gagik Tsarukian, and several smaller groups. The BHK was a junior coalition partner from 2007-2012 but declined to join the new government formed after the May 2012 parliamentary election in which it emerged as the second-largest parliament faction. The HHK and the Central Election Commission have warned Tsarukian against violating the law by providing financial assistance to voters. He has pledged that unnamed foreign business partners are ready to invest up to $15 billion in Armenia in the event of a BHK election victory -- more than the country's annual GDP. -- Yelk (Way Out), a pro-Western alliance comprising the Civil Contract party of former journalist Nikol Pashinian; Bright Armenia, which is headed by Edmon Marukian; and Hanrapetutiun (Republic), whose chairman Aram Sarkisian (no relation to Serzh) served as prime minister from November 1999-May 2000. The bloc opposes Armenia's membership in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union and has pledged to seek an Association Agreement with the EU. It also advocates a crackdown on corruption and a drastic reduction of the government bureaucracy. Its support comes primarily from young urban Armenians. -- The Ohanian-Raffi-Oskanian bloc headed by former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian and former Foreign Ministers Raffi Hovannisian and Vartan Oskanian. The bloc suffered a major setback one week ago when Samvel Babaian, a former commander of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army and one of its most prominent supporters, was arrested and charged with trying to smuggle a portable shoulder-launched ground-to-air missile into Armenia from Georgia. The bloc's leaders have denounced that accusation as politically motivated and cited it as grounds for demanding President Sarkisian's resignation and that the HHK be excluded from the vote. The bloc opposes making any concessions to Azerbaijan in the ongoing search for a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict. Its leaders have affirmed their readiness to form a coalition with any political force capable of bringing about real changes, but not with the HHK. Oskanian told some 4,000 supporters in Yerevan on March 28 that if elected, the bloc will make every effort to ensure that, within six months, Armenia is recognized as one of the world's 15 most democratic countries. The big question thus remains whether the HHK will succeed in polling the 54 percent of the vote that would empower it to form a government independently. (In 2012, it polled 48.8 percent.) The most recent opinion poll by Russia's leading state pollster, VTsIOM, suggested that the HHK would receive 44 percent of the vote and the Tsarukian bloc 36 percent, with only two or three other parties or groups, including Yelk, likely to qualify for parliamentary representation. (Pashinian told journalists on March 30 that according to "our analysis and forecasts," if those voters who have expressed support for Yelk do cast their ballots for it, the bloc will enter parliament, as will the HHK and Tsarukian's bloc.) HHK spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov nonetheless expressed confidence on March 29 that "the people will authorize the Republicans to form the next government on their own or together with their coalition partners," RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL. Canada has announced it is extending its military mission against the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Iraq and Syria through June 30. Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan on March 31 said the three-month extension will allow the government to further evaluate the nature of Canada's contributions to the U.S.-led coalition. The mission was scheduled to finish at the end of March. Canada first deployed forces to Iraq in mid-2014 and has twice extended its mission and expanded it to Syria. A statement by the National Defense said the "scope and mission of Canada's military contribution will remain the same over the next three months." It said the focus will remain on providing "advice" and "assistance" to Iraqi security forces. Sajjan said about 200 Canadian special forces are operating in eastern Mosul. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are battling to free Mosul from IS fighters, their last stronghold in the country. East Mosul has been declared liberated. Iraqi forces are gaining ground in heavily populated west Mosul but are facing fierce resistance from an estimated 1,000 IS fighters. IS captured wide swathes of territory in 2014 and declared a so-called caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq. The militants are now seeing those gains reversed, and they are being pressured in their final two strongholds -- Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. Based on reporting by AFP and AP The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reports that authorities in Chechnya are arresting and killing homosexuals. The daily reported on April 1, citing a range of unnamed sources, that "more than 100" homosexual men had been detained in Chechnya in recent days and that three had been killed. Without giving specific figures or naming officials, the Novaya Gazeta report said that "information about detentions" of gay men had been confirmed by regional Interior Ministry, Federal Security Service (FSB), and prosecutorial officials, as well as LGBT activists. The report was rejected by the press spokesman for Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov as "an absolute lie and disinformation." "You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic," he said. "If there were such people in Chechnya, the law-enforcement organs wouldn't need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning." Chechen human rights activist Kheda Saratova, a member of the presidential human rights council, told Russian state radio that the police and "entire judicial system" in Chechnya treat the murders of homosexuals by their relatives "with understanding." She said that she herself would "not even bother considering" a claim regarding such a crime. Based on reporting by Meduza, Ekho Moskvy, and Novaya Gazeta 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. NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance had reaffirmed its commitment to aiding in the security of the Western Balkans and Ukraine. Speaking after a meeting of the foreign ministers from NATO countries in Brussels on March 31, Stoltenberg also said he expected Montenegro's membership in the alliance would be fully ratified in June. Poland says it expects to complete a deal to buy Patriot missiles from U.S. firm Raytheon by the end of the year, as it looks to bolster its defenses in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia. Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz on March 31 said the $7.6 billion deal will "allow us to guarantee the security of the Polish state." NATO member Warsaw is attempting to overhaul its armed forces by 2023 to counter what Macierewicz referred to as the "growing aggression and a growing threat from the East." Poland intensified its efforts following Russias illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014, its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine, and its military and political assertiveness in the region that was formerly part of the Soviet Union or within its sphere of influence. Polands deputy defense minister, Bartosz Kownacki, said the missile system would help protect the country against Russian missiles stationed in Kaliningrad, a Russian region on Poland's northeastern border. Macierewicz told reporters the government and Raytheon had concluded "a very important stage" of discussions on the acquisition of the eight medium-range missile systems. During negotiations, Warsaw said an earlier price of $12.7 billion for the system was "unacceptable." It said it would pay no more than $7.6 billion. The contract still requires approval from the U.S. Congress as it involves advanced military technology. Bill Schmieder, Raytheon's head for Europe, cautioned that it was not yet a done deal. "It's premature to say that it is all done," he told reporters. "But we have very high hopes that the process will proceed normally." Also on March 31, Polands Defense Ministry said it had signed a $524 million agreement with Boeing to supply three 737-800 airliners -- two new and one used -- for the use of senior Polish state officials. With reporting by Reuters and AP Russia has accused the United States and its allies of "slander" as the U.S. top diplomat and Pentagon chief denounced Russias actions in Ukraine and elsewhere. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told his counterparts at NATO on March 31 that the United States was committed to Ukraine's territorial integrity and that U.S. sanctions against Russia will remain in place "until Moscow reverses the actions that triggered our sanctions." Western nations imposed the sanctions for Russia's illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimea region and for its support for separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine. "We do not and will not accept Russian efforts to change the borders of the territory of Ukraine," said Tillerson. The secretary of state added that Washington "will continue to hold Russia accountable to its Minsk commitments," referring to the Minsk process to resolve the Ukraine crisis. Tillerson was attending his first meeting of NATO foreign ministers amid worries about U.S. President Donald Trump's stated desire for closer relations with Moscow. He told Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, who was also at the meeting, that American and NATO support for Ukraine remained "steadfast" after "Russia's aggression against Ukraine." Russia responded by accusing NATO of spreading "the myth of a 'Russian threat'" and "the slander of 'Russian aggression'" as a way to unify its members. "The U.S. and its allies are obsessed with building up their military presence on our borders, justifying it with the need to 'restrain Russia'," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Also on March 31, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told reporters in London that "Russian's violations of international law are now a matter of record -- from what happened with Crimea to other aspects of their behavior in mucking around inside other peoples' elections. Mattis was likely referring to Russias alleged meddling during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The U.S. secretary of defense also expressed concern over Russia's activities in Afghanistan and its interaction with the Taliban militant group. "We have seen Russian activity vis-a-vis the Taliban," Mattis said. "I am not willing to say at this point if that is manifested into weapons and that sort of thing, but, certainly, what they are up to there in light of their other activities gives us concern." The comments came after U.S. General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, told a U.S. Senate committee on March 23 that he had seen evidence of increasing Russian efforts to influence the Taliban "and perhaps even to supply" the militant group. Moscow denies it provides aid to the Taliban, which is fighting the U.S.-backed government and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Speaking to reporters in Brussels on March 31, Russia's ambassador to NATO, Aleksandr Grushko, said Russia is in contact with the Taliban to push the group toward national reconciliation and to ensure security of Russian citizens. "Many countries" maintain contacts with the Taliban, Grushko said, adding that "the consultations we hold, the work we do, we do it with the participation of Afghanistan's central government." With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, TASS, and Interfax Russia says it is in contact with the Taliban in Afghanistan to push the militant group toward national reconciliation and to ensure the security of Russian citizens. Speaking to reporters in Brussels on March 31, Russia's ambassador to NATO, Aleksandr Grushko, denied that Moscow is providing aid to the Taliban and said "many countries" maintain contacts with the group. "The consultations we hold, the work we do, we do it with the participation of Afghanistan's central government," Grushko said. Earlier, in London, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis expressed concern over Russia's interaction with the Taliban, which is fighting the U.S.-backed government and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. "I am not willing to say at this point if that is manifested into weapons and that sort of thing, but, certainly, what they are up to there in light of their other activities gives us concern," Mattis said. The comments came after U.S. General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, said on March 23 that he had seen evidence of increasing Russian efforts to influence the Taliban "and perhaps even to supply" the militant group. Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax Russia's Investigative Committee says it has detained a suspect in connection with a March 24 attack on a military base in Chechnya. The April 1 statement said authorities had detained 21-year-old Ibragim Dzhamalov, from Chechnya's Naursky district, in connection with the attack, in which six soldiers and six attackers were killed. Three soldiers were reportedly wounded. The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which hit a base of Russia's newly formed National Guard security force. The Investigative Committee statement said Dzhamalov confessed to participating in the attack. Authorities continue to search for other suspects. Based on reporting by TASS and AFP The Russian government has opened a criminal investigation against the unidentified people who have called for an unsanctioned anticorruption demonstration in Moscow on April 2. Russia's Investigative Committee announced on April 1 that it was investigating the crime of "calling for mass unrest." "On the Internet, freely available to an unlimited number of people, an unidentified person has posted messages calling for actions of a severely extremist nature," a statement from the committee posted on its website said. The government has already reportedly blocked access to a number of Internet pages calling for the protests. Last week, the posts and videos appeared, making several demands, including the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, an end to Russian military operations in Ukraine and Syria, the release and exoneration of anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny, and the payment of compensation to activists detained during a Moscow protest on March 26. The March 26 protests, which brought tens of thousands of people into the streets in dozens of Russian cities, were the largest antigovernment protests in the country in the last five years. More than 1,000 people were detained, including Navalny, who is serving a 15-day administrative jail sentence. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 30 that protesters who break the law by participating in unsanctioned demonstrations or causing unrest should be punished. Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS Acclaimed Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko has died in a U.S. hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the age of 84. Yevtushenko's close friend, Mikhail Morgulis, told the TASS news agency on April 1 that "five minutes ago, Yevgeny Aleksandrovich passed away." Yevtushenko had been reported hospitalized in serious condition late on March 31. His wife, Maria Novikova, and their two sons, Dmitry and Yevgeny, were reportedly with the poet when he died. "Yevtushenko was a legend both in his very early years and in his mature years," Natalya Solzhenitsyna, widow of Nobel Prize laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, told Russian state television. "He lived based on his own principle: a poet in Russia is more than a poet, and he was truly more than a poet," she said. "He was a citizen with a clearly defined civic position. I think he will be long remembered, as he was a lively person responding to injustice and receptive to major events." Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to Yevtushenko's family, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "Yevtushenko was a great poet and his legacy is part of Russian culture," Peskov said. Born in Siberia in 1932, Yevtushenko published his first collection of poetry to acclaim in 1952. That year, at the age of 20, he became the youngest member of the Soviet Writers' Union. He became a leading figure of the so-called Sixties Generation in the Soviet Union and of the Thaw period under Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. In 1961, he published his most famous poem, Babi Yar, based on the Nazi German massacre of Jews in Kyiv, which lambasted Soviet distortions of history and Soviet anti-Semitism. The same year, he published The Heirs Of Stalin, a poem about how the shadow of Stalinism still lingered over the country. The poem was originally published in the Soviet daily Pravda, but then was not officially published in the Soviet Union again until 1986. In 1965, he signed a letter opposing the Soviet prosecution of poet Josef Brodsky, and in 1968, he signed another letter condemning the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Two days after the beginning of the invasion, he wrote a protest poem titled Tanks Are Moving In Prague. In later years, he was a controversial figure. In 1987, when he was made an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Brodsky protested against the honor, saying that Yevtushenko's criticism of the Soviet Union had remained within "acceptable" bounds for the Soviet authorities. In 1989, Yevtushenko was elected a member of the Congress of People's Deputies in the Soviet Union's only relatively free elections. In 1991, he supported Boris Yeltsin, but later broke with him over the disastrous 1990s war in Chechnya. He moved to the United States in 1991 and, since 2007, had split his time between the United States and Moscow. According to Russian media reports, he expressed a desire to be buried at the writers' community of Peredelkino outside Moscow, near the grave of Nobel laureate Boris Pasternak. With reporting by TASS and Interface Iraqi state television has claimed that the second-in-command of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group has been killed in an air strike near the Syrian border. The April 1 television report cited Iraqi military intelligence in claiming that Ayad al-Jumali, who is believed to be the deputy to IS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed along with other IS commanders by an Iraqi Air Force air strike in the Al-Qaim area along the Syrian border. The report decribes Jumali as IS's "second in command" and "war minister." The report did not give the date of the air strike. Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led international coalition, have been fighting to retake Mosul, the IS stronghold in Iraq where Baghdadi proclaimed an Islamic caliphate in 2014. Baghdadi is believed to have fled Mosul and taken refuge somewhere in the desert in the border region. The U.S.-led coalition could not be reached for comment. Speaking in Washington on March 22, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it is "only a matter of time" before Baghdadi himself is killed. Based on reporting by Reuters Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti says he is in constant contact with international security authorities to ensure stability in Kosovo as more ethnic Serb police officers in the north of country resigned. Kurti said on November 6 after a rally by ethnic Serbs in the streets of North Mitrovica that the security situation in Kosovo was threatened by various criminalized individuals and groups, but said that during his time in office, we have made great progress in the fight against crime and corruption." He added that the rule of law goes hand in hand with peace and security and cannot be threatened, adding that authorities do not distinguish criminals on the basis of ethnicity, but only on the basis of their criminal acts." When asked about the decision on November 5 by the Serbian List party to leave Kosovo's institutions, Kurti repeated his call that Kosovo Serbs refrain from doing so. "I once again I invite all Serb citizens of our country to not abandon institutions, not to resign, not to leave their jobs, because there would be less service for the people," he said. Kurti has blamed Belgrade for seeking to destabilize Kosovo by supporting the ethnic Serbs in their boycott of state institutions. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement on November 5 that the withdrawal of Kosovo Serbs from the country's institutions "is not a solution to the current disputes" and it has the potential to further escalate tensions. A statement from the U.S. Embassy in Kosovo released to RFE/RL's Balkan Service late on November 6 said the United States agreed with the European Union that the recent developments around relations between Kosovo and Serbia "are of great concern and put important progress achieved in the EU-facilitated Dialogue at risk." "The Kosovan Serbs' withdrawal from Kosovan institutions is not a solution to the current disputes and has the potential to further escalate the tensions on the ground," the statement added. "All involved must take steps to reduce tensions and ensure peace and stability on the ground." The Serb officers who resigned on November 6 submitted written resignations to the police station in North Mitrovica. One of the policemen told RFE/RL that the officers only submitted their resignations in writing but had not yet turned in their uniforms and weapons. However, he said this will follow in the coming days. Numerous media outlets reported that the police officers took off their uniforms as part of the wider Serb movement to withdraw from institutions in Kosovo touched off by a move to implement a mandate on the conversion of vehicle license plates. A statement from the Kosovar police force said it was aware that Serb police officers had abandoned their posts and that some have handed over police equipment. The rally by ethnic Serbs in North Mitrovica on November 6 came a day after Serbs there said they would quit their posts in state institutions to protest against the use of license plates issued by Pristina. Following a meeting of Serb political representatives in the north of Kosovo on November 5, the minister of communities and returns, Goran Rakic, said he was resigning from his post in the Pristina government. He told reporters that fellow representatives of the Serb minority in the north had also quit their jobs in municipal administrations, the courts, police, and the parliament and government in Pristina. Rakic said they would not consider returning unless Pristina abolishes the order for them to switch their old car license plates, which date to the 1990s when Kosovo was a part of Serbia, to Kosovo state plates. Addressing the rally on November 6, Rakic accused Kosovo government authorities of not respecting international law and agreements negotiated in Brussels. Rakic has called on the protesters "not to fall for provocations and to continue the fight with peaceful and democratic means." The license-plate measure took effect on November 1, and Kosovo authorities said enforcement would be gradual. The U.S. Embassy statement reiterated Washington's position that the Kosovar authorities should extend the process of converting vehicle license plates and suspend any punitive actions until the license plates issue can be resolved through dialogue. Many ethnic Serbs in Kosovo refuse to recognize the countrys independence from Serbia, which it declared in 2008. The European Union has told Kosovo and Serbia that they must normalize ties if they want to advance toward membership in the 27-nation bloc. With reporting by dpa, AP, and AFP The United Nations envoy for Syria says the fifth round of peace talks between opposition leaders and the government made "incremental" progress, but he warned that a peace deal remains a long way off. Staffan de Mistura on March 31 said after wrapping up nine days of talks in Geneva that the sides appeared "keen" on holding a new round of talks, but he said no date had been set. Opposition and government negotiators met separately with de Mistura, who said he was at least pleased that no one had walked out. The talks were still in the preparation stage, he acknowledged, and centered on four "baskets" of issues -- governance, drafting a new constitution, elections, and combating terrorism. "In every negotiation, there are certain issues that need to be prepared...before the real, real peace negotiations start... and it is clear, we are not quite there," he said. He expressed concerns about the status of a cease-fire agreement brokered by Russia, Iran, and Turkey. De Mistura urged the three nations, which have been sponsoring talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, to "revitalize the cease-fire." "We really mean it. Successful work in Astana on the cease-fire reinforces Geneva and vice versa," he said. Fighting in Syria has intensified during the past two weeks. Rebel groups launched drives against districts in the capital, Damascus, and captured several villages near the provincial capital of Hama. A counteroffensive by Syrian government forces recaptured most of the areas. The war in Syria, which began with a government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in March 2011, has killed an estimated 300,000 people and displaced millions more. Russia and Iran back President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey and the United States support various rebel groups fighting the government. But the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump declared this week that it isnt pursuing a strategy to push Assad out of power, saying its focus is on defeating the extremist group Islamic State, which is still controlling large swaths of territory in Syria and neighboring Iraq. "There is a political reality that we have to accept in terms of where we are right now," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on March 31. On March 30, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Assad's "longer-term status" would be decided by the Syrian people, while the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said of Assad, "Do we think he's a hindrance? Yes. Are we going to sit there and focus on getting him out? No." With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters MASON CITY | One of three masked men who reportedly entered a Mason City home and stole a safe earlier this week has been arrested, police say. A second suspect is still being sought by police. Devon Reckner, 19, of Mason City, was booked Friday afternoon at the Cerro Gordo County Jail on a charge of felony first-degree robbery. He was arrested at Mason City police headquarters after questioning. Police say theyve also obtained an arrest warrant for a second suspect, Austin Mitchel Hasfjord, 18, of Clear Lake. The warrant is for first-degree robbery. Reckner and and Hasfjord are two of the suspects who broke into a home on the 1000 block of East State about noon Monday, investigators say. The perpetrators allegedly assaulted an occupant, held him down and stole a safe containing money. The occupant of the home was taken to a local hospital by private vehicle. Police wont say what they believe motivated the alleged incident. Reckner was being held without bond Friday afternoon until his first court appearance Saturday morning. Anyone with information about Hasfjords whereabouts can contact their local law-enforcement agency or the Mason City Police Department at 641-421-3636. WASHINGTON --- A leading Republican U.S. senator has called for deeper Justice Department investigations into the Washington lobbying firm connected to the explosive dossier compiled on President Donald Trump during last years election campaign and the firms alleged Russian ties. The focus of the March 31 letter, from Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is Fusion GPS and the work it did in particular connected to the human rights law passed last year known as the Global Magnitsky Act. The letter, addressed to Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, targets the work Fusion did in 2015 and 2016 connected to the act, which had been introduced in Congress but at the time not yet voted on. The letter cites from a complaint filed by British-American businessman William Browder that alleged Fusion GPS, a public relations firm founded by a former Wall Street Journal reporter, may have worked as a lobbyist "for Russian interests in a campaign to oppose the pending Global Magnitsky Act [and] failed to register under [U.S. law]." "The issue is of particular concern to the committee given that when Fusion GPS reportedly was acting as an unregistered agent of Russian interests, it appears to have been simultaneously overseeing the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier of allegations of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians," the letter said. Fusion GPS surfaced in the public eye earlier this year when a report compiled by a former British intelligence officer about Trumps business dealings in Russia emerged. The report, which was published in full by BuzzFeed, contained salacious and damning allegations about Trump, was reportedly commissioned by Fusion GPS initially for Trumps Republican opponents, but then was acquired by Democratic operatives. The Grassley letter highlights the work done by a Russian-American man named Rinat Akhmetshin, who was instrumental in the Washington premiere of a film that sought to undermine the narrative surrounding the Magnitsky laws namesake, Russian whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky. Barely showing up in U.S. lobbying records, the 48-year-old Akhmetshin cut a low profile in Washington lobbying circles, even as he was tied to such efforts as bolstering opponents of Kazakhstan's ruling regime; discrediting a fugitive former member of Russia's parliament; and undermining a Russian-owned mining firm involved in a billion-dollar lawsuit with company information allegedly stolen by hackers. Asked to comment on the allegations in the Grassley letter, Fusion GPS said in an e-mail to RFE/RL: "Fusion GPS was working for the U.S. law firm of Baker Hostetler, at its direction, in a litigation support role. That work is a matter of public record. By the very nature of that work, Fusion GPS was working with a law firm to ensure compliance with the law. Fusion GPS was not required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act." Akhmetshin did not respond immediately to an e-mail seeking comment. For his part, Browder is a London-based businessman who invested millions in Russia before being forced to leave the country in the mid-2000s. After the Russian companies he founded began to see unusual financial activity, Browder hired Sergei Magnitsky to investigate. According to U.S. federal court records, Magnitsky then uncovered what appeared to be an audacious tax fraud scheme that stole $230 million from the Russian treasury. Magnitsky was later imprisoned by Russian authorities, accused of committing the same fraud he reportedly uncovered. He died in a Moscow prison in 2009, suffering from ill health and, his supporters say, after being tortured. Three years later, after lobbying from Browder, the U.S. Congress passed the original Magnitsky Act, which sanctioned people allegedly connected to Magnitskys death, the underlying tax fraud, and other human rights abuses. Last year, as Congress was considering passing new legislation that would expand the authority of the president to sanction rights abusers anywhere in the world, a film was screened in Washington that cast doubt on the narrative surrounding Magnitsky, insinuating instead that he was an accomplice in the tax fraud that was orchestrated by Browder. The film, by Russian filmmaker named Andrei Nekrasov, was screened at the Newseum, at an event organized by Akhmetshin. "It is particularly disturbing that Mr. Akhmetshin and Fusion GPS were working together on this pro-Russia lobbying effort in 2016 in light of Mr. Akhmetshins history and reputation," the letter from Senator Grassley said. By tying Fusion to Akhmetshins work, Grassley appeared to be also trying to undermine the salacious dossier, which Trump has repeatedly and resoundingly denied. "As you know, Fusion GPS is the company behind the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier alleging a conspiracy between President Trump and Russia," the letter said. "It is highly troubling that Fusion GPS appears to have been working with someone with ties to Russian intelligence -- let alone someone alleged to have conducted political disinformation campaigns -- as part of a pro-Russia lobbying effort while also simultaneously overseeing the creation of the Trump/Russia dossier. The relationship casts further doubt on an already highly dubious dossier," it said. In a closely related matter, U.S. federal prosecutors have been engaged in a multiyear battle in U.S. courts to seize what they say are some of the proceeds netted from the original $230 million tax fraud in Russia. hat case, known as USA v. Prevezon, alleges that a Russian businessman named Denis Katsyv used some of the Magnitsky funds, after they were laundered through European banks, to buy real estate in Manhattan. he case, which has prosecutors seeking to seize more than $11 million in real estate and bank accounts, went on hiatus last year after a U.S. judge threw the defendants' lawyer, Baker Hostetler, off the case. Last month, the defendants new lawyers again asked the U.S. judge to throw out the case. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has declared a "clear" victory in Serbias presidential election, an expected result that could increase Russias influence in the Balkan country. After exit polls indicated a resounding victory, Vucic on April 2 told his Progressive Party supporters: "My victory is crystal clear. This is a very important day for us, showing which way Serbia should be heading." Vucic has vowed to lead Serbia into the European Union, but he has also pushed for closer ties to longtime ally Russia. "A huge majority of people in Serbia support continuation of the European path for Serbia, along with preserving our traditionally good ties with Russia and China," said Vucic, who added that a "new government will be set up within two months." WATCH: Voters Go To The Polls Official results are expected on April 3. But Vucic declared victory after projections by different several polling agencies late on April 2 gave him at least 55 percent of the votes. Vucic needs more than 50 percent of the votes to avoid an April 16 runoff against the next highest performer. Former Serbian ombudsman Sasa Jankovic was second with 15 percent, an Ipsos poll showed, basing projections on 40 percent of votes counted from sample polling stations. Jankovic said he would wait for the official results before conceding. "This is a political process that has just begun," he said. Luka Maksimovic, a media student who ran as a satirical candidate, was third with 9 percent, exit polls showed. Maksimovic mocked corruption in domestic politics by promising to steal if he won. Vucic is expected to use the presidency to appoint a figurehead successor as prime minister and to transform the presidency into a more powerful position to consolidate his power. A former ultranationalist who broke away from the Radicals in 2008 to establish the more moderate Progressive Party, Vucic has pledged his commitment to Serbia's goal of membership in the EU by 2019. At the same time, Vucic, an information minister under Yugoslavia's late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, has brought Serbia closer to Russia with increased talk of military and economic cooperation. "We are doing all we can," Vucic said on March 27 in a broadcast on privately held TV Pink in reference to defending Serbia's interests, both east and west. "We are cooperating with the EU, with Russia, with China, with everyone where we have our own interests and everyone knows that we are a reliable partner," he added. The integration of the Western Balkans is a key policy goal of the EU and United States, which say they hope to stabilize a region ravaged by war and economic turmoil and riddled with political corruption. But many Serbs are disillusioned with the country's politicians as they struggle to shake off a legacy of political corruption that has taken root since it emerged following the 1990s conflicts that broke apart Yugoslavia. Reforms aimed at modernizing the economy and bringing Serbia into the EU have hit many workers hard, exacerbating the backlash. Longtime ally Russia, meanwhile, opposes the integration of Western Balkan countries, including Serbia, into the NATO security alliance, and the EU and is trying to extend its influence in the region. With tensions simmering between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, an ethnically charged political stalemate in Macedonia, and accusations of Russian interference in Montenegro's move toward NATO and the EU, concerns have grown over Serbia's direction and how it could reignite the Balkan powder keg. "Vucic benefits from his populist rhetoric and an image of a strong-handed leader able to successfully maneuver Serbia's interests between Russia and the West," according to Andrius Tursa, an analyst at Teneo Intelligence. Just days before the vote, U.S. President Donald Trump told Vucic in a letter that EU membership "will help ensure a more prosperous and secure future for your country and the Western Balkans." "Serbia's efforts to fully normalize relations with Kosovo also stand as further testament to how shared aspirations of peace can overcome even the most difficult challenges," said the letter, made public by the Serbian government. None of the opposition candidates -- including ex-Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj, and Jankovic -- were expected to present a major challenge to Vucic. If the exit poll projections hold, the victory gives Vucic and his Progressive Party, which has a majority in parliament, control over the entire legislative and governing process, and some observers and voters are concerned that could push the Balkan state back into the autocracy that Milosevic symbolized during his decade in power. With reporting by Alan Crosby in Prague and contributions from RFE/RL's Balkan Service, Reuters, AP, and dpa CULPEPER A man wanted in Culpeper who had been living in Greene County was in intensive care after barricading himself inside a house and shooting himself in the head, officials said. Alan Ray Odonnell fired on Greene and Madison County sheriffs deputies and members of the U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday at about 8:30 a.m. after Greene deputies attempted to arrest him for failing to appear at a sentencing in Culpeper, according to a news release. Odonnell was to be sentenced on a charge of aggravated sexual battery of a minor, police said. Odonnell, who is not a resident of Greene but had been staying there, saw police approaching the residence and barricaded himself inside, according to the news release. Greene deputies requested assistance from the Madison County Sheriffs Office after they heard a gunshot inside the residence. Police and the marshals established communication with Odonnell and, during negotiations, he began firing at deputies through a covered window, the Greene Sheriffs Office said. Deputies did not return fire. There were no other occupants in the house. Odonnell then shot himself in the head, police said. He was transported to the University of Virginia Hospital, where he underwent surgery and was in intensive care. Say, remember when the Trump administration wanted to slash funding for Meals on Wheels, thereby proving everything liberals love to hate about the cruelty of conservatives? Yeah, about that. The story got saturation coverage for a while right after the Trump administration rolled out its budget blueprint. The budget plans cuts for Community Development Block Grants. The New York Times then reported that CDBG funds popular programs like Meals on Wheels. Cue the national freakout. A few sober-minded souls paused and took the trouble to examine the facts. It turns out that the vast majority of funding for Meals on Wheels 84 percent comes from individual donations. A far smaller share comes from other federal sources such as the Older Americans Act and the Department of Health and Human Resources Administration for Community Living. Funding through Community Development Block Grants makes up a grand total of 3 percent of Meals on Wheels revenue. Doug Pick, who runs FeedMore, said Wednesday that while cuts to Meals on Wheels could still happen, the recent furor was premature. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. It's a lament found in rural communities across Nebraska: We've got the jobs to be filled but not enough housing to meet workers' needs. Courtney Dentlinger, director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, calls the housing shortage "a critical economic development issue in rural areas of our state." She wrote to a state legislative committee that "a lack of workforce housing impedes the ability of employers to attract talent to the state to fill thousands of open positions. In turn, employers are unable to fill necessary jobs." Note the volume she cited: "thousands of open positions" unfilled across the state due to this problem. The Legislature's Business and Labor Committee has heard testimony about a proposal, Legislative Bill 518, to help address the problem. A range of Nebraskans testified about how a lack of adequate housing is hamstringing the ability of rural communities to attract and retain workers. "Because of low-quality housing and less variety, it is very difficult to recruit professionals to North Platte," Mel McNea, CEO of Great Plains Health, the local hospital, told the committee. Richard Baier, with the Nebraska Bankers Association, said a recent workforce study in Hastings found the local economy had 501 active job openings, but only 30 houses were on the market. Other testimony focused on people who earn too much for affordable housing assistance but still face difficulty in finding housing. A young married couple with teaching jobs in Gothenburg, for example, couldn't qualify for an adequate home loan because they carry too much student debt. In Schuyler, the rental housing market is so tight, lawmakers were told, that three couples who work different factory shifts take turns sleeping in the same bedroom. A Nebraska Bankers Association task force lists various factors behind the shortage, including too few contractors and tradespeople; limited lot availability; escalating costs of new construction; and down payment shortfalls. The proposal by Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg, as amended, would make a one-time transfer of $10.3 million from the Nebraska Affordable Housing Trust Fund, administered by the state's Department of Economic Development. The state would award competitive housing-related grants to nonprofit development corporations in eligible communities. A one-to-one match in local funds would be required. Counties with a population below 100,000 would be eligible (all but Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy Counties). Grant awards would be decided competitively based on whether a proposed project meets one or more factors, including an ongoing housing need as shown through a significant study, a low unemployment rate, difficulty filling vacancies or potential projects that could be ready for occupancy within two years. No organization could receive more than $2.5 million over a two-year period, with a limit of $5 million through fiscal year 2020. The Department of Economic Development has indicated that transferring $10.3 million from the trust fund wouldn't harm any future projects for the fund, which was created in 1996 to encourage housing construction for low-income residents. It is funded by a portion of the transfer tax assessed on Nebraska real estate transactions. LB 518 is intended to take a one-time withdrawal of unused funds to encourage housing for Nebraskans whose income is above the level considered for affordable housing assistance but who still run into roadblocks in trying to find housing. Williams has put forward a worthy proposal that seeks to address a major economic development need in Nebraska. The Legislature can serve the public interest by passing it. This editorial appeared in the March 21 edition of the Omaha World-Herald. CHARLOTTESVILLE U.S. Rep. Tom Garrett insists he isnt afraid to stand up to President Donald Trump or Republican Party leadership. During his first town hall, the freshman congressman, who is still in the early days of his first term, defended his intent to vote against the health care plan proposed by Republicans in the House of Representatives standing up to Trump and party leadership in the process. Garrett, R-5th, said he isnt worried that saying no to the Republican Party could cause the party or the president to run another Republican against him in two years. If you sit around and worry about whether or not your road to re-election is going to be harder or easier, then youre not focused on what you were elected to do, he said. Garrett, who said he would have voted against the new health care plan had it gone to a full House vote, doesnt believe the Affordable Care Act provides Americans affordable care, but did not feel the replacement was a sufficient alternative. During the town hall at the University of Virginia, Garrett answered questions on health care, Trump, a proposed border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. A university dean moderated the forum by asking audience-submitted questions. Throughout, Garrett didnt hesitate to question Trumps actions or campaign rhetoric insisting Mexicans would pay for a border wall. The congressman said that, even as a Trump supporter, he frequently scratches his head over the president. Garrett vowed to continue voting his conscience and the will of constituents, rather than blindly following party leadership. When I ran for office, I didnt promise President Trump a darn thing, but I promised you all a whole lot, he said. During the forum, Garrett answered questions about recent issues in the national news . He said he doesnt care if Trump produces his tax returns because thats not a requirement of presidential candidates, and said he would support removing from office American officials who colluded with Russians to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. While he generally supports energy pipelines, Garrett said he partially opposes the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline that could run through the 5th Districts Nelson County. Eminent domain laws exist for a reason, and homeowners should not be afraid to exercise their rights, he said. Companies building pipelines should seek to go through regions that want them, rather than forcing themselves onto private property, he added. Garrett said he supports Trumps heightened vetting of international residents seeking to relocate to the U.S., but called a refugee ban stupid and un-American. He also supports securing Americas borders, but said experts have proved that a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico is not the most effective implementation plan. I just want to make sure the people who are coming in are coming for the right reasons, he said. About 230 people attended the forum, opened to some students in the universitys Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and 5th District constituents through a lottery system. Republican gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart, who does not live in the 5th District, also made an appearance. He was not invited and left early. From the get-go, Garrett said he chose the relatively small venue so his family, friends and those who helped him get elected could attend the forum without having to fear for their well-being. He hopes to increase the audience size at his future town halls. Before the event, as rain trickled down outside, about 100 Garrett supporters and protesters shouted at one another in front of the venue. The din could be heard in the background as Garrett paused between responses. Outside, members of Indivisible Charlottesville protested white supremacy. On Twitter, the group decried a photo of Garrett with Charlottesville blogger Jason Kessler and two other unidentified men at a meeting in Garretts office in Washington a few weeks ago. Kessler petitioned for a black Charlottesville city councilman to be removed from office for controversial tweets he posted years ago. Garrett is not affiliated with Kessler or the other men. Kessler and the others, who live in the 5th District, drove to the nations capital and meeting with their congressman, a spokesman for Garrett said. Just a few seconds into Garrett introducing himself at the start of the forum, several protesters stood up and chanted, white supremacys got to go. Security promptly kicked them out. Garrett was quick to side with the protesters against white supremacy. Theres no place for white supremacy in the forum of Thomas Jeffersons university, he said. Throughout the forum, Garrett was blunt and unfazed as constituents vocally voiced their displeasure at his answers. Im not here to tell you what you want to hear, Im here to tell you what I believe, he said. With additional questions from attendees still in the hopper, Garrett even agreed to answer questions for an additional 30 minutes extending the town hall from an hour and a half to two hours. Garretts next town hall is slated for May 9 in Moneta. A three-vehicle crash on Interstate 81 in Wythe County Friday night killed two women, a Radford University student and Virginia Tech student, and sent five other people to hospitals with injuries. A Honda Insight driven by Tech student Paige M. Neubauer, 21, traveling south on I-81, near Fort Chiswell about two miles north of the Interstate 77 interchange, crossed the median and struck head-on a Honda Civic traveling north shortly after 10 p.m., state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said. The impact caused the Insight to spin around in the northbound lanes and be struck by a northbound Ford F-150 pickup truck. Neubauer, of Virginia Beach, died at the scene. She was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from her electric hybrid car. The driver of the Honda Civic, Rachel E. Jones, 22, of New Castle, was flown to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital for treatment. The hospital said Saturday afternoon her condition is undetermined. The passenger of the Civic, Bridgett J. Oliver, 21, of New Castle, died at the scene. Both Jones and Oliver were wearing seat belts. Irvin Clark, Radford University Interim Vice President of Student Affairs, sent a message to students and faculty Saturday about the crash. He said Oliver was a senior honors nursing major. Jones was a fellow honors nursing student, Clark said. School of Nursing Director Tony Ramsey shared with me what a tremendous impact Bridgett made to the honors nursing program and how she was looking forward to a career where she could serve the needs of and help others, he wrote. Radford University is providing grief counselors through the weekend to students. Neubauer was majoring in communication studies, according to the universitys student directory. She was a member of the schools Delta Gamma sorority. The driver of the pickup truck, a 46-year-old Georgia man, and his three passengers were taken to the hospital in Pulaski County for treatment of minor injuries, police said. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Lanes were shut down until 1:30 a.m. while the state police crash reconstruction team investigated. The outpouring of emotions and fond memories of Neubauer on social media did not come as a surprise to Caroline Cogan, the sorority chapters president. Paige was one of the most genuine people Ive ever met in my entire life, and I dont have any memories of when she didnt have a smile across her face, she said. Our sororitys motto is do good, and she lived by that motto. Neubauer worked as a cashier at the campus dining eatery Hokie Grill and Co. On a Facebook page called VT Crushes where people can anonymously share who they have a crush on Cogan said, Paige has been mentioned on there probably more times than anybody else, because she just had the biggest smile and was so bubbly. Demand for accountants and auditors is on the rise. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for those positions will increase 11 percent and it is forecast that at least 142,000 new accounting jobs will be created by 2024. To help meet the job market needs, Radford University will begin offering an accounting certificate in the fall. The one-year program consists of 30 credit hours, which includes the six-credit-hour prerequisite courses. Requirements include a bachelors degree in any discipline with a cumulative 2.5 GPA or better. Individuals must have completed Accounting 211 and 212 courses or an equivalent to begin the certificate program. The program will be offered through Radford Universitys Department of Accounting, Finance and Business Law. It is a perfect opportunity for business majors to improve their options and it gives non-business majors a chance to change their career arc, said Department Chair Dan Davidson. In addition, it will help to meet a demand in the state and region. Completion of the certificate program furthers an individuals eligibility to sit for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam, increasing their career options with a greater likelihood of promotion and advancement, particularly in public accounting, Davidson said. The Virginia Board of Accountancy requires candidates taking the CPA exam to have a bachelors degree with at least 120 total semester credit hours, including 30 semester hours in accounting and 24 hours of other business studies. The Accounting Certificate is a classroom program. However, some sessions will be online. Radford University accounting graduates have a 96 percent job-placement rate with a median starting salary of $40,235. Their lifetime earnings expectation is $4,770,000. There are jobs in accounting, and accounting pays well, Davidson said. Individuals applying for the Accounting Certificate program will use the non-degree-seeking application for admission, which can be found on the Radford University Registrars website: http://www.radford.edu/content/registrar/home.html. To learn more, contact the Department of Accounting, Finance and Business Law at 831-6595 or afbl-ru@radford.edu. To learn more, contact the Department of Accounting, Finance and Business Law at 831-6595 or afbl-ru@radford.edu. Submitted by Radford University NEW YORK As German bombers savagely attacked Warsaw in late September 1939, a surreal scene began unfolding in the streets. The citys zoo was hit hard, and panicked animals were racing through the citys Old Town. Many were shot, but the slaughter had just begun. When a Nazi entourage visited the zoo on New Years Eve, SS members killed other animals for sheer sport. As she watched in horror, Antonina Zabinski, who ran the zoo with her husband, asked herself: How many humans will die like this in the coming months? Adolf Hitler would go on to exterminate more than 380,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. But the Zabinskis didnt stand by and watch. As told in Diane Ackermans award-winning 2007 book The Zookeepers Wife and now in a Focus Features movie starring Jessica Chastain, Antonina and her husband, Jan, fought back. He joined the resistance. She ran a covert operation in which Jews were smuggled out of the ghetto and into the zoo, hidden in cages, tunnels and her home, and then transported to safety. Q: How did you discover this story? A: I came to it through animals. I learned that there were unusual species of small horses living in a forest in Poland, and I wanted to write about them. I got in touch with the park service there, but I didnt speak Polish, so I asked a neighbor in Warsaw to help me. She said, incidentally, that one of her uncles had worked in the Zabinskis zoo, and he told me that the zookeepers wife had published a diary. When I read it, I began to see the extraordinary sensibility Antonina had about animals and how many she had adopted. But as it turned out, she was also rescuing people and saving lives. Q: Do you think theres a relevance, an echo to this story in our world today? A: I think the book and the film as well really resonate with whats happening now. We see white supremacy suddenly being legitimized, as it was before. We see anti-Semitism on the rise. Theres terrible prejudice against refugees and immigrants. An entire religion has been singled out. And the story in the book reminds us of what can happen. This is not a new phenomenon. Its happened before, and it started small. We need to be more vigilant than ever about whats going on around us, and how its growing. Otherwise, history can repeat itself. Q: The story offers a more complex definition of heroism than we normally see. Antoninas husband fits the classic definition, as a resistance fighter. But shes different. A: Yes, and thats one of the reasons I wrote this book. So often we equate heroism with violence, usually with males with martyrdom and cruelty. But there are many forms of heroism, and we are not an inherently evil species. If we were, we would not exist. We would not have evolved to where we are now, because we would have wiped each other out long ago. Q: Your book and the movie tell a shattering story. What should people take away from The Zookeepers Wife? A: I want us to cherish our links to other animals and to the great kindness thats within us. I also want us to remember always that our animal nature is capable of horrific evil. We most definitely need to be our brothers and sisters keepers. And if we want to protect this planet, that includes other animals as well. Im hopeful for the future, because so many people are becoming more active by the day. ZIKA Volunteers to test possible vaccine WASHINGTON U.S. health officials have begun enrolling volunteers for critical next-stage testing of an experimental vaccine to protect against Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that can cause devastating birth defects in pregnant women. The first volunteer was vaccinated Wednesday at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, as the National Institutes of Health gears up for a two-part study that aims to enroll at least 2,400 people in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and five at-risk countries: Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica and Peru. Zika has caused an epidemic of birth defects in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, and continues to spread to a creeping list of other countries. For the U.S. the risk has largely been to travelers, although mosquitoes spread the virus in parts of southern Florida and Texas last year. ATLANTA 3 arrested in fire that collapsed overpass ATLANTA Three people were arrested Friday in connection with a raging fire that collapsed an elevated portion of Interstate 85 in Atlanta and shut down the heavily traveled route through the heart of the city. Deputy Insurance Commissioner Jay Florence said Basil Eleby faces a charge of criminal damage to property, and Sophia Bruner and Barry Thomas each were charged with criminal trespass. The collapse took place a few miles north of downtown, and the effects could fall most heavily on commuters from Atlantas densely populated northern suburbs. They will have to find other routes to work or ride mass transit. WASHINGTON Kushner retains many real estate investments WASHINGTON President Donald Trumps son-in-law and daughter are holding onto scores of real estate investments part of a portfolio of at least $240 million in assets while they serve in White House jobs, according to financial disclosures released publicly late Friday. The revelations about Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were part of a massive White House release of financial disclosure forms for more than 100 of its top administration officials. Kushner, Trumps senior adviser, resigned from some 260 entities and sold off 58 businesses or investments that lawyers identified as posing potential conflicts of interest, the documents show. But his lawyers, in consultation with the Office of Government Ethics, determined that his real estate assets, many of them in New York City, are unlikely to pose the kinds of conflicts that would trigger a need to divest. VENEZUELA Prosecutor rebukes Supreme Court grab CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuelas chief prosecutor broke with the government Friday and rebuked a Supreme Court decision stripping congress of its last vestiges of power, showing a crack in the embattled administration of socialist President Nicolas Maduro amid a torrent of international condemnation over what many decried as a major step toward dictatorship. In a shocking pronouncement, long-time government loyalist Luisa Ortega Diaz said it was her unavoidable historical duty as the nations top judicial authority to denounce what she called a rupture of the constitutional order in the court ruling against the opposition-controlled National Assembly. We call for reflection so that the democratic path can be retaken, she said to the loud applause of aides gathered around her. Business News Prestige Metal Products Moves From Illinois To Wisconsin | RobinsPost News & Noticias Follow Us Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) The collection from customers increased ... Read More New Auburn, WI Bjorkstrand Metal Roofing has been ranked among the best roofers in Wisconsin. The company has been in business for years and has installed over a thousand metal roofs ... Read More (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf) Here is a look at Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Wisconsin Badgers football in Madison, Wiscon Sep 30, 2022 Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Read More When Wisconsin fired football coach Paul Chryst ... So his firing after back to back bad losses to Ohio State and Illinois was shocking. But maybe it shouldnt have been. A quick hook after ... Read More WIS_Guerendo 21 pass from Mertz (Van Zelst kick), 11:15. ILL_DeVito 1 run (C.Griffin kick), 4:30. Second Quarter WIS_FG Van Zelst 39, 14:53. ILL_DeVito 1 run (C.Griffin kick), 7:31. Third Quarter ... Read More Illinois wants to give coach Bret Bielema a successful return to Camp Randall Stadium. Bielema posted a 68-24 record as Wisconsins coach from 2006-12 before leaving for Arkansas. Wisconsin is ... Read More In The Prestige, Christopher Nolan directed a movie with a grounded and intimate story while generally avoiding a theme that came to define his future projects time. Although there are ... Read More ILL_FG C.Griffin 44, 9:03. ILL_C.Brown 49 run (C.Griffin kick), 6:42. PASSING_Illinois, DeVito 18-24-0-167. Wisconsin, Mertz 17-32-2-206, B.Allen 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING_Illinois, Williams 7-31 ... Read More ILL_C.Brown 49 run (C.Griffin kick), 6:42. RUSHING_Illinois, C.Brown 25-129, Love 6-16, DeVito 7-(minus 2), (Team) 4-(minus 6). Wisconsin, Mellusi 7-16, Guerendo 1-3, Dike 1-3, B.Allen 8-2 ... Read More Elections News Myanmar Votes In By Elections Seen As First Test For Aung San Suu Kyi | RobinsPost News & Noticias A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Wednesday ... ranging from graft to election violations, carrying combined maximum terms of nearly 190 years. Aung San Suu Kyi has called the accusations ... Read More YANGON, Oct 15 (Reuters): Myanmar's former leader Aung San ... Suu Kyi was ousted in a February 2021 coup the military said was necessary because of unaddressed irregularities in an election ... Read More A court in military-ruled Myanmar ruled on October 18 that the last trial for corruption of the countrys ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi will go ... sedition, election fraud and seven other ... Read More Myanmar Court Jails Suu Kyi for 3 Years for Graft -Source (Reuters) -A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Wednesday sentenced deposed leader Aung San Suu ... from graft to election violations ... Read More Myanmar's junta has accused former leader Aung San Suu Kyi of accepting bribes from a businessman. The extended sentence leaves her with a 26-year total prison term.Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San ... Read More A court in military-run Myanmar has sentenced Aung San ... election that her National League for Democracy won in a landslide, defeating a party created by the military. It was the first time Suu ... Read More Myanmar's National League for Democracy Party leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to media about the upcoming general elections, during a news conference at her home in Yangon November 5, 2015. Read More BANGKOK (AP) A court in military-ruled Myanmar ruled Tuesday that the last trial for corruption of the countrys ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi will ... sedition, election fraud and seven ... Read More Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced by a court to another three years in prison for corruption, a legal source told news agencies ... sedition, election fraud and five corruption ... Read More Basic fairness will die in Appropriations. And Iowa's busted tax policy will kill it. That's the fate of school equity legislation now sitting in the Iowa House, according to predictions of a half-dozen state lawmakers representing the Quad-Cities. The bipartisan soothsaying late Wednesday and early Thursday put a cloud over what, until now, had been a high-point of the legislative cycle. The bill passed earlier this month in the state Senate, SF 455, was the "best opportunity yet" for fairness among all public school students in Iowa, Davenport Community School District Superintendent Art Tate told us. For too long, Iowa has touted a grossly unjust funding model where some districts receive more state funding than others. But, as we predicted earlier this week, years of tax cuts, exemptions and corporate welfare has hamstrung Iowa's ability to do much of anything. And that's the reality faced by proponents of the equity bill, which breezed through the House Education Committee on Wednesday. Now, the $203 million, 10-year package heads to the House Appropriations Committee. And that's where Quad-Cities Reps. Norlin Mommsen, Republican, and Democrats Phyllis Thede and Cindy Winckler all committee members predicted the legislation's demise, in light of yet another revenue shortfall of more than $100 million. For their part, all House members surveyed support the bill, at least in concept. Reps. Winckler and Monica Kurth would back it should it ever reach the floor. Republicans Ross Paustian and Gary Mohr, too, would back it in concept. But they just don't see Appropriations freeing up the $14 million needed for its first year. "It's unfortunate that the Senate rushed a bill over to us without any idea on how to fund it," Paustian said. So, now what? The legislation's very existence is a moral victory, some will say. It's an acknowledgement that the system is broken. It's an official recognition that more than 300 districts statewide, including Davenport and Maquoketa, can't compete with their neighbors and, as a result, are further hamstrung by incessant middle class flight and sagging property values, they'll contend. There can be no moral victory until the structural injustice is undone. Still, Tate would find himself facing career-ending sanctions because of his budgetary protests against an inequitable funding model. His district would continue to live under a mandate that bilks it of $2.4 million every year. It's possible that lawmakers will forgive Tate's legal transgressions as a consolation prize. Bills kicking around both chambers would legalize the budgetary maneuver he enacted. A simple retroactive provision could clear Tate and salvage his career. That's the least lawmakers could do. In so doing, they'd provide themselves political cover by avoiding a public spat with a respected school official standing on principle. But, as Tate would tell you, this isn't about him. It's about his students. And that's who, yet again, gets failed by a state that's gutted its revenue to the tune of $12 billion a year through tax hand-outs to special interests. SF 455 wasn't perfect, which the Democrats will tell you. The decade-long roll-out opens the door for future legislatures to kill it. It was, however, the most politically feasible path forward. The fact remains, tens of thousands of children in Iowa will continue to be second-class citizens if the bill dies. And it's those students who would pay for the state handouts for the well connected. This editorial appeared in the March 24 edition of the Quad-City Times, another Lee Enterprises publication. Potus News Egypt S President Leaves Cairo For Washington To Meet Trump | RobinsPost News & Noticias Secret Service communications and testimony from bombshell witness Cassidy Hutchinson painted a picture of then-President Donald Trumps meltdown ... FYI, POTUS is pissed Breaking news ... Read More Amnesty Internationals head on Sunday warned that the proceedings of COP27 in Egypt could be stained by the death of the countrys leading rights activist from a hunger ... Read More During Thursdays Jan. 6 House select committee hearing ... A newly obtained Secret Service message from that day shows how angry President Trump was about the outcome. Quote, "Just FYI, POTUS is ... Read More Egypt's energy ... probably sufficient to meet Europes need if investments are made to exploit gas fields in the area. Egyptian TV reported Saturday that Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades ... Read More Georgieva to Meet With Egypt, Tunisia, Confident of IMF 'Backing Them Up' By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters ... countries since the start of Russia's war against Ukraine, but still had ... Read More The Grand Egyptian Museum is a monumental showcase for all 5,000 of King Tuts treasuresand a symbol of a nation that has reclaimed its past. An engineer by training, General Moftah is ... Read More In response to the subpoena, Truman claimed he had immunity, just like a sitting president. Trump's his first response to the subpoena vote was to mock the committee that issued it. "Why didn't ... Read More Former president Donald Trump joined this group Thursday ... congressional committees twice after leaving office, providing details about a questionable U.S. Steel deal and about corporate ... Read More If youre planning a trip, heres what you cant miss in Cairo. Discover the best places to visit, eat and sleep in Egypts bustling capital. The pyramids are some of the recognizable ... Read More Four past presidents received such demands. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill unanimously voted on Thursday to subpoena former President Donald Trump ... Read More CAIRO (AP) Egypt's and Greece's foreign ministers met Sunday in Cairo following ... and signing new maritime border agreements with Cyprus. At a joint news conference, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias ... Read More Potus News In Egypt Policy Shift Trump To Stress Security Keep Human Rights Private | RobinsPost News & Noticias The head of Amnesty International says that the proceedings of COP27 will be stained by the death of one of Egypt's leading rights activists on a hunger and water strike ... Read More Congresss conditioning of some of Egypts security aid makes for an annual public test of US administrations balancing of strategic interests and human rights. The Biden administration ... Read More Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy, the senator responsible, said in a statement Monday it was important that U.S. administrations not allow other policy interests to override ... Read More Egypt has pardoned dozens of prisoners in recent months with its human rights record coming under ... 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events ... Read More Congresss conditioning of some of Egypts security aid makes for an annual public test of U.S. administrations' balancing of strategic interests and human rights. The Biden administration ... Read More Science News Tu 128 Russia S Supersonic B 52 Killer | RobinsPost News & Noticias To protect Sevastopol, however, Russia isn't relying on its nuclear-powered Poseidon underwater drone; it's using killer dolphins, according to the U.S. Naval Institute. Nothing in the region ... Read More addressed President Emmanuel Macron's recent suggestion that France would not act in kind if Russia were to carry out a nuclear attack on her country and emphasized that the "global response" to ... Read More As Bershidsky argues: The flaw in the strategic defeat logic is that, while Russias nuclear capability is seen as the joker in [Vladimir] Putins hand, there are no practical means ... Read More On September 21, I woke up to the news ... s approval rating is high. But there is also another factor: the Kremlins industrial-sized propaganda machine, which is aimed at keeping the Russian ... Read More The Kremlin on Wednesday released new details about the explosion on a critically important Crimean bridge in an apparent attempt to further justify its brutal retaliation against civilians in ... Read More A few weeks after the invasion, she appeared behind the anchor of a live news broadcast on one of Russia's most widely watched ... Putin is a killer, his soldiers are fascists. Read More The Russian military hasnt said how many missiles it has fired and how many are left, and there is no information available to independently assess the state of Moscows arsenal. President ... Read More Officials at the meeting, which included representatives from EU countries, Canada and South Korea, discussed additional steps planned to target Russia's military-industrial complex and the ... Read More Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine aren't a show of strength, but a "show of weakness" that reflects its inability to advance and seize Ukrainian territory, said Kurt Volker, a distinguished ... Read More Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Russia's economy is projected to contract "this year and the next" due to historic sanctions. Russia's GDP is expected to contract by 6.2% this year and 4.1% ... Read More A look at what is known and not known about Russia's arsenal: WHAT DOES RUSSIA SAY? Russian officials say the military has sufficient stockpiles of long-range missiles and that factories ... Read More Technology News Doomsday Library Joins Seed Vault In Arctic Norway | RobinsPost News & Noticias A vault built on an Arctic island to preserve the world's crop seeds from war, disease and other catastrophes will receive new deposits on Wednesday, including for the first time from Iraq and ... Read More Doomsday seed vaults are an ... But in March 2019, Inverse reported some bad news: One of the planets 1,700 seed banks, the Svalbard Seed Vault, is itself under threat. Read More A vault built on an Arctic island to preserve the ... 1.2 million for the first time, according to Norway's Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Seed gene banks are institutions that conserve and ... Read More OSLO (Reuters) - A vault built on an Arctic island to preserve the ... including for the first time from Iraq and Uruguay, Norway's Ministry of Agriculture and Food said. The Svalbard Global Seed ... Read More Showcase your company news with guaranteed exposure both in print ... Their leadership & actions are guiding the Join us for the Columbus Inno BizTech Fire Awards where we're honoring the ... Read More Iraq and Uruguay Deposit Crop Seeds at Arctic Doomsday Vault ... from Iraq and Uruguay, Norway's Ministry of Agriculture and Food said. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, set in permafrost caves ... Read More OSLO, Oct 12 (Reuters) - A vault built on an Arctic island to ... time from Iraq and Uruguay, Norway's Ministry of Agriculture and Food said. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, set in permafrost ... Read More A vault built on an Arctic island to preserve ... first time from Iraq and Uruguay, Norway's Ministry of Agriculture and Food said. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, set in permafrost caves on ... Read More Oslo - A vault built on an Arctic island to preserve the ... including for the first time from Iraq and Uruguay, Norway's Ministry of Agriculture and Food said. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, set in ... Read More Technology News How Augusta Georgia Is Becoming A Model For Tech Innovation In Small Cities | RobinsPost News & Noticias Ranked by Number of employees in Georgia dedicated to FinTech Ranked by Number of employees in Georgia dedicated to FinTech Ranked by Number of employees in Georgia dedicated to FinTech ATLANTA ... Read More A college student died after being struck by the propeller of a small plane as he disembarked at an airport in southeast Georgia ... the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every ... Read More RALEIGH The Triangles cities ... for innovation, in part driven by ongoing demand for technology workers and a steady supply of technology jobs, according to the most recent Tech ... Read More ST. MARYS, Ga. A new proposal could reduce speeds for large ships coming into our ports. It's a proposal the Georgia Ports Authority says could cost the state billions while others argue if we ... Read More Augusta Technical College and Augusta University will soon announce an agreement regarding course-credit transfers and dual-enrollment that the technical schools president described as the ... Read More the University of Georgia swimming and diving teams swept Georgia Tech Wednesday afternoon at the McAuley Aquatics Center. In the womens competition, Georgia (4-0, 1-0 SEC) remained unbeaten ... Read More He values and shares our culture of excellence and integrity and our commitment to student well-being ... covers Georgia Tech sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, looking for news and ... Read More Former Benedictine star Gavin Stewart started this football season at Georgia Tech as the designated kickoff ... He wants you to become a better man." ... Read More Now, the focus on buying shiny new objects wont get legal teams as far, said Ann Gorr, a legal tech ... innovation with a broader lens, arguing that being innovative has shifted from being ... Read More A federal grand jury in Atlanta has indicted an Arizona couple for conspiring to extort money from Georgia Tech by falsely accusing Yellow Jackets basketball coach Josh Pastner of sexual assault. Read More (Getty Images) Read Less BULLOCH COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) A college student in Georgia died after being hit by a plane ... released a statement following news of Aliyus death, and confirmed ... Read More Travel News Best Places To Visit In Croatia That Support Sustainable Travel | RobinsPost News & Noticias Those efforts have been captured in a fascinating new documentary series by Sustainable Travel International, which features, among others these six places doing their best to tackle the impact of ... Read More Luckily, seeing the Northern Lights can be one of those conscious travel ... to see the Northern Lights. In fact, the Aurora Sky Station in Abisko is one of the best places in the world to see ... Read More U.S. News took into account these factors and considered a variety of destinations, from outdoorsy spots to big cities to small towns, both domestically and abroad, to compile the best places to ... Read More That's why U.S. News evaluated attractions, events and weather (among other factors) to bring you this list of the best places to visit in August. From a mountain reprieve to a small-town retreat ... Read More Whether you want to go for a single day tour or take your time to visit the beautiful places spread around the district, we recommend these 6 places to be part of your next travel itinerary. Read More So how do you manage to see all the beautiful corners of the ... So pack your bags and get ready to explore some of the best cheap places to travel internationally without breaking the bank! Read More Editor's Note Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations ... time in the history of the World's 50 Best Bars list, the No. 1 designation ... Read More ATM introduces a Best Stand Build Incorporating Sustainability Initiatives for the 2023 annual exhibitor awards to recognise exhibitors that have made exceptional efforts to reduce their ... Read More Join the Sea & Learn foundation on the small island of Saba for its annual, month-long visit. San Francisco ... Whatever your fancy, read on for the best places to travel in October. Read More British travel magazine Wanderlust has listed Vietnam among 20 best places to travel to in January ... meaning foreigners will have a great opportunity to see how it is celebrated nationwide. In ... Read More Check out the 11 best U.S. destinations to visit during the fall off-season. And check out Boston.coms Cape Cod Travel Guide for Cape Cod travel inspiration this season. Read More Google Maps has long been a favorite tool for travelers, helping us navigate new cities, save locations of places we want to visit and see ... flight deal analyst and travel reporter at Thrifty ... Read More Travel News Travel Tips From A Local The Best Things To Do In Milan Italy | RobinsPost News & Noticias Confident and cool, Milan keeps its finest treasures under wraps, tucked away in hidden gardens, down alleyways and in far-flung neighborhoods. Those who dig deep into this ... Read More There's so much to see and do in Italy that ... considered the best by travelers and experts vary by region, focus and method of transportation, but they all have one thing in common: highly ... Read More (CNN) In travel news this ... and the local police were less than impressed. One region giving a warm welcome to (fully dressed) sightseers is Friuli Venezia Giulia, in Italy's northeast ... Read More A travel expert has shared the best days of the ... has previously also offered his top tips for those hoping to have a smooth journey. "Queues can quickly build up in security if staff must ... Read More If youre looking for the best of Tuscany, these are the very best things to do in Tuscany for your ... way to escape the crowds in Italy during high-season travel. Whether youre a history ... Read More Here are a few simple tips ... the best pic and take better travel photos! Other busy times you may wish to avoid visiting popular sites: During holidays In the high season On a local holiday ... Read More With Google My Maps, you need to plug everything in beforehand, so its more of an advanced planning tool, says Gunnar Olson, flight deal analyst and travel reporter at Thrifty Traveler. Read More Editor's Note Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations ... why not get the next best thing in your own home? Our partners at CNN Underscored ... Read More Countless travellers are once again set to face significant disruption on what some national newspapers have dubbed a venerdi nero a black Friday which, sadly, has nothing to do with online ... Read More In fact, you just wouldn't do it. You would probably call the police ... white person with an iPhone has rocked up. Travellers and travel providers are starting to wise up to this. Read More Photo / Love Taupo Torpedo7 kayaking expert Tom Patrick shares his favourite paddling spots, tips for beginners ... This is a must-do for all kayaking enthusiasts. My top tip for kayaking newbies ... Read More Us News Python Fever Hunting For Snakes In The Florida Everglades | RobinsPost News & Noticias The winner of the 2022 Florida Python Challenge is a 19-year-old from South Florida who wrangled 28 snakes in the Everglades. Read More Nineteen-year-old Matthew Concepcion killed 28 invasive snakes this year during the annual Burmese python hunt in Florida, earning him the $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize, the Florida Fish and Wildlife ... Read More 21 (UPI) --Officials said more than 200 invasive Burmese pythons were removed from ... these snakes is one of the many efforts we are employing to restore and maintain the Everglades system." ... Read More MIAMI (AP) More than 230 pythons were removed from the Florida Everglades as part of an annual ... prize for removing the longest python, a snake that measured over 11 feet (3.3 meters). Read More More than 230 pythons were removed from the Florida Everglades as part of an annual ... won a $1,500 prize for removing the longest python, a snake that measured over 11 feet. Read More A 19-year-old South Florida man captured 28 Burmese pythons during a 10-day competition that was created to increase awareness about the threats the invasive snakes pose to the state's ecology. Read More Hundreds of giant Burmese pythons have been killed in the Florida Everglades ... The hunt, which is managed by the FWC, is a yearly effort to remove as many of the snakes from the ecosystem ... Read More A Florida teen captured an impressive 28 Burmese pythons during the state's annual challenge to hunt the invasive snakes, winning the $10,000 grand prize. He brought in nearly double the number of ... Read More The Everglades is a naturally occurring area of tropical wetlands in the southeastern US state of Florida ... pythons being removed from the wild," said Governor Ron DeSantis. "Removing these ... Read More World News Will Pakistan Fence Stop Cross Border Terrorism | RobinsPost News & Noticias Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann thanked Union Home Minister Amit Shah for declaring that a high-security prison and a forensic science laboratory would be established in the state, adding that the ... Read More (HT file photo) Hundreds of farmers whose fields are situated between the barbed-wire fence and the zero line at the India-Pakistan border in Punjab ... more than 1 km to cross the fence to ... Read More Ten years ago, Mexican teenager Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez was shot through the border fence by a U.S. Border ... The death launched a historic cross-border investigation that ultimately ... Read More Finlands border guard last month suggested building a fence several metres high ... with Turkey on how issues such as extradition to terrorism, and terrorism charges, would be handled in ... Read More but some sections are likely be built around border stations in the north. The construction of the fence would take up to four years, according to Finnish news agency STT. Finnish media reported ... Read More Based on a risk analysis by border officials, the fence would be up to 162 miles long in total and cover areas that have been identified as potential risks for large-scale migration from Russia. Read More Finland is expected to build a fence along parts of its 830-mile land border with Russia to keep out illegal immigrants should Moscow try to flood the country with asylum seekers. The interior ... Read More The prospective NATO member this week announced broad parliamentary support to replace its wooden fences, designed mainly to stop ... cross into Finland. And while a new fence may facilitate the ... Read More The prospective NATO member this week announced broad parliamentary support to replace its wooden fences, designed mainly to stop ... cross into Finland. And while a new fence may facilitate the ... Read More Finlands prime minister says she was convinced that there is a wide support within the Parliament to build a fence on the Nordic countrys border ... to Finnish news agency STT. Read More The Finnish Border ... of the fence would take up to four years and is expected to cost several hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in total, according to Finnish news agency STT. Read More Finland plans a barbed-wire fence ... border from which we have to separate ourselves. With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news ... Read More World News Report Dozens Missing In Indonesia Landslide | RobinsPost News & Noticias JAKARTA--Landslides and flash floods from torrential rains in eastern Indonesia killed ... others were still missing. Mud tumbled down from surrounding hills onto dozens of homes in Lamenele ... Read More had said via Twitter that several people were reported missing in the El Beisbol and La Agotada neighborhoods in the north of the town. Dozens of homes were damaged by the landslide. Rescuers ... Read More A landslide ... dozens of homes during heavy rains in Tejerias, Aragua state, Venezuela, on Oct. 9, 2022. - A landslide in central Venezuela left at least 22 people dead, and more than 50 missing ... Read More Rescuers have worked to clear rocks and mud from the streets of a north-central city in Venezuela, three days after it was hit by a massive and deadly landslide ... Dozens of people are still ... Read More Thousands of rescuers and residents were engaged in an increasingly desperate search through thick mud Wednesday for 56 people still missing ... landslide swept through a Venezuelan town, killing ... Read More Landslides and heavy rains have killed at least 22 people from a single town in north-central Venezuela, authorities said Sunday. A further 52 are missing. The incident happened in the town of Las ... Read More Philippine search and rescue teams pulled bodies from water and thick mud on Friday, bringing to 42 the death toll from flooding and landslides triggered by a storm, with dozens more feared buried. Read More A landslide in ... dead and more than 50 missing after a river overflowed, officials said Sunday, in the latest deadly disaster caused by heavy rains to hit the country. Dozens of people have ... Read More 10 (UPI) --At least 22 people have died and more than 50 others are still missing in north-central Venezuela where heavy rain induced landslides ... Home Office said. World News // 15 hours ... Read More Rescuers have worked to clear rocks and mud from the streets of a north-central city in Venezuela, three days after it was hit by a massive and deadly landslide ... said to be missing, and ... Read More By Genevieve Glatsky and Tibisay Romero Heavy rains and landslides have left dozens ... missing residents and to deliver food and medicine, one top military officer, Remigio Ceballos, said at the ... Read More World News Stranded In Serbia Migrants Endure An Odyssey Of Violence | RobinsPost News & Noticias Dana Alboz, journalist for InfoMigrants, just returned from Serbia where migrants are stranded at the border. Like us on Facebook to see similar stories Please give an overall site rating: ... Read More PIROT, Serbia (Reuters) - Around a dozen young migrants sat waiting on a patch of grass hours after crossing the eastern border into Serbia, adding to a rise in new arrivals that is testing ... Read More The discovery of 92 naked migrants on the Greek ... He said the "Greek machine of fake news" was back at work. Greece once again showed the whole world that it does not even respect the ... Read More More Than 100 Migrants Stranded Near Puerto Rico Await Help ... an attempt to flee their countries amid a spike in poverty and violence. In late July, authorities rescued 68 Haitian migrants ... Read More Malawian police have discovered a mass grave containing the remains of 25 people they believe are Ethiopian migrants ... to their country. The news comes as World Health Organization Director ... Read More Group including children and pregnant women became stranded while piled ... amid a spike in poverty and violence. In late July, authorities rescued 68 Haitian migrants dropped off in waters ... Read More Rados Djurovic, executive director of the Belgrade-based Asylum Protection Centre, estimates there are more than 10,000 migrants in Serbia - more than the government-operated camps can accommodate. Read More Federal authorities say they are trying to rescue more than 100 migrants stranded on an uninhabited ... their countries amid a spike in poverty and violence. In late July, authorities rescued ... Read More SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Federal authorities on Tuesday said they were trying to rescue more than 100 migrants stranded on an ... amid a spike in poverty and violence. In late July ... Read More SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Federal authorities on Tuesday said they were trying to rescue more than 100 migrants stranded on an ... amid a spike in poverty and violence. In late July ... Read More World News Colombia 127 Dead After Rivers Overflow Toppling Homes | RobinsPost News & Noticias Rescuers secure a bus from falling down a ravine after ... Colombia, and Cali, 200 miles (320 kilometers) to the northeast when the incident occurred. "Unfortunately, we have a toll of 20 people ... Read More Colombias first leftist President was elected in September and many are hailing a new beginning but the countrys barbaric past involving Pablo Escobar may hinder progress, according to one ... Read More The government and attorney general's office decided to investigate after Daniel Rojas, who recently became chief executive of Colombia's Special Assets Society (SAE), raised the alarm over ... Read More RELATED At least 10 dead after ... Britain's Home Office said. World News // 6 hours ago Martin to aim at northwestern Europe as a large, powerful storm Nov. 5 (UPI) -- After becoming the seventh ... Read More The odds are stacked against him. Colombia, long the worlds largest cocaine producer, had a record 504,100 acres of coca plants enough to make 1,400 metric tons of cocaine under ... Read More KIMBLE COUNTY, Texas - One man is dead after a rollover crash in Kimble County ended with a vehicle upside-down in the South Llano River early ... For the latest news, weather, sports, and ... Read More CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Homes were flooded in Melbourne and other cities in Australias southeast on Friday with rivers forecast ... west of Sydney, a day after he died. Read More This comes after a 71-year-old man was found dead in his flooded backyard ... a "disturbance" on Saturday, Britain's Home Office said. World News // 22 hours ago Martin to aim at northwestern ... Read More in the southwestern corner of Colombia, and Cali, 320km to the north-east, when the incident occurred. "Unfortunately, we have a toll of 20 people dead," said Captain Albertland Agudelo of the ... Read More CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Homes were flooded in Melbourne and other cities in Australias southeast on Friday with rivers forecast to remain dangerously high for days. About 70 residents were ... Read More At least 20 people died and 15 others were injured on October 15, 2022 when a bus overturned near a cliff on the Pan-American Highway in southwestern Colombia ... world as a leading global news ... Read More World News Topics Germany Criticizes Trump Orders On Trade Deficits Import Duty Evasion | RobinsPost News & Noticias Germany's leader ... Germany's leader orders ministers to ensure all of the country's 3 remaining nuclear plants can run until mid-April. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events ... Read More In her first interview since her conviction for trafficking underaged girls with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell lamented the way that her famous friends Prince Andrew ... Read More Then he grumbled: Now all I have to do is go through years more of legal nonsense in order to clear my name of her and her lawyers phony attacks on me. This can only happen to Trump'!" ... Read More (Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News ... Read More 19 (UPI) --Germany has fired its cybersecurity chief ... Britain's Home Office said. World News // 20 hours ago Martin to aim at northwestern Europe as a large, powerful storm Nov. 5 (UPI ... Read More NEW YORK (AP) Former President Donald Trump will have to answer questions under oath next week in a defamation lawsuit lodged by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s, a judge ruled ... Read More However, sitting President Horacio Cartes is trying to remove the restriction and run for re-election. President Cartes term is due to end in 2018. Senators voted the constitutional amendment in secret. The bill must also be approved by the other house of parliament, the chamber of deputies, where President Cartes party holds a majority. The rioting broke out as thousands of businessmen and government officials were in the capital for the Inter-American Development Banks annual board of governors meeting. Several politicians, including the countrys former interior minister, Rafael Filizzola, were hit by rubber bullets. Police used water cannons to disperse the crowd. Opposition activist Rodrigo Quintana, 25, was killed by a rubber bullet fired by police. About 30 had been hurt, including three lawmakers and a senator. The congress building had burnt for hours. President Cartes appealed for calm. Opposition senator Desiree Masi said: A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us. Demonstrators have set fire to Paraguay's Congress after the Senate vote on the constitutional amendment that would permit the President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. The constitution passed in 1992 currently limits the term of the president to a single five-year. The removal of the restriction will help Cartes to seek re-election. At a special session on Friday, 25 out of 45 senators voted in favor of the bill to the amendment. The bill has to be passed in the lower house, Chamber of Deputies. Local media reported that dozens of people were injured in the violent protest, including several politicians and journalists. Opponents claim that the bill would weaken Paraguay's democratic institutions. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News By SA Commercial Prop News Group Five pointed out that headline earnings a share (Heps) would increase, from the 116c reported in the prior year, to between 284c and 307c a share. Group Five CEO Mike Upton Construction company Group Five (GRF) expects its fully diluted headline earnings per share (HEPS) from continuing operations in the year to June to be between 310c and 345c up between 75 percent and 95 percent from 177c in the similar period a year ago. An expanded African footprint boosted JSE-listed Group Fives earnings for the year to June 2013, with headline earnings expected to be between 145% and 165% higher than the headline earnings achieved in the previous financial year. The construction and infrastructure group pointed out that headline earnings a share (Heps) would increase, from the 116c reported in the prior year, to between 284c and 307c a share. Emphasis on a larger geographic footprint for more of the groups business units, the beneficial contribution of the groups strategic positioning for annuity-type businesses of investments and concessions, manufacturing and operations and maintenance contracts, as well as the groups strong position in African mining and energy mitigated, to an extent, the effects of continued fragility in the South African building and civil engineering markets, the group said in a statement on Monday. Fully diluted Heps from continuing operations would be between 310c and 345c a share 75% to 95% higher than the 177c recorded in the financial year before. Group Five also expected fully diluted earnings a share and earnings a share to turn around from a loss of 288c a share in 2012, to between 265c and 290c in 2013. These included provisions for possible administrative penalties the value of which was not yet disclosed on four contracts that did not fall within the groups leniency agreement with the Competition Commission. In June, the commission levied a collective R1.46-billion fine on 15 of the 18 construction companies found liable for collusive tendering between 2006 and 2011. Group Five was the first major construction company to approach the Competition Commission for leniency, which was given in return for information. The group obtained a leniency position on 25 contracts, as it supported the commissions investigation into the construction industry and undertook its own internal scrutiny into its previous behaviour. Group Five would publish its financial results on August 12. By SA Commercial Prop News - GBCSA GBCSA CEO Brian Wilkinson. A general knowledge of green buildings is no longer enough for built environment professionals. Its a pivotal skill right across the property sector. Green buildings mean cost savings, higher property valuations, a healthier business environment and thus make real financial sense for landlords and tenants alike. That makes upskilling an imperative professional investment: not just for architects and property managers, but for urban economists, engineers, brokers and financiers, too. To meet demand, the Green Building Council of SA (GBCSA) is presenting two days of education courses, scheduled to take place on 25 & 26 October 2011, the days preceding the 4th annual GBCSA Convention and Exhibition in Cape Town this October. Built environment professionals throughout SA realise that green buildings are important both ethically and economically, says GBCSA CEO Brian Wilkinson. They are looking for ways to tackle and manage green issues in a practical and meaningful way, and that means enhancing their skills. The flagship programme on offer is the Green Star SA Accredited Professional course, the core course for professional designation. In addition, this year, the GBCSA is presenting two advanced Green Star SA courses for property practitioners already involved with green building practices. The first is a simulations seminar, which equips delegates to manage the credit compliance process for Green Star SA projects. The second is a half-day workshop that examines the processes and requirements for Green Star SA project certification. For delegates focusing on specialist areas of green practice, the course programme includes a number of cutting-edge workshops and seminars all focused on the built environment. A seminar on Greening Existing Buildings will spotlight low-cost and even cost-free property improvements by, for instance, optimizing energy and water efficiencies, implementing sustainable purchasing and waste management policies, and green cleaning policies. A workshop on biomimicry will explain how nature can provide solutions for human problems, using case studies to showcase how the approach is effective for property. A session looking at food security and the built environment will examine how urban form plays a role in social cohesion. Workshops are also being presented on: climatically appropriate design; living buildings and green roofs. One of our key goals is to ensure that built environment professionals have access to world-class education, seminars and workshops to keep the knowledge base growing and expanding, adds Wilkinson. By SA Commercial Prop News Michelle Dickens, Managing Director of TPN In a case brought to the Constitutional Court, a group of ousted tenants claim that their right to adequate housing was violated by owners Aengus Lifestyle Properties, who made the decision to cancel their leases and raise the rent by up to 150% at the Lowliebenhof building in Smit Street, Johannesburg. The tenants argued that the cancellation was not compliant with the clause in their lease agreement because it was terminated unfairly and was in defiance of the Rental Housing Act stipulations. They claim that the impact on the tenants would decrease their quality of life and leave seven of the group homeless. The Inner City Resource centre submitted the landlords right to increase their profit is not a plausible reason to deprive their tenants of their rights. The lease cancellation and increased rent would have a disproportional impact on the tenants and is tantamount to unfair practice. Aengus, a company that focuses on inner city revitalisation and developing upmarket living spaces in Johannesburg, argues that their action was compliant with their contractual obligations under the cancellation clause in the lease agreement. Aengus stated that they were compliant under the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act, which specifies that you can only evict someone if they have alternative accommodation. Aengus claims they offered each tenant alternative cheaper accommodation and three months notice of cancellation. Residents were also offered new rental amounts in new leases which, Aengus argued, stands as invitation to decide a new settlement. Michelle Dickens, Managing Director at TPN, Credit Bureau, South Africas only specialist property credit bureau says, Eviction procedures have often been the subject of South African courts cases and each outcome has the potential to inform future rulings and stipulations. Should the court find against the landlord, cancellation of leases, even when done within the terms of a lease agreement, could be set aside as unfair or unreasonable. As Aengus took these measures in order to increase their profit, this case sets the rights of tenants to adequate housing against the landlords right to pursue profit. The big questions in this case are: who is responsible for the social costs of cases like these, do constitutional rights exceed contractual rights and how should the rights of tenants and landlords be balanced when situations such as this one arise? In a developing economy and industry, capital accumulation is vital to the regeneration of areas like Johannesburgs inner city. Although this may cause hardships for certain tenants, the long-term effect will create wealth and generate progress within the South African economy, ultimately benefitting all sides. The tenants have escalated their case against Aengus, starting at the Rental Housing Tribunal, on to the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal after the landlord applied to have them evicted, and now to the Constitutional Court. The parties are now awaiting a decision from the Constitutional Court, where judgement is currently reserved. By SA Commercial Prop News Property Sector heavyweights share a moment on the inauguration of the SA REIT Association launch in 2013, aimed at representing the listed property REIT sector. The announcement by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene in his budget speech on Wednesday that unlisted property companies should qualify for the same tax treatment as listed REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), has been welcomed by South Africas commercial real estate sector. The REIT dispensation currently only applies to JSE listed property companies listed on the REIT board. But the SA REIT Associations Taxation and Regulation committee, together with the South African Property Owners Associations (SAPOA) REIT committee, have been engaging with National Treasury to resolve outstanding issues stemming from existing REIT dispensation, which came into effect in 2013. There are billions of Rands of property investments in South Africas unlisted property vehicles that could be impacted by the REIT dispensation which, if extended to the unlisted property sector, will prevent tax leakage from pension and savings vehicles. The 2015 National Budget Review Annexure C - Additional Tax Amendments, published on Wedenesday, states: REITS - In 2012, a special tax dispensation for listed REITS was introduced in the Income Tax Act. The provisions of section 25BB will be refined to remove anomalies. Unlisted property-owning companies Unlisted property-owning companies marketed to the general public or held by institutional investors do not qualify for the same special tax dispensation as listed real estate investment trusts. Government proposes that unlisted property-owning companies should qualify for the same tax treatment if they become regulated. A regulatory framework for unlisted property-owning companies will be developed. Estienne de Klerk, the SA REIT Associations Taxation and Regulation Committee Chairman explains: Extending REIT status to South Africas unlisted real estate entities will give them access to the same flow through of tax after net property income the listed property sector already enjoys. It will level the playing field for the industry. Unlisted property-owning vehicles include pension and life insurance funds, private investment vehicles and property syndications all of which have keenly awaited news on the matter. De Klerk adds: JSE-listed REITs are also eager for an unlisted REIT dispensation, as many listed entities have associate companies and investments held in unlisted property entities. Were actively engaged in the drive for REIT status for the unlisted property sector because the entire industry, and the South African public, will benefit by resolving these outstanding tax issues for the property sector. There is pressure to finalise REIT status for unlisted property funds before the end of the year, as Sections 8F and 8FA of the Income Tax Act, which deal with dual linked unit debentures, expire at the end of 2015. National Treasury, together with the property sector, will have to deal with the outstanding REIT tax issues, draft new legislation and regulation for unlisted REITs, appoint a regulator and set its powers and capacity. The property industry will continue to work together with National Treasury to regulate the issues that matter, while fostering entrepreneurship and growth for the sector. Should the unlisted REIT dispensation not be finalised by year end, the property sector is hopeful National Treasury will grant a respite until a later date, when the finalisation of the REIT tax treatment of unlisted property entities can be finalised, says de Klerk. Two stories highlighted on the pages of your newspaper this week are a must read. They should inspire us all about what we can achieve through hard work, dedication and perseverance. They are also a timely reminder to never despise humble beginnings knowing that when a seed is planted and watered constantly, it will eventually grow and flourish. The first story we are referring to is that of 36-years-of age, Papalii Peter Tulaga Eliesa. Published on Tuesday, he is the man with Samoas biggest commercial taro farm. Inspired by another successful farmer, Ricky Westerlund, and with the help of the Minister of Public Enterprises, Lautafi Fio Purcell, who believed in Papaliis dream and granted him a lease to start, Papalii has 120 acres of taro and multiplying rapidly at Fiaga. But all this would not have been possible if he did not persevere. Papalii said he has had to overcome a number of problems including thieves and pigs - because he believes in what he is doing. I see there is a big market in taro both for export and for the local market. So I wanted to expand my plantation. He sought to lease land for his expansion and was promptly given a challenge by Minister Lautafi. Prove to me that you can plant 50 acres at Fiaga within a year, he said. That Papalii did. He and his workers planted day and night using floodlights. Not long after the government granted him another 70 acres. The rest as they say is history. And just how well is he doing? When he was asked, Papalii pointed to a brand new Toyota Landcruiser. I bought that last week, he said. It is 125,000 tala. And what is his message for budding farmers? I urge everyone to believe in themselves. Anything is possible with hard work. The man behind the second story we want to talk about today could well have said the same thing if he was alive. We are referring to the late Herman (Magi) Westerlund, whose memory was honoured this week by his family when the newest Farmer Joe supermarket was opened at Siusega/Ululoloa. The story of Magi is well known to most of us. From humble beginnings, he and his wife, Agamalu, are responsible for raising the Ah Liki men who have become a force in commerce in Samoa and the world. All you have to do is look around Samoa. Businesses like Bluebird Lumber, the Samoa Commercial Bank, Lucky Foodtown, Samoa Beverage Company, Marias HealthCare, Ah Liki Wholesale, Ink Patch, Julianas Rentals, Samoa Money Finance and many more to see how successful the family has become. But that didnt just happen. What many people dont know is how hard it was for Magi many years ago. Interestingly some 50 years ago, Magi had an old Bedford truck, which he had to build a wooden cab at the back to hold vegetables from the farm. He would then deliver these into town to sell. On the side of the wooden cab, he wrote the word Farmer. Many years later when his son, Taimalie Charlie, would open up his first stores, he would reference the name Farmer Joe as homage for his father. What a wonderful story. Ululoloa was where the sons and daughters of Magi were raised and honed their business skills so that today they are what they are because of that humble beginning. Looking around Samoa today, the late Magi would certainly be very proud of what his children have achieved. Who wouldnt? Whats important to remember is that when Magi planted the seed, it could have died if his children did not pick up the mantle and decided to carry on. Thankfully they did. And the success we see today did not just happen. It required lots and lots of hard work. It required sacrifices, tears, sweat, sleepless nights, learning new skills and working harder than ever before. This is why these two stories published this week are a must read. If anybody wants to be successful whether its in business, ministry or any other area of life, there is one certainty these stories tell us. Success is spelled w.o.r.k. Have a pleasant weekend Samoa, God bless! Work has begun to dismantle one side of the Vaitele Market to allow businessman, Tuituioaiga Teeking Weng, to move in this year. Tuituioaiga, the owner of Coin Save and other businesses, had won the tender to run the $5.7million Vaitele Market. An attempt to get a comment from Samoa Land Corporations General Manager, Ulugia Petelo Kavesi, about the progress of the project was not successful. But an official at the Samoa Land Corporation (S.L.C) who spoke to the Samoa Observer on the condition of anonymity said work has already started. Work has now begun, the source said. It is focusing on dismantling the other side (half) of the market. We started yesterday and were now working to clear this whole side and as you can see, this almost covers half of the market. The businessman is likely to move in at the beginning of May and hes going to run a warehouse on this side of the market. The move for Tuituioaiga to take over the empty market is strongly supported by the government. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said Cabinet has discussed and supports the proposal from the businessman. His main goal is to get money out of this market. Tuilaepa said because of numerous reports submitted in Parliament about the failure of the Vaitele Market to make a profit, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Lautafi Fio Purcell, had to stand up and act quickly. Thats why the Minister has been trying so hard to look for avenues and ways to make this market work, he said about the decision to tender the market. He had to do it in order for us to get money out of this market. And that is an example of a good Minister who is willing to do things for the benefit of our people. He saw that we werent getting any profit from the market, so he had to do something about it. And he didnt stop until he found a way. So this Chinese businessman approached him with a proposal. The rest is history. Tuilaepa said he is confident the government will make a profit from the venture. Right now, we only get $23,000 tala a year from the market at Vaitele, he said. But from this proposal and the new plan, we will get more than $250,000 (quarter million) a year. That is a lot of money compared to the money we are getting now. This is also a great way to turn the market into something very useful. Tuilaepa denied reports that the government is also thinking of doing the same for the market at Salelologa. No thats a different case, said Tuilaepa. The thing is, for Savaii, there is only one market, and that is the one at Salelologa. But for Apia, there are a lot of markets here. So we are not thinking about doing the same for the market at Salelologa. Unpleasant weather conditions didnt put a damper on the homecoming welcome Faleata College gave for Samoas Heroine Ele Opeloge yesterday. The students at Faleata College contributed $301.20 to the Samoa Observer Ele Fund. Ele stopped by the school to pay her personal thanks to the Principal, Tanuvasa Mike Gray, the staff and the students. She expressed her gratitude for their contributions and reminded the students to listen to their teachers in the classroom. Asked why Faleata decided to contribute to the fund, Deputy Principal, Lilia Eseroma, delightfully proclaimed: We are Samoans and we help other Samoans! Also, the Opeloge name is renowned through out Faleata and not just because of Ele. Her Brother, Niu Sila Opeloge carries the torch and hosts weightlifting trainings at Faleata College on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The sport of weightlifting is growing on the grounds of Faleata with much thanks to the Opeloges. Fereti Atai of Papaseea needs help. The 32-year-old is a father of three who works as a mechanic to provide for his family. But he has one complaint. His family needs water. Were been facing this problem since I was little, he said. As you can see, the scarcity of water in this area is a big problem. The problem has been here for years. To be honest, I grew up here with this problem of not having access to water and still up to now, the people from this area are still trying to cope. He said people are only at peace when it rains. It is very difficult to live without water and you should all understand. The rains help us out a lot. Fereti said they have asked the Samoa Water Authority for help. But we were told the water pipes cant reach this side. This is it? So that means we have continue to have no access to water because the water pipes cant reach here, there must be something else. I mean, theyve got to have a way because to be honest my family cant stay without water forever. We need water, and we need it every time! Fereti went on to say that getting water on sunny days is hard. He and other families rely on the nearby river for water. But that door has also been shut since the government stopped people from taking water from there. Before the river was reserved we used it to fill our buckets but we are now getting it from the other far side of the village. Having so many things to do to develop family and on top of that we have to fetch water is not right. Thats life for us here something we hope to change soon. This is why Fereti needs help. Much has been said about the governments expressed intention to tax pastors of all church denominations around Samoa; however, so far no firm decision has been made. Still, the matter has become such a contentious topic of public debate, so that it now looks as if any amicable consensus the government might have been hoping for, is clearly nowhere to be seen from this point. The poignant anomaly here though is that after 55 years of political independence, Samoans everywhere have grown so used to the belief that church ministers were their visible link to their God, which follows thats just the way they believe it should always be. And now that the idea they would be required to pay taxes to their government taxes by the way is not exactly the kind of word that both thrills and stimulates - the question that jumps naturally to mind, is: Why should they be forced to pay taxes to their government when they do not have jobs like everyone else, including all the big businesses around the country? Back on 22 March 2017, a story on the front page of the Samoa Observer, quoted Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, as having said he supported his Minister of Revenue, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt, on his plan to review Income Tax Laws. The Minister himself pointed out that the main idea behind the review is so that everyone who earns an income will pay tax, and he went on to say, that includes Church Ministers and the Head of State. Revealed Tialavea: The Ministry is reviewing all the (existing) laws. The main idea is to make sure that everyone in this country pays tax. He also said: I took the oath when I was selected as the Minister that I would do everything to make sure that we get extra money for the development of the country. So we are now in the process and we are reviewing the laws to make sure that everyone pays taxes. Tuilaepa concurred, saying: The review should have happened 20 years ago. Oh yeah! Why he said that though, he did not explain. The point is that 20 years ago was 1999. At the time, Tuilaepa was already the Prime Minister of Samoa. In fact, he became prime minister in 1998. So why did he not see to it that the laws in question were reviewed then? He did not say. What he said though was: That is why I am grateful to the Minister and his Ministry for coming up with this plan. He maintained that the proposed changes would not be targeting any particular group, saying: The announcement that was made by the Minister is that the Ministry is in the process of reviewing all laws on income tax so everyone can pay tax. They took an oath that they will look at all the avenues where they can get money for the development of our country. The proposed changes look at including every working person in Samoa. Reminded Tuilaepa: Tax money is extremely important to development. As you know, these monies are for the development of our country. But we are not targeting a group of people. Fine. As for the churches, Minister Tialavea said they had been approached, and he explained: We are now in the process of carrying out consultations with churches. We already had a meeting with the Executive of the Samoa National Council of Churches where we discussed the issue. Tialavea also revealed weve been looking at the businesses belonging to the churches. We are revisiting the existing law so they can all be included. They pay V.A.G.S.T. but not income tax. Its only fair for them to pay taxes as well for the businesses they have in Samoa. In response, the Chairman of the Samoa National Council of Churches, Deacon Kasiano Leaupepe, urged the government to exercise caution, particularly on its plans to tax the offerings received by the members of the clergy. He told the Samoa Observer: It is something they have to consider very carefully. Its a sensitive matter because it is not the same for all the churches in Samoa. He also revealed: Weve told the Ministry the decision will not come from the Samoa National Council of Churches; this is because the Council is not the ones to decide on this matter. We will leave it to leaders of each Church in Samoa to come up with their own ideas in relation to this and then present it to the Ministry for their report to Parliament. Leaupepe said his only wish was that the review is fair and that everyone is given an opportunity to present their views. He explained: Different churches in Samoa have their own systems. So its something that they should look at carefully because it is not the same for all the churches in Samoa. For example, the Methodist church and the C.C.C.S church have their own systems, different from the Catholic Churchs system. If we look at the plan they have now, they are targeting the money given to faifeau (pastor) on Sunday (alofa/peleti). Leaupepe added: There is a big difference between a person working for the government and a faifeau (church Minister). A person who works for the government works 9-5 from Monday to Friday. As for a church ministers, they work days and nights. If someone in the congregation dies late at night, the family will call the faifeau to come and conduct the service. Thats before anything else. No matter what time of the night something like this happens, the faifeau will always be called. It can happen any day and any time of the day or night. There are sacrifices. They sacrifice a lot in the carrying out of their duties and calling from God. Leaupepe also explained: The other important role of faifeau to me is that they never stop praying for the wellbeing of our people and our country. They pray day and night not only for members of their congregations, but also for the whole country, and for those working in the offices. At one point, Leaupepe wondered out loud as to why the Framers of Samoas Constitution had not considered, taxing the clergy back then. I wish this was something that was included in the Constitution of our country, he said. It wouldve been very easy if it was there from the beginning. Because we all know that all the churches we have in Samoa now did not originate from within our country. They were all brought into the country. So it wouldve been nice if they had this in the beginning, so they could ask all the missionaries who brought in the churches in Samoa to pay their taxes before establishing their churches in Samoa. He suggested though that it would be far better if the government would tax the Church as a whole, rather than targeting individual pastors. I believe they shouldnt ask individual pastors to pay taxes, he said. I believe they should target the income each church gets. For example, they should tax the money the Catholic Church gets and the money the Methodist Church gets. That way, it would be fair for each church because it is harder and unfair to go after each individual pastor. You know, the money that our people offer to pastors is given out of their own will. They do this in the name of God. Not because of anything else. He also said: Pastors are addressed as representatives of God; they were chosen to spread the word of God. I know the main reason they offer things to pastors. Its because of their love for God, and because our people are used to giving with the belief that they will be blessed tenfold by God, if they give wholeheartedly. Asked for a comment on Prime Minister Tuilaepas claim that even Jesus Christ paid taxes, Leaupepe laughed. We all know the story, he said. Jesus held up the coin and asked the people to look at the image on the coin. He asked them whose image was on the coin and people said it was Caesars. So Jesus said, give back to Caesar what is Caesars, and to God what is Gods. He paused and then he said: This means, whats been set aside for God and has been blessed for God, should be for God. Those are sacred. According to Tuilaepa though, tax money is extremely important to the development of Samoa. He said: As you know, these monies are for the development of our country. But we are not targeting a group of people. The little snag here though is that for the last nineteen years during Tuilaepas reign as prime minister of this country, scores of millions of Tala in tax funds that had apparently been intended for the development of our country, had somehow been squandered away by mainly his seemingly never-ending squads of corrupt big lauia, who seemed to know quite well when it was time to disappear, and then along the way when the time was once again just right, they showed up. In any case, thats the problem our poor country has been struggling with over the last 20 years, and it is still struggling with it today. So what is the solution? Its simple enough. Until Prime Minister Tuilaepa decides that its time to put a permanent lid on the evil called bureaucratic corruption, by barring once and for all those big lauia of his from getting even that close to the till, and then start afresh by allowing himself to be guided by the brand new trick called transparency and accountability, the funds that hes planning to make from taxing the church pastors and the businesses the churches own, will not even be close enough to sweeten his little hand*. Now thats the solution, if you truly want to know. Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa, God bless. * All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. - William Shakespeare Macbeth act 5, sc. 1, l. 51 (1606) An elder from the Samatau E.F.K.S church has come forward to defend his pastor against claims from a former Reverend of the E.F.K.S Church, Opapo Soanai Oeti. The 75-year-old Iumai Lupematasila Anae Talatofi Lavea said Mr. Oeti is a hypocrite and a coward for defaming his Pastor, Reverend Julius Fruean. Dont judge or you will be judged? Iumai said. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you should try to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Last week Mr. Oeti accused the Elders Committee of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa of being inconsistent in their decision-making. He told the media that the rules dictate that once someone becomes a faifeau, they cannot work somewhere else. In reference to Rev. Fruean, who owns the Diamond Head Construction Company, Mr. Oeti said: It has been almost two years now since another faifeau has been working on his construction company." The faifeau and his wife both work for this company from Monday to Friday. This has angered the membership of the Samatau church. And during an interview with the Sunday Samoan, Iumai vouched that Rev. Fruean is one of the most hardworking person he knows and for Mr. Oeti to criticise publically is uncalled for. Iumai said the personal attack from Mr. Oeti made on television, radio and newspapers was cheap and scathing. This has made us very unhappy and we cannot just sit there while our beloved Pastors name has been dirtied like that. This is why I am here on behalf of the elders of the church to set the record straight, said Iumai. You see Reverend Julius Fruean who is currently looking after the Samatau Congregation for two years now has been nothing but a great help not only to the church but also to the young people of our village. It is very sad to see that Mr. Oeti has mentioned our ministers name and he s gone public in accusing him of all these things and yet it has nothing to do with our minister. Our minister is not the one whose roles have been stripped, it was him so we are very disappointed in him for defaming our Pastor. Iumai said Mr. Oeti is a coward. Why didnt you speak up while you were still a minister? he said. Why have you decided to some out and speak out of all of this nonsense now? What will you get out of this? Do you think the Elders of the Church will reconsider their decision against you if you decide to reveal all of these? It is such a shame for someone who has been preaching the word of God for so many years and yet judging from what he has done, he doesnt understand anything. According to Iumai, the company Mr. Oeti is referring to, Diamond Head, located at VaiteleFou. He said it was established way before Rev. Fruean was appointed to look after the Samatau congregation. This company was established nine years ago with the purpose to help provide for Rev. Frueans family back then, said Iumai. Our minister has only been appointed two years ago to look after the congregation at Samatau, and not only that there is a plan that this company will be run by a different person so that our minister will be free from all of these. The 75-year-old went on to say that Mr. Oeti should talk about himself first. He accused him of being a hypocrite claiming that Mr. Oetis family also owns a shop and a Laundromat at Vaitele which they had been running while they were working Siufaga. He kept saying its not under his name but only he knows that and its his word against everyone. Iumai added that Mr. Oeti has forgotten all the time that Rev. Fruean had helped him. He used to come around begging our Pastor for help in giving some of the young people from his church some work. Our Minister lent him a helping hand and what now this is how he repays the kindness that our minister had shown to him? By going public and talking bad about his other Christian brothers who once helped him during the time of need. I believe this is wrong hence why I want to set the record straight and simply to let Mr. Oeti know that the congregation of Samatau has been all affected from what he did. O le matoufaifeaumatoutefaapelepeleiai. Our Minister has done a lot to help out with not only the church but the village and especially the young people. His business is what is helping us the most in terms of development within Samatau but I guess that is something Mr. Oeti doesnt know. Lastly Iumai said despite all that had happened they have decided to forgive Mr. Oeti. What was said has already been said and we cannot turn back the time, he told the Sunday Samoan. What we can do is move forward and forgive each other as we are near the Easter Season where we will commemorate the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. But lets move forward for the betterment of our own families and especially Gods work. Mauga Dr. Harlich H. Stavemann is a relieved man. As he boards his flight today back to his home in Germany, he knows his gift to the people of Samoa rests in the right hands. Yesterday, the fully equipped Mercedes Ambulance meant for the Sataua District Hospital in Savaii was officially handed over to the government. At the Samoa Fire and Emergency Services. (F.E.S.A.) headquarters in Apia, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi was flanked by prominent Cabinet ministers and the diplomatic corps present to witness the handover. Prime Minister Tuilaepa deeply grateful to the Good Samaritan from Germany. This is an opportunity to publicly acknowledge and thank you Dr. Maugalii for this timely donation in the procurement of the ambulance and other donated items that are of great assistance to the work of the Samoa Fire and Emergency Services, he said. I understand that you will soon depart from our shores, may God protect you and guide you safely back. Overjoyed, Mauga could not stop smiling from ear to ear. Two years ago, when the new district hospital at Sataua was built, we realized that there was no ambulance within this area and people in need had to order one form Tuasivi, get transport on a pick up truck or even die if help was not available." My wife Vera and I- the two board members of the Harlich Stavemann Stiftung- spent quite a part our lifetime in our home in Vaisala. This is why we liked to change this situation and dedicate this ambulance to the Asau District under the control and maintenance of F.E.S.A in Asau. He then presented the keys to the Chairman of F.E.S.A. Leta'a Dan Devoe. The day before, Mauga and his wife presented a mountain of life saving medical equipment meant for the new Sataua Dsitrict Hospital to the Ministry of Health. There to conduct the official handover was the Minister of Health, Tuitama Dr Talalelei Tuitamato. He personally thanked Mauga for the kind donation. This medical equipment and supplies which includes wheelchairs and medical supplies for the Sataua District hospital, will greatly assist Samoas health service providers, Tuitama said. We are deeply grateful for these contributions to assist us in our efforts to continuously improve the health status of our people. The donations come from Maugas non profit charity known as Harlich Stavemann Stiftung based in Hamburg through its subdivision called Mauga Aid. Mauga Aid supports the people of Samoa, especially the Asau District. Mauga is a matai title holder from the village Vaisala in which he has called home for more than 20 years. He will be returning to Germany where a psychotherapist is and is looking to return back to Samoa in November. Job creation is on the mind of the Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, as the government prepares for life after Yazaki Company Eds. Yazaki is set to close later this year leaving more than 700 people jobless. But Sili told the Sunday Samoan the government is looking at ways to minimise the impact of the closure of Samoas biggest private employer. I think in two or three years we will be able to provide for them, he said. Obviously with the investment in the submarine cable and the sorts of opportunity that will come in terms connectivity." There are also ongoing discussions with some fishing companies who are expressing interest in investing here and looking at expanding on what they are doing. Minister Sili said there is no need to panic. Rather the government wants to firm up those negotiations so that it would have a better plan when the company closes. Its just a matter of firming up on some of those interests and looking at what we can do to make sure that yes we can create jobs." In tourism, if it works well, there will be another area where there will be more opportunities for people to work in." Thats why we are very keen on discussions with Virgin and other airlines to bring in more tourists. Away from tourism, Sili encouraged people to continue to work their land. People should work to utilise the resources that are available to them, he said. Its really interesting to read the Village Voice and I find it that 65% of what I read are very positive." People can encourage others, who are basically living in the same village and you know life in villages are not too bad, rather than staying in town and causing trouble and creating all sorts of problems. Last year, Y.E.S. Branding Division Manager in Japan, Yoko Yamada, said the closure is due to the car manufacturing industry in Australia winding up. He said the latest developments in the market there have had a knock on impact here, forcing the company to re-evaluate the viability of their operation in Samoa. Mr. Yamada said the company fully understands this is a difficult situation for their employees and their families. But they are committed to provide support where they can to make the transition smooth. Minister Sili said the government is banking on Yazakis support in the transition period. Theres been a lot of discussions internally with Yazaki and also discussions with a number of businesses, he said. The fact we are looking at is creating jobs for the private sector and reinvesting profits." Theres also been a very strong interest from existing businesses to take over some of those employees." Yazaki is continuing to provide training opportunities for their staff." They are developing training programmes trying to upskill them. Y.E.S. President, Craig ODonohue said the situation is difficult and the company does not know exactly when it will officially close. About the employees, the President assured they would be given the necessary support. The support includes up-skilling, re-skilling, life skill training and opportunities offshore. Mr. ODonohue said they would engage every employee to ask them what they want and what they expect from the company on a plan that suits them. As for the packages, he said the factory people would be given lump sum for their service. We cannot afford to have too much disruption in our production and continue in a motivated and supportive way, he said. Y.E.S. General Manager, Funefeai Oliva Vaai explained that an employee would be paid nine weeks minimum and up to 57 weeks maximum. The Businesses of Salafai Association (B.O.S.A) celebrated a huge milestone on Friday night. It was the launch of their first Strategic Plan since the inception of the Association in 2011. Held at the Don Bosco Multipurpose Hall at Salelologa, the momentous occasion was well attended by Ministers of Cabinet, members of the business community in Savaii and their families. The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Labour, Lautafi Fio Purcell, congratulated B.O.S.A and highlighted the importance of proper planning to allow a business to grow. Planning ahead is very important. If you dont have a plan, then its just a waste of time." That is why I am happy to be here for this celebration. This is a huge step forward for the Association of Businesses in Savaii. A strategic plan, he said, provides a sense of direction and outlines measurable goals. It can be a tool that is useful for guiding day-to-day decisions and also for evaluating progress and changing approaches when moving forward. He urged members of the Association to make good use of the Plan. I encourage you all to use and follow this strategic plan and work together in unity to achieve your goals, visions and missions." That can be done when we all work together and help one another. He said the government stands ready to help facilitate the growth of small businesses. I am truly a believer that the development and the well-being of a country depends on you, the business community. We can all start small, and we can all get to the top if we join our hearts together as one. The President of B.O.S.A, PipiTevitaTariu, said the launch is an important step for the Association, reflecting on their journey thus far. B.O.S.A was founded in 2011 with the aim to empower and enhance the capacity of small business in Savaii, said Pipi. And like anything new in life, it wasnt easy in the beginning. There are also some hurdles that we need to overcome, but that is why tonights celebration is very crucial." We are here tonight to launch our Strategic Plan for 2017-2021. For your information, since the association was established, there was no plan. The launch of the Strategic plan is an achievement. Like I said before, things were not easy in the beginning. There was no plan to guide the work that we do and it made it difficult for our members to come together." One of the main challenges weve had over the years is trying to bring our members together. It was a challenge for us as the ones with big businesses were hard to get along with small businesses; the old ones did not get along with the new comers. Things like that made things hard for us. But with the Plan, Pipi is positive that things will only get better. This is the beginning of more exciting things for our association. Another challenge we have been facing is the fact that we dont have our own office to operate our work." We keep some our stuff at the S.B.E.Cs office, but that will change once we move to our own office next month. Pipi said the plan has been designed to be practical, not to just sit and gather dust on a table. He is also realistic about the expectations. We are made up of eighty five (85) members, and although all members are not active all the time, I know for a fact that the one unique feature that is found in all of us is that we are all passionate about what we do." That, I am sure of. And passion is a great thing, it has brought us to where we are now and I believe that it will drive us forward. You know we may have limited resources and limited funding available, but our members are very determined to go the extra mile. We all have a strong passion to develop and do great things not only for us but also for Savaii." Our main focus is for our members to grow and learn from each other, help one another and also build strong relationship so we can provide better services to our people and customers." It is also our hope to have more members and to also grow as an association so we can benefit from it. Not only today, but for tomorrow and the years to come. Pipi also took the opportunity to thank the government of Samoa for their support over the years. He acknowledged their consultant, Sua Donald Leumaga, who was the mastermind behind the B.O.S.As Strategic Plan 2017-2021. B.O.S.A was incorporated in 2011 and has an active Board of Directors who manages the operation of the organisation on a voluntary basis. Twenty-three emerging leaders from the public and private sector have graduated from the Leadership Samoa Programme 2016. The graduates, families, colleagues and friends celebrated their achievements at the Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi Building on Friday evening. The Minister of Health, Tuitama Dr. Leao Tuitama, spoke on behalf of the government to congratulate the members of the 2015-2016 class. In addressing the graduates, he highlighted the importance of leadership. The skills of a true leader, I believe, comes from within each individual and are reflected through actions and words to project to others how we each view the world as individuals, said Tuitama. It is therefore important that leaders focus on the positive and most particularly this focus is founded on a pure heart and do well. This I believe is how leaders motivate and inspire others to achieve a common set of goals that will ultimately benefit others. He encouraged them to remain positive always. Leaders promote positive attitudes and look for opportunities in places where others may only see challenges, problems and obstacles, said Tuitama. Objective leaders is founded on the willingness to inspire others, to learn more and use the knowledge that each have to support each other to do better for the good of all. Lastly, he spoke about the importance of integrity. Being a leader takes courage, discipline and determination, he said. While a great leader can bring success, it may also come at the cost of being just do not let negativity of others capture your spirit. My message to you as future leaders of Samoa is to take solace and encourage you to go with the messages of the bible which teaches us to look towards and always do good that our action will benefit others. Do not look into your own interest but to each of us place the interest of others first and in this I believe we will each find true comfort and inspiration. I encourage you all to use the knowledge and skills that you each have to inspire others to want to work towards positive goals to learn more, do more and to contribute to the positive development and work of our people and our nation. LIST OF GRADUATES: Acquina Resina Time-Fiu National Health Services, Albine Luciani Leafa- Ford Samoa, Anna Tofoipupu Palepoi CCK Samoa Ltd, Mulitalo Bernie Tauaane MNRE, Eka Slade British American Tobacco, Eneleata Samau FEXCO Money Transfer Ltd, Tiumalu Folototo Lavea-Leaumoana BSP, Fata Chris Aluni SBEC, Tiatia Graeme Tualaulelei Office of the Legislative Assembly, Julia Lemisio-Sititi DBS, Karla Luaao Leota CBS, Maoiautele Brigitta Faafiti Lo Tam Self Employed, Margaret Agnes Misiolo-Fruean NHS, Marina Keil Waste Management Ltd, Nanai Saolotoga Faasavalu MESC, Sefulu Salesulu Patu Sebastian Clarence Foundation, Sheena Uputaua Lesa SNPF, Talaole Alutusi Ah Poe SNPF, Tunumafono Tolugauvale Matai-Uatisone NUS, Tapuni Tanielu Suesue NHS, Tapuai Posi Tapuai SPA, Tuugalei Lesa LDS Pesega Primary School, Victoria Petelo Asiata Ford Samoa Think a minuteOf all the jobs in news and journalism, being a war correspondent is the most dangerous. Some reporters are captured as prisoners, some escape, and some die. Young 25-year-old Leonard Spencer was a reporter for the London Morning Post. His assignment was the Boer War in South Africa. Leonard was riding a train to the frontlines of battle when suddenly there was a violent crash. The Boer army had ambushed and attacked this British train. During the shooting, Leonard jumped out into all the bullets and exploding shells to help clear the train tracks. In fact, after the train pulled out of this trap, with many British soldiers saved, the one man who was left behind to face the enemy alone was this young newspaper reporter. He was captured and put into the Pretoria prison, which was world famous for its high security and few escapes. Amazingly, young Leonard escaped this famous prison. Yet he still had 300 miles of enemy territory to survive and find his way through to freedom. He walked alone for many days and nights, continually dodging enemy soldiers. Tired, hungry and thirsty, he finally reached a mining town and knocked on the door of the only British person living there. Leonard was then smuggled onto a train to the British consul and safety. You know whats really amazing? Leonard Spencer is not remembered for his bravery in the South African Boer War. You see, this young journalist who saved a train of British soldiers and escaped the enemy against nearly impossible odds, continued to do the impossible the rest of his life. We know him as Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, Englands brave leader and Prime Minister who helped save Europe and the world from Adolf Hitlers evil rule. You see, our life and character starts right now. If we dont choose to do the right thing now, we definitely wont choose to do it later when theres more risk. And Jesus is the one who can give you the willpower you need to start changing now. Then youll start doing the right thing, no matter what it costs you. So wont you ask Jesus to forgive you for not always choosing to live His right way? Then ask Him to take charge of your character everyday, for the rest of your life? Just Think a Minute... Around his square stone home on Palomar Mountain, pioneer Nate Harrison left a curious collection of bullets and bottles, sardine tins and fine china. To San Diego State University archaeologist Seth Mallios, these are the artifacts of freedom. Harrison, a former slave from Kentucky, was San Diegos first African-American homesteader and a legendary local figure. After working the Gold Rush, he traveled to Southern California, where he ranched, hunted and reinvented himself as an iconic personage in 19th and 20th Century San Diego. Advertisement This was the spot where he first got to express his freedom, Mallios said. This was someone who had endured slavery, endured conditions in the mines, and endured the Wild West. This was where he established himself as a free person. Harrisons tale also illustrates how people from around the world staked their place in the Golden State. Its a story about the birth of the United States in California, Mallios said. The site sits on the mountain in an oak grove overlooking Pauma Valley, scented with gusts of wood smoke and pine. Mallios and 25 of his students are excavating the 11-by-11 foot stone hut and an adjacent patio, during a spring break dig. Students found ordinary implements such as spoons, wire and rifle cartridges, as well as some oddities. A cracked bottle of Pluto Water, featuring an embossed image of the devil, included natural mineral laxatives, and represented the suite of snake oil remedies common in the era. The excavation of Harrisons homestead is part of Mallios long-standing project to unearth the facts behind the historic figure, and to let his students get their hands dirty through archaeological field work. Some people cant believe you get paid for it, he said, as students chiseled out chips of glass and sheep bones, or sifted tubs of soil. Others are miserable, because youre filthy and theres bugs. For Vijes Davis, an undergraduate anthropology major, its a chance to reconstruct untold parts of Harrisons story. History is always lost when nobody writes about you, she said. It just puts parts of his life together. In Harrisons case, Mallios said, oral history added some parts that dont square with the facts. Legend has it he rafted down the Mississippi to escape slavery, fought historic battles and lived to 107, Mallios said. Documents show that Harrison was brought to California by his owner to work the gold mines, gained freedom when his owner died, and lived not quite a century but well into his 90s, Mallios said. A lot of it is trying to match the oral history and the archaeology, and seeing whats actually true said anthropology student Aldo Torales. For Torales and other members of the crew, the physical relics of Harrisons life tell a story just as intriguing as the legends. Arriving in San Diego, Harrison herded sheep, planted fruit trees and hunted deer. Sheep bones, bullet fragments and unspent cartridges are some of the more common items found on site. Harrison gained title to the land on Palomar Mountain as a homesteader, but also received the property as a gift from the local Luiseno tribe, with whom me maintained close relations, Mallios said. The sites isolation and fortress-like perch must have represented safety to the former slave during that rough-and-tumble era of early California. Over time, Harrison made inroads with numerous communities, crossing cultural boundaries that were even more sharply drawn in his day. He befriended nearby Native Americans, inviting them to gather acorns, and interacted with Latino neighbors. He was baptized a Catholic late in life, Mallios said. And he became an iconic fixture among homesteaders and eventually city dwellers, who would visit his home to taste a little slice of the Antebellum South, Mallios said. From his simple stone home Harrison could see visitors approaching on the steep, windy mountain road. Traveling up the mountain took a full day, Mallios said, so Harrison sometimes brought down water for the horses or overheated radiators. In the dig site, Mallios students found pieces of pitchers that they think he used to deliver water. In a play on racial stereotypes and the history of Native American tribes in the region, Harrison always introduced himself as the first white man on the mountain, Mallios said. The charismatic mountain man acquired a reputation as a storyteller, and his homestead became a center of heritage tourism. He would tell tales about grizzly bears and mountain lions, Mallios said. Hes crafting a new identity and its on his own terms. The items he left behind show a peculiar mixture of the rustic and refined. Tins of canned meat, sardines and tobacco were littered around the site, along with shards of whiskey bottles. He loved to drink whiskey, so that matches the myth, said Laura Roderickz, a former student of Mallios who took time off work to join the dig. Along with them were bits of fine china, milk glass and ornate garter and suspender clips. Although records indicate that Harrison never married, rumors held that he wed two Native American women at different times. Mallios team found tins of rouge and other cosmetics. I cant say it wasnt his, Mallios said. But I dont think it was. Weve found kids toys: marbles and a cardboard jigsaw piece. That mixture of the iconic and the ordinary drew former student Kathleen Stanford to the excavation site to work with her former professor. What I love about Nate Harrison is that hes an everyday man, but he also has that legend, she said. In some cases, the myth and legend match. One tale holds that Harrison left a shovel propped against a tree and the branches grew around it. Mallios searched the oaks with metal detectors with no luck. Later, a fire burned a tree limb, revealing rusted remains of the shovel blade, its durable presence a reminder of the man who was born a slave, but died a pioneer. Students will present some of the artifacts at Montezuma Hall on the SDSU campus, from 4 to 6 p.m. on April 18. For more information, call (619) 587-4139 or visit the Nate Harrison Exhibit event page on Facebook. Both the citys planning and public works departments will be reorganized in the coming months to create a one-stop faster-processing spot for development applications. The restructuring proposal, which received initial approval from the City Council on March 29, was put forward by City Manager Karen Brust. It calls for transferring the citys engineering division and storm water functions out of the citys Public Works Department and into the Planning & Building Department. That department would be renamed the citys Development Services Department, a move that puts Encinitas in company with about a third of San Diego cities, Brust said. It should also help speed permit-processing times because all development-related services will be handled in one department, she said. Advertisement The city now takes three to four weeks to start processing a permit request, and shed like to get that below two weeks, she said. Brust, who became city manager in September 2015, said that in her time with the city it has become evident that restructuring of the Public Works Department is needed. That department contains six divisions and is spread over multiple locations. Leading it has been described as a huge responsibility by people filling in on a temporary basis, Brust said. It was really apparent that we needed to make some changes, she said, adding that the city has the opportunity now to make her proposed changes because of several department leaders have left in recent months. The city lost its public works director Glenn Pruim late last year when he became general manager of the Vallecitos Water District. Theyve had no luck in the months since obtaining a good-sized pool of qualified candidates for the position, city human resources manager Jodene Dunphy said, mentioning that she sent out 1,500 fliers announcing the job and posted it on various job-hunting web sites. Brust said she believes filling the job as its written is a huge challenge because it requires both the skills of a typical Public Works Department leader, who handles street repairs and city vehicle maintenance issues, as well as someone with development planning skills. Thats in part why shes recommending the restructuring of the two departments, she said. She added that even with this restructuring, obtaining qualified candidates may be difficult. In response, the council, in a 4-1 vote with Councilman Mark Muir opposed, agreed to grant Brust up to $60,000 to use the services of a headhunter to fill the public works directors position and the currently vacant planning director spot. Muir said he thought Dunphy could adjust her advertising plans for the two positions and thus save the city the headhunter expense. Dunphy and Brust told him that someone who specializes in finding department managers in many cities would be a benefit in this particular case. The other council members said they wanted a headhunters expertise to get both jobs filled as quickly as possible. In this particular instance, I am going to support (the funding request) ... timeliness is very important, Councilman Tony Kranz said, mentioning that two of the citys top leadership positions are vacant. Brust said that using a headhunters services wasnt a common practice in Encinitas, saying she knew that the city used one to fill the city finance directors spot before she was hired as city manager, but didnt know of other examples. Brust said she plans to proceed with the restructuring in mid-May after the council reaffirms its initial vote. Besides the changes in department director job descriptions, the restructuring will include changes in job duties for employees in both departments and some vacant positions will not be filled, she said. When Stuart Hunt went off to war in 1943, the longtime San Diegan remembers having the same gung-ho, patriotic spirit as the millions of other young men who enlisted to serve in the Allied Forces during World War II. But when he reluctantly returned to the battlefield again in 1950, as a forward observer during the Korean War, he was a changed man. In his autobiography Twice Surreal, the Rancho Bernardo veteran and onetime prisoner of war says he couldnt muster much enthusiasm for a second conflict. I was one of those eager young people, ready to go fight for our country, willing to accept that my life was a number, disposable on the cheap, he wrote of World War II. But I am sure that, for many, after they see the horrors of war, the enthusiasm wears thin or disappears. Advertisement Hunt, who turns 94 on April 5, is one of the nations few surviving veterans who served in both World War II and the Korean War. On the wall in his home office, a glass case filled with ribbons and medals, including a Bronze Star, testifies to his bravery. But when he talks and writes about his experiences, he focuses more on the friends he lost and his own will to survive. There is no glory in war, he said, and often .. you have experience it to fully understand it. Stuart Hunt, 93, of Rancho Bernardo flew for the Royal Air Force during World War II. He also served in the Army during the Korean War. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) Hunt grew up in Montreal, a dual citizen with an American dad and Canadian mom. His father, Thomas Hunt, ran an airfield in Ontario and young Stuart learned to fly single-engine planes like the Tiger Moth before he was 15. In August 1941, his father took a job with Ryan Aeronautical and the family moved to San Diego. Hunt, then 18, was sailing with a friend near Coronado when they heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Army Air Corps rejected his application because he lacked two years of college credits, so he signed up instead with the Royal Canadian Air Force. After more than a year of training, he was shipped overseas to serve as a flying officer in the U.K.s Royal Air Force. Assigned as a tail-gunner to the No. 425 Alouette Squadron in Yorkshire, his crew flew four-engine Halifax Mark II and III bombers on daring night raids over Germany in 1944. Up to one-quarter of the planes that made the bombing runs over Frankfurt, Nurenberg, Berlin, Essen, Kiel and other cities never returned. For self-preservation, you didnt make friends over there because the guy next to you would be gone the next day, he said. A few weeks after Hunts 21st birthday, his squadron was assigned to bomb the city of Karlsruhe on April 24th, 1944. Hunt had such a bad feeling about the mission, he wrote a goodbye letter to his parents and arranged to have his things shipped home if he didnt return. Sure enough, there were problems from the start, with ice on the wings, fuel problems and high winds. On the way home, a German fighter plane shot up the Halifaxs crew and set two starboard engines ablaze. As the only officer on the plane, Hunt helped each man some badly injured and one dying parachute out before he leaped free, landing hard in the waters off the southwest coast of Holland. With the help of the Dutch Underground, he and some other downed RAF and American pilots made it to Antwerp, and then south into Belgium before they were sent their separate ways and told to find their way to Spain on foot. Stuart Hunts war memoir, Twice Surreal, recounts his experiences in two wars and the often-surreal experiences he had. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) Eventually, the Germans caught up with Hunt hiding in a haystack on a farm near Brussels. He would spend the next 13 months as a prisoner of war, enduring extreme hardship and injuries that still trouble him today. After weeks of interrogations at Belgiums St. Gilles Prison and various other places, Hunt was held for 36 hours in a prison camp with no name in Weimar, Germany. It wasnt until much later that he discovered it had been Buchenwald, the Jewish concentration camp. He doesnt like to talk about what he saw there. I knew something was wrong, he said. I could see people walking in, but there were bodies going out in trucks. From there he was sent to Stalag Luft 3 in Poland, where he was held with 2,000 others in a section of the camp reserved for British officers. He arrived just a few months after the famed Great Escape, where a British pilot organized a massive tunneling effort under the camp walls. Seventy-six men escaped, but only three made it to safety. Fifty were executed and conditions for prisoners were quite restrictive by the time Hunt arrived. Stuart Hunt, 93, holds the POW camp identification he wore during his time as a POW during WWII. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) Germany was losing the war, Russia and Allied armies were closing in and food was scarce. To escape approaching forces, the Germans marched their under-dressed prisoners 52 miles west in blizzard conditions with no water and virtually no food. Three months later, the men were forced to march another 90 miles, once again in below-zero conditions. Hunt remembers those months as the worst of his life. He struggled with dysentery and lost nearly 60 pounds. His feet were so damaged by frostbite that even today the nerve damage in his feet causes constant shooting pains. On May 3, 1945, Hunt said he woke up at a prison camp in Lubeck and realized all the guards were gone. Minutes later, the British Second Army rolled in. When Hunt returned to San Diego, he married the pretty blonde San Diego State co-ed hed begun dating before the war, Edith Bridget Darsey. They would have three daughters together and 70 happy years of marriage until her death last year. After the war, Hunt worked as a stock and bonds trader. To make extra money for his growing family, he joined the National Guard. He figured it was worth the risk of being called up because the nation was weary of war. But in 1950, the call came. Because the newly established U.S. Air Force was flush with pilots, Hunt and his fellow WWII retreads were assigned to Army artillery units as forward observers, which he describes as a polite phrase for cannon fodder. Stuart Hunts cap shows the two wars he served in as well as the emblem for the Royal Canadian Air Force, which he joined in 1942, since he had dual American and Canadian citizenship. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) Stationed in bunkers along the front lines in North Korea, Hunt called artillery missions at several battles against North Korean and Chinese forces. One of the most memorable and surreal experiences was the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge in September and October of 1951. The month-long battle resulted in more than 3,700 American and French casualties and an estimated 25,000 North Korean and Chinese casualties. Not long after, Hunt was assigned to supervise the firing of the wars millionth high-explosive round. When he finally returned home to his family in late 1952, Hunt knew he was done with war. For the good of his family, he asked for, and was granted, a discharge. Eventually he founded a security products company with Jim Horwood, who he met in officers training school in 1942 and remained close friends with until Horwoods death in 2008. When Hunt started writing his memoir, which is available on Amazon.com, he decided to name it Twice Surreal. The name reflects his experiences in two wars as well as the unimaginable odds he overcame to survive. I almost felt like everything that happened over there doesnt seem real, he said this week. If you read my book you can see why theres really no reason I should be sitting here right now. pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com As an activist dedicated to improving the lot of farm workers, Cesar Chavez encountered many opponents. At least one of those opponents became an admirer. He was one of those individuals who exuded a genuine sense of moral purpose, said Richard A. Paul, who once faced Chavez across a bargaining table while representing growers battling the United Farm Workers. Advertisement I am not at all surprised that he has earned the accolades that come from being a very, very important moral leader as well as labor leader. On Friday, Cesar Chavez Day, numerous San Diegans reflected on a man they had known as a friend, a leader and in Pauls case a one-time sparring partner. Whether adversary or ally, these people used similar terms to describe Chavez and his legacy. He was a very humble person, said Ricardo Sanchez, who with his brother the late Ramon Chunky Sanchez sang at many of Chavezs rallies. He was a very humble person, soft-spoken, said Leticia Maldonado/Stamos, a Fallbrook resident who was a UFW volunteer in the 1970s. He spoke very powerfully but he never yelled. He wasnt a fiery speaker. Paul said, He had a gentle smile and demeanor. He may have been soft-spoken, but the late United Farm Workers founder Chavez died in 1993 at the age of 66 was anything but soft. In the fields Paul was only six years out of law school when he met Chavez in 1979 to negotiate farm worker contracts. Chavezs union advocated California-wide pay rates for members; Pauls clients, Imperial County growers, argued that Californias different crops and climates required different pay scales. There was no wiggle room between the two positions. Paul and Chavez quickly agreed that they had met and bargained in good faith and reached an impasse. The pleasantries were longer than the negotiations, Paul said. The substantive part of our talks was over in 10 or five minutes. Paul left without a deal but with a strong impression of what he called Chavezs quiet leadership. The mans goals, Paul realized, were larger than gaining a labor agreement: Rather than focusing on just a contract, he was lifting up a whole class of people who had been under-served and not listened to. Maldonado/Stamos felt that commitment during a summer spent volunteering for the UFW. As the fall approached, she had to decide stay with the UFW or return to her studies? She asked someone whose opinion she valued: Chavez. He urged her to go back to school. When you finish school, we can always use you, he said. Then Maldonado/Stamos mentioned one of her professors. Chavez gave a start. I thought you were talking about high school, he said. Youre in college? Stay with us. You want an education, this is where youll get an education! She spent another three years with the UFW before returning to college. She never regretted the decision. I learned so much in that experience, she said, about life and about people. Ann Smith, now a partner with San Diegos Smith Steiner Vanderpool & Wax law firm, was also educated by Chavez. Dropping out of a Boston-area college, she crossed the country to volunteer for the UFW. Shortly after Smiths arrival, Chavez made her one of his contract negotiators. She swallowed her doubts and did the work. It wasnt in law school that I learned to be an advocate, she said. It was in the fields with Cesar Chavez. Belief Many of the people drawn to Chavez had first-hand knowledge of the lives of farm workers. Ricardo Sanchez and his brother labored in the fields as children alongside their parents. With Los Alacranes, the brothers sang De Colores and other social movement songs at UFW rallies. He still sings those songs when talking to students about Chavez. The question I get most often is, Did you really march with him? I tell them, Of course. We were on the front lines with him it was an honor. Chavez was quiet. He avoided loud rhetoric, Maldonado/Stamos said, yet he inspired large crowds. Cesar kind of hit you in your heart when he spoke of the plight of the farm workers, she said. Having a leader who was so selfless, who sacrificed so much it was easy for me to make that decision to join the cause and dedicate my life to making a difference. Smith worked full time for the UFW for six years before continuing her formal education. Studying Chavez, she understood that his success owed much to his belief in the cause and in others. I saw hundreds of people he inspired to believe they could do much more than they thought they could do, she said. As the co-anchors of the CW6 News in the Morning broadcast where guests can include politicians and puppies and topics can range from grand jury investigations to allergy-survival tips Lynda Martin and Jim Patton are used to juggling. But on Friday, getting through their four hours on the air was more of an emotional tightrope situation. It was the last day of local newscasts on CW6, and Martin and Patton were wobbling. I did not think I was going to cry this morning, Patton said after signing off. But I was wrong. In January, it was announced that XETV CW6 had lost its CW Network affiliation to KFMB-TV Channel 8, which will run both stations. As for XETV, it would be shutting down to become a Spanish-language station. Advertisement The announcement was sudden, but XETVs final chapter unfolded over several long months. The local news programming is ending with Fridays 10 p.m. broadcast. The CW prime time programming including Arrow and Supergirl will air on CW6 until May 31, when the whole CW network becomes part of the KFMB-TV family. So how does a television station say goodbye to its community after more than 60 years? On the last CW6 News in the Morning broadcast, they did it with tears and beer, a San Diego police chief and a San Diego Zoo porcupine and a whole lot of memories. Here is a look at the end of CW6 and a guide to what will happen next. Wheres my show? Channel shuffle 101 In the time between the CW6 sign-off and the May 31 introduction of the new CW San Diego, cable viewers tuning in to the old CW6 channel spot will see reruns of syndicated shows. Over-the-air antenna viewers tuning in to Channel 6 will see Spanish-language programming. Beginning May 31, cable viewers will likely find all CW network programming (including Supernatural and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and CW San Diego local news on Channel 6. (That will definitely be the channel position for Cox Cable and Spectrum customers, and KFMB anticipates that Direct TV, Dish and AT&T U-verse will keep CW San Diego on Channel 6 as well.) As of May 31, over-the-air viewers will find the CW network shows and CW San Diego programming on Channel 8.2. Beginning May 31, there will also be a slate of new CW San Diego newscasts. The News 8 on CW San Diego local newscasts will be produced and operated by the KFMB-TV CBS News 8 division, which will continue to produce its current CBS News 8 broadcasts. Longtime KFMB-TV News Director Dean Elwood will oversee the CW San Diego news, and the CW and CBS 8 newscasts will share staff members (including on-air talent) and content. Some staff positions will be filled by former XETV employees. The News 8 on the CW San Diego broadcasts will air weekdays from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.; 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.; and 10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The KFMB-TV news schedule on CBS 8 will not change. One station, many networks Since coming to XETV almost 40 years ago, Vice President and General Manager Chuck Dunning has watched the station cycle through network affiliations and identities like an Americas Next Top Model contestant whips through costume changes. When Dunning came on board, XETV which had its offices in Kearny Mesa and its transmitter and operations in Tijuana was an independent station, having lost its ABC affiliation in 1973. In 1986, it became one of the earliest stations to join the fledgling Fox Broadcasting Co. They built a state-of-the-art studio in 1999 and began airing local newscasts. The Fox years came to an abrupt end in March 2008, when XETV was notified that Fox was moving its San Diego affiliation to KSWB Channel 5. Five months later, XETV became the San Diego home of the CW. It has been a long, alphabet-strewn road, but if you ask Dunning what XETV achievement he is the most proud of, his answer is short and frill-free. Existing, said Dunning, who has clear memories of the days when they taped their prime time line-up from Foxs East Coast feed and trucked the tapes down to Tijuana. Im proud that we were able to stick around. Rules of the game face The great news about finding out youll be losing your job in two months is that you have plenty of time to plan. The tough news is that you have plenty of time to worry, mourn and worry some more. And for the CW6 on-air talent, plenty of time to act like nothings wrong while many thousands of people are watching. To ask people to stay motivated, focused and inspired for 60 days when they dont know what the future is, its a lot to ask, Dunning said. From what I have observed, their attitude has been beyond what you could expect. Earlier this week, Martin, Patton and Kohn gathered on the news set to talk about the secret to weathering XETVs long public goodbye. People often refer to their work colleagues as family, but when your job involves pre-dawn hours, between-commercials down time and lots of on-the-fly improvisation, the family analogy is not a big stretch. The morning show team knows that Patton is prone to giggling and Kohn is prone to tripping. Martin can tell you all about Pattons ongoing roof repair adventures and Kohn can confirm that when inappropriate laughs break out at inopportune times, Martin is usually the instigator. And they will all say that when you have to keep it together despite the circumstances, these are the people who make the burden bearable. Its been so hard, because all of us get along so well here. Thats what Ill miss the most, said Martin, who came to XETV during its 1999 local news hiring blitz, jumped to KSWB/Channel 5 in 2002, then returned to XETV in 2005. The word Ive been using is surreal, because it feels so strange. Ive come and gone, and now I cant come back. This is my work home, and the doors are closing. Parting and a party On its last day, the CW6 News in the Morning Show was a bigger, crazier version of its all-inclusive self. In front of the cameras, there were emotional video tributes, uninhibited dancing from Kohn and Martin and visits from San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman, a San Diego Zoo porcupine and a mascot from Legoland California. Off camera, current staffers joined Ruben Galvan, Marc Bailey and other former members of the XETV family on the outdoor back lot for hugs, selfies and toasts featuring craft beer provided by some of the many local brewers who appeared on the shows monthly San Diego beer news segments. Whether it was local chefs whipping up Valentines Day desserts, the San Diego Animal Support Foundation showing off adoptable pets or a representative from Rady Childrens Hospital talking about an upcoming fundraiser, the CW6 morning show was a place for San Diego to celebrate and discover its best, most entertaining self. That conversation isnt over, but it wont be happening here anymore. Theyve developed this great community presence here, and that has been a really positive thing for San Diego, said Assembly member Todd Gloria, who dropped in to pay his respects. I got some really tough questions from them over the years, and I think thats a good thing for our city and a good thing for democracy. Its sad to see it go, but Im so glad they did what they did on the air. Some of the XETV production people have found jobs at other local stations. Dunning will work through September, as he negotiates the sale of the sets and other closing-up-shop duties. Patton will soon be taking a part-time anchor job at KGTV Channel 10, but moving on could take awhile. When you lose something, thats when you realize how special it is, Patton said, as the party threatened to swallow him up. Im heartbroken, but there are a lot of smiling faces here and a lot of support. Im definitely going to miss this place. Twitter: @karla_peterson karla.peterson@sduniontribune.com Georgia Amsden trusted the American governments pledge to help veterans wounded in World War I. After all, this San Diego High School teacher was tangible proof of Washingtons commitment. Taking a leave of absence, Amsden sailed to France in 1918 to join a new federal program meant to instill damaged men with fresh hope and job skills. Yet a bedridden soldier Amsden met in a field hospital outside Paris was skeptical. Advertisement He called the U.S. a sky-rocket nation good for a burst of enthusiasm but not a prolonged campaign. I could not at that time agree with him, Amsden wrote later, but since, I have wondered if he did not speak the truth. At the close of World War I, this business teacher underwent a harrowing education. Amsden worked as a newspaper reporter in her hometown of Ypsilanti, Mich., before finding her true vocation: teaching. Moving to San Diego in 1909, she would devote most of her professional life to this region and its schools. She taught typing and shorthand at San Diego High until 1925, when she embarked on a 32-year career at San Diego State College. She retired as an associate professor of business education in 1957. When Amsden died in February 1968, a colleague called her one of the truly great contributors to business education in California. She never married, had no children and was coy about her age, which her obituary does not reveal. Yet this private person bequeathed to San Diego States library a treasury of personal, impassioned papers from her 10 months in war-torn Europe. As a volunteer for the Federal Board of Vocational Education and the American Red Cross, she tried to provide a future to men physically and mentally shattered by their past. I worked some days just numb with pity, she wrote. Her first visit to a field hospital almost left her speechless yet she had to speak about her mission, addressing the entire ward before beginning one-on-one counseling. As she spoke, Amsden was jostled by a nurse and two doctors cleaning and bandaging the soldier in the cot beside her. He had been hit in the hip and buttocks. While I had taken a course in first aid, I knew nothing of the horrors of war wounds, she wrote. The sight of so much blood almost unnerved me. She carried on, although her letters and the 3-by-5 cards she filled with notes quiver with emotion. Remember, some of these patients were blind, some had lost one or two arms, one or two feet, or legs, some had faces distorted almost beyond recognition. Some were gassed, some shell-shocked. MUTILATED IN EVERY CONCEIVABLE WAY. Moving from bedside to bedside, she questioned each soldier. What were his skills, his abilities, what could he still do? In a series of field hospitals on French battlefields, she counseled men on potential business opportunities. In time, she came to cherish this work. After devoting Dec. 25, 1918, to the men in an orthopedic ward, she declared never again shall I know such a happy Christmas. In spring 1919, she shifted her attention to the American Red Cross, working in that agencys Paris office. The work, while still important, was less grueling. She spent four delightful months in the City of Light. Highlights included the Louvre Mona Lisa gazes upon my plastic beauty nearly every day the Chateau de Fontainbleau, the home of painter Jean-Francois Millet and much opera and good music. Amsden was in Paris when President Woodrow Wilson, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and other national leaders signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending what later became known as World War I. She wasnt impressed. There was no repetition of the delirium of joy during the Armistice week, Amsden observed. The atmosphere seems to be shrouded in doubt ... Two months later, Amsden sailed back to the U.S. and resumed her teaching career. In the papers she left to San Diego State, theres little to mark the decades she spent in classrooms here. Yet page after page is filled with searing impressions from her 10 unforgettable months abroad. The bravery of these boys, she wrote, was astounding. This week is the 100th anniversary of the United States entering World War I. To mark that moment in history, reporter Peter Rowe delved into the past to explore San Diegos role in what was supposed to be The war to end all wars. This is his Back Story on the reporting for on our WWI package. Q. What inspired this story? A. This local story grew out of two foreign excursions. In 2014, on a vacation in Vancouver, I saw a fascinating exhibit about Canadian troops in the Great War. A year later, touring breweries in Belgium, our bus passed through several World War I cemeteries. It was sobering to realize we were in the region memorialized by John McCraes poem, In Flanders Fields. Advertisement Q. What did this have to do with San Diego? A. Good question. At first, I wondered if our involvement in the war had been great enough to merit a story. Hostilities had been raging for almost three years before the U.S. declared war, and San Diego is half a world away from the European battlefields. Given our historic ties to the military, though, I figured we must have been the home to and the training base of many Americans who fought in this war. Q. How did you report this story? A. Ordinarily, I would have sought out veterans and listened to their tales. Unfortunately, the last of San Diegos World War I veterans died in 2005. So I had to go elsewhere. Q. Where did you go? A. My first stop was The San Diego Union-Tribunes electronic archives. Merrie Monteagudo, our staff researcher, was an invaluable aid in sifting through the newspapers coverage from the day the U.S. entered the war April 6, 1917 until the Armistice, Nov. 11, 1918. Q. Where else? A. I telephoned the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo. There, archivist Jonathan Casey patiently answered all my questions and steered me to a tale I would have missed the adventures of John D. Spreckels steam yacht, the Venetia. Casey even helped arrange an interview with one of the crew members grandsons. He also shed light on the tragedy of the F-1. The wreck of this submarine still lies several miles off Point Loma. Q. Kansas City is a long way to go to explore San Diegos ties to the Great War. Closer to home and beyond the Union-Tribunes archives, are there significant repositories of memorabilia from this conflict? A. The special collections at San Diego State Universitys library has a fascinating array of artifacts, including photos of doughboys and dignitaries; a German bayonet in its scabbard; and the papers of Georgia Amsden. Q. Who is she? A. A Michigan native, San Diego High School teacher and future San Diego State College professor, she wrote vivid accounts of her 1918 and 1919 volunteer work in field hospitals. Reading her papers, you admire her courage and dedication to wounded Americans. Q. Whats the story behind the photos? A. They were shot by Breo Freeman, a Pasadena architect whose pre-war resume includes work on San Diegos Spreckels Theatre. When the U.S. entered the war, he enlisted in the Navy and packed a camera. His sharp, well-composed images include Canadian troops searching a demolished French brewery; the German fleet surrendering to the Royal Navy; and President Wilson posing with Englands King George V. Q. Isnt there another visual angle to your story? A. I was tickled to discover that a member of a North Island-trained unit, the 135th Aero Squadron, plays a lead role in movie and TV history. With the German army retreating through France in the wars final weeks, a corporal from the 135th crept into a ruined village. There, he almost literally stumbled over a dog that would become one of Hollywoods greatest stars. You cant make this stuff up! It was 9:49 a.m. on Friday when the order came to loose the lines hugging the guided-missile destroyer Dewey to the San Diego Navy Yard pier. Fire Controlman 3rd Class Anthony Liberatore, 26, tugged at rope as thick as a log, the sun and salt air against his face, spooling the line behind him minutes before the ship slipped into the bay, a blast of its horn echoing behind the San Luis Obispo sailor, four months at sea ahead of them both. On the dock stood Morgan, 21, a Navy reservist with the same rank and rating as Liberatore and with the same last name, too, for the past eight days. Advertisement We got married, she said. We were going to do it anyway, but it was the right time before he left. The Navy shapes our lives. The Navy also shapes Americas foreign policy between California and Asia. At 10:22 a.m., the destroyer Sterett joined the Dewey as they headed toward a rendezvous with the mighty Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group somewhere in the vast Pacific Ocean. The Sterett-Dewey Surface Action Group shortened to a SAG in the Navy is joining an ongoing experiment called Third Fleet Forward. For the past six decades, the Seventh Fleet owned much of the Pacific past the international date line, but in early January, the Vinson-led flotilla began patrolling the same waters. The contingent is led by Rear Adm. Jim Kilby at sea, but ultimate command rests with Vice Adm. Nora Tyson at Third Fleets headquarters in Point Loma. Tyson or her command brass monitors the carrier strike groups movements around the clock. On March 29, the Vinson and its escorts the cruiser Lake Champlain and the destroyer Wayne E. Meyer finished maneuvers in the East China Sea with five Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force warships under the command of Rear Adm. Kajimoto Daisuke. All the bilateral operations with the U.S. Third Fleet were very successful, said the commander of Japans Escort Flotilla 3 in a statement. This achievement is reflecting well with continuous Seventh Fleet activities. This should be very significant for peace and stability in the region. Peace and stability are being challenged by three forces: an increasingly bellicose North Korea seeking to develop rockets to carry nuclear warheads, a resurgent Russia and the the economic powerhouse of China, which continues to contest Japanese claims in the region. Beijing also continues to build and arm a sprawl of artificial islands on reefs, rocks and banks claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei in the South China Sea. President Donald Trump has warned that his April 6-7 bilateral summit at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida with Chinese President Xi Jinping will be very difficult because of differences over trade, jobs and the ongoing spats over the Pacific islands. The Dewey and Sterett carry the command staff of Destroyer Squadron 31, plus detachments from Helicopter Maritime Squadrons 49 and 78 the Scorpions and the Blue Hawks. Last year at this time, Destroyer Squadron 31 SAG commanded from Point Loma by Tyson and composed of the warships Decatur, Momsen and Spruance badgered Beijing by skirting close to contested islets. The highest drama came when the Decatur conducted a freedom of navigation operation near the Paracel Islands, which are claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan. Called a FONOP, the maneuver is designed to remind China and other countries that the United States considers much of the South China Sea neutral, open to all international shipping and aircraft. We are ready and able to support a variety of exercises and missions with our partners and allies in support of maritime stability and security in the Western Pacific, Capt. David Bretz, leader of Destroyer Squadron 31, said in a statement. International politics were sidelined Friday by the families lining the San Diego docks. Morgan Liberatore said shed miss most her new husbands laughter and the road trips to find Californias best canoli. Shading her eyes from the sun with her hands, 10-year-old Avianna Myhand squinted up at the deck of the Dewey where her dad, Operations Specialist Chief Marico Myhand 41, lined the rail with his sailors. Ill miss him taking us to Crab Hut, she said. He gets a big bucket of seafood. We went there yesterday. Behind her stood mom Eriko, 37, who was nuzzled by 1-year-old baby Elani. And by her side was Marico Jr., 8, near a bag emblazoned with the orange A of his fathers beloved Auburn University. This is his fourth and longest deployment since he married Eriko 11 years ago. She was raised in Yokohama, Japan, headquarters of the Seventh Fleet. Yeah, its hard, she said, watching him disappear into a blur along the blue horizon of the bay. Sometimes you get used to it, but somethings things come up and you dont. 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 Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer is appealing a decision by federal immigration officials denying him access to parts of LAX controlled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, his office announced Friday. Feuer has been trying to access the secure customs area since President Trump issued his initial executive order blocking refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority nations. The city attorney drove to the airport Jan. 27 to look into claims that officers were detaining travelers who held proper visas and approved refugee applications. But federal agents turned him away. A week later, Feuer, a vocal opponent of Trumps so-called travel bans, sent a formal request to Customs and Border Protection for security clearance to enter all areas of LAX unescorted. Advertisement In a letter dated March 20, the CBP port director at LAX, Mitchell Merriam, denied that request citing a federal code but not explaining how it applied to the city attorney. On Friday, Feuer sent a return letter appealing the denial, saying that the law required the agency to fully stat[e] the reasons for denial. I have broad responsibilities directly relevant to LAX, he wrote. The city attorney argued that accessing the area was crucial to his responsibilities as the lawyer for the people of Los Angeles. Trumps first executive order and a subsequent revised one that reduced the targeted countries to six have been struck down by federal judges. The second order is pending appeal. joe.mozingo@latimes.com @joemozingo ALSO 15 Freeway lanes to be closed for 55 hours on back-to-back weekends starting Friday Supreme Court declines case over Glendales controversial comfort women statue Irvine mother and daughter accused of operating a national prostitution ring Back in October, when the nations largest police organization held its annual meeting in San Diego, its then-president apologized for the historical mistreatment of communities of color by police agencies. In a statement that some news organizations described as significant, extraordinary and a watershed moment, Chief Terrence M. Cunningham of Wellesley, Mass., called upon police and people who have protested against them to work together to break this historic cycle of mistrust between law enforcement and minority communities. Apologizing for injustices of the past is a first step toward a better future, Cunningham told a gathering of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which has more than 20,000 members. Advertisement And now the organization, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice, has taken another step in what is sure to be a long and complex process. This time, the news is more trickle than watershed, but its progress nonetheless. The IACP and the Justice Departments Office of Community Oriented Policing Services released on Thursday an online toolkit offering strategies for building trust between law enforcement and communities of color. Its meant to serve as a resource for officers at all levels and to members of the community who want to engage and interact with them on a level they believe is productive. Lt. Ben Kelso, president of the San Diego Black Police Officers Association, said he had not had a chance to review the site thoroughly and could not evaluate its content. But he said he felt encouraged that law enforcement officials were demonstrating a willingness to participate in the national discussion about race and policing, when such concerns had been rejected in the past. I think it is progressive for law enforcement to look at the topic head on and try to formulate plans of action, Kelso said. Law enforcement is listening, he added. Its probably going to be a long road to change. No change comes easy. The website is broken into four sections: policing for progress, steps to building trust, sample community surveys, and IACP and COPS Office resources. The first section offers examples of programs around the country that help foster better relationships between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. One example is an initiative by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department aimed at combating hate crimes by teaching tolerance and respect to ninth- and 10th-graders. The Los Angeles Police Department adapted the program for an even younger audience of boys and girls in fourth through eighth grades. The online toolkit has dozens of tips on how to build trust between police and members of the public who have complained for decades that they are unfairly and disproportionately targeted by police. (For African-Americans and Latinos, many studies support those complaints.) Among the recommendations, executive and command-level officers are advised to communicate promptly and frequently during critical incidents. They are told they should use professional discretion to determine what constitutes law enforcement-sensitive information, but to allow community members access to some information about the situation at the scene. Front-line officers are told to get out of their patrol vehicles. They also should build relationships by participating in community events and seeking opportunities to mentor young people particularly in areas where police enforcement is ever present. Community members are asked to meet with local law enforcement for regular briefing sessions on the state of the community, and to act as constructive critics and discourage activists from politicizing incidents before the facts are known and investigations are conducted. Its unclear whether law enforcement in San Diego County or any local activists will find the online toolkit enlightening. We know both had strong reactions after the release of a study in November that examined traffic stop data in San Diego for evidence of racial bias and following the fatal police shooting in September of Alfred Olango, a 38-year-old Ugandan refugee, in El Cajon. But maybe its a start. dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @danalittlefield Justin Sturgeon, a Ramona Skatepark Champions board member, teamed up with Montecito High School teacher Nicholas Jordan to give Jordans construction students a chance to win skateboard merchandise. Jordan said all of his students skateboard. Junior Gustavo Mercado earned the big prize on March 24 a skateboard donated by Globe Skateboards. Advertisement Mercado was the only student at that point to complete the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) 10, a 10-hour online construction course and test that is required for trade careers. Hes the smartest kid I have. He is amazing, Jordan said of Mercado. Jordan said he had a contest among his students to see who would finish first. To vie for the other donated merchandise that Sturgeon brought, including skateboard wheels and T-shirts, Jordan held nail driving contests among his students. Seven of Jordans students will compete in the state SkillsUSA competition April 20-22 at the Town & Country Resort in San Diego. SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers, and industry working to prepare a skilled workforce. They will have a chance to advance to the national competition to be held in Kentucky, said Jordan. To raise money for the competition, his students have been building Adirondack chairs, benches, and planter boxes. The Ramona Skatepark Champions are also trying to raise money $70,000 with the goal of developing a skatepark near Ramona Library. The proposed spot is off 12th Street near Main Street, in the area targeted for the Ramona Intergenerational Community Campus. For information see Ramona Skatepark on Facebook. Mwibeleca Amuri met and married his wife in Tanzanian refugee camps. They had five children while living there. The oldest, Denis Mwibeleca, is now 18. Amuri, now 39, and his family resettled in San Diego in September, the end of a long journey that started when he fled war and political turmoil in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997. His familys challenges are common among refugees a group of newcomers to America who have come under increasing scrutiny under the administration of President Donald Trump. Advertisement Amuri worries about finding work and about having enough money to pay basic bills each month. He is learning English, but communication, he said, is difficult unless the person happens to speak one of the languages that he knows: Swahili, French and Ebembe, his tribes language. Hes had to adjust to American culture and customs like the importance of punctuality, he said and he was not used to using a computer before coming to the U.S. He doesnt know how to drive a car, and the California Department of Motor Vehicles does not have booklets available in any of the languages that he knows. Without a car, finding a job is even more difficult, he said. Still, Amuri is excited about the opportunity for his children to get educations in the U.S. and about living in a place where peace is the norm. The first day we came to the U.S., we felt good. We felt good because here there is peace, and we could already see that peace, Amuri said in French during an interview in his City Heights home. Its the opposite of the life we lived. He said hes grateful that the U.S. took in his family. An American flag hangs on the wall in their living room. Its by the grace of God they brought us instead of another family, he said. His family sought out friends through local church communities, and he performs songs in Swahili and Ebembe at St. Lukes Episcopal Church in North Park every Sunday. George Kuhrts, who mentors the family and founded Sumitra a mentoring group out of St. Lukes said he felt fortunate to have met Amuri because of Amuris positive outlook. Hes like my therapy every week, Kuhrts said. His resilience and optimism is what makes me feel good. Life before the U.S. Amuri fled his home in 1997 because of civil war. The longtime ruler of what was then Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, had been in power since the country gained its independence from Belgium in 1960. He was overthrown in May 1997 by a new regime under Laurent Kabila, who renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Amuris parents were killed in the political turmoil, something that he still struggles to say out loud. Conflict and violence has continued in the country, according to the CIA World Factbook. Kabilas son, Joseph Kabila, has been in power since Kabila was assassinated in 2001. Amuri spent 19 years in refugee camps in Tanzania, first in one called Lugufu. When that closed in 2010, some refugee families decided to go back to the Congo. Amuri didnt trust that life would be safe enough, he said, so his family moved to a second camp of Congolese refugees called Nyarugusu. Life was really mediocre, Amuri said in French when asked about his time in the camps. The United Nations gave his family food, water and medicine, but quality of life was low, he said. He started the resettlement process with the United Nations office in Lugufu, going through rounds of interviews only to have to start over from the beginning once the family moved to Nyarugusu, he said. He spent 11 years in the process, all without knowing which country might take him. We didnt know where we would go, Amuri said. It was their secret, the offices secret. The family didnt find out they were coming to the U.S. until they were handed immigration paperwork, he said. Life in the U.S. When Amuri and his family first arrived in the U.S., they were placed in a hotel in El Cajon because the resettlement agency had not yet been able to find a vacant apartment for them. They finally moved in to a quadriplex in City Heights about three weeks later, he said. Rent is $1,445 a month, including water, he said. He pays about $225 for electricity, internet and cell phones. Thats $1,670 per month. The family receives $817 in aid from the government right now, he said. His oldest son also receives $355 since he is 18 years old. Pooled together, the $1,172 doesnt cover their bills. Their church has helped with the utility bills, Amuri said. Amuri received a letter a few weeks ago informing him that he had to start paying back the cost of the flights that brought his family to the U.S. The family owes $11,570 and will have to pay $138 a month, according to a loan document in his wifes name. To make ends meet, Amuri borrows from a fellow Congolese who lives in San Diego, Amuri said, until he manages to find a job. The family receives food stamps from the government, which is supplemented weekly by a program at St. Lukes called the Episcopal Refugee Network. Kuhrts drops off the donated food at the familys home since Amuri doesnt have a car. The government aid that Amuris family receives will drop after the family has been here eight months, or when a family member gets a job, whichever happens sooner. Amuri and his wife attended orientation classes and English classes at the International Rescue Committee, a resettlement agency, when they first got here, and now they are learning English at the San Diego Continuing Education Mid-City Campus. The children are enrolled in local schools. The high school wouldnt accept the 18-year-old son because of his age, which Amuri said surprised him. His son now attends classes at Urban Corps and Mid-City. Amuri said his kids love school because they know how important education is, and he hopes his own continuing education will help him get a job before long. While he was in the refugee camps, he was a teacher for geography, science and French. He also worked as a photographer. He said he would do any kind of work to be able to support his family. If you have nothing, you cant be picky, Amuri said. Some have asked why refugee families are resettled in San Diego, where the cost of living is high and housing is scarce. The federal office responsible for resettling refugees checks first whether the refugees have family already in the U.S., according to David Murphy, executive director of the International Rescue Committee in San Diego. If they do, the refugees are generally placed nearby. If they dont, the office takes into account where in the U.S. people from the same country have already settled. That helps the new arrivals acclimate, Murphy said. For Congolese families like Amuris, that means San Diego is one of the places theyre likely to end up. More than 600 of the 677 Congolese refugees who resettled in California last year came to San Diego, according to data from the U.S. State Department. That was about four percent of all the Congolese refugees who resettled in the U.S. The first Congolese families arrived about 25 years ago, according to Prince Shamamba, who works with the Alliance for African Assistance, another refugee resettlement agency. Shamamba said San Diego has received large numbers of Congolese refugees in the last three to five years. Amuri said it has helped to have other Congolese living near him. If other Congolese can live here, I can live here, Amuri said. There are so many people from different countries, different continents. So many come. Because of that, I have hope for my life here. kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate For the first time, San Diego County has made the Justice Departments list of law enforcement jurisdictions that limit cooperation with immigration officers in jails. It is only the second time the weekly report has been issued since President Donald Trump ordered data to be made publicly available on which jurisdictions dont fully cooperate with immigration officers apparently a way to pressure local authorities into falling in line with Trumps vigorous efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. In a way, San Diegos debut on the report, released Wednesday, shouldnt come as a surprise. Most major counties in California are on the list. Thats because all jailers in the state are subject to the Trust Act, a 2013 law that bars policing agencies from accepting detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in most cases. Detainers ask jailers to hold onto a non-citizen for up to 48 hours beyond the time an inmate would otherwise be released to give ICE officers time to take custody of the person for immigration proceedings. Advertisement The San Diego County Sheriffs Department, which runs the countys jails, says it is merely following state law, as well as a federal court order out of Oregon, by not honoring detainers. Sheriffs around the state have voiced frustration at being called out by Attorney General Jeff Sessions for following state law especially when many sheriffs, including San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore, otherwise have close working relationships with ICE. What Trump and Sessions are doing is trying to essentially bully law enforcement agencies to cooperate with detainers, but law enforcement cant legally cooperate with detainers because doing so would violate the Fourth Amendment, said Jennie Pasquarella, director of immigrant rights and a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of California. She added: Not a single sheriff in California honors immigration detainers because of legal concerns. On Sunday, ICE is implementing a new detainer policy, but it remains uncertain if the tweaks to procedure will change how sheriffs in California or elsewhere handle the requests. San Diego County appears in Section I of the Justice Department report under a list of the jurisdictions that received the highest volume of detainer requests during the week of Feb. 4. All 10 counties are described as having policies that dont comply with detainers on a regular basis. San Diego placed right in the middle of the pack, receiving 44 ICE detainer requests that week. Other California counties, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange, also made the list. What Trump and Sessions are doing is trying to essentially bully law enforcement agencies to cooperate with detainers. Jennie Pasquarella with the ACLU However, the report does not list how many of the detainer requests were rejected by the San Diego County Sheriffs Department. That data may be reflected in future reports. Interestingly, San Diego, unlike several other California locales, does not appear in the latter section of the report, which lists jurisdictions that have enacted policies that restrict cooperation with ICE. Is it an oversight by ICE, one that will change with the next report? Or does ICE view San Diego even with the Trust Act in place as being cooperative enough? It is uncertain. San Diego, like many other counties, has found other ways to work with ICE and still keep immigrants suspected of committing crimes from being released into the community. For several years, the Sheriffs Department has given over office space inside its jails to ICE officers who have access to booking information so they can determine which inmates might be immigrants here legally or illegally. When ICE identifies an inmate suspected of violating immigration laws, ICE can interview the inmate and request to be notified when the inmate will be released. That gives ICE the opportunity to take custody of the inmate in the jail. These are criminal aliens who have committed serious crimes, the Sheriffs Department said in a statement. Sheriffs spokesman Ryan Keim said the jails notified ICE roughly 680 times of an inmates release date in 2016. Currently, ICE picks up about 95 percent of the inmates they ask about, Keim said. The Departments current policy successfully balances public safety and compliance with state and federal law, the statement said. Pasquarella of the ACLU said the Justice Department report is misleading because while it lists agencies that decline ICE detainers, it does not elaborate on whether the inmates who were the subject of those detainers were actually released into the community or taken into ICE custody because of notification policies like San Diegos. The data itself doesnt capture whats really happening, she said. A footnote in the report says when a detainer is declined, it generally means the inmate is released back into the community, although it acknowledges there are instances where ICE does take custody beforehand. The report is still a work in progress. The jurisdictions that are included are chosen based on public information or statements the agencies have made about their detainer policies. It is a list that is expected to grow and be refined over time, said ICE spokeswoman Sarah Rodriguez in Washington, D.C. The list is also not meant to be a list of sanctuary cities. It relates only to detainers. (The American people) know that when cities and states refuse to help enforce immigration laws, our nation is less safe. Attorney General Jeff Sessions While there is no universally agreed upon definition of a sanctuary city, it generally refers to places with policies that dont cooperate with immigration authorities or that protect unauthorized immigrants. In many instances, jurisdictions that dont honor immigration detainers are viewed as sanctuary cities. San Diego County officials have repeatedly insisted they do not consider their jurisdictions to be sanctuaries. Sessions lashed out this past Monday at locales that have adopted policies designed to frustrate the enforcement of our immigration laws. The American people are justifiably angry, Sessions said in public remarks. They know that when cities and states refuse to help enforce immigration laws, our nation is less safe. Failure to deport aliens who are convicted for criminal offenses puts whole communities at risk especially immigrant communities in the very sanctuary jurisdictions that seek to protect the perpetrators. Sessions threatened to withhold federal grant money to jurisdictions with sanctuary policies and even claw back funds that have already been handed out. Courts have long held that immigration detainers are requests, meaning compliance is voluntary. ICEs new detainer policy that goes into effect this Sunday tries to placate local law enforcement by requiring ICE officers to file an administrative immigration warrant for either arrest or deportation along with their detainer request. The warrant would be signed by the ICE officer rather than a judge. Some ICE field offices already use this method, but the new policy makes it a rule nationwide, said Rodriguez of ICE. A footnote in the policy points out that a Chicago courts recent ruling is the reason behind the change: Although ICE maintains that this is not legally required, ICE is implementing this warrant measure as a nationwide policy in light of one district courts ruling that detention pursuant to an ICE detainer constitutes a warrantless arrest. Pasquarella, the ACLU attorney, said an officer-signed administrative warrant is likely not going to be enough to get around the legal concerns of sheriffs here or elsewhere. It doesnt address the constitutional problem. An ICE warrant is not the same as one signed by a judge, she said. Rodriguez said its a difference of opinion. Were still trying to work with sheriffs in whatever way we can, the ICE spokeswoman said. The policy also continues to direct ICE officers to establish probable cause that the inmate is a non-citizen. Probable cause would include a final order of removal against the inmate, documents of ongoing removal proceedings, database confirmation of being an immigrant or statements made by the inmate. Evidence of an inmates foreign birth or the absence of records in government databases are not enough probable cause to issue a detainer, according to the policy. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis San Diego is beginning to embrace a technology revolution thats making it easier to find parking spots in major cities across the nation. The city recently installed sensors in 200 Hillcrest parking meters to see how often they are occupied, which could be the first step toward using data to vary meter rates and free up more spots like Los Angeles, Seattle and Boston have done. San Diego has also begun allowing people to pay for parking with their cell phone at 2,100 of the citys 5,700 metered spots. The service, called Parkmobile, includes an option alerting drivers with a text message when their meter has only 15 minutes left. Advertisement The city, however, has no immediate plans to follow the lead of other cities that allow people to see a map of nearby available parking spaces on their phone and then reserve a spot by paying ahead of time. Instead of real-time information, San Diego officials say they plan to post historical data on the web that helps predict the likelihood of an open space in a certain area. In addition, some neighborhoods wont benefit from the new technology because the city plans to install occupancy sensors only inside parking meters, unlike some other cities that have also installed them in the ground. So neighborhoods without meters, such as La Jolla, could be left behind when it comes to advances in parking efficiency the city is hoping to make. San Diego has often been criticized as behind the times regarding parking enforcement technology. It was one of the last major cities in the nation to replace its old-fashioned parking meters with modern devices that accept credit and debit cards in 2014. But the city appears to be focused on catching up. And that is likely happening just in time, with San Diego officials embracing more dense development in the citys urbanized areas where parking spaces are already scarce. The sensors installed in Hillcrest are a pilot project that could spread across the city and allow San Diego to generate the kind of healthy churn of parking spots that has always been the goal of parking meters. Merchants and shoppers dont love that parking costs money, but its better than allowing cars to monopolize prime parking spots and force others to park farther away or avoid an area completely. The sensors will help the city better understand demand for parking spaces, patterns of usage and how to meet the typical industry-wide goal of 85 to 90 percent space utilization. That level of utilization means you will almost always have one available space per block, so someone looking to make a quick stop can do so. The data collected will allow the city to determine the actual utilization of each meter equipped with the sensor, said Jonathan Carey, the citys parking program manager. Occupancy data will assist the city and community parking districts in making decisions on rates, length of stay limits and hours of operation, with the goal of achieving 85 percent utilization. Whether San Diego follows the lead of other major cities in varying parking rates will depend on an analysis of the data once the pilot project is complete in roughly six months, Carey said. Los Angeles has had so much success with the approach since it was launched in 2012 that the city continues to expand it into additional neighborhoods. They went from $2 an hour everywhere to as cheap as 50 cents and as expensive as $6, said Kurt Buecheler, senior vice president of business development of Streetline, the company that installed many of the sensors in Los Angeles. Seattle launched a similar program in 2015 and Boston followed suit a few months ago. The reason sensors are needed to gauge occupancy rates, instead of simply using each meters transaction record, is that meters dont operate around the clock, some people park but choose not to pay, and cars with handicapped placards park for free in metered spots. The sensors in Hillcrest were installed a couple months ago. But the company handling the program, IPS Group in Sorrento Valley, recently added cameras to make sure the sensors are accurately tracking the occupancy data and otherwise working properly. Benjamin Nicholls, executive director of the Hillcrest Business Association, said hes excited to see the city embracing new technology and innovative solutions. Im encouraged and Im looking forward to these proactive change, he said. Nicholls said the local parking district has recently begun experimenting with lower parking rates in certain areas, such as Normal Street. And meters in Hillcrest will soon begin operating from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., a shift from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nicholls said hes open to the idea of varied pricing, but would prefer strategically lowering prices only, not increasing them. I dont think we want a computer determining that the right price at a certain meter is $8, he said. Nicholls said varied pricing would probably work better in downtown than Hillcrest, where free parking in residential areas is one block away from each of the main commercial districts. Raising rates would force people to park deeper into the residential areas, which isnt helpful, he said. Nicholls said he hopes the city decides eventually to have real-time data available on smart phones about where parking spots are available. That would be a huge step, he said. You could analyze that data and come up with policies that could take advantage of it, but you could also put signs on exit ramps saying this many parking spots are available on this street. Nicholls said such information would also debunk the common misperception that parking is scarce in Hillcrest. Managing parking is our biggest challenge, so if we could have a sign or app telling people where the parking is I think that would solve a lot of problems, he said. There is parking, you just need to know where to look. Carey, the city official, said there are no plans to make such real-time information available and declined to say why. Instead, the city will post models based on data. The city is working to provide potential parking availability data via the web, he said, suggesting it might be available this summer. The availability will be derived from historical transactional data to predict the likelihood of an open space based on trends in usage. Another potential use of the sensors would be automatically resetting a meter when a car leaves the parking space, which prevents another driver from pulling into the spot and taking advantage of time left on the meter. Carey said the city hasnt made any decisions on how to handle such situations after the pilot is complete. But during the pilot, meters will not be reset when a car pulls out. david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick A man apparently drowned after he jumped off the Ocean Beach Pier to retrieve personal belongings thrown into the water during an argument Friday night, authorities said. The 27-year-old man and his girlfriend were involved in a dispute with two other people, who at some point threw the victims property into the ocean, police Lt. Andrew Hoffman told a freelance videographer. The man jumped over the pier, presumably to recover the items, Hoffman said. Advertisement The incident was reported about 9:30 p.m. For hour half an hour, lifeguards tried to locate and reach the man. Their rescue efforts were hampered by 8-foot waves and thick seaweed, said Monica Munoz, spokeswoman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. A San Diego police helicopter crew provided lighting during the search and rescue. Lifeguards eventually got the man onto a boat and started CPR on him. Medics then took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. It was not being investigated as a criminal matter, police said. Breaking News Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com Phone: (619) 293-1876 Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez John Tyner of Oceanside. Family photo ( / Family photo) John Tyner won't be pheasant hunting in South Dakota with his father-in-law any time soon. Tyner was simultaneously thrown out of San Diego International Airport on Saturday morning for refusing to submit to a security check and threatened with a lawsuit and a $10,000 fine if he left. And he got the whole thing on his cell phone. Well, the audio at least. (Listen to the audio) The 31-year-old Oceanside software programmer was supposed to leave from Lindbergh Field on Saturday morning and until a TSA agent directed him toward one of the recently installed full-body scanners, Tyner seemed to be on his way. Tyner balked. He'd been reading about the scanners and didn't like them for a number of reasons, ranging from health concerns to "a huge invasion of privacy." He'd even checked the TSA website which indicated that San Diego did not have the machines, he said in a phone interview Saturday night. "I was surprised to see them," said Tyner. He also did something that may seem odd to some, manipulative to others but fortuitous to plenty of others for whom Tyner is becoming something of a folk hero: Tyner turned on his cell phone's video camera and placed it atop the luggage he sent through the x-ray machine. He may not be the first traveler tossed from an airport for security reasons but he could well be the first to have the whole experience captured on his cell phone. During the next half-hour, his cell phone recorded Tyner refusing to submit to a full body scan, opting for the traditional metal scanner and a basic "pat down" -- and then refusing to submit to a "groin check" by a TSA security guard. He even told the guard, "You touch my junk and I'm going to have you arrested." That threat triggered a code red of sorts as TSA agents, supervisors and eventually the local police gravitated to the spot where the reluctant traveler stood in his stocking feet, his cell phone sitting in the nearby bin (which he wasn't allowed to touch) picking up the audio. According to TSA at the time the controversial body scanners were installed, travelers would have the option to request walking through the traditional metal detector but that option would be accompanied by a "pat down." Why Tyner was targeted for a secondary pat down is unknown. Asked if he thought he looked like a terrorist, Tyner said no. "I'm 6-foot-1, white with short brown hair," he said Saturday night. Was he singled out for "punishment"? Before Tyner was told he was getting a "groin check," a TSA agent is heard on the recording telling another agent "I had a problem with the passenger I was patting down. So I backed down. He was obnoxious." Tyner is sure he was talking about someone else. On the whole, with a single final exception, he found the agents "professional if standoffish." He did marvel that while his own situation was being deliberated, many passengers passed through the metal detector and on to their flights with no pat-down. "One guy even set off the alarm and they sent him through again without a pat-down," he said. Once he threatened to have the TSA agent arrested though, events turned surreal. A supervisor is heard re-explaining the groin check process to Tyner then adding "If you're not comfortable with that, we can escort you back out and you don't have to fly today." Tyner responded "OK, I don't understand how a sexual assault can be made a condition of my flying." "This is not considered a sexual assault," replied the supervisor, calmly. "It would be if you were not the government," said Tyner. "By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights," countered the TSA supervisor. "I think the government took them away after 9/11," said Tyner. "OK," came the reply. More senior TSA administrators showed up, and one San Diego police officer. Tyner's personal information was taken down and then he was escorted out of the security area. After he put his shoes back. His father-in-law, a 40-year retired deputy sheriff, can be heard pleading in the back ground for some common sense. Tyner went over to the American Airlines counter where an agent, to his amazement, refunded the price of his non-refundable ticket. Before he could leave, however, he was again surrounded by TSA employees who told him he couldn't leave the security area. One, who kept insisting he was trying to help Tyner, told him that if he left he would be subject to a civil suit and a $10,000 fine. Tyner asked if the agents who had escorted him from the security area would also be sued and fined. The same man who told Tyner he would be sued and fined if he left, also insisted that he did not tell him he couldn't leave. So Tyner left. Two hours later he wrote the whole experience up on his blog and posted the audio files to YouTube. An unidentified passenger raises his arms in the body scan machine on Monday as TSA employees work in a secure area at Lindbergh Fields Terminal 1. John Gastaldo (John Gastaldo) Do passengers have a right to refuse security checks? Yes, the intrusion and inconvenience outweigh the security benefits. 62% (13578) No, aviation security is essential and passengers must get used to the new rules. 13% (2746) Sort of, security officials should make exceptions for passengers who refuse normal procedures after determining they don't pose a security risk through other means. 25% (5526) 21850 total votes. Federal Security Director Mike Aguilar, TSA director for San Diego, speaks to the media Monday about John Tyner who refused to go through a body scan, had trouble with a physical pat down, and eventually was denied boarding privileges. John Gastaldo (John Gastaldo) TSA-Tyner news update Nov. 15, 2010 The Transportation Security Administration has opened an investigation targeting John Tyner, 31, the Oceanside man who was ejected from the San Diego International Airport on Saturday morning after refusing to undertake a full body scan and, subsequently, a pat-down body search. Tyner recorded the half-hour long encounter on his cell phone and later posted it to his personal blog, along with an extensive account of the incident. That blog and a subsequent story on signonsandiego.com posted Saturday night and gone viral, attracting hundreds of thousands of readers, and thousands of comments. Michael J. Aguilar, chief of the TSA office in San Diego, called a press conference at the airport Monday afternoon to announce the probe. The investigation could lead to prosecution and civil penalties of up to $11,000, he said. TSA agents told Tyner on Saturday that he could be fined up to $10,000. Thats the old fine, said Aguilar. It has been increased. Penalties for what? "The requirement for all the passengers is that once they enter the screening area and submit themselves to the screening process, to complete the screening," said Aguilar. "This passenger took exception." Did Aguilar feel the TSA was set up? "I dont know that it was an actual set up," said Aguilar, "but we are concerned that this passenger did have his recording prior to entering the checkpoint so there is some concern that it was an intentional behavior on his part." Tyner has denied any prior intention. In an interview he said he researched scanners ahead of the trip felt uncomfortable with them. When he saw there were scanners at Lindbergh Field he became uneasy and turned on his cell phone recorder as a precaution. -- Robert J. Hawkins Correction: The following e-mail is from John Tyner: I thought this characterization: "I'm 6-foot-1, white with short brown hair," he said Saturday night. "I don't look like a terrorist." of our conversation was really unfair. You asked me if I looked like a terrorist and then what I looked like, in a joking manner. I'm not sure that I ever uttered the words, "I don't look like a terrorist". And the context of our conversation was never such that I meant to imply that I shouldn't have been singled out because I'm white. I would appreciate a correction to the story. In reviewing my notes, Tyner is correct. I asked him if he looked like a terrorist and he said he did not. He then gave me the description of himself, at my request. At no time did he raise the issues of appearance or profiling, and it was not my intention to suggest that he did. The text of the story has been changed to reflect this. I apologize for misrepresenting John Tyner's end of the conversation. Bob Hawkins You could say it has gone viral. By Saturday evening, 70,000 people had accessed the entry and 488 comments were posted to the blog item. Those comments are divided over Tyner's experience. "Only 5 percent say I'm an idiot," he said. Far more applaud him for "standing up" to the security forces. Many more people share his disdain for how airport security is conducted. "People generally are angry about what is going on," said Tyner, "but they don't know how to assert their rights....there is a general feeling that TSA is ineffective, out of control, over-reaching." If Tyner has touched some undercurrent of resentment, he doesn't want to be the guy who leads the charge to overturn the machines. "I'm not so sure I'm the right person to start a movement," he said. If he isn't, he can sound at times like he's auditioning for the job. Tyner points out that every terrorist act on an airplane has been halted by passengers. "It's time to stop treating passengers like criminals and start treating them as assets," he said. If a government meeting convenes in San Diego and theres no agenda or minutes, did it really happen? This is one of the questions California lawmakers hoped to avoid with passage of the Brown Act, the 1953 open meeting law that generally prohibits a majority of the members of a public board or council from meeting, discussing or deliberating government matters outside of a publicly noticed meeting. Those rules do not apply to ad hoc or advisory committee gatherings, where less than a majority of a public boards members can legally meet behind closed doors or via teleconference without taking a vote or keeping a record of their activities. Advertisement In many cases around San Diego County, they also get paid for it. Take the San Diego County Water Authority, which paid more than $53,000 last year for board member participation at dozens of apparently unnoticed pre-board meetings, roundtables and conference calls. Checks cut for those gatherings nearly equaled the amount directors were paid to attend meetings that were open to the public. Then theres Sweetwater Authority, an eight-member South County water board that offered its members a $150-per-meeting payment for a dozen Trails Committee and General Manager Selection Committee meetings held since May 2014. Those meetings were not recorded and were not open to the public. Board Secretary Janet Gonzalez said she knows they happened because they were organized by the authoritys staff, although roll was not taken, and no records were kept. The Regional Solid Waste Association, too, holds ad hoc committee meetings. As does the Encina Wastewater Joint Powers Authority, a coalition of Vista, Encinitas, Carlsbad and three area water and wastewater districts. Good government advocates fear the lack of public records detailing those gatherings could open the door for Brown Act violations. The lack of documentation also makes it hard to say precisely how much the get-togethers may have cost taxpayers. In an attempt to do so, U-T Watchdog compared hundreds of meeting minutes and attendance records to state-mandated compensation disclosures filed on behalf of seven dozen board members appointed to special districts around the county. Whats clear from that review is that closed door meetings have helped some of San Diego Countys local politicians parlay the humble meeting stipend usually somewhere between $100 and $200 into a five-figure annual payday. Critics say thats more than enough cash to merit public access. I dont expect my elected official to work for free, I surely dont, said Simon Mayeski, a San Diego small business owner and longtime volunteer with California Common Cause, but if they are getting paid, they are working and therefore doing official things and therefore we need to know about those gatherings and be allowed to attend them. Red flags The California Fair Political Practices Commission requires public officials to file a report disclosing how much they expect to make when they vote to appoint themselves to a committee, board, or commission. Those reports show National City Mayor Ron Morrison, who in January lost a contentious bid to give himself a 32 percent pay raise, guessed hed make as much as $19,000 this year via appointments to four area water, sewer and planning boards, including up to $2,000 generated through closed door committee meetings. Actual financial records produced by those boards show Morrison was paid $20,276 to attend their meetings in 2016. He did not respond to a request for comment. Three members of Encinitas City Council, which voted in January to grant itself a 45 percent raise, joined Morrison near the top of the list of San Diegos paid meeting attendees. Disclosures filed by one of those members, Councilman Mark Muir, very nearly pinpointed the $2,700 he would make through publicly noticed meetings of the county water authoritys 36-member governing board, which he chairs. They didnt account for another $4,500 that water authority records show he was paid for two dozen pre-board committee meetings, conference calls and litigation strategy sessions. These meetings are critical to running efficient and effective board meetings, authority spokesman Mike Lee said via email. These pre-board/committee meetings are organizational in function and not public because they dont involve a board or committee quorum nor are there any decisions made. Board decisions are made in open forum, and the water authority welcomes public input at its monthly committee and board meetings. Muir agreed that the meetings were not subject to the Brown Act and as such were not publicly noticed. I dont know that weve ever told people they couldnt come, he added. David Snyder executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit open government advocacy group said it doesnt take much for a legally convened closed door gathering to stray into potential open meeting law violation. If, for example, the members of a temporary committee get together too regularly perhaps nine or 10 times a year Snyder said those rendezvous could be subject to the Brown Act under a 1996 Attorney Generals opinion limiting ad hoc committees to small groups charged with accomplishing a specific task in a short period of time. What wouldnt be appropriate is if theyre having meetings of standing committees without noticing those meetings, Snyder said of the water authority gatherings. It raises quite a lot of red flags for me. What these payments highlight to me is meetings that, it seems, arent in public. Muir, chairman of the water authority, said committee chairs typically convene pre-board meetings a week before each board meeting, or up to 11 times a year. Additional commission The water authority isnt the only agency where officials were paid meeting stipends that went beyond noticed public meetings. The San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, last year paid out $153,800 to attendees at its regular board and committee meetings some $26,400 more than the regional planning agencys bylaws suggest should have been spent, even if each appointee had attended every meeting, which they did not. The reason? The agency spent $30,500 on meeting payments for members who sat in on meetings of the Regional Transportation Commission, a body created under a 1985 law so that local decisions can be implemented in a timely manner to provide improvements to the transportation system. Meeting minutes show commission items were handled by SANDAGs regular board members, at the same time and place as regular board meetings, but were not gaveled into the record or formally announced to the public. Only an asterisk on the agenda and an extra $100 per voting member separated the commissions concerns from the boards regular docket. That commissions work frequently consisted of hearing detailed updates on the progress of Measure A, the failed half-cent sales tax ballot measure meant to fund infrastructure improvements. SANDAG has since solicited investigators to look into faulty revenue forecasts used during the initiative campaign, a discrepancy discovered by the Voice of San Diego news outlet. A spokesman for the planning agency did not respond to requests for comment. The agencys bylaws, which place specific limits on payments to members of SANDAGs board of directors and policy advisory committees, makes no mention of the transportation commission. The birth of certified organic farming can be traced back only a few decades, yet organic farming practices have been integral to most all farming methods since man first tilled the soil. Though a bit simplistic, in the modern vernacular, organic farming can be described as producing crops without the use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. For continued success and growth of organic farming, the most important ingredient is consumer demand. In the marketplace, we enjoy choice. When shopping for automobiles, toilet tissue or cellphones, we want a large selection. In the food aisles, we want choice as well, including the option of buying organic. Demand for certified organic farm products is on the rise. Even with increased consumer demand, the most recent USDA figures (2015) show that only about 3 percent of domestic farm production is in certified organic crops. Related: Unnecessary organic labeling program should be plowed under Advertisement Conflicting reports and opinions can be found on the flavor, healthfulness and environmental benefits of organic farming, however, there is no debate on the fact that organic farming is challenging and expensive. Organic farming requires additional labor and costly inputs. There is also the added cost of organic certification. It is not for the faint of heart when costs balloon for practices like hand weeding and organic pest control. These expenses are the reason that organic farmers must receive a premium price for the products they sell premium prices which not all consumers have the capacity or the desire to pay. For those consumers who choose to buy organic, they need assurance they are getting what they pay for. Likewise, farmers who make the investment in organic practices need to know they are protected from false organic claims from competitors. This is where the National Organic Program (NOP) comes in. The NOP is the U.S. Department of Agricultures regulatory program that guarantees that products bearing the USDA Organic label meet strict national organic standards. Consumers rely on federal protection standards on nearly all products in the marketplace. The organic label provides that assurance and is a proper role for the federal government to ensure consistent standards across the country. To show they meet the USDA standards organic farmers must hire an accredited third-party certifying agent to witness their practices and audit all records that are required to meet the NOP standards. This certification cost is fully borne by the farmer and is not something that was imposed on organic farmers. It was demanded by organic farmers so that organic standards would be consistent and enforceable. In addition to providing for consumer choice, some organic farming practices are finding their way into conventional farming. Research and development of practices that meet organic standards such as biological pest control and soil improvement also benefit a wide range of farmers. Here in San Diego County, it is not unusual to find conventional farmers using organic ant controls and introducing predator insects to control invasive insects. Using compost and mulches are so common they are not even thought of as organic practices, just smart practices. Debate exists on the efficiency of organic farming and the need to feed a hungry world. Conventional farming practices produce the vast majority of food and setting those techniques aside would be disastrous. However, as modern organic farming evolves, organic practices are making great strides in increasing production per acre and in some crops organic farming is reaching a production par with conventional farming. This is due to increased investment in research and technology and a growing number of farmers willing to meet the challenges of organic farming. Whether the food we eat is produced organically or conventionally it comes down to personal choice. In the end what is most important is that we consume fresh fruits and vegetables to promote our health. For some the choice will be based on the farming technique and for others it will be based on economics. Farmers are businesspersons and if demand for organic products rise, farmers will meet that demand. Organic farming requires additional labor and costly inputs. There is also the added cost of organic certification. It is not for the faint of heart when costs balloon for practices like hand weeding and organic pest control. Stehly is a farmer growing organic and conventional citrus, winegrapes, and avocados in Valley Center and San Pasqual Valley. Larson is executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. When Californians pay gas taxes at the pump, we expect that money to go toward Californias roads and bridges. Unfortunately, this is not entirely the case. According to a letter earlier this year from the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office (LAO), Californians are paying 11 cents more for per gallon of gasoline (13 cents more for diesel) this year due to the states hidden gas tax. That means drivers are spending $2 billion more annually for a tax that was never even voted on by the Legislature or voters. It is brought to you by the unelected bureaucrats at the California Air Resources Board (CARB). I call this tax hidden because it is not directly imposed on consumers. Oil suppliers pay this tax first and then pass it on to drivers at the pump. The Legislature never even debated the tax as it gave CARB broad powers in 2006 to make such a decision in the name of fighting greenhouse gases. Advertisement Californias drivers already pay the highest average price for regular gas in the nation at more than $2.78 per gallon. As part of that price, we pay the nations fifth highest gas tax (state and federal) at more than 59 cents per gallon. You would think that with the hidden gas tax revenue coming into Sacramento, drivers would be receiving some real benefit. However, the LAO has reported that there is no additional decrease in greenhouse emissions despite state spending. Furthermore, the state is spending billions on greenhouse programs without any metrics or accountability. Based on information derived from a CARB report, of the $1.5 billion spent to reduce greenhouse gas emissions last year, more than $1.3 billion went to programs with a to be determined greenhouse gas reduction estimate. More than 300 of the 418 projects currently funded do not have an estimated greenhouse gas reduction. In one curious example, CARB spent more than $1.5 million to conduct tree inventories throughout the state. That is $1.5 million we could be spending to repair potholes. Worst of all, the hidden gas tax is the biggest ongoing funding source for the high-speed rail boondoggle, a project that will cost at least $64 billion and will burden future generations of taxpayers. So Californias drivers are paying higher gas taxes for pet projects instead of repairing our roads. Is it any surprise that drivers me included are wary of the states spending priorities? So when some in Sacramento say they need more taxes to fix the roads, drivers can be forgiven if they thumb their noses at such a request. How about we use the $2 billion in hidden gas taxes we already pay to improve our transportation infrastructure instead? I co-authored a bill with Sen. Bob Huff, R-San Dimas, that would have done just that, but Democrats defeated it on a partisan vote last September. I think this is a common-sense idea, and I will keep fighting to make it law. I have also co-authored Assembly Bill 2066 by Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, that would inform drivers how much they are paying at the pump due to the hidden gas tax. The notice would be posted at service stations and it would bring some transparency to a tax that many may not know about. The good news is that an Assembly committee recently approved AB 2066, so there is some hope at the Capitol. Ultimately, the Legislature must provide greater oversight and accountability for how cap-and-trade dollars are spent. As lawmakers start working on the 2016-17 state budget to meet a June 15 deadline, it would be prudent to re-examine CARBs spending rather than just rubber-stamping it. Anything less is unfair to the drivers who are paying for a hidden gas tax that they never approved. Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, is a member of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee and represents the 36th Senate District in the Legislature, which covers northern San Diego and southern Orange counties. What about standards and accountability? Regarding Duncan Hunter (Hunter denies role in expenditures, March 31): A stand-up guy would have owned up to the outrageous spending for more than personal items. The paid travel for the family rabbit was just too much. Hunter must be accountable for his very questionable and lavish spending, which should be classified as criminal. When we send people to Congress, they should be held to a very high standard. Advertisement It is painfully clear that Hunter abrogated his oath as a congressman. Stupidity can sometimes be forgiven; criminal acts need to be punished. Rodgers T. Smith El Cajon 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. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below. Free press helps keep elected officials honest This is in reference to the editorial in the Union-Tribune May 27 (Hunter gets the federal probe he deserves): What would have happened if the Union-Tribune reporter never reported about Hunters credit card mistakes? Would Hunter have admitted that he misused the campaigns credit card without being exposed once he found out that he charged the card for personal expenses over 20-plus times? Or say nothing? I am of the opinion he would have said nothing. Thank you, Union-Tribune, for keeping our elected officials honest. Thank God for a free press. Jay Warren Escondido Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook. Congratulations to Mike Dodson for winning the top spot this week! Very funny, Mike. He will receive Steve Breens signed original in the mail. Thanks to all those who participated. Advertisement The cartoon for next weeks contest at the bottom of this page. Please remember to limit your submissions to three and keep em brief. Good luck! The winner: Hes powered by a Samsung battery?! Mike Dodson, San Diego Finalists: What do you mean the warranty doesnt cover Russian interference? Rhoda Auer, San Diego Well, doctor, he did go swimming at Imperial Beach a few days ago. Ruben Escobosa, San Diego Amazon? Hi, I need a return authorization number. Nancy Jones, Carlsbad Sorry, mother, gotta run ... HALs got a screw loose again. Andy Attwood, Kensington Are pre-existing conditions still covered? Bill Williamson, Oceanside Naturally, it happened the very moment his warranty expired. Mike Browne, San Diego All I said was, We need to talk. Karen Farrington, Alpine You say the replacement model is a Bradley Cooper 2000? Ill take it! David McFeaters, Carlsbad He muttered Oh, Stuxnet, then began to smoke. John Dischinger, Spring Valley What do you mean parts no longer available? Chris Manard, San Marcos I knew something was fishy with Walter when he didnt complain about dinner. Daniel Gruskin, San Diego I warned him about mixing Viagra with WD-40. Joe Puzo, San Diego You got my order wrong. I ordered a nonsmoker. Iris Price, Ramona K-12 winners I think I broke his heart. Joel Levin, third grade, Kate Sessions Elementary School What a ripoff. The future of robotics is not bright. Melvina Aloysius, second grade, Deer Canyon Elementary It was definitely a case of operator error. Jacob Mationg, ninth grade, Olympian High School Next weeks cartoon To enter, email entries to cartooncontest@sduniontribune.com by 10 a.m. Tuesday. Please remember to limit your submissions to three and keep em brief. View last weeks winners HOUSTON (AP) Five men, at least two of them from Mexico, are accused of using guns and threats to hold 115 people hostage in a small Houston house unless they paid ransom to continue their illegal entry into the United States. A criminal complaint from Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Andres Garcia Jr. said the people, discovered last week crammed into the home of less than 1,300 square feet, were stripped of their shoes and most of their clothing to keep them from escaping. They also were threatened with violence if they did not comply and there were instances of some being kicked and beaten and females being groped, the complaint said. One pregnant girl was among people struck with a wooden paddle. Advertisement The five men Jose Aviles-Villa, Jonathan Solorzano-Tavila, Antonio Barruquet-Hildiberta, Jose Cesmas-Borja and Eugenio Sesmas-Borja stood handcuffed and shackled during a brief court appearance Tuesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy on hostage-taking, weapons and conspiracy charges. This is an alien smuggling case, basically, where a firearm was used in connection with this offense, Stacy told them. Your lawyer can more fully describe the accusations against you. One of the men wore shorts, others were in jeans. All listened on headphones as the proceedings were translated for them into Spanish. Stacy reviewed questionnaires that indicated all had wives and children. She agreed to a request from each for a court-appointed attorney. The judge specified the attorney be Spanish-speaking but denied immediate bail because the defendants were considered a flight risk. A bond hearing was set for Thursday. The defendants also were entitled to a probable cause hearing, she said. Conviction on the hostage-taking charge carried up to a life prison term and $250,000 fine, federal prosecutor Julie Searle said. Convictions on the weapons charge could result in up to 10 years in prison and conspiracy up to 20 years, plus fines, she said. Aviles-Villa and Cesmas-Borja told Houston police they were from Mexico and in the U.S. illegally, according to the criminal complaint. The immigration status of the three other men was not immediately clear. One of the people held hostage told authorities Solorzano-Tavila appeared to be the person in charge at the stash house, where smugglers bring the people theyve brought into the U.S. illegally and keep them until they or their family members pay a ransom. Captives told authorities they were held under armed guard. Doors were locked with dead bolts and windows were covered with plywood. A wood paddle, stun gun, ammunition, shotgun and rifle were found at the home, according to the criminal complaint. Aviles-Villa and Cesmas-Borja were in a car that had left the house that police pulled over because it had no rear-view mirror. Officers spotted a handgun protruding from beneath the front passenger seat, according to the court document. A woman had contacted Houston police earlier about the possible abduction of her daughter and two small grandchildren. The criminal complaint said she paid smugglers $15,000 to deliver her three relatives to Chicago, then was told they would disappear if she didnt pay $13,000 more. Investigators determined that phone calls made to her came from the home and put it under surveillance. After the traffic stop, officers went to the house and found the captives. In all, 99 males and 16 females were being held. More than a dozen were juveniles. Among the people inside were the daughter and grandchildren of the woman whose call initiated the investigation. Solorzano-Tavila, Barruquet-Hildiberta and Sesmas-Borja were apprehended trying to flee after police arrived March 19. Police have said the people being held primarily were from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. One of those, Mario Ernesto Guzman-Figueroa, said he left his home in Honduras a month ago and was headed for Atlanta, had agreed to pay $3,400 to be smuggled from El Salvador to Georgia and still owed $2,000. Guzman-Figueroa was told that he had 12 days to pay or he would be beaten, placed in a black plastic bag, and then thrown on the side of the road, Garcia said in the complaint. One woman from El Salvador, Dilcia Jimenez-Alvarado, said she left a month ago for New York, had paid about $7,500 to be smuggled but was told in Houston she needed to pay $5,000 more. Authorities earlier said the house was filthy inside, had power but no hot water and only one toilet. Stash house discoveries involving more than 100 captives are not uncommon in South Texas but the raid in Houston, about a five-hour drive from Mexico, is the largest in the city in several years. Google, which Monday announced its reorganizing under a new parent company called Alphabet, is one of the biggest and best-known companies in Silicon Valley. Here are some highlights from the past 20 years. 1995: Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin meet at Stanford University, where grad student Brin gives prospective student Page a tour. 1996: The pair beings working on a new search engine for the Internet, which evolves to become Google. Advertisement 1998: Google incorporates and moves into Susan Wojcickis garage in Menlo Park, California. 1999: Page and Brin move their company to Mountain View, California, and hire the companys first in-house chef to prepare meals for workers. 2001: Eric Schmidt is named CEO, with Page and Brin as presidents of products and technology. 2004: A few months after introducing Gmail, Google holds its first public stock offering. 2006: Google acquires YouTube for $1.6 billion. 2011: Larry Page becomes CEO, Schmidt becomes executive chairman. 2014: Google completes a controversial stock split that creates a new class of non-voting shares, cementing Page and Brins control as major voting stockholders. 2015: Page announces creation of new holding company, Alphabet, to include Googles core business and other entities. Weve been picking flowers and sticking them in containers for thousands of years. The early Egyptians did it, as did the Chinese: Feng Shui guidelines for creating harmony in a home suggest placing vases of fresh-cut flowers throughout the dwelling to relieve stress, and increase productivity and creativity. Ikebana, the 600-year-old art of Japanese flower arranging, became a craft of high regard, with a spiritual element. Today, artisans, designers and even florists continue to dream up interesting new vessels. Advertisement New York City-based floral designer Matthew Robbins has created a simple line of vases for Teroforma that takes some of the guesswork out of flower arranging. Each vase Bud, Cutting, Bouquet, Branch describes what works best in it, and each is crafted of the same neutral white bisque porcelain, with a subtle yet referential etched motif. (www.teroforma.com ) We wanted to create a line of vases that provided a perfect visual anchor for fresh flowers. Clean shapes and surfaces are wonderful; they keep the focus on the flowers, says Robbins. The Museum of Modern Arts store offered several interesting vases at this springs design preview in New York. French design team Charlotte Arnal and Francis Fevres Zouzous vase is a polycarbonate receptacle enrobed in a shaggy coat of colorful polypropylene bristles. Also at the MoMA store, Charlie Guda perches a narrow vial in front of a small yet powerful lens to magnify a single flower. Guda created the Big Bloom vase as homage to 18th century French physician Augustin-Jean Fresnel, who invented a lens to enhance the brightness of lighthouse lanterns and contributed to naval navigation safety. And Ricardo Saint Clairs playful chalkboard-faced vase gives you a surface to add an image or a message, and comes complete with chalk. (www.momastore.org ) Bliss Home and Design has an array of ceramic vases with textural elements that add drama: The Pompon vase is festooned with white balls; the Sea Sponge is made of layers of glazed clay resembling fronds of ocean sponge, and Monkey Paw is made of dozens of iridescent ceramic blooms. (www.blisshomeanddesign.com ) Toronto-based design outfit Chive has decided to focus solely on selling vases. At the NY Now show in February, their booth was abuzz with buyers placing orders for Pooley 2, a cluster of glazed ceramic bud vases affixed to a slab, as well as the Hudson 4 collection of clear glass vessels in configurations ranging from simple single shapes (such as a hanging egg) to conjoined vases that form caterpillar or bubbles. A porcelain bird vase in gray, white, blue or black seems to rest on the flowers or greenery placed in a receptacle at its feet. (www.chive.com ) Waterfords Evolution series has some striking examples of artisanal glasswork. The Menagerie Trinidad vase interprets the markings of a graceful ocelot, while the Nairobi invokes the bold stripes of a zebra. The Agate vase was inspired by the colors and concentric bands of quartz agate. (www.macys.com ) Ikeas Socker vase is an enameled steel-and-eucalyptus-handled bucket of diminutive proportions, so flowers displayed in it have the look of a European flower market. Ikaprig is a stoneware cylinder with a homespun aesthetic. (www.ikea.com ) Belize attracts its share of celebrity visitors. From Olympian & Dancing with the Stars Simone Biles to Bill Gates and Chelsea Handler. Even the family of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, are becoming more and more enamored with our country. In December of 2015, Trump first daughter and aide, wowed her 3+ million Instagram followers sharing some of her favorite moments baby-mooning at exclusive Cayo Espanto just off Ambergris Caye. Just a few weeks ago, international media such as Cosmopolitan Magazine and US Weekly were abuzz following Trumps youngest daughter Tiffany, as she celebrated graduation from college by travelling Belize. Will Belize be a regular stomping ground for the first family? The International Mar-a-Lago perhaps? It appears the answer is YES! And while it might be a while before AirForce One proper ever graces the runway at Philip Goldson International it SOON will be even easier for the Trump kids (and regular Merican folk) to fly to Belize. But lets back up a little bit In his first three months in office, the POTUS has displayed great conscience in separating Trump business interests and political policy decisions. This extends to personal travel as well as Trump very publicly announced. My kids will fly commercial, if they want to fly private theyll have to pay for it. Flying regular commercial for celebs has its pitfalls, as Ivanka herself experienced on a JetBlue flight from NY to FL in Dec Ivanka and her family had to be escorted off the flight when an unruly passenger began harassing them. One has to think: If only there was a more privatemore discerning public commercial airline? Well now there is. Trump Air IS BACK! For those of you not from the east coast of the US Im from NJ and this news was BIG! Trump Shuttle, operating as Trump Air, flew from 1989 to 1992 as part of Eastern Air Lines. TA ran flights from Boston to Washington DC and NYC to Orlando. Their aircraft featured luxurious maple wood veneer, chrome seat belt latches and gold colored lavatory fixtures. After its demise, there were many who thought the Trump name would never grace the skies again. But during Trumps presidential campaign, his plane carried a message of hopeof renewed greatness to enthusiastic crowds gathered a airport hangar pep rallies around the United States. Now that the POTUS is required to fly in AirForce One, the campaign plane has been refitted for commercial use, and will join a Trump Air fleet of a half a dozen additional aircraft reacquired from American Airlines Shuttle, who acquired the planes in their merger with US Airways Shuttle, who acquired the planes from Citigroup after Trump Air defaulted on $380 million in loans. Flying under the motto A Great American Airline for Great Americans (hats already available on his website), Trump Air will offer flights to pre-screened, thoroughly vetted, United States passport holding Judeo-Christian individuals starting this summer. The best part? Trump Air recently filed an application with the US Department of Transportation to provide weekly non-stop service between Palm Beach International (PBI) and Belize (BZE). In a statement, Trump Air tweeted We are confident that DOT approval of our international destinations will be granted before the imminent dissolution of the department. Trump Air will join Southwest and WestJet as yet another option for travelers to visit the jewel, an addition that was welcomed by Minister of Tourism & Civil Aviation Manuel Heredia. Though I have not spoken directly to the President himself commented Heredia, I have received communication from the highest of honorable authorities in the Trump family, Baron Trump. The Baron has promised me that his great planes will land in our great country. More planes, great planes, bringing greatness and tax dollars and increased departure feesfees which will mek wi great again. This is clearly a big milestone for Belize AND the airline industry going forward. Ill keep you informed as departure dates are solidified. A 24-year-old man was found guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide, second-degree manslaughter and other charges for killing a NYC Transit bus driver while driving a stolen truck. "Because of Domonic Whilby's reckless decisions, a beloved family member and public servant is dead. This was a devastating and utterly preventable tragedy," Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance said following the conviction. In February 2014, Whilby, visiting from Georgia, had been partying with his uncle, model Tyson Beckford, at model Shanina Shaik's birthday party, starting at Butter in Midtown and then going to 1 OAK in the Meatpacking District. He was reportedly escorted from 1 OAK because he was "getting too friendly with some female fashion week partiers." He then went to the Dream Hotel nearby, allegedly passing out in the lobbyhe had been drinking over a five-hour period and had a blood alcohol content of .18and becoming upset that a limousine wasn't around to pick him up. That's when Whilby stole a truck, used by 18 Rabbits Granola, on West 16th Street and sped off after crashing into the walls of the loading dock and other vehicles. Just after 5:30 a.m., Whilby crashed into an M14 bus driven by William Pena on 14th Street at 7th Avenue. The truck and bus then struck scaffolding on the corner. Pena was ejected from the bus and died at the scene. Whilby was charged with murder, but he was acquitted of that charge. According to the Post, "Defense lawyer Laura Miranda argued at trial that Whilby was so hammered he was barely conscious and unable to form murderous intent. 'All accidents are tragic, particularly in this case where there were individuals hurt and a life lost, a life that was dear to many but not all tragedies are crimes,' she told jurors in closing statements." Pena's widow, Nancy Rodriguez, was devastated by the verdict according to the Times. She said, "Its horrible. What message is being sent? An innocent man goes to work. He is doing his job and he gets killed." She added that she hoped the judge would "[impose] the maximum sentence." TWU Local 100's Richard Davis told the Daily News, We did not get that top charge that we were looking for, for justice on behalf of our members, and that did not happen, so we're certainly disappointed in this verdict. It's just pure murder for us." North By Northwest might not be everyone's choice for best Alfred Hitchcock movie ever (Vertigo, Psycho and Rear Window are arguably more groundbreaking, and Notorious and Strangers On A Train are classics as well), but it almost certainly is his most fun (and funny) movieand as the years go by, it remains one of my personal favorite films of all time, a hyperkinetic romp across the country filled with mistaken identities, unforgettable set pieces, and a purposefully-confusing, lovably silly plot. This was a movie, after all, that was almost titled The Man on Lincoln's Nose. Part of the reason why I keep returning to this film, and finding such joy in it, has to do with the mix-and-match nature of its story. It's impossible to pin it down to one genre. Among other things, it's a spy-thriller with a complex series of mistaken identities, based on a story that originated from an American journalist who told Hitchcock about how the British made up a fake secret agent to trick the Germans during WWII. The movie is arguably the tonal keystone that led to the James Bond series (the crop duster scene was a direct inspiration for the helicopter chase in From Russia With Love, and the wise-cracking hero going on global missions isn't a far cry from North). It's also like a prototype for big-budget action movies such as the Mission Impossible and Fast & The Furious series, seeing as how Hitchcock envisioned the film's big set pieces first (particularly the United Nations assassination scene and the climactic Mount Rushmore one), then worked backwards to weave the intricate plot together. If the move's plot feels like a shabby whirlwind at times (...why again is Thornhill being chased by a crop duster at a remote bus stop?), it's ingeniously reflected in Cary Grant's performance (and boy, is this the platonic ideal of Cary Grant performances): he is simultaneously effortlessly cool, completely in over-his-head, a romantic lead, a bumbling hero, and kind of a dick to everyone he meets. Grant told Hitchcock midway through filming that he couldn't keep up with the screenplay: "It's a terrible script. We've already done a third of the picture and I still can't make head or tail of it!" This of course is just what Hitchcock wantedthe more confused Grant was, the most confused his character would be. It's all very purposeful, as Hitchcock was looking to make a lighter movie coming off Vertigo. So besides being a thriller, it's also something of a romcom (Hitchcock called the final shot of the film a "phallic symbol... probably one of the most impudent shots I ever made"), a proto-Feminist tale (Eva Marie Saint's Eve is the true secret agent, and she saves Thornhill three times throughout the movie), and a stylish romp (I see a lot of this film's influence in Steven Soderbergh's Oceans 11 films). Hitchcock also has fun with many of his own tropes, such as the MacGuffin (which is the microfilm...but it's also the whole "George Kaplan" character, who literally doesn't exist), the oddly compelling bad guy (the great James Mason almost steals the movie as a gentleman rogue), and the title adds a wonderfully absurd touch: "It's a fantasy," Hitchcock said. "The whole film is epitomized in the titlethere is no such thing as north-by-northwest on the compass." And of course, there's no denying the thrill of seeing the authentic late-'50s NYC locations, including the midtown Manhattan skyscrapers in the opening, the train scene at Grand Central, the Oak Room of the Plaza Hotel, and the aforementioned UN scene (Hitchcock got footage of the interior of the building using a hidden camera, then recreated the rooms on a soundstage later). If you've never gotten a chance to see it beforeor if you've never had the pleasure of seeing it on a big screenthen you're in luck, because the film is coming back to theaters for two days only this week as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics Series. On Sunday April 2nd and Wednesday April 5th, you can see it at more than 700 theaters nationwide, including Kips Bay 15 and Empire 25 in Times Square (both are showing the film at 2 and 7 p.m.)you can find all participating theaters here. Bam: MFI NGOs provide lower-interest, no-collateral loans to poor, micro-businesses Rather than be burdened by high-interest loans collected by loan sharks and other informal lenders, Sen. Bam Aquino encouraged the public to approach m?icrofinance non-government organizations (?MFI ?NGOs) for lower-interest and no-collateral financing. "Madali nga ang proseso ng pangungutang sa 5-6 subalit pinapatay naman tayo sa laki ng interes sa kanilang mga pautang," said Sen. Bam. "Upang hindi na tayo mabigatan sa malaking interes, subukan nating lumapit sa mga MFI NGOs sa iba't ibang bahagi ng bansa na nagbibigay ng pautang sa mas mababang interes at walang kolateral," added Sen. Bam. Sen. Bam explained that some micro-business owners were forced to close shop due to the high interest being collected by loan sharks. But businesses flourished after obtaining loans and undergoing training from different MFI NGOs in the country. "Huwag sayangin ang kita sa malaking interes na sinisingil ng 5-6," said Sen. Bam. Aside from low-interest loans, MFI NGOs also provide clients with trainings and other business development skills that they can use to grow their livelihood. MFI NGOs also help in community organizing and values formation and offer other services like insurance and education and health-related loans to their regular clients. Before he was elected as senator, Sen. Bam worked with MFI NGOs as a social entrepreneur. During his term as chairman of the Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship in the 16th Congress, Sen. Bam sponsored and co-authored Republic Act 10693 or the Microfinance NGOs Act to ensure MFI NGOs continue to operate and serve poor Filipino communities. Sen. Bam said the MFI NGOs Act will help eradicate 5-6 by giving Filipinos an alternative means to obtain low-interest, no-collateral loans. Republic Act 10693 gives incentives to MFI NGOs to continue helping Filipinos overcome poverty not just through financing but also through financial literacy, livelihood, and entrepreneurship training. The law also provides MFI NGOs needed support and incentives that includes access to government programs and projects, technical assistance and exemption from taxes. In addition to the MFI NGOs Act, Sen. Bam will be looking into other measures where government can further support the MFI sector. Microfinance NGOs have been operating in the country since 1986. According to latest data, MFI NGO members of the Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc. (MCPI) have five million active borrowers. For a full list of MFI NGOs in the country, please visit http://www.microfinancecouncil.org/regular-members/. Press Release March 31, 2017 Statement of Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros on President Duterte's foulmouthed rants against the EU, media and Catholic church DUTERTE'S EXPLETIVES GUIDED BY A DOUBLE STANDARD I am not surprised anymore by President Rodrigo Duterte's latest expletive-laden remarks against the media, European Union (EU)and the Catholic church. Masquerading as "authentic politics", the government has embraced profanity, misogyny and the lack of overall decency as political strategies to attack and silence its critics. It is inconsistent and guided by a double standard. The President can rant and curse at the EU but can't do the same to China, which has not only fortified its presence in the West Philippine Sea but is also now present at Benham Rise. President Duterte can lambast several media outfits as controlled by oligarchs but is sheepish towards the Marcoses, who during Martial Law created their own oligarchy. The President is tough on poor drug dependents but can't muster the same tough stance against big-time drug lords like Peter Lim. President Duterte's profanity, sexist rhetoric and double standards should not be mistaken for authenticity. We should also not confuse strong leadership and political will with inane rants sprinkled with cuss words and machismo. When the President's language degrades and objectifies women, is a virtual threat to the freedom of the press and severely undermines our foreign policy framework, it becomes unacceptable. It must not be tolerated. It must be confronted and resisted. Amid these trying times, I urge my friends in the media to continue to exercise their journalistic rights. I also urge our friends in the international community to continue to extend their solidarity to us. Lastly, I call on my fellow women to continue the resistance against the culture and language of killing, misogyny and sexism in the country. We will not be intimidated. We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today At high tide late Saturday afternoon in Sausalito, a group of people who love wooden ships and salt water will launch a dream. It is the Matthew Turner, a 100-foot-long tall ship built from scratch by 1,000 volunteers in a tent on the Sausalito waterfront, two blocks south of the towns only supermarket. The Matthew Turner, named for a noted Bay Area shipbuilder, is the first wooden sailing vessel built in Northern California in more than 85 years. The last big sailing vessel was a yacht, the Zaca, built for pleasure. But the Matthew Turner will sail for a different purpose, to teach young people and the public about the world of salt water. The Matthew Turner has been building on dry land for more than four years, and the hull is now complete, caulked and painted and ready to float for the first time. The vessel still needs to have its two masts and rigging installed, and its deck houses and cabin finished. That should take until fall, and then it will be able to sail. It will be a school ship, capable of carrying 39 overnight passengers and crew, its purpose to provide a learning experience in nature for kids and the public, said Alan Olson, the project manager for Educational Tall Ship, which built the vessel. We want them to learn about the powers of nature, like the wind and the sea, Olson said. The Matthew Turner will sail on the bay at first, then out in the ocean, and then farther and farther, down the coast to Mexico, maybe out to Hawaii and the far Pacific, the way San Francisco-based sailing ships did years ago. Olson is a sailor and a boat builder. He is 76 now, lean and gray. Olson and some of his associates have operated educational sailing programs on the bay for years. Back in the 1980s, we founded The Call of the Sea, using vessels we had acquired, he said. But they wanted to expand their horizons. We thought, Why not build our own tall ship? Olson said. It was my idea, I guess. For various reasons, the project languished. It was just an idea, a dream of a tall ship. Olson himself drifted away, but came back to the idea 15 or more years ago. He spent some time in a Buddhist monastery, and one day the head lama asked him a question that changed his life. He asked, What would I regret if I died today? It hit me like a bolt of lightning, Olson said. I needed to go back to the tall ship project. Id started it and I should continue it. Olson has been the public face of the project, the organizer, the man with the vision. Educational Tall Ship had to raise over $6 million, build a constituency, find the proper materials hundreds of board feet of Douglas fir and oak. A tall ship had to be designed based on old plans, but with modern touches, like an engine and electronics, worked in. Above all, skilled men and women had to be found to construct the vessel. The organizers had to get permits from the city of Sausalito to build a ship in a vacant lot. The completed vessel would have to meet Coast Guard regulations to carry passengers. There were a thousand problems. We needed a community to build that boat, Olson said. They needed skilled artisans who could work in wood, shipwrights, carpenters, even volunteers just to sweep up the sawdust or make lunch for workers. At various times, he said, the project had about 1,000 volunteers. We recorded 170,000 hours of volunteer time, he said. If they were paid, even minimum wage, it would have cost over $2 million, he said. Still, the project had to raise the money, more than $6 million thousands of dollars in cash contributions and in-kind help. The nonprofit Conservation Fund donated Mendocino County timber for the hull planks. We transformed whole trees into a work of art, said Neil Gibbs, who is working on the vessels deck houses. Gibbs, 57, a Marin County real estate man and builder, came upon the Matthew Turner while he was walking his dog and ended up working as a volunteer twice a week. Its not every day you can do something like this, he said. John Lababie, 69, came to work on the ship after a casual encounter with Franz Baichl, a shipwright who was milling timber for the ships planks. I like boating and woodworking so I signed up, Lababie said. He worked on the vessel a couple of times a week for over two years. He was in the tent as crews were getting ready to move the vessel, and was impressed with how the finished hull looks. A couple of weeks ago, they took away the staging, and there it was, he said. Look at that. Thats a real ship. The design is based on the Galilee, a two-masted brigantine, built by Matthew Turner in Benicia 124 years ago. The bones of the Galilee still exist: The stern is at San Franciscos Fort Mason, the bow is in Benicia, and its ribs are visible at low tide in Sausalito, not far from where the new ship was built. The Matthew Turner, which weighs 130 tons, will meet the water for the first time about 5 p.m. Saturday. On Friday it was moved out of its tent by Bigge Crane and Rigging Co., using a steel cradle and huge dollies. The distance from the tent to the deep water at the Army Corps of Engineers ramp is about 400 feet. Its like moving a pyramid, Olson said. Saturdays ceremonies will include blessings by a Christian minister, a Muslim imam, a representative of the American Indian community, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk. Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnoltesf This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Gilbert Baker, the colorful gay artist and activist who created the iconic rainbow flag, has died. Mr. Bakers first flag was an eight-colored banner that flew over the 1978 Pride festivities in San Francisco. The rainbow flag has since become a symbol of the LGBT community recognized worldwide celebrated at pride festivals, brandished at protests and forever raised over the corner of Castro and Market streets. Friends said Mr. Baker, 65, died Thursday in his sleep at his home in New York. Mr. Baker, a former soldier who taught himself to sew, proposed the rainbow flag at a time when San Franciscos gay and lesbian community was struggling to find a symbol to unite under. He personally rejected other ideas: the pink triangle, a Nazi badge reclaimed by gay activists that Mr. Baker found depressing, and the Greek letter lambda, which he deemed too obscure. The rainbow was joyful, celebratory and inclusive. And it was relatively easy to make and share. That day when he raised the first rainbow flag, he knew that was his lifes work. And for every march, every protest, every celebration, every memorial, he was always sewing and sewing and sewing, said Cleve Jones, a longtime San Francisco gay activist and friend of Mr. Bakers who helped him hand-dye the fabric for that first flag. I take some comfort in knowing that he will be remembered. For generations to come, people will know that flag, Jones said. Its an example of how one person can have an amazing and brilliant idea that reaches not just millions, but hundreds of millions of people. Mr. Bakers first flag was eight solid stripes; within a year, he had agreed to drop two colors pink and turquoise largely because fabrics and dyes in those shades werent always readily available. The six-color flag red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple is what is recognized globally now. Mr. Baker replicated his flag dozens of times over the years. He crafted a mile-long banner to parade down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and he sent flags around the world in support of gay rights protests. He sewed the rainbow flag used in the movie Milk, along with a new flag for this years television miniseries When We Rise. I remember the most fabulous queen Id ever seen in my life shows up in sequins with a sewing machine in his arms, and he insisted on creating that flag exactly the same way hed created it then, said Dustin Lance Black, who wrote Milk and wrote and directed When We Rise, which was based on Jones memoir of the same name. He inspired you with his passion and his joy to come together, Black said. That was always his thing, how do we bring each other together. Thats partly why its so painful to lose a force like him now, when were living in such divided times. He made us truly a family, and gave us a symbol of hope and pride. According to his online biography, Mr. Baker was born in Kansas in 1951 and joined the army in 1970. His story as a soldier is told in the book Conduct Unbecoming, by former Chronicle staff writer Randy Shilts, about gays and lesbians in the U.S. military. Mr. Baker was stationed in San Francisco just as the gay civil rights movement was taking off in the city, and so when he was honorably discharged in 1972, he stayed put. He went to work making banners for gay and antiwar demonstrations, some for his friend Harvey Milk, San Franciscos first openly gay supervisor. Milk marched under Mr. Bakers first rainbow flag in the June 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom parade, just months before he was assassinated. Mr. Baker continued to create banners for other causes and events. Just a few weeks ago, he met with Supervisor Jeff Sheehy in his City Hall office to talk over ideas for Sheehys float in this years Pride Parade. Gilbert was our own Betsy Ross, said Sheehy, who worked with Mr. Baker repeatedly in the 1990s on political causes. He was a genius at political theater, at political art. Hes one of these heroes who never sought attention for himself. But he was relentless. Mr. Baker was flamboyant and outspoken, a lover of high heels, drama and anything that sparkled, friends said. He was an early member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the drag queen charity and protest group, and he had a well-known fondness for wicked humor. Nobody could make me laugh like Gilbert, Jones said. Mr. Baker never made money off of his creation, Jones said. Not long after the first flag went up, I told him hed better patent it, and he said, No, its my gift to the world, Jones recalled. And I said, Girl, youre going to regret that. But he never did, Jones said. The flag design may seem simple, and obviously ubiquitous, now, but it came from a creative mind, and from a man deeply connected with his hippie, psychedelic roots, said Tom Taylor, who met Mr. Baker not long after he made the first flag and who is now the keeper of the flag in the Castro. Mr. Baker attached meanings to every color on the flag, and he personally campaigned for his design all around the city before the San Francisco LGBT community fully embraced it, Taylor said. Gilberts presence in the world will never be forgotten, said Jerome Goldstein, who married Taylor in a ceremony officiated by Mr. Baker four years ago. HIV disease may someday be forgotten, all of the ugly political and religious fights that weve had, they may be forgotten, Goldstein said. But the rainbow flag will endure forever. A candlelight vigil was held Friday night at Castro and Market streets, beneath his flag. Erin Allday is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @erinallday The Rev. Jasper Lowery landed in Stockton in spring 2015 with grand plans to help homeless mothers and children get off the streets. Having spent decades working with the poor in Oakland, the charismatic preacher leased an old residential hotel on North California Street and filled it with needy families. God sent me here to help these families, he told the Stockton Record newspaper. It was meant to be. Each time I came, I saw people that needed help. In a city with hundreds of homeless women, many whose children had been taken away by the county, Lowery seemed to fill a need. But it wasnt long before Lowerys nonprofit, Urojas Community Services, started hearing from residents who complained about rodents, bedbugs and undelivered meals, and from city inspectors who found a lack of safety equipment. On Friday, Lowery was again defending what he described as his holy mission after a fire killed four people in a ragtag West Oakland halfway house run by Urojas. For 22 years, he said at a news conference at his attorneys office in Oakland, the nonprofit has been caring for the needy without any substantial funding from public or private sources, which have rejected most requests for aid. We provided food, clothing and shelter, he said. In some cases we took people in. In some cases we referred people out. This is what we did around the clock. When people need clothes, they could call Urojas. When they got released from prison, we bring them in in the middle of the night, help them structure their lives. He was joined by Urojas co-founder, the Rev. Aurea Lewis, who said one of the fire victims was her brother, Edwarn Anderson. This is a heartbreaking, trying time, Lewis, who is also an Oakland library commissioner, said as she held up a picture of her brother. He was a dynamic, young 64-year-old. The fire on Monday ripped through the halfway house at 2551 San Pablo Ave. in West Oakland, home to more than 80 residents. Oakland officials say the fire was accidentally ignited by a candle and that the building had failed a city fire inspection three days earlier. Before the fire, the building owner, Keith Joon Kim, was seeking to evict Urojas and its clients for failing to pay rent, but Urojas refused to leave. James Cook, the lawyer for Urojas, said Friday the nonprofit had attempted to pay rent but Kim had refused to accept it, preferring to bring in a new tenant. Urojas contends the squalid conditions were the fault of the landlord, who has not commented. Lowery founded Urojas Community Services in 1996. Records show the group received $25,000 in public funding from Alameda County around the time the group began leasing the building in Oakland in 2012. But the organizations finances are largely unknown, and it has not filed nonprofit tax disclosures since 2010. In that year, it claimed total revenue of $5,000. Supporters say Lowery and his nonprofit group deserve credit for taking in societys most downtrodden in both Stockton and Oakland parolees, recovering addicts, homeless veterans and the mentally ill. It was the place you could refer a mentally ill brother or sister or a young man getting out of prison who couldnt stay with Mom in public housing because he had a felony record, said the Rev. Raymond Lankford, who for many years ran his Health Communities nonprofit from a building across the street in Oakland. Urojas took people at face value simply because they need housing and showed a desire to change their lives, he said. Residents of the Oakland building said that while they were thankful for an affordable place to live they paid up to about $800 a month for an apartment the conditions on San Pablo Avenue were trying. Irene Randel, 28, and Eliza Anderson, 29, said the building was overrun with rats and didnt have fire alarms or working lights in common areas. Similar conditions were reported in Stockton, where some residents complained of rodents, bedbugs and a lack of heat. A meal a day was promised but sporadically delivered, according to residents and social workers familiar with the hotel. The building was supposed to be free of drugs and alcohol, but residents said narcotics were clearly being sold out of some of the units. By last August, city code enforcement inspectors were cracking down on the group, issuing it a warning after an inspection found missing smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, cockroaches and rubbish heaped in hallways. The Record, which had written a glowing story about the group a few months earlier, followed up with an article questioning the situation. 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. It is a horrendous living environment, Susan Gibson, whose daughter-in-law and grandchildren lived in the building until the fall and who helped several other families move out of the hotel, said in an interview with The Chronicle. It all sounded lovely when they talked about it. But that wasnt the reality. A social worker who assists homeless veterans in Stockton, who asked that her name not be used because she still interacts with Urojas Community Services, said the group contacted her because it wanted to place veterans in the Stockton hotel under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families program. But she said the property Urojas leased was not qualified to be part of the program, which requires basic kitchens and bathrooms and must meet fire safety standards. She said Lowery and Lewis asserted they should be eligible for $800 monthly from each veteran, which she said was far above market rent in Stockton. They also wanted Veterans Affairs to fork over money for residents who said they were veterans but didnt have the paperwork to back it up, she said. Even without an agreement, the social worker said, Lowery and Lewis continued to demand money for veterans they said they were housing. After residents complained about the problems in the Stockton building, Lowery blamed what he said was a disgruntled resident in an interview with the Record. At Fridays news conference, he said, Stockton was a whole other issue. There were people out there who needed help. We thought we could help them. Chronicle staff writer Bob Egelko contributed to this report. J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen To list all the kooky characters who have wandered the streets of San Francisco would require the combined talents of Shakespeare, Dickens, Balzac, Hieronymous Bosch and the U.S. Census Bureau. From Dirty Tom McAlear, a 19th century Barbary Coast habitue who for a small coin would eat literally anything given to him, to the 12 Galaxies man of our own day, the list of our fair citys cracked denizens is virtually endless. Yet of all the worthy contenders in this demented cavalcade, one alone stands out. Emperor Norton was, is, and shall forever remain the greatest, and most beloved, nut in the history of San Francisco. Joshua A. Norton was born around 1818, probably in what is now part of London. Little is known of Nortons early life other than that he was Jewish and sailed with his family to South Africa in 1820. After receiving a $40,000 inheritance from his father, he emigrated to San Francisco, arriving in December 1849. Like most people who got here during the Gold Rush, Norton immediately began wheeling and dealing. He was intelligent and an excellent businessman, and quickly made a fortune in real estate and the import business. By 1853, he was worth $250,000, a fabulous sum in those days. He also earned a reputation for ethical behavior and fair dealing. xx Then disaster struck. Speculating in commodities was even riskier in Gold Rush San Francisco than it is now. If you cornered the market on, say, tobacco, you could get rich overnight. But intelligence about the market was practically nonexistent, and a sudden glut could wipe a speculator out. Norton tried to corner the market on rice, and lost his entire investment when two ships carrying rice unexpectedly sailed through the Golden Gate, causing prices to plummet. Norton sued investors whom he claimed owed him money, but lost, and the final blow came when he lost his extensive real estate holdings. The shock of these reversals constituted a severe blow to Nortons sanity, Robert Ernest Cowan writes in The Forgotten Characters of Old San Francisco. He retired into obscurity, and when he emerged in 1857, he gave palpable and distinct evidence of an overthrown mind. Nortons madness took the form of a delusion that he was the Emperor of the United States. In September 1859, a proclamation appeared in the San Francisco Bulletin stating that at the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of these United States, I, Joshua Norton ... declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U.S. and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in Musical Hall ... then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity. Norton I, Emperor of the United States. Emperor Norton, who soon added the honorific Protector of Mexico, cut a distinctive figure. Invariably attired in a military-style coat profusely adorned with brass buttons, huge gilt epaulettes and various ribbons and medals, he wore a beaver hat topped with feathers and carried a large walking stick with a snake-head top, along with a sword and a faded umbrella. He dedicated his life to the welfare of his subjects and took a keen interest in the affairs of the day. His familiar form was seen and known everywhere, Cowan writes. He was a constant attendant of churches, theaters, musical affairs, civic gatherings and school commencements. He also liked to visit the markets, docks and construction sites. Nortons delusion had not robbed him of his native intelligence, nor his kindness. He was gentle and courteous with children, well-versed on current affairs, and could carry on a lucid conversation. The only time he ever became violent was when cartoonist Edward Jump drew a caricature of him at a free-lunch table, skewering a meatball while San Franciscos two most famous and beloved dogs, Bummer and Lazarus, look hungrily up at him. Norton saw the caricature in a shop window, growled, It is an insult to the dignity of an Emperor! and smashed his walking stick through the glass. Norton was once arrested by an overzealous young policeman, who brought him before the Commissioner of Lunacy for commitment. The next day he was released with an apology, which pointed out that he had shed no blood, robbed no one, and despoiled no country; which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line. What was most remarkable, and touching, about the Emperors career was that the entire city not only humored him, but embraced him. For sustenance he had the freedom of nearly every restaurant in the city, as also of every saloon, Cowan writes. Norton imbibed sparingly, and when he visited bars it was not to tipple, but to eat the then-ubiquitous free lunch. The Masons gave him a stipend, which paid for his 9-by-6-foot room at the Eureka Lodging House at 624 Commercial St. (He dutifully paid the 50-cent rent every night before retiring.) Newspapers ran his proclamations, including his most famous, a weirdly prescient call for the construction of a Bay Bridge. (In an even more prescient order, Norton ordered Congress dissolved a demand that was unfortunately ignored.) He attended any theater free and journeyed by rail wherever he pleased without paying. Banks honored his imperial checks. At 8:15 p.m. on Jan. 8, 1880, Emperor Norton collapsed and died on the southeast corner of California and Grant, across from Old St. Marys Church, with its inscription, Son, observe the time and fly from evil. His funeral was attended by 10,000 San Franciscans from all walks of life, who had taken to their heart the harmless madman whose benign reign had lasted 23 years. 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. Emperor Norton continues to cast a spell. The Wikipedia entry on Emperor Norton in popular culture lists two dozen books, a dozen operas, musicals and songs, several plays, a film, several bands, two role-playing games, a couple of comic strips, eight TV-show episodes, two organizations (including the rollicking fraternal organization E Clampus Vitus) and several food products based on or inspired by his life. Emperor Norton is dead. Long live Emperor Norton! Gary Kamiya is the author of the best-selling book Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco, awarded the Northern California Book Award in creative nonfiction. All the material in Portals of the Past is original for The Chronicle. Email: metro@sfchronicle.com Trivia time Previous trivia question: What, besides height, is the difference between the two summits of Twin Peaks? Answer: The north summit is made of radiolarian chert, the south of pillow basalt. This weeks trivia question: What was San Franciscos first fern bar? Editors note Every corner in San Francisco has an astonishing story to tell. Gary Kamiyas Portals of the Past tells those lost stories, using a specific location to illuminate San Franciscos extraordinary history from the days when giant mammoths wandered through what is now North Beach to the Gold Rush delirium, the dot-com madness and beyond. His column appears every other Saturday, alternating with Peter Hartlaubs OurSF. Oakland firefighters urged senior fire officials in January to consider immediately shutting down the West Oakland halfway house that burned Monday, killing four people, because of safety problems, newly released city emails show. The emails show that firefighters who responded to medical calls in January and February at the three-story building reported seeing dangerous conditions trash, exposed electrical wires, a locked door to a fire escape that posed a danger to life safety. They urged fire inspectors to shut down the building. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 1 of 2 Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Michael Macor/The Chronicle Show More Show Less That assessment is at odds with Mayor Libby Schaafs explanation after the fatal blaze for Oaklands refusal to shut down the building immediately: She said the problems did not amount to an imminent life safety threat. On Friday, she said she was disturbed and shocked at the revelations in the emails, which her office released. In one email, a Fire Department captain had told his superiors, This building is dangerous! After the Ghost Ship fire in December, which killed 36 people at an unsanctioned music event that was held in an unpermitted live-work warehouse, Oakland was criticized for failing to take earlier action against that sites owner and prime tenant. The newly released emails show that the problems at the West Oakland halfway house were glaringly clear to the Fire Department barely a month after the Ghost Ship inferno. The first email was sent Jan. 8 by fire Capt. Richard Chew, head of a firehouse whose crews had responded to a medical call at the halfway house at 2551 San Pablo Ave. He told Battalion Chief Geoff Hunter that firefighters had found open piles of garbage on the third floor, a nonworking alarm system and a fire escape door that was padlocked. I recommend that we consider shutting this building down immediately due to the danger to life safety, Chew wrote. Hunter told Chew to cut the padlock and forwarded the report to Maria Sabatini, an acting assistant fire marshal who helped oversee fire inspections. She replied in a Jan. 9 email that the building owner should remove the trash and give a reasonable amount of time to repair the alarm system; 30 days is appropriate. Later that day, fire crews returned to the building and found other problems, including a lack of fire extinguishers and a fire sprinkler inlet full of debris, Capt. Chris Landry told Sabatini and Hunter in an email. There is no indication in the emails that the city did anything until firefighters responded to another medical call at the San Pablo Avenue building Feb. 25. That is the day that city officials had earlier reported was the first time the Fire Department had checked the building and seen safety problems. There were still no fire extinguishers, Lt. Steve Padgett told Sabatini, Fire Marshal Miguel Trujillo and others Feb. 25. Whats more, there were faulty or unmaintained smoke detectors and storage in the hallways. This building is dangerous! Padgett wrote in an email. Please let station 15 know what we can do to get this place shut down, updated and repaired. One possibility is to get the city attorney involved. Hunter then asked Sabatini when the departments fire inspectors would get to the building. That didnt happen until after March 18, after yet another visit by a station house crew on an incident call. Lt. Frank Mui told Hunter that extension cords, including one whose insulation had apparently been gnawed away by rodents, were supplying electricity to parts of the building. There was exposed wiring and debris in the hallways, Mui reported, and still no fire extinguishers or functioning alarm system. Hunter told Sabatini and her boss, Trujillo, that the issues reported weeks earlier seem to be getting worse and asked when an inspector would visit. Hunter said: This building appears to be hazardous to both our public and our firefighters. Six days later, on March 24, Sabatini told Hunter that she and fire Inspector Flanoy Garrett had visited the building and given the owner a list of deficiencies to correct. This is the beginning of a coordinated effort along with Building Services to address the issues at this location. The owner, Keith Joon Kim, was given 30 days to correct the problems. Three days later, a fire accidentally started by a candle tore through the building. Two of the four people who died have been identified: Edwarn Anderson, 64, and Cassandra Robertson, 50. More than 80 people were displaced, with many sleeping at an emergency shelter set up in the area. As acting assistant fire marshal, Sabatini was responsible for sending inspectors to buildings whose owners arent complying with safety laws. Reached by phone Friday, she declined to comment. Fire inspectors generally require a buildings owner to fix any problems within a certain time frame, but when life-threatening conditions exist, they can red-tag the property and order residents out. Schaaf has said since the Ghost Ship fire that she is reluctant to do so, fearing that low-income residents will find nowhere else to live in the city. In an interview after the emails were released, Schaaf said she was extremely upset and concerned by the level of urgency and the lack of coordination that the emails suggest. But she said she had no plans to fire anybody over the incident. She defended her statement earlier this week that the building hadnt been blighted enough to shut down immediately, saying that was based on information I received from professionals. ... But I am not a fire inspector. The mayor also characterized the references in the emails to shutting down the building as suggestions. 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. We need to do much, much better, Schaaf said. The level of urgency, the level of professionalism, has got to go up significantly. As the emails were released, Schaaf and City Administrator Sabrina Landreth said they would hire six additional inspectors for the Fire Prevention Bureau, doubling its size and then triple it with six more inspectors. It is clear that over-demand and inadequate staffing require an immediate remedy, they said in a statement. An Alameda County civil grand jury found in 2014 that the Oakland Fire Department was failing to check thousands of buildings that are required to be inspected annually. Oakland records show that the San Pablo Avenue halfway house had not received a full Fire Department inspection since 2012. Schaaf said the San Pablo Avenue and Ghost Ship fires accelerated pace of the changes she announced Friday, because both of these fires have exposed the need for stronger leadership, staffing, training and tools. She blamed some of those problems on cuts in the Fire Department during the recession. This is part of a process of digging out, but also being very clear with our workforce about our priorities and professionalism particularly at this time, when unscrupulous landlords are putting profit over safety, Schaaf said. Representatives of the Oakland Fire Department did not respond to requests for comment, some referring calls to the mayors office. But the head of the firefighters union said he welcomed the citys announcement to add staff. We applaud the mayors efforts to address this serious issue, and weve always felt that the fire prevention bureau has been understaffed and underfunded and in our eyes that means underprotected, said Lt. Dan Robertson, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 55. The emails from our members in the firehouses speak for themselves. The halfway house has been owned since 1991 by Mead Avenue Housing Associates, which is run by Kim, a Piedmont entrepreneur with a colorful and controversial past. He has not responded to requests for comment. Kim was once owner and chief executive of the now-defunct Granny Goose potato chip company, but later filed for bankruptcy and was convicted of lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission amid a probe into insider trading. In 2012, Kims building was rented by Urojas Community Services, a nonprofit founded in 1996 by the Rev. Jasper Lowery that sought to offer transitional housing and services including mental health and addiction counseling. Before the fire, Kim was seeking to evict Urojas and its clients for failing to pay rent, but Urojas refused to leave. Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron Under pressure to protect vulnerable residents after the Ghost Ship warehouse fire, Oakland officials largely abstained from deploying their most potent tool against problem properties: the red tag. In the three months after the inferno killed 36 people in an illegally converted building the deadliest California fire in more than a century inspectors slapped the crimson do-not-enter notice on just four Oakland properties, according to city records obtained by The Chronicle. The reasons? Two neighboring homes were damaged by falling tree limbs during a storm. Another was gutted by a fire. And the fourth was a suspected gambling parlor, boarded up after a law enforcement raid turned up drugs, guns, stolen cars and illegal slot machines, on top of unsafe wiring and a sewage spill. The citys reluctance to clear residents out of dangerous buildings arose again last week after a massive fire swept through an occupied three-story halfway house on San Pablo Avenue in West Oakland. Four people died, and more than 80 were displaced. Emails released by the city Friday showed that firefighters had urged their command staff to shut down the building as early as January due to life-threatening conditions. Instead, Fire Department managers cited the building for deficiencies, allowing the residents to remain. City and fire officials say Oakland is replete with old and poorly maintained properties that could pose dangers to their occupants. Mayor Libby Schaafs office identified 18 unsanctioned live-work buildings throughout the city in the aftermath of the Dec. 2 warehouse fire. The list was based on complaints or public safety calls, and many others could exist. Building inspectors, fire marshals and code-enforcement officers red-tag properties that pose imminent threats to occupants, typically after fires, flooding or earthquakes. But they can also red-tag buildings for a range of dangerous conditions, from overloaded electrical systems to haphazard construction projects. In less severe cases, officials can post a yellow tag, which means that people are allowed to enter briefly, usually to collect their belongings, but shouldnt stay long. The bottom-line measure is a determination that the building needs to be evacuated because it presents an imminent hazard to life and safety, Claudia Cappio, the assistant city administrator who oversees the Building and Planning Department, said of Oaklands threshold for red-tagging. If you do not leave, your life will be threatened. Thats a pretty tall order. We dont do it lightly, she added. The standard has to be met. ... Its a complete disruption to peoples lives. In the case of the halfway house, firefighters called for a shutdown of the building after finding problems with the sprinkler system, a lack of fire extinguishers, debris piled up in front of electrical meters, a padlocked fire escape and faulty smoke detectors, among other problems. Maria Sabatini, the acting assistant fire marshal, gave the property owner 30 days to correct the problems. Three days before the fire, caused by an unattended candle, she gave the property owner a list of deficiencies he needed to correct. Schaaf initially defended the Fire Departments decision to issue only a citation to the property owner. But after the emails revealed that firefighters wanted the place shut down, she said that her earlier comments were based on information I received from professionals. ... But I am not a fire inspector. Although inspectors base most of their decisions on the California Building Code and local ordinances, they have plenty of latitude to consider other factors, like whether residents will be left homeless and the environment surrounding a property. Theres no book that exists that says if you have five electrical issues, for instance, then you must red-tag a building, said Larry Breceda, president of the California Association of Code Enforcement Officers and the public safety manager of Duarte (Los Angeles County). Sometimes you have to make calls on the fly. ... The codes are written in a way so that you have that discretion. That means enforcement sometimes differs city to city, and politics can come into play. Richmond, Santa Ana, Denver and other cities immediately red-tagged makeshift artist spaces in the weeks after the Ghost Ship fire. But in Oakland, Schaaf has vowed to help the warehouse artist community and keep people in their homes while trying to ensure those spaces are safe. Instead of displacing residents, the Oakland mayor has directed city authorities to work with property owners to bring the buildings up to code. Schaaf said soon after the Ghost Ship fire that she would not let our emotions lead to hasty decisions or witch hunts. Records show she followed through on that promise but at a cost. The city documents indicate that building inspectors and code-enforcement officers were no more inclined to red-tag properties after the Ghost Ship fire than they were in the past. Comparing the three months after the blaze to the same time period one year earlier, little had changed. From December 2015 to the start of March 2016, seven Oakland buildings were red-tagged three more than in the most recent interval. All but one were the result of fires. The exception was a single-family home whose foundation and cripple wall failed. The mayors insistence on not displacing residents raises questions about whether political considerations have affected the pace and will of the city to inspect and condemn dangerous properties. Firefighters appeared to be frustrated with the protracted response of Fire Department management to the West Oakland property in the weeks before the fire. As she released the emails, Schaaf on Friday announced that she would hire more inspectors and accelerate the reviews of problem properties. Bill Strawn, spokesman for San Franciscos Department of Building Inspection, said of the West Oakland fire, The habitability situation sounded like they couldnt maintain the building. I suspect that our code-enforcement process has been a little more rigorous than Oaklands. But he and officials in other California cities added that red-tagging should be a last-resort tool, and that building inspectors should lean on landlords to make sure properties dont get to that level of danger. Councilman Noel Gallo, who represents a swath of East Oakland where the Ghost Ship warehouse is located, said the city needs to ramp up its enforcement and hold landlords accountable for fixing unsafe living conditions. Either the safety of our residents is a priority, or its not, Gallo said. Right now, by our actions or our lack of actions, protecting our residents doesnt seem to be at the top of our list. Gallo said Oakland officials shouldnt be afraid of temporarily displacing residents while repairs are made to their homes. I think what has happened in Oakland is we dont enforce the rules from the street level to the buildings, and property owners take advantage of us, Gallo said. They clearly know what the rules are, what the requirements are to maintain safety and health. So theres no excuse around it. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Kevin Fagan contributed to this report. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the head of homeland security rebuked the chief justice of the California Supreme Court for asking federal immigration agents to quit stalking local courthouses as a strategy to arrest people who are in the country illegally. As the chief judicial officer of the State of California, your characterization of federal law enforcement officers is particularly troubling, read the letter, which was dated Wednesday and signed by Sessions and John F. Kelly. In March, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote to Sessions and Kelly saying she was concerned about reports from the states trial courts that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents appeared to be stalking unauthorized immigrants to make arrests. Her comments were echoed by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, Public Defender Jeff Adachi and City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who said such arrests could jeopardize public safety. Policies that could drive victims of crime from courthouses, they said, undermine the administration of justice. Sessions and Kelly said in their letter, which was first reported by Politico, that the state of California and many counties had enacted laws designed to prohibit or hinder ICE from enforcing immigration law by denying federal agents the ability to take custody of deportable people in county jails. Californias Trust Act limits the situations in which jails can hold individuals wanted by immigration agents longer than their release date. In San Francisco, a criminal warrant is required. Such policies threaten public safety, rather than enhance it, Sessions and Kelly wrote. As a result, ICE officers and agents are required to locate and arrest these aliens in public places, rather than in secure jail facilities where the risk of injury is higher. Courthouses, on the other hand, give agents a place where visitors are screened for weapons and decrease the risk to officers and the people being arrested, the Trump administration officials wrote. Sessions and Kelly asked Cantil-Sakauye to express your concerns to Gov. Jerry Brown and local officials that enacted policies that occasionally necessitate ICE officers and agents to make arrests at courthouses and other public places. State and local leaders have made clear in public statements that they oppose the administrations immigration plans. Cantil-Sakauye responded Friday by saying she appreciated the letter and the admission from the administration officials that they are in state courthouses making federal arrests. She continued her criticism of the practice. Making arrests at courthouses, in my view, undermines public safety because victims and witnesses will fear coming to courthouses to help enforce the law, she said in a statement. I am disappointed that despite local and state public safety issues at stake, courthouses are not on ICEs sensitive areas list that includes schools, churches, and hospitals. Advocates for immigrants have maintained that local jail officials who are asked to honor immigration holds have many good reasons to deny the requests including increased costs, the possibility of wrongly detaining U.S. citizens, and legal liability related to incarcerating people beyond their release dates. 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. Gascon said Friday that the idea that local policies were hindering immigration agents was spectacular. Referring to federal requests to hold inmates, he said, The nations top law enforcement officer is effectively advocating for an end run around the Constitutions due process protections. Three words: Get a warrant. Gascon said the tactic of coming to courthouses was born from xenophobia, and not a genuine concern for public safety, and could backfire by setting free criminals whose victims may be scared to come to our courthouses to testify against defendants because ICE is waiting for them. Sessions and Kelly said federal agents would improve their operations including handling challenges such as local policies while continuing to take prudent and reasonable actions within their lawful authority to achieve their mission. 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 TIJUANA, Mexico The North American Free Trade Agreement has transformed this sprawling border town from gritty party spot to something quite different: a world capital of medical devices. Trucks choke boulevards lined with factories, many bearing the names of U.S.-run companies: Medtronic, Hill-Rom, DJO Global and Greatbatch Medical. Inside, Mexican workers churn out millions of medical devices each day, from intravenous bags to artificial respirators, for the global market. Nearly everyone in the United States even the world who has a pacemaker walks around with parts from Tijuana. When President Trump threatens to redo trade deals and slap steep taxes on imports in an effort to add more manufacturing jobs, he focuses largely on car companies and air-conditioner makers. But the medical devices business makes a particularly revelatory case study of the difficulties of untangling global trade. The United States imports about 30 percent of its medical devices and supplies. The trouble is, these jobs are among the most difficult to relocate to the United States. To ensure the safety of products that often end up inside the human body, medical devices are strictly regulated and require lengthy approvals from the Food and Drug Administration and other inspectors. If the companies do keep major operations outside the country, new taxes on imports would most likely increase the cost of their products a change that could jolt not only the devices industry in coming years, but also health care nationwide. In Tijuana, the factories are bound to stay put for years, at least. During that time, health executives say, a border tax could fracture the industrys sophisticated global supply chain and force U.S. hospitals to pay more for vital necessities or worse. The real danger is the supplies wont be available at all, said Dr. John Jay Shannon, CEO of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System in Chicago. U.S. hospitals rely on heaps of bandages and surgical gloves from China, suturing needles and artificial joints from Ireland, and defibrillators and catheters from Mexico. The value of imports of medical devices annually more than tripled from 2001 to 2016, when they reached $43.9 billion, according to BMI Research, a unit of the Fitch Group. Mexico is the leading supplier, ahead of Ireland, Germany and China. And few places illustrate this changing landscape, or help explain the complexity of the industry, as well as Tijuana, 20 miles south of San Diego. The city houses the highest concentration of Mexicos medical device firms, 70 percent of which are U.S.-owned, according to the local development group. Companies have invested heavily in Tijuana, constructing long, low-slung factories tucked into the hilly terrain. Giant banners hanging from manufacturing plants plead for workers to join them. Those hired pass through imposing security gates to begin shifts operating advanced machinery or delicately sewing pig tissue onto stents for heart valves, and trucks zip in a steady line across the border in fast-track lanes into California. But the possibility of new protectionist trade policies is looming over this buzz of activity. The question for many of the people is whether it will upend the economic incentives that led U.S. companies to invest in the city in the first place. Trump has argued that a border tax is needed to keep well-paying jobs in the United States and dissuade companies from relying on Mexican workers who earn a fraction of U.S. wages. Technicians at medical device factories in Tijuana make about $14 an hour, compared with about $25 an hour for technicians at U.S. factories. Now, even the citys unflappable longtime entrepreneurs are unsettled by the shift in trade talk. U.S. companies draft plans to build new plants or expand existing ones years in advance, said Miguel Felix Diaz, vice president of the Baja California Medical Device Cluster, an organization that represents 63 medical device manufacturing plants that employ 60,000 Mexican workers. For that reason now, he said, you dont know if you start some operation tomorrow how its going to be affected. If the United States does approve a border tax, Felix Diaz added, the final customer is going to pay. The final tally of just how much U.S. customers hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and doctors offices would pay is unclear. The price on many medical devices is negotiated by group-purchasing organizations, which harness the purchasing power of hospitals and others and would try to mitigate price increases. Mike Alkire, chief operating officer at Premier, which negotiates for some 3,750 U.S. hospitals, said that while prices would initially rise if the Trump administration hit countries like Mexico or China with tariffs, weve got enough diversity in the way we source products, we think we can manage the costs. Over the long term, Alkire added, we do think the market will stabilize and the most efficient place to produce products will occur. But CEOs at some of the largest hospitals in the United States are nervously watching the gathering legislative, economic and geopolitical storm. A border tax, experts say, would ricochet back and forth across the U.S.-Mexico border and around the world in unintended ways. Mexicos medical device industry buys much of its raw materials and capital machinery from U.S. suppliers. The U.S.-owned Integer plant in Tijuana, for example, buys 90 percent of its raw materials, essentially duty-free, from the United States: stainless steel to be stamped into cups used for hip replacements and plastic to be molded into catheters. Then half of the factorys output is shipped back to the United States and much of the rest to U.S.-owned companies in Puerto Rico, Switzerland and Singapore. If Mexico imposes tariffs on raw materials from U.S. suppliers, a likely response to any border tax imposed by the United States, production costs in Mexico would spike. The damage wouldnt just to be to the Mexico operation, it would be to U.S. suppliers, said Christopher Wilson, deputy director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. People need to understand this relationship we have goes both ways, said David Mayagoitia, president of the board of the Tijuana Economic Development Corp. Sarah Varney is a Kaiser Health News writer. This story was produced in collaboration with the New York Times. Dane Jasper doesnt want to know what you do on the Internet. Like many digital privacy proponents, Jasper, the CEO of Sonic, a high-speed Internet service provider based in Santa Rosa, was disheartened by moves in Congress this week to undo a nascent set of regulations that affect companies like his. On Tuesday, the House narrowly voted to scrap rules intended to force Internet providers to get permission from customers before collecting and selling customers data. Trade associations representing major telecommunications companies and the advertising industry applauded the move. They had lambasted the regulations since their inception, saying that they unfairly undermined Internet providers ability to compete against the likes of Google and Facebook, which pocket billions of dollars a year by profiting from their users data. But despite the potential to tap into a lucrative revenue stream, Jasper and executives at other Internet providers across Northern California say they remain deeply averse to trafficking in such data. As consumer awareness about digital privacy continues to expand, its a stance that could help smaller Internet providers distinguish themselves from their competitors. Consumers are always making decisions based on their personal values, and its certainly my hope that we are able to differentiate ourselves in this way, Jasper said. But this isnt a new marketing strategy this has long been a set of values weve held from the start. FAQ What you can do to protect your online privacy People trust us with their private use of the Internet, he said. They trust that were not going to snoop on their activities and that were not going to sell them out. Its entirely a violation of that fundamental basis for the relationship. Digital privacy is paramount for Percy Angress of Vallejo, who has been a Sonic customer for five years. His decision to switch Internet providers was based in part on Sonics assurances that the company would resist attempts for other entities to get at his browsing history and other data. The notion that the corporation that supplies my Internet service has a right to simply vacuum up all the data it can about me and every place I visit on the Internet is scary and just offensive, Angress said. Sonic was one of 22 smaller Internet providers to sign a letter imploring the House to keep the regulations in place. Eleven of those providers are in Northern California. We see ourselves as a service provider, not as a data-mining company, said Alex Menendez, a co-founder of San Francisco Internet provider Monkeybrains, which also signed the letter sent to Congress. Menendez said he absolutely sees his companys hands-off approach to customer data as a distinct competitive advantage. Dallas Harris, a legal and policy fellow at consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, said that while she supports smaller Internet providers getting a leg up by virtue of their hands-off approach to customer data, she cautioned that having multiple providers to pick from is a rare luxury in most U.S. markets. Northern Californias comparative abundance of Internet choices means that consumers can shop with their conscience, Harris said, but having so many alternatives isnt the norm. In an ideal world, you would be able to have choice between ISPs. I think its great that there are some (providers) out there saying, We will not traffic in customer data, but if you live in a place where you only have one option, youre going to pick that one because its your only option. And thats exactly why we needed these rules, Harris said. The regulations were created by the Federal Communications Commission with the intention of requiring that Internet providers obtain consent from their customers before harvesting a constellation of details including location data, financial and health information, app usage history and the content of communications. Previously, Internet providers were able to collect and sell such data to advertising and marketing firms unless their customers instructed them to stop. The Senate also passed a resolution to scrap the regulations which includes a provision that they cannot be reintroduced by the commission this month. The White House signaled that President Trump would sign the bill after the House vote. On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the rules were emblematic of the federal overreach that the president has pledged to reverse. This is a strong step by Congress they thought the FCCs actions went too far and werent productive, said Daniel Jaffe, who leads government relations for the Association of National Advertisers. The group has worked for months to lobby against the rules, arguing that the commission needlessly designated a host of innocuous consumer data as sensitive, and that consumers would be confused by the opt-in requirements the regulations demand. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Some people are claiming that this is going to leave the public unprotected. Thats wrong, Jaffe said. Our own self-regulatory programs are strong in this area, and the FCC still has authority to step in against inappropriate actions by ISPs. In a statement posted online Friday, Gerard Lewis, chief privacy officer and deputy general counsel at Comcast, said that the company does not share customer information related to banking, children or health, among other categories, without first getting consent. If a customer does not want us to use other, non-sensitive data to send them targeted ads, we offer them the ability to opt out of receiving such targeted ads, Lewis said, adding that the company would revise its privacy policy to make its practices more clear and prominent. AT&T referred to a statement released by Jonathan Spalter, the CEO of USTelecom, a trade association for the telecommunications industry. This action is another step to remove unnecessary rules and regulations that handicap economic growth and innovation, and moves the country one step closer to ensuring that consumers private information is protected uniformly across the entire Internet ecosystem, Spalter said. Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has been sharply critical of efforts to roll back the regulations, said that he expects states and California in particular, given its history as a leader in digital privacy regulation to consider creating their own rules for data collection by Internet providers. I have no doubt the state of California, with Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the tilt of the legislature right now, would take this on, Falcon said. When the Trump administration goes one direction, the state legislature and (Gov.) Jerry Brown have shown an interest in covering the gap. I dont want everything in my life to be public, said Angress, the Sonic customer. I want the right to opt out of the data mining of me. My politics, my faith, my medicines, my friends, my hobbies are not anyones business. If you want to buy that information, talk to me, don't just help yourself, he said. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate An abundance of rain and snowfall this winter has teed up whats expected to be a bountiful year for hydroelectricity production in California, as reservoirs recover from five years of drought. But the projected rise in hydropower could force the state to sharply cut back on the amount of power produced from other sources, particularly renewable energy, according to the California Independent System Operator, the organization that manages most of the states vast energy system. The system operator forecasts on some days it will have to block between 6,000 and 8,000 megawatts of electricity from the grid as a result of the profusion of hydropower. Thats the equivalent output of six to eight nuclear reactors. In order to keep pace with the supply and demand of the states moment-to-moment energy needs, as one power sources rises, others have to be dialed down, in a process known as curtailment. Steven Greenlee, a spokesman for the system operator, said that Californias policies requiring increasing amounts of energy to be produced from renewable sources have boosted the amount of solar power. If the amount of excess supply we have on the grid is during the mid-morning and mid-afternoons, its likely that solar will be high on the list to curtail, Greenlee said, adding that wind power production is likely to be curbed as well. Natural gas plants could also be affected. Hydroelectric output could also be curtailed, Greenlee said, but only when dams are beneath their spill levels, the safety threshold that determines when water must be released. The system operator must accept power from hydroelectric sources that are above their spill levels. That could happen as snowmelt pours into reservoirs. Now were seeing a record amount of hydro plus a record amount of solar, Greenlee said. And so thats shaping up to be a potential for more excess on the grid than what weve ever encountered before. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Fitch Ratings released a memo in March predicting that curtailment brought on by overproduction would hurt renewable energy producers. Matthew Reilly, director of U.S. public finance for Fitch, expects large, utility-scale solar projects to suffer the most should the curtailment projects become reality. Those projects are largely in Southern California. Much of the energy generated from rooftop solar panels doesnt feed back directly into the power grid, so homeowners are likely to be unaffected, Reilly said. The system operator pays some energy providers to power down when its necessary to cut back, but Reilly said that most renewable projects dont receive revenue when theyre being curtailed, so they would lose out on revenue they would otherwise get. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa The California State Teachers Retirement System has finally upgraded the website where public-school employees can get educated about their 403(b) retirement plan options, making it easier to compare fees and performance and sign up for a plan. While the upgrade of 403bcompare.com could save teachers some serious bucks, its still not perfect because there is no easy way to compare the thousands of options available in the public schools. What it does do is highlight the shamefully daunting task teachers face trying to save for retirement. The website is a symptom of the problem, said Scott Dauenhauer of Meridian Wealth Management, who has consulted with the system. School districts cant control which companies sell to their employees, he said. Similar to 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans let employees of public schools and certain nonprofits have money deducted from their paycheck and invested in a tax-sheltered retirement account. Although the income limits and tax rules are the same, when it comes to protecting participants, 401(k) and 403(b) plans are very different. Private-sector 401(k) plans are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which protects participants in workplace plans. Employers who offer 401(k) plans are fiduciaries, which means they have to manage the plan in the best interest of their plan participants. They must be prudent, diversify, and manage costs, said Jon Chambers, a retirement-plan consultant with SageView. Employers who fall short can get sued. The St. Louis law firm Schlichter Bogard & Denton has won or settled lawsuits against 13 companies on behalf of more than 1 million 401(k) investors, alleging excessive fees and mismanagement. Some 403(b) plans are subject to this act, but public-education 403(b) plans are not, so there is no federal law that imposes fiduciary requirements on these plans, attorney Bruce Ashton wrote on Plansponsor.com. Some states have laws similar to the federal one, but Californias does not apply to public school employers, other than to make sure that employees salary deferrals go to the right vendor. Employers who offer a 401(k) plan generally choose one company to administer it. The plan offers a number of investment options, typically mutual funds. The average number is 25, according to Brightscope, but some research suggests that once you get past 10 or 14 options, participation rates drop. In California, public-school employees have thousands of options. Thats because school districts cannot choose or endorse a plan provider. In fact, they must allow any qualified vendor to sell plans to their employees, as long as they register with 403bcompare.com. The average California public school employee has 30 to 35 vendors to choose from, said Michael Wilson, the systems 403bcompare.com administrator. Each vendor offers one to more than a dozen different plans or products, each with different fees and multiple investment options in some cases more than 100. Vanguard offers just one plan, but with 97 mutual funds. Overwhelmed, many school employees dont pick a plan (Wilson estimates that only 20 to 30 percent participate) or get sold one by vendors who show up in their school lunchroom. These visits often give the impression that the vendors have been vetted or approved by the school. They have not. They come to our school quite a few times a year, said Michael Lee, a third-grade teacher at Lakeshore Elementary in San Francisco. They are pretty slick, they offer free lunch in the teachers lounge, they have their laptops, then offer to meet with us individually. About 18 years ago, Lee agreed to a visit in his home and opened a 403(b) with Americo, an insurance company. Around five years later, he got a card in his mailbox at work from Transamerica, had another home visit, and opened a second 403(b) with them. At the time, 403bcompare did not exist and Lee did not think to ask about commissions or fees. Not surprisingly, companies that have money for lunches and home visits tend to have the highest fees and commissions. Wilson said the states three biggest 403(b) vendors are large insurance companies. Angelia Brye-Jones, a third-grade teacher in Sacramento, signed up for a 403(b) plan at a free lunch that also included a $100 gift card of her choice. She chose Starbucks because that was my addiction at the time, she said. She transferred $100,000 from another plan into the account. When she discovered the fees were costing her $100 a month, she wanted to transfer the money out, until she found out it was going to cost me $8,000 to $10,000 in surrender fees, she said. So she left the money there but opened a lower-cost account elsewhere. Los Angeles Unified School District has banned vendors from soliciting employees on campus. A 2002 bill would have required California school districts to select and provide options to its employees from among the registered vendors and allow them to limit the availability of investment products, taking into consideration factors including administrative burden and fees. When the 403(b) industry threw a fit, that language was stricken from the bill and a watered-down version passed. It required the teachers retirement system to set up a registration process for vendors and an impartial information bank to compare them. The result was 403bcompare.com. (This site has nothing to do with the traditional defined benefit pension plan the system runs for educators.) Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes The upgrade, announced last week, was the first since the site was launched in 2004. Instead of relying on vendors to input performance information, that data is now drawn from Morningstar, although it will always be from the end of the prior year. The improved site makes it easier for educators (including those at community colleges) to compare some costs. From the home page, click on compare products and use the drop-down menu on the left to choose a school district. Then, use the menus on top to sort by cost (from low to high) or to enter a particular vendor. Here you will see four types of costs. The colorful gauge that looks like a speedometer shows whether the average expense ratio of the underlying investment options is low, medium or high. But this is only one cost component, and your average expense ratio could be higher or lower depending on which investments you choose. To the left of the gauge, under annual costs, you will see how much you would hypothetically pay on a $10,000 investment each year in account maintenance, custodial and other fees, including the average expense ratio. To see a breakout of these fees, click on cost details. Some of these fees are a flat amount, some are a percentage of assets. As your account grows, asset-based fees increase, while flat fees will not. Also note that some fees could apply separately to each fund in your portfolio. Vanguards annual cost of just $41 includes a $15 custodial fee, but thats for one fund. Whats not clear is that if you own more than one fund, you will pay $15 a year for each. Another low-cost option is Pension 2, which is offered by the retirement system itself, separate from the mandatory defined benefit plan it runs. The upgraded website shows whether each vendor charges a commission when money is invested, or a surrender fee when it is withdrawn. Unfortunately, it doesnt say what these commissions are. Youll have to ask. And you might be shocked by the answer. Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender A felon who had repeatedly violated a restraining order tried to outrun, out-jump and out-swim officers in Napa Friday before he was arrested, police said. Officers were hunting for Justin Martin, 22, about 11:45 a.m. in a residential area in the 600 block of River Glen Drive, just a few blocks from the Napa River, said Cpl. Robert Chambers with the Napa Police Department. Martin was wanted on suspicion of violating his parole and a felony warrant. When officers spotted him, he took off running, Chambers said. Police tackled him, but Martin managed to fend them off and escape. He jumped into the Napa River and swam to the other side, Chambers said. A perimeter was set up and he was located, Chambers said. Police advised people to avoid the area as they worked to catch Martin. When Martin reached the opposite bank of the river, a police dog was waiting for him. He physically assaulted the canine, and when he saw police officers waiting for him nearby, he jumped back into the water and swam in the direction he came from, Chambers said. Officers briefly lost sight of him, but eventually arrested him when he popped out of a 3-foot diameter storm drain nearly 80 yards from the river near an apartment complex in the 3300 block of Soscol Avenue, Chambers said. It took a robot to venture into the pipe in an effort to locate Martin, police said. Police estimated that Martin crawled more than 600 feet through the pipe before he emerged back on the surface. 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. Its a real wooded area along the river and he located a storm drain that dumps out to the river, Chambers said. And so he entered the storm drain right at the edge of the river and crawled through that. Martin was arrested nearly an hour after the chase started and is facing another felony charge of resisting arrest. Police did not immediately say what offense Martin was on parole for or comment on the felony he was wanted on. Chambers said Martin was suspected of violating a restraining order. Two officers sustained minor injuries in the incident. Neither was taken to the hospital. Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani Evan Sernoffsky A 23-year-old man stabbed his mother repeatedly inside their Livermore home as he yelled that he was going to kill her, authorities said Friday. Andrew Yoon was arrested March 25 shortly after 1 p.m., according to an arrest warrant obtained by The Chronicle. A spokesman for the Livermore Police Department confirmed the incident, but he declined to elaborate or specify the name of the suspect. James Steidl / James Steidl / ST A San Francisco man who laundered millions of dollars in drug money through a discount store he owned in the city was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison, prosecutors said Friday. Herman Keese, 57, was sentenced in Sacramento on Thursday to 13 years and eight months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of California. He had pleaded guilty in August 2016 to drug trafficking and money laundering charges. In politics, nice guys dont necessarily finish last. But they do tend to get overlooked. Because Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, has been a fairly measured and soft-spoken member of Congress over the course of his career, he hasnt attracted the attention that flows toward the political knife-fighters and backroom brawlers who populate cable television and talk radio. But his critical role in the investigation of potential Russian influence on last years presidential election has changed all that. While Schiffs profile has risen dramatically, the Washington press corps doesnt seem to know what do with an important political figure who isnt abrasive, obnoxious or combative. One of the nicer adjectives used to describe him has been mild-mannered. Hes also been called milquetoast and, memorably, by the New York Times, more labradoodle than Doberman. The nations political cognoscenti, in other words, have decided that Schiff is not very exciting. Thank goodness. The prospect of a foreign power interfering in our elections is unprecedented. The questions that have arisen about potential involvement by Donald Trumps campaign in those efforts have been even more unsettling. Its not an exaggeration to say that identifying the answers is as stern a test of our democracy, where each of the three branches of government provide a check and balance on the power of the others, as our nation has ever faced. The last thing we need is a bomb-thrower or a partisan zealot as the face and voice of the opposition party. In times of crisis, a little calm goes a long way. The last few months have served as an important reminder to both Trump supporters and opponents of the reasoning that led the nations founders to develop a system of government that prevents one faction, one group or one individual from amassing too much power. We saw how the courts ruled against the presidents proposed travel ban but also provided guidance on how a more narrowly applied rule could pass constitutional muster. Republican congressional majorities have acceded to Trump on some matters but resisted on others. Our system, where the federal government has unifying powers but grants significant authority to state and local governments, has provided a foundation for elected officials in California and elsewhere to challenge the president on a variety of issues. Government civil servants and journalists have fulfilled their responsibilities with a freedom not available in other societies. But weve also been reminded that the system is only as good as the men and women in it. Nowhere has this challenge been more apparent than on the House Intelligence Committee, where Schiff and his California colleague, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, have led the investigation into the potential effect of the Russian governments involvement in last years election. Committee chairman Nunes, to put it as politely as possible, appears to be in over his head. At the time this column was written, no conclusive evidence regarding the motives for his curious behavior in the course of the committees probe has been made public. Serious questions regarding his conduct have not yet been answered, creating bipartisan concerns about the legitimacy of the House inquiry. It now appears that their Senate colleagues will occupy the more impactful role for the foreseeable future. Schiff has had his slip-ups, too. His call for Nunes to step aside in favor of another Republican, even if the substantively correct assessment, made Schiff look overly partisan and should have been left to others. But, on balance, the same caution and circumspection that have kept him from being a more frequent media presence in the past have served him extremely well in such a high-stakes setting now. The worst possible outcome of this investigation would be for it to break down on predictable partisan lines. Principled GOP leaders, who are willing to ask difficult questions of Trump and his team, will be necessary to get to the bottom of this. But were also going to need equally principled Democrats, who can look past their own partisan preferences, to examine the evidence with an unbiased eye. Schiff is a loyal Democrat, of course, but, his criticism of Nunes notwithstanding, he has found a way to conduct himself in a manner that acknowledges his party preference without becoming captive to it. Our system works most effectively when imperfect people do their best to make it work. If more leaders in both parties follow Schiffs example, then we will navigate these troubled waters as successfully as our founders could have hoped. Dan Schnur, who has worked on four presidential and three gubernatorial campaigns, teaches political communications at the University of Southern California and UC Berkeley. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at http://bit.ly/SFChronicleletters.com. Michael Flynn, former national security adviser for the Trump administration, has offered his testimony to the House and Senate investigators looking into the Trump campaigns ties to Russia in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Highly unusual is perhaps the most understated way to describe this request. There could be perfectly benign reasons for Flynns request: cautious advice from his lawyer, Robert Kelner, or genuine fear about testifying in what Kelner describes as a highly politicized environment. But Flynns own statements in the past, which are accurate, are casting a shadow over his request. When you are given immunity, that means you probably committed a crime, Flynn said on Meet the Press in September, when he was a top campaign aide to Trump. Thats also been the experience of U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin. Swalwell, a former prosecutor, said, In my experience, innocent people do not seek immunity. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Swalwell added that, while hes certainly interested in hearing from Flynn, I would prefer not to have any conditions on his testimony. In fact, Flynn has so far found no takers for his offer. That may be because the request comes at an unusual time. The congressional investigations are just getting under way, and the scale of this one is growing by the day. Congress is wise to move cautiously, given all we dont yet know about the extent of the Trump campaigns entanglements with Russia. Plus, the Justice Department may be interested in Flynns testimony. Congress normally tries to avoid disrupting federal investigations and an immunity deal would make it nearly impossible for the Justice Department to prosecute Flynn. Some legal experts have suggested this disruption may be exactly what Kelner is seeking for his client. Making things even weirder, Trump stated his support for Flynns immunity request in a tweet Friday morning. We urge the House and Senate committees investigating foreign interference to proceed with caution on granting any early requests for immunity. Whats most important is for Congress to resolve this issue with credibility, not for members to get dragged into partisan politics. The House Intelligence Committees investigation into the possibility that President Trumps campaign staff colluded with Russia to skew the November election has ground to a halt. Its been sidetracked by a debate over whether committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes has bungled the probe, by possibly cooperating with the White House. Some top Democrats believe the sidetracking may be intentional, a way for Nunes, who served on Trumps transition team, and the White House to stall an investigation that is creeping toward Trumps inner circle. This week, Michael Flynn, Trumps former national security adviser, offered to testify before congressional panels investigating the Russian activity if he is granted immunity from prosecution. He certainly has a story to tell, said Flynns attorney Robert Kelner. Trump tweeted Friday that Flynn should testify under immunity, while at the same time dismissing the investigation as a witch hunt driven by Democrats and the media. Meanwhile, Democrats want Nunes to separate himself from the investigation, saying he no longer has the credibility to lead it in a nonpartisan manner. And they are hoping to pull the probe back on track before voters dismiss it as more partisan noise from Washington. A spokesman for Nunes, R-Tulare, declined to comment Friday when asked about calls for him to resign from the Intelligence Committee because he is too close to the White House to conduct a credible investigation. Over the past two weeks, national media attention has focused on Nunes and why he went to the White House last month to view classified information and then shared it with Trump. Nunes said he told Trump that U.S. intelligence services may have picked up incidental information on the president and his transition team as part of court-approved surveillance of foreign powers. Nunes offered the information to the president without telling his fellow committee members. The New York Times and Washington Post reported that White House staffers helped Nunes get the classified information, even though those staffers could have delivered the intelligence directly to Trump. Nunes has declined to name his source and has not shared the information with his committee. The stories prompted the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, to question whether the White House wished to effectively launder information through our committee to avoid the true source of the information. Intelligence Committee member Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, went even further. Its intentional, Speier said. The whole fiasco with the magical mystery tour to the White House and back was all orchestrated as a diversion to the serious work the committee is scheduled to do. She called Nunes Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. On Saturday, Speier and Michael McFaul, who was ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama, will co-host a sold-out town hall in San Mateo theyre calling, Russia 101. Theyll try to refocus attention on the main objective of the House investigation: Did Americans and Russians collude to compromise the election, which former GOP Vice President Dick Cheney recently likened to an act of war. We are so focused now on what the Trump team did that we forget what the Russians did they violated our sovereignty, said McFaul, who now teaches at Stanford University. We are not focused on that. Other leaders have also pointedly mocked Nunes behavior. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., compared Nunes to the bungling Inspector Clouseau character from The Pink Panther films. On Friday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, ridiculed his bizarre behavior. Also Friday, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, told The Chronicles editorial board: It looks like to me hes doing the bidding of the White House. To me, it looks like smoke bombs being rolled into an investigation. Swalwell is also a member of the Intelligence Committee. Many Democrats think Nunes should recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Speier thinks he should resign from the committee, because if he merely recuses himself the staffers that he put in place will still be there, probably aligned with him. Swalwell doesnt go that far. But he did say Friday that Nunes needs to step aside from the Russia investigation by next week. By the looks of it, weve lost independence, we lost credibility, and were not making progress, Swalwell said. If he wants the credibility, you need to lead our committee on non-Russia matters, he needs to step aside. The window is closing fast, Swalwell said. If we go into this next week and hes still leading the Russia investigation, I dont see how he can lead the committee on the other important business we do. One aspect of the Russian interference that McFaul and Swalwell agree on: the security of future elections. Even though the elections were several months ago, we have done nothing that I know of to make our electoral process more secure and more sovereign from cyberterrorist threats, McFaul said. Swalwell, who has access to classified information, agreed. We have done nothing, especially as far as securing our state databases, he said. Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli Russia 101 town hall Rep. Jackie Speier and former Ambassador Michael McFaul will host a sold-out town hall from 3 to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The gathering will be streamed live on Speiers Facebook page and will be shown on public access channels Comcast 27, AT&T 99 and Astound 26. Dining at Alba Rays made me want to head to the airport and fly to New Orleans. It brought back fond memories of my trips there. At most Southern-inspired restaurants here in the Bay Area the food doesnt come close to evoking memories of the French Quarter. No, most Cajun/Creole restaurants outside of New Orleans are mediocre imitations. Alba Rays is different. I was initially captured by the feel of the interior with its wrought-iron dividers that could have come from Bourbon Street, the round tables and chairs that look as if they were lifted from an ice cream parlor and the solid bar that dominates the room. The animated crowd, the sound of cocktails being mixed and the toasty smell of roux and spices that permeate many dishes all contributed to the nostalgic feeling. I was impressed with the earthy, fragrant sauce of the Creole barbecued shrimp ($16.25), appropriately served with lightly grilled bread to sop up the bold remains of the sauce; the crumbly texture and meaty flavor of boudin balls ($8) accented with pickled okra and creole mustard aioli; the briny essence of char-broiled Gulf oysters with herb butter and Romano cheese ($21); and the seductive aroma of rabbit stew ($19). And to prove the kitchens commitment to whole animal cooking, theres also juicy grilled rabbit sausage on creamy grits ($14.25), one of my favorite starters. But it wasnt until dessert when the beignets with salted caramel arrived that I was totally convinced that chef Adam Rosenblum and his team could successfully channel the essence of New Orleans. I was further impressed by the talent behind the bar. The bartenders added just the right licorice nuances of absinthe to make the sazarac ($9), a cocktail that seemed even more boozy and intense alongside the spicy food. Their spot-on versions of the Vieux Carre ($12), with both whiskey and cognac, and the Ward Eight, with bourbon, orange, lemon and grenadine served over a large cube of ice, helped to buoy the spirits. Turns out that Rosenblum, who is also the chef at Causwells, spent time in New Orleans working for Donald Link at Herbsaint and Cochon. There are many good chefs in that city, but Link is one of my favorites. In addition, the chef de cuisine is Matt Woods, a New Orleans native, who was previously executive chef of Schmidts. The restaurant is owned by the group who conceived Popsons and Causwells, which are both fine neighborhood places, but it feels as if Alba Rays, in the Mission Street space that was the home of the short-lived Hapa Ramen, is destined to be a destination. Its one of the few places Ive seen mirliton, or chayote, highlighted, made into a coleslaw with pickled onions ($5.75). Its a refreshing counterpoint to some of the full-bodied dishes such as the shrimp and grits ($25.50) permeated with raw-tasting spices, and the red beans and rice enriched with andouille sausage ($8). Blue crab stuffed flounder ($29.50) comes with the mirliton slaw, a pleasant addition to the fish. Stuffed fish rarely live in harmony, but here the flounder and crab arent derailed by heavy seasoning or sauces and are allowed to shine. John Storey/Special to the Chronicle Theres an appropriate heartiness in the salad ($11.25) with grilled escarole, matchsticks of celery root, croutons that conveniently shatter on impact and slices of hard cooked eggs harmonized with a creamy herb dressing. Not everything, however, passes muster. The mac and cheese with guanciale ($9) didnt benefit from the use of cockscomb-shaped pasta, and the sauce tasted more of bechamel than cheese. The mixed pork ($49), by far the most expensive item on the menu, should have been better. The pork belly was heavily smoked and the sausage lightly seasoned, but the loin couldnt be saved from blandness, even with the fresh herb sauce. The warm potato salad underneath didnt bring anything to the combination. It was under-seasoned and dry; the inverse of what you expect from this bold cuisine. John Storey/Special to the Chronicle Our waiters were as friendly as a Southern cousin; they frequently stop by to see if everything is OK or to shoot the breeze for a minute or two. When I saw the waiter spooning out Creole chicken and pork jambalaya ($17 a person) to a twosome obviously on a date, I had flashbacks to Galatoires. It reminded me how table-side service promotes a convivial spirit. Aside from the beignets ($6.75), the kitchen does an exceptional job on another staple: pralines ($6.25). In this cozy atmosphere, you can easily get into an hour-long conversation as to how to pronounce the word. (Is it praw-leens or pray-leens?) Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. John Storey/Special to the Chronicle At too many other restaurants, the pralines can be grainy and tooth-achingly sweet. Here they are smooth and creamy, thickly studded with pecans. It was yet another reminder that its time to go back to New Orleans, a city that has as much passion for food as San Francisco. Alba Rays Food: Service: Atmosphere: Prices: $$$ Noise: BOMB 2293 Mission St. (at 19th Street), San Francisco; (415) 872-9409 or albarays.com. Open for dinner 5:30-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, and until midnight Friday-Saturday (bar snacks available until midnight weekdays and until 1 a.m. weekends). Full bar. 4% S.F. surcharge. Reservations and credit cards accepted. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate James Rosenquist, who helped define Pop Art in its 1960s heyday with his boldly scaled painted montages of commercial imagery, died Friday in New York City. He was 83. His wife, Mimi Thompson, said Mr. Rosenquist died at his home after a long illness. Like his contemporaries Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Mr. Rosenquist developed a powerful graphic style in the early 1960s that traditionalists reviled and a broad public enthusiastically embraced. The Pop artists took for their subject matter images and objects from the mass media and popular culture, including advertising, comic books and consumer products. They also employed techniques that until then had been associated primarily with commercial and industrial methods of production, like silk screening or, in Mr. Rosenquists case, billboard painting. Mr. Rosenquist drew on his experience painting immense movie billboards above Times Square and a Hebrew National sign in Brooklyn. It was while working in New York as a sign painter by day and an abstract painter by night that he had the idea to import the giant-scale, broadly painted representational pictures from outdoor advertising into the realm of fine art. Was importing the method into art a bit of a cheap trick? the critic Peter Schjeldahl wrote in the New Yorker in 2003 on the occasion of a ballyhooed retrospective of Mr. Rosenquists work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. So were Warhols photo silk-screening and Lichtensteins limning of panels from comic strips. Mr. Rosenquists paintings rarely contained overt political messages, but his best-known work, the enormous F-111, was made in 1964 and 1965 in part as a protest against U.S. militarism. In it, the image of a modern fighter plane stretching 86 feet across a grid of 51 canvas and aluminum panels is interrupted by images of a colossal tire, a beach umbrella, a mushroom cloud, spaghetti and tomato sauce, and a little girl under a chrome hair dryer that resembles a warhead. He meant to sell the painting as separate panels, but the collector Robert Scull bought it whole and kept it that way. It is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. James Albert Rosenquist was born in Grand Forks, N.D., on Nov. 29, 1933, and grew up in various towns in Minnesota and Ohio before his parents settled in Minneapolis in 1944. His father, Louis, was an airplane mechanic, among other things. His mother, Ruth, an amateur painter who could also fly a plane, encouraged his interests in art, and he won a scholarship to study at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts when he was in junior high school. In 1955, Mr. Rosenquist received a one-year scholarship to the Art Students League in New York, arriving with $350 in his pocket, he said. He studied there with Will Barnet, Edwin Dickinson and George Grosz, among others. He also began frequenting the Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village, a gathering place for painters and poets. There was Bill de Kooning, Franz Kline, Mr. Rosenquist told the New York Times in 2003. After leaving school the next year, he held a series of odd jobs before returning to sign painting, joining the sign painters union and working mostly for the Artkraft Strauss Sign Corp., which painted some of the largest billboards in the world. Much of the aesthetic of my work comes from doing commercial art, Mr. Rosenquist said. I painted pieces of bread, Arrow shirts, movie stars. It was very interesting. Before I came to New York, I wanted to paint the Sistine Chapel. I thought this is where the school of mural painting exists. You were painting things up close, like big chocolate cakes. In Brooklyn, I painted Schenley whiskey bottles two stories high, 147 of them over every candy store. He continued the work until 1960, when he quit for good after two co-workers fell from a scaffold and died. During the course of his career, Mr. Rosenquist experimented with sculptural assemblage and environmental installations, and he sometimes attached three-dimensional objects to his pictures. But he remained mainly a representational painter. In later years, some of his paintings approached a kind of futuristic, kaleidoscopic abstraction, but the play with different sorts of images and illusions persisted. His first marriage, to Mary Lou Adams, ended in divorce. He is survived by Thompson, his second wife; his son John, from his first marriage; his daughter Lily, from his second marriage; and a grandson, Oscar. Mr. Rosenquists first solo exhibition, at the Green Gallery in 1962, sold out. That same year, his work was included in a survey of new art at Sidney Janis Gallery called International Exhibition of the New Realists that put what would soon come to be known as Pop Art on the map of contemporary consciousness. In 1965, he showed F-111 in his first exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery, which by then represented most of major Pop artists. In later years, he spent much of his time in Aripeka, Fla., where he kept a home, an office and studio space. A catastrophic fire destroyed the properties in 2009. William Acquavella, the New York art dealer, said Mr. Rosenquist lost a significant amount of work in the fire. He just rebounded from it, he said. Another guy would have had a tougher time bouncing back. But he enjoyed working, he enjoyed creating things, and he enjoyed painting. Ken Johnson is a New York Times writer. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SFMOMA is putting the "art" in artificial intelligence. Since its reopening last year, SFMOMA has sought methods of marrying art to technology as a means of enhancing accessibility and education. The museum's latest endeavor is a texting service Called "Send Me SFMOMA." By texting (415) 796-0446 with a request such as "send me ocean," the server will respond moments later with an image from the SFMOMA collection, including the title, the artist, and the year of its creation. SFGATE sent a series of queries to the number, and the responses were both enlightening, inspiring, and sometimes outright hilarious. "Send me Raiders," for example, responded with the following message: "We could not find any matches. Maybe try 'Send me San Francisco' or 'Send me the ocean.'" A search for cats returned Robert Rauschenberg's "Catastrophe." More for you 2 masters side by side at SFMOMA Click through the above gallery for other responses from SFGATE's texting experiment. This is not artsy sorcery. The project, which is still in beta testing, was dreamed up by SFMOMA's creative technologist, Jay Mollica. Mollica helped create a public API that allows the public to request data and have it delivered in a usable form. Read more about the new tech on SFMOMA's website. "In making the data public and usable," reads an article on the institution's site, "the museum's API, like the museum itself, becomes a platform for open, hands-on exploration." The texting service is also just plain fun, and unlike your children or love interest, SFMOMA will always text back. Text (415) 796-0446 with "Send me ___" to try it out yourself. Read Michelle Robertsons latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com. Rallies and protest events are a part of political life in the Bay Area. Heres a roundup of whats happening. Sunday Cesar Chavez march: Farmworkers march in protest of President Trumps anti-immigration agenda. The march begins at 10 a.m. at Roseland Village Shopping Center, 777 Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa. For information: www.facebook.com/events/270650016701606. Connecting with activists: Take Back America, a fair where attendees can connect with activists and advocacy groups. Noon to 3 p.m. in Fiesta Hall at the San Mateo County Event Center, 1346 Saratoga Drive in San Mateo. To register: www.eventbrite.com/e/take-back-america-tickets-32982865639 Author series: Arlie Russell Hochschild will discuss her new book, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. The event starts at 9:30 a.m. at Grace Cathedral, Gresham Hall, 1100 California St. in San Francisco. For information: www.gracecathedral.org/events/arlie-russell-hochschild. Monday Panel on nuclear weapons: Morality of the Nuclear Age discussion, featuring Richard Rhodes, Ira Helfand and Martin Hellman. The event is from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Sacred Heart Schools, Harman Auditorium, 150 Valparaiso Ave. in Atherton. For more information: www.tech4gs.org/morality_and_geopolitics_of_the_nuclear_age. Wednesday Growth politics: Fixing the Bay Areas Growth Politics, a conversation on issues affecting the Bay Area, including environmental quality and social justice. The free event is at 6 p.m. at SPUR Oakland, 1544 Broadway. For information: www.spur.org/events/2017-04-05/fixing-bay-area-s-growth-politics. Discussion on Medicare: Medicare for All in California presented by Dr. Paul Song, co-chair of Campaign for a Healthy California, at the San Mateo County Democracy for America meeting. The event begins at 7 p.m. at Woodside Road United Methodist Church, 2000 Woodside Road in Redwood City. Admission is free. For information: www.smcdfa.org. Saturday Immigration seminar: Know Your Rights, a presentation and training for pro bono attorneys and others to help immigrant communities. The event, hosted by Canal Alliance Communication, is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Guzman Hall, Dominican University, 50 Acacia Ave. in San Rafael. For information on tickets, contact Sara Matson at SaraM@canalalliance.org or (415) 306-0429. Flash mob: A flash mob at 1 p.m. at the cable car turnaround, 1 Powell St. in San Francisco, to sing the song I Cant Keep Quiet by MILCK. For information: http://bit.ly/2oazyIG. April 10 Comedy: Benefit performance at the Punch Line Comedy Club for NARAL Pro-Choice America, an organization that promotes abortion care, birth control and paid parental leave. Tickets are $20. The event is at 7:30 p.m. at 444 Battery St. in San Francisco. For tickets: http://bit.ly/NARALPunchLine. April 13 Education discussion: The Lamorinda Democratic Club hosts a conversation on how federal funding will affect public education. The event is at 7 p.m. at the Lafayette Library and Community Center, 3491 Mount Diablo Blvd. For information: www.ldclub.org. April 15 Tax march: Protesters will march to demand that President Trump release his tax returns. A San Francisco march will start at 1 p.m. at 11th and Market streets. For information: http://bit.ly/2m5xWOA. In San Jose, a march is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Details are being confirmed. For information: http://bit.ly/2nSMxO7. Pro-Trump rally: The event is to promote free speech. Noon to 4 p.m. in Berkeley. Details are being confirmed. For information: www.facebook.com/events/185364111955870/?active_tab=discussion. Anti-Trump protest: Afamily-friendly event where attendees will use their bodies to spell out an enormous challenge to our current president. The exact message has not been finalized. The event begins at 10:30 a.m. and attendees are asked to meet 300 yards south of the Cliff House Restaurant, 1090 Point Lobos Ave., in San Francisco. For information: www.facebook.com/events/214702565673803. If you missed it ... In a week when Samsung asked us to forgive it for that sick burn, we also saw ... Uber disrupt the English language in its first-ever diversity report, which included the term Jewber. The company said Shalom, its Jewish employee group, made up the name for themselves, but that didnt stop people from criticizing it. The general reaction could be summed up with this one-word tweet: No. For the curious: Uber employees in general call themselves Uberettos. It was hard to come up with something that sounds worse than Uberer, but they did it. Innovation! Two online marketplaces for pet-sitting services, Rover of Seattle and DogVacay of Santa Monica, merge. Terms werent announced, but the companies said that together they booked $150 million in services in 2016, taking a 20 percent cut. Rovers Seattle office will be the headquarters and the DogVacay team will see 22 layoffs. Insert joke about dog-eat-dog competition here. Puma capitalize on Uniteds woes. After the airline got grief for enforcing what some saw as an outdated dress code on two teenagers flying free on an employee pass, the athleisure vendor, er, pounced. We fly in our leggings, Puma tweeted. Bring your United ticket to any US Puma store for 20 percent off leggings. Now until April 9. Stay Fly. And in an apparent comment on the virtues of zero-emissions electric vehicles, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweet a sketch of a unicorn with a puff of air emerging from its backside. Besides that, he was also demonstrating a hidden feature that lets you doodle on a Teslas touchscreen. Is this what the Autopilot function is for? Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techchronicle Samsungs new Galaxy S8 (and its bigger sibling, the Galaxy S8 Plus) are designed to reintroduce the public to Samsung as the company tries to put the fiery death of the Galaxy Note7 behind it. And, as first impressions go, this is a doozy. If Samsung is trying to wow us into trusting it again, its done a pretty good job with this highly polished, distinctive pair of devices. The obvious star of the show here is the screen, which takes up nearly all of the front of the new smartphones. Samsung has managed to maximize the screen here by concealing the physical home button underneath the screen, and using virtual buttons that can disappear when theyre not in use. The result is surprisingly impressive. Given that Samsung has had a similar edge-to-edge design on the Galaxy S7 Edge for a couple of years now, I wasnt expecting to be impressed by a little more room. But kicking out the home button does make a noticeable difference on the phone giving you more screen on which to surf, work and watch videos. The change does give both the S8 and S8 Plus a slightly weird screen size they feel just a bit too tall for their width that may be annoying to watch video on over time. The Galaxy S8 has a 5.8-inch screen, while the S8 Plus has a 6.2-inch screen. Despite the odd shape, both models provide a lot of screen for a phone that I can use conveniently with one hand. Thats not something I could say of the Note 7, which had a 5.7-inch screen. I cant even really say that of the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus. I thought the virtual buttons might throw me off as well, given my experience with similar designs in the past. But Samsung seems to have done a good job in making sure the buttons are always accessible, at least from what I saw. The phone is also very fast and feels powerful. I spent a little time with Samsung DeX, the desktop mode that lets you plug your phone into a monitor and special dock (sold separately for about $160), which was also impressive at first blush. Samsungs secured full support for Microsoft Office for the mode, which makes it feel about as capable as a netbook one that also shows you your text, call and other notifications. You can pair a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to the DeX dock, or opt to plug one in, so you can use all the same keyboard commands youre used to, as well as the option to drag and drop. Samsung has included many of the features that made its phones great in the first place, including the option to expand the memory with your own SD card and waterproofing. It even improved the quality of the front-facing, a.k.a. selfie, camera. Its now 8 MP, up from 5 MP on the S7, and will now auto-focus on faces. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the look and capabilities of the S8 and S8 Plus, and would tentatively say its worth upgrading from an S7. (And certainly from an S6.) That said, theres so much about the phone that we still dont know. Yes, of course, theres the question of whether it will suffer the same battery problems as the Note7 unlikely, given Samsungs new safety measures, but also not impossible. Its worth remembering that the Note7 had rave reviews, too. Until the fires started. And there are also some things that Samsung has promised that Ill need to try for a while before I pass final judgment. For example, I didnt get any real sense of how effective Bixby, the companys new voice assistant, worked in conversation demonstration halls are notoriously noisy. The features I did see, including its ability to search online for product just by snapping a picture of something, were still in tightly controlled demonstration mode. Thats a pretty important feature to try before coming to a decision on whether this is a phone Id recommend over, say, an iPhone. Because while the new screen design is nice and it is, it should be said again, very pretty a little bit of beauty is not whats going to persuade people to drop $700 or $800 on a phone. Hayley Tsukayama is a Washington Post writer. A 23-year-old man stabbed his mother repeatedly inside their Livermore home as he yelled that he was going to kill her, authorities said Friday. Andrew Yoon was arrested March 25 shortly after 1 p.m., according to an arrest warrant obtained by The Chronicle. A spokesman for the Livermore Police Department confirmed the incident, but he declined to elaborate or specify the name of the suspect. A San Francisco man who laundered millions of dollars in drug money through a discount store he owned in the city was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison, prosecutors said Friday. Herman Keese, 57, was sentenced in Sacramento on Thursday to 13 years and eight months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of California. He had pleaded guilty in August 2016 to drug trafficking and money laundering charges. For nearly two decades, Bill OReilly has been Fox News top asset, building the No. 1 program in cable news for a network that has pulled in billions of dollars in revenues for its parent company, 21st Century Fox. Behind the scenes, the company has repeatedly stood by OReilly as he faced a series of allegations of sexual harassment or other inappropriate behavior. An investigation by the New York Times has found five women who have received payouts from either OReilly or the company in exchange for agreeing to not pursue litigation or speak about their accusations against him. The agreements totaled about $13 million. Two settlements came after the networks former chairman, Roger Ailes, was dismissed last summer in the wake of his own sexual harassment scandal, when the company said it did not tolerate behavior that disrespects women or contributes to an uncomfortable work environment. The women who made allegations against OReilly either worked for him or appeared on his show. They have complained about a wide range of behavior, including verbal abuse, lewd comments, unwanted advances and phone calls in which it sounded as if OReilly was masturbating, according to documents and interviews. The reporting suggests a pattern: As an influential figure in the newsroom, OReilly would create a bond with some women by offering advice and promising to help them professionally. He then would pursue sexual relationships with them, causing some to fear that if they rebuffed him, their careers would stall. Of the five settlements, two were previously known one for about $9 million in 2004 with a producer, and another struck last year with a former on-air personality, which the Times reported on in January. The three other settlements were uncovered by the Times. Two involved sexual harassment claims against OReilly, and the other was for verbal abuse related to an episode in which he berated a young producer in front of newsroom colleagues. Besides the women who reached settlements, two other women have spoken of inappropriate behavior by the host. A former regular guest on his show, Wendy Walsh, told the Times that after she rebuffed an advance from him, he didnt follow through on a verbal offer to secure her a lucrative position at the network. And former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros said OReilly sexually harassed her in a lawsuit she filed last summer against the network and Ailes. In a statement, OReilly suggested that his prominence had made him a target. Just like other prominent and controversial people, the statement read, Im vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity. In my more than 20 years at Fox News Channel, no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline. Fredric Newman, a lawyer for OReilly, said in a statement Friday evening, We are now seriously considering legal action to defend Mr. OReillys reputation. Emily Steel and Michael S. Schmidt are New York Times writers. Susan Walsh/Associated Press When the American Bar Association, which evaluates federal judicial candidates, gave President Trumps Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, its highest rating of well qualified, the assessment was applauded by Republican leaders and celebrated in a tweet by White House press secretary Sean Spicer. The acclaim from an established and generally respected source in the legal profession gave a boost to Gorsuchs prospects for Senate confirmation, scheduled for a vote next week. But the 400,000-member association, the nations largest group of lawyers, said Friday that Trump has now cut off its access to the names of prospective federal judges. Its the same action President George W. Bush took in 2001, ending a pre-nomination screening practice that had begun under President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953. President Barack Obama restored the screenings in 2009. Two Santa Rosa teenagers were arrested late Friday after they allegedly attacked and stabbed a police officer who had responded to reports of drug use inside an apartment. Bethany Weir, 18, of Santa Rosa was booked into Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility Saturday morning on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, and a female juvenile, whose name was not released, was charged with battery on a police officer after the scuffle. Is California to blame for Donald Trump? That might seem a preposterous question to ask of a state that voted so decisively against the new president that it was responsible, all by itself, for his loss of the popular vote. Yet, the presidents opponents and allies have fingered California as the place that produced Trumpism. The case starts with hard geographic facts. Twitter, which the president uses to spew bile, is a California creation. Reality television, which turned the real-estate developer into a national entertainer, is a Hollywood gimcrack. And Breitbart the alt-right media entity that modeled the toxic mix of xenophobia, authoritarianism and conspiracy-mongering that is Trumpism is based in L.A. Also, many leading figures in Trumps world have California ties. Among these are top White House strategist Steve Bannon, who lived in L.A. while working in Hollywood; top Trump policy aide Stephen Miller, from Santa Monica; Breitbart writer-turned-presidential special assistant Julia Hahn; influential Trump national security official Michael Anton; and UC Irvine economist Peter Navarro, now helping Trump unmake the global trade system. More broadly, as Jason Willick and James Hitchcock showed in the American Interest, a digital magazine devoted to studying the United States place in the world, California thinkers including billionaire Peter Thiel, the Hoover Institutions Victor Davis Hanson, Bay Area entrepreneur Ron Unz, software developer Curtis Yarvin, journalist Mickey Kaus, blogger Steve Sailer, and affiliates of the Claremont Institute have helped build a case for Trumps disruptive, anti-immigrant nationalism. The leap from this roster to the idea of Trumpism as California product involves many competing narratives, most of which divide into two camps. Those who dislike Trump point out that Trumpism draws from various historical strains of prejudice that California incubated: anti-Chinese laws in the 19th century, the Japanese internment during World War II; the California Legislatures persecution of people for un-American activities (before Joe McCarthy), and anti-immigrant politics in the second half of the 20th century. Even today, our most high-profile industries Hollywood and Silicon Valley practice exclusionary policies, visible in everything from the paucity of minority leads in films, to the sexism in the executive suite at Uber. Those more sympathetic to Trump argue the converse proposition that California has been far too welcoming to immigrants, embracing demographic change at a pace thats too fast for too many people. The American Interest essay identified Trumpism as a backlash against mass immigration ... which produced a demographic transformation of the Golden State without parallel in the rest of the country. The Trumpians themselves have gone further, justifying their bigotry as a rebellion against Californias supposedly tyrannical liberalism and political correctness. Miller, Trumps aide, railed against diversity programs at his own Santa Monica High; Bannon has called the presence of Asian American CEOs in Silicon Valley a sign of breakdown in American civil society. Its tempting to dismiss such flawed logic out of hand. Most children know that its wrong to blame ones own poor conduct on the conduct of others. And California contains so many multitudes that it has long been a big, rich, easy target for any narrative of blame. Success makes so many people hate you, Marilyn Monroe, child of Los Angeles, once said. But the Trump as California product narratives, though bogus, touch on just enough truth that they deserve a more impassioned response. That response starts with acknowledging Californias problematic history, and present. The liberals in charge here really do have feet of clay, prejudice remains too present, and the state faces big challenges in infrastructure, housing and schooling. But we also should assert our hard-earned success: California has made profound progress in becoming a more inclusive place. It was not easy; we had to survive the L.A. riots and divisive 1990s ballot fights over immigration and affirmative action. Despite predictions from the left (especially the writer Mike Davis) and from the right that a diverse California would come apart, our state is better off by nearly every measure. As we became more diverse, our inner cities became safer, our valleys less polluted, our people better educated. California is thus the most effective rebuttal of Trumps false and bigoted claims that American inner cities are full of violence, that immigrants bring danger and voting fraud, and that foreigners are taking American jobs. Which is why the Trumpians are so fixated on discrediting California. Its tempting to call such people traitors to California, but that would give them too much credit and feed their overdeveloped sense of victimhood. Theyre really opportunists, who irresponsibly scapegoat a whole state for its supposed bigotry when their bigoted appeals have elevated them to power in Washington. California has its problems and prejudices. But thats no excuse for Trumpians to put their crap on our home state. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Corey Hancock was hiking in Oregon on Monday night when he came across a struggling black bear cub. The hiker told Inside Edition that the bear appeared to be "abandoned and dying." Hancock sprung into action, performing mouth-to-mouth CPR on the cub. "I gave it a few rescue puffs and pushed on his chest," he said. "He took one breath. He was fighting to survive." Hancock then carried the "lifeless creature" over two miles before driving it to a wildlife center near Salem, Ore. What appears as an act of kindheartedness is actually frowned upon by wildlife officials. While the cub is recovering well, he can never be returned to the wild. Removing wildlife from their natural habitat is illegal, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). Hancock could have faced up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine for interfering with the animal. Related video: Bear invades South Lake Tahoe home Oregon State Police told the Inside Edition that Hancock will not face punishment for his well-intentioned, if uninformed, act of wildlife intervention. Hikers are advised to call their local department of fish and wildlife if they see an animal that appears to be sick or injured. Young wildlife should be left where they are, even if they appear alone, as many animals leave their young to forage and hunt. Removing an animal from the wild often reduces its chance of survival. Read Michelle Robertsons latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com. A lawsuit has been filed in Helena District Court seeking an injunction to halt demolition of Central School. Developer Alan Nicholson and his wife Nancy Nicholson filed the suit Wednesday against the City of Helena and Helena Public School District No. 1. The Nicholsons have a long-standing interest in historic preservation. The Helena Public Schools superintendent, school board president and Helena City Attorney say the suit is a setback for the districts children. The Helena City Commission voted Feb. 27 to approve the school districts application for a demolition permit for historic Central School. The school, which was built in 1914 and 1921, was designed by prominent architect George Carsley. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and is in the Downtown Helena Historic District. The school district is running a $63 million bond election May 2 that would build new K-5 schools replacing Central, Jim Darcy and Bryant schools, as well as making security and technology improvements at all the elementary schools, including the middle schools. The May 2 school bond election will go forward as planned, said Superintendent Jack Copps. In their suit, Nicholson contends the City of Helena didnt follow the requirements of the Helena Historic Preservation Ordinance or its Growth Policy in issuing the demolition permit. In an interview Friday, Nicholson said the city changed and eliminated some of the requirements of the ordinance to suit the school district, specifically faulting the school districts lack of a site plan. He also said the application for the permit was declared complete when it was not. The suit asks that the city commissions ruling be overturned, said Nicholson, and that the school district come back with another demolition permit application. They could issue a demolition permit again, but the school district would have to give reasons why it is seeking demolition, and the city would have to correct its application of the ordinance, said Nicholson. There would have to be a site plan. The school board favored renovating Central in the 2015 bond, Nicholson said, adding that since then no new engineering reports have come out since then indicating new problems. The earlier estimated cost for correcting Centrals seismic safety issues was $1,040,000. All of the seismic and safety concerns, as well as issues about inadequate plumbing and electrical systems, would be addressed in a renovation, Nicholson said. The demolition permit sets a bad precedent for anyone in the city who follows and wants to request a demolition permit, Nicholson said. In response to the suit, Copps said, The only thing I can say is Im truly saddened by the event. I hope we can find our way forward and not continue this divisiveness in our community. He added, I have known him (Nicholson) a long time. I am disappointed. The injunction will not affect the bond election, said Copps. The bond election will continue as scheduled. If the bond passes, new schools will be built at Bryant and Jim Darcy schools. If the injunction remains, a new school at Central will be delayed until the injunction is lifted. If that does not happen, theres a real possibility nothing will happen at the Central School site. I think this is incredibly unfortunate timing, said School Board Chair Aidan Myhre. It is really sad for the community of Helena and the kids. I think its incredibly unfortunate for the children in this community in a time when our community is really rallying around and getting behind making a generational investment in our schools and solving problems that have been there for decades -- that the timing of this is completely selfish and unacceptable. I think he is singlehandedly trying to derail this bond -- as he has done in the past for completely selfish reasons." Myhre added, "Whats sad is if hes successful, were not going to have a downtown Central School. Like ever." Were finally on the cusp of getting some enthusiasm back in that school, said Myre, and getting the Central community excited and looking forward to something. That young principal and those teachers and kids, they just deserve so much more. Nicholson denied he is trying to derail the school bond, adding that to not have a school downtown is not a sensible thing to do. Its an empty threat. It would be a foolish and vindictive thing to do. And its something Nicholson vowed he would fight. The Nicholsons have a granddaughter who currently attends Central-Linc School, which is where Central School students were relocated after the downtown building was closed in March 2013 because of seismic safety concerns. Its disappointing, said Helena City Attorney Thomas Jodoin, because its unfortunately going to draw this issue out even further. Obviously the City disagrees with Mr. and Mrs. Nicholsons contentions. All the City was trying to do was follow its process. The complaint conflates two distinct demolition permit processes and applications, he said. There's a demolition permit requirement under state building codes, requiring a site plan for emergency services and utilities before the demolition proceeds. This permit is granted administratively. Historic buildings have to get approval from the city commission for demolition, which is a different process. The city will need to file a response, said Jodoin, adding that he will be sitting down with the city commissioners to see how they want to proceed. To do what Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson think should have been done would have been legally unsupportable, Jodoin said, adding that it would have required the applicant to submit things the code does not require. "Simply because youve done something a certain way in the past...thats not a legal basis to continue to doing it that way. I have to rely on the city code. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MOSCOW First, two television reporters vanished. Then a waiter went missing. Over the past week, men ranging in age from 16 to 50 have disappeared from the streets of Chechnya. On Saturday, a leading Russian opposition newspaper confirmed a story circulating among human rights activists: The Chechen authorities were arresting and killing gay men. While abuses by security services in the region, where Russia fought a two-decade war against Islamic insurgents, have long been a stain on President Vladimir Putins human rights record, gay people had not previously been targeted on a wide scale. The men were detained in connection with their nontraditional sexual orientation, or suspicion of such, the newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, reported, citing Russian federal law enforcement officials, who blamed local authorities. By Saturday, the paper reported and an analyst of the region with her own sources confirmed that more than 100 gay men had been detained. The newspaper had the names of three homicide victims and suspected many others had died in extrajudicial killings. Related Video: Russians rally against Kremlin, despite 'solid popularity' of Putin A spokesman for Chechnyas leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, denied the report in a statement to Interfax on Saturday, calling the article absolute lies and disinformation. You cannot arrest or repress people who just dont exist in the republic, Alvi Karimov told the news agency. If such people existed in Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them, as their own relatives would have sent them to where they could never return. The sweep, like so much else in Russian politics today, was entangled in the countrys troubled politics of street activism. It began, Novaya Gazeta reported, after a Moscow gay rights group, GayRussia.ru, applied for permits to stage gay pride parades in four cities in Russias predominantly Muslim North Caucasus region, of which Chechnya is a part. The group had been applying for permits for gay parades in provincial cities around Russia, and collecting the inevitable denials, to build a case about gay rights and freedom of assembly with the European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, France. Nikolai Alekseev, a gay rights activist coordinating the effort, told Novaya Gazeta he had chosen this tactic rather than staging risky, unsanctioned gay parades. In the restive Muslim regions, Putin has empowered local leaders to press agendas of traditional Muslim values, to co-opt an Islamist underground. The gay pride parade applications became a galvanizing issue. In Chechnya, the command was given for a prophylactic sweep and it went as far as real murders, Novaya Gazeta reported. According to the report, the authorities set to finding and arresting closeted gay men, partly by posing as men looking for dates on social networking sites. Andrew E. Kramer is a New York Times writer. BEIRUT Tens of thousands of displaced Syrians and refugees have returned to an area controlled by Turkey and Turkish-backed opposition fighters in northern Syria, Turkeys foreign minister said Saturday, and U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters pressed their offensive in the north near a town held by the Islamic State group. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglus comments came three days after Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkeys Operation Euphrates Shield that began in August had ended after its troops and allied rebels secured territory along the border between Turkey and Syria. TEHRAN Irans hard-liners are hoping they can benefit from the rise of Donald Trump in upcoming elections, arguing that their own country needs a tougher leader to stand up to an American president whose administration has put the Islamic Republic on notice. They say its time for a revolutionary diplomacy to confront the U.S. after four years of a more conciliatory policy under moderate incumbent President Hassan Rouhani. Hard-liners feel energized by the Trump administrations repeated criticism of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. The agreement found little support among the group, who feel Iran gave too much away in exchange for too little in the way of sanctions relief. The U.S. presidents tough talk on Iran plays into hard-liners hands too, reinforcing anti-American sentiments they can use to rally their base. A group of hard-liners banded together late last year to form the Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces, which is assessing more than a dozen potential candidates. But with less than two months to go before the May 19 election, they have yet to settle on one to run against Rouhani. One potential candidate, Mohsen Rezaei, a former chief of the elite Revolutionary Guard, has lashed out at the administration for lacking revolutionary spirit tough words in a country that prizes the heroes of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that created the current governmental system. A group (of officials) has become hopeless and tired while trying to find a prescription for problems outside the revolutionary framework, he said. A lack of reliable polling in Iran makes it difficult to gauge how the election could play out, particularly given that no hopefuls have formally declared their candidacies yet. But Tehran-based political analyst Soroush Farhadi said Trumps stance on Iran could bode ill for Rouhanis chances because it gives hard-liners a way to denounce his foreign policy of outreach and negotiation with the West and regional rivals. Earlier in March, the current chief of the Guard, Mohmmad Ali Jafari, warned that an un-revolutionary viewpoint that had taken hold in recent years was the greatest danger facing Iran. The daily Javan, which is affiliated with the Guard, has meanwhile criticized the Rouhani administration for choosing smile diplomacy that has done little to improve Irans standing with the rest of the world. While candidate Trump said hed renegotiate or dismantle the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel fiercely opposes, his administration is continuing to implement the accord for now. The administration, meanwhile, has implemented additional U.S. sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program. Nasser Karimi is an Associated Press writer. CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuelas president and Supreme Court backed down Saturday from an unprecedented move to strip congress of its legislative powers that had sparked widespread charges that the South American country was no longer a democracy. President Nicolas Maduro asked the Supreme Court in a speech late Friday to review a ruling nullifying the branch of power that set off a storm of criticism from the opposition and foreign governments. The court on Saturday reinstated congress authority. It was a rare instance of the embattled socialist president backing away from a move to increase his power. Opposition leaders dismissed the reversal as too little too late. They said the clarification issued by the judges only proved yet again that Maduro controls the courts and there is no longer a real separation of powers. The dire situation were living through in Venezuela remains the same. There is nothing to clarify when it comes to respecting the Constitution, said moderate leader and former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles. At the same time, critics celebrated the reversal as proof that cracks are beginning to show in Maduros control of a country spiraling into chaos, with his approval ratings dipping below 20 percent amid the worsening economic and humanitarian crisis. Opposition leaders recast a planned Saturday protest as an open air meeting. Hundreds of supporters joined members of congress in a wealthy Caracas neighborhood to celebrate the rare victory. Later, soldiers fired tear gas on activists who attempted to march on government offices downtown and blocked their path with barricades and armored cars. This is the first time since the opposition won the National Assembly in 2015 that they have managed to get the president to reverse a decision. So this is huge, said Javier Corrales, who teaches Latin American politics at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Maduro issued his instructions to the court after an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on Friday night. The meeting capped an extraordinary day in which Venezuelas chief prosecutor and longtime loyalist of the socialist revolution launched by the late President Hugo Chavez broke with the administration and denounced the court ruling. Luisa Ortega said it was her duty as the nations top judicial authority to decry what she called a rupture of the constitutional order. The Supreme Court had ruled Wednesday that it could assume the constitutionally assigned powers of the National Assembly. Governments across Latin America condemned the ruling, along with the U.S. and the United Nations. Hannah Dreier and Fabiola Sanchez are Associated Press writers. BILLINGS A legislative committee restored millions of dollars in funding for Montana schools on Tuesday, but only did so by draining a different pool of school payments potentially triggering a significant non-voted tax raise for school districts across the state that legislators didn't discuss. The Senate Finance and Claims committee iced School District Block Grants for the next two years, pulling $108 million. The committee backfilled funding through a tax-base equalization payment increase, but it will take years to catch up; over the next two, schools will lose out on $40 million from the grant program. K through 12 will actually have less dollars than prior to our work today," said Sen. Llew Jones, a Conrad Republican who proposed the amendment axing the grants during the committee's Tuesday hearing. But the committee didn't broach the topic of domino-effect local tax increases. In Billings, School District 2 got about $6 million from the grant program this school year; back-filled funding is only slated to replace about half of that next year. For now, it would be up to local taxpayers to make up the difference, and neither they nor schools get a say. The cuts don't decrease the state-mandated budget floor for schools, but they do decrease the money available from the state to pay for the minimum budget; the state funding formula automatically raises non-voted local school taxes to make up the difference. "I feel like we, as public school districts, have no control," SD2 superintendent Terry Bouck said Friday. "It's very difficult when we have to worry about our legislators making cuts to the money they provide and expecting local citizens to pick it up." Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen cheered the budget changes in a press release Tuesday. "As a former legislator, I know that the budget process is fluid," she said in the statement. "I want to thank the Senate Committee for agreeing to put Montana students first today and recognizing the state's responsibility to equitably fund schools." The release doesn't mention the grant program cuts, backfill funding or potential tax raises. Arntzen, a Republican, has alternately praised and criticized legislative funding proposals but largely hasn't weighed in on education bills. Other restored payments affect a patchwork of areas: Funding for the Montana Digital Academy was effectively restored to last biennium's levels after the online class program faced major cuts in earlier proposals. $1.2 million for two years was added to special education funding. $1 million was added for career and technical education over two years; that's still lower than the additional $1 million per year that was added by an SD2-pushed bill that passed in 2015. That funding was only for the current and previous school year. The Data for Achievement payment, which is allocated to help schools cover the cost of required testing and data collection, was restored at $6.3 million. About $220,000 was added to general BASE aid, which pays for school's day-to-day operating expenses. $2.4 million for next school year and $4.1 million the year after was added to help compensate for the elimination of the Natural Resources Development payment, filling a negative fund balance. Elimination of the payment costs schools about $10 million over two years. That money goes into the state general fund instead. $5.8 million was added for school facility support; companion legislation introduces a funding program that lets schools automatically raise non-voted local tax money for facilities and get some matching state money. $3.4 million was added to mitigate tax-based cuts of school districts that depend on coal plants. The amendment was sponsored by Sen. Duane Ankney, who represents Colstrip, where a coal plant is likely to shut down over the next several years. The money would be narrowly distributed and not affect most schools. In total, about $20 million was added to accounts that all schools benefit from. Local shift The backfilled payments would replace the grant money by the 2020-21 school year, Jones said. The changes will hit some schools harder than others; Scobey schools get a large grant payment almost $400,000 for this school year because they have a large proportion of state land in their tax base. That hole is equivalent to about 54 mills before accounting for the extra tax-base equalization payments, Scobey superintendent Dan Schmidt said. "For us, we're gonna feel it a lot," he said. The district is waiting until the budget process wraps up, and if significant tax changes are likely, it will probably send out a letter explaining the differences to taxpayers. In Lockwood, where the K-8 school district gets about $470,000 in grant money, officials are worried about the impact a non-voted increase could have on other tax decisions. "It makes it more difficult to pass local levies," Lockwood superintendent Tobin Novasio said. The district is offering a levy this May. "It's frustrating," said Novasio, who's also the president-elect for the Montana Association of School Superintendents. "I understand that they've got the budget issues in Helena, but it kind of balances it on the backs of the schools." Assuming payments catch up in the 2020-21 school year, the changes actually would help create of more equitable funding system in Montana. The block grant payments use a 2001 funding formula that can reinforce tax base differences; the replacement payments would further level the playing field for schools with weak tax bases. The current tax-equalization payments only partially make up the gap for schools with weak tax bases. MISSOULA The University of Montana is on pace to hit $90 million in research for the 2017 fiscal year, another high mark for the flagship. Vice president for research Scott Whittenburg announced the estimate Friday in a forum with some faculty members and campus research professionals. At the update, he said if UM does bring in that amount, it will be another record. The total would be 14 percent more than last year but Whittenburg joked that it still falls short of his personal goal. "If we can get to $100 million, I can finally retire," he said. At the brief meeting, Whittenburg shared UM's progress, and a couple of faculty members who attended also debated the direction of research on campus on the heels of a controversial recruitment. Another faculty member questioned the money the administration was taking from research dollars. Some members of the campus community were divided recently over the possible hire of a faculty member who does spinal cord research on pigs. Some faculty noted the significant gains in medicine from animal research, but other faculty members and some animal rights activists cited the failures of spinal cord research and urged UM to invest in new technologies instead. UM made an offer to the porcine researcher, but the scientist declined. At the forum Friday, though, ethicist and professor of philosophy Deborah Slicer reiterated the concerns some faculty had raised with the hire. UM is still recruiting for a faculty member in the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science. "We had some obvious moral objections to using large, cognitively very sophisticated animals in studies like this," Slicer said. She wanted to know the status of the recruitment and also whether UM was hoping to pad its budget by bringing in researchers who have a track record of getting grants from the National Institutes of Health, which funds a lot of studies on campus. Animal research on spinal cords has gone nowhere in six decades, she said, and she prefers UM continue to develop its national reputation as a great place to do environmental studies, ecocriticism and other environmentally progressive work. Whittenburg said it isn't his role or that of the administration's to approve or disapprove a faculty hire. But he said he disagreed with Slicer's characterizations and he defended the role of animal research in general as having benefited society greatly. "You had your chance to state your misinformation," Whittenburg said. Professor Brent Ruby also defended the source of research dollars. Ruby, in health and human performance, said the U.S. Department of Defense funds a lot of his work, and critics could accuse him of supporting an agency engaged in unpopular conflicts overseas. "(But) it's not my role to put those boots on the ground," Ruby said. "My role is to do the research to make the boots on the ground safer." His work is on humans and their physical abilities, not on animals, but he said the ethical question of sourcing is similar. Participants and Whittenburg also talked about holding a public forum to discuss research. The idea has been raised in the past to hold a forum on the pros and cons of animal research, but a forum hasn't been organized on research in general, animal studies in particular, or spinal cord research specifically. At the meeting, another faculty member who identified herself only as a researcher and department chair said she wanted to be sure that researchers and their funds are protected from the administration's "sweep" during budget shortfalls. And she didn't want increased research dollars to become a target in the future. The vice president said research money is intended to grow the research enterprise, and when it's used for other things, it doesn't support the goal. At the same time, he said the administration had the right to collect the money it recently took from departments, a portion of the indirect costs. "It was clearly legal for the institution to take those funds," Whittenburg said. Pamela Silvestri | silvestri@siadvance.com Don't Edit Here's the authorative list from Staten Island to Vegas. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. April is Autism Awareness month. And, as the Staten Island food community typically does, our restaurants are ready to rally. Eden II Programs Executive Director, Dr. Joanne Gerenser says, We are excited to have so many restaurants support Autism Awareness Month and Eden II Programs." Twenty-one restaurants have signed onto the effort that sees proceeds on particular items or meals go toward support of programs for autistic Staten Islanders. "We are looking forward to a successful collaboration to help spread awareness about autism and to provide individuals with autism the support and services they so greatly need and deserve, many for their entire lives. This support allows us to continue to help those with autism lead full, happy lives," says Dr. Gerenser. Support also comes from restaurants around the region. So if you work in or visit Manhattan or Long Island, check out some of the venues participating in the program. And, hey, if you're lucky to visit Vegas in April, there are a few games in town serving plates for a purpose. Here is a complete list of participants. For more information on Dine Out 4 Autsim, contact Eden II through Maureen Higgins, Development and PR Associate at 718-816-1422, ext. 1029, or mhiggins@eden2.org. Don't Edit Anthony DePrimo Bayou Proceeds from the Blue Bayou Martini, the cool in the midst of Cajun eats, will be forwarded to Eden II. Bayou is located at 1072 Bay St., Rosebank; 718-273-4383, BayouNYC.com. Don't Edit ( Proceeds from the Blue coconut Martini go to support Autism programs on Staten Island. In the meantime, the tapas and Spanish-themed eats are there for the eating. Beso is located at 11 Schuyler St., St. George; 718-816-8162, BesoNYC.com. Don't Edit Bin 5 The bistro's eclectic menu includes fun with crafty cocktials. Details of the Autism Awareness deal are in the works with any specific foods and beverages. For now, Bin 5 is located at 1233 Bay St.; 718-448-7275, Bin5NYC.com and looking forward to April with the fundraiser. Don't Edit Don't Edit Pamela Silvestri [ Proceeds specifically from the Blue Agave Margarita are donated to the cause for April. Plus, waterside views, the $20.17 prix fixe dinner and seafood selections are among the other reasons to dine here as the weather warms. Blue can be found at 1115 Richmond Terr., Livingston; 718-273-7777, Bluerestaurantnyc.com. Don't Edit Courtesy of Bocelli Bocelli Ten percent of all food on checks will be sent to Eden II for every Monday in the month of April. The restaurant is located at 1250 Hylan Blvd., Grasmere; 718-420-6150, BocelliRest.com. Don't Edit Burrito Bar Twenty five percent of appetizer sales that is appetizers purchased with an entree will be donated to Eden II through April. Find the restaurant at 585 Forest Ave., West Brighton; 718-815-9200. Don't Edit Jan Somma-Hammel DaNoi These yummy croquettes are the signature give-away at DaNoi restaurants, part of the typical dining experience at the upscale Italian eatery. The Fort Wadsworth location 138 Fingerboard Rd., 718-720-1650; Danoinyc.com is participating in the Autism Awareness project and the details for April's donation are forthcoming. Don't Edit Errigo's The restaurant and bar serves pizza and hearty Italian food 500 Bay St. 718-981-5111, Errigos.com. The promotion: 10 percent of food sales the month of April go to Autism Awareness. Don't Edit Don't Edit Ho'Brah The popular Cal-Mex lunch, dinner and weekend brunch spot will see 20 percent of sales from its Maldives Margarita go to Eden II through April. Ho'Brah is located at 412 Forest Ave., West Brighton; 718-442-8226; Hobrahtacos.com. Don't Edit Staten Island Advance File Photo Jimmy Max A selected appetizer on the specials plus drink of the house will be slated for Autism Awareness donations. This holds through the month of April. The restaurant and pub, famed for its pizza, is located at 280 Watchogue Rd., 718-983-6715; JimmyMax.com. Don't Edit Italianissimo For those orders of the Chef's Special Hot and Cold Antipasto, chef/owner Franco Ortega donates 100% of the dish's sales to Eden II in April and May. To drink, there is the Blue Sangria, also an item from which Franco will donate all sales. The restaurant is located at 107 McClean Ave., South Beach; 718-442-4442, Italianissimony.com. Don't Edit jan somma-hammel LaFontana Joe Fauci and family will forward 10 percent of all food sales from Wednesday lunch and dinner service. The long-running Italian restaurant is located at 2879 Amboy Rd., Oakwood; 718-667-4343, Lafontanasi.com. Don't Edit Courtesy of Liberty Tavern Liberty Tavern The trivia game-centric tavern promises 25 percent of Green Tea Shots every Thursday in April will go toward Autism Awareness programs. The American pub is located at 382 Forest Ave., West Brighton; 718-442-8121, LibertyTavernSINY.com. Don't Edit Don't Edit Marina Cafe The handsome marina-side Italian restaurant will donate 10 percent of Monday food sales in April to Eden II progarms. Find Marina at 154 Mansion Ave., Great Kills; 718-967-3077; MarinaCafeSINY.com. Don't Edit Miller's Ale House For the month of April with a coupon from Eden II, the popular pub will give 10% of sales with on April 5th and April 26th to Autism Awareness efforts. Miller's is at 2883 Richmond Ave., New Springville; 718-477-0112, MillersAleHouse.com. Don't Edit Staten Island Advance File Photo O'Neill's These Irish Egg Roll mini's plus Irish Cheesecake, Smithwick's Ale and reuben Burgers will see $1 go toward Eden II. The deal is on for the month of April. Find the Irish eatery at 1614 Forest Ave., Port Richmond; 718-273-4481, OneillStatenIslandcom. Don't Edit Staten Island Advance File Photo Page Diner The Greek Salad at the diner will see all proceeds go to Eden II through April. The 24-hour restaurant is located at 75 Page Ave., 718-668-9200; PagePlazaRestaurant.com. Don't Edit Hilton Flores South Fin Grill See 10 percent of sales every Wednesday and Friday in April go to Autism Awareness. With seafood and a vibrant lounge, the restaurant is located at 300 Father Capodanno Blvd., South Beach; 718-447-0800, SouthFinGrill.com. Don't Edit Don't Edit Stone House at Clove Lakes An appetizer special to be announced daily will be the source of donations for April. The American upscale restaurant, located in Clove Lakes Park, can be found at 1150 Clove Rd., Sunnyside; 718-442-3600, TheStoneHouseSI.com. Don't Edit The Hop Shoppe The promo for the gourmet burger spot and craft beer station will be announced in April. Hop over then to 372 Van Duzer St., Stapleton; 718-448-3400, TheHopShoppe.com. Don't Edit Z-One The 24-hour lounge, restaurant and diner is a participant with deals to be forthcoming. Find it at 1821 Richmond Ave., Charleston; 718-494-9100, Z-OneDinerStatenIsland.com. Don't Edit Pamela Silvestri Z-Two The sister spin-off of Z-One will also host deals for Autism Awareness. Z-Two is located at 2925 Veterans Rd. West; Charleston; 718-494-9100, ZTwoSI.com. Don't Edit Pamela Silvestri Additional restaurants on Staten Island... The Mansion Grand 141 Mansion Ave., Mansiongrand.com Promotion is 5% of restaurant sales (before sales tax and gratuities) the month of April Paulie's Pizzeria 500 Bay St., Stapleton; 718-981-5111, PauliesPizzaSI.com Promotion is 10% of food sales the month of April Don't Edit Don't Edit (Courtesy of Toll Brothers Real Estate) Participating restaurants in Manhattan Bodega Negra Proceeds from special items sold in April 355 W 16th St., 212-229-2336; BodegaNegraNYC.com. Lavo Proceeds from special items sold in April 39 E 58th St., 212-750-5588; Lavony.com. New York Marquee Proceeds from special items sold in April 289 10th Ave., 646-473-0202 Tao Downtown Proceeds from special items sold in April 92 9th Ave., 212-888-2724; Taorestaurant.com Tao Uptown Proceeds from special items sold in April 42 E 58th St., 212-888-2288; Taorestaurant.com Vandal Proceeds from special items sold in April 199 Bowery, 212-400-0199; Vandalnewyork.com Don't Edit Hilton Flores Participating Brooklyn restaurants Ho'Brah 20% of sales from Maldives Margarita 8618 3rd Ave., Bay Ridge; 718-680-8226, Hobrahtacos.com Delia's Lounge & Restaurant 20% of proceeds from special blue drink sold in April 9224 3rd Ave., Bay Ridge; 718-745-7999, Deliaslounge.com Don't Edit Participating Long Island restaurants Mim's Restaurant 100% of Sales for Haus Party Punch (Cocktail) & Blue crab rangoons with sweet chili sauce sold in April 235 Roslyn Rd., Roslyn Heights, 516-625-7305, MimsNY.com Library Cafe 10% of One HOPE wine sold in April 274 Main St, Farmingdale, 516- 752-7678, Lessings.com Finnegan's 10% of One HOPE wine sold in April 5 Wall St, Huntington, 631-423-9696, Lessings.com Southside 10% of One HOPE wine sold in April 395 W. Montauk Hwy., Lindenhurst, 631- 226-4700 Post Office Cafe 10% of One Hope wine sold in April 130 W Main St, Babylon 631-669-9224 Maxwell's 10% of One HOPE wine sold in April 501 Main St., Islip, 631-210-0011 Mill Creek Tavern 100% of Sales for Haus Party Punch (Cocktail) & Blue crab rangoons with sweet chili sauce sold in April 275 Bayville Ave., Bayville, 516-628-2000, Millcreekny.com Tre Sorelle Ristorante 10% of ALL Appetizers off the specials menu sold in April 347 Glen Cove Ave, Sea Cliff, Tresoreleristorante.com Promotions to be announced at the following: Coach Grill & Tavern 22 Pine Hollow Rd., Oyster Bay; 516-624-0900, CoachGrillandTavern.com Tao Asian Fusion 369 New York Ave., Huntington, 631-673-7377, Toaasianfusion.com Jonathan's 2499 Jericho Turnpike, New Hyde Park, 516-742-7300, JonathansRestaurant.net Heritage of India 2024 Hillside Ave., New Hyde Park, 516-352-9305 Don't Edit Participating Las Vegas restaurants Lavo Las Vegas Proceeds from special items sold in April 3325 S Las Vegas Blvd, 702-791-1800, LavoNY.com Marquee Las Vegas Proceeds from special items sold in April 3708 S. Las Vegas Blvd., 702-333-9000 Tao Beach Proceeds from special items sold in April 3377 S Las Vegas Blvd., 702-388-8338, TaoLasVegas.com HIGH ROCK TRAINING IN THE GREENBELT This Saturday, Staten Islanders can start their training with the Monkey Bar Gym: The official gym sponsor of the High Rock Challenge. Trainees are set to meet at Henry Kaufmann Campground in Sea View, located at 1131 Manor Road, at 10:30 a.m. Staten Islanders do not need to RSVP but should be dressed in weather appropriate, workout attire. The group will meet in the parking area and run to the upper fields from there. If you're looking to break a sweat, be prepared to run sections of the trail course to become familiar with trail running. Organizers suggest arriving early and bringing your own water. Other training sessions will be on April 8, 15 and 22. Race day is Saturday, April 29. For more information, visit http://sigreenbelt.org/mc-events/train-for-the-high-rock-challenge-with-monkey-bar-gym/ or call 718-667-2165. (Photo courtesy of Dorothy Reilly) Don't Edit Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com 5K RUMC RUN IN LIVINGSTON It might be on April Fools Day but this race is no joke. Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) in Livingston welcomes daring Staten Islanders to run, or walk, 3.1 miles on Saturday, April 1. RUMC's first 5K starts at 9 a.m and goes through Randall Manor and Snug Harbor. The race begins at Conyingham Avenue and Castleton Avenue. The finish line is at the corner of Bard Avenue and Kissel Avenue. Water and other refreshments are on hand for participating runners and walkers, along with a free t-shirt. The outing, sponsored by Island Auto Group, plans to raise money for the pediatric sector of the hospital's new Emergency Department. According to organizers, almost 250 runners have RSVP'd for the race. Prizes for top performers in several categories will be awarded and run times will be posted after the race. To register and donate, visit https://rumcsi.akaraisin.com/Common/Event/Home. RUMC is located at 355 Bard Avenue. Contact Krista Desiderio at 718-818-2788 for more information. (Photo courtesy of Krista Desiderio) Don't Edit FIVE BANDS, FIVE BOROUGHS COME TO MOTHER PUG'S Five bands from all five boroughs rock Mother Pug's Saloon in Port Richmond on Saturday, April 1 starting at 8 p.m. The list of rock-n-rollers -- dubbed The Five Borough Tour-- comes to Staten Island with the tagline "Make America Punk Again." Locals are welcome to come grab a drink and listen to some authentic New York rock. Here's the lineup: Liss A Victory (Pittsburgh) starts at 8 p.m, Matt "Broke" Boland (Erie, PA) at 8:30 p.m, Cash Registers (Manhattan) at 9:15 p.m, The Cuts (Queens) at 9:50 p.m, Bedpan Fight (Brooklyn) at 10:30 p.m, League of Pity (Staten Island) at 11:10 p.m and last, but not least, The Flesh Junkies (Staten Island.) Mother Pug's Saloon is located at 1371 Forest Avenue. For more information, visit the Facebook event page or call 718-442-9831. Don't Edit Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com LABYRINTH GETS CHANDINI POWER Local artist Chandini Powar of Silver Lake welcomes Staten Islanders to view her home and collection of Indian art on Saturday from 2 to 7 p.m. Presented by the Labyrinth Arts Collective, the retrospective exhibition highlights her style, which she describes as a mix of traditional Indian and modern art. With her apartment's view of Silver Lake, Powar thought local art enthusiasts would appreciate the serene setting of her North Shore home. "I have so many works to show," said Powar. "I put my art out in other parts of the Island, so why not here?" As a past recipient of Snug Harbor's Arts and Humanities award and Everything Goes Cafe presenter, Powar decided to get her creations together and show them to Staten Island as a collective. The open art studio takes place on Saturday, April 1 at 610 Victory Blvd. Apt 5M. For more information, call 917-246-8187. (Photo courtesy of Chandini Powar) Don't Edit Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com JAZZIN' AT THE JCC Staten Islanders are invited to join jazz musician Mark Sherman and his Quartet at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Sea View for an evening of live music this Saturday starting at 8:30 p.m. Sherman has been honored by DownBeat magazines Critics and Readers Polls from 2007-14. He served as Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State and Jazz at Lincoln Center. SI Tech Jazz Band includes nearly 30 student musicians whose numbers will include two Duke Ellington numbers Bonga (Empty Town Blues) and Harlem Speaks. The opening act is the Staten Island Tech Jazz Band led by Robert Rams. Sherman is on the vibraphone, Chris Ziemba on piano, Harvie S on bass and Carl Allen on Drums. Tickets are $18, $10 for students. All proceeds benefit the Foundation for the Dorothy Delson Kuhn Music Institute which provides scholarships for music instruction. The JCC is located at 1466 Manor Road. For more information, call Ela Seeley, Music Institute Director, 718-475-5263 or e-mail eseeley@sijcc.com. (Advance file photo) Don't Edit Don't Edit Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com 'UNDONE' IN LIVINGSTON From April 1 to May 14, Staten Islanders can view "Completely Undone," a collection featuring Robin S. George, at the CPG Gallery in Livingston. The contributing photographers: Willie Chu, Joyce Coletti, Bruce Cohn, Connie Frisch- Cherniak, Robin George, Robert Haber, Marilyn Kiss, Jeff Mason, Gail Middleton, Paul Nueckel, George Roos, Virginia Ross, Doug Schwab, Joan Velazquez, Fritz (Steven) Weiss and Richard Xuereb. The reception takes place at 814 Richmond Terrace, gallery go-ers should enter through the Tysen Street Entrance across from Snug Harbor. Gallery hours are Saturday's and Sunday's; 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.cpggallery.org/current.html or call 718-981-6831. Don't Edit Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com MASK MAKING AT S.I MUSEUM This activity is a little late for Mardi Gras but we'll take it. Staten Islanders of all ages are invited to create, design and build personal masks at the Staten Island Museum in Livingston this Saturday. The workshop, geared towards S.I youth, is just one of the "1st Saturday Family" workshops the museum located inside Snug Harbor Cultural Center campus. Participants are expected to bring their most out of this world ideas to the table when designing their work. The workshop goes from 1 to 3 p.m and takes place at 1000 Richmond Terrace, Building A. For more information, visit http://snug-harbor.org/event/ or call 718-727-1135. (Photo courtesy of the Staten Island Museum) Don't Edit Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com HUNGERFORD SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE Concerned members of the Staten Island community are invited to make their voice heard this Saturday at "The Hungerford School's 50th Anniversary Conference." The school, that as of this month has been providing education for disadvantaged students for 50 years, welcomes a panel of esteemed guests to talk about topics and issues in the community. The panel -- made up of Investigative Journalist Geraldo Rivera, Motivational Speaker Bernard Carabello, Dr. Christine Cea of the NYSED Board of Regents, Dr. David Goode, College of Staten Island and Peggy Groce of NYC DOE District 75 -- discusses the history of developmental disabilities on Staten Island, current programs and services and hopes for the future from 9 a.m to 1 p.m. The Richard H. Hungerford School is located at 155 Tompkins Avenue in Clifton. RSVP to the conference by visiting www.eventbrite.com/e/hungerford-50th-anniversary-conference-tickets. Here's some Hungerford history: Hungerford was founded on Feb. 1, 1967 in answer to the need for a school for special needs students who were not attending classes at the time in New York City. Said McInerney: "We are celebrating 50 years of our school and Richard H. Hungerford's vision. Hungerford was there for the consumers/students, some who came to Hungerford after the close of the Willowbrook State School." When Hungerford opened it was called the Richmond Occupational Training Center a/k/a the OTC. The school was first led by a Program Director, Dorothy Gillen. Dominic Pirraglia was appointed as the first principal and led the school through a relocation at Concord High School after a fire in the original school building. Pirraglia and parents worked closely together to secure the present location in Stapleton of Hungerford's main site. The Hungerford School, the namesake of Hungerford, an educational leader and visionary who was often referred to as the father of occupational and vocational education within the New York City Department of Education, visualized school for all students -- including those not served by the public, private or parochial schools in the 1960s. His vision included having parent organizations in institutions. His leadership in New Hampshire Laconia State School in 1952 when he was a teacher, caused state schools and institutions to close throughout the nation when parents demanded more options for their special needs children. In 1960, Hungerford came to New York City and opened the first OTC in Manhattan in 1961 followed by an OTC in every borough. After the Richmond OTC was founded, Hungerford visited the program. Under the leadership of McInerney and Assistant Principals, Michael Pepe, Linsey Miller and Kristin Mc Hugh, Hungerford has grown to offer students more programs at sites throughout Staten Island, including Barnes Intermediate School, New Dorp, Tottenville and McKee High Schools, and within Lifestyles for the Disabled and Community Resources. The school faculty pioneered a number of instructional programs, which are now offered throughout Staten Island and in New York City. The Hungerford School and parents worked jointly to open the first inclusion classes on Staten Island in PS 19 in 1989. In 1998, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the Hungerford School a Blue Ribbon of Excellence. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benan ti) Don't Edit Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com 'CHARLIE BROWN' IS IN THE WINGS In The Wings Productions brings the beloved Charles Schulz comic, The Peanuts, to life in "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" in Livingston this weekend for the last time. Directed and choreographed by Craig Kwasnicki, with music direction by Michael Pinto, the show has it's final curtain call at Snug Harbor's Music Hall on Sunday, April 2. On Friday, March 31 the show start at 8 p.m, Saturday at 7 and Sunday at 2. Lets meet the cast: In The Wings has Michael Sekzer as Charlie Brown, Joey Caramanno as Linus, Dana Frisher as Lucy, Kristen Dalto as Sally, Joe Gambino as Schroeder and James McKeon as Snoopy. The production is designed by Stephanie White and Craig Kwasnicki (sets), Scaramouche (costumes), Danielle Garritt (lighting) and Adam Chatfield (sound). Rebecca Sciannameo is production stage manager. The Snug Harbor Music Hall is located at 1000 Richmond Terrace. For more information on where to buy your ticket, visit snug-harbor.org/event/youre-good-man-charlie-brown-wings-productions-2/ (Courtesy of Nicholas Buchholz) Don't Edit Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com 'TIME STANDS STILL' AT SEA VIEW Staten Island's Sea View Playwright Theatre presents the second weeekend of "Time Stands Still" by Donald Marguiles, directed by Craig Stoebling. The show centers on Sarah (Cheryl McLeod,) a photojournalist coming back to America after covering the Iraq war with an injury by a roadside bomb. Her reporter boyfriend James (John Griffin) who is swamped by guilt after leaving Sarah alone in Iraq. They receive a visit from their friend Richard (Robert Heffernan), a photo editor, who introduces them to his new, much younger girlfriend Mandy (Amanda Rose Benjamin). Their relationship makes James and Sarah examine their own relationship and way of life. This weekend: Friday, March 31. Friday and Saturday shows take place at 8 p.m, Sunday's at 3 p.m. Tickets are sold on SVPT.brownpapertickets.com/ for $22, $20 for students and seniors. The Sea View Playwrights Theatre is located at 460 Brielle Ave. For more information, email info@seaviewplaywrightstheatre.org or call 917-817-1067. (Photo courtesy of Karen O'Donnell) Don't Edit Don't Edit Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com 'EVITA' TAKES TO WAGNER HIGH SCHOOL In the ranks of Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera, Susan Wagner High School students invite all to their production of Broadway's "Evita." The musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, highlights the life of Argentine political leader Eva Peron, second wife of Argentine president Juan Peron. Madonna starred in the 1996 film adaptation. Theatre teacher and Director Diane Zerega and resident Wagner Choreographer Christine Leonardi-Kramer have teamed up to bring this exciting musical to the stage. Wagner High vocal teacher and director Keith Waage has taught the 80 cast members which feature a double cast of leads to sing in Spanish, Latin and complex harmonies. Paul Corn, music teacher and AP of Performing and Visual Arts leads the 20 piece orchestra that drives the excitement and energy of this difficult score and show. Students Olivia Jane Parisi and Shayla Woods share the role of Eva Peron; Shane Drucker and Jared Polanco play Che, Roberto Palermo and Michael Martinez are Peron while Joseph Gottfried and Thomas Mooney play Magaldi. The cast of 80 and 20 piece orchestra will bring you the one of the most passionate and colorful musicals in theatre history. Performances begin on Friday, March 24 and run through Saturday, April 1. Here are the times: Friday, March 31 at 7p.m.; Saturday, April 1 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at http://wagnerhightheater.org/ STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 42-year-old man was shot Friday night in Elm Park and later pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. Police responded to a report of shots fired at the intersection of Morningstar Road and Kalver Place in the confines of the 121st Precinct at 8:46 p.m., according to the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. The male was shot multiple times in the torso, police said. He was taken to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton where he was pronounced dead, police said. There are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing. Police were searching Friday night for two males who fled the scene in a black SUV. The identity of the victim is being withheld by police pending family notification. On Friday night, multiple police officers entered Staten Island Meats Inc., which is located at 223 Kalver Place on the corner of Pulaski Avenue. Three orange traffic cones were placed in the middle of Kalver Place, and both ends of the block were blocked off with crime scene tape. Patrons of a nearby restaurant said they did not hear any shots fired. However, a resident who lives a few blocks over said they heard two gun shots. Check out our Facebook Live video, shot by Advance reporter Shane DiMaio, which shows the shooting scene in Elm Park: BREAKING: Man, 42, shot & killed; suspected shooters flee scene in Elm Park Posted by Staten Island Advance on Friday, March 31, 2017 Want to discuss this report? Visit the comment section to join the conversation. Ben Margolis, design trust policy fellow for the Future Culture project, explains the community engagement process at a forum in Stapleton on Tuesday, March 28. (Photo courtesy of the Design Trust for Public Space/ Liz Ligon) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- North Shore residents have had an opportunity to voice their concerns, make connections with cultural organizations and address critical issues with city agencies this week at various events, ranging from an open house to a community forum. The Design Trust for Public Space and Staten Island Arts unveiled a preliminary set of design and policy recommendations for Staten Island's rapidly growing North Shore following a community forum on Tuesday, March 28, at Art Space at Staten Island Arts in Stapleton. The forum, attended by about 100 people, kicked off the first of a series of stakeholder feedback sessions that will take place this spring as part of the "Future Culture: Connecting Staten Island's Waterfront" project. The sessions will focus on the waterfront neighborhoods of St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton. Future Culture is a project of the Design Trust for Public Space, in partnership with Staten Island Arts. The project has the participation and support of NYC Economic Development Corporation and developers including BFC Partners, Ironstate, New York Wheel and Triangle Equities. The meeting addressed strategies for neighborhood revitalization, sustainability, and equitable economic development. Among those in attendance were residents, cultural producers, civic activists, small business owners and city experts. "We need spaces to retreat, think and be creative," said Rashida Ladner-Seward of Universal Temple of the Arts, a member of the Future Culture community working group. Some of the recommendations include: Preserving and enhancing the identity of town hubs and the maritime culture Creating a map of local cultural assets and strategies to encourage local exploration beyond the St. George Ferry Terminal Determining sites, resources and sponsors for large festivals, events, performances, ongoing programming series and educational programming that prioritize collaboration with immigrant and heritage-based groups "The North Shore is an outpost of progressive ideas, ethnic diversity and creative energy," said Deborah Davis, a local graphic artist and member of the Future Culture community working group. To see the entire set of recommendations from the meeting, please visit http://designtrust.org/projects/future-culture/activities-and-outputs/. North Shore Open House Close to 100 North Shore residents attended the Staten Island North Shore Open House on Wednesday, March 29, at Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Livingston. The event was hosted by the New York City Department of City Planning. "It's important for me that people who live on the North Shore have opportunities to talk with city agencies about the needs of the community and possible solutions," said North Shore Councilwoman Debi Rose. "Events like this give them that opportunity, and I was pleased that so many people turned out." In addition to the DCP, representatives from other city agencies participated, including the Parks Department, the Department of Transportation, Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Department of Small Business Services, the Economic Development Corporation, School Construction Authority and Partnership for Parks. There were no formal presentations, but those who attended were able to circulate and ask questions to the city staff and planners about the current work in the community. Topics ranged from the Bay Street Corridor Neighborhood Plan to the Staten Island Borough Flood Maps. Resources for tenants, homeowners and business owners were available, including information on the Neighborhood 360 Program, focused on Downtown Staten Island. "I thank City Planning for hosting this open house, and all the city agencies who came together to meet with North Shore residents," said Rose. Click the comment link near this story's headline, or right here, to join in the conversation about the developing North Shore waterfront and strategies for neighborhood revitalization. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- They're in double trouble. One half of the drug dealing duo that was apprehended Thursday afternoon was arraigned in Criminal Court on Friday, according to a spokeswoman for the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. Bail was set at $2,500 for Linda Genise, of Roma Avenue, according to the spokeswoman. Christine Genise has not been arraigned and bail has not been set as of Friday evening, the spokeswoman said. The criminal complaint alleges that Christine Genise sold 60 oxycodone pills to an undercover officer in February outside of a Roma Avenue apartment. Following the sale, Christine Genise told the officer to contact Linda "if she wanted more pills or heroin in the future," court papers allege. Earlier this month, Linda Genise met with an undercover officer outside of the New Dorp Beach residence and allegedly sold him 548 glassines containing heroin and told the officer that her sister would have oxycodone pills for her the following day, the criminal complaint alleges. The following day, Christine Genise met with the undercover officer and allegedly sold him 80 oxycodone pills at the same location. Thirty-eight glassines containing heroin and 73 methadone pills were found in various locations inside the residence when a search warrant was executed at the time of their arrest. The sisters both are charged with multiple felony counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to the city Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. The sisters' arrest came days after their landlord hung a large sign outside her New Dorp Beach home proclaiming "Beware! Drug Dealers Downstairs." Donna, the sisters' landlord, who declined to have her full name published, said she's felt helpless as she tried to get the woman out of her home due to the alleged drug activity. "The whole neighborhood calls my house 'the heroin house,'" Donna said. "That's not fair to my family." Donna lives on the second floor, above the first-floor apartment where the sisters lived, and has an eight-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son, who has Down syndrome. If you'd like to comment on this post, click the link near this story's headline, or right here, to leave your comment. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city Department of Administrative Services (DCAS) has released its examination schedule for April. Open, competitive, computer-based tests will be administered throughout the month for positions such as correction officer, environmental police officer, police communications technician, police officer, school safety agent and traffic enforcement agent. New York City employs hundreds of thousands of people in its 80 agencies. Taking a test is the way to get started in the hiring process for most of these positions. Application fees range from $40 to $101. For more information about registering for these and other tests, log onto the DCAS website. The following is a list of things to know when taking an exam at a DCAS Computer-based Testing and Applications Center (CTAC). -- Electronic devices, including cell phones, are not permitted in the testing areas. -- Check the Notice of Examination for the test you will be taking to see if calculators are permitted. -- If you are requesting a fee waiver, you must provide a copy of acceptable documentation. DCAS staff cannot make copies of your documentation. -- Seating is limited. Once the CTAC is filled to capacity, no more candidates will be admitted. -- You are encouraged to apply and schedule yourself to take a test earlier in the month since there is generally more seating available at these times. -- You may not have any other person, including children, present with you while you are applying for, being processed for, and/or taking a test, and no one may wait for you inside a CTAC. Testing centers are located at 2 Lafayette St. in Manhattan and 210 Joralemon St. in Brooklyn. Want to join the conversation? Click on the comment link to take part. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- There are many issues in communities from Rosebank to Rossville that Staten Islanders are looking to explore. Those looking to speak out about concerns within their neighborhood can utilize local Community Boards. They are a great resource for any resident looking to discuss important issues affecting those in the community from students to seniors. One such issue that will be addressed this week is a proposed new parking lot at the Alice Austen House in Rosebank. Meetings are open to the public and provide a way to get involved in your hometown. If you have a question or concern you'd like to speak out about, all you need to do is sign up -- before the meeting is called to order -- to speak in the public session. COMMUNITY BOARD 1 Arlington - Castleton Corners - Clifton - Concord - Elm Park - Fort Wadsworth - Graniteville - Grymes Hill - Livingston - Mariners Harbor - New Brighton - Port Richmond - Randall Manor - Rosebank - St. George - Shore Acres - Silver Lake - Stapleton - Sunnyside - Tompkinsville - West Brighton - Westerleigh There is a There is a The board office is located at 1 Edgewater Plaza, Suite 217, Stapleton. The office phone number is 718-981-6900. The board chairman is Nicholas Siclari; the district manager is Joseph Carroll. COMMUNITY BOARD 2 Arrochar - Bloomfield - Bulls Heads - Chelsea - Dongan Hills - Egbertville - Emerson Hill - Grant City - Grasmere - High Rock - Lighthouse Hill - Midland Beach - New Dorp - New Springville - Oakwood - Ocean Breeze - Old Town - Richmond - South Beach - Todt Hill - Travis There is a There is a All board meetings, both committee and full board, are in the board office, which is located in the Lou Caravone Community Service Building on the campus of Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home, 460 Brielle Ave., Sea View. The office phone number is 718-317-3235. The chairman of the CB 2 board is Dana T. Magee; the district manager is Debra A. Derrico. COMMUNITY BOARD 3 Annadale - Arden Heights - Bay Terrace - Charleston - Eltingville - Great Kills - Greenridge - Huguenot - New Dorp - Oakwood - Pleasant Plains - Prince's Bay - Richmond Valley - Richmond - Rossville - Tottenville - Woodrow Want to discuss this report? Click here or the comment link near this story's headline to join in the conversation. CITY HALL -- Staten Islanders can meet with commissioners and top City Hall staff when Mayor Bill de Blasio is in town this month. The "City Hall in Your Borough: City Resource Fair" will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11 at 10 Richmond Terrace, where Borough Hall is located across the street from the St. George Ferry Terminal. Staten Islanders can sign up for time at nyc.gov/CHinSI. "Meet with top city commissioners and senior staff during scheduled office hours to address your questions and concerns," a flier from the mayor's office the borough president's office reads. "Meet with top representatives from City Hall, Department of Transportation, Department of Finance, NYPD, Economic Development Corporation, Department of Education, Department of Health, Small Business Services, Department of Parks and Recreation, and more." De Blasio will work out of Staten Island Borough Hall from Sunday, April 9 through Thursday, April 13 for the first stop of the citywide initiative. The week will include a visit to a house of worship, meetings with local groups, various stops and events in and around the borough and a town hall. "Our Resource Fair is at the heart of the City Hall in Your Borough initiative," de Blasio spokeswoman Jessica Ramos said. "This is every Staten Islander's opportunity to bring their most pressing questions and concerns directly to top City Hall and City agency staff." Borough President James Oddo said that anyone who can't make it to Borough Hall for the fair should email their issues directly to him at joddo@statenislandusa.com and he will bring it directly to the appropriate agency head. "At Borough Hall, we pride ourselves on being accessible to the public," Oddo said. "Here's a chance for some Staten Islanders to have access to City Hall and speak directly with their city government." Want to discuss this report? Click here or the comment link near this story's headline to join in the conversation. Keith Keita. (Facebook) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The 42-year-old man who was fatally shot in Elm Park on Friday night has been identified as Keith Keita, according to an NYPD spokesman. Keita was shot multiple times in the torso near the intersection of Morningstar Road and Kalver Place at 8:46 p.m., police said. Morningstar Auto Parts is located at the corner. "It happened right here on the side by the dumpster," Robert Visciano, owner of Morningstar Auto Parts, told the Advance on Saturday. The business was closed at the time of the incident. Keita was taken to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The shooting occurred less than two blocks away from Keita's home on Pulaski Avenue. A neighbor said Keita had just moved to the area a few months ago. "I saw him a few times, but I didn't really know him because he was new here," the neighbor said. Police said they are searching for two males who fled toward Pulaski Avenue following the incident. They were seen wearing dark hoodies, the spokesman said. An NYPD spokesman said it appears Keita knew his attackers. Police said Saturday they were also looking for a black SUV, which authorities described as a getaway vehicle. On Friday night, multiple police officers entered Staten Island Meats Inc., which is located at 223 Kalver Place on the corner of Pulaski Avenue. Three orange traffic cones were placed in the middle of Kalver Place, and both ends of the block were blocked off with crime scene tape. Patrons of a nearby restaurant said they did not hear any shots fired. However, a resident who lives a few blocks over said they heard two gun shots. Want to discuss this report? Click here or the comment link near this story's headline to join in the conversation. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - There was a report in the Advance the other day about how much a ride on the Staten Island Ferry costs. I know. The ferry fare is free. Has been since 1997. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the fact that in order to keep the ferry ride free, the city has to subsidize the service. Back in 1998, it cost the city $2.43 per rider to subsidize ferry service. There were 19.26 million annual passengers back then. By 2016, the cost per ride had risen to $5.87. And ridership also surged, to 23.1 million a year. So, that ferry ride isn't really free. The taxpayers of the City of New York, including us, are footing the bill. And you know what? I could care less how much it costs. Not that anybody is suggesting otherwise, but Staten Islanders should never have to pay for a ride on the Staten Island ferry ever again. The ferry is our one direct link to Manhattan. Tens of thousands of commuters rely on it to get to work and school every day. Without it, we'd be doomed to driving or taking the dreaded express bus to work. It all comes back to the fact that Staten Island was left out of the city subway system. They started digging that subway tunnel in St. George a hundred years ago and then abandoned it. It would have cost too much money. There was political infighting. Pretty much the same reasons we're given now when we ask why Staten Island can't have a subway. Bottom line: The ferry is an essential city service that Staten Island would be lost without. We'll consider the free ferry ride compensation for the fact that we can't jump on a subway in order to get to work. And that we don't have great cross-Island bus service. And the fact that we're being left out of Mayor Bill de Blasio's "five-borough" fast-ferry plan. Besides, the last thing any city administration would want to do is start charging Islanders to ride the ferry and give us yet more ammunition for our argument that you can't get on or off the Island without paying some kind of fee. And let's remember: It's not just Staten Islanders who ride the ferry. As New York City has continued to attract record numbers of tourists over the last ten years, a lot of those visitors have taken the Staten Island Ferry. After all, it is the most cost-effective tourist attraction in the world. And one of the best cheap dates you'll find anywhere. Yeah, complicated. Let's just keep the ferry free and forget about recouping any of the cost. It wouldn't amount to a lot of money anyway. And for all of Staten Island's problems with the mayor, De Blasio has made a lot of right moves when it comes to the Staten Island Ferry. It was his administration that instituted the round-the-clock ferry service that Islanders have long called for. The 24/7 law was passed under Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, but de Blasio did the right thing and ponied up the money to implement the service. And the de Blasio administration is paying for new boats for the fleet (even if we're not part of that fast-ferry plan). And City Hall listened to the voice of Staten Islanders and named the first of the new boats after Army Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, the borough hero who died in the line of duty in Afghanistan. The real cost of riding on the boat is something that no Staten Islander should ever have to think about. Want to discuss this report? Click here to join in the conversation. Decatur School District 61 parents, teachers, administrators and community: Are you wondering why children are being picked up and dropped off late at school and at the bus stop by First Student Bus Company (FSBC)? Have you ever questioned the safety of students riding the bus in Decatur? Have you ever wondered or asked yourself about the dedication, commitment of the drivers, support staff and management of FSBC? What keeps them coming to work each day, taking on the many daily challenges of this employment opportunity? Is it the salary, a hobby, love of children, to mentor, or is it on someone's bucket list? Whichever, you as parents, teachers and administrators should be aware of recent changes within the company that are causing children to be picked up and dropped off late to and from school. Unfair treatment of bullying and harassment is occurring that has caused staff to resign and others to refrain from coming to work. They are seeking refuge from the unfair and biased treatment. Drivers are being called in from other towns to cover routes. Being short staffed has caused the dispatcher to become a substitute driver. Bus drivers have called the office with appeals for assistance when bus accidents and other altercations have occurred, with no response from the office or management. A very dangerous situation when assistance is really needed. Management will not answer the phone with the dispatcher is absent. The safety of our children is at risk! Fear of repercussion keeps employees from communicating. FSBC has a commitment to the safety of all children. Working conditions have deteriorated, staff morale is low, working conditions have been compromised. Employees would like the support, cooperation and communication from management. For additional information and to voice your concerns, contact the KEIL Building at (217) 362-3000. Willie Brown, Decatur Page Content The Police Force of Sint Maarten is without any doubt doing its utmost, to protect you, your family and your property, in combating crime and criminals. The Public Relation Office of the Sint Maarten Police Force is therefore offering the entire community, the following safety tips, to help them prepare against crime. Remember the 3 As of Crime Prevention 1. Be Aware of your surroundings at all times. 2. Be Alert to suspicious people and vehicles. 3. Avoid dangerous situations. If you are out for the evening: * Turn on lights, radio or television so that it looks like some-one is at home. * Lock all doors and windows well, even if you are just leaving for a few minutes. * Dont display items where they can be seen from the outside. - Park your car in a well-lit area and make sure all windows and doors are locked. * Avoid carrying a large amount of cash. Dont flash cash around and carry it in a safe place on you. * If you have to use the ATM-machine, pay close attention to suspicious persons hanging around the machine. If thats the case pass up that machine and find another. * Carry all wallets in the front pockets and carry purses close to your body. * Keep your children close to you while attending any activities and dont let them get separated from you. * Pay attention to persons walking in front and behind you. (Especially in crowded places favorable for pickpockets) * When returning to your vehicle or your home, have your keys in your hands ready to open the door. * Before entering your vehicle, check front and rear and seats for any one that may be hiding there. Lock doors immediately after entering. - Ask your neighbor to keep a watchful eye out for you. - Drinking and driving is a danger to everyone. Remember that the risks of drinking and driving are not worth it. If you choose to drink, dont drive. Make use of a designated driver or public transportation. (Taxi or bus) Make sure that you know where your kids are at all times and that they are safe. Most of all on behalf of the Police force of Sint Maarten, through the Public Relation Office, We wish the entire community of Sint Maarten and its visitors a very safe and meaningful Carnival Season 2017. Page Content On Thursday March 30th a joint control was held by several government departments, under the leadership of the Police Department, at different business-locations on Front Street and Back Street. These departments included Immigration and Border Control, Social Security Department (SZV), Bailiffs, Tax- department, Labor Department and Economic Affairs (TEATT). At the locations that were controlled representatives of each department had the responsibility to conduct a control based on the laws pertaining to their respective department. As a result of these controls the police department will be investigating three cases in which the exploitation of persons are suspected. The Labor Department will be dealing with two cases where persons have been caught working without the necessary work permit. One female was brought in because of her illegal status on the island and the intention is to have immigration send her back to her country as soon as possible. The company, with whom this female was employed, will also be dealt with in regard to the employment of an illegal person. It is the intention for these joint controls to be done more frequently, to assure that all businesses on the Dutch Side are not in violation with any laws. 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 Decaturs RadioShack is among hundreds of stores being closed by the company following its second bankruptcy filing last month. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 8 for the second time in just over two years. It has announced hundreds of store closures in court documents related to the case. The Decatur store is located at 4202 N. Prospect. An employee who answered the phone Saturday said its last date was tentatively set for June 1, but directed other questions to the companys corporate office. The Herald & Review has asked the company for comment. RadioShack, based in Fort Worth, Texas, has nearly 5,900 employees, according to its bankruptcy paperwork. The Associated Press contributed to this story. 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. Poor Richard's Retirement 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: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28: 29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948 /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. 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Mustafa arrived in Canberra in 2012 after fleeing Iran as an unaccompanied minor. Honoured: Mustafa Ehsan is Canberra's young citizen of 2017. "Since then he has become a passionate advocate for those seeking refuge in Australia," youth minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said. "His ongoing passion to include all Canberrans through sport and social mentoring earned Mustafa the title of young Canberra citizen of the year." A cyclone the size of Debbie could have catastrophic consequences on the Gold Coast, new modelling has shown, as climate change pushes cyclones further south and puts tens of billions of dollars worth of infrastructure at risk. Actuaries, who predict and model scenarios for banks and insurers, have warned properties could become "uninsurable" as premiums rise to meet environmental challenges. Debbie devastated northern Queensland and swept floods into NSW which caused $1 billion in damage, forced 30,000 people to evacuate and took two lives. Under modelling compiled by Deloitte's principal actuary Sharanjit Paddam and James Cook University, a shift in the cyclone-prone region of just three degrees would cause winds in excess of 260km/h to hit the Gold Coast and stretch as far as Brisbane, where many homes and towers do not meet cyclonic safety standards. The "sting in the tail" of ex-Cyclone Debbie battered the Gold Coast this week with winds half as strong as those that hit Bowen and Proserpine, along with torrential downpours. The Anglesea coal plant and mine shut in 2015. The changing picture Hazelwood, Australia's oldest and dirtiest power plant, which has helped fire up Victoria for more than 50 years and environmentalists for at least half as long, is the tenth coal generator to shut since 2010. About five gigawatts more than three Hazelwoods have been taken out of the grid. Some old baseload gas plants have also closed. Pacific Hydro wind farm at Codrington, south-west Victoria. Credit:Joe Armao Conversely, nearly four gigawatts capacity of wind turbines have been connected, and roughly five gigawatts of solar capacity has been installed on homes. About three gigawatts of gas-fired plants have been commissioned since 2009 to cover peak demand, though much of it is barely used. These new sources are not a like-for-like replacement. Whereas coal plants run 24-7 and are inflexible, wind and solar energy are variable and need a flexible system in which different technologies are called on when needed. That's where we're headed as the grid modernises. But we're not there yet. Airconditioner use stretches the electricity at peak times in summer. Credit:Michael Mucci The hottest day It's February 18, 2018, and it's bloody hot. It's still early morning, but power hungry airconditioners are being turned on across the eastern seaboard. In the mid-1990s, about a quarter of Australians were artificially cooling their homes. Today, it is more than half. It is airconditioning that sends demand soaring. Victorians are gobbling up about 80 per cent more electricity than on an average day. Solar panel installation. Credit:Mischa Keijser As the climate control kicks in, home solar systems are also firing up. At the turn of the decade, rooftop solar panels were a novelty. Now, more than 1.5 million households have them. They provide some relief for the stretched electricity grid. And the grid needs all the relief it can get. Like most of us, electricity infrastructure performs less well when it is hot. This applies to the ageing equipment in creaking old coal plants and gas-fired turbines. Some break down as the temperature rises. It also applies to solar photovoltaic panels, some of which lose nearly a fifth of their capacity as the temperature goes past 40. Power lines struggle in the heat. Power lines are sagging and can no longer transmit their usual load. This remains the case despite the extraordinary amount spent on poles and wires over the past decade so much that network costs make up about half of what we pay in power bills. As the heat takes its toll, some lines are derated and the market operator will reduce the amount of electricity sent to them, lest they pack it in. Meanwhile, the extraordinary weather conditions means the annual threat of bushfire which could knock out transmission lines and possibly affect generators remains constant. It would not be the first time disaster has struck a Latrobe Valley generator. In 2012, the Yallourn power station was out of action for months when an artificial riverbank burst, flooding its coal mine. The Snowy Hydro Scheme at Talbingo, NSW. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The pressure on the market operator (known in the industry as AEMO) to make the right calls about the things it can control is immense. We have always had occasional blackouts, but the febrile political climate is such that a loss of electricity will have nasty political ramifications for state governments. If things go wrong, they will be quick to pass the buck to the regulator especially given it has given assurances that everything should be fine. With this in mind, AEMO took extra precautions ahead of the summer. It stressed to generators that they must not schedule maintenance at peak times, and told two baseload gas-fired plants that had been mothballed Tamar Valley in northern Tasmania and Swanbank E in Brisbane that they would be required to help fill the gap left by Hazelwood. Both are up and running today. Power lines next to Victoria's Mortlake gas-fired power station. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui As demand rises, the operator also turns to what are known as peaking plants to supplement the generators that run every day. Hydro power and open-cycle gas (which differs from baseload gas) can be ramped up quickly when the country needs a boost in supply and is willing to pay a hefty price for the extra generation. Victoria has a stack of them. Gas is expensive and the east coast supply is overwhelmingly being exported, but there is enough fuel for these plants to come online today. Alcoas Portland aluminium smelter uses more than 10 per cent of Victoria's electricity when at full tilt. Credit:Angela Milne To help ease demand, some big industrial plants that use a stack of electricity have agreed under a deal with AEMO to reduce their production to help keep the lights on. Aluminium smelters use more than 10 per cent of the electricity generated in NSW and Victoria. All things being equal, that should do the job. But there are other risks. Inevitably, some plants won't be available. There are likely to be fossil fuel outages, and the wind may not be blowing. FRV solar farm in Moree, NSW. Several energy experts interviewed by Fairfax Media also raised concerns that, under current electricity market rules, plant owners are not compelled to make their generators available. This was highlighted in South Australia last summer, when 90,000 homes lost power while half of Engie's Pelican Point gas plant ran at about half capacity. Whether this was due to a failure by AEMO to request it to join the market, a decision by the company that it made more commercial sense to leave it idle and allow its other generators to make hay when there was less competition, or a bit of both, remains a point of contention. A couple of days later, NSW had 2000 megawatts of coal, gas and hydro capacity more than Hazelwood's total capacity out of action during a heatwave. The Tomago Aluminium plant was ordered to shut one of its potlines to ensure things kept humming elsewhere. Even with this, things were dicey. AEMO faced a decision about who would lose power, and angered the Victorian government by warning that Ballarat and Bendigo may have to be shut down to keep NSW connected. Artist's impression of Lyon Solar's 30 megawatt solar and battery storage project, near Cooktown, north Queensland. These calls are not any easier today especially with vulnerable Labor governments facing looming elections in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. But they may have to be made. The short-term fix The South Australian and federal governments are at loggerheads over energy policy, leading to a heated argument between Jay Weatherill and Josh Frydenberg at a press conference. Credit:ABC The scenario above is the picture today, but it will almost certainly have changed again by next summer. The energy industry has been acting as though on fast-forward over the past fortnight, and shows no sign of slowing down. The Clean Energy Council says there is more than $5.5 billion worth of renewable energy projects under construction this year. On Thursday, Lyon Solar added plans for a $1 billion solar and battery plant in South Australia's Riverland to be in place by next summer. Billed as the biggest of its type in the world, it includes a 330 megawatt solar farm and 100 megawatt battery system with four hours' storage enough, proponents say, to potentially make concerns about South Australia and Victoria's supply redundant. Battery saviour? Telsa chief Elon Musk. Credit:Bloomberg This is independent of the Weatherill government's quick tender for Australia's first large-scale battery system that could if Tesla mogul Elon Musk is to be believed be built in 100 days. It is one of a number of steps planned by the South Australian government. Less headline grabbing, but possibly just as important, is that Premier Jay Weatherill has assured the public there will be 200 megawatts of emergency back-up in place. Almost certainly, it will be met by bringing in cheap, reliable and emissions-intensive diesel generators. This was the path Tasmania took when its hydro dams were running low and the Basslink cable to Victoria was broken last year. It might seem antiquated, but works. The Victorian government has also promised a battery tender, aiming to have 50 megawatts enough to power a couple of regional cities for four hours before Christmas. Another 50 is expected to follow in 2018. Changing times: not far from Hazelwood, Morwell resident Robert Freeman has installed a battery pack linked to rooftop solar panels. Credit:Jesse Marlow Batteries and diesel can help deal with peaks, but Hazelwood's daily output is likely to be mostly replaced by increased generation at NSW's black coal plants, which have been running at about 50 per cent capacity. Other promises - including Malcolm Turnbull's proposal for a $2 billion expansion of the Snowy Hydro Scheme, and South Australia's pledge to support new plants to run government agencies and to build further gas-fired back-up - will take longer to be realised. There are also likely to be new rules for the operation of the electricity market that may make it easier for batteries to compete though this is opposed by the owners of open-cycle gas plants and almost certainly will give AEMO more power to require dormant generators to turn on. The ignored opportunity Perhaps because it has no champion among industry or regulators, the potentially significant scope to quickly reduce electricity demand through smarter use of technology remains little explored. A paper released last week by the awkwardly named Energy Efficiency Certificate Creators Association makes the case for the savings possible by cutting waste. Victoria has been a leader in this area with an energy efficiency scheme that, until the Coalition walked away before the last election, had bipartisan support. Ric Brazzale, managing director of Green Energy Markets, estimates the cleaner lights and appliances it helped install last year alone reduced demand by about 120 megawatts the equivalent of a small power plant. Advocates want incentives for businesses to reduce production when necessary and to upgrade substandard equipment think boilers, airconditioners, fridges and insulation. At a household level, the call is for greater support to install better whitegoods and battery packs. Small steps can make a significant difference. Replacing old lights with LEDs, for example, can cut electricity consumption from that device by up to 80 per cent. Unanswered questions Better demand management will help, but it won't avoid the need for more generation. The big, unaddressed question is what will the response be when the next large coal power plant closes and the next one after that, and so on. Australia has 23 remaining coal generators. As the federal government acknowledges, several more may shut over the next decade. According to modelling for the Climate Change Authority, all would need to be gone and replaced by cleaner technology by 2035 if Australia is to play its part under the Paris deal to keep global warming below 2 degrees. That notional deadline rarely gets a mention in public debate, but a campaign is in full flight for a bipartisan national energy and climate policy to set the pace for the transition to cleaner plants. Businesses are worried that ageing coal plants will otherwise continue to shut abruptly Hazelwood's closure was announced just five months out without there being time to build replacements. The federal government has rejected their preferred model, an emissions intensity scheme, and as has offered no alternative. Reviews into electricity security (by chief scientist Alan Finkel) and climate policy (by the Environment Department) are under way, but the government is fundamentally divided on the need to do anything. It is hard to see where it lands. Nationally, the only significant large-scale policy designed to drive energy investment beyond this decade is Victoria's ambitious and contested renewable energy target, which aims to build enough wind and solar farms to deliver 40 per cent of the state's electricity needs by 2025. (The ACT has also a renewable target, but in other states the goals are purely aspirational.) The Andrews government has not said what it thinks the rapid growth in clean energy means for the Latrobe Valley's three remaining coal plants - Yallourn, Loy Yang A and Loy Yang B. The state opposition plans to abolish the renewable target if it wins power next year, but it hasn't said what, if anything, it would do in its place. It has hinted it may subsidise coal plants to keep them open. Loading Meanwhile, anyone hoping for an answer on what will keep the lights on in the longer term is left waiting. Hundreds of Australians have been caught up in an international tax evasion and money laundering investigation that has already triggered raids, arrests and the seizure of expensive property in Europe. The 346 Australians involved hold unnamed, numbered accounts with a Swiss bank. Over coming days, taskforce investigators will interview Australian bank employees, lawyers and taxpayers. Credit:Louie Douvis Minister for Revenue and Financial Services Kelly O'Dwyer said the Australians had links to Swiss banking relationship managers who were alleged to have actively promoted tax evasion schemes. They had been identified by Australia's Serious Financial Crime Taskforce. Over coming days, taskforce investigators will interview bank employees, lawyers and taxpayers, to investigate whether the Australians have been involved in criminal activity, or failed to comply with their tax obligations. I was happily ensconced, during one of our recent rainy weekends, with a book called Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman. It was full of elegant essays about the world of writing. Included was the story of George Bernard Shaw, who gave one of his own books to a friend. He signed it with a flourish: "To ---- with esteem, George Bernard Shaw." Some months later, trawling a second-hand bookshop, GBS came across the inscribed copy, which his friend had clearly sold to a dealer. He bought the copy and posted it afresh to his friend, inserting an extra word. Second-hand signatures for sale: My mother swapped her own son's book. Credit:Michele Mossop "To ----, with renewed esteem." I was chortling away, enjoying the anecdote, with its mix of humiliation and defiance, right up to the moment I remembered the same thing happened to me. In my case, the emotional freight was slightly heavier. DECATUR -- Nearly $40,000 has been contributed to the two candidates for mayor of Decatur. The fundraising amounts ahead of Election Day Tuesday are not the full amount donated to candidates, as only contributions of $1,000 or more have to be filed with the Illinois State Board of Election. A glance at the contributions given to committees for Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe and her challenger John Phillips shows two different ways to raise campaign funds. As of Friday, the state board of elections reported Moore Wolfes committee has received $23,800 in contributions since January. Major contributors were Plumbers & Steamfitters Local No. 137 and the Southern Central Illinois Laborers Political League, who both contributed $5,000 toward her campaign. Other contributions include $2,500 from the Painters' Union Local 288 and $2,000 from Archer Daniels Midland. The chairwoman of the fundraising committee, Friends of Julie Moore Wolfe, is Carla Brinkoetter, of Brinkoetter & Associates Realtors. The treasurer is David Weber, of Busey Bank. I think were all on the same team, and I think we have a good, unified front in our community, Moore Wolfe said of the contributions. Were all on the same side and realizing its us against the world,' and together we have a better chance of getting things done. I am a coalition builder and I think these contributions show that. A committee for Phillips had received $12,500 since the beginning of January. Of that, $11,500 has been contributed by Phillips. When asked, Phillips said he believed his campaign has raised closer to $15,000. He said he had no issue with those who have contributed to Moore Wolfe and that he was comfortable putting his own money into the campaign. This was something I really wanted to do so I donated, he said. Im not real good at asking other people for money. The other major contribution to the committee, the Friends of John Phillips, was $1,000 from former Decatur police Chief Mark Barthelemy. That committee is chaired by former Decatur school board President Jacqueline Goetter, with former Decatur police Chief Brad Sweeney as treasurer. A clearer picture of those who have donated will be unveiled later this month when committees are required to submit a quarterly report that provides greater detail on who contributed money and how it was spent. But as scheduled, that most recent quarterly report does not have to be submitted to the state until after Tuesdays election. It is not a perfect system, but it is one Kent Redfield said does a good job of letting people about major contributors to campaigns since each contribution of $1,000 or more has to be reported within days of being given. Theres no perfect way to get around it, unless youre asking people to record contributions in real-time, said Redfield, a political science professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The reports provided gives you a sense whats going on in each campaign. That is especially true in local elections in smaller metropolitan areas where campaigns do not normally receive a lot of small donations. Compared to past mayoral races and larger contests, campaign contributions this year have been minor. In 2015, a committee for then-Mayor Mike McElroy reported receiving $27,561 in the build-up toward the election. A committee for his main opponent, G.E. Livingston, reported receiving $35,303.32 in the final month before the April election. The other two candidates, Dustin Chapman and Pat McDaniel, did not have any listed contributions with the board of elections. In the 2009 mayoral race, McElroys committee reported $52,429 in contributions, compared to $46,870 contributed to his opponent, Steve Daniels. On the state level, those are small amounts. In 2014, GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrat Pat Quinn spent about $100 million total. The inflow of cash is important for any candidate, as it helps to pay for advertisement, mailers and other forms of outreach to get one's name out there a task that can be especially difficult in a local election. Manpower is often more important at the local level, Redfield said. And contributions are a way to make sure you have that. Contributions have been small and few between among the six candidates for Decatur City Council. David Horn reported having $4,213 on hand when he re-activated his committee in January, and later received a $2,500 contribution from Plumbers & Steamfitters Local No. 137 on March 24. Chuck Kuhle had $1,610.39 when his committee was created on Jan. 10, and he received a $1,500 contribution from David John Rathje and a $1,000 contribution from Kathy Weisemann. A committee for Chris Riley has not reported any new contributions, but listed $2,447 on hand at the start of the year. Three candidates, Marty Watkins, Andrew Apel and incumbent Pat McDaniel did not have any current contributions listed on the state boards website. Drinkers would pay far less for a bottle of vodka but much more for cask wine, while booze would be available from supermarkets and corner stores, under major reforms to alcohol regulation being urged on the federal government. Ahead of the May budget, industry and health groups are pushing for a rethink of the notoriously complex tax regime for alcohol in Australia, which sees cut-price "goon" taxed at as little as five cents a drink, but spirits taxed at more than $1. While the Turnbull government this week focused on company tax cuts and race discrimination laws, a cross-party Senate committee chaired by Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm quietly proposed sweeping changes to alcohol regulation. A single volumetric tax, set at the average rate of $36.50 a litre of alcohol, would halve the effective rate of tax on a bottle of gin or vodka - while the tax on cask wine would increase more than ten-fold. When I retired at 65, I bought a one-way ticket to Bangkok, packed a rucksack and waved goodbye to my family. I had no plans, I just knew I wanted to travel. Seven years later, I'm still travelling the world. So far I've visited 50 countries, from the completely unspoilt Myanmar to the magical, photogenic Czech Republic all a far cry from my native Essex. I dont think anyone should be limited by age. Credit:Stocksy I've hugged elephants in Thailand, shared a happy New Year's Eve with a hostel owner and his family in China, and eaten copious local delicacies be it ants' eggs in Cambodia or snake in Taiwan. I can't imagine settling down. Until I retired, I'd never dreamed of leaving behind my family for a long holiday, never mind several years. But after 30 years of slogging away running a hair salon and supporting my three children (now in their 40s) as a single parent, I finally felt free. Nine weeks into the year-long Shares Race and Money reader Rod Leonarder has a clear lead thanks to strong returns from his picks private health insurer NIB Holdings, NAB and jobs website Seek. Twelve tipsters have selected 10 stocks each with their progress updated after the conclusion of each four-week game, the latest of which ended last week. Early days in the one-year Shares Race. Credit:Syed Ghaffari Only the top-eight tipsters are shown in the table. Although Australian share prices have lifted by 3.5 per cent to 5900 points over the nine weeks, only three of the tipsters have outperformed the market. They want you to think the fight is about the Libs wanting to weaken the unions and let their mates at the banks get a bigger bite of superannuation - and there's a grain of truth to that. But in order to invoke the bogeyman, the industry funds haven't acknowledged the good ideas or explored the nuance. The truth is there are no proposals in the report that would compel anyone to use a bank-run fund, nor to force anyone with an existing super account to move funds. Meanwhile, the government and banks are keen to promote this as an argument about "choice". Who could argue with that? Financial services minister Kelly O'Dwyer hammered home this point during an interview with ABC Radio last week. "It is broadly a question of choice," O'Dwyer said. "And it's allowing people who are covered by enterprise bargaining agreements and workplace determinations to choose where their money goes. We think that that's a fundamental right that people should be allowed to choose. It's their savings after all." This is a red herring. It's true that not everyone gets to choose where their employer super contributions go, though everyone can move their existing balance from one fund to another. But most employees get to choose their fund, and the Productivity Commission admits as much. It's previously been estimated about one in five super fund members are still restricted from choosing their fund. Quite clearly that should change, but this could be fixed easily and quickly. It has nothing to do with the Productivity Commission's proposals to change default arrangements for those people who don't want to choose a fund. There are a few things you need to know about the Productivity Commission report. First, there's a good chance the proposals don't personally affect you, especially if you're reading this column. More than three quarters of the money held in superannuation are already in funds chosen by members, including a large proportion in self-managed super. If you have chosen your superannuation fund, this does not directly affect you. The proposals are only about default super for people don't choose a fund and are allocated one instead. Second, it's true that the process has been stacked against industry funds, though O'Dwyer denies this. Currently the default accounts are set through the industrial relations system. The report puts forward alternative models such as letting employees or employers choose from a list of "good" funds or letting funds tender to be the default for a certain time period or sector of the market. However, the flaw is that the report does not assess the current system or compare its new models against the status quo. This is deliberate because the government did not ask it to in its terms of reference. If the government wanted an unbiased approach, it would have asked the Productivity Commission to benchmark against the current system. Instead the alternative models have been benchmarked against a hypothetical system of no default options, where consumers are forced to choose without any assistance. This is a strawman because it's being proposed by nobody, and the commission describes it as "not an alternative model in its own right". The Productivity Commission does say it will review the current system at a later stage, but making it a separate issue is likely to impede proper analysis, and give political cover for the government to do whatever it wants to do. Third, the idea to end the proliferation of multiple accounts has merit. The Grattan Institute has previously estimated there are two accounts for every super member, which means those members are paying higher costs through fixed fees and duplication of insurance policies. The report proposes that employees only be allocated into a default fund once, rather than every time they start a job. The members are still free to change their fund. This is an excellent idea. Note, it could be adopted without any change to the system of allocating default funds through the industrial relations system. Fourth, the best proposal is to create a centralised online information service, similar to in New Zealand. The idea of a single default fund could only happen if this central clearing house is created because it would be the method for letting companies see if the new employee already has an account. There's another reason it's interesting: the Productivity Commission says it would make it easier for the Tax Office to ensure companies comply with paying compulsory super for staff. Loading Now that's something worth exploring. Non-payment of super is a big problem, especially for lower paid and younger workers. Luana Campione's struggle is familiar to hundreds of thousands of households across NSW: the scramble to patch together childcare to fit around work, school drop-offs and pick-ups. "You feel like you're not doing anything right," she says. "You have to leave work early to get the kids, you come home stressed, you work at night, trying to juggle everything. It's really tough. "School ends at 3, so you don't know what to do if you work. People who don't have family support are having to do whatever they can." Ms Campione's daily battle is mirrored across the city, where there are severe shortages of before and after school care places driven by Sydney's booming school age population and the rise in dual-income families. Prominent Sydney publicist Roxy Jacenko has resigned as the sole director of her jailed husband Oliver Curtis' private investment company in a move set to reignite speculation over the couple's marriage. In a disclosure to the corporate regulator ASIC, Curtis' father, the wealthy mining magnate Nick Curtis, revealed Ms Jacenko ceased to be a director of Encounter Investments on Friday and that he would be replacing his daughter-in-law as sole director of his son's company. Oliver Curtis was sentenced last June to a minimum of one year in jail for his role in a $1.4 million insider trading racket with his school friend John Hartman. The fallen financier, who is the only shareholder in Encounter, appointed his wife Roxy sole director days before in expectation of his incarceration. With Curtis due to be released from prison in 12 weeks, his father appears to have effectively taken the reins in administering a slice of his son's financial affairs. Thirty years ago, he was rounded up as one of a group of young men behind Melbourne's infamous and deadly Russell Street bombing. Acquitted on appeal after spending three years in Pentridge prison, Rodney Joseph Minogue might have understandably chosen to slink into quiet normality. However, he has allegedly continued to lead a colourful life, running a brothel in Kings Cross and pushing heroin on the streets of Sydney before returning to Albury to clean solar panels. On Wednesday, Mr Minogue, 51, was arrested as part of a five-month investigation by the Kings Cross Drug Unit into mid-level heroin supply in Potts Point. The sign in the ash storage room of the Sydney crematorium said it all: "Family to collect at a later date." Bereaved families are leaving the ashes of their loved ones behind in boxes in funeral homes and crematoria at a greater rate than ever before, according to NSW funeral directors and industry sources. About 67 per cent of the 56,000 people who die in NSW are cremated, and only a third of them are "memorialised" at a cemetery, according to Crematoria and Cemeteries Agency NSW (CCA), the government body set up in 2014 to oversee the industry. Its figures on the "disposition of ashes" (the volume of ashes scattered at a cemetery or interred) shows only 32.5 per cent are interred, for example in a niche wall, or scattered in a cemetery. "You've got to take it to them," says the new police commissioner, Mick Fuller, sitting in his old office in a darkened and empty NSW Police Centre on Saturday morning. "They have to leave their home at some stage." The way Fuller sees it, there is no point in locking a crook up after they have committed a crime when you can nab them before they get that far in the first place. The new NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller: an old-fashioned policeman Credit:Steven Siewert This was the philosophy Fuller used to crack down on domestic violence across the state when he assumed responsibility for the field back in 2014. In general, crime rates were falling, but not so for those suffering violence at the hands of their partners. Partly, says Fuller, this was because the crime was normally committed behind closed doors. But Fuller believed it was also because too much was demanded of the victims. They needed to summon the courage to report the crime, they needed to take out Apprehended Violence Orders, and even then all the police could do was lock people up after they broke the orders and attacked again. A Sydney mother has described how she was subjected to a vicious attack outside a busy suburban shopping centre, with a woman repeatedly shouting "you're so ugly" at her and demanding she remove her niqab. The former child care worker and swim instructor, who has asked not to be named, said the woman yelled at her: "you should take that off", "I don't know what you look like", "you're not Australian" and "F*** off back to Lebanon". The Sydney mother-of-four said she had been subject to racial abuse in the past. The mother-of-four, 36, from Auburn, had just left Bankstown Central Shopping Centre on Friday afternoon when she noticed a woman staring at her, shaking her head and muttering. "First thing she said to me was "take it off"," the woman said. "She was demanding that I take it off and because I wouldn't take it off that's when she lost it." Fleeing for your life, with only the clothes on your back, unsure where to go, and if you and your children will be safe when you get there. Leaving behind belongings, pets, and the life you once knew. On Wednesday, a child dies as the result of his injuries. This scenario is not a description of faraway refugees; it is a description of the lives of people right here in Decatur and Central Illinois who are escaping domestic violence. Between March of 2016 and February of 2017, the most recent records available, 683 men, women and children living this nightmare were served by Dove, Inc.s Domestic Violence Program. Domestic violence is a problem in plain sight. It happens in cars, homes, parks, on the street, in public and in private. Domestic violence can be emotional, physical and sexual. Domestic violence knows no boundaries, affecting all ages, all races, all religions, all genders, all sexualities and all ethnicities. Abusers dont care if you have an education, a job, or money. Abusers dont stop because you have kids or are pregnant. They count on being able to control their victim even to the point of taking ultimate control and ending their life. Domestic violence services provided by Dove and similar programs provide life-saving assistance to victims of the trauma of domestic violence and their vulnerable family members. 24/7 hotline assistance, legal advocacy, and walk-in shelter allow fleeing victims the safety to take back control of their lives. Working with staff and volunteers, victims plan for their safety, seek legal remedies, and take steps to rebuild their lives. On June 30, 2016, the State of Illinois passed a stopgap budget which was then signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner. On July 5, 2016, Dove, Inc. received a contract to provide domestic violence services for the next twelve months. Relieved for the sake of our clients, Dove proceeded to provide services since that time. What they failed to tell us was that the contract was for an appropriation which was never made. In November, Sen. Pam Althoff held two hearings on domestic violence services. At the second of these hearings, the Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV), Vicki Smith, was told that domestic violence funding would not be paid out of the stopgap. As of March 2017, the State of Illinois owed us more than a quarter-million dollars, most of that for domestic violence services. Since that day in November, several of our sister agencies across the state have not been able to hang on. Across the state, 41 domestic violence full-time staff positions have gone unfilled and another 26 full-time positions have been eliminated. At our doors, each day, we see victims of domestic violence who are in danger for their lives. Domestic violence is an ongoing problem and as human services have dwindled in the state, especially downstate, the network of available support for victims have dwindled. Law enforcement and prosecutors, childcare, transportation, counseling agencies, supportive housing services and so many other necessary supports have been negatively impacted and most have lost staff. The result of the ongoing budget struggle is that intensity of the needs presented to Dove by our domestic violence clients, such as addiction and mental illness, are more severe and require much more intensive time and case management provision by our already depleted staff. Our resources to continue serving are dwindling. SB1695, HB 3259, or SB6 all have plans to resolve the domestic violence services crisis. Yet, nearly a third of the way through the spring legislative session the remedy has not come. The time to resolve domestic violence funding for FY17 is now, before another victims questions are met with silence and they are left to risk their life in the control of their abuser. Police are appealing for public assistance to help locate a man wanted in relation to multiple assault offences. Victoria Police have issued warrants for the arrest of Melbourne man Nicholas Care. Police are appealing for public assistance to locate Melbourne man Nicholas Care. Credit:Victoria Police The 33-year-old is believed to frequent the Reservoir, Preston and Brunswick areas. Investigators have released an image of Care in the hope someone may have information on his current whereabouts. Shopping centres and railway station car parks were common locations for car break-ins, especially as it related to number plate thefts, he said. He said most thefts from motor vehicles involving personal items occurred in residential locations, and tradesmen were commonly reporting tools missing from work vehicles they had parked outside their homes. The overwhelming majority of those charged for such thefts were repeat offenders and known to police, he said, and they were stealing items to fuel drug habits or to commit other crimes. But Assistant Commissioner Hill said improved investigative practices, forensic techniques and increased resources for tackling thefts from cars were having an impact. "While the 2016 data is certainly a concern, our intelligence indicates that there has been a steady decline in the reported thefts from motor vehicles since July last year," he said. Even those who work at Victoria Police are not immune from having their cars broken into. On Wednesday morning, police media officer Creina O'Grady found her car had been targeted. She had parked her Mitsubishi at Melton Railway Station's car park, and had returned from her night shift to find the driver's side window smashed and the steering wheel missing. She informed the station's staff, only to find more items had been stolen from her vehicle than she had initially noticed. "I told the guy my window had been smashed and [the thieves] took my steering wheel," Ms O'Grady said. "He replied: 'They took your wheels'." "I thought he must be hard of hearing because I was saying my 'steering wheel'," she said. As it turned out all four tyres had been taken and the car was sitting on its axle: Creina O'Grady's car was broken into at Melton Railway Station. Credit:Creina O'Grady "I thought it was sitting a bit low," she said. In the postcode of Melton alone, there were 489 cars broken into last year, or about nine per week. Using the interactive map below, you can see how many thefts from motor vehicles were recorded in your area last year. Hover over a postcode to see the number of cases last year. If you are using a mobile or tablet device, tap your area to see a breakdown of reports over the past five years. As you can see, postcodes in Melbourne's outer suburbs recorded some of the largest numbers of cars broken into. There were more than 1000 theft from motor vehicle offences in Dandenong/Bangholme, Werribee/Derrimut and Cranbourne/Skye. In some postcodes in Melbourne's north, the number of cars broken into soared last year. In Craigieburn/Donnybrook there were 940 cases, up from 629 in 2015. Areas incorporating Bundoora, Kingsbury and Coburg also recorded a surge in thefts. And in regional population centres such as Wangaratta and Moe, the number of cars broken into more than doubled. Even the state's most crime-free postcode has seen an increase in break-ins. Warrandyte, in Melbourne's south-east, recorded 44 thefts from cars last year, up from 19 in 2015. But one of the main items stolen from cars are found on the outside of the vehicle the number plates. When the most recent crime statistics were published a fortnight ago, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp said 21,000 of the 69,000 cases last year involved number plate theft. Mr Carroll said thieves were using stolen number plates to drive around undetected in unregistered vehicles, to dodge toll road fines and speed cameras, and to carry out petrol drive-offs. A peace-loving Melbourne spiritual group wants to build a large "place of worship" on green wedge land south-east of the city but has to convince the Supreme Court it is a legitimate religion first. The group is called Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). It was established in India in 1891 and is followed in 100 countries. In Melbourne it has around 500 followers and has operated for 35 years in rented premises. Baba Gurinder Singh, leader of the group Radha Soami Satsang Beas as pictured on the group's website. If it is cleared to build in Melbourne (in Carrum, among farmland), the building will become the national headquarters of the group, which follows a guru in India who devotees call The Master. His name is Baba Gurinder Singh, 62. He lives in the town of Beas in the Punjab. It is one of the largest spiritual organisations in India and wields considerable political power but has also attracted criticism in India for what the Hindustan Times recently called "land-grabbing". Shanghai: France's consulate in Shanghai has told the French community in China to be vigilant after a French man was attacked with a knife in the city, following the killing of a French-Chinese man in Paris. The consulate said on its website on Friday that the victim was attacked in a violent assault by a man who fled after a Chinese colleague intervened. The attacker was later arrested by the Chinese police, it said. Chinese immigrants hold white roses as they gather to protest over the fatal shooting of Shaoyao Liu by police in his apartment in Paris. Credit:AP The attack on Wednesday came days after police in Paris shot a Chinese man dead in his home, triggering protests in parts of the French capital and demands by Beijing for an explanation, though the French consulate drew no connection between the two incidents. The shooting of 56-year-old Shaoyao Liu at his apartment in Paris last Sunday caused three days of violent anti-police protests in his neighbourhood and some other parts of the French capital. Tokyo: Japan's whaling fleet has returned from its Antarctic hunt in the name of scientific research with 333 minke whales, despite international criticism. The final three ships of the five-vessel fleet arrived at Shimonoseki port on Friday after the 83-day hunt in the Southern Ocean, Japan's Fisheries Agency said. Japan's giant abattoir ship Nisshin Maru with a harpooned minke whale on the deck in January. Credit:Sea Shepherd "Since a majority of both the males and females taken were mature, this indicates that the species is reproducing healthily," it said. Japan intends to take nearly 4000 whales over the next 12 years for its research program, with the ultimate goal of resuming commercial whaling. Doctors are on the cusp of launching the first new male contraceptive in more than a century. But rather than a Big Pharma lab, the breakthrough is emerging from a university start-up in the heart of rural India. Years of human trials on the injectable, sperm-zapping product are coming to an end, and researchers are preparing to submit it for regulatory approval. Results so far show it's safe, effective and easy to use but gaining little traction with drugmakers. That's frustrating its inventor, who says his technique could play a crucial role in condom-averse populations. Male contraception is a low priority for Big Pharma. Credit:Robert Banks A new birth-control method for men has the potential to win as much as half the $US10 billion ($13 billion) market for female contraceptives worldwide and cut into the $US3.2 billion of annual condom sales, businesses dominated by pharmaceutical giants Bayer, Pfizer and Merck & Co, according to estimates from the last major drug company to explore the area. India's reversible procedure could cost as little as $US10 in poor countries, and may provide males with years-long fertility control, overcoming compliance problems and avoiding ongoing costs associated with condoms and the female birth-control pill, which is usually taken daily. Sir Tim Barrow (left), Britain's permanent representative to the EU, hands Theresa May's Article 50 letter triggering Brexit to the European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels. Credit:AP "The task before us is momentous but it should not be beyond us," May finished her letter, optimistically. 1. Building Brexit Britain. Britain will officially be out of the EU on March 31, 2019. Credit:Luke MacGregor On Thursday the government set out its 40-page plan for a "Great Repeal Bill", to deal with the tower of European laws that apply to Britain, and what happens on Brexit Day 2019 when they no longer do. In a considerable irony, the government has decided the only practical solution is to import every single European law into British law, wholesale. A senior member of British Prime Minister Theresa May's own party says she would go to war with Spain over Gibraltar. Credit:AP Tens of thousands of European statutes, treaties, regulations, case law and directives, ranging from workers' rights to the kinds of chemicals allowed in cakes, will be "copy and pasted" into British law to avoid the need to reinvent an extraordinary number of wheels in an impossibly short time and to smooth the way to a trade deal. According to some estimates more than 40,000 legal acts will apply to this process, plus 15,000 court verdicts and 62,000 international standards. "This approach will provide maximum certainty as we leave the EU," the Prime Minister said. She brought in heavyweight support: serial wife-decapitator Henry VIII, Britain's all-time champion on troublesome continental directives. The Great Repeal Bill will include so-called "Henry VIII clauses", which the British parliament website defines as "provisions (that) enable the Government to repeal or amend (a law) after it has become an Act of Parliament". Once the GRB passes, ministers and civil servants can quickly fix problems that emerge from the EU legislative transplant. This week's white paper admitted that "a significant amount of EU-derived law" would not work properly when converted and would need such tinkering. But Henry VIII provisions aren't popular in parliament, because MPs see making laws as their job, not an unchecked government's. There's a fair amount of suspicion, especially among non-Conservatives, that the bill as described would give the government a free hand to make British law on the environment, health, safety, consumer protection, employment rights and equalities without even having to ask the House of Commons its opinion. As Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn put it, the government has proposed giving itself "essentially dictatorial powers". Lib Dem Tom Brake demanded "proper and rigorous safeguards". Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon was also scathing about the plan for European regulations to revert to Westminster. "Those powers should automatically come to this chamber," she told the Scottish parliament at Holyrood. "What the Tories are actually planning is a power grab on this parliament." When the Great Repeal Bill arrives, it may not have an easy ride. 2. Splitting assets Next month a special EU Council meeting will agree on the continent's guidelines for the Brexit negotiations. That's the official line. But German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande have already insisted the first item on the agenda must be the key principles of Britain's exit. This is the "divorce agreement" anticipated by Article 50. Britain has pledged money for things such as pension liabilities for EU staff, EU loans, projects and programs. The EU has committed to spend the money; for Britain to pull out would leave the continent in a financial hole. Researchers have estimated the bill as high as 60 billion ($84 billion). A new study released this week found that Britain has a gross liability of 86.9 billion, but it could barter that down by offsetting a share of EU assets and income to about 69 billion, then subtract EU money due to British institutions such as universities, bringing the bill down to about 36 billion. Naturally, Britain will try to bargain this down further. "Don't underestimate the difficulty of agreeing on the money," says Anand Menon, professor of European Politics at King's College London. "It's going to depend on presentation as much as anything else everyone has to come out of it able to say they won, and that's not easy." There will be all sorts of wrinkles how much does Britain deserve for 1/28th of the value of the EU buildings in Brussels? What is its share of the European Investment Bank? And don't expect the Europeans to play nice. Spanish journalist Jordi Barcia said he has already seen the signs of "Operation Seduction" by the British ambassador to Spain. "The kind of over-optimistic message the UK government is desperately trying to spin let's strengthen our friendship and all won't be easy to sell in Spain," Barcia says. "Public opinion believes Brexit is damaging the European project and the Brits want to have their cake and eat it." 3. Citizens' rights One of the most worrying parts of the divorce process is currently the status of EU citizens in Britain, and British citizens in the EU. It should be the least contentious. There is goodwill on both sides to look after those whose lives have been thrown into doubt by Brexit. But, again, there are wrinkles. "The problems are largely legal and administrative," explains Menon. "Let's say they agree it's sensible to give everyone the right to stay [where they are]. Except we haven't got the first bloody clue who they are. How do you police that? How do you avoid, for example, Boris from Warsaw who's been here for ages, whose customers love him, who popped back to Poland for his mother's funeral on an arbitrary cutoff date and lost all his rights? "To do it carefully, genuinely, is going to be very difficult. And then there's the difficulty about rights, what are we guaranteeing? There's a European Health Insurance card. We are agreeing European citizens will be covered here. But the day we leave the EU our citizens lose all their rights to health insurance [on the continent]. Those sorts of things need a lot of time to figure out there are so many reciprocal rights built into the treaties." 4. Future trade Britain has insisted it wants to define its new relationship with Europe outside the single market, sort of outside the customs union, with a fresh and comprehensive free trade deal in parallel with the rest of this process. This may not be doable. Says Angela Merkel: "The negotiations must first clarify how we will disentangle our inter-linked relationship, and only when this is dealt with can we, hopefully soon after, begin talking about our future relationship." There are two or three big roadblocks looming. One is the issue of Northern Ireland a politically fraught border which if closed could jeopardise a hard-won peace (Gerry Adams said it would "undermine the fundamental human rights elements of the Good Friday Agreement"), and if open could become a smugglers' highway for avoiding trade tariffs and restrictions. Another is the issue of adjudication. Brexit minister David Davis argues Britain is already free-trading with the EU and has perfectly aligned systems on things that usually put spanners in trade deals such as product standards so the two sides don't have to face many of the usual challenges to a trade deal. Menon doesn't buy it. "If we're out of the EU, what shall we do about tariffs? If we accept each others' standards from Brexit on, what will be the method of adjudication? You don't do that on faith. The EU is going to say we've got the European Court of Justice, you should try it sometime, and to Theresa May that's going to be an absolute red line." May has already hinted that Britain would agree to retain key EU regulations to try to ensure a smooth path to the continent for British businesses especially in industries such as financial services, energy, aviation and communications. But the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier is likely to insist, in return, that Britain submit to the EU's Court of Justice for dispute resolution a concession of sovereignty that would irk Brexiteers no end. 5. The end of the road "Two years is a myth," says Menon. "I refuse to believe it can be done in two years without some kind of transitional arrangement ... a holding pattern." For a start, take out two Augusts because the French wouldn't work through summer for a world war, let alone trade negotiations. There are two French elections and a German election this year (the latter often followed by a drawn-out coalition fight). Next year there are elections in the European parliament, Austria, Sweden, Hungary and Finland. "Then there are unexpected (delays) a Eurozone crisis. And you'd need five months at the end to get everyone to sign up to it," adds Menon. The divorce deal can be agreed by heads of government in a room in Brussels, but a trade deal needs ratification by parliaments across the continent. "There's no way you can negotiate a comprehensive trade deal with your nearest partner with whom you've got an incredibly complex trading relationship in the time we've got." And imagine, says Menon, that in a year and a half's time Theresa May goes to parliament with the deal she has negotiated and the parliament rejects it. "She has to resign she has staked her reputation on this deal," Menon says. "I don't see how she stays in power. And if she stands down, all bets are off. She might be replaced by a Remainer. You never know. If Boris Johnson was prime minister we wouldn't be going for this kind of Brexit." Then, the EU might "pause the clock" on Brexit to switch to an entirely different flavour of deal. Of course the prime minister knows this. Which, perversely, means if there's a fair chance parliament wouldn't like the deal emerging over time, it's in her interests to blame the EU and storm out of negotiations. 6. Thinking again Legally, Article 50 itself doesn't seem to consider that a country might change its mind during the two-year negotiation process. The House of Lords got legal advice saying, literally, "you are entitled to change your mind" before the two-year cutoff. Lord Kerr, who actually wrote the law, told the BBC in November 2016 "you can change your mind while the process is going on if a country were to decide actually we don't want to leave after all everybody would be very cross about a waste of time but legally they couldn't insist that you leave". When Britain's Supreme Court considered the implications of Article 50 this year, it left the question untouched, because it didn't need to touch it. It had suited the parties to the case to assume it was irrevocable the government for political reasons, the Remainers because it helped their case. Washington: The White House has revived President Donald Trump's unproven wiretapping allegations against the Obama administration, insisting that there is new evidence that it conducted "politically motivated" surveillance of Mr Trump's presidential campaign. Senior government officials, including James Comey, the FBI director, and politicians from both parties have repeatedly and forcefully rejected the President's claim, saying they have seen no evidence of direct surveillance. A spokesman for Mr Obama has denied that the former president ever ordered surveillance of Mr Trump or his associates. But Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, asserted to reporters during his daily news briefing on Friday that members of the Obama administration had done "very, very bad things," just as President Trump alleged without proof on March 4 when he took to Twitter to accuse Mr Obama of "wire tapping" his phones at Trump Tower. "The question is why? Who else did it? Was it ordered? By whom?" Mr Spicer said ominously. "But I think more and more the substance that continues to come out on the record by individuals continues to point to exactly what the President was talking about that day." Beijing: University of Technology Sydney academic Chongyi Feng said late on Saturday he had boarded a flight leaving China, ending an ordeal that saw him interrogated by authorities and delayed from exiting the country. Professor Feng, an Australian permanent resident who retains his Chinese passport, boarded the flight from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and was scheduled to arrive in Sydney on Sunday morning. Flight tracking websites confirmed the plane had taken off. Professor Feng's case had sparked concern among international academics and prompted Australian government intervention. "I'm on the plane," Professor Feng said via text message shortly before his plane took off. "I will be back." Ivanka Trump does not have the same "escape hatch" as her father. Credit:AP But real estate projects like the Kushner Cos.' deals have become a magnet for opaque foreign money - often from parts of the world that present thorny policy questions, such as China, where Kushner's company has actively sought investors, as well as the Middle East and Russia. As part of his exceptionally broad portfolio in the White House, Kushner has been a crucial figure in arranging the visit of the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday in Florida. The mystery behind many real estate investments involving foreigners prompted the Treasury Department last year to push for additional disclosures as a way to combat money laundering. Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner. Credit:AP While Kushner may face a potential ethical minefield, the disclosure form makes it difficult to determine exactly where those mines might be situated. The form, which runs 54 pages and lists hundreds of entities, reveals few details about the underlying investments that make up the Kushner empire, such as the addresses of buildings, sources of financing and names of partners. John Pudner, a conservative who has helped elect Tea Party candidates to Congress and now runs a nonprofit group called Take Back Our Republic, said that Kushner and Ivanka Trump, if they wanted to serve in the White House, would have been better off if they had taken the difficult step of liquidating their holdings. "A win-win for the president's family and everyone else is if there were no question anytime a decision is made that it's being done for the good of the country," he said. The actions by Kushner stand in contrast to the moves by some other top aides to Trump, such as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, who before he was sworn in agreed to liquidate all of his stock holdings and his ownership stake in Exxon, putting his assets mostly into Treasury bonds and other permitted investments, such as diversified mutual funds, which make formal financial conflicts unlikely. Kushner, by contrast, continues to hold multimillion-dollar lines of credit from institutions such as Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, while companies he is still a beneficiary of have billions of dollars in additional loans from heavily regulated institutions. Richard W. Painter, who served as a White House ethics lawyer in the Bush administration, said that Kushner's financial holdings would complicate any interactions he might have with such banks. "The one thing Jared really ought to stay completely away from is anything having to do with Dodd-Frank," Painter said, referring to the 2010 law that increased capital reserve requirements and instituted many other regulatory changes that affected the nation's banks. Trump has said he hopes to roll back the law, with the help of Congress and his top aides. Several of the companies that are in business with Kushner Cos. have faced scrutiny by federal law enforcement. Deutsche Bank, for example, reached a $US7.2 billion settlement last year with the Justice Department over its sale of toxic mortgage securities. Kushner, who frequently speaks with world leaders and is tasked with overseeing Middle East peace negotiations, also has an unsecured line of credit worth as much as $US5 million from Israel Discount Bank. Kushner Cos. has also taken out at least four loans from Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest bank, although they are not disclosed in the filing. That firm is the subject of a Justice Department investigation into whether it helped wealthy Americans evade taxes with undeclared accounts. Another potential conflict rests in Ivanka Trump's continued stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, a project that has drawn protests from ethics experts who worry that people representing special interests could stay there or host events there to gain influence with the White House, which is just a few blocks away. Ivanka Trump has rolled her fashion brand into the Ivanka M. Trump Business Trust, which is overseen by her brother-in-law, Josh Kushner, and sister-in-law, Nicole Meyer. The documents released Friday valued the trust at more than $US50 million. Discussions about changes in federal tax law - a major agenda item for Donald Trump that could affect issues such as depreciation on Jared Kushner's buildings and clothing imported for Ivanka Trump's brand - could also pose problems, or force them to recuse themselves from participating. "They are going to have to walk a fine line between matters they are involved with financially and the policies they are helping create and legislation they may be advocating," said Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit group. The federal ethics regulations formally prohibit federal employees from being involved in any "particular matter that will have a direct effect on a financial interest, if there is a close causal link between any decision or action to be taken in the matter and any expected effect of the matter on the financial interest." But Painter said that most administrations had interpreted the law more broadly, so that officials who own stakes in individual industries do not participate in even broad policy decisions affecting that sector, unless they seek a formal ethics waiver, as certain officials did during the first George Bush administration, given that they owned energy industry stocks and were participating in the decision to enter the war against Iraq over its invasion of Kuwait. Federal employees, under ethics rules that Donald Trump imposed, are also prohibited, for at least two years after they arrive in the government, from working on particular matters that involve former employers or clients, even if these actions do not directly financially benefit the federal employee. The disclosures by Kushner and other White House officials released Friday demonstrate just how complicated it is going to be to police these rules, given the vast and extremely complex financial assets not only within the Trump family but also among dozens of aides they have selected. The National Economic Council director, Gary Cohn, as well as the top White House aides Christopher Liddell and Reed Cordish, collectively reported assets with a maximum value of more than $US1 billion. Stephen Bannon, Donald Trump's chief strategist, reported assets worth as much as $US53.9 million. Even Bannon's aide Julia Hahn, who is 25, reported investments worth between $US1 million and $US2.1 million, according to a tally by The New York Times, while Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, had assets worth between $US11 million and $US44 million. Some of those financial holdings are already creating questions. Liddell, an assistant to the president and the director of strategic initiatives, has participated in White House meetings since January that involved several companies in which he continued at least through February to own stock in, including International Paper and General Motors. Bannon disclosed more than $US500,000 in income from entities linked to hedge fund manager Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah Mercer, major Republican donors who were crucial figures in Bannon's appointment as the Trump campaign's chief executive last year. Voting is a right of democracy, but it also is a privilege. You only need to look at international headlines to see the number of countries that still do not believe their residents have a right to have a voice in the governance of their country. Don't overlook your chance to have your say. Voting sounds like a very establishment thing to do. Its not really considered rocking the boat. But it is, particularly on Tuesday, when we elect leaders in local government from township, village and library boards to mayors, city councils and school and community college boards. Its important for our region. The people elected will have a direct impact on you, your home and your family. They will decide whether your taxes increase, how your child is educated, whether your streets potholes get filled and whether the grass gets mowed at the neighborhood park. Yet, unfortunately, many people wont take the time to vote. Turnout usually is low for spring elections, and "low" is a relative term. Its an indictment of our civic involvement that if 50 percent to 60 percent of registered voters cast ballots, its considered a "high" turnout. Buck the trend and go to the polls. Its the true power of the people. If you're not sure whether you are registered, or where you should cast your vote, contact your election authority. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Herald & Review has published stories for several months detailing what's on the ballot and the stance of candidates involved in contested races. If you've already recycled those issues, visit herald-review.com/elections to catch up. We also have offered our endorsements -- Julie Moore Wolfe for Decatur mayor; David Horn, Pat McDaniel and Chris Riley for Decatur city council; and Kendall Briscoe, Courtney Carson, Beth Nolan and Al Scheider for Decatur school board. This editorial board also supports the proposed quarter-cent Law Enforcement Safety Tax. Central Illinois communities are lucky to have such a strong field of interested and dedicated public servants who are willing to spend time and money for the chance to help lead their community, school district, library district, township and community college district. If they can take the time to research issues, study both sides, and talk to stakeholders, we should take the time to cast a vote. Want to be a rebel? Feel like swimming against the tide, going in a different direction than the majority? Then vote. GIBSON NAMED PAUL HARRIS FELLOW PHILIPSBURG_--- The Rotary Club of Sint Maarten celebrated its 45th anniversary with a special dinner celebration at Moomba Restaurant in Maho on Thursday, March 29, 2017. To commemorate the occasion the Rotary Club awarded a Paul Harris Fellow to its only remaining charter member, Richard Gibson. Mr. Gibson accepted the award and recounted several of his memories from the early days of Rotary on Sint Maarten. Mr. Gibson went on to say, "It has been a pleasure to be a Rotarian for all of these years. Our Club and Rotary has accomplished so much good on the island because of what we have accomplished together. I look forward to being here for the next 45 years." The Paul Harris Fellow is recognition of exceptional service and a tribute to a person whose life demonstrates a shared purpose with the objectives of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International of world peace and international understanding. President of the Rotary Club of Sint Maarten, Henna Budhrani added, Rotary service helps the people of our community in more ways than we realize. Tonight I am honored to be President as we welcome members from all 4 of our St. Maarten/St. Martin clubs to celebrate 45 years of Rotary service in St. Maarten, which began with our very own Mother club. I am truly humbled to be able to follow in the footsteps of our remarkable past presidents who have served our island since 1972. A true Rotarian will find satisfaction when he or she is able to give to those in need, and I trust we will be able to make a difference in the lives of much more on our lovely island in the years to come. The Rotary Club of St. Maarten was chartered on March 17, 1972, as result of a September 1970 meeting to form a club on the island. Since its formation, the Rotary Club of St. Maarten has grown in membership and has assisted in the formation of new clubs in the District, including Anguilla (1978), St. Martin Nord (1988), St. Martin Mid-Isle (1997) and St. Martin Sunrise (2004). For more information about the Rotary Club of St. Maarten, please contact the Rotary Club of St. Maarten Press Officer at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit the website www.rotarysxm.org. PHILIPSBURG:--- On Saturday, April 1st, 2017 a report of Missing person was filed at the Philipsburg Police Station by the mother of Tyrese Jevon van Heynegen, born on Sint Maarten, April 6th, 2000. Tyrese was last seen by his mother on Tuesday morning March 28rd 2017 before he left home for School in his M.PC. uniform. Tyrese has since not returned home, nor contacted his mother or any other family member. Tyrese has a slim posture, dark brown complexion, dark brown eyes and black hair. The police department is seeking the assistance from the community to help locate Tyrese Jevon van Heynegen. Please contact the Police Force: 54-22222 or the emergency number 911. Or if you are Tyrese and read this, please contact your mother and let her know that you are doing fine. KPSM Press Release Hundreds of farmers reportedly forced to shoot their own cattle Meanwhile, in flyover country, 1000's of acres burned in Kansas and Oklahoma, touched off by lightning and fueled by dry winds. Hundreds of farmers and ranchers were forced to shoot hundreds of cattle, either because they were injured or because nothing remained for them to graze upon. AP Cattle continue to graze right up to the flames of a range fire early Tuesday morning. Numerous cattle were killed by the fires. Wildfires swept by high winds threatened numerous towns across southern Kansas Monday night and Tuesday morning. Emergency crews on Tuesday struggled to contain deadly wildfires that have scorched hundreds of square miles of land in four states and forced thousands of people to flee their homes ahead of the wind-whipped flames. The fires were burning in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado, and warnings that fire conditions were ripe were issued for Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. Dirty Jobs star Make Rowe asks: Why is it that we bicoastal bubble dwelling folks have ignored the greatest story of this month from the Great Plains? Are the coastal elite really that consumed with Hollywood that Manhattan Kansas doesn't matter? Cattle continue to graze right up to the flames of a range fire early Tuesday morning. Numerous cattle were killed by the fires. Wildfires swept by high winds threatened numerous towns across southern Kansas Monday night and Tuesday morning. The photos and many of the facts in this story are from the Wichita, Kansas Eagle: http://www.kansas.com/news/weather/article136876253.html#storylink=cpy City Finally Removes Old Growth Redwood Tree on 9th Street in Santa Monica. If a tree falls in Santa Monica does anyone hear it? 100-year-old redwood tree comes down As Ecclesiastes said, there is a time for everything under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die. An old growth Redwood tree finally had to be taken down on 9th street. It had died during the drought, 18 or so months ago, and had become a hazard to the neighborhood. The City of Santa Monica, which has an active tree removal department called "Community forestry," red tagged the tree on October 7, 2016. Several residents appealed the decision at http://www.Santamonicatrees.com. On October 31st, we called the community forester's office. Peter Provenzale, Urban Forest Supervisor, City of Santa Monica told us "We received another appeal last week as well. The adoration of the neighbors and the charm of the tree, the urban forestry division has decided to leave the redwood standing at this time. The tree is in decline and has significant dieback. We will re-inspect the tree in March 2017. At that point we will reassess the health and its overall vigor." On March 28, 2017, on a day of high winds, a private crew came to take the tree down. The redwood was undeniably brown, a victim of the drought. There is something special about redwood trees, which is why people turn them into tables and such. Just one of millions of trees that died in the California drought, the loss of the tree has nevertheless hit close to home. My children used to hide behind it when they were small and playing. And what says "California" better than a Redwood tree Coast redwood and giant sequoia were jointly designated the state tree of California and are famous California tourist attractions. Redwood National and State Parks and several parks including Giant Sequoia National Monument protect almost half the remaining stands of Coast Redwoods and Giant sequoias. In Redlands, a group has been formed to save local trees in parks, while in Butte County, a local emergency has been declared over dead trees. http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/environment-and-nature/20161022/what-a-group-of-advocates-is-doing-to-save-redlands-dying-trees Researchers are most interested in persistent contrails Using biofuels to help power jet engines reduces particle emissions in their exhaust by as much as 50 to 70 percent, in a new study conclusion that bodes well for airline economics and Earth's environment. The findings are the result of a cooperative international research program led by NASA and involving agencies from Germany and Canada, and are detailed in a study published in the journal Nature. During flight tests in 2013 and 2014 near NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, data was collected on the effects of alternative fuels on engine performance, emissions and aircraft-generated contrails at altitudes flown by commercial airliners. The test series were part of the Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions Study, or ACCESS. Contrails are produced by hot aircraft engine exhaust mixing with the cold air that is typical at cruise altitudes several miles above Earth's surface, and are composed primarily of water in the form of ice crystals. Researchers are most interested in persistent contrails because they create long-lasting, and sometimes extensive, clouds that would not normally form in the atmosphere, and are believed to be a factor in influencing Earth's environment. "Soot emissions also are a major driver of contrail properties and their formation," said Bruce Anderson, ACCESS project scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. "As a result, the observed particle reductions we've measured during ACCESS should directly translate into reduced ice crystal concentrations in contrails, which in turn should help minimize their impact on Earth's environment." That's important because contrails, and the cirrus clouds that evolve from them, have a larger impact on Earth's atmosphere than all the aviation-related carbon dioxide emissions since the first powered flight by the Wright brothers. The tests involved flying NASA's workhorse DC-8 as high as 40,000 feet while its four engines burned a 50-50 blend of aviation fuel and a renewable alternative fuel of hydro processed esters and fatty acids produced from camelina plant oil. A trio of research aircraft took turns flying behind the DC-8 at distances ranging from 300 feet to more than 20 miles to take measurements on emissions and study contrail formation as the different fuels were burned. "This was the first time we have quantified the amount of soot particles emitted by jet engines while burning a 50-50 blend of biofuel in flight," said Rich Moore, lead author of the Nature report. The trailing aircraft included NASA's HU-25C Guardian jet based at Langley, a Falcon 20-E5 jet owned by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and a CT-133 jet provided by the National Research Council of Canada. "Measurements in the wake of aircraft require highly experienced crew members and proven measuring equipment, which DLR has built up over many years," said report co-author Hans Schlager of the DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics. "Since 2000, the DLR Falcon has been used in numerous measurement campaigns to investigate the emissions and contrails of commercial airliners." Researchers plan on continuing these studies to understand and demonstrate the potential benefits of replacing current fuels in aircraft with biofuels. It's NASA's goal to demonstrate biofuels on their proposed supersonic X-plane. For more information about NASA's aeronautics research, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/aero UAT Group Q1 Shareholder Letter Reflects Optimism TAMPA, FL (Marketwired) 03/31/17 Umbra Applied Technologies Group (OTC PINK: UATG) First Quarter Status Fellow Shareholders, It is an exciting time here at UAT Group and across our servicing market segments, particularly within the biotech industry. Admittedly the biotech industry still has not completely recovered from the volatility of 2016 however, there has been a strong resurgence through-out the market place. The immuno-therapy market segment looks to be exploding, with several cancer vaccines entering clinical trials and some nearing commercialization. PD-1 inhibitors are starting to be approved for treating various cancers and with companies like Sarepta Therapeutics, UniQure and United Therapeutics making significant advancements, the market has a pretty good start. Gene therapies are also getting closer to market with, Spark Therapeutics potentially having the first treatment approved in the United States as soon as next year and the gene editing technique CRISPR-Cas 9 has begun human trials. I expect to see more of this in 2017 as the market sector returns to the fundamentals of mergers and acquisitions with the strength of clinical data being the fundamental catalyst. While many analysts caution that the relative performance of the sector is made largely due to the binary nature of biotechnology holdings I would also add that as a whole I predict the sector to outperform initial 2017 projections based on current trends in corporate growth strategies. This holds true for UAT Group in that we are well positioned within the medical device segment that has seen little to no innovations over the past 48 months yet has seen significant growth. Up to one third of medical device companies reported sales increases of 10% or more over the last year with many medical device companies expecting more growth from established markets in the US and Europe than in developing markets in 2017. Regulatory changes continue to represent the biggest business challenge for most of us in this market segment however a recent survey of more than 3,000 medical device industry participants found a renewed focus among companies in US and European markets, as well as more bearish expectations for BRIC markets and greater challenges addressing regulatory compliance. More than 20% of the survey respondents reported sales increases of 15% or higher last year, and nearly 30% of firms reported increases of between 6% and 10%. The highest percentages of sales increases came from smaller firms34% of firms with nine or fewer employees and 31% of firms with fifty or fewer employees grew sales by 15% or more. Larger respondents with two hundred fifty or more employees indicated more modest sales growth of 10% or less. This bodes well for UAT Group both as a small company and an industry leader in innovation. Another significant indicator within the global medical device market is that positive growth expectations for the US jumped 9% between 2016 (51% of respondents) and 2017 (60%), while such expectations for Europe increased from 40% in 2016 to 51%. This leaves UATG well positioned to capitalize on a segment movement that previously was otherwise turbulent and unpredictable. At UAT Group we believe that medical devices are beginning to capture major market share and it appears so do many other companies. We predicted this and prepared for it by creating a pipeline of innovative products to be released during the second quarter of 2017. The medical device industry has been rapidly changing, and is very dynamic. Through the rise of bioelectronics and medical technology more generally, pharmaceutical partnerships, and an increased emphasis on collaborative care, medical device manufacturers are clearing a space for themselves in the future of medicine. Pharmaceutical companies are looking for synergistic relationships that enhance their product and give their product a competitive edge in the market. It is why you see companies like Pfizer or Roche developing mobile apps to accompany their drugs and it is why GlaxoSmithKline has recently partnered with Google. The biotech transaction market appears to be robust, and we intend to be an active participant, both as a potential buyer of Intellectual property and a potential retailer within the global biotech market segment. Our improving balance sheet is an important enabler in that regard to which we seek constant bolstering of our asset base and cash position. We continue to make progress with our evolving balance sheet which we feel will provide us with a strong liquidity position allowing us to thoughtfully pursue our growth objectives while returning capital to shareholders. We believe this is a key competitive advantage as we head into a period where we expect to see increasing acquisition opportunities. Additionally, we have revamped our internal corporate mechanisms to not only better serve our employees, build shareholder value but also to be as efficient as possible when serving our future customers. We have become more efficient by outsourcing payroll and employee health benefits to a top U.S. based firm at a reduced cost of what previously was an internal expense freeing up capital to be allocated where needed. We are currently in the process of completing a capital infusion of $250,000.00 with April beginning the launch of a $5,000,000 raise in support of corporate expansion, product manufacturing and up-listing to a senior exchange. Accompanying capital raises will be a robust marketing campaign supporting the delivery of a pipeline of products beginning with the Aegis fixation pin to include the delivery of the ClearView wrist fixator later this year. In support of this initiative I have, for the first time, granted several scheduled interviews and the company will be releasing several videos on our products, manufacturing processes as well as offering a glimpse into what is on the horizon here UAT Group. I think you will be just as excited and encouraged as I am, by seeing what our Applied Sciences Division (ASD) has been working on. I look forward to my next letter updating you on our progress and how far we have come since first beginning this journey almost five years ago. I will be releasing another podcast in the coming weeks outlining advances and perhaps a few surprises so be sure to update your official UAT Group app and watch for UATG alerts so you can listen to the podcasts to come. If you do not yet have the UAT Group app, it is available at the Apple App Store and Google Play under UAT Group. I would also urge everyone to sign-up/opt-in to our e-mail list so that you can always stay up to date on the latest news from UATG. To opt-in and become part of the UATG experience simply follow the link and fill out field on the right under Get Chairmans Letters & News by E-mail or If you have any questions about our improved social media presence, please visit . Sincerely, Alex Umbra Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Umbra Applied Technologies Group, Inc. About Umbra Applied Technologies, Inc. Umbra Applied Technologies is a member of the Umbra Applied Technologies Group (OTC: UATG) family of companies. Umbra Applied Technologies, U.S. based Defense and Security Company, is engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products, and services for defense, civil, and commercial applications in United States and internationally. It also provides management, engineering, technical, scientific, logistic, and information services. In support of air, land and naval forces, the company operates in five segments: Aeronautics, Information Systems & Global Solutions, Biotech, Alternative & Renewable Energy, and Intelligence Systems. The Aeronautics segment offers military aircrafts, such as unmanned combat and air mobility aircrafts, and related technologies. The Information Systems & Global Solutions segment provides advanced technology systems and security expertise, integrated information technology solutions, and management services for civil, defense, intelligence, and other government customers. The Biotech segment addresses critical gaps that are absent in defense medical research programs. The Alternative & Renewable Energy segment provides alternative solutions to energy through research in bioelectricity, wind, thermodynamic and solar energy. The Intelligence segment provides computational study of signals, open source and network intelligence through advanced metrics and algorithms to locate and extract sentiment from gathered intelligence. For more information visit or NEITHER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE COMMISION NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. This news release may include forward-looking statements including forecasts, estimates, expectations, and objectives for future operations including but not limited to its ability to conclude a business combination with a third party, sale of assets, return of capital or initial public offering and a secondary listing on the OTC as a result of aforementioned and its ability to fund the exploration of its assets through the raising of equity or debt capital or through funding by a joint venture partner that are subject to a number of assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Umbra Applied Technologies including but not limited to capital markets and securities risks and continued development success on technology. There can be and are no actual or implied guarantees that any of the above activities will be completed or completed on terms acceptable to the Company and its shareholders or approved by any regulatory authority having jurisdiction. Such forward-looking information represents managements best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Risks and uncertainties about Umbra Applied Technologies business are more fully discussed in the companys disclosure materials, including its MD&A, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and available at and readers are urged to read these materials. Umbra Applied Technologies does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by applicable law. Contact: UAT Group 813.607.6219 Tellza Announces 2016 Financial Results TORONTO, ONTARIO (Marketwired) 03/31/17 Tellza Communications Inc. (TSX: TEL) announced its audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2016. 2016 Highlights Investments Corporate While we conduct our business primarily in USD and report our financial results in USD, our common shares are listed and trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange in CDN dollars. Expressed in CDN dollars, EBITDA(i) was $4.2 Million or $.38/share compared to $3.6 Million or $0.31/share in 2015. The Companys financial statements and other disclosures are available on SEDAR. The Companys corporate profile is located at . About Tellza Tellza operates in both the Communications and Financial Support Services business. Tellza is a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TEL). Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information: This press release contains forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words like expects, anticipates, plans, intends, indicates or similar expressions. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. Tellzas actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors set forth in reports and other documents filed by the Company with Canadian securities regulatory authorities from time to time. See which contains all securities files. (i)We define EBITDA as earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock based compensation, interest, minority interest and other gains and losses. EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, it is a standard measure used in the telecommunications industry to assist in understanding and comparing operating results. EBITDA is reviewed regularly by management and our Board of Directors in assessing performance and in making decisions regarding the ongoing operations of the business and the ability to generate cash flows. Generally, a non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of a companys performance, financial position or cash flows that either excludes or includes amounts that are not normally excluded or included in the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS. EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance nor does it have a standardized meaning under IFRS. In evaluating these measures, investors should consider that the methodology applied in calculating as such measures may differ among companies and analysts. Below is a reconciliation of EBITDA to net income for the periods presented: Contacts: Tellza Communications Inc. Gary Clifford Executive Chairman 647 281 1831 Federal fentanyl bust leads to arrest of two Elkhart men Two Elkhart men are accused of conspiring to ship the fentanyl to Austin, Texas. It has been a year since Azerbaijans April aggression. During four days of April 2016 Azerbaijan conducted the same type of aggressive actions and barbarism against population of Artsakh, that it had carried out for about four years in the beginning of 1990s, when it had tried to deprive the people of Nagorno-Karabakh from their right to live in their homeland and to exercise their right to self-determination. We pay tribute to the memory of all heroes who fell repelling the attack of Azerbaijan against Artsakh and who gave their lives to prevent mass atrocities against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. While the international community was condemning the gross violations of International Humanitarian Law by the Azerbaijani armed forces, Baku was praising the acts of barbarism and their perpetrators. Azerbaijans adventurism severely damaged the peace process. On May 16 in Vienna, upon the initiative of the US Secretary of State, and on June 20 in St. Petersburg, at the invitation of the President of Russia, the meetings of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place aimed at stabilising the situation, preventing new escalation and creation of conditions conducive to the advancement of the negotiation process. As an outcome of those meetings it was emphasised that it is necessary to settle the conflict exclusively through peaceful means, to strictly adhere to the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, which have no time limitations. It was agreed to establish in the shortest possible time an investigation mechanism for ceasefire violations and to expand the capacities of the team of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. However, Azerbaijan refused to implement the reached agreements and found itself in an isolation by opposing to the international community. The highest leadership of Azerbaijan openly lies when it claims that the Co-Chair countries allegedly recognise Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. It pretends as if it does not understand what the Co-Chair countries are referring to when they say that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should implement its right to self-determination through the legally-binding free expression of will. Armenia shares the same approach: indeed, the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh should be determined by the people of Artsakh. That forgery of Baku exposes the failure of the policy of Azerbaijan. After failing in the negotiation process Baku resorted to the military solution but failed again. The April war once again vividly proved that Artsakh can never be part of Azerbaijan under any status, and that the implementation of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination is irreversible. In response to Azerbaijans continuous threats to use force, the international community clearly warns that it will not be tolerated. As a guarantor of Artsakhs security, Armenia will ensure the safety of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Together with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries we will continue the efforts aimed at exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. If you found a typo you can notify us by selecting the text area and pressing CTRL+Enter Composite of enhanced color images of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left), as viewed by NASAs New Horizons spacecraft as it passed through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015. THE WOODLANDS, TexasMore than a decade after the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to officially reclassify Pluto as a "dwarf planet," scientists and the public are still hotly debating the decision. Some staunch supporters of Pluto's full-fledged planethood are renewing calls for the IAU to reverse Plutos demotion. Their opponents insist the decision should stand. Othersperhaps a silent majoritywatch with ambivalence (if not outright distaste) as their more-passionate peers loudly and publicly squabble over nomenclature. All three camps could be found here last week at the 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), one of the globe's most prestigious gatherings of space scientists. Regardless of what one calls it, there is no question our first-ever close-up look at Pluto via a flyby by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft in 2015 has rekindled the debate about the famous object's standing in our solar system. With its five moons, icy mountain ranges, glacial seasons and cryogenic atmosphere, Pluto's frigid beauty and complexity rival those of any other world orbiting the sun. Whether those surprising, eye-opening details will lead to Pluto reclaiming its planethood, however, remains to be seen. Should a Hundred Planets Bloom? It was not for lack of beauty that Pluto was demoted, but rather its failure to match the IAU's revised definition of what constitutes a planet. According to the organization's 2006 decision, planets must: orbit the sun; be big enough for its self-gravity to pull it into a spheroidal shape; and sweep most bulky debris out of their orbits. Pluto meets the first two criteria enough to qualify as a dwarf planet but controversially fails the third, as its orbital neighborhood is thick with other large, icy objects. Were this third criterion to be relaxed, many of those objects would qualify for planethood, too, greatly swelling the planetary ranks of the solar system. Among the hundreds of posters pinned up science-fair fashion in the LPSC's conference rooms and exhibit area, one challenged the IAU's conceptions of planethood with a new definition based more on geophysics than orbital mechanics. Its lead author is Kirby Runyon, a PhD candidate in planetary geology at Johns Hopkins University and an affiliate on the geology team for the New Horizons mission. Runyon's take is that a "planet" is any substellar-mass body that has sufficient self-gravitation to assume a spheroidal shape, regardless of its orbit. His poster's abstract at LPSC states, in part: "Astronomers with research interests in dynamics may find the IAU definition perfectly useful. However, many planetary scientists are closely aligned with the geosciences. Accordingly, our geophysical definition is more useful for planetary geoscience practitioners, educators and students." That definition could also boost the scientific literacy of the general public, according to Runyon. In addition to Pluto, Runyons definition would bestow planethood on other recognized dwarf planets such as the giant asteroid Ceres as well as "moon planets" including Pluto's moon Charon, the largest moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and even Earth's moon. Thus, this new definition would add at least 110 known planets to our solar system. This number will rise, Runyon added, as astronomers find more objects in the Kuiper Belt a disc-shaped region of space that stretches out beyond the orbit of Neptune and harbors Pluto as well as hundreds of thousands of other icy worlds. Old Rules for New Frontiers Runyon's redefinition at LPSC received decidedly mixed reviews. "My view is simple," says James Green, Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters. "NASA doesn't care about the nomenclature. All I can say after seeing Pluto with the New Horizons flyby is that it is even more fascinating than I could have imagined!" New Horizons zipping by Pluto and relaying astonishing up-close imagery is a prelude of what's ahead, says Carle Pieters, a professor of planetary science at Brown University. The spacecraft is slated to encounter a second, much smaller Kuiper belt object in 2019. And back on Earth astronomers are busy adding new objects to their catalogues all the time. As these efforts lift the veil on a largely unexplored region of our solar system, Pieters says, new discoveries could force the reappraisal of old, outmoded definitions. Already, Pieters says, revelations from closer to home are adding more fuel to the fiery debate over the IAU's definition. NASA's Dawn spacecraft, she notes, is delivering images from Ceres a spheroidal, Texas-size hunk of rock and ice that is the largest object in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. "It's another dwarf planet, a planetary body that's going through planetary processes. And Pluto has done the same thing," she says. So if you have a body that's big enough to undergo planetary processes such as the formation of a molten core, persistent volcanism or even the creation of a substantial atmosphere, what do you label it? "Calling these smaller planetary bodies 'dwarf planets' is sort of a good compromise," Pieters says. Planetary "Science" Ask Andrew Cheng about Pluto's diminished stature and you'll get a different perspective. Cheng is chief scientist for the Space Department at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and is unabashedly livid at Pluto's demotion. "I think it was a wrong decision in the first place to ask a scientific community to craft a scientific definition that would carefully include eight bodies and leave out Pluto," Cheng says. "My position is that the definition of a planet is not a scientific question to begin with it should have never been done." Whether or not an object is considered a planet is a matter of social conventions, not of science, Cheng says. He rates asking if Pluto is a planet as analogous to questioning what constitutes a continent on Earth. "There are seven continents Australia is in, but Greenland is not. Is there good scientific reason for that? No, it's just the convention. The planet situation is entirely similar," he says. Cheng was until last year the principal investigator for the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera onboard NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. If the IAU had known as much about Pluto back in 2006 as we do now, he contended, the debate over that world's planethood would probably never have occurred. "There are many scientists who just refuse to accept that Pluto is not considered a planet," similar to the way many geographers would refuse to accept reclassifying Australia as no longer a continent, Cheng says. "So we will call it a planet, and we always will." Shedding a Tear for Pluto For Runyon, the planetary geologist pushing for a reconsideration of Pluto, his new meaning of "planet" doesn't need the IAU's blessing as an "official" definition. Moreover, he insists that because its purview is astronomy and not geology, the IAU does not actually have the authority to dictate geologic definitions and usage. (The IAU does not necessarily agree. In February it announced that as the internationally recognized authority for naming celestial bodies and their geologic surface features, it had approved themes submitted by NASA's New Horizons team for naming distinctive sites on Pluto and its moons.) "I don't want to fall into the trap of science by authority. I don't think the IAU is trying to do that, but that's how it comes across "the IAU hath spoken, thus shall it be!" That's a horrible way for the public to try to understand science," he says. Runyon's attempt to reopen the planetary case for Pluto underscores his belief there's a "psychological power" behind the word "planet" itself. Scientists should be concerned, he says, that Pluto's loss of planethood seemingly by force is something that "makes people cry." This article was first published at ScientificAmerican.com. ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved. Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news. Madrid, 1 April 2017 (SPS) - The Communal Council of Fuerteventura (Province of Las Palmas) has reiterated in a motion its support for the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination through a free and democratic referendum as recognized by international law and multiple resolutions of United Nations. In a public support motion, the Fuerteventura Municipal Council reiterated its support for the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination through a free and democratic referendum as recognized by international law and the numerous resolutions of the United Nations while stressing that the conflict in Western Sahara was the result of a process of decolonization that has not been completed and that any formula which did not respect that principle does not lead to an effective and realistic solution. The referendum, continued the Fuerteventura council in its motion, must take place as soon as possible to avoid a conflict that would lead to a resumption of hostilities, expressing its concern about the violation of human rights in the occupied Sahrawi territories suffered by the Sahrawi civilian population. The Fuerteventura Communal Council called for the immediate cessation of repression and the release of all Saharawi political prisoners of human rights. The Council also called for facilitating access to the occupied Saharawi territories for international observers and extending MINURSO's mandate to monitor human rights to ensure not only the ceasefire, but also to prevent violation of human. It also called on the Spanish Government to increase humanitarian aid projects to alleviate severe shortages of products in refugee camps, in particular food, health, education and other basic services and the effective recognition of the Polisario Front as the legitimate representative of the Saharawi people and to give its representatives diplomatic status in Spain. The Fuerteventura Communal Council also called on the Spanish government to adopt a much more active position in this conflict as a former colonial power, urging the UN and the European Union to press the Moroccan government to respect the international law. The same Council also called on the Spanish government and the institutions and companies of the Canary Islands to respect the recent ruling of the EU Court of Justice which states that Morocco has no sovereignty over Western Sahara and that the trade agreement between the EU and Morocco is not applicable to Western Sahara. (SPS) 062/090/TRA This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT - The evening began with a childs game. Telephone. But the children were being babysat in a side room, coloring with crayons and otherwise distracted. This game of telephone was played by their immigrant parents. And the lessons learned could keep these undocumented families intact. The audience of about 45 separated into a figure 8, one circle of English speakers and another of Spanish speakers. Organizers whispered a message into the ear of one person in each group, who then whispered it to the individual beside them, and so on, until it had traveled the circle. Then the last to receive the message announced what they had heard to the room - and everyone laughed over how it had been mangled. Sometimes you hear the wrong things or sometimes you add things you want to add, moderator Barbara Lopez of the pro-immigrant Make the Road CT told the crowd. This game was fun. But this is how rumors start in our community. Were just doing an ice breaker, her colleague, Julio Lopez Varona, told reporters with Hearst Connecticut Media. In fact that was the goal of the next two hours - to teach Bridgeports undocumented residents how to thwart agents of ICE, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lesson one? Get the facts straight when warning family and neighbors if ICE agents conduct raids in the city as part of Republican President Donald Trumps aggressive deportation efforts. Too many false alarms or mistaken information, as displayed by the telephone game, could prove disastrous. What happened to the kid that was shouting wolf? Varona asked the audience. He was potentially eaten by the wolf. We dont want that to happen. Proponents of Trumps policies argue ICE is simply enforcing immigration laws that for too long have been abused by foreigners. Critics see an extreme white nationalist agenda in the Presidents targeting of non-violent immigrants. Police! Open the door! At Make the Roads event, the ICE agents tasked with carrying out Trumps roundup were characterized as predators who rely on fear, intimidation and ignorance of the law. Signs reading, Deport ICE and Not One More Deportation hung on the walls. We need to have a system where we protect ourselves, Varona told the audience. Besides clear and accurate communications, that system relies on legal loopholes and stall tactics. The telephone game was followed by a role-playing demonstration of how to respond when ICE agents make a house call. Police! Open the door! demanded Make the Road staffer Luis Luna, pretending to be outside a volunteer audience members home. The volunteer asked for a search warrant signed by a judge. We do not have a warrant, but open the door! Luna insisted. They dont have the right to enter if you dont give them the right to do so, instructed Varona. He has to have an arrest warrant. Thats very important. And even then, Varona said, The order has to have the right name (of the intended target). If it doesnt, you dont have to open the door. Also be prepared to contact a lawyer or advocate, Varona said. Do not turn to a friend or Cousin Tito. Make the Road, Varona said in the interview, also relies on like-minded Caucasian citizens who could be quickly dispatched to minority neighborhoods where ICE is active. Not to interfere, but to bear witness. We want to build a network of people ready to make sure whatever ICE does is done lawfully, Varona said. Having white observers is going to help that happen. Though the evening was about resistance, Varona emphasized to the crowd, Dont lie to ICE. You will get in a lot of trouble. And a tip sheet passed out by Make the Road warned against giving ICE agents false documents. Yazmin Rodriguez, a Norwalk-based immigration attorney, spent several minutes offering legal advice. Do not sign any documents unless you have an attorney present with you, she said. No immigration officer can force you to sign any documents. One female audience member, her small daughter cradled against her shoulder, tearing pieces from a bread slice, wondered what will come of the child if her parents are taken by ICE. What happens if were deported? she asked Rodriguez. Rodriguez said parents should have a plan in place to leave their children with someone they trust and preferably not also eligible for deportation. Rodriguez afterward said she enjoys volunteering her services at events like Make the Roads. Its a big concerted effort (by) different immigration attorneys. Weve been more active the last month (since Trumps swearing in), she said. I love being an activist. I like to inform people of their rights. Were not just sitting behind a desk or going to court. Rodriguez said at this point she is not aware of any extra aggressive ICE roundups in Connecticut, a blue state with a governor - Dannel Malloy - that is a vocal critic of the Trump administration. We have spoken to ICE agents and other government officials in the state and, at least the agents Ive spoken to, have said, Were not doing any raids, Rodriguez said. They are picking people up. Arresting people that have orders of removal and a criminal background. Varona said, I think eventually theres going to be movement. I think its inevitable. Havens for students, families Varona believes that, despite the fact Bridgeport is a Democrat-stronghold, an organization like Make the Road has to be proactive in town. If were not doing this, people wont know what to do, Verona said. The citys political machine, led by Mayor Joe Ganim, has been less than enthusiastic about Make the Roads and others efforts to have local government officials stand up to Trump. And some minority community leaders who initially seemed sympathetic are proving unreliable allies. The documented ones that are here, Im all for that, City Councilwoman Rev. Mary McBride Lee, who has been honored in the past for her civil rights work and was a Trump critic, recently told Hearst. The undocumented? Everyone should be here legally. Nobody wants to separate families, but you also have to abide by the law. Ganim and some on the council fear the President will make good on threats to strip defiant cities of federal funds - threats that critics consider illegal. Ganim has even delayed implementing a two-year-old effort to provide municipal identification cards to undocumented immigrants - cards New Haven has had for years, and that Hartford plans to launch this spring. Still, Bridgeports school board, at Make the Roads urging, and some religious institutions have taken pro-undocumented immigrant stands. The Board of Education declared its properties safe havens for students and their families, and some churches are considering sheltering those fleeing ICE deportation to drag out the legal process and buy them time. As Make the Roads ice breaker session concluded, two participants shared their fears with Hearst through a translator. One 24-year-old woman crossed from Mexico into Arizona seven years ago, and has lived with her husband and two children in Bridgeport for two years. Her husband works construction - brick and tile, she said. She is learning English. I understand there are Mexicans that are criminals, the woman said. But you do not punish everyone because of a few people. Another female, 42, who is Dominican, is raising three children - 12, 10 and 3 years old. She has lived in the United States for 13 years, 11 of those in Bridgeport. I am so afraid, she said. And sometimes, its like, you get through the day, and youre like, I made it through the day. But what will happen tomorrow? This woman found some solace in attending the Make the Road event. I feel like I know what to do, what not to do, she said. I dont feel alone. I feel supported. A 17-year-old boy is fighting for life after a late night attack on a quiet road in south London. Emergency services raced to the scene of a "disturbance" in Shrublands Avenue, Croydon near Shirley Youth and Community Centre shortly after 11.30pm on Friday. Paramedics rushed the boy, who had suffered head injuries, to a hospital in south London. His condition is critical, Scotland Yard said. A Met Police spokesman added that there have been no arrests. A police cordon was put in place for several hours and motorists are warned to avoid the area. A bishop and his female secretary have been jailed after a woman and teenage girl were sexually assaulted during private prayer sessions at their south London Christian centre. Benjamin Egbujor, 55, carried out the attacks at the Jubilee Christian Centre in Penarth Street, Peckham, forcing the victims to strip before oil was poured over them. During his lone attack on the girl, who was under 16 at the time, the bishop took her into his private office where he forced her to undress before assaulting her. After police started investigating the attack, a woman in her 30s came forward who said she had also been abused by Egbujor. On that occasion, his secretary Rose Nwenwu, 43, also took part, taking off the womans clothes and covering her in oil. The offences took place at the centre between March 2011 and January 2013. On Friday, Egbujor, 55, of Harold Avenue, Belvedere, was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court to three years and four months in jail. He had earlier been convicted of sexual assault and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Nwenwu, of Thurlestone Road, West Norwood, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for sexual assault and three years, to be served concurrently, for helping and encouraging Egbujor. Police Constable James Bell, of the Mets Offences and Child Abuse Command, said: Egbujor and Nwenwu preyed on their victim's vulnerabilities, whilst satisfying their own sexual urges under the guise of private prayer. I commend the victims for their courage and commitment in this case. I fear there may be other victims who have not yet come forward and I urge them or any victim of sexual abuse to tell the police what happened. Anyone who has been the victim of sexual assault should contact their local police force, or call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000. A motorcyclist has died following a crash with a car in west London. Police and paramedics battled to save the 38-year-old who was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash in Hayes on Saturday. Emergency services rushed to Uxbridge Road at the junction with Wesley Road just before 1pm. The driver of the car, a man in his 50s, stopped at the scene and has not been arrested, Scotland Yard said. Detectives have urged witnesses to the crash to come forward. A Met Police spokesman said: Next of kin have been informed. Formal identification awaits. A post mortem examination will be scheduled in due course. Anyone who witnessed the collision or has information concerning the incident should contact the SCIU on 0208 991 9555 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. A popular north London shop worker who has lived in the UK for 26 years faces being deported after he was detained by immigration officers the day after Theresa May triggered Article 50. Stojan Jankovic, known as Stoly, is currently being held in a detention centre in Dorset and could be forced to leave the country as early as Tuesday. The 52-year-old moved to London from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and has worked at Earth Natural Foods in Kentish Town Road for the last 15 years. He was taken into custody without warning when he attended his monthly appointment at an immigration reporting centre on Thursday, John Grayson, who co-owns the shop, said. He told the Standard: He has been signing on at these appointments every month without fail for the last 10 years. Then on Thursday afternoon we got a panicked phone call from him. He said they are taking me away. Mr Grayson said Mr Jankovic was put into the back of van before being whisked off. He added: Hes reliable, hes never had a day off work in the time hes been working for me. He has always paid his taxes and his national insurance. Hes never claimed a penny of state benefits. Avuncular is the word a lot people use to describe him, Hes cheerful, slightly eccentric, very popular. Hes peace loving and leads a quiet life. Hes known as our public face, he's very well known in the local community and has been in the country unbroken for the last 26 years. Local MP Keir Starmer has asked for Mr Jankovics deportation date to be delayed by at least 14 days to allow time for a legal challenge, Mr Grayson said. Mr Janokvic is understood to have applied for asylum when he arrived in the country but his application was refused. It is believed his leave to remain in the country expired in 1999 but he has been working and paying taxes since then without any problems. Mr Grayson added: Considering the circumstances hes in good spirits, he understands whats happening and hes an optimistic person. An online petition calling for Mr Jankovic to remain in the UK was set up on Friday and has already received over 700 signatures, while the hashtag #savestoly has been started on Twitter. Mr Jankovic is currently at a The Verne Immigration Removal Centre a former prison in the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The Home Office has been approached for a comment. T he discovery of a suspected World War Two bomb in the Thames has sparked concerns that the 163rd Boat Race will not go ahead. Scotland Yard confirmed what is believed to be an unexploded device was discovered on the banks of the river close to Putney Bridge on Saturday. However, because the suspected shell is submerged no action can be taken to remove it until the tide changes around 1pm on Sunday, police said. A Met Police spokesman told the Standard that Oxford v Cambridge race organisers had been informed. He added that no decision would be made on whether the race would go ahead or if planned viewing areas would be forced to be moved until the day of the iconic annual event. A statement issued by the Force read: Police were called at approximately 1.50pm on Saturday to the Chelsea shoreline by Putney Bridge, following reports of the discovery of what is believed to be World War Two ordnance. Officers including the Marine Policing Unit are in attendance. Race director Michelle Dite said: "At this stage the races will go ahead as planned," the BBC reported. "Any decisions regarding changes to the event will be made in conjunction with the police. "No decision will be made today." Thousands of people are expected to line the banks of the Thames to watch the clash between the two universities. The men's event starts at 5.35pm, while the women's race - in its 72nd year - begins at 4.35pm. T he Duchess of Cornwall had a slice of Italy today - when she was offered a pizza made in her honour. As Camilla went walkabout in the Italian city of Naples she spotted a stall outside trattoria PizzaMargherita. The sign said "welcome Duchess Camilla." The chef had specially prepared a large pizza with welcome Camilla spelt out in cheese But she didn't take a bite as a swarm of 25 photographers tried to get shots. Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, is welcomed in Naples with a special pizza dedicated to her / EPA It came just after she visited a Naples based world famous tie manufacturer - where her husband Prince Charles buys many of his ties. The family run business, E. Marinella - that uses silk from Macclesfield - supplies ties for her husband Prince Charles. Maurizio Marinella shows Camilla Duchess of Cornwall the tie laboratory at his company in downtown Naples / REUTERS There was even a letter of thanks from the prince framed in the shop. The silks are all hand printed in England "Do you export," Camilla asked and was told the ties are mostly sold in Italy, although there is a shop in London. On arrival at the Duchess was greeted by owner Maurizio Marinella and Mayor Luigi di Magistris who took him on a tour of his business. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, shakes hands with Naples mayor Luigi De Magistris / REUTERS Camilla visited the workshop to observe the processes involved in making silk scarves and ties by hand. She officially inaugurated the Marinella's Centenary Museum, together with Mr. Marinella, before heading to the show room to meet staff. At one point the Duchess posed on a classic 1960s Italian Lambretta that was in the shop. Marinella has been based in Naples since 1914. Maurizio Marinella and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall tour his tie laboratory in downtown Naples / REUTERS Since its foundation, over 90 per cent of the raw materials and semi-finished products have been imported from UK suppliers. The tie is the traditional top seller, designed and made in Italy with fabrics and silks produced in Macclesfield - over 80 per cent of all the silk produced in Macclesfield is sold to Marinella. In June 2011 Marinella launched its first atelier in London, Mayfair. The Duchess of Cornwall also met families whose loved ones were murdered by the Mafia as she visited a picturesque villa in Naples once owned by a crime boss. Camilla clutched the hands of one widow, whose 45-year-old husband was murdered by the Camorra - the name of the Naples-based crime syndicate - eight years ago when he was working as a security guard and told her: You are all very brave women, I think you're very strong, you are united which is so important. She told another, who lost her 26-year-old son 12 years ago when he was shot in a case of mistaken identity: It is so terrible, so many lives destroyed. It is good that you all talk and support each other. It is so important to talk. There have been 360 innocent victims of the Napoli Camorra over the last 30 years - people with no links to organised crime whatsoever - while the extended death toll runs into the thousands. Camilla, on the second day of a six-day visit to Italy with her husband, Prince Charles, flew to Naples, where her first engagement was at La Gloriette, a property with stunning views of of the Bay of Naples, which once belonged to one of the biggest bosses of the Camorra, Michele Zaza. Camorrista Zaza was one of the most powerful kingpins in the region in 70s and 80 but eventually died in custody accused of two counts of murder, mafia association and drug dealing. His lavish villa was confiscated by the state and has now been turned over to a number of charities including victims of crime and women who have fled domestic violence. The Deputy Mayor of Naples, Raffale del Guidici, said: 'This is a site of great symbolic significance because it was taken from a Camorra boss and turned into a social centre. It represents the fight against criminality and all forms of violence.' A band greeted the duchess's arrival before she undertook a tour of villa, speaking to the charities involved as well as the still grieving families of Zaza's victims. Meanwhile Prince Charles joked about a daring Italian cat burglar who stole some of his prized jewellery as he watched the countrys military police stage a dramatic raid. Trainee Carabinieri officers put on a hostage rescue display for the prince when he visited an international policing centre which trains officers of all ranks from across the globe in everything from UN peace keeping to armed response techniques. And when he was shown a 1.7 million violin recovered by Carabinieri he told some of the senior officers how his cufflinks had been stolen and played with the accessories on his shirt cuffs. Fabrizio Rossi, who works with a special Carabinieri unit that hunts down stolen artwork, said: "He said some of his jewellery was taken by an Italian thief, but it was recovered." Charles was reunited with five sets of cufflinks - including a pair given to him by Camilla - and other precious items in 1998 after they had been taken four years earlier by the burglar dubbed the "Riviera jewel thief". The heir to the throne joked with the special Carabinieri team as he left: "I know where to come to (next time)". S pain has been accused of using Brexit as a way of extending its territorial claims on Gibraltar. Boris Johnson and Downing Street have sought to reassure Gibraltar that the UK will stand up for the British overseas territory during the Brexit negotiations. But Gibraltar's government has accused Spain of trying to use Brexit to claim the Rock, after an EU proposal to give Madrid a veto over decisions on the territory's future. Christian Hernandez, president of the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce, told the BBC Today programme that Madrid was attempting to use the issue to "claim a diplomatic triumph". He said: "What can you expect from Europe's most corrupt country? "They have a history of using Gibraltar to deflect from their own internal problems, of which they have had many over the last couple of years, and they continue to have lots of internal problems." Prime Minister Theresa May has been criticised for failing to mention Gibraltar in her letter triggering Article 50, starting the Brexit process, while the negotiation guidelines set out by European Council president Donald Tusk would require Spanish agreement for the territory to be included in future agreements between the EU and UK on issues like trade. Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson held talks with Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo in an effort to reassure him of the UK's continued support, while Downing Street highlighted comments made by Mrs May in her Commons statement on Brexit on Wednesday. The Prime Minister told MPs that the territory was "covered by our exit negotiations" and vowed never to enter into talks over its sovereignty against the wishes of its people. Mr Picardo said the territory was being singled out for "unnecessary, unjustified and unacceptable" discrimination as a result of "a disgraceful attempt by Spain to manipulate the European Council for its own narrow political interests". Accusing Madrid of seeking to "mortgage the future relationship between the EU and Gibraltar to its usual obsession with our homeland", Mr Picardo said: "The whole world and the whole EU should know: this changes nothing in respect of our continued, exclusive British sovereignty." After his talks with Mr Picardo, the Foreign Secretary said: "As ever, the UK remains implacable and rock-like in our support for Gibraltar." Spain has a long-standing territorial claim on Gibraltar, which has been held by the UK since 1713 and has the status of British overseas territory. Any suggestion Madrid might have a say over the future of the self-governing territory, which is home to important UK military bases, causes anxiety among its 30,000 inhabitants. Gibraltar is addressed in a single paragraph of Mr Tusk's nine-page document, which says: "After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom." Downing Street said Mrs May had made clear the Government was "absolutely steadfast in our support of Gibraltar, its people and its economy" in the House of Commons on Wednesday. But Lord Boswell, chairman of the House of Lords EU Committee, said it was "unfortunate that the Prime Minister's letter to Donald Tusk, triggering Article 50, made no mention of Gibraltar - the Government mustn't give the impression that Gibraltar is an afterthought". He said: "In the absence of any clear commitment to defend Gibraltar's interests by the Prime Minister, the door has been opened for the EU to present it as a disputed territory, without a voice of its own in negotiations that will have profound implications for its future prosperity." Additional reporting by the Press Association. A young British tourist is fighting for life after falling from a moving train in Thailand. Daniel Clarke, 20, from Aldershot, in Hampshire, was travelling between Bangkok and Nakhon Si Thammarat, in the south of the country, on Thursday evening, the Daily Mail reported. He is believed to have fallen from a carriage after making the journey overnight. A passing train driver spotted the backpacker lying unconscious, several feet from the track, according to the newspaper. He is said to have had blood pouring from his face when he was discovered around 9.50am local on Saturday in the Chumphon District of the country. Mr Clarke was found 300 miles from Bangkok and 211 miles from the destination. A Foreign Office spokeswoman told the Mail: We are supporting the family of a British national who has been hospitalised in Thailand. Theerayuth Channok, from the Thong Khao district police station close to where he was found, added that Mr Clarke was now in intensive care. He said: We believe he fell from the doorway in the centre of the train. G ilbert Baker, an artist best known for creating the rainbow flag as a symbol for the gay community, has died aged 65. The San Francisco-based activist died in his sleep on Thursday night at his New York home, friends said. A candlelit vigil was due to be held in his honour on Friday night in San Francisco. Longtime friend Cleve Jones broke the news on social media. He tweeted: "My dearest friend in the world is gone. "Clive Baker gave the world the rainbow flag, he gave me forty years of love and friendship." Mr Jones also tweeted a photo of Baker with former President Barack Obama, inviting mourners to meet him under a rainbow flag in the Castro district of San Francisco on Friday evening to remember his friend. Mr Baker, who was born in Kansas in 1951, was stationed in San Francisco in the early 1970s while serving in the US Army, at the start of the gay rights movement. Stuart Milk explains the legacy of his uncle and gay rights activist Harvey Milk He began making banners for gay rights and anti-war protests, often at the request of Harvey Milk, who would become the first openly gay man elected to public office in California when he won the 1977 race for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Mr Milk rode under the first rainbow flags made by Baker at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978, just months before the politician was murdered by a former city supervisor, the biography says. Speaking about the flag in an interview with the New York Museum of Modern Art, which exhibited the flag in 2015, he said: "I decided that we should have a flag, that a flag fit us as a symbol, that we are a people, a tribe if you will. "And flags are about proclaiming power, so it's very appropriate." T he deputy leader of terror group Islamic State has been killed in an air strike, according to Iraqi state TV. Ayad al-Jumaili was killed by Iraqs air force in al-Qaim, near the Syrian border, the television station reported, citing military intelligence. He is thought to be the second-in-command to terror supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Al-Jumaili was killed with other Isis commanders in an air strike, it was claimed, although the date of the raid was not given. The senior Isis man is believed to head up an internal security unit for the extremists called Amniya. Al-Jumali hails from Fallujah and is thought to have joined the organisation following the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition in 2003. P rotesters in Paraguay stormed and set fire to the country's Congress after a bill was signed allowing the president to seek re-election. The country's constitution, passed in 1992 after 35 years of dictatorship, limits the president to a single five-year term. However on Friday the senate secretly voted for an amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. Senator Desiree Masi, from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party, said: "A coup has been carried out. Protestors set fire to the Congress building during a demonstration against a possible change in the law / REUTERS "We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us." Firefighters managed to control the flames after protesters left the Congress building late on Friday night. But protests and riots continued in other parts of Asuncion and elsewhere in the country well into the night, according to local media. Violent protests have broken out in Paraguay after the secret vote / REUTERS Earlier, television images showed protesters breaking windows of the Congress and clashing with police, burning tires and removing parts of fences around the building. Police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Several politicians and journalists were reportedly injured, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said several police were hurt. One member of the lower house of Congress, who had been participating in protests that afternoon, underwent surgery after being hit by rubber bullets. The number of casualties was unknown. The number of casualties is unknown after Friday's protests / EPA Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter. "Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic," he said. "We must not allow a few barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and general wellbeing of the Paraguayan people." The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was monitoring the events. "I call on political leaders to avoid inciting violence and seek dialogue," the commission's regional representative for South America, Amerigo Incalcaterra, said in a statement. The Senate voted earlier on Friday during a special session in a closed office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber. A 29-year-old Bayard man has been found guilty in an Oct. 18, 2016, crash that killed an Alliance woman. Trevor Teichroeb pleaded no contest in January to a charge of with motor vehicular homicide, a Class I misdemeanor. Teichroeb had been the driver in a crash that killed Barbara Fritzler, 68, of Alliance. Fritzler had been stopped in a construction zone about 1 1/2 miles east of Minatare, waiting for a pilot car when Teichroeb rear-ended the womans vehicle. The force of the collision knocked Fritzlers car into another car stopped in front of her. According to search warrants, Nebraska State Patrol investigators were trying to determine if Teichroeb may have been using his cell phone at the time of the collision. Court filings dont indicate what investigators determined, only accusing Teichroeb of reckless driving. Charges were filed on Dec. 23. A pre-sentence investigation has been ordered and Teichroeb is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25. What happened After slumping for the past few weeks, the price of crude oil came roaring back this week, closing up about 5%. More importantly, it regained the psychologically important $50-a-barrel level. Fueling this week's rally was renewed optimism that OPEC might extend its output cuts past the first half of the year, as well as a better-than-expected oil inventory report. That renewed bullishness drove most oil stocks higher this week. That said, there were also some noteworthy company-specific catalysts powering additional buying. Among the leading gainers, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, were ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK), Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT), Seadrill (NYSE: SDRL), and Cobalt International Energy (NYSE: CIE). So what ConocoPhillips stock surged this week after the company announced a deal to sell the bulk of its Canadian oil sands and Deep Basin gas assets to Cenovus Energy. The U.S. oil giant will receive an upfront cash payment of $10.6 billion along with $2.7 billion in Cenovus stock. Not only was the combined $13.3 billion sale price well above the company's $10.9 billion carrying value of the assets, but it's entitled to receive a quarterly payment based on oil prices for the next five years. ConocoPhillips intends to use its cash infusion to pay down debt and accelerate its share buyback program as it supercharges its value-creation strategy. Shares of Weatherford International jumped this week following the launch of a fracking joint venture with Schlumberger. The two oil-field service companies will combine their fracking assets into a new company, OneStim, with Schlumberger serving as the operator and 70% stakeholder while Weatherford will receive a 30% stake in the venture and a $535 million cash infusion to help it reduce debt. Analysts loved the deal, including Wells Fargo, which upgraded Weatherford to outperform, while Deutsche Bank reiterated its buy rating. Analysts, meanwhile, helped add fire to Chesapeake Energy's rally this week. Wunderlich put out a bullish note on the company, reiterating its buy rating and $10 price target. The analyst cited the company's "compelling valuation alongside natural gas exposure, oil growth, and an improving balance sheet" as catalysts. In particular, the analyst liked Chesapeake Energy's recent Powder River Basin well results, where a test well delivered 1,650 BOE/D, 70% of which was oil. The result suggests that Chesapeake's assets in the region could be a major oil growth driver as the company ramps up its activities. Finally, the rebound in oil prices back above $50 a barrel was all the fuel that beleaguered offshore-focused oil stocks Cobalt International Energy and Seadrill needed to see double-digit rallies this week. Both stocks have been under tremendous pressure due to the impact weak oil prices are having on their operations and ability to access capital. In Seadrill's case, it recently warned investors that it might have no choice but to file for bankruptcy protection as it seeks to shore up its balance sheet. Meanwhile, Cobalt International Energy is burning through cash as it works on its current offshore drilling program. As things stand right now, the company expects to spend between $550 million and $650 million this year, against just $50 million in revenue, leaving its year-end cash balance between $350 million and $450 million. That burn rate suggests that Cobalt International Energy will need another cash infusion within the next year to stay afloat, which will be a challenge considering the brutal offshore drilling market. That said, the rise in oil above $50 a barrel gave investors some optimism that market sentiment might turn and provide these companies with an opportunity to raise the cash they need to stay afloat. Now what While the rising tide of higher oil prices was the primary driver of this week's biggest movers, investors shouldn't lose sight of the fact that ConocoPhillips and Weatherford unveiled thesis-altering catalysts. In ConocoPhillips' case, it significantly improved its financial and operating metrics, which puts it in an even stronger position to thrive in the current market environment. Meanwhile, Weatherford received a much-needed cash infusion, which significantly improves its competitiveness. Those bold moves make both of those stocks worth a closer look despite this week's big rally. 10 stocks we like better than ConocoPhillips When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and ConocoPhillips wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017 Matt DiLallo owns shares of ConocoPhillips, Seadrill, and WFC and has the following options: long January 2018 $45 calls on WFC, short April 2017 $50 calls on WFC, and short April 2017 $57.5 calls on WFC. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Cindy Dickinson has served the city of Scottsbluff for 29 years, and has labored as the city clerk for the last 11. She was most recently the recipient of the Nebraska Municipal Clerks Associations 2017 Outstanding Clerk of the Year Award, for first class or larger cities. Dickinson moved over as city clerk after 18 years working as the citys community development administrator. She wrote grants and worked on housing rehab projects, but was looking for something else. I was ready for a change and some new challenges, Dickinson said. Its interesting to learn the things that you learn about the city, and the process for how everything goes through the city council. Dickinson said the clerk is appointed by the council and reports to City Manager Nathan Johnson. She works closely with citizens when they have issues that they want to bring before the council and coordinates to get items onto the councils meeting agenda. Maintaining minutes and meeting records, agreements and contracts, and ordinances and resolutions, all fall under her area of responsibility. We have an awesome city council, and the city staff is great to work with, she said. Its a role she is a little reluctant to let go of. As I look to retirement in the next few years, Im a little bit hesitant about that, she said. You get kind of ingrained in what you do. It kind of becomes your baby after a while. Johnson nominated Dickinson for the award, Cindy is a great city employee and the recognition is just a highlight of the many things she does, Johnson said. Shes a great asset not only to the public, but also to the city staff. The things she does on a daily basis are quite unique and very thorough, he said. Her record keeping is top notch. Johnson said while he initially nominated Dickinson, it was ultimately her peers around the state in the state municipal clerks association who decided to honor her with the award. Scottsbluff Mayor Randy Meininger also spoke highly of Dickinson, saying that she is a problem solver with a can-do attitude. Shes been in it long enough and works within the system to make sure the best thing is done for the people, Meininger said. If you were to look it up in the dictionary, under servant, youd see her name. Dickinsons outreach extends beyond City Hall. She shares her wealth of knowledge experience as a member and current president of the Panhandle Municipal Clerks Association. Its kind of tough because of the distance between, but its a really great networking opportunity, she said. A lot of times people are appointed to a clerk responsibility and theres no one to teach them whats going on. Dickinson said the association helps provide a peer-mentoring environment that helps clerks in the Panhandle learn the ropes, know the state statutes and how to follow them. Dickinsons passion for service also pours out into the community. Shes been active and involved in numerous civic, church and community activities, from Keep Scottsbluff-Gering Beautiful, Soroptomists International, Scottsbluff-Gering United Chamber of Commerce, Panhandle Area Development District, St. Francis Episcopal Church, Beta Sigma Phi and United Way. Ive always felt strongly about giving back to the community, she said. Theyve done so much for me and my family, so I feel I need to return that. If we all do that, its a better place to live. Dickinson said that she felt honored, but that her role as city clerk is an honor of service, more-so than a labor of love. Its an awesome honor, but clerks, especially in really small towns they run the city, she said. To me, thats a labor of love. Im honored to receive this award, but I know how much work so many other people do, so it puts it into perspective. West Nebraska Arts Center will host Visionaries, an open student art exhibit now in its 32nd year, starting on Sunday. The exhibits opening reception will be from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, April 2. The exhibits will be on display through April 30 at the center. Young artists, grades 6-12, submitted works for the show. Schools represented this year include Bayard Schools, Bridgeport High School, Gering High School, Leggot Christian Academy Home School, Leyton High School, Minatare High School, Mitchell High School, Scottsbluff High School, Sidney High School and The Little Country School Home School. The show was judged by Gering based potter, sculptor and painter Rod Clause, who selected 17 awards from 72 entries, including Sidney High School junior Dru Rowans acrylic painting, Bear, which took best in show. Clause will be at the exhibit Sunday to talk with artists, parents and patrons about the pieces that caught his eye. The show is sponsored by First State Bank. Sunday in the lower gallery at WNAC is the After School Art Program (ASAP) exhibit, showcasing the work created during the seven-month program. Each child creates a portfolio of the work and has the opportunity to display their work. Instructor Charla Herbert taught the first-third grade classes held on Tuesdays, while Michele Denton taught the fourth-sixth grade classes on Mondays. The ASAP exhibit is sponsored by the Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Cultural Endowment, North Platte Valley Artist Guild, Panhandle Shrine Club, and Platte Valley Companies, and will be available for viewing now through April 30. Also in the lower gallery are the entries for the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Competition, for the classes taught by Artist Mary Hunt. WNAC is currently in its celebrating its 50th year. It is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m.5 p.m., and weekends from 1-5 p.m. Gallery admission is free and open to the public. Constituents of Third District Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) are invited to meet with a representative of his office at a mobile offices on April April 4 in Harrisburg. At mobile offices, Third District residents can meet directly with one of Smiths staff members about federal issues and take advantage of the services available through his office. Smith, who has offices in Grand Island and Scottsbluff, will provide his mobile office and a staff member at 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Banner County Courthouse, 204 State St. in Harrisburg. For additional information, contact Congressman Smiths Grand Island office at 308-384-3900 or his Scottsbluff office at 308-633-6333. Western Nebraska Community College (WNCC) is hosting a Criminal Justice Career Day Wednesday, April 5 at the John N. Harms Center on the Scottsbluff campus. This annual event is an interactive learning opportunity to meet with detectives, crime scene investigators, police officers, deputy sheriffs, Nebraska State Patrol, and correctional officers for an inside look into several criminal justice occupations. According to WNCC Criminal Justice Instructor Tiffany Wasserburger, activities will include crime scene investigations, interviewing techniques, fingerprinting and handcuffing, victim advocacy, polygraph exam, probation review and correctional techniques. We are so excited for the relaunch of Criminal Justice Career Day, Wasserburger said. We have brought together experts from seven local agencies, so we look forward to sparking the students interest and working with them as future students of WNCC to help produce the next generation of criminal justice professionals. For more information, contact a WNCC Admissions representative at 308-635-6010, or visit wncc.edu/admissions/visit-campus to RSVP by Monday, April 3. LINCOLN Two representatives of University of Nebraska-Lincoln fraternities stayed positive Friday while conveying alumni concerns about the future of fraternities on campus. In light of recent fraternity suspensions at UNL, some alumni have questioned whether the Greek system has a future at UNL or whether fraternities are being nudged out. UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green said after Fridays Board of Regents meeting that he not only supports the Greek system, but he wants it to grow. Omahans Bill Barna and Jerry Woodward told the regents that when they raise funds for their fraternities, alumni ask whether UNL has a commitment to the Greek system for the long haul. Several fraternities, including Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Kappa Psi just last month, have been suspended over the past few years at UNL. The reasons typically involve hazing, alcohol abuse or sexual harassment. Barna, vice president of the board of UNLs chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said there is a feeling of gloom about the relationship between the UNL administration and fraternities. Were committed to changing that gloom to optimism, Barna said. Woodward, representing Signa Nu, made similar observations. We do have our challenges, he said, but we hope the commitment together is strong. Green said after the meeting that all of the worries expressed about fraternities at UNL are voiced on campuses across the nation. Its just an ongoing concern about hazing behavior, alcohol abuse, Green said. But there is no bias against fraternities at UNL, Green said. Green said that he belonged to Alpha Gamma Rho at Virginia Tech and that his four children were in the Greek system at UNL. Students in sororities and fraternities typically outperform the general student population academically, he said. Its true that some fraternities have run afoul of the UNL student code over the past 10 years, Green said, and have been disciplined or suspended. It seems to them that there is a heavy hand, theres some kind of bias, he said. And thats not true. Green said he and other UNL administrators had a town hall meeting with Greek advisers and alumni early this year and tried to make that point clear. I very much want the Greek system to grow at UNL, Green said. Nevertheless, when fraternity members misbehave, they must be held accountable, he said, and when theres a problem, UNL will deal with it. Pasquale Caruso said that his recent decision to not allow children under age 5 into his upscale Italian restaurant in Mooresville had nothing to do with disliking children, and everything to do with the atmosphere hes trying to create for the establishment. I have two children myself, so as a father, thats not why I put the ban in place, said the owner of Carusos. Recently, the Brawley School Road restaurant has come under fire on social media for its policy, which was actually put into place before Christmas. Caruso said he was surprised that it was receiving so much attention now, since its not new. Caruso said his reasoning for the policy stemmed from complaints from customers. I try to please everyone, and create a nice atmosphere, keeping the restaurant elegant, he said. I want it to be a place where couples and friends can have a nice evening out. He said that he was starting to lose money and customers, because I had very young children coming in, throwing food, running around and screaming. I had several customers complain, get up and leave because children were bothering them, and the parents were doing nothing, he said. It started to feel like it wasnt Carusos anymore, that it was a local pizzeria instead. Caruso said he didnt like making the decision, but in the end, he had to make a choice that was best for his business. People dont want to come in and spend money on a nice meal and an evening out, when theres constantly food on the floor, loud electronic devices keeping kids entertained, and small children screaming, he said. It was just the right decision for my business. I work hard to keep the quality of the food consistent and the restaurant clean and inviting, and Im doing the best I can to make my restaurant the best it can be for my customers. The restaurants web site does state that there is no childrens menu available, to warn customers about its policy. On a Facebook page dedicated to checking in at Carusos and leaving reviews, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carusos-Restaurant/111638132205881?fref=ts, both negative and positive comments were left concerning the ban. Some customers stated that they applaud the decision and thanked the establishment for honoring and respecting the comfort and experience of your guests, while others said they wouldnt patronize Carusos again, asking if parents with newborn children and adolescents (are) not supposed to go out and enjoy themselves. United Methodist Men, with assistance from New Salem Boy Scout Troop 363 and student volunteers from Northview IB School, hosted a Spring Chicken BBQ Friday at Christ Boulevard United Methodist Church. Funds raised go towards Christ Boulevard UMCs assistance to organizations like Statesvilles Umar Group Home for intellectually and developmentally disabled adults, Christian outreach venues like The Upper Room and mission work. During the day, the drive sold 420 chicken halves, 15 gallons of slaw and 40 pound cakes and raised $3,360 before expenses were deducted, said Christ Boulevard church member Kelly Johnson Fridays event wasnt the first time Christ Boulevard UMC and local youth groups have partnered. United Methodist Men were beginning to fear they wouldnt be able to hold their fundraiser, until Troop 363 New Salem and local students assisted with a fall barbeque. The scouts have brought a renewed drive and interest, said Archie Johnson, president of United Methodist Men. The event was at the brink of not happening anymore, and without the scouts it wouldnt be. Ben Lighton, 12, the scout troops youth historian, was a flurry of activity Friday afternoon, carrying plates full of food between the kitchen on one side of the church to a drive-thru tent where customers waited on the other. Ben said he likes helping because he enjoys seeing peoples positive reactions. The chicken BBQ is a great opportunity for the scouts to help the church and to learn skills interacting with people, said Larry Coover, assistant scoutmaster and chaplain for the troop. At least once a season, genealogy series "Who Do You Think You Are?" seems to send a subject to St. Louis in search of family history. Next up in a quest to learn more about her ancestors is actress Jessica Biel, who visited St. Louis and Alton (where she toured the remains of the Alton Prison) last fall. The episode airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on cable's TLC. Biel "hunts for the truth behind her family's claims of Native American heritage, and of a mysterious ancestor who was shot in the back by his commanding officer during the Civil War," TLC says. "Jessica also goes looking for the first immigrant on her father's side, whom she had always been certain came from Germany. But as she unearths the reality behind the family lore, the legends crumble, and stunning new discoveries shake everything she knows about her heritage to the core." The day Sheena Engstrom was killed by her estranged boyfriend, her best friend and neighbor urged her to get an order of protection. That would allow police to arrest him should he come near her. She came to me that morning, recalled Shameka Johnson, 35. She said, I keep telling him not to come back to the house, and he wont listen to me. I told her, You are going to have to put your foot down and get a restraining order. But Engstrom, 29, said she didnt want him to think she was keeping him from seeing their children, Johnson said. She just wanted him to move on. Around 9 p.m. Tuesday, Johnson watched as Jackson, 31, pulled up to Engstroms home on a cul-de-sac of small frame houses in Glasgow Village. Jackson and Engstrom argued on the porch. When Engstrom turned to get Jacksons belongings from the house, he opened fire on her, then killed himself. I wish I couldve done so much for her, Johnson said, sobbing. Every time I close my eyes, I see her falling. On Wednesday morning, Kat Hutson, 50, was shot as many as 10 times by her estranged husband as she arrived for work at a Schnucks in Ladue. She survived. He later shot and killed himself in his car on a Richmond Heights parking lot. The cases are among domestic murder-suicides that have rocked the St. Louis area in the past few months. They include a Glen Carbon case in which the woman is thought to be the killer, a case in Fenton in which a knife was the weapon, and a case in Shrewsbury in which three of the couples children were present. The tragedies have left family and friends wondering how they could have helped, whether they could have done something to prevent the violence. Others wonder how people trying to escape abusive relationships can protect themselves. Engstrom and Jackson had been together off and on for 17 years, Johnson said. For nine years as Engstroms neighbor, Johnson saw the bruises and heard the yelling. Countless times, she said, she urged Engstrom to leave, to go to a shelter where Jackson couldnt find her. Engstrom would blame herself or his drinking. All she wanted was her family to be together in her home, and she held out hope that could happen. She felt trapped, like she was in a situation she couldnt get out of, Johnson said, and I felt like she was trapped. Victim advocates and survivors say theres no easy answer. Domestic violence insidiously builds between a couple, to the point where the victim even blames herself. Interventions can sometimes make things worse. A victim is at the highest risk of being killed when trying to leave the abuser. But there is help available, they say, to guide friends and family and to safely plan for the victims escape. Law enforcement also has tools to hold offenders accountable. For more than two decades, St. Louis police Detective Mark Kurkowski has responded to domestic violence cases. He is part of a new St. Louis Regional Domestic Violence Prevention police team that focuses on high-risk cases. One of the reasons Im still doing what Im doing is I think we can prevent these crimes from happening, he said. When we work collaboratively together as a community we can definitely have an effect and prevent some of these domestic homicides from happening. Johnson says enough is enough. This should not be a trend. This is something that somebody has got to get a hold of, she said. She did not deserve this. No woman deserves this. Power and control No national database or tracking system exists on murder-suicides, but the Violence Policy Center, a national educational organization working to prevent gun deaths, estimates there are 11 incidents each week. The group has analyzed news reports to produce five studies on murder-suicide since 2002. The latest study estimates that more than 1,200 people died in murder-suicides in the U.S. in 2014, including children and others killed by the abuser. Nearly three-fourths were committed by an intimate partner. The majority of the victims were women, and the vast majority of the killers were men. The cases occur among people of all education levels and economic status. Its all about power and control, and that is completely irrelevant to pieces of identity, said Jess Cowl, assistant director for crisis and prevention at Safe Connections, which provides services to abuse victims. One common factor, Cowl said, is guns. In the Violence Police Study, 93 percent of the murder-suicides involved a firearm. Research shows that state laws barring those with domestic violence restraining orders from purchasing or possessing a firearm are associated with a reduction in intimate partner homicide. But a new law that went into effect in January allows Missourians to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, removing an approval process that allowed law enforcement officers to run background checks and deny firearms to those with a record of domestic abuse. When there is access to a weapon, the risk factor goes through the roof, Cowl said. That is definitely something we acknowledge. When there is a weapon, the escalating of violence potentially leading to death is more likely. Safety planning is crucial, Cowl said, and all survivors of violence, especially those escaping relationships, should call a crisis hotline and develop a safety plan with a counselor. The plan may involve getting law enforcement involved, gathering proper documents and getting to a shelter. For those not ready or able to leave, counselors can discuss ways to stay safe. Their questions are gut-wrenching: What are the rooms in your house with the fewest weapons? Do you have a room you can lock yourself into? Can you hide an extra car key outside in case you have to leave at a moments notice? Every persons plan is different, Cowl said, which is why its important to talk to a counselor. Family, friends and neighbors can also call crisis lines to learn how to support and keep their loved one safe. Just to be able to present that person with options, because a lot of time they dont have any, and to offer them in a nonjudgmental way, Cowl said. Sometimes, the person just needs an acknowledgment, she said, to be told, I see it. Its not just in your head. Kurkowski said obtaining an order of protection is important. Violations of such orders can include calling, texting, contacting through social media or sending a gift, and violating them more than once can lead to a charge of felony stalking. Crime Victim Advocacy Center advocates stay in contact with victims in domestic incidents where police have been called, and police work closely with them, Kurkowski said. We are working collaboratively with our prosecutors, judges, probation and parole all of them are connected in making sure victims are staying safe and offenders are staying accountable, Kurkowski said, When we are working together, that is when we really see benefits for victims. Eight years ago, Safe Connections started a Guys Group. A part-time facilitator led small-group discussions about relationship violence and masculinity in middle and high schools. Participants became peer leaders, advocating respect for women. The program now has two full-time facilitators who visited 45 schools last year. These groups challenge young men to do the hard thing, to be leaders in their schools and communities, find their voices and have a positive impact on the guys around them, said facilitator James Meinert. Guys need to know that the vast majority of boys and men are not OK with male domination. It takes just one guy to say or do something to make a difference. One womans story Lindsay Fischer was 26, living in St. Charles County and working as a teacher when she began dating her abuser. He seemed perfect, she said. He convinced her to quit her job, live with him and work part time for his family business so she could pursue her dream as a writer. Thats when the abuse started. It began as emotional abuse: She wasnt as talented as he thought; he was helping her but she wasnt helping him. He would apologize, drawing her back in. He threatened to ruin her reputation and told her she was worthless. She began to believe it, to think maybe their fights were her fault. Eighteen months into their relationship, he pulled a gun she had never seen from atop their refrigerator and put it to her head. I love you so much, I could kill you, he told her. Three days later, he pushed her down the stairs and began to choke her. For the first time, she fought back. He stopped and told her she had an hour to get out. She did, with just a trash bag of clothes and $20 in her pocket. Fischer said she was lucky to have friends who could help her hide. She changed her phone number and got a new car. She was careful about what information she shared with their mutual friends in person and on social media. I never believed I could be in an abusive relationship, so I never researched about it, Fischer said. Had I known about Safe Connections and other services in the area, I wouldve put a lot better exit strategy in place. Three years ago, Fischer released a memoir to raise awareness about domestic violence, and 50,000 copies of The House on Sunset have been sold. She speaks as a victims advocate to police departments and other organizations. Now 35, she is married and still lives in St. Charles County. Fischer urged friends and family of loved ones in abusive relationships to call police if they are in danger, and to be empathetic instead of reproachful when reaching out. This person is constantly being told what they should and shouldnt be doing, and they dont need to hear that victim blaming makes them feel more powerless and guilty, she said. Lift that person up, and make them feel like they are valuable. Those living in abusive relationships should trust their gut, Fischer said. They shouldnt second-guess themselves when they feel like they are not being treated right, and they shouldnt be ashamed to seek help. Too many suffer in silence. Know that when you are ready, there are people there to help you. Even if you dont have family, they can get you to a safe place. They can help you heal, she said. There is life after abuse. Christine Byers of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. Muslims complain they are frivolous bills meant to spread fears and sow suspicion of their religion in a nation divided. But supporters of state proposals to prevent Islamic code from being used in American courts argue they arent overtly anti-Muslim and are needed to safeguard constitutional rights for average Americans. The bills, variations of which have been around for years, dont specifically seek to ban Islamic law, known as Sharia, even though some lawmakers concede thats their intent. Instead, the proposals broadly call for banning the application of any foreign law, legal code or legal system that doesnt grant the same rights and privileges as the state or U.S. constitutions. I believe very strongly in the values of America to allow for religious freedom, said Connecticut state Rep. Robert Sampson, a Republican sponsor of a bill. I just dont want our court system to start using what is religious law from other countries to make decisions. Id like to preserve our way of life. Muslim leaders say the bills are among a range of proposals and decisions at all levels of government that theyre gearing up to fight this year, from President Donald Trumps travel ban to local planning and zoning rulings against mosque projects. These are thinly veiled attempts to alienate Muslims in America, said Hazem Bata, of the Islamic Society of North America, based in Indiana, where one such anti-Sharia bill has been introduced. The bills have been introduced in at least 13 states, a number that will likely grow as the legislative year progresses, said Jonathan Griffin, of the National Conference of State Legislatures, who has been tracking the proposals. Anywhere from 15 to 30 states see proposals introduced in a given year, he said. Ten states already have some version of them on the books since they started cropping up around 2010. While many of this years bills likely wont become law, theyre gaining traction early in Montana and Arkansas, where the legislatures are poised to approve bills and send them to the governors this spring. Supporters point to a 2014 report by the Center for Security Policy, a conservative think tank whose critics deride as anti-Muslim, that cites nearly 150 cases in which it says Sharia played a role. The cases, some of which date to the late 1970s, mostly involve divorce, child custody and other family law proceedings where either the plaintiff or defendants invoked Islamic laws and customs to make their case. Sharia should be very concerning to all of us, said state Rep. Heidi Sampson, a Maine Republican who has proposed legislation. It is a way of life and a legal code which is designed to impinge on culture, family life, marriage, equality of the sexes a whole host of areas. Sampson and other lawmakers say a 2010 New Jersey case highlighted prominently in the report is particularly troubling. A Muslim woman accused her husband of sexual abuse and sought a restraining order in 2009, but the judge denied the request after the husband argued, in part, that a wife must comply with her husbands sexual demands in Islamic custom. An appeals court ultimately overturned the ruling. But Will Smiley, an editor at the Harvard Law Schools SHARIAsource, an online collection of academic writings on Islamic law, is skeptical the bills proposed by lawmakers would have made a difference in the initial ruling. These new laws dont provide any new safeguards, Smiley said. Courts can still make mistakes, like most observers agree that New Jersey court did. Many of the other cases cited in the centers report dont appear to show evidence that U.S. courts based decisions on Sharia or other foreign codes, said Jay Wexler, a professor at Boston Universitys School of Law who specializes in separation of church and state issues. The facts of a case might require a court to consider in some way a foreign custom or law, he said. But that does not mean that the court is applying foreign law. Supporters stress the proposals would affect all religious codes and foreign laws equally. If parts of Jewish, Christian or other laws ran counter to fundamental constitutional rights, they too would not be applicable in U.S. courts, said Montana state Sen. Keith Regier, a Republican. Theyre saying its hateful, and I have no idea where theyre getting that from, he said of opponents. Read the bill and tell me what is hateful or distasteful in there. But opponents maintain the bills as proposed dont serve a practical purpose. The U.S. legal code already states that American courts can only adhere to American laws, said John Robbins, executive director of the Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Its a stupid solution to a nonexistent problem. Alcester High Street. AN all-new market launches in Alcester, tomorrow, 2nd April. Sketts Quality Events is running the new Alcester Market, along the Hiigh Street between 10am and 3pm on every first Sunday of the month. Aby Stephens, Secretary at Sketts, said: "We are delighted to be offering this market in the lovely historic town of Alcester. We know it's going to be a popular addition. "We are very keen to make this market varied and interesting and we're therefore looking at a broad offer, including cheeses, wines, chutneys and even more unusual products such as South African billtong, while still keeping the craft element within the market. "The Chamber of Trade has assisted us to encourage local businesses/stall holders onto the market. "In addition we are looking at themes through the year such as an antiques market and a continental market, to add more variety. Watch this space on what is coming up." The first event on Sunday has the following confirmed: Samosas Churros Susanna - Churros and chocolate sauce Gails- hand made jewellery Biltong Choqa handcrafted chocolates Cakes Dog treats Pancakes Vegan snacks Children's clothing Meat pies. There is going to be a variety of stalls to appeal to all customers and bring them down to the High Street, Aby said. Jessica Joyner spent her final moments on an apartment floor, her neighbor begging her to stay alive and her children walking through her blood. Minutes earlier, she had escaped her apartment and the man who attacked her with a knife: her husband. The fear Jessica must have felt is unimaginable, La Crosse County Assistant District Attorney Justine Suleski said. Its so clear Jessica wanted to live. She died about an hour later, at 12:41 a.m. March 7, 2016. La Crosse County Circuit Judge Scott Horne on Friday sentenced Haron Joyner, 36, to life imprisonment with release eligibility in 40 years for the murder carried out in front of five children. On a daily basis, something reminds them of what happened a year ago, said the foster mother of two of the children. Late March 6, Jessica used her cellphone to record a video of Joyner approaching her in the kitchen of the familys apartment at 1320 S. Fifth Ave. while five children younger than 12 looked on. Ready? he asked. Ready? Then f you, f you, f you, he said as he swung a folding knife into his wifes temple, arm and neck, the fatal wound that severed her jugular vein and carotid artery. Jessica, 29, ran to the unit across the hall and collapsed in a pool of blood surrounded by the hysterical children. Joyner walked calmly from the apartment as his wife was dying on the floor. He called 911 to turn himself in, and then changed his mind and stopped at the La Crosse Tribune, where he worked in the packaging department at the time. Police arrested him early the next morning when they found him inside a car parked in the 3600 block of South 29th Court. During the trial, prosecutors argued he acted with the intent to kill, while his attorney said he acted recklessly and asked the jury to consider a lesser homicide charge. This was a senseless, utterly avoidable, tragic act of violence. It was horrific, defense attorney Michael Covey said. He cant really explain why he did what he did. To this day, he cant wrap his head around his actions. All I can say is that it wasnt premeditated. A jury found Joyner guilty of first-degree intentional homicide on Dec. 13 after just 25 minutes of deliberations. Suleski asked the judge impose a life sentence without release eligibility. Joyner committed the murder after learning his wife planned to divorce him. This had everything to do with Haron Joyner being unable to control his wife, Suleski said. Joyner stole a mother and sister during a selfish act that orphaned her children, Jessicas sister wrote in a statement to the court. Now she wont be there for when I go to prom or my wedding, one of her daughters wrote in a letter. I love you, Mom. Covey asked the judge make Joyner eligible for release after 20 years, citing his minor criminal history, lack of premeditation and remorse. Joyners family told the court that he moved to Wisconsin from New York to be with his wife and their blended family. My son is a beautiful man, OK? said his mother, Linda Joyner-Rembert. He is not a monster. He just made a bad choice. Thats all. Joyner in his statement to the court accepted responsibility for his conduct and asked for a second chance to help raise his two children. My wife, she didnt deserve what I did to her, he said. Im truly sorry for what Ive done. I confess my sins. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Thursday allowed award of Rs55 billion worth of 300-megawatt coal power project at Gwadar to a Chinese firm without bidding. Presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the single-point meeting of the ECC was specifically convened to authorise the Private Power and Infrastructure Board to proceed with the award of the project to China Communication Construction Company (CCCC) at Gwadar. The authorisation was given a special case under rule 5 of the procurement rules that allowed project award in exceptional circumstances. The rule meant that whenever these (Pakistan Procurement Regulatory Authority) rules are in conflict with an obligation of commitment of the federal government arising out an international treaty or an agreement with state or states or any international financial institutions the provisions of such international treaty or agreement shall prevail to the extent of such conflict. Originally, project was of 600MW capacity as part of Gwadar Port development but was reduced to 300MW on the request of the Chinese side under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in November 2014. At a meeting of the Joint Energy Working Group in August, the Chinese government nominated CCCC, a state-owned entity, to invest in the project and Pakistan readily agreed to oblige. The company requested the PPIB in September 2015 for the development of 300MW plant on imported coal using supercritical technology. The summary to the ECC claimed that in November 2016, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the power ministrys request desired the ministry and the PPIB to proceed on the earlier application of CCCC for grant of letter of interest/letter of support for the project after completion of necessary legal formalities as the project was part of CPEC. Interestingly, the government announced in April 2015 power generation policy. The policy required the project be process under the clause 6.3 of the power policy under designated projects that were covered under bilateral agreements between the GOP and the foreign governments, thus enabling exemption of pre-award process and procedures, including pre-qualification and thereby direct award and further processing of the project. The ECC approved the proposal put forth by the power ministry for authorising the PPIB to proceed with the awarding of the project to the CCCC under rule 5 of the Public Procurement Rules 2004. Pakistan on Saturday vehemently condemned the unprovoked shelling of Indian forces along the Line of Control (LoC) in Chari Kott sector, resulting in injuring of one civilian. In a statement, Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said India should not jeopardise regional peace through provocative acts. A civilian also sustained injuries after Indian once again resorted to unprovoked shelling across the Line of Control on Saturday. The injured civilian was identified as Attique Querashi, son of M Khalil Qureshi. However, according to ISPR, Pakistani troops responded effectively to unprovoked firing. Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Urban affairs, investigations, consumer help ("SOS") Follow Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Were not going to override Gov. Walker on a veto. Its just not part of the dynamic that exists for a Republican-controlled Legislature to override Gov. Walker. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. He doesnt get to dictate what we do. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos Its nice to see that at least one of the states legislative leaders remembers hes part a co-equal branch of government, because while party loyalty is one thing, it shouldnt take the place of loyalty to the state constitution. Among the biggest headaches facing the Republicans who control the Legislature and the governors office is what to do about a projected $1 billion shortfall in the states roads fund. Gov. Scott Walker opposes tax increases to close the shortfall, and yet here was Fitzgerald shutting down any speculation that the Legislature would override a Walker veto of a legislatively approved tax increase for roads. This might be understandable if there wasnt a broad consensus among experts from inside and outside Wisconsin including a group Walker helped appoint that without an infusion of cash, an already ailing roads system is bound to get worse. Or if Vos and some other Republicans didnt seem willing to join with most, if not all, Democrats to boost a gas tax that hasnt been increased in 10 years, or to increase funds for roads in some other way. UW-Milwaukee professor Mordecai Lee, a former Democratic state lawmaker, said Fitzgeralds fealty to Walker is a reflection of the times. Party loyalty is nothing new, he said. Whats new is the rigidity. Its not just Wisconsin. Bill Clinton commanded considerable loyalty from his fellow Democrats as he philandered and prevaricated his way through politics. Republicans today are taking loyalty to new extremes by standing with the alleged sexual abuser and fact-averse Donald Trump. I assume some of the unwillingness to break with ones political party stems from party leaders ability to dole out campaign support to favored candidates. And even if Democrats arent likely to make hay of a Republicans vote to raise taxes, a Tea Party-affiliated primary challenger might. Former Democratic state Sen. Tim Cullen said lawmakers typically follow the lead of a governor from their party, but at some point this honeymoon ends, and legislative leaders start to feel their oats a little bit more. Fitzgeralds office didnt respond to a request for comment, but Cullen said its more important to pay attention to what he does than what he says, and that he could still soften his opposition to a gas tax. Its not like Vos is trying to launch an investigation of Walker or threatening to overturn Walkers 2011 signature union-gutting law, Act 10. As he pointed out, he agrees with the governor 95 percent of the time. Yet he still gets grief when he seeks to exercise his constitutional prerogatives in the service of a cause decent roads thats traditionally had support within his party. Fitzgerald should throw the poor guy a bone if not out of any respect for the separation of powers, then at least because the roads arent going to fix themselves. Avurudu visits from Sri Lanka Insurance View(s): Sri Lanka Insurance (SLI) officers will be visiting households across the island this Avurudu season with a message on the importance of being protected. The SLI officers will be visiting households on April 1 and April 22. The awareness campaign will be held island-wide and its another effort by the strongest national insurer to propagate the importance of being protected with insurance in case of unforeseen situations which may arise, the company said in a media release. The Sinhala and Hindu Avurudu season is when the people of this nation pay tribute to their loved ones and spend time with their families. SLI believes that this is the time to educate the people of the many ways in which insurance could protect ones family and hard-earned assets in case of calamity, the release said. CPC and LIOC agree to Trincomalee Tank Farm business plan By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s): The Sri Lankan Government is going ahead with a business plan to develop the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm jointly by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Lanka IOC, Petroleum Resources Development Minister Chandima Weerakkody said. Despite disputes on the lease agreement of the tank farm tainted with legal issues and protests of trade unions, a new venture has been proposed between CPC and Lanka IOC under a business plan devised by Ernst &Young. The Indian government is agreeable to the plan and Lanka IOC has been informed accordingly, he told the Business Times adding that 30 out of 84 tanks would be developed during the first phase of the proposed venture. Minister Weerakkody noted that the Cabinet of Ministers had approved a Cabinet paper presented by him on April 28, 2016 on Rehabilitation and development of upper oil tank farm (UTF) by CPC to hand over the title and the ownership of 16 oil tanks of this farm to the CPC. But this decision was reversed on a memorandum presented by the Prime Minister in the Cabinet meeting held in June 2016 due to objections by the LIOC. Thereafter the Cabinet had approved a joint memorandum submitted by him as the subject Minister along with the Minister of Power and Energy on November 26, 2016 to hand over 16 tanks to the CPC. The aim was to immediately undertake and utilise three tanks out of 16 at the UTF to ensure a steady supply of fuel required to fully operate the thermal power plants belonging to Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the private sector. The decision to acquire the tanks was taken to obtain additional diesel and fuel oil stocks which will be needed with the impending drought, the Minister said. The tank farm deal was signed between the then Treasury Secretary, CPC and LIOC on February 7, 2003 and the LIOC took over the possession of 99 Tanks at Trincomalee Tank Farm for a period of 35 years. Since the past 14 years, LIOC is paying lease charges of US$100,000 for the tank farm in accordance with the agreement even though the lease deed had not been executed by the CPC and the government due to unknown reasons, LIOC Managing Director Shyam Bohora told the Business Times. He noted that the LIOC is agreeable to the new business plan to jointly develop the tank farm but there was no agreement on the handing over of some oil tanks to the CPC. A significant investment of around US$300 million will have to be made to rehabilitate the UTF and the 2017 budget has also suggested developing the oil tank farm jointly by the CPC and LIOC, he disclosed. Mr. Bohora noted that his company is ready to supply petroleum products to the CPC in accordance with the urgent needs whenever they have required such assistance under product sharing arrangement. He added that that the LIOC is willing to supply fuel to CPC enabling it to manage the power sector requirements at present with minimum costs and time without trying to take over 16 tanks and utilise three of them in the UTF. The LIOC also offered to work together with the CPC in using the tanks in the Lower Farm to store fuel, he revealed. Meanwhile the Common Workers Union (CWU) of the CPC has filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court on February 9, 2017 seeking a ruling that the tank farm be returned to the CPC removing it from the management of the LIOC declaring the retention of the possession of tank farm by LIOC to be illegal and unlawful. The CWU claimed that the parties to the original agreement has failed to execute a lease agreement as agreed within the stipulated period and since the validity of the take-over agreement comes to an end, the said taking over agreement has no force in law at the moment. Dentsu Aegis Network acquires SL ad industry pioneer, Grant Group View(s): Dentsu Aegis Network this week announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the Grant Group, the largest independent creative agency and the pioneer of advertising in Sri Lanka. The acquisition of the 59-year-old integrated agency is Dentsu Aegis Networks first foray into the island nation and one of the largest agency groups to enter the market in nearly two decades. In a media release, Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network APAC, said: With social and economic stability in the country, Sri Lanka is set to reap the peace dividend. Significant foreign investment is already flowing into the country, and with strong historical ties to Japan, there is a natural opportunity for Dentsu Aegis Network clients to grow. Grant represents a unique opportunity as a top quality advertising and communications group to get into a strong position in a fast-growing market. Established in 1958 by Reggie Candappa as the countrys first-ever international advertising agency, the Grant Group today is an award winning agency with 150 people spread across seven entities under two main groups: Grant Advertising which comprises Grant Advertising and Grant Media, and Grant Agencies which is made up of Response Marketing a second internationally-renowned creative agency, RN Media a pioneering OOH agency, Grant Public Relations a leader in reputation management, Juice Productions content creation studios and Magnetic a growing digital business. Post-acquisition, Grant Advertising will be known as Dentsu Grant and align with Dentsu creative agencies across the network Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia, said: Grant is a well-established family-owned business with solid heritage and legacy, and Neela (Marikkar) is a highly recognized personality in the corporate sector for her deep insight in the marketing communications arena and also for her work across womens empowerment, conservation and sustainability. Steering the Sri Lankan leadership team is Ms. Marikkar, Chairperson and Managing Director of the Dentsu Aegis Network Grant Group. She will work with Mr. Bhasin. We are very excited to be able to tap into the networks resources and work with the 38,000 great people at Dentsu Aegis Network. We are beginning a new chapter in the wonderful story of the Grant Group, Ms Marikkar said. Govt. moves fast with new Inland Revenue bill By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s): The Sri Lankan government is rushing to enact a new Inland Revenue Bill prepared with International Monetary Fund (IMF) expertise without adequate consultation with public and private sector stakeholders, tax officials and experts warned. The Finance Ministry is planning to finalise this bill shortly and if it is unable to enact in parliament soon, then it will be introduced as an amendment to the existing law, a senior Finance Ministry official said. But no discussions have been held at any level to date on the proposed bill even though the legislation was scheduled to be passed in parliament soon as the cabinet of ministers has given approval for this purpose, tax officials and experts pointed out. A team of IMF experts has collected information on current revenue collection procedure and implementation of existing tax laws from several divisions of the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), a senior tax official revealed. The new Act has been prepared by these experts on the line of Ghanas new tax law prescribed by the IMF. The proposed Sri Lankan bill is in fact a carbon copy of that countrys new legislation, several eminent tax experts told the Business Times claiming that they have documentary evidence to prove this fact. Top IRD officials however have been kept in the dark during these preparations by IMF experts, a senior IRD official, who is also a trade union leader, told Business Times adding that tax officers will have to study and understand the new law at least four to five years for them to implement it. This could result in heavy revenue loss to the government during the interim period, he warned, pointing out that the proposal to separate the functions of the IRD to two divisions namely administration and tax collection will bring dire consequences. IRD trade unions are discussing necessary action that would be taken against the enactment of the new Bill, he said, disclosing that some top officials are now engaged in a power struggle to get high posts at IRD following the creation of new divisions at the department. These unions were critical of the bill being moved too quickly with too little deliberation. The proposed Bill departs from the very foundation and fabric of the current Act. If implemented in its current form, any judicial precedence, interpretations, practices and principles relating to income tax established over almost a century could not be applied in the imposition, payment and recovery of income tax in Sri Lanka, eminent tax experts alleged. The proposed law attempts to fundamentally change the sources of income, method of calculating the taxable income, claiming deductions, assessment procedure and the administrative provisions. There were no reasons to make such drastic changes in the existing income tax, one expert pointed out adding that the precedence always recalls the preservation of its uniform evolution. The new Bill does not add any income sources to the existing revenue sources and it would not be able to close existing loopholes in revenue collection due to time constraints in drafting the new legislation, the sources disclosed. Further the new Bill provides undue priority to less important sections which have less relevance to the Sri Lanka economy and neglects the more important sections on tax law imposition and recovery, they emphasised. The current Inland Revenue Act No 10 of 2006 is based on the pattern and the principles of previous Inland Revenue Acts namely; the Inland Revenue Act No. 38 of 2000, Inland Revenue Act No. 28 of 1979 and the Inland Revenue Act No. 4 of 1963 as well as the Income Tax Ordinance of 1932. The current Act has, accordingly, evolved through years and it incorporates established legal, accounting and economic principles. When drafting an Inland Revenue Act the basic structure and the principles of imposition, payment and recovery have to be maintained, they claimed. Sri Lankas tax system has undergone several changes to meet the demands of different financial policies under various governments. The tax system has been reviewed by three Taxation Commissions in 1953, 1966 and 1991. Pakistani President confers prestigious award on Sri Lankas Ifthikhar Aziz View(s): Ifthikhar Aziz, President of the Sri Lanka-Pakistan Friendship, Trade and Investment Association, was conferred with national honours in Pakistan last week by President Mamnoon Hussain. He received the prestigious Tamgha -I-Khidmat award in recognition of his outstanding role in advancing Pakistan Sri Lanka bilateral relations, promoting trade relations plus academic and cultural links between the two countries. The award, for meritorious and distinguished services, was conferred at a special investiture ceremony held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, Presidents official residence in Islamabad on Pakistan Day, March 23. The ceremony was attended by the civil and military leadership, federal ministers, parliamentarians and diplomats, etc. Mr. Aziz has made strident efforts in bolstering Pakistan-Sri Lanka economic and business ties for over three decades through the 66 year-old Sri Lanka Pakistan Friendship Association, which in 2015 was revamped to include trade and investment as well. Pakistan has Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with China and Malaysia, in addition to Sri Lanka. All stakeholders including businesses, line ministries, relevant authorities in export/import, investment and related fields in both Pakistan and Sri Lanka are not fully aware of the true potential, benefits and opportunities that are available to achieve the US$1 billion per annum trade volume that has been targeted by both governments of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, explained Mr. Aziz in a media statement. He said that in reality, this is an achievable target; however awareness must be created in both the countries so as to exploit the FTAs to its optimum. Our association is committed to create this awareness which will truly benefit both our countries, he stated. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who met Mr. Aziz and his delegation comprising Vice President of the Association, Idris Admani and Secretary General Fazal Lafir at the PMs Office in Islamabad mentioned the many opportunities for Sri Lankan businesses. The PM urged Sri Lanka to make use of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for which China is investing $50 billion. At a similar discussion in Lahore with the Chief Minister of Punjab Province, Shahbaz Sharif, similar sentiments were made with the Chief Minister offering his fullest support. The delegation also met with the Governor of Khyber PhakhtunKhwa (KPK) Province at his official residence in Peshawar. Sri Lankan-made flip flops in Dubai View(s): Waves, famous locally for its brand of flip flops footwear, recently introduced the brand to the UAE. Felicitating the establishment of the brand in the new market, the official launch happened at Laola, Kite Beach in Dubai. Waves flip flops are available across all Lulu department stores in the UAE. The stores include 3 in Abu Dhabi, namely in Mushriff, Madinat Zayed and Khalidiya; and in Al Barsh and Qusais in Dubai. The entrance to the Arabian market is an addition to the already existing brand presence in the Maldives and Seychelles, which reiterates Waves commitment to build a sound international platform for the local brand. The only natural rubber flip flop in the local market, Waves is entirely crafted from genuine Sri Lankan rubber. The rubber which is used as raw material as well as the complete process of production from harvesting, treatment to crafting, is done with total compliance to quality and health requirements. The flip flops are battered to a special recipe to provide ultimate comfort, which makes Waves unique and popular among the users. Top investor Dr. Senthilverl key player in listless CSE By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera View(s): View(s): Dr. T. Senthilverl has been quite an active high networth investor (HNWI), the only silver lining in an otherwise Colombo stock market so far this year, trading data showed. Possibly in the top two HNWIs in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), he entered the top 20 shareholders list at Expolanka Holdings PLC during the first quarter of this year. He had six million shares and was at number 10 with 0.31 per cent at Expolanka PLC. At Sunshine Holdings hes the topmost shareholder with 23.45 per cent. At Vallibel Power Erathna, Dr. Senthilverl has increased his stake during 3Q17. He brought his total stake up to 138 million shares as at last December which is an 18.47 per cent stake. On February 23, through Sampath Bank PLC, Dr. T Senthilverl sold to Metropolitan Resource Holdings PLC 11.1 per cent in Bogawantalawa Tea Estates PLC from his 13.5 per cent in February 2011. At Amana Takaful hes the second largest shareholder with 6.47 per cent while at Peoples Leasing, he has 1.96 million shares and is the 17th largest owner with 0.1 per cent. Dr. Senthilverl has 50,168,553 shares which is a 6.72 per cent at Vallibel Power Erathna. At Union Bank hes the sixth largest shareholder with 1.5 per cent. He has 90,600 shares at Lanka Tiles totalling 0.17 per cent stake in the company. Jaffna gets its Yaal back View(s): The near three-decade-long separatist war not only left thousands dead and a larger number maimed but also destroyed many historic items of cultural interest.In the North, one such example was a musical instrument that gave the capital the Tamil name Yaal (Yazh) a harp. A museum that held the remnants of this instrument was destroyed by war. The Tamil name Yaalpanam, historians claim, was derived from a story of a blind musician named Yalpadi. King Narasingha Raja gifted the sandy Jaffna peninsula to Yalpadi in appreciation of how he played the Yaal. A Tamil now living in Norway this week presented the Public Library there and the Jaffna University with two different Yaal musical instruments. They were made in India. According to Kandamoorthy Kalaregi, who fled to Norway during the northern separatist insurgency, he was carrying out research on the unique musical instrument. Thus, he was able to obtain sufficient material to reconstruct the Yaal. In older buildings in Jaffna area, now destroyed, there were montages of the Yaal on top of the wall of the front porch. JO steps up campaign against bid to sell assets The Joint Opposition will step up its campaign against the Governments move to sell or lease state assets, its leader Dinesh Gunawardena said yesterday. He said that at its May Day rally at the Galle Face Green, the JO would also move a resolution. On Friday, the JO was given permission to hold the rally there, he said. The main procession will begin from the Kollupitiya Junction and end at Galle Face. One of those in favour of the venue being given to the JO was Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Mr. Gunawardena, who also leads the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), said the JO leaders were meeting yesterday at the Jayasinghe Hall in Dehiwala to map out the stepped up efforts to protest against the sale or lease of state assets. He said the JO had also sought a parliamentary debate on the Hambantota Port being given to a Chinese company on 99-year lease. On Wednesday, Premier Wickremesinghe is set to answer a question from the JO on the same matter. One years no-pay leave to have a baby The Public Administration and Management Ministry has decided to grant up to one year No- Pay Leave for Female Public Officers to obtain fertility treatments. In a circular issued recently, Ministry Secretary J.J. Rathnasiri informed Secretaries to Ministries, Chief Secretaries of Provinces and Heads of Departments that the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to revise the Establishments Code to include this benefit to women employees. No-pay leave to be spent in or out of the Island shall be approved for a maximum period of one year (01) for female Public Officers to obtain treatments for sub fertility on the recommendations of a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, the circular said. Whats your beef? Veggie for Sirisena It was a multi-course lunch lasting ninety minutes at the Kremlins ornate hall for President Maithripala Sirisena and his entourage when he visited Moscow a week ago. The main entree was either beef or fish. Of course, President Sirisena was served a vegetarian meal. Accompanying Russian President Vladimir Putin were five Cabinet Ministers. Prominent among them was Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who at one time served at the Russian Embassy in Colombo. A member of the Sri Lanka delegation said Mr. Lavrov was still familiar with some Sinhala phrases. When the lunch ended, and President Sirisena rose to leave, Mr Putin said he had something for him. Then he presented a sword of the Kandyan era, which we wrote about last week. Apex body for energy The Government wants to set up an apex body to control the energy sector including petroleum and electricity. The proposal has come from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. As Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, he wants to ensure there is an Energy Supply Committee. A similar system existed in 2002 when there was a UNP Government. Legislation for this purpose is to be introduced in Parliament. Port deal: Windfall for politicos brother A port deal now taking shape, insiders say, will be a windfall for the brother of a leading politico, known for his deal making. His brother, who heads a local company, is to tie up with a foreign concern in the new deal. PC polls: CMs oppose Presidents proposals At a meeting of Chief Ministers this week, President Maithripala Sirisena proposed that elections be conducted for all Provincial Councils. The move, which would mean the dissolution of some PCs was strongly objected to by the Chief Ministers. Hence, elections are now to be held for the Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern Provinces. Their term ends in September this year. The Uva and Southern PCs will end their term in September 2019. The Western PC is due to end its term in April 2019 and the Central PC in September 2018. Search for pen on Presidents plane It was an unusual experience for Arundhika Fernando, Deputy Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs.On his way to Moscow with the Presidential entourage, he lost his pen. President Maithripala Sirisena asked him whether it was a valuable one. He nodded yes. Mr Fernando appealed to the cabin crew to look for it. But the search drew a blank. If he had to sign something important, there were no worries. His Minister was also part of the entourage and could have lent his. The Dane County Board on Thursday will call for a special election to fill the seat for District 16. The special election will fill the seat left vacant by former Sup. Dave de Felice, who announced his resignation March 27 citing health reasons. The election will be held on June 13, board Chairwoman Sharon Corrigan said. Candidates can begin circulating nomination papers on Friday. Each candidate must have at least 50 valid signatures for their nomination. All nomination papers must be filed with the county clerks office by April 18. If there are more than three candidates, a primary will be held on May 16 to narrow the field to two candidates. District 16 includes wards in Madisons Far East and Southeast sides, wards in the town of Blooming Grove and one ward in McFarland. Lanka-India finalise MOU for mega development projects View(s): Joint investments to develop Trinco port, set up oil refinery, LNG plant and piped-gas projects Hambantota deal to be signed soon; AGs Dept. says Ranatungas objections not valid Massive SLFP youth convention today as Sirisena prepares to give mid-term report at May Day rally Cabinet changes soon after National New Year; test of popularity at three PC elections this year By Our Political Editor Sri Lanka and India will jointly make investments to develop the Trincomalee Port and establish a petroleum refinery and other industries there. They will also encourage Indian companies to invest in a Container Terminal in the Port of Colombo. These are highlights of a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed this year between Sri Lanka and India for cooperation in economic projects. For Sri Lanka, the focal points for effective implementation, the MoU notes will be the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade. The Indian counterpart is yet to be identified. The final draft of this MoU has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) which is chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. It now awaits the formulation of a road map for implementation by an official committee. The MoU reaffirms the traditionally close and friendly relations between the two countries and their continuing endeavours to enhance bilateral relations through increased economic, investment and development co-operation for the mutual benefit of their people. The MoU says the objective is to achieve greater economic, investment and development cooperation in a progressive manner, through joint ventures and other cooperative activities that ensure the wellbeing of the people of the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. The areas of scope and cooperation incorporate the mutual agreement both Colombo and New Delhi have reached on the different projects. They are: To set up a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fired 500 Megawatts capacity LNG Power Plant as well as LNG Terminal/Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) in Kerawalapitiya. India to assist Sri Lanka in the enhanced usage of Natural Gas including the setting up of piped gas distribution system in Colombo and in suburban areas in Sri Lanka; retail outlets for the supply of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to the transportation sector in Sri Lanka; and conversion of fuel-based power plants to LNG power plants, jointly with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). To set up a 50 MW (extendable to 100 MW) Solar Power Plant in Sampur. To form a Joint Venture to develop the Upper Tank Farms in Trincomalee, while signing a land lease agreement for 50 years in favour of Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) Ltd. for the Tank Farm. To make joint investments in the development of Port, Petroleum Refinery and other industries in Trincomalee. To carry out a Feasibility Study on the proposed Petroleum Refinery Joint Venture by Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Indian Oil Corporation referred to above. To set up Industrial Zones/Special Economic Zones in identified locations in Sri Lanka. To develop Dambulla-Trincomalee road as an Expressway through joint investments by India and Sri Lanka. To develop roads in Sri Lanka including Mannar-Jaffna and Mannar-Trincomalee highways. To develop railway sector in Sri Lanka including new projects of track upgradation and purchase of rolling stock, and To encourage Indian companies to invest in a Container Terminal in Colombo Port, considering that majority of transhipment in Colombo Port is related to India. Provision has been made in the MoU to amend or supplement provisions by the two sides agreeing to them in writing. Whilst disputes are to be settled through mutual consultations, either side would be entitled to terminate the agreement by giving three months notice. One of the significant ventures is the joint project to develop the World War II vintage oil storage tanks. Built by the British, the 99 tanks in 850 acres, each with a capacity of a million gallons, remain in good order. Of the 101 tanks, one was destroyed in 1942 when a Japanese kamikaze bomber dived into it. Another was damaged in 1960 when an Air Force aircraft crashed on it. Lanka-India Oil Corporation (LIOC) has been using 15 tanks, facing the sea area, for petroleum storage. It operates a string of fuel stations countrywide. If the North Eastern port city of Trincomalee, ten times the size of the Colombo Port, is to be developed with assistance from India, the Governments efforts to develop the southern Port of Hambantota with a Chinese firm has turned out to be time consuming. Though the Cabinet of Ministers has decided that the project should go ahead and approved a Concession Agreement with a Chinese firm, there are snags still to be overcome. The latest is another note circulated by Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, contesting the legal validity of provisions in the Concession Agreement. He wants the Attorney General to examine these positions both vis-a-vis the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Act and other prevailing laws. In addition, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has also given a separate note to all ministers. Minister Ranatunga has argued that in terms of the Act, there was no provision for the SLPA to cede an entire port to any party. It was also empowered to do so only in respect of a terminal or other facility, it was argued. However, in February, this year, the Attorney Generals Department in a two page letter to E.M.S.B. Ekanayake, Secretary to the Prime Minister, said it held the view that the SLPA could sign. Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Rajaratnam who was responding for the Attorney General declared in a letter: I am of the opinion that the Cabinet of Ministers are constitutionally empowered to take decisions on the Hambantota Port Project on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka and in doing so, they could direct subservient Government institutions such as the Sri Lanka Ports Authority to adhere to policies formulated therein in accordance with the applicable laws. The AG has taken up four positions in respect of queries raised by the Premiers Secretary. They are: (a) I am of the opinion that the Cabinet of Ministers are charged with the direction and control of the Government of the Republic and are constitutionally mandated to take decisions on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, to decide on authorised signatories to the agreement and directing subservient institutions of the Government to adhere to the policy formulated by the Cabinet of Ministers. It is also stated that the Cabinet of Ministers could determine on the authorised signatories since they are signing on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, also as the said agreement involves the paramount interest of the Government of Sri Lanka in the Hambantota Port project. It is noted that the Minister of Ports and Shipping who is the Minister in charge of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority is also a cabinet minister and is bound by collective responsibility as stipulated in Article 42 (2) of the Constitution. (b) I wish to opine that in terms of Article 42(1) of the Constitution, the Cabinet of Ministers are vested with authority pertaining to subservient institutions of Government to comply with policy decisions formulated by the Cabinet. However, when intimating such decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers it should be within the ambit of the applicable laws of the country. The amendments to such legislation are only required when the existing laws cannot cater to situations when implementing such decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers. I am of the view that at this state of signing the Concession Agreement there is no necessity to amend any such existing legislation. (c) There is no Constitutional requirement to evoke the provisions of Article 157 of the Constitution, as it is not warranted in the given circumstances. However, in the agreement so executed could be placed before Parliament only for the purpose of information and good order as being part of the responsibility of the Cabinet of Ministers as per Article 42 of the Constitution. (d) As regards amendments to the relevant (SLPA) Act, the usual procedure enshrined in the Constitution should be adhered to. At last Tuesdays weekly ministerial meeting there was another detailed discussion on the Hambantota Port deal including the Concession Agreement to be signed with China Harbour Port Holdings Company (CMPort). Once again, there were strong views expressed for and against. Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka was to point out that losses at the Hambantota Port were relatively lower compared to other institutions. If this port suffered a loss of four billion rupees, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) lost eight billion rupees per month and SriLankan Airlines has suffered losses amounting to Rs 22 billion. Corrective action to cut these losses was imperative, he noted. Minister Arjuna Ranatunga was a strong critic and raised issue over a variety of matters in the Concession Agreement. Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera also expressed reservations. President Sirisena was to note that the cabinet subcommittee was going into some aspects. In fact, Ranatunga made representations during its deliberations. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake was to insist that a delay in signing the deal would only mean that the Sri Lankan rupee would depreciate further vis-a-vis the US dollar. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe interjected at one point to emphasise that all matters relating to the Hambantota Port were now in order. He made reference to a Court action against the project, now pending before the Supreme Court and asked how a letter issued by President Sirisena has found its way into the different documents filed in court. As reported earlier, one of the major reasons that underscore the conclusion of the Concession Agreement for the development of the Hambantota Port is the income of US$ 1.1 billion. The signing of the Concession Agreement, a Government source said yesterday, would be concluded in a matter of weeks. This is after the Cabinet subcommittee deals with outstanding issues raised by Minister Ranatunga, the source added. Minister Ranatunga was not available for comment. Calls to his mobile phone went unanswered. Finance Minister Karunanayake hinted that there was an urgent need for funds to meet the debt crisis. We need US$ 11 billion. For critics to claim that the Hambantota Port deal bringing in just over US$ 1 billion is going to solve our problem is foolish. This is the legacy we have inherited from the Rajapaksa administration, he told the Sunday Times. Minister Ranatunga also had a one-on-one meeting with Premier Wickremesinghe on the Hambantota Port deal on Thursday. They are learnt to have discussed in detail some of the concerns raised by Ranatunga. The urgent measures to overcome a debt crisis are not the only priority for Sirisena. This week, he told a meeting of Chief Ministers that he would re-shuffle the Cabinet of Ministers immediately after the National New Year holidays the first time there has been some official confirmation of the move. The President said there needs to be a change in some of the portfolios as there were issues in some ministries. He said he hopes to make changes after the Sinhala-Tamil New Year, Southern Province Chief Minister Shan Wijelal de Silva told the Sunday Times. This notwithstanding, some UNP ministers expect the move to come before the National New Year. According to Chief Minister de Silva, President Sirisena has declared that he hopes to conduct Provincial Council elections to the North Central, Sabaragamuw and Eastern Provincial Councils. Their terms end this year. This is whilst trying to expedite the conduct of long overdue local council elections. Government sources hinted yesterday that they may first go for polls in the three PCs in a bid to test their overall popularity. It is only thereafter that the Government wants to move towards the local council elections, the source said. The final report of the Committee which reviewed the demarcation of electoral boundaries in local council wards was gazetted on February 17, but there still appears that more work has to be done before going for local polls. Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Faiszer Musthapha has now conceded that another gazette notification on the number of members allocated for each local body needs to be issued. In addition new amendments, mostly technical ones, need to be incorporated into the Local Authorities Election (Amendment) Act. The proposed amendments have been made by the Elections Commission. They cover inclusion of Grama Sevaka divisions by name. The Ministry has appointed a two-member Committee to look into these amendments. As a result of the delay in conducting the local council polls, some of the councils have been minus their local representatives for more than two years. The UNP ministers who met Premier Wickremesinghe on Monday also discussed a variety of issues. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera was to remark that some in the Government were making contradictory statements at Cabinet meetings and when speaking outside. He said this had prompted former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to claim that the remote control of the Government was in his hands. He said once a decision was made by the Cabinet of Ministers, ministers must all stick by that decision. In the 1990s when it was decided to privatise the telecommunication sector, there were threats of strike and sabotage. However, we all stuck together as one, he pointed out. He said that similarly a decision has already been made on the Hambantota Port. It was the duty of all ministers to abide by it. Even the organisations that come under the ministry concerned should follow suit, he pointed out. Conspicuous by his absence at the meeting was Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. Premier Wickremesinghe, in keeping with President Sirisenas earlier request, already earmarked the changes that should be effected among UNP ministers. Sirisena will today address the SLFPs youth members at a meeting at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium. Although the organisers planned to invite 10,000 youth, they have come up against a problem. The indoor stadium, they learnt, could accommodate only 8,000. Hence, the organisers are now placing large screen projection equipment around the premises so the other members could view the proceedings inside on large screens. With the exception of Colombo District, electorate organisers have been told to bring 100 members. From the Colombo District there would be 200 representing each electorate. A string of resolutions will be adopted at the youth convention, a precursor to the SLFPs May Day rally in Kandy. If there will be enhanced development cooperation with China and India, there will also be enhanced military cooperation with the United States. Just concluded for this purpose is the Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreements (ACSA) between Colombo and Washington. This agreement is designed, among others, to facilitate reciprocal logistic support between the United States and Sri Lankan Military primarily during combined exercises, training, deployment, operations, or other cooperative efforts, and for unforeseen circumstances of exigencies in which one of the parties may have a need of logistic support, supplies and services of the military forces of the other party. Such support in the form of relief and supply operations were carried out by troops of the US Pacific Command during the devastating tsunami of 2004. They carried out airlifts of those marooned, cleared large extents of debris and moved food stocks. Under the ACSA, not eligible for transfer are weapons like guided missiles, naval mines and torpedoes and other military items. The loan of general purpose vehicles and non-lethal items is also included. Underscoring this increased cooperation are the joint military exercises that are taking place. Here is a statement from the United States Embassy on the subject: USS Comstock (LSD 45) departed Sri Lanka today following a week of exchanges with the Sri Lankan Navy and Marine Corps. These exercises focused on improving humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts and coordination, the third such military-to-military exchange between U.S. Sailors and Marines and their Sri Lankan counterparts in the past 12 months. We hope to build upon past successes and do what we can to exchange best naval practices for regional security and humanitarian assistance, and to ensure a bright future for further bilateral engagements like this, said Commander Bradley Coletti, commanding officer of the USS Comstock. U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Atul Keshap noted, Our growing military-to-military cooperation reflects the progress Sri Lanka has made on reconciliation and justice. As Sri Lanka continues to make progress in implementing its commitments to its people and the international community, this will form the basis of further cooperation between our militaries. Approximately 325 U.S. Sailors and Marines joined 175 participants from the Sri Lankan Navy and Marine Corps as part of this exchange. U.S. Marines embarked aboard the USS Comstock helped introduce the latest tactics and equipment for the Sri Lanka Marine Corps, including life-saving skills; convoy operations; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training; and amphibious vehicle familiarization. During the visit, the Sailors and Marines of the USS Comstock and embarked 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) also experienced the rich cultural sites of Sri Lanka. In addition, military personnel joined members of the U.S. Embassy to donate toys and renovate childrens dormitories at the Ceylon School for the Deaf and Blind in Ratmalana. We are grateful to all of the Sailors and Marines for spending a few days helping hearing-impaired Sri Lankan students at the Ceylon School, said Ambassador Keshap. USS Comstock, assigned to the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, and embarked 11th MEU are on scheduled deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet and 5th Fleet area of responsibilities. In Honolulu, Hawaii where the US Pacific Command is based, Sri Lankas second Consul Kusuma Cooray was presented with the Distinguished Public Service Award last month by Admiral Harry Harris, head of PACOM for helping to bring about closer US-Sri Lanka relations. This token of appreciation by the US military was a significant signal in the current context of geo-political developments in the Indian Ocean with specific reference to Sri Lankas geographic location. Among the many projects, the Government is granting priority to the signing of the Concession Agreement with the Chinese firm to develop the Hambantota Port. This is expected to yield the urgently needed US $ 1.1 billion. However, this alone, as Finance Minister Karunanayake points out, would be insufficient. A further US$ 10 billion would be required. He has initiated talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a third tranche from its extended fund facility. If President Sirisenas latest forecast that the ministerial re-shuffle would take place soon after the National New Year holidays, the upcoming May Day will see the emergence of a reshuffled Cabinet of Ministers. It is known that portfolios of ministers in both the SLFP and the UNP are among those listed to be changed. Going by credible accounts doing the rounds, there is little doubt that there would be a number of surprising upsets. With that in place, Sirisena is set to tell the country during the May Day rally about his new programme of action as he passes his mid-term as President. Making this palana mess even messier View(s): They came bearing their gifts. No not the three wise men on the way to Bethlehem. Not even Greeks with gifts who Virgil had warned against in the Aeneid. They who came were two of the best, so much so that Sri Lanka can be proud of them for putting the country on the world map when many others round the globe had given the island nation a wide birth as a corrupt oligarchy. So when our great leader and another came home with what had been presented to them, there was great rejoicing among the yahapalanites, publicly at least. For one of them (so the gossip-wallahs in some C7 clubs which had opened their doors to garrulous young nouveau riche were saying) was to be axed and deposited elsewhere out of reach of treasury bond deals. Russias astute President Putin did not send our own leader back home empty-handed. After all, if one read the bloated spin put on the Sirisena visit to Russia the other day, Putin struck a great friendship with President Sirisena after one meeting in Goa. Sirisenas spin doctors seemed unaware that Putin had been for long with the now defunct KGB and knew a thing or two about making people believe a casual meeting could be suddenly transmogrified into an enduring friendship. Anyway off he sent Sirisena with a Kandyan sword in hand. The Presidents Media Division (PMD) which has developed a peculiar panache for putting (puns apart) the English language and simple fact at great risk, said in a media release: This special gift which was a royal sward (italics mine) of Kandy era in the 19th century. It added that this sward (italics mine) had been brought to England in 1906 and later bought by Russia at an archaeological artifact auction named Sotheby in London. Last Sunday this newspaper quoted the release from the PMD without comment maintaining a stoic silence. But it is steadily becoming unbearable when the presidential media is unable to distinguish between a state visit and an official visit and uses both to describe the same visit sometimes in the same paragraph ignoring a clear difference between them. The same confusion in diplomatic distinction arose when President Sirisena visited Germany at the invitation of Chancellor Angela Merkel who is not the head of state. It might be recalled this same media outfit in 2015 created a ministry called Mega Police and the appointment of a minister, deputy minister and a secretary to a non-existent ministry on three different days without even an attempt to correct this faux pas. Besides producing something called a sward which all my historical searches in the last few days into the 19th Kandyan kingdom could not unearth, the great media persons parading possibly as the presidential voice have converted that internationally famous and respected auction house of rich and rare jewellery, paintings and other valuable artifacts, Sotheby in London, into some auction by the same name. Fortunately for the PMDs media maestros Sothebys would hardly waste valuable time reading such stuff and nonsense. Were they aware of it they might have been tempted to stick a rare dagger from its collection into the author, if a Kandyan sward sorry sword was not immediately at hand. But then knowing British humour it is quite possible that those interested in rare writings may have requested a few early releases from the PMD and put them on sale as extremely rare literary works in the English language still being produced in the old colonies. The other Sri Lankan leader to come home with a gift around the same time as President Sirisena with the Kandyan kaduwa in its kobbe, was Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake who was in London to collect an award from The Banker magazine. Karunanayake who was presented the Best Finance Minister in the Asia Pacific Region in 2017 award which did not come from any reputed association of British bankers or by heads of worldwide banks located in London. It was an award by the magazine. That might have saved him something of a further assault on his reputation. The public impression of bankers and banks here is only a notch above that of the reputation of politicians and that is almost at the bottom of the popularity ladder. Last Monday the Sri Lanka High Commission in London carrying a couple of pictures of the award-winning finance minister said in its website: Presenting the award, Chief Editor of The Banker, Brian Caplen stated that the Finance Minister was able to prevent financial crisis which were loomed (my italics)due to balance of payment and restore the countrys monetary reserves thereby rebuilding confidence in foreign investors. Some rebuilding that! Surely the words above cannot be those of magazine editor Caplen. If some of our diplomutts are not particularly enamoured of Britain and its monarchy it is one thing. But why they should engage in linguistic regicide and murder the Queens English right in the British capital at a time when some believe that the country is already trying to commit hara kiri by leaving the European Union, only our own diplomatic Metternichs here can answer. All this might provide light relief to a nation tired of the fun and frolic of governing politicians flying in all directions (there were some here recently) at public expense and slipping into the new seats of their expensive limousines (also bought at public expense) but the carelessness and ignorance of public officials noted above reflects the sloppiness and insouciance with which this government runs the country. But the laughs will not last long and the hollow boasts of a diplomatic victory in Geneva recently begin to disappear in the face of visibly growing differences in the governing coalition. Without staying with economics Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva made a foray into semantics in Geneva. Referring to the word participation in the crucial operative paragraph 6 in the controversial October 2015 UNHRC resolution, Dr. de Silva said it has multiple meanings. While applauding the deputy minister for this discovery even belatedly, when did such enlightenment dawn on the foreign ministry? If our negotiators at the highest levels were aware of the multiple meanings did they ask the sponsors of the draft resolution to clarify what was meant by the word in para 6? If they did not then why did they not inquire? If they did know was it an attempt to deceive the international community by subsequently raising a semantic issue or was this a joint ploy all along to take the victims of the war and other aggrieved parties for a right royal ride? Along with the linguistic quibbling another argument also came to the fore later. Our constitution does not permit foreign judges to sit on the bench at our trials claimed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the main proponent of this argument. Now when did our leaders discover this, the constitution having been around for almost 40 years? If this argument is correct, though some who have examined the constitution closely say they have not uncovered anything of the sort, why did our ministerial negotiators argue so at the very beginning thereby halting the move to bring foreign judges on to the bench? The constitution does not permit non-citizens of Sri Lanka being MPs. The 19th amendment introduced by this government prohibits even dual citizens from contesting elections and being MPs, which seemed like a blatant attempt to stop two of the Rajapaksas Gotabhaya and Basil from contesting the 2015 parliamentary elections. One might be a novice in the face of all the legal luminaries in the government including, I suppose, the Justice Minister though luminary here seems rather hyperbolic. But one cannot find a constitutional provision which specifically denies foreign judges sitting in Sri Lankan courts. Anyway all this becomes irrelevant with President Sirisena saying on his return from Putin-country that he will not allow war heroes (who are they and how many are there) to be made suspects in war crimes accountability trials as called for by the 2015 resolution we co-sponsored. He has no objection to war heroes (is every man and woman in uniform deemed a hero one wonders in the absence of a clear definition) ending up as accused in non-war related crimes such as the murder of journalists and sportsmen. But then these are normal criminal trials anyway and do not warrant a special hybrid, lowbrid or nobrid court. These trials should proceed as usual unless there are attempts to bring political pressure on investigators and obstruct them in the performance of their rightful duties. So according to the presidential position no war hero will be brought to trial on war-related charges. So then who will appear before this special court, some LTTE leftovers from the war? Will this be victors justice as the Nuremberg and Tokyo war trials turned out to be according to some historians and jurists? Or will this call for accountability trials slowly disappear and any violations of international law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed never be investigated? When the kavun, kokis and kiributh eating is over later this month there might still be the long-awaited cabinet reshuffle. There is that old Sinhala saying about changing pillows to cure a headache. However many pillows are changed (just a handful one suspects) the headache will remain- for the mass of the people at least. However much a pack of playing cards is shuffled there will still be one joker in it. Not in the pack we have been landed with, unfortunately. Musings on a terrifyingly familiar counter-terror draft View(s): Assessed even with the kindest eye, the potential of the proposed (and revised) new Counter-Terror Act (CTA) to legally validate intrusive acts of state officers is most worrying.If this version has been sent to the Legal Draftsmans Department for conversion into the form of a Bill as we are informed, one can only hope for intervention of a peculiarly divine kind to prevent this draft being passed into law. Old and worrying language continues As analysed last week in these column spaces,terrifyingly familiar language echoes in the CTAs classification of terrorism related offences. This prohibits words either spoken or intended to be read or by signs etc which causes or intends to cause the commission of acts of violence between different communities or racial or religious groups. The prohibition is coupled with intent to cause harm to the unity, territorial integrity or sovereignty of Sri Lanka or the peaceful coexistence of the people. Journalists and dissenters were imprisoned in the past precisely under these very same provisions in the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Its proposed replacement CTA continues this trend with the importation of additional references to unity and peaceful coexistence. These prohibitions are contrary to the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information. And it is not only the extraordinarily vague definitions of what constitutes terrorism as well as associated and related offences that are problematic. The original draft leaked to the public last year as well as this revised version confers extremely wide powers on police officers during their investigations to prevent and counter terrorism. These not only include powers in existing laws such as the Police Ordinance, the Criminal Procedure Code and other such statutes. Wide powers given to police officers For example, the revised draft continues to permit police officers to obtain information from banks and other financial institutions without adequate safeguards in place and sans judicial oversight. Information that must be given includes any financial service provided to any person, any financial transaction carried out by such person, details of bank accounts, fixed deposits, remittances, withdrawals and certified statements thereto. Equally repulsive are the provisions permitting the obtaining of information from service providers which a police officer not below the rank of Superintendant of Police can call for from any telecommunications, digital or satellite providers again without adequate judicial oversight. The information that may be called for includes any information pertaining to services that may be provided or used to/by any person, information or data, documents or records that may be stored, archived or otherwise kept by such provider. Notably, it also includes uploading or downloading of data by such service provider.It is indeed wondrous that vociferous online activists and social media pundits who hold forth on freedom of expression have not yet seen this provision in the draft CTA. Potentially high risk dangers Then again, the draft CTA allows for the police to obtain information from Government departments and statutory institutions in a manner that sets alarm bells ringing loudly. A police officer not below the rank of a Deputy Inspector General of Police (IGO) is empowered to call for and receive information from senior public officials including Secretaries to Ministries, the Secretary General of Parliament (where is the interaction of parliamentary privilege with this, pray?), the Commissioner General, Department of Inland Revenue, the Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Controller of Exchange, the Controller General, Department of Immigration and Emigration and so on. Sri Lankas draft CTA confers these powers on police officers of varying seniority without adequate judicial oversight. These conjure up nightmare visions. In this country, police officers have converted even the simple task of imposing minor fines in regard to mundane traffic violations into a fine art of extracting money illegally from unfortunate citizens. The very high incidence of corruption within the police force is well documented.In this scenario, conferring such appallingly extensive magnitude of powers on law enforcement officers without sufficient safeguards to prevent abuse is a potentially high risk danger that we would not wish upon our worst enemies. Cutting and pasting provisions from elsewhere The CTA has been revised to take out the previous provision that confessions made to police officers are admissible. But ambiguity remains in relation to the provision of immediate legal counsel to suspects. It is now stipulated that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) shall be notified when there is temporary impeding of the movement or the stopping, searching and questioning any person. Duties in regard to the notification of arrests to the NHRC have also been sharpened. But if our history teaches us one thing, it is that the State is remarkably skilful in subverting these obligations. In any event, these sops cannot cure other fundamentally vexed aspects of the revised CTA. These pose a potentially ferocious danger to freedoms of life and liberty. And the revised CTA still retains an offence of espionage in regard to confidential information relating to vaguely defined offences of terrorism and what constitutes confidential information. The problem with cutting and pasting provisions from international models of anti-terrorism laws is that the environments are vastly different. The very concept of professional policing has been severely undermined for many decades in Sri Lanka not only as a result of failures by the police themselves but also through the pressures brought to bear by politicians. This is why the command structure of the police has collapsed and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) is reduced to crying in public and asking his officers to meditate. Recognising a ghastly paradox Purported international experts on counter terrorism and policing of the United Nations or otherwise who the Government insists was consulted initially and during the revisions but who fail to recognize Sri Lankas manifestly harsh realities in this respect are not worth the salt of their labels. It is profoundly disturbing that the secretive process by which this draft came about was condoned by all and sundry. It is also even more disturbing that the horrendous over-breadth of the offences apparently escaped scrutiny. And it is an unpalatable truth that while experts will consult and leave the shores of this country, Sri Lankans will be left to cope with the ravages brought about by experimentation of this kind. This is a ghastly paradox that should arouse concern in no small measure. New tax law: Capitulating to the IMF View(s): Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the Bar Association convocation last week that the Government hoped to introduce new laws to replace archaic ones and that while Sri Lanka could be proud of having an old legal tradition in Asia, the country was behind others in the region when it came to enacting modern laws. Speaking further, the lawyer-premier named some of the laws in the pipeline as being, a new counter terrorism law to replace the PTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act), a new anti-doping law and a new Inland Revenue law, which he said, would be presented either in May or June. Of course, he also spoke of the perennial problem of laws delays. Much of what he said rings true. Sri Lanka must come to speed with the modern world and its legal system needs not only new laws, but efficient administration of justice. To the credit of this Government, the RTI (Right to Information) Act was passed last year after being on ice for 12 long years under the Kumaratunga and Rajapaksa Governments. There was no political will on their part to pass this law for obvious reasons. From being the first in South Asia had the law been passed back in 2004 when it was ready, Sri Lanka became the last to pass it in 2016. In drafting these new laws, the old practice had been to copy British laws. Later, Indian laws were also looked at. In the case of the RTI law, various Indian state laws were studied because India did not have a national law at the time. Sri Lankas new Company law drew from New Zealand and Canada and the proposed Financial City (Colombo Port City) law is taking a leaf from Dubais law. All these had inputs from Sri Lankan experts in the respective fields to make them eventually, home grown. But, lo and behold, the proposed new Inland Revenue law is a copy chapter and verse of the International Monetary Funds (IMF) model law for Ghana. Not to discredit a fellow Commonwealth member-state like Ghana by any means, but why must Sri Lanka just cut and paste a law virtually drafted by an international lending agency when, as the Prime Minister correctly said, this country is the proud repository of laws that have stood the test of time and only need some fine-tuning with the assistance of local stakeholders. The Government cannot surely be so desperate for the next IMF tranche of US$ 1.5 billion in May/June to jettison decades of judicial precedence and principles of complicated tax law and overthrow the basic structure of the imposition of, payment and recovery maintained for a new law that will only introduce confusion in tax collection for at least the next ten years. True, the tax net must be widened and tax collection must be robust. The subject has been a major issue for successive Governments as only some 20 per cent of the states revenue comes from direct taxes (less than a million tax files of individuals and companies together) forcing Governments to increase indirect taxes like VAT. Tax avoidance and tax evasion are common in every country as no individual wants to pay taxes, voluntarily. But equally, no Government can function without revenue. Corruption and political interference in revenue collection are also a major factor in the Government losing out. Such was the exasperation that back in 2002, the then UNP Government wanted to bring the Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise Departments under one supra Authority. Trade unions protested and later, the Government was sacked in 2004. Revenue collection has been facing fresh hiccups in the past two years. The Finance Ministers Budget proposals either got rejected by his own Government, or they fell down in the implementation. Just this week, the Inland Revenue Department wrote saying the S-VAT system VAT refunds, will continue (despite a decision to review) because of delays in the necessary enabling legislation. Many of the stakeholders have already critiqued the Governments move to copy-cat the IMF law for Ghana. The Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka have written to the Finance Minister saying it will be better if the Government consolidated the existing Inland Revenue Act and its amendments and removed sections which are repugnant and redraft the sections that require clarity and clarification. They said the proposed Act would only complicate matters which is contrary to what the Minister told the Cabinet last week which eventually approved legislation to be in line with IMF commitments and levying a Capital Gains Tax. Professionals in the field point out a whole host of concerns ranging from the use of unfamiliar American terminology and ignoring the rights of genuine taxpayers (if a self-assessment return is not accepted there is too much powers given to the department), accountants held liable for false declarations by the declarant, complicated calculations of depreciation allowances, no concessions or exemptions for retirement benefits like EPF, ETF, a cascading effect on tax dividends by repeated taxation, and lack of transitional provisions to name but a few. They point out that due to the brevity of the drafting, new loopholes will open rather than close existing ones, Inland Revenue officers will need to learn the new law and there could be two regimes the new and the old causing confusion. They believe that the new law will be a retrograde step, not a progressive one in revenue collection because emphasis has been laid on less relevant sections of the Sri Lankan economy rather than the more important ones. They also feel the new law will fundamentally change the sources of income, method of calculating the taxable income, claiming deductions, assessment procedures and the administration provisions. They fear litigation will rise as confusion reigns thus making tax law more complicated, not more simplified as should be the case. These are what the stakeholders say. Instead, they recommend streamlining the poor administration and collection effort and consistent, rationalised Government policy on continued tax incentives in a bid to increase the tax net apart from consolidating the Act of 2006 and its subsequent amendments. Many countries are now moving towards a cashless society. This week, the PM launched a new digital banking facility with Indian collaboration. He spoke of the millions, especially in rural Asia and Africa who have entered the banking system through this platform where virtual credit cards and 247 business hours will revolutionise the monetary world. Businessmen who fund political parties with undeclared slush funds in return for political favours will be easy to detect. If the Cabinet last week approved the virtual IMF draft which local stakeholders seem to condemn, is the Government going to seek to implement it whether one likes it or not? Or is the IMF now a bigger stakeholder in Sri Lanka than the local stakeholders? For a son invited for public release in Italy By Susitha R. Fernando A film on cultural alienation and clash of generations in a foreign land View(s): View(s): Suranga Katugampolas maiden feature film, a Sri Lanka-Italy co-production Puthekuta (For A son) started its public release in Italy on March 30. This is a rare opportunity and good news for Sri Lankan cinema as a film made by a young Sri Lankan filmmaker is being selected for public screening in a foreign country. It will be screened in Italian cities of Milano, Verona, Bologna, Firenze, Napoli, Messina, Catania, Salerno, Potenza, Caserta, Bari, and Rome. Centred on the wider theme of migration, the film revolves around alienation, loss of cultural and social identity and problems arising from generation gaps. It narrates about a Sri Lankan mother who struggles in Italy to make a living while bringing up her only son with Sri Lankan identity in an alien backdrop. This creates a contradiction, contrast and a clash between the two. Sunita, a middle-aged Sri Lankan woman, lives with her teenage son on the outskirts of a northern Italian city where she works as a caregiver. The relationship between mother and son is fraught with tension and silence. Having grown up in Italy, the boy is a cultural hybrid his mother struggles to understand, as she fights to live in a country to which she does not want to belong to. In a directors note, Suranga speaking about his debut feature stated I wanted a minimalist film, simple and close as possible to the reality. A very minimalistic film was born. made with moments of everyday and household life, at times repetitive. A story of any other province in northern italy. I didnt want to write any precise dialogues. Everything was improvised during the shooting, adopted by actors to suit what they were feeling at that time. The words in the end were chosen by them, he added. The film toured several international film festivals and at the 52nd Pesaro International Film Festival in July 2016, it won rave reviews and its lead actress Kaushalya Fernando won special mention from the Jury. The Jury noted the film of Suranga Deshapriya Katugampala: for the emotional story of an intimacy that imposes itself on the screen as an authentic social portrait; for its realism that fades into a seductive symbolic map; and for the rendition of the leading actress Kaushalya Fernando who expresses through her anxious breathing and silent glances the fatigue of the path to full multiculturality. The cast includes Kaushalya Fernando, Julian Wijesekara, Nella Pozzerle Louis, Shirantha Fernando, Isabella Dilavello and Vishan Maduka Fernando. New Kids On The Block to release new EP View(s): New Kids On The Block will release an EP called Thankful shortly. The group will release a single from the EP called One More Night on 12th May. The US boy band was formed in 1984, but emerged as a popular act in 1988 with the hit song You Got It (The Right Stuff). Their first US chart topping song followed soon after with Hangin Tough, Ill Be Loving You (Forever) and Step By Step. New Kids On The Block recently performed on James Cordens Late Late Show. New Kids On The Block will release an EP called Thankful shortly. The group will release a single from the EP called One More Night on 12May. The US boy band was formed in 1984, but emerged as a popular act in 1988 with the hit song You Got It (The Right Stuff). Their first US chart topping song followed soon after with Hangin Tough, Ill Be Loving You (Forever) and Step By Step. New Kids On The Block recently performed on James Cordens Late Late Show. Harry Styles has teased his forthcoming solo release in a TV commercial on The Voice UK and social media with date 7th April. The 23 year old One Direction member is most likely to release his debut solo single on that day. Meanwhile his former group mate Zayn Malik has uploaded his new song Still Got Time as the first single from his forthcoming second album. The tropical pop track features Canadian rapper PartyNextDoor is a follow up to his recent duet I Dont Wanna Live Forever with Taylor Swift. Mariah Careys hit Christmas song All I Want For Christmas has been turned into a movie. The animated movie is called All I Want For Christmas Is You. Carey produced the film and has also narrated most parts of the cartoon. The song was originally released in 1994 and was taken from her yuletide album Merry Christmas. To date it has sold over 14 million copies worldwide. Boyzone are reuniting next year according to reports. The Irish boyband will mark 25 years as a group next year with a tour and make a new album being touted. Boyzone was led by Ronan Keating and comprised Shane Lynch, Keith Duffy and Mikey Graham. Founding member Stephen Gately died in 2009. Some of their famous hit songs were Words, A Different Beat, All That I Need, No Matter What, When The Going Gets Tough and You Need Me. Boyzone had released six albums and 24 singles. While Ed Sheeran stranglehold on the top three spots on the UK singles chart continued, the Canadian artist Drake attracted attention as two of his songs debuted inside the top 10 this week. Passionfruit is a soft dance hall track that debuted at No:4. The song is due for release on 28th March but by off loading his playlist More Life on 18th March, enthusiastic downloading has lead Passionfruit to an early chart entry. Also another of Drakes songs KMT a rap track featuring British rapper Giggs has debuted at No: 9. This track too is from the playlist More Life. The band Clean Bandit secured the second highest debuting song at No: 6 on the UK chart with Symphony featuring the vocals of Zara Larsson. Symphony is the third single to come off the classical crossover bands upcoming album and is a follow up the huge chart topping song Rockabye which featured the vocals of Anne- Marie.Anne-Marie meanwhile has her own hit Ciao Adios, advancing on to the UK top 10 at No: 10. The pop dancehall/ pop track began its chart life six weeks ago at No: 40. Ciao and Adios are the Italian and Spanish words for bye. UK TOP 10 TW LW 1 1 Shape Of You Ed Sheeran 2 2 Galway Girl Ed Sheeran 3 3 Castle On The Hill Ed Sheeran 4 Passionfruit Drake 5 4 Something Just Like This Chainsmokers & Coldplay 6 Symphony Clean Bandit ft: Zara Larsson 7 5 Perfect Ed Sheeran 8 12 Solo Dance Martin Jensen 9 KMT Drake ft: Giggs 10 20 Ciao Adios Anne-Marie Rediscovering Pettahs old world charm Tarini Pilapitiya joins a walking tour to listen to the stories of the busy neighbourhoods past View(s): View(s): The age old structures in Pettah most of which have been kept and renovated to represent their truest forms, treasure stories and memories of the ghosts of the past while many live on building today. The age old structures in Pettah most of which have been kept and renovated to represent their truest forms, treasure stories and memories of the ghosts of the past while many live on building today. On a balmy Sunday evening, an enthusiastic band of 26 excursionists huddled together search for something beyond what lies on the surface of Pettahs busy streets. Diversity Walks organized by the GIZ were inspired by walking tours held in Germany. These guided walks give the opportunity for people to learn about questioned histories that one lives in. By initiating these walks GIZ hopes that they will enable dialogue within communities, facilitating an understanding of its complexities and opportunities of coexistence. Almost like stepping into a time portal we are warmly introduced to Old Ceylon with the pungent smells of vegetables (mainly onions), the hustle and bustle of vehicles. Our guide for this excursion Dr. Asoka Mendis De Zoysa, Professor of German Studies at the Department of Modern Languages and coordinator of the project Samkathana at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, helped open eyes of walking tour participants to the colonial history and transitions of Pettah from the emergence of South Indian traders to the current state of its diverse modern commercial occupants. This multi-ethnic labyrinth that is Pettah is dimmed down on Sunday evening with only a small clamor of noise as we were approached by loud road-side vendors selling knick-knacks from headbands, cloth, sequins, questionable antiques and even licenses! Our itenary for the day was to cover the following areas of the Dutch Museum, Red Mosque, Kaymans Gate, and Old Town Hall, Kathiresan Kovil, St. Anthonys Kochchikade, Sri Ponnampalavanesvarar Kovil and the Dutch Reformed Wolvendaal Church. The entire walk was wonderfully insightful; and the general surroundings are worth a visit. It was interesting to note how the division of Pettah also warranted a division in community behaviors as well with those residing closer to Pettahs seaside being more religious in nature. On arriving at the Red Mosque (Al Jamiul Alfar Mosque) we were amazed at the renovations and presentation of the building which has been in Pettah since 1908. Recognized as one of the oldest mosques in Colombo and was a place of prayer for the South Indian traders and travellers way back we are told. Set in a highly industrialized area the atmosphere created by the Red Mosque like most religious places was serene. Influenced by an Indo-Saracenic architectural style a movement by British architects in the late 19th century. Each brick of the mosque is painted a red or white, the religious caretakers of the mosque informed us that the design was to replicate the inside of a pomegranate fruit. Around six stories high the mosque is said to be able to accommodate 16,000 followers, rumoured to be the most crowded mosque with an average of roughly 12,000 participants for the Friday prayer. On our journey towards old Town Hall, Dr De Zoysa enlivened his stories of Pettah by adding snippets of his own past as a boy, reminiscing trips with his mother shopping for sequins, rhinestones and beads to embellish her sarees. Other members of the crowd joined in too with their own tales of visiting places like China Street for Christmas bon-bon decorations or other more inner streets for cake ingredients, material etc. Gabos Lane famous forAvurvedic products was another stop on our itinerary. Dr. De Zoysa recalled the days of former Prime Minister Mrs. Bandaranaikes reign where Sri Lanka underwent policies of self-subsistent living where brown people ate brown sugar Dr. De Zoysa wittily says to the chuckles of his enraptured followers. Pettah known for having a few tricks up its sleeve managed to get luxuries like white sugar at the time as well and sell it at S.M.K and New Kirupa Stores also located down Gabos Lane. On arriving to Reclamation Road, Dr. De Zoysa gives us a new perspective of the roads namesake. Previously some inhabitants of the communities that dwelt in the area having engaged in nefarious activities in the past prompted religious leaders to transform the community by erecting religious establishments down the road, in other words reclaiming principles and a more orthodox way of life, he tells us. Passing religious establishments of churches, kovils and the red mosque, the residents of Pettah Dr. De Zoysa adds are distinct but came together in many ways. Our last stop is the Sri Ponnambalawaneswaram Kovil (or the Sivan Kovil) a colossal granite structure constructed in 1915 by Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan. Its a calming atmosphere inside the kovil as the granite is cooling beneath the soles of ones feet and the only source of light coming from the oil lamps. The sounds of prayers being chanting and the hollow vibrations of instruments like the drums and gong echo throughout the building. Dr. De Zoysa imparts more of his knowledge to us as he describes the parallels of religions, and enacting the tales of the Gods in the temple. The day was drawing to a close, with the walk ending promptly just 15 minutes past the set time of 6.30 pm. Three to 5 members of the group went on to see the Wolvendaal Church that was established around 1757. The Wolvendaal church is a symbolic place for any Dutch decedent who is living in Sri Lanka. GIZ also handles projects that focus on Memory Culture . Parallel to the Pettah Diversity Walks GIZ has also had five Memory Walks guided by Dr. Malathi de Alwis that covered themes such as Histories of Violence and Capitalisation, Histories of Struggle and Protest and Histories of Mourning and Memorialisation. GIZ chose Pettah as it is an area of much diversity. In their next phases they hope to include other areas of interest like Kotahena, Hulfsdorf as well as thematic walks such as the history of printing, in the Colombo area. Showing their flair for speech making By Minushi Perera View(s): View(s): Being able to stand up and talk with confidence, is a much sought after skill. It provides an opportunity to influence others and get ideas across to a larger audience, said Principal of the British School Colombo, John Scarth welcoming the invitees and finalists of the Young Speaker Competition 2017. The Young Speaker contest is an initiative taken by Adventus Education in collaboration with the British School Colombo to promote speaking skills within the international and national schools of Colombo and to provide a forum for students to exhibit their strengths in speech making and formulating reasoned argument to be expressed to a wide invited audience. The finalists in the junior category were Senithi Dahanayake from Lyceum International School Panadura, Sakina Mansoorally from Burhani Serendib School, Dhivas Sugumar from Asian International School, Shaheen Gani from Gateway College Dehiwala, Ashvini Chandrakumar from Methodist College and from Wesley College, Yusuf Barrie. First place went to Ashvini Chandrakumar of Methodist College while Yusuf Barrie of Wesley College was second and Shaheen Gani of Gateway College was placed third. Shalinda Perera from Gateway College Negombo, Divya Sivagami from Colombo International School, Anish Fonseka from Gateway College Colombo, Uzair Kidwai from The British School Colombo, Amanda Haliday from Methodist College and Nathan Omprasadham from Overseas School of Colombo competed in the senior category. Divya Sivagami of Colombo International School won the coveted title with Amanda Haliday of Methodist College and Uzair Kidwai of the British School Colombo being placed second and third. The panel of judges comprised Founder and Chief Trustee of the Foundation of Goodness Kushil Gunasekera, Head of Sustainable Development, Communication and External Affairs of Siam City Cement Farzana Khan, Communications and Media Consultant Savithri Rodrigo and Head of Marketing and Communications of HSBC, Tharanga Gunasekara. GSP+ eligibility will entail greater EU oversight View(s): If granted the GSP+ trade concession, Sri Lanka will be subject to more European Union (EU) monitoring than ever before of its implementation of 27 core conventions on human rights (HR), labour, environmental protection and good governance, it was revealed in the European Parliament (International Trade Committee) last week. Sri Lanka, which lost the GSP+ in 2010, reapplied for the incentive in July 2016. In January, the European Commission (EC) adopted a delegated regulation proposing the restoration of the concession to Sri Lanka. The European Parliament and Council now have till mid-May to decide whether to accept or reject Sri Lankas application. In contrast to other countries benefiting from GSP+, monitoring of Colombos implementation will be three-track, a representative for the EC said, during the exchange of views on Sri Lankas application on March 21. Unlike previous versions of the GSP+ regulation, the monitoring framework forms a vital part of the new scheme. I want to underline one element which is slightly different in Sri Lankas case, than in other beneficiaries, the EC representative said. This is that, the GSP+ monitoring will be reinforced by two elements. The first is that, we can have, in parallel to the ECs monitoring of the commitments of Sri Lanka, two (other) tracks. One of these is a bilateral HR dialogue with Sri Lanka, which has already commenced. The second element is the UN track, he said, referring particularly to discussions at the UN HR Council. The EC has used the reports of the UN High Commissioner for HR, Zeid bin Raad Zeid al-Hussein, as reference, when evaluating Sri Lankas eligibility for the GSP+. The ECs own monitoring process, the representative said, had evolved from the one applied under the previous GSP+. It consists of a quite sophisticated way of exchanging information and dialogue with the Govt. through the form of a scorecard, where we list all the shortcomings under the 27 conventions, and we do enter into a discussion, and we expect the Govt. to address them, he said. We are planning at this stage, if all goes well and Sri Lanka gets GSP+, to send a mission to Sri Lanka this year, mostly with a view to prepare a report, he revealed. The second report to the Council of the European Parliament has to be ready by the end of the year, and we want Sri Lanka to feature in that report, of course, explaining in more detail, the shortcomings and how the Govt. intends to address them. I would like to simply say, very briefly that, in these situations, it is what you call the direction of travel that matters very muchthe commitment of the Govt. and the will to reform, and whether the GSP+ can accompany the Govt. in this direction, he concluded. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) raised concerns about Sri Lankas delay in repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and replacing it with the proposed Counter Terrorism Act (CTA). They also questioned the slow progress in amending the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), and pointed to reports of continued torture. Sri Lankas Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU, Rodney Perera said that, Sri Lankas new Govt. has set the country on a transformative trajectory in terms of HR, good governance, rule of law, reconciliation and economic development. As we move forward in this journey, the forces of extremism and regression on both sides of the divide are creating roadblocks for narrow, short-term political gain, he warned. The Govt. is, however, committed to continue the reforms by involving all stakeholders of society, and also through a parliamentary oversight process. The Ambassador said the draft CTA, to replace the PTA, is expected to be approved by Cabinet later this month. Cabinet has already sanctioned the amendment to the CPC, providing for a suspect to have access to legal counsel. Around 9,000 acres of land has been released to civilians in the North, in a continuing process. And the Govt. is committed to setting up a credible and empowered mechanism for truth-seeking, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence within the countrys constitutional framework. Indo-Lanka fisheries delegations to check on progress View(s): A Sri Lanka fisheries delegation will ask their Indian counterparts next week, on the progress of commitments reached at the Joint Working Group meeting early this year, a senior official from the ministry said. Both parties have agreed on many things, particularly the Indian govt.s consent to phaseout bottom trawling in the Palk Strait, by adopting alternative fishing methods. We will look at the progress they have made on other mutual understandings also, Fisheries Ministry Director General, M.C.L Fernando, told the Sunday Times. The second official level meeting has been fixed for April 7 in Colombo. At the ministerial meeting held in January this year, both sides agreed to a set of Standard Operating Procedures to expedite the release of fishermen in each others custody. It was decided to intensify cooperation on patrolling and to institute periodic interaction between the Coastguards of the two countries by setting up a Hotline between them. Mr Fernando said that, since both parties agreed to find a lasting solution for the poaching issue, they should be committed to implement proposals that have been agreed upon in the Action Plan. It is expected, the Indian delegation will also take up the issue of releasing Indian trawlers seized by the Sri Lanka Navy for poaching. However, no firm decision has been made, as fisheries groups in the North are divided on this issue. Jaffna Fishermens Divisional Co-op Societies Union this week wrote to Minister Mahinda Amaraweera that, seized boats can be released while ensuring those boats do not return to poach in the Palk Strait. The Sunday Times earlier reported that, the Govt. is considering the release of some Indian trawlers, because of the lack of anchoring space for about 130 vessels now in custody. As a first phase, 42 trawlers seized in 2015, were scheduled for release. In the letter to the minister, the fisher-folk union pointed out that some unregistered fisheries federations are working against fishermens interests and friendly ties between the two countries. Ahead of the official meeting on Friday, fishermen representatives from the North have been summoned for a meeting with Minister Mahinda Amaraweera on Wednesday, to discuss poaching by Indian fishermen. As agreed by both parties at the Joint Commission meeting in New Delhi, to release arrested fishermen in a fast track process, a fresh batch of 38 fishermen detained in Jaffna and Mannar were released within two weeks of their arrest. The last batch of poaching fishermen were arrested this week off Neduntheevu. A Brooklyn man who struck and killed a bicyclist on a town of Oregon road last summer was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison. Calling his act selfish and thoughtless, Dane County Circuit Judge William Hanrahan said he couldnt grant probation to Kevin D. Meister, 37, who struck and killed Shelton Berel, 33, as Berel took an early-morning triathlon training ride on Aug. 5. Meister admitted that he used heroin that morning, as he did most days, and witnesses saw his truck strike Berel on Lincoln Road before driving off. Meister was later found at his landscaping job, the front of his truck damaged from the collision. Meister initially claimed that he thought he had hit a deer. The tragedy that occurred, Hanrahan said, was certainly foreseeable given Meisters use of heroin before driving to work each day. Hanrahan also called Meisters attempt to smuggle clean urine into a drug test while free on bail a crime against the court system. I have so much remorse, Meister said, when given a chance to speak. I have to live with it every day as well. Sitting here looking at the picture on the table in front of me I wish I would have hit the tree and took my life instead of his. I wish I could change places with him but I cant, and all I can do is promise to everybody that I will never do any drugs, I will be a good citizen. Thats all I can say. But Hanrahan said that the teary man who sat in front of him in court seemed different from the man who, only two days earlier in a telephone call from jail with his sister, complained bitterly about statements made by Berels widow, which were quoted in a pre-sentence report written by the state Department of Corrections. In an excerpt from the call, played in court by Assistant District Attorney William Brown, Meister took a somewhat mocking tone as he described statements that Katelynn Berel, Shelton Berels widow, made about no longer wanting to live near Meisters family, and about selling the house that she and her husband and their daughter moved into just two months before his death. Its just a bunch of (expletive), Meister said on the jail call. Whos the real Kevin Meister? Hanrahan asked. You were mocking her, you were complaining. Meister interjected that he felt hurt by Berels comments. Stop talking, Hanrahan said sharply, then asked Meister incredulously, You were hurt? Meisters lawyer, Daryl Jensen, asked Hanrahan to place Meister on probation, with two years in the Dane County Jail as a condition of probation, allowing him to get drug treatment. He knows absolute sobriety is the key for the rest of his life, Jensen said. Brown asked for a 16-year prison sentence. He said that Meister had to have known he struck a person, given the way Meisters truck would have reacted to the collision. He also said that if Meister looked behind his truck, as he claimed to have done, he would have seen the mangled bicycle left behind by the collision, as other witnesses did. Katelynn Berel talked tearfully about the impact that the loss of her husband has had on her life, and on their 2-year-old daughter, and how shortly after her husbands death, she lost the fetus she was carrying. She said that after her husband left their home on Aug. 5, she heard the sirens and went to find her husband after he didnt answer his phone. She was barred from the crash scene by a police officer, not knowing for certain her husband was the victim. But still, she said, I knew that was my husband. I knew right then. Since then, she said, life has been a nightmare. In these last few months I have been stripped of everything that makes me feel like a woman or a human being, Berel said. Every day I wonder why my husband, the one contributing to society, was taken away. I spent nights away filled with rage. I thought of what I would say to the man who killed my husband, but I realized over time that it would never matter what I said to him. Members of Meisters family blamed his heroin addiction on injuries Meister had suffered years earlier, for which he was prescribed addictive painkillers. Kevin is not a monster, said his sister, Julie Lloyd. He is a soft-hearted person. Drug addiction, she said, is real and its horrible. Anybody who has not gone through it doesnt know what it does to their family. I have so much remorse. I have to live with it every day as well. Sitting here looking at the picture on the table in front of me I wish I would have hit the tree and took my life instead of his. I wish I could change places with him but I cant, and all I can do is promise to everybody that I will never do any drugs, I will be a good citizen. Thats all I can say. Kevin D. Meister LNG terminal: BOI slams moves by ministry By Sandun Jayawardana View(s): View(s): The Board of Investment (BOI) has expressed dissatisfaction over a decision by the Power and Renewable Energy Ministry to go ahead with plans to set up a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Colombo Port at what the BOI claims is a colossal cost to the Government. Its objection comes on the basis that several BOI projects for LNG terminals and plants were already in the pipeline. BOI Chairman Upul Jayasuriya told the Sunday Times that several investment proposals received by the BOI to set up LNG power plants and terminals were being held up at various stages while the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy was attempting to award a new tender to set up a terminal utilising Government funds. The Sunday Times last week reported that the Government was moving ahead with plans to construct an LNG terminal in the Colombo North Harbour with tenders for the project due to be advertised in the coming weeks. The terminal is expected to cost the Government about US$ 500 million. According to the BOI, it had received six investment proposals to set up LNG power plants and terminals which would have provided 2,128 Megawatts (MW) of power with a total investment of US$ 3,753.8 million. They include investments by companies based in Canada, the United States, Hong Kong, India and China. Mr. Jayasuriya claimed he had written many letters urging the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to give the investors the required permission in terms of the CEB Act. He had also requested that the CEB enter into Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with the investors and/or permit them to set up LNG storage plants and generate power through LNG. Some of the investors were interested in setting up an LNG storage plant in the country and to sell LNG overseas or locally as needed, he added. He asserted that he was not pushing for any particular investor, but wanted all to be considered equally. These investors dont want money for idle power. They are willing to take the risk, the BOI chairman said. Mr. Jayasuriya said that, on his initiative, President Maithripala Sirisena had called a meeting last year with all these investors. Taking part in the meeting were Power and Renewable Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama, Power and Energy Ministry Secretary B.M.S. Batagoda and senior CEB officials.Given the situation, the BOI chairman claimed that the Power and Renewable Energy Ministry was now trying to call a tender through the back door at a cost of millions of rupees. He warned that he would not hesitate to expose Ministry and CEB officials if they went ahead. Power and Renewable Energy Ministry Secretary Batagoda, however, insisted that the Ministry had no objection to any investor setting up an LNG power plant. But Sri Lanka needs only one LNG terminal. He said the Government had still not taken a final decision on awarding the tender for the LNG terminal. Companies from India, Japan, China, South Korea and Australia had expressed interest in the project, but nothing had been finalized yet. He said he personally believed a competitive tender process was the best way to go to reduce the cost of the terminal as the company winning the tender would have a monopoly on LNG. PMB paddy at cut rate for Aloysius liquor company View(s): By Kasun Warakapitiya The Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) has sold paddy stocks stored at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport at cut rate to W M Mendis and Co a liquor manufacturing firm owned by the influential Aloysius Group, which is associated with the Central Bank bond issue now under investigation. The paddy was hawked off to the company at Rs 24 a kilogram. The PMB had bought the stocks for between Rs 38 and Rs 42 a kilogram. The loss to the Board is, therefore, between Rs 14 and Rs. 18 a kilogram. The total quantity of paddy sold was 590 metric tonnes, PMB Chairman M.B. Dissanayake, said, claiming that it was pushed off to Mendis because other buyers could not be found. This means that the Board which comes under the purview of the Rural Economic Affairs Minister P. Harrison has lost between Rs 8,260,000 and Rs 10,620,000. Mr. Dissanayake insisted that the stocks were too old to be used and needed to be cleared out. We tried to export the stocks, sell it to millers, vend it as animal feed but no one bought it, he said. Some of it was sold to the World Food Programme and certain other buyers but he declined to name the latter. He also said tenders had been called. A leading union of farmer associations and of small millers contested Mr Dissanayakes numbers. The All-Island Farmers Federation (AIFF) said that as much as 4,000 metric tonnes had been sold to Mendis. If true, this would multiply the PMBs losses to between Rs 56,000,000 and Rs 72,000,000 (on the basis of information provided by the PMB on the prices it bought and sold the stocks at). Even while claiming a shortage of paddy in the country, these stocks were stored at MRIA without releasing them to millers, AIFF National Organiser Namal Karunaratne charged. Then they were sold to a private company manufacturing liquor, he claimed. Significantly, the sweetheart sale of paddy to Mendis comes amidst the company starting construction on a Rs 4 billion grain-based extra neutral alcohol (ENA) distillery in Kalkudah in the Batticaloa district. Approval to set up the distillery was granted to the company just 18 weeks after the presidential election was won, among other things, on a premise of eradicating drugs and alcohol. Building is now suspended on an order of the Koralaipattu Pradeshiya Sabha (PS). Local and provincial officials are opposed to the project. Excess stock from the 2015 paddy harvest was dumped at MRIA in August-September that year due to a lack of adequate storage space and the absence of a plan to distribute paddy to millers. When certain millers created an artificial rice shortage, the Government had the opportunity to convert the paddy to rice using its own mills at Hasalaka, Galgamuwa or Embilipitiya, said Mr Karunaratne. Some of the paddy was released at animal stocks last year and in January 2017 in private business deals of politicians, he alleged. Local paddy is used to manufacture beer, while imported rice is provided to consumers, said Mudith Perera, President of the United Rice Millers Association (URMA). They too put in tenders to buy some of these stocks but they were not released. There were sufficient millers in Hambantota and other areas willing to purchase the paddy. Yet the Food Committee of the Finance Ministry decided it should be sold to Mendis at Rs 24 a kilogram. The Finance Ministry, through its Fiscal Policy Department and Department of Excise also approved the Kalkudah distillery. The allegation that PMB stocks were sold to a liquor company must be inquired into, State Finance Minister Lakshman Yapa Abewardena told a news conference this week. He said he did not know how tenders were called or how the decision to provide the paddy to Mendis was made. The Sunday Times contacted W M Mendis and Co. Officials there declined comment, even after inviting this journalist to its head office at Welisara in Wattala. Subsequent phone calls to the company went unanswered. Rising death toll from dengue and H1N1 View(s): The prevailing unusual weather conditions are contributing towards rising deaths due to dengue and H1N1 influenza, health officials warned yesterday. With the death toll due to dengue rising to 53 in three months and the number of cases increasing to 27,898 the Dengue Control Unit has issued health warnings to 11 districts. They are Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Jaffna, Ratnapura and Kegalle. Last month, 9,004 dengue cases were reported to hospitals in contrast to 2,696 cases in March last year. Alongside dengue, H1N1 influenza has also seen an increase island wide. The influenza virus that was said to have subsided has, however, spread to parts of the Central Province. Central Province Health Services Director Dr. Shanthi Samarasinghe told the Sunday Times that in the Province 115 patients were confirmed positive for the H1N1 virus while 17 deaths had bee reported in the Kandy and Matale districts districts in the first three months of the year. Dr. Samarasinghe said the most vulnerable were the people suffering from chronic illnesses. The virus is a communicable disease. Therefore, it could spread fast. The people have to take precautions, she said. She added that awareness programmes were being carried out by health officials and they were able to control the outbreak to some extent. The Health Ministrys Consultant Epidemiologist Dr. Samitha Ginige said that while the unusual weather pattern contributed to dengue, another factor was the improper waste disposal. He said the transmission of virus can take several patterns in different regions and at the moment the South East Asian Region is experiencing an extended outbreak. Last year, 90 dengue related deaths were reported in the country with 55,150 cases. SriLankan in another legal battle this time with duty-free product supplier View(s): By Namini Wijedasa SriLankan Airlines has been slapped with fresh litigation, just days after dodging an expensive legal battle with a company through which it extended leases on three A330-200 aircraft. Duty Free Partners (DFP), supplier of SriLankans onboard duty free products, on Friday took out an enjoining order preventing the national carrier from terminating its contract. DFPs operation with SriLankan was due to end on March 31 this year. However, the agreement contained provision for a two-year extension at the consent of both parties. But SriLankan Airlines directors one of whom is himself involved in the duty free supplies business exercised the companys right not to renew the contract. In November last year, SriLankan called fresh tenders for the provision of products to be sold on board. These included perfumes, jewellery, timepieces, liquor and tobacco. The contract with a new supplier was to have started in this month and continued for the next five years. On Friday, DFP took the matter to the Commercial High Court of Colombo saying Sri Lankan Airlines had failed to give to the client the right of first refusal. An enjoining order was granted and the case is being heard. DFP was earlier called Phoenix Duty Free Rising Ventures. It first secured the deal with SriLankan Airlines in 2011 under controversial circumstances, without tenders being called. Its legal action against the national carrier came just two days after a divided SriLankan board voted to extend the leases of three A330-200 aircraft to circumvent a costly tussle in a London court. The directors met on March 29. One board paper pertained to the case lodged in High Court of Justices commercial arm by SASOF II Aviation Ireland Ltd, challenging an attempt by SriLankan Airlines to overturn the extensions saying the contracts were not legally binding. SASOF seeks a declaration that SriLankan is contractually bound by the relevant agreements. The SriLankan board is deeply divided on the extensions, with a faction claiming CEO Suren Ratwatte signed the contracts without approval. He denies that. Keeping the three long-haul planes will impose a substantial financial burden on the cash-strapped airline, detractors say. The monthly rental is about US$ 225,000 or Rs 34,146,000 for each aircraft. This amounts to more than Rs 1,229,256,000 for all three aircraft a year. But on Wednesday, one director, Niranjan Deva Aditya, gave the board the necessary majority to have the lease extensions validated. This happened despite four other directors (Chanaka de Silva, Rajan Brito, Rakitha Jayawardena and Harendra K Balapatabendi) demanding from Chairman Ajith Dias an independent investigation into how the CEO signed the contracts in excess of his mandate. The Chairman did not comply. The original leases for the three aircraft were due to expire in January and February this year. But Mr Ratwatte extended the leases last year despite a board decision to do so only if three other planes (new A330-300s) were given on dry lease to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The PIA only took one aircraft, returning it six months later. SriLankan then wrote to SASOF giving notice that it will return the three A330-200s at the end of the original leases. The carrier said the approval of its board to extensions had been conditional upon dry lease agreements with PIA. SASOF rejected the notice and took the matter to court. Meanwhile, SriLankan has now hired a British re-marketing firm to help lease out its surplus aircraft. These include the three A330-300s that were due to have gone to PIA. The other is an A330-200 that SriLankan was forced to hire from AerCap Holdings NV as part of the settlement for cancelling four A350s ordered by the previous government. SriLankan coughed up millions of dollars in compensation to AerCap, the worlds largest independent aircraft leasing company, for the early termination. The airline now has 13 wide-body and 10 narrow-body aircraft. It will experience a surplus in the summer season when several other pre-ordered planes arrive. Super pods of sperm whales put on marine spectacle By Malaka Rodrigo View(s): View(s): While observing a super pod of nearly 100 sperm whales, marine mammal expert Ranil Nanayakkara witnessed a rare occasion when killer whales attacked the marine giants in the seas off Kalpitiya. It was an epic battle. Sri Lanka is famous for wildlife spectacles such as this along with the largest gathering of Asian elephants, huge pods of blue whales and rare sightings of leopards. One spectacle in the making is super pods of sperm whales (physeter microcephalus). The sperm while is the largest toothed whale which can dive to depths of 3,200 feet in search of its favourite food the giant squid. Female sperm whales and their calves live in pods of 15-20 members, while males tend to roam alone in cooler waters closer to polar regions. A super pod of whales is formed when such smaller pods gather for feeding, socialising or mating. March to April seems to be the time such super pods form and in 2012 the largest such gathering consisting of over 100 individuals was recorded. Marine biologist Ranil Nanayakkara who has studied the sperm whale super pods from 2010, left Kalpitiya shores on March 23 to scan the ocean specially for sperm whales. It turned out to be their lucky day when they witnessed the sperm whale super pod about 15 nautical miles from Kalpitiya at 9.15 am after travelling for about one hour. There were over 150 sperm whales on the ocean of around one kilometre. The super pod we saw consisted of 50 to 60 individuals, Nanayakkara said. Together with Ranil, British author Philip Hoare and photographer Andrew Sutton were on the boat and it was a show of a life time. The larger sperm whale males had joined the super pod and they witnessed love making on a massive scale. The team witnessed foreplay rubbing against each other, tail slapping, spy hopping, rolling over. Even researchers could see the animals aroused genitals and as they watched, a pair swam belly to belly under the boat. The sperm whale is also famous for making sounds. It makes the loudest sounds of any animal and also emits morse-like codas used to communicate long distances. The sea is full of sound as well and Nanayakkara was listening to these codas using special ear phones. The ocean was like an opera, said Nanayakkara. They observed a large male deviate from the super pod and swim rapidly northward. When a sperm whale swims fast, its large head stays out of the water so we could clearly say it was in a great hurry. Then several other large males started following the first one. Seeing several large male sperm whales moving northward we thought it could be an aggression related to mating, so we followed them, Nanayakkara explained. After travelling two or three kilometres, the team found the large males with a pod of about 10 females with younger whales. The males packed their bodies tightly and it was like several logs stacked tightly. The men in the boat also saw something else. One person in the boat alerted the others to a dolphin but to their surprise it was the unmistakable dorsal fin of an orca. The sperm whales had rushed to protect the pod that came under attack by the orcas. The black and white orca (orcinus orca), is a mid-sized toothed whale. it is the largest member of the dolphin family and became a popular after being featured in the movie Free Willy. But the orca is not an innocent animal as it is an agile predator in the ocean also known as the killer whale. It was a pod of about eight orcas attacking a weaker maternity pod. The large males would have heard the distress call and had rushed to protect them. The males packed their bodies side by side tightly guarding the weaker whales from the predatory orcas, Nanayakkara said. The water around the smaller pod was cloudy with orangish whale poop a defense mechanism used by the distressed whales to conceal themselves from the predators. Killer whale attacks on other whales have been reported on a handful of occasions previously. Working as a team, they usually challenge the weaker female or a calf to hunt it down. According to Nanayakkara, the orcas found in our waters is transient and they are born hunters. We had also observed an amazing communal defense mechanism used by the sperm whales where the males encircle the weaker females and young putting their bodies in front of the attacking killer whales, Nanayakkara said. This is a known as the marguerite formation, named after the shape of the flower by that name. In this formation, the heavy and powerful tail of an adult whale is pointed outward, readying to deliver lethal blows to any incoming attacker. The researchers also experienced a somewhat scary experience. Since the marguerite formation was not effective, the whales started using the boat as a cover to avoid the orcas. They moved to the other side of the boat when the orcas charged and a collision could have been dangerous. This battle of the titans dragged on for more than an hour. The sperm whales finally made the orcas give up. Nanayakkara said there were about 20 killer whales at that time and it could also be the largest orca pod seen in Sri Lankan waters. Nanayakkara said it was one of the amazing moments he had witnessed in his whole life. Know the sperm whaleThe head of the whale contains a liquid wax called spermaceti, from which the whale derives its name. Spermaceti was used in lubricants, oil lamps, and candles. Scientists have yet to understand its function, but believe it may help the animal regulate its buoyancy. Some also believe that the spermaceti has bio-acoustical amplification properties, enabling the whale to produce the loudest sounds of any animal.Mature males average 16 metres (52 ft) in length but some may reach 20.5 metres (67 ft), with the head representing up to one-third of the animals length. Capable of plunging to 2,250 metres (7,382 ft), it is the second deepest diving mammal, following only the Cuviers beaked whale. The sperm whales clicking vocalisation, a form of echolocation and communication, may be as loud as 230 decibels under water. The sperm whale has the largest brain of any animal on Earth, more than five times heavier than a humans. Sperm whales can live for more than 60 years according to sources on the Web.Ambergris, a waste product from its digestive system, is still used as a fixative in perfumes. Young motorcyclist dies after being run over by jeep View(s): A schoolboy riding a friends motorbike, on his way to convey his success at the GCE (O/L) exam to his friends, was killed when he collided with a jeep in Angoda, and was run over by it, a Coroners court inquiry was told yesterday. The incident took place late on Thursday evening after the victim had attended a computer class. The victim, Dimuthu Kankanamge Nilendra Lakshan (17) was on his way to a friends house at Butgamuwa, Angoda, when he met with the accident at Galpatha Junction around 9 pm. He was admitted to Mulleriyawa hospital and later transferred to the Colombo National Hospitals Intensive Care Unit, where he succumbed to his injuries the following day. The deceaseds father, Dineth Kankanamge Sarath (48) told the Coroners court, inquiry that, though his son could ride a motorcycle, he did not have a licence. National Hospital JMO, Dr Prasadini Senarath said that death was due to a damaged spinal cord as a result of being run over by the jeep, following the boys fall from the motorbike. Inquirer into Sudden Deaths, M. Ashroff Rumi instructed the Mulleriyawa Police to produce the driver of the jeep to the Coroners court on April 18. The driver is in remand custody. From chasing elephants to win-win strategies View(s): By Dr. Sarala Fernando My earlier articles had drawn attention to the imminent problems faced by Chinese State Owned Entreprises (SOEs) now laying a new footprint in Sri Lanka and the damage that is being caused by mischievous media reports and political opportunism to an old, multifaceted bilateral relationship which hitherto had been described as robust and reliable. This article suggests how adverse publicity could be transformed by the deployment of thoughtful public diplomacy for win win outcomes. Both the Port City and new economic zone in Hambantota are facing growing challenges from the public and environmental lobbies, controversies which no doubt are being fanned by opposition political entities. However, is the government at last coming to grips with the heart of the debate that there is a limit to the exploitation of the natural resources of our small island? There were hopeful signs with the recent government announcement of a halt to the initiation of new highways and road projects signalled for the first time by the publicity given to a government body refusing permission for a new road on grounds of the geological vulnerability of the surrounding areas. With the drop in export income, infrastructure development has been critical to fuel national growth but thankfully for the safeguarding of the rapidly depleting natural resources of this country, it seems a new direction in raising revenue will focus on public-private partnerships or putting up loss making enterprises for sale. While some argue that this is like selling the family silver, others ask how long the governments can continue to meet such losses and point to successful divestures involving leading local entrepreneurs as the way forward. The conflict between the local people and the fight to preserve natural resources in the face of large scale foreign investment is not new in South Asia. The case of the latest dispute on whether the Narmada river resources should be utilised by two giant foreign enterprises Pepsi and Coca Cola had been taken to court in Tamil Nadu and even though the court had ruled against the petition, the public campaign to ban the consumption of the two products would have brought huge losses for the companies . So common sense dictates that the Chinese companies coming into Sri Lanka should engage in win- win public diplomacy which calls for listening and building relationships with the local campaigners. Take for example the recent damaging rumour circulating widely that the Chinese economic zone coming up in Hambantota had asked the government to get rid of some 400 elephants now roaming the area. Why not instead use all the experience in China on conservation of indigenous species like the panda, to fund and manage in partnership with Sri Lankans, an elephant conservation sanctuary in the South on the lines of what has been done in Malaysia, drawing on the experience, knowledge and support of the local conservationists? There are well known Sri Lankan experts who reside and work in the South who would be glad to advice on such an enterprise which would be a draw for the large Chinese tourist contingents expected to come through Mattala. However, needless to say, the guiding objective should be to put the welfare of the animals first rather than raising revenue for the government. An equally pressing problem is the issue of water sharing in the south with huge inequalities opening up with the proposed accelerated economic projects planned around the port in Hambantota. The Chinese, blessed with an enormous land mass with different regional zones, have a great deal of experience in the area of water where knowledge and experience gained have identified different solutions depending on geological and other ground realities. There is scope for twinning of provinces and for Sri Lanka teams to learn from China on both the supply and distribution of water for hydro power, irrigation and drinking water. There is moreover a lot of information already available in various research institutions in this country, earlier reports and studies which could be gathered together by a research team where farmers and women who are mostly running water community built organizations (CBOs) should also be invited. Instead of exchange visits which have become political goodies, why not use digital conversations and public meetings, which could be organized by local NGOs in areas worst affected by the water crisis. It will however be a big leap for China to shift from dealing with governments to making contact with NGOs and women leaders! Unlike other big donors who have set up Peace Corps or retiree volunteers to connect with the local people, the Chinese still appear wary of such approaches. A well known problem is that public diplomacy is sometimes confused with public relations and branding which usually are modes of one way communication. If new Chinese investment is to succeed in Sri Lanka it will need to fashion an entirely new campaign of public diplomacy which calls for listening to the views of the local people and trying to build long-term relationships apart from the immediate goals of bringing home the projects and reaching profitability. This may not be so easy given that in the past Chinese diplomats and business people have been used to dealing only with governments and politicians but the developments in rapid communications today call for much more sophisticated approaches towards foreign investment propelled development. The other point to take into consideration is the well known sensitivity of India to growing Chinese investment in Sri Lanka especially in strategic assets like ports. So why not invite Indian companies to join in the so called Chinese Economic Zone, perhaps even open it to Japanese and Korean companies so that a framework of cooperation would be built to guard against the constant sniping and adverse media reports? Pushing this concept further, why not bring in German companies which have expertise in environmental protection technology and the Nordic companies which have proven their skills in managing the environment alongside heavy industries. The Chinese have expertise in solar and renewables which could make the new economic zone a show piece and finally lay to rest the lobbies in the Ceylon Electricity Board still calling for more coal fired plants which have adverse effects on the environment and run counter to our climate change obligations on carbon emissions. Mischievous media reports have resulted in many people believing that the Chinese Norocholai coal fired plant was a second hand plant foisted on Sri Lanka. This is not true. However few are aware that some of the Norocholai problems arose from difficulties encountered in the transmission to the local distribution system. This is a problem that is being experienced throughout the country when modern infrastructure is being grafted on to antiquated existing systems. Take for example the Yal Devi train which bucks and sways wildly on part of the journey on the old track while it suddenly runs smooth on the new track laid by the Indians after Anuradhapura. However, Yal Devi which has Chinese carriages is an interesting example of the potential for India-Sri Lanka- China cooperation where there is still ample room for improvement! (The writer is a retired Foreign Service diplomat) GMOA; intrusions and intransigence in the public health sector View(s): By Amaranath Rajakaruna The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) has taken centre stage in recent weeks in their opposition to the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) awarding medical degrees. They have unleashed their cadre in sporadic strikes throughout the island and canvassed support from the medical students, the Inter University Students Union, the JVP and Joint Opposition. Let us see the credentials and the past activities of the GMOA in dealing with the 13 other supplementary medicine health categories recognised by the Sri Lanka Medical Council, namely nursing, pharmacists, ML sciences, physiotherapy, radiography, radiotherapy etc. In 2002 a proposal was agreed upon after consultation with the Ministry of Higher Education, Health Ministry and the University Grants Commission to offer an allied health science degree to those categories enumerated in the preceding paragraph from those who have offered science subjects at the advanced level examination with the z score of 1.4 and above. Peradeniya was selected as the venue for those entrants who were to start the course on July 17, 2006. The GMOA protested about giving the Peradeniya faculty to the new entrants. The Lady Hill Quarters was selected as the alternative venue. The GMOA blocked the medical faculty and no resources were allowed. The GMOA exerted pressure on the lecturers to stop giving lectures. The GMOA wrote to hospital directors of the Kandy, Peradeniya, Nawalapitiya, Kegalle and Gampola hospitals not to give clinical facilities. Medical students were instigated to picket and protest against the Dean of Medical Faculty Dr. Chula Goonasekera who thereafter assumed duties as the Dean of the Allied Health Sciences. The allied students filed a case against the dean and the vice-chancellor with the supreme court. The GMOA and medical students intervened and demanded whilst giving evidence that the four year course be reduced to three years and if done the readiness to give consent to provide clinical facilities at Kurunegala. The parties reached an agreement where the 2006, 2007 and 2008 batches were to be given four years and the rest 3+1. Here it should be noted that Professor Carlo Fonseka, Dr. Chula Goonasekera and Mohan Samaranayake took the stand against the GMOA. The allied students won their demands in 2014 after a long struggle. Those students who entered in 2005 were recruited only in 2015 on a salary scale of a diploma holder. Then again in January 2017 the GMOA was against giving the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Childrens Hospital for clinical facilities. There is an anomaly compared with the other ministries in that the Health Ministry employs MBBS medical degree holders to run its administration. Attendance, rosters, signing of letters and typing of letters is handled by MBBS personnel. Even IT management is handled by medical doctors. These jobs could easily be done by IT degree holders and degree holders in management and finance who are found in abundance in this country. These medical degree holders rob these vacancies meant for degree holders in the relevant fields. The Government sometimes spends 64 lakhs of rupees per head to train these MBBS men in the field alien to them learned only in the medical field. They may very well be stationed in their learned fields where patients with ailments could be looked after to reduce the over work of doctors at the OPD centres. Not only that, these medical degree holders, also handle the nutritional field, lactation management, health education, infection control and quality control which could easily be done by nurses with a six month training which is within the ambit of a nurses duty in other countries. The Sri Lanka Medical Council has identified 13 other disciplines concerning health category professionals besides medical professionals. Hierarchical management has prevented the advancement of these 13 professional categories in both learning and reaching their full potential except the medical officers (doctors). The 13 categories have been prevented independently from developing in their own academic and professional fields there by stunting their growth. This is a travesty of justice and a breach of professional ethics. Further in the National Hospital at Colombo there are a total of 73 medical laboratory scientists working and in addition there are over 60 MBBS medical officers and eight clinical consultants in the laboratory. The presence of these medical officers creates a redundancy where they could be substituted at places where they are most needed. If the authorities place these medical men where they are most needed pertaining to their learning as medical graduates there would be no dearth of doctors in the Colombo National Hospital. Let me also briefly touch upon the events by which the assistant medical practitioners (apothecaries) became a closed service (came to its death). AMPS who had over 10 years experience requested they be allowed to sit for the final MBBS examination some time back. This request was disallowed amidst protest by the GMOA. Then the Ministry of Health arranged Saint Petersburg University in Russia for the AMPS to follow a medical course leading up to the passing of the medical degree. A few AMPS followed the course and having passed the exams came back. The SLMC refused to recognise the St. Petersburg medical degree with the support of the GMOA where at that time the United Kingdom had already recognised this medical degree. Then these AMPS who had qualified filed a fundamental rights case where the Supreme Court held in favour of the AMPS. But nothing happened. Some of them are still working as AMPS in Government hospitals. With the promise that the AMPS would be granted permission to sit for the MBBS examination the AMP course was declared a closed service. (death) The demise of the AMP course signalled the end of the apothecaries era where apothecaries had single handedly operated and run Government dispensaries all over the island during the British colonial period and in the plantation sector. Apothecaries had catered to the well being of the estate worker. From the early times doctors unions has a history of opposing when more medical students are accommodated to follow medical degree courses. In 1962 when the second medical college was started at Peradeniya, doctors went on strike. When the Rajarata Medical Campus was started the GMOA wrote to the doctors not to accept teaching appointments. GMOA spokesman Samantha Ananda was reported to have said to the Sunday Times of March 5, 2017, regarding the trade union action of stopping work in all provinces at different times, We are fighting to maintain the patients rights for quality care. These words are laudable. But by obstructing at every turn supplementary categories in their efforts to improve themselves in their fields of study, does the GMOA believe that they could bring quality care to the health sector. A hospital is run not only by doctors but by the nurses, pharmacists, attendants, minor staff etc.. Patients rights for quality care could only be ensured by the combined efforts of a well qualified staff of every kind with a well equipped hospital. The GMOA is naive to believe that they and they alone are well privileged and with the full control of all resources and power at their hands could barge into other fields depriving others of their independent development and that this is the answer to the, the rights of patients for quality care by the GMOA. Their arrogance is manifest by Dr. Anandas comments in the Sunday Times, that they would step into the shoes of politicians to safeguard the rights of the people. But history shows that the only method known to them of safeguarding the rights of the people, is indiscriminate work stoppages at the drop of a hat. In the early 1960s a peculiar term came into medical parlance called, channelling. During the tenure of office of the Minister of Health Siva Obeysekera and Mr. Balasingham a non-medical man as the secretary to the ministry, doctors were given channel practice during off hours having completed their official duties as an ad-hoc measure to relieve the shortage of doctors. As we all know that this channeling has now become a permanent feature in a country where health services are supposed to be given free. A new breed of government servant evolved, the only one of its kind in Sri Lanka with channeling where the doctor is employed by the state as any other government servant, is entitled to all benefits a state officer is entitled to with a right to earn money during off hours of work. Mr. Balasingham was empathic that some tax be collected by the government from earnings of the channeling. But the latest hot demand of the GMOA is that no tax should be levied against the earnings of doctors from channeling and a new breed of a trade union called the GMOA came into being in Sri Lanka where they jealously fight for their trade union rights whilst safeguarding the privileges of not only earnings in the form of channeling but also earnings from the performance of surgeries and other medical care provided to patients in private hospitals by certain categories of doctors on the pay roll of the government. Certain officials of the GMOA are highly vocal as to the exorbitant fees charged by SAITM and that medical education should not be a saleable commodity. For once they are completely right. But their silence is deafening as to the mushrooming of private hospitals and the fact that a certain category of government doctors are the star actors who are the main attractions in the medical services offered by the private hospitals who are fully dependant on these specialised state doctors. Private hospital services would hardly survive if these categories of doctors are not available for them. So this is a fine symbiotic relationship. Remember these doctors according GMOA are the products of the free education system of Sri Lanka for which they vouch to fight to the last drop of blood; who are freely available of course for money to the rich clients of private hospitals. The SAITM issue has its positive impact in that alternative avenues of medical education have come under discussion, the right to medical education liberated from the archaic traditional medical education set-up confined only to a selected few, an appreciation of the enjoyment of modern higher education in other disciplines of professional learning in present day Sri Lanka. The SAITM issue has given an opening to closely scrutinize the past and present activities of the main antagonist GMOA. Medical education in Sri Lanka has also produced notable exceptions to the traditional elite in the field of medicine. To mention a few, professors, Carlo Fonseka, Arjun Aluwihare, Janaka De Silva, Nimal Senanayake, Valentine Basnayake, and also Dr. Mark Amarasinghe and Dr. Channa Ratnatunga. Finally may I stress that this article is not an indictment against the doctors serving far and wide throughout the island in government hospitals. Our doctors are basically competent and dedicated to their profession. If not for the state providing free medical services with all medicare categories giving their support, the poor people of this country would have being left in lurch for want of medical care. There should be continuity of free education enabling state medical colleges to flourish and more and more state medical faculties should be opened to increase the cadre of doctors. Whether many students who go abroad in pursuance of medical degrees at tremendous expense eat up scarce foreign reserves begs the question whether private medical colleges should be opened in Sri Lanka. The medical fraternity, educationists, intellectuals, social workers, policy makers and politicians should sit down and decide on the issue keeping in mind that education should not be decided by market forces but by the needs confronting the country. If the decision to open up private medical colleges is arrived at the quality of the passing out doctor should be ensured and the cost factor should be affordable. The money needed for private medical education could be provided by the state to the needy students which could be recovered once they are employed. (The writer is an attorney-at-law.) Sunday Indias D for D global outlook View(s): It is a privilege for me to be here today at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies. The BCIS has been making invaluable contribution to enriching the field of international relations over more than four decades. It is the start of another academic year. It brings with it new friends, new hopes and sometimes new challenges. It takes me back to my own university days, where, just like you, I also studied international relations. Later, I became a diplomat. You and I share a unique bond. Relationships between countries, just like between individuals, are complex, and not easy to understand or analyse, let alone, predict. This is what makes it interesting and exciting. However, despite several layers of complexities, which one sees on the surface, human beings the world over, essentially have the same set of dreams and aspirations. Yatra Viswam Bhava thye ka Nee dam, the whole world is a nest, as they say in the Vedas. In todays world, we continue to see rapid strides in science and technology. This has brought about a sea change in the way we live. Also, there is a renewed focus, worldwide on good governance. In other words, yahapalanaya has gone global! Governments have taken performance and delivery seriously and are genuinely making an attempt to make a difference to the lives of average citizens. We see the historical past being buried to build a promising future. 2015 was witness to the restoration of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba after a gap of 54 years. Columbia struck a peace deal with FARC in 2016 to bring an end to more than 50 years of conflict. These developments underline the need for out-of-box thinking; the importance of moving ahead, without being hostage to the past. On the other hand, we also see a pause in the globalisation process. We see the winds of protectionism blowing across continents. The world seems to suddenly look inwards, rather than outwards. Over the last several decades, the world has enjoyed the benefits from fruitful exchange of products, services and ideas; there has been a significant increase in specialisation and productivity; in overall standard of living of the common man and in cross-cultural awareness. We need to recognise it. While some things have changed substantially, others have not changed, at all. Terrorism continues unabated. From world capitals to rural hinterlands, its reach has spread. Some states continue to sponsor terror with impunity. The United Nations remains a forum, which is not reflective of todays global order. Multilateralism still refuses to acknowledge the multi-polarity of todays world. The democratisation of global order remains elusive. Given this backdrop, what is Indias global outlook? Over the years, Indian domestic situation has seen a sea-change. Indias trade to GDP ratio has risen dramatically, since the reforms began in 1990s. So have capital flows relative to GDP. Indian economy today is far more open and integrated into the world economy than most people realise. This has brought rich dividends. India grew fastest, among major economies worldwide at over 7.5 per cent in 2016. India will continue to drive global growth in 2017, and its share in the world GDP is expected to rise to 17%. We have a shared interest in seeing an open world. Brand India is here to stay. By 2020, the average age in India will be 29, and it is set to become the worlds youngest country, with 64% of its population, in the working age group. With Western Europe, the US, South Korea, Japan and even China aging, this demographic potential, offers India an unprecedented edge, which could further contribute to GDP growth rate. It is a different India that one sees today. In 2016, India overtook the US in terms of internet users. At 227 million people, Indias internet user base is now the second largest in the world. With India becoming one of iPhones fastest growing markets, Apple has decided to assemble the iPhone in Bengaluru, making India the third country to do the final assembly of iPhones. The worlds largest solar power plant was recently unveiled in Tamil Nadu. India is running, the largest renewable energy expansion programme in the world. For the first time in space history, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a record 104 satellites, in one go, in February 2017, out of which 100 satellites belong to foreign nations. It has been a chrysalis-like transformation for India, from a young independent nation, with little economic resources, to the fastest growing major economy in the world. The world has realised and recognised Indias leadership role. As the largest democracy in the world, and perhaps the worlds most intricate and pluralistic society, Indias journey has been watched with keenness by the world at large. One thing which has remained with us throughout is our belief in the basic tenet of our foreign policy: Strategic autonomy. So what is the aim of Indias foreign policy? The core aim of Indias foreign policy is to meet the developmental aspirations of its 1.25 billion people. Our Diplomacy is for our Development. D for D! India also looks at engaging effectively with the world to meet common challenges. In recent times our foreign policy has become more proactive focused and action-oriented thanks to the vision of our leadership. We have made huge efforts in re-engaging our Diaspora. We have taken steps to make new friends as well as strengthen the breadth and depth of friendship with existing partners. The world appreciated Indias leadership in the finalisation of the Paris COP-21 Agreement. International Solar Alliance and UN International Day of Yoga are other examples where we demonstrated our willingness to shoulder global responsibilities. The mammoth evacuation/rescue operations in Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Ukraine, Nepal etc. which India undertook validated our genuine willingness to help not only our citizens but all others who came to us for assistance irrespective of the colour of the passport. We have cemented our relations with our neighbours; and with our extended neighbours. We have re-energised our partnership with P-5. Our ties with the US have been transformational; having served in the US till recently, I have seen it happen just before my eyes. Our relations with China have expanded in areas where we have commonality of views. In recent times, India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership has further strengthened. We hosted the largest ever India-Africa Summit. We have reconnected with Latin America. For the first time, we hosted the Forum of India-Pacific Island Cooperation. We have made steady progress in our ties with the West. While we have acted East, we have also linked West. The first ever India-Arab League Ministerial Conference held in Manama outlined our expanding outreach with the Arab World. Our relations with Saudi Arabia, UAE and other West Asian countries have gained unprecedented depth. I want to elaborate on the neighbourhood. Our Neighbourhood First policy is the reflection of the importance we attach to our nearest partners. We see our future as intertwined. The scale and speed of economic transformation in India is an opportunity that we do not want our friends especially our neighbours to miss. Indias growth is not in the interest of India alone. We want you to be part of our growth story. India sees itself as a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean Region. We also see ourselves as the First Responder in HA/DR operations in the Region (Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief). The first Indian naval helicopters reached Sri Lanka with immediate relief material within 12 hours of the tsunami tragedy in 2004. Similarly we responded swiftly with assistance when the landslides hit Sri Lanka last year. We are again extending a helping hand to Sri Lanka for drought relief. I see a huge window of opportunity for India-Sri Lanka ties. We will soon be launching a SAARC communications and meteorology satellite, which also has Sri Lankan partnership. There is a lot that we can do together. We are keen to integrate Sri Lankan economy in the global supply and value chain. We are ready to share our skill set with Sri Lanka. We are interested in making investments in energy; hard infrastructure and connectivity projects. We have a robust development partnership. We are ready to sail with Sri Lanka in its journey towards a more secure prosperous and fulfilling future. All we need to do is to think and act and act now. As Gautama Buddha once said We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Thank youI wish you all a bright future! New Yorks Charles Schumer, boss of the Democrat minority in the Senate, is clearly under great stress, allegedly having screamed at a woman in a New York restaurant. But, hey, stress happens, especially when you start a partisan thermonuclear political war to kill the confirmation of a respected jurist such as Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. And all you have in your pockets is your charm. Schumer erupted the other evening when he reportedly made a huge public scene at the Sette Mezzo restaurant, shouting at a well-known New York couple because the wife supported President Donald Trump. She voted for Trump! Schumer is said to have yelled at Hilary Califano. Hes a liar! Hes a liar! Hilary Califano is the wife of Democrat Joseph Califano, a former U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare who worked closely with Democratic Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter. And shes the daughter of William Paley, the late boss of CBS News. Schumer was really rude, Hilary Califano told the New York Posts Page Six column. Hes our senator and I dont really like him, she said. Yes, (I) voted for Trump. Schumer joined us outside and he told me Trump was a liar. I should have told him that Hillary Clinton was a liar, but I was so surprised I didnt say anything. Hillary Clinton was a liar? Most politicians lie, Trump included, and Hillary Clinton lied about just about everything, from Benghazi to how she had to run from sniper fire in Bosnia to that homebrew email server of hers, which she could have cleaned, like, with a cloth, and on and on. A spokesman for Screaming Schumer insisted there was no heated exchange with the Califanos. I dont usually like to take sides in restaurant arguments, but Im going to have to go with Hilary Califanos Screaming Schumer version. All she was trying to do was have a quiet Italian dinner with her husband. Linguine and clams are only $28.50 on the menu. Or, perhaps they had the veal. I dont know. But its obvious Schumer seems more pinched and stressed than hes ever been. And he should be, because if the nuclear option an override of Senate rule or precedent by simple majority rather than 60 votes comes to the U.S. Senate over Gorsuch, Schumer would be to blame. Even before Gorsuch was nominated, Schumer made it clear Democrats would try do everything they can to stop the Trump nominee on partisan grounds. And just the other day Schumer threatened to filibuster the Gorsuch vote. If this nominee cannot earn 60 votes a bar met by each of President (Barack) Obamas nominees and George Bushs last two nominees the answer isnt to change the rules, Schumer said. Its to change the nominee. Sometimes politicians dont come out and lie. Sometimes they hold back part of the truth. And Schumer knows the Democrats changed the rules a few years ago. Thats where the nuclear option comes in. For decades, the tradition in the Senate was that for any nomination to a post for life like a federal, appellate or Supreme Court justice 60 votes were required to ensure consensus. But bipartisan consensus went out the window years ago, when Senate Democrats, led by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy the self-professed protector of women and famed swimmer of Chappaquiddick savaged the Supreme Court nomination of conservative Robert Bork. Bork had the far superior intellect. Kennedy had the louder mouth. Then, like now, the Beltway media elites were in thrall to the Democrats, and Bork was destroyed. In 2013, Democrats had the Senate majority but couldnt come up with 60 votes for the confirmation of liberal federal judges whom Obama wanted on the bench. Republicans were blocking those nominations, much like Democrats are now blocking the nomination of Gorsuch. Schumers predecessor, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, changed the rules to require only a simple majority of 51 senators not 60 to cement a lifetime appointment to federal and appellate courts. So the Democrats stuffed the federal courts with liberal jurists who would legislate from the bench. And Democrats didnt think that was unfair. Thats because Democratic politicians understand power and leverage, having built careers by using the force of government to compel behavior. They understand the use of force. And so, it was done.Yet now, Democrats are worried Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky would use the nuclear option to push the Gorsuch nomination through with only 51 votes. Republicans have 52. There were many reasons for Republicans to have voted for or against Donald Trump for president. But one reason bound them all: He promised to nominate a stellar conservative to the Supreme Court to replace the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Gorsuch is that stellar jurist, a man who had the audacity to say during his recent confirmation hearings, My job isnt to write the law, senator, its to apply the law. There is no reason to block him except for partisanships sake. So Democrats give the Republicans no choice but to use the nuclear option. Youve heard that proverb, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander? I love Italian food and married a lovely Sicilian and have eaten many a fine Italian meal, but Ive never had a plate of gander. And Id bet Sen. Schumer never had gander at Sette Mezzo, where he yelled at Hilary Califano. But Chuck? Put some sauce on that. And enjoy. It is good to have Germany pay its fair share of NATO expenses as President Donald Trump says. Yet in his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Trump appeared as a petulant schoolboy beside his teacher. Indeed, Germany could teach the United States a thing or two when it comes to industry, education and government. The United States is facing a shortage of skilled labor, with baby boomers retiring at the rate of around 10,000 per day with a shortage of replacements. To make matters worse, public schools are abandoning their industrial arts programs. German industry thrives thanks to an excellent trade school system and semi-nationalized health care, which lifts a huge cost off the backs of manufacturers. If President Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, and Congress really cared about skilled family supporting jobs, a strong economy, and quality health care for all Americans, they would be taking lessons from places such as Germany and respecting people such as German Chancellor Merkel a whole lot more. Bob Hunt, Lodi If youre a backyard inventor with a quirky invention for the agricultural community or an established business wanting to put your new idea out there, then you have until April 31 to enter the 2017 Fieldays Innovation Awards. The awards seek to celebrate and support New Zealands most innovative agricultural inventions and showcase emerging products and technology that will lead change in the rural sector. Applicants in the awards will showcase their ideas, designs and products at the Fieldays Innovations Centre during NZ National Agricultural Fieldays, from June 14-17 at Mystery Creek Events Centre. Since its inception, Fieldays has celebrated innovation, and the awards are an important platform for showcasing Kiwi agricultural innovation. The theme for Fieldays in 2017 is leading change and supporting innovation is vital to the future of agriculture in New Zealand, says Fieldays Innovations event manager Gail Hendricks. Significant interest Awards are given across multiple categories and winners will receive thousands of dollars in business support and advice to help get their innovations to market. This support is of immense value, giving innovators access to NZs top intellectual property and commercial lawyers, business advisors, product development and innovation consultants and others. There is always significant public, business and agricultural industry interest in the Fieldays Innovation Awards. The Innovations Centre is probably the busiest space at Fieldays and always attracts a lot of attention. Every year there is always broad media interest and the television breakfast shows broadcast from the Innovations Centre during Fieldays. The place is just buzzing. The Innovation Awards are a great opportunity for people to test their products in the market. With 130,684 visitors through the gates in 2016, Fieldays provides an opportunity to talk to future or potential customers and conduct valuable market research. Development consultants Entrants products and ideas will get exposure to the people who may use it once its in the market, providing on the spot feedback. Fieldays also gives award entrants exposure to the judges, who are engineers, patent attorneys and people with exposure to the international market. A large number of companies come to see whats there, to see what the latest thing is to buy or invest in. During Fieldays the Innovations Lab, which is located inside the Innovations Centre, will be set up as a dedicated space for award entrants to meet with experts such as lawyers, patent and trademark attorneys, product development consultants and other business experts for free advice and support. The idea is that The Lab is a space where innovators can come to thrash out ideas, seek advice or brainstorm, says Gail. And 2017 sees the return of the Innovations Capital Event, where a select group of innovators are invited to the Innovations Centre to mix and mingle with investors, make contacts, ask questions and hopefully find someone who will support their idea or business, says Gail. On average theres about 70 to 80 applicants for the Innovation Awards, and entries typically come from a variety of fields including dairy and drystock farming, horticulture, information and communication technology, cloud and mobile-based software, animal health and genetics, water and waste management, environment and clean-tech, animal and farm management, farm safety and leading research. We get all sorts of people entering the Fieldays Innovation Awards, including farmers, engineers, business people, tinkerers and people in the high-tech sector, said Hendricks. The awards offer a great opportunity for start-up companies. Two members of parliament, a mayor and a councillor swapped policy and planning for paintbrushes and paint for a good cause today. Bay of Plenty and Tauranga MPs Todd Muller and Simon Bridges, plus Tauranga Mayor Greg Brownless and councillor Bill Grainger were in Taurangas CBD painting portraits and trying their hand at pottery during a public event run by Tauranga Sunrise Rotary Club and The Incubator. Their pieces will be auctioned off during the rotary clubs annual Treasured Art Auction at Ingham Sears Mercedes Benz showroom in Mount Maunganui on May 12, with money raised to be donated to the Graeme Dingle Foundations Kiwi Can programme. We wanted to raise attention to our Treasured Art Auction which will feature more than 60 pieces of very high quality art, and todays event has certainly done that, says Tauranga Sunrise Rotarian and auction organiser Kathy Webb. We hold this auction every year and each time weve raised more than $13,000 depending on whats on sale. Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller working on his masterpiece. Tauranga councillor Bill Grainger deep in concentration. The public display of art drew in a large crowd of onlookers who watched the four men create a wheel thrown pot and portraits of model Tanya Trass from The Incubator who was dressed up as renowned artist Frieda Kahlo. We thought itd be really good to invite The Incubator to help Simon, Todd, Greg and Bill to create some art, and who knows, we might get something that sells, possibly, maybe. I think theyll have novelty value, Kathy says laughing. For more information about the Treasured Art Auction, visit treasuredart.co.nz Tauranga Mayor Greg Bownless and Tauranga MP Simon Bridges with their finished portraits of The Incubator model Tanya Trass who dressed up as renowned artists Frieda Kahlo for todays event. On 31 March 1492 the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, issued the Alhambra Decree, also known as the Edict of Expulsion, giving notice to all practising Jews to leave the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon and their territories and possessions by the end of July in the same year. They were permitted to take all their belongings (except gold, silver and minted money) with them, and were promised safe passage during that three-month period. If they failed to comply and leave by the deadline, however, they would face execution. During the seven centuries of Moorish rule in Spain the Jews had held a privileged position in society and coexisted happily alongside their Muslim rulers. When Ferdinand and Isabella set about reconquering Spain, however, they wanted to ensure that it became a truly Christian country and as a result many Jews suffered violent hostility and repression. Many decided to convert to Christianity, at least for appearances' sake. The king and queen became concerned that practising Jews would influence these 'conversos', many of whom were unconvincing Catholics anyway, persuade them to take up Judaism once more and would also "try to draw faithful Christians away from their beliefs." The Cordoba synagogue. / EFE About half of all Jews had converted by this time. As a result of this decree over 200,000 others did the same and many (some historians claim that the figure is as high as 100,000) left the country. A large number are thought to have secretly returned in the following years. Remarkable though it may seem, the Alhambra Decree was not formally revoked until 16 December 1968; by that time the Laws of Religious Freedom had been in force for 100 years, meaning that Jews had been able to openly practise their religion in Spain again, and use synagogues as places of worship. As an effort to compensate Jewish people for their suffering in the past, in 2014 the Spanish government approved a law which enables their descendants to hold dual nationality. This means that Sephardic Jews who can prove that their forefathers were expelled from the country by the Christian Monarchs under the Alhambra Decree are now able to hold Spanish nationality without having to live in Spain or give up their existing nationality. One hundred years ago this week, (April 6), the main headline in the Clinch Valley News announced the US entry to World War One. It didn't live up to its billing as the war to end all wars and has been overshadowed by World War II. It did leave an impact on the county and the area and that is the subject of the newest display at Crab Orchard Museum. For the Ultimate Peace opened March 26th with a reception in conjunction with the annual meeting of the museums membership. Smiley Ratliff Curator Elisabeth Hemsworth designed the exhibit so visitors get a sense of what it was like for soldiers to serve in the trenches, so the gallery features a painted trench section and sandbag wall. Visitors may put on helmets, carry replica weapons and use mirrors on sticks to observe activity above the trench. There are authentic weapons from the era as well as gas masks and other souvenirs of the time. Many of the items belong to the museum but a good bit is on loan. Hemsworth used toy trucks and other items from her late grandfathers collection as part of the display. A unique part of the display is the fact the first African American killed in the war was from McDowell County. 1,500 African Americans from the area died in the war and in 1928 the War Memorial was established in Kimball and they loaned items to Crab Orchard. Winnie the Pooh also had a place in the war and Snoopy and the Red Baron occupy their own shelf. The top U.S. flying ace downed 26 while the Red Baron downed 80. Those facts gave birth to Snoopy and his sopwith camel and a legend better known than the facts. Queen Victoria has a bit of history at Crab Orchard as well with pictures of the royalty that descended from her making the war a family feud. It was fascinating to discover in our curators research the royal heads of state fighting against each other were Queen Victorias grandchildren or their spouses, Museum Director Charlotte Whitted said. "World War I is a war that had no reason to happen. Germany wanted to prove its might and how big and bad it was, Hemsworth said. The war also gave rise to Uncle Sam as he made his first appearance on the recruiting posters. There is also a display of the music of the era and posters for the Red Cross and other organizations committed to helping with the war. There are also pictures from the local American Legion and Camp Steward on display. One of those is from the 1919 organizational meeting of the American Legion. There are also pictures from the Spanish American War which barely ended when World War one started. The U.S. didn't get involved until the Germans promised Mexico to give back Arizona and other states if they helped in the war. Poppies, which are still sold by veterans groups today made their debut in World War one. There was also a call for knitters to aid the soldiers with scarves, hats, mittens and other items. The Red Cross recruited knitters along with blood donors and other volunteers. The U.S. Congress voted to declare war on Germany in April of 1917 and Germany surrendered on Nov. 11 1918. For the Ultimate Peace will remain on exhibit through December in the Lucie Greever Gallery and is included in visitor admission, which is $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for children 7-12, and free for 6 and under with an accompanying adult. Museum members enjoy free admission year-round. Bridget_Jacob.JPG Bridget M. Jacobs, seen in this undated photo. Authorities in northern California are searching for her body. They say the Bishop Ludden graduate's husband has admitted to dumping her body in a lake. (Provided photo) COTTONWOOD, Calif. -- Authorities in northern California are searching for the body of a missing woman with ties to Central New York after her husband admitted to dumping her body in a lake. Bridget M. Jacobs, 38, whose maiden name is Roche, is a 1996 graduate of Bishop Ludden Junior/Senior High School. Her husband, Phillip Jacobs, 56, has been charged with his wife's murder and is being held in jail on $1 million bail. Philip Jacobs About 11 p.m. March 15, Shasta County sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call at 3875 Westridge Road in Cottonwood. A woman was heard screaming before the phone went dead. Records showed the call came from Phillip Jacobs' cell phone. The sheriff's office said the couple have had marital problems in the past. When deputies got to the house it appeared no one was home. They did notice two dogs on the couch, one a smaller dog and the other a young yellow Labrador. Around 8:30 a.m. on March 20, Bridget Jacobs was reported missing by her father Michael Roche, who lives in Central New York. Deputies talked with Phillip Jacobs at his Westbridge Road home after he did not show up for work, the sheriff's office said. He admitted calling 911 during an argument with his wife on March 15, but said she walked off before deputies arrived and took purse, cell phone and her 4 year old, Pomeranian/Yorkshire mix dog named Abijah. Deputies learned that Bridget Jacobs had missed two days of work after March 15. On March 21 detectives with the Major Crimes Unit took over the investigation because of the suspicious circumstances, the sheriff's office said. Detectives canvassed the neighborhood around Westridge Road and interviewed Philip Jacobs several more times. Then, on March 23, detectives executed a search warrant at the couple's Westridge Road home. The sheriff's office said Phillip Jacobs did not show that morning for a scheduled interview. Detectives seized Philip Jacobs' FJ Cruiser and 12-foot-long blue sailboat, but would also like to talk to anyone who saw the boat or vehicle on March 19. When they executed the search warrant detectives again spoke with Philip Jacobs, who again claimed that his wife had left the house after an argument. But he ended the interview when detectives started asking "probing questions" about his whereabouts and activities after March 15, the sheriff's office said. While executing the search warrant detectives found Bridget Jacobs' cell phone in a safe with other "items of evidence indicating foul play," the sheriff's office said. During the investigation, detectives also learned that Philip Jacobs had driven to Whiskeytown Lake between 4:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. the night of March 19 in an FJ Cruiser. The sheriff's office said he was towing a 12-foot-long blue sailboat. Detectives were interviewing Philip Jacobs' mother in Redding on Tuesday when he arrived and told them he needed to talk about how accidents happen. The sheriff's office said Philip Jacobs admitted his wife had died March 15. Bridget Jacobs's 4-year-old Pomeranian/Yorkshire mix dog named Abijah has not been found. He told them the couple had been in an argument when Bridget Jacobs fell down the stairs and might have broken her neck, the sheriff's office said. He admitted to keeping her body inside their house until March 19. Then he is accused of driving out to Whiskeytown Lake to the Brandy Creek Marina, about 20 miles north of his home, and rowing out in the blue sailboat. He told detectives he dumped her body in the lake tied to a cement cinder block, the sheriff's office said. Philip Jacobs showed detectives where he took his wife's body, the sheriff's office said, but he would not answer clarifying questions about specific details. Sheriff's deputies have searched the Brandy Creek area for Bridget Jacobs for five days. They have been helped by the National Park Service, which manages property in the area. Bridget Jacobs' dog, Abijah, has not been recovered and deputies could not find the canine at any shelters in the county. Philip Jacobs would not say what happened to the dog, the sheriff's office said, which did not have a chip. The sheriff's office said detectives would like to speak with anyone wit information about Bridget and Philip Jacobs. They have his FJ Cruiser and blue sailboat, but would also like to talk to anyone who saw the boat or vehicle on March 19. The sheriff's office asked anyone with information to contact 530-245-6540, 530-245-6135 or mcu@co.shasta.ca.us. Bridget Roche Jacobs.jpg Bridget M. Jacobs, pictured in this undated photo, graduated from Bishop Ludden. Police in northern California say Jacobs' husband admitted dumping her body in a lake. (Provided) Philip Jacobs WHISKEYTOWN, Calif. -- Divers who were scouring a California lake for a missing woman with Central New York ties have found part of a body. Deputies believe Bridget M. Jacobs, 38, a 1996 Bishop Ludden Junior/Senior High School graduate, was murdered by her estranged husband in northern California. The Shasta County Sheriff's Office has been searching for Jacobs since she was reported missing by her father on March 20. Shasta County divers found part of a body in Whiskeytown Lake near Brandy Creek Marina around 2:30 p.m. Friday, deputies said. Investigators believe the remains are part of Bridget Jacobs' body. Philip Jacobs told detectives he tied Bridget Jacobs' body to a cement cinder block before dumping her in Whiskeytown Lake, deputies said. The body part was found in 40-foot-deep water about 100 yards away from a buoy line where Philip Jacobs was spotted the day before Bridget Jacobs was reported missing, deputies said. Investigators said it appears Bridget Jacobs' body was dismembered. The sheriff's office suspended the search on Friday to keep the tired divers safe. Deputies said the search is expected to continue on Saturday. The sheriff's office said Philip Jacobs and Bridget Jacobs were together, but have had "marital problems." According to the Record Searchlight, the couple divorced in December. The case started with a 911 call. Officers rushed to a Cottonwood, California home on March 15 after a woman was heard screaming during a 911 call. The call came from Philip Jacobs' cellphone, deputies said. When officers arrived at 3875 Westridge Road, no one appeared to be home, deputies said. Before leaving, officers noticed two dogs -- a young yellow Labrador retriever and a smaller dog -- were on a couch, deputies said. Bridget Jacobs was scheduled to work on March 18 and March 19, but she never showed up, deputies said. On March 20, her father called deputies and reported his daughter was missing, deputies said. Bridget Jacobs' maiden name is Roche. Her father, Michael Roche, lives in Central New York. When Philip Jacobs also missed work, officers again responded to the Westridge Road home, deputies said. The 56-year-old man told officers he called 911 on March 15 while he was arguing with Bridget Jacobs, deputies said. He claimed Bridget Jacobs took her purse and her dog Abijah and left, deputies said. Bridget Jacobs's 4-year-old Pomeranian/Yorkshire mix dog named Abijah has not been found. Deputies canvassed the couple's neighborhood and repeatedly interviewed Philip Jacobs. After Philip Jacobs skipped an interview at the sheriff's office on March 23, detectives executed a search warrant at the Westridge Road residence, deputies said. During the search, Bridget Jacobs' phone was found inside a safe, deputies said. Detectives also discovered undisclosed items that pointed to "foul play," deputies said. Investigators also learned Philip Jacobs had driven to Whiskeytown Lake on March 19 with a small boat, deputies said. Detectives again interviewed Philip Jacobs, who continued to claim Bridget Jacobs left after an argument, deputies said. He ended the interview when detectives asked him to explain where he went and what he did after his wife left, deputies said. But this week, deputies said Philip Jacobs changed his story. Detectives were interviewing Philip Jacobs' mother at her Redding, California home on Tuesday when the suspect showed up, deputies said. He told detectives he needed to "talk about how accidents happen," deputies said. Philip Jacobs claimed Bridget Jacobs fell down the stairs on March 15 and "possibly" broke her neck while they were arguing inside the Westridge Road home, deputies said. He told detectives he waited four days before taking his wife's body out of the home and driving to Whiskeytown Lake, deputies said. Detectives seized Philip Jacobs' FJ Cruiser and 12-foot-long blue sailboat, but would also like to talk to anyone who saw the boat or vehicle on March 19. When he arrived at the lake, Philip Jacobs claimed he rowed away from Brandy Creek Marina and dumped Bridget Jacobs' body in the water, deputies said. Investigators have been searching for Bridget Jacobs' body for days. Her dog Abijah, a 4-year-old Pomeranian/Yorkshire mix, is still missing. Deputies said the suspect has refused to tell detectives what happened to the dog. Police have asked anyone with information about the case or the couple to contact investigators at (530) 245-6540, (530) 245-6135 or mcu@co.shasta.ca.us. The circus is in town! The Tigris Shrine Circus has been delighting crowds for 84 years with acts of acrobatics, animals and comedy. The circus is the primary local fundraiser for The Shriners, which run 22 children's hospitals in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Venue: Toyota Coliseum, New York State Fairgrounds Show Hours: Saturday 10:00am, 2:30pm, 7:00pm - Sunday 1:00pm, 5:00pm (doors open one hour before each show) Admission: General Admission Tickets $20.00, Children 2 and under FREE Event Website: www.tigrisshrinecircus.com Contact Phone # : 315.707.4340 This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU) are making plans to compete with the existing fast food stalwarts in Market Square by opening an alternative wheeled operation early next year. The new business venture, the Van of Afterlife, will offer jam sandwiches and water bottles as a free alternative to the quesadillas and cheesy chips currently on offer from the two resident food providers. An application to Cambridge City Council to hold a pitch from late January to early March 2018 was accepted last week, on the provision that CICCU demonstrates that their van will be distinctly different to its competitors. A representative of CICCU, Tom Linnie, told The Cambridge Student: "students are told from Freshers' Week to avoid the van of death, and CICCU wants to provide an alternative for those looking for late-night salvation. "The VoL might be able to get you your fix of greasy goods, but can it offer eternal life?" The Trailer of Life and Uncle Franks have been contacted for comment. SCA, a leading global hygiene and forest products company, is adding a full-range of baby products to its Lotus brand family. Lotus brand is the market leader of all its product categories in France with at least one Lotus product being found in 50 per cent of French homes. The company sees France as a big baby products business opportunity. SCA, a leading global hygiene and forest products company, is adding a full-range of baby products to its Lotus brand family. Lotus brand is the market leader of all its product categories in France with at least one Lotus product being found in 50 per cent of French homes. The company sees France as a big baby products business opportunity.# France has among the highest birth rates in Europe. There were 785,000 births in France in 2016. SCA, a leading global hygiene and forest products company, is adding a full-range of baby products to its Lotus brand family. Lotus brand is the market leader of all its product categories in France with at least one Lotus product being found in 50 per cent of French homes. The company sees France as a big baby products business opportunity.# "The decision to launch a full-range of baby products under our Lotus brand in France fits perfectly with SCA's strategy to 'innovate bigger brands'. Lotus - with a current assortment of dry and moist toilet paper, tissues, hankies, baby cotton pads, cotton swabs and household towels - is seen as a family brand and adding baby products to its product portfolio will both strengthen the brand further and drive profitable growth in the baby category," explains Volker Zoller, president consumer goods. SCA, a leading global hygiene and forest products company, is adding a full-range of baby products to its Lotus brand family. Lotus brand is the market leader of all its product categories in France with at least one Lotus product being found in 50 per cent of French homes. The company sees France as a big baby products business opportunity.# To make an impactful launch, the product range will include a full line of diapers, open and pants, and baby wipes. In addition, all products will come in the same quality as Libero Touch, SCA's exceptionally soft and comfortable diapers. The quality clearly differentiates the Lotus diapers from other diapers in the French market and allows Lotus and SCA to position this new range in the premium segment. SCA, a leading global hygiene and forest products company, is adding a full-range of baby products to its Lotus brand family. Lotus brand is the market leader of all its product categories in France with at least one Lotus product being found in 50 per cent of French homes. The company sees France as a big baby products business opportunity.# All products will be available in stores in the beginning of May, and the launch will be supported by a full marketing campaign, including digital activities, TVC's, samples and in-store activation. (SV) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Ford is recalling over 570,000 vehicles in Europe and North America to address two issues the faulty door latch problem and engine fire risk. The latest recall may negatively impact the carmaker's profit in Q1 2017. In a Wednesday filing with securities regulators, Ford stated that the recall may result in a $295 million cut in pretax earning. Engine Fire Recall: Affected Vehicles Over 360,000 Ford vehicles have been recalled in Europe and North America because of engine fire issue. The vehicle recall list in North America includes 2014's Escape SUVs, compact Fiesta ST from 2014 and 2015, Fusion mid-sized cars from 2013 and 2014, and small van Transit Connect models from 2013 to 2015. The recall list in Europe includes Focus small cars and C-Max hybrid from 2010 to 2015, as well as Transit Connect vans from 2013 to 2015. All these vehicles have four-cylinder 1.6-liter turbocharged engines. Ford stated that the engine may have overheated because of improper coolant circulation in the engine, leading to a crack in the car's cylinder head. "A cracked cylinder head can result in a pressurized oil leak. Oil that comes into contact with a hot engine surface increases the risk of a fire in the engine compartment," noted Ford. The company reported 29 cases of engine fire in Canada and the United States. However, the hazard has not led to any injuries. How Is Ford Tackling The Coolant Problem? Ford spokeswoman Elizabeth Weigandt stated that customers will receive an email from the company, which will contain instructions on checking and refilling the coolant. Dealers will also be checking the coolant levels of the affected vehicles. If a vehicle is spotted with overheated or leaked coolant, it needs to be taken to a dealer. Weigandt also noted that if parts are available with the dealers, they will equip the vehicle with a coolant sensor. This sensor will alert the owner about low coolant levels in the car. However, the spokeswoman was unaware whether the company will fix these coolant leaks. Faulty Door Latch Issue Ford has added roughly 211,000 vehicles to the 2015 safety recall for the four defective door latches. The recall includes the 2014 Fiesta along with the 2013 Lincoln MKZ and 2014 Fusion. "In the affected vehicles, the pawl spring tab in the side door latch could break. A door latch with a fractured pawl spring tab typically results in a "door will not close" condition. A door that opens while driving increases the risk of injury," revealed the carmaker. For the past three years, door latches have become a big concern for Ford, which led to an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, followed by the withdrawal of over 3 million vehicles. In fall 2016, the carmaker recalled over 2.3 million vehicles because of the defective door latch problem. The recalled vehicles included C-Max and Ford Escape from 2013 to 2015, and Ford Focus from 2012 to 2015. The company reveals that its dealers will change the door latches free of cost, with a sturdier one. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Any form of meditation helps ease one's mind and brings with it a calming stillness. Deep breathing is advocated by holistic healers and scientists now explain how it can help calm the mind. While deep breathing is said to bring about tranquility, faster and shorter breaths could be a result of panic attacks or anxiety. Deep breathing is believed to calm one's nerves and helps fight depression, panic attacks, and anxiety. However, how deep breathing works toward impacting our mind has remained shrouded in mystery, until now. Scientists reveal that they have discovered the link between deep breathing and how it calms the mind. They have been able to decode the effects of controlled breathing and its impact on the brain using mice subjects. Like humans, most animals follow the same pattern of breathing by inhaling oxygen for creating energy in their body and exhaling carbon dioxide as a by-product. Connect Between Deep Breathing And Brain Activity The researchers conducted an experiment on mice and discovered the presence of a neuron circuit that monitors the link between breathing and brain activity and determines the behavior of mice. The scientists reveal that mice have 175 neurons located in a section of the brain called a "breathing pacemaker," which is essentially is a cluster of 3,000 neurons. These neurons are located in the brainstem and regulate the body's autonomic breathing. The researchers discovered that these 175 neurons are the pathway for communication between the breathing pacemaker and part of the brain which dictates arousal, attention, and panic. Therefore, the rate at which breathing occurs may directly result in whether one feels anxious or calm. To test their hypothesis, the researchers removed the 175 neurons to observe the impact on mice. They put the mice in a pressurized chamber to measure the frequency and size of any breath. To their surprise, the researchers discovered that the mice continued to breathe normally. However, they noticed that the mice remained unusually calm. "We expected that [inactivating the neurons] might completely eliminate or dramatically alter the breathing pattern of the mice," said Mark Krasnow, one of the authors of the study and a professor of biochemistry at Stanford University School of Medicine. Findings Of The Study Initially, the scientists thought the finding was flawed and the experiment was a failure. They retested the mice under different conditions when they were asleep, had higher carbon dioxide levels, etc. This established that the animals showed a change and had become mellower. Prior to the loss of 175 neurons, the mice had essentially done what they "love to do" sniff and explore. However, post the removal of the neurons, the mice were observed to be spending more time grooming and relaxing. Further examination revealed that they were breathing slowly. "We found a neuronal subpopulation in the mouse preBotzinger complex (preBotC), the primary breathing rhythm generator, which regulates the balance between calm and arousal behaviors. Conditional, bilateral genetic ablation of the ~175 Cdh9/Dbx1 double-positive preBotC neurons in adult mice left breathing intact but increased calm behaviors and decreased time in aroused states," noted the researchers. The scientists said that discovering human neurons, which regulate arousal centers while breathing, is a future area of their research. The research has been published in the journal Science on March 30. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In women who have cancer in one breast, removing both breasts is not necessarily helpful. The American Society of Breast Surgeons, in fact, issued a statement last year in a bid to discourage women diagnosed with one-sided breast cancer but without genetic risk for the disease from getting double or contralateral mastectomy. Researchers, however, have found an increase in contralateral mastectomy among women whose early stage cancer only affects one breast. It also appears that the trend varies across states. Rate Of Double Mastectomy Varies Across States In The United States In a study covering the period between 2004 and 2012, researchers looked at more than 1.2 million women with early stage cancer in one breast and found that 15 percent of patients between 20 and 44 years old got preventive mastectomy in the District of Columbia, which is far lower compared with about 49 percent in South Dakota. "In this cohort study of more than 1.2 million women who received a diagnosis of invasive unilateral early-stage breast cancer treated with surgery, the proportion of contralateral prophylactic mastectomies varied substantially by state," the researchers wrote in their study. "The proportion among women 20 to 44 years of age during the period from 2010 to 2012 ranged from 15.7% in Hawaii to 42.8% to 48.5% in 5 contiguous Midwestern states." General Trend Rises Across The Country The general trend, however, rises as the proportion of women with early stage cancer in one breast between ages 20 and 44 who opted for the contralateral mastectomy increased from 11 percent to about 33 percent across the country. Over this same period, the proportion in similar patients who were at least 45 years old who had double mastectomy also increased from about 4 percent to about 10 percent. Why Women Opt For Contralateral Mastectomy Study researcher Ahmedin Jemal, of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, said that their research, which was published in JAMA Surgery on March 29, cannot explain why so many women now opt for contralateral mastectomies. "One factor that could contribute to the increase is this desire for symmetry," Jemal said. "Another factor is probably the Angelina Jolie effect. She was diagnosed with the BRCA-1 cancer gene that mutation that causes breast cancer, and she had a double mastectomy, so that was covered widely in the media." Double Mastectomy Rate Higher In The United States Than In Other Countries The researcher also said that the rate in the United States is higher compared with that in other countries. Compared with 13.5 percent of women in the United States with cancer in one breast who opted to have the other breast removed, the rate is only between 2 and 3 percent in the UK. Jemal and colleagues did not also have information on how many women in the study had increased risk for breast cancer due to genetics or because they had already been treated with radiation therapy to the chest. Jemal said that doctors need to have detailed discussion with women about treatment options, but some women who are not at increased risk still opt to have the cancer-free breast removed regardless of learning about the risks and benefits. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson now holds the record for the most spacewalks by a woman. Whitson achieved the milestone on March 30, when she went outside the International Space Station. This is the eighth spacewalk by the 57-year old Whitson who broke the previous record of seven spacewalks by American astronaut Sunita Williams. Whitson's Spacewalk Record The spacewalk started at 7:29 a.m. with Whitson and her fellow astronaut Shane Kimbrough venturing out of ISS. The two stepped out to continue the upgrades of the ISS. On March 30, Whitson and Kimbrough went out of ISS' airlock to finish the cable connection of the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3, which has been attached recently to the Harmony module's space-facing port. The Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 will host the new International Docking Adapter-3, set to be delivered to ISS by SpaceX on a Dragon cargo mission. "Be safe and enjoy your time out," said Thomas Pesquet, a French astronaut before both the astronauts ventured into space. The astronauts continued working outside the orbiting lab for seven hours and four minutes. Williams created the previous record with a spacewalk of total 50 hours and 40 minutes, which was surpassed by Whitson who logged 53 hours and 22 minutes. The spacewalk was a conclusion of ongoing trials to ready the ISS for the arrival of commercial spacecrafts. The work started on March 24, which was the last spacewalk before this, in which some cables along with electric connections were disconnected by Kimbrough on the Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 or PMA-3. After two days it was moved with the robotic arm of the space station. Who Is Whitson? Whitson is a biochemistry doctorate and was the first woman commander of a space station in 2008. She hails from Iowa and is known to be witty and humorous. Earlier in March, Whitson shared in an interview that she was at the orbiting lab, developing stem cells required for a scientific experiment on cancer cell therapies. She came to the space station in November 2016, after serving on two six-month missions in 2002 and 2008 at the orbiting outpost. "I traveled to Russia eight times in the last 1.5 year training flow, two times to Japan and one time to Cologne," Whitson recently wrote in a blog post. She is about to break another record on April 24 for the most number of days spent in space by an American astronaut, when she crosses 534 days in orbit. The current holder of this record is astronaut Jeff Williams. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Google's case against Uber just took an unexpected turn, as Uber executive Anthony Levandowski invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. For those unfamiliar with the legal dispute, Google's Waymo filed a lawsuit accusing Uber and Levandowski of stealing technology related to self-driving cars from the Google autonomous vehicle project before Levandowski left the company. Google vs. Uber Case: Fifth Amendment Rights Invoked As The New York Times reports, a lawyer from Levandowski's defense team told the court that the Uber exec would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights broadly, as "potential for criminal action" could result in self-incrimination. TechCrunch has reviewed court transcripts from a hearing on Thursday and reports that Levandowski's lawyer invoked the Fifth in what seems like a precaution tied to an Uber document release. Uber's lawyers argue that the company does not have the documents Levandowski is accused of stealing from Waymo, therefore it cannot hand them over in the scheduled document production. One of Levandowski's lawyers told the court that they're seeking a broad assertion of Levandowski's Fifth Amendment Rights regarding any documents he might have or control that are relevant to this matter. As the case proceeds, however, Levandowski's Fifth Amendment privilege assertion could change. Nevertheless, it's an intriguing twist that Levanowski acknowledges he may be criminally liable in this case and it adds more fuel to the already heated dispute between Google's Waymo and Uber. Waymo vs. Uber: What Happened For some context, Levandowski previously worked at Google where he was involved in the company's self-driving car project. The engineer then left Google and joined Uber, and Google's Waymo claims that Levandowski didn't leave empty-handed he stole thousands of documents that were confidential. Uber's defense so far has focused on why Waymo did not choose arbitration to deal with Levandowski's alleged breach of contract, as arbitration is the go-to solution required by contract for handling disputes with employees. Just earlier this week, however, news surfaced that Waymo did in fact seek arbitration last October, before proceeding to sue Uber back in February this year. On the other hand, that arbitration focused on claims of employee poaching without mentioning the theft of proprietary, confidential information, and Uber argues that those claims should also be dealt with in arbitration rather than a lawsuit. It remains to be seen how things will unfold as the case moves forward, but Uber could be banned from using any technology it may have copied from Google. Judge William Alsup, who is presiding over the case, told Uber that the allegations are very serious and the gravity of the matter, involving "genuine trade secrets," could lead to in a preliminary injunction. Uber's first public response in relation to this case will be on Friday, April 7, and the company is confident that the claims Waymo made against Uber have no ground and Levandowski has not used any Google files after departing the company. All in all, it looks like the case is heating up and it will be interesting to see how things pan out in the end. As always, we'll keep you up to date as soon as more details hit the surface. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Donald Trump's presidency has been riddled with questions with regard to his ties to the Russian government. The Chief Executive's allegations that the Obama administration wiretapped him have only added fuel to the fire, and Trump's own selected officials are not really giving the president's reputation a boost. In February, Trump's national security advisor, retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, was forced to resign after admitting that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of his communications with Russia. Now the sacked advisor is back and wants to make a deal with investigators in exchange for immunity. Flynn On The Allegations Flynn admitted that he spoke to the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, with regard to the Obama administration's increased sanctions on Russia. This was after the country's alleged role in hacking the Democratic Party in an effort to help then-Republican candidate Trump win the National Elections. The act in itself may not be too severe; however, Flynn communicated the information before he even discussed it with the new incoming president and vice president and did not immediately inform them of the communications. He finally apologized to Trump and Pence about his mistake when the information came out but was forced to resign anyway, and FBI and Senate investigations on the matter continued. Flynn's Request It was reported on March 30 that Flynn has come out and agreed to share his side of the story about the Russia issue, but the former security advisor will only do so in exchange for immunity. Robert Kelner, Flynn's attorney, posted a statement regarding this move on his Twitter account. He said that the media was proliferating unfounded allegations and that his client would willingly face the witch hunt if he is protected from unfair prosecution. "No reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution," Kelner wrote. You can read the full statement below. The Irony In 2016, when news about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server came out, Flynn publicly asserted that asking for immunity is somehow an admission of guilt. "When you are given immunity, that means you have probably committed a crime," Flynn said in an interview. Now Flynn's own words have come back to haunt him. You can watch the short clip below. Immunity For Flynn? Whether Flynn would be granted immunity or not is up to the authorities to decide. As of writing, both the House Intelligence Committee and Democratic Committee have denied receiving such an offer from Flynn, while the Department of Justice declined to comment. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Verizon has recently announced that a new launcher called AppFlash will join its range of preinstalled applications, but the Electronic Frontier Foundation or EFF says it's a blow to privacy. The EFF is the largest digital privacy advocate in the United States and it frequently draws attention to potential privacy violations and the implications that various apps, programs or actions might have. Verizon AppFlash Spyware In the case of AppFlash, Verizon teamed up with Evie and the resulting app launcher and search utility will be preinstalled on Verizon smartphones. According to the EFF, AppFlash is basically spyware and will severely damage users's privacy. The timing of this matter is worthy of note. On March 28, the U.S. Congress voted to repeal internet privacy rules, essentially allowing internet service providers to sell users's browsing history and data without their permission. The EFF says that the Congress's move is directly related to Verizon's new launcher, as the decision to reduce broadband privacy protection is what prompted the AppFlash announcement. Verizon AppFlash Privacy Policy Verizon reckons that it collects information about the user's device and use of the AppFlash services, and that data may include the user's phone number, device identifier, device type, operating system and other data regarding the AppFlash services and features the user interacts with. At the same time, it also accesses information about the applications installed on the device. With the user's permission, AppFlash also gathers data about the precise location of the device, as well as contact information stored on the device. "AppFlash information may be shared within the Verizon family of companies, including companies like AOL who may use it to help provide more relevant advertising within the AppFlash experiences and in other places, including non-Verizon sites, services and devices," Verizon explains. Compromising User Privacy And Security According to the EFF, Verizon plans to use AppFlash to monetize users's private data without requiring their consent, and the whole process could have grave repercussions. "With this spyware, Verizon will be able to sell ads to you across the Internet based on things like which bank you use and whether you've downloaded a fertility app," says the EFF. "Verizon's use of "AppFlash" an app launcher and web search utility that Verizon will be rolling out to their subscribers' Android devices "in the coming weeks" is just the latest display of wireless carriers' stunning willingness to compromise the security and privacy of their customers by installing spyware on end devices." At the same time, AppFlash poses another potential threat as hackers could exploit it. The EFF warns that hackers will soon start probing AppFlash for vulnerabilities in an attempt to use it as a back door to gain access to devices. The AppFlash app launcher itself is reportedly just a tweaked version of the existing Evie launcher. AppFlash will automatically roll out to Verizon devices in the next few weeks, but Evie is reportedly looking to license the launcher to other wireless carriers as well. The EFF concludes its warning by noting that Verizon should immediately stop trying to monitor users's behavior and just provide internet service without spying on its customers. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Jeff Bezos gives a glimpse of "the astronaut experience," as his private spaceflight company, Blue Origin, releases the first-ever photos of its New Shepard crew capsule. Blue Origin's New Shepard Capsule According to Blue Origin's website, the New Shepard system is a fully reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing space vehicle. "Our New Shepard flight-test program is focused on demonstrating the performance and robustness of the system. In parallel, we've been designing the capsule interior with an eye toward precision engineering, safety, and comfort," Bezos said in an email release. Named after Alan Shepard, the first NASA astronaut to take a suborbital trip to space in 1961, the passenger capsule's interior is an ample 530 cubic feet 10 times roomier than what Shepard had on his Mercury flight and can accommodate up to six astronauts. Check out some of the photos from Twitter. Blue Origin unveiled a capsule to launch tourists into space, with what it says are the "largest windows in space" https://t.co/BRFE5rq78W pic.twitter.com/CIfar4wdEA CNN International (@cnni) March 29, 2017 'Every Seat's A Window Seat' "Every seat's a window seat," Bezos noted, "the largest windows ever in space." Inside the vehicle, passengers will get the time of their life floating midair in a zero-gravity environment while enjoying unobstructed, out-of-this-world views of space. New Shepard capsule boasts of the largest windows in spaceflight history. Transmitting 92 percent of visible light, each glass-like window is made of several layers of fracture-proof transparencies designed to reduce distortion and reflection. Escape Motor Looking at the photos, one would notice a spherical console in the middle. Apparently, this is the New Shepard's escape motor. Unlike Apollo 11's escape system set on a tower, New Shepard's escape motor is mounted underneath the crew capsule to push the capsule away from in the event of an exploding booster. This safety feature has been verified during an in-flight test by Blue Origin back in October 2016. Customer Space Flights By 2018 The New Shepard rocket is still in its testing phase, launching and landing successfully for five times already. It's set to make its first human test flights by the end of this year and have commercial passengers on board by 2018. As expected, the 10-minute astronaut experience atop the 60-foot-tall rocket doesn't come cheap. While Blue Origin has not yet divulged any detail on the ticket price, experts say that a seat at the more high-end version of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft could play somewhere along the lines of $100,000 to $200,000. Space tourism is starting to become a thing these days with private spaceflight companies, such as Virgin Galactic and World View, as other potential players in the market. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A group of amateur archaeologists participating in a field walk off a British coastline has discovered an ancient mammoth tusk measuring 6 feet long. Members and volunteers of the Coastal and Intertidal Zone Archaeological Network, or CITiZAN, found the ancient relic during an unusually low-tide off the coast of Mersea Island on Thursday morning. Climate Change, Changing Sea Levels Expose Ancient Tusk Gustav Milne, from the Museum of London Archaeology, explained that changing sea levels and climate change have caused severe erosion on British coastlines exposing archaeological objects. Milne, who is also CITiZAN project leader, urged beach-walkers to report any unusual pieces of object that may turn out to be archaeological treasures such as the mammoth tusk. Milne explained that these objects are likely in the process of destruction citing that coastline erosions are both an agent of discovery and an agent of destruction. Discovered During A Field Walk The tusk was discovered by four volunteers during a field walk, in which the participants walk along the stretch of the beach and record what they find. They found the relic more than half a mile from the coast off Coopers Beach in Essex. The discovery was made when the tides were at the lowest point of the year. "A small and pointy feature poking out between the shingle and sands and was spotted by our eagle eyed volunteers," wrote Oliver Hutchinson on the CITiZAN's blog. "With a little cleaning of the area they were able to reveal the tusk of this beast from the east (of Mersea), a whopping 2m long!" In Situ Observations Mammoths have long been extinct so the tusk found is very old. This also means that the ivory was very fragile and would get damaged when touched and lifted out. To prevent such damage, the volunteers decided to gather samples and images of the tusk right at where it was found before covering it up again. The data and photographs gathered were used to produce a model. The team also collected some sands and clay underneath and around the tusk for analysis. The Extinct Mammoths The mammoth lived during the last Ice Age but because of a combination of factors, which include hunting and the changing climate, mammoths became extinct some 4,000 years ago. Remains of this prehistoric creature, however, continue to be found largely because of climate change. In Russia, ivory mammoth tusks are being found in the Siberian tundra because the warmer weathers have melted the permafrost where the tusks were buried. Fossils and remains of the mammoth offer researchers idea about how the creatures looked like, how big they were and their characteristics shedding more light on this close relative of the modern elephant and the environment they lived in thousands of years ago. A woolly mammoth found in the Arctic in 2012 showed hints that it died of injuries caused by ivory and stone tools suggesting that humans were around earlier than previously believed in an area scientists thought was uninhabited by people at the time. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Google has chosen a student's vision of the future as the winner of its Doodle4Google competition. That future belongs to Sarah Harrison, and it involves diversity, a crucial area of discussion of late. Her illustration makes it clear: a coterie of minorities are linked arm-in-arm, all of them in shirts that spell "Google," with each letter some form of symbolism for equality, peace, and fellowship. Doodle4Google Winner Focuses On A Diverse Future Harrison, a high school student from Connecticut, says her vision of the future is a world in which it's possible for everyone to learn to love each other irrespective of our core human aspects. "My future is a world where we can all learn to love each other despite our religion, gender, race, ethnicity, or sexuality," she tells Google in reference to her design. Harrison's form of utopia doesn't involve flying cars, two-way trips to Mars, or merging of artificial intelligence in tandem with the human race. She has opted to show something much simpler and commonplace, a concept so easily understandable in today's broad spectrum of compassion, yet extremely challenged: "I dream of a future where everyone is safe and accepted wherever they go, whoever they are." Harrison's doodle, called "A Peaceful Future," went live on Google's homepage Friday, March 31. It was the culmination of an annual event by Google in which K-12 students craft their own Google Doodles, as informed by this year's theme: "What I see for the future." Doodle4Google Prizes Winning the Doodle4Google competition earns Harrison a $30,000 college scholarship, a Chromebook, an Android tablet, and the opportunity to visit Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California to meet with the Doodle team. In addition, her high school will also be granted a $50,000 technology fund. Her doodle was picked by a diverse set of panelists which includes Sia, Simone Biles, Jimmy Kimmel, Brenda Chapman, and others. Apart from Harrison, Google also named other finalists belonging to each of the other age groups. They will each receive a $5,000 scholarship, a trip to Google's headquarters, a Chromebook, and an Android tablet. "The winning artists from this year's contest shared powerful visions for the world of tomorrow with artwork that advocated for a cleaner environment, worldwide equality, advancing technology, and more. The next generation showed us a bright and hopeful future," says Google. Google Doodles For the uninitiated, Doodles are a staple part of Google's homepage, often signifying historical or modern-day events, celebrating a cultural touchstone; or honoring key individuals in the field of art, science, technology, medicine, and others. The first Doodle appeared in 1998, and since then, Google has leveraged it for purposes aforementioned. More often than not, Doodles are premeditated and planned in advance, although Google has been compelled to create Doodles at the behest of a recent and significant event, such as the death of the musician Prince last year. Other Doodle4Google entries show a bright vision ahead, showing, among other things, the advancement of virtual reality; the increased prominence and visibility of women in the field of science; and continued space exploration, which has decidedly been dormant decades after the moon landing. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Sleep is vital for the physical and mental well-being of an individual. It is the only time when the body and mind are completely at rest. For an average adult, doctors are known to recommend at least seven hours of sound sleep each night. However, insomnia and late night shifts have resulted in the rise of sleep deprivation among many. A new study links the lack of sleep to major coronary diseases like heart attacks and strokes. How Was The Study Conducted? The research was conducted by Qiao He and colleagues from China Medical University in Shenyang. The researchers analyzed 15 studies done in the same field with at least two years of follow-up to 160,867 participants. Previous studies linked insomnia to a general deterioration in health, but the sleep disorder has never been specifically tied to heart ailments. The researchers focused primarily on recording any sleep disorder among the participants, which may include difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, as well as waking up early in the morning. The team also maintained a record of cardiovascular diseases. Insomnia Leads To Heart Ailments? The researchers concluded that sleep deprivation ups the risk of affliction from heart disease significantly. The results showed that people who faced difficulty initiating sleep were affected the most. The risk of heart attacks and stroke was increased by 27 percent in such individuals. Those who underwent non-restorative sleep were also affected significantly. The chances of heart attack increased by 18 percent in these people. The risk rose by 11 percent for participants who had difficulty maintaining proper sleep throughout the night. However, the researchers were unable to tie early morning awakening to increased risk of cardiac ailments. "Sleep is important for biological recovery and takes around a third of our lifetime, but in modern society more and more people complain of insomnia," said He. The researcher stated that according to a report, one in every three individuals in Germany suffered from sleep disorder. The study showed that women are at a greater risk of developing insomnia due to their reaction to stress, as well as their sex hormones. The researchers advised the general public to pay more attention to their sleeping patterns and to visit a doctor if irregularities are noted. Previous studies have shown that sleep disorder leads to reduced metabolism, high blood pressure, and overall change in the endocrine system's functionality. So, it was only a matter of time that researchers linked it to cardiovascular complications as well. The results of the study were published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Venezuela and Colombia resumed air operations on Monday with an inaugural flight departing from Caracas to Bogota after more than two years of suspension, said the Caribbean country's... | Read More Louis Sirico bought the Deluxe Inn on Airline Highway in 2014 with big plans to refurbish the old motel. But more than a year later, his dreams of turning the Deluxe into the Elf Express Hotel dissolved, as he became entangled in legal disputes with his contractor: Matthew Morris, the now jailed owner of Complete Construction Contractors. Sirico has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with $5 million in debt. After a sheriffs sale in November, his major lender, a California doctor, owns the unfinished 220-room motel just south of I-12, according to East Baton Rouge Parish land and federal bankruptcy filings. Sirico, who lived in California but moved to Baton Rouge to focus on his project, claims the hotel got turned upside down when Morris inflated the rehabilitation costs and was able to tap directly into Siricos financing. Law enforcement agencies allege Morris used similar methods to defraud more than two dozen home owners last year after the August flood. In an 11-page written report, Siricos Baton Rouge-based engineer, Michael Stein, concluded Morris was paid $1.4 million for what amounted to $745,000 worth of work. Sirico says he took his complaints about Morris to the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors in late 2015 and and 2016. In fact, his project landed Morris with the one fine he received from the contractor board before the flood. But the hotel developer maintains the board essentially slapped Morris on the wrist and didn't take his allegations seriously. Other pre-flood clients of Complete Construction have also said they complained to the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors and the Louisiana State Attorney Generals Office about Morris, but could not get the agencies interested. In response, the Attorney Generals Office and contractors board have said they dont delve into disputes over contractor workmanship, which they largely consider private matters. Morris has maintained his innocence in his criminal cases. In civil court, Morris has denied overcharging Sirico, saying the hotel developer in fact owes him money. In late 2015, a state district judge in Baton Rouge granted Morris a partial victory, upholding some of his fees and costs. "A trial was held and after nearly a full day of testimony, (19th Judicial District) Judge Michael Caldwell rejected the arguments of the owner and upheld the timely filed liens," Sirico's former attorney John Andrishok said in a letter. On Siricos hotel project, the contractors board did give Morris the maximum fine of $1,000 for using unlicensed subcontractors, but, in a no contest plea in May, the contractor was allowed to retain his license and keep working. They should have canceled his license a long time ago, Sirico said. I mean a $1,000 fine is ridiculous. Sirico said the contractor's board initially contacted him in November 2015 in connection with other complaints about Morris and that he met in person with investigators three times, even visiting his hotel with them. He said he submitted the assessment that Stein conducted for him in December 2015, but, when the board met on Morris in May, he never even got to speak. (Morris) just abused the system. He absolutely knew the system and how to work it, and he absolutely had everybody, everybody played, Sirico said. Brad Hassert, board compliance director, said the board chose not to take action on Sirico's broader complaint about Morris. While Hassert said he could not say why, he noted the board does not get involved in contractual disputes. He added the unlicensed contractor charge brought against Morris came as the result of "a review of ongoing projects by our office, not by a complaint from anyone." Nearly nine months later, Morris was arrested Feb. 8 in Ascension Parish on multiple contractor and insurance fraud counts stemming from the August food. Since then, other local agencies have made arrests and the contractors board suspended Morris license temporarily, pending a hearing April 20 in which he could have it revoked. In all, Morris has been arrested on 119 counts of contractor and insurance fraud, as well as other charges, that law enforcement says involve 26 victims in Ascension and Livingston parishes and in Baton Rouge, Denham Springs and Walker. More charges are pending. Sirico's case did not result in any criminal charges. It did spawn a round robin of lawsuits among Sirico, Morris and Siricos lender, Dr. Michael Harbour of Palo Alto, California, blaming one another for the failed deal and unpaid bills. Contracts that Morris had with some of his post-flood clients show he was able to get power of attorney from homeowners. With it, he was able to deal directly with homeowners insurers for payment, some victims and former employees said. Law enforcement authorities have said Morris used his estimating program to inflate costs and that once Morris clients backed out, he put liens on their property, hindering their ability to recover. In Siricos case, the hotel project was a commercial job with a lender Harbour funding the rehabilitation work. According to suits filed over the failed project, Morris insisted on having direct access to Harbour. Money would be deposited in a bank account, which Morris could tap as needed. Sirico said that while he agreed to that condition, Morris was not supposed to get funds unless Stein, the third-party engineer, approved the expenditures. Siricos contract with Complete Construction began at $885,606 when work started in March 2015 but rose through a series of change orders to $1.62 million by August 2015, the engineer Stein found. With Stein raising questions about Morris expenses, Sirico balked when Morris wanted another $1.7 million in the fall of 2015 to finish the job after the hotel had been gutted and partially refinished, a lawsuit filed by Sirico alleges. Stein agreed with Sirico that Morris was supposed to clear payments through him but said that Morris never gave him expenses to review before payment from Siricos lender. I did not see any payment applications in this entire process, Stein said. (Morris) dealt directly with the lender and submitted the payment applications and got payment from them. Morris filed liens against Sirico for left-over construction and demobilization costs and 15 percent termination fees once he backed out, which hindered Siricos ability to get additional financing to save the hotel, his attorneys have said. Judge Caldwell threw out one of Morris' liens but upheld nearly $597,000 in liens for costs and termination fees in December 2015. The decision, which centered around the appropriateness and timeliness of the liens, was supposed to push the contract dispute to arbitration. Morris never pursued it, reasoning, his former lawyer Andrishok said, that there werent any funds left to pursue from the project. Siricos bankruptcy several months later halted that process anyway. Sirico has sued Harbour for bad faith, alleging that he spoke with and paid Morris improperly without Steins approval. Harbour sued Sirico in Louisiana and California for payment of $1.8 million in principal, interest and fees. The Louisiana suit led to the seizure and sale of the hotel in late last year to Harbour. In court papers, Harbour has disputed Siricos allegations. Harbour declined comment last month. These days, Sirico is now living and working in Canada, and the Elf Express Hotel's sign on Airline has a big for sale sign out across it. The hotel remains only partially finished. Every time I read a (not infrequent) letter to The Advocate by Michael Hale in praise of the Affordable Care Act or its surrogates, I'm remind FILE - This Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 file photo shows pills of the painkiller hydrocodone at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. Accidental overdoses aren't the only deadly risk from using powerful prescription painkillers _ the drugs may also contribute to heart-related deaths and other fatalities, according to research published Tuesday, June 14, 2016. "As bad as people think the problem of opioid use is, it's probably worse," said Wayne Ray, the lead author and a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University's medical school. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot) ORG XMIT: NY647 Rafael Schincariol, 34, was arrested Thursday (Mar. 30) on one count of third degree rape, records show. The Federal Court has ordered all work stop on the demolition of Bruce Hall until Tuesday. The Bruce Hall Alumni Association sought the temporary halt on Saturday amid fears the demolition would be irreversible before its challenge to the works was heard next week. The Packard Wing at Bruce Hall. Approval has been granted to demolish the accommodation wings of the Australian National University college. Credit:Melissa Adams Judge John Griffiths prevented the university "from doing any work involved in demolishing any part of the buildings comprising Bruce Hall" until 10.15am on Tuesday, when the matter will be heard. Bruce Hall Alumni Association president Bec Duncan said her organisation feared dismantling of the buildings meant "they wouldn't be worth saving" if work continued through the weekend. Playgrounds in the new development of Googong have been built with adventure in mind as a counter to what the designers described as "boring" modern projects. The proponents of the Gumnut Park, which opened off Aprasia Avenue in the town last week, promised exciting new ideas and ways to offer fun and challenges for children. Jenny Petkevicius with daughter Lilah Hara, 4, at the Gumnut Park in Googong. Googong project director Malcolm Leslie said the imaginative play was important to the design of the park equipment. "There is a worldwide debate at the moment about whether city parks are losing their educational value," he said. Property owners and tenants who fund Canberra city's $1.8 million marketing and improvements body have welcomed a review into its spending. In The City Canberra is a non-profit organisation that manages clean-ups and runs community events in Civic, Braddon and Turner, through a levy paid by private property owners in the areas. A.J's watch repairs watchmaker Krysztof Jakubaszek believes the levy that funds In The City Canberra could be put to better use. Credit:Karleen Minney On Friday, the ACT government sent a survey to the levy payers, asking if the organisation's spending met their expectations. In The City contributed to events such as the Curry Festival, the Winter Festival, The Comedy Festival, Christmas In The City and Art Not Apart. It also manages graffiti, street art and decorative lighting. St Kilda star Jack Steven is set to spend at least another night in a Perth hospital after suffering a punctured lung in his side's 19-point loss to West Coast at Domain Stadium on Saturday night. Steven took a knock to the chest late in the match and was taken for precautionary X-rays to a Perth hospital. While the Saints initially hoped he could fly back with teammates on Saturday night, the confirmed punctured lung meant he needed to remain in Western Australia. St Kilda said on Sunday that Steven would spend Sunday night in Perth, and would fly back to Melbourne with club doctor Tim Barbour on either Monday or Tuesday. The Saints have ruled three-time best and fairest Steven out of their clash next Sunday against the Brisbane Lions at Etihad Stadium, and he looks no guarantee to be back to face Collingwood the following week. I've always had a curious and oft troubling affection for Bronwyn Bishop, but goodness she strains it sometimes. This week was a case in point, as she went ballistic over being exposed on the front page of the Herald Sun over having refused to co-operate with a government inquiry into her expenses over the past 10 years. She provided details for just two years, and then more or less told them to get nicked, she wasn't playing any more. On the day the Hun released the details, the redoubtable Ms Bishop thundered, endlessly, on Sky: "Gimme a break It's one rule for those on the conservative side and another rule for socialists." Listen, I accept, Ms Bishop, that the Herald Sun is a well-known socialist rag, run by a bunch of pinkos just as I guess some might think the Turnbull government has socialist tinges. But I think both also felt a bit grim about the ALP's Sam Dastyari's expense proclivities? Yes, and I think in Sam's case, he wasn't even saved because he was asking the Chinese to pay, not the taxpayer, and the sum at issue was the barest fraction of yours? Ditto, in the silent watch of the night does it occur to you as a smidgen odd to rail against the whole notion of "socialism" when across our brown and pleasant land we, the unwashed masses, are contributing a quarter of a million dollars to your coffers every year for the rest of your life, with no work required on your part? Elizabeth Teather (Letters, March26) makes a good point when she refers to the tenacious defence of their suburbs by the residents of Reid and Braddon (and elsewhere in the inner north and south). Personally, I support them and all those others who like the city the way it is, or has been until fairly recently. The ACT government's advertising on Northbourne Avenue, which claims the support of Walter Burley Griffin for the obscenity of the tram and all that goes with it is farcical. Griffin talked about "a city like no other" where the city was blended into its surroundings. That is what the planners until the last decade or two achieved and it is the "big picture" that we ought to retain. But the present government, which will turn the West Basin into another Kingston Foreshore and has already destroyed Northbourne Avenue, has other ideas. When they have finished, Canberra will be like every other city on earth, congested and lacking the natural beauty it has now. Self-government was inevitable but no one anticipated quite the level of incompetence we see now. The sorrow of Australia's closest neighbour can be heard in the words of Lucinda Gulluman-Kisip, a 39-year-old woman from Port Moresby, who sees first hand the struggle of modern expectation and cultural tradition in Papua New Guinea. A country richly endowed with enough natural resources to generate enormous wealth has instead stumbled under the burden of corruption and endemic domestic violence. The proportion of PNG national budget spent on health and education is a trickle of what is required. "There's a lot of change happening," Gulluman-Kisip explains in today's Sunday Age. "It does create how should I say this conflict between the new and the old." A local carries wood at Kilima, Papua New Guinea. Credit:Stephen Dupont The potential in PNG is undoubted and its people deserve hope for the future. The country also needs help from a neighbour, and Australia owes part of its own success to the decades PNG was historically exploited as a colony. But the ongoing challenge is how to assist a neighbour rightly proud of its own independence while still being accountable to the expectations of Australian taxpayers. PNG has made an extraordinary request of Australia in recent weeks: to effectively transfer the entire $550 million of foreign aid dedicated to the country into Port Moresby's coffers, to prop up funding for schools, hospital and infrastructure. The PNG government has complained that aid money is currently too encumbered with administrative demands and tied to specific projects, often with Australian business involvement. It is becoming ever more apparent that the for-profit sector is not suited to providing services such as vocational education and energy supply. When a profit has to be generated, irresolvable conflicts of interest are created when the community wants qualified staff and high-quality facilities to deliver vital public services. Surely it is time for the community through the government to take control of providing and funding these essential services. It can't be more expensive to fund services than to fund the profits of some of the so-called providers who have been found sorely wanting. Rae Barclay, Highton THE FORUM Such a foolish country The rest of the world is laughing at Australia. China thinks we are just a hole in the ground, and one that we are making bigger as quickly as possible for its benefit. We sign free trade agreements to our disadvantage. We flog off natural resources to the lowest bidder and privatise our utilities to anyone who will take them. Anything to help the next budget. There is no vision. We fall over ourselves to allow foreign investors to buy local businesses, land and houses, something that is nigh on impossible for Australians to do in Japan or China. Then we refuse to acknowledge the effects of that investment on our housing market and lock a generation out of affordable housing. China takes a long-term view of what it wants to achieve; we don't know what to do next week. Stephen Dinham, Surrey Hills It's a capital idea If the capital gains tax was applied to the family home at a very low level and gradually increased over, say, 25 years, this could help affordability. It would deter people from targeting home ownership as a tax-free investment. Andrew Remington, Travancore Aid a form of justice It is good that Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells knows that "aid is not charity". Pity about her concern about aid being of "direct benefit to the Australian public". Has she considered aid might be a matter of justice? Chris Smyth, Mornington Freedom to vilify Donald Trump's leadership is toxic and in no way a friend of working men and women of America, despite Trump's uncanny ability to convince (or perhaps "con") them that a billionaire has their best interests at heart. A truly remarkable feat. Much less remarkable, in fact positively disturbing, is the surge of "hate crimes" and "hate groups" across the US a testament to Trump's leadership style and "inflammatory rhetoric" ("A blind prejudice", 26/3). He provides salient lessons for Australia. But are we observing the warning signs? Apparently not. The constant push to raise the bar for ethnic and minority groups to prove they are being vilified is not a step in the right direction. This is not freedom of speech but freedom to vilify. John Fitzsimmons, Mornington We need a backbone For internet speed, Australia, the country that plans to make its future in innovation, is behind such tech heavies as Taiwan, Spain, Poland and Slovakia. Sweet little Ireland is crushing us. Meanwhile, we worry about parsing Section 18C and burnish our image by shouting at hopeless racists. But that's not governing. We need fibre. We are way behind. John Zuill, Selby Mean and offensive The government gets meaner and more offensive by the day. Its comments about penalty rates and people on low incomes are unforgivable, as is its approach to the budget, which is based on squeezing the most disadvantaged. Fiona White, Ballarat Wage theft My daughter works part-time in retail for a major clothing chain and is paid marginally more than the minimum wage. She is second in charge and expected to manage the shop in her manager's absence. She often works all day on her own without a lunch break, and was not even paid for those worked breaks until she queried it. Arguments for not increasing the minimum wage suggest that those on such wages are in basic unskilled jobs or just starting out. Not so! In fact, experienced workers are seeing their lowly wages stagnate while corporate greed, white-collar theft and government waste run rampant. Keeping wages down is "wage theft". Name and address withheld 'Nothing' pays back The grand prix is under fire for offering an "opportunity" to work for nothing (News, 26/3). Volunteers are the backbone of successful events. Without them, most events are not viable. Adam Portelli, by all means force the event managers to pay volunteers, but we will know who to blame when we haven't got an event and the hundreds of contractors, suppliers and their staff who rely on the income from major events are out of work. Rodney Leembruggen, Brighton East Hotels of different hue Does it really pass the pub test that an MP can pay a spouse nearly $300 a day for staying at their investment property? Especially when you and I are paying for the politician's travel allowance. As a federal public service employee, I wasn't allowed to claim an allowance when I stayed at a friend's house for an extended period of work. Shouldn't politicians follow the same rules? They are public servants, after all. Yet it would be easy for them to get around such restrictions: Mr A would stay at the investment property of Mrs B and vice versa. Would that pass the pub or sniff test? Not mine. Just because something doesn't "break the rules" doesn't make it OK. But I guess Malcolm Turnbull and I will continue to drink at very different pubs. Judy Bamberger, O'Connor, ACT Yearn for days of yore In years past I knew a politician who refused to accept invitations to attend free-of-charge sporting or other events that his voters would have to pay to attend. He believed invitations were attempts to suborn him. Now, not only can MPs accept invitations but also charge to taxpayers the cost of travelling to the event. I prefer the older attitude. Leo Redden, West Beach, SA It is cool to study Tackling educational inequality is not just about money and valuing teachers. There is a need to tackle familial and community influences. I grew up in a poor suburb; our school was under-resourced and our teachers lacked qualifications. Unfortunately, my parents thought educated people were snobs. And at my school, it wasn't "cool" to study. I'd wait until my parents went to bed so I could turn on the lights to read, and I would pretend to fit in at school. University was a struggle financially and culturally. When at home I would dumb down and disown my education. Anti-education biases persist today. Getting a good education in such an environment requires vision, focus, tenacity and unique skills. We need to change this culture and empower those caught up in it. Annette Allman, Brunswick Eliminate the plastic Kenya has done it, as has Rwanda and even Ethiopia. So why can't we get a grip and ban plastic bags? Kenyans care about tourism and their environment. Do we care any less for our country? Barbara Coleman, Townsville, Queensland Two bags fool I applaud Aldi's policy in not issuing customers with plastic bags. Recently I watched a customer in my local supermarket pick two bananas off a shelf and put them in a plastic bag. At the check-out she placed her purchase into a plastic carry bag. I wish I'd had the courage to ask why she thought this was necessary. That carrying a reusable bag was not difficult. To point out that every year hundreds of thousands of marine animals such as whales, dolphins and turtles are killed through ingesting plastic bags, mistaking them for food such as jellyfish. But would it have made any difference? I doubt it. For until Victoria's government follows the lead of South Australia, the NT and Tasmania and introduces a ban on single-use plastic bags (a ban with 70 per cent support) there will still be shoppers who see no problem in placing two bananas in two plastic bags. Alison Davies, Surrey Hills Living with danger Reading calls for nuclear power has a whole different resonance when living in Japan. Here, people have lived experience of the dangers of such power. They are not living in a fantasy land created by manufacturers, apologists and people who've never seen the devastation of radiation contamination. They're not thinking: "Oh well, Chernobyl was a catastrophe whose effects will be felt for hundreds if not thousands of years, but let's just go ahead and trust that everything will be OK because we are used to nuclear disasters now." No, they are not. The Japanese face clean-up bills for generation after generation because nuclear power isn't safe and the cost of mistakes is so high. And there will always be mistakes. Just ask the people of Tohoku. Mark Minchinton, Kumamoto, Japan A glimmer of hope Just when it seems humanity is so bitterly divided that it can't heal, along comes a report ("Charity without borders", 26/3) of breathtaking beauty, hope and compassion, forcing one to re-evaluate the pessimism and despair as to where we are heading. One of the country's top decision-makers has been seconded from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to Bupa, the country's largest health insurer that is set to benefit the most from the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme. Rebecca Cross, the department's head of domestic policy was originally seconded under a program run in partnership between the Australian Public Service Commission and the Business Council of Australia, but in the first arrangement of its kind, has now extended her contract at the multi-billion-dollar insurer directly through an arrangement with Prime Minister and Cabinet. The move has raised questions over a potential conflict of interest when she returns next year from the multinational insurer where she was acting as their head of government relations. The Public Service Commission program has so far secured placements for 20 of the country's highest public servants in state and federal governments across companies such as Virgin, Deloitte and Qantas. Residents across south-east Queensland began the slow process of cleaning up after floodwaters at their homes on Saturday while those in Rockhampton began preparations for a major flooding event next week. Yatala Pie's Manager Heather Gay puts on a brave face with staff. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams Additional emergency services personnel were sent to the region along with the Australian Defence Force, as Rockhampton prepared for a large-scale flood event in the city itself and in surrounding hinterland areas such as Dawson and Fitzroy River. Damage assessments also continued across the state, with more than 4,000 properties having been checked between Mackay and Bowen and more than 500 in the south-east. Local residents stand near rising flood waters in Kokoda Street on April 1 at Beenleigh. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams About 600 residences were declared uninhabitable up north from the assessments, while only 30 were not suitable in the south-east - but this number was expected to rise by two to three hundred on Sunday. There was some good news from the weather bureau, with forecasts for the coming days indicating clear weather for the clean-up process. "The good news is we're not expecting significant weather over Queensland for the next few days, apart from odd shower or two on coast," BoM regional director Bruce Gunn said. Meanwhile, Logan residents braced for flood levels not seen since 1974, with 250 homes expected to be inundated with water, Logan Mayor Luke Smith declared the region was "in a state of natural disaster". Logan River was expected to peak at 10.3 metres on Saturday as residents in low-lying suburb of Eagleby were bracing for a flood peak of six metres by Saturday evening. Logan Hospital remained isolated after Loganlea Road was cut off in two sections, which prompted the state government to suspend tolls on the Logan Motorway to allow emergency hospital access. Sewage overflows occurred in the lower reaches of the Brisbane River and Logan River as well as the Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay waterways, Queensland Health warned on Saturday. Everyone in affected areas are warned to stay out of floodwaters. Emergency crews worked to get resources out to isolated pockets at Jimboomba, a suburb of Logan, as Woodhill Rural Fire Brigade opened it's doors to provide hot showers, tea and coffee, food, water and power boards to help keep residents informed. "People want to be well-informed, they want to know what's happening with the river if it's rising or falling," First Officer Mr Heilbronn said. Emergency Services Minister Mark Ryan paid a visit to the Rural Fire Brigade volunteers and thanked them for their work. "Across the state we've got people stepping up, not just our emergency services, but volunteers like the Woodhill Rural Fire Brigade making sure we're keeping people safe and providing support when they need it," he said. Residents in the Scenic Rim were urged to conserve drinking water as additional water was tankered into the region to supplement storage levels. Biosecurity Queensland will be monitoring the effects, if any, the Logan River flooding will have on the ongoing prawn farms in the region after white spot disease was found in wild prawns in the river earlier this year. At 5pm on Saturday, more than 16,000 homes remained without power across the south-east as 200 Rural Fire Service and State Emergency Service volunteers worked on the central coast with the priority of restoring power to homes that had been without electricity for days. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stopped off in Mackay on Saturday morning to announce the availability of hardship grants of $150 per person or $750 to families of five or more who have gone without power, gas or water for five days or longer across Mackay and the Whitsundays. "These grants for loss of essential services will help residents get back on their feet," she said. "We know that the loss of power for days on end can mean spoiled food and force the purchase of bottled water, and these grants can help cover some of these costs for affected residents." The grants were available on top of the $180 offered to individuals or $900 for families as part of the Federal Government's natural disaster relief funding. By Friday afternoon, the Community Recovery Hotline had already taken 3300 calls from people needing information and support to apply for these grants. Across the central coast region, the Shute Harbour Jetty, the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, remains closed for the "foreseeable future". People in Bowen, Airlie Beach and Canonvale have been told not to drink water from the tap or to boil it because it may contain bacteria levels that exceed normal levels. "Whitsunday Regional Council will continue to monitor the situation and is working closely with Queensland Health until the system is completely restored to normal and we are confident there is no longer a public health concern," a council website alert read. In a small sign of recovery, the Whitsunday Coast Airport announced it would be open on Sunday and will receive commercial flights into the area. Queensland's famous pie factory, Yatala Pies, continued it's clean-up after about 20 centimetres of water inundated the building and claimed about 10,000 pies in the process. On Saturday afternoon the Premier visited Rockhampton where she told residents to start preparing for severe flooding. Low-lying parts of the city are expected to be hit with flooding at levels not seen since 1954, with the Fitzroy River expected to peak at 9.4 metres on Wednesday. "Some people living in this town have not seen a flood of this magnitude because the last time was in 1954," she said. "We could see over 3000 home impacted, over 1500 businesses so now is the time to prepare, now is the time to get ready. "Cyclone Debbie is not done with us yet." SES workers erected temporary levees at Rockhampton Airport and the north Rockhampton suburb of Berserker and residents in affected areas were urged to evacuate to higher ground. "It is a building block affect, every moment new information comes to hand and we can get much better predictions about what those heights will be," Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said in an emergency briefing on Saturday morning. "Those of you in low-lying areas...check local government maps...if you can move your property now I would suggest you do that." Rockhampton Mayor Margaret Strelow said Rockhampton Airport and the railway would go under during the flood event. "We will lose our airport, we will lose the railway," she said. It is understood the airport was likely to close at noon on Monday and was expected to be closed for about a week. "We won't get a wall of water but we will get a gentle inundation...the height of this will have a serious impact on the economy," she said. "We recognise that people are going to do it tough for a little while, we will have an evacuation centre for those who need it." Ex-Cyclone Debbie causes flooding in south-east Queensland Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Police have charged six teenagers following a series of violent aggravated burglaries across Melbourne's northern and western suburbs. Altona North Divisional Response Unit members arrested the six males following the spate of aggravated burglaries in St Albans, Caroline Springs, Greensborough and Truganina between 1.20am and 4am on Friday morning. A 37-year-old man remains in a critical condition after the stabbing. Credit:Georgia Matts Adhel Adhel, 19, of Taylors Hill, and Neok Mongrag, 18, of Kings Park, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Saturday. They did not apply for bail and were remanded to appear at Sunshine Magistrates Court on April 12. Malcolm Turnbull has stared down the right-wing of his own party which has hamstrung his leadership and asserted that the Liberals should be the party of the "sensible centre". After passing a compromised version of his big business tax cuts late on Friday, the Prime Minister reset his own position, invoking the philosophy of founder Robert Menzies and telling the party's state council meeting in Melbourne that the Liberals should reject "populism". "Menzies rejected the populism, the authoritarianism of both left and right. He knew that the future ... was in the sensible centre; was in the politics, not reactionary, but liberal, proudly liberal," Mr Turnbull said. "Above all, you build from the centre, bringing people together, and that is our commitment." Washington: An experimental Zika vaccine has moved successfully into broader testing, with the first volunteer receiving a test dose in Houston, Texas, earlier this week. Testing will also begin in Miami, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, and by June, researchers hope to enroll more than 2000 volunteers in those cities and other regions in the Americas to determine whether the vaccine is effective in preventing infection, a top US researcher said. Ana Livia, centre, who was born with microcephaly, is held by her mother Janaina during a Christmas party in support of children with deficiencies, in Recife, Brazil. Credit:Getty Images The experimental vaccine, developed by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States, is one of the first to progress to expanded testing of at least a half-dozen candidates in the development pipeline in the US. Initial results could be available by the end of this year. If this next phase shows good results, and another outbreak of Zika flares in South America or elsewhere, it's possible that the Food and Drug Administration could make the vaccine available on an emergency basis, said NIAID Director Anthony Fauci. This afternoon, President Donald Trump declared April 2017 Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Truly a grand gesture from a man who has done so much for many womens personal awareness of sexual assault. As we recognize National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, we are reminded that we all share the responsibility to reduce and ultimately end sexual violence, read the presidents proclamation. As a Nation, we must develop meaningful strategies to eliminate these crimes, including increasing awareness of the problem in our communities, creating systems that protect vulnerable groups, and sharing successful prevention strategies. One might argue that no proclamation Trump will sign as president could possibly raise as much awareness of sexual assault as his own words. Im automatically attracted to beautiful womenI just start kissing them, said Trump, the same guy who just declared this coming month a month for reducing sexual assault, back in 2005. Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait. And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab em by the pussy. Since tape of Trump bragging about sexual assault surfaced last October, awareness of sexual assault has remained pretty high. More than 10 women have accused Trump of sexually accosting them without their consent. I cant even look at the man without remembering that I am aware of sexual assault. An entire marchone of the largest political demonstrations in American historyoccurred on the day after Trumps inauguration, mainly involving women who seemed pretty aware of sexual assault. Our families, schools, and communities must encourage respect for women and children, who are the vast majority of victims, and promote healthy personal relationships, said the proclamation President Trump signed today. April is traditionally designated Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, and so Trump was stuck. Either he went with historical precedent, or he, an admitted aficionado of sexual assault, broke with it. Its hard to fathom a world in which the presidents team thought any scenario could go well for him from a public relations perspective. Hes just wrapping up one of the more unpleasant Womens History Months of all time, which, in turn, occurred on the heels of an uncomfortable Black History Month. The only way these months could get more awkward for Trump from a public relations standpoint is if May was Bankruptcy Awareness Month. Or perhaps Russian Human Rights Violation Awareness Month. 26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military-only 238 convictions, tweeted Donald Trump back in 2013. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together? The tweet is still up. Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign, said Trump, also, during a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, back in October. Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over. As of right now, none of the women who accused Trump of sexual assault have been sued. Womens groups who opposed Trumps election are, shockingly, unimpressed. For women everywhere, particularly survivors of sexual assault, this statement is a disgusting attempt to re-write history, said Stephanie Schriok, president of EMILYs List. We all remember Trump bragging about being able to sexually assault women because he was famous. If Trump thinks one statement will cover up his decades of abuse leveled at women, he should think again. Women remember. New financial disclosures show Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway worked for the Center for Medical Progress, a pro-life group facing felony criminal charges in California for allegations that it illegally used false identities to record undercover videos of conversations with abortion providers. The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released its first round of videos in July of 2015, which drew attention to the fact that numerous abortion providers provide fetal tissue to biomedical researchers, who in turn provide them with financial compensation to offset those costs. CMPs videos energized pro-life activists and drew significant criticism from supporters of abortion rights, who argued they were doctored and intended to stigmatize the abortion procedure. Abortion has always been a political lightning rod, but the CMP videos forced the issue in a way that hadnt been seen before. Planned Parenthood rallied a bevy of patients and celebrity supporters to defend the procedure and its providers, and Hillary Clintonthen a presidential candidateas unequivocal about her support for the group and abortion rights. Meanwhile, Trump and his allies ripped the organization. And pro-life outside groups, including the Susan B. Anthony List, organized activists in swing states to push back against the procedure. The Center for Medical Progress is listed as one of many that Conway consulted for in 2016. That list was made available through her Executive Branch Personnel public financial disclosure report, which the White House released on Friday night. Conway has long supported conservative pro-life candidates and causes. Unlike many Trump himselfwho praised Planned Parenthood during the campaignConway is viewed as a principled and unflinching opponent of abortion rights. Abortion rights have become a central focus of the Trump presidency. Last week, Vice President Mike Pence broke a tie vote in the Senate to let state governments block Title X federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood abortion providers. And pro-life advocates have pushed for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to prosecute abortion providers for their fetal tissue programs. Meanwhile, though, CMP is under immense legal pressure in California. The states attorney general, Xavier Becerra, announced on March 28 that he had filed an arrest warrant along with 15 criminal charges against David Daleiden, who heads CMP. The right to privacy is a cornerstone of Californias Constitution, and a right that is foundational in a free democratic society, said Attorney General Becerra. We will not tolerate the criminal recording of confidential conversations. California has a state law barring people from recording conversations without the consent of all the parties involved, which is why Daleidens group is in significant legal trouble there. Conways filing shows she worked for a number of other conservative groups, including the NRA, Citizens United, and the American Conservative Union, which hosts CPAC. She also consulted for Rep. Rod Blums reelection campaign. Blum is a member of the Freedom Caucus, which Trump recently tweeted he would need to fight. On top of that, Conway also consulted for the Center for Security Policy, a conspiracy theory-minded outlet helmed by Frank Gaffney, a former advisor to Ted Cruzs presidential campaign. Gaffney has long held that Huma Abedin is a covert agent for Islamists and that Grover Norquist, the conservative anti-tax lobbyist, is in cahoots with terrorists as well. Conway also worked for establishment Republican groups, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Republican Governors Association. If it is possible for a play to succeed with the sound off, then surely The Hairy Ape counts. This remake of Eugene ONeills 1922 classic sprawls across the Park Avenue Armory, that 55,000 square foot 19th century drill hall, the action on the stage playing out as oversized shadows against a paint-crumbling back wall. This isnt a play; its a piece of art, played out over a crisp ninety minutes. Its a painting, or a puppet show. You dont see it, so much as sink into it. Such pyrotechnics are necessary, since much of ONeill has trouble translating across the decades since his death, not least The Hairy Ape. The play is the story of Yank, played energetically here by Bobby Cannavale in what, even though it is a bit of a single-note job, will surely be remembered as a career-defining performance. Yank, shirtless and covered in enough soot to make him look like a Maori tribesman, shovels coal in the engine room of a transatlantic liner, surrounded by a sycophantic ensemble. He is the ruler of this underworld, stoking the fires to keep the machinery moving, roaring at any crewmember who challenge his supremacy. All is well enough until a damsel in discontent, Mildred Douglas (Catherine Combs), the daughter of a steel magnate, decides to start slumming it and visit the stokehole that is powering her way across the sea. The sight, particularly of the brutish, profane Yank disgusts her. Yanks subterranean supremacy is shattered, and he plots revenge. He makes his way to Fifth Avenue in search of his tormentor, or would-be lover. A group of Upper East Siders, leaving church like a gaggle of masked marionettes, remain impervious to his provocations. Yet he lands in jail, and then makes his way to a Wobbly union hall, transformed here into a lefty bookstore, where the Bernie Bros, unable to believe that an actual member of the working class has joined them, believe him to be a spy and pummel Yank to the ground. Not until Yank meets an actual ape does he find some measure of understanding, although by then the distance is too far too bridge. For New York audiences used to a theater more suffused with a knowing irony, psychological complexity, strained family relations and witty banter, The Hairy Ape takes some getting used to. By the time he wrote The Hairy Ape, ONeill had tired of the literary naturalism of early works like The Emperor Jones and not yet reached the fully realized later work like The Iceman Cometh and Long Days Journey Into Night. He was moving away from the naturalism of his career and towards central European brand of Expressionism borrowed from August Strindberg that inflates and distorts human pathos and drama in order to strike a blow against capitalist oppression. Subtle it aint in other words, and just as Yank is continually set uponby his shipmates, the cops, crowds of capitalists at leisure, so does ONeills writing tend to land like a punch in the face. I wants to convince yer she was ony a representative of her clarss. I wants to awaken yer bloody clarss consciousness, says Long, the socialist Irishman (Chris Bannow)a line apparently meant to dispel questions from anyone who has been on the phone for the first 45 minutes of the play precisely where the audiences loyalties are supposed to lie. Or again: E owns this bloody boat! And you and me, comrades, were is slaves! And the skipper and mates and engineers, theyre is slaves! And shes is bloody daughter and were all er slaves, too! And she gives er orders as ow she wants to see the bloody animals below decks and down they takes er! Tell us how you really feel, Mr. Long. The show lives or dies on its production values, and in this case its the former. The Park Avenue Armory is perhaps New Yorks greatest stagenot in terms of its historical pedigree, but in terms of the possibilities it presents to ambitious directors and designers. The canvas is so large there, it can easily swallow up a production whole, but credit goes to director Richard Jones and Stewart Laing for recognizing the possibilities of the place. When audiences enter, they cross the Drill Halls long floor towards stage fog and blindingly yellow temporary risers. The stage isnt a stage so much as a conveyor belt that when it moves gives the actors a sense of struggling upstream in their labors. The ensemble appears in a tableau vivant at the start of the action, as if they were indeed mere two-dimensional characters in a morality play. Each of the eight scenes is somehow more spectacular than the one before it. The deck scene, upon which Mildred announces to her aunt that I would like to touch something real and head down to the stokehole, looks like something out of a 1930s Hollywood musical. Later, there are echoes of Fritz Lang, film noir, the video artist Mary Reid Kelley, King Kong and George Tookers midcentury magic realism. Is that Long hanging by a beam on one of the rafters in the corner? How did he get there? It is not possible to look away, even for a moment. There is no love lost between Gen. Mike Flynns lawyer and President Donald Trump. After the November apocalypse, it will fall to those Republicans who opposed Trump (those few) to gather the ashes and rebuild, Robert Kelner tweeted in July. This finally explains how Trump won the nomination. Turns out most of the voters are actually dead. #Zombievoters, he added the next month. Kelner is a longtime Republican, and a prominent election lawyer for the party. But in the 2016 presidential cycle, Flynns lawyer was outspoken in his criticism of Donald Trump, and vocal in his support for third-party candidate Evan McMullin. Its lonely in the #NeverTrump camp, he tweeted last October. Even lonelier in the openly Never Trump GOP election lawyer camp. We could meet in backseat of a Prius. Another time, he attacked the president for refusing to release his tax returns. Question for Rudy: If Trumps tax avoidance is laudable genius, why has Trump fought so hard to hide it? And sometimes, his criticism was even more brutally blunt. Win or lose, aiding and abetting Trump is not a morally acceptable option, he wrote in September. Kelner is a respected lawyer in his field and no bleeding-heart liberal. Hes written articles about congressional investigations and the vetting process for presidential appointments, and how early voting helped Trump. And, during the election cycle, he dished criticism to both camps, albeit saving his most outspoken disdain for the Republican nominee. In August, he opined in a New York Post story about a legal loophole that let the Democratic National Committee accept larger donations than normally allowed. In the plan, the donations were doled out by the Hillary Victory Fund to local democratic parties, which would then send them to the DNC. Im not aware of any case law or regulations that would prohibit a state party from transferring to a national party committee funds raised through a joint fundraising committee, election lawyer Robert Kelner told Bloomberg at the time. But as a practical matter, it does appear that the DNC may be using Hillary Victory Fund as a mechanism for allowing donors to give more to the DNC indirectly than would otherwise be permitted directly. Later, in October, he opined to Buzzfeed about whether it was too late for the Republican Party to kick trump off the ballot. "Rule 9, as currently framed, includes clear wiggle room. It includes a catch-all for a vacancy created otherwise than in a classic death or withdrawal scenario, he said at the time. The RNC rules are filled with such negotiated weasel words to allow flexibility to deal with unanticipated scenarios. But his apparent hopes did not come to pass. Trump won, and the first few months of his administration have been plagued by scandal. Chief among them was the resignation of Gen. Flynn, who Kelner now represents. General Flynn Certainly has a story to tell and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit, Kellner said in a statement released on his clients behalf on Thursday. Flynn resigned from his White House position as Trumps national security advisor in February, after controversy over his secret talks with the Russian ambassador. He had discussed sanctions against Russia with Kislyak, and had previously denied doing so. Flynns actions drew increased scrutiny to ties between Russia and the Trump administration, and he resigned amid allegations that hed misled the administration about the content of his conversations. More recently, Flynn has also attracted controversy for his actions as a lobbyist on behalf of Turkey. Flynn has offered to be interviewed about foreign policy deliberations in the White House in exchange for immunity from prosecution. No reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution, Kelner said in the statement. The Senate Intelligence Committee has reportedly turned down his request. Kelner was told that immunity for testimony in a probe about Russian influence in U.S. elections would be wildly preliminary and not on the table, NBC News reported. Rob Kelner is a very good lawyer who knows when a client needs immunity, wrote Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias on Twitter. And if Rob says Flynn has a story to tell, WH should watch out. The Daily Beast reached out to Kelner about his tweets. He declined to comment. Not 100 days into the Trump presidency, one thing is abundantly clear: it is completely unsustainable as it is operating today. There are even rumblings in the seams of Washington that Trump may not last the summer, including Republican consultant Michael Steele, the former RNC chairman, reportedly telling clients to prepare for President Pence. Indeed, something fundamental seemed to shift in the zeitgeist this week with General Michael Flynns Hail Mary offer to testify about Russiagate in exchange for immunity. The Senate intelligence community has already turned down Flynns offer, and its hard to imagine the House committee, led by the thoroughly compromised Devin Nunes, having the political capital to say yes. For the FBI to agree, Flynn would have to offer up someone bigger than him to make it worth the agencys while. One wonders who that could be: Paul Manafort? Hes been around the political block much longer than Flynn and knows where more bodies are buried. Wouldnt he be a better immunity target if youre an elected Republican? Donald Trump? What would Flynn claim Trump personally did to advance Russias interference in our election, other than dutifully repeat Kremlin talking points, which we already know? Does he have some proof that Trump took a bribe? Broke a law? Made an incriminating phone call? And if he doesnt, what would be the point of merely hearing the story he has to tell. Flynn is in trouble, by his own admission. He, of the lock her up chants, has said in the past that seeking immunity means you probably committed a crime. And while thats not true in a legal sense, in a moral sense it applies to him. Here is a man who was forced out as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 for his apparent belligerence, rashness, and fondness for crank conspiracy theories. He then sought income from Russian state-run TV and the Turkish government, where according to the former head of the CIA, Jim Woolsey, he took a meeting to discuss illegally renditioning a U.S. green-card holder who the Turkish autocrat would very much like to have sent to him. Flynn is known to have communicated with the Russian ambassador, and to have lied about it. If his name showed up unmasked in the monitored communications of foreign entities, that could well be because he was the subject of a FISA warrant, and a national security probe. Sally Yates, the former acting attorney general, told the White House, including Vice President Pence, that Flynn was at risk of being blackmailed by the Russians. It was his former staffer at DIA who was among the two, or perhaps three people, including a former Nunes staffer said to have rummaged around in the sensitive files he had access to as a top National Security Council staffer to try and find backup for Trumps false claims about President Obama wiretapping Trump Tower. Meanwhile, Flynn is not the administrations only liability. Trump Tower tenant Manafort remains out there too, and is reportedly under investigation by the Treasury department and the FBI for various business dealings. And thats just for recent stuffnot Manaforts long history of flacking for the worlds worst despots. Occams Razor is the logical principle that the simplest explanation is usually the best. And the notion that Trumps inner circle is so laden with Russian nationals, Russian mob figures and people affiliated with Russian oligarchs and the Kremlin by accident is a hell of a stretch. Even his chief TV flak, Boris Ephstein, is a Russian emigre, who entered Trumpworld through his collegiate friendship with Trumps son Eric. Ephstein was recently let go from the White House without explanation, and sorry but its hard to believe that it was because of his bullying personality in TV greenrooms, which has been Boris M.O. since he popped up on cable news in 2010. Can all that we have heard thus far been a series of coincidences? Can it all be mere happenstance? Much simpler is the notion that members of Russias spy services saw an opportunity to recruit a useful idiot in Trump, given that his greed and lust for power matched that of the Russian oligarchs themselves. They had an assortment of people in Trumpworld to use as potential conduits. There was Trumps longtime crony Roger Stone, Manaforts old lobbying partner, who pushed Trump to favor the U.S.S.R.s point of view over Ronald Reagans during the 1980s, when Vlad Putin was still a KGB agent, and has bragged about his back channel to WikiLeaks. Theres Flynn, for whom Russia had provided financial rescue and who was inexplicably brought into the inner sanctum of the White House despite the many clouds swirling over him. Theres Donald Jr., Trumps son and namesake who was eager to ink condo deals with Russian buyers. And of course, theres son-in-law Jared Kushner, a sort of mini-Trump whose morally promiscuous business dealings include canoodling with a sanctioned Russian bank. We know that Russian media outlets and their cutouts fed Trump conspiracy theories and fake news about Hillary Clinton to repeat and retweet. We know that Carter Page went to Russia last July just before the first WikiLeaks oppo dumps. We know that Stone had an uncanny ability to predict the oppo dumps before they happened. J.D. Gordon by his own admission was dispatched to Cleveland to flip the Ukraine plank at the RNC. And we know that Flynn brought his people with him to the National Security Council (for awhile, including his conspiracy theory-loving namesake son). And when he was forced out, he left that former DIA aide, Ezra Cohen Watnick, behind, over the objections of his successor. Will this series of inferences ever be conclusively proved? Who knows. But the Trump presidency is permanently tainted by the implications of their clear use of Russian propaganda to batter Hillary Clinton and her campaign. Trumps legitimacy will forever be questioned because of his personal enthusiasm for WikiLeaks peddling of Russia-hacked emails. Even if he survives, Trumps leadership in Washington is in tatters. The Freedom Caucus doesnt fear him. Whats left of the Republican moderates dont respect him. The Democrats will have nothing to do with him. And his fair weather friend, Paul Ryan, is a disaster as speaker of the House who is fighting harder for tax cuts for the top one percent than for anything in the Trump campaign agenda and making enemies of the Breitbartians in the process. The Senate Intelligence Committee is showing signs of conducting a real investigation into Trumpgate, and there are fewer and fewer Devin Nunes professing a willingness to destroy themselves on Trumps behalf. Republican partisans are openly advising the GOP-led Senate to cram through their Supreme Court nominee and then wash their hands of Donald J. Trump forever. Barring some dramatic changeand we should seriously worry about what Trump and Bannon might cook up in that regardthis only goes in one direction, and thats further downhill. One of the more unfortunate byproducts of Trumps rise has been the validation of unhinged, fringe political figures, from Sandy Hook truther Alex Jones to the squeaky-voiced Pizzagate apologist Mike Cernovich. Roger Stone is one such character. Stone, a notorious Republican dirty trickster with a decades-long career of shady behavior and resigning in disgrace, served as an official advisor to the Trump presidential campaign until August 2015, after which he took on an unofficial advisory role to candidate Trumpa man hes known since the 80s and 90s, when he lobbied on behalf of Trump casinos. It is Stone who convinced Trump to appear on Joness Infowars program in December 2015, and Stone who not only seemed to know of WikiLeaks dumps targeting the Clinton campaign before they happened, but also publicly admitted to communicating directly with self-proclaimed DNC hacker Guccifer 2.0 (widely believed to be a Russian government creation), as well as to WikiLeaks honcho Julian Assange via a backchannel. Stone was forced to cop to the Guccifer chatter, which occurred via private Twitter DM, after reports surfaced of the August 14th communications on The Smoking Gun. On August 16th, Stone appeared on Infowars and alleged he had backchannel communications with Assange who was harboring political dynamite on the Clinton campaign. Five days after that, he tweeted the following: If that werent enough, on October 1st Stone appeared to tease WikiLeaks upcoming Podesta email dump, tweeting (and then deleting), Wednesday @HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks. Friday night, Bill Maher welcomed Stone to his Real Time program for a contentious interview. Introducing Stone as a longtime confidante and the Albino Assassin of President Trump, Maher asked, Both Dick Cheney, not exactly a liberal, and John McCain, same thing, have both said this hacking [allegedly by Russia] of our election would be considered an act of war. If we had some evidence or proof of it, Stone replied. Right now, what we have is inference. Some background: On March 18th, The New York Times revealed that a Senate intelligence committee investigating Trump-Russia ties had sent Stone a letter ordering him to preserve any records in connection to their inquiry, and on March 21st, the ranking Democrat on that committee, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), told Morning Joe, We know the Russians intervened, and they hacked leaks of information to help Trump over [Hillary] Clinton, adding, We are going and starting interviewing people right now. We have a number of the names you have talked about. We saw in the case of [Roger] Stone, for example, he hit the trifecta. He had been in contact with WikiLeaks. He knew about [John] Podesta being in the barrel, and he acknowledged recently, he had contact with a Russian agent. When Maher asked Stone about Sen. Warners comments, he went on the defensive. Yeah, I dispute that, said Stone. Lets take them one by one. First of all, I have never said that I had advance knowledge of the hacking of Podestas emails. Theres no quote from me You said his time in the barrel will come, interrupted Maher. Right. And theres been over a hundred stories written from that time to Election Day about [Podestas] dealings in Russia: bank deals, gas deals, and others. Thats what I was referring to, Stone fired back. The inference that Guccifer, that my Twitter exchange with Guccifer constitutes Maher then chimed in again, telling Stone that his direct communications with Guccifer 2.0 via Twitter DM were not supposed to be public. When Stone alleged, But it is public because I released it all. No one else released it, I released it, the HBO host nailed him with: I dont think thats true. I think you released it after it became public. The rejoinder caused Stone, visibly shaken, to stammer through an incoherent reply: I and I released it after it became known that it existed, which could only be known which could only be known if my if my Twitter feed had been hacked, he said. And I released it. Its benign. Its innocuous. And if youre going to engage in espionage, would you really do it on Twitter? Stone, who told Maher that he believes Guccifer 2.0 is a hero because Stone is opposed to the deep state and that they need to be exposed, also claimed: I dont concede that Guccifer is a Russian, repeating Guccifer 2.0s empty claim that they are Romanian, and further stated: Ive had no contacts with Russians. The talk then moved on to Michael Flynn, Trumps former national security advisor who was forced to resign in disgrace after it was revealed that he conducted undisclosed meetings with Russian Ambassador Kislyak, a top spy recruiter for the Kremlin. Its since come to light that Flynn was acting as a paid agent of the Turkish government while working on the Trump campaign, and even argued for the extraordinary rendition of Fethullah Gulen, an anti-Erdogan Turkish imam living in Pennsylvania. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Flynn would be willing to testify in the Trump-Russia investigation in exchange for immunity. Lets talk about Michael Flynn, said Maher. He says he has a story to tell. Tell me a story: what is the story? What do you think his story is? I have no idea, but heres what I do know: I am not asking for immunity, Stone replied. I was maligned by a number of members of the committee who said things that were patently false, and in a free society I should have a chance to respond in the same forum. And I dont need a subpoena, I dont need immunity, but I want it to be in publicnot behind closed doors. Lets go, Im ready! The baffling election of a lowest-common-denominator populist like Donald Trump caused many to pause and reflect on how we exactly got here. With the realization that it isnt as simple as thinking Americans are just bigoted, hateful people came the need to understand the working-class people who thrust a reality-TV star into the White House. The only way a horrifically divided country can heal, so the consensus goes, is to appreciate the messy nature of simply being an American; and to have some empathy for one another. A year before Trump took office, The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn recorded songs that, in his own words, are meant to be more empathetic, realistic explorations of ordinary people. He didnt intend to commentate on the divided state of affairs a Trump presidency would bring abouthow could he have known back then?but the albums title, We All Want the Same Things, works as a pitch-perfect statement on the connections we can only now hope to make in uncertain times. The music departs from Finns previous two solo efforts in that its lush with arrangements, atmospherics, and generally devoid of the stripped-down ethos youd expect of a specifically solo record from the man behind Americas greatest bar band. Much like legendarily empathetic songwriter Bruce Springsteen, Finn here dwells on the salvation ordinary people find through seemingly mundane (sometimes life-altering) experiences; and in the complicated relationships we forge with those around us. On stunningly mournful opener Jester & June, were introduced to an average couple revisiting the spots of their golden years, attempting to recapture the excitement and glory of their youth only to discover that all they have is each other. On the stomper Rescue Blues, a co-dependency jam as Finn describes it, we meet two broken, lonely people whove attached to one another for the basic needs of safety and comfort. I guess we all get by in different ways, he chants in the chorusan effortlessly wise observation that Finn himself says might indeed be a thesis statement for the record. But the albums definitive statement can be found in God in Chicago, an incredibly literary spoken-word-over-piano narration about a young girl and her late brothers dropout buddy who travel unsupervised to a big city seeking uncertain redemption in one final sale of the recently deceased brothers drug stash. Its haunting music video, directed by Kris Merc, interprets the song literally, following our protagonists on their wintry, indie-film-like journey as they get to know each other and leave their comfort zones in order to mutually heal from the loss. We both want the same things, Finn sings as the pair realize their attraction to each other. But the gritty, detailed realism comes with an even more gut-punching conclusion. What it is, however, well never know. Finn ends it on an uncertain note as the pair return home: in the song, the narrator notes how his female companion was sobbing as they approached their home city; and in the music video we see her walk away towards her home. It feels as though the message to take away from this prescient record is that life is messy, complex, almost always uncertain, and absolutely never perfect. And despite our many differences, we all want the same things, indeed. The album title, We All Want the Same Things, seems especially timely right now, no? It was timely before Trump won the election. If Hillary had won the election, it still wouldve felt like a unifying theme. It really was just what I was thinking about over the past yearthese culture wars, so to speak. I was reading that book Dreamland [by Sam Quinones] that got a lot of press about the opioid crisis, and it kept mentioning Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvaniaand you think, well, these are all the states theyre talking about in the election, but the book is from a year before and was likely written over a series of years. That cant be a coincidence. But, really, Ive always taken my album titles from song lyrics. And as I looked through the album, this was the one that jumped out at me. Its just perfect for what I was trying to do. I was trying to make an empathetic record. And it fits the tone. Which makes sense, considering in a promotional video for the record you said, We live in divided times, but I do believe that people are inherently good. Absolutely. Theres good in all people. I think of it as most people just trying to get by. I use the word a lot to describe the truth about my characters: unremarkable. A lot of the characters in my songs are unremarkable, but you try to tell a story about someone who the light doesnt always shine on. How people are feeling just kinda getting by in life. I think, on some levelthese songs versus earlier songsa lot of these people in my lyrics are a little older than people Ive previously written about. They are far into adulthood and know that a lot of adulthood is simply trying not to get stuck. Thats what a lot of these songs end up being about: people trying, people getting stuck, and people trying to find their way out. The stunning song and music video for God in Chicago really seems to convey that message. Theres no neat happy ending in ordinary life. Life is complicated. I didnt know that there could be a happy ending for those characters. Like, the song happens entirely in the first month after the main characters brother dies. I dont think theres any place that it could go that it could ever be totally happy. It had to cut off there. And I was happy it did. Right, and her search for redemption through one last sale of her late brothers drug stashit feels like that emphasizes the theme of ordinary people paying a high price for mundane things, and that redemption can come at a higher price for them? Maybe, but I just think of a working-class persons struggles of going to work and going to the grocery store and struggling to put food on the table and how all of that can take up a lot of time and energy. There isnt always a lot of space for this grand reflection. And, like I said, I think a lot of people are truly just trying to get by. And that consumes 99 percent of their time and their mental time. It strikes as theyre trying to communicate and connect over something small; just getting through is plenty for most people. Is there something political about that for you? Well, I think that theres a required element of being human that means to struggle a little bit. But we have massive income inequality, we have people that are struggling, people who are marginalized in vast sections of the country. But when I think about Dreamland or J.D. Vances Hillbilly Elegywhen I read them, I was thinking, This is really interesting, but this mustve taken a while to write. So long to write, in fact, that Donald Trumps campaign wasnt even in its infancy when they began writing them. But when Elegy came out, it was marketed in some way as an explainer of Trumpism, but really Im guessing Vance started it just as a memoir. It just so happened to speak to some truth out there. In the same sense, my record was me writing songs on just what I was thinking about before Trump was ever elected. It just ended up a year later, framed as a record about the people were thinking about. Youve said that the people in your songs likely vote differently than you do. Yeah. And the truth is that some peoples reaction towards marginalization is confusing and I think thats where you get some of this [Trumpism]. It feels like on some level Bernie Sanders and Trump started out on the same message: Hey, no ones listening to you. And then the second half of that sentence differs wildly. But the message was at first the same: Hey, no ones listening to you and no ones paying attention to you. On another note, you recently embarked on a Living Room Tour. How was that? It was fascinating and exceeded my expectationsplaying in someones living room as just me. People go to rock clubs for many different reasons, but if youre sitting on someones living room floor, youre probably there for the music. And with all those things weve talked about, it feels just a little bit revolutionary to invite 35 strangers into a living room to see live music. There was this energy to itand it wasnt just living rooms, it was non-traditional spaces like peoples offices, too. And they were all great. But the actual living room ones were a tiny bit better. Its just funny when youre at a show and you go into the bathroom and use their hand towels and soap. I was laughing afterwards with a friend about how the Venn diagram of people who host or attend these living room shows and also love craft beer would be a perfect circle. But the communal spirit was nice; people interacted way more and it was very, very rewarding. And I opened up the floor for discussion afterwards. The intent was to talk and meet. And Im doing another one in the U.K. in April. Im really thrilled by it, quite honestly. And I get to play at 8 p.m. and play for 75 minutes, and its over by 10. A lot of people appreciate that. It has utility that way. What is it a reaction to? Is it an attempt to share some of that empathy you talked about? Its just kinda pleasant. Theres an excitement when you go to a good rock show, but its rarely pleasant. I think for some people, especially people who arent 19 anymore, its kinda putting the things that are non-favorite about a rock club and saying we have enough space to do something cool in our living room. I was always surprised 30-45 people can fit in a lot of living rooms. I just think that between the community, the space, and the intimacy, it kind of made for a better experience. Of course, it fit the purpose I was doing: a quiet show. So we shouldnt expect any living room shows from The Hold Steady? [Laughs] Now that would be unpleasant. Speaking of The Hold Steadyyou did three shows last fall, any plans for more with them? Those three shows [in Brooklyn] were really amazing. I think weve got a lot of songs, we were really able to vary the sets. And now I really like that model of playing multiple shows in a single place and make them special and not just driving around and playing shows on the schedule of a touring band. So playing rock clubs across small townsnot really in the cards anymore? I dont have any kids, but some of the other guys do. But weve done a lot of touring, and now Id like to make that thing we do very special. And I think we did just that in Brooklyn. Id like to work on more of those things in different places. 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Ive had the pleasure of interviewing her on several occasions, where shes opened up to me about everything from her secretive affair with David Bowie to finding herself at Burning Man. She even penned an op-ed for The Daily Beast about her initiative to help get a woman on the $20 bill. One year later, the U.S. Treasury announced that Harriet Tubman would grace the twenty. But Sarandon caused some waves during a March 2016 interview with MSNBCs Chris Hayes where the Bernie Sanders supporter both chastised Hillary Clinton and appeared to favor Trump over her. Really, some people feel that Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately if he gets in, things will really explode, Sarandon told Hayes. Asked if she thinks thats dangerous, she replied, Its dangerous to think that we can continue the way we are with the militarized police force, with privatized prisons, with the death penalty, with the low minimum wage, threats to womens rights and think you cant do something huge to turn that around. Its a fairly ambiguous, possibly misconstrued statement, and one that Sarandon has had to constantly defend, with everyone from Chris Hayes (again) to Bill Maher giving her the business for it. Now, you can add Stephen Colbert to the list. On Friday, the Late Show host sat down with Sarandon for a surprisingly contentious interview that saw the funnyman grill the actress on the aforementioned Trump statement. You said, Some people feel that Trump might bring about the revolution immediately. A) Hows that going? Whats your assessment of how the revolution is going? asked Colbert. Well, Im so happy that you askednot really, but OK well get into it, replied a visibly uncomfortable Sarandon. Well, have you seen this many town hall meetings of people from all parties storming and knocking on the doors of their representatives and complaining and screaming and yelling? Not since 2010, Colbert responded. No. Not since the 70s, I think, shot back Sarandon. This is really out of control. Now there are town hall meetings everywhere. I saw one in California where they were screaming about ICE coming in and taking people. I mean, people are really awake now because the cracks let the light in, as Leonard Cohen would say. The comedian didnt let up. He continued to ask Sarandon why she feels its good that Trump, by being a bad president, is exposing the flaws in our political system. Goldman Sachs has been in politics forever, and now were noticing because this guy is such a bozo that hes just doing everything so badly that hes not slick like everybody else, said Sarandon, ignoring the fact that Hillarys been dragged through the mud over her Goldman speeches for yearsincluding by Trump. All the fracking thats been going on, the pipelines were all there before Trump got in but now everybodys awake, theyre energized, theyre calling their senators, theyre donating to all of these groups. Youre funnier, dont you think? Its doing great things for comedy. Its a strange, Machiavellianand frankly, privilegedargument: that the American public is learning a valuable lesson about the broken system by having millions of less fortunate folks suffer under a remarkably corrupt administration awash in cronyism. Now when you say revolution, let me ask you something, you revolutionary hippie: do you mean like revolution in the head, revolution in our hearts, revolution in political engagement? asked Colbert. All of the above, replied Sarandon. But do you mean like brick through the window, line the rich people up against the wall? Because revolutions eventually get there, he added. Youre watching the wrong moviethats not what were talking about, Sarandon said. No, Im talking about people being engaged in the system, holding representatives responsible. We have to identify real progressives, people that are going to get us health care, college education, and infrastructure, and were in an oligarchy right now. And people were saying we dont want the status quo, the status quos not working, and the only candidate, as stupid as he [was and] didnt give any specifics, was the one thatI mean, it wasnt Hillary Clinton. It was Trump. So people wanted a change, and now theyre getting something that they didnt expect, but theyre writing and theyre calling and theyre young people. The millennials are on fire. That may be so, but these are still rather perilous times, and its hard to argue that Americans wouldnt be better off under a President Hillary Clinton. On January 16, 2016, Gina Kolata and Sarah Cohen, writing for the New York Times, offered up some grim news: The rising death rates for young white adults make them the first generation since the Vietnam War years of the mid-1960s to experience higher death rates in early adulthood than the generation that preceded it. The reason: opioid addiction. The biggest culprit: doctors. By refusing to accept their inability to separate pain relief from addiction, physicians have long suffered the sin of hubrisand their patients have paid the price. It started with humankinds first medicine. About 6,000 years ago, the Sumerians discovered opium. One of the first clinicians to recommend it was Hippocrates, the Father of Modern Medicine, who used opium to treat nausea. But it was an unknown contemporary of Hippocrates named Diagoras of Melos who first noticed that many of his fellow Greeks had become addicted to the drug. Diagorass warnings were ignored. Opium users became opium addicts. In 1803, Frederich Serturner, a 20-year-old German chemist, purified opiums most active and most abundant ingredient. He called it morphium after the Greek God of Dreams. Serturner hoped that by purifying opiums main ingredient, he could separate pain relief from addiction. While conducting his studies, Serturner became addicted to the drug. Like Diagoras of Melos, he warned against its use. Again, no one listened. In 1827, the German pharmaceutical company Merck began mass-producing Serturners drug. Opium addicts became morphine addicts. In 1874, C.R. Alder Wright chemically modified morphine to produce diacetylmorphine. He fed it to his dog, which became violently ill and frighteningly hyperactive. Wright published his findings in an obscure scientific journal. For 20 years, no one noticed the powerful drug that Wright had created. In 1895, Heinrich Dreser, a chemist working for a pharmaceutical company in the Rhineland named Bayer, discovered Wrights paper. Dreser found that diacetylmorphine entered the brain five times more efficiently than morphine. He reasoned that because lesser quantities of this drug could relieve pain, it would be less addictive. He tested diacetylmorphine on a few workmen in his company and a handful of local patients. After four weeks of observation, no one appeared to be addictedat last, a non-addictive, potent painkiller. Bayer named the drug for its heroic properties. Morphine addicts became heroin addicts. In the early 1900s, German researchers chemically modified thebaine, another component of opium. They called it oxycodone. In the early 1950s, oxycodone entered the United States. The most potent, most addictive, and most deadly preparation of oxycodone was OxyContin, which was manufactured by Purdue Pharmaceuticals and licensed in 1995. Purdue later hoped to reduce the number of daily doses by offering a time-released preparation. However, by chewing the product, users could bypass the time-released mechanism and ingest as much as 160 milligrams of oxycodone at one time, a potentially lethal dose. Although many doctors had learned to fear opioids, two events liberalized their use in the United States. (Products derived directly from the opium poppy are called opiates; morphine is an opiate. Chemical modifications of opiates are called opioids; heroin and oxycodone are opioids.) In 1967, Cicely Saunders, a nurse working at St. Lukes Hospital for the Dying in East London, founded the hospice movement. Saunders believed that terminally ill patients shouldnt have to spend their last few days crying out in pain. To avoid this suffering, she offered large quantities of painkillers. Saunders ideas crossed the ocean. In 1984, the United States Congress passed the Compassionate Pain Relief Act, making it legal to treat terminally ill patients with heroin. In 1985, Russell Portenoy, a New York City pain specialist, argued that our compassion for people in pain shouldnt be limited to those with terminal illnesses. No one should be allowed to suffer. He believed that American physicians needed to get over their fear of painkillers, what he called their opiophobia. Portenoy insisted that, if used correctly, opioids wouldnt cause addiction. Under Russell Portenoys influence, pain became the fifth vital sign (in addition to heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, and respiratory rate). Heroin addicts became opioid addicts. During the past year, doctors, public health officials, and lawmakers have finally taken steps to stem the tide of Americas growing opioid crisis. On March 15, 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a series of restrictive guidelines. The CDC recommended that doctors should prescribe opioids: 1) only after non-prescription painkillers and physical therapies have failed; 2) in quantities not to exceed a three-day supply for short-term pain or a seven-day supply for chronic pain (for which patients have typically been given a one-month supply with refills); and 3) only when improvement is significant. On June 16, 2016, at its annual meeting in Chicago, the American Medical Association (AMA) urged physicians to eliminate pain as the fifth vital sign. We have taken ownership of [the problem], said AMA president Andrew Gurman. And physicians have taken ownership of being part of the solution. On January 1, 2017, lawmakers for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania took the CDCs guidelines one step furtherturning its recommendations into law. Unless treating patients with cancer or in palliative care, physicians working in hospital emergency departments, urgent care centers, or in-patient units in Pennsylvania were not allowed to prescribe opioids in excess of a seven-day day supply nor allowed to prescribe refills. Further, when prescribing opioids to minors, physicians were required to counsel the patient or parents about the risks of addiction and obtain written consent, unless the situation was a medical emergency. In his book, 1984, George Orwell wrote, Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world is so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes. In the face of a powerful addiction, there are also no heroes. Today, the United States, which contains 5 percent of the worlds population, uses 80 percent of the worlds painkillers. TIJUANA, Mexico Im exhausted, Daphne Fernandez told me over the phone on Thursday after a Mexican judge ordered the release of a man accused of sexually abusing her in Veracruz when she was just 17 years old. Her case has shocked Mexico, and here decision to go public with it has made her a heroine to many, a villain to some. It has unfolded in public view for over a year, since first becoming national news here in late March 2016. Daphne, now out of the country, has struggled with her own memories of the assault, while hoping for justice ever since that night over New Years weekend 2015 when she alleges she was raped by a college-age man in the bathroom of his parents home as his twin brother played video games in an adjacent room. The zenith of Dave Chappelles brilliant new Netflix standup special The Age of Spin comes when he describes his vision for a movie about a superhero who can access his life-saving powers only by patting a womans vagina. This, as you can guess, puts the superhero in a horrible positioncall it a Chappellean Dilemma, i.e., a comically absurd dilemma. On Chappelles Show such a dilemma might have been What would a blind Klansman do after he finds out hes actually Black? Here its how should we feel about the sum total of the life of a man who does something horrible in order to do good? See, as Dave describes it, this superhero is not good-looking and hes usually short on cash, so when he asks a woman if he can pat her vaginaso he can rescue people in a burning building or somethinghe gets the expected response. Gross, get away! But he needs to save lives! So what does he do? At this point in the joke Chappelle takes a long pause, looks offstagehere we gothen looks dead at the audience and tells us how his imaginary superhero solves his problem: So he rapes them. Wow. Dave goes on: He rapes but he saves! And he saves more than he rapes! And he rapes only to save! The Chappellean Dilemma here is this: if you perform a lot of extraordinary acts does that balance out committing one of the worst acts a human can do? Of course, the answer is no. No amount of good can excuse rape, but Chappelle spins comedic gold out of the ridiculous question. Where does Trump fit into that Chappellean Dilemma? Back in the election he was unmasked as an accused serial rapist, and the ease Trump feels about grabbing vaginas would only help Chappelles imaginary superhero. Also, during the election, Trump told us he wanted to save. He portrayed himself as someone whod arrived to save America from the future. And by America he meant working class white people and the wealthy. So Trump allegedly rapes and he allegedly aspires to save but since the election, Trump hasnt been saving. Trumpcare would have taken health insurance away from 24 million people and its spectacular failureits Hindenburg-like crash and burnhas led to a GOP Civil War. Trump against the Freedom Caucus and Bannon against Paul Ryan and maybe Ryan against the Freedom Caucus, too. There are elephants attacking elephants all over the place. Pass the popcorn. They say Democrats are ineffectual now because they dont control any branch of government but so far the GOP has been ineffectual largely because they control every branch of government. The modern GOP, at its core, is anti-government. These are people who believe government itself is the problem. This is a party that believes so deeply that government is the problem that theyll happily sabotage governments ability to function in hopes that the resulting mess and anger over governments inability to function will fuel their argument that government is the problem. Thats what Republican obstruction of Obama was all about. Look, if the GOP and the Democratic party were mothers arguing in front of King Solomon over the fate of a baby called government, the GOP would be the mom who says, Go ahead and cut it in half. I dont care. To have DC controlled by a single group of people who believe DC is the problemincluding many agencies run by people who believe their agency should not existis to welcome disaster. Its hard for government to function effectively when the people in charge have disdain for it. Where Democrats believe in governments ability to solve problems, the GOP wants government out of our lives, especially when it comes to health care.(They dont want government out of our lives when it comes to a womans right to choose but thats another story.) The anti-government rallying cry was built for the campaign trail. It worked well when the GOP was the opposition party. But when youre in office you have to lead, provide services, keep citizens safe, and manage the levers of power. You have to say yes to some stuff. And health care was especially challenging for Republicans to say yes to. Repealing Obamacare has been a core promise of the GOP for over seven years, and it won them many elections, but when they had a clear kill shot they couldnt pull the trigger because they never conceived of a serious replacement because that would require believing in governments ability to solve peoples problems and crafting a program that makes people reliant on government. For the GOP, the answer is almost always to let the private sector and the free market figure it out. In Europe they treat health care as a basic human right that must be accessible to everyone, but the GOP cant do that and shrink government to a size where it can be drowned in the bathtub at the same time. Since their priority is attacking the very nature of government, they cant reform health care and prove that government can fix peoples problems. They cant do that but they can fight about whose fault the failure is because that bolsters their argument that government is the problem. And thus, instead of the health care reform they promised as the opposition party, we now no reform, we have just a government at war with itself. So the president is accused of rape but, as of this writing, he isnt being accused of saving anyone. And that makes a mockery of the Chappellean Dilemma because that means theres no tension. Trump seems to feel that if women are not literally beneath him then theyre figuratively beneath him. And he doesnt savehe doesnt push programs that will lead to government helping peoplebecause he has no respect for people who he feels are beneath him. Kellyanne Conway (remember her?) famously said after the election, Theres a difference for voters between what offends you and what affects you. Nowadays Trump is offending and not affecting. And the truth is we all would be better off with Chappelle as president. Yes, Dave is a comedian, but hes a brilliant comic. Trump is a joke. In April 1917, more than two and a half years into the bloodiest war the world had yet seen, nearly half of the 9 million soldiers, sailors and airmen, and the 5 million civilians who would be killed in the First World War already lay dead. Some 65 million men were at arms, more than all previous wars combined. Day after terrible day, some 5,000 men died on average. The names of once unknown places where millions died rang out like mournful bell tolls: Somme, Verdun, Gallipoli, Tannenberg, Marne, Ypres, Passchendaele. Despite the unprecedented violence of the first truly mechanized war, the opposing forces of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and their alliesthe Central Powersand the Allied armies of France, Great Britain, Russia, and Italy, rarely advanced in this awful war of attrition. Only one great power still stood aloof from the carnage. The United States had remained at peace, following President Woodrow Wilsons dictate that Americans must be neutral in fact as well as in name and impartial in thought as well as in action. Even the infamous torpedoing of the British liner the Lusitania, drowning 1,198 people including 128 Americans, and the sinking of multiple American freighters by German U-boats could not arouse the nation for war. Although by and large sympathetic to the Allied nations, the U.S. maintained an army smaller than the Great War combatants lost in a typical months fighting. Its modern naval fleet had not trained for the realities of undersea warfare practiced by its potential enemies. And the dawning third dimension of the battlefield, the air war, barely figured into military thinking; the nation supported air forces smaller than Bulgarias. As the battle for European dominance became a world war, no country remained an island; the globalization that has grown suspect today had already sprung fully upon the world in the form of ocean-going international trade. Demand for American products and raw materials from around the world had transformed the nation into an industrial powerhouse. As increasing numbers of ships carrying American-made goods went to the bottom of the ocean, though, more and more voices called for the country to fight to maintain freedom of the seas. Former President Theodore Roosevelt led the chorus calling upon America to enter the battle against what they decried as the Central Powers lawlessness. The U.S. government largely ignored the protests. Wilson won reelection in 1916 with the slogan He Kept Us Out of War. But a group of menboys, really, almost all of them too young to votedecided that even if the government refused to prepare for war, they would do something about the situation. If the U.S. did go to war, they wanted to lead the way and they wanted to do it in the most daring and ambitious service of all, as pioneering pilots in the new age of aerial warfare. They led the country into its air power future. Today the children of the one-percenters rarely join the military. These young men, however, most of them college students at Yale, came from the nations most privileged families. Among them were a Rockefeller and a Taft, one whose father headed the Union Pacific railroad empire, and another whose father served as managing partner of J.P. Morgan & Co., the worlds most powerful investment bank. Several had fathers managing and making millions on Wall Street. Some traced their lineage to the Mayflower; several counted friends and relatives among presidents and statesmen. Despite being scions of the Gilded Ages loftiest families, they considered it their duty to serve their country. They grew up in a time when their privileged position brought with it special responsibilities that may seem distant to us today. Barely a decade and a half after the Wright brothers first flight, they were convinced that America needed an air force. Given the country didnt have one, or barely so, they decided to create their own. A dozen learned to fly in the summer of 1916 at the splendid Long Island, New York, Gold Coast family estate of the groups founder, F. Trubee Davison. They trained on bi-wing flying boats over the Long Island Sound. As managing partner of J.P. Morgan and Co. on Wall Street, Davisons father, Henry P. Davison, was perhaps the most powerful banker in the world. Since the wars outbreak, keeping the Allied powers in the fight had become Morgans chief business. The bank floated bonds on behalf of the British and French. Morgan also served as agents for Allied purchases of U.S. weapons and munitions, grain, iron, steel and oil, spending up to $10 million per day. Some questioned whether the House of Morgan wasnt pushing the reluctant nation into the war to protect its financial interests. Others accused Morgan and the British government of engineering the sinking of the Lusitania, which was known to carry ammunition in its cargo hold. In the 1930s backlash against the Great War, a Senate committee held numerous hearings, berating witnesses including partners from J.P. Morgan, in the words of a senator, for being merchants of death who pursued war for the profit for the few. Nobody could accuse them, however, of not having put their own blood at risk. Returning to the Yale campus in New Haven, Conn., for the school year, the young men enlisted more of their friends and classmates in their flying scheme; eventually 28 joined together to form the Yale Aero Club. Davison went to Washington to offer the organizations services to the Navy as a reserve unit. However, the Secretary of the Navy lacked the imagination to envision the potential value of their services for his surface fleet. Nonetheless, the farsighted Davison and his friends continued with their own family money to pursue flight training, convinced that this disruptive new technology would one day overturn the hidebound Navys ways of making war. With the help of a young Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Davison and some of his classmates did fly from New Haven occasionally to the New London Navy Submarine Base where they went out with their own aircraft on patrol to see if they could spot submerged submarines and to teach the submariners to avoid detection from the air. (As president during World War Two, Roosevelt would call the Yale men back to service in building up and guiding the nations air power.) Early in 1917, the German Kaiser determined upon starving out Great Britain, by attacking even neutral shipping. As more and more American ships and goods went under the waves, war fever began to grip the land. Woodrow Wilson and the Navy finally realized they needed an air force. They had the seeds for one in the prescient young men from Yale. The Navy enlisted them in March 1917 and called up the First Yale Unit, the first-ever squadron in the Naval Air Reserve. Of course the Navy still had no budget for their training. This being the gold spoon brigade, that wasnt a problem. J.P. Morgan and Co. and their families paid the bill. The entire U.S. Navy Air Reserve boarded a three-car private train in New York City, including their crated-up aircraft, and wentwhere else?to Palm Beach, Fla., to train. Not surprisingly, the press following their exploits dubbed them the Millionaires Unit. On April 6, 1917, the U.S. declared war. With civilization itself seeming to be in the balance, President Wilson now called for war so that the world might be made safe for democracy. All of the Millionaires Units pilots won their Wings of Goldmade up by Tiffany and Co., of courseas Naval Aviators, making them among the Navys first 100 flyers. All except one: Davison crashed during his test flight, breaking his back, an injury that would leave him disabled for the rest of his life. Before the end of the summer of 1917, these flyers provided the nucleus of the burgeoning navy air service. Naval airmen were the first uniformed Americans to reach France and enter combat. Yale Unit members helped build the first American overseas airbase, a training station at Le Moutchic, France, from the ground up. Robert Lovett from the Yale Unit became the first American in uniform to fly in the European theater. He was also the first uniformed American to fly on a heavy bomber mission. He was a brilliant and resourceful leader who rose up the ranks fast. He eventually devised and helped plan the nations first strategic bombing campaign and headed its night bomber wing. In the Second World War, he served as Assistant Secretary of War for Air, using what he had learned in the First to build up the bomber and fighter force that helped crush Germany. After that war, as one of the so-called Wise Men during the Cold War and a Secretary of Defense during the Korean War, he guided the development of American strategic air power. Artemus Gates from the Yale Unit eventually commanded the dangerous Dunkirk Naval Air Station. He undertook a daring, singlehanded rescue of a plane that went down at sea, for which he was nominated for the Medal of Honor. In the next war, he returned as the Assistant Secretary of Navy for Air, giving him responsibility for building up the carrier aircraft that proved so decisive against the Japanese. A dauntless risk-taker, David S. Ingalls, great-nephew of President William Howard Taft, became the Navys first Air Ace during the war. He returned to naval service in the Second World War, becoming commander of the Pearl Harbor Naval Air Station. Erl Gould took command of the Key West Naval Air Station at age 22, making him one of the youngest officers ever to lead such a large military facility. He, too, went back into the navy during the next war. Making his way into the Pacific, he headed up the forward construction operations during the fighting at Tarawa that built the air fields needed in the air campaign against Japan. Some of the Unit members gave their all. Albert Sturtevant became the first uniformed American killed in air combat. German fighters shot down his plane over the English Channel during a U-boat patrol. Two more of his Yale brothers-in-arms would die in the air war over Europe. One was Kenneth MacLeish, brother of Archibald, later a poet and playwright and three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. By the time of the armistice, November 11, 1918, members of the Millionaires Unit had fought in the air war throughout Europe, helped to sink subs, provided convoy protection, trained and led hundreds of men, tested aircraft and weapons, and commanded numerous air stations, doing everything for an air service that grew from almost nothing to a 40,000-man force that rivaled any in the war. The war to end all war did nothing of the kind. It brought down centuries-old royal families, set off rebellions and revolutions, redrew the map of the world, unleashed a devastating flu epidemic, wiped out a generation of young men, and made the United States an unrivaled economic giant. An Austrian corporal gassed in the trenches on the Western Front vowed revenge for the treacherous Jewish conspiracy that he believed had undermined his nation and the vengeful treaty imposed on Germany. The Yale Unit flyers would take what they had learned during the First World War as their foundation for finishing the job against Adolf Hitler in the Second. Admiral William Sims, commander of all U.S. Navy forces in Europe during the Great War, described the young men of the First Yale Unit as twentieth-century Paul Reveres and credited their efforts as the romantic beginnings of American naval aviation. He wrote, The great aircraft force which was ultimately assembled in Europe had its beginnings in a small group of undergraduates at Yale University. Half a century after that war ended, Robert Lovett was asked what motivated these young men who had everything to live for to risk it all. Despite their great wealth, high birth and unlimited opportunity, they were no different in that respect than all those who have served in the century since they invented American air power. Lovett said You could have the satisfaction of loyalty, of service, of doing something you believed in with a group of friends that you loved and respected. Thats what kept us going. No question. To learn more about the Millionaires Unit and World War One, read my history, The Millionaires Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power and see the award-winning feature-length documentary, The Millionaires UnitU.S. Naval Aviators in the First World War. Pernod Ricard unveils prestige sipping rum Pernod Ricard has released Havana Club Tributo 2017, a prestige sipping rum blended from aged rum reserves. The second installment of the Tributo Collectiom, it was unveiled at the Cuban Habanos Festival and will have a limited release of 2,500 bottles globally. Havana Club Tributo 2017 has been crafted by Asbel Morales, Havana Club maestro del ron Cubano, from a blend of base rums and a decades-old aguardiente or spirit base. The aguardiente is at the heart of this rum, and has been matured in barrels that are over 80 years old. The 2017 edition is bottled at 40% ABV. Following the success of the 2016 edition, Havana Club Tributo 2017 is on sale in six extra markets this year, totalling 16, from March at the RRP of 350 per 70 cl. Havana Club claims that this blend of rum reserves honours the maestros del ron Cubano, a role that has recently been declared a Cultural Patrimony of the Cuban nation by the Culture Ministry in Cuba. As such, each bottle of Havana Club Tributo is individually numbered and adorned with the signature of Havana Club maestro del ron Cubano, Asbel Morales. The outer packaging feautres green gold cues evoking the sugar cane lands used for generations in the production of authentic Cuban rum. Asbel Morales comments: The extensive reserves at the Havana Club distillery provided us with a wealth of luxurious aged rums to experiment with. By blending together a decades-old aguardiente and our precious rums, we have achieved a totally new rum experience that is lively and complex, with a remarkable dry taste imparted by the original Cuban sugar cane character of the aguardiente. Havana Club Tributo 2017 celebrates the craftsmanship at the heart of the production of premium rum, from the cane to the cask, and we hope rum drinkers around the world will enjoy it. Nick Blacknell, international marketing director at Havana Club International, adds: We are delighted to have launched the latest edition in the Havana Club Tributo Collection and we look forward to building on the success of Tributo 2016. With only 2,500 bottles of Havana Club Tributo 2017 being released worldwide, we expect the expression to be popular among global rum and dark spirits connoisseurs who are looking for the next authentic Cuban rum to add to their repertoire. 1 April 2017 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, news editor The Books of Samuel are filled with enigmas. The more we study them and the life of the prophet Samuel the more confused we seem to become. These books seem more about others than about Samuel. Named after Israel's last "judge" and a man whose life was filled with conflict, they deal more with Israel's first two kings than with the "prophet" Samuel. Samuel, as is soon as so many other prophets, struggled his whole life to come to peace with his reality. It is not clear if he succeeded, but it is from the depth of these personal struggles that we learn much about the intertwining of life and politics. Samuel's name in Hebrew, Shumel, may signify "God heard his mother Hannah's pleas." Born as a miracle child in whom his father never had much confidence, Samuel grew up perhaps lonely and fearful. He was a political and religious purist. Samuel was much more a detail person than a broad thinker. As a national leader, he desired to see Israel both safe and prosperous but also understood that as long as the land was polluted with idolatry success would elude the nation. Although a first reading leads us to believe that he was no Saul or David, it is he, rather than Saul or David, whom the Bible calls a prophet These two books, Samuel I and Samuel II, cover some of Israel's most trying times. It is not clear if these books, presented to the reader in narrative form, are meant to be histories, philosophy or a primer in the understanding of human nature and government. When we first confront these two books, we can not help but wonder if Samuel is nothing more than a mere literary device providing the reader with a transition from the period of the "Shoftim" (Judges) to the strong central governments of Saul and David. Was Samuel a great leader and political prophet on his own? The Biblical text presents us with Samuel's story filled drama and intrigue. Samuel's life revolves around other strong willed (and at times dysfunctional) personalities. Eli, Hannah, Samuel, Saul, Jonathan and David. His life closes the era of judges and leads us to a world of kings. The First Book of Samuel speaks about the chaotic historic period of the Judges. This is a time when Israel lived in chaos, with no central authority and with the fear that others would overrun it. It was also a time when a radical change was needed, yet these changes took place not because of Samuel but despite him. Despite the difficulties, Samuel speaks very much to us and his political philosophy is one that has resonated (although not always accepted) down through the ages. His religious insights are more pedantic than philosophical, but his political ideas may serve as an example of the political divide between those who favor strong central government and those who seek a more limited form of government. It is in this work that we see the demands of the people for a king and read Samuel's warnings about the role of kings. It is in these books, especially the First Book of Samuel, that we confront a universal problem: the division between acting in accordance with moral imperatives and acting with political expediency. As in our own age Samuel constantly weighted the need for political expediency with that of political idealism. Samuel needed to hear the urgings of the nation and weigh these against his personal fears of a large and centralized government, a government ever more removed from the people. Samuel's famous warning about kings (I Samuel 8: 10-22) calls out to us. In his political discourse against the idea of a king (big centralized government) Samuel warns that such a government "will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he (the king) will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants." In other words, Samuel feared that governments have a tendency to grow and that once removed from the people, governments become the people's master rather than the people being the master of a government. Samuel's discourse is very much with us today. Just as in his time there are those who see large government as an answer to national problems and those who see large government as the problem. There are those who see the need for national expediency and those who argue that principles cannot be sacrificed on the altar of the here and now. Samuel may not have written great poetry or literary narratives but he understood the problems of the eternal present and how the decisions each generation makes in its present determine the future of the generations that follow. Peter Tarlow is the rabbi emeritus at Texas A&M Hillel Foundation in College Station. He directs the Center for Latino-Jewish Relations and teaches at the Texas A&M College of Medicine. Just 10 months ago, Blinn College announced that its plans to build a second campus in Bryan had been scrapped. Instead, school officials said at the time, efforts were being redirected to a new arrangement that could ultimately save the college at least $10 million and further strengthen its ability to reach students in new and potentially innovative ways. On Friday, another step toward achieving that goal became a reality as officials held a ceremonial ground breaking to commemorate the start of construction on a multi-million dollar education facility located on the Texas A&M University System's RELLIS Campus. More than 100 attendees -- nearly all of whom were specifically recognized during the first 20 minutes of the ceremony by Blinn President and CEO Mary Hensley -- were at the event, including numerous city, county and state representatives. "Today we celebrate a historic, unprecedented partnership that paves a new path for the future of higher education," Hensley said at the ceremony. "The RELLIS campus denotes that collaboration and a commitment to student achievement." David Sommer, president of the Blinn board of trustees, said the college's partnership with the A&M System at the rapidly developing campus west of Bryan has the potential to "set the standard for university and community college collaboration." "[Today] represents a historic day for the Texas A&M University System and for Blinn College as we break ground upon a campus that will usher in a new era for these two proud institutions," Sommer said. "It represents a celebration of a bright future for the Bryan-College Station community and the entire Brazos Valley as RELLIS promises to be a regional economic driver for decades to come." Following the A&M System's May announcement of RELLIS, Blinn trustees voted to abandon plans for a second campus in Bryan and accept an invitation to move the planned facility to the new campus. The unanimous vote came as the college was preparing to begin construction on a property located off of F.M. 2818 in Bryan. Despite losses associated with halting the project, Blinn officials estimated the move to RELLIS would ultimately save the college at least $10 million. As the second new facility to begin construction at RELLIS -- following the Center for Infrastructure Renewal, which began work in September -- Blinn's education facility represents the latest project to begin on the 2,000-acre campus as development momentum begins to pick up in 2017. Over the next year, new facilities for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station are expected to break ground on the campus as well. To help celebrate the event, Blinn officials welcomed U.S. Rep. Bill Flores and seven Texas representatives and senators -- including Sen. Charles Schwertner, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and Rep. John Raney -- to the stage to offer their remarks. During his own speech, A&M System Chancellor John Sharp quipped that in his five years serving in the role, he has "never seen this many legislators at an event short of a concert." Flores expressed excitement for both the concept of the RELLIS Campus and Blinn's active role in its educational structure. He specifically praised the partnership as a "transformative" initiative with potential to have impacts both in the state and across the country. "What they are launching is a transformational enterprise that will move education forward in this country," Flores said during the event. "The ability to take the research of Texas A&M and to meld it with a community college will create an educational outcome that truly equips the workforce of the future." Looking forward, Blinn's education facility is slated for completion in fall 2018. The four-story, 83,000-square-foot facility is expected to include 18 classrooms and eight laboratories. In the meantime, Blinn officials are expanding the college's collaborations with the A&M System to develop new and more locally tailored workforce training programs. Earlier this week, it was announced the two institutions have partnered to hire a consulting firm to evaluate the workforce needs of the Brazos Valley. When completed, the $225,000 report is expected to help educators at RELLIS as they work to design programs to help address the workforce needs of the community. Kevin Jensen thought he and his family were being asked to speak at a charity event. It's not unusual for the Purple Heart recipient and Army veteran to give small talks to the community. But when he and his wife, Jessica, and their children arrived at the Subway restaurant off the Northgate district in College Station on Friday, they didn't find a group waiting to hear a speech. They found a group waiting to give them more than $5,000 to help rebuild their home. The Texas A&M Veterans Resource and Support Center worked with the charity organization Soldier's Wish and sponsor Subway to surprise the family and help them move from the camper they're staying in to a newly rebuilt home. When intense rain hit the area in April 2016, the Jensens' house in Hempstead was destroyed as water seeped from the roof into every crevice of the home. The family was offered a small settlement, but their insurance company would not offer significant help, putting them $400,000 in the hole. Jessica Jensen, who was pregnant with the couple's third child at the time, was put on bed rest because of tumors on her ovaries, and Kevin Jensen was on disability after he was wounded in combat in Afghanistan when he pulled his lieutenant out of the flames of an IED explosion and saved the officer's life. The Jensens moved into a small apartment, then a camper as they tried to rebuild their home. Kevin Jensen had been in the process of transferring to Texas A&M and was admitted into the construction science program in the fall. The couple currently lives in Cypress, and Kevin Jensen drives more than an hour each day to make his 8 a.m. classes. Jessica Jensen works as a school counselor in Cypress, and on the weekends, the couple works on rebuilding their Hempstead home piece by piece. "It was one hit after another," Kevin Jensen said. "With me going to school and Jessica on bed rest, me having to swap out with her mom coming home to take care of her when I first got into school ... it was a big deal." Col. Jerry Smith of the VRSC and Karen Allen of Texas A&M's military admissions were concerned when the Jensens lost their home. They did what they could to help Kevin Jensen transfer smoothly into his classes and made efforts to supply the family based on their needs. The Oklahoma-based national nonprofit Soldier's Wish is staffed with organizers who do whatever they can to help veterans in need. In January, they contacted Texas A&M to offer their services. "Subway restaurants teamed up with us for a fundraiser in seven markets; one of those was the city of College Station," said Army veteran and nonprofit representative Mark Ochsenbein. "I was a dean at a university in Tennessee for years, and I knew there are a lot of services on college campuses that help veterans. I knew Texas A&M was a behemoth university, so I called Col. Smith, and he said it was funny -- right when I called, he had just the right veteran in mind who needed some help." Soldier's Wish has raised money for veterans to pay medical bills, make repairs on their homes, purchase laptops for their university studies and provide groceries for their families. Ochsenbein said he was happy to help the Jensens, especially considering the fact that Kevin Jensen has provided such a heroic service history. The $5,000 was raised by Subway restaurants in the area taking donations from customers and is being transferred to the Jensens through Soldier's Wish. Jessica Jensen said the money will be spent on building materials, including doors, windows, sheetrock and tiles. "We basically live at Lowes right now," she said. "This will help us out with all the building materials and other needs." Kevin Jensen said he is not one to ask for charity and feels humbled to have been nominated by the VRSC and surprised with this gift. The Jensens love Texas A&M, he said. Kevin Jensen said the university's help to him was no emotionless act of philanthropy, but rather a reflection of the heart of students and faculty themselves. "That's just the Aggie spirit," he said. "It's not about the school, it's the people in the school." The Jensens hope to have their house completed within the next few months. Three men have been arrested on check fraud charges in separate incidents. According to police, an officer was called to a bank in the 2300 block of Texas Avenue in College Station on Thursday. Tellers said 40-year-old Christopher Devan Duncan of Houston was attempting to cash a check from a paint and body shop in Houston. The bank contacted the account owners, who said his checkbook was stolen from a car in January and the account was closed. Police say Duncan had another check on him, and both checks together amounted to more than $2,000. Duncan was charged with two counts of forgery of a financial instrument, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in a state jail and $10,000 in fines. At another bank down Texas Avenue in Bryan, officers were called by bank staff Thursday regarding two men trying to cash checks. One man had a check from a saw and tool company, the other from a refrigeration company. The business owners were contacted, and both said the two Houston men were not authorized to cash checks from their companies. Police arrested Vincent Dandre Glover, 45, and Larry Ray Vasquez, 46. Each man faces one count of forgery of a financial instrument. It is unclear if the three cases are related. Vasquez and Glover are being held at the Brazos County Jail on $6,000 bond. Duncan is being held on $12,000 bond. August 26, 1932 - March 27, 2017 Mrs. Eunice B. Hamilton of Bryan, Texas, passed away on March 27, 2017, from complications due to a stroke in Houston, Texas at the age of 84. She is survived by her son, Terry M. Hamilton, of Houston; daughter, Amy Teresa Castetter, son-in-law, Alex A. Castetter, grandsons Noah and Daniel Castetter, all of Whitehouse, Texas; sisters Ruth Nobles of Muskogee, Oklahoma; Joyce Ogles of Groesbeck, Texas; Blanche Reece of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. J.C. Hamilton, her parents, Sam and Martha Bowlin, her sister Ruby Fern Conant and her two brothers Allen G. and Anthony Bowlin. Visitation will be held at the First Baptist Church of Bryan, Texas, 3100 Cambridge Drive, Bryan, Texas, from 10 A.M. to 12 P.M. on April 3rd, 2017. Funeral services will also be held at the First Baptist Church at 1 P.M. the same day. Interment will follow at the Bryan City Cemetery. Mrs. Hamilton was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma on August 26, 1932. After attending Oklahoma Baptist University, she lived in Dallas, Texas before moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico where she met her husband, J.C. Mrs. Hamilton was a member of the First Baptist Church of Bryan and was active in its ministries. She was a homemaker who enjoyed sewing, cooking and reading. Throughout her life, she was actively involved in the activities and education of her children and grandchildren. The family would like to thank the physicians and staff of The Methodist Hospital, and the Brookdale Galleria Senior Living Center, both in Houston, Texas for their care of Mrs. Hamilton during her final illness. They would also like to thank the members of the First Baptist Church for their ministry to the family during this difficult time. Memories or condol- ences may be left at http://memorialfuneral chapelbryan.com. March 11, 1933 - March 30, 2017 Gloria Leal-Lopez from Bryan, TX, went to heaven to be with our Lord on March 30, 2017 She was born in Monterrey, Mexico on March 11, 1933, to Juanita and Eduardo Leal. Gloria was preceded in death by her parents and three brothers. Gloria is survived by her husband of 66 years, Emilio R. Lopez, Sr. from Bryan, TX; her brother, Mario Leal and his wife, Elena, from Monterrey, Mexico; her daughter, Dora Galvan and her husband, David, from Austin, TX; her son, Emilio Lopez, Jr. and his wife Mary Ann from Bryan, TX; her son, Roy Edward Lopez and his wife, Mayela, from College Station, TX; 8 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Gloria and Emilio moved from Monterrey, Mexico to Bryan in 1955. In 1972, Gloria and Emilio realized a life-long dream of owning a business when they opened the West 25th Laundry and Dry Cleaners in Bryan. In 2016, they were honored by receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bryan/College Station Hispanic Forum for their entrepreneurship and outstanding contributions to the Bryan/College Station community. Gloria began her gallant struggle when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2006. Her courage, determination, and faith in God has been an example to all who knew her. She was blessed with a large support group of friends, and the Lopez family is eternally grateful for the demonstrations of love and encouragement they received. The Lopez family would also like to express their thanks and gratitude to all her medical care givers, the staff of the Davita Dialysis Center in Bryan, and the staff at the Hospice Brazos Valley Inpatient Facility. Gloria's Visitation will be held on Saturday April 1, 2017 from 6-8 PM with a Rosary at 7 PM at Hillier Funeral Home of Bryan. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Father Abraham Puentez Mejia on Sunday April 2, 2017, 4 PM at Santa Teresa Catholic Church, 1212 Lucky Street in Bryan. Burial will follow at Restever Memorial Park. Please share memories of Gloria at www.hillierfuneralhome.com What issue do Iowa voters most often say is critical? You might be surprised This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Its hard to venture into West Norwalk without noting its most predominant features: a vast network of trees stretching in all directions. Not only are these trees vital to purifying the air we breathe and providing shade for us during Norwalks hot summer days, but did you know that they can also improve the value of your property? Gay Mac Leod, co-chairperson of the Tree Advisory Committee for Norwalk, will be giving a short presentation on how trees can dramatically contribute to the citys biggest financial assets residential properties. The presentation is scheduled for Monday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the beginning of the West Norwalk Associations monthly board meeting in the Fox Run Elementary Schools All-Purpose Room. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about how trees affect our lives in ways that are not commonly known, hear how the West Norwalk Association plans to act on this information and to find out what the board has been up to lately. Norwalks arts scene will be lit on Wednesday, April 5 as the city celebrates its fourth annual Norwalk LitCrawl. The event, which will benefit Literacy Volunteers this year, will once again seek to further the arts in Norwalk with this annual celebration of Aprils designation as poetry month with a poetry recital at each one of the LitCrawl venues. Attendees will listen on as residents read selections of about five minutes or less, including an introduction of why the reader chose to read that poem. This year, the LitCrawl will take place in the Wall Street area from 5-8:30 p.m. at the following restaurants: 5-7 p.m. at Peaches with hosts Erin Herring and Cynde Lahey; 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Banc House with Hosts Brian Griffin and Kathryn Hebert; 6-8 p.m. at Fat Cat with Hosts Sherelle Harris and Nori Grudin; and 6:30-8:30 p.m. at aji10 with hosts Laurel Peterson and Neddy Smith. The restaurants will provide free appetizers and a cash bar for all attendees. There will be a sound system at each venue to enhance your enjoyment of the readings. Tickets may be purchased by donating $10 to Literacy Volunteers online at client.pointandpay.net/web/NorwalkPublicLibrary. For a complete list of speakers, check out the Norwalk Public Library website at www.norwalklib.org. For any additional information, please contact Christine Bradley, director of the Norwalk Public Library system, at 203-899-2780, ext. 15126 or cbradley@norwalkpubliclibrary.org. SOUTH NORWALK On Saturday, April 8, the streets of South Norwalk will run red, blue, yellow, and green as the annual Color Vibe 5K gets under way. Promoters are promising runners more color than you can handle, so gather friends and family and get stretched out for this colorful event. The run will take off from Veterans Park at 9 a.m. as runners take in the sights of South Norwalk with a colorful twist, as they will get blasted at every color station along the way. Tickets for adults cost $65. Up to two kids, aged 1 through 12 years old, can receive free registration when paired with a paid adult, though a processing fee will still apply. Kids who run without a parent can purchase tickets the day of the event for $10. Proceeds from the run will go toward the National Alliance of Mental Illness of Southwestern Connecticut. EAST NORWALK Dogs are there for you after youve suffered traumatic experiences, when you need a companion for a walk and especially when you arrive home after a long days work. So, the question is, will you be there when dogs need you? Show your support for dogs everywhere when the Norwalk Veterinary Hospital hosts its fundraiser to benefit Fairfield and Norwalk K9 Units and Animal Nation, a nonprofit pet adoption agency. The fundraiser will offer attendees appetizers, sit-down dinner with dessert and libations in return for an $85 donation per person or $800 for a table of 10. There will also be a 50/50 raffle and silent auction and DJ. The event is scheduled for Saturday, April 8 at 7 p.m. at the St. Ann Club at 16 Hendricks Ave. Organizers are still searching for sponsors to donate between $100 and $5,000 in exchange for listings and ads in the events program. For more information, call Sue Gabriele at 203-984-3169 or Janice Duffy 203-767-5787. Share your neighborhood news To share your community and neighborhood news with The Hour, contact Pat Tomlinson at 203-354-1046, or at ptomlinson@hearstmediact.com. Chef Michael Costa knows that if you ask diners if theyd like a lamb chop or crown roast, you may get some wary looks. Isnt lamb a bit expensive? And gamey? But offer them an Adana kebab spiced ground lamb wrapped around a skewer and grilled to sizzling perfection and you may have a new lamb fan. Its kind of a gateway drug, jokes Costa, chef at Zaytinya in Washington, D.C., part of Spanish-American chef Jose Andres restaurant group. As a native of Greece, Costa comes by his love of lamb naturally and he points out that lamb, goat and mutton (meat from older sheep) are staples worldwide. But in the United States, lamb hasnt made much headway against the all-American triumvirate of beef, chicken and pork. In response, producers have been making a concerted effort to win over consumers, breaking down the animal into smaller and more manageable cuts than the traditional legs and racks and, in particular, promoting ground lamb as the basis for quick meals, burgers and sausages. It seems to be working. In 2011, 11 million pounds of ground lamb were sold in the U.S. By 2014, that number had more than doubled to 22.5 million pounds, according to the American Lamb Board. Still, lamb remains a small part of the overall meat market. In 2014, for instance, Americans consumed 24.1 billion pounds of beef, according to USDA data. But the growth rate is encouraging for lamb producers. Really, the industry, the lamb suppliers and marketers are getting more savvy, says Megan Wortman, the boards executive director. John Fink, owner of The Whole Beast restaurants with two locations in San Francisco, likes to cook whole lambs for catered events and has a mobile smoker for the purpose. He also likes the more obscure cuts of lamb, such as neck, which is rarely seen in U.S. grocers because it doesnt have a lot of meat on it and requires careful cooking. To Fink, its the best part of the lamb, to be perfectly honest. He uses lamb neck meat marinated and cooked at low temperatures for hours until it is meltingly tender for gyro sandwiches. Its a labor of love, but the end result and the smoke really adds a great nuance. Smoking lamb helps deal with a common complaint about it, that its too gamey. I actually like the gaminess of lamb, but most Americans dont. For me, its been a great bridge to really turn people on to lamb. Burgers are another good way to introduce people to lamb and Fink has had success selling lamb burgers at his Whole Beast location in San Franciscos AT&T Park. Beef burgers still lead by about 3:1, but lamb is really starting to get some traction, he says. Baked Mediterranean Lamb Stew Start to finish: 2 hours (25 minutes active) 1 tablespoon olive oil 3 pounds lamb leg, trimmed of fat and cut into 2-inch cubes (or 2 pounds lamb stew meat) Kosher salt and ground black pepper 1 teaspoon ground dry turmeric 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 large yellow onion, trimmed, peeled and cut into wedges 3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped Zest and juice of 2 oranges 15-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes 1/2 cup green olives, halved 1/2 cup golden raisins 2 cups red wine 3 medium yellow potatoes, cut into 2-inch pieces 12 medium radishes, halved 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large Dutch oven over medium-high, heat the olive oil. Working in batches, season the lamb pieces with salt and pepper then sear them on all sides, 5 to 6 minutes per batch, turning often. As each batch is finished, transfer to a plate and repeat the process. Once all of the lamb has been seared, return it to the pot along with the turmeric, cumin seeds, onion, rosemary, garlic, orange zest and juice, tomatoes, olives, raisins and red wine. Cover and place in the oven to cook for 45 minutes. Gently stir in the potatoes, radishes and carrots. Cover and return to the oven for another 40 to 50 minutes, or until the lamb and the vegetables are tender. Adjust seasoning as needed. Makes 8 servings. Nutrition information per serving: 330 calories; 70 calories from fat (21 percent of total calories); 8 g fat (2.5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 60 mg cholesterol; 590 mg sodium; 30 g carbohydrate; 4 g fiber; 13 g sugar; 23 g protein. Recipe from: Alison Ladman 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. Nebraska farmers followed the lead of farmers nationwide and will plant a record number of soybean acres this season by 10 percent over last year, while nationwide farmers will plant 7 percent more soybeans this year than the previous year. The previous record for soybeans planted in Nebraska was 5.4 million acres in 2014, according to the USDAs National Agricultural Statistics Service. In Nebraska, prospective soybean planted acres is estimated at 5.7 million acres, an increase from 5.2 million in 2016 and 5.3 million in 2015. Nationwide, soybean planted area for 2017 is estimated at a record high 89.5 million acres, up 7 percent from last year. Compared with last year, planted acreage intentions are up or unchanged in 27 of the 31 estimating states. Corn acres in Nebraska will be 9.55 million compared to 9.85 million acres last year and 9.4 million acres in 2015. Nationwide, corn planted area for all purposes in 2017 is estimated at 90 million acres, down 4 percent or 4 million acres from last year. Compared with last year, planted acreage is expected to be down or unchanged in 38 of the 48 estimating states. Last year was a record year for corn and soybeans in Nebraska. The states 2016 corn production is forecast at a record-high 1.75 billion bushels, up 3 percent from last year. Acreage harvested for grain is estimated at 9.5 million acres, up 4 percent from 2015. Average yield is forecast at 184 bushels per acre, down 1 bushel from the previous year. Soybean production in Nebraska last year was a record high 319 million bushels, 4 percent above the previous year. Area for harvest, at 5.15 million acres, was down 2 percent from 2015. Record yield is forecast at 62 bushels per acre, up 4 bushels from 2015. Corn and soybeans are the dominant crops in Nebraska. Of the 19.49 million acres of principal cropland farmers intend to plant this year, 15.2 million will be corn or soybeans or 78 percent of the total cropland. Based on the value of production in 2016, corn and soybeans accounted for $8.6 billion of the $9.56 billion or 90 percent of the value of all principal crops grown in Nebraska. Last year in Hall County, farmers harvested 39,500 acres of soybean for an average yield of 67.8 bushels per acre. For corn, Hall County farmers harvested 185,000 acres with an average yield of 186.4 bushels per acre. The governments prospective planting report was not good news for Nebraskas small grain and sorghum production. According to the report, winter wheat acres seeded in the fall of 2016 are estimated at a record low 1.11 million, down 19 percent from last year. Sorghum growers in Nebraska intend to plant 140,000 acres, down 30 percent from a year ago. Oat intentions are estimated at 120,000 acres, down 11 percent from last year. Wheat production in Nebraska has declined by nearly 400,000 acres the last three years, while sorghum acres dropped by 130,000 acres and oats by 15,000 acres. Nationwide, all wheat planted area for 2017 is estimated at 46.1 million acres, down 8 percent from 2016. This represents the lowest total planted area for the United States since records began in 1919. The 2017 winter wheat planted area, at 32.7 million acres, is down 9 percent from last year but up 1 percent from the previous estimate. Other planting intentions of Nebraska crops for 2017 include: All hay acreage to be harvested in Nebraska is expected to total 2.50 million acres, up 2 percent from 2016. Dry edible bean acreage intentions are estimated at 150,000 acres, up 9 percent from 2016. Sugarbeet growers expect to plant 48,000 acres, unchanged from last year. Sunflower producers expect to plant 60,000 acres, up 45 percent from 2016. Oil type varieties account for 45,000 acres, up 55 percent from a year ago. Non-oil varieties made up the balance of 15,000 acres, up 20 percent from the previous year. Also, the USDA reported that Nebraska corn stocks in all positions on March 1, 2017, totaled 1 billion bushels, up 5 percent from 2016. Of the total, 590 million bushels are stored on farms, up 11 percent from a year ago. Off-farm stocks, at 412 million bushels, are down 3 percent from last year. Soybeans stored in all positions totaled 138 million bushels, up 17 percent from last year. On-farm stocks of 45 million bushels are up 10 percent from a year ago and off-farm stocks, at 92.7 million bushels, are up 20 percent from 2016. Wheat stored in all positions totaled 61.8 million bushels, up 45 percent from a year ago. On-farm stocks of 3.4 million bushels are up 17 percent from 2016 and off-farm stocks of 58.4 million bushels are up 47 percent from last year. Sorghum stored in all positions totaled 10.6 million bushels, up 27 percent from 2016. On-farm stocks of 690 thousand bushels are up 15 percent from a year ago and off-farm holdings of 9.89 million bushels are up 27 percent from last year. On-farm oat stocks totaled 400 thousand bushels, down 47 percent from 2016. LOS ANGELES (AP) California and several other states honored Cesar Chavez by closing schools and state offices Friday, the 90th anniversary of the birth of a man who went from a grape and cotton picker to an enduring hero for laborers, Latinos and justice seekers of all kinds. Farmworkers in four states also planned to march Saturday and Sunday in honor of Chavez, who died in 1993, and in protest of President Donald Trumps immigration policies. Heres a look at Chavez, his legend and his legacy: Farmworker to organizer Chavez was born near Yuma, Ariz., on March 31, 1927, and grew up in a Mexican-American family that traveled around California picking lettuce, grapes, cotton and other seasonal crops. He left school in seventh grade to work full time in the fields and later turned to organizing for farmworkers rights. In 1962, Chavez and Dolores Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers of America. Farmworkers were crucial to agribusiness in California, which grows nearly half the nations fruits, nuts and vegetables, but pay was poor and conditions often miserable. There were no toilets in the fields for workers, who weeded fields with short-handled hoes that forced them to bend over for hours at a time. Bosses frequently ignored the health and wages of their workers, many of whom were Spanish-speakers in the country temporarily or illegally and had little political or legal clout to prevent abuses. Grapes and grievances There had been protests and small strikes, but the UFW, with Chavez as its figurehead, helped organize the farmworkers on a large scale and turn their cause into a movement. The UFW staged nonviolent strikes, boycotts and protests that garnered immense publicity and had a significant effect in California. A five-year strike that began in 1965 targeted grape growers in the central California town of Delano. Workers demanded pay equal to the federal minimum wage. The fight was marked by a nationwide consumer boycott of non-union grapes, a 350-mile march by grape pickers to the state Capitol and a 25-day fast by Chavez. In the end, the union reached agreements with growers that covered thousands of workers. In 1970, nearly 10,000 workers went on strike after lettuce growers and other farmers in the Salinas Valley signed deals with the Teamsters that granted that union instead of the UFW the right to organize agricultural workers. It was the largest farmworker strike in U.S. history. What followed was a boycott that doubled the price of lettuce and a brutal battle with the Teamsters with protests, mass arrests and violence. UFW picketers were beaten and shot, one was killed and a UFW field office was firebombed. Eventually, the Teamsters signed a deal with the UFW and bowed out of field organizing. In 1975, the UFW launched a 110-mile march from San Francisco to a winery in Modesto, with more than 15,000 people eventually taking part. A few months later, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law creating the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board to oversee collective bargaining for farmworkers. Si se puede The union Chavez co-founded now represents only a fraction of the estimated 450,000 people who work in California fields during harvest seasons. However, he remains an icon of the worker protest movement. His image adorns murals, and his name has been given to streets in Los Angeles, Austin, Texas, and other cities. His signature protest chant, Si se puede, translated as Yes we can! became a rallying cry at demonstrations for various causes and even was used during Barack Obamas presidential campaign. In 2000, California became the first state to establish a day commemorating the labor leader, held on his birthday. Holidays or other commemorations have been enacted in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Rhode Island. In 2014, Obama proclaimed March 31 national Cesar Chavez Day, urging Americans to honor Chavezs legacy. However, it is not a U.S. holiday and federal offices remain open. We feed you About half the people hired to farm crops in the United States arent legally authorized to work here, and a large majority of them were born in Mexico, according to federal statistics. Trumps pledge to deport millions of people living in the U.S. illegally, build a wall on the Mexican border and withhold funds from sanctuary cities that dont cooperate with federal immigration authorities has struck a chord with this community. The UFW and other unions have pledged to bring out thousands of people over the weekend in 11 mostly rural communities in California, Texas, Oregon and Washington state. Field laborers whose toil supplies fresh fruits and vegetables to America and much of the world will be marching against the Trump immigration agenda carrying We feed you signs, a UFW press statement said. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., along with Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Florida, introduced Friday a resolution urging the Trump administration to start the process of establishing a trade agreement with Japan. Smith said the U.S. cannot afford to miss this opportunity to reduce trade barriers with Japan, especially for U.S. agriculture producers. We have already seen the results of U.S. inaction on trade, he said. For example, Smith said that Japan currently levies a nearly 40 percent tariff on U.S. beef, while Australia, which established its own agreement with Japan, only pays a 28 percent tariff on the same export. Strong trade policy strengthens our relationships around the world, and doing so with Japan, one of our allies and top trading partners, is a logical place to start, he said. In January, President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. Countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan and the United States. Economic analysis conducted by Nebraska Farm Bureau showed that virtually every county in Nebraska would have benefited from the agreement, with the state projected to see agricultural cash receipts increase by more than $378 million annually. According to the Farm Bureau analysis, over $150 million, or nearly 40 percent of Nebraskas projected increase in sales of agriculture products under TPP, would have come from the sale of Nebraska beef to TPP countries. Nebraska pork producers would have also seen growth opportunities with Nebraska pork sales statewide expanding by more than $39 million annually. Corn and soybean farmers would have seen annual growth of over $76 million and $34 million, respectively. At the time, Smith said TPP was not a perfect agreement, but it established a framework for U.S. exporters to pursue greater economic opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region. Our country should be a leader in writing the rules of the global economy, rather than allowing other world powers to take our place, Smith said. I hope we can pursue bilateral agreements with these TPP countries to open more markets to U.S. agriculture producers and manufacturers. According to the U.S. Census Department, Japan was Nebraskas third leading trading partner last year with $687 million in sales. Yoho said, As the United States fourth largest trading partner in 2016, pursuing a bilateral trade agreement with Japan would only continue to strengthen the U.S.-Japan relationship. Americas pork producers thank Rep. Smith and Rep. Yoho for introducing a resolution urging the Trump administration to pursue a free trade agreement with Japan, said National Pork Producers Council President Ken Maschhoff, a pork producer from Carlyle, Ill. An FTA with Japan, the U.S. pork industrys number one export market, would exponentially expand our exports and create American jobs. Without one, though, we could lose market share to competitors such as the European Union. Nebraska currently has a record inventory of beef, and we know our red meat exports are in high demand overseas. Japan is our leading export market, and we greatly appreciate Rep. Smiths and Rep. Yohos commitment to helping expand access for U.S. beef. When producers are able to trade, everyone is rewarded, from the pasture down to Main Street, said Troy Stowater, Nebraska Cattlemen president. Sanders plans to stump for Mello in Omaha Bernie Sanders is hoping to inject a little of his personal magic into the Omaha mayors race. The former presidential candidate is expected to come to the city next month to campaign on behalf of Heath Mello, the Democratic candidate for mayor. He is coming in but we do not have a date yet, said Jane Kleeb, the chairman of the Nebraska Democratic Party. Kleeb, who was a Sanders supporter last fall, invited the popular Vermont senator to come to Nebraska. A source has said that Sanders is coming to Omaha on April 20, after Tuesdays primary, but Kleeb emphasized that no date has been confirmed. Mello is challenging Mayor Jean Stothert. The marketing slogan for the new movie Life is, We were better off alone. Its the latest movie to pose the question, Would we be better off not knowing if theres life on other planets? I was captivated by Arrival and continue to maintain it will be seen as one of the greatest sci-fi movies in decades to come. But its also a lot of fun to watch a sci-fi movie with the opposite approach, focusing on the dangers of life on other planets, rather than the potential for us to help each other. The characters in Life are all in on the idea of finding life on Mars. Theyre astronauts and scientists working on the International Space Station, and when they discover a microscopic organism in a dirt sample from Mars, theyre downright excited. The movie does a great job of showing the wonder and excitement humans have about the hope of finding life outside Earth. That excitement extends to Earth, as the movie shows a big celebration in Times Square, where a student from an elementary school chosen in a national contest announces that she and her classmates have chosen to name the creature Calvin after their school, Calvin Coolidge Elementary. All this belies the very real danger that is inherent in experimenting with a life form from another planet. The reason the space station crew is checking it out in space is to discover any dangers it may pose before taking it back to Earth. They keep it in a sealed lab with only one of them in there at a time. But the movie also shows how these extremely intelligent people could make some big mistakes that cause the microorganism to grow so quickly that it threatens to kill them all. As they see firsthand just how dangerous the creature is, their focus must shift to making sure that it doesnt get to Earth. Setting the entire movie in the space station gives it a very claustrophobic feel. The scientists are very limited when they try to escape from the creature once it gets loose. That helps enhance the scariness of Life, which is truly a horror movie in outer space. It is terrifying when we face the possibilities of a life form thats totally new to us because we dont know what to expect from it or how to protect ourselves. These scientists, with all their knowledge and skills, are just as clueless as we would be. Of course, there have been hundreds of movies about extraterrestrial life, but the number that deal with this idea of extraterrestrial life accidentally contaminating Earth is much smaller. One that comes to mind is The Andromeda Strain from 1971. In this film, a satellite has crashed outside a New Mexico town, and the recovery team discovers that almost all the townspeople are dead. Suspecting a pathogen from outer space, the government sends in an elite team of scientists and doctors in hazmat suits to investigate. Inside the satellite they find a green, throbbing blob on a micrometeorite. The blob is given the code name Andromeda. As happens with the microbe in Life, the humans experimenting with Andromeda come close to actually causing it to grow exponentially and become uncontrollable. The thought is that an atomic bomb could be dropped on the site and destroy the threat, but just in time, the scientists discover that a nuclear explosion would cause it to grow exponentially. The Thing from 1982 is another movie in which an extraterrestrial life form gets loose on Earth, although this time its much larger and has the ability to take over human beings bodies. This creature had come to Earth on a flying saucer thousands of years earlier but had been buried in the Antarctic tundra until some Norwegians accidentally dropped a bomb that released it. The crew from an American research station discovers the threat as the creature begins to assimilate its members. They know that they must find a way to keep this creature from getting to a more populated area of Earth because it could assimilate all life on the planet within a few years. In this case, also, Earth would have been better off if the creature had just remained buried in the Antarctic. Senior Editor Bette Pore spends her weekdays at The Independent, but if shes not at work or home, chances are youll find her at the movies. Email her at bette.pore@theindependent.com. Who knew health insurance was so complicated? said President Trump as the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare, a fact that some people are not even aware of) failed to pass Congress. Most of us in America know that health care is as complicated as any issue can be. It is not that way everywhere. I have been retired a few years and have been able to take a few cruises. On every one of these trips I have met many Canadians and I always ask them how they feel about their universal single-payer governmental health care system. All of them tell me they are completely satisfied with the ability to go see a doctor and not have to worry about any charges. The math behind this system is not that complicated. If you are a health insurance company you have to determine premiums that: (1) cover all claims (2) cover administrative costs (3) make a profit for your shareholders. If you are the government your premiums must cover only (1) and (2). To understand just how much Canadians like their system, you only need to look at a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation effort in 2004 to determine the greatest Canadian in history. Polls done by e-mails, website voting, phone and letter voting picked Tommy Douglas, the man who was responsible for getting the universal single-payer health care system in place for Canada. He beat out Wayne Gretzky for this honor. Do you know how important you have to be in Canada to beat out Wayne Gretzky in a popularity contest? The SIUE Native American Studies Program will host an evening with northwest coast native pigment and paint technology expert, artist, author and educator Melonie Ancheta beginning at 6 p.m. April 5 in the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability. Drawing on 20 years in research, Ancheta will discuss and share insights into the role colors play in northwest coast cosmology and objects of ritual and power. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 1, 2017 18:26 2046 a291276806121264c0bd211cde72d145 1 National illegal-fishing,SusiPudjiastuti,maritime-affairs-and-fisheries-ministry,#IllegalFishing,#SusiPudjiastuti,fisheries Free The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry on Saturday sank 81 more vessels for fishing illegally in Indonesian waters. The vessels were arrested by Satgas 115, the ministrys illegal fishing prevention task force, and other authorities in fishing territories across Indonesia. We were helped by the Indonesian Military and National Police in sinking the vessels in 12 locations. They are Aceh; Ambon and Ternate in Maluku; Bali; Belawan in Medan, North Sumatra; Bitung, North Sulawesi; Merauke, Papua; Natuna and Tarempa in Riau Islands; Pontianak, West Kalimantan; Sorong, West Papua; and Tarakan in North Kalimantan, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said as quoted by kompas.com. Susi directly led the procession to sink the 81 vessels from Morela Beach in Ambon. The minister was in contact with 11 other areas where dozens of vessels were sunk via a video conference call and live streaming. The vessels were sunk starting at 10 a.m. Jakarta time using explosives with a measured explosion capacity. We have made calculations so that this will not affect the environment, sea conservation areas and the safety of our sea navigation, said Susi. Of the total, 46 vessels were Vietnamese flagged, 18 were from the Philippines, 11 from Malaysia and six were Indonesian vessels. Meanwhile, SINO 36, an Indonesian-flagged vessel with a capacity of 268 gross tonnage, was confiscated by the state through a court ruling. The government would use the vessels as a monument to depict Indonesias efforts in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Indonesia has sunk 317 ships since October 2014. (dis/ebf) Fridays rally in the capital, which was held to demand Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama be removed from his post, failed to repeat the scale of last years rallies against Ahok, considered among the largest protests the country had ever seen. The considerably smaller crowd signalled waning enthusiasm from Muslim conservatives in their attempt to unseat Ahok, with two of the countrys largest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, plus the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), denouncing the rally prior to it taking place. One of the protesters, 50-yearold Helmy from Depok, West Java, said that he was disappointed by the lower attendance, adding that he thought there would be as many protesters on Friday as in previous rallies. Its discouraging to see this, but the message is still clear. We want Ahok arrested as soon as possible, he said. Even those who joined the rally, initiated by the Muslim Peoples Forum (FUI), appeared to be less enthusiastic, with some of them returning home before the rally started after Friday prayers at the Istiqlal Grand Mosque in Central Jakarta. Ahmadio Putra, a 16-year-old high school student, for instance, said he decided to go home early, right after Friday prayers, because the rally activities were too tiring. Im exhausted, he said. The members of the crowd also shifted their demand from being the immediate arrest and dismissal of Ahok to being the release of rally coordinator Muhammad Al Khaththath from custody after the Jakarta Police arrested him and four other people on Thursday night for alleged treason and conspiracy. Usamah Hisyam from the Indonesian Muslim Brotherhood (Permusi) told the crowd that Al Khaththath got arrested on Thursday when they were preparing materials for Fridays protest. Now I announced that our demand has just been improved. We want the police to immediately release Ustad [Muslim scholar] Al Khaththath from prison, he said. Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said that Al Khaththath and the four others were arrested because they held some meetings to discuss overthrowing the government, which had nothing to do with the protest. He said they were interrogated at the Mobile Brigade Command detention center (Mako Brimob) in Kelapa Dua, Depok. The five people would be charged under Article 107 and Article 110 of the Criminal Code, said Argo. Meanwhile, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said the police had not found a connection between this possible treason plan with a previously alleged treason plot. Unlike last years anti-Ahok rally on Nov. 4, which turned violent after the protesters refused to disperse after the time for the rally ended, the crowd in Fridays rally started to disperse peacefully from the Arjuna Wiwaha Monument in Central Jakarta at 3 p.m. The police had given a permit to stage the protest until 6 p.m. The protesters also failed to meet Jokowi at the State Palace as they had demanded. Instead, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto received nine representatives of the rally in his office. Speaking after a one-hour closed-door meeting with the representatives, Wiranto said he had been instructed by the President to receive them so that the government could listen to their demands. In February, Wiranto had a friendly meeting with the initiators of last years anti-Ahok rallies, including firebrand Islam Defenders Front (FPI) patron Rizieq Shihab, saying that they were his old friends, especially Rizieq whom he had known since well before 2000. ------ Marguerite Afra Sapiie contributed to the story. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 1, 2017 08:19 2047 a291276806121264c0bd211cde720a16 1 City library,community Free Patients of the Cipayung community health center (Puskesmas) can now read books while waiting for their turn to see medical practitioners. For the first time in East Jakarta, and perhaps even in Jakarta, a Puskesmas has a library in it. In the future, well furnish all Puskesmas in East Jakarta with a library, said East Jakarta Library and Archives Agency head Fadlan Zurhan as quoted by beritajakarta on Friday. Besides curing waiting-room boredom, the library is also seen as a way of increasing the publics interest in reading. The agency provides 200 books in the 12-square-meter reading corner. The head of the Cipayung Puskesmas, Sunersi Handayani, hopes the library will be able to cheer up patients or their children, especially since around 50 children visit the health center every day. While waiting for their turn, visitors can read books or play in the childrens area. It really helps us and it fits with our vision to be a child-friendly community health center, said Sunersi. Topics : library community Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Larry Neumeister (Associated Press) New York Sat, April 1, 2017 US prosecutors urged a judge Friday to scrutinize the ramifications of a meeting former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and an ex-US attorney general had with Turkey's president, saying the men were seeking a "critical" role in resolving charges that a Turkish man helped Iran evade US sanctions without any plans to meet with prosecutors. A defense attorney later filed a letter accusing prosecutors of trying to sabotage the effort to resolve the case against businessman Reza Zarrab outside of court. The prosecutors wrote in a letter to a judge presiding over the Zarrab case that they find it "curious" that Giuliani and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey hope to negotiate a disposition of criminal charges without engaging prosecutors. They also said Giuliani and Mukasey had informed prosecutors that they "had sought to meet other officials in the US government outside of this office to discuss a potential disposition of this case." Prosecutors noted that Giuliani's law firm, Greenberg Traurig LLP, is a registered agent of the Republic of Turkey. They included a link to a document showing that the firm has reported to the Justice Department that it is providing counsel "in connection with strengthening the Turkish-American relationship" and educating government officials on issues of importance to Turkey. A day earlier, defense attorney Benjamin Brafman told US District Judge Richard M. Berman in a letter that Zarrab had hired Giuliani and Mukasey, but there was no need to further study the issue for potential conflicts of interest because neither of the lawyers planned to appear in court. Brafman said their work "may impact the prosecution, but it has not, and whether it will is a matter of speculation." After the government filing Friday, Brafman responded in another letter to the judge that the government is not entitled to know what Giuliani and Mukasey are trying to do to assist Zarrab. "That information quite frankly is none of the government's business," Brafman wrote. He said Giuliani and Mukasey did more than required by notifying then-US Attorney Preet Bharara and Attorney General Jeff Sessions that they were going to Turkey before they met last month with Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He said the government was not really trying to ensure there were no conflicts of interest but rather hoped "to attract media attention in the hope of undermining the efforts of counsel to structure a resolution to this case without the direct involvement" of prosecutors. Brafman added: "If the government has the temerity to even intimate that Messrs. Giuliani or Mukasey are engaging in any inappropriate conduct then let them come out and say it." Giuliani was one of Donald Trump's most prominent advocates during his successful Republican presidential campaign last year. Mukasey's son, Marc Mukasey, has been mentioned as a candidate for US attorney in Manhattan. The Iranian-born Zarrab, 33, of Istanbul, Turkey, is charged with conspiring to process hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of financial transactions for Iranian businesses or Iran's government between 2010 and 2015. Authorities say those transactions are banned by US and international sanctions. Prosecutors say Zarrab and two others used a network of companies in Iran, Turkey and elsewhere to launder the proceeds and defraud several financial institutions, including US banks, by concealing the true nature of the financial moves. Zarrab is a well-known personality in Turkey partly because he's married to Turkish pop star and TV personality Ebru Gundes. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Grace D. Amianti and Fedina Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 1 2017 The government is flexing its muscles to solve piling tasks after the curtains came down on the worlds supposedly most successful tax amnesty. There is a time for everything and for Indonesias first and only tax amnesty, the time ended on Friday. That day, taxwpayers were seen flocking to the Taxation Directorate Generals headquarters at the last minute. Kurniawan and Ariston were two of many, and they represented their clients to submit the necessary dossiers. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 1 2017 The management of Depok Town Square (Detos) shopping center in Depok, West Java, says that the collapse of a part of the malls ceiling on Thursday afternoon was due to a pipe above the ceiling coming loose. There are workers fixing the ceiling, Detos marketing communication staff Annisa Lassa said on Friday. Part of the malls ceiling crashed down on shop roofs on the underground floor, specifically shops located at the back of the mall near the parking area. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 1 2017 To achieve this years tax revenue target, the Jakarta Taxation and Retribution Agency (BPRD) is laying out four programs: optimizing revenue through fiscal cadastre, enforcing the law against tax evaders, encouraging integration of business licensing in the form of fiscal linkages and optimizing information-based services. The agency is working with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to complete its database of real property data in order to decide land values (fiscal cadastre). Four districts have been mapped, including Tanah Abang, Kebayoran Lama and Setiabudi, said the agencys Head Edi Sumantri, as quoted by beritajakarta.com on Friday. According to him, all potential taxes can be identified through fiscal cadastre. The mapping will be continued until 44 districts are covered by mid-2018. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 1 2017 The child-friendly integrated public space (RPTRA) Citra Permata in Rawa Bunga, Jatinegara, East Jakarta, is now equipped with a counseling room. There will be three counselors: a nutritionist, a psychologist and a general practitioner, ready to serve residents of the neighborhood. We have set up the counseling room so that the public could have consultations for free. The consultations could be about health, mental health or nutrition, said Rawa Bunga subdistrict head Agustina as quoted by beritajakarta.com on Friday. 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) Magelang Sat, April 1 2017 A student of the prestigious Taruna Nusantara high school in Magelang, Central Java, was found dead and covered in blood in his bed in the schools dormitory on Friday morning. The 15-year-old student, whose name was Krisna Wahyu Nurachmad, was found with a wound on his neck, Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Condro Kirono said. He was a 10th grade student. He was found in his bed with several wounds at 4 a.m., he told reporters on Friday. 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 Sat, April 1, 2017 13:09 2047 a291276806121264c0bd211cde729972 1 National KPK,graft,graft-suspect,PAL,PAL-Indonesia,#KPK,corruption,warship,Philippines Free The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) detained state shipbuilder PAL Indonesia president director M. Firmansyah Arifin after it named him a suspect in a graft case on Friday. For investigation purposes, all suspects will be detained for the next 20 days, KPK spokesperson Febri Diansyah said as quoted by kompas.com on Friday. Firmansyah left the KPK at around 11:20 p.m. local time. Wearing a corruption detainee vest, Firman attempted to shield himself from the media. He immediately jumped into a KPK detainee vehicle without responding to questions from journalists. (Read also: Graft plagues warship export to PH) Two of Firmansyahs subordinates were also named suspects in the case, PAL Indonesia treasury general manager Arif Cahyana and the companys finance director, Saiful Anwar. Firmansyah is detained at the KPK compound, while Arif is detained at the commissions detention facility at the Jakarta Military Polices detention center in Manggarai, East Jakarta. The KPK also named Agus Nugroho, an official with United States-based brokerage firm Ashanti Sales Inc., a suspect in the case. He is detained at the East Jakarta Police. PAL Indonesia had won a contract to build two warships for the Philippine navy. The US$86.96 million-worth procurement project was sealed in 2014, with the involvement of Ashanti Sales Inc. It is suspected the PAL officials and the brokerage firm agreed to a cashback deal from the sale, which accounted for 4.75 percent of the project's profit. Around 1.25 percent, $1.09 million was allegedly allocated for the PAL officials, while 3.5 percent was reportedly for the brokerage firm. (dis/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Khairil Azhar (The Jakarta Post) Tampere, Finland Sat, April 1 2017 There are 30 of us. We have just arrived in Tampere, Finland, having left our schools in Aceh for a while on what was partially a journey of our own education as teachers. In terms of Indonesias education, it can be another endeavor to search for alternatives. Teacher education has been a yardstick in Finlands education system. Not only has it positioned Finland as a headwind in education, it has actually become the backbone of its existence. 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 Sat, April 1, 2017 17:07 2046 a291276806121264c0bd211cde72c023 1 National National-Police,bribery,bribery-case,Propam,Polri,South-Sumatera Free The National Polices (Polri) internal affairs division (Propam) has confiscated Rp 4.78 billion (US$359,159.28) from eight South Sumatra Police personnel suspected to have committed bribery in the recruitment process of Polri members in 2015. We confiscated the money from several bank accounts, National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Rikwanto said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Friday. Of the total, Rp 2.38 billion was confiscated from the South Sumatra Polices medical and health division head, who was identified only as Adj. Sr. Comr. S, while Rp 1.73 billion was seized from the polices psychology division head, identified only as Adj. Sr. Comr. EK. The remainder was taken from six other recruitment officials. The amount of money collected from each applicant remains unknown. We havent yet looked into the details, said Rikwanto. Propam also confiscated several mobile phones, bank account books, land certificates, vehicle ownership documents (BPKB) and data in computers as evidence. The eight police personnel were undergoing questioning at the Propam headquarters in Jakarta. Among methods allegedly used by the suspects to extort money included fictitious assistance that they claimed would help the applicants in passing the recruitment exams. Rikwanto said the suspects might face sanctions for violating the code of ethics if proven guilty. They could be demoted. They could also lose their rights to earn higher ranks, promotions and pursue higher education. In the worst case, they could be dismissed without honor, he said. (hol/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 1, 2017 14:19 2046 a291276806121264c0bd211cde72b3ff 1 National qanun,Qanun-Jinayat,ICJR,LGBT,#LGBT,StigmaAndDiscrimination Free The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) has lambasted the Aceh administrations Islamic criminal code bylaw, or Qanun Jinayat, saying it could potentially provoke discrimination and over-criminalization of LGBT communities and other vulnerable groups. Qanun Jinayat imposes criminal sanctions on both Muslims and non-Muslims found to have consumed liquor, dated in public or carried out same-sex relations, among other things. The state has gone too far by interfering on the private affairs of its citizens and making their personal matters a public affair. This will eventually lead to discrimination and injustice against vulnerable groups, including LGBT [lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender] communities, ICJR said on Friday. Aceh Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), or Wilatul Hisbah, personnel arrested on Tuesday two male students identified as MT, 23, and MH, 21. The students, who lived in a boarding house in Banda Aceh, were suspected of being involved in a same-sex relationship. The two students were taken to the Wilatul Hisbah office for questioning. They were accused of violating Article 63 (1) of the 2014 Qanun Jinayat, which states those found to be carrying out same-sex relations will face a maximum sentence of 100 lashes or pay a maximum fine of 1,000 grams of pure gold or face 100-month imprisonment. The ICJR says it regrets the impact of the implementation of Qanun Jinayat in Aceh. This case will increase the stigma against LGBT people in the province, it further says. It has intervened the rights and privacy of citizens. The LGBT community in Aceh will continue to be the target of arrests taking place in their private space. (dis/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hans David Tampubolon (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 1 2017 She has played different roles, but actress Raihaanun Soeriaatmadja has no plans to get stuck in a certain type of character. Actress Raihaanun Soeriaatmadja said she wants to develop her acting skills by playing different characters from one movie to another. 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 Sat, April 1, 2017 19:11 2046 a291276806121264c0bd211cde72d42e 1 City Jakarta-police,ahok,#ahok,basuki-tjahaja-purnama,Brimob,313-rally,#313-rally,#313Rally Free The Jakarta Police officially detained Muslim People's Forum (FUI) secretary general Muhammad Al Khaththath at the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) headquarters in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java, on Saturday morning. Al Khaththath was detained as a suspect in an alleged planned attack against the government after undergoing questioning since Friday morning. Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said Saturday the police issued a warrant to detain Al Khaththath to prevent him from escaping. It was feared that he would escape, eliminate evidence and repeat his actions, Argo said as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com on Saturday. He further said the police would detain Al Khaththath for the next 20 days for further investigation and that the detention could be extended if necessary. Commenting on Al Khaththaths refusal to sign his detention letter, Argo assured that it would not change a thing. He further said the police welcomed the plan of Al Khaththaths team of lawyers to submit a detention delay request but the decision to grant the request would be in the hands of investigators. Al Khaththath, who was reportedly the coordinator of Fridays mass rally, was arrested along with his four fellows on Thursday evening, a day before the rally that demanded the dismissal of incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama over alleged blasphemy. (wnd/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Bradley Klapper (Associated Press) Washington Sat, April 1, 2017 The Trump administration declared Friday that it wasn't pursuing a strategy to push Syrian President Bashar Assad out of power, making clear its focus is on defeating the Islamic State group. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the US approach was being driven by a new "reality" and that Assad's future had to be a decision for the Syrian people. Similar statements were made earlier by US Cabinet members speaking in Ankara, London and at the United Nations. "There is a political reality that we have to accept in terms of where we are right now," Spicer told reporters. "We had an opportunity and we need to focus on now defeating ISIS." Hours earlier, Jim Mattis, President Donald Trump's Pentagon chief, said Washington was looking at Syria "one day at a time," indicating Assad's status wasn't the most immediate question. On Thursday, Trump's UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, said of Assad: "Do we think he's a hindrance? Yes. Are we going to sit there and focus on getting him out? No." Assad's grip over Syria has been at the heart of a six-year war that has killed as many as a half-million people, helped spawn a global migration crisis and led to the emergence of IS as a worldwide terror threat. All mediation efforts have failed. And with the help of Russia and Iran, Assad has crushed much of the armed opposition and regained control over most of Syria's biggest cities. While the statements of Trump's policy, by themselves, break little from where President Barack Obama left US policy upon exiting office, they differ sharply from Obama's earlier demands for Assad to leave power. Five months into Syria's civil war, Obama gave a high-profile speech saying "the time has come for President Assad to step aside." Those calls ebbed after a Russian-backed military intervention on Assad's behalf in September 2015 and a series of devastating setbacks for Syria's Western-backed and Arab-backed opposition forces. These developments appear to represent the "reality" Spicer alluded to on multiple occasions at Friday's news briefing but it is one Obama officials acknowledged as well. In December 2015, then-Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a very similar message in Moscow, saying "the United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change" and promising to facilitate a peace process in which "''Syrians will be making decisions for the future of Syria." His efforts failed. Nevertheless, top Trump officials sought to describe their approach as new. Speaking to reporters at the UN, Haley said the US "can't necessarily focus on Assad the way that maybe the previous administration did." She spoke of pressure to rid Syria of Iran's influence, saying "that is really a problem," and indicated the US would be working with Turkey and other countries on trying to "bring peace and stability back." "You pick and choose your battles," she said. "And when we're looking at this, it's about changing our priorities, and our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out. Our priority is to really look at how do we get things done, who do we need to work with to really make a difference for the people in Syria." The Trump administration is threading many competing interests. It wants to defeat IS and needs the support of moderate Sunnis in Syria, who've competed with extremists for leadership of the anti-Assad insurgency. It hopes to work with Russia, which has proved in deed that it won't let Assad fall to a chaotic revolution. And it needs Arab allies, who've held firm on the mantra of "Assad must go." But the White House also has been trying to emphasize to American voters how it is pursuing a new track on U.S. foreign policy after Trump's severe criticism of the status quo. In Turkey on Thursday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recited part of the new message: "The longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people." Spicer said avenues that might have existed for Obama to drive Assad from power had since been closed off. "There is not the opposition that existed last time and the opportunities that existed," he said. ___ Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Sat, April 1 2017 The recent appearance of banners and notices announcing the refusal to perform Islamic rites for the deceased at some Jakarta mosques has piqued my interest and prompts me to question the state of religious education in Indonesia. Some people might dislike Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, the alleged blasphemer who is contesting the Jakarta gubernatorial election. Yet correlating political preference with a religious dimension by denying prayers for the dead is totally unacceptable. Such action represents the absence of humanity, which is at the center of any religious teaching, including Islam. Unsurprisingly, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin has called the move un-Islamic. Apparently religious education, taught at all educational levels, has not made people more socially conscious and more respectful of others. 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 Masajeng Rahmiasri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 1, 2017 14:11 2046 a291276806121264c0bd211cde72a77d 1 News AirAsia,Pontianak,Kuching,Malaysia,Indonesia,flight,travel,traveling,Airlines,tourism,new-route,#airlines,#flights Free Budget airline AirAsia is set to open a new direct route from Pontianak in West Kalimantan to Kuching in Sarawak, Malaysia, starting on June 5. The carrier currently serves only one route from Pontianak to Malaysia. Its planes fly to Kuala Lumpur. The new service also marks its first direct flight from Indonesia to Kuching. AirAsia Berhad commercial head Spencer Lee said that the move aimed to contribute to the development of local tourism, economics and trade in the two cities. (Read also: ANA airlines to add extra flight from Jakarta to Tokyo) Available once a day, the flight from Pontianak to Kuching is scheduled to depart at 12:10 p.m. and the one from Kuching to Pontianak at 11:55 a.m. To celebrate the new service, AirAsia is currently offering promotional tickets for flights taken between June 5 and Sept. 30 for starting prices of Rp 249,000 (US$19) for bookings made through its mobile app by April 2. (kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Justin Bachman (Bloomberg) Sat, April 1, 2017 14:29 2046 a291276806121264c0bd211cde72b7c5 2 News Airlines,#airlines,travel,passenger,frequent-miles,airline-miles Free Does your wallet contain an airline-branded credit card? If so, your daily Starbucks visits, iTunes selections, and dining habits serve a critical role in keeping the U.S. airline industry fat and happy. For carriers such as American Airlines riding Citigroup Inc. plastic, or Delta on American Express Co., these programs are a cash cow, a golden goose, or any other fiscal livestock you care to conjure. Each mile fetches an airline anywhere from 1.5 cents to 2.5 cents 1 , and the big banks amass those miles by the billions, doling them out to cardholders each month. For the banks, people who pay annual fees for those cards to accumulate miles are the closest thing to a sure bet. These consumers typically have higher-than-average incomes and spend more on their cards, which generates merchant fees for the banks. They also tend to maintain high credit scores, which means they pay their bills on time and banks experience fewer defaults. The airline-miles business, formally known as loyalty programs, has become a high-margin enterprise thats grown in size and value amid airline consolidation, with carriers keen to expand credit-card rolls and see loyalty members spend more. This year, Alaska Airlines began tying a small percentage of its 19,000 employees performance pay to the market growth of its card with Bank of America Corp. Investors have failed to appreciate how crucial these programs are to airline profitability amid the stability consolidation brought, said Joseph DeNardi, a senior airline analyst with Stifel Financial Corp. in Baltimore. Since August, hes issued a steady stream of client notes arguing that the market has undervalued the five largest airlines. DeNardi has repeatedly explained that investors have little insight into the billions of dollars large banks pay for these affiliations. At each airline investor call or conference, DeNardi has steadfastly prodded executives for greater reporting detail. (Read also: 20 safest airlines for 2017 revealed) In many ways, the Big Three U.S. airlines have organized themselves into two distinct businesses. Theres the traditional activitythe one with jetswhich involves pricing seats for as much as possible, collecting a bag fee, and selling some food and drinks while keeping a close eye on costs. The other business is the sale of milesmostly to the big banks, but also to companies that range from car rental firms to hotels to magazine peddlers. The latter has expanded so much that it accounts for more than half of all profits for some airlines, including American Airlines Group Inc., the worlds largest. Airlines are earning upwards of 50 percent of [income] from selling miles to a credit card company, which we believe is a great business to be in, DeNardi wrote on March 20, boosting his target prices on American and United Continental Holdings Inc. by $30, raising his outlook for Southwest Airlines Inc. by $15, and adding $10 for Delta Air Lines Inc. shares. He cited the likelihood that airlines will begin disclosing more information over the next year or two. Stifel also upgraded its target share price for Alaska Airlines parent to $145. That stock traded at $93.66 on March 30. DeNardi argues that more transparency about loyalty plans would also pressure airline executives to further improve profits in their core businessnamely flying. Beyond the cash, carriers reap something else from the cards: These deals remain lucrative in both good times and bad, as they are immune to economic cycles. Thats because of the addictive nature of miles, a dubious commodity that tens of millions of Americans, particularly those who fly for their jobs, will probably never quit. In a recession, that [bank] business will go down, but it should provide a very high cushion to the airline, DeNardi said in an interview. Thats the real benefit here: It speaks to downside protection for the industry better than anything else. The credit-card revenues are tied to spending thats separate from the airline economy, American Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker told DeNardi in January, on the companys most recent earnings call. So I think youre right to suggest that investors should do their best to look through and understand the level of those cash flows and the certainty of them. Parker said American executives are interested in providing greater detail, as did Alaska Air CEO Brad Tilden on March 29. Why dont we take that as a challenge? Tilden said. There might be some things we can do. We do agree its a really important part of our business, and we share your view that it is perhaps under-appreciated by investors, Andrew Levy, Uniteds finance chief, told DeNardi on a January earnings call. Still, the airline isnt ready to disclose its Mileage Plus numbers. (Read also: These are the best- and worst-performing airlines in the world) Delta Air Lines Inc., the worlds second-largest carrier, said it expects that its American Express partnership will yield $4 billion in revenue per year by 2021, rising by more than $300 million annually until then. Those sums translate to a very high margin of profit, Delta executives have acknowledged, but theyve decline to specify further. At an investor presentation on March 29, Alaska Air Group Inc. said its Mileage Plan relationship with Bank of America will account for $900 million in annual cash flow, once the airline has fully combined with Virgin America Inc. So while theres agreement from some CEOs that more transparency is needed, thats about as far as it goes. American, Delta, and United declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Barclays Plc, which issues cards for American, JetBlue Airways Corp., and Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. A spokeswoman for Bank of America said she didnt have anything to add. Cash pouring in from the big banks isnt 100 percent profitairlines are still on the hook for seats obtained with those miles, as well as merchandise offered in their catalogs. Fly the family to Bali on reward tickets or cash in miles for a new laptop, and the airline incurs a redemption cost. The loyalty programs outstanding mileage balances also count as a liability under accounting rules, giving airlines a powerful incentive to prod you to use them. But redemption expense is largely incidental to these bank partnerships, given the wide spread between what a bank pays an airline for a mile and its future cost to the airline. At American, which has the largest program, Stifel estimates a miles sale price is about three times its cost at redemption. (Naturally, any miles that are canceled, expire, or are otherwise never redeemed flow to airline coffers at a 100 percent margin.) Fundamentally, airlines are selling miles to credit card companies for much more than they will cost the airline when those miles are redeemedand they are doing it hundreds of billions of times a year, Stifel wrote in a February client note. Its difficult to quantify how much investors focus on the value of loyalty programs when assessing an airlines prospects. Stifels sum-of-the-parts valuation approach may overlook one aspect of how airline loyalty programs operate: They are intimately tied to the core business, since most members prefer to use their miles for air travel, said Seth Kaplan, a managing partner at industry journal Airline Weekly. For the purpose of valuation, that might lower a loyalty programs value if an airline wants to spin it off. Its still highly dependent on the airline, Kaplan said. So would somebody pay retail for that company or would they apply some kind of discount to it? Some airlines periodically devalue their miles, causing consumers to howl but boosting financial returns. However, overly aggressive devaluation could dent the market value of an airlines loyalty plan. Several carriers have sold their miles programs, mostly in times of financial distress. Air Canadas then-parent company did so in 2008. In that transaction, it jettisoned its remaining stake in Aeroplan three years after spinning off its program. Earlier this month, Air Canadas chief executive said the airline expects to gain more favorable financial terms with Aimia Inc., the programs Montreal-based owner, when the current contract ends in 2020. For his part, DeNardi doesnt believe the U.S. airlines should spin off their loyalty programs. (Read also: Pakistan airline flies with extra passengers standing in aisles) He points to the loyalty program disclosure United made for 2002 through 2005 during its bankruptcy, calling it a perfect model for how airlines could report this income. While United was unprofitable at the time, the mileage program, United Loyalty Services, posted margins as high as 45 percent. United ended those disclosures in 2006 when it emerged from court protection. Airlines have been reluctant to reveal more details about these figures, which usually run through their other income lines, because the bank deals typically carry confidentiality clauses. Moreover, carriers arent keen to show competitors detailed information about their loyalty profits. The banks, however, probably have a good sense of what their rivals are paying, DeNardi said. If I know that the margin on this business is 60 percent or 70 percent, with a very limited level of disclosure, then [JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.] and Citi and AmExthe guys negotiating these agreementsthey must know what the margin is, he said. The banks are making out pretty well in these partnerships, too. AmEx said in securities filings that Delta SkyMiles, its largest airline co-brand portfolio, accounted for approximately 7 percent of its worldwide billed business in 2016. The loyalty program is also responsible for approximately 20 percent of worldwide card-member loans as of Dec. 31. If airlines do come around to DeNardis call for greater transparency, maybe as a way to boost share prices, which one will take the plunge first? Said DeNardi: Given the sheer size of Americans program and the fact that Doug [Parker] gets paid all in stock, hes pretty well incentivized to have the stock adequately reflect the valuations. As we first reported this past Wednesday, a Chinatown/Lower East Side bus operator called Yep Tours is taking the City of New York to court. In a federal lawsuit filed Feb. 14, the Massachusetts-based firm alleges that the city administration is violating its constitutional rights. Today we have more details from the suit, which could have major implications for New Yorks intercity bus law. According to the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, Yep Tours is seeking $1 million in damages from the city. Defendants named in the suit are the Department of Transportation, the Department of Finance and NYC Sheriff Joseph Fucito. Yeps lawyers cite the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th Amendment and the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. They describe the company as, a minority owned business that brings over a million people into the city each year and that, has a tremendous impact on the New York City economy. Since 2013, when Yep was incorporated, the suit notes, its owners have, applied numerous (more than 40) times for numerous bus stops and has been denied each time with nothing more than an arbitrary reason of inconvenience. As previously reported, the city sheriff confiscated several Yep buses, citing the companys failure to pay thousands of dollars in fines for operating without a permit. As described in the complaint, two buses were seized on or about Jan. 17. On Jan. 31, the city obtained a judgment against Yep for $127,000 and made plans to sell the buses at auction Feb. 16. As of the date of this complaint, the lawyers wrote, (the) plaintiff YEP Tour(s) cannot operate in New York City as there are tow orders issued by defendants against all of their buses. In 2012, the governor signed legislation authorizing the city to set up a permit system which required intercity operators to load and unload passengers only from approved locations. The law was championed by State Sen. Daniel Squadron and former Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, after years of complaints from residents about the unregulated Chinatown bus industry. Yep is now arguing that the local legislation, or at least the way it has been implemented, conflicts with the companys rights under federal law: The Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution prohibits states from enacting legislation that protects its own citizens from competition from citizens of other states, that regulates conduct wholly outside of the states borders, or that places an undue burden on interstate commerce The New York City Bus Stop Permit System for the Intercity Bus Industry as implemented by defendants violates the Commerce Clause because they are protectionist measures intended to benefit New York based transportation companies at the expense of YEP TOURS. The lawsuit alleges that the city has discriminated against Yep because it, operates from a minority neighborhood and more than 80% of (its) clientele are minorities. As evidence, the company says the city has awarded more than 40 permits to Hampton Jitney and to 7 Bus, describing these operators as, companies that only transport passengers to-and-from New York City to the Hamptons. Yep alleges that DOT is, unfairly selective as to which companies are receiving bus stop permits. The lawyers are asking the court to, declare the New York City Bus Stop Permit System invalid. The citys law department did not respond to a request for comment about the Yep lawsuit. As we reported last week, DOT has granted Yep a six-month permit on the west side of Pike Street, apparently as a result of the federal lawsuit. It was a reversal of a February decision to reject the application. In a resolution approved this past November, Community Board 3 urged the city to deny the Yep permit. The resolution cited more than two years by the company of operating contrary to New York City regulations. It noted that Yep had failed to pay many thousands of dollars in fines and stated that, its actions have demonstrated that they view enforcement actions by the NYPD as a cost of doing business, and that the company has a complete disregard for the concerns of the Police Department and its adverse impact on the community in which it operates. According to the most recent city listings, there are 17 approved bus stop permits on the Lower East Side and in Chinatown. Local elected officials have always acknowledged the importance of the intercity bus industry to the economy of Chinatown. Squadron and the community board, however, have pressed for aggressive enforcement from the NYPD because, bus companies (were) thumbing their noses at the rules established by the DOT. This coming Wednesday night at 6:45 p.m., CB3s transportation committee will discuss how it deals with applicants for bus stops that have an accumulation of violations. (lead article, Socialist Workers Party statement) Socialist Workers Party: Universal health care! Join fight for government funded health care for all! Sunnyside Seventh-day Adventist Church Millions throughout the United States unemployed or working, U.S.-born and immigrants are feeling the carnage of the slow-burning capitalist economic crisis. Millions who want to work cant get jobs. Wages are stagnating or being pushed down. Workers in uniform are being sent to fight in nonstop wars to defend the interests of the propertied rulers. Infrastructure is crumbling. The cost of health insurance is going up. For workers and farmers, access to health care is literally a life and death question. We need to join together to fight for government-funded, cradle-to-grave medical care as a social right for all. Our unions should be at the forefront of this fight . The mixed bag of the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, is health insurance not health care designed first and foremost to boost the profits of the insurance and drug monopolies. While millions were able to get some inadequate and rationed coverage, which is better than nothing, it has meant skyrocketing premiums, deductibles and co-pays for shrinking care. Trumpcare would have made this profit-driven system even worse, adding another 24 million without health care by 2026. Like Obamacare, its sponsors chief concern is the profits of the health industry. The Trump administration plan, which is off the table for the moment, includes a fundamental assault on Medicaid, a historic gain of the mass Black rights fight that overturned Jim Crow segregation and won broader social rights. The rulers efforts to deliver blows to Medicaid would affect tens of millions of workers, children, the elderly, those with disabilities, and their family and friends. It would open the door to attacks on other entitlements won by past working-class struggles from Medicare to Social Security. Working people place no price on life and limb. Health shouldnt be based on profitability. Thats why many working people are attracted to the demand for a single-payer system, sometimes called Medicare for all. The working class, led by the union movement, should fight for universal, lifetime health care for all, whatever name its given. Through our labor, the working class produces all the wealth, more than enough to provide health care and other social needs for all. Revolutionary Cuba where health care is a right, not a privilege shows what working people can accomplish when we wrest power from the capitalist rulers and begin to build a society based on human solidarity. Fighting for universal health care today will help open that road to the socialist future here. Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (front page) Medicaid support, Republican splits sink Trumpcare plan Amid seemingly unbreachable divisions from both the conservative and moderate wings within the Republican Party majority in the House of Representatives, President Donald Trumps plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, was pulled from consideration right before the scheduled vote March 24. The Trump administrations bill, like Obamacare, is not based on providing health care for all who need it, but pressuring more people to purchase health insurance, with rising premiums and deductibles for plans that offer less and less coverage. All these moves aim to maximize the superprofits of insurance, hospital and pharmaceutical companies. The setback for Trump and the Republicans reflects the broader problems the propertied ruling families have today especially the crisis wracking both of their political parties, the Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats are in shambles while the GOP thought they had papered over their differences by Trump winning the White House. The failure of the health insurance bill showed the crisis they continue to face. One of the central issues Trump campaigned on was the inadequacies of Obamacare. But his proposed bill offered no alternative for working people to the unpopular one in effect now. Instead of requiring individuals without health coverage to pay an annual tax of more than $2,000 per year per family one of the most hated aspects of Obamacare. Trumps plan extends tax credits to people who buy insurance. Anyone who lets their insurance lapse for more than a couple of months would have to pay a 30 percent surcharge to the insurance company, on top of their premiums, to get a plan. The overall impact of the Trump administrations proposal would have been to increase the number of people without health care by 24 million people, the Congressional Budget Office said. If left in place, health insurance rates under the Obama administrations un-Affordable Care Act will rocket between 30 and 60 percent in many states in 2017, and some 1.5 million working people will lose the plans theyre currently covered by, Steve Clark writes in his introduction in Pathfinders The Clintons Anti-Working-Class Record: Why Washington Fears Working People by Socialist Workers Party National Secretary Jack Barnes. The capitalist rulers aim to pit younger against older workers for what they claim is a shrinking pie for health care costs. Obamacare was designed to force young people, who use less health care, to buy it to create a bigger pool for the insurance bosses. The Trump plan aimed to make older people pay more, because theyll likely use more. After Trump pulled the bill, he said Obamacare would become a bigger disaster and everyone will demand change. One thing is for certain; working people will have to pay more for less. These rising costs leave many workers with the cheapest, most shoddy plans, forced to pay thousands of dollars in annual deductibles before any insurance kicks in. And under Obamacare 28 million people remain without any coverage. At the NorthCrest Medical Center in Springfield, Tennessee, for instance, nearly 90 percent of people with private insurance end up paying 100 percent of medical costs, Randy Davis, the hospitals president, told the Financial Times. They dont hit their deductible when receiving an MRI, a CT scan, when theyre here for a $500 colonoscopy, he said. Attack on Medicaid entitlement Trumps health care proposals included steep cuts to Medicaid, enacted as an entitlement program in 1965, a result of the massive Black-led proletarian struggle that eliminated Jim Crow segregation. It provides medical care for workers with the lowest incomes and the disabled. It currently covers more than 70 million people. During the election campaign Trump promised not to cut Medicaid, but his administrations final proposal involves the biggest structural alterations to the program since it was created. Block grants would replace federal matching funds. States for the first time could impose work requirements, drug tests, or place a cap on the number of years a person could be covered by Medicaid. Some of these proposed attacks were the result of demands made on Trump by members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of some 35 conservative House members, many elected pledged to the Tea Party. More importantly, a number of Republicans felt pressured to oppose the attacks on Medicaid in the bill, at a time when the carnage being visited on working people by the crisis of capitalism is deepening. Medicaid covers health care for one in five people in the U.S., including four of 10 children, nearly half of all births, and the cost of care for two-thirds of people in nursing homes. Medicaid is widespread and popular. Two-thirds of everyone in the country over 215 million people either are covered by the program or have family or friends who are. I was not willing to gamble with the care of my constituents, Rep. Frank LoBiondo, a Republican from New Jersey said, reflecting fear of the political price he would pay if he voted for the bill. Many Republicans opposed the bill because they said its cuts would deepen the opioid epidemic ravaging their districts. Workers are facing rising deaths of despair from deteriorating health care compounded by the unavailability of full-time work, a report issued March 23, by two Princeton University economists says. The study describes rising mortality of Caucasian men and women ages 45 through 54, from suicides, drug overdoses and alcohol-related deaths. In 2015 overuse of opioids killed more than 30,000 people in the U.S. Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (front page) SWP: Help us win Militant readers, raise contributions! Socialist Workers Party members and supporters are launching a seven-week campaign to take the party to workers on their doorsteps, at strikes and other labor fights, and to protest actions demanding amnesty for undocumented workers, against cop brutality, in defense of womens right to choose abortion and other issues of concern for working people. A key part of this effort will be to expand the readership of the Militant, winning 1,100 new subscribers, coupled with getting out the same number of three Pathfinder books. At the same time, the party is organizing a Militant Fighting Fund to raise $112,000 to support the paper. The campaigns will run from April 1 to May 23. The three books that are part of the drive are: Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart?; The Clintons Anti-Working-Class Record: Why Washington Fears Working People; and Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible? all available at reduced prices. Join SWP members and readers of the Militant worldwide to help make the spring drive a success. Our aim is to meet and involve workers who are looking for a political perspective and way forward in the economic and social carnage caused by the crisis of capitalism. The SWP and the Communist Leagues in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are the only parties to explain that to defend our interests the working class must build a movement capable of taking power out of the hands of the capitalist rulers. SWP branches are planning to kick off the spring campaign in a big way. In Los Angeles, Oakland and Seattle the branches are planning to visit United Steelworkers members on strike at the Lucky Friday silver mine in Idaho. Reports from these trips in the Militant are a tool for all workers to use to get out the word about these miners stand against union busting and for safety at the Hecla mine. SWP members will also go door to door in the Idaho panhandle to discuss the strike and the road forward for working people with workers there. The United Farmworkers Foundation has called protest marches around the West Coast and in Texas. SWP members in Washington and California will join these actions, discussing the governments attacks on immigrant workers and the need to expand the fight for amnesty a life and death question for the trade union movement. Dan Fein from Chicago reports that SWP members there are organizing a campaign target week starting April 2 to put themselves in a strong position to reach out to the working class with the Militant and the partys program. Over the course of the drive they are planning regional teams to the coalfields in southern Illinois and to Milwaukee where 20,000 workers marched on the Day Without Immigrants in February. They are looking to get back to Milwaukee on May 1, when local immigrants rights groups are planning another large protest. Party members are building and organizing to join similar May Day actions being called across the country (see list on page 8). Chris Hoeppner from Philadelphia said party members are organizing to respond to a new anti-Semitic attack on a synagogue there. They plan a solidarity visit to the synagogue and will go door to door in the area this weekend with the Militant. Charles Murray, the author of The Bell Curve will be speaking at Villanova University March 30, Hoeppner said. Well be there to debate and discuss the importance of political space for the working class with those protesting his talk. We will also show people Pathfinders Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart? which explains what his Bell Curve is all about a warning to the ruling class about the threat of the working class. Three other books are also on special Its the Poor Who Face the Savagery of the US Justice System: The Cuban Five Talk About Their Lives Within the US Working Class; Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power; and Cuba and Angola: The War for Freedom. As we take the party and its propaganda out broadly, we will also ask workers we meet to contribute to the Militant Fighting Fund. This annual fund is decisive for meeting the regular operating budget of the paper, to pay for special reporting trips when working-class fights break out around the world and to subsidize cheaper and free subscriptions to workers behind bars. Join this campaign! Contact the office of the communist movement nearest you, listed on page 10, to volunteer or to order books and papers to distribute in your area. All out April 1! Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (front page) US govt escalates threats on N. Korea Washington has escalated its threats against North Korea at the same time as U.S. forces are engaged in provocative Operation Foal Eagle military exercises in the area with thousands of South Korean troops. These moves pose the danger of military clashes on the Korean Peninsula and in the region. Let me be very clear: the policy of strategic patience has ended, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters March 17 on a visit to Seoul, a not-so-veiled threat of U.S. military action. All options are on the table. Washington demands the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea get rid of its nuclear weapons and cease all efforts to build intercontinental missiles that could threaten the U.S. Tillerson cynically added, North Korea has nothing to fear from the United States. But the U.S. has some 28,000 troops stationed permanently in South Korea and another 49,000 in Japan. Two days later Tillerson went to China. A key part of his discussions with Chinese officials was Washingtons push to get Beijing to press harder against Pyongyang. The war talk is not just hype. The U.S. Army recently sent 100 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles to South Korea that could be used in any attempt to cross the heavily mined Demilitarized Zone into the North. These moves come on top of increasingly draconian economic sanctions designed to deepen the hardships on working people in the North. In the midst of the U.S.-South Korean war games, the Pentagon announced it has begun stationing a new generation of attack drones in the South that are capable of staying in the air for 24 hours, equipped with Hellfire missiles. Washington also began deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, anti-missile system in South Korea a decision made under the Barack Obama administration despite strong protests from Beijing, which see it as also aimed at China. Simultaneously with Operation Foal Eagle, Japanese military forces joined the U.S. and South Korean navies in large-scale drills off the Korean coast. The Trump administrations shift has bipartisan support. A March 22 editorial in the Washington Post, which has published daily attacks on Trump and his supporters, congratulated the White House on its belligerent stance toward Pyongyang. The Trump administration has properly focused on what may be the biggest single threat it inherited: the manic pursuit by the regime of Kim Jong Un of nuclear warheads and the capacity to launch them at the continental United States, the editorial said. The new administration is starting with the most sensible opening steps a strong effort to enlist China, as well as other nations, in a new campaign of pressure. Under Democratic and Republican administrations alike, Washington has tried to paint Pyongyang as the aggressor and a rogue nation. George W. Bush included the North in his infamous axis of evil speech in 2002, along with Tehran and the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. The next year Washington invaded and occupied Iraq. Decades of U.S. aggression Tillerson turned history on its head claiming it is Pyongyang that has broken previous agreements and that Washington wants a nuclear-free peninsula. And the U.S. rulers seem oblivious to the added insult of joint maneuvers with Japanese forces during this years war games. For four decades prior to World War II Japanese imperialist forces occupied Korea, suppressed teaching the Korean language and history in school, banned Korean-language newspapers, and arrested or killed tens of thousands of workers and farmers. Korean workers and farmers took advantage of the defeat of the Japanese army to advance their fight for independence. Washington blocked the fight, landing troops in the south in September 1945 and, with the agreement of the Stalinist regime in Moscow, dividing the country in two. By 1948 Washington had crushed the rebellion in the south in blood and imposed the Syngman Rhee dictatorship. North of Koreas 38th parallel, the workers and peasants took power and organized a deep-going agrarian reform, expropriated landlords and capitalists and carried out other social measures. War broke out on June 25, 1950. The U.S. military drove the northern Korean forces back, virtually to the Chinese border. The new Chinese government, which until then had given little aid to Korea, poured a million volunteer soldiers into the war. Washington and its blue hat United Nations allies utilized carpet bombing with napalm and other weapons of mass destruction that reduced cities to rubble, but was unable to defeat the North. The war ended in a stalemate in 1953 the first military defeat for U.S. imperialism. Some 3 million Korean civilians, half a million North Korean soldiers, hundreds of thousands of Chinese volunteers, and 100,000 South Korean and U.N. soldiers, including 54,000 from the United States, were dead. A large majority of Koreans on both sides of the border support reunification. While the cease-fire remains in place, the U.S. government refuses to sign a peace treaty with North Korea to formally end the war. Is it any wonder that the government of the DPRK and its people are suspicious of Washingtons intentions? But North Korea is not without defenses. Pyongyang has the fourth-largest army in the world, as many as 200,000 special forces, 10,000 artillery pieces and nuclear weapons based underground that could hit Seoul as well as U.S. military bases anywhere in South Korea. Any preemptive strike by Washington on Pyongyang as Tillerson says is on the table would not be capable of destroying all of North Koreas nuclear weapons. The chance they could launch a response against Seoul with over 25 million people in the metropolitan area, half the countrys population is high. Related articles: US wars in Syria, Iraq take deadly toll on working people Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (front page) NY meeting: End US embargo of Cuba! Get out of Guantanamo! Militant/Paul Mailhot NEW YORK Solidarity with Cuba is very important at this moment, said Sandra Ramirez, director of the North American division of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). Cuba and the United States have established diplomatic relations, she said. But the U.S. government still maintains a blockade against our country, still illegally occupies Guantanamo, and still has policies aimed at regime change in Cuba. We will never renounce the construction of a socialist Cuba, Ramirez concluded to applause. The ICAP leader was speaking to more than 200 people from New York and across the U.S. and Canada at a public meeting at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz center in Harlem. The March 25 event was part of a two-day conference organized to advance the fight to demand Washington end its 55-year-old embargo of Cuba; get out of Guantanamo, Cuban territory that Washington has illegally occupied since 1903; and end all efforts aimed at regime change in Cuba. An article on the conference discussion, debate and decisions will appear next week. The meeting opened with a dinner, to the sounds of drumming by Afro-Boricua Bomba Yo. The program was co-chaired by Estela Vasquez, an executive vice president of 1199SEIU healthcare workers union, and August Nimtz of the Minnesota Cuba Committee. In opening the program, Vasquez recognized several special guests, including Anayansi Rodriguez, Cubas ambassador to the United Nations; Miguel Barnet, president of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC); and members of a leadership delegation of the Federation of Cuban Women to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. In addition to Ramirez, speakers included Rafael Cancel Miranda, a longtime Puerto Rican independence leader imprisoned for more than 25 years by the U.S. colonial rulers; Andres Gomez, a coordinator of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, a Cuban-American organization based in Miami that has organized support of the Cuban Revolution for four decades; and Juanita Young, whose son Malcolm Ferguson was killed by New York police in 2000. Ramirez reminded participants that in 1960 when Fidel Castro came to New York to address the U.N. General Assembly on behalf of the newly victorious revolution, downtown hotels insulted and evicted the Cuban delegation. At Malcolm Xs initiative, the Cubans were invited to stay at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem. Thousands poured into the streets to welcome the Cuban revolutionaries. Turning to the evenings honored guest, Rafael Cancel Miranda, the ICAP leader underlined revolutionary Cubas support for a free and independent Puerto Rican nation. In his remarks, Cancel Miranda said that although the United States invaded Puerto Rico and still occupies my country, we are going to fight back until we have ended the colonial slavery of my people. And when I say my people, Im also Cuban. Im Venezuelan. Im from Bolivia. Im from the Caribbean. Im Puerto Rican from top to bottom, but Im all of that too. He paid tribute to American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier and Black Panther Herman Bell, with whom he served time in federal prison and who are still behind bars. Anybody that stands up and fights is my people, he said. Youre not wasting your time. Fighting for others make all of us more human. Anyone who has dignity supports the Cuban Revolution, the Puerto Rican leader said. Anyone who cares. Responding to the presentation of a bouquet, Ambassador Rodriguez thanked participants for the selfless solidarity we have received all these years. What Cuba has achieved, she said, has been done by the revolution itself, by the Cuban people, a heroic people, a resilient people whove resisted under the most difficult circumstances. But we couldnt have done it without the help, the support, the love of all of you, she said. Particularly here in the United States, whose government has imposed an unjust, illegal, and unfair blockade against us, which is still there despite the establishment of diplomatic relations. U.S. policy has failed for more than five decades, said Andres Gomez, because of the determination of the Cuban people to defend their socialist revolution and to continue to fight for a just society. Describing the work in Miami by the Antonio Maceo Brigade, which marks its 40th anniversary this year, Gomez said it was an honor to be at the conference. Our job here, he said, is to fight to end the U.S. policy of permanent aggression against Cuba. Juanita Young spoke about the trip she and other family members of victims of cop killings and brutality took to Cuba last year. They joined the massive May Day demonstration in Havana, met with a member of the Cuban Five and took part in other activities. If Id been living in Cuba, Young said, I wouldnt be standing here talking about the death of my son. Pointing to the human solidarity she and others had experienced, Young concluded, Cuba, Ill take you any time. You all need to visit Cuba, Im telling you! Cultural performances by Bomba Yo and Cuban Latin jazz pianist Marcello Casagrandi closed the evening. Related articles: Workers, youth from 23 countries to join Cuba Brigade Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (front page) US wars in Syria, Iraq take deadly toll on working people Washingtons airpower, artillery and troops, working with the Syrian Democratic Forces, made up of the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) and their Syrian Arab allies, are closing in on Raqqa, which has served as the capital for the reactionary Islamic State since 2013. YPG leaders say this coalition of forces will lay siege to the city in early April. At the same time, U.S. military forces alongside Iraqi army troops have pushed deeply into Mosul, the last major city occupied by IS in Iraq. Washington is promoting these offensives to increase its military and political weight in the region against the competing capitalist powers of Moscow, Tehran, Damascus and Ankara. Their war moves have had a deadly toll on the civilian population, with hundreds killed and many more injured over the past weeks. Over 150 men, women and children were burned to death in Mosul when several buildings in the Jadida district collapsed after being hit by U.S. airstrikes March 17. At least 33 people died March 20 when coalition bombs struck a school sheltering homeless Syrians near Raqqa. It was a new massacre committed by the U.S.-led coalition, said the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. According to Airwars, an organization that monitors claims of civilian casualties, over 1,000 civilians were killed in U.S.-led airstrikes in the two countries over the past month. We used to be afraid of the Syrian regime strikes or the Russian strikes, but not the Americans, a Raqqa resident who lost 11 family members told the New York Times. Now we fear the US coalition more than anything else their weapons are so advanced. For us, they are the most deadly of all. The Pentagons rules of engagement governing airstrikes allow for the proportional possibility of some civilian casualties, depending on the grade of target, a standard set by the Barack Obama administration. The Donald Trump administration is discussing relaxing these rules further. The civil war in Syria began after the regime of Bashar al-Assad unleashed brutal repression against a wave of mass protests in 2011 for political rights and the end of his dictatorial rule, killing and imprisoning tens of thousands. Since then, sieges and carpet bombing by his regime and now increasingly bombings from Washington and Moscow, as well as ground assaults by Tehran, its allied Shiite militias and Ankara have killed over 400,000 people and driven more than 10 million from their homes. U.S. coalition set to assault Raqqa The new escalation in the Washington-led military campaign in Syria began March 21 when coalition helicopters brought Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Force fighters and U.S. special forces behind Islamic State lines near the town of Tabqa, 25 miles west of Raqqa on the Euphrates River. It takes a special breed of warrior to pull off an airborne or air assault behind enemy lines, U.S. Col. Joe Scrocca boasted afterwards, praising his Kurdish-led partners. There is nothing easy about this it takes audacity and courage. And the SDF has that in spades. Washingtons alliance with the SDF is bitterly opposed by the regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who, along with Washington and all the other capitalist powers with large Kurdish populations Iran, Iraq and Syria have historically stood against the decadeslong struggle of the oppressed Kurdish people for a homeland and national sovereignty. Ankara has proposed that Turkish-led troops team up with Washington to take Raqqa instead. The YPG currently controls 20,000 square miles of Syrian territory with a population of 2 million Kurds on the Syrian-Turkish border. Ankara charges the YPG is allied with the terrorist Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey, against whom they have waged a bloody war for over three decades. Last year Ankara invaded Syria to prevent the YPG from linking up with Kurds west of the Euphrates River, fearing an autonomous Kurdish region along its entire Syrian border will strengthen the struggle for autonomy of the 15 million Kurds inside Turkey. Since their offensive began, the U.S.-backed forces have taken the air base and the southern end of the Tabqa dam. In the course of the bombing and fighting, the dam was damaged. The water level is rising and water and electricity from it to Raqqa are both shut down. Islamic State forces in the city began broadcasting warnings March 26 that U.S. airstrikes were going to cause the dam to collapse and lead to widespread flooding. In the ensuing panic, many of the IS leaders and combatants are believed to have fled. Workers still inside the city face dire conditions. In addition to the lack of water and electricity, the hospitals are shuttered and prices for limited available food have spiked. Related articles: US govt escalates threats on N. Korea Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (feature article) Workers, youth from 23 countries to join Cuba Brigade Participants from the United States in the 12th May Day International Brigade to Havana, April 24-May 8, will join with brigadistas from at least 22 other countries to do voluntary work in the fields and meet and discuss with Cuban workers, farmers and youth, Sandra Ramirez, North America director of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), told theMarch 25, during a visit to New York. The brigade will offer solidarity with the Cuban peoples struggle to end the decadeslong U.S. embargo. It is also an opportunity to learn directly about Cubas socialist revolution. Similar brigades from the United Kingdom and Canada will travel to Cuba around the same time. The highlight will be joining the Cuban people to celebrate May Day in Havana at a march and rally in the Plaza of the Revolution, Ramirez said. ICAP is hosting the brigade. This years May Day march comes just months after millions of working people across the island came into the streets to salute the life of Fidel Castro, the revolutions central leader, following his death last November. Millions also signed a pledge to uphold Cubas revolutionary course, expressed by Castro in a May Day speech in 2000. This years brigade will honor the legacy of Castro and revolutionary leader Che Guevara, Ramirez said. This is the first time there has been a U.S. contingent on the brigade and 50 have already signed up to go, she noted. Following May Day, participants will join others at an International Meeting in Solidarity with Cuba in Havana, to discuss and debate how to deepen solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, Ramirez said. After the conference, most of the U.S. contingent will visit health centers, schools and historic sites and meet with members of mass organizations in the provinces of Villa Clara and Cienfuegos. Some will attend the Fifth Seminar for Peace and for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases, in Guantanamo May 4-6. They will visit the border and see the affect of the illegal U.S. Navy base on Cuban sovereignty, said Ramirez. Occupied against the will of the Cuban people since 1903, the Guantanamo base has been used as a military toehold against the revolution since 1959. Washington continues to use the base to detain prisoners captured during U.S. wars, indefinitely and without charge. Participants in the U.S. contingent are using fundraising efforts to help cover expenses and increase knowledge of the Cuban Revolution at the same time. All Guantanamo is Ours, a film about Cubas struggle to end the U.S. Navys occupation of Guantanamo Bay, is being screened in Los Angeles April 1. There are now 34 people registered to go on the Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade organized by the Canadian Network on Cuba. It will visit Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo April 28May 12. Brigade member Angela Milivojevic, 18, said she was interested in going to Guantanamo to see the effects of U.S. imperialism there. The Cuba Solidarity Campaign from the U.K. is organizing a Young Trade Unionists May Day Brigade from April 27 to May 9. In addition to participating in the Havana May Day march it will meet Cuban trade unionists, visit hospitals, schools and workplaces. Osborne Hart, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for New York mayor, is one of those on the U.S. contingent. The revolution workers and farmers made in Cuba is an example we can emulate. They faced a dictatorship that was backed by the unparalleled might of U.S. imperialism and they fought and won, he said. When I return Ill continue helping to build actions demanding an end to the embargo and the immediate U.S withdrawal from Guantanamo. The Chicago Cuba Coalition is organizing arrangements for U.S. brigade participants. For more information, contact the coalition at (312) 952-2618 or email: ICanGoToCuba@gmail.com. For information about the brigade from Canada contact chevolbrigade@gmail.com or call (647) 787-5207. Joe Young in Calgary contributed to this article. Related articles: NY meeting: End US embargo of Cuba! Get out of Guantanamo! Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home Cheek by Jowl are an international touring theatre company directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod. They are bringing Shakespeares classic tragedy The Winters Tale to The Barbican this April. We spoke to leading man Orlando James about taking on the role of Leontes. Photo Credit: Phil Sharp Since forming in 1981, Cheek by Jowl have shown large scale classical and modern works in English, French and Russian. Having worked with the company several times before, playing Malcolm in their 2011 production of Macbeth and Giovanni in their 2013 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, I was keen on finding out what makes their productions so interesting to work on. I think one of the main things that they concentrate on is the text being paramount. The way in which the actors are given freedom to investigate the text is a really liberating experience. Orlando explains. Declan, the director, and Nick, his partner, never come into rehearsals with a preconceived idea of what the show is going to be, its all discovered by the company through rehearsals so when we first approach a text we rehearse for about ten weeks. Having such an intense initial rehearsal process allows the actors to have a really in depth understanding of the story; particularly necessary for a company who tour internationally, meaning their productions have to be understood in languages other than English. The play does change with each culture that you visit, we do a lot of touring in Europe and the audience are understanding it through surtitles; theyre reading it and understanding it, which does throw up some problems for us in terms of communicating the story. "Theres always going to be a disconnect between what theyre seeing and what theyre reading and understanding. It gives us the freedom to be more expressive and bold with our choices in terms of interpretation because we want our story to be understood physically and emotionally almost before it's understood verbally. This necessity to communicate the story to all audiences doesnt come from dumbing down the production nor does it mean they over physicalise to spell-it-out to an audience. What Cheek by Jowl try to achieve is really getting to the crux of the tale. Theyre really innovative in their approach to classical texts and especially Shakespeare. They have this unbelievable ability to cut through all of the extraneous stuff and really hit the heart of the story and sometimes that takes the form of literally cutting so cutting a lot of the subplot apart and making the main drive of the story clearer. "I think thats one thing that a lot of people comment on when coming to see Cheek by Jowl is how clear the story is told and in that way a lot of the time the productions that Cheek by Jowl do tend to shed new light on a play thats over 400 years old. Having toured the production in Europe and America, the company found that even through the middle of the tour they were drawing new parallels and finding new relevance for the story. We were there just after the [presidential] election and the parallels were unbelievable. Youve got this guy who everything he says is right, he controls the press, hes a misogynist and the parallels were easy to draw there. Suddenly we have an even more relevant production than we did a year and a half ago. However, Orlando has a firm opinion that Shakespeare is always relevant and doesnt need to be made relevant. Shakespeare is absolutely relevant and universal. He explores big human ideas of loss, jealously etc. You could sit there and put a concept on it, but you dont have to you just have to present the truth of the story. "There is always a relevance there that the audience will find because theyre viewing through their own experience. If you start putting experiences on top of that then youre just going to muddy the water of the play and the experience of the play. Orlando plays Leontes, a King who wrongfully suspects his pregnant wife of being unfaithful with his friend Polixenes; ravaged with jealousy, Leontes tears his family apart. The Winters Tale. Orlando James (Leontes) Natalie Radmall-Quirke (Hermione and Dorcas) Photo Credit: JOHAN PERSSON It does leave a residue with you. You have to investigate all those themes, says Orlando. You have to use comparison and find empathy with your character and not judge your character. The text dictates, and most of the audience would think, hes a terrible person who acts terribly and his actions have unbelievable repercussions, but I have to look for the logic and reason behind those actions and find them fully. "You cant play something like jealousy, but you can play suspicion of someone cheating on you. You cant end game you have to pick it apart minutely and ask why he turns that way instead of that way. A lot of people are scared of Shakespeare, that its not for them. This production in particular deals with a lot of human experiences that will excite you, challenge you, make you laugh and I think at the moment, as a society, we need some hope and lightness. This is a tragic story, but it ends with a great amount of hope and looking to the future. Cheek by Jowls production of The Winters Tale will be showing at The Barbican, London from Apr 5 2017 - 22 Apr 2017. Book tickets here A parent thwarted their teenage daughters plans for a mass school shooting after alerting officials she posed a potential threat of violence. Nichole Cevario, a student at Catocin High School in Maryland, had been planning the shooting for some time and had even set a date in April for her attack. The 18-year-olds diary included a detailed timeline of execution, including expectations at each stage of the event and her own death. Shed also compiled a list of security measures employed by her school, including emergency procedures and the manner of staff drills. (Frederick County Sheriffs Office) Police learned shed been acquiring the materials needed to execute the plot as they searched her home. There, they recovered items including a shotgun with ammunition, bomb-making materials to include pipes with end caps, shrapnel, fireworks, magnesium tape, and fuse material. Its believed no one else knew of Cevarios plans, which was concocted and to be executed by the teen alone with no assistance from another. Detectives continued their in-depth investigation scouring through her diary, recovering evidence from her home and conducting extensive interviews with her family, friends and peers. (Frederick County Sheriffs Office) Cevarios parent approached Catocin High School to alert them of the potential threat their daughter posed. The school, in turn, contacted Frederick County Sheriffs Office. The teen, who was at school at the time, was removed from her classroom and led to investigators. Preliminary investigations found not only was Cevario a threat to her school but to herself as police say it was clear (she) was struggling with mental health issues. Cevario was taken for an emergency evaluation at Frederick Memorial Hospital, though police are to serve her with two arrest warrants upon her release: one for possession of explosive material with intent to create a destructive device, and another for possession of incendiary material with the intent to create a destructive device. On the day that Article 50 was triggered a new student political group announced its campaign to advance British values in a new era of brilliant Britishness. Students for the Restoration of Undervalued British Culture (SRUBC) emerged from Conservative groups at several UK universities and announced their crusade to stamp out non-British cultural elements and restore a golden age of British culture in a press conference in a sport equipment shed outside Warwick University on Wednesday morning. The group believe that the problems in our society has come from multi-culturalism, immigrants and feminists who have eroded the traditions of Britain such Morris dancing, cheese rolling, caravanning, welly wanging and wassailing. Leader of SRUBC Tarquin Pharl told The National Student: For too long Britishness has been sidelined by liberals, foreigners and people who enjoy hip hop. Now is the time to take our country back, its happened politically and now we need to do it culturally. I mean what exactly is wrong with Morris dancing? I am not saying we need to bring back Witch Burning, although it would cull some feminists, but we need to restore our greatness. As the great leader Nigel Farage has said this is our Independence Day, and we need to drive out all the non-British elements ruining this great nation. The group also announced a six and a half point plan to restore university life to normal including the dissolution of all feminist, non-Christian religious and foreign focused student societies. The half point is due to a disagreement aboutwhether Welsh people count as foreigners. We cant have people like women, foreigners and people who believe in false Gods having a say on campus any more. Look where its got us, you cant even comment on how nice womens bums are any more, or make fun of Muslims openly. The worlds gone mad, explained Pharl on their controversial proposal. Other points include introducing a compulsory morning assembly at universities with a new morning prayer penned by Nigel Farage and a swearing of allegiance to the flag, and adding the line under God to all official documentation. SRUBC have also released a new series of educational pamphlets for school-children and students to forward their cause including The problem with reggae, The joys of wassailing, Were not racist, but... and The problem with letting women speak. The group are set to publish their full manifesto online in the coming weeks and plan to start a national campaign to control 80% of students unions in the UK by the end of 2018. 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Scrapping a colonial-era tradition of presenting the Budget at the end of February, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had for the first time in the history of independent India presented the annual accounts on February 1. The legislative process of getting approvals for demands for grants or spending, general Budget as well as taxation proposals contained in the Finance Bill 2017 were all completed by March 30. President's assent was taken the very next day. This will give the government more time to implement welfare spending programmes and taxation plans. Previously, when the Budget was presented at the end of February, the three-stage Parliament approval process used to get completed some time in mid-May, weeks ahead of onset of monsoon rains. This meant government departments would start spending only from August-end or September after the monsoon ends. Besides advancing the presentation date, the Budget scrapped the Plan and non-Plan distinction and merged the Railway budget with it, ending a nearly century-long practice. Advancement of the Budget will give government departments more leeway to spend as well as allow companies time to adapt to business and taxation plans. Adhia said all taxation and other proposals in the Finance Bill 2017 have come into effect from today. Among the most important is limiting cash transaction to Rs.2 lakh, at par with the current requirement of quoting permanent account number (PAN) for cash spending. Penalty for violating this is a fine equivalent to the amount of transaction, he said. The fine will be payable by the person or the establishment receiving the cash. Also, Aadhaar number is now a must while applying for PAN as well as filing of tax returns. The Finance Bill also provides that a person holding PAN as on July 1, 2017, has to intimate his Aadhaar number to the authorities in a manner which will be notified by the government. It also amends the Companies Act of 2013 to make donations by companies to electoral trusts only through account payee cheque, bank draft or electronic transfer. The language has also been tweaked to provide for every company disclosing in its profit and loss account the total amount contributed to such trusts. The move is in sync with Jaitley's Budget proposal of introducing bearer electoral bonds, which could be purchased by a donor using cheques from a scheduled bank and encashed only through a notified bank account of a political party within the limited duration of such instrument. Adhia said rules for electoral bonds will be notified within this month. The President's assent to the Finance Bill also means that as many as seven appellate tribunals will now be dissolved and their work taken over by other existing ones. The tribunals scrapped include the Competition Appellate Tribunal, whose functions will be taken by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority Appellate Tribunal and the Cyber Appellate Tribunal will be replaced and their functions would be taken over by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). Also, the Copyright Board will be dissolved and its functions will go to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board. The National Highways Tribunal will be replaced and its functions will be taken over by the Airport Appellate Tribunal while the job of the Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal will be handled by the Industrial Tribunal. Leather goods manufacturers, who have experienced a slump in raw material supply from domestic sources, fear that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Uttar Pradesh government's action against illegal slaughterhouses could hit supplies and raise prices. They also say a "blanket ban" on slaughterhouses could defeat the purpose of the Make in India programme for the $12 billion Indian leather industry, which is among the top five in the world's leather market. In case of short supply of raw materials from the indigenous market, manufacturers need to look for costly imports of raw materials instead of cheap domestic sourcing which would make Indian leather exports less competitive in the world market. "The crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses by the Uttar Pradesh government cannot be questioned, but a blanket ban will affect the domestic supply of raw material. Since illegal units were in the supply chain, some amount of short supply is expected," Tapan Nandi, Convenor Chairman for German Investment in India of the Council of Leather Export, said. According to industry sources, Uttar Pradesh being a large state contributes a majority of raw material supply along with Punjab, Bihar and West Bengal. "A blanket ban on slaughterhouses would nudge manufacturers to depend more on imported raw materials, which are costly. If the imports go up, that will add to the cost of Indian leather products and we will lose our competitiveness in the world market. Thus, the Make in India programme could be impacted," he said. According to the Council of Leather Export, India produces about three billion sq ft of raw leather annually. The country's leather industry is bestowed with an affluence of raw materials as India is endowed with 21 per cent of the world's cattle and buffaloes and 11 per cent of the world's goat and sheep population. "The domestic raw material supplies have been showing a declining trend mainly because our exports were hurt. About 2,000 tanneries in India have been facing a crunch in supplies. About seven per cent of fallen animals are not being sourced for value addition," Nandi said. India's export of leather and leather products for the financial year 2015-16 recorded a negative growth of 9.86 per cent, touching $5.85 billion as against $6.49 billion in previous year. "It is too early to say whether the illegal slaughterhouse ban in Uttar Pradesh will impact the supply. But some apprehension prevails if a large-scale ban is executed," Adhar Sahni, Vice President, Indian Leather Products Association, said. However, imports of finished leather have been increasing at a rate of 15-20 per cent year-on-year. "Imports are rising according the need of the products. If orders of leather products require imported raw materials, imports will accordingly rise," Sahni said. Nandi, however, asked, "If the ban on slaughterhouses, mainly cow slaughter houses, is a political decision, the imports of raw materials, particularly cow hide and skin, should be a sensitive matter for the political parties. Isn't it?" Amid poor financial health of Kapol Co-operative Bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed withdrawal limit on the banks customers. Depositors will be allowed to withdraw a sum not exceeding Rs.3,000 (Rupees three thousand only) of the total balance held in every saving bank or current account or any other deposit account, the RBI said in a statement. The Directions have been issued from the close of business on March 30, 2017, the statement added. However, the RBI said that the bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions till its financial position improves. The Reserve Bank may consider modifications of these directions depending upon circumstances, it added. DMK president MK Stalin on Saturday met Tamil Nadu protesting farmers in Delhi and slammed the Union government for not paying any attention to them. "Tamil Nadu farmers have been continuously protesting in Delhi but the Centre does not seem to be bothered about it," Stalin said after meeting the farmers. Saying that an all party meet should be convened to address farmers' issue, he said that Tamil Nadu chief minister should also visit them and find a solution to their problems. "An all party meeting should be convened on this issue," he said, adding Tamil Nadu CM should come and find a solution to their problems, instead he is busy with RK Nagar by poll in Chennai. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday met protesting Tamil Nadu farmers at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and sought drought relief funds from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the farmers. Nearly two weeks now, a group of farmers from Tamil Nadu are protesting in New Delhi, demanding drought relief from the government. From holding skulls, rats, dead snakes to wearing black clothes, the agitated farmers are carrying out protests in unique ways to draw attention from the government. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Saturday met Prime MInister Narendra Modi and was accorded a warm welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Accompanied by wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and cabinet ministers, Najib was greeted by PM Modi and other cabinet ministers. After inspecting the guard-of-honour at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Najib thanked PM Modi and said he was looking forward to the visit. "I am confident that this visit will enhance our bilateral relationship to a higher level," he said. After paying floral tribute at Raj Ghat, Najib paid a courtesy call on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari. Reports suggested that Najib arrived in Chennai on Thursday on his third visit to India after becoming prime minister in 2009. To boost the relationship between the two countries, India and Malaysia will discuss $5 billion worth of investments during the five-day visit of Razak. Najib will visit Jaipur on Sunday to attend a high-level discussion on the progress of Malaysian companies in infrastructure projects in Rajasthan. Combined assets of US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, senior advisor Jared Kushner could exceed $700 million, a White House financial disclosure has revealed. Ivanka and Kushner, collected about $195 million in income, according to the disclosure issued on Friday which included also about 180 of the men and women serving in the White House. Other Trump aides with lucrative histories include Trump's top economic adviser Gary Cohn, the former president of banking giant Goldman Sachs, who netted up to around $75 million in the previous year, and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon who made up to $2.5 million, CNN reported. The financial background of Kushner, Bannon and Cohn are detailed in new forms that disclose the assets that they held when they walked in the doors of the White House before administration counsel advised them to resign from various postings, divest certain holdings or recuse themselves from future decisions. Kushner, like Trump, a prominent real estate titan, held positions in 267 separate entities, ranging from the Trump transition team to dozens of property holdings in New York and New Jersey. Ivanka Trump, who just this week formally said she would join the West Wing after serving as an informal adviser to her father, is yet to file her own disclosure forms. But the White House said earlier on Friday that her documents would look largely similar to her husband's. US President Donald Trump wants former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn to testify to Congress to seek an immunity deal against allegations that he colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential elections, the White House said on Friday. "I think he believes that Mike Flynn should go testify," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a press briefing on Friday. "He should go up there and do what he needs to do to get the story out," The Hill magazine quoted Spicer as saying. Asked whether the White House is concerned about what Flynn might say to congressional investigators, Spicer said "nope". Spicer disputed the notion that Trump's advice to Flynn means he believes the retired Army lieutenant general committed a crime in his dealings with Russia. "Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media and Democrats, of historic proportion!" Trump tweeted earlier on Friday. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly needled Clinton aides who reportedly sought immunity in a federal investigation into her use of a private email server. He expressed his belief that immunity details were a sign of guilt, the Hill magazine reported. "The reason they get immunity is because they did something wrong," he said in September. "If they didn't do anything wrong, they don't think in terms of immunity. Five people. Folks, I'm telling you: Nobody's seen anything like this in our country's history." Flynn's lawyer told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that, in exchange for the promise of not being prosecuted, he is willing to talk to the House and Senate Intelligence panels as part of their probes into whether Trump associates colluded with Russia to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. The panels have not, thus far, accepted the offer. 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. Civil protection rescue teams work inside a destroyed house to recover the body of people killed during fighting between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq. Patnaik's close aides say that to understand him, one has to understand his empathy By Pratul Sharma/Photos Sanjay Ahlawat All workers unions of Maruti Suzuki have raised their voice against a March 18 verdict by a Gurgaon sessions court that sentenced 13 workers to life imprisonment and four workers to five year in jail for an arson and lynching incident in Mariuti Suzuki's Manesar plant about five years back. Fourteen other accused who have already served 4-and-a -half years jail term would be fined and released. [File] Policemen stand inside the Maruti Suzuki factory a day after workers rioted in Manesar in 2012 | AP "On the day of the judgment more than 30,000 workers in the Manesar-Gurgaon-Bawal-Neemrana belt observed tool down protest. Later at a public meeting in Manesar, we sought support to observe strike on April 4 and April 5. We are seeking an immediate reversal of the court's order and a fair trial," said Ram Niwas, Chairman, provisional working committee, Maruti Suzuki Workers' Union (MSWU). The MSWU along with four other labour unions have formed an umbrella organisation Mazdoor Adhikar Sangharsh Abhiyan (MASA) to carry out the protest in Gurgaon, Manesar and in Jantar Mantar, Delhi. "The judgment is an anti-working class verdict," said Ram Niwas, who added that more than 3,000 workers from the Maruti Suzuki plant in Manesar would join the protest. We all know how court cases are quoted for judgments in other cases. This case is one such that and will be quoted while hearing every case on labour unrest. It is not about the Maruti workers alone, it is a verdict against the working class of India, said Satbir Singh, regional general secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). The associations have come out with three demands withdrawal of false cases against the Maruti workers, release of the 13 convicted Maruti workers, and reinstating the 117 acquitted workers. "Failing any progress on our three demands, we will conduct week long strikes in April," said Mahavir Singh of INTUC who have joined the MWUSU to support in their protests. "Not only our members in the four Maruti plants but those working in factories of other OEM suppliers will also join this protest. It is to protect our livelihood and against the contract system of employment," said Singh. Meanwhile, the Maruti Suzuki India Ltd management is also not relenting after the judgment. In a bid to discourage workers from attending the protests, the company had put up notice saying that any worker who join the protest will be subject to eight days pay cut. According to the RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the Maruti workers are fighting a righteous battle. "Workers have been subjugated to accept half-pay jobs on contract. They are facing every heat of the Maruti management. Right from not being allowed to unionise to being forced to sign good conduct bonds. The role of the HR/personnel manager also needs to be looked at deeply," said Vrijesh Upadhyay, general secretary, BMS. BMS had earlier not supported the Maruti workers on their protests after the judgment. But on Saturday, Upadhyay said that the union with more than 20,000 workers in the Gurgaon-Manesar belt as members, would join the protest of Maruti workers. "We have come in support because we realise it is easy to take disciplinary action towards workers because they do not hold any power. We urge government to take back its decision because the workers who were found guilty are not criminals, they do not hold any type of criminal records. They were working to earn their living and feed their families, not to get in to jails," said Upadhayay. The Bombay High Court on Friday restrained further exhibition and distribution of the new Kannada movie 'Pushpaka Vimana', observing that prima facie, the Kannada movie appeared to be a copy of the Korean movie 'Miracle in Cell No. 7'. Kross Pictures India, a cross-border film ad TV production company, had filed an infringement case against the makers of the latest Kannada film 'Pushpaka Vimana' (which shares the title with an earlier film starring Kamal Hasan) before the Bombay High Court, alleging the storyline had been copied. Kross Pictures, which owns the remake rights of the Korean film, alleged that the Kannada movie makers had not bought the rights for a remake. Pushpaka Vimana is the 100th movie of Kannada actor Ramesh Arvind and is produced by Vikhyat Chitra Productions, Pawan Wadeyar Factory and others. As per the court order, the movie cannot be screened either in theatres or on television or distributed using CDs and DVDs. It also restrains the filmmakers from awarding satellite or telecast rights. The court has also asked the Kannada filmmakers to disclose the earnings from the film and the contracts with artists. A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jammu and Kashmir to inaugurate the country's longest road tunnelthe 9.2 km long Chenani-Nashri tunnelmilitants ambushed an Army convoy on Srinagar-Baramulla highway. In the ensuing ruckus, three soldiers were injured. The attacked happened near Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences at 1.15pm. The tires of the Army truck burst and the windshield was also smashed. The militants fled the spot and disappeared into the residential colonies nearby. The Army retaliated, but with caution, in view of the civilian movement in the area. The injured were quickly removed to an Army base hospital. There was a firing on Army convoy. Three soldiers have been injured. They have been evacuated to the base hospital where they are presently under treatment, said Army spokesman colonel Rajesh Kalia. After the attack, reinforcements were rushed to the spot. The Army also launched a combing operation in the area. An hour before, tension had gripped Lal Chowk, the city center, and surrounding areas, after a masked, mentally-challenged man barged into a local hotel and locked himself inside a room. Police thought the man was a fidayeen planning to carry out an attack in view of the prime minister's visit. They cordoned off the area from outside and took the masked man into custody. Believing the masked man to be a militant, the locals started raising pro-freedom slogans and pelted stones on police. The police fired tear smoke shells and lathi-charged the mob. Normalcy returned to the area and the surroundings after the reality of the masked man became evident. Differences between Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav came to the fore again on Saturday when the Yadav chieftain slammed his son for disrespecting him and uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav. Quoting a statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kannauj (how can a man who has insulted his father be loyal to the people of the state?), Mulayam endorsed Modi's views on the issue. In Mainpuri to inaugurate a hotel, the former union defence minister claimed that Modi's statement had affected the voters and led to the drubbing of the Samajwadi Party at the hustings. The veteran politician also pointed out that never in the history of the country had anyone named his son the chief minister despite being active in political life, like he had done. "While the people voted for me in 2012, I chose to make Akhilesh the chief minister, but he humiliated me thereafter," he rued. "I have never been insulted so much ever in my life," he lamented. "But I did not say anything to anyone as my own blood was out against me," the three-time Uttar Pradesh chief minister added. He said it was a tragedy that his son had joined hands with the Congress, a party which led "murderous attacks" on him not once but thrice. Akhilesh Yadav had overthrown his father as national president of the party in a political coup of sorts on January 1, after a bitter battle for power and supremacy in the party. Akhilesh Yadav had also expelled Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh and sacked his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav as the state unit president. Mulayam Singh had not campaigned for party candidates in the state assembly polls and only addressed rallies for his brother Shivpal in Jaswantnagar and daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav in Lucknow. Asserting that there is no justification for acts of terror on any grounds, India and Malaysia on Saturday agreed to strengthen their strategic partnership to counter-terrorism and extremism during the talks between their prime ministers. The wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak also encompassed trade ties. Affirming their strong commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, the two leaders stressed that there can be no justification for acts of terror on any grounds whatsoever and condemned in the "strongest terms" the recent barbaric terror attacks in the region, a joint statement after the talks said. In an apparent reference to Pakistan, it said, "The fight against terrorism should not only seek to disrupt and eliminate terrorists, terror organisations and networks, but should also identify, hold accountable and take strong measures against States, which encourage, support and finance terrorism, provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups, and falsely extol their virtues." Though the document did not name Pakistan, it said there should be no glorification of terrorists as martyrs. This assumes significance given that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had hailed Burhan Wani, a Hizbul commander who was killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir last year, as a "martyr". Later, addressing a joint press event with Najib, Modi said,"To secure our societies, and for the greater regional good, we have agreed to further strengthen our strategic partnership to shape an effective response to our common concerns and challenges." Modi also said the two sides were conscious of their role and responsibility in promoting economic prosperity, freedom of navigation, and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, especially its oceans. On his part, Najib said Modi was specifically interested in knowing about the success of Malaysia's de-radicalisation programme and he presented the Indian leader a book on the specific module dealing with it apart from offering to extend his country's expertise in the area. "We are willing to work closely together with the Indian government for special conference that will be held in near future and we will provide our experience and with our partners to make sure Malaysia and other parts of the world will never be a place in which militancy and extremism will take root," Najib said. The visiting dignitary also asserted that defence and strategic partnership will be "very important to us to fight global terrorism, militancy, extremism and that includes our fight against IS and against any form of extremism". "For this, we will enhance our cooperation," he said. After the talks between Modi and Najib, the two sides inked seven pacts, including those related to air services and cooperation in development of a fertiliser plant in Malaysia with off-take of surplus urea by India. While seeking to deepen the engagement between the two countries, Najib maintained the bilateral ties have not yet realised their full potential and hoped these pacts will boost the engagement in various sectors. On economic ties, Modi said the two countries have built a thriving economic partnership. "In our efforts to scale this up, as the fastest growing large economy in the world, India offers unparalleled opportunities. And, to build new avenues of prosperity in our societies, we are ready to expand trade and capital flows between our two economies," he said, identifying infrastructure as one of the key sectors for investment. The two sides emphasised on the need for urgent measures to counter and prevent the spread of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation, and expressed their determination to take concrete measures to step up cooperation and coordination among the law enforcement, intelligence and security organisations. According to External Affairs Ministry, during Najib's six-day visit, projects worth USD five billion are expected to be discussed apart from inking of more than a dozen business deals. Najib is scheduled to attend Trade Expo by Malaysia India Business Council Business Forum and 7Th Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council Meeting on April 3. A total 27,850 migrants and refugees landed in Europe in the first 89 days of this year, of whom 23,125 reached Italy, the UN migration agency International Organisation for Migration said on Friday. Although the overall arrivals were a fraction of those in the same period of 2016 (165,697), 7,000 more people reached Italy by sea, the IOM figures showed. The number of people who died on the perilous route from North Africa to Italy also climbed to 595 from 346 last year although overall there were fewer deaths in the Mediterranean, according to the IOM. As recently as on Thursday, one migrant's body was recovered and five were missing after a German ship rescued 141 people from a rubber dinghy off Libya that had begun to take on water and was sinking slowly, IOM reported. Over 1,000 people landed in Italy on Thursday, arrivals that were not included in the data for this year up to 29 March, IOM said. US President Donald Trump has blasted a probe into his team's ties to Russia as an opposition "witch hunt," defending his former top aide Michael Flynn's decision to ask for immunity in the case. Trump's ex-national security advisor, whose links to Russia are one focus of the sprawling investigation, has sought protection in exchange for his testimony to the FBI and congressional committees. Flynn's lawyer said in a statement on Thursday that his client has "a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit." But two key committees in the probe, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, both suggested the immunity proposal was premature. Trump nevertheless encouraged Flynn's move in a tweet that appeared to lay down a challenge. "Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!" Flynn's offer to testify under protection from prosecution suggests he has more to reveal about the Russia affair. He could be a key witness as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Congress seek to determine whether Trump advisors colluded with Russia's interference in last year's presidential election. But Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House panel, said there was "still much work and many more witnesses and documents to obtain before any immunity request from any witness can be considered." "We should first acknowledge what a grave and momentous step it is for a former national security advisor to the president of the United States to ask for immunity from prosecution," Schiff said. NBC News also quoted unnamed officials as saying the issue was not on the table at the Senate committee "at the moment." A close advisor to Trump's 2016 campaign, Flynn was forced to step down from his White House job in February after misleading the vice president about conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak after the election. He is also in focus over receiving $33,000 from Russian television RT to attend a 2015 gala in Moscow where he sat with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and $530,000 from Turkey for lobbying services. It promises to be a scorcher of a summer. But, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas twice-postponed visit to India (April 7-10) is not all about water. The Teesta River Agreement was expected to take centrestage, but, the premier has other Ts on her listterrorism, trade and tariffs. The trade and tariffs part is important, because India is set to export coal to Bangladesh for the first time. Bangladesh would also like a lowering of tariffs on commodities they export to India, and an easier regime on fuels they import via India. But, the terror concern is existential for Dhaka. Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu told THE WEEK: Yes, water is important, and it will be discussed. But, the prime focus would be on cross-border terrorism. Bangladesh has done its best to not allow its land to become a grooming ground for anti-India terror groups. We want India to reciprocate. In mid-2016, Dhaka had submitted a report on the growing radicalism in West Bengal, Assam and Tripura. West Bengal was highlighted as a hotbed for two-organisations specificallythe Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI). Five Indian states together share a 4,100km-long border with Bangladesh; half of it is with West Bengal. Recently, Hasina told leaders of her partythe Bangladesh Awami Leagueabout a twofold intrusion from India. The first was anti-Bangladesh terrorists finding shelter in Indias border states. The second was about the Awami League losing the 2001 elections. It was engineered by the secret services of India and the US, she said. THE WEEK asked Bangladeshi freedom fighter and parliamentarian A.K.M. Rahamatulla about Hasinas comments, and, he said, Dont take it as a complaint. Our prime minister wants to plug loopholes. If certain elements are in the border states, we believe India would crack down on them. India is our natural ally. [About the 2001 elections] The entire world knew that, to impress Pakistan at that time, both India and the US went against our leader. Anti-terror operations were stepped up in Bangladesh after the attacks on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka on July 1-2, 2016. Twenty hostages, two policemen, two bakery staff and five terrorists were killed. Of the 20 hostages, 18 were foreigners. The terrorists were reportedly JMB cadre. In the past year, Bangladesh security agencies have tracked and killed 42 terrorists in retaliation. At least 12 of them had stayed in India at various times. We have detailed information about the easy movement of terrorists across the border and how they stayed in India, said M. Asaduzzaman Mia, commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Much of the information is classified. But, our prime minister will take up the issue during her visit to India. Mia also heads Bangladeshs elite Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) force. The CTTC has had considerable success in the Dhaka attack case. The force killed Tamim Chowdhury, Canadian citizen and founder of JMB; Nurul Islam, the second-in-command, and, Saddam Hussein, a commander. Tamim and Nurul, reportedly, stayed in India to plan the attack. Most JMB members are below 40 years of age, and everyone, except Tamim, came from Islamic Chatra Shibir, a radical students organisation. The banned Shibir is reportedly behind the murder of bloggers in Bangladesh. Hasina has an axe to grind with them, because they put her on their kill list. Dhaka has a list of 24 JMB operatives that it badly wants. It has Delhi in the loop about them, and Delhi in turn has briefed the West Bengal Police. On March 7, the Kolkata Polices special task force nabbed Mohammed Idris from Colootola area in North Kolkata. He handled JMBs recruitment cell in West Bengal and travelled across India to gather support. After the attack in Dhaka, he came back to West Bengal and often visited Hyderabad and places in Karnataka, said an officer with the Kolkata Polices special branch. He finally stayed with a tailor at Colootola. Security experts say the changing demographic has made West Bengal and Assam most vulnerable. G.M. Srivastava, former director general of police of Tripura and Assam, and an expert on Bangladesh, said, The difference [between previous governments in Dhaka, and] this government is that it means business. Earlier, all these groups were patronised by Bangladeshi governments. Particular learning centres are mushrooming on the [Indian] border. The border districts, especially Murshidabad and Malda, are seeing nursing homes coming up, where Bangladeshis come and get treated. There are guest houses attached to these clinics as well. Another Bangladesh expert, Major General (retd) K.K. Ganguly, said, Terrorists come to North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur districts, where they mix with people from their religion. At times, they also get political support. It happened in the Burdwan blast [October 2, 2014] where there was no idea that terrorists had rented a politicians house. The presence of ultras in these areas is being blamed for the spike in communal clashes in West Bengal. Intelligence reports say there have been 12 in the past year. The report identified the affected regions as Jangipur in Murshidabad; Andul, Manikpur and Tehatta in Howrah; Chandannagar in Hooghly; Naihati in North 24 Parganas; Bhagabanpur in East Midnapore; Katwa in Burdwan (near Shimulia, where NIA unearthed sleeper cells of JMB after the Burdwan blast), and, Chanchal and Kaliachak in Malda district. In Tehatta local clerics stopped Sarwaswati Puja at a school; in Kaliachak, a mob burnt the police station, said a senior intelligence officer with the West Bengal Police. In all cases we found that outsiders were behind the attacks. They instigated the local Muslim youth and then fled. We have received many names and we are collecting more information. Political sparring is rife over the issue. Rahul Sinha, national secretary of the BJP, said, We have never seen such a state government which compromises national security. Sultan Ahmad, MP and chairman of West Bengal Minority Development Corporation Ltd, said, West Bengal is a big state. Perhaps, these people have established hide-outs somewhere. I dont think that they get any political support. But, I cannot say what is happening at the grass roots. I hope it is not happening. The West Bengal Police refused to comment on Dhakas charges, but it is a fact that the National Investigation Agency has warned that there are more than 50 terror modules statewide. And, they, reportedly, are picking unusual targets. For example, one is Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity. Wizz Air, which advertises as the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe announced three new low-fare rotes to Tel Aviv: Lublin, Poland -Tel Aviv From NIS 154* one way; Craiova, Romania Tel Aviv From NIS 179* one way Kosice, Slovakia Tel Aviv From NIS 154* one way Three New Low-Cost Routes Lublin-Tel Aviv From NIS 154* One Way Craiova Tel Aviv From NIS 179* One Way Kosice- Tel Aviv From NIS 154* One Way In Addition, Wizz Air Increases Frequency on These Routes: Bucharest-Tel Aviv, From 4 To 7 Weekly Flights from September 18 Budapest-Tel Aviv, From 7 To 10 Weekly Flights from October 29 Tel Aviv, 28 March: In addition, Wizz Air announced it will increase frequency on the following routes: Bucharest-Tel Aviv, from 4 to 7 weekly flights from September 18 Budapest-Tel Aviv, from 7 to 10 weekly flights from October 29. Wizz Air noted that these new routes are some of many that the company has opened to Israel and more new routes are planned, in the framework of the companys cooperation with the Tourism Ministry. Wizz Air also announced that the new routes would operate twice a week and that passengers wishing to purchase flights for their vacations/city-breaks in Tel Aviv/Lublin/Craiova and Kosice can do so on the company website wizzair.com, with flights beginning at NIS 154 one way. Tourism Minister Yariv Levin: I congratulate Wizz Air on its decision to continue expanding operations in Israel and to open three new direct routes into Ben Gurion airport, joining the existing routes. I am pleased that cooperation between the Tourism Ministry and Wizz Air has moved up a level, as the company expresses confidence in the Israeli tourism product and significantly expands its operations in Israel. The tourism industry is currently going through a great transformation and the expansion of Wizz Air operation is a testament to the significant improvement in the attractiveness of Israel as a tourism destination. The opening of the new routes, which will bring further increases in incoming tourism, joins the exceptional marketing efforts that we are implementing, efforts that have already led to a 25% increase in incoming tourism this year. Owain Jones, Chief Corporate Officer at Wizz Air, said: We are thrilled to be adding today three new European destinations to Wizz Airs low-fare network. WIZZs new services to Lublin, Kosice and Craiova will be operated twice a week, further stimulating bi-directional tourism between the countries and creating more truly affordable travel opportunities for our Israeli customers. Starting today, our Israeli passengers can discover 17 exciting destinations across 9 countries in Europe from Tel Aviv and Eilat airports through WIZZs network with fares starting from as low as ILS 129. We remain committed to the country and we look forward to bringing more positive news in the future. Wizz Air also noted that, since opening its first route to Budapest in 2012, together with todays announcement, the company is becoming the largest low cost airline in the Israeli market in terms of seat capacity. Operating a fleet of brand new Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft the average age of which is 4 years, in only five years the airline has carried more than 1.2 million passengers traveling to and from Israel. * One way including all taxes and non-optional charges About Wizz Air Wizz Air is the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, operates a fleet of 77 Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft, and offers more than 500 routes from 28 bases, connecting 137 destinations across 40 countries. At Wizz Air, a team of approximately 3,000 aviation professionals delivers superior service and very low ticket prices making Wizz Air the preferred choice of 23 million passengers in 2016. Wizz Air is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker WIZZ and is included in the FTSE 250 and FTSE All-Share Indices. Wizz Air is registered under the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), the global benchmark in airline safety recognition. The company was recently named 2016 Value Airline of the Year by the editors of Air Transport World, one of the leading airline trade magazines, as well as 2016 Low Cost Airline of the Year by the Center for Aviation (CAPA), a leading provider of independent aviation market intelligence. Wizz Air, always looking for opportunities that can accommodate the strong growth of its low-fare network, has already announced seven new routes to six countries in Europe, starting in 2017 from Tel Aviv. Furthermore, the popular route from Tel Aviv to Budapest will be operated with 10 frequencies a week starting from 29 October, while the connection to Romanias capital, Bucharest will have 6 weekly frequencies a week, from 17 June and daily flights starting 19 September. Proving its commitment to the Israel market, Wizz Air offers 800,000 seats on sale in 2017 on 16 routes to nine countries available from Tel Aviv airport, which represents a 70% increase year-over-year. The low-fare travel opportunities created by WIZZ in Israel will further stimulate the tourism industry and boost the trade and business links between the countries. In 2016, nearly 418,000 passengers have enjoyed WIZZs low fares, easy booking system and excellent on-board service to and from Israel, supporting 310 indirect jobs** in airport operations, transportation, hospitality and tourism industries. Since the first WIZZ flight from Tel Aviv to Budapest in 2012, the airline is continuously looking to bring more travel opportunities that can best meet its Israeli customers needs, offering now a total of 17 low-fares routes to nine countries across Europe from Tel Aviv and Eilat airports, including the upcoming services from Tel Aviv to London-Luton and Varna, starting in June and July respectively. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) With a new tax year just days away, many savers will be looking to use up their Isa allowance for this year or planning ahead for where to invest next year's. From April 6 the allowance will increase from 15,240 to 20,000. We've asked the experts where they are putting their money. Rob Burdett, co-head of the F&C Multi-Manager fund, says Old Mutual UK Dynamic Equity has one of the best resourced and most experienced teams in the industry. While many fund managers ignore the so-called macro environment how politics or the economy affect investments and focus just on picking stocks, the Old Mutual team don't ignore the bigger picture. Tax break: A new tax year is just days away when the Isa allowance will increase from 15,240 to 20,000 'They put a lot of thought into the macro-economic environment, and it shows in the returns the fund has produced,' says Burdett. The fund would have turned 10,000 into 25,330 over the past five years. Its largest investments include online fashion retailer Boohoo and luxury mixer drinks brand Fever-Tree both of which have soared in the past few years. Smaller companies have been out of favour for several years but a weaker pound and growing economy could see them thrive. For savers willing to take on a higher risk investment, Bambos Hambi, head of funds at Standard Life Investments, likes the Henderson Emerging Markets Opportunities fund. This fund has money in companies in India, Brazil, Chile and South Africa among others. While these regions have been in the doldrums, an oil price recovery, increased political stability and fast-growing economies saw a turnaround last year, which Hambi says could continue for a while yet. If you had invested 10,000 in the fund five years ago it would now be worth 14,320. The possibility of turmoil in the eurozone might make some savers nervous about investing on the Continent, but experts say there are opportunities to be found. Marcus Brookes, head of the multi-manager team at Schroders, likes the Invesco Perpetual European Equity fund. The fund, which would have turned 10,000 into 21,430 over the past five years, targets cheaper, out-of-favour investments such as financial firms Caixabank and Allianz. The fund has 30 per cent of its cash in French firms and other investments in Swiss and German companies. Brookes says: 'While politics may be dominating savers' views of the Continent, we have begun to see a modest pick-up in the economy and profits forecasts.' Sheridan Admans, investment research manager at The Share Centre, is also looking to the Continent. The Man GLG Continental European Growth fund targets companies that manager Rory Powe either believes are established leaders or emerging winners in their field. It would have turned 10,000 into 24,590 over the past five years. Top investments in the fund include Ryanair, which falls into the established leader category as one of the most popular low-cost airlines. Another investment, which falls into the emerging winners group, is jewellery company Pandora, an increasingly popular, affordable luxury brand. Top investments in the The Man GLG Continental European Growth fund include Ryanair, which falls into the established leader category as one of the most popular low-cost airlines James de Bunsen, co-manager of Henderson Alternative Strategies Trust, is looking at Worldwide Healthcare Trust, which invests in pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms across the globe. After a stellar run, this industry fell out of favour last year amid fears if Hillary Clinton won the US election she would clamp down on how much pharma firms could profit from their products. De Bunsen says for that reason the sector looks to be good value. He adds: 'I think these fears are overplayed and the themes of ageing populations across the world and rising incomes in emerging markets really support the growth of this sector.' Older populations tend to need more healthcare, and rising wealth means that countries increasingly have the means to pay for it. The investment trust would have turned 10,000 into 31,340 over the past five years. Two of the City's top earners are having their pay slashed as the backlash against fat-cat bonuses gains traction. The Mail understands Bob Dudley, chief executive of BP, is set to have his pay cut by up to 40 per cent to 8million. Yesterday, meanwhile, it was revealed that Rakesh Kapoor, boss of Reckitt Benckiser, the consumer goods giant behind Harpic and Nurofen, had seen more than 10million knocked off his earnings. Pay cut: Bob Dudley, chief executive of BP, is set to have his pay cut by up to 40 per cent to 8m Both chief executives had faced anger for pocketing mammoth pay deals in 2015. Dudley was criticised when his pay shot up by 20 per cent to 14million in a year when the group ran up losses of $5.2billion, largely as a result of having to absorb the final bill for the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. BP, which has been wrestling with the issue of Dudley's pay, bonuses and pension entitlement for several months, is expected to award him 8.4million for 2016 a substantial fall. In a further boost to investors, the BP board is expected to confirm the company's generous dividend will be maintained. Reckitt Benckiser's Rakesh Kapoor has seen more than 10m knocked off his earnings There has been concern its yield of 7 per cent was unsustainable. The cost of paying the dividend is thought to be around $7billion, which the board believes is an acceptable sum to be spending on shareholders for a company that spends $15billion to $17billion a year on new exploration and production projects, and has other cash costs of around $20billion a year. While both decisions are likely to keep investors happy, Dudley is understood to believe he has been unfairly targeted, since last year's pay was inflated by a larger-than-usual pension reward relating to his previous employment in the US. It is thought Dudley, who was travelling when the 2015 pay report was put together, was horrified by last year's package and wished he'd had a chance to amend it before it went to the printers and was distributed. At the time, 59 per cent of shareholders had voted against the award. BP has also argued that Dudley was unfairly targeted, as the company has been stabilised under his management, suggesting he could not be blamed for the $63billion of losses BP he was forced to absorb as a result of the Deepwater Horizon scandal. Kapoor faced shareholder backlash after his pay more than doubled to 25.5million in 2015 despite the firm being hit with a number of fines over corporate governance. His 2016 pay cut was as a result of a safety scandal in South Korea that led to a boycott of Reckitt's products and a 300million compensation payout. It claimed responsibility for 92 deaths after its steriliser product Oxy Sacsac, which was put inside humidifiers, was linked to a spate of fatal lung problems between 2001 and 2011. The firm's annual report yesterday revealed he was paid 14.6million in 2016, did not receive a bonus and had his long-term incentive rewards reduced by half. Struggling Jaeger has been sold to a mystery buyer leaving the fashion chain's private equity backers 62million out of pocket. It is understood that Edinburgh Woollen Mill, the retail group run by billionaire Philip Day, is behind the deal. But last night Jaeger's owner, private equity group Better Capital, refused to confirm the identity of the buyer, citing a confidentiality agreement. It is understood that Edinburgh Woollen Mill has snapped up fashion chain Yaeger Better Capital bought Jaeger in 2012 for 19.5million, but it has struggled to turn a profit. Last year sales fell from 84.2million to 78.4million, while it booked a loss of 5.4million. Last night former owner Harold Tillman, who was rumoured to be interested, said: 'I hope and wish for the survival of the brand, on behalf of employees. 'I had it for eight years, and enjoyed eight years of growth and profit.' As part of the deal, Better Capital has written off 23million. Jaeger, which has around 25 standalone High Street stores, was founded in 1884 by businessman Lewis Tomalin. KHUPHUKA A family is crying the loss of 22 cattle worth over E140 000, which strayed into businessman Robert Zwanes farm when they last saw them. The cattle belonged to the family of Lomgezo Sifundza of Khuphuka next to Mliba. Relating the sad ordeal, Sifundza said when the cows disappeared she was bereaved as she had just lost her husband. When we traced them, we discovered that they had trespassed onto a farm owned by Zwane and we indeed confirmed that when one of my sons launched an investigation into the disappearance, said Sifundza. Charges She said the family assigned her son to negotiate the charges with Zwane, which he did. Sifundza said after they reached an agreement on how much would be paid for the sins committed by the cattle, they gave Zwane a date on which they would come for them. However, on the morning of the day that we were supposed to fetch the cattle Zwane loaded them in a truck and took them to a pound in Mbabane. The Municipal Council of Mbabane, through Information and Public Relations Officer Lucky Tsabedze confirmed that Zwane brought a herd of cattle to be kept at the pound. Our records indicate that the cattle were brought in here on a certain date and were also taken out in the same truck in which they had arrived on another date. Pound Tsabedze said normally, they do not screen the cattle when they arrive but they deal with the person who has brought them in terms of the charges for keeping them at the pound. He said they have a provision that allows farmers to bring in cattle they have impounded anywhere in the country. The elderly Sifundza, who has just turned 63 years old said they never got to see their cattle again after they were driven to the pound. She said Zwane confirmed that he took the cattle there but allegedly denied that he took them out again. According to Tsabedze, when the cattle were taken out of the pound, they were given to a representative of the Sifundza family who was of consenting age. He did not state though how the Municipal Council verified that the said man was representing the Sifundza family. Sifundzas elder son, Khuphuka, said they reported the matter to the Mliba police who, after conducting an investigation, said one of their brothers was also implicated in the disappearance of the cattle. Denied We all went to the police station including my brother and he flatly denied that he was involved in the alleged sale of the cattle. Khuphuka said they believed what their brother said because there was no way he could have sold family property, let alone at a time when their mother and stepmother were mourning the death of their father. He said the police never concluded the matter and to their surprise, it was not a difficult case to work on as there are records of the transactions both at the pound and also at the dipping tank where cattle are normally registered and transfers are also approved. Srinagar, Apr 1 (IBNS) : The Election Commission of India (ECI) has banned exit polls for Lok Sabha by-elections in Jammu and Kashmir, scheduled to be held between April 9 and April 16. The by-elections are being held for two seats in Srinagar and Anantnag. "In connection with the bye-elections to Srinagar and Anantnag Parliamentary constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, the ECI has prohibited exit polls between 7 AM on April 9 and 6.30 PM on April 12," a notification issued by the commission said on Friday. In exercise of the powers under Sub-Section (1) of Section 126 A of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951, ECI has notified the period between 7 am on April 9, 2017 and 6.30 pm on April 12, 2017 during which conducting any exit poll and publishing or publicizing by means of the print or electronic media or dissemination in any other manner whatsoever, the result of any exit poll shall be prohibited, says the notification. The notification says under Section-126 (1) (b) of the R P Act 1951, displaying any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media, would be prohibited during the period of 48 hours ending with the hours fixed for conclusion of poll for bye-elections. (Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri) MBABANE Some health centres are said to be refusing to attend to patients who come for medical attention without national identity cards (IDs). This follows a computerisation programme initiated by the health ministry, primarily to monitor the use of medication in government health centres. The programme is said to have been introduced in health centres at Siteki, Nhlangano, King Sobhuza II Clinic in Manzini and Lobamba among other areas. All the patients information, medical records and visits are stored in the system and given a user number to be produced each time the patient makes a visit to the centre. However, in other areas there have been concerns that some people were being turned back for not producing their IDs or at the least to give their ID numbers. I was turned back at King Sobhuza II Clinic for not having an ID and I went to Lobamba Clinic where again I was requested to produce an ID, or at recall my personal identity number (PIN), which I dont know by head, said one Simphiwe Manana. She said in both centres she had to return home without having seen a single nurse, yet she felt she needed medical attention. The Director of Health Services Dr Vusi Magagula said it was not supposed to be that patients are made to turn back at health facilities for failure to produce IDs. We dont encourage that people should be turned back in health centres, Dr Magagula said. Nonetheless, he said they encourag e people to produce identity documents to ensure that the person being attended to at the health facility was indeed the person he or she claims to be. Otherwise, he pointed out that the whole purpose of this initiative would be defeated. He said since the initiative was at its early stages, there was bound to be problems. One reason was that we were losing a lot of drugs due to people going from one health facility to another taking medication, yet we have limited resources. Therefore, we encourage people to have some form of ID to produce in health centres. Indeed, we will get to a point whereby no patient without an ID will be attended to, Magagula said. However, he pointed out that of course there was bound to be cases of emergencies. He said it was true that there were people who still dont have IDs, but the ultimate aim was to have everyone be in possession of an ID. MBABANE Damned if we dont and damned if we do is how best the Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation describes the position it is faced with Electronic Communications (Facilities Sharing) Regulations, 2016, now in place. The purpose of these regulations is to provide for the requirements for the sharing of facilities and to promote fair competition through equal access being granted to the installation and facilities of operators on mutually agreed terms among other. The sharing of facilities would be among the three licensed operators; Swazi MTN, Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) and Swazi Mobile. SPTC is yet to operationalise its mobile service. According to an article carried in the Times SUNDAY, Swazi Mobile has approached Swazi MTN with a request to access its infrastructure. Swazi Mobiles request was to use at least 100 network sites belonging to Swazi MTN. The sites are made of high mast towers and other mobile telephony services equipment responsible for connecting cellphones to the network. Swazi MTN was not in a position to confirm receipt of such request from Swazi Mobile. SPTC has, however, confirmed having received a request from Swazi Mobile but finds itself in a conundrum as a result of the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) it has with Swazi MTN. The JVA was concluded on July 31, 1998 by MTN International (Pty) Ltd, Mobile Telephone Networks Holdings (Pty) Ltd and Swazi Empowerment Limited, with SPTC for the specific formation of a Joint Venture Company, namely, MTN. Clause 21.1 of the JVA states that the Shareholders (including SPTC) shall at all times during the subsistence of this Agreement and their relationship to the company (MTN), bear to each other the utmost good faith as is required by law to be borne by partners, the one to the other. 21.2 reads that without derogating from the aforegoing or clause 12.5 (on technical support services) no shareholder (including SPTC) shall either directly or indirectly be associated with any business or concern if such association will or might result in a conflict of interest arising. These clauses are in contrast to the facilities sharing regulations and leave SPTC caught between a rock and a hard place. SPTC Managing Director, Petros Dlamini, expressing how they were in a difficult position, said it was unfair to ask SPTC that question. We cant answer that, he said before explaining why. Existing Honestly speaking, it would be the office of the Regulator that would be better placed to respond to that question because ours as an operator is to respect and abide by all existing legislation and agreements. We must comply according to the law. Dlamini said they have to observe all agreements before confirming that SPTC had been approached by Swazi Mobile but at this point it would be difficult to say what their exact position is. Highlighting the complexities of Swazi Mobiles request, Dlamini said if they were to agree to assist Swazi Mobile and continue to do so; Swazi MTN could take them to court for breaching the JVA, which according to them was still in place. MBABANE Soldiers with potbellies and those considered fat are either to shape up or face being fired from the army. This comes up after soldiers in the Royal Guard were this week told in no uncertain terms that all those considered to be fat would be moved from the unit. However, this has not gone down well with many officers who felt ridiculed and unjustly discriminated according to their genetic body size. The army stance on royal escorts was conveyed to soldiers on Tuesday. Batsi sonkhe sidudla siyacoshwa ku-Royal Guard (We were told in no uncertain terms that all overweight soldiers under Royal Guard will be moved from the unit), said one of our informants, pleading not to be identified as he would pay a huge price should he be identified as one of those who leaked the conveyed information. It could not be established as to what body size, a soldier should maintain in order to remain under the Royal Guard Unit. However, an example was made of one soldier estimated to be of size 28 or 30 in uniform. The soldiers, who now feel they might be transferred to the borderlines or elsewhere because of their weight, told this publication that never at any moment were they told not to gain weight as long as they were Royal Guards. What irks them most is that they havent heard of the police having taken a similar stance for Police Royal Escorts. Not even those from His Majestys Correctional Services. What is it that we have done wrong by gaining weight? And where do our superiors arrive at the conclusion that to be a Royal Guard or bodyguard one has to be skinny? they wondered. Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force (USDF) Public Relations Officer Colonel Madoda Mkhatshwa said everyone who moves around wearing the army uniform, yet overweight and doesnt meet the required fitness standards should be ashamed of himself or herself. He said that didnt paint a good image for the countrys army. Mkhatshwa said it does happen in the army for things to change in response to observations or a prevailing situation. If reports coming to those who are overseeing that particular force say the image of our force was not acceptable, we will enforce that required stance. The colonel stated that there was an Inspector General in the army who was responsible for monitoring army standards. New Delhi, Apr 1 (IBNS) : Senior Congress leader and former Railway Minister CK Jaffer Sharief has lent his support to the proposal of making RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat a Presidential candidate, reports said. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shareef said, "I personally feel nobody should find fault with Mohan Bhagwat's name being considered for President." His letter came days after the Shiv Sena proposed Bhagwat's name as the next President. Praising the RSS Sar Sangh Chalak, Shareef said, Bhagwat is committed to upholding the constitution of India and . "...there should not be any doubt about his patriotism, love for the people of India, loyalty to the nation and commitment to the Constitution of India and to the democracy." He also recalled that the RSS had supported the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after the Bangladesh war in the 'national interest'. "As a Muslim and a person belonging to minority community of India, I feel that the minorities should not have any fear or crisis of confidence in Mohan Bhagwat's name being considered," the former Railway Minister said. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Benjamin Haber California Republican Representative David Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of Trumps transition team, was supposed to on a bipartisan basis look into whether there was Russian interference in our recent election. Recent exposures of his private conversation with Trump, without first discussing it with the Democratic members of his committee, suggest collusion with the White House and may well have destroyed the credibility of the committee he chairs investigating Russian interference in the election. He is unfit for the job and must be replaced by an independent overseer of the investigation. If House Speaker Paul Ryan fails to order an independent investigation, his legacy will not be that as Speaker of The House of Representatives, but that as Speaker of The House of Ill Repute. Benjamin M. Haber Flushing Beaver County identifies mail-in voters with undated ballots Anyone on the list should visit the Beaver County elections office by 8 p.m. Tuesday to make the necessary corrections. Srinagar, Apr 1 (IBNS): Heavily armed militants attacked an army convoy near Srinagar on Saturday afternoon, leaving two army jawans wounded, Indian army sources said. The incident occurred at the Bemina Bypass. According to reports, suspected militants fired indiscriminately on an army vehicle, which was part of a convoy moving towards Hyperpora on the Pathchowk-Parimpora bypass of Jammu and Kashmir. Our convoy was attacked by militants leaving two army jawans injured who were shifted to hospital for treatment, said an army official told IBNS in Srinagar. The firing created panic among the people who rushed to safety. The traffic on the bypass has been stopped after the attack. Soon after the firing, forces have started door to door searches for the attackers. (Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri) Roland Schmitt, who as head of General Electric's Global Research Center in Niskayuna and later RPI's president, became a national voice in efforts to remake the U.S. into a leader in science and technology in the 1980s and '90s, died Friday night after a long illness. He was 93. Schmitt, who grew up in Texas and earned his Ph.D. in physics from Rice University, began his scientific career in 1951 as a research associate at GE in Schenectady and made the Capital Region home the rest of his life, raising his family in Glenville and Rexford. "For me, when I think of him, I think of his love of learning and his inner intelligence and curiosity," Larry Schmitt, the oldest of Roland Schmitt's four children, told the Times Union. "Basically, he was interested in everything and loved technology and was always poking and probing. He loved to debate and argue. You were always learning and seeking out new things." Along the way, Schmitt developed into a visionary manager and leader, being tapped by GE in 1978 to head what was then called its Research and Development Center, overseeing more than 2,000 scientists. Schmitt is credited with having transformed GE's research operations to better adapt to commercial pressures that forced many companies in the 1970s and 1980s to cut back on research spending and in many cases close labs entirely. Schmitt worked to tie the lab's operations to GE's businesses at a time when corporate research and development was still following the wide-ranging Bell Labs model. But as Schmitt took over GE's research lab, corporate executives, under pressure from international competitors, were having trouble justifying the massive expenses of labs that didn't always produce products they could sell. Schmitt was able to maintain a difficult balancing act that required understanding the transition that was happening in the scientific world, said Joseph Morone, the CEO of Albany International Corp., whose first job out of Yale University was working for Schmitt on national nuclear energy policy issues at GE. "Roland was able to bridge those worlds by keeping the R&D center relevant to the businesses of GE," Morone said. "But at the same time he always kept one foot of the lab in the long-term." By the time he took the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute job in 1988, Schmitt was one of the most respected scientific and business leaders in the world, having served as chair of the National Science Board. Schmitt took his reputation and used it to lift up RPI's reputation as well, said Michael Wacholder, who led the Rensselaer Technology Park, the school's high-tech business park in North Greenbush and spent 35 years at RPI in charge of various programs. "He knew everybody," Wacholder said of Schmitt's business contacts of CEOs and science and political leaders. "He was a great guy to work for, too. He was always there to help you come up with something." Wacholder says when RPI was trying to attract MetLife's national data center to the tech park in 1990, it was Schmitt who sealed the deal with the company by coming along on a walk that Wacholder and the MetLife CEO were taking to a small hill where the data center would be built with a beautiful view of the region. "It was a triumph," Wacholder said. "Roland closed the deal. Roland knew that we needed him." lrulison@timesunion.com 518-454-5504 @larryrulison There are now at least eight co-working spaces in the Capital Region, and each one has a distinct personality and things to offer. Rather than seeing themselves in competition for members, leaders of the spaces said they view themselves as collaborators in a growing movement. "Co-working isn't just renting a desk; it's a way of making connections and growing businesses," said Dorothy Rogers-Bullis, owner of Saratoga CoWorks in Saratoga Springs. Rogers-Bullis, who also owns a commercial furniture company, helped Tom Nardacci furnish the Troy Innovation Garage. Nardacci, in turn, has worked with Jeff Goronkin and Susan Bardack, the owners of the Electric City Innovation Center in Schenectady. For the uninitiated, co-working is when people who might otherwise work from home or in coffee shops rent space either a desk or private office in a commercial space. Members of co-working spaces are as varied as the spaces themselves. Startups often find their first homes in co-working spaces, alongside employees of big companies who telecommute. Spaces can be as bare bones as a few desks in an open room to a space where high-tech tools are available for members, like the 3D printer at the Tech Valley Center of Gravity in Troy. The ideal arrangement, said Nardacci, is to have about half private offices and half open desks. The Albany region was slow to join the trend the first co-working space, Beahive Albany, opened in Albany in 2012, seven years after the country's first co-working space opened in California. Duncan Crary, a communications professional and a member of the Center of Gravity, worked out of his home for years. But he felt uncomfortable asking clients to come to his apartment for meetings. At the Center, he has access to a conference room in addition to his desk space. If he needs quiet time to write, he walks the two blocks back to his apartment. Crary said coming to an office gives him a higher level of what he calls personal-professional hygiene, which means he can leave work at the office instead of feeling like he's always working because his work space is also private space. Rogers-Bullis and her husband, Dan Bullis, started Saratoga CoWorks in 2014 after buying 153 Regent St. in Saratoga Springs, a large, oddly configured building that was built as a YWCA in 1904, then used as the Skidmore College recreation center until the 1960s. It is home to the couple's business, drb Interiors, a yoga studio, and two apartments. "It would have been simpler to rent to one person," said Rogers-Bullis about why she and Bullis launched Saratoga CoWorks. "But we know how scary it is to start a business. When we started in 2009, we leveraged everything. We felt a social responsibility to help people, provide them space at a reasonable price and connect them with people who can help their businesses grow." The Troy Innovation Garage and Saratoga CoWorks are members of Innovate518, a support network designed to help entrepreneurs connect with services and funding. Rogers-Bullis said membership has grown steadily over three years. She has added more private office space, combining co-working with her passion for furnishing offices to accommodate individual working styles. Rates at Saratoga CoWorks start at $25 per day, and monthly memberships range from $250 to $350. Rates elsewhere are similar, and different tiers of services are typical. Amenities range from receptionist services to mail delivery. Essentials like Wi-Fi, kitchen access and a locker are standard, and basic janitorial services are included in the fee. The next frontier for co-working is having space in the buildings where people live, a development already happening elsewhere. The Rosenblum Companies will offer this perk when their mixed-use space at 501 Broadway, Troy, is complete. The building is both a renovation of the former Troy Record building with a new structure attached. There are 101 apartments planned for the space. Jeff Mirel, an executive vice-president at the Rosenblum Companies, said he envisions professionals living in the building who are remote workers who will need in-house "landing space." lhornbeck@timesunion.com 518-454-5352 @leighhornbeck This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany Assemblyman John McDonald noticed "the budget stench" Friday when the Cohoes Democrat arrived at the state Capitol. The smell of unwashed suits, unshowered people, half-eaten pizzas and soggy Chinese food had begun to fill the hallways. But one scent that didn't permeate the air: That of freshly printed budget bills. With the midnight deadline to approve a new state budget before the beginning of the new fiscal year rapidly approaching, the state Assembly and Senate pressed on late into the night, even if they did not have bill language to digest or the ability to quickly vote on a $150 billion-plus spending plan for the new fiscal year. Shortly after 11 p.m., Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan put his thumb and forefinger millimeters apart and said "we're this close." Late numbers coming out included at least $2 billion for water infrastructure, at least $1 billion more for education and setting up a $163 million college affordability plan. "If (Gov. Andrew Cuomo) baked the cake, we're putting on the icing and candles so that everyone will like it," Flanagan, R-Suffolk County, said. At the stroke of midnight, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a statement saying that if no budget agreement is in place by the end of the weekend, he will put forth emergency legislation to extend the current budget. "As April 1 falls on a Saturday this year," Cuomo said, "I have told the Legislature that I will allow them a grace period to continue to work through the weekend to resolve all of these matters at one time. "If the Legislature does not reach agreement at the conclusion of the weekend, then I will put forth emergency legislation to extend the current budget," he added. "Extending the state budget also allows us flexibility to adjust to future federal changes, which if enacted, could cost the state billions. The federal budget comes out on May 21 and we will have more information at that time." Blowing the deadline, which some said had become inevitable and heading into a weekend with little hint on what might come next created some tricky politics and a more than a bit of uncertainty. Late Friday, lawmakers were talking about passing the government operations bill, which would at least ensure that money for running the state on a day-to-day basis would continue. That would also avoid any potential snags with the bimonthly state employee checks which are set to go out starting next week. But the Senate could face a political face-off if they try to pass anything controversial before Saturday night. Sen. Simcha Felder a Brooklyn Democrat who conferences with the Republicans to create a 32-member majority left Albany Friday afternoon to observe Shabbat. Without Felder, the Senate Republicans would need at least one of the eight-member Independent Democratic Conference to cobble together the 32 votes needed to pass bills. That gets trickier when it comes to the effort to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 years old. IDC members said they wouldn't vote for a budget without a Raise the Age deal. Nor were Senate mainline Democrats likely to do so either, given their ongoing battles with Republicans. With Felder, though, Senate Republicans could pass budget bills, with or without Raise the Age. But it remained doubtful that such a budget would get through the Democratic Assembly. With those dynamics in mind, Sen. Patrick Gallivan, an Erie County Republican who has been integral in Raise the Age negotiations said Friday he wasn't sure if the proposal would end up in the budget or whether it should wait until later in the year. "Policy issues should be discussed outside the budget," he said. "But having said that, the governor has put it in his budget, we've been talking about it in a very earnest way. I think it's been very productive. Whether it becomes part of the final budget or not, I don't know at this point." Raise the Age wasn't the only issue that remained sticky, or had grown stickier, depending on who you ask. Funding for and a cap on the number of charter schools was as thorny as renewal of the 421-a tax break for New York City real estate developers, which is linked to moderate income and homeless housing. Others said the governor's plan to offer free tuition for SUNY and CUNY students had run into headwinds from members who have been hearing from private colleges and universities that believe the plan should include them. On a more positive note, expansion of ride-hailing services like Uber or Lyft outside of New York City seemed locked down, according lawmakers, "Someone mentioned in conference it's like a game of Whac-A-Mole," Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Onondaga County, said. "It's the same old issues. The mole's head pops up, you hit it down. Then another mole's head pops up and you hit it down. It's the same issues you've been talking about for the last three weeks. Nothing seems to close, and they're still trying." While leaders and their staffs met in the governor's office on the Capitol's second floor, rank and file legislators on the third floor cooled their heels during most of the day Friday amid conflicting rumors that have come to characterize completion of the budget. The whipsawing was especially severe in the Senate. "See you Sunday,'' Albany-area Democratic Sen. Neil Breslin remarked at about 4:30 p.m. when Senate Democrats said they were leaving until Sunday evening. Shortly after, however, members of the majority Republicans said they weren't leaving town. About three hours later, senators were called back, although there were no expectations that any substantial budget bills would be debated and passed that night. Some of the lawmakers had already gotten in their cars to drive home when the call came further delaying any activity due to travel time. By 9:30 p.m., a scattering of Assembly members were in their seats although it was unclear if or when they would take up any budget bills beyond, perhaps the government operations measure. Shortly after that, Democratic Assemblymen Jeffrion Aubry and Joe Lentol emerged from the governor's office, heading upstairs to discuss the latest proposal on Raise the Age. The wait wasn't without some levity. At one point Staten Island Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis and Queens Democratic Senator Mike Gianaris, who are both of Greek extraction, joked that this probably wasn't what the ancient Greeks had in mind when they were developing the concept of democracy. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518-454-5758 New York A case unfolding in a lower Manhattan courtroom has caused political tremors in Honduras, seeming to confirm long-held suspicions that corruption at the highest levels of government helped turn the Central American country into a violent epicenter of the drug trade at the start of this decade. Fabio Porfirio Lobo, the son of the Honduran president in 2010-2013, is preparing to go before a federal judge for sentencing after pleading guilty to his role in a drug-trafficking ring involving members of Honduras' national police. But it is the details of the conspiracy that emerged in testimony and newly released court documents which have captivated people back home by tying his father and a brother of the current president directly to traffickers. Political and civil society groups have been demanding investigations into the allegations, especially against former President Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo Sosa, who remains a leader in the ruling National Party and is among the wealthiest people in the country, with extensive agricultural land holdings. "This is something that everyone suspected," said Edmundo Orellana, a former attorney general of Honduras. "But what we didn't know was the extent of the involvement with the politicians. This has been a surprise." Most of the new information has come from a surprising source: Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, a once-feared leader of a Honduran trafficking organization known as Los Cachiros. He matter-of-factly admitted taking part in dozens of killings, including the country's former drug czar, as he testified in a largely empty courtroom against the ex-president's son over two days in March. "I caused the death of 78 people," he said at one point. "Together with politicians and drug traffickers." Rivera Maradiaga had a decade-long career as a trafficker based on the Atlantic coast. He described paying at least $500,000 in bribes directly to the elder Lobo, beginning when he was running for the presidency in 2009 following a coup that ousted the former president and threw Honduras into political chaos. Rivera Maradiaga was seeking protection for his business and against extradition to the U.S. Rivera Maradiaga sketched out what became a close working relationship with the younger Lobo during his father's term in office. It allowed him to ship huge quantities of cocaine to the U.S. in coordination with the cartel led by Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. A community blog hosted by timesunion.com falsely reported Saturday morning that Kellyanne Conway, a senior advisor to President Trump, would be the commencement speaker at the University at Albany. As soon as we were alerted to the post, we removed it from our site and suspended the blog. We apologize to anybody who was misled by this post, which was not written by a Times Union staff member. Even on April Fools' Day, there's no place for fake news under the Times Union banner. Rex Smith, editor This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany To many, the bid-rigging scandal that engulfed SUNY Polytechnic Institute last fall signaled the end of an era for nanotechnology research in the Capital Region and the end for many of SUNY Poly's economic development projects across upstate. The scandal, which resulted in the indictments of nine men with close ties to Gov. Andrew Cuomo including former SUNY Poly President Alain Kaloyeros resulted in several SUNY Poly projects from Utica to Buffalo being delayed or canceled. But as the state and federal criminal cases that toppled Kaloyeros and others close to the governor, including his former secretary Joseph Percoco, head toward trial, it appears some of SUNY Poly projects in central New York are coming back with others seemingly on the verge of turning the corner. One of those is the Central New York Film Hub, a $15 million project outside Syracuse that Cuomo and Kaloyeros first announced in March 2014. The $15 million, 52,000-square-foot building in the town of DeWitt, originally called the Central New York Hub for Emerging Nano Industries, has been derided as a waste of taxpayer money. The New York Times called it a "flop" last August in a story that painted a grim picture. "While construction of the film hub was completed last summer, the building sits essentially vacant, and the hub has exactly two employees who work full time..." the story read. "No films made it to the multiplex." The state is trying to find a new operator for the film hub, which was built by COR Development Co., one of the companies that was implicated in the SUNY Poly scandal and Cuomo donors. Those who worked on bringing it to Syracuse say the film hub had several promising projects until state and federal investigations into SUNY Poly and Kaloyeros halted everything. In fact, four feature films were shot in the Syracuse area since the film hub was completed in 2015 by two production companies, the Film House, a startup move studio, and Wing and a Prayer, the studio owned by actor Ron Perlman, star of "Sons of Anarchy," "Hellboy" and "Beauty and the Beast." Although none has been a blockbuster and some are still in production, they brought money and attention to upstate New York. Up until Kaloyeros' arrest last September, Perlman was planning to film as many as six more projects through the end of this year. Warner Brothers had also planned to film several TV pilots at the film hub. "It seems we have been successful in communicating to the film community the virtues of working in central N.Y., and are receiving compelling projects with high-end talent that are set to shoot up there faster than we can handle it all," Perlman wrote SUNY Poly officials last May. "Indeed a very high class problem." The Film House's "American Dresser," a movie about a middle-aged man discovering a lost past on a cross-country motorcycle ride starring Tom Berringer, cost $9 million to produce, according to imdb.com, the online movie database. A $9 million film is well within the sweet spot for movies the region needs to attract to make the film hub viable, Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney said. She has made the facility a focus of her economic development effort and spoke about plans for it in her State of the County address last month. Mahoney has located the county's film office and its commissioner, Eric Vinal, at the film hub. Vinal, Mahoney said, has already attracted $4 million in movie production to the region. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Mahoney said that a $5 million film can generate 160 jobs for six months for carpenters, electricians, wardrobe, camera operators, accountants and caterers. "If we can attract five, just five (movies) and $25 million in budget, then we can support two full-time crews, which is 320 jobs," Mahoney said. Mahoney said that Syracuse University, LeMoyne College and Onondaga Community College all have film programs, but their graduates go to New York City, Los Angeles or Atlanta to get jobs. "We are grateful that the state is helping us to kick-start our film industry," Mahoney said in her State of the County speech. "There are wonderful tax credits, and we just need to get the word out. But the students who graduate (currently) have to go someplace else because we don't have the film industry to support the jobs here. But now, with the sound stage having been built, and the tax credits, we're able to attract projects." The state tax credit for film production is 40 percent in Onondaga County and most upstate counties from Albany County west. In New York City, meanwhile, the film tax credit is 30 percent. The post-production tax credit is 45 percent in Onondaga County. Mahoney is also hopeful about the Soraa project, the LED manufacturing plant that SUNY Poly and Cor Development built next to the film hub in DeWitt. Funding for the Soraa project stopped last year, but Empire State Development was able to get the money flowing again this year. "You'll see people out there putting the finishing touches on, although a lot of the work is being done inside," Mahoney said. "It's going to be a $55 million construction project, and it's going to leverage $1.3 billion in private investment. This is a fantastic project. Four hundred and twenty new jobs at a company that was created by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist." lrulison@timesunion.com 518-454-5504 @larryrulison Guwahati, Apr 1 (IBNS): Opposing Centre's decision to grant citizenship to the Hindu Bangladeshi, All Assam Students Union (AASU) on Saturday warned the both Union and State government that if government granted citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshi then massive protests will be conducted across the state against it. While took out a mass rally in Guwahati by AASU and other 29 ethnic organizations protest against the Centre's decision, AASU advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya said that, there is no room of illegal Bangladeshi nationals both hindu and muslim in Assam. "We had taken huge burden till 1971, and now there is no question raised about taking more burden," Bhattacharya said. "We will never compromise with our decades long demand of detection and deportation of illegal migrants who infiltrated to Assam from Bangladesh after March 24, 1971. If government will not cancel the citizenship amendment bill, we will take action to protect the indigenous people's rights of the state, our culture, language," the AASU leader said. Addressing the mass rally held at historic Latashil ground in presence of thousands of students, indigenous people, leaders of the 29 ethnic organizations, AASU president Dipanka Nath said that, Assam will not bear more burden of illegal Bangladeshi nationals. "The Centre's decision to grant citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshi is against the Assam Accord and we will not allow to do it," the AASU president said. The rally was organised by the students union and supported by All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), Karbi Students Union (KSA), AASA and many other organizations. The students organizations also demanded to take stern action against the culprits, who involved in the local AASU office attack in Silapathar in Dhemaji district. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) [March 31, 2017] QRMart, the Leading Singapore Household Magazine Now Going Online SINGAPORE, April 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- QRMart, one of the top and popular household magazines in Singapore has announced that they will go online. QRMart is now going to open up online directories such that businesses can choose to advertise their products and/or services on the website and thereby gain larger traction. One of the key spokesmen for the company was quoted as saying, "We checked the online market and realized the kind of scope it has. There are so many people who are now falling on to the internet to scour meaningful data. We are looking to be your favorite searching spot for all kinds of services." QRMart has been offering a plethora of different services ranging from magazine advertising to web design, development and more. They are the one stop directory for anyone looking to find the best local services. Such is their popularity that most people in Singapore make it a point to check out this magazine as soon as each new edition is out. Being the Singapore leading household magazine, QRMart always aspires to bring the best of information and details to its readers. Even with the website, they aim to offer accurate information. Users have the option of surfing the categories which they deem appropriate and they can then check out the different options at hand. Both readers and business owners can benefit from this association as it allows the readers to find the right connecting points and business owners can get the right target base which they have been looking for. No doubt, QRMart has a lot of other future plans of expansion. After having successfully ventured in many areas and emerged successfully in it, readers and business owners are hopeful that this will also turn out to be successful. Those who want to check out more details of the magazine can visit https://QRMart.com.sg and find related information. About QRMart QRMart is a leading household offline magazine in Singapore which is widely read by people. The company also offers services like web development, web design, and magazine advertisement as well. They are looking to further expand work in other areas too. Find out more about QRMart at https://QRMart.com.sg. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 01, 2017] Hawke Media Gets 'Back to Nature,' Relocates to Utah EDEN, Utah, April 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Welcome to Utah! Hawke Media is pleased to announce they will be relocating their office from Santa Monica, Calif., to Eden, Utah, effective Mon., April 3, 2017. The relocation is a strategic move mostly motivated by finances because, let's be honest, rent costs a "f#$%ing lot" in Santa Monica, said Tony Delmercado, chief operating officer at Hawke Media. "We've been paying, like, a bajillion dollars for rent and for what? So we can listen to cars honking on the 10 every day?" Delmercado said. "This move will save us a TON of money and also allow our staff to get back to nature and get those creative juices flowing." Hawke Media purchased a 5.5-acre lot in Eden for only $450,000. Until their new office space is built, the team will be working out of RVs. Aspart of the relocation and "get back to nature" plan, Hawke Media, a digital marketing agency that launches and grows businesses of all sizes, will also be abandoning all digital efforts and instead going a more traditional route. "I was really inspired by the landscape and mountains around Utah and wanted Hawke Media to begin embracing that 'back to nature' feel with our marketing efforts," said Erik Huberman, chief executive officer at Hawke Media. "We're going to start taking a more 'retro' approach by focusing our efforts on fireside radio chats, special newspaper inserts, phonebook advertisements, branded Rolodexes, and more. To learn more about Hawke Media, or to save 20 percent on your next fireside radio chat, please send a handwritten letter to: Hawke Media, 123 Campstool Road, Eden, Utah 84310. About Hawke Media: Our month-to-month, a-la-carte model allows us to create tailor-made solutions to your everyday problems. We can manage individual channels or provide a robust suite of services. Our ninja-like marketing gurus are well-versed in email marketing, Facebook advertising, SEM, paid acquisition, design, influencer marketing, media buying, affiliate marketing, and much, much more. P.S. This is also an April Fool's Joke! =) Contact: Samantha Cossick, 310-451-7295 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hawke-media-gets-back-to-nature-relocates-to-utah-300433038.html SOURCE Hawke Media Election day information: voting times, polling centers and races Residents will have their final chance to cast votes in local races on Nov. 8, including seats on both the NLCS and MCS boards and Sheriff. New Delhi, Apr 1 (IBNS): In a major development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday launched its crackdown on shell companies as it is conducting nationwide searches across 100 locations. The ED has targeted 300 shell companies. According to media reports, raids are conduicted in multiple location whicch include cities like Delhi, Chennai, Chandigarh, Patna and Ranchi. As per the CNN-News 18 report, the action is part of the mandate given to the ED under a Special Task Force (STF) that was recently created by the government on the directions of the Prime Ministers Office (PMO). New York, Apr 1 (Just Earth News): An imprisoned Eritrean-Swedish journalist who was arrested in a crackdown on the media in September 2001 and was known for his critical and insightful reporting has won a prestigious United Nations prize dedicated to promoting press freedom. An independent international jury of media professionals recommended unanimously Dawit Isaak in recognition of his courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression for the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2017, said the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) in a press release earlier this week. Defending fundamental freedoms calls for determination and courage it calls for fearless advocates, said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova on the selection of Isaak, who was last heard from in 2005 and whose present location is unknown. Some have given their lives in the pursuit of truth. Many have been imprisoned, emphasized Cilla Benko, President of the Prize's 2017 jury. According to Benko, Isaak has spent nearly 16 years in jail, without charge or trial. I sincerely hope that with this award the world will say, 'Free Dawit Isaak Now.' A playwright, journalist and writer, Isaak moved in 1987 to Sweden, where he later became a citizen and went into self-imposed exile. After the independence of Eritrea, he returned to his homeland to become one of the founders and reporters of Setit, the first independent newspaper in the country. He was known for his critical and insightful reporting. UNESCO noted that Isaak joins a long list of courageous journalists who have persevered to shed light in the dark spaces; keeping their communities informed against all odds. The $25,000 Prize is named in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogota, on 17 December 1986. It is funded by the Cano Foundation (Colombia) and the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation (Finland). Photo: Kalle Ahlsen Source: www.justearthnews.com garnered Kansas City fair wage fighters are in constant contact and also comprise the ranks of Question 5 weed supporters and Question 4 inner-city development proponents . . . Mayor Sly's record of betrayal on the recent minimum wage increase that's near & dear to the hearts of many urban core denizens has, in fact, become a talking point against GO BOND Questions 1, 2 & 3. (and definitely not the Northland) In a low turnout election Mayor Sly has recently angered some of the most dedicated voting blocs in Kansas City.Clueless suburbanites and outsiders mistakenly think that all minorities and residents of the inner-city vote the same way but that's not always correct.Remember . . .Mayor Sly promised to vote for a minimum wage increase during his campaign for Mayor and when there was very little likelihood that the measure would survive Missouri courts or the Legislature.Everyone was surprised thatLocally, there was a scaled down minimum wage increase thatthe support of "fair wage" advocates andMoreover, in this upcoming election . . . Mayor Sly has voiced his opposition against Question 4 despite an endorsement of every African-American council member.Like it or not, a coalition of clergy and political groups have expressed their support for this proposal and it's the only thing of interest on the ballot for a great many inner-city denizens.Here's the reality . . .And so . . . The reality is that, if a survey of inner-city political, church and community groups is any indication, GO BONDS don't seem to have much support amid the urban core or the East Sidedespite so many optimistic polls. Tragically, this fact of life is almost completely related Mayor Sly's inability to connect with anybody but lawyers, consultants and middle-class white ladies during the course of his tenure.Developing . . . Powerful Sign Of Support For Injured Independence, MO Police Officer Tracy Thomas Rage Against GO BONDS Council Coalition For More Taxes!!! KCMO Discourse Or Lack Thereof . . . Brent Toellner & Kansas City Doggie Style hotness powers tonight's glimpse of local players and people who areamid the local discourse and upcoming election. Take a look:Officerhas the love of the entire metro after being shot in the head during a home invasion call. His sacrifice and commitment to his job protecting people along with the public response should be an inspiration to both police and community about where neighborhood priorities stand.One of our favorite bloggers isin no uncertain terms.We hear it was hard work getting this group together but in the end,worth documenting.There wasdespite the best efforts of local Conservatives.Kansas City doggie lovers have been guided by this advocate andAnd so . . .As always, this list has been compiled according toand it's a weekly comprehensive guide to local powerful people. TKC BREAKING NEWS!!! CELEBRATE THE WHITE PRIVILEGE CONFERENCE COMING SOON TO KANSAS CITY!!! Organizing. Strategizing. Taking-Action. Deconstructing the Culture of White Supremacy and Privilege: Creating Peace, Equity and Opportunity in the Heartland. Kansas City, Missouri Thursday, April 27 Sunday, April 30, 2017 Reach Healthcare Foundation The Jackson County Community Mental Health Fund Avila University Children's Mercy Kansas City In our ongoing search for the Kansas City scoop andbefore any mainstream media outlet will dare report the facts . . . Special thanks to locals who informed us about an upcoming teaching moment that might resonate amid a decidedly divisive epoch in our nation's discourse.To wit . . .Here's all the relevant information, a quick look at their agenda and link to further reading along with date and time info:It's interesting to see some local organizations listed as "stakeholders" and "partners" or having an "understanding" with the event including but not limited to:Insiders inform us that Kansas City won this national conference thanks to the effort of a former power player atwho now works with one of the sponsors.On the even brighter side, it's nice that these folks will count as visitors among Kansas City's alleged 24 million annual tourists.As always, we advise our blog community to have fun with this upcoming Springtime celebration of multiculturalism and diversity that may or may not be a distraction away from the advocacy of some really good people who work every day to foster a more equitable community forresidents of Kansas City. One denizen of our blog community noted: "Awareness of privilege happens every day. Being in service to our privilege is opposite of what I do." And for most people that's the case given that the overwhelming majority of tension that Americans feel isn't racial animosity but actually related toAnd so, we look forward to this event and what these folks have to teach us.Here's how to enter our TKC giveaway . . .E-mail TKC three forms of your valid ID along with the keys to your car, a picture of your wife, her favorite movie and restaurant choice along withto enter our drawing. And I'm sure we'll be able to get those tickets to our biggest fans right away.Developing . . . "Russian House of Kansas City (Russian Cultural Association, Inc.) is a non-profit and non-political organization that is dedicated to promote and celebrate Russian culture. We are involved in activities that preserve and enhance the friendly knowledge of our heritage and language through education and cultural arts. We welcome everybody with shared interests." Tell them TKC sent you!!! The Hill: Trump tells NBC to stop covering Russia story Here's a really nice Kansas City organization worth checking out for those dedicated to celebrating our diverse community . . .Even better . . .This morning, we invite our blog community readers toof the KC Russian House . . . All that's required is one of thestickers for admittance.Further Reading: Diplomatic efforts are being intensified ahead of the social dinner between President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci in hopes of breaking the ice around Cyprus talks that have been frozen for approximately two months. The dinner will be held at 7:30pm on Sunday at Ledra Palace in the Nicosia buffer zone and will be attended by Anastasiades, Akinci, the two top negotiators Andreas Mavroyiannis and Ozdil Nami, as well as, the UN Secretary Generals Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide and the UNs Adviser Elizabeth Spehar. Talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot side stalled in mid-February, when Akinci walked out of negotiations, following a vote by the parliament to refer to a 1950 referendum on union with Greece in schools. On Friday, Eide will meet with both Mavroyiannis and Nami separately. Yesterday, the UN envoy met with Russias Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov, who is visiting Cyprus, and later Eide met with UK Director General of Defence and Intelligence at the Foreign Office Jonathan Allen. Allen also met with government spokesperson Nikos Christodoulides, Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis, and the Turkish Cypriot leader. ANASTASIADES CONTACTS On Friday, President Anastasiades met with Meshkov to discuss the restart of negotiations, and bilateral relations between Cyprus and Russia, as well as, regional and international issues. According to diplomatic sources, the main hope of the international community is for the dinner to be held and for the leaders to show their commitment as to whether or not they want negotiations to continue. Yesterday on the side-lines of a European Peoples Party (EPP) conference, the President told CNBC that he hoped Sundays dinner would present the opportunity to restart talks. He added that there has been a hardening in the stance of Turkey over the last few months and a withdrawal from convergences that had been reached. The President also noted that Cyprus does not need guarantees, and that the island will not become the protectorate of any other country. 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 Six people were injured in front of the Turkish Embassy in Brussels during violent clashes between pro and anti-Erdogan supporters. The incident comes a day after three Kurdish people were stabbed by pro-Erdigan supporters in Brussels during the voting procedures of the referendum, which will decide whether Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will gain more executive power. Two of those injured were taken to hospital for treatments, while Belgian police arrested 5 men between the ages of 30 and 47, according to a statement released by Belgian justice, with four of them awaiting to face a court hearing. The skirmishes broke out Thursday evening outside the Embassy building when a crowd of 150-200 people started throwing shards of cement at parked cars. Belgian police only managed to restore order after many hours. Belgian citizens of Turkish descent are casting their ballots at the cities of Antwerp and Brussels between March 27 and April 9 for the Turkish referendum to be held on April 16. Belgian PM Charles Michel condemned the clashes in a tweet promising to clamp down on similar violent incidents. According to Navbel, an organisation representing the Kurdish community in Belgium, the fights erupted when a group of 4 Belgians of Turkish descent attacked Kurdish voters. 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 Space explorer Stamatis Krimigis is the man of NASA's unmanned space mission - Voyager 1 and 2, and New Horizon - that travelled for the first time to Pluto. Krimizis will describe the fascinating voyage of the space explorations that started 52 years ago from Mars in a special event on Friday at the Athens Science Festival hosted in Technopolis with media sponsor the Athens Macedonian News Agency. Krimizis spoke to ANA for Pluton, but also for a possible settlement on Mars, science fiction movies and the extraterrestrial life. "We are now one billion km away, towards the furthest part of our solar system. What we wanted to see is whether it has the characteristics of a planet. We found an extraordinary geology, something we had not predicted," said Krimigis to ANA. Asked if Pluton is friendlier than Mars, Krimigis said emphatically no. Taking into consideration only the distance, 5 bln klm part us from Pluto, while Mars is in our neighbourhood. Mars, Venus and Mercury are the so-called earthlike planets because in a way they are similar to Earth but all three of them are not inhabitable. They are no good for vacation. On the other hand, the outer space planets are so far away that today seems uncoceivable for the man to reach them in the next 500 years, unless the science changes radically. -Is it possible to discover, for instance, something that will make us spectacularly reduce the distances? Is it possible to discover other laws of Physics that there are more dimensions that nobody has explored yet dominated by other laws of Physics based on quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of relativity ? -Maybe yes, maybe no, said Krimigis and explained "we should not forget that the laws of Physics applied in our solar system also exist in other systems. We have not found any indication that gives us a different picture. In other words we have a very objective knowledge on how the laws of Physics are applied in our galaxy and in space. This does not rule out the possibility of something different and new but, personally I do not see a spectacular leap, besides in the sector of technology, in the next 100 years. Is the settlement on Mars a possibility? What is close is a spacecraft to land on Mars in the next 30 years. However, settlement is a totally different thing. It means you have to tranfer 2,000 people to the planet and they must find a way to produce food, fuel and whatever they need for their survival, it is not so easy. Mars does not have a magnetic field as Earth does which protect us from the cosmic radiation and the solar flares so the settlement should be formed underground. -Do you consider the science fiction movies funny? Scientifically, the last science fiction movies are very serious. For example the movie "Gravity", its subject is totally realistic. -Some people wonder if aliens have been found and your are hiding it from us. All these things are nonsense. How can we hide something when thousands of people are aware of it. Some people say for instance that the Americans did not land on the moon. When you have 25,000 people participating in a programme is it possible that they are all part of a conspiracy? Anyway, to return to the point of the question, until today we don't have the slightest indication for the existence of extraterrestrial life. Photo Source: vimeo 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 Chinese archaeologists have confirmed its many pieces date from between 1368 and 1644 AD For centuries it was just a legend, that a vast trove of treasure had spilt into Chinas Minjiang River as a battle raged upon its banks. Turns out, it was true. More than 10,000 individual items of gold and silver have been recovered from the bottom of the river as it winds its way through Sichuan Province. Chinese archaeologists have confirmed its many pieces date from between 1368 and 1644AD. This places it squarely in the scope of the tale of how the leader of a Chinese peasant uprising lost his hoard when ambushed while attempting to move it south aboard 100 boats. For centuries, it was just a story. A rumour. The objects uncovered are the most direct and compelling evidence to identify the area where the battle was fought, Wang Wei, a Chinese archaeologist, told t he state-run Xinhua news agency . The trove was found at the intersection of the Minjiang and Jinjiang rivers, some 50km south of the capital of Sichuan, Chengdu. It was 2005 when the first indications that the site may have significance emerged. Construction workers pulled seven silver bullion ingots from the gravel of the river bank. The site was declared a protected area in 2010, though Xinhua reports treasure hunters have repeatedly raided the site. Excavation efforts involved draining a 10,000 square meter section of the river using pumps and retaining walls. Large quantities of gold, silver and bronze were uncovered in the form of coins, jewellery and weapons. Many pieces remain in good condition, the archaeologists report, with inscriptions on several gold and silver utensils still clear to read. Archaeologists say they expect to continue digging at the site until April. Source: news.co.au 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 Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF), the largest multilateral development initiative in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), has approved $243 million for anti-poverty projects in eight OIC (Organization for Islamic Cooperation) countries. LLF, which has released $2.5 billion in finance over five years, has representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, and the Islamic Development Bank. The countries to benefit from these rojects are Tajikistan, Sudan, Djibouti, Niger, Mauritania, Cameroon, Uganda, and Guinea. The financing will be made for key sectors of health, agriculture, and rural infrastructure development projects in eight member countries. Maher Al Hadhrawi, the assistant supervisor general for Operations and Programs at KS Relief, and chair of the LLF for its first year of operations, said: "The second meeting of the LLF Impact Committee marks an important milestone in the funds progress. We successfully launched the first project - a malaria prevention and control project in partnership with the Government of Senegal in March." "We are here today to prioritize more projects that will have the biggest impact across the Muslim world and lift the poorest people out of poverty," he noted. Over the next five years, the LLF will make $2.5 billion available for anti-poverty projects in health, agriculture and rural infrastructure in Islamic Development Bank member countries. "A total of $363 million has been approved for the Funds first operational year, and all the donors are working closely together to ensure that it is allocated most effectively," he added. Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari, the director general of QFFD, said: "The Lives and Livelihoods Fund is the first multilateral partnership of its kind in this region, and demonstrates the benefit of partnering with other donor organizations and regional governments." "By pooling our resources together, and combining grants with finance from the Islamic Development Bank, we are able to increase our impact and ultimately save more lives. At Qatar Fund for Development, we are proud to contribute to an initiative that is going to have such a massive impact on the lives of millions of people across the Islamic world," he added. Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, the director general of ADFD, said the meeting demonstrates that the Fund is making steady progress in improving peoples live across the developing world. "Our contribution to the Fund articulates the development agenda pursued by the UAE Government that aims to promote inclusive social and economic development through working with our partners from other development agencies to ensure the effectiveness of our aid programs. We are proud to be a founding member of the largest multilateral development initiative in the Middle East and look forward to devoting all our resources and expertise to ensuring improved livelihoods for the people of developing countries," he added. Dr Waleed Alwohaib, the director general, ISFD, said: "Through the grant contributions of the LLF, our aim is to protect communities from the risk of preventable diseases, improving reproductive, maternal and child health, increasing access to sanitation and primary healthcare, and supporting rural development, we are empowering some of the poorest people in the world, and giving them the chance to live healthy and productive lives. Dr Bandar Hajjar, the president of the IsDB, said: "The LLF is now making progress in its mission to help the poorest people in the Muslim world live healthier, more productive lives through investments in health, agriculture, and rural infrastructure." Hassan Al Damluji, the head of Middle East Relations for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said: "Of the more than one billion people in the world facing extreme poverty, 400 million are living in the Islamic Development Banks member countries." "These countries urgently need access to finance for development projects that eradicate disease, provide basic healthcare, and invest in agriculture and critical infrastructure. The LLF was only established in late 2016, but already it is filling this gap by supporting projects that will enable people to lift themselves out of poverty," he added.-TradeArabia News Service New York, Apr 1 (Just Earth News): Welcoming the Somali Federal Parliamentas approval of a new cabinet, the United Nations envoy for the country expressed hope that the new Government will be able to address the challenges confronting the Horn of Africa nation. The Parliamentary approval was a bright green light, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Michael Keating, said on Friday in a news release. He noted that with a healthy mix of experienced leaders and relative newcomers to the political stage, the new cabinet will make a vital contribution to the efforts of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo and Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire. In a recent statement, the Prime Minister had highlighted the need to eradicate poverty, build up Somalias security services to combat the scourge of terrorism, and expedite the constitutional review process that will lay the foundations for the holding of one-person, one-vote elections in 2020. For his part, Keating added that 27-Minister cabinet includes six women, the largest number of female ministers ever to be named to a Federal Government cabinet is a positive step towards empowering Somali women in the political affairs of the country. The United Nations and international partners look forward to working closely and fruitfully with the President, the Prime Minister and the new cabinet as they tackle the many political, economic, security and humanitarian tasks facing Somalia on Friday, he said. Photo: UNSOM Source: www.justearthnews.com The locations we see in Disney animated movies are works of the imagination, but they were all highly inspired from real life places, buildings, and yes, even castles. So, even artists and animators copy from beautiful, worldly locations. Here are five of them drawn from the four corners of the world. Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany. This castle influenced so much of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty's castle. Yes, they're one and the same. The animators have used Neuschwanstein as their reference in making the two princes future homes. Disney's opening theme and Disneyland's iconic palace mean to have their castles based here as well. Agra, India. Agrabah from Aladdin came from Agra of India (get the name?). Not only Disney was inspired to copy the Taj Mahal for the sultan's palace, but they even called the place almost identical to India's city. If you can look at the domes of the Agrabah's palace, it's actually similar to Taj Mahal. Alsace, France. Belle's small provincial town was inspired from the village square in Alsace. Remember that Beauty and the Beast is also set in France during the French Revolution? Yes. Also, Alsace's exteriors are really similar to the animated film. The cobbled streets are still there too. Travel and Leisure adds that the Beast's castle is a rendition to the Chateau de Chambord, a 16th-century royal hunting lodge in Loir-et-Cher. Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy, France. Bored Panda wrote that Rapunzel's kingdom, Corona, was based on the island of Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy. "This unique island commune is periodically cut off from the mainland by tidal waters. This made it an easily defensible position that was ideal for a fortified cloister." Chateau de Chillon, Lake Geneva, Switzerland. The old chateau was an inspiration for Prince Eric's castle when Ariel set foot on the shores. Chateau de Chillon was built during the Roman period as a fortress to guard routes going to the Alps. The stone walls in the water make it an ideal place for princes to look over the lake in search for mermaids. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 First it was the United States that banned laptops and other gadgets such as iPads and tablets on cabin flights from terror hot spots in Middle East and North Africa. UK followed shortly with the new regulations and proceeded with an immediate implementation. However, some European countries are refusing to adopt the security plan which can foil the initiative of US and UK. The dramatic move of US was put into motion following the attempt of the terrorist group, Islamist al-Shabaab to bring down a Somalian jet using a laptop bomb. The intelligence reports mentioned that an affiliate of al-Qaeda was working on a method to hide highly explosive materials inside battery compartments of electronic devices. They believed that the technique is nearly perfected and an attack may be carried out by the terrorist any moment. According to RT, some European countries are not going to adopt new safety regulations as they have not received enough information from the authorities of US and UK. "Our picture is not yet complete. French and Dutch officials also said they were reviewing procedures, but have so far decided not to move ahead with any new rules," said Johannes Dimroth, German Interior Ministry spokesman. The US and UK governments mentioned that the new procedure was for the imminent terror concerns on aviation but they refused to provide other details. The refusal of some European countries may pose a big problem to the security measures that the US and UK are currently implementing. Terrorists may use the loopholes created by their refusal of the security measures. UK's ban is currently effective only on flights from Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia as reported by Daily Mail. If an insurgent enters the UK from a European country, there will be no one to stop him which means that their efforts will all be in vain. The banned devices include gadgets that have dimensions of 3.6 inches by 6.3 inches by 0.6 inches. This means that most of laptop models will be banned together with some tablet units such as iPad Mini 4, iPad Pro, Kindle E-reader and more. Meanwhile, most smartphones are off from the ban. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 With its rich cultural heritage - from temples, cherry blossoms, delightful food scene, parks and to some of the most significant world historical sites - Japan is definitely one of the top tourist destinations not only in Asia but in the whole wide world. Stepping foot into this amazing country will definitely give a unique experience you will ever have in your life. Here are some of the things that you must not miss when traveling to Japan. Ride the bullet train. The best way to explore the beauty of Japan is through long and slow walks. However, a travel to Japan will never be complete without you trying the country's high-speed trains. With a maximum operating speed of 320 kilometers per hour, the Shinkansen in Japan will take you to places between Tokyo and Kyoto in just a matter of two hours. According to The Huffington Post, tourists can also go on Mt. Fuji and Hakone day trip through this bullet train. Shop in the Tsukiji Market. Tsukiji is not just your typical market where you can find stalls selling meat, vegetables, and fruits. The Tsukiji Market has some insane trade of seafood with over 2,000 tons of different species per day. Here you can find the auction of the freshest catches such as the Bluefin tuna that weighs up to 300kg. per piece. There are also some stalls that sell tempura, octopus, and other delicacies straight from the ocean. Attend a Haru Cooking Class. Japan's food culture is widely celebrated all over the world. But one of the best ways to enjoy them is through learning how these delicacies were made and personally try on how to make them. According to Travel Pulse, each Haru Cooking Class, which is composed of a maximum of six participants, is handled by Taro Saeki. Participants can learn the authentic Japanese-cooking techniques as well as the history of the country's significant gastronomic delights. Take a tour at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum commemorates the August 1945 atomic bombing by the United States straight to Nagasaki, Japan. Near the museum, you can find the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims which was built in 2003. The museum plays a significant role in remembering the destruction of the city through nuclear arms, as well as the countless stories of relief efforts that helped rebuild Nagasaki. Visit the Japanese temples. There are literally thousands of temples that can be found in Japan. This is where the Japanese people practice and worship Japanese Buddhism. The Japanese temples are often considered as among the top sightseeing spots for travelers because of the calmness and sacredness these temples offer. Just remember to practice the proper etiquettes when visiting one of these sanctified temples. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Disney's most beloved films had inspired people to travel more, especially when they realized that the animated locations were actually copied from real-life locations, as Travelers Today previously reported. In fact, Disney invites people all over the world to experience their "magic" not only in Disneyland but to these actual destinations itself, albeit unconsciously. The cartoon-making giant wants people to keep the magic real. Magic may be called as science in the real world, but science says people want to visit these iconic destinations found in the movies because they want to feel what it is like in the films. It made people wonder: Does Merida from "Brave" felt like as you do when you venture or ride horses in the Scottish glen? How do you think the Mardi Gras from "The Princess and the Frog" was like? Do beignets look like that in real life? The destination itself wanted us to travel. It's tourism on the part of the establishments and countries featured in the film. The Paradise Falls from the movie "Up" is based from Angel Falls of Venezuela, which is considered as the highest waterfall in the world. Smarter Travel wrote that the falls is one of the country's top tourist attractions, and it would take travelers a half-day trip to go there. But in the words of Ellie, the main protagonist's late wife, "Adventure is out there!" Disney gets you to travel and join a cause. "Finding Nemo" and "Finding Dory" have spiked consumerism of the fish species, and many people wanted to grab one for themselves. It caused a global problem because these fish were taken from their ecosystem to be placed in aquariums only to just die at the hands of people who don't know how to take care of them. Alternatively, many activists and organizations call on people to observe the fish in the reef where they belong through different conservation programs, thus jacking up the touristy, coastal spots again. For example, a friendly snorkel in Australia's Great Barrier Reef is one great way to learn about the species, USA Today reported. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Is the world ever safe for women out there to travel alone? We've heard of unfortunate incidents that happened to our ladies when they go alone. Why is traveling for women different from the men? We might not get to answer that, but here are five countries that are relatively safe for girls who want to do some solo traveling. Singapore. The most expensive country in the world happens to be the one with the lowest rate in crime index and malice toward women. According to Tripoto, about 98 percent of their readers feel safe when traveling to the lion country. In fact, Travelers Today can say that people in the country there are eager to help you out. From medics to law enforcement officers, to librarians and cafe baristas, they would offer help when a woman is in danger. True story. Netherlands. The country held its rules and laws on the ground that its citizens follow them indeed. Now, the state is closing about six to eight jails because of the low crime rate in the nation. The Dutch has been keen on keeping their eyes on any offenses that people are either too scared in doing them or stopped doing them because it's not the thing to do anymore. By 2021, Netherlands have predicted that 3,000 jails and 300 youth detention facilities would become quite unnecessary, per Fast Company. Ireland. Women have voiced out that the Irish welcome them with a comfortable vibe. Even the pubs are safe, easy and relaxing for ladies who would want a drink or two. The country suggests on having a trip to the glen or hills to feel cozy with the nation's warm, inviting manner. Denmark. The Danish nation is one of the safest places in the world for women who wanted to go solo traveling. The country upholds gender equality and doesn't tolerate harassment and discrimination. So, women travelers can get to savor the nightlife, shopping, and wandering around the city with little worries, reported by Trek Effect. Georgia. One can never say there's no crime but only lower crime rates. Georgia might have those petty misconducts, but many women reported that it's safe while walking down the streets of the country never feeling doubtful or unsafe. About 90 percent of Tripoto readers have confirmed this statement. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Intense floods and raging downpours have been tormenting Peru the past couple of weeks. Because of this, several districts have already declared a state of emergency and over $3 billion in damage have been recorded. The country's intense weather is also causing some archaeological sites heavy damage, according to a Peruvian archaeologist. Over 50 archaeological sites are now in danger of being totally destroyed which will result in the fall of tourism that thrives on it, Reuters reported. Dozens of people have died as a result of the extreme floods, and over 100,000 citizens have been displaced. Experts think that this phenomenon is called "coastal El Nino", something Peru hasn't experienced since 1925. Veronika Mendoza, the leader of the New Peru movement, said in a statement (via The Guardian), "We know the 'coastal El Nino' comes from time to time. We know we are a country that is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. We should have prepared ourselves better." About 20 pyramids in Balta Grande are now under "imminent threat" because of the heavy floods in Lambayeque, Travel Pulse reported. Walter Alva, a Peruvian archaeologist and explorer, told Reuters that the result of the torrential downpour is disturbing. If not paid attention, dozens of age-old pyramids and other historical archaeological sites in Peru will be wiped off the map forever. "All of the main historic monuments are being impacted by the erosion they're suffering from because of the rains and overflowing rivers," he said. In 1987, Alva led the discovery of the tomb of "Lord of Sipan" of Peru. Sites that date for more than 1,500. B.C. have been populating Peru's geographical landscape and have been a surging source of tourism for many years. The flood caused by the bad weather, according to experts, is one of the results of global warming, a problem our planet is experiencing today. The damages have mostly afflicted the northern parts of Peru. Some areas are not affected by the flood and business is still going smoothly as usual. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 New York, Mar 31 (Just Earth News): The Security Council on Friday extended the mandate of the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for another year but reduced the number of troops. In a resolution unanimously adopted, the 15-member body decided to keep the UN Organization Stabilization Mission (MONUSCO) until 31 March 2018, but approved 16,215 military personnel, 660 military observers and staff officers, 391 police personnel, and 1,050 personnel of formed police units. In a previous mandate extension, the Council approved 19,815 military personnel, 760 military observers and staff officers, 391 police personnel, and 1,050 personnel of formed police units. The Council also decided that the strategic priorities of MONUSCO are to contribute to the protection of civilians and support the implementation of the 31 December 2016 agreement on the electoral process. In that regard, the Council called on the Government of the DRC and its national partners, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), to ensure a transparent and credible electoral process, in fulfilment of their primary responsibility to create propitious conditions for the forthcoming elections. The Council tasked the Mission, with, among other responsibilities, ensuring effective and dynamic protection of civilians under threat of physical violence, including by preventing, deterring, and stopping all armed groups and local militias from inflicting violence on the populations. The Secretary-General was requested to take the necessary measures to ensure full compliance of MONUSCO with the United Nations zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse and to keep the Council fully informed through his reports to the Council about the Missions progress in this regard. It also urged troop- and police-contributing countries to take appropriate preventative action including pre-deployment awareness training, and to ensure full accountability in cases of such conduct involving their personnel. Photo: MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti Source: www.justearthnews.com New York, Apr 1(Just Earth News): Ahead of World Autism Awareness Day, the United Nations on Friday called for recognizing the rights of people with the spectrum neurological condition, which is believed to affect 70 million people around the world. Let us ensure that we make available the necessary accommodations and support to persons with autism, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his message for the Day. With access to the support they need and choose, they will be empowered to face the key milestones in every persons life, he added, making decisions such as where and with whom to live, what type of work to pursue and how to manage their personal finances. One in 160 children has an autism spectrum disorder, according to estimates by the UN World Health Organization (WHO). Around the world, one per cent of the entire population possibly two per cent is on the spectrum. In a special event in New York ahead of the Day, marked annually on 2 April, the UN and the international community gathered to renew their commitment to raising awareness about autism and the need for people with the disorder to have equal opportunity and full participation in society on equal basis with other citizens. Cristina Gallach, the Under-Secretary-General for Public Information, which co-organized the event along with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said in her opening remarks that to achieve an inclusive society, we must ensure that the fundamental rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are known and respected. The Convention entered into force in 2008, to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by people with disabilities, and to promote their dignity. In his statement, the President of the General Assembly, Peter Thomson said that awareness events, such as the one being held on Friday, are important to helping people and their families lead more enjoyable lives. A lack of understanding of the causes, symptoms and effects of autism has in many cases led to a proliferation of misinformation, anxiety and confusion, Thomson said in a statement delivered by Masud Bin Momen, Assembly Vice-President. He called for early intervention programmes, health programmes and support services to ensure that people with autism can access education, training and jobs. So that ultimately autism does not define them, Thomson said, and they are seen as who they are, people with ideas, capacities and contributions to make. Autism is mainly characterized by its unique social interactions, non-standard ways of learning, keen interests in specific subjects, inclination to routines, challenges in typical communications and particular ways of processing sensory information. The stigmatization and discrimination associated with neurological differences remain substantial obstacles to diagnosis and therapies. We are failing to protect the rights of people with autism Keynote address Autonomy and self-determination for people with autism cannot be separated from a discussion of their human rights, said Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Center at the University of Cambridge, in his keynote address. Having studied autism for decades, Dr. Baron-Cohen said that many people on the spectrum have excellent attention to detail and the ability to spot patterns, for example, but need safeguarding because they trust peoples words as facts and have a hard time fitting in socially. Referencing statistics, such as that half of people with autism are too afraid to leave their homes for fear that they will be taken advantage of, Dr. Baron-Cohen chided the international community. On the first human right, the right to dignity, as civilized nations, we are failing to protect the rights of people with autism. He defined autism as an example of neurodiversity, saying that differently wired brains lead to different profiles of strengths and challenges, and should not be judges as better or worse. Theyre just different. People with autism are asking for acceptance and respect. Photo: UNICEF Source: www.justearthnews.com Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune news service Chandigarh, April 1 A majority of hotels and restaurants wore a deserted look today after they stopped serving liquor to customers following the order of the Supreme Court, which banned sale of liquor within 500 meters from the national and state highways. The order came as a big blow to the hotel industry, as approximately 88 hotels situated on the National Highway 21 and the state highway Madhya Marg in the city were affected by the decision. The outlets which were worst hit are situated in Sectors 26, 7, 8, 9, 35, 43 and some parts of the Industrial Area. Arvinder Pal Singh, president of the Chandigarh Hotel and Restaurant Association, said that approximately 5,000 workers would lose their jobs as the owners were uncertain about the future. He said the industry would incur a total loss of nearly Rs 20 crores per month. While Sector 35 had been a popular place for restaurants, clubs, party-zones and other eateries for over three decades, Sector 26 had emerged as one of the popular destinations for high-end restaurants, night clubs, pubs and other eating joints. Night clubs, discoquothes, microbreweries and other joints were a hot favourite among youngsters in Sector 26. Some of the owners of the outlets said their business had been ruined overnight as they invested crores of rupees in renovating the bars and hiring several people. Ankit Gupta, president, Chandigarh Hospitality Association, said the owners would have to retrench staff as it would become difficult to sustain them, without bars, in the business. We have not got customers for the last two days. The tables are lying vacant despite being a weekend. said an owner of one of the restaurants in Sector 26. He said that a majority of their customers come for good quality food and liquor, but now they are going to other places where they can get both things. Capt (retd) Mohanbir Singh, whose family was in food business for more than 40 years, said who would invest in the business if the laws are changed on day-to-day basis. There is no consistency in the policy of the government. Baldev Aagrwal, owner of Sip and Dine in Sector 7, said many owners invested a lot of money in the bars, but now, all that had been ruined. Houston, March 31 Two prominent Indian-American doctors here facing deportation as their travel documents had expired have got a last-minute reprieve on humanitarian grounds, in an unusual act of grace by US authorities who seem to be bent on cracking down on illegal immigrants. Dr Pankaj Satija and his wife Dr Monika Ummat, both neurologists, have been working legally in the US for the last 16 years. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) As they were about to board a plane for India yesterday, they were granted a 90-day extension on humanitarian grounds. The problem started when they visited India to see Pankajs sick father in October last year. On their return they were stopped at the Bush International airport by Customs and Border Protection officials because their travel documents had expired, the Houston Chronicle reported. The Customs and Border Protection officials stamped their travel document saying that it would expire in June this year, when in fact the US Citizenship and Immigration Services noted that their document actually expired in June, 2016. Upon returning to the US about a week later, a Customs and Border Protection official at the airport noted the discrepancy. The officials, however, allowed them to enter temporarily to correct the error. On Wednesday, Pankaj and his wife were abruptly told by immigration officials that they had 24 hours to leave the US. The couple, who have a seven-year-old son and four-year-old daughter, were told that under a new policy, they could no longer extend their temporary permission to stay while they waited for permanent authorisation, local media reported. The couple had called on their legislators and had taken the media along with their attorneys to plead their case. They reported, as ordered, to customs officials at Bush Intercontinental Airport, where they were told the agency had suddenly reversed course. Somebody at a higher level has made that decision, they were told by an agent. I understand that you are physicians and a lot of lives are at stake. The agency offered the couple three months of humanitarian parole, a rare measure allowing immigrants, who are otherwise not permitted to enter the US, the opportunity to do so due to a compelling emergency to sort out their paperwork. Dr Pankaj and his wife thanked US Senator John Cornyn and his staff for their timely help in resolving the issue. PTI Deepender Deswal Tribune News Service Hisar, April 1 Video clips of a jail official dancing with a woman in a cultural programme inside the district jail in Jind went viral on the social media today. Jail inmates were seen showering currency notes on them while some others captured it on mobile phones. The video clips were reportedly leaked by an inmate after he was released on bail. He gave the details on camera with his face covered to protect his identity. There are three video clips of the dance. The youth who had reportedly come out on bail said jail officials organised a cultural programme on the occasion of Holi on March 6. He alleged that jail inmates, including undertrials and convicts, were asked by officials to collect money for the programme. Police officials stated that it was gross violation of the jail manual as currency notes were being showered and mobile phones used inside the jail. Jail officials were seen enjoying the event. The leaked videos showed a cultural troupe comprising women performers performing on stage with a jail official in uniform dancing with one of them. The three video clips showed jail inmates showering currency notes on the woman performer and jail official during the dance. The youth out on bail revealed that jail officials had assured inmates that they would get CDs of the programme, but the CDs were not released. Local SP Shashank Anand said the district police had not received any official complaint. Jail officials are in a better position to say anything on the issue. We will taken action if a complaint is filed with the police, he said. A government spokesperson said the Inspector General of Police (Prisons) had suspended Satwan Singh, head warden of the district jail in Karnal, in connection with the video of a cultural programme at the district jail in Jind. Ravinder Saini Tribune News Service Mahendragarh, April 1 Sunita, a middle-aged woman from Jadwa village here, has been struggling for past several months to ensure the safe return of her husband Rajender Singh Shekhawat from Saudi Arabia. However, she has found little help. Sunita, mother of three daughters, has also been facing a crisis of livelihood as her husband is the only breadwinner of the family. She fears her husbands life is under threat in Saudi Arabia. A video of Rajender has also gone viral on the social media wherein he is seen urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to ensure his return to India immediately. My husband went to Saudi Arabia 16 months ago for doing the job of a driver to earn money for the marriage of our daughters but his employer sacked him without paying him salary. The employer also threatened my husband of dire consequence when he refused to drive a heavy vehicle unauthorisedly. There is a provision of severe punishment for driving a heavy vehicle without a licence in Saudi Arabia, Sunita told The Tribune. She said the employer even took Rajenders passport and visa to restrict his return to India. Though her husband had filed a case against the employer at the Labour Court in Saudi Arabia, he failed to get any relief as the former is an influential person. Now, her husband was in immense trouble as he could not return to India without passport and visa, she added. We have called on Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and VK Singh and Haryana Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma to ensure the safe return of her husband but none has so far come forward to help us, said Sunita, adding that her family would be ruined if Rajender does not return soon. She said, My husband is residing clandestinely in Saudi Arabia for the past several months due to the fear of his employer, who may harm him. Some Indian people there serve him food and get him speak with us over a mobile phone. Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 1 After nearly two months of organising multiple dharnas in various districts of the state, All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS), following its truce with the state government nearly 10 days ago, has wrapped up 20 dharnas in the state. While the AIJASS has brought down the number of dharnas from 29 to 9 venues, Minister of State Krishan Bedis committee, constituted to ensure implementation of demands of the Jats, is pushing for implementation of all that has been agreed to by the government. The AIJASS has been asked to furnish a list of all those eligible for jobs on compassionate ground as also those yet to be compensated for the death or injury in last years agitation that turned violent. We have asked the AIJASS to draw up its list and give it to the Deputy Commissioner concerned or the nodal officer we have appointed for the same. We are having our next meeting on April 5 before which all such names will be with us since making appointments will take at least two months. The government is keen on expediting the demands and closing the matter, the minister said. The AIJASS, after its meeting with the Chief Minister, has wrapped up most of its dharnas. One each in the districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar, Kaithal, Hisar, Bhiwani, Sonepat, Panipat, Jind and Fathehabad are still on. However, these, too, are token dharnas being carried on by members of the AIJASS executive. The public is no longer visiting these dharna sites. We have a meeting of the executive slated for April 16 where a call on the fate on these dharnas will also be taken. These will be gradually wrapped up based on the acceptance of our demands. We are satisfied with the way things are progressing, said Uttar Pradesh Jat leader Yashpal Malik, who is spearheading the dharnas. The Haryana Government, in a meeting with the Jat representatives in Delhi, had agreed that the Central Government would commence the process of including the Jat community in the list of reserved castes once the chairman to the National Backward Classes Commission is appointed. In Haryana, the state government promised that the Jats would be included in the reservation list under Schedule 9 once the court case concludes while all cases registered during the pro-reservation agitation in February 2016 would be reviewed and jobs would be given to kin of those who lost their lives in last years agitation while compensation would be given to those injured. Tribune Reporters Shimla, April 1 The state BJP today demanded immediate resignation of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, maintaining he had no moral right to stay in the office after filing of a chargesheet against him in the Delhi High Court by the CBI in the disproportionate assets case. Virbhadra should respect the Judiciary and show grace by resigning on moral grounds, as he did in June 2012 when he resigned from the Union Ministry after charges were framed against him by a Shimla Court, Suresh Bhardwaj, senior BJP leader told mediapersons here today. The wheel has taken full turn after five years and the CM is again on the threshold of another exit. He must quit gracefully, Bhardwaj said, maintaining that the chargesheet was filed after Virbhadra had exhausted all legal options and the case was hanging fire for more than three years. He said there was great resentment among people that Anand Chauhan, LIC agent, had been in jail for more than six months, but no action had been taken against the Chief Minister, who is the main accused. The Congress has reportedly said the CM will not resign, which is nothing new. The Congress always backs corruption, Bhardwaj said. The dream of Virbhadra Singh to become the CM for the seventh time had been shattered and countdown would start from the Bhoranj Assembly bypoll. The BJP would sweep the Assembly elections to be held later this year, he said. Bhardwaj said the CM was under the wrong impressions that the case would generate sympathy for him, but people were sympathising more with Anand Chauhan, who was not the main beneficiary but was in the jail because of the CM. No moral right to stay as CM: Shanta Palampur: Senior BJP leader and MP Shanta Kumar today asked Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to leave the office immediately as the CBI had filed a chargesheet against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Money Laundering Act. In a press statement issued here, Shanta Kumar said the Chief Minister had no moral right to continue in the office. The BJP leader said the Delhi High Court had rejected Virbhadras appeal to quash the FIR registered against him by the CBI. Shanta said the court had found adequate documentary material to chargesheet him. The BJP leader said though the Congress high command had said Singh would not resign, he should quit the office and face the trial to get him exonerated in the court of law. Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 31 The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to set aside a disproportionate assets case filed by the CBI against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife, saying there was no basis to claim that the FIR was the result of political vendetta. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Justice Vipin Sanghi also vacated the October 1, 2015, order of the Himachal Pradesh High Court restraining the CBI from arresting, interrogating or filing a chargesheet in the case without the courts permission. Following the order, the agency filed a chargesheet before the special court here against nine persons, including the CM, for alleged offences punishable under section 109 (abetment) of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. The special court has now fixed Saturday for consideration of the chargesheet, running into over 500 pages. It turned down the question framed by the HP High Court on whether the permission of the Speaker of the HP Assembly was mandatory before registration of an FIR. Justice Sanghi held that there is no legal basis to claim that the permission of the Speaker was mandatory in the case which pertains to the tenure of Virbhadra Singh while he was a Central minister. The case was registered after a preliminary inquiry found that Virbhadra, during his term as a Union minister from 2009 to 2012, allegedly accumulated assets worth Rs 6.03 crore, which were disproportionate to his known sources of income. Singh had moved the HC for quashing of the FIR against him and his wife and urged the court to summon records of the preliminary inquiry and the FIR. The Delhi HC also rejected Singhs application seeking recusal of Justice Sanghi from hearing his petition as he was a close relative of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi. As a judge of this court, I owe my allegiance only to the Constitution of India and the laws of the land. I am completely independent, financially and otherwise, and I am not subordinate to any one, much less to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, the judge said. Bhanu P Lohumi Tribune News Service Shimla, April 1 Parents of the children studying at Auckland House School are concerned over CITU workers protest in front of the school. The workers, who have been protesting outside the school for two days, are demanding implementation of labour laws for the staff outsourced by the school. Kartik, whose son is studying in the school, said he had feared for the safety of his ward. No organisation should be allowed to protest in front of schools. Anything can happen during protests and the safety of our children is at risk, he said. Raising slogans and lodging protests can affect the mindset of the children, said Chander, another parent. Vijender Mehra, state secretary, CITU, said, We are only demanding the implementation of labour laws such as minimum wage, EPF and ESI benefits and extra remuneration for overtime, which is the right of the employees. We will keep protesting till our demands are met. However, the school authorities accused CITU of misguiding the employees. They said 48 employees were recruited through outsourcing from two Chandigarh-based agencies and if CITU wanted to demand anything, they should do so from the outsourcing agencies. Twenty out of 48 employees are with the school management, while 28 are with CITU. Sunita John, principal, said the salaries of the employees were paid by the outsourcing agencies, but the school provided the staff food, accommodation, EPF, medical and other benefits and 75 per cent subsidy in fees, which no other school provided. She said the protest was unjustified as the school management was already doing so much for the welfare of the employees. Yesterday, the protesters forcibly entered the school campus and the mess. One of the agencies through which the employees were hired has already fired them, she said. Rohan Chand Thakur, DC, Shimla, said the law was clear that there could be no protest in the vicinity of 100 m of school premises. Indonesia, Apr 1 (Just Earth News): The fight against human trafficking begins with grassroots leadership, the representatives of 13 at-risk Indonesian communities were told at Wednesdayas unveiling of a series of innovative village-specific counter trafficking policies developed by a district anti-trafficking task force with IOMas assistance. We believe the most effective protection efforts are initiated at the community level, so for the past six months we have been working closely with villages here to formulate policies tailored to the specific circumstances of each village, IOM Deputy Chief of Mission George Gigauri told 250 local government officials and community leaders in Sukabumi, West Java. Trafficking flourishes where there are uneven levels of awareness of the risks and dangers of working abroad, and limited access to correct information. These new tools will help to reduce that gap. Roughly 1.5 million Indonesians are registered with the Government as overseas workers. The number of unregistered workers could be as high as 2.5 million in Malaysia alone, creating an environment where trafficking can flourish. One quarter of the roughly 8,500 victims of trafficking IOM Indonesia has assisted since 2005 came from the populous West Java province. Local officials acknowledge that the Sukabumi district, four hours south of the capital Jakarta, is a target for unscrupulous labour recruiters. The new initiative included the creation of village regulations, customized to meet the circumstances of each of the participating communities. These are complemented by a handbook containing standard operating procedures (SOP) for integrating services for victims of or witnesses to trafficking, and a pocketbook to help frontline responders identify and assist victims and/or witnesses. Trafficking in persons often begins with unscrupulous recruitment; the labour authorities have recorded 4,000 cases in Sukabumi alone involving this practice. I am hoping, with the adoption of village regulations, Sukabumi communities can help fight against trafficking and actively report the practice to local authorities, said Dr. Sujatmiko, Deputy of Women and Children Protection, Coordinating Ministry of Human Development and Cultural Affairs. The SOP and Pocket Book that we launch today are tools for all of you to properly identify victims and conduct referral for protection. So I am expecting to see an increase in the prosecution of offenders coming from this region, Dr. Sujatmiko added. Funded by the US Department of States, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, the launch was followed by a two-day skills training workshop for 65 village representatives. Source: www.justearthnews.com Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, April 1 Militants attacked an Army convoy on the outskirts of Srinagar on Saturday afternoon. Sources said the militants fired on an Army vehicle--part of the convoy--near Bemina on Parimpora-Panthachowk bypass road, which was retaliated by the troops. We are collecting details of the incident, Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said. However, sources said a jawan was injured in the attack. The area was immediately cordoned off by police and CRPF to trace the militants. The attack took places minutes after a few gunshots were heard at Lal Chowk which sparked panic in the city centre. Police said a mentally-challenged person tried to enter a hotel and was taken in custody. While the person was being detained, some gunshots were heard. Immediately, there were rumours of an attack in Lal Chowk that created panic in the area, a shopkeeper said. The shopkeepers downed their shutters as clashes erupted between youth and forces in the area. On Friday, a top militant commander of Hizbul Mujahideen in south Kashmir, Amir Wagey, was arrested in Srinagar. His arrest, the police said, is a major setback to Hizb. Yash Goyal Ajmer, April 1 Amidst tight security cover, about 500 devotees from Pakistan on Saturday arrived in batches to pay obeisance at the famous Ajmer Dargah on Khawaja Moinuddin Chistis 805th Urs (death anniversary). The devotees, who came by a special train, were accompanied by senior officials of the Indian government from Delhi, as Pakistan has not deputed any team leader, the Ajmer Collector and District Magistrate Gaurav Goyal told The Tribune. All of them have been lodged at a school till the Urs completes on April 7, he said. So far, 70,000 devotees have come to pay obeisance and offer a velvet chaadar (sacred cloth) at the famous shrine. In view of Urs, Railways has made elaborate security arrangements and tightened its entry and exit points by installing CCTVs, a senior officer of NWR said. RSRTC is also operating fleet of buses for the devotees in entire Rajasthan. Kolkata, April 1 President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday put a premium on debate and discussions, exhorting the student community to be argumentative, but not intolerant. Referring to first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the one who built modern India, Mukherjee said he had helped build an atmosphere of free debate and discussions and not conflict and confrontation. "As Amartya Sen had said, an Indian can be argumentative, but not intolerant," Mukherjee said at the 52nd Annual Convocation of IIM Calcutta today. "India is a land of tolerance, land of Buddha, land of Chaitanya, but not land of intolerance," he said further, adding that "please excuse me if I have hurt any sentiment by saying so". The President also made the point that management education, in order to be world class, needs to be able to embrace contrasting pedagogical approaches, multi-disciplinary allegiances, and contemporary skills and capabilities. "A plural mode of thought leadership in education enables the simultaneous pursuit of multiple paths to excellence," Mukherjee stressed. Such plurality is evident in the priorities and practices of IIM-C, Mukherjee pointed out, saying the institute has shown the way and it will assume leadership in innovative refinements in pedagogy. "Let hundreds of ideas blossom in universities and let there be debate, not confrontation," Mukherjee went on to say. "Accept criticism as argument and not as intolerance." He also spoke of making management education holistic to instill sensitivity of socio economic surroundings in learners. "Management education like education in other professional streams cannot be divorced from the socio-economic reality facing the nation," Mukherjee said. "Skilled and socially sensitive professionals will not only build Indian leadership in global business and industry, but carry on their shoulders the developmental priorities of the nation." He quoted Mahatma Gandhi as saying, "Education in a country has got to be demonstrably in promotion of the progress of the country." The President emphasised that the academic environment should be free from physical and mental violence, particularly in the seats of higher learning. He also touched on flowing of ideas from various parts of the world, saying "our ancient universities used to attract teachers, researchers and scholars from outside". "This had not led to blowing off of the foot from the ground. This is possible only if the foot is firmly placed on the ground," he noted. He also made a mention of IIM Calcutta's "rare capacity" to manage alliances with other educational institutions in the pursuit of complex goals. PTI Kolkata, April 1 President Pranab Mukherjee today put a premium on debate and discussions, exhorting the student community to be argumentative, but not intolerant. Referring to first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the one who built modern India, Mukherjee said he had helped build an atmosphere of free debate and discussions and not conflict and confrontation. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) As Amartya Sen had said, an Indian can be argumentative, but not intolerant, Mukherjee said at the 52nd Annual Convocation of IIM-Calcutta today. India is a land of tolerance, land of Buddha, of Chaitanya, but not a land of intolerance, he said, adding that please excuse me if I have hurt any sentiment by saying so. The President also made the point that management education, in order to be world class, needs to be able to embrace contrasting pedagogical approaches, multi-disciplinary allegiances, and contemporary skills and capabilities. A plural mode of thought leadership in education enables the simultaneous pursuit of multiple paths to excellence, Mukherjee stressed. Such plurality is evident in the priorities and practices of IIM-C, Mukherjee pointed out, saying the institute has shown the way and it will assume leadership in innovative refinements in pedagogy. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) He also spoke of making management education holistic to instil sensitivity of socio-economic surroundings in learners. He quoted Mahatma Gandhi: Education in a country has got to be demonstrably in promotion of the progress of the country. The President emphasised that the academic environment should be free from physical and mental violence, particularly in the seats of higher learning. He also touched on flowing of ideas from various parts of the world, saying our ancient universities used to attract teachers, researchers and scholars from outside. This had not led to blowing off of the foot from the ground. This is possible only if the foot is firmly placed on the ground, he noted. PTI GS Paul Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 1 Capt Amarinder Singh, who has always opposed the setting up of Khalsa University on the campus of Khalsa College here, has asked his officials to review the file passed by the earlier Parkash Singh Badal-led Cabinet in this regard. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Talking to The Tribune, the Punjab Chief Minister accused the Khalsa College Governing Council of attempts to dilute and subvert the heritage status of the century-old college. Slamming the Badals and Majithias, he said: It was an illogical move. Their aim was to undermine Guru Nanak Dev University by setting up their own private university to mint money. I have asked my staff to study the file. Capt Amarinders family has had a long association with Khalsa College. While his grandfather Maharaja Bhupinder Singh and father Maharaja Yadvinder Singh were its Chancellors from 1927 to 1952, he too was Chancellor between 1972 and 1978. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The Cabinet in July 2016 had given its nod to setting up Khalsa University. It began operating from the college campus a month later. The Khalsa University Bill, 2016, was passed by the Vidhan Sabha in September. Capt Amarinder had then declared that if voted to power, the Congress would scrap the legislation. New Delhi, April 1 The central government has released Rs 1,447.99 crore to Tamil Nadu and Rs 1,782.44 crore to Karnataka as financial assistance for drought relief. Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) were deputed to visit the drought affected areas for spot assessment of the calamity, as per a statement. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh-headed High Level Committee (HLC) had recommended the quantum of assistance to the states based on the extant norms of assistance and the report of the IMCT. The HLC has also advised the state governments to take utmost care and ensure that all the individual beneficiary-oriented assistance are mandatorily disbursed through the bank account of the beneficiaries. In addition, the Central government has released Rs 264.11 crore from NDRF for providing aid to Tamil Nadu for the cyclonic storm 'Vardha' during December 2016. IANS New Delhi, April 1 Four drunken students of Delhi University were detained on Saturday for having followed Union Minister Smriti Iranis car in Lutyens Delhi, police said. The minister called police at around 5.15 pm to report that some youngsters had been following her vehicle, a senior police officer said. Police said the youngsters, all around 18, were returning from a friends party. They were detained at Chanakyapuri police station. "Their medical examination has confirmed presence of alcohol in their blood. They were returning from a friend's birthday party in south Delhi and were roaming in the area for fun," he said. PTI Bijay Sankar Bora Tribune News Service Guwahati, April 1 Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Saturday called for promotion of human compassion through proper education and awareness but not through any religion or faith, to achieve the goal of world peace. Delivering a talk on A Human Approach to World Peace here, the Dalai said, We have to create human compassion through maximum utilisation of human intelligence. Happy and compassionate individuals make happy families which make a happy society and finally a happy world. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) He said the world today is full of problems created by human beings. So, if we can create problems then we human beings must also have the ability to reduce and finally eliminate these, he said. The spiritual leader, who became nostalgic recalling his escape from Tibet in 1959 through Tawang and then Assam, said he strove to promote oneness among human beings. The world belongs to the same human beings. Only human compassion can solve problems plaguing the world today. Violence cant be resolved through counter-violence, which leads only to more violence and destruction. Gracing the concluding function of the Platinum Jubilee of the Assam Tribune, the Dalai Lama said the thousands-year-old Indian tradition of secularism which even taught to respect non-believers, held the key to achieving world peace. He said the 20th century was marred by large-scale violence, but the younger generation of the 21st century had the potential to make the current century a peaceful one through education and awareness. Iraq, Apr 1(Just Earth News): As the Mosul battle to retake Iraqas northern city approaches its seventh month, responding to the needs of affected people has become IOMas top priority, according to the UN Migration Agencyas Iraq Crisis Funding Appeal. To meet the urgent needs of nearly a million beneficiaries throughout the country, IOM-Iraqs 2017 Funding Appeal needs USD 76.3 million, of which 38 percent (USD 28.8 million) is allocated for Mosul Crisis Response for the first six months of 2017. Many of those in need of urgent assistance are in close proximity of the battlefield, and some of them are still at great risk due to military operations in the western part of Mosul [under ISIL control], said Thomas Lothar Weiss, the Chief of Mission for IOM in Iraq. As of 30 March, more than 367,000 individuals in total have been displaced from Mosul and surrounding areas, and 287,000 are currently displaced, since the operation to retake the city from ISIL launched in October 2016. Weiss added: Many displaced Iraqis from Mosul relate frightening tales of living under extreme hardship, and enduring danger and exposure to the elements upon fleeing their homes. Having left their personal belongings and communities behind, displaced Iraqis are in need of comprehensive assistance. IOM endeavours to provide this life-saving assistance, in cooperation with the Government of Iraq and humanitarian partners. IOM Iraqs Appeal contains six major segments, of which Shelter/NFI provision with the required funding of USD 59.4 million is the agencys top priority for assisting more than half a million beneficiaries in the entire country. Funding is also requested for Camp Coordination and Camp Management, Health, Protection, Emergency Livelihoods and Coordination and Common Services. According to IOMs field assessments, many displaced Iraqis across the country have limited access to basic household items and shelter necessities, while 17 percent of them (more than 484,000) live in critical shelter arrangements, which include unfinished buildings and informal settlements. Displaced Iraqis in camps and critical shelter arrangements are extremely vulnerable, living in inadequate shelter that does not sufficiently protect them from the harsh winter and summer weather conditions in Iraq, IOM Iraqs Appeal explains, referring to over 50-degree temperature difference between the coldest months and the height of summer. IOM Iraqs Chief of Mission highlighted the significant role of donor countries in addressing the overwhelming needs of displaced Iraqis, host communities, and returnees across Iraq, and stressed that IOM will continue to provide relief and humanitarian assistance to conflict-affected families in cooperation with the Government of Iraq and humanitarian partners. Source: www.justearthnews.com New Delhi, April 1 Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that India and Malaysia have built thriving economic partnership in the last 60 years and expressed hope that the two countries can do much more in areas like infrastructure. "We have built a thriving economic partnership. Infrastructure has been an area of fruitful partnership between us but we can do much more," Modi said in his remarks after signing of seven agreements between the two countries in the presence of his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak. Prime Minister Modi said that Razak's visit to India has come at a time when both countries are celebrating 60 years of their diplomatic relations. Modi also said that educational exchanges between India and Malaysia are strong promoters of people-to-people contacts. "We are also converging efforts aimed at food security that are linked to well-being of our farmers," Modi said. IANS Simran Sodhi Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 1 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi as both nations sought to give a thrust to the bilateral relationship and their fight against global terror. This is Razaks third visit to India and officials point out that this signals the importance that he attaches to the bilateral relationship. In his statement to the media after the two sides held delegation-level talks, Modi said the visit comes at a historic time when India and Malaysia are celebrating 60 years of ties. I deeply appreciate our continuous cooperation with Malaysian government in our joint anti-terrorism efforts, Modi said. The PM added that the leadership of the Malaysian PM in countering radicalisation and terrorism is an inspiration for the entire region. We live in a time and in a region where both conventional and non conventional security threats are constantly on the rise, Modi said. The Malaysian PM said the two sides had agreed to work together to fight global terror, militancy, ISIS and any form of extremism. Both India and Malaysia are pushing to strengthen the defence cooperation and also work together on issues like counterterrorism. Seven memorandum of understandings (MoU), including an air services agreement, were signed between the two countries today. Earlier, Razak was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He then called on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj too called on Razak. Razak chose to first make a stop-over in Chennai on Thursday to meet Tamil superstar Rajinikanth. Both Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor are fans of the superstar and were on Friday hosted by the Tamil star at his residence. Rajinikanth dismissed rumours of him becoming the tourism ambassador for Malaysia. Razak will leave for Jaipur Sunday where he will meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. New Delhi, April 1 Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Tun Abdul Razak, who is on a six-day visit to India, was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Prime Minister Razak later paid tribute at Rajghat, a memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. Modi and his Malaysian counterpart are expected to hold delegation-level talks in the National Capital. The two leaders are expected to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations. Various issues, including terrorism, are expected to come up during the talks. A number of bilateral as well as commercial agreements are also likely to be signed. Prime Minister Razaks high-level delegation consists of several Cabinet ministers and senior officials. He will also be accompanied by a large business delegation consisting of many of the top companies and businessmen of Malaysia. Prime Minister Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday. He took some time off to meet Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Friday evening. Rajinikanth, who shot parts of movie Kabali in Malaysia last year, had expressed his wish to meet Prime Minister Razak when he was in Malaysia. This is Razaks third visit to India as Prime Minister. The last one was in 2012. His visit follows the highly successful visit of Prime Minister Modi to Malaysia in November 2015. ANI Vijay Mohan Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 1 While the Ministry of Defence (MoD) filed close to 800 appeals in the Supreme Court against disabled ex-servicemen in last three years, it managed to win only one case. Admitting this in Parliament this week, Minister of State for Defence Dr Subhash Bhamre said appeals against soldiers with disability accounted for a whooping 61.50% of all appeals filed by the government. Appeals are filed by the government in the SC against judgments of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) and the High Courts that have gone in favour of disabled ex-servicemen who had sought redressal of their grievances concerning pension and related benefits. The matter has been taken up repeatedly with the government by various ex-servicemens association as well as MPs, who have pointed out that such appeals were continuing despite the Centres directives to all departments for cutting down litigation. Recently, the Defence Minister had also issued directions to implement the recommendations of a committee of experts that had come down heavily on the Army and the Ministry of Defence for causing agony to disabled soldiers. The committee had termed such actions contemptuous and recommended withdrawal of all appeals filed against disabled soldiers and conceding cases that were covered by the Supreme Court and High Court verdicts. Recommendations similar to the expert committee were also made by the 7th Central Pay Commission that were later accepted by the Centre. The AFTs Chandigarh Bench had a few months ago reminded the MoD and the Army Headquarters that their frivolous appeals against disability pension of soldiers were causing great distress to the system and shaking the faith of the common person in the rule of law. It said the cost of frivolous litigation should be recovered from the officers taking such decisions. Bijay Sankar Bora Tribune News Service Guwahati, April 1 Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama today stressed the thousands years old Indian tradition of secularism, which not only teaches to respect all religions but also non-believers, held the key to achieve the world peace. He also called for promotion of human compassion through proper education and awareness, but not through any religion or faith, to achieve the goal of world peace. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Delivering a talk on A humane Approach to World Peace on the first day of his visit to the Northeast here, the Dalai Lama said, We have to create human compassion through maximum utilisation of intelligence. Happy and compassionate individuals make happy families which make a happy society and finally a happy world. He said, The world was today full of problems created by human beings. So, if we can create problems, we human beings must also have the ability to eliminate these problems. Gracing the platinum jubilee function of The Assam Tribune, the Dalai Lama said: Compared to the ancient Indian psychology, modern psychology looks like from kindergarten standard. It is my mission now to revive the thousands years old ancient knowledge of India, he said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) He commented that the younger generation of 21st century had the potential to make it a peaceful one through adequate education and creation of awareness among people about compassion and oneness of humanity. The Tibetan spiritual leader became nostalgic and recalled his escape from Tibet in 1959 through Tawang and then Assam. China has registered its strong objection to the visit of Dalai Lama to the region, especially Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh which it considers a disputed region. However, the government of India maintains that the spiritual leader is not on any political visit to the region. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Union Minister Kiren Rijiju today said: We are not interfering in the internal matters of China and it should not interfere into ours. Jaunpur (UP), April 1 Three people, including two girls, were killed and two others injured when their car ploughed into a house near the Jaunpur-Allahabad highway, police said on Saturday. Vishal (20) took his cousins Priyansh and Divya, aged 8 and 9, for a joyride in his new car when he lost control over it and the vehicle rammed into a house on Friday night. The three died on the spot, while two people sleeping outside the house were seriously injured. They have been taken to Varanasi for treatment, police said. PTI Sarbjit Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 31 Reluctant to leave it to officialdom, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has begun putting in place a mechanism, to be christened Guardians of Governance (GoG), to oversee the implementation of government schemes and to gather feedback on the working of officials to ensure they did not indulge in corrupt practices. The Congress, in its poll manifesto, had promised to fight corruption. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) For the purpose, the Amarinder Singh government intends to recruit and train ex-servicemen at the village and block level. Lt Gen TS Shergill (retd), Adviser to the CM, today held a meeting to prepare a blueprint for GoG appointments. It is not yet clear if the ex-servicemen recruited for the purpose would be given an honorarium or a fixed salary. Punjab has more than 12,000 villages. The number of ex-servicemen stands at two lakh. Sources said the ex-servicemen would be trained in information technology and a special portal created for them to upload information. Action would be taken on the report filed by them within a stipulated period. Besides overseeing implementation of schemes, they would report on delivery of services such as healthcare, education, drinking water and power. Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 1 The cash-strapped state government will be hiring talent from outside in helping explore avenues for raising finances. A top economic expert or a leading financial consultancy is likely to be hired. Sources told The Tribune that the proposal was discussed at a meeting chaired by CM Capt Amarinder Singh here today. It was also attended by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal. The meeting was held to take stock of the states financial position after the Reserve Bank of India stopped payments to the state on March 29. The CM opined that there was a dearth of ideation on raising revenue in the top-heavy bureaucracy. With the GST rollout expected in July and the new government foreseeing a fall in its revenue, the CM is keen on initiating remedial steps. He was briefed on how the states committed liabilities will increase in the coming year power subsidy bill will go up because of an additional 1.50 lakh agriculture consumers, the minority and backward class consumers; a sum of Rs 1,100 cr towards making the payments for gaps in actual and provisional cost for food grain procurement, a hike of Rs 2,000 cr in the salary bill while pending arrears of Rs 1,500 crore are to be paid. There has been an increase of almost Rs 7,600 crore in such liabilities. While the state expenditure has gone up, the source of earning additional revenues could not be presented to him by the officials today. Other than finding ways to increase the revenue from foodgrains, he also sought a review of increasing the income from minor mineral (sand and aggregate) sales. The mining operations in the state yield just Rs 40 crore per annum presently which till a few years ago were over Rs 100 crore, the sources added. Amarinder also reviewed the working of the mining branch of the Industry Department, wherein he was briefed about how illegal mining operations by the mining mafia have been stopped. He reportedly asked the team of officers to prepare a policy for mining in 30 days, increase the supply of these minor minerals by getting sanction for more sites and ensure effective checks and balances to ensure that genuine mining contractors take part in the bidding process. All stalled projects to be reviewed Chandigarh: CM Capt Amarinder Singh has directed all ministers to review the status of stalled infrastructure development projects of their respective departments and submit a report to him in the next two weeks to enable his government to take a final decision on the release of unutilised funds. Projects approved by the ministers would be referred to the Executive Committee of the Punjab Infrastructural Development Board (PIDB) for further action, while cases of suspected irregularities would be sent for an investigation. The process will be completed by April 30. These decisions were taken on Saturday at a PIDB review meeting chaired by Amarinder. The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, among others. TNS Tribune News Service Mohali, April 1 Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh said here today that the Congress government would review the issuance of blue cards by the Akali-BJP alliance. Speaking to mediapersons after installing Lal Singh as the Chairman of Punjab Mandi Board, the CM said the previous government had distributed the cards among their relatives and favourites. We will review the entire process and issue the cards only to genuine persons, he added. There are about 1.42 crore blue-card holders in the state, accounting for almost 80 per cent of the population. The beneficiaries get wheat at Rs 2 per kg. Capt Amarinder said a blueprint to revive the states economy was being prepared. The economy has hit rock bottom and it can only go upward now. He hoped that the Reserve Bank of India would release the Cash Credit Limit on Monday, adding that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had assured him yesterday in this regard. On the governments plan to tackle the drug menace, he said the police would not harass drug addicts. We would nab the big fish involved in the illegal business, the CM claimed. After taking over as the Mandi Board Chairman, Lal Singh assured the CM that he would leave no stone unturned to ensure smooth procurement of wheat. Others present included Health and Family Welfare Minister Brahm Mohindra, Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Mohali MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu. Libya, Apr 1(Just Earth News): Japan, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has committed USD 679,500 to support a 12amonth project addressing the immediate needs of internally displaced families in Libya. The project, Direct Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons in Libya, will provide much needed items to some of the most vulnerable families who are escaping the violent conflict in the country. The project seeks to improve the conditions of IDPs living in main areas of displacement through provision of direct humanitarian assistance. Last year, Japan committed USD 2.8 billion between 2016 and 2018 to assist refugees and migrants around the world, explained Tsuneki Matsuda, Charge d'Affaires ad interim, Embassy of Japan in Libya. We sincerely hope that our assistance will help alleviate the hardship IDPs in Libya are facing now. The needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and families are great. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced by violent armed conflict throughout the country. IOMs Displacement Tracking Matrix identified more than 313,000 IDPs living in conflict areas. Recently, the UN issued a Flash Appeal requesting assistance for 79,000 families affected by violence in Sirte. Benghazi is another area of the country where IDPs are trying to return to their homes. Many times, when families return to their communities, they find their homes destroyed, damaged or occupied by others, explained Othman Belbeisi, IOM Libya Chief of Mission. These families have no other support, so the international community, led by IOM in partnership with the People of Japan and other generous donors, help us provide this vital support to those most in need. Japan will continue to play an important role to bring solutions to the refugee and migrant issues in Libya by collaborating closely with the international community, Matsuda said. Through this project, as many as 5,000 IDPs (1,200 families) will receive items needed to support their daily living requirements. These families, many whom have lost everything, can receive mattresses, blankets, clothes, hygiene kits and other items needed to support daily life, said Olfa Bakouch, Project Assistant. We visit the areas where these families live, determine their immediate needs and provide assistance where we can. Last year, IOM provided life-saving humanitarian aid to 24,733 internally displaced persons in Libya. Displaced families in remote areas, and in areas in conflict, are often most at-risk. Therefore, IOM prioritizes its efforts in these places. IOM established a presence in Libya in 2006 and has supported the needs of migrants, IDPs, returnees, refugees and asylum seekers ever since. Source: www.justearthnews.com Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 1 The states district attorneys and public prosecutors are set to return to the classroom. The government is mulling refresher courses for law officers appearing before the subordinate courts across the state for effective assistance at the initial stage of a case. Advocate General Atul Nanda is in touch with the authorities concerned at the Chandigarh Judicial Academy. The academy is imparting training to the newly appointed Judges of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. It holds workshops, special lectures and refresher courses, besides informing the judicial officers about latest and important judgments. Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar, Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice is the Patron-in-Chief, Justice Rajesh Bindal the Board of Governors president and Dr Balram Gupta the Director, Academics. Nanda has suggested sensitising the district attorneys and public prosecutors regarding the need for expeditious disposal of cases for ensuring justice to the victims of crime or false implication. He also wants the law officers to be apprised of directions issued from time to time by the High Court and the Supreme Court on the finer aspects of dealing with matters. He has also told the district attorneys that they would get a chance to appear before the High Court as well. The move is aimed at not only sparing the litigant the trouble of filing appeals but also to reduce the pendency of cases in the HC. Nanda had earlier stated that a case effectively dealt with before the trial court with the state counsels assistance would reduce the burden on the HC. Rumina Sethi While other students were busy slogging through their syllabi, a young scholar from Somalia at Panjab University was engaged in examining his nation in turmoil and creatively presenting it in fiction. The world did not know that a budding undergrad writer would one day be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, not once but several times. If it had not been discovered that he was an alumnus, Panjab University might never have had the privilege of hosting Nuruddin Farah for over three weeks, a period which has been indeed intellectually stimulating and critically meaningful. It was while Nuruddin Farah was in Chandigarh in the late 1960s that From a Crooked Rib was accepted by Heinemann and published in the African Writers Series. Though a small novel with a limited plot, it contained enormous promise. Farah's later novels would become artistic works of great merit for he went on to write lyrical prose and deeply embedded plots in his trilogies such as Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship and Blood in the Soil, and most recently his novel, Hiding in Plain Sight. Nuruddin Farah's life was never a bed of roses. A revolutionary at heart, he always courted trouble because of his outspoken views. In one of his plays written while in India, A Dagger in Vacuum (1969), the on-stage drinking of a character named Mohammed led to Farah being labelled anti-Islamic. The play was banned. Later, when he wrote his first Somali novel in serialised form after the Somali language acquired an orthography in 1972, publication was discontinued and Farah declared a "non-person" since he had candidly condemned the hypocrisy of the Siad Barre regime. Farah assessed that the Barre's coup d'etat, which had first seemed like regenerative revolution, was rapidly sinking into corruption and spreading rot. But it was after he wrote A Naked Needle (1976), his second novel, in which he powerfully indicted Somalian totalitarianism that censorship law sentenced Farah to death in absentia. In fact, all his novels were now banned and could only be smuggled into the country. And so it happened once that his sister, who was travelling through Mogadishu carrying Sardines, was arrested. It was only when she surrendered the book that she was allowed to pass. Farah left Somalia to get away from certain incarceration and probable death. How could he spend his life in jail when he was destined to write? Despite his self-imposed exile, at least two attempts on his life were made unsuccessfully while living abroad. This, in short, is Nuruddin Farah's story of exile. Yet, it was exile that would give him the open space and creative energy to translate himself back into history, from disempowerment to empowerment. It allowed his work to move from containment and domination to a living dialogue between its own cultural past and present, as also between its culture and the culture of other lands. When I first engaged seriously with his writing, I found him deeply involved in a robust dialogue between the multilingual cultural history and the contemporary world of violence and pain, and between local cultures and those around the globe. It is his 'transnational' and 'translational' consciousness that transform his countrymen from passive, victimised objects into subjects who begin to recognise that they are in charge of their destinies in a world beyond Somalia. In so doing, it is his countrywomen rather than countrymen that matter more to the author. One of Farah's recurrent themes has been women's empowerment. Writing from within his fraught relationship with Somalia and its long history of despotism, clan warfare, civil war, death and bloodshed, Farah has kept alive a hope, especially for women, by critiquing female servitude and oppression consistently in his work. He says: "My mother was a minor poet. If she had not delivered 10 children and raised them, she might have become a great poet. Our clothes would be washed and ironed by women; we were given the best parts of the food, the meat; women ate the leftovers; the list is endless. And yet in a country like Somalia the ruin is caused by men. As a generic male, I am part of the problem. I've written about it so very often." This is enabled through artistically written novels through the deft and imaginative employment of images and symbols. In Maps, for instance, dialogue is interwoven with metaphor, and narrative with complex imagery. He is less concerned with the language of communication whether Italian, Amharic, Arabic or English, for he is at ease with them all than with the tone and texture emerging perhaps from oral poetic traditions of Somalia, of which his mother was a practitioner. As he says, we do not think in languages; we think in images. Although Nuruddin Farah has lived in many countries in Africa and the world, his work has remained rooted in the cultural and political history of Somalia even as his success lies in transcending the strong affiliation with nation, language and religion. Such visits of writers from Africa and elsewhere, who have experienced the pain of violence and hunger, raise the intellectual tone of debate on contemporary issues of race, gender and authoritarianism, and particularly the notion of free speech and inquiry which is under serious threat in the times we are living in. As Farah puts it: "The greatest casualty of the civil war is that the idea of cosmopolitanism is the one that has died." The democratic aspirations of a writer like Farah help in the creation of literature and art that become an antidote to the existing debased condition of politics. The voice of the writer can never be muted. Considering that Nuruddin Farah is an exile and has been asked to leave no less than six countries for his provocative defence of freedom and justice, indicates a disposition that has fearlessly stood up against any intimidation even at the cost of inviting remonstration or censure from the state. His writings and lectures are indeed a wide-ranging endeavour to create a culture that enables his countrymen to speak up against any moral outrage and fashion a social consciousness to reverse the growing tide of violence, gender exploitation and authoritarianism in the world. The writer is Chairperson, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh. Nonika Singh His images are so tantalising, you cant help but succumb to their visible charm. However, beyond the palpable beauty of noted artist Madan Lals vibrant canvases runs a deep thought. Like the Sufi image that constantly inhabits his works, Madan too is at peace with himself. So what if the world around him is moving in a tizzy and throws up negativity in varied forms and shapes; he would rather focus on the positive or at least transform the negative. Felicitated with laurels recently, Madan is at an interesting cusp. Not because the prestigious National Award instituted by the National Lalit Kala Akadmei has come his way recently or that he is all set to showcase his art at the Dubai Art Fair. Rather this village boy who grew up listening to Bulle Shah and admiring vast expanses of mustard fields has learnt to assimilate the influences that a modern city like Chandigarh has to offer. Urban Phulkari, his award winning composition, is not the only one that stands as a testimony to these mixed emotions where a host of symbols collide with each other. Collision perhaps is not the right word for nothing in his canvas is at war. Harmony is a principle he abides by with faultless precision. Even when his metaphors, like the lotus and lock and key, come from different worlds and sensibilities, the poet in him learns to find a common metre and weaves it all in a rhythm that is unmistakable. In the recent times, he has altered his multilayered technique. Today, there is flatter application of colours. But that is not to say his paintings are ready overnight. The award-winning work, for instance, was six months in the making. Unlike other artists who insist images come to them like manna from heaven once they pick up the brush, he admits that he has a rough draft ready in his mind before he begins to paint. Its not like a shot in the dark where I dont know what I am doing. But one thing certainly remains beyond his control. Try as hard as he may, he cant help but apply bright colours reds, oranges, yellows, pinks... Rang udde han bina khambaan de, rang bolde han bina shabdaan de. If colours have their own flight and meaning, metaphors are like alphabets with which he constructs his lexicon. Yes, he often uses too many and his paintings, a visual delight otherwise, cant be read at one go. Yet he defines contemporary art in the simplest possible manner. Its my response to the world around me. But how come he continues to view the world with rosy lens? Negativity cant be countered with negativity. Besides, just as our body learns to fight the fever, art cant be trapped in a despondent zone. Ultimately we all have to bow to Almightys will, Rab di raza, whatever it might bring. Clearly Sufism is not just a philosophy he browsed though at the surface level in his formative years, but a thought he has internalised to arrive at this state of equanimity. National Award pleases him but doesnt put him on cloud nine. Participation in Dubai Art Fair is no more than a commercial proposition where galleries come together to sell art. Of course, working with Israeli artist Shirely Segal is exciting, for, isnt art a pursuit of a universal language? Taking a cue from The Last Supper, the installation work that the two will create has women empowerment and the message of peace and joy at the heart of it. The collaborative art piece will see his creativity manifest in a different manner and on a different surface, a dining sheet. But with arts definition is changing by the minute, he is in no rush to join the race. In his role as vice-chairman of Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, he is all for exposing Le Corbusiers city to the latest trends in art. Nevertheless, this graduate in applied art from the Government College of Art, Chandigarh, views the new face of art merely as an addendum of technology. At some point he might amalgamate his poetry with his poetic images. Like tana-baana of the handloom and the intricate Phulkari his mother would embroider, many thoughts crisscross his mind. But ultimately all art for him is a quest for self realisation. Umar bhar har pal meri hi mere naal karwa reha pehchaan oh (Each moment it introduces me to myself). Preeti Verma Lal Las Vegas never fits within a definite definition. Because of its billion lights, it is often referred to as the brightest spot on earth. Few call it the city of sin. Others hear music all around. The food is scrumptious, the water fountains are rhythmic and the view from High Roller, the worlds largest observation wheel, is stupendous. Theres art on the walls and expensive brands are around every bend. Most know about its busy casinos and enthralling shows. All this within the 3.5-mile strip of the desert that sleeps during the day and stays up all night. All this is known about Las Vegas. However, not many know about its graveyard. Yes, a boneyard. Not a human graveyard with epitaphs etched on tombstones. No flowers in memory. But a boneyard, where all neon signs come to die. In downtown Las Vegas, there is a Neon Sign Museum, perhaps the only one of its kind in the world. This outdoor collection has nearly 150 of those gleaming, blinking historic signs that were once synonymous with the city until the 1980s. Introduced in Las Vegas in 1929 at the Oasis Cafe on Fremont Street, neon signs were everywhere. Every hotel, motel, cafe, shop, just about everything had neon signs. Some arty, others non-descript. The most famous being the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign designed by Bette Willis and standing tall since 1959. However, with the arrival of LED and LCD, many old neon signs were removed. And all these came to Neon Sign Boneyard & Museum to spend the rest of their metallic-life. The graveyard is home to some of the most treasured and famous signs of Las Vegas Caesars Palace, Binions Horseshoe, the Golden Nugget and the Stardust. Spread over two acres in the away-from-buzz area of Las Vegas, the Neon Museum is not only home to signs from old casinos and businesses, it also chronicles the citys history in its own unique way. The museum officially opened with the installation of its first restored sign, the Hacienda Horse and Rider, at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street. Because of the nature of the artefacts, entry is only permitted with guided tours. Thats where one hears stories of how aviation baron Howard Hughes bought the hotel Desert Inn because he and his entourage were asked to vacate after a long stay in the hotel. Then, one day he bought another hotel across the street. Theres the sign with cocktails which hastily popped up after the end of prohibition in the US. The signs also depict the changes and trends in design and technology that range from the 1930s to the present day. At night, the museum harks back to the neon heyday. A few restored signs are lit exactly like the original. At the Neon Museum, it is almost like living Las Vegas yesterday again. Sarah Young The anticipation for Victoria Beckhams collaboration with America superstore Target has been intensifying ever since it was first announced last October but the wait is over. Beckham has been steadily teasing us with sneak peeks over the past few weeks on Instagram culminating in a glimpse of her first-ever TV campaign set to the rhythm of Spice Girls 1997 hit Spice Up Your Life. Opening the brand to a wider audience, Victoria Beckham for Target includes more than 200 items for women and kids, marking the designers first foray into childrenswear; something that she admits raising four kids came in handy for. Designing for children is something Ive wanted to do for a long time, so I was incredibly excited to be able to incorporate childrenswear into this collection, Beckham previously told Target. Being a mother has helped me understand whats important when it comes to the category. I have had years of learning that function is often just as important as form, and that children need to be able to feel comfortable and free in what they wear. The collection, which channels her Victoria, Victoria Beckham (VVB) line also proposes Beckhams inaugural plus-size offering with garments running up to size 3X. Finally, the lauded designer is sharing her vision with women and girls of all ages, sizes and budgets. So what can you expect from the line-up? A crisp selection of black and white prints, peplum mini-frocks in sunny hues, gingham dresses, scalloped tops and loose shirting, the collaboration reflects the energizing spirit of VVB with corresponding style for girls, toddlers and babies. Ranging from $6 (Rs 400 approximately) to $70 (Rs 4,500), with most items priced under $40 (Rs 2,600), the collection drops on April 9 in Target stores and online. However, international customers will be able to get their hands on the spring release too with selected pieces available over at VictoriaBeckham.com. The Independent Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 1 The 19th Commonwealth Forestry Conference, slated to be held from April 3 to 7 at the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, will help in developing effective strategies to counter climate change and other challenges in forests. Over 700 academicians, forest practitioners, scientists, experts and representatives of international conservation agencies across the globe will take part in it. The conference is being held in India for the second time after Independence. The first conference took place in the country was way back in 1968. Today the forests across the globe were facing tough times in the wake of global warming and climate change. Its negative impacts on biodiversity conservation, livelihood and economic security would come up in deliberations during brainstorming sessions at the conference, Dr SC Gairola, Director General of Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, told mediapersons. Gairola said the India would be benefited from staging this conference as it would considerably enhance its knowledge base in promoting conservation and sustainable management of forests. The conference will witness presentation of 470 research papers. A special session on global forestry will also be part of the conference where the role of forestry in implementing international agreements in commonwealth members and beyond will also be discussed. The 19th Commonwealth Forestry Conference is expected to bring out concrete recommendations that would set a guideline for strategic planning, policy making and efficient action by the member countries, Gairola observed. The conference is being assisted by the Commonwealth Forestry Association and hosted by the Forest Research Institute that is part of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education institutions in the country. Cairo, April 1 After four years of tension with the United States, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi now has a fan in the White House and on Monday he meets President Donald Trump. The American former reality television star and tycoon has made no secret of his admiration for the ex-army chief who overthrew his Islamist predecessor and cracked down on his supporters. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Mohamed Morsi's ouster in 2013, a year after he had won Egypt's first democratic election, and the ensuing crackdown on Islamists prompted then US president Barack Obama to suspend military aid to Cairo temporarily. But when Sisi meets Trump on Monday during his first state visit to Washington, he will see a counterpart who better appreciates his "mission" to fight Islamists and jihadists, without Obama's hand-wringing over human rights. "As a matter of fact President-elect Trump has shown deep and great understanding of what is taking place in the region as a whole and what is taking place in Egypt," Sisi, who met Trump in September before his election, said in an interview. A senior White House official said Friday that Trump wants to "build on the strong connection the two presidents established" then. Trump has been gushing about Sisi. "He's a fantastic guy. Took control of Egypt, and he really took control of it," he told Fox Business of the period after Morsi's overthrow which saw hundreds of Islamist protesters killed and thousands detained. Over the past three years, Sisi has met a trickle of delegations from American think-tanks and other groups, drumming home the importance of supporting him. "He made a passionate and convincing case for why all nations should stop working with Islamists," said a member of one delegation who requested anonymity. Sisi often speaks of himself as though he were a Cassandra whose warnings go unheeded. "We warned two years ago our European friends, the foreign fighters in Syria will return and commit terrorism in Europe," he said during a 2016 visit by French President Francois Hollande. Cairo is pleased by signals from Trump's administration and Congress that they may consider blacklisting Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement, a move which also has its critics in Washington. "America prepares to confront the Brotherhood," read a banner headline in red in the official Al-Ahram newspaper. "Beyond Sisi being thrilled that Trump replaced Obama, and the opportunity to turn a page, this is Egypt trying to reassert itself in a more central way to US Middle East strategy," said Issandr El Amrani, the International Crisis Group's North Africa director. Egypt, one of two Arab countries to have a peace treaty with Israel, had traditionally played a central role in US regional alliances, in return receiving US$ 1.3 billion in annual military aid. Cairo has also mediated between Israel and the Palestinians. AFP Asuncion, April 1 Protesters stormed and set fire to Paraguays Congress on Friday after the Senate secretly voted for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. The countrys Constitution has prohibited re-election since it was passed in 1992 after a brutal dictatorship fell in 1989. A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us, said Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party. Firefighters managed to control the flames after protesters left the Congress building late on Friday night. But protests and riots continued in other parts of Asuncion and elsewhere in the country well into the night, media reported. Earlier, television images showed protesters breaking windows of the Congress and clashing with police, burning tires and removing parts of fences around the building. Police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Several politicians and journalists were injured, media reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said several police were hurt. One member of the lower house of Congress, who had been participating in protests that afternoon, underwent surgery after being hit by rubber bullets. The number of casualties was unknown. Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter. Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic, he said. We must not allow a few barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and general wellbeing of the Paraguayan people. The unrest coincides with a rare high-level international event in the landlocked South American country. Thousands of businessmen and government officials descended on Asuncion this week for the Inter-American Development Banks annual board of governors meeting. While Paraguay long suffered from political uncertainty, the soy and beef-exporting nation has been attracting investment in agriculture and manufacturing sectors in recent years as Cartes offered tax breaks to foreign investors. Instability in the country of 6.8 million is a concern for its much larger neighbors Brazil and Argentina. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was monitoring the events. I call on political leaders to avoid inciting violence and seek dialogue, the commissions regional representative for South America, Amerigo Incalcaterra, said in a statement. Secret session The Senate voted earlier on Friday during a special session in a closed office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber. Opponents of the measure, who claim it would weaken Paraguays democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal. The proposal will also require approval by the House, where it appeared to have strong support. A vote which had been expected early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down, said the chambers president, Hugo Velazquez. Several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Peru and Chile, prevent presidents from running for consecutive terms in a region where memories of dictatorships remain ripe. Others, including Colombia and Venezuela, have changed their constitutions to give sitting presidents a chance at re-election. Paraguays measure would apply to future presidents and Cartes, a soft-drink and tobacco mogul elected to a five-year term in 2013. His strongest backers want him to be allowed to run for another term, but critics have said a constitutional change aimed at benefiting a sitting president would be unfair. The change would also apply to former President Fernando Lugo, whose supporters want to be allowed to run for another term. Congress ousted Lugo in 2012, saying he had failed in his duty to maintain social order following a bloody land eviction. The rapid impeachment drew strong criticism in Latin America, especially from fellow leftist governments. A similar re-election proposal had been rejected in August and Congress this week voted to change the rules that required lawmakers to wait a year before voting again. Everything was done legally, said Senator Carlos Filizzola of the leftist Guasu Front coalition, which supports the constitutional amendment as a way of allowing Lugo to return as Paraguays leader. Reuters Caracas, April 1 President Nicolas Maduro urged Venezuelas Supreme Court early on Saturday to review a decision stripping Congress of its last powers, a ruling that set off a storm of criticism from the Opposition and foreign governments. The announcement came just hours before the Opposition hoped to mount big protests against the socialist government, spurred by anger over the ruling. In an address early after Fridays meeting presided over by Maduro, the National Security Council announced that was supporting a review by the court with the goal of maintaining institutional stability. The announcement capped an extraordinary day in which Venezuelas chief prosecutor and long-time loyalist of the socialist government broke with the Maduro administration and denounced the court ruling. Luisa Ortega Diaz said it was her unavoidable historical duty as the nations top judicial authority to decry the ruling against the Opposition- controlled National Assembly as a rupture of the constitutional order. We call for reflection so that the democratic path can be retaken, she said to the loud applause of aides gathered around her. Maduro called the meeting of the council seeking to calm the political uproar, though at least one key member refused to attend while criticism from other governments mounted. Dressed in black and waving a small blue book containing the Venezuelan Constitution early in the televised meeting, Maduro likened the international condemnation of this weeks Supreme Court decision to a political lynching. About a dozen officials were present at the session, but among those notably absent was congress president Julio Borges, who said the meeting was no more than a circus act created for a convenient photo opportunity by the same person the opposition blames for the countrys troubles. In Venezuela the only dialogue possible is the vote, Borges said. Yesterday, troops from the National Guard fired buckshot and swung batons at students protesting in front of the Supreme Court. A few people were arrested and some journalists covering the demonstration had their cameras taken. A few other, small protests popped up elsewhere in the capital. Larger demonstrations were expected today in what opposition leaders hoped would be a big turnout to denounce Maduro and call for elections. We all have to get out for the dignity of our country, the dignity of our children and the dignity of Venezuela, Borges said in urging Venezuelans to join in protests today. The Supreme Court ruled late Wednesday that until lawmakers abided by previous rulings that nullified all legislation passed by congress, the high court could assume the constitutionally assigned powers of the National Assembly, which has been controlled by the opposition since it won a landslide victory in elections in late 2015. AP New York, Apr 1 (Just Earth News): The conflict in Afghanistan is apartially forgotten,a the former United Nations Deputy Special Representative for the country has warned, calling for more aid for displaced families and a greater focus on bridging the poverty gaps. Afghanistan has been one of the most protracted crises, and I think people dont realize the casualty rates that were dealing with here are second only to Syria, Mark Bowden said in his last interview with UN News before leaving in late February after more than four years as the deputy of the UN Assistance Mission in the country (UNAMA). At least 3,489 civilians were killed and 7,920 wounded in 2016, due in part to an increase in air raids, and attacks by the Taliban and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh), according to UNAMA. I am worried that the situation has deteriorated in terms of the large numbers of displaced people that we see, but also in terms of the number of civilian casualties that take place, Bowden said. We have seen a year-on-year increase in civilian casualties which just demonstrates that civilians are the most affected by the war. As the war progresses and appears to deepen, then I think there is a real cause for concern, he stated. In 2016 alone, more than half-a-million Afghans fled their homes and sought shelter elsewhere within the countrys border. Of those 580,000 people, about 56 per cent were children under the age of 18, according to Afghanistans statistics on internally displaced persons (IDPs). By mid-2016, UNAMA reported that a total of some 1.2 million people were now IDPs, some since 2002. Bowden noted that there are plans in place to more quickly integrate IDPs and returnees, but said that he would have liked to have seen more progress in how displaced families are supported. We are only able to give them in a sense first aid at the moment when theyre first displaced, and to give them, I think, inadequate levels of assistance. I would like to see that changed and increased. In his capacity, Bowden was also the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, overseeing the UN agencies, funds and programmes working with national authorities and local partners to feed families, vaccinate children, build roads and develop clean water policies, among other responsibilities. The UN has said that it is able to reach at least 5.7 million people out of an estimated 8.4 million Afghans that are living in contested areas. I visited a camp recently where the population are beginning to be re-housed and to be better established. I also see a lot of progress in terms of a number of the development policies that have been instituted and quite substantial change in terms of the management of the country and the ability of local government to provide better services to its people, Bowden explained. Im always aware here that its the Afghan people who really are providing the most support in humanitarian terEither in terms of looking to support relatives or family that have been displaced, or, in terms of natural disasters, also giving assistance to families affected by natural disasters. Humanitarian assistance is a secondary effort. So, I think that we rely very heavily both on the Afghan people and the Afghan Government to shoulder a lot of the burden of meeting what are increasing humanitarian needs, he said. Despite heavy investment, the lives of millions of Afghans have not substantially improved and the number living in absolute poverty is rising. This year, the UN predicts that some 9.3 million Afghans will be in need of humanitarian assistance. I think one of the key changes taking place is a shift in aid policy in the country, and that requires a movement from aid being used to basically maintain the stability of the country, and to move away from a security focus far more to a developmental focus, he said, adding: That in turn, essentially, all of Afghanistans progress will depend on the ability to bring peace to the country which is why peace negotiations are absolutely critical, both to change the humanitarian environment and the development one. For Bowden, who returned to his native United Kingdom for a fairly active retirement, the memories that linger are of concern for the Afghan people. I visit a number of trauma centres and hospitals because the humanitarian work has tried to focus on getting better and more accessible treatment for the casualties of war. One of my most disturbing images is of a young boy who had been an innocent victim of a suicide bomb attack and had lost an eye and his hand and was just there totally astounded by what had happened to him. His life is irreparably changed. And although we were able to ensure that he got trauma care, the fact of seeing so many innocent people affected by conflict in such a deep way will stay with me, Bowden said. Photo: Fardin Waezi/UNAMA Source: www.justearthnews.com Washington, April 1 President Donald Trump has blasted a probe into his teams ties to Russia as an Opposition witch hunt, defending his former top aide Michael Flynns decision to ask for immunity in the case. Trumps ex-National Security Adviser, whose links to Russia are one focus of the sprawling investigation, has sought protection in exchange for his testimony to the FBI and congressional committees. Flynns lawyer said in a statement Thursday that his client has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit. But two key committees in the probe, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, both suggested the immunity proposal was premature. Trump nevertheless encouraged Flynns move in a tweet that appeared to lay down a challenge. Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion! Flynns offer to testify under protection from prosecution suggests he has more to reveal about the Russia affair. He could be a key witness as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Congress seek to determine whether Trump advisors colluded with Russias interference in last years presidential election. But Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House panel, said there was still much work and many more witnesses and documents to obtain before any immunity request from any witness can be considered. We should first acknowledge what a grave and momentous step it is for a former national security advisor to the president of the United States to ask for immunity from prosecution, Schiff said. NBC News also quoted unnamed officials as saying the issue was not on the table at the Senate committee at the moment. A close advisor to Trumps 2016 campaign, Flynn was forced to step down from his White House job in February after misleading the vice president about conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak after the election. He is also in focus over receiving $33,000 from Russian television RT to attend a 2015 gala in Moscow where he sat with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and $5,30,000 from Turkey for lobbying services. But Flynn is not the only member of Trumps advisors to have had contacts with Russia during the campaign. Investigators want to know whether there was any collusion between them and Moscows concerted effort last year to hurt Trumps Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton. What Flynn could tell investigators is unknown. US prosecutors can offer a suspect immunity in exchange for information that can incriminate others in a case, particularly larger figures. Asking for immunity, said criminal lawyer Mark Bennett on Twitter, is a reasonable stance for someone to take even if she hasnt done anything wrongespecially where... the grand jurys investigation appears to have political overtones. Alex Whiting, a Harvard Law School professor writing on the Just Security website, said Flynns offer to testify in exchange for immunity was not a serious offer, suggesting it was rather a tactical move. AFP Washington, April 1 US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking a comprehensive review of the massive trade deficit totaling more than $500 billion per annum with 16 countries, including China and India. He also signed a second order that seeks to strictly enforce anti-dumping laws. It would ensure that the US fully collects all duties imposed on foreign importers that cheat, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The announcement, which comes just days ahead of Trumps first meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, is widely seen as targeting China, even though US officials have insisted that it does not single out that country. Theyre cheaters. From now on, those who break the rules will face the consequences and there will be very severe consequences, Trump said without naming any country. The first order directs the Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative to examine the factors causing the trade deficit that totals more than $500 billion per annum and submit a report within 90 days. The review of the factors and violations behind the trade deficits will be led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Trump said. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the Department of Commerce and US Trade Representative will submit a comprehensive report to the president on the causes of the unduly large deficit within 90 days. Spicer also said countervailing duties were put in place to address the problem of other countries dumping undervalued goods into US markets, which makes it impossible for homegrown businesses to compete with artificially low prices. Since 2001, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency has not collected over $2.8 billion in these duties, he said. The announcement says the US must address the challenges to economic growth and employment that may arise from large and chronic trade deficits and the unfair and discriminatory trade practices of some of their trading partners. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross insisted that the executive orders were not just about China. PTI President walks out before signing orders US President Donald Trump walked out of an executive order signing ceremony at the White House, without actually signing the orders, forcing his deputy Mike Pence to chase him During the signing ceremony, White House pool reporters asked Trump questions about his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has offered to testify on alleged Russian involvement in the US election in return for immunity from prosecution Trump, who has a love-hate relationship with the media, ignored the questions and moved to another room, only to be chased by Vice President Pence, who picked up the folders containing the two executive orders Taking on cheaters By Press Trust of India: Bhubaneswar, Apr 1 (PTI) Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today inaugurated International Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease (ICFMD) at Argul near here which will work towards protecting livestock from foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). "The FMDV and other influenza virus pose a serious challenge to the health of livestock. More than 50 crore livestock across the country are prone to these disorders," Singh said. advertisement Noting that a good livestock health is conducive for the welfare of farmers, he said the new centre would also help farmers of the state to increase their income. Singh, who was accompanied by Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also laid the foundation stone of KVKs (Krishi Vigyan Kendra) in Puri, Bolangir, Mayurbhanj and Ganjam. He said 31 KVKs have been set up under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) which will provide complete financial assistance. Singh, who also participated in Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Expo, 2017, said, "The National Agriculture policy will expedite the development work in agriculture by strengthening the infrastructure." "The policy will also create employment opportunities in the rural areas and uplift the condition of labourers," Singh said. PTI AAM BBN AYP --- ENDS --- Tulsas unofficial pastor to passers-by passed away this week, and his daughters and church home paid tribute in the only way that made sense. In big, black, plastic letters. Since 1986, Harry Kaufman was the man behind the thought-provoking messages, inspirational sayings and humorous plays on words shared on Baptist church marquees along two major thoroughfares in Tulsa and even at First Baptist Church of Jay. After his sudden death Monday at age 88, his three daughters gathered at Brookside Baptist Church, 3615 S. Peoria Ave., to change out the final two marquee messages their father had posted only a week earlier. He made it look so easy! Dana Goyer told her sisters Debbie Brack and Dawna Menges, as they laughed and took turns struggling with a long letter-changing pole equipped with a big suction cup on one end. I guess its not bad for our first time. Their tribute read Harry L. Kaufman, your sign man. 1929-2017. Welcome home! God As soon as the final letter went up, the trio spontaneously burst into tears and group hugged. But they dont want anyone to feel sorry. He wanted to live until he died, and he did, Menges said. He fell ill Saturday, had a better day Sunday and then died Monday. Some of his very last words were, You girls will have to do the sign. The Tulsa World profiled Kaufman in 2006 as the man behind the 20-year marquee ministry at Woodland Acres Baptist Church, 5511 S. Harvard Ave., where he and his wife, Pat, and their daughters had attended since 1966. The irony was that he had personally opposed his churchs purchase of the marquee in 1986, but then promptly volunteered to be in charge of its upkeep. He came to love his never-ending mission to find new material. I just cant stand seeing an old message on any sign a business or a church, Kaufman told the Tulsa World in 2006, laughing. I do it because I really enjoy it. I always say it would be a terrible job for someone who didnt like it. I think we find in life just what were looking for and I look for things to put on the sign. When Harry and Pat Kaufman relocated to the Brookside area four years ago, he came in to introduce himself to Brookside Baptist Pastor Danny Stockstill. He said, Hi, Im Harry Kaufman and Ill be doing your sign, Stockstill said, laughing at the memory. We were still advertising a Christmas program and it was the first week of January. He couldnt stand seeing an out-of-date or empty sign. Stockstill said after Kaufman took over, calls started coming in, mostly from passers-by saying thank you for the marquee message. There was no one with more pure intentions for the purpose of sharing the gospel and just brightening days, he said. Because were in such a high-traffic spot, I always told Harry he preaches and shares Gods word with more people than almost any pastor in town. Kaufmans approach was cheerful rather than sarcastic, but one post about opposition to prayer prompted a different kind of phone call. The atheist society took issue with it and called me, Stockstill said, again laughing. The Kaufman family had a second home in Jay, and even on weekends when they stayed in Tulsa, Harry would make a Sunday evening drive to change out the marquee at their part-time church home there. That continued until about a year ago, when Harrys wife became too worried about his ability to travel so far, especially in the dark. Pat Kaufman was an integral part of Harrys hobby, meticulously recording her husbands ideas in little notebooks and day planners until her sudden death on Jan. 1. Now, their daughters have the treasure trove to cherish along with memories of them both. Harry posted the hardest message he ever had to do when he lost the love of his life, Menges said, of a marquee tribute that read, My wife, my friend. Well done, Pat! They were married 62 years and he only had to live two months and 27 days without her, she said. Pastor Stockstill said its unclear who will pick up the torch now, but its unlikely anyone more devoted than Harry Kaufman ever could. The only time our sign was ever empty was the day before Easter and that was intentional, Stockstill said. He would post a special message on Friday and then come and take it down for Saturday. On Easter morning, long before kids found their baskets, he would be back. Visitation will be held 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Ninde Brookside Funeral Home, 3841 S. Peoria Ave. A service is set for 2 p.m. Monday at Brookside Baptist Church. OKLAHOMA CITY At a time when the state is facing a budget crisis, Sen. Ervin Yen says the Oklahoma Senate shouldnt waste its time on silly bills. Yen, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, said Friday that his panel will not hear a bill that would ban abortions of fetuses diagnosed with Down syndrome or other viable genetic disorders or the possibility of one. House Bill 1549, dubbed the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2017, passed the state House on March 22 by a vote of 67-16. Yen, R-Oklahoma City, said the measure is unconstitutional. Here is what I say as a Republican, as a Catholic, and as a pro-life person, Yen said. If you want to go to Washington, D.C., and try to overturn Roe v. Wade, I will go with you. If you want to demonstrate in front of an abortion clinic, I think that is fine as long as you are not hampering the ability of the clinic to do something that is currently legal. But to pass unconstitutional bills, in my opinion, is just silly. The 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in all states. In part, HB 1549 says, No physician or person may intentionally perform or attempt to perform an abortion with the knowledge that the pregnant woman is seeking the abortion solely because the unborn child has been diagnosed with either a viable genetic abnormality or a potential for a viable genetic abnormality. The bill had no exceptions for rape or incest. Yen said a number of abortion and gun bills have been filed this session. And in my mind, those are silly when you have bigger nuts to crack, said Yen, a cardiac anesthesiologist. The state expects to have nearly $900 million less for the fiscal year 2018 budget than it had for this years budget. And for the second year in a row, the state is in a revenue failure, requiring more cuts to state-appropriated agencies. Throughout recent years, Republicans have passed several bills putting restrictions on abortions. Many have been tossed out as unconstitutional by the courts. Rep. George Faught, R-Muskogee, and Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, are the authors of HB 1549. The House spent about two hours on the measure before sending it to the Senate for consideration. Faught defended the measure Friday. It is disappointing to hear that a bill designed to protect the most vulnerable may not receive a hearing in the Senate, Faught said. I am hopeful that working with the committee chair and other members we will be able to resolve whatever concerns may linger. House Bill 1549 prevents discriminating abortions of children with potential disabilities. A fallible diagnosis of possible disability should have no bearing on the value of the life of a child. The poll panel has sent the Panneerselvam-led faction of the AIADMK a show cause notice, after it allegedly misrepresented its election symbol as the AIADMK's iconic 'twin leaf' symbol. By India Today Web Desk: The Election Commission has sent a show cause notice AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma, a faction of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, for allegedly misrepresenting its 'twin lights' election symbol as the AIADMK's iconic 'twin leaves' symbol. The 'twin leaves' - or 'Rettai Ilai' - symbol was frozen by the poll panel last month, after both the AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma and another rival AIADMK camp claimed it as their own. advertisement It was the leader of the rival camp, Deputy General Secretary TTV Dinakaran, who wrote to the poll panel on March 27 to complain that the AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma was 'manipulating' its poll symbol. In fact, Panneerselvam himself expressed hope that the symbol would remind people of the 'Rettai Ilai,' and that this would win his camp their votes, the news channel Thanthi TV reported last week. The AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma has been given time till April 3 to respond to the Commission's notice. On April 12, Panneerselvam's camp and the Dinakaran's 'AIADMK Amma' camp will face off in a by-election in Chennai's Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar, which was the late J Jayalalithaa's constituency. ALSO READ | RK Nagar by-poll: Armed with new 'twin lights' symbol, Panneerselvam says they represent Jayalalithaa and MGR ALSO READ | RK Nagar by-polls: In campaign speech, DMK's Stalin launches scathing attack on Panneerselvam ALSO READ | RK Nagar by-poll: Slippers thrown at CR Saraswati, man arested for distributing money ALSO WATCH | EC issues show cause notice to AIADMK's OPS camp for misinterpreting lamp post symbol' --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Akshay Kumar is really getting his hands dirty trying to promote his upcoming film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha which revolves around the nationwide crisis of lack of sufficient toilets. Just a few days ago, Akshay Kumar took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the need to build more toilets in India. In a video titled Soch Aur Shauch, Akshay Kumar said, "While researching the film, I came across facts while completely shook me up. At first, I thought of not doing this video because people would think I am simply publicising my film. While that might be true, I am doing Toilet - Ek Prem Katha because this issue needs a lot of promotion. I would like my fans to spread awareness about good sanitary hygiene as much as they can. I am not worried about what people will think of me. Thought is such a thing on which nobody has a right. Similarly, there isn't any barrier to shauch. Jab lagti hai tab lagti hai, nature ka call hai." Time hai apni #SochAurShauch dono badalne ka. Dekhiye, sochiye aur apne vichar bataiye ????? pic.twitter.com/qpYdZwUpQ9- Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) March 24, 2017 advertisement Now, Akshay Kumar seems to have upped the ante as the release date of Toilet: Ek Prem Katha - August 11 - gets closer. The Naam Shabana actor took up a spade and literally dug a two-pit toilet in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh with minister Narendra Singh Tomar alongside him. Digging my 1st #TwoPitToilet in Khargone District of MP with Minister Narendra Singh Tomar #MakeTheChange #WasteToWealth pic.twitter.com/GFV1bMgOaz- Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) April 1, 2017 The photos show Akshay Kumar wielding a spade, standing inside a pit, and displaying the soil that he dug out. He captioned the photos "Digging my 1st #TwoPitToilet in Khargone District of MP with Minister Narendra Singh Tomar #MakeTheChange #WasteToWealth" Toilet: Ek Prem Katha which also stars Bhumi Pednekar is set to release in theatres in the Independence Day week, alongside Imtiaz Ali's romantic drama starring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma. ALSO READ: Naam Shabana Movie Review ALSO SEE: Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar promise Swachch Azaadi on August 11 WATCH: Naam Shabana movie review --- ENDS --- SKY News has dumped its Sunday morning political panel Outsiders, following the firing of Mark Latham last week. In its place is another half hour of Weekend Live with Ahron Young. The short-lived show, with Latham, former Liberal MP Ross Cameron, and editor of The Spectator Australia Rowan Dean, only launched in December, promising a no holds barred observations on the political week that was. But comments by Mark Latham saw him under fire from all sections, including within the channel itself, before being unceremoniously dumped by news boss Angelos Frangopoulos. A spokesperson simply told Mumbrella, The program is in recess which is usually spin for never to return. Update: SKY News show has resumed without Mark Latham. From its opening scene, where a policeman shoots a young man dead in a North Carolina town, Shots Fired dives knee-deep into racism. In the US, where the murder of one person by another is made even more toxic by the colour of everybodys skin, this new FOX series will touch a raw nerve. In Australia, where the 10 part drama will screen on Showcase, the very deed itself heavily outweighs questions related to class and race. But as Special Prosecutor Preston Terry (Stephan James) is told, The (Governor) doesnt want another Ferguson. Its a black cop, and a white kid. As an African-American prosecutor, he is hired to investigate the shooting a young white man by a black police officer. In this climate only a black man could indict this black cop without inciting tensions if hes guilty. All I care about is the truth, says Terry. Assisting him is investigator Ashe Akino (Sanaa Lathan), who is already dealing with her own broken marriage and aggressive temper. Parachuted into this small town by Governor Patricia Eamons (Helen Hunt), the duo are given short shrift by both the African-American community and the local police constabulary, headed up by Sheriff Daniel Platt (Will Patton) and steered by Officer Breeland (Stephen Moyer). But the righteous Terry and Akino soon discover that resentment runs much deeper, particularly given a previous murder of an African-American youth was largely ignored. The smell of corruption hangs over this community like a stench. But unlike dramas such as The Night Of, which affix our sympathies to possible suspects, Shots Fired follows the heroic path of our crime-solvers in foreign territory. Amid social themes which threaten to weigh down a whodunnit, our two leads are thankfully strong. Stephan James is especially strong as an articulate young prosecutor with a case that could make his career, while Sanaa Lathan juggles authority with her flawed private life. Its great to see Helen Hunt back on screen, as a Governor seeking re-election here and I hope she is given more dramatic weight than is evident in early episodes. Richard Dreyfuss adds to a formidable cast, as local real estate mogul, Arlen Cox. Writers Gina Prince-Bythewood (Before I Fall, The Secret Life of Bees, Biker Boyz) & Reggie Rock Bythewood (Reflections, Notorious, Gun Hill) craft a community that has learned to live with its secrets, in order to expose deep-seated home-truths in America. A few of the tropes are readily-familiar from others in the genre and Im not entirely convinced this will be quite the must-see event here as that in its own market. Nevertheless it opens confidently, and holds a mirror up to an American problem that has exacerbated in recent years and could well become worse in its new political climate. Shots Fired premieres 8:30pm Monday April 10 on Showcase. "We will reform 'majnoo' type of persons. They don't know how to respect... They are not good for the civilised society... A campaign will be launched against Majnoos," Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said. By India Today Web Desk: After Uttar Pradesh, now the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Madhya Pradesh is all set to launch a campaign to check 'majnoo-type' behaviour from men in the state. "We will reform 'majnoo' type of persons. They don't know how to respect... They are not good for the civilised society... A campaign will be launched against Majnoos," Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said. advertisement To ensure that women and girls are safe, police should keep a vigil and create a safe environment for them, he went on to add. Chouhan said that women are no less than anyone in terms of courage, valour and in their duties and therefore one-third posts in police department are reserved for them. "Police should create such an atmosphere so that women are able to move around independently without any fear. It should take stern measures against criminal elements," Chouhan commented. This comes soon after Yogi Adityanath entered the chief minister's office in Uttar Pradesh and ordered his top police officials to form 'anti-Romeo squads.' The move was hailed by some and criticised by others. Critics said that the squads were nothing but just another form of moral police by the state. Adityanath and other Uttar Pradesh officials have taken pains to clarify that the squads are not for moral policing and that police officials will not trouble couples. (With inputs from PTI) Also read 3 reasons why BJP's promised Anti-Romeo Squads in Uttar Pradesh is plain wrong Yogi Adityanath backs anti-romeo squads to make UP safe for women; all that he said at Gorakhpur Also watch --- ENDS --- Kejriwal has sought a thorough inquiry into the matter and demanded that ballot papers, not EVMs, be used in the upcoming MCD polls. By India Today Web Desk: After reports of tampering in electronic voting machines (EVMs) came to the fore in Madhya Pradesh, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal among other opposition parties have demanded a thorough inquiry into the matter. Kejriwal raised the matter with the Election Commission today, alleging that ahead of Bhind bypolls in Madhya Pradesh next week, voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines were only dispensing BJP slips. advertisement He said that the voting machines were being tampered with and their softwares changed to benefit the BJP, wondering why they were not releasing slips of any other party even once. POLL PANEL's CLAIM ON EVM PROVED WRONG: KEJRIWAL The Delhi chief minister also attacked the poll panel, saying that its claim of EVMs being foolproof had been proved wrong in the light of this development. Kejriwal had expressed doubts over the manner in which EVMs were operating even after his party lost in the Punjab assembly election. BALLOT PAPERS BE USED IN MCD POLLS With Delhi civic body polls scheduled later this month, Kejriwal has demanded that ballot papers, not EVMs, be used in the election and likewise in other polls to follow across the country going forward. This, he said, was a must to stop the injustice being meted out to the voters of the country who were exercising their franchise for other parties. Meanwhile, other Opposition leaders like Bahujan Samaj Party's Mayawati and Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Yadav have termed this an extremely serious issue and demanded a high-level probe to find out why these machines are repeatedly and only coming up with results favouring one party (the BJP). The Congress has also backed the demand for an investigation into the issue. WATCH VIDEO Arvind Kejriwal cries foul over faulty EVMs ahead of Bhind bypolls --- ENDS --- Those who will soon be graduating from college are probably facing a lot of perplexing emotions and anxieties by now, including where to work after graduation, how to land their dream jobs, how to pay for their student loans, and many others. While uncertainty may be something that sounds really scary, the thought that the end is almost near and a new beginning awaits is something that should excite the undergrads. According to Pew Research Center, it is becoming harder for new graduates to find jobs, and this is one of the major concerns of many. But there should still be hope, because in the same survey, it states that graduates still out-earn people who do not have degrees. So for those who fear facing and getting out into the world to land the career of their dreams, here are some helpful tips on how they can land their dream jobs. Go to On Job sites geared for fresh grads It is worth the effort to visit websites intended for college grads, according to Forbes, because there are plenty of them all over the internet, and the recruiters are just out there waiting for applicants. Visit the career office This is very helpful for those who do not know how to even get started. Career offices are excellent resource for those who need help in learning more about resumes, interviews, and other career related concerns. Ace an internship Internships can play a significant role in one's future career. There are even times when students' internships led to job offers. Establish network Use the remaining semester in college to build a network and there are so many ways to do that. Leverage on the social media, on job sites, even the bigger job sites, friends, family, mentors, teachers and others. Don't hesitate to reach out and ask for their advice. It is no longer the acceptance or rejection to their dream schools that college applicants worry the most right now. The biggest concern of the soon-to-be college students, as well as their parents, is the cost of higher education. According to International Business Times, a 2015 study suggests that 70 percent of college kids are worried about money issues. And then, here is a recent survey by Princeton Review which basically says the same thing - that parents and students worry about the level of student debt they might take on by sending their children to college. This is also the very same reason why the applicants are hesitant to attend their top school. These survey results are just an addition to the growing evidence that students and parents are becoming more concerned about the fact that college will enable their children to pay off the loans they took to earn their degree, according to Market Watch. They are worried that the investment they put into their children's higher education will not pay off. Because of these concerns, students have felt more pressured to get into a name-brand school, or the schools that they will are going to help them a lot when it comes to landing a promising job, like Stanford University, Princeton University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That is partly because families believe that attending these schools will more or less give them a secured financial future. While there is a good chance for students to achieve financial success when they attend these institutions, parents still try to look for their other options, according to Robert Franek, the editor-in-chief of Princeton Review. However, a research states that students do not necessarily have to earn their degrees from top tier schools in order to be successful, because are plenty of other non-selective schools that can lead their graduates toward lucrative jobs with high salaries. As the applications to US colleges and universities are coming to a close, it looks like the applications from foreign students for the next school year shows a noticeable dip. Some institutions have reported a decline in the number of undergraduate applications from certain countries, according to a survey. According to VOA News, there was a total of 1.2 million international students who attended American institutions in 2016, and this was the highest number ever. However, it seems like this steady growth will not last as 39 percent of the responding schools have reported a drop in the foreign students' applications. These are the international students from countries such as China, India, and the Middle East, NBC News reported. The survey was conducted by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. The decline was reported to have been caused by the change in the perception of the foreign students about America as they do not feel as welcomed anymore. Officials have pointed to the issue on travel ban declared by President Donald Trump. Melanie Gottlieb, the deputy director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers said that they are sounding the warning, and that they are just hoping that the government would be cool to the issues around immigration. Former and potential international students have expressed that they were thinking twice about what could happen to them if they set foot into the US. A student who stayed in the country as a foreign exchange said she does not want to come back anymore as she has been observing the posts on social media from other immigrants or travelers. She noticed how some people are having difficulty checking in at the airports because they are Arabs. The main focus of the inquiry was on UP's ex-Minority Minister Azam Khan, who the report allege made a trust and diverted funds from Waqf property. By Mustafa Shaikh: A fact finding committee of Shia and Sunni Waqf Boards, has alleged corruption and criminality in the Rampur division after a survey last month. The main focus of the inquiry was on UP's ex-Minority Minister Azam Khan, who the report allege made a trust and diverted funds from Waqf property. The report says Azam Khan has failed to carry out his duty to save Waqf and that necessary action to save Waqf properties were not taken by the agencies under his pressure. advertisement The survey was conducted on March 22nd and 25th by Advocate Ejaz Naqvi, in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Waqf Board and Member of Advisory Committee of Waqf Board, after which separate reports have been made for Shia and Sunni Waqf Boards. Discrepancies in rent collection with regards to properties of Waqf Board wherein nominal rent of Rs 5 is taken by the shopkeepers, but actual rent as per the market price is Rs 5000. There are 1.3 lakh shops under Sunni Board and 23000 shops under Shia board. "The shopkeepers are charged under market rate, but on paper it's not shown. If you calculate the rent with market price of these shops it will be in crore of rupee. The other discrepancy is that Khan has made a scheme under his trust Maulana Johar Ali Education Trust and misused the Waqf properties. The fees of Rampur Public School are much more than the private schools. In fact, they should not charge any fee," said Naqvi. The report accessed by India Today lists out FIRs which have been filed in the past against these irregularities, but no action was taken and demands dissolving of the current committee in Sunni and Shia Waqf Boards. It demanded a CBI inquiry and white paper in state Assembly on failure of Waqf Boards for deviating from their aims and objectives. "The fact finding committee has asked Azam Khan to submit his reply to the following agency, but he failed to do so. I will send these reports to Minority Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for necessary actions," added Naqvi. Also read: Azam Khan retains Rampur, son Abdullah wins Swar Tanda seat WATCH THE VIDEO: --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: From Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Apr 1 (PTI) Three militants, including a woman, were found dead by Bangladesh security forces today when they stormed their hideout, ending a two-day stand off with Islamist militants in a northeastern city amid a massive nationwide clampdown on militants. Announcing the end of the "Operation Maximums" at the Islamist militants hideout in Moulvibazar towns Borohat area, counter-terrorism Unit chief Monirul Islam told media that bodies of two men and a woman were found inside the duplex house. advertisement "We found three bodies including that of a woman as we entered the den today," Islam said, adding the militants had set up explosives at different spots in the building. "Our intension was to capture them alive and therefore we repeatedly called them to surrender but they defied...attacked us back throwing grenades and blasting bombs whenever our SWAT members tried to approach them," he said. Polices elite Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) yesterday launched the second subsequent raid at the hideout in Moulvibazar town, a day after wrapping up their "Operation Hit Back" at another den nearby when a family of eight, including children, blew themselves up in a suicide blast amidst the security siege. Security forces in the past 10 days have witnessed four major anti-militancy assaults against Islamic-State inclined Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB) in which seven people including an army lieutenant colonel and two police inspectors lost their lives while the assaults killed 15 militants and their children. Neo-JMB was behind the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka cafe that killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners. The first security assault was launched in northeastern Sylhet where authorities called out army commandos. Four Islamists including Neo-JMB chief Musa were killed during the five-day security siege which military called Operation Twilight. As the siege was underway, fellow militants from outside launched two retaliatory clandestine attacks killing six people including two policemen and wounding 50 others near the scene. An army officer who was serving a the intelligence wing chief of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) succumbed to his wounds two days ago. A day after the end of the Operation Twilight led by an army major general in Sylhet, police simultaneously raided three other neo-JMB hideouts, two in neighbouring Moulvibazar and one in central Comilla district. Polices Operation Hit Back saw two militant couples blowing themselves up along with four minor children, staging a suicide blast at a den on the outskirts of Moulvibazar town. Islam at that time said the suicide blast was so severe that it tore into pieces the dead, making it difficult to ascertain exactly how many people were inside and only "the forensic examinations could confirm the exact casualty figure (though) we assume they are seven or eight in number." advertisement In Comilla, after three days of security siege, police found it to be a big cache of explosives stored by the militants but none was found there to be encountered. Bangladesh has been witnessing a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. The country launched a massive crackdown on militants specially after the Dhaka cafe attack. IS has claimed several attacks in Bangladesh, but the government rejects the presence of foreign terrorist groups in the moderate Muslim-majority country, blaming home-grown groups such as the neo-JMB for terrorist attacks. PTI AR PMS PMS --- ENDS --- The all-new, one-of-a-kind country music lifestyle bar Redneck Riviera at Grand Bazaar Shops is set to host several events during The Academy of Country Musics The Week Vegas Goes Country. (Pictured: John Rich Photo Erik Kabik / www.ErikKabik.com). On Saturday, April 1, Redneck Riviera Vegas will welcome dozens of leading radio personalities for the NashVegas Live! Event. Later that night, Redneck Riviera will host the official ACM Party For A Cause, featuring John Rich, Clay Walker and others. Immediately following the ACM Awards on Sunday, April 2, Big & Rich will host the Live ACM VIP After Party featuring special guests and club specials. John Rich, one half of the duo Big & Rich and owner of Redneck Riviera states, This is exactly the kind of weekend I dreamed about for the bar. We officially opened the doors in Vegas with a celebrity-filled grand opening in February and to be able to partner with the Academy of Country Music and some of the nations top radio stations is insane. I love it. I am honored to be hosting these events. We are truly lifestyle bar where everyone is welcome. See you this weekend. The NashVegas Live! Event is also very excited to be partnering with the Redneck Riviera property for live luncheon showcases. Major market stations from East coast to West coast will be in attendance. McCoy said, I absolutely love the Redneck Riviera, its my kind of place to hang my hat. One of my favorite features is the Freedom Bar largely in part because of my dedication to raise awareness about the need we have in this country to support our military vets and their family members that are in need. Three militants have been killed at Borohat area on Friday and another 7 were killed at Nasirpur in a drive on Wednesday morning. By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: Ten militants have been killed in separate drives in Moulvibazar in Bangladesh, police said. Three militants have been killed at Borohat area on Friday and another 7 were killed at Nasirpur in a drive on Wednesday morning. Along with Barahaat house, police on Wednesday sealed off another house, 18km away at Nasirpur on the outskirts of the district town. advertisement After the assault on the Nasirpur terror den ended on Thursday, mutilated bodies of seven persons, including children were found. Police said they blew themselves up to avoid capture. On Friday, SWAT personnel and the counter-terrorism unit launched the assault on the duplex house in the town, half a kilometre away from the Sylhet-Moulvibazar Highway. Intermittent blasts and intense gunfire continued throughout the day. The assault was postponed in the evening due to bad weather. The chief of CTTC unit (Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime) Monirul Islam said in a press conference after the successful 80 hours' operation at Borohat on Saturday morning, "3 militants have been killed." Besides, Monir also said 7 militants were killed at a separate drive at Nasirpur of the same district. Also read: Explosions rock Bangladeshi neighbourhood amid army siege Bangladesh: 2 militants killed in Sylhet army operation --- ENDS --- Deputy Minister Nguyen The Phuong (right) and First Assistant Secretary Philip Green sign a record of the transcript of the meeting.-Photo courtesy Australian Embassy in Ha Noi The biennial High Level Consultations were led by First Assistant Secretary, South East Asia Mainland and Regional Division Philip Green, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia), and Viet Nam Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong. Accordingly, the two countries gained key achievements for the 2015-17 development co-operation, including due completion of the Cao Lanh Bridge late this year, encouraging progress in developing three new initiatives -- Aus4Reform, Aus4Transport and Aus4Water -- to develop a strong and competitive private sector in Viet Nam. They also noted the effective commencement of the new Aus4Skills initiative in 2016, which will continue to deliver the prestigious Australia Awards Scholarships as well as a new range of flexible human resource development support packages and support for womens economic empowerment, including preparation for the new Aus4Equality and Investing in Women initiatives. Viet Nam has been an important partner to Australia in the region for a long time, and our commitment to development cooperation with Viet Nam is ongoing, Green said. Given Viet Nams tremendous achievements in socio-economic development, it is now time to transform the relationship into an economic partnership, based on mutual benefit and shared challenges, he added. The economic partnership is expected to be built on the principles of commitment to pursuing shared economic interests as outlined in the Plan of Action 2016-2019, encouraging a dynamic private sector, fostering greater business and market access opportunities, empowering women in the economy and promoting environmentally sustainable growth. The southern province police department said that the Kwong Lung Meko Company didnt follow its fire prevention obligations properly, leading to a devastating fire last week on March 23.- Photo tuoitre.vn The fire began at the facility in Tra Noc Industrial Park in Binh Thuy District at around 9:15 am on March 23 and flames ravaged the building until 11:30 am the following day. On Sunday evening just four days after the original incident the blazed reignited. Major General Tran Thi Ngoc ep, director of the municipal Department of Firefighting Police, said the fire was extremely complicated. One week before the accident, a large amount of material was brought to the company in order to fulfill an upcoming export shipment that would require round-the-clock operations. The firm was too focused on making profits and had overlooked fire safety requirements, ep said. Firefighting units discovered flammable materials including feathers, fabric, cardboard and plastic at the facility. About 26 firefighting vehicles and dozens of officers were dispatched to the scene to put out the fire. We were able to prevent the flames from reaching 18,600 litres of oil the company had stored in its basement. She added that managers of the company had failed to mention the oil storage tank to competent authorities. If we werent able to prevent the flame from reaching the oil, the consequences would have been tragic, she said. The Criminal Science Institute under the Ministry of Public Security collected evidence from the scene to identify the cause of the blaze. According to ep, about 80 percent of Kwong Lung Meko Companys assets were saved and the firms VN1.1 billion (US$48,000) annual insurance policy paid out VN555 billion ($24.2 million) to cover the damaged property. Nearly 1,000 employees and staff at the company were unharmed. Chen Lai Shik Kuan, General Director of Kwong Lung Company, apologised to people living near the incident site for the trouble it caused and for not properly observing fire safety regulations. President Donald Trump, in this file photo, announces the launch of his Trump University in New York City in May 2005. (AFP/Thos Robinson) The ruling from Judge Gonzalo Curiel, seen by AFP, ends three lawsuits relating to Trump University, affecting around 4,000 claimants. Two class-action suits were launched in California in 2010 by former students who claimed they had been deceived by false marketing, and a suit was brought by New York state attorney general Eric Schneiderman in 2013. Students paid as much as US$35,000 to enroll at Trump University - in operation from 2005 to 2011 - wrongly believing they would make it big in real estate after being taught by the Manhattan property tycoon's hand-picked experts. After months of insisting he was ready to go court to establish his innocence, Trump made an about-face after his November election and agreed to pay up to save him the embarrassment of further legal wrangling. Schneiderman said in a statement that Friday's deal approval "will provide relief - and hopefully much-needed closure - to the victims of Donald Trump's fraudulent university." Schneiderman said the victims "waited years for compensation, while President Trump refused to settle and fought us every step of the way - until his stunning reversal last fall." Of the settlement amount, US$21 million will go to reimburse the plaintiffs in California and the remainder will go New York's attorney general to reimburse plaintiffs in that case. Curiel was criticised during the presidential campaign by Trump, who accused the Indiana-born judge of being unable to be impartial because of his Mexican heritage - comments that outraged many. petrotimes.vn The successful negotiation and signing of documents on the company and transferring capital among partners is a milestone in the projects implementation, ensuring its operations in 2021. The project has a total estimated investment of $5.4 billion and will be installed with advanced technology, meeting environmental protection requirements and ensuring the production of high-quality products, such as PP and PE. The project will create about 15,000-20,000 jobs during its construction and over 1,000 jobs when put into commercial operation. Before the acquisition, Qatar Petroleum International Vietnam (QPIV) held 25 per cent of LSPs chartered capital. The remainder belonged to PetroVietnam with 29 per cent, and Thailand's SGC held 46 per cent. Long Son petrochemical complex is one of the largest of its kind in Vietnam, with a production capacity of 1.6 million tonnes of olefins per year. In this occasion, PetroVietnam Gas, member of PetroVietnam , also issued a letter of commitment to secure ethane gas sources for the complex. The project will contribute to the budgets of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Vietnam an estimated $115 million per year throughout its 30 years of operation. Up until now, LSPs deposit transferred to the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial Peoples Committee is approximately $41.95 million and the province has finished the site clearance, relocating all 390 households from the main area of 464 hectares of the project. In December 2016, the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial Peoples Committee approved in Decision No.3597/QD-UBND the unit price for land lease as a ground to sign the land lease and land use right contracts. Accordingly, the highest unit price for lump-sum rental calculation is roughly $80 per square metre, and the lowest is around $21 per sq.m. This figure for land with water surface is $21 per sq.m. The foreign tourist in the general Hospital in Lai Chau Province The General Hospital in the Northern Province of Lai Chau yesterday said that it has saved a 38 year old Ukrainian who was injured in an accident while on tour. Noticeably, medical workers from the National Blood Transfusion and Hematology Institute travelled 500 km from Hanoi to the province to bring rare O Rh(-) for saving the man with rare blood. Director of the General Hospital in Lai Chau Province Dr. Do Van Giang said that on March 28, the Ukraine man was rushed to the hospital when he had injuries in belly causing ruptured spleen and bleeding inside. Test results showed that the rate of red blood cell reduced drastically and the man suffered a shock due to bleeding so much. He needed blood transfusion and timely operation to treat ruptured spleen. However, the hospital has no O Rh (-) in storage. Additionally, transferring in a long distance will threaten his life. Accordingly, the hospital leaders contacted with the National Blood Transfusion and Hematology Institute asking for provision of the rare blood. Soon in the night, blood was brought for the operation later. The man recovered now. The ratio of people in Vietnam with the rare Rh-negative blood types is 0.1 per cent; according since 2007 the National Blood Transfusion and Hematology Institute set up a rare blood Rh (-) club in the North which now has hundreds members. Moreover, the institute has the name of over 1,000 people with Rh (-) blood group who are ready to donate their blood at any time to save patient. By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Mar 30 (PTI) In what is possibly the biggest financial frauds in recent years, NPCI today said Rs 25 crore has been moved out of Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) accounts due to a bug in its UPI application. All the corrective steps have been initiated and the process of recovering the money from 19 banks where it was transferred to, is on, it said. advertisement "Total amount of loss, as reported by BoM, is about Rs 25 crore. Theyve recovered some amount and some amount is still pending. Theyve filed a police complaint also and the investigation is on," National Payment Corporation managing director and chief executive AP Hota told reporters here. Explaining the fraud, Hota said BoM had procured a Unified Payment Interface (UPI) solution from a vendor (reported to be city-based InfrasoftTech) which had a bug that resulted in the fund moving out of the accounts without the senders account having the necessary funds. "Even if the core banking has declined a transaction, the UPI at the bank-level used to send a success message to NPCI. At NPCI, even if the CBS said no, based on UPI of the bank, we used to do the clearing and settlement," Hota said, adding the fraud was first reported to it on February 22. He said about 50-60 people in Aurangabad discovered this loophole possibly through trial and error method. "They have collected a good deal of money. Theyve accounts in 19 other banks. Theyre trying to recover money now," he said. There were three other banks, including Bank of India, which had bought a similar solution from the same vendor but theyve not reported any mishap, Hota said, adding thorough checks have been carried out. The fraud was first reported in the media last week after a few arrests in Maharashtra, but the total amount transferred was under Rs 2 crore. It can be noted that breach of card details due to a compromise at Hitachis end last year, which led to a replacement of 3.2 million debit cards, had a financial loss of under Rs 2 crore. Maintaining that it is up to BoM to take action on its vendor, Hota said NPCI has learnt a lot from this episode. "The learning from this is that were not allowing any bank to join UPI unless theyve a thorough reconciliation process and audited their package by the best of auditors." "As many as 44 banks are on UPI and getting the 45th bank will be a tougher job because we will be very circumspect," he said. advertisement Till now, individual banks used to give a declaration that its application meets all the necessary security norms but now they will be audited by professionals enlisted by the CERT-IN (Computer Emergency Response Team), Hota said. A working group has been set up to create a CERT exclusively for the financial sector. NPCI is a part of the deliberations, he added. PTI AA BEN RSY BAS --- ENDS --- Argentina will raise gas prices an average 24 percent for consumers and companies starting April 1 in its latest bid to cut subsidies, control spending and reduce the country's high fiscal deficit, the government said on Friday. Prices will rise between 19 percent and 34 percent for homes and up to 46 percent for companies, Energy Minister Juan Aranguren said at a news conference. "The increase will end up at an average 24 percent nationwide for the residential and commercial sectors starting tomorrow, April 1," he told reporters. The government held a public hearing on the price rise on March 10. The Supreme Court halted an earlier attempt at raising gas prices in August, saying the government did not hold a required hearing prior to announcing the increase. The Argentine government sets gas prices for the country and has been raising them over the last few months. President Mauricio Macri has implemented a number of market-friendly reforms since taking office in December 2015, including taking the country out of default to return to global credit markets and cutting subsidies after years of free-spending populism left a gaping fiscal deficit. His government expects the deficit to fall from 4.2 percent this year to 3.2 percent in 2018 and 2.2 percent in 2019. Former fighters from Colombias FARC rebel group are handing over thousands of weapons and other materials to international officials in special camps, as the groups six-month disarmament process continues. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace agreement with the government late last year to put an end to their part in Latin Americas longest-running armed conflict, which has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions. Weapons handed over to the United Nations will be stored in secure containers until they can be turned into three memorial statues. The rebels are expected to turn in all arms by June, and about 8,000 are to be registered by this weekend. Rebels move to new homes Members of the Jacobo Arenas rebel unit, which operated in the mountains of Cauca province, were among 6,900 FARC fighters who left behind clandestine camps where they had lived for decades, crisscrossing the country on foot, by boat and by truck to get to 26 zones monitored by the United Nations. The zones will be their homes for the foreseeable future as they complete judicial processes to determine whether they will serve special sentences for war crimes or receive amnesty. Ex-fighters will also reunite with long-lost families and make amends to victims. Concerns about camps Under the terms of the peace accord, the FARC, which began as a peasant uprising 52 years ago, is to form a political movement in the South American nation. The FARCs leadership has raised concerns about conditions in some of the camps, including the lack of permanent toilets and facilities such as gyms they say were agreed to in the accord. Some FARC members have told local media they will not hand over their weapons until the camps are more habitable for fighters, who are well used to rough-and-tumble living conditions in poverty-stricken rural areas. The government says it is working as quickly as possible to finish each camp, that the FARC is partly responsible for construction and that the facilities are far superior to the tarp and bamboo lean-tos traditionally used by the rebels. Local media reported Friday that some fighters may stay in camp areas after they demobilize to continue agricultural projects. The accord has been heavily criticized for sparing rebels jail time. A first version was narrowly rejected in a referendum last year, before being modified and passed by Congress. Authorities have said about 300 rebels are refusing to demobilize. The Cabinet has endorsed nearly all the suggestions made by the Standing committee, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said. The Cabinet on Friday approved amendments in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 9, 2016 and was referred to Departmental Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, headed by Mukul Roy. The Cabinet has endorsed nearly all the suggestions made by the Standing committee, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said. advertisement The bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament next week, the minister said. WHAT IS THE MOTOR VEHICLES BILL The Motor Vehicles Act 1989 is a 30-year-old instrument which had not kept pace with the change of dynamics of road transport and information technology. The bill proposes major amendments to the three-decade old Act that has outlived its utility on several fronts. The proposed law specifically targets traffic offenders with stringent penal provisions. It has identified priority areas for improving road safety. Stricter penalties are proposed for high risk offences such as drunken driving, dangerous driving, overloading, non-adherence to safety norms by drivers (such as use of seat belt, helmets). The bill also provides for facilitating delivery of services to citizens and transporters. It proposes Aadhar-based verification for grant of online services including learner s licence. This would ensure the integrity of the online services and also stop creation of duplicate licences. The bill aims to provide for maximum governance with minimum Government. This would help in reducing the harassment faced by stakeholders at RTO offices. A national data base of vehicles and driving licences would help in safety and security and avoid malpractices. Road safety is a major thrust area for the cause of public health. Nearly 1.5 lakh Indians lost their lives in road accidents last year. --- ENDS --- Rodney Crowell's tender lyrics about a woman with "hair two shades of foxtail red'' in a song that features ex-wife Rosanne Cash makes it an easy leap to assume that he's singing about her. It's not like the thought didn't cross her mind. "If I'm totally honest,'' she said. "Yeah, a little bit.'' But Crowell, whose new album "Close Ties'' is sure to be one of the year's cornerstone releases in the Americana genre, insists he had others in mind while writing "It Ain't Over Yet.'' He was thinking about old friends Susanna and Guy Clark, who both died in recent years. That's fortunate, since he sings: "Takes the right kind of woman to help you put it all in place. It only happened once in my life, but man you should have seen.'' It might have made for awkward dinner conversation with Crowell's current wife, Claudia Church. "Rosanne was a wonderful period in my life,'' Crowell said, "but the 'one' woman is the one I'm with now.'' Susanna Clark was a straight-talking muse for many aspiring Nashville songwriters in the 1970s who figured if she liked one of their songs, they must be on to something, Crowell explained. Crowell understands why people might think he was talking about Cash, who appears on record with her for only the second time since their 12-year marriage broke up in 1992 (he sang backup on a song on her most recent album). They were once Country music's First Couple, taking turns at the top of the charts, and for both their artistry has deepened as the spotlight moved on. They're both also of the school that appreciate listeners who can take their own meanings from songs. Another song on "Close Ties,'' out Friday, was actually written with Cash in mind. More specifically, "Forgive Me Annabelle'' is about Crowell's own actions during their breakup. After an inevitably bitter period, they're friends now. "I passed through a period where I simply did not like myself,'' Crowell said. "If you don't like yourself, you're not liking anybody else. You're pretty miserable. And that's what the narrator is apologizing for. It's saying, 'Forgive me for who I was then.' But, of course, I was already forgiven.'' Crowell recalls pawing through some albums at home and coming upon his own "Diamonds and Dirt'' from 1988, which yielded five No. 1 Country singles. He and his wife laughed at the mullet-haired guy on the cover. "I wanted to be like Dwight Yoakam,'' he said. "He definitely owned 'cool' at that moment.'' He's fueled by a "look back with bemusement'' attitude now. After taking five years off at the turn of the century, Crowell returned as a focused writer, digging deep into his heart and leaving few wasted words. He learned to take his art more seriously than himself. In "I Don't Care Anymore'' he sings: "All those party dolls and favors that I savored from day one add up to next to nothing after all is said and done.'' The funny "Nashville 1972'' recalls his first meeting, at age 22, with Willie Nelson. At a party, of course. "There was hippies and reefer and God knows what all, I was drinking pretty hard,'' he sings. "I played him this shitty song I wrote and puked out in the yard.'' Like most people his age, 66, Crowell is affected by loved ones lost the Clarks, Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen and it's reflected in his music. He's also recently rewritten some of his old songs, notably "Shame on the Moon,'' a 1982 hit for Bob Seger, where he wanted another crack at a verse he didn't like. "He's actually writing the best songs of his life after 45 years, or however long it is,'' Cash said. "His level of commitment has deepened, and as his level of commitment has deepened, his songs have gotten better. That's very inspiring. He's not a dilettante. He's not just out there showing up at the next gig. He's completely devoted to his work and his songwriting and it shows. "As Leonard Cohen said, he's completely employed in the tower of song.'' U.S. President Donald Trump's executive orders on trade deficits and import duty evasion are a sign that Washington plans to move away from free trade and international agreements, German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said on Saturday. Trump instructed his administration on Friday to study the causes of U.S. trade deficits and clamp down on countries that abuse trade rules in two executive orders he said would open a new chapter for U.S. workers and businesses. Zypries said that while the executive orders were initially only reviews, "they show, however, that the U.S. obviously wants to move away from free trade and trade agreements." "We must seek constructive dialogue and explain that the reasons for the U.S. trade deficit are not just abroad," the minister said, adding that she would raise the issue in talks with U.S. counterparts during a trip to Washington in May. For years, the United States has been importing more goods from Germany than it exports to Europe's biggest economy, due to the relatively strong competitiveness of German firms and the high demand among U.S. customers for 'Made in Germany' goods. The resulting U.S. trade deficit with Germany has nearly doubled in the past 10 years from some 28.8 billion euros in 2006 to 49 billion euros in 2016, according to data from Germany's Federal Statistics Office. Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro has accused Germany of exploiting other countries through a "grossly undervalued" euro. This sparked a sharp response from German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said the European Central Bank is in charge of the euro and the central bank is a politically independent body. In a further sign of increased tensions between Germany and the United States, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel urged the European Union on Friday to consider filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the United States over its plan to impose duties on imports of steel plate from five EU member states. As the U.S. Senate prepares for a confirmation vote on Republican President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, Democratic opposition continues to mount. Three more Democratic senators, Claire McCaskill, Richard Blumenthal and Brian Schatz, announced their opposition to Gorsuch Friday, setting up a confrontation with Republicans. Democrats have said they will use a procedure called a filibuster that requires 60 votes to win a confirmation in the 100-seat Senate. Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin but if Democrats can garner 41 votes, they would be able to sustain the filibuster. As of Friday, 36 Democrats said they would support the move. If Democrats gain enough support to block a confirmation in the week ahead, Republicans are expected to try to unilaterally change long-standing Senate rules to allow confirmation by a simple majority. Republicans are incensed at the Democratic plan, arguing filibusters of Supreme Court justices are rare. A partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee has never succeeded. Some Democrats have charged Republicans with stealing a Supreme Court seat last year when the Republican-majority Senate refused to consider U.S. President Barack Obama's nominee, appellate judge Merrick Garland, to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia - who died in February 2016. Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer warned Republicans Friday of changing the rules so that a simple majority is required. Such a rule change could allow all future Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed regardless of opposition from the minority party. In his weekly radio address, President Trump praised Gorsuch for his adherence to the Constitution, the supreme law of the U.S. "In recent years, we've seen more and more judges make decisions not based on the Constitution or the rule of law, but based on their preferences, their personal views, or even their political opinions," Trump said. The president applauded Gorsuch's testimony during recent Senate confirmation hearings, saying "what has been clear to all is that Judge Gorsuch is a man who respects the law. He defends the Constitution. And in doing so, he will protect our freedoms." Gorsuch, 49 years old, is a federal appeals court judge in the western city of Denver, Colorado. If confirmed, Gorsuch would fill the seat vacated by Scalia, and reinstate the nine-seat high court's conservative majority. The chief lieutenant of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in an airstrike in Iraq's al-Anbar province near the Syrian border, Iraqi state television said Saturday. The report said an Iraqi Air Force strike in far western Iraq had killed Ayad al-Jumaili and several other regional IS commanders. The report did not say when the attack occurred and offered no other details. Officials of the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition had not confirmed the extremist's death by Saturday evening. Citing a statement from Iraqi military intelligence officials, the report described Jumaili, also known as Abu Yahya, as the IS war minister. It said, "The air force's planes executed with accuracy a strike on the headquarters of Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the terror group] in al-Qaim." Jumaili, who once served as an intelligence officer under former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, joined the Sunni insurgency after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and analysts said he had since answered directly to Baghdadi. U.S. and Iraqi intelligence officials have said they think Baghdadi has moved his base of operations about 300 kilometers to the northeast and is hiding in the desert outside Mosul. The Iraqi policemen went house to house, kicking in doors, searching through piles of belongings left behind. The Islamic State group had been driven out of this neighborhood of western Mosul, and now the police were going through the slow, tedious work of search for explosives or hidden fighters. The houses were mostly empty since their residents fled, now housed in large camps outside the city. But tension was high during the hunt. Every door or every hole in the road could hide booby traps. Snipers or suicide bombers could be anywhere. But the police felt confident. They talked of themselves as freeing Mosuls civilians from IS. They didnt have a bite to eat. They didnt have food or drink at all. Thankfully, now were gradually liberating them and getting them out of this situation, says Mithaq Sabir, a policeman with the raiding unit in Mosuls Dawasa district earlier this week. On alert But the situation is delicate. When a man approached with a cart, a policeman halted him at a distance, peered under the cart before demanding he show identification. Then a family showed up a man, wife, kids trudging down the street carrying plastic bags. Where are you going? the police barked at them. They were trying to go home. Mustafa Ismael Mustafa, a biology teacher, and his family fled Mosul days ago as the fighting intensified. Now he wanted to come back and he was navigating his way through checkpoints and Mosuls devastation with his wife, three children and brother-in-law. A testy interrogation ensued. Iraqi forces routinely subject local men to checks, looking for IS militants who might be trying to slip out of the city disguised as civilians. The police scrutinized the familys ID papers suspiciously. One asked Mustafa his wifes name and when he replied, the policeman, looking at the spouses name on Mustafas papers, shouted that he was wrong. Mustafa realized. No, I divorced her. I divorced her long ago, he cried, explaining that he had remarried and the papers were not up to date. Finally, they were allowed to pass. A messy homecoming Excited to be returning home, the children dashed up the stairs into the family house. They found the walls charred. What wasnt burned was trashed. Mustafa said IS fighters had set the house ablaze while he and his family were huddled in the cellar for shelter. An IS fighter told them, Get out because I will burn it before the army arrives, Mustafa said. Mustafa collected whatever clothing was left unburned as the sounds of explosions and battle echoed in the background. Police encouraged The police squad was done for the day. Back at their base a residential building that was once someones home they quickly relaxed, smoking cigarettes and waterpipes and watching videos on their phones. Their morale was high. I will never take it off, Sabir declared, pointing to his uniform as his buddies nodded. This uniform will be taken off on one condition: either we achieve victory or I become a martyr. Family discouraged Mustafas family, meanwhile, reluctantly decided they had to go back to the camp. There was no way to stay: Their house was half-burned, there was no electricity or water, the war was still raging a few streets away and they were distrustful of the police. They trudged down devastated streets, building leveled, asphalt buckled. They carried the plastic sacks and school backpacks full of what they could salvage. On their way out, they pass a group of Iraqi policemen and pro-government militia dancing and celebrating by shooting their guns in the air. Israeli police said they shot and killed a Palestinian man Saturday after the man stabbed three people in the old city of Jerusalem. Spokeswoman Luba Samri said the man stabbed two Jewish people before fleeing. A short time later, the man stabbed a border guard before being killed by police. The two Israelis were lightly wounded and the other has more serious injuries, according to police. The incident led to an outbreak of violence, with police using stun grenades on stone-throwing Palestinians. The attack was the second in recent days near the Damascus Gate the main entrance to the Old City. A woman was shot dead Wednesday after she tried to stab police officers with a pair of scissors. Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces have been increasing in recent years. Since September 2015, Palestinians have killed 41 Israelis and two American tourists. Israeli security forces have killed at least 241 Palestinians during that time. A U.S. judge has approved a $25 million deal settling the lawsuits against U.S. President Donald Trump and his now defunct Trump University. The students claimed Trump committed fraud with his assertions that his real estate seminars would help them make money in the real estate market. Some students paid as much as $35,000 to enroll in Trump University. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiels ruling Friday brings an end to a lengthy battle with Trump, who had vowed not to settle the suits. After his stunning presidential win in November, Trump decided to settle the lawsuits, saying he did not have the time for a trial. The California judges ruling settles two California class-action lawsuits and a civil lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Schneiderman said in a statement that Fridays deal will provide relief and hopefully much-needed closure to the victims of Donald Trumps fraudulent university. Curiel said the $25 million settlement was extraordinary because it represented an estimated 80 percent recovery for students. Trump accused American-born Curiel last year during his presidential campaign of being unable to be impartial in the case because of his Mexican ancestry. Trumps comment outraged many people. A case unfolding in a lower Manhattan courtroom has caused political tremors in Honduras, seeming to confirm long-held suspicions that corruption at the highest levels of government helped turn the Central American country into a violent epicenter of the drug trade at the start of this decade. Fabio Porfirio Lobo, the son of the Honduran president in 2010-2013, is preparing to go before a federal judge for sentencing after pleading guilty to his role in a drug-trafficking ring involving members of Honduras' national police. But it is the details of the conspiracy that emerged in testimony and newly released court documents which have captivated people back home by tying his father and a brother of the current president directly to traffickers. Political and civil society groups have been demanding investigations into the allegations, especially against former President Porfirio Pepe Lobo Sosa, who remains a leader in the ruling National Party and is among the wealthiest people in the country, with extensive agricultural land holdings. This is something that everyone suspected, said Edmundo Orellana, a former attorney general of Honduras. But what we didn't know was the extent of the involvement with the politicians. This has been a surprise. A surprising source Most of the new information has come from a surprising source: Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, a once-feared leader of a Honduran trafficking organization known as Los Cachiros. He matter-of-factly admitted taking part in dozens of killings, including the country's former drug czar, as he testified in a largely empty courtroom against the ex-president's son over two days in March. I caused the death of 78 people, he said at one point. Together with politicians and drug traffickers. Rivera Maradiaga had a decade-long career as a trafficker based on the Atlantic coast. He described paying at least $500,000 in bribes directly to the elder Lobo, beginning when he was running for the presidency in 2009 following a coup that ousted the former president and threw Honduras into political chaos. Rivera Maradiaga was seeking protection for his business and against extradition to the U.S. Rivera Maradiaga sketched out what became a close working relationship with the younger Lobo during his father's term in office. It allowed him to ship huge quantities of cocaine to the U.S. in coordination with the cartel led by Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. As U.S. authorities closed in on him, the leader of Los Cachiros surrendered to the Drug Enforcement Administration with his brother in 2013 and became a cooperating witness. As part of their relationship, the president's son connected the head of Los Cachiros to corrupt politicians and police to bring in loads of cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela, according to U.S. prosecutors. They said the son helped the trafficker set up front companies, including a zoo north of the capital, and obtain government contracts that enabled him to launder enormous profits. Brother of Honduras leader named Rivera Maradiaga also testified that Antonio Hernandez, a brother of Honduras' current president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, asked him for a bribe in exchange for government contracts. The brother has denied that allegation. Without support from [the president's son] and Honduran officials, criminality of this magnitude could not have continued, largely unfettered, for as long as it did, prosecutors wrote in a pre-sentencing brief. At the time, Honduras had deteriorated into violent upheaval. In 2011, the U.N. ranked it as the country with the world's highest homicide rate. The U.S. State Department described Honduras as the primary transshipment point for U.S.-bound cocaine and lamented that the country received a 2.4 out of 10 on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. The situation has improved since Lobo left office. The State Department says in its most recent report that the volume of cocaine that passes through Honduras is down 40 percent since 2014, the homicide rate has dropped a third, and a new national police investigative division replaced its historically inept and corrupt predecessor. In December 2014, with the new president in office, the country extradited the first Honduran citizen to the U.S. on a drug-trafficking charge, Carlos Lobo, who is not related to the former president. He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Pence praises government U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met with Honduras' president on March 23 and praised the country's progress fighting drugs and corruption. As a result of the revelations of alleged corruption by Rivera Maradiaga, the Honduran government said it is conducting a wide-ranging investigation that includes at least four anti-corruption prosecution teams to look into allegedly fraudulent government contracts set up to help Los Cachiros launder money. Manuel Retureta, a lawyer for Lobo, has declined to comment but said in a motion filed with the court late Thursday that Rivera Maradiaga has downplayed his role in killings and drug trafficking and his allegations against the former president are irrelevant and unproven. Rivera Maradiaga's word alone is far from sufficient evidence and should be treated with great caution, he said. Help for former gang boss The DEA and federal prosecutors have declined to discuss the case because it is ongoing. Lobo faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced later this year. Rivera Maradiaga has pleaded guilty to charges that include drug trafficking and involvement in the slayings of the 78 people, including a woman killed in November 2013 in Quebec after fleeing the gang in her homeland. He also faces up to life in prison at a sentencing scheduled for April. The former drug gang boss apparently did gain a concession. He said in court that U.S. authorities have allowed his parents and two siblings to come to the United States as he continues to provide assistance. Im in prison, he said. And ever since I signed my agreement with the government I have to tell the truth, testify whenever they ask me to, and not commit any more crimes. Austria's top diplomat on Friday called on both sides of the conflict in Azerbaijan's autonomous breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh to renew the political settlement process. Marking the first anniversary of deadly clashes in the Azeri region, which is populated mostly by ethnic Armenians, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), emphasized his hope for a fresh start in the largely stalled peace negotiations. "Clashes and serious violations of the cease-fire on the Line of Contact, resulting in casualties, were of particular concern to us throughout the past year," Kurz said in a public statement. "It is now high time for a focus on pragmatic and practical steps for confidence-building as well as a resumption of substantive negotiations." The United States, Russia and France, which co-chair OSCE's Minsk Group for conflict mediation, used diplomacy to halt the violence between Armenian-backed separatists and Azeri forces, which was the deadliest incident since a 1994 cease-fire established the current territorial division. Although they have been unable to secure a binding peace resolution, former U.S. Ambassador Carey Cavanaugh said, the renewed push by the OSCE presents a rare opportunity for U.S. and Russian coordination. "President [Donald] Trump had made clear during his campaign, and since then, that he would like to find a way to have more positive relations with Russia. This might be one of those areas where that is more easily tackled," said Cavanaugh, who once co-chaired the Minsk Group as a special negotiator alongside Russian and French diplomats. Opportunity to surprise "For two decades we've been working together as co-chairs on this, and I can tell you as a former co-chair and I have talked with my successors that the cooperation would surprise people," he said. Unlike the Syrian and Ukrainian conflicts, Nagorno-Karabakh is place where U.S. and Russian interests converge. Considering the constant cease-fire violations since the 2016 clashes left more than 100 people dead, Nagorno-Karabakh, he said, cannot be considered a frozen conflict, but rather "a simmering one, which needs a lot of attention and has a lot of danger." The only solution that can prevent further violence is close coordination between U.S. and Russian diplomats, whose nations would both benefit from a sustained peace in the region. But that can only happen, Cavanaugh said, if both Azeri and Armenian-aligned factions show Washington and Moscow that they are ready to re-engage the peace process. "The sides need to send clear signals to Moscow, to Washington, to Paris, that they are prepared now really to work on peace again." This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Armenian service. Pakistans unilateral decision to build a wall along the de facto border with Afghanistan is proving popular at home while fanning emotions on the other side that were enflamed by Islamabads decision to close border crossings. In both cases, the stated reason was to halt terror attacks in Pakistan that it has blamed on terrorists operating from havens in Afghanistan, although it remains unclear how effective that restricting travel along the porous border can be. Pakistans army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, announced last Saturday that work has begun, with the first priority on border areas in Bajaur and Mohmand agencies because they are considered high threat zones. Trench half done Comparisons were immediately drawn with President Donald Trumps promise to build a wall along the Mexico border to prevent illegal immigration and keep out drug traffickers and other criminals. Sections of the 2,500-kilometer Pakistan-Afghan border wind their way around and over mountainous terrain that will be hard to close off. Pakistan finished a trench along about half the length last year that did nothing to prevent a recent string of terrorist bombings that ended a relatively quiet period brought about by an ongoing military operation. Afghanistan also accuses Pakistan of allowing terrorists to operate from the tribal areas. Both Washington and Kabul believe the Haqqani network, al-Qaida and the Taliban Shura either carry out or plan terrorist attacks in Afghanistan from Pakistans soil. Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Daulat Waziri told a news conference Tuesday that Pakistan can be a good friend of Afghanistan if Pakistan ends support to terrorists. Both sides deny allowing terrorists to use their territory for cross-border attacks. Fencing inevitable Islamabad closed all border crossings with landlocked Afghanistan a month ago but reopened the crossings earlier this week to allow legal travelers and thousands of stranded Afghanistan-bound shipping containers to resume their journeys. Brig. Mahmood Shah, the former security chief for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, said the repeated attacks made fencing inevitable and that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has committed $115 million to the project. Proper securing of borders with mutual consultation will put an end to allegations of cross-border incursions of militants that has vitiated the relations between the brotherly neighbors Pakistan and Afghanistan, former Pakistani President Asiz Zardari added in a statement. Pakistani defense analyst Maria Sultan said the fence also will help tamp down drug trafficking. Better border management is also in the interest of Afghanistan and Kabul should cooperate, Sultan said. Popular in Islamabad Sentiment on the streets of Islamabad backed the decision, too. I think, on the Pak Afghan border, security measures need to be taken said Khalid Mahmood. Because from there, the wrong kind of people terrorists come into our country. I think its a very good thing. It should already be in place. I think we are already late. No country allows anyone to enter in his or her country without a visa. Added Muhammed Ali: Many people cross the border from there (Afghanistan), spread terror and go back. Many of our Pak Army men and innocent people are killed in these incidents. This is unacceptable. But not in Kabul Feelings ran just the opposite in Afghanistan, which never has accepted the so-called Durand Line drawn by Britain at the turn of the 20th century as an official border. Neither the Afghan government nor the people living on both sides of the imaginary Durand Line can allow Pakistans unilateral actions, said Javed Ahmed Wafa, a spokesman for Afghanistans ministry for tribal affairs and border regions. Last June, at least four people were killed when Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged artillery fire over Pakistan building a formal border control mechanism at Torkham, the main border crossing between the two countries. This will affect lots of people on both sides of the Durand Line, Syed Ishaq Gillani, the head of the National Solidarity Movement of Afghanistan and a member of the Afghan Parliament, told VOAs Urdu service. It will create division among families. Pakistan should have not done this in haste. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan should have resolved this issue through dialogue. It will also affect tribesmen (on both sides). The Durand Line passes through villages, where families live straddling the border. Amin Akbar Haswani, saw it both ways. If we invest in security, its a long-term investment. It will have better impact on business, Haswani said. But this fencing should not have an impact on people-to-people contacts and bilateral businesses. By India Today Web Desk: Crushing over celebrities is as innate to human beings as drooling over desserts, and we've all been there. Musicians have always been a major attraction to us because music is just super-appealing. Imagine how painful it would be if you're a straight person who discovered that the celeb you've been crushing on for the longest of time is of the same sex as you. This is what has happened with almost nine lakh fans of the Chinese boy or girl band Acrush. Picture courtesy: Instagram/Miloo.o advertisement The boy or girl band Acrush, is actually a group of five androgynous girls, and Chinese women who have fallen head-over-heels in love with them (and even fantasised their lives together) are drastically shocked and heartbroken. The supposed-boy-band is a sensation on the Chinese social media website called Tencent. Picture courtesy: Instagram/ffc.acrush_ind The fans came across this revelation when the website conducted a series of musical events called the Husband Exhibition, introducing the new upcoming band at Chinese universities. The band will be launched officially in April, but the Chinese fans have had their eyes on this 'boy band' ever since their pictures have been floated after their musical tours. Also Read : Here's why we don't buy Melania Trump's speech on women's empowerment The English term 'Husband' has been given a new meaning by the Chinese--it refers to an attractive male celebrity who women fantasize about, and wish to marry. We can totally feel the pain of losing a crush to different sexual orientation, and it's just heart wrenching. Picture courtesy: Instagram/Niko_wer Picture courtesy: Instagram/Niko_wer According to the officials, the idea of forming an androgynous band had been floating for some time, and the members were chosen after screening a number of women. The members of Acrush have always been inclined towards dressing like men, and they have faced issues confirming their identities to people. As sad as it is for the Chinese women, we are impressed with the idea of forming an androgynous band. Music is an art form, it needs no sexual barriers and conformism to have a an audience. These women have chosen to be comfortable in what they look like, and it makes them all the more appealing. In a world where external beauty dominates, Chinese women are breaking barriers and, umm, hearts too. --- ENDS --- A fugitive anti-state Pakistani extremist leader has asked followers to find and execute blasphemers in the country for insulting Islam and its Prophet Muhammad. In a video message sent Saturday to VOA and other media outlets, Fazlullah Khurasani, who heads the militant Tehrike-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), issued the threat without identifying the alleged blasphemers. TTP, which is commonly referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, has been waging deadly attacks for years against the state, killing tens of thousands of Pakistanis, including security forces. It is the right time to seek them out and finish them. Our fighters are looking for them and we also need youth in schools and colleges, or wherever they are to take revenge and punish them for insulting our Prophet Muhammad, Khurasani said. Flanked by other commanders and masked security guards, the militant leader spoke in native Pashto with subtitling in Urdu, Pakistans national language. It was not immediately known where Khurasani recorded his message because Pakistani authorities maintain that he and his fighters have taken refuge in neighboring Afghanistan after fleeing military operations on the Pakistan side of the border separating the two countries. Authorities already under fire The militant threat comes at a time when authorities in Pakistan already are under fire for taking certain actions that critics believe are fueling religious intolerance and extremist behavior in the society. Five social media bloggers had been briefly detained, allegedly by Pakistani security agencies, for placing blasphemous content online, though the government has denied its involvement. The young men re-emerged and returned to their families last month after about four weeks and before fleeing Pakistan. Some of the bloggers have since alleged through media interviews they were taken away by state institutions for being critical of the powerful military and refuted blasphemy charges as fabricated. On Friday, the chief judge of the high court in Islamabad instructed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to continue with its probe into online blasphemous content and arrange for bringing the five bloggers back to Pakistan in case any evidence was found against them. Anti-blasphemy crackdown Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered authorities last month to crack down on suspects in Pakistan involved in posting blasphemous material on social media. The government also has approached Facebook and Twitter to seek their assistance in discouraging Pakistanis from indulging in such offensive activities from abroad. Critics, however, see the crackdown as an attempt to deter political descent in the name of religion, and they fear it is encouraging Islamist militants. Separately, an anti-terrorism court in the Pakistani capital last week turned three online bloggers into the custody of the FIA so it can investigate blasphemy charges against them and determine whether they should be formally tried and punished. Rights activists have accused successive governments of using the countrys blasphemy laws to deter political opponents and media commentators. The laws carry severe punishments, including the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. In its 2016 annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom observed that for years, the Pakistani government has failed to protect citizens, minority and majority alike, from sectarian and religiously-motivated violence, USCIRF is aware of nearly 40 individuals currently sentenced to death or serving life sentences for blasphemy in Pakistan, it read. Protesters stormed and set fire to Paraguay's Congress on Friday after the Senate secretly voted for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election, a change that will also require approval by the House. The country's constitution has prohibited re-election since it was passed in 1992 after a brutal dictatorship fell in 1989. "A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us," said Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party. Television images showed protesters breaking windows of the South American country's Congress after several hours of escalating violence and confrontations with police. Demonstrators burned tires and removed parts of the fences surrounding the Congress building, and police in riot gear responded by lobbing tear gas and firing rubber bullets. Several politicians and journalists were injured, local media reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said many police were hurt. The number of casualties was unknown. Several people were inside Congress as the flames spread. Television images showed firefighters arriving on foot to fight the blaze. Secret Session The Senate voted earlier on Friday during a special session in a closed office in Congress rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber. Opponents of the measure, who claim it would weaken Paraguay's democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal. The proposal goes to the House, where it appeared to have strong support. A vote expected to take place early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down, said the chamber's President Hugo Velazquez. "I call for calm," Velazquez said. "Tomorrow we will not take any decision; we will not hold a session. Several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Peru and Chile, prevent presidents from running for consecutive terms in a region where the memories of military dictatorships remain ripe. Others, including Colombia and Venezuela, have changed their constitutions to give sitting presidents a chance at re-election. Paraguay's measure would apply to future presidents and Cartes, a soft-drink and tobacco mogul elected to a five-year term in 2013. His strongest backers want him to be allowed to run for another term next year, but critics of the measure have said a constitutional change aimed at benefiting a sitting president would be unfair. The change would also apply to former President Fernando Lugo, whose supporters want to be allowed to run for another term. "Everything was done legally," said Senator Carlos Filizzola of the leftist Guasu Front coalition, which supports the constitutional amendment as a way of allowing Lugo to return as Paraguay's leader. Poland's defense minster said Friday that he expected to sign a multibillion-dollar deal with U.S. firm Raytheon to buy eight Patriot missile defense systems this year. Antoni Macierewicz told reporters in Warsaw that the $7.6 billion deal was necessary in light of what he called "a growing threat from the East." Poland has increased efforts to modernize its military since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine three years ago. "Those systems allow us to guarantee the security of the Polish state," Macierewicz said. Deputy Defense Minister Bartosz Kownacki said the missile system would help protect against Russian missiles based in Kaliningrad, an enclave of Russian territory between Poland's northeastern border and Lithuania. Raytheon also expressed satisfaction that the deal was moving forward. Congress must approve any contract for the sale of advanced U.S. military technology. Macierewicz said the Polish government and Raytheon "concluded a very important stage of our discussions on the acquisition of medium-range missile systems to ensure Poland's security.'' He said that some issues were still outstanding, but that the deal could be signed by the end of 2017 if all conditions were agreed upon. The defense minister acknowledged the talks were sometimes difficult and said Raytheon's earlier price estimate for the missile systems, $12.7 billion, was "unacceptable." 1 A woman wears a banner over her mouth with a message that reads in Spanish: "Venezuela lives in a dictatorship" during a protest, in Caracas, March 31, 2017. The top Democrat on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Adam Schiff, faulted the White House for waiting until Friday to share with him information it provided to his Republican counterpart last week. Schiff visited the White House Friday and viewed documents that were precisely the same as those seen last week by the committees chairman, Congressman Devin Nunes. While I cannot discuss the content of the documents, if the White House had any concern over these materials, they should have been shared with the full committees in the first place, as a part of our ordinary oversight responsibilities, Schiff said. Nunes controversy Nunes sparked a controversy last week when he said he received information from an undisclosed source at the White House that conversations by President Donald Trump and his staff had been swept up as incidental collection by U.S. spy agencies targeting foreign agents. Nunes did not initially disclose that he viewed the information at the White House. Nunes then spoke with reporters and the president about the material without informing any of the other 21 members on the House Intelligence Committee, angering Democrats, who questioned Nunes credibility. He later apologized to the committee for not first telling them about the information. Interviewed Friday by a television station in his home district in California, Nunes said media reports this week were mostly wrong in saying that the information he saw came from two White House officials. Were not going to get into sources and methods. I mean, if not, whos going to ever come to our committee? But I can tell you that those reports are mostly wrong, he said. Trump, who earlier this month tweeted unsubstantiated allegations that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his campaign while he ran for office, has said he felt somewhat vindicated by Nunes statement about the surveillance. No evidence of wiretapping FBI Director James Comey has said there is no information to support Trumps allegation that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower. Trump has asked Congress to investigate. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Friday that Nunes did nothing wrong in coming to the White House, and he brushed off questioners who asked why Nunes briefed Trump about information he acquired from two White House officials in the first place. What occurred between Chairman Nunes in coming here was both routine and proper, Spicer said, adding that Nunes was doing his job to investigate allegations of surveillance. Nunes, as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, is leading a congressional investigation into Russias involvement in the 2016 election, including possible ties between Trump associates and Russia. He has been accused by some Democrats of being too close to Trump to lead the investigation. Schiff went to the White House Friday at the Trumps administrations invitation. While at the White House, officials say, Schiff also met with Trump. Neither commented on the meeting. Somalias new prime minister, Hassan Ali-Khaire, said he is mobilizing his government to tackle corruption and vowed to make the fight against misconduct a non-negotiable principle in his administration. Speaking at an official handover ceremony from the outgoing finance minister, Mohamed Adan Ibrahim "Farketi", to the new minister, Abdirahman Duale Beyle, Khaire expressed his concerns about the need for Somalia to be governed on transparency principles. I and the president will never accept public property embezzlement, and we will crusade against those involving corruption, he said. Where there is a corruption, there will never be an achievement. For nearly two decades, Somalia has been among the world's most corrupt countries and on the top of the list of the corruption watchdog Transparency International. Sick mentality Nepotism, favoritism, bribery, the public fund and aid embezzlement has been a commonplace across all sectors, making many citizens to start believing that corruption is a normal way of life. Prime Minister Khaire warned his new cabinet members about corruption. You have been trusted with the public tax, and you must avoid all kinds of corruption. Let us eradicate that sick mentality, Khaire said. Somalia is an aid-dependent nation. Locally, the government receives meager resources from taxes on import and export goods at Mogadishus seaport and airports, but experts say most of the revenue is stolen. It is a shame that Somali government could not pay the salaries of its staff members and security forces while it could have some source of income. I think the reason is mismanagement of the public funds, Khaire said. Declaration of assets On Thursday, holding their first meeting, Prime Minister Khaire told his new cabinet and other public servants to declare their assets as a part of his governments anti-corruption effort. The officials for public offices will submit their assets report to the prime minister and they will be periodically revisited to make sure they are free of corruption, Somalias information minister, Abdurahman Omar Osman, told VOA Somali. The main aim of the declaration of assets is to prevent corruption and to increase transparency and the trust of the public administration, Osman said. Alongside this effort the new Somali government is struggling to assert its authority across the country as it deals with a devastating drought and terror from militants. A journalist from the independent Somali television station Goobjoog was abducted at gunpoint Saturday outside Mogadishu after receiving threatening phone calls overnight, his wife said. Television news producer Hanad Ali Guled was outside his home and headed to work when six masked men kidnapped him early Saturday. Ahmedwali Hussein, an editor at the station, said Guled called his family from an unknown location and told them he was being tortured. In a post on its website, Goobjoog said the threats Guled received were related to his work on drought-relief campaigns. Guled is the co-founder of Media for Aid, a program aimed at encouraging people to help drought victims. No one so far has claimed responsibility for the abduction. Goobjoog is calling for his immediate release. A Taliban suicide car bomber killed an Afghan regional base commander and two soldiers Saturday in the southeastern province of Khost, officials and insurgents said. A government spokesman, Mubarez Zadran, told VOA the Afghan forces were targeted in Mando district. The powerful blast also wounded six students from a nearby school, most of whom suffered life-threatening injuries. A Taliban spokesman who said insurgents carried out the assault claimed the explosion had killed five Afghan special forces members. He asserted the slain Afghan commander was a "trustworthy" partner of U.S. forces and had worked closely with them in the region. Khost borders Pakistan and was formerly a stronghold of the notorious Haqqani terrorist network, which is fighting alongside the Taliban against local and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Kabul alleges Haqqani fighters stage their attacks from sanctuaries inside Pakistan and contends they receive support from Pakistani intelligence claims that Islamabad denies. Insurgent attacks in Afghanistan have risen sharply in recent days, as they often do when springtime weather approaches. More than 130 people from 23 states converged on Capitol Hill to lobby for Tibet the week before Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida on April 6. Although the leaders' meeting is expected to focus on trade and the need for China to do more to rein in the nuclear and missile programs of its neighbor and ally North Korea, Tibet remains a contentious issue between the two nations. "Congress has shown a strong interest in Tibet since the 1980s, passing dozens of laws and resolutions related to Tibet, speaking out about conditions in Tibet, and welcoming visits by the Dalai Lama," according to a 2014 report by the Congressional Research Service. "Such actions have long been a source of friction in the U.S.-China relationship. China charges that they amount to support for challenges to Chinese rule in Tibet." Bhuchung Tsering of the International Campaign for Tibet in Washington, which organized Tibet Lobby Day, said, "Looking at the meeting of President Xi of China and President Trump, we want to send a message to President Trump, through Congress and to Trump directly, that there is traditional bipartisan support for dialog with China on Tibet," he said, adding "Secretary [of State Rex] Tillerson says he is committed to promoting dialogue on Tibet and receiving the Dalai Lama." Tibet Lobby Day was held simultaneously in Washington, Brussels and Canberra, Australia, March 27-29. "U.S. policy has not changed," Anna Richey-Allen, a spokeswoman for the State Department's East Asia and Pacific Bureau, said Friday, adding that the U.S. recognizes the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and Tibetan autonomous prefectures to be a part of the People's Republic of China. "We remain deeply concerned about human rights abuses and restrictions, including those imposed on religious freedom, in the TAR and elsewhere in China," she said. "We remain committed to supporting meaningful autonomy for Tibetans and the preservation of their unique religious, cultural and linguistic traditions. "The United States encourages the People's Republic of China to engage with the Dalai Lama and his representative without preconditions." Ngawang Norbu of Boston, Massachusetts, was one of the Tibetan-Americans and Tibet supporters who spoke with more than 250 members of Congress and their staffs during Tibet Lobby Day. The activists asked them to continue funding Tibet programs and to promote efforts to gain access to Tibetan areas for U.S. officials, citizens and journalists. They also want the Trump administration to implement the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 (TPA), which has the stated purpose of supporting "the aspirations of the Tibetan people to safeguard their distinct identity." "The important thing today is that there's a new administration in America and, along with that, the exile Tibetan administration in India has declared 2017 to be a year of action for Tibet, and so that's why I'm here," Norbu told VOA on Wednesday. "It's our responsibility and obligation to lobby for Tibet, and whether our requests are responded to or not is, of course, up to the leadership here, but in our mind we think our objectives and efforts will bear fruit." Bhuchung expects to see the reintroduction of the proposed Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act by Representative Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts; Representative Randy Hultgren, a Republican from Illinois; Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican; and Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat. North Carolinian Marah Litchford, who has expressed concern about religious freedom in Tibet, participated in the Washington movement. "They listen," she said. "You just have to talk loudly." The Trump administration escalated its criticism of Moscow Friday, with two of its most senior officials denouncing Russias treatment of Ukraine and reiterating a vow to maintain U.S. sanctions. In his first visit to a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Russia of aggression in Ukraine and told his counterparts that their alliance is fundamental to countering both nonviolent, but at times violent, Russian agitation in the region. He also said U.S. sanctions against Moscow will remain in effect until it reverses the actions that triggered them. Washington imposed the sanctions in response to Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimean peninsula and expanded them after Moscow began providing military aid to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Tillersons previous language on Russia had been more conciliatory. After his first meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a Group of 20 major economies meeting in Bonn in February, Tillerson said the U.S. wants to find new common ground with Russia and expects it to honor commitments to de-escalate violence in Ukraine as part of the 2015 Minsk agreement. U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, whose role is subordinate to Tillerson, similarly criticized Russian aggression and vowed to keep U.S. sanctions in place in remarks to the U.N. Security Council February 2. U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis also fired a verbal attack at Russia Friday. Echoing language he used in February, Mattis told reporters in London that Russian violations of international law are now a matter of record from what happened with Crimea to other aspects of their behavior in mucking around inside other peoples elections a likely reference to U.S. allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign. Senior Russian lawmaker Alexey Pushkov was not amused by the U.S. verbal assaults. In a Friday tweet, he said the new U.S. administration sounds like the old one Mattis is indistinguishable from (former Defense Secretary Ash) Carter, Tillerson is talking about Russian aggression. (Barack) Obama and (Hillary) Clinton must be happy. Bloomberg reported that Tillersons tough language on Russia was well-received by NATO officials. But NATOs previous secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told VOA Persian that he believes the Trump administration should go further. After speaking at a Hudson Institute forum in Washington Thursday, Rasmussen said the U.S. should strengthen its sanctions in response to what he called Russias continued destabilization of eastern Ukraine. Watch: Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on US Sanctions Tillerson and Mattis made no reference in their new remarks to Russias plans for more weapons sales to Iran, a nation the Trump administration has warned against threatening the U.S. or its Middle East allies. A Russian lawmaker who heads the upper house of parliaments defense and security committee, Viktor Ozerov, visited Iran last November and told reporters that Tehran was in talks to buy $10 billion worth of Russian military hardware. Ozerov said any Russian deliveries of conventional weapons to Iran likely will have to wait until 2020 when U.N. restrictions on arms sales to Tehran expire. Moscow had taken a major step to boost military cooperation with Tehran before Ozerovs announcement, delivering an S-300 advanced air defense system to Iran last year. U.S. officials responded to the Russian-Iranian weapons talks with alarm, according to The Washington Free Beacon news site. It quoted State Department officials as saying they had long been working behind the scenes to persuade Moscow not to sell weapons to Iran. Former NATO deputy secretary general Alexander Vershbow, who also spoke at Thursdays Washington forum, told VOA Persian he does not think U.S. sanctions alone can stop Russia from arming Iran. Watch: Former NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow on US Sanctions and Russia To be effective, the U.S. would have to adopt a unified sanctions approach with Europe, Vershbow said. While some sanctions imposed on Russia because of Ukraine may cover the Russian defense as well as financial sectors, targeting additional sanctions against Moscow specifically because of Iran may not be an easy issue for agreement with Europe, given its desire not to harm the Iran nuclear deal. Iran agreed to curb activities that could produce nuclear weapons as part of a 2015 deal with world powers, who agreed to ease sanctions against Tehran in return. This report was produced in collaboration with VOAs Persian Service. Former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader CK Jaffer Shareef has said there is nothing wrong in making RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat the next President of India. Shareef termed him a 'patriot'. By Brijesh Pandey, Himanshu Mishra: Senior Congress leader and former Railway Minister CK Jaffer Shareef has backed the idea to make RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat the next President of India. CK Jaffer Shareef has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, "I personally feel nobody should find fault with Mohan Bhagwat's name being considered for President." The former Railway Minister praised Mohan Bhagwat for his 'commitment to the Constitution of India'. "...there should not be any doubt about his patriotism, love for the people of India, loyalty to the nation and commitment to the Constitution of India and to the democracy." advertisement Shareef further said that RSS supported the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after the Bangladesh war in the 'national interest'. "Why anyone should now become small and narrow-minded to say that we have no faith and confidence in an India, who is patriot and who is wedded to democracy and also working for the welfare of the people," the veteran Congress leader asked. Former Railway Minister CK Jaffer Shareef. (Photo: PTI file) Shareef also refused to buy the argument that with Bhagwati in President's chair, Muslims would have to live in fear. "As a Muslim and a person belonging to minority community of India, I feel that the minorities should not have any fear or crisis of confidence in Mohan Bhagwat's name being considered," Shareef said. This letter comes close on the heels of SM Krishna joining the BJP. Like Krishna, Shareef has been an old Congress hand in Karnataka, which is heading to Assembly polls next year. Letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi written by CK Jaffer Shareef on March 29. Meanwhile, the Congress rushed to declare Shareef's backing of Mohan Bhagwat as his personal opinion. Congress leader Tom Vadakkan said that this was 'personal opinion of CK Jaffer Shareef' and that the Congress 'will comment on it once it is official'. A senior BJP leader said that Mohan Bhagwat is just an excuse to reach out to senior party leadership as he himself has made it clear that all the talk of him being in the race for the post of President was not true. But this letter clearly reflects which way wind is blowing in Karnataka, he said. Earlier, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut had suggested that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat be made the next President of India. ALSO READ | Shiv Sena bats for Mohan Bhagwat as President of India WATCH | Congress leader Jaffer Sharief bats for RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat as President --- ENDS --- With the capture of a strategic airfield in northern Syria this week from Islamic State, U.S.-backed forces and the American military have access to five air installations in the region, a network that can prove decisive in the fight against Islamic State, according to U.S. officials and analysts. Two U.S. officials told VOA that American engineers and crews were working on repairing and restoring the airfield near Tabqa dam that was taken by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on Sunday. U.S. General Carlton Everhart, commander of the Air Force's Air Mobility Command, told VOA that his men had airlifted SDF forces behind IS lines to allow them to launch the attack that captured the airfield. Everhart would not confirm or deny whether his men were repairing the Tabqa airfield, because of operational security, but said his men would be able to do so at a moment's notice. In 2014, IS fighters gained control of the air base from Syrian forces, killing at least 160 soldiers in the battle. It was formerly a Syrian government maintenance and attack base for Syrian air force MiG fighters purchased from Russia. SDF commanders told VOA that the airfield was in tatters when it was captured, and that Islamic State fighters had destroyed much of the infrastructure. With repairs, though, the airfield could be used for flying in supplies, military hardware and troops to help SDF rout IS from its nearby de facto capital, Raqqa, Kurdish officials say. The capture of Tabqa airfield comes as the U.S.-led coalition has been quietly increasing its aerial capability in northern Syria to include more landing areas and bases for taking the fight to IS. Kobani to play role U.S. military officials and SDF commanders told VOA on Friday that an airbase in Kobani will be the headquarters for U.S.-led coalition operations to retake Raqqa. The Kobani base includes an airfield that was built from scratch by U.S. forces, they said. The base has been up and running for a while, one U.S. military official said, but is still a work in progress. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the U.S. military official said the airbase about 110 kilometers north of Raqqa would be used in the same way as Qayyarah Airfield West in Iraq is being used for operations to retake Mosul. Last week, U.S. Major General Jay Silveria said that the installations in Iraq and Syria were key for setting a posture for the fight to continue against Islamic State. Silveria, the deputy commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, told reporters that Air Force engineers had restored a Syrian airfield so it is capable of receiving regular shipments of ammunition and supplies. In March alone, Silveria said, the airfield was used for at least 50 landings by C-17s and more than 100 landings by C-130 military cargo planes. The Kobani airfield is used more due to its size and because it is better equipped, SDF commander Nasser Haj Mansour told VOA. Kobani and the newly seized airfield in Tabqa increase the capability of the U.S.-led coalition to strike from the air and resupply troops on the ground. Those bases add to three others already controlled by U.S. allies in the region: Syrian Kurds built an airbase last year on farmland known as Abu Hajar airport in the Rmelan area and nearly doubled the length of the runaway to initially allow for delivery of cargo. Two other airfields in the region, one formerly used for agricultural purposes and the other a former Syrian military base, have also been expanded by Kurdish forces. Alternatives to Turkey's Incirlik Since the rise of Islamic State, the U.S.-led coalition has used Incirlik Air Base in Turkey as the main staging area for air attacks against IS in Syria and in northern Iraq. The base is also used to support U.S.-based forces in both countries. But relations between the U.S. and Turkey have become increasingly frayed over American support for Kurdish forces in the Syrian civil war and Turkish demands for the extradition from the U.S. of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish leadership blames for July's failed coup in Turkey. Ankara opposes Washington's support for the Syrian Kurdish forces fighting IS. Ankara contends the SDF's Syrian Kurdish militia, known as the YPG, is a terrorist group affiliated with the outlawed PKK the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has been battling the Turkish state for many years. Although U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hailed Turkey as a trusted ally in the fight against IS during his visit to Ankara this week, Turkish officials have continued to issue veiled threats of reprisals for the support Washington has given to Syrian Kurdish fighters. Turkey could, for example, place restrictions on flights by U.S. and coalition aircraft from the NATO base at Incirlik. However, analysts note that the U.S.-led coalition's efforts to upgrade air facilities in northern Syria could eventually reduce its reliance on the Incirlik base. Any alternative to Incirlik reduces Turkish bargaining power and leverage, said Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official who is now an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. Gonul Tol, the Middle East Institute's program director for Turkey, told VOA that bases like Tabqa are not yet viable alternatives to the scope of Incirlik. "Incirlik is a NATO base, al-Tabqa is not," he said. "Al-Tabqa does not measure up to NATO military standards. I don't think it can be an alternative to Incirlik. Air bases in Eastern Europe may be an alternative, but not al-Tabqa in Syria." U.S. commander Everhart said the fight against IS has no bounds, and that his forces will take the fight to IS no matter where they are based in the region, whether it is in Incirlik or whether it is at al-Udeid [in Qatar] or whether it is at another place. VOA's Kasim Cindemir contributed to this report. A group of 31 U.S. colleges and universities is supporting a legal challenge to President Donald Trumps restrictions on travel to the United States by refugees and visitors from certain Muslim-majority countries, asserting the executive order would harm their efforts to provide quality education and promote the free exchange of ideas. Federal courts have suspended enforcement of Trumps immigration orders, at least temporarily, but legal action is underway by several states that hope to make the temporary restraining order permanent. The university group, including many of the most prestigious and elite U.S. institutions of higher education, filed a friend-of-the-court brief Friday in a federal appeals court that is to hear arguments in the case in May. Harvard, Yale and all other members of the eastern universities known as the Ivy League, plus renowned schools across the country, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the University of Chicago to Stanford University in California, all joined in the court statement, which seeks to support efforts by Maryland, one of the state governments trying to overturn President Trumps immigration orders. Lengthy court battle expected The federal government, which contends Trumps policies are intended to protect U.S. national security, has appealed against a lower courts ruling that suspended enforcement of the presidents executive order. Regardless of how appeals courts rule on these cases, many legal analysts expect the dispute will ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court. In their brief a statement filed in court Friday known as amicus curiae (from a friend of the court) the universities asked for Trumps travel ban to be permanently rejected because it limits their ability to attract top-tier academic talent from around the world and adversely affects their current faculty members and students. In a related development, a federal judge in Hawaii extended indefinitely his order suspending enforcement of the Trump orders. State officials in Hawaii had specifically argued that the presidential order would harm to state-funded schools by adversely affecting their ability to accept students and recruit faculty. The federal government appealed the ruling in Honolulu to an appellate court in San Francisco, which will hear the case later. The presidents executive order a directive to government departments that does not require approval by Congress temporarily blocked all refugees trying to enter the United States and sought to halt all travel to the United States by anyone from six Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Some travelers who acquired valid U.S. visas before the executive order was issued March 6 would be exempted from the order, but the universities and other opponents of the presidents policies contend the directive has had and will have a chilling effect on many foreign travelers considering a trip to the U.S., as well as foreign nationals currently living in the country who may now be reluctant to attempt trips abroad. Trumps first immigration order failed The current executive order was Trumps second attempt to impose immigration restrictions. An order he signed January 27, less than a week after his inauguration, was stopped by the courts. Judges who issued restraining orders against both executive orders cited as one of their reasons Trumps frequent pledges during last years political campaign that he would ban Muslims from entering the country. The universities wrote in their court statement: Recognizing the invaluable contributions of international students, faculty, staff and scholars, [the universities] make significant efforts to attract the most talented individuals from around the globe. The executive order at issue here, like its predecessor, threatens [U.S. universities] ability to continue to attract these individuals and thus to meet their goals of educating tomorrows leaders. The immigration order as written, the universities said, divides current students and their families, impairs the ability of American universities to draw the finest international talent, and inhibits the free exchange of ideas. The 40-page brief argues that enrolling and employing international students, faculty and scholars benefits not just the United States, but the entire world: International students, faculty, and scholars make significant scientific, technological, social and political contributions ... above and beyond the benefits to [their university] communities. Travel ban could hurt US economy The document quoted estimates by the Association of International Educators that during the 2015-2016 academic year, international students contributed $32.8 billion to the United States economy and supported or contributed to the creation of 400,000 American jobs. Other estimates range far higher, both in terms of economic activity and U.S.-based jobs. Reducing the international presence on American college campuses will diminish the academic experience nationwide, the court brief stated. This diversity promotes the free exchange of ideas, encouraging individuals to consider issues from different perspectives and giving students and faculty a greater understanding of our global, pluralistic society, it said. A crowd of more than 1,000 people in Utahs Democratic stronghold booed Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart at a Friday night town hall as the congressman defended GOP positions on health care, public lands and immigration. Audience members yelled, Do your job, imploring him to investigate and denounce connections between President Donald Trumps campaign and Russia and to hold the new administration accountable. Stewart started the event at a high school in Salt Lake City by acknowledging that many in the crowd likely didnt vote for him, but he said he thinks its still important to hear them one of the few comments he made that received applause. First town hall since February The event marked the first town hall by a member of the states all-Republican congressional delegation since Rep. Jason Chaffetz was shouted down by a cacophony of boos at a February town hall. Chaffetz later claimed that some of those in attendance were paid protesters. Before Stewarts event started Friday night, Democratic state Sen. Jim Dabakis of Salt Lake City said he wanted to ensure attendees were also paid, and he handed out Russian rubles to dozens of people waiting in line to enter. While many in the crowd were angered by Stewarts answers, including his defense of Trumps proposed border wall with Mexico, shouting and boos did not reach the same level of discord that Chaffetz faced. Audience members held signs that read agree and disagree, to show how they felt about audience questions and the congressmans responses. Many in the crowd stood and shouted, at times making it difficult to hear part of Stewarts comments. Some of the loudest objections came in response to questions about the president and Russia. Laura Wolf of Salt Lake City asked Stewart, who serves on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, whether he was concerned about Russian interference in the U.S. election and Trumps possible ties, or whether he was just concerned about leaks of classified information. Im equally concerned about both and we want to find out the answer to both, he said. Criticized for supporting Trump Stewart, who has been in office since early 2013, has been criticized by some Utah voters for his support of Trump in the election and Republican plans to repeal and replace President Barack Obamas health care law. Just before the election last November, Stewart said he would vote for Trump, despite having denounced him for comments in a 2005 Access Hollywood tape in which the president bragged about groping women. Stewart said last year that he was supporting Trump in order to prevent Democrat Hillary Clinton from winning, particularly because he was concerned about the next president filling vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court. Stewart, who was re-elected to a third term in November with about 62 percent of the vote, represents Utahs 2nd Congressional District. Its the states largest congressional seat, covering Salt Lake City, some of its northern suburbs and a vast chunk of the states eastern and southern rural areas. Friday nights event was his 51st town hall, including five telephone town halls, according to his office. It was originally scheduled last week, but the congressman postponed the event to stay in Washington for a planned vote on the health bill. Venezuela's Supreme Court said Saturday that it would abandon measures to strengthen President Nicolas Maduro's grip on power after it was widely and harshly criticized. In a ruling posted on its website, the Supreme Court said it was overturning its decision to diminish the legislative powers of the General Assembly, which opponents called a "coup d'etat". Powerful Attorney General Luisa Ortega denounced two rulings announced late Wednesday, which effectively dissolved the opposition-majority legislature and revoked lawmakers' immunity from prosecution. "It constitutes a rupture of the constitutional order," Ortega said in a speech on state television. "It's my obligation to express my great concern to the country." A defiant Maduro defended the supreme court in an appearance Friday on state television and vowed to resolve the impasse between the attorney general and the court "through dialogue and the constitution. Maduro said he called upon the National Security Council to today at night, to deliberate and draw a resolution that will strengthen the Venezuelan constitution and give peace and tranquility to Venezuela." He said in a speech to cheering supporters late Friday: "In Venezuela, the constitution, civil, political and human rights and people power are in full force." Maduro's opponents and international powers, including the United States and governments across Latin America, condemned the Venezuelan Supreme Court rulings. The United Nations' top human rights official expressed grave concern'' and called on the high court to reverse its decision. The head of the Organization of American States (OAS) compared it to a self-inflicted coup by the leftist Maduro. The OAS announced that it would hold an emergency meeting at its Washington headquarters Monday to discuss the situation in Venezuela. The White House has released a report on the personal finances of the presidents staff. The report, released late Friday, lays out details about the assets, liabilities and income in the portfolios of what are the wealthiest White House staff members ever when they entered the White House in January and before they started selling off assets that could be considered conflicts of interest in their new posts. The account includes data about the financial life of the presidents daughter, Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner, whose family is involved in real estate development in New York. Not surprisingly, the couple holds a massive real estate and business empire worth as much as $741 million, according to The New York Times. Ivanka Trump also retains an interest in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, just a few blocks from the White House. The financial disclosures show Kushner has resigned from at least 260 entities, corporations, groups and nonprofits since January. His wife has given up the reins of her fashion business to work in the White House. Disclosures must be public The financial disclosures are required by law to be made public. The report, however, did not include the Office of Government Ethics agreements with the employees on what they must do to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Gary Cohn, a billionaire business owner and one of Trumps top economic advisers, is also one of the wealthiest members of Trumps staff. He left a lucrative job at Goldman Sachs where he earned at least $40 million in income from various forms of compensation, including stocks, to become Trumps chief economic adviser. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer characterized the White House staff members as very blessed and very successful, saying they have given up a lot to go into public service. Priebus and Bannon but not Trump White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who navigated the Republican Party through the victorious presidential campaign, received more than $500,000 in salary and bonuses from the Republican National Committee and earned at least $750,000 from equity buyout and partner-distribution income from the law firm Michael Best and Friedrich. Senior adviser Steve Bannons pre-White House holdings were valued at between $3.3 million and $12.6 million. Information about President Donald Trumps assets was not included in the report. The president, unlike his predecessors, has steadfastly refused to release nearly any information about his wealth. Gibraltar Government Statement on European Council Draft Guidelines The Government of Gibraltar says it notes the reference to Gibraltar in the draft Guidelines published by the European Council yesterday, and that issues related to Gibraltars continued access to the UK market and access to trade deals with the rest of the world are outside the scope of the final negotiating parameters which will be established by the EU Council by the end of April. "Her Majestys Government of Gibraltar will continue its work on Brexit matters on the lines we have already established. The exit negotiations clearly include Gibraltar despite Spains attempts to also have Gibraltar excluded from them. Gibraltar has shamefully been singled out, however, for unfavourable treatment by the Council, at the behest of Spain, in these draft guidelines in respect of the second agreement on the future between the UK and the EU." The Chief Minister, Hon Fabian Picardo QC MP, said: This unnecessary, unjustified and unacceptable discriminatory proposed singling out of Gibraltar and its people was the predictable machination of Spain that the people of Gibraltar foresaw and one of the reasons why we voted so massively to remain in the EU. Gibraltars record as a member of the EU is an exemplary one and our people enthusiastically supported continued membership of the EU in the referendum. Yet this draft suggests that Spain is trying to get away with mortgaging the future relationship between the EU and Gibraltar to its usual obsession with our homeland. This is a disgraceful attempt by Spain to manipulate the European Council for its own, narrow, political interests. Brexit is already complicated enough without Spain trying to complicate it further. What we are seeing is a clear manifestation of the predictably predatory attitude that we anticipated Spain would seek to abusively impose on its partners, as they have been threatening to do since the referendum took place and as the only member of the EU with an obsession with Gibraltar. This will surprise no-one. Spain has been holding the whole EU to ransom on aviation matters for the past five years in respect of Gibraltar airport. The whole world and the whole EU should know: this changes nothing in respect of our continued, exclusive British Sovereignty. The fact is that during and beyond the Brexit process, Gibraltar will continue to grow and prosper economically and will, paradoxically, provide wealth for the whole Spanish region around us. Photo: Randy Shropshire/Getty Images London Fields is getting messy. The latest legal battle over the crime flick is a tug-of-war between star Amber Heard and producer Christopher Hanley. In 2016, Hanley filed suit against Heard for alleged breach of contract and tortious interference, acknowledging a dispute between them over nude scenes. This week, Heards team shot back with a counter-claim against Christopher and Roberta Hanley, the screenwriter, that the lascivious and sexploitive couple recorded explicit nude scenes with Heards body double after the actress had finished filming. The scenes, which would be included in a so-called Producers Cut, were edited together to look as though Heard performed in them. Heards lawyer wrote: After reading the script, she insisted on specific restrictions about nudity and sex scenes in the film as a condition to agreeing to appear in the Movie. [Christopher] expressly agreed to Heards terms, and they were memorialized in the Nudity Rider to her contract. The Hanleys caused to be filmed secretly several additional nude and sex scenes with a body double for Heard and included them in the Producers Cut also in violation of the Nudity Rider The secret filming of this body double footage was not on the schedule that had been provided to Heard and was shot with a skeleton crew only after Heard had completed filming and had left the set. The body double footage included an explicit pornographic sex scene that Heard would never have agreed to do herself the body double footage was designed and intended to leave anyone who saw the images with the distinct impression that it was Heard. London Fields was supposed to premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival but was yanked from the line-up because director Mathew Cullen filed suit against the Hanleys for fraud. Cullen claimed the couple hijacked the final cut, adding details like incendiary imagery evoking 9/11 jumpers edited against pornography. London Fields has no release date and is currently stuck in production limbo, although from the sound of it, that might not be a bad thing. At right, Pearl Mackie. When Doctor Who returns for its new season in a few weeks, well be introduced to a new companion, Bill Potts, whos portrayed by acting newbie Pearl Mackie. Weve already gotten a taste of her badass alien-fighting chops in a few teasers, but besides that, little about her character has actually been revealed but what were privy to now is a wonderful surprise. Bill will be the first openly gay companion to travel in the TARDIS with the Doctor, something thats been over 50 years in the making for the seminal British sci-fi series. It shouldnt be a big deal in the 21st century. Its about time, isnt it? Mackie explained. That representation is important, especially on a mainstream show. Its important to say people are gay, people are black being gay is not the main thing that defines her character its something thats part of her and something that shes very happy and very comfortable with. Many nonheterosexual and gay characters have been featured on Doctor Who since the program was rebooted in 2005, perhaps most prominently with John Barrowmans portrayal of Captain Jack Harkness, who held the first openly nonheterosexual role in Whos history. Jenny returned home to find that her two friends, who were partying when she left for work, were not breathing anymore. Doctors declared her friends' brought in dead. By Mail Today: When Jenny returned from work to her third floor home in south Delhi's Munirka on Friday morning, she found the door locked from the inside. This wasn't surprising because two of her friends, 22-yearolds Clara and Rakil, had come over in the mood to party through the night before she left for her call centre job. However, despite banging on the door repeatedly, Jenny received no response. Her calls to Clara's phone also went unanswered. Jenny then broke a glass window and peered inside. She saw Clara and Rakil lying on a mattress, seemingly unconscious. advertisement Jenny then called up Liankhanmang, Clara's cousin brother. He arrived in about 10 minutes and, after two-three attempts, they managed to break open the door. Liankhanmang rushed to check on his sister but realised that she was not breathing. Jenny could not find Rakil's pulse. Liankhanmang then booked a cab, as he did not want to wait for an ambulance, and took the two unconscious women to Safdarjung Hospital. Doctors declared them brought dead. According to what Jenny and Liankhanmang told the attending doctor, Clara and Rakil may have overdosed on drugs. Speaking to Mail Today, the doctors who attended to the women said both were unconscious and non-reactive. Drug overdoses are sometimes caused intentionally to commit suicide or self-harm, but many cases are accidental, the result of intentional or unintentional misuse of medication. Experts say poly drug use often carries more risk than use of a single drug, due to an increase in side effects, and drug synergy. "It's a case of drug abuse. Excessive drug dose have turned fatal for the duo," said a doctor at Safdarjung Hospital, requesting anonymity. A call was made to the police control room and a team reached the hospital. Another group of cops reached the house where the women were found dead. A forensic team also arrived at the spot and sealed the room where Clara and Rakil spent the night. All the evidences collected have been sent for examination, said sources. Officers said the families of the deceased- both natives of Mizoram- have been informed and a post-mortem was conducted in the evening under the supervision of the Safdarjung medical board. The reports are expected next week. According to local police, Clara had come to Delhi about a year ago and was presently unemployed. She previously held some temporary jobs on ad-hoc basis. Clara was staying with her cousin in Munirka while Rakhil reportedly came to Delhi from Lucknow on Thursday evening to join her. Delhi Police officers said they were waiting for the forensic team's initial findings. "Once the reports will be shared, further investigation will be conducted," said one of them. Also read Delhi grapples with rise in prescription drug abuse, chemist shops under close watch advertisement 70,000 children habituated to drugs, reveals 1st major government survey on Delhi's street kids --- ENDS --- Pamela Anderson dropping off lunch for Julian Assange. Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images Though rumors of a relationship between Pamela Anderson and Julian Assange were launched by a vegan-lunch delivery and sustained by Andersons repeated visits to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, the speculations are still unconfirmed. But on Friday, the actress published yet another cryptic blog post calling the WikiLeaks founder one of my favorite people and gushing about his empathy and bravery. My relationship with Julian its no secret, she wrote. He is one of my favorite people, and he might be the most famous, most politicized refugee of our time. She goes on for several more would-be stanzas: Julian is a human being who is extremely empathetic and cares deeply about the world. And - because of his work . He has made some powerful enemies in a few countries- America especially by exposing them. Julian is trying to Free the world by educating it. It is a romantic struggle I love him for this- He is the strongest person I know- but, living as he is, is very unhealthy, demeaning and inhumane. She expresses hope that Sweden, a politically progressive country, will dismiss the arrest warrant for Assange, whos wanted for questioning regarding 2010 rape allegations. Coincidentally, the rest of her post is a meditation on todays dating culture, which she says is hyper critical and can be risky for men. We naturally worry about our daughters, she writes. But we MUST also worry about our sons. If you, reader, are confused by this, dont worry shell clarify her thoughts in her upcoming book, The Sensual Revolution, which Anderson says shes writing full-time. As for dating Assange? Lets see what happens when hes free, she said. DALLAS Several Texas counties that are struggling with debt because their jails have few or no prisoners hope to refill those cellblocks with a different kind of inmate: immigrants who have entered the country illegally. The debt dates back to the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, when some rural counties were losing employment prospects and population. To bring jobs and money, they built correctional centers with hundreds and sometimes more than a thousand beds that could be used to house inmates from other counties as well as prisoners for the state and federal governments. In some cases, the strategy worked, at least for a while. But a decline in crime and an increase in alternative sentencing reduced the Texas prisoner population and created a glut of jail space. Now the debts, utility bills and maintenance are becoming so burdensome that counties are confronting a difficult choice. They can seek a federal contract to house some of the immigrants expected to be detained in President Donald Trumps immigration crackdown. Or they can sell the vacant detention centers to private prison companies that aim to do the same. Jails and private prisons across the country are weighing their options after the Department of Homeland Security announced in January that it was shopping for more jail space as part of its efforts to secure the border. In some places, the situation is the reverse of Texas, with public prisons full and states paying for extra beds. A private prison operator that had been housing 250 inmates for Vermont recently dropped the state as a client because the federal government will probably offer more for the same space. Anyone with vacant beds is hoping the federal government will lease them at a much higher rate, Lisa Menard, acting commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections told lawmakers in February. Immigrations and customs enforcement are looking to lease beds everywhere. Three vacant Texas detention centers have been sold to private prison companies in the last few weeks, according to county officials and records filed with the national Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. Some of the jails require updating to meet U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement standards, but the existing facilities could put Texas at an advantage compared with other states where the companies would have to spend months building detention space. Meanwhile, the traditional inmate-holding business is still declining. A proposed budget from the Texas Senate would end state contracts with four facilities, including three that are privately run, making it more important for those companies to get immigrant contracts to stay profitable. ICE would not discuss how many beds the agency might need or its timetable for obtaining them. Agency spokesman Carl Rusnok declined to discuss any negotiations, citing the confidentiality of the federal contracting process. At least one advocacy group is wary of the secretive process and of putting more detainees in privately run facilities after complaints and violations of inmate-care standards. If this is the plan to expand to the bottom of the barrel in detention centers, that should raise huge red flags for people concerned about immigrants well-being and rights, said Bob Libal, executive director of Austin-based Grassroots Leadership, which seeks immigration and detention reform. Management and Training Corp. recently purchased a South Texas detention center that was shuttered after a 2015 inmate riot left it uninhabitable. The Willacy County Correctional Center, about 45 miles north of the Mexico border, fetched close to $68 million, allowing the county to pay off the construction bonds. Until the riot over alleged deficiencies in medical care, the company ran the facility in a private-public partnership with the county. Company spokesman Issa Arnita said MTC was working closely with ICE and hoping to get a contract. California-based El Pollo Loco, which touts itself as the nations leading fire-grilled chicken chain, has announced it hopes to expand into the Waco market and open at least four locations. It said in a press release it has secured a deal with Chicken Time Holdings to place 13 new franchised restaurants in Texas. As part of this new deal, the franchisee will open an additional three new restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, as well as expand the brand to Austin and Waco, with six and four restaurants, respectively, according to the press release. El Pollo Loco said in its promotional material it is renowned for its masterfully citrus-marinated, fire-grilled chicken and handcrafted entrees using fresh ingredients inspired by Mexican recipes. It has more than 460 company-owned and franchised restaurants in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas and Utah. Dwyer Group program The Waco-based Dwyer Group has launched a program called Neighborly that allows consumers to get information about the availability of home services, such as plumbing and electrical work, by going to getneighborly.com. The Dwyer Group supports nearly 2,300 professional home service experts across 13 franchising brands in the United States. This new service will help consumers get in touch with these franchisees. Consumers enter their ZIP code, select the service desired and are matched with local providers, according to a press release. In addition to finding assistance near their home, Neighborly also provides homeowners the ability to access their service history, delivers maintenance reminders specific to their home and shares tips and advice on its blog, according to the press release. The launch of Neighborly is a game-changer for our industry, Dwyer Group President and CEO Mike Bidwell said in the press release. Weve combined an entire home service community under one umbrella to better serve every homeowner. Dwyer Group brands include Aire Serv, Five Star Painting, Glass Doctor, Molly Maid, Mr. Appliance, Mr. Electric, Mr. Handyman, Mr. Rooter, Protect Painters, Rainbow International, Window Genie, the Grounds Guys and Portland Glass. Coffee Shop Cafe Donald Citranos Coffee Shop Cafe in McGregor again is receiving rave reviews, this time from Ride Texas magazine, a specialty publication of Texas Monthly. The latest edition includes a feature titled Ride to the Pie that highlights the magazines choices for pie so good it is worth the drive. It includes a few paragraphs and photos devoted to Valerie Citranos homemade specialties, including peanut butter, pecan and buttermilk pies, all made from scratch. This is not the first brush with notoriety for Donald and Valerie Citrano. The husband-and-wife teams restaurant was chosen as one of the states best small-town cafes in a feature Texas Monthly published in December 2008. Valerie said in an interview that her pies are selling so well she cant keep the restaurant stocked, so she has temporarily discontinued selling whole pies in favor of slices. She said the restaurant on Highway 84 is doing so well that the couple are planning an expansion in the coming months. Xristos sets roots Xristos Cafe, a popular food truck operating in the 200 block of University Parks Drive to offer Mediterranean food, has opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant at 810 LaSalle Ave. It started operating about two weeks ago and maintains a schedule of 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with the drive-thru accepting orders until 9 p.m. Anissa Garman, whose family owns and operates Xristos, said business has been brisk at the restaurant. Garman said the most popular item is the beef and lamb gyro on pita bread. Centred on its female lead Nayanthara, Dora, directed by Doss Ramamurthy is in theatres. Here is our Dora movie review. By Srivatsan: Women-oriented films are a rarity in Tamil cinema. While the trend has drastically changed in Bollywood over the last few years, it's still a norm in Tamil. For a change, Nayanthara plays the lead in Dora, which is probably the only positive aspect of the film, as it has no memorable moment to ponder on after a tedious watch. advertisement Dora Cast: Nayanthara, Thambi Ramaiah and Harish Uthaman Dora Director: Doss Ramamurthy Dora Rating: (2/5) A woman is brutally strangled to death. Three migrant workers rape the woman before they rob the house. An investigative officer (played by Harish Uthaman) carries the aura of DCP Raghavan (Kamal Haasan) from Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. Meanwhile, we see Pavalakkodi (Nayanthara) bonding with her daddy dearest Vairakannu (Thambi Ramaiah) in some comically-written scenes that just fall flat. Pavalakkodi and her father start a cab service venture and try to make it big. At the time of purchase, Pavalakkodi is smitten by a vintage car. Later, we come to know that the car is possessed by a spirit. Just like any horror film, Dora is also conventional with its jump-scare edits and loud background score that makes the plot less interesting. We get a sense of the film's genre only when Pavalakkodi and Vairakannu drive to their ancestral temple. They're stopped by a weirdly-looking sage, or as Vairakannu calls her "Mookuthi kezhuvi". It's almost time for the interval and yet, we don't get a sense of what's happening in the film. Where's the spirit? To pique our curiosity, the director reveals that the spirit inside the car is a dog's! Yes, Dora is a dog. And that's not a major revelation. The supernatural element in Dora is probably the weakest link. But the emotional connect between the dog and baby Yuktha works fine. Dora goes back in time to establish the main plot; the blood-seeking revenge story. The rest follows how Pavalakkodi and Dora destroy the villains. Often cited as the female superstar of South cinema, Nayanthara has been glorified by director Doss Ramamurthy in several ways. In one scene, her father says, "There may be gorgeous women out there. But you're one of a kind." We see Nayanthara doling out some solid punches at the villains. She also utters the swear-word "potta". Thankfully, Dora has been given an A certificate. Not for its chills, but for content. Dora saves Pavalakkodi. How badly does one wish that India had a Dora on every street? Had Ramanarayan and Chinnappa Devar worked together in a film, the result would have been something like Dora, the only difference being that it'd be an interesting watch. advertisement ALSO READ | Kavan Movie Review EXCLUSIVE | Rana Daggubati opens up on Suchitra's leaked pic of him kissing Trisha ALSO READ | Rajamouli on making Bollywood film with Salman- Nothing concrete yet WATCH: Dora Trailer --- ENDS --- Dusk poured into an open workshop door as council members of a small McLennan County city learned they would serve another term, adding to the decades the group has accumulated in their roles. Many of the elected leaders chosen to represent Gholsons 1,000 or so residents cant recall just how long theyve held the positions, only that they keep coming back to serve. After putting out his third cigarette, Mayor Larry Binnion takes his place at a table under yellow fluorescent lights in a work shed next to Councilman Russell Smiths home. Before the meeting starts, Smith points out a list of faded and scratched names and phone numbers on his wall of anyone who could do anything in the world. Shuffling between any dangling hands willing to give a good ear scratch, Smiths dogs Pup and Sassy are oblivious to the formal city government proceedings and make themselves comfortable. When the group was ready, each elected official, the city secretary and the city attorney checked their watch to ensure it was 6:30 p.m. on the dot and not a minute earlier. Coyotes cries in the approaching night do little to distract the well-rehearsed sound of Binnion, wearing a Make America Great Again cap, reading the agenda. If you write anything up about us, you put in there that this council cares about the city of Gholson, Smith said. Ron and I grew up here. Tom grew up here. We care about this place. No one chose to challenge Mayor Pro Tem Ron McCartney or soft-spoken council members Tom Buzbee and Tommy Wiley in the May election. Its not unusual for no one to file, McCartney said. Over the years, the council has had to appoint people at times just to keep the positions filled, he said. Then there are residents who run for office with an agenda, get elected, push for drastic changes and are promptly replaced the next election, he said. We like it like it is out here: simple, county standards only, not over-complicated and still country, said McCartney, who has been on the council more than 17 years. Knowing everyone Weve got two churches, one store and a fireworks stand, said Chrissy Stinson, head cook of Bubbas food truck in Gholson. But we dont have all the politics a city has. We do have a mayor. But we have no jurisdiction, like no police station out here. We do have a volunteer fire department. Weve got everything you need without all the hustle and bustle of the city. We dont have to worry about hearing sirens at night. We can hear coyotes and look at the stars. Teresa Martin said she has lived in Gholson for about 20 years. She met her husband in Tennessee and moved with him to his hometown. Martin now watches a lot of the neighborhood children while their parents go to work. Summers in Gholson are the best, she said. The small roads are filled with families out for walks with their dogs, and children are out playing together. Many families stay in the area, she said. Her son lives next door to her, and her daughter teaches in the district. Knowing all the neighbors helps people look out for one another, she said. Neighbors recognize when a vehicle isnt familiar with the neighborhood or if someone is on a property where they dont belong. Everybody kind of knows everybody, Martin said. The city is not without its faults. There have been a series of drug raids in the area, and the city desperately needs a playground for the youth, Martin said. But overall, the properties arent smashed together, and there is breathing room to enjoy the countryside, she said. The city council meeting in Smiths shop was the first in that location but also a reminder that city leaders lack a permanent home to conduct business. Need for a home Gholsons City Hall suffered extensive water damage about a year ago, pushing council meetings across the street to the volunteer fire department building. But the volunteer fire department had a meeting the same night as the council in February, so the council had to find somewhere else to meet. After meeting in Smiths shop, the council picked up its next meeting back at the fire station. Since the answering machine broke when City Hall was damaged and no one can man the line in the building, members agreed to buy a cellphone for the part-time city secretary so calls to the city could be redirected to her. Unless a neighbor has the personal cellphone number for a council member or knows the citys email address, which is not posted anywhere, they would have had to attend a council meeting to speak with a city official. The council agreed the cellphone for the city secretary should also include access to the citys email. And if anyone wants to file an open records request or view city documents, Smith said they could call him and hell make it happen. But Smith said hes not aware of anyone ever wanting to review city information. City Secretary Mel Priest said she also keeps city documents sorted and filed in her home, as she also works and goes to school full-time. Most people at Gholson dont care if the city is there or not, Smith said. They could care less. The only thing they are interested in is that we keep the city of Waco from getting them in the city of Waco. Smith said the city has about half a million dollars in reserves. The council still is deciding whether to fix its old meeting space, which is owned by the Gholson Independent School District, or buy its own piece of property and build. McCartney said sometimes young people get frustrated with the speed at which business is conducted in Gholson. But the old Gholson concept is not quick, and its frugal, so projects are done as money is available, he said. Citys history Around the Civil War, the area now known as Gholson was called Sardis, according to Tribune-Herald archives. The city was named Gholson after the brothers Samuel and Benjamin Gholson, two of the first Western settlers. By 1890, the community had 25 residents. The council credits former Mayor H.T. Sexton with a lot of the progress of the city at the intersection of Farm-to-Market Road 933 and Farm-to-Market Road 1858, 12 miles northwest of Waco in northern McLennan County. The city officially incorporated in 1975, and population rates rose to as high as 650 in the late 1970s, before dropping to 263 by 1980, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Many of the council members agreed the whole reason for the citys incorporation was to get out of the city of Wacos Extraterritorial Jurisdiction and the ordinances that came with it. There was also the desire to improve the towns roads. Though the initial incorporation stemmed from a desire to escape rigorous ordinances that came with city of Waco oversight, residents periodically ask to have a municipal court. Without a municipal court in place, there is no mechanism to enforce city ordinances, but the city doesnt have the money to establish a municipal court, City Attorney Jacob G. Straub said. The last time we quoted it, wed have to triple taxes, Straub said. Potholes once littered the city, said McCartney, the mayor pro tem. The council has worked diligently to help pave the once all-gravel roads, he said. It also focuses on keeping the city clean and holds regular cleanup events for residents. Like all cities, weve been very, very conservative. We try to watch over our roads and maintaining the trees the best we can, McCartney said. The city expects to bring in $124,500 for fiscal year 2017, including $67,000 from property taxes, $40,000 from sales tax, $14,500 from franchise taxes and $3,000 in interest. Meanwhile, city leaders only plan to spend $80,700 this year. The council dedicated $50,000 for road improvements, and the rest will cover dues, election fees, insurance, legal services, office supplies, utilities and other miscellaneous expenses. The citys property tax rate is 20.9488 cents per $100 of valuation. In comparison, the city of Woodway has a 47-cent tax rate; Robinson has 49.95-cent tax rate; and the countys tax rate was set at 52.5293 cents per $100 of property value for the fiscal year. Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Jones said he keeps a standard interlocal agreement in place with the city of Gholson to cover any emergency work that needs to be done. Were always helping them with their roads, Jones said. Its something thats very important to me to help out these smaller communities. They dont have the means to have a lot of equipment. We really like working with them. Bubbas food truck, parked next to Bubbas Gholson Country Store off the main thoroughfare, has served burgers for about two years. The cash-only establishment features cheeseburgers, steakfinger sandwiches, steakfinger baskets, chicken quesadillas, corn dogs and more. I had some people come in from Waco who had a burger here last week, and they said that was the best burger they ever had and theyd bring back their family. They asked us to move to Waco, and I said more Wacoans need to come out here, Stinson said. Its just a little, home country town. Why move to the city when we can bring the city here? Like most people in Gholson, Stinson said she knows everyone in the community, right before shouting with a wave, Thats Jareds wife, as a woman exited the nearby store. I guess if you were raised in the city, the city is what you want. When you come out to the country theres nothing to do, she said. But when youre from the country and you go out to the city theres all these things, you can go skating, you can go do whatever. But you cant go to the river in the evening when you get off work and go catch a bass and cook it for supper. The food trailer is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and stays open an hour later on Friday and Saturday. The city of Waco cut the minimum size for a house lot in certain areas. Gholson is considering doing the opposite. Half-acre minimum During its last meeting, the council discussed creating an ordinance establishing a half-acre minimum for home lots. Councilman Binnion said the city already has an ordinance requiring all mobile homes to sit on a minimum of a half-acre to meet health department septic requirements. It would only be fair to make the same requirement of all properties, he said. McCartney said a lot of people think they want more than a half-acre of property until it comes time to care for the land. Ultimately, he said, the council just wants to take care of its city and its neighbors and maintain its country feel. Jennifer Yates, who works at Bubbas Gholson Country Store, moved to the city from Aquilla about a year ago to be closer to work. Yates said she transferred her two children to Gholson ISD and has been pleased with the teachers in the district. Gholson is the kind of city where the community rallies behind those in need with fundraisers or community garage sales, she said. Its also the type of town where a trip to fill up a vehicle with gas can turn into an hourlong conversation with a neighbor at the pump. Yates said she isnt very involved in the local city government but knows the council posts meeting announcements on the stores door. She said she probably should be more involved, but as long as elected leaders stay focused on streets and keeping taxes low, shes happy. Everybody sticks together around here. Its a good little community, she said. Bread has become a delicacy. When my wife sends me to the store for a loaf of bread I stand dumbfounded in front of the shelves. Which bread to buy? Theres white bread, whole wheat bread, gluten-free seven-grain bread, garlic bread, rye bread, and a dozen others. Then there are bagels: plain bagels, blueberry bagels and everything bagels. And what about doughnuts? I think doughnuts are included in the bread family. OK, I choose doughnuts. From ancient times bread has represented the staple of life. Even today, in all its various forms, bread is still the most widely consumed food in the world. Scholars have found evidence that people started baking bread 30,000 year ago. But the first breads were flat. They lacked leaven. It is the leaven that makes it rise, light and fluffy and sweet. Historians believe that the Egyptians were the first to develop leavened bread, somewhere around 1,000 years before the great pyramids were built. The most famous unleavened bread was the Passover bread, cooked up in a hurry by the Israelites to escape Egypt. In 1917, Otto Rohwedder invented the first bread-slicing machine. He set the standard for all other inventors who searched for an idea that would be better than sliced bread. In spite of Rohwedders invention, there is nothing quite like pulling apart a fresh steaming loaf of bread and adding butter. Jesus referred to bread to help us understand who He was. I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst (John 6:35). Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word . . . Through Jesus Christ, God nourishes our soul and satisfies our innermost emotional, personal and spiritual needs, a nourishment more important than the nourishment of our bodies. Jesus taught us to pray, Give us this day our daily bread. He reminded us that we need nourishment each and every day. Just as God provides for us daily the nourishment that is necessary for our bodies, He will provide for us each and every day the nourishment that is necessary to replenish our soul. When Moses led Israel in the wilderness, God provided bread every morning so that he who gathered much had no excess and he who gathered little had no lack(Exodus 16:18). They could not store and keep the bread. It had to be eaten when God gave it. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, our relationship with God is daily and constant. We cannot put our faith in a religious box to be taken out occasionally. Just as our bodies need bread in order to live, our souls need a daily and constant conversation with God, the bread and substance of life. The Senates coming confirmation of Neil Gorsuch will improve the Supreme Court and Democrats incontinent opposition to him will inadvertently improve the Senate if Republicans are provoked to thoroughly reform the filibuster. If eight Democrats will not join the 52 Republicans in providing 60 votes to end debate and bring Gorsuchs nomination to a vote, Republicans should go beyond extending to Supreme Court nominees the prohibition of filibusters concerning other judicial nominees. Senate rules should be changed to rectify a mistake made 47 years ago. There was no limit on Senate debate until adoption of the cloture rule empowering two-thirds of senators present and voting to limit debate. This occurred on March 8, 1917 29 days before Congress declared war on Germany after a filibuster prevented a vote on a momentous matter, the Armed Ship Bill, which would have authorized President Woodrow Wilson to arm American merchant ships. (He armed them anyway.) In 1975, imposing cloture was made easier by requiring a vote of three-fifths of the entire Senate a change the importance of which derived from what Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, a Montana Democrat, did in 1970: He created the two-track system whereby the Senate, by unanimous consent or the consent of the minority leader, can set aside a filibustered bill and move on to other matters. Till then, filibustering senators had to hold the floor, testing their stamina and inconveniencing everyone else to encourage the majority to compromise. In the 52 years after 1917, there were only 58 cloture motions filed; in the 46 years since 1970 there have been 1,700. Wisdom about the filibuster comes today from the other side of the Capitol, where House rules make filibustering impossible. Rep. Tom McClintock, a conservative California Republican, writing in Hillsdale Colleges publication Imprimis, praises the Senate tradition that a significant minority should be able to extend debate in order to deepen deliberation. Post-1970 filibusters, however, are used to prevent debate. As McClintock says, the mere threat of a filibuster suffices to kill a bill as the Senate shrugs and goes on to other business. McClintock urges the Senate to make a motion to proceed to consideration of a bill undebatable and hence immune to filibustering: Great debates should be had on great matters but not great debates on whether to debate. And he says the Senate should abandon the two-track system. This would prevent the Senate from conducting other business during a filibuster but would require filibusterers to hold the floor. As he says, it was this mutual inconvenience that, between 1917 and 1970, made filibusters rare and productive of pressure for compromise to resolve the impasse. As a result of todays Senate paralysis, McClintock says, the atrophy of the legislative branch drives a corresponding hypertrophy of the executive branch. The promiscuous use of faux filibusters requiring 60 votes to proceed with consideration of, or votes on, ordinary legislation blurs the implicit constitutional principle that extraordinary majorities are required only for extraordinary matters, such as proposing constitutional amendments, overriding vetoes and ratifying treaties. The trivialization of filibusters no longer requiring them to be strenuous and disruptive events has deprived them of dignity. Restoring them to what they were would affirm the principle that majoritarianism simply counting numbers; government by adding machine should be tempered by a reformed filibuster as a mechanism for measuring the intensity of a minoritys opposition to a majority position. The Constitution affirms the power of each house of Congress to determine the rules of its proceedings, so any Senate procedures are compatible with the Constitutions text. But the practices made possible by the post-1970 rules have contributed to institutional disequilibrium, destabilizing the Constitutions design by inciting a dangerous expansion of presidential power. Hence Georgetown law professor Randy Barnett and The Weekly Standards Jay Cost urge forbidding filibusters of appropriations bills: Democrats have discovered that if they block individual appropriations bills, the entire operation of government will inevitably be rolled into an omnibus appropriations bill, and the majority must either accept it in toto or face a partial shutdown of the government. This maneuver has largely eliminated Congress ability to discipline the executive via line-item spending cuts. Certainly the filibuster fits a non-majoritarian institution in which 585,501 Wyomingites have as much representation as do 39,250,017 Californians. Besides, filibusters delay but do not defeat political processes: Can anyone name anything that a majority of Americans have desired, strongly and protractedly, that has been denied to them because of a filibuster? WAHOO Perseverance was the message Miss Nebraska Aleah Peters shared March 22 with Friends and Faith grade school students at First United Methodist Church in Wahoo. She shared two personal experiences to the groups 28 students. One was her dream of becoming a baton twirler for the Nebraska Cornhusker Band, and the other was becoming Miss Nebraska. These two stories have one thing in common, Peters told the kindergarten through fifth graders. It took her multiple tryouts and a great deal of practice and preparation to turn attempts into success stories. I set a goal. I tried, and I failed. I tried, and I failed. I tried, and I succeeded, said the 22-year-old from Omaha. The kids had the opportunity to ask Peters questions. Many chose to share their personal experiences of multiple attempts before being successful, which Peters responded with a high-five. Peters stop in Wahoo was one of many that she has made as Miss Nebraska since being crowned in June 2016. She has traveled more than 25,000 miles across the state since June, bringing messages of perseverance and her main presentation, Cyberbullying Prevention: Make Kindness Viral. Peters already spoke to the Friends and Faith group about cyberbullying last year, then as Miss Omaha. Peters said there were two good reasons to make a return visit to Wahoo. Its always nice catching up with Mrs. Allgood, Peters said of Bobbie Allgood, a teacher at Friends and Faith that was her sixth grade teacher. And the kids were so fun and had many good questions last year. Allgood said it has been incredible to know Peters as a child, and that watching her grow and mature has been very rewarding. You as an educator are very proud of your students and the strides they make, Allgood said. Peters said it does not matter if an individual holds the pageants local, state or national title the year of service is the most important part of the job. This age group is at such an important stage of their life, Peters said. They are faced with many decisions, and their decisions now can either hurt or help their future. I want to give them a toolkit to help make good decisions. Allgood said Peters message was valuable for the students to hear, as Friends and Faith Wednesday after school program emphasizes on character building, friendship and values. Peters will pass the title to her successor in June. WAHOO State Sen. Bruce Bostelman took time March 27, a day when the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature was not in session, to discuss his role as the District 23 representative with juniors in Honors Government at Wahoo High School. Government Teacher Caleb Grummert had just returned from a week-long Close-Up trip to Washington D. C. to see government on a national level, but got a healthy dose of how state-level government operates from Bostelman. The District 23 representative explained the legislative process as far as where bills come from, how they become law and some of the priorities of the unicameral as a law-making body. There are 667 bills put to the legislature this year, Bostelman said. And about half of those will make through the process to become law, he told the students. But it also depends on the process itself and how long it takes. Bostelman said that with that many bills, its important for bills to become classified as priority bills. Each senator gets one bill as a priority, the speaker gets 25 and each committee gets two. He said four of his bills made it to the priority level and he hopes for at least 50 percent success with his bills. Bostelman also explained to students where bills originate. Clean-up bills can come from the legislative body itself, making adjustment to antiquated bills that have been on the books a long time, he said. Bills can originate from the individual legislators office or their offices are approached by public entities within district or lobbies bring ideas to them. With diverse sources, Bostelman said that its important in the legislatures approach as to how they handle disagreements. Bostelman said amongst peers in the legislature, its best to take an issue-based approach to problem solving. Bills dont become law in a day. Not only is the issue of the bill important to focus on, but the financial aspect is as well. Bostelman said the terminology used is death by fiscal note. If the bill a senator proposes costs a lot or will not generate revenue, the bill may not make it very far, he said. The reason for so much of a financial focus is that much of the current session is spent working on the budget, he told students. Of each legislatures two sessions, the longer session they are in currently focuses on the budget. Theres not a lot of money coming in. The economy is not very strong, he said. And, we have to balance the budget. Bostelman not only spoke of policy, process and purpose to juniors, but also gave an encouraging word to the students regarding expectations for their selves. Never sell yourselves short, Bostelman said. The state senator said he never envisioned himself in politics as a youth, but worked to make opportunities through his professional career and was eventually able to be in a place to serve the public in his current capacity. The ECI has prohibited exit polls between 7 AM on April 9 and 6.30 PM on April 12, a notification issued by the commission said. By Press Trust of India: The Election Commission of India (ECI) today banned exit polls between April 9 and April 16 when by-elections are held for two Lok Sabha seats of Srinagar and Anantnag in Kashmir. "In connection with the by-elections to Srinagar and Anantnag Parliamentary constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, the ECI has prohibited exit polls between 7 AM on April 9 and 6.30 PM on April 12," a notification issued by the commission said. advertisement "In exercise of the powers under Sub-Section (1) of Section 126 A of the Representation of People's Act 1951, ECI has notified the period between 7 AM on April 9 and 6.30 PM on April 12 during which conducting any exit poll and publishing or publicising by means of the print or electronic media or dissemination in any other manner whatsoever, the result of any exit poll shall be prohibited," the notification stated. Displaying any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media, would be prohibited during the period of 48 hours ending with the hours fixed for conclusion of poll for by-elections, the notification added. ALSO READ | NC-Congress opt for seat-sharing in Jammu and Kashmir for Parliament by-polls ALSO WATCH | BJP promises two-fold action against stone-pelters in Kashmir; Is it enough? --- ENDS --- A commercial scallop fishing company in Port Phillip says it will be forced out of business after the state government dramatically cut its catch limit this week. But fishing legend Rex Hunt, who originally supported the company, says the big catch limit it wanted was "environmental vandalism". Scallop fisherman dives into Port Phillip Bay Credit:Port Phillip Bay Scallops Port Phillip Bay Scallops bought a licence to harvest the culinary delicacy in the bay in 2014 for $180,000. Since then the company has been battling with the government over just how many scallops it is entitled to catch. The company wants to set up a large scallop export operation, and has research it says shows the bay can easily handle hundreds of tonnes of scallops being harvested every year. When pondering the possibility of alien life, most of us gaze up into the heavens to the multitude of stars that populate the eternity of the night sky. Not Australian philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith. His eyes are drawn to the ocean depths, to life forms with which we have not shared DNA for more than 600 million years. "You can imagine meeting an octopus as an approximation to meeting an alien," said Professor Godfrey-Smith, of City University of New York and the University of Sydney. "A real alien from another world would have no evolutionary connection with us at all. Yangon: The leader of a Rohingya Muslim insurgency against Myanmar's security forces said on Friday his group would keep fighting "even if a million die" unless the country's de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, took action to protect the religious minority. Attacks on Myanmar border guard posts in October last year by a previously unknown insurgent group ignited the biggest crisis of Suu Kyi's year in power, with more than 75,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh in the ensuing army crackdown. Myanmar State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi. Credit:AP In his first independently conducted media interview, Ata Ullah, who has been identified by analysts and local people as the group's leader, denied links to foreign Islamists and said it was focused on the rights of the Rohingya, who face persecution at the hands of Myanmar's Buddhist majority. "If we don't get our rights, if 1 million, 1.5million, all Rohingya need to die, we will die," he said, speaking via a video call from an undisclosed location. "We will take our rights. We will fight [against] the cruel military government." The companies were under the scanner for laundering money and for helping politicians convert black money into white. By Shivendra Srivastava: The Enforcement Directorate today launched one of its biggest crackdowns on shell companies across the country. The department carried out searches across 100 locations in India. The ED also has on its radar over 400 chartered accounts and entry operators, against whom action is likely to be taken. According to early information from sources, among the companies targetted in the raids are those connected to Jagan Mohan Reddy, Mayawati's brother Anand and Maharashtra politician Chhaggan Bhujbal. advertisement So far, the agency has managed to uncover around 2300 shell companies. In Mumbai and Delhi alone the ED has discovered over 1000 such companies. Most of these companies were formed during the period when exchange of the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 was allowed after the November 8 demonetisation announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These companies are alleged to have transferred money during the time when exchange of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 was allowed. The companies are also suspected to be involved in money laundering. ED officers are going through records of operators who run allegedly shell companies and according to initial information, the companies are suspected to have converted several hundred crores of rupees of black money into white. The raids are being carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata and other metros. In Kolkata, more than 50 companies had same registered address, which on verification was found to be residential premises, which was presently vacant. The landlord said that he had let out the premises to a man around 3 years back and the said person had disappeared in 3 months and he had been subsequently receiving loan recovery letters against 2 companies registered at his address. These 2 companies are already under investigations of Enforcement Directorate under a PMLA case involving misuse of bank accounts of certain nondescript persons. At one of the premises in Mumbai, photograph of fake ID card of special agent, Anti-Terrorism Division, Interpol in the name of one Chetan Shah was found on the laptop of the said person. The entry operator connected to M/s Rajeshwar Exports was also searched. The company had made remittances to the tune of Rs 1476 crore for import of diamonds which were grossly overvalued. While in Delhi, premises of one Chartered Accountant at Barakhamba Road were also searched and it was found that he had formed more than 200 shell companies and had given accommodation entries to a number of persons in Uttar Pradesh. He was also found to be involved in conversion of black money into white for some of the sand mafias of Uttar Pradesh. advertisement The operation is said to be part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's directive to crack down on shell companies that were used by hoarders and even legitimate business houses to launder money during demonetisation. POLITICAL CONNECTIONS ED officials are zeroing on a few individuals who allegedly helped politicians launder money. One of the individuals who has been the target of a raid is Jagdish Purohit from Andheri (W) in Mumbai. He is suspected to have run 700 companies from a single address. He is suspected of helping Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) politician and former Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal of converting Rs 46 crore of black money into white. ALSO READ | Zakir Naik's properties worth Rs 100 crore under ED's scanner, attachment begins WATCH | Massive Enforcement Directorate crackdown: Raids over 2300 shell companies in 100 locations --- ENDS --- Farhan Akhtar's estranged wife Adhuna Bhabani took to Instagram to share that she has found love again. By India Today Web Desk: When Farhan Akhtar and Adhuna Bhabani announced their decision to end their marriage, everyone was in for a rude shock. A year later, Adhuna has moved on and found love in someone else. The hairstylist, who turned 50 on Thursday, took to Instagram to pen a note on her birthday. In it, she writes, "I just love that the father of my children is a good human being, and that my new lover is a patient one." A post shared by Adhuna B (@adhunab) on Mar 29, 2017 at 9:48pm PDT advertisement Adhuna and Farhan announced their decision to end their 15-year marriage in a joint statement. The estranged couple have been extremely amiable with each other post their separation and even came together recently to celebrate their daughter Akira's daughter. Ever since news broke that Farhan's marriage has come to an end, he has been linked with several of his co-stars including his onscreen wife in Wazir, Aditi Rao Hydari, and Shraddha Kapoor, who starred alongside him in Rock On 2. Farhan and Adhuna got hitched in 2000. They met on the sets of Farhan's directorial debut, Dil Chahta Hai. They have two daughters together, Shakya and Akira. ALSO READ | What exes Farhan Akhtar and Adhuna Bhabani did at the divorce table ALSO READ | Shraddha moves in with Farhan, daaku daddy Shakti forces her to leave? ALSO WATCH | Ranbir-Katrina to Farhan-Adhuna: Big Bollywood break-ups in 2016 --- ENDS --- An Indian woman travelling to Iceland from India was taken into a room and was asked to lift her dress. The 30-year-old has alleged it was a case of racial profiling. By India Today Web Desk: After an Indian woman was allegedly strip-searched at Frankfurt airport, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has sought a report from the Indian consul general concerned. "Raveesh - Plz send me a report on this. @CGIFrankfurt (sic)," Swaraj tweeted to Indian consul general in Frankfurt Raveesh Kumar. A 30-year-old Indian woman, who was on her way to Iceland from Bengaluru, was asked to strip by security officers at the Frankfurt airport in Germany this week. advertisement It was only after the woman insisted that her husband, a native of Iceland, walk into the room that the security officials backed out. "Are brown people not suspicious if we have European partners or co-travellers?" she wrote in an angry post on Facebook, describing her incident of March 29. "I would like to know if it is a regular protocol to ask passengers to remove their clothing, be it their underwear, as part of 'random security checks'." Shruthi Basapa had undergone an abdominal surgery two weeks ago. Shruthi passed the full body scan, yet she was willing to go through a pat-down check. She requested them to be gentle since she had had a surgery. Even though she provided medical reports of her recent surgery, they refused to let her go. "We were travelling to Iceland from India via Frankfurt with our 4-year-old daughter when I was asked to move aside for this 'random check', no explanations offered. I was taken into a room and was asked to lift my dress/ take it off so that I could be checked to make sure I wasn't 'carrying anything under my clothes'", she wrote in her Facebook post. Shruthi alleges it was a case of racial profiling. This is not the first time something like this happened with her. But the treatment meted out to her this time was shockingly unbearable. Reacting to Shruthi's Facebook post, the Facebook account of Frankfurt airport said that such a practice wasn't part of the standard protocol, according to an NDTV report. "I am shocked to hear that. Of course it is not the standard protocol reserved for anyone. We would appreciate your detailed feedback. What happened exactly? When and where was it?" the Frankfurt Airport Team asked. "I hate to play the race card here, but I was the only person pulled aside and peeking at my husband instantly changed the woman's mind about the strip search that was now a regular pat-down. I'd appreciate a response from you at the earliest," she wrote on Facebook. Sushma Swaraj seeks report after a case of racial profiling of an Indian woman was reported at Frankfurt Airport. Sushma Swaraj seeks report after a case of racial profiling of an Indian woman was reported at Frankfurt Airport. advertisement FYI || Treated like dogs: Watch airport security check little boy's private parts, traumatise mother || FYI || Detained, handcuffed and an uncomfortable pat down: Sudanese student describes detention at New York airport || Watch: Indian woman 'strip-searched' at Frankfurt Airport, Swaraj seeks report --- ENDS --- Astros take World Series title over Phillies in six games Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 01, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 01, 2017 | 08:38 AM | PADUCAH, KY Paducah Police are seeking the publics help in identifying a subject suspected of stealing a vehicle from a Paducah man on Friday afternoon. Police say Sam Burrage of the 4000 block of Old Mayfield Road told police that his black 2003 Buick Rendezvous was stolen from the parking lot of Cash Saver on Jackson Street at around 12:30 pm Friday. Burrage said he parked in the fire lane and went into the store for approximately 10 minutes. Burrage said he left the vehicle unlocked with the keys lying on the console. When he returned, the vehicle was gone. Several hours later at approximately 6 pm, authorities were contacted by the Livingston County Sheriffs Department advising the vehicle had been located, but was fully submerged in the river near Haddoux Ferry Road in Smithland. Anyone with information is asked to call the Paducah Police Department at 270-444-8550 or Crime Stoppers at 270-443-TELL. Tipsters also may text their tips to CRIMES (274637) by entering KyTips followed by their information, or by visiting the Crime Stoppers website at westkycrimestoppers.info. Information leading to an arrest or indictment may result in a reward of up to $1,000. 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. Advertisement By The Associated Press Mar. 31, 2017 | FRANKFORT, KY By The Associated Press Mar. 31, 2017 | 06:17 PM | FRANKFORT, KY Kentucky lawmakers have wrapped up the 2017 legislative session, with Republican Gov. Matt Bevin declaring it "the most successful legislative session in history." But the legacy of the laws passed in Frankfort during the session that ended Thursday could be written by the courts, which might decide the legality of several key pieces of the GOP agenda. Already, the American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a new law that would require a woman to get an ultrasound before having an abortion. A Fayette County school board member has openly discussed the possibility of challenging the state law allowing charter schools. And Democratic state Rep. Sannie Overly warned of legal challenges for a bill that would require people to post bonds when appealing zoning decisions. Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said he expects lawsuits but called it "a very successful session." "EMPTY BOWLS" TO FILL UP FOR THE KIDS THIS SUMMER TO HELP FEED THE KIDS THIS SUMMER LOCAL POTTERS AND ARTISANS TO SPONSOR EMPTY BOWLS DINNER TO BENEFIT THE FLAT ROCK BACKPACK PROGRAM (Flat Rock, NC, March 26) On Sunday, April 30, potters and artisans of Henderson County will sponsor an Empty Bowls dinner benefiting the Backpack Program at St. John in the Wilderness in Flat Rock, North Carolina. The event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in the church Parish House, located at 1905 Greenville Highway in Flat Rock. Area potters and school groups are making and donating pottery bowls for the event, and local restaurants and bakers are preparing and donating soups, breads, and desserts for the meal. For the past eight school years on Friday mornings, volunteers have loaded about 200 backpacks with supplemental non-perishable food for children on the free- and reduced-lunch program so that they dont go hungry on weekends. The program provides food for students attending a day care center (year-round program), two elementary schools, one middle school, and a parochial school. Debby Staton, coordinator of the Backpack Program at St. John, said that food is provided by MANNA Food Bank weekly and then is supplemented from grants, donations, and fundraisers like Empty Bowl. We make sure that each child has three dinners, two lunches, two breakfasts, and two snacks on a regular weekend. The Empty Bowls Project began in 1990 in a Michigan high school art class to raise funds for a food drive. Today it is an international grassroots effort to raise both money and awareness in the fight to end hunger, personalized by artists and arts organizations on a community level. Tickets are $25 per person, which includes one handmade pottery bowl to take home, or $50 for families, which includes two pottery bowls. Limited tickets are available at the church Parish House. Local potter David Voorhees is coordinating the event along with Staton. One ticket will feed seven children for one weekend, said Voorhees. Come enjoy a simple meal, and choose a pottery bowl handcrafted by a local artisan to take home as a keepsake, knowing you are supporting children across Henderson County who are struggling with hunger every day. For more information, contact the Church Office at (828) 693-9783 or David Voorhees at (828) 698-8775. Six years after nuclear power disaster ravaged Fukushima in Japan, residents are gradually returning. However, traces of radioactive elements have also left some of them skeptical. By India Today Web Desk: After half-a-decade, residents near Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant have started returning. The region was devastated after the nuclear disaster in 2011. The Fukushima nuclear disaster is said to be the world's second worst after the 1986 Chernobyl tragedy. A massive earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan and triggered the collapse of the Fukushima power station. Reuters After six years, majority of the affected residents within the Fukushima prefecture can now return home, The Asahi Shimbun reports. advertisement Residents of the towns Namie, Iitate, and the Yamakiya district in the town of Kawamata, totaling 22,100 people, were told they could return home Friday. However, there are exceptions and some no-go zones where the level of radiation are still pretty high. Further evacuation orders were lifted for the town of Tomioka on Saturday and residents held candlelight vigil on Friday night in the memory of more than 8,000 people who lost their lives in the disaster. REGION FACING PROBLEMS After the region being radioactive for six long years, it's difficult for people to comprehend the fact that they can now live there. Many people don't want to go back to the place which once was their home. The region has also seen increase in the number of boars which are radioactive. However, several have already been culled in the ghost towns. Reuters The government has set aside a budget of $212 million to restore the healthcare system. The government is also providing essential facilities so that they can encourage the return of the people which once lived there. However, Okuma and Futaba, the two towns closest to the Fukushima nuclear plant, are the only remaining municipalities still deemed as "difficult-to-return zones." FYI || In Fukushima, even robots can't survive nuclear mayhem || FYI || Ghost city: Man sneaks into radioactive red zone in Japan's Fukushima, shares photos || Also Watch: Red Hot Lava Oozes from Mount Etna as Volcano Continues to Erupt --- ENDS --- No details were immediately available on the cause of Baker's death or where he died. According to the biography posted on his official website, he had been living in New York City. Dated photo of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg greeting Gilbert Baker as they take part in the annual Gay Pride parade in New York City on June 30, 2002. Photo: Reuters By Reuters: Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco-based activist and artist best known for creating the rainbow flag representing gay rights, has died at the age of 65, his longtime friend announced on social media on Friday. "My dearest friend in the world is gone. Clive Baker gave the world the rainbow flag, he gave me forty years of love and friendship," Cleve Jones said on Twitter. advertisement No details were immediately available on the cause of Baker's death or where he died. According to the biography posted on his official website, he had been living in New York City. Jones also tweeted a photo of Baker with former President Barack Obama, inviting mourners to meet him under a rainbow flag in the Castro district of San Francisco on Friday evening to remember his friend. Baker, who was born in Kansas in 1951, was stationed in San Francisco in the early 1970s while serving in the US Army, at the start of the gay rights movement. According to the website biography Baker began making banners for gay rights and anti-war protests, often at the request of Harvey Milk, who would become the first openly gay man elected to public office in California when he won the 1977 race for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk rode under the first rainbow flags made by Baker at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978, just months before the politician was murdered by a former city supervisor, the biography says. --- ENDS --- Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 31/03/2017 (2048 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The premise of Canadian playwright Brad Frasers Kill Me Now could easily be the stuff of movie-of-the-week melodrama: A widower father who has spent his life caring for his severely disabled teenage son himself faces an unexpected medical condition that puts even more stress on an already burdened family. Fraser doesnt go the melodrama route. A playwright with a prickly disposition towards brutal honesty, Fraser fashions the story in the vein of a dark comedy with the father Jake Sturdy (Cory Wojcik) suffering the trials of Job, but without back-up comfort of a God. (At one point, Jakes sister Twyla, played by Andrea del Campo, expressly wishes they did believe in God, just to have a bit of psychological relief from the extraordinary challenges of their day-to-day lives.) Director Sarah Garton Stanley plunges you into the awkward intimacy of the Sturdy family right at the start. Jake is bathing his 17-year-old son Joey (Myles A. Taylor) and discussing his day in school. On the cusp of turning 18, Joey is starting to experience delayed sexual feelings, encompassing the issue of the unexpected erection. Since Joeys hands are permanently curled into fists, there is little he can do to personally resolve his sexual excitement. This subject later comes up as uncommon pillow talk after Jakes weekly sexual liaison with his married lover Robyn (Sharon Bajer), who suggests Jake may himself have to do something to relieve his sons tensions, reasoning that it would be OK as long as Jake himself took no pleasure in the act. Cory Wojcik (left) plays Jake, and Myles A. Taylor plays Jake's son Joey in Kill Me Now. (Photo by Dylan Hewlett) So, yes, were in Brad Fraser territory: The play doesnt pull any punches in its depiction of sexual themes, in the vein of past works such as Poor Super Man and Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love. But notwithstanding its occasionally raw content, this doesnt have the scent of deliberate provocation that may have touched Frasers past work. Indeed, if Kill Me Now isnt likely to be celebrated as an exemplar of traditional family values, it really is a profound testament to the value of a family, unconventional as it may be. In that capacity, a pivotal character is Joeys best friend, the aptly-named Rowdy Akers (Braiden Houle), a student at Joeys special needs school diagnosed with diminished intelligence as a result of fetal alcohol syndrome. With a lust for life, Rowdy compensates for his presumed slowness with an instinctive emotional intelligence that, in some situations, makes him the smartest person in the room. Cory Wojcik brings a kind of working-class-hero sensibility to the role of Jake until the role morphs into something more technically demanding. (Photo by Dylan Hewlett) Performance-wise, director Stanley manages to pull off a surprising holistic harmony given an unruly range of characters, all seen in stark relief in front of a spare, strangely elegant set design by Amy Keith. Houles performance may seem outsized, for example, but it does actually reflect a facet of FAS, and it also serves as a balance to del Campos sardonic, inwardly-directed, unlucky-in-love Twyla. Wojcik brings a kind of working-class-hero sensibility to the role of Jake until the role morphs into something more technically demanding, a challenge Wojcik meets with sensitivity. As a dissatisfied wife-mother seeking extra-marital self-worth, Bajer skilfully negotiates her characters reactive range, at sensual ease with Jake, and squirmingly uncomfortable with Joey. Taking his first stage role as Joey, Myles A. Taylor offers up an extraordinary piece of work. Like his character, Taylor lives with cerebral palsy. But unlike his character, he speaks offstage with articulate ease. If you talked on the phone with him, you wouldnt know you were speaking with someone with a disability. Thats worth mentioning because there should be no misconception that Taylor isnt performing a role, and performing it with a sharp sense of comic timing and a wellspring of emotion. He proves every bit the actor as everyone else on the stage. Such is his power that by the plays moving conclusion, the word disability as applied to Taylor proves not just inappropriate but joyfully irrelevant. 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. Sharon Bajer, (from left) Cory Wojcik, Andrea del Campo, Myles Taylor and Braiden Houle in Kill Me Now. (Photo by Dylan Hewlett) Index Pullquote Crossfire The real SCAM is the level of discourse to which UP's voters are being subjected in this election, which is turning tawdry with parties appealing to baser, atavistic instincts. Time to recall the silly acronyms doing the rounds. SCAM means Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati, said PM Narendra Modi in Meerut on February 4, thrilled with his cleverness. advertisement Actually, countered Rahul Gandhi, in Kanpur a day later, "Scam means Seva, Courage, Ability and Modesty". A lame comeback, only slightly bettered by his ally Akhilesh Yadav: "SCAM means, Save the Country from Amit Shah, Modi." By now, Modi had turned his sights on Mayawati. Accusing her of depositing Rs 100 crore in bank accounts after demonetisation, he said on February 20, "The BSP is no longer Bahujan Samaj Party, it is Behenji Sampatti Party." Mayawati's counter: "Narendra Damodardas Modi means Negative Dalit Man." Credit where it's due, she has come up with the worst superhero name ever. The party slogans are models of genial wit. "Sab bolo dil se, Akhilesh bhaiyya phir se", the SP urges voters. "Do baatein kabhi na bhool" is the BJP's rather wistful retort, "Narendra Modi aur kamal ka phool". Perhaps Mayawati, so often underestimated in this poll, should have the final say: "Kamal, cycle, panja hoga kinare, UP chalega haathi ke saharey". IPL Auctions --- ENDS --- Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 31/03/2017 (2048 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A psychiatrist said he believes an accused killer he treated for five years has schizophrenia. The second-degree murder trial of Teklu Mebrahtu continued Friday with testimony from Dr. Daniel Globerman, a remand centre pyschiatrist who saw the accused about 64 times since Mebrahtus arrest in January 2012 after he phoned 911 to report hed killed his wife. Alche Kidane, 34, was found dead in the bathtub of the couples Assiniboine Avenue apartment suite when police arrived. The Eritrean couple had immigrated to Winnipeg from Sudan less than six months earlier. The question facing Court of Queens Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg is not if Mebrahtu is responsible for his wifes death, but if he can be held criminally responsible for second-degree murder. SUPPLIED PHOTO Alche Fsehaye Kidane, 34, was stabbed to death in her Assiniboine Avenue apartment in 2012. Her husband has been charged with second-degree murder. Globerman first saw Mebrahtu in May 2012, a few months after his arrest. He testified he believed a court-ordered mental-health assessment should have been requested immediately, but it wasnt done until more than two years later, after Mebrahtus former lawyer visited him in jail in September 2014. At first, Globerman believed Mebrahtu was experiencing psychotic episodes in the midst of clinical depression the doctor supposed the stress of immigrating to Canada could have triggered Mebrahtus psychotic breaks. Later, though, his diagnosis changed to schizophrenia, an illness for which the accused is currently taking medication. Mebrahtu reported hearing voices and having delusions, and would sometimes randomly shout or go mute, Globerman said. While in custody, Mebrahtu spent four months in the psychiatric ward at the Health Sciences Centre, where he received electric-shock treatment to bring him out of a catatonic state, court heard. He was prescribed anti-psychotic medication, which he chose to stop taking on a couple of occasions. He claimed he could hear voices that seemed to be coming from the television, other inmates or even his psychiatrist. The voices spoke in his native Tigrinya and told him he did not kill his wife. The voices chanted this phrase in his head during a court appearance in May 2015, which prompted him to shout I didnt kill my wife! he later explained to Globerman. Globerman was not responsible for completing the court-ordered assessments of Mebrahtu and didnt talk to him about the alleged offence. He testified he did not believe Mebrahtu was faking his symptoms. At no point did I think they were inauthentic, he said in response to questions from defence lawyer Wendy Martin White Friday. I never felt that this man was malingering. The defence is expected to seek a not-criminally-responsible (NCR) designation. An NCR assessment is meant to determine whether the accuseds mental state at the time of the offence would have affected his culpability. Globerman said the assessment ideally would have been done immediately or as soon as possible after the offence. Such an assessment is complicated by language barriers, cultural differences and the fact that Mebrahtu has now been in jail for more than five years. Earlier on Friday, a doctor who had treated Mebrahtu less than a month before his wife was found stabbed to death testified that he prescribed him vitamins and sent him home. Dr. Bharat Shah testified he first saw Mebrahtu on Dec. 19, 2011, and he reported having felt very afraid within the last week, lacked concentration and wasnt eating much. The doctor said he ran lab tests that all came back normal and questioned whether Mebrahtu had experienced temporary delirium. At a second visit on Dec. 29 that year, Mebrahtu seemed stable. Shah testified he prescribed him a multivitamin. He didnt refer him to a mental-health professional or give him any other medication, Shah confirmed under questioning from Crown attorney Daniel Chaput. I didnt see any need for medications at that time, he said. Mebrahtu had been brought to the doctor by his wifes brother, who sponsored the couples immigration and was concerned about his brother-in-laws mental health. On Jan. 23, 2012, Kidane was found dead. katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 01/04/2017 (2047 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The Manitoba government has exactly one year to figure out how it wants to spend more than $1 billion on infrastructure projects or it risks losing control of how it will be spent. Federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi wrote to Premier Brian Pallister almost a year ago to outline what Ottawa had for Manitoba in terms of infrastructure but also to point out the federal government wanted all of the funding from the existing New Building Canada Fund to be allocated by the end of March 2018. Any money not allocated by then will be shifted to the gas tax fund, which means cities and municipalities, not the province, will decide how it is spent. Since then, just four projects, with a total cost of $100 million, have been approved for Manitoba. The province now has 12 months to decide where to spend 10 times that amount, about half of which is federal government money. Bruce Bumstead/Brandon Sun files Construction work continues on the First Street overpass in Brandon Manitoba was allocated $668 million in federal funding for the national and regional projects component of the New Building Canada Fund, which was created by Stephen Harpers Conservative government in 2014. It was to last for a decade of medium and major regional infrastructure projects. The funds will either be matched by the province, or projects will be cost-shared equally by Ottawa, Manitoba and municipal governments, bringing the total spending to more than $1.2 billion. if(undefined==typeof window.datawrapper)window.datawrapper={};window.datawrapper[Nun3E]={},window.datawrapper[Nun3E].embedDeltas={100:661.8,200:610.8,300:584.8,400:584.8,500:559.8,600:559.8,700:559.8,800:559.8,900:559.8,1000:559.8},window.datawrapper[Nun3E].iframe=document.getElementById(datawrapper-chart-Nun3E),window.datawrapper[Nun3E].iframe.style.height=window.datawrapper[Nun3E].embedDeltas[Math.min(1e3,Math.max(100*Math.floor(window.datawrapper[Nun3E].iframe.offsetWidth/100),100))]+px,window.addEventListener(message,function(a){if(undefined!=typeof a.data[datawrapper-height])for(var b in a.data[datawrapper-height])if(Nun3E==b)window.datawrapper[Nun3E].iframe.style.height=a.data[datawrapper-height][b]+px}); Manitoba still has more than $500 million in federal funds left, having decided on 10 projects, including the four approved in the last year. Winnipeg has several major priorities, including widening Kenaston Boulevard and extending Chief Peguis Trail. It is also hoping to get more funds from Ottawa to help pay for its $1.2 billion upgrades to its sewage treatment plants. Pallister pledged during last springs election campaign to spend $1 billion a year on infrastructure, but to date there has been little information on how that will be carried out; it didnt merit a mention in last falls throne speech. And the province recently cancelled a host of infrastructure projects, including $1 billion of previously announced health-care investments such as a new CancerCare Manitoba facility, as well as a new gym for Kelvin High School and sports-field rehabilitation at Dakota Collegiate. A spokeswoman for the provincial government said in an emailed statement this week that there are several projects currently under review for the New Building Canada Fund. This province is aware of the federal deadline to allocate remaining funds by March 31, 2018 and we are working towards meeting that deadline, said Caitlin MacGregor. Our government continues to work collaboratively with our federal counterparts to ensure infrastructure dollars are invested strategically and deliver value for Manitoba taxpayers. It should be noted Manitoba is not the only province with decisions to make. Six others are sitting on more than half their allocations; Quebec hasnt assigned a dime of its $1.6-billion share. Only New Brunswick, which has allocated 94 per cent of its share, is close to using all the money. Ontario took a major leap forward in its allocations this week, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $1.8 billion of federal New Building Canada Fund money would go to pay for a GO Transit Regional Express rail project. Until then, the province had allocated just four per cent of its $2.4 billion. The provinces all have the same March 3, 2018 deadline to allocate the money and federal infrastructure officials are preparing for a tsunami of applications in the coming months. A recent briefing note outlined plans to streamline the approvals process. But Manitobas negotiations with Ottawa in the last year can only be described as tense. It remains the only province not yet signed to the new health-transfers agreement and is one of only two provinces that hasnt signed the national climate-change framework. It is also behind schedule in approving projects under two other federal programs the public transit fund and the clean water and wastewater fund. Announced by the Liberals in their 2016 budget, Manitoba received almost $180 million from both to go to Winnipeg Transit and water projects. The province and Ottawa signed an agreement last July for the two components and Ottawa wanted all the money allocated within six months. Eight months have passed and Manitoba has $78 million in federal dollars left in those two funds. There have been 28 projects approved, but only four are currently underway. It can take several years for a single project to go from concept to approval. The Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin outlets project was first announced as a joint federal-provincial project in July 2015 under the national projects component of the New Building Canada Fund. It was listed in the Liberals first budget in March 2016 and mentioned as a priority by Pallister during the provincial election campaign and again in last falls throne speech. But nearly two years since it was first announced, approval has not yet been granted. The main goal of the federal government is to get the money flowing and projects underway in time to show economic benefits before voters go back to the polls in 2019. Of the 10 projects Manitoba has now approved for the New Building Canada Fund, only four are currently underway. mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 31/03/2017 (2048 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitobas shifting newcomer landscape has the agencies that help them waiting to see how services will be affected and who is going to pay for them. After rallying a year ago to welcome an influx of 1,000 Syrian refugees, Friendly Manitoba now faces a soaring number of asylum seekers and a stark reduction in the number of government-assisted refugees. Manitobas largest resettlement agency for government-assisted refugees, Welcome Place, will see an 80 per cent cut in the number of arrivals this year. Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press Files Rita Chahal, executive director of Welcome Place, says the only public funding the organization has gotten was $110,000 and 14 units from the provincial government. The cut was dramatic, said Rita Chahal, executive director of Welcome Place, which expects to welcome 114 government-assisted refugees this year compared with an average of 519 a year. Only 300 government-assisted refugees are expected for the entire province in 2017, said provincial government spokesman David von Meyenfeldt. The number of people crossing the border from the United States to claim refugee status in Manitoba, meanwhile, was 332 in the first three months of this year compared with 266 for all of last year, said Ghezae Hagos, who helps them at Welcome Place. The refugee claimants have a legal right to apply for asylum here but theres no permanent funding or programming to shelter and support them before their Immigration and Refugee Board hearing, says the Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations (MANSO). As refugee claimants are not eligible for services funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, our service providers will need more resources to support these clients while they await their hearings, MANSO executive director Vicki Sinclair said by email. Welcome Places primary focus and government funding is for resettling UN Refugee Agency-approved refugees in Winnipeg. For years, and without government funding, the non-profit agency has also provided in-Canada paralegal services to refugee claimants. It could not use any of its federal funding earmarked for helping refugees to help the asylum seekers and had to rely on donations. This winter, when refugee claimants crossing into Canada on foot started showing up in Emerson with nowhere to go and no place to stay, Welcome Place and its Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council board sent staff to pick them up. Some were taken to Welcome Place housing units in downtown Winnipeg. When they ran out of room, they took them to the Salvation Army. This week, the Henry Avenue shelter downtown was a temporary home for 55 of the refugee claimants. This winters steady stream of asylum seekers has not slowed to a trickle. From Jan. 1 to March 30, Welcome Place reported the arrival of 332 refugee claimants. At that pace, Manitoba could expect to receive 1,328 by the end of the year. So far, the only public funding weve had is from the provincial government $110,000 and the 14 units, Chahal said at Welcome Place. Last month, the federal government asked Welcome Place to submit a budget plan for helping the asylum seekers but they havent had any response yet, she said. Were doing our own fundraising to meet the demand, Chahal said. Sinclair with the umbrella group MANSO hopes Manitobans and all levels of government will respond with the same co-ordinated effort that helped the influx of more than 1,000 Syrian refugees who arrived in 2016 in addition to the arrival of hundreds of other government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees. We hope we can build on the close collaboration we saw between all levels of government, the settlement, business and volunteer sectors and the general public in 2016 to ensure that human beings in need of protection do not need to compete for resources, Sinclair said. In the meantime, she said members of the public can make donations to ongoing fundraising campaigns, which include helprefugees.ca and openyourhearts.ca. As Canadians, we have a humanitarian duty to treat all refugees with respect and dignity, whether they are selected overseas and government-assisted as part of a major resettlement movement, privately sponsored by members of our community, or make their own way to our borders and request asylum in accordance with International Refugee law, said Sinclair. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 01/04/2017 (2047 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Timely Cares timing has raised eyebrows in the health-care system and at the legislature. The business, operated by four nurse practitioners who make house calls and offer online consultations, has been running since the beginning of March. In January, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority closed one of the six QuickCare clinics set up by the former NDP government because it said it had difficulties attracting nursing staff. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES NDP health critic Matt Wiebe says Timely Cares launch can be linked to the demise of a QuickCare operation. The service operates outside the public health-care system and clients pay out of pocket. The Manitoba Nurses Union said Friday it has been scrambling to find out more about Timely Care, which could represent the start of private businesses poaching in-demand health-care providers from the overburdened public system. MNU is opposed to the privatization of health care. We strongly believe that a public health-care system is key to ensuring the delivery of quality and timely health care for all, the union said in a statement. There is plenty of evidence that shows that two-tiered health-care systems actually hurt the public system because there are only so many health-care professionals to go around. There is already a shortage of nurse practitioners. The nurses dont work for Timely Care; they are their own individual private health companies paying to use the Corydon Avenue location as a central hub co-op of sorts for dispatch services, supplies and lab services, one told the Free Press. Its our own businesses, said Diane Gudmundson of Richer, who visits patients in their homes within a 50-kilometre radius of Steinbach. Gudmundson, who has been working in the public health-care system for 15 years, says she has no intention of giving up her job at one of the five remaining Winnipeg QuickCare clinics. She said the timing is coincidental. This has been in the works for quite a time, she said. I was already thinking of starting a private business. The Timely Care website features an extensive list of services and fees. Home visits are available in Winnipeg, Steinbach and Stonewall and their surrounding areas for $50 plus a $30 travel fee. Online virtual visits of 10 minutes are available anywhere in the province for $40. None of the fees are covered by Manitoba Health. Supplied Above: An image from the Timely Care website. It offers a wide variety of health-care services for a price. Left: NDP health critic Matt Wiebe says Timely Cares launch can be linked to the closing of a QuickCare clinic in Winnipeg under the Pallister government. The Opposition NDP is accusing Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen and Premier Brian Pallister of encouraging private companies to fill the void theyre creating by cutting public services. NDP health critic Matt Wiebe isnt surprised by Timely Cares launch; the premier has spoken of more private services entering the system. Id be worried theres going to be more of these coming, Wiebe said Friday. You can draw a direct line between the QuickCare clinic closing in St. Boniface, where they said there was a lack of nurse practitioners, and a company that uses nurse practitioners. If they see an opportunity where the premier and the health minister arent opposed to private health services, well see more companies come to fill the gap of what were losing. Goertzen wasnt available for an interview, but an aide said Friday that Timely Care is legal under the Canada Health Act and Goertzen has no jurisdiction over its operations. In the view of Manitoba, delivery of clinical services by nurse practitioners within their scope of practice on an uninsured basis is not a contravention of Manitobas current legislation, said Amy McGuinness, Goertzens press secretary. So far, Gudmundson said, shes putting in a few hours a week with patients. She said the clinic isnt actively recruiting additional nurse practitioners now. We want to make sure the model works, she said. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 01/04/2017 (2047 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. I dont know how many of you had a favourite high school teacher, but you might want to reflect on that while I pay tribute to mine. Why now? Because Norm Larsen will celebrate his 82nd birthday on Tuesday. SUPPLIED photos Norm Larsens great passions are teaching and the law the latter so much so that he wrote some of it. And also because of a recent email exchange with my Grade 10 British History teacher at St. James Collegiate that left me deeply saddened. It had been primarily emails and his reading the Free Press that have kept us in touch over the years. What made that contact uniquely enjoyable was his casual commentary continued to teach me history. Especially Manitoba history. Norms emailed comments also tended to touch on a variety of other themes mainly justice and humanity, with a side of humour. Now as I do my own reflecting on my own favourite teacher, I realize thats what has kept us connected, even though weve rarely actually been in each others presence over the last 50 years. As I recently realized, though, the connection goes deeper than our shared interests, which became apparent earlier this year when I left a message on his phone. I had called because, even though Norms emails only arrived sporadically over the years, there was something about his recent silence that worried me. As it turned out, when he finally replied via email, I had reason to be concerned. Norm revealed he hadnt been well for the last three years. SUPPLIED Norm Larsen Yet during that time, he had celebrated his 80th birthday by publishing Notable People in Manitobas Legal History his third book in the genre, law being one of his other passions. Mr. Larsen, as we called him in the classroom, left teaching after only a few years to get a law degree and ultimately a Masters of Law from Harvard University. That opened a career path that immediately suggested a particular political leaning. Initially he articled, then partnered, with Joe Zuken the avowed Communist who was elected year-after-year to city council and Roland Penner, who become an NDP attorney general, a close friend and a co-author. By 1972, when Legal Aid Manitoba was founded, Norm was its first staff lawyer. Within five years, he was the executive director. He spent time with the Manitoba Law Society, too and returned to teaching, this time at the University of Manitobas Faculty of Law. He drafted statutory laws for the Manitoba government for the last dozen or so years of his career. By 2000, he had retired and begun delving back into history and other matters he cared about. For five years he conducted seminars on funeral planning that offered practical alternatives for making them simpler and considerably less costly. That was his way of giving back while, I suspect, keeping himself and his restless intellect busy. So were the books that followed. Between his years teaching at St. James Collegiate and the University of Manitoba, Larsen became Legal Aid Manitobas first staff lawyer. That last time I recall seeing Norm was six years ago when we had lunch together with his son, Kenton, whos an instructor in advertising and public relations and teaches comedy writing at Red River College. Years later, I asked Kenton what Norm was like as a father. Exactly what he was like as a teacher, I bet. Hes a very analytical person. He thinks about everything but beneath that hes a very sensitive man. In a very good way. In the sense he thinks about other people and what they might be going through and I think he likes to help people out. I wondered if his dad was also his teacher. Very much so. The thing that was the bond over the years is humour. That probably influenced me more than anything. Which reminds me of a column from 2011, when I made mention of Norm and his partner, Linda Perry. It was after they found a headstone in rural Manitoba with an epitaph that I later declared my quote of the year: Friend, as you pass by as you are, once I was. As I am, soon you will be. Prepare yourself to follow me. Make a will Dummy. Norm and I both laughed about that. But then, last month, that email arrived in response to my call of concern. After he referred to the long illness I hadnt known about, Norm wrote: When I think of you, Gordon, I see you standing at the back of a classroom at St. James, gym bag in hand, as the other students departed. You stayed for awhile and we had a pleasant conversation. You were such a likable guy. And still are, of course. SUPPLIEDNorm Larsen I well remember your first column and being astonished that you could write under that kind of pressure. Your style was then quite unique, but the world has since caught up to you. Im sure Ive read more than 90% of your columns and enjoyed 89% of them! He was still marking me after all those years. Except higher. I always wanted to be a writer, Norm continued, and, at the tail end of my professional career, became the only kind of writer I could have been a writer/drafter of statutory laws. My hours and pay were probably better than yours, but I might well have chosen your route if there had been a choice. Norm ended his email with these words: Let me say that it has been a great pleasure knowing you and reading you for some 50 years. Thank you for your contribution to my lucky life. When I think about Norman Garrod Larsen, I think of a man possessing an unrivalled combination of intellect, caring and curiosity, wrapped in a grace that cant be taught. Or, I could put that in a way that might bring a smile as he reads this. Larsen as a boy He is a man who wears his heart and his politics on his sleeve. His left sleeve, of course. Happy birthday, Mr. Larsen. gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 01/04/2017 (2047 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. What do Manitobans truly think about climate change? The provincial government was criticized this week for asking Manitobans to complete an online survey as part of a public consultation toward developing a made in Manitoba climate change policy. From March 3 to March 31, visitors to the provincial government website (gov.mb.ca) could complete a survey that provided detailed explanations and followup questions regarding the pricing of carbon emissions, conservation measures and ways by which people are reducing their ecological footprint. To be clear, online consultation surveys are a legitimate means of engaging citizens on important issues. This tool is an effective way of gathering input, particularly open-ended qualitative feedback, from citizens who are interested in a specific topic. But even though more than 6,000 responses have been submitted, critics are quite correct to point out the government cannot definitively conclude what Manitobans think about a climate change strategy through this survey. This is not a scientific survey of a representative sample of Manitobans, as anyone even non-Manitobans can complete the survey multiple times. JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Grand Chief Derek Nepinak speaks at a conference on climate change and the environment in Winnipeg last November. Some Manitoba chiefs took part in a ceremonial signing of the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion. For the past decade, Environics Research has conducted the Canadian Environmental Barometer, which is a biannual survey of 2,000 Canadians exploring their views on energy and the environment. Although each wave includes small samples of approximately 150 Manitobans, we can provide a great deal of insight regarding what Manitobans think about these issues. For instance, we do know that Manitobans, like other Canadians, are deeply concerned about the effects of a changing climate. Manitobans support the policy actions that other governments across the country are taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, Manitobans are also more likely to prefer a co-ordinated national effort on this issue rather than having provinces develop and execute their own individual strategies. First, the vast majority of Manitobans are concerned about climate change and the effects it will have on their province and the broader world. Nearly half are extremely or definitely concerned about climate change, with another one in three Manitobans somewhat concerned about this issue. Manitobans levels of concern about climate change are similar to those of other Canadians, and the number of people who completely dismiss this issue is extremely small. Manitobans are also paying close attention to the strategies that other provincial governments have implemented to reduce emissions, including the cap and trade method of charging major emitters of greenhouse gases adopted by Ontario and the carbon tax model implemented in British Columbia and, more recently, Alberta. Slim majorities of Manitobans believe to some degree that these two strategies will lead to reductions in emissions. Although Manitobans express the same types of concerns about these approaches as other Canadians namely, that these strategies may not actually reduce emissions and, in the case of a carbon tax, that it is a method for perpetually cash-strapped governments to collect more tax revenue there is nonetheless an appetite in Manitoba for putting a price on carbon. People are sufficiently concerned about climate change that they put aside whatever concerns they have about the approach so that some action is taken to reduce emissions. Indeed, our research shows that nearly three in five Manitobans are in favour of a provincial carbon tax. However, only about one in 10 strongly supports this measure, with the remainder expressing moderate approval for taxing emissions. Although Manitobans opposed to implementing a revenue-neutral B.C.-style carbon tax in this province remain in the minority, this opposition is much more rigid as about one in four is strongly against introducing this type of levy here. Manitoba stands alone as the only province that has indicated it will not sign on to a national climate strategy, as Premier Brian Pallister and his government have signalled they will develop a made in Manitoba approach to this issue. Even though 45 per cent of Manitobans would prefer to see provincial governments develop their own strategies, the majority (55 per cent) would actually prefer to see Manitoba take part in a broader national strategy. Those Manitobans who prefer a provincially crafted approach are more similar to their Prairie counterparts in Alberta and Saskatchewan, whereas the majority more closely resembles residents of Ontario, British Columbia and even Quebec, where an overarching national strategy is the preference. Climate policy is a complex, nuanced issue, but Manitobans clearly want their government to meaningfully address this challenge, and to do so in a way that aligns with what is being done elsewhere in Canada. Curtis Brown is a senior research associate with Environics Research, a national public opinion and research consultancy (environicsresearch.com). Prior to joining Environics in 2016, Curtis spent eight years with Probe Research, a Manitoba-based public opinion research firm, and has previously written for the Winnipeg Free Press and Brandon Sun. curtis.brown@environics.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 01/04/2017 (2047 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The deadline has passed for contenders to sign up new members to vote for the next federal Conservative leader. Numbers are being thrown around by various leadership camps in a bid to sound like they are front-runners. Kevin OLeary says he got 33,336 members. His perceived competition, Kellie Leitch, claims she signed up 30,038 new members. Its not clear if any of them are telling the truth. The Conservative party wont release official membership numbers until April, with the leadership vote on May 27. And really, those numbers dont mean much anyway. In leadership races, touting membership sales is about sabre-rattling and intimidation. On that score, Mr. OLeary and Ms. Leitch seem committed to out-Trumping U.S. President Donald Trump. They both have used alarming right-wing rhetoric about immigrants, border security and socially conservative issues that many mainstream Tories abandoned long ago. DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong In the midst of all this noise is an ever-increasing sound coming from the more centrist members of the party, people such as former Tory cabinet minister Tom McMillan, who recently published Not My Party: The Rise and Fall of Canadian Tories from Robert Stanfield to Stephen Harper. Mr. McMillan is calling for the progressive element to return to the Conservative party. Hes joined by Conservative columnist Scott Gilmore, who wrote in Macleans this week: The Conservative leadership race has been hard to watch, unless you support the Liberals or any other political party in Canada in which case its been a laugh a minute. But for people like me, I am left wondering how I ended up in a party seemingly dominated by xenophobic, economically illiterate, populist buffoons. Indeed, it would seem that the most obnoxious element of the Conservative party is dominating the leadership campaign to the exclusion of the centrists. Centrists such as Michael Chong. Most Canadians dont know much about this leadership candidate unless they read a ridiculous and quickly spiked Globe and Mail column by Leah McLaren in which she suggests she attempted to breastfeed his infant at a house party. Or the strange story that his image was being used in Guatemala to sell hygienic toilet facilities. But for those who have paid close attention to federal politics, Mr. Chong is a soothing alternative to Mr. OLeary and Ms. Leitch. Mr. Chong has made a reputation for himself as a principled politician. He stepped down from a cabinet position under then-prime minister Stephen Harper in 2006 because of Mr. Harpers motion on Quebec. Mr. Chong stood in opposition to what he called ethnic nationalism. But its his Reform Act of 2014 for which Mr. Chong should be remembered. He worked tirelessly with opposition members and the public to put together a private members bill that would have shifted the balance of power between caucuses and party leaders. It was supported not just by the Conservative party, but by opposition leaders at the time, as well as backbenchers. This is an example of a leadership candidate who can work across party lines, who has principles, who has something to say rather than just creating noise and spectacle. Perhaps Mr. Chong is just the antidote for those within the Conservative party who also feel like the front-runners seem only to stand against, rather than for, anything. The state Supreme Court on Friday affirmed a lower courts decision affirming the convictions of a Minnesota man serving consecutive life terms for the 2012 murders of a father and son at their downtown La Crosse camera store. Jeffrey Lepsch, now 43, is not entitled to a new trial, the Supreme Court ruled in an opinion written by Justice Annette Ziegler. Lepschs attorney likely will take the case to federal court. It is not unusual that in a big criminal case the state courts will affirm the conviction only to have a federal court throw it out, attorney Steven Zaleski said. I anticipated that the claims of error would be more appropriately addressed in the federal court system, as the claims of error were largely based on federal case law. But for jurisdictional or procedural reasons, the case needed to be brought first in the state system. Lepsch in June appealed the District 4 Court of Appeals decision to uphold the convictions for the killings of Paul Petras, 56, and his 19-year-old son, A.J., at the now-shuttered Mays Photo on Main Street. A La Crosse County jury in 2013 convicted Lepsch of shooting Paul and A.J. Petras on Sept. 15 when they interfered with a robbery before he walked from the store with 27 pieces of camera equipment worth $17,000 to his minivan at Fourth and Main streets. Police found A.J. Petras body near the stores safe and his fathers in the bathroom hours later when Sherri Petras went to check on her husband and son. Surveillance video, cell phone and vehicle records led investigators to Lepsch, a broke, unemployed hobby photographer living in Dakota, Minn., at the time of the killings. Investigators traced every piece of equipment stolen from Mays to his home or sold online to support his family of five. Lepsch argued on appeal that his trial attorneys failed him when they allowed nine biased jurors to help decide the case, a violated of his right to an impartial jury under the state and federal constitutions. The jurors, he argued, failed to meet the standard of impartiality because they believed he was guilty before they heard the case or found law enforcement more credible than other witnesses. He also argued his constitutional rights were violated because he wasnt present when the clerk of court read an oath to the full panel of potential jurors. Prosecutors contend Lepsch failed to prove jurors were biased, pointing out they said they would base their verdict on evidence presented at trial and the administration of the oath did not violate Lepschs rights because it is not part of jury selection under state statute. Lepsch cant show that his trial attorneys failed him because he didnt prove that the jurors were biased, the Supreme Court found. Jurors told the court they could be impartial. The circuit courts careful administration of jury selection and the verbal in person questioning that took place cured any possibility of the likelihood or the appearance of bias, at least as outlined in the arguments Lepsch has made, according to the court. Lepsch didnt explain why administering an oath to potential jurors is part of the jury selection process any more than when prospective jurors complete questionnaires before trial, the court found. Even if he had a constitutional right to be present during the oath, according to the court, any error from his absence was harmless. A Baraboo man accused of attempting to shoot and kill several people including an officer while high on drugs reached a deal with prosecutors Thursday. Prosecutors dismissed five charges against Kenno Marcus Solesby-Funmaker, 19, of Baraboo, in exchange for his guilty plea to three felonies. He is scheduled to be sentenced in June. Witnesses told authorities that Solesby-Funmaker had purchased marijuana and prescription drugs in Madison shortly before he caused a disturbance at his girlfriends Bluffview Estates apartment in the town of Sumpter. During the October 2015 incident, the teenager allegedly pointed a loaded pistol at his girlfriend and her mother and pulled the trigger. The weapon did not fire. Witnesses told investigators that Solesby-Funmaker used the wrong ammunition, so the weapon did not fire every time the trigger was pulled. Shortly after that incident, Solesby-Funmaker allegedly caused another dispute in which he fired a round at the ceiling of a Baraboo apartment building. One witness said the bullet could have injured his granddaughter or son, who were upstairs. Solesby-Funmaker is then alleged to have returned to the town of Sumpter where he rummaged through his girlfriends apartment, yelling and breaking things as she hid in a nearby apartment and listened. A Sauk County Sheriffs Department sergeant who responded to the scene alleged that Solesby-Funmaker pointed the pistol at him and pulled the trigger before he ran away. The teenager was taken into custody with the help of a police dog and Taser. He allegedly threatened to kill his girlfriend and her mother, and to blow up the police station, as he was being detained. About a month prior to that October incident, the girlfriend told authorities she had received death threats from Solesby-Funmaker by cell phone text message. While officers were on scene, Solesby-Funmaker arrived at the apartment and fled in a vehicle after authorities tried to speak with him, according to the complaint. In that case, he was charged with making phone threats, fleeing an officer and bail jumping. To resolve both cases Thursday, Sauk County District Attorney Kevin Calkins filed an amended complaint regarding the October 2015 incidents that eliminated the attempted homicide charges. Solesby-Funmaker pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and one count of bail jumping. Sauk County Circuit Court Judge Guy Reynolds ordered that the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to complete an investigation of Solesby-Funmakers life history to inform him prior to sentencing. He scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 12. The reckless endangerment convictions each carry a maximum possible penalty of 12 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. Solesby-Funmaker could face an additional six years in prison and $10,000 in fines for the bail jumping conviction. Jason and Annabelle Loppnow have a passion for what they serve at their compact eatery at 301 Front St. Not content to offer anything run-of-the-mill, they have specialized in creating the best offerings they can find, including genuine Chicago hot dogs, chili cheese dogs, gyros, Italian beef sandwiches, 24 flavors of Cedar Crest ice cream, and 24 specialty soda flavors. Exciting new offerings include homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches and the custom-baked Golden Beaver Bun. Still in development is the Dam Dog featuring a Beaver Dam pepper strip, secret recipe chili and other tasty ingredients. The Dam Dog is a thing of beauty, Jason said. Well be swinging for the fences with that one. Jason and Annabelle met at UW-Oshkosh and lived in Beaver Dam while Jason was working in Oshkosh and Annabelle was attending Madison Area Technical College. In the intervening years they spent time in Indiana and then Eagle River while they ran a thriving warehousing and trucking business in Rhinelander. They also lived for a time in Cambria and developed lasting friendships there as well. Everything that had a wooden stick came through our warehouse, Jason said. When the economy collapsed we lost everything. We couldnt find work and relocated here because I had friends in Randolph that I was doing work with. Ann was able to pick up the job that she had in 1994, working with people with disabilities. We found a great house on Haskell Street and we moved here and have been crawling out of a hole ever since. Jason is an optimist, and occasionally interjects his positivity into the conversation. You know they say success is not permanent, well neither is failure. Were making a comeback! Jason does whatever it takes for his family, which includes daughters Raquel17, Claudia 14 and Ava Ray10. He worked for a time as a mason and is now employed as a mechanic at Pine Hills Trucking/Farm in South Beaver Dam. The hard-working family also secured a lease at their restaurant location (formerly a Clark gas station and most recently the Its a Sweet Life cupcake shop). After extensive changes were made, and all of the needed fixtures were either built or purchased, Annabelles opened June 25, 2016. The motivation was, and always will be, family. It was actually inspired by Wayland Academy, said Jason. Our middle daughter, one day when she was in the fifth grade, said she wanted to attend Wayland Academy that was her dream. We couldnt put two nickels together, let alone two pennies. So I said, yeah, I dont know how were going to do this. Now were getting closer and closer . I saw the empty store here and said, Claudia you should go down there and sell some popsicles or something to make some money. We took it a little bit further than that. We have really good kids and we try to give them the best opportunities that we can, he added. They have a lot of big hopes and dreams, and theyre striving to do this and that, both with school and with extracurricular stuff, said Ann. Weve got to keep up! If they want to go to med school or something like that well have to open Annabelles 4, Jason joked. The entire family was involved with the shop. We built and painted the picnic tables and painted everything in here, said Ann. We were able to take a little money and lots of effort, and maximized every dollar we had, said Jason. He went to Menards every day for a year, said Ann. Apart from a little storage shed in the back, there is no more space than customers see. We have to be very careful about what we order, Ann said. The location, however, is ideal. Its a natural gathering place, said Jason. Theres so much foot traffic. We live right up the street and we always thought its so adorable, Ann said. Its really the perfect place for what were doing here. Weve got the movie theater across the street and the downtown, and the senior housing. And there arent many places to eat here after 2 p.m. There is no other place around here to get a Chicago dog, said Jason, a Chicago dog aficionado. The first time I ever had a Chicago dog was at the House of Dogs in Eagle River, said Jason. My dad introduced me to it, and I loved it. (My parents helped us open this place, although Dad never actually made it here). At the same time I was driving to Chicago all the time, and I knew what I was looking for. So Ive had them in Chicago and at the House of Dogs and now here in Beaver Dam. In his judgement the local dog is as good as it gets. He said, I think our Chicago dog is as authentic a Chicago dog as youll ever find, period! The renowned Vienna Beef Company trained the family how to prepare the hot dogs and have since highlighted the store as one of the best places to get their authentic Chicago-style creations. Regarding their gyros, some purists insist that gyro meat has to be carved from a spit. Jason insists, however, that his Greek delicacies are better than others, and that the meat is more flavorful, more moist and generally better than that offered at a county fair or the Greek restaurant. Jason believes the same holds true for the restaurants Italian beef, which includes seasoned beef served on an Italian roll with mozzarella cheese and either hot or mild giardiniera (pickled vegetables). When it came to choosing ice cream the Loppnows took that decision seriously as well. In addition to the creamy 11 percent milk fat content, another deciding factor was the flavors. We sampled all the different creameries around the area before we chose one, said Jason. They have 100 different flavors to chose from, said Ann. Taste testing them is my favorite thing to do. Other items on the menu include homemade soups and foot-long hot dogs. Im darn proud of all of it, Jason said. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week For current soups and ice cream flavors check out Annabelles on Facebook or call 356-5006. Jaitley that India requires investment of Rs 43 lakh crore for infrastructure over the next five years and hoped that the New Development Bank could contribute to this. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.2 per cent in 2017. (Photo: Reuters) By Indo-Asian News Service: The Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.2 per cent in 2017 and by 7.7 per cent in 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. "Though this is a challenging time, India has remained a bright spot. We have successfully implemented reform measures," Jaitley said at the second annual meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) in Delhi. advertisement He said that India requires investment of Rs 43 lakh crore or $646 billion for infrastructure over the next five years and hoped that the NDB, which became operational in 2015, could contribute to this. "This offers enormous opportunity," he said. 'NDB SUCCESSFULLY RAISED MONEY FROM MONEY' "NDB President KV Kamath has done a commendable job. The bank is now fully operational. It has successfully raised money from the market. It will soon make disbursements in India," he said. "The first agreement on NDB loan in Madhya Pradesh has been signed some days back," Jaitley added. He said that NDB was established to finance sustainable development projects and must fit into the role envisioned by its founding nations - India, China, Brazil, Russia and South Africa. Hoping that the NDB will offer loans at cheaper rates, Jaitley said India was looking to have a mutually beneficial partnership with the bank. GEOPOLITICAL TENSION MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR ECONOMIES "I hope that NDB will emerge as a development bank and help in funding of emerging economies," he said and added that protectionism and geopolitical tension remained as major challenges for the economies. "Protectionism is a challenge to growth prospects. But global growth is showing positive sign and moving upwards and is expected to improve further in 2017-18," the Finance Minister said. Kamath, who also addressed the opening ceremony said that the bank was looking at financing over $2 billion in 15 projects of member countries in 2017. The bank, which has headquarters in Shanghai, had financed seven projects in 2016 and is now working towards opening its first regional centre in Africa. "We found great support in first year of operation. We hope to open African Regional Centre by May," Kamath said. ALSO READ | Maharashtra economic survey pegs GDP growth at 9.4 per cent this fiscal ALSO READ | After Rajya Sabha forces amendments, Arun Jaitley to bring Finance Bill back to Lok Sabha ALSO WATCH | Finance Minsiter Arun Jaitley answers Opposition in Rajya Sabha on GST Bill --- ENDS --- Area voters will have few local races to decide when they head to the polls on Tuesday, April 4. Columbus School Board In the Columbus School District, four candidates are vying to fill the two School Board seats that will be on the ballot. Candidates include Cindy Damm, Kelly Crombie, Mark Campbell and Julie Hajewski. Damm is an incumbent and currently serves as the boards vice president. Crombie, who is the mayor of the city of Columbus, will not be seeking re-election to that post, which also will be on the ballot Tuesday. (The other incumbent is Kevin White, who chose not to seek re-election.) School board members serve three-year terms. Columbus City Council Michael Thom was the only candidate to file nomination papers for the Columbus mayors post. Thom is currently an alderman in the city, representing District 3. His aldermanic term is expiring, and Matthew Kenney will be the sole candidate for that seat. District 1 incumbent Regan Hendrickson and District 2 incumbent Trina Reid will each be seeking re-election to their posts. Neither of them will face opposition. All city of Columbus elected officials serve two-year terms. Fall River School Board In the Fall River School District, incumbent board member Warren Koenig will be seeking re-election. His is the only Fall River School Board seat that will be on the ballot, and he faces no opposition. Board members serve three-year terms. Fall River School Board member Jason Freedman announced in February that he will be resigning after the boards April meeting. The board will appoint someone to fill out the one year left on his term. Fall River Village Board In the village of Fall River, voters will be electing a village president and three trustees, but the only candidates who will be on the ballot are the incumbents: President Jeff Slotten and Trustees Dan Birr, Mark Gould and Angela Freedman. All village officials serve two-year terms. School districts that have saved on health care costs by through Gov. Scott Walker's signature 2011 law curtailing collective bargaining would likely get a share of the hundreds of millions in new school funding proposed by Walker, his office said Friday. The comments come after Kim Eparvier, superintendent of the Peshtigo School District, told the Wisconsin State Journal that Walker's proposal tie the proposed $649 million in new funding to a fixed percentage of employee health care contributions diminishes school administrators' and school boards' power in crafting benefit packages for their employees. Walker, who visited Eparvier's district this week to promote his record increase in funding for public schools, has characterized that requirement as ensuring districts are compliant with Act 10, the 2011 law that curtailed collective bargaining abilities for public school teachers while letting districts shift more pension and health insurance costs to employees. But Eparvier, who contacted the office of Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, earlier this week, said Friday that the proposed requirement takes away the flexibility Act 10 gave school district officials. Walker's proposal requires districts to make their staff pay at least 12 percent toward health care costs, which Eparvier's district staff does. Tom Evenson, spokesman for Walker, said the majority of school districts will likely get the new funding if passed as proposed. "The Governor's public education funding increases were designated for all the districts that have used tools to put more money into the classroom, which we believe is the overwhelming majority," Evenson said. "If the Peshtigo School District has used the tools to achieve savings, then we believe it is meeting the spirit of the provision and will work with the Legislature to ensure it would benefit from such increases." Evenson noted that State Superintendent Tony Evers said during testimony on the 2017-19 state budget on Thursday that he believes only a couple school districts wouldn't meet the 12 percent threshold. At the time the budget proposal was released, Walker's indicated it was aimed at the Madison School District by saying it was the only district they had identified that wouldn't be eligible for the new funding. The district for years after Act 10 was enacted didn't require staff to pay any portion of their health insurance costs. The district does now require employees to pay something toward their monthly health insurance premiums, but the contributions do not reach the 12 percent threshold Walker proposed. The contribution levels in Madison range from 1.5 percent for lower-paid staff to 10 percent for school district administrators. Eparvier said Friday that at the time the Act 10 law took effect, "school administrators were promised by legislators that local districts now had the flexibility and 'tools' to do as they wished relative to benefit packages," he said in an email. "Now, this new proposed legislation requiring the 12% is just another mandate and broken promise." He said districts around the state are offering benefit packages that include health reimbursement accounts, high deductible plans, higher co-pays and on-site health clinics in partnership with health insurance companies and providers that can help reduce costs to taxpayers. "Essentially, my call to John Nygren's office was my way of advocating for local control and for other districts that currently don't contribute the 12%," Eparvier said. "By paying a greater portion of health insurance premiums, some districts use this as a strategy to attract and maintain quality employees in rural schools." Every state in the nation, with the possible exception of Missouri, is now focused like a laser beam on the growing dangers posed by opioid abuse and overprescription. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., wants to determine whether the national abuse epidemic resulted from deliberate attempts by big pharmaceutical companies to make opioids cheaper and more widely available while underplaying the addiction risks. Did they effectively encourage doctors to overprescribe? This epidemic didnt occur by accident. Across the country, pain management clinics have proliferated, particularly in blue-collar districts where on-the-job injuries such as back strains are common. Opioids such as OxyContin and Percocet have become the drug of choice even though doctors know they are highly addictive. Prosecutors have accused some clinics of serving as pill mills that exploit addictions to boost profits. Big pharmaceutical companies have been more than happy to meet the demand rather than monitor sales and warn authorities when unusual spikes in demand occur, critics suggest. This epidemic is the direct result of a calculated sales and marketing strategy major opioid manufacturers have allegedly pursued over the past 20 years to expand their market share and increase dependency on powerful and often deadly painkillers, McCaskill stated in a letter Tuesday soliciting information from major pharmaceutical companies. She accused manufacturers of trying to downplay addiction risks and encourage physicians to prescribe opioids for all cases of pain and in high doses. She noted that one company, Purdue Pharma, has paid $635 million in fines to settle criminal and civil charges linked to misrepresentation of OxyContins addictive qualities. In 2014, the city of Chicago sued several manufacturers, alleging they deliberately marketed opioid products in a way that downplayed addiction risks. In February, Everett, Washington, sued Purdue, alleging the company knew its products were being illegally trafficked in the city and did nothing to stop it. The Obama administrations drug czar, Michael Botticelli, launched a campaign two years ago to pressure doctors into imposing tighter standards and be on the lookout for patients who are shopping around for doctors once theyve exceeded prescription limits. Every state in the country except Missouri has responded to the addiction crisis by passing laws to create prescription drug databases that doctors can access to verify whether a patient has a history pointing toward abuse. State Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, has repeatedly fought it, telling The New York Times in 2014 that if addicts overdose and kill themselves, it just removes them from the gene pool. The pharmaceutical companies dont have to respond to McCaskill. But weve seen how stonewalling worked for Big Tobacco, and its definitely not in their interest to go that route when a growing body of evidence suggests they could do far more to fight, instead of feed, this epidemic. By Press Trust of India: From Yoshita Singh New York, Apr 1 (PTI) Indias efforts to diplomatically isolate Pakistan is a "fools errand" and any country seeking to do so internationally will end up isolating itself, the Pakistani envoy to the UN has said. Addressing international students at an event here, Maleeha Lodhi blamed India for suspending the dialogue process between the two countries, saying India has brought the normalisation of bilateral relations to a halt. advertisement Lodhi said Indias policy of diplomatically isolating Pakistan had failed and trying to isolate it internationally was a "fools errand," a statement issued by Pakistans Permanent Mission to the UN said yesterday. "Any country that seeks to isolate Pakistan, will end up isolating itself," the statement quoted her as saying. Lodhi said Pakistans aim was to build a peaceful neighbourhood and sought cooperation with all countries in the region. Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is committed to improve relations with India and while Pakistan has "never shut the door" on dialogue, it takes two to tango and India has yet to agree to resume the peace process, she said. Referring to Chinas one belt, one road project, of which the USD 46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a part, Lodhi said it would bring economic prosperity through regional connectivity and strengthen the regions stability and security. Chinas Belt and Road initiative is "win-win" for every participating country and their people, she added. PTI YAS MRJ AKJ MRJ --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: From Sajjad Hussain Islamabad, Apr 1 (PTI) Iran has said it is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir issue if requested as any conflict between the two nations will impact upon the economies of other countries in the region. Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost said his country was ready to use its special influence and relations with Pakistan and India to mediate on the Kashmir issue and help bring sustainable peace in the region, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. advertisement "Iranian government has announced its readiness for any support, for any hope of peace and tranquility in the region," Honardoost was quoted as saying by the APP. "We have not yet received any official request from both sides for Iran as a large country in the region to come and try to solve the matter," the envoy said. He said any conflict, or tension between the two countries would hinder the way of progress and development of both countries but would also impact upon the economies of the other countries in the region. It is important to remove such tensions to ensure sustainable and durable peace in the region, he added. He said it may be true that some forces wanted such tensions to find excuses for its engagements in our region. "We hope that the wise leaders of the conflicting countries pay attention to this issue that a lot of problems that we face in this region have exogenous sources," he added. Responding to a question, the ambassador said, right now terrorism is a global phenomenon. "Its not located only in one area or in one country, and it is the consequence of the approach of the super powers towards terrorism," he said. Commenting on Pak-Iran trade ties, Honardoost said that a Free Trade Agreement draft has been signed between the two sides and it will soon be operative to enhance two-way business and trade engagements. "Our future is bright after the removal of impediments. Hopefully, our trade relations would continue to grow." Replying to a query on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said it is a giant project with full of opportunities, not only for Pakistan and China but for all countries of the region. He said the project was not only a game-changer for the region but would be a unifying force for the countries in it. When asked if Iran was interested in joining Saudi Arabias Islamic coalition, Honardoost said Iran has already announced its desire to join the alliance since it firmly believes that the problems being faced by the Muslim world should be resolved mutually. PTI SH/ZH AKJ ZH --- ENDS --- advertisement 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 By Press Trust of India: Islamabad, Apr 1 (PTI) Iran has said it is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir issue if requested as any conflict between the two nations will impact upon the economies of other countries in the region. "Any conflict or tension between the two countries [Pakistan and India] will hinder the progress and development of both the countries but will also impact upon the economies of other regional countries," Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost said. advertisement Tehran is willing to mediate between Pakistan and India over the long-standing issue of Kashmir if requested, the Express Tribune quoted Honardoost as saying in an interview. The paper said Iran has also offered its assistance to attain peace and tranquility in the region. Commenting on Pak-Iran trade ties, Honardoost said that a Free Trade Agreement draft has been signed between the two sides and it will soon be operative to enhance two-way business and trade engagements. "Our future is bright after the removal of impediments. Hopefully, our trade relations would continue to grow," he said. On China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Honardoost said the project was not only a game-changer for the region but would be a unifying force for the countries in it. When asked if Iran was interested in joining Saudi Arabias Islamic coalition, Honardoost said Iran has already announced its desire to join the alliance since it firmly believes that the problems being faced by the Muslim world should be resolved mutually. PTI ZH AKJ ZH --- ENDS --- Online Appeal Launched After Thieves Steal Chainsaws From Wrexham Tree Carver This article is old - Published: Saturday, Apr 1st, 2017 An appeal has been circulated online after thieves broke into a property overnight and stole a number of chainsaws and equipment from a local sculptor. Simon James ORourke, a well-known Wrexham based tree carver posted the appeal online this morning following a break-in at his studio in the Rossett area over night. Writing on Facebook this morning, Simon said: Ive been broken into during the night, all of my chainsaws have been stolen. Thats my livelihood. Details of the items stolen can be found below: STIHL Ms150 x2 STIHL Ms170 Echo 360 Echo 281 Makita UK Ea7901 x2 Makita Dcs 5121 x2 Makita Duc353 Husqvarna 550 xpg Husqvarna 395 Harry cane 3 stihl bar 24toonie 22 tsumura 16 tsumura 14 tsumura 12 tsumura 043 12 tsumura 050 9 tsumura 14 cannon 12 cannon 36 tsumura 4 Makita batteries Makita router RT0700cx2 Makita router rp2301 All the items stolen have a letter S engraved in them. More information about the items stolen / how to contact Simon can be found here. A day after a busy overpass on Interstate 85 (I85) collapsed in Atlanta, Georgia, three suspects, all reportedly homeless, were arrested Friday in connection with the fire that caused the catastrophic failure. One suspect, Basil Ebely, was charged with first-degree criminal damage to property and is accused of intentionally setting the fire which began in a storage lot underneath the freeway. Flames were reported at 6:21pm on Thursday night, in the middle of Atlantas notorious evening rush hour. Traffic across the overpass was halted by a nearby fire department and the deck of the overpass collapsed around 7pm. No one was injured. The responding fire department had contained the blaze by 8pm, although firefighters continued to combat hot spots among the wreckage well into Friday morning. Firefighters currently speculate that some PVC pipe stored beneath the bridge for upcoming work ignited, although no one has offered a postulation as to how the pipe, which is not highly combustible, ignited in the first place. The FBI is currently investigating the cause of the blaze, although there is no evidence of terrorism. On a normal day, an estimated 250,000 vehicles use the affected portion of I85, making it one of the United States busiest thoroughfares. Moreover, the collapse occurred where I85 North intersects and merges with State Highway 400, another major artery through the city. Morning and evening commutes will become even more difficult as travelers scramble to find detours around the damage. Atlanta, a major economic and transportation hub in the southeastern United States, is notorious for its rush hour gridlock. Earlier this year, a survey of over 1,000 cities throughout the world ranked Atlanta as the eighth most congested city in the world, putting the severity of its commuter delays near that of Los Angeles, and well ahead of Paris, France and Miami, Florida. Traffic delays have steadily worsened as the citys population has swelled. While Representative John Lewis has promised that the federal government would provide $10 million to help reconstruct the bridge, construction is expected to take months. Georgia Department of Transportation officials have asked commuters to consider taking public transit to reduce the burden of traffic during construction. However, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), Atlantas public transit system, is already insufficient for a city so heavily traveled. Atlantas population has grown steadily, as has its importance as a major hub for air travel in the Southeast. MARTA has not expanded along with these factors, however, and only offers four lines that form a simple T-shape in the middle of a city whose highway map resembles a complex tangle of veins. The bus and train lines offer no offshoots that would allow commuters access to the outer edges of the sprawling city where many commuters live. The backward state of Atlantas transit system is on par with Georgias infrastructure in general. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the states infrastructure a grade of C overall, with a D- for transit and a C- for bridge maintenance. While this is a shockingly abysmal score, given Georgias importance as a regional and national transportation hub, it is emblematic of the state of infrastructure in the United States as a whole. ASCE gave the US an overall grade of D+ for infrastructure; its scores for transit and bridge maintenance are almost identical to Georgias. The collapse of the I85 overpass highlights the serious decay of Americas infrastructure. Ironically, the collapse occurred on the same day that the White House released the first details of an infrastructure plan. US Transportation Department Secretary Elaine Chao announced that President Donald Trump proposed to channel $1 trillion over 10 years towards improving the nations infrastructure. Chao called Trumps plan a strategic, targeted program of investment valued at $1 trillion over 10 years. She further stated that the proposal would cover more than transportation infrastructure; it will include energy, water and potentially broadband and veterans hospitals as well. Chao did not offer a definitive timeline for the release of Trumps plan, nor did she mention how much new federal funding would be proposed. She did, however, make it clear that the plan would not directly fund improvements nor would the government directly build new infrastructure. To the contrary, it would be centered on public-private partnerships, which she implied would speed the processes for various projects. Trumps proposed $16.2 billion budget for the Department of Transportation, made public earlier this month, represents a funding reduction of 13 percent. The budget would eliminate subsidies that currently allow Amtrak to operate long-distance rail services, as well as $499 million in federal grants that have been used to fund transportation projects ranging from high-speed intercity rail systems to highway construction. Chaos brief hints about Trumps infrastructure proposal make it clear that the US should prepare for more drastic cuts as Trumps proposed public-private partnerships pour funds into private companies at the publics expense. For a city like Atlanta, whose infrastructure has not kept up with the citys economic growth, Trumps proposal can only make things more difficult for those who are already forced to reckon with unnecessary congestion and inferior transit options. Atlantas poorest workers, who currently rely upon MARTA, will suffer even more. For cities like Detroit, which have been devastated by serious economic decline, the budget will be an abject disaster. Even more bridges in need of repair will crumble, and unlike the I85 collapse, which occurred in an affluent neighborhood where a well-equipped fire department could respond promptly, these infrastructure failures will not result in mere inconvenience, but in massive fatalities. Trump has made it clear that the public good is subordinate to private profit, but Americas failing infrastructure, like the citizens it serves, has been the victim of bipartisan attacks on the working class. Seemingly endless funds are channeled into war and domestic spying programs, funded by cuts in education, health care and infrastructure. Democrats and Republicans alike have worked to protect Wall Street predators who inflated the housing bubble and orchestrated municipal bankruptcies. These same predators will benefit from Trumps infrastructure proposals and the expense of the working class. By Reuters: Ayad al-Jumaili, the man believed to be the deputy of Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed, Iraqi State TV said on Saturday, citing Iraq's military intelligence. Jumaili was killed with other Islamic State commanders in a strike carried out by the Iraqi air force in the region of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria, the channel said, without giving the date of the raid. advertisement The TV described Jumaili as Islamic State's "second-in-command" and "war minister". The spokesman of the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition couldn't immediately be reached for comments. Also Watch : How youth of India have been lured by terror outfit ISIS in recent times --- ENDS --- Bournemouth Intermediate Care Service (BICS) have expressed shock and anger at the move by their employers to wreck a well-functioning public health care team. Thirteen local authority council community rehabilitation assistants (CRAs), from a team of 21, have received redundancy letters from Bournemouth councils Adult Social Services department. This is due to the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (DCCG) withdrawing funding. The plan to axe the BICS workerswho are involved in facilitating discharges from hospitals, and avoiding hospital admissions by providing support in the communityrefutes the DCCGs claim that their main aim in overhauling health services in the county of Dorset is to provide better care closer to home. BICS, run by the Dorset Health Care University NHS Foundation Trust (DHUFT), looks after patients who need rehabilitation, or have acute illnesses, organising nearly 40,000 patient visits a year. Facing a 158 million deficit by 2021, as result of savage funding cuts to the National Health Service (NHS) by the Conservative government, DCCG recently started a Clinical Service Review (CSR) into Dorset health services. This is part of the rolling out of government demanded Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) nationally to expedite the privatisation process and rationing of health care. Among the DCCGs proposals are: 1. Downsizing two Accident and Emergency Units out of three A&Es in the area. 2. Closing a maternity unit in Poole. 3. Shutting the Special Baby Care Unit and Kingfisher childrens ward in Dorset County Hospital. 4. Closing eight out of 13 community hospitals and replacing them with hubs without beds. Under a separate Primary Care Commissioning Strategy, the DCCG is planning to significantly reduce the number of GP surgeries across the county. All to bring care closer to home! The attack on BICS shows that the slashing of services goes far beyond the proposals put forward by the DCCG during a bogus, but obligatory, consultation period that ended in February. Many workers in BICS, Bournemouth Council and at Bournemouth and Poole hospitals responded enthusiastically to an article by the NHS FightBack campaignpublished on the World Socialist Web Site calling for a struggle against the redundancies. Some staff distributed copies of the article among fellow workers, relatives and friends. NHS FightBack supporters distributed the article in work places and spoke to many health workers, social care and council employees. In order to curb opposition to their attacks on jobs and services, the trust management and the DCCG have launched a campaign of intimidation, invoking the DHUFTs policies. Workers told NHS FightBack that management had instructed them by letter that they should not speak to the media and other external organisations. Any grievance that workers had must instead go through three management appointed people. According to workers, one of the three is Cliff Kilgore, who is closely involved in DCCG plans to cut services. One of the clinicians involved in the BICS team told NHS Fightback, Bournemouth Intermediate Care team urgently requires your help. The proposed redundancies of 13 out of our 21 Community Rehabilitation Assistants (CRAs) has come completely out of the blue. We already are the service delivering exactly the care that the government wants. We already are a seven day week service; we already take patients out of the hospital setting as soon as they are classed as medically fit and provide a rehabilitation programme for them at home, and we already prevent admission to the acute hospital setting by providing a full medical team assessment, often within two hours of referral. Our 21 CRAs are currently split between two teams, which together cover the whole of Bournemouth. The loss of 13 of them will mean one team loses seven out of 10 of its staff and the other team loses six out of 11. The remaining eight will be unable to provide the service from 8am until 9pm, seven days a week. To do so would mean no days off, no sick leave and no holidays. This obviously is not remotely realistic. Even allowing for no sick leave, days off or holidays, these remaining eight staff would still be unable to cover the day-to-day visits that we currently do. The reality of this loss is that the service would need to change immediately and drastically. As a member of the clinical staff, I can say that myself and my colleagues would be unable to carry all our roles. We cannot discuss and accept referrals, assess acutely unwell patients, plan interventions and goals, review, manage the team and write up all paperwork, whilst also carrying out all the daily visits that our current CRAs do. Whilst I recently spent one and three quarter hours assessing an acutely unwell patient in their home one afternoon, at the same time the CRAs working spent that one and three quarter hours visiting a number of other patients needing our support. It was only the intervention of our team that stopped that patient from being admitted to the acute service. I could not be in two places at once. This reality would mean that while the clinicians could still assess patients, we would be unable to provide the backup to carry out the necessary goal orientated rehabilitation, or care that would be required to keep that person at home. They would therefore still need to be admitted to Hospital. How can it even begin to make sense, that the very team that is providing exactly what the government and the Health Authority say that they want is the team about to lose that very ability to do just that? Staff nurse Michelle in nearby Poole hospital told NHS FightBack, We are going to lose many of our services, including A&E department and maternity unit like the BICS team. I cannot understand why the unions are not doing anything about this. I joined Unison after leaving the RCN [Royal College of Nursing] as they were useless. Now I think Unison is no different. I am not happy that they are not doing anything to save the services. They did not organise for us to go to the big demonstration to save the NHS in London early this month. An Adult Social Care worker based at Bournemouth Town Hall also criticised the plans to dismantle BICS. As a social worker, I liaise with BICS quite often to find appropriate support for patients. When I heard the news that many BICS workers are going to be axed, I was really shocked. This would have a domino effect. We are already struggling because of underfunding. Hospitals are struggling to discharge patients because there is no social care available. It is clear that limited services available for all our vulnerable people now will not be available tomorrow. An Occupational Therapist who had worked in the BICS team and now works for Royal Bournemouth Hospital (RBH) said, It was shocking to hear this wonderful team is going to be crippled deliberately. I worked there and I know it is vital to avoid hospital admissions and to get patients out of hospitals. All the CRAs working in BICS are highly experienced and skilled. Who is going to give the necessary support to discharge patients from hospital? I cannot understand this and the whole thing does not make sense. I know another team in this hospital called BCHA [Bournemouth Church Housing Association], which helps with arranging care packages for patients before they are discharged. Their service is going to be disbanded as well. I heard that all five workers are going to be made redundant because the Dorset councils are withdrawing funds. A senior nurse, working for the Medicine for the Elderly department in RBH, said scathingly, Theyve got 800,000 to turn normal wards into luxurious private patient rooms in this hospital, but they are destroying the services thousands of patients depend on in the community. I have spoken to BICS several times to arrange necessary support for patients. It is a big loss for us and patients if they manage to end that service. To contact NHS FightBack visit www.nhsfightback.org Last Wednesday US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made her first major policy statements. She spoke as the Trump administration proposes to decimate public education through budget cuts and vouchers for private and parochial schools. DeVos was the keynote speaker at the Brookings Institutions release of the 2016 Education Choice and Competition Index, which rates the nations largest school districts on their school choice options. Brookings, a Democratic-leaning government think tank, has produced the index for five years and has been a promoter of diverting public funds to charter operations and other privately run schools since receiving a $1 million grant from the Gates Foundations in 2001. In her address, DeVos called Trumps budget a paradigm shift in education funding, one that shifts from supporting the institutions of public education to making investments in individual children. Trump, speaking more directly, has said domestic spending programs must be sacrificed to foot the bill for his $54 billion increase in military spending. The far-reaching nature of the paradigm shift is apparent in the massive $9.2 billion, or 13 percent, proposed reduction in the Department of Education for the coming fiscal year. The budget plan seeks to entirely abolish Title II, which funds teacher professional development, class size reduction and salaries for about 9,000 teachers nationwide. The cuts would also eliminate the $1.1 billion 21st Century Community Learning Center program, a highly popular program for afterschool and summer activities, including tutoring, English as a Second Language, and enrichment projects for 1.6 million children primarily in high-poverty communities. The budget will pave the way for an escalated attack on public education by promoting vouchers and charters, with $1.4 billion in new money, a down payment on the $20 billion voucher program promised earlier. (See: Trumps voucher plan and the right-wing campaign to destroy public education) Charter school grants will get an increase of $168 million, with $250 million going to a private school choice initiative, which would allow the use of vouchers for religious schools. Additionally, $1 billion is being added to Title I, the War on Poverty-era program designed to aid impoverished schools, but it will be made portable, to follow the child to a non-Title I district, charter or private school and further undermine Title I schools. These measures proposed for the 2018 fiscal year will follow other immediate cuts to be enacted over the next five months. For the 2017 budget (never passed by Congress and therefore amendable), Trump is demanding $3 billion in cuts including: 50 percent to Title II, $52 million to school counseling, $152 million to the Math Science Partnership, $147 million to literacy programs, $47 million to physical education, and $28 million to Advanced Placement. In her Brookings speech, DeVos defended Trumps cuts with the hackneyed right-wing refrain that throwing money at a program is not a solution. She hailed the supposedly parent-centric and individual child approach of the administration. With these rhetorical buzzwords DeVos attempted to justify placing the burden of education upon families while the government is bankrupting their neighborhood school districts. There will obviously be fewer good choices for cash-strapped parents who lack transportation and other resources to send their children more distant schools. Billionaire DeVos was selected as the top education policymaker of the Trump administration because of her lifetime of opposing the egalitarian concept of public education. She had, moreover, established a network of like-minded politicians across the US, to whom she funneled hundreds of millions of dollars of campaign contributions in their mutual efforts to open the $1.3 trillion education market for profiteering. Possibly implying more than she meant to, DeVos compared educational choice to taking an Uber or Lyft. Nobody mandates that you take an Uber over a taxi, nor should they. But it you think ridesharing is the best option for you, the government shouldnt get in your way Why do we not allow parents to exercise that same right to choice in the education of their child? she argued. With these statements DeVos, once again, underlines her complete hostility to the social right to free and high quality public education, or public transportation for that matter. Moreover, DeVos would like to impose the Uber model of contract labor (with repeated lowering of rates) upon educational professionals. This is not a recent epiphany on her part; Amway, the source of her billions, was one of the first to pioneer this contractor employment model of no rights, no benefits and cheap labor. Today the scandal-ridden Uber ride-sharing company has come to symbolize the exploitation and the prevalence of part-time, low-paying jobs in the gig economy. That Uber should represent DeVos vision for education is a dire warning indeed. Defending the pending budget cuts before the Brookings group, DeVos cited a recent report on the Obama-era School Improvement Grant (SIG) program and called it a $7 billion failure, which proves that more funding cannot provide a better learning environment for those left behind. The report showed that students did not register improved test scores, graduation rates or college enrollment as a result of attending a SIG-assisted school. But these statistics undermine DeVos ceaseless promotion of school choice and demonstrate the new administrations continuity with the Obamas privatization policies. The School Improvement Grant program was one of the numerous competitive policies implemented by Obama and former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, which forced its recipients, among the most persistently lowest achieving schools, to implement government-mandated turnaround plans. SIG was designed from the outset as an attack on public schools and an inducement for charterization. To qualify for the modest grants, districts were compelled to choose from a series of draconian options such as firing the principals and half the staff, implementing flexible operations, including longer school days and/or abrogating teacher contracts, closing the school or converting to a charter operation. The inevitable failure of SIG to raise test scores has now helped DeVos justify the far deeper assault on public school funding by the Trump administration. Alleging that the public education system in the US is irretrievably broken, DeVos said she would find it hard to believe that student scores could get a lot worse on a nationwide basis than they are today. The Brookings speech followed DeVoss Tuesday visit to the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum with Ivanka Trump where they hypocritically claimed to be promoting science, technology, engineering and math careers (STEM). The pair did not mention that the proposed education cuts would entirely de-fund the NASA Education office, a leading advocate for science education assisting teachers in virtually every state. NASA sponsors enrichment programs for K-12 students, internships and scholarships for young scientists and oversees efforts to support underrepresented minorities and women in STEM. The State Coordination of Sea Workers union (CETM) has carried out a despicable betrayal of thousands of Spanish dockworkers. Last week, the union called off strike action and immediately agreed to negotiations with the National Association of Stevedoring and Ship Consignment Companies (ANESCO) over a six percent wage cut and huge job losses in the form of early retirement schemes, which will affect a quarter of the workforce. On March 29, it was announced that the wage cut had increased to 10 percent. The director of ANESCO said, the agreement was very positive for the sector. CETM leader Antolin Goya declared, We have flexibilised the work groups and helped the competitiveness of the ports, but even if we negotiate a lot, the government is not moving. The Popular Party (PP) government is not moving because the CETM capitulation means that it can proceed with its plan to abolish the dock labour scheme (Sociedad Anonima de Gestion de Estibadores Portuarios, SAGEPS). The scheme was a concession to the dockworkers following the end of the Francisco Franco dictatorship in 1975 and afforded them a degree of job security and relatively better wages. Its abolition would decimate jobs and bring in low-paid agency workers on as little as 60 percent of existing wages. The ending of dock labour schemes in European Union (EU) countries has been a major objective of the ruling elite in its drive to liberalise the transport and shipping sector across the continent to compete with international rivals. In July 2016, the European Court of Justice fined Spain 15.6 million [US$16.7 million] and ordered it to pay 134,000 per day until it complied. On March 16, the PP government attempted to steamroller legislation though Spains Congress in order to eliminate SAGEPS, but it was voted down by the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Unidos Podemos (comprising the pseudo-left Podemos and Stalinist United Left, IU). They voted against the legislation on the grounds it was a unilateral action by the PP and did not allow the unions enough time to present their own proposals. Their overarching concern was to prevent a far broader struggle erupting in the working class, which would threaten the social peace overseen by the unions and possibly bring down the weak minority PP government. A key role in covering up this treachery was played by the pseudo-left groups, which intervened to prevent any independent mobilization of the dockworkers. They are promoting the lie that the dockworkers have achieved a great victory and that this is evidence the PSOE and Podemos can be pressured to defend the working class. Like the PSOE and Podemos, their main concern is that the unions, of which their members form much of the leadership, will lose their authority under conditions in which the ruling class relies on the unions to police workers. A particularly pernicious role has been played by Clase contra Clase (CCC), the Spanish section of the Morenoite Trotskyist FractionFourth International (FT-CI). Unlike the Spanish sections of the Committee for a Workers International and the International Socialist Tendency, CCC has not joined Podemosclaiming it is constructing a new anti-capitalist and class-based space as an alternative to the neo-reformists of Podemos and the United Left. But this is only in order to distance itself from Podemos continual betrayals, while in the end the Morenoites always offer critical support to the party led by Pablo Iglesias. In a piece published in Izquierda Diario immediately after the Congress vote, Dockworkers: the Yes we can of the working class, CCC leader Santiago Lupe asks, What can the victory of the dockworkers show us? The class struggle as a way to twist the arm of the government, the EU [European Union] and the struggle for the capitalists to pay for the crisis. Lupe points out that the PSOE has been committed to austerity and responsible for deindustrialisation since the 1980s and 1990sIf anyone knows anything about destroying strategic sectors of the labor movement, that is the Socialist Party. Moreover, in the municipal councils controlled by Podemos the debt is paid religiously, demands such as remunicipalisation [reversing the privatisation of local services] are abandoned and they use their minority or the legal framework in place to justify that no effective measures can be taken. In Congress and the regional parliaments, Lupe adds, Podemos does not propose a single measureto fight for concrete measures against major social problems. All of which counts for nothing. For Lupe, the sole threat of a strike has proved to be enough to force the PSOE and Unidos-Podemos to become defenders of the working class. One of the most concentrated, unionized and coordinated sectors of the labour movement has shown muscle and this time it has been enough to prevent several parties of the Regime from voting with state responsibility that has characterized them at other times, he proclaims. Lupe claims that the dockworkers have been able to use the internal crisis within the PSOE in order to twist their arm and force them to vote no. The next step is to for the the trade union bureaucracy and the new reformism to realise that if they want their statements to have some credibility among the unemployed, the precarious and the rest of workers, they must call assemblies in the workplaces in which to organize a real plan of struggle to impose a workers solution to the crisis. [Emphasis added] By new reformism, CCC means above all Podemos. All of this verbiage is churned out in an attempt to deceive the working class into believing the unions, the PSOE and Podemos can be pressured into defending their interests. The truth is the CETM never wanted a strike, fearing it would upset its collective bargaining agreements with the employers that provide lucrative jobs for its officials. From the start, the CETM sought to isolate the dockworkers and prevent them blocking Spains maritime trade by proposing strikes on alternate days in each port. It refused to link their struggle with others in Spain and stopped it from becoming a global battle against the privatisation of ports and the destruction of dockworkers jobs and living standards internationally. The CETM called off strike action three times. After capitulating, CETM leader, Antolin Goya, stressed that this was not a victory for anyone and that the unions would now do what they always wanted tonegotiate with absolute normality that includes, as it should do, the Government. What they intend is to negotiate away the SAGEPS scheme as other unions have done across Europe, which International Dockworkers Council (IDC) General Coordinator Jordi Aragunde ordered when he declared they had to come to an agreement on the best conditions for restructuring the Spanish port model and for complying with the ruling of the European Court of Justice. Lupes claim that the internal crisis in the PSOE opened up an opportunity to twist their arm flies in the face on what actually happened last September, when events again proved that the PSOE was wholly a political instrument of the Spanish bourgeoisie. A small group of bankers, CEOs, intelligence agents, PP officials, and PSOE operatives worked with the PSOE bureaucracy to engineer a coup to oust General Secretary Pedro Sanchez. Sanchez had entered into negotiations with Podemos over the formation of a government, under conditions where there were grave doubts of the ability of the PP to form a stable coalition. But the ruling class had determined that its favoured course of action was the return to power of the PP to continue to impose savage austerity. The right-wing cabal was led by the former Prime Minister and PSOE General Secretary Felipe Gonzalez, one of the leading figures in Spains Transition to parliamentary rule in 1978, after the death of fascist dictator Franco, and the PSOEs Andalusian leader Susana Diaz. It was promoted through the pages of the pro-PSOE daily El Pais. Sanchez caved in, announced his resignation and declared his loyalty to the Gonzalez-Diaz faction. Two weeks later, the PSOE voted to abstain in a parliamentary vote in order to allow the PP to form a minority government. The PSOE coup also exposed the bankruptcy of Unidos Podemos, whose origins lie in the Stalinist and student radical forces, which hoped to emerge as the main beneficiary of the devastating collapse of the two-party system that had ruled Spain since the Transition. Last year, for nearly 12 months, Spain could not form a government as neither the PSOE or PP had a majority despite two elections. This above all reflected deep popular opposition to the pro-business policies the PSOE had pursued after it took power in 1982, exacerbated by the European Union austerity drive after the 2008 Wall Street crash, and Spains participation in NATO wars. Podemos orientation to this very same PSOE and constant pleas for it to form a progressive government of change underscored the fact that they had no real differences with the austerity policies of the EU and the European social democrats. Workers also experienced, first hand, how Podemos-backed local governments of change in Spains major cities were also imposing anti-working class, pro-austerity policies. As a result, the Podemos leaderships strategy of allying with IU, hoping to overtake the PSOE in elections and emerge as the senior partner in an anti-PP coalition, failed dismally. In the June 26 election, the Podemos-IU alliance lost nearly 1 million votes compared to the 2015 election and failed to overtake the PSOE, setting the stage for bitter factional infighting inside Podemos. These are the bankrupt and discredited organisations, dedicated to the maintenance of Spanish capitalism, that the CCC is asking Spanish workers and youth to place in charge of their fate. Over the past two weeks, Socialist Equality Party (SEP) supporters have distributed copies of the statement For a unified struggle of drivers and conductors: Vote no to the ASLEF sell-out deal at UKs Southern GTR rail! to rail workers at depots in London, Brighton and the Midlands. They were warmly received by drivers, conductors and dispatch staff throughout the Southern GTR franchise and its London Midland sister franchise, who are opposed to the forced elimination of the role of the conductor and the introduction of unsafe Driver Only Operated trains (DOO). In Februaryafter conducting many strikes in opposition to DOOSouthern GTR drivers voted down a rotten sell-out deal reached by ASLEF with management. That deal fully accepted the introduction of DOO. Within a month, the union concocted another rotten dealonce again accepting DOO and all the attacks it entailswith the ballot result to be announced April 3. In wide-ranging discussions, rail workers expressed their discontent with the government, Southern GTR and the divisive policies of the trade unions. The SEP's call for a unified struggle of all rail staff against the Conservative government-backed attacks on jobs and working conditions, and the necessity for a fight against ASLEFs collaboration in imposing DOO, was listened to attentively by many workers. At London Victoria station, one driver who opposed the new ASLEF deal said the union leadership acted in their own interests, not in the interests of its members. He said he had concluded from many years of experience with the trade unions that they operate a divide and conquer policy over their members. Another driver described the issues as we pay their [the union leaderships] wages and they have to do what we tell them. He said that if the union leaders would not do so, then we have to fight and force them to do what we want. After discussing the call in the SEP statement for rank and file committees independent of the trade unions to be established, he responded that this would be very difficult, adding it would be a hard fight. He said he would read the statement with interest. Another driver said he had already voted No, but we need leaders who will fight. That means changing the leadership of ASLEF. Referring to DOO, a driver said he too had voted No because he would not be forced to work under these terrible conditions. Another said he voted already and it was for No, "even though the union said vote Yes, because after DOO its driverless. The fight is now. A Southeastern trains driver (part of the same franchise working out of London Victoria) agreed the task was uniting all the staff from different companies, but why is it not done already? he asked. The driver said he was surprised by the SEPs attitude to ASLEF, but would read the statement. Another driver opposed to the sell-out explained the reason he voted Yes was because, if we were just fighting the company that would be different but we are not, we are fighting the government." He argued that if the government fined the union then, we can't win on our own. Another Southern driver said it was not only rail workers being hit, It is also the National Health Service that is under attack. Workers at GTRs sister franchise, London Midland, told campaigners that the SEP statement had been seen by many rail workers and been printed out and distributed throughout the rail network. It had also been circulated via social media. At the main depot in Brighton on the south coast of England, drivers and conductors working for Southern Rail expressed their opposition to attacks by the employers and the failure of the unions to oppose them. Conductor Jeni said, Were really together here against whats happening. Everyone knows the bosses have sacked conductors across the country on one [train] line after the other. Here in Southern many trains are driver-only already. The unions have stood by and let it happen. Last year Southern Rail made 27 percent profit. How come they get all the money and then want to drive us into the ground? Jamie, a driver, said he had already voted No to the latest ASLEF deal. For years drivers and conductors were kept apart. Now we have come together. I think thats because drivers realise trains could be run without drivers too. We need to find a different way to get back at the train companies because what has been going on hasnt worked. Its the same at the council where my wife works. She is at risk in her job. They are destroying the services people depend on and handing them over to private companies who are only interested in making money. Something has to give. I think your ideas about action committees are good. We have to do something different. Get working class people to stand up and see they dont have to put up with all the rubbish being thrown at them and to understand they are able to take control. SEP campaigners also distributed among rail workers hundreds of copies of the statement demanding the release of the 13 Indian Maruti Suzuki workers. These have been framed-up and sentenced to life sentences by the auto giant. Many drivers and conductors expressed concern about the fate of the Suzuki workers, and said they would sign the online petition demanding their release. On Thursday Mitch Abrams, candidate of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality at Eastern Michigan University, won a seat on the EMU student senate. Vote totals have yet to be released, but the results are in as far as the impact the IYSSE is having on the political life of the campus. IYSSE members campaigned before and after the election in opposition to war, the attack on immigrants, social inequality and skyrocketing student debt. They received a strong response from students. In his statement on the election, Abrams wrote, The IYSSE is fighting to develop at EMU a new political culture, connecting the problems of students with the broader conditions of the entire working classin Ypsilanti, the Detroit region, throughout the country and internationally. Michael, a sophomore in accounting, explained why he joined the IYSSE and campaigned for Abrams. I supported this campaign because its the only one that had any political substance to it. I didnt see any other documents from other senate candidates. And the presidential candidates had nothing to say about broader political issues. One candidate discussed parking and dining, and I didnt see how that had anything to do with the real issues students are facing: the racist attacks on immigrants, rising tuition and the threat of nuclear war. I worked on this campaign because of Trumps attacks on immigrants and the response of the university, that they wont turn over your information unless the government asks for it. And to me that was absolutely disgusting. These are people who came here because they want to learn. They wanted to escape the crippling poverty and famine that exists in their own country, and the university agreed to be complicit in sending them back. While campaigning, IYSSE members came across one of the two faculty advisors of student government, essentially the referees overseeing the student-run election. After reading the IYSSE campaign statement, the advisor said, These issues have no place in student government. Student government is only for students to voice their opinions about what courses should be offered. Campaigners replied that they were getting a very positive response from students on the issues of war, defending immigrants, student debt and inequality. Campaigners put the question back to him, that if the student government is supposed to be the democratic expression of students concerns, who is he to say what issues students should or shouldnt bring into student government? Many students responded with great interest to the IYSSE campaign. Patti, an EMU student, said, The rich have all the power and they blame the poor for being poor. A lot of people are living under the poverty line. I have co-workers who are students or recent graduates that are paying off their student loans. Tuition is extremely high. Many poor people cannot afford to get an education. I agree with the IYSSE that education is a social right. I am going to join. It just seems like history is repeating itself and we are not learning anything from it. I see that a lot in the rise of dictatorship and oligarchy. The rule of the few over the many leads to chaos, poverty and war. We definitely need a revolution here. Alex, a senior in film studies, said, I am on my way to impoverishment under the weight of student loans. I have $40,000 now and will need another ten or fifteen thousand before graduating. Fifty-five thousand dollars is a lot of money. I have not made that much in my whole working career at just over minimum wage. I agree with the IYSSE. Education should be free, or at least, affordable. A friend of mine is Iranian and the ban prevented his fathers bank from sending money to him. He had to sell his computer. I studied World War I, and there are a lot of parallels with the current political situation especially in the attacks on the working class. Barret said, I am a film major so my whole course of study is in the arts. We see nothing but cutsno new equipment, program cuts, faculty cuts. We have only five or six professors for the entire program. The niche classes that are least enrolled get cut. Lighting, for example, is offered only once every two years. The cameras are 10 to 15 years old so we have to run old computer operating systems for them. They teach history in a way that is suitable for children, so they dont talk about genocide. You have to educate people about history, so you have to tell the truth. Otherwise, we are doomed to repeat it. Alex replied, They are quick to point out what they want you to know about World War II. They never tell you how bad the nuclear bombs were in Japan. They did it to send a message. Education is as capitalist as any other industry and is controlled by the oligarchs as another industry. I dont think a war has ever been started by poor people. Aaron, a student, said, I have been studying socialism. The frame up of the Maruti Suzuki workers is not surprising. They want to create those conditions in this country. The corporations dont believe in morality. They believe only in making a profit. There needs to be social responsibility and social equality. No human life is worth more than any other. I am opposed to war. It is an attempt to seize resources by force. We live in a global society, and yet they are using nationalism to keep people from looking at people from other countries as human. I remember the report of a train derailment in Spain quite vividly. The news reported the Americans who died but did not mention the Spanish people who died. Currently, social anger is foggy and not pointed at what causes the anger, which is the corporations, capitalism and the government that allows them to evade responsibility. Why cant they be charged with murder? Social anger gets displaced by the system with the idea that someone is trying to steal their job or their way of life. The corporations need international markets, but they use nationalism to create conflicts between workers of different countries. It is hard to sympathize with the government on the whole Russian thing. They are angry at Russia for doing the same things that they do every day. Obama claimed he was anti-war, but he expanded the wars. He went from bombing two countries to bombing seven. But it was okay because he pushed the button with a smile. Earlier this week, the German media reported that the number of civilian victims of American air strikes in Syria had risen dramatically. It has now been revealed that the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) have played an important role in Trumps deadly offensive (Spiegel Online). According to reports by the Suddeutsche Zeitung and broadcaster ARD, the Luftwaffe (Air Force) supplied the reconnaissance data for an air attack by the so-called anti-IS coalition on March 21, against the Syrian village of al-Mansoura near Raqqa. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 33 civilians were killed in the attack, while Airwars.org reported up to 420 dead. According to the website, up to 100 refugee families were being accommodated in the Badiya School in Mansoura. The attack apparently claimed the lives of many women and children. The military blog Augen Geradeaus! (Eyes Forward!) writes: The Luftwaffes reconnaissance Tornados had flown over the building in question two days earlier, and then a few days later to assess the impact of the raid. The parliamentary Defence Committee, composed of representatives of all parliamentary parties, was informed of the Luftwaffes role in a secret meeting on Wednesday. The Ministry of Defence does not usually comment on concrete data and targets, the blog said. Fundamentally, however, Tornado aircraft routinely take pictures of possible targets. These are then passed on to the armed forces of the United States, France, Britain and several Arab states, which use them to determine their targets. In other words German fighter jets are involved in the devastating coalition air strikes that are claiming the lives of more and more innocent people. The massacre of Mansoura recalls the criminal history of the Luftwaffe. During the Second World War, it played a significant role in the Nazi war machine. Guernica, the town destroyed by 1937 German aircraft during the Spanish Civil War, still stands as a symbol for the ruthless bombing of civilians. During the Second World War, the Luftwaffe rained down its terror over Europe, the Soviet Union and North Africa, and destroyed cities such as Warsaw, Stalingrad, Rotterdam and London. The return of German terror from the air is a direct result of the new superpower appetites of those in power in Berlin. At the Munich Security Conference in January 2014, the then Federal President Joachim Gauck, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (Christian Democratic Union) and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Social Democratic Party) announced the end of [Germanys] military restraint. At the end of 2015, the Luftwaffe then entered the war in Syria, accompanied by up to 1,200 soldiers and a frigate. In an article in the anthology Germanys new foreign policy, published by Wolfgang Ischinger for this year's Munich Security Conference, current President Frank-Walter Steinmeier repeated his previous demand that Germany intervene earlier, more decisive and substantially in foreign policy. There was a fierce competition for the supposedly correct social order [...] and for geopolitical spheres of influence. By the timely setting of the agenda in shaping the future order, he said, Germany could often be more effective than extinguishing fires later. Mansoura shows the horrific consequences of such a policy. The fact that the German ruling class is responsible for the worst crimes in the history of mankind will not stop it from committing new ones to enforce its geopolitical and economic interests worldwide. Another contribution in the anthology puts this matter bluntly. Under the title, Foreign policy as moral ordeal, Jan Techau, director of the Richard C. Holbrooke Forum at the American Academy in Berlin, complained that in Germany, the neurotic desire to remain 'morally clean' runs through almost all domestic and foreign policy debates. It is clear, he insisted: Whoever goes to war, must, as a rule, take responsibility for the deaths of people. Even the deaths of uninvolved and innocent people. Greeces Syriza-led government has reportedly reached an informal agreement with the European Commission (EC) on imposing further austerity measures. An agreement is yet to be officially confirmed by the ECthe executive arm of the European Union (EU)or Greece. Greek daily Kathemerini announced Friday, [T]he framework for an agreement could be presented at the next scheduled Eurogroup meeting on April 7, in order to allow officials to draft all the measures that Greek MPs must legislate by the next scheduled Eurogroup on May 22 Various media reported this week that measures agreed include further crippling cuts to the pensions of 900,000 retirees, worth 1 percent of GDP. Another austerity measure is the reduction of the tax-free threshold to 5,900 from the current 8,636. This will result in many more poorly paid workers, earning as little as 500 a month, being forced to pay tax. The minimum wage in Greece remains at just 683 per month, as Syriza reneged on its pledge to restore it to what is a still paltry figure of 751. The tax increases are worth a further 1 percent of GDP and, as with the pension cut revenue, will go towards paying off Greeces near 300 billion debt to global financial institutions. Syriza and the EU are set to adopt most of the International Monetary Funds (IMF) labour reform proposals, with the exception of collective dismissals. In addition, the privatisation of Greeces energy sector is to be intensified with the sale of 40 percent of the Public Power Corporations (PPC) lignite and hydroelectric power plants, and Thessaloniki port. Syriza and EU officials have been in talks for months as to how Greece should implement the countrys third austerity memorandum, signed in July 2015, in which Greece is to receive 86 billion to pay off debts. The austerity measures are stipulated as a precondition for the next tranche of aid to be unlocked, as well as any future discussions on debt relief. In recent weeks, the spectre of Greece defaulting on its debt and a subsequent Grexit (Greek exit from the EU and eurozone) has again raised its head. This is due to the bankrupt Greek state having to meet a debt repayment on 7 billion worth of bonds that mature in July. An agreement should have been finalised by the end of last year, with the delay mainly due to disagreements between the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding how Greece is to be bled white. The IMF considers Greeces current debt level as unsustainable and is in favour of some form of debt relief, in return for even more draconian measures being imposed. The role of the IMF in Greeces on-going austerity programme has yet to be formalised. It is, however, relentlessly demanding further attacks on workers rights. An IMF report published February complained that Greeces trade union laws have not been reformed since the 1980s and that [t]his could explain the large number of strikes in Greece, which even prior to the crisis far exceeded levels seen elsewhere. The report called for Greeces industrial action framework to be aligned with best international practice by setting appropriate quorum requirements for trade unions calling a strike and by allowing for defensive lockouts by employers. This would in turn help support investment by limiting costs associated with prospective strikes that may result in the stoppage of production. The IMF complained about what it considers to be too restrictive guidelines regarding collective dismissals of workers, which makes downsizing operations in Greece very costly, with many firms forced to relocate, enter bankruptcy, or implement costly voluntary exit schemes. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schauble, consider the IMFs participation as politically crucial if Greeces bailout programme is to continue. According to a report in the German financial journal Handelsblatt, [S]chauble only wants to pay the next instalment if and when the IMF agrees to get back on board as it had been during the first and second programs. Otherwise, he fears that a rebellion could break out within the ranks of his Christian Democrats parliamentary group, which expects the IMF to participate in the Greek bailout. However, Handelsblatt cites Berlins intransigence on the issue of debt relief, stating that the German finance minister is likely to respond to [the IMFs] plea with a resounding nein. Of great concern is that any debt relief will hit the German ruling elite hardest, since it owns the majority of Greeces debt. A further obstacle that could prevent the IMFs participation in the Greek austerity for loans programme is US President Donald Trumps America First policy. This calls into question the entire post-war global capitalist framework, of which the US-dominated IMF was an integral part. Trump recently nominated Adam Lerricka vocal critic of the IMFas undersecretary for international finance at the US Treasury. Fear of Grexit has already prompted a capital outflow from Greece of 2.8 billion this year. According to the Financial Times, this was the worst two-monthly outflow since the country was bought to the brink of a eurozone exit nearly two years ago. The escalating financial crisis forced EU officials to intensify talks aimed at meeting some of the IMFs demands. Speaking to the Greek online news website Euro2day, an unnamed official said last Tuesday, The ECB [European Central Bank] has made a sudden turn in its talks with Athens and is now veering towards the demands of the IMF, especially on labour reform. The fact that Syriza is once again called upon to oversee a new round of savage cuts is testament to how far to the right the pseudo-left party has travelled since coming to power in January 2015 on an anti-austerity ticket. Since then Syrizawith its junior coalition partner, the far-right Independent Greeks (ANEL)has spearheaded the EU and IMF diktats. This culminated in the signing of Greeces third bailout package in the summer of 2015, following Syrizas betrayal of the July 2015 referendum result, which overwhelmingly rejected the austerity policies that had been pursued by successive governments since 2010. Syriza is now widely despised and currently polling at just 15 percent, trailing around 15 points behind the conservative New Democracy (ND). The hostility of the working class to Syriza is expressed in a wave of recent strikes and protests. On March 15, hospital nurses and doctors staged a 24-hour strike demanding universal, free healthcare, the hiring of more staff and the repayment of wages that have been cut. The strike was accompanied by an anti-austerity rally staged by hospital workers outside the Finance Ministry, which was attacked by riot police. Others protesting include local government workers, dockworkers and tax authority employees. The previous week, a protest by Greek farmers opposing tax hikes and pension cuts turned violent after officials from the ministry of agriculture refused to meet delegates. After an altercation, riot police dispersed crowds into side streets by using tear gas. So thorough has been Syrizas enforcement of austerity that one of the protests even involved a delegation of blind people, protesting cuts in their disability benefits. A nationwide movement to prevent home foreclosures has sprung up in opposition to Syrizas ditching of a pre-election promise to prevent the banks from seizing and auctioning the homes of working-class people. Syriza is working to deepen its collaboration with the unions in order to suppress growing opposition to its austerity programme. The government ensured the reinstatement of collective bargaining was on the agenda of the negotiations with the EU and IMF. The pro-capitalist rationale for this was underscored by Syriza Labour Minister Effie Achtioglou in an article she penned for the Huffington Post. Achtioglou said that collective bargaining restoration would result in the reduction of transaction costs, and the creation of a level playing field for companies in terms of wages, in effect allowing them to focus on issues of productivity, tackling undeclared work, and fostering social dialogue and social peace. The author also recommends: EU and IMF demand more austerity measures from Greece [11 February 2017] According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 52,404 people in the US died from drug overdoses in 2015. Sixty-three percent of overdoses were due to opioids. Drug overdoses now account for more deaths than from guns or car accidents. The 2015 death rate is significantly higher than the rate during the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1995, in which 43,115 succumbed to the illness. Since 1999, opioid overdose numbers have quadrupled. One in four overdose deaths in the US is now due to heroin in particular. Prescription opioids such as oxycodone and hydrocodone also factor in prominently. The journal JAMA Psychiatry, published by the American Medical Association, has issued a new study that details changes in patterns of heroin use since 2001. It concluded that the number of people who have used heroin at some point in their life has increased five times, and the number of heroin abusers has roughly tripled. Some 3.8 million Americans1.6 per cent of the populationclaim to have used heroin at least once. The sharpest increase in heroin use of all demographic groups has occurred among white males. The reports authors compiled survey data from 79,402 individuals between the periods between 2001-2002 and 2012-2013. The responses were collected from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a study made by the National Institutes of Health to evaluate substance use and abuse. Heroin use levels between whites and non-whites were similar in the 2001-2002 figures, at 0.34 percent and 0.32 percent. By 2012-2013, those figures jumped to 1.90 percent among whitesan almost sixfold increaseas opposed to 1.05 percent among non-whites. Use greatly increased among those with a high school education or less in addition to those who lived under the federal poverty line. Alluding to the deepening social crisis in the United States, the report states these trends are concerning because increases in the prevalence of heroin use and use disorder have been occurring among vulnerable individuals who have few resources to overcome problems associated with use. According to a 2016 Surgeon Generals report on alcohol and drug abuse, only one in 10 individuals that struggle with substance abuse disorders receive treatment. The study provides further evidence to the culpability of the pharmaceutical industry, which has generated immense profits by flooding the medical market with prescription opioids like oxycodone and hydrocodone. According to survey data, many respondents claimed that they started using heroin after using prescription opioids. Around one-third of all white heroin users had used prescription drugs in 2001-2002. In 2013, more than half of all white heroin users began with prescription drug abuse. Over the past 20 years, the number of opioid prescriptions has grown threefold. Heroin use has spread more or less evenly across all age groups. Heroin addiction, however, has grown disproportionately higher amongst those under 45 years of age. A county by county study published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on Wednesday shows that drug overdose deaths have resulted in 778 years of potential life lost for every 100,000 people. It also notes that the increase in premature deaths among 15- to 44-year-olds is largely from drug overdoses. A particularly striking development is the growth of drug overdoses in suburban and rural communities. Suburbs, which previously saw the lowest rates of premature death from overdoses, now have the highest. Confronted with decades of deindustrialization, rising social inequality and debt, housing insecurity, lack of access to decent education and other much-needed social programs, growing layers of working-class populations in suburban and rural communities have turned to substance abuse. These same stresses have given rise to mental illness, with rates of depression and suicide finding a particularly high expression among white male workers. The so-called rust-belt and former coal mining regions of the United States have seen a concentrated expression of these processes. What were once thriving industrial and mining towns have been transformed into desolate, rusting shells of their former selves. Places like Pontiac, Michigan; Akron, Ohio and Huntington, West Virginia have little in the way of decent-paying jobs, while schools and community centers have been shuttered. The rate of drug overdose deaths in West Virginia has spiraled out of control to the point that the states Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) funding for its Indigent Burial Program has run out with five months left in the fiscal year. The shocking rise of drug use is an ugly expression of the social crisis in America, particularly amongst young people who see no future and no way out from such a desperate predicament. On Wednesday, President Trump announced the formation of a high-profile group he claims will formulate a strategy to curb the countrys opioid epidemic. This group includes New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Defense Secretary James Mad Dog Mattis and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been deliberately left out. The decision not to include the FDA in this group has sparked criticism from opioid addiction experts, who claim that the agency is an integral part of addressing the epidemic by introducing much-needed regulations on the sale of prescription opioid drugs. Regardless, Trumps nominee to head the FDA, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, has deep ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Gottlieb serves on the boards of three drug companies and has a venture capital firm which funds no less than 150 others. It is inconceivable to think that such a pro-corporate administration will lift a finger to alleviate the countrys drug epidemic. The FDA has been accused of expediting the approval of opioid pain killers for some time now. In 2013 under the Obama administration, the FDA approved Zohydro, the first extended-release pure form of hydrocodone. Ignoring its own advisory panel, which voted 11-2 to reject the drug entirely, the agency approved it without tamper-resistant protections. This allowed the drug to be easily crushed to maximize potency, creating greater potential for abuse. Asia Bangladesh: Dhaka police use firearms against protesting garment workers At least 20 workers were seriously injured on March 23 when Dhaka police, using batons and firing shotgun pellets, attacked their demonstration outside the Lyric Industries garment factory in Rampura, a suburb of Dhaka. Close to 400 workers were involved in the protest which erupted after management suddenly closed the plant. Workers said factory authorities paid wages in advance and said their benefits package would be paid when the factory relocated to an industrial zone in Gazipur. To prevent further action by the terminated workers the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association claimed it had met with factory management and that the benefits package, once calculated, would be paid through the association. Pakistan: Punjab sanitary workers strike over unpaid wages Sanitation workers from the Gujranwala Waste Management Company (GWMC) in Gujranwala city, Punjab province walked out indefinitely early this week to demand two months unpaid wages. GWMC management said it would not pay the overdue wages anytime soon, claiming that it faced a serious financial crisis and that many vehicles were out of order. The private company was formed in 2014 as part of the municipal administrations restructuring of the citys sanitation services. Punjab workers for the visually impaired demand unpaid wages Workers for the visually impaired from various government departments in Dera Ghazi Khan demonstrated on March 23 to demand four months unpaid wages. The affected employees are non-permanent daily wage workers from the special education and social welfare department of the Municipal Corporation. They previously demonstrated over the same issue on March 9. On March 20 municipal sweepers and water supply workers demonstrated because they had not been paid for four months. Non-payment of government employees is commonplace in Pakistan. The Pakistan government, in line with International Monetary Fund demands, has slashed spending, forcing many institutions, especially at local government level, to delay wages to the lowest paid workers. Workers are forced to turn to loan sharks to feed their families and pay school fees. Sindh province government workers demand wages Employees of the government-run Sindh Small Industries Corporation demonstrated outside the Bhutto mausoleum in Larkana on Monday to demand 12 months wages. About 1,000 employees of pay scales between 1 and 19 are affected. About 180 retired employees who have not been paid their pensions joined the protest. Sri Lankan medical lab technicians walk out Sri Lankan government hospital laboratory technicians held a one-day strike on Wednesday. The walkout was over ten demands, including for a pay increase and the abolition of salary anomalies. Dispensing of drugs and basic laboratory functions stopped during the strike. Strikers told the media that they would hold an indefinite strike if the government fails to address their demands within a month. Burmese workers protest over cuts to New Year holiday More than 5,000 manufacturing workers demonstrated in Yangon on Sunday against government cutting the New Years Thingyan holiday from ten to five days. A Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar spokesman said most factory workers in the Yangon region are from distant towns and villages and cannot return to their homes within five days. Over 1,000 workers at the Ever Sunny Foods factory in Yangon walked out on strike last week demanding the restoration of the ten-day holiday break. Meanwhile, 650 workers at the Korean-owned Myanmar Gun San factory were sacked on March 25 after demanding the full ten-day New Year holiday, the issuing of social welfare cards and for security guards to stop mistreating employees. Workers complained that they have not been allowed to take leave since the factory opened eight months ago. Australia and the Pacific Victorian insulation manufacturing workers continue strike The strike by over 90 workers at Fletcher Insulation in Dandenong, Victoria has entered its fifth week. Australian Workers Union (AWU) members walked off the job after being offered an enterprise agreement that slashes working conditions and imposes a four-year pay freeze. The union told the media that Fletcher Insulation wants to increase working hoursthe current glass industry standard is 35 hours a weekand remove minimum manning levels from the agreement. Workers are also concerned that Fletcher, which took over ACI Glass several years ago, wants unlimited use of casual workers and slash existing redundancy provisions. On Tuesday, Fletcher applied to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to terminate the workplace agreement which will reduce workers pay by over 50 percent. This tactic, which is used to force workers to accept union-brokered wage deals suitable to employers, has become the norm. Striking Parmalat workers in Echuca and striking garbage collection workers in New South Wales faced similar threats if they failed to accept employers demands. In January the FWC terminated the expired enterprise agreement of striking Victorian workers at AGLs Loy Yang A power station after they failed to accept the companys proposed enterprise agreement. According to the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, the decision could cut Loy Yang workers wages by over 60 percent. Victorian food processing workers strike More than 100 food-processing workers at the McCormick Foods plants in Clayton South and Moorabbin in Melbourne walked out for 24 hours on Wednesday after rejecting the companys proposed new enterprise agreement. The company offer included a 6 percent pay cut each year for the next three years. A National Union of Workers (NUW) spokesman said McCormick Foods also wanted to remove paid breaks from afternoon and night shift and completely change rosters. McCormick Foods claimed the cuts were in the best interests of our overall business in Australia. According to the NUW, the company made a $472 million profit last year. The union has not indicated if any further strike action is planned and instead has made a useless appeal for a boycott of McCormick Foods products. NSW: Central Coast garbage collectors union ends industrial action The Transport Workers Union (TWU) has negotiated a cost-cutting deal with the Central Coast Council in the Fair Work Commission. The deal, which was endorsed by garbage collection workers on March 24, followed eight months of limited industrial action, including strikes and demonstrations. TWU members began industrial action last year after their employer Remondis received permission from the FWC to cancel the current enterprise agreement if a negotiated agreement could not be reached by 2018. The workers would then come under the inferior basic industry award, cutting their wages by $300 a week. Remondis proposed a new enterprise agreement with a 25 percent pay cut to secure its contract with the Council, which expires in February, 2018. The union called for a clause to be inserted into the councils tender for waste services that protected local jobs and existing workers and their conditions. They also called for temporary outsourced employees to be paid the same as other depot workers. Little information has been released about the latest agreement. The council has reportedly agreed to insert a clause in its tender documents requiring tenderers to offer ongoing employment to employees of the current contractor and ensure all existing employee statutory leave entitlements are recognised. The TWU and council administration have refused to release full details of the deal claiming the information remains commercial in confidence until the council makes public its proposed tender document. South Australian bus workers to resume strike action Drivers for the privately-owned Light-City Buses (LCB) in Adelaide, the South Australian capital, plan to walk off the job for 24 hours starting at 3 a.m. on April 4, in a dispute over a proposed enterprise agreement. Drivers will also impose bans on collecting fares, which is expected to cost the government an estimated $50,000 a day in revenue. Light-City Buses is a private company that operates a third of services in the Adelaide Metro network under contract to the state government. Previous industrial action was suspended by the Transport Workers Union after it reached an in principled agreement with LCB on March 15. The deal was rejected by members. According to the TWU, drivers want annual 3 percent pay increases to give them pay parity with others in the Adelaide metro network, a reduction in broken shifts, no broken shifts on weekends, and regular start and finish times. The LCB wants wage increases limited to 1.9 percent, extension of an unpaid break in broken shifts to five hours, increased casualisation of the workforcefrom 15 percent to 30 percentand other demands. New Zealand retail car parts workers strike again For the sixth time in four months, employees of car parts supplier Brake and Transmission (BNT) in Auckland walked off the job on Wednesday following managements ongoing refusal to negotiate a wage rise. The 20 workers are members of the FIRST union. The union initiated negotiations in August but management has yet to make a pay offer. The workers, who are only paid the minimum wage, want wage parity with other workers in Auckland doing the same job. Papua New Guinea power utility workers begin limited action Some 2,000 workers from PNG Power Limited (PPL) began limited strike action on March 24 over their longstanding dispute for a wage increase and other issues. The workers are refusing to respond to service fault call-outs. The PNG Energy Workers Association said its enterprise agreement was signed in November 2015 but had not been implemented. On Monday, PNG Power management directed its enterprise consultative committee to meet before the end of the week to facing PPL employees demands. The trade union federations affiliated to Indias twin Stalinist parliamentary partiesthe Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM and the Communist Party of India (CPI)are calling for demonstrations throughout the country Wednesday, April 5 as a mark of solidarity with the Maruti Suzuki workers and to demand their unconditional release. The CPM and CPI and their respective labour federations, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), have systematically isolated the Maruti Suzuki workers. Under conditions where they have been the target of a joint company-state vendetta aimed at intimidating the entire working class and stamping out any challenge to poverty wages, contract labour, and sweatshop working conditions, the Stalinists have up until now done nothing to publicize the Maruti Suzuki workers plight, let alone mounted any campaign to mobilize the working class in their defense. If the CITU and AITUC, almost five years after the frame-up of the Maruti Suzuki workers was initiated and the company purged its Manesar, Haryana car assembly plant of 2,300 militant workers, feel compelled to organize a token day of protests, it is because they recognize that there is immense anger within the working class at the class justice meted out by Indias courts. In a legal travesty, the courts condemned 13 workers to life-in-prison last month on trumped up murder charges. Twelve of the 13 were elected leaders of the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU), which workers at the Manesar plant established in 2011-12 in bitter struggle against a government-supported, company stooge-union. Over the course of the past month workers in the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt, a huge auto-making and manufacturing center on the outskirts of Delhi, have repeatedly defied a government ban on gatherings of more than five people to show their support for the Maruti Suzuki workers. The Stalinists aim in calling the April 5 protests is to contain and defuse this anger. By feigning support for the victimized Maruti Suzuki workers, they seek to shore up their tattered credibility, the better to keep the working class under their political control and tie it, as they have done for decades, to the parties of the Indian bourgeoisie. The Stalinist union leaders are determined to prevent working-class opposition to the company-state frame-up of the Maruti Suzuki workers from becoming the impetus for the mobilization of the industrial and independent political strength of the working class. Three further points underscore the essentially fraudulent character of the Stalinist union federations opposition to the frame-up of the Maruti Suzuki workers. Frist, they have chosen to mount their protest on Wednesday April 5, rather than April 4, the day that the MSWU designated as an All-India and international day of protest in support of the jailed Maruti Suzuki workers. The CITU and AITUC have provided no explanation for this. But undoubtedly it is because they didnt want to in anyway associate their action with the MSWUs call, since rescinded, for April 4 to be a day of job action, including protest strikes. Second, and even more revealingly, the Stalinists are mounting their April 5 protests in conjunction with various other labour federations that are aligned with openly pro-big business parties. Most important of these is the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), which since its formation in 1947 has been the union affiliate of the Congress Party. Not only was the Congress Party until very recently the Indian bourgeoisies principal party of government; it has played a leading role in the vendetta against the Maruti Suzuki workers, without so much as a peep of opposition from the INTUC. The frame-up was initiated when the Congress Party led both the national and Haryana state governments. The Haryana Congress government worked hand-in-glove with Maruti Suzuki in trying to crush the rebellion against the company-controlled union. It insisted that the MSWU was illegitimate because the workers already had a union; demanded workers sign a company good conduct bond designed to facilitate the disciplining and firing of militant workers; repeatedly mobilized police en masse to break worker actions; and suggested that the MSWU was in cahoots with terrorists and other outsiders determined to sabotage the states economy. Then, in the aftermath of a July 18, 2012 company provoked altercation and fire, the Haryana Congress government set the police upon the workers. It presided over mass arrests and the indictment of 150 workers, including the entire MSWU leadership, on frame-up charges. The Congress state government also fully supported Maruti Suzukis workforce purge and deployed hundreds of police inside the factory when it reopened with a largely new workforce. Third, whilst the CITU and AITUC are claiming to be organizing opposition to the frame up of the Maruti Suzuki workers, their parent political parties continue to maintain radio silence about it. Neither the CPM nor the CPI has condemned the March 10 conviction of the 13 Maruti Suzuki workers or their March 18 sentencing to life-terms in the living hell that is Indias penal system. Their websites are entirely silent about the Mauri Suzuki frame-up. The same is true of Peoples Democracy, the CPMs English-language weekly. It has published three issues since March 10 and has seen fit to say not a single word about the Maruti Suzuki workers. Yet prosecutors, judges, and politicians have repeatedly declared, including in the trials final stages, that the Maruti Suzuki workers have to be savagely punished so as to restore investor confidence and ensure the success of Indian Prime Ministers Modis Make in India scheme, which aims to make India the cheap-labour capital of the world. No doubt, the CPM and CPI leaders calculate that any criticism of the Maruti Suzuki frame-up would disrupt their cozy relations within the Indian political establishment. These include their efforts to renew a political alliance, in the name of defending secularism against the Hindu supremacist BJP, with the Congress Party. The deafening silence of the Stalinist political leaders underscores the utterly cynical and politically fraudulent character of the CITU-AITUC led April 5 protests. The Stalinist unions have absolutely no intention of taking any serious action in support of the Maruti Suzuki workers and will shut down any protests just as soon as they are confident that they have defused and dampened the spirit of militancy and class solidarity among Indian workers. One army man was injured after suspected terrorists reportedly fired a few rounds at an Army convoy in the Jammu and Kashmir capital. By Shuja-ul-Haq : Gunshots were heard today near a national highway in Srinagar's Bemani area, when suspected terrorists reportedly fired a few rounds at an Army convoy before fleeing. One army man was injured. Soon after, a spell of stone-pelting followed the attack. Soldiers fired in the air to disperse the crowd. Police are working to restore stability to the area. advertisement (More inputs are awaited) --- ENDS --- The hearings of the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday into alleged interference by Moscow in the US elections marked a significant new stage in the anti-Russia hysteria that has dominated the US media and large sections of the political establishment for the past year. Since the inauguration of Trump over two months ago, the unsubstantiated allegations that Russia hacked the US electionspromoted in particular by the Democratic Partyhave served two interrelated purposes. On the one hand, the Democrats have worked to contain and redirect mass opposition to the Trump administration and prevent it from developing into an independent political movement of the working class. On the other hand, they have sought to force a correction in the foreign policy of the Trump administration to bring it into line with the campaign against Russia supported by the CIA and dominant sections of the military. Such considerations continue to dominate Washingtons official debate. Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday labeled Russia a strategic competitor to the United States, denounced it for its actions in Crimea and throughout Eastern Europe and threatened some form of retaliation for Russias alleged violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. This is the latest indication that the Trump administration is attempting to accommodate the demand that it take a harder line against Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Intelligence Committee hearing, however, focused on another aspect of the anti-Russia campaign. The line promoted by the collection of political reactionaries appearing before the committee, and parroted by their Democratic and Republican interlocutors, was that political and social discontent within the United States is largely attributable to the malevolent actions of Russia. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio declared that Putin is engaged in informational warfare intended to steer Americans unwittingly in many different directions that can cause all sorts of danger and violence. Russian media, he charged, is exploiting protests like the eruption of mass opposition to police violence and Occupy Wall Street in the hopes of being able to report back to the world and their own people that America is a disaster. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the committee, proclaimed that Russia has sought to hijack our democratic process including by attempting to weaponize information. The witnesses before the committee would explain, he said, how Russia deployed this deluge of disinformation in a broader attempt to undermine Americas strength and leadership and to diminish and undermine our trust in the American media by blurring our faith in what is true and what is not. Republican Susan Collins, citing testimony to the committee from Clinton Watts, said that the Russiansare trying to disrupt society, cast doubt on Western democracies. The intelligence report released in January found, she said, that Russia Today (RT) was instrumental in trying to advance the protest of Occupy Wall Street. This prompted Eugene Rumer of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to respond that it serves the interests of the Russian government to present [Occupy Wall Street and similar movements] as a major challenge, because it drives the messagethat the United States is not the perfect society. The cast of characters brought forward by the Senate to advance such arguments is itself significant. Watts, for example, is a member of the right-wing Foreign Policy Research Institute, formed in 1955 to oppose the containment strategy in relation to the Soviet Union, demanding a more aggressive rollback policy of restoring US imperialist domination over Eastern Europe and the USSR itself. Social discontent within the United States was denounced by it and other anti-Communist groups as the manifestation of Soviet propaganda. Twenty-five years after the dissolution of the USSR, the anti-Communism of the Cold War is being resurrected in a new form, with capitalist Russia standing in for the Soviet Union. During the first half of the 20th century and into the 1950s and 60s, a section of the ruling class responded to the growth of social opposition and the class struggle by implementing various social reforms. No such reform tendency exists any longer within the ruling class, and indeed it is the Democrats (including supposedly left figures like Michael Moore) that have been most strident in their denunciation of the Russian menace. The agitation over Russian disinformation has less to do with Russia or its relations with the Trump administration than it does with the state of American society. The American working class does not need RT to know that America is a disaster and that the United States is not the perfect society, nor is Russian information warfare necessary for the population to lose trust in the American media and the democratic process. The United States is a society in which 400 individuals own more wealth than the bottom 61 percent of the country, or nearly 200 million people. It was reported this week that Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, increased his wealth in the past year alone by $10.2 billion, or about $34,000 for every one of the companys 300,000 employees. Since 1980, the bottom half of the population has seen its income share fall from 20 percent to 12 percent, while the income share for the top one percent has risen from 12 percent to 20 percent. A report published earlier this month from Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton reported that the sharp rise in mortality for white, middle-aged working-class Americans is driven largely by deaths of despairthat is, drug overdoses, complications from alcohol and suicide. The United States is facing the worst drug crisis in the history of the country, with opioid addiction tripling over the past decade. Young people in the US face a future of low-paid work, permanent indebtedness and unemployment. Retirees are seeing their pensions slashed. The Trump administration is preparing to vastly escalate the bipartisan war on every social program, from Medicare and Medicaid to public education. Police in the United States, armed with military weaponry, kill more than 1,000 people every year. The intelligence agencies spy on the population without restraint. All the institutions of the state are deeply discredited, and the two parties are broadly hated. The past presidential campaign was waged between the two most unpopular candidates in the history of the country. As for the media, it is deeply compromised by its role in blurringwhat is true and what is not, that is, its propaganda in the service of the state and the ruling class. Yet, according to the Democratic and Republican Senators, everyone is unhappybecause the Russians are sowing divisions. The implications of this argument are far-reaching. In conjunction with a massive escalation of military violence abroad, the American ruling class is preparing domestic repression at home. It is aware of the seething social discontent within the country and is preparing the arguments for criminalizing dissent, banning publications and cracking down on freedom of expression, particularly on the Internet. The desperate and obviously manufactured character of the campaign over Russian misinformation is an expression of the extreme crisis of American democracy, and the isolation and fear of the ruling class. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) held a picket in downtown Colombo, Friday afternoon to popularize the demand for the immediate freeing of the 13 Maruti Suzuki workers that the Indian state has jailed for life on trumped-up murder charges. The SEP/IYSSE picket was organized as part of the International Committee of the Fourth Internationals campaign to mobilize the working class in India, South Asia and around the world against the frame-up of the Maruti Suzuki workers. Last month a court in the northern Indian state of Haryana found the 13 workers guilty of the death by asphyxiation of a company manager in a fire, although the prosecution failed to prove any connection between the workers and the fire, and the judge in his verdict had to admit that police had illegally colluded with the management of the Japanese-owned automaker and fabricated evidence against the workers. Twelve of the 13 were elected officers of the newly-founded Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU). Workers at Maruti Suzukis car assembly plant in Manesar, Haryana had established the MSWU in a bitter struggle against a government-recognized, pro-company union. Close to a hundred SEP and IYSSE supporters participated in yesterdays picket. A sizeable delegation of Tamil-speaking supporters travelled from the war-ravaged north to Colombo to show their support for the Maruti Suzuki workers. Tamil-speaking plantation workers from the Hill Country (central highlands) also joined the picket. The protest was held outside the Fort Railway Station, Colombos largest. It lasted more than an hour and attracted the attention and interest of workers and youths who were returning home after finishing work or school. Before and during the picketing, SEP and IYSSE supporters distributed copies of statements issued by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and Sri Lankan SEP calling for the mobilization of the industrial and independent political strength of the international working class to win the freedom of the Maruti Suzuki workers. They discussed with workers and youth the significance of the company-state witch hunt against the Maruti Suzuki workers and how it exemplifies the assault on the rights of workers all over the world. Picketers displayed a banner reading Free the framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers! in English, Sinhala and Tamil, and carried placards, which read Unite to defeat the witch hunt against the Maruti Suzuki workers, Forge the international unity of the working class, Fight for international socialism against imperialist war plans, Fight for international socialism against the assault on social and democratic rights, For a Union of Socialist Republics in South Asia and Build the revolutionary party of the working class. Picketers raised slogans demanding the immediate release of the framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers and the reinstatement of the more than 2,300 militant workers the company purged and replaced in 2012. They denounced the war plans of the US and the other imperialist powers, the global capitalist elites promotion of chauvinism and turn to state repression, growing joblessness and the assault on workers rights and called for the working class to take up the struggle for socialism. The SEP/IYSSE picket had been publicly announced by the World Socialist Web Site. It was also advertised though a postering campaign in Colombo and its suburbs. Police were deployed to surveil the protest, but they did not intervene, as such a move would have drawn attention and opposition from the large numbers of workers and youth transiting through the area. Responding to an SEP media announcement, Sirasa FM, a leading private TV channel, and Virakesari, a Tamil daily, sent journalists to cover the SEP/IYSSE picket. A Sirasa FM journalist video recorded interviews with SEP Political Committee members Pani Wijesiriwardane in Sinhala and M. Thevarajah in Tamil. SEP/IYSSE members set up facilities to get passers-by to sign the ICFI-launched online petition demanding the immediate freedom of the Maruti Suzuki workers during the picket and won significant support. At the conclusion of the event, SEP Political Committee members, W.A. Sunil and Thevarajah briefly addressed the gathering, speaking respectively in Sinhala and Tamil. They explained that the frame-up of the Maruti Suzuki workers was the outcome of a joint-conspiracy involving company management, the police, judicial authorities, and political establishment, including Haryanas then Congress Party-led state. The workers only crime, declared Sunil, was to have fought against the against slave labor conditions maintained by the transnational company. The SEP speakers explained how Maruti Suzuki management had mounted a provocation against the workers on July 18, 2012 and deployed hired thugs to attack them on the factory floor. In the midst of this altercation a fire mysteriously erupted that resulted in the death of Awanish Kumar Dev, a company human resources manager. Seizing on the fire and the death of this manager, who was known to be sympathetic to the workers, explained Thevarajah, 13 workers have been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on frame-up murder charges. The speakers exposed the trial of the Maruti Suzuki as a legal travesty, noting among other things that prosecution witnesses systematically failed to identify those they had implicated and that the judge repeatedly mangled the law, shifting the onus of proof from the state to the workers. The verdict against the workers was clearly politically-motivated, declared Sunil. It was a clear message to foreign investors that Modi and his (BJP) government will ruthlessly suppress worker opposition to sweatshop conditions and cheap labor. And on the other hand, it was meant as a warning to the entire working class that the government will brutally suppress any challenge to poverty wages and contract labour. Explaining that the frame-up of Maruti Suzuki workers is not an isolated Indian phenomenon, Thevarajah said, It is a part of a social counter-revolution being implemented by the bourgeoisie worldwide under conditions of the growing crisis of global capitalism. The speakers pointed out how the newly-inaugurated Donald Trump administration in the US, governments across Europe, and the Sri Lankan ruling elite, under ex-President Rajapakse and the current Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, have carried out sweeping attacks on the social and democratic rights of working people. The only way to defeat such attacks, they declared, is through the international unity of the working class. They concluded by calling on workers and youth in Sri Lanka to join with their class brothers and sisters internationally in fighting to free the framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers, to support the international defense campaign launched by the ICFI, and to attend the public meeting that the SEP/IYSSE are holding on Tuesday, April 4 at Colombo Public Library Auditorium to promote this vital campaign. On Thursday, the Conservative government published its Great Repeal Bill to give effect to Prime Minister Theresa Mays triggering of Article 50, beginning Britains exit from the European Union (EU). There is now a two-year cutoff before Brexit fully takes effect, on March 29, 2019. The bill, to be brought forward next year, states its objective is to provide maximum certainty as we leave the EU. But the claim made by the Leave campaign in last Junes referendum, that the UK could disentangle itself from the EU with minimum disruption, was always a lie. Over four decades, the UK has become closely integrated into the EU, in line with the globalisation of capitalist production and trade. Every aspect of British lifefrom customs, law, working conditions, education, health, transport and the environmentis interwoven with the European and global economy. That is why the 37-page bill is so short on detail. No country in the modern period has attempted such a course. No one, least of all the ruling elite which is now largely behind Brexit, has any grasp of its consequences. Even the most confirmed advocates of withdrawalled by right-wing, neo-liberalsare anxious to conceal the real implications of their agenda. The flimsy nature of the bill notwithstanding, it does indicate the vast scale of what is underway, which is described as the largest legislative venture undertaken in British history. At its centre is the overturning of the European Communities Act (1972) that gave effect to European law in the UK, as the prerequisite for its joining the European Economic Communitythe forerunner of the EU. Subsequently, the UK adopted a number of treaties including the Single European Act (1987), which provided for the completion of the single market and free movement of goods, capital and persons; the Maastricht Treaty (1993), that incorporated a common foreign and security policy and cooperation in justice and home affairs; the Treaty of Amsterdam (1999) and the Lisbon Treaty (2009) which brought all 28 member states in to a single European Union. The bill acknowledges that there is no precise figure for the number of EU directives and legislation incorporated into UK law through these treaties. It tentatively identifies at least 12,000 EU regulations currently in force and 7,900 statutory instruments, which have implemented them. However, this does not include all the acts of legislation made by the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. According to the House of Commons Library, more than 14 percent of the 1,302 UK Acts implemented between 1980 and 2009 incorporated a degree of EU influence. Moreover, EU treaties apply in various aspects to the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, and to a lesser degree among several of the UKs Overseas Territories, most notably Gibraltar and Cyprus (home to UK military bases). That is why, despite its title, the Great Repeal Bill will convert EU law as it applies in the UK into domestic law on the day we leaveso that wherever practical and sensible, the same laws and rules will apply immediately before and immediately after our departure. This is necessary in order to provide for a smooth and orderly exit, Brexit Secretary David Davis writes in its foreword. At first glance, this is at odds with Davis other claim that the referendum was driven by a desire to take back control and restore British sovereignty. In reality, it expresses the interests of the banks and big business that oppose any regulatory disruption to their access to trade and the European single market. According to the Financial Times, efforts to replicate EU regulatory agencies at a domestic levelespecially in the field of aviation, nuclear technology, pharmaceuticals and financial serviceswill be expensive and laborious to create, which is why the government has signalled that it will remain under the regulation of EU authorities where necessary during any transition period after Brexit. However, EU leaders have already rejected the governments demands that talks on the terms of Britains exit run parallel with negotiations on its future relations with the bloc. They accuse the government of wanting to have its cake and eat it in its demands for continued access to the Single Marketreflecting the reality that, having left the EU, Britain becomes a de facto competitor. The EUs draft negotiating position governing Brexit, unveiled Friday by European Council President Donald Tusk, excludes participation based on a sector-by-sector approach. It warns, A non-member of the union cannot have the same rights and enjoy the same benefits as a member. In keeping with the hardline Brexit position of eurosceptic Tories, the bill acknowledges that no agreement may be reached and reiterates that no deal for the UK is better than a bad deal for the UK. In the event that it fails to get its way, the government is preparing separate bills including the establishment of a UK customs regime and new immigration regulations. Anti-immigrant propaganda played a key role in the referendum campaign and has now largely been adopted by both the Leave and Remain camps. The bill states that new immigration legislation will not change anything for any EU citizen already resident or moving to the UK, without Parliaments approval. This means nothing given that parliament, with Labours support, refused to guarantee the rights of EU citizens currently residing in the UKusing them as a bargaining chip in negotiations. More fundamentally, it provides for so-called Henry VIII clauses. These parliamentary procedures date back to the 16th century, when King Henry VIII effectively gave himself the powers to rule by decree. All powers contained in EU-derived law and which are currently exercised by EU bodies will be transferred to UK bodies or ministers, enabling ministers and civil servants to decide which aspects of EU legislation and regulation can be kept, amended or discarded without recourse to parliament. Leading eurosceptics and big business figures have made no secret of their plans to make a bonfire of workers rights. Targets include regulations on the maximum working week, the Temporary Agency Workers Directive (giving agency employees the same rights as other workers in similar fields) and holiday pay entitlements. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, John Longworth, former director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, urged the government to set up a Star Chamber of MPs, economists and businessmen to oversee this process who are not frightened to think the unthinkable. The bill also removes the UK from the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). This has been a route for many attempting to challenge the UK government in the field of employment and human rights. The bill argues that this will not affect the substantive rights that individuals already benefit from in the UK. Given that the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights will also be invalidated on the day Britain quits the blocanother central demand of the euroscepticssuch assurances are also meaningless. Sir Bill Cash MP, Tory chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, has said the Charter provides protection for people who have no right to be protected, thereby overturning the concept of inalienable rights, common to all and free from bureaucratic or ministerial fiat. Finally, the bill intensifies the UKs own constitutional crisis. The current framework for the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is predicated on EU membership, and assigns the regional governments responsibility for implementing EU policy in areas of their competencesuch as agriculture, transport and the environment. The bill stipulates that all powers exercised by the EU will return to the UK government. This conflicts with the convention that Westminster will not legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish parliament, which is overwhelmingly opposed to Brexit, has already passed a resolution demanding a second referendum on independence from the UK, while Scottish National Party leader and Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has threatened to block the Repeal Bill. For its part, the EU has already indicated it will side with the Irish nationalist parties in rejecting the re-establishing of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, following Brexit. Upping the ante, the EUs draft negotiating position appears to back Spanish claims to the British territory of Gibraltar on the Iberian peninsula, which voted 97 percent to remain in the EU. It stipulates that any agreement reached between the EU and UK will not apply to Gibraltar without the agreement of Spain. The International Youth and Students for Social Equality and the Socialist Equality Party will be screening the classic documentary of the Russian Revolution, Tsar to Lenin, Tuesday April 4 at Wayne State University in Detroit. According to World Socialist Web Site International Editorial Board and SEP chairman David North this film, bears witness to a moment in history when socialist ideals inspired the greatest revolutionary movement in world history. Herman Axelbank painstakingly assembled the extraordinary film footage contained in this documentary in the 1920s. It shows the last days of the Tsars empire, the mass uprising of February 1917 that overthrew the 400-year-old autocracy, the October 1917 Bolshevik-led insurrection, and the ensuing bitter civil war, which ended in 1921 with the victory of the new socialist workers state. Narrated by Max Eastman, the work premiered in 1937 to critical acclaim in New York, only to fall victim to a campaign of slander and threats by the Stalinists against Leon Trotsky, co-leader of the 1917 Revolution with Lenin. David North, a leading figure in the Trotskyist movement for more than 40 years, will introduce the film and lead a discussion afterwards. David North has played a leading role in the international socialist movement for forty-five years, and is presently the chairperson of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site and the Socialist Equality Party (US). His many published works include The Heritage We Defend; The Crisis of American Democracy; In Defense of Leon Trotsky; The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century; and The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left. Details: Tuesday April 4, 6:30 pm Wayne State University Bernath Auditorium, Undergraduate Library 5155 Gullen Mall Detroit, Michigan The federal Liberal-National government of Malcolm Turnbull continues to block the release of an internal review into the tragic death of Josh Park-Fing in April last year. The 18-year-old was killed in an accident while participating in the punitive Work for the Dole program, which forces the unemployed into unpaid, and often unsafe labour, in order to receive their poverty-level Newstart welfare payments. The report into Park-Fings death by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland was given to Australias employment minister, Michaelia Cash, in September 2016. Since then, the government has refused to release its contents, and other documents, in a bid to cover-up the conditions that led to the accident and those that face about 100,000 other Work for the Dole participants. Park-Fings Work for the Dole placement was rubbish collection at the Toowoomba showgrounds in south-east Queensland. He reportedly fell from a flatbed trailer after a tractor towing it slipped a gear and jolted. The teenager suffered critical head injuries and died on the way to hospital. According to the Australian Unemployed Workers Union (AUWU), one person at the site had expressed concerns to the supervisor about driving a tractor. He was allegedly told that he would be penalised if he did not drive the vehicle. Park-Fings placement was overseen by NEATO Employment Services, a private firm contracted by the federal government to manage Work for the Dole. Other contractors include Max Solutions and Mission Providence, which are both subsidiaries of US corporations with annual revenues of over a billion dollars. The Department of Employment replied last August to an AUWU request for information into Park-Fings bluntly declaring that internal reports were being withheld to protect NEATO and the Work for the Dole program. It claimed that disclosure of information on the death may cause harm to the organisations commercial interests and affect their ability to retain and attract networks of employers. The government is seeking to cover-up its own culpability. In 2015, the Liberal-National government, then led by Tony Abbott, expanded Work for the Dole to include all unemployed people under the age of 50 who have received welfare payments for six months or more. The scheme, first introduced in 1998 and maintained by successive Labor and Liberal-National governments, previously targeted the long-term unemployed and was managed by the government welfare bodies. People aged under 30 must now carry out 25 hours of work a week. Those aged 30 and 49 are compelled to do 15 hours a week. They do not receive any additional payment. Newstart unemployment benefits average just $38 a day. Expansion of the program was explicitly aimed at corralling hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers into low-paid labour, in line with the demands of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and other pro-business lobby groups. In May last year, the government also unveiled a youth internship program, which would force unemployed young people into 25 hours of work a week for private businesses, with an average wage on top of welfare benefits of just $4 an hour. The number of unemployed pushed into Work for the Dole soared from 54,000 to over 100,000 between 2015 and 2016 and has led to a major spike in accidents and injuries. Last November, the Australian Associated Press reported that there had been 500 injuries at Work for the Dole sites in the 201516 financial year, up from 90 the previous financial year. The majority of these were caused by lifting or carrying heavy objects. Almost a quarter of those on the scheme suffered cuts, lacerations or punctures, others reported fainting, heart attacks, burns or eye injuries. More than five percent were bitten by insects or animals while working, with allegations that in some areas workers were not provided with protective clothing or shoes. An audit of 200 Work for the Dole sites by Ernst and Young last June, released in February this year, found that 36 percent did not meet the average safety benchmark. Unemployed people impacted by the unsafe practices are denied basic rights. Families of those killed in Work for the Dole accidents are only eligible for payments of $250,000 compared to up to $750,000 paid to the families of those who perish in paid work. Work for the Dole participants are also denied workers compensation because they are officially classified as volunteers. The Labor Party and the Greens have sought to head-off mounting anger by posturing as opponents of the assault on the unemployed. Last month, they passed a motion through the Senate demanding the release of the report into Park-Fings death. The Australian Unemployed Workers Union is heavily involved in this fraudulent campaign, with the union promoting the lie that the government can be compelled to create a fair and humane welfare system. In reality, the attacks on the unemployed are part of a bipartisan austerity agenda aimed at forcing the working class to pay for the deepening crisis of capitalism. Labor has previously called for the expansion of Work for the Dole. It initially welcomed the governments youth internship scheme, before announcing its own version of the program last year, also aimed at pushing unemployed youth into ultra-cheap labour. Moreover, from 20072013, the Labor governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard maintained Work for the Dole and carried out sweeping attacks on the most vulnerable welfare recipients. The Gillard government, propped up by the Greens, forced 100,000 single parents onto Newstart unemployment payments, stripping many of hundreds of dollars a month. The authors also recommend: Australian coroners report points to Labors responsibility for insulation deaths [11 July 2013] The Jinnah House was designed by an English architect and constructed by masons especially brought from Italy. It was the venue where Mohammad Ali Jinnah held watershed talks on partition of India first with Mahatma Gandhi and then with Jawaharlal Nehru. By Prabhash K Dutta: Mohammad Ali Jinnah - the man, who almost single-handedly created a nation and partitioned India - refuses to fade from Indians' memory. On March 25, BJP MLA Prabhat Mangal Lodha resurrected the Jinnah debate. Speaking in the Maharashtra Assembly, Lodha called for demolition of Jinnah House saying it "was the place from where the conspiracy of Partition was hatched." advertisement Since then reactions have been pouring in from various quarters. Pakistan expressed concern over the safety of Jinnah House. It demanded that building be handed over to Pakistan. The Lokmanya Tilak Swarajya Bhoomi Trust (LTSWT) demanded that the Jinnah House be handed over to it for creating a mural depicting the legacy of Tilak. LTSWT Prakash Silam said that Jinnah had great respect for Lokmanya Tilak. Silam contended Lodha's demand saying the Jinnah House is now an heritage structure and that pulling it down will not erase the bitter history of Partition. WHAT IS JINNAH HOUSE? Jinnah House was the residence of Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Malabar Hill of south Mumbai. It was originally named as South Court. The Jinnah House was built by Jinnah in 1936 after he returned from England and as he took complete control over the Muslim League, which later demanded a separate country for Muslims in the form of Pakistan. Jinnah House is a European-style architecture designed by Claude Batley - the former head of Indian Institute of Architects. Trained masons from Italy were brought to India especially for the construction of the Jinnah House. Jinnah is said to have built the palatial bungalow at an exorbitant cost of Rs 2,00,000. To understand the cost perspective, it would be interesting to know that in 1947, when India got Independence, Re 1 was equivalent to USD 1. It is spread over 2.5 acres of land. The bungalow is sea facing. Exquisite Italian marble and walnut woodwork was used in the construction of the Jinnah House. But, today many walls of the Jinnah House are moss-covered. The Jinnah House at Malabar Hills in Mumbai. BITTER HISTORY WAS CREATED HERE The Jinnah House was the centre of Muslim Leagues agitation for Pakistan. Its leaders discussed strategies as to how to tackle the Congress and convince the British that Muslims constituted a separate nation. It was at the Jinnah House that Mahatma Gandhi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah held what is often termed as 'watershed talks on the partition of India' in September 1944. On August 15 in 1946 - exactly a year ahead of Partition and Independence - Jinnah held another round of talks about creation of Pakistan with the premier Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru. advertisement After Partition, Jinnah went to Pakistan but expressed his wish to spend his last days at Jinnah House in Mumbai. WHAT HAPPENED AFTER PARTITION After Independence, Pandit Nehru did not want to declare Jinnah House an enemy's property. It is said that Nehru wanted to return the Jinnah House to Mohammad Ali Jinnah or rent it out to some European with the consent of Jinnah. But, sudden demise of Jinnah a year later in 1948, Nehru could not take a final call on the Jinnah House. Finally, the Jinnah House was declared an evacuee property in 1949 and the government of India took control of the building. It was allotted to the British High Commission, which operated from Jinnah House till 1981, when they moved out. After British High Commission shifted out, Pakistan petitioned the government of India to let it use Jinnah House as its Consulate. Pt Nehru, Lord Mountbatten and MA Jinnah.(Photo: @JprMass) LITIGATION OVER JINNAH HOUSE Three years after building the Jinnah House, Mohammad Ali Jinnah wrote his will making his unmarried sister Fatima Jinnah the lone inheritor of his properties including this sprawling bungalow. advertisement At the time of Partition, Fatima Jinnah moved to Pakistan. Later in 1962, Fatima obtained a certificate of succession from the Bombay High Court. But, this was before the Enemy Property Act, 1968 was legislated. Currently, Jinnah's only daughter Dina Wadia - who married an Indian and settled in India - is engaged in a legal battle with the government of India. Dina Wadia claimed that Hindu inheritance law applied in Jinnah's property case as mere two generations ago Jinnahs were Hindus. Jinnah's mother was Mithubai and his wife's name was Ratanbai. Jinnah was Khoja Shia Muslim. WHO OWNS JINNAH HOUSE? The Ministry of External Affairs rejected Dina Wadia's claim as the legal heir of Jinnah's properties including the Jinnah House. The Ministry of External Affairs told the Bombay High Court that Mohammad Ali Jinnah's will of 1939 settles the issue of inheritance in the family. Jinnah House belonged to Fatima Jinnah, the MEA said. But as Fatima Jinnah moved to Pakistan, the Jinnah House came under the control of the Custodian of Enemy Property which comes under the government of India. The ambiguity on the enemy's property rights continued till 2005, when the Supreme Court ruled the Custodian of Enemy Property was only a trustee while the enemy was the owner. advertisement This changed in 2016, when the Narendra Modi government brought an Ordinance and followed it up with four more. While the first four Ordinances lapsed, the last one was replaced by the Enemy Property (Amendment) Act, 1968 passed by Parliament in the ongoing Budget session. The amended law makes the Centre the owner of enemy property. Now, the Jinnah House is the property of the central government. ALSO READ | Jinnah House belongs to us, hand it back, Pakistan tells India, after BJP MLA's demolition demand WATCH | BJP MLA demands demolition of Jinnah House in South Mumbai --- ENDS --- TAYLOR COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) -- A Colorado couple that captured a road rage incident while driving through Taylor County has been separated -- after authorities arrested both of them while responding to their 911 call for help. Scott Schoenherr and his fiancee Amy Crabtree were traveling home to Denver after visiting family in Pasco County. The two were traveling on U.S. Highway 19 South near Tennille early on the morning of March 23. Schoenherr said the driver of a Ford Mustang began driving erratically around them in an effort to allegedly run them off the road. Crabtree called 911, while Schoenherr started filming the incident on his phone. While the couple was on the phone with a 911 operator, the driver of the Mustang rammed his car into the back of their vehicle. Schoenherr said authorities took at least 45 minutes to respond, as he tried to maneuver the car away from the other driver. When officials arrived, Schoenherr said he insisted they provide medical treatment to Crabtree. At some point, once the two were identified by the responding officers, both were arrested and booked into the Taylor County jail for different reasons. Schoenherr was driving with a suspended license, and Crabtree had an outstanding warrant in Hillsborough County. Schoenherr said he was released after about 12 hours, but Crabtree has remained in jail since -- with Friday marking nine days. We reached out to the Taylor County Sheriff's Office for comment and are waiting to hear back. Schoenherr said he's not sure when Crabtree will be released, mentioning she is supposed to be extradited to Tampa. As for the driver of the Mustang, deputies were able to locate Richard Mendez, who confessed to ramming his vehicle into the couple's car. Mendez was arrested and charged with reckless driving and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Tallahassee, Fla., (WTXL) - Today the Leon County Sheriff's office is saying, they continue to obtain records, investigating Mayor Andrew Gillum's alleged use of a publicly funded email server for personal political gain. According to Sachs Media Group's campaign and branding director, Michelle Ubben, Gillum's early declaration of his intentions to run for governor may explain why his email headaches remain in the spotlight. "Being to a political race early has its advantages and disadvantages. All of the focus is on you which is good, especially in a small market area like Tallahassee and you're trying to introduce yourself to the entire state." Ubben says, "On the other hand all the focus is on you, so any missteps are going to get a lot of attention." Gillum told WTXL earlier this month about the email scandal. "I had three emails that were more political than what should of come out through my office. One announcing that as mayor of the City of Tallahassee." Gillum told us, "The use of that logo was deemed to be inappropriate." As for the rest of his campaign, Gillum says Floridians are hungry for leadership. Next Gillum's best move might be to focus on the issues that matter to him as a candidate. Ubben emphasizes the importance of establishing a campaign's message in the early days of a campaign. "The first 30 days is critical to any political candidate. It's the time they set their message, its the time they decide what their brand is about. For Governor Scott it was Jobs, jobs, jobs. He showed a lot of message discipline which he still shows today. For President Trump it was all about draining the swamp and making America great again." Gillum sent us this statement in regards to his first 30 days: "It's been an incredible first month for our campaign - from Jacksonville to Miami to Tampa and here at home - we're seeing an incredible hunger for leadership that can put Floridians back to work at every rung of the income ladder and open affordable healthcare to all. Today in Miami, we talked about the critical importance of Obamacare and how I'll expand Medicaid as Governor - it's essential for our future. We won't let partisan games distract us from this important opportunity to improve the quality of life for all Floridians." The faculty and administration at Jawaharlal Nehru University are fighting over the way street dogs are treated on the campus. By Arpan Rai: The fight between the faculty and administration at Jawaharlal Nehru University over feeding of stray dogs escalated and took an ugly turn as a scuffle broke out on Friday. Amita Singh, a professor at JNU's Centre for the Study of Law and Governance told Mail Today that Campus Development Head Priyadarshini Mukherjee, got physical and was found running after students who were feeding dogs to stop them. advertisement "Mukherjee has not only talked about eviction of animals but has done everything in his capacity to sabotage our efforts to feed the dogs," Amita Singh said. Mukherjee remained unavailable for a comment. The faculty members, who have favoured the presence of dogs on the campus citing ecological balance, have already filed FIRs and RTIs and are now planning to move the high court. "We will have to take legal action if ill-treatment of dogs does not end on the campus. The bowls for feeding and drinking water have been broken by guards," Singh said. A student also complained that she was manhandled by security guards as she was feeding the dogs. "I have been feeding dogs in JNU for the past 4 years, but three days ago, the administration released a new rule that feeding dogs will not be allowed anymore," said Neerja Chaudhary. "These dogs are really sick and on the verge of dying. When we tried saving them, security officer of JNU did not let us enter our varsity campus and said that these dogs should be left to die," she added. The college administration has decided to conduct a meeting soon to stop the fight from reaching court's doorstep. "We cannot throw the dogs out of the campus and have to ultimately arrive at a solution which is dog-friendly," Pramod Kumar, the registrar said. Also read JNU's main gate defaced; students scuffle with security guards Police covering up holes in JNU probe? --- ENDS --- Submit An Obituary Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death. Go to form If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. A man, who got paralysed neck down at the age of 26 in a road accident, has taken it as mission of his life to make Indian roads safer. By Prabhash K Dutta: He lives in Chandigarh, where around 1 crore liquor bottles were sold between April 1, 2016 and March 28 this year. According to the excise policy, released by Chandigarh administration last Thursday, the residents of the city consume 30,000 liquor bottles daily on an average. And, he procured an order from the Supreme Court in December last year that directed all the liquor shops and poppy husks vends along the highways across the country to down the shutters. advertisement Meet Harman Singh Sidhu - man who tirelessly works to make roads safer. HOW IT HAPPENED Harman Singh Sidhu was only 26, when a road accident confined him to his wheelchair. Sidhu had gone to Renuka Lake in Himachal Pradesh. It was the month of October and winter was setting in. On his way back home with his three friends, Sidhu spotted a leopard cub as the sun was waiting to rise up in the horizon in the jungle. They followed the cub expecting to see more wild animals. But, his car skidded off the hilly road. Sidhu was in the backseat as he watched his car spinning like a top before falling 70 feet deep. Sidhu suffered major injuries in his spinal cord rendering him paralysed neck down. Sidhu took some time to come to the terms that at the age of 26 his fate was confined to the wheels of a chair. But, in two years' time, Sidhu was determined to make Indian roads safer. Sidhu founded NGO Arrive SAFE, which has led several road safety awareness campaigns in association with World Health Organisation and the United Nations. Arrive SAFE founder Harman Singh Sidhu, who filed PIL leading to a ban on liquor sale along the highways. PIL AGAINST HIGHWAY LIQUOR SHOPS At ArriveSAFE, Sidhu was involved with many surveys on road safety. While conducting these surveys Sidhu noticed the number of people dying in accidents caused by drunken driving. According to ArriveSAFE website (http://www.arrivesafe.org), driving under the influence of alcohol finally is responsible for 30 to 50 per cent of road deaths and serious causalities worldwide. It further says about one-third of the drivers of motorised two-wheelers in Delhi and about 44 per cent of crash victims in Bengaluru were found to be under the influence of alcohol in a study. Sidhu made up his mind to file a PIL. But, he first sought data through RTI. According to the RTI response of the National Highway Authority of India there were 185 liquor shops vends on a 291 kilometres stretch of National Highway 1 in Punjab and Haryana alone. This meant that there was one liquor shop vend at every 1.5 kilometers on the highway. PILs were filed in the High Courts of Punjab and Haryana and Rajasthan. The high courts gave favourable judgements. advertisement The states moved the Supreme Court, which imposed a ban on liquor shops and poppy husks vends along the highways across the country which came into force today. ALSO READ| Dry way on the highway: Supreme Court's 2016 ban on liquor sales comes into effect today ALSO WATCH | Liquor ban to continue in Kerala, says Supreme Court --- ENDS --- By Vidya : Mumbai sessions court has stayed the release of film Hum Keh Naa Sakey on actress Pratyusha Banerjee's first death anniversary (April 1). Last year Pratyusha had allegedly committed suicide and her live-in partner Rahul Raj Singh had been questioned by police and later charged for abetting her suicide. According to actress Kamya Panjabi, her (Kamya's) film was the last project that Pratyusha had worked on before she ended her life in her Oshiwara home. This tribute by Kamya is apparently a work of fiction but the actress has said in many interviews that "it (the film) will seem quite similar to what Pratyusha must have gone through. She will be seen heartbroken, resorting to vices like drinking and smoking." advertisement Also read: Rahul Raj Singh to write a book on Pratyusha Banerjee However, Rahul Raj and his legal team did not think it was just a tribute to the late actress. Raj's lawyer Shreyansh Mithare said, "The case is still subjudice and to show such a film would prejudice people against Rahul, where he is being shown as the perpetrator of the crime. We had sent a legal notice to Kamya but since she did not respond we filed a defamatory suit against her." Mithare also told the court that unlike Panjabi's claim that the film was shot just before Pratyusha's death, Rahul Raj feels that the footage of Pratyusha in the film is quite old, and it is just being shown to prejudice people against him. Mithare also approached the Dindoshi sessions court for an injunction to stop the film from being shown today where even Pratyusha's parents were also supposed to participate. "The court ordered that the film should not be shown," said Mithare. --- ENDS --- Israel is waging a PR offensivein addition to using forceaimed at deterring Hamas from targeting its main security project: The new Obstacle defense system around the Gaza Strip. In this PR campaign, however, Israel is revealing its weak spot to Hamas: The ability to defend a huge project, which includes thousands of people and hundreds of vehicles that will be exposed in the next two years near the Gaza border. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Israel is threatening that any damage to the project will claim a heavy price, which could reach an overall military conflict. For this purpose, the IDF is carrying out public maneuvers, more or lessto make Hamas see and comprehend. An occasional accurate aerial bombing of infrastructure targets is aimed at emphasizing the message that Israel will not hesitate to launch a war. The truth is, however, that Israel needs a state of calm in order to complete the Obstacle, which is supposed to provide an alternative solution to the tunnels and infiltrations. The alleged Israeli assassination of Mazan Fukha, who headed the West Bank committee in Gaza, is likely part of a different story, but it joins the noisy escalation choir. Poverty in Gaza. Israel should talk to the residents over Hamas head (Archive photo: AFP) For some reason, people here still believe that we can read the other side. Israeli officials estimate that Hamas, a decade after rising to power, has formed a world view of a state, with public responsibility, and that it has no intention of losing the miracle of establishing a Hamas-controlled Sunni state in Gaza. The threat of losing this historic achievement is Israels main leverage, which is why Israel is threatening a military conflict which would include massive use of fire from the very beginning. Like in all the activities vis-a-vis Gaza, the next war will have no political purpose in the form of an agreement or a change of government in the strip. The next war too will be waged with the goal of wearing out Hamas, engraving the IDFs might into the Palestinian consciousness, delaying the next conflict, renewing deterrence, etc. The price will be paid by the population in the stripthe same population which Israel disregards and isnt doing a thing to try to distinguish it from the Hamas government, which is leading it to destruction. A day after Yahya Sanwars election as head of Hamas political bureau in Gaza, a woman set herself on fire outside his home in an act of protest. There was no mention of that incident in Israelperhaps because such an incident might interfere with the narrative built by Israel, that Hamas and the Gaza population are one and the same. Its true that the public in Gaza wants to see Israel destroyed. There is deep hatred there. This public also wants to live, however. The woman who set herself on fire outside the Hamas leaders home is proof that the public there is not stupid and that it understands the ramifications of Sanwars election too. Sanwar rose to power on the sharp tips of the military wings spears, while performing political maneuvers which allowed him to boost his power at the political wings expense. As far as the Palestinian public in the strip is concerned, the appointment reflects a list of priorities that does not concern the public: Investment in tunnels, weapons, special military abilities, and only then an improvement of the economic situation and the citizens welfare. This is Hamas weak spot, but Israel is not even trying to create some kind of distinction between the leadership and the population. The only attempt is the website of the coordinator of the governments activities in the territories, which tells the Gazans how corrupt their government is. The population in Gaza is treated in such a superficial manner, that even in IDF slides the population there is still comprised of 1.9 million peoplealthough they have already crossed the 2 million mark by tens of thousands of peoples. One-third of the families in Gaza live in degenerating poverty of NIS 1,000 a month. Israel sends thousands of trucks to the strip ever week, but fails to mention that 60 percent of them carry aggregates (raw materials) which have no effect on the populations welfare. Israel should talk to the residents over Hamas head by encouraging the construction of infrastructures and transferring energy and water. Not out of kindness, God forbid, but out of an egoistic national interest: To present an alternative to the military plan in order to try to get through the coming years peacefully. (Translated and edited by Sandy Livak-Furmanski) Israel will limit new settlement construction in the West Bank "when possible" to within areas already developed or at least to contiguous areas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government announced as a gesture to President Donald Trump as it approved the first new settlement in the territory in two decades. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter With the new policy, the government said it would attempt to exercise some restraint in expanding the physical footprint of settlements, though it did not specify any slowdown in construction. Photo: Marc Salem Netanyahu had promised to build the new settlement to replace Amona. Pro-settler hard-liners who dominate his coalition and oppose Palestinian statehood on security or religious grounds had pressed him to keep that promise. But Netanyahu also faces pressure from Trump to rein in settlement construction to help revive the stalled peace process with the Palestinians. Netanyahu told ministers to take Trump's position "into consideration," calling for restraint to be shown "to allow progress in the peace process." Under the guidelines, new construction would be built "within existing developed areas, when possible." If that is not possible, then it would be allowed adjacent to already built-up areas. If that also is not possible "because of legal, security or topological constraints," building would be permitted as close as possible to existing construction. Ma'ale Adumim (Photo: EPA) White House envoy Jason Greenblatt has already made two visits to the region, meeting with Israelis and Palestinians and attending an Arab summit in Jordan this week. Greenblatt has been working with the Israelis on a series of understandings over settlement construction in hopes of restarting peace talks that collapsed over two years ago -- in part over the thorny issue of settlements. A White House official sought to play down the announcement Thursday of the new settlement, saying Netanyahu made his promise to the Amona settlers before Trump laid out his vision. But the official, who agreed to discuss the matter on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about it, signaled that the White House would take a tougher line down the road. Thursday's announcement said the new settlement would be built near the settlement of Shilo, close to the former site of Amona. It also said the government had approved tenders to build 2,000 new apartments from previously approved settlement projects. Jason Greenblatt meeting with Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah (Photo: Reuters) The new settlement approval was sharply criticized by Palestinians. Yusuf Mahmoud, spokesman for the Palestinian government in the West Bank, said "This is a new escalating Israeli step and it shows that the Israeli government is persistent on hindering any efforts to restore the peace process." Another senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to brief media on the issue, said Palestinian policy now is to maintain relations and avoid confrontation over the issue with the Trump administration ahead of a visit to the White House by President Mahmoud Abbas in April. Israel's anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now also condemned the decision to replace Amona. "The government announced that they will establish a new settlement for the first time deep in the West Bank in an area that is isolated and that could never be part of the state of Israel under the two state solution," Lior Amihai, of Peace Now said. "The government is doing so in order to appease a radical minority of settlers who want to continue the occupation over the Palestinians and to prevent a possibility of peace and settlement in the region. This is unfortunate that the government is binding to the settlers will," he said. Amona demolition (Photo: Hillel Meir/TPS) Oded Revivi, chief foreign envoy of the Yesha Council, an umbrella group representing Israel's more than 120 West Bank settlements, welcomed the new settlement. "The true test will be the implementation of these plans and their manifestation as actual bricks and mortar on the ground. We will be monitoring the government very closely to see that these plans come to fruition, enabling a new era of building throughout our ancestral homeland," he said. The group did not address the new limitations on construction. The United Nations issued a statement saying Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed "disappointment and alarm" over the new settlement, stressing that "there is no Plan B for Israelis and Palestinians to live together in peace and security," and condemning "all unilateral actions that, like the present one, threaten peace and undermine the two-state solution." US intelligence agencies believe that terrorist groups, including ISIS, have developed methods to plant and smuggle explosives in electronic devices without being discovered by airport security. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter According to CNN, the recent ban of laptops, tablets and other devices was the result of this alarming revelation. Airport security (Photo: Reuters) According to intelligence assessments, terrorist organizations obtained advanced airport security equipment currently in use and conducted a series of experiments until they found a way to successfully plant bombs in electronics. The assessments led to a ban of electronics on flights from ten airports in eight countries: Egypt (Cairo), Jordan (Amman), Kuwait (Kuwait City), Morocco (Casablanca), Qatar (Doha), Saudi Arabia (Jeddah and Riyadh), Turkey (Istanbul) and the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi and Dubai). When the Trump administration issued the travel restriction last month, a US government official said the decision was related to a terrorist threat, but did not delve into detail. Photo: AFP The ban was initiated against the eight countries because intelligence information suggested a credible threat from those places. CNN reported that a series of experiments conducted by the FBI to test the new method found that it was very difficult to detect the explosives. The experiments were conducted using a variety of security equipment in use around the world and on a variety of electronic devices including computers and batteries. "As a matter of policy, we do not publicly discuss specific intelligence information. However, evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation, to include smuggling explosive devices in electronics," the Department of Homeland Security told CNN in a statement. "The US government continually re-assesses existing intelligence and collects new intelligence. This allows DHS and TSA to constantly evaluate our aviation security processes and policies and make enhancements when they are deemed necessary to keep passengers safe. As always, all air travelers are subject to a robust security system that employs multiple layers of security, both seen and unseen." (Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg) Dozens of headstones were smashed and vandalized in a 19th-century French cemetery in the village of Waldwisse, in northeastern France. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter France 3 television reported that a passerby informed local French police of the vandalism and noted that 40 of the 50 headstones were damaged. Jewish headstones vandalized in France X Vandalized graves Police have opened an investigation, but have not yet identified suspects. This is the second attack on the Waldwisse cemetery. In 2014, three young men were arrested after vandalizing the cemetery and a French court sentenced them to suspended prison terms. This latest round of vandalism against Jewish graves joins a rash of similar incidents, concentrated for the most part in the United States. Cemeteries in Rochester, New York, Philadelphia and Saint Louis were vandalized in a similar manner. (Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg) A series of barbed exchanges between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon concerning the crisis surrounding the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) were revealed Friday night. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In one conversation between the two, Netanyahu attempted to signal to Kahlon that he was seriously considering the possibility of new elections if he did not succeed in cancelling the opening of the IPBC. Photo: AFP Netanyahu was heard telling Kahlon, "I went to elections over the Israel Hayom law and I'm not afraid to go to elections over the IPBC." According to reports, Netanyahu then told Kahlon, "You know the numbers," referring to the number of seats Kahlon's party, Kulanu, has in the Knesset and the lower number they're projected to receive following new elections. In response, Kahlon told Netanyahu, "That doesn't scare me. I can be hurt by two or three seats, but you'll never return to this chair," referring to the premiership. In addition to the mutual exchange of threats, Netanyahu is also reported to have told Kahlon that Yesh Atid Chairman, Yair Lapid, is also cooperating with the IPBC. The IBA The comments were revealed two days after Netanyahu and Kahlon announced that they had reached an agreement concerning the IPBC. The compromise agreement, brokered by Finance Ministry Director General Shai Babad, Communications Ministry Director General Momo Filber and Ministers Yariv Levin and Tzachi Hanegbi, calls for a new path for public broadcasting in Israel, including a general broadcast corporation and a separate one for news and current events programming. The new, separate news corporation is to begin broadcasting on May 15. Research programs and external content that had been planned for the IPBC will be cancelled. Ongoing legislation to supervise the media has also been frozen as a result of the compromise. (Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg) Police arrested a 43-year-old man from Yehud on suspicion of threatening a doctor at a health clinic in the city. Police said that the suspect entered the doctor's room while he was taking care of another patient, and after she asked to wait, he began screaming and threatening to burn her and the entire clinic. He was arrested and taken for questioning after the HMO security officer reported the incident to the police. He will be brought later in the day for a remand hearing at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court. More than 5,000 people took part in the "Wheels of Hope" bike race Saturday morning as part of the effort to increase awareness of the integration of people with disabilities into society. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter This year, winner of the Israel Prize, Tzvika Levy, known as the "father of lone soldiers," took part in the race. Wheels of hope (: ) X Wheels of Hope (Photo: Israel Police) Levy suffers from muscular dystrophy and took part in the event by way of a special cart designed and built by friends. He was accompanied by a staff of assistants and doctors in addition to MK Haim Jelin on the 55km trek. The head of the Jezreel Valley Regional Council, Eyal Betzer, who helped launch the initiative, congratulated Levy and his friends for their determination and fortitude. Betzer also thanked the Israel Police for ensuring a safe and convenient journey. "You are riding in the most beautiful section in the valley, where everything is booming and wonderful." Tzvika Levy with lone soldiers (Photo: Zohar Shahar) The event was sponsored by Etgarim (Hebrew for 'challenges'), the Jezreel Valley Regional Council and Bank Hapoalim. Etgarim is an Israeli NGO dedicated to the social integration of people with disabilities through outdoor sports. Etgarim CEO Avner Balkany said, "We are proud and excited to continue this wonderful tradition together with the Jezreel Valley Regional Council and our other partners for the road, at a leading social event for Etgarim riders. Alongside the physical effort, the participants enjoy contributing to the community and the empowerment of Etgarim members, who continue to break through daily boundaries. " (Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg) Employees of the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) are planning protests in light of the plan presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon to establish a separate broadcast corporation for news. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In addition to planned protests Saturday night in Tel Aviv, employees are also planning a petition to the High Court. IPBC employees protesting (Photo: Avi Chai) The Union of Journalists in Israel (UJI) approached Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and demanded that no harm come to employees, who are "continuing to be hung out to dry without a future." The UJI also demanded that Mandelblit instruct the prime minister, finance minister and the deputy minister of communication to cease interference with the structure of the IPBC, including the composition of the employees. "This intervention results in severe and disproportionate damage to the freedom of the press and thus to the foundations of democracy, human rights and the personal and collective rights of the employees of the IPBC," said the UJI. Employees and their supporters are expected to protest impending layoffs as a result of Netanyahu and Kahlon's plan in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. "It isn't clear what is going to happen and people are afraid," said an IPBC official. "People left other jobs and now they can be stuck in the middle. We won't give up." In light of the crisis with employees, Director General of the IPBC, Eldad Koblentz, announced that a meeting with employees will take place Sunday at IPBC studios in Modi'in. (Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg) Two civilians and one police officer were lightly moderately wounded during a stabbing attack on Hagai Street in Jerusalem's Old City. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The terrorist was shot dead by security services after being chased by Israel and Border Police. Stabbing attack in Jerusalem's Old City X Scene of the attack Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg At 3:13pm, MDA sources responded to the scene to treat two ale civilians, an 18 and 20 year old, with stab wounds to their torso. Additionally, paramedics treated one police officer who had been stabbed in the thigh. The Israel Police later announced that the stabber was a resident of the West Bank This is the second stabbing attack in Jerusalem's Old City this week. On March 29, a female terrorist was shot dead by police after attempting to stab officers with a pair of scissors. In the past month, Israel has raged over issues relating to its health system, such as the crisis at Hadassah Hospital and the increase in violence against medical staff, but what has been happening in the health system of our Palestinian neighbors? There are quite a few similaritiesfor better, but also for worse. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Six months ago, a woman named Faida al-Atrash died at the government hospital in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem. She was young and there was no danger to her life when she entered the hospital, so it was suspected that she died due to medical malpractice. Upon hearing of her surprising death, her family arrived at the hospital to settle the score with the doctors. Violence escalated and this incident was the last straw that broke the camel's back, propelling a public maelstrom in the PA. Violence in PA's healthcare On the bright side, Yacoub Shaheen from Bethlehem, the new winner of the Arab Idol singing competition, is a special guy. One of the first things he did immediately after returning home from the show was to go to the hospital to visit children with cancer, where he was welcomed with great excitement. Conjoined Palestinian twins Conjoined twins are a rare medical case, but somehow and for some inexplicable reason, three pairs of conjoined twins were born in hospitals in Hebron in recent years, the last of whom, born two weeks ago, were joined at the abdomen and chest. Every year the Palestinian Authority pays an average of $300 million to hospitals in Israel and abroad for medical treatment for Palestinians who need surgery or treatment that cannot be performed in hospitals in the West Bank or Gaza.To cope with this financial drain, the Palestinian Investment Fund established a new, impressive and modern hospital on the outskirts of Ramallah where the same treatments will be provided and complicated operations will be carried outa step that would leave a lot of money in the possession of the Palestinian Authority. After Naam Shabana, Bollywood should seriously start investing in spin-offs because this way, fans will get to explore their favourite cinematic universes in greater detail. For starters, here are ten iconic cinematic characters who deserve their own stand-alone films. By Devarsi Ghosh: Shabana Khan first made her appearance in the 2015 film Baby. Taapsee Pannu, as Shabana, entered the story post-interval as a coy, vulnerable young girl but suddenly overturned expectations when her character was revealed to be an ass-kicking secret agent. The response to Shabana Khan was strong enough to prompt the filmmakers to take an attempt at making a spin-off of Baby, based on the Shabana character. Thus, today we have Naam Shabana. advertisement It is strange to wonder why Bollywood has seldom made spin-offs such as these. Very often, supporting characters end up getting a lot of notice and develop a cult following after the film's release. For instance, in the west, following the success of the Shrek films, you had spin-off films about Puss in Boots. The X-Men series spawned stand-alone Wolverine films. On television, you got Boston Legal, a spin-off of The Practice. In fact, just a single show like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation spun off into several separate shows like CSI: Miami, CSI: Cyber and CSI: NY. It's about time that Bollywood starts to take the concept of spin-off seriously because this way, fans will get to explore their favourite cinematic universes in greater detail. For starters, here are ten iconic cinematic characters who deserve their own stand-alone films. 1. Bob Biswas from Kahaani (2011) Bob Biswas (Saswata Chatterjee) is an insurance agent by day and an assassin by night. Prowling the dark, dangerous streets of Kolkata, the bespectacled, almost-balding Bob Biswas will appear harmless behind his bhadralok mannerisms but it will only take him a second to take out a gun and shoot you in the head. 2. Gabbar Singh from Sholay (1975) Who is Gabbar Singh? How did he manage to become so dreaded and dangerous? Why doesn't he fear anyone? Gabbar Singh was made famous, almost a household name by a then-relatively unknown actor, Amjad Khan. It would be interesting to delve into the history of Gabbar Singh and explore his origins as a young dacoit. 3. Ramadhir Singh from Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) Speaking of origins, though most of Gangs of Wasseypur focuses on Ramadhir Singh's (Tigmanshu Dhulia) life after he is well into his forties, his slow, Machiavellian rise to power echoes the kind of character-sketch that Walter White or Frank Underwood has. A young Ramadhir Singh movie, please, Anurag Kashyap! 4. Circuit from the Munna Bhai films Isn't there more to Circuit than what we see on the screen? Is Circuit just the shadow of Munna Bhai? How and when did he become a tapori? How did he meet Munna and become his lifelong friend? Maybe, the upcoming Munna Bhai film shouldn't be a sequel but prequel that answers these questions. advertisement 5. Poo from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001) Sixteen years after Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, thanks to Poo's (Kareena Kapoor Khan) sheer over-the-top-ness (and with a little push from Buzzfeed India), it seems like we indeed need to go back and explore who or what Poo actually was. If Alia Bhatt's character from Student of the Year was a Pokemon, then Poo would be its final form. 6. Ram Shankar Nikumbh from Taare Zameen Par (2007) Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) is quite possibly the most adarsh teacher in Bollywood history. It is revealed in the course of TZP that he indeed suffered from dyslexia and he was taunted as a kid as well. However, was there a Nikumbh in Nikumbh's life? How did he manage to fight against societal prejudice and become the man he eventually became? Perhaps, we need a Taare Zameen Pe Phir Se. 7. Dr Aditya Shrivastav from Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) Dr Aditya Shrivastav (Akshay Kumar) is a psychiatrist par excellence. He is an incredible reader of people's minds, a fantastic interrogator and can see through BS before anyone can. Of course, we need multiple films just centered around this character itself and Akshay has more than enough star power to make them box-office successes. advertisement 8. Shonali Gujral from Fashion (2008) Shonali (Kangana Ranaut) is a mercurial, fierce character. She is the most successful Indian model in Fashion and everyone else automatically comes second to her. It would be interesting to know Shonali's rags-to-riches story. After all, who wouldn't want to see Kangana play the character which got her her first National Award again? 9. Dadu from Kapoor & Sons (2016) Amarjeet Kapoor aka Dadu (Rishi Kapoor) was a fantastic, well-written and well-acted character who served as the backbone of not just the Kapoor family in Kapoor & Sons but the entire film as well. To see Dadu as a teenager, falling in love, getting his heart broken, then rebuilding himself, marrying, becoming a father, so on and so forth... is going to be a treat. 10. Govind from Damini (1993) Govind (Sunny Deol) is a brooding, alcoholic, down-and-out lawyer in Damini. He enters in the second half of the film but leaves a lasting impression on the audience's mind thanks to his courtroom histrionics and of course, his dhai kilo ka haat. Revisiting a younger or older Govind again in several other cases would be pretty cool. advertisement (The writer tweets as @devarsighosh.) ALSO READ: Naam Shabana movie review ALSO READ: Taapsee Pannu joins a long list of on-screen veeranganas in Naam Shabana WATCH: Naam Shabana review --- ENDS --- They dont accept the Oral Torahthe Talmud, the Shulchan Aruch and other halachic (Jewish legal) textsbut they consider themselves to be devout Jews: The Karaites numbered about 40 percent of the Jewish people at their height, but today they have shrunk to less than one percent. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The majority, about 40,000, live inside of Israel. A further 10,000 live abroad. We are first of all Jews, and only after Karaites, stressed Shlomo Gever of the Karaite Jewish Association. We see ourselves as part of the Jewish people, the descendants of the children of Israel. So long as there is a Bible, there will be biblical peoplethere will be Karaite Judaism to keep the Bible. (Photo: Karaite Jewish Association) Gever relates, In the Second Temple period several factions were formed amongst the people of Israel, including the Pharisees and those who did not accept their path. The Karaites did not accept the Oral Torah that was added over the generations. The Book of Spring In Jerusalem, there is evidence of the existence of the Karaite community there as early as the eighth century CE. On the ancient HaKaraim (meaning The Karaites) Street in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalems Old City is the oldest and most important synagogue for the community, explained Eilat Lieber, the director of the Tower of David Museum. Gever explained, The Karaite approach espouses the simple biblical interpretation the plain sense of the Bible, without additions, and the prayer book is composed mainly of Psalms and chapters in the Bible, which we read sing in call-and-response. As the Jewish month of Nissan approaches, the Karaites read the Book of Spring, which defines how to know when Rosh Chodesh Nissan (the first day of the month) falls, which is followed by Passover. The book was written in the 11th century by an anonymous author and explains how they would go out to the fields and find the very special stage in crop development that would signify the beginning of spring and the month of Nissan. Today, in the framework of the Tower of David tours of communities in Jerusalem, the Karaite community is being better exposed. You can come to the Biblical Heritage Center and be exposed to the very special culture of Karaite Jewry and how they influenced the people of Israel. Marriagea tricky affair Rabbi Haim Borgansky previously told Ynet that all the Jewish authorities agree that the Karaites are Jews who at some stage (certainly preceding the ninth century CE) abandoned halachic tradition based on the great texts of the Oral Torah, the Mishna and the Talmud, and created a new halachic system based solely on the written Torah. Although they are definitely Jews, the question of marriage is a very important question, since their marriage process is halachically recognized, but the divorce is not recognized according to halacha. As such, theres a big chance that throughout history, a lot of bastards joined the Karaites. As a result, in certain locations, especially in Europe, it was forbidden to marry Karaites, but in other places, such as Egypt (where many Karaites lived, and they and their customs were known), they permitted marrying Karaites who accepted returning to the rabbinical, halachic tradition and whose bastardry was not a cause for concern. This dispute is also present in the rabbinical courts in Israel, although in most cases a halachic effort is made to facilitate this matter A necessary condition for the acceptance of Karaites according to halacha is that they accept the words of friendship, meaning that they accept the principles of accepted Jewish halacha and dont see themselves as Karaites any more. (Translated and edited by J. Herzog) Every year, the IDF loses NIS 1.5 million worth of fuel due to theft, leaks and wastefulness. The Technology and Logistics Division has been developing a series of creative and unprecedented solutions in order to thwart the loss of fuel, from private vehicles of career personnel, through operational vehicles and tanks. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In recent years, the IDF has identified dozens of cases in which Dalkanim were stolen from military vehicles or from trucks. A Dalkan is a specialized pre-paid device that allows the carrier to refuel their vehicle in all gas stations belonging to the particular company with whom the arrangement has been made. Since the device is pre-paid and pre-installed in the vehicle, a visit to the gas station would be hassle- and cash-free. In some cases, thieves broke into military bases and ripped out the dalkan, while in others, the devices were stolen from vehicles parked near the soldiers homes or while the cars were taken to the garage. (Photo: Yedioth Ahronoth) The solution: a suicide Dalkan that automatically ceases to operate as soon as it is disassembled from vehicles. In addition, there is an initiative to prevent the pumping of fuel by connecting the device to the vehicle's mileage meter, which would immediately alert the fuel company of a gap between the vehicle's mileage and the amount of fuel consumed. This is a system that already exists in the civilian world, but the IDF was afraid to use due to the possibility of cyber attacksconnecting to the mileage computer in the military vehicle would possibly enable a remote connection to the rest of the vehicles, thereby taking control of them. The new device will circumvent the vehicles computer and will be set to only recognize the mileage computer. In the coming weeks another measure will be introduced to prevent fuel leakage: a personal code for each Dalkan, which will require the soldier or the career officer to enter a personal code at every refueling. The IDF intends to put an end to the free fueling at hundreds of gas stations within the army bases, and a new computerized system will monitor and allow each military vehicle to refuel inside a base as necessary. The system will also identify leakage or suspicious shortages in fuel tanks. The army's technology, logistics, and armament departments are also planning to install Dalkanim for tanks, other armored vehicles, and even to tankers in charge of field refueling. Thus far, refueling armored vehicles has been done without any actual supervision. Also in development: a special and expendable robotic system that will supply many kilometers of fuel to forces maneuvering during war in a safe and efficient manner. The IDF is in the process of developing a prototype, with the goal of also cutting back on security forces required to accompany logistic supplies into the Gaza Strip or southern Lebanon during a possible future war. "Fuel has become synonymous with unmarked bills," an IDF officer told Ynet, "The fuel could not be tracked, so we decided on a set of solutions according to the concept of If you cant measure it, you cant handle it. (Translated and edited by N. Elias) At least 13 policemen and three civilians were wounded when a bomb exploded near a police training centre in the Nile Delta city of Tanta on Saturday in an attack claimed by a militant Islamist group. The bomb was planted on a motorcycle parked near the centre, which was cordoned off following the blast as security forces combed the scene, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Two of the wounded are in a critical condition, a health ministry spokesman said. A newly emerged militant group that calls itself Louwaa el Thawra, or the Revolution Brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter. Hundreds of employees of the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) protested Saturday night against the decision to establish a separate news corporation. Shortly before 9:00pm, they blocked the Azrieli Intersection. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "Enough is enough, broadcasting for the people," shouted the protesters. The signs carried by the demonstrators read, "Here is free media," "Kahlon, you failed housing, gas and here," "This is not a compromise, it is treachery," and "democracy = free journalism." IBA protest (Photo: Itamar Zigelman) "This time, when we say that Israeli democracy is in dangerit's not a cliche," said Yaara Shapira, one of the IPBC employees. The members of government are declaring they are taking over a public broadcasting body. We cant let that happen Minister Kahlon has failed. This corrupt deal is going to cost hundreds of millions of shekels. Kahlon has failed both in values and in the budget We will not allow the government to stop the freedom of expression." "Kahlon is not a communications minister, but as finance minister he kept the budget and therefore, a two-week postponement is not significant. The IPBC is not of any interestnot to our voters, and not to the people of Israel," said Eli Cohen, a member of Kahlon's Kulanu faction and Minister of the Economy. (Photo: Shahar Chai) According to the plan, the newly formed news department will be dismantled, and alongside the current corporation, another corporation will be established for news and current affairs. Newsmagzine programs, external productions and content that were designed for the IPBC will be canceled. (Photo: Shahar Chai) The journalists' organization appealed Friday to the attorney general in a letter of warning prior to appealing to the High Court of Justice demanding the employees to stop being harmed, as they remain in the dark with regard to their future. The Knesset coalition chairman offered his two cents as dozens of demonstrators, employees of the IPBC, protested in front of his house. When one protester hurled in his direction: Shame on you. You are the enemy of freedom of speech and democracy. The public will settle its score with you, to which MK David Bitan responded, You are bullies, I did not cheat anyone, I presented my stance from the beginning. You do not represent the democracy in the State of Israel. You werent worried about 1,500 IBA employees being fired. (Translated and edited by N. Elias) Skepticism is always in order when political leaders talk budgets, and that includes every level of government. Its common for officials to brag about not raising a tax levy, for instance, without noting that increasing assessed values are bringing in additional tax money. Nebraska officials are quick to note that they achieve a balanced state budget, as required by law, without noting that its balanced with the help of federal funding that is available only because of deficit spending that adds to the national debt. In Nebraska, federal funding amounts to 30 percent of the state budget. Legislative Bill 611 seeks to shed light on that situation, by requiring agencies to inventory the strings attached to receiving federal funds. Theyre already required to have information on hand about the funds they receive, but theyre not required to aggregate the information in a report easily accessible to legislators and the public. Federal funding incentives often cause the state to engage in programs or projects it might otherwise choose to avoid, said Sarah Curry, policy director for the fiscally conservative Platte Institute. LB611 would require agencies to create contingency plans in the event these funds were cut. At nearly $20 trillion in national debt, federal spending priorities can change at any time and will change inevitably, without Nebraskas best interests in mind. State lawmakers need to be prepared for this reality, she said. LB611 is a small part of a legislative session dealing with large issues such as a $900 million budget shortfall and Gov. Ricketts proposal to change the way agricultural land is taxed. But it is the type of bill that can change for the better the way we look at the total picture of taxation and government spending. David James Swartz, age 55, of Henderson, went to be with his Heavenly Father on Monday, March 27, 2017 in Lincoln. On a bitter cold day, in answer to the prayers of Marvin Dean and Delores Suzanne (Ronne) Swartz, their first born son arrived in Geneva on Dec. 28, 1961. He graduated from Fairmont High School in 1980 and then attended Southeast Community College at Beatrice/Milford where he received his Associates degree in Agri-Business. He then returned to the family farm. On May 18, 1996, Dave married the love of his life Debra Lynn Bright at the Fairmont Community Church, where they were members. He loved farming with his dad and granddad and spending time on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle with Deb. Dave could fix nearly anything with a little bit of wire and some duct tape. He had a well thought out reason for everything he did. Holding a special place in his heart was his beloved yellow labrador retriever Rocky, who would follow him to the field and also welcome him home with great anticipation after a long day on the tractor. Dave loved all of Gods creatures, especially the animals he cared for on the farm. He was a member of the Keep Em Growing 4-H Club, where he loved showing sheep and hogs and received many trophies and ribbons. He had an affinity for anything with a motor in it, enjoyed history (especially the World War II era) and all genres of movies and music. He had an excellent memory and was a walking encyclopedia with a great thirst for knowledge. Among his favorite meals were Debs famous spaghetti, a slice of homemade pizza (Valentinos was a close 2nd), and a warm piece of apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. After being diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease in 2004, he continued to farm until 2013 when he entered the CountryHouse Residence in Lincoln. Dave was a kindhearted, patient, respectful and devoted husband, son, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, cousin, and friend. Those left to celebrate Daves life include his wife, Deb of Henderson; mother, Delores Dee Swartz of Fairmont; brothers, Phillip (JoDeen) Swartz of Exeter and Merle Swartz of Reno, Nevada; aunt, Kathy (Swartz) Rudd of Omaha; niece and nephew, Kelsey and Tyler Swartz both of Lincoln and nephew, Trevor Swartz of Exeter. He is also survived by his mother-in-law, Janet Bright of Fairmont; brother-in-law, Steven (Debbie) Bright and niece, Destiny Bright all of La Crescenta, Calif.; sister-in-law, Sandra Bright and significant other, Jerry Bello of Stamford, Conn.; father-in-law, Frank Bright of Carlsbad, Calif. along with many other relatives and a host of friends. Dave was preceded in death by his father, Marvin; grandparents, Cecil and Leone Swartz and Wayne and Susie Ronne; uncle, Kenneth (Karen) Swartz; great-uncles, Wade and Darrell (Mary) Ronne. He is also preceded in death by Dees siblings, Dorothy Dots (Bill) Jacobsen, DeAnna (Kenneth) Teaford, Donna Faye (Gary) Clark and Janets siblings, John (Norma) Hull and Don (Virginia) Hull. Memorial services are scheduled for 4 p.m., Friday, April 7, 2017 at Metz Mortuary with the Reverend Tim Hull officiating. Daves wishes were to be cremated. In lieu of viewing and graveside services, book signing will be Thursday, April 6, 2017 from 1 7:30 p.m. His family will greet friends and neighbors from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. at the mortuary on Thursday evening. Book signing will be at 1 p.m. prior to services. In lieu of flowers and plants, memorials may be directed to the Parkinsons Unity Walk Walker: Deb Swartz for Team Daves Amaizing Field of Dreamers (http://support.unitywalk.org/goto/2017DaveSwartz - April 22, 2017 Central Park New York), the CountryHouse Residence for Memory Care in Lincoln. Family choice undesignated memorials will be used in Daves memory for Ag scholarships at SCC, Beatrice and towards the purchase of trees to be planted at the Fillmore County Fairgrounds. Directly following the service a Celebration of Life reception will be held at the Holthus Convention Center. Online condolences may be sent to his family at www.metzmortuary.com. Metz Mortuary in York is handling arrangements. Editor's Note: A guest opinion by Nebraska Fair founders defining this critical issue in their own words appears on Opinion Page 4A of this edition.) YORK The financial underpinnings of public education in Nebraska are on course to complete collapse. Thats the message delivered in no uncertain terms by the five founding members of Nebraska Fair, an organization of York-area farmers and agricultural land owners. Something absolutely has to give, they say; if that something is ag producers and landowners, as is inevitable if the current funding formula continues without reform, public education for Nebraska boys and girls K-12 is certain to fold in upon itself like a house of cards. Nebraska Fair founders Merlyn Nielsen, Dennis Richters, Jerry Stahr, Doug Nienhueser and Dennis Scamehorn spent an hour recently at the News-Times laying out the stark realities of state government continuing down the path its on now. So deep and wide is the approaching crisis that for the first time in memory school districts and the ag industry have broken the pattern of mutual blame are standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Schools and ag are talking, said Richters, and thats good. School boards and farmers are indeed circling their wagons together as one. Proof lies in the fact Nebraska Fair is but one of 14 member organizations of Nebraskans United for Property Tax Reform & Education, a coalition of strange bedfellows, often with historically opposing points of view, that have been forged together by the building intensity of this fire. The thing Im saying, commented Richters, is that the premise (that school spending is the problem) is wrong. Crowing that schools spending too much is also wrong. They are abdicating their authority, he said of the governor and legislature. Im very disappointed, said Nielsen of Seward, admitting, I voted for the governor who, he sees as having improperly and inaccurately deflected the issue to school spending and not to the revenue side where those 14 disparate partners of the coalition plainly see it rightly belongs. Scamehorn illustrated the lopsided issue by saying 57 percent of property tax is paid by 3 percent of Nebraskas population. Far better, these men say, would be to take education funding off the back of property tax altogether and hitch it onto sales and income taxes where they believe it properly belongs and where they would, of course, willingly pay their full share. Richters shook his head in disappointment when the discussion came around to alternate tax sources ever drawing favor in the Unicameral, in large part because his own senator, Mark Kolterman of Seward, has bluntly waved off sales tax, dismissing it out of hand by calling it a non-starter. K-12 education (as per the constitution) is to be provided by the state and were not getting it, Scamehorn added. What hes seen and heard over and over again from the governor and the legislative body has left Richters sadly certain that neither branch possesses either the understanding of the issue or the political gumption and courage to do anything now or in the future. I dont think we will get change out of the legislature, he said. What Richters sees in his crystal ball is a future inevitably filled for years and years with courtrooms and lawsuits. Theyre doing irreparable damage to the (ag) industry and theyre (farmers and ranchers) never going to get over it, Richters said. They (the state) are stealing from (agricultures) past and future incomes. By way of illustration, York farmer Stahr said he has experienced a 263 percent increase in the (property tax) dollars we pay at his operation. What Nebraska has, all five agree, is an archaic system of funding thats squeezing the life out of farmers who account for 3 percent or less of Nebraskas total population while at the same time theyre expected to hold up enormous weight in a rural states overall economy. Inexplicable disconnects are legion within current realities of the agriculture industry statewide. Evidence is found in the fact levies bounce around from .32 cents to $1.15 across Nebraska. A vivid example is illustrated by Nienhueser whose levy is $1.06 per 100 of valuation for his land in Yorks district, but just over half that at .55 for his ground in the Cross County system. The same is true for Scamehorn, except his .55 levy is for land that lies in the Heartland district. His York County ground, of course, is dunned at $1.06 just like Nienhuesers. These people gotta realize, said Scamehorn, somebody needs to pay the bill. Somebody needs to educate these kids as mandated by the constitution. Spending by schools and counties is not our problem, repeated Richters, it is the funding mechanism itself. Farmers, said Nienhueser, are more than willing to pay their share of educations cost, What were looking for is a tax shift thats fair, he explained. We have faced blizzards, floods and commodity prices for years and survived it all, but I dont think we can survive this, Richters commented. The message the state government is sending, Richters said, could not be more clear. If you want to farm get the hell out of Nebraska. This case is also being investigated by Uttar Pradesh STF, Income Tax Department and the Serious Fraud Investigating Organisation and their investigations are yet to reach at a logical end. By Shivendra Srivastava: A case was registered against Anubhav Mittal, Director of Ablaze Info Solution Pvt. Ltd., Noida. As per investigation and findings of Directorate of Enforcement, Anubhav Mittal had collected several thousand crore of rupees from the customers of his company by false inducements and later siphoned off the same by means of generating false/bogus bills/invoices with the assistance of various persons who are under scrutiny. advertisement This case is also being investigated by Uttar Pradesh STF, Income Tax Department and the Serious Fraud Investigating Organisation and their investigations are yet to reach at a logical end. The STF and the Special Investigation Team constituted in this regard have not yet filed charge sheet /final reports in their investigation. However, the Enforcement Directorate has worked proactively and attached the Bank balances lying in various banks, funds available with payment gateway and immovable properties to the tune of Rs. 599, 28,15,577.00 held by Anubhav Mittal in the name of his company M/s Ablaze Info Solution Pvt. Ltd., Noida and other companies incorporated by him recently in 2017. The attached properties include balances in 14 bank accounts totaling Rs 543.81 crore, a Fixed deposit for Rs 52 crore (approx.) lying with a Hyderabad-based mobile Payment Gateway company named Paynear Solutions and a Villa in Jaypee Greens, Greater NOIDA worth Rs 3.6 crore. Further proceedings under PMLA are in process and more attachments shall follow very soon relating to the offence committed in violation of Sections 120 B/420/467/468/471 of the Indian Penal Code. The agency has identified various movable and immovable assets/properties to the tune of Rs 599, 28,15,577.00 and attached the same under Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Also read:Noida Ponzi scam: Scamster delayed legal front after astrologer's advice Enforcement Directorate registers case in Noida's Rs 3,700 crores 'like' scam --- ENDS --- Cotswold Wildlife Park is celebrating the arrival of the first-ever Crowned Sifaka to be born in Great Britain. The baby male, named Yousstwo, is the first baby for new parents Bafana and Tahina. Cotswold Wildlife Park is the only mainland zoological collection in Great Britain to keep this endangered Lemur species. Photo Credits: Cotswold Wildlife Park, Jackie Thomas (photos 1 & 5) Bafana arrived at the Park in 2009 from Besancon Zoo in France. Tahina joined him in 2013, from the same zoo, and the pair formed an instant bond. They are the only breeding pair in the country. Tahina is also the first hand-reared Sifaka in history to parent-rear her own offspring and is proving to be an exceptional mother. The birth was caught on a closed-circuit camera which had been installed so keepers could keep an eye on Tahina without disturbing her. Females are only sexually receptive for just one or two days a year, so the window of opportunity for males to father offspring is small. After a gestation period of approximately 165 days, females give birth to a baby completely covered in white fur and weighing less than four ounces. Infants are able to grip their mothers fur from birth and they cling onto her belly for the first few weeks of life. After eight weeks, they start to develop the distinctive darker markings the Crowned Sifaka is famous for. They become independent at around six months old. Gauteng: South Africa`s new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba Saturday pledged to implement the policies of the ruling ANC as the party remains deeply divided over the sudden firing of his predecessor. Gigaba on Thursday replaced Pravin Gordhan, ousted in a shock midnight cabinet reshuffle by President Jacob Zuma that has exposed the divisions within the African National Congress (ANC). "I will focus sharply on the task of implementing the policies of the African National Congress, to better the lives of the majority of South Africans," Gigaba told journalists in the capital Pretoria. In 2014, the ANC adopted "radical economic transformation" policies in a bid to accelerate the inclusion of the previously marginalised black majority into the mainstream economy. Gigaba said there was a growing consensus within the ruling party that "the pace and depth of transformation has been too slow and in many instances, superficial." The appointment of Gigaba, a former home affairs minster, however has raised concern among the opposition parties and economic observers as he does not have a finance background and is widely seen as a Zuma ally. Gigaba said he was fully aware of the current "highly politicised, polarised" environment in the country, vowing not to be "distracted by external issues". He acknowledged there was a "climate of sharp disagreement and mutual suspicion" following his appointment. The sacking of Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas has been described by critics as a move by Zuma to put a loyalist in charge of the treasury. Gordhan who had championed clean governance was respected internationally for his fiscal prudence and his firing prompted a deluge of calls by opposition parties and some ANC stalwarts for Zuma to resign. The reshuffle has been described as not being in the interest of the country and could hurt the ailing economy. In his maiden press conference, Gigaba spoke well of his predecessor Gordhan but pointed out the need to focus on maintaining South Africa`s investment grade by ratings agencies. South Africa was granted a reprieve at the end of last year when rating agencies did not drop it to the "junk" investment category following a series of downgrades, but they warned of the impact of poor growth and political instability. Guwahati: Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who arrived in Assam on Saturday, recalled his first arrival there way back in 1959 and expressed his emotional attachment with the state`s people and other parts of the region. The spiritual leader arrived in Assam on Saturday to deliver a lecture organised by a local media house, the Assam Tribune Group of newspapers. He is expected to take part in Namami Brahmaputra festival and deliver a speech at the Gauhati University on Sunday. The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit different places of Arunachal Pradesh from April 4 including Tawang, which China often claims as disputed territory. China has expressed its concern over Indian government`s move to allow Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh, saying it will impact bilateral relation between the two countries. "Whenever I come here I feel the emotional attachment with the people of Assam and northeast. I had to escape in 1959 due to Chinese Army`s increased activity in Tibet. When we send some of our men to Indian border, they readily agreed to allow us entry," he said while recalling his first arrival in Assam. Appreciating India`s secular identity, the spiritual leader said Indian secularism teaches everyone to respect for all religion and non-believers. "India also has the tradition of Ahimsa (non-violence). Ahimsa is based on compassion. We have to apply our intelligence to be compassionate. For a peaceful world we need a compassionate mind," he said. Saying that the last century (the 20th century) was one of century of violence where more than 200 million people were killed, the Dalai Lama said that 21st century is, however, giving a ray of hope as the youth are more compassionate. He also advocated for strong spirit of dialogue to resolve disagreements. Opposing the pattern to identify religion with terrorism, the Dalai Lama said that he feels very uncomfortable when terrorists are associated with particular religion. "Terrorists may belong to a particular religion, but that they do not represent the religion. I am very uncomfortable when someone says Muslim terrorists or Buddhist terrorists. A true Muslim never follow the path of violence. There may be mischievous persons among Buddhists, Muslim, Hindus, Christians or Jews. These mischievous persons cannot represent the community," he said. New Delhi: Welcome to our Live coverage of PV Sindhu's semi-final clash against Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea in the semi-final of women's singles competition in India Open Super Series. Third Game Home fans ecstatic as PV Sindhu marches her way into the final of the India Open Super Series where she will face Spain's Carolina Marin. Excellent play around the nets from Sindhu. Will no be serving for match point. 20-14 it is. 18-12 it is. Sung trying hard but PV is countering her very well. 17-11! Sindhu just needs 4 points to enter the finals and face Spain's Carolina Marin. A thrilling rally comes to end with Sindhu claiming another point. 15-11 it is now. The Indian shuttler is fired up but the South Korean seems to be dealing with calm. 14-11 as Sindhu leads by 3 points. Sindhu's lead has been cut short to just 3 points. 12-9 is the score. Two back-to-back points for Ji-Hyun. The score is now 11-6. The deciding game has reached mid-point and Sindhu has a huge 7-point lead. The scoreline reads 11-4. Terrific rally and Sindhu was helped by the net to claim a point. 7-2 she leads. Sindhu has taken a 4-1 lead in the final game. Great begining for the Indian but she needs to continue the same forward. Second Game The second game belongs to the South Korean Sung Ji-Hyun, who has won the game with a big 7-point margin. 21-14 the score ended. Sindhu trailing 13-20. The South Korean is just one point away from claiming this game. Sindhu and Ji Hyun, both have take 3 points from the last 6 serves. The score reads 15-10. Body-line smash from Ji-Hyun to take 12-7 lead over Sindhu. At break in 2nd game, the South Korean leads 11-6 over the Indian. Sindhu unable to hit her shots on target, trails 6-10 to Ji-Hyun. Sung Ji-hyun now leads 8-5. Terrific comeback from the South Korean. The Indian shuttler is made to do hard work by the South Korean, who has clinched a one point lead. 6-5 it is. Smart play from Sindhu to take 5-2 early lead in the second game. The South Korean looks short of ideas. 1-1 it is as the second game begins. First Game Sindhu serving for game point 20-18 it is! Sung Ji-hyun grabbed back-to-back points to cut short Sindhu's lead to just one point before the latter bounced back,. 18-16 it is with Sindhu in lead. Sindhu is stretching the lead further. 17-13 it is for the Indian. Can she continue this until the end of the first set? 13-11 is the score and Sindhu has maintained a 2-point lead. We have reached the mid-way mark in first set and Sindhu has a 2-point lead. Sung Ji-hyun, meanwhile had challenged the umpire's call but was astonishingly denied the challenge. Sindhu has claimed 6 of the last 7 points and is leading in the set for the first time. 9-7 it is to the Indian. Level it is. Sindhu has fought back hard. 7-7 it is! The Indian has fought back to to cut short the lead to just one point. 5-6 it is. The South Korean has comeback strong to take 5-3 lead. Early times in first set and Sindhu has a 2-1 lead. Yesterday, Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu defeated former champion and compatriot Saina Nehwal in straight games, 21-16, 22-20 47 minutes at the Siri Fort Sports Complex. With no other Indian left in the fray, the 21-year-old will need to keep her calm and play the best possible badminton against the second seeded Korean. Here's everything you need to know about the match: Head to head: 6-4 in favour of Sindhu. Last time they met, at Dubai World Superseries Finals, Sindhu lost in three games 15-21, 21-18, 15-21. Who is Sung Ji Hyun? The 25-year-old from Seoul is considered as one of the tenacious competitors and has seen steady performances in the last couple of months. She climbed to career high 2nd spot in BWF ranking earlier last month. She has one Super Series singles title. In her quarter-final, Sung Ji-hyun beat Thailand's Intanon Ratchanok in straight games, 21-16, 22-20 in 49 minutes. Sung Ji-hyun was one of the star attractions at Premier Badminton League 2017. She represented Mumbai Rockets. Date: April 1 (Saturday) Time: Coverage starts at 2 pm IST Place: Siri Fort Sports Complex, New Delhi TV Listing: Star Sports Network Online Listing: Hotstar Mumbai: Actress Aditi Rao Hydari has described the experience of working with Sanjay Dutt in "Bhoomi" as super amazing. "'Bhoomi' is going great. It has been very intense. It is a difficult film but at the same time it has been amazing. Working with Sanjay Dutt has been an amazing experience, I'd say super amazing experience," Aditi said here on the sidelines of an event. "The team I am working with is really great. The work we are doing is tough, yet amazing," she added of the Omung Kumar directorial. "Bhoomi" recently made headlines as Sanjay suffered an injury during the shooting of an action sequence. But he completed the shoot nevertheless. The actress said: "He was injured, but Sanjay is a real hero. When he got hurt, the next minute he was up and finishing the shoot. He was shooting an action scene. He is really amazing. He shot an entire action scene in just one take. "We have just finished one schedule and soon will start the rest of it." The film is slated to release on August 4. It is a revenge drama that revolves around a father-daughter relationship. Raipur: Amid a growing chorus for stringent cow protection laws, Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday towed a similar line and said that those who kill cows will be hanged. Singh, however, said there was no incident of cow slaughter in the past 15 years of BJP rule in the state. Have you heard of cow slaughter here in the last 15 years, he asked, quickly adding "If someone does that (kills cow), will hang him". On Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Gujarat enacted a harsher law providing for life-term for those found involved in cow-slaughtering. The state Assembly passed the amendment to the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act of 1954 providing for maximum punishment of up to life imprisonments and a fine of up to Rs five lakh. According to new law, anybody found in possession of beef could face a jail term ranging from seven to 10 years. With the passing of the amendment, cow slaughter has now become a non-bailable offence in the state. Gujarat had imposed a complete ban on cow-slaughter, transportation and selling of cow-beef in 2011. Taking a dig at BJP on the issue, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said cow is 'mummy' in Uttar Pradesh, but 'yummy' in northeast. BJP's hypocrisy is that in Uttar Pradesh it considers cow as 'mummy', but in Northeast it's yummy, ANI quoted Owaisi as saying. Owaisi's comments came in the backdrop of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launching a crackdown on illegal slaughter houses in the state. He had earlier said the Uttar Pradesh government should give time to illegal abattoirs for regularisation instead of just recklessly sealing them. Cow slaughter is not banned in northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. New Delhi: Union minister Smriti Irani lodged a police complaint after she had been allegedly chased by four drunk youths in Delhi on Saturday. Following this, Delhi police have detained four men in connection to the case for interrogation. The complaint was lodged in Chanakyapuri police station and all four of them were identified as college goers. The incident took place when Irani was travelling in her car and four youths reportedly tried to overtake her. "About 5 PM today, four persons in car tried to cross vehicle of Smriti Irani when she was crossing Moti Bagh flyover," Delhi Police told ANI. By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) Social media today went agog over smartphone maker Xiaomis plans to launch a smart motorcycle and cab aggregator Olas robotic Wheels for rides within offices -- only if they were not the All Fools Day pranks! Technology giant Google, which has pranked consumers for years with some quirky product teasers ahead of April 1, this time showcased Google Gnome -- a smart speaker for outdoors. advertisement Similar to Google Home, Googles smart speaker for indoors, Gnome was also to tell the wind speed and also take control of yard tools like tiller and water hose. It was only at the end of Google Gnomes page that the company said, "Google Gnomes are real, but only in our hearts ?- for now. Happy April Fools!" Google was quicker to tell the unsuspecting consumers about the prank, while Ola and Xiaomi decided to play it along a little more by deciding to reveal later about the teasers of their so-called new products being just pranks. Ola released a video interview of its co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal to announce that it was launching Ola Wheels -- designed for ultra-short commute inside corporate parks and equipped with voice-based artificial intelligence. The cab aggregator went on to announce that it it was hiring voice artists for the product and was looking for people with "soulful voice". Xiaomi also roped in its CEO Lei Jun for a video teaser for its new smart motorcycle. The video showed Jun addressing Mi fans in India, where in he said, "We have created a very special product for our Indian Mi fans, the Mi Smart Motorcycle. "Like our devices, it is of very high quality and at a great price. It is launching very soon." The video was shared multiple times from the account of Xiaomi India Head Manu Jains Facebook account. On Xiaomi Indias official Twitter account, the video got several likes and retweets. The campaigns by Ola and Xiaomi drew varied reactions from netizens across the country. While many were quick to call them probable April Fools Day pranks, there were others who wanted to know the launch dates and other details of the promised products. The Gnome advertisement on Googles official Twitter account also saw several likes and retweets. Audio company Master & Dynamic also announced a new edition of its signature over-ear headphones that it said were made of solid concrete. advertisement Weighing at about five kgs, the headphones are supposed to produce the "same high-end sound quality as its metal and leather counterpart", the company said in a blog post. While the company listed the price as USD 399, it ended the post saying "... April Fools!". PTI SR BJ --- ENDS --- New Delhi: Following Supreme Court order around 50 pubs, restaurants and hotels, located within 500 metres of highways in Delhi will go dry. The outlets won't be able to serve liquor today onwards. Also, 65 vends will be sealed following the Supreme Court order that no liquor shops, pubs, hotels and bars serving alcohol will be permitted within 500 metres of highways in the country from April 1, government sources said. A senior excise department official said several teams have been formed to ensure that outlets - pubs, restaurants and hotels - most of them on NH-8, stop serving liquor. Some of the major restaurants and hotels located in Aerocity near the IGI Airport will be affected by the ruling. Officials said strict action will be taken against violators. The Supreme Court has directed that no liquor shop shall be visible and directly accessible from the highways nor it should be situated within 500 metres of the outer edge of the national or state highway or of the service lane. As per the top court's order, licences of existing liquor shops on national and state highways will not be renewed after March 31. The Supreme Court bench had expressed displeasure over the alleged inaction by various states in removing liquor shops along the roads which give rise to drunken driving and consequential fatalities. In its order on December 15 last year, the Supreme Court had noted, "The expressways witnessed 4,208 accident cases, 4,229 injured and 1,802 deaths. Figures are also available of the distribution of road accidents by causes during 2014. 1.38 lakh persons were injured in road accidents involving dangerous or careless driving and 42,127 deaths occurred." "Injuries caused in accidents due to over-speeding stood at 1.81 lakh while there were 48,654 deaths. 7,307 accident cases involving driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol were registered resulting in 7,398 injuries and 2,591 deaths," it had noted. With PTI Inputs New Delhi: The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) on Saturday released the results for the main exam for CWE Clerk VI which took place in January 2017. The examination was held for the provisional allotment of recruitment for the clerical cadre in public sector banks in different states and union territories. Candidates can download the results from the official website of the IBPS by June 30, 2017. To appear in the main exam, the candidates had to first clear the preliminary round the results for which were declared in December 2016. Those who clear this main round can appear for the interview and personality test. Following are the easy steps to check the results : -Log on to the official website of the IBPS, the link for which is, www.ibps.in -On the homepage, click on the check IBPS CWE Clerk V results link flashing across the screen on top of the main page. -You will be directed to a new page. -Enter your registration number, password, and a captcha code as shown in the image. -Your results will be available when you click on "Login". The main examination for clerks was held on December 31, 2016 and on January 1, 2017. Earlier, IBPS had issued the notification to fill up 19,243 clerical posts in participating on August 12, 2016. Panaji: Even as Goa`s Excise Department on Saturday did not renew the licences of over 3,000 liquor vends dotting the national highways, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar assured that efforts would be made to ensure that the livelihood of affected traders is not compromised. At a meeting chaired by Parrikar and attended by Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma and top excise and finance department officials, a possibility of relocating liquor businesses from the close proximity of national highways to the interior areas was also discussed. "It is one of the alternatives. After discussions, a proper policy will be worked out for relocating affected businesses," sources said, adding that for now existing excise laws allow bar and liquor store owners to shift their unsold stock to new premises. The state government is also considering the legal option of filing a revision petition in regard to the Supreme Court`s Friday order, which banned bars from close proximity of highways. "The option is always available. We will exercise it if necessary," sources said. Meanwhile, the state Excise Department on Saturday did not renew over 3,000 licences, which cover bars, liquor retailers and wholesalers, which fall within 500 metres of the National Highways, as per Friday`s Supreme Court order. According to Excise Commissioner Menino D`Souza, the department`s teams were implementing the order by visiting bars and liquor outlets which have been slotted for closure. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Parrikar, lawyer for the Goa Liquor Traders Association Amit Palyekar said that an assurance has been given by the Chief Minister to resolve the issue with the least possible damage to the affected liquor traders. "Filing a revision petition is also an option before us, but we will do it in consultation with the state government," Palyekar said. The apex court, by its December 15, 2016 order, had banned the sale of liquor within 500 metres on either side of the national and state highways. A bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice L. Nageswara Rao, however, relaxed the ban by reducing it to 220 metres in respect of municipal/local bodies with a population of 20,000 or less along the highways, while also exempting Sikkim and Meghalaya from the above restrictions. One of the most popular tourism destinations in the country, Goa is well known for its liberal liquor regime, where alcohol is taxed less as compared to other states. There are over 11,000 licensed liquor vendors in the state, including bar and restaurant licence holders and more than 3,000 such outlets are facing the axe following the apex court order. New Delhi: Liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways will shut down from Saturday. The Supreme Court on Friday said hotels and restaurants falling within 500 metres on either side of the national and state highways cannot serve liquor. While modifying its earlier order, the SC bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice L Nageswara Rao made it clear that the judgement banning liquor vends along highways would also be applicable to bars, pubs and restaurants as drunken driving leads to fatal road accidents. On the issue of non-extension of liquor vends' licences beyond March 31, the apex court said the licences, which were given before December 15, 2016, will be valid till September 30 in case of Telangana and the same would be operational till June 30 in Andhra Pradesh. Noting the 82 per cent forest cover in Sikkim and the peculiar hilly terrain in Meghalaya, the court said, "We are of the view that insofar as the states of Meghalaya and Sikkim are concerned, it would suffice if the two states are exempted only from the application of the 500 metre distance..." However, the apex court did not give relief to Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh. Both the states have been brought in the ban limit of 220 metres as applicable to local bodies adjoining the highways with 20,000 or less population. The court had ordered a ban on all liquor shops along the national as well as the state highways and had made it clear that licences of existing shops will not be renewed after March 31. The verdict had come on a PIL alleging that nearly 1.42 lakh people died per year in road mishaps and that the drunken driving is a major contributor. New Delhi: The Press Association, an organisation working for the welfare of journalists, on Friday demanded from the Centre a suitable pension scheme for working scribes who are accredited by the Press Information Bureau. The newly-elected executive body of the Press Association, in its first meeting, unanimously passed a resolution, seeking pension for the working journalists who are accredited by the PIB, the media wing of the government of India. In a statement, the Press Association said many state governments have pension schemes for the working journalists while many others, who had no such schemes, have now started this welfare proposal for the journalists. It is high time that the government of India introduced a suitable pension scheme for the working journalists accredited by it, the resolution said. The demand is genuine and would provide some social security to a large number of accredited journalists who do not come under any such scheme, it said. The Press Association also demanded that the existing Central Government Health Scheme for the accredited journalists be made applicable in all government and private hospitals as done in case of the employees and pensioners of the government of India. New Delhi: A day after Asaduddin Owaisi accused the BJP of hypocrisy over the beef ban, BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy took on the AIMIM leader and stated that latter does not hold faith in the Indian Constitution. "What's this mummy, yummy thing. Owaisi says he has faith in the Indian Constitution. Article 48 of the Constitution says cow slaughter will be prohibited. Let him say he has no faith in some articles of the Constitution, then we will see," Swamy said. Article 48 of the Constitution says, "The State shall endeavor to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle." Earlier today, Owaisi mocked the BJP for its apparently contradictory stance on cow slaughter in the Northeast. "In UP, a cow is a mummy, and in the northeastern states, it's yummy. This shows BJP's hypocrisy. While they are talking about the beef ban in UP, they have said there would be no such thing in the northeast. Assembly elections are going to be held in three states in the northeast. Beef is easily available in (BJP-ruled) Goa. You tell me what is this," Owaisi told a TV news channel. Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh too slammed Owaisi for his comments on the saffron party. "Such wild allegations should not be made. We worship cows, we preserve them. He (Owaisi) cannot make such observations about the entire northeast," he said in Manipur capital Imphal. In Manipur, the erstwhile Maharaja had in 1939 decreed prosecution for cow slaughter, but buffalo meat is consumed widely. Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi supported Owaisi's hypocrisy remark against BJP, saying it has been used by the saffron party as a "tool to further its politics". "We have heard what Raman Singh has said....What's happening in UP. The hypocrisy behind cow protection is obvious. Saying that there will be no beef ban in northeastern states is political opportunism," she said. Soon after assuming office, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered strict enforcement of the ban on cow slaughter and smuggling. Slaughter of buffaloes for meat is, however, allowed in the state. Buffalo meat trade in the state has been badly hit by the clampdown on illegal abattoirs. Srinagar: At least three jawans suffered injuries after militants opened fire on an army convoy near a hospital on Parimpora-Panthachowk bypass road in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. However, no casualties have been reported on either side, a police official told reporters. The militants opened fire on the convoy near SKIMS Hospital Bemina at around 1.15 pm today, the official said. He said the last vehicle of the convoy was hit by the bullets and the troops retaliated. All the three Army personnel have been rushed to a nearby government hospital for medical treatment. The area has been cordoned off and combing operations started to track down the militants, the official said. Mangaluru: A government official in charge of welfare of the Backward Classes has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl at the BC hostel here. Police said Dakshina Kannada district Backward Classes Welfare Officer Nagarajappa (49) was arrested yesterday on a complaint from hostel inmates and getting a statement from the girl. The officer, who frequented the hostel for 'inspection,' allegedly used to summon the girl to his office and sexually assault her. The girl revealed this when other inmates grew suspicious and enquired about the matter. The medical examination of the girl proved that she has been raped, the police said. Nagarajappa has been booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and remanded to judicial custody. Bhopal: After Uttar Pradesh, it is now the turn of the Madhya Pradesh government to crackdown on Romeos with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan promising to reform "majnus" and bring about a legislation to hang those raping minors. "We will reform 'majnu-type' of persons. They don't know how to respect... They are not good for the civilised society... A campaign will be launched against majnus," he had said yesterday while addressing the 89th Passing Out Parade at MP Police Academy here. He also said that an amendment to the criminal law providing death penalty for raping a minor would be introduced in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly soon. "A bill providing death sentence for rape of minors would be presented in the coming monsoon session (of Assembly). Once it is passed it would be forwarded to the President for assent," the chief minister said. He also said that police should keep a vigil near places like girls hostel to ensure that women don't face any difficulty. "Police should create such an atmosphere so that women are able to move around independently without any fear. It should take stern measures against criminal elements," he added. Mumbai: Maharashtra Assembly on Saturday revoked suspension of nine of the 19 Opposition members who were barred from attending the proceedings of the House for the rest of the year for creating ruckus during the budget presentation last month. The BJP-led government is expected to take a decision on revocation of suspension of the remaining 10 legislators soon, according to ruling party sources. While 10 of the suspended MLAs were from the NCP, the rest belonged to the Congress. The House adopted the motion for revocation of the suspension of the nine members, brought by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Girish Bapat, by voice vote. "Due to the suspension they (the MLAs) would not be able to attend the rest of the budget session as well as the coming monsoon and the winter sessions. The government is of the view that it is not right to keep away the members from attending the proceedings of the House," Bapat said. The nine MLAs who will be able to return to the House are Sangram Topte, Abdul Sattar, Amit Zanak, DP Sawant (Congress) and Nahari Jirwal, Deepak Chavan, Dattatrey Bharne, Avdhut Tatkare, Vaibhav Pichad (NCP). Ever since the budget session began last month, the Opposition were on protest mode demanding that the government immediately declare a loan waiver for the distressed farmers in the state. The Opposition disrupted the proceedings in the House during the budget presentation on March 18, by displaying banners before Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar while he was reading out the budget speech. They also sang bhajans, played cymbals, raised slogans and later burnt copies of the budget outside the House. Many of the Opposition MLAs and leaders are now on a 'Sangharsh Yatra' around the state against the government's 'apathy' towards the plight of the farmers, hit by drought and falling prices of their produce. Firefighters managed to control the flames after protesters left the Congress building late on Friday night. But protests and riots continued in other parts of Asuncion. By Reuters: Protesters stormed and set fire to Paraguay's Congress on Friday after the Senate secretly voted for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. The country's constitution has prohibited re-election since it was passed in 1992 after a brutal dictatorship fell in 1989. "A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us," said Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party. advertisement Firefighters managed to control the flames after protesters left the Congress building late on Friday night. But protests and riots continued in other parts of Asuncion and elsewhere in the country well into the night, media reported. Earlier, television images showed protesters breaking windows of the Congress and clashing with police, burning tires and removing parts of fences around the building. Police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Several politicians and journalists were injured, media reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said several police were hurt. One member of the lower house of Congress, who had been participating in protests that afternoon, underwent surgery after being hit by rubber bullets. The number of casualties was unknown. Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter. "Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic," he said. "We must not allow a few barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and general wellbeing of the Paraguayan people." The unrest coincides with a rare high-level international event in the landlocked South American country. Thousands of businessmen and government officials descended on Asuncion this week for the Inter-American Development Bank's annual board of governors meeting. While Paraguay long suffered from political uncertainty, the soy and beef-exporting nation has been attracting investment in agriculture and manufacturing sectors in recent years as Cartes offered tax breaks to foreign investors. Instability in the country of 6.8 million is a concern for its much larger neighbors Brazil and Argentina. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was monitoring the events. "I call on political leaders to avoid inciting violence and seek dialogue," the commission's regional representative for South America, Amerigo Incalcaterra, said in a statement. SECRET SESSION The Senate voted earlier on Friday during a special session in a closed office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber. advertisement Opponents of the measure, who claim it would weaken Paraguay's democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal. The proposal will also require approval by the House, where it appeared to have strong support. A vote which had been expected early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down, said the chamber's president, Hugo Velazquez. Several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Peru and Chile, prevent presidents from running for consecutive terms in a region where memories of dictatorships remain ripe. Others, including Colombia and Venezuela, have changed their constitutions to give sitting presidents a chance at re-election. Paraguay's measure would apply to future presidents and Cartes, a soft-drink and tobacco mogul elected to a five-year term in 2013. His strongest backers want him to be allowed to run for another term, but critics have said a constitutional change aimed at benefiting a sitting president would be unfair. The change would also apply to former President Fernando Lugo, whose supporters want to be allowed to run for another term. Congress ousted Lugo in 2012, saying he had failed in his duty to maintain social order following a bloody land eviction. The rapid impeachment drew strong criticism in Latin America, especially from fellow leftist governments. advertisement A similar re-election proposal had been rejected in August and Congress this week voted to change the rules that required lawmakers to wait a year before voting again. "Everything was done legally," said Senator Carlos Filizzola of the leftist Guasu Front coalition, which supports the constitutional amendment as a way of allowing Lugo to return as Paraguay's leader. --- ENDS --- Mumbai: Police on Saturday detained four persons who tried to attack the accused of Kopardi gang-rape and murder case outside the sessions court at Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. The assailants allegedly belonged to `Shivba Sanghatna, police said. The incident took place at about 1.10 pm when the accused of Kopardi case were being taken to police van after a court hearing. Four persons tried to attack them with sickles, but the police intervened quickly and took them in custody. Those detained were identified as Amol Khune Patil (25), Baburao Walekar (30), Ganesh Khune Patil (27) and Rajendra Patil. A case of attempt to murder and assault would be registered against them, the police added. A 15-year-old girl, belonging to the Maratha community, was allegedly gang-raped and murdered by three men at Kopardi village in the Ahmednagar district in July 2016. The brutal crime had sparked off huge demonstrations of Maratha community all over Maharashtra. New Delhi: One of the familiar faces in Hindi movies, Jeetu Verma, best known for his role in 'Soldier' starring Bobby Deol, recently met with an untoward incident. According to BollywoodLife.com, Jeetu, who was travelling from Jaipur to Mount Abu by road was attacked by some locals reportedly. BollywoodLife.com originally attributes the report to Mumbai Mirror. The report mentions that Jeetu was headed to Jaipur for a function and en route was attacked by some people who pelted stones at his car due to which his suffered a grave eye injury. The actor has been admitted to a hospital in Wadala, Mumbai at present. The report quotes Jeetu' elder brother Manohar as telling Mumbai Mirror, There is a 40-km patch of forest area near Chittorgarh, which is en route. It was broad daylight and Jeetu was sitting next to the driver in the front seat. Suddenly, some locals started pelting their car. The driver picked up speed but the stones kept coming. One hit the windshield and it cracked. Jeetus eye was hit and bleeding profusely even as the driver raced away. He said, the police assessed the vehicle and also recovered the stones that had cracked the glass and fallen into the car. But there needs to be more security. When such occurrences are happening in the region on a daily basis, it is important that stringent measures be taken immediately. Jeetus wife, Kusum told Mumbai Mirror, Sunielji (Suniel Shetty) arranged for Jeetu to be transported and admitted to this hospital the moment he landed in Mumbai. Now, we hope that he recovers soon and other travellers dont suffer such horrors in the future. The report quotes the doctor operating Jeetu in Mumbai as saying that the actor has fractured his eyebrow and lost retinal function. The injury is grave and the doctors are doubtful whether his right eye will regain sight or not. Here's wishing Jeetu a speedy and healthy recovery. New Delhi: On April 1, 2016, when people was busy fooling friends and family, there came a shocking news which created a huge void, never to b filled again. Indian television's favourite Anandi from 'Balika Vadhu', Pratyusha Banerjee was found dead in her Goregaon apartment, Mumbai. As soon as the news broke, it was first taken as an April Fool's Day's bad joke. But eventually, it turned out to be the dark truth. The entire television and film fraternity was utterly shocked at this untimely death of an artiste, who had a great future and potential in the showbiz world. She even featured in reality show 'Bigg Boss 7' in 2013 and her strong friendship with Kamya Punjabi was loved by the fans. Who thought she would end life one fine day? What drew an even traumatic sketch of her suicide was the fact that Pratyushas body was found hanging from her Goregaon residence in Mumbai. An actress par excellence and a bundle of talent lay dead in her flatall at the tender age of 24. How was it possible or why did she end her life? These questions and several others were boggling every sane person's mind (well, they still haunt many). With her death, a man, who will always be better known as Pratyusha's boyfriendRahul Raj Singh - came into the picture. He first seemed like a guy who had lost the love of his life and was in acute stress and depression like statecut to the allegations levelled by Pratyusha's friends and family that Rahul was behind the actress' death. The case no longer remained what it looked like on the surface. Each and every layer of the revelation led to an even murkier detail making people wonder what really was going on between Rahul and Pratyusha. Rahul was accused of allegedly abetting Pratyusha's suicide. He was arrested on the basis of a FIR filed by the late TV actress' mother Shoma Banerjee. She even said that he used to 'assault' her daughter. Soon after he was taken into custody, a dramatic event took place where the lawyer following his case called it quits. Neeraj Gupta, who was Rahul's lawyer, reportedly claimed that his client concealed several crucial details, prompting him to listen to his conscience and leave the case. Rahul got anticipatory bail from the Bombay High Court where Justice Mridula Bhatkar heard a three-and-half minute audio clip of the last telephonic conversation between Rahul and Pratyusha, an hour before she hanged herself at her suburban home on April 1. After which it was observed that there was no prima facie evidence to show that the accused "instigated or intended" the suicide, reports suggest. The actress' boyfriend again got a reprieve from Supreme Court after it rejected the plea to cancel his bail. Pratyusha's parents, on the other hand, refuse to let go of their spirit in fighting for justice. They have sought re-investigation of their daughter's alleged suicide. From her last WhatsApp status to several phone call transcriptseach detail hints at a possible hidden jigsaw puzzle which awaits to be unfolded. During the investigation, Pratyusha's personal life was in full public glare, getting judged every hour. What's ironic is the fact that just a few months prior to her untimely demise, she was seen sharing the screenspace with her boyfriend Rahul on a celebrity reality show 'Power Couple'. None could possibly fathom that one fine morning, this young 24-year-old Balika Vadhu would not wake up to greet life. Several details from her personal life including the one where 'another woman' angle had been speculated a lot in the reports. Rahul's past had come calling and that too not in a pleasant way. Her parents are still fighting for justice demanding CBI investigation in the case, and have even written an application to the sessions court for the same. The curious case of Pratyusha's death continues to haunt us as the jigsaw puzzle leading to the culprit remains unsolved. Today, after one year, we still feel Pratyusha remained one of the shining stars, who went away too soon and the void your absence has created will never be filled! New Delhi: Several important rules and regulations will change or take effect from Saturday, as April 1 marks the start of the financial year 2017-18. The rules range from regulations on personal income tax to sale and registration of non-BS IV vehicles. Here we are listing some of the key changes in rules that will be effective from the new financial year 2017-18. Income Tax rules Personal income tax: Personal income tax for people with income in the slab of 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh to be reduced to 5 percent instead of 10 percent. This will reduce their tax liability to half while all other tax payers above this slab will also be benefited in terms of lesser tax of Rs 12,500 per individual. Surcharge of 10 percent to be levied on individuals with income between Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 1 crore. Retail investors: The Finance Minister has proposed to phase out tax benefits under Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS), which was introduced with much fanfare by the previous UPA regime. Under the scheme, deduction for three consecutive assessment years is allowed up to Rs 25,000 to a resident individual for investment made in listed equity shares or listed units of an equity oriented fund subject to fulfillment of certain conditions. Affordable housing: Holding period to be reduced for computation of long term capital gain from three years to two years Cash transaction limit: Cash transaction of above Rs 2 lakh not to be permitted. ITR filing: The government has notified a simpler, one-page form for filing income tax returns while making it mandatory to quote Aadhaar number and disclose bank deposits of more than Rs 2 lakh post demonetisation. The Income Tax Return Form-1 (Sahaj) will replace the 7-page form, removing a plethora of columns on deductions from income claimed. Railway Vikalp scheme From April 1, waitlisted passengers can avail the opportunity of travelling in premier trains like Rajdhani or Shatabdi even if they have booked tickets in other mail or express trains for the same destination. As per the scheme, passengers opting for 'Vikalp' scheme while booking tickets will get SMS alert on his/her mobile phone about confirmed accommodation in the next train running on the route. Charges for non maintenance of minimum balance in savings bank account SBI has decided to levy penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance, which the bank plans to hike manifold from April 1. However, the government has asked SBI to reconsider its decision to levy penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance. The country's largest lender has announced imposing penalty ranging from Rs 20-100 on non-maintenance of Minimum Average Balance (MAB) in savings bank accounts. The penalty is as high as Rs 500 in case of current accounts. The penalty for breach of MAB is being reintroduced after a gap of five years. SBI has also imposed restrictions on withdrawals of cash from its branches as well as ATMs. These will attract charges after certain specified limits. Some private banks, like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, have started charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month. Ban on sale and registration of non-BS IV vehicles The automobile industry is fully geared up to commence production of vehicles compliant with BS-IV emission norms from April 1 across the country. Implementation of BS-IV norms pan-India had been delayed due to non-availability of BS-IV fuel across the country, forcing some categories of four-wheeled vehicles to remain at the BS-III stage till April 1 2017. The Indian auto industry will also be the first in the world to leapfrog from BS-IV to BS-VI emission norms by 2020. Car, motorcycle and health insurance to cost more Car, motorcycle and health insurance will cost more from April 1 with regulator Irdai giving go-ahead to insurers for revision in commission for agents. The change in premium after modification will be limited to +/- 5 percent of the existing rates. No stamping, tagging of hand baggage at 7 major airports Stamping and tagging of the hand baggage of fliers at seven major airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, will be done away with from April 1. The other airports which will see the new system of baggage security coming in include the ones in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Cochin and Ahmedabad. However, this would not be applicable to the passengers flying out of the country. Delhi Metro smart cards to be non-refundable The Delhi Metro's smart cards will be non-refundable from April 1. The smart cards sold after April 1 and the cards already in circulation will become non-refundable. The DMRC added that Delhi Metro commuters will get back only the security deposit, after relevant deductions, if they return the smart cards after April 1. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today directed the officials to ensure that people with criminal background are not given any government works or contracts. "The funds allocated in different government schemes must be utlised to ensure welfare of the public. Efforts should be made to ensure that the criminal and corrupt elements are kept out. The government's funds are of the public. Development certainly does not mean irrelevant expenditure," he told the officials during a meeting. On the water crisis in Bundelkhand region, The Chief Minister asked the officials to ensure there is no shortage of drinking water there, otherwise stringent action would be taken against the official concerned. "No reports of shortage of water should come from Bundelkhand, else stringent action would be initiated against the officer concerned," the UP Chief Minister said. Lucknow: The war within the Yadav clan is far from over. Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has again pulled up his son Akhilesh Yadav while addressing party supporters in Mainpuri. While coming down heavily on Akhilesh, the SP founder said, one who can ditch his father, can never be loyal to anyone. Mulayam slammed his son saying, I made Akhilesh the chief minister. Never had a living father stepped aside to nominate his son for the top post, but I did. But what did Akhilesh gave me in return, I was never insulted in this manner, the SP patriarch rued. Mulayam's brother Shivpal Yadav was seen standing by his side while the SP founder ridiculed his son. Mulayam hit out at Akhilesh for sacking his uncle Shivpal from the Cabinet post. Akhilesh was wrong in sacking his uncle, Mulayam asserted. Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will roll back lakhs of ration cards having Akhilesh Yadav's photo which were not been distributed, a media report said on Saturday. The then SP government had printed 60 lakh ration cards just ahead of the UP assembly elections but they could not be distributed. Now, the Adityanath government wants to roll back those ration cards, India Today reported. They could not be distributed as the Model Code of Conduct came into force before the government could give away to the beneficiaries. Beside Akhilesh's photograph, the ration cards also have the red and green colours of Samajwadi Party's flag, according to the report. The Adityanath government has also decided to cancel some 3.4 crore ration cards that were distributed before the Election Commission announced poll dates, it said. The new Aadhaar-linked ration cards will also have silicon chips and barcodes. It will also have details of the beneficiary, the report said. Till the new cards are made and distributed, the beneficiaries will be given paper-slips for the purpose of ration. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday ordered a probe into the work done under the Gomti Riverfront project. During a review meeting of the project, the Chief Minister also directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a committee for the probe. The committee will be headed by a retired judge and a report would be submitted within 45 days. He also directed Urban Development Minister Suresh Khanna and Irrigation Minister Dharmpal Singh to monitor the work on the riverfront project on a regular basis. During the meeting, the Chief Minister was apprised that of the Rs 1,513 crore earmarked for the project, almost 95 per cent -- Rs 1,435 crore -- had been spent but the work completed was only 60 per cent. Expressing his dissatisfaction at this, Yogi said the probe would also cover the delay in the completion of the project and where the money was spent. Officials presented a revised estimate of Rs 2,448 crore to the Chief Minister, after which he directed them to rethink on various works under the project, remove the unnecessary ones and complete the project at the earliest. He also observed that the pollution level was very high in the Gomti river and that if this aspect was attended to first, it would have been better. Yogi also asked the officials to set up a sewage treatment plant (STP) and directed for adequate disposal of waste and byproducts coming from various mills into the Gomti river in Pilibhit and Lakhimpur Kheri districts. The decision does not augur well for the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government, as this project was one of the most hyped dream projects of then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. A probe, insiders say, could nail many of his associates, close officials and some party leaders. Sources say the government is in the know of large-scale irregularities in the multi-crore project and wants to establish wrong-doing through a probe committee before initiating action against the corrupt. In this way, it will not just fulfil its promise to act against graft but also weaken its political opponents, they feel. Naypyidaw: Aung San Suu Kyi`s government will face its first test at the ballot box on Saturday in by-elections around Myanmar seen as a barometer for growing disillusionment with her party a year after it took office. The euphoria that surrounded the democracy icon`s landslide electoral win in 2015 has ebbed as her party struggles to push through promised reforms. Discontent is particularly acute in ethnic minority areas where many see Suu Kyi as working too closely with the military that ran the country for 50 years and still controls key levers of government. With only 19 seats up for election, the poll is unlikely to alter the balance of power in a government firmly dominated by Suu Kyi`s National League for Democracy. But the voting may offer a glimpse into the public`s view on the party`s first year in power. Hundreds of voters lined up outside polling stations on the outskirts of Myanmar`s commercial capital Yangon early Saturday, though the scene lacked the fanfare and enthusiasm that marked the historic 2015 polls. Chit Min, a resident in Dagon Seikkan suburb, told AFP many of his friends decided not to vote this time around. "But I am sure the NLD will win again," he added. The party will face its toughest challenge to the north in Shan State, where tens of thousands have been displaced by a surge in fighting between the army and ethnic insurgents. "There are many victims of war here and other ethnic areas now," Sai One Leng Kham, an upper house MP from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, told AFP. The NLD "needs to understand the real situation. Sometimes they are working without any understanding of what`s going on on the ground," he added. In strife-torn Rakhine State on Myanmar`s western coastline, the party will face a strong challenge not only from the local ethnic minority Arakan National Party but also the military-backed USDP. The USDP led the transitional government that took over from the junta in 2011, but was trounced in elections four years later that swept the NLD to power. To the south in Mon, the NLD is facing a backlash over the naming of a new bridge after Suu Kyi`s father that many see as a symbol of the party`s disregard for minorities. Myanmar`s economic and political elite, including the NLD, have long been dominated by the majority Bamar ethnicity. "Now more people think MPs from ethnic parties should be in parliament," said local Nyan Soe, who was among tens of thousands who protested over the bridge. "The NLD has not been good for ethnic people since it took power. They don`t care much about how ethnic people feel." Saw Tun, an NLD MP from Mon state, said he is nonetheless confident of victory after receiving strong support on the campaign trail. The helpline launched by the state government has been flooded with such tip-offs which the Special Task Force is investigating. By Anand Patel: If data available with Punjab Police is to be believed, then from police stations, sarpanchs, medical stores and quacks are into drugs trade. The helpline launched by the state government has been flooded with such tip-offs which the Special Task Force is investigating. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in an exclusive interview with India Today said that his government is going all out against the menace. advertisement The truth is finally out. The drugs nexus is deep rooted in Punjab. Take a look at this list; these are tip-offs from informers who have shared details about those involved in drugs trade. The shame list includes police stations, cops, sarpanchs, medical stores and even quacks. The helpline 118, launched a couple of days ago, is flooded with such info. Within 48 hours of its launch, STF got tip-offs about 250 people associated with drugs network. Capt Amarinder Singh said, "Our helpline is getting huge response. In two days, we got 240 tip-offs, maximum from Amritsar and Tarn Taran. No young users will be caught, I want to catch big sharks, those who bring drugs in Punjab and supply it," he added. Capt Amarinder Singh had issued directions to crackdown on drug dealers to root out the menace. The campaign, which began soon after the new government took over on 16th March, has met with initial success. Facts at a glance FIRs under NDPS Act: 449 Persons arrested: 497 Huge quantities of drugs like heroin, opium, addictive capsules and injections seized On being asked about Aam Admi Party's vow to put Badal relative & former minister in Akali govt Bikram Majithia behind bars if voted to power, Capt Amarinder Singh said that he will not act out of vendetta, but added that his govt will not shy away from action against those who got away in previous regime through fabricated evidence. Congress had promised to wipe off drugs network from the state within one month of taking over. While there can be doubts about this, but the intent is indeed very clear in the actions taken so far. Captain Amarinder rejected the claim by previous Akali-BJP govt that drugs pushed from Pakistan into Punjab was the root cause of the menace in Punjab. He said that the problem has three facets. "Drugs from across the border is just one aspect of it, synthetic drugs made from chemicals are a huge concern and also opium coming from neighbouring states needs to be tackled. I had raised this issue during my previous tenure five times, there needs to be a national policy to deal with the drugs menace," he added. advertisement Also read: Punjab: Amarinder Singh government orders crackdown on drugs; 485 peddlers arrested in 10 days WATCH THE VIDEO: --- ENDS --- New Delhi: A Canadian national travelling to China was on Saturday held at the Delhi airport for allegedly carrying six live bullets in his hand baggage. Officials said the incident was reported late last night when a CISF official detected the bullets during x-ray scanning of the baggage. Six .32 calibre bullets were found from the hand baggage of the passenger, identified as MS Bassi, who was travelling to Shanghai, they said. "Bassi could not produce a valid license or required documents for carrying the ammunition and he was later handed over to police," a senior officer said. In a similar incident reported yesterday, a man was arrested for allegedly carrying a country-made pistol and ten live rounds when he entered the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) to travel to Sharjah. The man, identified as S Faisal, could not produce valid documents for possessing the arms and ammunition and hence was handed over by the CISF to the police which arrested him. Carrying of firearms and ammunition inside aircraft is a criminal offence under the law. London: China, on Friday banned burqas, veils and abnormal beards in a Muslim province claiming that it is a crackdown on religious extremism. As per the Independent, the measures also forced people to watch state television, follow decades of ethnic and religious discrimination against Xinjiang's 10 million-strong ethic Uyghur population. The new regulation, which will come to force from today, will dissuade women, who fully cover their faces and bodies, from entering the airports, railway stations and other public places and report about them to police. Apart from this, they also prohibit the abnormal growing of beards and it would be forbidden to reject or refuse radio, television and other public facilities and services. The regulation restrains marrying using religious not legal procedures and using the name of Halal to meddle in the secular life of others.The document also bans not allowing children to attend regular school, not abiding by family planning policies and deliberately damaging legal documents. Bogota: Mudslides have killed 92 people, injured 180 and left 200 missing after destroying homes in southern Colombia, the Red Cross and officials said Saturday. The surge swept away houses, bridges, vehicles and trees, leaving piles of wrecked timber and brown mud, army photographs from the town of Mocoa showed. The mudslides struck late Friday after days of torrential rain. "We can report 92 people dead and 180 injured," the Red Cross aid group`s rescue official Cesar Urena told AFP. He warned that the death toll may rise because 200 people are still missing. "The number is rising enormously and at considerable speed," he said. The disaster of "large proportions," he added. The organization has raised the toll from an initial estimate of 16 dead.Governor Sorrel Aroca of the Putumayo department called the development "an unprecedented tragedy" for the area. There are "hundreds of families we have not yet found and whole neighborhoods have disappeared," he told W Radio. Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of the National Disaster Risk Management Unit, told AFP the mudslides were caused by the rise of the Mocoa River and tributaries. The rivers flooded, causing a "big avalanche," the army said in a statement. President Juan Manuel Santos said he would travel to Mocoa, the Putumayo capital, to supervise rescue and assistance efforts in the heavily forested region. He promised to "guarantee assistance to the victims of this tragedy, which has Colombians in mourning," he wrote on Twitter. "Our prayers are with the victims and those affected."The authorities activated a crisis group including more than 100 local officials, military personnel, police and rescuers to search for missing people and begin removing hundreds of tons of debris, Marquez said. Mocoa, a town of 40,000 people, was left without power or running water. "There are lots of people in the streets, lots of people displaced and many houses have collapsed," retired Mocoa resident Hernando Rodriguez, 69, said by telephone. "People do not know what to do... there were no preparations" made for such a disaster, he said. "We are just scarcely realizing what has happened to us." Several deadly landslides have struck Colombia in recent months. A landslide in November killed nine people in the southwestern rural town of El Tambo, officials said at the time. Another landslide the month before that killed ten people in the north of the country. Baghdad: A government statement says Iraqi fighter jets have carried out airstrikes against the Islamic State group outside Mosul, killing more than 100 militants. Today's statement says the strikes hit three IS targets in Baaj, a remote northwestern town near the Syrian border, and killed between 150-200 militants. It said the militants had crossed over from Syria, suggesting that IS still enjoys free movement across the borders. The statement didn't say when the strikes happened and officials were not available to offer more details. It could not be immediately verified. Airstrikes by Iraqi Air Force and US-led international coalition have been vital to the months-long operation to retake Mosul from IS. In January, Iraqi authorities declared eastern Mosul "fully liberated." Fighting is underway to recapture the city's western side. Baghdad: Ayad al-Jumaili, the man believed to be the deputy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed in an air strike, Iraqi State TV said on Saturday, citing Iraq`s military intelligence. Jumaili was killed with other Islamic State commanders in a strike carried out by the Iraqi air force in the region of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria, the channel said, without giving the date of the raid. The TV described Jumaili as Islamic State`s "second-in-command" and "war minister". The spokesman of the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition couldn`t immediately be reached for comments. Dakar: A new jihadist alliance claimed responsibility Saturday for an attack that killed three members of Mali`s security forces on March 29, according to a statement released by jihadist monitoring group SITE. Three Malian jihadist groups with previous Al-Qaeda links recently joined forces to create the "Group to Support Islam and Muslims" (GSIM), led by Iyad Ag Ghaly of Islamist organisation Ansar Dine. The group, also known as Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen in Arabic, mounted an attack that killed three gendarmes, they said, though Malian security sources told AFP the day of the attack that it was two soldiers and a civilian who were killed. "This past Wednesday, a brigade of mujahideen was able to attack a Malian gendarmerie post in Boulikessi, which is part of the Douentza area, near the Burkinabe border," the statement released by SITE said. "The attack resulted in killing three gendarmes and seizing some weapons and ammunition as spoils," it added. It is believed to be the jihadist alliance`s second operation after their merger, following the killing of 11 soldiers in the same area on March 5. Ansar Dine was involved in an onslaught that saw northern Mali fall out of government control for nearly a year from spring 2012. The extremists were later expelled from the region by a French-led international military intervention. Nonetheless large swathes of northern Mali continue to come under attack from jihadist groups. The area is also seen by governments battling the jihadist threat as a launchpad for attacks against other countries in the region. Jerusalem: A Palestinian from the occupied West Bank stabbed and wounded three Israelis in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday before being shot dead by border guards, police said. The suspect attacked two Jewish passers-by before fleeing. He later wounded a border guard before he was shot dead, police said. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) Vardan Harutyunyan held a meeting on March 31 with International Monetary Funds Armenia Mission Chief Hossein Samieis delegation. Hossein Samiei was impressed by the revenue growth provided by the committee in the recent months and inquired on the factors associated with it. The SRC told ARMENPRESS Vardan Harutyunyan pointed out the sector analysis aimed at discovery of risks and administrative actions for reducing the shadow economy. In the past 5 months the SRC provided growth of revenue in conditions of reducing overpayments and reducing inspections by 50%, maintaining dialogue with businesses as priority of solving issues, Harutyunyan said. Harutyunyan assured that the positive trend will continue during the year as well, and mentioned that the SRC is interested in initiating projects which will boost economic activeness, which will lead to increase of taxes by businesses. Hossein Samiei welcomed Harutyunyans determination in realizing the projects and proposed the IMFs support in case of necessity for specialized consultation. The sides underscored the effectiveness of cooperation and expressed willingness to continue it. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. Soldiers who were wounded during the April War planted a tree with culture figures in the park of the Heratsi Hospital Complex, commemorating their fallen brothers-in-arms. Peoples Artist of Armenia Tigran Mansuryan planted a tree with April War veteran Daniel Davtyan. In an interview with reporters, Mansuryan thanked the initiators of the event, and mentioned that tree-planting symbolizes continuation of life, establishing like with a green tree. After last years ominous April, todays April has come and soon we will approach April 24, to remember not only our martyrs, but also our fallen brave sons, Mansuryan said. According to Armenak Arustamyan, a soldier who was wounded in combat positions, after the April War the society understood that 18-20 year old men can do more. We didnt learn lessons, we taught lessons, although we also had losses, he said. Member of the support group for the military disabled and wounded persons Haykuhi Minasyan attached importance to the creation of the rehabilitation center. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian side has a more prepared Army after the April War, former defense minister of Armenia Vagharshak Harutyunyan told a press conference in ARMENPRESS. According to him, today Armenia and Artsakh continue the work which they began in 1991. Which is to have a powerful and efficient Army. Today the Madrid principles are on the table. The Armenian side is saying the issue of Artsakhs status gets solved, then only we discuss the remaining issues. Azerbaijan puts an issue, saying give territories, then only we will discuss the issue of Artsakhs status. Turkey in its turn supports Azerbaijan in the issue of returning territories. We know that what Azerbaijan is saying is deception. Azerbaijan doesnt want to make any concession in the Karabakh issue. Therefore, the current situation will last long, and Azerbaijan will continue to carry out provocative actions at the borders. Therefore, the Armenian side must continue to strengthen its Army, which is being done, Harutyunyan said. He reminded how after the April War the Armenian side was able to discover and thwart the Azerbaijani operations and give a worthy counterblow. Harutyunyan underscored that this is the indicator of the work that has been done. Our soldiers are more prepared, and this is the main guarantee so that large-scale war doesnt happen. People are asking how much longer do our children have to die. Yes, this is very painful for all of us. But the issue is the following, we either loose, or continue to struggle by strengthening our Army, he said. Addressing the 52nd Convocation of IIM Calcutta, President Pranab Mukherjee encouraged students to be dissentious but not be tolerant. Despite carrying a written convocation speech, President Pranab Mukherjee, during his 20-minute address surprisingly chose to speak impromptu. By Indrajit Kundu: Amidst the raging debate over growing intolerance in the country, President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday once again reiterated the need for free speech and embracing liberal ideas in order to create a "sensitive and alive citizenry". President Mukherjee was addressing the 52nd Convocation of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta. "Institutions must allow an atmosphere of free debate, discussions and dissent but not conflict and confrontation. The atmosphere should be free from violence, not just physical but also mental," the President said. advertisement Invoking Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Mukherjee said Indians may be argumentative but can never be called intolerant. LET THERE BE DEBATE "India's campuses are known for its liberalism, confluence of various thoughts and ideas. Let there be debate, disagreement and dissentment but not intolerance," he said. At a time when the allegation against the ruling dispensation at the Centre is that it is often intolerant towards opposing views, the President Mukherjee stressed on the need to accept criticism of others. "India is the land of Buddha and Gandhi. We accept, absorb and embrace but never reject anybody," he reminded the students. PRANAB MUKHERJEE'S IMPROMPTU ADDRESS Despite carrying a written convocation speech, President Pranab Mukherjee, during his 20-minute address surprisingly chose to speak impromptu. "Being a fellow Calcuttan and being a son of the soil I believe I must frankly express some of the views from my heart. If I have hurt any sentiments I apologise for it," Mukherjee added. Also read: World needs to get rid of violence: President Pranab Mukherjee Also read: President Pranab Mukherjee speaks out on campus violence: No room in India for intolerant Indian Also read: Demonetisation may slow down economy: President Pranab Mukherjee --- ENDS --- YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Parliaments Vice Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov held a meeting on April 1 with the delegation of the international observer mission of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, led by Boleslav Pirshtuk, Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus. Hayk Chilingaryan, permanent representative of the Armenian Parliament in the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, was also present at the meeting. Sharmazanov greeted the guests and highlighted the key role of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly in the development and deepening of relations between CIS member states and peoples. Sharmazanov appreciated the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assemblys observer mission in our country in terms of an accurate and impartial assessment. The Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament briefed the guests on the peculiarities of the new Electoral Code and the conditions for open and transparent elections, and noted that the document has been adopted by the Parliament through a complete agreement among the opposition and the leadership. The new Electoral Code is more than democratic and is in line with international standards. All conditions are created for transparent and democratic elections. The voter must be sure that his voice will be crucial and wont be lost. Sharmazanov congratulated the delegation members on the 25th anniversary of formation of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. Boleslav Pirshtuk underscored that their experts have evaluated the work and changed legislation as positive and effective. You had the aim of adopting a transparent document, and you succeeded, which you will use in practice on April 2. I am sure everything will be organized on a high level, he said. At the request of the delegation, Sharmazanov presented details of the pre-election campaign process, stating that equal conditions were created for all political forces. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has neither military nor political resources for restarting a large scale war. The only country in the region which is interested in the resumption of war is Turkey, former defense minister of Armenia Vagharshak Harutyunyan told a press conference in ARMENPRESS. When evaluating the probability of war, we have to take into account an important thing. As we know, in the last 6-7 years Azerbaijan spent huge resources for strengthening its Army. We know that the greater share of Azerbaians budget comes from oil dollars. What has happened? Azerbaijans economic military peak is over. It was forced to cut spending, it cut its military budget 3 times. Azerbaijan took equipment and it must maintain it, but these works require large expenses, and it doesnt have this money anymore, because the oil price has fallen, and oil reserves are decreasing, Harutyunyan said. He mentioned that this was one of the reasons of the April operations, the decrease of financial resources. Azerbaijan tried to quickly solve the issue through war, which failed and it hurried to Moscow to ask for intervention in the ceasefire. Thats why, understanding that it doesnt have resources for large-scale military operations, Azerbaijan is carrying out sabotage operations in order to weaken the Armenian society. Therefore the number one guarantee of our security is having a strong and efficient Army, Harutyunyan said. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan congratulated Peoples Artist of Armenia, balletmaster Rudolf Kharatyan on his 70th anniversary, the Presidents Office told ARMENPRESS. Noting that Rudolf Kharatyan is a merited person in the Armenian ballet arts, who served with devotion for many years for the dance art, created unforgettable characters and impressive performances, the President praised Kharatyans activities in educating and raising the new generation of ballet artists in Armenia and abroad. The President wished good health and new creative successes to Kharatyan. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan cannot acquire armaments more powerful than the Iskanders, in our case more powerful than this must be nuclear weapons, which it also cannot acquire, former defense minister of Armenia Vagharshak Harutyunyan told a press conference in ARMENPRESS, commenting on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs statement saying they have acquired a new, powerful and destructive weapon. Let him go and tell such things to his fellow villagers. First of all, this kind of weapon is impossible to be hide, second of all, our Iskanders and SCUDs are enough to destroy the entire economic potential of Azerbaijan. Experts are saying in their media that if we use these weapons and target corresponding structures, then 2/3rd of Azerbaijan will remain under water. Im not saying this, they are talking about this, Harutyunyan said. He mentioned that the armaments of the Armenian side have strategic advantages. Today Ilham Aliyev is negotiating with Israel in order to acquire the Iron Dome anti-missile system, but, according to Vagharshak Harutyunyan, this wont save either. They are forced to spend billions. We, by not entering war, forced Azerbaijan to enter an economic race, spend great amounts of money, when its financial resources are being cut, he said. Commenting on Ilham Aliyevs statement when the latter said Azerbaijan has become stronger after the April War, Harutyunyan noted that facts prove otherwise. Aliyev likes PR. Look what he is doing, Aliyev invested large amounts of money in a village which is under their control and is showing to the Azerbaijani society that he has liberated it, he is making a show. Now he is saying that the April War showed that he is stronger, in this case why did the co-chairs accept Armenias proposal on introducing investigative mechanisms, in this case why is Azerbaijan complaining from the OSCE Minsk Group? He will speak many things, because it is aimed at the domestic consumer, Harutyunyan said. YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of Diaspora is closely following the issue of Syrian-Armenians who have re-located to Armenia, Diaspora minister Hranush Hakobyan told reporters on April 1. Everyday more than 30 Syrian-Armenians arrive in Armenia. We guide them to different organizations and state structures, if the issue is related to the healthcare field, then we guide them to the healthcare ministry, if it concerns the business field, then we guide them to the ministry of economic development and investments and so on. We follow that the given ministry or organization is useful for solving the issues of Syrian-Armenians, the minister said. Hakobyan mentioned that jobs for the Syrian-Armenians will be doubled. Every month we summon a session of the inter-agency commission and we discuss how many issues have been solved in the given month, regarding healthcare, jobs, educational, accommodation issues. All of this is constantly being coordinated and in under supervision, she said. According to the minister, the main challenge is the fact that the Syrian-Armenians are still psychologically anxious. Peace hasnt been established in Syria, and some of their relatives are located there. Therefore the Syrian-Armenians here are in a tense condition every day. These people cant feel fully well in their homeland until peace gets established. For this reason, the main issue is that the superpowers unite and establish peace is Syria, Hakobyan said. File photo: Rows of steam generators line a road at the Cenovus Energy Christina Lake Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) project 120 km (74 miles) south of Fort McMurray, Alberta, August 15, 2013. REUTERS/Todd Korol TORONTO (Reuters) - Cenovus Energy Inc's (Toronto:CVE.TO - News) C$3 billion ($2.25 billion) equity offering to partly fund its planned C$17.7 billion acquisition of some of ConocoPhillips Co's (NYSE:COP - News) Canadian assets has been fully subscribed, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday. The sale of 187.5 million common shares at C$16 per share was fully allocated on Wednesday evening, soon after the deal was announced, the people said. The people declined to be named because the matter was not public. The equity sale is expected to close next week. Royal Bank of Canada (Toronto:RY.TO - News) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM - News), which are leading the share sale, did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside office hours on Friday. A Cenovus spokesman declined to comment. Cenovus shares tumbled to their biggest one-day percentage drop in history on Thursday as investors wondered if the company had made the right move in reaching the cash and stock deal to buy ConocoPhillips' oil sands and natural gas assets. The stock was unchanged on Friday. (Reporting by John Tilak in Toronto and Nia Williams in Calgary; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) CIBC's CEO issued an internal staff memo Friday to address a CBC News story revealing that the bank is eliminating up to 130 Toronto finance jobs and outsourcing the work to India. The article, which ran on Thursday, generated more than 2,000 comments on the CBC News site many of them taking a negative view of CIBC's decision to send the jobs overseas. "I understand that outsourcing isn't a popular decision," wrote CEO Victor Dodig in the memo to employees. "It's an emotional topic that I don't want to shy away from because that's not the culture that we have." The story only came to light because some CIBC workers facing layoffs complained to CBC News. They were particularly upset that they have to train other local CIBC employees who then train the workers in India who will be taking over the jobs. "It feels like no one cares for us," said one employee. It's not about the money In his memo, Dodig laid out why the bank sometimes outsources jobs to other countries. Some affected employees said they believe CIBC is doing it in this case to save money at a time when the bank had pulled in $1.4 billion in profit in the last quarter. "It's not as simple as you may read that it's about cutting jobs or costs," wrote Dodig. He said that outsourcing complements the work done by CIBC staff by helping manage peaks in demand, ensuring work can be done around the clock and helping the bank adapt to changing business needs. "Companies that stand still don't stand the test of time," he said. Dodig added that CIBC mostly outsources work to other companies in Canada. In the case of the Toronto finance jobs, the replacement workers in India are with the global consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture, which is partnering with CIBC. Affected staff will be laid off over the course of the year. Sixteen CIBC workers have already been let go. Dodig stated in his memo that the bank has already helped almost 50 displaced employees find other work at the bank. Story continues CIBC said last week that it had found other jobs for only 36 affected staff. Spokesperson Caroline Van Hasselt clarified Friday that Dodig was referring to a new, updated number. "The bottom line is: We keep finding more opportunities for our people, and continue to work at it," she said in an email. No new jobs for us Affected employees CBC News spoke with said they feel no one is helping them land another CIBC job. The workers asked to remain anonymous because they fear repercussions from the bank. One person said all she'd been offered so far are some workshops on resume writing and networking. "Everybody's sitting there waiting for the day that they're going to escort us out," she said. She and other workers believe the only reason Dodig issued the memo was because the CBC News story has become a hot topic both within CIBC and on social media. "He had to reply because it's everywhere," said the employee. "There's a buzz that's been going around," said another worker. "Not only in our office but I've heard in the branches as well. They're fielding calls or visits from clients who are not happy with this [outsourcing]." Besides explaining its rationale for outsourcing, the memo also tried to soften the blow for employees who do end up losing their jobs. Dodig said that they will receive transition support and that the bank is "committed to treating them fairly and with respect." "We wouldn't be where we are today without them," he wrote. The employees said they don't feel any better after reading the memo. "I just thought it was a bunch of crap," said one worker. Challenges threatening stability in the region such as, steps to counter terrorism were also discussed in the meeting between PM Modi and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak. Modi and Razak held a one-on-one meeting ahead of the delegation-level talks. By India Today Web Desk: Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Najib Razak headed delegation-level bilateral talks between India and Malaysia in Delhi today. A number of agreements are expected to be signed between India and Malaysia following the delegation-level talks. Modi and Razak held a one-on-one meeting ahead of the delegation-level talks. Earlier in the day, Razak was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan. advertisement Thereafter, he called on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj too called on the visiting dignitary. Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday on a six-day visit to India and reached New Delhi on Friday evening. He will also visit Jaipur on Sunday where he will meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Here are the updates: Great pleasure to welcome Malaysian PM. Your contributions have been instrumental in forging wide ranging strategic partnership with India: PM Modi India and Malaysia sign seven agreements during the State Visit of Malaysian PM Najib Razak to India. We have built a thriving economic partnership. Infrastructure has been an area of fruitful partnership between us but we can do much more: PM Modi We (India-Malaysia) are also converging efforts aimed at food security that are linked to well being of our farmers: PM Modi I deeply appreciate our continuous cooperation with Malaysian Government in our joint anti terrorism efforts: PM Modi Your own leadership in countering radicalisation and terrorism is an inspiration for the entire region: PM Modi to Malaysian PM We live in a time and in a region where both conventional and non conventional security threats are constantly on the rise: PM Modi We agreed that these challenges threaten stability,eco prosperity & require us and other countries of region to work together: PM Modi I would like to take this opportunity to place on record my deep admiration for the leadership of PM Modi: Malaysian PM Najib Razak Defence and strategic partnership will be very important for us to fight global terrorism, militancy, extremism that includes fight against IS: PM Razak History binds us together. Indian languages, culture and food are popular in Malaysia. I'm fan of Indian films, especially after visit to Chennai: PM Razak We are partners to make sure Malaysia and in other part of world will never be place in which militancy and extremism will take root: PM Razak Also read: PM Modi to BJP MPs: Work done by government in last 3 years should be taken to people Also read: Odisha: Naxals attack railway station, put up posters against PM Modi's visit Also read: Chorus against triple talaq grows, another victim approaches PM Modi for help Watch the video : India Today Conclave 2017: The base for new India is opportunity for all, says PM Modi (With inputs from IANS) --- ENDS --- NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (NYSE:F - News) is recalling about 52,600 F-250 pickup trucks sold in the United States and Canada because the vehicles could roll after the driver moves the automatic transmission lever into park position, the company said on Saturday. The recall, the third announced by Ford this week, affects 2017 model year F-250 vehicles powered by 6.2-liter gasoline engines and built in its Louisville, Kentucky, truck plant, it said in a statement. Ford, the second-largest U.S. automaker, also said it was unaware of any injuries or accidents associated with the latest issue. The company said on Wednesday it was recalling 211,000 vehicles in North America to replace potentially faulty side door latches. Another recall involves 230,000 vehicles that present a fire risk in the engine compartment. Ford said it had reports of 29 fires related to that issue but no injuries. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker had previously recalled nearly 4 million vehicles for door latch issues in six separate announcements since 2014, including 2.4 million vehicles recalled in late 2016. (Reporting by Frank McGurty; Editing by G Crosse and Bill Trott) People keep ending up in this small Canadian town instead of Sydney, Australia, and we cant help but laugh These days, it seems like you cant even browse flights online without getting ripped off by commercial airlines. Thats why in March, when Dutch teenager Milan Schipper spied a cheap flight from his native Amsterdam to Sydney, his dream destination down under, he jumped onboard right away. But Schipper ended up in a small Canadian town instead of Sydney, Australia. So what went wrong? Well, lets book that one, Schipper told the CBC he remembered thinking when came across the $300 continent-crossing round-trip ticket to what he believed was the Australian coastal city. I thought I was going to Australia, but that turned out a little different. Indeed, Schippers trip veered off course when, stopped over in Toronto en route to his final destination, he noticed the size of the aircraft designated to ferry him across the Pacific. The plane was really small and so I figured, would that make it to Australia? he recalled. Sydney, Nova Scotia. Airport. #sydneynovascotia @visitnovascotia #jadouglasmccurdysydneyairport #capebreton #airport #flughafen A post shared by Senthil Ratnasabapathy (@travellingtheworld_ca) on Jun 20, 2016 at 10:15am PDT Despite his reservations, the 18-year-old carried on, buckling in for the long haul halfway around the world. Less than three hours later, Schipper touched down in Sydney. Nova Scotia, Canada, that is. I felt terrible, said Schipper of his mistake. I think I [swore] in my head for like 10 minutes. Facing near-blizzard conditions and wearing only a T-shirt, sweatpants, and a light jacket, the world-weary traveler explained the embarrassing situation to airport staff and immediately booked it back home. (Too bad he didnt stick around for a minute Sydney, Nova Scotia is home to the worlds largest fiddle!) #worldsbiggestfiddle #sydneynovascotia #capebreton #transatlanticcruise #novascotia #canada A post shared by Stephanie Macmillan (@stephmacmillan) on Sep 25, 2016 at 10:23am PDT Surprisingly, this isnt the first time globetrotters craving a little shrimp on the barbie were met instead by the delicious lobster of Sydneys distant Canadian cousin instead. Two British teenagers, an Argentinian sculptor, a pair of flying Dutchmen, and an Italian couple have all been taken for a ride by this too-good-to-be-true deal over the last 15 years. Lucky for Schipper, news of his ~adventurous~ accidental trip has traveled quickly, and travel offers are rolling in. Indeed, an airline has already offered to fly him to Australia free of charge. But the jet-lagged teen is doubtful he will accept the first-class treatment. Yeah, [its] really nice, he said. But Im not really sure if Im going to go again. Last weekend, taxi app Lyft took out a full-page ad in the Sunday New York Times to announce a magnanimous new program it will roll out soon called Round Up & Donate. Opt in and well automatically round up your fare to the next whole dollar and push the difference toward issues impacting everyone everywhere, from climate change to the pursuit of equality. Yes, its fair to see it as another effort to capitalize while Uber, its biggest competitor, has been beset by scandals for nearly two months straight. And the language of the ad (Sit for something. Its what Lyft was founded on.) led many to roll their eyes. (The New York Observer said the ad is really just a big f*ck you to Uber, while an Adweek reporter wrote on Twitter, Youre a ride share company. Get over yourself.) But Lyft is simply hopping on board a trend that has already caught on with big names like Bank of America, Barclays and GoDaddy. The concept of roundups in mobile tech does not belong to Lyft, nor has Lyft added any original twist to it. But enabling charity roundups is an easy way for any company to quickly add a layer of social conscienceand thats why so many are doing it. Lyft ad in the New York Times, Mar. 26 (via @PatrickCoffee) GoDaddy first added a charity roundup option in 2011, specifically to benefit Haiti relief, but now has a broader program called Round Up for Charity. Amazon launched AmazonSmile in 2013it isnt roundups, but its a variation on the theme, where Amazon donates 0.5% of every purchase to a charity of the customers choice. Bank of America has a program called Keep the Change that rounds up purchases from your debit card and transfers the money to a savings accountnot for charity, but it could easily add that option. Doing roundups for charity is a newer subset of the larger spare-change roundup trend, which has become very popular in new mobile tech. Investing app Acorns, which launched in 2012 and has raised $63 million in funding, rounds up each transaction on your linked credit card and puts the difference in an investment portfolio. The idea is for you quietly amass some savings without really noticing it. Story continues An app called Lawnmower took the same concept and applied it to bitcoinround up your spare change and use it to buy digital currency. (The bitcoin news web site CoinDesk recently acquired Lawnmower for its research and data.) Bstow, a charity roundup app incubated by Barclays Techstars in Tel Aviv, launched to consumers last year, but CEO Jason Grad says the roundup concept has gotten so popular so fast that Bstow pivoted to become a business-to-business developer of charity roundup platforms for non-profits and larger corporations. (Bstow says it is building one for Barclays.) Grad says the reason companies like the roundup concept so much is that millennials take to it quickly. Theres low friction for users. Roundups are a low-barrier way that people can help causes they care about without breaking the bank, and without having to make a big, researched decision about where they should donate, he says. There is an enormous movement to make financial decisions more seamless for millennial professionals so that they can create good habits while they are young. A comment from Lyft about why its adding roundups would appear to bolster Grads point about making millennials feel they are doing good. We deeply believe in participation, a Lyft spokesperson tells Yahoo Finance. Roundup programs are about as easy for a consumer to participate in as charity efforts get. And the company offering the opportunity gets to look like it has a social conscience. But it doesnt hurt that it was also an instant way to look nice while Uber tries to clean up its mess. Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, frequently covering fintech. Read more: These 3 very different apps helped me save up money Uber has had 5 major scandals in just 2 weeks Ubers competitors in NYC are growing like crazy Tech CEOs: Heres what Ubers CEO needs to do now A Chinese fintech giant is getting ready to go public With operations against ISIS at a critical stage in northern Iraq, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced Friday that Canada will extend its training mission there by three months. The Canadian Forces will continue operations until June 30, providing "the time required to assess the evolving nature of the fight." Canada is part of a coalition working with Iraqi troops to recapture territory taken over by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (also known as Daesh), restore basic government services and enable citizens who fled to return to their homes. A news release said the scope and mission of Canada's contribution, often characterized as an "advise and assist" operation, will remain the same this spring, "with a few adjustments." "As a result of recent successes in the campaign, some elements of the Canadian Special Operations Task Force have recently been operating in eastern Mosul, providing advice and assistance to Iraqi Security Forces," it read. "Canadian troops remain behind the forward line of troops, and are providing advice and assistance to Iraqi Forces," the government said. Canadian troops had been stationed around Erbil, where its operations had included a military hospital. 'Canadians should expect further adjustments' But the fighting in and around Mosul has been intense recently, as the fight to retake control over the strategically important city continues. "While the geography and partners have expanded, the mandate of training, advising, assisting, and equipping remains unchanged," a statement from the chief of the defence staff, Gen. Jonathan Vance, said. "The mission may change further as the situation evolves and Canadians should expect further adjustments as the situation warrants." "It is clear that coalition efforts are having a real impact on the ground," Sajjan said in the release. Hundreds of reconnaissance missions Story continues The military said Friday that 3,600 personnel have been part of rotations for the mission so far. As of March 28, Canadian aircraft who remained in theatre after Canada's CF-18s returned home have conducted 695 aerial refuelling sorties and 753 reconnaissance missions. In addition to the special forces soldiers acting as intelligence officers and training Iraqi soldiers on the ground, Canada has also contributed tactical helicopters to the coalition mission. Speaking to reporters after attending a change-of-command ceremony, Vance defended the decision to only renew the mission for three months. "This prolongation of the mission for three months gives us an opportunity to look more closely at what the wider changes may be in the theatre," he said. "It allows us to carry on the mission more or less as it has been for the last two years but also allows us to make the adjustments necessary as the situation changes." Friday, the military revealed that Canadian soldiers were operating in part of Mosul. Vance said the Canadian soldiers only moved into east Mosul once it was secured. "They are doing exactly the same task they were before. The geography changed somewhat and the partners changed somewhat. That is, we went from mentoring, training, advising Kurds to other Iraqi security forces." Vance said Canadian forces have been ensuring that coalition forces continued to hold east Mosul while the battle moved to western Mosul. Vance says mission on track Vance said the coalition has been achieving what it set out to achieve. "I think the coalition has done what it set out to do thus far and is on track, [as much] as anything this fluid and complex can be on track, in Iraq. We set out to stop Daesh. They were stopped. We set out to reverse their gains. Those have been reversed in huge measure. And now we are into the detailed fight of getting them out of their command-and-control centres in Mosul and, of course, in Syria in the city of Raqqa." Vance's comments also come as the United States is pressuring its NATO partners to increase their spending on defence, arguing the U.S is picking up a disproportionate share of the tab. Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned NATO allies to spend more on defence or come up with a plan within two months to reach the military alliance's budget guideline of two per cent of GDP. Vance said people should wait for the results of the government's upcoming defence policy review. "We're fortunate that we have a defence policy review that is just about complete and the government is a few weeks away from announcing it. When that is announced, I think that is the best time to judge what the investment is into the armed forces and determine what we look like going forward into the future." By Lesley Wroughton and Robert-Jan Bartunek BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reassured his nervous European counterparts over Washington's commitment to NATO on Friday and pressed them again to spend more on defense, triggering a rebuke from Germany. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was neither "reachable nor desirable" for Germany to spend the agreed NATO target of two percent of member states' economic output on defense. NATO allies have until 2024 to do that. "Two percent would mean military expenses of some 70 billion euros. I don't know any German politician who would claim that is reachable nor desirable," Gabriel told the first meeting of NATO foreign ministers attended by Tillerson. "The United States will realize it is better to talk about better spending instead of more spending," he said, noting that humanitarian, development and economic aid to stabilize countries and regions should also count. In his first remarks to NATO ministers, Tillerson said allies needed to pay up or outline plans for meeting that target when NATO leaders meet on May 25 for the first top-level summit of the alliance to be attended by U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has criticized NATO as "obsolete" and suggested Washington's security guarantees for European allies could be conditional on them spending more on their own defense. He has also said he wants NATO to do more to fight terrorism. "Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders meeting that by the end of the year all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how...the pledge will be fulfilled," Tillerson said. "Allies must demonstrate by their actions that they share U.S. government's commitment." In Berlin, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the government was committed to increasing defense spending and would continue to do so "because we know it is necessary and makes sense to further strengthen our armed forces". U.S. defense expenditure makes up about 70 percent of the total NATO allies' defense spending. Only four European NATO members - Estonia, Greece, Poland and Britain - meet the two-percent target. NATO head Jens Stoltenberg rejected Gabriel's call to include non-military spending toward the goal, but said Germany was moving "in the right direction" with more military spending after years of cuts. He said NATO ministers on Friday discussed national plans for arriving at the target as they prepared for the May summit. In London, Britain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that other European NATO allies must "raise their game, and those failing to meet the two-percent commitment... should at least agree to year-on-year real terms increases." QUESTIONS OVER U.S. COMMITMENT Tillerson did, however, offer assurances of Washington's commitment to NATO during his brief stop in Brussels, where he did not hold one-on-one meetings with countries, which is customary during such gatherings. His initial decision to skip his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers had added to questions about the Trump administration's commitment. The meeting was later rescheduled and he attended on Friday. "The United States is committed to ensuring NATO has the capabilities to support our collective defense," Tillerson said. "We will uphold the agreements we have made to defend our allies." Tillerson said NATO was fundamental to countering Russian aggression in Ukraine and said the United States would hold Moscow accountable to its commitments under a two-year Minsk ceasefire deal. He pledged to keep sanctions in place against Moscow until it complies with the Minsk agreement. Trump has said in the past that, as part of a rapprochement he is seeking with Russia, he is prepared to review the sanctions, which were imposed by Barack Obama over Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula. "We do not, and will not, accept Russian efforts to change the borders of territory of Ukraine," Tillerson said according to a transcript of his remarks. "The United States sanctions will remain until Moscow reverses the actions that triggered our sanctions," he added, expressing alarm at a surge in violence along the front lines in eastern Ukraine. Stoltenberg said ties between European NATO members and the United States were "rock solid". He said "fair burden sharing to keep the trans-atlantic bond strong" and "stepping up NATO efforts to project stability and fight terrorism" were on the agenda on Friday as the bloc seeks to respond to the new, harsher tone from across the Atlantic. (Additional reporting by Tom Koerkemeier in Brussels, Andrea Shalal in Berlin and Kylie MacLellan in London; Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Louise Ireland and Mary Milliken) DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran rejected an allegation by U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis that it was "the primary exporter of terrorism" and said on Saturday that the main source was U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. "Some countries led by America are determined to ignore the main source of Takfiri-Wahhabi terrorism and extremism," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi was quoted by Iran's state news agency IRNA as saying. He was referring to hardline Sunni Muslim groups and Saudi Arabia's official Wahhabi school of Islam. Saudi Arabia denies backing terrorism and has cracked down on jihadists at home, jailing thousands, stopping hundreds from traveling to fight abroad and cutting militant finances. Shi'ite Muslim power Iran and Saudi Arabia, bastion of Sunni Islam and a close U.S. ally, are longstanding religious and political arch rivals and often accused each other of backing terrorism. Relations are fraught as they back each other's foes in regional wars such as in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. "Giving a wrong address when referring to the roots and the financial and intellectual resources of terrorism is a main reason for a lack of success by international anti-terror efforts," Ghasemi added. Ghasemi was reacting to remarks by Mattis on Friday when he was asked about comments he made in 2012 that the three main threats the United States faced were "Iran, Iran, Iran". "At the time when I spoke about Iran I was a commander of U.S. Central Command and that (Iran) was the primary exporter of terrorism, frankly, it was the primary state sponsor of terrorism and it continues that kind of behavior today," Mattis told reporters. (Reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by Alexander Smith) Is Pamela Anderson dating WikiLeaks editor in chief Julian Assange? The actress, 49, was spotted leaving the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after visiting the controversial WikiLeaks mastermind on Thursday. Anderson donned a tight black turtleneck and a matching pencil skirt for the occasion. Andersons frequent visits to the embassy over the past year - at least six in the past seven months - has caused a flurry of speculation that theyre a couple. The visit comes after Anderson addressed her relationship with Assange in a lengthy post on her website, writing that he is one of my favorite people. I am getting more involved with The Courage foundation who helps to defend whistleblowers ...like Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange, she wrote on Thursday. My relationship with Julian Its no secret, He is one of my favorite people- and he might be the most famous, most politicized refugee of our time. Famous for being persecuted. Famous for being persecuted is not a position of power but a position of vulnerability. I am concerned. She continued: He is the strongest person I know-but, living as he is, is very unhealthy, demeaning and inhumane. Julian is trying to free the world by educating it. It is a romantic struggle-I love him for this- Assange has claimed political asylum at the embassy since 2012 in order to avoid facing extradition to Sweden over a rape allegation he has long refuted. Assange has said he fears being sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges in relation to WikiLeaks. She also previously admitted that she thinks Assange is quite sexy. Julian Assange is the most intelligent, interesting, and informed man in existence, she wrote on her website. He has tremendous strength and stamina- though vulnerable. Hard to imagine him that way as capable as he is. But in a post on March 22, she referred to Assange as simply a dear friend. Story continues Mr Assange and I, have become very dear friends over time. Thats all Im really comfortable saying..., she said. Of course this is not an ideal situation Its not indicative of any rational relationship. I wouldnt know what that is anyway. Faith has been lost in modern romance. He is a hero, Anderson said of Assange in a statement in December. One day everyone will realize. But until now, this man has missed 7 Christmases with his children and is kept in difficult and tremendously stressful conditions-while doing us all a great service. Everyone in the world has benefited because of WikiLeaks - he has sacrificed so much - to simply share the truth. This article was originally published on PEOPLE.com By Daniela Desantis and Luc Cohen ASUNCION (Reuters) - Protesters stormed and set fire to Paraguay's Congress on Friday after the Senate secretly voted for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. The country's constitution has prohibited re-election since it was passed in 1992 after a brutal dictatorship fell in 1989. "A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us," said Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party. Firefighters managed to control the flames after protesters left the Congress building late on Friday night. But protests and riots continued in other parts of Asuncion and elsewhere in the country well into the night, media reported. Earlier, television images showed protesters breaking windows of the Congress and clashing with police, burning tires and removing parts of fences around the building. Police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Several politicians and journalists were injured, media reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said several police were hurt. One member of the lower house of Congress, who had been participating in protests that afternoon, underwent surgery after being hit by rubber bullets. The number of casualties was unknown. Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter. "Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic," he said. "We must not allow a few barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and general wellbeing of the Paraguayan people." The unrest coincides with a rare high-level international event in the landlocked South American country. Thousands of businessmen and government officials descended on Asuncion this week for the Inter-American Development Bank's annual board of governors meeting. While Paraguay long suffered from political uncertainty, the soy and beef-exporting nation has been attracting investment in agriculture and manufacturing sectors in recent years as Cartes offered tax breaks to foreign investors. Instability in the country of 6.8 million is a concern for its much larger neighbors Brazil and Argentina. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was monitoring the events. "I call on political leaders to avoid inciting violence and seek dialogue," the commission's regional representative for South America, Amerigo Incalcaterra, said in a statement. SECRET SESSION The Senate voted earlier on Friday during a special session in a closed office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber. Opponents of the measure, who claim it would weaken Paraguay's democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal. The proposal will also require approval by the House, where it appeared to have strong support. A vote which had been expected early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down, said the chamber's president, Hugo Velazquez. Several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Peru and Chile, prevent presidents from running for consecutive terms in a region where memories of dictatorships remain ripe. Others, including Colombia and Venezuela, have changed their constitutions to give sitting presidents a chance at re-election. Paraguay's measure would apply to future presidents and Cartes, a soft-drink and tobacco mogul elected to a five-year term in 2013. His strongest backers want him to be allowed to run for another term, but critics have said a constitutional change aimed at benefiting a sitting president would be unfair. The change would also apply to former President Fernando Lugo, whose supporters want to be allowed to run for another term. Congress ousted Lugo in 2012, saying he had failed in his duty to maintain social order following a bloody land eviction. The rapid impeachment drew strong criticism in Latin America, especially from fellow leftist governments. A similar re-election proposal had been rejected in August and Congress this week voted to change the rules that required lawmakers to wait a year before voting again. "Everything was done legally," said Senator Carlos Filizzola of the leftist Guasu Front coalition, which supports the constitutional amendment as a way of allowing Lugo to return as Paraguay's leader. (Additional reporting by Mariel Cristaldo; Writing by Hugh Bronstein and Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Mary Milliken and Kim Coghill) Executions have been set for (top row, from left) Kenneth Williams, Jack Jones Jr., Marcell Williams, Bruce Earl Ward, and (bottom row, from left) Don Davis, Stacey Johnson, Jason McGehee and Ledelle Lee. Since the Supreme Court reinstituted the death penalty in 1976, Arkansas has executed just 27 people. It has not sent an inmate to the death chamber since 2005. But beginning on April 17, Arkansas intends to execute an unprecedented eight men in just ten days. This report examines the cases of those condemned men, and what we found is devastating. At least five of the eight cases cases involve a person who appears to suffer from a serious mental illness or intellectual impairment. One of these men was twenty at the time of the crime, suffered a serious head injury, and has a 70 IQ score. Another man suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and believes that he is on a mission from God. He sees both his deceased father and reincarnated dogs around the prison. A sixth condemned inmate endured shocking sexual and physical abusehe was burned, beaten, stabbed, and raped, and his mother pimped him out to various adults throughout his preteen and teen years. In the two remaining cases, there is no evidence to suggest that the attorneys ever conducted even a minimally adequate mitigation investigation to determine if their clients had any illnesses or disabilities. Across the eight cases, the quality of lawyering that we detected falls short of any reasonable standard of effectivenessone lawyer was drunk in court, while another struggled with mental illness. Several of the lawyers missed deadlines, failed to visit their clients, and continued on a case despite the appearance of a conflict of interest. Taken together, these cases present a foundational challenge to the legitimacy and integrity of the death penalty in Arkansas. The Governor should declare a moratorium on executions so these legal deficiencies can be given a closer look, or else the Courts must intervene to stop these executions in order to preserve public confidence in the rule of law. Arkansas Is About to Execute Six Men Who Likely Suffer From Crippling Mental Impairments Arkansas' death chamber At least six of those eight men likely suffer from crippling mental impairments. As a young child, Jason McGehee carried his dog Dusty around with him everywhere he went. He dressed him in pet clothes, put his birthday on a paper calendar, and went to bed each night with the dog sleeping beside him. McGehees aunt filed a legal declaration stating that his mother suffered from chronic depression and abused McGehee. His aunt also alleged that McGehees stepfather was sadistic. At a family dinner, she claimed, he kicked Dusty to death using his pointy boots as weapons and forcing McGehee to watch. When the dog died, [t]hat was the turning point, McGehees aunt later observed . Jason was never the same after that. McGehee also suffers from bipolar disorder, which runs in his family. According to an expert evaluation, he may have some impairment in his frontal lobe, the area of the brain responsible for judgement, problem solving, and emotional regulation. Symptoms of mental illness emerged during childhood, but his mother allegedly did not get him help, believing he was possessed by the devil . At 21 years old, Jason lived with several friends in a house without utilities, supporting himself by passing stolen checks and committing other petty crimes. After a frequent houseguest named John Melbourne told the police about the stolen checks, the housemates and Melbourne had a physical altercation that culminated in Melbournes death. McGehee received the death penalty. His 17-year-old co-defendant, who admitted to strangling Melbourne with an electric cord until he died , got a sentence of life without parole. Jason McGehee is one of the eight men Arkansas intends to execute between April 17 and April 27. (McGehees execution is scheduled for the 27th.) Arkansas will execute more people in that 11-day period than every state except Georgia did all of last year. A new report released by the Fair Punishment Project reveals that at least six of the eight men likely suffer from crippling mental impairments. But juries never heard much evidence of such impairments because of the shoddy representation the men received at trial. In two cases where there was little evidence of serious mental impairment, it appears as though no lawyer bothered to conduct a thorough investigation into the clients background. Under the Eighth Amendment, the death penalty must be reserved for the worst of the worstthose who commit the most heinous homicides and whose personal culpability makes them especially worthy of blame. The Supreme Court has recognized that intellectual disabilities [lessen] moral culpability and hence the retributive value of the punishment . Executing those who fall into that category serves [n]o legitimate penological purpose, the court has found, and violates his or her inherent dignity as a human being. But unless Arkansas governor intervenes or a court stays these executions, the state will kill eight men who either have debilitating impairments that diminish their moral culpability or else have lawyers who likely never performed the type of investigation that might reveal such impairments. Harvard Law: Executions challenge legitimacy and integrity of Ark. death penalty law Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson LITTLE ROCK (TALK BUSINESS & POLITICS) A report from the Harvard Law Schools Fair Punishment Project concludes that Gov. Asa Hutchinson should halt eight executions set for April so that legal deficiencies in the trials of the eight men can be reviewed and to preserve public confidence in the rule of law. Also, 23 former corrections department officials and administrators from around the country sent Gov. Hutchinson a letter asking to him to reconsider his plan to execute prisoners at the unprecedented rate of two-per-day on four execution days over a ten-day period. Gov. Hutchinson has set four execution dates in April for eight Arkansas inmates on death row whose appeals have been exhausted and whose cases the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review in late February. Hutchinson scheduled the following eight inmates with date of execution to be put to death, all for capital murder. April 17: Don Davis, Bruce Ward April 20: Stacey Johnson, Ledelle Lee April 24: Marcel Williams, Jack Jones April 27: Jason McGehee, Kenneth Williams On March 27, a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court-Eastern District of Arkansas asking the court for a preliminary injunction to prevent the state from executing the prisoners so that the court may adequately consider their claims on the merits. Jessica Ray, spokeswoman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, called the prisoners lawsuit another attempt to delay justice. Ray said AG Rutledge is reviewing the lawsuit, but she will continue to fully defend Arkansass method of execution, and she expects the executions to proceed as scheduled. As to the Harvard report, Rutledge spokesman Judd Deere told Talk Business & Politics, Due to ongoing litigation, Im not in a position to offer comment. ABYSMAL REPRESENTATION The Harvard report made public Thursday (March 30) provides a tough assessment on the path that brought the eight men to the planned April execution dates. At least five of the eight cases involve a person who appears to suffer from a serious mental illness or intellectual impairment. One of these men was twenty at the time of the crime, suffered a serious head injury, and has a 70 IQ score. Another man suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and believes that he is on a mission from God. He sees both his deceased father and reincarnated dogs around the prison, noted a press release announcing the report. The report included the following points and statements. Across the eight cases, the quality of lawyering that we detected falls short of any reasonable standard of effectiveness one lawyer was drunk in court, while another struggled with mental illness. Several of the lawyers missed deadlines, failed to visit their clients, and continued on a case despite the appearance of a conflict of interest. The quality of lawyering in some these cases is unconscionably bad. Some of these men could not have fared worse even if they had no lawyer at all, said Jessica Brand, Legal Director for the Fair Punishment Project. They failed to perform even basic duties, such as hiring a mitigation specialist to evaluate the clients mental health or talking to members of their clients family. In many of these cases, the juries and judges never heard crucial evidence that could have spared these men from execution. Under the Eighth Amendment, capital punishment must be limited to those offenders . . . whose extreme culpability makes them the most deserving of execution. Our review of the Arkansas cases shows that this standard is not close to being met. Bruce Ward, who has been on death row for over two decades, has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He appears not to understand that he is about to die, believing instead that he is preparing for a special mission as an evangelist. Rob Smith, director of the Fair Punishment Project, said the number of questions with each case is more than enough to at least delay the executions. Just this week, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the death penalty is supposed to be reserved for the most culpable offenders, and yet it is very clear that the individuals facing execution in Arkansas suffer from a number of crippling impairments that show they do not even come close to meeting that bar, Smith noted. In a statement from his office to Talk Business & Politics, Gov. Hutchinson said his duty as Governor requires the dates be set before the lethal injection drugs expire. As required by law, I have set the execution dates for the eight convicted of capital murder. This is based upon the Attorney Generals request and the exhaustion of all appeals and court reviews that have been ongoing for more than a decade. This action is necessary to fulfill the requirement of the law, but it is also important to bring closure to the victims families who have lived with the court appeals and uncertainty for a very long time. One of the three drugs in the lethal injection protocol expires at the end of April. In order to fulfill my duty as Governor, which is to carry out the lawful sentence imposed by a jury, it is necessary to schedule the executions prior to the expiration of that drug. It is uncertain as to whether another drug can be obtained, and the families of the victims do not need to live with continued uncertainty after decades of review. LETTER FROM CORRECTIONS OFFICIALS The March 28 letter from the 23 former corrections officials to Gov. Hutchinson does not argue against the death penalty. Instead, it addresses the stress and trauma on corrections staff that could result based on the expedited execution schedule. While we are confident that the staff of the Arkansas Department of Correction will strive to carry out these executions with the greatest professionalism, we also fear that the burden of such a condensed schedule will increase the chance of an error occurring, the letter noted. Recent high-profile problems during executions in other states provide ample evidence of this risk and underscore the fact that execution of a prisoner is a complex and difficult process, with little margin for error. Those who signed the letter include Robert Brown Jr., who was director of the Michigan Department of Corrections for 30 years (1961-1991); Frank AuBochon, consultant with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (1981-2007); Dave Cook, director of the Oregon Department of Corrections (1995-2002); and Ron McAndrew, warden of the Florida State Prison (1978-2001). In this instance, we hope that you will reconsider the pace of the planned executions to protect the professionals who will carry them out and to ensure that the procedures are legal and humane, the letter concluded. Gov. Hutchinson said he has been assured the execution schedule will not create problems for corrections staff. I continue to rely on the advice and counsel of Director Wendy Kelley and the professional staff at the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) on the timing and plans for any execution. They have expressed their satisfaction with the current schedule and have confidence in our protocol. We have experienced staff here in Arkansas. I will continue to listen to our professional staff as we go through the steps of this process. SUPPORT FOR DEATH PENALTY Although numerous activist groups have emerged in recent years to oppose the death penalty, with many of those groups pushing for delay of Arkansas planned April executions, there continues to be majority support in many areas of the country for capital punishment. Oklahoma voters in November 2016 voted (66%-34%) to constitutionalize the states death penalty. The law also removed the ability of state courts to declare it cruel and unusual punishment or a violation of any provision of the state constitution. Nebraska voters in 2016 also approved by a wide margin a law returning the death penalty as an option for judges and juries to consider in murder cases. California voters in 2016 rejected an initiative that would have abolished the death penalty in that state. A Pew Research study conducted in August and September 2016 found that 49% of Americans favor the death penalty in murder cases, with 42% opposing it. However, that is the lowest level of support in more than 40 years, according to the Pew data. A 1996 Pew survey found that 80% of Americans supported the death penalty. Support for the death penalty is, not surprisingly, divided along political lines, with Pew showing that just 34% of Democrats favor the death penalty while 72% of Republicans support it. Source: | 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: Slate, Jessica Brand , March 30, 2017Source: KATV Little Rock , March 30, 2017 Source: Fair Punishment Project, March 30, 2017 Ram Gopal Varma took to Twitter on April Fools' Day. And this time, his tweets were directed at US President, Donald Trump. By India Today Web Desk: Ram Gopal Varma is no stranger to stirring up a controversy with his tweets. This time, the filmmaker took on President of the United States, Donald Trump. On the occasion of April Fools' Day, he tweeted, "Hey I wish all you foolish Americans who voted for @realDonaldTrump a very very HAPPY TRUMP's DAY." Hey I wish all you foolish Americans who voted for @realDonaldTrump a very very HAPPY TRUMP's DAY???- Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) April 1, 2017 advertisement Surprisingly, when the results of the Presidential Election were announced, RGV seemed to be in support of Trump. "Am congratulating myself for predicting a Trump victory more than 4 months ago..I am throwing a Trumping party tonite (sic)," he had tweeted. Another of his tweets from then read, "All those people who thought Trump was nonsensical are now proved to be nonsensical Ha ha." ???Am congratulating myself???for predicting a Trump victory??more than 4 months ago???..I am throwing a Trumping party tonite????????????- Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) November 9, 2016 All those people who thought Trump was nonsensical are now proved to be nonsensical Ha ha ??????????????????- Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) November 9, 2016 All places Obama won last,Trump won now inspite of Obama campaigning against him thus proving he defeated Obama too apart from Hillary pic.twitter.com/2GJXDCVMNV- Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) November 9, 2016 On the work front, the filmmaker is gearing up for the release of his next, Sarkar 3. The political drama, which stars Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpayee, Jackie Shroff and Yami Gautam, is the third film in the Sarkar series. ALSO READ: Why Ram Gopal Varma is beyond human understanding of good and evil ALSO WATCH: Ram Gopal Varma in trouble over controversial Women's Day tweet --- ENDS --- Clastics wrote: Trying to decide between McCombs, Booth and a couple others... O&G guy working in Houston and a big draw to McCombs is the regional O&G strength. Would like to keep my current career progression going by working part-time (~20hrs) while in the full-time program (Houston distance or a small Austin shop). Looking for an (*) instead of a career change. The part-time Houston program is not a possibility due to SO's work commitments (has to move to Austin, Chicago, or 2 other cities) I'd love to hear any current or former students weigh in on the ability to work part-time while in the program. Ideal world would be to swing classes only Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs.... Not a current student (profile is not accurately reflecting status) and planning to enroll in 2017...From talking to current students in the past, at McCombs during the first semester, you'll be in class M-Th from 8am to around noon or 1pm. Afternoons are generally busy with group meetings, study groups, recruiting, and other networking events. I've been advised that it's pretty hard to work while in school -during the first year.If you're looking to continue career progression while getting your MBA, why not consider the McCombs evening MBA program? You could live in Austin and even work full-time? The full-time program tends to prove highest ROI for those making career switches. VeritasPrepDozie wrote: Consulting is one of the few industries where the employers don't care as much about past industry experience unless you are targeting a niche specialized consultancy. If you can get the interview, your performance in the interview is far and away the most important thing, which should make it easier for you to career switch I agree with your points, and thank you again for your response. My primary concern is finding quality work in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area. I don't think I can tolerate flying across the country every other weekend while also meeting the high demands of my current employment for very long without burning out, and I would have to commit to PT Ross program before finding a job in the area (begins in a month).I believe one should hope for the best, while preparing for the worst. So assuming the worst - that I leave my current job and move to Ann Arbor/Detroit area and am not able to secure quality employment - where does that leave me in employer's eyes?Would it be forgivable or even understandable that I did something like sell cars at the local dealership during my two years in the Ross PT MBA (if they would care at all), as opposed to supplementing the PT experience with a quality job? Surely the latter is more desirable, I just don't want to put myself through all that just to emerge as an untouchable in the job search. Recent feminist scholarship concerning the United States in the 1920s challenges earlier interpretations that assessed the twenties in terms of the unkept promises of the womens suffrage movement. This (5)new scholarship disputes the long-held view that because a womens voting bloc did not materialize after women gained the right to vote in 1920, suffrage failed to produce long-term political gains for women. These feminist scholars also challenge (10)the old view that pronounced suffrage a failure for not delivering on the promise that the womens vote would bring about moral, corruption-free governance. Asked whether womens suffrage was a failure, these scholars cite the words of turn-of-the-century social (15)reformer Jane Addams, Why dont you ask if suffrage in general is failing? In some ways, however, these scholars still present the 1920s as a period of decline. After suffrage, they argue, the feminist movement lost its cohesiveness, (20)and gender consciousness waned. After the mid- 1920s, few successes could be claimed by feminist reformers: little could be seen in the way of legislative victories. During this decade, however, there was intense (25)activism aimed at achieving increased autonomy for women, broadening the spheres within which they lived their daily lives. Womens organizations worked to establish opportunities for women: they strove to secure for women the full entitlements of citizenship, (30)including the right to hold office and the right to serve on juries. 1. The passage is primarily concerned with (A) providing evidence indicating that feminist reformers of the 1920's failed to reach some of their goals (B) presenting scholarship that contrasts suffragist "promises" with the historical realities of the 1920's (C) discussing recent scholarship concerning the achievements of women's suffrage during the 1920's and presenting an alternative view of those achievements (D) outlining recent findings concerning events leading to suffrage for women in the 1920's and presenting a challenge to those findings (E) providing support for a traditional view of the success of feminist attempts to increase gender consciousness among women during the 1920's RC04200.01-10 2. It can be inferred that the author of the passage disagrees with the "new scholarship" mentioned in lines 6-7 regarding the (A) degree to which the "promises" of the suffrage movement remained unkept (B) degree to which suffrage for women improved the morality of governance (C) degree to which the 1920's represented a period of decline for the feminist movement (D) degree of legislative success achieved by feminist reformers during the 1920's (E) accuracy of the view that a women's voting bloc did not materialize once suffrage was achieved RC04200.01-20 3. The purpose of the second paragraph of the passage is to (A) suggest a reason why suffragist "promises" were not kept (B) contrast suffragist "promises" with the reality of the 1920's (C) deplore the lack of successful feminist reform in 1920's (D) explain a view held by feminist scholars (E) answer the question asked by Jane Addams RC04200.01-30 4. It can be inferred from the passage that recent scholars cite the words of Jane Addams primarily in order to (A) suggest that womens achievement of suffrage brought about changes in government that were not taken into account by early interpretations (B) point out contradictions inherent in the goals of the womens suffrage movement (C) show why a womens voting bloc was not formed when women won the right to vote (D) emphasize the place of social reform movements in the struggle for suffrage for women (E) suggest that the old view of womens suffrage was inappropriate RC04200.01-40 5. It can be inferred that the analyses of the author of the passage and the scholars mentioned in lines 2023 differ with regard to which of the following? (A) The criteria they use to evaluate the success of the feminist movement during the 1920s (B) Their interpretations of the promises of the suffragist movement (C) The suggestions they make for achieving feminist goals (D) Their definitions of what constitutes a legislative victory (E) Their estimations of the obstacles preventing womens having achieved a voting bloc in the 1920s RC04200.01-50 6. The new scholarship mentioned in the first paragraph suggests which of the following concerning the promises mentioned in lines 45? (A) Failure to keep these promises is not a measure of the success of the suffrage movement. (B) Failure to keep these promises caused the feminist movement to lose cohesiveness during the 1920s. (C) Failure to keep these promises led recent feminist scholars to reevaluate the success of the suffrage movement. (D) These promises included securing for women the right to hold office and the right to serve on juries. (E) These promises were of little importance in winning suffrage for women. RC04200.01-60 By Vidya : The Bombay High Court has put a stay on the release of actor Raveena Tandon's comeback film Maatr, which was scheduled for release on April 21. This move came after a private financial institution YT Capital Pvt Ltd petitioned the Bombay High Court against the film's producer Anjum Rizvi and has also made T-series, the film's co-producer, a party. advertisement While hearing the petition on Thursday, Justice Gautam Patel of the Bombay High Court noted that YT Capital Pvt Ltd had obtained an order in their favour against the film producers in an earlier petition where an amount of Rs 2,44,71,718 was due from Rizvi and had not been paid to the company. The court noted that "an Agreement for co-production dated 22nd September 2014 made it clear that the Decree Holder (YT Capital) would not only have a lien on the previous films but all future feature films or television serials of Rizvi and that these would not be released or distributed till the debt was paid." YT Capital had given this loan to Rizvi in 2014 for the movie Katha, which never released. Rizvi never paid this amount back, which is why the company has had to take such coercive action. The court noted that makers of Maatr, which is scheduled to release this month, had been issued summons but they never appeared before the court. The company is seeking an order of restraint against the release of this film and a court-appointed receiver till the debt is paid. The film Maatr, starring Raveena Tandon, Alisha Khan and Madhur Mittal is about a mother whose daughter is raped and dies, while the mother carries on with her fight to get justice. The petitioner had requested that the court should pass an order restraining the producers from parting with the release prints and/or negatives of the film. The company also wants the court to pass an order restraining Rizvi from selling or creating any third party rights whatsoever in the negatives of his previously released seven films - John Day, India Metro, A Flat, Fast Forward, A Wednesday, Ahista Ahista, Charges: A Joint Effort as well. The court has said that the injunction will operate immediately, while the producers be given the order copy by April 4. The case has been scheduled for further hearing on April 10. ALSO SEE: Before Maatr, here are 10 'mast mast' photos of Raveena Tandon ALSO WATCH: Intolerance in India wasn't born yesterday, says Raveena Tandon --- ENDS --- advertisement As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ As the fight over the seat started, AIADMK spokesperson CR Saraswathi, who was campaigning at the 42nd ward in support of VK Sasikala's nephew and party deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran, had slippers and tomatoes thrown at her. By Pramod Madhav: The whole of Tamil Nadu is concentrating on the upcoming RK Nagar by-election, which is now being considered as the zone that will decide the future course of politics in the state. As the fight over the seat started, AIADMK spokesperson CR Saraswathi, who was campaigning at 42nd ward in support of VK Sasikala's nephew and party deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran, had slippers and tomatoes thrown at her. advertisement Saraswathi was heard screaming, "You are throwing stones and slippers at me. Is this right? We've come to ask for your votes but you're throwing slippers at us!" Team EPS and team OPS have been hurling allegations at one another, with Dinakaran accusing the rebel party faction led by O Panneerselvam of manipulating its poll symbol of electricity pole as 'two leaves'. Not to be outdone, team OPS blamed team EPS of distributing money for votes. And in support to the claim by team OPS, a man was yesterday arrested for distributing money for vote, and what apparently gave him away was his flashy 'hat' (symbol for team EPS) carrying the AIADMK flag's colour. Already many videos have gone viral on social media where people had altercation with such money distributors. PROMISES MADE Dhinakaran, the candidate from team EPS for the by-elections, has promised people that should he win, 57,000 house would be constructed for RK Nagar residents. Team OPS, which is fielding Madhusudhanan as its candidate, has on the other hand promised a judicial inquiry into Jayalalitha's death within a week of their victory, and to also turn the late TN Chief Minister's house into a memorial. When asked how their promises are related to RK Nagar victory, they said that who ever wins the by-poll, will control the party and by the government. Watch Video: Sasikala's nephew Dhinakaran files nomination for RK Nagar by-poll Also Read: Battle for Jaya's RK Nagar: Man arrested for bribing voters, TTV Dinakaran denies he's a supporter RK Nagar by-poll: Armed with new 'twin lights' symbol, Panneerselvam says they represent Jayalalithaa and MGR --- ENDS --- The Election Commission has received complaints of election fraud and election symbol misrepresentation in poll-bound Dr. Radhakrishnan (RK) Nagar, the late Jayalalithaa's former constituency in Chennai. By Ganesh Radha-Udayakumar, India Today Web Desk: The Election Commission has decided that as many as 10 companies of paramilitary forces will be on poll duty in Chennai's Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar, the Tamil news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai (PT) reported today. On April 12, 'RK' Nagar will elect a new lawmaker to the Assembly seat left vacant after the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December. advertisement Three companies of paramilitary forces reached Chennai today, and the rest will reportedly arrive in the next couple of days, PT said. A single company is made up of around 100 personnel. A FLURRY OF COMPLAINTS The poll panel's decision comes just days after an All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) faction led by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam asked it to deploy paramilitary forces in Chennai - "to avoid use of money or muscle," as AIADMK MP V Maithreyan put it. Another faction of the AIADMK, led by Deputy General Secretary TTV Dinakaran, faces allegations from both the Panneerselvam (or 'OPS') camp and the main Opposition party - the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) - that it's been trying to buy votes in RK Nagar. Both the DMK and 'Team OPS' have complained to the Election Commission, and yesterday, a man was arrested in Chennai for allegedly bribing voters. DINAKARAN CAMP DENIES ALLEGATIONS Although news reports said he was a supporter of the Dinakaran camp , the AIADMK Deputy General Secretary denied this just hours later. And Deepa Jayakumar, Jayalalithaa's niece and a candidate in the RK Nagar by-polls, said the Pannerselvam camp, too, was bribing voters , according to a report by the Tamil daily Thina Thanthi. As if all that wasn't enough, the Election Commission has had one more complaint to deal with. The poll panel today issued a show cause notice to the Panneerselvam-led faction, after TTV Dinakaran wrote to it on Monday to allege that his party colleagues-turned-foes were 'manipulating' their poll symbol - a pole with divergent branches tipped with light bulbs. This 'twin lights' symbol looks a lot like the AIADMK's iconic 'twin leaves' symbol, and 'Team OPS' has been issued a notice for allegedly misrepresenting the first as the second, which the Election Commission has temporarily frozen. (With inputs from PTI) WATCH THE VIDEO: --- ENDS --- When Milan Schipper was looking at flights from Amsterdam to Sydney, he found one ticket that was almost $300 cheaper than the rest. So I thought, Well, lets book that one,' the 18-year-old Dutch man said to CBS News. He was planning on spending some time in Australia before starting college backpacking along the lush coastal landscapes, and maybe working a little. But instead he ended up in an airport on Canadas East Coast the weekend before last, facing down a blizzard. I thought I was going to Australia, but that turned out a little different, he said with a chuckle. He first realized something wasnt quite right when he landed in Toronto for a stopover and caught a glimpse of the Air Canada plane that would take him to his final destination. The plane was really small and so I figured, would that make it to Australia? he said. He boarded it anyway. Then he saw the map on the screen on the seat in front of him. I saw the flight plan was going to go right, not left. It was about the time that I realized there was another Sydney, he said. I felt terrible. I think I [swore] in my head for like 10 minutes. But there was nothing I could do about it because I was already up in the air. Not properly dressed He landed in snow-covered Sydney, N.S., with a blizzard on the horizon, sporting nothing but a T-shirt, sweatpants and a thin jacket. I was not dressed for the occasion, he said. He found some airport employees and explained the situation. They booked a flight straight back to Toronto, and from there, home, where his very amused father picked him up at the airport. He felt really sorry for me, but he thought only I could do such a thing, Schipper said. He also laughed an awful lot just like everyone else. His father, however, is incorrect. There was a U.S. woman on the same flight as him who made the same error, he said. Whats more, in 2002 two British teenagers ended up in Sydney, N.S., while trying to visit the Land Down Under, as did an Argentine tourist in 2008, a Dutch man and his grandson in 2009 and an Italian couple in 2010. In the latter case, they stayed in town for a few days and enjoyed some fresh seafood and Cape Breton hospitality. Schipper, however, didnt stick around long enough to take in the sights and sounds of Canadas East Coast. I only saw the parking lot of the airport, he said. Hours of heavy rains overnight caused rivers to burst their banks, flooding homes with mud in Putumayo province, Joinfo.com reports with reference to the BBC. An unknown number of people are missing. One army officer said the main local hospital was struggling to cope. Mr Santos, who has travelled to the area, said troops had been deployed as part of a national emergency response. He declared a state of emergency in the region. The national fire service said at least 190 people had been injured. The regions governor, Sorrel Aroca, told Colombian media that whole neighbourhoods had been buried. Rescue services said their efforts had been hampered by continuing bad weather and damaged infrastructure. There are mobility issues on almost 80% of the roads, and from where the road ends, it is three hours to where the landslide took place, said one police officer. Bridges have also been swept away. Jose Antonio Castro, mayor of the provincial capital Mocoa, told Caracol radio that the town was totally isolated, without electricity and water. On arriving at the scene, President Santos told reporters, My heart and the hearts of all Colombians are with the victims of this tragedy. An alarm had sounded as the rivers levels rose, leading many people to leave their homes for shelter, and avoiding wider loss of life, Colombias El Tiempo newspaper said. The mudslides were caused by the rise of the Mocoa river and three tributaries, a representative of the National Disaster Risk Management Unit told AFP news agency. Rescue services said 17 neighbourhoods had been affected and Mr Castro said his own house had also been destroyed. The mud is up to the roof, he told Caracol radio. The region, bordering Ecuador and Peru, is heavily dependent on agriculture and the petroleum industry. While landslides and heavy rains are common in the mountainous area, March was Colombias rainiest month since 2011, according to the state meteorological agency. In neighbouring Peru, more than 90 people have died since the start of the year because of unusually heavy rainfall, which also caused landslides and flash floods. Dashcams have become a popular car accessory among drivers and can prove invaluable in an accident or robbery. The dashboard-mounted cameras can be powered by a USB charger or connected directly to your cars electronics, and usually have a few minutes of standalone battery life. Dashcams record constantly, overwriting previous recordings in a continuous loop unless they are interrupted, for example, by an accident. Using a built-in G-sensor, dashcams can automatically save a video of an accident and will not overwrite the data with further recording. This makes them extremely useful for insurance purposes and providing evidence in road accidents. An important factor to consider when purchasing a dashcam is resolution and recording quality, as this could be crucial in identifying events or objects surrounding an incident. Below are some of the best-rated dashcams you can buy in South Africa. Transcend DrivePro 220 R2,999 1080p recording 2.4-inch LCD display GPS receiver, G-Sensor Snapshots Looped recording Drive assist 16GB MicroSD card Auto-Vox D1 Dash Cam R2,880 1080p recording 2.7-inch LCD display Looped recording G-Sensor Snapshots 32GB MicroSD card Garmin Dash Cam 30 R2,799 1080p recording 1.4-inch LCD display Snapshots G-Sensor Looped recording 4GB MicroSD card Papago P3 R2,399 1080p recording 2.4-inch LCD display G-Sensor, GPS receiver Looped recording Drive Assist MicroSD card not included Mini 0805 R1,896 2,304 x 1,296 recording 1.5-inch TFT display G-Sensor, GPS receiver Looped recording Drive Assist MicroSD card not included 1080p recording 2.7-inch LCD display G-Sensor, GPS receiver Looped recording MicroSD card not included Transcend DrivePro 100 R1,538 1080p recording 2.4-inch LCD display Looped recording Snapshots G-Sensor 16GB MicroSD card Now read: Five futuristic flying cars that have already been built World oil prices dropping Newspaper: What changes expected in "Brussels package" of Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization talks? 13 billion cubic meters of natural gas found off Israel coast State Security Service of Azerbaijan is scared by YouTube video about situation in Nakhichevan MFA: Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs agree to expedite their negotiations President: UAE is a responsible energy supplier as long as the world needs oil and gas EU has serious concerns about US inflation reduction act Head of IMF: The global surge in consumer prices may be close to the high point Germany wants EU to resume trade talks with US as soon as possible Pashinyan's closed meeting with MPs of ruling Civil Contract faction is over Hungary will not support EU efforts to help Ukraine with joint funds Greece to soon ban sale of spyware U.S. military delegation arrives in Turkey German industry calls for postponement of global minimum corporate tax Podolyak: Ukraine has never refused to negotiate Elon Musk calls on 'independent-minded' voters to vote for Republicans Bezos Earth Fund pledges $1 billion by 2030 to protect carbon stocks and biodiversity 7 people killed in collision between truck and passenger bus in Turkey Nikol Pashinyan holds closed meeting with members of ruling party faction Qatar's foreign minister calls criticism of West 'arrogant' and 'racist' Algeria officially applies to join BRICS group Delegations headed by Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs meet in Washington French Finance Minister calls on EU to oppose U.S. Armenian President: Aliyev's statements about intentional destruction of mosques have nothing to do with reality German MFA reports constructive talks in EU on new sanctions against Iran Kazakhstani President Tokayev instructs to increase oil supplies bypassing Russia President of Artsakh holds expanded working meeting Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports to receive more than 250 billion drams in 2023 Borrell says EU is dependent on supplies from China Armenia official: Peace treaty implies restoration of sovereign territory Guterres thinks mankind is heading for climate hell Dollar, euro gain value in Armenia General: Iran riots were US plan to derail nuclear deal Minister: 'Lydian Armenia' may start exploitation of gold mine on Mountain Amulsar Armenia political scientist: Balance is formed in region thanks to Iran Minister: 70 schools will be repaired or newly built in Armenia in 2023 UAE lifts most COVID-19 restrictions for tourists Political scientist: There is no Armenian-American agenda President of Finland says country has no plans to host nuclear weapons Russian Ambassador to Armenia: We are not used to making PR and playing games Flight restrictions extended to 11 airports in Russia Kopirkin: Spiritual core will help Armenia, Russia overcome difficulties, challenges Armenia ranks among top 5 CIS countries for winter tourism Envoy: Russian president awarded Armenian philologist with medal Iranian intelligence arrests 26 terrorists: an Azerbaijani citizen among them Russian Defense Ministry confirms: Azerbaijan fired at Khramort village in Artsakh Number of oil and gas drilling rigs is up in US Economy minister: Azerbaijan aggression prevented increase of Armenia wheat sowing areas Gegharkunik governor: There are observers who recorded that Azerbaijan carried out aggression against Armenia The National Interest: Iran turns attention to the Caucasus Tokayev: Kazakhstan is ready to use other measures, besides diplomacy, for its defense Economy minister: Primary agricultural products ensure 11%-13% of Armenia GDP FAO: World grain prices rise in October Kremlin urges Yerevan and Baku to refrain from destabilization Governor of Armenias Tavush on possible handover of enclaves to Azerbaijan: Not being discussed now Governor of Armenias Vayots Dzor: We have pastures that are monitored by Azerbaijan WSJ: Sullivan is in contact with Ushakov and Patrushev on Ukraine Vayots Dzor governor: Azerbaijan military that infiltrated Armenia can be seen with naked eye from Jermuk city Armenia President: Military clashes, hostilities have direct impact on soil, air pollution IRGC seizes over 1,500 weapons in Iran riots Minister: $879 million worth of agricultural products exported from Armenia Japan to exterminate 150 thousand chickens because of bird flu outbreak Armenia informational online platform for promoting highly qualified specialists engagement is launched South Korea's president apologizes for crush in downtown Seoul Documento: Greek PM Mitsotakis used intelligence services to spy on dozens of people Close to $98M to be allocated from Armenia state budget for agricultural projects in 2023 Man who set self on fire near Armenia government mansion is in severe condition Anti-Iranian action to take place in Baku UN promises to lift restrictions on Russian grain exports in near future Fighter jet crashes in Saudi Arabia About $770M to be assigned to Armenia territorial administration, infrastructure ministry next year Armenia parliament vice-speaker: There is very important note in Sochi statement Copper falls in price New York bank robberies up 42% this year Armenia President to attend climate change convention in Egypt Gold prices change slightly World oil prices falling Mirzoyan, Blinken, Bayramov to meet in Washington today How long will it take to know US midterm elections results? Iranian Armenian MP: Iran-Armenia trade is expected to reach $1B U.S. National Park Service urges against licking the Sonora desert toad Azerbaijan army units open fire in direction of Armenia positions Minister: Britain's government faces tough decisions Pashinyan: Teachers in Armenia must get 800,000, 1,000,000 and 1,200,000 drams wages Boris Johnson from fighting for Conservative Party leader over fears of losing income Greece slams Turkish authorities' temporary ban on Greek official's entry Scientifically proven: EU is inscrutable OPEC: To avoid unrestrained volatility we need to invest in oil U.S. arms sales in Europe are soaring Turkmenistan becomes regional energy center Kishida pledges to strengthen Japan's naval and military capabilities Germany and eight other EU member states plan to expand sanctions against Iran Iranian Parliament Speaker's visit to Azerbaijan postponed 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 Civilian exploded on mine in Artsakh Iran successfully launches Ghaem 100 rocket, making the US nervous STEPANAKERT. Armenian News-NEWS.am interviewed President of the Artsakh Republic on occasion of the first anniversary of the April war. April 2 marks the anniversary of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Karabakh. What conclusions did Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR) draw from these events? Official Stepanakert, certainly, fully analyzed the April war, considering its various aspects, including military, political, economic, information, psychological and humanitarian. Appropriate conclusions were drawn, a lot of work is being done to increase the defense capacity of the armed forces of our country, to adjust the strategic goals and tasks of the army in counteracting adversarys aggressive policy in various directions. The Azerbaijani side rejects arrangements on introduction of investigation mechanisms. What does it mean? This speaks volumes. First and foremost, such a destructive policy of official Baku demonstrates that it is the Azerbaijani side that initiates the violation of the ceasefire regime, various acts of a terrorist character at different sections of the border. Secondly, it shows that Azerbaijan never gives up its aggressive plans to destabilize the situation in the region. Thirdly, Baku's policy is a manifestation of disrespect for the undertaken obligations, disrespect for international law and torpedoing of mediators efforts on peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict. Is unilateral introduction of these mechanisms possible? Implementation of the abovementioned measures unilaterally is technically possible. But in this case, it will have no effect at all, because all parties should be interested to introduce the mechanisms and take measures to prevent violation of ceasefire regime. Non-participation of one of the parties in this process negates all the work. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have repeatedly stated about the need of Karabakh's participation in the negotiation process. Isnt it the time for Artsakh's participation, given deadlock in talks after the April events? We have repeatedly stated that it is simply impossible to achieve a comprehensive negotiated settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict without a full-fledged format of negotiations with the participation of official Stepanakert at all the stages. Mediators also realize this. The issue of restoring a full-fledged negotiation format is only a matter of time, and this will happen sooner or later. What do you think of permanent threats from Baku? As I have already mentioned, official Baku pursues a destructive, aggressive and anti-Armenian policy. Their policy is not only about information and propaganda, this also is manifested every day in the form of various violations of the ceasefire regime, continuous provocations and attempts to carry out subversive and terrorist actions. We, of course, take this into account and take appropriate steps to maintain peace and stability in the region and to preserve strategic initiative in the hands of the NKR Defense Army along the entire border. Is it possible to return to peaceful relations between the two peoples in the future? Unlike the policy of official Baku, which is based on Nazi ideas and hatred towards Armenians, we do not hate Azerbaijani people and our fight is not against them. The Azerbaijani people became hostage to the policy of hatred displayed by their own authorities. Peace between our nations is possible, but it should be based on the principles of equality, neighborliness and mutual respect. By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today conducted country-wide searches at 110 locations as part of its major crackdown on 500 shell companies suspected to be generating huge amounts of black money. The raid operations across 16 states began early morning with the ED sleuths swooping down at market places, business centres, residential premises and even houses put up on rent to hunt down the allegedly dubious and suspicious firms which the agency believes are the "backbone" of black money in the country. advertisement By the last update, the ED teams had visited locations in cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Panaji, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Srinagar, Indore and some in Haryana. In one instance, the agency found Rs 20 crore deposited in a bank account of a dubious operator which will be "considered for attachment". The agency said it searched a Mumbai-based operator who ran 700 shell companies with 20 dummy directors and had "converted Rs 46.7 crore for Chaggan Bhujbal", the jailed ex-Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister. The central probe agency, which has a total strength of about 800 officers and staff at its various regional and zonal offices in the country, was virtually out on the field to undertake one of the biggest operations in the country against shell firms. The drive was part of a recent PMO directive to check the illegal operations of these companies. "The operations are based on various investigations done by the agency and some others as part of their anti-black money crackdown charter," ED Director Karnal Singh told PTI. The ED teams also visited those who are allegedly connected to some of the most prominent corruption and black money cases being probed in the country at present. The agency said it recovered documents and raided those dubious firms which were "used in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam to launder proceeds of crime". It said the action was carried out against the operators allegedly used by ex-Noida Chief Engineer Yadav Singh "to convert his illegal wealth". The agency also searched those companies allegedly related to Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Rajeshwar Exports and others to unearth their modus operandi. Reddy is facing separate CBI and ED probes in cases of alleged disproportionate assets, corruption and money laundering. The agency, in a statement, said it had come across various companies which were used with the objective to "conceal the nature, origin, or destination of misappropriated funds by concealing the beneficiary owner or proceed of crime generated out of corruption, fraud and other such crimes". "Cases of foreign outward remittances of dubious nature by certain companies had also been detected. Investigations had revealed that certain entry operators and fraudsters were using network of companies some of which have been used repeatedly while some other were discarded after use or kept dormant for a long period," it said. MORE PTI NES AAR --- ENDS --- advertisement STEPANAKERT. President of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR), Bako Sahakyan, on Saturday issued an address in connection with the one year anniversary of the Four Day April War. Dear compatriots, A year ago on the night of April the 1st, Azerbaijan undertook the large-scale military operation along the whole perimeter of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani border. The official Baku again tried to solve the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict by force, destroy the independent Artsakh statehood, and commit a new genocide of the Armenian people. The enemys aggression completely failed and it suffered considerable human, material and moral losses unable to realize any of its treacherous programs. The adversary faced our armed forces, our valiant soldiers, our population that had consolidated into an army, the entire Armenian people, the Mother Armenia and the Diaspora, who immediately stood next to Artsakh. The Armenian people have proved once again that free and independent homeland is the highest value for us and that we are capable of defending our state from any encroachments. Unfortunately, we had irretrievable losses as a result of the insidious and provocative actions of the adversary. Dozens of servicemen and civilians perished. Eternal honor and glory to all our martyrs! Their bright memory will always remain in our hearts, their bravery and heroism will become a guideline for the future generations. Defeated in the battlefield, Azerbaijan has not abandoned its expansionist programs. It continues to conduct anti-Armenian policy, does not refrain from implementing offensive operations in political, information and diplomatic spheres, and keeps violating the ceasefire regime in different sectors of the borders almost on a daily basis. The authorities of Azerbaijan does not hide that it is pursuing a revanchist policy. Such a stance is nothing else than a terrorism, another heinous and inhuman manifestation of genocidal policy. All these once again confirm a century-long truth for our people: we must always be strong and united, protect our freedom and independence and build a worthy future for the generations to come. Dear people, Our spirit is firm, our will is unshakeable, our purposes are just. We defend our native land, our homes and families, develop our country by painstaking work. This is a sacred mission that our people will always carry out with dignity, reads the address by the President of the Republic of Artsakh. YEREVAN. The April war once again vividly proved that Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] can never be part of Azerbaijan under any status. The aforementioned is noted in a statement which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia has issued on Saturday. It has been a year since Azerbaijans April aggression. During four days of April 2016 Azerbaijan conducted the same type of aggressive actions and barbarism against population of Artsakh, that it had carried out for about four years in the beginning of 1990s, when it had tried to deprive the people of Nagorno-Karabakh from their right to live in their homeland and to exercise their right to self-determination. We pay tribute to the memory of all heroes who fell repelling the attack of Azerbaijan against Artsakh and who gave their lives to prevent mass atrocities against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. While the international community was condemning the gross violations of International Humanitarian Law by the Azerbaijani armed forces, Baku was praising the acts of barbarism and their perpetrators. Azerbaijans adventurism severely damaged the peace process. On May 16 in Vienna, upon the initiative of the US Secretary of State, and on June 20 in St. Petersburg, at the invitation of the President of Russia, the meetings of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place aimed at stabilising the situation, preventing new escalation and creation of conditions conducive to the advancement of the negotiation process. As an outcome of those meetings it was emphasised that it is necessary to settle the conflict exclusively through peaceful means, to strictly adhere to the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, which have no time limitations. It was agreed to establish in the shortest possible time an investigation mechanism for ceasefire violations and to expand the capacities of the team of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. However, Azerbaijan refused to implement the reached agreements and found itself in an isolation by opposing to the international community. The highest leadership of Azerbaijan openly lies when it claims that the Co-Chair countries allegedly recognise Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. It pretends as if it does not understand what the Co-Chair countries are referring to when they say that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should implement its right to self-determination through the legally-binding free expression of will. Armenia shares the same approach: indeed, the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh should be determined by the people of Artsakh. That forgery of Baku exposes the failure of the policy of Azerbaijan. After failing in the negotiation process Baku resorted to the military solution but failed again. The April war once again vividly proved that Artsakh can never be part of Azerbaijan under any status, and that the implementation of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination is irreversible. In response to Azerbaijans continuous threats to use force, the international community clearly warns that it will not be tolerated. As a guarantor of Artsakhs security, Armenia will ensure the safety of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Together with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries we will continue the efforts aimed at exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, reads the Armenia MFA statement. YEREVAN. Much has been done in Armenia to ensure the transparency of the entire electoral process. Boleslav Pirshtuk, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus and coordinator of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS) observers group that will monitor Sundays parliamentary election in Armenia, stated the aforesaid at a press conference on Saturday. Pirshtuk noted this after his talk with Eduard Sharmazanov, Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia. In his words, the IPA CIS experts group had arrived in Armenia earlier, met with many stakeholders, and made its respective conclusions. They [conclusions] are very positive, since you [Armenia] really have developed a complete, very systemic election code that takes into account the interests of all stakeholders, stressed Pirshtuk. And we were most pleased and surprised that you virtually dont have antagonism. There are virtually no complaints from opposition parties (); this, undoubtedly, is a great success. He added that it is very important that the actual voting and the counting of votes had become transparent in Armenia. And its a great progress that you are using certain degrees of safeguard [against electoral fraud] (), and that you fill follow all this with technical measures, noted Boleslav Pirshtuk. In his conviction, a truly objective election system has been developed in Armenia. YEREVAN. President Serzh Sargsyan on Saturday received a delegation comprising Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), who are in Armenia to conduct an observation mission in Sundays parliamentary election in the country. First, the President stressed this votings importance for Armenia and its citizenry. Also, Sargsyan and the visiting MEPs reflected on the work that was carried out at the preparatory phase of this election. In this connection, the President thanked the European Union (EU) for its considerable assistance to Armenia during those preparations. Furthermore, the interlocutors underscored the observation missions professional and high-quality work to be carried out during Sundays election monitoring. In addition, they conferred on Armenia-EU relations and cooperation. At the request of the guests, President Serzh Sargsyan presented the priorities of Armenias foreign and domestic policy, and the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and the respective outlook of the Armenian party to this conflict. By Priyanka Sharma: For the first time in north India, Safdarjung Hospital in the Capital successfully conducted skin harvesting treatment from a cadaver on Thursday. After 81-year-old Ratish Mohan Vaish, a retired defence officer passed away on Thursday, his skin was donated for transplant. Speaking to Mail Today, Dr A K Rai, director of Safdarjung Hospital said: "It is the first skin harvesting in north India done by surgeons of Plastic Surgery and Anatomy at our hospital with the help of Dhadhichi Deh Dan Samiti (an organisation promoting organ donation)." advertisement Skin and eyes of a cadaver are best suited for transplant within six hours after death. (Prof) Dr RP Narayan, department head at Burns and Plastic Surgery in Safdarjung Hospital informed Mail Today, "After receiving the phone call, our team of doctors started preparing to graft out the skin. We cleansed the entire body and four sheets of skin were grafted out." Skin is grafted from a special medical device called-skin dermatome. "We wanted to procure more skin from the body but due to the high temperature on Thursday, the body started to develop the usual stiffness after death," he said. Health experts say that once the skin is removed from a dead body, it can be safely stored for five years under special medical techniques. Dr Narayan said, "Donation of skin shall go a long way in treating serious cases of patients with burn injuries. Since the demand is more and supply is very less, we encourage people for more such donations." --- ENDS --- Why Are Corporations and Municipalities Moving to Zero Waste? Municipalities and states are mandating that large producers of waste food must not send it to a landfill. The administration understands that waste food has the largest impact on the environment, and large corporations are already striving for zero waste (and finding value in the waste they can recycle). There is a general movement among much of the public that zero waste is a benefit. For many, this is driven by its association with global warming. Even for those who don't believe in global warming, there is an understanding that zero waste is better for us individually (and by implication, better for the environment). Stakeholders in corporations want to know that the company they invest in, work for, or do business with, is friendly to the environment. A corporation that claims zero waste is viewed as one that is better than one that is not, and a company that claims it is carbon neutral is even better. In the EU, large corporations must report their carbon footprint on their annual reports, just as they report profit and loss and a balance sheet. This awareness is spreading around the globe. While the movement toward being greener is driving the movement towards zero waste, the public are getting closer to landfills. What used to be "over the hill" or "miles away" is now closer to home as the population grows and suburbia spreads. A landfill that was 50 miles away from houses a decade ago is closer than ever. Landfills smell, and people don't like them. The main cause of the smell is from rotting food. While people like to recycle paper, plastic, and metals, it is waste food that is the major cause of pollution and greenhouse gasses. When organic material is buried on a landfill, it decomposes in the absence of oxygen to create methane (CH4) which is 72 times worse for the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2). In states where population density is high, this closeness to landfills is a major problem. Not only are smells an issue but finding the space to dump trash is becoming increasingly difficult. Administrations are realizing that we never throw things away; we just move the problem somewhere else. If, instead, we can recycle all that paper, plastic, and metal, we don't need the space on landfills. But what do we do with the waste food, which at 21 percent of the trash usually makes up the largest component of landfills? If we can solve this problem, we can reduce or eliminate smells and make a significant impact on the environment (by the reduction of greenhouse gasses) as well. This article originally appeared in the April 2017 issue of Occupational Health & Safety. "Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee is brought to you by Miller Brewing Company, calling Milwaukee home since 1855. For the entire month of March, we're serving up fun articles on bars, clubs and beverages including guides, the latest trends, bar reviews, the results of our Best of Bars poll and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in! Two votes. That's all that separated first and second place in the best theme bar category this year, one of the tightest and most competitive contests of the entire month. Would it be Safe House, the secretive Downtown spy haven which has claimed the title for the past eight years? Or would it be its feisty rival Camp Bar, inching ever closer year after year to the top spot? In this battle between password-protected pubs and cozy cabins, the former takes another win. Yes, Safe House claimed its ninth straight win in the category. The sneaky spy-themed spot continues to be a hit with tourists and Milwaukeeans who enjoy having some fun before you even walk in the door especially if you have friends who don't know the password to get in and then being immersed in a world full of spy-themed surprises, from hidden walls, narrow staircases and decor that always has you finding something new, no matter how many times you've looked at it. And since it was remodeled early last year, there's more secrets for even veteran agents to discover. Though if these poll results were any sign, Safe House better watch its back ... because Camp Bar is coming. OnMilwaukee editors' pick: Foundation Tiki Bar Runners up: 2. Camp Bar 3. Foundation Tiki Bar 4. Old German Beer Hall 5. Bryant's This year we also asked a variety of prominent Milwaukeeans to weigh in on their pick for specific categories. For this category, we consulted Allen Halas, creator of the Breaking & Entering local music blog. Halas' pick: Bugsy's Back Alley Speakeasy The first time I walked into Bugsys, it literally felt like you were transported to an old-timey speakeasy. Its literally in a back alley, almost completely unmarked, and youre not completely sure that youre walking into the right building. Once youre inside, though, its the complete "best kept secret" experience. On a busy night, its almost like theres a buzz in the building and it's not just the patrons. Theres live music, occasionally dancers, and you almost feel like at any moment, the jig could be up and everyone will have to disguise themselves. When youre talking about theme bars, Bugsys nails it. No, you didnt click on a broken link. This April Fools article you were looking for expired at 11:59 p.m. on April 1. Heres why: While we found our jokes pretty funny on April 1 and hope you did, too 20+ years of experience shows our readers are less amused for the next 364 days. Even jokes told in good fun can be misconstrued when taken out of context. The OnMilwaukee April Fools tradition stretches back to 2001, according to founder and Publisher Andy Tarnoff. Back in college, Andy says April Fools Day was a beloved special edition that helped writers at his school newspaper, The GW Hatchet, blow off steam with some not-so-gentle and very profane satire, and it was a practice he wanted to continue when he started OnMilwaukee.com in 1998. A screen shot of the first OnMilwaukee April Fools' edition from 2001. X Over the years, the OnMilwaukee April Fools edition has ruffled more than a few feathers, although its content rarely extends beyond a PG-13 rating. Andy and other early staffers remember angry phone calls and emails, especially one from the Milwaukee City Attorney who called him a lowlife, and a local TV exec who didnt find it funny when our staff Photoshopped a sign on his weather dog that read, Need more bitches. Or the microbrewery that is still annoyed that we promoted their Milorganite beer. Or the suburban police department that didnt like our implication that its keystone cops couldnt find the Milwaukee Lion, or its friend, Barry the Ocelot. And on and on. But the staff of OnMilwaukee has pulled the wool over so many eyes, weve lost count. Despite the ridiculous photos and outlandish articles, there was the time when a TV reporter took our story about freedom fries at Bastille Days in 2003 and ran with it as real news (sorry, East Town Association). Or the angry calls to Betty Brinn Childrens Museum after we announced that the museum was opening a bar for stressed-out parents (sorry, Betty Brinn). Or when the local newspaper made its own version of our April Fools joke that they called The Leek, as a play on The Onion. It wasnt very funny, and needless to say, it didnt come back the next year. No, Shailene didn't really slap Matt LaFleur. X Speaking of The Onion, yes, we get it. Were big fans, and no, were not trying to be them. Except for one day per year although we do spend months coming up with stories for one silly day. And then they disappear, forever, except for in our collective memory. So, why do we do it? Mostly, because April Fools Day provides both our readers and our staff a much-needed laugh. We dont aim to hurt anyones feelings last year, for example, we made the decision to avoid any pandemic jokes. Well poke fun at anyone and everyone, including ourselves. Also, though, its a team-wide effort. The planning meetings start in early spring, and everyone is invited to pitch ideas. Not only do our writers and designers touch every article, but our development team and salespeople participate in all parts of the creative process. While we might start with 100 topics, we all slice and dice and funny them up, and thats why you dont see any bylines on these articles. We tweak parts of our back end, too, like turning off RSS feeds that would remain visible on April 2. Everyone chips in, because our analytics show that a large percentage of the visitors who come to OnMilwaukee on April 1 are seeing us for the first time ever. Wed like them to return when we get back to business the next day. On that note, historically, April 1 is our most-read day of the year, and some of the stories have gone viral in a time when Facebook and Twitter didnt even exist yet. Traffic is typically three times higher than an average day, sometimes more.Social media just makes it better. No matter how insane we go and believe us, you have to get in a special state of mind to write Kathy Mykleby changes her name, and face, to Michael Kathyby thousands fall for it every single time. But wait, there's more ... This year, we have a little Easter Egg for you. Were launching Milwordle, which isnt a joke and you may have noticed it yesterday on the site. Instead, its a Milwaukeeized version of your favorite five-letter word game. Ours is different from what you play each day because it includes proper nouns as well as regular words, all connected to Milwaukee in some way. Its hard and its fun, and weve been playing it ourselves and having a blast. You can find it here. One more thing ... And, if you're new here, let us take the time to introduce you to OnMilwaukee. We like to think we have a sense of humor the other 364 days of the year, but we also write a bunch of serious and informative articles and guides, too. In fact, we've published more than 60,000 stories during our many years on the scene. We make it easy to find them, too. You can just use the /on prefix to search our site by content. For example: You get the point. Give it a try! Were honored that you found our effort funny. Were flattered even if you didnt. And were all laughing with you, too. The latest Let WurstBar be one of your best State Fair experiences Brady Street's WurstBar is a new vendor at the State Fair this year. Stop by and say hallo! Writer and researcher Chintan Girish Modi created a secret Facebook group to improve awareness about Pakistan's culture and to encourage an exchange of ideas and dialogue promoting peace through social media. This month, writer and researcher Chintan Girish Modi created a secret Facebook group to improve awareness about Pakistan's culture and to encourage an exchange of ideas and dialogue. Only the group's fifteen members, students of Chintan's inaugural online course on contemporary Pakistan, could access all that he would share on the online forum over the next two weeks. While the course fees were Rs 6000, over half of the participants were supported through full or partial scholarships because he did not want money to be a deterrent for anyone wishing to learn. advertisement And although there were no tests, the course did include five assignments. "Learning about Pakistan through the lens of arts and popular culture is also a way of learning about India. We have a shared heritage," says Chintan. As a child, the Mumbai resident had "strange longings" to visit Pakistan. After he visited Lahore as a teacher through the Exchange for Change programme run by the Citizens Archive of Pakistan and Routes 2 Roots (an NGO in India) in 2012, he returned determined to help build bridges. Two years later, he founded Friendships Across Borders: Aao Dosti Karein to promote dialogue and peace through social media, storytelling and workshops. "It is possible for human beings to learn critical thinking, non-violent communication and conflict transformation. We don't have to be at the mercy of the stereotypes we were taught," he says. His second course on contemporary Pakistan began March 16, and a gender course for men begins March 24. They are connected, he says. "I think war is deeply rooted in patriarchal culture, and toxic masculinity is closely connected to dominating, suppressing, competing and conquering-all of which are processes that instigate violence." Corrigendum: There was an error in the print edition and the same has been corrected online. --- ENDS --- The Milwaukee Art Museum announced a new partnership with Buffalo Wild Wings this morning that will bring nearly three-quarters of a million dollars to the institution over the next five years. The chain of sit-down buffalo wings restaurants has committed $725,000 in sponsorship money to the Art Museum through 2022, in exchange for naming rights to the brise soleil atop the Quadracci Pavilion, designed by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. In addition, BW3, as the chain is commonly known among its many fans, will take over the Calatrava Cafe, which has seen a number of chefs come and go in recent years. In keeping with the contract, the restaurant will add a new MAM-exclusive dish, Chicken Picasso, and will tinker with its logo for the MAM cafe to include an image from Pablo Picassos series, "A Rooster." Beginning in 2018, the cafe will host the annual Wings Fest event upstairs in the museums Windhover Hall, just beneath the newly dubbed Buffalo Wild Wings Hot Milwaukee Art Museum Wings. Prior to the BW3 launch, the museum's white "wings" will also get a deliciously dark brown paint job to make them look more like barbecue chicken wings. The refreshed brise soleil will be unveiled during a traditional christening ceremony. Following the ceremony, there will be a a musical tribute, featuring four artists performing genre-bending renditions of the Bette Midler cult classic, "Breaking Wind Beneath My Wings." BW3 will also become the main sponsor of the MAM After Dark series, which will be renamed B-Dubs Late Night Wang Thang. Each event will feature an all-you-can-eat wings bar, as well as music from Wild Life, a Paul McCartney tribute band. The chain which started with a single restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, in 1982 and has its headquarters in Minneapolis has roughly a dozen restaurants in the greater Milwaukee area. "We are thrilled to announce this new deal," said Milwaukee Art Museum executive director Marcelle Polednik, licking tangy barbecue sauce from her fingers. "Weve had a lot of support from all sectors of this community, which has been great to us, but this is the most delicious deal weve done in a long time." In addition to naming rights to the museums "wings," Poledniks title will be changed from Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director to the Pucker Up Citrus Seasoning with a Pinch of Pepper Director. Mayor Tom Barrett said he was thrilled to see new corporate sponsorship of what has become Milwaukees signature image: the "Calatrava" wings. "Its really such a delectable day when a company like B-Dubs decides to invest in Milwaukee," Barrett said in a statement. "I hereby declare today Milwingee Day." At least one staffer at Milwaukee Art Museum was not enamored of the deal. Speaking under the condition of anonymity, the museum maintenance worker said he fears that MAM's pristine white floors and walls to say nothing of the priceless art will become smudged and stained with grease and an astonishing variety of sauces, thanks to this new partnership. "Dont get me wrong, I love wings and I love that sticky-sweet feeling you get on your hands when you eat them, but have you ever tried to clean Asian Zing or Desert Heat off a matte white wall? Yeah, I didnt think so," he said pointedly. "I don't need every painting in here looking like a Jackson Pollock in four months." Sweden-based furniture giant IKEA announced today that it will bring a second location to Wisconsin immediately next door to the company's Oak Creek store set to open in 2018. Arriving 20 years after its first Midwestern location opened in Schaumburg, the new IKEA Oak Creek will open in 2019, and will feature the same footprint and floor plan as its yet-to-open neighbor. "Milwaukeeans love our simple, inexpensive, particle-board design," said IKEAs North American Director of Marketing, Jars Hjedstedt. "Now, college students and hippies from Oconomowoc to Oostburg will have two opportunities to buy Klippan mugs, Poang chairs and Billy bookcases without paying the tolls to get to Illinois." The new store will occupy 290,000 square feet on 29 acres at Drexel Town Square, on the corner of Drexel and Howell Avenues. IKEA said it already has more than 206,000 customers in the metro Milwaukee area. Todays news came as a bit of a surprise to real estate experts, as the company in January said it would consider expansion of its Oak Creek store "if sales are strong." "Even though the first Wisconsin IKEA hasnt opened yet, they must assume that bargain-loving Milwaukeeans will flock to their store like a Stockholm stockbroker to a Lingonberry lemonade," said Colliers Steve Palec. In line with traditional Swedish sensibility, IKEA will offer a blue and yellow biofuel bus to shuttle customers between the two locations. It will serve complimentary dried herring and smrrebrd during the 500-yard journey, which should take about 10 minutes due to the stores identical 1,200 car parking lots. It will also serve IKEAs iconic Swedish meatballs in a 300-seat cafeteria. "This is a win-win-win-win for Oak Creek," said interim deputy alderman Rick Walsh. "Our motto was where the city meets the country, but we might amend that to where Howell meets Helsingborg. And we're considering adding an umlaut to our name: Oak Creek." Said Oak Creek resident Felicia Guday-Maite, "I love that if I can't find the perfect Riktig Ogla or Gronkulla at one location, I can literally skip over to the other location and maybe they'll have the Riktig Ogla or Gronkulla I'm looking for." It was revealed Saturday that Waukesha County was a finalist for the furniture chains second Wisconsin location, but during scouting in November, IKEA CEO Peter Agnefjall noticed something "unharmonious" in the arial photos of the land near Pabst Farms. "Mr. Agnefjall takes our companys signature color scheme very seriously," said Hjedstedt. "While he saw seas of blue Pantone 293 yard signs to the east and west, he only saw red yard signs in Waukesha, so he ruled that location out." The second Oak Creek project is expected to generate about 500 construction jobs, although, in actuality, all those people are still working on the first Oak Creak store, according to an IKEA spokesman. Due to a possible upcoming travel ban, the company said it's using mostly undocumented Swedish immigrants for the labor. Founded in 1943, IKEA has never before placed two stores next to each other. To commemorate this first, IKEA will unveil a special Oak Creek specific line to its international empire of 392 stores. It will unveil a corkscrew called "Brytning" in honor of local mining equipment manufacturer Bucyrus International, and a pillow called "Sova" to celebrate American Society of Anesthesia Technologists & Technicians, which is also based in Oak Creek. Milwaukee Admirals player Petter Granberg, of Gallivare, Sweden, is set to lead the ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony with an IKEA "skyffel" shovel later this month. Actor Dolph Lundgren will reportedly cut the ribbon. China's manufacturing activity expanded slightly in March, independent figures showed Saturday, suggesting steady but slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy. The figures compare with an official reading Friday hinting that a years-long growth slowdown in China may be easing, though concerns remain about the outlook for world trade in light of US President Donald Trump's protectionist policies. Investors closely watch the private Caixin Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) -- an indicator of conditions at small manufacturers -- as a sign of the country's economic health each month. The figure came in at 51.2 for March, down from 51.7 in February but still among the highest seen over the past four years. A PMI figure above 50 marks growth while anything below points to contraction. The Chinese financial magazine said the one-year outlook for growth remained strong and jobs were cut at a marginal pace. However, it added that more manufacturers showed cautionary attitudes toward inventories and new export sales increased at their weakest pace in three months. "Overall, the Chinese manufacturing economy continued to improve, but signs of a weakening have started to emerge ahead of the second quarter," Caixin analyst Zhong Zhengsheng said in a joint statement with data compiler IHS Markit. "Downward pressure may further increase." On Friday, official figures focusing on larger factories and mines came in at 51.8, slightly beating the 51.7 forecast in a Bloomberg News survey and up from the previous month's 51.6. Beijing has said it wants to reorient the economy away from debt-fuelled investment towards a consumer-driven model, but the transition has proved bumpy, leading to the slower growth readings in recent years. A vital engine of global growth, China's economy expanded 6.7 percent for all of last year, the slowest rate in a quarter of a century. Premier Li Keqiang warned last month the economy faced severe challenges, signalling a further deceleration as he announced a trimmed 2017 GDP growth target of "around 6.5 percent." There is also uncertainty about the future owing to Trump's promises to revise global trade deals and his past accusations of China being a currency manipulator. Chinese President Xi Jinping is pencilled in to meet Trump in Florida next week, when trade and economic issues are expected to dominate the agenda. 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 The DMK Deputy chief said the Centre didn't appear to be bothered by the farmers' protest, and blamed the Tamil Nadu government for their plight. By India Today Web Desk: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MK Stalin today met farmers from Tamil Nadu who've been protesting at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar. With more than one-third of the paddy fields in Tamil Nadu reported to have gone unsowed due to a particularly bad monsoon, the protesting farmers are demanding a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore for their state. advertisement Stalin said the Centre doesn't appear to bothered despite the farmers' continuous protests. The DMK deputy chief blamed the Tamil Nadu government - run by his party's arch-rival, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) - for the plight of the state's farmers. He said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami should've flown to Delhi to find a solution to their problems, but he's busy with the upcoming by-election in Chennai's Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar, the late J Jayalalithaa's former constituency. Stalin called for an all-party meet to be convened. His visit to Jantar Mantar comes a day after Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi met the protestors. Rahul then accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of neglecting the nation's farmers, while helping the rich. (With inputs from ANI) ALSO READ | Tamil Nadu farmers: How monsoon, politics and note ban brought skull protest to Jantar Mantar ALSO READ | Tamil Nadu farmers soldier on with skull protest in Delhi's heat even as government turns deaf ear WATCH | DMK leader MK Stalin meets Tamil Nadu's protesting farmers at Jantar Mantar --- ENDS --- 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. An alarming UN report said the past eight years are on track to be the eight warmest on record, with an acceleration in sea level rise, glacier melt, heatwaves and other climate indicators. "As COP27 gets underway, our planet is sending a distress signal," UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement, calling the report a "chronicle of climate chaos". Just in the past few months, floods devastated Pakistan and Nigeria, droughts worsened in Africa and the United States, cyclones whipped the Caribbean, and unprecedented heatwaves seared three continents. The conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh also comes against the backdrop of Russia's war on Ukraine, an energy crunch, soaring inflation and the lingering effects from the Covid-19 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, noting that only 29 of 194 nations have presented improved plans as called for at COP26 in Glasgow last year. Current trends would see carbon pollution increase 10 percent by the end of the decade and the 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. Britain's Alok Sharma, who handed the COP presidency to Egypt, said that while world leaders have faced "competing priorities" this year, "inaction is myopic and can only defer climate catastrophe." "How many more wake-up calls does the world -- and world leaders -- actually need?" he said. - '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. After two days of intense pre-summit negotiations, delegates agreed on Sunday to put the "loss and damage" issue on the COP27 agenda, a first step towards what are sure to be difficult discussions. Stiell said inclusion of loss and damage on the agenda after three decades of debate on the issue showed progress. "The fact that it is there as a substantive agenda item I believe bodes well," he told reporters. COP27 president Sameh Shoukry of Egypt said it would be unproductive to speculate on what outcome the negotiations will lead to, "but certainly everybody is hopeful." "Anything that we do effectively has to be on the basis of our common efforts and that we leave no one behind," he said. 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 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. - US-China tensions - After the first day of talks, some 110 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/mh/lg From across France they came to meet the man who has promised, if elected president in May, to "emancipate" immigrant families and free them from the gritty high-rises that ring French cities. The excitement was palpable as a microphone was passed through a hall in the tough Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, where a hundred high achievers gathered this week to share their stories of against-the-odds success with centrist maverick Emmanuel Macron. For two hours the 39-year-old candidate listened to, and fielded questions from entrepreneurs, bankers, journalists and civil servants with the kind of names -- mostly Arab or west African -- that in France often see a CV pushed to the bottom of the pile. "I'm happy," Khadija Moudnib, the 39-year-old deputy mayor of the western Paris suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie, told AFP. "Usually politicians come to the suburbs when they're burning and then disappear again. Tonight we're not here to talk about those who burn cars. Most people here have masters degrees. Theirs are the stories that need to be highlighted." Macron, who is running neck-and-neck with far-right leader Marine Le Pen in polls for the first round of the election on April 23, has promised to bring France's storied "banlieues", or suburbs, in from the cold with a two-pronged approach that stresses equality and entrepreneurship. Addressing Thursday's gathering held next to the Stade de France national stadium, he vowed to reduce class sizes in tough neighbourhoods, name-and-shame employers that discriminate against people on the basis of their origins, and promote micro-financing for suburban businesses. The blue-eyed philosophy graduate, who studied at France's top finishing school before becoming a civil servant and then a Rothschild investment banker before he leaped into politics may seem an unlikely champion of the downtrodden. Trade unions have accused him of promoting a race to the bottom by declaring that an Uber driver working up to 70 hours a week -- one of the few jobs readily available to low-skilled suburban youths in France -- had more "dignity" than someone without work. But his unabashedly pro-business approach has played well in immigrant communities, seen by some as more empowering than the paternalism of the left. Taking to the floor at the event, Moudnib hailed Macron -- an economic liberal who is on the left on social issues -- as a role model. "You've been accused of earning a lot of money at Rothschild but in the suburbs we want to be like you!," she told him, drawing laughter and applause. "In France we have a unique characteristic," Macron replied. "We don't like failure and we don't like success." - 'Back on track' - The failure to break into France's traditional big parties was what brought Aziz Francois Ndiaye to Macron's door. The US-trained Senegalese-born entrepreneur told AFP his overtures to various politicians -- like his many job applications -- went unheeded, until he contacted Macron's En Marche movement, which put him in charge of campaigning in the western Paris suburbs. "My life got back on track," the affable father-of-two said. While Macron's optimism may have infected Ndiaye, many in suburbs battling high unemployment and radicalisation remain unmoved. In central Saint-Denis, a Communist-run town of around 100,000 where the ringleader of the 2015 Paris attacks Abdelhamid Abaaoud hid before being killed in a police siege, the mood on a sunny spring afternoon was muted. In a sign of the lingering jihadist threat, soldiers in fatigues patrolled the street outside the town's imposing 12th century basilica and police vans lined the main square on two sides. Sitting on a bench outside the basilica -- final resting place of a long line of French kings and queens -- retiree Michel Castellote said he would abstain in the May 7 election run-off if forced to choose between Macron and Le Pen. Polls show that Macron would easily beat Le Pen in such a duel but Castellote, a supporter of radical leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, said he could not bring himself to back the former businessman. "He doesn't know the suburbs," said the 76-year-old, complaining of the closure of many traditional shops in Saint-Denis -- replaced by halal butcheries, Arab bakeries and Chinese clothing stores. Several other people interviewed by AFP said they planned to abstain from both rounds of the election, turned off by political scandals and a litany of broken promises. But butcher Mohammed Hemmar said he was ready to put his trust in the man bidding to become the youngest president in France since World War II. "We'll try Macron this time, to see what the young people can do," Algerian-born Hemmar, 47, said as he rang up sales in his blood-splattered apron. "He's got the stature of a president, he speaks well and he inspires confidence." MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) President Donald Trump's approval of greater U.S. military authority to pursue al-Qaida-linked extremists in Somalia will put civilians further at risk, experts say, especially as drought displaces thousands of people in areas that now will be considered a war zone. Trump has approved a Pentagon request to allow more aggressive airstrikes against extremist group al-Shabab as parts of southern Somalia will be considered areas of active hostilities. U.S. special operations forces can move closer to the fight and call in offensive airstrikes more quickly while increasing assistance to the Somali National Army. Some in long-chaotic Somalia, where access to independent information is extremely challenging, could see this as a chance to spread misinformation, said Laetitia Bader, a Somalia researcher for Human Rights Watch. "At a time when thousands of civilians are currently on the move ... the U.S. should be cautious in relying on information about whether civilians are present before deciding to strike," she said. Somalia's fragile central government, which struggles to assert itself beyond the capital and other limited areas, has not yet commented on Trump's decision. The country also was one of the seven predominantly Muslim countries included in Trump's recent travel ban that has been suspended by federal courts. Somalia's government has declared the growing drought a national disaster, with the U.N. saying roughly half of the country's 12 million people are at risk. A cholera outbreak also spreads. More than a quarter-million people have been displaced in recent months, the U.N. refugee agency says, as drought-stricken families try to reach points where aid agencies are distributing food. "''I had no other option but to leave," one man, Aydrus Salah, told The Associated Press this week after a trek with his three children during which his wife died of hunger. Story continues Aid agencies cannot distribute in areas under the control of al-Shabab, which dominates remote towns and villages across the south and central parts of the country. The extremist group has promoted its own drought relief efforts, but they are seen as attempts to keep civilians from leaving areas under their control. "In the environment in Somalia, it's extremely difficult to distinguish combatants from civilians," said Joel Charny, director of the Norwegian Refugee Council's office in Washington. Trump's decision on Somalia follows what humanitarian experts have witnessed in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, where civilians have been killed amid U.S.-backed efforts to go after extremists or rebels, he said. "There appears to be a move by the Trump administration to loosen the rules, allow for more discretion at the local level, back campaigns that may be pushing the edge," Charny said. "The theme seems to be more aggressive, and the consequences seem to be a spike in civilian casualties. It's very worrying, especially if you transfer to the Somalia context in the midst of severe food difficulties and the worst drought in 20 years." With its frequent suicide bombings and assaults on hotels and military targets in Somalia's capital and elsewhere, security experts say al-Shabab has proved more resilient than the U.S. expected. And now a new threat has emerged, with fighters pledging alliance to the Islamic State group in the semi-autonomous northern part of the country. About 50 U.S. commandos currently rotate in and out of Somalia to advise and assist local troops. The commandos have accompanied Somali forces in several raids against al-Shabab in which dozens of extremists were killed, according to Somali intelligence officials, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. The U.S. already has military bases in Somalia, although it has not publicly acknowledged them. They are often used for drone attacks. In the past year the U.S. launched 14 airstrikes nearly all drone strikes killing some top al-Shabab leaders, according to a Somali intelligence official who coordinated with the U.S. on some of them. It is not clear how many Somali civilians have been killed in the U.S. fight against al-Shabab. A U.S. intelligence report in January said as many as 117 civilians had been killed in drone and other counterterror attacks in Somalia, Yemen and elsewhere during former President Barack Obama's presidency. Human rights and other groups have said the administration undercounted civilian casualties. The new U.S. military expansion of airstrikes will do little to degrade al-Shabab, said Rashid Abdi, a Horn of Africa analyst with the International Crisis Group. "They are a hard target, unlike ISIS. It's very unlikely there will be al-Shabab assets out there to hit except some training camps that are themselves hard to find. They relocate from place to the other and are highly mobile," Abdi said. "Those airstrikes will face more challenges, and civilian casualties will be counterproductive." ___ Anna reported from Johannesburg. 2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #13 Posted on 1 April 2017 by John Hartz A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook page during the past week. Articles of signifigance as determined by the editor are highlighted in the Editor's Picks' section. Editor's Picks One of the most troubling ideas about climate change just found new evidence in its favor Visualization of a very wavy Northern Hemisphere jet stream. (NASA) Ever since 2012, scientists have been debating a complex and frankly explosive idea about how a warming planet will alter our weather one that, if its correct, would have profound implications across the Northern Hemisphere and especially in its middle latitudes, where hundreds of millions of people live. The idea is that climate change doesnt merely increase the overall likelihood of heat waves, say, or the volume of rainfall it also changes the flow of weather itself. By altering massive planet-scale air patterns like the jet stream (pictured above), which flows in waves from west to east in the Northern Hemisphere, a warming planet causes our weather to become more stuck in place. This means that a given weather pattern, whatever it may be, may persist for longer, thus driving extreme droughts, heat waves, downpours and more. This basic idea has sparked half a decade of criticism and debate, and at the cutting edge of research, scientists continue to grapple with it. And now, a new study once again reinforces one of its core aspects. One of the most troubling ideas about climate change just found new evidence in its favor by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Mar 27, 2017 Thinning Arctic sea ice lets in light, prompts algae bloom-study The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy, in the midst of their ICESCAPE mission, retrieves supplies for some mid-mission fixes dropped by parachute from a C-130 in the Arctic Ocean in this July 12, 2011 Climate change is stirring life in the Arctic Ocean as thinning sea ice lets in more sunlight, allowing microscopic algae to bloom in the inhospitable region around the North Pole, scientists said on Wednesday. The micro-algae may now be able to grow under the ice across almost 30 percent of the Arctic Ocean at the peak of the brief summer in July, up from about five percent 30 years ago, they wrote. Blooms may become even more widespread. "Recent climate change may have markedly altered the ecology of the Arctic Ocean," wrote scientists in the United States and Britain led by Christopher Horvat of Harvard University. The first massive under-ice bloom of algae was seen in 2011 in the Chukchi Sea north of the Bering Strait separating Alaska and Russia, a region until then thought too dark for photosynthesis. Thinning Arctic sea ice lets in light, prompts algae bloom-study by Alister Doyle, Reuters, Mar 30, 2017 Critical NASA Climate Missions Targeted in Budget Cuts Carbon dioxide concentrations across the globe as measured by the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 in May 2016. (Credit: NASA) In his most recent weekly address, President Trump praised NASAs mission of exploration and discovery and its ability to allow mankind to look to the heavens with wonder and curiosity. But left out of his statements was the work NASA does to peer back at our home planet and unravel its many remaining mysteries a mission targeted for cuts in his administrations budget outline released earlier this month. In a budget otherwise scant on specifics, four climate-related NASA satellite missions were proposed for termination, including one already in orbit. Those missions are aimed not only at helping scientists learn more about key parts of the climate system and how global warming is changing them, but also at practical matters such as monitoring the health of the nations coastal waters and providing earlier warnings of drought stress in crops. Critical NASA Climate Missions Targeted in Budget Cuts by Andrea Thompson, Climate Central, Mar 31, 2017 Greenland's Coastal Ice Passed a Climate Tipping Point 20 Years Ago, Study Says Credit: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images Ice caps and glaciers along the coast of Greenland passed a tipping point in 1997, when a layer of snow that once absorbed summer meltwater became fully saturated. Since then, the coastal ice fieldsseparate from the main Greenland Ice Sheethave been melting three times faster than they had been, according to a new study published Friday in the journal Nature Communications. "The melting ice caps are an alarm signal for the ice sheet. It means long-term ice mass loss is inevitable. It will increase and accelerate if nothing changes," said lead author Brice Noel, a scientist at the University of Utrecht Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research. "It's very unlikely the ice caps will recover. It's a climate tipping pointthe time at which a change or an effect cannot be stopped." Climate scientists are wary of tipping points, when a series of small changes make a much larger change inevitable. The fear is a total meltdown of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which would raise global sea level by 24 feet, Noel said. Overall, the rate of ice sheet melting is accelerating, according to peer-reviewed studies cited in the most recent Arctic report from NOAA. Greenland's Coastal Ice Passed a Climate Tipping Point 20 Years Ago, Study Says by Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News, Mar 31, 2017 Sun Mar 26 Mon Mar 27 Tue Mar 28 Wed Mar 29 Thu Mar 30 Fri Mar 31 Sat Apr 1 Social media offers a wealth of opportunities for main street store owners. By engaging with existing customers and reaching out to new ones, a small business can significantly enhance and promote its brand and ultimately improve its bottom line by utilizing and exploiting the unique opportunities social media provides. The exhilarating world of social media is constantly evolving and the savviest of business owners keep up with these fluctuating social media trends. Small Business Trends takes a look at 10 hot trends on social media right now for main street store owners. Hot Trends on Social Media for Main Street User-generated Content Caroline Barker, Content Marketing Manager at Main Street Hub, which helps thousands of local businesses manage their social media marketing and maintain their online reputations, provided Small Business Trends with some current hot social media trends for main street store owners. One hot social media trend for main street store owners Barker highlights is user-generated content. The idea is simple. If customers are posting about your small business on their personal channels share it! Just make sure to tag or credit them, and say thank you. These posts are great opportunities to show whats happening in your business in real time and encourage new customers to give your business a try. Facebook Live Data shows social videos generate 1,200 percent more shares than text and images. Since Facebook Live debuted in 2015, the shrewdest of business owners have been capitalizing on sharing live-streaming videos on Facebook. By connecting your customers with your business via video, Facebook Live helps to increase the reach of your main street store. Augmented Reality Augmented reality is gathering momentum on social media channels. By sharing actual experiences rather than just information, augmented reality is creating new opportunities for brands to reach out and connect with their customers. Real-time Content According to Main Street Hub, audiences appreciate relevance and authenticity, so post about whats happening in your business right now. You can tee up a Facebook Live feed or utilize trendy disappearing content like Instagram stories but if you have a small team or a small budget, simply posting a photo of an employee, an event or something happening in the moment will get your audience engaged. Chatbots A type of artificial intelligence which can have conversations, chatbots are proving invaluable in helping the likes of main street store owners and other businesses communicate with customers and improve customer service by responding quickly to queries, questions and comments. Messaging Apps An incredible four billion users worldwide use messaging apps to communicate. With such a huge chunk of the global population utilizing this convenient way to communicate, messaging apps currently offer a tremendous opportunity for brands to exploit this presence. Perceptive business owners are using messaging apps to communicate one-on-one and develop relationships with customers. Exclusive-to-Instagram Content During 2017, it is estimated that a staggering 70.7 percent of brands will use Instagram. Instagram is definitely a social media forum small businesses cannot afford to ignore. Main Street Hub says the coolest things to use on Instagram right now are their slideshow or carousel features, where you can upload multiple photos into one post, and Boomerang, where you can create a mini video that plays forwards and backwards, according to Instagrams definition. Trying out new features on social platforms will impress your audience and vary your content. Social Media eCommerce The likes of Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram now offer ways for users to buy products directly from their apps. With a growing number of consumers following brands on social media to search for products for sale, the shrewdest of main street store owners are leveraging these shopping habits within their social media strategies. Create a Custom Snapchat Filter Official statistics show that 158 million people are using Snapchat every day. This prolific use of Snapchat means it is a social media platform main street store owners should be utilizing to the maximum. According to Barker, creating a custom Snapchat filter for the next event your business is throwing is the quickest, most economical way to capture a new audience on the platform. The website has a foolproof how-to list. You can upload your own image or create one right on Snapchat, choose the date and time, and voila! You have a filter set up. Just make sure to let your customers know that if theyre using Snapchat they should scroll through to find your filter. Mobile Advertising Advertising revenue generated from mobile formats is increasing. On Facebook, for example, in 2016, 80 percent of the social media networks $7 billion of ad revenue came from mobile ads. Savvy main street store owners and other small businesses are paying for mobile ads. The more creative and visually enticing the ads are, the better, as it will help get the mobile ad noticed. The Supreme Court refused to modify a ban it placed last year on the sale of liquor along highways. By India Today Web Desk: Shops, hotels and eateries along India's highways that sell liquor can't do so starting today, after the Supreme Court refused to modify a ban it placed on such establishments last year. Liquor vendors located within 500 metres of a national or state highway cannot sell alcohol. But the Supreme Court has said that in municipal bodies with a population of 20,000 or less along the highways, the distance is 220 metres. advertisement The ban that comes into effect today isn't exactly a bolt from the blue. Here's a short timeline of events that led up to it. TIMELINE In 2013, the Supreme Court asked the national highways ministry to draft a policy asking states to shut shops along national highways. In 2015, the top court hinted that it wanted to enforce a total ban on liquor stores along national highways. In December 2016, the court ordered the ban on liquor sales along both national and state highways. As well, it said advertisements for liquor shops shouldn't be visible from highways. It is this 2016 order that is coming into effect today. On January 18, the All Assam Indian Made Foreign Liquors Retailers Association asked the court to modify the 2016 order. Since the local statute's definition of state highways included all roads, the apex court's ban was a ban on all liquor shops in Assam, it said. On March 23, Tamil Nadu had asked the court for time till November 28 for liquor shops along highways to relocate. That date marks the expiry of their license period. After a number of petitioners, including states, sought a modification of its order, the Supreme Court promised it would hear their plea on March 29. On March 31, the court refused to change its order. ALSO READ | Supreme Court for ban on liquor shops along highways ALSO READ | No liquor shops on national, state highways from April 1: Supreme Court ALSO WATCH | Liquor ban to continue in Kerala, says Supreme Court (With inputs from IANS) --- ENDS --- Although the sight has gone through several renovations, its current appearance is similar to the original historical one. Font size: A - | A + A national cultural monument has stood in the village of Poruba since the 14th century. During the First World War, it was one of the few churches that kept all its bells - bells from other churches went to cartridge production. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The paintings cover every wall of the church and have been preserved almost whole except those which were destroyed due to later reconstruction, explained historian from Poruba Erik Klizan, as quoted by the SME daily. Although the sight has gone through several renovations, its current appearance is similar to the original historical one. The paintings in the interior of the church are dated to the break of the 14th and 15th centuries. The construction of Saint Mikulas dates to the origin of the village. Poruba was settled by Germans in the 1330s, said Klizan for SME. The old German name of the village was Nikelsdorf, which means Mikulass village. The oldest frescos are consecrated crosses which are located at the nave perimeter and originate from the time of the churchs construction. When evangelicals came to the Nitra region, they painted over the frescos with white paint, the historian said. That white colour peeled off over the years. The frescos were very visible between 1900 and 1903 and thats why they were restored, Klizan explained, as reported by SME. It was said, that frescos were in good condition because of eggs. They bought eggs from all over Poruba and its surroundings, spreading eggs on the walls and when they hardened, the white colour peeled off easier but original colours of frescos stayed safe, the historian explained for SME. During the counter-reformation of the 1660s a wooden ceiling was installed, painted with flower and fauna motifs, according to Klizan. The three church bells are also of interesting note. One of them is not dated, but probably originated from the 17th or 18th century. The second bell is from 1633. The third bell of Saints Cyril and Methodius was bought by believers who came from seasonal jobs, mainly from France, and was installed in 1929. All three bells were saved from being melted into bullets because of the community who wanted to keep the bells. The last big reconstruction and restoration of the church is dated to the years between 1997 and 2009. The whole site underwent changes, the frescoes and floor were restored and original baroque altar was replaced by the altar originating from the Middle Ages. The church in Poruba was, according to historic documents, the only one in a wide radius. The civic society Svaty Mikulas from Poruba is trying to save the original baroque altar. The altar originates from 1701 and was installed to replace the former wing altar, which top is today the part of Slovak National Museum in Bojnice, said the historian for SME. STEM STEM Activation Program Helps Utah Girls Prepare for Tech Careers The Utah-based Women Tech Council today launched the first expansion event of its SheTech program to provide access to hands-on tech experiences and mentorship with industry experts to high school girls across the state and in rural areas to engage and inspire them to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields and careers. The SheTech expansion was launched in partnership with the Governors Office of Economic Development (GOED) and the Department of Workforce Services through a grant from Talent Ready Utah. By inspiring and engaging girls across the state and especially in rural areas to pursue STEM, SheTech aims to accomplish the states goal of creating the skilled workforce needed to continue Utahs strong economic growth, especially in an area known as Silicon Slopes, located between Salt Lake City, Provo and Park City. Because women are a critical part of the technology economy, we want girls in all regions to realize the opportunities that STEM education and careers provide them, said Cydni Tetro, president of the Women Tech Council, in a statement. By expanding this program and ensuring that all girls in Utah have access to industry and mentoring regardless of where they live, we are helping to develop our economy and ensure the states success. Fridays expansion event, called SheTech Explorer Day, was done in partnership with Weber State University in Ogden, UT. More than 400 high school girls from Box Elder to Rich to North Salt Lake participated to earn industry certifications, problem solve with mentors from more than 30 companies and explore STEM careers through activities like robotics, aerospace dynamics, 3D printing and virtual reality. Through these tech experiences, opportunities to problem solve and present, and one-on-one mentoring with professionals from companies including Pluralsight, Wadman Engineering, Dealertrack, Rocky Mountain Power and MarketStar, students gained skills, confidence and inspiration to pursue STEM courses and careers. Additional future events will continue to expand the programs reach, especially in rural areas. Research from previous events shows 93 percent of participating high school girls are interested in pursuing STEM careers after taking part in SheTech Explorer Day. The SheTech expansion will greatly benefit students in rural Utah, said Val Hale, executive director of GOED, in a statement. The Talent Ready Utah partnership will allow us to train and inspire students by connecting them to high-demand, high-paying jobs. We are committed to extending Utah's economic success beyond the Wasatch Front. Beyond Explorer Day, SheTech provides participating high school girls continual engagement with the STEM industry by helping them gain internships, learn about college scholarships and find courses that match their interests in their school and district, according to a news release. Another SheTech Explorer Day will be held May 8 at Southern Utah University in Cedar City to broaden access of the program into additional rural communities. Additional events will also be held at sites in Colorado and Idaho in the coming months. By the end of the year, the SheTech program is anticipated to reach and impact more than 10,000 high school girls to pursue STEM careers. Students, parents or schools interested in getting involved with SheTech or participating in other Explorer Days should visit the SheTech Explorer website. LISBON, March 31 (Reuters) - Portugal's telecoms regulator ANACOM said again on Friday it had rejected the European Commission's recommendation that it open up part of Altice (Other OTC: ATSVF - news) 's national fibre optic network to rivals. ANACOM had indicated last year that it would not comply with the recommendation, prompting Brussels to conduct an inquiry and to warn that the European Commission could pursue legal measures if ANACOM did not change tack. Local (Stuttgart: 19549987.SG - news) competitors such as Vodafone have been pushing Brussels to open up access to the network operated by Altice's unit MEO in rural areas. ANACOM said that its decision was based on the fact that Portugal had expanded its broadband network across the country using multiple networks that were operated by several companies. "After thorough consideration, ANACOM maintains its decision not to heed the EU recommendation, taking into account data showing the specifics of the national broadband market compared with other European countries," the regulator said. In 2015 Amsterdam-listed Altice bought former state monopoly PT Portugal, which included MEO, Portugal's biggest pay-TV and broadband Internet service provider. ANACOM said its regulations had made it possible for MEO's rivals, which include NOS and Vodafone Portugal, to invest in their own infrastructure. But competitors have complained about Altice's dominance. Vodafone has said it expects Brussels to force Portugal to open up, saying customers in some areas faced a worse service, limited offers and higher bills than in other regions. The European Commission inquiry that ended in November carried a warning that legal steps could follow if ANACOM did not amend or withdraw its decision to reject the recommendations. (Reporting By Daniel Alvarenga and Andrei Khalip; Editing by Edmund Blair) FILE PHOTO: Greens lawmaker Peter Pilz addresses a news conference in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2017. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader/File Photo Thomson Reuters VIENNA - Turkish embassies on four continents submitted reports on alleged foreign-based opponents of President Tayyip Erdogan within a week of receiving a request from Ankara last September, according to documents released by an Austrian lawmaker. The papers made public by opposition Greens politician Peter Pilz suggested a wider intelligence network than has so far been revealed by authorities investigating alleged spying by Turkey on its expatriates in three European countries. "There is clearly a global network of informants. We cannot say exactly how long it took to build up this network. I assume that it happened in a matter of years," Pilz told reporters. A senior Turkish government official said: "These claims are completely false." Tensions are running high between Turkey and the European Union as Ankara tries to drum up support among expatriate Turks to vote 'yes' in a referendum on April 16 on whether to grant Erdogan sweeping new powers. German, Austrian and Swiss authorities have all launched investigations into whether Turkey is conducting illegal espionage on their soil. Countries routinely post intelligence officers in their embassies, and the European authorities have not said in what ways the alleged Turkish activity went beyond acceptable levels of information-gathering by a foreign power. Among the documents released by Pilz was a written call on Sept. 20, using the letterheads of the prime minister's office and the state religious authority Diyanet, for information on supporters of Erdogan's arch-enemy Fethullah Gulen. Turkey has accused Gulen of masterminding a failed coup attempt last July and has purged state institutions, schools, universities and the media of tens of thousands of suspected Gulen supporters. The cleric denies any involvement. The documents, which Pilz said he had received from a Turkish source, showed embassies in over 30 countries across Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia sent reports to Diyanet on alleged Gulenists. Most were filed by religious attaches in Turkish embassies or consulates. Story continues Recep Tayyip Erdogan AP Photo Names and addresses They typically listed the names and addresses of alleged Gulenists, as well as of publishing houses, media groups, educational centers and schools deemed to support the exiled cleric. Some reports include information on family members and the educational background of targeted people. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the documents, but a source close to Austria's government said it was safe to assume the ones on Austria were genuine. Some reports, such as the one from Nigeria, include the names of middlemen responsible for building up ties between Gulenists and local power centers. In the Austrian report, a Turkish official in Salzburg says an Austrian mosque umbrella group and other organizations have destroyed books, audio material, videos and newspapers deemed to be Gulenist. The official says some gaps left by disappearing Gulenist organizations have been successfully filled with Erdogan-friendly replacements, such as after-school clubs. A report from Azerbaijan names a journalist and some parliamentarians as sources of information on Gulenists. It names the director of a Turkish high school in Baku who will be reminded about the need to remove Gulenist teachers at his school. An Australian report refers to "people who have lived in Australia for a long time and who know (the Gulenist) structure very well." An entry from Mongolia describes activity by alleged Gulenists on Facebook and Twitter. Turkey has rejected previous accusations that it was using religious bodies in Europe to spy on Erdogan critics. In March, the religious attache of Turkey's embassy in Austria told a local newspaper that mosque groups had a duty to check whether people of Turkish origin in Austria had been "radicalized" by Gulen. He said it was legitimate to deliver reports on such people. (Additional reporting by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) See Also: Austria has said it will take legal action against Germany to stop plans by Berlin to introduce a toll on its roads. Cross-border traffic between the two countries is high and the move has sparked rage in Vienna with the levy set to hit foreign registered drivers hard. Germanys upper house parliament the Budesrat gave the green light on Friday for the road toll to be introduced. Austrias Transport Minister Joerg Leichtfried slammed the decision: It gives the impression that the larger countries can make their own rules on the back of smaller countries. We have a good relationship with Germany, a friendship. And I want this to remain. But given the current position, well have to take this court. The toll will cost German drivers up to 130 euros a year, but unlike their foreign counterparts, they will be able to recover that back through tax deductions. Germanys Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt hit back at Austrias threat of a legal challenge, making it clear Berlin had no intention of putting the brakes on. I dont have any sympathy for Austrias whining about the road toll a country which has charged a road toll for more than 20 years and makes sure that everyone driving into Austria contributes to the financing of their infrastructure. That they now act according to the motto: Everyone who drives into Austria should pay but Austrians shouldnt pay in Germany, isnt the European idea, he said. The new law is set to take effect in the coming days. Those entering Germany from abroad will be able to buy short term tolls, either for 10 days or two months. Police in Belarus have raided the offices of an independent TV channel in Minsk, seizing equipment and detaining at least one cameraman. The Belsat network has given extensive coverage to recent anti-government protests in the former Soviet republic. The channel is seen as an alternative to Belarus state-controlled TV. Journalists working in the country say they, along with government opponents, are being targeted. Boris Goretskii, Representative of Belarusian Association of Journalists said: We see that the attack on the press is continuing. We thought that it would all end after the March 25. We thought that the repression would subside. But as we can see, the authorities are continuing their crackdown on journalists. Not all the journalists who were arrested on March 25 and 26 have yet been released from jail. Last weekend, several hundred people were arrested, and some beaten, by armed riot police for unsanctioned protests in the capital Minsk. Over the past two months Belarus, which tolerates little decent, has seen a rise in anti-government demonstrations. The remnants of a powerful cyclone have swept along Australias east coast, inflicting deadly flooding and destruction. Tens of thousands of people have been affected, with roads cut and bridges destroyed. At least three lives have been lost in the floods and there are fears for other people still missing. Its unbelievable, mate, said one man, speaking from a boat in the flooded town of Lismore, New South Wales. Look at the traffic lights. They are nearly under! Look at the signs over there, the houses. Everyone has had to evacuate. Cyclone Debbie, a category four storm, one short of the most powerful level five, pounded Queensland state on Tuesday, smashing tourist resorts, bringing down power lines and shutting down coal mines. Cyclone Debbie has departed, leaving disaster in her wake https://t.co/QDi4haKnF9 The Australian (@australian) 1 avril 2017 The disaster zone stretches 1,000 km from Queenslands tropical resort islands and Gold Coast tourist strip to the farmlands of New South Wales. Six large rivers have hit major flood levels and were still rising in several areas, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Police say they recovered the bodies of two women from floodwaters late on Friday. One was found on a flooded property and the other retrieved by police divers from a car that had been swept off a flooded bridge. Reports also speak of an elderly mans body being found, south of Brisbane. JUST IN: Authorities confirm mans body, believed to be 77-year-old Nelson Raebel, was found just before 4pm. #9News https://t.co/Lw0FxvIht4 Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) 1 avril 2017 A great amount of effort has been focussed over the last 24 hours on flood rescues, making sure people are safe, said New South Wales State Emergency Services Commissioner Mark Smethurst. We are now in a position where we are focussing on those that have been isolated and making sure they have got sufficient food and water and we expect by Monday that we will be into the recovery mode. For now, with more than 100,000 homes without power and communities swamped and stranded, many are still waiting for this nightmare to end. with Reuters CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi left Cairo for Washington on Saturday where both sides will seek a renewed relationship after tensions over Sisi's crackdown on opponents. As well as meeting President Donald Trump, Sisi will see the top officials at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where he will pitch for help with his countrys' ailing economy. The trip will be Sisi's first U.S. state visit since being elected president in 2014 as former U.S. President Barack Obama had never extended an invitation. Sisi was elected a year after leading the military's ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood's president Mohamed Mursi after mass protests. A senior White house official said on Friday Trump "wants to use President Sisi's visit to reboot the bilateral relationship and build on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September". Egypt has long been one of Washington's closest allies in the Middle East, receiving $1.3 billion (1 billion pounds) in U.S. military aid annually. The country is fighting an Islamist insurgency in Sinai, and hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police have been killed fighting insurgents. The bilateral relationship was strained when former President Barack Obama criticized Sisi for cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist group. During his visit, Sisi is will also be meeting with International Monetary Fund chief and World Bank President "to discuss strengthening cooperation with both institutions in various economic fields", the statement said. Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive an economy hit by political upheaval since a 2011 revolt and to ease a dollar shortage that has crippled imports, drove away foreign investors and hampered its recovery. Egypt received the first tranche of a three-year $12 billion loan deal with the IMF and is expecting to receive the second tranche soon. The second tranche of a $3 billion loan from the World Bank was disbursed to Egypt last month. The statement said Sisi is also scheduled to meet with leaders of the American chamber of commerce and heads of major United States companies to discuss investment opportunities in Egypt (Reporting by Amina Ismail) Karina gets her hair done by a friend in a camp while waiting for a truck to move to the transition zone of Pueblo Nuevo, at the Los Robles FARC camp, Colombia, January 25, 2017. REUTERS/Federico Rios Thomson Reuters MOUNTAINS OF CAUCA, Colombia (Reuters) - Former fighters from Colombia's FARC rebel group are handing over thousands of weapons and other materials to international officials in special camps, as the group's six-month disarmament process continues. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace agreement with the government late last year to put an end to their part in Latin America's longest-running armed conflict, which has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions. Around 8,000 weapons have been handed over to the United Nations to be stored in secure containers until they can be turned into three memorial statues. The rebels are expected to turn in all arms by June. Members of the Jacobo Arenas rebel unit, which operated in mountains of Cauca province, were among 6,900 FARC fighters who left behind clandestine camps where they had lived for decades, crisscrossing the country on foot, by boat and by truck to get to 26 zones monitored by the U.N. FARC rebels pose with an unidentified girl holding a weapon in southern Colombia in this undated photo confiscated by the Colombian police and released to the media on November 12, 2009. REUTERS/National Police/Handout Thomson Reuters The zones will be their homes for the foreseeable future as they complete judicial processes to determine whether they will serve special sentences for war crimes or receive amnesty. Ex-fighters will also reunite with long-lost families and make amends to victims. Under the terms of the peace accord, the FARC, which began as a peasant uprising 52 years ago, is to form a political movement in the South American nation. The FARC's leadership has raised concerns about conditions in some of the camps, including the lack of permanent toilets and facilities such as gyms they say were agreed in the accord. Colombia FARC rebels peace deal cocaine production REUTERS /John Vizcaino Some FARC members have told local media they will not hand over their weapons until the camps are more habitable for fighters, who are well used to rough-and-tumble living conditions in poverty-stricken rural areas. The government says it is working as quickly as possible to finish each camp, that the FARC is partly responsible for construction and that the facilities are far superior to the tarp and bamboo lean-tos traditionally used by the rebels. Story continues Supporters of the peace deal signed between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels gather at Bolivar Square during a march for peace in Bogota, Colombia, October 20, 2016. REUTERS/Felipe Caicedo The accord has been heavily criticized for sparing rebels jail time for crimes committed during the conflict. A first version was narrowly rejected in a referendum last year, before being modified and passed by Congress. Authorities have said that about 300 rebels have refused to demobilize, but that may not be a full count, excluding so-called militants who worked undercover in cities and towns to help the FARC. (Reporting by Bogota newsroom; editing by Steve Orlofsky) NOW WATCH: Police in Colombia seized half a tonne of cocaine hidden in frozen strawberries See Also: Swami Aseemanand, who is an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, has been released from Hyderabad's Chanchalguda Jail. By India Today Web Desk: Former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, was on Friday released from Hyderabad's Chanchalguda Jail. The blast, which occured in Hyderabad on May 18, 2007, claimed nine lives. Aseemanand (born Nabha Kumar Sarkar) and another accused, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar, were granted bail by the metropolitan sessions court on March 23. Rateshwar was released last week. advertisement The Telangana government said it would take steps to get his bail cancelled. Aseemanand has been directed not to leave Hyderabad without the court's permission, and to remain present for trial, if required. On March 8, Aseemanand and six others were acquitted in the 2007 Ajmer blast case by a court in Jaipur. He was then brought from Jaipur and lodged in Hyderabad's Chanchalguda Jail. While seeking bail for Assemanand in the Mecca Masjid blast case, the defence pointed out that Aseemanandhad been acquitted in the Ajmer case, and that an Ambala court had granted him bail in another case: the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case. Aseemanand was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2010 in connection with Samjhauta Express and Mecca masjid blasts. ALSO READ | Aseemanand: Story of 2 bails, 1 acquittal and no conviction ALSO READ | Aseemanand acquitted, 3 convicted in 2007 Ajmer blast case ALSO WATCH | Ajmer blast case: NIA acquits Aseemanand, 3 held guilty --- ENDS --- Gibraltar or the Rock a headland with a population of just 30,000, is making a big splash as Brexit negotiations begin. The British Overseas Territory has accused neighbouring Spain of manipulating the European Council for its own political interests. It follows the bodys proposal to allow Madrid a veto on Gibraltars future relationship with the EU. The unexpected clause states that once the UK leaves the EU, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom. It effectively gives Spain the right to exclude the territory from any transitional single market access agreed between the EU and UK, or indeed a future trade deal, if Madrid is not content with Gibraltars status. Critics of the draft guidelines say the bloc appears to be siding with Spain in a centuries-long territorial dispute. It has long sought sovereignty or co-sovereignty of the rock. Gibraltars Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo said: This is a disgraceful attempt by Spain to manipulate the European council for its own, narrow political interests. Brexit is already complicated enough without Spain trying to complicate it further. Looking after the Union Brussels officials have been quoted as saying the EU is standing up for the interests of its members. Madrid is alleged to have pushed for the inclusion of the Gibraltar issue in the guidelines, which are to be refined at a summit of 27 EU leaders at the end of April. Post-Brexit talks regarding Gibraltar are likely to centre around border controls with EU member Spain, airport landing rights and the corporate tax rate, which currently stands at ten percent. Picardo, says the Rock will not be pushed around. Spain might like to use Gibraltar as a political pawn. The European Council might have allowed Spain to put this issue in the current draft of the guidelines, but Gibraltar is not going to be a political pawn in Brexit. Neither is it going to be a victim of Brexit, he said in a statement. In January, 2017, Spains Foreign Minister said the Rock would not be put in the middle of Brexit negotiations. In the June, 2016, referendum Gibraltar voted 96 percent in favour of remaining in the European Union, but has consistently rejected the idea of shared sovereignty with Spain. The UK has pledged its support for the territory. Good to speak to #Gibraltar Chief Minister FabianPicardo. As ever, the UK remains implacable & rock-like in our support for Gibraltar Boris Johnson (BorisJohnson) March 31, 2017 Appalling and careless However, UK Prime Minister Theresa May failed to make any mention of Gibraltar in her letter triggering Article 50 and beginning divorce proceedings. Chairman of the House of Lords EU Committee, Lord Boswell, labelled the omission unfortunate, adding: The door has been opened for the EU to present [Gibraltar] as a disputed territory. Gibraltars MEP, Clare Moody, has represented the territory in the European Parliament since 2014. She claims the failure to mention the Rock signals Westminster is not affording it the same importance in Brexit discussions as Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is appalling, and an example of the carelessness with which the government are handling these negotiations overall. However, Spanish MEP and vice-chair of the European Peoples Party, Esteban Gonzalez Pons, told Spains El Pais newspaper that May leaving out Gibraltar was very relevant, because Gibraltar isnt part of the United Kingdom; its a colony like the island of St Helena. Boris Johnson has pledged that Gibraltar will not be sacrificed in Brexit negotiations and rejected claims that it could become a "bargaining chip". The Foreign Secretary hit out after Labour's Sir Keir Starmer urged ministers to block attempts by the EU to give Spain a veto on Gibraltar's future. "Gibraltar is not for sale," Mr Johnson told The Sunday Telegraph. "Gibraltar cannot be traded. Gibraltar will not be bargained away." He added: "The policy of the Government remains fixed and firm. The sovereignty of Gibraltar cannot be changed without the express consent of the UK and the people of Gibraltar." Praising Gibraltar's "vibrant business centre", Mr Johnson said its harbour remained a "key NATO asset" because it can take nuclear submarines. "The UK Government can be counted on to stick up for those interests - for instance in insurance and maritime services - which create jobs not just in Gibraltar but in the wider region of southern Spain," he said. "The status of Gibraltar has been unchanged since 1713. It made no difference when the UK joined the Common Market in 1973 and when Spain was not yet a member. It should make no difference today. "So let us go into these discussions with goodwill and optimism and get a deal that is good for the UK, good for Spain, and good for the people of Gibraltar." Spain has a long-standing territorial claim on Gibraltar, which has been held by the UK since 1713 and has the status of a British overseas territory. Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo, also speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, hit out at the threat of a Spanish veto on the Rock's future. "It is a slap in the face for the people of Gibraltar who are the ones who most vehemently supported remaining in the European Union," he said. "It is unfair, it demonstrates that Spain will use any opportunity to try and advance its claim to Gibraltar." Story continues The heat is being turned up on the Government after criticism of Theresa May for failing to mention Gibraltar in her Article 50 letter to European Council president Donald Tusk. Downing Street has said the Prime Minister made clear in her Commons statement on Article 50 on Wednesday that the Government was "absolutely steadfast in our support of Gibraltar, its people and its economy". But former Tory MP Lord Boswell, chairman of the House of Lords EU Committee, has said it was "unfortunate that the Prime Minister's letter to Donald Tusk, triggering Article 50, made no mention of Gibraltar". He said that "in the absence of any clear commitment to defend Gibraltar's interests by the Prime Minister, the door has been opened for the EU to present it as a disputed territory". At the same time, negotiation guidelines set out by Mr Tusk appear to put the future of Gibraltar at stake by giving Spain a veto in discussions about the Rock's future. "After the UK leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom," he wrote. Pro-Gibraltar Tory MP Andrew Rosindell told Sky News the Government must stand firm against the Spanish threat. "Any Brexit agreement without including Gibraltar means there can be no agreement," he said. "British people must stand together. We cannot be bullied by Spain. Any deal must apply equally to the whole British family and that includes Gibraltar. There can be no compromise on this." Folk music is part of a rich cultural context that stretches back into the past, encompassing the real and the mythical, bound to the traditions of the culture in which it arises. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, has no culture, no traditions. But it has shown great ability: beating grand masters at chess and Go, for example, or demonstrating uncanny wordplay skills when IBM Watson beat human competitors at Jeopardy. Could the power of AI be put to use to create music? This is not entirely unprecedented: an artificial intelligence co-wrote a piece of musical theatre, from the storyline to the music and lyrics. It premiered in London in 2016. The advancement of AI techniques and ever-larger collections of data to use to train them presents broad opportunities for creative research. The AI co-wrote its musical based on an analysis of hundreds of other successful musicals, for example. There are other projects aimed at providing creators of art and music with new artificial intelligence-based tools for their craft, such as Googles Magenta project, Sonys Flow Machines, or British start-up Jukedeck. And long before those was The Illiac Suite, a string quartet programmatically composed by a supercomputer in 1957. Our research examines how state-of-the art AI techniques can contribute to musical practice, specifically the Celtic folk tradition of session music. Enthusiasts transcribe versions of folk tunes using ABC, a reduced form of music notation developed by Chris Walshaw of the University of Greenwich, using text characters as a rough guide to the musician. We trained our AI system using more than 23,000 ABC transcriptions of folk music, crowd-sourced from the excellent online resource thesession.org. And at our recent workshop at the Inside Out festival we had accomplished folk musicians performing some of this machine folk music. Artificial compositions, human melodies Our AI is trained so that given one ABC symbol it can predict the next, which means it can generate new tunes that draw upon patterns and structures learned from the original tunes. We have generated more than 100,000 new machine folk tunes, and its interesting to see what the AI has and has not learned. Many tunes have the typical structure of this style: two repeated parts of the same eight-bar length, that often complement each other musically. The AI also shows some ability to repeat and vary musical patterns in a way that is very characteristic of Celtic music. It was not programmed to do this with rules it learned to do so because these patterns exist in the data we fed it. Story continues However, unlike a human the system isnt immediately able to generalise these properties beyond the immediate context. Much of what we originally thought the system learned about basic musical features (for example how rhythm works) in fact it hadnt learned it was simply able to reproduce those conventions. Venture slightly outside the conventions of the data and the system begins to act unusually. This is where things can get musically interesting: To evaluate the AIs compositions we consulted the experts: folk musicians. We asked for feedback on The Endless Traditional Music Session, and later about a volume of 3,000 tunes generated by our system. Feedback from members in the thesession.org forums shows divided opinions: some found the idea intriguing and identified machine folk tunes they liked and could work with. Others were dead against the entire notion of computer-generated music. One obstacle was that not only was this music composed by computers, it was also played by computer synthesis, and so lacking the interpretation and expressivity of human musicians who bring each tune to life elements not incorporated in the data the AI had trained on. So we recruited professional folk musicians and asked them to look at our volume of 3,000 tunes. One musician observed that about one in five tunes are actually fairly good. By their nature, folk tunes are less fixed in nature and are treated as a frame upon which to elaborate: performers develop their own version and change elements in performance. The musicians found interesting features and some patterns that are unusual but work well within the style. Perhaps there are regions of this musical space that humans have not yet discovered and can be reached with the help of a machine. Much discussion around AI focuses on computers as competitors to humans. We seek to harness the same technology as a creative tool to enrich, not replace. A concert, Partnerships, on May 23, 2017, will feature music co-created by humans and computers. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The Conversation Bob Sturm receives funding from AHRC-Labex joint UK-France programme. Oded Ben-Tal receives funding from AHRC-Labex joint UK-France programme. By Daniela Desantis ASUNCION (Reuters) - A protester was killed in Paraguay and two top government officials were fired after violent clashes overnight sparked by a secret Senate vote for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. Activists streamed into Paraguay's capital on Saturday from the landlocked country's interior in a sign the protests may resume after the country's Congress was stormed and set on fire. Firefighters managed to control the flames on the building's first floor on Friday. Thousands of protesters rioted in other parts of Asuncion and elsewhere in the country into the early hours of Saturday. Reports of damage and injuries proliferated. At Congress on Saturday, charred debris and glass from broken windows littered the steps. Rodrigo Quintana, 25, was killed by a rubber bullet fired by police at the headquarters of a liberal youth activist group, the Paraguayan opposition and a prosecutor said. "We have a commitment to the blood Rodrigo spilled ... we will continue the fight," opposition Senator Miguel Saguier said at a press conference. The Interior Ministry said in a statement an investigation would be opened into Quintana's death. Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas was later fired by Cartes along with the national police chief, Crispulo Sotelo. "We are working to identify the people responsible for the events," the new interim interior minister, Lorenzo Lezcano, told a news conference. Around 200 protesters were detained, police said, and shops and government buildings were vandalized. Several politicians and journalists were injured, local media reported, and the government said several police were hurt. One member of the lower house of Congress, who had been participating in protests that afternoon, underwent surgery after also being hit by rubber bullets. Meetings for the Inter-American Development Bank's (IADB) annual board of governors went ahead as scheduled in a rare high-level international event in Paraguay. IADB President Luis Alberto Moreno called for peace and dialogue and said Paraguay would continue to be a vital partner of the regional bank. While Paraguay has long suffered from political uncertainty and violence, the soy- and beef-exporting country has attracted investment in agriculture and manufacturing sectors in recent years as Cartes offered tax breaks to foreign investors. "I think this is a very unfortunate event but I do not see that it will have consequences for the economy," Finance Minister Santiago Pena said. Violent upheaval in the country of 6.8 million is a concern for its much larger neighbors Brazil and Argentina, which have increasingly looked to Paraguay for business opportunities. CLOSED-DOOR VOTE The region is already worried about unrest in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday moved to quell protests and international condemnation. The pro-government Supreme Court revoked its controversial annulment of the opposition-led congress. Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter on Friday night. He promised the government would do its best to maintain order. Paraguay's Senate voted on Friday during a special session in a closed office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber. Opponents of the measure, who claim it would weaken Paraguay's democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal. The proposal will also require approval by the House, where it appeared to have strong support. A vote which had been expected early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down, said the chamber's president, Hugo Velazquez. A popular referendum would also be required to change the law prohibiting re-election, passed in 1992 after the brutal dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner fell in 1989. (Additional reporting by Luc Cohen and Mariel Cristaldo, writing by Caroline Stauffer and Hugh Bronstein; editing by G Crosse and Mary Milliken) LIMA (Reuters) - Peru on Friday urged other nations to match its tough stance on Venezuela and withdraw their ambassadors from the country to protest the "authoritarian" takeover of its Congress by the pro-government Supreme Court. Venezuela's top court took control of the legislative body earlier this week in what critics described as a coup. Protests and international condemnation have grown, with Peru taking the hardest line. Calling the move a "flagrant breach of democracy," Peru, led by centrist President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, immediately called back its ambassador and won praise from many democracy activists in the region. "It's a rapid gesture that other countries should take so Venezuela sees it's alone on that path," Peru's Vice President Martin Vizcarra told Reuters in an interview. "If we want a country, a continent to be governed by democracy, I think all countries must have a firm position of disavowing any kind of coup or authoritarianism." Latin American leaders have been increasingly critical of Venezuela in recent years as its economic and political crises have deepened and voters have replaced one-time allies of Venezuela's charismatic former President Hugo Chavez with more conservative governments. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday railed against what he deemed the meddling in Venezuela's affairs from rightwing, "fascist" countries. Peru has emerged as the regional leader on efforts to press Venezuela to enact democratic reforms in the absence of a clear strategy from the United States, which called the Venezuelan court's move a "serious setback for democracy." Mexico helped rally 14 countries to produce a declaration calling for the "re-establishment of democracy" last week in a departure from its usual more neutral stance. But Mexico, which has already been jolted by a diplomatic crisis this year after U.S. President Donald Trump took office, has not withdrawn its ambassador from Venezuela since the Supreme Court power grab. "Peru has contributed the most, because it has been very clear," said Jorge Castaneda, Mexico's foreign minister under former President Vicente Fox, who broke with traditional Mexican foreign policy to take a tough stance against Cuba. Castaneda said Mexico does not yet appear to have a well thought-out strategy on Venezuela and called on Mexico to quickly move a motion in the Organization of American States (OAS) invoking the diplomatic body's democratic charter. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto expressed worry about the "deterioration of democracy" in Venezuela on Friday and instructed his foreign ministry to raise the matter again at the OAS. "Considering these events, we cannot remain indifferent," said Pena Nieto. Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker with strong globalist and free-trade beliefs, has won support at home for his position on Venezuela even as it has prompted personal attacks from Maduro. Vizcarra said Peru's own experience with authoritarianism in the 1990s, when now-jailed rightwing former President Alberto Fujimori dissolved Congress with the backing of the military, has left an indelible mark on the country. "We've gone through that before and we wouldn't want to repeat that experience or see fellow countries like Venezuela go through it," Vizcarra said. (Reporting By Mitra Taj and Marco Aquino, Additional Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter, Lizbeth Diaz and Frank Jack Daniel in Mexico City; Editing by Andrew Hay and Lisa Shumaker) LIMA (Reuters) - Peru on Friday urged other nations to match its tough stance on Venezuela and withdraw their ambassadors from the country to protest the "authoritarian" takeover of its Congress by the pro-government Supreme Court. Venezuela's top court took control of congress earlier this week in what critics described as a coup. Protests and international condemnation grew through Friday, with Peru taking the hardest line in the Americas. Calling the move a "flagrant breach of democracy," the Andean country, led by centrist President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, immediately called back its ambassador. "It's a rapid gesture that other countries should take so Venezuela sees it's alone on that path," Peru's Vice President Martin Vizcarra told Reuters in an interview. "If we want a country, a continent to be governed by democracy, I think all countries must have a firm position of disavowing any kind of coup or authoritarianism." Peru has emerged as a potential leader of regional efforts to press Venezuela to enact democratic reforms in the absence of a clear strategy from the United States, which has called the Venezuelan court's move a "serious setback for democracy." Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker with strong globalist and free-trade beliefs, has won support at home for his position on Venezuela in which he has traded personal attacks with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Vizcarra said Peru's own experience with authoritarianism in the 1990s, when now-jailed rightwing former President Alberto Fujimori dissolved Congress with the backing of the military, has left an indelible mark on the country. "We've gone through that before and we wouldn't want to repeat that experience or see fellow countries like Venezuela go through it," Vizcarra said. Vizcarra declined to discuss possible next steps, stressing that Kuczynski is leading the effort in the government. Last week Mexico called its ambassador back to Mexico for consultations ahead of a meeting in the Organization of American States, a Mexican foreign ministry source said. The ambassador is now back in Caracas and has not been called back since the Supreme Court move, the source said. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto expressed worry about the "deterioration of democracy" in Venezuela on Friday and instructed his foreign ministry to raise the matter again at the Organization of American States. "Considering these events, we cannot remain indifferent. Just as we did not in 2002 when there was an illegal attempt to overthrow the government," said Pena Nieto, referring to a 2002 coup attempt against Maduro's political mentor, late President Hugo Chavez. (Reporting By Mitra Taj and Marco Aquino, Additional Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Editing by Andrew Hay) By Mitra Taj and Marco Aquino LIMA (Reuters) - Peru needs more international aid to help hundreds of thousands of people cope with continuing floods and mudslides that have killed more than 100 people and torn apart much of the country's infrastructure, the transportation minister said Friday. Minister Martin Vizcarra told Reuters that the government will likely award reconstruction contracts in August or September, once heavy rains and the current crisis have subsided. Peruvians displaced by raging rivers and landslides still need bottled water, canned food, tents, toilet paper, medicine and other basics to survive coming months, Vizcarra said. Peru has distributed 4,000 tonnes of aid so far, most of it donated by Peruvian families and companies and institutions, but another 4,000 tonnes will likely be needed in coming months, Vizcarra said. Local donations were tapering off as raging rivers and mudslides continue to slam parts of Peru. "Every family, company has a limit to what it can give," Vizcarra told Reuters in an interview. "But people are going to be in need for a long time. There are families that have nothing." He noted that Peru prefers goods that could be distributed immediately to cash donations. A railway used to transport zinc and copper concentrates from mines in central Peru to port will likely take another two weeks to become operative, Vizcarra said. The government will likely hold public tenders for "packets" of projects - such as bridges needed in a region - to ensure a swift recovery. So far, more than 200 bridges and more than 2,000 kilometres of highway have been wiped out, Vizcarra said. Scientists in Peru now expect the localized version of El Nino that appeared suddenly off of Peru's coast this year to stretch into May, though April rains should not be as intense as the downpours still battering the northern coast. The United States said Thursday that it had allocated more than $775,000 to help Peru, about half of China's donation of $1.5 million to the Andean country. Economists in Peru have put the cost of reconstruction at more than $6 billion - more than 3 percent of gross domestic product. (Reporting By Mitra Taj and Marco Aquino; Editing by Eric Meijer) The Tamil Nadu government had submitted a memorandum seeking central assistance in the wake of drought and cyclonic storm 'Vardha' in the state. By India Today Web Desk: Centre today released Rs 2,014.45 crore financial assistance to Tamil Nadu against the loss caused by drought and cyclonic storm. Home Minister Rajnath Singh had chaired a High Level Committee (HLC) meeting on March 23 to discuss the issue of assistance. The aid, released on Friday, includes Rs 1,748.28 crore for drought (Kharif), Rs 264.11 crore for cyclonic storm 'Vardha' and Rs 2.06 crore under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, according to a release. advertisement The Tamil Nadu government had submitted a memorandum seeking central assistance in the wake of drought and cyclonic storm 'Vardha' in the state. CENTRE SENT TEAM TO TAMIL NADU TO ASSESS SITUATION The central government had sent an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) to Tamil Nadu to assess the situation. On the recommendations of IMCT and the Sub-Committee of the National Executive Committee, the HLC had approved the financial assistance. Government has so far been apathetic to the cause of Tamil Nadu farmers, who have been holding a skull protest at Jantar Mantar. The skulls. they say, are of their fellow farmers who have committed suicides in the wake of the Cauvery basin's worst drought in the last 150 years. Meanwhile, the Centre also sanctioned funds for another drought-hit state Karnataka. Rs 1235 CRORE RELEASED FOR DROUGHT-HIT KARNATAKA A High Level Committee meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh had approved sanctioning of Rs 1,782.44 crore to Karnataka from NDRF (National Disaster Response Force), but the Centre has released Rs 1,235.52 crore after adjusting Rs 96.92 crore available with the state as balance in the SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) and earlier release of Rs 450 crore by the central government. The two states have been asked to disburse relief funds directly to the bank account of beneficiaries. As per the official statement, the relief fund released to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are over and above the amount allocated to them as devolution of 42 per cent of central taxes as per the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission. (WITH INPUTS FROM IANS, PTI) Also read | Tamil Nadu farmers: How monsoon, politics and note ban brought skull protest to Jantar Mantar Also read | Rahul Gandhi meets skull protesters at Jantar Mantar, says PM Modi doesn't have time for farmers WATCH VIDEO | Centre releases Rs 1712 crore as relief fund for drought-hit Tamil Nadu --- ENDS --- advertisement STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said "foreign powers" were likely to try to interfere with Sweden's elections next year, adding the country's cyber-security defences would be strengthened. "It is becoming more and more obvious that foreign powers are trying to influence elections" around the world, he said. "Sweden is not immune," he told reporters. "We can note there are influence operations against Sweden and we expect such operations, aimed at next year's election." Lofven said the Civil Contingencies Agency would get an extra 10 million crowns ($1.12 million) for new cyber-security measures. The armed forces and Sapo counter-intelligence agency had also been assigned increased duties related to the election in September 2018. Earlier this month, Sapo said it had investigated electronic attacks on targets like energy firms, the telecoms and financial sectors and the government in 2016. Sapo said it believed they were by a state-sponsored actor, but would not name a country. However, the spy agency identified Russia as the biggest general threat to Sweden's security. U.S. authorities are investigating allegations that Russia tried to help Donald Trump win last year's presidential election while Germany has raised its alert level against cyber attacks ahead of elections there in September.[nL5N1GV0O4][nL2N1H70WK] (Reporting by Johan Sennero; editing by Andrew Roche) Prince Charles tried to halt the invasion of Afghanistan to respect Ramadan, Washington's former ambassador to Britain has claimed. The Prince of Wales asked that his request for a pause in the military action to honour the Muslim holy month could be passed on to then president George W Bush, according to William Farish. The former diplomat said the conversation took place by phone around a month into the operation. In a new biography of the heir to the throne, serialised by the Daily Mail, Mr Farish said: "Prince Charles asked me if it would be possible to stop the invasion to honour Ramadan, and if I could convey that request to President Bush." It is claimed when Prince Charles was told that it would be difficult he replied: "But Americans can do anything!" According to the account, when the envoy asked: "Sir, are you really serious?", Charles replied: "Yes I am." Around 20,000 American and British troops were sent into Afghanistan by President Bush and then Prime Minister Tony Blair in October 2001 after the ruling Taliban refused to hand over al Qaeda leader and mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks Osama Bin Laden :: Prince Charles scoops up mystery boy in bear hug during Romania visit Charles is said to have made his request about a month into the operation and two weeks before the start of the holy month. Mr Farish,78, was US ambassador to the UK between 2001 and 2004 and appeared alongside George Bush senior, Tony Blair and the Queen at a service to remember the victims of the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York. Prince Charles also attended the service around seven weeks after the Afghan invasion began on 7 October, 2001. Ramadan began on 16 November 16 and ended on 17 December. The claims emerged as Prince Charles was due to honour First World War dead during a visit to Italy, while the Duchess of Cornwall visits a project supporting vulnerable people, based in a former mafia villa. The Royal couple are touring Europe on what has been widely interpreted as a Brexit diplomacy visit, aimed at strengthening ties as the UK begins the process of leaving the EU. Prince Charles: The Passions And Paradoxes Of An Improbable Life, by Sally Bedell Smith, is published by Random House and will be released on 4 April. Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal judge in New York temporarily suspended many parts of the state's new gun restrictions on Monday to allow members of a gun-owners' rights group to continue their lawsuit challenging the new law as unconstitutional. Judge Glenn Suddaby of the U.S. District Court in Syracuse agreed to issue the order at the request of six New York residents who are members of Gun Owners of America, which competes with the National Rifle Association in political influence. New York's old gun license regime was thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark June ruling that established an individual right to carry weapons in public for self-defense, making it harder for lawmakers nationwide to regulate guns in a country where mass shootings are commonplace. The science behind the pain-free bite from an otherwise unassuming little fish could lead to the development of new painkillers. The fang blenny, which has two large canine teeth jutting out of its lower jaw, uses its venom to put off potential attackers, rather than to kill its own prey. But researchers used experiments on lab mice to find that the blenny's venom seems to be painless. Associate Professor Bryan Fry is from the University of Queensland's School of Biological Sciences Venom Evolution Laboratory and he led the research, along with Dr Nicholas Casewell of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Prof Fry said the fang blenny was an "excellent example" of why nature and unique habitats must be protected, particularly the Great Barrier Reef. The reef is one of the Australian habitats for the fang blenny but warmer ocean temperatures are thought to have caused destructive coral bleaching . Prof Fry said: "If we lose the Great Barrier Reef, we will lose animals like the fang blenny and its unique venom that could be the source of the next blockbuster painkilling drug." The fang blenny's venom contains a neuropeptide that occurs in cone snail venom, a lipase similar to one from scorpions, and an opioid peptide. When a bigger fish eats a blenny, the tiny fish bites the predator's gums. The bigger fish's blood pressure goes down, it loses coordination and its mouth opens involuntarily, meaning the little prey can swim away. "The predators would shake and quiver, and open their jaws and gills really wide," Dr Casewell told New Scientist. "What's more, they never eat blennies again, so whatever the effect is, it seems to be very unpleasant for predators." Prof Fry said the venom was "chemically unique". He added: "The venom causes the bitten fish to become slower in movement and dizzy by acting on their opioid receptors. "To put that into human terms, opioid peptides would be the last thing an elite Olympic swimmer would use as performance-enhancing substances. They would be more likely to drown than win gold." The research is published in Current Biology. NEW YORK A case unfolding in a lower Manhattan courtroom has caused political tremors in Honduras, seeming to confirm long-held suspicions that corruption at the highest levels of government helped turn the Central American country into a violent epicenter of the drug trade at the start of this decade. Fabio Porfirio Lobo, the son of the Honduran president in 2010-2013, is preparing to go before a federal judge for sentencing after pleading guilty to his role in a drug-trafficking ring involving members of Honduras national police. But it is the details of the conspiracy that emerged in testimony and newly released court documents which have captivated people back home by tying his father and a brother of the current president directly to traffickers. Political and civil society groups have been demanding investigations into the allegations, especially against former President Porfirio Pepe Lobo Sosa, who remains a leader in the ruling National Party and is among the wealthiest people in the country, with extensive agricultural land holdings. This is something that everyone suspected, said Edmundo Orellana, a former attorney general of Honduras. But what we didnt know was the extent of the involvement with the politicians. This has been a surprise. Most of the new information has come from a surprising source: Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, a once-feared leader of a Honduran trafficking organization known as Los Cachiros. He matter-of-factly admitted taking part in dozens of killings, including the countrys former drug czar, as he testified in a largely empty courtroom against the ex-presidents son over two days in March. I caused the death of 78 people, he said at one point. Together with politicians and drug traffickers. Rivera Maradiaga had a decade-long career as a trafficker based on the Atlantic coast. He described paying at least $500,000 in bribes directly to the elder Lobo, beginning when he was running for the presidency in 2009 following a coup that ousted the former president and threw Honduras into political chaos. Rivera Maradiaga was seeking protection for his business and against extradition to the U.S. Rivera Maradiaga sketched out what became a close working relationship with the younger Lobo during his fathers term in office. It allowed him to ship huge quantities of cocaine to the U.S. in coordination with the cartel led by Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. As U.S. authorities closed in on him, the leader of Los Cachiros surrendered to the Drug Enforcement Administration with his brother in 2013 and became a cooperating witness. As part of their relationship, the presidents son connected the head of Los Cachiros to corrupt politicians and police to bring in loads of cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela, according to U.S. prosecutors. They said the son helped the trafficker set up front companies, including a zoo north of the capital, and obtain government contracts that enabled him to launder enormous profits. Rivera Maradiaga also testified that Antonio Hernandez, a brother of Honduras current president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, asked him for a bribe in exchange for government contracts. The brother has denied that allegation. Without support from (the presidents son) and Honduran officials, criminality of this magnitude could not have continued, largely unfettered, for as long as it did, prosecutors wrote in a pre-sentencing brief. At the time, Honduras had deteriorated into violent upheaval. In 2011, the U.N. ranked it as the country with the worlds highest homicide rate. The U.S. State Department described Honduras as the primary transshipment point for U.S.-bound cocaine and lamented that the country received a 2.4 out of 10 on Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Index. The situation has improved since Lobo left office. The State Department says in its most recent report that the volume of cocaine that passes through Honduras is down 40 percent since 2014, the homicide rate has dropped a third, and a new national police investigative division replaced its historically inept and corrupt predecessor. In December 2014, with the new president in office, the country extradited the first Honduran citizen to the U.S. on a drug-trafficking charge, Carlos Lobo, who is not related to the former president. He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met with Honduras president on March 23 and praised the countrys progress fighting drugs and corruption. As a result of the revelations of alleged corruption by Rivera Maradiaga, the Honduran government said it is conducting a wide-ranging investigation that includes at least four anti-corruption prosecution teams to look into allegedly fraudulent government contracts set up to help Los Cachiros launder money. Manuel Retureta, a lawyer for Lobo, has declined to comment but said in a motion filed with the court late Thursday that Rivera Maradiaga has downplayed his role in killings and drug trafficking and his allegations against the former president are irrelevant and unproven. Rivera Maradiagas word alone is far from sufficient evidence and should be treated with great caution, he said. The DEA and federal prosecutors have declined to discuss the case because it is ongoing. Lobo faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced later this year. Rivera Maradiaga has pleaded guilty to charges that include drug trafficking and involvement in the slayings of the 78 people, including a woman killed in November 2013 in Quebec after fleeing the gang in her homeland. He also faces up to life in prison at a sentencing scheduled for April. The former drug gang boss apparently did gain a concession. He said in court that U.S. authorities have allowed his parents and two siblings to come to the United States as he continues to provide assistance. Im in prison, he said. And ever since I signed my agreement with the government I have to tell the truth, testify whenever they ask me to, and not commit any more crimes. ___ Associated Press writer Claudia Torrens reported this story in New York and AP writer Ben Fox reported from Miami. AP writer Freddy Cuevas contributed in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, contributed to this report. DENVER The new commander of Colorados National Guard is Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael A. Loh, a combat pilot and a 1984 graduate of the Air Force Academy. Gov. John Hickenlooper announced Friday that Loh will be the states adjutant general, replacing Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Edwards. Edwards retired after 10 years in that job and 43 years in the military. The adjutant general oversees more than 5,300 Army and Air national guard personnel in the state. Guard members respond to domestic emergencies and can be called to active duty for combat and other roles. Loh will also oversee the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Lohs most recent assignment was National Guard assistant to the commander of the Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. The neonatal intensive care unit at Prince Georges Hospital Center in Maryland will reopen on Monday, officials said, four months after federal infectious disease experts were called to investigate the outbreak of a potentially deadly bacteria. The unit was cleared after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a final report reaffirming that the Pseudomonas germ a common waterborne bacteria originated in the Cheverly, Maryland, hospitals plumbing system, and the hospital completed significant improvements to that system. Of the 15 infants who were transferred out of the hospitals NICU in August, when the bacteria first appeared in patients, and in November, when the germ reemerged, all but one child is now at home, said Sherry Perkins, chief operating officer of Dimensions Healthcare Systems, the nonprofit organization that runs the county hospital. The other baby was not affected by the bacteria, but has other health issues and remains hospitalized. The hospital has invested more than $500,000 dollars on a new water treatment system to clean and regularly flush the pipes. They have also implemented more rigid protocols and oversight of infection control procedures for hand-washing, bacteria surveillance and water testing. Currently, we have had no bacteria in the water system, Perkins said in an interview. I feel confident that the water treatment plan will make us among the safest NICUs in the country. The NICU first closed in August, after cultures derived from the nasal swabs of infant patients revealed the notoriously resistant Pseudomonas germ. Nine infants were moved to Childrens National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. All had the bacteria in their systems, though none showed any symptoms of infection. Testing revealed Pseudomonas in NICU sinks and traced its origin to the water system. Together with experts from the University of Maryland Medical School, hospital officials replaced the sinks, chlorinated the system and installed filters. Less than three months later, the bacteria was back. Six more babies were transferred out, but Perkins said none were colonizing Pseudomonas which can be fatal for premature newborns with underdeveloped immune systems. CDC experts then broadened their search for other sources of the bacteria, checking NICU equipment, health care workers and visitors to the unit, as well as the areas around sinks and breast milk pumps used by mothers. No other source was found, Perkins said. The hospital will continue to transfer its most vulnerable patients babies born prematurely at 28 weeks or less to Childrens as a precaution. During the investigation, epidemiologists also reviewed the deaths of seven babies in the year before the germ was detected in the NICU. They determined five had died of causes unrelated to Pseudomonas but the bacteria probably contributed to the deaths of the other two. However, experts could be not be completely certain. Perkins noted that in both cases the babies were extremely premature, had many complications and weighed under one pound. Perkins said the hospital has toughened its standards and retrained staff to try to stave off transmission and future outbreaks. It remains a risk in any NICU, Perkins said. There is probably more of this in other NICUs than is reported because its a bacteria that is not typically surveilled. Sign up for the Todays WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post. PHOENIX One of the lawyers representing former Sheriff Joe Arpaio in a criminal contempt-of-court case lost a bid Friday to delay the lawmans upcoming trial. Attorney Mark Goldman, who officially joined Arpaios legal team two weeks ago, had sought a 60-day delay because he has another trial a week earlier and his sons bar mitzvah is scheduled for April 29. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton wrote that Goldman knew when he joined the case that the trial was just five weeks away. Bolton also said Goldman shouldnt have taken the case if he wasnt available for the trial and added that Arpaio has other lawyers representing him. Arpaio is charged with contempt for ignoring a court order in a racial profiling case to stop his immigration patrols. He acknowledged prolonging his patrols, but he says his defiance wasnt intentional. If convicted, the 84-year-old faces up to six months in jail. The judge is considering whether to grant another postponement request by Goldman, who says he is unable to prepare and analyze a large volume of documents and videos in the case. The ruling was part of a flurry of court filings this week in case against the former longtime sheriff of Maricopa County. Earlier this week, attorneys for Arpaio asked Bolton to bar prosecutors from mentioning at trial comments that he made about immigration during his last three campaigns. They also want to prohibit the trial testimony of two people who were illegally detained when Arpaio prolonged his patrols. Bolton hasnt yet ruled on the requests to bar Arpaios campaign comments and victim testimony at trial. Earlier this month, Bolton rejected Arpaios request for a jury to decide whether he should be convicted of the misdemeanor charge. Instead, the decision will be made by Bolton. The final straw was a little girl using an iPad with the volume on high, a device her parents refused to turn down despite repeated requests from the staff at Carusos, an upscale Italian restaurant in Mooresville, North Carolina. Yoshi Nunez, the restaurants manager, had encountered unruly kids in his restaurant before; but this time, he said, the parents were misbehaving, too. Finally, we had to ask them to leave, Nunez told The Washington Post. They were upset, but they didnt seem to care about what the other guests thought. We tried to be nice about the situation, but were here to take care of customers and we cant tell a parent how to control their kids. That was the incident that triggered the entire thing. The entire thing, as Nunez puts it, is the restaurants strict ban on children under the age of 5. It went into effect in January, drawing passionate applause from some diners online and angry condemnation from others. The ban conceived by the restaurants owner, Pasquale Caruso has led to a dramatic increase in reservations, said Nunez, who said Carusos has seen a spike in diners, from about 50 per day to around 80. Banning children has always been a topic in the industry and every owner says, I wish I could do it,' he said. Our owner has the full support of the staff. We work here to make a living, too, and we support our owner 100 percent. Its hard to say whether child bans are officially a restaurant industry trend, but theyre no longer particularly unusual. Carusos which describes itself as traditional, classy, intimate on its website is the latest in a series of eateries to ban children or introduce measures to control them. In recent years, restaurants in Korea, Italy, Australia, Texas, Pennsylvania and California have either banned young children outright or introduced measures to control their behavior, according to Eater. As The Washington Posts Amy Joyce wrote in 2013, the trend has even hit a Virginia neighborhood sometimes known for stroller traffic jams. The Northern Virginia neighborhood, she wrote, is experiencing a different kind of mommy war with the arrival of a Japanese restaurant for people 18 and older. Only. No kids. No strollers. Just adults enjoying sushi and sake in a lounge-type setting. We thought parents just needed a place to give it a break, like an adult clubhouse, Sushi Bar owner Mike Anderson told her. In Houston, Cuchara, an intimate Mexican restaurant full of delicate artwork, began handing out cards with behavioral instructions to customers with children in 2015, according to CBS affiliate KHOU. The etiquette training was introduced after a child scratched the restaurant walls with a quarter, causing $1,500 in damage. How do we stop that kind of thing? Cucharas owner, Ana Beaven, told the station. Were busy serving and cleaning and moving around and we cannot babysit a child. Do the etiquette cards annoy parents? It doesnt offend anyone, its a set of rules, Beaven added. The debate surrounding the bans invokes larger questions about sociology, class and parenting trends, with some researchers saying they are the natural result of a culture of overtaxed parents desperate to spend as much time as possible with their children, even if that one-on-one time occurs over a fine bottle of wine at the expense of other diners around them. Liam Flynn, owner of Australias Flynns Restaurant, which instituted a ban on children under age 7, has a simpler explanation that speaks to how casual dining has become for many families. A lot of parents think theyre paying for the space and service and taking a break, and therefore taking a break from parenting as well, he told Eater. Theres a lot of people that feel they are not accountable for their own or their childs actions. The North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association declined to comment on restaurants that ban children. Sarah Dolan, director of media relations for the National Restaurant Association, said her group has seen no evidence that this is a trend. Every restaurant is different, and its up to each operator to make decisions that are best for their business and their guests, Dolan said. There are more than 1 million restaurants in the United States and the majority of them welcome families with children. Whitney Labozzetta, a mother of six, told ABC affiliate WSOC that she left Carusos after she was made to feel uncomfortable about having a baby with her. We actually got up and left because the waitresses were very rude, she said. When my daughter, who is 1, cried, they gave us the nasty look. On the restaurants Facebook page, some parents criticized the child ban using sarcasm. Also a family of five requires a lot more attention from the wait staff (since theyre ordering so much . . . even though we tip extremely well because we know we are a bit of a challenge) and you as an owner cant possibly want too many big parties, big checks and big tips coming in, one woman wrote. What a nightmare. I would never come to your establishment! another parent wrote. My 8 year old has been in better restaurants then yours and is always a pleasure! How you are legally allowed to discriminate amazes me! she added. Next you will be kicking out all the elderly because they take to long to eat. Slippery slope! But the push-back from parents online was overwhelmed by an outpouring of support for the restaurants ban, which was endorsed with language reserved for civil rights struggles. Thank you for taking a stand, multiple people wrote. Others said they applauded the restaurants courage and called the policy brilliant. People from across the country promised to visit the restaurant, which is about 30 miles north of Charlotte, and one particularly animated fan suggested Carusos policy should be turned into state law. A message on Carusos website says the establishment requires proper attire and has no childrens menu available. Nunez said customers find out children arent allowed when they call to make a reservation or, increasingly, via word of mouth. The restaurants owner told the Mooresville Tribune that he has nothing against children and noted that hes a father of two himself. He said he is trying to create an atmosphere that keeps his restaurant elegant for couples and friends who want to have a relaxed evening out. The ban wasnt based on a single incident, Caruso said, but came about after he started to lose money and customers, because I had very young children coming in, throwing food, running around and screaming. I had several customers complain, get up and leave because children were bothering them, and the parents were doing nothing, he told the Tribune. It started to feel like it wasnt Carusos anymore, that it was a local pizzeria instead. Sign up for the Todays WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post. A man wrote a review on Zomato claiming that three of his friends were brutally beaten by The Wine Company staff on Monday night over an "inconsistent" bill. The Wine Company customers allege they were beaten by the restaurant staff. Source: The Plunge Daily/ Suryansh Jalan By India Today Web Desk: A visit to The Wine Company at DLF Cyber Hub, Gurgaon, turned foul for three young men, who now claim they were brutally thrashed by the bouncers here for no good reason. Suryansh Jalan wrote a review on Zomato saying that three of his friends had gone to The Wine Company on Monday night at around 10pm. A little after midnight, when they called for the bill, they noticed there were some "inconsistencies" in the amount charged. advertisement Jalan wrote that, at this point, the restaurant's manager was summoned, after which "a heated, yet cordial argument" ensued between the two parties. Ultimately, the manager accepted the restaurant's error, gave them a corrected bill, which Jalan said his friends paid and headed for the door "as can be clearly viewed on the CCTV footage." From here, as Jalan claims, things started going south: "Seems like there was a misconception in the company staff, as the Manager tried to stop one of the friends by grabbing their arm, and when the individual tried to release himself from the strong grip of the Manager, around 8-10 highly aggressive, seemingly uneducated and brutish bouncers, decide to take matters into their own hands, and viciously jumped them NOT with the intent to restrict them, but rather to cause heavy and grievous harm." Though Zomato now has taken down this review, it is still appearing on The Plunge Daily. Jalan further added that the restaurant staff "broke several bottles on them," and that one of the bouncers slashed a deep cut in his friend's neck with a glass shard. After this 'assault' Jalan said his friends where "dragged" out of the restaurant to the DLF CyberHub's promenade, and left there, when one of his friends called the police. WHAT DOES THE WINE COMPANY HAVE TO SAY? In a Facebook post shared on Thursday, The Wine Company responded to the incident saying that they have "thoroughly investigated the matter" and come to the conclusion that it was the customers (Jalan's friends) who were "misbehaving" at the restaurant. The Wine Company claims that the three men had "consumed excessive amounts of alcohol" until 12.30am, some time after which they were told that that the restaurant was about to shut and that the liquor licensing hour was up. "On hearing this, the customers began misbehaving with our staff," said The Wine Company post. "Our wine sommelier, who started reasoning with them, was then abused verbally, pushed across the restaurant and struck repeatedly without provocation." advertisement The Wine Company claims that at this point, two bouncers intervened to take the three "extremely drunk and unruly" men out of the restaurant, with some assistance from the restaurant staff. "Once outside the premises of the restaurant, the three picked fights with passer-by's and were injured in the subsequent scuffle," said the post. The Wine Company also claimed that it was their restaurant manager who called the police. Here is a CCTV footage they shared of the incident: WHAT DOES ZOMATO HAVE TO SAY? Zomato is said to have taken down Suryansh Jalan's review of the incident at The Wine Company because they "cannot allow second-hand dining experiences only or opinions based on a media report/ a third party's incident [sic]." Jalan shared a screenshot of Zomato's mail to him, in which the company "defends" the removal of Jalan's review on The Wine Company from their platform. In the mail, Zomato officials wrote that though the "regret" the "unfortunate incident" that happened with his friends, they won't be able to carry Jalan's review as it is against their guidelines. Here is a screenshot of Zomato's mail to Jalan: OTHER NEWS REPORTS A report on TOI says the three customers were beaten up by the bouncers at The Wine Company for "refusing to leave even after the bar closed for the day." advertisement The report says one of the customers "pushed" the restaurant manager and "refused to foot the bill," which led to an argument and, eventually, the bouncers' entrance. --- ENDS --- Time Out London wanted to introduce its readers to xiao long bao, or Chinese soup dumplings, delicate little purses of dough filled with broth. They did it by making the food lovers version of a snuff film: popping the dumplings with chopsticks and letting all the delicious broth run out. This is not a Theres no wrong way to eat a Reeses situation. There is absolutely a wrong way to eat xiao long bao, and this is it. What makes the dish so special is that its filling is made of gelatinized meat stock, which liquefies when the dumpling is steamed. That rich broth is meant to be sipped directly from the dumpling not splooshed out and wasted, as the video demonstrates. Worse yet, the caption on the video compares it to viral Internet videos of pimple popping. Needless to say, the Internet has not been kind to Time Out London in the wake of this. Some sample comments left beneath the video: This video is giving me anxiety because you are definitely NOT supposed to squeeze the soup out of them or explode them as you crudely put it. My traditional food is not here just for your next cool trend. Did you just equate Chinese food to popping zits? Time Out you should know better. How hard is it to find an ethnic Chinese person and just ask them how this should be eaten? RIP all these dead XLB, you have died for nothing. When food editors, who are often white, introduce their readership to new foods its called Columbusing they dont always get it right. A similar outcry took place last year when Bon Appetit made a video of a white chef explaining how to eat pho, telling people that its incorrect to put hoisin or Sriracha in the soup. Asian readers inundated the magazine with criticism, both for the falsities (its okay to use those sauces, many Vietnamese readers pointed out) and for the poor optics of it all. Bon Appetit later removed the video. Time Out later apologized for its video, too, and posted a call-out for readers to help it with its cultural understanding. Weve been politely informed that bursting these lovely little parcels of culinary joy before they reach your lips really isnt the done thing at all. So, first off, apologies to anybody who was peeved by our post. Secondly, wed like to invite the knowledgeable food-lovers of China and Asia to tell us what traditional delicacies we Londoners should try and how to eat them properly, the editors wrote. When you eat xiao long bao, you want the broth to spill out into your mouth, not the bowl. For the record, heres the best method, according to Washington Post writer Winyan Soo Hoo, who interviewed Wei Sun, co-owner of Shanghai Taste in Rockville, Maryland, for a 2015 story about xiao long bao. The delicate nature of dumpling skin requires gentle chopstick maneuvering for a quick transfer from steamer basket to Chinese soup spoon. An initial bite into the skin to slurp the broth will help avoid scalding splashes or spills. We will give you a big soup spoon before you eat, Sun said. Take a small bite and let the juice flow.' And please, dont compare it to anything dermatologic. Sign up for the Todays WorldView Newsletter The Washington Post. The Oklahoma man found decapitated and mutilated behind a northeast Albuquerque Wal-Mart last December was dead before his head was cut off, according to an autopsy report from the Office of the Medical Investigator. The report indicates 42-year-old Clifford Miller died from seven stab wounds to his torso, including multiple stab wounds to his back, abdomen and chest. His body also showed cuts and bruises and multiple smaller wounds. Miller, who friends say had moved to Albuquerque for work and who had become homeless when the work dried up, was originally from McAlester, Okla. Shortly after midnight on Dec. 17, a security guard found his naked body missing its head and genitals behind a Wal-Mart on Wyoming near Menaul NE. His gruesome death shocked the city and made national news. Police said at the time they didnt believe he was killed at the Wal-Mart but they wouldnt say where they believe he was slain. They didnt announce any suspects. More than three months later, detectives dont have any more details about the case, according to Albuquerque police spokesman Fred Duran. But an autopsy released Friday gives a couple of additional clues to the circumstances surrounding Millers death. The report showed that Miller had used marijuana before he was killed and had enough alcohol in his system to possibly be unconscious. It also showed that he had sperm on his left leg that could belong to him or his assailant. The Office of the Medical Investigator did not return phone calls requesting more information. Duran also did not answer when asked if the DNA was Millers or if it pointed to another person. Any evidence collected will be processed at the lab if this is possible depending on what evidence could be collected and will be turned over to detectives, Duran wrote in an email. Detectives have issued an arrest warrant for a suspect in the murder of a 54-year-old former firefighter who was found dead in his garage last December, according to a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department. Officer Fred Duran said Terry Lee White, 50, is suspected of killing Don Fluitt in his home on the 3500 block of Plateau NW on Dec. 29. White was last known to be driving a silver 2012 GMC Canyon pickup bearing NM plate MFH649, Duran said. White is described as a Caucasian male, 6 0, 185, with green eyes. Duran said White should be considered armed and dangerous and anyone who sees him should call 911 immediately. He did not say what what the relationship between White and Fluitt was or why detectives believe White is a suspect. Fluitts brother, Dennis Fluitt, had previously told the Journal that when Don returned home from visiting his mother in California for Christmas to find signs his home had been occupied while he was gone. He said there was a pot on the stove and his dog was skittish and scared. The next day he was found dead in his garage. White has no criminal history in New Mexico, according to online court records. The president of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association is blasting Mayor Richard Berry for his proposed budget, saying it does nothing to address the real underlying crime problem in the city that there arent enough cops on the streets. The proposed budget contains no money for pay raises for city police officers, although it does boost the Albuquerque Police Departments budget by about $7 million for the property crime and rape kit backlog initiatives, and in anticipation of graduating more cadets and filling some of APDs vacant positions. Shaun Willoughby argues that the mayors budget doesnt address the staggering rate at which mid-level and seasoned officers are leaving the department. He said Albuquerques salaries for those officers arent competitive with cities like Denver, Oklahoma City or Phoenix. We dont even compete in this region, yet this city unveils no serious investment in this problem, he said Friday. Rhiannon Samuel, Berrys spokeswoman, said public safety continues to be a priority for the administration, noting the additional $7 million for APD in the proposed budget. We have created the largest cadet classes in a decade, with one factor being APDs standing as the highest-paid department in the state and much of the region for our graduating cadets, she said. We have given more raises overall to APD during this administration than any other category of city employee 19 percent on average and we have fought for more dollars to replace older police vehicles. We appreciate the men and women of APD, and will continue to support them throughout this administration. Willoughby also criticized the mayors $1.2 million property crime reduction program, saying it will produce little more than mobile report takers. He said theyre not going to prevent crime in neighborhoods or help capture criminals. While the program will result in citizens not having to wait as long to have a report taken, he said, its not going to prevent a thief from kicking in your front door. Samuel countered that by providing 16 new civilian staff, APD will be able to relieve sworn officers on certain property crime calls. As for the $1 million the mayor wants to spend on addressing the citys rape kit backlog, Willoughby questioned who would investigate those cases once the 4,000 rape kits are processed. Im patiently waiting, Willoughby said. I am waiting to have a mayor who will lead this community and make public safety and the crime problem in Albuquerque a priority. City Councilor Ken Sanchez said Berry should have recommended money for 1,100 police officers, 100 more than is included in the proposed budget. I think were in a crisis and we need to do what we can to aggressively recruit officers, he said. If we dont make Albuquerque safe, keep our city safe, I dont think anything else is relevant. Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE A bill aimed at reshaping New Mexicos political spending landscape has caught the attention of several national groups that have been lobbying Gov. Susana Martinez over the last two weeks to veto the legislation. But backers of the measure, which would increase disclosure requirements on dark money groups and modernize definitions in the states Campaign Reporting Act, have begun to push back with a lobbying effort of their own with just one week left until the April 7 bill action deadline. Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, who has tried to pass the legislation for six years, said Friday hes not surprised by the efforts to sway the governor. This is one of those bills that has always had bipartisan support, but theres also been groups on both sides (of the political spectrum) that have opposed it because they prefer the status quo, Wirth told the Journal. He also said he hasnt discussed the bill with Martinez or top Governors Office staffers since this years session ended March 18, but said they have had conversations about it in the past. Specifically, the measure, Senate Bill 96, would require more disclosure including donor names for spending by political committees, nonprofits and independent expenditure groups on most types of political advertising in excess of $1,000. While some groups already provide that information, independent groups that spend on elections but for whom electioneering isnt a primary purpose dont currently have to disclose where theyre getting their money and what theyre using it for. Such groups can include nonprofits, unions and business associations. https://abqjournal.com/980491/martine-zvetoes-ency-legislation.html Two recent polls by Albuquerque-based Research & Polling Inc., have showed broad public support for increased disclosure requirements on independent political expenditures. One of the polls, a survey of 251 New Mexico business leaders conducted for the Washington D.C.-based Committee for Economic Development, found that 92 percent of those surveyed in support of public disclosure of all contributions and expenditures from individuals, corporations, political committees, nonprofits and unions. A chilling effect Groups opposing the legislation argue it would curtail free speech rights and could silence potential donors who could be targeted for supporting controversial political causes. If passed, this bill would have a chilling effect on free and open debate within the state of New Mexico, said Mark Lucas, the executive director of Concerned Veterans for America, a Virginia-based group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch. No one should fear retaliation, discrimination or harassment simply for standing up for their beliefs. The group, as part of a coalition with nearly a dozen other groups from both outside and within New Mexico, sent Martinez a letter last month urging her to veto the bill. Theyve also set up an online petition form for people to fill out and send to the governor. Another prominent right-leaning national group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, has also joined the crusade against the legislation. In response, Common Cause New Mexico, a group that supports the measure and has advocated for its passage, sent a letter to the governor this week citing the recent polls and describing the bill as narrowly focused and on solid legal footing. We believe this bill will increase the publics trust in our system and clarify the duties of all those who are spending money to influence our elections, Common Cause officials wrote in their letter. The letter said the bill would update a 40-year old campaign finance law by requiring disclosure of basic information by PACS and other independent groups who sponsor advertising in our elections. It also said the bill would not affect churches and other charities that do not explicitly engage in political advertising. Doubling the cap New Mexicos campaign spending guidelines have shifted dramatically in recent years, in part due to the U.S. Supreme Courts Citizens United decision, which cleared the way for unlimited spending by some political action committees. The 2010 ruling came just one year after then-Gov. Bill Richardson signed legislation limiting the size of donations to and from New Mexico candidates and political committees, though the limits didnt take effect until after the 2010 election cycle. The bill awaiting final approval on Martinezs desk would double the current cap on campaign contributions for legislative candidates from $2,500 per election cycle to $5,000 per cycle but would slightly lower the maximum allowed donation for statewide candidates. Other provisions include: Providing a definition of political coordination in state law. Coordination between political committees and candidates is not currently defined in statute. Barring individuals from making contributions or expenditures with an intent to conceal the identify of the actual funding source. Eliminating various provisions that have been found by courts to be unconstitutional in recent years. A Martinez spokesman said Friday the two-term Republican governor has not yet fully scrutinized the bill. As with all legislation, shell review it thoroughly before making the best decision for New Mexico, Martinez spokesman Michael Lonergan said. Wirth, who co-sponsored this years legislation with Rep. Jim Smith, R-Tijeras, said the bill is an attempt to make election-related spending more transparent while complying with both First Amendment rights and court rulings. We cant limit the money, but we can turn the lights on about whos spending money in elections and give voters that information, he said. Tracy Suit spent his Friday morning looking under car hoods and analyzing transmission components spread out on a table and being judged every step of the way. Suit was among 540 career technology students from around the state who converged on Central New Mexico Community College for the annual SkillsUSA Leadership & Skills Conference. They vied for state titles in their area of study and a berth in Junes national competition in Louisville, Ky. Contestants kept CNM abuzz during the festivities: Masonry contestants stacked cinderblock; welders tested their oxy-fuel cutting, and those in the teamwork event built, wired and plumbed small structures. Auto tech competitors had to complete 20 test stations mostly identifying and measuring parts. Suit felt upbeat about two hours into the event. I think Im doing pretty well, he said during a short break between stations. Im pretty confident so far. I dont know what the rest of the tables have to offer, but I dont think theyll be too bad. But Suit, 21, already has a good idea of what the larger automotive technology field has to offer. He will officially graduate from San Juan College in Farmington with an associate degree in May, but he has already completed a number of industry certification tests. He also already has a job at an Albuquerque Chrysler dealership making $18 an hour, with an expectation that if he sticks around five to 10 years, hell see his pay climb to $30 an hour. Outside a dealership, he says his earning potential could reach $50 an hour. For those not established as well as Suit, the SkillsUSA competition could help. Barry Mills, a CNM auto instructor, said industry representatives serve as judges, and they look for future employees. The judges are absolutely paying attention (to) poise, how they present themselves, what their knowledge base is. CNMs Donna Trujillo, the events coordinator, said 220 judges participated in the competition. Most are industry professionals. Trujillo, who has also traveled with state winners to the national competition, said judges scout the field. Theyre looking to hire our kids. Ive been tapped on the shoulder (at nationals) and asked Is that your girl?' she said of a past student. Welding competition judge Wade Florence, a Farmington sales manager for the Matheson industrial gas company, said he came to CNM with business cards from many of his clients who need employees. Every shop you drive by where Im from is hiring welders, he said. Some former competition gold medalists like Christina Horton, who studied construction management and technology at CNM, came back to judge Friday. Others like Katelyn Schmetterer came back just to watch. She won the SkillsUSA cabinetmaking competition at the high school and post-secondary level, setting the stage for a full career. She later earned an architectural/engineering drafting technology degree at CNM and now works for HB Construction. My woodworking background led me to all of this, she said. For more than 30 years, New Mexico State University has celebrated its diverse international community with the annual Las Cruces International Festival (https://ibp.nmsu.edu), which traditionally features displays, performances, food and music representing more than a dozen countries. This year, in addition to being a fun way to spend a beautiful spring Saturday in Las Cruces, the April 8 festival also serves as an opportunity to show up and demonstrate your appreciation for international diversity in our community. According to the Institute of International Educations Open Doors data, the number of international students in the U.S. increased by seven percent in the 2015-16 academic year to a record high of nearly 1,044,000, representing five percent of the total student population at U.S. institutions. More than a third of these international students studied engineering, math or computer science, and 14 percent engaged in Optional Practical Training, including many in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) professions. The growth in international STEM students is likely connected to the 25 percent increase in students from India. More than three-quarters of students from India study in these fields. NMSUs 1,300 international students, and about 400 domestic students, each year make a life-changing decision when they choose to study in a foreign country. Conversely, by staying in a place between closed borders people risk becoming prisoners to a single worldview. Its inevitable that when a person spends time abroad he or she returns as a different person. We see it time and time again. Unfortunately, its sometimes hard to convince students at NMSU to study abroad, thereby depriving them of that life-changing experience. Thats where our mission to bring the world to New Mexico comes in. Working with our international students, we create spaces for them to interact with local students and community members. Our biggest event is the international festival, but there are many other examples, such as our regular Global Coffee Hours and the Cultural Bazaar at the Branigan Library that allow international students to speak to locals about their home countries, their customs and traditions, and their impressions of American life. Id like to emphasize the importance of our international communitys positive contributions to our economy, society and education. For example, Wei Tang, an assistant professor in the Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NMSU, recently received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career award, which is a five-year, $500,000 grant. Jose Eduardo Calzada Rovirosa is an NMSU graduate who is now the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA). Literally hundreds, if not thousands, of current and former NMSU Aggies are making significant contributions in their fields. These faculty and student alumni are important allies for both NMSU and the United States, and it is in our best interest to keep those allies our friends close. As it does every year, the April 8 Las Cruces International Festival will celebrate these friends contributions both on campus and across the region. We want people to help us celebrate our diversity and show we care about each other, regardless of political affiliation. Please come join us! Cornell Menking is the associate provost for International and Border Programs at New Mexico State University. He may be reached at cmenking@nmsu.edu. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Two more people have been arrested in connection with the deaths of two Colorado teenagers, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to nine. The Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/2onbwtU) that El Paso County sheriffs deputies arrested 28-year-old Carlos Daniel Meza after a foot chase and search along Fountain Creek in Colorado Springs on Friday. Deputies also arrested 20-year-old Breeana Eloise Dahlberg for investigation of second-degree kidnapping in the double homicide. The bodies of 15-year-old Derek Greer and 16-year-old Natalie Partida were found March 12 along a rural road about 20 miles south of Colorado Springs. Authorities havent said how the teens died or released details about a possible motive. Seven people previously had been arrested in the case. Police still are searching for an 18-year-old man. ___ Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com Ten of the 14 people running to be Albuquerques next mayor had sought public financing for their campaigns, but only one of those candidates State Auditor Tim Keller has qualified. This was a daunting task, to try and get the number of $5 contributions that are needed for this, Keller said during a Saturday morning news conference. Its extremely rare historically. Saturday was the deadline for mayoral candidates seeking public financing to submit $5 contributions from 3,802 registered city voters in order to tap into public financing. City Clerk Natalie Howard said Keller was the only candidate who met the threshold. He will receive $1 per registered city voter roughly $380,000 in city funds, minus the seed money he raised to run his campaign. Howard said the remaining candidates who had been pursuing public financing have switched to private financing. Keller thanked the hundreds of volunteers who helped him, saying they collected almost 6,000 donations over the last six weeks. For us, this is a way to make our campaign about building a vision going forward as opposed to fundraising, and thats what were going to be able to do because we hit our goals today, he added. Candidates who tried unsuccessfully for public financing were Scott Madison, who works with the nuclear weapons program at Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratories; retired Old Town resident Stella Padilla; Elan Colello, CEO of a virtual reality company; Rachel Golden, who works at a movie theater; University of New Mexico undergraduate Augustus Gus Pedrotty; Jacob Shull, a native of Florida who has lived in Albuquerque for nearly six years; Lamont Davis; and Susan Wheeler-Deichsel, founder of the civic group Urban ABQ. Retired police detective Michelle Garcia Holmes said she withdrew from public financing in late February. They make it impossible practically, Padilla said, referring to the requirements to qualify for public financing. She said many of the people she approached didnt feel they should have to pay $5 to show their support for her. It was an incredibly uphill battle, Madison said. He said that in order to succeed at public financing, candidates either need to make running for mayor their full-time job, or they need a large volunteer force. Madison said he would like to see Albuquerque move to a tiered system, in which candidates receive campaign funds from the city based on how many $5 donations they are able to raise. Wheeler-Deichsel said she realized within three weeks that she wasnt going to be able to meet the threshold for public financing. None of us has the network Tim (Keller) has, she said. Mayoral candidates who opted not to seek public financing early on were former Bernalillo County Commissioner Deanna Archuleta, former state Democratic Party chairman Brian Colon, Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson and City Councilor Dan Lewis. Eddy Aragon, who had previously announced that he was running for mayor, has withdrawn from the race. Four years ago, former City Councilor Pete Dinelli was the only mayoral candidate to qualify for public financing. He lost to Mayor Richard Berry, who raised about $900,000 for his run. Keller said he expects to be competitive, regardless of how much money his opponents raise. Were going to have an amazing ground game going forward, he said. We essentially were incentivized to get our campaign together and to get heavily organized early by this process Hopefully, folks know me. Ive been around a while and they know my track record. They know the good work that Ive been able to do for the community, and because of that, I think well be able to go head to head with anyone who is doing private financing. Mayoral candidates must now gather at least 3,000 signatures from registered city voters by April 28 in order to appear on the ballot. The election is Oct. 3. LAS CRUCES Peter Kopp, an assistant professor of history at New Mexico State University, will present A History of Hops and the Craft Beer Revolution at noon Tuesday, April 11, as part of the Brown Bag Lecture series at the Las Cruces Railroad Museum, 351 N. Mesilla St. Kopp serves at the director of the public history program. He specializes in environmental and agricultural history, the North American West, and public history. His first book, Hoptopia: A World of Agriculture of Beer in Oregons Willamette Valley, was published in 2016. He is working on a biography of Fabian Garcia, who is known as the father of New Mexico chile. The Brown Bag Lecture is at noon every second Tuesday at the Railroad Museum. Admission is free and the museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit the website at: museums.las-cruces.org or call 575-647-4480. If you need an accommodation for a disability to enable you to fully participate in this event, please contact the museum 48 hours prior to the event. 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. _____ Nazia floated a WhatsApp group about four months ago with an appeal to victims of triple talaq. Twenty-five members have joined till now. A group of women led by Nazia Khan (far left) handed a memorandum to the district magistrate in Muzaffarnagar on Friday seeking justice for victims of triple talaq. By Sneha Agrawal, Rajat Rai: A group of about 25 triple talaq victims from Uttar Pradesh met the district magistrate in Muzaffarnagar on Thursday and appealed for justice, widening a campaign to end the controversial divorce practice. Thousands of Muslim women from across the country have raised their voices against the Sharia law custom that allows men to split up with their wives by saying "talaq" thrice. advertisement "We are facing the curse of being women. It is our request to the government to help us in getting justice," said group leader Nazia Khan after submitting a memorandum to the magistrate. "I am going to New Delhi with a couple of my sisters and we have plans to meet (Prime Minister) Modiji if he spares time." Nazia floated a WhatsApp group about four months ago with an appeal to victims of triple talaq. Twenty-five members have joined till now. Following in the footsteps of fellow UP residents Atiya Sabri, Shagufta Shah and Reshma Parveen, they have joined the fight and sought the PM's intervention. Mail Today highlighted the plight of the pregnant Shagufta, who was divorced in an instant and thrown out on the streets by her husband and in-laws. "We have received the memorandum," Muzaffarnagar district magistrate DK Singh said. A five-judge constitution bench will sit during the Supreme Court's summer vacation in May to examine a batch of petitions challenging Islamic practices such as triple talaq and polygamy after women complained of being divorced on Facebook and WhatsApp. KNOW THE VICTIMS Two sisters, Rihana and Rubina, were married the same day and went as brides to the same house in a small Uttarakhand village. In less than a month, their husbands had thrown them out. "They, on the pretext of triple talaq, kept asking for more money. My father gave them Rs4 lakh as dowry but now they want Rs10 lakh. From where are we going to arrange the money? We have been beaten, tortured and our father-in-law sexually abuses us," Rihana told Aaj Tak. The sisters have been living with their parents for almost a year now. Their mother, who has also joined the movement against triple talaq, said, "They should be put behind bars for abusing the sanctity of marriage. We are being threatened, that if we do not arrange money, their husbands would remarry. Not just our son-in-laws but the whole family should be punished for their act. We have filed a case against them, but they have not participated in any single court hearing and instead mock the judiciary saying that they are immune to any punishment." Nazia, who accompanied the sisters to the Capital, is a triple talaq victim herself. "The practice should call for rape and cheating charges. The government should come up with a Muslim Marriage Act and divorce should be carried out in court," she said. Nazia got married in 2009 to a doctor and her husband gave her instant divorce in 2013. Since then she has been fighting for her right. "To give voice to more women, we have begun a movement and one can write to us on www.wesupportwomen. tk," she said. Another victim, Parvin Jahan from Shamli city in UP, was given triple talaq for giving birth to a girl. "Money is all that my husband wanted," she told Aaj Tak. "Since we got married, he sought money at regular intervals. I was also beaten. After I gave birth to a girl child, he became more violent and on February this year, he gave me talaq and sent me back to my maternal home." advertisement Also Watch: Listen to this triple talaq victim rip apart a maulavi with her tearful ordeal advertisement Also Read Triple talaq: How it affects lives of India's 90 million Muslim women To hear triple talaq case, Supreme Court ready to give up summer vacation Triple talaq: AIMPLB opposes PILs filed in Supreme Court --- ENDS --- The New Mexico Public Education Department is using completely inappropriate accounting to calculate how much to take from Rio Rancho Public Schools cash reserves, according to district administrators, who believe the state is pulling about $800,000 more than it is owed. A little over a week ago, RRPS learned that it would lose $2.3 million in the cash balance sweep Gov. Susana Martinez approved this January a substantially larger amount than the $1.5 million the district projected. Randy Evans, RRPS executive director of finance, told the school board Monday that the discrepancy comes down to completely inappropriate accounting that is unprecedented in his 30-year career. This is very serious, Evans said. I dont think we can sit around. At issue is how much cash the school district really has in hand. Across the state, districts lost a portion of cash reserves, adding up to $46 million to help cover a massive budget deficit. According to the state, RRPS has $9.1 million in cash balances, but Evans argues for a smaller amount, $5.1 million. His figure subtracts liabilities like accounts payable; in other words, money that is already obligated for specific expenses. Evans compared the formula to a simple family budget: if you have $10,000 in the bank, but just wrote a $4,000 check, you really only have $6,000. My opinion is that (PED) is not looking at this with proper accounting, Evans told the Journal, adding that the districts independent accounting firm agrees. New Mexico Education Secretary Hanna Skandera said the bill is clear. It repeatedly references a districts audited fiscal year 2016 operational fund balance as the starting point for the calculation. That number does not factor in expenses, under PEDs interpretation. Every school is subject to the same calculation as Rio Rancho, Skandera said in a prepared statement. This is not an accounting issue they are bringing up. Rio Rancho is refusing to read the bill as it is written. Neighboring Albuquerque Public Schools accurately projected the amount it would lose in the cash sweep $12.5 million, according to spokeswoman Johanna King. APS has settled its budget for the current fiscal year, King said. But RRPS spokeswoman Beth Pendergrass reiterated that the bill is open to interpretation because an audited fund balance could legitimately exclude expenses. All we want is clarification and that is really what we are working on, Pendergrass added. The district will also start thinking about how to cover the extra $800,000 reduction. Its one more hit for schools that are already strapped, Pendergrass said. This year has been very difficult, she said. There are tough decisions that have to be made. In addition to the $2.3 million cash balance reduction, RRPS lost another $2.3 million from operational funds last October. Martinez has called for a special session to set the budget for next year, which begins July 1. Food, one of the basic necessities of life, has constantly evolved over the years. Chefs today have magical ways to cook it up in different ways possible. Starting April 3, AXN brings to you brand new seasons of Top Chef, one of the most popular and fascinating cooking shows where ace chefs battle it out for the top spot! Watch Top Chef: Boston (S12) and Top Chef: California (S13) Monday to Friday at 9 pm only on AXN. Raising the bar, ace judges - Richard Blais, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, Hugh Acheson, Emeril Lagasse and the charismatic host Padma Lakshmi, promise yet another array of mouth-watering dishes as ace Chefs battle it out to win the title of the Top Chef. On this occasion, Gail Simmons said, I feel very privileged that we have been able to do this show for so many years. There are so many chefs from all over the world which makes these seasons very delicious. Every season, we go to a different city across the country and are introduced to its food, people and community. The chefs in every city are so generous to us and we have had a lot of adventures on our way. As far as India is concerned, I love Indian food and eat it whenever I can. The Indian food platter is so diverse, every city has different ways of cooking and I am just learning about it. Tune in to AXN to catch up with all the excitement and fun only on AXN LIVE AXN. LIVE R.E.D If you own the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV, then you are most likely running Android 7.0 (Nougat). The 2017 NVIDIA SHIELD comes running on Android Nougat out of the box, while the 2015 version received its OTA update back in January. If you own the now-discontinued Nexus Player, then you currently have the option to go one better as the Nexus Players Android O update is now available to download and install manually. This is only a developer preview of the next version of Android TV, but it is still available. You can find out how to download and install the update yourself by clicking here. However, if you are the owner of the Xiaomi Mi Box, which in reality is one of the newer Android TV devices to become available, then it seems you are likely to still be running Android 6.0 (Marshmallow). This is the operating system version which came running at launch on the Mi Box and so far, Xiaomi has been shy when it comes to providing any firm dates on when it will begin rolling out the Android Nougat update to the Mi Box. Although, that might be able to change as over the last week or two a number of user reports have been coming through stating that their Mi Box has been updated to Android 7.0 as shown below by one user on Reddit. Advertisement If you are waiting on the Nougat update for your Mi Box, then it is worth noting that this currently does not seem to be a wide roll out. From the limited information available, it seems that a select number of users who were part of a beta testing group for the Mi Box (prior to launch) have started receiving the update to Android 7.0 on their beta machines. At the moment it is unclear if all beta users have received the update, although that would be the likely assumption. More to the point, while there is still no word from Xiaomi on the rolling out of Android 7.0 to consumer versions of the Mi Box, this would seem like a good indication that the update is nearing a proper release stage. With the Mi Box being one of the newest Android TV boxes on the market, it would be expected that it would be more on top of rolling out Android updates than other devices. Especially considering that this is the companys first Android TV box and if Xiaomi has plans for a second box, then there is a chance that the speed of updates could be one of the factors that influences the decision of potential buyers as to whether they upgrade or not. Of course, Xiaomi is not the only Android TV device manufacturer to be slow with updating their device(s) to Android Nougat. In fact, this seems to be quite a common problem with a number of the built-in solutions of Android TV, which also still seem to be residing on Android Marshmallow. Although, the difference between those devices and the Mi Box is that TVs powered by Android TV do not push Android TV as their main selling point. The Mi Box by contrast, is only useful as an Android TV box and so regular updates is likely to be of more importance to buyers of a Mi Box, compared to buyers of an Android TV-powered TV. In either case, if you do own the Mi Box, then you might want to be manually checking the update tool in settings a little more regularly over the next few weeks as it could be case that Nougat is preparing to become available for your device. Google is changing the look of sign-in on the web soon, according to the notification thats been posted over on Google Support for learning about the sign-in page. Google has already updated the look of the sign-in page on the mobile side of things, but hadnt yet changed the visuals for the web version. Google says that over the next few weeks thats about to change although they dont mention exactly when they will start the transition, and it isnt made clear whether theyll simply flip the switch and the visuals will be changed for everyone at once or whether the new look will roll out to users in stages. While the visuals of the sign-in page are changing there are things that wont change. Google assures users that just like with the mobile page, the way you sign-in wont be changed at all as youll still use the same steps as before and youll still be able to sign in securely. The new sign-in page will bring a cleaner design to things though, and Google notes that signing in will be faster than before which means youll save a precious second or two when signing into your account. This will also make for a consistent visual appearance across phones, tablets, and computers, which is one of the bigger reasons for the change as Google wants a streamlined look. The new visual design of the sign-in page will incorporate parts of Material Design which will be part of what introduces the more consistent style. In addition to notifying users via the Google Support page, the current sign-in page also shows a brief message that will alert users to the new changes that are coming in the near future so it should be hard to miss unless you never sign in to your account. That being said, the change is just around the corner so whether you notice it before it happens or not, it isnt too far out and everything will continue to work as normal. Changing the look of the sign-in page isnt a major thing but even the smallest things can be beneficial. By now, there is a good chance that you have heard of Google Home. In fact, there is also a good chance that you own one as sales for the new home-based, Google Assistant-running, smart product, seem to be doing well. Which is likely why Google has today announced the next stage in the evolution of Google Home. Although, this is not quite designed for your home per se, but more for your yard. Meet Google Gnome. Google Gnome adopts a similar size and design to Google Home although the presentation is slightly different as the next-generation Google Home comes outfitted with its own Gnome attire so that it can more naturally blend into your yard which seems to be the natural habitat that Google is aiming for this product. In terms of functionality, Google Gnome looks to provide an almost identical level of usage as what you will find with Google Home including feedback on a number of questions and actions. In fact, Google has now released a new promotional video further showcasing what Google Gnome can do for you and your yard. Although, it does seem as though Google Home currently has one or two software bugs that need to be worked out as it does not seem to be quite as fluid as the performance on offer with Google Home. Although on the plus side, Google Gnome seems to be a lot more philosophical compared to Google Home. Software tweaking aside, like Google Home, Google Gnome does come with a number of customization options available. So for instance, you can pick up a special rain outfit to protect Google Gnome from the elements. Likewise, a dino floatie outfit and a camp chair are both available, which will likely help Google Gnome fit the part, when you host your next pool party. While for those who have an active interest in nature, there is also a bird bath outfit available. Those interested in finding out more about Google Gnome can do so by heading through the link below. Or alternatively, by checking out the newly-released Google Gnome promotional video below. Advertisement https://youtu.be/vNOllWX-2aE Samsung wants the Galaxy S8 to be its safest phone ever and its not taking any chances that would potentially hinder the possibility of that being a very real fact that you could mention when talking about the phone. Its of course working towards this goal by implementing the many new safety standards that it has in place following the issues with last years Galaxy Note 7 batteries, something which Samsung is not only eager to move past but hopes customers will move past it too. Thats why its putting the Galaxy S8 through so many different battery tests to make sure that it really is the safest phone ever. Part of this process includes doing charge and discharge tests on at least 50,000 different Galaxy S8 devices, which is no small number. Testing also isnt the only measure that Samsung has taken to ensure that the Galaxy S8 is a safe device. Its also decreased the battery capacity in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, but has also completed hundreds of recharge cycles to test the longevity of the battery life which Samsung states will be better than that of the Galaxy S7 Edge that has a larger battery capacity, and thats because its able to withstand more charge cycles and because the battery is also more durable than before. These are important points, as the lowered battery capacity and the more durable build are factors that Samsung took into account to make sure that the batteries were safer. A lower battery capacity though, is usually associated with a battery life on the device that doesnt last as long, and Samsung didnt want a safer battery to mean that consumers would have to give up on having longer-lasting battery life. According to Samsungs R&D department, the Galaxy S8 should be able to keep about 95-percent of its original battery capacity even after a two-year period compared to the 80-percent thats held by most batteries. Even at only a 15-percent increase thats an impressive accomplishment because it should no longer be looked at as being 20-percent shy of its original battery capacity, but that its kept nearly 100-percent of the original capacity even after all that use. When it comes to the tests that Samsung is doing on the batteries, its doing everything from checking durability in a number of ways, like puncturing batteries with a nail and heating them to 70 degrees Celsius for a 7-hour period, to putting each and every single battery through an X-Ray test to double check for any abnormal traits that shouldnt be there. Samsung even checks each battery for leakage, and the entirety of the tests for each battery takes about five days to complete. What it all comes down to is that Samsung is taking these battery tests very seriously, not just because it wants to ensure the safety of its consumers, but perhaps more so because they also cant afford not to, because they simply arent willing to take the risk at having a similar problem to last years incidents. Third-party app support for Bixby will reportedly include Facebook and CNN among a handful of other applications that can currently be downloaded from the Play Store. Along with the two mentioned above, its said that Bixby will also support YouTube, Twitter, Uber, LinkedIn, and Foursquare, and more are expected to join the ranks as the software becomes more robust. Naturally Bixby on the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus will also support apps that are native to the device, many of which will be Samsungs own apps like briefing, Samsung Health, Samsung Internet, Samsung Music, Samsung Themes, Video, and more. A few other apps are noted as coming with the two new smartphones at launch such as Google Play Music, the camera app, the gallery, message, and the settings app, but Samsung doesnt seem to have mentioned much of anything in regards to details about when more third-party app support would be coming to the new digital assistant software. This might not be the most important thing immediately, but Samsung will certainly have to address the issue of allowing third-party apps to integrate with Bixby at some point if it hopes for Bixby to succeed in the long run, as more app support will certainly play a big role in how its perceived by users. Voice control with a digital assistant like Bixby is a powerful thing but it will need the backing of support for more apps to reach its true potential. Beyond having support for applications so that users can initiate tasks and functions through the use of their voice, similar to the way that they can do so with Google Assistant, Bixby will also allow users access to search for things by image using the Bixby Vision portion of the software, which can be accessed through voice or by hitting a dedicated button for the feature while inside of the camera app. Bixby is due to launch with the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus on April 21st, though pre-orders are already available from some retailers and wireless carriers, and there is a fairly decent chance that some consumers who pre-order either device will end up getting theirs before the actual launch date, as manufacturers and carriers often ship out devices early. Verizons investment in its wireline business may prove to be fruitful at a time when competition in the wireless market is increasing. Although wireline is a smaller business for Verizon, Deutsche Bank called it a bright spot for the nations largest wireless carrier. Because of Verizons struggles to grow its wireless business, the investment bank expects Verizon to post a -2.2 percent year-over-year growth this year, and the carrier is also expected to lower its earnings per share estimates, primarily due to weaker margins in the wireless business. Most recently, Verizon began offering unlimited data plans again, a move made likely as a response to pressure from rival T-Mobile. Although unlimited data may help Verizon retain subscribers and stem subscriber churn, the carrier may be experiencing some immediate headwind when it comes to profitability. With unlimited data, Verizon wont generate additional revenue on overages and other fees, for example. Verizon isnt the only wireless carrier responding to pressure from rivals T-Mobile and Sprint to offer unlimited data. AT&T also unveiled its own unlimited data plans. Unlimited data and handset promotions were highlighted in the Deutsche Bank report as factors contributing to weaker growth in earnings. Compared to its next largest rival, AT&T, for example, Verizon is more reliant on handset promotions. Instead, AT&T shifted its strategy to focus on services, like DIRECTV and the streaming DIRECTV NOW plans, to grow its wireless business. By bundling these services with its data plans at a discount, AT&T may be able to offer its customers more value. Verizon is also in the process of reorganizing its business. The carrier announced that it hired former Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg to lead its new network and technology team, which will be tasked with building out Verizons fiber network. Verizons investments in its Fios business paid off, and the company reported positive customer growth and a 4.4 percent increase in revenues in the last quarter of 2016. However, despite reporting $2.9 billion in earnings for the quarter, the Fios numbers were still dampened by a loss of 282,000 DSL customers. In addition to the network and technology team, Verizon will focus on its media and telematics business, which is responsible for the digital media business that includes Verizons recent acquisition of AOL and Yahoo, and its customer and products operations unit, which will help steer Verizons wireless and Enterprise Solutions business. By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Apr 1 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking a comprehensive review of the massive trade deficit totaling more than USD 500 billion per annum with 16 countries, including China and India. He also signed a second order that seeks to strictly enforce anti-dumping laws. It would ensure that the US fully collects all duties imposed on foreign importers that "cheat", Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. advertisement The announcement, which comes just days ahead of Trumps first meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, is widely seen as targeting China, even though US officials have insisted that it does not single out that country. "Theyre cheaters. From now on, those who break the rules will face the consequences and there will be very severe consequences," Trump said without naming any country. The first order directs the Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative to examine the factors causing the trade deficit that totals more than USD 500 billion per annum and submit a report within 90 days. The review of the factors and violations behind the trade deficits will be led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Trump said. "Were going to investigate all trade abuses, and based on those findings, we will take necessary and lawful action to end those many abuses. Im not beholden to any political or financial interest. I dont care. Im here to do a job," he said while insisting that he was acting for the "American worker". White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the Department of Commerce and US Trade Representative will submit a "comprehensive report" to the president on the causes of the "unduly large deficit" within 90 days. Spicer also said countervailing duties were put in place to address the problem of other countries "dumping undervalued goods" into US markets, which makes it "impossible" for homegrown businesses to compete with "artificially low prices". "This is especially a problem in countries whose governments subsidise exports into our country. So to discourage this practice, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency has a mechanism for assessing these type of transactions and imposing financial penalties, known as countervailing duties, when its determined that this kind of malicious dumping has occurred," he said. Since 2001, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency has not collected over USD 2.8 billion in these duties, he said. "We could do a lot by maximising this enforcement power for our country. So we need to do a better job on behalf of the American worker. If a foreign company, often due to its being partly or entirely government-run or subsidised, is able to flood American markets with an artificially cheap steel, for example, they price American companies out of the system," Spicer said. advertisement The announcement says the US must address the challenges to economic growth and employment that may arise from large and chronic trade deficits and the "unfair and discriminatory" trade practices of some of their trading partners. Talking to White House reporters, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross insisted that the executive orders were not just about China. A day earlier he had identified 16 major countries with which the US has significant trade imbalances, while noting that the communist nation was the number one source of the deficit. Ross also named India down the line with a trade deficit of USD 24 billion. The US has a massive trade imbalance of USD 347 billion with China, followed by Japan with USD 68.9, Germany (USD 64.9), Mexico (USD 63.2 billion), Ireland (USD 35.9 billion) and Vietnam (USD 32 billion). Other countries mentioned in the list were Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, France, Switzerland, Taiwan, Indonesia and Canada. Responding to questions, Ross said there is no need to take any action on some of the trade deficit countries. "For example, some of our deficit comes from the fact that we import a lot of oil. Well, even now with the shale oil, we are not self-sufficient. So that portion of our imports is real, it has nothing to do with any bad behavior," he noted. advertisement "Also, there are some products that are just not made in the United States, so its a little bit hard to say that something is an evil-doer, because theyre providing a product we cant. And, in some cases, it will simply be that they are better at making the product or can do it far cheaper than we can," Ross said. The review will represent the first systematic analysis of what are the causes behind the imbalances, country by country and product by product, he said, adding that it will form the basis for "measured" decision making by the administration. PTI LKJ BSA BSA --- ENDS --- Google and online music broadcasting platform Boiler Room on Friday launched VR dancefloors: Techno in Berlin, a virtual reality experience designed for the Google Pixel, Pixel XL, and other Android smartphones compatible with the Daydream platform. The new VR product created by the Mountain View-based tech giant was designed as a way to experience Berlins club scene from the comfort of ones home. The experience entails a number of different music genres played by FJAAK, a well-known dance and electronic music group from Berlin, Google revealed. Two previews of the VR dancefloors: Techno in Berlin experience can be seen below. The product is available for viewing on Daydream-enabled devices through the Inception: VR Videos Android app that started rolling out on the Google Play Store earlier this week and is now available for download worldwide. Those interested in experiencing the first product of collaboration between Google and Boiler Room can download the Inception: VR Videos app by following the Google Play Store link below. Ibtisam Omer, Culture Marketing Strategist at Google Germany yesterday took to the companys official blog to explain how VR can be an effective way of experiencing popular culture, adding that VR dancefloors: Techno in Berlin not only aims to accomplish that goal but is also meant to be the start of an entirely new cultural moment. The latest Google-made VR experience is approximately 15 minutes long and can be accessed free of charge regardless of where in the world youre located. VR dancefloors: Techno in Berlin is not only aimed at promoting Boiler Rooms music but is also meant to serve as yet another high-quality advertisement for the Daydream platform and VR technology in general. The Alphabet-owned tech giant has recently been hard at work producing and releasing new VR content with the goal of popularizing this emerging technology that has yet to gain mainstream traction. Aside from the newly launched experience outlined above, the company also debuted its very first Google Immerse VR episode and a variety of other 360-degree content thats available on YouTube and the Google Play Store. Given recent developments, Google will likely introduce more similar VR experiences in the coming months. Motorola has gone through many changes over the past few years, so it should come as no surprise that Motorola (or Lenovo) has changed its wordmark for the first time since 2013. This will definitely make Moto fans happy to see the full name once again representing the company. The iconic batwings remain, untouched, while the new full-length name is starting to appear in ads in India, Indonesia, and the Ukraine. Moto Spain just changed its cover picture to show the new Motorola wordmark. This type of change will take days to complete, but is following announcements at Mobile World Congress (MWC) of the Motorola branding comeback. Lenovo feels confident that all three Lenovo, Motorola, and Moto logos can peacefully co-exist under one roof so to speak. The name Motorola conjures up mostly warm and fuzzy thoughts to many consumers and that is exactly what Lenovo is hoping will happen again. Motorola invented the smartphone and perfected it all the way up to one of the most successful campaigns of all time the Motorola Razr. While they were riding that wave of popularity, Samsung and LG passed them by with more innovated designs. Motorola divided into two fractions Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility and Google snatched the Mobility division up in 2011 and then sold it off to Lenovo in 2014. Lenovo, the same company that successfully nurtured the purchase of the IBM ThinkPad, was not quite sure how they were to remarket the Motorola name. After floundering for a year, Lenovo kept the Moto name and decided to keep the names and products separate from one another, and this proved to be brilliant marketing move. Slowly, but surely Lenovo has allowed Motorola grow back into a true contender within the smartphone market. There is something about the Motorola mystique coming back into play, although by now everybody equates the Moto moniker with Motorola. Lenovo has once again taken an iconic name brand and quietly made it their own while at the same time somehow keeping its original identity. This identity may have taken a couple of years to come to fruition, but it looks like Motorola is back. By Press Trust of India: From Gurdip Singh Singapore, Apr 1 (PTI) Tullett Prebon, one of the worlds leading interdealer brokers, and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) have launched a spot pricing index for the Indian and Middle East liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets to provide a credible, consistent and transparent pricing mechanism. The new index seeks to enhance price discovery and risk management in the region. advertisement The SGX LNG Index Group, or the DKI (Dubai, Kuwait and India) Sling, will provide a transparent and trusted reference price for LNG Delivered Ex?Ship under flexible terms to key ports in the three countries. First introduced in January for launch during the second quarter, it provides an independent physical price marker as the industry moves away from oil-linked pricing and towards gas-on-gas pricing, SGX said in a statement. SGXs wholly owned subsidiary, Energy Market Company (EMC), as the index administrator, will publish the DKI Sling every Monday and Thursday. The new index was developed with London-based Tullett Prebon, one of the worlds largest brokers of physical LNG cargoes. Michael Syn, Head of Derivatives at SGX, said, "The DKI Sling aims to improve benchmarking and risk management in the Middle East and India region, meeting the specific needs of the physical LNG market as it evolves." Melissa Lindsay, Global Head of LNG at Tullett Prebon, said, "We see the development of a trusted and transparent price for the Middle East and India region crucial in helping LNG participants mark-to-market trading exposure." PTI GS BSA --- ENDS --- YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of foreign affairs of Armenia released a statement regarding the April four day war of 2016, the ministry told ARMENPRESS. It has been a year since Azerbaijans April aggression. During four days of April 2016 Azerbaijan conducted the same type of aggressive actions and barbarism against population of Artsakh, that it had carried out for about four years in the beginning of 1990s, when it had tried to deprive the people of Nagorno-Karabakh from their right to live in their homeland and to exercise their right to self-determination. We pay tribute to the memory of all heroes who fell repelling the attack of Azerbaijan against Artsakh and who gave their lives to prevent mass atrocities against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. While the international community was condemning the gross violations of International Humanitarian Law by the Azerbaijani armed forces, Baku was praising the acts of barbarism and their perpetrators. Azerbaijans adventurism severely damaged the peace process. On May 16 in Vienna, upon the initiative of the US Secretary of State, and on June 20 in St. Petersburg, at the invitation of the President of Russia, the meetings of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place aimed at stabilizing the situation, preventing new escalation and creation of conditions conducive to the advancement of the negotiation process. As an outcome of those meetings it was emphasized that it is necessary to settle the conflict exclusively through peaceful means, to strictly adhere to the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, which have no time limitations. It was agreed to establish in the shortest possible time an investigation mechanism for ceasefire violations and to expand the capacities of the team of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. However, Azerbaijan refused to implement the reached agreements and found itself in an isolation by opposing to the international community. The highest leadership of Azerbaijan openly lies when it claims that the Co-Chair countries allegedly recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. It pretends as if it does not understand what the Co-Chair countries are referring to when they say that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should implement its right to self-determination through the legally-binding free expression of will. Armenia shares the same approach: indeed, the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh should be determined by the people of Artsakh. That forgery of Baku exposes the failure of the policy of Azerbaijan. After failing in the negotiation process Baku resorted to the military solution but failed again. The April war once again vividly proved that Artsakh can never be part of Azerbaijan under any status, and that the implementation of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination is irreversible. In response to Azerbaijans continuous threats to use force, the international community clearly warns that it will not be tolerated. As a guarantor of Artsakhs security, Armenia will ensure the safety of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Together with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries we will continue the efforts aimed at exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the ministry said in the statement. Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra has been arrested in connection with siphoning of money in foreign accounts. Delhi Police will produce Sanjay Chandra in court today. By Puneet Kumar Sharma: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police has arrested Unitech Managing Director and two others in connection of financial irregularities. Sanjay Chandra faces the charge of illegally divesting the fund of one project into a different company. Sanjay Chandra allegedly got the money invested in the other company siphoned off to foreign accounts. Sanjay Chandra will be produced in the Patiala House Court of Delhi. advertisement Real estate major Unitech Limited top boss had earlier been arrested January last year on the charges of cheating and had to spend a night in the Tihar jail before he got an interim bail. Back then a case was filed against Unitech Ltd chairman Ramesh Chandra, managing directors Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra and director Minoti Bahri by chartered accountant Sanjay Kalra and his business partner Devesh Wadhwa. Kalra and Wadhwa had had booked a property in Habitat Apartments in Greater Noida developed by Unitech. The project was delayed but the company had alleged refused to refund the amount, as promised with 11 per cent per annum interest. ALSO READ| Economic Offences Wing officials directed to look into home buyers grievances against Unitech WATCH | Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra arrested by Delhi Police for money laundering --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) Unitech Ltd promoters Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra were today sent to police custody till April 3 by a Delhi court in an alleged fraud case related to a Gurugram-based real estate project. Metropolitan Magistrate Ashu Garg sent both the accused to two-day police custody after the probe agency said that their custodial interrogation was required to find out the alleged money trail, beneficiaries of the transactions and recovery of project related documents and other evidence. advertisement In its plea, the probe agency had sought three days remand of both the accused, claiming they were not cooperating in the investigation. The counsel for the accused, however, opposed the remand plea, saying the police has already searched the premises of the accused and they cannot be forced to give any incriminating evidence against them. He urged the court to send the accused to judicial custody, saying the arrest was not required. The counsel claimed that police was submitting different facts regarding the ongoing probe before the trial court and the high court. "Before the high court they say probe is complete, while here they are saying it is still on," he told the court. He said that the accused were ready to make a statement before the court that they knew nothing more than what they already told the police till now, adding that only a few customers had problems while most were happy with the project. According to police, the case was registered on July 31, 2015 in compliance of July 27, 2015 order passed by a Delhi court on the complaint of Delhi residents Arun Bedi and his mother Urmila Bedi. They alleged that they were induced by the firm to book the flat in August 2011 in the residential project named Wild Flowers Country in Gurugram for floors by the name Anthea Floors for total consideration of Rs 57.34 lakh. They had alleged that after passing of stipulated time, the builder had not delivered the possession, adding that the firm, in connivance with others, cheated the public at large. Later, 90 more complaints were received against the firm for the same project which were clubbed with the present FIR. The agency claimed that around Rs 363 crore was collected by the firm, out of which over Rs 35 crore was received from 91 complainants who are part of the present complaint. PTI UK RT --- ENDS --- It's April Fool's Day - Here are our top Christian April Fool stories Today is April 1. It is April Fool's Day. It is also my own wedding anniversary - and that's no joke! But here are some of the best Christian April Fool stories - today being the one day in the year when people are 'allowed' to publish 'FAKE NEWS' and actually get away with it because the Date Itself tells us it is FAKE! In fact, maybe we should rename April Fool's Day Fake News Day. There is actually a lot to do with the church and the Christian faith around April 1, although it has nothing to do with the midwinter Christian 'Feast of Fools', when a mischievous 'Lord of Misrule' would be elected to generally behave badly in order to lighten the encircling gloom of January nights. Anyway, this feast was banned in the 15th century. Chaucher's Nun's Priest's Tale, from his 14th century epic Canterbury Tales, when Chanticleer is tricked by a fox, is the first recorded example of an April Fool's Joke. It's also the anniversary of the French Revolution, but that certainly was not an April Fool. (Disclaimer: Nor is this article in any sense an incitement to violence!) Here are today's top Chritian April Fool stories Pope Francis To Make Martin Luther A Saint on October 31 - the Liturgy blog An embittered Vatican insider (many of them saw this day coming) has leaked the document that Pope Francis has been working on together with Lutheran leaders: Stultus Aprilis. Pope Francis, always surprising people during the four years so far of his pontificate, is preparing to announce that Martin Luther is certainly in heaven. This is called equipollent canonization where, by virtue of his position as the Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis can bypass the ordinary judicial process of canonization. Reformation experts think that the most likely date of the proclamation of Stultus Aprilis is on October 31. This year, that date marks exactly 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the church door of Wittenberg. It is clear that, at least for Roman Catholics, Martin Luther will be able to be referred to as 'Saint Martin Luther'. This builds on the work of Pope Saint John Paul II who, in the year celebrating 500 years since Martin Luther's birth, titled Martin Luther "Doctor". Plans are also underway to commemorate Martin Luther on a Vatican stamp. 'Usually if individuals are commemorated on stamps they are saints.' Michael Gove to be next Bishop of Sheffield - Archbishop Cranmer Following hard upon the unlikely appointment of ex-chancellor George Osborne as editor of the Evening Standard, and the slightly less unlikely appointment of arch-republican Pete Broadbent as Bishop of London, the Crown Nominations Commission has nominated the almost unlikeliest name of Michael Gove as the next Bishop of Sheffield. 'I am simply a Christian seeking to serve the world in a spirit of humility,' he said, on receiving the news. 'Jesus Christ teaches that the first step in becoming a mature human being is to refuse to be a little god. I have now definitely stopped trying to be one,' he added. 'Jesus came in the form of a servant, and so should we, and so henceforth shall I.' London Underground Not technically Christian, but as it has a 'spiritual' theme we thought our readers might like this, spotted via Twitter: Travelling in London on the Underground just got so much better! Couldn't help but tweet! #AprilFools #aprilfoolsday pic.twitter.com/fjCwIgWfRw Renzo Soprano (@Renzo_Soprano) April 1, 2017 Simba will be gay in upcoming live-action Lion King remake, Disney confirms - Pink News Everyone's favourite lion Simba will come out as gay in the upcoming live-action remake of The Lion King, Disney has confirmed. The upcoming reboot of the beloved Disney film will closely follow the plot of the original 1994 movie, with young lion Simba forced to flee after his father Mufasa is murdered by Simba's evil uncle Scar. However. there will be a key twist to the plot to bring the film up to date with the modern world. Speaking exclusively to PinkNews, a source close to the production revealed that Simba will be gay in the upcoming remake. According to the source, Simba realises that he is gay during his teenage years after chancing upon same-sex couple Timon and Pumbaa in the wilderness. (Pink News also 'reports' that the UK is pulling out of Eurovision....) Why the 'Billy Graham rule' was just a 'fake news' distraction - James Ballantyne There's been a bit of controversy around this week, someone has discovered such a thing as the 'Billy Graham Rule'. What the rule said was that a married man was not allowed to be in a private or public space with a female on their own that wasnt their wife. Now, its a bit of fake news really and distracted the conversation away from a series of other rules that have also dogged evangelical Christianity, which have gone under the radar somewhat. Image result for billy graham For instance, have you heard of the 'Rob Bell rule' what this means that whenever his name is mentioned there is a 5 second space in the conversation for a mournful look to be given, the 'oh he used to be my evangelical hero' type of glance.... ....and.... .....In the UK, there's the Martin Saunders rule, Where not only every film, but book, building, mode of transport and plate of food has Jesus in it. So, whilst the Billy Graham rule, has got all the headlines, its been merely a distraction to other rules that powerful evangelical church leaders and theologians all have that have been kept quiet this week about. When Twitter would have gone ape had people realised. Go on, change the calendar. That is actually it for now but if more appear, we will update this list. If you come across any, tweet me! Should Christians pursue the calling to become missionaries even if this goes against their parents' wishes? Should Christians pursue the calling to become missionaries or should they obey their parents' wishes and just stay at home? One student wrote to Pastor John Piper and asked the theologian what he should do. He loves and respects his parents, but they believe missionary work is a waste of time and he would be a "fool" to leave America. Piper answered the young boy on his Desiring God website and said that obeying one's parents should always be top priority. "Even though there comes a time when the will of Christ perceived in your own soul by the Holy Spirit through the word of God should take precedence over the will of your parents, if they conflict, nevertheless, God's command for children to obey their parents is very serious," Piper stressed. Instead of heeding the call to become a missionary right now, Piper told the young man to bide his time since he still has his whole life ahead of him. "You are young and have much time in front of you, as far as you know. Don't calculate whether your life is wasted simply on the basis of the next five or 10 years. Think on a bigger scale than that. God decides whether you will live another minute or live another 60 years. You should plan for the latter, not the former," he said. Piper did take note that the "apparent worldliness" of the man's parents is holding their son back from becoming a missionary. So he told the eager Christ follower to try and "win" his parents over first by showing through his behaviour "that Jesus is more precious and more satisfying and more important than America." "You want them to see that, in your own life, Christ is sufficient to satisfy your soul, even if your mission is postponed," he said. For the meantime, Piper suggested that the man seek out a rigorous Christian college or university, and be involved with whatever missions that come his way. That way, he will be fully prepared when the time is finally right for him to work for God overseas. Piper's sentiment was echoed by Kim Ransleben, a guest contributor for Desiring God. She earlier wrote that the first challenge of every missionary is to win the people back at home to Christ. "Jesus commands us to go, to make disciples of all nations, but don't forget that He told the apostles to start in Jerusalem where they were. If you want your parents to believe that you'll be faithful stewards out there, give them an idea what that looks like right here," she said. Truck driver in church minibus crash that killed 13 may have been texting The driver of a truck involved in a church minibus crash that left 13 people dead may have been texting just before the vehicles collided, a witness claims. Jody Kuchler described seeing a truck swerving into the opposite lane several times as he was driving with his girlfriend along US Highway 83 around 75 miles west of San Antonio, according to BuzzFeed News. Kuchler revealed he was so concerned about the vehicle that he reported it to the local sheriffs' department to get it taken off the road. In an audio of the 911 call obtained by KSAT news network, Kuchler pleaded with authorities to send someone out. "He's going to hit somebody head on or he's going to kill his own damn self. Somebody needs to get this guy off the road," the audio records. Kuchler then said he spoke to the driver following the crash and that in their exchange, he admitted he had been texting at the wheel moments before. "He said, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was texting,'" Kuchler said, according to BuzzFeed News. "I said, 'Son, do you know what you just did?'" Terry Williams, of the National Board of Transportation Safety told BuzzFeed News that the investigation was still in its early stages and that it was taking driver distractions into consideration, although he refused to comment specifically on Kuchler's claim. The minibus was carrying older members of First Baptist New Braunfels Church home from a three-day retreat. Only one passenger survived the accident and remains in a critical condition in a San Antonio hospital. The driver of the truck also remains in hospital. Lead federal investigator Jennifer Morrison told reports that most of the passengers had been wearing their seatbelts at the time of the accident. The congregation of First Baptist New Braunfels has set up a relief fund in support of the victims' families. In 2018/2019, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Balmoral, will be sailing from Edinburgh (Rosyth) for the first time ever, operating a total of nine cruises, according to the cruise line. Cruises from May to July, include a five-night "Norwegian Fjords" departure, a 14-night "Scandinavia & St. Petersburg" Baltic discovery, and a nine-night "German Waterways" experience. Justin Stanton, Sales and Marketing Director for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said: We are proud of Fred. Olsens long-standing links with Scotland, and we are looking forward to introducing our flagship Balmoral to Edinburgh in 2018, further enhancing our cruises for Scottish guests. The beauty of a Fred. Olsen cruise holiday is that we take people closer to the worlds most beautiful cities and destinations many of which larger cruise ships cannot reach and we are pleased to be bringing even more of our cultural and scenic cruise holidays to Edinburgh. Our smaller, more intimately-sized ships can call at smaller ports. Guests sailing from Edinburgh will have the chance to experience picturesque rivers, canals, lochs and fjords, as well as port calls right in the heart of destinations, with all the highlights on hand. Ok, so everyone in business knows the power of Social Media. But not everyone understands the benefits each social media platform can provide for your Credit Union. Here, we take a look at why you might want to consider some of the following possible social media platforms for your credit union Facebook Having an active Facebook presence for your Credit Union has become a necessity. With a captive audience of well over 1.59 billion, even the most inexperienced business owner should be able to see the potential Facebook has for their enterprise. Unlike Twitter, Facebook offers a more consistent feel as posts are less sporadic and content can have a lifespan of up to 5 hours before losing traction. Compare this to the average lifespan of a Tweet (18 minutes), you can imagine how easily your well-crafted Tweet could be washed away in the high volume environment offered by Twitter. In fact, posting too frequently on Facebook can cause your reach to decrease if people arent engaging with your content. Big cats often wander off in to urban areas and end up dying just as they meet angry and scared people. How can the wild sustain without hurting urban areas? Let's take a look. The tiger tried to charge once again at the elephants and, in a failed attempt, returned to the thick vegetation. The two trained elephants charged back at the tiger, trumpeting, roaring and running seemingly at will against the mahout's control. My heart skipped a beat when the tiger strode past with its mouth barely a foot away from my leg." Aaron Wesly, the Wildlife Trust of India veterinarian on call at Pilibhit, recounts yet another day in the life of a rapid response team member. advertisement "Not many of you have heard the blood-curdling roars of wild tigers at close range. Most people are scared witless at the menacing sound." Colonel John H. Roush's introduction to Hunting Dangerous Game with the Maharajas is as relevant in India today as it was when men shot tigers for sport. The tiger Wesly, sociologist Prem Pandey and two forest officials had tracked had killed four men, a woman and a child in two-and-a-half months in just one forest patch. It was saved from being lynched by a mob, tranquilised and taken into captivity. Three things strike me. One, this is by no means an isolated incident in today's India. There are leopards outside Delhi and Meerut, tigers in Maharashtra's Chandrapur and Wayanad in Kerala. In and around Dudhwa and Pilibhit alone, there have been 44 cases in the past five years. Two, tigers and leopards are big cats. If you understand big cat eco-logy, the irony of declaring a reserve and expecting the animal to sit inside it strikes home. It is as useless as expecting your tabby at home to not wander, come night, spray a territorial scent or two at bushes and lamp posts and scout the neighbourhood for prospective mates. To keep a big cat's wild roaming instincts at bay within man-made boundaries is a plan fraught with disappointment. Three, most of these cases are a result of the success of big-cat conservation, not its failure. Large animals need space and big cats are moving out of protected areas, seeking new territories. Unfortunately, they are surrounded by people and farms, roads and railway lines. Big cat meets angry people and one or both are in danger. Short-term solutions include primary and rapid response teams and immediate care of the animal coming out. Long-term solutions will have to include planning on use of land that sets aside enough area and prey to sustain these majestic denizens of our forests. The writer is a conservationist, author and CEO of the Wildlife Trust of India --- ENDS --- Yogi Adityanath has ordered an investigation into the Gomti riverfront project - his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav's dream project - within 45 days. By India Today Web Desk: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today ordered an investigation into the Gomti riverfront project within 45 days. Adityanath had earlier expressed dissatisfaction over the progress of the Akhilesh Yadav government's Gomti riverfront project. The project was launched to channelise the river by constructing a diaphragm wall and by landscaping and constructing intercepting drains on both banks. advertisement Adityanath was unhappy that although two years had lapsed, and over Rs 1,427 crore had been spent, only 60 per cent of the work was complete, an official release said. While interacting with officials and staff involved in the project, Adityanath said a demand of an additional amount of Rs 1,500 crore was being made for the project, which was initially scheduled to be completed by May 2017. "The aim of the project should have been cleaning the water and blocking the drains discharging sewage into the river, but that was not done," the chief minister said. LINK RIVERFRONT AND NAMAMI GANGE PROJECT: ADITYANATH Adityanath had asked officials to link the project with the Centre's Namami Gange project and start working to plug the drains discharging sewage into the river. He rued that the work was being carried out without keeping this in mind and instead, funds were being used on "unproductive" things such as erecting fountains and other decorative structures. Warning that his government would be firm in dealing with corruption and would not allow "loot" of government funds at any cost, the chief minister had ordered a review of the project within a week by the principal secretary of the department concerned to ascertain its actual cost. He'd also directed the principal secretaries of all the departments to review project works and check unnecessary expenditure, besides ensuring the completion of works in a "qualitative" manner. ALSO READ | Up and about: Can the Yogi focus his energies on a development agenda? ALSO READ | 'I am the sahyogi and our dear Chief Minister Adityanathji is the Yogi' ALSO WATCH | Namaz and Surya Namasakar are similar: Yogi Adityanath --- ENDS --- * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati received the 2022 Adepi Award * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the World Intellectual Property Review's "Influential Women in IP" of 2020. * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2018. * IPKat founder and Blogmeister Emeritus Jeremy Phillips listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014. * Recommended by the European Patent Office as reading material for candidates for the European Qualifying Examinations, 2013. * Listed as "Top Legal Blog" in The Times Online, March 2011. 2010 ABA Journal 100. * One of the only two non-US blogs listed in the Blawg100. * Court Reporter Top Copyright Blog award winner, November 2010. * Number 1 in the 2010 Top Copyright Blog list compiled by the Copyright Litigation Blog, July 2010. * Selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs as of 2010. * Top Patent Blog poll 2009: 3rd out of 50 in the "Favourite Patent Blog" poll and 2nd out of 50 in the "Most-read" poll. Blog of the Year, 20 August 2008. * ComputerWeekly IT Law and Governance, 20 August 2008. ORLANDO-- Taking the common oral thyroid hormone medication levothyroxine with a glass of cow's milk significantly decreases the body's ability to absorb the drug, a preliminary study finds. Results will be presented Sunday at ENDO 2017, the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. "These findings support previous research showing that calcium supplements can interfere with levothyroxine absorption," said principal investigator Deborah Chon, M.D., an endocrinology fellow at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and the VA (Veterans Affairs) Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, Calif. "Decreased absorption means that patients may not get the full dose of thyroid hormone that they are prescribed." Although it makes sense that milk, which contains calcium, might interfere with levothyroxine absorption, no study has proved that it does until now, according to Chon. Levothyroxine is prescribed for patients with an underactive thyroid, called hypothyroidism, to replace the natural thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4) that is too low, or for patients with thyroid cancer, to suppress their thyroid stimulating hormone levels. In 2014, levothyroxine was the most commonly prescribed medication in the U.S., a survey from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics (now QuintilesIMS) found. Chon and fellow investigators studied 10 adults (six men and four women), with an average age of 33.7 years, who had no known thyroid disease and had normal thyroid hormone function at the start of the study. No one was allergic to cow's milk or levothyroxine, and none of the women were pregnant or using birth control pills. Participants fasted overnight before each of two study visits, spaced a month apart. At one visit, participants took 1,000 micrograms of oral levothyroxine alone and at the other visit, they took the same dose concurrently with 12 ounces of 2 percent milk. Before dosing and one, two, four and six hours after ingestion of levothyroxine, participants gave blood samples for measurement of their total T4 levels. Chon said they tested with generic levothyroxine, which most of their patients are taking. The investigators measured the levothyroxine absorption as the concentration of total T4 in the blood plotted on a graphic curve against time after drug administration, called area under the curve. Over the six hours after the participants took levothyroxine, those who consumed milk at the same time as the medicine had significantly lower total T4 absorption than when they took the drug alone: average area under the curve of 67.3 versus 73.5. The manufacturer of a brand of levothyroxine recommends that the medication be taken preferably on an empty stomach, 30 to 60 minutes before eating food or taking other medications or vitamins. "The main message of this study is that patients managed with thyroid hormone replacement therapy should be advised to avoid taking levothyroxine simultaneously with cow's milk, given its interference," Chon said. ### Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions. The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at http://www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia. ORLANDO-- Middle-aged and elderly people with higher free thyroxine levels may be more likely to develop atherosclerotic diseases, new research from the Netherlands reports. The results of the study will be presented Sunday, April 2, at ENDO 2017, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Orlando, Fla. "Coronary heart disease and stroke remain a leading cause of mortality worldwide, despite advances in prevention and treatment. Therefore, identifying additional modifiable risk factors for atherosclerosis is of major importance," said lead study author Arjola Bano, M.D., M.Sc., D.Sc., who is a Ph.D. candidate at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. "Our large population-based cohort study is the first to investigate the relationship between thyroid function and subclinical and clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis. These findings suggest that thyroid hormone measurement can help identify individuals at risk for atherosclerosis and may have future implications for the prevention of atherosclerotic morbidity and mortality," Bano added. In their prospective study of 9,231 people 64.7 years of age on average who were part of the Rotterdam Study, Bano and colleagues explored the association between thyroid function and subclinical atherosclerosis, atherosclerotic events (fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease or stroke) and atherosclerotic mortality (death from coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular or other atherosclerotic disease). The researchers accounted for the possible influence of age, gender, body mass index, total cholesterol, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, alcohol and tobacco intake, and the use of antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drugs in their statistical analyses. Over a median followup of 8.8 years, 1,130 atherosclerotic events and 580 atherosclerotic deaths occurred in the population. Higher free thyroxine (FT4) levels in these patients were associated with elevated risk of atherosclerotic morbidity and mortality independent of cardiovascular risk factors. The authors also found that higher FT4 levels were associated with greater risk of subclinical atherosclerosis. These results suggest that the link between thyroid function and atherosclerosis is mediated through yet unexplored cardiovascular risk factors or alternative pathways, the authors wrote in their abstract. Bano added, "Further research is needed to replicate our findings and investigate potential implications." ### The authors stated that they have no conflicts of interest with the study. Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions. The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at http://www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia. HOUSTON - (April 1, 2017) - Flavored e-cigarettes and e-cigarette marketing could be increasing e-cigarette use among youth and young adults, according to researchers from the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health in Austin. These findings are part of a series of papers by UTHealth researchers that were published today in the journal Tobacco Regulatory Science. In one of the studies, researchers found that for those who had used any tobacco product in the past 30 days, flavored tobacco use, including flavored e-cigarette use, was high for youth and young adults in Texas. The findings are based on data from 2,483 youth ages 12 to 17 and 4,326 young adults ages 18 to 29 in four metropolitan across Texas: Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin. "Our study supports a growing body of evidence that suggests the use of flavors in tobacco products, like e-cigarettes, are appealing to youth and young adults," said Melissa B. Harrell, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences at UTHealth School of Public Health in Austin. "What is most surprising is that before this, no one has yet asked young people, 'if flavors were removed from these products, would you continue to use them?' " Among those who reported currently using e-cigarettes, 98.6 percent of youth and 95.2 percent of young adults in Texas said that their first e-cigarette was flavored. If flavors were not available, 77.8 percent of adolescents and 73.5 percent of young adults who used e-cigarettes said they would not use them. It is estimated that there are more than 7,500 flavors of e-cigarettes available on the market. Many of these are sweet flavors and taste like fruit or dessert. "Taste is an important factor in all tobacco products," said Harrell, who serves as lead researcher for one of the studies. "For example, in cigarettes, we know flavors such as menthol mask the flavor of tobacco, which can have a harsh taste." In a second study, researchers observed that advertising could have a significant role in the uptake of e-cigarettes among youth. From 2011 to 2013, e-cigarette advertisements on TV increased by more than 250 percent and reached more than 24 million adolescents, researchers reported. In 2014, 70 percent of middle and high school students in the United States had seen an e-cigarette advertisement on TV, in a retail store, on the internet, or in newspapers and magazines. This second study, the first longitudinal study of its kind, shows that Texas youth who see an e-cigarette advertisement in a retail store or on the internet are more likely to start using e-cigarettes or be susceptible to them in the future. In 2015, nearly 3 million middle and high school students nationwide were e-cigarette users, according to data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey. Analysts predict that e-cigarette sales will exceed $10 billion this year nationwide. Though e-cigarettes are typically marketed as a harmless alternative to traditional cigarettes, previous research has shown they are not free from harmful chemicals. Chemicals and carcinogens, like acetaldehyde, formaldehyde and tobacco-specific nitrosamines, which are common in cigarettes, have been found in e-cigarettes. It is unknown whether adults are able to quit cigarette smoking successfully by using e-cigarettes. The data used for the studies was collected by the Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science on Youth and Young Adults (Texas TCORS), a center created by several of The University of Texas System institutions to develop research that can guide future decisions on tobacco regulations at the national level. ### UTHealth School of Public Health co-authors on the studies include Cheryl L. Perry, Ph.D.; Nicole E. Nicksic, Ph.D.; Adriana Perez, Ph.D.; and Christian D. Jackson, M.S. Alexandra Loukas, Ph.D.; Keryn E. Pasch, Ph.D., with the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin; and C. Nathan Marti, Ph.D., with the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin also contributed to the studies. Saturday, April 1, 2017 Lisa Anderson MBA, CSCP, CLTD president of LMA Consulting Group and chair for the Manufacturers' Council of the Inland Empire (MCIE) Manufacturer's Summit E=mc Innovation Awards, a special award ceremony celebrating innovative businesses and students solving challenges in today's manufacturing industry, is pleased to announce the four category winners; Process Efficiency CAI, Marketing Adventure Cabins, Human Capital and Talent Connect Products and People and Innovation by Students Harvey Mudd College. Innovation Award candidates are judged on criteria based on which company or student demonstrates the most innovation and resulting benefits in improving resources or energy efficiency; employment and workforce issues; and effective marketing. This year's Innovation Awards Committee consisted of experienced members with a combination of 100 years in the industry (both manufacturing and education) and deeply rooted in manufacturing success in the Inland Empire. Committee members included former chair and founding officer of MCIE Wallace Brithinee, president of Brithinee Electric, Kash Gokli, professor of manufacturing and engineering management, and the Director of Engineering Clinic in the Harvey Mudd College Department of Engineering and Innovation Awards Chair Lisa Anderson, president of LMA Consulting Group. "We had a number of exceptional entries this year really showcasing their innovative talents in talent management, process improvement, marketing and, for the first time this year, innovation by students," shares Award Chair Lisa Anderson. "I'm always intrigued and proud of what innovation actually takes place here in the Inland Empire. This year did not disappoint, and I look forward to building on this success in the coming year." Taking on a cultural innovation was the 2017 Human Capital and Talent Innovation Award winner Connect Product and People. "Connect's goals are to provide meaningful work to veterans and individuals with disabilities, equal pay for equal work, and to stop the exploitation of these tremendously talented individuals - require social responsibility," states Connect Products and People president, Jonathon R. Mills. "We are honored to be leading this change in culture and want to thank you MCIE for its support." CAI President Kusum Kavia focused her organization on making the best use of all of its resources and it paid off with CAI being awarded the Process Efficiency Innovation Award. Says Kavia, "It is special to us because it comes from fellow manufacturers in our region." Travis Saenz of Adventure Cabins expressed his appreciation for the Marketing Innovation Award, saying "Thank you to the MCIE Summit committee and members for presenting Adventure Cabins with the Marketing Innovation Award. Our company took on a new web-footprint and marketing strategy that is paying off." New this year was the Student Innovation Awards recognizing the Harvey Mudd College students' contributions in partnering with Niagara Water to achieve significant results. "Students with no preconceived ideas of what works and what does not work can come up with great out-of-the-box solutions and innovations," Explains Kash Gokli, professor of manufacturing and engineering management, and the Director of Engineering Clinic in the Harvey Mudd College Department of Engineering. "We're excited that The Harvey Mudd clinic program, teaming up with industry, does 45 projects a year with a lot of innovation." The 2018 Manufacturing Summit will be held next February. For more information, visit MCIE Website or cut and paste this link http://mfgcouncilie.com/homepage/. The worlds biggest competitive water market opens today (1 April), representing the biggest shake up to the UK water industry since privatisation. It will give more than a million businesses, charities and public sector bodies in England the chance to choose their water services retailer. Eligible customers can choose from more than 20 licensed companies to provide services such as billing, account management, metering and water efficiency advice. Ofwat Chief Executive Cathryn Ross said: Business customers have been crying out for choice over their provider of water and waste water services for years. From today businesses, charities and public sector organisations in England will be able to choose their retailer; they will be able to use that choice to get a better deal. The opening of the business retail market takes us into new territory. The new market will be more dynamic and unpredictable. Reducing water costs Robert Gazely, farming consultant at rural organisation Strutt & Parker, says the introduction of a competitive water market may offer farmers an opportunity to reduce their water costs and benefit from improved levels of service. He says major water suppliers such as Anglian Water, Thames Water, Severn Trent and United Utilities have developed separate business divisions in order to compete in the new open water market. He said: Farmers will be free to choose their retailer by looking at who has the best deal for them. While it is not possible to make the switch until April, businesses can start to look at the options now, he says. Mr Gazely says the opening up of the water market will particularly benefit businesses with multiple sites as they will be able to choose one supplier for all sites and receive a single bill. 200m worth of benefits Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom welcomed the launch of the market, which will deliver up to 200 million of benefits to the economy and water customers over the next 30 years, through improved service and better value for money. She said: Over a million businesses, charities and public sector organisations will now be able to find the water deal that works best for them. Opening the market is an historic milestone, paving the way for innovation and efficiency and giving customers the same choice over their water retailer as they currently have for their energy and other essential services. The programme to open the market, called Open Water, has been a partnership of Defra's Ofwat, which will regulate the new market, and Market Operator Services Ltd (MOSL), which will operate the market on behalf of its water company members, to ensure there is a smooth transition for customers. The leaders of the UK farm unions have agreed to press UK farming ministers and politicians to work for a common financial framework post-Brexit. During the UK Farming Unions Brexit Summit in Northern Ireland this week, Presidents of the NFU, NFUS, NFU Cymru and the Ulster Farmers Union challenged the UK Farming Ministers to establish a wellfunded, refreshed agricultural policy that suits the different farming conditions across the UK and allows farms to prosper. A statement said: Ministers must avoid an abrupt cliff edge for farmers following the exit from the EU. So its vital that Governments across the UK cooperate to ensure a funding transition from the current CAP to policies best suited to circumstances of different parts of the UK. In doing so each administration must avoid disruptive differences across the UK and between sectors. The NFU President Meurig Raymond also said that the UK's departure from the EU must be an opportunity, not just to ensure continuity but to deliver a regulatory framework better suited to UK farmers, whether through the Great Repeal Bill process or through other legislative and regulatory measures. Brexit Summit In order to achieve a better suited financial framework for the UK which will suit all devolved regions, the farming union Presidents proposed a Brexit Summit with their farming ministers. Joining the meeting was the UK farming unions permanent representative in Brussels, Maeve Whyte. She updated the unions on the European Commission guidance on the Article 50 negotiations and continued work on issues such as glyphosate and veterinary medicinal product legislation. The four UK farming union Presidents meeting in Belfast to discuss Brexit She emphasised the importance of maintaining UK links to food and farming partners in Brussels and the importance of maintaining these relationships over the Brexit period and beyond. The UK farming union Presidents reaffirmed the importance of their organisations remaining firmly engaged with EU policy development in the run-up to Brexit and also agreed the vital on-going role representation and presence in Brussels will have after the UK leaves the EU. CAP framework model NFU Cymru has stated that the current CAP framework model could be used to support UK farming. Stephen James, NFU Cymru President said: The fact that we retain most of the body of EU legislation means that I see no reason why we could not, as an interim measure, use the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as a framework model for support to Welsh farming. This would offer both continuity and stability and give us the necessary breathing space to devise a domestic agricultural support policy that suits our needs, sometime after our EU departure in 2019. The bureaucratic burden under which Wales farmers must operate remains a source of great frustration. I would urge the Welsh Government to work with industry and be ambitious in reviewing EU derived legislation which adds unnecessarily to the bureaucratic burden faced by farmers. I know, for example, that the Cabinet Secretary, Lesley Griffiths, has spoken of the fact that around five thousand pieces of EU derived legislation impact on her portfolio alone. Now is the time for the Government to be prepared to think differently, looking wherever possible at a voluntary approach to achieve agreed outcomes with industry with regulation only used as a last resort. A big task The task of transferring the vast expanse of existing EU law into UK law will be one of the biggest legislative challenges this country has ever faced. Farmers have said agriculture must be front and centre of Brexit negotiations, as Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 on the 29 March to kick-start the official process of Britain leaving the EU. Indeed, for farmers, there are still some much needed questions that need answering. These sorts of exchanges imply that there is a straightforward, adversarial relationship between the two sectarian forces, but Iran News Update has previously sought to point out that the conflict is more nuanced than that. Various other media have similarly conveyed that message, as when they reported that months-long Iranian-Russian operations within the Syrian Civil War were overwhelmingly targeted against moderate Syrian rebels and not against the enclaves of ISIL power in the country. The Iranian presence in Syria and Iraq has led some Western policymakers to regard the Islamic Republic as a possible asset in hastening the destruction of the Islamic State. But others have insisted that a continued Iranian presence could only serve to reinforce sectarian divisions, thereby driving up long-term recruitment either for ISIL itself or for another Sunni competitor against Iran-backed militants operating in the current theater of war. In other words, Irans conscious contribution to that sectarian conflict is indicative of the broader regional ambitions that the Iranian regime is considering when it sets its posture toward ISIL in any given locality. Securing and expanding the Iranian-Shiite presence is one such consideration, and opposing Western interests in the region is another. In light of those priorities, it is widely understood that the Islamic Republic is willing to tolerate ISIL as long as doing so does not put Iranian targets directly at risk. This perception was a leading premise in an article recently prepared by Martin Indyk of the Brookings Institution. In it, he highlighted the difficult decision-making process that the United States faces with regard to Irans activities in the Middle East as a whole. Push back on Iran in Syria, and they might well use the Shiite militias in Iraq to undermine our effort to eliminate ISIS there, he said, as well as pointing out that push-back against Iranian activities in Yemen could encourage the Islamic Republic to spread those efforts to other areas of influence, like Bahrain. This is not to say that Indyk discourages the US from pushing back against Irans presence in either area. Quite the contrary; Indyks analysis is specifically aimed at outlining a comprehensive pushback strategy that the US might adopt to diminish Irans overall influence while limiting the risk of an Iranian overreaction in any particular area. The need for such pushback has only become more apparent in recent days, amidst reports of Iranian escalations in Yemen. It had previously been reported that the illicit shipment of Iranian arms to Yemens Houthi rebels had stepped up significantly, as part of an Iranian project to potentially shift the balance of power in the entire region. Then, on Wednesday, The National reported upon the findings of a detailed study conducted by the Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute, regarding the nature and extent of these shipments and associated Iranian activities. The report identified drone technology and advanced weapons that had been delivered into the Houthis hands, as well as pointing out that those rebels were acquiring rising levels of support from foreign militants deployed by Iran, many of whom had been recruited from Afghani communities before serving on Irans behalf in the Syrian Civil War. The National notes that these deployments establish an even closer connection than had already existed between Irans activities in Syria and Yemen. In this way, they support the notions put forth by some analysts, that the national wars and internal sectarian conflicts are increasingly being subsumed into a larger proxy war between Shiite forces led by Iran and Sunni forces led by Saudi Arabia. Those Sunni forces, however, do not generally represent theocratic Sunni governance, but instead consist of relatively secular longstanding allies of the US. Provided that those forces are organized behind Western, secular leadership, one might easily argue that the increasingly unified opposition to Irans regional activities represents an opportunity for the type of comprehensive pushback that Indyk discussed in his article. Indeed, Indyk makes the point that a long-term security framework with regional allies is one of six essential features of that would-be pushback strategy. And the prospects for such a framework seem to have been improved by the collaboration that has already emerged in, for instance, the organization of an Arab coalition aimed at ousting Iranian influence from Yemen. Several reports have emerged to suggest that this cooperation could grow, especially following the February Munich Security Conference during which numerous delegates including those representing the US, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Turkey all decried Irans regional role and described the Islamic Republic as the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism. This week saw another opportunity for such commentary, this time specifically among the Gulf Arab states in attendance at the Arab Summit. The reported that Yemens internationally recognized President Abed Rabu Mansour Hadi had condemned Iran, repeating thDaily Mail e terror claim and also accusing the regime of being engaged in a effort to destroy Arab identity. The report also noted that the summit had led to direct talks between the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, suggesting an attempt at reconciliation between the two countries. The possible inclusion of Egypt into a coalition opposing Iranian influence may in turn indicate that the Egyptian leadership, long worried about a Sunni militant presence in the nearby conflicts, may be increasingly aware of Iranian encouragement of militancy on the opposite side. In light of such developments, the US may have relatively little difficulty in organizing Arab support for a comprehensive pushback strategy. But the comprehensive nature of that strategy calls for broader international participation, perhaps including that of Russia. Although Russia is an ally of the Islamic Republic in issues including the Syrian Civil War, there has been much speculation about the possibility of the two countries interests diverging in a way that might encourage Russia to constrain Irans interventions. But these speculations have been newly called into question by the meetings that took place between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the Russian leadership on Monday and Tuesday. The Anadolu News Agency pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin had commented on the visit by describing Iran as a good neighbor and a reliable and stable partner for Russia. The two governments also reportedly signed 14 memoranda of understanding during the visit, thus potentially establishing an even closer alignment of their interests on issues of mutual security, economic cooperation, and shared strategy in Syria. On one hand, there is some possibility of this partnership being leveraged to reduce the existing tensions between Iran and its regional rivals, at least in the economic sphere. Russia is at the head of the non-OPEC countries participating in an agreement for the reduction of oil production, established last year with Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC countries including Iran. The negotiations leading to that agreement turned out to be another flashpoint in the emerging conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia, in light of the formers insistence that it be exempted from participation in the cuts until domestic authorities determined that Iranian oil production had reached pre-sanctions levels. Now, the participants in that agreement are looking at the possibility of extending it for another year, during which the Iranian exemption will be a renewed source of tension if Tehran continues to insist upon it. EuroNews reported on Wednesday that the National Iranian Oil Company had supposedly agreed to participate in the cuts after Rouhanis visit to Russia. However, this claim relied solely on quotations from Russian officials, whereas previous reports had quoted Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh as saying only that Iran would revisit the issue after the topic of extension had already been broached with OPEC partners. If Russia and Iran are now at odds over this issue, it could be a contributor to the long-sought divergence in the allies interests. But it will presumably take a great deal of coaxing from other potential Russian partners and collaborators to convince Moscow to go against that alliance, especially in light of the other outcomes from Rouhanis visit. For instance, UA Wire reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif had signaled that Iran would once again allow Russia to utilize Iranian military bases, as it had done earlier in the Syrian Civil War, before suspending the practice in response to outcry from hardliners in Tehran. Those hardliners resist virtually any foreign presence or any cooperation with foreign powers, and their anxieties about such cooperation have apparently been inflamed by the 2015 nuclear agreement and its aftermath. This was emphasized by World Politics Review on Wednesday, in an article that divided the Iranian political landscape into factions of interactionists and conflictualists in advance of the May presidential elections. A victory for hardliners, or conflictualists, would certainly amplify the prospects for broader confrontation between the Islamic Republic and the originators of a comprehensive strategy that may even include Russia. Indeed, Indyk recommends that Russia be made a part of that strategy, although he had modest expectations for how much Moscow will undermine its own existing alliance. But Indyk also argues for a moderated approach to all aspects of the strategy, which he believes should include negotiating with Tehran and enforcing the nuclear agreement while also creating barriers to Iranian influence, particularly in Iraq and Yemen. Hardline Iranian institutions like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will likely respond to this regardless of the outcome of the May election, especially considering that the IRGC reportedly control more than half of the Iranian GDP. But although Indyk does not mention them, there are measures currently under consideration in the US that could undermine the IRGCs wealth and power as part of a comprehensive strategy. These include a Senate bill to subject the IRGC to terror-related sanctions and President Donald Trumps order that the State Department review the prospect of designating the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Income investors who seek stability should start and end their searches with Dividend Aristocrats. To qualify, a company has to have increased its dividend for at least 25 years in a row, which is an achievement that few businesses can replicate. So what Dividend Aristocrats are great buys right now? We asked a team of Fools that very question. They picked 3M (MMM -0.13%), Medtronic (MDT 1.05%), and TransCanada (TRP -0.14%). Read on to find out why. A dividend with serious staying power Anders Bylund (3M): Your average, run-of-the-mill Dividend Aristocrat has raised its annual payouts for at least 25 years running. There's nothing "average" about genre-busting technology company 3M, which has boosted its dividends without fail in each of the last 58 years. 3M's latest dividend check was cut three weeks ago, amounting to $1.175 per share. It was a 6% increase from the $1.11 payment per share of the previous four payouts, working out to a solid 2.5% yield. The dividend policy has consumed just 51% of 3M's trailing free cash flows, leaving lots of room for further increases. A quick run through the Gordon growth model shows that the stock is priced for long-term annual share-price gains of roughly 12%. On top of that, management is committed to returning cash to shareholders in a big way. Beyond the 58-year streak of dividend increases, the payouts have been flowing without interruption for an even 100 years. This dividend is going places, in all the right directions. Clearly visible dividend growth on the horizon Matt DiLallo (TransCanada): Canadian energy infrastructure giant TransCanada might not fit the exact definition of a Dividend Aristocrat just yet. However, it has increased its payout for the past 17 years. Further, those haven't been trivial raises to keep the streak alive, since it has delivered 7% compound annual dividend growth over that time frame. Meanwhile, there's plenty more still left in the tank. The company is currently working through a $23 billion Canadian dollar ($17.3 billion U.S.) project backlog, which it expects will supply it with the cash flow to increase the payout by an 8% to 10% compound annual rate through 2020. There's a high probability that TransCanada can achieve those expectations, because more than 95% of its cash flow comes from fee-based and regulated sources, and it pays out less than half of that in dividends, which leaves it with plenty of excess to help finance growth projects. On top of that, the company maintains a top-tier credit rating, giving it open access to inexpensive capital to fund the balance of its capital expenditure (capex) needs. In addition to the clearly visible near-term growth from projects already in development, the company has another $45 billion Canadian dollars of longer-term projects on the way. These include the recently approved Keystone XL pipeline and some major gas pipeline projects for future liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in western Canada. As a result, there's growing probability that TransCanada can keep its dividend growth streak alive for quite some time, making this a future dividend aristocrat that investors will want to consider buying this month. The medical-device kingpin Brian Feroldi (Medtronic): With the major indexes trading near all-time highs, there are not a lot of bargains floating around. In times like this, I think investors are best served by tripling down on quality, even if they have to pay a slight premium. If you agree, then I'd recommend getting to know Medtronic. Medtronic is a diversified medical-device maker with a long history of success. This company has been an innovation and acquisition machine over the last few decades, and it currently breaks up its business into four main categories -- diabetes, cardiac and vascular, minimally invasive, and restorative therapies. The company holds a strong competitive position in each of these segments, allowing it to crank out reliable cash flow year after year. In turn, the company uses its huge financial might to make tuck-in acquisitions, buy back stock, and raise its dividend. Given that the company has increased its dividend for 39 years in a row, it's clear that this company has created a winning business model. Looking ahead, Medtronic looks well positioned for revenue and profit growth. That's because the world's population is aging and growing wealthier, which should drive demand for high-quality healthcare. That plays right into Medtronic's hands, since it derives about 44% of its revenue from overseas markets. Mix in small price increases on its current prices and a steady rollout of new innovation, and I think this Dividend Aristocrat is a fine large-cap stock to consider buying today. There aren't many industries out there that can claim the type of consistent growth that the marijuana industry has been delivering for the past couple of years. In 2016, according to cannabis research firm ArcView, legal sales of pot grew by 34% in North America to $6.9 billion. Yet with $46.4 billion of sales still tied to the black market, there's a bounty of opportunity for growth, mostly on the recreational, adult-use side of the equation. According to investment firm Cowen & Co., the legal marijuana industry could gobble up a majority of black market sales by 2026, assuming marijuana continues to expand organically within legal states, and inorganically through its legalization in new states. Cowen & Co. anticipates legal sales of $50 billion by 2026. That represents a better-than-23% annualized growth rate based on this estimate, which was released last year. Marijuana's rapid growth still stymied by Washington The biggest constraint for growth in the marijuana industry remains its Schedule 1 status at the federal level. As long as marijuana retains its Schedule 1 status, it's labeled as having no medically beneficial properties, and it hinders businesses trying to take advantage of the so-called "green rush." For example, since marijuana is a Schedule 1 substance, and financial institutions almost always answer to the federal government, most banks won't offer basic financial services to pot-based businesses. This means no access to checking accounts and no lines of credit. Because of this, many marijuana businesses are forced to deal in cash, which is a major security concern and a potential inhibitor of growth. Marijuana-based businesses also get hit come tax time. Section 280E of the U.S. tax code disallows businesses that sell a federally illegal substance from taking corporate tax deductions, including for ordinary business expenses. As a result, pot businesses pay far more tax to the federal government than other types of companies do. The best bet for the industry at this point is to attract Congress's attention by getting new states onboard with legalization. Since we're still a ways off from election season, any sort of marijuana bills introduced at this point in time would likely come from a state's legislature. Last week, we saw just that. Surprise! Illinois lawmakers want to legalize recreational pot On Wednesday, March 22, co-sponsors Sen. Heather Steans (D-Il.) and Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Il.) introduced legislation in Illinois that would legalize recreational marijuana. It should be noted that both Steans and Cassidy aren't planning to bring their bill to vote immediately. Instead, using the move to gauge interest. They plan to hold feedback hearings later this year, with the expectation of putting a bill in front of the Illinois legislature in 2018. According to the proposal, adults 21 and up would be allowed to possess, grow, and buy limited amounts of cannabis. The limit would be set at 28 grams, which is just about an ounce, and people would be capped at growing five plants. The bill proposes taxing pot at $50 per wholesale ounce, with the standard state tax rate of 6.25% also applying. The Marijuana Policy Project has estimated that legalizing recreational cannabis in Illinois could generate sales of between $350 million and $700 million per year. Illinois would funnel half of the revenue it receives from tax and licensing fees to the state's General Fund, while the other half would go toward schools and drug abuse treatment and education programs. An approval of recreational pot in Illinois would also be intriguing because it would be the first state in the Midwest to do so. Illinois could thus open the door for other Midwestern states to take the plunge. For what it's worth, the state's governor and House speaker didn't comment on the newly introduced bill, but the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police came out firmly against the idea of legalizing recreational marijuana, according to the Chicago Tribune. Don't hold your breath On one hand, it's encouraging for proponents of marijuana to see the legislatures of a number of states considering some form of legalization. Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Vermont have all recently been discussing legislation that could make medical or recreational marijuana legal within their respective states. However, industry proponents and investors shouldn't hold their breath, because marijuana's expansion could soon slow to a crawl. In February, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that the White House would not be as lax on regulating marijuana as the Obama administration had been. The apparent good news for medical patients and the 28 states that have legalized medical cannabis is that President Trump hasn't wavered in support for pot's medical uses (as determined by the states). But, recreational marijuana could come under fire, though the extent to which the federal government plans to regulate the recreational industry remains uncertain. The industry could also be nearing a plateau with regard to medical marijuana legalizations. Roughly two dozen states only have the initiative and referendum process available, meaning a state's legislature (not residents voting on a ballot) is responsible for passing laws. A number of these states are currently led by Republicans, who maintain a conservative view of marijuana's expansion and legalization. Long story short, the robust growth estimates for legal pot may be a bit utopian. When you add the fact that nearly all marijuana stocks are losing money, on top of the uncertainty surrounding Spicer's comments in February, there are genuine reasons to be skeptical of the industry and keep your distance. Zahrani continued, We were optimistic that the war in Syria would be short and that the enemy was weak and we could end the battle quickly. The majority of the countries that intervened in Syria were optimistic too and did not plan for an exit strategy, including Iran and Turkey, said the head of strategic affairs at the Institute for Political and International Studies of the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Russia, on the other hand, has an exit strategy, because its role was limited to air cover unlike us. He explained that Iran is a security threat to the region because of its nuclear activities, but after the nuclear agreement reached, Irans involvement in the region, especially in Syria, Iraq and Yemen became worrisome. Even if Hillary Clinton was president, the United States would have gone in the direction of labeling Iran as a security threat to the region, but the election of Donald Trump made things move a lot faster, he stated. Bahraini said that Tehran resolve the Syrian crisis before it is too late. He added that Russia has reached its goals in Syria and will enter into deals with the United States and even Israel on the Syrian issue. The importance of his statements is underlined by the fact that this is the first time that an official in the Iranian Foreign Ministry has revealed the problems facing his country in the Syrian crisis, as well as the relationship between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies, the Russians and the Iranians, both of whom have spared no effort in helping the Syrian leader to stay in power. Haiti - Politics : Foreign Affairs Roadmap Within the guidelines set by President Moise, translated into roadmaps, delivered to each minister https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-20507-icihaiti-politics-handing-of-roadmaps-to-ministers.html , Prime Minister Lafontant reminded the new Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Rodrigue that the President of the Republic and the Government make foreign policy an important component of public policies that will be implemented during the five-year term and asks him beyond the missions and the plan of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs, to conduct a diplomacy of attraction of development and to seek opportunities of opportunities enabling the country to benefit from favorable economic and trade exchanges. Roadmap of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs : "Mr. Minister, in the implementation of my Government's policy, I entrust you with the task of carrying out the necessary reforms to the rehabilitation of our diplomatic missions and the external services of the State at all levels." In this perspective, I ask you: - To conduct an external policy which favors the attainment of the priority objectives of the Nation; - To organize rigorous recruitment competitions for diplomatic and consular staff; - To consolidate diplomatic representations according to the superior interests of the Nation; - To consolidate the circles of friendship and solidarity, upgrade the North-South and South-South cooperation axes and improve the visibility of Haiti on the international scene; - To invigorate and strengthen Haiti's place in international and multilateral organizations; - To build with our partners research and training programs in the fields of organic farming, biotechnology, health and education; - To make our embassies and consulates real agents of marketing and promotion of the cultural, artistic and local products of the country; - To assess and take into account in the course of the diplomatic staff's career the Foreign Direct Investment Rate (TIDE) or the market whose each diplomatic mission allows Haitian companies to benefit abroad; - To take all necessary steps in support of the competent ministries in conjunction with the Dominican authorities with a view to reaching the conclusion of a comprehensive agreement for the development of peaceful and equitable economic and trade relations between the two countries; - To find innovative strategies to deal with migration and border issues; - To have peaceful relations with the Dominican Republic while cleverly and firmly defending the Haitians who are in Dominican territory; - To take measures, together with the competent bodies, to guarantee the freedom of belief and the proper functioning of cultural spaces in accordance with the laws of the Republic, traditions and public peace. I ask you to start preparing the 2017-2018 Budget, which will have to be approved by the Council of Ministers, after arbitration by the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, and filed within the required legal timeframe in Parliament. You will also have the task of increasing transparency, the fight against corruption and the good management of public property. It will be up to you to organize, to direct and animate the services, teams and agents of the State placed under your responsibility. Jack Guy Lafontant, Prime Minister" See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20508-haiti-flash-roadmap-for-the-establishment-of-the-haitian-army.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - FLASH : American visa scam on the internet In a joint effort between the National Police of Haiti (PNH) and the U.S. Embassy, Embassy staff worked with Facebook to remove three profiles that were impersonating the U.S. Embassy. The fraudulent profiles, which included "Ambassy usa in haiti" and "Ambassade des Etats unis en Haiti port au prince," advertised fake visa programs. Applicants were directed to non-Embassy telephone numbers to reach people who pretended to be Embassy employees. These profiles were fraudulent and several dozen Haitian citizens lost hundreds of dollars each by transferring money to bank accounts in the scam, lured with the promise that their visas would be automatically approved for a training program or scholarship opportunity. The Embassy would like to remind visa applicants of the following: "- U.S. visa fees in Haiti are never paid by Western Union or bank transfer. The only way to pay for a non-immigrant visa is directly at a participating branch of Sogexpress. - The U.S. Embassy in Haiti never uses WhatsApp to communicate with visa applicants. - Interviews are never conducted over the phone and consular staff cannot promise issuance of a visa before an in-person visa interview. The best place for information on the visa process is at the website, https://www.ustraveldocs.com/ht This site and this site alone provides the authoritative information on making an appointment and paying the application fee. Applicants should only rely on this website for official information about the visa application process. The U.S. Embassy official Facebook pages is : https://www.facebook.com/USEmbassyHaiti The Embassy maintains an additional page for United States citizens in Haiti, https://www.facebook.com/PaP.ACS. The U.S. Embassy works every day to fight visa scams that target Haitian citizens. If you receive a call from a possible visa scammer, never send money. Instead, please contact the U.S. Embassy immediately at : papfraud@state.gov" HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Religion : Mgr. Chibly Langlois takes sanctions against the Minister of Culture Reacting in a note dated 29 March to the appointment of Father Limond Toussaint (Catholic priest of the diocese of Jacmel) as Minister of Culture and Communication in the Government Moise-Lafontant, Bishop of Les Cayes, Cardinal Chibly Langlois, President of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti (CEH), imposed a "suspense a divinis" on Father Toussaint, which prohibits him from exercising his priestly ministry and consequently administering the sacraments. This sanction, which is primarily aimed at Father Toussaint's amendment, was applied because of his violation of Canon 285 of the Code of Canon Law of 1983 which states : "1. Clerics are to refrain completely from all those things which are unbecoming to their state, according to the prescripts of particular law. 2. Clerics are to avoid those things which, although not unbecoming, are nevertheless foreign to the clerical state. 3. Clerics are forbidden to assume public offices which entail a participation in the exercise of civil power. 4. Without the permission of their ordinary, they are not to take on the management of goods belonging to lay persons or secular offices which entail an obligation of rendering accounts. They are prohibited from giving surety even with their own goods without consultation with their proper ordinary. They also are to refrain from signing promissory notes, namely, those through which they assume an obligation to make payment on demand." "We paternally exhort him, by virtue of Divine Mercy, to remember the promises of his priestly ordination," recalls the note to Father Toussaint. Learn more about "suspense" : In canon law "suspense" is a penal sanction, which affects only the clerics (representative of the church). It belongs, with excommunication and prohibition, to the category of "medicinal" penalties, because they are aimed above all at the amendment of the culprit. HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Agriculture : Tour of Moise of projects in progress of the Artibonite Valley Thursday, President Jovenel Moise made a tour of the Artibonite Valley to assess the progress of the rehabilitation and cleaning works of canals in various communes in the department. Accompanied by, among others, Senator Carl Murat Cantave, Franco Jean Pierre, Director General of the Development Agency of the Artibonite Valley (ODVA) and several executives of this institution, Jovenel Moise went first to the locality of Canneau to assess the condition of the dam that irrigates 90% of the Artibonite Valley whose rehabilitation work to improve its performance should be launched soon. The Head of State then visited the recently rehabilitated 7 km road section linking the commune of Liancourt to the locality of Drouet which will facilitate the movements of farmers in the area. He subsequently went to the Drouet hydroelectric plant where he conducted a prospecting survey in what was initially a pumping irrigation plant. President Moise concluded his tour by visiting the mechanical clearing works in progress on the Coursin Canal (14 km) which irrigates 3,000 ha and that of Fausse Naboth Est (15.5 km) which irrigates 1.500 ha of land. Jovenel Moise said he was satisfied with the progress of this works and reminded that these actions are only an entry in the matter of a much more ambitious project which must officially begin on May 1, within the framework of the Caravan of the Change, which includes: the cleaning of 197 km of drains, 87 km of irrigation canals and repair of nearly 100 km of road... See also : https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-20518-icihaiti-agriculture-construction-of-an-irrigation-dam-of-25-million-m3.html HL/ S/ HaitiLibre Lighthouse Inn, Florence, Oregon, Sold by Crystal Investment Property Joseph P. Kennedy, President of Crystal Investment Property, LLC, represented both the buyer and seller in the transfer of the Lighthouse Inn located in Florence, Oregon. The final sale price is confidential. Crystal Investment Property, LLC, a member of Hotel Brokers International, announced the successful sale of the Lighthouse Inn in Florence, Oregon. Crystal Investment Property, LLC, a licensed Oregon broker, exclusively represented the Seller and the Buyer in the sale. Joseph P. Kennedy, President of CIP, worked closely with the Seller and Buyer as well as the parties other professionals to negotiate a mutually acceptable sale. The final sale price is confidential. The 27-key property is a nicely kept boutique hotel in the heart of town within easy walking distance of the Siuslaw River and historic Downtown center. Adjacent to Highway 101, the hotel is well located to take advantage of the high volume of travelers through the area on a year round basis. Florence is a very popular tourism spot as well as retirement haven on the Central Oregon Coast. Joseph Kennedy, President of Crystal Investment Property said, Lighthouse Inn came on the market unexpectedly due to health issues and we were pleased to be able to generate a high level of interest in a very short time for our Seller. The Buyer is enthusiastic about opportunities for improving the performance of the property and future growth in the region. Crystal Investment Property, a premiere hospitality investment advisory and brokerage company located in the Pacific Northwest, maintains the most cutting-edge technological, online and social media presence as well as a full range of traditional and web-based marketing reaching local, regional, national and international clientele. The firms core services of hospitality asset acquisition/disposition are supported by innovative and creative solutions to maintain position as the most active and successful hotel broker in the region. Crystal Investment Property represents the full spectrum of hospitality real estate owners and their experience covers all hospitality assets types, including: full service hotels, boutique hotels, select service hotels, limited service hotels, as well as development projects, and leasehold transactions. Crystal Investment Property may be accessed online at www.crystalip.com. Founded in 1959, Hotel Brokers International members lead the industry in hotel real estate sales. HBI hotel brokerage specialists have successfully negotiated more than 10,000 hotel real estate transactions and consistently account for the largest share of all select-service and economy hotel sales in the United States. The organizations database currently comprises more than 100 property listings and the HBI website attracts site visitors from around the world. Founder and host of the popular Hotel Investors Marketplace Webcast, HBI also developed the Certified Hotel Broker professional designation program. In addition to hospitality real estate advisory services, HBI offers affiliate membership to professionals in allied fields, including franchising, lending, appraisals and investment services. For more information about HBIs hotel listings or to become a broker or affiliate member, visit www.hbihotels.com. For more information contact: Joseph P. Kennedy, President Crystal Investment Property, LLC Portland, Oregon 503.530.1316 joe@crystalip.com Glenda J. Webb, Managing Director Hotel Brokers International Kansas City, Missouri 816.505.4315 gwebb@hbihotels.com Human rights lawyers claim that Sina Dehghan, was tricked into confessing to the breach of Islamic law by a promise of release. The Centre for Human Rights in Iran says that once they obtained his confession, prosecutors dropped the agreement and sentenced Dehghan to death in January this year. The content of the messages is unknown. A source claims: During his interrogation, Sina was told that if he signed a confession and repented, he would be pardoned and let go. Unfortunately, he made a childish decision and accepted the charges. Then they sentenced him to death. Allegedly, his family were told to keep quiet and he would likely to go free. Prosecutors asked that Dehghan be sentenced to death for insulting the prophet as well as to 16 months in prison for insulting the supreme leader. The sentence has been upheld by the countrys Supreme Court, but a request for a judicial review has given his family hope that his life might be spared. His mother said, According to Sinas lawyer, steps have been taken for a judicial review, and with the good news were hearing from him, God willing this case will come to end positively as soon as possible. Co-defendants Sahar Eliasi and Mohammad Nouri were also convicted of posting anti-Islamic material on social media. Nouri was issued a death sentence, the final ruling of is the Supreme Court remains unknown. Eliasi appealed his seven-year sentence, which was reduced to three years. The Japanese-based messaging app, Line, has since added end-to-end encryption to its messages. Dehghan is struggling to cope with the incarceration in Arak Prison, the source said, adding, Sina is not feeling well. Hes depressed and cried constantly. Hes being held in a ward with drug convicts and murderers who broke his jaw a while ago. He was a 19-year-old boy at the time (of his arrest) and had never done anything wrong in his life. Despite signing the UN convention on the rights of the child, Iran still attracts condemnation for carrying out executions of minors. Irans Islamic penal code makes insulting the prophet a crime punishable by death. Although there is a clause that states that if the insults were made by mistake, or were made in anger, the sentence may be reduced to 74 lashes. Regarding Dehghan, Human Rights Organisation Article 19 said, He is now on death row, yet the imminence of the execution of Sina is an affront both to international standards and Irans own criminal code. It is also clear that Sina was only given access to a court-appointed lawyer, who failed to adequately defend him in trial. And said further that Dehghans case illustrates how the Iranian people are at the mercy of a system where forced confessions, false promises, and threats to family members undermine not only national judicial processes, but the international standards Iran has signed up to. Iranian authorities have an opportunity to act to stop the execution, and to take visible steps to implement their own codes of practice. We ask simply that a review of the case be undertaken immediately and the death penalty dropped. Sharp Drop in US Tourism Forecast Posted by Press Releases on Saturday, 04-01-2017 1:57 am Currently 3.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 3.0 from 1 votes In our 2017 Workforce/Workplace forecast, we mentioned that tourism would take a hit, due to the presence of President Trump in the United States White House. Now, we have confirmation.British tourism to the US down by 17 percentAccording to the latest figures from the United Kingdoms Office for National Statistics (ONS), there was a sharp drop in the number of Brits travelling to the US in January, the month when Donald Trump became President. Overall British tourism increasedAt the same time, the overall number of Brits going abroad jumped by 9 percent in January. In a poll conducted by Travelzoo before Trump's election 31 percent of Brits said they would reconsider their US travel plans, if Trump were elected. In the same poll, 20 percent of respondents said they would definitely not go on vacation to the US, if Trump won.UK is a big winnerIn January 2017, overseas visitors spent 1.5 billion on their visits to the UK, a 15 percent increase over the previous year. Moreover, in the... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Business The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (April 1) Rangoon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein visits Junction City in Rangoon. / Naing Lin Soe / The Irrawaddy ADB Focuses on Infrastructure in New Burma Plan Improving access to rural and urban markets is a key goal in a new country partnership announced between the government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The medium-term country partnership aims to support the governments goals to improve economic growth and job creation, according to an ADB release. The 2017-2021 strategy is designed to leverage Burmas strengths and its strategic location in Asia by improving links between rural and urban areas as well with regional and global markets. The plan is also intended to support Burma to build a skilled workforce and to modernize its economy, the ADB said. ADBs operations will focus on areas that are of fundamental importance to the countrys development, said James Nugent, the director general of the banks Southeast Asia Department. Access to sound transport networks, electricity, and urban infrastructure, as well as a skilled workforce will be critical to build a modern economy. These sectors will also transform the rural sector, boost productivity, create quality jobs, and, ultimately, improve peoples livelihood. ADB operations will focus on infrastructure such as energy transmission and distribution, transport upgrading, and urban development. The bank will also continue to support rural development, education, improving the business climate, disaster risk management, gender equity, and regional cooperation, among others. The banks plan is fully aligned with the governments strategic and policy priorities, said U Kyaw Win, Myanmars Minister of Planning and Finance. We welcome ADBs support as our country accelerates its transition and builds the foundations for inclusive and sustainable growth, he said. The ADB will expand sovereign concessional lending for projects from about US$150 million to $350 million per year through 2021. The bank is also expanding its lending, equity investment, and guarantees to the private sector. Bangladeshi Telecoms Service Firm Plans Growth Telecoms services firm Crystal Future Venture from Bangladesh is set to invest $1 million to expand its presence in Burma over the next three years. The company has provided support services to mobile operators including Telenor and MPT since 2014 and the new investment is with an eye to growing the firms long term presence in Burma, according to DealStreet Asia. The companys main activities so far have included telecom network surveying, the design and planning of telecom network, and telecoms maintenance services. Gold Smuggling from Burma to India on the Rise Indias demonetization of small notes last year resulted in a reduction of gold smuggling into the country, with a 60 percent fall in seizures in 2016-2017 over the previous year, according to Indias Business Standard. Gold smuggled in from Sri Lanka and Burma has replaced that from traditional sources like Dubai and Thailand, according to the report. Seizures showed a large quantity of gold is being smuggled in from Burma through the north-eastern states. These consignments are brought to Kolkata, from where they are distributed to various parts of the country, an official told the outlet. Insurgency in Sri Lanka and Burma supports the illegal trade in gold, according to the official. According to Indias Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), it seized 560 kg of gold valued at 1.62 trillion rupees (about $25 million) in 2016-17 (until March 26) against 1,417 kg, worth 4.1 trillion rupees (about $63 million), in 2015-16. The agency conducted 105 search operations and arrested 188 people in connection with smuggling gold in 2016-17. Seizures in the last quarter indicate attempts by organized criminal networks to resume large-scale gold smuggling, said the official. Smugglers are now attempting to regroup and are seeking new routes for their contraband, he added. Junction City Mall and Offices Open in Rangoon Junction City opened phase one of its large retail mall and office complex in downtown Rangoon on March 29. The retail section of the mall is still in the process of being filled, while office tenants in the $300 million development include Allen & Gledhill, Wong Partnership, VDB Loi, Samsung, ZTE and the British Chamber of Commerce. A Pan Pacific Hotel is due to open later this year in the first phase of the complex operated by Shwe Taung Group and Keppel Land, in partnership with the Yangon City Development Committee and Pan Pacific. Phase 2 of the project will include offices, serviced residences, and car parks, and is due to be completed by 2019. External Trade Value Up, Deficit Rising Burmas external trade value between April 1 last year and March 17 this year was $27 billion, up by $572 million over the same period the previous year, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar state newspaper. Exports were valued at $10.8 billion while import value reached $16.15 billion, according to statistics from the commerce ministry. Burma exported mainly agricultural products, animal products, minerals, forest products and manufactured goods, while imports were mainly capital goods, raw industrial materials and personal goods. The government is working to reduce the trade deficit and is particularly scrutinizing imports of luxury goods, according to the report. Unprofitable State Businesses Under Review Loss-making state-owned businesses will be suspended or handed over to the private sector, according to the Ministry of Planning and Finance. Steel mills in Myingyan Township, Mandalay Division and Pangpet in Taunggyi Township, Shan State; paper mills in Thabaung Township, Irrawaddy Divison, and a heavy industry in Thagara, Bago Division, were among the loss-makers facing changes within six months, according to planning and finance minister U Kyaw Win. We have to terminate some industries and privatize some businesses to cut spending. the minister said in an Eleven News report. More than 40 businesses are reported to be under suspension while their operations are scrutinized. We will review the businesses to see whether to resume them, or run them through joint ventures. Were not completely terminating them. Some factories have shown losses for years, another official said. Dateline Dateline Irrawaddy: The Govt Must Review What it has Accomplished in a Year and Accept Criticism This week, The Irrawaddy discusses the successes and weaknesses of the NLD governments policies one year after it assumed office. Kyaw Zwa Moe: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week, well discuss the successes and weaknesses of the National League for Democracy [NLD] governments policies one year after it took office. Director Dr. Khin Zaw Win of the Tanpadipa Institute and director Ko Thwin Lin Aung of the Genuine Peoples Servants [GPS] will join me for the discussion. Im Irrawaddy English editor Kyaw Zwa Moe. Ko Khin Zaw Win, it has been one year now since the NLD came to power. We previously held discussions 100 days after it assumed office. This has been one year of an elected government, one year since military regimes or quasi-civilian governments have ceased. What do you think about where Burma stands today? Khin Zaw Win: To assess how deeply the NLD has connected with the people, to what it extent is can accomplish its policies with public cooperation and how much it has readied itself in this period, I would say that overall performance it not very satisfactory. According to the Constitution, the governments term is five years, and it has now been one year. One hundred days after taking office, [the government] claimed that 100 days was too short a period [to achieve certain goals]. The government must review what it has accomplished in a year and must accept criticism [about its performance during the year]. We hope that it will make necessary adjustments and turn itself into a capable government that can serve the interests of the country. KZM: Ko Thwin Lin Aung, as Ko Khin Zaw Win has pointed out, there is frustration among the people. But on the other hand, the NLD government has said it is not a corrupt government, which is true. The previous governments in successive periods were corrupt, and in terms of mismanagement, they were far worse than the NLD. Considering this, what policies of this government do you think are right and which are wrong? Thwin Lin Aung: My view is that there is no corruption in high-level positions. It is obvious that those appointed by the NLD are not corrupt. But in reality, there has been no significant change in the bureaucracy in the lower echelon. And so far, we have not seen any clear policy to address this. We have an anti-corruption law, which requires lawmakers to declare their property. But lawmakers fail to do so. Im deeply disappointed with this. Ko Kyaw Zaw Moe mentioned that the military regime was replaced by the NLD government. But to me, it has not ceased existing. Everyone can see that a large part [of the military regime] still remains in the NLD government. In some cases where the NLD cannot forcibly make change, it should present itself as a role model so that in the eyes of the public, the other sides resistance to change will become blatantly obvious. In fighting corruption, lawmakers should have acted as role models and clearly declared their possessions, but they didnt. Consequently, bureaucrats in the lower echelon did not bother to change. This is one example regarding fighting corruption, but the same pattern takes place in many other fields. Let me bring up physics here. The government is doing many things, but what is the success rate? It is quite low for a year. For example, regarding the peace process, the government is working hard, but has achieved little so far. Talking of our civil society organizations [CSOs] frustrations, I think the government has failed to stand on its own in some cases. In the peace process, the government should have adopted its own policies and appointed its own people. We want the government to do so. Maybe, it uses [the same peace negotiators as the previous government] in order to achieve national reconciliation. But then, it is like you have bought a bus, but the driver and conductor worked for the previous owner, and they dont want to drive to the places you want to go. KZM: What do you think are the biggest challenges for the new government? TLA: After the NLD won the election in 2015, we CSOs and other [political] forces knew that it was not a complete victory. We predicted that there would be big challenges because we knew that the 2008 Constitution did not allow the NLD to control the entire political landscape. As I have mentioned, the challenge is within the government as the defense, home affairs and border affairs ministries are controlled by the military and we predicted that this would be a big challenge. Again, most of the bureaucrats in the lower echelon of the government are ex-military personnel, and we predicted that this would also be a big challenge. We predicted that the other side would create a lot of trouble and the NLD would have to face them. The opposition will try to put their party back into power in 2020. So, we envisaged that the remaining forces, CSOs, and the NLD would have to stand together should such things happen. And such things did happen. But, the NLD did not stand with us. We found something in the NLD some call it Stockholm syndrome. Anyway, it has the same essence. It is the major weakness. It seems that the NLD sees the 2015 election as its victory. And it is very concerned that that victory will be affected. The NLD views its victory like the French Revolution. In fact, the French Revolution was more successful. It had 100 percent success. But as the NLD is overly concerned [about its victory], it dare not trust CSOs or other forces. And [Daw Aung San Suu Kyi] dare not have faith in the capacity of her cabinet members. Though the state counselor has appointed them, she is concerned about whether they are capable or not, and she works on their behalf. Though she does all this with good intent, it is a huge burden for her considering her age. So, there is little progress. There were many planned works in all sectors in the first 100 days. But the only sector that is active since then is the peace process, in which the state counselor is taking part. Other sectors are making less progress. These are the weak points. KZM: The NLD has four years until its term ends. Which policies should it focus on? Ko Thwin Lwin Aung suggested that it should cooperate with people who have supported it, as well as CSOs and allies since 1988. In his inaugural address on March 30, President U Htin Kyaw mainly talked about national reconciliation, internal peace, a Constitution that creates a federal Union and improvement of peoples living standards. What should the government do to achieve these goals in the next four years? KZW: It is critically important. Ko Thwin Lin Aung has also highlighted it. Pro-democracy forces have real goodwill toward Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD. They want to take part and lend a hand, but not because of potential gains. However, the NLD doesnt accept it. Take a look at the 88 Generation [students]. The NLD worked closely with them at first, but did not choose them as candidates when the election drew near. The NLD led the pro-democracy movement and spoke of all-inclusion [but it did not keep its word]. A political party should not do that. It appointed individual ethnic politicians to the government and the Parliament. But it is fairly weak in maintaining ties with ethnic political parties. [Daw Aung San Suu Kyi] now even refuses to receive the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, which has been the NLDs close ally since 1988. Thats bad. The by-election is just days away, and I think there are eight vacant seats in Shan State. That is a problem. This [the NLDs ties with ethnic parties] greatly impacts the peace process, and the NLD has to take this into serious consideration. To answer your question Ko Kyaw Zwa, there is a need for inclusiveness generally. Even if it does not give the allies seats in Parliament, it must meet and consult with them. This is not difficult. Again, the NLD government has President U Htin Kyaw, and he should be assigned more duties. He has presidential power, and he should be allowed to do what he can. This is an important point for the NLD. KZM: Ko Thwin Lin Aung, as you have said, the military holds the grip on three ministries and is involved in the administrative mechanism. It is also a key player in the peace process. We dont know if the peace process has reached an impasse because of the governments policies or the armys policies. The six-point peace policy of the army is an important factor. These things cant be changed immediately. Setting these things aside, there are many other things that can be done. The government has large control over the administrative mechanism. What approaches should it take to make other changes, regarding the economy for instance? TLA: The NLD has talked about making changes. In considering making changes, it should think about it two ways. The first is to make changes that are easierchanges that can be made without offending the 2008 Constitution and the army, but are beneficial to the people and can be made by taking advantage of its majority in Parliament. Another way is changes that can only be done by offending the 2008 Constitution and the army. The NLD should have thought about what it should deal with first. As it has chosen the peace process first, it has touched a landscape in which the army is a key player. It has to take risks to do difficult things. The army will not like certain things, and the NLD has to hold its ground and convince the army that people really want it. But if it is not convenient for the NLD to take the risk, it should engage in easier fields that do not concern key players. It should engage in things that it could change by taking advantage of its dominance in Parliament. But, it has focused on peace since it came to power. There is a big barrier, and we dont know how it analyzes that barrier. Maybe it thought that it could break down the barrier. But, reality was far from its expectations and circumstances are pushing it to take risks now. We have to wait and see if it will do so. I want the NLD to stand together with CSOs and other forces if it has to take risks. To give you the most significant example of the risks it has taken previously, it adopted a roadmap and then a policy regarding provisions of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement [NCA]. It was really good, and I really like it. The previous government and the army included vague provisions in the NCA, but the NLD made them clear and said that the 2008 Constitution would be changed and the next election would be held under the new constitution. But the NLD only said this once, and after the army implied that it was angry, it was not said again. If this is the case, the NLD should not engage in that field. It should handle fields that are more subtle and carry fewer risks. There are such fields that the NLD can engage in though there will be more or less impact on the army. It should do things like transferring the GAD [General Administration Department] to another ministry [from the Home Affairs Ministry]. KZM: Ko Thwin Lin Aung has made suggestions. Ko Khin Zaw Win, what do you think the elected government should do to achieve greater success and to address dissatisfaction in the next four years? KZW: While it should continue its focus on the peace process, it should carefully handle the economy this year. The NLD government has hired [economic] experts. People were taken aback by the NLDs 12-point economic policy and wondered what went wrong. The World Bank and the IMF also held talks with the government, and provided advice. It should seriously focus on the economy this year. This is critically important. KZM: Ko Khin Zaw Win, Ko Thwin Lin Aung, thank you for your contribution. The government has a lot of challenges to face to achieve success in economic, political and other fields. People will wait and see its performance in the coming years. Thank you all! Burma Residents of Shan States Mong Hsu and Kyethi Head to the Polls People wait outside a polling station in Mong Hsu Township on by-election day. / The Irrawaddy RANGOON Constituents of Mong Hsu and Kyethi townships of central Shan State bucked a nationwide trend of low voter turnout in Burmas by-elections on Saturday. More than 15,000 out of 42,745 eligible voters cast their ballots across Mong Hsu Townships 44 polling stations before 1p.m., according to the Union Electoral Commission (UEC). Polling for the 2015 general election in the two constituencies was called off due to conflict in the area, leaving six lawmaker seats emptytwo each in the Shan State regional parliament and one each in the Union parliaments two houses. U Thein Win, chairman of the UEC in Mong Hsu Township said: I was worried that not so many people would show up as there has been low interest in this by-election. But, I feel relieved as people have come to vote today. Daw Nang Kham, a local resident in Mong Hsu Township told The Irrawaddy that she and her five family members had all voted in Saturdays by-election. We didnt get a chance to vote in 2015 as we fled our home because of fighting, she said, referring to clashes between the Burma Army and the Shan State Army-North in November 2015. Turnout was also relatively high across many of Kyethis 58 polling stations, according to local observers. U Sai Thant Zin, a candidate representing the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) in Kyethi Township said: locals are interested in casting ballotsthey came to vote. The seats were contested by the ruling NLD, the Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP), the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), and other ethnic parties. However, the scene in two other Shan State constituencies holding by-electionsKengtung and Nyaung Shwe townshipsmatched the low turnout witnessed in other parts of the country. Out of 62,897 eligible voters in Nyaung Shwe Township, only 12,000 voters had cast their ballots by 11a.m., according to U Sein Win of the UEC. The secretary of the UEC in Kengtung Township said that only a few hundred came to vote, in that constituency by 10 a.m., four hours after stations opened. Burma Rohingya Rebel Leader Vows to Fight On Ata Ullah, identified as the leader of Rohingya Muslim insurgency Arakan Rohingya Salvation, in a Skype interview with Reuters. / Reuters RANGOON The leader of a Rohingya Muslim insurgency against Burmas security forces said on Friday his group would keep fighting even if a million die unless the countrys leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, took action to protect the religious minority. In his first independently conducted media interview, Ata Ullah, who has been identified by analysts and local people as the groups leader, denied links to foreign Islamists and said it was focused on the rights of the Rohingya, who say they face persecution at the hands of Burmas Buddhist majority. If we dont get our rights, if 1 million, 1.5 million, all Rohingya need to die, we will die, he said, speaking via a video call from an undisclosed location. We will take our rights. We will fight with the cruel military government. A United Nations report issued in February said Burmas security forces have committed mass killings and gang rapes against Rohingya during their campaign against the insurgents, which may amount to crimes against humanity. The military has denied the accusations, saying it was engaged in a legitimate counterinsurgency operation. No one will be above the law, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyis spokesman U Zaw Htay, responding to questions from Reuters on Friday about the insurgent leaders comments. If they attack us violently, we will respond the same way. Nowhere in the world would violent action be tolerated. Ethnic Clashes More than a million Rohingya live in northwestern Burmas Arakan State, where they are denied citizenship, freedom of movement and access to services such as healthcare. Serious ethnic clashes between Rohingya and ethnic Arakan Buddhists erupted in 2012 in which more than 100 people were killed and some 140,000 were displaced. In 2012, lots of things happened and they killed us, so we understood at that time, they would not give us our rights, said Ata Ullah. A report by the International Crisis Group in December said the insurgent group, which at first called itself Harakah al-Yaqin, Arabic for Faith Movement, was formed by Rohingya living in Saudi Arabia after the 2012 violence. It identified Ata Ullah, who appeared in a series of videos claiming responsibility for the Oct. 9 attacks on security forces, as the groups leader. Ata Ullah said decades of resentment at their treatment had prompted hundreds of young Rohingya men to join him after he returned to Arakan State following several years in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. We cant turn on the lights at night. We cant move from one place to another during the day too. Everywhere checkpoints. That is not the way human beings live, he said. Rohingya refugees Reuters has spoken to in camps in Bangladesh have said that many initially sympathised with the insurgents, but that the violence their campaign has unleashed had cost them support. Some have described how suspected government informers were killed by fighters. We Survive by Selling Cows In the earlier videos, Ata Ullah had cited Koranic verse and called for jihad. U Zaw Htay said he urged the international community to see the groups backgroundthey are linked with terrorist organizations from the Middle East. But Ata Ullah denied the group, which issued a statement earlier this week saying it was changing its name to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, had any connections with other militants or received outside support. We have no groups who help us from behind, whether from here or also abroadWe survive here by selling cows and buffalos, he said. Burmas military said last month that what it called a clearance operation in northwestern Arakan had ended, although the area remains closed to outside observers. Ata Ullah did not respond to several questions regarding the groups future strategy, its current location or how many fighters were left with him. Flanking him as he spoke to Reuters was another man brandishing a machine gun. The Rohingya crisis has posed the biggest challenge to Nobel peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyis government, which on Thursday marked its first year in power. Her defenders say there is little she can do, given the constitution gives her no control over the military. Attacks on Burma border guard posts in October last year by the previously unknown insurgent sending more than 75,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh in the ensuing army crackdown. The people are in such trouble, the military is so cruel to many in the Rohingya community, so she should speak out, do something for these people as a Nobel prize winner, said Ata Ullah. If she tries to do something for us, the military would do something to her government. Thats why she will not protect us. Burma Voter Turnout Sluggish in By-Election An official hands over a ballot paper at a polling station in Kawhmu Township, Rangoon on Saturday. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy RANGOON Polling stations in 22 townships across Burma witnessed low voter turnouts for by-elections on Saturday morning. More than two million people in five states and three divisions, including Rangoon Division, and Arakan, Shan, and Mon states, are eligible to cast their votesin the first polls under the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government after it swept to power in 2015s general electionaccording to the Union Election Commission (UEC). A total of 24 political parties contested the 19 seats up for grabs, with the main opposition party the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) fielding candidates for all seats and the ruling NLD competing for 18. The elections will not upset the balance of power in the Union Hluttaw, Burmas parliament, where the NLD enjoys a large majority. The number of voters casting their ballots on Saturday morning appeared low compared to the large queues that formed at polling stations before they opened for the 2015 general election. In Rangoons Kawhmu Townshiponce represented by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyionly a handful of voters were evident at polling stations on Saturday morning. The interest is quite low, the polling station has been open for two hours, but only about 100 voters have visited out of a possible 700, said U San Myint, the UEC chairman for Ma Kyee Tan quarter in the township. After three hours of polling at the 13th quarter of Hlaing Township, Rangoon, NLD election observer Daw Thi Thi Win looked nervousshe told The Irrawaddy that only 109 people out the 1575 eligible had so far cast their votes. Turnout has been really low so far. We want voters to visit as soon as they can. Polls close at 4p.m., I dont want them to miss this chance, she said. In Ann Township, home to the single vacant seat in Arakan State, it was the same story. In 2015, I personally witnessed queues at the polling stations since the early morning, but today only hundreds of people showed up, said a local election observer Ko Myo Lwin. He said Ann Township constituents may be uninterested in voting to decide their Lower House representative as one vacant seat will not sway the balance of power in parliament. Both USDP and NLD candidates in Kyethi and Mong Hsu townships in northern Shan State said the situation was stable at polling stations in their constituencies. The townships didnt vote in the 2015 general election due to fighting between the Burma Army and armed ethnic groups in the area. We are having a peaceful by-election here, said USDP candidate U Sai Kyaw Tin Shwe from Mine Hsu Township. People queued at some stations but there were also only a few people at some stations. In Mon States Chaungzon Townshipwhere the NLD has come under fire for persisting in naming a new bridge after Gen. Aung San despite local proteststhe voter turnout was also reportedly low compared to 2015. The NLD won the Chaungzon seat in the 2015 general election and on Saturday will compete against two local ethnic Mon partiesthe Mon National Party (MNP) and the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMRDP)along with main rival the USDP. Irrawaddy reporters Tun Tun in Kamhmu, Hintharnee in Chaungzon, Zarni Mann in Mandalay, Moe Myint, Zue Zue, and Emily in Rangoon, contributed to this report. Reddit Email 63 Shares Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | There is plenty of speculation about how hundreds of non-combatants were killed in Mosul, all apparently by accident. US and Iraqi forces have admitted partial culpability. But there are other causative factors at work. The dramatic and tragic events in Mosul on March 22, that saw hundreds of civilians killed when a whole city block was levelled by an aerial strike has dominated Iraqi news coverage over the past week. The extremist group known as the Islamic State, which had controlled Mosul since the middle of 2014, had brought hundreds of civilians into the area, often forcing several families to live in one house, in a neighbourhood littered with bombed and burned vehicles. Other families were trapped in Mosul and simply sought shelter there. A mistaken bombing raid by the international coalition fighting the Islamic State, or IS, group in Mosul levelled a whole block and caused, quite literally, hundreds of deaths and injuries, trapping whole families beneath rubble. The incident caused a temporary stoppage of the operation and a re-evaluation of tactics. The international coalition said that the bombs had been dropped at the behest of the Iraqi forces on the ground, who call in locations of IS fighters. In terms of American involvement in the tragedy, Iraqi officials have confirmed that the US wants to end the fighting with a victory over the IS group as soon as possible. This has seen more US participation on the ground. There are also some French military units on the northern outskirts of Mosul. In other battles, an exit route has been left for the extremists. This didnt happen in Mosul, trapping extremists and civilians. Senior commanders refuse to speculate as to why. This week the New York Times reported on what they described as the fullest acceptance of responsibility by an American commander since the March 17 airstrike. A senior US commander in Iraq, Stephen J. Townsend, said that a US airstrike most likely led to the collapse of the buildings. But he also said there would be an investigation to see if explosives stored by the IS group inside or nearby might not also have caused the larger damage. The US general said that the rules governing combat in Iraq had not changed significantly but that decision-making about when and where air strikes should take place had been decentralized. Iraqi soldiers themselves have commented on how much faster the decision-making process has become. Even before the incident in March, Khamis al-Khanjar, an Iraqi business mogul who has supported Sunni Muslim parties in Iraq financially, was warning that the US increased enthusiasm for fighting the IS group was dangerous and likely to increase the number of civilian casualties. He told Reuters that those Mosul locals who had welcomed their liberators in eastern Mosul were now extremely frightened of US airstrikes. But local analysts believe there is more background that needs to be considered when apportioning blame for this tragedy. For example, some analysts believe that one of the biggest mistakes made in Mosul was laying siege to the city, which has meant that the IS fighters are trapped, along with thousands of civilians. Other fights against the IS group elsewhere in the country used a different strategy, one that made sure to leave an exit route for the extremists. This happened in Fallujah, Ramadi, Tikrit and Baiji and meant that there was no need for protracted fighting because the IS fighters could flee. For example, in Fallujah in May and June, the plan involved federal police forces coming into the city from the north and east, accompanied by members of Shiite Muslim militias. Iraqs counter-terrorism forces came in from the south. The west side of the city was supposed to be left open so the IS members could escape to Al Qaem, the Iraqi city on the border of Syria. Rumour had it that some politicians were annoyed at how warmly Mosul residents greeted senior generals. A PR victory for the Iraqi army is not necessarily welcomed by the militias. The same thing was supposed to happen in Mosul, says Raed al-Tamimi, an Iraqi army colonel working in Mosul. When we were fighting in eastern Mosul we did not have as many losses because the extremists could exit into western Mosul, by crossing the river. We expected that the IS fighters would then withdraw from the west of Mosul towards the Syrian border, through Tal Afar and Biaj. But this didnt happen. However al-Tamimi and other officers were reluctant to speculate as to why this didnt happen. When the military campaign to push the IS group out of Mosul began in October last year, Iraqs often-controversial Shiite Muslim militias, originally all volunteers, were not supposed to take part in the operation in the large northern city. This is because Mosul, with a Sunni majority population, has been a defacto capital in Iraq for the IS group and there were concerns that the Shiite militias would take revenge on the Sunni population. Instead the Shiite Muslim militias started fighting to the west of Mosul, saying that they wanted to push the IS group out of the town of Tal Afar, which was once home to Shiite Muslims of Turkmen ethnicity, many of whom had been forced to flee the town. They also announced that they wanted to cut off the IS groups route to Raqqa, their base in neighbouring Syria. In early November 2016, two of the best-known leaders of the militias, Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes of Hezbollah and Hadi al-Ameri, a Badr organization commander, announced that their forces had successfully cut off the road leading into Syria. Worth noting, some of the leaders of the Shiite Muslim militias see Iraq and Syria as one battlefront. Some of their forces are actually fighting in Syria in support of the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad. This is because they are close to Iran, whose government is supporting al-Assad. And the Iranians believe that if the IS group is allowed to flee into Syria, this will increase pressure on their ally, al-Assad. In this case, it is better to keep the IS fighters divided and fighting on two fronts. Mosul locals removing corpses from the bombed area. In real terms, the fronts in Iraq and Syria are connected and our fighters are ready to go to Syria, if the Iraqi government gives us permission, Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesperson for the Shiite militias said at a press conference on December 24 last year. But there are certainly some Iraqi Shiite factions that are now fighting in Syria without any official Iraqi approval. The other possible misstep made by the Iraqi military was cutting off the road between Mosul and Tal Afar. Had the IS fighters been able to withdraw to Tal Afar, this may have been a better place to meet them in battle. Tal Afar has largely been abandoned by its residents and fighting here would have avoided at least some of the civilian casualties now occurring in Mosul. The other thing that has puzzled some observers is the fact that Iraqs elite counter-terrorism forces, who fought so carefully on the eastern side of the city and were credited with saving many civilian lives, are taking less of a leading role in the fighting on the western side of Mosul. Iraqs federal police are now leading the fight against the IS group on the western side of the city. This is despite the fact that the federal police dont have as much experience in guerrilla warfare as the counter-terrorism forces. The federal police were established as another wing of the regular military and in some parts of the country they play the same role as the police. For example, in Baghdad and in other southern provinces, the federal police work alongside the regular police, maintaining security, supervising checkpoints and following up on criminal complaints. The Iraqi government has yet to explain the need for this change in strategy around personnel. Some Iraqi analysts have suggested it is because the counter-terrorism troops lost many men in Mosul and are no longer capable of leading the fight. But in fact, these forces are still fighting in western Mosul and supervised by the same officers who fought in the eastern half of the city. Rumour had it that, in fact, some politicians were annoyed that the senior generals of the counter-terrorism forces were being greeted so warmly by Mosul residents, because they managed to defeat the IS group and protect civilian lives. Victories achieved by the Iraqi army are not necessarily altogether welcomed by politicians affiliated with the militias. The counter terrorism forces bring back the Iraqi armys dginity and reputation, says one local observer. Whereas the militias like to see the raqi army as weak and present themselves as the best possible alternative. There is also a lesser-known conflict at play. The counter-terrorism forces do not apparently like to fight alongside the Shiite Muslim militias. However the federal police coordinate better with the militias. A past example of these tensions can be seen in the fighting around Tikrit in early 2015. While the Iraqi government and military wanted the support of air cover from the international coalition, the Shiite Muslim militias said they were opposed to it. Conflict broke out between militia head Hadi al-Ameri and Abdul Wahab al-Saedi, the commander of the counter-terrorism forces. Al-Ameri accused al-Saedi of cooperating too closely with US forces and the resulting conflict saw al-Saedi removed from his post. The federal police and the Shiite Muslim militias fight more happily alongside one another because the police are under the control of Iraqs Ministry of the Interior, and this has been run by Shiite Muslim politicians for the past 14 years. Accordingly, many of the staff and officers are also Shiite Muslims. On January 30 this year, Qasim al-Araji was named the new Minister of the Interior. Al-Araji is also a leading member of one of the largest militias, the Badr group. Last Saturday, senior Sunni Muslim politician, Osama al-Nujaifi, Iraqs vice-president, who is originally from Mosul, said in an official statement that the new strategy in Mosul, including the excessive use of cannons and rockets by pro-government forces, were causing more civilian deaths. Could it be that some pro-government forces are a little trigger happy, when it comes to calling in air strikes? The current fighting in Mosul is likely to be the last and most significant battle against the IS group in Iraq, after three years of the country being terrorised by the extremists. The siege that has trapped the extremists in Mosul, the lack of the elite fighting forces that previously achieved so much and the new US enthusiasm for fighting the IS group, can all be partially blamed for the fact that this all-important battle is not going the way it should. Accidental or not, outcomes like those hundreds of civilian deaths dont just have a high human cost; they will continue to bear upon the countrys future. Via Niqash.org Related video added by Juan Cole: VOA News: Battle for Full Control of Mosul Reddit Email 315 Shares Maan News Agency | BETHLEHEM (Maan) Palestinian leaders on Thursday and Friday strongly condemned an Israeli security cabinet vote on Thursday night that unanimously approved the establishment of a new illegal Israeli settlement on occupied Palestinian land, for the first time in 20 years. According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the new settlement Emek Shilo will be located near the already established illegal settlement of Shilo in tthe occupied West Bank district of Ramallah. Citing a statement released by the Israeli Prime Ministers office, Haaretz said that the decision to establish the settlement in violation of international law was part of a promise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave to Israeli settlers of the illegal Amona outpost as residents were facing court-sanctioned demolitions several months ago after building on private Palestinian land. Haaretz also reported that Netanyahu had previously told US President Donald Trumps administration that he intended to keep his promise, and added that politically speaking, it was impossible for him to renege on it. The decision will be presented to Israeli ministers not part of the security cabinet in a poll to decide whether the controversial move receives final approval, according to Haaretz. Peace Now released a statement following the decision, pointing out that the decisions made in the cabinet meeting also included Netanyahu announcing his final approval of the marketing of land that could provide the construction of up to 2,000 new settler units and the declaring of 977 dunums (241 acres) of Palestinian land as Israeli state land for the retroactive legalization of three Israeli settler outposts. Israel continues to destroy the prospects of peace in our region and to severely affect our lives by the theft of land and natural resources, and by the further fragmentation of our country, Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Saeb Erekat said in a statement on Friday in response to the decision. We hold Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government fully responsible for the consequences of such violations, Erekat said, adding that we are not going to accept any formula that aims at legitimizing the presence of Israeli colonies on occupied Palestinian land. Erekat continued in the statement that Israel enjoys the culture of impunity that allows it to strengthen its apartheid regime in Occupied Palestine, adding that the international community, including the US, United Nations, and the European Union, will not achieve peace by tolerating such crimes. Erekat also noted that recent actions absolving Israel of its violations against Palestinians, including censuring a UN report calling Israels policies against Palestinians apartheid, and avoiding implementing any punitive measures to hold Israel accountable for its policies, are all signs for Israel that they can go ahead with their policies of occupation, colonization, oppression and apartheid. Meanwhile, PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi also slammed the decision. It is ironic that on the same day Palestinians somberly commemorated the killing of six Palestinians and the injury of more than 100 others who nonviolently protested Israels decision to steal more than 20,000 dunams of land in the Galilee in 1976, Israel announced the establishment of a new illegal settlement, Ashrawi said in a statement released Thursday night. Forty-one years later, Israels policies remain unchanged as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist, racist coalition government continue to persist with their systematic policies of settler colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, she added, noting that the Israeli government has shown a total and blatant disregard for Palestinian human rights, independence and dignity. Todays announcement once again proves that Israel is more committed to appeasing its illegal settler population than to abiding by the requirements for stability and a just peace. Ashrawi said Israels policies of expanding illegal settlements and displacing Palestinians for the goal of creating a Greater Israel spanning across occupied Palestinian territory should make it clear to the international community that they need to intervene immediately and to undertake concrete measures to hold Israel accountable with serious punitive measures. It is time that all members of the international community serve the cause of peace and justice and bring Israel to cease and desist its unlawful settlement activities and illegal unilateralism once and for all, she concluded. The Hamas movement also released a statement following the decision, saying that Israel has revolted against international resolutions that have repeatedly rejected Israels settlement enterprise and underscored their illegality under international law. Following the passage of UNSC resolution 2334, which strongly condemned Israeli settlements, and the more recent resolutions adopted by the UNHCR condemning Israel for its human rights violations in the Palestinian territory, which also included expanding Israeli settlements, the Israeli government responded with approving the expansion of settlements, including the passage of the outpost Legalization bill, and the revocation of $2 million of financial support to the UN. All Arab leaders who participated in the Arab Summit must confront this serious challenge of Israel continuing its aggressions against the Palestinian people, the Hamas statement added. Via Maan News Agency - Related video added by Juan Cole: Euronews: Israel / Palestine: new settlements in occupied West Bank [March 31, 2017] Corporate Technologies, LLC Named One of 2017 Tech Elite Solution Providers by CRN EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., March 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporate Technologies, LLC announced today that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company, has named Corporate Technologies, LLC to its 2017 Tech Elite 250 list. This annual list honors an exclusive group of North American IT solution providers that have earned the highest number of advanced technical certifications from leading technology vendors, scaled to their company size. To compile the annual list, The Channel Company's research group and CRN editors work together to identify the most customer-beneficial technical certifications in the North American IT channel. Solution providers that have obtained these elite designations which enable them to deliver premium products, services and customer support are then selected from a pool of online applicants. Corporate Technologies employs over 150+ technicians, systems and network engineers that support customers in 6 markets. Our engineers and sales staff are continuously training and earning new certifications from the industries' major technology manufacturers including: HP, Microsoft, Cisco, Citrix, IBM, CompTia, EMC, VMware and Symantec. As a result of our multi-vendor authorizations, Corporate Technologies has the expertise needed to meet the information technology requirements of our customers in a rapidly changing industry. "This exclusive, ambitious group of solution providers boasts some of the most advanced IT certifications available from top technology suppliers," said Robert Faletra, CEO, The Channel Company. "They have adapted impressively to major chanes in the IT channel, especially the shift to a more services-driven market, by expanding their skill sets and sharpening both their technical and customer service expertise. Congratulations to our 2017 list, whose robust investment in their organizations has earned them yet another elite designation the CRN Tech Elite 250." "Technology continues to be the driving force behind the innovative changes in productivity for businesses. Corporate Technologies is committed to developing strong partner relationships with our vendors so we can continue to deliver the latest technology solutions to our customers. We are honored to be named to CRN's Tech Elite 250 list again this year," said Jim Griffith, CEO of Corporate Technologies. Coverage of the Tech Elite 250 will be featured in the April issue of CRN, and online at www.crn.com/techelite250. Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Tweet This: @TheChannelCo names @corporatetechnologies to @CRN 2017 Tech Elite 250 list #CRNTechElite250 www.crn.com/techelite250 About Corporate Technologies LLC Corporate Technologies is a leading provider of managed IT solutions to businesses and institutions in Minnesota, North Dakota, Idaho, Southern California, Michigan and New Jersey. With over 30 years of experience and the continued dedication of its employees, Corporate Technologies is able to support their clients on a national level. It offers a wide range of IT solutions, including: managed IT services, staffing, storage, virtualization, VoIP systems, consulting and networking. Corporate Technologies' Technology Advantage program provides a niche service for small and medium size businesses requiring IT support and services. For additional information, visit www.gocorptech.com or call 866-363-GoCT (4628). About The Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com Copyright 2017. The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/corporate-technologies-llc-named-one-of-2017-tech-elite-solution-providers-by-crn-300432880.html SOURCE Corporate Technologies LLC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Reddit Email 236 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | Russian President Vladimir Putin has abruptly become a climate-change denialist, apparently under the influence of key figures in the Trump administration, which Putin likely helped install. The spread of anti-intellectualism and the war on science has been a worrisome feature of the American right wing for some time, but now it appears to be spreading even to Russia. Of course, this wouldnt be the first anti-scientific stand taken in Moscow. Trofim Lysenko, the Soviet-era biologist, rejected Darwinian natural selection in favor of a form of Lamarckian evolutionary theory that held that animals can acquire characteristics as individuals through experience and then pass those directly to their offspring. The 19th century Muslim anti-imperial activist, Jamal al-Din Afghani, refuted Lamarcks version of biology in a debate with Ernest Renan by pointing out that Jews and Muslims had been circumcising their male children for centuries but that no child of either of these groups had ever been born circumcised. Both the US and now the Russian Federation are becoming neo-Lysenkoist states. Not all oil and gas states are climate deniers. Some ruling elites can make a distinction between the economic interest of their national carbon industries and the fate of the world. Thus, the al-Thanni emirs of Qatar, a major gas producer, have repeatedly warned about the dangers of human-caused climate change. The United Arab Emirate has a very active green energy program, even though it is a major oil exporter. Canada and China are both heavily dependent on hydrocarbons, but leaders of both countries have expressed serious concern. China in particular is making enormous strides toward getting off dirty coal, for instance. But now the two major industrialized producers of hydrocarbons the United States and Russia are both headed by deniers. For both, denialism makes perfect economic sense on the surface, since their economies benefit heavily from gas, oil and coal. In reality, global warming will take its toll on them, and on all of us. It is hard to see how the Paris climate treaty survives in an effective form if both the US and Russia renege. Russia has a lot of hydro-electric power, since the Soviets went in for dam building in a big way. But other than that, renewables account for less than one percent of Russias energy mix. So it doesnt matter very much whether Putin accepts the overwhelming evidence for human-made climate change or not. His country has seldom felt it necessary to mobilize over the issue. Obamas sanctions on Russia over the covert invasion of Ukraine derailed a $500 billion oil deal between Russian oil interests and the United States. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a former CEO of Exxon Mobil, will be looking to jumpstart that deal. Tillerson and Putin are world-slayers. related video added by Juan Cole: Putin: Climate Change Real, But Not Man-Made! Reddit Email 216 Shares By Keith Ruiter | (The Conversation) | It has been suggested that Donald Trump may get his assertive rather than passive manner from his alleged Viking ancestors. Or so says Russian genealogist Aleksey Nilogov, who has been finding some traction for his beliefs on nationalistic eastern European news sites such as the Estonian World Review. Leaving aside the issue of genetic predispositions, as a scholar of Viking-Age Scandinavia, I take issue with this claim. The Vikings were a product of their time and in that context were a much less objectionable bunch than these suggestions imply. Delving into the Old Norse language helps us to better understand some of the ways that medieval Scandinavians might have viewed the overbearing and isolationist rhetoric dominating the international stage of late. In fact, just such an analysis suggests that Trump would probably not have had a great time navigating the political intrigue presented in the Icelandic Sagas. Despite popular depictions of medieval Scandinavians as gruff, aggressive raiders, the sources from medieval Scandinavia reveal a complex society possessed of nuanced understandings of morality, law and honour. An overbearing man The key to understanding these concepts in their contemporary context lies in the language of the early Scandinavian sources that survive to us. Sometimes, a single word can unlock a cluster of semantic and conceptual understandings. Take, for example, the Old Norse word ojafnaarmar. Broken into its constituent parts, the word could be rendered in English as un-even-person. But in the contexts of Eyrbyggja saga, one of the Sagas of Icelanders focusing on a locality in the north-west of the island, its clear that the unevenness being described is a disregard for fairness, equality, justice and the rights of others. This has led scholars to render the word as an overbearing man. An ojafnaarmar, such as Styrr orgrimsson in Eyrbyggja saga, is fundamentally a social bully of the type who uses force and cunning to better their own position at the expense of those around them, save for a small group of loyal supporters drawn to their ruthless approach and success. This certainly sounds like Trumps infamous tactics: from his Twitter tirades, to his promises to bully Mexico into paying for a border wall, even to his ludicrously alpha handshake. His myopic focus on building himself up and cutting others down, even his vision of America first, certainly bear the hallmarks of the conduct of an ojafnaarmar. The problem is that the ojafnaarmar was not someone to emulate or even admire in early Icelandic society, but someone to bring to heel. In the harsh, isolated climes of medieval Iceland, mutual aid from community and kinship were relied upon to rise to the challenges of the day. With no respect for reciprocity or the honour and rights of others, the ojafnaarmar was fundamentally destructive to the fabric of their society and their antisocial tactics, described in the sagas, tended to cut them off from their communities. This most often ended up leaving them with precious few friends or allies to help when they inevitably got in over their head. This is certainly the case with Styrr, who needed to marry his daughter, who he loved more than anything, off to an old rival to help him get out of trouble with two berserkers (fierce Norse warriors). Dont bark at your guests The condemnation of tactics used by ojafnaarmar characters is also mirrored in the Old Norse poem Havamal, Sayings of the High One (Carolyne Larringtons translation quoted below). These verses conclusively deride such things as being disrespectful, overly aggressive, and lack of social engagement, even to those you might distrust. In fact, Havamal contains rebuttals for several of Trumps early executive actions. As just one example, consider stanza 135 in the context of Trumps adamant support of a travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations. The poem warns: Dont bark at your guests or drive them from your gate, treat the indigent well! This seems to stand in stark opposition to Trumps closed-door vision on immigration. In a medieval Scandinavian context, this bullying bravado and disregard for hospitality and reciprocity was inherently isolating on a social level. And it is in relation to isolationism and responsible engagement with wider society that Havamal takes a very clear stance. Stanza 50 says it best: The fir-tree withers that stands on the farmstead, Neither bark nor needles protect it; So it is with the man whom no one loves, How should he live for long? Clearly antisocial tendencies such as isolationism or bullying were recognised as wholly unsuitable in the societies of the medieval Scandinavian milieu. Active social engagement was incredibly important. In no place is this clearer than in the early laws of Scandinavia, where outlawry legally imposed exclusion from the community was considered one of the gravest punishments a criminal could endure. As the world continues to shrink thanks to modern technology, these old points of wisdom are worth revisiting in the global village of today to remind us of the importance of mutual respect, collaboration, conciliation and strong social bonds with all those around us. One thing is clear. Any Viking ancestor that might be responsible for Trumps personality would likely not have done that well in his own time. Keith Ruiter, PhD Candidate in Scandinavian Studies, University of Aberdeen This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - March 31, 2017) - Pretium Resources Inc. (TSX:PVG)(NYSE:PVG) ("Pretivm" or the "Company) is pleased to report that the Brucejack Mine transmission line is now energized and dry commissioning is underway. Wet commissioning remains on schedule to begin in early April with the first ore expected to be introduced to the mill in mid-April. The 57-kilometer long transmission line connecting the Brucejack Mine to the BC Hydro power grid was completed on March 21, 2017 and energized on March 31, 2017 following regulatory approval. The transmission line will provide low cost, clean energy to power the site including the mill and underground operations. Construction of underground infrastructure, including the crusher, conveyor, and transfer towers is nearing completion and the electrical substation has been energized. The underground conveying system has been completed with all belts installed. With the critical mechanical and electrical components in place, remaining roof decking and wall cladding will be completed to enclose the portal building. All conveyor galleries from the Valley of the Kings portal to the mill building are installed with belt installation to commence over the next week. The installation of the SAG and ball mills, including liner installation and drive alignment is on track to be complete the first week of April. Fresh water is currently being pumped to the fresh and fire water tanks with hydraulic testing of other areas to continue thereafter. The installation and assembly of the remaining mechanical, piping, electrical, instrumentation and control components within the Mill building is progressing. Underground development continues to advance and the contracted long-hole drilling crew has been mobilized to site. Over 163,000 tonnes of ore have been stockpiled on surface and underground. Underground development is advancing, long-hole drilling of the test stope is complete and drilling of the first production stope is underway. Lyle Morgenthaler, B.A.Sc., P.Eng., Chief Mining Engineer, Pretium Resources Inc. is the Qualified Person ("QP") responsible for Brucejack Mine development. About Pretivm Pretivm is constructing the high-grade underground Brucejack gold mine in northern British Columbia with commercial production targeted for 2017. By John DaSilva The Triple Crown prep season moves into the stretch drive as the first two North American races worth 100 points to the winner will be run Saturday. While the Florida Derby (GI) and Louisiana Derby (GII) may not have the depth for a final Kentucky Derby prep as the expected fields in other Derby prep races over the next couple weeks, both races have late-developing horses that could turn into potential Kentucky Derby factors. Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby Fair Grounds Racecourse The favorite for this 1 1/8-mile race is Girvin. The Joe Sharp trainee came off the pace to win the Risen Star Stakes (GII) when making his dirt route stakes debut. He was ridden very well that day by Brian Hernandez Jr., who is also the regular rider of McCraken. When Girvin won the Risen Star, the way he did it reminded me a bit of the previous two winners this race, Gun Runner and International Star. He is one of two horses in the race to have a stakes victory in his career, the other one being Guest Suite. He is a deserving 8-5 morning line favorite and I can see him going off at even money or less at post time. After winning the LeComte Stakes (GIII) in the mud as the favorite, Guest Suite came back to finish fourth in the Risen Star. However, he Neil Howard trainee raced further back than what we were accustomed to in the early stages of the race in both previous starts this year. He is working well coming into this race and he should handle distance, being by Quality Road out of the Ghostzapper mare Guest House (a granddaughter of Broodmare of the Year Weekend Surprise.) Todd Pletcher brings a couple of lightly raced horses into this race. On paper, Patch looks to be the better of the two horses. He comes off his maiden victory going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park in his second career start when making his route debut. He drew the rail for his local and two-turn debut and gets the services of Tyler Gaffalione, who has taken his riding to a new level since switching agents late last year to Matt Muzikar. Monaco is the other Pletcher entrant. The $1.3 million purchase at OBS March 2016 sale comes off a 12-length maiden victory as the favorite at Tampa Bay. His speed figure is below average and with two lifetime starts as well, looks to be up against it here. Local Hero is the probable frontrunner of the race. He set the pace before tiring to third in the Risen Star, which was his first start since breaking his maiden. He should set relaxed fractions here, but holding off Girvin but be tough to do again, especially since Sharp entered Hotfoot to be a rabbit for Girvin. Hollywood Handsome make his stakes debut after closing to third in first start since breaking his maiden. Dallas Stewart trains him and he knows how to get a horse ready to run well at a price. With regular rider Francisco Torres out with injuries, he will need a new jockey here. Girvin should win the race, but no matter how easy he could win, there will be knocks against him and he probably will go off double digits odds if he makes the gat for the Kentucky Derby. Selections: Girvin, Guest Suite, Patch Xpressbet Florida Derby Gulfstream Park A field of eleven was entered for South Floridas last Kentucky Derby prep, but Battalion Runner is expected to scratch before post time. Gunnevera is the 9-5 morning line favorite and is the only horse in the race with graded stakes victories, having won the Delta Jackpot Stakes (GIII) last year and the Fountain of Youth Stakes (GII) last out. His off-the-pace style of racing would normally hinder him in these races, but Javier Castellano did a great job of moving him at the right time in both those victories. But Gunnevera has to prove he can win a race with a regular stretch. The last time he did that was in last summers Saratoga Special (GII) versus 2-year-olds. In the Delta Jackpot, the length of stretch of that race is 660 feet. In the Fountain of Youth, since the race ends at the sixteenth pole instead of the regular finish line, the length of the stretch is 565 feet. The 1 1/8-mile distane at Gulfstream means he will have to run 898 feet in the stretch drive, which still doesnt come close to the Kentucky Derby stretch drive at Churchill Downs of 1,234 feet. Another negative facing Gunnevera is his post position. He drew post 11 and with the expected scratch of Battalion Runner, he moves inward one stall to post 10. Outside post positions at nine furlongs on the dirt have not fared well. While Big Brown won the 2008 Florida Derby from post 12, we can say Gunnevera doesnt have the running style or shown us the potential that he can be another Big Brown The most talked about horse in the race is Always Dreaming. The Todd Pletcher trainee makes his stakes debut after impressive victories in both starts since moving in to the Pletcher barn. He is the only horse in the race with a victory at this distance. Because of a slow pace he led every step of the way last out but he should stalk pacesetting Three Rules today. Pletcher has done very well in this race in the past so he cannot be ignored here. State of Honor is a very intriguing horse. Three starts back he raced off the pace and made a strong middle move to gain lead before getting caught by Sonic Mule to finish second by head in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes. That race was also his first on conventional dirt. He was sent to Tampa Bay, added blinkers and he set the pace before tiring to third in the Sam F. Davis Stakes (GIII) and then second in the Tampa Bay Derby (GII). He drew the rail here and removes the blinkers and jockey Julien Leparoux should get a good ground-saving trip with him and he will be good value here. Three Rules is the only other stakes winner in the race, even though that was in restricted races last year. He is expected to be the main pacesetter of the race, but it is questionable he can hang on at this distance. Allegedly his connections are pointing him to the Preakness Stakes (GI) and not the Kentucky Derby. Impressive Edge is a Dale Romans trainee making his route debut. Two starts back he was fourth in the seven-furlong Swale Stakes (GII) over this track. He then came back to win an optional claimer at seven furlongs and though his breeding says he can handle the distance, can he do it at this class? Gunnevera has the talent and can win, but he has a lot of questions to answer and at the price, I am not sold. He has to prove it to me. Selections State of Honor, Always Dreaming, Gunnevera For full Future Book odds on this years Kentucky Derby hopefuls, go to: Green Olive Tree has been in the Managed Hosting business for over 15 years. We have the expertise to build and manage an infrastructure perfect for your needs. Did we mention we are also a veteran owned business? by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, March 27, 2017 The U.S. will continue to be the primary engine driving the global ad economy for the foreseeable future, according to the latest forecast from Publicis Zenith unit. The updated forecast, released early this morning, projects that the U.S. will contribute 28% of worldwide ad expansion through 2019 -- which is significant considering how mature the U.S. marketplace is relative to big developing nations. China is projected to be the second-largest contributor, with an estimated 24% of global ad growth coming from the Chinese marketplace. Indonesia, the U.K. and India tie for third-place ranking, with each contributing about 4% of global ad growth. Overall, Zenith projects global ad expenditures will expand 4.4% both this year and next, reaching $592 billion by the end of 2017. The agencys 2017 forecast is unchanged from its previous outlook released in December, but its 2018 estimate was revised downward by 0.1 percentage point due to downgrades in its outlook for Western Europe and Asia Pacific. advertisement advertisement Zenith currently projects North American ad spending will expand 3.4% this year. By medium, much of the global ad expansion is projected to come from mobile and desktop Internet ad spending. Zenith projects that Internet ad spending will expand 13% to reach $205 billion in 2017, marking the first time the medium had broken the $200 billion threshold. In terms of market share, the Internet will account for nearly 37 cents of every dollar spent on advertising this year, up from 34 cents per ad dollar in 2016. This will be the first year in which more money will be spent on Internet advertising than advertising on traditional television (which will total $192 billion), Zeniths new report notes, adding: The sheer scale of Internet advertising means its growth rate is slowing. Internet ad spend grew 17% in 2016, down from 20% in 2015, and we expect growth to slow to 13% in 2017, 12% in 2018 and 10% by 2019. by Wayne Friedman , March 31, 2017 Verizon Communications is yet another big media/telecommunications company looking to start up a package of live, linear TV networks. The company has been lining up deals with TV network groups in an effort to start up a service this summer, according to a Bloomberg Technology report. This would be different from Verizons video-on-demand service, go90, that targets young TV-viewer videos -- as well as a separate operation to its fiber based pay TV service, FiOS. A Verizon service -- as with others -- would aim to be much less expensive than traditional pay TV services that run $80 to $100+ a month. It would follow in the footsteps of AT&T, which launched DirecTV Now, earlier this year. That service -- a skinny TV bundle of networks -- starts at $35 for 60 channels. It would also compete with Dish Networks Sling TV, one of the first services of this type, which started up two years ago in January 2015. Its basic package costs $20 a month. Analysts estimates are that Sling TV has around 1 million subscribers. A number of other services of this type are planned -- one coming from Hulu and Googles YouTube, called YouTube TV. Analysts say all current over-the-top (OTT) services of this kind total around 2 million U.S. subscribers so far. New York A U.S. Air Force dog, Jony, serving with the 20th Security Forces Squadron, has retired after nine years, or 68 dog years, of distinguished service, the U.S. Department of Defence has said Pentagon, in a statement, said Jony retired due to a compressed disc in his spine, and has been permanently put in the hands of its handler, Air Force Staff Sergeant Anthony Despins, a military working dog handler, who met Jony as his first canine partner in 2012. Together, the two used their individual skill sets to make a formidable team, eventually becoming certified as an explosives detection and patrol unit to keep people around the world safe and their fellow airmen out of harms way, Pentagon said. Pentagon quoted Despins as saying that Jony was really excited, always happy to see people and very energetic. Even back then, Jony knew what was expected of him and how to do his job. Jonys performance during his initial training determined what certifications he received; military working dogs can receive narcotics and explosives credentials as well as certification as a patrol dog. All their physical traits: their sight, their hearing, their nose, their speed, their teeth, dogs bring so much to the table things we cant do and the equipment were provided cant do. Although the physical traits are necessary for success, it takes more than just advanced senses for a dog to pass initial training. They must be able to listen to commands. If they cant do that theyll automatically be disqualified. Some dogs just dont have the drive. According to Pentagon, after Despins, Jony served with five other handlers, including Air Force Sgt. Kevin Davis Jr., and the pair were deployed to Afghanistan together in 2013. The Pentagon described Jonys period with the military as a distinguished service. During one of his deployments, Jony went on more than 60 missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, finding six explosives and enduring five firefights. Jony also went on seven explosive detection missions with the Secret Service in support of the president and vice president of the United States. Thanks to Jonys acute sense of smell, Davis and his team were able to come back home to their families. According to Davis, the unwavering faith between military working dogs and handlers is not left behind on the battlefield. Theyre wingmen. Not only are they there through the thick and thin, the good times and the bad times, theyre there to protect and theyre there to watch out for you, he said. According to Davis, the bond is incomparable to any other. You can create a facade as youre going through your day to day. However the dog knows; they know when somethings not right or if you feel down or depressed and are just trying to keep a straight face, Davis said. Air Force Staff Sergeant Robert Coughlin, another military working dogs handler with the Squadron, said: Dogs would sacrifice and do anything for their handler. It doesnt matter what it is. They have no fear of what they go into as far as the danger. Pentagon said Air Force Staff Sergeant Kathryn McCarthy, also a military working dogs handler, read a poem titled Guardians of the Night, dedicated to military working dogs and their service, and traditionally read at their retirement ceremonies, in honour of Jony. At his pulling out ceremony, Pentagon said the sun was rising as Jony took his last ride in a patrol truck around the kennel, allowing him to say goodbye to his family of handlers, fellow military working dogs and the base he has worked hard to protect. Friends, family and those who may have only known Jony through his acts of courage gathered to commemorate nine years, or 68 dog years, of distinguished service. Jony barks throughout the ceremony, joining the crowd in celebration of his accomplishments. Like so many airmen before him, Jony receives a retirement pin to symbolise his transition from an active-duty service member to retiree. Unlike most airmen, Jony is also presented with a bone to symbolize his transition from the kennel to the couch, reclaiming his place at the side of an old familiar friend. After nine years of service alongside several partners, Jonys leash is relinquished and permanently put in Despins hands, and together the two go home, Pentagon said. According to Despins, Jony is more than a dog. I dont look at Jony as a pet or as an animal. I look at him as more than that. Hes like my best friend, even though he cant talk back, Despins said In an era where music sales fetch lesser income for Ghanaian musicians, one of their major sources of subsistence has been putting up musical concerts. On 28th May, 2017, one of Ghana's ebullient gospel musicians, SP Kofi Sarpong, will be ministering to gospel music fans at National Theatre. The concert dubbed 'SP Kofi Sarpong Live In Concert,' is put together by his record label and management outfit, Media Excel Productions. Speaking to citifmonline.com, Kwesi Ennin Ernest, the Chief Executive Officer of Media Excel said that they realised they could strengthen their artiste's brand by creating for him, his own concert. This is the first time Kofi is putting up his own concert and we believe it is long overdue. Kofi is one of the big gospel artistes in this country who definitely deserves a concert of his own. This will help make his brand stronger, Mr. Ennin said. The self acclaimed King of African Borborbor will be performing alongside gospel giants like Ohemaa Mercy, Abena Ruthy, Francis Amo and Nacee. Others include Joyce Blessing, Gifty Osei, Koda and a surprise gospel artiste from the United Kingdom. SP Kofi Sarpong released his first album 'Sacrifice' in 2012 and this brought him into the limelight. He also has songs like 'African Borborbor,' 'Adom Bi,' 'Abotre,' 'Agyenkwa' and 'Aseda.' He has won several awards in the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, Ghana Music Awards UK and other internationally recognised award schemes. By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana 01.04.2017 LISTEN The vigilante groups are recognized in the party (New Patriotic Party (NPP)) and so I will personally make sure they are recruited into national security (our emphasis) (Well Fire NDC Members At National SecurityKen Agyepong, Ghanaweb, March 28, 2017). KWEKU BAAKO, GHANA IS ALREADY A BANANA REPUBLIC When is Paa Kwesi Nduom also forming his vigilante militiathe Sea Lions? Kweku Baaku lamented not too long ago that Ghana was on the verge of becoming a Banana Republic. That is like saying Ghana is on the verge of being destroyed by galamsey and corrupt politicians. Ghana is already a Banana Republic, and Ghana, an open-defecation polity galamsey and corrupt politicians have already destroyed. Yet public figures like Kweku Baako and Kennedy Agyapong, a village or farm scarecrow exquisitely buried in what sometimes seems like tailored suits, will always want to paint a different picture. Because doing so pollutes their privileged statuses which may have been acquired through questionable means. In other words they are in absolute denial of the evidence of visual clarity. But then again Ken, a naked psycho who delights in mounting his only villages roof and screaming at the top of his lungs, is probably a bigger national security problem than these NPP-affiliated vigilante groups. Now, as if that is not enough, they are all coming out in their numbers heaping subtle if hypocritical criticisms upon the Invincible Forces and the Delta Force when they were the very ones who created these Frankenstein monsters in the first place. Yes, the chickens always come home to roost. Only when members of the Delta Force, allegedly Chairman Wontumis brainchild, took it out on one of their own, George Adjei, President Akufo-Addos Ashanti Regional Coordinator appointee, suddenly Madam Otiko Afisa Djaba who went missing in action when another Kumasi-based vigilante group of men inserted their dirty toes into a suspected female thiefs vagina, has reappeared from nowhere with a soulful petition to her bossPresident Akufo-Addo. This petition reads in part ((Disband All Vigilante Groups NowIrbad Ibrahim To IGP, March 26, 2017): Mr. President, Minister of Interior, National Security Advisor, please address with urgency, the operation of vigilante groups and the unlawful extra judicial unorthodox methods being used by the Invincible Forces, Delta Force and other vigilante groups to seek justice or address issues in Ghana. We have read news reports this evening, 24th March, 2017, that the Delta Force, a vigilante group of the NPP, has forced the Ashanti Regional National Security Director out of his office. The forceful removal of a lawfully appointed public official was violent and blood was shed, with Government property being destroyed. This adds on to the list of forceful seizure and management of state property, that is, the Kintampo Falls tourist facility, seizure of toll booths, seizure of vehicles etc. These unlawful acts have dire national security implications. For four months and since elections were held in Ghana on 7th December, 2016, there have been numerous reports of extra judicial and unlawful violent acts by these groups. Ghanaians are peace loving and law abiding. We have been sustained as a nation by respect for the rule of law. We do not want this violence to escalate, neither do we want this situation to degenerate. I strongly urge our national security agencies to get a grip of this national security issue and solve this security problem. This should be a top priority for Government. Protect our right to security, our right to human dignity and preserve the rule of law in Ghana. Freedom and Justice. Madam Djaba, the steroid-pumped members of these vigilante groups are the same men who will rape your miniskirt-wearing girls at the slightest opportunity. And we know Madam Djaba will do absolutely nothing when this happens, just as she did in the case of the woman whose vagina was vandalized and desecrated in Chairman Wontumis Kumasi. Where has Madam Djaba been all this while? How long has she been sleeping on the job? Was she not a member of the leadership of the NPP under whose authority these deadly and poisonous vigilante groups probably came into existence? Does she formally have to petition her boss to dissolve these vigilante groups? In other words is she implying that her boss does not know these illegal organizations are a national security threat? Well, the reason for her tactical silence is unambiguously clear though: The suspected female thief whose vagina was progressively vandalized and desecrated with reckless abandon was not, and still not, an NPP member, in addition to the fact she may have cherry-picked Evelyn Boakyes Marwako restaurant controversy just to generate enormous goodwill and political capital for herself. This fact alone underscores her cheap populism which she may have also intended to use to score cheap political points. In Ghana one is not protected under the national Constitution if one is not a member of, or does not demonstrate sympathies for, the party that is in political power. This is true in the case of the NDC. Are those Ghanaians who wear wrong political shoes on their foreheads to feel sorry for themselves? Of course well have to add that at the end of the day, the existence of the Invincible Forces and the Delta Force further goes to confirm the violent nature of Akufo-Addo, as well as of his trademark anti-constitutionalism. This is what his controversial All-Die-Be-Die mantra is all about. In the main though, Akufo-Addo cannot continue to use the barbaric vigilante restlessness of these groups to strangle the national controversy following his bloated government and to highlight one of the gloomiest macroeconomic aspects of the economy: Unemployment. This is bound to backfire because these vigilante groups are a private capital asset of the NPP and not the state. Still, he only has to take a closer look at the political maps of Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, the Lords Resistance Army, the Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV) and other such criminal organizations to understand what is in store for him if he does not nip his vigilante organizations in the bud as the cost, in terms of human lives and property and national security, will be grossly incalculableto say the least. Finally, Kens policy recommendation that members of President Akufo-Addos vigilante groups should be merely absorbed into the national security services because according to him, when the NDC were killing us, these people fought for us and so dont discourage them by arresting them, should be rejected outright on grounds of meritocracy, of professional fairness and equity and openness. In fact, members of these vigilante groups have to apply and compete for available positions in the national security services as other Ghanaians. These positions have to be publicly advertised for all to apply. Thus well-meaning Ghanaians should vehemently reject Kens preferred approach of political favoritism and implied mediocrity to solving the threat, which, among other things, poses problems for professional institutions such as the army and the police. That is, his approach is bound to add to bureaucratic corruption and inefficiency, and possibly culminating in professional mediocrity. Ken himself is an enemy of professionalism and meritocracy. WHEN IS PSEUDO-DEMOCRAT AKUFO-ADDO GOING TO RESPOND TO MADAM DJABAS REQUEST? The 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which is the supreme law of the land, stipulates in Articles 200 (2) and 210 (2) that no person or authority shall raise any private army, police force or militia except by or on the authority of an Act of Parliament. The national Constitution is clear on what President Akufo-Addo and his government must do insofar as discouraging formation of private army, police force, and militia. Or dismantling these groups. President Akufo-Addo knows this yet he allows formation of barbaric vigilante groups under his leadership. In fact, things began to take shape once he and the leadership of the NPP imported Serbian and South African mercenaries into the country to train political terrorists associated with the NPP. We now know who these political terrorists were and in fact are. It is therefore our submission that the president must exercise his moral will and political authority in this pressing national security matter, as it were, to categorically dismantle these politically affiliated vigilante groups at once. In the meantime those who say the government has been in office for only three months, and therefore should be given more time to settle in, have no case and do not want to see this government in office for long. We may have to recall that Akufo-Addo, prior to the 2016 general elections, specifically said he was going to transform Ghana in just eighteen months. The truth is that he did not say forty-eight months (4 years) or ninety-six months (8 years). What this also means is that he has little time on his hands to effect meaningful, lasting impactful change in the Ghanaian body politic. President Akufo-Addo has to do this before the Invincible Forces and the Delta Force go after him. He may have learnt by now that George Adjei is merely the first political casualty of the vigilante revolutionary, which the Invincible Forces and the Delta Force are yet to unleash on the Ghanaian body politic, should he fail to transform in eighteen months as promised. And when that day eventually arrives, these vigilante groups will seize the Flagstaff House and President Akufo-Addo if he does not agree to their demands. As they say, Live by the sword, die by the sword. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: SOME CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES President Akufo-Addo must exert his authority over the appropriate institutions to dismantle these vigilante organizations in less than no time. We are hereby referring to the Ghana Police Service (the Inspector General of Police), the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the Ministry of the Interior, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the Ministry of Defence, and the National Security Ministry. Clearly, then, those who flout the presidents orders to dissolve these groups must be shown the door. President Akufo-Addo himself must be shown the door if he fails to oversee their dissolution. Our only fear is that those politicians who are shedding crocodile tears for the Invincible Forces and the Delta Force today are the same politicians sponsoring these groups. Even so, Kens policy strategy calling for the absorption of these NPP vigilante groups into our national security establishments is neither here nor there. More specifically, he is saying the NPP government will give NDC members of the security services the pink slip and fill up the vacancies therefrom with members of these NPP-affiliated criminal organizations. It appears political patronage is Kens only criterion for absorbing members of these groups into state bureaucraciesat public expense. What qualifications are these vigilante criminals bringing along with them? In any case do these alleged NDC folks look different from other Ghanaians? Cant Ken and other rich NPP business magnates employ members of these groups? Is it not true that what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander? Since the BNI, the CID, and the army are such useless and ineffective institutions, why cant we use these vigilante groups to fight galamsey and open-defecation? And then the NDC comes to power and it too does the same thing, or threatens to do same for obvious reasons. The painful truth is that Ghana has no future with the criminal, diabolical NDC and NPP. This fact is regrettably lost on the ordinary Ghanaian who cyclically votes for either of these two parties. Sometimes we do not feel sorry for the Ghanaian electorate at all! Ghanaians have themselves to blame for not knowing Akufo-Addo may have been the biggest hoax they have foisted upon themselves. There is no doubt in our minds that Akufo-Addo is the Trojan horse Ghanaians have been anxiously waiting forhaving proven to be radically dangerous to, and a cannibalistic enemy of, the state. Merely expressing condemnatory regret over the actions of his vigilante groups in passing during his State of the Nation Address (2017), while refusing to exert a more muscular authority and approach to dealing with this festering threat is itself the height of hypocrisy, a stark failure in moral and political leadership, and a threat to national security. We have mobilized men and women in uniform and sent them to every corner of the world, every hotspot, including the Gambia most recently, to restore order yet we have failed to replicate this prime example of humanitarian intervention in our own country. Also, one may never know whether President Akufo-Addos convenient public silence over this important matter of national security is the result of a secret arrangement he made with these vigilante groups to seize public properties for themselves in exchange for their help in his winning the general elections. Perhaps, it is all part of the tactical and strategic game plan laid out in an NPPs All-Die-Be-Die Manifesto which the public at large may not be privy to. This secret manifesto is Kennedy Agyapongs mouth. NPP VERSUS NDC We make no bones about the fact that we see no good in both the NDC and the NPP, but rather that both are natural enemies of the state and the people, and that the masses have to think of their collective destiny beyond these two parties before they wake up one day only to find their beloved country in a giant mushroom of unquenchable smoke in a desert of ashes. In other words Ghanaians should be the critical authors of that great nation, of their collective destiny, namely, free from the excesses of their strangulating duopoly. As a matter of fact Ghana is on the verge of duopolistic implosion, a dying country already sitting on a time bomb of moral chaos. Ghanaians must therefore reclaim their beloved country from this lazy madness and nonsense of schadenfreude duopoly. Notwithstanding, our reservations about and criticism of the militarization of Ghanaian politics is not restricted to the NPP. Lest our intentions are not misunderstood, we want to make it clear that it also goes for all the other political parties especially the NDC. Kens reported genocidal instigation of Asantes to kill Ewes and Gas and NPP will lynch security officials on election day and well send fake police to their early grave on election day, Naaba Abdulais I kill people every day, Montie 3s kill and rape judges, Mac Manus Mahama must accept defeat else there will chaos and Godwin Ako Gunns reactionary response we are not ready to leave power, the gruesome acid-attack assassination of Adams Mahama, and President Akufo-Addos All-Die-Be-Die speak to this duopolistic conundrum. And Britains Tony Blair supposedly met with President Akufo-Addo but could not muster enough courage to criticize, or take on the government of, Akufo-Addo for the heightened instances of vigilante barbarism sporadically taking place in the country today, which will have amounted to self-indictment anywayall because of his own indictable record in Iraq. Some however say Blair is a war criminal and that his proper place is The Haguetogether with his partner in crime George Bush, where both are treated the same way as the former CIA darling boy Charles Taylor. All these go to show that President Akufo-Addo must effectively deal with this national security threat before he takes Blairs place in The Hague. And yes, President Akufo-Addo must not turn Ghanas economy into Blairs Iraq. Meanwhile, noble savage Blairs presence in Ghana and the barbaric fatalism of President Akufo-Addos vigilante organizations, his plagiarized inaugural speech and one hundred ten ministers, dangerous historical revisionism and outright lies, and subtle celebration of mediocrityall portend bad omen. The change he promised Ghanaians has started on a very bad noteto say the least. In Ghana instead of ISIS we have the Invincible Forces and the Delta ForceIt is like the change Blair promised Iraqis. In fact, if Blair thinks he can provide President Akufo-Addo with a magic want to change Ghana then he might as well have to prove to us why that magic wand of his has failed in Iraq. Yes, Akufo-Addo and his government may have to learn more about the so-called Bush-Blair Doctrine. Talk, they say, is cheap. CLOSING REMARKS The NPP has created the image of babies with sharp teeth rather than babies with sharp brains in these groupsFrankenstein monsters. This diabolical image is the presidency of Akufo-Addo. No wonder. The NPP, like the NDC, is a criminal political organization with diabolical historical revisionists and unprincipled political theologians such as Prof. Mike Oquaye who are wont to hide behind what looks like nerd glasses to promote diabolical political criminals, like J.B. Danquah, as national heroes, while secretly molding members of criminal organizations from the Invincible Forces to the Delta Force in the now-discredited hallowed image of Benedict Arnold Danquah. Indeed, the Ghanaian politician is a staunch enemy of the state. The Ghanaian politician thought he was creating Frankenstein monsters to advance his political career, but little did he know he was creating poisonous animals to destroy the stateself-destruction. Never in a billion years did he think the poisonous snake he was creating will come after him after having consumed his political opponentthe NDC. But the Delta Force and the Invincible Forces are karma in disguise. Now when that poisonous snake started biting him hard, suddenly he has seen a pressing need to address the groups existential threat to his political survival, suddenly he is looking for an antidote in the very political pharmacist who is the genesis of this vigilante barbarismPresident Akufo-Addo. Bob Marley was right when he sang the following words on Running Away: Every man thinketh his burden is the heaviestwho feels it knows itand ya running away. The Ghanaian politician is that diabolical, criminal and dangerous hypocrite of the highest order. Akufo-Addo is like that anti-abortion or pro-life compassionate, trigger-happy Christian George Bush who went about bombing children in Iraq. The man Akufo-Addo preaches virtue but practices vice. While he is comfortably sleeping on the job, he at the same time is giving us the impression that his vigilante groups barbaric hooliganism and vandalism is a policy strategy meant to distract public attention and curiosity from the slothful temperament of the Akufo-Addo presidency. Could we reform our laws to accommodate qui tam lawsuits, where private citizens should be able to sue organizations and persons in behalf of the stateif they have the evidence and resources? Will Prof. Stephen Adei, Pastor Mensah Otabil, Rt. Rev. Professor Emmanuel Martey, Rev. Owusu Bempah, and all the leaders of Civil Society Organizations bring lawsuits against these vigilante groups? In any case we shall allow the Chairman and Director of Communications, Dr. Khadel Mahama and King Khorby, both of the non-profit organization Right Alliance-Ghana to have the last word (Disband All Vigilante Groups In GhanaRight Alliance To Akufo-Addo, March 26, 2017): We of the Right Alliance-Ghana believe a total disbandment of all vigilante groups is in the best interest of the nation and should be done without further delay. We shall return Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid, has rubbished suggestions that President Nana Akufo-Addos three-day tour of the Ashanti Region is connected to recent troubles within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in that part of the country. Mr. Hamid maintained that, the Presidents trip to the NPP stronghold in the wake of recent tensions was merely coincidental. Addressing a news conference on Friday, Mr. Hamid explained that this is an institutionalized arrangement where every month he will visit a region. We cannot envisage what trouble will come next month, when we are going to the next region, but if by accident, something happens and he is there, it is purely accidental. It has nothing to do with this matter otherwise it wouldn't be institutionalized. It would just be to go to the Ashanti Region and wait till there is trouble in another region, but that is not the case. Every month, once he is in Ghana, he will make sure hes in a region to interact with people. Recent tensions A vigilante group with NPP affiliations, the Delta Force, stormed the premises of the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council, demanding the removal of the Regional Security Coordinator, George Adjei last Friday. The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, was subsequently summoned to the Flagstaff House to explain circumstances under which the Delta Force raided the Regional Coordinating Council, vandalised property and assaulted George Adjei. The group has since apologised to the President for the incident and pledged its support Regional Security Coordinator. Nana Addo to visit market, engage media Mr. Hamid further revealed that, President Akufo-Addo will visit the central market to be able to experience what the cost of living is for the citizens of our country. He added that, the President will also have an encounter with the media as meeting with the media is important for furthering our democratic governance arrangement. The President will also visit the abandoned Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital Maternity block. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, wants the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, to apologize for his claims that he [Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh], called the Tamale North MP, Alhassan Suhuyini a fool thus escalating tensions in Parliament to near-fisticuffs. This was after the Joe Ghartey committee found the Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga guilty of contempt of Parliament, and recommended that he should apologize to the House. Dr. Opoku Prempeh in a statement said he took grave exception to the scurrilous and unfounded allegations. He further said he expected Sam George to do the honourable thing by swiftly apologizing for his unfounded claim. I owe him no apology But responding to the statement on Eyewitness News, Sam George asserted that, he owed the Education Minister no apology. I stand fully and solely by the words I uttered in my interview this [Friday] morning on the Citi Breakfast Show. He should run away from it. He should rather be a man and admit that he did the wrong thing and stop running around and bundling words around. I owe him no apology. He owes the honourable member from Tamale North an apology. And if he will be humble enough, he owes me an apology from four weeks ago, the Ningo Prampram MP stated. Dr. Opoku Prempeh's statement also made reference to proceedings on March 10, 2017, and denied Sam George's claim that he had called him a fool for prompting the Speaker to ask him if he was wearing a school uniform or was properly dressed to Parliament. Sam George again stood by his claims that Dr. Opoku Prempeh called him a fool on the floor of Parliament for his actions, noting that Parliament's Hansard chose to omit some very unprintable words. We were all in the chamber and I was not the only one who heard it. There are members of Parliament on our side who equally heard it and that is what triggered Alhassa Suhuyini's anger During the heckling, a lot of words were bundled around that don't make their way into the Hansard. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana Mahama Ayariga 01.04.2017 LISTEN There was total commotion in parliament on Thursday after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, was found to be in contempt of the house. He had alleged that the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei-Owusu, through the minority chief whip, Muntaka Mubarak, had tried to bribe minority members of the committee, but which he was not able to prove before the ad hoc committee set up to investigate the matter. The five-member committee, chaired by former second deputy speaker of parliament, Joe Ghartey, had found Mahama Ayariga to have been in contempt for peddling unfounded rumours about a committee of parliament. He was asked to apologise to the house but Mahama Ayariga said he would not accept the recommendations of the committee for the contempt which threw the house into total pandemonium with some members on the opposing sides nearly exchanging blows. The Bawku Central MP had alleged that the current Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko had offered bribe to the minority members on the Appointments Committee to facilitate his approval when he was being vetted. Mr. Mahama Ayariga is in Contempt of Parliament on the strength of Article 122 of the 1992 Constitution, Section 32 of the Parliament Act, 1965 (Act 300) and Orders 28 and 30 (2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament, the probe report indicated, and asked him to apologize. However, his grudging apology was rejected by the MPs. As at press time yesterday the Bawku Central MP was said to have written an apology letter to the house, begging for forgiveness. The content was however, not known. Mr. Ayariga was said to have submitted the apology letter through the speaker's deputy. He is expected to apologize to Mr Boakye Agyarko for his comments which sought to link him to the bribery saga. He's also to apologize to the speaker. The Bawku MP was expected to officially apologize on the floor of parliament and apologize to the first deputy speaker, Joe Osei-Owusu, and the minority chief whip, Mutanka Mubarak, for the bribery claim he made against them. Minority Divided The members on the minority side were also divided over the decision of the Bawku Central MP not to readily apologise for bringing the image of the institution into disrepute and also nearly exchanged blows, with insults being hurled at one another. The NDC MP for Tamale North, Suhuyini Alhassan Sayibu, who was fiercely supporting Mahama Ayariga, was seen trading insults with the minority chief whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, and the scene nearly degenerated into something untoward, with the minority chief whip also expressing serious disgust about the conduct of Ayariga, whom he described as his best friend. The confusion, which for a very long time had not been seen on the floor of parliament, forced the speaker, Prof Mike Oquaye, to adjourn proceedings at about 8:50 pm and told the MOs that he would be giving his final ruling after Ayariga had refused to properly render an apology. Anger The NDC MP for Lower Manya Krobo, Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi,, was particularly angry with his colleague, Mahama Ayariga, and was seen wildly gesticulating in his direction for the behaviour he put up after a parliamentary body had found him guilty of contempt. He told DAILY GUIDE that the conduct of the Bawku Central MP left much to be desired and leaves a sour taste in the mouths of fellow MPs. The minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, after the chairman of the ad hoc committee had presented his report, said it (report) had been diligently prepared and the recommendations should teach members lessons as to what to say and where to say it and how to say it at any point in time. He said the committee must be applauded for the in-depth investigation into the allegation and the conclusions drawn from the investigation. Joe Ghartey said the committee used the criminal trial, civil trial and reasonable layman's standards to investigate and interrogate the bribery allegation and came up with the findings that the Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko, never gave such a bribe. He said the committee also found out that the allegation that the chairman of the Vetting Committee, Joseph Osei-Owusu, gave money to the minority chief whip to be given to the minority members on the committee could not be proven by Ayariga, who made the allegation. He said it was therefore found out that the allegation of money exchanging hands for minority members on the committee to come to a consensus on the approval of Mr Boakye Agyarko was established to be untrue. He said evidence given by the MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, that members of the minority on the Appointments Committee who were allegedly given the GH3,000 as bribe money and went to the minority chief whip's office in their numbers to return the money, was also not proven to be true. Mr Ghartey said the CCTV cameras did not capture that as well. He said no matter the multiplicity of rumours that were churned out by the minority members on the committee, they (rumours) could never turn into facts. The committee therefore, said Ayariga's allegation did not hold water and that it had brought the image of the institution into great disrepute and therefore falls foul of the rules of the house. Ayariga contested strongly that if those modes of investigation were used to arrive at his guilt, he should have been given the opportunity to cross-examine other witnesses who appeared before the committee, but he was not given the opportunity to do that and so he would not accept the recommendations of the committee. When he was asked by the speaker to apologise, he was still unrepentant, and said that he was not being treated fairly. Even when the second deputy speaker of parliament, Alban Bagbin intervened, the Bawku Central MP was still adamant until he unwilling said if he was being pressurized to apologise then what he would say is Mr speaker if you say I should apologise then I apologise. The whole house was thrown into chaos, with the majority members lambasting him for showing great disrespect to the speaker. By Thomas Fosu Jnr The Accra Domestic Violence and Gender-Based Court has advised parties in the assault case involving Bishop Daniel Obinim, Founder of International God's Way Church, to exercise self-restraint. The judge, Mrs. Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku, said the complainant and the private legal practitioner Irene Aborchie should not leave the court's premises at the same time. The judge ruled that after every court sitting, the complainant would leave the court five minutes before Obinim and his two pastors also do so. The order from the judge is an attempt to avert the reoccurrence of a near clash at the court last week. The Prosecutor, DSP George Amegah, told the court yesterday that Bishop Obinim verbally attacked Irene. Irene claimed Obinim told her in Twi at the last sitting when leaving the court that I will deal with you spiritually, Nkwaseasem! Nkwaseasm! 'Nonsense! Nonsense.' Ralph Poku Adusei, lawyer for the embattled man of God, said his client did not start the 'near brawl.' Lawyer Poku-Adusei said it was the complainant (Irene), who shouted on top of her voice against the accused during the exchanges. According to him, the act by the complainant was disgraceful and as a lawyer he would take action against her. The complainant said, I am a professional and I don't need to take my case to the street. Mrs. Adjin-Doku, wondering who was truthful to the court, asked, So who started it? None of you did She added, Let it not be repeated, advise your clients The judge suggested that after proceedings in court, there should be five minutes interval for the complainant and Obinim, together with the other accused persons, to depart. Concluding her cross-examination, the complainant admitted that she had never stepped into any branch of the God's Way International Church. Bishop Obinim, who prefers to be called Angel Obinim, is in court for unlawfully and physically abusing one Elliasu Obinim, 16 and Gyesiwaah Obinim, 14 his adopted children before his congregation for engaging in fornication. Bishop Obinim is in the dock with his two other pastors Kingsley Baah and Solomon Abraham who had been charged for abetting their senior pastor to abuse the two victims. Meanwhile, the prosecution is set to present its next witness in the case. Hearing continues on April 27, 2017. The accused persons are currently on a GH10,000 bail each with one surety, one to be justified. [email protected] By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson An Accra Human Rights Court has ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to reinstate DSP Gifty Mawuenyega Tehoda, a former senior officer of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), who was dismissed five years ago. The court, presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei-Addo, held that the police officer must be given all her allowances, promotions and benefits over the period. It follows the wrongful dismissal of the police woman in 2012 in connection with the infamous Nana Ama Martins cocaine-turned baking soda saga. DSP Tehoda was linked to the disappearance of the cocaine and she was interdicted and subsequently dismissed from the Police Service. A police officer, who was also interdicted, was later recalled and promoted to a regional commander, leaving Tehoda to wallow in quandary. Judgement But in the judgement yesterday, the court held that the 45-day detention of DSP Tehoda in the Bureau of Nation Investigation (BNI) cells was a violation of the fundamental human rights of the police officer. According to the judge, the detention of the plaintiff was unlawful and contrary to the provisions of the 1992 Constitution, indicating that the actions of the BNI are attributable to the State. Justice Agyei-Addo awarded GH5,000 in general damages against the state for the unlawful detention. Touching on the dismissal of the police woman, the court posited that the right of the plaintiff to be heard was breached. In the view of the court, the dismissal was done in breach of the law of natural justice, insisting that the court had set aside DSP Tehoda's dismissal from the Service, ordering the IGP to reinstate the plaintiff into the Service alongside her benefits. Justice Agyei-Addo disclosed that dismissal is the worse form of punishment an employer could exact on its employee and accordingly awarded GH10,000 as general damages against the state. The court, however, dismissed DSP Tehoda's relief that she was maliciously tried by the state. She said the attorney, per the constitution, has legal authority to prosecute her. Livingston Ameeyivor, lawyer for DSP Tehoda, urged the court to award a cost of GH10,000 cost against the defendants because in his view, the case had travelled for five years and that the police officer had gone through a lot of difficulties. The trial judge awarded GH8,000 against the defendants. Background The court had granted an application by lawyers of the embattled former police chief to adopt proceedings and the addresses in the court of the now dismissed High Court judge, Justice Kofi Essel Mensah. The case involving DSP Tehoda began in September 2011 when Nana Ama Martins was arrested for possessing large parcels containing a substance suspected to be cocaine, which later mysteriously turned into bicarbonate or baking soda. However, an Accra Circuit Court consequently acquitted and discharged her of any criminality. DSP Tehoda sued the Police Service for wrongful dismissal. [email protected] By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson The fake report of the death of prominent personalities is on the ascendancy, courtesy social media. For those who seek to kill social media there could not have been a better point to stand on. Most, if not all, political leaders in the country have been reported dead at one time or the other by an identifiable social media site notorious for the absurdity. As for President Akufo-Addo and his Nigerian counterpart President Muhammadu Buhari they appear to lead the chart of the fake deaths the motive behind which only those behind the mischievous enterprise can best tell. A few days it was Jerry John Rawlings turn following in the heels of former President J A Kufuor and his wife. Even Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings tasted the nonsense. Their nefarious pastime has been described by some as Social Media Lynching, a crude obsession with spreading false information about the death of prominent personalities in society. We could not agree anymore with the description but would be quick to add that as a negative development, relevant regulators should seek an immediate means of addressing this and other unwholesome fallouts from social media abuse. It would not be long before we see the social media sadists spreading news about an invasion by aliens from a strange planet. The fear and panic that such a lie can exact on people can only be conjectured. The benefits of social media are enormous and these we must exploit to our advantage not the contrary. If we fold our arms and allow such evil tendencies to gain a foothold in the country's social media space, if we have not reached there already, the future outlook would be worrying. Perhaps it is time those relevant agencies start programmes to sensitize people about the negative use to which social media is being put and the effects of these on our wellbeing. In the political realm, such manipulations have contributed enormously to the sorry state of politics in the country: they are used to malign the integrity of otherwise fine ladies and gentlemen just because these persons have offered themselves to serve their compatriots in the political realm. Little wonder, politics, in spite of the seeming number of persons seeking political appointments, remains restricted. We cannot accept it when social media is manipulated to surreptitiously gain undue political advantage by persons who do not see any moral challenges posed by the abuse. It is inappropriate conduct when lies are spewed about political opponents using social media today. We should come together as one people and consider dispassionately the drawbacks of such misuse of social media so that its full benefits would accrue to us. The positive changes that we are yearning for in Ghana would not be realized if we continue to ignore the critical moves of our society in our application of novelties such as social media. We cannot ask for the elimination or marginalization of social media due to the advantages because it is a trendy development which we subdue to our disadvantage. When we, however, abuse it we could be pushing our country to the brink unfortunately. It gives me no pleasure to have to quote the Scottish philosopher, David Hume, knowing, as I do, that Hume was a racist and did not scruple to slander non-white people when he discussed civilization. I dont have the space to go into the reasons for that statement, but I do want to draw attention to something Hume said, that is relevant to the position adopted by our Parliament on the Ayariga bribery allegation issue. (It will be recalled that the Honourable Mahama Ayariga, MP for Bawku Central, alleged on 27 January 2017 that a minister-designate had bribed some members of the Appointments Committee of Parliament, with a view to influencing them to approve his nomination). The allegation was hard to credit, for the nominated minister's party has an overwhelming majority in Parliament, with the result that it was difficult to understand why a nominee proposed for ministerial appointment by that partys leader, should need to bribe any of his parliamentary colleagues in order to obtain their approval. It looked to me to be a particularly nasty example of a well-known political technique calculated to smear the whole of Parliament, so that the electorate that had returned the MPs, would become disillusioned with all of them. Was this part of an NDC agenda that stipulated that if we cant have it [the right to exercise power] then they too should not be allowed to exercise it? That would be a most dangerous position for the NDC to adopt, because an important element of democracy is that the majority should be allowed to rule, and if it was being undermined at such an early stage in the life of our current Parliament, then that body, as an institution, should view the development with the utmost seriousness. So, when the Speaker, Prof Mike Oquaye, set up an ad hoc committee to look into the matter, it was thought that that was the appropriate method to settle the matter. The selection of a former Attorney-General, Mr Joe Ghartey, to head the committee, also provided evidence that the committee would follow the rules in going about its task. But when the committee reported on 30 March 2017, it set in motion a series of events that recalled David Humes warnings about knavery in Parliament. For although the committee found that the Member of Parliament, the Honourable Mr Mahama Ayariga, who made the allegation of bribery against the ministerial nominee had falsely accused the minister-designate of bribery and was therefore guilty of contempt of Parliament, the committee only recommended that he should be reprimanded to render an apology to Parliament! But even this relatively mild recommendation that Mr Ayariga should render an apology, appeared to be not quite acceptable to him. For when he was asked by the Speaker to apologise, he said, If you say I should apologise, then I apologise. This caused an uproar in the House, for it is, of course, a well-worn ruse employed to pretend that an MP had apologised, when, in fact, he hadnt done anything of the sort. That unparliamentary tactics afoot were demonstrated by a noisy confrontation that reminded one of occurrences on the floors of the parliaments of countries like Turkey, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir! Here are some of the other findings of the committee: The First Deputy Speaker (Mr Joe Osei Owusu) had denied ever having had any dealings over money with the Minister-designate, Mr Boakye Agyarko; The Minister-designate had also said he had never given any money to be distributed as was alleged; A Member of the Minority group, Mr Mubarak Muntaka, who was alleged by Ayariga to have got some of the money, had told the committee that he had never received, or given money, in the manner that was alleged; The committee was of the view that a CCTV camera footage that was presented to it in evidence would, if made public, compromise the security of Parliament; The committee was unanimous in finding that there was no evidence that Mr Boakye Agyarko gave money to Joe Osei Owusu to bribe MPs; In summary, (the committee concluded), Mr Ayariga had failed to provide evidence to support his allegation. Ayariga complained that he had not been able to cross-examine those who gave evidence to the committee. That may be a valid complaint and it is surprising that an experienced lawyer like Mr Joe Ghartey should have laid the committee open to such a complaint to be made against it. However, that is small beer compared to the committees failure to take a global view of the allegation of bribery against a fellow MP; a view which, if adopted, would have made it recommend a harsher punishment than a reprimand and an apology. A harsher sentence was necessary because almost everyone in the country at the moment is appalled by reports of corruption by our officials. For only a few days before the report on Ayarigas allegation, another official committee (though not a parliamentary one) had reported that there were irregularities in the Ameri contract to establish a power-generating plant for Ghana and that Ameri should be brought back to the table to renegotiate aspects of the contract. How many other contracts have aspects that need to be rectified to save public money from being filched? Not only that there has been a great deal of unsavoury publicity about alleged attempts by members of the former administration to steal cars belonging to the state. In such an atmosphere, where the political landscape is overhung with the scent of corruption, it is important that every opportunity be taken also to dispel suspicions that corruption might have taken place, when it has not. The rationale for that is this: some regimes in this country have been brought to an untimely end by rumours of corruption. So, unfounded allegations of corruption can be almost as harmful to the body politic as corruption itself. The Joe Ghartey Committee did not devote enough thought to this aspect of the matter. So it has presented a report which seems punishes a very knavish MP by only slapping him on the wrist. www.cameronduodu.com By Cameron Duodu By Benjamin Mensah, GNA Accra, March 31, GNA - Parliament on Friday passed the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2017, which would require all taxable retailers and wholesalers to account for the Value Added Tax (VAT) at a flat rate of three per cent. The rate would be calculated on the value of the taxable supply unless the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) directs otherwise. The Bill, taken through a certificate of urgency, seeks to amend the Value Added Tax Act, 2013 (ACT 870) to classify the supply of financial services, domestic transportation of passengers by air and supply of immovable property by a real estate developer as exempt supplies. According to the Finance Committee's Report on the Bill, the bill is also to give legal backing to a VAT Flat Rate Scheme that would facilitate collection of VAT on the supply of goods in the distribution chain and to provide for related matters. The Government, as part of the 2017 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, proposed to reduce or abolish some taxes in order to bring relief to consumers and to stimulate growth of certain sectors of the economy. Pursuant to that objective, the Government introduced the Bill to amend the VAT Act, 2013 (Act 870) to reduce the cost of supplies of real estate and transportation by air in order to provide relief to consumers. The Bill also aims at providing a simplified VAT scheme for retailers so as to improve their compliance levels. The report said the Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance informed the Committee that the Bill would remove the VAT on the supply of financial services. However, this removal would not affect VAT on professional services in the nature of accountancy, investment and legal advice. This is because the VAT on these professional services had always existed. The three per cent VAT Flat Rate Scheme is, however, said to be revenue neutral as it is not expected to occasion any loss of revenue but rather bring about enhance efficiency, ease of compliance and convenience administration. The Commissioner General of the GRA explained that the VAT Flat Rate Scheme of three per cent would be applicable only to wholesalers and retailers who failed within the VAT registrable threshold. He said it would not rope in other traders who did not meet the VAT threshold which currently stood at GH200,000.00. GNA New Delhi, India, March 31, 2017 The Dean of African Diplomatic Corps in India, Ambassador Alem Tsesaye Woldemariam of the State of Eritrea, has commended the African Development Bank (AfDB) for its steadfast commitment to ensure a better future for the continent. Speaking in an interview following a meeting with a Bank delegation led by President Akinwumi Adesina and African Heads of Missions in New Delhi on Thursday, Woldemariam said the Bank has raised Africas rating across the world through its work, and especially through its High 5s development agenda. We are proud of what the African Development Bank is doing in Africa, he said, echoing similar views expressed by several ambassadors who attended the meeting. In addition to the excitement generated by the High 5s, the ambassadors cited some key Bank-financed projects such as Moroccos Ouarzazate Solar Power Station and Kenyas Menengai geothermal development project; among some the engagements that have raised the Banks standing in Africa and the world. President Adesina had urged the diplomats to use their strategic position to advertise positive development in Africa and to support its economic endeavours. He told them that most African countries have performed well in almost all domains in past decade, adding that the Banks High 5s priorities (Light up and power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa) would benefit from the continents resilience and immense assets to realise transformation. Ambassador Woldemariam called for greater cooperation between Africa and India, suggesting that the continent stands to gain from cutting-edge technologies developed by India, which are adaptable to Africas development and economic transformation in areas like agriculture, irrigation and water management, as well as energy, among others. AfDB needs to work with India to disseminate and make these technologies available to African countries through training and apprenticeships, he said. For more information on the AfDB Annual Meetings, visit: http://www.afdb.org/am Official hashtag: #AfDBAM2017 The world faces the prospect of more tension with China over trade, security and human rights after Xi Jinping awarded himself another five-year term as leader of the ruling Communist Party and called for self-reliance in technology, a stronger military and protection of core interests abroad. At a party congress, Xi gave no sign of plans to change the "zero-COVID strategy that has frustrated Chinas public and disrupted business and trade. He called for faster military development and announced no change in policies that strain relations with Washington and Asian neighbors. Xi is tightening control at home and trying to use Chinas economic heft to increase its influence abroad. New Delhi, India, March 31, 2017 The President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has urged African diplomats to use their skills and network to advertise Africas resilience and attract good investments into the continent. Addressing African Heads of Missions in Delhi on Thursday, Adesina said the economic and business prospects of both the continent and the Bank gave room for optimism and support. Africa is dynamic and on the move. A decade of growth has been bookended by a pause in 2016 when GDP fell to 2.2% but deep-rooted positive factors underlying the long-term growth remain evident today, and our economic projections show that growth will improve to 3.4% in 2017, he said. Adesina is leading a Bank team on a four-day mission to discuss development cooperation with Indian officials and assess the level of preparation for the organization of the Banks 2017 Annual Meetings in Ahmedabad from May 22-26, 2017. He briefed the diplomats on the essence of the Banks High 5 development priorities; its new Development and Business Delivery Model and decentralization process, which aim to transform the business environment, create jobs and improving the living condition of the people of Africa. The topmost of the High 5s, Light up and power Africa, along with the New Deal on Energy for Africa, and the Transformative Partnership on Energy would deliver universal access to energy in Africa by 2025 by generating 160 gigawatts of new energy capacity; with investments of US $12 billion in the next five years, including US $45-50 million from private and public sources over the same period. Put simply, closing Africas huge energy gap will make a big impact in the realization of the High 5s. Adesina also emphasized the strategic role that the private sector will play as a key driver in the transformation of Africa in almost every sector. For his part, the Dean of African Diplomatic Corps in India, Ambassador Alem Tsesaye Woldemariam of the State of Eritrea, said the African diplomatic community was delighted with the AfDB Presidents visit. He underscored Indias considerable support to Africa, noting, however, that the emerging Asian giant was well positioned to leverage business transactions between Africa and India with its growing resources. He called for the creation of a position to facilitate African Development Banks permanent presence in India. This will enable better coordination between the Bank, India and African Missions, he said. For more information on the AfDB Annual Meetings, visit: http://www.afdb.org/am Official hashtag: #AfDBAM2017 Prison is a place nobody would want to spend even a day. A person can spend days in cinema halls and any other places looking happy, but the demeanour of a person changes the moment it is pronounced on her that she is spending hours or a day in prisons or cells. These were the words of a 32-year-old-lady who was sentenced to two years imprisonment a year ago for attempting to transport dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp (wee) into the Nsawam Prison. The lady, Faustina Appiah (pseudonym), said she was sent by a certain man to deliver the items concealed in food items and detergents to his son who was an inmate of the prison. Madam Faustina said she was arrested and handed over to the police by the prison authorities for prosecution. She was later sent to court and sentenced after she failed to produce the person who sent her with the items. Faustina, a single mother of two, until her sentence used to sell fruits at Kpobiman, a town close to Amasaman. She claimed her husband left their matrimonial home for another woman three years ago when she gave birth to their second child. She then sold different kinds of fruits, depending on its season, to take care of the needs of her children. Prison Life Narrating her ordeal, Madam Faustina said three years ago, she was on her way to Hebron on the Nsawam highway for prayers when she met a middle-aged man who begged her to deliver some food items to his son in prison after church. The items which were concealed in polythene bag contained food items and detergents. She collected it with the intention of passing by the Nsawam Medium Prisons to deliver it after church. She narrated that around 2:00pm after she had closed from church, she went to the Nsawam Prisons to deliver the items to the said inmate whose name was given as Razak Mohammed. When I got to the reception, the prison officers at the gate asked me the name of the inmate and the sort of items I was carrying. They then collected the items from me and opened the polythene bag. It contained two tubers of yam and a bar of soap. One of the officers brought a knife and divided the yam into two parts. To my surprise, there was something wrapped with a brown paper and hidden in the yam. The officers cut open the soap and found another wrapper in the soap. They then told me I was trying to transport 'wee' into prison and handed me over to the Nsawam Police, she narrated. Faustina said, I did all I could but nobody believed me but rather told me I deliberately did that. She was later taken to court and sentenced to two years imprisonment for a crime she knew nothing about. Leaving my children and trade, I wasted two years of my life in prison for a crime I never committed, she narrated with tears in her eyes how she ended up in prison for dealing in contraband. Contraband Contraband per prison terms are things that are criminal in nature and pose threat to security of inmates and officers. It can be weapons, narcotics, mobile phones, mobile chips, alcohol, drugs, unauthorised food, among others. There are certain items that may be permitted for use outside prison but prohibited and considered contraband in prison, Superintendent Vitalis Aiyeh, Head of Public Relations Department of the Ghana Prison Service, said. He mentioned that the use of tobacco, for instance, within the society is not criminal, but it is considered criminal in prison. Drug is considered contraband if it is not a prescribed drug from a qualified medical doctor or if the person taking it does not have any proof of sickness, he added. He said inmates with chronic diseases such as diabetes and others are allowed to take their drugs in prisons but there must be a proof from a medical doctor. How Contraband Are Sent To Prisons Superintendent Aiyeh stated that these prohibited items can be sent to prison by prison officers, inmates or their visitors. Some unscrupulous officers through selfish means send these prohibited items, be it narcotics, drugs, cigarettes to their favourite inmates to sell in prison. Inmates who are sometimes sent outside the prison yard to work when returning sometimes carry these contrabands into the yard when not searched properly as well as visitors, he disclosed. Superintendent Aiyeh explained that some of the inmates hide the goods in their anus or private parts, while others even swallow. For some visitors, some keep the items in their hair, especially the women, while others hide it in food items and detergents like that of Faustina. The PRO added that a lot of persons have been arrested for their attempt to transport contraband in prison, which, he underscored, is alarming. Detection For now, the prisons, he said, have no special device in detecting contraband. We use to have scanners but they only detect metallic items and so we employ the traditional method of detecting these items and this is through searching. When inmates, officers and visitors come to the prisons, they are thoroughly searched before they are allowed to enter. Most of the suspects are arrested through this means. In the prison yard, we use intelligence gathering to detect contraband in inmate's cells, Superintendent Aiyeh pointed out. He narrated that in some developed countries, they use trained sniffing dogs, ferromagnetic detectors and radio frequency detectors in detecting contraband, but Ghana is yet to get there. Punishment Prison officers arrested for dealing in contraband lose their jobs, some get their ranks reduced, while others are suspended depending on the items involved. If the items smuggled are narcotics or any deadly implement, that officer can even be sacked. For inmates, they are handed over to police for prosecution, as well as their visitors. Framed Up Victims In Faustina's case, the head of the Prison Service Public Relations Department said, There have been instances where victims have an unknowingly arrested for dealing in contraband but ignorance of the law is not an excuse. In Faustina's case, he added, She was the one caught with the items, which was why she had to be handed over to the police to investigate her. The Way Forward Superintendent Aiyeh urged all to be law-abiding citizens and cautious, adding, When you are sent to deliver an item to an inmate in prison and you think the sender is not a trusted fellow, decline to avoid being arrested and prosecuted for crime you have not committed. [email protected] By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey 01.04.2017 LISTEN Residents of Pishegu, a farming community in the Karaga District of Northern Region, have expressed great fear of possible outbreak of water-borne disease in the community and its environs due to the protracted water crises in the area. With the total population of 12000 people, the community and its satellite hamlets depend on two functional boreholes. Though one of the functional boreholes is mechanized, both sources are not high yielding to commensurate the water needs of the rapid growing population of the community and its surrounding hamlets. The residents are thus compelled to compete with their livestock for the unwholesome brownish water from an almost dried up dam. Sources within the community revealed the dam was a self-initiative project constructed by the people of Pishegu and their neighboring hamlets about 25 years ago but has since seen no proper maintenance. At a community forum aimed at finding a lasting solution to the crisis, the residents resolved to commit to ending the aged-long water crisis at all cost. As a first step, the community members have agreed to make individual contributions to dredge the dam and have subsequently set up a committee to facilitate the process of salvaging their plight. The forum was organised by community journalists and listener club members under the Youth Speak Up project being implemented by Youth Empowerment for Life, Rural Media Network (RUMNET) and HOPin Academy with funding support from Danish Ingathering through Ghana Friendship group in Denmark. The listen club members in the district mobilised the community members to listen to a podcast of the water issue discussed earlier on a radio programme by the community journalists trained under the project. Lamenting on the effects of the water crisis, Madam Fuseina Majeed, indicated that the water crisis had not only taken a heavier toll on their economic activities as a result of spending productive hours looking for water but also breaking homes. We leave our husbands at night and go in search of water under the mercy of reptiles, she said, adding, we fear the situation will worsen if the rains do not set in soonest. According to her, she and most of her colleagues had to stop shea butter processing for some time now due to the water issue, causing loss of income to supplement the family budget. She was worried that many school children no longer go to school on time while others had to forgo school to search for water. I am particularly worried because of our school children who have to leave school and join us to get water. I believe education will provide a better future for my children but now even when they go to school, they are tired and sleep in class, Fuseina lamented. Anonymous source in the community to this reporter revealed some women in other communities in recent times refuse to marry men in the Pishegu community to in order to avoid conjugal complications mostly fueled by the water crisis which in most cases lead to divorce. The poor farmers who largely depend on crops and livestock are losing both crop yields and their animals to the situation. Women and children who usually assist in gathering and charting the produce to the storage coops are often engaged in the water search since water remains an indispensable commodity for each household. Assembly member for the Pishegu Electoral Area, Alhassan Yakubu, appealed to central government and non-governmental organizations to help the community find a permanent solution to the water crisis. According to him, several appeals have been made to the Karaga District Assembly but the community was yet to receive a response from the Assembly. To him, the water crisis was assuming an overwhelming proportion in the entire district such that external support would be of immense help. The All Africa Students Union (AASU) has noted with great concern the recent unwarranted attacks on African students in India. The report reveals that two attacks on African students took place in Greater Noida, a suburb of New Delhi in the course of this week. These ugly occurrences were, unfortunately, due to unsubstantiated reports that African students had sold drugs to a young Indian student who later died of an overdose. This is, yet, another episode of violence against Africans, in that country, in recent years. India and African countries have long-standing historical and cordial relations whereby an increasing number of African students have been going to India for further studies. Those long time and good relations between India and Africa must not be mired with these seeming racial attitudes and lawlessness. AASU condemns, unreservedly, these unsightly acts and calls for the use of laid down procedures in arriving at justice and eschew stereotyping people of a particular descent. It is, however, encouraging that some arrests have been made and AASU believes in the Indian justice system and expects that justice would be delivered meritoriously and efforts would be made to forestall such occurrences and nib it in the bud. AASU commensurate with the plights of the victims of these needless actions and encourages students of African descent studying in India to be observant of the laws of that country and not to fall victims of same laws. Down with racism! Down with lawlessness! Long live multiculturalism! Peter Kwasi Kodjie (Secretary General) [email protected] ; +233(0)242879028 New Delhi, India, March 31, 2017 An African Development Bank delegation led by its President, Akinwumi Adesina, held a day-long interactive meeting with Indian CEOs on Friday in New Delhi, focusing on the facilitation of business engagements between Africa and India. Organised by the Export-Import Bank of India, the two sides explored how India could help develop Africas energy, agriculture and infrastructure for the mutual benefit of both parties. Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Adesina said available economic data point to the fact that the Africa of the 21st century was the place to do business, as the continents rapid urbanization and shortages of food and electricity provide opportunities for high-yield investments. He said the Bank was looking for partners that would help the Bank deliver its High 5 priority development agenda Light up and power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. The objective, he said, is to help minimize investment risks of overseas investors and to attract more foreign direct investment. Adesina said the AfDB would launch an Africa Investment Forum this year in which the Exim Bank of India can participate. I am very bullish about Africa-India relations, he said, adding that both sides can achieve much in the power, pharmaceuticals, water and rail, among others. India is the fifth largest source of foreign direct investment to Africa. The countrys exports to Africa grew from US $7 billion in 2005-2006 to some US $25 billion currently, while Indian imports from Africa during the same time rose from US $5 billion to US $31 billion, he added. For his part, Exim Bank Managing Director David Rasquinha said half of his Banks annual US $2.5- to US $3-billion line of credit were channeled to development projects in Africa. The Exim Bank also provides US $1.2 billion in lines of credit to African businesses every year. An Arrested Property Owner 01.04.2017 LISTEN For quite some time now, many modern buildings are springing up in prime areas of the capital city of Accra such as Spintex Road, Airport Residential Area, Asylum Down and the market centers. Apart from Accra, similar projects are also being constructed in other regional capitals like Kumasi, Takoradi, Ho, Tamale etc. Owing to the sophisticated nature and market value of the buildings dotted around our city centers and markets, there is the need for them to be safeguarded through insurance cover against fire floods and other calamities. Indeed, there is a legal requirement for owners of all new buildings to resort to insurance cover for their buildings as done for vehicles of all kinds. A careful look at the situation shows that most buildings in Accra and other parts of country especially in our market places have not been insured leading to many property owners losing out through deadly fire outbreaks in markets in Accra and other parts of the country. I dont think we should subject our properties in our cities, towns and markets to risks of losing out when fires and floods or any calamities befall them. In order to deal with the difficult situation, the national insurance commission has begun moves to enforce the laws regarding insurance cover for all buildings. To this end six staff of some private commercial entities in Accra were arrested by the National Taskforce instituted by the National Insurance Commission (NIC) to ensure the compulsory insurance of private commercial buildings- both completed and under construction. The 16-member taskforce made the arrests at Osu, Asylum Down and Spintex Road in Accra after several unsuccessful attempts to get the recalcitrant owners to acquire compulsory fire and building insurance for their buildings. The suspects include Dennis Tettey, Ganesh Shrestha of Yan Tai International, which is putting up a five-storey building at Osu; Gao Quankang, Manager of Casino Gold at Osu; Mary Bempah, a staff of Eco Furniture Works at Asylum Down; Samuel Alfred, Fritz Jordan, workers of General Auto Zone, Spintex Road, and Jarklin Xiong, a staff of Ghana Heavy Duty Truck and Spare Parts. Drama During the operation, which began around 10 am at Eco Furniture Works, some workers nominated their colleagues to be arrested by the police instead of themselves. A five-member taskforce from the National Insurance Commission (NIC) also arrested some owners of commercial property in Tema, who allegedly failed to insure their landed property. The suspects were whisked away in a police van from their respective locations to the Cantonments District Police Command where they were detained. The exercise was aimed at ensuring compliance with Sections 183 and 184 of the National Insurance Law (Act 724, 2006), which makes provision for the compulsory insurance of private commercial buildings both under construction and completed. Since October 2014, the Taskforce, chaired by Joseph Bentor, has been embarking on the inspection of commercial properties in the Upper West, Upper East, Northern and Greater Accra Regions. It has so far arrested about 165 persons. The special taskforce comprised personnel of the Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), NIC and Ghana Insurance Association (GIA). Mr. Bentor told journalists during the exercise that the taskforce shall relentlessly ensure compliance with the law. Since the exercise began in January 2017 about 70 commercial buildings were found to have no insurance cover. It is dangerous for our buildings to remain uninsured. if nothing at all the owners stand the risk of not receiving compensation when they get destroyed through fire or any other calamities as has been the case in the past. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR eanfoworld for sustainable development [email protected]/[email protected] 0244370345/0208844792/0274853710 "...Newsflash!...this is an aligned...critique of aspects of Mr. Cameron Duodu's recent 'dynamic government' versus 'government too large' essay, and the 2010 joint paper by Professors...Asare and...Prempeh, titled in part...'Is the Imperial President Trespassing?'...Crucially, like many observers..., we also agree that the appointment of 110 individuals as ministers, deputy ministers, and sub-deputies is an overkill...President Akufo Addo has his carts before the horses...President Mills,...did not only have the foresight....he had the fortitude to use his...political capital to setup an expert, non-partisan body to review the issues with all stakeholders...the constitution...'Too large government' is in truth prima facie case for the actual and creeping imperial presidency that a Ghana-centered lawyer...would quickly recognize for exactly what it is not....Tell us why President Mills was 'Imperial President' and Akufo Addo isn't...", (Prof Lungu 1 Apr 17). Newsflash! Newsflash! Newsflash! President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufu Addo, a.k.a., NADAA, and his 110-Man Strong Cameron Duodu "Too Large Government", have, by this notice, won the Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare & H. Kwasi Prempeh "Imperial President" Award. Yep, we've declared it already won! Respectfully, these are no "unkind" words by Prof Lungu, columnist on this and other Ghana-interest portals. Substantially, this is an aligned and integrated critique of aspects of Mr. Cameron Duodu's recent "dynamic government" versus "government too large" essay, and the 2010 joint paper by Professors Stephen Kwaku Asare and H. Kwasi Prempeh, titled, "Amending the Constitution of Ghana: Is the Imperial President Trespassing?" At bottom is NADAA's expansive, untested, unregulated, agenda for Ghana. RE-VISITING THE ASARE-PREMPEH "IMPERIAL" PRESIDENCY THESIS Notwithstanding the span of time since that "Imperial President" essay by Professors Asare and Prempeh, the integrative factor here is, on one side, President Akufo Addo's expansive and still expanding agenda for additional agencies and personnel, including the appointment of extra ministers, deputies and sub-deputies. On the other side, today, is the hollering and push-back against a "government too large" (Cameron Duodu, 18 Mar 17) and by many other individuals. Then, couple all that with the "imperial presidency" thesis advanced by Professors Asare and Prempeh during the Mill-Mahama administration. Properly considered, on account of President Akufo Addo's dramatically expansive agenda for government and the public outcry for review and amendment of the warts-infested Rawlings Constitution, there is today a need for conciliation of the various threads on public policy grounds, if only from a neutral and apolitical point of view. Crucially, like many observers today, we also agree that the appointment of 110 individuals as ministers, deputy ministers, and sub-deputies is an overkill and will poorly serve Ghana precisely because of the "unprecedented challenges" President Akufo Addo himself has indicated Ghana now faces. This is the 21st century! In this and other matters we've written about of late, including our exhaustive multi-part paper on the 1-Voting District 1-Million Dollars where we demonstrated that Ashanti Region would be the biggest loser, we are arguing in part that Akufo Addo's policy of fattening government with individuals and ministries is legally and ethically bankrupt, and at core, a self-serving political ploy. In all these matters, it is relatively easy for neutral observers to recognize that several of Akufo Addo's programs for Ghana this global-age, including appointments of the 110 odd ministers demonstrate that constitutionally, President Akufo Addo has indeed "exceeded the limits of what the country expects of him." Recent record shows that President Akufo Addo is increasingly becoming a tad un-serious. As far as we can tell, there is not a single objective paper about the need for those extra appointments, except perhaps, what is in the head of President Akufo Addo. Except perhaps, that he, as President, knows that he has authority to make those appointments and creations, take it or leave it! Surely, that is not how it is supposed to work in any serious government. In serious democratic governments (and major corporations, even), proposals of that scope would be defended by responsible officials and a strong case demonstrating the need for "value" to be added, made before the public. What activities, for instance, are not getting done by existing positions that would be done by new hires? As best as we can estimate, what are the risks and costs to be incurred for a decision, one way or the other. What data supports what? President Akufo Addo has his carts before the horses. Clearly, you do not dramatically increase the size of government and divisions within without sharing a rational plan with the public who pays taxes to fund those positions, particularly when one cannot point to express provisions in the controlling Constitution that permits those actions. From our vantage point, it is obvious that "too large government" is in truth prima facie case for the actual and creeping imperial presidency that a Ghana-centered lawyer, if they are paying attention, would quickly recognize for exactly what it is not: Lean, effective, and objectively compassionate. Further, it is evident to us that "too large government" is as well prima facie case for the idea that President Akufo Addo has little appetite to tackle the fundamental question, repair of the wart-infested Constitution. In fact, for what may come as a complete surprise to many individuals, repair of the Rawlings Constitution does not appear anywhere in the "New Patriotic Party (NPP) Manifesto for Election 2016". We admit that the Asare-Prempeh "imperial presidency" paper and other related, as cited below, are of the same intent and spirit - efforts at spurring, in Ghana, rule-based institution-building and governance process improvement. To that point, we present the context of the case as argued by Asare and Prempeh themselves. In so doing, we hope to assist the reader conveniently assess Akufo Addo's marching orders based entirely on Akufo Addo's own promise to himself - that he would complete every project started by the government he took over from. Here is the path to the Mills "imperial presidency" as described by Professors Prempeh and Asare: "...In January 2010, Ghanas President John Atta Mills appointed a commission to review and propose amendments to the countrys current constitution, in force since 1993. The constitutional instrument...tasked the nine-member body to ascertain from the people of Ghana, their views on the operation of the constitution,...its strength and weaknesses, articulate....amendments that might be required for a comprehensive review and make recommendations to government...A Ministry of Justice document setting forth the administrations agenda for constitutional reform identifies about forty specific provisions4 and omissions in the constitution as likely candidates for review and amendment, and the commission is directed to consider these pre-identified issues in its review. By its terms of reference, the commissions final work product must include a draft Bill for possible amendments to the constitution...". To cut to the chase, President Mills, the former law professor, did not only have the foresight to recognize the need for revision of the Constitution, he had the fortitude to use his political capital to setup an expert, non-partisan body to review the issues with all stakeholders and for the group to provide a draft Bill "...for possible amendments to the constitution...". We state here today that in 2017, as far as governance is concerned, there is nothing more important than completion of the work already started on that Rawlings Constitution, for Ghana. TELL US WHY PRESIDENT MILLS WAS "IMPERIAL PRESIDENT" AND AKUFO ADDO ISN'T! To be continued..... SOURCES/NOTES 1. Cameron Duodu. Sorry, Mr. President; your government is too large, (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Sorry-Mr-President-your-government-is-too-large-519974). 2. Stephen Kwaku Asare and H. Kwasi Prempeh. Amending the Constitution of Ghana: Is the Imperial President Trespassing?, (http://danquahinstitute.org/docs/AmendingtheConstitutionofGhana.pdf). 3. Prof Lungu. Winners & Losers: Akufo Addo's Million-Dollar Cash Giveaways to Voting Districts, (http://www.ghanahero.com/PROF_LUNGU_SAYS/2017-Ghana-Review/Winners_and_Losers_Akufo_Addo_Million-Dollar_Cash_to_Voting_Districts-Final.pdf). Visit for more information: www.GhanaHero.com . Read Mo'! Listen Mo'! See Mo'! Reflect Mo'! Prof Lungu - Real Data, Real Current! Subj: Akufo Addo's Too-Large-Govt. Wins Asare-Prempeh "Imperial President" Award! Twitter: https://twitter.com/professorlungu Support Fair-Trade Oil Share Ghana Campaign/Petition https://www.change.org/p/ghana-fair-trade-oil-share-psa-campaign-ftos-gh-psa/ Brought to you courtesy www.GhanaHero.com31 Mar 17. Two weeks ago, Nancy Abu-Bonsrah made Ghana and Africa proud by becoming the first female neurosurgeon resident at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her unprecedented achievement has multiple layers of implications for Ghanaians and Africans. First, her feat challenges Euro-American racism that assigns mental inferiority to the Blackman/woman. The underachievement of contemporary Africa has sustained the racially laced debate that Africans are less intelligent and incapable to produce anything scientific. Paving the way for colonialism in the so-called Third World, colonial anthropologists developed all forms of jaundice analysis to conclude that Africans were mentally incapable. It was even said that Africans did not have the mental capacity to conceive the notion of God, because it was assumed that the notion of God is so philosophical that the untrained African mind could not conceive. As late as October 2007, Nobel Prize winner, James Watson, stirred controversy across the world when he repeated the old-age prejudice that Africans are intrinsically less intelligent. Over the centuries, such lopsided and narrow-mindedness has been appropriated to justify the various heinous crimes that were committed against Africans. Unfortunately, the Holy Bible was used to provide religious endorsement to the maltreatment of Africans. False hermeneutics was also used to rationalise very damaging practices such as apartheid in settler colonies like South Africa. In the contemporary world, the same Bible is wrongly used to indoctrinate Africans to kill themselves, as Euro-Americans spread their denominational tensions to Africa. Islam cannot also be left off the hook. Throughout history, the Muslim-Arabs also developed very demeaning outlook about Africans. The Islamic slave trade, which preceded and survived the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade, was predicated on the theological assumption that it was right to enslave and inhumanly treat Africans, who were largely considered infidels. The use of the Quran as the basis of bifurcating the world into the Abode of Islam (Dar al-Islam) and the Abode of War (Dar al-Harb) deeply sustained an entrenched racial discrimination against Africans. It is sad that, while the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade was abolished in the 19th Century, the Islamic Slave trade, which preempted Europeans in Africa, has never ended. In the 21st Century world, most of the Arab countries continue to treat Africans as sub-human beings. Sadly, the deeply racists Arabs, who vent all forms of inhuman treatments on Africans do not receive the rigorous academic attention. The few scholars who have brazened it to write about the ill-treatment of Africans by Arabs are simply called said to be funning the flame of Islamophobia. What a world! Long before the Europeans and Arabs thought of bringing their so-called civilisation to Africans, Africans had developed a complex civilisation that provided the basis for the civilisations of other parts of the world. A close analysis of the debates between Martin Bernal and Mary Levkowitz help us to appreciate the extent Africans provided the foundation for Western civilisation. The works of Chiekh Anta Diop, Molefi Kete Asante, and John Henrik Clarke have helped cast a new focus on the contributions of Africans to the world. In the contemporary world, there are a significant numbers of Africans who are providing the pace for scientific advancement in the world. Abu-Bonsrah gives us hope that, indeed, Africans are capable. Second, Abu-Bonsrahs achievement also contributes to challenging male chauvinism and androcentrism in our world. Since Eve was accused of having set sin in motion, women have never had their freedom. Most cultures in the world have had very skewed perception about women. In the same way, most of the religions of the world, including African Traditional Religions, have assigned every negative attribute to women. Some religions even claim that there would be more women in hell than men. Following this shallowness about women, the world has been very hostile to women. Honour killing, widow inheritance, bad widowhood practices, Trokosi, Female Gentile Mutilation, witchcraft accusation, wife battery etc have blighted the prospects of women globally. What is worse is that throughout the ages, women have been relegated to the background because they were said to possess very little mental capacity. In ancient Greece, the so-called harbingers of Western civilisation, women were excluded from politics, because of their perceived mental inferiority. Even in some societies in Africa that were believed to have friendly attitude toward women, women were, for the most part not part of mainstream politics. In Europe, women were considered part of the mans property at marriage. This partly explains why for a very long time, women in Europe were excluded from politics until the 1900s. Abu-Bonsrahs achievement thus comes at the right time, as it challenges the deeply patriarchal nature of our world. Finally, Abu-Bonsrahs achievement also challenges Ghanaians and Africans to develop their medical schools. There is always a deficit in the supply of medical practitioners. This has had a terrible impact on us whenever doctors embark on industrial action. The study of science in Ghana and Africa is still encased in mysticism. There is some form of primitive mystique formed around the study of medicine. It is believed that to study medicine, one must be super-intelligent, in addition to coming from aristocratic family. Abu-Bonsrahs success challenges us to deconstruct the myth about the study of medicine. I am deeply convinced that Ghana is capable of producing excess doctors. Ghana also has the capacity to export doctors to the rest of the world, like Cuba is doing. What needs to be done is to restructure the study of science and other regimental courses in our schools. If we provide a good foundation and develop a new methodological approach to the study of science, I think that we would in no time produce a number of doctors to take care of the sick in society. The political elites should also invest in the study of medicine and other science related courses. Children with precocious ability in the sciences, regardless of their social backgrounds, should be financially and materially supported to pursue the study of science. This development would break the tide that keeps medicine as aristocratic profession. It would also frustrate the elitist political economy of medicine. Nancy Abu-Bonsrah has made us proud, and we, as Africans, need to provide the morale support for all to develop their talents. Africa has what it takes to take off. What we need is commitment and the right Christocentric worldview. Satyagraha Charles Prempeh ( [email protected] ), African University College of Communications, Accra Dr. Callistus Mahama, out-going Head of Local Government Service has officially handed over to Dr. Nana Ato Arthur as the new Head of the Local Government Service during a brief ceremony at the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS). The brief ceremony was witnessed by the Chief Director of the OHLGS, Mr. Joseph M. Dasanah and members of Dr. Arthurs delegation. Dr Nana Ato Arthur is a former Member of Parliament for KEEA Find below profile of Honourable Dr Nana Ato Arthur and strategies for the Local Government Service. PROFESSION : Development Engineer/Local Government Expert. OBJECTIVE: To bring to bare my expertise in the smooth running Management of the Local Government systems, notable is to; i. Ensure transparency and accountability in the management of MMDAs. ii. Ensure that the Proper Fundamentals are in place to ensure smooth elections. iii. To position MMDAs strategically for the implementation of the 'One district one Factory program'. iv. To help empower MMDAs on best practices in Development planning Management. v. Ensure greater revenue through workable ICT Units in MMDAs EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND 1. PhD in Development Studies, University of Bonn, Germany. 2009-2012 2. M.Sc. in Development Planning and Management; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana 1996-1997. 3. Postgraduate Diploma in Regional Planning and Management, September, 1995- July, 1996 in Dortmund, Germany. 4. BSc.(Hons.) Agricultural Engineering, South China Agricultural University ,Guangzhou, China . 1985-1989. 5. Advanced Level Certificate, St. Augustine's College, Cape Coast. 1981-1983 6. Ordinary level Certificate; Fijai Secondary School, Sekondi Ghana.From 1976 - 1981 EMPLOYMENT HISTORY * By dint of hard work, from January 2017, is the leader of the Presidential Transition Subcommittee for Transition Activities on selected RCCs and MMDAs - covered Central, Western, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo. * Hon. Dr. Stephen Nana Ato Arthur, between January 2013 to January 2017 was the Member Of Parliament Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abrem(KEEA) constituency, Parliament of Ghana. * Central Regional Minister from May 2006 - January, 2009. * Deputy Central Regional Minister from 2005 - 2006. Here, he assisted MMDAs in the development of their Medium Term Development Plans(MTDPs) and conflict resolutions among agencies of Government and Traditional Authorities. * District Chief Executive from March, 2001 - May, 2005, KEEA District Assembly, Elmina. * Management Consultant with State Enterprise Commission, Accra. From December 1998 - March 2001. * Engineer with Irrigation Development Authority from March 1991 - 1998. COMMITTEES SERVED IN THE 6TH PARLIAMENT. 1. Appointment Committee 2. Mines and Energy Committee 3. Employment, Social welfare and state Enterprises 4. In addition, Hon. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur was appointed by the 2016 Flagbearer to serve on Local Government Sector Committee. Honorable, was also the Coordinator for Nana Addo for the Presidential primaries and the general elections. ATTRIBUTES Hon. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur has been successful in all his portfolios held because he has; - Excellent Communication Skills - Pays attention to details. - Goal and results oriented Person - Strategic Planning and Management skills. - Team Player. MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL BODIES/ASSOCIATIONS 1. Member, Ghana institution of Engineers. (MGhIE). 2. Member, Spring International Association of Development Planners. 3. Member, Association of Agricultural Engineers (MGSAE). PUBLICATIONS - Arthur, S.N.A.(2012) " The Unfinished Business of Decentralization: Political Accountability of Local Government in Ghana- the case of KEEA Municipality" (PhD thesis). - Arthur, S.N.A.(1997) " Towards Effective Management of Rural Roads in Ghana- the case of Ejura-Sekyeredumasi District. LECTURES AND CONFERENCES. *Participant*, 22nd Africa Oil Week, Cape Town, South Africa. October 26-30, 2015. *Guest Lecturer*, Local Government in Ghana, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Coast, 2015. *Speaker*, Bonn Symposium 2013: Local Actors and the Post 2015 Agenda- Good local governance. *Speaker*, Fundamentals of Local Government: the Ghanaian Context. Nairobi, Kenya, February 1- 4, 2005. Mr. President, I wish to commend you for the appointments made so far. I must say that, they are in good faith and in the interest of the country. The appointees are well versed in the areas in which you have appointed them. Ghanaians expect much from them and I know they will work to inure to the benefit of the entire country. Mr. President, the size of your government has been greeted with mixed feelings. Those in the opposition have openly and grossly criticise the size of your government without tangible reasons to juxtapose their views claiming that, the size of government is the biggest in the political history of our country, Ghana. It is also believed by many that, you have a firm grip of the administration of this noble country, hence the 110 ministers appointed by you to serve in various capacity in your government will work in tandem with each other to deliver on all promises made to the good people of Ghana. Mr. President, there is one area; I wish to draw you attention to. There is a huge expectation from you to declare the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive nominees for the various MMDAs. This according to many is long overdue. Your Excellency, in order to run government activities effectively and efficiently at the MMDA level, there is the need to fast track processes to nominate persons who are competent to work on your behalf at the MMDA level to bring to fruition the one district, one factory policy promised Ghanaians. Mr. President, you said in your State of the Nations Address that the full complement of appointment should be in place by the end of March. Today is 1st April, 2017 and yet, you are not done with the full complement of the appointment. Mr. President, again, you stated in your first ever State of the Nation Address, nicknamed SONA on Tuesday 9th March, 2017 that I am in great hurry. The times in which we live, demand that we, all, be in a hurry to deal with the problems we face. But Mr. President, delay in the nomination and appointment of the full complement of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives cannot be said that, you are in a hurry to deal with the numerous problems that confront the MMDAs. Your Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the absence of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives at the various MMDAs is militating against the smooth running of the assemblies. Most activities at the assemblies are in a stand still pending directives from the Chief Executives who are yet to be nominated, voted for by assembly members and appointed accordingly. Mr. President, the various volunteer groups which played active roles which culminated to our historic land slide victory in the 2016 general elections anticipate that, you nominate the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives for the various MMDAs as early as possible to enable them to be approved subsequently by the assembly members. The volunteers and Ghanaians a whole are told that, until the full complement of your government is in place, there is no way they will find jobs, hence the delay in the nomination and appointment of the Chief Executives is a worry to volunteers and Ghanaians as a whole. Finally, Mr. President, I will appeal to your high office to be in a hurry once again to nominate the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives for the various assemblies for effective and efficient work to start at the assembly level to work to actualise the concrete plans outlined in the 2017 budget statement delivered on the floor of parliament. Thank you. .signed.. Teacher Danquah (T.D.) [email protected] #0243174600 CASEY -- Three incumbent City Council aldermen and a former alderman are all running for election as mayor in Tuesday's election. Incumbent aldermen Steve Jenkins, Mike Nichols and Jason Wimbley are in this mayoral race with Nik Groothuis, a former alderman. Incumbent Mayor Ed Bolin has decided not to seek re-election. Groothuis is a former regional superintendent of schools and high school principal. Groothuis said he has budgeting, communications and leadership skills from his 40 years in education administration that would serve him well as mayor. After his regional superintendent term ended in 2010, Groothuis said he served on the council for two years before stepping down to focus on teaching industrial arts part-time and helping with his family's restaurant. Groothuis said now that he is fully retired, he can focus on serving as mayor. "My intentions are to be at City Hall and establish regular hours at City Hall," Groothuis said, adding that he would be available to meet with the public and assist the city staff as needed. Groothuis, a founder of the Casey in Action booster group, said he wants to help market his hometown to potential entrepreneurs and residents, possibly by offering incentives for development of vacant properties. Groothuis said he also want to upgrade the campground and other facilities at Fairview Park. Jenkins is a manager at Bolin Enterprises in Casey and has served for four years on the council. As an alderman, Jenkins said he is proud of helping the city update its aging public works and utility equipment while still spending public money wisely. If elected, Jenkins said he want to help complete the new city water supply line and other projects that are in the works. Jenkins said he also wants the city to continue playing a part in promoting the Big Things in a Small Town world record items in Casey and related small business development. "It's an exciting time in Casey. Everyone should be a part of it," Jenkins said. The city could help with this community revival by demolishing abandoned houses and cleaning up neighborhoods to improve the appearance of Casey, Jenkins said. Nichols, who has served on the council for two years, worked as an agency manager for 30 years with Country Financial before starting his Mid-America Financial Consultants firm in 2014. Nichols said his financial experience has helped him work with the city to save money and spread out costs. If elected, Nichols said he wants to help complete the new water supply line and the wastewater treatment upgrades as scheduled this summer. He said the line to Marshall's aquifer will cost about $4.5 million, whereas replacing Casey's old water treatment plant would have cost more than $9 million. "The only way a small town like Casey can grow is with new businesses and new residents," Nichols said, adding that this growth will not be possible without good infrastructure being in place. He said Casey does benefit from having its own power plant and natural gas department. Nichols said he would like for the city to hire a economic development director to help with recruiting businesses, promoting Casey, and applying for grants. He said the city should also pursue a systematic cleanup of dilapidated properties. Wimbley, a General Motors technician at J & K Mitchell in Casey, has served for four years on the council. He also is coordinator for the Clark County ambulance service and a captain for the Casey fire department. Wimbley said he wants to put this community service and leadership experience to work as mayor. "I really enjoy helping the people of the community," Wimbley said. If elected, Wimbley said he would like to create a city economic development position and look into other options for promoting local job growth, particularly in industry. He said this effort could include developing and promoting an industrial park in Casey. Wimbley said he also wants to complete the city's water and wastewater improvement projects, maintain a balanced budget and level utility rates, and cut city spending where possible. Regarding the Casey City Council, newcomer Ron Bayles is running uncontested for Wimbley's position in Ward One. Nichols has two years left on his term as alderman in Ward 1. Nichols will leave this alderman position if he is elected as mayor and retain it if he is not. In Ward Two, newcomer Kelsey Washburn is running uncontested for the position currently held by Jenkins. Appointment incumbent Jesse Dennis is running uncontested for a two-year unexpired term. In Ward Three, incumbent Lori Wilson is running against challenger Richard Pete Todd. The Writer 01.04.2017 LISTEN Introduction In several centuries past in the history of the then Gold Coast, currently known as Ghana, there existed so many inflictions that were meted upon the inhabitants of a group of people that lived in that geographical location. It began with the initial scramble for Africa which later took a more civil approach where Africa was partitioned in 1844 during which some major European powers received with glee some portions that they were to colonise. Fortunately for the group of people who lived in the area that was then known as the Gold Coast, Britain was supposed to become their colonial masters, to which they did become. They primarily came with the intentions of trade, to get raw materials to feed their industries back in their home country and yet came under the guise of religion (Christianity). They (British) took our raw materials for so long that they realized that they could even enslave the inhabitants of the said geographical location and push them into America so that they serve as slaves there. Sooner than later the British began capturing indigenes through raids and selling them off for merchants ships to carry them to the Americas to work as slaves on plantations. This barbaric act came to an end upon the abolition of slave trade. Yet these Europeans still held leadership positions in the country because it was under the leadership of a governor who was supposed to be the representative of the Queen of England. The chiefs were not allowed to rule directly and this brought about the issue of the indirect rule. This particularly meant that the British communicated what they wanted to do through the chiefs to the people so that the impression is given as if it was coming from the traditional authorities. These inhumane and autocratic behaviours were painfully tolerated until the riots that took place during the post Second World War era after some three ex-servicemen were shot dead at the Christiansburg Castle. That really broke the camels back. At the time some leaders like Nkrumah and George Paa Grant had been strategizing the means by which the Gold Coast could be liberated from the wicked hands of the British. The struggle continued throughout, with the efforts of all the inhabitants of the Gold Coast until finally Ghana gained independence on the 6th day of March, 1957. On that fateful day Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, in trying to create the impression that the causes of all our woes was because of the actions and inactions of the white man proclaimed with joy: At long last, the battle has ended.Ghana; your beloved country is free forever The citizens at the time cheered because they believed that things were bad for them because the white men were at the helm of affairs and that if the country was going to have their own countrymen at the helm of affairs, then they were expecting to be better off. This write-up therefore seeks to bring to light the fact that in as much as Ghanaians fought white oppression, our black leaders are rather oppressing its own citizens contrary to what they had thought at the time of fighting for independence. A free nation, as exclaimed by Kwame Nkrumah should be a nation where its citizens have access to basic necessities of life, a free nation exists where citizens are not victimized when wrongs in society are pointed out, a free nation comes up where citizens look within them and get the conviction that they owe it (Ghana) a responsibility of helping it grow. These three topical issues are to be discussed after which we shall ask ourselves why our own black leaders who claimed we were being oppressed and as such fought for independence are still oppressing us. Free Nation requires access to Basic Necessities of Life Maslow defines basic necessities of life as food, shelter and clothing. These are very fundamental to the survival of every human being. With regards to food, it does not cease to amaze me that thousands of citizens live in this country who struggle to eat one meal a day. Most of these people fall on the benevolence of people in order to get something to eat. This is a country where too many people in leadership positions have too much food to eat possibly because they take huge salaries while the reverse is also true. Why do we not seek to ask how we can bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots? Why do we feel so comfortable in our greed of wanting everything to ourselves at the detriment of those who just need something small to survive? Most of the times when driving across major cities in Ghana, particularly Accra, one comes across persons who depend on begging for alms at vantage points especially at traffic prone areas, for their survival. Can you imagine the visually impaired, the physically challenged, the aged etc. just struggling in the mist of traffic just for their survival? Have we, as a nation, thought of the risk and dangers these people put themselves in with regards to how carelessly some people can drive? Individuals help some of such people financially but what have governments done to ensure that all these people are catered for so that even in the mist of their vulnerability, they are able to live decent lives devoid of struggling to survive at the mercy of their lives? Are we as a nation not capable of doing these things for our fellow human beings who due to circumstances beyond their control have found themselves in such situations? Anyways, we might not be capable yet we are capable of buying Land Cruiser V8s for MPs who do not even go to their constituencies to check on his or her constituents, we are also able to pay ex-gratia of GHC 30,000 to each Member of Parliament for serving for four (4) years and taking GHC 7,000 as monthly salary as well as allowances for various engagements. Indeed, I will leave us to our conscience to judge us. Shelter, which is the second most important need to the survival of any human being, also comes to play as a nation. Indeed it is incomprehensible how partisan politics tends to destroy our nation. Governments come into power and bring on board very intelligent policies that would tend to help the ordinary citizens but those ideas are discontinued by successive governments especially because they have different political ideologies. Once upon a time in the history of Ghana, there was a housing policy known as affordable housing projects by STX Korea. The idea was to build about 30,000 houses that were going to be very affordable for the ordinary Ghanaian in order to solve the issue of the high charges on accommodation. However through some weird means, this project was stalled. But amazingly enough these leaders who halted the project live in luxurious houses which are well furnished for them by the state using the taxes of the ordinary citizens. Sadly enough, these ordinary citizens whose taxes are used to buy cars and houses for these so called big men are found sleeping in the open in front of peoples shops. When one passes through the various cities any time after 9pm, thats when one realizes that our leaders are really taking advantage of us. The question still remains unanswered. Why can we not replicate what Gadhafi did in Libya with regards to accommodation facilities? Is this the freedom we wanted for which reason we fought for independence? The health and security risks that these innocent Ghanaians are prone to cannot be overemphasized. I sometimes would want to prefer that the white man would rather put us in this situation and look upon unconcerned than a black man putting his fellow black man into this situation and looking at the situation unconcerned. We do not usually care because it is not us in that situation neither there is any of our family members in that situation. Where is the sense of solidarity that characterizes us as a nation? Much as clothing is also a necessity of survival with regards to covering and protecting ourselves from the harsh weather conditions, I shall not dwell on it so much as its degree of importance is not as high as that of the tow that have been earlier mentioned in this write-up. The subject of survival is obviously even worse in the rural areas than in the urban areas. It is surprising to me that there still exist rural areas in Ghana where indigenes of particular villages still drink from streams and rivers that have been shared by cattle and other livestock and which has obviously made it prone to several infections that are likely to affect their health. Due to this their health and or lives are always on the line. There are no health centers in those communities except for CHPS compounds which are usually ill-staffed and ill-prepared for the varied degrees of diseases or illnesses that go there. In case that the situation is beyond that which they can handle, the rules and regulations of the profession gives them the permission to refer the patient to the nearest health facility with enough facilities that can best handle the situation at hand. These health facilities are usually located in the district capitals and that the implication is that wherever a severely sick patient finds himself or herself, he or she is expected to travel for about two hours on a very bad, immotorable road to get to the health facility located in the District Capitals. Quite apart from the immotorable nature of the roads, there is the inability or general difficulty in getting a vehicle to travel that route. This, therefore, implies that if there is an emergency situation that will require a patient to get to the district hospital within the shortest period of time that would be synonymous to at life being lost. People have lost their lives severally due to this situation. What did these people do wrong to merit this kind of oppression? Do not they deserve anything better? Why cant our own black leaders feel this pain and at least make these roads motorable so that at least cars will be willingly to travel those routes and also to get patients who are in emergency situations to the hospitals on time? What is so oppressive than watching your own people die through no fault of theirs and yet leaders are able to fly outside the country for medical treatments? This means that even for them that are in Accra they think that the Korle Bus and the 37 Military hospitals are ill-equipped to handle their ailments. Thats sad. Pupils in rural areas are expected to help their parents on the farms, walk several miles to get to school (sometimes barefooted) and so they even get to school tired already. They walk the same distance back home and there are expected to go and sell so that they help their parents make some money for their livelihood barely having time for reading their books and doing their homework. Ridiculously these are the people our leaders refer to as future leaders while their children pay huge amounts of dollars to send their kids to British International School and the likes. God is watching us all. Victimization It is amazing how we live in a country where most people, if not all are quiet about wrong doings due to the fear of being victimized. In Ghana, victimization may take numerous forms amongst which are losing ones job, not being promoted and to a much greater extent, losing ones life. Due to these numerous ways of victimization, most people tend to keep quiet about the ills that go on the various aspects of society especially at work places. This has brought about so much corruption into the system. Yet individual complain to colleagues and yet are unable to complain to the authorities who are involved in such unscrupulous activities with the justification that Yes sar massa no dey spoil work. To wit, just looking unconcerned at unscrupulous activities will make you keep your work and earn a living while the reverse is also true. This is the system that we have created for ourselves as a country over the years and yet we hide under the guise of democracy and cause ourselves more harm than good. Based on all the above-mentioned issues, Ghanaians also do not find in them any sense of patriotism and nationalism when they have struggled their ways through as far as their own survival is concerned. They are usually of the view that the nation didnt to help them in anyway and so they do not owe the nation any responsibility. This is manifested in their attitude towards helping the nation to develop in the right direction. Attitude to work, attitude towards waste management, attitude towards our ownselves etc are usually very poor. Our leaders opposed and fought oppression and created the impression to their own people that they were going to give them a sense of independence which would render them free from the hardships that they suffered under the leadership of their colonial masters. Why have our leaders committed themselves to ensuring that they get the best of everything in life at the expense of their subjects? Why do our leaders deceive us a nation and create the impression that they wished that everything went well with us when indeed their main aim is to amass the wealth of the nation. It is not strange that most governors have been tagged with the view of retiring with several assets which hitherto was not available at the time of the assumption of office. We lie to ourselves as a nation and pretend everything is fine. We pretend to be helping the vulnerable even when we know clearly that it is nothing but a mirage. 60th years on and there still exists a large number of people who still do not have the basic necessities of life. I know people would want to write rejoinders to this but I shall leave every one of us to his or her conscience, look back to the situations that we are exposed to and judge for ourselves and see whether we are being treated fairly by our leaders. It is indeed a sad phenomenon to take advantage of the vulnerable in society. Let us put a stop to this unnecessary colonial exploitation that is going on in this country. The colours might be indeed different, but the machinations are the same. Nicholas Mante Parry Some groups within the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), have thanked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for appointing the party's regional Secretary, Sule Salifu, as the regional Coordinator of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA). The Constituency Chairmen caucus, constituency Secretaries and Organizers caucuses, and the Tamale Central NPP youth coalition among others, have unanimously endorsed Sule Salifu's appointment. These groups at a joint news conference in Tamale expressed their delight and described Sule Salifu's appointment as appropriate. Spokesperson for the constituency Chairmen caucus, Imoro Issahaku Jamal, alias Olando, opined that Sule Salifu's appointment could reinvigorate the party's youth. This, according to the Kumbungu Constituency Chairman, could renew the youth spirit of voluntarism to maximize the party's electoral fortune in the region at the 2020 polls. Sule Salifu has been the Chief Executive Officer of the party for the past years and his stewardship has given us 13 seats in the Northern Region and throughout his stewardship we have never found any fault with him. He is very regular with the youth. He reaches out to us and he has been advising us and everything we do Sule is included. He has known the party circles both length and breadth and we feel Sule is the best person who can unite the youth, and so we don't see why we should not be happy over the President's gesture, he remarked. Spokesperson for the Tamale central NPP Council of Elders of the coalition of youth groups, Mohammed Baba, showed appreciation for Sule Salifu's appointment saying, We are so excited because Sule Salifu is a grassroots man and a mediator, and we are very happy hearing that Sule Salifu has been appointed as regional coordinator of the YEA. We are happy and therefore cannot hide our happiness and that is why we have come out to thank the President and to congratulate Sule Salifu. Some of the NPP constituency Organizers caucus in a statement signed by the Secretary, Mohammed Kpemsi, said We the constituency Organizers join the good people of the region to thank the President for appointing Sule Salifu as the YEA Boss. This appointment came at a time the party is yearning for a grassroots person to occupy that position. Mr. President, this appointment is an honor to the entire region and the party as a whole, and we are grateful to you for recognizing the competence of our able regional Secretary and we want to assure you that he will deliver. By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana 01.04.2017 LISTEN North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says the latest brouhaha over the salary of the former COCOBOD CEO has confirmed his suspicions that government is witch-hunting Dr. Stephen Opuni. "I think I can now begin to point to some witch-hunt," he said on JOY FM/MultiTV's Saturday news analysis show Newsfile. Revelations that the former CEO was on a gross salary of 75,000 ($18,750) has set tongues wagging with what vocal sections of the public consider excessive and immoral. Some have expressed shock that a cash-strapped cocoa marketing board is able to shell out the 4-digit figure every month. New Board Chairman, Hackman Owusu Agyeman has vowed to make drastic cuts in the remuneration packages of senior management at the Board. But for Okudzeto Ablakwa, the disclosure of Dr. Opuni's salary is another jigsaw which fits into his theory that the former government official is a target of state-sponsored harassment. Cataloguing the basis of his complaint, Ablakwa observed that Dr. Opuni was the first of several CEOs of state-owned enterprises to be fired following a change in government. "He was invited to the Flagstaff House, stayed there virtually the whole day. Then received his letter indicating that, that evening he should vacate post. He was not even given time to go to the office and pack out." The North Tongu MP said the manner of his dismissal attracted condemnation from a respected senior citizen, K.B Asante. Since his humiliating sacking, six days after a new government took office on January 7, Dr. Opuni has been hounded by state security apparatus, Okudzeto claimed. Okudzeto Ablakwa said Dr.Opuni has not been told of his crimes or charges and yet "every day, he is facing one probe or the other. If he is not at the CID, he is at BNI, he is at EOCO". Dr. Opuni is being investigated for fraud following reports linking him to shady deals and contracts. But the North Tongu MP stressed government if it believes Opuni has a case to answer, must follow the correct the legal procedure. The NDC MP said discussions about the salary of Dr. Opuni has been skewed to crucify the former CEO. "Did he fix his own alary? And what was his predecessor receiving? What has been the standard practice?" The North Tongu MP decried the publishing of the public officers' salary as unethical and morally wrong. Okudzeto Ablakwa associated himself with comments made by former President John Agyekum Kufuor calling on Ghanaians not to be quick to pass judgement on the former CEO. Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|Edwin Appiah|[email protected] 01.04.2017 LISTEN The North Tongu Member of Parliament (MP) has accused the Joe Ghartey Committee of acting beyond its mandate when it found Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga guilty of contempt. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said the contents of the report shocked him when Joe Ghartey who chaired the Committee presented it to Parliament Thursday. My initial reaction when I heard the report was that of a surprise because I thought that the Committee had gone beyond its terms of reference, he told Samson Lardy Anyenini on Joy FM/MultiTVs news analysis programme Newsfile Saturday. The Committee set up to investigate the bribery claim made by Mr Ayariga told legislators it found no evidence to support the MP's claim that GHC3,000 was given to minority MPs on Parliaments Appointments Committee. The Bawku Central MP had said he received the money and returned same after he was told the money was a gift from Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko whose nomination was under consideration. According to him, the said amount was given to him by Minority Chief Whip Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak who told him it was coming from First Deputy Speaker Joe Osei Owusu. The three men whose names were mentioned vehemently denied the allegation. The claim gained prominence and Ghanaians called for an independent probe to establish its veracity. Acting on the public outcry and a motion filed by Mr Osei Owusu, Speaker of Parliament Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye set up a five-member Committee to go into it. After close to two months of investigation, the Committee said, there was no evidence that money was given to MPs [with intention bribing them]. It also said Mr Ayarigas claim that the money was given to him by Mr Muntaka was not true, adding the Bawku Central MP acted on a rumour. There is no evidence that this committee can rely on that First Deputy Speaker Joe Osei Owusu gave money to Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka, Mr Ghartey said when he laid the report. As a result of his failure to prove the allegations, the Committee found Mr Ayariga guilty of contempt as spelt out in Article 112 of the 1992 Constitution as well as Order eight of Parliaments Standing Orders. It recommended to Speaker of Parliament Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye to reprimand the MP and demand an apology for the deadly injury he has caused the image of the House. Mr Ayariga has registered his dissatisfaction with the work done by the Committee especially the contempt finding against him. The Committee was given three terms of reference within which to conduct its activities. They included, (a) Establishing whether money was taken by First Deputy Speaker Joe Osei Owusu from Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko and given to Minority Chief Whip Mohammed Muntaka. (b) Establish whether there were attempts to bribe members of Parliament's Appointments Committee and (c) Look into the remits and complaints and assertions made by the deputy Speaker Joe Osei Owusu on the matter. Mr Okudzeto said the Committee outstepped its boundaries when it proceeded to slap "sanctions and to recommend" Mr Ayariga be held in contempt of Parliament. "I was clear in my mind." But Effutu MP Alexander Afenyo Markin rebutted the argument, insisting that the Joe Ghartey Committee did what was expected of every committee set up to investigate an issue. "The committee acted within its mandate. They were asked to make findings and by coming out with findings certainly you will make recommendations," he said. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | [email protected] Parliament on Friday approved seven deputy ministers appointed by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. They include, Kwaku Agyeman Kwarteng, Charles Adu Boahen and Abena Osei Asare, all deputy Finance Ministers. The rest are Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Owuraku Aidoo, Joseph Cudjoe, who are deputies to the Energy Minister and Henry Quartey, Deputy Interior Minister. 50 deputy ministers The president has been ridiculed for appointing 50 deputy ministers thus bringing the total number of ministers in his administration at 110. Although Akufo-Addo defended his decision some Ghanaians believe the ministers are too many for the small Ghanaian economy. Parliament approves Deputy Regional Ministers Parliament last week approved the 10 Deputy Regional Ministers appointed by the President. This was after their screening by the Appointments Committee. They were approved by consensus and have subsequently been sworn into office by the President. Vetting continues after Parliament recess Parliament is expected to go on recess next week but the Appointments Committee screening the deputies ministers is expected to continue with its work despite the break. By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @AlloteyGodwin Johannesburg (AFP) - A memorial service Saturday for anti-apartheid icon Ahmed Kathrada was transformed into a fierce attack on South African President Jacob Zuma, under fire after a controversial cabinet reshuffle. Party veterans of the ruling ANC, sacked finance minister Pravin Gordhan and Kathrada's widow lined up to criticise the state of the country as the crowd shouted "Zuma must go." Zuma sacked Gordhan and several other ministers on Thursday in a shock move that sent the rand currency tumbling amid fears of a political crisis in South Africa. In a rousing speech, the sacked minister told a cheering crowd packed into the Johannesburg city hall that the country was in a "mini crisis." "Comrade Kathy leaves us at a time when the ANC or the democratic government and indeed our society finds itself in a mini crisis," said Gordhan, without mentioning Zuma directly by name. "The problems are very clear. And who is the problem and what is the problem is very clear as well," he said prompting another round of "Zuma must go" chants from the crowd. Some people attending the service brandished posters reading: "Zuma worst President of South Africa." Worst president Kathrada, who was jailed alongside Mandela on Robben Island, died on Tuesday in a Johannesburg hospital after a short illness following brain surgery. His funeral on Wednesday also turned into an anti-Zuma rally as speakers drew attention to the growing discontent within the ANC. Kathrada had once called on Zuma to resign as president following a damning court ruling in 2016 that he had violated the constitution. His family barred Zuma from attending his funeral. The event in honour of the ANC stalwart -- who is described as part of the "golden generation" of freedom fighters -- was supposed to be an official government memorial, before authorities postponed it on Friday, without giving a reason. Gordhan described the postponement as "petty and spiteful". Kathrada's widow, Barbara Hogan, also took to the podium, hitting out at Zuma for axing Gordhan, whom she described as "one of our finest finance ministers." "If you had ears to hear and eyes to see, you would have not appointed four finance ministers in less than three years," she said referring to changes in the finance ministry. Hogan urged Zuma "to step down" as her husband had demanded. Three members of the ANC top body, including Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa have rejected Zuma's reshuffle. Nairobi (AFP) - Kenya's police chief Saturday ordered an investigation after a video circulated on social media showing a police officer killing a disarmed man in cold blood in front of a crowd of onlookers in Nairobi. "I have ordered thorough investigations on the shooting incident that occurred in Eastleigh," a majority Somali neighbourhood in the Kenyan capital, Inspector General Joseph Boinnet told Capital FM News. "I have seen the video and I condemn those actions. Investigations have already started and I can assure you action will be taken against officers involved," he said. Amateur mobile phone footage first shows one man lying lifeless in a pool of blood having been shot shortly before by police. At his side, two plain-clothes policemen are holding and questioning another young man. Then one of the officers fires several rounds at point-blank range at the suspect. The officer is seen delivering a final shot to the head of the injured and bleeding man. The incident has again raised concerns about police abuse in Kenya and outrage at the apparent "brazen execution of two young men", said the Law Society of Kenya. "The scene is chilling and a frightening reminder that there are elements of the security forces who murder Kenyan citizens without hesitation and in violation of all laws," said Isaac Okero, the society's president. "Even if they were criminal suspects, whatever the nature of their alleged offences or criminal activities, those young men were entitled to due process," Okero added. 'Enforced disappearance' Police say they were pursuing two men in their 20s as suspected members of the notorious Superpower gang and caught up with them outside a shopping mall. "These boys have given us sleepless nights because they commit robberies and kill, then they relocate and resurface," a policeman with knowledge of the gang who requested anonymity told AFP. He also alleged the two were involved in the deaths of several police officers, leading to the manhunt. The Kenyan lawyers group called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the officers shown in the video, denouncing what it called "the culture of extrajudicial executions that is now so evidently entrenched in the national police service." Rights groups have previously raised concern about alleged abuse by Kenya's police and security services. A Human Rights Watch report last July documented "enforced disappearances" and "extrajudicial killings" of men suspected of links to Islamist extremists by security forces in the country's northeast. That same month, four Kenyan policemen were charged over the high-profile murders of a human rights lawyer and two others -- another case that sparked outrage. Kenya's police force has been accused in the past of running hit squads targeting those investigating allegations of police abuse. Mining giant Anglogold Ashanti, Obuasi Mine plans to recruit about 2,000 workers whiles it also anticipates to create 1,000. More indirect jobs with emphasis on adhering to the local content law when the company resumes full scale operations in Obuasi. This was revealed on Friday, 31st March, 2017 at a public hearing on the proposed Obuasi Gold Mine Redevelopment and Tailings and Water Infrastructure projects by AngloGold Ashanti under the auspices of the Environmental Protection Agency in Obuasi. Stating the purpose for the well attended public hearing, Mr. Michael Sandow Ali, the Head of Mining Department, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it was prudent to organize such a public hearing especially after receiving and reviewing documents on the Redevelopment and the Tailing projects from the Mine. He further appealed to the residents present to take advantage of the platform created to make their grievances known taking into consideration the significance of the Mine to them. PRESENTATION FROM MANNAGEMENT OF ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI The General Manager Mr. Eric Asubonteng, the General Manager of AngloGold Ashanti, Obuasi Mine told the highly enthusiastic gathering that the Mine which is over 120 years has not chalked a lot of successes in recent years. He stated that their dwindling fortunes have been as a result of a dip in production and high operational cost. In their bid to salvage the situation, the General Manager said, the Multinational company adopted what he termed as a STOP and FIX approach which involved an attractive a severance package of a whopping amount of $240 million for affected workers and the suspension of its underground operations in November, 2014. To resuscitate the Mine and make it more profitable, the company conducted a feasibility studies which involved two major projects, the Redevelopment of the Mine which involves going underground to explore for gold to enhance production and the Tailings and water infrastructure where they would dispose of waste materials. This, Mr. Asubonteng indicated, have been submitted to EPA for their approval. Mr. Frederick Nsarkoh- The Projects Manager, AGA The Projects manager also disclosed that the Obuasi Mine has 20 years capacity or reserve and also has a potential to last longer with several other more productive areas yet to be explored by the Mining giant. Again, Mr. Nsarkoh stated that the company would undertake massive renovation works on their properties or assets at Sam Jonah Estates, Dankwa, Bruno, Tinny Rowland and the Bill Horssey Estates to provide befitting residential accommodation for their workers. This, he opined, would also create employment for indigenes of the Mining town. On the facilities to be used for the much awaited KNUST-OBUASI campus, the Projects Manger said, plans are far advanced to release the facilities to the school which will also boost the economy of Obuasi. Abeiku Arthur- Environmental Supervisor, AGA He assured residents of Obuasi that the company is concerned about the environmental effects of their activities once they start full scale operations. He allayed the fears of the people about any environmental challenges and said the company will strictly follow the laid down regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the environment. Nana Ampofo Bekoe- The Sustainability Manager, AGA Amidst wild cheers from the gathering, the Sustainability Manager, Nana Ampofo Bekoe made known that the company intends to employ about 2,000 workers whiles it anticipates about 1,000 indirect jobs to be created. He assured the people that the company will follow the Local content law governing the Mining industry to the letter. Opportunities were given to the public to also express their concerns. Chiefs from Anglogold Ashanti concessionary areas, Officers from the Environmental Protection Agency, Heads of Department, Staff of Anglogold Ashanti and the Media were all in attendance. When you talk about Okrika in Nigeria, what immediately comes to mind are cheap secondhand clothes. The reason for this is that Okrika is the sobriquet for used clothes. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency is not referring to this. We are talking about Okrika in Rivers State, South-South, Nigeria. Okrika is a local government located on a very small Island south of Port Harcourt. It sits on the north of the Bonny River and on Okrika Island. The riverine town can be reached by vessel. According to the 2006 census, the population of Okrika is 222,026. People, language and culture Okrika is one of the major towns that makes up the Ijaw clan. Although they have been eclipsed by Port Harcourt and Ikwerre (for political reasons), they have contributed so much not only to the growth of Rivers. The Kirike is the main dialect of Okrika people while Igbo spoken by a few others. Occupation Long before oil was discovered in Okrika, fishing and agriculture were the major occupations of the people. However, since the discovery of crude oil; farming and fishing have taken the backseat. Hence, refined petroleum products are Okrikas most significant exports. Regardless, the town still has a solid local trade in fish, oil palm produce, locally processed salt, cassava, plantains, and yams. Cuisine Some of the foods you will be served at Okrika includes onunu (ripe plantain mashed with yam and palm oil and eaten with peppery fresh fish sauce), and buru fulo (fresh fish pepper soup cooked with yam at the same time). Hotels to book There are inexpensive and affordable hotels in Okrika and environs including Conris Place, Chisam Suites, Berenice Hotels Limited and Paloma Hotels. By Iddi Yire/Theophania Dzadza, GNA Accra, April 1, GNA - Ghana and Japan on Friday, signed two grant agreements totally $ 58.4 million, geared towards the improvement of international corridor roads and sector budget support to promote health service delivery. The signing of the agreements were initialled for Ghana by Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, while that of Japan was by Mr Kaoru Yoshimura, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan and Mr Koji Makino, the Chief Representative, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The grant agreement signing was done in Accra at a reception to mark the 60 years anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations. The first is $ 56.6 million ( 4.375 billion) grant agreement for the project for the Improvement of International Corridor Roads in Ghana. This comprises of the implementation of the project for improvement of the Tema Motorway Roundabout and the detailed design for the rehabilitation of National Trunk Road N8 Phase II. The concept of the rehabilitation of the National Trunk Road N8 Phase II involves: Rehabilitation of the 31.2km Assin Fosu - Asssin Praso road section with asphalt concrete pavement and the dualisation of the 1.2km section in the centre of urbanised area of Assin Fosu township. Others are the replacement of an existing railway overpass bridge with a box culvert, reconstruction/rehabilitation of drainage facilities between Assin Fosu and Assin Praso and installation of a toll collection facility at the south of Assin Praso township. The second grant is a $ 1.8 ( 200 million) sector budget support to promote health service delivery in Ghana. The overall aim of this grant is towards poverty alleviation through improved health status of the Ghanaian population and the attainment of Universal Coverage of Health Services in Ghana. The grant, which is to support government budget allocation to the primary health care level, would be given to the Ministry of Health for onward allocation to the Ghana Health Service, which is the implementing body of the grant. The grant amount would be disbursed with 2017 to support community health activities in Northern, Upper East and West Regions. It would specifically support home visit activities of Community Health Officers (CHOs) and system strengthening. Madam Botchwey said the event was an important milestone for the two countries to recognise the significance of bilateral partnership that they have had in the process of their socioeconomic development through the Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA). "Japan has remained a reliable friend of Ghana, since the arrival of the great scientist, Dr Noguchi of blessed memory in the then Gold Coast in 1927, to conduct research into yellow fever for the survival of mankind. "The relationship between the two countries was further consolidated, when Ghana attained Independence in 1957, with the two countries establishing diplomatic relationship that year," she said. "The strengthening of relationship between our two countries over the years had been characterised by our common desire to forge friendship and corporation based on mutual respect and support for each other's development aspiration, as well as solidarity in the pursuit of peace, stability and security," she added. She said remarkably, the traditional bonds of friendship and corporation forged at the political level had greatly manifested in steady economic growth of the two countries. Madam Botchwey said over the past decades, Ghana and Japan had enjoyed fruitful economic and technical corporation as evidenced by the latter's assistance to the former in practically every aspect of the economy; such as finance, agriculture, food aid, governance, infrastructure development, culture, education and trade. On the international scene, the Foreign Minister said, Ghana and Japan share common positions on global issues such as the reform and composition of the United Nations governance structure. She said the two countries had over the years supported each other's candidature at the international level. "The Government and people of Ghana sincerely appreciate the considerable financial and material support extended by Japan to Ghana over the years in our quest for economic development," she said. Mr Yoshimura said the signing of the two grant agreements, was a proof of the strength of the relationship between Ghana and Japan. "Japan has been a consistent development partner to Ghana since Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Ghana started in 1963," he said. "I am, therefore, very much excited about how far our two countries have come," he said. In a flashback, Mr Yoshimura recounted Ghana Japan relationship from 1957 during the era of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, then Ghana's Prime Minister and Mr Nobusuke Kishi, then Japan Prime Minister. He said this year would mark the 90th anniversary of the arrival of Dr Hideyo Noguchi to conduct medical research towards the cure for yellow fever in Ghana. Dr Noguchi, unfortunately met his untimely death through the yellow fever research; and in his memory the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research was set up at the University of Ghana. Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, Ghana's Health Minister, lauded the Japanese Government for the support. He said the funds would be used for their intended purposes to accelerate Ghana's socioeconomic development. Among the key people, who witnessed the grant signing agreements include Mr Sylvester Parker-Allotey, Ghana's Ambassador to Japan, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, the Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana and Mr Kaz Tamura, the Chairman of Japanese Community in Ghana. GNA MATTOON -- Incumbent Mattoon school board member Colleen Garner hopes to build upon past successes and enhance communication with the community if re-elected. Garner, a flight attendant with American Airlines, has served for eight years on the board. Garner said this has been a good opportunity for her to learn about the operations of the Mattoon school district and serve her community. "We have such great schools. I am very proud of all of our schools," Garner said, adding that the schools are continually improving their academic programs and services. For example, Garner said Mattoon High School started a credit recovering program three years ago. She said this program helps students who have had academic trouble graduate on time. She said participating students can retake courses in smaller class settings or one-on-one with instructors. Garner said she also was proud that voters approved a Coles County school facility sales tax in a Nov. 8 referendum. She said the revenue from this tax will help the district offset dwindling state funding. State law requires that the revenue from countywide school facility sales taxes only be used for facility projects. Garner said the Mattoon district plans to first use its revenue to pay off the bonds that funded the construction of Riddle and Williams elementary schools. Garner said a major goal for the district is to be fiscally responsible and pay off its debts. Garner said she is optimist that the district will not need to make further staff cuts and that the district will grow in the future. The school district will keep the community informed about how the sales tax revenue is used, Garner said. She added that one of her goals is to ensure that the community is kept updated about the board's activities. In Tuesday's election, Garner is one of four candidates on the ballot for three available positions on the school board. The other three candidates are Garner's fellow incumbents Robert Miller and Bill Standerfer, and newcomer Erika Weaver. Garner, Miller and Weaver all reside in Township 12N Range 8E of the Mattoon school district. Election regulations for the Mattoon school district stipulate that not more than two candidates may be elected from this area. Standerfer resides in a different area of the district from the other three candidates. 01.04.2017 LISTEN By Amadu Kamil Sanah, GNA Accra, April 1, GNA - Dr Callistus Mahama on Friday officially handed over to Dr Nana Ato Arthur as the new Head of the Local Government Service (LGS) at a short ceremony in Accra. The ceremony was witnessed by the Chief Director of the Office of the Head Local Government Service (OHLGS), Mr Joseph M Dasanah and other governmental officials. In a brief statement Dr Mahama said the state of the LGS prior to his tenure of office is not the same LGS of today. He said it is as a result of sheer determination and dint of hard work that has brought the Service this far. Dr Mahamma expressed optimism about the future of the Service as the new Head of Service has both the academic and experience in local government administration. He said he was available for consultation on matters regarding the Service. Dr Arthur said Dr Mahama has contributed immensely to the forward match of the Service, adding, "I am of the opinion that my predecessors has contributed meaningfully to the progress of the LGS. He promised to follow through on the laudable initiatives of the out-going Head of Service and where necessary, review others. Dr Arthur said he will consult the former Head of Service when the need arises. The new Head of Service will officially assume office on Monday 3rd April, 2017. GNA By Samuel Akapule, GNA Bolgatanga, April 1, GNA - The Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) with support from the Swiss Red Cross, has donated ten tricycle ambulances to some deprived health facilities in the Upper East Region. One of the major challenges confronting efficient health service delivery when it comes to maternal and infant health in the region is means of transport to convey the sick to health facilities. The tricycles are to be used by Community-based Health and Planning Services (CHPS) Compounds in the Kassena Nankana Municipal, Binduri, Nabdam and Bongo Districts. Mr Evans Kevi, the Programme Coordinator of the Swiss Red Cross, in charge of Health and Social Development, said a baseline survey conducted by his outfit revealed that one of the major challenges confronting maternal and infant health was lack of means of transport to convey women in labour to health facilities to access health care. He said based on that survey, the GRCS in collaboration with the Swiss Red Cross piloted one tricycle ambulance service in the Binduri District in 2015 and this was able to contribute to the reduction of maternal and infant mortality in the area. Handing over the tricycle ambulances to the District Directors of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) of the beneficiary Districts in Bolgatanga, Mr Joseph Abarike, the Upper East Regional Manager of the GRCS, commended the Regional Health Directorate of the GHS for providing technical support to the GRCS in the Region. He said through that support 250 Red Cross Mothers' Clubs had been formed in its operational areas in the four Districts. Mr Abarike said through the Mothers' Clubs, women had been empowered to undertake Health Education on maternal and infant care and pregnant women encouraged to attend health facilities for supervised delivery as well as to access ante-natal and post-natal care. Ms Meire Seidu, the Acting District Director of the GHS of the Nabdam District, on behalf of her colleagues thanked the two institutions for the donation and said the items would be of much help. GNA By D.I. Laary Accra, April 1, GNA - Mr Irbard Ibrahim, Executive Director of IRBARD SECURITY CONSULT, has called on Ghanaians to be decorous in their utterance with regards to the parliamentary bribery committee report. He also called on Parliament to publish the CCTV evidence to assure the nation of the transparency of the Committee headed by Joe Ghartey. Mr Ibrahim, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, expressed unhappiness with the chaotic scene in Parliament last Thursday and urged all stakeholders to do more to safeguard the international reputation of Ghana's second arm of Government. He urged the Member of Parliament involved in the bribery probe to remain calm and their acts should be guided by the laws of the land. GNA By Fatima Anafu-Astanga, GNA Bolgatanga, April 1, GNA- The Indigenous Women Against Hunger, (IWAH) a non-governmental organization, has donated books worth over one million cedis to 39 schools in the Upper East Region. The schools constitute 13 Senior High, 13 Junior High and 12 Primary schools drawn from Bongo, Kassena- Nankana East Municipality and West districts, Talensi, Nabdam districts and Bolgatanga Municipal. The books consists of physics, biology, mathematics, English, encyclopedia, history and novels for the senior high and junior high schools categories and assorted books for the primary schools. Mrs Rosemary Akola, the Executive Director of IWAH, which seeks to develop the skills of women and children, made the presentation in Bolgatanga to teachers and students of the beneficiary schools. Mrs Akola, who is a teacher by profession, said she was unhappy with the poor reading habits and academic performance of students in the region and expressed the hope that the books would help the students to learn She called on the students to take their studies serious and derive the maximum benefit from the books. She urged teachers not to lock the books up but ensure that the students used them well. Mr Robert Ajene, a retired educationist, acknowledged the high cost of books in the markets and said government needs the support of the private sector to support the education sector. GNA 01.04.2017 LISTEN By Gideon Ahenkorah, GNA Accra, April 1, GNA - Pastor Mark Ofori Kwarfo, the Overseer of the Ashiyie branch of the Harvest Chapel International, has said plans are afoot to adopt the Ward 11, of the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital. Pastor Ofori Kwarfo said the move formed part of the commitment of the church towards reaching out to the less privileged and playing its social responsibility role. He said the Ward 11, which has 30 female inmates, was highly deprived in terms of resources which affected the lives of the patients who were under treatments for various ailments. The Harvest Chapel International Pastor observed with regret, the deprived nature of the Ward and said: 'We have noticed that this place has been abandoned for years. And we think adopting it would be the best option.' This, he explained, made it prudent for the church, whose aim was to put smiles on the faces of all persons, to resource it consistently, so as to make life better for the inmates. Interacting with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a donation exercise, carried out by the church for the Ward's inmates, Pastor Ofori Kwarfo said the church would continue to execute this intension in the coming years. He also announced that the leadership of the church was in the process to meet the management of the hospital to chart the roadmap for the initiative. The meeting, he believed, would enable the church to identify all the problems facing the Ward so as to determine which kind of help is needed. 'We intend to do a holistic adoption to produce maximum results. With the help of God I know we would achieve our aim,' he said. Pastor Ofori Kwarfo said the donation exercise was a part of the church's five years anniversary being celebrated on the theme: 'Celebrating God's Faithfulness; A time to soar higher.' The donated items worth thousands of cedis included buckets, toiletries, bags of sachet water, washing detergents and food. GNA Africa is currently experiencing another form of slavery through Pentecostalism. We are now mentally lazy and our ability to reason scientifically has been incapacitated. The African pastor wont talk about Usain Bolt or Serena Williams. The African Pastor wont talk about Steve Jobs or the young people in Silicon Valley reshaping our world. They wont talk about young American scientists spending endless hours in search of a cure to a disease thats predominantly in the Tropical African Region. The African pastor wont talk about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or Ben Okri. In every corner of the world, there exist young men and women who have defied all odds and become successful through hard work, creativity, and dedication. The African pastor wont talk about them, neither will he ask his members to emulate the spirit of these individuals. He would rather talk about sister Agatha who got a job she *WAS NOT THE MOST QUALIFIED FOR*because she prayed and fasted in line with their church programme or brother John a millionaire because he used all his salary as a seed in the church, or Papa Miracle who he laid his hands on and 3 of his children got admission in the university, or Mama Esther paid her tithe and her business started growing everywhere across the nation with no business plan, just boom, everywhere. This has led to a new breed of mentally lazy young people who now see God as a rewarder of mediocrity. To the African pastor, the only way to prosper is by paying your tithe and ' seeds in the church. So they will never talk about those, who have through hard work and dedication placed themselves on the world map. No..the African God only blesses the first 30 people that rush to the altars to drop $100 as seed. The African God abhors hard work and creative thinking, he only gives to those who sow seeds and offerings..and those who shout: I am a millionaire every morning and do nothing the rest of the day. You want the Almighty to come down and help you use the talent He gave you and bless you because you are going to church to shout: Daddy I receive it, these are all jokers. Can someone tell these jokers that irrespective of your creed, faith or religion, blessings, and favors follow you once you start using your talent and become useful to your society? The Bible tells the story of the Talents. Use it. A blessing is already bestowed upon us. When we use it positively, we ask the Lord to bless it. The Bible says His Grace is sufficient for us. The Western world and Asians are excelling and dominating the world. Let no Imam or Pastor manipulate our minds while they themselves drown in amassing wealth and luxurious splendor, while our people are living in abject poverty. Be Wise. Worship of God is from the heart. But study, work hard and always watch & pray! May God Almighty bless us all, in Jesus' name!!'' Good Day Bamako (AFP) - Mali's opposition on Saturday took tentative steps towards ending its boycott of a political summit enshrined in the country's 2015 peace deal after the government extended a deadline to facilitate extra talks. Opposition parties were the last holdout after former rebels who had led several uprisings against the state in Mali's north ended their own boycott on Tuesday to attend a conference designed to ensure the shaky peace accord remains on course. The government and pro-Bamako armed groups are also represented at the event. "It's a symbolic presence to deliver a message, after a request for our presence by a delegation of participants at the conference," said Nouhoum Togo, an opposition spokesman, explaining why some of its delegates appeared Saturday but stopped short of sitting down to discussions. "It is also because the government has backed off and decided that finally the conference will not end on April 2, but that there will be another phase," he added. The new round of talks is expected to begin on Monday. The head of the opposition grouping, Soumaila Cisse, told delegates after appearing at the talks in Bamako that "inclusive consultations" were required to end Mali's problems, a remark clearly aimed at the government. Mali's north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012 who hijacked a rebel uprising, though the Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013. The implementation of the peace accord struck to prevent a similar crisis has been piecemeal and insurgents who refused to sign the deal are still active across large parts of the country. The current conference aims at solidifying measures agreed by the signatories to reach a lasting peace in the conflict-prone west African nation. The Writer 02.04.2017 LISTEN "The LORD is my light and my salvation - so why should I be afraid? The LORD protects me from danger - so why should I tremble? When evil people come to destroy me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will know no fear. Even if they attack me, I remain confident". Psalm 27:1-3 "The LORD is for me, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? Yes, the LORD is for me; he will help me. I will look in triumph at those who hate me". Psalm 118:7 Fear Of The Enemies I know by now that God would have been instilling confidence in you through these messages. Today, we want to discuss the fear of the enemies. But I have a predicament here. The subjects of fear and the enemies are not what can be treated in a newspaper column for a couple of weeks. I want to acknowledge that it will take volumes of books to actually do justice to them. But what we are doing here is just to highlight the essentials; that can help build your foundation. Now, when we talk about the enemies, we have a host of them. There are physical enemies, spiritual enemies, house-hold enemies, permanent enemies, hidden enemies (these include the enemies that come like friends), etc. These classifications are mine, and they are made for our easy understanding. I will just explain each briefly before we proceed. Physical enemies are people that fight, quarrel or work against you physically. Often you know them and confront them physically. These, most of the time rise because of envy, strive or misunderstanding. And the scores are usually settled physically. Spiritual enemies include - witches, demons, Satan, wizards and other agents of darkness. You don't necessarily need to offend these ones before they attack. They are always against human beings. And sometimes a physical enemy can also turn into a spiritual one. Then, the house-hold enemies are the ones you are staying in the same house with or from the same family. They are very dangerous because they know your in and out, and also have unlimited access to you. The permanent enemies are the class that often vow never to live and see you progress in life. They come in the form of Pharaoh of Egypt. And God also make them go the way of Pharaoh in the Red sea. This class requires a lot of persistent prayer to overcome. And the hidden enemies are the enemies that you can never detect unless God decides to reveal them to you, or they suddenly manifest. These include the enemies that come as friends. They come to spy on your weaknesses. They pretend to support you, but work against your interest in your absence. These are extremely dangerous because you will not know that they are your enemies. No matter how much good you do to them, they will always hate you. All these classes of enemies and others have a common source - Satan. And their main objective is to stop your advancement towards your destiny. David said that he knew that all these enemies existed, but that he would not fear nor tremble because God was with him. He said that they (the evil workers) will actually plan their attacks but will certainly stumble and fall. That was his confidence. Now, David's confidence is not based on nothing. Its foundation is on personal experience, divine promises and covenants with God. In fact, at a time God plainly told him that His covenant with him (David) is forever, that He (God) would see to David's safety and prosperity. So, how could such a man become afraid again? Yes, there could be enemies at every turn, but God said that He would prepare a table for us in their presence. Praise God! I also know what it means to have victory over enemies. I have seen God's victory over so many treacherous plans of men. Over great powers of the darkness (demonic principalities), over the rulers of the occult world. I have seen God break satanic strongholds in individuals, families, churches; to release their blessings, breakthroughs etc. I have variously seen powerful angelic beings make incursions into the natural to destroy satanic barriers; with instant physical manifestations. Some will sound extremely incredible if I find space to put them on this column. But they are true! The truth is that the God we are serving has tremendous power. No enemy (physical and spiritual) can withstand this power if fully utilized by Christians and the church. David said "the Lord is for me, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? I totally agree with him. Because God is with you, you already have victory in that battle going on in your life - Amen! There are so many places where God defeated the enemies of His people in the bible, but because of space I will just mention one or two. A perfect example of what we want to say here is found in 2 Chronicles 20;1-22. A vast army from three nations came to attack the people of Judah. King Jehoshaphat was afraid and consequently, summoned all the people to fasting and prayer. God immediately gave them these words, "Do not be afraid! Don't be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God's. --- Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD's victory. --- Go out there tomorrow, for the LORD is with you". (Verses 15-17). This portion of the scriptures gives us the eternal principles of winning our battles with the enemy. First, Jehoshaphat took the threat of the enemies' attack to God in prayer and fasting. He reminded God of all His promises and pled his case effectively. God responded with the assurance of His presence and protection. Jehoshaphat believed God and did exactly what God told him (in absolute obedience), and consequently, they had absolute victory over their enemies. What happened? The enemies killed themselves. The people of God only went to the battle field to pick the spoils. And the battle ground was renamed Valley of Blessing. I have personally followed these principles, and have consistently won my battles with the enemies. Like I will always say, when you understand the word of God and walk according to the dynamics of His kingdom, you will always come out of every battle of life victorious. Even, when it looks like you have been beaten or intimidated, just wait. You will ultimately come out stronger, better and a winner. You are afraid of those enemies because you have not recognized the grace of God upon you. Elisha's servant had the same problem when the Arameans came with many chariots and horses and surrounded their city. The man was terribly afraid until Elisha prayed for God to open his eyes and he saw that his master was well protected by horses and chariots of fire. (2 Kings 6:17). I pray that God would open your eyes today to see His protection and grace upon you. Don't be afraid of those enemies again. He that is with us is greater. Take those threats to Him in prayers today. Share this message. God bless you! Rev Agbo is the author of the book Power of Midnight Prayer. Website: http://www.authorsden.com/pastorgabrielnagbo Tel: 08037113283 E-mail: [email protected] SRMC Autism Speaks blue lights View Photos Sonora, CA Sonora Regional Medical Center will honor World Autism Day with others around the world by lighting up blue. Blue lights will shine on the hospital overnight on Sunday in a show of solidarity with the group Autism Speaks to celebrate the start of its signature campaign Light It Up Blue. April is World Autism month and the 2nd is the day that kicks it off in more than 157 countries around the world. During the month, iconic landmarks and buildings, such as, the Empire State building in New York, the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the Great Pyramids of Giza, are lit up in blue in support of people living with autism. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of homes and communities around the world also go blue. Sierra Conservation Center View Photos Sacramento, CA State prison officials recently began implementing new requirements that are part of Prop 57, which voters passed in November, to help trim the states prison population. California corrections officials hope to cut the state prison population by nearly 9,500 inmates after four years by reducing sentences up to six months for earning a college degree and by up to a month each year for participating in self-help programs like drug counseling. Tuolumne County District Attorney Laura Krieg was very vocal in her opposition to the proposition as reported here. Her main concern, These regulations currently only give us a 30-day notice. It is often very difficult for us to locate the victim or assist the victim in writing a letter if they want to object. Also its difficult for us to write the letter because a lot of time we need to track down their [inmates] previous criminal history, which can be in multiple other counties. So, our number one concern is how were going to be notified and the lack of time that we have to respond in a case where we want to object. Krieg proudly notes that while the measure passed in the state, the county voted it down. Another criticism she has of the new rules involves murderers. Krieg says these regulations do things we have never seen before, she states, For example convicted murderers, unless theyre condemned to death or theyre serving life without parole, murderers are now entitled to conduct credits. The state reports that the changes will eventually lower the prison population by about seven percent. Intelligence is believed to be a God-given and not a learnt skill. All the innovations in the world have been made by very intelligent men and women. These people offer solutions to problems that surpass other peoples imagination. What is really with the brain that makes other people seem to be smarter than others? One of the most popular ways to measure intelligence is with the IQ test. Legit.ng brings you a list of the 10 most intelligent people in the world. They have the highest IQ ever recorded. READ ALSO: Dino Melaye clears air over certificate controversy Surprisingly, a Nigerian is on the list. Have you ever wondered who is the most intelligent people in the world? 10. Garry Kasparov is alleged to have an IQ of 190 At the age of 22, he became the youngest undisputed world champion by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov A Russian chess Grandmaster and a former World Chess Champion, a writer and political activist, Kasparov amazed the world, when he played to a draw against a chess computer that could calculate three million positions per second in 2003. At the age of 22, he became the youngest undisputed world champion by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov. 9. Philip Emeagwali is alleged to have an IQ of 190 Emeagwali was one of two winners of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize This Nigerian-born engineer, mathematician, computer scientist and geologist was one of two winners of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize. He won the prize from the IEEE, for his use of a Connection Machine supercomputer to help detect petroleum fields. Emeagwali is from Onitsha, Anambra state, although he was born in Akure, Ondo state. READ ALSO: This is a zero government: Asari Dokubo appraises Buhari, warns Osinbajo 8. Marilyn vos Savant has a verified IQ of 190 Marilyn has an outstanding IQ of 228 She is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer and a playwright. In 1985, The Guinness Book of World Records accepted vos Savants IQ score of 190 and she was said to have been crowned the woman with the highest IQ for five consecutive years. She has tested as high as 228 on various IQ tests. 7. Mislav Predavec is alleged to have an IQ of 192 Predavec ranked 7th on the list of the 10 most intelligent people in the world The Croatian maths professor is the founder and president of the GenerIQ Society, an elite organization of some of the most intelligent people in the world. He is also the owner and director of a trade company. READ ALSO: President Buhari approves executive management of some government agencies 6. Rick Rosner is alleged to have an IQ of 192 Gifted with an amazing IQ of 192, Rosner spent a number of years as a bar bouncer He is an American television producer best known for creating the television show CHiPs. He also developed a portable satellite television in partnership with DirecTV. 5. Christopher Langan has a verified IQ of 195 Landan developed a theory of the relationship between mind and reality which he calls the Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe (CTMU) This American autodidact is reported to have an IQ of between 195 and 210. The media has described him as the smartest man in America as well as the smartest man in the world. He began talking at six months, and taught himself to read when he was three. 4. Dr. Evangelos Katsioulis is alleged to have an IQ of 198 Katsioulis has earned degrees in philosophy, medical research technology and psychopharmacology He is a Greek national who works as a medical doctor and psychiatrist. He is the founder of the World Intelligence Network (WIN), an international organization of high IQ societies and of the organization AAAA.GR, a pioneer voluntary team for the detection and support of gifted individuals in Greece. READ ALSO: Meet the 7 richest lawyers in Nigeria 3. Kim Ung-Yong has a verified IQ of 210 Ung-Yong He was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under Highest IQ This Korean civil engineer is considered the master in child prodigy. At the age of 6 months he was able to speak and understand Korean and other languages. At the age of 3 years, he could read several languages already, including Korean, Japanese, German and English, as well as solve complex calculus problems as exposed live on Japanese television. He was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under Highest IQ. 2. Christopher Hirata verified IQ of 225 Hirata is an authorized child genius A genius from his childhood, he made waves at the age of 13 when he got a gold medal at the international physics Olympiad. At the age of 16, he was working with NASA in its mission of conquering Mars. At 22, he obtained his Ph.D at the Princeton University. He is an authorized child genius and is currently teaching astrophysics in the CIT California Institute of Technology. 1. Terrence Tao has a verified IQ of 230 Gifted with an amazing IQ of 230, Terence Tao makes it to this list of most intelligent people of the world The Australian-born Chinese American mathematician achieved a score of 760 on the pre-1995 SAT at the age of 8, received a Ph.D from Princeton at 20 and at 24 became the youngest ever full professor at UCLA. Reacting to this, some Nigerians had this to say. Meet this beautiful Nigerian female driver. She had a chat with Legit.ng and had so many things to say. Source: Legit.ng The Nigerian Army has announced the arrest of two Boko Haram members whose duties include surveillance for the terrorist group. They were arrested by soldiers while they carried out surveillance on Kareto and Dangalti villages. One of the Boko Haram member now with the Nigerian Army According to Brigadier General Sani Kukasheka Usman, the director of Army public relations, the suspects were apprehended by troops of 158 Task Force Battalion of 5 Brigade. Usman said preliminary investigation showed that the apprehended spies were on recconaisance mission to facilitate possible attack on the communities by Boko Haram terrorists. One of the members that was arrested In a related development, one Bulama Kailani Mohammed Metele from Tumbun Bera, has confessed being a top member of the Boko Haram terrorist group belonging to Mamman Nur's faction and under the leadership of Abu Mustapha. Legit.ng learnt that Mohammed, apparently tired of the lies his commanders, surrendered himself to troops of 145 Task Force Battalion, 5 Brigade troops at Damasak. One of the top leaders of the sect It has been confirmed that the surrendered suspect, Bulama Kailani Mohammed Metel, was a high profile terrorist as he is at serial number 253 on the Nigerian Army's Wanted Boko Haram terrorists poster produced recently. He is currently undergoing further interrogation, Usman said. Meanwhile, watch the devastation caused by the Boko Haram sect here: Source: Legit.ng In this history post, Legit.ng looks at the end of the civil war fought between Nigerian forces and the Biafra secessionist and how General Yakubu Gowon perceived the aftermath. The Biafra war fought from July 6, 1967, to January 15, 1970, was as a result of what ill-treatment and pogrom of the Igbo people in the country. The then military governor of the eastern region, Odumegwu Ojukwu complained about the killing of the Igbos especially in the northern part of the country. The Aburi accord held in January 1967 in Ghana was supposed to prevent the war as Ojukwu and the then head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, met in other to discuss how to stop the rising tension between Igbos and other part of the country but this failed to have the desired impact as the agreement reached there was not followed. READ ALSO: Rare photos capture moment a female Boko Haram bomber blew herself up In his declaration on May 30 Ojukwu said: "Having mandated me to proclaim on your behalf, and in your name, that Eastern Nigeria be a sovereign independent Republic, now, therefore I, Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, by virtue of the authority, and pursuant to the principles recited above, do hereby solemnly proclaim that the territory and region known as and called Eastern Nigeria together with her continental shelf and territorial waters, shall, henceforth, be an independent sovereign state of the name and title of The Republic of Biafra." The Aburi accord At first, the mid-western region fell to Biafra troops but this was taken over by Nigerian forces led by Colonel Murtala Mohammed. From then, the war became bloodier. The Nigerian army launched an offensive and after several attempts, the Biafra capital of Enugu was captured in October and was moved to Umuaiha. In December 1969 after two years, it fell to Nigerian troops and was again moved to Owerri. Between January 7 to 12 in 1970, Operation tailwind led by General Olusegun Obasanjo broke the Biafra stronghold of Owerri and Uli. On January 9, Ojukwu boarded his private jet and fled to Ivory Coast. The mantle of leadership thus fell to Phillip Effiong. On January 15, Effiong officially surrendered to Gowon at Dodan Barracks in Lagos where he also officially declared the Republic of Biafra cease to exist. The Aburi accord failed to stop the Biafra war I, Major-General Phillip Efiong, Officer Administering the Government of the Republic of Biafra, now wish to make the following declaration: That we affirm that we are loyal Nigerian citizens and accept the authority of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria. That we accept the existing administrative and political structure of the Federation of Nigeria. That any future constitutional arrangement will be worked out by representatives of the people of Nigeria. That the Republic of Biafra hereby ceases to exist. But what did Gowon think about Ojukwu especially his decision to flee the country and hand over to Effiong? In an interview with a foreign media, Gowon, described Ojukwu as a coward who fled after he had subjected his people to sufferings. He said if Ojukwu had a conscience, he would realise that his action by forcing his people to a war and then fleeing to safety when things were getting tough was a cowardly self-centred act. READ ALSO: BREAKING: Boko Haram release new video taunt special forces He said: "The foreign press seems to know better than I do. They seem to give him all sort of excellent qualities. So much than the rest of us. Ojukwu the gallant chap who said: I will fight to the last man and I will be the last to fall. What a pity. "How are the mighty fallen and in such a cowardly way. If he had done a Hitler, probably, he could hat put up a mount of courage. Ojukwu with Biafra soldiers "Ojukwu ran away and left these poor people that he led into such suffering, such abject position and just left them and probably because of the money he has amassed outside, he think he will go and live in joy and plenty. I hope he will enjoy he rest of life, I hope his conscience hill allow him to rest. God know. "If at all those who are supporting Ojukwu allow him to get away to what he had done to his people, to Nigeria to Africa, then I think they need to examine that conscience and honestly I have got no faith in such people." Asked about whether he would allow those supplying aid to Biafra since the war has ended, Gowon said: "Are they not the very people that really spit on our face and told us that we go to well, we can do our worst, we can shoot down the aircraft and that will be the world opinion against us, they mounted a lot of evil propaganda against us. They are the one that allowed Ojukwu to continue his recalcitrance. They gave him the moral and financial support to be able to continue killing those people. They are the ones that should examine their conscience. "Do you really think that Nigerians will accept such people who have been party to the lives we have lost in the country? Let them keep their blood money; let them keep their relief supply we dont want it. We will do it ourselves. This is a challenge to us and will do it. Those people should know that we do not want their assistance. We do not want it. "When we told them to do things properly so we can end the suffering of these people much earlier on; what did they do? They defied us. I do not wish to have anything to do to them." Source: Legit.ng - IPOB has declared May 30 sit-at-home day - IPOB said it will lockdown Biafra land on May 30 to honour fallen heroes - It enjoined the Igbo and all those who believe in the Biafra ideology all over the country to shut down their businesses and stay at home on that day - For more of the latest news and updates on Biafra news visit https://www.legit.ng/tag/biafra-news.html The Indigenous People of Biafra has declared May 30 as the day all supporters of Biafra will sit at home without going anywhere or doing any work. Leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu and his lawyers This, it said, would be to use the day to honour the Igbo who had lost their lives in sectarian killings in the country from 1945 to date. READ ALSO: Lawyer caught in courtroom watching video of a lady twerking (video) It enjoined the Igbo and all those who believe in the Biafra ideology all over the country to shut down their businesses and stay at home. Legit.ng gathered that in a press statement issued by groups spokesperson, Emma Powerful, IPOB said prayers would be held at designated places to mark the day. Their statement read in part: The indigenous people of Biafra and its leadership worldwide would like to use this opportunity to inform Biafrans, friends of Biafra, lovers of freedom all over the world and humanity in general, to prepare for the historic annual Biafra Day of Remembrance 2017. On the 30th of May 2017, as it is now the tradition since our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu held the inaugural event at our Cenotaph in Enugu on 30 May 2014, we shall honour the gallant and brave Biafran soldiers that withstood the might of the British-sponsored coalition against Biafra between 1967 and 1970. Members of IPOB Our heroes and heroines of the class of 1967-1970 who paid the ultimate price in defence of the dignity of the black race during this genocidal war against the people of Biafra, will be remembered and honoured in the finest traditions of IPOB. This annual event for 2017 has been designated a day of prayer, fasting, supplication and introspection. READ ALSO: Rare photos capture moment a female Boko Haram bomber blew herself up The statement added: We shall also remember all the martyred freedom fighters (IPOB & MASSOB) that fell in pursuit of our liberation from the oppression and the tyranny of Nigerian Army, Police, Navy and DSS. We can never forget them and we must always honour them as long as there are Biafrans on the face of the earth. Every victim of unwarranted state-sponsored sectarian violence in Nigeria will also be remembered. All those that sacrificed their lives in the field of battle and protests that this present generation of Biafrans might live, will be honoured, including the victims of Asaba Massacre. They will be honoured with a two-minute silence immediately the clock strikes 12noon on the 30th of May 2017. The statement noted that the May 30 ceremony would be the fourth consecutive times IPOB had held the anniversary. It added: The very first event was held in Enugu on May 30th, 2014, Aba May 30th, 2015 and 30th May 2016 at Nkpor Anambra State where the Nigerian Army, Police, Navy and DSS committed unspeakable crimes against humanity that brought shame to Nigeria before the comity of civilised nations around the world. Therefore, we expect every man, woman and children to observe this great annual event by staying at home and not engaging in any business activity. There will be no movement in Biafraland, both human and vehicular. Biafraland will be shut down completely as a mark of dignified respect to those that sacrificed their lives for us. READ ALSO: Exposed! How EFCC linked Saraki, aides to N3.5 billion Paris Club refund That is the least we can do to show them and Almighty God that this generation of IPOB and those to come will remain forever indebted to them that gave their lives to stop the elimination of the Biafra race from the face of the earth. "Equally all victims of state-sponsored genocide starting from the Jos massacre of Biafran people in 1945 to the most recent Asaba massacre in 2017 at IPOB meeting by the Nigerian Army will all be honoured. Source: Legit.ng - Former President Goodluck Jonathan's SSCE result has been released - The result was released by his former media aide, Reno Omokri - Omokri, however blasts Jonathan's critics to produce their results Reno Omokri releases Jonathans SSCE results, blasts ex-presidents critics Reno Omokri, former media aide to former President, Goodluck Jonathan has released the Secondary school level results of his former principal. Former President Goodluck Jonathan Legit.ng reported that former President Goodluck Jonathan had denied having any certificate scandal as reported recently in the heat of the same challenge rocking the political career of Senator Dino Melaye. READ ALSO: IPOB vows to lockdown Biafra land on May 30 to honour fallen heroes Mr Jonathan said his name was wrongfully mentioned among other leaders and politicians who have certificate issues. Legit.ng also reported that in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, March 27 by Jonathans media adviser, Mr Ikechukwu Eze, the former president dismissed the claim as lies. According to the statement, Jonathan had never been linked to any doubt, scandal or controversy concerning his academic qualifications. The statement which noted that the classmates of the former president in all the schools he attended are still alive, added: We really dont know where this is coming from, but we wish to remain unambiguous in our assertion that this is obvious falsehood, since the former president has never been linked to any doubt, scandal or controversy concerning his academic qualifications. We are not aware of any probe, allegation or litigation relating to his very well known academic qualifications. READ ALSO: Lawyer caught in courtroom watching video of a lady twerking (video) But Mr Omokri, on his twitter line called on those calling Mr Jonathan "clueless" to show their own champion O'level results. "Message to all those who call/called @GEJonathan 'clueless'!" he tweeted with a picture of the results. Source: Legit.ng Jack Ziegler, whose satirical, silly and observational style enlivened more than 1,600 cartoons at The New Yorker beginning in the mid-1970s, died on Wednesday in a hospital in Kansas City, Kan. He was 74. His daughter, Jessica Ziegler, said the cause was lung failure. He drew perfectly for the cartoon medium, Bob Mankoff, whose 20-year tenure as cartoon editor of The New Yorker will end later this month, said in a phone interview. Whatever he drew was the platonic ideal of what a cartoon should look like. Mr. Ziegler set his cartoons nearly anywhere in courtrooms or boardrooms, backyards or stadiums, barrooms or churches. In one, which takes place in a bedroom, a man is awakened by a call from Sammy Davis Jr., who, despite having dialed a wrong number, continues to prattle on in the famously ingratiating voice that Mr. Ziegler captured well: But, hey man, I just want to say this in all sincerity, man, that you are the greatest, man, you are the numero uno cat in my book, man. He listed his ownership interest in Glittering Steel as worth $100,001 to $250,000. Mr. Bannon intends to sell his interest in Glittering Steel and Cambridge Analytica under an agreement he has with the Office of Government Ethics. He also reports that Bannon Strategic Advisors will be going dormant and receive only passive income from investments during his time in the White House. Mr. Bannon disclosed receiving a $100,000 salary from an entity affiliated with Citizens United Productions, a film-production company that is run by David N. Bossie, Mr. Trumps former deputy campaign manager. Mr. Bossie introduced Mr. Bannon to Mr. Trump in 2011. Mr. Bossies Citizens United received $3.5 million from the Mercer Foundation from 2012 to 2014, according to tax returns. Government Accountability Institute is an organization founded by Peter Schweizer and Mr. Bannon that pledges to investigate and expose crony capitalism, misuse of taxpayer monies, and other governmental corruption or malfeasance. The Mercer Family Foundation donated $2 million to the organization in 2013 and 2014, according to tax records. Mr. Bannon worked as a media banker for Goldman Sachs several decades ago and built up some of his fortune from royalties on reruns of the Seinfeld television show. Before his time at Breitbart, he helped negotiate a sale of production rights to Seinfeld that enabled him to acquire a share of the royalties. In 1998, his investment bank Bannon & Company, which helped negotiate the deal, was acquired by the French bank Societe Generale. On his disclosure form, Mr. Bannon reported an investment in Societe Generale valued at $1 million to $5 million and listed it as rent or royalties. Another Goldman alumnus who has joined the Trump administration is Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council. Mr. Cohn appears to be one of the wealthiest of Mr. Trumps White House advisers, according to his filing. His assets are valued at $252 million to $611 million, stemming chiefly from his 26-year career at the Wall Street firm. The filing for Mr. Cohn shows that in addition to the cash and stock he received from Goldman, he has investments in a wide range of companies, both public and private. Those included stock in companies like Bank of America and Kraft Heinz, as well as stakes in a variety of private equity and hedge funds. Mr. Cohn has previously disclosed that he was planning to sell a number of stocks, as well as his stakes in the Goldman-run private funds. JAKARTA, Indonesia Crowned with spiky feathered headdresses and daubed with face paint, scores of protesters gathered outside the Jakarta offices of an American mining giant last week, chanting, waving signs and throwing uncertainty into global commodities markets. The traditional garb was meant to make it clear whom they represented: the people of West Papua, site of Freeport-McMoRans Grasberg mine one of the worlds largest sources of gold and copper. Their shouted slogans made it equally clear what they wanted. Freeport must be shut down! the crowd chanted. It was a refrain that, in recent months, has resonated throughout Indonesia. Less than a week earlier, dozens of students from a different organization dressed in red and white, Indonesias national colors gathered outside the same office, calling for the government to take a firm hand with the company. Freeport hasnt brought prosperity. Its just destroyed the natural environment, said Surya Anta, national coordinator for the Indonesian Peoples Front for West Papua. His organization helped organize anti-Freeport protests in 17 cities around the country. It was a very fluid environment there, he said. It was over 100 degrees, in the middle of the desert. And family members kept swapping positions a wife would come and relieve her husband, or a man would ask his child to take his place for an hour while he went off in search of water. Mr. Ferguson found himself moving from person to person, speaking through a translator to conduct his interviews. But given the often harrowing nature of each story, the interviews took time; meanwhile, the crowd slowly began to transform and, eventually, disperse. It took the photographer two days to identify 20 of the people in the picture he had transferred it to his phone and could zoom in on the faces and interview them. He traveled to and from the scene from a United Nations compound in Diffa, 45 minutes away, where he spent nights. Wed chat to a young child at a water distribution point, and hed direct us to someone else, and on it would go, Mr. Ferguson said, until we recognized someone in the photo. It was a humbling experience. These are people who had lost everything, he said. And everybody is in this constant waiting game for international aid. Dionne Searcey, who wrote the article in the special section, reported alongside Mr. Ferguson during his first trip to Niger. She, too, found herself reflecting on the sense of desperation she witnessed there. Many of the people living there have seen horrible violence, even a family member killed in front of them, she said. When night falls, what horrible dreams there are in each of those rag tag huts. A Georgia man who stole a truck after a night of drinking and rammed into a crosstown city bus, killing the driver, was convicted on Friday of aggravated vehicular homicide and manslaughter on Friday by a Manhattan jury after a three-week trial in state Supreme Court. But the jury acquitted the man, Domonic Whilby, 25, of the top charge against him second-degree murder and a slew of other criminal charges, among them burglary, assault and grand larceny. The drivers widow wept in court and members of his union, who had attended much of the trial, sat stone-faced and angry after the jury foreman read out the verdict. Over seven days of deliberations, the jury of five men and seven women had sent out several notes asking for Justice Gregory Carro to clarify the definition of recklessness and intent. On Thursday, they also requested the testimony of a toxicologist be read back. None of the jurors would explain their decision as they left court on Friday. We call it the correction system, Mr. Cuomo said. I think the situation is corrected as it is ever going to be, unless you can bring a person back to life. In addition to Ms. Clarks sentence, Mr. Cuomo commuted the lengthy terms of four other people convicted of murder or manslaughter. These grants serve as an important reminder that while the fact of a crime never changes, the person who commits it can. Mr. Cuomos grants also point to an uncomfortable truth about criminal justice reform efforts: The issue of violent crime is too often left out of the debate. Its easier to show mercy to nonviolent offenders, as President Barack Obama did in granting sentence commutations overwhelmingly to those convicted of low-level drug crimes. But reform must also focus on violent offenders, who make up a majority of state prisoners, and who serve the longest sentences. Executive clemency is one way to alleviate harsh punishments, but its always dependent on the whims of a given governor or president. Parole can be a more reliable way of determining whether an inmate is ready for release. Parole, if used properly, can offer prisoners an incentive to be productive in the time spent behind bars. But too often, the possibility of getting parole is a mirage. In New York, the Parole Board has long placed too much weight on the nature of the original offense, and not enough on the efforts of the prisoner to atone and improve his or her life. Some Parole Board members continue to take this unfair approach even after state lawmakers clarified the factors they must consider, like how much public-safety risk an inmate would pose if released. The time has come to close Rikers Island. New York Citys sprawling main jail, located on an island in the East River, is a stain on our great citys reputation. It leaves its mark on everyone it touches: the correction officers working back-to-back shifts under dangerous conditions, the inmates waiting for their day in court in an inhumane and violent environment, the family members forced to travel long distances to see their loved ones and the taxpayers who spend billions of dollars to keep the whole dysfunctional apparatus running. These problems will not be fixed with a fresh coat of paint, new trainings or even a major facilities overhaul. They run far too deep. Since the 1930s, Rikers has served as a de facto penal colony, isolating inmates and officers alike from the outside world, to the detriment of all. It is a world unto itself, where the values that govern the rest of New York civility and decency among them do not apply. To be fair, there is much within our criminal justice system to celebrate. The past 30 years have seen dramatic reductions in crime and incarceration in New York City. Today, the citys entire jail population is under 10,000, about half of what it was in the 1990s. Through innovative policing strategies, the expansion of alternatives to incarceration and myriad other progressive efforts, the city has demonstrated that less jail does not mean more crime. Sometimes we flew alongside B-52 strikes. I once flew a photographer in the back seat of an F-100F to film a strike in the Ho Bo Woods. Three B-52s enormous bombers that flew all the way from Guam laid down what must have been 100 bombs each, like a carpet. When you viewed the Iron Triangle from 15,000 feet, it looked like there was a bomb crater every 30 feet. How could anything survive this constant devastation, I would wonder. Bien Hoa itself was relatively safe, and we didnt go off base very often. We were warned that pilots were viewed as the ones who delivered death from above, and a person whose relative had been killed might seek us out. It hit a little closer when an elderly Vietnamese man, who for years had cleaned the squadron building, was found planting a bomb under our briefing room. We assumed we must have hit one of his relatives. Right before Christmas 1966, after I had a wonderful dentist remove my wisdom teeth, the squadron moved to a new fighter base at Tuy Hoa, farther north and right on the ocean. Our mission changed, too. We still flew close air support and interdiction, but then we received a top-secret briefing in early 1967: We would begin bombing in Laos, hitting the Ho Chi Minh Trail just west of the demilitarized zone. We were up against a different enemy, North Vietnamese regulars, who fired back with high-powered ground-to-air defenses. In the first two days, two of our planes were shot down (luckily, both pilots were rescued by helicopters). Quickly we changed tactics, dive bombing and releasing our payloads at 4,500 feet, not 300. Four months later, I was tapped to become a forward air controller basically a pilot in a low- and slow-flying propeller plane (in Vietnam, this was usually the O-1, nicknamed, for some reason, the Bird Dog) who hovers over the target area, coordinating with ground forces and directing the attack. Sometimes, though, I went on foot with ground troops, carrying a radio. My best friend and I (we were in college and the same squadrons together) moved to Cu Chi, operating out of the Army base there. I was assigned to a battalion, call sign Mustang a very active battalion, given the number of close-air-support missions we conducted. The number of bomb craters in the Iron Triangle had increased even in the few months I was at Tuy Hoa. One day, as an Air Force liaison, I went with a South Vietnamese foot patrol into the Triangle. They convinced me it would be safe. We patrolled along the jungle paths, and the commander took great pleasure showing me the maze of tunnels his team had discovered. The tunnels were everywhere; some you could stand up in. I finally realized why all those bomb craters hadnt made that much difference. (The tunnels underneath Cu Chi are still there. In fact, the chief operating officer of my former employer recently traveled to Vietnam as part of his executive M.B.A. program. He visited tunnels, now a museum and popular tourist attraction. Time changes a lot.) People often ask me if I ever got hit. As a pilot, not once. But there was an incident during a helicopter flight as part of a search-and-destroy mission. Near the top of President Trumps enemies list, along with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Nordstrom, are the leakers who fuel his running war with the media. These leakers, they are disgusting, he said last week. These are horrible people. These low-life, criminal blabbermouths, he vowed on Twitter, will be caught! That shouldnt be difficult, not least because some of the loosest lips belong, in Washington-speak, to people close to the president, meaning a few doors down from the Oval Office. Mr. Trumps mercurial management habits and shifting allegiances invite rivalries, backbiting and snitching by competing members of his team, particularly when the White House is under pressure, as it was during last weeks meltdown over the Republicans health care bill. Even now, days after that debacle, people close to Mr. Trump (maybe even Mr. Trump himself?) are cited on multiple media outlets, ranging from Breitbart to CNN to The Times, placing the blame for the failure to replace Obamacare on, variously, Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff; Gary Cohn, the presidents chief economic adviser; Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House; House conservatives; House moderates; House Democrats; and Jared Kushner, the senior adviser/son-in-law whose ski trip to Aspen in the heat of the battle reportedly left Mr. Trump fuming. A leaky White House is not the only consequence of Mr. Trumps chaotic management style, and maybe not even the most important. Mr. Trumps cabinet officers are having a terrible time getting their departments up and running and building their own leadership teams in part because they are having to deal with a small army of 500 Republican advisers, lobbyists and itinerant campaign workers appointed by the White House to oversee the transition from one administration to the other. The only way for Mr. Trump to have maneuvered to the outside of the members of the Freedom Caucus was to call their bluff, put his health care bill up for a vote and dare them to say no to a repeal of Obamacare. But Mr. Trump blinked, and now the 30-plus most conservative Republicans in the House know that they can stand up to him without fear of retribution. A more conventional politician might have expressed regret that his longtime allies could not be persuaded on this one issue, but agreed that they would continue to work together on other necessary policy challenges. But Mr. Trump is not most politicians, and so if he is now going to try to work with Democrats, he needed to burn the bridges with these Republicans to justify it. All of which is just fine, unless he ever gets to a point where he needs the support of the Freedom Caucus again. Mr. Trump does seem to understand that the voters want him to get things done, and the failure of his health care bill raises the stakes for him. But to pass legislation, he needs partners. And if he cant get those partners from the right, he may have no choice but to look leftward. Mr. Trumps challenge going forward, though, is that Republicans are not the only major political party in town with an energized and uncompromising base. Since the election, grass-roots Democrats have made it clear to their elected leaders that they are in no mood to try to find common ground with the president. When Senator Charles Schumer of New York theorized after the election that it might be possible to work with Mr. Trump on certain issues, he was quickly slapped down by his followers. Democratic senators who voted for Mr. Trumps cabinet nominees were called out as traitors and heretics. Even if Mr. Trump is now of a mood to work across party lines, it doesnt appear that there will be many Democrats willing to take him up on his offer. The lesson that the Democrats appear to have taken from the 2016 elections is that they need their own Tea Party. If one intransigent House caucus can create this many problems from the right, imagine what life in Washington will be like when its mirror image emerges from the left. A ruling this week by Venezuelas Supreme Court stripping the nations legislative branch of all authority and vesting that power in the court itself moves a country already beset by violence and economic scarcity one step closer to outright dictatorship. The decision means essentially that every arm of Venezuelas government is now under the thumb of President Nicolas Maduro, whose supporters have gone to great lengths to wrest authority from the National Assembly, which has been dominated by a slate of opposition parties since early 2016. The countrys top court, which is packed with Maduro loyalists, had already invalidated every major law passed by Congress. On Wednesday, as part of a decision involving the executive branchs authority over oil ventures, the court declared that henceforth the judicial branch would execute all powers normally reserved for the legislature. The ruling provoked international condemnation and sent shock waves across the region. It also prompted a strikingly public rebuke from Luisa Ortega, a Maduro loyalist who serves as the nations chief prosecutor. She denounced the decision in a televised address during which she brandished a copy of Venezuelas Constitution. The courts ruling represents a rupture in the constitutional order, Ms. Ortega said, speaking at the Public Ministry, which she leads. We call for reflection so that democratic norms are followed, she added, eliciting hearty applause from colleagues who appeared stunned by the gravity of the moment. A warning to the residents of the Upper East Side, especially those of you who live on one of those blocks so clean yuh could eat a fried egg offen it. Yank (probably better known to you as the Ape), that existentially challenged brute whom you humiliated into a suicidal spiral, has returned to your neighborhood. And hes still as mad as hell. In a serendipitous marriage of theater and real estate, Richard Joness mesmerizing revival of Eugene ONeills The Hairy Ape opened at the Park Avenue Armory on Thursday night, amid the blue-chip addresses where its title character roams and despairs. While it would be comforting to dismiss this 1922 drama as a fascinating anachronism, ONeills nightmarish parable of alienation and class conflict still feels close to home. First staged at the Old Vic Theater in London, Mr. Joness interpretation, designed by Stewart Laing, is ravishing enough to please the sort of aesthetes who worship Robert Wilsons exquisite dreamscapes. But this production also rings with the primal pain of a working-class American who, once stripped of the identity of his job, discovers he belongs nowhere. His name is Robert Smith, but everyone calls him Yank. And it is a part that has just been waiting these many decades for Bobby Cannavale to step into it. ATLANTA City Fire Department investigators arrested three people on Friday on suspicion of involvement in the fire that caused a crucial elevated stretch of an Atlanta highway to collapse a day earlier and could cause months of major traffic headaches here. Sgt. Cortez Stafford, a spokesman for the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department, said that Basil Eleby, 39, was charged Friday with first-degree criminal damage to property. Sergeant Stafford said that additional charges may be forthcoming, and that Mr. Eleby was being held in Fulton County Jail as of Friday evening. Image A mug shot of Basil Eleby, who was charged with criminal damage to property in connection with the fire, from a previous offense. The two other suspects, Barry Thomas and Sophia Bruner, whose ages were not immediately available, were each charged with one count of criminal trespass and were released from custody, Sergeant Stafford said. On March 9, 1977, Francine Hughes decided that she had had enough. Thirteen years of verbal and physical abuse from her hard-drinking, fitfully employed husband, James Hughes, known as Mickey, had led to a horrendous fight at their home in Dansville, Mich. That afternoon, Mr. Hughes began beating her. He refused to let her make dinner for their children. After ripping up the textbooks from her secretarial courses, he demanded that she burn them and drop out of school. She called the police. Two officers came, observed the situation and left. They could do nothing, they said, since they had not witnessed any violence themselves. The beating resumed. When Ms. Hughes made dinner for the children, Mr. Hughes threw the food on the floor and rubbed her face in the mess. At one point, he threatened her with a knife in front of their children. He forced her to have sex with him. Gilbert Baker, a self-described gay Betsy Ross who in 1978 hand-dyed and stitched together eight strips of vibrantly colored fabric into a rainbow flag, instantly creating an enduring international symbol of gay pride, was found dead on Friday at his home in New York City. He was 65. Cleve Jones, a friend and gay rights activist who confirmed the death, said that Mr. Baker had a stroke several years ago but had not been sick recently. As the gay rights movement spread from San Francisco and New York in the 1970s, Mr. Baker was often asked by friends aware of his creative talents to make banners for protests and marches. His creations, like others during that time, often included the pink triangle, which protesters had claimed as an icon after its initial use by the Nazis to identify gay men in concentration camps during World War II. Before a gay pride parade in 1978 in San Francisco, Harvey Milk, a city supervisor and gay rights leader who was assassinated that year, joined others in asking Mr. Baker to create an emblem to represent the movement. Mr. Trumps administration is considered the most wealthy in American history, with members of his senior staff and cabinet worth an estimated $12 billion, according to a tally by Bloomberg. The Friday filings will add voluminous detail to that top-line figure. The White house chief of staff, Reince Priebus, for example, earned at least $1.18 million nearly half of which came from the Republican National Committee, which he formerly led. His assets totaled between $604,008 and at least $1.26 million. I think one of the really interesting things that people are going to see today and I think its something that should be celebrated is that the president has brought a lot of people into this administration, and this White House in particular, who have been very blessed and very successful, said Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary. The officials have given up a lot to come into government by setting aside a lot of assets, he said. Until January, Mr. Kushner was the chief executive of Kushner Companies, a family-run real estate investment firm with holdings across the country. It is a growing business that has taken part in at least $7 billion of acquisitions over the past decade. Late Friday, the White House released details of the plan devised by his advisers to avoid conflicts of interest between Mr. Kushners government role and the wide-ranging business empire he ran with his father. That business depends on foreign investment from undisclosed sources, as well as billions of dollars in loans from the worlds biggest financial services firms. Although Mr. Kushner has stepped down from his management positions at the more than 200 entities that operated aspects of the family real estate business, he will remain a beneficiary of a vast majority of the business he ran for the past decade, through a series of trusts that already owned the various real estate companies. The plan laid out on Friday is not sufficient, said Larry Noble, a former general counsel and chief ethics officer for the Federal Election Commission. While removing himself from the management of the businesses is an important step, he is still financially benefiting from how the businesses do. This presents potential for a conflict of interest. Given his level in the White House and broad portfolio, its hard to see how he will recuse himself from everything that may impact his financial interest. While the filing discloses Mr. Kushners personal lenders, it does not provide information on his business partners or lenders to his projects. That pronouncement came at a time when Mr. Obama and some members of his inner circle thought Mr. Assads hold on power was shaky. But as Mr. Assad dug in his heels, Mr. Obamas policy for Syria was marked by a chronic gap between ends and means. The White House was slow to embrace a plan from David H. Petraeus, the former CIA director, and Hillary Clinton, Mr. Obamas first secretary of state, to train and arm the moderate Syrian opposition. And while the Obama administration was not prepared to use airpower to protect the Syrian opposition, Russia began to send its warplanes to Syria in September 2015 to shore up the Assad government and help it reclaim lost ground. During his final year as secretary of state, John Kerry sought to enlist Russias support for a diplomatic solution that would quell the fighting and provide for a political transition in which Mr. Assad would eventually leave power. But President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia decided instead to help Mr. Assad enlarge the territory he controlled. With Russian air support, the Assad government retook Aleppo in December. The Assad government has also drawn support from Irans paramilitary Quds force, as well as Iranian-backed militias from Iraq, Shiite fighters from Afghanistan and Hezbollah, and the Lebanese militia. During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump said that he while he did not like Mr. Assad, he was glad the Syrian leader was killing ISIS. Since taking office, however, Mr. Trump has shied away from forging a military alliance in Syria with Russia, let alone with Mr. Assad. Instead, the administrations single-minded focus has been to help Syrian fighters oust the Islamic State from the northern city of Raqqa, which the extremists have declared the capital of their self-styled caliphate. Still, major questions loom, including which political authorities in Syria will control Raqqa after ISIS fighters are evicted and how the international community might establish safe zones, or what Mr. Tillerson recently called interim zones of stability, to stem the flow of refugees. Another important question is whether it might be possible to negotiate a broader political accommodation for Syria; despite his gains, Mr. Assad lacks the military manpower to control the entire country. WASHINGTON Increasingly, when it comes to foreign trade, the Trump administration is talking loudly and brandishing a small stick. The widening gap between President Trumps bellicose talk and the modest actions of his administration was again on display Friday afternoon as he presided at the ceremonial signing of two executive orders. They would, he said, set the stage for a great revival of American manufacturing. Under my administration, the theft of American prosperity will end, he said. But the new orders, authorizing a large research study and strengthened enforcement of an existing law, are unlikely to effect a major change in the nations fortunes. Instead, the ceremony highlighted an emerging pattern on trade. Mr. Trump blasted the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a potential disaster and made a great show of removing the United States from the ratification process. On Friday, one of Mr. Trumps top advisers on trade said the Trump administration planned to use the scorned agreement as a starting point for its own deals. Mr. Bannon earned at least $1.3 million and perhaps as much as $2.3 million last year, according to the disclosure report. He disclosed $191,000 in consulting fees he earned from Breitbart News Network, the conservative media organization; $125,333 from Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked for the Trump campaign; and $61,539 in salary from the Government Accountability Institute, a conservative nonprofit organization. All three organizations are backed by the major Republican donors Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah. Mr. Bannons most valuable asset was Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., a privately held consulting firm from which income from his other investments appeared to flow into. It was valued at $5 million to $25 million. He also listed the value of his Bannon Film Industries at $1 million to $5 million. His bank accounts were valued at as much as $2,250,000, while he listed rental real estate valued at as much as $10.5 million. Mr. Bannon made clear in his disclosure report that he intended to sell some of his assets, including his stake in Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm that sells psychographic profiles that it asserts can predict the personality and hidden political leanings of every American adult. Mr. Bannon served until last summer as vice president of Cambridges board. Eric Lipton, Steve Eder and Jonathan Weisman Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner still benefit from their real estate empires. The presidents daughter and son-in-law will remain the beneficiaries of a sprawling real estate and investment business still worth as much as $740 million, despite their new government responsibilities. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, even went so far as to seemingly disavow the document as a reflection of the administrations objectives in the negotiation. That is not a statement of administration policy, he told reporters on Thursday. That is not an accurate statement of where we are at this time. Mr. Spicers comments only replenished Mexicos deep reservoir of wariness and resentment toward Mr. Trump, sentiments that took root with force starting with the debut of his presidential campaign, when he took shots at Mexican immigrants. His vow to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it became a rhetorical motif of his candidacy, firing up his supporters and inflaming anti-Mexican sentiment. And he has long accused Mexico of taking advantage of the United States under Nafta, or the North American Free Trade Agreement. This history has given some officials and business leaders pause when considering the draft letter this week. We dont want to let our guard down, said Moises Kalach, who is in charge of trade issues for Mexicos main business alliance, the Business Coordinating Council. The Mexican business community, he added, was preparing for all negotiating proposals. The administration of Mexicos president, Enrique Pena Nieto, did not comment publicly on the letter. The Mexican government has said it is committed to preserving Nafta and protecting the $1.4 billion in bilateral trade that crosses the border every day, though it has said it is open to modifications. Protesters in Paraguay stormed the Congress and set fire to part of the building on Friday after the Senate voted to amend the Constitution to allow President Horacio Cartes to seek re-election, raising concerns over renewed political instability. Television networks showed demonstrators ransacking offices in the Congress as flames engulfed part of the structure, before security forces dislodged the protesters and firefighters extinguished the blaze. The protests stunned some political leaders who were pushing for the amendment, with the lower house of Congress suspending a vote scheduled for the weekend on the measure, according to Paraguayan news reports. I didnt expect to witness something like this, Hugo Velazquez, the speaker of the lower house, told reporters in explaining the decision to suspend the vote. I am calling for harmony. The tension over efforts to amend the Constitution in favor of Mr. Cartes, a conservative tobacco magnate elected to a five-year term in 2013, reveal how Paraguay remains shaken by the 35-year rule of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner from 1954 to 1989. President Trump has also weighed in. In February, he posted on Twitter a photograph of himself and other officials in the Oval Office with Lilian Tintori, an opposition activist whose husband, Leopoldo Lopez, was in jail. Mr. Trump wrote that Mr. Lopez, a former mayor of Caracas, should be released immediately. The taking of political prisoners is not new in Venezuela; it is the numbers that have grown under Mr. Maduro, human rights groups say. His predecessor, Hugo Chavez, jailed opponents, including a judge who had opposed him. But analysts say Mr. Chavez more often avoided dissent by channeling the countrys oil revenues, at times more than $100 a barrel, into social programs that bolstered his popularity. Mr. Maduro, however, has been faced with falling oil prices and years of economic mismanagement, which have led to shortages of food and basic medicines. Since October, Venezuelas currency, the bolivar, has been in free fall, with the black-market dollar rising against it by 350 percent at its height, putting food even further out of reach and sinking the presidents popularity. These conditions led to the protests against Mr. Maduro on Margarita Island, where Mr. Jatar, the journalist, was arrested. His publication, Reporte Confidencial, had a long history of chronicling the ups and downs of the island which is off Venezuelas eastern coast beginning as a weekly leaflet in 2006. It later expanded online, where it continued to operate on a shoestring budget and with a small staff. It became known for its investigations, including of improper land use by a judge and one about a state governor linked to a corruption scheme related to subsidized food. If no one else would publish it, Reporte Confidencial would put it out, said Yusnelly Villalobos, Mr. Jatars assistant. James Rosenquist, who helped define Pop Art in its 1960s heyday with his boldly scaled painted montages of commercial imagery, died on Friday in New York City. He was 83 years old. His wife, Mimi Thompson, said Mr. Rosenquist died at his home after a long illness. Like his contemporaries Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Mr. Rosenquist developed a powerful graphic style in the early 1960s that traditionalists reviled and a broad public enthusiastically embraced. The Pop artists took for their subject matter images and objects from the mass media and popular culture, including advertising, comic books and consumer products. They also employed techniques that until then had been associated primarily with commercial and industrial methods of production, like silk screening or, in Mr. Rosenquists case, billboard painting. Mr. Rosenquist himself drew on his experience painting immense movie billboards above Times Square and a Hebrew National sign in Brooklyn. Having the music be a meditative space, with micro-narratives and different areas of intensity, feels more intimately communicative than expecting everybody to agree: Ah, that was the sad bit, and That was the climax right there. One of the most moving things about this musical tradition is happening upon it: walking through London and ducking into St. Pauls Cathedral, for instance, and hearing the buttery luxuriousness of one of Herbert Howellss canticles (a pair of texts sung, in the Anglican tradition, during Evensong), standing up the whole time. Youd be amazed how the body perceives musical detail when standing up: The difference between unison voices and voices in harmony, the length of line, subtle dynamic shifts all hit you directly in the gut rather than in the sometimes detached concert muscle. It is important to note, though, that this music is now actively performed and recorded in nonliturgical settings. Some of the more obscure 15th- and 16th-century large-scale choral works that would be awkward to include in modern worship (those of Cornysh, Fayrfax and Browne jump to mind) have been preserved almost entirely by excellent groups like the Tallis Scholars or Stile Antico. O Sing Unto the Lord calls attention to these more obscure composers, and in my fantasy world, everybody who reads it will immediately seek out as many recordings as they can find. One of the small frustrations I had with the book is Mr. Gants tendency to offer what can feel like unnecessary superlatives, like Thomas Tallis is easily the best composer in this story so far, and one of the two or three best of all. (He then goes on to enumerate all of the ways in which Thomas Tallis is inarguably a fantastic composer.) Of Brittens choral writing, he claims that the Missa Brevis is the best of [his] commissioned liturgical works I found myself whimpering into the pages, But what about A Hymn to the Virgin, with that macaronic text and that Jacobs ladder up to the lines Of all thou bearest the prize, Lady, queen of paradise? It was the best option, said the spokesman for the Insurance Department, Ron Ruman. The company was not viable, and this would provide the maximum protection under law for the consumers. But the court wrangling went on for nearly nine years before Judge Leavitt finally ordered the liquidation, in March. During that time, Penn Treatys financial condition deteriorated further. And for nine years, policyholders didnt know if their insurer was dead or alive but they kept getting those letters instructing them to keep paying their monthly premiums or they would lose everything. Policyholders who had already moved into nursing homes or other care facilities did have their claims paid throughout the proceedings. But those who didnt make the move yet, like Ms. Leonard, will in some cases bear losses. They are waiting now to hear how much. A few states cap guarantee-fund relief at $100,000. Others, like California and Connecticut, guarantee $500,000 and more. New Jersey is said to have no limit at all, but some analysts question that promise, especially if another big long-term-care insurer fails. Im sure I speak for everybody else: Were all confused, said Ms. Leonard, a retired member of the faculty at Nova Southeastern University. She said she had asked for updates on the nine-year court proceedings, but thought it was a class-action lawsuit. She was surprised to learn it was something else. If this was not a class-action suit, then why was it not? she said. There needs to be a class-action suit. It seems to me they need to be made an example of and made to honor their policies. Over the cold winter months, Bradshaw-area farmer Boyd Stuhr Jr. kept his pencil sharp and an eye on commodity prices. We try to analyze what will make us more money. I penciled that out and in December and January, the bean prices still looked pretty good. It looked like the bean prices would be a little more profitable at the time, he said. Thats the whole idea behind farming. Youre trying to make a living and make money. I dont really like to do it for nothing, if I can help it. It appears row-crop producers across the nation and in Nebraska had the same thought and are planning to plant a record number of soybean acres. Farmers nationally reported plans to grow 4 percent fewer corn acres and 7 percent more acres of soybeans as of March 1, according to the Prospective Plantings report released Friday by the federal Agricultural Statistics Service. The report showed farmers this year planning to split corn and soybean plantings about evenly, with 90 million acres of corn and 89.5 million acres of soybeans. Last year, corn acres totaled 94 million and soybeans 83.4 million. If the report holds true, corn acres would be down or unchanged in 38 of the 48 states covered in the report, and soybeans would be up or unchanged in 27 of 31 states. For Nebraska, the farmer survey predicts 9.55 million acres of corn in 2017, down 3 percent from 9.85 million last year. Soybeans are expected to cover a record 5.7 million acres, up 10 percent from last year. The numbers held no surprises for Nebraska Corn Board Executive Director Kelly Brunkhorst. Weve come off two record years of (corn) crops in Nebraska, and record crops nationally. It puts quite significant pressure on the market, Brunkhorst said. Last year we gained about 400,000 acres in corn in Nebraska. Some of that came from the decline in wheat acres and some of it was soybean acres being moved into corn to pull some economics out of corn. This year that has switched. Winter wheat acres, which get planted in the fall, continued a long-term downward trend, tumbling 19 percent to 1.11 million acres in Nebraska this year. Corn is in a cycle of strong supply, Brunkhorst said, and while demand has been good, its not strong enough to keep up with the bin-busting harvests of the past couple years. The USDA reported Monday that corn supply in the U.S. as of March 1 totaled 8.62 billion bushels, 10 percent more than the same date the prior year. Nebraska alone had 1 billion bushels of corn on hand. Soybeans were at 1.73 billion bushels nationally, up 13 percent from the year prior. In Nebraska, soybeans totaled 137.7 million bushels. The soybean numbers both came in higher than analysts had expected, said Roger Gamble, a commodities broker at RG Investments in Seward. In the wake of the Friday reports, corn prices trended higher while soybean prices fell on the Chicago Board of Trade. Corn for May delivery was up 6.75 cents, at $3.64 a bushel, while May soybeans lost 17 cents to $9.46 a bushel. The thought process is with these fewer corn acres that we might get supply and demand a little bit closer to being in balance for the 2017 crop, Gamble said. But the seeds arent in the ground yet. I could still switch a few acres to corn if that looked like it would be more profitable, but I havent made that jump yet, said Stuhr, who farms northwest of Bradshaw. In Nebraska, plans for other crops include a 2 percent increase in hay to 2.5 million acres, a 45 percent increase in sunflowers to 60,000 acres, no change in sugar beets at 48,000 acres, a 9 percent increase in dry edible beans to 150,000 acres, and an 18 percent decrease in dry edible peas to 45,000 acres. She is the little sister. She was a writer for the NBC show Parks and Recreation, is a regular on the Fox comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine and is the executive producer of a series based on the Twitter sensation Joanne the Scammer. He is the big brother. As a founder, also, of The Huffington Post, he has shown acumen for building businesses around viral content and memes. (Earlier this week, and many weeks after this brother-sister date, rumors spread around the web that BuzzFeed plans to raise money through an initial public offering. Carole Robinson, a spokeswoman for BuzzFeed, declined to comment.) Mr. Peretti, his wife, Andrea Harner, and their twin sons moved to Los Angeles in 2015. The siblings are making the most of the proximity. They share meals regularly, with their spouses and otherwise. They screen movies. They even tried a group game of Dungeons & Dragons, an activity usually exclusive to Ms. Peretti and his sons. And they spent Thanksgiving together Mr. Peretti prepared the meal using only foods available during the Pilgrims time though not Christmas or Hanukkah. We did a sort of gift exchange, Ms. Peretti said. Well, I gave gifts to Jonah. Jonah never gives gifts to me. Go ahead, defend yourself. He began to say, There are some things that are private that Id rather not talk about when his sister piped back in. Actually he did give me a 23andMe genetic test, she continued. Im like, are you trying to say were not related? Their shared sense of humor should put that idea to rest. Although Ms. Peretti is hipper and droller, and Mr. Peretti is geekier, their wit binds them. Christine Ning-Chiun Yarng and Galen Murphy-Fahlgren were married March 28 at the brides apartment in Arlington, Va. Dr. Apichai Shipper, a Universal Life minister and friend of the couple, officiated. The bride, 34, will take her husbands name. She is a foreign service officer with the State Department in Washington. In October, she is to be posted to the consular affairs section of the United States Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. She graduated cum laude from Rice University and received a masters degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. She also received a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the daughter of Sufen Lin Yarng and Fuh-Cherng Yarng of Redmond, Wash. The brides father retired as a vice president in New York for Taipei Fubon Bank. Her mother is a bookkeeper in Bellevue, Wash., for Marine Fishing International. The groom, 27, is serving with the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group at the American Embassy in Paris. Before being stationed in France, beginning last year, he served in Hawaii, Afghanistan, Japan, Mongolia and Russia. He is studying online for a bachelors degree in political science from Arizona State University. Stephanie Elaine Davidson and Dov Lucien Morris Waxman are to be married April 2 at Alden Castle, an event space in Brookline, Mass. Rabbi Leonard Gordon is to lead the ceremony. Ms. Davidson, 31, is a clinical lawyer at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston, where she teaches antidomestic violence law in a clinical setting, and represents survivors in family and district courts. She graduated magna cum laude from Columbia, and received a law degree from Harvard. She is a daughter of Karen B. Davidson and Dr. Brent N. Davidson, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Dr. Waxman, 42, is a professor of political science, international affairs and Israel studies and the Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. He is the author of several books on Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, most recently Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel. He graduated with second-class honors from Oxford and received a masters degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins, from which he also received a Ph.D in the subject focusing on Middle East studies. He is the son of Carole A. Waxman and Denis R. Waxman of London. The couple met through OkCupid in June 2015 and got together a couple of weeks later, after Dr. Waxman persuaded her to take a break from her strict study schedule for the Massachusetts bar. To the Editor: Re Can Democrats Win Back Catholics? (Op-Ed, March 27): Thomas Groome is far too timid in his admonition for Democrats to appear more pro-life. In fact, it should be easy to outflank Republicans on the pro-life issue, all while maintaining womens legal right to choose. The Republican strategy to obstruct and criminalize abortion, by overturning Roe v. Wade, simply wont work. Women will travel to states where it remains legal and, as they do now in states that enforce restrictive Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers laws, will resort to the exploding black market for abortion drugs from Mexico, Canada and innumerable online pharmacies. Democratic social policies are inherently pro-life. Most of the recent declines in abortion have come in blue states, where there are few obstacles to the procedure. Free access to long-term contraceptives has made Obamacare arguably the most pro-life federal program in American history. With two-thirds of abortions coming from women near or below the poverty line, further expansions to Medicaid, low-cost child care, a living wage, reduced education costs, among other Democratic staples, can ensure that women wont view childbirth as an obstacle to their economic viability. The prospect of job creation and short-term returns has prompted several governments in Latin America to welcome mining companies and keep regulation to a minimum. In remote areas, unauthorized miners have sucked up natural resources without regard for the environmental and social damage they leave behind. The surge in reckless mining operations has provoked anger and controversy throughout the region, and it was a driving force for a remarkable law passed Wednesday in El Salvador banning mining for gold and other metals in the tiny Central American nation. The enactment of the legislation was a victory for activists and Catholic Church leaders, who argued that giving miners free rein in El Salvador would further pollute the water sources of one of the most environmentally wrecked countries in the hemisphere. Today not only Salvadorans will judge the actions we take to protect the environment, because this is a borderless issue, Johnny Wright Sol, a lawmaker who was one of the proponents of the bill, said in a statement. The environment belongs to all of us. My parents shared premium on education bonded them as graduate students at the University of Southern California in the 1990s. Two New Yorkers pursuing their masters and doctorates, they saw school as the surest way to attain security. It was never a question that I was going to college. Hard work, I was taught, would ensure as many choices as possible. That level of pressure was the norm in Montgomery County, Md., just outside Washington, D.C., where I grew up. It is one of the wealthiest and best-educated counties in the country. It is also largely segregated and fiercely competitive. I grew up surrounded by so much privilege it was possible for many residents to ignore race and class inequality entirely. After all, the nations first black president lived 12 miles away. So, despite the racial violence that was making headlines, my friends seemed to believe Montgomery County was post-racial. Its sad but its a good thing we dont have those problems here, a classmate said the day after Trayvon Martin was murdered. It was clear to me, but not to many of my peers, that the community was still very much influenced by stereotypes and misconceptions about race. When I tried to talk to my classmates about that, they tended to be defensive. Being one of the few black kids in my school was all Id ever known before college. Having my hair teasingly prodded during recess or being called oreo felt normal. From 7 a.m. until 4 p.m., I learned to excuse small indignities, and I used humor as a defense mechanism. When I got home, I could finally vent to the few other people who understood. My mother was very clear: Dont let anyone touch your hair and you better not let them call you outside of your name. As I got older, I felt less and less like I belonged. When I started taking AP courses and showing up to the same college info sessions as many of my classmates, they made jokes about quotas and affirmative action, as if they hadnt seen me studying right alongside them for years. One classmate even asked me to give up my spot on the morning announcements because I didnt need anything extra for my college applications anyway. TULSA, Okla. Rhonda McCracken is a kindergarten teacher and a Republican who voted for President Trump. Now shes wrestling with the consequences. McCrackens deep-rooted conservatism is matched by a passion to support Tulsa Domestic Violence Intervention Services, a nonprofit that helped her flee an ex- who she says beat and choked her, once until unconsciousness. She became teary as she described how staff members at the organization helped her and her son escape that relationship. They saved my life, and my sons, she said, her eyes liquid. So she is aghast that one of Trumps first proposals is to cut federal funds that sustain the organization. My prayer is that Congress will step in to protect domestic violence programs, she said. Here in Oklahoma, Ive been interviewing many people like McCracken fervent Trump supporters who now find that the White House is trying to ax programs they have depended on, to pay for Trumps border wall and for increases in military spending. And theyre upset. Ubers public downfall began in February, when Susan Fowler, a former engineer at the company, wrote about enduring sexual harassment and discrimination there. Other employees came forward with stories. One involved a manager groping employees breasts. Mr. Kalanicks own bro-hood became part of the story when a video surfaced showing him berating a Uber driver who complained that Ubers price cuts had driven him into bankruptcy. Mr. Kalanick said the driver needed to take responsibility for his own life. As this was happening, Googles self-driving car unit sued Uber, alleging it had stolen its ideas. Then word leaked that Uber had been using a sneaky software tool to deceive regulators in cities around the world. All this is as much a part of bro culture as the poor treatment of women; the point is to get away with as much as you can. Hoping to right the ship, Uber appointed one of its board members, Arianna Huffington, to join former attorney general Eric Holder and others to investigate the sexual harassment claims. Mr. Kalanick has apologized and vowed to grow up. (Hes 40.) Most important, Uber has announced that it is planning to hire a chief operating officer, ideally a steady hand like Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook. Its a great idea, but it should have happened years ago. Now it may be too late. Ms. Huffington insists the board has full confidence in Mr. Kalanick. But should it? Hes a college dropout with a spotty track record and a reputation for pugnacity. His record at Uber includes racking up enormous losses reportedly $5 billion over the last two years. Despite this, the bluest blue-chip investors (including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) have invested a total of $16 billion in Uber. Bro C.E.O.s are better at raising money than making money. So why do venture capitalists keep investing in them? It may be because many of the venture capitalists are bros as well. Venture capitalists used to be tech engineers who had made a bundle, retired early and took up investing in start-ups as a kind of white-shoe hobby. The new breed are competitive alpha males who previously might have gone to work as bond traders. At the same time, there are fewer women. In 1999, 10 percent of investing partners at venture capital companies were women. By 2014 the number had declined to 6 percent, according to the Diana Project at Babson College. This is probably one reason that, despite many studies showing that women run companies better than men, none of the 15 biggest tech unicorns start-ups worth more than $1 billion has a female chief executive. Ubers collapse should not come as a surprise but it does offer a lesson: Toxic workplace culture and rotten financial performance go hand-in-hand. Its possible for a boorish jerk to run a successful company, but jerks do best when surrounded by non-jerks, and bros do best when they hire seasoned executives to help them. Without adult supervision and institutional restraints, the C.E.-Bros vices end up infecting the culture of the workplaces they control. This poisonous state of affairs will get fixed only when investors start getting hurt. A crash at Uber, the most high profile tech start-up in the world, could provide the jolt that finally brings the tech industry back to its senses. To that end, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, a professional group for critical care workers, recently started a program to fund I.C.U. survivor support groups like ours at hospitals across the country and abroad. Maybe, as I.C.U. doctors, we can learn from our patients and their families and they can learn from one another, simply by sitting in a room together and paying attention to what unfolds. So I sat at the support group and I did not talk; I listened. I listened to former patients describe how they returned home only to find their minds cloudy or to feel abandoned by the teams of doctors whod saved their lives. And as they talked, I flashed through the faces of patients I had cared for during my training. I lingered over one memory of a young woman whod developed life-threatening pneumonia after an influenza infection. On the night that she came in, I stuck her wrist to draw arterial blood, over and over again, until she was swollen and oozing from tiny puncture wounds. I had not been a doctor long, and I was sure she would die. To my surprise, I watched her breathing tube come out a few weeks later. Her voice was hoarse and tentative and she was confused. But she had lived. At the time, unaware of the range of outcomes that might face her moving forward, I simply felt triumphant. Support group ended. There were a few tears, a few phone numbers scrawled on napkin corners before the room emptied. Everything Id heard was still on my mind when I returned to the I.C.U. for a scheduled shift shortly afterward. One man on my patient list had been admitted with shock from a widely disseminated infection. He was close to breathing on his own, without the ventilator. As I examined him late that night, his wife watched from a chair in the corner. He had a good day, she said, and I heard the relief in her voice. They say he might leave the I.C.U. soon. He had been lucky. Perhaps the week in the intensive care unit would fade like a strange dream and he would have a smooth re-entry into the world. Yet then again, maybe he wouldnt. I thought for a moment about whether I should discuss this with his wife. But it didnt feel like the right time to share the challenging realities that often accompany I.C.U. survival. Even if I did tell her about anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress, I doubted that she would have been able to hear it then, through her exhaustion and pure relief that her husband would not die there in that room. I would invite him to an upcoming support group, I thought, and jotted down his name so that I would remember to do so. Then I turned my focus from the future back to the present. He was getting better, that much was true. And for the moment, that was enough. And they opposed outreach to educate the public. When we sent beneficiaries a brochure about their new options, Mitch McConnell, then the Senate minority leader, called it propaganda. Meanwhile, they spread misinformation, claiming, for example, that premiums were soaring everywhere and that doctors were dropping Medicare, when in fact, overall premium increases were historically low and Medicare patients experienced no discernible change in their access to doctors. Now that the Republicans are in control of both elected branches of government, they are in a position to undermine the Affordable Care Act from within and then to blame the law, rather than their own sabotage, for its failure. Congress, the Trump administration and Tom Price, the secretary of health and human services, could do a lot of damage without overturning the law. This has already begun. Early this year, President Trump stopped advertising aimed at persuading healthy young people to sign up for coverage a perfect way to cause the death spiral Republicans are so fond of predicting. Now, they can starve the agencies that have to administer the law, making it hard for them to do their jobs. They can make it riskier for insurance companies to participate and can decrease enforcement of requirements that policies cover a basic set of benefits. The new administrator of Medicare and Medicaid, Seema Verma, favors giving states waivers to avoid some of the laws provisions, weakening coverage and increasing out-of-pocket costs. Under President Obama, my agency carefully reviewed any state-level changes in Medicaid benefits and marketplace policies, but far less diligence is likely now. They could also stop learning about best practices from different states approaches. In Obamacares first seven years, some states, like Massachusetts, Arkansas and California, have come up with creative ways to keep premium increases down by encouraging better care and providing incentives for healthy people to sign up. Others, like Arizona, Oklahoma and Tennessee, have been more passive and have seen much higher increases. Significantly, states that expanded Medicaid have, on average, kept premiums down, because many expensive patients were covered by Medicaid instead of having to enter the marketplaces high-risk pools. February was a month of "firsts" for investors. It was the first time in history the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), the most iconic stock index in the world, had swung by more than 1,000 points on an intraday basis, and it was the first time investors bore witness to not one but two single-day point declines in excess of 1,000 points -- 1,175 points and 1,033 points. In total, three of the eight largest single-day point declines in the Dow occurred in a span of less than a week last month. THE series of columns Ive been writing lately, floating implausible proposals for an ideologically unstable age, has been a useful way of avoiding the depressing subject of the Trump administrations first 100 days because really, in the face of such incompetence and chaos, what is there to say? But precisely because this administration seems so hopeless, any constructive advice for the Trump White House automatically falls into the category of implausible ideas. So I can continue my ongoing series while also talking about Donald Trump by proposing, as this weeks unlikely-to-happen proposal, that our president should go out and get himself a brain. I do not mean a vat-grown cerebral cortex cooked up in some underground anti-aging lab funded by Silicon Valley immortalists though I gather those may be soon available as well. I mean a brain in the sense that people (unkindly, but not inaccurately) used the term to describe Bill Kristol when he was the aide-de-camp to Vice President Dan Quayle 25 years ago: a person, or better a group of persons, who can tell Trump what specific policies he ought to support. Because a core weakness of this White House, more devastating (for now) than the pugilistic tweets and permanent swirl of scandal, is the absence of anyone who seems to have thought through how one might translate Trumpism, the populist nationalism on which the president campaigned, into substantive policy on any specific issue except a temporary visa freeze. All the same, the Israeli bomb threat hoax does force some reassessment. Perhaps we have given Trump-era anti-Semitism more emphasis than it deserves. This does not mean that, as Mr. Spicer suggests, we should see the president as the victim of unjust insinuations. Instead, we should ask why there was so much more pressure on Mr. Trump to speak out about apparent anti-Semitic threats than about other types of religious and ethnic violence. For example, while synagogues have been threatened, at least four mosques have been burned. According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, there have been 35 attacks on mosques including vandalism, break-ins and death threats in the first three months of this year, compared with 19 over the same period in 2016. In the last week, a family of Pakistani origin in Virginia and an Iranian refugee in Oregon reported their homes broken into and defaced with anti-Muslim obscenities. The Iranian was not even Muslim, and others who are not Muslim but may be suspected of being such have been targeted in hate crime incidents. In February, a white man demanded to know if two Indian patrons at a bar in Kansas were in the country illegally, and shot them, killing one. In March, a masked assailant shot a Sikh man in Washington State, reportedly telling him to go back to his country. The various strands of renascent bigotry in Mr. Trumps America are intertwined, and anti-Semitism is only part of the tapestry. Yet Americans, for good historical reasons, tend to have a particularly heightened sensitivity toward anti-Semitism. All 100 senators signed a letter calling on the Trump administration to take swift action against the anti-Semitic bomb threats. There has been no similar political urgency in demanding protection for other harassed minorities. The president and his associates mix anti-Semitic dog whistles with frank attacks on Muslims, immigrants and refugees. The paradox is that in todays America, coded anti-Semitism is more of a political taboo than open Islamophobia. We spend a great deal of time and energy parsing the semiotics of Mr. Trumps role in stoking anti-Jewish sentiment, while Muslims and immigrants can be defamed with impunity. The risk here is that weve been distracted by the anti-Semitism controversy from the ways in which other groups are being demonized as Jews once were. But in 1935, after a New York City slaughterhouse operator was convicted of violating the poultry code, the Supreme Court called into question the whole approach of the New Deal, by holding that the N.I.R.A. was an unconstitutional delegation by Congress of a legislative power. Only Congress can create rules like the poultry code, the justices said. Because Congress did not define fair competition, leaving the rule-making to the president, the N.I.R.A. violated the Constitutions separation of powers. The courts ruling in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. the United States, along with another case decided the same year, are the only instances in which the Supreme Court has ever struck down a federal statute based on this rationale, known as the nondelegation doctrine. Schechter Poultrys stand against executive-branch rule-making proved to be a legal dead end, and for good reason. As the court has recognized over and over, before and since 1935, Congress is a cumbersome body that moves slowly in the best of times, while the economy is an incredibly dynamic system. For the sake of business as well as labor, the updating of regulations cant wait for Congress to give highly specific and detailed directions. The New Deal filled the gap by giving policy-making authority to agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, which protects investors, and the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees collective bargaining between unions and employers. Later came other agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (which regulates workplace safety) and the Department of Homeland Security. Still other agencies regulate the broadcast spectrum, keep the national parks open, help farmers and assist Americans who are overseas. Administrative agencies coordinated the response to Sept. 11, kept the Ebola outbreak in check and were instrumental to ending the last financial crisis. They regulate the safety of food, drugs, airplanes and nuclear power plants. The administrative state isnt optional in our complex society. Its indispensable. But if the regulatory power of this arm of government is necessary, it also poses a risk that federal agencies, with their large bureaucracies and potential ties to lobbyists, could abuse their power. Congress sought to address that concern in 1946, by passing the Administrative Procedure Act, which ensured a role for the judiciary in overseeing rule-making by agencies. The system worked well enough for decades, but questions arose when Ronald Reagan came to power promising to deregulate. His E.P.A. sought to weaken a rule, issued by the Carter administration, which called for regulating stationary sources of air pollution a broad wording that is open to interpretation. When President Reagans E.P.A. narrowed the definition of what counted as a stationary source to allow plants to emit more pollutants, an environmental group challenged the agency. The Supreme Court held in 1984 in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council that the E.P.A. (and any agency) could determine the meaning of an ambiguous term in the law. The rule came to be known as Chevron deference: When Congress uses ambiguous language in a statute, courts must defer to an agencys reasonable interpretation of what the words mean. Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, is also chairwoman of C40, a network of the worlds biggest cities committed to addressing climate change. As mayor, despite strong opposition, she has closed parts of the city including along the bank of the Seine River to traffic. Recently, I asked Ms. Hidalgo about her interest in environmental issues and why women are important to the solutions. Her answers have been edited and condensed. How did you get interested in environment and climate change issues? Air pollution was the issue that first alerted me to the importance of taking bold action to protect Parisians. Pollution created by heavy traffic has always been a challenge for big cities like Paris. When I was a deputy mayor between 2001 and 2008, Paris made a lot of progress by creating the Velib bike sharing system, one of the first in any major city in the world, and the Autolib electric car hire system. When I was in charge of urban planning, we pedestrianized the first section of the bank of the Seine, from the Musee dOrsay to the Eiffel Tower. This was disruptive at the time, but today Parisians and Paris lovers cant imagine this iconic landscape as a road anymore. We know youve introduced Paris Respire. What does that involve? What else have you done in this area, and what do you hope to do in the future? Paris Respire is the reclaiming of the streets of Paris, for the enjoyment of pedestrians the adults and especially the children and the cyclists. Some of the citys most iconic areas, including Le Marais, Montmartre and the Canal St.-Martin, are closed to all vehicles on Saturdays and/or Sundays. This showed to Parisians what it meant to live and commute alternatively. They were given the opportunity, for the first time in living memory, to experience a healthier and more peaceful city, breathing a cleaner air. WASHINGTON Facing mounting pressure over civilian casualties in American airstrikes, the United States-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria said on Saturday that it was likely that at least 229 civilians had been unintentionally killed by its operations since they began in August 2014. In February, the last month covered by the report and the first full month of the Trump administration, four such civilians were killed, the coalition said. The assessment, issued monthly, therefore does not include the March 17 strike against a building in Mosul in which scores if not hundreds of civilians were killed, according to Iraqi witnesses. That strike is under investigation. The coalitions overall count is far less than estimates by some human rights groups. Airwars, a nongovernment organization that monitors reports of civilian casualties in international airstrikes, has asserted that at least 2,831 civilians are likely to have been killed as of March 28 by the coalitions air attacks since August 2014. The worries about civilian casualties have grown as Iraqi forces push to take western Mosul from the Islamic State with the help of American and allied air power, rockets and artillery. President Trump has vowed to step up the fight against the militants, though the basic strategy in Mosul was set by American commanders during the Obama administration. WASHINGTON The husband-and-wife team of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, now both senior federal government officials, has been alongside President Trump as the White House has hosted dozens of chief executives and a handful of world leaders in recent weeks. It is a rarefied crowd, one that has included the top executives of some of the worlds largest automobile, airline, chemical, pharmaceutical and tech companies. Mr. Kushner will continue to keep such select company now that he has helped create a new office that Mr. Trump is calling the White House Office of American Innovation. But the financial disclosure report released late Friday for Mr. Kushner, which shows that he and his wife still benefit financially from a real estate and investment empire worth as much as $740 million, makes clear that this most powerful Washington couple is walking on perilous legal and ethical ground, according to several prominent experts on the subject. Unlike Mr. Trump, who is exempt from conflict of interest laws, both Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump who took a formal White House position this past week are forbidden under federal criminal and civil law to take any action that might benefit their particular financial holdings. While these diplomats have held on through multiple transfers of power in Washington, navigating this new administration poses special challenges. Ms. Lempert has come under fire from people on the Israeli right, who accuse her of continuing to push Mr. Obamas tough-on-Israel policies. And Mr. Shannons ability to get along with Mr. Trumps inner circle has rankled some in the State Department, which has become a hotbed of dissent against the new president and his policies. Theyre relying on these people for sheer expertise, said Elliott Abrams, a Republican foreign-policy elder who was briefly considered for the post of deputy secretary of state. But there is a danger here. You have to make a judgment about whether the career person was so embedded in the previous administration that they need to go immediately. The status of Obama holdovers remains a source of tension within the National Security Council. Since the inauguration in January, Mr. Trumps aides have pushed to get rid of many of them, in part because they question whether people who worked for Mr. Obama can be loyal to Mr. Trump. It is unclear whether the new national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, is resisting these efforts, though he has made a point of meeting with the career staff. The problem is compounded by severe delays at the White House in filling jobs. So far, it has nominated people for only 43 of 553 key executive branch positions, according to a tally by the nonpartisan Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service. The delays are particularly acute in the national security field, where the White House is confronting crises like the military campaign against the Islamic State. Even before his secretary of state, Mr. Tillerson, was confirmed, Mr. Trump had signed an executive order barring visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries and moved to revive peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. CROW AGENCY, Mont. The pale yellow halls of the Crow government building here are nearly empty these days, with 1,000 of this tribes 1,300 employees recently laid off. Across the way, Rebecca Ten Bear Reed and her children have no running water. And past the nearby grassy hills, families live a dozen to a home, playgrounds have fallen to tatters and this tribe of roughly 13,000 people is now turning to President Trumps promise to revive coal for its future. This is the worst Ive ever seen it. Ever, said the tribes chief executive, Paul Little Light, explaining that revenue had dwindled as the Crows main resource fell from favor. A lot of people are not Trump fans here. Very few. But we would be his best friends if he brought back coal. When thousands of Native Americans converged near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation last year, their stance against the Dakota Access oil pipeline became a global symbol of indigenous opposition to the pro-drilling, pro-mining agenda that Mr. Trump adopted. INDIANAPOLIS Dozens of families remained at a lead-contaminated public housing complex in northwest Indiana despite a Friday target date to move them out so the city could tear down the buildings. More than 270 families have left the housing development, West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago, and officials hope to have the remaining 50 or so families out within a week. But the delay points to several problems with the evacuation effort, like limited rental options in the formerly industrial area, landlords who will not accept government housing vouchers and some residents resistance to being forced from the city. Tara Adams, who lives in West Calumet and is a lifelong resident of East Chicago, said she has been seeking a new home for herself, her 19-year-old son and her 11-year-old daughter since last summer and has had their belongings packed for months. The temporary housing she has been offered is about 25 miles away, in what she worries is a perilous neighborhood across the state line on Chicagos South Side. I for sure dont want to move my 19-year-old son into an area where theres a greater chance for him to get shot, Ms. Adams said. I dont want to do that. The link between climate change and womens rights may seem baffling to some. But for Zandile Gumede, the first female mayor of Durban, South Africa, they are inextricably woven together. She was elected last year in part on a promise to address environmental problems in the region, and engaging more women in the effort is crucial to finding solutions, she said. Ms. Gumede, 55, knows something about the kind of political activism she is encouraging. She grew up in South Africas era of racial apartheid and rose through the ranks of Nelson Mandelas African National Congress. Women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change and are less likely to be educated as scientists or represented on committees that make decisions about environmental sustainability, she said. So, among other initiatives, her local government is partnering with universities to ensure that more women get degrees in the sciences. Durban, one of the largest cities in South Africa, is grappling, like the rest of the country, with one of the worst droughts in its history. Increasing urbanization and industrialization, pollution from trucks entering and exiting the citys port, the largest in the country, and contaminated waterways exacerbate the growing environmental crisis. Betty Jean Sjogren passed away on March 30, 2017, in Lincoln. She was born in Omaha on July 7, 1928, to Swedish immigrants John Ivar Hultman and Margaret Ruth Cronstrom. She attended Columbian Grade School, Omaha Central High School and Luther College in Wahoo. She met a young UNMC medical student, Merle Sjogren, in 1946 and married a year later in Omaha. They moved to Portland, Oregon, while Merle completed his residency. After the birth of their first child in 1948, they were commissioned as missionaries and set off for a six month stay in London where Merle studied tropical medicine. For the next five years they served on mission stations in Machame and Kiomboi, Tanzania, East Africa. Two daughters were added to the family. Betty loved Tanzania its people, its culture and its beauty. In 1953 they returned by ship to the USA and back to Omaha where another daughter was born. Here the family lived for 30 years except for three years in Abilene, Texas, while Merle was a major in the USAF serving as a flight surgeon at Dyess Air Force Base. In 1986 Richard Young Hospital opened a new facility in Kearney. Merle and Betty moved as Merle continued his psychiatry practice. They enjoyed the seven years they lived in Kearney. In 1992 Betty and Merle retired to Lincoln. Wherever Betty was planted she volunteered in the community. She was enthusiastic and dedicated to the task she would set out to accomplish. In Omaha she served as an officer and member of Lutheran Medical Center Distaffs (loved working on the First Ladies Dolls committee dressed dolls in the inaugural gown of each Nebraska Governor's wife on display in the Governor's Mansion in Lincoln), the Service Guild of LMC, the Auxiliaries of Immanuel, Methodist and Clarkson Hospitals and UNMC Faculty Women's Club. She was a charter member of Mobile Meals that became Meals on Wheels. She delivered meals for many years while living in Omaha and later in Lincoln. She was an active member and volunteer at Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha, First Lutheran Church in Kearney and Southwood Lutheran Church in Lincoln. During her life she was active in P.T.A., Girl Scouts, Sewing Circles, PEO (FN in Kearney and FF in Lincoln) and the Betty Club of Nebraska. Betty lovingly cared for her home and family. She was a wonderful mom and loved being a grand and great-grandmother. She was proud to say she was a homemaker in every way. She was an artistic craftswoman in fiber and cuisine. Her creative energy inspired those around her. She was open, caring and thoughtful of others. She easily made friends wherever she lived. She was loyal and supportive to her friends. Betty and Merle loved to travel and they visited many parts of the world. She loved music and loved to sing. She always believed in the best of people and had a positive attitude toward life. Betty was a woman of faith. She is preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, Dr. Merle E. Sjogren. Survivors include sisters; Vernelle Case Borchman of Omaha, Marilyn Roberts of Lake Oswego, Oregon, children; Mark (Chris) Sjogren of Omaha, Barbara Sjogren of Brooklyn, New York, Sue (Tom) Tallman of Lincoln, Linda Sjogren (Barry Hirshorn) of Honolulu, Hawaii, 14 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Memorial services: 11 a.m. Monday, April 3, at Southwood Lutheran Church, 4301 Wilderness Hills Blvd, Lincoln, NE 68516. Visitation with the family: 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, April 2, at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Meals on Wheels, Tabitha Hospice or Southwood Lutheran Church. Please visit lincolnfh.com to leave condolences. KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo Recent acts of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including the murder of two United Nations researchers and the discovery of 23 mass graves in the Kasai region, may constitute war crimes, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Friday. I am deeply concerned by the numerous reports of serious violence in the D.R.C., particularly in the Kasai provinces, for several months, the I.C.C. prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in a statement. There have been reports of violence between local militias and Congolese forces, the killing of many civilians and noncivilians, kidnappings and summary executions of persons, including U.N. experts on mission and their accompanying persons, she said. Such acts could constitute crimes within the jurisdiction of the I.C.C., Ms. Bensouda said, adding that the court would not hesitate to prosecute those believed to be responsible for the crimes. By Sunday morning, the Colombian Red Cross said that at least 234 people had been killed, more than 200 others were injured and scores more were missing. Some news outlets, like the BBC, put the toll at 254. The entire capacity of the state is deployed to support the search and rescue, Mr. Santos said on Twitter. In another post, he said, The tragedy of Mocoa hurts me as president and as a human being. My heartfelt condolences to each family of the victims. But it is rarely obvious at the time which path a country is taking, and not only because initial steps toward authoritarianism often look or feel democratic. Tom Pepinsky, a political scientist at Cornell University, has argued that authoritarianism is often an unintended consequence of structural factors that weaken institutions such as an armed conflict or economic shock and of incremental steps taken by leaders who may earnestly believe they are serving popular will. Just as democracies can be governed by authoritarians, so too can true-believing democrats lay the groundwork for authoritarianism, Professor Pepinsky wrote on his blog in February. Decisions that feel like shortcuts to democracy tossing out judges or vilifying a hostile news media can, in the long term, have the opposite effect. Along the way, this process can be difficult to spot, as it plays out mainly in the functioning of bureaucratic institutions that most voters pay little mind to. Elections are often still held, as they have been in Venezuela, the news media retains nominal freedom and most citizens can go about their lives as normal. Venezuela exhibits the worst-case outcome of populist governance, in which institutions have been so crippled that crime is rampant, corruption is nearly universal and the quality of life has collapsed. But those consequences are obvious only after they have done their damage. MANILA President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines suggested on Friday that 19 police officers accused of killing a politician should spare themselves a lengthy trial and plead guilty because he planned to pardon them anyway. I cant leave these officers behind. If they are convicted? No problem, Mr. Duterte said. They can call me and say they have been convicted, and Ill tell the judge to pardon them all. He said the officers would be not only reinstated, but also promoted. Mr. Dutertes comments were criticized by opposition leaders and human rights groups, who have accused him of abusing his powers in a monthslong crackdown on drug dealers and users that has left thousands of people dead. Leila de Lima, a senator and former rights commissioner who was jailed in February on what she says are trumped-up charges, said Mr. Dutertes pledge to free the police officers was extremely disturbing. A second referendum would probably put the independence camp in a better position than three years ago, when young people voted heavily to leave, and a British exit from the European Union seemed highly unlikely. But while Scots voted to remain in the European Union last June by 62 percent to 38 percent, that has not translated easily into support for independence, with about a third of those favoring independence also voting for a British exit. Right now theres too much uncertainty, not just about Scotland but about Brexit, said Ian Ramage, who returned to Edinburgh a decade ago after many years living abroad. Brexit to me is like going back in time, but nobodys certain about anything just now. Chris Deerin, a Scottish political analyst, said that Ms. Sturgeon is both stuck and in charge. She would not want another referendum so soon in any case, he said, and can now blame Mrs. May and Westminster, always a popular tactic here. But for Ms. Sturgeon, it would be important to try to have the vote before the next Scottish parliamentary elections in 2021, when the now-dominant S.N.P. might lose more seats, in the normal cycle of politics. Ms. Sturgeon is essentially using the same take back control argument that leave supporters used in the European Union referendum, only one of the ironies involved, as Mrs. May works to leave one union while maintaining another the United Kingdom. And while Scotland wants to preserve free trade with the European Union, it must also keep free trade with the rest of Britain too, which in 2015 represented 63 percent of Scotlands trade, compared with 16 percent with the rest of the European Union. But trade with the bloc, Ms. Sturgeon pointed out, still represents more than 40 percent of Scotlands international trade. The Scottish nationalists are winning the emotional argument, Mr. Deerin said, but the biggest hurdle the S.N.P. has to climb now is financial. A serious discussion of how an independent Scotland would finance itself will be crucial to winning a second referendum, he said. Since 2014, Scotlands oil and gas revenues have plunged precipitously, from some 9.6 billion pounds in the 2011-2012 fiscal year to just 60 million pounds in 2015-2016. And it may shrink further given the high costs of extraction while the price of oil is low. Scotlands rate of growth is about a third of Britains, at less than 1 percent a year, and its budget deficit is twice that of Britains. MOSCOW First, two television reporters vanished. Then a waiter went missing. Over the past week, men ranging in age from 16 to 50 have disappeared from the streets of Chechnya. On Saturday, a leading Russian opposition newspaper confirmed a story already circulating among human rights activists: The Chechen authorities were arresting and killing gay men. While abuses by security services in the region, where Russia fought a two-decade war against Islamic insurgents, have long been a stain on President Vladimir V. Putins human rights record, gay people had not previously been targeted on a wide scale. The men were detained in connection with their nontraditional sexual orientation, or suspicion of such, the newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, reported, citing Russian federal law enforcement officials, who blamed the local authorities. LONDON To the formidable list of problems facing Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain as she negotiates the nations risky withdrawal from the European Union, add one more: the future of the rocky outcrop of Gibraltar. After it became clear Friday that the unions remaining leaders might give Spain an effective veto over whether any deal applied to Gibraltar a British territory long the subject of an acrimonious sovereignty dispute between London and Madrid lawmakers in Britain and Gibraltar responded with defiance and concern. Gibraltars chief minister, Fabian Picardo, made his anger clear on Friday, calling Spains tactic disgraceful and predatory. He said in a statement about the insertion of language on Gibraltar into the European Unions draft guidelines for negotiating a British withdrawal: This unnecessary, unjustified and unacceptable discriminatory proposed singling out of Gibraltar and its people was the predictable machination of Spain. After the first few years of law school, Roxana Cortes was exhausted. Her University of Nebraska College of Law classes were tough and she was used to getting straight As. She graduated magna cum laude at the top of her undergraduate class at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She wanted to give up, but Cortes, who had immigrated from Mexico at age 11, had spent years dreaming of becoming a lawyer. She applied to be part of the Immigration Clinic and, to her surprise, was accepted. "Despite the excitement, the thought of two not-so-great years of grades covered my hopes with a big shadow of doubt," said Cortes, who graduated last year. Working in the Nebraska Law legal clinic brought Cortes' love for law back to life, however. On Friday, Cortes spoke at the grand opening of the Marvin and Virginia Schmid Clinic Building. The space opened to students working in legal clinics earlier this semester. UNL first introduced legal clinics in 1975, when professor Peter Hoffman launched what is now the Civil Clinic. Now, the school also has a Criminal Clinic, Immigration Clinic and Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic. The clinics give students the opportunity to gain real-world experience while finishing their degree. Students work with clients and have the opportunity to handle cases. "During my year as a student attorney, I was able to experience the rigor of the real practice of law, which allowed me to have a smooth transition into the real world once I passed the bar," Cortes said. "It also led me to learn that grades and class rank are not indicative of one's ability to practice law." The 16,000-square-foot addition includes several classrooms, a mock courtroom, interview rooms for students to meet with clients, a reception area, conference rooms and desk space for 40 students. "The real-life experiences that our clients bring to our clinics enable our students to make great strides in turning theory into practice, in confronting ethical issues in real time and in getting invaluable experience in solving problems, trying cases and otherwise preparing themselves to enter the practice of law," said Kevin Ruser, professor of law and director of the college's clinical programs. 1. World Trade Organization is not legitimate. The WTO does not have a permanent judiciary, but hires lawyers, often who have conflicts of interest to be temporary judges. In the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) case, a Mexican attorney chaired the panel that ruled against United States in favor of Mexico. Unlike the Trump University case with a U.S.-born judge of Mexican heritage, this Mexican judge was illegitimate because he had a current conflict of interest. The panel chair in the COOL case was Ricardo Ramrez-Herna'ndez, a Mexican citizen who has represented Mexico in trade matters. In addition, WTO proceedings are not open to the public or the press, but should be. Court proceedings in the United States are almost always open to the press and the public. The WTO ruled that the United States could not require cattlemen from Mexico and Canada to label their beef as "Product of Mexico," or "Product of Canada." 2. The House of Representatives Voted To Repeal COOL for meat, caving in to Canada and Mexico, even though the U.S. Trade Representative was then negotiating with Mexico and Canada. Now our cattlemen have lost $20 billion because consumers are not informed about where their meat comes from. 3. Country of Origin Labeling Act is supported by 90% of America consumers and farmers. You must push Congress to put labeling back on meat. 4. Canada charges 300% duties on American dairy products and chicken. Our very "nice" neighbors to the north have been screwing us on trade in dairy, chicken, beer and autos for years. 5. Mexico illegally subsidizes sugar and steel. You forgot to give Mexico and Canada notice on January 20th that we are getting out of NAFTA. 6. Army and Navy PXs don't sell many made in USA products. With a stroke of your pen, you can create 100,000 jobs by requiring the Army and Navy to buy American-made products and offer them to their soldiers and sailors. I have put together a group of American manufacturers who can supply the Defense Department with hundreds of products for their PX stores. 7. The Department of Defense is dependent on Russia and China for rockets and fuel for the Hellfire missile. Changing this is a no brainer. 8. The Export-Import Bank was allowed to expire despite fact that Europe and China have similar institutions to finance exports. This puts our companies, like Boeing and Caterpillar, at an economic disadvantage. 9. China cheats at trade by manipulating currency, stealing intellectual property and by illegally dumping in U.S. It is time to start tough negotiations with China. 10. Most American drug manufacturers have moved to Ireland because of its 12.5% tax rate, including Pfizer, largest drug company in the world, maker of Lipitor and Viagra. We don't have to cut our tax rate to their level, just impose a countervailing duty on drugs from Ireland. 11. 80% percent of our generic drugs imported from India and China. At the same time, the FDA is incapable of inspecting plants in Asia. Most Americans do not want to buy drugs from India or China. 12. CVS and most major drugstores fail to put country of origin labels on prescription drugs despite federal law that requires it. I have asked the attorney general to get tough with our drugstores and require country of origin labeling. The law currently allows criminal prosecution for anyone mislabeling drugs. Transferring drugs from a labeled bottle (that CVS gets from Pfizer) and putting it in an unlabeled bottle is a criminal violation. If you think you have been hearing a lot about vaccines lately, you are right. Since Pharma's blockbuster pills like Lipitor, Viagra, Seroquel, Zyprexa, Singular, Concerta, Cymbalta and Abilify went off patent, its new profit center is biologics--vaccines and other liquid drugs that have to be injected. These drugs can be priced higher than pills, marketed more aggressively and are less threatened by generic competition. Vaccines are no safer than other drugs (Image by Martha Rosenberg) Details DMCA The global vaccine market amounted to $32.24 billion last year with the pediatric segment accounting for the largest share reports Markets and Markets. The reason is the "rising number of awareness programs to promote vaccination" in children. In fact, the number of recommended childhood vaccines has risen from seven when Baby Boomers grew up to as many as 30 vaccines today before children are six. Blue Cross Blue Shield actually gives doctors bonuses for the vaccines they give patients. Pfizer alone made $6.245 billion on vaccines in 2015 --as much as United Airlines--and its apparent profiteering moved Doctors Without Borders to decline its offer of a million free vaccines. Why? Such Pharma "discounts" are widely seen as a PR ruse to appear philanthropic while costs are simply shifted to other payers and Pharma still gets its high price. I recently reported on the same stunt with EpiPen. Pharma's expensive new biologic drugs also make a huge profit. Almost ten years ago I reported on the shady launch of Humira and its concerning links to psoriasis, herpes, cancer and worse. Today it is the best selling drug in the U.S. generating $14 billion in sales and costing consumers, insurers, employers or taxpayers $50,000 or more a year per patient. Enbrel and Remicide, similar drugs to Humira, were also best sellers last year. Pharma has also rolled out biologics that it hopes will replace its lucrative statin franchise which has gone off patent. The new cholesterol drugs, called PCSK9 inhibitors, cost approximately $14,350 per year per patient. Safety Questions Trail the Vaccine Industry Because vaccines are Pharma's new profit center, they are aggressively marketed, often in collaboration with governments and NGOs, as life-saving medicines that no thinking parent or person should refuse. Reporters and citizens who raise legitimate safety questions are tarred as "anti-science." Yet the existence of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) reveals there is a sordid underbelly to vaccine safety often omitted in Pharma's aggressive marketing. While the Department of Justice says the NVICP was "designed to encourage childhood vaccination by providing a streamlined system for compensation in where an injury results from vaccination," it actually grew out of drug companies "threatening to stop producing the DPT vaccine (which prevents diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus) if Congress did not prevent the public from suing for largely unfounded damages," reported Vocativ. Large jury awards had been given to some plaintiffs who sued DPT vaccine makers and the companies responding to the settlements by ceasing to produce vaccines. "To protect the nation's supply, lawmakers shielded companies from jury verdicts, shifting liability for injuries to the U.S. government," keeping vaccines widely available, and profitable reported Fox. Through a 75-cent tax on each vaccine, a $3.5 billion fund exists that can compensate plaintiffs found to be injured for future care and lost wages. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Port Authority of Guam General Manager Joanne Brown is recommending that the agency remain conservative with spending in light of decreasing container and break bulk cargo revenues within the first quarter of this fiscal year. Container cargo shipments had dropped by 19 percent, 6 percent, 12 percent and another 12 percent for each respective month beginning with October 2016 and ending in January 2017 compared to the same months in the prior fiscal year. The decline is indicative of Guam's ongoing challenges with its construction industry, according to Brown. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. Fewer and fewer H-2B workers There have been fewer and fewer skilled foreign construction workers on H-2B visas on island to augment the local work force due to non-approval of petitions, despite the growing number of construction projects. Break bulk cargo had seen even steeper decreases. Shipments dropped by just 13 percent in October 2016 compared to the same month last fiscal year. However, comparisons between November 2015 and November 2016 revealed a 51 percent dip in revenue tons between the years. Break bulk shipments for December 2016 and January 2017 saw 42 percent and 40 percent decreases, respectively, compared to their fiscal 2016 counterparts. Returning PAG board Chairman Francisco Santos said cargo shipments normally increased after January and February, but Brown noted that large decreases in November and December 2016 the normal busy holiday months were still startling. "I would say that as we look into the mid-year budget into the remainder of 2017, my recommendation would be to be conservative ... until we see increased activity." A beginning of decreases Fiscal 2017 marked a beginning of decreases in container cargo revenue at the port, which saw a 13 percent overall increase in fiscal 2016. This was offset by a 13 percent overall decrease in break bulk cargo, however. Break bulk typically includes cement mixture, steel rods and other construction materials. A major highway project, the expansion of Route 3, is set to be put out to bid on April 3. Glenn Leon Guerrero, director of the Department of Public Works, told The Guam Daily Post on March 15 that the $70 million federally funded project would be a determining factor in gauging the impact of the H-2B issue on Guam's major public projects. "We'll see what happens," Leon Guerrero said at the time. Guam had about 260 H-2B workers by the end of February and may have just around 40 by the end of the year. Brown, on the other hand, said she believed "something would have to shift" at some point with regard to an H-2B solution, considering the amount of local and military projects being affected. "I don't think we can continue with this indefinitely. It would have tremendous adverse impacts to the entire economy," Brown said. Legal fees While the port is experiencing some reduction in activity and a dip in revenues, port management and its board of directors had decided to shift $60,000 from its G4S maintenance account to cover legal fees over the next few months. The port authority broke its $70,000 budget ceiling for legal fees by $26,000 in February due to continued legal challenges. Port officials said the transfer would not jeopardize operations for this fiscal year. They added that they believed there was enough funding for the port authority to get through the year as well. "That is the hope," Brown said. "If anything changes, we'll certainly come back to the board and we can provide the billings. It's just unfortunate that we have a number of cases before the court ... in addition to the routine contracts and leases and personnel matters." 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. Contact Kiersten Winant ***@karlstrauss.com Kiersten Winant End -- Karl Strauss Brewing Company is excited to announce the release of a collaboration brew with Sierra Nevada. For the 2017 installment of Sierra's North by South (NxS) California-based collaboration series, the breweries just released a Red IPA.The beer was inspired by each of the legacy companies' most iconic brewsSierra's Pale Ale and KARL's Red Trolley. The brewers wanted to leverage the unique characteristics of each beer to create something new and different.This Red IPA showcases the hop forward qualities of Sierra's Pale Ale and the dark fruit flavors of KARL's Red Trolley."Collaborating with Sierra Nevada has been an incredible experience. They are one of the best in the business, and their pioneering spirit and great beer inspired many of us to get into craft beer. For this collaboration brew we wanted to create a fusion of two of our flagship beers, their Pale Ale and our Irish Red. After several test brews, I think we dialed in the perfect recipe." Matt Johnson, Brewmaster, Karl Strauss Brewing CompanyThe breweries are traveling across their home state on a "California Roadshow" where their brewmasters will make stops to celebrate the release with craft beer fans.NxS Red IPA is available in draft and bombers throughout California.For more information about the NxS Red IPA collaboration brew and the California Roadshow, visit www.karlstrauss.com Karl Strauss Brewing Company has pioneered the craft beer scene since 1989 with innovative beer releases like Aurora Hoppyalis IPA, Queen of Tarts Dark Sour, and Wreck Alley Imperial Stout. The brewery has won 99 medals since 2009 and was recently honored with the "Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year" award at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival. For more information visit www.karlstrauss.com or call the brewery at (858) 273-2739. Share it. Cheers. OMAHA Police made an arrest in a northeast Omaha shooting that killed one man and injured two others. Omaha police said a 17-year-old male was booked Thursday on suspicion of three counts of being an accessory to a felony in the March 17 shooting death of 19-year-old Walter Griffin. Officials say surveillance video shows a car Griffin was riding in leaving a convenience store parking lot when it was blocked by another car. A person is then seen shooting multiple times from the passenger side of the car on the street at Griffin's car. Griffin was pronounced dead at the scene. Another man and woman in Griffin's car were injured and taken to a hospital. End -- Wash Ninja, Inc., Masters in Mobile Green Car Shine, shortly one year after opening is offering professional 'Green-Friendly' mobile recreational vehicle (RV) detailing & protection services throughout Jacksonville, FL along with continued 'Eco-Friendly' residential and company fleet services.5 Star Rated Wash Ninja offers a customer service toll-free hotline at (844) WASH JAX (844-927-4529)for support and questions. The 'Green-Friendly Startup' further solidified a name stake in the ECO world last year acquiring the domain GreenFriend.ly, which redirects to the official Wash Ninja company website. The organization has recently made the list of Top 100 Twitter accounts based on followers in Jacksonville, FL early this year and has over 45,000 social media followers.Wash Ninja donates to their 'Planet Partners' with every purchase to support a cleaner Jacksonville and Planet. Doing more together with the local community provides a greater good for the environment and everyone. The company saves an estimated 70,000 plus gallons of water a year and will add to that with premium mobile RV Detailing Packages.The company recently purchased powerful energy efficient equipment with over 10 hours of continuous run time. Wash Ninja does not use large trucks, trailers, or transport large water tanks. After receiving all '5 Star Reviews' for their services to date, RV detailing services will continue to operate in the same manner with less is more and guaranteed service.The organization has videos for new website visitors to learn more about their 'Green-Friendly' mobile RV detailing services on the company website. Services for RV detailing include standard RVs, campers, mobile homes, and motor homes.Wash Ninja provides a safe and secure website environment backed by the latest 'Secure Sockets Layer' (SSL) and a 'Secure Validation Seal' has been placed on the Wash Ninja website allowing website visitors to confirm the SSL. Wash Ninja website visitors can also verify security in the address bar, which includes "https" before the website URL.The company and detailing practices include a 100% environmentally conscious effort from all aspects of water consumption, energy efficiency, and powering equipment with minimal strain on the environment. The Wash Ninja mission is to Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle as part of their 'Eco-Friendly' commitment.Visit the official company website at www.wash.ninja ( http://www.wash.ninja/ rv ) to learn more.# # #About Wash Ninja, Inc.Wash Ninja, Inc. serves the planet and autos with 'Eco-Friendly' energy efficient and hose free mobile auto detailing services to 'Residential' and 'Company Fleets' in Saint Johns County and the Jacksonville, FL metro area. If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity. PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move. Dori Media Group has sold hit reality show Power Couple to TV Azteca, one of Mexicos leading broadcasters. The sale, which represents the 10th international format sale of the Abot Hameiri production, will result in a first season of 10 episodes, still without an official premiere date.Power Couple is on the brink of becoming a major hit in the Hispanic world, replicating its success in Europe. The show has already conquered Brazil and we are confident that its anticipated success in Mexico will serve as a springboard to the rest of the Hispanic market, said Nadav Palti, CEO and president of Dori Media Group. The format has all the ingredients to satisfy the growing expectations of viewers, who are increasingly spoilt for choice.Mexico will be the second Latin American stop for the format, which has already aired in Brazil, where a second season has been commissioned, attracting 62 million viewers and increasing its broadcasters timeslot ratings by 38%. TV Azteca is a great place to create TV and adapt foreign formats. Our experience with contest shows has been a success, added Joshua Mintz, deputy to the president of TV Azteca. TV Azteca is home of great events and great contest shows. The Mexican audience will be very pleased with what we will be offering with Dori Media's format. Power Couple provides 10 couples with extreme challenges to test how well they really know each other. In this game, couples can convert the closeness of their relationships and their knowledge of each other into big cash prizes. In addition to Brazil, the format has been taken to China, India, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, Slovenia, South Africa and Hungary.This is the second content deal recently signed between TV Azteca and Dori Media ahead of MIPTV 2017, after both companies announced earlier this week an agreement to adapt the drama series Dumb Becoming the first operator in the country to broadcast under the HEVC standard, ALMATEL has entered the satellite television market in Kazakhstan under the brand of ALMA TV. The new ALMA TV satellite television offer comprises three packages, with a breakdown into 45 to 140 channels respectively, including the first Ultra HD channel in Kazakhstan and 30 HDTV channels.By launching satellite television we have become the only company in the telecommunication market of Kazakhstan which can offer a full range of television services: cable analogue and digital broadcasting, satellite and online television, said ALMA TV CEO Eric Franke. Television broadcasting will always be the priority area of the companys activities. We work every day on the content, in particular on increasing the number of channels in the HD and 4KTV formats, so that our subscribers have the best content.At the services launch, ALMA TV also noted that the era of standard resolution television was in its final stage and predicted that in the near future, only those companies that take up ideas and introduce new technologies would survive. It added that the company was prepared to strike back against a grey pay-TV market where nearly four-fifths of the satellite dishes in the country originated from such illegal sources.B2C Director Rustam Mametov said that as well as combating piracy, the company aimed to increase local and foreign high-quality content and to improve technical services to subscribers. Reports out of Belarus indicate that two people who were detained on March 21-22 on suspicion of planning illegal protests have been released. Activist Nina Shydlouskaya told RFE/RL on March 31 that Syarhey Barstok, a former member of the disbanded nationalist Bely Lehiyon (White Legion) organization, was released and has returned home. The other detainee who was reportedly released has not been identified. At the same time, Shydlouskaya said five people had been formally charged with "training and preparing to carry out mass riots." Those charged include Zmitser Dashkevich, leader of the Malady Front (Youth Front) movement; Ivan Kavalchuk, a student at the National Technical University; former student Yauhen Paltarzhytski, Malady Front activist Syarhey Strybulski, and Alyaksey Abramau. The Belarusian KGB security service could not be reached for comment. In all 28 people are believed to have been arrested, including former Bely Lehiyon members, members of the Patriyot (Patriot) military club in Babruysk, and members of the Malady Front youth group. State security agencies claimed that weapons and military equipment -- some of which seemed to be traceable to Ukraine -- were seized in the raids. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on March 21 a that "fifth column" was trying to destabilize the country and that some of its alleged members had been trained in "camps," probably in Lithuania and Poland. About 130 other people were detained during protests on March 25 against a controversial unemployment tax. Activists have been working to establish the identities of all those detained. With reporting by Belpan and Interfax Tens of thousands take to the streets in scores of Russian cities. Unusual rumblings of dissent in the regions. Growing anger about official corruption. A new generation finding its political voice. And in the middle of it all is Aleksei Navalny. Revolution is not in the air. The regime is not about to fall. Navalny is not about to storm the Kremlin. And 2017 is certainly not the new 1917. But these were also not your father's anti-Kremlin demonstrations, and a new chapter in Russian politics appears to have commenced. On this week's Power Vertical Podcast, we take a look at Navalny's chances of maintaining his momentum and at where Russia may be headed in the aftermath of last weekend's protests. Joining me are co-host Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and author of the blog In Moscow's Shadows; and journalist Anna Arutunyan, author of the book The Putin Mystique: Inside Russia's Power Cult. Enjoy... Listen to or download the podcast above or subscribe to The Power Vertical Podcast on iTunes. Slovakia's state News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR) says it will initiate proceedings to withdraw from a controversial contract with Russia's state Sputnik news agency. TASR said on March 30 that it will immediately stop making Sputnik's material available to its journalists. Sputnik announced the contract on March 29 saying it was "happy to work with a major agency like TASR" and that "this deal will help us increase information exchange between our countries." After an uproar of protest, TASR just one day later reversed course, saying that no Sputnik material had been used during the one-month trial period that led up to the contract. Sputnik has been repeatedly accused of reporting false stories and of fomenting political extremism in the West. In February, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told the BBC that Sputnik's aim is "not to convince people, but to confuse them; not to provide an alternative reality, but to divide public opinions and to ultimately undermine our ability to understand what is going on." Based on reporting by Sputnik, the BBC, and TASR 9 First lady Jacqueline Kennedy and her sister, Lee Radziwill, meet camel driver Bashir Ahmad. Ahmad had formed a friendship with U.S. Vice President Lyndon Johnson the year before after Johnson stopped to shake the camel driver's hand on his own trip to Pakistan. After Johnson casually invited Bashir to "come see me sometime," Bashir accepted the invitation. He became a media spectacle after he traveled to the United States to meet with Johnson and the Kennedys. This year -- in addition to being the 150th anniversary of Nebraska -- is the 150th year for the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lincoln. 1867 also was when the citys first permanent minister located in what was known as Lancaster. Henry T. Davis was born July 19, 1833, in Ohio and grew up in South Bend, Indiana. In 1850, Davis and his brother Albert set out for California, crossing Salt Creek eight miles south of what would later become Lincoln and camped about where todays Wilderness Park ends at Saltillo Road with no inkling that he would either become a minister or settle nearby. In 1853, Davis attended Indiana Asbury University, later known as DePauw, graduating and being ordained a Methodist minister in 1855. After marrying Emily McCullough that October, he entered the ministry in Indiana, but at his request accepted a pastorship in Bellevue, Nebraska, in 1858. Arriving at Bellevue, he was sent to deliver his first Nebraska sermon at Fairview, a village about eight miles away. Stopping to ask directions, he discovered he had gone through Fairview two miles previously. He was told to go back and look carefully in the grass for some white stakes, and then look south to see Robert Langs log cabin where the service was to be held. After the service Davis headed for Plattford discovering it did not exist except on paper. In 1858, after a brief period in Omaha, Davis, then 28, was made presiding elder of the Nebraska City District. Elder J.M. Young located his Methodist colony and seminary in the village of Lancaster in 1863. This also was the Methodist Protestant church, so when Davis visited the village in 1866 and delivered a sermon in the 1864-built seminary building just north of todays Ninth and P streets, he was able to say his was the first Methodist Episcopal sermon delivered in the village of half a dozen houses. In 1867, Rev. Robert Hawkes formed a Methodist Class, an organization which preceded the designation of a church. That October, Davis attended the state land auction in Lincoln while staying in the Cadman House Hotel, which had been created from the never-completed seminary building. In January 1868, a reception for Gov. David Butler was held in the tiny 10th and Q streets church. A description published in 1868 noted the block bounded by Ninth, 10th, P and Q streets, or Seminary Block, contained six or so structures. On the northeast corner [of the block] was the Methodist church, a low white building erected in late 1867 or early 1868. It was the first church building in the city. The spring of 1868, the Methodist Class was elevated to that of a station" and the society named the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Lincoln. At the same time, Davis was appointed" pastor to Lincoln, which already had a population of about 200. Davis observed no parsonage no large society to greet the pastor no grand reception. While he built his own parsonage, he and his wife literally camped out in the most roomy apartment we ever had, while Emily even cooked outdoors. The tiny unfinished frame church building he inherited even had the latest improvement a $400 mortgage. Though only about 25-by-40-feet in size, the church which faced east, sitting on the southwest corner of 10th and Q streets, had the largest audience room in town was used for church services, political and business meetings, lodges, similar public purposes and even a reception for the governor. In 1869, Davis sold the church building to the city for use as a grade school, yielding enough to clear the balance of the mortgage and begin construction of a larger frame facility on three lots given to the church by the Capital Commission on the northwest corner of 12th and M streets. The new building cost about $3,000 and was dedicated Sept. 26, 1869. Three years after arriving in Lincoln, Davis turned the church, now with a membership of 202, over to Rev. J.J. Roberts who oversaw construction of a parsonage on the church lots directly to the north on the 12th Street alley. The third minister, Rev. George Sherman Alexander, began serving First Methodist in 1872 and his son, Hartley Burr Alexander, was born April 9, 1873, in the 12th Street parsonage. Hartleys first name came from George Alexanders Lincoln banker J.W. Hartley; his middle name Burr came from Dr. William A. Burr, the familys physician. When Bertrand Grosvenor Goodhue was chosen to be the architect of Nebraskas current capitol, he in turn hired Hartley Burr Alexander, then the chairman of the University of Nebraskas Philosophy Department, to write all of the buildings inscriptions. The congregation of First Methodist reached 450 in 1881, and in the fall of 1883, the name was changed to St. Paul Methodist Episcopal. Although a stone structure, St. Paul burned in September 1899, resulting in the razing of the parsonage and construction of the extant 1901 building, one of the earliest churches still standing on property given to it by the original Capital Commission. Tucked away in a laboratory in University of Cincinnati's Braunstein Hall are tubes of rock and dirt that quietly tell a story -- a story that looks back on ancient society's early water conservation. UC researchers hope the story will aid in the future preservation of our planet's most precious resource. In an effort to help manage the world's water supply more efficiently, an interdisciplinary team of University of Cincinnati researchers from the departments of anthropology, geography and geology have climbed through rainforests, dug deep under arid deserts and collaborated with scientists around the world to look at how ancient humans manipulated their environment to manage water. "We begin by asking, 'What is water to humans, how do we engage with it and how does the environment engage us?" asks Vernon Scarborough, professor and department head in UC's Department of Anthropology. "When we look at the trajectory of our changing climate, we realize that the issue is not just climate change but also water change. Climate and water work synergistically and can affect one another in critical ways. "Given the current climate patterns, in this and the next century, we will likely face further rising sea levels, less potable water and a compromised availability of freshwater as a result of drought in many areas and unusually heavy rains and runoff in others. "So we are looking at how the past can inform the present," adds Scarborough. High-tech collaboration To face future sustainability and water management issues, UC's interdisciplinary team of real-world "Indiana Jones" employ modern technology to peek inside ancient irrigation communities in obscure places around the globe like the arid American Southwest and humid rainforests in Central America and Southeast Asia. advertisement "The point of these projects is to help, in part, create effective modern water policy," says Scarborough, who also works closely with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). "Exploring all these unique points on the globe is the only way we're going to get at it, and it's our teamwork, communication and cooperation that will make this project so successful." As a result of their collaboration, several members of UC's research team will be presenting the outcome of their field work at one or both of two upcoming scientific annual meetings: the 77th annual Society for Applied Science meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the 82nd annual Society for American Archaeology meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. For more than two decades, the researchers worked intricately together in remote areas that are known for their seasonal water and environmental challenges. One core investigation lies deep in the ancestral Puebloan community in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico -- the ancestors of modern Puebloans that thrived for more than 300 years in a dry desert in the middle of the American Southwest. Scientists have long debated whether this area was truly a sustainable thriving community based on local resource access or an occasional gathering spot for ceremonial rituals dependent on importing food and related supplies. To create a comprehensive snapshot for how ancestral Native American Puebloans managed water and survived in the ancient desert, UC's research team used aerial surface imaging technology, mass spectrometry and geochemical soil sampling, as well as anthropological behavioral and DNA studies and soil excavations around ancient structures to help shed significant light on that mystery. advertisement In the field Nicholas Dunning and Christopher Carr, both UC professors of geography, looked broadly at the geographic area documenting and sampling the stratified layers of rock and sediment, while Lewis Owen, also a UC professor of geology, used optical-stimulated luminescence, a unique technique to accurately determine the age of core sand and soil samples. "We found geochemical evidence for corn grown in the area during this time, which is a very water-intensive crop, as well as sophisticated irrigation and water-management techniques," says Kenneth Tankersley, UC associate professor of anthropology and geology. To get a 3-D look at the surface of the canyon, Carr used sophisticated LIDAR technology, or light, imaging, detection and ranging technology, to measure the surface elevation of the ground from an airplane. "This technology uses a laser beam to measure the morphology of the surface and is totally revolutionizing archaeology," says Carr. "The key thing LIDAR gives us is elevation so we know how the water flows off the mesa tops into the drainage ditches and into the valley floors. "LIDAR ultimately tells the archaeologists where to excavate and look for evidence of agriculture, canals and water control gates beneath the surface." Salty survival To uncover the thousand-year-old secrets for survival held in the geochemical deep core soil samples, Tankersley, along with Owen and Warren Huff, UC professor of geology, employed laboratory sampling techniques to reveal that the high level of salt in the soil -- once thought by scientists to be harmful -- was in fact a form of a calcium sulfate mineralization that may have functioned to enhance the soil for the maize (corn) grown in that area. "The surrounding mesas provided water in their springs after the snow melted," says Tankersley. "During the rainy season when floodwaters hit, the Puebloans would capture runoff water from small canyons known as the rincons and local periodic streams such as Chaco Wash and Escavada Wash." The researchers consider this strategy a reflection of risk aversion. "When it rained in one spot over here the Ancestral Puebloans took advantage of it, and when it rained over there they took advantage of that," Scarborough says. Under this expeditious use of landscape, two key members of the Chaco water management project, Stephen Plog, professor of archaeology from the University of Virginia, and Adam Watson at the American Museum of Natural History were also part of the collaborative team that utilized DNA sampling techniques on human remains to reveal a remarkable matrilineal family line connected through the female lineage. "To effectively manage water requires flexibility and creativity as rainfall is unpredictable in the Southwest," says Samantha Fladd, an advanced doctoral student from the University of Arizona, also working on the Chaco project here at UC. "The presence of a hierarchical matriline helps to explain how Chaco residents coordinated these activities in order to practice successful water management and agriculture." No forests, no rain In contrast to Chaco Canyon's desert aridity many of the researchers also spent a significant amount of time in the Guatemalan rainforests around Tikal -- a Central American site that coexisted at about the same time as Chaco Canyon more than a thousand years ago. While the two environments couldn't be more opposite in climate the researchers found Tikal's water issues just as challenging. David Lentz, UC professor of biology, with the assistance of Scarborough, Huff, Tankersley, Carr, Owen and NSF-funded Dunning, discovered how the Maya civilization survived in Tikal after suffering several droughts. "Similar to Chaco Canyon, we found geochemical evidence for corn fields situated in specific environmental niches at Tikal," says Dunning. Scarborough speculates the Maya channeled runoff during the rainy season and created elaborate water storage systems, allowing their civilization to thrive for more than three centuries. Eventually the Maya not only suffered from a changing climate, but they had added to their own demise, say the researchers. "Essentially, they may have affected a change in their own climate," says Scarborough. "After several years of deforestation -- clearing out trees and forests to make room for crops -- the Maya unintentionally, but perhaps dramatically upset their annual rainfall, which precipitated degrees of drought that ultimately forced them to abandon the once fertile environment. Sound familiar?" With recent funding by the National Science Foundation, Dunning, along with Scarborough and other researchers, will spend a fifth season this summer as a co-principal investigator on the Yaxnohcah project along with Carr and four UC students. The focus of this study looks at the development of ancient urbanism in relation to water, land and forest management in the Maya lowlands and will be a presentation topic by Dunning and by Carr at the upcoming annual Society for American Archaeology meeting in Vancouver. It takes a village "Our collaborative research as a team is critical -- each one of us is an important cog in this investigation," says Scarborough. "It takes each one of us and our individual expertise to effectively measure how well these early urban and rural communities adapted to climate change and managed their water resources." "We still have to deal with those same issues in our environment today. From an archaeological perspective, our changing climate is immediate, but it may be several years before the damage is fully apparent at a truly global scale," Scarborough adds. "We will begin to see sea levels rise by a good meter. Because over two-thirds of the largest cities on the planet occupy coastal margins, with estimates suggesting that an anticipated 80 percent of human population will gravitate toward urban settings in the near term, we really are approaching a truly 'perfect storm.'" While the researchers look at future water management as the direction of this research, they also focus on the constant changes to the landscape and the creatures that occupy these environments. Scarborough adds that If we are not careful, we will instigate even further change to a wide array of plant and animal species all over the world. "If you don't design for that appropriately, you can be building management networks and ways to capture and control water that will wind up getting buried like the build-up behind modern dams, or plans can get abandoned altogether as a river changes," say Scarborough and Jon-Paul McCool, UC doctoral student under Dunning's mentorship. "How past populations dealt with variable precipitation like that identified at Tikal, Chaco Wash or drainage patterns overall has been very dynamic. Such investments in building massive dam projects today is a costly expenditure of money and time that might well benefit from views of the past. "We don't want to waste that money on high-priced water infrastructure if we can engage in smaller scale, lower investment strategies like our ancestors did." Upcoming conference presentations by UC's water research team: Society for Applied Anthropology, (SFAA), 77th annual meeting, Santa Fe, New Mexico Vernon Scarborough leads discussion session on "Moral Economies of Water in New Mexico" for "Community Day," titled "Chaco Canyon, New Mexico: The Development of Early Puebloan Water Management Community," with Samantha Fladd. Society for American Archaeology (SAA), 82nd annual meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada They may seem rigid and set in their ways, but your bones are actually under constant construction and deconstruction. They give up their nutrient treasures (calcium) to the body and then rebuild in a constant give-and-take sort of rhythm. When that rhythm shifts with advancing age or the onset of osteoporosis, the rebuilding process decreases. Bones lose density and strength and become more prone to fracture. More than 10 million people in the United States live with osteoporosis and the resulting fractures demand more than $17 billion in related health care each year. Now two University of Delaware researchers and their students have joined forces -- applying the mathematical modeling expertise of one to the biological inquiry of the other -- to point the way to a promising remedy. The biologist -- Anja Nohe -- has shown that treating a mouse with a peptide known as CK2.3 increases bone mineral density. The mathematician/engineer -- Prasad Dhurjati -- has calculated estimated dosages for human beings. According to their model, injections of CK2.3 can raise bone mineral density of bones badly degraded by osteoporosis back to healthy levels. advertisement Their work has just been published in Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology. Bone mineral density is affected by two processes: bone formation and bone degradation. Current drug treatments, especially bisphosphonates, address the cells involved in bone degradation (osteoclasts). Only the approved drug PTH addresses the cells involved in bone formation (osteoblasts) but doctors must prescribe bisphosphonates with it to target bone degradation simultaneously. The peptide used in this research -- CK2.3 -- is the only one that decreases bone degradation while simultaneously increasing bone formation. Mathematical modeling Dhurjati has published mathematical models for many different systems. The professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering (with a joint appointment in mathematical sciences and biological sciences) has 40 years of research experience and is an often-cited author. His recent modeling work in biological sciences has included: autism spectrum disorders, leukemia, spinal muscular atrophy, dosages of lithium for pregnant women who have bipolar disorder, the gut microbiome and plant disease. Models can be of many different kinds -- conceptual models, simple pictorial connection maps, a set of rules or a complex set of mathematical equations. Dhurjati looks at various types to make sense of the time-varying interactions between variables in the entire system. This allows for meaningful analysis of the enormous amount of data researchers are generating in almost every field. advertisement "My focus is on converting data to knowledge using models," he said. "I want more students to work in this domain." High-speed computers are sophisticated tools that are made more valuable with good models, he said. Reliable models based on good data can save time, money and many laboratory animals. "A math model cannot capture the full complexity of a mouse or a human," he said. "I'm not claiming that; however, as you interface math with experiments and as you interface math with reality, the models become better and more reliable." In this case, the work included students from four departments -- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Biological Sciences, Mathematical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering -- some at graduate-level study, some undergraduate. Nohe's team designed the mimetic peptide CK2.3 and showed that it increased bone mineral density in a mouse model by blocking the CK2 protein's interaction with the BMPR1a protein -- an interruption that allows the cells that form new bone (osteoblasts) to increase. Subcutaneous (below the skin) injection increased bone formation in the crown of the skull (known as calvaria), while systemic injection decreased bone degradation and increased bone mineral density. Dhurjati's team used that information to calculate ideal dosages for healthy humans and those with osteoporosis. A mouse and a human are different in many ways, Dhurjati said, so calculating a dosage is more complex than just adjusting for differences in weight, for example. Dhurjati developed part of the model using the concepts in physiology-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models pioneered by the late Kenneth Bischoff, UD professor of chemical engineering for many years. Such models can be used to calculate how a pharmaceutical molecule distributes in different parts of the body. In this case, Dhurjati needed to know what the local concentration of CK2.3 would be at the site where bone is formed. Once this was determined, another math model was used to calculate bone mineral density. These considerations prevent a proposed remedy from becoming a toxin, and the model can address such questions as how much to take, how often, whether it should be taken by mouth or injection and how to adjust for age, gender, ethnicity, height, weight, overall health. The collaboration between Nohe and Dhurjati has been underway for some time and has produced other insights into biological questions. "She's a believer in models," he said. "These are two different cultures. Biology emphasizes qualitative details, and engineering relies more on mathematical models. But if the two cultures can communicate, that brings new ways of looking at the same problem." The idea is intriguing: if only a single atom or small molecule was needed for a single unit of data (a zero or a one in the case of binary digital technology), massive volumes of data could be stored in the tiniest amount of space. This is theoretically possible, because certain atoms can be magnetised in only one of two possible directions: "spin up" or "spin down." Information could then be stored and read by the sequence of the molecules' magnetisation directions. However, several obstacles still need to be overcome before single-molecule magnet data storage becomes a reality. Finding molecules that can store the magnetic information permanently and not just fleetingly is a challenge, and it is even more difficult to arrange these molecules on a solid surface to build data storage carriers. To address the latter problem, an international team of researchers led by chemists from ETH Zurich has now developed a new method that offers numerous advantages over other approaches. Fusing atoms to the surface Christophe Coperet, a professor at the Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry at ETH Zurich, and his team developed a molecule with a dysprosium atom at its centre (dysprosium is a metal belonging to the rare-earth elements). This atom is surrounded by a molecular scaffold that serves as a vehicle. The scientists also developed a method for depositing such molecules on the surface of silica nanoparticles and fusing them by annealing at 400 degrees Celsius. The molecular structure used as a vehicle disintegrates in the process, yielding nanoparticles with dysprosium atoms well-dispersed at their surface. The scientists showed that these atoms can be magnetised and maintain their magnetic information. The magnetisation process currently only works at around minus 270 degrees Celsius (near absolute zero), and the magnetisation can be maintained for up to one and a half minute. The scientists are therefore looking for methods that will allow the magnetisation to be stabilised at higher temperatures and for longer periods of time. They are also looking for ways to fuse atoms to a flat surface instead of to nanoparticles. Simple preparation One of the advantages of the new method is its simplicity. "Nanoparticles bonded with dysprosium can be made in any chemical laboratory. No cleanroom and complex equipment are required," says Florian Allouche, a doctoral student in Coperet's group. In addition, the magnetisable nanoparticles can be stored at room temperature and re-utilized. Other preparation methods include the direct deposition of individual atoms onto a surface, yet the materials obtained are only stable at very low temperatures mainly due to the agglomeration of these individual atoms. Alternatively, molecules with ideal magnetic properties can be deposited onto a surface, but this immobilization often negatively affects the structure and the magnetic properties of the final object. One change to field triage guidelines for emergency medical services (EMS) responding to older adults with head trauma could make a "clinically important improvement over usual care," according to a study and accompanying editorial published earlier this month in Annals of Emergency Medicine. "Adding a question about the use of blood thinners in older adults to our field triage criteria could save lives," said the editorial's writer, Craig Newgard, MD, MPH, of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Ore. "Older patients suffering head trauma who are taking blood thinners are more likely to suffer from bleeding in the brain that requires time-sensitive surgery at a major trauma center. Current EMS triage criteria do not include that question but this study suggests that maybe they should." Researchers analyzed charts for 2,100 patients who were 55 or older with head trauma who were transported to the hospital by EMS. Using standard field triage criteria, 19.8 percent of those patients were correctly identified as suffering traumatic intracranial hemorrhage, or bleeding in the brain. Adding a fourth question -- whether the patient is on anti-coagulant therapy -- improved the sensitivity for intracranial hemorrhage to 59.5 percent. "Use of steps one to three triage criteria is not sufficient for identifying intracranial hemorrhage and death or neurosurgery for older patients who suffer head trauma," said the lead author of the study, Daniel K. Nishijima, MD, MAS, of the University of California Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento, Calif. "While we wait for other studies to confirm our research, we strongly urge patients to make their medication history available and known to their families and EMS providers, especially for situations that may arise where they cannot speak for themselves. Knowledge of their use of blood thinners may help in getting these patients to the right hospital." A study that used a new digital library and machine reading system to suck the factual marrow from millions of geologic publications dating back decades has unraveled a longstanding mystery of ancient life: Why did easy-to-see and once-common structures called stromatolites essentially cease forming over the long arc of earth history? Stromatolites are contorted layers of sediment formed by microbes, and they are often found in limestone and other ancient sedimentary rocks deposited beneath oceans. "Geologists have known for a long time that stromatolites were abundant in shallow marine environments during the Precambrian, before the emergence of multi-cellular life" more than 560 million years ago, says Jon Husson, a post-doctoral researcher and co-author of a study now online in the journal Geology. "But, stromatolites are rare in the ocean today." The new study measures the slide in stromatolite prevalence based on descriptions of rocks sifted from more than 3 million scientific publications. "Paleontologists have largely attributed the decline in stromatolites to the evolution of animals, starting some 560 million years ago," says Shanan Peters, a professor of geoscience at University of Wisconsin-Madison and study first author. "Many multi-cellular animals, like snails, eat microbes. The evolution of these big microbe-grazing animals hit 'reset' on the stromatolite's world. Or so the story has gone." The new study found a weak correlation between stromatolite occurrence and the diversity of animals, but a stronger link to seawater chemistry. advertisement "The best predictor of stromatolite prevalence, both before and after the evolution of animals, is the abundance of dolomite in shallow marine sediments," says Husson. Dolomite is a high-magnesium variety of carbonate, the type of sediment that forms limestone. Dolomite is harder to make than low-magnesium carbonate and it forms today in only a narrow range of marine environments. When the ocean water is super-saturated with carbonate, "that can make it easier for things like stromatolites to form," says Husson. "In Lake Tanganyika [Africa], there are stromatolites forming today, even though there are animals everywhere, snails and fish. The lake is super-saturated with carbonate, and it's begging to be precipitated. The microbes come along and help it to precipitate, and the result is an abundance of stromatolites." Elevated carbonate saturation can also help the formation of dolomite, thereby driving the correlation with stromatolites found in this study. Measuring the prevalence of stromatolites through all Earth history is difficult because counting the number of stromatolites alone is not sufficient. You must also know how many rocks could potentially have stromatolites, but do not. The big innovation of this study is the interplay of a new type of digital library and machine reading system called GeoDeepDive with a geological database called Macrostrat. Both were spearheaded by Peters at UW-Madison. GeoDeepDive is a digital library built on high throughput computing technology that can "read" millions of papers and siphon off specific information. To date, the GeoDeepDive library contains more than 3 million scientific publications from all scientific disciplines; some 10,000 new published papers are added daily. advertisement Macrostrat is a database describing the known geological properties of North America's upper crust, at different times and depths. The massive computing capacity at UW-Madison's Center for High Throughput Computing and HTCondor system, the brainchild of UW-Madison computer scientist Miron Livny, powers GeoDeepDive. Combining the digital library with the geological database allowed the researchers to estimate, at different time periods, the percentage of shallow marine rocks that actually have stromatolites. The study began in the summer of 2015, when the third author, Julia Wilcots, a Madison-native who was then an undergraduate at Princeton, asked Peters for a summer project. "In my typical fashion I gave Julia a few options," Peters says. "She picked stromatolites, so I said, 'Okay, go do it!' With minimal help from us, she developed a working application to discover and extract every mention of stromatolites from our library." Among 10,200 papers that mentioned stromatolites, "our program was able to extract 1,013 with a name of a rock unit, which enabled us to link stromatolite occurrences to Macrostrat," says Husson. Wilcots did not have to travel to see stromatolites, Peters says. "In Madison, we are sitting on top of rocks recording one of the biggest rises in stromatolite abundance -- at least during the age of animals." Scientists long ago observed that stromatolites started a long decline just before the start of the Cambrian era, but that decline represented a "fundamental question of paleobiology," Husson says. "Stromatolites are the oldest fossils that are visible to the naked eye. If you look at rock that is a billion years old, the chance for seeing evidence of life equals the chance of seeing stromatolites." Beyond answering a fundamental question of Earth's history, the new study "allows us to do the kind of analyses that scientists used to only dream about, Peters says: 'If we could just compile all the published information on... anything!' "Doing this study without GeoDeepDive would be all but impossible," Peters adds. "Reading thousands of papers to pick out references to stromatolites, and then linking them to a certain rock unit and geologic period, would take an entire career, even with Google Scholar. Here we got started with a talented undergrad working on a summer project. GeoDeepDive has greatly lowered the barrier to compiling literature data in order to answer many questions." Another beauty of the big data, machine-reading approach is the baked-in capability for replication and improvement. "Now that this study has been done, we can run the stromatolite application again and again. We can refine the searches, and they will evaluate the new data that is being published all the time," Peters says. "So a rerun could make a better study, with minimal effort." For centuries, "geologists have transferred hard-to-get information from the field to hard-to-get information in the literature," Peters says. "To achieve a broad-scale synthesis, you have to survey all of the published knowledge. There are new discoveries waiting in the scientific literature, if you can see the big picture and get all the data into one place." Corneal diseases are among the most common causes of visual impairment and blindness, with Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD), a gradual swelling and clouding of the cornea, being the most common reason for eventual corneal transplants. Writing in the March 30 online issue of Nature Communications, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues at Case Western University, Duke University, the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere, have identified three novel genomic loci -- distinct stretches of genetic material on chromosomes -- linked to FECD, which often clusters in families and is roughly 39 percent heritable. "Previously, there was one known FECD locus. We've expanded that number to four," said the study's first author Natalie A. Afshari, MD, professor of ophthalmology, Stuart Brown MD Chair in Ophthalmology in Memory of Donald Shiley and chief of cornea and refractive surgery at Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health. "These findings provide a deeper understanding of the pathology of FECD, which in turn will help us develop better therapies for treating or preventing this disabling disease." FECD affects the innermost layer of cells in the cornea (the transparent front cover of the eye), called the endothelium. The endothelium is responsible for maintaining the proper amount of fluid in the cornea, keeping it clear. FECD is a progressive disorder in which the endothelium slowly degrades, with lost clarity, pain and severely impaired vision. It affects 4 percent of the U.S. population above age 40 and worsens with age. Women are two to four times more affected than men. While there is symptomatic treatment in early stages, surgery -- often a corneal transplant -- is the only remedy after significant vision loss occurs. The research team conducted a genome-wide association study, an analytical approach in which scientists look for genetic variants in individuals associated with a particular disease. This study involved 1,404 patients with FECD and 2,564 controls of European ancestry. The results confirmed the known role of the TCF4 gene, but also revealed associations with three other loci: KANK4, LAMC1 and LINC009970/ATPB1. Researchers also found some genomic markers that were more associated by gender, with LAMC1 increasing FECD risk in women while TCF4 increased risk in men. "While more work must be done to precisely elucidate what these proteins do," said Afshari, "the results suggest they have essential roles in sustaining and maintaining the health of the corneal endothelium. This knowledge improves our understanding of the genetic risk factors for FECD and gives us new therapeutic targets." Aerosols are collections of fine particles, either biological or of other types, in suspension in a gaseous medium. They play a major role in cloud formation and therefore have a strong impact on climate models. They are however extremely hard to study due to the small size and immense variety of their constituent particles. But researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, members of the PlanetSolar Deepwater expedition, have now succeeded in linking the composition of marine biological aerosols -- and therefore their influence on the climate -- to that of bodies of water under them within the Atlantic Ocean, thereby paving the way to an indirect study of these aerosols through water analysis. This study, which has been published in Scientific Reports, will contribute to making climate models more accurate. Aerosols are fine particles in suspension in the air. Over the oceans, some contain organic or biological ingredients (bacteria, degradation products of microscopic algae) which come from sea spray, others are transported in the air (mineral dust, smoke). They serve as seeds for forming clouds and also reflect light. Their role is extremely important for modelling clouds, and therefore for the climate in general. But due to the small size of the particles and their large quantity, it's difficult to accurately study them. So researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) asked themselves if it would be possible to characterize biological aerosols through the composition of the water whence they come. "To answer this question, we needed two tools," explains Jerome Kasparian, Professor in the Department of Applied Physics at the UNIGE Science Faculty. "The first is a detector of fluorescence which we designed, called Biobox, and which enables us to analyse aerosol particles one by one. The spectrum gives us information on their composition and distinguishes the organic particles, which are fluorescent, from the other particles. Then we needed PlanetSolar." Indeed this research could only be undertaken over a long time period of time without any disturbances of water and air. Only PlanetSolar, a solar boat that navigated remains at sea for three months and produces no emissions, could make it possible. During the expedition, scientists carried out analysis of the salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen and the microalgae contained in the various bodies of water in the Atlantic, and then compared this data with that obtained by the Biobox. "And we found that they matched!" exclaims Jerome Kasparian. The physicists discovered that biological aerosols are related to the temperature and salinity of the sea. According to previous criteria, water creates large bodies that don't inter-mix, which allows them to be differentiated. Thus, when the characteristics of a water mass were favourable for reproduction of microalgae, researchers noticed that after a certain amount of time, the aerosols detected above this same water mass contained more biological particles. The biological fraction of aerosols is therefore linked to the history of biological activity of bodies of water close to the surface. "Provided that this is also valid in oceans and seas other than the Atlantic, our research location, our results would allow us to estimate biological aerosols by directly studying the bodies of water, which would simplify aerosol caracterization and make climate models more accurate," adds Kasparian. Difficult to study directly, aerosols are now being studied via the sea, which, unlike aerosols, can easily be analysed by satellites. The world's first deep sea mining operation will kick off in early 2019 when a Canadian firm, Nautilus Minerals Inc., lowers a trio of massive remote-controlled mining robots to the floor of the Bismarck Sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea in pursuit of rich copper and gold reserves. The machines, each the size of a small house, are equipped with rock-crushing teeth resembling the large incisors of a dinosaur. The robots will lumber across the ocean floor on mammoth treads, grinding and chewing the encrusted seabed, sending plumes of sediment into the surrounding waters and killing marine life that gets in their way. The smallest of the robots weighs 200 tons. "A lot of people don't realize that there are more mineral resources on the seafloor than on land," said Michael Johnston, CEO of Nautilus, by phone from the company's field office in Brisbane, Australia. "Technology has allowed us to go there." If Nautilus succeeds, an undersea gold rush could be at hand. Over two-dozen contracts have already been granted to explore hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean floor by a United Nations body called the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which regulates areas of the seafloor that lie outside of any national jurisdiction. "In the seabed, resources are incredibly rich," said Michael Lodge, Secretary-General of the ISA. "These are virgin resources. They're extremely high-grade. And they are super-abundant." Analysts warn that population growth and a transition to low-carbon economies will test global supply constraints for minerals. Indeed, current levels of mining exploration are not keeping pace with future demand, according to a peer-reviewed paper published in March by a team of researchers led by the University of Delaware's Saleem Ali. The prospect of mineral demand outstripping supply has led an increasing number of firms to consider operations at the bottom of the ocean, where reserves of copper, nickel, and cobalt are thought to be plentiful, along with lesser amounts of gold and platinum. "It's no exaggeration to say that there are thousands of years' supply of minerals in the seabed," Secretary-General Lodge said. "There is just absolutely no shortage." Nautilus says early tests show their Bismark Sea site, called Solwara-1, is over 10-times as rich in copper as comparable land-based mines, with a copper grade above 7 percent versus an average 0.6 percent grade on land. The site also boasts over 20 grams per ton of gold, versus an average grade of 6 grams per ton on land. RELATED: 'Casper' Octopus Could Be Threatened by Deep Sea Mining Many of the world's best options for surface mining have long since been explored and developed, according to Thomas Graedel, an industrial ecologist at Yale University. "The planet has been extensively explored on land," he said by phone from New Haven. "I think industry will continue to want to explore for new potential deposits of minerals." Indeed, mining the ocean floor has been under consideration for decades, but seen as a remote possibility. In one famous case in 1974, the CIA used a fake ocean floor mining expedition, ostensibly backed by the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, as cover for an attempt to hoist a sunken Soviet submarine off the coast of Hawaii. But now, the practice is shifting from fantasy to reality a fact that is causing alarm among environmental groups who argue that not enough research has been done to prove seabed mining is ecologically sound. "There are too many unknowns for this industry to go ahead," said Natalie Lowrey of the Australia-based Deep Sea Mining Campaign, which is calling for the practice to be banned. "We've already desecrated a lot of our lands. We don't need to be doing that in the deep sea." Production of F-16s, which has been going on since 1973 (with the first prototype) has halted, but it is not yet ended. There is one more possible sale. At the end of 2016 all 36 Iraqi F-16IQs had been built and that was believed to be the last F-16s ever manufactured. Iraq can still get more because older F-16s can be had cheaply and refurbished to the F-16IQ standard. But as the last F-16IQs were being built a possible sale (via licensed production in India) went from long-shot to an idea that was gaining momentum in the U.S. and India. The F-16 Block 70 would be the most advanced model ever. India never seriously considered buying used, but refurbished and upgraded, fighters. Since India wont make a final decision for a while (as much as another year or so at least) the last F-16 assembly line is being moved from Texas to a smaller plant in South Carolina. The Texas facility, where some 80 percent of all F-16s were built, is now producing F-35s. In South Carolina a smaller plant has been building pre-production models of the T-50A jet trainer, which has not won any major contracts yet. Since the T-50A is based on the F-16 design moving the last F-16 production line to South Caroline makes sense. Meanwhile there is the current last F-16 which, with or without the Indian sale, will always be unique. Iraq began receiving the first F-16IQs in 2014. This is a special version of the Block 52 F-16C and the two-seater F-16D. The F-16IQ is similar to American Block 52 F-16s except they are not equipped to handle AMRAAM (radar guided air-to-air missiles) or JDAM (GPS guided bombs). The F-16IQ can handle laser guided bombs and older radar guided missiles like the AIM-7. The first 18 F-16IQs were ordered in late 2011 and the first arrived in Iraq right about the time ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) seized Mosul in June 2014. Shortly thereafter Iraq ordered another 18 F-16IQs. The Iraqis were eager to buy F-16s partly because neighboring Turkey and Jordan have done well with this model. Iraqis who have studied the F-16 are also aware that another neighbor, Israel, has the largest fleet of F-16s outside of the United States and the most combat experience. Meanwhile Israel is staring to move away from the F-16. At the end of 2016 Israel retired the last of its 125 F-16A fighters. The first 70 were acquired in 1980 and 1981 and included 8 two-seater F-16B trainers. One of the F-16As achieved a record by being the single F-16 with the most air-to-air kills (6.5), all achieved in 1982 using three different pilots. Israel received 50 used F-16As in 1994 (including 14 B models) and used these mainly as trainers. Israel may still be able to sell some of these F-16As on the second-hand market, like it did with its older Kfir fighters (retired in the 1990s). The F-16As were the first of the nearly 400 F-16s Israel obtained from the United States since 1980. Israeli F-16s have shot down 47 aircraft (out of 67 kills for all 4,588 F-16s built). Israeli F-16As flew 474,000 sorties and spent over 335,000 hours in the air over 35 years. Israel was the most energetic user of the F-16 and also took the lead in developing upgrades and accessories. This could help in selling the older F-16As, but that is a crowded market with more and more of these oldest F-16s being retired rather than upgraded. That is easier to do with the later F-16C models and that what Israel did with all of its F-16Cs. Although production of the F-16 has ceased (perhaps permanently) after 44 years the manufacturer (Lockheed Martin or LockMart) will continue to do upgrades and refurbishments into the 2020s and beyond. Currently LockMart has orders for over 300 upgrades of late model F-16s to the F-16V standard. This involves replacing the mechanical radar with an AESA (phased array) radar, an upgraded cockpit, a Sniper targeting pod, a Link 16 digital data link and upgraded navigation gear. The new cockpit features a 15cm x 20cm/6x8 inch flat screen display that replaces dozens of gages and switches and makes it much easier to fly the aircraft. AESA and the new fire control system makes it possible to track multiple aircraft at once as well as track vehicles on land or vessels at sea. The targeting pod enables the pilot to confirm (visually) what is on the surface and promptly attack it with smart bombs or missiles. LockMart expects to get orders for at least 700 F-16V upgrades. While that brings in less than $10 million per aircraft, five or ten of these upgrades equals the price of one new F-16. The F-16 thus follows the path of previous best selling fighters. During The Cold War (1947-91) Russia built over 10,000 MiG-21s, and the U.S over 5,000 F-4s but since 1991, warplane manufacturing has plummeted about 90 percent. However, the F-16 has been popular enough to keep the production lines going strong until 2016. The U.S. still has about a thousand F-16s in service (about half with reserve units). F-16s built so far went to 27 countries. America has hundreds in storage, available for sale on the used warplane market. The end of the Cold War led to a sharp cut in U.S. Air Force fighter squadrons. Moreover, the new F-35 will be replacing all U.S. F-16s by the late 2020s. So the U.S. has plenty of little-used F-16s sitting around, and many allies in need of low cost jet fighters. Since the 1990s most F-16s produced were for export and these cost as much as $70 million each (like the F-16I for Israel). Some nations, like South Korea, built the F-16 under license. The 16 ton F-16 also has an admirable combat record, and is very popular with pilots. It has been successful at ground support as well. When equipped with 4-6 smart bombs it is an effective bomber. The U.S. F-16 is one of the most modified jet fighters in service. While most are still called the F-16C, there are actually six major mods, identified by block number (32, 40, 42, 50, 52, 60), plus the Israeli F-16I, which is a major modification of the Block 52. The F-16D is a two seat trainer version of F-16Cs. The various block mods included a large variety of new components (five engines, four sets of avionics, five generations of electronic warfare gear, five radars and many other mechanical, software, cockpit and electrical mods.) Currently the most advanced F-16 is the F-16 Block 60. The best example of this is a special version of the Block 60 developed for the UAE (United Arab Emirates). The UAE bought 80 "Desert Falcons" (the F-16E) which is optimized for air combat. It is a 22 ton aircraft based on the Block 52 model (which the KF-16 was originally), but with an AESA radar and lots of other additional goodies. The proposed Indian Block 70 would go a bit beyond the Block 60, especially in terms of electronics. A crater left by a U.S. bomb during the Vietnam War, decades ago in Cambodia, nearly claimed the lives of a whole family of elephants this week. ELIE The crater - which has recently been used to store water by local farmers - lies in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary. When farmers discovered 11 elephants stuck in the crater, which had become full of sticky mud, the animals were struggling desperately to get out. The farmers rushed to tell the local Department of Environment about the family in need. When rescuers arrived from Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment (ELIE), run by the Elephant Valley Project, and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Cambodia, the whole family was obviously exhausted from trying to climb out of the mud pit. ELIE People offered the three adult elephants and their eight children some food to help them feel safe and also to help them regain their strength. "They were so hungry, they munched it down and it gave them some energy," Jemma Bullock, program manager for ELIE, said. Dodo Shows Comeback Kids Family Stops At Nothing To Help Their Great Dane Run People offered food to the elephants to help them gain their strength. | ELIE Rescuers brought a hose over to the hole to loosen the thick mud and make it easier for the animals to move their limbs. The fresh water also helped the elephants cool down, since they'd been stuck there while the hot midday sun was beating down. Rescuers hosed down the family of elephants, hoping to loosen the mud. around them. | ELIE People dug ramps into the pit that the elephants would be able to use to climb out safely. ELIE ELIE Finally, the mother elephant, who was the leader of the herd, moved toward the exit, and the elephants started to climb out. The crowd of locals who had gathered cheered for the family as the first few elephants got free and ran toward the woods. But the struggle wasn't over yet. As storm clouds gathered overhead, rescuers realized that one of the babies was still stuck. The baby's little legs weren't big or strong enough for her to climb up the ramp by herself. One elephant was too small to climb up the ramp. | ELIE A rainstorm broke out and the rescue team tried using rope to help boost the baby out of the pit. ELIE At one point, she was so scared and tired, rescuers had to encourage her with sugarcane and bananas. ELIE And finally the little baby also ran free. "If the community had not got together with the WCS, ELIE and the Department of Environment to rescue these 11 Asian elephants, this would have been a tragedy," Tan Setha, WCS technical advisor to the area, said. "This herd consisted of three adult females and eight juveniles of various ages, including a male that had almost reached maturity. These elephants represent an important part of the breeding population in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, and their loss would have been a major blow for conservation." ELIE Because of habitat loss, there are only about 35,000 Asian elephants left in the wild, so every individual life matters not only to the tightly knit herds, but to the future survival of the species. "[The rescue] highlights unfortunately the ugly side of deforestation and the effect on wild animals," Bullock told The Dodo, "but also the resilience of the community." Columnists are paid to have opinions. So heres one: Starbucks makes a lousy croissant. The thing is sitting on my desk right now. It is a piece of buttery bread, really, with a slightly crescent shape featuring a deeper shade of gamboge on its top side than the paler shade of yellow on its bottom. According to Oxford, gamboge is a gum resin produced by various East Asian trees, which sounds perfect for my purposes. The croissant does not flake. It does not have the golden, crunchy top promised by the coffee companys website. It does not do that fabulous dance of dishabille as it is torn apart. You know that enticing cracking sound a good croissant makes when it gives in? This does not do that. It does not glisten. It does not have what Lucky Peach tells me are alveoli, like little air sacs in the lungs. Instead it is akin to a Pillsbury crescent roll. Which is not a croissant. I see the Starbucks croissant as emblematic. Read more:Starbucks CEO gets set to step down As of Monday, Howard Schultz, a man of missionary zeal, will have formally retired as chief executive in favour of the mega-companys chosen new leader, Kevin Johnson, who was nurtured in the tech world. After a health scare, Johnson said he was finally learning to listen with my heart, as if to distance himself from any preconceived stereotypes. I am quoting from the companys annual meeting in late March. Schultzs departure marks the second-most significant evolutionary moment for the company. The first-most significant evolutionary moment occurred the first time he stepped aside, in 2000. Initially, the company flourished in his absence. Schultz retained the chairmans title. But overexpansion and what Schultz himself described as a watering down of the Starbucks experience, caused him to pen an instantly famous email to CEO Jim Donald in February 2007. Under the subject header The commoditization of the Starbucks experience, Schultz noted how the open roast aroma that characterized the chain had been overtaken by flavour-lock coffee and automatic espresso machines. Much of the romance and theatre had disappeared, he wrote. Clearly we have had to streamline store design to gain efficiencies of scale and to make sure we had the ROI on sales to investment ratios that would satisfy the financial side of our business. However, one of the results has been stores that no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighbourhood store. Other Schultz descriptions: sterile, cookie cutter, lacking passion. These words may ring true on a Saturday morning pass through your Starbucks local. None of this fit with Schultzs founding ethos for the chain, which was to create a third place, a gathering spot that was neither office nor home, but a place for meeting friends and family or enjoying a quiet moment alone with a book. A great deal of ink was spent describing upholstered chairs and ethically sourced coffee. In May 2006, Starbucks was a $20 (U.S.) stock. Two years later, shares had lost more than half their value and Schultz rode back in to fix the chain. In July 2008, the company said it would close 600 unprofitable or unpromising stores in the U.S., approximately 60 in Australia, and eliminate as many as 12,000 full- and part-time positions. The surgery was radical. Read more about Starbucks In a reflective interview with the London Business Forum years later, Schultz said the company had lost its way. I began to sense that we were measuring and rewarding the wrong things, he remarked, adding that business metrics somehow became integrated with the core purpose of the company. It didnt help that the financial crisis arrived on his doorstep at about the same time. The way forward, and he was insistent on this point, was to make an enduring emotional connection with the Starbucks customer. More than 100,000 employees were retrained at a cost of $7 million (U.S.). We arent in the transaction speed business, he said. We are in the business, literally, of enhancing peoples day. Following this line of thinking, it made considerable sense that adding food offerings to the menu was a move to be made with care. In June 2012, the company announced that it had purchased La Boulange, a small San Francisco operation created by a French baker named Pascal Rigo. Rigo himself was part of the package. Together they would bring the artistry of the French bakery to the marketplace, emphasizing such attributes as artisanal and scratch-made. Consumers may recall the marketing moment in Toronto when Starbucks stores were kitted out with a great deal of pink La Boulange branding. Three years later, Starbucks shut the La Boulange retail locations, which were all in the San Francisco area. Monsieur Rigo disappeared from the coffee company and relaunched as La Boulangerie with six outlets. Judging from the mini-chains online presentation, everything looks delicious. At Starbucks? What we have today is a croissant that tastes as though it began its post-baked life in a plastic sleeve. Airplane food. Read more:Starbucks plans to hire 1,000 refugees in Canada Make no mistake, by the numbers Howard Schultz now exits for the second time on a high. Starbucks revenues for 2016 were up 11.2 per cent to $21.3 billion. Net earnings rose to $2.8 billion from $2.7 billion. The company announced plans to open 12,000 more stores, globally, in the next four years on top of 3,400 store openings slated for the U.S. Legions of veterans will be hired. And yet in the face of such growth, the chain has become more commoditized than ever, often indistinguishable from other quick-service outlets, lacking those aromatic top notes that Schultz once insisted were central to the brand. As executive chairman Schultz wont be gone-gone. Rather than running the mass offering he will be focused on growing Starbucks premium end, including the global growth plan for the chains Reserve Roastery and Tasting Rooms ($15 for a flight of three 235-millilitre coffees at the Seattle location). Reserve-only stores will be similarly focused on small-batch coffees. An up-leveled food experience will be introduced through Princi, the Milan-based pizza maker and bakery that Starbucks invested in last year. We have never baked in our stores in 45 years. But all of that will change with the creation of this unique partnership, Schultz said at the time. The point is to highlight the high-end future. In doing so, Schultz reminds us that the ubiquitous mainstay business he hands over on Monday is increasingly a transaction-speed operation lacking the very attributes that originally defined it. Read more about: SHARE: Even if the edge of his toque wasnt snipped into triangles, Chris Beslers brooding narration would give away which unlikely breakout heartthrob hes channelling: Jughead Jones. Riverdale is just an ordinary town, he says grimly. But this town has a murderer. So its an ordinary American town. The actor was one of 18 comedians at Riverdale: Improvised, a live comedy event at the Social Capital Theatre in Toronto where the cast acted out unscripted salutes to Netflixs gothic camp soap Riverdale (new episodes are released every Friday). Already renewed for a second season, the Archie update has become a cult hit, spawning online discussion groups and tribute events, including a Riverdale prom featuring a Josie and the Pussycats cover band at Smiling Buddha on April 7. Riverdale: Improvised was such a hit that the troupe is hosting an encore performance on April 26. Many of its members grew up reading the cheerfully corny comics. Coko Galore, who played Josie and the Pussycats Valerie at the comedy night, credits the books with teaching her to read English when her family moved from the Ivory Coast. But no one performing for the full house here minds that Riverdale is more about murder than milkshakes. The biggest fans of the endearingly square Archie are the same ones gasping the loudest for its sinister, sexed-up reincarnation. The events organizer, Candace Meeks, 28, was so taken with the style of Archie character Cheryl Blossom as a kid she imitated how Cheryl wore her headband for her Grade 7 school picture. Today shes the first to praise Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasas new direction, including pushing what is arguably the definitive Archie storyline to the background. I think its great that hes taking the threesome of Betty, Veronica and Archie and saying maybe we dont always want to see that because we want to make it a little more feminist, she says. Writer and illustrator Evan Munday dives deep on Archie Double Digests with his former Book City co-worker Lucy Cappiello on podcast Radio Free Riverdale. He says he initially resisted the TV series departure from the Archie canon. Why is Jughead not eating? he remembers thinking. Why is he so depressed all the time? Cappiello was among the fans disappointed that Riverdale hasnt yet incorporated a plot from the 2015 Jughead series by Canadian comic writer Chip Zdarsky in which the character comes out as asexual. In Episode 6, Jughead and Betty kiss, inflaming the burgeoning fan base for the couple known as Bughead. (Archie Comics has filed to trademark both Bughead and Bethead.) But Munday says he loves Riverdales self-serious camp. When you have teenage girls who are having a sleepover and they are wearing pearls, this is not meant to represent real life, he notes. But opposed to, say, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where they were always winking at the camera, this show plays it so straight. Thats why it works. Cappiello also notes that Riverdale has given the Archie-verse some much needed depth by layering in a murder mystery, biker gang turf war and juicy clandestine love affairs. She has learned through the podcast how limited the original comics storytelling capacity can be. Sometimes there will be a two-parter where they extend it over 24 pages, she notes. Not everyone is on board with the hypersexualized rebrand. Archie blogger Jess Plummer, 32, has been posting classic Archie panels from her personal collection on RiverdaleGang.Tumblr.com since 2014. She notes that her following has spiked since Riverdale premiered, with new fans often surprised by the original Archie characters. (It appears the newly curious are helping sales as well. Archie Comics 1000 Page Comics Digest, released Feb. 28, was seventh on the Toronto Stars children and young adult bestsellers list for the week ending March 25.) For Plummer, the shift in tone is just too extreme. As a long time Archie reader and big fan of the classic Archie stories, I dont appreciate the fact that they have perverted a comic that was innocent and fun and aimed mostly at children, the West Texas blogger writes in an email. Now they are about murder and deception and just shock value. But Munday feels that even the overheated camp of Riverdale has more truth to it than your average Archie comic. I think people realize that that version of 50s America was always a fiction, even when it was happening, he says. This is looking at the dark underbelly that always existed. You thought, My family is screwed up, but out there are perfect families, Cappiello says. But those perfect families didnt exist, except on TV. Or Munday adds in Archie comics. Read more about: SHARE: With the ban on choke and prong collars taking effect in Toronto, could you suggest which tool I should switch to? I am concerned that without my dogs training collar, I will be injured when my dog pulls. As Toronto adopts new municipal bylaws prohibiting the use of choke and prong collars, owners using these devices may feel worried. Its a trend that is not new. Australia and many European countries have bans on various collars. People there managed. People who use choke collars have a relatively easy switch. Martingale collars, also known as half choke or limited slip collars are not banned. They are similar to a choke collar in that they constrict. However, they are limited in how far they can do so. When fitted correctly, these collars tighten, but not to the point of choking the dog. A strip of fabric or leather across the dogs throat takes the place of the chain or nylon cord, making them more comfortable. Families who rely on prong collars have a more difficult transition. These products do limit pulling, but at a behavioural cost. Dogs can and do develop negative associations toward things they pull toward. That is deeply concerning in terms of welfare and community safety. No-pull harnesses offer an alternative. However, some designs can cause chafing and should be avoided. Look for harnesses that fit comfortably and do no harm. Head halters offer substantial leverage but get a bad rap. Dogs must be acclimated to wearing them. A few minutes spent during a pet store fitting are insufficient. Any competent professional can teach a dog to like wearing one. Say no to anyone who rushes the process. The key takeaway from the tool banning discussion may have been lost. So long as a dog needs a tool in order to walk nicely, training is not complete. Training should be the No. 1 tool anyone reaches for. Owners should invest the time into teaching dogs to walk nicely regardless of the collar. We have adopted a dog. When we go out, shes very distracted. We have been using food to train her, but she is not treat-motivated. What can we use instead of food? All physically healthy dogs are food-motivated. Something motivates a dog to walk to its food bowl. Most owners are horrified to find their dog wants to eat all manner of refuse. So when a physically healthy dog refuses real food such as chicken, the question should be why. There are many reasons that dogs will snub food. Once identified, these problems can be addressed. Stress is one common reason. Stressed dogs, like stressed people often lose their appetite. Some even learn that food predicts unpleasant things. They learn to fear food. Its important to address any anxiety before training obedience. Over aroused animals are too worked up or too frantic to want to eat. These dogs need to have training split into manageable stages so they can progressively learn to handle various situations. Still other dogs walk away from food because positive feedback is too slow. Learning is riddled with too many mistakes. It becomes like the math class one barely passed. Where every test was covered in red pen corrections highlighting every error. Offering incentives is not likely going to change the overwhelming desire to skip class. Similarly, many dogs would rather sniff grass than work for food because they arent successful often enough. Some dogs are too full while others are thirsty. Dry mouth makes them turn away from food. Healthy dogs eat. When they refuse, dont look for alternatives. Ask why. Yvette Van Veen is an animal behaviour consultant and Canadas 1st Tested and Certified PCT-A. Write her at advice@awesomedogs.ca SHARE: Because fake poop on Persian rugs, saran-wrapped toilet bowls and sugar bowls of salt wont amuse anyone over about the age of 12, its time to up your April Fools Day game. Heres how. Pour any of these wines blind and see if the wine enthusiast in your life can name it. The twist? Every bottle resembles an iconic wine style but isnt. Carolyn Evans Hammond is a Toronto-based wine writer. She is also a London-trained sommelier and two-time bestselling wine book author. Reach her at carolyn@carolynevanshammond.com . SHARE: OTTAWACanadas justice minister is wrapping up a visit to South Africa, where she met with Desmond Tutu, the activist and former bishop best known around the world for standing in opposition to apartheid. During their meeting, Tutu reflected on the challenge Canada faces in reconciling with its own indigenous peoples, and how it will be up to young people to drive the change, Jody Wilson-Raybould said Friday in an interview. Tutu served as chairman of South Africas pioneering restorative justice body, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was convened after apartheid was abolished in 1994. A similar commission in Canada documented the impact of this countrys residential school system a government-funded, church-operated program for aboriginal children that was rife with sexual, physical and emotional abuse. He actually talked about how it was the young people of South Africa he was a lot younger, obviously, back in the days before 1994 and that it is the young people that will create the change in society, Wilson-Raybould said. It is the same way in our country, too to a great degree. Wilson-Raybould said they also reflected together on a variation of one of her grandmothers teachings: Everybody in our community, in our country, has a role to play and if you cant actualize your potential, then our country will suffer. That includes fostering education and snuffing out ignorance, she added a reference to Conservative Sen. Lynn Beyak, who has been under fire for weeks for saying that some good came out of residential schools. We have to continue to keep on that path to educate individuals about what happened in our country, because it is factual, she said. In order to move beyond that, we need to ensure that the vast majority of Canadians understand that history and are willing to step up and create the solutions to move past it. Wilson-Raybould, who heads a ministerial working group on Canadas constitutional and international obligations to Aboriginal Peoples, also held meetings with South Africas justice minister, justices of the constitutional court and chief commissioners of the South African Human Rights Commission. Canada was among international voices in the fight against apartheid in South Africa and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was a model for South Africas constitution, she noted, adding the countrys path toward reconciliation offers important lessons for Canadas nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples. During her visit, she said, she witnessed first-hand the disparity in South Africa between the rich and the poor, an echo of the economic gap that exists today in Canadas indigenous communities. Wilson-Raybould also said she heard loudly and clearly during her visit that people need to work together to ensure rights are recognized. I get really teary-eyed when I go to some of these meetings, she said of the experience. People reflect on some of their current realities in South Africa, and they want their rights to show results on the ground. SHARE: Councillor Christin Carmichael Greb told fellow Toronto board of health members recently she planned to vote against a motion banning so-called energy drinks on city property. Unlike smoking, I dont see any adverse second-hand energy drinking, she said. But when it came to vote on the motion at last weeks public meeting, Carmichael Greb was nowhere to be seen. Councillor Joe Cressy, filling in as chair, broke the news. Carmichael Greb had resigned from the board, leaving him scrambling to finish the agenda while maintaining quorum. The energy-drink motion passed unanimously, though rejected by council this week. In December, Carmichael Greb also quit the Toronto Public Library Board, three months after Mayor John Tory appointed her as his designate, and after missing three regularly scheduled meetings. The seemingly abrupt departures from the two boards, and Carmichael Grebs fly-below-the-radar profile at city hall, have fuelled speculation around city hall: Is one of the mayors most loyal allies just not that into it? If Carmichael Greb is offended by the suggestion, she doesnt show it. Im one of those people who want to do as much as possible, she said last week in a coffee shop on Avenue Rd., in the northwest corner of Ward 16 (Eglinton-Lawrence.) Scheduling conflicts were behind both resignations, she says. The board of health meeting dragged on longer than she had planned. I had to leave because I had meetings up here, she says. I was always going tostep down after that meeting and the mayors office knew about that. Nor was the timing right with her appointment to the library board. I have commitments at work. I have commitments with my family. Ive got three little kids so trying to make everything work doesnt always work so I felt it would be better for someone who had the time to do that job. Her Linkedin profile, and her Facebook page up until recently, indicate shes a consultant for a skin care line but Carmichael Greb says its not like a job or anything. She also sits on the public works committee, audit committee, CNE board, the Board of Exhibition Place and the Toronto Atmospheric Fund Board. Carmichael Greb landed at city hall after defeating 15 other contenders on Oct. 27, 2014. She won with the slimmest of victories, capturing 17 per cent of the vote, 1 percentage point more than lawyer Adam Tanel. Before then, Carmichael Grebs political experience mostly involved helping out with her fathers election campaigns. Her dad is John Carmichael, a one-term Conservative backbencher in Stephen Harpers government and long-time friend of the mayors. The Toronto native says she always swore she would never get involved in frontline politics. It was just something that never interested me. After graduating from Western University, she worked as a law clerk, then as a project manager at SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers), and later at Bombardier for three and a half years. Carmichael Greb says she decided to jump into municipal politics after she got married and became a homeowner, which is when she realized the city operates pretty inefficiently. As I became more active as a homeowner in getting things done for my homeI decided rather than complaining about it I decided to do something. She filed nomination papers in January 2014, after incumbent Karen Stintz created a vacancy by running for mayor. Carmichael Greb had some help. Her father stumped with her on the campaign trail. Former federal finance minister Joe Oliver spoke at a fundraiser at her parents home. Tim Hudak, the former provincial Progressive Conservative leader, helped raise money. He and his wife, longtime Tory insider Deb Hutton, donated to her campaign coffers. In mid-October, more than 5,000 voters in Ward 16 cast ballots in advance polls. Tanel got 912 votes, Youssefi Dyanoosh won 646 while Carmichael Greb came third with 612 votes. With just days remaining, Carmichael sent his constituents an email touting his daughters candidacy for city council and asked them to share it with any voters in Ward 16. While my bias is clear, I truly believe Christin will make an excellent city councillor and bring constituents of her ward and indeed all of Toronto the leadership and experience needed at city hall. The email included the growing list of people endorsing Carmichael Greb, including Tory, who stood in front of the cameras alongside her father, a former car dealer, to throw his support behind the would-be councillor. As he did with several other candidates, team Tory robo-called residents in Ward 16 with the then-mayoral-candidates voice offering his support. A nod from Tory carries a lot of weight in Ward 16. He won more support there 75 per cent of the vote than any other part of the city. Rivals Olivia Chow got 13 per cent while just 11 per cent of the votes went to Doug Ford. On election night, Carmichael Greb came out on top with 3,949 followed by Tanel with 3,680. It was certainly disappointing, Tanel said this week. He feels Torys support gave Carmichael Greb the edge. Around Ward 16, residents groups give the rookie councillor mixed reviews at least one, France Rochette, chair of the Old Orchard Grove Ratepayers Association, believing she was in over her head. Another, Jim Baker, president of Avenue Road Eglinton Community Association, applauded her work trying to limit speeds around schools. No matter what, Carmichael Greb has every intention of running again next year. I love this job because I get to meet with people all the time, she says. I get to do fun things like redesign a park, or working with schools, or meeting kids. There are challenges, including development meetings, in a ward that has seen explosive growth and change. Also trying to help residents when theres not always a solution, is very difficult, but I do what I can for residents, and I do this because I wanted to effect change. Read more about: SHARE: Nearly four years after Sammy Yatim was shot eight times on an empty streetcar, Ontarios police watchdog has ordered that a misconduct charge be laid against the veteran Toronto police sergeant who Tasered the 18-year-old as he lay dying, the Star has learned. Sgt. Dusan Dan Pravica who within 33 seconds of the shooting climbed aboard the streetcar and Tasered Yatim used unnecessary force, failed to assess the totality of the circumstances, and acted in haste, according to an investigation by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), completed earlier this month. The investigation was launched after a complaint by Nabil Yatim, Sammy Yatims father, to the watchdog in October, 2013. Pravica called the complaint frivolous and vexatious while testifying at the 2015 criminal trial of fellow officer, Const. James Forcillo. Currently appealing his attempted murder conviction in Yatims death, Forcillo, too, faces a new misconduct charge under the Police Services Act, stemming from a separate OIPRD complaint filed by Nabil Yatim. The police watchdog found sufficient evidence that Forcillo used unlawful and unnecessary force against Yatim to merit a disciplinary hearing. There is a sense of justice, Nabil Yatim said in a written statement to the Star on Friday. It was so disturbing that a police officer would Taser someone who was down and shot fatally eight times. It would be hard to believe that this action would not be professional misconduct. No hearing date has been set in either case. Because of a six-month limitation on complaints at police disciplinary hearings, Toronto police will have to obtain permission from the Toronto police board to proceed with both charges. Peter Brauti, the Toronto lawyer representing both officers, said Pravica will be pleading not guilty. Brauti said he expects the Forcillo matter will be adjourned to October pending the outcome of the criminal appeal. The penalty for a conviction of police misconduct ranges from a reprimand to dismissal. Meaghan Gray, spokesperson for the Toronto Police, said she could not comment on any misconduct cases that are before the tribunal. Yatim was killed on July 27, 2013 in a now infamous shooting that prompted widespread outrage about police use of force in Toronto and beyond. The case resulted in an unprecedented murder trial against Forcillo, who was among the officers responding to a call about Yatim exposing himself on the streetcar and wielding a small knife. Forcillo shot at Yatim, who was by then alone on the streetcar, in two distinct volleys separated by six seconds. He fired three times then, as Yatim lay on the floor of the streetcar, six more times, striking him a total of eight times. The officer was found guilty of attempted murder in connection to the second set of shots, and sentenced to six years in jail. He is out on bail pending his appeal of his conviction and sentence. The shooting, captured on citizen-shot video and widely disseminated in the days following Yatims death, prompted outrage not only because of the shooting, but the Tasering by Pravica as Yatim lay on the floor of the Dundas streetcar. According to the OIPRD investigation, Pravica, a 21-year police veteran, arrived on scene approximately 20 seconds after the final shot was fired by Forcillo. He had been summoned to the scene by a radio call for a sergeant with a Taser to deal with a man with a knife on a streetcar. Called as a witness during Forcillos trial, Pravica testified that he could hear officers yelling drop the knife and he noted they had their guns drawn. He said he never heard any shots fired, but was advised within seconds of his arrival that Yatim had been shot, though he did not know how many times. Because Yatim was still clutching his knife, Pravica testified that he felt Yatim posed a threat. On the stand at the Forcillo trial during which he wrongly referred to Yatim as the accused Pravica said he didnt know if Yatim was playing possum and perceived that he was trying to get up off of the streetcar floor. He could potentially be getting ready to slash my throat or come across the abdomen. Im pointing the Taser at him and hes not going to drop the knife for me, Pravica testified. Video footage of Yatim in the seconds before Pravica Tasered him does not show Yatim rocking back and forth, as the officer testified. It shows minimal movement by Yatim. The OIPRD alleges that Pravicas deployment of the Taser at the time was not a reasonable use of force option in these particular circumstances. There was no immediacy in Tasering as no one was in immediate danger nor was the safety of anyone immediately at risk, according to the OIPRD investigation, which states Pravica made no attempt to de-escalate the situation and entered the streetcar with the sole purpose of deploying the (Taser). Nabil Yatims separate complaint to the OIPRD about Forcillo resulted in a professional misconduct charge against the officer for unlawful and unnecessary force in connection to second volley of shots. The threat level was significantly reduced from the first series of shots and there was no indication that (Yatim) was attempting to get up off the floor of the streetcar. Other methods of containing (Yatim) should have been employed, the OIPRD said. Forcillo, who is suspended without pay from the Toronto police, is already facing acharge under the Police Services Act. The charge is automatically laid against an Ontario police officer when he or she is convicted of a crime. Nabil Yatim also made other complaints to the OIPRD, four concerning the management of the crime scene and allegations of scene tampering. Among his allegations were that officers failed to properly secure the scene immediately after the shooting, including that Pravica and another officer, Const. Brian Dawn, improperly re-entered the streetcar sometime after Yatim was taken away by ambulance. The OIPRD concluded all allegations related to crime scene management to be unsubstantiated. Pravica told investigators he re-entered the streetcar to ensure the knife was still inside, knowing it was his duty to account for all of the evidence connected with the incident. Dawn was then detailed to guard the knife, Pravica said. Ed Upenieks, Nabil Yatims lawyer, takes issue with the fact that no civilian witnesses were interviewed on the crime scene management issue, saying many bystanders were around following the shooting and would have observed officer behaviour. It was mostly a repetition of statements that had been made to the SIU, he said of the review. Upenieks also expressed concern about the watchdogs years-long delay in investigating his clients complaints. The OIPRD has previously said the delay was caused by Forcillos criminal trial. Pravica is currently working as a sergeant at downtown Toronto's 14 division. According to Ontarios Sunshine List of public sector salaries, released Friday, Pravica made $157,267 in 2016. Yatims death inspired reviews police use-of-force, including an independent review by former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci, commissioned by Toronto police. On Friday, the OIPRD released its interim report on police interactions with people in crisis, launched after Yatims death. The watchdog announced that, in the coming weeks, it will be auditing police services involved in the deaths that prompted coroners inquests to evaluate the extent to which recommendations have been adopted and implemented by these police services. Upenieks said Yatims death must continue to be used as a means to reform and improve police interactions. How can we make it better, how can we make sure that someone pauses, reflects, considers other options? he said. We have a lot of information, a lot of statements, a lot of video in this case, and we should learn from it. Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca SHARE: A 12-year-old girl who went missing from Yorkdale Shopping Centre on Friday afternoon has been found. Corinthe Eigen vanished from Yorkdale at around 2 p.m. on Friday, Toronto Police Service said in a release. A search effort had been underway and lasted through the evening. Police believed at the time that she may have hopped on to public transit. We had sightings of her on the subway and wed been looking, and we were asking for the communitys help, said Toronto Police Const. David Hopkinson Friday evening. But we have now found her. Police made the announcement around 9:15 p.m. Eigen will be examined by paramedics or doctors at a hospital before being returned home, Hopkinson said. SHARE: Dozens of flights to London. Multiple visits to Finland. And a trip to sunny Hawaii. Those are just some of the international destinations staff and trustees at the York Region District School Board have travelled to in recent years for professional development paid by local taxpayers, according to new documents obtained by the Star. The school board is already under investigation by the Ministry of Education for the lack of transparency around European excursions that took place last fall including why one trustee visited Finland three times, and why the current director of education, finance director and the former trustee chair travelled to the Netherlands without telling fellow staff and trustees of their plans. The investigators are also looking into the boards handling of racist and Islamophobic incidents, and complaints about ineffective equity policies, and are due to report their findings by April 7. But new documents spanning from 2014 to 2016 suggest those trips are just the tip of the iceberg, and just two of a long and expensive list of international travel that has lacked disclosure or follow up. I dont believe my childrens school or class benefits from any of these trips, said parent Todd Silverman, who has long been critical of board travel, and filed a similar freedom of information request in 2012, that led to a temporary ban on international travel at the time. Transparency is completely missing, he said. The new documents, filed by Silverman, show a superintendent who went to Finland three times in three years including a trip just weeks before his retirement in 2016; A senior staffer who went to Hawaii for a conference, and spent $1,600 on a two-night hotel stay; And a trip to London in 2015, attended by 15 people, including the boards communications director, Licinio Miguelo and finance director, Wanda Muirhead. I am hard-pressed to figure out what administrative staff can deliver to a classroom, said Silverman. The total cost of the seven trips was more than $150,000, and involved over 60 people. In response to questions from the Star, the board defended the practice of including senior staff, saying learning first-hand the services the other high-performing jurisdictions provide directly to schools is beneficial to department-based staff as well as those working directly in schools. Over the years, people from finance, IT, and communications have improved services to schools and students after learning from other places, education director J. Philip Parappally, said in an email through communications manager, Miguelo. The bulk of these trips fall under the jurisdictional learning policy, when an organized group from the board attends another high-performing educational jurisdiction. But for some staff, the money spent was allowed under professional development. Susan Logue, the Superintendent of Education, Well-Being and Engagement, who went on a conference to Hawaii in December, said she took part in discussions around educational equity for each child and said the learning from the conference was valuable, directly related to my role, and has, and will continue to, benefit the students and the organization. She said superintendents are given self-directed professional development funds annually, according to superintendents employment contract terms and conditions. All requests must be approved in accordance with board policies and provincial guidelines, said Logue, in an email. I was within the allotted amount for the fiscal year and was reimbursed only the amount within the allocation. According to documents, Logue spent $1,600 on a hotel during the two-day conference (she says it was three days), and spent more than the allowed $2,500 for flight and hotel. The conference fee was an additional $550. This is not the first time the boards travel has come under scrutiny. In 2012, the board, with Anna DeBartolo as the chair, was criticized for excessive travel by the ministry after Silverman filed access to information requests and found the board spent more than $130,000 on travel to Finland, New Zealand and London. At the time, the provincial minister of education, intervened and placed a six-month moratorium on international travel for York trustees. It was after this, the current jurisdictional learning policy was born that required reports to be prepared and made available to the public, according to the board. The policy doesnt specify how information is made available or timelines for when a report must be made, and this needs to change, said Parappally, in an email. Thats why for all the travel the board staff has taken, there are few publicly available reports online. Just last month, the board published two reports for the Europe trips last year, but only after months of public pressure. Other than those two reports, Silverman said hes only found two others from 2013 and 2014, describing the learning exchange in London. According to one 2014 report available online, since 2000 more than 150 board staff have travelled to Tower Hamlets and Hackney, among the lowest socio-economic areas in London, to observe high-leverage strategies in school districts that are in challenging circumstances. But the conclusions from the 2014 visit, where more than 30 staff and trustees have gone since, lack specifics. Each participant was able to identify key learning take-aways that will be incorporated into their own schools, the report says. In addition, the Star asked the director about any specific benefit the trips to London, the Netherlands and Finland have had for the board, but no details were provided. Current chair Loralea Carruthers says there is a need to improve transparency around travel in the board. We are already conducting a thorough review of the policies that govern these type of expenditures, said Carruthers, adding the board has put a limit (on) any international travel expenses until the review is complete and new policies are in place to better govern these expenses. We have to bring in accountability on these expenses, and Im extremely disappointed this did not already exist to the level necessary, she said. Parappally says he will be recommending changes to the policy to ensure consistency and that, going forward, reports are available to the public in a timely manner. But Silverman believes its time to eliminate the culture of international travel at the board to make it the exception, not the rule. I believe the travel budget should be set after the needs of students are fully met, said Silverman, adding trustees should be forbidden from leaving North America, and all travel outside Ontario by board staff should be approved by the trustees. The trustees are supposed to be the stewards of the budget and should have a greater obligation to the taxpayers of York Region to get this under control. I believe we need to abandon our quest in the Netherlands, Finland and England and look for Canadian solutions to the regions problems. Education Minister Mitzie Hunter expects boards to be open and accountable, and that transparent school board governance is essential to elevating public confidence in our education system, said spokesperson Richard Francella. He noted the minister ordered two troubleshooters to look into concerns at the board because we believe swift action is critical to restore public confidence in the York Region District School Board, which is why we have launched this review. At the end of the review process, the reviewers will submit a report to the minister that provides her with recommendations on how she may direct the board to ensure effective board governance that promotes equity, increases accountability and transparency, and builds public confidence, he said. SHARE: The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio will close the 2016-17 season for Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27 at the Johnny Carson Theater, Lied Center, 11th & R streets, on the UNL campus. Since debuting at the White House for President Carters Inauguration, January, 1977, the Piano Trio has continued as one of the only long-lived ensembles with all of its original members. The members, who also teach and perform as soloists are pianist Joseph Kalichstein, of the Juilliard School of Music; and violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson, both of The Cleveland Institute of Music. Its the family drama that one of Canadas wealthiest men has been trying to brush away for a decade. Try as he might, Barry Sherman, the billionaire founder of generic drug giant Apotex, continues to face down his cousins in a lawsuit that alleges he owed them a fiduciary duty stemming from his purchase of their late fathers family of drug companies back in 1967. Sherman contends the lawsuit is an abuse of process, denies he owes the plaintiffs a fiduciary duty and is seeking to have the entire action thrown out. What do the plaintiffs want? Among other things, theyre claiming the financial equivalent of 20 per cent of Shermans interest in Apotex. They are the Winter orphans, four boys, three of them now grown men and one who has passed away. Their father, Louis Winter, was the founder of Empire Laboratories Ltd. and died in 1965, when the boys were still very young, just weeks before their mother, Beverley, died. Adopted by a Toronto couple, they faced many hardships into adulthood, some turning to drugs. In a statement of claim filed in Superior Court, the plaintiffs say that following their parents deaths, cousin Barry, who had worked for Louis Winter, and some associates acquired Empire in 1967 for $450,000 through a holding company. They promised in an option that the Winter children would have the right to work for the company after the age of 21 and buy five per cent of the issued shares, according to the statement of claim. But then the Empire assets were sold to International Chemical and Nuclear Corporation (ICN) in 1972 for approximately $2 million, according to the statement, and Sherman went on to found Apotex in 1974. The plaintiffs allege that the purchase of Apotex was made possible from the proceeds of the sale of Empire, yet Sherman made no provision for (them) to work at Apotex and become shareholders. Therefore, the plaintiffs claim, he breached what they say was his fiduciary duty to them. There was nothing stopping the sale of Empire in 1972, the plaintiffs say, but they maintain that it was implied in the option that the provisions regarding the children would remain in force and therefore should apply to Apotex. Barrys fiduciary duty did not end with the sale of Empire, but rather was ongoing while he was in the generic drug business, the plaintiffs allege in their statement of claim. The family connection and option agreement were likely why the executors of the Winter estate chose to sell the business to Sherman in the first place in 1967, one of the plaintiffs, Kerry Winter, told the Star in an interview. I still believe . . . that Barry, in his own way, didnt think Id be this tenacious, said Winter, 55. He must sit back some days and be amazed that Im still in the ring, and Im in the ring with a fine attorney, and a legitimate cause of action. I believe we have a great chance of winning. Shermans lawyers are seeking to have the action tossed at a July hearing. They highlight the fact that a related lawsuit brought by the plaintiffs against their parents former estate executor, Royal Trust Corporation, was dismissed in 2013 by a judge. That ruling was upheld on appeal. Among other things, the judge in that case found the option agreement was null and void after the sale of Empire to ICN, the defendants lawyers state in court documents. The court dismissed the plaintiffs option claims, finding that Apotex cannot be interpreted to be the purchased business under the option agreement, and noting in this regard, that the plaintiffs interpretation is wishful thinking beyond fanciful, says the notice of motion to dismiss. The plaintiffs lawsuit against Sherman and several other defendants was first launched in 2007 but administratively dismissed by the court registrar in January 2015 for failure to take steps to set the matter down for trial. The lawsuit was reinstated in 2016 after the Winter plaintiffs retained their current lawyer, Brad Teplitsky. According to the defendants notice of motion to dismiss, Empire Laboratories was purchased by Sherman and Ulster Ltd. (S & U), a corporation in which Sherman and co-defendant Joel Ulster were majority shareholders, and Shermans brother-in-law Meyer (Mike) Florence, another co-defendant, was a minority shareholder. By the time of Empires sale to ICN in 1972, Sherman and Ulster no longer had control over it because all of their shares in S&U had been sold, according to the notice of motion. Lawyers for the defendants state in the motion that the option agreement does not apply to Apotex and that none of the goodwill, property or any other assets from Empire were ever used by Apotex. They declined to comment to the Star for this article. The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that Sherman held their interests in S&U as a trustee and that he breached that duty . . . when he sold (or caused to be sold) the Empire assets without regard to their interests in the option, according to their statement of claim. Teplitsky, the plaintiffs new lawyer, said the updated statement of claim was rewritten to flesh out more details around the plaintiffs fiduciary claim against Sherman and his co-defendants. They are also seeking to add Shermans wife, Honey, his children and his sister as defendants at the July court hearing, alleging that Sherman has transferred assets to them. (Sherman, in an affidavit affirmed in January 2017, says the defendants oppose this motion to include his relatives because the allegations proposed to be added to the lawsuit fail to state a cause of action.) What interests me about this case is the whole issue as to whether (Sherman) owed them a fiduciary duty, Teplitsky said, adding that their case relies on promises in the option made in writing. Kerry Winter is candid about his life and the lives of his brothers, Dana, Tim and Jeff following their parents death. They were all adopted by the same Toronto couple, but suffered psychological hardship over the loss of Louis and Beverley, he said. His brother, Dana, died of an overdose and is represented in the action by his widow, Julia. Winter, who once struggled with drugs, is proud to declare hes five years clean, and now works as a site supervisor for a custom home company. Later in their lives, the siblings had relatively stable relationships with Sherman, which crumbled prior to launching their lawsuit against him 10 years ago, Winter said. He mentioned there was a time he could walk right by security at Apotex and head into Shermans office. I look at my life today and I feel very strongly that if I ran into a whack of dough, my life really wouldnt change that much, Winter said. Ive got a great job, I see my kids every other weekend, I have a beautiful girlfriend who has been living with me for almost four years. I dont know if its so much about getting five, 10 or X amount of millions. To me this is about, and I know it sounds cliche, its really about making Barry Sherman accountable. Read more about: SHARE: The signs of a dirty mansion are subtle: multiple hydro meters or a cluster of mailboxes by the front door are the tell-tale clues what was once a single family home has been divided up into apartments inside. In a rather beautiful if melancholic Globe and Mail story last week on musicians leaving Toronto for cheaper Ontario cities, troubadour Corin Raymond, who has himself decamped to Hamilton, referred to these kinds of houses as dirty mansions, the first Id heard them called that. Its such a brilliant term, not one meant to be taken literally or morally, but rather the house pride every house is anointed with, whether big or small, is undermined. Toronto has long had an apartment bias, where houses are valued above all, so the term dirty mansion has such a subversive edge to it, a bit of shade thrown towards a culture obsessed with aspirational home ownership. Ive lived in a few dirty mansions while in Toronto. The first, on Clinton near Dupont, was a basement apartment in the landlords house. It had a trap door with stairs in the ceiling we could pull in the event of a fire blocking our only door at the rear, allowing us to escape up through his living room. I never tested to see if it would work in fear Id seem like I was snooping. The second was truly a dirty mansion, a ramshackle row house on Dupont itself, backing onto the rail corridor. Ours was a shared three-bedroom apartment on the 2nd and 3rd floors, with other apartments tucked in on the 2nd, 1st, and basement levels. Like a lot of old houses on main streets, it looked battle-worn, almost fortified to protect itself from traffic and it bared its reverse-Frankenstein renovations on its facade. I never set foot in the back yard, an overgrown jungle of a place, but our kitchen was a strange carbuncle, created in a nook over the front porch that seemed to almost tilt over Dupont, with a little precarious deck on top of it that gave me vertigo. This old house and thousands like it were carved up decades ago and were, for a long time, somewhat affordable places to live in the city. These kinds of quirky apartments are beloved by some people despite the walls being in weird places, dining rooms turned into bedrooms, and bathrooms under staircases, though they dont get the same scorn condos do with their equally bad layouts. Its remarkable how age and original wainscotting can play on our emotions. Many Toronto neighbourhoods have gone through cycles from the original family homes to butchered apartments buildings, a shift that often happened during bad economic times or when the houses were out of fashion. In Rosedale, many bona fide mansions were dirty mansions for a spell too, carved into apartments or rooming houses during the Depression and after the Second World War when the suburbs were the place to be. It is no coincidence that in the late 1940s, Mount Pleasant Rd. was created by bulldozing a path through the neighbourhood from Bloor up to St. Clair during this period. Though some apartment houses still exist, most have returned to their original form and its impossible to imagine Mt. Pleasant happening today in a neighbourhood that goes to war over a proposed switchback pathway into the Don Valley. Neighbourhoods like Cabbagetown, Parkdale and the Annex are slowly being transformed from their apartment-rich period back into single family homes, reducing the number of people neighbourhoods like these can absorb. Though less crowded than they once were, some folks in the Annex and its environs have vocally objected to the redevelopment of the Honest Eds site into rental apartments, even getting the number of dwelling units reduced from 1,017 to 806. To get a sense of the reduction in human beings, the number of bedrooms on the site, across various apartment sizes, went from 1,595 to 1,224. Therefore, fewer people will get to rent a place in the Annex. Even in ostensibly the most progressive part of Toronto, sitting on a pile of real estate money will make people quite conservative and resistant to new neighbours. So where will the next dirty mansions be? Should Torontos economy go sour really sour it could lead to a new wave of apartment conversions as people sell houses they cant afford, but no one would ever wish economic calamity on the city. This week the Stars Jennifer Wells wrote a compelling column encouraging empty nester boomers living in large houses to subdivide and add an apartment or two. In North America, the spaces we live in have become oversized and Wells called for more European-sized dwellings. Hey, that might even cut down on the hydro bills everybody complains about. Geographically, the dirty mansions have always been in the older parts of Toronto, but why cant the split-levels of the inner and outer suburbs split up too? Perhaps the McMansions of North Toronto could become Dirty McMansions. The potential for this apartment renaissance happening again is limited though because every neighbourhood seems to protest even town homes or lot splitting. Nobody wants new neighbours. Noble dirty mansions, big Rosedale and Parkdale ones, or the crummy little subdivide shacks of humbler neighbourhoods, have played an important role in Torontos affordability and rental stock. Its a shame theyre both disappearing and theyre not spreading to new neighbourhoods, and its a shame it took bad times to get the ones we still have. Shawn Micallef writes every Saturday about where and how we live in the GTA. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef SHARE: WASHINGTONU.S. President Donald Trump has declared April to be National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, saying prevention means reducing the prevalence of sexual violence on our streets, in our homes, and in our schools and institutions. Women, children, and men have inherent dignity that should never be violated, Trump said in his proclamation on Friday afternoon. The national month was established by Congress and George. W. Bush in 2003 and recognized every year by Bush and Barack Obama with little media attention. Trump, though, has been accused of sexual assault by 12 women over the past year. During his campaign, he called his accusers liars, said some of them were too unattractive for him to think about sexually, and promised to sue them after his victory. He was also recorded in 2005 boasting of what sounded like the kind of sexual assault his accusers alleged he had committed, saying he kisses and gropes women without waiting for consent. Grab them by the p----y. You can do anything, he said in the recording, which was leaked in October. He struck a different note in the proclamation. In the face of sexual violence, we must commit to providing meaningful support and services for victims and survivors in the United States and around the world, the text read. He urged all Americans to support survivors of sexual assault and work together to prevent these crimes in their communities. As a nation, we must develop meaningful strategies to eliminate these crimes, including increasing awareness of the problem in our communities, creating systems that protect vulnerable groups, and sharing successful prevention strategies, he said. Trump also declared April to be National Child Abuse Prevention Month, National Financial Capability Month, Cancer Control Month and National Donate Life Month. Read more about: SHARE: More than anything else, the future of the world in the 21st century depends on the relationship between its two most important nations China and the United States. Thats what makes next weeks crucial summit in Florida between their two presidents, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, so important and unpredictable. Two years ago, I wrote: When the history of this century is finally written, its leading headline will likely be the emergence of China as the worlds dominant superpower. However slowly, that headline is beginning to be written. It is not melodramatic to suggest, as U.S. journalist Fareed Zakaria did recently in The Washington Post, that after 75 years of U.S. leadership on the world stage, the Mar-a-Lago summit might mark the beginning of a handover of power from the United States to China. There are several aspects to this summit that are extraordinary. Although it is intended only to be an introductory meeting, it will be much more. Behind the forced smiles and awkward courtesies, it will highlight how dramatically the relationship between China and the U.S. is changing. In 2013, when Xi Jinping first came to the U.S. as Chinas new leader to meet President Barack Obama, there was no doubt about which leader was dominant. Or which country. Obama had just been re-elected, while Xis presidency was just beginning. The United States was still the worlds dominant superpower, while China was uneasily grappling with severe economic and political challenges. Four years later, the global landscape has changed. Xi is now regarded as perhaps the most powerful and authoritarian Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. Trump, in contrast, is looking as if he may turn out to be the most ineffective U.S. president in modern times. By any measure, Trump has experienced a truly awful beginning to his presidency. And lets not forget that he was the candidate who said, repeatedly, during the presidential campaign: We cant continue to allow China to rape our country, and thats what theyre doing. Now that Trump is president, the irony is that so many of his foreign policy blunders have played directly into Chinas hands. And the damage has been real. On the world stage, America under Trump has created an enormous vacuum, while China under Xi has seized on it as an enormous opportunity. And Xi is doing this in spite of an abysmal human rights record. Trump has pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and turned his back on global trade. The trade agreement was intended by Obama to create a bloc of Asian allies to stand up to China. With that agreement gone, China has the field for itself. Trump is reducing Americas global role in diplomacy, foreign aid and international organizations such as the United Nations. China, in response, is expanding its diplomatic and foreign aid initiatives, and aggressively accelerating its efforts to influence the United Nations. This past week, Trump moved to roll back many of the major American climate change initiatives of the Obama era. This comes as China is going ahead with significant climate change programs. These moves by Trump, and Chinas countermoves, provide a sobering framework for next weeks summit. Although Xi met Obama nine times, he is still largely unknown by the American public and media. But, unlike other Chinese leaders, he may know them more than they know him. Xi frequently mentions a 1985 visit to Iowa when he stayed overnight in the small bedroom of a middle-class family, surrounded by their boys Star Trek figures. His daughter graduated from Harvard in 2014 and he is said to have a sister living in Canada. Xis wife, Peng Liyuan, is a glamorous celebrity soprano, and she will be with her husband on the trip. In 2015, Trump was asked on Fox News how he would ever approach a summit with the Chinese president. He replied: I would not be throwing him a dinner. Id get him a McDonalds hamburger, and Id say we gotta get down to work. When officials on Thursday confirmed the summit for April 6-7, they indicated that the U.S. president and first lady Melania Trump will host the Chinese couple for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. The menu was not given. Tony Burman is former head of Al Jazeera English and CBC News. Reach him @TonyBurman or at tony.burman@gmail.com . Read more about: SHARE: Gilbert Baker, a self-described gay Betsy Ross who in 1978 hand-dyed and stitched together eight strips of vibrantly coloured fabric into a rainbow flag, instantly creating an enduring international symbol of gay pride, was found dead on Friday at his home in New York City. He was 65. Cleve Jones, a friend and gay rights activist who confirmed the death, said Baker had a stroke several years ago but had not been sick recently. As the gay rights movement spread from San Francisco and New York in the 1970s, Baker was often asked by friends aware of his creative talents to make banners for protests and marches. His creations, like others during that time, often included the pink triangle, which protesters had claimed as an icon after its initial use by the Nazis to identify gay men in concentration camps during the Second World War. Before a gay pride parade in 1978 in San Francisco, Harvey Milk, a city supervisor and gay rights leader who was assassinated that year, joined others in asking Baker to create an emblem to represent the movement. Baker, with help from volunteers, filled trash cans with dye in the attic of the Gay Community Center in San Francisco and pieced together the first flags, unveiling them in the parade on June 25, 1978. We stood there and watched and saw the flags, and their faces lit up, Jones said in a phone interview on Friday. It needed no explanation. People knew immediately that it was our flag. The first flags had eight colours, each stripe carrying its own significance: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sun, green for nature, turquoise for magic, blue for peace and purple for spirit. A flag translates into everything, from tacky souvenirs to the names of organizations and the way that flags function, Baker said in an interview in 2008. I knew instantly when I saw the reaction that it was going to be something. I didnt know what or how or but I knew. Since its introduction, the rainbow flag has become a universal symbol for inclusion, peace and love. It has been waved by gay rights supporters in China fighting for equality. It has been hung from apartment balconies as a sign of solidarity. After the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2015, more than 26 million people on Facebook changed their profile photos to include the flag. The flag itself has changed since 1978, going to six colours from eight. Pink fabric was too expensive, Baker said, so it was removed, and turquoise and blue were combined into one colour, royal blue. Gilbert Baker was born on June 2, 1951, in Chanute, Kan., a tiny rural town that was a stop on the Santa Fe Railway. His mother was a teacher, and his father was a lawyer and a judge. Baker said he was outgoing growing up but had always thought of himself as an outcast because he was gay. Baker spent a year in college before he was drafted into the army. He served as a medic and was eventually stationed in San Francisco, where he remained after leaving the army in 1972. San Francisco was then a centre for the womens rights and civil rights movements, and after a police raid in 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan, a gathering spot for gay New Yorkers, more people began coming out as gay. For me and, really, a whole generation of people, that was really a defining time, Baker said in 2008. After the 1978 parade, Baker joined a flag company in San Francisco that supported his idea of mass-producing his creation, but he later left for a career in art and design. He was nevertheless always associated with the flag. He created rainbow flags for the recent ABC miniseries When We Rise, about the gay rights movement. In recent weeks he had finished creating 39 nine-color flags the eight original colours, plus lavender to represent diversity to commemorate the 39th anniversary of the first rainbow flag. He got up every day and made art, Charley Beal, a friend who was the art director of the 2008 film Milk, about Harvey Milk, said in an interview. Baker refused to apply for a trademark for his creation. It was his gift to the world, Jones said. He told me when the flag first went up that he knew at that moment that it was his lifes work. SHARE: MOSCOWNeed some election interference? The Russian Foreign Ministry is ready to help or so it says on April Fools Day. On Saturday, the ministry posted on its Facebook page an audio file of the purported new automated telephone switchboard message for Russian embassies. To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponent, press 1, the recording begins, in Russian and English. Press 2 to use the services of Russian hackers, and 3 to request election interference. A ministry duty officer, who did not give his name in line with official practice, confirmed to The Associated Press that the post was an official joke. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday emphatically denied allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Read more about: SHARE: Follow the bouncing ball: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Feb. 16, 2016: We are determined to revitalize Canadas role in peacekeeping. Toronto Star, July 14, 2016: Canadian troops will soon be headed to Africa as the federal government makes plans for a new peacekeeping mission. Justin Trudeau, Dec. 4, 2016: We have a dangerous world right now... and we cannot simply sit back and say were not going to do anything about it. Justin Trudeau, March 25, 2017: We have a difficult history in Africa as peacekeepers Thats a decision were not going to fast-track. What a difference a few months make. A government so eager to get back into peacekeeping, to have Canada step up and assume its responsibilities as a committed member of the United Nations, now hesitates at the waters edge. There are plenty of understandable reasons for this. The international landscape has changed dramatically with the election of Donald Trump. UN missions in Africa are dangerous and difficult. They are more akin to counter-insurgency than to traditional blue helmet operations. Taking time to get it right makes sense. But Canadas drawn-out hesitation waltz carries its own risks, and they are undermining the very purpose of the governments original intent. It was just over a year ago that Trudeau pledged Canada was back as a staunch member of the UN and formally announced his governments intention to win back a seat on the Security Council at the first opportunity. And it was seven months ago that the government outlined in some detail the scale of its commitment to peace operations: $450 million over three years and up to 600 troops. The UN and key allies welcomed the move warmly. France, in particular, is eager for help as its soldiers battle Islamic extremists in Mali. And as far back as November, UN officials were saying Canadian troops were urgently needed in Mali, where more peacekeepers have died than anywhere else in the organizations long history with such operations. But now, as the government quite clearly pushes any mission to Africa onto the back burner, it runs the risk of letting down the very allies whose hopes and expectations it deliberately raised. Already, a Belgian general has been put in command of the UNs Mali mission, a position that was being held open for a Canadian. What are our allies to think? If 2017 drags on with no decision, they will be hard-pressed not to conclude that when it comes to peacekeeping, Canada is all talk, no action. If committing troops to a difficult mission was key to making Canadas case to rejoin the Security Council, surely failing to commit them will undermine that same case. At this point, it seems better for the government to figure out exactly what it is prepared to do and how much risk it is ready to assume, and then carry through with that. Better to deliver on a more modest commitment than to make ambitious declarations and then balk at actually carrying them out. The world is clearly ready to welcome Canada back to a more active role in peacekeeping, peace support, and similar operations. The government needs to do a better job of matching its rhetoric with the reality it is ready to deliver on the ground. Read more about: SHARE: Let Senator Lynn Beyaks recent questioning of a residential school survivor put to rest the debate about whether she is fit to sit on the Upper Houses Aboriginal peoples committee. She is not. The Conservative caucus should remove her from the committee. And her Tory colleagues should consider what her continued caucus membership says about their party. On Wednesday, Beyak listened along with fellow committee members as Doris Young, an elderly Cree woman, testified tearfully about the traumas she suffered in residential schools and how they shaped her life. She spoke of the loss of her language, the dislocation from family and community, the suicidal thoughts that plagued her. Such testimony is crucial as Parliament works to understand the intergenerational impact of residential schools and how to mitigate the damage. Yet its meaning seemed lost on Beyak. The senator jumped in as soon as Young was finished and asked her views on, of all things, a proposal to audit First Nations spending to root out waste. (Young, taken aback, didnt seem to think too highly of it.) This, of course, was not Beyaks first or even most notable display of thoughtlessness. Earlier in March, the senator delivered an ignorant and muddled speech making the case that the upside of residential schools is unfairly overshadowed by all the negative press about, you know, cultural genocide. There was plenty to love about the schools, according to the senator. Nobody meant to hurt anybody, the little smiles in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are real, the clothes are clean and the meals are good, she said. There were many people who came from residential schools with good training and good language skills, and, of course, there were the atrocities as well. You know, on the one hand, clean clothes; on the other, the atrocities. No doubt people can find moments of grace in even the worst of places. And its true that some students would say they derived value from the education they received. But none of this does anything to lessen the profound injustice of Ottawas longstanding policy of forced assimilation. It does nothing to erase or ease the devastating consequences of culture loss and a legacy of abuse. How, after all we have learned in recent years, does a member of the Senates Aboriginal peoples committee still not understand this? Perhaps because Beyak believes she has nothing to learn. In the weeks since her remarks, as the chorus of critics calling for her resignation has grown, she has stubbornly refused to backtrack or draw any lessons from the debacle. Citing a friendship with an aboriginal fellow, Beyak insists instead, I dont need any more education. That attitude alone should disqualify her from sitting on the committee. But whether she stays or goes is up to the Conservative caucus in the Senate, which has so far circled the wagons. While many say they find Beyaks comments offensive, they insist she has the right to free speech. That, of course, is a red herring. No one is suggesting she be locked up. But the ignorance and insensitivity she has displayed clearly invalidate her position as a parliamentary representative on this profoundly important, complex and sensitive file. She has shown that she lacks the basic competencies to continue in this role. Her colleagues should remove her from the committee. And if they stand by their former leaders official apology for the harm done by residential schools, they should consider whether someone who has displayed such ignorance of history and insensitivity to suffering should be allowed to sit as a Conservative. SHARE: The newly launched Amazon Connect call center product is the latest evidence of Amazon's (AMZN) endless capacity to add features and tweaks to its market-dominating cloud service. Amazon Web Services, which has a strong lead over Microsoft's (MSFT) Azure, Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google Cloud, IBM (IBM) Cloud and others, introduced more than 1,000 new services to its cloud service last year. As the cloud call center offering shows, the tweaks keep coming. The competition and pace of innovation is fierce. "In the past couple of years there's been a bit of a feature war," Microsoft VP of Cloud Marketing Julia White told investors at a Goldman Sachs conference in February. Amazon Web Services, or AWS, is the indisputable leader, with a breadth of services and clients ranging from blue chips such as Coca Cola (KO) and General Electric (GE) to app-economy stalwarts like Netflix (NFLX) , Tinder and Lyft. Microsoft and Google are closing the features gap, even if they are far behind on market share. Alphabet and General Electric are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells GOOGL or GE? Learn more now. "When anybody thinks about doing someothing in the cloud, Amazon is the first they think of," said Gartner Cloud Services Research VP Ed Anderson. "Their point of competitive differentiation is they are the most mature, the most well established and have the most mind share, the most features and partners." Amazon has more than 68% of the market for a service, IaaS, which provides services, storage, and operating systems on a software-like subscription model, according to Frost & Sullivan. Microsoft Azure has 12%, IBM has 3.1% and Google has 2.3%. The broader market for IaaS and platform as a service, or PaaS, which includes software development platforms, is slightly more evenly divided. Amazon had 40% share at the end of 2016, according to Synergy Research Group, essentially in line with Amazon Web Service's position at the end of 2015, Microsoft gained 3% to 11% of the market by the end of 2016, while Google gained 2% last year to reach 6% share. "AWS is holding its own in a very high-growth strategically important market, while Microsoft and Google are growing more strongly but remain in a different league due to smaller scale," Synergy Research Group Chief Analyst & Managing Director John Dinsdale said in an email. IBM held 6% of the market. Amazon Web Services notched $12.2 billion in sales last year. The unit is on track to generate $17 billion in sales this year, Sun Trust projects. The firm values AWS at $190 billion, or 8 times consensus 2018 sales, which is still less than the $250 billion valuation that Sun Trust applies to Amazon's retail business. "They really compete on being the first to market and the market leader. That's hard to sustain but they have done a really good job," Anderson said. "Not only are they a leader but they continue to innovate." AWS's services and products range from typical IT fare as storage and databases to game development and artificial intelligence applications that can search and recognize images. Customers can apply voice recognition technology and artificial intelligence technology similar to what Amazon deploys with its Alexa personal assistant. Founded in 2006, AWS has built up a diverse corporate roster. General Electric moved more than 9,000 applications to AWS, reducing its portfolio of data centers from 34 to four. Australian airline Quantas built a hotel-booking business and other apps on AWS. Capital One is using AWS for mobile banking and other sensitive functions. "What they are trying to show is we are a cloud platform that can be applied in the most difficult environments like banking where the information is so sensitive and the regulatory compliance rules are so complex," Gartner's Anderson said of AWS's forays into regulation-bound segment such as finance. "Their challenge is how do they maintain that when feature differentiation becomes harder and the market become more mature." Microsoft Azure has about $2.6 billion in annual sales, Barclays projects. "Its challenge is that of being number two in a market with a strong, dominant number one," Anderson said. The installed base of corporate customers has helped with Azure. While Amazon has 50% of the enterprise cloud market, according to Barclays, Azure has a 40% position. Microsoft's cloud efforts benefit from its deep experience in business software. "Its part of a broader cloud effort that Microsoft has across their products," Anderson said, noting a product line that includes the Office 365 cloud suite of workplace software, the Cortana A.I. personal assistant, Dynamics customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning software and other technology. "We here a lot of people say, 'We're moving to Office 365 so we might as well shift to Azure," Anderson said. Azure "shines" with organizations that have deployed Microsoft's .NET development environment that companies could use to build applications for Windows, Anderson added. "You've got millions of applications," he said. Windows presents Azure as the logical place for those applications to reside, though they could operate in another cloud environment. "Microsoft really uses that as a hook," Anderson said. "You've already invested in this." Alphabet lacks the decades-old ties that Microsoft and IBM have to corporate IT departments, but plays to the strength of its DNA. "Google has this industry reputation for being very innovative, very technologically astute, very forward looking and cutting edge," Gartner's Anderson said. "Google really plays that up in their cloud properties." Google hired former VMWare (VMW) CEO Diane Greene in 2015 to lead the enterprise cloud strategy. "She's really unified the company around a holistic, comprehensive cloud strategy that is very enterprise focused," Anderson said, pointing to the integration of collaboration, content management, and office productivity capabilities from its G Suite applications such as Gmail and Google Drive. "They have invested a lot of money and a lot of engineering work," Anderson added. Google touts data analytics and machine learning, security and privacy application development tools and the ability to connect business software platforms from its recent purchase of Apigee. With clients such as social media company Snap (SNAP) , music streaming company Spotify, organization app developer Evernote, e-commerce outfit Zulily and Pokemon Go developer Niantic, Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves estimates that Google Cloud has a $1 billion run rate. The deal with Snap illustrates how quickly the unit could grow. Snap committed to $400 million per year from Google Cloud over the course of the five-year deal. The company and IBM have similar market share, but Google has better "mindshare and trajectory than IBM," Anderson said. "Most of the customers who talk to us about Google say things like we want to run like Google," he said. "We want to innovate like Google. We want to scale like Google." While IBM is fourth in the combined IaaS and PaaS markets, according to Synergy, it is first in the hybrid cloud, which blends public cloud services with capacity on the client's own servers. "They compete more on the merits of 'we will do cloud however it makes sense for you,' where the others are more pushing you to their public cloud offerings," Anderson said. Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff and AT&T (T) boss Randall Stephenson took part in IBM's March cloud conference in Las Vegas. IBM's resources and background in corporate technology helped it win big clients like American Airlines (AAL) , AT&T, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) , ABN AMRO, the U.S. Army and Maersk. The company recently announced a cloud services pact with Wanda Internet Technology Group in China. "They are massive. They have got a ton of money, a ton of resources they bring to bear in terms of their cloud offering," Anderson said. As Amazon, Google and Microsoft have leveraged artificial intelligence in their cloud environments, so has IBM with its Watson A.I. program. "The brains of Watson have been put as services inside the IBM Cloud," IBM Senior Vice President of Cognitive Solutions and Research John Kelly said at a March investor briefing. "No other company has such an array of cognitive and AI capabilities in their cloud as we have." IBM's cloud offerings include development tools for building apps that integrate Watson's speech recognition, image recognition and statistical analysis abilities, Anderson added. "IBM is probably the most aggresive in terms of positioning their Watson technology as part of their cloud and that's one of the ways they compete," he said. Registration is open for the School Community Intervention & Prevention (SCIP) annual fundraiser, Hop, SCIP, Jump and RUN, brought to you by Nebraska Mental Health Centers. The event, scheduled May 13 at Lincoln Southwest High School, will feature a 1-mile Fun Run and a 5K Race and is open to both children and adults. Participants will also have the opportunity to visit sponsor booths to become eligible for prizes. Proceeds will benefit SCIP, a program of the Lincoln Medical Education Partnership The 5K Race is $25 per person and the 1-mile Fun Run is $15 per person. Tickets purchased by April 28 include an event T-shirt. Children under age 9 must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets may be purchased through the SCIP website at www.scipnebraska.com Purpose of SCIP SCIP is designed to bring together families, schools and the community to support student behavioral and emotional health. Its mission is to provide an effective prevention and early intervention process for youth with behavioral health concerns, so they may achieve healthy, productive lives. SCIP works with schools by providing tools and resources to address behavioral and emotional health issues that impact children, adolescents and their families. Organizers of the May 13 event hope to encourage lifelong health and wellness, physically and mentally, of youth and beyond. For more information, contact Michaela Emmons at memmons@lmep.com or 402-327-6843 or visit www.scipnebraska.com No Ukrainian soldiers were killed but ten servicepersons were wounded in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) area in eastern Ukraine over the past day. Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesperson for ATO Andriy Lysenko said this at a press briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "No Ukrainian soldiers were killed but ten servicepersons were wounded as a result of the armed hostilities in eastern Ukraine over the past day," Lysenko said. As noted, the militants have already violated the ceasefire 12 times this day, despite the ceasefire agreement reached recently in Minsk. ol The agreement on cooperation between the ministries of defense of Ukraine and Canada will be signed in Ottawa early next week. This information was confirmed to an Ukrinform correspondent in the defense ministries of both countries. According to the sources, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak will personally attend the signing ceremony while making an official visit to Canada. As noted, the agreement is still being finalized. As reported, the Ukraine-Canada defense cooperation agreement is the interagency treaty, which Ukraine needs to get to access to the Canadian arms market. ol OREGON Gary Gorman recognized that for the development company bearing his name to continue without him someday, he needed a leadership transition plan to ensure its future. In mid-March Gorman & Co., which he built from a one-man operation from a basement office in summer 1984 to a company with about 250 employees and operations in five states, announced that plan. Gorman will transition the daily management of the company to Brian Swanton, the Arizona market president who will take over as CEO on Jan. 1. Gorman will still be involved with the business as chairman of its board. Gorman, who has not determined a retirement date, said announcing a leadership succession plan now was the responsible thing to do. Ill still be very involved in the company, but Ill be less involved in the day-to-day side of things starting Jan. 1, said Gorman, 61. I dont consider this retiring at all, but when you grow a business to a certain level, and when (the owner) gets over 60 years old, people do start to ask, Whats next? I wanted to get ahead of that question. I wanted to have input on (the future of the business) as opposed to someone else making that decision somewhere down the line. In the beginning Gorman & Co. specializes in housing developments from affordable housing to upscale condominiums, and does more than $100 million in business annually. It has operations in Milwaukee, Phoenix, Chicago, Miami and Denver. Gorman & Co. also has been very active in Madison. The companys recent projects include the Union Corners development continuing to rise at East Washington Avenue, Milwaukee and Winnebago streets. The company also was involved in converting space at the Bishop OConnor Catholic Pastoral Center, a former seminary and home to the diocesan headquarters, to apartments now referred to as Holy Name Heights. Before he got into housing development, Gorman practiced law for about four years. The basement office where I started my business was torn down long ago, he said. When I look back on it, I never expected the company to grow to the size it is today. Tom Capp, the current chief operating officer who will become vice chairman of the board on Jan. 1, joined Gorman about 22 years ago and led the companys expansion outside Wisconsin, most recently to Illinois. We have deep roots in Wisconsin and well always be a Wisconsin-based company, Gorman said. He said Swanton, who has grown Gorman & Co.s business in Arizona for the past eight years, is ready for a larger role. Gorman said establishing the future leader of the company well before his retirement also ensures to future investors the firm will be around to see projects through and it also helps in the recruitment of new employees as it looks to expand into new markets. Yes, I want to ensure the company continues after Im gone, but what its really about when a company actively is recruiting young people that have options and they see the CEO of our company is a guy in his 60s, they may not consider us, Gorman said. Gorman said moving the company forward will take new thinking. It took a certain skill set to grow the company from zero to $100 million, he said. To get to that next level, it will take someone who may be better at systems and monitoring metrics, and I think Brian has the skills to continue growing the business. The future Implementing a transition plan while an owner still will be involved in the business is a sound strategy, said Sherry Herwig, director of the Family Business Center at UW-Madison. It lets employees know that during the transition there will be some consistency and continuity, she said. When the new leader takes over, the employees can take comfort knowing the person who had been leading the company all along will be there and be part of the decision-making process. Gorman said his companys success has been built through recruiting good people who could develop markets familiar to them. What I hope to see is the company experience steady but not rapid growth because companies that are the highest risk are start-ups and those that grow too rapidly, he said. In terms of the transition and working with Brian, I plan to work with him so he understands what hell have to do to be the CEO versus just being a market president. Gorman said once the companys daily management is transitioned to Swanton, he will focus on special projects including finding ways to approach building projects more cost-effectively. Im feeling good and Im healthy, Gorman said. Im still really interested in this business and frankly, I dont want to retire. Deadly cholera is spreading through drought-ravaged Somalia as clean water sources dry up, a top aid official said, deepening a humanitarian crisis in a country that is on the verge of famine. The Horn of Africa nation has recorded more than 18,000 cases of cholera so far this year, up from around 15,000 in all of 2016 and 5,000 in a normal year, Johan Heffinck, the Somalia head of EU Humanitarian Aid, said in an email on Thursday. The current strain of the disease is unusually deadly, killing around 1 in 45 patients. Somalia is suffering from a severe drought that means more than half of its 12 million citizens are expected to need aid by July. Families have been forced to drink slimy, infected water after the rains failed and wells and rivers dried up. "We are very close to famine," Heffinck said. The Security Information Network (FSIN), which is co-sponsored by the United Nations food agency, said in a report on Friday Somalia was one of four African countries at high risk of famine. Somalia's rainy season normally runs from March to May, but there has been no rain this month. The drought has hit particularly hard in the breakaway northern region of Somaliland, where the rains began to fail in 2015, killing off animals that nomadic families rely on to survive. 'This is the last bottle' Listless, skinny children last week lay in crowded wards in the main hospital in the regional capital Hargeisa. Three-year-old Nimaan Hassid had diarrhea for 20 days before his mother brought him to hospital. He weighs only 6.5 kilograms, less than half the normal weight for his age. Doctors say he is suffering from severe malnutrition but his grandmother, 60-year-old Fadumo Hussein, told Reuters the family has no money for food or clean water. "We don't have mineral water to give to the sick child. This is the last bottle," she said, carefully pouring it into a feeding tube inserted through his nose. In the malnutrition ward in the general hospital of Somaliland's second city Burao, Doctor Hamud Ahmed said children were also being hit hard by diseases like tuberculosis, meningitis and measles. Children's admissions reached almost 60 in March, up fourfold from October. "This is due to the drought," Ahmed said. "When families lose all their livestock and children do not get milk, this is the famine that causes the children to suffer." If the rains fail, the country could tip into famine. Somalia's last famine, in 2011, killed more than 260,000 people. Heffinck said aid agencies were working overtime to try to prevent a similar disaster, trucking in clean water and stepping up the distribution of food and cash. "The big difference this time is that we have started the preparation and scaling up of the relief operations earlier," he said. Israel's planned new major settlement is stirring emotions both among Israelis and Palestinians. Palestinians are furious after Israel announced that it will build the first new Jewish settlement in the West Bank in 20 years. Palestinian officials say the settlements are illegal under international law and such construction is another nail in the coffin of the peace process. Ayman Abu Ahmad, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, says it is clear that Israel does not want peace. The peace they want is to take everything, to take the land, take control of the borders, and the situation is very bad," he said. The announcement of the new settlement came two months after the Israeli army dismantled another Jewish community in the West Bank under orders from Israels Supreme Court. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is fulfilling a promise to the more than 300 evacuated settlers that he would build them a new community. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration had appealed to Israel to curb settlement activity, saying it harms efforts to revive peace talks with the Palestinians that collapsed three years ago. Nevertheless, the plans for a new settlement brought muted reaction from the White House. That is in sharp contrast to the previous administration of Barack Obama, who bitterly opposed settlement expansion. Former Israeli diplomat Zalmon Shoval believes there is a quiet understanding between Israel and the Trump administration for limited construction in the settlements. From the reactions in Washington you can see not that they are enthusiastic about it necessarily but that they take this in their stride, understanding that Netanyahu had a political commitment which he had to honor," Shoval said. As a result, Jewish settlers and their supporters in the right-wing Israeli government are declaring victory, saying it is a historic day for Zionism and the state of Israel. Peru said Thursday that it was recalling its ambassador to Venezuela and condemned the recent decision by Venezuela's Supreme Court to take over the functions of Congress as a "flagrant breach of democratic order." Peru's Foreign Affairs Ministry added in a statement that it has started consultations with other members of the Organization of American States to discuss urgent measures to preserve democracy in Venezuela. The pro-government court in Venezuela, which has previously annulled most of the legislature's decisions since the opposition won a majority in 2015, said late Wednesday that it was taking over congressional functions. "Latin America is democratic. It's unacceptable what's happening in Venezuela," Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said on Twitter. Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker, has repeatedly expressed concern for Venezuelans amid the country's relentless economic crisis and has criticized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for cracking down on political opponents. Maduro has called Kuczynski a "coward" and a "dog" servile to the United States. Some 6.7 million voters in Serbia are poised to cast ballots Sunday in what could be one of the most irregular presidential elections in the central Balkan nation's history. Viewed by many as a test of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic's popularity, the election will see the former firebrand ultranationalist-turned-EU supporter face off against 10 candidates representing a range of parties that make up the nation's fragmented opposition. However, only three or four of these 10 candidates can expect to win 10 percent or more of the votes, according to current polls. Vucic's support hovers around 50 percent, and if he can win more than half the vote Sunday, he would avoid a runoff election next month, in which the opposition could coalesce behind a single candidate. His critics warn that Vucic is looking to replicate the kind of autocracy seen in Russia under Vladimir Putin, who has already endorsed the incumbent. Vucic's challengers have accused him of mudslinging, controlling the media and intimidating voters ahead of the election. Vucic, a former information minister and hard-line propagandist under President Slobodan Milosevic, rejects those accusations. On Thursday, his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) purchased the front pages on almost every daily newspaper to advertise the candidate's red-and-blue AV logo-emblazoned poster. While many Belgrade pundits seem to agree that a Vucic triumph Sunday is almost a foregone conclusion political columnists differ only on the percentage points by which he'll exceed the 50 percent threshold required for victory many voters continue to question campaign-trail events that indicate a heavily rigged election. "I think that these are the most irregular elections when it comes to election campaign," said Cvijetin Milivojevic, a media analyst with Agency Pragma, a Belgrade public relations and communications group. "We shall see what will be the situation regarding vote counting." Rasa Nedeljkov of the Center for Transparency, Research and Accountability (CRTA) in Belgrade, says only six observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will be on hand to monitor Sunday's vote. The entire campaign season, he said, has unfolded against a backdrop of unbridled corruption, voter intimidation, bribery and mudslinging. "I can assure you that when there is no control, when there is no awareness that the prosecutor's office would react to corruption ... when voters experience threats and influence from their superiors to vote for a certain candidate, pressuring them to go out on political gatherings when I know that no one would control me or arrest me for that then [as a candidate] I would do anything," he told VOA's Serbian service. "The situation tells us that conditions for having democratic elections are down to minimum," he added. "If there is no systemic control, then we can assume that different participants will try to do different things that will compromise the quality of the election process." Worse than Milosevic era? This campaign is likely to be remembered for an unequal media representation of the presidential candidates. According to one Belgrade media watchdog NGO, Vucic garnered 56 percent of televised coverage by the formerly state-run RTS, Serbia's only public radio and television broadcaster. The 10 other challenger candidates split the remaining 44 percent of broadcast coverage. In the cases of commercial media, percentages weighed overwhelmingly in Vucic's favor. "Overall, we have five opposition candidates that were disqualified on all grounds. Sadly, the vast majority of Serbian voters believe in what they see on RTS or Pink television," said Milivojevic, referring to an international Balkans tabloid media conglomerate that is owned by a Serbian tycoon who is publicly supportive of and personally close to Vucic. "According to the program on those television stations, opposition candidates are not qualified to be mentioned at all or even be presented as serious opponents," Milivojevic said. "That sort of disqualification was not seen even during Milosevic's era, or not in that measure." Nedeljkov told VOA that Serbia's Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media (REM) recently announced it would not monitor television broadcasts during the campaign. Serbia's Anti-Corruption Agency, he added, has announced that it will not fully monitor Sunday's vote. "The only hope for these misfortunate opposition candidates is the distant chance of having the second round, because they are not aiming to win," Nedeljkov said. "I think of those true opposition candidates, and if there would be a second round, that they will be the ones to enter it. It is deranged situation, really, because opposition candidates are competing among themselves to win the second round, if we'll have one." Vucic received a head start from his powerful Serbian Progressive Party, as well as its coalition allies. No other candidate enjoys such strong support from the leading Serbian parties, and some of the candidates don't even have a political party behind them. Serbia has been an independent republic since 2006, following the breakup of Yugoslavia. Serbia became a candidate to join the European Union in 2012 and has been negotiating its accession to the bloc since 2014. A U.S. government monitoring agency says that its review of the conditions and status of USAID-funded schools in northern Afghanistan has detected "extreme discrepancies between reported and observed students and teachers." The review by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) focused on the relatively peaceful and prosperous Balkh province. The agency released its findings on Friday. "On average, officials reported an enrollment of 2,461 students at each of the 26 schools that SIGAR inspected in Balkh province," it said. "However, an average of only 734, or 30 percent, of students enrolled were observed at the time of inspection." SIGAR is tasked to review billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars that are being spent or allocated to help rebuild the war-shattered country. It said USAID has disbursed about $868 million for education programs in Afghanistan as of September 2016. The agency observed that fewer than 20 percent of students reportedly enrolled at eight schools, and fewer than 10 percent of students enrolled at five schools. It said that inspectors did not observe any of the 963 students who reportedly enrolled at one school in Kishidih district. "At a school in Khulm district, 30 of 460 enrolled students were reported absent during our site visit. At the time of our visit, there were only 10 students on school grounds," according to the SIGAR report. The report added that on average, school staff reported that 77 teachers were assigned to each school. "Our site visits found an average of 25 teachers on school grounds, or approximately 35 percent of the number of teachers reportedly assigned to a school," SIGAR noted. The agency observed that less than half of the schools had reliable electricity, and 10 facilities lacked access to clean water. South Sudanese government troops burned thousands of civilians' homes late last year, monitors of the country's troubled peace agreement said Friday, making some of the strongest allegations yet against security forces in the three-year civil war. The new report says three villages in the southern Yei region visited by investigators had been abandoned and destroyed. A visit to Yei in November led the U.N. special adviser on genocide to warn that South Sudan could slip into genocide, while an Associated Press reporter found charred bodies there, some with hands bound. "In most cases the buildings were deliberately set on fire by government forces," the report said. At least 3,000 homes were burned in a single village. Government forces denied U.N. officials and investigators access to one Yei village, and government officials blamed rebels and wildfires for the destruction, the report says. Investigators found that unlikely. Satellite data from Amnesty International shows about 2,000 structures were destroyed along a highway near Yei between late December and January. Separately, U.N. satellite images obtained by the AP show that a buildup of military installations near Yei began as early as September, and the destruction of homes started as early as October. The once-peaceful Yei region became a target after clashes broke out in the capital, Juba, in July and reignited fighting across the country. A fragile peace deal reached in 2015 under international pressure quickly fell apart. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the region around Yei to neighboring Uganda, which has warned it is reaching breaking point amid the world's fastest-growing refugee crisis. A separate report by the peace deal monitors says both government and rebel forces prey on civilians in the southern part of the country, but it says more evidence implicates government or allied fighters. It is "high time" that President Salva Kiir and his commanders are held to account "for these outrageous, well-documented and repeated breaches of international law," said Jonathan Pedneault, a researcher on South Sudan at Human Rights Watch. U.S. media outlets say terrorist groups have been testing explosive devices that can be hidden in a laptop and that can evade some commonly used airport security screening methods. CNN and CBS said Friday that U.S. intelligence officials had told them militants with al-Qaida and Islamic State have been developing innovative ways to plant explosives in electronic devices. The news organizations said the new intelligence suggested that the terror groups have obtained sophisticated airport security equipment to test how to conceal the explosives in order to board a plane. They said the intelligence played a significant role in the Trump administration's recent decision to prohibit travelers flying out of 10 airports in eight countries in the Middle East and Africa from carrying laptops and other electronic equipment onboard in the cabin area. Devices banned on certain flights Earlier this month, the U.S. government banned laptops and other large electronic devices, including iPads and cameras, from the passenger cabin on flights to the United States from 10 airports in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Britain also took similar measures. Passengers on those flights must place electronic devices larger than cellphones in their checked luggage. In a statement to media outlets, the Department of Homeland Security said: "As a matter of policy, we do not publicly discuss specific intelligence information. However, evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation, to include smuggling explosive devices in electronics." CNN said the intelligence that contributed to the ban on electronic devices was specific, credible and reliable, according to three officials who used the same words to describe it. One official called the intelligence "hair-raising." The Trump administration is appealing the stay placed on President Donald Trump's executive order banning entry to people from six majority-Muslim countries and halting refugee admissions. A U.S. federal judge extended a suspension of the travel order Wednesday, placing a preliminary injunction against Trump's order at the request of the state of Hawaii. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson had temporarily prohibited the government from enforcing the order in a March 15 decision. Both orders apply nationwide. Watson wrote that the circumstances that led to his initial decision have not changed, including Hawaii's argument that remarks by Trump and his associates have singled out Muslims. The judge said the state has sufficiently established a likelihood it would succeed in challenging the ban on the grounds it violates a constitutional clause that requires government actions to have a primarily secular purpose. The government appeal was filed in the ninth circuit court of appeals Thursday. The ninth circuit has already played a role in the travel ban saga, upholding a temporary stay placed on the earlier executive order limiting travel signed by the president. Muslim ban to extreme vetting Trump's campaign for president once included a call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, a policy that was later changed to advocating "extreme vetting" for people from countries with a link to terrorism. The Trump administration has insisted the current executive order is not a Muslim ban, and the president has argued it is necessary to protect national security. It includes barring the issuance of new visas to people from Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan for 90 days, and suspending the refugee program for 120 days. During those periods, reviews of vetting procedures and how to strengthen the screenings are supposed to take place. Watson said the government has argued the courts should ignore the context surrounding the order. "The court will not crawl into a corner, pull the shutters closed, and pretend it has not seen what it has," he wrote. The government argued that any injunction should apply only to the visa ban and not affect suspending refugee admissions, but the judge said "it makes little sense to do so." President vows to fight back Trump has vowed to continue fighting legal challenges to his order, taking them up to the Supreme Court if necessary. Hawaii's Department of the Attorney General expressed confidence that higher courts will continue to side with its position. "We believe the court's well-reasoned decision will be affirmed," it said on Twitter. The travel ban is also being challenged in a federal case originating from the state of Maryland. That case is only limited to the suspension of visas to the six countries, and a District Court judge issued a similar prohibition against the government enforcing it. But the Justice Department has appealed that decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has scheduled arguments for May 8. A group of attorneys general from 12 states have filed briefs with the 4th Circuit in support of Trump's executive order, arguing it does not amount to a Muslim ban. The states include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia. In Zimbabwe, a tractor loaded with tobacco arrives at an auction floor in Harare driven by farmers from Hurungwe area, about 300 kilometers north of the capital. One of them is Felix Tarutsvira. "I prefer [to sell] tobacco because when we compare prices, maize [corn] prices are lower than tobacco's," Tarutsvira said. "So as farmers want money quickly, they tend to grow tobacco." But maize remains the country's staple crop and, in an effort to recover from drought-induced food shortages, the government is encouraging farmers to grow more of it. One strategy has been pegging the buying price of maize at $390 per ton, among the highest prices in the world. But the government rarely pays farmers in a timely manner, said Paul Zacharia, executive director of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union. "By default many, many farmers would be producing maize," he said. "But if ... tobacco gives you three-four times over what maize is giving you, go for that which gives you money. Out of the proceeds of that high-value crop you buy grain, feed your family." Zacharia points out Zimbabwe could use the profit from tobacco crops to import maize that is more affordable. "Even as a nation, we could put high-value crops in our fields, make the money that you require, import the grain. It [is] much, much cheaper than the current $390 that we buy it locally," he said. However, that approach can leave the country vulnerable in times of crisis. The El-Nino-induced drought in 2015 and 2016 left Zimbabwe with serious food shortages. The government could not afford to import grain on short notice and ended up relying on aid agencies. An estimated four million Zimbabweans currently rely on food handouts from international organizations until this year's harvest starts in April, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Ahead of the 2016-2017 planting season, the government launched the "Targeted Command Agriculture" policy. The goal is ensuring food self-sufficiency. The government gave participating farmers maize seeds and supplies. In return, the farmers will give the government five tons of maize per hectare at harvest time. The farmers keep the rest of the yield for themselves. So far, the rains have been good this year, and Zimbabwe's minister of agriculture, Joseph Made, said that, thanks to the initiative, the country is on track to harvest enough maize for local consumption as much as two million tons. Bishow Parajuli, the U.N. resident coordinator in Zimbabwe, says recovery is under way. "[In] Zimbabwe, we were facing lots of challenges when the drought came in," said Parajuli. "But the proactiveness of the government and the strong partnership we did have addressed all issues of famine and hunger. Of course, there is food insecurity, malnutrition issues, and that is what we are working on at the moment." Next month, the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society will gather to figure out other incentives for farmers to plant maize crops in the hopes of easing the country's perennial food shortages. RACINE PUBLIC LIBRARY RACINE The Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., is offering these free events: Golden Age of Radio program, 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 3. This presentation looks at some of the biggest shows and stars to emerge from the early years of radio, including Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Amos & Andy and The Shadow, with sound clips and stories about how radio became Americas first mass medium, transforming the United States of America from 48 states into a national listening community. The host will be Darnall, the former host of the Those Were the Days radio show on WDCB-FM in Chicago. Getting eBooks on Your Tablet, 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 4. Participants should bring their own device and passwords. Registration is required. International Childrens Book Day Celebration, 4:15-5:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 5. The program will share stories from around the world, music and activity in French, a unique Okinawan drum dance and craft activities. It is a worldwide celebration to encourage and inspire in children a love of reading. The program was originally started to celebrate Hans Christian Andersens birthday. Cake will be served. Access Newspaper Archives, 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 5. Registration is required. To register for an event, call 262-636-9217, unless otherwise listed, or go to www.racinelibrary.info. A valid library card is required. WATERFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY WATERFORD The Waterford Public Library, 101 N. River St., is offering these free events: Teen Advisory Board meeting, 10-11 a.m. Saturday, April 1. Teens are invited to help with childrens department projects, give input on teen programming, and share their love of reading and books with other like-minded teens. Contact Julie Fick, teen services librarian, for an application form via email at jfick@waterford.lib.wi.us. Building Blocks Storytime, 9:30-10 a.m. Monday, April 3. For children ages 5 and younger, storytime includes books and musical activities to engage parents and children. Social Security: Your Questions Answered, 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, April 4. Ron Knaflic from Edward Jones will provide information on retirement. Registration is required. Teen Scene, 3-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 5. Youth in grades six and above can hang out, do homework, or choose from available games and activities. A library card is required. Play American Mah Jongg group, 11 a.m.-noon Wednesday, April 5. Players of all levels are welcome. Little Bookworms, 9:30-10 a.m. Thursday, April 6. Sign language, stories, finger plays and songs are included in these 20-minute sessions. Preschool Workshop, 10-11 a.m. Friday, April 7. These interactive, hands-on sessions focus on science, music, movement and art. For more information, call 262-534-3988 or go to www.waterford.lib.wi.us. GRAHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY UNION GROVE Graham Public Library, 1215 Main St., is offering these free events:. Preschool Storytime, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tuesdays. Designed for children ages 2-4 with an adult/caregiver. Includes simple stories and crafts for the active set. The 1 p.m. storytime is a repeat of the morning session. Homeschool STEAM Time (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math), 1 p.m. Wednesdays. Homeschool children are welcome for stories and projects based on a weekly theme. Make-N-Take, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Fridays. Stop in with a preschooler and make a self-directed craft project. Supplies and directions are provided. For more information, call 262-878-2910 or go to www.uniongrove.lib.wi.us. BURLINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY BURLINGTON The Burlington Public Library, 166 E. Jefferson St., will offer the following: Storytime, 10 a.m. Mondays. A kindergarten readiness class for ages 3-5. Children are encouraged to come into the storytelling room without their parents. Yarn Club, 3:30-5 p.m. Mondays. Ages 13 to adult are invited to learn how to knit or crochet. Beginners should bring one pair of size 15 needles, long or short; two skeins of super bulky yarn; and a crochet hook, size I or J. Building Blocks, 10-10:45 a.m. Tuesdays, April 4-May 2. This program is for parents or grandparents and their babies, toddlers and preschoolers ages 4 and younger and features musical activities, book readings and social play. Sign in onsite. Sensory Storytime, 10 a.m. Thursday, April 6. Children ages 5 and younger and their caretakers may explore hands-on activities that involve the senses. For more information, call 262-342-1130 or go to www.burlingtonlibrary.org. Joe Mantello, Sally Field and Finn Wittrock in The Glass Menagerie on Broadway. (Julieta Cervantes) As with virtually everything else about the brazenly unconventional new The Glass Menagerie on Broadway, the first glimpse an audience gets of Sally Field is her Amanda Wingfield doing something wholly unexpected. Amandas reclusive daughter, Laura, is played by an actress, Madison Ferris, who has muscular dystrophy and requires a wheelchair. To jolt us into an understanding of how wearingly devoted this Amanda is, the director, Sam Gold, arranges for Field to enter, painstakingly dragging the wheelchair up several steps at the front of the stage. Clump, clang, clump, clang. It looks arduous for the grimacing Field, who at 70 has the petite countenance of an anxious sparrow. She is not, however, one to whine. This, she explains, is an unorthodox Menagerie that has come into being by mutual consent. He doesnt say, This is what I want, the actress explains, sitting in a tiny room across from her dressing room in the Belasco Theatre. Thats not how Sam does. He offers an environment, and everybody sort of blends in everybody evolves into it on their own. If you use a metaphor that may be really a crappy one, its just sort of like the petals are slowly unfolding and you dont know whats going to be at the core of it. Its like its all evolving. [On Broadway, a great play leveled and a lesser one elevated] Field in The Flying Nun, 1967. (Associated Press) Norma Rae, 1979. (20th Century Fox/Everett Collection) How apt that in her first real starring role on Broadway she replaced Mercedes Ruehl 15 years ago during the run of Edward Albees The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? Field has ongoing evolution in the job description. If ever there was a major American actress who has had to metamorphose, to erase an impression of a limited skill set and fight her way out of the box that Hollywood and pop culture sought to put her in, its Sally Field. Evolution has long been her trademark, all the way back to the mid-1960s (shes been famous forever) when, at the age of 17, she was cast as Gidget in the sitcom of that title and then went on to star in The Flying Nun, a show with a premise so ludicrous I was just about to chew my arm off, she says. The evolving aided by years of study with acting guru Lee Strasberg set in motion a steady progression of career leaps that continued to reveal her dramatic range, first in her Emmy-winning portrayal of a woman with a multi-personality disorder in the 1976 Sybil, and then onto Oscar-awarded performances as a rabble-rousing textile worker in Norma Rae (1979) and a widow struggling to hold on to a farm in 1984s Places in the Heart. Yes, we really, really have admired her for a long time: Murphys Romance followed, and Steel Magnolias and Soapdish and Mrs. Doubtfire and Forrest Gump. Her staying power is remarkable. In 2006, she began a five-year run on ABCs drama Brothers and Sisters, and in 2013 she was nominated for yet another Oscar as the taciturn Mary Todd Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. So its hard to see the pressing need for a widely embraced actress to assert her range again, especially when the latest chapter in her evolution calls for schlepping 40-pound wheelchairs up flights of stairs. Except that for Field, standing in the Belasco and reciting the words of Tennessee Williams was always the evolutionary stage on which she had her sights. 1 of 12 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad See the top moments in the career of Sally Field View Photos From Gidget to The Glass Menagarie, unforgettable moments in Sally Fields career. Caption From Gidget to The Glass Menagarie, unforgettable moments in Sally Fields career. GIDGET In 1965, Sally Field landed the title role of Frances Elizabeth Gidget Lawrence in the TV show Gidget. Here, Gidget, right, pickets a movie theater with her friend Larue, played by Lynette Winter. ABC/ASSOCIATED PRESS Wait 1 second to continue. I wanted to be doing this actually, not necessarily this play, but, yes, this play, she says. I wanted to be working onstage for years and years forever. But I couldnt, because I was raising children on the West Coast, and I started so young, and I was trapped. I was trapped in my apartment in St. Louis, she adds with a laugh a reference to Amandas geography and her predicament. And I dont complain: It was what it was. But its only now, at the ripe old age of whatever my ripe old age is, that Im able to explore this part of what I wanted to do. Field has played Amanda before, in a lavishly praised production of Tennessee Williamss play at the Kennedy Center in 2004 that she hoped would transfer to New York. It was not too long after her four-month stint in The Goat on Broadway, and her youngest child, Sam now a graduate student in screenwriting at Columbia was then a teenager becoming more independent. But a British producer, Bill Kenwright, held the Broadway rights to Glass Menagerie, and he wanted to mount it there with Jessica Lange. Which he did, in 2005, and it proved to be a disaster. The next time it was revived on Broadway, in director John Tiffanys more widely lauded production in 2013, Cherry Jones was cast as Amanda. Still, Fields brief encounter with the role at the Kennedy Center stirred something certifiably heartbreaking. The stifling mixture of anxiety and vanity and forced gentility that the actress conjured made the St. Louis apartment Amanda shared with her grown children (played there by Jason Butler Harner and Jennifer Dundas) the truly suffocating cage that Williams described. Her Amanda was so good, says Gregory Mosher, who directed her, that he had few notes to give her. I dont think I have ever said less to an actor than I said to Sally, he recounted in a telephone interview. I think this sometimes must have driven her crazy, because she loves to mix it up in rehearsal. But they would do a scene, and I wouldnt know what to say. And thank God I was old enough then to know not to say anything. Field says the groundwork laid decades earlier in Strasbergs West Coast evening classes made her transformation possible, a rescue arranged by, of all people, the actress who played the mother superior on The Flying Nun, Madeleine Sherwood, whose credits included the original production of Tennessee Williamss Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Seeing how unfulfilled to the point of depression Field was, portraying Sister Bertrille, Sherwood demanded she go to Strasberg. She wasnt even being nice about it, Field recalls. She literally just said: Be there. Burt Reynolds and Field in Smokey and the Bandit, 1977. (Mary Evans/Ronald Grant Archive/Everett Collection) Field played Tom Hankss mother in Forrest Gump, 1994. (SNAP/REX Shutterstock/via AP Images) The classes were a revelation. I was home. Finally. Finally. I was totally home with a bunch of actors who didnt care what youd done before. Or where you were going. Everybody there just wanted to learn a craft and how to be better. She eventually ran into half of Hollywood at Strasbergs Actors Studio: Jack Nicholson, Richard Dreyfuss, Bruce Dern, Sally Kellerman, Ellen Burstyn. Years later, when James Lipton started interviewing actors on his Inside the Actors Studio series on Bravo, Field was one of the first to appear. After those early years of clerical liftoff in a sitcom, though, Field had no place to land. Seeking serious work, she seemed destined instead for a downward television spiral in which you were going to be guest starring on things and then hoping to be guest starring in things and game shows. So her only move was to disappear. I couldnt do any more sitcoms, and not only that, I couldnt be seen, she says. I had to reinvent myself. In a big way. And so to do that, I had to not be seen. And it was hard, because I had two kids. For a few years in the early 1970s, she remembers, no one in the movies would even allow her to audition. Finally, a Hollywood casting director who believed in her, Diane Crittenden, got her in to read for Bob Rafelson, who was casting his 1976 movie, Stay Hungry, with Jeff Bridges and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He didnt want me in the room, Field says, but when I came in the room and did the reading, he went, Oh. He kept shaking his head and saying, How can I hire the flying nun? Rafelson ultimately relented, she says, because it was the best reading. Many fruitful years in Hollywood ensued. But Field eventually encountered much the same juicy-role drought that has bedeviled several generations of female film stars. An anecdote about her is often cited as evidence of the problem for women of a certain age in movies: A few years after playing Tom Hankss aspiring-comic friend in Punchline, she played his mother in Forrest Gump. Now, shes learned not to look to the film industry for sustenance, particularly. Even the roles that are in film even if I were 35, theres only two, three a year I personally would want to do, she says. I mean, I did a tiny little movie last year [My Name Is Doris] because the character was so interesting. But you know, even for younger women theyre very hard to find, complicated, interesting character roles. Or even just stories that are worth telling. Field in the 2015 film, "Hello, My Name is Doris." (Roadside Attractions) She doesnt find that same dearth in theater, and certainly, not in the opportunity to return to Menagerie. Scott Rudin, the revivals producer, got her together with Gold, who had directed the play earlier in Amsterdam for the company of experimental director Ivo van Hove. What he had in mind for New York was equally experimental, an approach that stresses the fragmented nature of memory over more emotionally resonant responses to the text, and he wanted to know how far Field was willing to go. (The interpretation has divided critics and audiences.) [As Sally Field aged, her parts got less interesting until Hello, My Name Is Doris] The first thing he said was, he wanted to make sure I wasnt wedded to anything in the play that Id fallen in love with before, she says. I said, No, not that I know of. The work has been exhausting, and shes not even prepared yet to say in what ways this Amanda is different just that she is. And if anything, this second swing at one of 20th-century dramas richest female roles has whetted her appetite for more. Some of the stage parts shes longed to try, shes too old for now. The sad news is, Ill never get to do A Dolls House and so many roles that I wanted to explore, but thats okay, the actress says. There are other roles. Ill find them. And maybe they havent even been written yet. Michael Birchenall founded the magazine Foodservice Monthly, in which he championed the food and wine industry and everyone in it. (Gladys Abi Najm ) The Washington-area restaurant community gathered to bid a fond farewell to Michael Birchenall last month. Birchenall, who died in January at 68, might not have been a household name, but he was well known in the restaurant industry as the founder and editor of the trade magazine Foodservice Monthly. In its pages he championed chefs, restaurant workers, farmers, cheesemakers, food distributors, chefs uniform makers anyone involved in bringing food to your restaurant table. The list included winemakers as well. Birchenall said local wine was as important as local food, even though it was not as easy a sell. He founded the magazine in 2002, just as the restaurant scene was beginning to take off in Washington, Baltimore and the Mid-Atlantic region as a whole. The local wine industry was growing at the same time, and Birchenalls publication helped foster a sense of community among the various parts of the food and wine industries. (I contributed wine articles for the first several years of Foodservice Monthly.) [Obituary] I first encountered Birchenall in 1995 at the Virginia Wine Festival at Great Meadows, in The Plains. The festival was sponsored by the Vinifera Wine Growers Association, whose president, Gordon Murchie, had a keen eye for people who might become active industry supporters. Murchie invited Birchenall and me to compete in the Celebrity Wine Stomping Competition. I was an aspiring wine writer, and Michael had just moved to Northern Virginia to write for the Times Community Newspapers; we hardly qualified as celebrities, yet there we were, stomping grapes alongside some more recognizable and more attractive female local news personalities. If youve never stomped grapes before, let me assure you, its painful. The festival was in early August, so the grapes underfoot were either from a supermarket or they were the green harvest of underperforming clusters from local vineyards, discarded to help healthier grapes ripen. They were all skins, seeds and stems. We werent going to get juice out of them no matter how hard we stomped. I trod very gingerly, wincing in pain, and lost my round as judged by audience applause. In fact, someone even booed me. And there was Birchenall, wearing a white T-shirt with a food and wine theme, his long hair flowing out from under a blue bandanna. He held a glass of white wine, and once the whistle blew for his round to begin, he chugged the wine, tossed the glass over his shoulder and ran in place as though his life depended on it. Grapes were flying everywhere. The spectators loved it, and I learned a lesson: Dont just show up. Show up with something to offer. Birchenall rarely stood in the spotlight, but he always had something to offer a smile, a wisecrack, a wry observation that rendered any situation tolerable and more human. He had a keen eye for truth, both through personal observation and through the camera that seemed permanently attached to him at restaurant events and wine tastings. He served on the board of the VWGA, which later became the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association. Murchie, now the organizations president emeritus, recalls that Birchenall also participated as a judge in the associations annual wine competitions and did cooking demonstrations at annual wine festivals. He was a real Renaissance man, Murchie told me at the celebration of Birchenalls life. He was interested not only in the culinary arts but also music, photography and art. He had that hippie appearance with the long hair, and he was big on social justice issues. The event, organized by Birchenalls wife, artist Acquaetta Williams, was held at Tony & Joes Seafood Restaurant on the Georgetown waterfront. More than 100 friends and fans gathered to pay tribute. Chefs Scott Drewno of the Source, David Guas of Bayou Bakery, Dave Stein of Tony & Joes, Eric Ziebold of Kinship and Metier, Nick Stefanelli of Masseria, Rodney Scruggs of the Occidental Grill and Matt Baker of Gravitas contributed food. Outside the restaurants windows, hundreds of people enjoyed the first warm Saturday afternoon following our late-winter cold spell. Crew teams rowed along the Potomac, and Marine helicopters flew back and forth. Restaurant tables were crowded with families and topped with food, beer and wine. Michael would have loved it. As reported by the New York Times, payouts of $13 million have been made to settle charges by several women who accused Fox News host Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior. (Credit: AP/Richard Drew) Fox News star Bill OReilly and the network have paid out some $13 million to five women over the past 15 years to settle a series of harassment allegations against the opinionated host, according to a published report in the New York Times. The settlements, three of which had been previously undisclosed, were in exchange for the womens agreement not to sue the company, which has been beset by allegations of sexual harassment by its co-founder and former chairman, Roger Ailes, the Times found. Ailes was ousted by 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, last summer. OReilly the top-rated attraction on cable news for many years generated lurid headlines in 2004 for his dispute with Andrea Mackris, who alleged that he had harassed her repeatedly while she was a producer of his program The OReilly Factor. Macris settled her claims for a reported payout of $9 million in 2004. In January of this year, OReilly settled another harassment claim, lodged by former Fox News presenter Juliet Huddy, for an undisclosed sum. But the Times found three other complaints and payouts involving OReilly, dating back to 2002. Fox settled two of them, and OReilly privately settled a third in 2011. The latter agreement was so secret that 21st Century Fox was unaware of it until last year, the paper said. The payments by Fox on behalf of Ailes and OReilly are the focus of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. attorney generals office in New York. Prosecutors are probing whether the company made adequate disclosures about them to investors. Securities law requires publicly traded companies such as 21st Century Fox and its predecessor company, News Corp. to disclose material events affecting the companys finances. Both 21st Century Fox and News Corp. are controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his family. Murdoch is a longtime friend and political ally of President Trump, who fired the federal attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, in March after Bharara refused to resign as part of a general ouster of U.S. attorneys appointed by the Obama administration. The undisclosed complaints unearthed by the Times against OReilly were made by women who either worked for him or appeared on The OReilly Factor, and included allegations of verbal abuse, lewd comments and phone calls in which the women said it sounded as if OReilly was masturbating. The paper identified the three women who complained about OReilly as Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, a producer who claimed that OReilly had verbally abused her in 2002 in front of colleagues; Rebecca Gomez Diamond, a Fox Business Network host, who reportedly recorded conversations with OReilly and settled in 2011; and former Fox anchor Laurie Dhue, who settled last year. All three women have left Fox and are bound by confidentially agreements about their settlements, the paper said. Fox hasnt said whether OReilly was ever disciplined as a result of the allegations. Ailes received $40 million when he was forced out of the company last summer. He remains a Fox consultant. Fox News declined to comment on Saturday and referred reporters to statements issued by 21 Century Fox and OReilly. OReillys statement, posted on his website, said: Just like other prominent and controversial people, Im vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity. In my more than 20 years at Fox News Channel, no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline. But most importantly, Im a father who cares deeply for my children and who would do anything to avoid hurting them in any way. And so I have put to rest any controversies to spare my children. He added, Those of us in the arena are constantly at risk, as are our families and children. My primary efforts will continue to be to put forth an honest TV program and to protect those close to me. 21st Century Fox, now headed by Murdochs sons James and Lachlan, said, in its statement, that it takes matters of workplace behavior very seriously. Notwithstanding the fact that no current or former Fox News employee ever took advantage of the 21st Century Fox hotline to raise a concern about Bill OReilly, even anonymously, we have looked into these matters over the last few months and discussed them with Mr. OReilly. While he denies the merits of these claims, Mr. OReilly has resolved those he regarded as his personal responsibility. Mr. OReilly is fully committed to supporting our efforts to improve the environment for all our employees at Fox News. OReilly and Fox continue to face allegations by former Fox personality Andrea Tantaros, who claimed, in a lawsuit filed last summer, that OReilly and Ailes sexually harassed her. MARYLAND Fair offers legal help to clear criminal records Those looking to clear Maryland criminal convictions from their records can get free help from lawyers at an expungement fair Saturday. The fair will be hosted by Community of Hope AME Church and the Prince Georges County States Attorneys Office from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the church on the lower level of Iverson Mall, 3701 Branch Ave., Hillcrest Heights. People should bring identification so lawyers can search for their cases to see if theyre eligible to have certain convictions cleared from records. Attendees can also learn about Maryland rules expanding the types of offenses that can be expunged. Lynh Bui Thurmont student, 18, charged in school plot Police say a student accused of planning a mass shooting at her high school was formally charged Friday. The Frederick County Sheriffs Office said Nicole Cevario, 18, of Thurmont is being held without bond. Police had identified her as Nichole Cevario, but corrected the spelling of her first name Friday. She is charged with two felonies involving a destructive device. Deputies say they found a shotgun, ammunition and bomb-making materials at Cevarios home March 23 after her father reported he found evidence of the alleged plot. Associated Press $41 million in awards given to health groups The Maryland Community Health Resources Commission has awarded $4.1 million to 17 groups. The biggest grant, $1.2 million, will go to University of Maryland at Baltimore to expand access in areas with high levels of chronic disease. Also, officials will guide low-income people who visit Prince Georges Hospital Centers emergency room to primary care services at a center in Cheverly and send the states Wellmobile to communities. Baltimore Sun VIRGINIA Lawyer is presumptive Herring challenger John Adams, a partner at the Richmond law firm McGuireWoods, is the presumptive Republican nominee to challenge Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) in November. The Republican Party of Virginia on Friday announced Adams was the only GOP candidate to qualify for the June 13 primary ballot. Virginia Beach lawyer Chuck Smith did not turn in the required signatures. Adams has also been a federal prosecutor in Richmond, a White House lawyer and a U.S. Supreme Court clerk. Fenit Nirappil Harriet Tubman is shown in this visiting card. The image was made in Auburn, N.Y., sometime between late 1865 and 1868, according to Kate Clifford Larson, a Tubman biographer. (Swann Galleries) An old photo album containing a rare portrait of the legendary underground railroad conductor Harriet Tubman has been jointly acquired by the Library of Congress and the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History and Culture, the institutions said Friday. The new image depicts Tubman as a much younger woman than she appears in other known pictures. It is among 44 rare images in the album, including the only known photograph of John Willis Menard, the first African American man elected to the U.S. Congress. We are so thrilled, Gayle Osterberg, a Library of Congress spokeswoman, said Friday in an email. The institutions have agreed to joint ownership and will digitize the photographs as soon as possible, she wrote. The intention is to make them as widely available as possible through online images everyone can use. The album was sold at auction Thursday at Swann Auction Galleries in New York. The price was $130,000, Osterberg said. We were able to do it pooling funds some existing donated funds from two national cultural institutions, she said. The album came to light last year when a collector, who had purchased it decades earlier, brought it to the galleries for evaluation. I almost fell off my chair, Wyatt Houston Day, a Swann specialist in African Americana, said when he paged through the album and spotted the Tubman image. Tubman escaped from slavery in Dorchester County, Md., in 1849. But she repeatedly returned at great risk to help relatives and friends out of bondage along the secret anti-slavery network to freedom that was the underground railroad. [New visitor center honors heroic abolitionist Harriet Tubman] Between about 1850 and 1860, using stealth and disguise, she made 13 trips, spiriting 70 people out of slavery, historians say. The album had belonged to Emily Howland, a Quaker schoolteacher who taught at Camp Todd, a school for freed slaves in Arlington, Va. Day said the collector had purchased it at a marshals sale in New York 30 years ago. It is a distinct honor to have these photographs that tell an important part of Americas history, Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the museum, said in a statement. We are pleased and humbled to work with the Library of Congress to ensure that this rare and significant collection will be preserved and made accessible to the American public. A conservative member of the House Freedom Caucus came under fire from a hostile liberal crowd at a town hall meeting in the typically Republican-friendly Eastern Shore of Maryland on Friday. At the same time, U.S. Rep. Andy Harris distanced himself from the top two Republicans in his party: dismissing President Trumps proposed federal budget and backing the congressional investigation into his campaigns ties to Russia, while suggesting possible displeasure at Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). Fielding a question about whether there was an effort to replace Ryan, Harris responded, Not at this time. (His spokeswoman said hes very supportive of the speaker). A woman in the crowd retorted, What about replacing Andy Harris? The packed 900-person auditorium at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, Md., burst into applause and cheers, according to a live stream of the event. Many held up signs with their Zip codes as reminders they live in his district. People attend a town hall with Maryland's Rep. Andy Harris on Friday at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, Maryland. Constituents were asked to submit written questions to be answered by the Congressman. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) The town hall came a week after House leadership pulled legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare that lacked support from a bloc of moderates and conservative hard-liners, including Harris, ending Trumps first major legislative fight in defeat. Trump threatened this week to try to knock off members of the Freedom Caucus as retaliation. [Trump escalates Republican civil war] Harriss town hall provided little insight into how his conservative constituents who reelected him with 68 percent of the vote in November reacted to his standoff with the president. Instead, he was jeered by hundreds of people organized by the Maryland Democratic Party, its local affiliates and grass-roots Indivisible groups. The nights turbulence started early, when a local high school ROTCs presentation of colors and Pledge of Allegiance to kick off the event ended in audience members repeatedly reiterating the closing phrase of the pledge, Justice for all. Harris, a physician first elected in the 2010 tea party wave, agreed to take questions submitted on notecards and read by a moderator, a measure to prevent the angry tongue-lashings his Republican colleagues in other parts of the country have received over the last several months. But first, he wanted to present a 10-slide PowerPoint explaining the nations finances and his case for deeper cuts to the federal health law than proposed by the House leadership. Three minutes and three slides later, a frustrated crowd erupted into shouts. If you take time for this, its less time for questions, Harris warned, later leaning over onto the lectern as the audience members refused to relent. Thats exactly the point! someone shouted back. The moderator, of the bipartisan No Labels group, pleaded with the crowd to let the congressman finish his presentation. But each successive slide, on the rising costs of Medicaid and health insurance premiums, were interrupted by boos and cries of single payer, support for universal government-funded health coverage. Attendees said they wanted to send a message to Harris that he faced hometown opposition to his efforts to repeal the federal health law, even if he played a role in derailing the last attempt. Is it great the repeal failed? Yes. But from our point of view, the reasons they didnt vote were because it wasnt bad enough for the American people and it wasnt enough of a tax break to the top 2 percent, said Michael Feldman, a 31-year-old sales consultant who leads a recently formed Wicomico County progressive group. This kind of grass-roots activism and organization is unprecedented, at least in recent history. Almost every question posed to Harris demanded explanations for his conservative votes and whether hed support scrutiny of the president. Harris said he wanted Trump to release his tax returns, but that the American people indicated they didnt mind by electing him president. He also declined to support an independent investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, saying the House Intelligence Committee should conclude its review first. He also said he didnt have enough information to call on Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to step down as head of the intelligence panel amid accusations he is too close to the White House to lead an independent probe. They are going to have hearings on this whole issue, and they are going to find out whether or not Chairman Nunes said something or did something that would disqualify him from being chair, said Harris. I dont have the clearance to get that information. It was on the news! an incredulous audience member responded. Harris did offer a cooler reception to Trump on his proposed federal budget. On the proposed elimination of a $73 million annual program to clean up the polluted Chesapeake Bay, he said, I support that program, and I said it publicly, one of his few applause lines. Later, he offered a dismissive view of the presidents call for deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health, NASA and other federal agencies with employees in Maryland. The president really has no say what the appropriations are. The House and Senate do. Harris faced some of his harshest reception when he defended calls to defund Planned Parenthood and expressed doubt on whether human activity and carbon dioxide emissions are the leading cause of climate change. At one point, Harris became so frustrated by the crowd that he stopped answering a question about his support for legislation allowing Internet providers to collect and sell users browsing histories. In a free marketplace, you have a choice of going to an Internet service provider that shares your information or one that Harris said, before he was cut off by boos. No you dont! someone snapped. He asked the moderator for the next question, to even greater boos. A Maryland man suspected in a Northern Virginia slaying linked to the gang MS-13 turned himself in Friday evening, police announced Saturday. Dimas Misael Canelas Santos, 27, was charged with the murder of Christian Alexander Sosa Rivas, 21, after he walked into the Prince Georges County Police Department in Maryland and was taken into custody without incident. Canelas, who lives in Hyattsville, is among eight people suspected of killing Sosa, whose body was found in mid-January near the Potomac River in Dumfries, Prince William County police said. The murder is one of a string of killings in the Washington area in recent months with ties to the Central American gang known as Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. The Sosa case is linked to the death of Damaris A. Reyes Rivas, a 15-year-old girl who was taunted, interrogated and then killed in a Springfield, Va., park about a week after Sosas body was found, police have said. A spokesman for Prince William police said Canelas is being held in a Prince Georges County jail awaiting extradition to Virginia. A court date has not been scheduled. Prince Georges County police suspended an employee and are conducting a review of the departments DNA lab after learning that the employee accredited work at a Texas facility that later had to be shut down. The ongoing county review uncovered neglected DNA profiles that should have been entered into a national database, lags in notifying investigators of DNA profile matches and the use of outdated methods to calculate the individuality of profiles. As of late last week, the lapses identified did not appear to have affected any prosecutions or convictions, county Police Chief Hank Stawinski said. Stawinski ordered the review of county lab operations in November and said the department suspended an employee within a day of launching the probe. The county employee also serves as a national accreditor in lab audits. Stawinski said he has alerted six other law enforcement agencies audited by the employee to scrutinize their lab operations. We realized we had an issue and we took action in the county, Stawinski said. At this point, we have no instance where these administrative failings have led to a place where we could have prevented violent crime from occurring, and we dont have anyone innocent locked up in jail. Police would not name the suspended lab employee, citing Maryland state personnel law. Individuals familiar with the inquiry identified her as Lynnett Redhead, who has been in charge of the DNA lab since 2007. Her attorney confirmed she is on paid administrative leave. My client maintains that she did everything that was appropriate, up to the standard of care and up to the industry standards, said James Ellison, Redheads attorney. Ellison said he and Redhead have not been told by the police department what the departments specific concerns are and could not respond to them directly. Police said the main administrative problems they found after bringing in state and FBI officials so far affect 19 of about 4,200 cases. The lab remains in operation after outside inspections. [What CSI and NCIS dont show you about the lives of crime-scene investigators] In the course of its inquiry, the department also found unprocessed evidence that might generate new DNA profiles and benefit homicide cases dating to 2005, Stawinski said. The comprehensive review comes as a national commission on forensic science grapples with quality assurance and with court testimony in the wake of DNA exonerations and police lab closures. The shutdown of the Austin Police Departments DNA lab last year prompted the investigation in Prince Georges after the county learned its employee gave the Austin lab passing marks while serving as auditor for the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board, Stawinski said. A state accrediting body for Texas later discovered employees in Austin were using outdated statistical and scientific methods to analyze DNA, had contaminated evidence and lacked proper training, according to local news reports. Austin police closed the lab in June. [Austin crime lab scandal could affect more than 2,000 cases] Ellison said Redhead was not the only person involved in accrediting the lab in Austin. Its a process that involves multiple people, Ellison said of his client. She was very minimal in that accreditation process. Officials with the accreditation board were not available for comment Friday, according to a woman who answered the organizations phone. During the first 150 days of the internal investigation in Prince Georges, the department has found three primary concerns. [Has DNA met its match as a forensic tool?] DNA profiles collected in at least four homicide cases werent entered into a national database designed to identify links to other investigations. In other instances, DNA profiles were entered into the national database and generated potential suspects in 12 burglary, sexual assault and homicide cases. But there was a lag in telling police investigators that a match had been spotted a problem that federal auditors had told the lab to fix in a 2010 audit. Instead of notifying investigations within the 30-day time frame that the federal government advises, the most recent tardy notifications discovered went out between several months to eight years after matches were flagged. Analysts also have been found to be using outdated calculations to determine how likely it was that DNA collected from a scene could have come from someone other than a suspect. The outdated calculations were present in three cases that have gone through court, Stawinski said, all sexual assault cases that resulted in two convictions and one plea. In all three cases, the older calculations still generated statistically sound results, and using the new formula would not have changed the identifications, Stawinski said. John Erzen, a spokesman for the Prince Georges County States Attorneys Office, said the police department alerted prosecutors of the investigation into the lab. As of Friday, prosecutors have not had to notify any defense attorney of new evidence that would be favorable to a defendant. We have not received the results or the conclusions of the investigation, Erzen said. We have not had to notify anyone of anyone of any issues. Its unclear when the review of the labs work will be complete, but Stawinski said the administrative concerns have been fixed. We discovered these shortcomings because we chose to look for them, Stawinski said. The chief also said the departments science is sound and stressed that the problems uncovered have been administrative. Im troubled that this occurred, but I promise the public and the community that these problems have been fixed and we will make sure they dont repeat themselves in the future. [D.C. crime lab restarts DNA testing on limited basis after shutdown cast doubts over analysis] The countys lab has been previously rebuked for at least one of the same administrative weaknesses occurring now. In 2010, the U.S. Justice Department Office of the Inspector General released results of a routine audit that found the Prince Georges lab, while generally in compliance with industry standards, had some problems. The audit report said the lab was storing DNA evidence in an unlocked freezer, leaving material susceptible to tampering, a practice that also had been called out by a 2008 audit. The 2010 audit also found that 19 of 100 DNA profiles inspectors reviewed should not have been entered into the national database for various reasons. The lab also failed to confirm three DNA matches within the standard 30-day period and in three cases did not notify investigators of matches in a timely manner. We believe that the Laboratorys delay in its confirmation of the matches are in violation of NDIS procedures, and we are concerned that its delay in notifying investigators in a timely manner could potentially lead to the suspected perpetrator committing additional crimes, the 2010 inspector generals report stated. The problems flagged in the federal audit were fixed, according to the report and a letter from the county responding to the audit. Lawrence Kobilinsky, professor of forensic science and science department chairman at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said that managing a lab that is efficient and thorough is just as important as ensuring analysts produce scientifically sound and accurate results. If you dont do things in a timely way, you slow things down and you give people a chance to evade police detection, Kobilinsky said. Burglars especially. Theyre the king of recidivists. One may be the reason for 20 and 30 cases. You take one off the street, and all the sudden the burglary rate goes down. Materials recovered from the home of Catoctin High School student Nicole Cevario after a reported threat against the school. (Frederick County Sheriff's Office) The 18-year-old accused of planning violence at her Maryland high school has been released from Frederick Memorial Hospital and jailed, authorities said. Nicole Cevarios parents alerted police last week that she might be planning to use a shotgun and pipe bombs to carry out an attack at Catoctin High School in Thurmont. After being hospitalized for an emergency mental-health evaluation, Cevario is being held without bond at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center. She faces charges of possession of explosive material with intent to create a destructive device and possession of incendiary material with the intent to create a destructive device. [Parents alert authorities, alleging that their daughter planned violence at a Md. high school] Investigators are still trying to determine whether Cevario would have carried out her plan, but they said her journal made it clear she intended to die in her attack. Authorities found a shotgun with ammunition, as well as bombmaking materials including pipes with end caps, shrapnel, fireworks, magnesium tape and fuse materials, according to a Frederick County police news release. (Frederick County Sheriff's Office) After her parents alerted authorities, deputies searched the teens home and found the shotgun and what they said were bombmaking materials. Cevarios journal indicated that she had been gathering intelligence on behavior activities of the school, noting emergency procedures associated with drills conducted by school staff and obtaining intelligence on the School Resource Deputy assigned to the school. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said passenger traffic at Nashville International Airport was up 1.3 percent in 2016. It was up 11 percent. This version has been corrected. Security checkpoints at BWI Airport, which saw a record number of passengers last year. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) More than 70 million passengers flew through the Washington regions three airports in 2016 a sign that airport leaders aggressive efforts to court new airlines, offer amenities and upgrade shopping and dining options are paying off, officials said. Last year, both Baltimore-Washington International Marshall and Reagan National airports set records for the number of passengers who passed through their gates. Even Dulles International Airport, which has struggled to attract travelers in recent years, posted a small but significant gain, fueled largely by international travelers. This was the sixth straight year of record-breaking growth for National and the second consecutive year that BWI has set a record for passenger travel. In all, 25.1 million passengers flew through BWI in 2016, making it the regions busiest airport. More than 23.6 million passengers traveled through National. Roughly 21.8 million flew through Dulles. The airports gains come at a time when the number of people traveling by commercial air is at an all-time high. In March, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that 929 million passengers flew in 2016, an increase of 3.5 percent over 2015, the previous record year. Our airports have done fairly well, said Kevin Burke, president of the Airports Council International-North America, a trade group that represents airport owners and operators. People have more cash. Theyre spending money, and theyre traveling more. Indeed, across the country, airports of all sizes reported a boon in passenger traffic. Officials at San Francisco International said that 53.1 million people flew through the airport in 2016, its sixth straight year of gains. Omahas Eppley Airfield had about 4.3 million passengers in 2016, up from 4.2 million the previous year. Even Nashville International reported growth with 13 million passengers in 2016 up 11 percent from the previous year. Industry experts say the gains are fueled in part by a strong economy and low fuel prices. The Washington region has fared better than many because of its ties to the federal government. People dont fly until they feel comfortable about spending their money, said Ricky Smith, chief executive officer of BWI. He said the strength of the regions economy, coupled with BWIs ability to attract low-cost carriers, have helped fuel BWIs growth. BWI also has benefited because it serves as a hub for Southwest Airlines, which is the dominant player at the airport. Roughly 70 percent of the flights at BWI are on Southwest. According to Transportation Department figures, in 2016 the airline carried more total system passengers than any other U.S. carrier, surpassing the previous leader, American Airlines. Southwest also chose BWI as one of its gateway airports when it launched international service in 2014. The airport also has been able to attract low-cost carriers including WOW air, which launched service to Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2015 and expanded its offerings in 2016. Last December, Norwegian, another low-cost carrier, began offering service between BWI and two Caribbean islands Martinique and Guadeloupe. At a time when infrastructure is making headlines, the airport also recently launched a $60 million expansion of its international terminal, which is expected to be completed next year. [BWIs $60M expansion will include six new gates] Margaret McKeough, chief operating officer at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which manages National and Dulles, said other trends have helped boost traffic. Some airlines have replaced smaller commuter aircraft with larger planes. In the past, airlines that would have made service adjustments twice a year are now making them quarterly in response to traveler demand, McKeough said. McKeough said officials are predicting growth for the two airports this year, as well. Growth is definitely on the horizon, she said. Officials have launched a $1 billion building program at National that includes construction of a new concourse for short-hop flights, as well as an expanded security screening area and new parking garages. Even so, much of their attention has been focused on improving the fortunes at Dulles, once the regions dominant airport. Passenger traffic at the airport peaked at 27 million in 2005. In 2015, its passenger counts were surpassed by its smaller sister airport, National. Dulles now serves roughly 22 million passengers a year. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is among those who have made Dulles a special focus. He championed legislation that will invest $50 million in the airport over the next two years. The money will be used in part to lower the costs for airlines operating out of Dulles in hopes of making it more competitive with other airports. McAuliffe also was part of a delegation that made the successful pitch to Air India, which is expected to launch new nonstop service to New Delhi this summer. Even with robust passenger counts, airport officials are well aware that the strength of the regions economy could be tested in coming years with the Trump administrations focus on reducing the federal workforce and slashing the budget of nondefense-related agencies. Another concern is whether Trumps proposed budget cuts will impact the Transportation Security Administration, which is responsible for domestic passenger screening. Burke, the trade group president, recalled the long lines that greeted passengers last year in airports across the country. TSA, he said, still remains woefully under budget. But it is hard to know what the impact will be until more details are available, Burke said. Airport officials also say it is too early to predict whether the ban on electronic devices on direct flights on eight non-U.S. airlines from eight Muslim-majority countries will have an impact on their operations. In part, it will depend on whether passengers opt to fly with other carriers. [What you need to know about the airline electronics ban] The question is particularly significant for Dulles, where international flights have been one of the few bright spots. Six of the nine airlines covered by the ban offer direct service to Dulles from countries subject to the electronics ban, which went into effect late last month. Also still unknown: the fate of President Trumps ban on travelers from certain Muslim-majority countries. A federal court judge in Hawaii last week extended a temporary hold on the measure that would suspend new visas for travelers from six countries: Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Syria. Officials with the Global Business Travel Association fear that if the ban is put into place, it could prompt companies to curtail employee travel. Nevertheless, airport officials remain optimistic. I dont know when our 19-month streak will come to an end, BWIs Smith said. But our challenge is to manage our growth and make sure our facilities are capable of handing passengers. We are an easy-come easy-go airport that is one of our attractions. Corey Stewart led a rally against illegal immigration on the steps of a historic courthouse Saturday after two local restaurants, bowing to threats of boycotts, backed out of hosting the firebrand Republican running for Virginia governor. You know youre winning the battle when your opponents try to shut you down, Stewart told the crowd. Stewarts campaign originally booked a Harrisonburg restaurant for his Rally to End Illegal Immigration. But the restaurant canceled last week after receiving phone calls and emails from members of Harrisonburg Indivisible and other local activists. Complaining about Stewarts divisive rhetoric, they told restaurant managers they would no longer patronize the eatery if it hosted the rally. Stewarts campaign then reserved a room at a second restaurant, but that got canceled as well after another round of emails and phone calls. His team scrambled Friday to get a permit to hold the rally at the Rockingham County Courthouse, where on Saturday Stewart declared a victory for free speech. [GOP chair slams Va. gubernatorial contender for calling rival a cuckservative] Stewart used his canceled reservations saga in fundraising appeals as a critical campaign finance deadline approached Friday, claiming that the activists were on the payroll of financier George Soros something the activists said was not true. George Soros and his group of paid liberal activists, Indivisible, have launched an attack intending to stop my rally against illegal immigration, one fundraising email reads. They are trying to convince people that my ideas are unreasonable. But how can protecting the safety of American citizens and upholding the rule of law be considered unreasonable? Stewart is in a three-way race for the GOP nomination with former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie and state Sen. Frank Wagner (Virginia Beach). On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam and former congressman Tom Perriello are vying for their partys nod. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is prohibited from seeking reelection this year under the state Constitution, which bars governors from serving consecutive terms. Both nominations will be decided in June 13 primaries. Stewart was chairman of Donald Trumps Virginia campaign, and he is seeking the governorship in similarly provocative style. Far behind Gillespie in fundraising and endorsements, the chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors has often sought to stoke controversy and attract counterprotesters to his events. [Trumps Virginia Mini-Me: Corey Stewart ties his ambitions to the GOP candidate] Stewart has used heated rhetoric regarding illegal immigrants, vowing to hunt them down. He has, at times, called the preservation of the states Confederate monuments the most important issue in the governors race. His campaign got lots of mileage out of video showing liberal protesters mobbing him in Charlottesville in February, when he held a rally to defend a Robert E. Lee statute that city leaders want removed. Harrisonburg looked like fertile ground for that kind of visual. Nicknamed the Friendly City, it is a college town with a population more diverse than its Shenandoah Valley surroundings might suggest. The Latino population has grown from just under 9 percent in 2000 to nearly 19 percent in 2015, according to census figures. About 17 percent of residents are foreign-born, up from 9 percent in 2000. Church-based refugee resettlement programs and a poultry industry dependent on immigrant labor are behind the trends. Yet Saturdays rally was no repeat of the Charlottesville mob that shouted Stewart down. The event drew only about 20 supporters and 10 protesters. Except for a man who shouted Scumbag! at Stewart, the protesters were not disruptive. They stood silently around a sign that said, No matter where you are from, were glad youre our neighbor, in Spanish, English and Arabic. In a conversation after the rally, Stewart stressed that he does not oppose legal immigrants, only those who come to the country illegally. Danny Maybush, a truck driver in a Make America Great Again cap, said he only opposed immigrants who come up here and want to get a better life and start some stupid gang. I like that its a melting pot, he said of the country. I have a Hispanic family that lives near me, and they came here legally, and they all work hard. We had a big snow the year before [last]. I was going to snowblow their driveway but they already had seven people out there going at the driveway. The on-again, off-again lead-up to the rally ultimately proved to be more dramatic than the event itself. Stewart began by unfolding a piece of paper with three mug shots. They were of three illegal immigrants from El Salvador who were charged last week in the death of a Lynchburg teenager, 17-year-old Raymond Wood. Stewart went on to ask for a moment of silence for Wood and all the other boys and girls in Virginia and across the country who have been murdered by illegal aliens. That was the kind of rhetoric that John Schaldach, a Harrisonburg Indivisible organizer, said he objected to when he organized the email and phone call campaign to the two restaurants, Daves Taverna and Wood Grill Buffet. Ask them to cancel the Stewart event, his email to activists said. Let them know if they dont, you will not patronize Daves and you will ask your friends to do the same. Please be kind to the manager! . . . Thank you for taking action on this critical local issue! Together we can make sure Corey Stewart knows his message is not welcome here. Schaldach, a 46-year-old piano technician, did not dispute Stewarts right to express his views in public, as the candidate ultimately did at the courthouse. But he said the activists had a right to let local restaurants know that they opposed his message. My concern is that his rhetoric is divisive, he said. The effect of his rhetoric is a segment of our community ends up feeling isolated. . . . He talks about illegal immigration, and then he talks about crime and he mixes it all together. And you come out the other end, and you think immigrants are related to crime. When, in fact, the opposite is true. . . . Theres no evidence they commit more crimes. In linking the protest to Soros, Stewart was echoing a claim White House press secretary Sean Spicer and others have lobbed against Indivisible activists who have sought to disrupt GOP town hall meetings nationally. [Republicans see AstroTurf in Democratic protests] Soros has pumped millions into liberal causes since the 2004 election cycle. But Soros spokesman Michael Vachon has disputed claims that Soros has paid Indivisible protesters or picked up their transportation tab. Schaldach said his group gets no money from Soros. The Harrisonburg group is one of more than a thousand Indivisible spinoffs created nationwide and organized around the Indivisible Guide, an organizational how-to manual drafted by former Democratic staffers. Stewarts campaign noted that some of the aides now work for Soros-funded organizations, such as the National Immigration Law Center. Gilbert Baker, creator of the gay pride rainbow flag, is shown in Stockholm in 2003. (Fredrik Persson/European Pressphoto Agency) On June 30, 2015, when the White House was transformed by outdoor lighting into a representation of the rainbow, people instantly grasped its significance. It was four days after the Supreme Courts landmark decision guaranteeing gay couples the right to marry. The Empire State Building was similarly bathed in rainbow hues, and Niagara Falls was transformed into a cascade of color. More than 25 million people changed their Facebook profile photos to reflect the universal symbol of gay pride. The rainbow flag that unfurled over a movement and, in many ways, gave it definition and a public identity was the creation of one man, Gilbert Baker. He designed and sewed the first rainbow flag for a San Francisco gay rights rally in 1978. Mr. Baker, who playfully called himself the Betsy Ross of gay liberation, was found dead March 31 at his apartment in New York City. He was 65. A spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiners office said the cause was heart disease. Mr. Baker at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2016. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) After serving as an Army medic and nurse, Mr. Baker settled in San Francisco in 1972 and soon became active in the citys gay rights movement. One of the first things he bought was a sewing machine, which he used to make his own clothing including gowns he wore in occasional appearances as a drag queen. Because I loved to sew, my role in the movement became to make banners, Mr. Baker told the Refinery29 website in 2015. Thats really how I ended up making the first flag I was the guy who could sew it. He became friends with Harvey Milk, a member of San Franciscos Board of Supervisors and one of the countrys first openly gay elected officials. Milk suggested to Mr. Baker that the gay community needed some kind of recognizable emblem of empowerment. I decided that we should have a flag, Mr. Baker said in a 2015 interview with the Museum of Modern Art, that we are a people, a tribe if you will. And flags are about proclaiming power, so its very appropriate. Inspired in part by the U.S. flag, he developed a design of eight brightly colored horizontal stripes: from top to bottom, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo and violet. The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things, he said in the interview with MoMA, which has included his flag in its design collection. Plus, its a natural flag its from the sky! With a team of 30 volunteers, Mr. Baker soaked strips of cotton muslin in trash cans filled with dye. He then stitched the pieces together to create the first rainbow flag, which measured 30-by-60 feet. It was raised on June 25, 1978. The 1 1/4-mile-long rainbow flag designed by Mr. Baker in Key West, Fla., in 2003. (Andy Newman/European Pressphoto Agency) When it went up and the wind finally took it out of my hands, it blew my mind, Mr. Baker told CNN two years ago. I saw immediately how everyone around me owned that flag. I thought: Its better than I ever dreamed. Because it was hard to obtain pink and turquoise fabric, Mr. Baker soon altered the flag, eliminating pink altogether and blending turquoise and indigo into a single shade of blue. The most widely used form of the flag now consists of six colors. The rainbow flag was tantamount to a declaration of independence, a vivid public symbol that gay people would no longer be invisible. For that reason, the flag also became a divisive force in the nations legal and cultural wars. People went to court to win the right to display it in public. In November 1978, five months after Mr. Bakers first flag was flown, Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated. Mr. Baker, who lost many friends to HIV and AIDS, became an increasingly outspoken advocate for gay rights. Over time, Mr. Bakers flag like the gay rights movement itself became more widely accepted. Because Mr. Baker did not patent his design, he did not profit from its countless commercial adaptations. Instead, he worked for a San Francisco flag company for several years and later became a freelance designer, creating banners and flags for visiting heads of state, the Democratic National Convention and the Super Bowl. In 1994, Mr. Baker moved to New York, where he created a mile-long rainbow flag that was paraded through the streets on the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which are considered the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. Eleven years later, in Key West, Fla., Mr. Baker made an even larger flag, stretching a mile and a quarter across the island city from the Atlantic Ocean to the Straits of Florida. He was a genius at political theater, at political art, Jeff Sheehy, a city supervisor, told the San Francisco Chronicle. Hes one of these heroes who never sought attention for himself. But he was relentless. Gilbert Baker was born June 2, 1951, in Chanute, Kan., and graduated from high school in Parsons, Kan. His father was a lawyer and judge, his mother a teacher. They didnt speak to their son for years after he told them he was gay. During his Army service, Mr. Baker cared for wounded soldiers from the Vietnam War at a military hospital in San Francisco. His harrowing experiences in the Army, where he was often disparaged by drill sergeants and fellow soldiers, were described in Randy Shiltss 1993 book Conduct Unbecoming, about gay men and women in the military. In later years, Mr. Baker often lectured about gay rights and had exhibitions of photographs and silk-screen prints of his rainbow flag. He sometimes dressed in drag under the persona of Busty Ross. At a White House ceremony in 2016, Mr. Baker presented President Barack Obama with a framed copy of his original eight-color flag. The rainbow flag is a symbol of freedom and liberation that we made for ourselves, Mr. Baker said in 2003. We all own this flag. Emergency call centers are trying to switch to the newest next-generation Internet-based technology that uses digital routing instead of old-fashioned phone lines with switches. (thelinke/iStockphoto) A recent rash of disruptions in antiquated 911 emergency-response systems points up the urgent need for new technology to save lives in the wireless age. But few states or localities have the financial means to pay for it on their own. On one evening in March, AT&T Wireless customers nationwide found they couldnt dial 911, prompting local emergency officials in more than a half-dozen states including Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas to tell people to call an alternate number or text authorities in case of emergency. The company said it was a service issue. The Federal Communications Commission is investigating. In Dallas, callers were unable to reach 911 during spikes in calls that put hundreds of people on hold. City officials blamed a combination of calls from T-Mobile customers and a shortage of people to handle calls. To combat the problem, officials have dedicated $2 million to upgrades and increased staffing, and they asked T-Mobile to disable a feature that calls 911 repeatedly if an initial call does not go through. And in October, a malicious Twitter post with a link targeting faulty phone software caused peoples cellphones to repeatedly call 911 in cities across the country in what investigators now think was the largest cyberattack on the countrys emergency-response system, the Wall Street Journal reported. During the attack, emergency call centers in at least a dozen states from California to Florida were overwhelmed by a storm of calls for 12 hours over two days. A Washington state teen was arrested and accused of sharing the link as a prank. Apple said it is putting safeguards in place to prevent similar incidents on its iPhones. The attack illustrated how aging 911 systems are vulnerable to malicious hackers who may deliberately program multiple phones to crash emergency networks, either by infecting phones with malware or by buying a few thousand phones, according to a 2016 paper on U.S. call center security by Ben-Gurion Universitys Cyber Security Research Center in Israel. And all of the incidents demonstrate the need for states and localities to switch to the newest next-generation Internet-based technology that uses digital routing instead of old-fashioned phone lines with switches. Internet-based systems are better capable of handling cellphone traffic that is subject to accidental or malicious misuse. An estimated 70 percent of emergency calls are now made via cellphone, but few states and localities have the technology to fend off abuse or buggy software that can cause cellphones to call 911 repeatedly and stall the entire system. The newest Internet-based technology offers a wider suite of defensive tools for call centers, said Trey Forgety, government affairs director for the National Emergency Number Association, which represents government agencies and private firms involved in the emergency system. Calls thought to be malicious or repetitive could be flagged and diverted automatically to systems that could detect whether they are legitimate by using such techniques as requiring clicks or voice commands, Forgety said. Millions of dollars needed Most emergency officials know how vulnerable their systems are. But they worry about where they will get the money to upgrade them. Its easy to crash some of the bigger systems like Denver and Dallas, said Monica Million, operations manager at the Grand Junction Regional Communication Center in Colorado. The next-generation protocol is a more secure pipeline with better monitoring software than we currently have. But most of us in the states dont have the financial resources to make the transition ourselves. Million estimated that Colorado would need $15 million to move the state into the newest next-generation technology. The cost of making the switch will vary by jurisdiction, but major metropolitan governments can expect to spend between $5 million and $7 million, and potentially more depending on other equipment and network needs. The National 911 Program, housed in the U.S. Department of Transportation, is studying the costs associated with the transition to help Congress develop a long-term funding plan. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) has circulated a draft bill that would help with funding. Continuous upgrading Fairfax County is one of the few localities to install a next-generation system after years of planning for the costs, said Steve Souder, who oversaw the transition last year as the countys director of public safety communications before retiring. Its part of a $4.3 million regional project to upgrade systems in the Northern Virginia suburbs. The county was having trouble with 911 outages caused by cellphones, Souder said. Once the new infrastructure is in place, the county can finally take defensive action against attacks with bogus calls or call storms, he said. Some of the states and localities that were among the first to move to an Internet-based service are finding that the technology is evolving so fast that they already need to upgrade. In 2012, Washington became the first state to have a 911 service based on Internet connectivity. But the technology isnt advanced enough to keep pace with todays mobile phone issues, as the October Twitter prank demonstrated. An Olympia call center was shut down for about 15 minutes by the storm of bogus calls. Washington now plans to upgrade its technology so that it can shed excess calls to neighboring call centers at busy times, said Andy Leneweaver, the states deputy state 911 coordinator. The estimated initial cost of the upgrade is $5 million, but it will cost a total of $45 million over five years. It cant prevent the problems, Leneweaver said, but it can help mitigate them. Stateline Read more: FCC to investigate nationwide 911 failure Families blame 911 backlogs for deaths Spring reaches planetary bloom in April with easy sky-gazing targets Jupiter, Saturn and Venus to savor peppered with a few meteors to scout. That gigantic planet Jupiter reaches opposition on Friday, when for sky gazers it becomes full. The gaseous planet virtually stays up all night, as it ascends the eastern heavens about 7:30 p.m. and sets the next morning at 6:59. Its delightfully quite bright in the Virgo constellation, as our eyes see it at -2.5 magnitude. The celestial mechanics are similar to a full moon, in that Earth is sandwiched between the sun and the planet in other words, Jupiter is opposite the sun. When Jupiter is in the evenings eastern sky, find the bright star Spica Jupiters heavenly cosmic sidekick now lower than the planet. Before daybreak, in the west southwestern sky, find Spica to Jupiters left. The portly, nearly full moon is close to Jupiter April 10, and the next day, the official full moon remains relatively close to Jupiter. As April starts, find the dim Mars (1.5 magnitude, a little hard to see from urban locations) in the western sky at sunset. In the morning sky, behold the bubbly Venus: It rises Monday at 5:45 a.m., as a -4.2 magnitude object (bright) in the eastern sky. By Friday, it rises about 5:30 a.m., serving as a beacon for dog walkers. This effervescent planet rises about 4:30 a.m., at months end, when it brightens to a magnificent -4.7 magnitude. Before daylight, see the waning crescent moon loitering near Venus on April 23. Saturn (zero magnitude, bright) rises about 1 a.m. this week, where it soon will be high in the south before daybreak. The waning moon approaches the ringed planet on the morning of April 15, and visits April 16-17. Look out for shooting stars! The Lyrid meteor shower peaks April 22-23 with an estimated 20 per hour, according to the International Meteor Organization (imo.net.) The group said your best chances will be in the hours before sunrise. When Earth runs through the dusty trail of comets, the debris strikes its atmosphere and lights up. In this case, the parental comet is C/1861 G1, discovered on the eve of the Civil War. Down-to-Earth events Monday The spring sky emerges at Stars Tonight at the David M. Brown Planetarium, 1426 N. Quincy St., Arlington, adjacent to Washington-Lee High School. 7:30 p.m. $3. friendsoftheplanetarium.org. Wednesday Studying the Shape of the Universe, a talk by astrophysicist Tess Jaffe at the University of Marylands Observatory, College Park. Afterward, scour the night heavens through telescopes, weather permitting. 8 p.m. astro.umd.edu/openhouse. Friday Our Blue Planet from the Vantage Point of Space, a lecture by Eric J. Lindstrom, program scientist, Physical Oceanography NASA Science Mission Directorate. Hosted by the Philosophical Society of Washington at the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, adjacent to the Cosmos Club, 2170 Florida Ave. NW. (At Massachusetts and Florida avenues.) 8 p.m. philsoc.org. Saturday What are the Fermi Bubbles? Karen Yang, the Einstein Fellow at the University of Maryland, answers that question at the National Capital Astronomers regular meeting held at the University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 7:30 p.m. capitalastronomers.org. April 15 Quantum gravity meets the fabric of physical reality at the Montgomery College planetarium, Takoma Park, 7 p.m. http://ow.ly/JEJ6V. April 20 60 Years Since the Sputnik The Era of Space Science Begins, a lecture by research scientist Alex Moiseev at the University of Marylands Observatory, College Park. Enjoy the nights heavens through telescopes afterward, weather permitting. 8 p.m. astro.umd.edu/openhouse. April 20 Juno: Mission to Jupiter, a lecture by Scott Bolton, Southwest Research Institute, at the National Air and Space Museum, 8 p.m. Information, tickets: airandspace.si.edu. April 21-23 Rockets, Probes and Space Stations, weekend presentations featuring a SpaceX update April 21 at 7:30 p.m. April 22: the dome show Astronaut, at 6:30 p.m.; former NASA astronaut Tom Jones takes questions and signs books at 7:30 p.m.; April 23: childrens dome shows at 1:30 and 3 p.m. At the David M. Brown Planetarium, 1426 N. Quincy St., Arlington, adjacent to Washington-Lee High School. 7:30 p.m. Children $3, adults $5. friendsoftheplanetarium.org. April 29 Enjoy stars and planets at Exploring the Sky, hosted by the National Park Service and the National Capital Astronomers, at Rock Creek Park, near the nature center, in the field south of Military and Glover roads NW. 8 p.m. capitalastronomers.org. Blaine Friedlander can be reached at PostSkyWatch@yahoo.com THE BANKRUPTCY of Westinghouse, the venerable American nuclear-reactor maker now owned by Japans equally prestigious Toshiba, is a blow to two of the greatest names in global business a devastating one. More important for the United States, and the planet, is what the debacle means for the future of nuclear energy, which still supplies 19.5 percent of this countrys electricity, all of it carbon-free. Ideally, nuclear should be a part of the global solution to climate change. Deep cuts in carbon emissions will require more intensive use of nuclear as well as renewable energy, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted in its 2014 assessment report. One reason France emits only a third as much CO2 per capita as the United States is that three-quarters of its electricity comes from nuclear. As always, though, the questions are about safety and cost; and, of course, legitimate concerns about the former drive up the latter. Westinghouse thought it had come up with a new design that was both more reliable and, potentially, simpler to build. This AP1000 reactor, which relied less on electric-powered cooling pumps of the kind that failed so catastrophically at Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, promised to lead a renaissance in the U.S. nuclear industry, with potential for sales in emerging markets as well. Alas, Westinghouse still fell prey to the old bugaboos of the nuclear industry delays and cost overruns. Now the four reactors that the company was building in the U.S. South are in limbo. The first of them will not come on line until 2019 at the earliest. Even before this debacle, nuclear energy faced an uncertain future in the United States, due to what is otherwise a positive development for both the U.S. economy and the climate: the rise of cheap natural gas and wind energy, both of which proved more cost-effective as electricity sources in certain regions than nuclear. President Barack Obamas Clean Power Plan would have aided nuclear utilities, but it has been blocked by the courts and may never go into effect if President Trump has his way. Once billed as too cheap to meter, nuclear energy never quite lived up to its potential, either economically or environmentally. Yet nations that abandon it, as Germany did in the wake of Fukushima, add greatly to the costs and logistical challenges of meeting carbon-reduction goals. The United States should keep using nuclear energy during what is bound to be a long transition from the current energy mix to a completely renewable system, but it needs to rethink how best to do that. A carbon tax, undoubtedly, would help support the carbon-free industry. A long-term solution for radioactive waste disposal is also in order specifically, using the Yucca Mountain site that has long since been determined to be safe, but has been blocked by politics. Government and the private sector need to support new reactor designs. If the United States lacks a robust nuclear industry, it may be less capable of influencing international policy on issues ranging from reactor safety to weapons proliferation. Maintaining a solvent, innovative nuclear industry would serve national security as well as the environment. A BILL making its way through the House would permit employers to offer bonuses to employees in the form of lower health-plan premiums in exchange for providing their genetic information as part of workplace wellness programs or impose penalties on those who do not participate. In either case, employees could be coerced into sharing information they have every right to keep private. The Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act passed committee on a party-line vote in March, with 22 Republicans in favor and 17 Democrats opposed. The acts supporters say it is primarily designed to reconcile conflicting rules on how to calculate the maximum bonus a company can offer an employee for participating in a health-enhancing program. But the bill would also strip away standards laid out in the 2008 Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act that prohibit employers from inducing employees to provide privileged medical information, and that keep that information private. Under the House bill, workplace wellness plans could offer employees rewards in exchange for their genetic information from whether their mothers had breast cancer to whether they possess the risk gene for Alzheimers disease. Thats a change from the status quo, in which companies can encourage employees to disclose current health conditions but family medical history and other genetic indicators are off-limits unless their disclosure is unlinked to any sort of reward. Troublingly, in some cases the individual information collected could end up in the hands of an employer, when today the data is available only in aggregate. Employers are entitled to want a healthy workforce and the lower health-care costs and higher productivity that may come with it. Current law allows companies to offer incentives for employees to participate in programs and hit fitness targets. But pushing an employee to lose weight or quit smoking is different from pushing him or her to share information that is at once intensely personal and professionally irrelevant. And by supplying employers with details that indicate whether employees may get sick in the future, the bill could open the door to job discrimination that a worker would bear the burden of proving in court. According to advocates, the bill was never meant to threaten employees privacy, yet by painting their act in sloppy strokes, that is what its authors have done. They should change the language to ensure that identifiable employee genetic data does not make its way into a managers filing cabinet. Regarding the March 28 news article Gorsuch may fall short of votes needed for smooth confirmation next week: A filibuster is not the only option Democrats have for opposing the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Another is to challenge the nomination itself in court, on the grounds that President Barack Obamas nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, was denied the due process required by the Constitution. The Constitution requires the advice and consent of the Senate to confirm a nominee. Surely, this requirement means consent (or denial) by the entire Senate, not by a Senate committee or by a single member of the Senate (such as the majority leader). Nothing less than a vote by the full Senate should be constitutionally acceptable; anything less tarnishes the Senate and the Supreme Court. Mr. Garland is owed a Senate vote. On the other hand, perhaps we should just wait until the midterm elections in 2018 so that the voters can weigh in and decide the issue, especially now that they have seen the nominee and the criteria by which the president selected him. This delay would be in accordance with the McConnell Principle, otherwise known as the Partisan Pretext, as enunciated last year by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Ron Sheppe, Rochester, N.H. Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate on Whitehall opposite Downing Street in London, on March 29, after Britain formally invoked Article 50 to start the process of withdrawal from the E.U. (Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Regarding the March 30 front-page article Britain triggers Brexit escape: A hundred years ago, the British were considered petty-minded persons who treasure trade and business above all. But Brexit has shown how wrong this prejudice was. It is economic suicide. The European Union will grant Britain access to the European Single Market only if Britain guarantees basic freedoms, including freedom of movement, to all E.U. citizens. Without access to the European Single Market, Britain would have to trade with the E.U. under the rules of the World Trade Organization. This would be a disaster a predicted 7.5 percent decline in the gross domestic product and a loss of 45 billion pounds in fiscal revenue. Some of the Brexit advocates probably will brand these consequences as a punishment by the E.U. But whoever thinks they are a punishment that you cannot have rights without duties is beyond help. Michael Pfeiffer, Neuhausen auf den Fildern, Germany The photo was striking: the pose so iconic yet the figures so unaccustomed. Two powerful politicians, arranged side by side, smiling for the cameras. But these two were women British Prime Minister Theresa May and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Not just women, but women in skirts, showing their legs their knees, even. And the Daily Mail could not resist the opportunity to splash the shot at the top of its front page, with the headline Never mind Brexit, who won Legs-it! Oh, please. As former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband tweeted, The 1950s called and asked for their headline back. If anything, the piece, by columnist Sarah Vine yes, women can be their own worst enemies was even more offensive. There is no doubt that both women consider their pins to be the finest weapon in their physical arsenal. Consequently, both have been unsheathed, Vine wrote, deducing political calculation in the rival postures. May was demurely arranged, with knees tightly together . . . ever the vicars daughter, she wrote, while Sturgeons shorter but undeniably more shapely shanks are altogether more flirty, tantalisingly crossed. Vine dismissed the ensuing outrage as the huffing of humorless snowflakes still stuck in a rut of Seventies-style feminism, unable to accept that mocking politicians looks is an equal-opportunity sport among U.K. tabloids. I could understand the criticism more if Sturgeon and May were like [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel and Hillary Clinton, determinedly and deliberately frumpy in order to close down any sort of conversation about the way they look. There is, it seems, no winning this gender and politics game. Frumpy you win, flirty I lose. Its naive to imagine that looks dont matter in politics, or that female politicians appearances their clothing choices, their hairdos, their weight dont matter more than their male counterparts. Men, with their dark suits, have a uniform that women lack. When that is discarded think tan-suited Barack Obama holding a news conference the public is distracted. At least for the foreseeable future, as female leaders remain the exception rather than the norm, their appearance is almost automatically distracting. Indeed, that was, or could have been, the powerful lesson of the May-Sturgeon photograph. There they were, arguably the two most powerful politicians in Britain, unabashedly female, unapologetically in charge. The familiar arrangement of leaders with an unfamiliar twist. The more the public witnesses women in such roles, the less jarring it becomes. Unless, of course, their joint appearance gets turned into Legs-it, and whose limbs are shapelier, thereby diminishing them as sex objects. Yet for all the Daily Mails unvarnished sexism, the British are in a sense way ahead of us in the United States. They have their second female prime minister, and last years Tory race came down to two women. Nearly 30 percent of members in the House of Commons are women, compared with 20 percent in the U.S. House and Senate. For most of the 2016 campaign, it looked as though this would be the moment when Americans would begin adjusting to the reality of a female president. Not yet. Instead, President Trump has the fewest women in his Cabinet since Jimmy Carter. Besides his daughter, there are few women in the top ranks of his White House. One, Dina Powell, was recently named deputy national security adviser, but another, Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Walsh, is leaving. During the pre-inaugural festivities, Trump summoned adviser Kellyanne Conway (my Kellyanne) onto the stage to praise her fierceness in disconcerting terms. When my men are petrified to go on a certain network, I say, Kellyanne, will you do it? Trump said. So anyway, thank you, baby. Baby? Really? Maybe not such a long way after all. Meanwhile, Vice President Pence, we were just reminded, has a long-standing policy of not eating alone with a woman not his wife. Pause for a moment and imagine how that rule would affect you in your workplace. And then that notorious photo of the House Freedom Caucus at the White House, a few dozen white men gathered to discuss, among other matters, eliminating maternity care from required health coverage. The only diversity involved the color of their ties. The vice president proudly tweeted it out. The May-Sturgeon shot is the flip side of the Freedom Caucus photo. The Daily Mails editors looked at May-Sturgeon and could see only Legs-it. Pence looked at the picture of himself with the Freedom Caucus and saw nothing out of the ordinary. One reaction is overly attuned to gender, the second oblivious to it. Neither is correct, but both are telling. Read more from Ruth Marcuss archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, surrounded by Republican members of Congress, signs an order lifting a moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands on Wednesday at the Interior Department. (Molly Riley/Associated Press) The March 29 editorial A reckless climate reversal and John Podestas Washington Forum commentary the same day, On climate, its up to us now, were correct to decry the Trump administrations decisions to reverse U.S. policies to address the changing global climate. The science is clear that human activities are the reason the climate is changing. Business and political leaders around the world have recognized this reality and are trying to do something about it. It is a national shame that our government is headed in the opposite direction. The consequence of ignoring the threat of climate change, however, is not an endangered planet, as The Post and Mr. Podesta said. Planet Earth existed for billions of years before conditions allowed for life including humans to develop and prosper, and it will continue to exist, regardless of how high sea levels and global temperatures rise. So all who are concerned about climate change should be clear: What is at stake is not the fate of planet Earth, but, rather, the fate of humanity, in particular, and life on Earth, in general. Ken Brill, Bethesda The campaign by the Heartland Institute to disseminate unscientific information about climate change takes climate science down a well-worn path: dress up propaganda with scientific-sounding vocabulary, identify a few credentialed skeptics, then misuse phrases such as Its just a theory to make it seem as if science and pseudoscience are equal. For more than 65 years, the New York Academy of Sciences has been hosting STEM-education programs for students and teachers to ensure we have scientifically literate citizens prepared for the future workplace and capable of making informed decisions to benefit their communities. The point of science education is to teach students how to make evidence-based decisions using data collected by fully qualified researchers through internationally recognized practices. The Heartland Institute is within its rights to have its unscientific opinion about climate change, but opinion is not fact. Meghan Groome, New York The writer is senior vice president of education at the New York Academy of Sciences. The former national security adviser wants to testify under immunity. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee sneaks off to the White House for illicit briefings. Every day brings a new revelation in Washington, and every day reveals the story of someone elses conversation with someone else from Russia. But if this seems momentous or ludicrous, bizarre or improbable, it shouldnt. Take a step back and look around the world: Russian interference in democratic elections is neither new nor unusual. On the contrary, its ubiquitous, it plays a role in just about every Western democracy, it often follows the same patterns as it did in the United States, and it often leads to the same disarray. True, in some places it includes funding, of which there is no evidence in the United States. One of Frances presidential candidates, Marine Le Pen of the far right National Front, was in Moscow last week as her party is openly seeking Russian financial support. In 2014, her party received a 9 million euro loan from a Russian-Czech bank, and in 2016, it was revealed this week, she received an additional 3 million euros from another Russian bank; a political fund run by her father, the former party chairman, also received 2 million euros from a Russian-backed fund based in Cyprus. Le Pens agenda anti-NATO, anti-European Union is perfectly aligned with that of Moscow, which seeks to destroy the European and transatlantic institutions that curb Russian influence. That support hasnt damaged her standing with her voters: At a major Le Pen rally in Lille, France, a few days ago, Putins name was cheered. Sometimes, Russian interference is more covert, involving training and support for far-right and extremist groups. A Hungarian neo-Nazi who authorities say murdered a police officer late last year had illegal military-grade weapons and ties to Russian operatives. Scandinavian far-right groups also have links to strange Russian nationalist groups that sometimes lend them money or help them train. But most of the time, Russian interference in foreign elections takes the same forms that it did in the United States. Russian websites operating openly (Russia Today, Sputnik) or under other names spin out false rumors and conspiracy theories; then trolls and bots, either Russian or domestic, systematically spread them. Globsec, a Slovak think tank that monitors pro-Kremlin media together with partners in Hungary and the Czech Republic, found that in January alone, pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets in the region were repeating stories that the CIA plans the assassination of Donald Trump, that NATO is a terrorist organization, that the European Union is the Third Reich. The same kinds of outlets juxtaposed Trumps first travel ban that month unfavorably with the calm and unity that prevail in Russia, where a law decriminalizing some forms of domestic violence was passed by 385 votes to 2, and only a lone human rights activist protested the measure. The European Unions small disinformation review also noted that the recent anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea was accompanied by stories about the links between the Ukrainian government and alleged neo-Nazis, and even calls for the annexation of the rest of Ukraine. But ground zero at the moment is the French election, where overt support for Le Pen is matched by covert opposition for her main rival, the centrist Emmanuel Macron. One of the most popular articles on the Sputnik France website in February was an article stating that WikiLeaks has secret information about Macron (sound familiar?) that it will reveal at some point. Le Mondes fact-checking group, Les Decodeurs (part of a larger consortium, CrossCheck, that has banded together to fight false political stories), has put together a list of the most frequently shared unsubstantiated news stories in the election campaign so far. Unsurprisingly, they are mostly about terrorism, immigration and Macron. Among others, the attacks on Macron include a fake story that appeared on a website virtually identical to that of the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, claiming Macron received funding from Saudi Arabia. If it were true, which it isnt, it might help ameliorate some of the anxiety about Le Pens funding from Russia. There is more, of course in Italy, Ukraine and Poland, even in Canada, where a peculiar duo of Russian and Polish journalists tried to smear the Canadian foreign minister, who is of Ukrainian descent. And there will be a lot more in Germany as its elections draw close, especially because we already know that the same hacking groups that operated in the United States are at work in Berlin, too. I am someone who believes in American exceptionalism. But in this instance, America isnt exceptional at all. Read more from Anne Applebaums archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook. THE ANTIC behavior of Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who was slipped classified surveillance by senior aides to President Trump, rushed to hold a news conference about it and then scurried back to the White House to brief Mr. Trump, was clumsy and clownish but it may have accomplished its main purpose. Mr. Nunes managed to derail his own House Intelligence Committees investigation into the far more serious matter of Russias interference in the presidential election, and to distract attention from the emergence of troubling new evidence. As the congressmans bizarre circuit was chewed over in Washington, it emerged that Jared Kushner, the presidents aide and son-in-law, had met with an executive from a Russian bank that is on the U.S. sanctions list; former national security adviser Michael Flynn sought immunity in exchange for his testimony on his Russian ties; and experts told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Russian hacking and propaganda efforts are continuing, and have recently been directed at House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Mark R. Warner (Va.), ranking Democrat on the Senate committee, offered an appeal to common sense: The public, he said, must not lose sight of what the investigation is about: An outside foreign adversary effectively sought to hijack our most critical democratic process, the election for president in order to favor one candidate over another. Unfortunately, Mr. Trump and willing accomplices such as Mr. Nunes have been all too effective in clouding this shocking reality and impeding effective investigation of it. The delivery of intel to Mr. Nunes which the White House has yet to explain was only the latest diversionary stratagem employed by Mr. Trump and his aides. Earlier, Mr. Nunes and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) were enlisted to call reporters to discount stories about contacts between Trump aides and Russia. Then Mr. Trump used a series of tweets to falsely accuse President Barack Obama of ordering a wiretap on Trump Tower. Meanwhile, as The Post reported, the administration tried to block former Justice Department official Sally Q. Yates from testifying to Congress about what she knows about the links between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Mr. Trump is still dismissing the Russia investigation as a witch hunt that Democrats are using to excuse their big election loss. He may be right that there was no active collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin; two former senior intelligence officials with no sympathy for the president have said publicly that they were aware of no evidence of collaboration. Democrats who speak as if such links have been proved are risking their own credibility. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) It nevertheless should be undeniable, by now, that the regime of Vladimir Putin brazenly intervened in U.S. politics, including by hacking the Democratic National Committee and releasing stolen material through the WikiLeaks site; that it is still trying to disrupt the political system, including by sowing fake news and faux controversies on social media; and that it is attempting to disrupt elections in other Western democracies, including France and Germany. The top priority of the president and Congress should be to fully expose this hostile assault and develop means to counter it. Instead, Mr. Trump appears to be doing his best to confuse the public about the facts and to prevent the truth from coming out. That, of course, is Russias agenda and it is the strangest and most suspicious aspect of his presidency. STURTEVANT Racine School District officials are balking at new conditions set by the Village of Sturtevant in their effort to secure a conditional-use permit to begin relocation of the REAL School at the Sportsplex, 10116 Stellar Ave. The School Board is scheduled to meet in executive session on Monday to discuss legal options. The new round is delaying construction, David Hazen, Unifieds chief operating officer stated in a Racine Unified news release issued Friday afternoon. This is so disappointing. This delay likely means our students wont have access to manufacturing and engineering courses next fall and will disrupt at minimum the first semester of programming for more than 500 students eagerly waiting this opportunity, Hazen said. The REAL School, or Racine Engineering, Arts and Leadership School, is a charter school serving grades 6-12 and currently housed at 5915 Erie St., Caledonia. The conditional-use permit delivered to RUSD Thursday lists 35 conditions including several items Unified officials said is in their jurisdiction not the villages: All special events at the school site will require the village to give written authorization. Restrictions on RUSDs use of the district-owned sports facilities within the complex. If the district changes existing policy for building use, the village would have the right to renegotiate the conditional-use permit. (For example, if RUSD decides to change fees for use of its facilities.) No activities are allowed in the building after 10 p.m. without express written permission from the village. REAL School may not allow open campus lunch for freshmen and sophomores. Many of the demands are within statutory authority of the RUSD School Board and district administration, not the Village of Sturtevant, says Hazen. That is one of the main points of contention. Weve worked in good faith with the village. Friday afternoon, Curt Shircel, directing principal for the REAL School, sent out an audio message to parents to reassure them. While we continue to face challenges ... to come to a agreement with the Village Board, Im confident well move forward soon, Shircel said. Shircel blamed politics for the delay. Im sharing my confidence with students because I dont want them to worry about this. Well be just fine. Politics do have to play themselves out and Im sure they will, Shircel said. Earlier this month, the Unified School Board waved off a demand from Sturtevant Village President Steve Jansen that the district pay the village $35,000 annually in lieu of taxes, something the School Board said was inappropriate since public school districts are tax-exempt. Mary Cole, Sturtevants village administrator, said Friday night that the real issue is the revenue generating component of the Sportsplex for which she said the village worked with Unified to keep their construction timeline but both parties could not agree on terms. The village developed separate terms and conditions that individually apply to the REAL School and the Sportsplex. This was unacceptable to RUSD, Cole said. Cole said the village is now working with Unified to develop terms and conditions for the facility that are acceptable to both parties which may require special meetings to be called. The goal of the village is to protect the investment of the business park while maintaining the well-being and safety of the students, Cole said. We look forward to welcoming the REAL School and its students who are trying to better provide for their futures by enriching their educational experience. The issue is expected to be discussed at the Sturtevant Planning Commission meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 13. THE FRONT line between liberal values of democracy and the darker forces of authoritarianism can often be found far from government offices, in a civic association or church hall, a newsroom or university classroom. Witness the effort by Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary to close the Central European University in Budapest. The school, founded and funded by philanthropist and financier George Soros, has been an anchor for the study of freedom in lands long tormented by tyranny. Mr. Orban, who has vowed to wipe out liberal values in Hungary, tabled legislation in parliament that, if passed, would place onerous restrictions on the university, founded in 1991 at the collapse of communism to train scholars and others in the building of open societies that respect human rights and adhere to the rule of law. Now a graduate school with 1,440 enrolled students and 370 faculty from more than 130 nations, the university grants degrees accredited in both Hungary and the United States and, in the words of President and Rector Michael Ignatieff, stands for open minds and open frontiers at a time when political forces of anger, exclusion and closure are in the ascendant. That is enough to put it in the crosshairs of Mr. Orban, a right-wing champion of barbed-wire fenced borders and authoritarianism modeled on Russia, China and Turkey. His government tabled legislation, to take effect next February, that would require all foreign universities in Hungary to have a physical campus in their home countries; CEU is accredited in New York but has only one campus, in Budapest. All other 27 universities covered by the new legislation have campuses at home. As we see it, this is legislation targeted at one institution and one institution only, Mr. Ignatieff told students and faculty in a letter. It is discriminatory. It strikes at the heart of what we have been doing at CEU for over two decades. Mr. Ignatieff said the legislation would make it impossible for CEU to continue its operations as an institution of higher education in Hungary, and warned that it is a university whose freedom is in danger. CEU is at the fault line of an intensifying contest between democracy and illiberal rule around the globe. Mr. Orban is taking a page from playbooks in Russia and China on how to suffocate civil society. In January, his ruling party floated a proposal to crack down on nongovernmental organizations funded by Mr. Soros, including those promoting human rights and transparency, although the bill has yet to be published. In 1989, the year the Berlin Wall came down, Mr. Orban, then an anti-communist student leader, took a Soros scholarship to study at Oxford. It seems Mr. Orban has forgotten the lessons, so obvious then, about Eastern Europes communist rulers, whose demise was heartily celebrated by people sick of arbitrary rule and hungry for the kind of freedom that Central European University was founded to succor. Jeffrey H. Birnbaum is president of BGR Public Relations, a former Post reporter and a consultant to the Coalition for Fair Effective Tax Rates. He co-wrote the book Showdown at Gucci Gulch about the 1986 tax reform. The impossible happened three decades ago. Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed into law the first and only rewrite of the federal income tax. This year, Republican leaders want to repeat the feat. If history is an indication, the road to full-scale reform will be tortuous and lengthy. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was debated in concept long before taking two years to wend its way through Congress. It died several times before public opinion and extraordinary political leadership revived it. Few veterans of 86 believe Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchins prediction that tax reform will be completed by this fall. Tax reform is complicated, painful and personal by design. Popular breaks must be eliminated or diminished to pay for lower rates. The deeper the rate cuts, the more benefits need to be removed. Alternatively, an entirely new tax would have to be imposed or else deficits would have to be increased. No matter what, some will win while others lose. The losers will complain a lot. Every person, business and organization will be impacted. What follows are five lessons that the last tax reform can teach policymakers this time around. Partisanship is the least of tax reforms worries. The biggest fights in 1986 were between interests, not political parties. Dust-ups developed between high- and low-tax states; between manufacturers and service providers; and between companies that paid large amounts in taxes and those that paid little. The bill was dubbed the Lobbyists Relief Act of 1986 because every organized group clamored for narrow relief. To prevent this atomization, reform advocates highlighted notable supporters among businesses executives and focused on the plans overall fairness and contributions to economic growth. This split and weakened its many vocal opponents. They also asked taxpayers to overlook reforms many tax hikes and concentrate on the bottom line the effective tax rate, which is the amount actually paid in taxes after rates are reduced and preferences removed. Similar broad thinking is needed for reform to succeed again. Cooperation and leadership are essential. Tax reform was launched in 1985 with a scene thats almost unimaginable today: a televised speech by Reagan, a Republican, followed by a Democratic response by Dan Rostenkowski, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, endorsing the presidents initiative. Rostenkowski even asked citizens to Write Rosty to support the idea. Seventy-five thousand letters and postcards soon arrived. This bipartisanship wasnt just for show. Reagans personal intervention was essential to saving reform from a Republican revolt in the House. Then as now, the congressional majorities were too small to permit one party to pass so contentious a measure alone. Cooperation was and is a mathematical necessity. At the same time, competition between the parties can be good for reform. In the 1980s, the Republican administration offered two proposals, all but daring the Democratic House to come up with its own. The House rose to the challenge and managed to send a bill to the Republican-controlled Senate. Republicans there believed they couldnt be perceived as falling short of the Democrats. So they pushed through their own version with Democratic help. A bill became law because neither party wanted to be blamed for allowing reform to die. In other words, public opinion must strongly favor tax reform for so difficult a measure to pass. In the mid-1980s, polls showed that most citizens believed that special interests had infected the income tax, and they demanded that Congress cure the disease. Candidates amplified horror stories about the rich not paying taxes. The president and senior lawmakers made reform a top priority, turbocharging the effort. The tax code is facing similar outrage in 2017. A recent Fox News poll found that 55 percent of voters think their taxes are too high and nearly three-quarters believe the tax system should be reformed this year. The problem is that somebody will pay more taxes so that others can pay less. When President Trump calls for a tax cut, he may be signaling that he wants something less than comprehensive reform. The fate of tax reform will rest on policymakers ability to find acceptable revenue raisers. In 1985 and 1986, multiple tax hikes were touted, defeated and ultimately replaced. The Ways and Means Committee had to jettison a plan to end the deduction for state and local tax payments before the legislation could advance. In the end, lawmakers chose to boost corporate taxes by $120 billion over five years and to transfer those savings to individuals. That was the tough-love trade-off arrived at through the harsh crucible of the legislative process. Some GOP leaders today appear to believe that their plans dont need to be tested in that way. Some dont want to pay for rate cuts at all, though its hard to see how that could find enough votes to pass. History tells us that policymakers should expect setbacks and need to learn from them. Nothing about this will be easy. Correction: An earlier version of this op-ed incorrectly stated that Earl Landgrebe was a member of the House Judiciary Committee. This version has been updated. Watergate showcased legislators on Capitol Hill in their finest hour: folksy and clever Sam Ervin (D-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee; Howard Baker (R-Tenn.), the committees vice chairman (What did the president know, and when did he know it?); House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N.J.), who reportedly went to a back room after voting for the third article of impeachment, called his wife and wept, telling her, I hope weve done the right thing; and Barbara Jordan (D-Tex.), who advised the committee that the United States had come too far for her to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution. However, to me the most unforgettable Watergate lawmaker was House member Earl Landgrebe, a three-term Republican from Valparaiso, Ind. Landgrebes support for President Richard Nixon throughout the Watergate scandal set a standard for slavish loyalty that remains unmatched to this day. As the case against Nixon mounted with the discovery of the White House tapes, Landgrebe shrugged the whole thing off, saying, Dont confuse me with the facts. Landgrebe voted against accepting the final report of the Judiciary Committees impeachment inquiry. With Nixons presidency fading into the sunset, Landgrebe vowed to stick with my president even if he and I have to be taken out of this building and shot. They dont make em like that anymore. Or so I thought, until House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) arrived on the scene. The chief difference between these two Republicans is that Landgrebe never got the chance to wield a gavel. In the post-Watergate elections, voters in Indianas 2nd District decided it was time to bring him home for good. Nunes may not be an exact genetic copy of Landgrebe, but his behavior puts him in the same pedigree. At the Intelligence Committees recent public hearing, FBI Director James B. Comey and National Security Agency Director Michael S. Rogers said they stood by the U.S. intelligence communitys Jan. 6 finding that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the meddling in the U.S. presidential election in an effort to hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and to help Donald Trump. Nunes also learned from Comey that the FBI was investigating potential ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Echoing Landgrebes disdain for facts, Nunes chose to respond by leading the committees Republicans down a rabbit hole, chasing leaks and the unmasking of President Trumps first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who was caught, reportedly via surveillance of the Russian ambassador, discussing sanctions and then lying about it to, among others, Vice President Pence. Whats more, Nunes, wannabe private eye, surreptitiously examined information that he thought would exculpate Trump from his bogus tweet that he had been wiretapped at the Trump Tower last year by President Barack Obama. Nunes revealed himself to be a sleuth of the Inspector Clouseau variety: klutzy, incompetent and prone to produce chaos wherever he turns up. As at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House complex, where Nunes said he met with a secret source who provided classified material purportedly suggesting that Trump and transition-team members were picked up during U.S. surveillance of foreign targets and improperly identified in intelligence reports. From there it went zany: See Nunes rush to the media the next day to disclose his discovery. Watch him circumvent committee members in his mad dash to the White House to clue in Trump. Hear Nunes subsequently backtrack on what he discovered: First, Trump and the team were caught up in an accidental collection; oops, Trump and the team may not have been surveilled, maybe just mentioned in the report; oh, shucks, lets wait, he now says, until more information comes in from the National Security Agency. And the piece de resistance: Nunes, standing before microphones in front of the White House saying with a straight face that he had rushed to see the president because he felt [Trump] needed to understand what I saw meaning what he saw the evening before, in a building just a stones throw from the Oval Office. As if the White House had no idea what Nunes was talking about until he showed up at Trumps door. For goodness sake, the information in question is custody of the executive offices of the president. Somebody was getting played. We now know who (Nunes) and by whom (White House officials). The congressman is so in over his head. Nuness antics sparked an editorial in his hometown newspaper, the Fresno Bee, describing his performance as inept and bewildering and saying he had betrayed the Constitution and its separation of powers by running like an errand boy to the White House to share with Trump classified information that he had received. Nunes has embarrassed the House, tainted his chairmanship and reduced himself to a farce. That said, it can be stated with confidence that Devin Nunes has done Earl Landgrebe proud. Read more from Colbert Kings archive. The March 30 news article New call issued for Palestinian state quoted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as saying the Israeli government has since 2009 worked on wrecking the two-state solution by accelerating the tempo of settlements and the confiscation of land. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is proposing the first new settlement in decades. In other words, Israel has not, since 2009, been accelerating the tempo of settlements. Mr. Abbas, I guess, can lie to the Arab League, but it is very disappointing that this assertion was repeated. The article also said the Palestinian issue is a central cause of the Arab world. With wars in Iraq, Syria and other Arab countries, declining oil prices and growing concerns about Iran, that statement is, to put it politely, unsupportable. Arthur Siegel, New York For Americans, the first couple, or even the second couple, for that matter, offers a lens through which we work out our own complex feelings about the institution of marriage and the role of women. In their first hundred days, President Trump and Vice President Pence have given us the ultimate contrast: a couple who dont live together and a couple who stay unusually perhaps unnervingly close. The Trump and Pence marriages represent the jumble sale that is Republican values in 2017, from the thrice-married big-city philanderer with a habit of viewing women as ornaments to the conservative evangelical Christian who seems to simultaneously respect women and fear their sexual wiles. Still, there may be more to learn by comparing the Trump and Pence marriages not with each other but with those of the Democrats who preceded them. During the unfolding drama of Bill and Hillary Clintons marriage, questioning Hillary Clintons decision-making became a proxy for discussing the fears that came with a new era of opportunity for women. Why did someone so talented follow Bill Clinton to Arkansas in the first place? Why did she not merely stay with her husband when he cheated, but defend him? Speculation about Hillary Clintons motives and choices was rarely entirely about her: It was a way to indulge our own morbid fancies about how we would behave in her place. If the Clintons marriage was a fate to be avoided, the Obamas marriage was the one to emulate or to feel insecure about not matching. The Obamas went on dates . They teased each other . Essence shot a 2016 portrait of the couple so swooningly romantic, and so focused on the first ladys sex appeal, that it could have been an engagement photo. For some voters, the Obamas example was a particularly satisfying rebuke to the ugly stereotype of dysfunctional black families. For others, as Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance suggested, the Obamas success as spouses and parents cast an uncomfortable light on their constituents struggles in those roles. By this measure, Trumps own mixed marital track record might seem relatable or reassuring. Yet proximity to the Obamas, who represented a modern ideal of egalitarian marriage, highlights how unusually formal and old-fashioned Trumps marriage to Melania Trump seems. Where Michelle Obama posts vacation photos of her sandy feet tangled with her husbands, Melania Trump constantly seems to be four or five steps behind a husband who doesnt bother to wait for her, much less to take her hand. Even before her decision to continue to live in New York, the Trumps occupied spheres so separate that they didnt even appear together to project an image of marital unity after a leaked tape revealed Trump making comments about grabbing women without their consent. Trump taped an apology; his wife was interviewed in their gilded apartment, talking about the challenges of parenting both her husband and her young son. To some of Trumps supporters, this relationship is an ideal: a marriage defined by strict gender roles, where the womans main obligations are to look gorgeous and stay home, and the man isnt just the head of his family, but his family exists to serve him. Other observers see Melania Trump as a victim blinking desperately for freedom. The people in these camps dont talk to each other, but they illustrate just how divided American ideas about marriage are. By comparison with the Trumps, who sometimes seem to be testing how little time you can spend together and actually consider yourselves married, the Pences appear inseparable. The nature of their closeness sparked a firestorm this week when a profile of Karen Pence in The Post called attention to remarks Mike Pence made in 2002 about how he doesnt dine alone with women not his wife, and wont attend functions where alcohol is served without her. (In the 2002 interview, Pence said he also often turns down invitations to drink or dine with men.) Much of the resulting commentary focused on the way this so-called Billy Graham rule is based on a vision of men as weak lechers and women as temptresses and how following it could deny women critically important opportunities to do their jobs. Even granting that the couples critics could be correct about the consequences of the Pences rigid worldview, few seemed to consider it possible that the couple adheres to these rules out of a genuine dedication to their marriage. And if Pences policy might sideline other women (though he does not appear to have, as some observers suggested, a ban on meeting with women alone) the Pences have a conservative version of the two-for-the-price-of-one political marriage the Clintons first pitched on the campaign trail. Karen Pence may downplay her role in her husbands policymaking, though observers give her some credit for her husbands stances on gay rights issues as governor of Indiana. Shes traveling with him on foreign trips, and has long had a hotline installed in his office that only she has the number to. Melania Trumps place may be in her gilded New York apartment; Karen Pence is in the thick of it with the vice president. That isnt the only way the Pences function as a funhouse mirror of the Clintons. Like the Pences this week, Hillary Clintons work to save her marriage has long been greeted with more disdain than empathy. Choose to stay in a marriage after repeated infidelity and youre a feminist sell-out. Take extreme-sounding steps to avoid becoming someone who strays and youre a right-wing, sexist loon. Eleanor Roosevelt wrote: No engagement (nor for that matter any marriage) should be a prison which keeps the engaged in and all but the fiance out. Couples such as the Clintons, Obamas, Trumps and Pences dont have much choice in the matter: The whole world is watching their marriages like unfolding soap operas. But as we follow each cliffhanger and dramatic revelation, we should be careful not to judge too harshly or get too smug about having avoided these couples mistakes or not feeling their weaknesses. Until we face the same challenges, we cant be sure wed make better choices. In his March 22 op-ed, Leave it to Neil, Dana Milbank well summed up Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuchs testimony in his Senate confirmation hearings as that of a folksy sycophant. Mr. Gorsuchs touted brilliance slipped a bit in his reference to government of the people, by the people, for the people as a declaration from Abraham Lincolns second inaugural address. He was corrected by a Democratic senator, who noted that it was part of the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln evidently borrowed the now-famous three-part phrase. In 1384, John Wycliffe wrote in the prologue to his translation of the Bible, The Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People (Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett, 1951 edition). Bartlett cites Theodore Parker using this phraseology in a sermon in Bostons Music Hall on July 4, 1858, noting that Lincolns law partner William H. Herndon visited Boston and returned to Springfield, Ill., with some of Parkers sermons and addresses. Herndon wrote that Lincoln marked with pencil the portion of the Music Hall address Democracy is direct self-government, over all the people, by all the people, for all the people. At Gettysburg, Lincoln enshrined the peoples rule in the fervent pledge that, under God, this democracy shall not perish from the earth. James A. Langley, Washington White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon listens during an executive order signing ceremony in the Oval Office on March 31, 2017. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) New documents released Friday night by the White House revealed hard numbers showing how President Trump, who campaigned as a champion of the working class, has surrounded himself with a circle of wealthy advisers. The disclosures showed that Trumps top aides have generated millions of dollars from Wall Street, Hollywood, real estate and the media, holding a slew of investments that intensify the administrations challenge in navigating potential intersections between officials personal finances and their policymaking roles. Together, 27 White House officials had assets worth at least $2.3 billion when they joined the administration, according to an analysis of their filings by The Washington Post. The list of well-heeled White House officials includes a number of high-profile advisers, such as Trumps daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate holdings, as well as numerous middle- and lower-level staffers who populate the West Wing. Top economic adviser Gary Cohn, for example, a former top Goldman Sachs executive, reported assets worth at least $250 million. Another top aide, Baltimore-based real estate developer Reed S. Cordish, had assets worth at least $197 million. Julia Hahn, the 25-year-old aide to chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, reported investments worth between $1.1 million and $2.5 million. The new disclosures filed by about 180 members of the Trump administration and released by the White House starting late Friday show how Trump has tapped members of the financial elite to serve as his closest aides. The White House on Friday held up the affluence of its staffers as a badge of honor. The president has brought a lot of people into this administration, into this White House, in particular, who have been very blessed and very successful by this country and have given up a lot to come into the government by setting aside a lot of assets, said White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who filings show had assets worth between $2.9 million and $6.6 million. Earlier financial disclosures revealed that Trumps Cabinet which includes two billionaires and several multimillionaires is the richest in modern American history, a quality that he has trumpeted as a sign of their smarts. I want people that made a fortune, Trump said at a rally in Des Moines in December as he was building his Cabinet. Bannon, his chief strategist, held assets worth between $11.8 million and $53.8 million. Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, earned nearly $850,000 in the past year and held assets worth between $10 million and as much as $39 million. White House General Counsel Donald F. McGahn earned $2.4 million last year as a partner at the Jones Day law firm. 1 of 13 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad 13 things you may not have known about Steve K. Bannon View Photos Trumps chief strategist served in the Navy, has a daughter in the Army and once referred to himself as a Leninist. Caption Trumps chief strategist served in the Navy, has a daughter in the Army and once referred to himself as a Leninist. He served in the Navy According to Bloomberg, Bannon signed up right after college, serving from 1976 to 1983. He spent four years at sea working as an auxiliary engineer and a navigator aboard a destroyer. Courtesy of the Bannon family Wait 1 second to continue. Even White House staffers with relatively low public profiles arrived with high net worth. Kenneth Juster, the deputy director of the National Economic Council and former partner at the investment firm Warburg Pincus, reported minimum assets of at least $20.4 million. Trump, who last disclosed his finances during the campaign, is not required to release more details until next year. The complex holdings of many top administration officials create potential conflicts of interest that the White House must now navigate, a process that is underway in consultation with the Office of Government Ethics. Financial disclosure forms provide only a rough picture of financial wealth and liabilities. For some categories, the disclosure forms use broad ranges. The official filling out the form also has discretion in assigning value to assets such as real estate and artwork. On Friday, White House officials cited the complex assets of Cohn as an example of how onerous the ethics process is for wealthy individuals joining the government. His finances were described in 41 pages that detailed the assets accumulated from his 25 years at Goldman Sachs. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index has previously listed his net worth at about $600 million. White House officials noted that Cohn is subject to a two-year ban on dealing with specific matters having to do with Goldman Sachs. However, as head of the economic council, Cohn will not be recused from policy issues that affect Goldman Sachs. The filings show that Bannon earned at least $917,000 in the past 12 months, drawing at least $545,000 in the past year from four ventures backed by the wealthy Mercer family, underscoring how deeply enmeshed he has been with the influential Trump mega-donors He was paid $191,000 in consulting fees by Breitbart News Network, where he served as executive chairman until joining the Trump campaign in August. That is a significant drop from 2013, when Bannon reported on a rental application that he was making $750,000 at the website. Last year, Bannon earned $167,500 more for consulting and directing by Glittering Steel, the production company he launched with Rebekah Mercer that financed the documentary Clinton Cash. Cambridge Analytica, a data science company that worked for Trumps campaign, paid Bannon $125,333 in consulting fees for his work as vice president and secretary of the board. And the Government Accountability Institute, an investigative think tank whose president wrote the book Clinton Cash, gave Bannon a $61,539 salary as chairman. [Read the White House staff financial disclosures.] Bannon was also paid $100,000 in directing fees from a production company affiliated with the advocacy group Citizens United. And he reported earning between $50,001 and $100,000 from Societe Generale, stemming from a partnership he formed with the French banking giant in 1996. Bannon, who specialized at the time in media investment banking, sold his firm Bannon and Co. to a subsidiary of the French bank in 1998. The French company worked closely with Bannon on a variety of deals, including one in which Bannon represented PolyGram, a music and film company that was sold to Seagrams. [Stephen K. Bannon, architect of antiglobalist policies, got rich as a global capitalist] The strategist had significant cash reserves as he headed into the White House, reporting at least $1.1 million in three different U.S. bank accounts. The forms show how Breitbart News has served as a pipeline for the White House, with the sites payments to Bannon and two other staffers, Bannon aide Hahn and National Security Council aide Sebastian Gorka, totaling more than $246,000 over the past year. The disclosures also show that Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have property and investment holdings worth as much as roughly $740 million. That includes more than $600 million worth of Kushner real estate in New York and New Jersey as well as other assets, much of which Kushner says he has divested. Between January 2016 and March 2017, Kushners filings show, Ivanka Trump earned between $1 million and $5 million on Trump International Hotel Washington, the luxury hotel project that opened last year in a government-owned building near the White House. The value of Ivanka Trumps stake in the hotel was estimated at between $5 million and $25 million, filings show. Kushner, who in January stepped down as chief executive of his familys real estate firm, Kushner Companies, will remain a beneficiary of most of the businesss real estate ventures through a series of trusts. In essence, he will no longer officially have management control of the company but will retain a large financial interest. The Kushner company has taken out loans from Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and Deutsche Bank, the German financial giant that is also President Trumps biggest lender, filings show. The company also borrowed money from the French bank Natixis and Israels biggest bank, Bank Hapoalim, now under investigation by the Department of Justice, according to documents. Kushners filing shows he also has up to $95 million in borrowed money, much of it in the form of unsecured lines of credit held jointly with his father, from lenders including Deutsche and one of Israels largest banks, Israel Discount Bank. Ivanka Trump, who this week was officially named assistant to the president, will no longer serve in management roles but will continue to receive money from her fashion-merchandising brand and her familys private company, the Trump Organization. The payments will come as fixed payments from the Trump familys luxury brokerage, T International Realty, and two real estate subsidiaries, the filings show. Ivanka Trump, like her father, had moved her clothing and jewelry companies into a trust valued at more than $50 million, disclosures show. The trust is overseen by two of her in-laws and can be revoked at any time. Kushners filing, like his father-in-laws disclosure, offers lofty valuations for Kushner real estate holdings that may be higher than what they would be appraised for or sell for on public markets. [The Mercers and Stephen Bannon: How a populist power base was funded and built] Amy Brittain, Tom Hamburger, Rosalind S. Helderman, Michael Kranish, Robert OHarrow, Ashley Parker, Lisa Rein and Steven Rich contributed to this report. On Thursday, West Virginias Joe Manchin III became the first Democratic senator to support President Trumps Supreme Court nominee. On Friday, he came to this town of 484 people to explain why. The United Mine Workers of America was hosting Manchin for an ask-anything town hall meeting, and one of the first skeptical questions focused on what working people could expect from Judge Neil Gorsuch. Hes been portrayed as not being for the working person, said Manchin. Well, I talked to Merrick Garland former president Barack Obamas nominee for the same court vacancy, whom Republicans blocked last year. I thought he was a good man. He never ruled in favor of anybody but the agencies, which were killing us. And I said, Judge Garland, how come the agencies always win with you? How come the average person never does, not once? In two acrobatic minutes, Manchin managed to jump completely clear of a question about Trump and aim his frustrations instead at fellow Democrats. He stated his problems with the Obama administration (the agencies was code for the Environmental Protection Agency, the least popular federal bureaucracy in coal country), blamed Democrats for the impending showdown in the Senate over the Gorsuch nomination (Harry Reid started this) and most importantly described the access hed earned by dealing with Trump. People listen to Manchin at the town hall, hosted by the United Mine Workers of America. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images) Perhaps the most vulnerable Senate Democrat of the 25 up for reelection in 2018, Manchin is testing whether voters in a state that overwhelmingly supported Trump will also continue to back him. He pulls no punches with his own party, which voters from his state and others along the Appalachians abandoned overwhelmingly as they looked for someone to blame for the collapse of the coal industry and their way of life. The Democrats became so politically correct and so perfect, Manchin said in an interview in Matewan, after walking its short main street in a grey-and-black UMWA polo shirt. The people in there, they grew up knowing that the Democratic Party would be there ensuring their jobs. And now its the party they believe is preventing them from working. But Manchin is an enthusiastic critic of Trumps party too. His message is complicated: He tells West Virginians why Republicans are tools for the wealthy, is trying to work with the president his state elected, and remains firmly wedded to a party that is increasingly environmentalist and focused on winning a diversifying, suburban electorate. For me to be a Republican, I would have to put the bottom line before I would a human being, Manchin told The Washington Post last month. Its a high-wire act, with Republicans hoping for a stumble. The first months of the Trump administration have reshaped the Democratic Party, but Manchin has participated only on the margins. After the election, he was added to an expanded Democratic strategy group, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). He is more adamant than ever that he will stay within the party, in part so it wont become exclusively populated by the sort of people who demand he be primaried. (We Will Replace You, a new PAC, reiterated its call for a Democratic primary after Manchins Gorsuch statement.) A Matewan police officer waits for Manchin to arrive for the meeting Friday. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images) In West Virginia, Manchin presents himself as the Democrat who wants Trump to fulfill the promises that won over miners and workers and hopefully, nothing else. Most of the Matewan town hall focused on the Miners Protection Act, Manchins cause for most of his Senate career, which would transfer money from the Abandoned Mine Lands fund to pay for the health-care insurance and pensions that thousands of miners lost after Patriot Coal and other companies went bust. Every Senate Democrat has endorsed the bill, which Manchin touts as an accomplishment. [Marylands only Republican congressman faces harsh crowd in town hall] When hes talking about that bill, or about health care, Manchin speaks in stark moral terms. On Thursday, he told miners, he met with the president and got a fresh assurance that the miners bill would get his support even if Republicans took Manchins name off it. He asked the president to tweet about it, too. How long did it take them to bail out Wall Street? Manchin asked in Matewan. It took em hours. Cant you take care of the people who basically made the country? In those moments, Manchin sounds like Bernie Sanders, whose 2016 primary victory here is thrown back at Manchin whenever progressives want to get a rise out of him. Manchin endorsed Hillary Clinton for president; in an interview, he recalls how Clinton pledged to team him up with her husband the last Democrat to win the state in a presidential election to craft a bill for miners. The bottom line is, Bernie never had a glove laid on him, said Manchin. If they knew that Bernie Sanders would shut down every coal plant, every coal mine because hes said it itd have been a complete different primary outcome. But Hillary was so detested. Bernie would not have won West Virginia, knowing West Virginia the way I know it. Hed have got maybe 40 or so. That was better than Clinton, whose 27 percent of the vote represented the worst performance by a Democratic presidential nominee since West Virginia became a state. In 2012, when he won his first full term, Manchin, a former governor, took 61 percent of the vote and ran 25 points ahead of Barack Obama. Even if Manchin improves on Clintons vote by 25 points next year, hed win by single digits. Republicans, who need eight Senate seats to block a filibuster on the Gorsuch confirmation, are deeply familiar with the math. Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.), who in 2014 wiped out the states last Democratic House member, said in January that he was strongly considering a run against Manchin. A video tracker from America Rising, a PAC dedicated to opposition research on Democrats, shadows Manchin at his town halls, and in Matewan he shouted a question after the senator had shaken every hand and headed toward a waiting van. Are you going to pass new gun-control laws? asked the tracker. I really appreciate you coming here, said Manchin. The question previewed the attack any Republican opponent will probably use in 2018, zinging Manchin for the background check bill he co-sponsored after the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Conn. That might have been Manchins low point of popularity. But November 2016 might have been Trumps high point. In Matewan, and in the rest of Mingo County, voters offered tempered praise for Trump. Theyre quicker to say what they didnt like about Clinton than what Trump has done in office. She was flat-out against the mines, said Mike Land, 62, whose health insurance will run out if the miners bill isnt passed by the end of April. He needs to put the phone away, said Hubert Lowe, 63. In November, 83.2 percent of Mingo County voters went for Trump. Four years earlier, 72.8 percent had gone for Manchin. Most of West Virginia had voted for both of them at one time or another. In that context, and in the extra context Manchin adds on the stump, the Gorsuch nomination is both a kindness to Trump and a fair deal for Democrats. The senator, recounting his conversations with the nominee, described a bargain any sane populist would make. He said, You dont think I was Donald Trumps first choice? said Manchin. I probably got chosen to come up here because they thought I would have a better chance of getting 60. If you all fight and stop me, I guarantee that what comes behind is going to be a lot different than I am. [McCaskill swings to no on Gorsuch] Manchins high-wire act is likely to continue. He sees the presidents executive order lifting a rule preventing coal mining waste from impacting streams Manchin was right by his side, in every camera shot as good for the state. But he believes the Republicans designs on health care would have been atrocious, much like the Republican-run legislatures passage of right-to-work legislation. Its awful what theyre doing to the working man, Manchin said in the interview in Matewan. What theyre doing to union workers, what theyre doing to wages, what theyre doing to pensions. Why, with all of that in front of them, did so many voters go Republican? I cant explain it, Manchin said. You know what? I think it was just so tainted by Washington politics. The interview was over. Manchin walked out of the van for a short indulgence a tour of the small-town museum commemorating the 1920 coal miners strike, when the stakes and risks were perfectly clear. Read more at PowerPost Neil Gorsuch, President Trumps nominee for the Supreme Court, has drawn the support of two Democratic senators in his bid to become the next justice. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) On Saturday, an aide to President Trump took to Twitter to denounce a renegade House Republican and encouraged other Republicans to defeat the wayward lawmaker in a GOP primary next year. On Monday, liberal advocacy groups plan to deliver a petition to the political arm of Senate Democrats denouncing a pair of Democratic incumbents who intend to break ranks to support Trumps Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch. The groups plan to demand that Democrats refrain from spending any funds to reelect Sens. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), more conservative Democrats whose presence in their seats are the best defense against ceding them to Republicans. A little over two months into Donald Trumps presidency, Washington is experiencing fierce civil wars on either end of the ideological spectrum an extraordinary development that has created a political climate unlike any in recent memory. Republicans and Democrats, reeling from different forms of defeat, have turned on their own in an attempt to punish those members of their party who dont conform to the prevailing orthodoxy on the biggest issues of the day. Outside political groups and President Trump himself have issued threats to these transgressors and, in at least one case, a conservative group has withdrawn advertising and resources aiding a GOP lawmaker. The casualty of the nonstop infighting is a lack of focus on the political middle ground, where elections are won and where legislation must be forged to win enough votes to be enacted. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) Normally, the losing party spends many months after a presidential election in a soul-searching mission aimed at figuring out what went wrong, usually prompting a debate about whether to try to appeal more to centrists or seek further ideological purity aimed at turning out more base voters in the next election. Yet the 2016 election and its aftermath have increased tensions across the political spectrum, heightening the establishment vs. anti-establishment feud in Republican circles and sparking a new wave of fury within Democratic ranks. [Joe Manchins high-wire act: Working with Trump and criticizing both parties] The Houses implosion on the health-care debate in late March and the Senates debate over Gorsuchs nomination crystallize those internal wars. The president, according to Dan Scavino Jr.s tweet, is bringing auto plants & jobs back to Michigan. @justinamash is a liability. Scavino is the director of White House social media and a senior adviser to Trump, a role that would usually mean keeping a low profile and not issuing threats against a fellow Republican such as Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.). Amash was part of the conservative House Freedom Caucus that helped take down the legislation that would have repealed some of the 2010 Affordable Care Act and replaced it with a complex system of tax credits, which was supported by Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). Scavino issued a final edict to his 385,000 followers on Twitter on Saturday, about how to handle Amash: Defeat him in primary. This followed several days of angry tweets from Trump, warning Freedom Caucus members to get on the team or else he would fight them, a seeming reference to primary challenges next year. The president singled out Amash and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Raul R. Labrador (R-Idaho) by name for their recalcitrant ways. Trump is getting his first experience with GOP infighting that has vexed Ryan and his predecessor, former speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), since Republicans won the House majority in the 2010 midterms. But its not just far-right Republicans under political fire. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC run by allies of Ryan, pulled its ad campaign in support of Rep. David Young (R-Iowa) when he announced that the health legislation tilted too far to the right and would leave too many constituents without insurance in his middle-of-the-road district. The PAC had already placed a staffer in Des Moines to begin collecting data to help Young in his reelection race. The staffer was called home. The feuding has left Trumps entire agenda up in the air, as the issues ahead, particularly a restructuring of the tax code, are just as complex as overhauling the health-care industry. In normal times, one option would be to turn to Democrats for support, but, as Gorsuchs confirmation battle demonstrates, these are not normal times and almost no Democrat is willing to work with the president out of fear that liberal anti-Trump activists will take out their anger on them. [Trump threatens hard-liners as part of escalating Republican civil war] Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has declared that he will round up enough votes to keep Gorsuch under the 60-vote threshold needed to choke off a filibuster. He told The Washington Post that it was virtually impossible for any senators to broker a last-minute deal to avoid that result, which will then prompt Republicans to change Senate rules on a party-line vote to end supermajority requirements for Supreme Court justices. So far, Manchin and Heitkamp from states that Trump won last year by more than 35 percentage points have joined all 52 Republicans in supporting Gorsuch. The result is that a dozen liberal groups are rounding up signatures to try to prevent the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from supporting the senators. It could be a self-defeating move for Democrats: Manchin and Heitkamp are widely considered the only possible members of their party who might be able to win in those deeply conservative states. One member of this coalition, We Will Replace You, is a new super PAC with a central goal of funding primary opponents against Democrats who make any positive overtures toward Trump. The next crucial step is escalating our demands, and demonstrating that we wont accept anything less than full opposition, its mission statement says. Schumer has repeatedly said he would work with Trump if the president moved to the middle. Yet the Democratic leader told The Post that, in a meeting with Trump earlier this year, Schumer told the president that his party would oppose all 21 names on a list of potential Supreme Court nominees. Schumer said, however, that he has not offered the president a single name of a candidate who would not be the victim of Democratic obstruction. One Democrat, Sen. Christopher A. Coons (Del.), made a slight effort to try to find a compromise on Gorsuch. But the effort was immediately pilloried by liberal groups demanding a filibuster. The talks collapsed, in a fashion that sums up much of the current state of Washington. There is not a lot of common ground and trust to work on, but Im open to anyone whos got a reasonable suggestion, Coons said. Read more from Paul Kanes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Bahraini authorities on Sept. 30, 2015, uncovered a bombmaking facility at a warehouse in Nuwaidrat, Bahrain, that contained military-grade explosives as well as chemical precursors. (Ministry of the Interior of the Kingdom of Bahrain) The men who built the secret bomb factory had been clever suspiciously so, Bahraini investigators thought, for a gang known mostly for lobbing molotov cocktails at police. The underground complex had been hewed, foot by foot, beneath the floor of a suburban villa, with no visible traces at street level and only a single entrance, hidden behind a kitchen cabinet. But the real surprises lay inside. In one room, police found $20,000 lathes and hydraulic presses for making armor-piercing projectiles capable of slicing through a tank. Another held box upon box of the military explosive C-4, all of foreign origin, in quantities that could sink a battleship. Most of these items have never been seen in Bahrain, the countrys investigators said in a confidential technical assessment provided to U.S. and European officials this past fall that offered new detail on the arsenals seized in the villa and in similar raids that have occurred sporadically over nearly three years. In sheer firepower, the report said, the caches were both a game-changer and matched against lightly armed police overkill. The report, a copy of which was shown to The Washington Post, partly explains the growing unease among some Western intelligence officials over tiny Bahrain, a stalwart U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf and home to the Navys Fifth Fleet. Six years after the start of a peaceful Shiite protest movement against the countrys Sunni-led government, U.S. and European analysts now see an increasingly grave threat emerging on the margins of the uprising: heavily armed militant cells supplied and funded, officials say, by Iran. [State Department drops human rights as condition for fighter jet sale to Bahrain] Signs of growing militancy have been cropping up for years, with arrests of masked operatives planting roadside bombs and seizures of weapons and explosives smuggled into the country by land and sea. But until recently, Western officials have been cautious in accusing Iran of direct involvement in the unrest, citing inconclusive or unreliable evidence, as well as fears of further roiling sectarian tensions. Bahrain, a monarchy, is majority Shiite but ruled by a Sunni minority. While Bahraini officials frequently accuse Tehran of inciting violence, the allegations often have been discounted as exaggerations by a monarchy that routinely cites terrorism as a justification for cracking down on Shiite activists. Now, the Wests reluctance appears to be fading. Despite credibility problems raised by Bahrains human rights record, Western intelligence agencies are seeing a new boldness by Iran in supporting armed insurgents in the kingdom, according to multiple analysts from the United States and two Western European governments. Documents and interviews with current and former intelligence officials describe an elaborate training program, orchestrated by Tehrans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to school Bahraini militants in the techniques of advanced bombmaking and guerrilla warfare. A wide variety of increasingly sophisticated weaponry much of it forensically linked to Iran has been discovered in Bahrain over the past three years, including hundreds of pounds of military-grade explosives that almost certainly originated in Iran, U.S. and European intelligence officials say. The efforts appear to mirror similar ongoing operations to build a network of pro-Tehran militant groups elsewhere in the Middle East, from Yemen to Iraq and Syria, several analysts said. We are seeing more evidence of an Iranian destabilization effort, said a U.S. intelligence official with years of experience monitoring Bahrains civil and political unrest. The official, like several others interviewed, insisted on anonymity in discussing sensitive intelligence from the region. Bahrain sometimes overstates the facts, the official added. But this is real. [Trump wants to push back against Iran, but Iran is more powerful than ever] The mounting evidence has prompted unprecedented steps by U.S. and European governments targeting alleged leaders of Bahraini Shiite militant groups. On March 16, German authorities ordered the arrest of a Bahraini man a 27-year-old Shiite asylum seeker living in Berlin under international warrants accusing him of being a terrorist operative for the al-Ashtar Brigades, a Bahraini Shiite militant group that has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks against Bahraini police officers. On March 17, the State Department finalizing an initiative begun during the final months of the Obama administration imposed sanctions against two leaders of the same Bahraini group, formally designating the men as global terrorists. The official announcement specifically accused Iran of backing the group as part of its destabilizing and terrorism-related activities in the region. And on Wednesday, the Trump administration moved to lift a freeze on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain, reversing a decision made last year by the Obama administration to protest Bahrains outlawing of al-Wefaq, the countrys main Shiite opposition party. The White House action, heavily criticized by human rights groups, suggests a new willingness to overlook repressive behavior by key Gulf allies in the service of maintaining a strong defensive shield against future Iranian aggression. In last months sanctions announcement, the State Department sought to calibrate its message, insisting that U.S. officials would continue to press Bahrain to clearly differentiate its response to real terrorist threats from its dealings with peaceful demonstrators and political opposition groups. But it flatly accused Tehran of intervening directly to make the problems worse. Iran has provided weapons, funding and training to Bahraini militants, it said. Alluding perhaps to the sprawling U.S. Navy facility that lies on the outskirts of Manama, Bahrains capital city, it noted that the global terrorist designation was reserved for individuals and groups that threaten the national security, foreign policy or economy of the United States. Bahrains police chief said the discovery of chemical explosives in Nuwaidrat proved Iran is attempting to undermine security and stability in the country. (Ministry of the Interior of the Kingdom of Bahrain) More explosives discovered in Nuwaidrat. Weaponry seized from Bahraini militants since 2013 includes small arms, grenades and ammunition bearing distinctive Iranian markings. (Ministry of the Interior of the Kingdom of Bahrain) Inflict grave damage When the vast weapons cache was discovered beneath a villa in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of the village of Nuwaidrat 18 months ago, few outside the Persian Gulf seemed to notice. Bahrains national police force displayed photographs of chemical drums and bags of white powder proof, in the words of Maj. Gen. Tariq al-Hassan, the state police chief, that relentless Iranian actions are attempting to undermine security and stability within Bahrain and the wider region. But were the explosives real, or were they a prop used to justify arrests of Shiite opposition leaders? Bahraini officials had put on numerous such displays since February 2011, when the Sunni-led government sought to crush massive protests by the countrys Shiite majority, with the help of tanks and thousands of troops dispatched into Manama from neighboring Arab countries. Matthew Levitt, a former FBI counterterrorism analyst who has met with top Bahraini officials to discuss the weapons caches, said chronic complaints about the countrys poor human rights record made it difficult for outsiders to assess whether the claims were real. Were the allegations of Iranian interference a case of crying wolf, or a wolf at the door? he asked in an essay framing Bahrains dilemma. The problem with Bahrain was that they had so little credibility that it was hard to separate what was real from what wasnt, Levitt said in an interview. But in the final analysis, he said, the evidence from weapons caches pointed to a real threat: Iranian-sponsored terrorism. In the case of Bahrain, Levitt said, there is some there there. [Bahrain executes Shiite trio accused in fatal attack on police] Over the past year, Bahraini officials have shown an increasing willingness to share evidence and seek outside scientific analysis to convince Western governments of the seriousness of the problem the country faces. That effort led to a confidential assessment that was furnished to several intelligence agencies late last year. Three U.S. intelligence officials who have looked at the evidence said it broadly supports Bahrains claim of Iranian involvement in several recent attacks as well as in the arming of hardcore militant groups. The dossier seen by The Post contains extensive technical reports assessing a small mountain of weaponry seized from Bahraini militants since 2013, including small arms, grenades and ammunition bearing distinctive Iranian markings, as well as Iranian-made electronics found inside improvised explosive devices. The report catalogues staggering quantities of military-grade explosives, including 418 pounds of C-4, an amount comparable to the quantity used by al-Qaeda to blast a 40-foot hole in the Navy destroyer USS Cole in 2000. Chemical tests cited by the report showed that all the C-4 recovered from six locations over three years came from two manufacturing lines that previous forensic analyses linked to Iran. One of the six caches involved C-4 in its original Iranian military packaging, the report said. But Bahraini investigators were more troubled by the discovery of the expensive hydraulic presses and metal lathes in the underground bomb factory in the village of Nuwaidrat. At least $35,000 worth of Chinese- and Italian-made metalworking equipment had been smuggled into the house to craft expertly made explosively formed projectiles, or EFPs, a kind of improvised bomb designed to blast through military armor. The unfinished bombs recovered from the villa bore designs identical to those used by Iranian-supplied Shiite insurgents to attack U.S. troops in Iraq, the analysis said. This dramatically upgrades Bahraini terrorist capabilities to conduct more lethal and effective attacks, the analysis said. This level of advancement is highly unlikely to have been reached without outside support, guidance and training. The report called the existence of such devices in Bahrain deeply puzzling, noting that the firepower far exceeded what would be required to blow up the ordinary police cruisers and unarmored transports used by Bahraini patrols. One plausible use for the EFPs would be to destroy tanks and troop carriers dispatched from neighboring Gulf countries in the event of a future conflict. Or perhaps the bombmakers and their sponsors had an entirely different goal in mind, the report said: to inflict grave damage to U.S. forces and facilities. A Bahraini forensic police officer inspects the site of a bomb blast in the town of Sitra that killed two in July 2015. Authorities have since seized much more powerful improvised bombs known as EFPs, which militants have not yet used in the country. (Mohammed al-Shaikh/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Echoes of Iraq Whatever their intended purpose, powerful EFPs have not been used anywhere in Bahrain up to now. Militant groups have used smaller bombs and assault rifles to strike police and security forces and, in a highly coordinated attack in January, to stage a prison breakout that briefly freed several prominent militant leaders. Against the backdrop of steady, if low-bore, violence, the rhetoric is intensifying on all sides. In late March, Bahrain announced it had disrupted a militant plot to assassinate government officials and carry out a string of attacks targeting local police and the U.S. Navy base. A police spokesman cited intercepted communications between local cell leaders and alleged supporters and co-conspirators in Iran. [Bahrain frees American journalist but keeps its own media behind bars] Bahrain has continued to draw international criticism over its repression of political dissent. Human rights groups and United Nations investigators issued reports last year accusing Bahrains authorities of systematically harassing and imprisoning peaceful protesters, and of torturing and even killing several detainees. In response, Bahraini officials point to ongoing efforts to institute political reforms, including the appointment of an independent ombudsman to weigh complaints of mistreatment leveled by Shiite opposition groups. Were doing more on human rights than any neighbor within a thousand miles of us, and were being punished for opening up and dealing with our problems, a senior Bahraini official complained wearily. Iran, meanwhile, although it has not acknowledged supplying weapons to Bahraini militants, has allowed resistance leaders to operate openly in Tehran and has expressed solidarity with opposition calls for ending Bahrains Sunni monarchy. In March 2016, senior Revolutionary Guard commander Saeed Qassimi publicly called Bahrain an Iranian province separated from Iran as a result of colonialism, adding that Iran is now a base for the support of revolution in Bahrain. Increasingly, there are words to go along with the deeds, which indicates that they are trying to signal something: Dont mess with us, or we can hurt you, said Michael Knights, an analyst on Middle Eastern military and security affairs for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a nonpartisan think tank. Knights, who extensively investigated Irans backing of Shiite insurgents during the Iraq War, saw echoes in Bahrain of Irans practice of supplying tank-crushing EFPs to Iraqi Shiite militias, which used the devices in an effort to create no-go zones around Shiite strongholds. The fact that the EFPs havent been used in Bahrain could mean that local authorities have found all of them, he said. Or it could suggest something more sinister. It could be that theyre being withheld for another time, Knights said, or for another set of circumstances. Read more: State Department drops human rights as condition for fighter jet sale to Bahrain Opinion: Trump believes hell get a good deal from Gulf Arabs. Good luck with that. Irans president feels the heat as tensions with U.S. rise Supporters of the Justice and Development Party wave Turkish and European Union flags as then- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives at the Istanbul airport in December 2004. (MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images) Confetti and fireworks greeted Recep Tayypip Erdogan when he returned to Turkey in December 2004, flush with the good news that his country had been invited to start talks to join the European Union. Addressing cheering crowds in the capital, Erdogan, then the prime minister, said the invitation was a sign of Turkeys growing international clout. After decades of effort, Turkey will take its rightful place among modern and civilized countries, he said at the time. From now on, democracy will have a different meaning, and human rights and freedoms will be practiced in a more meaningful manner. But 13 years later, Turkey and Europe are locked in the bitterest of feuds, marked by threats, fiery epithets and petty slights that could mark the end of Turkeys ambitious national project to gain coveted privileges as a full member of the European Union. Erdogan, who is now the president, suggested as much last month , telling CNN Turk that while Turkey could maintain its economic relations with Europe, we may have the need to review ties at the political and administrative level. Beyond the heated rhetoric, both parties have much to lose from their fight, which threatens to further isolate Europe and Turkey at a moment when both are turning inward and succumbing to xenophobia and nationalist rhetoric, analysts said. The breakup would leave the European Union bereft of a Muslim-majority partner that might have served as a hopeful sign of inclusion and diversity, including for millions of Muslim immigrants living in Europe, and a counterbalance to right-wing, anti-immigrant parties that are gaining in prominence. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan arrives at a Brussels hotel for talks about Turkeys entry into the European Union in 2004. A relationship that was growing closer then is now severely strained. (Yves Herman /Reuters) And as the distance between Turkey and its democratic allies grows, the Turkish states institutions are becoming more rigidly authoritarian, as its prisons fill and the tolerance for dissenting voices evaporates. The schism could have also immediate repercussions, most notably for a European Union deal with Turkey to stem the passage of migrants headed to Europe. Turkish officials have repeatedly threatened to scuttle the deal. Last week, in a grim warning about the possible consequences, 11 Syrian refugees trying to reach Greece drowned when their boat sank off the Turkish coast, according to Turkeys Dogan news agency. The latest arguments have been sparked by recent events, including a referendum in Turkey this month that could change its system of government from a parliamentary system to what is known as an executive presidency. A yes vote in the referendum would allow Erdogan to run for an additional term, and possibly remain in office until 2029. Turkish officials supporting the change have been prevented in recent weeks from addressing expatriate Turkish voters in Europe, drawing a furious reaction from Erdogan and his government that has included accusing the German and Dutch governments of Nazism. European officials, in turn, have become more openly critical of Erdogans government. [Turkish battle over executive presidency prompts tensions with the Netherlands and division at home] Ambassadors have been summoned and national leaders vilified on front pages from Ankara to Amsterdam. The frenzied rhetoric has also raised safety concerns, for Turks living in Europe and for Westerners residing in Turkey. Erdogan issued a vague warning last month, saying that unless the Europeans changed their behavior, no European, no Westerner will be able to take steps on the streets safely and peacefully, local media reported. As the frequency of the insults has moved beyond diplomatic crisis to unbridled hostility, it has laid bare tensions that had been building for years, analysts said. Asli Aydintasbas, a Turk and a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the recent, unusual flare-up was a sign of how severely the bond between Turkey and Europe has deteriorated. There is room for controlled tension, but not this kind of out-of-control spat, she said. I think this relationship has very much changed course. It is no longer a real partnership. Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels, said the referendum campaign in Turkey is accelerating this moment of reckoning laying bare the perennially unbridgeable inconsistencies in the relationship. It is becoming very difficult to continue with the pretense of Turkish accession into the E.U. for several reasons, he said, including democratic backtracking in Turkey and the political dynamics in Europe. Unfortunately, we have reached a possible turning point in the Turkey-European relationship. Turkeys entry into the E.U. was always going to be a difficult proposition, he said. Turkey a Muslim-majority country of 71 million people that was referred to derisively by many European leaders as too big, too poor, too different always had more to prove than Eastern European countries that were incorporated in the E.U. enlargement process, he said. Turkeys effort to formally become part of Europe stretches back decades, to 1959, when the country first applied to join the European Economic Union, the precursor to the European Union, which was formed in 1993. European critics of Turkeys accession highlighted cultural difference a euphemism for its status as a Muslim-majority country as well as its ongoing dispute with Cyprus and its human rights abuses. After Erdogans Justice and Development Party took power in 2002, the government renewed its push for membership and took steps, including abolishing the death penalty, that led to the beginning of formal negotiations in 2005. Over the next decade, Turkeys bid proceeded in fits and starts, facing stiff resistance especially from Germany, the Netherlands and France. The moribund negotiations led to an an accumulation of tension, frustration and disillusionment, said Ulgen. There are differences of opinion about where to lay blame for the current impasse. Despite the obstacles, Turkey could have taken measures, including consistently upgrading its democratic standards, that would have thwarted the naysayers in Europe, Ulgen said. Instead, the exact opposite happened. The obstructionism on the European side strengthened the hand of those in Turkey skeptical of this vision, for a variety of reasons that have to do with ideology, governance, culture and so on. Over time, they came to be more influential in charting the course for Turkey. Aydintasbas said the present, worsening relationship was not a foregone conclusion but rather the result of misunderstandings and missed opportunities over years. What would have happened had the Europeans been more willing to open the doors for Turkey, at a time when Turkey was desperately carrying out reforms? she said. The last decade was an especially critical moment a high point for Turkish democracy, between 2000 and 2008, when civilian leaders gained the upper hand over Turkeys powerful military and enthusiasm for the European project in Turkey was at an all-time high. But national leaders in Europe, including Angela Merkel in Germany and Nicolas Sarkozy in France, decided that Turkish accession was not a good idea, and in the years that followed, the accession effort stalled. In July, a failed coup attempt in Turkey further doomed the relationship, as the Turkish government embarked on wide-ranging crackdown on enemies and dissidents while castigating Europe for not expressing a sufficient amount of solidarity. In November, the European Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution freezing the accession talks with Turkey. After a visit to Turkey in March, the European Parliaments rapporteur on Turkey, Kati Piri, wrote that talking about Turkey joining the bloc under the current circumstances would lack credibility especially in the wake of Erdogans unwarranted accusations that German and Dutch governments were following Nazi practices. For now, the two sides have settled on a transactional relationship that includes the migrant deal and a possible customs union that would promote free trade. Both sides know this is going to be it, Aydintasbas said. It suits the Turkish government because they dont have to worry about building a democracy, at a time when they are waging battles against all enemies domestic and foreign. And it suits Europe, she said. There is domestic pressure in each and every country not to embrace Turkey. Read more: As a new relationship is tested, Turkey keeps high hopes for Trump Arrest of German journalist in Turkey strains relations between Erdogan and Merkel Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Jay Z applauded New York mayor Bill de Blasio's announcement Friday that the city plans on shuttering its Rikers Island prison facility. The rapper's recent six-part documentary Time: The Kalief Browder Story focused on a 16-year-old Bronx kid who spent over 1,000 days in Rikers many of them in solitary confinement while awaiting trial for allegedly stealing a backpack. Although the case was eventually dismissed, Browder committed suicide at the age of 22, with the severe PTSD he suffered while imprisoned at Rikers cited as the reason he took his own life. Browder's story led to an upheaval of the criminal justice system and served as a catalyst for de Blasio's announcement Friday. "Kalief is a prophet. His story will save lives," Jay Z tweeted Friday alongside a Barack Obama quote. "You guys watching and your compassion made this happen. Thank you." At a March panel prior to the broadcast premiere of Time: The Kalief Browder Story, the rapper was optimistic that the documentary would instill some major changes. "We put people in office; we make the laws," Jay Z said. "These government officials? They work for us. They speak to us like we work for them, but we are the power. Three million people watched this the first week; we need it to be 20. We need everyone to be talking about this. That's how this stops." When the documentary debuted at Sundance, Jay Z promised that Time "will save a lot of lives." On Friday, de Blasio said in a statement, "New York City will close the Rikers Island jail facility. It will take many years. It will take many tough decisions. But it will happen. The goal is to get our overall jail population down to 5,000 people. We believe that can be achieved in the next 10 years. The mass incarceration era did not begin in New York City but its going to end here." The mayor had previously been critical of the facility and its treatment of Browder, admitting in 2014, "Browder's tragic story put a human face on Rikers Island's culture of delay." Story continues John Legend, who has actively lobbied for prison sentence reform for non-violent drug offenders, also commented on Rikers' impending closure. "In closing Rikers, New York City takes a crucial step towards ending #massincarceration. Now the hard work begins," Legend tweeted (via Billboard). More News Read John Legend's Open Letter to Obama on Non-Violent Drug Offenders Jay Z to Co-Helm Trayvon Martin Film, Documentary Series Jay Z at Sundance: New 'Kalief Browder' Series Will 'Save a Lot of Lives' All Stories Related Content: Bobigny (France) (AFP) - Eighteen people were hurt, five of them seriously, when a bonfire effigy blew up at a carnival north of Paris on Saturday, emergency workers said. The blast happened when organisers set fire to a wooden figure during a carnival at Villepinte after a traditional parade by local children. None of the 18 suffered life-threatening injuries. Three were children. Police said the effigy of a man, made out of plywood, was ignited by petrol using remote control. The blast showered parts of the crowd with sparks and wooden splinters, which led to the injuries, and caused a momentary panic. An inquiry has been opened. Tripoli (AFP) - AFP's photographer in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, Abdullah Doma, was detained late Saturday for the second time in several days by security services there, his family said. Doma had been released on Wednesday night after being held for 24 hours over his coverage of a public concert to mark Earth Hour. Security services had raided Doma's home on Tuesday night and told the family he was to be questioned over his photographic coverage for AFP of the concert at Benghazi university on March 25. The Awqaf religious authorities, linked to the authorities in the east, had condemned the Earth Hour event in Benghazi as "offensive" to Islam as it went against the segregation of the sexes. Late Saturday, Benghazi's counterterrorism unit called the photographer, asking him to go to their headquarters "to answer a few questions", his family said. Relatives who accompanied him there were told by policemen to go back home as he was now in detention". The family was not given any explanation, but one relative believed Doma had been detained once again for covering the concert. AFP management expressed its concern after Doma was detained again. It called on the Benghazi authorities to free the photographer as soon as possible and urged that no charges be pressed against him. Benghazi is controlled by the military authorities of Khalifa Haftar, which contest the legitimacy of Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord which is based in the capital Tripoli. Millions of people from a record 187 countries and territories took part this year in the annual bid to highlight global warming, according to the conservation group WWF. GaneshaSpeaks The old adage that what you lose on the swings, you make up on the roundabouts seems quite apt when applied to the life of Twinkle Khanna, who bombed in Bollywood, but has been a great hit as a writer. To be sure, Twinkle Khanna actually began with a bang in Bollywood, winning the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for her role in Barsaat, a 1995 romance story, but did not reap too much success later. Twinkle Khanna quit acting and took up interior designing, and became a newspaper columnist, before writing her first book Mrs Funnybones, which sold over 100,000 copies, making her Indias highest-selling female writer of 2015. Daughter of Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, Twinkle Khannas next book The Legend Of Lakshmi Prasad has been at the No.2 position on Amazon since its release and has won a lot of critical acclaim. Twinkle Khanna is also a popular columnist for DNA and The Times Of India. Controversial statements in her blogs is another thing that has added to Twinkle Khannas popularity as a blogger. Ganesha digs into her kundali and predicts that Twinkle will continue to blaze her own trail, and will even get support from all quarters. Twinkle Khanna: Controversies Will Not Hamper Her Work Observing Twinkle Khanna Surya Kundli, Ganesha notes that the natural malefic planet Saturn has been transiting over natal Sun through the 1st house which also aspects the 10th house. Thus, the affliction of natal Sun and 10th house could be the root cause of such controversies in Twinkle Khannas public life. As the time progresses, transiting Saturn will also become retrograde in the 12th house. So, the period between May 2017 to July 2017 also looks relatively more influential in terms of controversies. Twinkle Khanna is likely to remain as talk of the town for her own statements, views, or opinions. So, Ganesha advises Twinkle Khanna to remain careful before taking any judgmental stance for any person or organization. However, such controversies may not affect her career, profession or business in any manner. Twinkle Khanna: Her Career As A Writer And Film Producer Look Bright Natal Moon is influenced by Mercurys sign. Plus, natal Mercury is conjunct with Venus in Jupiters sign. All these factors indicate that Twinkle Khanna will be a very clever businessperson and will be very flexible in her approach. Twinkle Khanna will be able to adapt well to the new market trends and will come up with good techniques to attract customers. She is a person who will never shy from taking risks and exploring the terrains less traversed. Twinkle Khannas career as film producer, designer and writer looks bright in the future. As natal Saturn and Sun are in opposition, she will always aspire to do something very different and will never like following the common trends. Twinkle Khanna: Stars Will Support Her In The Year Ahead During this year, benefic planet Jupiter will be transiting favorably. Thus, she is likely to enjoy great support from B-Town, government, and also with people in high positions of power. Twinkle Khanna will gradually be able to develop greater rapport and business relations with few top consumer brands. Twinkle Khanna is likely to reap benefits of her hard work and may showcase her abilities best in this year. However, Saturns transit over natal Sun suggests her to avoid too much hard-work as it may lead to fatigue and tiredness. With Ganeshas Grace, Malav Bhatt (Bhattacharya) The GaneshaSpeaks.com Team Jerusalem (AFP) - Several hundred mostly Jewish protesters marched in Jerusalem late Saturday to denounce nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, police said. The demonstration's organisers and media estimated that some 2,000 people marched from west Jerusalem to near the Old City's Jaffa Gate to a platform bearing both Israeli and Palestinian flags. The event was organised by the secular left-wing opposition party Meretz and the Arab-dominated Joint List, parliament's third largest bloc with 13 seats, and NGOs hostile to the occupation of Israeli territories since the June 1967 war. Slogans such as "Jews and Arabs are not enemies" and "No to a government of annexation" were among chants heard in Hebrew and Arabic. The protest came at a time when those who back the creation of a Palestinian state find it harder for their voices to be heard under a government considered to be the most right-wing in Israeli history. Police said the demonstration passed off peacefully, despite tensions over an incident earlier in the day. A Palestinian attacker from the West Bank who stabbed and wounded three Israelis was shot dead by police near the Old City's Damascus Gate. On Wednesday, a Palestinian woman who attacked border guards with scissors was shot dead in the same area. New York (AFP) - Wearing Donald Trump masks and marching behind a life-sized doll of the president sitting on a toilet, dozens of people took part Saturday in a wry April Fool's Day march in New York. The parade is in its 32nd year but the 2017 edition brought a new surprise: it actually happened. Organizer Joey Skaggs, an American prankster, has for decades annually hyped an April Fool's Day parade to lure media to the procession, but until now it has been but a hoax. "This year was very special, we couldn't let it pass without doing something, which is why we're here," 55-year-old Judy told AFP, declining to give her last name but saying she helped organize the parade. "We need to take every opportunity we have to show our feelings about the fool in the White House," she said, sporting a Trump mask. Past phantom events have fooled an array of major US outlets. Marchers, many wearing masks of the real estate mogul-turned-president, walked behind a rolling outhouse in which a large Trump doll sat on the toilet. "Donald Trump has been elected King of Fools this year -- unanimously," Skaggs told AFP. An effort to set a world's record for the largest collection of Trump look-alikes may have fallen a bit short, but onlookers seemed to enjoy it. The event's slogan: "Make Russia Great Again." The parade began in front of Central Park on Fifth Avenue and ended before Trump Tower, where the president's wife Melania and young son Barron are still living. New York, one of the most diverse and politically liberal cities in the country, has been the scene of dozens of protests against Trump since his stunning election victory over Hillary Clinton in November. Visso (Italy) (AFP) - Inside the crumbling medieval church of San Francesco di Visso, the "blue helmets" of the art world are racing to save a masterpiece damaged in Italy's devastating earthquake last year. The crucifixion scene attributed to 15th-century master Paolo da Visso was found in the rubble-strewn church behind a huge wooden wardrobe which miraculously stayed standing in the sacristy. The pale ochre and violet fresco is now in the hands of Italy's art police, who collect and catalogue fragments, battered crucifixes and cracked candlesticks and hand them to a team of restorers, archaeologists and historians. A cultural version of the UN's peacekeepers, they have been dubbed the "blue helmets", an elite task force dedicated to protecting and salvaging historic artworks and monuments damaged by the country's deadly tremors. Italy's Carabinieri Art Squad, an expert force founded in 1969 which combats art and antiquities crimes, and helps train art police in other countries, forms the backbone of the blue helmets. A deal between Italy and UNESCO will see similar teams sent worldwide to salvage heritage sites devastated by conflict or natural disasters, with their first gig expected to be in the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria once it is safe for them to enter. But first there are priceless artefacts to save at home. - From Goths to quakes - A team of some 40 people made up of art police, firefighters, culture ministry officials, civil protection officers and volunteers painstakingly remove items from the Visso church, which dates back to the Middle Ages. The main altar was reduced to rubble and each piece must be pulled from the wreckage and numbered before being carefully wrapped and stowed for transport to a secret location. The ministry is taking no risks with treasure looters. "It was the oldest church in the Marche region (in central Italy), a region with invaluable treasures and no fewer than 483 churches," Pierluigi Morricone from the ministry's crisis unit, who heads up the recovery effort, told AFP. Story continues "We are saving about 600 works of art a day, at least 5,000 in the last two weeks," he said. The town, which nestles in the Sibylline Mountains near a national park, was founded in 907 AD and survived a sacking by Goths and looting during the Byzantine empire. Today under a cold spring sun the only people in sight are the blue helmets, carrying a Madonna statue out of the church or wrapping a battered oil painting up in the makeshift open air theatre of operations in the main square. Visso has become a ghost town, since locals largely abandoned their damaged homes after two series of earthquakes -- a deadly tremor on August 24 that killed 300, and twin quakes that wreaked further damage to buildings on October 26. "The priority is to save artworks, paintings, frescoes, relics, sculptures, statues, liturgical objects, candlesticks, crosses, thuribles," said Morricone, pointing to each object as it is catalogued and packaged. - Slice of world's heritage - Art police chief Paolo Montorsi rushed here with his team after the August quake and have not moved since. Once Italy had mourned its dead it began counting its cultural losses. Volunteers came from all over the country to help the region. Antonio is one of them, patiently brushing the dust off an enormous 18th-century painting of the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus. Slowly the robes in vibrant reds and blues emerge, Mary's gold crown gleams, the angels reappear in the heavens. "Six percent of the world's art heritage is in this region," says this museum director who wanted to remain anonymous so as not to draw attention from the collective salvage efforts. "Visso is a city of art, this is a tragedy. We have to save this territory, we cannot give up," he said. By Philip Wen BEIJING (Reuters) - Australia-based Chinese academic Feng Chongyi said late on Saturday he had boarded a flight leaving China, ending an ordeal that saw him interrogated by authorities and delayed from exiting the country. Feng, an Australian permanent resident who retains his Chinese passport, boarded the flight from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and was scheduled to arrive in Sydney on Sunday morning. Flight tracking websites confirmed the plane had taken off. Feng's case had sparked concern among international academics and prompted Australian government intervention. "I'm on the plane," Feng told Reuters via text message shortly before his plane took off. "I will be back." His lawyer, Chen Jinxue, told Reuters that state security officers who had been questioning Feng daily told the academic on Saturday morning that he was free to leave. As a condition for his departure, Chen said, Feng was made to sign a statement agreeing not to divulge details of his questioning or where it had taken place. China's foreign ministry could not immediately be reached for comment late on Saturday. In a short video message to supporters recorded shortly before he left China, Feng described his ordeal as "one of life's little accidents". "Now it is over," Feng, a long-serving associate professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), said in the video seen by Reuters. "I now have the chance to step out of the country, but I will return." Since arriving in China a month ago for research, Feng had met with fellow academics, intellectuals and human rights lawyers in several cities. He was first held for questioning in Kunming, the capital of southwestern Yunnan province, before being barred twice from boarding flights to Sydney from Guangzhou last Friday and Saturday, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters previously. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday that Feng was being prevented from leaving on "national security" grounds, without elaborating. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday. It said earlier this week the Australian government was "monitoring developments closely and has raised this case with senior Chinese officials". (This version of the story has been refiled to change dateline) (Editing by Tony Munroe and Ralph Boulton) Beenleigh (Australia) (AFP) - Flooded rivers were still rising Saturday in two Australian states with two women dead and four people missing after torrential rains in the wake of a powerful tropical cyclone. Queensland police warned that the Logan River, which runs through Beenleigh south of Brisbane, would only hit peak flood levels during the afternoon while further north the city of Rockhampton was also facing a serious threat. Commissioner Ian Stewart warned there was "still a major risk to the community around Logan and further south caused by that flooding situation." Rockhampton, with a population of over 80,000 on the Fitzroy River, was expected to suffer flood levels not seen for a century and Stewart urged residents in low-lying areas to leave. "By Wednesday, we will be at peak flooding in Rockhampton," he said. "It will be a gradual rise, so I encourage people to move now." Queensland police tweeted "we currently have four people missing... that we have serious concerns about," including a 77-year-old man. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from a string of towns in Queensland and New South Wales as the floods move south towards Ballina, cutting roads. - Grim scene - Others have tried to stick it out to save their properties. The scene was grim along the Logan river. Kaycee Bentley, a 47-year-old mechanic from North Maclean appeared visibly upset as she looked at her house, submerged to the roof. "We got as much out as we could in the short time that we had," she told AFP. "People have lost everything. I'd only just finished renovating the house, and it is all gone again now." Nearby a calf was stuck in a tree as a man in a kayak paddled out to see if it was alive. Dozens gathered to watch but by the time two people on jet skis arrived to help the calf only to discover it was dead. - 'Very dangerous time' - Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on residents in affected areas to exercise caution. Story continues "In many parts of the country you will see floodwaters continuing to rise over the next days," he told reporters. "This is a very dangerous time in these flooded areas. "I want to say to everybody who is affected by these floods do not go into flooded waters. Do not cross flooded roads." Category four Cyclone Debbie hit northeastern Australia on Tuesday between Bowen and Airlie Beach ripping up trees and causing widespread damage that is still being assessed. It was downgraded to a tropical low as it tracked southeast still packing high winds and dumping huge amounts of rain all down the east coast to Sydney and beyond before blowing out over the Tasman Sea. Police on Friday found the body of a woman who disappeared in floodwaters near Murwillumbah just south of the Queensland border. And a 64-year-old woman, whose vehicle was swept off a causeway on a property in Gungal, in the Hunter Valley south of Sydney was also found dead Friday. Lismore, south of Murwillumbah was among the worst flooded towns on Friday with Tweed Heads, Kingscliff and Murwillumbah also subject to evacuation orders. In areas further north where the cyclone made landfall, water and power were still being restored. Bowen, Mackay and the Whitsunday islands bore the brunt of the cyclone and nearly 40,000 homes were waiting to be re-connected on Saturday. The military has mobilised 1,300 soldiers for the clean-up with helicopters and planes deploying to restore infrastructure and supply emergency food, water and fuel. The Insurance Council of Australia declared the Queensland and northern NSW regions disaster zones, adding that the damage bill could top Aus$1 billion (US $770 million). An Arizona girl who disappeared five years ago was recently found dead in a desert, police announced on Friday. The remains of Isabel Celis, who went missing from her Tucson home in April 2012 when she was 6 years old, were found in a rural part of Pima County about a month ago, according to police. Read: College Student's Boyfriend Charged With Her Murder A Month After Her Body is Found Cops had reportedly followed more than 2,000 leads since Celis disappearance. Police did not reveal how long the girls remains were in that location or what caused her death. "Obviously this is not the ending that any of us had hoped for, but this is also not the ending of the case," Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said in a press conference. We are working this case very aggressively as we would with any case involving the death of a child. Police have also not revealed any suspects in the case yet, but said the Celis remains werent found by happenstance. Read: Officer is Found Guilty in Shooting Death of 6-Year-Old Boy With Autism Celis was last seen by family members when she went to bed at 11 p.m. on a Friday, according to reports. When her father went to wake her at 8 a.m. the next day, he said that Celis was gone, police said. Cops have never named any suspects in the girl's disappearance, but did acknowledge early on in the investigation that they had found "suspicious circumstances around a possible entry point" at her home. Watch: Family Dog Choked 5-Year-Old Boy To Death By Pulling On Scarf: Cops Related Articles: COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) As Salvador Rendon was being arraigned last year on charges he had engaged for years in sexual intercourse with dogs, animal-rights activists descended on Warren, Ohio, to make their case: The state needed an anti-bestiality law. The group had endured years of chiding: giggles about farm animals, "Deliverance" jokes, barks during a legislative hearing, questions of, "If the animal's not injured, what's the harm?" But the Warren case was changing things. Rendon was accused of having intercourse with two dogs a male and a female boxer that belonged to his daughter at least 10 times over a six-year period. Police told a local television station they'd "never seen a case like this one." The judge called Rendon's actions "despicable and highly disturbing." But, in a state where bestiality wasn't a crime, authorities were limited to charging Rendon with animal cruelty, a misdemeanor, and only after proving he had caused physical harm to an animal. Rendon spent 30 days in jail and remains on five years' probation. The case prompted Warren to pass Ohio's first local bestiality ban, with tougher penalties and no requirement to prove physical harm, allowing investigators to rely on witness testimony and forensic evidence. It also helped pass a statewide anti-bestiality law effective this month. Eight states Hawaii, Kentucky, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming and the District of Columbia still lack anti-bestiality laws. Some states inadvertently lifted earlier prohibitions on human-animal sex when they were updating their laws to remove sodomy as a crime. The Humane Society of the United States led the lobbying effort to outlaw bestiality, but a much larger coalition, including domestic violence shelters, conservative Christians, law enforcers and psychologists, got behind the law this time. "We were able to explain that this is not just an animal issue," said Corey Roscoe, the society's Ohio state director. "This did have ramifications for human violence. Sexually deviant acts are a red flag to other acts of sexual violence." Story continues Since 2005, arrests for animal sex abuse and exploitation in the U.S. have risen dramatically. The number of arrests in 2014 was more than double the total number of arrests in the 30 years between 1970 and 2000. Jenny Edwards, a criminologist in Washington who studies the issue, said the rise has been driven by the internet. Online forums that exist behind powerful firewalls allow like-minded people to communicate and share animals for breeding and sexual experiences. "It's been great for deviants," Edwards said. A decade of research by Edwards also shows links between those who abuse animals and those who abuse other vulnerable groups, including children, women and other family members. Animals involved are mostly horses, large dogs and sometimes deer. Roscoe said large animals are targeted in part because physical harm is more difficult to prove if perpetrators are caught. Psychologists have testified animals suffer psychological effects, including depression, anxiety and aggression. The Federal Bureau of Investigation singled out animal cruelty offenses in its national crime statistics for the first time last year, in an effort to begin to definitively quantify the problem. Edwards said such crimes are difficult to track, because the animals involved are often shuffled off to shelters without being tested for abuse, because police departments are focused on human crimes, and because veterinarians often don't know what to look for. She advises using human rape kits. Stigma remains an obstacle. Though she supported the vote, Warren City Council member Helen Rucker, a Democrat, raised concern that passing the state's first law would suggest the city had a widespread problem. Until the latest bill, championed by a pair of Republican state senators, Ohio legislators hesitated to put their names on proposed bestiality bills, seeing the issue as a punch line advanced by some overly zealous animal lovers. When Edwards called a North Carolina police department to report a bestiality case she'd uncovered, a detective put her on speaker phone so he and his colleagues could laugh. "That's a lot of what my work is focused on, trying to remove that idea," she said. "It's not a joke. It's far more common than people realize it is, and far more sinister than people realize it is." CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 13 policemen and three civilians were wounded when a bomb exploded near a police training center in the Nile Delta city of Tanta on Saturday in an attack claimed by a militant Islamist group. The bomb was planted on a motorcycle parked near the center, which was cordoned off following the blast as security forces combed the scene, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Two of the wounded are in a critical condition, a health ministry spokesman said. A newly emerged militant group that calls itself Louwaa el Thawra, or the Revolution Brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter. "A training center for the police militias has been targeted in Gharbia province with a highly explosive device ... our fighters withdrew safely after completing the mission," the group's statement said without giving further details. Egypt faces an Islamist insurgency led by Islamic State's branch in North Sinai, where hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed. There have also been attacks in Cairo and other cities. Judges and other senior officials have been targeted increasingly by radical Islamists angered by hefty prison sentences imposed on members of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood, which says it is a peaceful organization, won Egypt's first free elections after the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. Since the Brotherhood's candidate, Islamist President Mohamed Mursi was deposed in mid-2013 after mass protests against his rule, general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has overseen a crackdown in which hundreds of Brotherhood supporters have been killed and thousands jailed or sentenced to death. "Did you think we had forgotten the blood of our martyrs? .. Revenge.. Revenge is a right," the militant group said on Twitter about an hour before the claim of responsibility. Revolution Brigade has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks, including the assassination of a senior Egyptian military official who was shot as he left his home on the outskirts of Cairo. Brigadier General Adel Rajaaie, 52, an armored division commander who had served in troubled northern Sinai, was the most senior military official to be assassinated in Cairo since Mursi was ousted. (Reporting by Haitham Ahmed, Ahmed Tolba and Mohamed Abdellah; Writing by Amina Ismail; Editing by Ralph Boulton and Helen Popper) Sao Paulo (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Brazilians returned to the streets Friday to protest reforms backed by President Michel Temer's conservative government. Union members, students, teachers and leftist groups gathered late in the afternoon in central Sao Paulo to demonstrate, as similar protests took place nationwide in cities including Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. Unions dubbed Friday's protests a "warm-up" for a general strike set for April 28. "Today is another national day of demonstrations against the reform of the pension system, labor laws and all the attacks that the Temer government and its allies are committing against the workers of this country," said Marcella Azevedo, who leads the Movement of Women in Struggle group. An Ibope poll commissioned by Brazil's National Confederation of Industry said Friday that just 31 percent consider Temer's government is doing an acceptable job, while 55 percent call the performance bad or terrible. Just 10 percent said it was good or excellent. Temer took over last year after the impeachment of leftist president Dilma Rousseff, who was found guilty of illegal government accounting tricks. He has promised to restore the economy to health after two years of recession, but his center-right government is no more popular than Rousseff's. Despite government predictions of economic recovery within months, Brazil's jobless rate shot to 13.2 percent over the last quarter, the state statistics office said Friday. Temer got Congress to pass a 20-year spending freeze and is now asking for pension reform and other painful measures. Those moves have fueled a strong resistance, even among those in Temer's allied base. LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said the United Kingdom would remain "implacable and rock-like" in its support for Gibraltar after the European Union offered Spain a right of veto over the territory's future relationship with the bloc. Often referred to as "The Rock", Gibraltar is a British overseas territory on the southern tip of Spain. Madrid claims sovereignty over the territory -- which it ceded to Britain in 1713 -- and the issue has often caused diplomatic tensions with London. Gibraltar's status after Britain leaves the EU is set to be one of the most contentious issues in complex exit talks expected to last years. Johnson made his comment about Gibraltar late on Friday after speaking on the phone to Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar's chief minister. "As ever, the UK remains implacable and rock-like in our support for Gibraltar," he wrote on Twitter. Picardo has accused Spain of a "disgraceful" attempt to manipulate the Brexit process to further its sovereignty claim over Gibraltar. According to the EU's draft joint position on exit talks with Britain, no agreement between the UK and the EU may apply to Gibraltar without a separate agreement between Spain and the Britain. The Spanish government said it was satisfied with the position. (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) LONDON (Reuters) - All 12 people arrested in connection with the March 22 attack that left five people dead close to the British parliament have now been released without charge, London's Metropolitan Police said on Saturday. British-born Khalid Masood sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, killing three pedestrians and injuring dozens more, before running through the gates of parliament and stabbing a policeman to death. He was then shot dead by police. "All those arrested in connection with the terrorist attack in Westminster on Wednesday, 22 March have now been released with no further action," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. Eleven of those arrested had already been released, and on Saturday police freed the 12th person, a 30-year-old man arrested on March 26 in Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Police say Masood had copied the low-cost, low-tech attacks encouraged by Islamic State, but investigators have not found any evidence linking Masood to extremist groups at home or militants abroad. British media have reported Masood accessed the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp moments before the attack, leaving open the possibility someone else could have been involved. "Whilst we believe at this stage Masood acted alone in his execution of the attack, our investigation continues to establish whether there are any others involved in any way and I do emphasize this is a live investigation," Craig Mackey, acting head of London police, said on Wednesday. (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) A teacher at a Catholic high school in New Jersey has been charged after she allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship with a student. Theresa Hrindo, a graphic-design teacher at Roselle Catholic High School, is charged with sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and hindering apprehension, according to reports. Read: Teacher Charged With DUI Allegedly Told Trooper: 'I Feel Like Kissing You' Hrindo, 25, allegedly engaged in sex acts with the student from Dec. 2016 through Feb. 2017, reports said. Prosecutors said Hrindo allegedly deleted incriminating images and files from the students phone. The allegations were brought to the attention of police by the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, according to reports. Married Teacher Who Allegedly Had Sexual Relations With 17-Year-Old Student Grins in Mugshot We take most seriously our responsibility to provide a safe environment at Roselle Catholic for the young men and women you place in our care, and we believe that the actions we have taken are measured and appropriate at this time, the school said in a letter set home to parents. Hrindo was suspended immediately suspended following the allegations. The young teacher reportedly graduated from the school in 2010. Watch: Teacher Charged With Child Sex Abuse After Being Impregnated By Student Related Articles: While some may be excited about the idea of April showers bringing May flowers, celebrities like Kristen Stewart, Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender will have something far more important on their minds their birthdays! Those born during the month of April either possess the zodiac sign of an Aries or Taurus. Aries are born between March 21 and April 19 and Taurus are born between April 20 and May 20, according to Astrology Zodiac signs. People who are Aries are said to be courageous, optimistic, confident and moody while a Taurus is patient, reliable, devoted and at times stubborn. Check out the celebrities who will celebrate their birthday in April: Quavo (Quavious Keyate Marshall) of Migos will turn 26 years old on April 2. The Bad and Boujee singer was born in 1991. Pretty Little Liars actor Drew Van Acker actor turns 31 years old on April 2. The Freeform star, who hails from Philadelphia, was born in 1986. Los Angeles native Kid Ink , born Todd Collins, will turn 31 years old on April 1. The Show Me rapper was born in 1986. Twins Brook and Robin Lopez near the end of their 20s when they turn 29 years old on April 1. The NBA players were born in 1988 in California. Asa Butterfield will leave his teen years behind on April 1 when he turns 20 years old. The Enders Game actor, who hails from the UK, was born in 1997. David Oyelowo turns 41 years old on April 1. The Selma star was born in 1976 in England. Photo: Getty Images Patricia Arquette will turn 49 years old on April 8. The Boyhood actress was born in 1968 in Chicago. Russell Crowe will celebrate 53 years of life on April 7. The actor can be seen in the upcoming reboot of The Mummy. Jackie Chan will celebrate his 63rd birthday on April 7. The movie star, known for his martial art skills, was born in 1954. Fuller House star Candace Cameron-Bure will turn 41 years old on April 6. New Jersey born actor Paul Rudd will turn 48 years old on April 6. Next up, the actor can be seen starring in Mute. Music genius Pharrell Williams will turn 44 years old on April 5. The music producer, who is also a coach on the NBC series The Voice, was born in 1973 in Virginia. Lily James will celebrate her 28th birthday on April 5. The Downton Abbey star was born in 1989 in England. Hayley Atwell , known for her portrayal of Agent Carter in the Marvel universe, will turn 35 years old on April 5. Britney Spears little sister is all grown up! Jamie Lynn Spears will turn 26 on April 4. Robert Downey Jr., a.k.a. Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, a.k.a a whole bunch of memorable characters, will turn 52 years old on April 4. Once a teen heartthrob, Austin Mahone can hit the club and enjoy a drink when he turns 21 years old on April 4. Alec Baldwin , the man who has been making America laugh every Saturday night with his hilarious impressions of President Donald Trump will celebrate his 58th birthday on April 3. Comedian Eddie Murphy will turn 55 years old on April 3. The Brooklyn native was born in 1961. Although she has been staying out of the public eye as she continues to battle mental health issues, Amanda Bynes will celebrate her 31st birthday on April 3. She just made her acting debut on the Fox series Star, and now Paris Jackson will celebrate her 19th birthday on April 3. The daughter of the legendary singer Michael Jackson was born in 1998. Cobie Smulders , known for her portrayal of Robin Scherbatsky on the television series How I Met Your Mother will turn 35 years old on April 3. The actress, who can also be seen playing Agent Hill in Marvel films, was born in Canada. Christopher Meloni , a.k.a Detective Stabler from his days on Law & Order: SVU, will turn 56 years old on April 2. The Underground actor was born in Washington D.C. in 1961. Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star Joc , formerly known as Yung Joc, will turn 34 years old on April 2. The rapper, who calls Atlanta home, was born Jasiel Robinson in 1983. Known as Magneto to comic book fans, Michael Fassbender will turn 40 years old on April 2. The X-Men: Days of Future Past star was born in 1977 in West Germany. Story continues Photo: Getty Images Kristen Stewart will turn 27 years old on April 9. With her Twilight days long behind her, the actress can be seen in the upcoming film Lizzie. You know you love her! Former Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester turns 31 years old on April 9. Starting out as a child star, Elle Fanning has blossomed into a successful actress who will turn 19 years old on April 9. The Playboy mastermind Hugh Hefner will celebrate his 91st birthday on April 9. New York native Cynthia Nixon, known to most as Miranda Hobbes of Sex and the City fame, will turn 51 years old on April 9. Pretty Little Liars star Shay Mitchell will ring in the big 3-0 on April 10, just days before the Freeform series that shot her to fame rolls out its final episodes. This Is Us star Mandy Moore will turn 33 years old on April 10. Moore, who initially started out as a singer, has found success in both film and television. A supermodel by day, a mom by night, Alessandra Ambrosio will have to find a way to celebrate her 36th birthday on April 11. Homeland star Claire Danes will turn 38 years old on April 12. The award-winning actress was born in 1979. From Orange is the New Black to How to Get Away with Murder, Matt McGorry seems to be making his mark on the small screen. The actor will celebrate his 31st birthday on April 12. Girls star Allison Williams will turn 29 years old on April 13. Lets hope the busy actress has time to Get Out of the house and celebrate her special day. Rapper Ty Dolla $ign will ring in his 32nd birthday on April 13. Scream Queens star Abigail Breslin can finally go out and grab a drink with her costars starting April 14 when she turns 21 years old. Sarah Michelle Gellar, known for her role as the title character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will turn the big 4-0 on April 14. Emma Watson will have plenty to celebrate on April 15. Not only will she be celebrating her 27th birthday but she has had several successful films from Harry Potter to Beauty and the Beast. It looks like Luke Evans has more in common with Emma Watson than just starring in Beauty and the Beast, they both share the same birthday, however, the actor will be turning 38 years old. Teen Wolf star Cody Christian will definitely have something to howl about when he celebrates his 22nd birthday on April 15. Although her cast mates joke around about her true age, Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star Karlie Redd is said to be turning 39 years old on April 15. Maisie Williams will end her time as a teenager on April 15 when she turns 20 years old. Selena Quintanilla, the Queen of Tejano music, would have been 46 years old on April 16. Chance the Rapper, the young artist taking the music world by storm, will turn 24 years old on April 16. Actor and comedian Martin Lawrence will celebrate his 52nd birthday on April 16. Former Spice Girl turned fashion designer Victoria Beckham will celebrate her 43rd birthday on April 17. Rooney Mara will turn 32 years old on April 17. The actress was born in New York in 1985. Jennifer Garner will turn 45 years old on April 17. The actress, who is also a mom, has plenty to celebrate considering her lengthy career. Keeping Up with the Kardashians star and mother of three, Kourtney Kardashian turns 38 years old on April 18. Pregnant with her first child, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley will turn 30 years old on April 18. Late-night talk show host Conan OBrien will celebrate his 54th birthday on April 18. From box office hits to soap opera stints, James Franco will have plenty to celebrate when he turns 39 years old on April 19. Hollywood starlet Kate Hudson will celebrate 38 years of life on April 19. Although he typically keeps a low profile, Hayden Christensen will ring in his 36th birthday on April 19. Engaged supermodel Miranda Kerr is sure to ring in her 34th birthday with her Snapchat CEO fiance by her side on April 20. From American Horror Story to Feud Jessica Lange has had plenty of success and will celebrate her 68th birthday on April 20. By George Obulutsa BURAO, Somalia (Reuters) - Deadly cholera is spreading through drought-ravaged Somalia as clean water sources dry up, a top aid official said, deepening a humanitarian crisis in a country that is on the verge of famine. The Horn of Africa nation has recorded more than 18,000 cases of cholera so far this year, up from around 15,000 in all of 2016 and 5,000 in a normal year, Johan Heffinck, the Somalia head of EU Humanitarian Aid, said in an email on Thursday. The current strain of the disease is unusually deadly, killing around 1 in 45 patients. Somalia is suffering from a severe drought that means more than half of its 12 million citizens are expected to need aid by July. Families have been forced to drink slimy, infected water after the rains failed and wells and rivers dried up. "We are very close to famine," Heffinck said. The Security Information Network (FSIN), which is co-sponsored by the United Nations food agency, said in a report on Friday Somalia was one of four African countries at high risk of famine. Somalia's rainy season normally runs from March to May, but there has been no rain this month. The drought has hit particularly hard in the breakaway northern region of Somaliland, where the rains began to fail in 2015, killing off animals that nomadic families rely on to survive. 'THIS IS THE LAST BOTTLE' Listless, skinny children last week lay in crowded wards in the main hospital in the regional capital Hargeisa. Three-year-old Nimaan Hassid had diarrhoea for 20 days before his mother brought him to hospital. He weighs only 6.5 kilograms, less than half the normal weight for his age. Doctors say he is suffering from severe malnutrition but his grandmother, 60-year-old Fadumo Hussein, told Reuters the family has no money for food or clean water. "We dont have mineral water to give to the sick child. This is the last bottle," she said, carefully pouring it into a feeding tube inserted through his nose. In the malnutrition ward in the general hospital of Somaliland's second city Burao, doctor Hamud Ahmed said children were also being hit hard by diseases like tuberculosis, meningitis and measles. Children's admissions reached almost 60 in March, up fourfold from October. "This is due to the drought," Ahmed said. "When families lose all their livestock and children do not get milk, this is the famine that causes the children to suffer." If the rains fail, the country could tip into famine. Somalia's last famine, in 2011, killed more than 260,000 people. Heffinck said aid agencies were working overtime to try to prevent a similar disaster, trucking in clean water and stepping up the distribution of food and cash. "The big difference this time is that we have started the preparation and scaling up of the relief operations earlier," he said. (Additional reporting by Abdirahman Hussein; editing by Katharine Houreld and John Stonestreet) FRESNO, Calif. (AP) A California congressman under fire for his handling of an investigation into Russian meddling of the 2016 presidential election avoided a crowd of angry protesters in a Friday visit to his home state. Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was ushered in and out of an event in Fresno, where he spoke at a private gathering of the Ag Lenders Society. Organizers declined to allow reporters inside. Attendees said Nunes faced a supportive crowd inside, while outside on a busy street, roughly 300 protesters shouted, some waving signs linking Nunes to President Donald Trump and Russia. "Congressman Nunes, we need a guard dog not a lap dog," one sign read, next to a protester holding another: "Get out of bed with Trump." A man shouted through a megaphone: "Come out and play, Nunes, you coward." Nunes is facing criticism for going to Trump after a secret intelligence briefing before reporting his findings to his committee. Nunes, who was a member of the presidential transition team, has resisted calls to step aside from his committee's investigation into contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians. Nunes, however, shows no signs of giving up his leadership role. "At the end of the day, this is a tough job, and there's tough work that has be done," Nunes told CBS47-TV (http://bit.ly/2ojNJep) in Fresno in a Friday interview. "I think there's nobody better than me right now to be doing it." He also said that he answers to nobody but voters, and the issue he briefed Trump on had nothing to do with Russia. Not everybody is convinced. "We need people to investigate who actually have an interest in an independent investigation," said protester Annaliese Herms, a 23-year-old office worker from Fresno. She called Russian interference a "breach of the democratic process" and called Nunes' integrity into question. Story continues Guests leaving the event said the Russia investigation came up at least once during Nunes' talk, which focused mostly on water, a key issue in the farming region in California, the nation's leading agricultural state. Leaving the luncheon, Joseph Butterweck said after listening to Nunes and following news accounts, he believes the congressman and Trump did nothing wrong. "It probably wasn't there," said Butterweck, a veterinarian. "My assessment was that there weren't any ties between the (Trump) campaign and the Russians." Back in Nunes' district, some people in downtown Clovis were supporting the congressman. Melinda Winston, a 62-year-old retiree, said she was disappointed Nunes first went to the president with intelligence he learned in a secret meeting before sharing it with members of the committee he chairs. "It seems like he did not handle that very professionally," said Winston, a Democrat. "It's too bad to hear his name on national TV." Winston voted for Nunes and praised him because his office helped her with the state tax board. Melvin Mason didn't fault Nunes for his actions in a job with tremendous pressure. "I think the guy is just doing his job the best he can," said Mason, a 71-year-old Democrat and retired truck driver. "If I was him, I might have done the same thing." By Sunil Kataria GUWAHATI (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama arrived in India's northeastern state of Assam on Saturday ahead of a visit to neighboring Arunachal Pradesh, a region run by New Delhi but claimed by Beijing. The Tibetan spiritual leader's trip is expected to fuel tensions between India and China over strategic issues such as China's growing ties with India's arch-rival Pakistan. China claims the region in the eastern Himalayas as "South Tibet". The Dalai Lama told Reuters TV at the airport in the Assam city of Guwahati that his visit was to promote religious harmony. He said he was happy to be back in a region that revived his memories of escape from Tibet in 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. "I still feel the feeling of that time," he said. China, which considers the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist, said on Friday it was "resolutely opposed" to the visit, and urged India to "avoid taking any actions that would further complicate the border issue". An Indian government official said on Friday that the Dalai Lama's visit was religious, not political. (Writing by Zeba Siddiqui, editing by Ed Osmond) Associated Press Concerns over the Buffalo Bills troubling loss to the New York Jets were quickly overshadowed by even bigger worries regarding the status of Josh Allens throwing elbow on Monday. Suddenly, the entirety of the organization and its fanbase is holding its collective breath while awaiting the results of medical tests to determine the severity of Allens injury sustained in the final minutes of a 20-17 loss to the Jets and what impact it will have on the second half of the season and the franchises Super Bowl aspirations. The reality, however, is bracing for the potential of having to turn over a very Allen-centric offense to journeyman backup Case Keenum to keep the AFC-leading Bills (6-2) afloat in the interim. I remember the halcyon days when April Fools' Day was a bit of harmless fun. We'd read fake stories from the newspaper over our cornflakes and have a good chuckle. Fake news was just something that happened once a year. But, those days are gone. We are now living in the age of fake news; where mistruths are presented as truths, and believed at face value. Fake news is no longer a once-yearly event, it's a 365-day-a-year news cycle. And, that's why April Fools' Day needs to die. SEE ALSO: Stop dropping April Fools' jokes a day early. Now. "April's Fool Day is a day when you have to constantly engage the critical and sceptical part of the brain so you don't get duped," says Claire Wardle, Director of Research and Strategy of First Draft News. "Now that we are increasingly encountering information that has been fabricated, manipulated or is downright misleading, we need to be engaging those same parts of our brains every day and questioning what we're seeing in our social feeds." This year, April Fools' Day inconveniently falls on a Saturday, leading brands to start their pranks early in order to counter any potential dip in exposure. It has resulted in a week-long run-up to this godforsaken event. For journalists, it has meant days of wading through a deluge of press releases about fake stories, most of which don't contain a helpful April Fools' Day disclaimer. Krispy Kreme's not-so-funny April Fools' prank. Image: krispy kreme On Thursday, several major news outlets in the UK fell foul to a prank by Krispy Kreme. The doughnut brand claimed it would be changing its name to "Krispy Cream" because Brits didn't know how to pronounce the word "Kreme". "Krispy Kreme UK is getting a more 'English-friendly' name so people stop mispronouncing it," declared a headline. "Krispy Kreme is changing its name here in the UK to stop people misspelling it," said another. Oh dear. Publishing prank stories to an unsuspecting audience on any day of the year, even April 1, just isn't funny anymore. It's no longer acceptable because fake stories are already in circulation on a daily basis with serious implications. Story continues In some instances, fake stories are outperforming real news. In the three months before the presidential election, viral fake election news stories had such high engagement they actually outperformed real news on Facebook. During the most critical time of the election campaign, the 20 top-performing fake election stories generated 8.7 million engagements on Facebook far outstripping the 7.3 million engagement garnered by mainstream news. Among the top-performing stories were headlines like "Hillary sold weapons to ISIS" and "FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead". Since then, "fake news" has become ubiquitous and POTUS Donald Trump has appropriated the term to criticise media outlets: After being forced to apologize for its bad and inaccurate coverage of me after winning the election, the FAKE NEWS @nytimes is still lost! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017 By definition, fake news is false information masquerading as traditional news. It's similar to propaganda because it distorts the truth for emotional persuasion. But the motivation behind fake news in the run-up to the US election wasn't just political. Many creators of spoof stories were trying to make a quick buck from advertising on distributed content that was designed to gain a large audience. So, are brands using the excuse of April Fools' Day to do the same thing? "The same motivations drive the creators of fabricated stories and news sites. The unfortunate reality is that some people are using these same techniques on a daily basis to make money or to manipulate public opinion," says Claire Wardle of First Draft News. "As consumers of information online we have to remain as alert on May, June and July 1 as we will be April 1." Swedish and Norwegian newspapers ditch April Fools' due to fake news https://t.co/gvMJ7rtpia pic.twitter.com/vrtT8Vw0UF The Local Sweden (@TheLocalSweden) March 31, 2017 Some countries are taking a stand against April Fools' Day because of fake news. Swedish and Norwegian newspapers announced Friday they wouldn't be publishing April Fools' jokes because they feared it would spread fake news. "We work with real news. Even on April 1st," said Magnus Karlsson, editor-in-chief of Swedish newspaper Smalandsposten, adding that he did not want the newspaper to "be spread with a potentially viral and erroneous story". Other news outlets should take note. Thanks to the fake news phenomenon, April Fools' jokes should be a thing of the past. Don't add to the problem. WATCH: In stunning exchange, Trump refuses to answer question from CNN reporter Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. What Were Following White House Turmoil: Last night, Mike Flynn offered to testify in exchange for immunity from prosecution in the investigation of ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, sparking speculation about what his testimony might reveal and what his motives might be. Flynns denial that he spoke with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office led to his firing last monththe first of a series of departures that have left the West Wing disordered and seemingly unstable. And the administration is dogged by criticism of Trumps conflicts of interest and other potential abuses of power. So, whats Jason Chaffetz, the chair of the Houses watchdog committee, to do? Environmental Issues: After Trump ordered a review of the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan this week, some of the backlash is coming from his own party: Ted Thomas, a career Republican and the chair of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, says weakening the regulations could hurt the future of the utilities sector. Whats more, Christine Todd Whitman, who led the EPA under George W. Bush, writes that the new presidents planned cuts to the agencys budget would endanger the publics health. On the other side of the law in California, illegal pot farms on public land also pose an environmental threat, polluting forests and poisoning wildlife. Recommended: The Republican Majority in Congress Is an Illusion Divide and Conquer: A week after Paul Ryan was forced to pull his health-care bill, the Republican Party is still reeling from the failure: It exposed divisions within the GOP, which doesnt have a strong enough majority in Congress to survive some members defections. Meanwhile in Turkey, President Erdogan is exploiting his peoples divisions to expand his political powera dangerous strategy. Snapshot A squirrel takes a leap in Kiev, Ukraine, on March 30, 2017. See more of the weeks best photos here. (Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Getty) Evening Read Sophie Gilbert reviews Beauty and the Beast, a new anthology of stories about humans in love with animals edited by Maria Tatar: Story continues Tatars collection features examples from India, Iran, Norway, and Ireland; she includes stories of frog kings, bird princesses, dog brides, and muskrat husbands. Each story is basically an expression of anxiety about marriage and relationshipsabout the animalistic nature of sex, and the fundamental strangeness of men and women to each other. Some, like Beauty and the Beast, prescribe certain kinds of behavior, or warn against being vain or cruel. But many simply illustrate the basic human impulsecommon across civilizationsto use stories to figure things out. Keep reading here, as Sophie explores the dark morality of fairy tales interspecies relationships. Recommended: Jason Chaffetz: The Prince of Oversight What Do You Know? 1. During the Brexit referendum last June, approximately ____________ percent of British voters aged 18 to 24 and 56 percent of voters aged 25 to 49 voted to remain in the EU. Scroll down for the answer, or find it here. 2. Approximately ____________ people around the world use cell phones. Scroll down for the answer, or find it here. 3. Americans spend $____________ annually in the 1.3 million vending machines across the U.S. Scroll down for the answer, or find it here. Want more quiz questions? To wrap up Womens History Month, weve also compiled an interactive quiz based on stories by notable women from our archivesfrom Harriet Beecher Stowe to Michelle Obama. Check it out here. Poem of the Week The Nobel Prizewinning poet Octavio Paz would have turned 103 years old today. From our March 1964 issue, an excerpt of his poem Nina, translated by John Frederick Nims: The afternoon, its lazy ways, And night, the shadows that amass. Between the two, a girl. Her gaze. More on Paz and his poetry here. Reader Response This week in our Politics & Policy Daily newsletter, we asked readers to tell us: What should Trump do next? Charlie suggests a new strategy on health care: He would show himself a true statesman and secure his place in history if he grasped the initiative (as he said he would during the campaign), and proactively worked across the aisle to fix the ACA. This would appeal to far more constituents than it would turn off, and require less heavy lifting to accomplish once goals are agreed upon. Trump would find serious consideration of his further goals much easier if he seriously and cooperatively addressed a solution to the ACAs problems. Check out more reader responses here, and subscribe to the Politics & Policy Daily. Verbs Money menaces, picnics seduce, form-filers frustrated, desires deferred. The Atlantic Daily is written by Rosa Inocencio Smith. To contact us, email hello@theatlantic.com. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. The Japanese cat Twitter account @b_ru_ru has a whole lot of adorable cat content that deserves your undivided attention, but one tweet stands out among the rest. This video of two cats ringing bells for their dinner was posted on Thursday and has been really blowing up ever since, for good reason. It shows two cats adorably chiming to get their owners to gift them a delicious snack. See for yourself. Beautiful intelligent amazing creatures! It's reminiscent of every high school psychology student's favorite experiment with Pavlov's bell, where a dog was trained to associate a ringing bell with food. SEE ALSO: This transparent bowl swing is what cat dreams are made of Obviously, no one can stop watching this weirdly hypnotizing display of feline intelligence. @SimonNRicketts actually laughed so loud my fellow commuter is looking at me oddly. Brilliant! Vanessa V (@shewithcapitalV) March 30, 2017 And they just can't help but fixate on the brown cat ringing the white cat's bell: @McPetey94 @b_ru_ru omg when they start sharing the bell rabie babie (@cylongrrl) March 31, 2017 @SimonNRicketts Possibly the best "What just happened?!? That's not the rules!!" face ever. Maggie_perhaps (@Maggie_Perhaps) March 30, 2017 It definitely makes you wonder who trained who here, the cats or the owners. But who cares if we're all just lemmings when the cats are this cute. WATCH: This solar-powered machine transforms desert sand into glass sculptures Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton shake hands at the conclusion of their third and final presidential debate. (Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters) CHICAGO Shelbi Lewark was a paid field organizer in Colorado for the Republican National Committee until Donald Trump became the partys nominee for president. Lewark, 26, was so turned off by Trump that she quit her RNC job last summer and is now working to elect independent candidates in the Centennial State. Owen Casas is a 32-year-old stonemason from Maine who fought in Falluja, Iraq, with the Marines. He tried volunteering in Democratic politics but realized he didnt fit there or in the GOP. So he ran for the state Legislature as an independent in 2014 and lost, then ran again last year and won. Shawn Riegsecker is a 44-year-old successful tech entrepreneur in Chicago whose company did work for Barack Obamas presidential campaigns. But he grew disillusioned with the Democratic Partys neglect of pocketbook issues. Hes thinking of running for the U.S. Senate in 2020, as an independent. All three are now part of a group called the Centrist Project, which hopes to tap into dissatisfaction with the two major political parties. The group has a goal: Elect a small band of independents in the U.S. Senate to force compromise between Republicans and Democrats. About 50 group members gathered here last Thursday for a daylong strategy meeting, hosted at the downtown offices of Riegseckers company, Centro. Yahoo News was granted exclusive access to the event. In a back corner conference room of the massive open-floor office, the attendees heard updates from activists in states where independents have had some success so far: Alaska, Oregon and Maine. And they listened as Joel Searby, a senior adviser on Evan McMullins independent bid for president last year, walked them through potential Senate races the group might compete in. One example of a place where were looking is Utah. So we did some recent polling, and Im not going to share everything but Ill tell you that Sen. [Orrin] Hatch is incredibly vulnerable, Searby said. Only 21 percent in our survey believe that he should be reelected. Story continues The Centrist Project meeting. (Photo: Jon Ward/Yahoo News) Searby said his groups polling also showed a specific independent candidate, whom he did not name, beating Hatch 33 percent to 29. The survey found that 59 percent of Utah voters surveyed believe the political system is rigged in favor of the well off and well connected and that finding common ground was most important to 51 percent. I spent a lot of time there last year, said Searby, referring to the McMullin campaigns focus on Utah. And there is a palpable sense that not only is Sen. Hatch his time is done but that its time for something different. Searby said the Centrist Project is also exploring independent Senate runs in Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, Texas, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. The project has an uphill battle ahead. A seemingly countless number of independent candidates have vowed to break through the electorates political polarization only to crash and burn on Election Day. But there is some hope: In addition to locally elected officials like Casas, centrist independents have won mayorships, governors mansions and even a Senate seat or two. In the Senate today, Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, is aligned with the Democrats, while Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, won reelection in 2010 as a write-in candidate after losing her primary, defeating her GOP and Democratic rivals. Nick Troiano, the Centrist Project executive director who in 2014 ran unsuccessfully for Congress at the young age of 24, said it had raised over $600,000 for early stage operations. He showed a slide with two huge numbers. There were 184 days until their candidate recruitment deadline, he said, and 586 days until the 2018 election. They have attorneys who specialize in ballot access working to ensure they can get candidates qualified to run. The Centrist Project was founded in 2014 after a group including Riegsecker read a 2013 book by Dartmouth public policy professor Charles Wheelan called The Centrist Manifesto and decided to try to put the books ideas into action. In 2014, Kansas businessman Greg Orman put a major scare into incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican running for his fourth term. Orman led Roberts by 8 points in September and still had a small advantage in public polling on Election Day, but lost by 10 points. Nonetheless, Ormans bid was a jolt of confidence for the Centrist Project. I think it gave us all some hope that we could actually build a true powerful organization, Riegsecker told Yahoo News. Independent U.S. Senate candidate Greg Orman leaves the voting booth after casting his ballot in 2014. (Photo: Dave Kaup/Reuters) Since then, continued dysfunction in Washington and the rise of Trump have pushed others in the direction of the groups cause. In 2016, Marc Merrill, the president of a video game company that brought in $1.6 billion in 2015, stumbled across a Facebook advertisement for the Centrist Project. He sent an email through a website form, and a few days later was having lunch with Wheelan. Merrill, who left the Republican Party and registered as an independent in 2012, is now helping to fund the Centrist Project and has joined the operating board. As our country has regressed over the past two decades into this combative, polarized environment, the structure of the government is just not functioning as it needs to and we have incredible problems to solve as a society, Merrill said in an interview. Im really in it for the long run. I dont really care who solves the problem. I just want our country to have more effective governance. A few months later, Shelbi Lewark was contemplating her future in politics the day after Trump accepted the Republican nomination in Cleveland. She had worked her way up to regional director for the Republican National Committee and had helped elect Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., in 2014. She also had deep Republican political roots in her home state of Oklahoma. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., baptized Lewark in the Southern Baptist church where he was a youth minister. But once Trump was the Republican nominee, Lewark could not stomach the idea of devoting the next three months of her life to electing him president. And she was not excited about the GOPs Colorado Senate candidate, Darryl Glenn, either. To give 18 hours to a candidate, you have to love them. If we had had a really good Senate candidate, I could have stayed with it, she said. But Lewark saw the culture of the Colorado Republican Party changing in response to Trump. The types of volunteers we were bringing in were not the type of people I wanted to work with. The environment changed drastically from 2014 and Cory Gardner to Donald Trump and Darryl Glenn. Lewark started a new job on Friday as the Centrist Projects state director in Colorado, where the group hopes to make a push in the state Legislature. Shawn Riegsecker addresses the group. (Photo: Jon Ward/Yahoo News) And so, after a few years of what Riegsecker described as investing and creating infrastructure and brand and legal entities, he said that now its our moment where we feel its time to go as big as we possibly can, given whats going on. The Centrist Projects organizing principles are vague. The group wants candidates to seek cooperation rather than conflict, to represent people before political parties or special interests, and to be motivated by public service rather than self-interest. The messy business of hammering out a more precise agenda or platform will come down the road if the Centrist Project has electoral success. At the moment, it is trying simply to achieve liftoff. People may call us crazy, Riegsecker told the group. Im not here for 2017 or 2018. Im in this for the next 10 years and the next 20. But group members also are realistic in that they want wealthy individuals who can self-fund their campaigns. And they had a few potential candidates already in their midst who told me they are interested in running for statewide office: Orman, who said he may run for Kansas governor in 2018, Riegsecker, who is eyeing a run for the U.S. Senate in Illinois or Ohio, and Katherine Gehl, a Wisconsin businesswoman who has both money and an impressive resume and is sometimes mentioned for governor or U.S. Senate. Pat Caddell, a former Democratic pollster who now appears regularly on Fox News, attended the meeting to share research findings. After spending time with the group, Caddell was enthusiastic. Im very impressed with the people here, he said. That guy from Maine, he is going to be a star. He was referring to Casas, the bearded and tattooed lapsed Mormon who speaks excitedly both about beer and the nitty gritty details of local governance. Casas, the father of three young children, represents a district that includes the affluent and Democratic-leaning coastal town of Camden. Not more than five minutes into watching a video of Casas debate last year with his Democratic opponent, I saw the raw authenticity that gave him obvious appeal. When told to wrap up his opening statement, Casas didnt hide his irritation. He put his arms out and blurted, Seriously? Already, 15 seconds? He ran on a message of being fiscally conservative and socially liberal and won by just 12 votes out of more than 6,000 cast. When we spoke on the sidelines of the Centrist Project meeting, Casas said hed never felt at home in either political party. He tried to volunteer for Maine Democrat Mike Michauds gubernatorial campaign in 2014, but balked at the idea of knocking on doors for the Democratic slate of candidates. I dont speak highly of the Democrats. I dont speak highly of the Republicans. I speak highly of some of their ideas. I like some of the ideas that are generated by these institutional tribes, Casas said. Thats one of the great things about the parties: a lot of folks generating ideas that we then debate. Ive always been an independent, he said. Maines got a pretty stubborn, independent streak. We look to our neighbors to help out. We try to help out our neighbors. We try to foster a good community atmosphere. But when that storm sets in, you may be on your own for the next five days. And you gotta have a woodpile. You gotta have a food store. You gotta be able to start a fire. You gotta be independent. Because you never know when its coming. Correction: Riegsecker is 44 years old, not 45. Read more from Yahoo News: In her short time as first lady, Melania Trump has gained more attention for her whereabouts than her duties in the prestigious post. Amid claims she will move into the White House in June when son Barron completes his school year in New York there are still lingering questions as to how much time Trump will actually spend in Washington, D.C., once she makes the purported move. Until then, Trump remains the consummate jet-setter, helicoptering to D.C. to give the rare speech or flying over to Palm Beach, Florida, to make an appearance at a fundraiser reception. If her recent travel trends indicate anything, its that she spends her weekdays in New York, heads to the Mar-a-Lago estate for weekends, and can stay at the White House for official occasions or events. Read: Where Is The First Lady? Melania Trump Takes 90-Minute Helicopter Rides To DC, Cooks For Barron In NYC All the commuting and air travel aside, you can guarantee that Trump will be reaching her next destination in record time. Prior to the January inauguration, TMZ calculated the time it would take for Trump to travel from the White House to New York. The motorcade whisks the first lady to Andrews Air Force Base in about 20 minutes, followed by a quick 45-minute trip on a 737 or 757 to LaGuardia in the borough of Queens. From there, Trump is able to avoid the traffic into Manhattan or a helicopter would meet Trump at the airport where she would finally be taken to the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea in about 15 minutes. Finally, a motorcade would arrive to whisk first lady away to Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan, which takes about 10 minutes. Ninety-minute cross-state commutes arent so bad, especially if the president is presentthen the pair could really travel in style. If the couple is together, they might hitch a ride on Air Force One, or even catch a ride in the presidents armored Cadillac limousine, nicknamed The Beast. The travel time might be timely, but all of the back and forth has roiled Americans. A Change.Org petition recently circulated that demanded Melania Trump move to the While House or pony up for the New York City security expenses she incurs. Taxpayers have spoken out against the cost of security Melania and Barron Trump require while living away from the White House since those motorcade costs do, in fact, add up. Story continues It was estimated by the NYPD that Barron and Melania Trump require somewhere between $127,000 and $146,000 a day for protection when President Donald Trump is out of town, according to the New York Times. Related Articles Saint-Denis (France) (AFP) - From across France they came to meet the man who has promised, if elected president in May, to "emancipate" immigrant families and free them from the gritty high-rises that ring French cities. The excitement was palpable as a microphone was passed through a hall in the tough Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, where a hundred high achievers gathered this week to share their stories of against-the-odds success with centrist maverick Emmanuel Macron. For two hours the 39-year-old candidate listened to, and fielded questions from entrepreneurs, bankers, journalists and civil servants with the kind of names -- mostly Arab or west African -- that in France often see a CV pushed to the bottom of the pile. "I'm happy," Khadija Moudnib, the 39-year-old deputy mayor of the western Paris suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie, told AFP. "Usually politicians come to the suburbs when they're burning and then disappear again. Tonight we're not here to talk about those who burn cars. Most people here have masters degrees. Theirs are the stories that need to be highlighted." Macron, who is running neck-and-neck with far-right leader Marine Le Pen in polls for the first round of the election on April 23, has promised to bring France's storied "banlieues", or suburbs, in from the cold with a two-pronged approach that stresses equality and entrepreneurship. Addressing Thursday's gathering held next to the Stade de France national stadium, he vowed to reduce class sizes in tough neighbourhoods, name-and-shame employers that discriminate against people on the basis of their origins, and promote micro-financing for suburban businesses. The blue-eyed philosophy graduate, who studied at France's top finishing school before becoming a civil servant and then a Rothschild investment banker before he leaped into politics may seem an unlikely champion of the downtrodden. Trade unions have accused him of promoting a race to the bottom by declaring that an Uber driver working up to 70 hours a week -- one of the few jobs readily available to low-skilled suburban youths in France -- had more "dignity" than someone without work. Story continues But his unabashedly pro-business approach has played well in immigrant communities, seen by some as more empowering than the paternalism of the left. Taking to the floor at the event, Moudnib hailed Macron -- an economic liberal who is on the left on social issues -- as a role model. "You've been accused of earning a lot of money at Rothschild but in the suburbs we want to be like you!," she told him, drawing laughter and applause. "In France we have a unique characteristic," Macron replied. "We don't like failure and we don't like success." - 'Back on track' - The failure to break into France's traditional big parties was what brought Aziz Francois Ndiaye to Macron's door. The US-trained Senegalese-born entrepreneur told AFP his overtures to various politicians -- like his many job applications -- went unheeded, until he contacted Macron's En Marche movement, which put him in charge of campaigning in the western Paris suburbs. "My life got back on track," the affable father-of-two said. While Macron's optimism may have infected Ndiaye, many in suburbs battling high unemployment and radicalisation remain unmoved. In central Saint-Denis, a Communist-run town of around 100,000 where the ringleader of the 2015 Paris attacks Abdelhamid Abaaoud hid before being killed in a police siege, the mood on a sunny spring afternoon was muted. In a sign of the lingering jihadist threat, soldiers in fatigues patrolled the street outside the town's imposing 12th century basilica and police vans lined the main square on two sides. Sitting on a bench outside the basilica -- final resting place of a long line of French kings and queens -- retiree Michel Castellote said he would abstain in the May 7 election run-off if forced to choose between Macron and Le Pen. Polls show that Macron would easily beat Le Pen in such a duel but Castellote, a supporter of radical leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, said he could not bring himself to back the former businessman. "He doesn't know the suburbs," said the 76-year-old, complaining of the closure of many traditional shops in Saint-Denis -- replaced by halal butcheries, Arab bakeries and Chinese clothing stores. Several other people interviewed by AFP said they planned to abstain from both rounds of the election, turned off by political scandals and a litany of broken promises. But butcher Mohammed Hemmar said he was ready to put his trust in the man bidding to become the youngest president in France since World War II. "We'll try Macron this time, to see what the young people can do," Algerian-born Hemmar, 47, said as he rang up sales in his blood-splattered apron. "He's got the stature of a president, he speaks well and he inspires confidence." By Marc Leras and Dominique Vidalon MARSEILLE/PARIS (Reuters) - Emmanuel Macron met hardline southern French conservative Christian Estrosi on Saturday, a sign of how widely the favorite to win France's presidential election is throwing his centrist electoral net. The warm encounter in Marseille with the president of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region represents a potential blow to rivals on the right - especially official conservative candidate Francois Fillon - but it but could raise eyebrows among leftwing voters thinking of backing Macron. Macron told reporters that Estrosi, a close ally of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, was a "bulwark" against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, the 39 year-old's main opponent in the election. Macron has said he wants to bridge the right-left divide of mainstream French politics. Estrosi is from a wing that is much more conservative than the Socialist government under which the 39-year-old served as economy minister until last year. "We are responsible for, and concerned about, the interests of France," Estrosi told reporters at the meeting. Macron and Le Pen are neck-and-neck at the top of the opinion polls ahead of the first round of presidential voting on April 23. Fillon is in third place. Such an outcome would put Le Pen and Macron through to a second round runoff on May 7 which the polls say Macron would win. Macron said good citizens of France's republic "know what the dangers are for the republic and where the true enemies are". In a comment on Twitter he added: "The priority is to fight the National Front. Christian Estrosi has been the bulwark against them in this region. I know my priorities". Macron later held a rally in the Mediterranean port city. Despite his close affiliation to Sarkozy, Estrosi has been among those within The Republicans party calling for Fillon to step down as a scandal over allegations his wife did no real work for her pay as his taxpayer funded parliamentary assistant hurt his campaign. BURKINI FACTOR In the 2015 regional elections, Alpes-Haute Provence Socialist party deputy Christophe Castaner, now a backer of Macron, withdrew the Socialist party list from the second round of voting, asking his voters to back Estrosi to keep the National Front from power. However, there is no love lost between Estrosi and the mainstream left in France, and Macron's move may cause consternation among his followers there. Security, immigration and concerns France is losing a sense of identity are hot-button issues in Estrosi territory, home to a large Muslim population, and where Le Pen's plans to cut immigration and ban religious clothing in public places resonate. Estrosi was among conservative politicians who backed calls for a ban on the body-covering burkini swimsuit that some Muslim women wear on the beach - proposals vehemently rejected by the Socialist government and knocked down by French courts. Asked about the Macron-Estrosi meeting, the Fillon team called it opportunistic. "Macron is hunting on the territory of the right. But he is not the candidate of the right," said Fillon spokeswoman Annie Genevard. (Reporting by Marc Leras, Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Andrew Callus) - Evgenia Medvedeva was in class of her own as she sealed back-to-back world titles and looks to restore Russia's tarnished image at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The 17-year-old had watched on television as Adelina Sotnikova surged past South Korean superstar Kim Yu-Na to claim gold in Sochi, capping a glorious Winter Games for the 2014 hosts. Russia has since been plunged into a damaging scandal amid claims of systematic state-sponsored doping between 2012 and 2014 resulting in their athletes being banned from the Rio Olympics. And Russia still face a race against time to be declared compliant with world anti-doping regulations in time for the 2018 Games. "It makes me sad to read and hear the news now. But we have to support each other," said Medvedeva. The Russian led all the way in Helsinki's Hartwall Arena to finish ahead of Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond and Gabrielle Daleman. AFP Automation and the fear that robots will take over human jobs has been a frequent talking point in the news lately. But at the moment, General Electric chief executive officer Jeff Immelt, via Quartz, argues that these concerns are premature. I think before we go to the phase where its only robots at every bench, we are going to go through a phase of smarter workers. Immelt said. Read: Apple Supplier Foxconn Replaces 60,000 Workers At One Factory Alone Instead, Immelt said the focus for politicians should be to get more workers trained in smart skills designed to prepare them for future jobs. While Immelt dismissed the notion that automation would lead to mass unemployment, he said that policy should still emphasize producing better-educated workers. I dont know exactly how many phases that were going to go through, Immelt said. But I think were going to be in phase smart worker for a fair amount of time. I really do. I think were better off as a country focusing on the smart-worker phase than going right to robots are evil.' Read: Where Andy Puzder, Trumps Labor Pick, Stands On Automation, Minimum Wage And Hot Models Robots have played a role in modern manufacturing for a while, but much of the current concern for policy makers has been on smarted automated technology that makes human workers replaceable. Within the U.S., analysts say this scenario could come at an accelerated rate soon. A report from firm PwC suggests that 38 percent of U.S. jobs could be vulnerable to being lost to automation within the next two decades. Related Articles MADRID (AP) Gibraltar expressed outrage Friday at how it said Spain is using the U.K.'s impending departure from the European Union to force renegotiations on the future of Gibraltar, the territory that Spain has been trying to get back from Britain for 300 years. The nine-page roadmap introduced Friday by EU Council President Donald Tusk says that future Brexit agreements between the U.K. and the EU will only apply to Gibraltar if the governments of London and Madrid can agree to them. The EU Council's guidelines on Brexit are "a disgraceful attempt by Spain to manipulate the European Council for its own narrow political interests," Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said in a statement. "What we are seeing is a clear manifestation of the predictably predatory attitude that we anticipated Spain would seek to abusively impose on its partners," he added. The EU guideline effectively forces talks over Gibraltar in which Spain will have an upper hand, allowing its government to bring back to the negotiation table the dispute over the encalve's sovereignty, which it ceded to Britain in 1713. The famous territory sits on the southern tip of Spain along the Strait of Gibraltar, which links the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Yet members of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's cabinet have acknowledged the difficulty of reaching an agreement on joint sovereignty with London that will also be accepted by the 32,000 inhabitants of Gibraltar. Almost 96 percent of Gibraltarians chose to remain in the EU in last year's Brexit referendum, but British voters overall chose to leave the bloc. British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday gave formal notice that Britain will leave the EU, triggering a two-year departure timetable. Picardo said the EU guidelines would complicate Brexit talks even further but vowed that they will inflict no change to Gibraltar's "continued, exclusive British sovereignty." Story continues "The (British) exit negotiations clearly include Gibraltar, despite Spain's attempts to also have Gibraltar excluded from them," Picardo said. "This draft suggests that Spain is trying to get away with mortgaging the future relationship between the EU and Gibraltar to its usual obsession with our homeland." Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis recently pledged to ensure an open border for the European workers who are key to both Gibraltar and the neighboring area in southern Spain. "During and beyond the Brexit process, Gibraltar will continue to grow and prosper economically and will, paradoxically, provide wealth for the whole Spanish region around us," Picardo predicted. 10k ballot boxes arrive at Kerung AIT Private Limited, the firm that bagged the contract of supplying ballot boxes to the Election Commission, has informed the EC that the first shipment of 10,000 ballot boxes has arrived in Kerung, the Chinese town bordering with Nepal. Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The Islamist Hamas group in Gaza said Saturday "radical measures" would be taken against Palestinians who "collaborated" with Israel, a week after one of its military commanders was murdered. Interior ministry spokesman Iyad al-Bozum said measures to be taken soon could mean arrests, trials and even executions. During the summer 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the group's armed wing publicly executed six men accused of collaboration. On March 24, gunmen in the Palestinian territory shot dead Hamas official Mazen Faqha, who had been freed by Israel in a 2011 prisoner swap, in what appeared to be a planned assassination. Faqha was released along with more than 1,000 other Palestinians in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier Hamas had detained for five years. After Faqha was killed, Hamas pointed the finger of blame at "collaborators" and at Israel. Earlier Saturday, Hamas said it would allow foreign UN and Red Cross workers to leave the enclave after it closed the only foot crossing with Israel. It shut the Erez crossing a day after it blamed the Jewish state for Faqha's death. "In recognition of the need for humanitarian aid in Gaza, the Ministry of Interior decided to permit foreign workers of the UN and the Red Cross free movement to enter and leave the Gaza Strip," a ministry spokesman said. Other restrictions remain in place, a statement added, but "humanitarian cases in urgent need of travel" would be examined individually. On Monday, the authorities reopened Erez for those entering Gaza, but men between 18 and 45 are still largely prevented from leaving the enclave of two million people. Reports said Hamas was looking for the assassins of Faqha, 38, believing they are still in the territory, but the knock-on effects have been significant. On Friday, the office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process suspended its missions to Gaza as frustrations grew over the restrictions, according to a source close to the organisation. Story continues Around half a dozen international aid workers were prevented from leaving this week, a senior humanitarian source has said. The World Health Organization said that, until Friday, 79 Gazan patients had missed medical appointments in Israel because of the restrictions. More than two-thirds of Gazans are dependent on aid, the United Nations says. Erez is the only crossing for people, although a separate route is available for goods. On Thursday, a coalition of more than 100 Palestinian NGOs and rights groups called on Hamas to reopen the crossing. Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza for a decade, largely restricting residents from entering. However, Israel grants hundreds of permits for medical, educational, business and other reasons per week. Hamas has fought three wars with Israel since 2008. Paris (AFP) - With just over three weeks to go until the first round of the French presidential election, the conservative candidate Francois Fillon took a swing at frontrunner Emmanuel Macron, after the centrist met a prominent member of Fillon's own party. Here are four things that happened in the presidential race on Saturday: - Fillon to Macron: Conman - Francois Fillon, who has seen his poll ratings nosedive since becoming embroiled in a highly publicised "fake jobs" scandal, launched a furious broadside at frontrunner Emmanuel Macron. "Macron pretends to be a dissident ... he pretends to be a candidate who brings together all the French people... from former Communists to the ultra liberals," Fillon told a rally in Corsica. The 39-year-old Macron is portraying himself as "neither from the right nor the left." "A section" of the French people "might be taken in by this con act (of Macron) -- until the mask falls," said Fillon. - Macron meets top conservative - In a surprise encounter that set French political analysts' tongues wagging, Macron held talks with a high-profile member of Fillon's Les Republicains party, Christian Estrosi, who leads the southern region around Marseille. Estrosi has called on Fillon to quit his campaign for president in the wake of the "fake jobs" scandal and voiced his "respect" and "friendship" for Macron. Already this week, Macron received high-profile backing from the other end of the traditional political spectrum in the shape of former Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls. The official Socialist candidate, Benoit Hamon, reacted to the news that Macron had met Estrosi by saying that the campaign had been "marred by dishonesty." And far-right leader Marine Le Pen wasted no time in describing the Estrosi-Macron friendship as an "alliance," saying those in the mainstream "system" were trying to save their jobs. Story continues - Hamon takes bid to Reunion - Faced with a seemingly inexorable slide in the polls, Socialist candidate Hamon sought to re-energise his campaign with a rally in the Indian Ocean French territory of La Reunion where he addressed 2,000-3,000 cheering supporters. Fans shouted "hip hip hip Hamon" as the 49-year-old made his pitch, notably concentrating on his pledge for a universal basic income. Hamon is looking nervously over his shoulder in the polls at Jean-Luc Melenchon -- a far-left candidate who appears poised to overtake him and move into fourth place. - Macron the patriot - For his part, Macron gave an impassioned speech in front of between 5,000-6,000 supporters in the famously multi-cultural city of Marseille and did not waste the opportunity to take a swipe at Le Pen. "I see Armenians, Italians, Algerians, Moroccans, Tunisians, Malians, Senegalese, Ivorians. And several other nationalities I haven't mentioned," said Macron. "But what am I seeing? The people of Marseille. What am I seeing? I see French people. French. People. Because they are proud. Proud to be French," he exclaimed. "Take a close look, people from the (far-right) National Front. That's what it means to be proud to be French." Macron described himself as a "patriot", a defender of a "strong France, open to Europe and the world." burs-ric/jm (Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Friday: RUSSIA AND THE U.S. ELECTION Trump backs a decision by his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, to seek immunity in congressional investigations of possible ties between his campaign and Russia, but there is no immediate sign the request will be granted. CHINA The Trump administration slams China on a range of trade issues from its chronic industrial overcapacity to forced technology transfers and longstanding bans on U.S. beef and electronic payment services. Beijing seeks to play down tensions with the United States and put on a positive face ahead of President Xi Jinping's first meeting with Trump next week. SUPREME COURT NOMINEE Senate Democrats step closer to having enough votes to block a confirmation vote on Trump's Supreme Court nominee with three more Democratic senators coming out against Neil Gorsuch for the lifetime job as a justice. TRADE Trump seeks to push his plan for fair trade and more manufacturing jobs back to the top of his agenda by ordering a study into the causes of U.S. trade deficits and a clampdown on import duty evasion. TAXES Trump has neither a clear White House tax plan nor adequate staff yet to see through a planned tax overhaul, according to interviews with people in the administration, in Congress and among U.S. tax experts. CONSUMER FINANCIAL WATCHDOG Democrats are trying to counter Trump's boldest move yet to defang the U.S. consumer financial watchdog, with 40 current and former lawmakers defending the agency in court. EPA The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's scientific integrity watchdog is reviewing whether EPA chief Scott Pruitt violated the agency's policies when he said in a television interview he does not believe carbon dioxide is driving global climate change, according to an email seen by Reuters. EGYPT Trump will seek to rebuild the U.S. relationship with Egypt at a meeting on Monday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi focused on security issues and military aid, a senior White House official says. JORDAN Trump will host Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House next week to discuss the fight against Islamic State militants, the Syria crisis and advancing peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the White House says. TRUMP UNIVERSITY A U.S. judge approves a $25 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit that claimed fraud against Trump and his Trump University real estate seminars. (Compiled by Jonathan Oatis; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Grant McCool) Madrid (AFP) - What began more than a century ago as one man's passion for all things Spanish, has become the world's largest collection of Hispanic art outside Spain -- and now part of it is going on display in the country for the first time. Masterpieces from the 18,000-work collection founded by American philanthropist Archer Milton Huntington go on display at Madrid's Prado Museum from Tuesday. The exhibit opens with a portrait of the collector himself, painted in the 1920s when he was in his 50s, wearing a thin moustache and reserved air that belied an obsession nourished since childhood for the literature and art of Spain and its imperial lands. The masterpieces on display range from paintings by Goya, Velazquez and Murillo, some restored by the Prado ahead of the show, to a "Pieta" by El Greco. One unique item harkens back to Spain's powerful empire days of global exploration: a map of the world made in Sevilla by Giovanni Vespucci -- nephew to explorer Amerigo Vespucci -- in 1526. Rich in detail, including a Tower of Babel in the Middle East to Spanish sailing ships on the seas, the document was used by the explorers heading across the Atlantic to the New World. The show features a total of more than 200 works from Huntington's Hispanic Society of America (HSA) museum collection in New York including paintings, sculpture, archaeological artifacts, decorative arts and rare manuscripts. "It's the first time such a sample of the collection is being displayed in Spain and even outside HSA. Several pieces have never before left the New York headquarters," HSA curator Mitchell Codding told a press briefing of the show. The exhibition "tells us about Huntington's personality -- his passion for Spain, its culture and language -- and what it tells us about ourselves," said Spaniard Miguel Falomir, the new director of the Prado. Huntington, a child of privilege born in 1870, travelled to Europe for the first time when he was 12, accompanying his mother, herself a collector, to museums. Story continues A trip to Mexico in 1889, and a subsequent trip to Spain in 1892, helped kindle the young New Yorker's lifelong passion for their arts. At the age of 30 Huntingon inherited a fortune from his father who had built ships and railroads. He used it to carry out his goal of building a museum of Hispanic culture, which opened to the public in Manhattan in 1908. He died in 1955. Unusually for his era, Huntington appreciated the rich Islamic heritage of Spain, and even learned Arabic, Falomir said. A highly rare example of this interest is a luxurious silk from the Alhambra palace in Granada dating to around 1400. But his collection also features masterful religious works made at the height of Spain's imperial power, including a 15h-century wooden saint's statue. The exhibition, which runs through September 10 at the Prado, is also expected to go on tour in the United States. The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group said Thursday that it killed ISIS propaganda chief, Ibrahim Al-Ansari, along with his four associates in an airstrike in al Qaim, an Iraqi town located nearly 250 miles northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border. Ansari was an important ISIS leader, said Col. Joseph Scrocca, a spokesman for the Baghdad-based coalition, according to Arab News. The airstrike took place on March 25, Scrocca said. The strike also destroyed a multimedia operation team, another Defense Department official said, on condition of anonymity. The propaganda of Ansari and those who were killed included "brainwashing of young children to perpetuate ISIS brutal methods, the source said, Arab News reported. Read: ISIS Leader Escapes Mosul, US And Iraqi Army Reports Ansaris propaganda encouraged ISIS followers to conduct knife attacks, vehicle attacks and arson attacks against American and other Western citizens, Scrocca said, according to CBC News. This strike will disrupt ISISs ability to create propaganda propaganda to [incite] terror into the region as well as in our homeland, and has struck communications between other ISIS members." Even as U.S.-led special forces and planes, along with Iraqi forces and local Syria militia groups succeed in recapturing ISIS remaining strongholds in Iraq and Syria, the tracking of the extremist group's leader is still a major question. Reports had surfaced earlier this month that Baghdadi had fled Mosul, Iraq, and has been cut off from day-to-day command of his fighters. But what still worries the U.S. forces is whether Baghdadi will repeat what the late al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden had done -- hide out for years even after his group's last known strongholds had fallen. Speculations are rife whether the ISIS leader will be able to function alone with major leaders of his group gradually being killed. Nearly all of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadis deputies are now dead, including the mastermind behind the attacks in Brussels, Paris and elsewhere, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the ministers from the 68-nation U.S.-led coalition on March 22, according to Gulf News. Story continues Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a television channel last month that Baghdadi has few trusted aides left with so many senior leaders killed in coalition airstrikes. Hes almost alone at the moment. He doesnt have many people to trust. He is in isolation, were monitoring his movements, Abadi said, according to the Telegraph. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Abdel Amir Yarallah, the commander of operations of the Mosul offensive "We are Coming, Nineveh" that began October last year, said last week that Baghdadi is likely to be hiding at al-Jazeera area, close to the Syrian borders, according to Iraqi News. Related Articles Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner have held onto investments potentially worth $740 million while working government jobs, one of the revelations from newly released ethics filings raising questions about possible conflicts of interest. The disclosures about their real estate and business holdings came in a mass document release by the White House late Friday showing the possibly unprecedented wealth and financial assets of scores of senior staff members at the time they began government work. The documents show that 27 officials in the Trump White House had combined assets worth at least $2.3 billion when they joined the administration, according to a Washington Post analysis. The Trump administration was already considered one of the wealthiest in US history -- Bloomberg estimates his cabinet and senior staff are worth some $12 billion. Ivanka Trump's stake in the Trump International Hotel -- located blocks from the White House, and leased by Trump from the federal government in 2013 -- is one source of income that could represent a conflict of interest. Critics have noted that interest groups and foreign governments could stay at the luxury hotel as a way of courting favor with the administration. Although Trump has said he will donate proceeds from foreign governmental visitors to the US Treasury, it is unclear whether he has yet done so. The White House documents show that Kushner and Ivanka Trump, both officially senior advisers to the president, are still receiving income from holdings valued at between $240 million and $740 million. Ivanka Trump -- who just days ago announced she would officially enter a federal role as an unpaid adviser to the president -- will hang on to her stake in the Trump International Hotel. The hotel stake is worth $5 million to $25 million, according to her husband's disclosure. She made between $1 million and $5 million in rent or royalties from the hotel between January 2016 and March 2017, the documents showed. Story continues Kushner was recently tapped by his Republican father-in-law to lead a new White House office that aims to use business ideas to help streamline the government, according to The Washington Post. The 36-year-old is a senior adviser to Trump with far-reaching influence over domestic and foreign policy. He left high-level positions at more than 200 entities related to his family's real estate business, according to the documents, but will continue to reap benefits from many holdings connected to the business empire he ran with his father. While the billionaire Trump had campaigned as a champion of ordinary working-class Americans, the White House on Friday said the wealth of his advisers was a mark of their abilities. Trump advisers had been "very blessed and very successful by this country and have given up a lot to come into the government by setting aside a lot of assets," said White House spokesman Sean Spicer, whose own worth was estimated at $2.9 million to $6.6 million. However, the disclosures may make it harder for the administration to defend severe cuts to some programs affecting ordinary, low-wage Americans. - Bannon, Cohn assets - The White House disclosures included information about the assets of Gary Cohn -- the former president of Goldman Sachs who heads the White House National Economic Council -- and Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's chief strategist. Cohn reported assets of between $253 and $611 million, and income last year of up to $77 million. Bannon's most important asset is his private consulting firm, valued at between $5 million and $25 million. He also owns rental real estate valued at up to $10.5 million and has up to $2.25 million in the bank. Bannon reported $191,000 in consulting fees earned from the conservative outlet Breitbart News Network, which he formerly headed, as well as more than $125,000 for work at the data firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for the Trump campaign, and more than $61,000 in salary from a conservative nonprofit group. Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway had assets worth up to $39 million, the Post said. - No Trump divestment - Since his election, Donald Trump's vast business empire has been scrutinized by ethics experts who say it poses major conflicts of interest. Before taking office in January, Trump said he would formally hand "complete and total" control of his business empire to his adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, in a bid to avoid conflicts of interest -- but that he would not divest from his holdings. The Trump Organization, whose network of hotels, golf clubs and luxury residential towers stretches across 20 countries, is not listed on the stock market, and therefore releases no public statistics. Trump has refused to release his tax returns so far, meaning little is known about the extent of the company's interests. Donald Jr., 38, and Eric, 32, are currently executive vice presidents in the Trump Organization. Despite U.S. President Donald Trump's constant tweets criticizing China and also his recent comment Thursday prior to his meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping, his daughter Ivanka Trump has been publicly affectionate towards the Chinese and has also shown regard toward their culture. Once appointed to the White House, she might soon become a major influence on bilateral ties between the two countries. The Chinese president will travel to the U.S. next week for his first face to face meeting with Trump at the U.S. president's country club in Florida, Mar-a-lago, from April 6 to 7. However, prior to the official announcement of the trip, Trump took to Twitter and criticized China for its trade balance with America, according to the Guardian. "The meeting next week with China will be a very difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses," Trump wrote in his tweets. Trump had also rebuked Chinese leaders earlier this month before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit to Beijing. According to South China Morning Post, Chinese analysts have said that Ivanka has tried to maintain cordial relations with China and thus played a major role in helping combat her father's rather critical approach towards the country. Earlier last month, Ivanka visited Beijings embassy in Washington D.C. during the Lunar New Year celebrations on Feb. 1. The first daughter visited the ceremony with her daughter Arabella Kushner. Photos and videos of the celebrations were posted on Chinese social media and the term #TrumpsDaughterVisitsChinasEmbassy in Chinese was one of the topmost searched phrases on one of their micro blogging site named "Weibo." The celebration was hosted by the Chinese ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai. One Weibo user commented that in spite her father's lack of wishes she attended the celebrations, according to the Wall Street Journal. Story continues "Trumps daughter visits Chinas embassy and wishes China a happy New Year! The daughter understands more than the father," the Weibo user said. Recently Ivanka also posted a picture while celebrating her son Theodore Kushner's birthday on Monday by sharing Chinese "long life" noodles and captioned the photo saying "Birthday tradition! #noodlesforlonglife." Chinese analysts also said that Ivanka's ways of dealing with the Chinese culture and its people has turned out to be quite effective. "Ivanka Trump has quite a positive image among Chinese. She caters to the emotional needs that the Chinese people have due to the uncertainties of the Sino-U.S. diplomatic relationship," Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of American Studies, told South China Morning Post. Fudan University international relations Professor Ren Xiao also said that Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner's official appointment at the White House could benefit ties between the United States and China. "Donald Trump obviously trusts his daughter and his son-in-law a lot," Ren said. "The couple is likely to recommend a more respectful and careful approach when dealing with China." Related Articles Mito (Japan) (AFP) - Japan's cherry blossom season kicks off boozy parties across the country and draws tourists from far and wide, but the annual coming-of-spring ritual isn't official until inspectors like Hisato Nishii sign off on it. Over the past few weeks, local weather offices have been sending civil servants like Nishii out to so-called barometer trees that signal when sakura -- cherry blossom in Japanese -- have bloomed. It's no small matter. Millions of Japanese celebrate the explosion of white and pink flowers heralding the change of season, with the Tokyo area expected to hit full bloom this week. Parks are full, restaurants are packed, and companies get in on the action with sakura-branded merchandise, from pink beer cans to flower-motif candy. The festivities come at a time when Japan kicks off a new business year, many university graduates start their first full-time jobs, and older colleagues shift into new positions. The very short season -- full blooms only last about a week before the petals start falling off trees -- has long been cast as a symbol of the fragility of life in Japanese art and literature. "Sakura have soaked into Japanese peoples minds because they come at a time when many are starting a new chapter in their life," Nishii said, as he inspected a barometer tree in Mito city, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Tokyo. "They capture people's hearts because they bloom only for a short period of time." - 'We drink because it's spring' - Blooms in a particular area -- they start as early as March in southern Kyushu and as late as May in northernmost Hokkaido -- are official when a half dozen or more flowers blossom on a barometer tree. Inspectors initially come once a day, but once the buds start swelling up, the visits increase to twice daily, Nishii said. The location of a sample tree is a tightly guarded secret to prevent pranks. "We carefully observe them so as not to miss any open buds and once we confirm it, we officially announce the blossom season's start," he said. Story continues The Japan Meteorological Agency has been monitoring cherry blossoms since 1953, but timing the blooms is still far from an exact science. A big rainfall can wash out the delicate flowers while a cold weather snap sometimes delays their appearance. It's a nail-biting experience for some, including many tourists who book travel around the expected times for a full bloom when trees are covered in a blanket of flowers. Parks in Tokyo have already been filling up as friends, families and colleagues stake out choice spots, laying plastic tarps on the grass as they start hours-long parties under the pretty-in-pink trees. Yusuke Kinoshita was one of thousands of locals and tourists who gathered in Ueno Park, one of the capital's most popular sakura viewing spots, even before the blooms started. "I've been drinking since 10 this morning," the 39-year-old hotel worker said one recent weekday afternoon after his shift, noting that his boss would be joining the boozy party later on. "It's the Japanese way for the most junior colleagues to stake out a spot and get the party going once the boss comes. "We drink because its sakura season," he added. "We drink because it's spring." The biggest heavyweight fight of 2017 is less than one month away when Anthony Joshua faces Wladimir Klitschko for the vacant WBA (Super) and IBO heavyweight titles at Wembley Stadium in London. Joshua and Klitschko will be fighting in front of roughly 90,000 supporters, with most expected to be pulling for Joshua. Joshua, who gained international attention for being a British-born gold medalist at the 2012 Olympics in London, is undefeated and looks poised to hold off the veteran Ukranian with his countrymen cheering him on in the iconic stadium. The 27-year-old only has 18 fights on his resume, with all victories coming by knockout. But the problem with Joshua's professional career is that most of his wins have been against weak competition. Klitschko, 41, appeared to have won what was a painfully dull bout with Tyson Fury in November 2015, but the scorecards favored Fury in what turned out to be the famed champion's first loss in over 10 years. With the extended layoff and after the uninspired effort against Fury, there might be questions as to whether Klitschko can still compete at a high level at his age. Waiting in the distance is Deontay Wilder, who could face the winner near the end of the year. The bruising American is 38-0 and coming off a fifth-round technical knockout in February over Gerald Washington, but was previously denied a big payday when his fight with Alexander Povetkin was canceled after the Russian tested positive for the banned substance meldonium. Wilder showed that he his still rather raw with windmill swings against Washington, but still wants to fight the highly polished Povetkin, who is still a serious contender with his 30-1 record. In a very weak division, Wilder has done slightly better against relatively decent competition. Wilder has defeated Artur Szpilka, Johann Duhaupas, Eric Molina, as well as Bermane Stiverne. The four boxers had a combined career record of 101-7-1 entering their fights with Wilder. What's interesting is what will happen in 2017 with some of the lesser-known heavyweights, who have somewhat weak competition awaiting them. Luis Ortiz (27-0) of Cuba faces Derric Rossy, while Joseph Parker (22-0) of New Zealand has a chance to climb in the field with a May bout with Hughie Fury, the cousin of Tyson Fury. Bulgaria Kubrat Pulev (24-1), whose only loss came against Klitschko, will face journeyman Kevin Johnson on April 28. 73 govt staff have PR, citizenship of foreign countries Seventy three civil servants have been found to be holding permanent residency (PR) or citizenship of foreign countries, according to a report of the Ministry of General Administration (MoGA). New York (AFP) - If it weren't for his blond hair and blue eyes, Justus Rosenberg may have never lived to tell the tale of his little-known role in helping hundreds of artists and other intellectuals escape Nazi-occupied France. The journey of this man -- who still teaches at Bard College in upstate New York at age 96 after a decades-long professorial career -- is a fascinating one that landed him France's highest honor this week. Rosenberg is believed to be the last surviving member of an anti-fascist smuggling network set up by Varian Fry, a journalist dubbed America's Schindler. Fry headed to the southern French city of Marseille in 1940 with just $3,000 and a list of about 200 people to try to save. In the end, he shepherded to safety about 2,000 people via the American-sponsored Emergency Rescue Committee, including artists Marc Chagall, Andre Breton and Max Ernst. Rosenberg, who was just 19 at the time but looked younger and sported stereotypically "Aryan" features despite his Polish Jewish background, was the perfect courier for Fry's network. He delivered messages to refugees and searched for possible routes for safe passage, including through Spain. Rosenberg later served with the French Resistance and the US Army. Through his wartime actions and his continued fight against hate today, Rosenberg is a "living reminder of where history can take us if we lose our vigilance as informed and engaged citizens," French Ambassador Gerard Araud said Thursday in handing him the Legion of Honor in New York. - 'Very selective' - But this short, grey-bearded man doesn't portray himself as a hero. "It really was more of an adventure at the time. It was very romantic," Rosenberg told AFP in a recent interview, his eyes shining brightly as he spoke in French. "Afterwards, yes, I realized. But I did always wonder, why were we only helping the intellectuals, why not ordinary people too? Don't they also have the right to live? It was very selective." Story continues He arrived in France after leaving his hometown, the Free City of Danzig, now known as Gdansk, in Poland. A top student, he was excluded from his school by anti-Jewish laws, so his parents sent him to Paris in 1937 to complete his studies. After passing his high school exam, Rosenberg attended Paris-Sorbonne University, "falling in love" with the French language after seeing a performance of Jean Racine's play "Phedre." When World War II broke out, he was suddenly cut off from his family, and penniless. He picked up various odd jobs, including a role in a play adaptation of Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days." Rosenberg had just one line: "Liverpool bound!" - Escaping death, many times - Fry was expelled in 1941 by the collaborationist Vichy regime. Receiving a hostile welcome upon his return to New York, his role in the refugee network long remained in the shadows and he died largely unknown in 1967. With Fry out of France, Rosenberg joined the French Resistance in Grenoble. But the Vichy regime toughened its anti-Jewish laws. In August 1942, Rosenberg was arrested and interned at the Venissieux camp, which sent some of the first convoys to the Auschwitz concentration camp. But Rosenberg faked a peritonitis just two days before his transport was due to leave, and managed to escape with help from a camp nurse. He found refuge in a farmer's house in the southeastern town of Montmeyran, where he relaunched his clandestine activities with the assumed name of Jean-Paul Guiton. "I've never forgotten those two women, who risked their own freedom by helping me," Rosenberg said. And that's just one of the many narrow escapes that helped keep the young Jewish man alive during the Holocaust. In 1944, he met some of the first American soldiers to arrive in France after the Normandy landings. They took him on as a guide and translator. The men played a joke on Rosenberg one day, taking off in their Jeep without him. Rosenberg jumped in the back. The vehicle then rolled over a land mine, killing the man in the passenger seat. Rosenberg escaped with minor injuries. - Age is but a number - Upon his arrival in the United States, in 1946, Rosenberg returned to his love of literature and languages -- he is fluent in English, French, German, Russian, Polish and Yiddish. After several teaching stints elsewhere, he joined Bard College in New York state's Hudson Valley in 1962. Today, he still deciphers texts by the likes of Franz Kafka and Guy de Maupassant, mixing literary analysis with history. In 2011, he founded with his wife the Justus and Karin Rosenberg Foundation, whose stated mission is to fight hatred and anti-Semitism. A hearing aid and a walking cane are the only indications of his advanced age. Rosenberg's secrets to longevity are numerous -- "luck," his fluency in French that saved him during the Occupation, family "genes" that he says also helped his parents and his sister escape the Holocaust and migrate to Israel. He also cited his "late marriage," because "after the war, I had to catch up," Rosenberg whispered with a smile. Rosenberg says he sees no parallel between the 1930s and the current, toxic political climate in the United States. "But I wouldn't mind coming back here in 30 years to see how the world has evolved," he said, with a laugh. Nairobi (AFP) - Kenya's police chief Saturday ordered an investigation after a video circulated on social media showing a police officer killing a disarmed man in cold blood in front of a crowd of onlookers in Nairobi. "I have ordered thorough investigations on the shooting incident that occurred in Eastleigh," a majority Somali neighbourhood in the Kenyan capital, Inspector General Joseph Boinnet told Capital FM News. "I have seen the video and I condemn those actions. Investigations have already started and I can assure you action will be taken against officers involved," he said. Amateur mobile phone footage first shows one man lying lifeless in a pool of blood having been shot shortly before by police. At his side, two plain-clothes policemen are holding and questioning another young man. Then one of the officers fires several rounds at point-blank range at the suspect. The officer is seen delivering a final shot to the head of the injured and bleeding man. The incident has again raised concerns about police abuse in Kenya and outrage at the apparent "brazen execution of two young men", said the Law Society of Kenya. "The scene is chilling and a frightening reminder that there are elements of the security forces who murder Kenyan citizens without hesitation and in violation of all laws," said Isaac Okero, the society's president. "Even if they were criminal suspects, whatever the nature of their alleged offences or criminal activities, those young men were entitled to due process," Okero added. - 'Enforced disappearance' - Police say they were pursuing two men in their 20s as suspected members of the notorious Superpower gang and caught up with them outside a shopping mall. "These boys have given us sleepless nights because they commit robberies and kill, then they relocate and resurface," a policeman with knowledge of the gang who requested anonymity told AFP. Story continues He also alleged the two were involved in the deaths of several police officers, leading to the manhunt. The Kenyan lawyers group called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the officers shown in the video, denouncing what it called "the culture of extrajudicial executions that is now so evidently entrenched in the national police service." Rights groups have previously raised concern about alleged abuse by Kenya's police and security services. A Human Rights Watch report last July documented "enforced disappearances" and "extrajudicial killings" of men suspected of links to Islamist extremists by security forces in the country's northeast. That same month, four Kenyan policemen were charged over the high-profile murders of a human rights lawyer and two others -- another case that sparked outrage. Kenya's police force has been accused in the past of running hit squads targeting those investigating allegations of police abuse. Katie Martin / The Atlantic In this weeks Atlantic coverage, our writers explored the rise of faith-based therapy, the partisan battle over for-profit schools, Germanys surprising anti-drug program, new research on a tiny fanged fish, what automation means for human jobs, and more. Can you remember the key facts? Find the answers to this weeks questions in the articles linked aboveor go ahead and test your memory now: For more tricky questions and surprising facts, try last weeks quiz, and subscribe to our daily newsletter. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. LAS VEGAS (AP) The Las Vegas public transportation system is investigating how it uses surveillance video and vehicle advertisements, a week after a fatal shooting and barricade situation on a public bus shut down the Strip hotel-casino district for hours. Angela Castro, spokeswoman for the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, said in a statement Saturday that the agency is working with Las Vegas police to examine those issues from the March 25 incident. Police said Rolando Cardenas, 55, fatally shot one man and wounded another on the double-decker bus in front of the Cosmopolitan hotel-casino before barricading himself inside for more than four hours. Cardenas now faces murder, attempted murder, battery and firearm charges. His lawyer has already raised mental competency as a possible defense in the case. Gary Breitling, 57, of Sidney, Montana, was shot in the chest and soon died at a nearby hospital. The other man hurt was treated and released. Police said Cardenas was sitting in the back on the second level of the bus traveling on Las Vegas Boulevard when he opened fire. All those aboard were able to flee. But during the barricade, authorities were uncertain if there were any victims held hostage and struggled to get a good view of the suspect inside. "Based on the shooting on (the) Las Vegas Strip, we are currently working with law enforcement and our transit contractors to hopefully resolve the issues that reduced law enforcement's ability to see inside the bus," Castro said. The bus on one side, including the windows, was covered in a white vinyl film that advertised for the local outlet shopping mall. The transit agency is searching for an alternative material to improve visibility from the outside, Castro said. Officials are also looking into adding live access to its video monitors. The public buses have multiple surveillance cameras. But they now only tape from inside the bus for later review, without the capability to offer real-time views. Story continues Vegas police officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment Saturday. Officer Larry Hadfield, a spokesman for the department, declined to discuss the specific issues with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which first reported the transit agency's plans. He told the paper: "There were issues, but our officers deal with issues they run into, whether it's a brick wall or a glass window." On the day of the shooting, there were eight transit security officers on duty along the tourism corridor. The transit agency budgets $8 million annually for security, Castro said. "The safety and security of our transit riders, contractors and staff is our utmost priority. We remain committed to providing a safe and reliable transit experience," she said. ___ Follow Sally Ho at twitter.com/_sallyho and https://apnews.com/search/Sally%20Ho . SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The Latest on a Mormon conference in Salt Lake City(all times local): 3:15 p.m. A top Mormon leader says there's room in the faith for people of different "sexual attractions" if they love God and honor his commandments. Jeffrey Holland's brief remark during a speech about inclusivity Saturday at a Mormon conference marks the latest attempt by the faith to foster a climate of empathy for gays and lesbians while the religion still clings to fundamental doctrinal beliefs that homosexuality activity is a sin. He said there's room in the faith for all types of people, including from different cultures; those from different family structures; and those questioning their faith. Holland also encouraged church members to embrace their uniqueness and forget trying to conform to unrealistic stereotypes idealized by social media. Holland is a long-time member of a top governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This weekend's conference is broadcast online to church members around the world. ___ 2:45 p.m. Mormon church leaders say worldwide membership has reached 15.88 million. Church officials announced the new figure Saturday during a church conference in Salt Lake City while presenting updated membership figures through the end of 2016. The number of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is significantly less than other religious denominations such as Catholics, 1.2 billion worldwide, and Muslims, 1.6 billion. But the Mormon religion is also much younger than those religions, having been founded in 1830. Church membership has tripled since 1982, when there were 5 million members. Membership has grown by about 2 percent each of the past nine years. The figures also show that the average number of people converted per missionary remained at about 3.4 for the fourth consecutive year. That's down from an average of five per missionary the previous decade. Story continues ____ 11:45 a.m. A high-ranking Mormon leader is cautioning church members not to be judgmental. Dale Renlund told a worldwide audience Saturday during a twice-yearly Mormon conference in Salt Lake City that church members must guard against bigotry that sometimes occurs when people fail to respect the religious beliefs of others. Renlund says Mormons have historically endured hatred and bigotry and must not persecute anyone inside or outside the church. Renlund is one of the newest members of a top governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This weekend's conference is broadcast online to church members around the world. Earlier Saturday, Mormon leader Henry Eyring spoke about the importance of performing ceremonial baptisms on deceased ancestors who didn't receive the ordinance while alive. ___ 11 a.m. A top Mormon leader is reminding church members about the importance of performing ceremonial baptisms for deceased ancestors who didn't receive the ordinance while alive. Henry Eyring told a worldwide audience Saturday during a twice-yearly Mormon conference that God wants all his children "home again" and encouraged members to use the religion's massive genealogical database to trace their ancestral roots. Eyring is a member of a top governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Mormons believe the baptism ritual allows deceased people a way to the afterlife if they choose to accept it. The belief that families are sealed for eternity is one of the core tenets of the faith. But the practice offends members of some other religions, especially Jews, who became upset years ago when they discovered attempts by Mormons to alter the religion of Holocaust victims. They included Anne Frank, a Jewish teenager forced into hiding in Amsterdam during the Holocaust and killed in a concentration camp The conference this weekend in Salt Lake City is broadcast online to church members around the world. ___ 1 a.m. Mormons will hear guidance and inspiration from the religion's top leaders during a church conference this weekend in Salt Lake City as well as getting an update about church membership statistics. Updated figures for total worldwide members and new converts are among the stats released during the Saturday afternoon session of the spring conference. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is approaching 16 million members. Matt Martinich, an independent Mormon researcher, says he's eager to find out how many new members were converted by missionaries last year. Church figures show the average number of people converted per missionary has been on the decline in recent years. An explosion Friday rocked Pakistans northwestern city of Parachinar killing at least 22 people and injuring over dozens, according to local officials. The blast occurred near a mosque in the Shia-dominated area of the city, reports said. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of Pakistans Taliban militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press. The group was also part of the series of attacks that occurred throughout Pakistan last month, including the Lahore suicide attack that killed 14 people. Sajid Hussain, a politician from Parachinar, said gunfire led up to the blast, which he called a suicide attack. "The attack took place in a busy area and a women's mosque appears to be the target," Hussain said, according to Reuters. Ambulances and emergency personnel were dispatched to the area. Mumtaz Hussain, a doctor at the Agency Headquarters Hospital in the area, told Reuters five bodies, including that of a woman and two children, and dozens of injured people were brought to the hospital. "Patients are being brought to us in private cars and ambulances and we have received over three dozen patients so far," Hussain told the news agency. Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack saying the government would keep up efforts to "eliminate the menace of terrorism." "The network of terrorists has already been broken and it is our national duty to continue this war until the complete annihilation of the scourge of terrorism from our soil," Sharif said in a statement. Following the blast, some residents and local Shiite leaders took to the streets to criticize security forces and the government. A key city in the Kurram tribal region bordering Afghanistan, Parachinar has been plagued by sectarian violence. The region was the bastion of Taliban and other Sunni militant groups and Pakistans army has said the insurgents were cleared from the area. Related Articles The battle to fully recapture Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) is in its final stages and it is rapidly intensifying. On March 17, 200 civilians were killed in airstrikes on western Mosul mounted by the US and the Operation Inherent Resolve coalition. Lt Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of Operation Inherent Resolve, suggested that the US might be directly responsible for the deaths: because we struck in that area, I think theres a fair chance that we did it. This is the latest in a series of incidents involving collateral damage. Townsend suggested that the fighting in Iraqs second city is probably the toughest and most brutal close-quarters combat that I have experienced in my 35 years of service. The battle for Mosul has put thousands of civilians in the crossfire. The people of Mosul have endured hell under IS rule, some now being used them as human shields in a clear breach of international law. As one told the BBC: People who didnt support Daesh [IS], or pay allegiance to them, or who carried a mobile phone, were hanged all day at traffic lights then killed and burned. They hanged them also on bridges for a month or two until you could see their bones. Now the battle has moved into Mosuls Old City and the area around the Grand Mosque of al-Nuri, and IS is being forced back street by street. But the fighting in these densely populated areas is ferocious, and few of its residents are able to leave. This all only increases the pressure on Iraq and its allies to liberate the city The way the IS threat is ultimately defused will have serious implications for both Iraq and the Middle East at large. When it comes, the liberation of Mosul will be met with great acclaim but only then will the most difficult challenges begin. As Iraq has learned before, winning the war is the easy part winning the peace is far harder. Falling apart Recent history has divided Iraq along sectarian lines that long predate IS. After the Arab uprisings of 2011, relationships between regimes and societies across the Middle East and North Africa became increasingly fractious. All over the region, the structures that kept governance in place began to fall apart and, in a number of cases, sovereign states themselves began to fragment. Ideas of authority and citizenship, both vitally important to keeping divided societies together, suddenly came into question. Story continues The violence that flares up along Iraqs divisions often descends into a back-and-forth of reciprocal brutality take the 2014 Speicher massacre, where 1,700 army cadets were killed by IS close to Tikrit. When the cadets bodies were found in 2015, the Iraqi state executed 36 men convicted of the massacre. And now, the Popular Mobilisation Forces who have entered Mosul are extracting their own violent vengeance. In many parts of the country, revenge attacks on those who are believed to have been complicit in IS rule in Mosul are commonplace, while those whose family members were involved with the group are increasingly marginalised. The government in Baghdad will want to ensure that the spaces left over from IS governance are filled. But IS gained a great deal of popular support as a consequence of this sectarian violence and the perception that nobody has been speaking for the countrys Sunnis, much less protecting them. Baghdad must ensure that policies are driven by a desire to improve Iraq, not to privilege one group over another. After all, the main responsibility of any state is to protect its citizens but after years spent struggling to keep a lid on things, the Iraqi state seems almost at a loss. On the line Western Mosul may be close to liberation, but conditions in parts of Iraq are deteriorating and the collateral damage is abhorrent. Millions of people in Iraq have been displaced, along with many more made refugees by the war in Syria. As an Amnesty report documents, many have fled with little more than the clothes on their backs, setting off at night to avoid detection and walking for hours along treacherous paths. Even when IS is defeated in Mosul which it will be it wont be finished. Instead, it will change its tactics into more of an insurgency-style operation, much as it did after the fall of Fallujah. The gaps that IS currently fills will suddenly be opened up and a plethora of different actors will compete to fill them. Kurdish groups are already thriving the Kirkuk provincial government has voted to fly the Kurdish flag on all government building in the province, much to the chagrin of the Baghdad government. Iraqis are all too aware that violence begets violence and marginalisation begets marginalisation. This is why its so critically important that the forces arrayed get Mosul right. As Stephen Royle and I have written, to stop extremist groups from taking hold again Iraqs civilian and military leaders need to create stable, equitable conditions that foster pluralism and inclusivity. At stake is nothing less than the future of Iraq itself. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The Conversation Simon Mabon 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. A Texas driver who allegedly crashed into a church bus killing 13 senior citizens was texting, according to a witness. Jody Kuchler, 55, told the Associated Press he was driving behind the white pickup truck that was swerving erratically on Wednesday before the crash occurred. Read: 12 Dead in Head-On Crash of Church Bus Carrying Senior Citizens from Bible Retreat Kuchler, who said he followed the truck for 15 minutes, told reporters that he then witnessed the crash and was able to speak to the driver, 20-year-old Jack Dillon Young. He said, Im sorry, Im sorry. I was texting. I said, Son, do you know what you just did? He said, Im sorry Im sorry, Kuchler told the Associated Press. Kuchler placed 911 calls to police before the incident where you can hear him telling authorities, somebody needs to get this guy off the road before he hits somebody. He also told police that Young was driving around 80 mph. Police declined to say whether the cause of the crash involved texting, but officials have said the truck driver appeared to have crossed the center line. Highway 83 in Uvalde County was closed for several hours after the crash. Twelve passengers, who were a part of the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels, Texas, died at the scene while another passenger died at San Antonio Hospital, according to reports. Read: Teen's Family Gets Bill to Repair Damage to Guardrail She Damaged in Fatal Car Crash The church members were reportedly returning from a three-day retreat about 9 miles from where the crash occurred. Young remains hospitalized after the deadly crash. Watch: 13 People Dead and 31 Injured in One of California's Deadliest Highway Crashes Related Articles: Gilbert Baker, the man who created the iconic rainbow pride flag that became a symbol for the LGBTQ community, died Thursday at the age of 65. Bakers passing was announced by activist and writer Cleve Jones, although the cause of his death wasnt immediately known. My dearest friend in the world is gone, Jones wrote in a post on Facebook. Gilbert gave the world the Rainbow Flag; he gave me forty years of love and friendship. I cant stop crying. I love you forever Gilbert Baker. Baker served in the U.S. army for two years in the 1970s before getting honorably discharged. Originally from Kansas, he moved to San Francisco as the gay rights movement was starting to sweep the state. Using his newfound skill of sewing, he turned out numerous banners for gay and anti-war protests for his friend Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California. One of those hand-sewn creations was a rainbow flag, which Milk first used at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978 - months before Milk was assassinated in November. Baker wrote on his website that Milk was an inspiration to his work and filled it with a message of hope. Twitter was filled with tributes that honored Bakers life from LGBTQ organizations, politicians and celebrities. Rest in peace Gilbert Baker creator of the rainbow flag. A perfect symbol for unity and pride. pic.twitter.com/VDag5KEv6Z - Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) March 31, 2017 Rest in pride #gilbertbaker thank you for creating a symbol for our safe place pic.twitter.com/GpnFlY7pLE - Safe Zone (@LGBTQRelate) April 1, 2017 Raise your rainbow flags high today in honor of its creator, Gilbert Baker #RIP pic.twitter.com/20IDvKKajL - Dana Piccoli (@DanaPiccoli) March 31, 2017 Thank you #GilbertBaker for creating a unifying symbol for our community. You will be sorely missed. #RestInPride pic.twitter.com/QImeM9LQTm - OutServe-SLDN (@OutServeSLDN) March 31, 2017 The GLBT Historical Society also requested that rainbow flags worldwide be flown at half-mast to remember Baker. This article was originally published on TIME.com A Thamel state of mind In many ways, Thamel has come a full-circle at the 1,000-year-old Bhagwan Bahal (Bikramashila Mahabihar). TOKYO (AP) Organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have begun collecting discarded electronic devices that will be used in the production of the medals to be awarded to athletes. Japanese Olympic swimmer Takeshi Matsuda and Paralympian Takuro Yamada attended a ceremony in downtown Tokyo on Saturday to kick off the campaign. "It's a great project that turns your old unused phones into athletes' treasured medals," said four-time Olympic swimming medalist Matsuda. "I'm glad that by participating in this project, anyone can take part in the Games." The organizing committee aims to collect eight tons of raw metal which will yield around two tons of pure metal, enough to produce 5,000 medals for the Tokyo Games. Citizens are being asked to donate unwanted and obsolete electronic devices including smartphones, digital cameras and laptops. Collection boxes have been set up throughout the country. The collection will end in the spring of 2019 or as soon as the eight-ton target is reached. Johannesburg (AFP) - A memorial service Saturday for anti-apartheid icon Ahmed Kathrada was transformed into a fierce attack on South African President Jacob Zuma, under fire after a controversial cabinet reshuffle. Party veterans of the ruling ANC, sacked finance minister Pravin Gordhan and Kathrada's widow lined up to criticise the state of the country as the crowd shouted "Zuma must go." Zuma sacked Gordhan and several other ministers on Thursday in a shock move that sent the rand currency tumbling amid fears of a political crisis in South Africa. In a rousing speech, the sacked minister told a cheering crowd packed into the Johannesburg city hall that the country was in a "mini crisis." "Comrade Kathy leaves us at a time when the ANC or the democratic government and indeed our society finds itself in a mini crisis," said Gordhan, without mentioning Zuma directly by name. "The problems are very clear. And who is the problem and what is the problem is very clear as well," he said prompting another round of "Zuma must go" chants from the crowd. Some people attending the service brandished posters reading: "Zuma worst President of South Africa." - Worst president - Kathrada, who was jailed alongside Mandela on Robben Island, died on Tuesday in a Johannesburg hospital after a short illness following brain surgery. His funeral on Wednesday also turned into an anti-Zuma rally as speakers drew attention to the growing discontent within the ANC. Kathrada had once called on Zuma to resign as president following a damning court ruling in 2016 that he had violated the constitution. His family barred Zuma from attending his funeral. The event in honour of the ANC stalwart -- who is described as part of the "golden generation" of freedom fighters -- was supposed to be an official government memorial, before authorities postponed it on Friday, without giving a reason. Story continues Gordhan described the postponement as "petty and spiteful". Kathrada's widow, Barbara Hogan, also took to the podium, hitting out at Zuma for axing Gordhan, whom she described as "one of our finest finance ministers." "If you had ears to hear and eyes to see, you would have not appointed four finance ministers in less than three years," she said referring to changes in the finance ministry. Hogan urged Zuma "to step down" as her husband had demanded. Three members of the ANC top body, including Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa have rejected Zuma's reshuffle. Washington (AFP) - Bill O'Reilly, a star Fox News commentator, has been accused of harassment by at least five women associated with the network, resulting in multi-million dollar payouts, The New York Times reported Saturday. It said the company and O'Reilly had paid the five women a total of $13 million in the cases that span 15 years, in exchange for their silence and agreeing not to pursue litigation against Fox News, a favorite among conservatives. While two of the cases were previously known, the Times said it had unearthed three more cases of harassment, two of a sexual nature and one alleging verbally abusive behavior by O'Reilly. The five women either worked for or made appearances on his program, "The O'Reilly Factor," or were staffers on other Fox programs, according to the Times report. The women mostly accused O'Reilly of using his powerful position at Fox to pressure them for sexual favors. The most recent settlement was last year, the Times said. In a carefully worded statement posted on his website, O'Reilly did not actually deny any of the allegations, but said his prominence made him "vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity." He noted that "in my more than 20 years at Fox News Channel, no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline." O'Reilly, who is 67, is one of the most prominent faces on American television. "The O'Reilly Factor" was the most-watched cable news program of the first quarter of 2017, attracting an average of more than 3.9 million viewers. The Times story comes less than a year after Roger Ailes resigned as the Fox News chief executive following accusations from several women that he had sexually harassed them. In November, then Fox anchor Megyn Kelly described similar encounters, which Ailes denied. Fox News declined to comment beyond O'Reilly's statement and a statement provided to the New York Times by the network's parent company, 21st Century Fox. "21st Century Fox takes matters of workplace behavior very seriously," it said. "We have looked into these matters over the last few months and discussed them with Mr. O'Reilly. While he denies the merits of these claims, Mr. O'Reilly has resolved those he regarded as his personal responsibility." (Reuters) - Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is confident the Premier League club will be doing "interesting" business during the next transfer window while acknowledging that he may not get all his first-choice targets. United have been linked by the British media with a host of big-name players, including Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann and Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko. "I'm sure, at the end of the summer, probably we won't have exactly my first options, because it's difficult to succeed in every attempt," Mourinho told reporters. "But I'm sure we're going to do something interesting. "Something to improve our team for next season. I'm not a silly manager to say I give the names and you have to give me the players - not at all. "I give the names, I give the options, I give the second options in case the first options are not possible, but I give all the information based on my analysis, my experience and projections for the future." United, who are fifth in the table and host eighth-placed West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford on Saturday, face a challenging month with nine games including the Manchester derby and a home match against runaway league leaders Chelsea. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond) COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Norway's foreign minister says a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is under pressure" as he left Oslo for a visit to the Middle East. Borge Brende says "only a two-state solution can lead to lasting peace between the parties." He says "a sustainable Palestinian economy and well-functioning institutions are essential preconditions for the two-state solution." Brende is meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. Norway, like neighboring Sweden, has expressed concern that Israel will allow expanded construction in major West Bank settlements. Jerusalem has said it will limit new settlement construction in the West Bank "when possible" to within areas already developed or at least to contiguous areas. An ancient human whose skeleton was discovered in an underwater cave may have given birth before she fell to her death. At a ripe old age of 13,000 years, her remains are the oldest human ones ever found in the Americas, according to Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (link in Spanish), known by the acronym INAH. Nicknamed Naia, the girl was 15 or 16 years old when she fell into a water-filled pit thats 180 feet deep and known as Hoyo Negro, or Black Hole. And we are learning more and more about her: Based upon recent analysis, including clues inside her public bone, experts now think Naia gave birth some months before she died. naia-skeleton Photo: INAH Naia was found at Tulum, an archaeological site on the Yucatan Peninsula in southern Mexico, about two hours south of Cancun. The Associated Press reports that she was pulled out of the cave bit by bit over the last several years. Her nearly complete skeleton offers a lot of information to scientists, such as that she was about 5 feet tall and, when food was plentiful, weighed about 110 pounds. Read: Inside the Mind of a Neanderthal According to the INAH, that distinction is important her teeth and long bones, which include strong ones like the femur in the leg, suggest she lived through periods of famine. The Mexican institute says this tells scientists that life was not easy for the early people who traveled over the now-underwater Bering Strait passage from Siberia to settle America. Rather, It was extremely difficult and full of scarcity. The scientists also say Naia once broke her arm, but the injury healed before she died. See also: Fossil of Ancient Head Shows How Humans and Neanderthals Evolved Look into the Eyes of a Mummy Related Articles At least one person was killed and 28 are feared buried after a landslide struck Indonesia, the national disaster agency said Saturday. A wall of mud that slammed onto houses from a hillside after heavy rainfall, damaging dozens of homes in Ponorogo district, East Java on Saturday morning. Seventeen people were injured and sent for treatment to a local hospital, the national disaster agency spokesman said as the military, police and volunteers worked to score the area for the missing. "We are still searching for 28 other missing people, but the search operation has ended for today. We will continue searching if the weather is good Sunday morning," national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purno Nugroho told AFP. Local people had evacuated the village after warnings from officials, staying elsewhere during the nights, but many had returned in the mornings to work on their farms harvesting ginger. Indonesia is often hit by landslides. Twelve people including three children died in a landslide on the holiday island of Bali last February. In September, almost thirty people died in devastating floods and landslides in Garut, West Java. Jerusalem (AFP) - A Palestinian from the occupied West Bank stabbed and wounded three Israelis in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday before being shot dead by border guards, police said. The suspect attacked two Jewish passers-by before fleeing. He later wounded a border guard before he was shot dead. Two of the Israelis were lightly wounded and the third was in a more serious condition, according to police. Clashes broke out afterwards between stone-throwing Palestinians and police officers who used stun grenades, an AFP photographer said. It was the second such attack in days near Damascus Gate, a main entrance to the Old City. On Wednesday, a Palestinian woman said to be the mother of a man killed last year tried to stab Israeli police with scissors before being shot dead. A wave of violence that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 259 Palestinians, 40 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese national, according to an AFP count. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others died during protests, clashes or in Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip. Violence has subsided in recent months, despite sporadic attacks, but the head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service, Nadav Argaman, warned last month against complacency, saying the lull was "misleading". A police official said the security forces would receive reinforcements in preparation for possible attacks during the week-long Passover Jewish holiday beginning April 10 when tens of thousands visit the Old City. Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade. Asuncion (AFP) - Paraguay's president sacked his interior minister and police chief, following a clash that led to the death of a young activist as rioters angry about electoral reform stormed Congress. Closed circuit cameras captured the death of 25-year-old Rodrigo Quintana, leader of the opposition Liberal Party's youth branch, who was apparently shot by police early Saturday as they searched the party's offices in Asuncion for protesters. About 30 people were injured, including three lawmakers, according to firefighters and an opposition senator. Police said 211 people were arrested, some of them minors. President Horacio Cartes on Saturday responded by firing Interior Minister Tado Rojas and Police Commissioner Crispulo Sotelo. But Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga slammed the unrest as "the work of a violent group that does not understand what democracy is, does not understand tolerance." "Paraguay's democracy is stronger than ever," he said, adding that security forces acted with "total responsibility." Furious protesters broke into the Congress late Friday, ransacking lawmakers' offices and starting fires after senators approved a proposal to allow the president to run for reelection. Opposition leaders denounced the secretive vote Friday as a "congressional coup," saying it could clear the way for a return to dictatorship in the landlocked South American nation of 6.8 million people. Right-wing leader Cartes is seeking to amend the constitution to enable himself to run for office again in 2018 after his current term ends. He blamed the violence on "a group of Paraguayans embedded in politics and the media aimed at destroying democracy and political and economic stability." "Democracy is not won or defended by violence," he said on Twitter. "We must not allow barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and welfare of the people." - Police on alert - Story continues To chants of "Dictatorship never again!" hundreds of protesters clashed late Friday with riot police, who used mounted units and water cannon to disperse them. Police raided the Liberal Party offices after activists took refuge there during a night of riots, party leader Efrain Alegre said. Calm was restored around 0400 GMT Saturday, though police remained on alert. Paraguay has banned presidents from re-election since 1992 to avoid a return to dictatorships like that of General Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled from 1954 to 1989. Removing the ban would also allow left-wing former president Fernando Lugo to run again. He held power from 2008 to 2012, when he was removed after an impeachment trial. The measure was scheduled to be considered Saturday in the Chamber of Deputies, where the president has a majority. But after the rioting, the president of the lower house, Hugo Velazquez, announced the vote was postponed, saying he was shocked by the violence. "I hope that calm and harmony will return," Velazquez said in a televised message. If the latest measure is approved by the two houses, it is expected to be put to a referendum within three months. ASUNCION (Reuters) - Reconstruction efforts in Peru after severe flooding that killed more than 100 people warrant a wider fiscal deficit target, though the country is not planning to access debt markets to finance the deficit, the finance minister said on Saturday. Reconstruction efforts will cost about $3 billion over three years and begin in the second half of 2017, Minister Alfredo Thorne said in Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital, where he was attending an Inter-American Development Bank governors' meeting. The meetings were being held after protesters stormed and set fire to Paraguay's Congress late on Friday following a secret vote in the Senate for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. Thorne did not specify for which fiscal year Peru's deficit target would be widened. "We are going to present a project to Congress and within that we will propose an increase in the fiscal deficit that is consistent with our laws ... during a natural disaster we can temporarily increase the deficit," Thorne told journalists. He said Peru's prime minister would present the bill in the coming days. Peru is also seeking more international aid to help hundreds of thousands of people cope with ongoing floods and mudslides, which have torn apart much of the Andean country's infrastructure, the transportation minister said on Friday. Peru is launching a major rebuilding effort just as public works are slowing due to a corruption investigation involving Brazilian builder Odebrecht [ODBES.UL]. Public prosecutors in Peru have not ruled out investigating the country's biggest builder, Grana y Montero, or individuals linked to the company, as part of an investigation into its scandal-plagued Brazilian partner, a source in the attorney general's office said this week. But Thorne on Saturday said Grana y Montero would not be impeded from participating in the country's rebuilding efforts. (Reporting by Luc Cohen, writing by Caroline Stauffer; editing by John Stonestreet, G Crosse) Communist rebels waging one of the world's longest-running insurgencies in the Philippines say they are willing to discuss a formal ceasefire proposed by the government in upcoming talks in the Netherlands. The insurgency began in 1968 in the poverty-stricken country, and has claimed an estimated 30,000 lives according to the military. The meeting, starting Sunday, will be the fourth round of talks between the National Democratic Front and Manila, which have been on and off for 30 years but were restarted by President Rodrigo Duterte after he took office last June. The government has billed a permanent ceasefire as its primary goal, though a week of negotiations on the outskirts of Rome in January ended without such a deal. "The (front) believes it is possible at the soonest time to have a bilateral ceasefire agreement," chief rebel negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said in a statement issued from his exile in the Netherlands late Friday. He said the rebel negotiating team was "willing to be flexible and is open to discussing with its counterpart what kind of bilateral ceasefire agreement is desired by the (government)". However, chief government negotiator Silvestre Bello said Friday he expected the week's talks to be "very difficult and exacting", with no guarantees for a breakthrough. The National Democratic Front is made up of several groups, the most prominent of which is the Communist Party of the Philippines, whose guerrilla unit is the 4,000-strong New People's Army (NPA). Duterte, a self-described socialist who once boasted of his links to the communist rebels, has made a peace deal with the movement one of his top priorities. After taking office he released captured rebel leaders and both sides declared separate temporary ceasefires to pave the way for peace talks, the first round of which Norway hosted and mediated in August. But the fiery leader was seen to have jeopardised the peace process in February, angrily calling off talks after the guerrillas killed several soldiers and police in a series of attacks. Story continues Norway convinced the two parties to return to the negotiating table following informal talks held in the Dutch city of Utrecht last month. Bello said Duterte wanted as the first item on the April 2-6 agenda a negotiated ceasefire leading to the "lowering or ending of hostilities". The two sides said Sunday's meeting, originally scheduled for Oslo, will be held in the Dutch town of Noordwijk, which is close to Utrecht where rebel negotiator Agcaoili and some of the senior leaders of the insurgency live in exile. As well as a possible ceasefire, both sides are expected to discuss a raft of socio-economic reforms that Bello described as "the heart and soul of the peace process". These aim to address the roots of the conflict that he said were linked to "social justice, extreme poverty... (and) corruption in the government". Amatrice (Italy) (AFP) - Britain's Prince Charles is set to visit the quake-hit Italian town of Amatrice on Sunday as part of a European tour designed to shore up relations with EU allies post Brexit. The Prince of Wales is expected to tour the historic town in central Italy and speak with survivors of last year's quake that killed nearly 300 people, and meet some of those helping with reconstruction efforts. He will enter the abandoned "red zone" where collapsed houses lie next to the ruins of a 13th century Civic Tower, one of dozens of architectural gems in the region damaged by the August 2016 quake. The prince is also scheduled to visit a Save the Children pavilion. Charles, 68, who will succeed his mother Queen Elizabeth II on her death, is on a European tour with his wife Camilla which started in Romania and ends in Austria on Wednesday. The charm offensive comes just as Britain this week officially triggered the Brexit process, becoming the first country to leave the European Union in the bloc's 60-year history. Charles's son Prince William and his wife Kate undertook a similar trip to Paris earlier this month. - 'Renaissance man' - The six-day Italian tour began Friday with a romantic stroll over Florence's mediaeval Ponte Vecchio bridge at sundown. On Saturday, the prince paid homage to the victims of World War I in Vicenza, while Camilla, 69, visited "La Gloriette", a pool-side villa overlooking the Gulf of Naples confiscated from a mafioso nicknamed "the madman" and now home to a project for youths suffering from mental illness. While Charles is in Amatrice, Camilla will visit the Arcobaleno association in Florence which helps female victims of human trafficking -- a hot issue in Italy during a time when the country is rescuing hundreds of thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean, including vulnerable women. The royals will be back in the Tuscan capital Monday to attend a reception hosted by the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation to mark the 100th anniversary of the British Institute of Florence, where Charles will be honoured as the "Renaissance Man of the Year". Story continues The heir to the throne and the Duchess of Cornwall will meet Pope Francis and enjoy a tour of the Vatican the following day. The visit to the hilltop beauty spot of Amatrice will not be the prince's first to a quake-hit zone. In 2004, Charles travelled to the scene of an earthquake that devastated the ancient Iranian city of Bam, killing over 40,000 people. In 2006, he and Camilla visited Kashmir, where a quake claimed the lives of more than 73,000 people and displaced 3.5 million. After the Amatrice disaster, Queen Elizabeth made a personal donation to help re-house the homeless and restore damaged churches. On Saturday, protesters gathered in the region and in front of parliament in Rome to demand that the government speed up the construction of new quake-proof houses and help local farmers and businesses get back on their feet. The town's mayor Sergio Pirozzi announced this weekend that the German government and a series of German companies would be paying for the reconstruction of the town's damaged hospital. Before the quake, Amatrice was best known as the home of amatriciana, one of Italy's favourite pasta sauces. Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela faces calls for street protests Saturday at the tensest moment yet in a political and economic crisis that has brought it close to collapse. President Nicolas Maduro's opponents called on Venezuelans to take to the streets and urged the army to abandon him, branding moves to consolidate his power a "coup d'etat." Maduro has clung to power in a more than year-long standoff with his center-right opponents, but on Friday a sign emerged of possible division in his camp when the attorney general broke ranks with him. Yet uncertainty reined in the volatile nation hit by food shortages and violent crime, which has seen three attempted military coups since 1992. - Maduro defiant - Maduro faced the strongest criticism ever from within his own camp Friday as his attorney general condemned recent court rulings that strengthened the socialist president's grip on the levers of power. Attorney General Luisa Ortega denounced on live state television what she called a "rupture of constitutional order." She was referring to two Supreme Court rulings this week that effectively dissolved the opposition-majority legislature and revoked lawmakers' immunity from prosecution. Maduro's opponents and political analysts alleged a coup and international powers condemned the moves. The government rejected that accusation. Maduro said in a speech to cheering supporters late Friday: "In Venezuela, the constitution, civil, political and human rights and people power are in full force." He vowed "through dialogue and the constitution, to resolve the impasse" between the attorney general and the court. He also said he had called a meeting of security chiefs to "deliberate and draw up a resolution." - Scuffles, arrests - The legislative speaker, Julio Borges, called on the military and other institutions to follow Ortega's example and speak up against Maduro. "Now is the time to obey the orders of your conscience," he said. Story continues Street protests erupted for a second day Friday in Caracas. Students marched on the Supreme Court, where they scuffled with soldiers. Protesters also blocked streets in the working-class Petare neighborhood, and opposition lawmakers clashed with Maduro supporters downtown. Two students and a journalist were arrested, activists said. - International concern - International condemnation has poured in from the United States, the European Union, Spain, Germany and a host of Latin American countries. The head of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, has called for the regional group's permanent council to hold crisis talks on the situation. South American regional bloc Mercosur -- which suspended Venezuela in December -- will also hold crisis talks Saturday, Argentina announced. - Power struggle - The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) won a landslide in legislative elections in December 2015. But the court has overturned every law passed by the current legislature. Venezuela has the world's biggest oil reserves, but the collapse in prices has sapped its revenues, prompting shortages of food, medicine and basic goods. Maduro is not up for re-election until October 2018. But he has been forced to fend off opposition efforts to call a vote on removing him from power. - Protests called - Outside a supermarket in Caracas, Venezuelans were agitated at the news as they queued to buy food rations. "If it's not a coup then it looks very like one," said mechanic Eduardo Rodriguez, a 58-year-old mechanic. "It looks very ugly to me." Opposition groups called for more street protests Saturday. "We have to come out and defend democracy," said Sara Ramirez, 68, a building porter, waiting in line. But others were sick of the political conflict. "I don't support either side," said Yandry Diaz, 18, who works in a shoe shop. "What they want is to have us in the street, fighting and killing each other so that they can hold power." These are confusing times to be a Republican. For the past several decades, members of the GOP have mapped the ideological range found within their party onto a fairly straightforward spectrumone that runs from moderate to conservative. The formulation was simplistic, of course, but it provided a useful shorthand in assessing politicians, and in explaining ones own political orientation. A small-government culture warrior in Arizona would be situated on the far-right end of the spectrum; a pro-choice Chamber of Commerce type in Massachusetts might place himself on the other end. And across the country, there were millions of peoplefrom officeholders to ordinary Republican voterswho identified somewhere between those two poles. But with the rise of Donald Trumpand his spectrum-bending brand of populist nationalismmany longtime Republicans are now struggling to figure out where they fit in this fast-shifting philosophical landscape. In recent weeks, two prominent Republicans have told me they are sincerely struggling to explain where they fall on the ideological spectrum these days. Its not that theyve changed their beliefs; its that the old taxonomy has become incoherent. Recommended: The Republican Majority in Congress Is an Illusion For example, does being an outspoken Trump critic make you a moderate RINO? Does it matter whether youre criticizing him for an overly austere healthcare bill, or for reckless infrastructure spending plan? And who owns the far right nowis it constitutional conservatives like Ted Cruz, or alt-right white supremacists like Richard Spencer? When I raised these questions on a Twitter earlier this week, I was swamped with hundreds of responses and dozens of emails from longtime Republicans who described feeling like they are lost inside their own homes. Story continues Some, like Jordan Team from Washington, D.C., related how their attempts at explaining their personal politics have devolved into a kind of absurdist comedy: I've always identified as a more moderate R - even "establishment Republican", if you will. I usually always use "moderate" or "Establishment" when saying I'm a Republican to separate myself from more hard-line Tea Party Freedom Caucus conservatives. These days, however, I feel like it requires even further explanation to separate myself from the nationalism/populism that Trump & team espouse, since they're all now technically Republicans. Usually it's something super catchy & brief along the lines of: "I'm a moderate Republican - or at least, have been one, not really sure that that means anymore - but I don't support Trump or populism - I'm traditionally conservative" And even that doesn't always get the point across. I think the easiest when trying to have a conversation with someone is a two step process. Step 1: "I'm a Republican but don't like Trump," and then if the convo keeps going/they know politics/they're interested, there's step 2: "I'm more moderate/establishment than Tea Party/Freedom Caucus". Other people, meanwhile, shared more tragic testimonials. I feel honestly like a part of my identity was stolen, wrote Alycia Kuehne, a conservative Christian from Dallas, Texas. Recommended: Mike Pence Refuses to Be Alone With WomenJust Like Many Other Religious Conservatives But virtually everyone who wrote to me shared a common complaint: The traditional Left Right spectrum used to describe and categorize Republicans has become obsolete in the age of Trump. The question now is what to replace it with. To provoke interesting answers, I asked people who wrote to me to imagine the Republican voter who is furthest from themselvesbe it ideologically, philosophically, or attitudinallyand then to answer the question: What is the most meaningful difference between you and that person? The proposed spectrums that emerged from their responsessome of which Ive included beloware not meant to be peer-reviewed by political scientists. But they offer new, and potentially more useful, ways to map the emerging fault lines that now divide the American right. LIBERTARIAN AUTHORITARIAN: One of the most common responses I received from Republicans argued that the party could be divided between authoritarians (who tend to gravitate toward Trump) and libertarians (who are generally repelled by his strong-man instincts). In an email that was typical of several I received, Aaron L. M. Goodwin, from California, wrote: I grew up in a pretty conservative household. We were home-schooled Mormons. We listened to conservative talk radio. I was the only 10 year old I knew of who loved to watch C-Span. These days I feel completely alienated from the GOP. But, I don't feel like I'm the one who sold out. So where does that leave me? I believe the conservative/liberal spectrum has been overtaken by one for democratic/authoritarian ... Most of the Republicans I still feel some kinship with are from a multitude of ideologies, but they share an ideology based on classical liberal democracy. We all share a deep-seeded suspicion of rule by power, and I believe, are closer to the original intent of our founding documents. GRIEVANCE-MOTIVATED PHILOSOPHICALLY MOTIVATED: Liz Mair, a libertarian-leaning GOP strategist, wrote that shes been convinced after 300 gazillion conversations with all sorts of conservativesincluding a range of lawmakers, writers, pundits, candidates, and grassroots-level activiststhat the biggest division within the party is one that separates Fox News-a-holics driven by tribal grievance from people who have some kind of philosophically rooted belief system: I honestly think the split in conservatism comes more down to philosophy versus identity politics than anything. Are you opposed to things on philosophical or tribal grounds? Are you a believer of a member of our clan? (Said in the Scottish sense) ... I bet if you polled Trump primary voters and asked them what was the bigger probleminsufficiently limited government or transgender Muslim feminists being celebrated at the Oscars, a big majority would say the latter. ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT ESTABLISHMENT: The outsider/insider trope is well-worn in contemporary conservative politicsso much so that you could argue the terms have lost their meaning. But based on the emails I received, many Republicans (on both ends of the spectrum) still view the party through that lens. On one end are people who respect existing political institutions, and believe in conforming to their norms and using the system to advance their agenda. On other end of this spectrum are people who believe the establishment is hopelessly corrupt and ineffectual, and that it should be circumvented whenever possible. Recommended: Jason Chaffetz: The Prince of Oversight The flaw in this formulation, it seems to me, is that virtually every Republican who has entered Congress over the past eight years started out on the anti-establishment end of the spectrum, and then slidinvoluntarily, perhaps, but inevitablytoward the establishment end. Thats because, as Stephen Spiker from Virginia emailed, once you run for office and win, you necessarily become a part of the system, an insider: I see many colleagues in the party taken in by the "establishment vs anti-establishment" spectrum. Essentially populism, as the anti-establishment folks are "burn it down" because they don't feel represented and want a fighter. That lead to Dave Brat winning in 2014, and Trump winning in 2016. Now that its Trump vs Brat, you're going to see the inherent decay in this school of thought: the anti-establishment crowd turning on their former heroes like Dave Brat (as they turned on Cantor previously). He's in Congress, he's an insider, he's standing in the way, etc. It will eventually turn on Trump as well, as he falls short on goal after goal. When it happens (as in, before or after Trump is out of office) is always dependent on having the right person run at the right time on the right message, but it will happen. Most notable about the anti-establishment position is that there's no consistent end game or policy goal. It exists for the sake of itself. That's what frustrates folks who actually have firm ideological stances. ABSOLUTISTS DEALMAKERS: Many of the most high-profile intra-party battles in recent years have been fought not over ideas, but tactics and a willingness to compromise. While Republicans in Washington were essentially unanimous in their opposition to President Obamas agenda, they differedat least at firstover whether they should cut deals at the legislative bargaining table, or, say, shut the government down until they got exactly what they wanted. The absolutists largely won out during the Obama presidencybut what about now? On one end of this spectrum are people like the Freedom Caucus purists from whom it is all but impossible to extract concessions; on the other are the dealmakers who will compromise virtually anything to get some kind of legislation passed. Several Republicans who wrote to me were, I think, circling this idea, which my colleague Conor Friedersdorf recently articulated: Do populist Republicans want a federal government where politicians stand on principle and refuse to compromise? Or do they want a pragmatist to make fabulous deals? Is a GOP House member more likely to be punished in a primary for thwarting a Donald Trump deal or compromising to make a deal happen? Were I the political consultant for an ambitious primary candidate in a safe Republican district, I can imagine a successful challenge regardless of what course the incumbent chose, voters having been primed to respond to either critique. OPEN/TOLERANT NATIVIST/RACIST: This is the probably the most provocative construct that was proposed, but it was also a popular one. For many Trump-averse Republicans, one of the biggest perceived differences between themselves and hardcore Trump fans is attitudes toward racial minorities and foreign immigrants. The alt-right dominates one end of the spectrumand they place themselves on the polar opposite end. Granted, this spectrum was not proposed to me by any Trump supporters, and no doubt many of them would strongly disagree with this categorization. But theres no question its one of the defining debates inside the party right now. Evan McMullin, a conservative who ran for president last year under the #NeverTrump banner, was quoted saying that racism is the single biggest problem with the party today. * * * This is, of course, by no means a comprehensive list of the divisions within the GOP. For example, one of the most talked-about conflicts to emerge in the past year has been between nationalism and globalism. But despite efforts by Steve Bannon and other Trump advisers to frame the ideological debate that way, very few GOP votersat least none who wrote to meidentify as globalists. Instead, these new spectrums represent a few of the ways in which Republicanseager to escape the disorder and confusion of the Trump eraare categorizing themselves and each other. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. In Rupert Sanders agile, visually resplendent live-action reimagining of Mamoru Oshiis 1995 anime masterstroke Ghost in the Shell, Scarlett Johansson plays Major Motoko Kusanagi, a character who, in both the anime and the 1989 Masamune Shirow manga on which its based, is clearly Japanese. The issue of whitewashed casting is significant not because we shouldnt have a white American Major-if Johansson can capture the spirit of the character, why not?-but because we still live in a universe where there isnt likely to be, say, an Asian James Bond. Rigid ethnic tiers already cause more problems in the world than we can count. Movies give us the chance to blur divisions-a challenge that Hollywood films, especially, has been slow to meet. But Johansson isnt a liability in Ghost in the Shell. Shes its great strength. The picture is set in a future world where humans can be physically cyber-enhanced, made stronger and more intelligent than before. Even within that context, Major is an anomaly. After an accident that nearly destroyed her body, she was saved from death and wholly rebuilt by benevolent scientist Dr. Ouelet (Juliette Binoche). Now shes a cyborg with a human spirit, though her new life isnt her own, and her memories arent either. Shes groomed as an anti-terrorist soldier, a tool of the company whose technology resurrected her, Hanka Corp. Her job is to fight dark forces with the ability to hack not just into computer networks but into human brains. The genius of Ghost in the Shell is that you dont have to care about cyborg-anything to enjoy it. In fact, youll probably enjoy it more that way. Hardcore fans of the original are bound to have problems with Sanders version, even though it borrows plenty of visual inspiration from the earlier movie, particularly the sequence in which Majors new physical self is created: Shes a featureless naked form rising from a pool of water, her body seemingly coated with something like eggshell. When that cracks apart, pieces float off like feathers. Major carries herself like a riot grrrl descendant, her haircut borrowed from both Joan Jett and Louise Brooks. Shes part of a squad known as Section 9, and her second-in-command is Batou, a fierce soldier and hulking softy (played, with musclebound grace, by Danish actor Pilou Asbk) who understands Major better than anyone else. Both answer to Daisuke Aramaki (the great Japanese actor and director Beat Takeshi Kitano), an old-school type who prefers an engraved revolver to modern cyberweapons. He treats Major with fatherly benevolence, though he never condescends to her-shes so fierce, he couldnt get away with it if he tried. Story continues Majors work takes her to the streets of an unnamed futuristic Pan-Asian city, a jagged array of glass skyscrapers thats a little Tokyo, a little Shanghai, a little New York. At night its aglow not just with neon but with oversized holographic images in translucent jelly colors-they float above and between its buildings, like half-heard visual whispers. Are they advertising, or are they glimpses of the people-or cyborgs-who inhabit the city? Thats unclear, but the images are mesmerizing either way. A translucent young woman applies lipstick to her pout, as if getting ready for a date. A giant koi or two slither between the buildings as if swimming through the air. Its an operatic updating of the riotous multi-level city of Luc Bessons The Fifth Element. Yet for all the films dazzle-particularly if you opt to see it in I-Max 3-D-its not particularly noisy or assaultive. Even the climactic fight sequence stands apart from the megabooming excess of most modern comic-book movies. Its swift, compact and doesnt depend on the destruction of a whole city for its kicks. Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) may not be 100 percent faithful to every existential idea introduced in the original material, but the film hes made is still laced with pop melancholy. When Dr. Ouelet, her eyes glowing with science-person pride, tells Major, Youre what everyone will be one day, Major responds with a howl from the soul disguised as a plain declarative sentence: You dont know how alone that makes me feel. Later she declares, Nothing I have is real. Yet her eyes look more alive than those of anyone around her. Johansson is a fine actress in general. But why is she particularly terrific when shes playing a futuristic cyborg, as she is here, or a sexually predatory yet anguished alien (Under the Skin), or a regular human whose capabilities have been enhanced by sci-fi fantasy drugs (Lucy)? Maybe its because she has the kind of face you might find inside a Victorian locket. Shes so out of time that shes of every time. As Major, she embodies defiance, not compliance, but theres a mist of doubt in her eyes, too. At one point, she approaches a city prostitute, and the two sneak off to a room. Major traces the contours of the womans face as if she were searching for her own selfhood. (The scene is beautiful-it ought to have been much longer.) Major is working every minute to figure out who she is, and thats got to be draining-it must be a relief for her just to move. This brainwave warrior has an amazing wardrobe of tough-girl gear, from padded bomber jackets to parkas that look to be made of papery silk. (The costumes are by Kurt & Bart, the wild duo who designed for the Hunger Games films.) But when Major strides into battle, her outfit of choice is the thing that passes for her own skin: Its like a pieced-together bodystocking made of latex, with the color and luminosity of opaque milk glass. If that body is just a shell-then what a shell! But its Johanssons face, with its shifting lunar phases of tenderness, confusion and resolve, that holds the movie together. Her Major is a citizen of nowhere and everywhere. Yet her ghost belongs to no one other than herself. This article was originally published on TIME.com Deputing staffers to provincial, local governments challenging Although the government has deputed civil servants to work as chief executives of the new local units in preparation for the local polls, bringing government staffers under the provincial or local governments permanently looks challenging. (WASHINGTON) - Congressional investigators on Friday rebuffed former national security adviser Michael Flynns offer of cooperation in exchange for immunity, saying its too early in their probe of his Russia connections to discuss a deal. Flynns attorney said there were talks about immunity from prosecution in exchange for testimony with the congressional committees conducting investigations into Russias meddling with the election. A congressional aide confirmed that preliminary discussions with the Senate intelligence committee involved immunity but that it was too early in the investigation to set terms. The aide was not authorized to discuss private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, of California, said the committee would be discussing the issue with the Senate intelligence committee and the Justice Department. He said that Flynn has even suggested immunity is a significant development. We should first acknowledge what a grave and momentous step it is for a former national security adviser to the president of the United States to ask for immunity from prosecution, Schiff said in a statement Friday. Flynns attorney, Robert Kelner, said no reasonable person with legal counsel would answer questions without assurances that he would not be prosecuted, given calls from some members of Congress that the retired lieutenant general should face criminal charges. General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit, Kelner said Thursday. Trump weighed in Friday, tweeting that Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion! Flynns ties to Russia have been scrutinized by the FBI and are under investigation by the House and Senate intelligence committees. Both committees are looking into Russias meddling in the 2016 presidential election and any ties between Trump associates and the Kremlin. Story continues Since July, the FBI has been conducting a counterintelligence investigation into Russias interference in the election and possible coordination with Trump associates. The spokesman for Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, said there was never an immunity deal offered to Flynn. The committee had a preliminary conversation with Michael Flynns lawyer about arranging for Flynn to speak to the Committee, Nunes spokesman, Jack Langer, said Friday. The discussions did not include immunity or other possible conditions for his appearance. Schiff, who has called for Nunes recusal from the investigation because of his close ties to the White House, said the committee is interested in Flynns testimony, but lawmakers are also mindful of the Justice Departments interests. Congress has the authority to grant someone immunity, but doing so could jeopardize the Justice Departments ability to use that testimony as the basis for any criminal case it wants to bring. When the time comes to consider requests for immunity from any witness, we will of course require a detailed proffer of any intended testimony, Schiff said. Kelner released a statement late Thursday after The Wall Street Journal first reported that Flynns negotiations with the committee included discussions of immunity. The lawyer described the talks as ongoing and said he would not comment on the details. Four other Trump associates have come forward in recent weeks, saying they would talk to the committees. As of Wednesday, the Senate intelligence committee had asked to interview 20 people as part of the probe. In his statement, Kelner said the political climate in which Flynn is facing claims of treason and vicious innuendo is factoring into his negotiations with the committees. No reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution, Kelner said. In September, Flynn weighed in on the implications of immunity on NBCs Meet the Press, criticizing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her associates in the FBIs investigation into her use of a private email server. When you are given immunity, that means that you have probably committed a crime, Flynn said during the interview. Flynn was fired from his job as Trumps first national security adviser after it was disclosed that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during the transition. In the weeks after he resigned, Flynn and his business registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents for $530,000 worth of lobbying work that could have benefited the Turkish government. The lobbying occurred while Flynn was a top Trump campaign adviser. The Turkish businessman who hired Flynn, Ekim Alptekin, has told the AP that Flynns firm registered under pressure from the Justice Department. This article was originally published on TIME.com MOSCOW (AP) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko has accused the head of the International Paralympic Committee of being "completely dishonest" on doping issues. The IPC barred the entire Russian team from the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro after World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren accused Russia of a state-backed doping program, including in disability sport. Mutko tells Russian agency R-Sport that IPC head Philip Craven is "someone who's completely dishonest on these issues." Mutko also accused him of "craftiness" in imposing a blanket ban, and said the IPC hadn't adequately explained why most Russian Paralympians shouldn't be allowed to compete. Russia remains banned, though talks are continuing about anti-doping reforms which could allow Russia to compete at the Winter Paralympics in South Korea next year. Moscow (AFP) - Yevgeny Yevtushenko, a Russian Soviet-era poet who found a large following in the West in the 1960s, died on Saturday of heart failure in the United States at the age of 84, Russian news agency RIA Novosti said. "He died peacefully a few minutes ago, surrounded by his loved ones," the agency quoted his wife, Maria Novikova, as saying. Yevtushenko shot to fame as a symbol of non-conformism during a brief artistic thaw in the early 1960s under party boss Nikita Khrushchev. He then became a loyal supporter of the regime, and was showered with state privileges, until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. His best-known work is "Babi Yar," an epic poem published in 1961, about a Nazi atrocity in Kiev in 1941 in which tens of thousands of Jews were massacred. In the mid-1990s, he moved to the United States, where he taught at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Moscow (AFP) - Yevgeny Yevtushenko, a Russian Soviet-era poet who found a large following in the West in the 1960s, died on Saturday of heart failure in the United States at the age of 84, Russian news agency RIA Novosti said. "He died peacefully a few minutes ago, surrounded by his loved ones," the agency quoted his wife, Maria Novikova, as saying. Yevtushenko shot to fame as a symbol of non-conformism during a brief artistic thaw in the early 1960s under party boss Nikita Khrushchev. To the dismay of liberals, he then became a loyal supporter of the regime and was showered with state privileges until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. His best-known work is "Babi Yar," an epic poem published in 1961, about a Nazi atrocity in Kiev in 1941 in which tens of thousands of Jews were massacred. His attacks on Stalinism and Soviet bureaucracy, culminating in "The Heirs of Stalin" (1962), together with his demands for greater artistic freedom, were tacitly sanctioned by the Communist Party and he was allowed to travel widely abroad, where he read to enthusiastic audiences. But in the 1970s, to the distress of his admirers, his reputation was tarnished by growing party orthodoxy, punctuated by sporadic defence of beleaguered dissident author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Yevtushenko was born in Siberia at Zima, near Irkutsk, in 1933, a fourth-generation descendant of Ukrainian exiles. He studied literature from 1951 to 1954 at the Gorky Institute in Moscow, and began turning out lyric verse clearly influenced by the revolutionary writer Vladimir Mayakovsky. He published his first poems at the age of 20. - 'Poems echoed in hearts' - "Yevtushenko was a legend... who lived according to his own formula: a poet in Russia is more than a poet," Solzhenitsyn's widow, Natalia, told Rossiya-24 public television. "He influenced the time in which he lived, he changed many things," Zoya Boguslavskaya, the widow of another celebrated Soviet Russian poet of the 1960s, Andrei Voznesensky, was quoted as saying by the official news agency TASS. Story continues Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to Yevtushenko's family, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "Yevtushenko was a great poet. His heritage is an integral part of Russian culture," Peskov said, quoted by RIA Novosti. "His poems echoed in the hearts of millions of people," the Soviet Union's last president, Mikhail Gorbachev, said. "(He was) a man who cared for the fate of his country and for the whole world, who believed in goodness and sought justice." In the mid-1990s, Yevtushenko moved to the United States, where he taught at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Shortly after he was hospitalised this week, Yevtushenko had expressed the wish of being interred in Peredelkino, the former writers' colony near Moscow. He asked to be buried "close to the tomb of Boris Pasternak," according to Sergei Vinnikov, who had been preparing a poetry festival in Russia this summer to celebrate Yevtushenko's 85th birthday. Pasternak, a fellow author of the Khrushchev thaw acclaimed for "Doctor Zhivago," was awarded the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was forced by the Soviet authorities to decline the honour. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon has a message for the Trump administration: If immigration enforcement wants to make arrests in his city, which is a sanctuary city, they need to get a warrant first. The president and his cabinet officials have been extremely critical of sanctuary cities, or places where law enforcement limits its interactions with immigration enforcement. This week, Sessions announced he would block or withhold law enforcement grant funding to states and localities that do not communicate with federal officials when they have undocumented immigrants in custody. But a letter Sessions and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly sent to the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court chastising the states sanctuary policies prompted Gascon to respond. Frankly the only thing that ICE needs to do if they want to get cooperation from sanctuary cities like San Francisco, for instance, is get a warrant and wed be more than happy to give them access to people in our custody,Gascon told TIME. Its the very minimum due process protection. Gascon criticized federal officials practices when carrying out immigration enforcement orders around California, which have recently included making arrests inside of courthouses. On March 16, Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye sent the Attorney General and the DHS Secretary a letter expressing concern about reports that ICE agents had been making arrests in courthouses. Courthouses should not be used as bait in the necessary enforcement of our countrys immigration laws, her letter read. I respectfully request that you refrain from this sort of enforcement in Californias courthouses. On March 29, the Attorney General and the DHS Secretary responded to her letter saying they disagreed with her characterization of ICEs activities (the Justice said they had been stalking people) and said ICE wouldnt have to arrest people in public places if cities like San Francisco, which is a sanctuary city, did not have policies that are designed to specifically prohibit or hinder ICE from enforcing immigration law. Politico first reported news of the letter. The Trump administration has been extremely critical of sanctuary cities. Earlier this week, Attorney General Sessions Story continues Such policies threaten public safety, rather than enhance it, the letter reads. As a result, ICE officers and agents are required to locate and arrest these aliens in public places. They go on to say theyre particularly fond of courthouse arrests because individuals have already been screened for weapons, lowering the chance that someone will get hurt. Gascon does not agree. As a former police chief, he says law enforcement has plenty of opportunities to identify and locate people theyre seeking to arrest.I dont believe picking them up in a courthouse, especially a witness or a victim makes a lot of sense, he says. Having ICE agents coming into our courthouses is very disruptive and we know thats its already having an impact on victims and witnesses who are fearful of coming into our courtrooms. I consider it to be extremely backwards and disrespectful. Immigration enforcement has a policy against making arrests in certain locations deemed sensitive, including schools and churches, but courthouses do not make the cut. Arrests in courthouses are not new. In fact, the American Civil Liberties Union of California complained about arrests of people while dropping by courts to pay parking tickets and get married in 2013. But in the wake President Trumps executive orders on immigration, there is new attention on the tactic. Since late January, there have been reports of arrests at courthouses across the country including in Los Angeles County and El Paso. ICE reportedly arrested a woman who was attempting to get a restraining order against her abusive husband. Denver City Attorney Kristin Bronson told Slate recently that four of her clients, all of whom were victims of domestic violence, have dropped their cases out of fear that theyd be identified and deported by ICE during the trials. The Los Angeles County arrest prompted the California Chief Justice to weigh in on the issue. The Los Angeles Times reports ICE identified the arrestee as a Mexican national with a prior drug conviction. District Attorney Gascon makes clear that he wants federal law enforcement officials to be able to do their job and would not want there to be a law enforcement standoff if an arrest were to occur in a courthouse. Gascon also says while there are some distinctions for those who are perpetrators of crime. But still the courthouses should be free from this kind of activity, he says. This article was originally published on TIME.com President Donald Trump said in his inaugural address: Weve defended other nations borders, while refusing to defend our own. I couldnt agree more. Today, the question is: Will we add yet another commitment to defend yet another foreign country? For decades, NATO has been an organization where the U.S. disproportionately spends our blood and treasure. The other NATO countries have largely hitched a ride to the U.S. train that subsidizes their defenses and allows them to direct their revenues to domestic pursuits. Adding a country with fewer than 2,000 soldiers to NATO is not in our self-interest. There is no national security interest that an alliance with Montenegro will advance. If we invite Montenegro into NATO, it will be a one-way street with the U.S. committing to defend yet another country. Advocates of allowing Montenegro to join NATO admit as much. The Senate hearing on admitting Montenegro to NATO was really just a Russia-bashing session. Not one word was said of how allowing Montenegro into NATO would advance our national security. Even the citizens of Montenegro are divided on entry into NATO. Fewer than 40% favor joining NATO and approximately the same percentage of Montenegrins oppose joining NATO. Those who want to allow Montenegro into NATO believe that unless the whole world joins NATO, Russia will conquer the world. The truth is, as always, more complicated. During the Cold War, the myth of Russian might was endlessly circulated here at home and the effect was the production of endless munitions and ever-expanding debt. The Cold War ended and the Soviet Union failed, not because our military might overcame them but because their economic system was fundamentally flawed and our economic system outlasted them. Now, we are told we must fear the Russian Bear once again. But if you look closely you will see that Russian aggression around the world, particularly among the former Soviet satellites, is an attempt to mask a weak economy that runs the same risk of over-extension. Without question, Russia is an adversary, a country that ignores international norms and does not respect the territorial integrity of its neighbors. But Russia is weak because of corruption, oligarchy and human rights abuses. If Russia continues on this path, they may well encounter the same cataclysm that brought down the Soviet empire. Story continues This debate today is not just about Montenegro but about NATO expansion in general. The same cheerleaders for admitting Montenegro also recklessly pushed to admit Ukraine and Georgia; if they were still members, we could right now be at war with Russia. From the very beginning, our republic was founded with a deep suspicion of entangling alliances. Our founders wanted to do everything possible to avoid the chronic wars of Europe, where, for centuries, kings from one nation fought their brothers or cousins in other nations. The endless, meaningless wars of fratricide continued even into the 20th century. Washington wrote that our true policy is to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world. Jefferson famously wrote, peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none. In modern times, such military heroes as President Eisenhower opposed intervention in Hungary, even when the naked aggression of the Soviets was appalling. Eisenhower likely had no real opportunity to militarily intervene before 200,000 Soviet troops with 4000 tanks rolled into Hungary. But at least part of the decision was a realpolitick decision that risking a nuclear confrontation with Russia did not justify war. Fast forward to today. For 16 years the US has been at war in the Middle East. Our justified response to the attacks of 9/11 has dragged on and on. The vote Congress made to authorize military force against the planners and attackers of the World Trade Centers is now used to justify all military action anywhere around the world. That vote is now used to justify war around the globe in dozens of countries. It is a lie and a disservice to our young men and women in uniform to have them fight under false pretenses. No active war involving the U.S. anywhere around the globe has been approved by Congress. Our unrestricted, un-voted upon involvement in war everywhere informs my opposition to expanding NATO. Everyone likes to talk of NATOs Article 5 obligation to come to the defense of any NATO ally that is attacked. Many in Congress believe that Article 5 of the NATO alliance farms out the power to declare war to an international body. David Fromkin put it this way: If it is now agreed by treaty that an attack on a... NATO ally is deemed an attack on the United states, then it can be argued that the President is empowered without Congressional authorization to send us war. This is the crux of the debate: Congress abdicating its role in declaring war. So, NATO. Should we expand it? Perhaps what we should do is make it clear that the NATO treaty is not a blind, open-ended promise to go to war anywhere and everywhere. I continue to believe and will advocate for always having an official vote in Congress before we declare war. This article was originally published on TIME.com By Ivana Sekularac BELGRADE (Reuters) - Conservative Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic is runaway favorite to win Sunday's Serbian presidential elections despite opposition warnings about the extent of his domination over the Balkan country, balanced between the West and Russia. Most polls see Vucic, 47, winning in the first round with more than 50 percent of the vote, trailed in the low teens by a former rights advocate and a white-suited student whose satirical portrayal of a sleazy political fraudster has struck a chord with some disillusioned voters. The role of president is largely ceremonial, but Vucic is expected to retain real power through his control of Serbia's ruling Progressive Party. As such, the election is unlikely to alter the country's delicate balancing act between the European Union, which Vucic wants Serbia to join, and Russia, with which Serbs share their Orthodox Christian faith and Slavic heritage. During the campaign, the studio backdrop of one popular television talkshow on which Vucic was a guest featured a photograph of him flanked by pictures of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin. To his supporters, Vucic is a cool head and a firm hand in a troubled region. "He's done a good job so far," said Slavica Antonic, 69, an ice-cream vendor in downtown Belgrade. "He doesn't insult anyone in the region," she said. Vucic's opponents, however, say he has an authoritarian streak that has led him to take control over the media in Serbia since his party rose to power in 2012 and he became prime minister three years ago. He denies the charge but has struggled to shake it given his record when last in government in the dying days of Yugoslavia; then, in his late 20s, Vucic was Serbia's feared information minister behind draconian legislation designed to muzzle criticism of the government during the 1998-99 Kosovo war. "The state of the media reflects the way Aleksandar Vucic rules Serbia - using pressure, abuse and often false statements," Sasa Jankovic, Serbia's former human rights ombudsman who was polling a distant second or third before Sunday's vote, told N1 television. "PROXY" PRIME MINISTER Jankovic and a host of opposition candidates risk being embarrassed by 25-year-old communications student Luka Maksimovic, whose alter ego Ljubisa 'Beli' Preletacevic has come from almost nowhere to challenge them for second place. Dressed in a white suit and loafers, the pony-tailed Maksimovic plays on a widely-held perception of Balkan politicians as out to line their own pockets at the expense of the downtrodden masses. Despite economic growth and greater fiscal stability, Serbia remains mired in poverty and corruption. Pollsters said a high turnout among Serbia's 6.7 million eligible voters may yet force a run-off on April 16, Easter weekend. "There are no good candidates and many of my younger friends say they will boycott," said Belgrade pensioner Miodrag Stajic, 74. But, he argued, "they have to take the future of this country in their hands." As president, Vucic would have few formal powers, among them the right return legislation to parliament for reconsideration. But he is widely expected to appoint a loyal ally as prime minister and try to keep a tight rein on policy, as former President Boris Tadic, then of the Democratic Party, did between 2004 and 2012. Some analysts said that could yet prove difficult. "Vucic will now be distanced from everyday policy-making and executive affairs and will have to rely on a proxy," Eurasia Group wrote in on March 30. "This will likely generate some tensions in the chain of command." (Editing by Matt Robinson and Ralph Boulton) News reports say a church was destroyed and dozens of homes damaged after a possible tornado whipped through the Virginia Beach area. The Virginian-Pilot reported that severe storms on Friday night struck the Hampton Roads region, which includes the cities of Virginia Beach and Norfolk. The newspaper quoted fire department officials in Virginia Beach as saying that about 50 homes there were damaged or destroyed. The newspaper quoted National Weather Service official as saying that teams would be sent to the area Saturday to assess damage and try to confirm whether a tornado had touched down. In the city of Chesapeake, the Real Life Christian Church was heavily damaged. There were no reports of injuries or deaths. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) A cargo ship being used by a South Korean shipping company went missing in seas near Uruguay with 24 crew members and authorities said Saturday that two people had been rescued. The ship went out of contact late Friday, South Korea time, shortly after one of the crew members sent a text message to the shipping company saying the ship was taking on water, according to an official from Seoul's Foreign Ministry. The official said the Uruguayan maritime police and a commercial vessel that had been in neighboring waters were searching for the Stella Daisy, which had departed from a port in Brazil on March 26. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules, said 16 Filipinos and eight South Koreans were on the ship. He said it wasn't clear whether the ship sank or if the crew members escaped. He said the ship was registered in the Marshall Islands. On Saturday, Uruguay's navy said that two of the 24 crew members had been found alive. Navy spokesman Gaston Jaunsolo said the search continues for more survivors. Election Commission vows to hold local polls in free and fair manner The Election Commission has assured that the local level elections will be held in a free and fair manner on the slated date of May 14. Johannesburg (AFP) - South African President Jacob Zuma's sweeping cabinet overhaul exposes deep divisions between the ANC's apartheid-struggle old guard and a new generation often accused of not living up to expectations. Malusi Gigaba, 45, who replaced Pravin Gordhan, 67, as finance minister is a fervent Zuma loyalist always ready to defend the president despite corruption scandals and mounting legal troubles. Gigaba, who was previously home affairs minister, is accused by the radical opposition EFF party of having "unexplained wealth" and was criticised for mismanagement at state-run South African Airlines during his time as public enterprises minister. Gigabe's new deputy, Sfiso Buthelezi, was linked to financial irregularities at the state rail operator in a report published by the country's graft watchdog in 2015. By contrast, Gordhan -- who was an anti-apartheid activist from the 1970s to 1990s -- enjoyed popularity rare for a finance minister and was seen as the "Mr Clean" of South African politics. "Compared to past ANC leaders, Zuma falls far short -- and he's aware of it and extremely sensitive," said political analyst Mari Harris of IPSOS South Africa. "He's tried to purge his cabinet of people who are opposition and put in a lot of yes-men." Thursday night's power play has been read as a bid by Zuma to protect himself by controlling the transfer of power to a clique of favoured ANC figures. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the president's ex-wife and former African Union chief, is Zuma's preferred candidate to succeed him when he steps down as the country's leader in 2019. She may be able to shield him from looming graft charges after he is out of office, but she has little support among the ANC's electoral base. Installing key Zuma loyalists will limit the likelihood that "old ANC" candidates like deputy president and ANC statesman Cyril Ramaphosa can halt Dlamini-Zuma's bid to succeed the president. Story continues Ramaphosa, who was instrumental in winning the support of global business for Nelson Mandela's efforts to end white-minority rule, said that "there are quite a lot of colleagues and comrades who are unhappy". - 'Post-apartheid failure' - Zuma himself was imprisoned on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela. But Ramaphosa's intervention highlighted a wider disconnect between ANC figures who were in the fight against apartheid alongside Mandela, and a new class of younger party leaders. The bitter animosity between the two camps was laid bare at Wednesday's funeral for celebrated ANC struggle stalwart Ahmed Kathrada which turned into an impromptu rally against the president. In a fiery eulogy, former president Kgalema Motlanthe said Kathrada was "deeply disturbed by the current post-apartheid failure of politics". "He found current leadership wanting on many fronts," said Motlanthe. Kathrada had openly criticised Zuma's government, which has been accused of corruption, mismanagement and of failing to transform the lives of black South Africans. Quoting from a letter that Kathrada wrote to Zuma a year ago calling for him to stand down, Motlanthe received long and thunderous applause from mourners -- including serving ministers. The ANC's Youth League -- which is fiercely loyal to Zuma -- lashed out at funeral-goers for using the event "for political posturing, point-scoring and grandstanding". In his final media briefing as finance minister, Gordhan told South Africans to revive the spirit of the anti-apartheid struggle and "organise" against political corruption and mismanagement. "Do we expect more people to follow us out of the door? Well that's a decision people must make," he said. Eurasia Group analyst Darias Jonker warned that the ANC conference later this year to choose Zuma's successor as party chief would delay a major ruption for now. "Severe divisions within the ANC are unlikely to lead to a formal split in the party this year, as both contesting factions -- the 'new ANC' and the 'old ANC' -- will first contest the December elective conference," he said. He predicted the the "new ANC" would retain party control but face a tough time from voters. "The new ANC is likely to see support drop to below 50 percent in the 2019 election," he said. Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-Hye is now just prisoner 503, incarcerated in a spartan cell while prosecutors decide whether to indict her over a corruption scandal that precipitated her fall from grace. The former head of state spent her first night in solitary confinement at Seoul Detention Centre after a court Friday ordered her to be held pending charges. She had her mugshot taken and was given a prison kit including toiletries, a meal tray and a quilt, reports said. After being processed like any other prisoner, Park, 65, was assigned a 10.6 square metre (114 square feet) solitary cell, larger than the average 6.5 square metre cell, Yonhap news agency said. "After taking a bath, she changed into green-coloured winter-season prison garb" an official of the Justice Ministry was quoted as saying by the Joongang Ilbo daily. The chest of Park's uniform was emblazoned with her prison number -- 503 -- by which she will be known during her incarceration. Park burst into tears as guards showed her to her cell, TV Chosun said, quoting unidentified sources. Prosecutors have yet to specify the formal charges against her, but have previously said she is suspected of bribery, abuse of authority, coercion, and leaking government secrets. They plan to resume questioning her early next week, most likely by visiting her in the prison instead of summoning her to their office, Yonhap said. Prosecutors have until April 19 to question Park before they indict her. Park secured the largest vote share of any candidate in the democratic era when she was elected in 2012. But she was impeached by parliament in December, as the scandal combined with mounting economic and social frustrations to trigger huge candlelit demonstrations. The Constitutional Court later upheld the decision. Park, the daughter of late dictator Park Chung-Hee, is the third former leader to be arrested over corruption in Asia's fourth-largest economy, where politics and big business have long been closely tied. If eventually found guilty, she would face at least 10 years in prison, legal experts said. A Sri Lankan baby elephant gifted to New Zealand has been prevented from leaving the South Asian island after animal activists said it was cruel to separate her from her family. Six-year-old Nandi was bequeathed to former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key by President Maithripala Sirisena at a meeting in Colombo in February 2016 to mark "excellent bilateral relations" between the two countries. New Zealand vets had visited Sri Lanka last year to prepare Nandi for the journey to Auckland Zoo. But animal rights activists have since intervened, arguing against moving the elephant to a foreign country where she will likely find it difficult to be separated from her family and adapt to the new climate. The group of 18 secured a temporary victory Friday when a Sri Lankan court was assured by the state that Nandi would not be flown out of the country pending a final decision on the case next month. "Sri Lankan elephants have very strong family ties and to take away a child is a sin," Omalpe Sobitha, a Buddhist monk and one of the activists, told AFP. He added that the animal may not be able to cope with the cold weather in Auckland, where mean annual temperatures of around 15 degrees Celsius (59 Fahrenheit) would come as a shock to a calf used to the tropical 27 degree average in Sri Lanka. "We have an assurance from the court yesterday (Friday) that Nandi will not be taken out of the country until the case is concluded", he said. Born and raised in a 93-strong herd in a coconut grove at an orphanage in central Sri Lanka, Nandi is the second baby elephant to be presented to New Zealand in a year after a female baby "Anjalee" was sent to Auckland Zoo in 2015. Key told Sirisena at their meeting last February that Anjalee had gained 700 kilos (1,540 pounds) in one year and that it was "loving its life in New Zealand and I am sure its friend (Nandi) will have such a good time as well in New Zealand". Sri Lanka has a long history of giving elephants as presents -- China has been gifted three over the years, and two each for Japan, South Korea, the Czech Republic and the United States. WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate is headed for a tense showdown over President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee that could have far-reaching consequences for Congress, the high court and the nation. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republicans are determined to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch within the week. But to do so, they will likely have to override Democratic objections and unilaterally change Senate rules so that Gorsuch can be confirmed with a simple majority in the 100-seat chamber, instead of the 60-voter threshold. Though it may seem arcane, the approach is known on Capitol Hill as the "nuclear option," because it strikes at the heart of the Senate's traditions of bipartisanship and collegiality. It would allow all future Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed without regard to the objections of the minority party. And senators of both parties say that proceeding with the rules change could ultimately lead to complete elimination of the minority party's ability to block legislation via filibuster, one of the few remaining mechanisms that force bipartisan cooperation in Congress. "Once you go down this path it's awful easy just to keep going, and that is not a good thing," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., a senior lawmaker. Nevertheless, Republican senators are fully prepared to take the step, blaming Democrats for forcing them into it by preparing to filibuster a well-qualified nominee. And Democrats are just as ready to push the GOP to pull the trigger, even as they argue that McConnell and Republicans will have only themselves to blame. "He can prove that he cares about the Senate by not changing the rules," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told The Associated Press, referring to McConnell. As of now, Gorsuch claims support from 54 senators the 52 Republicans, along with two moderate Democrats who are up for re-election in states Trump won, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. One by one, most of the other Democrats have lined up against Gorsuch, citing his rulings in favor of corporations or his vague answers during his confirmation hearings. Though Democrats remain a handful shy of the 41 votes that would be required to mount a filibuster and trigger a rules change, it is the widely expected outcome. Story continues "I remain very worried about our polarized politics and what the future will bring, since I'm certain we will have a Senate rule change that will usher in more extreme judges in the future," Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said Friday as she became the latest Democrat to announce plans to join the filibuster against Gorsuch. Gorsuch, 49, has served more than a decade as a federal appeals court judge based in Denver. He is mild-mannered but deeply conservative, in the mold of the justice he would replace, Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. McCaskill and other Democrats have pointed out that while Gorsuch's confirmation won't change the ideological balance of a court that will be likely to split 5-4 on important cases, that could be what happens next as liberal justices age along with Justice Anthony Kennedy, 80, who often acts as a swing vote. Republicans argue that the filibuster has almost never been used against a Supreme Court nominee and they are right; even Clarence Thomas got onto the court without a filibuster, despite highly contentious confirmation hearings over sexual harassment claims from Anita Hill. The only Supreme Court nominee to have been blocked by a filibuster was Abe Fortas, President Lyndon Johnson's nominee for chief justice in 1968. After a procedural vote failed, Johnson withdrew Fortas' nomination. Fortas was already a sitting justice on the Court. But the Supreme Court blowup has been a long-time coming, and both parties share the blame. Republicans were prepared to invoke the "nuclear option" on lower court nominees in 2005, but a bipartisan group of 14 senators made a deal that stopped it. Then Democrats took the step in 2013 when they grew frustrated over lower court nominees getting blocked, but left the Supreme Court subject to a 60-vote threshold. Now, with Trump in the White House and politics ever more polarized, there appears to be no room for compromise. Democrats are still fuming over the treatment of former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, who never even got a hearing from Republicans last year after Scalia died. And for Republicans, Gorsuch's nomination is the one positive note so far in the trouble-plagued Trump administration, and they are determined to get a win. Though some GOP senators have privately counseled caution, McConnell has no plans to wait and has declared definitively that Gorsuch will be confirmed on Friday. If Gorsuch joins the court shortly thereafter, he would be in time to hear the last set of cases in the court's current term, including one about church-state separation. The stage will be set for the next Supreme Court nominee to be confirmed with a simple majority, potentially tilting the court ideologically for decades to come. And an uncertain future will await the filibuster itself, and the Senate as a deliberative, bipartisan institution. "It just continues on a downward spiral; it's us that's to blame, it's the base, it's responding to the base on each side," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. "It's both sides that have taken us to this place." Ain Issa (Syria) (AFP) - In a muddy camp in northern Syria, civilians who fled Raqa said fear of an expected US-backed assault on the Islamic State group bastion was reaching a fever pitch. This week, hundreds of civilians escaped Raqa and headed north to the camp in Ain Issa, in territory controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance. As part of their campaign to capture Raqa, the Syrian heart of the jihadists' so-called "caliphate", the SDF have been bearing down on the IS-held Tabqa Dam over the past 10 days. Rumours that Syria's biggest dam would collapse and flood Raqa, 55 kilometres downstream, have sparked panic in the city. "The hisbah (religious police) announced over the megaphones 'the land of Muslims will be flooded, the Tabqa dam has collapsed,'" said Mohammad Mahmoud, 38. Mahmoud, his brother and both their families paid $1,000 to a smuggler and fled Raqa on foot earlier this week. "I was so afraid, I couldn't think straight," he said. The camp where he has found shelter is home to several thousand Syrians displaced by war, including 400 families who arrived this week from Raqa. Children waddled through makeshift pathways between tents emblazoned with the logo of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), clutching sandwiches and water bottles. Inside tents, men waited for their turn to have their IS-mandated beards shaved then examined their bare chins in a small mirror. - 'It's hell there' - Mahmoud's face was weighed down by exhaustion, his clothes covered in dust. He hovered protectively around his elderly mother who sat in a wheelchair, its wheels caked in mud after their arduous 14-hour trek out of Raqa. "It's hell there. Fear rules over everything," he said as he took apparent pleasure puffing on a cigarette, a vice which IS banned when they captured Raqa in 2014. "IS is finished now. Most of its fighters fled to Mayadeen or Albu Kamal," two towns in the oil-rich eastern province of Deir Ezzor, most of which is under IS control. Story continues At the entrance to the camp, Kurdish police units -- known as Asayesh -- searched visibly shaken new arrivals. Ahmad, a Raqa native in his 50s, said residents seized the opportunity to flee when they saw IS fighters leave. "We were no longer afraid to flee Raqa like before, because IS fighters were less and less visible," he said, his six children perched atop suitcases packed with their belongings. Ahmad said the jihadists "abandoned most of the checkpoints, built tunnels around the city" and protected their positions with sand bags. He said the journey to Ain Issa was traumatic. "We were so terribly afraid of the air strikes, that the coalition might think we are IS fighters," he said. - 'Daesh is afraid' - "Daesh is afraid of the assault on Raqa," a 25-year-old man who asked to use the pseudonym of Zuhair for security reasons, said using an Arabic acronym for IS. "Many of their fighters fled with their families on motorbikes and there are fewer and fewer checkpoints," he said. But even as the jihadists left, "they warned residents 'not to go to the infidels,'" said Zuhair, who still has relatives trapped in Raqa, a city of 300,000 residents. "I don't know what happened to them," he said, tearing up. IS applies an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islamic law in territory under its control, torturing or executing law-breakers. Zuhair said he was jailed and lashed by jihadists several times for selling tobacco in defiance of an IS ban. "But if I hadn't taken the risk, I couldn't have fed my family," he said, crouched near his one-year-old daughter Qamar. Syria's conflict began in 2011 with anti-government protests, but has since turned into a multi-front war that has killed more than 320,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes. Since March 21, the battle for Tabqa Dam and the adjacent town has killed at least 110 civilians and 68 jihadists, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said SDF fighters were around two kilometres from Tabqa. Jilal al-Ayyaf, who runs the camp in Ain Issa, said he was bracing for an influx of displaced people as the SDF press their advance. "The more the noose tightens (around IS), the more displaced people we'll get," he said. DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania plans to import 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity from Ethiopia to power its industrial drive, Tanzanian President John Magufuli said on Friday. Despite reserves of over 57 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, Tanzania faces chronic power shortages due its reliance on hydro-power dams in a drought-prone region, for about a third of its' 1,570 MW of installed capacity. Magufuli said at a joint news conference with visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in Dar es Salaam that the power will be transmitted through a high voltage line linking the two nations via Kenya. "He (Desalegn) has agreed to supply us with 400 megawatts, which could be increased later on," Magufuli said. Tanzania's state-run power utility, TANESCO, currently sells electricity below cost, undermined by decades of mismanagement and political meddling. It also struggles to cope with transmission leaks and power theft. Tanzania aims to add about 2,000 MW in gas-fired generation by 2018. Demand for power in the nation of 50 million currently outpaces supply. Magufuli and Desalegn also witnessed the signing of various deals between the two countries, including cooperation on energy, tourism and agriculture sectors. Ethiopia inaugurated a $1.57 billion hydropower plant along the Omo River in the country's south in December that is expected to nearly double total electricity output to 4,238 MW. Under a 2015-2020 development plan, Addis Ababa wants to raise output to 17,346 MW by harnessing hydropower, wind and geothermal sources. It has an array of projects under construction, including the $4.1 billion Grand Renaissance Dam that will churn out 6,000 MW upon completion. (Reporting by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) At least 500 people have shown up for the funeral of a 13-year-old Brazilian girl who police say was killed by a stray bullet. Maria Eduarda Alves de Conceicao was buried on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro's Parque Jardim cemetery. Police say the bullet that killed her Thursday was fired during a shootout between police and suspected drug traffickers in the low-income Acari neighborhood. The girl was at a physical education class inside a nearby school when she was struck. Relatives, friends, teachers and neighbors wept as they filed past the young teen's white coffin and then accompanied it to the grave site. By Hasmik Mkrtchyan YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenians will elect a new parliament on Sunday in a closely fought race between the ruling party and a former coalition partner that heralds the start of a parliamentary system of government. Under controversial constitutional reforms, parliament, rather than voters, will elect the president for the first time, and the office of prime minister will become more powerful, reducing the presidency to a largely ceremonial role. The opposition says the changes are a ruse to let President Serzh Sarksyan slip into an enhanced prime ministerial role at the head of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) when his presidential term ends in 2018. Sarksyan, 62, denies the reforms were designed to extend his political career. The outcome of Sunday's vote was difficult to predict, with polls showing the RPA neck-and-neck with an opposition alliance led by wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukyan. His alliance has ruled in coalition with the RPA before, but it is not clear whether it would agree to do so again if, as expected, it fails to win enough support to rule alone. The ruling party still wields considerable support and its main campaigner, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, who was appointed in September, is a popular figure. "I'll vote for the Republican Party. The new prime minister submitted a program of changes and I think we need to give him a chance," said Susanna, a student out in central Yerevan, the capital city. Many Armenians, however, accuse the government of corruption and mishandling the troubled economy. Armenia depends heavily for aid and investment on Russia, which has been hard hit in the past three years by an economic downturn. Armenia has felt the impact, with growth falling to 0.2 percent last year from 3.0 percent in 2015. "We need a new government, because corruption and injustice are everywhere, people aren't protected," said Suren, a 41-year-old worker. Political analysts say unrest could erupt after the vote, partly due to a growing malaise over the economic slowdown. "The situation is especially tense, due to the deepening level of discontent and dissent," said Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Centre in Yerevan. (Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Helen Popper) Kathmandu Triennale: Artists in the City Kathmandu Triennale launched its inaugural edition on March 24 and will run till April 9. GREATER NOIDA, India (AP) The Amalawa brothers were wandering through a mall in a New Delhi suburb when the phone rang with warnings from a friend: Hurry home, mobs of Indians are attacking Africans across the area. The brothers, Nigerians who came to India to seek better education and work opportunities, rushed out and tried to hail an autorickshaw, just as a mob of Indian men saw them and ran toward them. The Amalawas ran back inside the mall but dozens of screaming men followed them. Precious Amalawa hid inside a changing room but Endurance got dragged out. "They attacked him with bricks, sticks, belts," 23-year-old Precious said Friday as he sat, still stiff with shock and fear, in their apartment. SRINAGAR, India (AP) The 11-year-old boy set out for a stroll with a friend in the main city of the disputed region of Kashmir. It was a sunny spring day, and quiet, during a general strike and after anti-India protests and clashes had subsided with no injuries reported. But Wednesday's walk quickly became traumatic, Mir Mehran recounted, as he and his friend were stopped by Indian paramilitary soldiers who mocked them and questioned why they were out walking and then punished the boys in the street. "They asked us to hold our earlobes and do situps for 10 times. As we were doing so, they laughed at us," Mehran told The Associated Press after photographs began circulating and sparked outrage among local Kashmiris. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Waving the national flag, the U.S. stars and stripes and shouting military-style slogans, tens of thousands of supporters of arrested former South Korean President Park Geun-hye rallied Saturday for her to be released from detention on corruption allegations. Park was jailed Friday over allegations that she colluded with a confidante to extort money from businesses, take bribes and allow the friend to unlawfully interfere with state affairs. The Constitutional Court ruled March 10 to remove her from office after she was impeached in December. Reflecting a nation deeply split over its future, Park's opponents held their own protests in nearby streets, celebrating her arrest and calling for her conservative policies to be erased. Story continues PONOROGO, Indonesia (AP) Rescuers on Saturday searched for more than two dozen people who were missing after a rain-triggered landslide struck a village on Indonesia's main island of Java. One body was found before the search was suspended as rain started to fall. The landslide hit some 23 houses and farmers harvesting ginger on a hillside in Banaran village in East Java province's Ponorogo district, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency. Nugroho said the discovery of one dead victim left at least 26 villagers missing. The local army chief, Lt. Col. Slamet Sarijanto, said that according to villagers, 38 people were buried by the landslide 22 in their houses and 16 while harvesting ginger. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) Voter went to the polls Saturday for 19 by-elections in Myanmar, in the first test of the popularity of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy since it formed the government a year ago. Results are not expected until Sunday at the earliest. No incidents of violence were reported by the time the polls closed. Nine of the contested seats were in the Lower House, three in the Upper House and the rest in state and regional assemblies in ethnic minority areas. Some seats became vacant because the lawmakers were promoted to the Cabinet. Some were open because of deaths, while others were never filled in the 2015 general election after security concerns in the areas forced the cancellation of voting. GAUHATI, India (AP) Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Saturday recalled his 1959 flight to India from Tibet ahead of a visit to northeast India's Arunachal Pradesh state despite objections by China, which considers it a disputed region. The Dalai Lama said he had no option but to escape Tibet in view of Chinese military action. He spoke at a function organized by an Indian newspaper, The Assam Tribune, in Gauhati, the capital of Assam state. The state's governor and its top elected official were among an audience of nearly 1,500 people. The Dalai Lama last visited Arunachal Pradesh in 2009. BOSTON (AP) Hotels offer congee and other Chinese staples for room service. Casinos train staff members on Chinese etiquette. Restaurants, tourist sights and shopping malls translate signs, menus and information booklets into Chinese. The American hospitality industry is stepping up efforts to make Chinese visitors feel more welcome, since they are projected to soon surpass travelers from the United Kingdom and Japan as the single largest overseas demographic. And it's not just the typical tourist hubs of New York and Los Angeles, where such efforts have long been commonplace. Smaller cities like Boston, Las Vegas, Seattle and Washington, D.C., are increasingly getting into the act, industry officials say. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) A cargo ship being used by a South Korean shipping company went missing in seas near Uruguay with 24 crew members and authorities said Saturday that two people had been rescued. The ship went out of contact late Friday, South Korea time, shortly after one of the crew members sent a text message to the shipping company saying the ship was taking on water, according to an official from Seoul's Foreign Ministry. The official said the Uruguayan maritime police and a commercial vessel that had been in neighboring waters were searching for the Stella Daisy, which had departed from a port in Brazil on March 26. TOKYO (AP) Japan's whaling fleet returned home Friday after killing 333 whales in the Antarctic, achieving its goal for the second year under a revised research whaling program. The Fisheries Agency said the five-ship fleet finished its four-month expedition without major interference from anti-whaling activists who have attempted to stop it in the past. Japan says the hunt was for ecological research. Research whaling is allowed as an exception to a 1986 international ban on commercial whaling. Opponents of the Japanese program say it's a cover for commercial whaling because the whales are sold for food. The International Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Japan's Antarctic whaling program should stop because it wasn't scientific as Tokyo had claimed. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Malaysia's police chief said Friday that three North Koreans who had been hiding out in their country's embassy for weeks were allowed to fly home after investigators cleared them of wrongdoing in the death of Kim Jong Nam. Malaysia and North Korea struck a deal this week to end a diplomatic standoff over the Feb. 13 murder of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un. Although details of what led to the agreement were not released, it gave North Korea custody of the body and allowed Malaysia to question the three men who were hiding in the embassy. SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) The future of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design is in doubt after negotiations for the sale of the school to an Asian company broke down. While interim President Maria Puzziferro is downplaying the option of closing, the for-profit school has decided not to accept any new students for the coming academic year. "I wouldn't say this is a step toward closing," Puzziferro said. She then said the university may consider closing but would not shut down suddenly. Students would be able to complete their degrees, she said. The Santa Fe school is owned by Laureate International Universities. The city leases the campus to the university for $2.2 million a year. Laureate had hoped to sell its assets to Raffles Education Corp. of Singapore, but the deal stalled. The nonprofit Higher Learning Commission postponed approving the transfer of the school to Raffles late last year, leading to a breakdown in negotiations. The Higher Learning Commission accredits colleges and universities in 19 states. "We couldn't see a clear pathway to approval anytime in the near future," Puzziferro said of the deal after the commission wanted more information about both parties in the sale. Steve Kauffman, a spokesman for the Higher Learning Commission, said Wednesday that university administrators hadn't notified the commission that the sale was off. A letter sent to students on Wednesday assured them that the campus would stay open and that the college was still making plans for the summer term and the next academic year. Not all students were encouraged. "There's still a little uncertainty, and everyone's a little on edge," said Ozzie Burk, who is studying digital arts. "Everyone's still trying to process it and not jump to any conclusions." Carlos Moreno, 19, is finishing his first year in the business arts management program. He said he is worried he won't be able to finish degree and is looking at other schools. "It's pretty much a year wasted," he said. WASHINGTON (AP) The White House's handling of intelligence reports on the Russia investigation has been labeled unorthodox and, to the Democrats, suspicious. But when it comes to Donald Trump's relationship with his spy agencies, that's par for the course. Since taking office, Trump has challenged the integrity of intelligence officials, moved to exert more control over U.S. spying agencies and accused his predecessor of using government spycraft to monitor his presidential campaign. This week, Trump's White House is facing allegations that it funneled secret intelligence reports to a top Republican investigating his campaign's possible ties to Russian officials as well as Moscow's interference in the 2016 election. The approach appears to be based, at least in part, on the White House's anxiety over the Russia investigations, which threaten to seriously weaken his presidency. It also reflects a deep distrust of the intelligence community among his political advisers, including government newcomers who have never dealt with classified information or covert programs. "It reveals a chasm of ignorance about how stuff is done," said Michael Hayden, the former head of the CIA and National Security Agency. Trump, with the backing of political advisers Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner, initially sought to put Wall Street billionaire Stephen Feinberg in charge of a review of the intelligence agencies. An early iteration of the review explored eliminating the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the umbrella agency created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to streamline and coordinate intelligence. Officials say they viewed the agency as an unnecessary and bloated bureaucracy that can manipulate or distort information. But the review was recalibrated after Dan Coats who was confirmed earlier this month as Trump's intelligence director vigorously complained about being undermined in the midst of his confirmation hearings, according to U.S. officials. Coats is now leading the review, though it does not include potentially scrapping the office he now runs, according to the officials. Story continues "This is going to be more on the 'trim and optimize' as opposed to 'dismantle,'" said L. Roger Mason Jr., an executive with the nonprofit Noblis and a member of the Trump transition team that focused on the national intelligence directorate. Trump's White House has looked for other ways seize the reins. Officials have expressed an interest in having more raw intelligence sent to the president for his daily briefings instead of an analysis of information compiled by the agencies, according to current and former U.S. officials. The change would have given his White House advisers more control about the assessments given to him and sidelined some of the conclusions made by intelligence professionals. One official said the focus on accessing more raw intelligence appeared to be more of a priority under the short tenure of Michael Flynn, who was ousted as national security adviser after less than one month on the job. He was replaced by H.R. McMaster, an Army lieutenant general who was expected to exert more control over the NSC but has found himself struggling to overcome skepticism among Flynn holdovers who have the ear of Bannon. Earlier this month, CIA leaders raised concerns with McMaster about an intelligence director on his staff. McMaster moved to replace him, but the staffer, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, appealed to Bannon and Kushner, who got Trump to intervene to save his job. Cohen-Watnick was a protege of Flynn, having worked for him at the Pentagon's intelligence shop. Now the NSC's senior director for intelligence programs, Cohen-Watnick is one of about a dozen people in the White House with access to a full range of classified information, including details of U.S. covert programs. His position also gives him the ability to request intelligence products from agencies. On Thursday, The New York Times identified Cohen-Watnick as one of two White House staffers who helped House intelligence chairman Devin Nunes view secret reports. Related: For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. A U.S. official confirmed Cohen-Watnick had access to the kind of intelligence materials, but maintained he did not play a role in helping the congressman access the documents. The official pointed instead to the other official named in the New York Times report, Michael Ellis, a White House lawyer who previously worked for Nunes on the House committee. Cohen-Watnick has privately expressed suspicion to colleagues over whether Ellis could have been responsible for some of the leaks that had been troubling the new administration in its first few weeks in office, according to an administration official. The current and former officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive matters. Nunes said the materials he saw showed the "troubling" extent to which information about Trump and his associates' communications was spread around the government in the waning days of the Obama administration. His public declarations came days after Trump officials privately suggested to reporters that they focus on that same topic, a signal that the California congressman and the White House may have been working in tandem. The White House also said the information validated Trump's remarkable and unproven claim that President Barack Obama wiretapped his New York skyscraper, though Nunes disputed that conclusion. Stephen Slick, who served in the CIA and NSC for three decades, said intelligence agencies go to "extraordinary lengths" to safeguard the privacy of Americans. He said officials "have no incentive to see intelligence reports they gather and distribute for national security purposes become fodder in domestic political disputes." At least some of what Nunes viewed at the White House is believed to be communications between foreign governments discussing the incoming administration, which could have been picked up through routine monitoring of diplomats and other foreign officials living in the U.S. Hayden said that Trump and his advisers appear to be missing the fact that such information is collected to give the U.S. government insight into the thinking of foreign powers that can be used to Washington's advantage. And as president-elect, Hayden said, Trump would have had access to much of this information. "These people wrote this not for the Obama administration but for the American government, with full knowledge that whatever they were writing would be accessible by the president-elect or the president," Hayden said. ___ Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC, Eileen Sullivan at http://twitter.com/esullivanap and Vivian Salama at http://twitter.com/vmsalama By David Lawder, Steve Holland and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has neither a clear White House tax plan nor adequate staff yet to see through a planned tax reform, according to interviews with people in the administration, in Congress and among U.S. tax experts. In an echo of its attempt to roll back Obamacare that ended in an embarrassing collapse in Congress, the Trump administration has vowed quick action on taxes. But it has yet to appoint people with the skills to evaluate complex tax laws, draft legislation and sell it to deeply divided lawmakers. Burned by last week's failed healthcare measure largely authored by House of Representatives Republicans, Trump is determined not to count on Congress so much this time for handling the details on taxes, his second major legislative initiative. But that only underscores his need for a strong White House tax team, which the administration still lacks. Many policy options are still being studied, from deficit-funded tax cuts to a European-style value-added tax. "They're still sorting out who's in charge, who's going to take the lead," said William Hoagland, a longtime Senate Republican aide who worked on the last successful comprehensive tax reform effort in 1986. "You need someone who has the ear and support of the president who can sell a tax plan, and you need the technical support for that person, said Hoagland, now senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank. Financial markets have been reassessing expectations of fast action on taxes that have helped fuel a Trump stocks rally. Members of Trump's tax team are known, but not their exact duties. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn are senior team leaders. Others include White House advisers Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Trump huddled with Mnuchin on Thursday to discuss taxes. We are at the first stages of this process, beginning to engage with members of Congress, policy groups, business leaders, industry, constituents from around the country, and other stakeholders, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Thursday, Trump's 69th day in office. When Trump was elected in November, Republican lawmakers enthusiastically joined his call to rewrite the tax code and dismantle Obamacare in the first 100 days of his presidency. In early February, Trump promised a "phenomenal" tax plan by early March that never appeared. Mnuchin spoke on Feb. 23 of enacting tax reform by August. Spicer acknowledged this week that the timetable could be slipping. Another senior White House official said the administration had assumed it would still be working on healthcare at this point, not tax reform yet. The official, not authorized to speak publicly, spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. So far, Trump's tax campaign is a far cry from President Ronald Reagan's 1986 effort, in which Don Regan, as Treasury secretary and then White House chief of staff, spent many months developing legislation that won bipartisan support in Congress. "The process under Reagan was much more developed, elaborate and long, and there was a strong bench of top-rate technicians putting things together," said Steven Rosenthal, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a think tank. Under Trump, he said, "None of that is happening." 'A LOT SIMPLER' During the 2016 election campaign, Trump issued a tax plan that partly resembled one developed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, but Trump does not now appear wedded to either. It is a safe bet he will not lean heavily on the plan from Ryan, who drafted and championed the ill-fated plan to gut Obamacare. "Trump now desperately needs a policy victory ... I would expect the president to play a much more activist role, said Stephen Moore, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank. Moore helped write the Trump campaign tax plan. Mnuchin last week talked about a middle-class tax cut. He also said tax reform in many ways would be "a lot simpler" than healthcare, dismaying tax experts who said that is not so. Comprehensive tax reform is so complex that it has defied Congresses and presidents since Reagan. Tax law is riddled with loopholes embedded in the economy and defended by beneficiaries. Some fundamental questions remain unanswered within the Trump team. For instance, it is unclear if Trump would support a plan that adds to the budget deficit. Past tax reform efforts have tried to be "revenue neutral." Trump also has sent mixed messages on Ryan's proposed "border adjustment tax" that would end the corporate deduction for import costs and make export income tax-free, aiming to boost exports and raise new tax revenues. The Trump team is heavy on Wall Street experience, but short on tax expertise. At Treasury, Mnuchin is the only Senate-confirmed political appointee in place. The job of Treasury assistant secretary for tax policy is unfilled. A person familiar with the hiring process for the job said: "Treasury needs more capable tax expertise ASAP, or the White House will yank total control for tax reform from the department for the rest of the year, maybe beyond." Mark Mazur, who held the Treasury tax job under former Democratic President Barack Obama, said Mnuchin has too much on his plate to concentrate fully on taxes. Mnuchin has praised Treasury's 100 tax policy career staff, but they can only offer options to Trump appointees, said Mazur, now director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. "The political appointees are the ones who need to turn the crank on the sausage-making machine," Mazur said. (Additional reporting by Jennifer Ablan in New York; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Alistair Bell) By My Pham HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has written to Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang to promote more cooperation between the two countries, the government website cited Quang as saying. Vietnam and the United States had advanced ties to a new level under the Obama administration amid a dispute with China over South China Sea issues, while Trump has also expressed his hope for a stronger relationship. Trump sent a letter to Quang "affirming his wishes to promote cooperation on economics, trade, regional and international issues", the Vietnamese government website said. Quang made the remarks during a meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam on Friday. Quang emphasized that Vietnam welcomes U.S. efforts to improve cooperation with countries in the region to maintain the freedom of navigation and aviation. U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius was reported as saying that Trump is considering attending the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam this year. Vietnam had been expected to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal which Trump pulled the U.S. out of in January, but Hanoi has also been building links with the United States amid a maritime dispute with China. China claims most of the South China Sea, while Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei claim parts of the sea that commands strategic sea lanes and has rich fishing grounds along with oil and gas deposits. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said last month he was ready to visit the United States to promote ties, particularly trade. (Reporting by My Pham; Editing by Kim Coghill) Tunis (AFP) - Tunisian activists say they are frustrated by the slow progress on reforms to improve civil liberties six years after an uprising calling for more freedoms in the North African country. The 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ushered in a new era of freedom of expression and the creation of dozens of civil society groups and political parties. But activists say the law still contains "oppressive" and "backward" provisions inconsistent with a 2014 constitution guaranteeing freedom of conscience, protection of privacy, and equality between men and women. Since the uprising, Amna Guellali of Human Rights Watch says, Tunisian civil society has more openly been tackling issues that were previously taboo such as drugs and homosexuality. But they have made limited headway in terms of legal reform, as they face "a huge amount of resistance" from politicians and parts of the population, she says. "We feel like we're going round in circles... It's frustrating," Guellali says. President Beji Caid Essebsi has categorically refused to support decriminalising homosexuality, which is still punishable by three years in prison. And discrimination against women remains rife, particularly in matters of inheritance, despite Tunisia being viewed as a regional pioneer in women's rights. In December, the government said it wanted to amend a law that allows men who carry out sexual acts with girls under the age of 15 to avoid prosecution if they marry their victims. But parliament has yet to do so, or to approve a wider law to curb violence against women. And in recent years hundreds of young Tunisians have been jailed for smoking cannabis under a law from Ben Ali's era imposing a mandatory one-year prison sentence for narcotics use. - Legal overhaul - Rights lawyer Ghazi Mrabet, who has campaigned against the anti-narcotics law, says political horsetrading causes these laws to stall in parliament. Story continues The reforms face opposition from conservatives "in all parties, not just among the Islamists", he says. Wahid Ferchichi, of the Adli association for the defence of individual liberties, says that a complete overhaul of Tunisia's legal system is needed. As laws like the one to stop violence against women address fundamental rights issues, they should "lead to the reform of the penal law, personal status law and labour law", he says. Ferchichi believes lawmakers are wary of backing new legislation on controversial issues out of "fear of not winning the next elections". Walid Larbi, from the Beity association, says the proposed reforms threaten the "all-Tunisian, all-Muslim" image that the country's society has of itself. But there is some progress. Tunisia has amended a law so that women no longer need permission from their husband to travel abroad with their children. Essebsi has also announced measures to limit the number of prison terms for cannabis use. Even publicly discussing civil rights is a huge achievement, campaigners say. "We're starting public debates, and that's extraordinary," says Hajer el-Kefi from Euromed Rights. "Before we never talked about homosexuality, or about a Tunisian woman marrying a non-Muslim," she says. "Before you couldn't even say 'zatla' on television," adds Mrabet, using a slang word for cannabis. In their latest campaign, rights groups have called on authorities to scrap a ban on Tunisian Muslim women marrying non-Muslims. Kefi says she expects criticism. "But we'll keep up the fight," she says. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Australians were stranded by floodwaters on Saturday after the remnants of a powerful cyclone swept along the country's east coast, cutting roads, destroying bridges and killing two people. The disaster zone from ex-Cyclone Debbie stretched 1,000 km (600 miles) from Queensland state's tropical resort islands and Gold Coast tourist strip to the farmlands of New South Wales state, with more than 100,000 homes without power. Six large rivers had hit major flood levels and were still rising in several areas, said the Bureau of Meteorology. Flood sirens sounded in several towns, prompting stranded residents to climb onto roofs of flooded homes to await rescue, but fast-moving water and high winds hindered emergency crews reaching several areas. Police said they recovered the bodies of two women from floodwaters late on Friday, the first reported deaths since Cyclone Debbie hit on Tuesday. One was found on a swamped property and the other retrieved by police divers from a car that had been swept off a flooded bridge. Authorities fear more people may have died overnight as floodwaters continued to rise. Cyclone Debbie, a category four storm, one short of the most powerful level five, pounded Queensland state on Tuesday, smashing tourist resorts, bringing down power lines and shutting down coal mines. Debbie will hit Australia's A$1.7 trillion ($1.3 trillion) economy, with economists estimating it will slow growth to under 2 percent in the first quarter. [L3N1H82GN] In the Bowen Basin, the world's single largest source of coal used in steel-making, Glencore said its mines were not damaged by the storm but restarting production depended on railways reopening. Three of rail operator Aurizon's four railway lines in the region were closed and BHP, was assessing the extent of disruption to shipments. Queensland's top insurers, Suncorp Group Ltd and RACQ, said it was too early to put a dollar figure on the damage. (Reporting by Jane Wardell; Editing by Andrew Roche and Eric Meijer) By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Friday cut the troop cap by 18 percent for its peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo after reaching a compromise with the United States, which wanted a bigger cut to the largest and most expensive operation. The 15-member council unanimously renewed the $1.2 billion mission for another year with a troop cap of 16,215 amid U.N. warnings that violence was spreading across the central African state ahead of elections this year. France had proposed 17,000, while the United States wanted 15,000, diplomats said. There are 16,893 soldiers on the ground after previous U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon reduced the troop level in 2015 and 2016. Despite a request by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to add two extra police units (320 officers) the council agreed to a Washington demand to keep the current total of 1,050 officers. The resolution asks Guterres to explore "transfers of troops and their assets from other United Nations missions to MONUSCO" if needed and subject to council approval. It is the first peacekeeping mission to be renewed since U.S. President Donald Trump proposed that Washington, the largest U.N. contributor, cut funding. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley is reviewing the 16 U.N. peacekeeping operations. "It's not the number of people we have on the ground, it's the quality of the work that's happening on the ground," Haley told the council after the Congo vote. Washington provides the most money for the total $7.9 billion U.N. peacekeeping budget, paying 28.5 percent, but Trump and Haley want to enforce a 25 percent cap. The council has asked Guterres to report by the end of September on options for reducing the peacekeeping mission after elections this year, President Joseph Kabila has stepped down and sustainable progress has been made in reducing the threat of armed groups in the country. Resource-rich Congo, which gained independence from colonial power Belgium in 1960, has never had a peaceful transition of power and Kabila's refusal to stand down when his final term expired in December has raised fears the country could slide back into civil war. Opposition leaders signed a fragile deal with the ruling coalition and allies of Kabila on Dec. 31 that requires him to step down after elections that must happen by the end of 2017. The Security Council held a minute silence to honor two U.N. investigators whose bodies were found this week in Kasai Central province. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Cynthia Osterman) LONDON (AP) UK detectives appealed Saturday for information and witnesses who might have seen a group of youths attack a teenage asylum-seeker in the London borough of Croydon. The attack left the 17-year-old Iranian Kurd in serious but stable condition in a London hospital. Authorities are treating the matter as a suspected hate crime. Detective Sergeant Kris Blamires said the teenager was at a bus stop with two friends when approached by about eight youths. "The suspects asked the victim where he was from and when they established that he was an asylum seeker they chased him and launched a brutal attack," Blamires said in a statement. "He has sustained serious head and facial injuries as a result of this attack, which included repeated blows to the head by a large group of attackers." The teen's friends managed to get away. British police say hate crimes remain under-reported in Britain. The country has seen a surge in xenophobia expressed in threats, taunts and physical attacks after Britain's vote to leave the European Union last year. Much of the Brexit debate focused on an influx of migrants into Britain from other EU countries and whether their presence was making it harder for Britons to find work, housing and medical care. Police recorded 1,546 racially or religiously aggravated offenses in England and Wales in the two weeks before the June 23 referendum, and 2,241 in the two weeks after it, the Home Office said. The total for July was up 41 percent from the same month a year earlier. London's police force has increased the number of specialist investigators by 30 percent in the past two years, with more than 900 dedicated to investigating such attacks. LONDON (AP) UK police say the final person being questioned in the March 22 terror attack has been released with no further action. The 30-year-old man arrested in Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts was released Saturday. No further action is planned against him or 11 others arrested in the probe. Authorities have said they believed Khalid Masood was acting alone when he drove down Westminster Bridge, mowing down pedestrians and killing three. Masood then fatally stabbed a policeman in a courtyard on the grounds of Parliament. Police believe British-born Masood's 82-second rampage was inspired by extremist ideology, though authorities say there is no evidence he had direct links to the Islamic State group or al-Qaida. Minister Sharma flouts election code of conduct Energy Minister Janardan Sharma flouted election code of conduct by taking part in a party programme in Gorkha district. London (AFP) - British finance minister Philip Hammond will head a business delegation to India next week in an effort to boost international trade as Britain begins the process of leaving the European Union. Chancellor of the Exchequer Hammond will be joined by International Trade Minister Mark Garnier and Bank of England governor Mark Carney for the high-level talks in New Delhi and Mumbai. "As we leave the EU and embark on an exciting new phase of our economic history, looking to boost our trade and investment beyond the borders of Europe and strengthening our relationships with the world's most vibrant economies is more important than ever," Hammond said in a statement. Nine months after the shock referendum vote in favour of Britain exiting the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday formally activated Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, starting a two-year countdown for quitting the bloc. May insists that Britain will pull out of the European single market to control EU immigration as part of her Conservative government's Brexit plans. Britain is now looking to strike new trade deals over the coming years with non-EU countries, although it cannot do so while still a member of the bloc. Next week's talks form part of the annual UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue and Hammond's delegation will include leaders from the field of UK financial services. India's "finance sector is undergoing a significant transformation, with new payment firms, small finance banks and insurance players entering the field", the Treasury statement said. "This shift presents enormous opportunities for the UK to work much more closely with India's own exciting Fintech sector." The statement added: "The trip is also a significant opportunity, following the triggering of Article 50, for the chancellor to discuss Britain's new role in the world, as it prepares to revitalise its links with friends and allies, opening up new markets and new opportunities for British businesses." UNITED NATIONS (AP) The U.N. Security Council called for stepped up efforts Friday to defeat Boko Haram insurgents and Islamic State extremists in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region and tackle the humanitarian crisis that has left millions facing hunger and possible famine. A resolution adopted unanimously by the U.N.'s most powerful body strongly condemned attacks by the militant groups and encouraged greater support to strengthen the capabilities of the multinational force trying to rout them. It said the force needs logistical, mobility and communications assistance and equipment, and better ways to share information. It expressed "grave concern at the ongoing terrorist attacks" by Boko Haram and Islamic State militants and at "the dire humanitarian situation across the region caused by the activities of Boko Haram." The resolution urged the immediate disbursement of the $458 million in humanitarian assistance pledged for the Lake Chad region for 2017 at a donors conference in Oslo and called on those who haven't donated to contribute urgently. The Security Council visited the Lake Chad region in early March for a firsthand look at the impact of the extremist attacks and the humanitarian crisis. Britain's U.N. ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, said putting a spotlight on Lake Chad Basin isn't enough. "We will fail the people of the region if we do not respond to what we saw, if we don't take tangible actions to bring real relief, real respite to the suffering, the hunger, the instability," he told the council after the vote. First and foremost, Rycroft said, the international community and the United Nations must scale up their response to the looming humanitarian disaster. "If we act now, famine can be avoided," he said. To tackle the crisis, Rycroft said, the root causes must also be addressed including "economic inequalities, countering violent extremism, and empowering women." And he stressed that humanitarian aid must be accompanied by economic development. Washington (AFP) - Air strikes by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group have likely "unintentionally" killed 229 civilians since the offensive began in 2014, according to US Central Command. The tally does not include civilian casualties from March -- which could include potentially large numbers of civilians killed in strikes over several days in Mosul's al-Jadida area. Attention has focused on one allegedly particularly deadly strike on March 17. Stephen Townsend, the senior US commander in Iraq, said coalition forces "probably had a role in those casualties." The coalition has said it has launched an investigation into the reported deaths. Iraq is also probing the deadly air strikes in the western district of Mosul al-Jadida, where the number of victims is said to range from dozens to hundreds. The battle for Mosul began in October 2016. As of the end of February 2017, "it is more likely than not, at least 229 civilians have been unintentionally killed by coalition strikes since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve" in Iraq and Syria, according to the statement from Centcom, the US military command in the Middle East. Some 43 different reports of possible civilian deaths in the two countries are still under investigation by the coalition, the statement said. Critics, including monitoring groups, say the real number is much higher. The coalition insists that the IS group has targeted civilians and used them as human shields, making it difficult to avoid civilian casualties despite its state-of-the-art technology. CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp says residents of the Caribbean territory deserve full voting rights and political representation. Mapp spoke Friday evening during a ceremony marking the centennial of the U.S. territory's transfer from Denmark to the United States. He said the island's residents also deserve equitable treatment in federal programs. The governor said the territory has experienced stellar growth over the past century and now has advantages such as disaster assistance and military protection because of its U.S. relationship. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke read a message from President Donald Trump during the ceremony hailing the territory's contributions to the United States' vibrancy and strength. CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's murder rate rose to an average 60 per day last year, up from about 45 per day in 2015, the attorney general's office said on Friday, as a deep economic and political crisis exacerbated violence in the country. Official data put the murder rate at 70.1 per 100,000 inhabitants last year, one of the highest in the world and up from 58 in 2015. Violent crime is one of the most pervasive anxieties for Venezuelans, especially in poor slums dominated by gangs and rife with guns. Numerous state security plans and disarmament drives in recent years have failed to curb violence given easy access to weapons, police participation in crime, and high levels of impunity in the nation of 30 million people. A brutal economic recession that has millions skipping meals has pushed more Venezuelans towards crime, according to officials, rights groups and neighborhood organizations. (Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer and Diego Ore; Editing by Girish Gupta) Caracas (AFP) - Venezuelan judges on Saturday retreated from efforts to tighten President Nicolas Maduro's grip on power, after drawing international condemnation that raised pressure on him as he clings to office. In a rare climb-down by the president's allies, the pro-Maduro Supreme Court retreated from rulings that had prompted opposition calls for mass protests in a volatile country stricken by economic and political crisis. The court said on its website that it was revoking a March 29 decision to take over legislative powers from the National Assembly, a move opponents had angrily branded as a "coup d'etat." It also revoked an earlier ruling that stripped lawmakers of their immunity from prosecution. And it ended special powers it had conferred on Maduro over security legislation in the crisis. Head of the court Maikel Moreno dismissed allegations that opinions had deprived the legislative branch "of its functions -- nor have they dissolved or canceled it." In a statement read before representatives of the diplomatic corps, Moreno said the court recognizes assembly "immunity as a guarantee of legislative activity, with limitations" set by the constitution. - Opposition not swayed - Opposition assembly speaker Julio Borges dismissed the court's gesture. "Nothing has changed. The coup d'etat continues," he told reporters. Opposition groups went ahead with planned street rallies in Caracas on Saturday. At a gathering of lawmakers on a public square in Caracas, opposition congressional leader Stalin Gonzalez said the assembly should move to suspend the judges. That would be a difficult task, since it would require support from senior state officials who support Maduro. "We want general elections, not dialogue," said retiree Eugenia Salazar, 67, one of hundreds of people who attended the gathering. The court "violated the constitution by trying to dissolve the parliament. Now they are going back on that, but this is still a dictatorship." Story continues After the gathering, participants tried to march to the state ombudsman's office to lobby for his support. They were turned away by riot police who fired tear gas. - Internal criticism - Maduro faced the strongest criticism ever from within his own camp on Friday when Attorney General Luisa Ortega condemned the court rulings as a "rupture of constitutional order." The court denied on Saturday that it had aimed to dissolve the legislature. But it reiterated the original grounds for its ruling: that the assembly would be in contempt if it includes three opposition lawmakers whom the court has suspended for alleged fraud. The court warned the assembly that it must ensure the "legal and legitimate" exercising of its functions. Borges earlier called on the military and other institutions to follow Ortega's example and speak out against Maduro. Pressure against Maduro also increased abroad. In Washington, the Organization of American States (OAS) scheduled an emergency session for Monday to discuss the Venezuelan crisis. Foreign ministers of the regional Mercosur bloc said in a joint statement after a meeting Saturday in Argentina that Venezuela must "ensure the effective division of powers" and "respect the electoral schedule." - Power struggle - The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) won legislative elections in December 2015 in a landslide. But the court has since overturned every law passed by the current legislature. Venezuela has the world's biggest oil reserves, but the collapse in energy prices has sapped its revenues, prompting shortages of food, medicine and basic goods along with a surge in violent crime. Maduro is not up for re-election until October 2018, but he has been forced to fend off opposition efforts to call a vote on removing him from power. Nestor Ramos, 67, joined the lawmakers' gathering in Caracas, saying he was fed up with not being able to obtain medication for his diabetes. "I am at the mercy of God," he told AFP. "I don't care about the Supreme Court, I just want elections and for all of them (in the government) to go." WASHINGTON (AP) On the defensive, the White House is throwing counter punches to deflect attention from three investigations into the Kremlin's interference in last year's election and possible Russian ties to President Donald Trump or his associates. The White House says the real story is not about Russia, but about how Obama administration officials allegedly leaked and mishandled classified material about Americans. Reaching back to campaign mode, Trump aides also contend that Hillary Clinton had more extensive ties to Moscow than Trump. Arguing the White House's case Friday, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said: "There is a concern that people misused, mishandled, misdirected classified information leaked it out, spread it out, violated civil liberties." The White House has not pointed to any hard evidence to support its allegations, and instead has relied on media reports from some of the same publications Trump derides as "fake news." The truth is buried somewhere in classified material that is illegal to disclose. __ THE FLYNN AFFAIR Trump fired national security adviser Michael Flynn following news reports that Flynn misled the White House about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. But the White House says the problem is that Flynn's conversations were in the news at all. "The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington?" Trump tweeted after firing Flynn in February. The White House has called for investigations into the disclosure of multiple intercepted conversations that Flynn had with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before the inauguration. The government routinely monitors the communications of foreign officials in the U.S. It's illegal to publicly disclose such classified information. Related: For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. Officially, the White House said Flynn was forced to resign because he'd give inaccurate descriptions of the discussions to Vice President Mike Pence and others in the White House. But Trump has continued to defend Flynn, suggesting he was only fired because information about his contacts came out in the media. Story continues "Michael Flynn, Gen. Flynn is a wonderful man," Trump said. "I think he's been treated very, very unfairly by the media." ___ THE DEEP STATE? White House officials say some Obama holdovers are part of a so-called deep state out to tear Trump down. This week, the White House latched onto a month-old television interview from an Obama administration official who said she encouraged congressional aides to gather as much information on Russia as possible before the inauguration. Evelyn Farkas, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense, said she feared that information "would disappear" after President Barack Obama left office. Spicer called Farkas' comments "devastating" and said they "raised serious concerns on whether or not there was an organized and widespread effort by the Obama administration to use and leak highly sensitive intelligence information for political purposes." Farkas was no longer in government when she urged officials to collect intelligence on "the staff, the Trump staff, dealing with Russians." She left the Pentagon in 2015, just over a year before the election. She says she was offering advice to associates and did not pass on actual information. Obama administration officials have acknowledged that there were efforts to preserve information that could be related to the Russian investigations, as was first reported in The New York Times. Former Obama officials contend that intelligence was disseminated to pockets of the government where officials had clearance to see classified reports, not publicly leaked. Still, Farkas herself connected the concerns among government officials about the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia to the information winding up in the press. "That's why you have the leaking," Farkas said in the March 2 interview on MSNBC. "People are worried." ___ THE HILL WEIGHS IN The White House has embraced a top Republican's assertion that information about Trump associates were improperly spread around the government in the final days of the Obama administration. It appears the White House played a role in helping House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., acquire some of that information. Nunes announced last week that he had seen intelligence reports showing that Trump aides' communications were picked up through routine surveillance. But he said their identities may have been improperly revealed. The California congressman later said he viewed the reports at the White House. The White House contends that Nunes' information which has not been made public validates Trump's explosive claim that his predecessor wiretapped his New York skyscraper. Nunes has disputed that but still says he found the reports "troubling." The White House's apparent involvement in helping Nunes access the information has overshadowed what Trump officials contend are real concerns about how much information about Americans is disseminated in intelligence reports. Trump has asked the House and Senate intelligence committees to include the matter in their Russia investigations. ___ CAMPAIGN MODE Trump won the election, but thinks it's his vanquished opponent whose ties to Russia should be investigated. Some of the White House's allegations against Clinton stem from her four years as secretary of state, a role that gave her ample reasons to have frequent contacts with Russia. To deflect questions about Trump's friendly rhetoric toward Russia, the White House points to the fact that Clinton was a central figure in the Obama administration's attempt to "reset" relations with Moscow an effort that crumbled after Vladimir Putin took back the presidency. "When you compare the two sides in terms of who's actually engaging with Russia, trying to strengthen them, trying to act with them, trying to interact with them, it is night and day between our actions and her actions," Spicer said. Rex Tillerson, Trump's secretary of state, has deep ties to Russia from his time running ExxonMobil and cutting oil deals with Moscow. The White House has also tried to link Clinton to Russia's purchase of a controlling stake in a mining company with operations in the U.S., arguing that she was responsible for "selling off one-fifth of our country's uranium." The Clinton-led State Department was among nine U.S. government agencies that had to approve the purchase of Uranium One. According to Politifact, some investors in the company had relationships with former President Bill Clinton and donated to the Clinton Foundation. However, the fact checking site says most of those donations occurred well before Clinton became secretary of state and was in position to have a say in the agreement. ___ On Twitter, follow Deb Riechmann at http://twitter.com/debriechmann and Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC The White House released financial details of its staffers Friday night, including that of President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump. The couple are beneficiaries of multiple real estate and investment businesses worth about $741 million, according to the latest disclosures. Before becoming Donald Trump's senior adviser, Kushner had to resign from 266 positions and sold off 58 businesses or investments that lawyers identified might pose a conflict of interest with Kushner's present job, according to the disclosures. Read: Read How Much Does Trump's Son-In-Law Make? Regarding the couple's other real estate assets, many of which are in New York City, Jamie Gorelick, an attorney who has been working on the ethics agreements for the couple, told the Associated Press: The remaining conflicts, from a practical perspective, are pretty narrow and very manageable. Despite her new government responsibilities, Ivanka Trump maintains a stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which is just down the street from the White House. Ethics experts worry that foreign governments or special interests could stay there and ask for special favor from the Trump administration. Although it remains unclear how Ivanka Trump would earn from her stake at the hotel, Kushner's financial disclosures stated that in 2016-2017, she earned between $1 million and $5 million from it. The disclosures put the value of her stake at between $5 million and $25 million, according to the New York Times. Other senior officials whose financial details were revealed included Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs president and now head of the White House National Economic Council, senior adviser Steve Bannon, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign chief turned adviser. The White House has never shied away from saying that the current staff's net worth is believed to be the richest in U.S. history. Former President Barack Obama's employees' finances eight years ago were found to be simple or moderate by the Office of Government Ethics, whereas the Trump appointees holdings were judged complex or extremely complex," the Guardian reported. Related Articles One hundred and fifty years ago, on March 30, 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and Russian envoy Baron Edouard de Stoeckl signed the Treaty of Cession. With a stroke of a pen, Tsar Alexander II had ceded Alaska, his countrys last remaining foothold in North America, to the United States for US$7.2 million. That sum, amounting to just $113 million in todays dollars, brought to an end Russias 125-year odyssey in Alaska and its expansion across the treacherous Bering Sea, which at one point extended the Russian Empire as far south as Fort Ross, California, 90 miles from San Francisco Bay. Today Alaska is one of the richest U.S. states thanks to its abundance of natural resources, such as petroleum, gold and fish, as well as its vast expanse of pristine wilderness and strategic location as a window on Russia and gateway to the Arctic. So what prompted Russia to withdraw from its American beachhead? And how did it come to possess it in the first place? As a descendant of Inupiaq Eskimos, I have been living and studying this history all my life. In a way, there are two histories of how Alaska came to be American and two perspectives. One concerns how the Russians took possession of Alaska and eventually ceded it to the U.S. The other is from the perspective of my people, who have lived in Alaska for thousands of years, and for whom the anniversary of the cession brings mixed emotions, including immense loss but also optimism. Russia looks east The lust for new lands that brought Russia to Alaska and eventually California began in the 16th century, when the country was a fraction of its current size. That began to change in 1581, when Russia overran a Siberian territory known as the Khanate of Sibir, which was controlled by a grandson of Genghis Khan. This key victory opened up Siberia, and within 60 years the Russians were at the Pacific. The Russian advance across Siberia was fueled in part by the lucrative fur trade, a desire to expand the Russian Orthodox Christian faith to the heathen populations in the east and the addition of new taxpayers and resources to the empire. Story continues In the early 18th century, Peter the Great who created Russias first Navy wanted to know how far the Asian landmass extended to the east. The Siberian city of Okhotsk became the staging point for two explorations he ordered. And in 1741, Vitus Bering successfully crossed the strait that bears his name and sighted Mt. Saint Elias, near what is now the village of Yakutat, Alaska. Although Berings second Kamchatka Expedition brought disaster for him personally when adverse weather on the return journey led to a shipwreck on one of the westernmost Aleutian Islands and his eventual death from scurvy in December 1741, it was an incredible success for Russia. The surviving crew fixed the ship, stocked it full of hundreds of the sea otters, foxes and fur seals that were abundant there and returned to Siberia, impressing Russian fur hunters with their valuable cargo. This prompted something akin to the Klondike gold rush 150 years later. Challenges emerge But maintaining these settlements wasnt easy. Russians in Alaska who numbered no more than 800 at their peak faced the reality of being half a globe away from St. Petersburg, then the capital of the empire, making communications a key problem. Also, Alaska was too far north to allow for significant agriculture and therefore unfavorable as a place to send large numbers of settlers. So they began exploring lands farther south, at first looking only for people to trade with so they could import the foods that wouldnt grow in Alaskas harsh climate. They sent ships to what is now California, established trade relations with the Spaniards there and eventually set up their own settlement at Fort Ross in 1812. Thirty years later, however, the entity set up to handle Russias American explorations failed and sold what remained. Not long after, the Russians began to seriously question whether they could continue their Alaskan colony as well. For starters, the colony was no longer profitable after the sea otter population was decimated. Then there was the fact that Alaska was difficult to defend and Russia was short on cash due to the costs of the war in Crimea. Americans eager for a deal So clearly the Russians were ready to sell, but what motivated the Americans to want to buy? In the 1840s, the United States had expanded its interests to Oregon, annexed Texas, fought a war with Mexico and acquired California. Afterward, Secretary of State Seward wrote in March 1848: Our population is destined to roll resistless waves to the ice barriers of the north, and to encounter oriental civilization on the shores of the Pacific. Almost 20 years after expressing his thoughts about expansion into the Arctic, Seward accomplished his goal. In Alaska, the Americans foresaw a potential for gold, fur and fisheries, as well as more trade with China and Japan. The Americans worried that England might try to establish a presence in the territory, and the acquisition of Alaska it was believed would help the U.S. become a Pacific power. And overall the government was in an expansionist mode backed by the then-popular idea of manifest destiny. So a deal with incalculable geopolitical consequences was struck, and the Americans seemed to get quite a bargain for their $7.2 million. Just in terms of wealth, the U.S. gained about 370 million acres of mostly pristine wilderness almost a third the size of the European Union including 220 million acres of what are now federal parks and wildlife refuges. Hundreds of billions of dollars in whale oil, fur, copper, gold, timber, fish, platinum, zinc, lead and petroleum have been produced in Alaska over the years allowing the state to do without a sales or income tax and give every resident an annual stipend. Alaska still likely has billions of barrels of oil reserves. The state is also a key part of the United States defense system, with military bases located in Anchorage and Fairbanks, and it is the countrys only connection to the Arctic, which ensures it has a seat at the table as melting glaciers allow the exploration of the regions significant resources. Impact on Alaska Natives But theres an alternate version of this history. When Bering finally located Alaska in 1741, Alaska was home to about 100,000 people, including Inuit, Athabascan, Yupik, Unangan and Tlingit. There were 17,000 alone on the Aleutian Islands. Despite the relatively small number of Russians who at any one time lived at one of their settlements mostly on the Aleutians Islands, Kodiak, Kenai Peninsula and Sitka they ruled over the native populations in their areas with an iron hand, taking children of the leaders as hostages, destroying kayaks and other hunting equipment to control the men and showing extreme force when necessary. The Russians brought with them weaponry such as firearms, swords, cannons and gunpowder, which helped them secure a foothold in Alaska along the southern coast. They used firepower, spies and secured forts to maintain security, and selected Christianized local leaders to carry out their wishes. However, they also met resistance, such as from the Tlingits, who were capable warriors, ensuring their hold on territory was tenuous. By the time of the cession, only 50,000 indigenous people were estimated to be left, as well as 483 Russians and 1,421 Creoles (descendants of Russian men and indigenous women). On the Aleutian Islands alone, the Russians enslaved or killed thousands of Aleuts. Their population plummeted to 1,500 in the first 50 years of Russian occupation due to a combination of warfare, disease and enslavement. When the Americans took over, the United States was still engaged in its Indian Wars, so they looked at Alaska and its indigenous inhabitants as potential adversaries. Alaska was made a military district by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant with Gen. Jefferson C. Davis selected as the new commander. For their part, Alaska Natives claimed that they still had title to the territory as its original inhabitants and having not lost the land in war or ceded it to any country including the U.S., which technically didnt buy it from the Russians but bought the right to negotiate with the indigenous populations. Still, Natives were denied U.S. citizenship until 1924, when the Indian Citizenship Act was passed. During that time, Alaska Natives had no rights as citizens and could not vote, own property or file for mining claims. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, in conjunction with missionary societies, in the 1860s began a campaign to eradicate indigenous languages, religion, art, music, dance, ceremonies and lifestyles. It was only in 1936 that the Indian Reorganization Act authorized tribal governments to form, and only nine years later overt discrimination was outlawed by Alaskas Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945. The law banned signs such as No Natives Need Apply and No Dogs or Natives Allowed, which were common at the time. Statehood and a disclaimer Eventually, however, the situation improved markedly for Natives. Alaska finally became a state in 1959, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act, allotting it 104 million acres of the territory. And in an unprecedented nod to the rights of Alaskas indigenous populations, the act contained a clause emphasizing that citizens of the new state were declining any right to land subject to Native title which by itself was a very thorny topic because they claimed the entire territory. A result of this clause was that in 1971 President Richard Nixon ceded 44 million acres of federal land, along with $1 billion, to Alaskas native populations, which numbered around 75,000 at the time. That came after a Land Claims Task Force that I chaired gave the state ideas about how to resolve the issue. Today Alaska has a population of 740,000, of which 120,000 are Natives. As the United States celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Cession, we all Alaskans, Natives and Americans of the lower 48 should salute Secretary of State William H. Seward, the man who eventually brought democracy and the rule of law to Alaska. William L. Iggiagruk Hensley is Visiting Distinguished Professor at University of Alaska Anchorage This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. We should salute Secretary of State William H. Seward This article was originally published on TIME.com Music and Melancholia Music videos are seldom taken as serious forms of art, especially in Nepal, but every now and then there are ones that pop up that fearlessly challenge that misguided beliefin the form of music videos that you dont just watch, but experience. MADISON, Wis. (AP) A northern Wisconsin man suspected in a string of fatal shootings that ended in a shootout with police died of his wounds Saturday. Nengmy Vang, 45, died at around 1:30 a.m., state Department of Justice spokesman Johnny Koremenos said. Vang had been hospitalized since March 22, when police shot him during a standoff at his apartment in Weston, one of a cluster of small towns near Wausau, about 90 miles west of Green Bay. Investigators say Vang barricaded himself in the apartment after killing three people in a rampage that spanned three cities. The Wisconsin DOJ is handling the investigation and has released few details, and Koremenos said no update on the investigation would be given Saturday. However, investigators said Vang launched his attack after a domestic incident with his wife. The couple were going through a bitter divorce. It's not clear when or where the domestic dispute took place, but investigators have said Vang went to the Rothschild bank where his wife worked at around midday on March 22. He is accused of killing two of his wife's colleagues, Dianne Look and Karen Barclay, and then traveling to nearby Schofield, to kill his wife's divorce attorney, Sara Quirt Sann. He then fled to his apartment and barricaded himself inside. Investigators say he shot and killed Everest Metro Police Detective Jason Weiland as Weiland was setting up a perimeter around the apartment. A standoff ensued before police shot Vang and took him into custody. Two officers one from the Marathon County Sheriff's Office and one from the Everest Metropolitan Police Department are on paid leave while the investigation continues. Vang's wife was not harmed. Investigators have not said what precipitated the domestic incident, what happened during that incident or whether she was present at the bank at the time of the attack. They also hadn't officially identified Vang until they announced his death. Online court records show Vang was struggling with debt in addition to his marital problems. His brother, Vajloogzeb Vaj, told The Associated Press that Vang had shown signs of mental illness since he and his wife separated and that Vang had once struck their mother. Vaj said he hadn't spoken with his brother in weeks. GaneshaSpeaks Mahant Yogi Adityanath, an Indian priest and politician, and a well-known proponent of nationalism and the Hindutva ideology, created history by becoming the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh after the recent polls on a BJP ticket. Yogi Adityanath has been a MP from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, for five terms in a row since 1998. Yogi Adityanath is head priest (Mahant) of the Gorakhnath Math, a Hindu temple in Gorakhpur, a position to which he was elevated after the death of his guru, Mahant Avaidyanath, in 2014. There are a lot reports doing the rounds about the inclusive and harmonious environment inside the famous Gorakhnath temple complex, and his image as a tough, no-nonsense administrator. Making Yogi Adityanath the UP CM has raised hopes amongst Hindus that the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya may be on the agenda. But majority of the masses in the biggest state of India seem hopeful that Yogi Adityanath will be able to bring an end to the law and order problems as well as initiate major reforms. However, Ganesha takes a peek into Mahant Yogi Adityanaths Horoscope and concludes that UPs development will be his top-most priority. Read on. UP CM Yogi Adityanath: Creating History Yogi Adityanath has created history by becoming the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh when BJP emerged as the winning party in the UP Assembly elections. Oath taken by Mahant Yogi Adityanath at 14:20 on 19 March 2017. The Oath chart has some striking factors. CM Yogi Adityanath Will Waste No Time In Kicking Off Reforms Generally, fixed Ascendant and Shirsodaya sign are preferred for Oath taking ceremony. Yogi Adityanaths oath taking chart has Cancer Ascendant, a movable sign. Also, the Lord of Ascendant Moon is debilitated in the 5th house. It indicates that the Yogi Adityanath Government in UP will be very active, industrious and unbending from the beginning. It will take some innovative steps and reforms will be implemented as soon as the government takes charge. However, it may also bring some discomfort and opposition as Moon is debilitated. Yogi Adityanath UP CM Will Push His Agenda Despite Roadblocks The Lord of Moon Sign, Mars which is also a Yogakaraka is placed in the 10th house. Mars shows the strength and power of the new government. The Yogi Adityanath Government will be willing to implement its agenda with determination despite several roadblocks and obstacles in the way. The Lord of 7th house Saturn is placed in the 6th house (house of enemy, which indicates that the opposition parties will get united to oppose the Yogi Adityanath Governments policy and therefore it will be a mammoth task for the Yogi Government to avoid controversies. UP CM Yogi Adityanath Will Improve Law And Order In State Mars is aspecting the Ascendant and Moon, both of which indicate that the ministry of home and public health will be the prime focus. The Yogi Adityanath Government will take some firm steps to improve law and order conditions in the State. There will be major reforms and administrative efforts to improve the image of police and other law enforcing agencies. However, the aggressive steps may also bring criticism and opposition from various sections of the society. Yogi Adityanath To Focus On Education And Youth Development The Ascendant Lord Moon in the 5th house indicates some strong steps and policies in education system of the state, and much more focus on youth development. With the presence of three planets in the 9th house and exchange between Mercury and Jupiter, there will be hyper activities regarding religious issues. The Yogi Adityanath Government will take firm steps to ban cow slaughter and will also force its agenda to remove the triple talak. UP CM Yogi Adityanath Will Tackle Ram Mandir Issue With Tact The sensitive issues like Ram Mandir will also remain in prime focus of the new Yogi Adityanath Government. However, the exchange between Jupiter and Mercury indicates that the Government may rely more on negotiations/legal path. Retrograde Jupiter indicates that the government may take some out of the box steps to build the Ram Mandir. Though it will trigger some fresh challenges. Yogi Adityanath May Have To Fall Back On Center For Funds Rahu in the 2nd house indicates that Yogi Adityanath government will focus on taxes/revenue generation and will also implement some strict financial measures to meet states demand. However, it also indicates that the Yogi Adityanath government may also face financial crunch and may have to rely heavily on centers support. Also, the Oath chart indicates that the Yogi Adityanath government will focus more on women empowerment, social welfare schemes and infrastructure development. Amid Negative Events, Adityanaths Focus Will Be On Development However, Mars is placed in the star of Ketu which is placed in the 8th house. It indicates power of new UP CM Yogi Adityanath is curtailed. There will be major controversies in the state after November 2017 and the first half of year 2018 will remain a tough period for CM Yogi Adityanath to manage the problems. Again the period between March 2019 and September 2019 will be an acid test for Yogi Adityanath. Amid some negative happenings, the new government will work with the prime focus on state building program. With Ganeshas Grace, Tanmay K. Thakar The GaneshaSpeaks.com Team Another busy week is beyond us. Weve seen Samsung launch the most important Android phone of the year, while CinemaCon brought us exciting news about some of the most anticipated films of the year. But we also got to see plenty of new trailers, so lets check out all the hot movie clips that were released last week. Don't Miss: Behold: The greatest iPhone accessory ever made A Ghost Story On July 7th, a ghost returns to its home to try to reconnect with his wife. Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara star in this Ghost Story. Berlin Syndrome Teresa Palmer and Max Riemelt star in Berlin Syndrome, a thriller due May 26th that tells the story of an Australian journalist who wakes up one morning in an apartment in Berlin unable to leave. Oh, did I say shes caught in some sort of love story turned wrong? Coco Coco is a new Disney-Pixar animation, but you probably knew that. We already saw the first trailer for the movie, so lets enjoy the new short teaser the company released earlier this week. Meet Dantes Lunch. Coco, meanwhile, launches on November 22nd. Ferdinand Ferdinand is also a new animation story, but this one is coming from 20th Century on December 15th yeah, that date will not be good because Star Wars. That said, Ferdinand seems like an interesting story, about a darling of a bull who desperately wants to go home. John Cena voices the bull, and the trailer follows below. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. Ok, so this is not a trailer, its a TV spot for the next chapter in Guardians of the Galaxy, supposed to hit theaters on May 5th. But call it trailer or TV spot, its one clip you need to see. IT Stephen Kings IT is coming to the big screen this fall. On September 8th, were going to be terrified by an especially scary creature. In other words, if you loved Netflixs Stranger Things, this is about to be similar. Only with spooky clowns. Justice League After teasing the new trailer last week, Warner Bros. finally released the first trailer for the Justin League movie. So lets check the heroes that make up this particular team of gifted individuals whore determined to defend Earth together. Story continues Paris Can Wait Alec Baldwin can play other roles other than the president on SNL. In Paris Can Wait, hes the inattentive husband of Diane Lane, whos the real star of the film. Were treated to an unexpected road trip from Cannes to Paris with Diane Lane and Arnaud Viard in the front seats. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell no Tales In theaters on May 26th, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell no Tales already promises to be a smash hit for Disney. The movie was previewed at CinemaCon, but we only get to see a brand new clip Disney released this week: Queen of the Desert Fans of movies inspired by real-life events should jot down this title: Queen of the Desert. Its a biographical drama based on the life of Gertrude Bell, an important figure of the British Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. Joining Nicole Kidman, who plays Bell, are James Franco, Robert Pattinson, and Damian Lewis. Snatched Whos ready for more Amy Schumer comedy? 20th Century Fox released a new clip from the movie, which is also starring an ungracefully aging Goldie Hawn. That said, Snatched hits theater on May 12th. Spider-Man: Homecoming The second trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming is already here. And, unfortunately, theres too much Iron Man in it. But then again, were just getting ready for the future Avengers movies, where were going to need Iron Man. On the other hand, we do get to see more of the Vulture, the villain of the movie thats going to be played by Michael Keaton. Homecoming hits cinemas on July 7th. The Book of Henry Susan is the mother of a gifted boy who realizes that his neighbor has done something thats terribly wrong, and theres only one way to fix it. The Book of Henry stars Naomi Watts and Jaeden Lieberher, and its directed by Colin Trevorrow, whos better known for Jurassic World and Star Wars: Episode IX. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Valerian is one of the sci-fi movies youll have to see this year, not only because Luc Besson made it, but also because these trailers look absolutely mesmerizing. War for the Planet of the Apes This is the war weve been waiting for. Apes and man will fight for this planet, and from the looks of it, its going to be brutal. Will the superior race win? War Machine War Machine is a war satire movie hitting Netflix on May 26th. We saw a teaser a few weeks ago, but now its time for a full-fledged trailer that shows us what this Brad Pitt movie is all about. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com You know what day is today, right? Its April Fools Day, which means many tech companies have dreamt up various tricks and pranks for their fans. Google is a prominent April Fools prankster and has plenty of gags for you. But its hardly the only tech company thats trying to drum up some attention this year. In our roundup below, you can check out some of the FAKE NEWS out there that you shouldnt trust. At least, not today. Don't Miss: The 5 hottest Nintendo Switch games you can preorder right now Google Ms. Pac Maps is this years April Fools trick from the Google Maps team, allowing you to turn any map on iPhone and Android in a huge Pac-Maps game. The Bubble Wrap Keyboard is the kind of fictional product I wouldnt mind using right now. Thats not the only Google product Id like to use right now, in fact. Haptic Helpers will take virtual reality to a whole new level, simulating more than 10,000 unique experiences from the comfort of your own home. If you like the idea of using machine learning to control the weather, then youll love this innovative concept: Google Gnome does to your yard exactly what Google Home does to your home. But the Gnome has a cool hat. Since were talking about the expansion of some of Googles services, we cant ignore Waze for Mars. The Sky is clearly no longer the limit with Google. Waze wont be the only Google product heading to Mars. The Google Cloud Platform is also heading to the red planet, complete with a data center. Heres a picture of it: Google also has one tool that can help you avoid April Fools pranks, as long as you have Google Assistant close by. April Foolproof is the new feature intended to give you tips on how to stay safe today. Netflix Netflixs joke is amazing this year. Its a 24-hour live stream of Will Arnett commenting on all sorts of interesting things. Hulu Meanwhile, Hulu is reimagining content by cutting shows to just a few seconds so that they match your attention span. Hu Short Cuts has a bunch of shows available, including Seinfeld, Black Sails, and others: Story continues Roku Rokus SnackSuggest channel will tell you what food to eat with your favorite streaming shows. Amazon What would it be like if your Amazon Echo could talk to animals? Petlexa is the assistant that can talk to pets, and the clip below is simply amazing. Jim Bean I say its about time Jim Beans came out. Lyft The crazy thing about Lyfts Power Glove, which is a gadget that calls a ride as soon as you raise your hand in the air, is that theyre actual devices that really work. Lets hope we never see them in stores. Reddit Reddit has a mind-boggling project this year called Place. You can color a pixel board by placing just one pixel at a time every five minutes. Its really something else. iFixit iFixit, the company that dismantles all the hot gadgets out there, is getting ready for the futures smaller and smaller devices. T-Mobile T-Mobile introduced the ONEsie, a full-body wearable that monitors everything, all the time. The worst thing about it is that you can buy one for $40, sans the fake smarts: TSheets What if you could add 50 more minutes to your day? Would you switch to the New York Minute? Duolingo Forget about learning a new language in just five minutes a day. Duolingo will teach you to speak Emoji for free. Moshi Moshis SpatiaFlight is a speaker that follows you around to facilitate the next generation of AirPlay. Youll see what I mean. Triwa The do-it-yourself smartwatch is something Ikea would think of. Meet YNGVE: Lucid Mattress Is this the bed of your memes? DocSend If you suffer from Email Attachment Disorder, or EAD, you probably need Linx. CarGurus What if cars could talk and pick their drivers? Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and other major players in the telecom industry set out Friday to combat consumer concerns about collecting and selling user information, though the actions of the companies may speak louder than their words. Comcast, Verizon and AT&T have promised not to sell personal information or browsing history collected from customers following the decision by the United States Congress to r everse online privacy protections passed under President Barack Obama. All three companies issued statements Friday in attempts to quell concerns from consumers that their internet activity may now be collected and sold to third-parties without their permission. Read: How To Protect Your Browsing History: Internet Service Providers Argue Against Your Privacy "We do not sell our broadband customers individual Web browsing history," Comcast chief privacy officer Gerard Lewis wrote in a blog post. "We did not do it before the FCCs rules were adopted, and we have no plans to do so." Bob Quinn, AT&Ts senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs, echoed the sentiments in a blog post of his own posted to AT&Ts public policy website. We had the same protections in place the day before the Congressional resolution was passed, and we will have the same protections the day after President Trump signs the CRA into law, he wrote. The Congressional action had zero effect on the privacy protections afforded to consumers. Verizon privacy officer Karen Zacharia said in a blog post that the carrier has two programs that makes use of customer browsing data: one that provides marketers with access to de-identified information to determine which customers fit into groups that advertisers are trying to reach" and one that "provides aggregate insights that might be useful for advertisers and other businesses." Read: Congress Decides To Kill Rules Preventing ISPs From Collecting, Selling Data USTelcom CEO Jonathan Spalter joined in the concerted effort to push back against consumer fears in an op-ed written for Axios. No one is buying anyone's individual browser history and putting it online. Step away from the Kickstarter campaigns. Such activity remains patently illegal, he wrote, dismissing the several crowdfunded campaigns that have cropped up in an effort to purchase the browsing history of members of Congress. Story continues To some degree, the assessment from the telecommunications industry members is correct. The decision by the Congress and Senate blocked Federal Communications Commission rules passed in October 2016 that were not set to go into effect until December 2017. The delay was designed to allow telecom companies time to comply, but effectively nothing has changed other than the loss of the promise of more privacy in the future. At the same time, the flat out dismissal of consumer concerns seems to ignore the reason the FCC passed the Broadband Consumer Privacy Rules in the first place: the commission deemed the data collection policy of telecom companies to be too intrusive and overreaching. The FCC rules would have required internet service providers to get permission before collecting any sensitive personal data including information regarding finances, health, information from children, precise geolocation data, web browsing history and app usage history and content from unencrypted messages. The CTIAa lobbying group that represents a number of major wireless communications companies including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprintissued a filing to the FCC that argued against classifying web browsing history and app usage data to be sensitive information, suggesting the companies have a vested interest in continuing to collect that data. Another sentiment that appeared in all the statements issued by the telecom giants was the idea that there are still regulatory levers in place to protect consumer data. The Federal Trade Commission already has a framework for online privacy, the companies argued. However, the FTC currently has no jurisdiction to regulate internet service providers. When the FCC decided to reclassify ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, it took away the FTCs ability to enforce regulation on the companies. AT&T has actively argued that the FTC has no authority over any of the companys services and won a court case that backed that view. Unless and until the FCC reverses the common carrier classification, AT&T and other ISPs are not subject to the FTCs privacy rules. AT&T also highlighted Section 222 of the Communications Act as another law under which carriers are governed, but the CTIAof which AT&T is a memberhas argued Section 222 doesnt extend to broadband service. The Broadband Consumer Privacy Rules passed by the FCC would have clarified how the law is enforced on internet services but those rules are no longer on the books. Most telecoms still offer the ability to opt out of most data collection programs, though the processes are often intentionally complicated and time consuming. Many consumers have turned to virtual private networks (VPNs) in the wake of the rules rollback to prevent ISPs from accessing their browsing history and online activity. Related Articles Congress passed a bill gutting internet privacy protections this week and now Democratic Senators are making a Hail Mary effort to convince the president to veto the legislation when it reaches his desk. On Tuesday, the House followed the Senate's lead in voting to repeal Obama-era FCC regulations that required Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to obtain permission from customers before collecting and selling private user data, including browser history. The regulations aren't actually in place yet, and supporters of the bill say the rules unfairly prevent ISPs from collecting the same data that other companies, like Google and Facebook, already collect. But opponents see the bill as a handout to corporate entities like Comcast and Time Warner at the expense of internet users, which is why they are hoping to convince President Trump to use the first veto of his presidency to return the bill to Congress. Read: Internet Privacy Vote: Congress Decides To Kill Rules Preventing ISPs From Collecting, Selling Data Trump is expected to sign the bill, although White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer seemed to dodge a question about the bill on Wednesday. But on Thursday, more than 40 Senators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., signed a letter urging President Trump to veto the bill on behalf of consumers, the Huffington Post reported. "We respectfully urge you to veto S.J.Res. 34 and make sure that the broadband privacy protections stay intact," the letter said. "Consumers deserve the right to make their own decisions about access, use, and sale of their personal, sensitive internet data by their broadband provider." A veto by the president requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress to override. Given the House barely passed the bill 215-205, with 15 Republicans crossing the aisle to join Democrats in opposition, and the Senate passed the bill 50-48, an override would be unlikely. Related Articles SpaceXs first reflown Falcon 9 booster rises from its Florida launch pad. (SpaceX Photo) Today SpaceX did something its never done before: reusing a Falcon 9 rocket booster thats already been launched and landed. The Falcon 9 mission to send the SES-10 communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit lifted off at 6:27 p.m. ET (3:27 p.m. PT) from Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, marking a milestone in SpaceX founder Elon Musks drive to lower the cost of access to space. More remarkably, the booster landed once more at sea after sending a payload into orbit. SpaceX was even able to bring the rockets payload fairing down for a parachute-aided splashdown in the Atlantic, Musk reported afterward. Its an amazing day for space as a whole, for the space industry, he said just after the landing. He paid tribute to the SpaceX team, saying its been 15 years to get to this point. As he spoke, hundreds of SpaceXs employees were cheering at the companys California headquarters, and the launch webcast was getting 140,000 simultaneous views. If repeat liftoffs and landings become routine, SpaceX estimates that could reduce the cost of a launch by 10 to 30 percent, which could shave from $6 million to $20 million off the already-low $62 million list price for a Falcon 9 mission. Musk says thats the kind of reusability required to make trips to Mars affordable. This is going to be, ultimately, a huge revolution in spaceflight, Musk said. Its the difference between, if you had airplanes where you threw away an airplane after every flight, versus you could reuse them multiple times. SpaceX has recovered eight first-stage boosters after launch: three on land, and five at sea. The booster that was reused for todays launch made its maiden flight almost a year ago, sending a robotic Dragon capsule toward the International Space Station and then landing at sea. In the months since then, SpaceX refurbished the first stage, tested it and added a brand-new second stage to the stack. Eventually, the company aims to trim the turnaround time to a matter of weeks, days or even hours. Story continues Luxembourg-based SES got an undisclosed price break for being the first to go with a booster that SpaceX likes to call flight-proven. The first-stage booster sent the 5.5-ton satellite on the first leg of its trek to geostationary orbit, more than 22,000 miles above Earth. From that height, SES-10 will provide enhanced Ku-band video and data services to Latin America. A video screen grab shows the Falcon 9 fist stage standing on a drone ship christened Of Course I Still Love You. (SpaceX via YouTube) Minutes after launch, the Falcon 9s second stage separated and continued the ascent. The first stage then relit its Merlin rocket engines to slow down its supersonic descent, and maneuvered toward a floating platform known as Of Course I Still Love You, stationed hundreds of miles out in the Atlantic Ocean. The video for the webcast was momentarily lost, introducing a few seconds of suspense. But an announcer called out that the landing was a success, and a restored video feed showed the booster standing tall on the autonomous drone ship, sparking a fresh round of cheers at SpaceXs headquarters. Cheers rose again about a half-hour later when the second stage relit its rocket engine and put SES-10 into its proper orbit. Musk said the relaunched, re-recovered booster will be brought back to the Florida coast, and would probably be donated to Cape Canaveral. We think this one has some historic value, so were thinking of seeing if perhaps the Cape might like to have it as something to remember the moment, Musk said. Over the past year and a half, Blue Origin has launched the same New Shepard rocket booster five times for suborbital test flights, earning accolades for the Seattle-area space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos. However, SpaceXs orbital launches are far more challenging, leading some to call todays advance in rocket reusability a Wright Brothers moment for space. During a post-launch news conference, Musk said he expected other space companies to move toward full rocket reusability, just as SpaceX is doing. Blue Origin, for example, plans to have its New Glenn orbital boosters fly themselves back to an oceangoing platform that looks a lot like SpaceXs drone ship. Whats that saying about the best form of flattery? Musk joked. Martin Halliwell, chief technical officer for SES, said hes already planning to have two more of his satellite payloads put on flight-proven Falcon 9 rockets, and he predicted that others will quickly follow suit. My belief is, within 24 months itll be irrelevant if its new or its pre-flown, Halliwell said. More from GeekWire: The winds of revolution are blowing through Latin American TV. Facing increasing competition from Netflix, and depleting telenovela audiences, the regions giants, from Telemundo to Telefe, Globo and Televisa, are eager to capitalize on the huge demand for high-end Latino drama by pursuing other production initiatives. Arguably, Latin American TV has never been so exciting. Some major examples: At Globo, chief creative officer Guel Arraes talks of a new age of drama. Globo is trying to emulate international standards, themes, story lines, concentrations of ideas and number of episodes, he says. Arraes cites a burgeoning production line in action, reality-based productions such as Jailers, selected for MipDrama Screenings, and Under Pressure, a hospital series; City of Men, will also have a follow-up. Telemundo no longer makes telenovelas, just long series and miniseries, says Marcos Santana of Telemundo Intl. He hopes Telemundo Intl. Studios a shingle announced at Mipcom that will produce high-end, short-format scripted series in Spanish starring Hollywood Latino talent will produce two 10-15 segment series before the summer. As a broadcaster, our focus is on family audiences; as a producer we are betting on raising the bar, creating and investing in edgier projects [that] complement our [other offerings] and position us in the world, says Guillermo Borensztein, Telefes head of international business. He cites a focus on super-series, with romantic thriller tropes, a lot of drama and action underscoring a strong love story such as Love After Loving. The drivers for change are relatively clear. The internet has meant a gigantic change in how we communicate [as well as ] consume TV, Santana says. People are their own programmers; telenovela audiences are increasingly limited, a niche for adults; spectators are looking for shorter, more impactful, better-quality programs; audiences want series that are different. Story continues Netflix launched in Latin America in September 2011, four months before the U.K. and three years before France and Germany. Of Netflixs 82 international series, 15 are in Spanish, just five in German and four in French, says a recent IHS Technology report. Free-to-air TV operators have evolved from being solely single channel broadcasters into content producers as well. People have seen how well high-ends drama sells, says Tim Westcott at IHS Technology. There has been a focus on producing similar high-profile series. Latin American producers have taken note, mostly ditching the 200-episode orders and coming to MipDrama Screenings with such fare as Globos Jailers, with 12 episodes, Televisas Blim-produced Diablo Guardian at just 10. Latin Americas series are also often more action-packed, with noirish touches (Love After Loving), or thrillers (Televisas Sincronia). The trend with Latin American series is to be less and less typically Latin American in the form, but to keep something in the subject, says Bertrand Villegas of research agency The Wit. (The Wits Virginia Mouseler will showcase excerpts from new Latin American series in a MipDrama Latam Screenings on April 3.) Pioneered by Telemundos The Queen of the South, narco-novelas are flourishing. Telemundo is working on the fifth season of The Lord of the Skies. The narco novela is seeing some evolution, especially in Mexico, broadening its focus on corruption of the justice system and politics, and now taking in womens power, Villegas notes, citing Ingobernable and Televisas wildly popular La Candidata, in which a successful senator begins to uncover her husbands corrupt ways and challenge him to become Mexicos next president. Key content trends are narco novelas, bio-series and shows focusing on women in a modern, contemporary context, says Geraldine Gonard, director of Conecta Fiction, Spains first big TV forum. Following Disneys smash-hit Juan Gabriel bio Until I Met You, bio-series focus increasingly on big names, such as Fidel Castro (Fox Latin Americas InFidel), drug lord Chapo Guzman (Univision/Netflixs El Chapo) and Hugo Chavez (El Comandante, a Sony/Telemundo series). Just how series get made and seen is also fast evolving. Jailers may well be offered first for binging on Globo Play, its SVOD service, says Arraes. International co-productuon is rising as well. Our idea is to have more and more high-end drama of very high quality produced out of Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America via local production units and co-production, Borensztein says. El Regreso de Lucas, Telefes first super-series, co-produced with Perus America TV, was also its best pre-selling series. Making higher-cost series at a time when free-TV advertising is declining, you have to partner with other companies to share risks and reach more territories, says Manuel Marti, Pol-ka director of international production, citing La Fragilidad de los cuerpos, produced by Pol-ka, TNT and Argentinas Cablevision. There is a sense of urgency to Latin Americas new fiction, while fresh challenges arise. The old paradigm of Latin American TV where producers and creators asked if people would understand what they were making no longer applies, says Daniel Burman, creator of Edha, Netflixs first Argentine series. As creators, our challenge is to reach the refined tastes of our audiences. Latin American TV highlights at MIP: A Carnival Affair (Caracol Intl., Colombia) A culture clash comedy finds a buttoned-up man traveling to the festive Caribbean coast to find his biological father. The Cockfighter (TNT/Underground/Telefe, Cablevision, Argentina) A TV series comeback for New Argentine Cinema pioneer Bruno Stagnaro (Pizza, Birra, Faso,), he teams with Sebastian Ortega, showrunner on Netflix pickup El Marginal, on this 10-episode adventure thriller. Featured at The Wits 2017 MipDrama Latam Screenings. Diablo Guardian (Televisa, Mexico) Adaptation of an iconic bestseller from Televisa streaming platform Blim, this coming-of-age tale is set against a Las Vegas world of prostitution and drugs. Family Silence (Pol-ka, Argentina) Written by dramatist Javier Daulte and starring top Argentine comedian/TV exec Adrian Suar, this 20-episode romantic family dramedy turns on a love triangle firing up a jaded couples relationship. Fangio: El Hombre que Domaba las Maquinas (Anima 7 Films/Incaa Argentina) Bio-series of Argentinas five-time Formula 1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio, to be directed by Argentinas Rodrigo Villar. Francisco the Mathematician (RCN, Colombia) A former pupil returns to his tough Bogota high school as a math teacher. A redo of a telenovela that ran from 1999-2004; showcased at the MipDrama Latam Screenings. Guerra de Idolos (pictured, Telemundo, U.S.) NBC Universal Telemundos first original music drama series: A composer-producer unleashes a war against criminal gangs linked to the music business. Iron Lady (TV Azteca, Mexico) Drama-action TV series in which a female judge, aka the Iron Prosecutor, battles a drug lord who has destroyed her family. Selected for the MipDrama Latam Screenings. I Want to Be by Your Side (Pol-ka, Argentina) A self-sacrificing housewife is told shes dying, and confesses her love to her best friends husband. Trouble is, her doctor got the diagnosis wrong in this comedy-tinged telenovela. Jailers (Globo, Brazil) Globos newest bet to break into upscale short-format drama is a 12-segment penitentiary thriller; MipDrama Screenings only Latin American entry. Above Justice (Globo) Another innovative play for higher-end audiences, this 20-episode drama relates four intertwining tales of injustice. Love After Loving (Telefe) A romantic thriller spanning two time periods, Love is Telefes ratings and web phenom of 2017, averaging a 39.8% share since its January debut. Love, Divina (Televisa/Pol-ka/Federation Kids & Family) A digital-age, pan-Latin American teen music drama stars tween/teen idol Laura Esquivel. Licensed to France Televisions and Italys Super!, and still selling. Pequena Orquesta Mastolfoni (Kapow/INCAA, Argentina) A tango and humor-laced family drama set in 1960s Argentina, backed by Argentinas Incaa Film Institute. The Promised Land (TV Record, Brazil) A sequel to the phenomenally successful TV Record biblical telenovela The 10 Commandments, with Joshua as its hero. Another Latam Screenings title at this years MIP. La Querida del Centauro (Teleset/Sony Pictures TV/Telemundo). Ludwika Paleta is a prisoner who becomes a drug kingpins mistress. Renewed for a second, Mexico-shot, season. Compiled by John Hopewell and Jamie Lang Over 1,000 security personnel to be mobilised in Bisket Jatra The Metropolitan Police Range, Bhaktapur, is set to mobilise over 1,000 security personnel to make the the Bisket Jatra peaceful. Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years. Send team to disputed border areas The Social Justice and Human Rights Committee of Parliament has directed the government to send a team of experts to the disputed Nepal-India border areas soon. Something old, something new Im inclined to be immediately skeptical whenever another live-action remake of an old animated Disney classic is announcedsomething that now seems to happen with increasing regularity. The city contested In heart of the city of Budapest, a ten minute walk from the iconic basilica of King Saint Stephen of Hungary, near the Arany Janos metro station at Szabadsag square, lies a monument ostensibly commemorating the victims of the occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany in 1944. Trump sends letter to Vietnam's president to promote ties U.S. President Donald Trump has written to Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang to promote more cooperation between the two countries, the government website cited Quang as saying. 1. Yes. Taxpayers are funding its operation; they should have a voice in the naming process. 2. Yes. The city should operate with a spirit of inclusivity. Residents will be responsive. 3. No. Public input can be problematic; rejection of suggestions can be divisive for residents. 4. No. Residents elect council members to make decisions on their behalf. No input is needed. 5. Unsure. Its hard to say whether public input would be more of a benefit or a hindrance. Vote View Results Answers Africa is one of a kind platform created for Africans both locally and in the diaspora and those seeking for more in-depth information about Africa. We have always focused on creating the highest quality informational contents right from the beginning. We share the most relevant information on the latest and trending news, events, people, and places in Africa. We produce contents across various categories including Politics, People, Love and Romance, Nature, Entertainment, Technology and pretty much everything else that Africans may find relevant. We aim to answer the most relevant questions about Africa in areas of entertainment, famous people, emerging technologies while we also engage with various distribution capabilities to connect with Africans in need of information who rely on our website to keep in touch with the world that is changing so fast. These are some of the articles you may be interested in reading: 10 Famous TV Personalities Born In Ethiopia Ethiopia is a country best known for its fast athletes like Dibaba and Bekele, breathtaking models like Liya Kebede and of course Haile Selassie but there are also famous TV personalities who are doing a great job in entertainment and pushing the country to civilization. The following is a list of ten most famous TV ... Top 10 African Authors of All Time The pace of present African literature is moving at a high-speed; more defiant in both style and tone than those of the great independence writers generation. Here, the subjects of taboo are widely explored. 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Truth About Tony Romos Wife, Kids and Life Since His NFL Retirement Tony Romo grew from the field as a quarterback to the screens as an American Football Analyst. He was a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the richest football league in the world (NFL) before retiring. As a junior, he was honored as an All-Ohio Conference Member, an Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and ... Who is Brittany Venti, The Controversial Game Streamer and YouTuber? In recent times, many people live stream themselves playing video games. This has become a popular pastime on the internet and many highly skilled gamers have become internet celebrities through this means. However, some of them rather than becoming renowned for their gaming skills and great commentary, have become controversial and infamous. A good example ... 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Everything To Know About Mary Padian, Her Boyfriend and Net Worth Mary Padian is a famous American television reality personality best known for her involvements on the Reality show Storage Wars. She also has her own shop called Mary finds where she displays her antique collections. Since her childhood, Padian has been a creative learner. At the time, she used to create new items out of reusable ones and ... Betsy Woodruffs Family Life: Is She Married or Related To Bob Woodruff? An old name in the world of journalism, Betsy Woodruff has warmed her way into the hearts of many with her impressive talents. Through hard work, Woodruff has carved a niche for herself in a very competitive field. Betsy has strong family and work values and is also an advocate for equal opportunities for everyone ... Matpat (Matthew Patrick) Wife, Height & Net Worth As far as internet business is concerned, Matpat remains one of the most dynamic and seasoned figures. 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April 1, 2017, 09:20 Azerbaijan fired from rocket-propelled grenade at night STEPANAKERT, APRIL 1, ARTSAKHPRESS: During this time the Azerbaijani armed forces fired more than 300 shots toward the position-holders of the Republic of Artsakh Defense Army, and with different-caliber shooting weapons, the defense army informed. In addition, the adversary fired three missiles from a rocket-propelled grenade, in the eastern direction of the line of contact. But the Artsakh defense army vanguard units are in command of the operational and tactical situation, and they continue confidently carrying out their military watch. One outcome of the centre that does not appear to be on this ministerial agenda, but is of significant interest in the bilateral relationship, is the contradiction between the Manus Island Centre and the ministers commitments to address the rife problems of violence, security and gendered violence in PNG. IN THE joint communique for the 25th Ministerial Forum between Australia and Papua New Guinea held in March 2017, Foreign Ministers Rimbink Pato and Julie Bishop welcomed collaboration as they prepare to close the Regional Processing Centre on Manus Island. Many of us currently working in these spaces of development aid and gendered violence face a dilemma. On the one hand, it is difficult to talk about Manus Island because we are cognizant that it has complicated the bilateral relationship and because we need to sustain a meaningful dialogue with both governments as key actors supporting our efforts. On the other hand, it is almost impossible in PNG to shy away from confronting and trying to address violence. That said, it is no longer possible for anyone remotely interested in development and gender empowerment in PNG to separate the issue of Manus Island from what some may consider a separate broader national security and violence program that the bilateral relationship can focus on. In the same way that PNG was once described as the barometer for Australias foreign policy success, it is probably fair to say now that successfully addressing the issue of security and violence on Manus Island can also now be regarded as a key indicator for Australias capacity to successfully respond to security and gendered violence more broadly. For me, the issue runs deeper. Even though I have not lived on Manus Island for many years, and my work has been outside the island, it is my place of identity in PNG; mi meri Manus I am a Manus woman. Indeed, my childhood and life is defined by my Manus identity and experiences. My childhood livelihood was based on business on the Island. Like many Papua New Guineans, experiences of violence are infused in my lifes stories and relationships. It is difficult for me to disentangle my research which, inter alia, explores issues of violence in PNG communities, from my personal reflections on the current situation unfolding on Manus Island. In 2014, I argued that the changes in the gendered demographic profile of the island brought about by the processing centre would lead to a dynamic of power and hierarchy that depends on masculine domination, aggression, intimidation and inequality. In the two years since, the media has continued to highlight the social issues arising from the interactions between the centres workers, detainees, and locals. These dynamics have become more complex with asylum seekers and refugees now allowed to move around freely on the island after the PNG Supreme Court ruled that the centre is unlawful. Serious mental health issues among detainees make this a serious public health issue. The more than 800 male asylum seekers have become increasingly embroiled in the social problems of the island. They are no longer just victims of violence with their own health concerns but are a significant body of local actors attracting the scrutiny of locals and the media. The discourse around the centre engenders violence and has become multifarious layered with nuances of perpetrators, victims and, political and business actors. In the beginning of 2017 alone, media reports (assuming they are accurate) reveal a disturbing trend towards normalising this cocktail of violence. In January, after two asylum seekers were beaten up by local police, the local member implicitly condoned this act of police brutality, saying that the asylum seekers got what they deserved. Police report a growing trend in family and sexual violence on the Island generally, and asylum seekers and refugees are also implicated in these problems. In two separate incidents in January and March, two asylum seekers were reportedly alleged to be involved in the rape of a young women and a girl. In February 2017, a local leader went to the extent of proposing that a brothel be built to serve the sexual needs of refugees. This raised concerns from local police who said that a brothel would undermine the social values of the community and would only exacerbate social problems that already beleaguered the community, which now includes asylum seekers and refugees. The prospects for tourism are greatly damaged. My family has been involved in the hospitality industry on Manus for over thirty years and conversations with family members indicate that while the centre has been good for business, it is increasingly difficult to monitor businesses, including the behaviour of clientele, to ensure a safe environment for vulnerable people. Neither government PNG or Australia nor local political and business leaders, nor those of us working on gender based violence issues, can step away from a collective responsibility to address this issue openly. Nor can local political leaders and businesses shift the blame to the National or Australian governments. The situation has reached a point where responses based on blaming various parties are no longer viable. A more productive approach would be for frank discussions about what can be done to change the situation. Waiting for the final arrangements to close the centre is not enough given the recent ruling by the PNG Chief Justice that the centre is closed since its inhabitants are free to move around the island. Urgent action is needed to reduce the concentration of men in the islands small urban areas that host the centre. Relocating them to Port Moresby, where there are greater job prospects, would lower the processing costs, and defuse the social tension. The agreement with the US to take at least some of those found to be refugees is welcome, but the timeline is uncertain. Australia could revisit the offer by the New Zealand Government to take some of the refugees. Responding to calls for additional police is another obvious step. Political, community and business leaders in Manus can foster a dialogue based on non-violent solutions and protection of vulnerable people. Hotel owners and other businesses can conduct their businesses in a way that minimises risks to the community. The Australian government has supported many important development projects in Manus since the centre opened but, according to its own publicity, few to protect women and children. PNG should also do more. Manus Province could be included in the Tourism Promotion Authoritys strategic plan as a priority province. A review of the business environment could be undertaken with a view to strengthening regulations and codes of conduct, and to deliver certified training for business operators in relation to the protection of vulnerable people. This includes raising awareness of laws that protect vulnerable people, especially children. Silence is no longer an option. We need to acknowledge our collective responsibility to address the violence engendered on Manus Island. This has to be bipartisan and needs to encompass the totality of this impact including, perhaps most importantly, the impact on the children of Manus Island. Both the Papua New Guinea and Australian governments, as well as local leaders, must show leadership on this issue and demonstrate concrete actions and outcomes. I hope that by disclosing more openly some of my own personal connections to these difficult issues on Manus Island, this article may help open up the space for these conversations to take place. Michelle Rooney is a Research Fellow at the Development Policy Centre. The views expressed in this article are the authors alone. She does not own any property nor have any business interests on Manus Island The Wells College Visiting Writers Series will next welcome a talk by Joshua Corey at 7 p.m. Friday, April 7. Corey's poetry has earned a Dorset Prize and a Fitzpatrick-O'Dinn Award. He is the author of "Beautiful Soul: An American Elegy," and co-editor of "The Arcadia Project: North American Postmodern Pastoral." His translation of the prose poems of Francis Ponge, "Partisan of Things," was recently published by Kenning Editions. The talk will take place in the Art Exhibit Room of Macmillan Hall on the 170 Main St. campus in Aurora. It is free and open to the public. For more information, visit wells.edu. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds. High 56F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A few clouds from time to time. Low 36F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. ANGOLA Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana, Cameron Memorial Community Hospital and the Cameron Hospital Foundation are working together to bring Caregivers Count: Support of Your Journey to Angola beginning this month. The classes are free and open to the public and will be held at Cameron Hospital in Meeting Room 1, just past the Gift Shop in the main hall, starting at 5:30 p.m. In this five part-series, Cancer Services of Northeast Indianas Director of Clinical Services Marsha Haffner will provide opportunities for caregivers of those with cancer to explore and discuss their experiences and to gain new information, resources and support in their role as caregivers. The series will be held for one hour weekly for five weeks and caregivers are welcome to join as many sessions as they wish. The class schedule will be as follows: Monday, April 24 Finding your way back will cover these issues: Caregiver bill of rights, and Identifying and reducing caregiver burden. Monday, May 1 Boundaries and self care will cover the following: What makes a resilient caregiver, and Self-care strategies. Monday, May 8 Effective communication and dealing with emotions deals with: Communicating with your loved one with cancer; Common emotions and how to work with them; and, Increasing hope. Monday, May 15 Stress and the relaxation response will cover ten relaxation techniques that can help zap ones stress. Monday, May 22 Transitions in caregiving and the benefits of caregiving covers these topics: Four stages of caregiving; Ways to manage transitions; and Appreciating the job of caregiver. Funding for the program has been provided by the Cameron Hospital Foundation through contributions given as part of the organizations grateful patient program. Reservations are recommended, but not required. For more information or to reserve a seat, contact 667-5721. It was 1997 when Nicole Milliren approached her supervisor in the La Crosse County Social Work Department, hoping to address the prevalence of child abuse in the area. Given just $50, she went to the community, forming partnerships and founding the Coulee Region Child Abuse Prevention Task Force. Twenty years later, CRCAPTF remains a force in the community, uniting organizations and individuals to advocate for the cause. Task force members, County employees and local nonprofits gathered to celebrate the landmark anniversary during Friday mornings Proclamation and Blue Ribbon Appreciation and Award Breakfast, with a keynote address from Representative Jill Billings and a Mayoral Proclamation from Tim Kabat in recognition of Child Abuse Awareness Month. The main purpose of this is to recognize all the professionals who work on a daily basis to help with child abuse prevention, said Jeanne Meyer, Task Force member, program director of the Family and Childrens Center Stepping Stones Advocacy Center, which assists victims during child abuse investigations, and Coordinator of Community Services for Wisconsin and Minnesota. Special recognition was given Phillip Nielsen, who received the 2017 Outstanding Advocate Award for his role in developing the Task Force and Stepping Stones as well as the annual Child Maltreatment Conference. Nielsen, a medical social worker of 37 years in pediatrics at Mayo Clinic Health System, calls his children and grandchildren the driving force behind his efforts. This is my reason, Nielsen said, giving grandson Keaton Purney a hug. Children are near to my heart. Nielsen was modest about his award, saying, Its a community collaboration. Law enforcement, day care providers, schools, CPS, medical professionals ... coming together to come up with comprehensive plans to support programs for families. This is a humbling honor. Any one of these people here could be acknowledged and should be acknowledged. Three area children received honors as well for their winning 20th Anniversary t-shirt designs. Lucas Hansen, 10, of Spence Elementary, took first place for his inspiring slogan: Great Kids Start With You ... Love is Reusable. I just usually do a lot of fundraisers and posters, Hansen said. I know some kids who have a hard life. Hes very compassionate and concerned for others, said proud mother Pamela. Hes big-hearted, agreed dad Matt. Its a big honor and were proud of him. Purney, nine, also of Spence Elementary, took second, inspired by grandfather Nielsens involvement in the cause, and 11 year old Emily Vang of Viking Elementary received third, calling it an important cause. The t-shirts are a way to get all the area kids involved, Milliren said. They cant always understand child abuse and this is something they can do. The more kids aware of the issue thats how we break the cycle. (The Task Force) also likes to do fun, energizing and compassionate things instead of just always talking about the hard things. It needs to be a balance. At the conclusion of the event, dozens departed to hang some 200 blue ribbons on trees along Main, Fourth and Seventh streets, along with teal ribbons for Sexual Assault Awareness month. The ribbons will serve as a reminder that while progress has been made, more work needs to be done and we are all part of the solution. Hillary Clinton said, It takes a village to raise a child, Milliren recounted. That will continue to reverberate. Q: The Wisconsin DOT has said a new road - or additional lanes on existing roads - will be necessary in the next decade to alleviate congestion on the city's north-south corridors. Do you support this strategy? If not, what alternatives should the city pursue? James Cherf: I am not convinced faster roads through La Crosse are necessary. We need to question whether new roads are needed or if better design and usage of existing road "footprints" coupled with better transportation policy would be best for La Crosse and its residents. La Crosse does not benefit from being a drive-through community. Jacqueline Marcou: I am against the North-South Corridor. A transportation vision for our city should include options like park and ride services and a more regional mass transit to alleviate road congestion. Additionally, as we find ourselves strapped at the state, county, and local levels to maintain the roads that we have, we would be wise to question the idea of adding to an infrastructure system that we seemingly struggle to maintain currently. Q: Is the city doing enough to foster neighborhood revitalization? What could be improved? Marcou: In the Washburn neighborhood we need to identify "eyesores" or apartments that could be turned into single family homes. Residents have expressed concern about "slumlords" that they want to hold accountable. Cherf: It is encouraging to see what has been accomplished in the last few years. Some of the initiatives that have improved neighborhoods include The La Crosse Promise, Housing Replacement Program, fostering of private investment, code enforcement, investments in improved neighborhood lighting, upgrades to our parks, and Community Resource Officers. We need to increase funding for flood plain mitigation and addressing our drug problem. Q: The Fire Department has said it needs a fifth station to serve residents on the far south side. Do you support this proposal? Marcou: The Fire Department laid out a clear case for a fifth station to serve residents on the far south side when it released its report on response to times. If we add this new station, several things happen. Human life and our property becomes safer as the response time improves significantly. The City is showing forethought in putting a fire station in an area that can serve one of the only areas left that the city can develop for residential use. Our Fire Department responds to a lot more than fire incidents. Lives are saved when response times are lower. When we're talking about the idea of adding a new fire station, we're really talking about how quickly our emergency services can respond to heart attacks and drug overdoses, and of course, fires. A few minutes can literally be the difference between life and death. Cherf: The need for the fifth station depends on our ability to expand development to our south and east. Q: Should the city revise its alternate-side parking ordinance? If so, what approach would you support? Marcou: Ill need to have more information and if elected, I look forward to sitting down and looking at the current proposals and considering all options. I think a few options are on the table for discussion: Drastically shorten it, or do away with it, or have it kick in only when we're expecting snow. Taking a look at other city models could also be useful. Cherf: I have no objections to reviewing and possibly revising this policy. Alternate-side parking exists not only for snow removal, but also to facilitate leaf collection and spring street cleaning. Careful consideration will be necessary. Q: The city is developing a new strategy to make its parking utility self-sustaining, including a plan to charge a premium to non-residents. Do you support this plan? Should the city seek to generate more revenue from downtown parking? Cherf: I do not support charging a higher rate to non-residents, but am open to offering a discount to our residents. The parking challenges that exist in our downtown are indicative of a thriving, vibrant city center. The hiring of a Parking Utility Coordinator and shifting his position to the supervision of the Police Department was a move to better address the concerns and needs of our daily visitors. Marcou: One of the benefits of living in this city, the hub of all economic activity in our region, is the ease of mobility--we can walk and bike downtown. Does it make sense that we then ask our residents to fund the parking for non residents? I don't think this is ideal and certainly not the most efficient use of our residents' tax dollars. When you go to any major city almost anywhere in the nation, you're not getting parking for anything close to what we're charging for parking in our city owned and maintained ramps. The difference is made up by the taxpayers in this city. It exists within the larger context of our transportation concerns and commuters who chose to live in outlying communities. What we're experiencing now has been experienced earlier by many larger cities. People see cheaper tax rates in suburban areas and then flock to them. This in turn creates a need for those places to build more schools and maintain more roads. In the meantime, the number of commuters rises making their decision to live outside the city a poor one, so they in turn correct course and choose to move back to the city rather than endure the many costs of commuting--vehicle wear and tear, fuel costs, time spent in a car rather than at home or work. I would be open to exploring possible solutions that would include having non-residents pay more for parking. Q: Do you support merging the city and county library systems? Marcou: I would need to review the details of an actual joint proposal that the both parties have agreed to before commenting on any policy. Cherf: Whether or not this is feasible or desirable is yet to be determined. As a Library Board Member, I believe that this conversation needs to take place between the Boards because the state statutory law (as expressed in Chapter 43 pertaining to the operation of libraries) is unique. Q: What is the appropriate level of services the library should offer at its north and south branch locations? Cherf: As a Library Board Member, I did not support the reduction of hours of service at our branches. It is my sincere hope that hours can be restored or, at least, expanded. Marcou: On one hand, people want those libraries and they are good for their neighborhoods. On the other, we're constantly trying to find the funding to keep them open. This is something I would be very interested in knowing more about in an effort to keep our libraries accessibl Q: Given its geographic constraints, what steps could the city take to attract more residents? Marcou: Our geographical constraints are also geographical benefits. We live in a beautiful natural setting. Our focus should be on improving the housing stock and improving our neighborhoods in order to complement the geographical beauty of our city. Cherf: As the Downtown Council Member, I think Downtown is doing it! I am especially proud of the growth of residential opportunities in and around our commercial district. Employers and residents are attracted to and want to be part of our vital Downtown which boasts services and recreational opportunities such as outdoor activities, theatre, live music, dining, and nightlife, making Downtown our fastest growing neighborhood. Q: Is the city doing enough to attract and support business? Cherf: This is a task that will never be completed. We must always work to attract, support, and retain business, employees, and residents. Marcou: The city does a very good job supporting small businesses. I have spoken with Robin Moses about incentive programs in place for businesses in Downtown Main. They are committed to helping small businesses and concerns are being addressed. Q: What other issues are affecting the residents of your district and how do you propose to address them? Marcou: My number one issue would be neighborhood safety. I wouldn't be opposed to NROs. I'd like to discuss this with community members and see what they would like. I'd also like to meet with local police and troubleshoot. Cherf: The Downtown district is unique in its many needs. The needs of property owners and business owners (many of whom cannot elect their representative) coupled with the needs of the residents presents many challenges. Construction and unprecedented residential growth has kept me busy. I have been and will continue to be accessible to address concerns in person at my business or by telephone. AURORA During a talk by political activist Winnie Wong at Wells College Friday night, she was asked by a college student about how young people can help her cause. "Well, I need you to vote," Wong said. "I need you to vote for everything. In 2018 there are lots of very important (elections) coming up, and I need you to go to all of them. I need you to do the research ahead of time, and you have to get your friends to vote because you need to do voter registration, and you need to get young people out to vote." Wong, co-founder of People for Bernie a group that supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sander's 2016 presidential campaign and co-created the #FeelTheBern hashtag to promote Sanders was the keynote speaker of the college's 2017 Activism Symposium. While speaking with the 15 people in the audience in an open talk, Wong covered a swath of topics like the importance of young people getting involved in politics and not making broad assumptions about people who voted for President Donald Trump. "It's wrong of the Democratic Party to say 63 million who voted for Trump are racist. They're not. That's a dangerous narrative. Everyone in this room has a responsibility to make sure that when you meet a Trump voter you don't look at them and say, 'You're a dangerous racist, misogynist freak.'" Wong is a registered independent who was involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement and Occupy Sandy, a relief effort to help victims of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, among other groups. She spoke about the process of creating People for Bernie, which involved launching a Facebook page and a Twitter account simultaneously through 50 other constituency-based groups like African Americans for Bernie and Teachers for Bernie. "In 2015, I saw this opportunity to engage millions of people at once to discover Bernie Sanders," Wong said. Wong said she thinks Trump's White House days are numbered. "The greatest problem with Donald Trump and this is absolutely true is that he is going to have to resign. The impeachment proceedings will begin probably some time in the fall, none of this is working out," Wong said. Wells student Chandler Smith said she was impressed with Wong. "It means that we at Wells can also move forward with those connections and help our campus grow and engage in more activism," Smith said. Q: The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has said a new road or additional lanes on existing roads will be necessary in the next decade to alleviate congestion on the citys north-south corridors. Do you support this strategy? If not, what alternatives should the city pursue? Bagniefski: Some enhanced North-South corridor will be necessary but we cannot afford to take many houses off the tax rolls. I would favor very moderate thoroughfare expansion recognizing that we do not need to engage in a speed contest traveling north to south or vice verse. if it takes us 5 more minutes we simply do not have a big problem in this city that compels drastic reconfiguration of traffic just to get south to north 10 minutes quicker. Olson: I do not support paving over the marsh for either a new or expanded road. I respect the knowledge and expertise of the engineers making this determination but in our case the textbook solution results in loss of marshland, outweighing the value of minutes of time saved for commuters. If congestion becomes a serious problem as has been predicted, a park-and-ride bus service will render itself as a feasible alternative while at the same time avoiding permanent sacrifice of our wetlands. Q: Is the city doing enough to foster neighborhood revitalization? What strategies are working? What could be improved? Olson: The city as well as many community partners have done numerous things to revitalize neighborhoods. One of the most effective programs I helped oversee as a commissioner on the Neighborhood Revitalization Commission was the Paint & Fix-up grants, which were small amounts made available to property owners to improve curb appeal of the exterior of their properties through small projects which, upon completion, were reimbursed up to a certain dollar limit. One of the changes to the rules which I proposed as a commissioner, which was voted and approved, was to include front-yard lighting in the approved categories of expenditure. This program was one of many that helped lay a foundation of homebuyer confidence for other programs such as La Crosse Promise (which has gained traction in the past couple years) to successfully attract families and developers to build new market-rate quality single family houses on empty lots in older neighborhoods. There are too many programs (Habitat for Humanity, Housing Rehab loans, Homeless Coalition, ReNew Program, the new neighborhood associations, Neighbors Day, etc.) than I have space to respond to fully convey the breadth of efforts being made in our community to revitalize neighborhoods and each of these is a piece in a larger puzzle. We all need to work together to make the pieces fit to ensure resources aren't wasted on duplication, and that nobody is excluded or forgotten. Bagniefski: Partnership with neighborhood associations is key here. The city could always do more to help revitalization but one of the best approaches is to continue a strong partnership relationship with all 10 existing NAs as well as two more I understand are in the process of forming. Q: The Fire Department has said it needs a fifth station to serve residents on the far south side. Do you support this proposal? Bagniefski: I simply do not have enough information at this point to intelligently address this issue. If a new station appears essential one should be built. Olson: First I respect and appreciate our Fire Department's tremendous accomplishment in becoming an accredited body. This reflects a tremendous amount of work and expertise which I highly value. Second I would like to see the data and theory behind the calculations of adding the fifth station. Third I would like the Fire Department to provide some examples of actual fires which occurred in the last five years in which personal injury or death, or property loss, would have been avoided or lessened by the addition of the proposed new station. With that information I would be able to provide an informed answer and logic on whether I support or oppose this proposal. Q: Should the city revise its alternate-side parking ordinance? If so, what approach would you support? Olson: I initially felt that snow removal parking could be accomplished through a similar notification broadcast as used when school cancel for snow days. During the course of the campaign council member (Gary) Padesky explained that sometimes the snowfall takes longer than three days to properly clear, and that the alternate side parking also helps street sweepers to keep the streets clean following the leaves falling and during the spring thaw. This information has persuaded me to change my position to align with Padesky's proposal to shorten the period by 15 days on each side of the existing period, which would allow for parking relief but address the heavy snowfall and street cleaning concerns he raised. Bagniefski: I believe this issue needs to be addressed and policy changed to allow people to use their god given intelligence to move cars when we have a snow event that requires it. To move cars every day for several months seems to me to be a huge waste of resources, energy, etc that could largely be avoided by a more common sense approach. I plan to prepare a more detailed proposal on this issue in the future as I study the matter fully. Q: The city is developing a new strategy to make its parking utility self-sustaining, including a plan to charge a premium to non-residents. Do you support this plan? Should the city seek to generate more revenue from downtown parking? Bagniefski: Yes and Yes. Olson: I support any measure which fairly transfers cost burden to those who enjoy lower property taxes by living outside our city but who commute in via private vehicle for employment within our city. I do not want to hurt small businesses, especially new fledgling businesses, so I would support free parking for short time periods(via a license plate reader system similar to UWL) to avoid penalizing customers for trying to support these local small businesses. Q: Do you support merging the city and county library systems? Olson: No, simply because it will further dilute the level of control or influence the constituents of my district would have on the long-term future of the branches. Once a merger has happened it would be virtually impossible to untangle if the direction taken does not align with the wishes of the neighborhood residents. Bagniefski: To the extent we can realize an economy of means of course I would support such a merger. Again I would prefer to study the specifics of this endeavor in much greater detail before a comprehensive response. Q: What is the appropriate level of service the library should offer at its north and south branch locations? Bagniefski: I do feel we should find a way to allow the south branch to be open for services 40 hours a week. Olson: Restore to 40 hours/week by June 1 and seek partnerships with other youth-engaged organizations, experiment with programming and events to attract more people. If attendance is low, the solution is not to shut off the light and lock the doors, but to keep evolving what is being offered, even if it means departing from the standard model of what a library does. If budget concerns are preventing the hours from being restored, reschedule the higher-paid staff to oversee a longer breadth of hours, and hire college student education majors to work at minimum wage (no-benefits) as temporary hires by the semester to provide the support staff. Q: Given its geographical constraints, what steps could the city take to attract and keep more residents? Olson: Residents are not "staying away" because of geographical constraints, they are purchasing (or building) homes outside of city limits because the lower property taxes allow them to put more of their housing budget towards their mortgage (equity) instead of the overhead (taxes, floodplain insurance, etc.). Just try to annex Shelby or Campbell and see what would happen. The taxes need to reflect a value-return to taxpayers, in terms of quality of life and neighborhood amenities (parks, swimming pools, libraries, recreation, etc.). TID boundaries should be frozen so that the momentum of development which has recently occurred can start to spill over into non-TID areas and generate immediate new revenues to support current needs while holding the line on taxes. Investments such as community resource officers, additional pedestrian lighting in neighborhoods, etc. will help attract more residents to move into our neighborhoods. Bagniefski: Quality housing is at the base of this issue. we should be about more quality growth than quantity. The city can only grow so much in geographic and population. What we need to strive for is the evolving and maturing of the overall quality of life in the city through re-gentrification of neighborhoods and the overall quality of life to all residents now or to come. Q: Is the city doing enough to attract and support business? Bagniefski: Of course more can usually be done to attract business but again, the emphasis should be on quality jobs and business ventures. Olson: The city has been very supportive towards job creators, both large companies and small businesses. My concern in how the city goes about attracting or supporting a private company is whether this same assistance or consideration is made equally available to anyone engaged in the same business, to ensure everyone is treated equally. Q: What other issues are affecting the residents of your district and how do you propose to address them? Olson: Many folks are eager to see the Plaid Pantry transformed into a positive resource within the neighborhood, and several good ideas are being floated around. Other people have given me positive feedback on the Neighborhood Resource Officers and want to see them remain a permanent part of the neighborhood. Pedestrian lighting (7th street etc) has made a huge improvement in neighborhood morale and the NROs have told me it has successfully reduced problems in those areas. We also have issues with drugs and crime, along with social problems that are compounded by income disparity. I applaud the Mayor for leading the effort to combat homelessness, and for his sensitivity towards the hardships of low-income residents. Many of the programs and services that support residents with these problems are administered by the county and not the city. We cannot "legislate" people out of poverty, and rules and policies should always reflect sensitivity to this truth. Bagniefski: In my many contacts with residents of my district, there are specific problem areas involving drug traffic that need to be addressed. We must work closer with the many neighborhood associations to know what are priorities in specific areas as one size does not fit all. the neighborhoods have a firm handle on what they want done. Finding the ways and means to do so is the job we all face. Q: The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has said a new road or additional lanes on existing roads will be necessary in the next decade to alleviate congestion on the citys north-south corridors. Do you support this strategy? If not, what alternatives should the city pursue? Dutton: Additional lanes on incoming roads could be an option. However, I am opposed to displacing La Crosse residents and businesses to make it easier for out of town drivers to get into town. I am opposed to adding any road through the marsh. I believe a better strategy would be to expand our MTU and find a way to encourage Park & Ride locations to be developed and utilized. Padesky: I don't want the roads widened. We need to slow traffic down and keep the neighborhoods safe. Losey Boulevard has too much traffic and it's too fast already. Q: Is the city doing enough to foster neighborhood revitalization? What strategies are working? What could be improved? Padesky: It's a work in progress. It's contagious to fix up homes. People see progress and everyone gets involved. We have a lot of great landlords but we have to find a plan to deal with the bad tenants and landlords that we deal with over and over. Dutton: I believe that this is an area where the city is moving in the right direction. The work with Habitat for Humanity and the La Crosse Promise have had some good success so far. I believe we need to continue to work with programs that will make our housing more livable. Q: The Fire Department has said it needs a fifth station to serve residents on the far south side. Do you support this proposal? Dutton: Fire safety is absolutely important. I would like to see more information about why this is necessary. Padesky: We probably do need one but we can't afford to add a whole new one. If we double up on the North end with a staff and a half we could add one on the South. We'd have basically five and a half stations. Q: Should the city revise its alternate-side parking ordinance? If so, what approach would you support? Dutton: Yes, we need to look into other systems like the snow emergency system in Eau Claire. If they receive snow over 2 inches they implement alternate side parking from 8 am - 6 pm for 3 days. I know people compare that to what we did in the campus area, which they deemed a failure. However, I refuse to believe that Eau Claire is capable of making this system work and we are not. Padesky: I'd like to see 30 days knocked off that alternate-side parking (start Nov. 15th end March 15th.) Q: The city is developing a new strategy to make its parking utility self-sustaining, including a plan to charge a premium to non-residents. Do you support this plan? Should the city seek to generate more revenue from downtown parking? Padesky: Non-residents should expect to pay a bit more. It's only fair. I'd like to let the parking coordinator present ideas to the council. Dutton: Yes, the city absolutely needs to charge more money for non-residents to park here. Those fees should not only go to the parking utility, but also the roads that are used by non-residents. We very obviously still have a parking issue downtown. Non-residents do not pay taxes for our roads or ramps and should be charged more for spaces downtown accordingly. A successful economy is one that charges the people who use public goods according to their usage. Residents already pay for our roads, it is not unfair to ask non-residents to pay as well. Q: Do you support merging the city and county library systems? Dutton: I support ensuring that our libraries stay open. Whether that is a program that the city and county work on together doesn't matter to me, as long as we can continue to provide the necessary programs to our citizens. Padesky: I'm okay with merging the branches only if any loss of jobs is done through attrition, the city pays to keep the archives and the North and South branches both remain open. Q: What is the appropriate level of service the library should offer at its north and south branch locations? Dutton: I believe that those libraries are important parts of those neighborhoods and need to be able to provide youth and senior services, not unlike the main branch. Padesky: I would like to see the hours extended at the library branch locations. Q: Given its geographical constraints, what steps could the city take to attract and keep more residents? Padesky: We have beautiful trails, the bluffs. I'd like to see what we can do to promote them and maintain them. Dutton: I am currently working with the Chamber of Commerce on their Young Professionals Housing Task Force. Our goals are to meet with city officials and local developers to find ways to attract more young families and skilled workers. We have identified that our rental housing market, specifically, is not vibrant enough to keep these people. I think that the city being involved in those meetings is a great step. Q: Is the city doing enough to attract and support business? Dutton: Part of attracting and supporting business is attracting the right employees. This relates back to the other question about attracting and keeping residents. I believe that the city is aware of these concerns and I would like to help move La Crosse into being a city that can attract more workers. I think we also have some great programs in the works for our businesses downtown that will hopefully make that area more attractive to commerce. Q: What other issues are affecting the residents of your district and how do you propose to address them? Padesky: Public safety, whether it's supporting the police force or building up neighborhoods and infrastructure, would be my #1 priority going into my second term if I was re-elected. #2 Continue to work on the Ebner Coulee floodplain programs we have started. Dutton: The the most specific concern I've heard from my district is the concern with the Ebner Coulee flood plain. I believe that the city is working on some good steps to address the issue now by attempting to have another study done on that area as well as looking into other ways to get people out of the flood plain. La Crosse Neighbors Day has a new host. The Habitat for Humanity of the La Crosse Area is calling for volunteers and residents in the La Crosse area in need of home and yard maintenance assistance for the annual cleanup event on April 29. Kahya Fox, executive director of La Crosse Habitat, said the goal of the event aligns with the habitats mission and occurring programs in the area, Fox said. Neighbors Day just felt like a really good fit with Habitat, Fox said. Habitat for Humanity of La Crosse also hosts ReNEW La Crosse, in which volunteers help repair damaged home and work to upgrade housing stock in the La Crosse area. Volunteers on Neighbors Day will be working with elderly residents or those with a disability in the La Crosse area to spruce up their yards in preparation for warmer weather. The tasks include raking up any leaves or grass, clearing out flowerbeds and preparing yards for the summer weather. A breakfast and lunch will also be provided for volunteers, who are encouraged to sign up as a team or family, Fox said. Though smaller in scale to some of their other events, Fox said Neighbors Day helps area residents help those in need after the strain of winter weather has melted away. The promise of warmer April weather and spending the day with community members are what Fox said she hopes will draw in volunteers to the annual community event. Its just a really great way to connect with the people in your community, Fox said. Go with your friends and family, and have a fun day. As for people who might need the added help with their yards, Fox said she encourages any elderly resident or someone with a disability who might need an extra helping hand or two to rejuvenate their yard to sign up for the event. Its not a bad thing to ask for help when the people who want to do it want to be there. They want to help, Fox said. (They are) helping the community as well to feel good, and then its that sense of community. Volunteers and residents can sign up for Neighbors Day online on Habitat for Humanity of La Crosses website. Q: The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has said a new road or additional lanes on existing roads will be necessary in the next decade to alleviate congestion on the citys north-south corridors. Do you support this strategy? If not, what alternatives should the city pursue? Becker: I do not support a new road. Regarding additional lanes on existing roads, I may support depending on design and neighborhood impact. Medinger: Any proposal that will tear down neighborhood homes or put a road through the marsh is a plan that I would not support. Im open to having conversations about any and all other ideas, including possible lane expansion, light signal and traffic flow studies. But we dont need to be tearing up our neighborhoods and natural city treasures only to make it easier to get out of the city. Should such a plan ever go forward, I would hope to have some regional cooperation so the burden would not be placed solely on the city taxpayers. Q: Is the city doing enough to foster neighborhood revitalization? What strategies are working? What could be improved? Medinger: I think the efforts of the last four years have been great, but there is still lots of work to do. We have made it a priority because healthy neighborhoods impact many other issues in the city, like public safety and our tax base. We have taken steps towards greater regulation of rental properties and code enforcement, and have revitalized parks including a great remake and rename at Poage Park this past year, and now have plans for an improved Trane Park. The Citys Housing Rehab program, participation in programs such as ReNew, nuisance code enforcement, community policing and an increase in neighborhood association involvement have all been positive steps. Neighborhood revitalization needs to remain a priority. I would also like to see the City Council hold a listening session at some point to hear from residents about issues that affect our neighborhoods. Becker: The city is doing enough to foster neighborhood revitalization. The strategy that is working includes new housing, housing rehabilitation and code enforcement. Q: The Fire Department has said it needs a fifth station to serve residents on the far south side. Do you support this proposal? Becker: I support a fifth fire station provided the financing is not burdensome to the taxpayer. Medinger: I do support this proposal, but now we need to come up with the funding in a beneficial way. La Crosse is long and narrow, and the evidence is clear that this would help in response times. With our Fire Department also doing first responder work, these are potential life and death situations. We have a first-class Fire Department that I am proud to support. Q: Should the city revise its alternate-side parking ordinance? If so, what approach would you support? Medinger: I understand the need for alternate side parking, but I did support shortening the time period for alternate side parking last spring. I think it is worth exploring again. Alternate side parking is not unique to La Crosse, and it plays an important role in clearing the streets in the winter. But if we are going to revise it, I think the time period could be shortened. Becker: I support revising the alternate-side parking ordinance by shortening the amount of time it is in place. Q: The city is developing a new strategy to make its parking utility self-sustaining, including a plan to charge a premium to non-residents. Do you support this plan? Should the city seek to generate more revenue from downtown parking? Becker: I support a plan to charge a premium to non-residents for parking. A plan to generate more revenue from downtown parking needs to be carefully considered so as not to discourage downtown activity. Medinger: The more revenue that can be made from the parking utility, the less the city taxpayers as a whole will have to pay for the maintenance of these parking structures and lots. Often it is not the residents of the city that are using the parking. I support looking at any way that we can shift some of the burden off of city taxpayers. Q: Do you support merging the city and county library systems? Medinger: Im open to the idea, but it really depends on what the final proposal will look like and accomplish. We would need to see the effect it would have on the neighborhood branches, operations, programs and library staff. I strongly support keeping our neighborhood library branches open. Budgets have been a struggle, and if there is a plan that will help it will be worth considering. Becker: I support merging the city and county library systems. Q: What is the appropriate level of service the library should offer at its north and south branch locations? Becker: Ideally, both north and south branch locations should be open 40 hours a week. Medinger: Again, the most important aspect for me is that the neighborhood branches remain open. I think the neighborhood branches are good for these neighborhoods. Keeping them should be part of our neighborhood revitalization efforts. My children enjoy going to the south branch library, and weve been to several youth events at the library. Id like to see a situation where hours can be increased and more programs be offered for the neighborhood kids. But at this point, staying open and working towards those goals should be the minimum. Q: Given its geographical constraints, what steps could the city take to attract and keep more residents? Medinger: Again, we come around to our neighborhood revitalization efforts. Safe, clean, healthy neighborhoods can sell themselves. Code enforcement, housing rehab, repaired streets and revitalized parks will all play a role in attracting people. But I think we can also explore more steps we can take to reduce the burden for city residents, such as user fees, discounts where possible, and be fiscally responsible in our budgeting. It is also important to remember who we are we have bluffs, trails, parks, the river, the marsh, stores, schools, churches and world-class medical institutions all within walking distance for many. It is important to keep these treasures in mind when we have future decisions to make. I also support the expanded living options in our amazing Downtown. Becker: The steps the city should take include improving housing stock and creating jobs. Q: Is the city doing enough to attract and support business? Becker: We can be proud of the citys achievements in attracting and supporting business. Medinger: Some may find it difficult dealing with City Hall, but I think we have been supportive of businesses. We have explored and approved TIFs and development agreements when it has been mutually beneficial. The downtown has hundreds of jobs that werent there 10 years ago due to development and expansion. Most recently the City approved funding for a parking ramp in conjunction with the expanded tax base and job creating development of Lot C. While there are ways we can make City Hall more business-friendly, I think the development in our city shows we do care about supporting businesses and having the good-paying jobs that come with our efforts. Q: What other issues are affecting the residents of your district and how do you propose to address them? Medinger: This part of the City is a great place to live and raise a family, and I will work to keep it that way. One issue that Ive heard a lot about (and experienced first-hand) is the poor condition of some of our streets. This past year we approved additional funding for street repairs. I would like to see this priority continue, and push for some of our neighborhood streets to be scheduled for repair. The future of the south branch library has been on the minds of many in our neighborhoods, and I support the city doing what it can to ensure our neighborhood branches remain open. I would also like to see new housing development in our district come to fruition to improve our neighborhoods. We also have three schools in our district. I would like to reach out to the school district to see what common issues we share that we could work on together, like student parking, facilities and safety of the kids. Becker: The issues affecting my district include the drug problem and street maintenance. Allocate resources to community policing and streets. Journalist Rod Dreher used to find comfort in seeing the rows of churches along the roads in his home state of Louisiana. The world might be going crazy in places like New York City and Washington, D.C. where Dreher had worked as a journalist but it felt good to know the Bible Belt still existed. But that changed as the popular digital scribe his blog at The American Conservative gets a million-plus hits a month kept digging into research about life inside most of those churches. The bottom line: Theres a reason so many young Americans say they have zero ties to any faith tradition. God is not the center of American culture or of Western civilization anymore. But its easy to think that this is alarmist when you look around you, especially if you live in the South as I do and see churches everywhere, said Dreher, during a podcast with R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Mohler is an influential voice at all levels of the Southern Baptist Convention, Americas largest Protestant flock. Go inside those churches, stressed Dreher. Talk to the people about what they know about the historic Christian faith. Youll often find its very, very thin. ... And I think that the loss of faith among the elites in society is huge. Christianity is now a minority position, and in many places at the highest levels of our society ... orthodox Christianity is considered bigotry. This is not going to get any better. Its easy for conservatives to bemoan public trends, such as amoral Hollywood sermons, the U.S. Supreme Courts same-sex marriage decision and corporate giants backing the gender-blending of bathrooms and showers. However, some of the most sobering remarks by Mohler and Dreher were about Christian homes, schools and sanctuaries. At the center of the conversation was Drehers new book, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation, which debuted at No. 7 on the New York Times bestseller list, while sparking fierce debates online. In this book, Dreher a friend of mine for 20-plus years argues that traditional religious believers must strive to build grassroots institutions and networks that teach, support and defend faith, while devoting less time and money to national political fights. We are not trying to repeal 700 years of history, as if that were possible, writes Dreher. Nor are we trying to save the West. We are only trying to build a Christian way of life that stands as an island of sanctity and stability amid the high tide of liquid modernity. We are not looking to create heaven on Earth; we are simply looking for a way to be strong in faith through a time of great testing. It isnt time to hide in caves, said Dreher. For some, Benedict options a tribute to St. Benedict, the 6th-century father of Western monasticism may mean starting classical schools. Others may form close-knit communities of families in inner cities or rural towns. Some may become active in local politics, while others work at the national level to defend religious liberty. But the key is stronger religious congregations, which Dreher and Mohler agreed will require embracing traditional forms of faith. It wont be enough to worship a nice God who helps people feel good about themselves, in flocks with nothing to say about this ages radical individualism and consumerism. Dreher stressed that ancient communions such as Catholicism and his own Eastern Orthodox Christianity can tap into centuries of doctrine and discipline, if their leaders choose to do so. But what about modern Protestantism? Mohler gave a blunt answer, saying that he feared many evangelicals are too tied to this particular moment in history to find timeless roots. I do not believe evangelicalism has sufficient resources for a thick enough Christianity to survive either this epoch or much beyond, he said. Martin Luther, John Calvin and other Reformation leaders, stressed Mohler, knew they were standing on the shoulders of those who had come before, and they sought to make that very clear. They stood on the credal consensus of historic Christianity and thus confessional Protestantism, I would argue, is and must be can be sufficiently thick. But evangelicalism? Well, not so much. Two longtime, award-winning educators seeking to oversee Wisconsins schools sparred on Friday over how to improve academic success for black students, whether the states academic standards are good for schools and how the state should spend its money on education. Incumbent State Superintendent Tony Evers and challenger Lowell Holtz, a former superintendent of three school districts, met on Friday for the final time before voters go to the polls on Tuesday to choose one to lead the Department of Public Instruction for the next four years. Fridays debate, hosted by Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television at their UW-Madison studios and televised statewide, began with an exchange over allegations that Holtz used his former school districts email account to mount his statewide campaign, and often focused on whether Evers was responsible for a gap in academic achievement that is considered by some measures to be the worst in the nation. Emails released to reporters and liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now last month showed Holtz used his Whitnall School District email account to discuss campaign strategy with his wife during the school day. Whitnall School Board members this week warned parents the emails show what may be a misuse of public resources. Holtz defended his email use, saying as superintendent he worked 10 to 12 hours per day and that emailing his wife before his campaign began was not illegal. What theyre talking about is illegal campaign fundraising, Holtz said. Theres nothing illegal about personal conversations on your email at work its when youre trying to solicit campaign funds, thats when you get in trouble. Evers said the emails were an inappropriate use of Whitnall School District resources. Holtz also was questioned over a discussion he had with former candidate John Humphries about getting out of the race in exchange for a three-year, six-figure DPI job that included a personal driver and the ability to take over school districts with persistent achievement gaps. The candidates agreed Friday that state takeovers were not appropriate for such situations. Thats kind of baloney. Thats just not what you want to hear from candidates, Evers said about the job offer discussions. To me, thats not how we make public policy in this state. But Holtz said focusing on the job offer deal is simply diverting attention from the states gap in academic achievement between black and white students, which he said he blamed Evers for letting become the worst in the nation. I suppose if youre running and your record is horrendous if during your eight years you bottomed out and youre the worst state in the nation for achievement gaps and the worst state in the nation for graduation gaps, you want to divert attention from your record and you would put it in your commercials saying something about the chauffeur, Holtz said, referring to a television advertisement Evers produced referring to the job offer deals personal driver. During a portion of the debate when each candidate was given the opportunity to ask the other a question, Holtz again asked Evers why he let the states gaps in achievement become the largest in the nation under his watch at DPI. Evers said neither he nor school officials can cure effects of poverty on children, but that the state can help schools combat the effects. I didnt let that happen, Lowell, Evers said. And as you know the achievement gap in this state is absolutely tied to poverty. Evers then asked Holtz how the tumultuous campaign has affected Holtzs family. It has really been a tough journey for my wife to hear the negative attack ads, Holtz responded. The two disagreed on whether the Common Core State Standards, which Evers supports and Holtz opposes, are good for schools. They also disagreed on a bill introduced in the state Legislature that would allow people to carry concealed weapons without permits and carry guns on school campuses with permits. Holtz favored the idea, while Evers opposed it. The two agreed that Gov. Scott Walkers proposed increase for public school districts $649 million is a welcome increase but disagreed on a provision that ties the money to whether a district is requiring its staff to pay 12 percent of the districts health insurance costs. Holtz supports the idea, and Evers opposes it. OCHOPEE, Fla. (TNS) Out in the Big Cypress swamp, across the street from the countrys smallest post office in a wilderness the size of Rhode Island, a canal is teeming with something unexpected: aquarium fish usually found in a pet shop. Orange-striped Mayan cichlids dart among boldly spotted tilapia and ruby-colored African jewelfish. The exotic fish, originally dumped by pet owners or escaped from fish farms, are now as likely to be found in remote sloughs and canals crisscrossing the Everglades as weed-choked urban canals. The fish have not grabbed headlines, or the public imagination, like pythons as they stake out more and more territory. But they are no less insidious: They gobble up food, tolerate more extreme conditions, and reproduce at a faster and younger rate than native freshwater fish. Some even hunt in packs, devouring the small crayfish that form the base of the local food chain. They are biological pollution for sure, said Pam Schofield, a U.S. Geological Survey fishery biologist who has been supervising yearly surveys across the state since 2013. Every one of those fish is eating something or taking up space. And they dont appear to be losing steam. In a check of the Big Cypress done last week, scientists discovered two new invaders for the first time: the prehistoric-looking armored catfish and the Nile tilapia. At least 200 exotic fish species have been found statewide, Schofield said. About three dozen have taken up residence. And while the invasion has been documented for decades, efforts to stop it appear hampered by the same problems plaguing the spread of other exotic species: lack of money and lack of manpower. The last time the Big Cypress was surveyed for invasive fish was in 2003, by William Loftus, a retired USGS biologist based at Everglades National Park. There are a whole gamut of questions and the pot of money never seems to get any larger, he said. Loftus was back out last week with Schofield and eight teams of biologists who volunteered to conduct a bio blitz a quick, but intense assessment scientists conduct when they lack the money needed for a full scientific review. Schofields blitzes, called Fish Slams, have helped build an extensive data base that allows other researchers and the public to track, and report, the spread of fish. But while tracking efforts have gained momentum, understanding the impacts from the fish still lags, Loftus said. To think they dont have an effect is ridiculous, he said. To find that effect is more difficult. When Loftus began looking at invasive fish in the 1970s, there were only about a half-dozen species documented in South Florida and three in Everglades National Park. Still, he and other scientists recognized their spread could be fast and furious. With so many canals carving up the landscape, the fish had easy access to what the scientists called superhighways. Canals, unlike other water bodies, tend to stay warmer, he said. So the canals served as a thermal refuge against the fishs only natural barrier: cold snaps. Sure enough, after the jewelfish, which hails from the waters of the African savannah, first appeared in canals in Miami and Hialeah in the 1960s, it headed north to Palm Beach County. Its now been found in Hardee, Hendry and Indian River counties. The canals also carried the fish farther and farther into the wild. In 1983, Loftus documented the first appearance of the now ubiquitous Mayan cichlid in Everglades National Park. It can now be found as far north as Merritt Island on the east coast and Tampa Bay on the west. The fish also spread across remote marshes during the wet season, then continue to survive in disconnected ponds during the dry season. Last week, Schofield and Loftus found spotted tilapia and catfish in a Big Cypress pond, far from any canal. Over the years, Loftus said he argued to have canals dredged to build roads, and serving no other purpose, filled. But little has been done. The South Florida Water Management District has filled some canals as part of restoration efforts in the Picayune Strand, but Big Cypress still has miles and miles of canals, carrying the fish pollution to the Sweetwater Strand, Dayhoff Slough and some of the preserves most pristine areas. Scientists assume the invasive fish are likely pushing out natives by competing for food, and sometimes eating natives, and taking up valuable spawning space. While it appears they help feed wading birds, Schofield and Loftus say its not clear if they provide the same nutritional value. And in some cases, like catfish, it takes birds far longer to consume the fish. So the question is: are they good substitutes, Loftus said. Also, to understand how to control them scientists still need to know where they are, which can be tricky since many of the places they now inhabit can be reached only by helicopter or airboat. The teams that fanned out across Big Cypress last week also had to dodge a 15,000-acre wildfire. At least two of the teams were ordered out, led back to the check-in by a police escort. Different methods also detect different species, and with different results. In Big Cypress, biologists used nets, fish traps and backpack shockers which send a small current to a wand dipped in water to stun fish to collect fish for the purposes of the survey. They focused on variety not quantity. Further east, on the Miccosukee Reservation, tribe biologists Shara Marconi and Julian Douglas teamed up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist John Galvez for more straightforward work: kill as many as possible. Using two boats outfitted with generators attached to shocking booms, the teams scoured the L-28 Interceptor, a wide canal that carries water from pastures and farm fields to the north. In one short stretch measuring just over half a mile, the teams collected 94 Mayan cichlids, one walking catfish and one black akara in less than a half-hour. By mornings end, they had more than 130 cichlids. After they tallied the fish, Marconi asked Galvez if repeating the effort daily would work to get rid of the fish. His answer was simple: no. The species, they dont know fences, he said. The fish just keep coming. To combat the problem, agencies say they need to lean heavily on the public. Both state and federal agencies have created ways to report sightings, including the Floridas IveGot1 app and website and USGSs website. They also need pet owners to realize the full damage caused when animals, including little fish, are released into the wild, where populations of tropical exotics can quickly mushroom and spread. As silly as it may sound, Loftus said, fish owners should take advantage of the same pet amnesty day offered to python and tegu owners to get rid of unwanted animals. More effort also needs to be made on control efforts, scientists say. Electro-shocking canals is more effective at looking for new species than driving down numbers. And there has been public resistance to using toxins that kill invasive fish. Our toolbox for dealing with these nonnative fish is pretty empty, Loftus said. We really need a lot of research in to ways we can eradicate and more safely control these animals once theyre out there. They are biological pollution for sure. Every one of those fish is eating something or taking up space. Pam Schofield, U.S. Geological Survey fishery biologist The problem of homelessness in Wisconsin is an issue that often follows the saying, Out of sight, out of mind. Though we can all recognize the people standing on corners or sleeping on benches, there are many unseen people living out of their cars, moving from motel to motel, or consistently on the verge of eviction. These hidden homeless are hard to recognize and quantify, making funding for preventing and ending homelessness equally difficult. In 2015, Wisconsin had 27,532 clients who received services and shelter from agencies that enter into the Homeless Management Information System. Wisconsins homeless population has seen a slight decline over the last few years, with total homeless numbers going down by 6.1 percent since 2015. This reduction is largely due to an increased advocacy for homelessness resources and funding. With homelessness presenting an ever-growing need for aid and, ultimately, rehabilitation, preparing legislation that serves the most vulnerable of constituents is a top concern. I understand the importance of putting forth pointed measures to end homelessness in Wisconsin. Wisconsin funded homelessness services and shelter for over 27,000 people in 2015. As a conservative, I recognize that these funds could be better utilized to bring people facing homelessness a permanent solution a stable job and steady income. In 2016, we saw that almost half of people experiencing homelessness were part of a family with children, while 1,133 veterans were exposed to homelessness. I know that most people experiencing homelessness are motivated to find a solution that works. Giving Wisconsinites the tools needed to move them towards independence is crucial. In the 2017-18 legislative session, we in the Assembly have clear steps that can begin to take on the issue of homelessness head-on. Exploring the possibilities of no-cost legislation in tandem with measured government spending, we can move the state forward in achieving a goal of every person in Wisconsin having a place to call home. Solutions to end homelessness come in many different packages. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to individual circumstances. An attention to job creation and retention will be a big contributor to providing people with the tools needed to be housed and successful, while a focus on administrative policies and funding will help define sustainable solutions for the state and the homeless population. It is clear that a coordinated approach among local units of government, the state, and federal programs, coupled with a healthy private sector partnership, will produce the best results. Republican Jim Steineke, Kaukauna, represents the Fifth Assembly District and is the Assembly Majority Leader. The state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services presents what appear to be compelling reasons for what can only be called its systematic shutdown of the addiction-treatment program run by the Rev. Peter Young. Compelling, until you read the same agency's most recent inspection reports of the operation. OASAS Commissioner Arlene Gonzalez-Sanchez responded after demands from numerous state legislators seeking an explanation for why her agency was so bent on closing the highly successful Peter Young Housing, Industries and Treatment program. The furor followed a story by the Times Union's Brendan Lyons detailing the abusive treatment of the nonprofit by an OASAS official. Commissioner Gonzalez-Sanchez cited what she called PYHIT's unwillingness to take needed steps to correct administrative, operational and financial deficiencies. It also listed numerous maintenance and sanitary problems at some of the program's residences for recovering addicts. The commissioner reiterated what's at the heart of the conflict between her agency and the nonprofit: the 2012 convictions of five PYHIT staffers for crimes ranging from padding expenses to embezzlement. The probe that led to the criminal charges originated after the nonprofit itself reported the discrepancies and presented evidence to OASAS. PYHIT has since been frozen out of applying for new state grants. As its funds run down, PYHIT has struggled to meet its mission of providing its desperately needed drug and alcohol treatment and job training programs. The losers are the thousands of addicts who may never be able to benefit from PYHIT's proven programs. Father Young, at age 86, faces the sad prospect of seeing his life's ministry to the addicted collapse. The state should restore PYHIT's eligibility for grants while it works to resolve the dispute, perhaps inviting the state comptroller to do an independent audit that defines the next steps. Too much is at stake. OASAS should be setting PYHIT up for success, not failure, in fighting addiction for many more decades to come. The Times Union, Albany Obamacare is far from a perfect plan. But Republicans, including President Trump, seemed hell-bent on hastily repealing it. GOP Congress members, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, have repeated that repeal mantra for years. But, though they claim that is what their constituents were clamoring for, they weren't really listening. Most Americans didn't want a massive step back to when many people didn't have health insurance. They just wanted adjustments made so the system worked better. We believe reform is what they still want, and that message was made clear last week. It must have been a hand-wringing week for Stefanik and other Republicans who truly care about the people of their districts. Here they were, re-elected supposedly in part because they wanted to repeal Obamacare. And yet here were the CEOs of every hospital in Stefanik's district saying that repealing the Affordable Care Act and installing the quickly contrived GOP plan would be not just problematic but "devastating." Some observers believe Stefanik would have voted for the plan. After all, her hesitation gave her the muscle to get more funding added for women's health and maternity care, and she could have claimed that victory. But we won't know for sure because Stefanik's office refused to answer direct questions leading up to and after the expected decision. Even the day of the vote, she was "undecided." Some district residents resented her not revealing how she would vote on the biggest decision of her career so far. But it turned out to make good political sense; she ducked having to anger one segment of district residents either the yeas or the nays. But the story isn't over. Obamacare still needs adjusting, and people will want it fixed in a thoughtful, bipartisan way. On this one, the American public is in the driver's seat the way it should be. The Press-Republican, Plattsburgh If Trump gets his way in his new budget, the feds will pull the plug on thousands of vital projects. The National Institutes of Health, America's leading medical research grantmaker, would suffer an 18 percent hit an unprecedented single-year decline. Discoveries funded by the NIH have deciphered the human genetic code; kept blood-transfusion supplies safe and clean; lowered the cholesterol of millions, via statins; and developed a class of drugs instrumental to turning AIDS from a death sentence into a chronic disease. They are working as you read this to map the human brain as never before. To pioneer understanding of and therapies for Alzheimer's disease. And to radically improve cancer treatments that have already saved thousands of lives. Meantime, Trump would all but eliminate funding for studies on the impact of climate change that are enabling the United States and the world to adapt to, and potentially mitigate, potentially cataclysmic alterations to the planet. Deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Agriculture would weaken scientists' ability to help curb air and water pollution. Still unknown: How badly Trump would wallop the National Science Foundation, which pays for pathbreaking work in dozens of vital realms beyond biology and environmental science. The assault couldn't come at a worse time. America is already at risk of losing its leadership position; for years, the U.S. share of R&D spending has been falling, with China, Japan, South Korea, India and Singapore gaining as we slip. The Daily News, New York Water is the new oil. Plenty of old skirmishes both political and military broke out around the world over oil. Water will be the cause of more and more new ones. Pressure to divert water from the Great Lakes is intensifying. The mighty Colorado River is being siphoned to irrigate cropland and supply thirsty cities from Denver to Phoenix to the point where it now runs dry at its end, no longer reaching the ocean at the Gulf of California as it did for millions of years. Toxic tap water produced human tragedy and a white-hot media spotlight in Flint, Michigan. Far less attention has been paid to the fact that excessive lead levels are found in almost 2,000 water systems across America, including more than 80 communities in Wisconsin. Not many people know that the incidence of lead poisoning of children in Wisconsin is almost exactly the same as the rate found in Flint. Milwaukees lead poisoning rate is nearly double Flints. Wisconsin is one of the most water-rich states in the nation. Yet the states groundwater is imperiled. Lakes and streams are drying up because of an unchecked proliferation of high-capacity wells for massive animal feedlots and large-scale crop irrigation. Water quality protections have been stripped away due to politicized resource management, resulting in indiscriminate manure spreading by factory farming operations that produces contaminated drinking water in places like Kewaunee County. It boggles the mind that lawmakers who currently control the Capitol are responding to all of this with efforts to further weaken water protections and make it even easier to get permission to drill high-capacity wells. And its hard not to notice that the wealthy interests who want to do all the drilling have been showering large political donations on the governor and state legislators. Here we have a privileged few being allowed to take as much water as they want, even if it makes lakes and streams and neighbors wells dry up. We have a politically connected few being allowed to pollute as much as they want, even if it makes others sick. That our government is no longer adequately protecting everyones right to clean drinking water is a telltale sign of how government has been captured by powerful interests. That politicians are allowing a few big industries to hog all the water or to poison it for others is a measure of how sick our democracy has become. Oil and water dont mix, but they do have a lot in common. Both are precious natural resources and both have a way of bringing out the worst in us. Both inspire greed, and both can corrupt. As the water wars escalate, the question is whether greed will govern us or will we summon the wisdom and resolve to make sure what government does when it comes to water is done for the good of the whole of society. Mike McCabe, Madison, is the founder and president of Blue Jean Nation. The Village of Chaseburg will be conducting a survey of all households within the village to solicit opinions on water improvement projects under consideration and to confirm the percent of low- to moderate-income households within the community. The village recognizes the need to address deficiencies in the existing water reservoir and well, however, the solutions to the problems are cost prohibitive unless grants can be secured to finance significant portions of the project. The Village Board is interested in community input to assist with the decisions to be made regarding this project. Grants may be available to assist with the project if a significant number of households respond to the proposed survey. The survey will be distributed door to door by representatives from Community Development Alternatives, an organization from Prairie du Chien which assists small communities throughout southwest Wisconsin. Chaseburg Village Clerk Linda De Garmo said it is vitally important for residents in the community to fill out and return the survey, which will allow the village to offset costs if they can secure a grant based on need. If Chaseburg meets the criteria and we is awarded a grant it will save thousands of taxpayer dollars, but we wont qualify if people dont take a couple minutes to fill out and return the survey, De Garmo said. Individual surveys are not a matter of public record, although the survey results may be part of a future grant request. The surveys will be distributed during the week of April 3. Each household completing and returning the survey by April 17 will become eligible for a $50 cash drawing to be held on May 9 at the monthly Chaseburg Village Board meeting. Your opinion is valued and your participation is necessary if the village is to become eligible for funding assistance for this public facility project. Help Us, Help You, Save Money, De Garmo said. Dear reader, we're asking for your help to keep local reporting available for all today during our fall fundraiser. Your financial support keeps stories like this one free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. Start your day with LAist Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings. Subscribe In the hectic weekend following the implementation of President Trump's original travel ban, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer made headlines when he was was rebuffed by customs officials after showing up at Los Angeles International Airport to get answers and meet with detainees. Despite spending hours at the airport on the night of January 28 (and into the morning of January 29) seeking basic answers about how many people were being detained and whether officials were complying with a court order that would prevent any of those detainees from being deported, federal officials were "unable and unwilling to provide any information" Feuer with any information. An official U.S. Customs and Border Protection security seal would have provided Feuer with access to the detainees. He applied for a security seal the following week so that he would be able to access secure areas at LAX in the future. "In these uncertain and precarious times, who knows when it might be needed again," City Attorney spokesman Rob Wilcox told LAist. On Friday, the City Attorney announced that CBP had shot down his request, denying him future unescorted access at LAX. In a one-page letter, Mitchell Merriam, CBP's port director for LAX, thanked Feuer for his correspondence, offered him a five-sentence description (some of which were very long sentences) about how CBP is tasked with protecting the nation's borders, and then gave him less than a sentence of explanation about why his request was denied ("your request is not cognizable under 19 C.F.R. Part 122, Subpart S"). Letter from U.S. Customs to City Attorney Mike Feuer The C.F.R. in question is the Code of Federal Regulations, which is basically just a giant book of all the general and permanent rules that govern U.S. federal agencies (as written by said agencies). Part 122 of said C.F.R. lays out air commerce regulations, and Subpart S lays out the law on access to customs security areas. "Cognizable," for those of us who are not lawyers, just means "capable of being known," according to our friends at Merriam-Webster. Okay, we can follow that. But here's where things get weird: unlike a customs detention area, the C.F.R. is readily available to the public. And, uh, it pretty clearly states that local government officials can request security clearance seals (19 C.F.R. Part 122, Subpart S, Section 122.182 c and e, as quoted by the City Attorney in his appeals letter, and easily findable here). Furthermore, that little ditty known as Subpart S also CLEARLY states that if CBP wants to deny access, they must "give written notification to any person whose application for access to the Customs security area has been denied, fully stating the reasons for denial and setting forth specific appeal procedures" (emphasis ours). Now, go back to CBP's letter to Feuer and do some close reading of the third paragraph where the City Attorney's request is denied ("is not cognizable..."). This should be a relatively easy task, since there are only ten words explaining the refusal, and two of them are actually numbers and one is just a single letter. Customs is essentially telling L.A.'s chief prosecutor that the reason he can't have access is because a section of federal code that lays out who can have access exists. They don't even bother to reference a subsection! It's federal code, there are subsections upon subsections! That's not a fully stated reason; it's barely even a bibliographic citation. What is this, Kafka International Airport? As Feuer writes in his appeal letter, as City Attorney, he has "broad responsibilities directly relevant to LAX." Specifically, his office serves as counsel for LAX, providing wide-ranging legal support regarding LAX operations (they even have an office on site). As the city's chief prosecutor, Feuer is also responsible for prosecuting offenses at and around LAX. When the City Attorney of the nations second largest city cannot gain access to all areas of the airport located in his jurisdiction, something is terribly wrong, Feuer said in a statement Friday. I went to LAX in January because I wanted to secure the release of the detainees. I also wanted very direct answers to basic questions. A security clearance would have provided me with access to the detainees so I could have assessed their situation and well-being. As mentioned above, Feuer is currently appealing the CBP's decision. Related: L.A. City Attorney Said He Was Blocked From Meeting With LAX Detainees L.A. City Attorney Files FOIA Request Over LAX Detainees PHOENIX (AP) An analysis suggests more Arizona students using the school-voucher program are from higher-performing districts in more-affluent areas. Only 4 percent of the money drawn from public schools to fund the Empowerment Scholarship Account program came from districts rated "D'' or lower, the analysis by the Arizona Republic suggested (http://bit.ly/2nSQG4E). About 75 percent of money came from districts rated as "A'' or "B." The program allows parents to take a majority of the money that would have gone to their local school and put it toward other educational opportunities. Lawmakers are currently advancing bills that would expand the voucher program to all 1.1 million Arizona public school students after four years. Since the release of the Republic's analysis, some lawmakers have questioned whether the timing for the bills' passage is appropriate. "I have concerns, based on those numbers," said Rep. T.J. Shope, R- Coolidge, of the findings that few students from poor-performing schools are using the program. "I would hope that those numbers would be a little higher." Students from districts with "D'' ratings can enroll for the voucher program without any other requirement. However, the program's states that students from schools ranked from "A'' to "C'' fall in the following categories: have a disability, be a former foster child, the child of a military family, the sibling of a student in the voucher program or live on an Indian reservation. Republican Sen. Debbie Lesko of Peoria, who is sponsoring one of the bills, said the reason the award is going to more families from affluent and better-performing areas is that the students who are applying from those districts are disabled. "Right now, as you know, the majority of the children that take advantage of ESAs are special-needs students," Lesko said. "Perhaps that's the reason that your analysis came out the way that it does. Now when I expand it so that all students are eligible, I am assuming we are going to see a different outcome than you have come up with." ___ Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com Friday, March 31, 2017 The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Maslenjak v. United States on April 28. The case involves an ethnic Serb who fled Bosnia and allegedly made false statements to U.,S. immigration officers about her husband's military service in Bosnia. The petitioner states the question in the case as whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit erred by holding, in direct conflict with the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 1st, 4th, 7th and 9th Circuits, that a naturalized American citizen can be stripped of her citizenship in a criminal proceeding based on an immaterial false statement. An amicus brief filed by Asian Americans Advancing Justice and other groups contends that "The Sixth Circuits holdingthat under 18 U.S.C. 1425(a) and 18 U.S.C. 1015(a), any knowing false statement or omission can be grounds for denaturalization and criminal prosecutionwould have dire consequences for naturalized citizens, significantly discourage lawful immigrants from seeking citizenship, and undermine a cornerstone of American society and values. As amici know well, the naturalization process is rife with potential for irrelevant misstatements, particularly for applicants who speak English as a second language and apply without the benefit of professional assistance. If any irrelevant misstatement can be grounds for denaturalization and prosecution, a substantial number of citizens will be placed at risk." KJ https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2017/03/before-the-supreme-court-maslenjak-v-united-states-denaturalization-case.html Wednesday, June 29, 2022 This article was originally published at the CUNY Law Review Blog and has been republished here with permission. After Dobbs, Are Rights for Zygotes, Embryos and Fetuses Next? by Cynthia Soohoo (June 29, 2022) Justice Alitos decision overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey marks a watershed shift in the way that the country treats people who are pregnant versus an unborn life. By stripping constitutional protection from the decision to have an abortion, Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization equates pregnant peoples right to control their bodies and the states interest in protecting prenatal life. Without a recognized constitutional right to abortion as a backstop, Dobbs specifically paves the way for states to impose their theory of when a human life begins and push for recognition of personhood for fetuses, embryos, and zygotes. Not only will this result in some states banning abortion from conception and treating abortion as homicide, it also threatens some forms of contraception and in vitro fertilization (IVF). One recurring theme in Alitos majority opinion and Justice Kavanaughs concurrence is that there are two sides with strong views on abortion. The argument goes that because there are strong opposing opinions on abortion, the issue should be left to the people and their elected representatives with individual states (or Congress) determining how to value prenatal life verses the rights of pregnant people. While there is superficial appeal to the two sides argument, it improperly equates one groups beliefs about when human life begins with the concrete harms imposed on pregnant people. It also obscures the real issue. We dont all get a vote on what happens to someone elses body. As Justices Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor write in the joint dissent, when it comes to rights, the Court does not act neutrally when it leaves everything up to the States. Rather the Court acts neutrally when it protects the right against all comers. Cleverly cloaked in originalist arguments and claims about democracy and judicial neutrality, at bottom, the Dobbs decision is about the expansion of state power and control. Alito admits as much when he criticizes Roe and Casey for allowing States less freedom to regulate abortion than in other countries. (emphasis added). Alitos opinion gives states enormous power to use a belief about when human life begins to take dominion over a persons body, forcing them to endure a pregnancy, give birth, and become a parent. The Disappearing Rights and Shrinking Personhood of Pregnant People Recognizing the fundamental liberty at stake in the abortion decision, the Supreme Court explicitly rejected the two sides argument 30 years ago in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In doing so, the Court carefully considered how to balance the states interest in protecting prenatal life and the individual liberty and autonomy rights at risk. While the Court eliminated the trimester framework established in Roe, giving states more power to regulate abortion to protect fetal life, Casey emphasized that a pregnant person must retain the ultimate decision of whether or not to continue a pregnancy. Until the Dobbs decision, this meant a state could not ban abortion outright or impose regulations that impose an undue burden prior to fetal viability. To justify scrapping Caseys careful balancing of individual rights with government interests, Alitos opinion scrupulously avoids any serious discussion of the rights of pregnant people or the implications of allowing the government to impose forced pregnancy. Instead of recognizing that allowing states to ban abortion imposes a real and substantial harm, Justice Alito downgrades the fact of a states invasion of a pregnant persons liberty and autonomy to a feeling that regulation of abortion invades a womans right to control her own body, and prevents women from achieving full equality. He then suggests that this feeling is on par with the fervent belief that a human person comes into being at conception and that abortion ends an innocent life. Alito also refuses to acknowledge that reproductive autonomy is a basic and fundamental liberty for people with the capacity to become pregnant. Rather than engaging in an honest discussion of what personal liberty requires for a body with a uterus, Alito hides behind a historic reading of the Fourteenth Amendment based on state laws that were passed in the 1860s when women could not vote and were not viewed as persons fully protected by the Constitution. Paving the Way for Personhood for Zygotes, Embryos, and Fetuses Even as Dobbs demotes people who can become pregnant from the status of full rights holders, it paves the way for states to promote the rights of zygotes, embryos, and fetuses at the expense of people who will be forced to carry them. (A zygote is a fertilized egg. It becomes an embryo10-12 days after fertilization and a fetus eight weeks after fertilization.) In 1973, Roe explicitly rejected Texas argument that the Constitution recognizes the unborn as a person with rights protected under the Fourteenth Amendment. However, as argued in many of the amicus briefs submitted to the Court in Dobbs, constitutionally prohibiting abortion through the recognition of personhood for zygotes, embryos, and fetuses remains a long-term goal for the anti-abortion movement. Alitos decision will likely encourage these arguments in courts and legislatures. While the Dobbs decision declines to directly take on the personhood issue, religious and moral views about the status of zygotes, embryos and fetuses creep into the decisions language and reasoning. Rather than discussing the states interest in potential life like past Supreme Court decisions, Justice Alito explicitly imports Mississippis belief that a fetus is a human being into the decisions reasoning. He argues that abortion is different from other constitutionally protected decisions around intimate sexual relations, contraception and marriage, because abortion is a critical moral question that involves destroying what the statute describes as an unborn human being. Alito even chides the dissent for imposing their theory about when the rights of personhood begin for adhering to the Roe and Casey standard. Alitos criticism reveals his own assumptions about fetal life as he bemoans that under the Roe/Casey standard, states were prohibited from recognizing a fetus most basic human right to live prior to viability. (emphasis added). For now, Alito claims that the Dobbs decision is not based on any view about if and when prenatal life is entitled to any of the rights enjoyed after birth. But even absent the Courts explicit recognition of rights for prenatal life, Dobbs opens the door for states to do so without constitutional restraints. Roe recognized that there are widely divergent views on when life begins and held that the state cannot adopt[] one theory of life [and] override the rights of the pregnant woman. In order to prevent this outcome, Roe and Casey explicitly declined to adopt a theory of when life begins, but recognized fetal viability as the point at which the states interest in fetal life rose to the compelling level necessary to justify banning abortions. This meant that while states could pass laws protecting prenatal life prior to viability,the constitutional rights of pregnant people to liberty and bodily autonomy limited how far the state could go. Now that Dobbs has stripped away this constitutional protection, a state need only show that a law passed to protect prenatal life bears a rational relation to a legitimate state interest to withstand judicial scrutiny. Further, without the viability line, states can bestow heightened protection and rights to prenatal life at any stage without any consideration about the impact on the bodies and lives of the people who carry them. What Does Personhood for Zygotes, Embryos, and Fetuses Look Like? The idea that states may seek to promote legal personhood for zygotes, embryos, and fetuses may seem farfetched. But for decades, states have passed laws to protect and, in some cases, bestow rights onto the unborn by recognizing them as human beings or even legal persons. These laws are often referred to as fetal personhood provisions, but the term is a misnomer because the provisions go beyond protecting fetuses and typically protect the unborn from conception or fertilization. Personhood provisions vary and include legislative findings, policy statements, and definitions for specific statutes, including criminal homicide laws, and general personhood provisions that purport to apply to all laws in the state. The idea that the zygotes, embryos, and fetuses are independent human beings is often included as a finding or definition in legislation to justify extreme abortion bans. For instance, in 2019, Georgia passed an act that included both a general personhood provision recognizing unborn children defined as a member of the species Homo sapiens at any stage of development who is carried in the womb as natural persons under Georgia law and a separate provision banning abortion at six weeks. In 2021, Arkansas passed the Arkansas Unborn Child Protection Act and in 2019, Alabama passed the Human Life Protection Act, both banning abortion from conception. The laws cited provisions in their state constitutions adopting policies protecting the life (Arkansas) and rights (Alabama) of unborn children and made legislative findings or defined embryos and fetuses as human beings. Because these laws clearly violated the constitution, they were quickly blocked by the courts and never went into effect. Immediately after the Dobbs decision, a federal court granted an emergency motion dissolving the injunction stalling the Alabama law. Similar motions will likely follow in Arkansas and Georgia. If we want to understand what laws might look like now that legislatures no longer have to comply with Roe, the abortion bans passed by Alabama and Arkansas, as well as similar bans recently passed by Oklahoma and Louisiana, provide good examples. These laws ban abortion at conception and do not include any exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape or incest. These measures reflect an absolutist view that embryos and fetuses are human beings that must be protected irrespective of the impact on the people who carry them. International human rights bodies have recognized that forcing a person to continue a pregnancy in such circumstances constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Perhaps reflecting the view that zygotes, embryos, and fetuses are human beings, the laws also impose severe criminal penalties for performing abortions, including sentences ranging from 10 to 99 years and criminal fines ranging from $100,000-200,000. In addition to explicit criminal abortion bans that will either be triggered, passed, or no longer enjoined now that Roe has been overturned, personhood provisions that already exist in the laws of many states will no longer be limited by constitutional protections for abortion. Many state criminal statutes already define homicide victims to include zygotes, embryos, and fetuses. Dobbs potentially authorizes the use of these criminal homicide statutes to prosecute people who perform abortions. It is not just abortion that is under threat. As pointed out by the joint dissent, Alitos cramped, backward-looking reading of liberty places constitutional protection for contraception and same-sex marriage squarely at risk. Justice Thomas explicitly invites reconsideration of Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell in his concurrence. But even absent further unravelling of constitutional precedents, the Dobbs decision opens the door for attempts to ban forms of contraception that may prevent implantation of a fertilized egg based on embryonic personhood claims. Laws banning or limiting IVF to prevent the creation of embryos that are not implanted will also become more prevalent. Since 1973, Roe v. Wade prevented the state from imposing its views about the value of prenatal life and the role of women in society on individuals. While Casey expanded states ability to regulate abortion, it recognized that prior to fetal viability the states interest in prenatal life cannot override the urgent claims of the woman to retain the ultimate control over her destiny and her body. Together, Roe and Casey placed important limits on state power. By stripping away constitutional protection for abortion and erasing the viability line, Dobbs v. Jackson resets the constitutional balance between pregnant people and the claims that the state can make on their bodies on behalf of prenatal life. In doing so, it opens the door for zygotes, embryos, and fetuses to gain rights even as pregnant people lose them. Cynthia Soohoo is a Professor of Law and the Co-Director of the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic at CUNY School of Law June 29, 2022 | Permalink | Comments (0) The cost for homes in the United States to "go solar" has dropped by more than 60 percent over the last 10 years. Going solar means changing to an electrical source powered by the sun instead of coal or other dirty fuels. The dropping costs helped persuade more than a million Americans to put solar panels on top of their homes. Now, some public school systems are doing the same, including the schools in Fremont, Indiana. The people in this small town have always depended on sunshine to grow their crops and help bring visitors to their lakes. William Stitt leads Fremonts school system. "The technology has advanced so much in the last couple of years that its become more energy efficient, more cost effective for schools to get solar energy. Start-up costs Fremont will spend $3 million to build the solar project. When the system is in place, it will fully power the elementary, middle and high school buildings. It may even produce additional electricity that the school can sell to the power company. Several lines of 3,000 to 4,000 panels will be placed in a 2.5-hectare solar field behind the middle school. The school system will pay the local electricity company for use of its solar equipment. That periodic fee is to remain the same for 20 years. Free electricity, one day Kim Quick is the head of building operations for the Fremont school system. He said Fremont schools will save money even with equipment fees. Unlike electricity costs, the equipment use fees will not go up. And, Quick said, the panels should last 40 years. After the 20 years of fees, the school district will fully own the panels. Then, the electric power they create will be free of cost. Some solar schools cost more Just three percent of the nations 125,000 schools use some form of solar power. Some have higher related costs than others. But, a recent report from the Solar Foundation, a non-profit interest group, says that 72,000 U.S. schools, or 60 percent, could save money with solar. Schools could put panels on their buildings or place a field of panels over a car park. The Solar Foundation says those methods would save most schools an average of $1 million over 30 years. Educational opportunities Going solar might also offer schools valuable educational possibilities. It gives teachers a reason to teach related lessons on science, technology, engineering and math. All three schools in Fremont will have a display that kids can visit daily to learn how much energy is being used and saved. Fremont school systems William Stitt is already looking to the future. "Id love the community and the kids in 40 years to go, 'Man, they made a great decision 40 years ago by creating this solar project!' If all goes as planned, the Fremont school systems new solar field will be in operation by July. Im Alice Bryant. Erika Celeste reported this story for VOA News. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story solar panel - n. a large, flat piece of equipment that uses the sun's light or heat to create electricity advanced - adj. having or using new and modern methods efficient - adj. capable of producing desired results without wasting materials, time, or energy display - n. an arrangement of objects intended to decorate, advertise, entertain, or inform people about something PHOENIX Arizona voters may get the last word on whether they want to ban paying petition circulators on a per-name basis. Foes of HB 2404, signed last week by Gov. Doug Ducey, submitted paperwork Thursday to the secretary of state's office which will allow them to start gathering signatures to refer the measure to the 2018 ballot. They have until 90 days after the session ends whenever that finally happens to gather at least 75,321 valid signatures. One thing working in their favor is that because the law they oppose is not yet in effect, they can hire paid circulators and pay them according to the number of signatures they gather. And if they get enough signatures, that puts off enforcement of the law until the 2018 election. That also means anyone who wants to launch an initiative drive for that year also will be able to contract for petition circulators on a per-signature basis. The referendum drive is being organized by Mike Shipley. He waged an unsuccessful write-in bid for Congress in 2016 in the district represented by Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. Shipley told Capitol Media Services it was time to try to put a stop to what lawmakers have been doing. "I really feel like the legislature over the past several sessions has exhibited a real disregard for the electoral process,'' he said. For example, he cited measures limiting the ability of groups to collect voted ballots as well as increasing the number of signatures that minor party candidates need to run for office. And Shipley derided claims that the pay-per-signature process leads to fraud, pointing out that lawmakers refused to impose the same restrictions on their own ability to get people to sign their nominating petitions. "They kept it really easy for themselves,'' he said. Rep. Vince Leach, R-Tucson, the sponsor of HB 2404, said he is not alarmed at the prospect of having to defend his measure at the ballot box if it comes to that. He said Shipley is simply exercising his rights under the Arizona Constitution. Those rights include the ability of citizens to create their own laws and constitutional amendments by circulating petitions to put issues on the ballot. Leach contends HB 2404 protects against fraud; foes argued all it does is make the process more difficult. But there also is the right of referendum, where voters who get enough signatures can block anything that lawmakers have passed until they get a chance to weigh in. That requires only half as many signatures on petitions as a statutory initiative. But the window is smaller, running only through the 90th day following the end of the session. "I support the system in Arizona,'' Leach said of Shipley's referral. And Leach said he is prepared to make his case about the need for the legislation to voters if it comes to that. That's also the position of Garrick Taylor, lobbyist for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which helped craft not only HB 2404 but other changes to the initiative process. But Taylor also refused to rule out asking lawmakers to effectively quash the referendum by making minor changes to HB 2404 in a subsequent bill this year or next. That would mean HB 2404 as referred no longer exists, killing the referendum without having to wage what could be an expensive ballot campaign. "We anticipate we will be defending the progress we've achieved this legislative session'' in altering initiative requirements, Taylor said, saying his organization is "aware of the options that are available in the legislative process.'' Whether Shipley will be successful remains to be seen. He does not have the backing of Rep. Ken Clark, D-Phoenix, who was the leader of efforts at the legislature to kill the measure. Clark pointed out that the chamber and its allies have divided the changes they want in the initiative process into three separate bills. So even if Shipley manages to refer and kill the ban on pay-per-signature circulators, that still leaves two others with provisions like $1,000 fines on organizations for violations of election laws by circulators to requiring courts to disqualify measures from reaching the ballot if they are not in "strict compliance'' with all initiative requirements, even technical ones like the size of the page margins. And Clark said he considers those bills, which await final legislative votes before going to Ducey, to be potentially more damaging to the initiative process than what's in HB 2404. "Its possible that you havent run into the stories of Lou Antonelli. Since 2003, hes been publishing delightful short tales of alternate history all over the nooks and crannies of the SF world. Thanks to Fantastic Books, we now have 28 of these little gems in one place. "Many of Antonellis stories have an unexpected twist ending. And many of them are what he calls secret history stories, which arent exactly alternate historytheyre set in our familiar history, but theres always some element that contemporary observers missed. " - - Don Sakers, The Reference Library, Analog July-Aug. 2014 A better path develops for a distraught man in Double Exposure by Lou Antonelli (debut 6/11 and reviewed by Frank D). Jake is about to end it all. He has been trying to keep his high maintenance wife happy for decades and has needed to embezzle to satisfy her spending habits. Now, on the verge of indictment and abandoned by his spouse, he buys a gun. Before he pulls the trigger, he spies a Kodak one-day photo hut. Curious, he pulls up to the window. They are holding pictures of him and his last girlfriend from 30 years before. The package is a lot thicker than it should be. Double Exposure is listed as an Alternative History story but I would classify it as a Magical Realism tale. It is set as a second chance tale, a look into a life that should have been. The author is inspired by his memories of the old photo huts (I remember them) and of their disappearance. A cool idea (photos of another life), one that I could imagine would make for a great anthology. - Frank Dutkiewicz, Diabolical Plots Great White Ship: A traveler stuck waiting for a flight strikes up a conversation with an old airline employee. The Old Timer tells him a story of a Great White Airship that arrives from a most unusual destination. The story of a craft from an alternate reality and how it got there is only the precursor to the final act. This is one of my favorite stories from this site. I have a great passion for lighter-than-air craft and their potential as a future means of transport, which opens the story. The author uses this speculation to launch into an engaging tale. As fascinating as the main story line is, the alternate history premise that accompanies it is just as worthwhile. This story was well written and very well thought out. It is well worth the read. Recommended. - James Hanzelka, Diabolical Plots As the weather gets cold, then warm, then cold again, the streets and freeways of northern Arizona feel like they get bumpy, then smooth, then bumpy again. The Flagstaff area typically experiences about 200 daily freeze-thaw cycles a year, said Ryan Harding, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation. The nighttime freezing and daytime thawing, in addition to moisture from snow and rain seeping into the asphalt, can stress the road and cause potholes to form quickly, Harding said. Heavy traffic, especially from commercial vehicles, on Interstate 40 and Interstate 17 can stress the pavement even more and cause it to break away, he said. Powerful snowstorms between late December and late January exacerbated the annual challenge from potholes, in part because of the plowing required to clear I-40 west of Flagstaff and I-17 south of Flagstaff, Harding said in an email. ADOT is also in charge of road repairs on Milton Road, Humphreys Street and Fort Valley Road. Harding said ADOT crews try to repair road damage as quickly as possible. While it can take some time to get to everything, our crews have been responding aggressively, Harding said. They have patched potholes between winter storms and used the relatively good weather of recent weeks to make permanent repairs, including laying new asphalt over rough areas. When it is snowing, Harding said ADOTs priority is to make sure the freeways are clear of snow and ice before worrying about potholes. Once the snow lets up, we go out and fill potholes with a hot patch mix. We do have to wait for winter weather to pass and the road to dry out before we make more permanent fixes to the road surface, Harding said. The patches are made with a pavement mix, which is heated and tamped down, Harding said. Over the course of this winter, ADOT crews have used hundreds of tons of pothole patch, he said. ADOTs Constituent Services Office has received about 100 calls about potholes on freeways this season, he said. The information from the calls is shared with highway maintenance crews that are making repairs. Harding said the period between times a given portion of the freeway is resurfaced depends on funding and what the critical needs are around the state. On the 320-mile stretch of I-40 in Arizona, ADOT has invested more than $100 million in paving projects since 2014, he said. Next week, ADOT crews will be adding a new layer of asphalt to I-40 in the Parks area, ADOT officials said in a press release. Harding said two resurfacing projects will come to I-40 this year, including at 12-mile stretch near Parks and a 17-mile stretch from Cataract Lake to Parks. In the city, public works employees are in charge of maintaining 664 lane miles of roadway, and aims to have a pothole filled within 24 hours of being reported or seen by repair crews, city spokeswoman Meg Roederer said in an email. The amount spent in the city annually on pothole repair can range from $10,000 to $50,000 depending on the severity of the weather, Roederer said. This year, the city has not received any complaints of vehicle damage done by potholes, Roederer said. However, people are able to fill out a form on the citys website if they feel they have incurred costs for which the city is liable. The money for road repair within the city was approved by voters in a bond election in 2014, Roederer said, and said road resurfacing in the city is done every summer. Roederer said this summer the city will spend $2.5 million on overlaying a new surface on streets, as well as $2.1 million on chip seal and fog coat. People around Flagstaff might be surprised as they notice bright yellow signs reading All Law Enforcement Officials: Do not Enter without a Lawful Search Warrant posted on houses and businesses in the area. These signs, which are being handed out by several immigrant rights groups in Flagstaff, affirm everyones right against unreasonable search and seizure, which is guaranteed by the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution. The signs are directed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE), who often appear at undocumented peoples homes at 3:30 a.m., armed, dressed in black, demanding admittance. If a sign is posted, ICE cannot demand to enter without a warrant. As a result, immigrants will not unnecessarily incriminate themselves by speaking to ICE about their immigration status before first consulting with an attorney. The right to remain silent and to not self-incriminate is also protected by the Constitution. By posting these signs, those of us who are citizens and documented show our solidarity with members of our undocumented community. The signs are a starting point for much-needed conversations about how all of us in Flagstaff citizens, law enforcement officers and undocumented people can and will stand shoulder-to-shoulder, hand-in-hand, to respect and protect the most vulnerable members of our community. The signs by no means intend to offend local law enforcement. Our Chief of Police and Sheriff have asserted that they have no desire or intention to enforce immigration. We support and value local law enforcements efforts to keep our community safe, and we appreciate their desire to foster an atmosphere in Flagstaff in which everyone, documented or undocumented, will feel safe in turning to police in moments of need, and to help officers when they have critical information about a crime. The current presidential administration, however, has stated their intent to detain and deport millions of people. They have discussed, furthermore, expanding agreement 287-G and deputizing local law enforcement officers as immigration agents across the country. The signs are directed to ICE, but in the event that local law officers become tasked with immigration enforcement, the signs apply to all law enforcement. We are not attempting to protect criminals. If there is probable cause that a crime has been committed, law enforcement can, will, and should procure a warrant signed by a judge. The signs simply affirm everyones constitutional rights, those same constitutional rights that our police and sheriffs departments have sworn to uphold. In sum, the signs have a three-fold purpose: They are powerful means of legal protection for undocumented people, they are a symbol of solidarity with the undocumented community, and, ultimately, they are a starting point for dialogue about the welcoming, inclusive and humane community we want to build and maintain in Flagstaff. Idaho man pleads guilty of failing to report mans death BOISE (AP) Officials say an Idaho man admitted he was guilty of failing to report the death of another man after a fatal overdose. The Idaho Statesman reports that 29-year-old Tommy Basco pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge of failing to notify police of 19-year-old Charles Chambers death. Officials say he will be sentenced June 1 and faces up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Chambers was found dead inside a car parked at a national reserve in Boise. Investigations led police to Basco who told them Chambers had overdosed on heroin. After attempts to revive him, Basco says he took Chambers body to the reserve and left it in the car. Officials have not released Chambers cause of death. Anti-allergy medicine EpiPen recall expands to US A recall of the emergency anti-allergy medicine EpiPen is expanding to the U.S. and other markets in North America, Europe, Asia and South America because the allergy shots may not work. The notice issued Friday by Mylan N.V. expands upon warnings made earlier this month after two reports of the device failing. Mylan didnt immediately respond to a question about how many devices are affected by the recall. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the recall covers 13 lots distributed from December 2015 through July 2016. The problems could be potentially life-threatening, although Mylan described the incidence of the defects as extremely rare. The EpiPen is used to treat allergic reactions to certain food and bug bites The products can be replaced at no charge by calling 877-650-3494 or emailing customer.service@mylan.com. Utah police see an increase in illegal drugs sales, deaths SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Utah police say there has been a major spike in illegal drug sales in Salt Lake City. KSL-TV reported Thursday that the Salt Lake City police seized 82 percent more drugs such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana than in 2015 according to their crime analysis unit. Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown says officers seized about 330,000 doses of drugs in 2016. The number of overdose calls the department received has also risen to 124 percent since 2012. Brown says the number of deaths went up to 52 percent. Last year, the Salt Lake County Sheriffs office enacted a jail policy that would help maintain the inmate population. Because of that policy, police cannot put people who are caught buying illegal drugs in jail. Police say they can only take the drugs away. FILER A Utah man charged last week with vehicular manslaughter was in Idaho with his fiancee to tell her mom they were getting married, his attorney said Friday. But the trip turned tragic when he ran a stop sign, killing his fiancee and leaving him to raise their then-5-month-old son. Sean David Rees, 22, of West Valley City was released Friday from the Twin Falls County Jail on his own recognizance after he assured a judge he would attend every court hearing. He had been in custody at the county jail since March 21 in lieu of $50,000 bond, and in a Utah jail the week prior awaiting extradition. Rees is charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter for running a stop sign and causing the crash last June 14 that killed his passenger, fiancee Ashley Webb of Filer, who was 23. This isnt public enemy number one, argued Rori Stokes, a deputy public defender. He has a clean record, hes 23 years old, hes a single father, he lost the love of his life; he lost his fiancee, the mother of his child. He wants to get this resolved so he can continue caring for his child. Stokes told Magistrate Judge Thomas Kershaw that Rees had bought Webb an engagement ring a week prior to the crash, and they were in Idaho to share the news with Webbs mother. Now, Rees is raising the couples 13-month-old son alone, though his mother has been watching the boy while hes been in jail. Twin Falls County Deputy Prosecutor Kiel Willmore said it took so long to charge the case because of the tremendously high numbers of vehicular manslaughter or homicide cases the last year. There have been a lot of dead bodies in our county, Willmore said. Rees hasnt been as cooperative with law enforcement as his attorney argued, Willmore said while asking Kershaw to keep his bond at $50,000. Im willing to take a chance on you, Kershaw told Rees when releasing him from custody. But the judge added a warning: Its obviously not in your best interest to avoid this situation. Rees is scheduled for a pretrial conference May 31. TWIN FALLS If youre planning to take a swim this weekend at the Twin Falls City Pool, you shouldnt notice any major changes. The city took over pool operations and programming Thursday from the Magic Valley YMCA two days ahead of schedule. Due to financial struggles, the Y backed out of its contract to manage the Locust Street pool. Community members should expect only very minor changes during the transition, said Wendy Davis, city parks and recreation director. At the moment, our primary goal is just to maintain operations through April and May pretty much status quo, she said. Interim Y chief executive officer Andy Barry and Y executive director Missy Aslett werent available to comment Friday. Within the next two weeks, the city plans to finalize prices for swimming lessons, Davis said. Employees are also trying to figure out how to handle city pool passes. A membership at a pool, for us, doesnt make much sense, Davis said. The city doesnt anticipate any change to pool admission prices and only minor changes to the pools hours of operation. That information isnt yet posted on the citys website. The city used to contract with the Y and paid the nonprofit $120,000 per year to operate the pool. The current contract was slated to expire in August 2018. But in February, the Y requested to reopen the agreement for negotiations. Twin Falls City Council voted to allow that process. The Y was losing money operating the pool, Barry told the Times-News in February. The nonprofit asked for additional funding: $50,000 on top of the existing contract amount, plus for the city to take over repair and maintenance costs. The city asked the Y for audited financial statements, but the nonprofit wasnt able to provide documentation within the needed timeframe. The city took over operations Thursday to work out any issues before the weekend. The transition has been pretty smooth so far, Davis said. It was nice to get the computers up and running. The transition process has been very amicable with the Y, she said. Everyones goal to make it a smooth transition. We want to make it as easy for all the patrons as possible. John Pauley will continue as the aquatics supervisor for the Twin Falls City Pool, the city announced in mid-March. He was previous the Ys aquatics director since 2008. The city has also been hiring aquatics staff. We tried to offer anybody from the current Y staff that wanted to apply for a job at the city pool that opportunity, Davis said. Shes not sure how many aquatics staff decided to stay employed with the Y, in addition to the city. The city is still trying to recruit a few more lifeguards. For the Y, financial problems surfaced last year. Board members discovered former CEO Gary Ettenger who retired in March 2016 used hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations earmarked for specific projects for general operating expenses. The Y closed its Canyon Rim branch on Pole Line Road in October 2016 and the property is for sale. Employees and services for members were consolidated to the Elizabeth Street branch. Now, the local nonprofit has paid off back taxes using an interest-free loan. Its no longer on probation with its national parent organization and reopened its pool at the Elizabeth Street branch. BELLEVUE Magic Reservoir is so full, Maintenance Supervisor Don Braun cant tell how much water is behind the dam. The gauges are under water. As spring creeps into the Magic Valley, snowmelt from the mountains continues to inundate low-lying areas in and around the Bellevue Triangle. Magic Dam is spilling, meaning the reservoir is full and water is running out through the spillway as fast as it is coming in. Braun, who has worked for the Big Wood Canal Co. for 17 years, said he has never seen the reservoir full. Its a rare sight, he said. This is the first time Ive ever seen this much water. Theres 7,000 (cubic feet per second) running over the spillway. From the spillway on the south end of the reservoir, the water goes down the Big Wood Channel toward Shoshone, then turns west toward Gooding. Theres a lot of hay ground flooded north of Gooding, and its probably going to get worse overnight, Braun said Friday afternoon. Theres two foot of water going over West Magic Road. In addition, emergency officials say they expect severe flooding along the banks of the Big Wood River for the next few days. Farther east, Silver Creek and Carey Lake are also flooding, say Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials. Southern Idaho Regional Communications Center in Jerome sent out a Citizen Alert Network (CAN) message Friday morning advising residents along the river in Lincoln and Gooding counties to take necessary safety precautions for their homes, families and livestock, said SIRCOMM Director John Moore. Birthday wishes Call 281-422-8302 or email sunnews@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun. Happy Birthday Wishes China, the worlds largest ivory importer and trader on Friday announced the ban of all trade in ivory by the end of 2017. The move comes as a potential game changer for African countries engaged the fight against elephants poaching. According to The BBC, Chinas ivory factories are to be officially shut down by 31st March 2017, and all retail outlets will be closed by the end of the year. The rest of Chinas legal trade will be gone by the end of the year a total of 34 factories and 138 shops. Elephant populations have been crashing in the past few years, a pan-African survey of savannah elephants published at the end of last year showed Conservationists estimate that more than 20,000 elephants are killed for their ivory every year in Africa. The WWF campaign group says 415,000 of the animals remain, about 111,000 less than during the last decade. Media campaigns have promoted awareness about the danger of ivory trade on elephants. Thousands of conservationists and government officials are seeking to develop international trade regulations aimed at protecting different endangered species. THE TRUE COST OF ALL THAT 'CHEAP' LABOR THAT DESTROYED AMERICA THE BIG SECRET DEMOCRATS DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW: Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeless largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens. Join Barbara Morrison at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, 130 S. Sixth St. E., on Saturday, April 8, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the parish hall for Ukrainian egg decorating. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Bring two room temperature eggs. Registration required. Contact the church office at 406-542-2167 or holyspiritparish@qwestoffice.net to sign up. Do you know what the worlds most densely populated country is? Sussex School eighth-grader Ian Williams does, and the correct answer of Monaco earned the 14-year-old from Missoula a trip to Washington, D.C., in May to represent Montana in the National Geographic Bee. On Friday, Montana's National Geographic Bee was held at the University of Montana, with 95 fourth- through eighth-grade students from across Montana being winnowed down to a small group that entered the final round in the afternoon. The last 10 students answered round after round of questions, correctly answering that Wiesbaden, a hot springs resort city on the Rhine River, is in Germany; and that Marathi, Gujarati and Tamil are languages in India. The state bee has been held in Billings for decades, said UM geography professor Sarah Halvorson. When the previous organizer retired, Halvorson, who is also a member of the Montana Geographic Alliance a partner of the foundation arm of National Geographic was asked to help ensure it continued. Despite the wide age difference in the participants, volunteer Ruth Harris, who has helped home-schooled students in Missoula get ready for the geography bee for years, said older kids arent necessarily guaranteed success. Ive seen fifth-graders win it all, she said. One by one students were eliminated, whether because they didnt remember that Lake Okeechobee was the largest freshwater lake in Florida, or they couldnt recall that Panama is where the Rabbs' fringe-limbed treefrog was living before it went extinct last year, or that the pearl harvesting haven of the Sulu Archipelago could be found in the Philippines. The question that stumped all but one of the group members Williams answered correctly was the location of Pyeongchang, which will host the 2018 Winter Olympics. (Its in South Korea). Anson Joyes of Westby and Noah Horning of Billings had a back-and-forth tiebreaker that ended with the former heading on to face Williams in the finals. It included questions as to the country where the Uyghur language is used (China) and the country that includes the city of Brno (Czech Republic). In a best-of-three final, Joyes and Williams split one question each, with the former knowing where scientists found a preserved dinosaur tail covered in feathers (Myanmar) and the latter where the Altamira cave paintings were located (Spain). The top three finalists said they study websites and smartphone apps specifically designed for geography bees. Williams also said he regularly reads the news, especially world news and scientific news. In the preliminary rounds, theres usually a current events section, or questions about current events, he said. Horning, a seventh-grader from Billings, said hes been interested in geography since he started school. By first grade I knew all my state capitals and Ive just been interested in maps ever since, he said. As a career nurse, I know more about the health impacts of pollution than anyone should. And as a retiree, neighbor and Montanan, helping us all lower the bills seems pretty obvious. Fortunately, there are ways we can address both. Im writing in support of Senate Bill 330 at the Montana legislature. This bill would allow Montana cities and counties to opt into a program called PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy). More than 2,000 municipalities nationwide currently use PACE to finance energy efficiency, water conservation and renewable energy projects. Montana communities should have the opportunity to choose to join in. Several years ago, the City of Missoula partnered with NorthWestern Energy on a conservation pilot program called Green Blocks. The program performed energy audits and installed energy efficiency measures for dozens of households. The program, while limited in scope, resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in new energy savings for Missoulians. There is abundant evidence that investing in energy efficiency is a sure-fire way to lower bills and decrease energy consumption, not to mention creating more jobs for contractors, engineers, energy auditors and more. The legislature should enable Montana communities to choose these benefits and pass SB 330. Charles Fitts, Missoula Like fire departments, public roads and the military, health care is a basic requirement for the safety and prosperity of any country. We the people form governments to ensure essential services we cannot afford individually. The problem is while all other industrialized nations collectively fund health care for their people, we don't. Instead, we give billions to insurance corporations that provide no care and make money by not paying for it. Taxpayers are left to pay for those they've deemed "unprofitable": seniors, the disabled, the poor. Tragically, out of 11 industrialized nations, the U.S. spent 54 percent more on health care per person, but "ranked last overall on measures of health system quality, efficiency, access to care, equity and healthy lives" (Commonwealth Fund, 2016). Why won't politicians adopt what is better and costs less like our competitors? Because they care more about corporate insurance donors than we the people? Because they have guaranteed health care at taxpayer expense? Because they are too far removed from the intimacy of caring for the sick? American health care shouldn't be unaffordable, unequal, wasteful or corrupt. We all could thrive economically and have the care we need. Here's how: A bill currently in Congress, Improved Medicare for All, HR 676, would extend coverage to everyone and be financed by equitable taxes, based on ability to pay. No more premiums, copays or deductibles. One payer for all medical bills would save about $500 billion annually in administrative waste and free up time for doctors to provide patient care. After Medicare passed in 1965, it was working nationwide within one year. Currently, a majority of Americans and physicians surveyed want single payer (Gallup 2016; SERMO, 2017). Please, ask our politicians to do the right thing: replace the Affordable Care Act with Medicare for All. Beth Sirr, Bozeman Sneaker Wave Warning Extended for Oregon Coast Beyond Weekend - But More Sun Published 03/31/2017 at 6:03 PM PDT - Updated 04/01/2017 at 5:03 PM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Oregon Coast) UPDATED: Warning Extended. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Portland has issued a warning for increased dangers of sneaker waves on the Oregon coast, but has extended the warning beyond the weekend to expiring on April 5. This comes just as the shoreline is flooded with the largest influx of people for spring break, falling on the weekend where Washington and Oregon students have their vacations overlap. Meanwhile, sunny conditions are picking up along the beaches as the weather holds better things in store into the weekdays. A west swell building in the deeper waters offshore of the Washington and Oregon coast this weekend will bring an enhanced threat for sneaker waves to the local beaches, the NWS said. A sneaker wave is the first wave of a set of larger waves that follows a period of relatively calm ocean conditions. The hazard caused by a sneaker wave is not necessarily related to the size of the surf, but the relative size of the water running up the beach. Such a period of calm before a sneaker wave can be misleading to beachgoers and cause them to incorrectly assess what the tide line is actually doing. The NWS said this puts visitors in harms way, making them believe they can get closer to the surf. Sneaker waves can pull the victim into the cold ocean, leaving them susceptible to not only hypothermia and then cold paralysis, but also putting them at risk of being pulled into rip currents. Drowning and hypothermia are not the only danger, however: the ocean can easily move logs onto a person without warning. In fact, these warnings come just after a Eugene teen was killed by a log moved by the ocean on the southern Oregon coast last week. However, if you witness someone being caught by a sneaker wave, the NWS warns you should not put yourself in danger as well. Do not become another victim by attempting a rescue, the NWS said. Stay calm and call 911. If you are pulled into the ocean by a sneaker wave, try to remain calm, control your breathing, and remove yourself from the water as soon as you can. The warning is now in effect until Wednesday and is for the entire length of the Oregon coast. Weather will pick up considerably at some points this week, although the beach cleanup may be a tad wet. Saturday will be cloudy to mostly cloudy along the Oregon coast, with rain in the morning and a chance of more sprinkles later in the day. Highs are still a chilly 50 to 55. This probably doesn't bode well for those participating in the SOLVE Spring Cleanup. The NWS said Sunday will be partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of showers and highs again in the low 50's. Monday moves to very sunny, and Tuesday sees an increase in clouds, but highs inching up closer to 60. Wednesday and Thursday bring more clouds and some chances of rain, and Friday closes out the spring break week for Washington students with cloudy and a 60 percent chance of rain. See more Oregon Coast Weather - Oregon Coast Lodgings for this event - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted Police reports KNIFE ATTACK Police responded to the 100 block of North Henry Street just after midnight Friday after a report of a man with a knife. Police had responded to the house for an earlier argument but left when everyone calmed down. When officers returned, they found Thomas White, 66, trying to force his way through a door and holding a knife. Police said White was convinced to drop the knife. According to police, a man on the other side of the doorway told police he had barricaded himself behind it after White came at him with a knife. The man was uninjured, and White was arrested for felony assault with a weapon. Rob Quist hosting town hall in Butte Saturday U.S. House candidate Rob Quist will host a health care town hall from 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday in Carpenters Union Hall, 156 W. Granite St., Uptown Butte. He's here to hear Montanans' health care stories and to share ideas for how to improve Montanans' access to health care. Quist's Butte event will be his fourth town hall to discuss his goal of providing more Montanans with quality, affordable care. He had town halls in Kalispell, Great Falls, and Missoula where people shared their health care stories. Horse Packing in Mongolia at Archives The Montana Wilderness Association's Southwestern Wildlands chapter will host a presentation on "Horse Packing in Mongolia" with Deborah and Greg Schatz at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at the Butte Archives, 17 W. Quartz St. Having packed thousands of miles in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Glacier National Park, the couple went to Mongolia in 2016 to exchange packing techniques with local herders. Hear their stories and see their photos from their journey through the wild open land of Darkhad Valley, where they found the local herders are more like Montanans than you may think. Anaconda Elks host dance April 9 The Highlites will play for a public dance from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 9, at the Anaconda Elks Lodge. A great assortment of music for dancing as well as for listening pleasure will be played. Admission is $10. MDT proposes sidewalk improvement The Montana Department of Transportation is seeking comments on a proposal to construct new sidewalks and upgrade Americans with Disabilities Act facilities along the east side of Stuart Avenue in Butte. The project begins at the intersection of Stuart and George and extends north for 850 feet ending at the west entrance of East Middle School. Proposed work includes constructing a concrete sidewalk along the east side of Stuart Avenue and ADA curb ramps at the northeast corner of the intersection of Stuart Avenue and George Street. This project, tentatively scheduled for construction in 2018, is sponsored by the City of Butte and Butte-Silver Bow County and was selected for funding through MDT's Transportation Alternatives Program. Details: Jeff Ebert, Butte district administrator, at 406-494-9625 or Chad Welborn, project design engineer, at 406-994 1843. Submit written comments to the MDTs Butte office at P.O. Box 3068, Butte, MT 59702-3068 or online at www.mdt.mt.gov/mdt/comment_form.shtml. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Satisfy your cravings With our weekly newsletter packed with the latest in everything food. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Obituaries Newsletter Sign up to get the most recent local obituaries delivered to your inbox. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi [] Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] Archived Results for April 2017 Newer Older Entries Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 SAN FRANCISCO Prosecutors have charged a man with no medical training of lying his way into a volunteer nursing position at a San Francisco clinic. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that 39-year-old Brian Litz was arraigned Thursday on charges of practicing medicine without a license and identity theft. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say Litz provided a forged certificate from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners to the SF City Impact in order to work at the clinic. He worked at the clinic between December 2013 and April 2014. Litz is accused of treating at least 28 patients and prescribing controlled drugs to at least two of them. Napas party planners are getting a major style upgrade with the opening of luxury lifestyle event rental showroom and design studio Theoni Collection. Theoni Collection, located at 938 Kaiser Road in the Napa Valley Commons, is open both to professionals and glam-minded amateur entertainers. The space displays a new collection of meticulously-sourced tableware, decor and lighting, artisan furniture and hand-hewn local accessories, said a news release. Theoni Collection was born out of founder Betsy Stones love for timeless traditions, old-world style and commitment to fine materials, said the release. Theoni Collection was designed with that unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime event in mind, where every single detail matters and the skys the limit, said Stone. Its a collection that feels memorable and personalreminiscent of heirloom pieces in special china cabinetsallowing even a dinner of 200 to feel like an intimate dinner party that you dreamed up at home, she said. This seasons new collectionfeaturing European china and locally made ceramics, hand-cut crystal stemware, wooden farm tables and stately bars and hutchestransforms the tabletop into something magical, evoking narratives such as an elaborate dinner party thrown in the shade of a Tuscan Villa, said the release. Table accessories include life-size candelabra and lucite placards, storybook-inspired lanterns and a colorful and unmatched selection of votives. China and glassware have been hand-selected by Stone from all over the world, including the oldest family-owned porcelain factory in Limoges, France and Heath ceramics in Sausalito, said the release. Having spent 40 years in the events industry, Stone has developed a unique and finely tuned know-how for creating elegant affairs and sourcing wish-list rental and decor items that can take an already glamorous event to the next level. CALISTOGA The Calistoga City Council will hold an April 18 public hearing to consider allowing households to grow as many as two marijuana plants outside and four inside. During a March 21 discussion, a few councilmembers signaled theyd also consider allowing a medical marijuana dispensary in town, although a fuller discussion of that issue will be deferred to a later date. Currently, no Napa County city allows outdoor growing or a medical marijuana dispensary although the topic is under increased discussion. Last November the City Council asked staff to draft new regulations bringing the citys Municipal Code into compliance with Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older and allows the indoor cultivation of up to six plants per household. Local governments like Calistoga can choose to allow some or all of those six to be grown outdoors. Other Napa Valley cities are also proceeding cautiously, with most having bans in place on the outdoor cultivation of marijuana and marijuana dispensaries. Calistoga held three community forums to collect public input. People who attended the first two were overwhelmingly in favor of allowing outdoor cultivation, but at the third meeting, which targeted the Spanish-speaking population, most residents were against any cultivation because of its potential impact on children. On March 21 the City Council told staff to draw up regulations consistent with the Planning Commissions recommendation to allow up to two plants outdoors, along with rules to protect neighbors and prohibit plants from being grown outside next to schools. Councilmembers expressed views ranging from Michael Dunsfords strong opposition to outdoor cultivation and dispensaries to Jim Barnes belief that the city should impose as little regulation as possible. I dont think its fair for a neighbor to have to be subject to that and have no control, Dunsford said, citing neighbors concerns about odor and potential theft. If someone really wants to cultivate and grow their own, they can grow it indoors and take steps to control odor, etc. While 65 percent of Calistogans voted for Prop 64, that doesnt mean they were in favor of outdoor cultivation, Dunsford added. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Barnes said citizens of Calistoga and the entire state voted overwhelmingly to legalize marijuana, and the council should make it as easy as possible to implement that law. Im against any form of regulation, licensing, permitting or taxes at the local level, he said. I know it would never happen, but I would be in favor of six plants outside. The other councilmembers fell somewhere between Dunsford and Barnes. Gary Kraus said hed be in favor of a dispensary if it were tastefully done, but his vote about outdoor cultivation will be based on whether there are adequate protections for neighbors. I want to protect the right of the people to (grow) it, and I also want to protect the right of folks not to be burdened with having a neighbor whos not a good neighbor, Kraus said. Mayor Chris Canning said the city should lift its prohibitions on dispensaries and let the free market decide whether Calistoga can support one. As for outdoor cultivation, like Kraus, Canning said hes primarily concerned with the impact on neighbors. My right to grow should not negatively impact the quality of life of the person on the other side of the fence from me who may choose not to, Canning said. Thats where my concern lies in how many, or if any outdoor cultivation is to be allowed. Councilwoman Irais Lopez-Ortega said she hasnt made up her mind about dispensaries, but any regulations allowing outdoor cultivation must address neighbors concerns. The April 18 hearing will not deal with dispensaries, but the council asked staff to research the issue for a future discussion. Businessman Eric Sklar, a former member of the St. Helena City Council, urged the council to allow dispensaries. He said he and James Bailey, whose family operates Huge Bear Wines and its downtown tasting room, would like to start a dispensary in Calistoga. Its the green thing to do, and Im not talking about cannabis Im talking about driving, Sklar said. Theres a demand. The population wants this legal and wants to be able to access it, and dispensaries are the best way to do it. American Canyons main drag is known by many names most prominently Highway 29, but also Napa-Vallejo Highway, Broadway Street, old Highway 40 and, all-but-forgotten, the Lincoln Highway. The Lincoln Highway was a transcontinental route at the dawn of the Automobile Age. It was established by car enthusiasts and industry officials in 1913 and south Napa County became part of an alternate route in the late 1920s. Todays Highway 29 in the south county is lined with homes, megastores and shopping centers. Rush hour congestion is so bad some people yearn for more lanes. Transportation officials hope that driverless cars will someday help smooth out traffic flow. The days when people drove brand-new Ford Model As along the Lincoln Highway from New York City to San Francisco and meandered through a then-rural stretch of Napa County seem far away indeed. The Lincoln Highway isnt a household name in American Canyon. Ive never heard it used here, said Audrey Bonnie Waxman, who moved to the area in 1953 and helped write a 2010 history of American Canyon. Ive heard it in Vallejo. But the Lincoln Highway is still a big name for some fans who study it and seek out chances to drive its now-roundabout path. Gary Kinst of Rio Vista is a member of the Lincoln Highway Association California Chapter. Youve got to be someone who loves the highway, the outdoors, the history of it all, he said. Perhaps knowledge of the local Lincoln Highway will make a comeback. The Lincoln Highway Association California Chapter is trying to get cities along the various old routes to post red-white-and-blue Lincoln Highway signs, with Galt and other cities already agreeing. Kinst said the association could ask American Canyon for permission to mark the route. Were on a signing campaign, he said. The somewhat tangled tale of how Napa County belatedly secured a section of the Lincoln Highway has its roots a century ago with a bespectacled man in Indiana named Carl Fisher. Fisher owned the Prest-O-Lite headlight company and helped establish the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 1912, he and other auto enthusiasts plotted a transcontinental route from New Yorks Times Square to San Franciscos Lincoln Park. The automobile wont get anywhere until it has good roads to run on, Fisher said. He proposed to name the highway after one of his heroes, Abraham Lincoln. This original, Napa-less coast-to-coast route for the most part stitched together existing roads. A 1916 Lincoln Highway guidebook said motorists should be able to make an enjoyable cross-country trip in 20 to 30 days, as long as rain didnt bog them down on the unpaved sections. A journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific by motor car is still somewhat of a sporting proposition, the guidebook said. Dont forget to wear yellow goggles for sun protection in the western deserts and to put out camp fires, it recommended. And dont ford water with a car without first wading through it. The westernmost section of the original Lincoln Highway went from Sacramento to San Francisco by way of Stockton and the Altamont Pass to avoid water barriers. But in 1916, the completion of the Yolo Causeway west of Sacramento removed one of those barriers. Napans began hoping a more direct route might pass through the city of Napa, where tourists would stop and spend money. It needs no extended argument to show what an incalculable benefit in every way a direct linking up with the Lincoln Highway, a great transcontinental road, would be for Napa County! the April 14, 1916 The Weekly Calistogan said. By 1923, efforts to create an alternate Lincoln Highway route focused on Vallejo, taking the city of Napa out of the picture. That alternative route became a reality after the Carquinez Bridge was completed in 1927 to take motorists over the Carquinez Strait. This alternative Lincoln Highway segment extends west from Sacramento using the same route as long-gone Highway 40. It goes through Davis, Vacaville and Fairfield, and then through Jameson Canyon on todays Highway 12, where it enters south Napa County. Until a few years ago, most of this Jameson Canyon section was two lanes and narrow and still had the ambiance of the old Lincoln Highway. Safety and traffic congestion concerns led to the road being widened to a four lanes in 2014. From Jameson Canyon, the Lincoln Highway heads south along what is now Highway 29 past the county industrial center and city of American Canyon. Then, at American Canyon Road, it swings up to Broadway Street and heads past todays Veterans Memorial Park to enter Vallejo and Solano County. But securing a Lincoln Highway route that missed downtown Napa didnt make local newspaper headlines in the late 1920s. The city of American Canyon didnt exist back then. Most of the Napa section was in rural areas, such as Jameson Canyon. It was just orchards and farmland, basically, not a lot going on, Kinst said. Some in the Lincoln Highway Associate dispute that the alternate Lincoln Highway route through Yolo, Solano and Napa counties is legitimate. But Kinst said Gail Hoag, an official with the Lincoln Highway Association, in 1928 authorized Boy Scouts to erect markers along it. My feeling is its the Lincoln Highway, Kinst said. If it wasnt, he wouldnt have put up the markers on it. Those markers can still be seen in other counties, such as in front of the historic Solano County courthouse in downtown Fairfield. Some are concrete pillars a few feet high with a blue L inside a red-white-and-blue rectangle topped by what looks like an over-sized Lincoln penny. Kinst pointed out a copy of Hoags list of where Lincoln Highway markers and signs should be placed. It includes two sites near the intersection of Highway 29 and Highway 12 in Napa County, though anyone looking for markers there today will be disappointed. Napa Countys moment of Lincoln Highway sun soon faded, for all practical purposes. The state in 1933 began building a new Highway 40 route that went through the hills between Fairfield and Vallejo, creating a much more direct route than the local Lincoln Highway. That route became todays Interstate 80. Still, the local section of the Lincoln Highway receives some prominent high-tech notice in the 21st century. It shows up on Google map close-ups as one of the names for Highway 12 and Highway 29 in south Napa County. A 22-year-old Napa man was arrested Friday afternoon following a nearly two-hour foot-chase along the Napa River Trail and in the Napa River, according to Napa Police. The pursuit of Justin Lee Martin a man whom police say has been the source of numerous calls for service the past two weeks for alleged restraining order violations began at 10:21 a.m. when officers attempted to contact him on the 600 block of River Glen Drive. Martins victim lives nearby, police said. Martin, who was wanted on two warrants, fled from police and toward the Napa River. When officers caught up to him, Martin resisted and assaulted the officers before heading into the water, police said. Additional officers arrived and established a perimeter in the area. Napa County Sheriffs Deputies, a CHP helicopter and a Napa County Sheriffs marine unit also responded. Martin swam from the west bank of the river to the east side and ran north before swimming back to the west side, police said. Napa Police had asked residents to stay away from the Napa River Trail between the area north of the Lincoln Street Bridge and south of Trancas Street via a Nixle alert at 11:38 a.m. while they conducted the search. When Martin was near the river bank, he assaulted a Napa County Sheriffs K-9 that had been deployed and again returned to the water, police said. Once Martin got back onto land, officers eventually lost sight of him due to the dense vegetation in the area. He was last seen in the area of a storm drain outlet along the west side of the Napa River, police said. In an attempt to locate Martin, Napa Police Officers placed a robot in the storm drain pipe system. While they searched, police said, Martin physically removed a storm drain grate and emerged from underground. Martin traveled more than 600 feet in a storm drain pipe before coming out in the Towpath Village Apartments on Iwanuma Drive near Old Soscol Avenue, police estimated. Officers spotted Martin just after he emerged from the storm drain system. Martin again ran from officers but was physically detained and placed under arrest at about 12:16 p.m. Police released a second alert notifying residents that the search was complete and the individual was in custody at 12:23 p.m. Martin was treated at the scene and transported to the hospital before being booked at the Napa County jail on suspicion of battery on a peace officer, willfully harming a peace officers dog, misdemeanor resisting an officer and two counts of felony resisting an officer. He was also booked for the two warrants as well as two probation violations. Martin, who is described as transient, is being held on $70,000 bail. Require official photo ID for Same Day Registration (SDR) voters. The ID must include the voter's current address. There is not enough time for these voters to complete the verification process, so it stands to reason that they should be required to undergo a higher level of scrutiny when it comes to identifying themselves when casting a ballot. These unregistered voters have the option of avoiding the stricter ID requirement by following the established registration process - in other words, registering to vote before the 25-day deadline. Mandate that all SDR ballots should be voted as provisional ballots. If the SDR voter's verification card is returned undeliverable a second time, the case should be forwarded to law enforcement for investigation of voter fraud and the voter's ballot would not be not counted. All SDR voters must complete the voter verification process before the ballot is approved and counted. To accommodate SDR verification, extend the election certification schedule since there is not enough time to complete the verification process as the schedule stands now. Acknowledge the complexity of the task of registering voters at the same time they cast their ballots and conduct SDR in one of the following ways: 1) Conduct SDR only at County Election Board offices, not at remote Early Voting sites, because the permanent County Board of Elections staffers are more experienced in handling new voters registering to vote and voting at the same time; or 2) Require that all SDR registrations must be handled by full-time election board employees and not by temporary help, contractors or seasonal employees. Mandate that if an SDR voter cannot meet the voter ID requirements, he or she may complete a provisional ballot, but must return no later than Election Day to provide proof of identity to have the ballot counted. Require official photo ID for inactive voters. The ID must include voter's current address. Inactive voters are voters who have had at least two mailings returned to the board of elections as undeliverable. Most inactive voters are people who have either moved or died. Again, greater scrutiny is required in these cases, because if these voters have moved then they haven't gone through the voter verification process since moving from their previous address. If an inactive voter cannot meet the voter ID requirements, he or she may complete a provisional ballot, and will then be required to return no later than Election Day to provide proof of identity to have the ballot counted (as mentioned above.) Change the voter verification process to verify the voter's residence address and not merely the mailing address, as the current system allows. Exceptions can be made with proof from voters that they can't receive mail at their residence address. This would be comparable to the DMV requirements for obtaining a driver's license. Require all changes to a voter's registration record be signed by the voter. North Carolina has always required a voter's signature to make changes to his or her voter records. This year, however, a month before the November election the state board administrative staff changed policy and allowed voter changes from the DMV without signature. This change is another step toward universal registration and is reminiscent of the state board's move to allow online voter registration by the Obama campaign in 2012. Require local boards to report all suspected cases of voter fraud resulting from invalid SDR and regular registration and verification failure to the local District Attorney's Office, and require the State Board of Elections to provide 30/60/90-day reports on these numbers to the legislature and to track the cases that are submitted to district attorneys. There is not enough time for Same Day Registration voters to go through the same verification process that is required of all other voters SDR is a convenience, not a necessary element of voting Inactive voters have failed the state's attempt to verify their address At this time the voter verification process is the only voter security measure required by the state of North Carolina As we wait to see what will happen in the courts with the provisions of the Voter Information Verification Act (VIVA) that were struck down by U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the General Assembly can still act to help protect the votes of all citizens in North Carolina.With a focus on two of the provisions quashed by the court of appeals - the requirement for all voters to present a voter photo identification and the elimination of Same Day Registration (SDR) - the current legislature could enhance existing law in a way that would begin to require all voters meet the same voter verification requirements. Keep in mind that certain voters, including SDR voters, bypass the necessary address verification process that all other voters must undergo when registering to vote. The General Assembly could:We can hope that one day North Carolina eliminates Same Day Registration and implements a common-sense voter ID law, but until then, let's not ignore the fact that North Carolinians deserve and expect secure elections. We know these things:These common-sense proposals simply attempt to shore up election security and help to verify that voters are who they say they are and that they live where they say they live. It's the least we can do. RALEIGH Craft beer is on tap at the state legislature, where lawmakers have introduced three bills to roll back laws that stifle unprecedented growth in the brewing industry.On Tuesday, Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, announced House Bill 500 , which would allow local beer operations to self-distribute up to 200,000 barrels of their product.Current law mandates that any brewery producing more than 25,000 barrels must sell its product through a wholesale distributor.Two other similar bills were introduced earlier this month.House Bill 67, sponsored by Rep. Michael Speciale, R-Craven, would increase the cap from 25,000 barrels per year to 100,000 barrels. Senate Bill 313 allows brewers to self-distribute if they produce fewer than 103,091 barrels. Sens. Jeff Tarte, R-Mecklenburg; Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth; and Jeff Jackson, D-Mecklenburg; are that bill's primary sponsors.Breweries such as Olde Mecklenburg - which projects it will exceed the 25,000-barrel cap this year - will suffer if forced to lay-off its distribution staff and sell its delivery trucks, said founder John Marrino.The average distributor carries about 900 types of beer, making it difficult for smaller breweries to compete when forced to channel their products through a wholesaler, Marrino said.Red Oak Brewery in Whitsett, and NoDa Brewery in Charlotte, are also approaching the production threshold.It's time to ease-off regulations for craft brewers bringing jobs to their communities, McGrady said.H.B. 500 clarifies some of North Carolina's most complex alcohol laws, McGrady said. The legislation permits breweries to provide tastings for customers during tours, for instance.he said. I've been thinking about everything I'm reading in the newspaper these days. I see more and more labels: LGBTQ, Christians, Muslims, black, Jews etc. I believe this is the most dangerous thing of all things. We need to stop concentrating on our differences and look at how we are all the same. Why can't we all just be human and people? For example: Napa is full of people, some of the humans attend church on Sundays, some of the humans like to pray on Friday. Some humans like men and some humans like women. We are people and most important we are all human beings. I understand that this is a "me" generation, but having a label does not make it designer. Let go of titles. It's very dangerous all these labels we have and makes it easier to point fingers and blame. Rather than concentrating on our differences, I think you need to be concentrating on how we are all the same. And by humanizing everyone only then will prejudice and discrimination go away. Keely Dervin Napa Investment Committee Programs Committee Programs Committee (reconvened) Finance Committee Audit Committee Personnel/ Nominations Committee Contact: Jenny Tinklepaugh Jenny Tinklepaugh jtinklepaugh@goldenleaf.org (ROCKY MOUNT, N.C., March 30, 2017) The Golden LEAF Foundation, which assists tobacco-dependent, economically distressed and rural communities across North Carolina, will hold a meeting of its Board of Directors on Thursday, April 6, 2017 at the Golden LEAF Retreat Center in Rocky Mount.Several committee meetings will be held in conjunction with the Board meeting. All meetings will be held at the Golden LEAF Retreat Center, located at 301 North Winstead Avenue, Rocky Mount, NC 27804.The following committees will meet on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 starting at 1 p.m.:The following committees will meet on Thursday, April 6, 2017 starting at 8:30 a.m.:The Board of Directors meeting immediately follows the adjournment of the last committee meeting on Thursday. Ted Hall, president and CEO of Long Meadow Ranch in Rutherford, has been dubbed the 2017 Grower of the Year by the Napa Valley Grapegrowers. Im honored and pleased to be recognized for the contribution Ive made, Hall said Thursday. The word grower is particularly significant to me because at the end of the day its about the land and what we grow and thats the thing thats enduring about our valley, Hall said. At the end of the day thats all weve got, and its a treasure. The award has in the past been bestowed on such growers as Frank Leeds of Frogs Leap Winery, Michael Wolf of Michael Wolf Viticultural Services, Andy Beckstoffer of Beckstoffer Vineyards, and a total of eight other prominent Napa grape growers since it began in 2006. Its a wonderful long line of distinguished contributors to our community and Im pleased humbled really to be among that group, Hall said. In announcing the award, Garrett Buckland, president of the Grapegrowers, said, Teds contributions to the Napa Valley have been crucial to the continued success of agriculture in the Napa Valley. Buckland cited the motto of Long Meadow Ranch, excellence through responsible farming, as being evident in every aspect of (Halls) personal and professional life. He inspires others by example and his dedication to agricultural and environmental preservation are unparalleled. A committee determines the recipient of each years award, based on nominations from NVG members. Criteria considered for a Grower of the Year include leadership in preserving agriculture in Napa County, advocating for the countys grape growing industry, and contributing to the community at large. Of Halls selection, the Grapegrowers noted his roles chairing the Napa County Agriculture Protection Advisory Committee last year, his present chairing of the St. Helena School District Agricultural Education Committee, his membership on the Napa Valley Vintners Community Industry Issues Committee and his past service with the Advisory Board of the Land Trust of Napa County and the Napa County Local Food Council, among other posts. Halls donations of multiple conservation easements of land in the county were also referenced. The group also pointed out the diversity of agriculture at Long Meadow Ranch, which Hall has led since 1989. In addition to grapes, the ranch produces olives, olive oil, beef, lamb, eggs and fruits and vegetables, which make their way to Long Meadow Ranch Winery as well as Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch, Halls corresponding restaurant in St. Helena. In summing up their decision, the Grapegrowers said, Hall is known for his dedication, solid judgment, attention to detail, insights, and true love of the land. Members will gather to honor Hall at the NVGs 42nd Annual Dinner on May 12. Important Facts About The H-2B Visa Program H-2B workers support American jobs and small businesses. Every H-2B worker creates or sustains 4.64 American jobs on average according to a study conducted by the American Enterprise Institute. As required by law, employers must first make a concerted effort to hire American workers to fill open positions. H-2B visas fill needs for American small businesses when there are not enough able and willing American workers to fill the temporary, seasonal positions. Employers often have to spend more money to hire temporary H-2B workers, who are paid a prevailing wage that is set by the U.S. Department of Labor. Contact: Daniel Keylin Daniel Keylin daniel_keylin@tillis.senate.gov U.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angus King (I-ME) have introduced the Save our, bipartisan legislation that makes substantive reforms aimed to help seasonal employers better navigate the H-2B temporary non-agricultural visa program. Original co-sponsors include Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Cornyn (R-TX), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mike Rounds (R-SD), and John Thune (R-SD).The H-2B program is vital to small and seasonal employers across the country who depend on temporary workers to sustain their businesses and supplement their existing American workforce. This bipartisan legislation would streamline the program to eliminate ambiguities and establish clear parameters for employers hiring H-2B workers, require increased coordination between federal agencies, and bring transparency to the program operations for greater efficiency while ensuring American workers are not displaced.Thewould also increase certainty for businesses, allowing seasonal employers to better prepare for fluctuations in demand. The legislation includes a "returning worker exemption" provision, which allows workers who have previously worked in the U.S. through the H-2B visa program to not count against the visa cap. There was no returning worker exemption in FY2017, which has caused hardship for seasonal small businesses that were not able to fill their workforce demands.said Senator Tillis.Senator King said.Senator Warner said.said Senator Collins.said Senator Thune.said Senator Rounds. Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) were deputed to visit the drought affected areas for spot assessment of the calamity, as per a statement. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh-headed High Level Committee (HLC) had recommended the quantum of assistance to the states based on the extant norms of assistance and the report of the IMCT. The HLC has also advised the state governments to take utmost care and ensure that all the individual beneficiary-oriented assistance is mandatorily disbursed through the bank account of the beneficiaries. In addition, the Central government has released Rs 264.11 crore from NDRF for providing aid to Tamil Nadu for the cyclonic storm 'Vardha' during December, 2016. As per reports, more than 200 farmers have committed suicide in Tamil Nadu since the 2016 drought. Many farmers from Tamil Nadu had been protesting for two weeks in Delhi with skulls of farmers who committed suicide. They demanded a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore from the Centre and farm loan waiver. On Friday, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited the farmers and demanded drought relief and waiver of loans. On Tuesday, DMK Working President M.K. Stalin met the protesting farmers and asked the Centre to promise loan waiver to Tamil Nadu farmers as it did to the farmers of Uttar Pradesh. --IANS spk/lok/bg ( 253 Words) 2017-04-01-21:34:07 (IANS) In one of its biggest crackdowns on shell companies, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday conducted simultaneous countrywide raids on around 110 premises and 300 shell companies that were suspected to be involved in dubious and illegal transactions during demonetisation, officials said. The operation was carried out across 16 states with multiple teams of the agency raiding the premises of about 300 shell firms in prominent places like Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Patna, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru among others. "Several top business houses were searched in various cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata," the official told IANS. The raids were carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to investigate instances of money laundering and illegal foreign exchange transactions. "Investigations had revealed that certain entry operators and fraudsters were using a network of companies, some of which have been used repeatedly while some others were discarded after use or kept dormant for a long period," an Enforcement Directorate official told IANS. The official said that some of the companies were involved in major money laundering cases related to Maharashtra-based politician Chhagan Bhujbal, YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, former chief engineer of Noida Yadav Singh, National Rural Health Mission, AGS Infotech, Rajeshwar Exports and others. He said that some other entities were found to have been used for laundering demonetised currency after the November 8 banning of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The official said that certain shell companies remitted huge amounts to other countries for imports but no imports had been made, thus causing loss of foreign exchange. "These companies had either produced forged bill of entry or not submitted any bill of entry. A sum of Rs 20 crore was found available in bank account of one entity and the same will be considered for attachment." In a case relating to Kolkata, the official said more than 50 companies had the same registered address which on verification was found to be vacant residential premises. "The landlord of the premises has stated that he had let out his home to a private individual around three years back who disappeared in three months. He had then subsequently received loan recovery letters against two companies registered on the address. "These two companies are already under investigation," the official said. During investigation, the Enforcement Directorate said it arrested one person named Jagdish Prasad Purohit who has admitted to having formed around 700 shell companies using 20 dummy directors, and 130 of the companies are still in existence. "He had also provided accommodation entry to the tune of Rs 46.7 crore to Chhagan Bhujbal," the official said. The official said the agency officials recovered the photograph of a fake ID card of a special agent in the anti-terrorism division, Interpol, in the name of one Chetan Shah during a raid at a house in Mumbai. "The entry operator connected to Rajeshwar Exports company was also searched. The company had made remittances to the tune of Rs 1,476 crore for import of diamonds, which were grossly overvalued," the official said. The official said a chartered accountant at Barakhamba Road in Delhi had formed more than 200 shell companies and had given accommodation entries to a number of persons in Uttar Pradesh. "He was also found to be involved in conversion of black money into white for some of the sand mafias of Uttar Pradesh." In another case, the Enforcement Directorate investigators found a shell company which has exported carpets to its sister concern incorporated outside India. "The export proceeds were never realised and the person behind these companies had applied to RBI (Reserve Bank of India) for write off of the outstanding export proceeds," the official added. Official sources said the action is part of the mandate given to the ED under a Special Task Force created by the government last month on the directions of the Prime Minister's Office. The task force was created under the co-chairmanship of the Revenue Secretary and Corporate Affairs Secretary to monitor the actions taken against shell companies by various agencies from regulatory ministries and Enforcement Agencies. In a statement, the Finance Ministry said last month that harsh punitive action will be taken against shell companies, including freezing of bank accounts, striking off of names of dormant companies and invoking Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016. Shell companies are companies that exist only on paper, and can be used for money laundering. The statement said there were about 15 lakh registered companies in India and only six lakh of these file their annual returns. --IANS rak/rn/bg ( 787 Words) 2017-04-01-22:12:07 (IANS) "Off to Italy for shoot with Sreenu Vaitla and Lavanya Tripathi. Last song of 'Mister'," Varun tweeted. Directed by Sreenu Vaitla, the film is slated for April 14 release. Varun, for the first time in his career, has reportedly attempted a full-length comic role in the film. The film also stars Hebah Patel in a crucial role, with a supporting cast of Chandramohan, Nasser, Tanikella Bharani, Prince and Tejaswi Madivada. Besides shooting in Switzerland, a major part of the film was shot in picturesque locales of Spain. Some portions were shot in Hyderabad and its surrounding villages. --IANS hp/rb/vm ( 136 Words) 2017-04-01-11:28:13 (IANS) Tension mounted up in northern town of Kumarghat under Unokoti district following detention of four cow loaded truck allegedly while being transported for smuggling to Bangladesh, police said today. Police said the cows and trucks were at present in Kumarghat police station along with two persons. However, nobody has been arrested yet. Police held meeting with the activists of Hindu Jagaran Mancha (HJM) and urged people to remain peaceful. According to police, HJM activists detained four cow loaded small trucks near Kumarghat police station area last night when they were transported from Assam towards Agartala. HJM workers stopped the vehicles alleging that the cows were taken to the border for smuggling. They accused police for not taking any action against the accused, as on regular basis a particular group of people transport cows and buffaloes on vehicles via the National Highway and later they smuggle them out to Bangladesh through western borders with the help of police and BSF. The activists organised road blockade when the cow loaded vehicles were passing by the road.UNI BB AD1041 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-1211911.Xml President Donald Trump has neither a clear White House tax plan nor adequate staff yet to see through a planned tax reform, according to interviews with people in the administration, in Congress and among U.S. tax experts.In an echo of its attempt to roll back Obamacare that ended in an embarrassing collapse in Congress, the Trump administration has vowed quick action on taxes. But it has yet to appoint people with the skills to evaluate complex tax laws, draft legislation and sell it to deeply divided lawmakers.Burned by last week's failed healthcare measure largely authored by House of Representatives Republicans, Trump is determined not to count on Congress so much this time for handling the details on taxes, his second major legislative initiative.But that only underscores his need for a strong White House tax team, which the administration still lacks. Many policy options are still being studied, from deficit-funded tax cuts to a European-style value-added tax."They're still sorting out who's in charge, who's going to take the lead," said William Hoagland, a longtime Senate Republican aide who worked on the last successful comprehensive tax reform effort in 1986."You need someone who has the ear and support of the president who can sell a tax plan, and you need the technical support for that person," said Hoagland, now senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank.Financial markets have been reassessing expectations of fast action on taxes that have helped fuel a Trump stocks rally.Members of Trump's tax team are known, but not their exact duties. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn are senior team leaders. Others include White House advisers Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.Trump huddled with Mnuchin on Thursday to discuss taxes."We are at the first stages of this process, beginning to engage with members of Congress, policy groups, business leaders, industry, constituents from around the country, and other stakeholders," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Thursday, Trump's 69th day in office.When Trump was elected in November, Republican lawmakers enthusiastically joined his call to rewrite the tax code and dismantle Obamacare in the first 100 days of his presidency.In early February, Trump promised a "phenomenal" tax plan by early March that never appeared. Mnuchin spoke on Feb. 23 of enacting tax reform by August. Spicer acknowledged this week that the timetable could be slipping.Another senior White House official said the administration had assumed it would still be working on healthcare at this point, not tax reform yet. The official, not authorized to speak publicly, spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.So far, Trump's tax campaign is a far cry from President Ronald Reagan's 1986 effort, in which Don Regan, as Treasury secretary and then White House chief of staff, spent many months developing legislation that won bipartisan support in Congress."The process under Reagan was much more developed, elaborate and long, and there was a strong bench of top-rate technicians putting things together," said Steven Rosenthal, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a think tank.Under Trump, he said, "None of that is happening."'A LOT SIMPLER'During the 2016 election campaign, Trump issued a tax plan that partly resembled one developed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, but Trump does not now appear wedded to either. It is a safe bet he will not lean heavily on the plan from Ryan, who drafted and championed the ill-fated plan to gut Obamacare."Trump now desperately needs a policy victory ... I would expect the president to play a much more activist role," said Stephen Moore, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank. Moore helped write the Trump campaign tax plan.Mnuchin last week talked about a middle-class tax cut. He also said tax reform in many ways would be "a lot simpler" than healthcare, dismaying tax experts who said that is not so.Comprehensive tax reform is so complex that it has defied Congresses and presidents since Reagan. Tax law is riddled with loopholes embedded in the economy and defended by beneficiaries.Some fundamental questions remain unanswered within the Trump team. For instance, it is unclear if Trump would support a plan that adds to the budget deficit. Past tax reform efforts have tried to be "revenue neutral."Trump also has sent mixed messages on Ryan's proposed "border adjustment tax" that would end the corporate deduction for import costs and make export income tax-free, aiming to boost exports and raise new tax revenues.The Trump team is heavy on Wall Street experience, but short on tax expertise. At Treasury, Mnuchin is the only Senate-confirmed political appointee in place. The job of Treasury assistant secretary for tax policy is unfilled.A person familiar with the hiring process for the job said: "Treasury needs more capable tax expertise ASAP, or the White House will yank total control for tax reform from the department for the rest of the year, maybe beyond."Mark Mazur, who held the Treasury tax job under former Democratic President Barack Obama, said Mnuchin has too much on his plate to concentrate fully on taxes.Mnuchin has praised Treasury's 100 tax policy career staff, but they can only offer options to Trump appointees, said Mazur, now director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center."The political appointees are the ones who need to turn the crank on the sausage-making machine," Mazur said. REUTERS JW0507 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-1211835.Xml Volunteers of the Human Rights and Consumer Protection Society (HRCPS) today held a demonstration near the old bus stand here urging the Centre to drop the Hydro Carbon project in Tamil Nadu and Karaikal . HRCPS General Secretary Muruganandam in a statement here today said the Union Government remained as an 'anti-Tamil Nadu and anti-Puducherry ". It had failed to take steps for release of Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry as per the direction of the Supreme Court. The Centre also failed to release drought relief to the two states, severely affecting the farmers. Wishing the Tamil Nadu farmers who are on an agitation in New Delhi since March 13 all success, Muruganandam condemned the BJP for criticising the farmers' agitation. He said the agitation held by HRCPS was also to press for getting cauvery water for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and demanding to drop the Hydro Carbon project.UNI PAB CS 1156 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1211954.Xml A week after opposition BJP demanded that illegal slaughterhouses flourishing in Bihar should be closed, seven of them were sealed in Rohtas district on Saturday, officials said. The district administration bordering Uttar Pradesh, sealed the illegal slaughterhouses running for years, following clearance of action against them from the top brass in Patna, an official said. The state government is also likely to take further action against illegal slaughterhouses in coming days in line with the Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath, the official said. District officials in Rohtas said action against the slaughterhouses was taken after a directive from the Patna High Court that they be sealed within six weeks. The licenses of these slaughterhouses expired on Friday. Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar had raised the issue of illegal slaughterhouses in the state assembly last week demanding their immediate closure in Bihar. He also said that licences of all slaughterhouses should be cancelled adding that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was keen on making Bihar beef-free to ensure protection of cows. "Bihar should ban beef in line with Maharashtra," he said. According to officials, cow slaughter is banned in Bihar as per a 1955 law. But the trade continues unabated due to a flaw in the law that permits killing of cow, buffalo or bull more than 15 years old or diseased. The violation of this provision invites a maximum jail term of six months and a fine of Rs 1,000. --IANS ik/pgh/hs ( 252 Words) 2017-04-01-13:56:07 (IANS) A Jehanabad report said three people fell into the road side ditch when they were practicing to ride a motorcycle near Birupur village under Ghosi police station area in the district. Two youths, identified as Vikash Bind (22) and Laksmi Bind (18), were killed on the spot. A person, who sustained injuries in the mishap, had been admitted to a local hospital. The bodies have been sent to Jehanabad Sadar Hospital for autopsy, police added. A Madhubani report said that a tractor driver and another person were killed when a speeding truck hit their vehicle on NH 57 near Araria roundabout under Araria Sangram police outpost in the district. Police said the deceased tractor driver has been identified as Mohammed Sattar, however, the identity of the other deceased is still unknown. Infuriated over the incident, local people blocked NH 57, throwing traffic out of gear. Senior civil and police authorities have reached the spot to lift the road blockade, police added.UNI DH AD1303 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-1212035.Xml After a Hyderabadi residing in the United States sent a talaq message to his wife over WhatsApp, a man from Kukatpally in the state capital of Hyderabad has sent a postcard talaq message to his spouse after eight-days of his marriage. Based on a complaint lodged by the woman, the 38-year-old Mohammed Haneef was arrested yesterday, police said here today. Haneef, who is working as a supervisor in a textile showroom in the city had married a 26-year-old woman from Talabkatta on March 9 this year. However, the next day of the marriage, Haneef left the house and later informed her that he was undergoing treatment in a private hospital and would not return home for a few days. But, on March 16, Haneef had sent a postcard letter to his wife residential address in Kukatpally by writing talaq thrice and also said that he had written it in the presence of two witnesses. Haneef had also informed the talaq letter issue to his wife over mobile phone. Shocking over the postcard talaq letter, the woman came to her parents' house in Talabkatta and later lodged a complaint with the police. A case was registered under Sections 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 420 (cheating) and 417 (Punishment for cheating) of the IPC against Haneef . It was the second marriage for both Haneef and the woman, police said. Meanwhile on March 3 last month, the city police have arrested Mohammed Hafeez and his wife Athiya, who drove away their daughter-in-law Mehren Noor from their house after their son living in the US sent talaq message to his wife on WhatsApp.UNI KNR CS 1324 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1212048.Xml South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) programme of Asian Development Bank (ADB) is expanding towards the East with Myanmar formally becoming the seventh member of the Corporation in 2017.Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, noted that Myanmar is key to realising greater connectivity and stronger trade and economic relations between the SASEC sub-region and the countries of East and Southeast Asia and that Myanmar's membership in SASEC can offer a host of opportunities for realising synergies from economic cooperation in the sub-region.SASEC member countries recognise that most of SASEC's multi-modal connectivity initiatives include Myanmar. Road corridors in Myanmar provide the key links between South Asia and Southeast Asia. Ports in Myanmar will provide additional gateways to the landlocked North Eastern region of India. Development of multi-modal connectivity between North Eastern region of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar has the potential of unleashing tremendous economic energy in the sub-region.SASEC's energy connectivity and energy trade prospects will be enhanced with the inclusion of Myanmar, involving its substantial resources of hydropower and natural gas. Moreover, developmental impacts of economic corridor in the SASEC sub-region will be maximized by exploring potential synergies with corridors in Myanmar that are linked to those in other Southeast Asian countries.Myanmar was accorded an observer status of SASEC in 2013 when ADB's annual meeting was held in Noida, India. Myanmar has been participating in annual SASEC Nodal Officials' meetings as an observer since 2014. It was invited by the participating countries of SASEC countries to become a full member in 2015.The SASEC programme was formed in 2001 in response to the request of the four countries of South Asia Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal from ADB to assist in facilitating economic cooperation among them. These four countries comprise the South Asia Growth Quadrangle (SAGQ), formed in 1996, as a vehicle for accelerating sustainable economic development through regional cooperation. As a project-based partnership, the SASEC program has been helping realize regional prosperity by enhancing cross-border connectivity, facilitating faster and more efficient trade and promoting cross-border power trade. Maldives and Sri Lanka joined SASEC in 2014, further expanding opportunities for enhancing economic linkages in the sub-region. UNI ADP SW 1420 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-1212096.Xml Critcising Hurriyat leaders for calling Kahsmir bandh ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state, the Rahstriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday dubbed it as an "illegal" organisation accusing it of advocating Pakistan's interests in India. "India is sympathetic enough to give space to Hurriyat leaders. Hurriyat doesn't belong to India. It's an illegal organisation. It's an organsiation which advocates Pakistan, which shelters terrorism. Hurriyat doesn't have any ground here. The organisation, which lives on the mercy of Pakistan, has no right to comment on the affairs of the Prime Minister," RSS ideologue Sinha told ANI. Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir's Hurriyat leaders called for strike against the visit of Prime Minister Modi on April 2, who will be visiting the Valley to inaugurate the longest highway tunnel, Chenani-Nashri tunnel. The tunnel on NH-44 which connects Jammu with Srinagar, will reduce travel time between the two cities by up to two hours. It's expected to achieve a distance-reduction of 31 km, bypassing snow-bound upper reaches. The estimated daily fuel savings are to the tune of Rs. 27 lakh. (ANI) Earlier on Friday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet in the case. A day after being booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in a disproportionate assets case, The Chief Minister on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of conspiring against him and asserted that all charges levied on him were fabricated. Averring that the truth would win, Singh said that the saffron party and its leaders were misusing power. "The fight has just begun and I know the truth will prevail. All cases against me are fabricated. This is a conspiracy against me stitched by some BJP leaders like Prem Kumar Dhumal and Anurag Thakur. The BJP is misusing its power. There's no truth in it," said Singh. Earlier on Friday, the CBI filed a chargesheet in the case. The chargesheet also contains the name of Singh's wife Pratibha along with others, bringing the count of the accused upto nine. Life Insurance Corporation agent Anand Chauhan, his associate Chunni Lal, Joginder Singh Ghalta, Prem Raj, Lawan Kumar Roach, Vakamullah Chandrashekhra and Ram Prakash Bhatia have also been named in the chargesheet. The fresh blow to the Chief Minister comes after the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea challenging the FIR filed by the CBI in the disproportionate assets case. The CBI had registered an FIR for alleged property of Rs. 6 crore amassed between 2009-12 during Virbhadra's tenure as the union steel minister. The Chief Minister had earlier dubbed the CBI action as "politically motivated." (ANI) Chandra and his brother were produced before the court earlier today. Chandra's counsel Vijay Agarwal informed that the police had asked for 3-day remand but the court granted 2-day custody instead. "The court also raised the concern that what was the need to arrest my client after huge gap of three years. So, now the police was asking for three-day remand, so we pointed out it is a case based on documentary evidence and so the enquiries can be made from the accounts department," Agarwal briefed the media here. According to sources, Chandra is accused of duping buyers who had booked flats in his real-estate project in Greater Noida. Home buyers had accused Unitech of not completing the project and non-payment of their money along with interest. Allegations are also that Chandra fraudulently took money from his clients and parked it in a shell company, thereby laundering it abroad. Earlier, Chandra was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the 2G trial. Chandra had bid and won licence for the Telecom project which he later sold to Norway company Telenor. Chandra and his brother will be next produced before the court on April 3 at 2 p.m. (ANI) Terming commercial and investment relations as the mainstay of relations between India and Malaysia, President Pranab Mukherjee today said there is considerable potential for collaboration between the two countries in defence production, especially under the Make in India initiative.Welcoming Malaysia Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak, who called on him at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the said relations between India and Malaysia are centuries old and is best ever so far. "The two countries have taken their strategic partnership forward, particularly after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Malaysia in November 2015,'' he said.Mr Razak's visit comes at a time when India and Malaysia are celebrating the 60th anniversary of India-Malaysia diplomatic relations. "While our relations are historic, we have been able to make significant strides in the last 10 years,'' the President said.He thanked Malaysia for the close cooperation on counter-terrorism issues. The President expressed hope that Malaysian Prime Minister had a good visit to Chennai. Reciprocating the President's sentiments, the Malaysian Prime Minister said India has always supported Malaysia in difficult times. "Malaysia wants to raise relations to new heights. Bilateral relations between India and Malaysia is multi-dimensional. The two countries can collaborate in a wide variety of fields. Malaysia would like to achieve target of 15 billion dollars bilateral trade by 2020,''he said.UNI AR SW 1730 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-1212461.Xml Reposing faith on the basic human trait of compassion in every individual, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said here today that secular ethics, based on ancient Indian knowledge, need to be included in the education system for creating a peaceful world. "According to Indian tradition of secular learning, respect all religions and also non-believers. This is a very wise concept," he said, delivering a lecture on 'A humane approach to world peace' at the concluding ceremony of platinum jubilee celebrations of 'The Assam Tribune' and golden jubilee celebrations of 'Dainik Asom', owned by the Assam Tribune Group of Publications here. "Money and technology can bring material comfort, but all man seek 'karuna' or compassion," he said, adding, "We can promote compassion through education. Out of all the countries in the world, only India can make a complete balance of physical development and mental peace." Emphasizing that 'karuna is the foundation of ahimsa', he said there can be no peace of mind without compassion and a spirit of dialogue must be encouraged to resolve problems. "India has ancient knowledge of mind and psychology. Compared to it, modern psychology looks like a kid to me," he added. Noting that the past twentieth century had witnessed widespread violence and bloodshed, the Dalai Lama hoped that the 21st century would be one of peace as 'the voice for world peace has been growing' and the younger generation are being more aware of futility of violence. He also expressed hope in recent scientific findings that the basic human nature is compassion, and not anger. He said, "It is a sign of hope that the basic human nature is compassion. Had it been anger, then all hope would have been lost." Stressing on the need to promote compassion, the Nobel Peace laureate said human beings must be made to realize that most sufferings are man-made and can be avoided if everyone decides to reside in harmony. He said, "Happiness must start from the individual, then go on to the community, country and then the world." Later taking part in an interactive session, the Dalai Lama said education can bring peace, not religion and faith alone. He said, "The existing education system is materialism oriented. It is not adequate to bring compassion. India's education system should include secular ethic based on a common experience of coming from one and living in oneness in this world."UNI SG RN 1705 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0311-1212414.Xml "Mutual intent to deepen cooperation. PM @narendramodi and PM @NajibRazak reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations during their meeting," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. A number of agreements are expected to be signed between India and Malaysia following the delegation-level talks. Modi and Razak held a one-on-one meeting ahead of the delegation-level talks. Earlier in the day, Razak was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Thereafter he called on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj too called on the visiting dignitary. Razak arrived in Chennai on Thursday on a six-day visit to India and reached New Delhi on Friday evening. He will also visit Jaipur on Sunday where he will meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. The is the Malaysian Prime Minister's third official visit to India. --IANS ab/bg ( 170 Words) 2017-04-01-18:52:06 (IANS) Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy today demanded that the State Government immediately procure Mirchi (Chilli) at the rate of Rs. 12,000 per quintal to bail out over one lakh farmers who were badly hit due to falling prices. Speaking to mediapersons after visiting the affected farmers in Medicheruvu Mandal of Suryapet district , Mr Reddy said that the chilli farmers of Telangana were in severe crisis due to low market prices for their produce. He strongly condemned the State Government for completely ignoring the plight of chilli farmers and said that the officials did not take any steps to get proper Minimum Support Price for the chilli crop. The Congress leader pointed out that the State Government, through the Department of Agricultural Economics, PJTSAU, Hyderabad, had issued a forecast stating that the Chilli price per quintal will be around Rs 11000-11400 at the time of harvesting in February-March 2017. This encouraged more than one lakh farmers to cultivate chilli instead of cotton expecting high prices. As against 70,000 acres of chilli cultivation last year, this year the crop was cultivated in near 2 lakh acres. However, the prices are now hovering around Rs. 5,000 per quintal causing huge losses to the farmers. However, in some cases, he said that the traders have reduced prices and buying the chilli for as less as Rs. 4500-5000 per quintal.MORE UNI KNR CS 1916 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1212690.Xml Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday demanded an inquiry after Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in Madhya Pradesh were only dispensing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slips. "There should be inquiry after Electronic Voting Machines in Madhya Pradesh were only dispensing BJP slips," Akhilesh tweeted. He further said that the matter is not about checking of the EVMs but of people's faith and confidence in the electoral process. Earlier the Samjawadi Party supremo had backed Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati's claim that the EVMs during the Uttar Pradesh electoral process were tampered and also called for the probe. Following reports of malfunctioning EVMs, the Election Commission has said that it will send a high level nine-member delegation to Madhya Pradesh to supervise the by-elections. Earlier today, a Congress delegation met the Commission in connection with bye-election from 9-Ater and 89-Bandhavgarh (ST) assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, and demanded the Commission ensure free and fair election and absolute neutrality of the officers. Following their request, the poll panel decided to depute a team of high level officers led by Bhanwar Lal, CEO Andhra Pradesh (Chief secretary level officer) to supervise the bye-elections in the state, said an official statement. The team will also include R. K. Srivastava, Senior Principal Secretary and Varinder Kumar, Principal secretary. These teams of senior officers will supervise the implementation of all administrative and security instructions of the Election Commission for the conduct of elections. To ensure the correct functioning of EVMs and VVPATs being deployed in the two ACs, the Commission has also decided to depute two teams of officers of the Commission along with technical experts. The integrity of the EVMs and the VVPATs to be used in the poll will be demonstrated to the complete satisfaction of all stakeholders by the team. These teams will remain in the Assembly Constituency till the counting is over. "The commission is committed to conduct entire electoral process transparently, fairly and to the complete satisfaction of stakeholders including esteemed voters. ECI will always hear and redress genuine and credible suggestions from stakeholders to further strengthen the electoral system," the statement added. The Election Commission had ordered an inquiry into reports that the EVMs in Madhya Pradesh were malfunctioning, and also sought a report about the incident where the voter-verifiable paper audit trail machine generated an acknowledgment slip with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) symbol even though the chief electoral officer had pressed the button for the Samajwadi Party candidate during a demonstration exercise.(ANI)